So Mote In Chaucer's The Canterbury Tales

So mote it be means so must it be, or so be it. Mote was a Saxon verb that meant must, so we so one say so mote it e hay are really saying so must it be, and is used as a closing much like the christian amen.

"According to Webster 's dictionary, the word mote was originally a Saxon verb which meant "must." It appears back in the poetry of Geoffrey Chaucer, who used the line The word mote be cousin to the deed in his prologue to the Canterbury Tales". about.com, author Patti Wigington, http://paganwiccan.about.com/od/glossary/g/SoMoteItBe.htm

"The Wiccan version of "amen," said at the end of a prayer or spell. "So mote it be" means "It must happen this way" and serves to manifest what the speaker has just said. Wiccans also use

But just like the word amen it has been adapted throughout the years to also be used when you agree with someone, just like if you were to shout out amen while someone is making a point you agree with. While I for one would not feel contable using it this way, as I feel it is disrespectful, as the times change we might see it being used more and more as a slang word then for its true meaning and purpose.

So mote it be became popular in the 1940 's by Gerald B. Gardner the founder of the modem Wicca. It;s rumored that Garald Garder, and Alex Sanders were freemasons, and that they got so mote it be from there. Where Wicca can trace so mote it be can trace the phrase back to the 1940s, Freemasonry can trace it back to the 14th century and it is used widely in their rituals, just like it is used at the end of rituales, spell works,and prayers for wicca and in different pagan belief

Weather if it is true or not the Garald Garder took so mote it be from the free masons or not, it has become part of the wiccan, and pagan belief system, and is now what so mote it e is known for, if one says it outloud in public then more people wold assume the person of being wiccan before ever thinking of freemasons, and as a mater of fact now in days I 'm sure most wiccan do not even know about the tie between the freemansons and modden day wicca with so mote it be and many other aspects, With both having roots that date back 100 's of years it dose not surprise me that you would find things that are the same with in both religions view points, as they probably share some if not more of the same roots.While we may never know if Garder meant to take So mote it be from the freemansons, or if it is just a thing that had happened, we do know that because of so mote it be the freemasons and wicca will always be linked to one another, weather either group wants to acknowledge the other or not.I for one find it very instreasting how many things these two groups have in common, and plan to do more research on the topic, and see if I can not find the common roots between the two if at all