No credit on my part at all other then placing them here on my blog.
These writings are from the Honorable Lady Olivia Robertson Co-Founder of the Fellowship of Isis.
Our Lyceum follows these rituals with the seasons and posts photos and writing to follow these rites. We plan to use one of these listed below for our Winter Solstice Ritual. Your welcome to read and request work to be done on your behalf as well as to attune with our group rites as well.
Many Blessings.
Rev. Mana Youngbear
Urania, Ceremonial Magic of the Goddess
Fellowship of Isis Liturgy by Olivia Robertson
Part III. Planetary Magic
Magic of Jupiter and Hathor
Ritual no. 9
ORACLE OF THE GODDESS HATHOR
Priestess: (Invocation) Adorable Hathor, Kindly Mother of all creatures, Goddess Of love and laughter, we are orphaned of Thee. We have turned away from Thy joy which calls us through all Nature to return again to Thy beautiful bounty. Bestow on us happiness and love; health and abundance.
Oracle: Because you ask Me for these gifts, you shall receive them. For long hard centuries you, My dear human children, have sought knowledge and authority, strength and sanctity, believing that these hardly won gains will make you as the Deities. But though it is well to be powerful, without love and happiness you are as nothing. And this love is not some strange and terrible passion that could tear you asunder, as it does when suppressed or misused: rather it is the kindly benevolence that not only seeks the good for others but also for oneself. For who would be the victim of another's immolation?
True friendship and marriage is to share good things such as abundance, laughter and peace. For in the past you clever and hard-working ones have travelled the earth making converts to your puritanical civilization, but have made millions wretched and unrooted them from their own way of living. It is not for nothing that I am depicted with the solar disc between the horns of a cow. Do not despise Me in this form, for as a cow I have four legs and can stand in My sleep, whereas the walking two legged human suffers from unbalance.
I give My milk generously and have the wisdom to stay where I am, either eating grass or meditating, which is what you call chewing the cud. You run around too much in your minds and with your bodies. Be peaceful. Be happy. And in this way you will, through gentleness, find power; through stillness, achieve progress, and by living fully each moment, gain abundance for all time. Know that Jupiter Himself appears as a bull, as does Serapis.
Yet neither of these Gods nor I Myself manifesting in these animal forms derive Our strength and health from killing and eating Our fellows. You petition Me for health. Do likewise. Be happy! For if you are happy now - you are happy forever. To rejoice in the Eternal Now is My secret. My Love abideth, for it is the Love of the All-Mother.
Let the altar be draped in gold. On it are 4 lighted candles, a pot of burning incense, a mirror, a chalice of red wine, small yellow ‘sun’ stones and a golden sceptre with a purple stone in its head. Two Enchantresses wear the Hathor Crown, (the solar disc between cow’s horns), and green and gold robes. 2 Magicians wear laurel wreaths, and green and gold robes. Practitioners wear wreaths and green and gold robes. 1st Practitioner wears white.
1st Magician: Fellow followers of the Olympians, let us perform the ceremonial magic of the mighty planet Jupiter and its encircling moons. May we receive the planetary gifts of sovereignty, nobility, friendship and success.
1st Enchantress: To enjoy ourselves with full expression we need to rule with love, to be generous in success, to recognise the nobility in others and to share friendship with all beings. For this inner expression of Jupiter we need to turn to the Egyptian Goddess of Love and Joy, Great Hathor. For the Priests of Egypt declared to Solon the Wise that the Greeks were as clever children. The Egyptians revered the wisdom of the heart.
1st Magician: May Jupiter and Hathor be invoked. (makes sign of Jupiter in the Southwest, offers incense) I offer Incense to the God Jupiter. Mighty Aegis-bearing Jupiter, the Thunderer, Bringer of power and laughter, bestow on us greatness and majesty. Give us Your gift of entering into all creatures, for only through identity is love achieved.
2nd Magician: Jupiter changed His form many times for love of women. Minerva, daughter of Jupiter and Metis, illustrated her Father's metamorphoses in a great picture embroidered in wool. An air of majesty proclaims Her portrayal of Jupiter as Monarch of the Universe. She drew Asteria struggling with an eagle that had seized her, and Leda laid supine under the snowy pinions of a swan. She added in Her picture how Jupiter, disguised under the form of a satyr, presented the fair Antiope with a twin offspring; how as Amphitryon, He enjoyed Alcmena: how, changed to a shower of gold, Danae, and how the daughter of Asopus felt Him in a lambent flame. To Mnemosyne, Memory, He appeared a shepherd and to Deois, a speckled snake.
1st Enchantress: It was the Goddess in woman that Jupiter ever sought. And She is Hathor and Juno and all Goddesses. For know that there is a transformation of the Goddess for every change of the God, be He Jupiter, Pan or Proteus. We know Hathor and Io as cows, Muth as a Vulture and Kundalini as a flame of fire.
2nd Enchantress: (makes sign of Hathor and offers incense) I offer incense to the Goddess Hathor! Hear the words of Thy Priestess as called forth of old in the holy scriptures, ‘The Coming Forth by Day’. “Hathor, Lady of Amentet, Lady of Ta-Tchesert, Eye of Ra, beautiful of face in the boat of millions of years, the habitation of peace, Creator of law in the boat of the favoured ones, we give praise to Hathor, the mistress of Amentet, and pay homage to Mehurit. The doors of heaven are opened for us, the doors of earth are opened for us, and the first temple hath been unfastened for us. Behold, we are guarded and watched, we are released.”
1st Enchantress: “I kneel before the Goddess Hathor seated by a tree. I adore the Goddess by Her shrine. I have gained mastery over my heart. I have gained mastery of my breast. I have gained mastery over my whole body. I have gained the mastery of air. I have gained the mastery over the things which were ordered to be done upon the earth. In a clean place I sit on the ground beneath the foliage of the date palm of the Goddess Hathor, Who dwelleth in the spacious Disk as it advanceth to Annu, having the books of the divine words of the God Thoth. I shall place myself in the path of the wind like a guide who is well prepared.”
2nd Enchantress: We are the pure travellers. Behold, O Ahi, Behold, O Ahi. let us be among those who follow the Goddess Hathor.
1st Magician: The Words of Power have been uttered. The magic is begun. Who among us will enact the four transformations of Woman as she wins the gifts of the planet Jupiter?
1st Practitioner: So that we may share these gifts, I will act these roles.
1st Enchantress: It is needful for you to travel backwards through time to the Golden Age. At each age you shall be a woman that Jupiter loved, in changing form appearing.
1st Practitioner: Never! How shall I endure the wrath of the Goddess Juno who persecuted such women and their offspring with unparalleled ferocity?
1st Enchantress: Why, by being Juno!
1st Practitioner: I, a humble mortal? Impossible.
1st Enchantress: Not so. Through the Goddess Hathor, you will receive the wisdom of the heart so that you will recognise the God in each differing creature. And in so doing you will act with virtue, for to receive the God is also to accept his wife Juno. For the twain are as one. Have courage! Olympians and humans and all creatures, whether bulls or swans or snakes, are all children of our Mother Goddess. Trust Hathor.
1st Practitioner: May Hathor bless and inspire me.
2nd Magician: Your first transformation is nearest to you in time, our own Iron Age. You are to identify with Helen, daughter of Jupiter and of Leda whom the wise call Nemesis. Rich-tressed Leda, after her blissful union with Jupiter, in His disguise as a swan, gave birth to two golden eggs. The first gave forth the Gemini twins, Castor and Pollux. The second bore a third child, Helen, a marvel to men.
Some say that Hermes, in obedience to the will of Zeus, stole Helen and carried her to Egypt, giving her to Proteus, the King of the Egyptians to hide there. He then fashioned a phantom Helen as Queen of Sparta and it was this phantom which Paris stole and brought to Troy. Which Helen do you choose to be, the fatal Helen who caused the war of Troy, or the Helen who stayed quietly in Egypt meditating in the Temple of Hathor?
1st Practitioner: For many lives I have lived fully as a woman, loving and caring, marrying and giving birth. Such is the way of women. But now I seek a new life of success. A swan is the most beautiful creature in nature, gliding easily through life, mirrored in still waters. My soul would float in winged loveliness, far from earthly cares. I choose to meditate in the Temple of Hathor.
2nd Magician: Ah, but which was the true Helen?
1st Practitioner: Why, myself in Egypt! For my soul was there, while my body, which is but a mortal phantom, gave birth to Paris's offspring in Troy. Where the soul is, there is true expression.
Music. Beethoven’s “6th” or “8th” Symphonies, Mozart’s “Jupiter Symphony” or Holst’s “Jupiter” are suitable.
2nd Magician: Accept this mirror. You have gained the Element of Water, the success which comes from beautiful tranquillity. From henceforth you shall have the gift of drawing all beings to you by the loveliness of your soul. Your face will shine as Helen's did, who wore a jewel on her brow, which shed perpetual light. Yet remember that Hathor also appears as a cow and a hippopotamus. Beauty lies in the soul of each and every creature.
1st Magician: Move back in time to the Age of Taurus, and learn of your second transformation as Europa, daughter of Agenor, King of Tyre. On the shore of Sidonia the daughter of the mighty Monarch was wont to amuse herself, accompanied by a train of Tyrian virgins. Great Jupiter fell in love with the fair princess. Majesty and love but ill agree, nor can long continue in the same abode.
He therefore, the Father and Sovereign of the Gods, Whose right hand is armed with the three-forked thunder, Who with a nod shakes the universe, laying aside the dignity of empire, puts on the appearance of a bull, and mixing with a herd by the shore, lows, and frisks about upon the tender grass. His colour is that of snow, unsullied by the tread of feet or the dissolving blasts of the watery south wind. His neck rises in rolls of fat, and the double dewlaps hang from between His shoulders. His horns indeed are small, but such as you might maintain were polished by a workman's hand, and more transparent than the brightest gem. No threads appeared in His forehead; his eyes have nothing in them formidable, but every look expresses peace.
2nd Magician: The daughter of Agenor admires His beauty, and wonders that He threatens no battles. At first she is afraid to touch Him, though so gentle; but soon adventures nearer, and holds out the flowers to His white mouth. The Lover rejoices, and till He can enjoy the hoped for pleasure, kisses her hands; scarce, ah scarce does he defer the rest. And now He exults and wantons in the green meadows: now rolls His white body in the yellow sand; and observing that her fears are gone, sometimes offers His breast to be stroked by her virgin hand, sometimes stoops His horns in flowery wreaths.
1st Magician: And now the royal maid not knowing Whom she pressed, boldly ventures upon His back. The God by gentle steps advances from the land and dry meadows towards the sea; and first with deceitful mien dips His hoofs in the waves. Thence stealing further, suddenly plunges in, and carried His prize through the middle of the sea. The frightened nymph looks back to the shore she had left behind. With her right hand she grasps His horn, the other is placed upon His back. Her ruffling garments swelled by the wind, hover in a train behind her.
1st Magician: The bull bore Europa to Crete, where He assumed the form of a man and wooed her. The nymph consented, though she had once made vows of perpetual celibacy. She bore Him three sons, Minos, Sarpedon and Rhadamanthus, whose temples are to be seen to this day. And the princess gave her name to the continent of Europe. As Europa, what do you gain?
1st Practitioner: Laughter! There is something in the tale that is so engaging, so natural, with the ways of the cunning Deity and the maid and her unkept vows! At first I thought who could follow such a God, after practicing the severe and virtuous path of Saturn?
But then I felt, the mightiest are the humblest, the gravest can laugh the most, and if one would find many loves and win a host of good friends, one may not be on one's dignity! For if the Sovereign of the Olympians can afford to roll on His back as a bull in verdant meadows, to frisk and gambol in such an unkingly manner - He is a true King, and who are we to set ourselves up to be prudes and pedants? I, Europa, have second thoughts about the perpetual celibacy of pride. I accept Jupiter! He makes me laugh.
1st Magician presents Practitioner with chalice of wine.
1st Magician: You have gained the element of earth, the fruit of the vine, which brings friendship and laughter. Never again shall you be solitary even when you are alone.
1st Practitioner drinks from the chalice and it is handed round from one to the other until all have drunk from it.
2nd Enchantress: Learn now of your third transformation as Danae, in the Age of Brass. Acrisius was filled with terror at an oracle which foretold that he should one day be slain by his own grandson, born of his fair daughter Danae. Thus he caused her to be shut up in a tower of brass. Jupiter fell in love with Danae and, though she was shut off from mortal men in the brassy tower, was not immune to the divine intervention of the monarch. As Danae sat weeping at her cruel life-long imprisonment, Jupiter transformed Himself into a shower of gold, obtained from His Mother, Rhea, who is Ops, Goddess of Wealth. Through heavenly union with this shining shower, Danae gave birth, to a demi-god, Perseus.
She was rescued from her imprisonment, and Perseus became a mighty and compassionate hero. Beloved of his half sister Minerva with Her Gorgon's Head, he rescued the Princess Andromeda, who now shines brightly in the sky of night.
2nd Enchantress: What affect has this transformation upon you, as Danae?
2nd Practitioner: Quite different from that of Europa. Here I find no laughter, rather holy awe. From the Golden Shower I feel a shiver run through me from the top of my head through my body to the soles of my feet. As Danae, I accept Jupiter, as He showers me with fiery gold. My soul feels exalted and my body is renewed from the Fountain of ever-living Fire. I know the nature of heavenly love, through my union with Jupiter. It is not restricted to one part of myself, but glows totally through every atom of my soul and body, now united from the Spirit of Fire which has descended upon me from above, and has freed me from my brassy prison of ignorance and death.
2nd Enchantress: (presents Practitioner with golden stones) Accept these sun stones, emblems of the Element of Fire, the Shower of Gold. You have attained Nobility. From henceforth you will feel the glorious fire of life within yourself, uniting with the flow through all creatures and beings, and within these very stones, animated in the palms of your hands. All will become true gold at your touch, bringing abundance to those whose lives touch yours.
1st Enchantress: Who may approach Jupiter save with Juno's consent? And none dare face the brightness of the Queen of Heaven without the aid of kindly Jupiter. For both are Sovereigns in marriage and we are among their offspring. Harken to your fourth transformation as Juno, manifesting through Her Daughter, Juno's Priestess. During the rule of Saturn in the Golden Age, Jupiter desired to bring in the Age of Silver, of Womanhood. He was not insensible of the charms of the Mother Goddess of Argos, the Goddess Juno. The more powerfully to gain Her confidence, He changed Himself into a cuckoo, and raised a great storm and made the air unusually chill and cold. Under this form He went to the Goddess, all shivering. Juno pitied the cuckoo, and took Him into Her bosom. When Jupiter had gained these advantage, He resumed His original form, and obtained the gratification of His desires, after He had made a solemn promise of marriage.
2nd Enchantress: The nuptials of Jupiter and Juno were celebrated. with the greatest solemnity: the Gods, all mankind and all the brute creation attended. Juno, also called Olympia, Domiduca and Februa, is Goddess of all power and empire, and the patroness of all riches. She is Queen of Heaven and has from her breasts created the Milky Way. She presides over marriage and childbirth, and blesses the most faithful and virtuous of Her sex. She sits upon a throne or in a glorious chariot, with a diadem upon Her head, and a golden sceptre in Her right hand. Peacocks are by Her, and a cuckoo perches upon Her sceptre. Behind Her, Iris displays the thousand colours of Her beautiful aura, in the form of a rainbow. Now answer, what do you learn from your transformation as Daughter of Juno?
1st Practitioner: As Daughter and Priestess of My Divine Mother, I know that no sovereignty is worthy without compassion. For Queenly Juno felt compassion for a bedraggled and shivering cuckoo, and took him to her heart. And so, all unexpectedly, She found Her true Spouse, Great Jupiter. I observe also that Jupiter understood well her compassionate nature, hidden by her veil of authority, and through this both desired to marry Her and was able to do so. For She would not have accepted the King of Gods in any greater form!
Music.
1st Enchantress: (presents 1st Practitioner with Sceptre) Accept this Sceptre of sovereignty, for you have gained the Element of Air. From henceforth you will have the gift of using authority with gentleness: power with discretion, and win success in love and life!
All unite hands and move in a circle dance until a flow of golden power is felt through head and heart until it reaches every part of the soul and body. Rainbow coloured lights may be seen. The rest of the wine is shared when the circle is seated.
1st Enchantress: Fellow sons and daughters of Jupiter and Juno, and of Hathor, let us contemplate Their gifts.
Contemplation
The gifts of the deities are sent forth in radiations to all beings and to those in special need. Reports are shared.
1st Magician: Let us give thanks to Jupiter and Juno and to Hathor.
Sources: "Metamorphoses", Ovid, trans. Joseph Davidson, London, 1748. "The Book of the Dead", trans. E. A. Wallis Budge, Dover Publications. "The Library", Apollodorus, trans. James G. Frazer, Loeb Classical Library. "A Classical Dictionary", Lempries, 1812. "Hesiod, the Homeric Hymns and Homerica", trans. Hugh G. Evelyn-White, Loeb Classical Library.
IX. Portal of Sagittarius
Introduction: The Blame and the Shame Game
Rite 1. The Three Seeds within the Lotus
Rite 2. Transformation
Fellowship of Isis Liturgy
By
Olivia Robertson
Tara of the Oracles
The Alchemical Twins Face the Fates
The Octagonal Temple of Alchemy
IX. Portal of Sagittarius: Introduction to Rituals One and Two
The Blame and Shame Game
“Blame others and you expose your own secret failings.”
When I was young – about seventy years ago – the prevailing fashion was to blame everything on MOTHERS. The original sin of our ancestress Eve, who brought about the downfall of Adam, was transferred to The Mother. This was ordained by a present Prophet of the Unconscious, Professor Freud. As he was a scientist and had a beard he was regarded as infallible as the Pope. Mother was the Spider lurking in a mine-field of complexes derived when we were helpless children.
My sister Barbara was a born leader, and enthusiastically joined in this entertaining Blame & Shame Game, as guide to myself and our two younger brothers. And what a Mother we had! She became a legend in her time – thanks to us.
My mother, Nora Parsons, was the only child of a British General. He adored hunting, so when his wife presented him with a mere girl, he had to face a choice – not a hard one. Another baby – hopefully a boy – or a horse. Naturally he chose the horse.
To adjust matters, he brought his daughter Nora up as a boy. From an early age in India she did not have an Ayah but a soldier servant to empty her potty. She had a little military uniform. I have a photo of her as a tiny soldier. She worshipped her father, who when she was five put her hands round a pole with a beefsteak bait wedged on the end, to tempt a shark. The cream of her successes came when she was seventeen and shot a crocodile.
Barbara would achieve a Freudian success with student boy friends by showing the crocodile’s head on a wall, with his bared teeth, and explain “my mother shot that!”
My grandmother, despised by her daughter as feminine, was determined to get her married. So Nora was forced to dress well. She was beautiful, with a strong tanned skin. She had an eighteen-inch waist for her wedding gown for her marriage to my father, aged 21 and 4 years younger. My father, a strong character with scientific bent, had been spiritually guided to propose.
He told me that they struggled for power throughout the honeymoon. He hadn’t a chance, so he decided to give in. So the Freudian view suited our family. One of my mother’s cousins, Marie Comerford, had roamed the Wicklow hills shooting British soldiers with a sawn-off shotgun. Another, the Hon Florence Gibson, had shot off a bit of Mussolini’s nose. And the rest of our neighbours followed the same pattern. Dominant women. Hen-pecked men. My brother, a clergyman and I were enthusiastic for the Cause of the Goddess. We were pioneers.
Late in the twentieth century, came a startling change against Patriarchy. It began with the words “Satanic Abuse”, and soon changed to “Clerical Abuse”. Most of us women were totally nonplussed. Apparently we were victims, and had been victims for millennia without realising it! The old Irish rhyme, “Women are evil: men are dumb: they torment them just for fun,” had to be changed. It was “Men are evil, women are dumb: men torment them just for fun.” We had to rescue fellow women in the Near and Far East – even with local wars.
So the Blame & Shame Game shifted dramatically, ably assisted by the Media. Patriarchy was to blame for all our misfortunes. To take an instance: Some Doctors had blamed mothers for killing their babies in “cot deaths.” Now it transpired it was the Doctors’ fault for recommending babies to sleep on their tummies – where they naturally tended to suffocate.
When the Blame & Shame Game gets going, the innocent and the guilty are both targeted. Paranoid fear led to the Inquisition, Witch burnings, and the Holocaust. Now the fearful minded dread “disguised alien reptilians disguised as human celebrities!” Making no exceptions, we blame Men for mistreating women, children – and animals with vivisection – inventing and using weapons of mass destruction, torture, and for creating global warming. Men are blamed for traumatising the rising generation, so that children dare not play in the streets, for fear of abusive men. The motto of the 3 Wise Monkeys has become its opposite: “think evil: see evil: hear evil.” Suicides are increasing.
There is good news! With my psychic capabilities, I have found that our parents, friends, and teachers exist in the next world and know what we say of them, and suffer accordingly. Finding this out, I hastily changed my Blame & Shame Game to the Appreciation Game. I remembered the rich treasures given to me by my mother and father and teachers. Wise were the Ancient Chinese to revere their ancestors! Friendly Spirits bestrew our paths with good fortune. Instead of blaming other cultures, other faiths for short-comings, I now appreciated the earth’s glorious history.
Marvellous are the ways of the Goddess! Our Temple of Isis, in this new century, began to change, helped by my brother and other Spirit friends. I have found myself inspired to paint Isis and Osiris as twins on our interior windows. The glorious Company of the Goddesses are beginning to acquire new friends. The Sea God Manannan has joined Brighid at our Well. Poseidon, The God of Atlantis, has joined the Goddess Derceto in our Pisces shrine.
Above all, the Great Winged Isis in the painting in our Healing Chapel, has a newcomer. Behind the brilliant Winged Isis of the Stars now appears Osiris in spiritual blue-green form, with outspread wings. And below, the bust of Tutankhamen, instead of portraying a gold mummy’s clay head is reborn as a mischievous boy, ruddy-faced, amused by our ways. The Deities laugh with joy as we humans awaken.
These rites may be used as alternatives to those in “Psyche”
For initiates on the Spiral of the Adepti
Tara of the Oracles
The Alchemical Twins Face the Fates
Fellowship of Isis Liturgy by Olivia Robertson
VI. Portal of Sagittarius
The Three Seeds within the Lotus
Ritual No. 1
To Change the Outcome, Look Within
The Octagonal Temple of Alchemy
Priest of Alchemy: (to the twin apprentices, Aiden and Elaine) The Ninth Portal of Sagittarius offers the culmination of past efforts: Rebirth. We give birth, and also ourselves are reborn. So we need humility to face the end of all our endeavours, in order to accept what is new. To do so we need the peaceful serenity of the Goddess Parvati.
Priestess Alchemist: (raises her lotus wand) I invoke Thee, Holy Lady of the Lotus of Immortality, Who despite all outer tumult remains seated entranced by the lotus pool, surveying Thy own reflection in the rippling waters. Consort of the God Siva, Creator, Preserver, Destroyer, be with us now at this time of the death and rebirth of the Aeon.
ORACLE OF THE GODDESS PARVATI
In your dreaming is your awakening. All that you regard as real, shows itself as a delusion, shimmering in a pool of desires. What you have achieved becomes as dust, as passing generations tread your creations to drifting sands.
Therefore look for Divine Reality not in the passing play you create to satisfy your longings, but rather remain still and all that you hope for will come to you easily, joyfully!
A mother suffers pain in giving birth, and yet is filled with the joy of The Creator when she holds her newborn child: so it is with the Deities when you yourselves are reborn and look up at them and smile!
Be still, and you will cause greater rivers to flow, bringing abundance to all. Play a small tune on a flute and you cause mighty trees to grow upon green hills. For all the world you see around you is created by thought, imagination and the passions. Find your minds, your dreams, your passions within the Divine Life hidden in your hearts. This is the jewel concealed within the heart of My Lotus.
End of Oracle
Priest Alchemist: Thanks are given to the Goddess Parvati for Her Oracle.
Priestess Alchemist: (to Elaine) Elaine, we know how ardently you strive to help humans and animals. Yet you feel frustrated, because by nature you are an artist and love to be alone, seated under a tree. Now know that the way of the flower is to sit under a tree, and through this to extend into the tree, the land, the earth, the cosmos. Thus your hopes are fulfilled for yourself. But you may not force others to accept your way! They tread their own pilgrimage and do not respond to coercion, however well-meant. Will you undergo the Initiation of the Lotus?
Elaine: I never can understand why people object to our giving them schools and aid and modern amenities. How like a school-mistress I sound! I had better undergo this initiation! I will understand why international aid is not always received with due gratitude…
Priestess Alchemist: (shows Elaine a card from the Marseille deck) Describe this Tarot Card.
Elaine: I suppose this is correct, as the cards derive from India. Ah! The Ninth Gate of Change! This is “l’Hermite”. It shows a bearded pilgrim holding aloft a lantern. His left hand holds a staff. This is my Pilgrim’s Way.
Priestess Alchemist: So be it. You will enter trance. We will be with you but may not help you.
Trance Journey
Elaine: I mount the Hill of the Zodiac, pondering on the various meanings people have given to the stars. Is our choice of names and division into twelve signs arbitrary, or were we guided? I enter the Temple and pay my respects to Vesta of the Vestal Flame within all that is. I find my way to the Portal of Sagittarius. It depicts the Archer, half man, half horse, but in a new way. It looks as if the man is struggling to escape from his body. On the other side of the portal is shown a young girl standing upon a mountain, and beckoning the man to dangerous heights. She is safe….She has wings.
I part the heavy tapestry curtains of the Portal and pass through ******** How beautiful! I am in a pastoral landscape with small primitive looking huts and walls. I see a small gateway of rough stone and feel that this where I must go. But before I reach it, an old woman approaches me, extending a thin hand. She wears a threadbare sari. Although she speaks in a foreign tongue, I can understand what she says.
She tells me she needs my help now. She is a poor widow who has been turned out of her home because her dowry has proved worthless – debased coinage. Unless I help now, she fears she will die of hunger.
I feel my pockets – I have nothing. I tell her that I am going on pilgrimage to Parvati’s Pool, and shall return with help. Reluctantly I leave her, and pass through the gateway. I find myself in a field with cattle grazing. I pass through two more small gates as the ground begins to rise. At the Third Gateway a young woman rushes towards me. She implores my help. Her tale is as old as the hills and as new. She is wearing a beautiful gold sari. But, she says, all her ornaments are in vain. Her husband has fallen in love with her enemy, a sly courtesan. She wants me to poison her rival – a fate that should befall all cunning courtesans. I am taken aback. She gathers that I am a Priestess, but apparently she thinks my Goddess is Kali. I reply that there must be a less deadly solution. I am making pilgrimage to Parvati’s Pool and will return with help. I beg her not to kill her rival in the interval. I will hurry.
I follow the grassy winding path as it becomes more rough, with sheep rather than cattle grazing. At the Sixth Gate a small boy is seated crying. He looks poor and hungry. I sit down and try to understand what he is saying. I gather he is the illegitimate offspring of a large family. He is consistently ill-treated, especially by the other children, who beat him and call him ugly names. He would like to drown himself in the fast-flowing stream that runs by the field.
I command him with a mother’s voice not to drown himself. I am making pilgrimage to Parvati’s Pool, and will return, and bring him all that he needs. I dry his eyes and once more set forth.
By this time I am very weary but travel on and upwards, and as the hill rises I see a lovely landscape of pale blue mountains, some snow capped and others rich with forests. A river winds downwards to where I had begun my journey. I could follow it homewards but I continue. I reach the Ninth Gate.
This Portal is of exquisite ironwork, between very high crenulated walls leading to some great estate. I cannot push aside the huge gates as they are too heavy. But, concealed by bushes, is a small gateway with a wooden door and this I can enter, lowering my head.
I find myself in the most beautiful garden, laid out with flowering trees and rich grass. What I like is that deer are roaming under the trees, and in open flowery spaces are various young animals. I look up and am hit with an apple, expertly thrown by a monkey! The music of bird-song is on every side especially the cooing of doves.
I approach a pool drawn from a double waterfall, and from the trees appears a very tall man with wild long white hair. I know at once He is an immortal. He has the strangest eyes, like moonstones, and a calm gaze.
He speaks to me. I have learnt not to drop on my knees, but to listen with care.
“My dear daughter,” he says, “All your life you have been making this pilgrimage. Now is the time of the culmination. I am He Who was, and is and shall be, Creator, Preserver, Destroyer. My Dance is of the cosmic stars and the time has come when the matrix of my encircling wheel will open upon worlds as yet unknown. Gaze now into a lotus in this pool and you will enter my wheel and attain what you seek. But listen well. You will gain only three seeds of the flower of Life, that gives three wishes. You may give these to others if you wish. Be careful how you choose.”
All the faery tales I have always loved are now coming true! The God has vanished, and I find myself leaning over the pool and gazing into the golden heart of a white-petalled lotus.******** The flower becomes larger and larger and within it is a giant black hole – I find myself falling into it – down and down. I feel dizzy and clutch a golden rod. On it hang three golden spheres. I take them to me, and push them into my pockets. I rapidly ascend – once more I am my own normal size – and the lotus is not a giant vortex but a simple flower; I have its three seeds. ********* I have chosen my three wishes, Peace, Love and Happiness.
I make my way down the hill. At the Sixth Gate I find the little boy and give him a seed, his wish. At once he declares he wants revenge on his brothers, and to be adopted by an important family. I know this will happen. I don’t think he has a very nice character – wanting revenge.
At the Third Gate I find the beautiful, wronged wife. She accepts my seed eagerly. She says she has now no need to kill her rival, because her husband will die, according to her wish, leaving her all his fortune. What an unpleasant woman! What can I do?
At the First Gate I find the starving old widow, and by now expect her to choose something unpleasant with her wish. Much is my relief when she says now she can have riches, which she will share with her family and friends. She forgives them all because she loves them.
Suddenly I burst out laughing! I’ve spent all my wishes and don’t mind. And I hear the words of the God Siva coming to me as from a mountain top. “Elaine, you are now peaceful, loving and happy because you have found your own hidden Self.”
Elaine slowly returns from trance and accepts her alchemical degree thoughtfully. Reports are shared, healing sent forth. Thanks are given to the Deities.
Recommended Reading: “The Ramayana & The Mahabharata,” trans. by Dutt, Everyman. “The Vedas”, trans. by Max Muller, Indological Book House, Delhi. “Indian Mythology”, Veronica Ions, Hamlyn, “The Goddesses of India, Tibet, China & Japan.” Lawrence Durdin-Robertson, Cesara Publications, Clonegal Castle. “Autobiography of a Yogi,”Yogananda. “Strange News from Another Star and Other Stories,” Hermann Hess, Penguin. “The Celestine Prophecy,”James Redfield, Warner Books.
These rites may be used as alternatives to those in “Psyche”
For initiates on the Spiral of the Adepti
Tara of the Oracles
The Alchemical Twins Face the Fates
Fellowship of Isis Liturgy by Olivia Robertson
VI. Portal of Sagittarius
Transformation
Ritual No. 2
To Achieve the Whole is to Become Each Part
The Octagonal Temple of Alchemy
Priest Alchemist: (to twin apprentices, Aiden and Elaine) The cosmos is composed of myriad individual beings. To achieve awareness of this, we need to invoke the Goddess Kali.
Priestess Alchemist: (raises serpent wand) Come amongst us, Kali of the four arms that are the sacred elements! Bring us Thy Divine Dance of Life that is ever renewing itself through Love and Joy and Passion! You, Who even trampled upon your Divine Consort Siva, Lord of Passing Time, bring us Eternal Life.
ORACLE OF THE GODDESS KALI
To attain immortality, you need to love life – not with wisdom, nor virtue alone, but with all your heart and soul. The ever-living flame glows as strongly in one snake shedding its skin as it does in a mighty God. Every atom pulsates with life.
When humans attain their true mission on this earth, eternal life will be achieved, because deeply desired. Eternity is not in time. It is ever NOW. The true task of humanity is to act as interpreters between Gods and men: Goddesses and women: Nature Spirits and all living creatures. Invoke therefore, each one of you, your own Guardian Deva or Devi, your Angel, your animal, friend, and unite spirit and matter by your participation in both.
So will earth show Herself in Her true eternal Being. Prithivi, the earth, awaits your transforming touch. Call on Me and I shall instruct you in your dreams, dramas. The dancing Gandarvas and Upsaras will come to you, and the souls of your own earthly friends, along with bird, animal, reptile, insect. Awaken into what you are and why you are on earth!
End of Oracle
Priest Alchemist: We give thanks to the Goddess Kali for Her Oracle.
Priestess Alchemist: (to Aiden) Aiden, you long to know what the effect shall be of all your passionate work for a better earth. Yet you fear that all conservation projects may be brought to nought. Are you willing to face the shape of things to come?
Aiden: I am willing. Otherwise, why do we work so hard and yet face a ruined planet?
Priest Alchemist: “Therefore you must face the Initiation of Kali. (shows card from the Marseille deck) Examine this card. What do you make of it?
Aiden: Just what reflects my mood, of despondency. “Le Diable”. This is a rather nice, funny devil – mediaeval. It depicts a hermaphrodite figure, I note, along with cloven hooves; his horns form the Crown chakra. His wings are bat-like – but he has them! But tied to his throne by the neck are two smiling imps, also bisexual, content to be bound. So this devil binds people who like it. Nonetheless, I want freedom to move – to grow.
Priest Alchemist: You are ready for the Ordeal of Kali. Enter trance. We shall stay with you, whatever happens - but not help you.
Aiden: I expected you to say that – I am ready for the ordeal.
Trance Journey
Aiden: I climb the Hill with some trepidation, knowing Kali’s reputation. If she can make mincemeat of Her husband – Siva Himself - what will She do to me? ******** Here I am, at the Temple of the Zodiac. I could turn back – but don’t. I pay my respects to Vesta’s Flame. Then I find the Ninth Portal of Sagittarius ***** It is much as Elaine describes – except that the Centaur seems to enjoy his dual self and is aiming his arrow to reach the stars. I am suspicious of the little girl waving me upwards and onwards with a white feather. If I fall – it won’t help her, but be the end of me…..
I find myself in a wild landscape with gorse and bracken. I hear the howling of wolves – just what I would expect. Like a Dracula movie. But wait! A friendly wolf approaches me. And I’m not afraid. Why? It is ridiculous – but he is talking to me! At least I can understand him. He tells me the wolves are having problems with landslides. Could I place the pack’s complaints to the local Spirit of the earth?
I am astonished. I didn’t know there was such a being. I vaguely remember Irish Leprechauns. Gnomes. Children’s fairy stories. I hear a cool voice speak quite distinctly and I look round. I see the most extraordinary creature made of some ethereal energy. He is about three feet tall and is weirdly thin, like a reed. But what is bizarre is his hair. It hangs down in a very thin plait nearly reaching his feet. I think: “I suppose this is the latest Elf fashion!” To my embarrassment the creature answers my thought: “No. A few thousand years old. We are bringing it through now to a human poet we like.”
I find the being has a clear logical mind. I explain the wolves’ predicament, and he grasps the situation. He says they did not care to interfere with the earth’s crust, but they will look into the matter, and try to shift the problem elsewhere. I thank him profusely and convey his message to my friend the wolf. He is relieved. He tells me they find it hard to get nature spirits’ attention. Their language is so high and remote.
I am beginning to feel in good heart. I’ve done something. People always like giving other people directions when they ask the way. What happens next is completely surreal. I see a small suburban house – well and good. But gazing into the house’s second floor window is an enormous bird about fifteen feet tall.
“This is not possible!” I exclaim.
“Oh yes it is,” replies the bird. “Remember the country-man on seeing a giraffe in the zoo: ‘There’s not such a creature.” “I’m here. I’m a bird. I’m peering through this window to greet the owner. All that you get wrong is the date. This is in your earth’s future.”
I sit down weakly. “What can I do for you,” I ask. “You seem capable of anything.”
“Not everything,” replies the eagle fixing me with a brilliant beady eye. “We are having trouble with tornadoes in these parts. They are reaching up to sixty thousand feet. We can’t get hold of the Upsaras – Angels you’d call them. Too distant a vibration. Would you lodge our complaint? The tornadoes are endangering our mating season.”
I’m beginning to get the hang of all this. I’m being educated through a weird story. It can’t be true.”
“Oh, but it is,” comes a silvery voice. To my amazement and awe, an exquisitely lovely Angel is floating before me with far-reaching wings, her lovely golden hair floating in a hurricane of wind. “People have always seen us Angels, except for a short while when humans got entrapped by their own mechanical inventions. What is your prayer?”
Funny, I feel vaguely sulky at having to pray to some Angel, however glamorous. “It’s not my request. It’s the eagles’. Your tornadoes are endangering their mating season. The Angel replies sweetly. “We do not care to disturb air currents that bring monsoons. But we grant your prayer. We will withhold the tornadoes for the specified season.”
She vanishes in a blinding flash of light as swiftly as she had appeared. The eagle said he could see the Angels but found it hard to converse. He thanked me. I felt useful. I had made intercession at the Throne of Grace, and received Grace. Mediaeval. Very odd.
“Not so very odd!” says a voice. I might have expected this, but it still makes me jump. What I see is a lizard, a peaceful iguana attached to a tree, where it clearly remains for hours in peace and quiet.
“No longer peace and quiet,” says the iguana. “I’m glad you passed by. The earth is trembling. There is a volcano destroying our part of this forest. You know Pele. Would you care to ask for Her help?”
To my disappointment I do not see the Goddess Pele. What I do see is what I do not believe in. No-one does. The Phoenix, sole Arabian Bird that is reborn from its own fire, is seated far too near me, preening its feathers.
“You can’t always expect beautiful humans,” it says. “Stop calling me ‘It’. I’m She… Why shouldn’t Beings have bodies of pure energy? I do. Humans knew this for thousands of years, and are doing so again – after a short period when they were in denial, imprisoned in physical matter, and grey cellular ‘thought’. Anyway, now you’re here, what do you want? You needn’t pray. Just speak distinctly.”
Suddenly light dawns. “I know what all this is!” I cry. “It is a story – made up by the new Indigo star children!” “Correct,” says the Phoenix. “But do you know why they do this? They do it because we are real – as real, that is, as humans. What do you want of me?”
“Nobody loves peace and quiet more than reptiles,” I say. “They are a wise, moderate race, especially iguanas. These earthquakes are disturbing their peaceful wood.”
“Is that all?” exclaims the Phoenix. “That is easily altered. We don’t move our volcano. We move the reptiles. Dedicated human wild life workers will move them to another habitat tomorrow. Thanks for mentioning it.” And she dives into her nest, and the iguana goes off to sleep again….
I find myself becoming very sleepy. I sit down and shut my eyes. I doze off and awaken to the sound of splashing. I find myself on a seashore, and a baby seal is flapping by me. “Don’t tell me!” I say. “You are a seal woman in disguise.” “Wrong,” says the seal. “All seals can talk, though not as much as women. We say what we have to say. Listen! We are sick and tired of tsunamis. We somehow cannot get into touch with the Heavenly Dragon of the Eastern Ocean to stop them. Can you try?”
“I’m willing to believe in anything now,” I say. “After all, dinosaurs are a sort of dragon.”
“No they aren’t,” says a sharp feminine voice. I turn and see a mermaid. Well, a sort of mermaid. She is greenish and has scales. Her eyes are red-rimmed and she has gills. For once I am not in danger of falling in love.
“You are not so attractive yourself,” she says, “a sort of jumped up chimpanzee without their pathos. Know that I am Lung Nu, Third Daughter of the Dragon King. What is your supplication?”
I explain the seals’ fear of tsunamis, as they have their cubs among the rocks. Suddenly there is an amazing change. The fish-girl transforms into a mighty Dragon made of living jade. I hear her voice like the rushing waves: “Henceforth I shall issue a warning to all these coastal creatures when I send a tsunami. Also humans will be warned so all will reach safety in the hills.”
She slowly fades into the sky becoming mingled with the stars. She changes into the Phoenix, the Angel, the Elf in rainbow colours. I become part of Her as a human, yet I am as individual as each of them. So this is our future earth ****** It is here awaiting us in the eternal Now.
Aiden slowly returns from trance, dazed. He has earned his degree for he has touched omnipresence. Reports are shared and healing sent forth. Thanks are given to the Deities.
Recommended Reading: “The Serpent Power,” Arthur Avalon, Ganesh & Co., Vasanta Press. T.S. Adyar Press, Madras. “Hindu Scriptures", edited by Macnicol, Everyman. “Images of Devi in Pahari Paintings,” Choti Bharany, Clarion Books. “The Silmarillion,” J.R.R. Tolkien, Unwin. “The Tales of Beedle the Bard,” J.K. Rowling, (donated by the author to the children’s High Level Group). “Fairies – Magical Beings,” Cassandra Eason, (Chapter on Devas & Elementals.) Piatkus Books.
Note: The first line in this ritual originally identified the Priest as Hierophant rather than as Priest Alchemist. All the other rituals in this series designate the officiating Priestess and Priest as members of the Priesthood of Solar Alchemy. We are awaiting confirmation from Olivia Robertson via the Hon. Secretary of the Circle of Brigid to see if indeed the inclusion of 'Hierophant' in this ritual was what Olivia intended - if so, the rite will be changed back to the original form. The Isian News staff acknowledges here and thanks Minette for all of her fine work.
Confirmation received May 5, 2010 from the Hon. Secretary of the Circle of Brigid: FOI Co-Founder Olivia Robertson, author of the FOI Liturgy has confirmed that "Priest Alchemist" is correct.
Sophia, Cosmic Consciousness of the Goddess
Fellowship of Isis Liturgy by Olivia Robertson
Mystical Awakening of Sagittarius and Brynhild
Ritual no. 10
ORACLE OF THE GODDESS BRYNHILD
Priestess: (Invocation) Fiery Goddess Brynhild, Who with Thy plume-crowned Sisters dost ride across the sky to rescue the souls of those slain in battle, bring us energy that we may fight for the good cause!
Oracle: Be still. Whatever noble purpose you have in mind, however glorious the cause, if bad means are used for success, evil will triumph over good. For the white plumes of light that pour from the heads of the Valkyrie are ideals: and ideals are dangerous if pursued with fanaticism. And when a cause wrongly undertaken is armed by auras of fire and spears of light, disaster is inevitable!
So was it with Asgard, a planet of fair promise. So was it with Atlantis. Planets and continents have been devastated by the greed and ambition of mortal men. Humanity is but one small part of an evolutionary procession, and is in the position of greatest danger. For man is neither entirely animal nor god: so he feels torn in two. Only man is totally lonely within his own soul, and believes that he can be extinguished by death. Woman is happier, for when she is with child she shares her body with another, whom she may love more than herself. Animals and Deities share their own particular group consciousness, and do not experience death. But man, entrapped in his own ego and dreading death, may in despair wish to drag all creatures with him into Ragnarok, a final cataclysm.
In reality no such cataclysm exists. The true Asgard, Tir na-nOg, Emhain, exist forever in the Sphere of Causes. They may be experienced by those who have transcended duality. That which appears to be destroyed in the physical realm of effects, is but a reflection distorted by troubled waters. If you see life as a continual battle between Gods and Giants, Angels and Demons - you yourself are lost in the Hell of Continual Warfare. How can you, so blind, rely on any theology or ethical system to teach you which cause is good or evil? Men do cruel actions in the name of religion or an ideal. Thus they may break their thread, which unites them with their true Divine selves.
Though struggle appears necessary in the worldly sphere, the best battle is against one's own wrongful ideas and passions, and not against the neighbour. So if you would ride with the Valkyrie, let your soul be attractive enough for these fiery Maidens to wish to save you alive from the battleground of the world! May We lift all of you to the Heaven of eternal Love and Wisdom.
On a green draped altar let there be 3 white candles, burning incense, a cup of water and a map of Sagittarius. A tree in a pot or branch in water stands before altar. Apple, ash, oak or fir are relevant. 3 Priestesses and women Companions wear silver rayed crowns and flame coloured cloaks over white gowns. 3 Priests and men Companions wear yellow headdresses and orange cloaks over white robes.
1st Priest: Companions who seek the Mystical Awakening of Sagittarius and Brynhild, know that in an ancient aeon the Goddesses and Gods reigned in glory over stars and planets and, among -the rest, over the realm of Asgard, glorious in beauty. But after centuries of happiness, the dwellers in Asgard lost their magical control over giant elemental powers, and were overcome by violence and cruelty. The rainbow bridge which connected them with the Deities was broken: and also the etheric bridge between Asgard and the Earth was destroyed. But the people could not even realise their loss. Rather, instead of repenting, they planned secretly to steal the apples of life from the Goddess Iduna.
2nd Priest: The apples grew upon the World Tree, Yggdrasil. Its mighty roots grew through the earth into the Netherworld, and its branches reached the heavens. At the base of its great trunk sat the Goddesses of Destiny, The Norns, guarding the Well of Life, which nourished the Tree. But evil men-from Asgard stole some of the apples, driven by greed and ambition. And straightaway they were terrified, for Yggdrasil shook and trembled, for the Doom of Asgard was nigh. The sun became dark. Earth sank into the sea. The shining stars were no longer seen. Vapour and fire raged fiercely together, until the leaping flames licked Heaven itself!
1st Priestess: But when free will is lost, the Deities may intervene and bring the evil ones back to a time before sin was, to the innocence of childhood, so that life may start again. Thus it was that Odin, Chief of the Gods, Himself descended to earth. He put aside His golden helmet, His golden cloak and His Spear of Light. On earth He roamed as the Wanderer, clad in black. He sought The Mothers, The Norns. When He found Them They greeted Him as Their Son and asked what He desired. He declared that He sought wisdom from the Well of Life, that He might restore both Asgard and Earth to their former virtue. The Norns granted His request on one condition: that He should give Them His Left Eye of Vision.
2nd Priest: Odin gave the Norns His Eye and in return They gave Him to drink of the Water of Life. And He became all-wise. Knowing now the source of Life and its destiny, He travelled through the stars in a dream boat, drawn by a magical horse with eight legs, Sleipnir. And the sight of His left eye returned to Him, and now He could see with it into the hearts of all creatures. And Odin would visit the earth at mid-winter, and in the homes of old men and women He would give knowledge of heaven: and to husbands and wives He would bestow knowledge and strength that they might start life anew: and to children He ever brought gifts of laughter, joy and magical dreams.
2nd Priestess: The loved Daughter of Odin, the Goddess Brynhild, feeling compassion for the sufferings of all creatures upon the earth, devised a plan. She consented to go on Her Father's dream journey to earth, with the Blessing of Frigga Her Mother, the Earth Goddess. In the sky Brynhild reigned with Her Sisters the Valkyries, Maidens of Fire and Air. Hear their songs as They ride through the sky:
"We weave, We weave the web of the spear,
As on goes the standard of the brave.
We shall not let the warrior lose his life:
The Valkyries have power to choose the slain.
Now all is sinister on the earth,
A cloud of blood moves over the sky:
The sun is hidden, the air is blood red
As the Valkyries raise the dead to life.
Loud were They, riding over the hill,
Of one mind, one heart, riding over the earth;
When the mighty Goddesses make ready Their power,
And hurl forth Their Spears of Light."
But Brynhild laid aside Her head-dress of White plumes, Her shining breast-plate, Her cloak of flames, Her Spear of Light. And She descended to earth in a dream, carried by Odin, protected by the fire of The God Loki. And She lay in a trance, suffering in Her dream from the sorrows of all on the earth.
3rd Priestess: But lo, the hero Sigurd discovered Her there, guided by a magical bird. And He awakened Her and They remembered their lost love when They dwelt together in heaven as Sieglinda and Siegmund, the Starry Twins. But the doom of Asgard was upon the earth and no earthly marriage could be theirs. Brynhild assumed Her head-dress of glory, Her Spear of Light. She summoned Her white winged horse. And upon Her horse she entered the flames that roared from the underworld into the sky. And they ascended into the heavens. And, as was Her right, she brought with Her Sigurd, Her Consort, and the souls of all whose bodies had perished in the flames of earth. And the flames subsided as the waters of the oceans rose and covered the land.
1st Priest: The High One spoke: "At that time earth will rise out of the sea and be green and fair, and fields of corn will grow that were never sown. And two human-beings will escape the destruction. Lif and Lifthrasir in Hodmimir's wood will be hidden; the morning dews their food and drink: from thence will come human after human. And you will think this strange, but the sun will have borne a Daughter no less lovely than Herself. A girl will be born and She will pursue the paths of Her Mother." This story has been handed down from one Bard to another. Let the wise harken. Once more the Rainbow Bridge was formed between Asgard and the earth. Once more is it threatened by the evil deeds of men.
1st Priestess: (North, offers incense) I offer incense to Brynhild. Whenever evil predominates over good, Thou doth come into manifestation. Teach us to weave the rainbow bridge between heaven and earth, that we may travel thereon!
1st Priest: (North, offers incense) I offer incense to the God Odin. Bring us in Thy Dream Boat to the sphere of reality!
2nd Priestess: (Southeast, offers incense) I offer incense to the Goddess Rhiannon of the Birds of Dawn. No man may approach Thee, golden robed Lady of the White Mound, save through the summoning of Thy Light. Thou art Mother of the sun-Child, for Thou didst give birth to the boy Gwri Golden Hair, at the Winter Solstice. Out of sorrow and death bring us renewal.
2nd Priest: (Southeast, offers incense) I offer incense to the Sun God Pwyll, who gave His name to the Princes of Dyfed. As the sun journeys across the sky, so dost Thou ever circle the Mound of Rhiannon, which is the earth. Only during the time of Sagittarius, at the Winter Solstice, art Thou summoned into the Mound of Rhiannon, that the new Mabin of the Year, Gwyri, may come forth as the renewed sun.
3rd Priestess: (Southwest, offers incense) I offer incense to the Goddess Niamh of the Golden Hair. As the sun sinks into the Western sea, so does the soul long for Tir-na-nOg, the eternal land of the soul. The poet Oisin stood by the shores of Loch Lena in the land of Eire and he saw coming to him across the mighty Western ocean a beautiful Lady with long golden hair, riding upon a white horse. And this is the song the Goddess Niamh sang to him:
"Delightful is the land beyond all dreams,
Fairer than aught thine eyes have ever seen;
There all the year the fruit is on the tree,
And all the year the bloom is on the flower.
There with wild honey drip the forest trees;
The stores of mead and wine shall never fail.
Nor pain nor sickness knows the dweller there.
Death and decay comes near him nevermore.
The feast shall cloy not, nor the dance shall tire,
Nor music cease forever through the hall.
The gold and jewels of the land of Youth
Outshine all splendours ever dreamed of man."
3rd Priest: (Southwest, offers incense) I offer incense to Thee, Manannan, father of Oisin the poet. Thou hast spread Thy mighty shining cloak of sea about the Western Isles, and with it hideth the lost land of Atlantis. Thy boat the Roarer traverses the great ocean and Thy White rearing steeds toss their water-dripping manes from the deeps. Bring us safely to the many-coloured land, Hy Brasil, Asgard!
1st Priest: Let us form the hexagram of the stars of Sagittarius!
1st Companion: (North) I hail the Guardians of Anu-ni-tun, Star Ishtar, in the place of the winter solstice. At the time of darkness may we see Her star!
2nd Companion: (Southeast) I hail the Guardians of the two-fold star, Nibat Anu, The Centaur's Bow. Let us have sure aim!
3rd Companion: (Southwest) I hail the Guardians of Nun-ki, Star of the Proclamation of the Sea of Heaven. May calm emotions prevail.
4th Companion: (South) I hail the Guardians of Ur-ner-Gub, the double star of the Horse. May we learn to control our own strength.
5th Companion: (North) I hail the Guardians of Si-nu-nu-tum, the ever returning Swallow. From long journeyings of the spirit may we return safely to our home.
6th Companion: (Northwest) I hail the Guardians of Zujj-al-Nushuba, the Arrow Head. Through sure-pointed determination may we attain our goal.
1st Priestess: We have recalled the rise and fall of suns and planets, and of all who dwell on the earth. We have told of the transmutation of Brynhild as She passed through the ordeal of the elements, until She had rescued those who suffered, and regained Her Divinity. Let us form a rainbow circle, a bridge from ourselves to the Deities.
Circle is formed round tree.
2nd Priestess: (hands round water to drink with these words:) Accept this Water of Life from the Norns, that you may gain wisdom.
1st Priestess: Let us perform the Dance of the spiral Rainbow around the World Tree, Yggdrasil.
Music. Sibelius, Wagner’s Ring Cycle, Stravinsky, and Mendelson’s "Hebredean Overture" are suitable.
1st Priestess: Let us raise the energies within us through the Transmutation of the Centaur!
Circle face inwards, kneeling, palms of hands on ground, until power is felt rising through hands and arms and at base of spine. All sit upwards with hands on thighs as power reaches middle spine and plexus. Circle rises upright with hands held facing each other while power brings a warm glow. Now all lift arms sideways and power reaches throat and brow. Finally arms are raised in "V" shape above head until crown centres tingle with white power. Orange and gold colours may be seen with white light above. Circle turns outwards, Companions holding out hands in blessing.
2nd Priestess: May all beings be blessed, the Sidhe and humans, animals and birds: reptiles, fish and insects: trees and plants: and every element.
3rd Priestess: (hands round sprig of tree to each Companion) Accept this gift of love from your earth Mother Frigga.
1st Priestess: (displays star map of Sagittarius) Companions, behold the Archer, half man, half horse, whose stars were revered in Ancient Babylon and Chaldea, when the winter solstice was in this sign. The Archer rises above the Sea of Heaven, below the Tropic of Capricorn. He chases the Scorpion with his arrow, and is followed by the Sea Goat. Above him shine the lovers of the sky, Vega, the Weaver maid within the Lyre stars. She is separated by the Milky Way from her lover, the Shepherd Altair, who is within the Constellation of Aquila, the eagle. They can only meet once a year, by way of a bridge of sparrows! Above them flies the Swan, Cygnus. The horse, Equuleus, stands beneath Delphinus, the Dolphin. Each creature has its innate Divinity, and its particular path of transmutation. Let us meditate upon the Mystery of Sagittarius and Brynhild.
Meditation
Reports are shared.
1st Priest: Let us give thanks to Brynhild and Odin; to Rhiannon and Pwyll; to Niamh and Manannan.
Sources: "The Prose Edda", Snorri Sturluson, trans. Jean Young, University of California Press. "Gods and Myths of Northern Europe", H. R. Ellis Davidson, Pelican. Libretto, Wagner’s "Ring". "The Mabinogion", trans. Gwyn and Thomas Jones, Dent-Dutton. "Myths and Legends of the Celtic Race", T. W. Rolleston, 1911, Harrap.
Note: "Star Names, Their Lore and Meaning," Richard Hinckley Allen, Dover Publications, New York, first pub. 1899."Juno Covella, Perpetual Calendar of the Fellowship of Isis", Lawrence Durdin-Robertson, Cesara Publications, and Philips’ Planisphere were used for each Rite.
Note: The name Sigurd is used in this ritual for the character more commonly referred to as Siegfried. Siegfried and Sigurd are variations of the same name. Sigurd, more properly, Sigurðr, is Old Norse, while Siegfried is German.
Panthea, Initiations and Festivals of the Goddess
Fellowship of Isis Liturgy
by Olivia Robertson
Part II. The Star of Ishtar. Eight Seasonal Festivals
The Tree of Life
Winter Solstice. 21st - 25th December
Ritual no. 12
ORACLE OF THE GODDESS FRIGGA
Priestess: (Invocation) Holy Frigga, Mother Goddess, whose Consort is the God Odin, we invoke Thy Blessing on Your poor earth that we may redeem her from all the ills we have inflicted upon her in this cruel iron age.
Oracle: Be of good heart! An Age of Starry Space has dawned, as was foretold by the Seers of old. As you imagine, so it is. When you fear Ragnarok, the general destruction of Gods and men - lo it is there, not for the Deities who live forever, but with your earthly lives. You have as yet no idea of the power of your imaginations! To imagine is to co-create with the Deities. It is through the Divine Imagination that the galaxies were formed in a swirling of light, and the stars sang and the planets turned about them, for this was the imagining of the mighty Star Deities.
It is My Will that My children should create. Artists produce works that show forth the beauty that is inherent in all things, and philosophers through mind make logical systems of thought. Master Builders produce civilizations, and religious teachers give devotees noble religions.
But the greatest of all creations and the most despised, is the Family. Mention the family, and the intelligent, the creative, the spiritual, are bored! They feel the Mother was the restriction which they endured in the womb, from which they were glad to escape into the bright light of incarnation! The Wife suggests the binding responsibilities of home and children that distract the pilgrim on his quest for eternity. Indeed, in the day of the Patriarch it was often the practice of seekers for truth to abandon their homes and go forth into the wilderness, there to seek enlightenment, During the Iron Age the way of the monk and the nun, the scholar and the scientist, was regarded as the highest and best path to Heaven. Heaven was the mind, the spirit, the alienation from both earth and the family.
But now the time has come, when austere studentship has been achieved, for humanity to discover the Divine Family. Each of us has a Divine Family, whether they are My Families, the Aesir and the Vanir, the Family of the Olympian Gods and Goddesses, the Families of Parvati and Lakshmi of India, or your own true peers. Families do not mean separation, for all beings are akin: by venerating your own mother, you honour all mothers: by loving your wives and husbands, you respect all lovers. Care for your own children, and you care for the offspring of every creature throughout the Universe.
Your Spiritual Family will be discovered by you as you tread the Path of the Wise Ones. Drink deep from the Well of Wisdom, but do not ignore the humble, but rather respect the love within them. Therefore, be particularly careful when you do find your Spiritual Family that you give even more love and understanding to your earthly relations and friends! Otherwise you will lose the rainbow bridge with your Spiritual Family, and alienate your earthly friends. The Tree of Life shines through every Being and creature. It shines through Rainbow Bridges of flowing energy, bringing in accord the Almighty Deities and the humblest child and horse and bird and plant. Your pilgrimage will bring you at long last in a spiral from earthly home to Divine Haven. Both are One.
Assembly at the gate. Celebrants including children in many-hued robes and leafy head-garlands, bearing symbolic unwrapped gifts. Priestess in star crown and blue and white robes, holding wand. Priest in gold headdress and red robes, with staff. Maiden and Youth (Lifstrathir and Lif) in white. Priest strikes ground 3 times with staff.
Priest: Fellow Celebrants, at this holy time of the Winter Solstice we are assembled to honour the Tree of Life. When the sun appears lowest in the sky, the stars shine forth in all their glory! The Tree of Life has its roots in the abyss of space and its branches encircle the Universe. Its flowers are the galaxies, and its leaves are all living souls.
Priestess: The Tree of Life is reflected about us in the World Tree, named Yggdrasil the Ash by our Norse forebears. Yggdrasil has three roots. One is deep within the earth, encircled by a fiery serpent. The second grows among the four stars of the Southern Cross, in the Realm of Muspell. The third rises from the Himinbiorg, Hill of Heaven, between the three Pole Stars. At the brightest is the well of Ultha. The Rainbow Bridge Bifrost joins these three roots from the North and South through the centre of the earth. The crown of Yggdrasil reaches the stars of Aquila, the eagle, Galactic Centre.
Priest: Bifrost also connects the mighty branches of the Tree as it ascends through the Seven Heavens. Souls journey over the Rainbow Bridge higher and higher from Valhalla, home of the valiant Alfheim, wherein dwell the White Elves, Ereidblik the beautiful to Glitnir, glorious with gold and silver.
Priestess: And at the Crown of the Tree are three Heavens shining with eternal Light, and these never pass away nor is the Rainbow Bridge to these ever broken. These are Gimlae, Andlang and Vilblain. The Tree is also within ourselves, for our spine is the trunk and our radiant psychic centres are the fruits.
Priest: Let us make procession to the Tree that has grown so wonderfully from a small seed shed by the Mother Goddess.
Procession to high altar which is draped with red and gold. On it is burning incense and 7 lighted candles. Before it, left, is small tree in tub of earth to be replanted with honour in 12 days; centre, a cauldron of water and cup, and right, a large unlighted candle entwined with mistletoe. There are unlighted candles in circle round temple. Food and drink are ready.
Celebrants: (place gifts in and round tree with these words) I offer this gift to Frigga and Odin, the Givers of gifts.
Priestess: (makes loop in air with wand) I invoke the Goddess Frigga!
Frigga, Frigga, Frigga, Earth Mother,
Blessed be the fruits of Thy womb,
Blessed be the paps of the Cow Goddess Audhumla
That nourish all creatures.
Make our fields to increase and flourish.
The earth fruitful and healthy.
With shining harvest of shafts of millet,
Broad harvests of barley and all grains.
Hail to thee, Frigga, Mother of us all!
From the dark winter bring forth abundance
And bless us with noble progeny.
Priest: (lifts staff aloft and makes lightning flash sign) I invoke the God Odin.
We call upon the Mighty Father,
Husband of Frigga, strong to protect.
Father of the Aesir and the Vanir,
Powerful and glorious Deities,
Odin, carry us over the Rainbow Bridge Bifrost
To the beautiful Heavens.
We sing praise of Odin the wise one.
Priestess: Know that Lifthrasir and Lif are the Maiden and Youth who sheltered within the branches of Yggdrasil when the bright planet Asgard fell. They come forth renewed at the birth of the New age.
Priestess: (anoints maiden and youth's brows with water saying) May you receive the Water of Life. All brows are anointed.
Priest: Fellow Celebrants, let the Divine Mystery of the Tree and the Well be presented. Strikes ground twice with staff.
MYSTERY OF THE TREE AND THE WELL
Actors: The Wanderer is in black cloak with wide-brimmed black hat concealing face. He holds pilgrim's staff. 3 Women (Spaewives) in black cloaks and hooded faces with bare feet crouch in circle round cauldron. 7 Star Maidens in star crowns and white robes.
Wanderer: Weary and heart-sick am I, travelling through mountain torrents, cruel rocks and ice-fields. I have abandoned my loving wife and children for this arduous pilgrimage, seeking for wisdom to cure the ills of mankind! I despair at human folly. Children alone are joyful. But when they reach maturity they are taught of past injustice and, burning with hateful violence, join the bitter warfare of their tribes! The beautiful earth is ravaged through man's greed and envy. Clearly I foresee that such evil seeds can only produce catastrophe. Doom is upon the earth and all its creatures. Why, even this tree before me looks sickly and twisted with pollution! And these three wretched women crouching on the bare earth, meanly clad, feet bare, what refreshment can they draw from this contaminated well!
lst Woman: The joy of the morning to you, good Lord! Would you spare a coin for a poor old woman?
Wanderer: Greetings to you, Reverend Mother. Alas, I have no coins for you. Bad it is for you in your old age to be reduced to begging in the cold winter.
2nd Woman: A happy marriage for you, fine stranger! Shall I sing you a ballad of lovers who part and meet again?
Wanderer: Wrong it is to see a fine woman like yourself reduced to singing love ballads by the dusty wayside! You should be in your own home with a good husband and children.
3rd Woman: Greeting to you, melancholy Wanderer! Would you have good fortune? Shall I read your palm?
Wanderer: Sad indeed am I to see a young girl telling fortunes to travellers at the side of the road! You should be with your father and mother, safe, at home.
lst Woman: We three are Spaewives who greet strangers at the crossroads. We have some little skill in divination. From the roots of the past come the present. Answer me this, you with all you book learning! What would you give to save the wide earth from destruction?
Wanderer: This is easily answered! I would give all I have!
lst Woman: You need only give your memory.
Wanderer: My memory! It is a rich store. I remember my wife and children who for so long have awaited my return. Yet my own thoughts give me the lie. It is bitter memory of past injuries that cause cruel wars. Take mine if you can!
lst Woman: Drink this water. Gives Wanderer water to drink. He does so.
Wanderer: Most strange and wonderful! I am happy for the first time for long years! I feel as I did as a child when I first saw a horse grazing in a glade, its coat dappled by sun through leafy trees.
2nd Woman: The task is not completed. You are joyful. Others remain unhappy. To transform the world you must give up all power and influence!
Wanderer: But it was my intention to return to my fellows filled with the wisdom to govern well and to teach the truth! Yet, when so many have tried to change the world through will and intellect and have failed, how may I succeed? I am willing to give up my power, if you can take it.
2nd Woman dips Wanderer's fingertips in water.
Wanderer: What is this strength that imbues my limbs and fills my being with glory? Vain are the deliberations and the edicts of rulers and teachers! I shine like the sun and so may awaken the sun in all so may the people govern and teach themselves!
3rd Woman: The task is not yet complete. Your clear mind foresees a terrible doom to fall upon the earth, as a necessary consequence of foolish and evil deeds. Will you surrender your farsighted vision and all faculties of your mind?
Wanderer: This would be my death, for I dwell in my mind: it is my heaven. Yet as foresight only shows me inevitable catastrophe, I must surrender that which I value most. Take my mind, if you can!
3rd Woman anoints Wanderer's head and brow with water.
Music: Wagner's Valhallah music is suitable.
Wanderer: Oh wonder! I stand upon the Hill of Himmelbiorg at the Pole Star! Below me is the Spring of Urtha, and above me spread the radiant branches of Yggdrasil! Bright are the fruits of Immortality, the golden apples of Iduna. Now I feel the Tree within my being. Its fire rises within my spine and the branches spread throughout my body. The fruits thereof glow within me and rays of love spread from my heart. With starlight on my brow I can truly see into the minds of all creatures, and a crown of stars about my head endows me with the wisdom of the Gods.
lst Woman: Look within the Well and see yourself.
Wanderer: (looks in cauldron) I remember myself. I am the God Odin!
lst Woman: You speak the truth. You are Odin the Wanderer Who after the destruction of the ill-fated planet Asgard roamed the stars seeking wisdom.
2nd Woman: You are Odin of The Rainbow Bridge. You bear souls to the seven Heavens on Your magical horse Sleipnir, and endow them with ecstasy through beautiful visions!
3rd Woman: You are Odin the Master Builder of the Halls of the Heavens. For what is divinely imagined must be embodied through all spheres. Those who work with You help to bring heaven upon earth, for what is beautifully pictured must of necessity be manifested. This is the Will of the Mothers, who wish their children to create noble new worlds throughout the Universe.
3 Women rise and throw back hoods.
Wanderer: Who are You that tower among the stars, the Well of Truth at your feet?
1st Woman: We are the Norns who determine the destiny of all creatures. My Name is Urtha, which is Fate.
2nd Woman: We are the Norns who bring progeny to every creature, in ever renewing life. My Name is Verthandi, which is Being.
3rd Woman: We are the Norns who nourish the Tree of Life with the Waters of Inspiration. My Name is Skulda, which is Necessity. Odin, return to Frigga and Your children, the Aesir and the Vanir, bright Deities; and bring with You the gifts of wisdom, ecstasy and inspiration to human-kind, that evil be transformed into good, hatred into love, and fear to hope!
Wanderer: May the Divine Will be done! Let the Seven Maidens of the Great Bear weave star-rays of harmony, shedding these gifts on earth!
Dance of Star Maidens. Music by Sibelius is suitable.
End of Mystery
Priest: (strikes the ground once with staff) Fellow Celebrants, let us meditate upon the Mystery of the Tree and the Well.
Priestess: Let us sit in tranquillity and with eyes shut travel by the Rainbow Bridge to the Fifth Heaven. . . the Heaven Gimlae shall stand when both the lower Heavens and earth shall pass away, and the good and righteous shall inhabit it for all times. Thus spake the Prophetess Volva: "I know where stands a Hall brighter than sunlight, better than gold, in Lee-of-the-Flame, Gimlae: hosts of the righteous shall it inherit, and live in delight everlastingly." ***
Meditation
Rays of understanding, joy and hope are sent forth. Oracle may be given. Reports.
Priest: At the Winter Solstice life is renewed as the sun strengthens on its course. Let Lifthrasir and Lif light the Solar Flame! Strikes ground 3 times.
Lif gives Lifthrasir lighted taper and he holds central candle while she lights it. They join fingertips over flame and kiss. Omnes light candles from central flame.
Priestess: Let us rejoice! A new Age is born!
Omnes hold hands in a circle, and move 3 times round the path of the sun.
Priestess: Let the children present the Dance of the Elves, faeries, dwarfs and trolls!
Children's dance. Pier Gint, Grieg, is relevant. General dance and song. Gifts are presented. Mulled wine and fruit juice and seasonal fare are enjoyed. Priest and Priestess give thanks to Frigga and Odin and send forth Omnes with blessing.
Sources: “The Prose Edda”, Snorri Sturluson, translation by Jean J. Young, University of California Press, Berkeley, 1973. “Gods & Myths of Northern Europe”, H. R. Ellis Davidson, Penguin Books, New York, 1964. “The Libretto of the Ring Cycle”, Wilhelm Richard Wagner, originally published between 1854 and 1874. “Star Names, Their Lore and Meaning", Richard Hinckley Allen, first published G. S. Stechert, 1899, Dover Publications reprint, New York, 1963.
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Nuit of the Milky Way,
Alchemical Journeys of the Questing Twins
Fellowship of Isis Liturgy by Olivia Robertson
Ritual 9. Realm of Sagittarius: The Aspiring Centaur
We Look Within Ourselves
THE TEMPLE OF ALCHEMY
Priestess/Priest Alchemist: (to Twin Apprentices) You have an important task. You are required to blend the aerial ideals of Libra with the hidden deeps of the oceans of Scorpio. Successfully to accomplish this, to unite the subliminal and the unconscious mind, spirit and soul . . . you need to come down to earth! Only within the hidden sun of our earth can you find the self-knowledge that comes from practical experience of earthly life. Let us seek the aid of the Goddess Terra of our earth!
ORACLE OF THE GODDESS TERRA OF ROME
Priestess: (Invocation) Holy Mother of us all, we dwell by Thy sufferance upon the wide earth: all creatures that fly and run and swim are under Thy sway. The sacred elements of earth form Thy Body and Thy mighty aura encompasses us as a protective veil. But now we dread the destruction we wreak upon Thy Being. Aid us to change the hearts of those who destroy Thy children and Thy life.
Oracle: Fear not for Me! For if, through immature folly, My destructive sons break My crust irretrievably, causing My inner fires to erupt, for Me this would be a glorious rebirth into a greater orbit! I should encircle the sun in splendour as a far flying comet. In truth, it is not for Me - whom you have trodden underfoot with neglect - for whom you fear, but for yourselves and your works. For what can the students do when they have destroyed their classroom? Yet that which is threatened is suddenly appreciated! So many of you return to My Nature and seek My initiation. Know that heaven and the stars are without, but they are also within Me and within Yourselves! My Inner Sun shines radiantly as My heart's love, and in the depths My Holy Centres glow with myriad ever-changing colours. These are guarded by the two-coiled fiery Dragon-Goddess Tiamat. The first quest to be undertaken by the seeker is not without but within My Being. For within are all your lost treasures, the records of your past lives. The pilgrim soul may through Me live again through each stage of evolving consciousness, as does a child within the womb.
Descend into the Abyss, but only with My Vocation. Without My unmistakable call you will surely perish from fear! Bring with you the Lamp of Truth, and in your hearts love for even those of my children who appear to you as terrible of aspect. You will face and pass through molten sulfurous green lakes, rivers of fire and finally, face all-revealing Light. Know that in My womb rests the lost paradise you seek, and within it is the Tree. The time comes to each of you when the forbidden fruit is freely given to you. And the gifts thereof give you knowledge of past epochs and the rise and fall of planets and the realization of your own latent divinity. Yet even knowledge is not enough. For wisdom to be won you must taste of the ever renewing Tree of creative Love. Come to Me without fear, but only when I call you Home.
Priestess Alchemist: (to Aiden) To find the inner fire of your earth, which glows within our bodies, you need to leave our Solar Iseum and pass through the Gateway of Sagittarius in the Northwest of the Temple of the Zodiac. We will accompany your trance journey. Report to us if you are able.
Aiden: Curious. I feel uninspired by the earth. It’s always there somehow. * * * Oh, I like the Sagittarius gateway though! I’ve always adored horses - literally. It is guarded by two magnificent centaurs - can they be alive? One is golden, on the right and the other is black on he left - he has a beard. How soaringly high they are! One forgets how high a man is on a horse. However, I wonder will they let me pass - for they have arrows aimed - but not at me. How curious. They aim at each other. So I can slip by unnoticed.
Oh how wonderful! I am in a glade full of beautiful men and women in Greek costume. I’ve always longed to take part in ancient Greek Mysteries. As you know for me the more secret the better! And this is exciting - because it is nowadays! I observe a pile of modern T-shirts and denims. A lovely young girl tells me to robe myself in a tunic. I am doing this. * * * I am hurrying, because someone is beating out an hypnotic rhythm and flutes are playing. I long to join the dance * * * Long Pause * * * This is the most glorious dance I’ve ever enjoyed! Yes - nymphs and satyrs and fauns dance with me, and to crown it all, Pan appears, the Great God Himself! He is aloft, His horned hoofs delicately balanced on a rock. Men and women throng around the Horned God. They reach Him in pairs. They listen for a few seconds to His flute music - but then vanish! For a moment the lovers stand on the rock with the God in a state of bliss. Then they dissolve in strange emerald and violet light leaving behind a rush of heady scent of exotic plants.
A beautiful nymph is asking me to join her forever, as her twin soul, promising indescribable ecstasy, but I ask nervously where do the devotees go? Another reveller, a young man, tells me that those who vanish enter into the total reality of the cosmos. They become a dewdrop joining the shining seas of space: a living atom in everlasting joy. I suddenly feel panic. The young girls are closing in on me. Their arms encircle me as they draw me towards the God. They tell me that Pan Himself eternally sacrifices Himself with every death, and so must we offer ourselves in sacrifice, so that we too enjoy His rebirth throughout Nature.
Suddenly I remember the centaurs. I call for spiritual help. A white horse appears and I rush towards him and mount. I gallop at top speed. I have no wish to make part of Nature’s omelet. The horse brings me higher and higher up a mountain and around me I see innumerable stars. I long to reach them and so attain spiritual illumination. I have called to the Light. I offer myself * * * but to my horror, I see that the horse is making for a precipice. Then I remember the Irish legend of the Pouka, the faery horse that lures its riders over a precipice to death . . . Now I know why this is happening. The White Horse has mighty wings. He can fly. I cannot.
I find myself falling and falling and falling. * * * The Light has disappeared and I am in total overwhelming darkness. I call upon my Mother . . . I feel warm arms around me and there is a glow like a sun within me. I hear a voice, strangely both far away and yet within me: "My son, you have returned. You have come down to earth!" We hug each other. I am safe. * * * Slowly I am coming back to you all. I know the Mother never deserts us, even though we leave Her. She is forever in our hearts.
The Company are pleased with Aiden’s discovery and agree that he has gained his degree through the Ritual of Sagittarius. Reports are shared and thoughts of Love and Healing are sent forth. Thanks are given to Terra, our Mother.End of Rite.
Note: When working with the rituals in "Nuit of the Milky Way", a Priestess/Priest Alchemist has the following choices. They may:
(1) use the rites presented in the book, or,
(2) create their own rites based on the Oracles presented in the book.
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