Office of the Readings for 2022

Happy Thelemic New Year, everyone! It's that time again, for the Office of the Readings.

For the last two years we have been limited to doing the Office of the Readings online. This year, I am pleased to announce that they will once again be presented in-person at Leaping Laughter Lodge, the Minneapolis local body of Ordo Templi Orientis. Getting back to business as usual for in-person events has been a long time coming, but it is a very welcome state of affairs.

This post will remain the top article here for the duration of the Thelemic High Holy Days, from March 20th to April 10th. The Rite of the Office of the Readings is performed for all of the readings beginning on March 20th.

Because of events at Paganicon this weekend, we will be reading the Prologue of the Unborn preceding the regular two readings for tonight, March 20th, and those readings will follow the Invocation of Horus. Our standard practice has been to read the Prologue on its own on the evening of March 19th, but that was not possible this year due to our activity at the convention. Otherwise, this is the version that we did for a number of years prior to changing some of the readings up more recently.

Rituals

The Invocation of Horus

The Rite of the Office of the Readings

Readings

March 20 - Saturn/Earth, The Universe

Liber VII, Prologue of the Unborn.

Liber LXV, Cap I.

Liber VII, Cap II.

March 21 - Fire/Spirit, The Aeon

Liber LXV, Cap IV.

From The Four Zoas by William Blake.

March 22 - Sol, The Sun

Liber VII, Cap IV.

From A Mithraic Ritual Translated by GRS Mead.

March 23 - Pisces, The Moon

Liber VII, Cap VI.

From Dark Night of the Soul, Book II, Cap 8 by San Juan de la Cruz.

March 24 - Aries, The Emperor

Liber Tzaddi vel Hamus Hermeticus.

From the Tao Te Ching by Lao Tzu, Cap 37 and 39.

March 25 - Mars, The Tower

Liber VII, Cap I.

From Liber CDXVIII, The 16th Æthyr.

March 26 - Capricornus, The Devil

Liber A'ash.

From Liber CXI, Cap 174-175.

March 27 - Sagittarius, Art

Liber DCCCXIII, Cap VII.

From The Vision of the Universal Mercury by G.H. Frater S.R.M.D.

March 28 - Scorpio, Death

From Liber Arcanorum.

From Liber CXI, Cap 192-194.

March 29 - Water, The Hanged Man

Liber LXV, Cap III.

I. N. R. I. by Frater Achad.

March 30 - Libra, Adjustment

Liber Libræ.

Selections from “The Spiritual Guide” by San Miguel de Molinos.

March 31 - Jupiter, Fortune

Liber VII, Cap III.

From Liber CDXVIII, The 20th Æthyr.

April 1 - Virgo, The Hermit

Liber VII, Cap V.

The Emerald Tablet of Hermes by Hermes Trismegistus.

April 2 - Leo, Lust

Liber Stellae Rubeæ.

From The Daughter of Fortitude Received by Sir Edward Kelley.

April 3 - Cancer, The Chariot

Liber Cheth vel Vallum Abiegni.

Maha Prajnaparamita Hridaya Sutra (The Heart Sutra, Buddhist text. Translation by the Kuan Um School of Zen).

April 4 - Gemini, The Lovers

Liber LXV, Cap II.

From Liber DCCCXXXVII, The Law of Liberty.

April 5 - Taurus, The Hierophant

Liber LXV, Cap V.

From On Christ and Antichrist by Hippolytus, Cap 2.

April 6 - Aquarius, The Star

Liber DCCCXIII, Cap VI.

From The Thunder, Perfect Mind (Gnostic text).

April 7 - Venus, The Empress

Liber VII, Cap VII.

From Liber CDXVIII, The 7th Æthyr.

April 8 - Luna, The Priestess

Liber AL, Cap I.

April 9 - Mercury, The Magus

Liber AL, Cap II.

April 10 - Air, The Fool

Liber AL, Cap III.

If you would like to perform this series and have questions, feel free to e-mail me here. All Office of the Readings posts may be viewed here. Our Office of the Readings series is based on this ritual series by the Companions of Monsalvat.

Pisces Elixir Rite for 2022

Here is the video of Tuesday's Pisces Elixir Rite. The donation link is here.

The sign Pisces is attributed to the Moon card in the Tarot, and to the powers of bewitchment and casting illusions in Liber 777. This includes spells like "glamors" that influence the perceptions of others, and also counteracting and protection from such operations. Pisces also rules the qualities that you will find related to the sign in any book on astrology. Those sorts of intentions should work fine with this ritual as well.

Enjoy!

Via Solis Pisces Elixir Rite - Year Five

Today's Magick Monday post is a full script for the Pisces Elixir Rite that we will be performing tomorrow, March 15th at the Tuesday ritual workshop starting around 8 PM CDT. I will also be posting a video of the ritual on the Leaping Laughter YouTube channel, which can be found here.

0. The Temple

The ritual space is set up with an altar table in the center. The bell chime, banishing dagger, and invoking wand are placed on the altar. In the center of the altar is placed a cup of wine for creating the elixir, within the Table of Art corresponding to Pisces. The sign Pisces is attributed to the powers of "Bewitchment" and "Casting Illusions." So this is the power that you would call upon to cast classic magical operations such as "glamours" and the like. Spells that act directly on your own mind or those of others would also qualify. And, since magical powers are descriptive, not prescriptive, this can be scaled up to include all sorts of contemporary issues in our society. The Via Solis Elixir Rites were written by Michele Montserrat in 2010 for the Comselh Ananael magical working group.

I. Opening

Officiant inhales fully, placing the banishing dagger at his or her lips. The air is then expelled as the dagger is swept backwards.

Officiant: Bahlasti! Ompehda!

Officiant then performs the Lesser Banishing Ritual of the Pentagram.

Officiant: We take refuge in Nuit, the blue-lidded daughter of sunset, the naked brilliance of the voluptuous night sky, as we issue the call to the awakened nature of all beings, for every man and every woman is a star.

All: MAKAShANaH

Officiant: We take refuge in Hadit, the secret flame that burns in every heart of man and in the core of every star, as we issue the call to our own awakened natures, arousing the coiled serpent about to spring.

All: ABRAHADABRA

Officiant: We take refuge in Heru-Ra-Ha, who wields the wand of double power, the wand of the force of Coph Nia, but whose left hand is empty for he has crushed an universe and naught remains, as we unite our awakened natures with those of all beings everywhere and everywhen, dissolving all obstacles and healing all suffering.

All: AUMGN

Officiant: For pure will, unassuaged of purpose, delivered from the lust of result, is every way perfect.

All: All is pure and present are and has always been so, for existence is pure joy; all the sorrows are but as shadows; they pass and done; but there is that which remains. To this realization we commit ourselves – pure and total presence. So mote it be.

Bell chime.

Ritual Night Talk for March 8th

Here is the video of Tuesday's Ritual Night Talk, on psychic senses. The donation link is here.

A large amount of online discussion and debate surrounds the question of how best to perceive and interact with spirits. Spirits communicate by psychic means, but the psychic senses that accomplish this are usually internally "mapped" onto various combinations of physical senses. This mapping is highly individual, meaning that some people might perceive a spirit visually, others auditorily, and still others by kinesthetic means. The key to effective spirit perception is to understand how your personal psychic senses work, and from there develop techniques that fit your own combination of senses.

Enjoy!

Nine-Tailed Fox on the Loose?

Here's an odd story out of Japan. An ancient stone that is said to have contained the spirit of a kitsume, a nine-tailed fox spirit, has cracked in half. Some have speculated that the breaking of the rock may have released the kitsume, which I guess would have then run off to do whatever nine-tailed fox things happen to be. Kitsumes are not exactly "demons" in the Western sense, but they are known to be tricksters and according to folklore this particular one is said to have attempted to kill the 12th-century Japanese emperor Toba.

A large volcanic rock said to immediately kill anyone that touches it, the Sessho-seki stone, is deeply embedded in Japanese mythology and is said to be the transformed corpse of the mythological Tamamo-no-Mae. Tamamo-no-Mae was supposedly a beautiful woman whose spirit was possessed by the nine-tailed fox, or kitsune, a demon spirit known for trickery and deception using disguise. Known to answer any question asked of her, Tamamo-no-Mae was part of a plot to seduce and kill Emperor Toba, who fell sick as a result. The fox spirit was exposed and hunted by two mythological warriors, and the spirit embedded itself into the Sessho-seki stone as a last resort, which released a poisonous gas that killed anyone who touched it.

The spirit supposedly haunted the rock, which was registered as a local historical site in 1957, until a Buddhist priest performed rituals to finally make the spirit rest. Now, it has been reported that the killing stone has split in two, likely as a result of natural erosion. According to the Guardian, the volcanic rock had been observed with cracks in several years ago, likely allowing water in, which helped erode it from the inside. That hasn’t stopped superstitions running wild, with tourists that have flocked to the demonic rock saying they "feel like they have seen something they shouldn't".

So I guess the question here would be, did they? Spirits can endure for long periods of time within objects, but without knowing more about the Buddhist ritual that put the spirit to rest it's hard to say whether it would still be present and/or dangerous. It is true that often when a object containing a spirit or spirit instance breaks the enchantment will break as well, and if this stone was truly magically containing the spirit, it might actually be on the loose. I will point out, though, that a crack through the object is usually sufficient to break the magick, so the kitsume could have in fact been released years ago when they were first noticed.

The world has been pretty messed up for the last few years. Could a thousand-year-old escaped trickster kitsune have anything to do with it?

Ritual Night Talk for March 1st

Here is the video of Tuesday's Ritual Night Talk, on the Star Sapphire. The Star Sapphire article link is here and the donation link is here.

The Star Sapphire is Aleister Crowley's "improved ritual of the hexagram." It works roughly the same way as the Lesser Invoking Ritual of the Hexagram with a couple of additional steps. Like the LRH, it is a general macrocosmic ritual and as such works well for daily practice in conjunction with the Star Ruby. It also can include a eucharistic component suitable for daily practice if a material basis for the sacrament is employed.

Enjoy!