Wednesday, March 18, 2020

Rite of the Office of Readings - Year B

It's that time of year again, for the Office of the Readings!

This year we will be shaking things up a bit and going with a new set of "Year B" readings assembled by M. Dionysius Rogers. Going forward these will be alternated with the "Year A" version from the Companions of Monsalvat that we have been using up to this point.

We also have made a few "Year B" changes to the Rite of the Office of the Readings, which can be found here. The updated list of readings for the 2020 season and "B" years will follow soon.

This ritual is adapted by Lalitha from the ORDO SUNYATA VAJRA’s DIAMOND SAPPHIRE GEM of RADIANT LIGHT, Version 8.0; Vernal Holy Days: Office of Readings by M. Dionysius Rogers; and Office of Readings for the High Holy Days by the Companions of Monsalvat.


0. PREPARATION

Consecration of the People with holy oil upon entry.

Purification of the Temple by Water and Consecration of the Temple by Fire, with Introit Music: March 20 through 25, Depth of Catastrophe by Alizadeh; March 26 through April 1, Ninth Aethyr Canticle; April 2 through April 7, 169 Cries; and for the Days of the Feast: April 8 - Sirt im Sasani, April 9 - Horus, and April 10 - Annua Gaudia by Moore.


I. OPENING

Officiant: BAHLASTI! OMPEHDA!


Officiant performs Lesser Banishing Ritual of the Pentagram or Star Ruby. Bell Chime.

Officiant: Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law.

All: Love is the law, love under will.

II. FORMULATION of the LIGHT


Officiant performs Lesser Invoking Ritual of the Hexagram or Star Sapphire.

Officiant: If they say to you, where did you come from?, say to them, We came from the light. If they say to you, Is it you?, say, We are its children, and we are the elect of the living father. If they ask you, What is the sign of your father in you?, say to them, It is movement and repose. (Gospel of Thomas, Saying Number 70)

All: Now I begin to pray, thou child
Holy thy name and undefiled
Thy reign is come, thy will is done
Here is the bread, here is the blood
Bring me through midnight to the Sun
Save me from evil and from good
That thy one crown of all the ten
Even now and here be mine.
AMEN.


Bell Chime.


III. PRELIMINARY LITANY of the OFFICE OF READINGS

Officiant: Behold, all crowns and thrones above
Is the sanctity of love.
In His warm and secret shrine
Is a cup of perfect wine,
Whereof one drop is medicine
Against all ills that hurt the soul.

All: My God, how I love Thee!

Officiant: A flaming daughter of the djinn
Brought to me once a winged scroll,
Wherein I read the spell that brings
The knowledge of the King of Kings.
Angel, I invoke thee now!
Bend on me the starry brow!
Spread the eagle wings above
The pavilion of our love!

All: My God, how I love Thee!

Officiant: Rise from your starry sapphire seats!
See, where through the quickening skies
The oriflamme of beauty beats
Heralding loyal legionaries,
Whose flame of golden javelins
Fences those peerless paladins.
There are the burning lamps of them,
Splendid star-clusters to begem
The trailing torrents of those blue
Bright wings that bear mine angel through!

All: My God, how I love Thee!

Officiant: O Thou art like an Hawk of Gold,
Miraculously manifold,
For all the sky's aflame to be
A mirror magical of Thee!
The stars seem comets, rushing down
To gem thy robes, bedew thy crown.

All: My God, how I love Thee!

Officiant: Like the moon-plumes of a strange bird
By a great wind subtly stirred,
Thou drawest the light of all the skies
Into thy wake.
The heaven dies
In the bubbling froth of light, that foams
About thine ardour.
All the domes
Of all the heavens close about thee
As thou art known of me who love thee.

All: My God, how I love Thee!

Officiant: Excellent kiss, thou fastenest on
This soul of mine, that it is gone,
Gone from all life, and rapt away
Into the infinite starry spray
Of thine own /Eon ... I fainting say:

All: My God, how I love Thee!


Note: The stanzas of the Preliminary Litany are from Crowley's AHA!

Officiant: Silence: I utter the Creative Breath,
The Word against the Son of Night,
The Truth of Life against the Lie of Death,
The Modes of measured Might,
The Wisdom of the twofold phrase,
The Root of Throbbing Energy-Delight
The Shaking of the Viewless Void of Space,
The Making manifest of Mother-Mass,
The Piercing of the Coils of Apophrasz,
The Breaking-forth of Light.


Note: The first General Exordium is from LXIV:18. The second variation is the General Exordium from Crowley’s “Hymn to Tahuti.”

IV. THE OFFICE OF READINGS

Refer to the Readings Supplement to the Office of the Readings for the current day’s lection.

Officiant gives the instruction corresponding to the day's reading. Then:

Officiant: Now meditate upon the Divine Radiance,
that One Light which deserves our reverence,
the One whose noble thought energizes and directs our awakening.


Bell Chime. Formless meditation for five minutes. Then Bell Chime x3.

V. FINAL BENEDICTION

Officiant: Remember all ye that existence is pure joy; that all the sorrows are but as shadows; they pass & are done; but there is that which remains.

All: I am uplifted in thine heart, and the kisses of the stars rain hard upon thy body.

Officiant: May Light, Life, Love and Liberty be extended universally to all, under the regency of the One Law of Thelema. May all attain the Stone of the Wise, the Summum Bonum, True Wisdom and Perfect Happiness.

All: ABRAHADABRA!

Officiant: There is an end of the speech; let the Silence of darkness be broken;

All: Let it return into the silence of light.


All may leave the temple at this point. A hymn is played or can be sung. March 20 through 25 the Nigredo; March 26 through April 1, the Albedo; April 2 through April 7, the Rubedo; For the Days of the Feast of the Writing of the Book of the Law, no outro music is designated.

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