Monday, June 6, 2022

Via Solis Gemini Elixir Rite - Year Six

Tomorrow, Tuesday June 7th, we will be performing the Gemini Elixir Rite at the ritual workshop starting around 8 PM CDT. The full script is below if you would like to review it before the event. 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 Gemini. The sign Gemini is attributed to "The power of being in two or more places at the same time, and of Prophecy." As I interpret it, the former is related to astral work and the latter is related to precognition in all its forms, the ability to see into the future. In a mystical sense, it also corresponds to prophetic consciousness in general. Therefore, these sorts of intents are most appropriate. The Via Solis Elixir Rites were written by Michele Montserrat in 2010 for the Comselh Ananael magical working group.


I. Opening


All stand surrounding the altar. 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. All rotate accordingly.


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 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.


II. The Magical Field


Officiant performs the Lesser Invoking Ritual of the Hexagram (Comselh Ananael or standard version). All rotate accordingly.


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.


Officiant: In my breast I carry the mark of the Living God.


All: I adore thee, thou light of the world. I adore thee thou Light of the Grail. I ask nothing from thee for I am become thee. I and thee are one in the perfection of the Mystery of Life.


III. The Preliminary Invocation


Officiant: And before the throne there was a sea of glass, like crystal, and in the center and around the throne, four living creatures full of eyes in front and behind. Without stopping day or night they were saying...


All: Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty, who was, who is, and who is coming – IAO


All make the Sign of Apophis and Typhon.


Officiant: Holy art Thou, who art Universe,
Holy art Thou, who art in Nature formed,
Holy art Thou, the Vast and the Mighty,
Source of Darkness, Source of Light.


All make the Sign of Silence.


All: Lord all mighty and all powerful, hear our Prayers
Command thy holy Angels above the fixed stars
To be Assisting and Aiding of thy people
That we may command all spirits
Of the air, fire, water, earth, heaven and hell
So that they may tend to the glory of God and Man


IV. Tuning the Space


Officiant performs the Greater Invoking Hexagram of Gemini (Hexagram of Mercury in orange with ARARITA, symbol of Gemini in blue with YVHH). All rotate accordingly. Officiant(s) then read the unification statement from Liber 963, alternating the first twelve lines between them. All read the thirteenth together in unison.


1. O Thou throbbing music of life and death, Thou rhythmic harmony of the world! Yea, as I listen to the echo of Thy voice, my rapture is but as the whisper of the wings of a butterfly.


2. O my God, Thou mighty One, Thou Creator of all things, I renounce unto Thee the soft-lipp'd joys of life, and the honey- sweets of this world, and all the subtilities of the flesh; so that I may be feasted on the fire of Thy passion, and be consumed in the unutterable joy of Thine everlasting rapture.


3. O Thou Consuming Eye of everlasting light set as a pearl betwixt the lids of Night and Day; I swear to Thee by the formless void of the Abyss, to lap the galaxies of night in darkness, and blow the meteors like bubbles into the frothing jaws of the sun.


4. O Thou Sovran Mother of the breath of being, the milk of whose breasts is as the fountain of love, twin-jets of fire upon the blue bosom of night. I know Thee! O Thou Virgin of the moonlit glades, who fondleth us as a drop of dew in Thy lap, ever watchful over the cradle of our fate.


5. O Glory be to Thee, O God my God; for I behold Thee in the weeping of the flying clouds: Thou hast swelled therewith the blue breasts of the milky rivers, so that they may roll forth the Glory of Thy Name.


6. O Thou mighty God, make me as a black eunuch of song that is twin-voiced, yet dumb in either tongue; I beseech Thee, O Thou great God! That I may hush my melody in Thy Silence, and swell into the sweet ecstasy of Thy Song: O Thou God, my God!


7. O Thou dread arbiter of all men, the hem of whose broidered skirt crimsoneth the white battlements of Space; bare me the starry nipple of Thy breast, so that the milk of Thy love may nurture me to the lustiness of Thy virginity.


8. O Thou God of the Nothingness of All Things! Thou who art neither the starry eyes of heaven; nor the forehead of the crowned morning; O Thou who art not perceived by the powers of the mind; nor grasped by the fingers of Silence or of Speech! I deny Thee by the powers of mine understanding; Robe me in the unity of Thy might, and speed me into the blindness of Thine all-pervading Nothingness; for Thou art all and none of these in the fullness of Thy Not-Being.


9. Ah! but I rejoice in Thee, O Thou my God; Thou unimperilled flight of joyous laughter; Thou eunuch glaive-armed before joy's veil; Thou dreadful insatiable One: Yea, I rejoice in Thee, Thou lofty gathering-point of Bliss; O Thou bridal-bed of murmuring rapture! I rejoice, yea, I shout with gladness! till I tangle the black tresses of the storm, and lash the tempest into a green foam of twining basilisks, in the Glory and Splendour of Thy Name.


10. O my God, entreat me gently and be merciful unto me, as I humble myself before Thee; for all my toil is but as a threadless shuttle of steel thrust here and there in the black loom of night.


11. O woe unto me, my God, woe unto me; for all the hope of my heart hath been ravished as the body of a virgin that is fallen into the hands of riotous robbers. Yet in the outrage of mine innocence do I disclose the clear manna of Thy purity.


12. O what art Thou, O God my God, Thou forked tongue of the purple-throated thunder? O Thou silver sword of lightning! Thou who rippest out the fire-bolt from the storm-cloud, as a sorcerer teareth the heart from a black kid! O how can I possess Thee as the dome of the skies, so that I may fix the keystone of my reason in the arch of Thy forehead?


All: O Thou Unity of all things: as the sun that rolleth through the twelve mansions of the skies, so art Thou, O God my God. I cannot slay Thee, for Thou art everywhere; lo! though I lick up the Boundless Light, the Boundless, and the Not, there still shall I find Thee, Thou Unity of Unities, Thou Oneness, O Thou perfect Nothingness of Bliss!


V. The Conjuration


Officiant: Oh Glorious and Mighty AMBRIEL, You who command and rule over the spirits of TEONIM, Behold me, and in the name of the same your God, the transformative and aerial YVHH, Attend and Appear before us in this circle of art! Full powers and wonders of the Sign of Gemini do we rightly desire! Enlighten our understanding, encourage our hearts, and manifest unto us now as we partake of your spiritual realm.


All: So mote it be.


All vibrate the name AMBRIEL repeatedly until the presence of the angel is perceived by Officiant. Officiant rings Bell Chime to stop the chant. The following section then alternates between OFFICIANT(S) and ALL.


You are holy and your name is holy. You are exalted and your name is exalted. You are mighty and your name is mighty. You are strong and your name is strong. You are honored and your name is honored. You are true and your name is true. You are ancient and your name is ancient. You are blessed and your name is blessed. You are chosen and your name is chosen. You are great and your name is great. You are praised and your name is praised. You are power and your name is power.


Officiant: Gloria Patri et Matri et Filius et Filia et spiritui sancto interno et spiritui sancto externo ut erat est erit in saeculo saeculorum sex in uno per nomen septem in uno...


All: ARARITA


VI. Charging Elixir


Officiant: O transformative and aerial YVHH. To thee we present this talisman of our magickal will! We ask thee, Oh Exalted One, to receive this body of our rite into the light of thy presence. As we proceed in making this Elixir of Gemini, charging it with the creative energies of TEONIM, we shall achieve a true alchemical ferment, mighty in Yetzirah and vitalized by thy blessing. In partaking of this Mystery, let there be unto us vitality of soul, increase of sight, true gnosis, and complete manifestation of the wonders of thy Sphere!


All make one clockwise circumambulation, visualizing a wall of orange light whirling rapidly in the same direction about the circle. When finished, the wall of light is allowed to fade. Beginning with Officiant and proceeding clockwise, the cup is passed to each participant. Each holds cup at heart level and says:


Creature of Wine who art established in the Sphere of Gemini: by the vital force of my breath I enliven thee to perfect this work of Holy Magick in the realm of TEONIM.


Each participant then breathes into the wine and passes cup clockwise. When finished, the cup is replaced and all circumambulate the altar 8 times. Officiant then raises power, visualizing a continuous spiral of orange light ascending from the ground at feet, whirling clockwise around body and ascending until it disappears above head. Officiant holds this visualization, and then vibrates the permutation of the divine name once: YVHH


Each participant in turn, clockwise around circle, does the same as above. Note that this is power raised WITHIN YOURSELF. The power raised is NOT being projected into the elixir cup at this point. When finished, all join hands and vibrate once more: YVHH


All now extend hands toward elixir cup. THIS is where the power is projected into the elixir cup. Visualize beams of orange light emanating from both hands and entering into the cup. When the cup feels “full,” Officiant traces the symbol of Gemini in a horizontal plane while vibrating once more: YVHH. This ends the visualization.


All make one complete circumambulation of the circle. Battery: 1. Officiant raises cup.


Officiant: Behold the Elixir of Gemini! For all and for each it is prepared! Let each and all receive its magick virtue!


Officiant(s) drink first, followed by all participants. Each person takes a drink and visualizes or speaks their intent, either to themselves or out loud. The cup should not be entirely drained. When all are finished, Battery: 1.


Officiant: (indicating the cup, which should still contain some of the elixir) Glorious and Mighty Ambriel, we make this offering unto you, that it may nourish and fortify you as you attend to your appointed tasks. Be the ferment of our spiritual alchemy mighty in the crucible of our souls!


All: So mote it be!


VII. Closing


Officiant: O thou AMBRIEL, Praise and honor be unto thee for the Splendor of thine office and the majesty of thy being. And the blessing of thy God and Mine, the transformative and aerial YVHH. Because thou hast diligently answered unto our demands, and hast been very ready and willing to come at our call, we do here license thee to depart unto thy proper place by the name YVHH; without causing harm or danger unto man or beast. Depart, then, I say, and be thou very ready to come at our call, being duly exorcised and conjured by these sacred rites of magick. We charge thee to withdraw peaceably and quietly, and that the peace of the Almighty, Eternal, True, and Living God be ever continued between us. AMEN.


All: So mote it be!


Officiant: May Life, Light, 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: May the benefit of this act and all acts be dedicated unto the complete liberation and supreme enlightenment of all beings everywhere, pervading space and time. So mote it be. May the benefits of practice, ours and others’, come to fruition ultimately and immediately and we remain in a state of presence. AH!


Officiant(s) perform the Qabalistic Cross.


Officiant: I now declare this temple duly closed.


The rite is at an end.


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19 comments:

Lazarone said...

Hi Scott, during watching the video for this ritual, should we actively participate wherein text says "All", should we speak words, making signs etc...?

Or should we be more passive, letting you doing all, and just consume the elixir when needed with intention?

In ritual, it seems that just before charging you're doing something similar to Middle Pillar exercise, when you're raising energy, should we also do that?

If it is similar to Middle Pillar, then, is invoked energy is going up (to Crown) and down to Malkuth, to create circuit, or just up (as it says in text above)?

Is it matter to ritual effect, if we sit or stand while watching?

Regards

Lazarone said...

And how do you understand the difference between "Barbarous words of Invocation" and classic "Words of Power" or names of Enochian spirits? Or there is no difference in approach?

Do you use vibration or chanting (intoning) for "Barbarous words"?

Scott Stenwick said...

You absolutely can follow along with the ritual if you want. The reason that I don't necessarily have everyone do that is I go through the ritual pretty fast and have been told that at my natural casting speed it is difficult.

But you can also participate more passively if that works better for you.

You can raise energy along with me if you want. What I'm doing is creating a circuit - up the back when hands rise, down the front when hands drop.

Sitting or standing should make no difference.

I treat "barbarous names" like spirit names, whether or not they're spirits (I think they probably are, because otherwise they wouldn't be that effective in ritual). So there isn't much difference in practice - I vibrate/intone those words just like spirit names and godnames.

Lazarone said...

Many thanks, Scott. Great answers, and practical are those videos!

You said " I vibrate/intone those words just like spirit names and godnames."

What is the reason or logic that particular spirit name you'll vibrate or you'll intone (chant)?

Scott Stenwick said...

It kind of depends on whether I am looking for an more internal or more external manifestation of the name, but even that is kind of vague. Honestly, the distinction is small and I'm not convinced it makes much difference in terms of magical results.

You can think of it as outward/inward, though, if you want. Intone for inward, vibrate for outward. But at the same time, keep in mind there's a considerable overlap between those two polarities.

Lazarone said...

Thank you very, very much, Scott!!!

In the text above, from Liber 963, we can see nice poetry from Crowley, but some parts are little unusual, like "...make me as a black eunuch of song that is twin-voiced, yet dumb in either tongue...", it seems that for some people such verses are little disturbance to the flow of the ritual, so:

1. What is your opinion about those particular verses from Crowley?

2. In general, what is your opinion about that side of "disturbing" verses from other books from Crowley?

3. Am I right, that when Crowley says in Liber 963: "I swear to Thee by the formless void of the Abyss..." that Abyss mentioned is not that of Choronzon, but Abyss of Ain Sof Aur and space beyond Kether?

Sincere best wishes.

Scott Stenwick said...

1. I would say that if something seems to disturb the flow of a ritual for you, don't use it. You can drop individual phrases from Liber 963 without affecting the overall text much.

2. I don't know that I have a single specific opinion that would apply to all of Crowley's writings. I also think whether or not you find something "disturbing" has a lot more to do with you than with what Crowley wrote. Some such passages are deliberate attempts to challenge the reader, others are attempts to convey mystical states using contradictory language, and a few are (kind of tasteless) jokes, like the whole "bloody sacrifice" chapter of Magick in Theory and Practice.

3. I would say that's one reasonable interpretation, but I don't know what the original intent behind the phrase was.

Lazarone said...

Thanks!!! Interesting answers.

Scott, you said elsewhere "the methods in MTGT are based on conjuring the various entities in groups, so you conjure all the Kings together, all the Seniors together, and so forth..." but, you told me in one answer that one can call them individually.

Can you explain when you call them in the group (all four kings or six seniors) and when just one entity (for ex. King of South, or Senior of West )?

Regards

Scott Stenwick said...

It depends on what you want to do. If you are looking to work with a single element, you would conjure one King and/or Six Seniors, for example, and use the Greater Ritual of the Pentagram for just that element.

The Golden Dawn assigned planetary attributions to the individual Seniors, but there's no reference to that in the diaries. At the same time, unlike some of the other Golden Dawn material, it doesn't contradict the diaries either since Dee made no mention of it one way or the other.

So if you're using those attributions, you could summon a single Senior that would represent the elemental aspect of a planet. But keep in mind that there are at least two arrangements out there for which Senior goes with which planet - so that's another piece to work out.

And most of this sort of specificity is countered by the observation that calling more entities tends to make the operation more powerful, regardless of what it is. So I find that calling them in groups (like the diaries recommend) works better overall than trying to find a single very specific entity to call (like Golden Dawn folks often try to do).

Lazarone said...

Thanks, thanks, thanks!

1. I guess then, that if you conjure Kings (for ex.) you're doing 4 conjurations facing 4 directions. But what you do when you're doing charge, do you have one general charge to the spirits while facing east or your repeat four charges toward four directions?

2. In some books (like Enochian Magic in Practice, Kerubim press) in "preparatory 18 days work", severe and merciful aspects of Kings are mentioned. But in your book MTGT seems there is no about those two King's aspects (severe and merciful), so do you work with them or have them in your teachings?

3. And what about that "preparatory 18 days work" in Dee's system, how you incorporate it into your practical works?

Regards!

Scott Stenwick said...

1. I conjure them all and then do one charge at the end.

2. I am aware of those associations, but in practice I find that including all the letters of the King names (so basically, both versions) gives you both aspects at once, which is more convenient. If you want to use one name for the positive aspect and another for the negative, you can just change the names accordingly and all the conjurations and so forth work the same way.

3. The preparatory work is only done once, so it is not something you do on an ongoing basis with practical work. I know magicians who have done it and magicians who haven't, and both report good practical results. Also, it should be noted that it can be done different ways depending on how you read particular sections of the diaries. It can be read as 18 days, 19 days, or 15 days depending on your interpretation of the original text.

Lazarone said...

Very helpful answers, Scott!!! Thanks!!!

In what particular situation you will use only invocation, for rituals from MTGT?

And when you will use strictly evocation? If you can provide short example for both. For ex. When youre conjuring King, when you will use one or another and sim...

According to your opinion where is the place of prayer when you're doing invocations and/or evocations?

Regards.

Scott Stenwick said...

Invocation is to change myself, evocation is to change the outside world. Some rituals are combinations of both - which is what that method using both the First and Second Keys are for.

Prayers facilitate union with the divine by devotional means. You want to be as united with the divine as you can be, since that's where authority to conjure the spirits comes from.

Lazarone said...

Thanks, Scott! Very valuable answers!

Alex Scaraoschi said...

If I may, there's a current being promoted out there by people who equate invocation and evocation based on dictionary and not magical technology, so to speak, simply because they're self entitled. There's also others who feel self entitled as to label evocation as being everything that's getting the spirit to show up in physical form.

I want to apologize to Scott for writing the following on his blog in this manner, but in making this comment to show the finger to both categories just because I can.

Sorry, Scott! I just felt like saying this as an additional method of turning people's attention to what's really important in terms of improving the occult and making progress, instead of forcing people to stick to paradigms that serve only some people's egos (with the purpose of increasing their income through their alleged vast knowledge).

Scott Stenwick said...

That is okay, Alex. As you recall, I was flamed by one of those folks a while back on a Facebook group I no longer belong to. Here's the deal with that.

According to the dictionary, both invocation and evocation can be defined as "to call up spirits." There isn't any distinction implied by those usages. Invocation is also defined as "fervent prayer" (or something like that), while evocation is not. The idiot who was flaming me didn't understand that words can have multiple definitions in standard English. So said person was flaming me for using invocation to mean "calling up spirits" because it *really* means "fervent prayer." That's a pretty limited intellect right there, and it's just as dumb as it sounds.

But it also is true that the way I used the terms is basically as technical jargon specific to the magical tradition I work with. The Golden Dawn, back in the late 1800's, decided that they would use "invocation" for calling spirits into your personal sphere of sensation and "evocation" for calling spirits into an external containment structure like a triangle or table of practice. Crowley was taught this usage during his time in the Golden Dawn, so it also is used the same way in the Thelemic tradition (and by me).

So the takeaway should be that if you are talking to someone outside the Golden Dawn and Thelemic traditions, they won't use the words the way I define them above. Both terms can actually be used without distinction between them as essentially synonyms for "conjuration" and/or other terms that refer to calling up spirits in general. And they actually may get worked up enough about it to attack you in online forums for using the GD/Thelemic definitions.

The other takeaway is that way too many language geeks are slow-witted and boring - especially when they don't understand that English words can have multiple definitions.

Alex Scaraoschi said...

Yea that's what happens whenever people create groups to promote their business instead of just spreading knowledge.

Scott Stenwick said...

Nobody but me and my one friend who agrees with me on everything are allowed to answer questions, and here are bunch of magical supplies you can buy from me. No, if you sell magick supplies too you can't post them here, and I'll accuse you of being a fraud on top of it.

I can't believe anybody still wants to be a part of that. But anyway...

Those are some tips to help you all avoid joining a bad Facebook magick forum.

Alex Scaraoschi said...

Exactly, which is why I'm being so evil >:D