Fellowship of Isis Liturgy
By
Olivia Robertson
Athena - Arcadian Awakening
Alchemical Rite
11. Crete: The Medusa Labyrinth Trial
Part II. The Revelation: Dissolution of the Mirage of Deception
Deirdre: “Friends! The Great Hoax, created by Pallas Athena and Minos as a Path of Learning – a vision quest – a shaman journey. To look in the Mirror of Truth is to banish the Mist of Deceit with your own breath.”
Elaine: “Let us hear the Oracle.”
Oracle of the Goddess Medusa
“Children, you are deceived! You see my terrifying head covering the Shield of Pallas Athena, my daughter, and do not realise I am the Balancing Power of Love. My Divine Head includes Mind and Heart. You need both. The Ordeal of the Labyrinth is to Travel the Path of the blue, eight-pointed Star, and the Double Axe of the Moon. The star rays permit you to pass. Moon Rays Forbid. Each time you have to choose. Mine is the Alchemical Gold which flows in the Deities: Ichor – the Divine Blood in each one of you. I guide you in many guises. Hear my voice. I am Conscience and Wisdom. In Truth, you loved your drowned wife. You wish for her to forgive. When you have forgiven yourself, you have passed the test of the Labyrinth.”
Trial of the Labyrinth – Trance Journey
Elaine: “It is necessary for you to enter trance. We will be with you.”
Percy: “I find myself in a temple of Medusa. Two beautiful Gods are before me. The fair one says he is Lucifer/Hermes. The Dark one says he is Set/Eros.”
Lucifer/Hermes: “Yes! I suppose you are astonished. I am a fallen Angel. As an intellectual, one needs to be periodically disillusioned. (Lucifer/Hermes talking to Set) You create the illusion!”
Set/Eros: “So do you! In reality, neither of us does.”
Lucifer/Hermes: “We tempt initiates with their own folly.”
Set/Eros: “I create sirens.”
Lucifer/Hermes: “And I abstract causes.”
Percy: “Hey! Don’t talk over my head! I am the candidate. It is my soul you are fighting for.”
Lucifer/Hermes: “Wrong! Only you create your own Divided Soul. We just help to give you discrimination.”
Elaine: “Excuse Me! Or do you just ignore women? I am Ariadne. I was divided between my husband Baccus and Theseus! And yet you ignore me!”
Set/Eros: “You have to learn to be interesting to get our attention.”
Elaine: “You have the arrogance of Byron and the conceit of Don Giovanni.”
Set/Eros: “Ariadne – You are like Melusine – half fairy, half dragon.”
Percy's Initiation - Trial of Spiritual Climbers
Lucifer/Hermes: “You hope for a better world.”
Percy: “I always have.”
Lucifer/Hermes: “Look at these cloud pictures. What wonderful visions of Liberty, Equality and Fraternity in action!”
Set/Eros: “You cover your eyes!”
Percy: “Oh horror. What trick is this? The clouds are covered on blood. I see the slaughter of thousands!”
Set/Eros: “You are the fool. Sir Percival the pure of the Holy Grail.”
Percy: “But where are my friends? Why don’t they help? I cannot find them!”
Set/Eros: “Where were they in the reign of terror? Absent. Avoiding horror.”
Lucifer/Hermes: “They were busy repairing the Temple of Lies.”
Percy: “I see men, women and children slaving in factories. I see false villages, schools and universities. They are all dissolving.”
Lucifer/Hermes: “While they are killing millions, they do not allow people free will to choose their own path.”
Percy: “There is hope. Pallas Athena has unveiled the Medusas Head. All deception vanishes. Hardly anyone passes the test.”
Percy: “I see how I rebelled to spite my father – revenge for abuse, for flogging by my tutor. I could not cope with my wife, let alone two of them. The first punished me by suicide. The second described me as both Frankenstein and the monster. I created the monster myself.”
Lucifer/Hermes: “Do you mind?”
Percy: “Mind? Thank you. I am happy to fall with Lucifer if it is to fall from self-created delusions. But something strange is happening. Pallas Athena has put on the mask of Medusa and now she is my second wife, laughing. She gives me her book Frankenstein, and I can laugh as well. She has forgiven me! I was both the professor and the monster. I created both!”
Percy enters into ecstasy surrounded by golden clouds.
Medusa: “Your initiation is not complete. You may not yet undertake the Trial of Passion. You are from a sphere of angelic reality and do not feel passion. You have come to share the Holy Grail of the new eon, the elixir of life.”
Percy returns from trance. They realise it is true. They all drink from the holy well and share in Percy’s ecstasy. They give thanks to the Deities, and bathe in the sea.
Recommended Reading: “New Larousse Encyclopedia of Mythology”, Felix Guirand, editor, introduction by Robert Graves, various contributors, Hamlyn Publishing Group, Ltd., London, 1968. "The Greek Myths", Robert Graves, Penguin Books, in two volumes, London, 1955. "Pausanius: Description of Greece", translated by W. H. S. Jones, Heinemann, Harvard, 1918, later reprinted by Loeb Classical Library, Cambridge, Mass, 1969. “Juno Covella, Perpetual Calendar of the Fellowship of Isis”, Lawrence Durdin-Robertson, Cesara Publications, Clonegal Castle, 1982. “Star Names, Their Lore and Meaning", Richard Hinckley Allen, first published G. S. Stechert, 1899, Dover Publications reprint, New York, 1963.
Note: These Rites may be used for meetings of the Muses Symposium and the Arcadians.
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