Fortuna, Creation Through the Goddess
Fellowship of Isis Liturgy by Olivia Robertson
Cone of Creation
Ritual No. 12
ORACLE OF THE GODDESS ISIS
Invocation: Holy goddess Isis, we search for Your Divine Presence! We long to see You as a thirsty deer longs for water. Without you our lives are bereft of laughter, joy and heartwarming love. Be with us and restore us to the harmony of creation.
Oracle: Your longing tells me of your separation from me. Seek Me in mighty temples, and you will find glory but not my laughter! Immerse yourself in many books and you will not discover my truth. Selfishly pursue passing loves, and you will daily lose some part of me with every broken relationship. Wherever you love, at home, in your place of work, in your shrine, in a wood there am I. For I am at the Centre. When you discover beauty, in paintings, music, drama, mountains, the sea, there you will find me. When you care for animals, plants, and help those who suffer, there I am. You seek some mighty revelation, when all nature is my veil. In stillness and silence is my voice. The eyes of love shine through the veil even beyond death. But I do intrude upon you. Never do I inflict goodness on anyone! You create your own life and do not want a perpetual monitor instructing you in your choices. If you treat each person - every creature - that comes your way as an offspring of some Deity, you draw near to my Abode of Bliss. Truly, this world is a divine drama that you take part in enacting your own dreams and fantasies - whether for riches, success or passion. And the deities leave you to create your own part of the story, for good or ill, that you may progress through experience. But when the time of your awakening into day is dawning, you will call upon Me, the universal Mother. And I Shall come to you and draw you through the worldly veil with My starry wings. Remember, do not call upon me unless you are ready to leave this world! For even if your divine self awakens and you continue to live your earthly existence, you will be totally transformed! For I am She Who is beyond all veils, yet within your own self.
Priestesses wear silver crowns and violet robes, and carry silver wands . Priests, copper headdresses and russet robes and carry wooden staffs. Women Companions wear silver circlets and blue robes; men, copper headbands and green robes. On violet draped altar are 6 lighted candles and vessel of water, burning incense, wheat and a crystal, and card XXI of Marseilles Tarot Deck. Music may be played when needed.
Priest Hierophant: Fellow practitioners of the magical arts, we assemble to complete the Great Work. This is to unite the earthly pyramid of the elements with the downward pointing Cone of Stars. When they form the multi-dimensional 6 pointed star, there manifests the matrix of creation.
Priestess Hierophant: (makes sign of down pointed triangle with wand) I offer incense to thee, the goddess Nut, whose Divine Body forms o'er the galaxy. From thy union with the earth god Geb, proceed the Shining twins, Isis and Osiris. Bring us the art of creation.
Priestess Hierophant: (offers incense and makes upward pointed triangle with wand) I offer incense to Thee, Geb, who art God of all material planets. Thy pyramid of the elements of earth rises to unite with the starry cone of Nut. Aid us to transmute our planetary bodies so that we too may unite with our star selves.
1st Practitioner: Who will be apprentice magician?
1st Practitioner: I offer myself.
1st Priestess: (shows tarot card) Describe this tarot card from Mediaeval Marseilles.
1st Practitioner: This final card of the pack is the number 21 and is named Le Monde. It depicts the naked Goddess Fortuna holding a bag and wand, She is encompassed by a leafy girdle of the Zodiac, marked at the solstices and equinoxes by Taurus and Leo garlanded with leaves, and an eagle and a winged angel.
1st Priestess: What does this symbolise for you?
1st Practitioner: I see Isis unveiled. Her worldly self is on card II as La Papess, ritually crowned and robed. The naked Isis is within the matrix of the zodiac as the Great Enchantress, Creatrice of all nature.
1st Priest: You are accepted as Apprentice. Further to show forth our spiritual Alchemy, we present a play, "The Mirror Ceiling."
THE MIRROR CEILING
Shake of Sistrum. Enter Scribe (Priest) of Tehuti with scroll and Priestess of Maat with feather.
Priest of Tehuti: Learn from the pyramid texts of Ancient Egypt. During the earliest dynasty, we Egyptians believed that the floor of heaven, the sky, was made of an immense rectangular plate of stone, its four comers resting upon pylons at the cardinal points. Above this dwelt the Goddesses and Gods and righteous souls, in everlasting love, joy and wisdom. However, some daring mortals climbed up high mountains nearest to the stone, and tried to reach it. All failed.
Priestess of Maat: Alas, even the God Osiris, after his death, found it difficult to climb around the Earth's lid. So he prayed for help to the God of Wisdom, Thoth, and his Father the Sun God. Ra provided Osiris with a five runged ladder. This was held safely in place by the elder Horus and the God Set. By this means Osiris climbed the ladder and joined the deities above the stone. Some of the souls succeeded in following him. Others were less fortunate, and fell back on earth!
Priest of Tehuti: So it was. So it is. Behold Horace, Professor of Psychology in a modern Chicago university, lecturing to his students.
Exeunt of Priest and Priestess.
Enter Professor and pupils.
Professor: This morning I wish to present you with my thesis on the Mirror Ceiling - subject to my latest book - he points to ceiling - All our religious myths and so-called miracles are reflected images projected back to us from the Mirror Ceiling of the Collective Unconscious. Any questions?
1st Pupil: What about psychic phenomena?
Professor: Subliminal projections from our subconscious fears and desires.
2nd Pupil: UFOs?
Professor: Delusions created by science fiction addicts!
3rd Pupil: Can you explain near death experiences?
Professor: Emotions from chemicals in the brain cells. There is no life after death of the physical brain.
Girl: (in shabby anorak) Where I come from, children see apparitions of the Virgin Mary. What are these?
Professor: Fantasies of the Bride archetype inculcated through icons, and mass produced statuettes of an insipid nature. We shall have a short break. I will elucidate how the break simulates its own fantasies.
Professor: (alone, suddenly holds up his arms) Oh Goddess who does not exist, you torture us with your all pervading glamour! You entice me through the glance of a waitress to dream of impossible folly. You call me through photographs of nude women and are beginning to come to me dangerously through my girl pupils. Yet no smile, no touch, no lovemaking in or outside marriage, however passionate, draws you to me O Goddess, who does not exist, you torture with unappeasable longing. As salt water is to a man dying of thirst, so are you to me. O Goddess who does not exist, as old age draws near, you drive me to madness. I am in danger of committing some great evil. Come to Me, Goddess Who Does Not Exist - even through this cracked ceiling.
Music.
Enter girl in anorak - she throws it off and reveals herself in Egyptian robes.
Girl: My unhappy Horus, I find you blinded, mutilated, poisoned by your shadow self, deluded by your mirror image.
Professor: (in wonder) Who are You?
Girl: I am Isis, she who was and is and ever shall be. No man hath lifteth my veil and lived. Lo, I am come to restore you to Your Divine Self. Kneel and gaze upwards! I shall withdraw my veil.
Professor: (kneels and looks up) Why, the ceiling is only a veil! It becomes transparent and I see the stars! Isis, bring me with you beyond this world!
Isis gently places the Professor on his back and crosses his arms on his chest. She draws her arms upwards.
Isis: "Horus of the Horizon, Arise! Come to your abode amidst the stars".
She places anorak over the Professor and glides away.
Enter pupils. They exclaim in Horror.
1st Pupil: The Professor is dead!
2nd Pupil: He looks ecstatic! Yet he is only staring at the ceiling.
Rattle of Sistrum.
End of Play
THE TEMPLE ON THE HILL OF NUN
3rd Priest: To experience spiritual alchemy, you need to travel magically to the constellation of Leo. It is crowned by the temple of the Zodiac. We see arched over it, the Milky Way, the Goddess Nuit. Come let us climb the hill! The Way is hard and twisting, snakes glide past our feet, we hear the distant roar of lions. An eagle flies above us as we reach the lofty flights of steps before the South Gate of the Temple. This is guarded by two Androsphinxes, winged women with lions bodies. We pass between them into the Temple.
3rd Priestess: In the centre of the Temple is the filter of the perpetual angel. Beyond the encircling temple stream are 12 stained glass windows representing the signs of the Zodiac. Each is set between two tree-like pillars. Let us approach the windows of Leo! This shows Isis Unveiled. About her are Serapis, Osiris as a bull; Sekmet, the Lion-headed Goddess; Horus with Hawk's wings outspread and Nut, pouring forth a stream of stars.
3rd Priest: (to Apprentice) Behold the white and blue Regulus, the Royal Star. This is Cor Leonis, Lion-heart. Here lies the abode of Pehi, ruled by the Goddess Sekmet. Within Her realm souls may gain glory, passion, and power! But beware. Power may be abused through ego-inflation. Are you willing to face this challenge?
Apprentice: I must have power to achieve my goal. I am willing.
3rd Priestess: Gaze upon the second star and ascend. We shall follow.
Meditation
3rd Priestess: Let us return. (to Apprentice) what happened to you?
Apprentice: The shock of many past lives lived at length! I was conqueror, king, martyr - I killed and was killed - I lived each life, to the full. I do not regret my sufferings - only suffering I caused others.
2nd Priestess: As long as you burn you belong to life. You have passed the test. Accept this wheat, your harvest.
THE ABODE OF HATI
2nd Priest: (to Apprentice) That the abode of the Beyond be complete, you need to travel to the blue star Denebola. Within lies the abode of the Abode of Hati. It is ruled by Isis and Osiris, and forms part of the Diamond of Virgo, a triangle with Arcturus and Spica. Hati contains the Divine heart of unselfish love and serene mind. Gaze upon the star and ascend *** we follow.
Meditation
2nd Priestess: Let us return. (to Apprentice) What have you discovered?
Apprentice: I Know that however far I travel, my journey's end is where I start from! My restlessness has ceased. I am like a still pool reflecting the stars. Veil upon veil has parted in stillness and silence. I am at peace.
2nd Priestess: you have found inner harmony. Accept this crystal.
1st Priestess: Harken to the words of wisdom from Ancient Egypt. "Ah, if I could heed my soul I would not impede the union of its heart with me. Then by my hand, it would arrive blissful and beyond. My soul said unto me: "When you put your body to rest and thus reach the beyond, in that stillness I shall alight you; then united we shall form the Abode. For above is exalted by below, as is written in the scripture. When Hati is placed upon Pehi, the Starry Lion is complete."
1st Priestess: Friends, let us return to the Temple and stand before the Altar of the Perpetual Flame; the window of Leo closes behind us. We feel a mighty pyramid of power rising up beneath us from the Hill of Nun; it is rising through the floor of the temple and reaches through the roof to the stars! We feel this power as a warm flame reaching our hearts.
1st Priestess: There descends through the transparent roof an inverted cone of star power. It flows through the temple and passes through the floor to the hill of Nun. Thence it reaches the earth. We feel this power streaming through us like a shining waterfall. In the centre on the altar of the flame there begins to form a 6 pointed star. It increases in size until it encompasses the temple, and its rays extend through the hill and up to the stars!
1st Priestess: The star shines forth, creating, protecting, destroying in ever renewing cycles. It is within ourselves. We are reborn. We see how many accomplish our life's destiny... The star disperses as snowflakes, melting into the darkness of space. Friends, let us leave the Temple. We descend the Hill of Nun. We reach our own little earthly temple. We return to our bodies, renewed, inspired.
Reports are given, rays of hope and creativity are sent forth. Thanks are given to Deities.
Sources: Pyramid texts from "Rebel in the Soul, A Sacred Text of Ancient Egypt", Bika Reed, Wildwood House Ltd., London, 1978 and Inner Traditions International, New York, 1978. "Egyptian Magic", E. A. Wallis Budge, Kegan Paul, Trench & Trubner, London, 1899, first reprinted by Dover Publications, New York, 1971. "Egyptian Magic", Florence Farr, first published in 1896, editor, W. Wynn Westcott, Collectiana Hermetica series, London, reprinted by Aquarian Press, Wellingborough Northamptonshire, UK, 1982. "Egyptian Mythology", Veronica Ions, Paul Hamlyn Publishing Group, Ltd., London, 1968."Star Names, Their Lore and Meaning", Richard Hinckley Allen, Dover Publications, New York, 1963.
Note: "Star Names" by Richard H. Allen and the Marseilles Tarot Deck are used for each Rite in Fortuna.
The tarot deck used for this ritual was provided by a friend of Rt. Rev. Olivia Robertson, the Rev. Joan Countess de Frenay, who is a gifted reader of the tarot. This particular deck is dated 1740.
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