Melusina, Life Centres of the Goddess
Fellowship of Isis Liturgy by Olivia Robertson
The Dawn of the Inner Sun
Ritual no. 6
ORACLE OF THE GODDESS NANA BULUKU THROUGH HER PRIESTESS
Priestess: (Invocation) Divine Mother of all, Nana Buluku, Thou art invoked by innumerable Names throughout the Universe. Bring us courage, vitality and strength, that we may accomplish our Destiny! We would enact the Divine Will to bring good to all.
Oracle: You have a short life span, shorter than that of an elephant but longer than a gnat's! Therefore to fulfil your Destiny you need to be free from the trammels of your space and time, and touch the glory of Eternity. To do this you need to develop your Sun Body within you. Centred in the Sovereign Sun, you will then command a wider range of space and time, and hold sway over those planets that are the spiritual centres within your soul bodies.
Each sun centre within all creatures is connected with the Sovereign Sun, your star. Thus the Greater is shown forth in the lesser. Know that every spiritual centre within your etheric bodies has a twin, thus producing balance between Goddess and God. Thus the Solar Plexus Centre with its golden glow, has a powerful concealed twin a little above and behind it. This may be termed the Hidden Sun, the Goddess-Roots of the outer God-Sunflower. To achieve strength with gentleness, power with compassion, taking and giving, you need to have these twins in harmony. You may feel this Goddess Sun as a glow in your spine above your waist. Its colour is red and gold, and it controls the flowing streams of energy that connect your spiritual body with the Universe.
Although the gaining of Vitality is essential, you need to focus your energy, lest you dissipate your life in aimless adventurings. However, even if you receive intimation of your Destiny, you may misuse your newly gained power through forcing your will upon others. This is the hazard of awakening the Solar Plexus Centre. It is here that the Inner Sun centre helps. This is connected with luminous threads with all those around you, whether these be angels, humans, animals or trees. With this flow of inter- communion, you cannot become power-crazed, believing that only your own Path, however excellent, is the only way to follow.
It might appear safer not to awaken the Solar Plexus Centre at all! But humans are no coward souls. Go forward and gain the Victory.
Priestesses wear gold crowns and carry gold wands. Priests wear gold mitres and carry gold staffs, all wear gold and vermilion robes. Women companions wear gold circlets, men, gold headdresses, and all wear vermilion robes. Candidate is in white. Altar is draped in gold and red and on it are ten lighted candles, a vessel of water, burning incense and a gold stone. Music may be played throughout.
Priest Hierophant: Companions who would gain Honour, Power and Vitality, we are assembled to bring to life the Solar Plexus Centre which is within the body of each creature, and every sun and planet. The Yogis of Ancient India depicted this fiery lotus as having ten outer petals, the colour of heavy-laden rain clouds. Within is the region of fire, symbolised as a vermilion down-pointed triangle within three T-shaped swastikas. The triangle shines like the rising sun and contains the form of a ram.
Priestess Hierophant: Presiding over this Sun Centre is the Goddess Lakini, Benefactress of All. Her radiant body is dark of complexion. She has four arms and holds a thunderbolt, staff and cup of ambrosia, while one hand is upheld in blessing. Hers is the Power both to create and to destroy.
Priest Hierophant: With Her rules the Fire God Rudra, who is vermilion in colour and has three eyes and four arms. He is seated in the lap of the Ram.
1st Priest: The Goddess Nana Buluku of Africa is the Primordial Mother Who created the Universe. She is worshipped by the Fon people of Dahomey. As Universal Creator She manifests the Sun Centre. From Her proceed the Pantheon of Twin Goddesses and Gods descending in genealogical line.
1st Priestess: Amongst these is the Goddess Mawu of night, moon and the West. Her twin, the God Li-sa, presides over the sun, day and the East. Whenever there is an eclipse of sun or moon the Fon people declare it is Mawu and Li-sa making love.
Priestess Hierophant: (offers incense and makes Sun circle with wand) I invoke Thee, the Great Goddess Nana Buluku, Creator of all things! Bring us Thy Sun Fire of Honour, Power and Vitality!
Priest Hierophant: (offers incense & makes sign of Mars) I invoke the Great God Amma, Bestower of Victory and Glory. Thou Who art adored by the Dogon people, bring us Loyalty, Energy and Will.
1st Priest: (to Candidate) Are you ready to undertake the Initiation of the Sun Centre within you?
Candidate: With the aid of Nana Buluku, I am.
1st Priest: So be it. Behold the African story of how Sun Fire was won for the earth!
MYSTERY DRAMA: HOW SUN FIRE WAS WON
African drumming & music.
Dancers mime the narrative.
2nd Priest: Friends, harken to the wondrous tale of the Sun God and the Intrepid Bride, as recounted by the story-tellers of Luyia. Know that at the dawn of the world before the Sun shone, a Maiden refused to obey the Elders, who had ordered her to marry the Bridegroom of their choosing. To escape punishment, she fled into the bush. After fleeing for twelve miles, she found a shining rope hanging from nowhere! From curiosity, she took hold of it ... and lo, suddenly she was lifted up into the sky. She found herself in the Land of the Sun. The Mother of the Sun discovered her. She declared that her son was a chief, and wished the maiden to be his bride. The girl refused, declaring that she would not marry a chief.
2nd Priestess: The Sun's Mother took the girl to her garden, but warned her that if she saw something red and bright, she must not cry! When the Chief, who was the Sun, came to the Maiden, he was as brilliant as lightning: but the maiden heeded his mother's warning, and lay down and covered her face. Though the Sun asked her to marry him, she refused. The Sun's Wives tried to persuade her, but she would not do so. The Sun sent the Moon to plead with her, but still the Maiden would not consent. She also turned away seven of his servants.
2nd Priest: Finally, in despair, the Sun offered the Maiden his own rays! She accepted his bridal gift, and agreed to marry him. There was great rejoicing in the Land of the Sun, and his servants anointed her with oil as his Bride. And they were married, and she bore the Sun three sons.
2nd Priestess: One day the Sun's Wife asked permission to return to earth to visit her family. Her request was granted, and she returned to earth by the shining rope, and servants carried a great closed black pot containing her wedding gift of the Sun's Rays. After three days she returned to the Sun Land by the rope, the black pot being carried after her. But when she reached the Sun Land - she opened the pot and poured all the Sun's Rays upon the earth! This brought love, joy and health to humans and animals and all the trees. And the Sun was so happy to see her return to him, that he told Moon to shine upon earth at night!
End of Mystery Drama
Priest Hierophant: (to Candidate) What do you learn from this Myth?
Candidate: Much. I recognise the Greek myth of Prometheus, but in this case the Bride does not steal but is given the heavenly fire. Her motive was good, to benefit the earth. The Mother of the Sun showed wisdom in choosing her son's bride! The Maiden's repeated refusal to marry a Chief showed she was not ambitious. She also, unlike the hapless Semele, had the sense to hide her face from too much brilliance!
Priest Hierophant: You have answered well. In order to awaken the Sun Centre, let us make a magical journey to the planet Mars!
BUILDING THE SKY CANOE
1st Priestess: (anoints each brow, saying) May psychic vision awaken!
1st Priest: Let us chant the magical name of Na-Na-bu-lu-ku! (All chant the sacred syllables)
Priestess Hierophant: Let us through dance form a sky canoe around us, in the shape of a Golden Sphere!
All dance to create an etheric sphere around them.
Priestess Hierophant: Behold, our Guide! He is Eshu of the Yuruba Tribe, Messenger of the Deities. He is nine feet tall and wears the sacred necklace of cowry shells, through which he divines the future.
3rd Priest: Let us be seated in a circle within our Sky Canoe. (Music) Our eyes are shut that we may see better. Our sphere is ascending into the sky * * * We approach Mawu the Moon * * * Suddenly there is a roar and a shuddering - we have broken the space time barrier! A beautiful peace enters our souls as we enter the etheric realm Li-sa the sun grows smaller as we approach the red planet Mars.
THE SPIRIT TEMPLE OF THE NUMMOS
We fly towards the moon Deimos, satellite of Mars. Eshu tells us of the Nummo Spirits who dwell here. They descended upon earth to bring the cosmic language of the stars to the Dogon people. The Nummo Spirits are all twins, born of the union of the Earth Goddess and Amma the Creator God. The top half of the Nummos are human, the lower part, snakelike. They are like water and green in colour, with red eyes and forked tongues. They are covered with short green hair shining like water, and they are born perfect.
3rd Priestess: Look through our transparent sphere! Gaze upon the shining Nummo Temple, its form copied by the Dogon people on earth. It has two high towers, and above its great portals is ever-flashing lightning. The Nummo females throw lightning and the Nummo Males, thunderbolts. The walls of the Temple are beautifully painted with pictures of snakes, birds and all living things, entwined with mysterious patterns. As we look, the paintings become alive like an ever-shifting mirage.
3rd Priest: (to Candidate) Friend, are you willing to enter the Temple of the Nummos, that you may gain the powers of lightning and of thunder? But beware. An ancestor of the Dogons stole some of the Nummo's fire, and so brought destruction to the continent of Mu.
Candidate: I am willing to enter. I would accept power for good, and have no wish to steal it.
3rd Priest: Leave our canoe and enter by the portals. We shall follow you.
Contemplation
3rd Priest: (to Candidate) I see you return from the Temple, bearing a red staff. Only reveal the Words of Power to the worthy.
2nd Priestess: Let us re-enter our canoe. Eshu makes a sign and it moves like a lightning flash to the other moon of Mars, Phobos. Eshu describes this astral sphere with its Mountain of Brightness.
KERE NYAGA, MOUNTAIN OF BRIGHTNESS
2nd Priest: It is ruled by the Goddess Moombi, the Creator, who is adored by the Kikuyu people. Reigning with Her is Her husband, the God Kikuyu. They have nine Daughters with Their Consorts. It is upon the crest of the mountain of Light that Life's Purpose may be discovered. (to Candidate) Are you willing to ascend the Mountain, there to discover your Life's purpose? But take heed! If you are given this knowledge, you must accomplish your Destiny, or be cast forth as cowardly and useless.
Candidate: Life is not worth living for me without a goal. I accept the challenge.
2nd Priest: Eshu summons you to ascend the mountain. We shall follow you.
Contemplation
2nd Priest: (to Candidate) You return, holding a white crystal. You have received your vocation. Eshu summons us all to return to the canoe. It flies like an eagle to the planet Mars itself. We sink below its barren red plains through a crater, until we reach the planet's glowing centre. We have reached the Spiritual Circle of the Inner Sun. It is ruled by the Goddess Tehani of Mu and the Wise God. Eshu unfolds to my mind knowledge of the Wise Ones.
THE CIRCLE OF THE INNER SUN
1st Priest: (to Candidate) Harken to the words of the Berber, Mehlo Moya, Initiate of an ancient Mystery School of Zimbabwe. "The Wise Ones gather stones of the Altar of the North, in the First Circle of the Sun in the forty-ninth Generation of the Builders. The Wise Ones gave the Altar her robes, and raised the veil from her eyes."
1st Priestess: (to Candidate) The Initiate of the Sun spoke: "Then I stood naked on the brink of the Pool of Truth, and I stretched up my arms to the Sun: I gazed upon the trees and the flowers and the Land like one new born." Let us look upon the Land now before us... "Then mine eyes fell upon a vast Pillar that stood by the pool, and it gleamed like a mountain of silver in the Light of the Sun. Upon each face of the Pillar were characters graven in stone. They told of the Wilderness of the Mind and the Oasis of Knowledge: of the Pool of Truth and Divinity to be won. Wisdom flowered in my heart and I knew that Truth must be reached through strength of the heart, and knowledge grasped with the Power of the Hand."
1st Priest: (to Candidate) Are you willing to face the Initiation of the Sun, that you may learn how to use Power for good?
Candidate: With the Blessing of Nana Buluku, I am willing.
1st Priest: Eshi speaks! Harken then to the counsel of the Wise One: "If thou wouldst feed the hungry, teach them to sow; for no one reaps what another sows in the Land of the Deities. Thou must dwell in the Light and work in the Shadow. ‘Ili Tongo ka lase nwaye zu ze esu nka dhlineni’. ‘May thou and the United All dwell together in Eternity". Go forth with this Esinzu-Bantu Blessing. We shall be at your side.
Contemplation
1st Priest: You return holding a topaz. Eshu declares that you have passed the Test! You feel a glow of glory in your solar plexus. Offer now the Hymn of the Initiate!
Candidate: "O Secret Sun, O Hidden Fire! O Bright One of Nameless Glory!
The veil has fallen from mine eyes, and I see Thy Shining Face.
But night draws nigh, and blackness rises to enfold me:
Grant my prayer, O Radiant Vision, before I go my way.
Give me the power to serve and to rule.
To the peace of our troubled earth I dedicate my strength.
Touch me, Bright Deity, with Thy Fire."
1st Priest: Eshu tells us to return to our sky canoe, bringing sun power within us! Our golden sphere flies above Mars and we look back * * * We behold the lion form of the starry Leo and the ram's horn of Aries joined by a shining cord to Mars, forming a shimmering gold and vermilion triangle. Our sun Li-sa becomes larger and we approach Mawu the moon * * * there is a roar and a shuddering as we break the space time barrier * * * our sphere shoots like an arrow down to earth and into our temple * * * it rests on our Temple floor. Eshu tells us to dissolve our sky canoe through dance. We thank him. He smiles, blesses us and vanishes.
Sky Canoe is dissolved through dance. Candidate gives report and if Initiation is successful is presented with gold stone. General reports and rays of health, energy and joy are sent forth to all. Priesthood give thanks to Deities.
Sources: "African Mythology", Parrinder, Hamlyn. "The Sayings of the Ancient One", P. G.. Bowen. Rider. "The Serpent Power", Avalon, Ganesh & Co., Madras (T.S.). "The Concise Handbook of Astronomy", Ridpath, New Orchard Editions.
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