Psyche, Magical Journeys of the Goddess
Fellowship of Isis Liturgy by Olivia Robertson
Part I. The Spiral of Tiamat
Magical Journey to
The Matrix of the Earth. 1st Sphere
Ritual no. 1
ORACLE OF THE GODDESS GAIA
Priestess: (Invocation) Holy Goddess Gaia, our Earth Mother, we repent of the desolation we have brought upon Your sky and earth and sea and those that live there. We fear Your hidden fires which we call hell, and dread to lay our bodies in your black earth, eyes closed in death. We know more of the stars than we do of our own planet. Help us to penetrate through Your veil of matter, so that we may learn of Your plan of perfection for You and for ourselves.
Oracle: You see as children. You say, "these infernal fires could burn my body, and this earth can suffocate my life-giving breath". But this earth you desecrate, these material bodies you go to such lengths to protect, are but figments of collective imagination. You shoot a multitude of birds, yet not one of these birds die. They are only shadows that lie bleeding. The real birds fly on.
You are outcasts in a waste land, viewing with longing a stately palace with its gardens, but fearing the powerful owners: yet in truth the owners of palace and gardens are yourselves, self-styled outcasts! When you believe that the apparent world around you is all that exists, then you suffer with it, you die with it. But know that your Eternal Spirit makes for Itself many shapes, in order to learn from every realm of Being. In this shadow playground of the world you choose to be poor or rich, lovely or ugly, clever or foolish. As your children enjoy playing games of violence, so do you, their elders. You enjoy sufferings as do those who weep during sad plays. Not one human-being, nor animal nor bird nor tree materialises without inner choice. All existences long for experience; none give up physical manifestation without a struggle, however great the anguish. Indeed, many choose a life of pain and warfare rather than one of boring ease.
However, there are those who at last outgrow this world playground, and choose to realise their innate Divinity. This precludes immature game playing. To attain such bliss you do not have to reach the sun nor the stars. Each realm of Being is humbly beneath your feet, within My Heart! Protected only by some score miles of crust and by two streams of volcanic magma, is a sun whose light and heat is as great as the surface of the celestial sun. Those who attain use of their Solar Bodies can enter this Inner Sun, which in reality contains a realm of being as beautiful as that of any star. The Beings who dwell therein have the protection of an atmosphere which to you is dense rock and earth, but which to them is a transparent vapour. Fiery magma shows itself as rosy and golden swirling clouds, through which they perceive sun and moon, planets and stars.
So is it with yourselves! Concealed beneath the shell of your material bodies shines the glory of Goddesses and Gods. Come to Me! Long have I waited to give you your inheritance.
1st and 2nd Priestesses in copper crowns and green robes. They hold wands. 1st and 2nd Priests in russet headdresses and russet robes. They hold staffs. Pilgrims wear leafy garlands, women in green, men in russet robes. Altar is draped in green cloth. On it are 4 lighted candles, a vessel of water and burning incense. Jug of water and glasses nearby.
1st Priest: Pilgrims on the quest for the Golden Fleece, the hidden sun within all beings, we shall enter trance state, so that we may undertake a voyage to the matrix of our earth.
1st Priestess: (offers incense. She makes sign of earth (an equal armed cross in a circle) with her wand.) I invoke the Earth Goddess Gaia! Verily, as at first Chaos came to be, next came wide-bosomed Gaia. She is the ever-sure Foundation of all the Deathless Deities Who hold the peaks of snowy Olympus, and dim Tartarus in the depths of the wide-pathed Earth, and Eros, fairest among the deathless Gods. And Gaia first bore starry Heaven, equal to Herself, to cover Her on every side, and to be an ever sure abiding-place for the Blessed Deities. And She brought forth long hills, graceful haunts of the Goddess-nymphs, Who dwell amongst the glens of the hills. She bore also the fruitless deep with His raging swell. Hail, Gaia, Mother of all! Aid and protect our souls as we seek to gain the gifts you hold for us, Thy children.
1st Priest: (offers incense. He makes sign of Capricorn with staff) I invoke the Great God Pan!
"Of the dear Son of Hermes, O Muse, sing now to us!
That goat-foot, horned lover of ringing revelry,
Who wanders the woodland valleys,
While His lightfoot Nymphs dance round;
Where never a goat can clamber, along the crags They bound,
Calling to Pan, the Shepherd God, with shout and song.
To Pan of the glorious locks unkempt, belongs
All peaks, all snowy summits, all stony mountain ways.
On the reeden pipe of a shepherd He plays His music lone
No nightingale can utter a strain of lovelier tone.
Then round Him the lilting voices
Of the Nymphs of the Mountain ring,
As by the dark-black water, bubbling from a spring
Their light feet trip and the echoes high from the hill-top call.
But the God with his twinkling steps,
Through Their dance leads them all.
Zeus and all the Immortals delight in the pipe-playing Boy,
So Pan was the Name They gave Him,
Since He filled All Heaven with joy!"
2nd Priest: Let us create the good ship Argo in the aethereal realm about us! To aid us, we shall call upon the Spirits of the Sacred Elements. Let us be anointed with blessed water, so that our eyes may be opened. Surely we shall see that the Aether is inhabited by most perfect Beings.
Soft Music.
2nd Priestess: (blesses water in vessel) May this water be blessed that we may receive inner vision! (She anoints each brow with these words) May you regain your own true vision.
BUILDING THE SHIP
2nd Priest: We are the Argonauts! Let us first build the deck of our ship. Know that the outer shell of the earth is filled with Gnomes, people of slight stature, who are the Guardians of aetheric minerals and precious stones. They are ingenious, comical, amiable friends of humanity. I call upon the Gnomes to help make our deck of the Argo! (He marks out circle with his staff.)
Omnes form circle, hold hands. Move in circle left to right.
2nd Priestess: Let us form transparent walls for our good ship the Argo! Know that the seas and rivers are also inhabited in the aethereal realm. The ancient Sages called this race of people Undines. They are loving, of great charm and their beauty is extreme. I call upon the Undines to help us create transparent walls for our good ship Argo! (With wand held forth she marks out circular walls.)
Omnes lift arms in circle.
1st Priest: We shall now form a transparent Dome over our good ship Argo. The air is full of an innumerable multitude of peoples, whose faces are human, seemingly rather haughty, yet in reality tranquil, great lovers of Sciences, intelligent, obliging to worthy Sages and enemies of fools and the ignorant. Their wives and daughters have a beauty like that of the Amazons. I call upon the Sylphs to help us form a transparent dome about our good ship Argo. (With his staff held high he marks out dome.)
Omnes hold arms high.
1st Priestess: We need Power to transport our craft. As for the Salamanders, Flaming Dwellers of the hidden region of fire, they do not seek the company of humanity. They are beautiful, more beautiful than the other Elemental Beings, since they are of a purer Element, and even more temperamental! There is no life without them. I call upon the Salamanders to give us the energy to transport our good ship Argo with a pillar of Light!
Priest marks out pillar in centre of ship.
Omnes point towards centre.
2nd Priest: We need a doorway that we may discover what lies within the earth. (He marks out square doorway with staff)
1st Priest: Before we set out, to signify the purity of our goal in this trance voyage, let us intone the Holy name of Gaia.
Omnes chant the holy name of Gaia.
2nd Priest: On our quest it is essential that we find our own Guides in the aethereal realm. (With staff he makes sign of Mercury.) I invoke Iris, the Rainbow Messenger and Hermes, Psychopompos, Guide of Souls! Our first venture must be to the Golden Age of Earth where we shall find out spiritual Guides. Know that the Golden Age is in all time. Let us be seated in our ship.
Omnes sit. Soft Music.
1st Pilgrim: "O Thou Ancient with Youth, dost Thou see in me
The airy child who may so soon go forth?
Art Thou the companion who shalt take my hand
In the dark valley? Wilt Thou wear again
The shapes that were Thy lovely hiding places
Where I found Thee of old, secret in eyes,
Inviolate on lips, and in the heart unconquerable?
There was always for Thee a door of escaping
Through which I could not follow.
My secret was Thy gentleness. I know
No nurse had ever crooned a lullaby
So softly as Thou the music that guides the loud
Tempest in going forth.
I had not passion to press so to Thee,
To know Thee as the Mighty and the Wise.
I was repaid, for every hour was filled
With a new changing beauty. Here it grows on me
Within the many-coloured garden, twilight,
A beauty that has never been before
Save for one silvery bloom, the Evening Star!"
THE GOLDEN AGE OF EARTH
2nd Priestess: We close our eyes. We visualise our beautiful ship. The floor is russet and green. The walls and dome are transparent. Now as we gently travel in time to the Golden Age, the floor glows with a brighter green and the walls shift colour to a soft gold and rose. Through them we catch a glimpse of trees and flowers and lofty towers. People and animals and birds pass by, as our ship comes to rest in some other and brighter time! The dome is flecked with passing clouds lined with gold. * * * We would find our Guides. * * * We leave our ship through the doorway in our aetheric bodies, knowing that we shall return when this voice calls to us. * * *
Silence
2nd Priestess: Let us return from whatever experience we have been enjoying and bring with us memory of the Golden Age and awareness of our spiritual Guides.
THE INNER EARTH
1st Priest: Fellow voyagers, let us have the courage to leave the Golden Age and sink beneath our earth, the haven of the rejected, the feared, the most hidden. For only there may we find the hidden treasure of lost memories.
3rd Pilgrim: "They are but the slaves of Light
Who have never known the gloom,
And between the dark and bright
Willed in freedom their own doom."
4th Pilgrim: Whether in earth or on the restless sea is He Who lieth in dread Tartarus, Typhon with his hundred heads, Who was nurtured of old in the famed Sicilian cave. The pillar that soareth to Heaven is above Him, even snow-clad Etna, who nurseth her keen frost. From Etna's inmost caves burst forth the purest founts of unapproachable fire, her caves rolling forth a lurid stream of smoke, while amid the gloom of night the ruddy flame, as it sweepeth along, with crashing din whirleth rocks to the deep sea below. And that monster flingeth aloft the most fearful founts of fire, a wondrous marvel to behold.
1st Priest: The walls of our ship as it sinks below the earth become as black as night. The dome gives forth the enshrouding darkness. But the floor begins to glow with ruddy flames! Our Guides are with us as we pass into the Elemental Sphere which is protected by encircling dragons of Magma, with their thunderous roar. The first dragon glides by in one direction and the second, on the reverse path. In our bodies we feel no heat, only vitality! Now we have reached the inner realm which they guard. Through the walls of our ship we see a landscape glowing with green, violet and orange jewels and mysterious green lakes. Purple shadowed caves promise hidden treasure. Let us leave the Argo and explore this realm in our psychic bodies, seeking for memories of past lives. We will accept the good and reject the dross. The Dark Mother protects us.
Silence
1st Priest: Let us return from our quest, bringing with us good memories of past incarnations. We enter our ship by the doorway
THE EARTH'S MATRIX
1st Priestess: In the heart of the spider gloweth a golden Rose. The Matrix of the earth is a sun no less in glory than the sun which shines in the sky. This is the Golden Fleece, lost treasure of the celestial Flocks of Phoebus. But who dares face the Inner Sun?
1st Priest: Only those succeed in reaching the veiled splendour, who would use Alchemical Gold to bring good to all.
5th Pilgrim: "While we in night lie hidden, there in the earth below,
Bright shines the Sun!
In the meadows about their city's wall
The fruits of gold hang heavy; crimson the roses blow;
From fragrance -breathing boughs the shadows fall.
With music Spirits make merry; perfect Peace
Wreaths all their days with flowers;
While perfumes fill
That lovely land, where without cease
From the Deities far-flaming altars
The mingled incense rises.
But opposite, the livid streams of night
Belch blackness infinite."
1st Priestess: Oh wonder! The Elemental Realm of roaring dragons illumined by fire jewels is now giving place to Divine Light! Through the walls of the Argo we see a land of peaceful beauty. Here in the matrix of the earth Gaia offers us a vision of the goodness she has kept for us until our coming of age. Let us leave our ship in our divine bodies. Our Guides lead us to the Tree of Life in the heart of the world, whose trunk is a pillar of light between the North and South poles. The fruit thereof form the sacred centres within the Divine Matrix of the Earth. We see two mighty figures, man and woman, guarding the fruit. This is Paradise.
Silence
We return to the good ship Argo, bearing with us the gifts of the Earth Mother. * * *
THE RETURN
2nd Priest: It is now time for us to return to our temple on the surface of the earth. Through the dome and walls of our ship we watch the light of the earth's matrix change to the fiery realm of magma * * * now there is darkness * * * we pass through the lovely yellow, green and blue world of the Golden Age we travel through time and space in the Argo, back to our own temple. We are aware of our physical bodies as we sit in our circle within our aethereal ship. Let us send forth healing energies from the Golden Light that is within ourselves. We direct healing for the earth, that She may be saved from the ravages inflicted upon Her by mankind.
Healing energies for the earth are sent forth.
1st Priestess: The good ship Argo exists in the aether. Let us dissolve her! I dissolve the Pillar of Light! (with her wand she does so. Omnes do likewise.) We offer thanks to the Salamanders.
1st Priest: I dissolve the dome of our ship! (with staff he does so. Omnes do likewise.) We offer thanks to the Sylphs.
2nd Priestess: I dissolve the walls of our ship! (with wand she does so. Omnes do likewise.) We offer thanks to the Undines.
2nd Priest: I dissolve the deck of our ship! (with staff he does so. Omnes form circle and move right to left.) We offer thanks to the Gnomes.
1st Priestess: Fellow voyagers to the matrix of the earth, let us share our experiences.
Reports. Spring water is drunk for those returned from trance. Priesthood offer thanks to Gaia, Pan, Iris and Hermes.
Sources: "The Odes of Pindar", trans. Sandys. "Hesiod", trans. Evelyn-White, Heinemann. Harvard. "Greek Poetry", trans. Lucas, Everyman's Library. "Le Comte de Gabalis", Abbe N. de Montfaucon de Villars, 1670, private edition. "Song and Its Fountains", AE (George Russell), Macmillan.
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