Psyche, Magical Journeys of the Goddess
Fellowship of Isis Liturgy by Olivia Robertson
Part I. The Spiral of Tiamat
Magical Journey to
The Radiant Sun. 3rd Sphere
Ritual no. 3
ORACLE OF THE GODDESS HATHOR
Priestess: (Invocation) Divine Goddess Hathor, Universal Mother, Queen of the visible Heavens, Who weareth the sun upon Thy plumed Head, grant us Thy gifts of Joy and Strength and Love! For without Thee we are devoid of life, and live in a shadow world of dullness and despair.
Oracle: You will never know My laughter and light unless you draw the veil from your own personality and allow the sun to shine forth! You protect yourselves from the Greater Sun without, because you still live within the scarab shell of the lesser self. And this is necessary for your growth in the childhood of the human race. For too great a light and heat would blind and destroy your frail being. But now at humanity’s end, from the old race new humans are born who have escaped from the shell of isolation. At first this may lead to anger and bewilderment. The old safe world of ideas and separate ways gives place to sudden influx from the great outer spheres which have always been around you, You are like prisoners in a dungeon who are suddenly released! The light blinds you and you are afraid of puzzling scenes. Strange beings now present themselves to your sight and speak with alien tongues. Yet such a happening is as nothing compared with the shock when the imprisoned consciousness, delayed in ever-continuing self-talk, suddenly hears one voice speaking in the language of thought! The privacy of self seems violated by the thoughts and feelings of another.
There is no way in which you can escape the onslaught of new ideas and impressions, once the pylons that lead to the sun are opened. For the sun is our Heaven, yours and Mine. Every dawn you see it rise and it culminates, and then it appears to leave you, sinking in the West. But in reality it is always there, awaiting you. For all of you are children of the sun. Your solar bodies art hidden in earthly flesh, as the sun is hidden by the moon’s shadow during an eclipse. It is through your solar bodies of Light and Warmth that you hear not only the voices of those attuned to you on earth, but you also begin to receive words from the whole Company of Heaven! Your vision extends to seeing the divine form of myriad-coloured Deities, and your minds are enabled to understand their spiritual teachings.
Listen then for the voices of the Goddesses and Gods, and allow your vision to accept Their Presence. When the sun shines at day you do the works of earth: but when the outer sun is hidden in night, then is it time for your souls to awaken. The solar Spirit that shines in each of you and in all beings shine forth in glory. Pray to me at dusk and I will protect you with my loving arms. Call to Me at dawn and you will be enabled to remember your sojourn in the solar Heaven with its Halls of Learning, its multitude of wondrous Beings, and its radiations of Light and Love and Truth.
Priestesses wear the Hathor crown (gold disc with horns) and gold and white robes and hold gold wands. Priests wear gold mitres and gold robes and carry gold staffs. Voyagers wear gold circlets and similar robes to priesthood. Altar is draped in white and gold and on it are 6 lighted candles, silver cup of water and burning incense. Water, jug and glasses are nearby.
1st Priest: (strikes 3 times on ground with staff) Fellow voyagers, we are assembled to make a magical journey to the radiant sun, that we may find there Joy, Strength and Love. Though our physical eyes may not safely gaze upon the sun, and our earthly bodies would perish through any approach to our source of light and warmth, yet we each of us, like the earth herself, have a Solar Body. Let it begin to glow within us.
1st Priestess: (makes sign of Hathor with wand. She offers incense.) I offer this burning incense to Thee, O Hathor, Who weareth the sun upon Thy horned Head. Mother Goddess Who dwelleth in the visible Heavens, Source and Ruler of all, help us in our magical journey to Thy realm that we may enjoy Thy gifts therein. Thou has created the world and all that it containeth through Thine own unaided force and energy. Thou has breathed the power of life within us. May we use the strength Thou givest for good.
1st Priest: (makes sign of Ra, a circle, with staff and offers incense.) I offer burning incense to Thee, the Sun God Ra. Homage to Thee, O Ra, when Thou risest in beauty. Thou passest over the height of Heaven and Thy heart is filled with gladness. The Sektet Boat draweth on, and Thou advancest in the Atet Boat with fair winds. Grant that we may be among Thy favoured followers. O Lord of beauty, bring us in Thy Boat of Millions of years unto Thine everlasting habitations.
1st Priestess: So that we may bring into harmony the fiery rays of the sun with the waters of truth, receive this water on Thy brow. (She anoints each brow with the ankh sign from cup of water)
2nd Priest: In order that we may undertake our voyage, we must build the Boat of Ra. Know that this Boat is named "Atet" when it takes us to the sun, and "Sektet" for our return journey.
Music. Ravel’s "Bolero" or Egyptian music is suitable. The boat is magically created by voyagers describing its building through dance, and evocation through the intoning of names.
2nd Priestess: Fellow voyagers, let us perform the Dance of the Boat of Millions of Years! Let us intone the magical words that bring it to life, as was done in Ancient Egypt.
3rd Priestess: Hail ye who bring us the Boat from Ra. Coil up its ropes in peace. "Tell me my Name", saith the Wood.
3rd Priest: Lord of the Two Lands Who dwellest in the Shrine is Thy Name.
1st Voyager: "Tell us our Name", saith the Oar-rests.
2nd Voyager: Aker is thy Name.
3rd Voyager: "Tell me my Name", saith the Mast.
4th Voyager: He who bringeth back the Great Lady is thy Name.
5th Voyager: "Tell me my Name", saith the Deck.
6th Voyager: Throat of Kestha is thy Name.
7th Voyager: "Tell me my Name", saith the Sail.
8th Voyager: Nuit is thy Name.
9th Voyager: "Tell us our Name", saith the Paddles.
10th Voyager: Fingers of Heru is thy Name.
11th Voyager: "Tell my Name", saith the Steersman.
12th Voyager: Anpu is thy Name.
3rd Priest: Our boat is built about the Shrine of Osiris, protected by the Mast of Isis, born by the Sail of Nuit of the stars, and balanced by rays of light from Horus The Sun Hawk. Behold, Anubis, Guide of Souls, is at the helm! We Hail the God Anubis and request Him to guide us to the Sun.
3rd Priestess: In order to enter the sun’s spheres we need to invoke our own Solar Bodies. (As Priestesses make movements and intone, all voyagers join them.) As we intone the words of power of each Goddess of solar force, we touch our bodies with interlaced fingers. We may feel the force move within us like liquid sunlight. (She places her hands on base of spine: "Buto". She places hands on thighs: "Nuit". She puts hands on small of back: "Sekhmet".)
2nd Priestess: (places hands and arms in winged position: "Aset". She holds hands over her heart: "Nephthys". She links fingers at back of neck: "Maat".)
1st Priestess: (links fingers behind her head: "Muth". She holds arms upwards as horns and forms disk on top of head: "Hathor". Solar power may be felt circulating through the body and coloured lights seen aureoled around each voyager.)
3rd Priest: Let us shut our eyes. Anubis beckons us to enter the boat. Guided by Anubis, the Atet boat carries us above our Temple and our country. We sail beyond the earth and look upon its wide blue oceans and tawny continents and on the side shrouded in night. Easily we fly by our pale moon, and by the clouded Venus and fiery Mercury. Constellations rush by us. We begin to feel a warm radiance, and light is upon our faces, and we hold out our hands to the warming rays of approaching sun. We feel no discomfort, for our solar being belongs here! We approach the Sphere of Light. This is the Heaven of Harmony, a place of peace and joy.
THE HEAVEN OF HARMONY
3rd Priestess: We see before us, barring our way, two golden Pylons. They are guarded by mighty Beings, the Lioness of Light Rays, Tefnut, and Her Twin Brother, Shu, Lion of the Aether. We ask, "May we enter?".
3rd Priest: They say; "To pass, you must first answer a question: Who are they on the true path of religion and may enter heaven, and who are they who follow a false path, and so are rejected?"
Meditation
3rd Priestess: In heaven all that is false cannot exist. Hence all religious paths to the Spiritual Sun return there; for from there they emanate!
3rd Priest: Tefnut and Shu declare: "Truth is on your tongues. You may enter". Behold, our Boat Atet brings us through the Pylons on a shining river. We leave the boat and reach the river bank, We look around us with wonder. Strange that the brightness of the sun should have concealed all this glory from our earthly vision!
Music. Rachmaninov and Mozart are suitable.
3rd Priestess: Here is perfect beauty. Mountains and their foothills glow with many-coloured rocks, and bright silver streams pour from them into peaceful meadows below. Here trees are in their perfection: our earthly trees are but transient reflections. Our river runs into a lake that mirrors Truth. The Solar Deities send forth rays of Light to illumine the minds of Their children who follow Their ways. Here meditate the devotees of Amaterasu, Sun Goddess of Japan, in their bright embroidered robes. They wander among cherry trees, and write poems and paint the birds and butterflies that fly among the blossoms. The followers of Shamash of Babylon hold converse in Halls of Learning with the Zoroastrians, who adore Ahura Mazda. Lovers of Grainne, Sun Goddess of the Celts, perform solar Mysteries with the Hesperides, Nymphs who guard the Golden Apples of Wisdom. And Phoebus Apollo touches his lyre in tune with the symphony of the diverse thoughts of all, which blend in ever-changing harmony, each note offering its individual colour to form pictures in the sky. Let us join this radiant company, and find our joy in the Realm of Light.
Silence
3rd Priestess: Fellow Voyagers, let us return to the Pylons of Tefnut and Shu, guided by Anubis. We enter the Boat Atet. Rhythmic music.
THE LAND OF SUN-FIRE
2nd Priestess: Our next voyage is into the very depths of the sun. Anubis steers our boat through the Land of Light to the Realm of Heat. The river changes from blue-green to pale yellow. The landscape before us glows with violent colours; purple, red, orange and yellow: yet we feel only a glow of warmth and love. Before us rise two soaring pylons of rosy-gold. Between them is the mighty form of Harmachis, the Sphinx. Harmachis tells us: "This is the fiery realm of the Sun Goddess Sekhmet. You may not pass the pylons without answering a riddle: What is it that riseth from the earth, descendeth from the Heavens, and dawns, culminates and setteth like the sun? It bringeth glory to the virtuous, but destruction to the wicked."
Meditation
2nd Priest: The answer is "Cosmic Fire". For it lies concealed within the earth and within each atom: yet it descends from the highest spheres. It is within the life cycle of the sun, rising, strenthening and then waning as it expends itself. It blesses those who use it for good purpose; but it destroys those who misuse it.
2nd Priestess: Harmachis declares: "You have solved the riddle. You may enter." Anubis steers our boat through the pylons. The river is now gold and violet in colour, reflecting passing clouds. What magnificence surrounds us! The mighty form of the Goddess Sekhmet is radiant with golden flames, and Bast the Cat Goddess is as black as night with gleaming emerald eyes. Shadowy elephants with tusks of white light move in herds through giant jungles. Centaurs and other fabulous creatures who haunt the dreams of men dwell here, for it is from here that they manifest! Dinosaurs like moving hills pass harmlessly through towering rain forests, Ben-ben birds plucking their luscious fruits.
2nd Priest: Down our swiftly flowing river, bordered by reeds and date palms, glide crocodiles with turquoise earrings, wrapt in cosmic contemplation. And here, on an island within a golden lake the winged Phoenix has its nest, rising in splendour from everlasting flames! In the heart of this realm is a vast purple sea, moving rhythmically with rolling waves. It is into these violet waters that creatures plunge, and play with leaping dolphins, gaining renewed vitality! Let us also bathe in these reviving waters, and rest on its shore of golden sands, shaded by emerald grasses waving in the soft breeze. * * *
Silence
2nd Priestess: We now return from the Realm of Sekhmet to our ship Atet, guided by the God Anubis. Once more we are seated peacefully in the boat floating on the smooth river. But where is the jackal-headed God bringing us? For suddenly, instead of returning to the Pylons of the Sphinx, He steers our boat into the violet sea! We sink rapidly through water which becomes darker and darker, spiralling about us in a vortex. Soon we find ourselves in outer darkness. Vast shapes loom above us. We face two black pylons. Between them is the shadowy form of Kephera, the Beetle who rolls the sun at night. If we pass through the pylons, may we find our sun?
THE HIDDEN SUN
1st Priest: Kephera declares: "To enter this realm you must answer your own question: Where is our sun?"
Meditation
1st Priestess: There is only one place where such brightness can lie concealed. It is within the womb of the Mother of all suns.
1st Priest: Kephera decrees: "You have answered your own question truly. You may pass." Anubis guides our boat through the pylons along the river, which is now an indigo colour, swirling into black nothingness. In this domain there is no sun, no stars. We are lost in the darkness before creation.
1st Priestess: In this blackness I begin to discern the form of a Woman. This all -encompassing night is in reality but Her cloak! I cannot see Her face, for it is veiled. Now I begin to see a light within her, as small and weak as a candle flame. It begins to increase and I see that She is holding in Her arms a shining baby. She speaks these words:
"Know that I am the Universal Mother. Within My loving arms is your lost sun, Who is My child, Horus the Sun Hawk. So do I bring forth you all, protected by My love. Yet when the time for you to grow is upon you, you will leave me, and like Horus become mighty in your day. But when the night comes and your glory sets, you will return to me that you may be born again."
Let us enter the domain of the Veiled Isis, She Who was, and Is, and Is to be. So may we be re-born. * * *
Silence
1st Priestess: It is time for us to enter Sektet, the Boat of Return, bringing with us that which we have understood. Anubis turns our Boat away from the sun, and the constellations flash by us. * * * The warmth and light is upon our backs and we enjoy solar power within us. * * * Now we pass Mercury and Venus, and we recognise the familiar face of the moon, and our earth. * * * The boat brings us to our country and sinks gently into our Temple. It rests there. We give thanks to the God Anubis for guiding us on our voyage. He departs, leaving us with His hands upraised in blessing.
1st Priest: Let us return the Boat Sektet to the God Ra.
Music. All dance to disperse boat.
3rd Priestess: We give thanks to the Boat of Millions of years. We thank Wood and Oar-rests. We thank Mast and Deck. We thank Sail and Paddles.
1st Priest: (strikes ground 3 times with staff) We have returned from our magical voyage to the sun, strengthened and uplifted!
3rd Priestess: Let us attune our solar bodies with our physical being in perfect health. (She hands round glasses of water to ensure return from trance.)
1st Priestess: Fellow Voyagers, let us share our experiences of our voyage, only retaining that which is secret. Reports. Let us send forth solar radiations of Joy, Strength and Love to all beings.
Power is sent, and may be seen as white, gold and violet. Priesthood gives thanks to Hathor and Ra, Tefnut and Shu, Sekhmet and Harmachis, Isis, Kephera and Horus.
Sources: "The Book of the Dead", E. A. Wallis Budge, Kegan Paul, Dutton. "The Goddesses of Chaldea, Syria & Egypt", Lawrence Durdin-Robertson, Cesara.
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