Sophia, Cosmic Consciousness of the Goddess
Fellowship of Isis Liturgy by Olivia Robertson
Mystical Awakening of Taurus and Isis
Ritual no. 3
ORACLE OF THE GODDESS ISIS
Priestess: (Invocation) Isis, Bestower of Love, Thou Who lost and found Thy Divine Husband Osiris, starry Serapis, and Who brought Him to life: teach us to love with understanding: to help rather than to hinder those we seek to heal, and hold us to Thy embrace which is the encircling arms of the Cosmic Mother.
Oracle of Isis: My loves are many, for to Me all My sons and daughters are the dismembered fragments of Serapis, the starry constellation of incarnate beings. My white milk nourishes all creatures, for this milk is the nectar of the Deities, replenishing their ichor, the Divine Blood. Rightly am I adored as the Cow Goddess, sharing the honour with Hathor and Lakshmi: for all mothers, whether animal or human, serpent or fish or insect give entirely with unselfish abandon to their offspring. This is the law of Nature, for it is My law. But Mothers and wives need to be protected and strengthened by the Gods, for to give, we must also receive. The Goddesses receive life and food from the Mother Goddess: they need also the mighty Gods to give them their strength and determination. For know that our love can be our weakness: and those who depend upon us may become as parasites, if we keep them too long beneath our protecting wings. So remember that though the Goddess presides over the constellation of Taurus, it is the God Serapis with His red eye Who watches the just and the unjust; and Who rewards the virtuous and punishes the wicked. In the Giant Orion you see man in his full vigour and wildness: always in your lives balance this with the White Star of Isis. The inner mystery lies in this star Sothis-Sirius. This is the inner Sun now being unveiled to those who understand. In this two-fold star may be realised the Heavenly Union of the God and Goddess: Love and Truth blended in perfect beauty.
A circle of 7 white candles is set around the temple surrounding a central altar draped in lemon-coloured yellow. Upon it are seven white candles around a red lamp, a cup of milk, a pitcher of water, burning incense and a star map of Taurus. 2 Priestesses wear the Hathor-Isis headdress (cow’s horns supporting a disc supported by a "seat") and lemon-yellow robes. 2 Priests wear the white Osiris headdress and white robes. Women Companions wear silver circlets, the men, the white "Phra" headdress (folded cloth) and all wear white robes. The ankh lamen is worn by all. Priestesses use the sistrum (Egyptian rattling instrument) and the Priests, the Osiris crook.
1st Priest: Companions in the quest for greater consciousness, we are assembled to experience the mystical awakening bestowed by the Goddess Isis through Her constellation, Taurus.
Music. Flutes are suitable. "Mooncircles," by Kay Gardner.
1st Priestess: (offers incense at altar) I offer this incense to Thee, Isis, in honour of Thy Divinity.
"Hail, Agathetyche, greatly renowned Isis, mightiest
Hermouthis, in Thee every city rejoices:
O Discoverer of Life and grain foods wherein all
mortals delight because of Thy blessings,
All who pray to Thee to assist their prosperity
Flourish in their piety forever;
All who are bound in mortal illnesses in the grip of death
If they but pray to Thee, quickly attain Thy renewal of Life.
Creator of both earth and the starry heavens,
And of all rivers and very swift streams;
Horus is Thy son, who inhabits the height of heaven,
Is the rising sun who showeth forth the Light.
All indeed who wish to bring forth Offspring
If they but pray to Thee, attain fruitfulness.
With Thee all vegetation flourishes and Thou doth apportion to all
Whom Thou doth favour, a life of unspeakable blessings.
Joyfully after Thy Festivals we return home,
Reverently, filled with the blessedness that comes alone from Thee.
Priestesses rattle sistra. They raise both arms and when a silvery white power is felt through their bodies as a shower of rain, they proceed round the company, laying hands lightly on each head and heart, and making sign of ankh until Companions feel power.
1st Priest: (offers incense at altar) I offer this to Thee, Osiris, Serapis the Starry Bull. Hail, Holy Bull! Hail to Thee, beneficient Bull! Hail to Thee, Who maketh increase! Hail to Thee who maketh growth! Hail to Thee who dost bestow Thy bounty! Save us! We offer hereby our thoughts, and words, and actions, our herds, and men and women, to the Bountiful Spirit of the Deities. And may the Creative Stars shine down on us, and round about us. Let Aldebaran the Torch, the left red Eye of the Bull, given by the Goddess, which shineth within the pale of the Seven Maidens, the Hyades, watch over us!
1st Priest holds aloft the lamp with left hand and his crook in right hand.
2nd Priestess: (offers incense) I offer this incense to Thee, Lakshmi, Goddess of the Cow, Who produced the turning Universe from the churning of Thy Sea of Milk! Yet Thou canst appear as any of Thy children, disguised Avatar. And the pilgrim asked in his wanderings: "Whence doth that wind blow, the sweetest-scented I ever inhaled?" And it seemed to him as if his own conscience were advancing to him in that wind, in the shape of a maiden fair, bright, white-armed, strong, tall-formed, beautiful of body, noble, of a glorious seed, of the size of a maiden in her fifteenth year, as fair as the fairest things in the world. And the soul of the faithful one addressed her, asking: "What maid are thou, who are the fairest maid I have seen?" And she answered him: "Oh youth, of good thoughts, good words, and good deeds, of good religion! I am Thine own conscience. I was lovely, and thou madest me lovelier; I was fair, and thou madest me still fairer; I was desirable, and thou madest me still more desirable. I was sitting in a forward place, and thou madest me sit in the foremost place, through good thought, good speech, and through the good deeds of thine."
2nd Priestess: (hands round cup of milk to all with these words to each) Accept this milk from the Mother of all beings into thyself and know thyself Her (Daughter/Son).
2nd Priest: (offers incense) I offer this incense to Thee, Vishnu the Preserver, in honour of Thy Divinity. Praise to Thee, Threefold God Vishnu, Thou art the embodiment of mercy and goodness. Thou art the power that maintains Dharma, the universal Order. When Lakshmi had churned the milk of the universe, thus creating the starry heavens in the firmament, Thou didst move across the face of the waters of Nara, the cosmic ocean. As Narayana, Thou didst bring calm and compassion to the newly born, and preserved the beings brought forth by the stirring of creation. At the end of each age Thou lieth sleeping upon the serpent Sesha that coileth across the heavens.
2nd Priest: (sprinkles water around the circle with these words) Let still minds bring order to the passions.
1st Priest: Companions, let us invoke the fourteen Atlantides.
1st Priestess: (shakes sistrum) We call upon the Hyades, the seven daughters of Aethra and Atlas, half-sisters to the Pleiades.
"As when the seaman sees the Hyades
Gather an army of Cimnerian clouds,
Auster and Aquilon with winged steeds,"
So do these stars bring earthquakes and winds of the Spirit. They guard Aldebaran, bringer of riches and honour. Like Vestals the Hyades preserve the Ever-living Eye, of the Goddess Uatchat, and from it proceed the Taurids, bright meteors and fireballs.
Seven Companions light each altar candle in turn with these words:
1st Companion: Bestow on us the skills of the arts, Phaesyle, Nymph crowned like the Graces.
2nd Companion: Give us the power of good rulership, Coronis, decked with a diadem.
3rd Companion: Aid our meditation, rich-crowned Cleeia.
4th Companion: Aid us in our healing, lovely Phaeo.
5th Companion: May we attain thy dignity, long-robed Eudora.
6th Companion: Enrich our religious devotions, holy Ambrosia.
7th Companion: Let Thy perpetual light shine upon our souls, white Dione.
2nd Priestess: (rattles sistrum) We call upon the Pleiades, the Seven Sisters, Shuttle of Neith, Stars of Hathor. To Them were oriented many Temples of Hellas. The Goddess Pleione is their Mother. The Pleiades are the Seven White Doves of Dodona. It is They Who bring the Thunder and Lightning of Initiation.
Music.
Seven Companions light each candle round the circle, with these words:
1st Companion: Come to us, Alcyone, the Lucida, eldest Sister, and descend on us with Thy spiritual light! As Arundhati, Thou didst bring Divali, Festival of Lights, to India, and the Festival of Lanterns to the Orient. Thou are Amba, the Mother. Give us Thy Love.
"The great and burning star,
Immeasurably old, immeasurably far,
Surging forth its silver flame
Through eternity . . . Alcyone!"
2nd Companion: We call upon Maia, Mother of Hermes, that we may have clear minds and good understanding. Love needs the balance of Wisdom.
3rd Companion: Sweet Taygete, give us the joys of life, Who fixed the two seasons of the honey harvest: as soon as the Pleiad Taygete has displayed Her comely face to the earth, and spurns with Her foot the despised waters of the ocean; or when the same star, flying the constellation of the watery fish, descends in sadness from the sky into the wintery waves - the honey of happiness is gained.
4th Companion: Dark-faced Electra, share with us Thy loyalty. Thou didst withdraw Thy light in sorrow at the destruction of Ilium, the mighty city founded by Thy son Dardanos: "Elektra Trojae spectare ruinas: Non tolit ante Oculos, opposuitque manum. "Thy beauty is shrouded by the heavy veil Thy wedlock won.
5th Companion: Those who long for Friendship turn to Thee, Asterope and Thy twin sister. Help us to find and keep true friends.
6th Companion: We turn to Thee, Mater Pleione! Join our circle together, as do the filmy threads draw together Thy daughters. "The ground was as if strewn with pieces of enamel, and rows of Pleiades seem to hang on the branches of the trees." To our Rites may Heaven affix the Pearl-decked Rose of the Pleiades as a seal of immortality.
7th Companion: Let us not ignore the lost star, Merope, the occulted star of the Mysteries! Teach us reverence for the unknown, dark-eyed Merope:
"Seven paths aloft men say they take,
Yet six alone are viewed by mortal eyes.
From Zeus’ abode no star unknown is lost,
Since first from birth we heard;
But thus the tale is told. Six only are visible:
But the seventh is beneath the dark clouds."
1st Priestess: Companions, let us make the weaving of the Rays. As do the Atlantides, let us move from North to West.
Music. Spiral Dance. Silvery-white and lemon yellow colours may be seen and a rosy glow round the altar. Cold electric-like power as rain drops may be felt especially in the throat. When a faint shift of consciousness is experienced by the group, the dance ends and all sit.
2nd Priest: (displays scroll, star map of Taurus) Companions, let us contemplate the Awakening of Taurus and Isis.
2nd Priestess: Gaze with me upon the glory of the black sky of winter. With the eyes of wondering childhood we see the starry cluster of the Pleiades as dancing nymphs moving across the sky. They come with the white bull, Serapis, Who rises from the milky sky river, Eridanus. His baleful left eye gleams like a red torch, and within it are all lost memories. In His eye is held forever the beauty of the Goddess; and Her forked cows' horns may be seen behind His. Following Him strides the hawk-headed giant Sahu-Orion-Horus of the Southern sky. "And rising from the milky sea of heaven comes great Isis, and on Her brow is the full moon and in Her right hand She holds Her star, Anuki, Sirius that holds the immortal twin spirits of Osiris and Herself. This is the story of eternal love and life, of the losing and the gaining of the death in the West and the rising in the East. Contemplate and wonder.
Contemplation
Reports on states of consciousness.
2nd Priestess: Let us return slowly to everyday awareness, bringing back all that we have attained. Let us send forth thoughts of love and happiness to all.
1st Priestess: (at altar) We give thanks to Isis and to Lakshmi.
1st Priest: (at altar) We give thanks to Serapis and to Vishnu.
Sources: "Hymns of Isidorus", (Augustan Age) trans. and notes, Vera F. Vanderlip. "Manetho", "Ptolemy", both trans. W. G. Waddell, Loeb Classical Library. "Hesiod", "Homer", trans. Evelyn-White, Loeb Classical Library. "The Zend-Avesta", Sacred Books of the East series, Max Muller, Motilal Banarsidass, Delhi. "Indian Mythology" Hamlyn. Music on Record and Cassette: "Mooncircles", Kay Gardner, Wise Women Enterprises Inc., P. O. Box 297 Village Station, New York, NY 10014, USA.
Note: "Star Names, Their Lore and Meaning," Richard Hinckley Allen, Dover Publications, New York, first pub. 1899. "Juno Covella, Perpetual Calendar of the Fellowship of Isis", Lawrence Durdin-Robertson, Cesara Publications, and Philips’ Planisphere were used for each Rite.
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