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Part II. Life’s Initiations
I. Alma Mater of Rome. The Homing of Children: Baptism and Naming.
II. Vesta of Rome. Flamma Vestae. Initiation into an Iseum.
III. Dana of Eire. Porta Mystica. The Soul Enters New Spheres.
IV. Isis of Egypt. Dulce Domum. Transition into the next Sphere.
Sybil, Oracles of the Goddess
Fellowship of Isis Liturgy by Olivia Robertson
Part II. Life’s Initiations
I. THE GODDESS ALMA MATER OF ROME
Alma Mater. The Homing, Baptism and Naming of Children
Priestess: (Invocation) Ave Alma Mater! We honour You as Mother of us all. Help us to return to our eternal Home, bringing our harvest of good lives. Bless the children You entrust to our care.
Oracle: Every baby is born with a little flame shining over its head. This comes from its spirit body. But as the child grows older, the flame is well-nigh extinguished by the demands of worldly life. But it sometimes happens that the flame does not die down, but rather increases! The child is aureoled with rays of power and beauty. All unknowingly the girl or boy inflicts pain on its elders, by reason of the strange ideas and feelings the rays bring. So in past ages the elders sometimes persecuted such young people: and even now they try to extinguish such hurtful Light. This is understandable: for what ruler welcomes his successor?
But there is no need for the worldly-minded to dread occult forces radiated by such children. These elders have enriched humanity with sciences and laws. Under the Patriarch they have ruled the world. What is good in the old laws and behaviour will last. Nonetheless a new era is dawning swiftly! When a race is faced with self wrought destruction, inspired mutation can take place. The Gates between the psychic and material spheres are opening! A new humanity is being born. More and more spiritually and psychically gifted children are coming into incarnation. Some are the old ones transformed: others come from the stars. But heed well My warning! A human being without any such occult gifts, but who lives a good life under Patriarchal law, is more pleasing to Deity than a vain and power-drunk "Spiritual Master."
So you need to foster in your children, whatever their gifts, a concern for every being as part of My Cosmic Family. Throughout all spheres, within all galaxies and planets, I am shown forth originally in every creature, every atom. Manifold are My aspects: no creature is to be dreaded nor despised. Respect the unique quality in every God and animal and plant, including your family! Also respect yourself for your own originality which is Divine.
Whenever a new aeon manifests, I am reborn in all those who know Me. I weep for your sufferings, which yet brings you needful experience. When you are happy, I rejoice. I work through your good deeds. My love is with you always.
Sybil, Oracles of the Goddess
Fellowship of Isis Liturgy by Olivia Robertson
Part II. Life’s Initiations
II. THE GODDESS VESTA OF ROME
Flamma Vestae. Initiation into an Iseum
Priestess: (Invocation) Come to us, Holy Light, Divine Spirit. Who are Vesta of the Everlasting Flame! Without Thee we are lifeless, devoid of true being. We exist in a transient world of appearances, entrapped in delusions. When we struggle to free ourselves, we are dragged away from reality by the nightmares of our fellow sufferers. Free us with fire from heaven!
Oracle: All those who pray for the Divine Light are answered, even if no Light is bestowed. For the weary soul, lost in a world of phantoms can be driven insane by too much Light, too soon! All your work, your struggles, all your quest for goodness, however, form a foundation on which my Eternal Flame may safely burn. Know that your body is the Phoenix and it is My Fire which consumes the Sun Bird, burning upon My Altar! From this alchemy of transmutation, the Phoenix rises in glory from its ashes: so shall it be in the fullness of time with all who are born of the Mother God!
The little flame that you bring forth with you from your Mother's womb is with you always, however dimly it burns. The only spiritual death is when that flame is willfully put out. But even then through Divine Grace the flame rnay be re-ignited, when the soul is penitent and is ready. It is greed and cruelty, selfishness and contempt for others that stifle My flame. To live without it is impossible. For many years the soul may struggle on, becoming increasingly mechanical, trying to preserve its individual consciousness. Without the Vital Spark the body itself succumbs to diseases and perishes prematurely. Then the self finds itself in a limbo, neither in the Sphere of Spirits nor on earth. In such a plight the loving help of others is needed: many spiritual rescue workers bring light and warmth from My hearth.
Truly, when you give generously to your fellow humans, animals, all Earth's creatures, you suffer no loss, but rather increase! A candle flame is not lessened when light is taken from it to light many other candles. There is more, not less light. Yet all the candle-flames come from the same source. So is it with My Vestal Flame, which gives forth the white Light of Truth and the golden Fire of Love to all. And yet honour the darkness, for it is from the matrix of night that day cometh forth.
All spiritual and physical fires, whether animating the atom, the earth, the sun or the galaxies, emanate from My Eternal Flame. This is beyond both time and space. My Light is expressed individually through each creature, every atom: yet all are One in Me. Share your Light and Love with all and you will gain All.
Sybil, Oracles of the Goddess
Fellowship of Isis Liturgy by Olivia Robertson
Part II. Life’s Initiations
III. THE GODDESS DANA OF EIRE
Porta Mystica. The Soul Returns Home
Priestess: (Invocation) Beautiful Dana, bring to us a glimpse of wonder beyond the known! However satisfied we are with our existence on earth, sometimes a longing comes upon us for a light through a mysterious passage.
Oracle: I am the Voice that calls you from afar, I am the blackbird that sings in the morning, and lures you back from wandering from the trodden path, I am the gleam of sunshine that speckles the hilly grove, and casts fitful shadows upon the wild flowers of the heath. It is the incense from My raiment that brings with it the scent of hyacinths and bluebells and wild lilies. When you seek Me without My calling you, I am not to be found. Yet I may manifest unexpectedly, in the heedless moment, as you put a foot into a fast flowing stream, or climb to pick red apples. My sigh is in the breeze that so tenderly moves your light hair, and I am the wild swan that with its mate flies high over the treetops beyond the river.
Yet also am I the darkness that enshrouds familiar forms, and makes sinister the commonplace things of day. Through the half-opened door am I sensed, and in the creaking of a gate leading into the wilderness: and I am heard in the hooting of the owl. I dignify with My moon-beams the ugly town: but I am also the shadow of the earth that falls upon Her in Her obscurity.
For it is in My mystery that lies My enchantment. To live perpetually in the daylight, boxed in a room, a house, a tamed garden and town is to lose your birthright of ever increasing adventure into knowledge and love and glory! And that may only come to you when you recover the adventurous spirit of the questing child, the curiosity of the cat, the courage of the wild beast. I am no Inspirer of coward souls! My wisdom and joy is gained through a generous acceptance of new understanding. Come with Me and I will show you the abyss, and you will befriend the dwellers in the hollow hills who are also My dear children! I will dance with you in the Many-Coloured Land of Youth, and study with you in the Solar Halls of Learning.
But when you raise your eyes to the star, I shall lift you aloft with Me to celestial realms, and with wings outspread you shall be transformed into shining swans! Yet within you always shall be your past, and from that you shall gain sustenance for your future growth into conscious Immortality.
Sybil, Oracles of the Goddess
Fellowship of Isis Liturgy by Olivia Robertson
Part II. Life’s Initiations
IV. THE GODDESS ISIS OF EGYPT
Dulce Domum. The Soul Returns Home
Transition into the Next Sphere
Priestess: (Invocation) Divine Isis, Who doth hold the Ankh, Sign of Life, have pity on our human weakness. We all fear death. There is no creature that will not fight for its life! The most terrible calamities that befall us are yet more acceptable than their ending through even the quickest death. We dread the loss of ourselves, our own consciousness, of all that we know. When we grieve for those who die, truly we fear for ourselves! Thou Who didst shed Thy tears for Thy dead husband Osiris, and Who brought Him to everlasting life, bring us true knowledge.
Oracle: Know that your very love of life, of your own selves, is a surety that you live forever! It is only the body that perishes. Therefore those who dread death the most are those who enjoy life the most! And in that very enjoyment is your salvation. If you see death as an unpredictable but inevitable disaster in the future, soon or far ahead, you naturally dread a sudden end to all you love, a stop to your own individual consciousness. But in verity you can experience your own immortality now! Eternity may be experienced through two passing seconds of earth time. You can awaken from this dream of worldly life into a greater reality. Only veils of ignorance and unconsciousness divide each one of you from your own Immortal Self. Hence death is sin: sin is ignorance. For when you wrongly think: "I am only the brain; I am the body with its senses" you deny your true self through choosing that which is mortal.
Enjoy those delights that belong to the eternal spheres, such as the love and care of each other, of animals and plants: philosophy and religion; the practice of arts and crafts. Thus you will strengthen your spiritual body with the nectar and ambrosia of the Deities. You will learn to participate in heavenly life as your earthly body sleeps. Love, and you are in harmony with Heaven. Be truthful, and you drink of the Water of Life. Laugh, and you laugh with Jove! Weep with compassion, and you mingle your tears with Mine.
Remove then the deadening pall of gloom which stifles your earthly funeral obsequies! Death is for the ignorant. Immortality is for those who know the truth! Develop your psychic and spiritual gifts, so that not only will you recognise this "death" as the impostor it is, but you will help others to lose any fear, but rather look forward to participating in heavenly joys. Reunion with those you love is certain. In your originality is your immortality, for nothing that is original can perish. It is an essential part of the cosmic scheme. Manifest your Divine Origin which is born from the Mother of All, Nuit, Whose children are immortal like onto Herself. Nourish then all good gifts in each person and each being. and you strengthen the harmony between the Divine Sphere of Heaven with its transient reflection which is this world. There is no death. Love is eternal. Osiris and I are One. So is it with us all.
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