Urania, Ceremonial Magic of the Goddess
Fellowship of Isis Liturgy by Olivia Robertson
Part III. Planetary Magic
Magic of Neptune and Ngame
Ritual no. 12
ORACLE OF THE GODDESS NGAME
Priestess: (Invocation) None is greater in the Universe than the Triple Moon Goddess Ngame. Lost in fear and despair at the ill effects of man's follies, we watch our fair home this earth being poisoned by our wars and greed. So after aeons we again invoke Thee, the Goddess Ngame, once worshipped in the lost continent of Lemuria. The Akans of Africa and the Libyan Berbers adore Thee. The peoples of Africa are awakening and remember their lost heritage. The Builders of Zimbabwe call to them from the world of Spirit and the Dogons and other tribes once more draw strength from their ancient religions. Divine Ngame, with Thy silver rays transmute our deadly existences into beautiful lives of everlasting joy.
Oracle: With My White Light I make the occult manifest: and with My clarity I draw hidden knowledge from the depths of the Ocean of Being into your consciousness. That which materialists term unreal is real: and that which they call real is unreal. Nothing devoid of love or truth or beauty is real. Immortality is the unfailing test of reality. You gaze into My Crystal which I hold in My hands and see beautiful scenes within it. These pictures are reflections of My lovely spheres. My first sphere is that of nature spirits and faeries, the Sidhe. Here all who love nature find their home. You have lost the key. This silver key is the Innocence of Childhood.
My second sphere is beloved of artists and poets and all who are creative. It is Elysium, and is glorified with many coloured rays shining upon beautiful palaces and sublime landscapes. You have lost the key. The lapis key is Understanding. My third realm is that of Great Space which some call Olympus and others Devachan; and here dwell the Goddesses and Gods who reign over stars and planets. You have not yet the key. The golden key is Love with Wisdom. To reach Me, invoke Me with reverence and good Intention, by One of My Divine Names, such as Ngame. Anoint your brow with pure water, and drink some. Now gaze upon water in cup or pool, or into crystal or mirror. First you will only see your own face. As you continue to scry, clouds will veil your own reflection, and visions come, first as shadows, then filled with colour. With perseverance you will learn to project yourself into the scene. You will experience that which was, and is, and shall be. Always end with giving thanks, for I give the experiences for your good. Use your knowledge wisely. Work to make the earthly realm a clearer reflection of the greater Spheres of Eternity. For you can lose Heaven in a second: but only regain it through years of constant struggle.
Planetary Magic of Neptune and Ngame
Let the altar in the southwest be draped in silver and purple cloths. A 7 branched silver candlestick is in the centre, formed by 3 upturned crescents one above the other, 7 white candles lighted at each apex. It is like a tree with one stem and six curving branches. By it is a silver cup and silver trident. Incense burns in a copper container. The temple floor has the sigil of Neptune chalked upon it. The altar is between its upturned crescent and the Enchantress and Magician stand at the points. The vertical line is from North to South. At the southern end is a small circle where stands a large silver coloured vessel of water. Candidate stands by vessel. 4 Practitioners stand at 4 quarters. Magician wears blue robe and Enchantress, silver robe, Men, silver head-dresses, Women, silver crowns. Practitioners wear purple robes and Candidate, white with white veil.
Magician: Practitioners of the magical arts, we are assembled in this Holy Temple to perform the planetary magic of Neptune and Ngame. Our intention is to reconcile the magic of Atlantis with the wisdom of Lemuria, and so to harmonise Art and Nature in ourselves and upon our planet.
Magician: (takes trident and makes the sign of Neptune at altar, West) I invoke the God Neptune, Poseidon of Atlantis and of Hellas.
Magician: (offers incense) I begin to sing of Poseidon, the Great God, mover of the earth and fruitless sea, God of the deep Who is also Lord of Helicon and wide Aegae. Hail, Poseidon, Holder of the earth, dark-haired Lord. In the centre of Thy Temple in Atlantis, dedicated to the Nymph Cleito and to Thee, Thou are represented standing in a chariot drawn by six winged horses, surrounded by a hundred Nereids riding on dolphins. Aid us to learn the magical Arts of Atlantis, long concealed by ocean and time.
Enchantress: (holding cup at South of altar) I invoke the Triple Moon Goddess Ngame of Lemuria and Africa!
Enchantress: (offers incense) "O secret Light. O Hidden Goddess of unseen Glory.
Raise the Veil from Thy Face, that its rays may illumine my ignorance.
Raise me to be Thy Beloved in that bright land of Thine:
But let Thy Darkness also bring deeper knowledge.
O secret Moon. O hidden Pool. O Goddess of Many Names!
The veil hath fallen from my eyes, and I see Thy shining Face.
But sleep draws nigh, Thy Blackness rises to enfold me;
Grant me my Prayer, O beautiful Goddess, Before I go on my way."
Magician: That balance of the energies be achieved, may the Four Guardians be invoked.
1st Practitioner (South, raises arms): I invoke the Mother Goddess of Lemuria and Africa, Asase Ya. May the hidden treasures of Wisdom buried beneath the Pacific Ocean be restored to us!
2nd Practitioner (North, arms raised): I invoke the Rain God of Lemuria and Africa, Amma. Let the ancient teachings of Lemuria that are concealed in Africa come to the wise.
3rd Practitioner (East, arms raised): I invoke the Divine Ancestor Evenor of Atlantis and of Hellas. The Magical Arts of Atlantis are thus evoked.
4th Practitioner (West, arms raised): I invoke the Divine Ancestress Leucippe of Atlantis and Hellas. May we revive the beautiful arts of Atlantis, that are guarded in Hellas.
Magician: (to Candidate) Art thou willing to learn the magical arts through enacting the role of Cesara, she who formed a rainbow bridge with her ark from mighty ocean to ocean: so uniting two continents and two cultures, of heart and head, Nature and the Arts?
Candidate: I am willing. For without the Wisdom of the heart, the Arts of Magic and Science are sterile.
Magician: (to Candidate) To reconcile, it is necessary to understand. Know that from an ancient script discovered in Africa, written in Isinzu, an arcane form of Bantu, the Sage Mehlo Moya of the Berbers has given us some fragments. In a subterranean chamber in one of the ancient ruined cities of Southern Africa, not to be named, the Sage discovered these writings. The script is in hieroglyphs and symbols inscribed on sheets of parchment, on tablets of ivory and bone and on shards of stone and pottery. These writings tell of the birth of the Universe and of humanity, their evolution and destiny. They refer to Lemuria, known to the Ancients as Mu.
Enchantress: My Invocation to Ngame came from these same scripts. Harken to words from the immemorial past and then in silence, gaze into our vessel of water.
Magician: “For long weary years I, the Wanderer, travelled the Desert sands alone, seeking my lost Home. Hunger had melted my flesh, and thirst had dried up the springs of my life, and death walked close behind me, his hand outstretched to seize me. But his fingers failed to grasp me. Again and again, though I fainted and fell, yet again and again I did arise. In the dews of the night, in a trickle amid the burning sands, in the hollow heart of the Desert Flower I found enough pure cold water to refresh me. But I found not that Land, and that Pool which I sought, and at last my strength was spent. My garments had fallen into shreds, and my sandals had crumbled upon my feet. The Night of the Desert was upon me. Darkness and Silence surrounded me. I tottered and fell to earth, bethinking me, now I die.”
Enchantress fills cup with water from vessel and gives Candidate to drink.
Magician: “Then lo! My outstretched hands touched soft and dewy grass. My nostrils were filled with the odour of flowers, and my ears with the pleasant murmur of waters. I opened my eyes and found that I was once more in my Home of joy and beauty: flowery sward and richly coloured plants extended on every side. Among the flowers a deep, limpid pool gleamed softly. The azure sky thrilled with the notes of bright winged birds, which from time to time perched among the fruit-laden branches of a Tree that grew nearby. I rose up and drank from the Pool and I knew that this was the Water of Life. And I plunged into it, and strength returned to my body and I was as one reborn! I stood naked among the flowers and I stretched out my arms and gazed aloft at the Tree: then I knelt and gazed into the pool and I saw wondrous visions of that which was and that which is and that which shall be.”
Enchantress guides Candidate to gaze into cup of water.
Music. DeBussy’s “La Mer” , Ravel‘s “Daphnis and Chloe“ Suite or Siebel us “Swan of Tuonela“ are relevant.
Candidate gives a report of any visions seen.
Magician: (to Candidate) Cesara sailed for many years seeking her Haven. Picture yourself as the Wanderer beneath the Tree, by the Pool in that Garden, our true Home. In his place, when you awakened there, what would you have done?
Candidate: For a while I would have enjoyed the beauties of that place and befriended the birds. Then I would have longed to share our Home with my family and friends. So I would have returned to the world, taking good care to bring some of that precious Water of Life.
Magician: So did that Wanderer! Harken to his words: “Then I planned to build a road from the cities unto the Pool, to make the Way easy and smooth to the feet of my weary brothers and sisters; but when I had made my highway, all those that travelled by it returned again to the cities reviling me for a deceiver! At this I wondered greatly, and set forth by the way I had fashioned; but I found that indeed there was no road: for the sands had swallowed it up.” What do You learn from this?
Candidate: I realise that each of us must search for the lost Garden and drink from the Pool by the soul's desire and effort. One cannot bring others the Water of Life; as in an atmosphere void of Divine Nature, the water becomes polluted or dried up.
Magician: You have understood the wisdom of Lemuria as did our Wanderer in the tale. “And at last Wisdom flowered in my Heart, and I saw that Knowledge and Truth may never be found by cunning device of the mien of man.” Truth must be reached through the strength of the Heart: and Knowledge grasped with the Power of the Hand.
Enchantress anoints Candidate with water on brow and heart then gives her the cup.
Enchantress: In the Name of Ngame I declare that your heart is opened to the wisdom of Lemuria. From henceforth you will understand the language of bird and beast and rejoice with the hills and know the majesty of mountains. The sea runs in your veins and the fire of the volcano is in your heart. The crescent moon is upon your brow, for you are Cesara of the Grael!
Candidate: How can I hope to keep these gifts, even if I attain them, as did Cesara, when it is written that the dwellers upon the continent of Mu perished miserably beneath the Pacific ocean? Tell me of their calamity and the cause thereof that I may learn from it!
Magician: Know that the inhabitants of Lemuria grew too wise in the ways of earthly skills without the Divine Art of Intuition. They tamed nature from without, but not from within their hearts. And a thirst for Power grew in them which drove away care for their fellows. Their end is told by the Bambala Tribe of Africa, brought to them by ages of spoken tradition. They say that in the olden times men longed to know about the moon and they planned to reach her. So with great skill they made a lofty ladder of stakes. It may be that man climbed upon the moon but none can say - for that towering ladder collapsed and all men were dashed to pieces! Only in the fullness of time a new race was born of the Earth Mother.
Enchantress: This new race dwelt on another continent in another ocean and was called Atlantis, as was told to the Philosopher Plato by Critias. The wise Solon, Critias said, had once visited the city of Sais in Egypt, whose Goddess was Neith, known to the Athenians as Athene and to the Africans as Ngame. One of the priests, of great age spoke to Solon: “O Solon, Solon, you Hellenes are never anything but children! There is no old opinion handed down among you by ancient tradition, nor any science which is hoary with age. And I will tell you why. There have been, and will be again, many destructions of mankind arising out of many causes; the greatest have been brought about by the agencies of fire and water. You have heard of the myth of Phaeton? He who Yoked the steeds of Helios his father, and because he could not follow the sun's path, burnt up all that was upon the earth? Now this was a myth, and really signifies a delineation of the bodies moving around the earth, which recurs after long intervals.”
Magician: And the Egyptian Priest instructed Solon concerning the rise and fall of continents and peoples, as recorded in the secret records preserved in Ancient Egyptian Temples.
Candidate: In that case, are the civilizations of Lemuria and Atlantis myths, such as that of Phaeton?
Enchantress: A planet may fall, a meteorite may strike the earth, and at the same time an impetuous youth may well cause disaster by misuse of some swift vehicle! Your intuition will tell you of the earthly reality of myths.
Candidate: Why do facts matter? Is not the Myth sufficient for spiritual understanding of Divine Truths, veiled in symbolism?
Magician: In lost traditions are often buried memories of our own past. These must be transmuted before occult initiation.
Music.
Enchantress: Harken then to the Myth of Atlantis, as given to Solon by the Egyptian Priest. Then once more in silence gaze into the Vessel of Water. “Thousands of years ago there was a continent in the Great Ocean which was larger than Africa and Asia put together. In this island continent there was a great and wonderful empire. It was richly provided with every sort of produce and what was lacking was brought from overseas. Harvests were reaped twice a year. Among other metals they dug from the earth orichalcum, a reddish metal near as precious as gold. There was a great number of elephants on the island.”
Magician: “They bridged over the zones of the sea which surrounded the ancient metropolis. Beginning from the sea they bored canals of three hundred feet in width and one hundred feet in depth as an outer canal. And their canals they boarded with walls, coated with brass, tin and orichalcum. The palaces within were constructed likewise. The Holy Temple of their Deities, Poseidon and the Nymph Cleito, was surrounded by an enclosure of gold, where dwelt the families of the Ten Blue Cloaked Kings and Queens. The outside of the Temple was covered with silver, and the pinnacles, with gold.”
Enchantress: “And there were golden statues of Kings and Queens and Dignitaries, and also fountains, of hot and cold water. The whole country was lofty and precipitous, but the land around the citadel was a level plain. And the plain itself was artificial, yet of an extent that this was hard to believe, as it was excavated to a hundred feet. Canals of a hundred feet in width were used to convey wood and fruits of the earth in ships to the capital. Their harvests were twice yearly.”
Magician: “For many generations, as long as Divine Nature guided them, the people were obedient to the laws and well-affectioned to the Deities. They possessed true and in every way great spirits, uniting gentleness with wisdom. Such was the vast power which the Deities settled on the Continent of Atlantis.”
Enchantress takes Candidate vessel of water, to gaze therein. Music.
Candidate gives report of visions.
Magician: (to Candidate) If you had been the Lady Cesara, who sailed to this land from Mu, and dwelt there, what would you have done?
Candidate: With no poor to succour, no battles to be fought nor difficulties to surmount, I would deem myself in heaven and enjoy myself! I would practice various Arts and at last have leisure to pursue the occult sciences.
Magician: Which was the path pursued by the Atlanteans. But men and women withdrew so much from cares and toil that they became more like sophisticated dolls than creatures of nature! The women and men alike painted their faces and bodies with many colours. The men were as women and the women, as boys. And youths gazed like Narcissus into looking-glasses and fell in love with themselves; and women withdrew from childbearing, preferring to write poetry or paint pictures. And so the Divine Portion in each of them began to fade slowly. They, being unable to bear their good fortune, behaved unseemly. They grew visibly dissipated, for they were losing the fairest of their precious gifts, the earth.
Candidate: What became of them?
Enchantress: (reads) “The Deities, perceiving an honourable race in woeful plight, chastened them that they might be improved. Nature Herself took these poor dolls in their finery to Her Mighty Bosom. A volcano from the Mighty Mother's heart shook the earth, and the cleansing sea rose and engulfed them all and their palaces and gardens with them.” What do you learn from this?
Candidate: I realise that seeming calamities are a transmutation. That which is divorced from Divine Nature must be restored to Her Roots, and so be purified and born anew.
Enchantress: You have spoken wisely and like a true Enchantress.
Enchantress presents Candidate with trident.
Enchantress: You are Cesara of the Trident. With this you have the Power to transmute the elements through three spheres. Use this to raise and quell storms of vital energies.
Magician: (to Candidate) Learn well to obtain these powers in verity, as did Cesara, who reconciled Lemuria and Atlantis, Nature and Art. Let us all join in this harmony. May the Enchantress lead the Spiral Dance of Creation.
Music. Works by Janacek, Schoenber, Hindemith and Stockhausen are suitable.
Enchantress leads spiral dance. With the 1st circle the dancers turn inwards. Then they turn outwards to face the next circle. A surge of violet and silver power may be experienced like a current of water. Finally all stand round vessel. Music stops. All intone “Ngame - Cleito” with the vowels “Nee-Ga-May-Cly-To” until a rose-violet and Emerald green glow may be seen emanating from the Vessel of water. All sit in circle round it.
Candidate anoints each brow with water.
Enchantress: Shut Your eyes and share the vision of The Wanderer: “I entered the Temple of the Moon Goddess of the Ancient Wisdom. And I saw a vast Hall with a roof of moonlight blue, and a floor of milk-white crystal. Seven lamps hanging from silver chains poured out Seven sacred Rainbow Beams upon the white altar stone. And three other lamps shed the varied rays of the Secret Opal. I mounted seven steps of rainbow crystal, and three steps of opal. Then I turned round. I saw that the crystal pavement had become a Pool, clear and still as a lake mirror that reflects the sky of midnight. I saw with wonder that the water was rising swiftly and silently towards my feet. Step after step the altar steps sank below the still face of the flood and vanished utterly. The tide kissed my feet and embraced my knees, yet I felt no fear nor chill. The silent wave flowed round my throat and as it did so it engulfed the Altar Stone. And I said: All that I am I share with those who long for Life. And I bowed my head beneath the waters, and passed into a region that had no length, nor breadth, nor height, nor depth. And the Queen was Blackness and Her Throne was Silence.”
Contemplation
Enchantress: “And I saw the Dark Queen of the Night and the Bright Queen of The White Stone flow together and embrace. And I rose through the waters of the Temple Pool and stood upon the steps of the Altar Stone. And I looked upon my body and a robe of purple enwrapped me to the feet and a Crown of pure silver adorned my brow.”
Healing sent forth. Reports are shared.
Magician: Let us give thanks to the God Neptune and the Goddess Ngame and to the Divinities of the Four Quarters.
Sources: "The Sayings of the Ancient One", P. G. Bowen, Rider & Co. "African Mythology", Geoffrey Parrinder, Paul Hamlyn Publishing, London. "Larousse World Mythology", editor, Pierre Grimal, Paul Hamlyn Publishing, London. "The White Goddess, A Historical Grammar of Poetic Myth", Robert Graves, Faber & Faber, London, 1948, and in the USA by Farrar, Straus & Cudahy, 1948. "Timaeus", "Critias", Plato. "Classical Dictionary", Lampriere. "Hesiod, the Homeric Hymns and Homerica", trans. Hugh G. Evelyn-White, William Heinemann Ltd., London.
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