Michael Wynn's Occult Reference Library
THE PRIEST,THE PRIESTS

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1 10 INITIATION CEREMONY

rward swings. hiero: between the altar and the entrance into the holy place, stood the laver of brass wherein the priests washed before entering the tabernacle. it was the symbol of the waters of creation. stol: makes cross with water on neophyte's forehead and sprinkles thrice in silence. hiero: having made offering at the altar of burnt sacrifice, and having been cleansed at the laver of brass, the priest then entered the holy place. kerux: takes neophyte behind pillars to north and removes the chair. stol: dad: return to their places. hiereus: takes his stand between the pillars facing neophyte. he guards the path with his sword and says: hiereus: thou canst not pass the gateway which is between the pillars, unless thou canst give the signs and words of a neophyte (done) kerux: instruct

18276066 GRIMM JACOB TEUTONIC MYTHOLOGY VOL 1

hors ok ogins, ibid. 3, 191. as the north made the sign of thor's hammer, christians used the cross for the blessing (segnung) of the cup; conf. poculum signare, walthar. 225, precisely the norse sig7ia full. minne-drinking, even as a religious rite, apparently exists to this day in some parts of germany. at otbergen, a village of hildesheim, on dec. 27 every year a chalice of wine is hallowed by the priest, and handed to the congregation in the church to drink as johannis segen (blessing; it is not done in any of the neighbouring places. in sweden and norway we find at candlemas a dricka eldhorgs skcd, drinking a toast (see superst. z, swed. 122. 1 thomasius de poculo s. johannis vulgo johannistrunk, lips. 1675. scheffers hauans p. 165. oberlin s. vb. johannis minn und trunk. schmeller 2

me across a good many statements so indefinite or incomplete, that it is impossible to gather from them with any certainty whether the expressions used betoken the ancient cultus or one departing from it. the most weighty and significant passages relating to this part of the subject seem to be the following (see suppl: tac. germ. 40 describes the sacred grove and the worship of mother earth; when the priest in festival time has carried the goddess round among the people, he restores her to her sanctuary: satiatam conversatione mortalium deani templo reddit. tac. ann. 1, 51: caesar avidas legiones, quo latior populatio foret, quatuor in cuneos dispertit, quinquaginta millium spatium ferro flammisque pervastat; non sexus, non aetas miserationem st. benedict found at montecassino vetustissinm

lantibus credunt. germ. 7 (see suppl. the succeeding words must also refer to the priests, it is they that take the' efligies et signa' from the sacred grove and carry them into battle. we learn from cap. 10, that the sacerdos civitatis superintends the divination by rods, whenever it is done for the nation. if the occasion be not a public one, the paterfamilias himself can direct the matter, and the priest need not be called in: a remarkable limitation of the priestly power, and a sign how far the rights of the freeman extended in strictly private life; on the same principle, i suppose, that in very early times covenant transactions could be settled between the parties, without the intervention of the judge (ra. 201. again, when the chvination was by the neighing of the white steeds maint

ly a priestly function. amm. marcell. 14, 9 mentions alamannian auspices, and agathias 2, 6 fiavrei; or 'x^prjafmoxoyot 'axaixavvikol ulphilas avoids using a gothic word for the frequently occurring 7rpo(jii]t7, he invariably puts praiifetus, and for the fern. irpo^rjtl'i praufeteis, lu. 2, 36; why not veitaga and veitago? the ohg. and as. versions are bolder for once, and give wizago, vatcga was the priest, when conducting auguries and auspices, a veitaga? conf, inveitan, p. 29. the on. term is sjmmad'r (spae-man, and for prophetess spdkona (spae-woman, a.s. witegestre. such diviners were mimir and gripir. in old french poems they are devi7i (divini, divinatores, which occasionally comes to mean poets: uns devins, qui de voir dire est esprovez, meon 4, 145. ce dient li devin, een. 7383; s

le no longer bears witness to the existence of gods, is it not loudly enougli proclaimed in those imperfect and defective sketches by a ptoman stranger? when he expressly tells us of a deus terra editus, of heroes and descendants of the god (plures dco ortos, of the god who rules in war (velut deo imperante, of the names of gods (deorum nominibus) which the people transferred to sacred groves, of the priest who cannot begin a divination gods. 103 without invoking the gods (precatus deos) and who regards himself as a servant of the gods (niinistros deorum, of a regnator omnium dens, of the gods of germany (germaniae deos in aspectu, hist. 5, 17, of the diis patriis to whom the captured signa eomana were hung up (ann. 1, 59; when he distinguishes between penetrates germaniae deos or dii pena

3 8 INITIATION CEREMONY

th abideth not, and around thee is the lightening flame, then call not before thyself the visible image of the soul of nature. for thou must not behold it ere thy body is purged by the sacred rites. since ever dragging down the soul and leading it from sacred things, from the confines of matter, arise the terrible dog-faced demons, never showing a true image unto mortal gaze. so, therefore, first the priest who governeth the works of fire must sprinkle with the lustral water of the loud resounding sea. labor thou around the strophaios of hecate, when thou shalt see a terrestrial demon approaching cry aloud, and sacrifice the stone mnizourin. change not the barbarous names of evocation for they are names divine having in the sacred rites a power ineffable. and when after all the phantoms ar

4 7 INITIATION CEREMONY

ding from the grade of zelator to the grade of philosophus is now open to you. take in your right hand the calvary cross of 12 squares, and follow your guide through the path of the waters. heg: circumambulates the hall once with practicus having previously given him the calvary cross to bear. hiereus: as they approach rises with red lamp in his hand. hegemon and practicus halt before him. hiero: the priest with the mask of osiris spake and said i am the water, stagnant and silent and still, reflecting all, concealing all. i am the past. i am the inundation. he who riseth from the great waters is my name. hail unto ye, dwellers of the land of night, for the rending of the darkness is near. heg: leads practicus round to seat of hiereus. hiereus: as they approach takes red lamp in his hand a

water, stagnant and silent and still, reflecting all, concealing all. i am the past. i am the inundation. he who riseth from the great waters is my name. hail unto ye, dwellers of the land of night, for the rending of the darkness is near. heg: leads practicus round to seat of hiereus. hiereus: as they approach takes red lamp in his hand and rises. hegemon and practicus halt before him. hiereus: the priest with the mask of horus spake and said, i am water turbid and troubled. i am the banisher of peace in the vast abode of the waters. none is so strong that can withstand the great waters, the vastness of their terror, the magnitude of their fear, the roar of their thundering voice. i am the future, mist-clad and shrouded in gloom. i am the recession of the torrent, the storm veiled in ter

A PRACTICAL GUIDE TO WITCHCRAFT AND MAGICK SPELLS

ion following a natural ending. deities of fire agni agni, the hindu god of fire, is said to be manifest as the vital spark in mankind, birds, animals, plants and life itself. he appeared in lightning, in celestial sun flares, in the sacred blaze rising from the altar and in household fires. agni was the divine priest and acted as messenger to the gods, interceding with them on behalf of mankind. the priest would chant 'agni, the divine ministrant of the sacrifice, the great bestower of treasure. may one obtain through agni, wealth and welfare' agni is still important as the god of domestic and ritual fire and for spells for the increase of wealth, material goods, creativity and domestic protection. hephaestus hephaestus, greek god of fire and metal-work, was thrown from mount olympus by h

fice of the sacred king at lughnassadh, the festival of the first corn harvest. the rite goes back thousands of years. the cakes and ale are consumed by the people acting as high priestess and priest in a dual energy rite or by those initiated in those roles. crumbs and wine are first offered to the earth mother or poured into a libation dish (a small dish for offerings. then the priestess offers the priest a tiny cake and then takes one herself and he offers her the wine before drinking himself. the dual roles work just as well in a single-sex coven. the cakes and ale are then passed round the circle and each person partakes of the body and blood of the earth, offering a few words of thanks for blessings received. in some groups each person has an individual chalice set before them, but e

men and girls made love in the woods and fields on may eve to bring fertility to the land as well as themselves; they gathered flowers and blossoms from the magical hawthorn tree to decorate houses and to make into may baskets which were left as gifts on doorsteps. this custom lasted well into victorian times and is recalled in rudyard kilping's poem oak, ash and thorn, which begins: do not tell the priest our plight, for he would think it a sin, for we have been in the woods all night, bringing summer in. this echoes the woodland wedding of the goddess, the first may queen, whose name came from maia, the greek goddess of flowers, whose festival occurred at this time and who also gave her name to the month of may. she married jack o' green, the god of vegetation -another form of the green

ALEISTER CROWLEY EIGHT LECTURES ON YOGA

n the end; but only if his mind has been completely disabused of its confidence in its own rightness, or even in the possibility of being right. 4. the rationalist, in his shallow fashion, always contends that this training is the abnegation of mental freedom. on the contrary, it is the only way to obtain that freedom. in the same society the training in obedience is based on a similar principle. the priest has to do what his superior orders him 'perinde ac cadaver' protestants always represent that this is the most outrageous and indefensible tyranny "the poor devil' they say 'is bludgeoned into having no will of his own' that is pure nonsense. by abnegating his will through the practice of holy obedience his will has become enormously strong, so strong that none of his natural instincts

ALEISTER CROWLEY ACROSS THE GULF

uch is obscure; but i am commanded to write, so that in writing the full memory may be recovered. for without the perfect knowledge and understanding of that strange life by nilus i cannot fully know and understand this later life, or find that tomb which i am appointed to find, and do that therein which must be done. there fore with faith and confidence do i who was- in a certain mystical sense- the priest of the princes, ankh-f-na-khonsu, child of ta-nech, the holy and mighty one, and of bes-na-maut, priestess of the starry one, set myself to tell myself the strange things that befell me in that life. thus. at my birth aphruimis in the sign of the lion was ascending, and in it that strange hidden planet that presides over darkness and magic and forbidden love. the sun was united with the

ot of: and of this also will i tell in due course. i remember- as i never could while i lived in khemi-land- all the minute care of my birth. for my mother was of the oldest house in thebes, her blood not only royal, but mixed with the divine. fifty virgins in their silver tissue stood about her shaking their sistrons, as if the laughter of the gods echoed the cries of the woman. by the bed stood the priest of horus with his heavy staff, the phoenix for its head, the prong for its foot. watchful he stood lest sebek should rise from the abyss. on the roof of the palace watched the three chief astrologers of pharaoh with their instruments, and four armed men from the corners of the tower announced each god as it rose. so these three men ached and sweated at their task; for they had become mo

ree men ached and sweated at their task; for they had become most anxious. all day my birth had been expected; but as toum drew to his setting their faces grew paler than the sky; for there was one dread moment in the night which all their art had failed to judge. the gods that watched over it were veiled. but it seemed unlikely that fate would so decide; yet so they feared that they sent down to the priest of thoth to say that he must at all costs avoid the threatening moment, even if the lives of mother and child should pay for it; and still the watchmen cried the hour. now, now! cried the oldest of the astrologers as the moment grew near- now! below in answer the priest of thoth summoned all his skill. when lo! a rumbling of the abyss. the palace reeled and fell; typhon rose mighty in d

dynasty, of her that wearied of men at an age when other women have not known them, that gave herself to gods and beasts. but now they took me to the pool of liquid silver- or so they called it; i suppose it was quicksilver; for i remember that it was very difficult to immerse me- which is beneath the feet of the veiled one. for this is the page 9 gulf.txt secret of the oracle. standing afar off the priest beholds the reflection of her in the mirror, seeing her lips that move under the veil; and this he interprets to the seeker after truth. thus the priest reads wrongly the silence of the goddess, and the seeker understands ill the speech of the priest. then come forth fools, saying "the goddess hath lied- and in their folly they die. while, therefore, they held me beneath the surface of

om i had won, and slain in the winning! now, however, the old magus clad me (for i was yet naked) in the dress of a priest of osiris. he gave me the robes of white linen, and the leopard s skin, and the wand and ankh. also he gave me the crook and scourge, and girt me with the royal girdle. on my head he set the holy uraeus serpent for a crown; and then, turning to the people, cried aloud "behold the priest of asar in thebai "he shall proclaim unto ye the worship of asar; see that ye follow him" then, ere one could cry "hold" he had vanished from our sight. i dismissed the people; i was alone with the dead god; with osiris, the lord of amennti, the slain of typhon, the devoured of apophis. yea, verily, i was alone! chapter v now then the great exhaustion took hold upon me, and i fell at th

ALEISTER CROWLEY AD MEIORUM CTHULHI GLORIAM

whatever attacker had come nearest me, though i was unarmed. to my surprise what i saw was no priest of ancient horror, no necromancer of that forbidden art, but black robes fallen upon the grass and weeds, with no seeming presence of life or bodies beneath them. i walked cautiously to the first and, picking up a long twig, lifted the robe from the tangle of weeds and thorns. all that remained of the priest was a pool of slime, like green oil, and the smell of a body lain long to rot in the sun. such a stench nearly overpowered me, but i was resolute to find the others, to see if the same fortune had also befallen them. walking back up the slope that i had so fearfully run down only moments ago, i came across yet another of the dark priests, in identical condition to the first. i kept walk

ipping with fire and sword, with water and dagger, and with the assistance of a strange grass that grows wild in certain parts of masshu, and with which i had unwittingly built my fire before the rock, that grass that gives the mind great power to travel tremendous distances into the heavens, as also into the hells, i received the formulae for the amulets and talismans which follow, which provide the priest with safe passage among the spheres wherein he may travel in search of the wisdom. but now, after one thousand-and-one moons of the journey, the maskim nip at my heels, the rabishu pull at my hair, lammashta opens her dread jaws, azag-thoth gloats blindly at his throne, kutulu raises his head and stares up through the veils of sunkun varloorni, up through the abyss, and fixes his stare

sunkun varloorni, up through the abyss, and fixes his stare upon me; wherefore i must with haste write this indeed, it appears as though i have failed in some regard as to the order of the rites, or to the formulae, or to the sacrifices, for now it appears as if the entire host of ereshkigal lies waiting, dreaming, drooling for my departure. i pray the gods that i am saved, and not perish as did the priest, abdul ben-martu, in jerusalem (the gods remember and have mercy upon him. my fate is no longer writ in the stars, for i have broken the chaldean covenant by seeking power over the zonei. i have set foot on the moon, and the moon no longer has power over me. the lines of my life have been oblitered by my wanderings in the waste, over the letters writ in the heavens by the gods. and even

h may be opened in their turn. they have seven colours, seven essences, and each a separate step on the ladder of lights. the chaldeans were but imperfect in their knowledge, although they had understanding of the ladder, and certain of the formulae. they did not, however, possess the formulae for the passing of the gates, save one, of whom it is forbidden to speak. the passing of the gates gives the priest both power and wisdom to use it. he becomes able to control the affairs of his life more perfectly than before, and many have been content to merely pass the first three gates and then sit down and go no further than that, enjoying the benefits that they have found on the preliminary spheres. but this is evil, for they are not equipped to deal with the attack from without that must sure

as gone to its rest. no ray of sunlight should strike the seal, lest its power be rendered nil and a new seal must needs be cast. the number of nanna is thirty and this is his seal: the god of mercury is nebo. he is a very old spirit, having a long beard, and is the guardian of the gods, as well as the keeper of the knowledge of science. he wears a crown of one hundred horns, and the long robe of the priest. his colour is blue. his essence is in that metal known as quicksilver, and is sometimes also found in sand, and in those things bearing the sign of mercury. his gate is the second you will pass in the rituals that follow. his step on the ladder of lights is blue. this is his seal, which you must write on perfect parchment, or no the broad leaf of a palm tree, having no other person abo

ALEISTER CROWLEY BOOK OF THE LAW

192] books by aleister crowley mentioned in the commentary the soldier and the hunchback! and? the eqx. i, i. berashith. coll. works, ii, 233. the vision and the voice (liber 418. the eqx, i, v. reprint, barstow, cal, 1952, with combook of lies get any book for free on: www.abika.com 189 mentan. al (liber legis)the book of the law sub figura xxxi as delivered by 93- aiwass- 418 to anky0f0n-khonsu the priest of the princes who is 666 do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the law. the study of this book is forbidden. it is wise to destroy this copy after the first reading. whosoever disregards this does so at his own risk and peril. these are most dire. those who discuss the contents of this book are to be shunned by all, as centres of pestilence. all questions of the law are to be decided

is wise to destroy this copy after the first reading. whosoever disregards this does so at his own risk and peril. these are most dire. those who discuss the contents of this book are to be shunned by all, as centres of pestilence. all questions of the law are to be decided only by appeal to my writings, each for himself. there is no law beyond do what thou wilt. love is the law, love under will. the priest of the princes, ankh-f-n-khonsu the comment chapter i i,1: had! the manifestation of nuit. i,2: the unveiling of the company of heaven. i,3: every man and every woman is a star. i,4: every number is infinite; there is no difference. i,5: help me, o warrior lord of thebes, in my unveiling before the children of men! i,6: be thou hadit, my secret centre, my heart& my tongue! i,7: behold!

eauteous one: who am i, and what shall be the sign? so she answered him, bending down, a lambent flame of blue, all-touching, all penetrant, her lovely hands upon the black earth& her lithe body arched for love, and her soft feet not hurting the little flowers: thou knowest! and the sign shall be my ecstasy, the consciousness of the continuity of existence, the omnipresence of my body. i,27: then the priest answered& said unto the queen of space, kissing her lovely brows, and the dew of her light bathing his whole body in a sweet-smelling perfume of sweat: o nuit, continuous one of heaven, let it be ever thus; that men speak not of thee as one but as none; and let them speak not of thee at all, since thou art continuous! i,28: none, breathed the light, faint& faery, of the stars, and two

e fools of men and their woes care not thou at all! they feel little; what is, is balanced by weak joys; but ye are my chosen ones. i,32: obey my prophet! follow out the ordeals of my knowledge! seek me only! then the joys of my love will redeem ye from all pain. this is so: i swear it by the vault of my body; by my sacred heart and tongue; by all i can give, by all i desire of ye all. i,33: then the priest fell into a deep trance or swoon& said unto the queen of heaven; write unto us the ordeals; write unto us the rituals; write unto us the law! i,34: but she said: the ordeals i write not: the rituals shall be half known and half concealed: the law is for all. i,35: this that thou writest is the threefold book of law. i,36: my scribe ankh-af-na-khonsu, the priest of the princes, shall not

he beast& his bride are they: and for the winners of the ordeal x. what is this? thou shalt know. iii,23: for perfume mix meal& honey& thick leavings of red wine: then oil of abramelin and olive oil, and afterward soften& smooth down with rich fresh blood. iii,24: the best blood is of the moon, monthly: then the fresh blood of a child, or dropping from the host of heaven: then of enemies; then of the priest or of the worshippers: last of some beast, no matter what. iii,25: this burn: of this make cakes& eat unto me. this hath also another use; let it be laid before me, and kept thick with perfumes of your orison: it shall become full of beetles as it were and creeping things sacred unto me. iii,26: these slay, naming your enemies& they shall fall before you. iii,27: also these shall breed

ALEISTER CROWLEY MAGICK IN THEORY AND PRACTICE

ortant words and phrases given in the books of the gnosis and other important writings both in the greek and the coptic. unpublished. 228 appendix ii. one star in sight. thy feet in mire, thine head in murk, o man, how piteous thy plight, the doubts that daunt, the ills that irk, thou hast nor wit nor will to fight- how hope in heart, or worth in work? no star in sight! thy gods proved puppets of the priest "truth? all's relation" science sighed. in bondage with thy brother beast, love tortured thee, as love's hope died and lover's faith rotted. life no least dim star descried. thy cringing carrion cowered and crawled to find itself a chance-cast clod whose pain was purposeless; appalled that aimless accident thus trod its agony, that void skies sprawled on the vain sod! all souls eternall

a great veil. forming the apex of an equilateral triangle whose base is a line drawn between the pillars, is a small black square altar, of two superimposed cubes. taking this altar as the middle of the base of a similar and equal triangle, at the apex of this second triangle is a small circular font. repeating, the apex of a third triangle is an upright tomb. 345 ii. of the officers of the mass. the priest. bears the sacred lance, and is clothed at first in a plain white robe. the priestess. should be actually virgo intacta or specially dedicated to the service of the great order. she is clothed in white, blue and gold. she bears the sword from a red girdle, and the paten and hosts, or cakes of light. the deacon. he is clothed in white and yellow. he bears the book of the law "two childre

, and of our lord+ that thou mayst administer the virtues to the brethren "she sheathes the sword "the "priest "issuing from the tomb, holding the lance erect with both hands, right over left, against his breast, takes the first three regular steps. he then gives the lance to the "priestess "and gives the three penal signs. he then kneels and worships the lance with both hands. penitential music" the priest. i am a man among men "he takes again the lance and lowers it. he rises" the priest. how should i be worthy to administer the virtues to the brethren "the "priestess "takes from the child the water and the salt, and mixes them in the font" the priestess. let the salt of earth admonish the water to bear the virtue of the great sea"(genuflects" mother, be thou adored "she returns to the w

e priest. how should i be worthy to administer the virtues to the brethren "the "priestess "takes from the child the water and the salt, and mixes them in the font" the priestess. let the salt of earth admonish the water to bear the virtue of the great sea"(genuflects" mother, be thou adored "she returns to the west+ on "priest "with open hand doth she make, over his forehead, breast and body" be the priest pure of body and soul "the "priestess "takes the censer from the child, and places it on the small altar. she puts incense therein "let the fire and the air make sweet the world "genuflects" father, be thou adored "she returns west, and makes with the censer+ before the "priest "thrice as before" be the priest fervent of body and soul"(the children resume their weapons as they are done

and the cap of maintenance must match the scarlet of the robe. its texture should be velvet" be the serpent thy crown, o thou priest of the lord "kneeling she takes the lance between her open hands, and runs them up and down upon the shaft eleven times, very gently" be the lord present among us "all give the hailing sign" the people: so mote it be. iv. of the ceremony of the opening of the veil. the priest. thee therefore whom we adore we also invoke. by the power of the lifted lance "he raises the lance. all repeat hailing sign. a phrase of triumphant music. the "priest "takes the "priestess "by her right hand with his left, keeping the lance raised" i, priest and king, take thee, virgin pure without spot; i upraise thee; i lead thee to the east; i set thee upon the summit of the earth "

ALEISTER CROWLEY MEDITATION

by him. this is so marvellous an experience, even for one who has pushed astral visions to a very high point, that he may mistake them for the end. see chapter on dhyana. the hebrew letters corresponding to these principles are gimel, resh, and shin, and the word formed by them means "a flower" and also "expelled "cast forth> this is the cup of purification; as zoroaster says "so therefore first the priest who governeth the works of fire must sprinkle with the lustral water of the loud-resounding sea" it is the sea that purifies the world. and the "great sea" is in the qabalah a name of binah "understanding" it is by the understanding of the magus that his work is purified. binah, moreover, is the moon, and the bowl of this cup is shaped like the moon. this moon is the path of gimel throu

ALEISTER CROWLEY THE LOST CONTINENT

e lovers in the presence of their whole house, publicly embraced for the last time. their two children pressed them apart. elevating their hands in a crossed clasp they gave way, and the children passed through, preceding a most holy image which was borne by a priest and priestess between them. then they parted, and each was severally congratulated and embraced by any of the others who chose, and the priest and priestess then, exalting the image and setting it in a suitable shrine, closed the ceremony by the command "to work" and adding force to the same by their example. the education of the children was another important matter in which their ideas were wholly opposed to our own. it ceased altogether at the age of puberty, which was sometimes as early as six, never later than fourteen. w

nt of the properties of this remarkable substance. it must now be made clearer that the crude zro in its nine stages produced by the serviles, and consumed in the 'houses' was in each stage of inferior quality to that of the same degree produced by the atlanteans, and consumed by the high house. for example, the crude zro was made in a labour-mill with all sorts of insulations. the first stage of the priest's zro could be made anywhere and at any time, and naturally directed itself to the receptable for it without any precautions. it must, i think, be presumed that the zro generated in the high house was again of far greater purity and potency. very little of it can have been used in the experiments of the magicians, and it is therefore necessary to account for enormous quantities, produce

ALEISTER CROWLEY THE OLD AND NEW COMMENTARIES TO LIBER AL

tual of the highest rank, connected with the two previous verses. the new comment this is a poetic description of the symbolism of the stele. it is suitable fore such minds as approach truth in this manner rather than by way of science or philosophy. it contains a formula of magick art, connected with the stele. also, less ineffably, it boasts the consummation of the marriage of hadit and nuit in the priest. that is, he has freed hadit, in the core of his star, from the illusion-veils of the khu, so that the two infinities become one, and none; and create, in the manner shortly to be described, a new finite. this finite will evidently be an expression of the particular mood of its father and mother at the moment of its conception. obviously, this "child" cannot add to the universe; it is t

an hour or two would come back to the starting point. nothing could enter or leave the mass, because there is no boundary to enter or leave by; in fact, it is coextensive with space. there could not be any other world anywhere else because there isn't an 'anywhere else "the mass of this volume of water is not so great as the most moderate estimates of the mass of the stellar system. al i,27 "then the priest answered& said unto the queen of space, kissing her lovely brows, and the dew of her light bathing his whole body in a sweet-smelling perfume of sweat: o nuit, continuous one of heaven, let it be ever thus; that men speak not of thee as one but as none; and let them speak not of thee at all, since thou art continuous" the old comment 27- 31. here is a profound philosophical dogma, in a

nection with it. by seeking lesser ideals one makes distinctions, thereby affirming implicitly the very duality from which one is seeking to escape. note also that "me" may imply the greek mh "not. the word 'only' might be taken as ?ayin-lamed-nun-vau' with the number of 156, that of the secret name babalon of nuith. there are presumably further hidden meanings in the key-word 'all. al i,33 "then the priest fell into a deep trance or swoon& said unto the queen of heaven; write unto us the ordeals; write unto us the rituals; write unto us the law" the old comment 33. the prophet then demanded instruction; ordeals, rituals, law. the new comment law, in the common sense of the word, should be a formulation of the customs of a people, as euclid's propositions are the formulation of geometrical

ot gn 'to beget' and 'to know; while 'concealed' indicates the other half of the human mystery. al i,35 "this that thou writest is the threefold book of law" the old comment 35. definition of this book. the new comment the instruction to write for three days from noon to one o'clock each day had already been given to the beast (see preface to this commentary. al i,36 "my scribe ankh-af-na-khonsu, the priest of the princes, shall not in one letter change this book; but lest there be folly, he shall comment thereupon by the wisdom of ra-hoor-khu-it" the old comment 36. the first strict charge not to tamper with a single letter of this book. the comment is to be written "by the wisdom of ra-hoor-khuit, i.e, by open, not initiated wisdom. the new comment again we find the words prince and prie

lly, he shall comment thereupon by the wisdom of ra-hoor-khu-it" the old comment 36. the first strict charge not to tamper with a single letter of this book. the comment is to be written "by the wisdom of ra-hoor-khuit, i.e, by open, not initiated wisdom. the new comment again we find the words prince and priest, but differently placed in their phrase. the beast is here definitely identified with the priest of the 26th dynasty whose stele forms the pantacle (so to speak) of the new magick. he is moreover identified with the scribe. it is of immense importance to the stability of the law to have a book not merely verbally but literally inspired, so that even errors in spelling and grammar have a secret significance (that this must be so is guaranteed by the literary preeminence and impeccab

ALEISTER CROWLEY THE OTO GNOSTIC MASS

ed within a great veil. forming the apex of an equilateral triangle whose base is a line drawn between the pillars, is a small black square altar, of superimposed cubes. taking this altar as the middle of the base of a similar and equal triangle, at the apex of this second triangle is a small circular font. repeating, the apex of a third triangle is an upright tomb. ii of the officers of the mass the priest. bears the sacred lance, and is clothed at first in a plain white robe. the priestess. should be actually virgo intacta or specially dedicated to the service of the great order. she is clothed in white, blue, and gold. she bears the sword from a red girdle, and the paten and hosts, or cakes of light. the deacon. he is clothed in white and yellow. he bears the book of the law. two childr

circles of the temple (deosil about altar, widdershins about font, deosil about altar and font, widdershins about altar, and so to the tomb in the west) she draws her sword and pulls down the veil therewith. the priestess: by the power of iron, i say unto thee, arise. in the name of our lord the sun, and of our lord. that thou mayst administer the virtues to the brethren. she sheathes the sword. the priest, issuing from the tomb, holding the lance erect with both hands, right over left, against his breast, takes the first three regular steps. he then gives the lance to the priestess, and gives the three penal signs. he then kneels and worships the lance with both hands. penitential music. the priest: i am a man among men. he takes again the lance, and lowers it. he rises. the priest: how

the priest: how should i be worthy to administer the virtues to the brethren? the priestess takes from the child the water and the salt, and mixes them in the font. the priestess: let the salt of earth admonish the water to bear the virtue of the great sea (genuflects) mother, be thou adored. she returns to the west. on priest with open hand doth she make, over his forehead, breast, and body. be the priest pure of body and soul! the priestess takes the censer from the child, and places it on the small altar. she puts incense therein. let the fire and the air make sweet the world (genuflects) father, be thou adored. she returns west, and makes with the censer before the priest, thrice as before. be the priest fervent of body and soul (the children resume their weapons as they are done with

t on the small altar. she puts incense therein. let the fire and the air make sweet the world (genuflects) father, be thou adored. she returns west, and makes with the censer before the priest, thrice as before. be the priest fervent of body and soul (the children resume their weapons as they are done with) the deacon now takes the consecrated robe from high altar, and brings it to her. she robes the priest in his robe of scarlet and gold. be the flame of the sun thine ambience, o thou priest of the sun! the deacon brings the crown from the high altar (the crown may be of gold or platinum, or of electrum magicum; but with no other metals, save the small proportions necessary to a proper alloy. it may be adorned with divers jewels, at will but it must have the uraeus serpent twined about it

and the cap of maintenance must match the scarlet of the robe. its texture should be velvet) be the serpent thy crown, o thou priest of the lord! kneeling, she takes the lance, between her open hands, and runs them up and down upon the shaft eleven times, very gently. be the lord present among us! all give the hailing sign. the people: so mote it be. iv of the ceremony of the opening of the veil the priest: thee therefore whom we adore we also invoke. by the power of the lifted lance! he raises the lance. all repeat hailing sign. a phrase of triumphant music. the priest takes the priestess by her right hand with his left, keeping the lance raised. i, priest and king, take thee, virgin pure without spot; i upraise thee; i lead thee to the east; i set thee upon the summit of the earth. he t

ALEISTER CROWLEY EQ I 1

in the moonlight was the host uplifted, and the shepherd, and the hangman, and the sorceress broke the bread of necromancy, and drank deep of the wine of witchcraft, and swore secrecy over the eucharist of art. now in the place of the dolmen stands the hospital, and where the trilithons towered is built the "hall of science" lo! the druid has given place to the doctor; and the physician has slain the priest his father, and with wanton words ravished the heart of his mother the sorceress. now 187 instead of the mystic circle of the adepts we have the great "bosh-rot" school of folly. miracles are banned, yet still at the word of man do the halt walk, and the lame rise up and run. the devils have been banished, and demoniacal possession is no more, yet now the most lenient of these sages are

ALEISTER CROWLEY EQ I 5

of meditation a place which is suited to the work we have to do. it is a great aid, of course, owing to the very specialised set of place sankh ras so obtained, if we can have a special place in which nothing but these practices are done, and where no one but oneself goes; but, for a layman especially, this is very difficult to secure. instructions are given on this point in "visuddhi magga" how the priest who is practising "kammatthana" is to select some place a little way from the monastery, where people do not come and walk about- either a cave, or else he is to make or get made a little hut, which he alone uses. but as this perfect retirement is not easy to a layman, he must choose whatever place is most suitable- some place where, at the time of his practice, he will be as little dis

e ole bill" seems derived from "the rime of the ancient mariner" and "the yarn of the nancy bell" mixed. what could be more ridiculous? yet i read it again and again, and the oftener i read it the keener does its fascination grip me. and what shall i say of "the sword and the idol? only this; that it is true. lord dunsany has really beheld the dawn of the iron age, and the conquest of the king by the priest. g. w. foote ought to publish this tale as an atheistic pamphlet; it is the best ever written. and yet to me "the silence of ged (oh bold my lord dunsany) came as a voice in the wood at midnight, when the sword-holder raises his steel against ged. ged neither hit nor shrank- in the end the sword was laid as an offering upon his knees. so let the adept sit smiling through all that may be

ALEISTER CROWLEY EQUINOX EQ I 2 2

nentities. the symbols in themselves are not wrong; but it is the "mixed-biscuit" type of symbol which is so bad, especially where it is not necessary, but chosen so as to "show off" superficial knowledge "hiereus "the sphinx of egypt spake and said 'i am the synthesis of the elemental forces: i am also the symbol of man: i am life: and i am death: i am the child of the night of time "hierophant "the priest with the mask of osiris spake and said 'thou canst not pass the gate of the eastern heaven: except thou canst tell me my name "kerux" for zelator "thou art nu: the goddess of the firmament of air. thou art harmakhis, lord of the eastern sun "hierophant "in what sign and symbol dost thou come "kerux" for zelator "in the letter aleph, with the banner of light, and the symbol of equated fo

on tzebaoth, and in the name of the spirits of fire. then in the name of tetragrammaton tzebaoth he declares the temple open. after the adoration has taken place, the advancement ritual of the path of hb:qof is celebrated. the "hegemon" leads the practicus through the pillars and then circumambulates the temple. as they approach the hierophant, he rises, holding aloft the red lamp, and says: 275 "the priest with the mask of osiris spake and said 'i am the water, stagnant, and silent, and still; reflecting all, concealing all. i am the past! i am the inundation. he that ariseth from the great waters is my name. hail unto ye! o dwellers in the land of night. hail unto ye! for the rending of the darkness is nigh" the "hiereus" says "the priest with the mask of horus spake and said 'i am the w

and passion flowed into me like live fire. i raised my head to her bosom, and kissed her passionately, and then i notice that i too was a woman "an angel approached me and advised restraint, and so with a great calmness i passed within her body, and at once felt all her passion and longings. a mighty joy and glory encompassed me, and we became a great brown bird taking part in a mystic ceremony, the priest being the great man-lion; then again we rose and re-assumed human shape, but larger than before "now we saw standing before us a venerable, beautiful and kingly figure (tiphereth, holding a flaming sword of dazzling whiteness. this he extended to us, whilst his attendants, who were angelic figures, sang a low, melodious tune. then he placed it in our mouth, when at once there rushed fro

ALEISTER CROWLEY EQUINOX EQ I 2

:shin> symbol of the red fire of god, which brooded (v.2) upon the face of the waters: or like the red glory that lights up the heavens at dawn, when the golden sun illumines the waters above the firmament. now this red glory is the 174 ignis dei: which is also the agnus dei, or lamb of god that destroyeth (literally "burns out) the sins of the world. as it is written in the ordinary of the mass: the priest goeth unto the south of the altar and prays "o agnus dei! qui tollis- qui tollis peccata mundi- dona nobis pacem" and this fire, this lamb of god, is "aries" symbol of the dawning year: whose colour also is as the red fire, and which is the head of the fiery triplicity in the zodiac. so also in the grade of neophyte in the order of the golden dawn the hierophant weareth a robe of flame

ALEISTER CROWLEY EQUINOX EQ I 3 2

of water and fire your mystic powers, and to cast into the midst of these opposing elements the holy powers of the great letter shin: to gleam and shine in the midst of the balance, even in the cauldron of art wherein alike is fire and moisture [after the consecration of the water, the magus of waters takes up the cup of water, and scatters water all round the edge of the circle, saying] so first the priest who governeth the works of fire, must sprinkle with the lustral waters of the loud-resounding sea [he then passes to the centre of the circle and scatters the water in the four quarters, saying] i purify with water [he resumes his place in the north "magus of art" magus of the fires, i command you to consecrate this place by the banishing ritual of the hexagram,8 to consecrate the magic

ALEISTER CROWLEY EQUINOX EQ I 3

syas. but the mind, that mothers mists, abides not there. the adept must fall exhausted. olympas. there's an end of all? marsyas. but not an end of this! above all life as is the pulse of love, so this transcends all love. olympas. ah me! who may attain? marsyas. rare souls. olympas. i see imaged a shadow of this light. marsyas. such is its sacramental might that to recall it radiates its symbol. the priest elevates the host, and instant blessing stirs the hushed awaiting worshippers. olympas. then how secure the soul's defence? how baffle the besieger, sense? marsyas. see the beleagured city, hurt by hideous engines, sore begirt and gripped by lines of death, well scored with shell, nigh open to the sword! now comes the leader; courage, run 21 contagious through the garrison! repair the t

agic squares and astrological charts, and a thousand other symbols of things, ideas, and states, all reflecting the one idea; so that he may build up a mighty mound, and from it eventually leap over the great wall which stands before him as a partition between two worlds. 4 "doctrine and ritual of magic" pp. 194, 195. 5 instructor. all faculties and all senses should share in the work; nothing in the priest of hermes has the right to remain idle; intelligence must be formulated by signs and summed by characters or pantacles; will must be determined by words, and must fulfil words by deeds; the magical idea must be rendered into light for the eyes, harmony for the ears, perfumes for the sense of smell, savours for the palate, objects for the touch; the operator, in a word, must realise in h

ALEISTER CROWLEY EQUINOX EQ I 6 2

ne; all stars and streams, the living and the dead, the mystery of pleasure and of pain. 87 i am the mother! i the speaking sea! i am the earth and its fertility! life, death, love, hatred, light, darkness, return to me- to me! hathoor am i, and to my beauty drawn all glories of the universe bow down, the blossom and the mountain and the dawn, fruit's blush, and woman, our creations's crown. i am the priest, the sacrifice, the shrine, i am the love and life of the divine! life, death, love, hatred, light, darkness are surely mine- are mine! venus am i, the love and light of earth, the wealth of kisses, the delight of tears, the barren pleasure never come to birth, the endless, infinite desire of years. i am the shrine at which thy long desire devoured thee with intolerable fire. i was song

ALEISTER CROWLEY EQUINOX EQ I 6

des; even his hunger dies away unless he be indeed elect. but in the end it may be that god shall send him the other half of that token 108 of paradise. then, if he have kept the holy fire alight, perhaps with much false fuel, that fire shall instant blaze and fill the temple of his soul. by its insistent energy it shall destroy even the memory of all those marsh-lights that came to greet it; and the priest shall bow down in the glory, and grasp the altar with his hands, and strike it with his forehead seven times. now this altar is the earthen altar of demeter. then understanding all things by the light of that love, he shall know that this is love, that this is the soul of the earth, that this is fertility and understanding, the secret of demeter. nay (even) the oracle may speak in his h

ph. the artist, the initiate, thus frames his mysteries. the rest of the world scoff, or seek to understand, or pretend to understand; some few obtain the truth. the technical ability of the artist is the lucidity of his language; it has nothing to do with the degree of his illumination. bougereau is better technically than manet; he explains more clearly what he sees. but what does he see? he is the priest of a false god. form has no importance except in this sense; we must not be revolted by the extravagance of new symbolic systems. gauguin and matisse may live to be understood. we acquiesce in the eccentricities of raphael" ida gave a little laugh of pleased scorn of him "my good girl, perspective is an eccentricity, a symbol; no more. how can one ever represent a three-dimensional worl

ALEX SANDERS THE KING OF THE WITCHES

prove of the ancient rites of worship which, in some parts of india, are still performed and. in which live animals are sacrificed. the more alex read, the less he liked the sound of the cult, but he tried to keep his mind open: perhaps.i like witchcraft, the worship of kali had been mis. represented. a month or so later, at the beginning ofdecember, another letter arrived, this time from london. the priest of kali enclosed a bank note to cover alex's fare up to town where a hotel room had been booked for him. please would he come for two or three days to meet his correspondent and the two friends he had with him? the following monday alex went to london and checked into the hotel in the west end where his indian hosts were staying. dressed in dark lounge suits, they could have been busine

s scheduled to be in a roman catholic church. outside rome two or three days hence. one of the members put up the money and three witches left immediately by plane. they arrived at the church to which they had beendirected in time to see one of four priests take up a knife and approach the altar where a. newly bom baby was lying. two nuns were standing by. the london witch snatched the knife from the priest and stabbed him in the throat, killing him. he and his companions were allowed to leave the church and no further action was. taken although one had committed a murder. enquiries showed that the ritual about to have been done was black witchcraft. q: but what is. the difference between. black witchcraft and black magic? a: very little. the former is done in the name of a god ora devil

om extended far. we were free and worshipped in all the greater temples. 23. but in these unhappy times we must celebrate our sacred mysteries in secret. 24. so be it ordained, that none but the wicca may see our mysteries, for our enemies are many and torture loosens the tongue of man. 25. so be it ordained that no coven shall know where th.e next coven bide. 26. or who its members be. save only the priest. and priestess and messenger. 131 27. and there. shall be no communication. between them, save by the messenger of the gods, or the summoner. 28. and onlyifit be safe may the covens meet in some sa.fe place for the great festivals. 29. and while there, none .shall say whence they came nor give their true names. 30. to thisiend,.any that are tortured in their agony may not tell if they d

rise and, holding hands, form a circle so that the initiate is between the high priest and the high priestess, who hold his elbows tightly as they all whirl round chanting 'bko, eko azarak' to raise the cone of power. when. the others sit down, the initiate, still blindfolded, is led to stand with his back to the altar while the high priestess says 'in other religions, the postulate kneels while the priest towers above him, but in the magical art we are taught to be humble and so we kneel to welcome. them' kneeling, she kisses his feet and says 'blessed be thy feet that have brought thee in these ways' she then kisses him just above his knees and says 'blessed be thy knees that shall kneel at the sacred altar' she kisses himjust above his pubic hair and says 'blessed be thy phallus withou

ALEXANDRIAN BOOK OF SHADOWS OCCULT

extended far, we were free and worshipped in all the greater temples. 22. 23. but in these unhappy times we must celebrate our sacred mysteries in secret. so be it ordained that none but the wicca may see our mysteries, for our enemies are many and torture loosens the tongue of man. 24. 25. so be it ordained that no coven shall know where the next coven bide. 26. or who its members be, save only the priest and priestess and messenger. and there shall be no communication between them, save by the messenger of the gods, or the summoner. 27. 28. and only if it be safe may the covens meet in some safe place for the great festivals. 29. and while there, none shall say whence they came nor give their true names. 30. to this end, that if any be tortured, in their agony, they may not tell if they

ast) while coven dances around, singing: eko, eko azrak (etc. over and over, meanwhile pushing c back and forth among them, until h calls a halt. partner then rings bell three times as h turns c to stand before the altar, with c's back to the altar (i.e. facing south if altar is in north. h stands in centre of circle, facing c (and altar. h says: h: in other religions, the postulant kneels, while the priest towers above. but in the art magical we are taught to be humble, and we kneel to welcome her[/him] and we say [kneels] blessed be thy feet, which have brought thee in these ways;[kiss r. foot, then l. foot] blessed be thy knees, that shall kneel at the sacred altar;[kiss r. knee, then l. knee] blessed be thy womb[/phallus, without which we would not be;[kiss above pubes] blessed be thy

central point thus do i sign thee as of old; with kisses of my lips anoint [kisses of the third degree sigil] open for me the secret way, the pathway of intelligence beyond the gates of night and day, beyond the bounds of time and sense. behold the mystery aright; the five true points of fellowship, here where the lance and grail unite, and feet and knees and breast and lip. notes l this replaces the priest's declamation in the standard great rite. l it was published in janet and stewart farrar's the witches' way. l they say it was written by doreen valiente, and included in gbg's text c. esbat ritual needs: l everything needed to cast a circle, l wand, scourge, priestess' athame l priest, priestess here is the sequence of modules in a standard esbat ritual. l cast circle l (optional: rare

ALICE A BAILEY13 PROBLEMS OF HUMANITY

built for peace, no matter under what guise they are presented. c. a planned policy whereby the mass of the people are kept in intellectual ignorance and, through this ignorance, are naturally to be found among the reactionary and conservative forces which are so powerfully at work resisting the new age with its new civilization and more enlightened culture. blind faith and complete confidence in the priest and in the vatican are regarded as spiritual duties. the roman catholic church stands entrenched and unified against any new and evolutionary presentation of truth to the people; its roots are in the past but it is not growing into the light; its vast financial resources enable it to menace the future enlightenment of mankind under the cloak of paternalism and a colourful outer appearan

ALICE A BAILEY18 A TREATISE ON THE SEVEN RAYS VOLUME III ESOTERIC ASTROLOGY

the prototype of the lord of the third ray, and our own cosmic centre (723) a. only one being (from sirius) has visited our system and that was at the time of individualisation. b. they only appear usually and normally at the initiation of a solar logos (723) the planet jupiter references in the secret doctrine 1 "jupiter. is a deity who is the symbol and prototype of. ritualistic worship. he is the priest, sacrificer, suppliant and the medium through which the prayers of mortals reach the gods (ii. 49. note- 388- a treatise on the seven rays- volume iii: esoteric astrology copyright 1998 lucis trust 2. jupiter is regarded as the "throne of brahma (ii. 829) 3 "jupiter is the personification of cyclic law (ii. 830) 4 "the sun used to be called the `eye of jupiter (iii. 278) 5 "plato makes

ALICE A BAILEY20 A TREATISE ON THE SEVEN RAYS VOLUME IV ESOTERIC HEALING

d cancer inherent in the individual man, in humanity as a whole, and also in our planet. i have traced the psychological basis of disease and have indicated a practically new field wherein disease particularly in its earlier stages can be studied. when the psychological basis of disease can be realised and its factual nature is admitted by the orthodox physician, the surgeon, the psychologist and the priest, then all will work together in this developing area of understanding, and what is today vaguely called "preventive medicine" will come into its own. i prefer to define this phase of medical application as the organisation of those methods whereby disease will be avoided, and the development of those techniques whereby correct psychological training will be given from youth up and by ri

ALICE A BAILEY23 THE EXTERNALISATION OF THE HIERARCHY

wellers produce more children than do the intelligentsia. in those far-off times, the only people who had any true measure of intelligence were the disciples and initiates; they guided and guarded infant humanity, much as modern parents guide and guard their children, and as the state assumes responsibility for the welfare of the nation. the hierarchy was, in those days, present upon the earth as the priest-kings and they acted as focal points of attractive energy, drawing to themselves those in whom the more intangible values were slowly assuming a vague control, thus making the lines of cleavage between materialism and spirituality still more clear and definite. we must remember that the spirituality of that time was of a very different quality from that which now goes under that name. i

ARADIA GOSPEL OF THE WITCHES

ia,per tenere a me concordo,la laverna che possa portare a meil mio figlio, e che possaguardarmele da qualun pericolo.bollo questa erba, man non bollo lerba.bollo la paurache possa tenere lontanoqualunque persona e se le vienelidea a qualchuno di avvicinarsi,possa essere preso da paurae fuggire lontano! page 58 but this time she swore on her headto pay in full in six months.and as she had done by the priest, so she acted to the lord of the castle, and stole and sold everystick, furniture, cattle, men, and mice there was not left wherewith to feed a fly.then the priest and the lord, finding out who this was, appealed to the gods, complaining that theyhad been robbed by a goddess.and it was soon made known to them all that this was laverna.therefore she was called to judgment before all the

old everystick, furniture, cattle, men, and mice there was not left wherewith to feed a fly.then the priest and the lord, finding out who this was, appealed to the gods, complaining that theyhad been robbed by a goddess.and it was soon made known to them all that this was laverna.therefore she was called to judgment before all the gods.and when she was asked what she had done with the property of the priest, unto whom she hadsworn by her body to make payment at the time appointed (and why she had broken her oath)?she replied by a strange deed which amazed them all, for she made her body disappear, so thatonly her head remained visible, and it cried: behold me! i swore by my body, but body have i none!then all the gods laughed.after the priest came the lord who had also been tricked, and to

almost always on earth, among thieves, pickpockets, and panders she lived in dark-ness.once it happened that she went (to a mortal, a great priest in the form and guise of a very beauti-ful stately priestess (of some goddess, and said to him: you have an estate which i wish to buy. i intend to build on it a temple to (our) god. i swear to youon my body that i will pay thee within a year.therefore the priest transferred to her the estate.and very soon lavernahad sold off all the crops, grain, cattle, wood, and poultry. there was not leftthe value of four farthings.but on the day fixed for payment there was no lavernato be seen. the goddess was far away, andhad left her creditor in asso in the lurch!at the same time lavernawent to a great lord and bought of him a castle, well-furnished withi

probably not have lost. achillesmay be admirably drawn, as i have seen him, in a louisxiv. wig with a turkish scimitar, but still one could wish that the designer had been a little morefamiliar with greek garments and weapons. page 53 n r r r r r it is well! i give thee warning,since thou hast made thy offering,some of the game to thee ill bring;thoult have thy share in the morning.all that night the priest suffered from horrible dreams and dread, and when at last, just before threeoclock, he fell asleep, he suddenly awoke from a nightmare in which it seemed as if somethingheavy rested on his chest. and something indeed fell from him and rolled on the floor. and when herose and picked it up, and looked at it by the light of the moon, he saw that it was a human head,half decayed. 26 another

thing indeed fell from him and rolled on the floor. and when herose and picked it up, and looked at it by the light of the moon, he saw that it was a human head,half decayed. 26 another priest, who had heard his cry of terror, entered his room, and having looked at the head,said: i know that face! it is of a man whom i confessed, and who was beheaded three months ago atsiena.and three days after, the priest who had insulted the goddess died.the foregoing tale was not given to me as belonging to the gospel of the witches, but as one of avery large series of traditions relating to virgilas a magician. but it has its proper place in this book,because it contains the invocation to and incantation of diana, these being remarkably beautiful andoriginal. when we remember how these hymns have been

ARTHUR E WAITE TEMPLAR ORDERS IN FREEMASONRY

charges. it was the day of voltaire, and it happened that a shallow infidelity was characterised by the kind of licence which fosters intellectual extravagance, by a leaning in directions which are generally termed superstitious- though superstition itself was pilloried- and in particular by attraction towards occult arts and supposed hidden knowledge. advanced persons were ceasing to believe in the priest but were disposed to believe in the sorcerer, and the templars had been accused of magic, of worshipping a strange idol, the last suggestion- for some obscure reason- being not altogether indifferent to many who had slipped the anchor of their faith in god. beyond these frivolities and the foolish minds that cherished them, there were other persons who were neither in the school of a ra

BLAVATSKY H P ANTHROPOGENESIS

our earth and all on it were redeemed by the cross, while venus (otherwise lucifer or satan) was trampling upon it. venus is the most occult, powerful, and mysterious of all the planets; the one whose influence upon, and relation to the earth is most prominent. in exoteric brahmanism, venus or sukra- a male deity- is the son of bhrigu, one of the prajapati and a vedic sage, and is daitya-guru, or the priest-instructor of the primeval giants. the whole history of "sukra" in the puranas, refers to the third and to the fourth races "it is through sukra that the 'double ones (the hermaphrodites) of the third (root-race) descended from the first 'sweatborn" says the commentary. therefore it is represented under the symbol of[[diagram (the circle and diameter) during the third (race) and of[[dia

deity who is the symbol and the prototype of the exoteric or ritualistic worship. he is priest sacrificer, suppliant, and the medium through which the prayers of mortals reach the gods. he is the purohita (family priest, or court chaplain) of the hindu olympus and the spiritual guru of the gods. soma is the mystery god and presides over the mystic and occult nature in man and the universe. tara, the priest's wife, who symbolizes the worshipper, prefers esoteric truths to their mere shell, exotericism; hence she is shown as carried off by soma. now soma is the sacred juice of that name, giving mystic visions and trance revelations, the result of which union is budha (wisdom, mercury, hermes, etc, etc; that science in short which to this day is proclaimed by the brihaspatis of theology as d

the astral image. it bears this meaning in sanskrit works. thus sanjna (spiritual consciousness, the wife of surya, the sun, is shown retiring into the jungle to lead an ascetic life, and leaving behind to her husband her chhaya, shadow or image[[footnote(s* the "father of the sacred fire" writes prof. jolly "is twashtri. his mother was maya. he himself was styled akta (anointed[[christos, after the priest had poured upon his head the spirituous) soma, and on his body butter purified by sacrifice("man before metals" p. 190. the source of his information is not given by the french darwinist. but the lines are quoted to show that light begins to dawn even upon the materialists. adalbert kuhn, in his "die herabkunft des feuers" identifies the two signs[[diagram] and[[diagram] with arani, and

pollion shows him to be "the deity called[[eichton (or the fire of the celestial gods- the great* thot[[footnote(s* this is about as just as though- a few millenniums hence- a fanatic of some future new creed, who was bent on glorifying his religion at the expense of ancient christianity, were to say "everywhere the quadruped lamb was adored. the nun placed it, calling it the agnus, on her bosom; the priest laid it on the altar. it figured in every paschal meal, and was glorified loudly in every temple. and yet the christians dreaded it and hated it, for they slew and devoured it" heathens, at any rate, do not eat their sacred symbols. we know of no serpent, or reptile-eaters except in christian civilized countries, where they begin with frogs and eels, and must end with real snakes, as th

em that fear him" says psalm xxv, 14. this is a mistranslation of the christians, for it ought to read "sod ihoh (the mysteries of ihoh) are for those who fear him (dunlap "mysteries of adonis" xi "al (el) is terrible in the great sod of the kadeshim (the priests, the holy, the initiated, psalm lxxxix, 7 (ibid. the kadeshim were very far from holy (vide part ii "the holy of holies "the members of the priest-colleges were called sodales" says freund's "latin lexicon (iv. 448 "sodalities were constituted in the idaean mysteries of the mighty mother" writes cicero in de senectute("mysteries of adonis* the priests of baal who jumped over the fires. but this was a hebrew term and a local one "saraph "fiery or flaming venom[[vol. 2, page] 213 the seventh son of the seventh son. philosophers igno

BLAVATSKY H P COSMOGENESIS

urface; a surface studded with countless phenomenal universes, systems and mirage-like worlds. nevertheless, to the eastern occultist, who is an objective idealist at the bottom, in the real world, which is a unity of forces, there is "a connection of all matter in the plenum" as leibnitz would say. this is symbolized in the pythagorean triangle[[footnote(s[[footnote continued from previous page] the priest there is the altar with its mysterious containments and symbolic meaning, inside of which no one but the consecrated priests ought to enter. in the early days of christianity the marriage ceremony was a mystery and a true symbol. now, however, even the churches have lost the true meaning of this symbolism* see von hartmann's and herbert spencer's works "new aspects of life" by henry pra

BLUE EQUINOX

the flowers, that we may take our pain thereon. let the pleasure and pain be mingled in one supreme offering unto the lord adonai! 48. also i heard the voice of adonai the lord the desirable one concerning that which is beyond. 49. let not the dwellers in thebai and the temples thereof prate ever of the pillars of hercules and the ocean of the west. is not the nile a beautiful water? 50. let not the priest of isis uncover the nakedness of nuit, for every step is a death and a birth. the priest of isis lifted the veil of isis, and was slain by the kisses of her the equinox 96 mouth. then he was the priest of nuit, and drank of the milk of the stars. 51. let not the failure and the pain turn aside the worshippers. the foundations of the pyramid were hewn in the living rock ere sunset; did t

t veil. the equinox 250 forming the apex of an equilateral triangle whose base is a line drawn between the pillars, is a small black square altar, of superimposed cubes. taking this altar as the middle of the base of a similar and equal triangle, at the apex of this second triangle is a small circular font. repeating, the apex of a third triangle is an upright tomb. ii of the officers of the mass the priest. bears the sacred lance, and is clothed at first in a plain white robe. the priestess. should be actually virgo intacta or specially dedicated to the service of the great order. she is clothed in white, blue, and gold. she bears the sword from a red girdle, and the paten and hosts, or cakes of light. the deacon. he is clothed in white and yellow. he bears the book of the law. two childr

ircles of the temple (deosil about altar, widdershins about font, deosil about altar and font, widdershins about altar, and so to the tomb in the west) she draws her sword and pulls down the veil therewith. the priestess: by the power of+ iron, i say unto thee, arise. in the name of our lord the+ sun, and of our lord. that thou mayst administer the virtues to the brethren. she sheathes the sword. the priest, issuing from the tomb, holding the lance erect with both hands, right over left, against his breast, takes the first three regular steps. liber xv 253 he then gives the lance to the priestess, and gives the three penal signs. he then kneels and worships the lance with both hands. penitential music. the priest: i am a man among men. he takes again the lance, and lowers it. he rises. the

the priest: how should i be worthy to administer the virtues to the brethren? the priestess takes from the child the water and the salt, and mixes them in the font. the priestess: let the salt of earth admonish the water to bear the virtue of the great sea (genuflects) mother, be thou adored. she returns to the west+ on priest with open hand doth she make, over his forehead, breast, and body. be the priest pure of body and soul! the priestess takes the censer from the child, and places it on the small altar. she puts incense therein. let the fire and the air make sweet the world (genuflects) father, be thou adored. she returns west, and makes+ with the censer before the priest, thrice as before. be the priest fervent of body and soul (the children resume their weapons as they are done wit

the small altar. she puts incense therein. let the fire and the air make sweet the world (genuflects) father, be thou adored. she returns west, and makes+ with the censer before the priest, thrice as before. be the priest fervent of body and soul (the children resume their weapons as they are done with) the deacon now takes the consecrated robe from the high altar, and brings it to her. she robes the priest in his robe of scarlet and gold. the equinox 254 be the flame of the sun thine ambience, o thou priest of the sun! the deacon brings the crown from the high altar (the crown may be of gold or platinum, or of electrum magicum; but with no other metals, save the small proportions necessary to a proper alloy. it may be adorned with divers jewels, at will but it must have the ur us serpent

BUCKLAND RAYMOND COMPLETE BOOK OF WITCHCRAFT

to toast the gods, a libation is always poured first. when meeting outdoors this can simply be poured on the ground. but when indoors the best, and usual, way is to pour the offering into a dish; the libation dish. later after the ceremony the dish can be taken outside and the wine poured out on the ground. like the salt and water dishes, the libation dish can be of any type' the wine goblets of the priest and priestess stand on the altar; those of the other celebrants are placed on the ground at their feet. again the goblet can be to suit yourself. it could be simply a glass or it could be a decorative drinking horn. the latter can be made from cow-horns (obtainable from handicraft stores, such as the tandy leather company chain, with stands either separate or attached, made from bent si

use the tool as often as possible, the feeling being that the more it is used, the more mana (or "power) it will acquire. sword the sword is not essential; the knife can always substitute for it. but while every individual witch has an athame, many covens like to have a coven sword one for the whole group. the sword is usually used for marking the circle at the start of the meeting; being used by the priest/ess or whoever casts the circle. it can be made in the same way that the knife is, or you can purchase one. there are certainly many companies that offer replicas of ancient swords, these days. if you decide to get a ready-made one, again do some work on it yourself. in fact, since it is a coven tool, it is nice if the whole coven either get together to make one or join in engraving and

but i am of the opinion that a magickal cord is for working magick, not for holding your robe (things were different during the persecutions, when it was necessary to hide one's magical tools. it is not necessary now. think carefully about the color of your robe. it used to be that most witches wore white robes, but i'm glad to see more and more color appearing at festivals. in saxon witchcraft, the priest/ess wears either white, purple or deep green and the others wear greens, browns, yellows and blues, though this is not a hard and fast rule. combinations of colors can be attractive, of course, as can a basic color trimmed with silver or gold, or with a second color. some few witches do wear black but, while acknowledging it to be a very "powerful" color (in fact a non-color, i personal

sing of power though in almost a quarter of a century of practice i have never found this to be true. however, i do respect those who do feel this way. if they truly believe that it restricts, then it will restrict. so, decide for yourself whether to encourage the use of jewelry; whether to limit its use; whether to use it to denote position; whether to prohibit it altogether. horned helmet where the priest and priestess may each wear a band of copper or silver, with a crescent moon, sun, or similar, at the front, the priest may wear a horned helmet at certain rites where he specifically represents the god, and the priestess may wear a goddess crown at certain rites where she specifically represents the goddess. these are not difficult things to make. in fact here are two or three possible

en taken the blindfold can be removed and, shortly afterwards, the cords. it is strictly an oath of secrecy. there is no repudiation of any previous religion. there are no crosses to spit upon, no pacts to sign in blood, nogoat's buttocks to kiss! after the oath comes the showing of the tools. each coven has a number of so-called "working tools. these are presented, one by one, to the initiate by the priest. as each one is presented its use is explained and, to show she has understood the explanation, the initiate lays her hands briefly on the tool..at the end of the ceremony the initiate is taken, by the high priest, around the circle to the four cardinalpoints. at each of these she is presented to the gods who are believed to be there witnessing the event as a newly made priestess and wi

CASSANDRA EASON A PRACTICAL GUIDE TO WITCHCRAFT AND MAGIC

of fire- seite 42 wicca01.txt [insert pic p077- agni agni, the hindu god of fire, is said to be manifest as the vital spark in mankind, birds, animals, plants and life itself. he appeared in lightning, in celestial sun flares, in the sacred blaze rising from the altar and in household fires. agni was the divine priest and acted as messenger to the gods, interceding with them on behalf of mankind. the priest would chant 'agni, the divine ministrant of the sacrifice, the great bestower of treasure. may one obtain through agni, wealth and welfare' agni is still important as the god of domestic and ritual fire and for spells for the increase of wealth, material goods, creativity and domestic protection. hephaestus hephaestus, greek god of fire and metal-work, was thrown from mount olympus by h

fice of the sacred king at lughnassadh, the festival of the first corn harvest. the rite goes back thousands of years. the cakes and ale are consumed by the people acting as high priestess and priest in a dual energy rite or by those initiated in those roles. crumbs and wine are first offered to the earth mother or poured into a libation dish (a small dish for offerings. then the priestess offers the priest a tiny cake and then takes one herself and he offers her the wine before drinking himself. the dual roles work just as well in a single-sex coven. the cakes and ale are then passed round the circle and each person partakes of the body and blood of the earth, offering a few words of thanks for blessings received. in some groups each person has an individual chalice set before them, but e

men and girls made love in the woods and fields on may eve to bring fertility to the land as well as themselves; they gathered flowers and blossoms from the magical hawthorn tree to decorate houses and to make into may baskets which were left as gifts on doorsteps. this custom lasted well into victorian times and is recalled in rudyard kilping's poem oak, ash and thorn, which begins: do not tell the priest our plight, for he would think it a sin, for we have been in the woods all night, bringing summer in. this echoes the woodland wedding of the goddess, the first may queen, whose name came from maia, the greek goddess of flowers, whose festival occurred at this time and who also gave her name to the month of may. she married jack o' green, the god of vegetation -another form of the green

CHAOS MAGICK AND LUCIFERISM

ichael dewitt is one of the most powerful descriptions of the essence of babalon that could be described. the ritual itself is opened with the quadriga sexualis banishing ritual and leads into the invoking of the force of darkness. the temple itself would be decorated in images of death, skulls and bones and a large black coffin in which one of the female magicians would be laying. it begins with the priest of thanatos invoking: now listen to the voice of thanatos known to men as the face of death, whom they worship with howling and shattering teeth. all the while a funerary drum beats and calls forth the dead. soon, the congregation throws human bones and grave soil within the coffin, which is soon closed. the celebrants then meditate on among other things, their own death, and understand

CHYMICAL WEDDING OF CHRISTIAN ROSENKREUTZ

ndid it again. it was a fine sportive fantasy. in the sixth act the young king resolved to do battle with the moor, which was also done. and although the moor was discomforted, yet all held the young king too to be dead. at length he came to himself again, released his spouse, and committed her to his steward and chaplain. the first of these tormented her greatly; then the tables were turned, and the priest was so insolently wicked that he had to be above all, until this was reported to the young king; who hastily despatched one who broke the neck of the priest s mightiness, and adorned the bride in some measure for the nuptials. after the act a vast artificial elephant was brought forth. he carried a great tower with musicians, which was also well pleasing to all. in the last act the brid

DAVID ICKE CHILDREN OF THE MATRIX

muria-mu had travelled to india via burma to establish a colony there. churchward put the texts together in years of painstaking work and revealed how they described the destruction of mu, the motherland, and how the naga mayas or nagas had travelled to india.8 the vedic scholar david frawley explains how the ancient hindu holy books, the vedas, reveal that the earliest royal bloodlines of india, the priest-kings, descend from the bhrigus who arrived from a place across the sea. the bhrigus were an order of adepts initiated into the ancient knowledge. frawley says in his book, gods, sages, and kings: vedic secrets of ancient civilization (passage press, salt lake city, utah, 1991) that the monarchs of these bloodlines included the "serpent king" nahusha. they expanded into the five tribes

it was claimed that he was conceived by a ray of golden light that entered his mother's womb from the big dipper constellation.12 the big dipper includes the star alpha draconis, the star of set in egypt. alpha draconis is an alleged base of the "draco" reptilian "royalty. one chinese legend says that when he died huang ti transformed into an etheric dragon and flew to the realm of the immortals. the priest kings of the peruvian incas were symbolised by the snake and they wore bracelets and anklets in the image of a snake. the earliest of the royal bloodlines of central america claimed genetic descent from the serpent gods, quetzalcoati and itzamna. in the mycenaean age in greece the kings were, in the words of author jane harrison "regarded as being in some sense a snake".13 cecrops, the

ntil they had completely undermined and corrupted the morals of the primitive mysteries..they usurped the position formerly occupied by the initiates, and seized the reigns of spiritual government "thus black magic dictated the state religion and paralysed the intellectual and spiritual activities of the individual by demanding his complete and unhesitating acquiescence in the dogma formulated by the priest craft. the pharaoh became a puppet in the hands of the scarlet council- a committee of arch-sorcerers elevated to power by the priesthood."32 this is exactly what happened in the latter era of atlantis and what happens today with the puppet politicians placed in "power" by those behind the scenes, the illuminati, who dictate their actions and agenda. those who will not do as they are to

p//www.nexusmagazine.com/ringlords1.html. throughout the lands settled by the former atlantean-lemurian peoples you find the worship of the serpent goddess and her serpent son, who is often symbolised as a bull. james churchward reveals from ancient tablets and artwork that lemurians worshipped the goddess called "queen moo, and that lemuria/mu was called the "motherland. around the mediterranean the priest-kings were known as the "children of the serpent goddess".2 in this same region, temples and mystery schools were created in her name, most notably the temple of artemis/diana at ephesus in turkey, one of the seven wonders of the ancient world. turkey (formerly asia minor, greece, and the islands of samothrace, cyprus, and crete were among the main centres of the goddess cult. samothrac

nt 33 segments (figure 18. pythagoras, the famous greek hero and mathematician, grew up in the mysteries of the serpent goddess cult and his very name means "i am the python" or "i am the serpent. dna of the dragon queens the author, sir laurence gardner, says that the ancient imperial royal dragon court and order can first be identified as the dragon court of ancient egypt under the patronage of the priest-prince ankhfn-khonsu in about 2170bc. it later became a "pharaonic institution" thanks to queen sobeknefru (c.1785-82bc) and operated as a sort of "royal academy, a "unique assembly of science and scholarship. that's according to its official website, anyway (http//www.mediaquest.co.uk/rdcsite/rdchome.htm. the dragon court was re-launched in the 15th century as the hungarian court of th

DAVID ICKE THE BIGGEST SECRET

rs are reptilian full-bloods and therefore are fullyaware of the true significance and background of the prometheus legend. incidentally,the watcher called azazel is the origin of the goat head in satanic ritual and the termscapegoat. according to the book of leviticus, the israelites would sacrifice two malegoats at yom kippur, the day of atonement. one was offered to god and the other toazazel. the priest placed both hands on the head of the azazel goat and confessed thesins of the people. the goat would then be taken into the wilderness and plunged over acliff, symbolising the fallen angel azazel, who was seen as bound and chained in thewilderness- the abyss in the language of the book of revelation- which i think isimprisonment in the lower fourth dimension. from this comes the ancient

diana (positive female) and hecate (negative female. they are simply differentsymbolic names for different manifestations of the female energy. the satanists of thebrotherhood work with the hecate energy and that is why they worship this deity. theyare actually worshipping the extreme negative female energy and it is for this reasonthat in satanism the high priestess is considered as important as the priest, if not moreso. at that elite centre for satanism in belgium, the castle of darkness i mentioned inan earlier chapter, the top position in the hierarchy is not known as the king, but thequeen mother. so in the pont de lalma tunnel the positive female energy (love,compassion, intuition, symbolised by diana, was eliminated by the negative femaleenergy (manipulation, ritual death, symbolis

DEMONIC BIBLE

in this book. the first name is marduk the lord of lords, master of magicians. his name should not be called except when no other will do, and it is the most terrible responsibility to do so. the word of his calling is dugga. this is his seal: the second name is marukka knows all things since the beginning of the world. knows all secrets, be they human or divine, and is very difficult to summon. the priest should not summon him unless he is clean of heart and spirit, for this spirit shall know his innermost thoughts. this is his seal: the third name is marutukku master of the arts of protection, chained the mad god at the battle. sealed the ancient ones in their caves, behind the gates. possesses the arra star. this is his seal: the fourth name is barashakushu worker of miracles. the kind

s word is mashshananna and his seal is this: the nineteenth name is zisi reconciler of enemies, silencer of arguments, between two people or between two nations, or even, it is said, between two worlds. the scent of peace is indeed sweet to this power, whose word is mashinnanna and whose seal is this: the twentieth name is suhrim seeks out the worshippers of the ancient ones wherever they may be. the priest who sends him on an errand does so at a terrible risk, for suhrim kills easily, and without thought. his word is mashshanergal and his seal: the twenty-first name is suhgurim as suhrim above, the foe who cannot be appeased. discovers the priest's enemies with ease, but must be cautioned not to slay them if the priest does not desire it. the word is mashshadar and the seal: the twenty-se

mashshanergal and his seal: the twenty-first name is suhgurim as suhrim above, the foe who cannot be appeased. discovers the priest's enemies with ease, but must be cautioned not to slay them if the priest does not desire it. the word is mashshadar and the seal: the twenty-second name is zahrim slew ten thousand of the hordes in the battle. a warrior among warriors. can destroy an entire army if the priest so desires. his word is mashshagarannu and his seal: the twenty-third name is zahgurim as zahrim, a most terrible opponent. it is said zahgurim slays slowly, after a most unnatural fashion. i do not know, for i have never summoned this spirit. it is thy risk. the word is mashtishaddu and the seal: the twenty-fourth name is enbilulu this power can seek out water in the midst of a desert

th, and of the plough. his word is burdishu and his seal thus: the twenty-eighth name is sirsir the destroyer of tiamat, hated of the ancient ones, master over the serpent, foe of kutulu. a most powerful lord. his word is this apirikubabadazuzukanpa and his seal: the twenty-ninth name is malah trod the back of the worm and cut it in twain. lord of bravery and courage, and gives these qualities to the priest who desires it, or to others the priest may decide. the word is bachachadugga and the seal: the thirtieth name is gil the furnisher of seed. beloved of ishtar, his power is mysterious and quite ancient. makes the barley to grow and the women to give birth. makes potent the impotent. his word is aggabal and his seal is thus: the thirty-first name is gilma founder of cities, possessor of

DIABOLUS

n of their faith. thus zohak cherished demoniac deceptions to harm his people. the denkard here we read that zohak, during his long life span, was considered the one who propagated early jewish scriptures as a means of satanic influence among his people. no doubt many of the arabs and surviving zoroastrians considered the jewish faith to be a joke propagated by ahriman. there were ten precepts of the priest zohak who was considered a part of the hebrew religion, while the actual intent of these so-called precepts of zohak are not acknowledged, the zoroastrians considered him very dangerous even after his long 1,000 year reign. the ten precepts suggest that zohak called their god an injurer of the universe, recommended daeva worship and the use of idols in ritual practice, that people shoul

DICTIONARY GLOSSARY OF OCCULT TERMINOLOGY

warden of the south. dagger: a cross hilted, double edged, short blade used as the magickal tool and weapon of elemental air. attributed to the direction of the east. deacon/ deaconess: from the late latin, from the greek "diakonos" meaning "servant. in the christian church, a lesser member of the clergy. one who ranks just below a priest/ priestess and is assigned the responsibility of assisting the priest/ priestess in religious services and in administrative matters. dee, dr. john: a mathematician, astronomer, scientist, and ceremonial magician who lived in the reigns of queen elizabeth i and king james i of england, from 1527-1608. john dee was a devout christian, who is best known for developing with his assistant (edward kelley) the enochian (q.v) system of ceremonial magick (q.v. th

DION FORTUNE MYSTICAL QABALA

thout father, without mother, without descent; having neither beginning of days nor end of life" administers to him the first eucharistic feast of bread and wine after the battle with the kings in the valley, the sinister kings of edom "who ruled ere there was a king in israel, whose kingdoms are unbalanced force" 10. generation by generation we trace the intercourse of the princes of israel with the priest-kings of egypt. abraham and jacob went thither; joseph and moses were mystical qabala page 6 intimately associated with the court of the royal adepts. when we read of solomon sending to hiram, king of tyre, for men materials to aid in the building of the temple we know that the famous tyrian mysteries must have profoundly influenced the hebrew esotericism. when we read of daniel being e

his desires till he bestows upon her his sun-force and she is impregnated. 33. in magical workings the man or woman who desires to work with the opposite type of force to that of their physical vehicle, and it is part of the routine of occult training that they should do so, shifts the level of consciousness on to a plane on which they find themselves of the requisite polarity, and works thereon. the priest of osiris sometimes employs the elemental spirits to supplement his polarity, and the priestess of isis invokes angelic influences. 34. because manifestation takes place through the pairs of opposites, the principle of polarity is implicit not only in the macrocosm but also in the microcosm. by understanding it, and knowing how to avail ourselves of the potentialities it affords, we can

eer to her emotions. if the cut is clean, and there is no repining, an immense amount of psychic energy is released for use in the chosen channel. but if the lesser desire is merely inhibited and denied expression and not really laid upon the altar of sacrifice as a deliberate free-will offenog, the unfortunate victim has made the worst of both worlds. it is here that we need geburah to come like the priest that takes the sacrifice from our hands, even if it be our first-born, and offers it up to god with the quick, clean, merciful stroke. for geburah in the microcosm, which is the soul of man, is the courage and resolution that frees us from the taint of self-pity. 11. how badly do we need the spartan virtues of geburah in this age of sentimentality and the neuroses. how many break-downs

een malkuth and yesod. there is no other method so satisfactory, for the amount of magnetism in a living being is far greater than in any metal or crystal, however precious. 46. this ancient method is also known to us under another name; it is called by moderns, mediumship. when the spirit speaks through the entranced medium, precisely the same thing is happening as happened in ancient egypt when the priest with the mask of horus spake with the voice of horus. 47. when we consider the microcosmic tree, the physical body is malkuth; the etheric double is yesod; the astromental body is hod and netzach; and the higher mind is tiphareth. whatever the higher mind can conceive can readily be brought through into manifestation in the subjective malkuth. we do better to rely upon this method of ev

DION FORTUNE PSYCHIC SELF DEFENSE

t communion" replied my friend" and it was originally a bishop's pectoral cross" her sister was greatly interested, and immediately brought her own jewel-case to me and asked me if i could pick out her first communion cross also, for, like her sister, she was a roman catholic, and these crosses that were given them as presents on the occasion of their first communion had been specially blessed by the priest. i was greatly interested to observe that from three or four ornamental crosses i was able to pick one which felt warm and living and electric to the hand, and pass it across to her, saying "this is your communion cross" and it was. i remember once, as a small child, picking up a dying rook; the creature lay motionless on my knee for a few minutes, and then gave a flutter and died. i ha

f one soul by another. it is a hypnotic domination, and we can explain it in terms of the known psychology of hypnosis, the hypnotist in the case being an astral entity. there is an operation in magic known as "assuming the god-form" in which the operator identifies himself in imagination with the god and so becomes a channel for its power. it is one of the special modes of egyptian magic wherein the priest always wore a mask to represent the animal head symbolically attributed to the god he represented. this imaginative identification is a method well known in occultism and is often employed in order to enter into the inner life of a plant or a crystal as a mental exercise. the effects of it are very marked and very peculiar. i am inclined to think that it is this method, combined with hy

superstition if we give the old folk-tradition a trial and note the results. water, again, is the vehicle of purification. it is used in the rite of baptism by the church and in the preparation of the place by the occultist about to perform a ceremony. strictly speaking, there should be a trace of salt in the water thus employed, and both salt and water are blessed with powerful invocations when the priest is preparing holy water, whether for a baptism, or for placing in the holy water stoup for the use of the congregation. as far as the occultist is concerned, salt to him is the emblem of the element of earth. it is also a crystalline substance, and crystalline substances, in their different forms, receive and hold etheric magnetism better than anything else. water, on the other hand, is

DONALDTYSON BLACKMAS

a reward grant to them the power to do evil. some of its infamous features include a defrocked priest who celebrated the mass on the belly of a naked woman, and the substitution of semen for the holy chrism oil, urine for the wine, and blackened turnip or excrement for the host. during the course of the mass, the defrocked priest was said to copulate with the woman serving as the altar. sometimes the priest inserted holy wafers into the vagina of the woman before copulation. sometimes the copulation was anal. the words of the ritual were read backwards or distorted by replacing "god" with "devil" or "satan" the sign of the cross was made backwards. one entertaining account claims that the mass was celebrated by a talking goat who read from a missal bound in wolf's skin. the general princip

court of the french king louis xiv, black mortuary masses were performed by selected priests for the purpose of causing the deaths of specific individuals. occasionally amatory masses were performed by priests to enable them to magically overcome the modesty of nuns they lusted after. one such amatory mass was described by an observer in these terms: every time during the course of the mass when the priest had to kiss the altar, instead he kissed the body of the girl. he consecrated the host over her private parts, into which he inserted a small portion of the host. at last the mass was finished, and the priest went into the woman, and, with his hands dipped into the chalice, washed all her genital areas. even more fantastic details of the black mass involved the sacrifice of infants or m

EGYPTIAN BOOK OF THE DEAD PAPYRUS OF ANI MALESTROM

n inches; as we approach the period of the xxvith dynasty the texture becomes coarser and the material is darker in colour. the theban papyri of this period are lighter in colour than those found in the north of egypt and are less brittle; they certainly suffer less in unrolling [1. the books of the dead written in the hieroglyphic and hieratic characters which belong to the period of the rule of the priest-kings of the brotherhood of amen form a class by themselves, and have relatively little in common with the older versions. a remarkable example of this class is the papyrus of nesi-khonsu which m. maspero published (les momies royales de d ir el-bahar, p. 600 f. the text is divided into paragraphs, which contain neither prayers nor hymns but a veritable contract between the god amen-ra

ct; hence the formula was repeated four times. originally four animals or four geese were sacrificed, one to each god, but subsequently east and north, and west and south were paired, and two bulls (or birds) only were sacrificed, one of which was called the bull of the north] and the other the bull of the south. the custom of four-fold repetition continued to the ptolema c times] and even later. the priest whose official title was kher heb, recited the prayers, and the sem or setem priest presented the prescribed offerings. the rubrical directions are given on the margin for the sake of clearness. funeral ceremonies. http//www.sacred-texts.com/egy/ebod/ebod11.htm (1 of 5 [8/10/2001 11:24:10 am "o osiris] all that is hateful in unas hath been brought unto thee,[1] and all the evil words wh

of the book of the dead in the papyrus of neb-qet[1] the soul of the deceased is represented descending the steps of the tomb to carry food to its mummy in the underground chamber (fig. 2. plates v. and vi. http//www.sacred-texts.com/egy/ebod/ebod17.htm (2 of 12 [8/10/2001 11:26:43 am] the ceremonies[2] which took place at the door of the tomb in an egyptian funeral are of considerable interest. the priest called kher-heb, holding the sem priest by the arm, gives directions for the slaughter of "a bull of the south" the slaughterer, standing on the bull, cuts off a fore-leg (fig. 3) and takes out the heart. a woman, called the tcherauur, who personifies isis, then whispers in the deceased's ear "behold, thy lips are set in order for thee, so that thy mouth may be opened" next, an antelope

i lied wilfully, nor have i done aught with a false heart. grant thou to me food in the tomb (4) and that i may come into [thy] presence at the altar of the lords of right and truth, and that i may enter into and come forth from the netherworld (my soul not being turned back, and that i may behold the face of the sun, and that i may behold the moon (5) for ever and ever" vignette (lower register: the priest se-mer-f[3] who has on the right side of his head the lock of heru-pa-khrat and wears a leopard's skin, introducing ani and his wife to the gods whose names are given in plates xiii. and xiv [1. this and its companion vignette and the vignettes of plates xiii.-xiv. form one composition. 2. osiris is also called an-maut-f; see lepsius, todtenbuch, chap. cxlii, 1. 7. 3. for the functions

ENCYCLOPEDIA OF OCCULTISM AND PARAPSYCHOLOGY VOL 1

e other side. possession in most preindustrial cultures, epileptic diseases were assumed to be the result of demoniac possession. in much of africa the sufferer was supposed to be possessed by mbwiri, and the person was relieved only by the intervention of the medicine man (priest) or a spirit or deity. in the middle of the street a hut was built for the sufferer, and there he resided, along with the priest and his disciples, until cured, or maddened. townspeople held a continuous revel, including what seemed like unending dances to the sound of flute and drum, for ten days to two weeks, engaging in much eating and drinking all at the expense of the patient s relatives. the patient at some point danced, usually feigning madness, until the epileptic attack came on accompanied by a frenzied

d to see a little of his fetish. he drew on the ground with red chalk some hieroglyphics, among which i distinguished the circle, the cross, and the crescent. he said that if i would give him a fine dush, he would tell me about it. but as he would not take anything in reason, and as i knew that he would tell me nothing of very great importance in public, negotiations were suspended. the claims of the priest to possess supernatural powers were seldom questioned. he was not only a doctor and a priest who intervened with the spirits and deities.two capacities in which his influence was necessarily very powerful.he was also a witchfinder, and this office invested him with a truly formidable africa encyclopedia of occultism& parapsychology. 5th ed. 14 authority. when a man of worth died, his de

tioned. he was not only a doctor and a priest who intervened with the spirits and deities.two capacities in which his influence was necessarily very powerful.he was also a witchfinder, and this office invested him with a truly formidable africa encyclopedia of occultism& parapsychology. 5th ed. 14 authority. when a man of worth died, his death was invariably ascribed to witchcraft, and the aid of the priest was invoked to discover the witch. when a man was sick a long time, his neighbors called ngembi, and if she could not make him well, they called the priest. he came at night, in a white dress, with cock s feathers on his head, carrying a bell and a little glass. he called two or three of the victim s relatives together. he did not speak, but always looked in his glass. then he told them

ine. he would fall into strange ecstasies in which his soul, separated from his body, would travel abroad and find out what was taking place in distant places. he could read people s thoughts and discover anything he wished to learn. these wonders were ascribed to the agency of the devil. st. augustine also speaks of a time when the possessed man was ill of a fever. though not in a trance, he saw the priest who was coming to visit him while he was yet six leagues away, and albigerius told the company assembled around him the exact moment when the priest would arrive. albumazar (or abu-maaschar (805.885 c.e) arabian astrologer of the ninth century. born in balkh, he lived in baghdad and was known principally for his astrological treatise entitled thousands of years, in which he declares tha

kins or mats, a small aperture only being left for the seer to enter. once in, he carefully closed the hole and commenced his incantations. soon the lodge trembles, the strong poles shake and bend as with the united strength of a dozen men, and strange, unearthly sounds, now far aloft in the air, now deep in the ground, anon approaching near and nearer, reach the ears of the spectators. at length the priest announces that the spirit is present, and is prepared to answer questions. an indispensable preliminary to any inquiry is to insert a handful of tobacco, or a string of beads, or some such douceur under the skins, ostensibly for the behalf of the celestial visitor, who would seem not to be above earthly wants and vanities. the replies received, though occasionally singularly clear and c

ENCYCLOPEDIA OF OCCULTISM AND PARAPSYCHOLOGY VOL 2

s by those names. their name, pronounced mogh by later persians, and magh by the ancients, signified wise, which was the interpretation of it given by the greek and roman writers. stobaeus expressly called the science of the magi, the service of the gods, as did plato. according to joseph ennemoser in his book the history of magic (1847, magiusiah, madschusie signified the office and knowledge of the priest, who was called mag, magius, magiusi, and afterward magi and magician. the philosopher j. j. brucker maintained that the primitive meaning of the word was fire worshiper and worship of the light, an erroneous opinion. in modern persian, the word is mog; mogbed signifies high priest. the high priest of the parsees at surat was called mobed. others derive the word from megh, meh-ab signif

th son; through revelation from the gods; or through his mastery of ritual. the shaman operated like a medium, for instead of summoning the powers of the air at his bidding, as did the magicians of medieval days, he found it necessary to throw himself into a trance and seek them in their own sphere (the magician is also often regarded as possessed by an animal or supernatural being) the duties of the priest and magician were often combined in tribal society. when one religion was superseded, however, the priests of the old cult were considered, in the eyes of the leaders and believers of the new, nothing but evil or misguided magicians. medieval definition of magic the definitions of magic given by the great magicians of medieval and modern times naturally differ greatly from those of anth

ndrake. other folklore beliefs included the need for an elaborate prayer ritual before pulling the plant, which should only be gathered at dead of night (see also alrunes; exorcism; ginseng) sources: thompson, c. j. s. the mystic mandrake. 1934. reprint, new hyde park, n.y: university books, 1968. mandrake plant whose roots often bear an uncanny resemblance to a human form (see mandragoras) manen the priest of the katean secret society of the moluccas. mangan, gordon lavelle (1924) university lecturer in psychology who made a special study of parapsychology. he was born on december 5, 1924, in wellington, new zealand. he studied at the university of new zealand (m.a, 1945, the university of melbourne, australia (ed.b, 1950, and the university of london, england (ph.d, 1954. after working a

den. the second stage on july 1, the eighth day of the apparitions, the parish priest was troubled by both religious and state problems. in the church, he prayed for divine guidance, while the police went to the hill to arrest the young visionaries. the children fled through the fields and vineyards, followed by the police. there was only one place of sanctuary.the church. in an answer to prayer, the priest heard a voice saying go and protect the children, then i will tell you what to do. he went to the door of the church and found the children pleading to be hidden. he concealed them in a room in the presbytery. that evening, the apparition came to the children again, but this time in the church itself. now each evening the congregation gathered to pray in the church and the apparitions a

nd liberty. he believed in a certain order of evil genii, who took pleasure in hunting wild beasts, and others of whom hunted souls that had escaped from the fetters of the body, so that to escape them, the soul must once more take refuge in the flesh. porphyry s theosophical conceptions, based on those of plotinus, were strongly and ably traversed by the theurgic mysteries of iamblichus, to whom the priest was a prophet full of deity. criticizing porphyry, iamblichus stated: often, at the moment of inspiration, or when the afflatus has subsided, a fiery appearance is seen.the entering or departing power. those who are skilled in this wisdom can tell by the character of this glory the rank of divinity who has seized for the time the reins of the mystic s soul, and guides it as he will. som

EVERBURNING LAMPS

t, it would depart when such was opened. rosicrucian and alchemical doctrines, especially their views on the connection between fire and water, are brought into close apposition to the dogmas of the religion of the hebrews in some portions, at least, of the sacred writings, notably in the volume of the "maccabees" book ii, cap. i, where we are told that when the jews were led captive into persia, the priest took the sacred fire from the altar, and hid it in a dry, hollow place. many years after, in more favourable times, nehemiah sent priests to fetch this fire, nothing doubting its existence; they found water only in its stead. nehemiah caused an altar of sacrifice to be made of wood and other materials, and this water was poured upon them, before all the people; when the clouds of the sk

FAUST

eles who all alone will down the terrace stray perceives the fairest in superb array; with her proud peacock-fan she hides one eye and looking for a note goes simpering by; more swiftly than through eloquence and wit love s richest favour can be gained by it. with purse and scrip one is no longer harried. a notelet in one s breast is lightly carried; with billets-doux quite snugly will it nestle. the priest bears it devoutly in his missal. the soldier, that he may the faster haste, lightens the girdle quickly round his waist. pardon, your majesty, if i may seem to mete a lofty work but slight esteem. faust treasures in superfluity still sleep within your borders, buried deep, and lie unused. thought in its widest measure gives the most meagre bounds to such a treasure. imagination in its h

, rest in their pride and hold themselves rare; but enter in and challenge them all. they quickly will arm. i joy in the conflict when beauty vies with gold and with pearls and with jewels of price. helena thereafter followed further mandate from my lord: now when thou hast reviewed in order everything, then take as many tripods as thou thinkst to need and vessels manifold which for the sacrifice the priest desires when he performs the sacred rite, the cauldrons and the bowls, the round and shallow plate; the purest water from the holy fountain be at hand in ewers high, and ready keep dry wood as well, that rapidly accepts and feeds the flame; and be not wanting finally a sharpened knife. but to thy care alone i now resign the rest" so spake he, urging me be gone, but not a thing that brea

FELDMAN DANIEL QABALAH THE MYSTICAL HERITAGE OF THE CHILDREN OF ABRAHAM

content and bear only the surrounding vast face image of leviathan, surrounded by the clear blue light of the endless. another object that might be included in a shrine to vast face is a smooth vertical stone, called a lingam in the tantric tradition. the lingam represents the erect penis, and is symbolic of the yang or male potency of vast face. as part of the tantric ritual involving a lingam, the priest or celebrant pours milk or some other special liquid mixture over the stone. the reader may certainly find it odd to include an apparently tantric article of worship on a mystical qabalistic altar. however, the ancient hebrews had a ritual similar to the anointing of the lingam, which is mentioned prominently on a number of occasions in the torah. two different chapters in torah b reshi

FRANCIS A YATES GIORDANO BRUNO AND THE HERMETIC TRADITION

lly egyptians, that is to say, hermetic pseudo-egyptians. the sun priest must know all sciences and the "grades of being and their correspondencies with celestial things".3 such was the wisdom of the hermetic egyptian priests, and such the wisdom of hermes trismegistus in his triple role of priest, philosopher, and king and law-giver. so is the sun priest in the city of the sun both the wise man, the priest, and the ruler. of course he is also the ideal philosopher-king of platonism. but in the renaissance historical perspective, plato learned from egypt, and the hermetic writings were a wisdom earlier than the greek wisdom. moses, too, learned his wisdom in egypt. campanella's city is in this perspective; there are hebrew influences, echoes of solomon's temple in the temple of the sun; th

FREEMASONS SATANISM AND SYMBOLISM

met making the sign of the devil's triad "baphomet is also known as the sabbatic goat, in whose form satan is to be worshipped at the witches' sabbath [frank gaynor, dictionary of mysticism, new york, philosophical library, 1953, p. 24] then, we discovered that baphomet is officially approved as a symbol of the church of satan [the occult emporium, winter, 1993-1994, p. 54] and that it is worn by the priest of satan [ibid, 1990-1991, p. 26] since albert pike linked baphomet with the goat of mendes, we will show this obviously satanic symbol, as well. it should also be noted that from the way a pentagram is normally seen(one point up, two down, rotating the pentagram 33 degrees you get a satanic pentagram. 33 is the highest degree there is in freemasonry. freemasonry makes use of the pentag

FULLER J F C SECRET WISDOM OF THE QABALAH

. his followers conquered half the known world of their day, established a wonderful civilization, and still number two hundred and ten millions. is this omission, this negative period, a coincidence in these three lives? the answer is gno h, and this answer is conclusively proved by examining the lives of the lesser masters. moses disappeared into the land of midian, met there seven daughters of the priest of that country, lived with jethro 8 their father, tended his flocks, led them to the gback side of the desert and came to the mountain of god h. gand the angel of the lord appeared unto him in a flame of fire, out of the midst of a bush. h 9 then he conversed with god, who revealed himself to be the secret jehovah; and on his return to egypt such was his power that not only did he to a

GAMBLE ELIZA BURT THE GOD IDEA OF THE ANCIENTS OR SEX IN RELIGION

h sought after with the greatest religious ardor, is seldom found, but should the people who go forth at christmas time in large numbers succeed in finding it they immediately set about preparing feasts under the tree upon which it grows; at the same time, in the most solemn manner, two white bulls are brought forth to be sacrificed. after the feast has been prepared and the sacrifice made ready, the priest ascends the tree and with a golden pruning-knife cuts the sacred branches of the mistletoe, dropping them into a white cloth prepared for the occasion. the bulls are then sacrificed and a prayer offered that "god would render his own gift prosperous to those on whom he has bestowed it" they believed that administered in a potion it would impart fecundity to any barren animal, and that i

le there to juno, surpassing the royal palace, which temple cyrus, that prince instructed in all piety, built, and in which he dedicated, in honor of the gods, golden and silver statues, and adorned them with precious stones. now about that time [as the records on the plates testify, the king having entered the temple, with the view of getting an interpretation of certain dreams, was addressed by the priest prupupius thus 'i congratulate thee, master: juno has conceived 'and the king, smiling, said to him 'has she who is dead conceived' and he said 'yes, she who was dead has come to life again, and begets life' and the king said 'what is this? explain it to me' and he replied 'in truth, master, the time for these things is at hand. for during the whole night the images, both of gods and go

GILBERT AE WAITE A MAGICIAN OF MANY PARTS

man in a common aspiration and outreaching towards the divine) thehigh. priest, also within the sanctuary,whois the chiefcelebrant, the 'sign of the possibility which exists, the type of communication, the living symbol of the bridge between the seen and the unseen, the representative of god, the speaker who, symbolically, is commissioned from the other side of life. in the order of mysticalideas,the priest ministersto the three principles, butespeciallyto the spirit; the spirit ministers to the two inferior principles,butespecially to the soul; the soul ministers to the whole body.ourmystic service will be shaped along these lines; they are not arbitrary; they are theorderof spiritual procedure.theliturgic portion of the service will be compiled from the mystics. it will be wholly aspirat

offered to the divine substance, representing the aspiration of the worshippers. acts of mystic renunciation will then be made by all present, after whichthepriest, as the ambassador of the superior world, will proceed to the consecration of bread and wine, symbolical of the divine172 a. e.waite-magicianofmanyparts_principles which constitute the food of the interior man. after the consecration, the priest will partake of the elements, andthenall present, to signify the communicationwithdeity, which is the end of the mystic process.theorder of procedure will be as follows:theelements will be received by the deacon from the hands of the priest himself, for he stands as the spirit in man.thelady sub-deacon will receive them from the hands of the pneuma,whois the proper mediator to the soul

GILBERT THE MAGICAL MASON

ult, it would depart when such was opened. rosicrucian and alchemical doctrines, especially their views on the connection between fire and water, are brought into close apposition to the dogmas of the religion of the hebrews in some portions, at least, of the sacred writings, notably in the volume of the 'maccabees, bookii.,cap.i.,where we are told that when the jews were led captive into persia, the priest took the sacred fire from the altar, and hid it in a dry, hollow place. many years after, in more favourable times, nehemiah sent priests to fetch this fire, nothing doubting its existence; they foundwateronly in its stead. nehemiah caused an altar of sacrificeto be made of wood and other materials, and thiswaterwas poured upon them, before all the people; when the clouds of the sky pas

uch structures even now withourmodern machinery. we recognise that such builders of religious monuments must have had a science and arts of their own, which have been lost to the world, and we can only suppose that men with such giant intellects must have had equally notable religious conceptions and exalted ideas of the universe and its creator, god.inthe times of the ancient egyptian dynasties, the priest255 hood was the dominant power, and not the military. each pharaoh was passed through the priestly system of culture, and on his accession became the head of the religion of the country. he was esteemed the chief magician as well as the benevolent despot of his people.thepriestly caste included a prophetic branch of diviners and astrologers, mathematicians and wonder workers.thename and

GILBERT THE SORCERER AND HIS APPRENTICE

have recorded their convictions, after most searching inves255 tigation, under strictesttestconditions, would render any such denial. an impertinence. i can only say that such evidencehasnor-come to me, and until itcomesimust preserve an openmind:inconclusion i may perhaps be permitted to record an argumentionce heard between a spiritualist and a roman priest on. thesubjectof reincarnation, which the priest did not admit, but pursued the socratic method of questioning. his opponent 'you hold,'hesaid,'thatbetween incarnations' the soul passes to a kind of intermediate stateinwhich' it retains its consciousness, and its interest in those it has left behind 'undoubtedly''and inthatstate do you sayitis,active, or is it entirely idle 'unquestionably it is active. after a certain period of rest

on apophis. he it was who obstructed and destroyed the benefits bestowed on manbyrathe sun.therationale, therefore, of the rituals.for.banishing evil things was. to devote them to typhon apophis, from whom they came, and then to expel and banishhimand them bag and baggage, in order that the power of ra to bless the earth and the dwellers thereon might be re-established, and this power belonged to the priest" initiates of the temples.forthe casting out of evil, then, the rituals were devised, and this seems a long way from the witch's cursings. but we have to remember thatinancient egypt, as in medieval europe, evil was a term of very varying significance, and one thinks perhaps the hierophant's conception of evil might sometimes have been merely that which was personally annoying to himsel

GNOSTIC HANDBOOK

us began. there are many other hidden indicators of this date, in the biblical tradition there are specific prophecies that focus on this date. the 2300 year prophecy of the cleansing of the sanctuary, began in 457 bce with the declaration of artaxeres to restore jerusalem and ended in 1844. the prophecy focused on the solar sanctuary and the climax of it is when the sanctuary is transformed when the priest enters the innermost realm (the sacred seat. some references include daniel 8:14 and 9:25. the 2520 (7 times) prophecy focused the gnostic handbook page 67 on the loss of the ten tribes of israel to history and the description of their re-awakening to the gnosis started in 1844. this period is also known as the time of the gentiles and is referenced in leviticus 26 and under the guise o

. the priestly stream (that of the scribe) rightly belongs beyond the old testament, it occurred the gnostic handbook page 72 after the captivity in babylon when yahwehist scribes took control of diaspora israel in babylon and re-moulded judaism into a new form. this new form was based on literalist and fundamentalist not gnostic values. the yahwahist tradition was embodied, the el demolished and the priest class was edited into the old testament to make it seem supreme. the old testament, as such, is a very edited book. it was written by a priest class which existed a long time after the original events, and a class which wanted to destroy the traditional power of the qadesh (see later discussion of this group) and mould the yahwahist tradition into a militaristic style cult. this moulded

re a expressive image of the nature of the gnosis. the winged serpent represents the highest wisdom, while the crawling serpent represents the decay of earth. the duality of the snake is the dualism of the ancient wisdom. israel on the world stage if we continue from our egyptian israelite model, the next question is what happened to the israelite community? the historical evidence suggested that the priest class created a literalist/ fundamentalist cult which came to the forefront in judaism after the time of jesus. but where did the earlier israelites go? we know that ancient israel, whose capital was samaria, was taken captive by the assyrians in 721 bc and yet after this traditional history tells us that the ten tribes are lost- but is this really so? or has history also been twisted b

n the earliest religious systems, the rites of kingship in both sumeria and egypt centred on the king being initiated through a secret rite of death and rebirth so that he could become a mediator between his people and god. as the mediator he was considered divine and was imputed with the symbols of divinity. in these early periods the way in which humanity contacted the higher worlds was through the priest/king, in these theocracies individuals could not be deified in their own right, but achieved the power to develop and grow through the mediatorship of the divine priest/king. while certainly the morality of these kings varied and so did the focus of their mediatorship, the principle remained, nevertheless, the same and the tradition continued. as the ages rolled on, mankind s interactio

he mediatorship of the divine priest/king. while certainly the morality of these kings varied and so did the focus of their mediatorship, the principle remained, nevertheless, the same and the tradition continued. as the ages rolled on, mankind s interaction with the spiritual worlds changed, rather than theocracies non-theistic political systems developed and the role of mediator was replaced by the priest, shaman or wise person. through death and rebirth rites the priest achieved a state of power whereby s/he was able to mediate between the spiritual and physical worlds. at this stage we can see that individual theosis was still far in the future, mediatorship was embodied in the prophet, priest, shaman or wise person. the rites of kingship and priesthood were kept secret and at first on

GNOSTIC STUDIES THE GNOSTIC HANDBOOK II GNOSTIC THEURGY

g wavering; flowing; flashing stability; begetting the tenth emanation the world. x gnostic theurgy page 101 it has been theorised that one of the major reasons for the development of the written word was not as a corollary to speech, but as a method to record arcane and esoteric secrets. it seems that in ancient times written text was used in a form similar to modern day codes and it was used by the priest-class to preserve and transmit arcane knowledge. it is even quite possible that this use predated the more general use of written forms and that the primary function of the written word was originally religious rather than communicative. some occult historians have even suggested that some of the blame for the downfall of egypt could be placed at the feet of the priests, who in confusin

ic in emphasis and battled, both intellectually and physically, against the prevailing ecclesiastical authorities. it is rumoured that some of the descendants of the paulicians joined the knight templars. the major period of paulician teaching was between 600 and 1100 ce. gnostic theurgy page 205 the bogomils the bogomils started in bulgaria around 950 ce. they take their name from their founder, the priest we know only as bogomil. his name meant friend or beloved of god. the bogomils were extreme dualists, railing against the world and reproduction. they encouraged homosexuality as an alternative to family life and this is how the term bogar or bugger came into the slang vocabulary of the world. they taught that not only matter, but the church and all earthly institutions were of the demi

GOLDEN DAWN MEDITATION WITH THE ARCHANGEL GABRIEL

em with the name of gabriel painted orange on a blue background in hebrew. the temple is to be arranged in accordance with the practicus hall (as in the second part of the initiation ceremony) relax and perform the fourfould breath go to the northeast and say "hekas, hekas, este bebeloi" with the black end of the wand, perform the lbrp (facing east, say the following invocation "so therfore first the priest who governs the works of fire must sprinkle with the lustral waters of the loud resounding sea. remain in the east. with the white end of the wand, trace the lesser invoking pentagram. thrust the wand through the center of the figure and vibrate "eheieh" do this also in the south, west, and finally in the north; drawing the same pentagram and intoning the same word in all four quarters

GOLDEN DAWN RITUALS D

ing in the east. so, as you go to the east, sprinkle or swing to the left, right, center, and draw a cross in the air with the tool and say "i purify/consecrate thee with n/o" then move on to each of the other quarters repeating the same. after you have performed these banishings and purification's with n and o, you will then say the call from the chaldean oracles. for nit is "so therefore first, the priest who governeth the works of fire must sprinkle with the lustral waters of the loud resounding sea" for o it is "and when all the phantoms have vanished, thou shalt see that holy and formless fire, that fire which darts and flashes through the hidden depths of the universe, hear thou the voice of fire" these could be said while you are circumambulating around the temple after you have pur

GOLDEN DAWN RITUALS F

place it in a holder which is upon his body or set it along this side of the altar. step 4 let the adept pick up the second nchalice which is in the north. beginning in the north, consecrate the four quarters with the element of n. this may be accomplished by sprinkling nfrom the left to the right to the center and tracing a large cross. let the adept now recite the following "so therefore first the priest who would governeth the works of fire must sprinkle with the lustral waters of the loud and resounding sea" beginning in the south, do likewise with o, consecrating the four quarters, and again incensing with the movements of left, right and center and a large cross. let the adept then recite the following "and when after all the phantoms have vanished, thou shalt see that holy and form

GOLDEN DAWN RITUALS G

vibrate "hekas, hekas, este bebeloi" 3 step 2 setting down the wand and picking up the magical sword of the art, the adept shall now perform the l.b.r.p. step 3 laying down the sword, let the adept take up the chalice of water and purify the temple in all four quarters by the formula of tracing a cross and sprinkling thrice in the form of the n triangle. recite the following "so therefore first, the priest who governeth the works of fire must sprinkle with the lustral waters of the loud and resounding sea" step 4 replacing the chalice, let the adept take the incense (we recommend that our rosicrucian fraternity use the traditional rose and amber incense blend. consecrate the four quarters by o, tracing a cross in each quarter and waving the censer thrice in the form of the o triangle. rec

GOLDEN DAWN RITUALS K

ief adept (on reaching the south, he faces south, and makes with the cross the invoking pentagram of fire, saying "oip teaa pedoce. in the names and letters of the great southern quadrangle, i invoke ye, ye angels of the watchtower of the south (chief adept replaces the cross on the lion. takes the cup, goes to the west, sprinkles water, and circumambulates with sol, saying) 3 "so therefore first the priest who governeth the works of fire must sprinkle with the lustral water of the loud, resounding sea (on reaching west, he faces west, and makes the invoking pentagram of water with the cup, saying "empeh arsel gaiol. in the names and letters of the great western quadrangle, i invoke ye, ye angels of the watchtower of the west (replaces the cup on eagle's head. takes the dagger and strikes

GOLDEN DAWN RITUALS ZAM15

gth are to be specially requested. step 1 place the sword upon the central altar with the hilt toward the east near the incense, pointing west near the n. step 2 take up the lotus wand by the black end. stand at the west of the altar facing east. step 3 say "hekas hekas este bebeloi" step 4 take up the cup and purify with n, sprinkling to the east, south, west, and north. say "so therefore first, the priest who governeth the works of fire must sprinkle with the lustral waters of the loud, resounding sea" put down the cup on the altar. 4 step 5 take up the incense and wave it as you pass round to the east, south, west, and north while saying "and when after all the phantoms are vanished, thou shalt see that holy and formless fire, that fire which darts and flashes through the hidden depths

GOLDEN DAWN RITUALS ZAM20

hear thou the voice of o" step 3 on reaching south, make the invoking fire pentagram and the sign of the lion's head. say "oip teaa pedoce. in the names and letters of the great southern quadrangle, i invoke ye, ye angels of the watchtower of the south" step 4 replace wand on altar, take cup and go west. sprinkle to the west and circumambulate temple in the path of a, saying "so therefore, first, the priest who governeth the works of o must sprinkle with the lustral waters of the loud resounding sea" step 5 on reaching the west, sprinkle with n, make invoking water pentagram and the sign of the eagle's head. say "mph arsl gaiol. in the names and letters of the great western quadrangle, i invoke ye, ye angels of the watchtower of the west" step 6 replace cup, take dagger, strike towards eas

GOLDEN DAWN RITUALS ZAM21

l, i purify thee with water (magus of water stands in the east facing west, draws cross in air with chalice and sprinkles) magus of water "in the name of el, strong and mighty, and in the name of gabriel, the great archangel of water, i purify thee with water" magus of water (scatters water around the edges of the circle beginning in the east sprinkling every few inches) says "so therefore first, the priest who governeth the works of fire, must sprinkle with the lustral waters of the loud resounding sea (puts chalice back and resumes position in the north) chief adept "magus of fire, i command you to consecrate this temple by the banishing ritual of the hexagram and to consecrate this hall with the magic fires, to light the holy lamps and to place them about the circle, and to consecrate t

GREENFIELD ALLEN SECRET CIPHER OF THE UFONAUTS

h in hebrew is even eerier than in the english translation. a priesthood protecting what it took to be the secrets of the divine visitors, whether an actuality or not, has existed since these remote times. in the early ages when the ability to build observatories overlapped with the ability to predict and therefore control civilization, the intermeshing of early operative masonic fraternities and the priest-kings or magi or magicians was to be expected. because these guild secrets were of utmost importance in preserving both power and wisdom, a whole system of secret oaths, signs, ciphers and grips was developed to protect these secrets under the highest penalties for betrayal, along with a webwork of mystery plays or rituals to explain to the heirs of these secrets what it was they were p

GRIMM JACOB TEUTONIC MYTHOLOGY VOL 3

as it is for this same balder that all beings mourn, we may fairly suppose that hermo^r too had worked upon them by music and song, though nothing of the kind is recorded in the edda (see suppl. now if poetry was a joint possession of men and gods, if by hero-minstrels. 909 gods it had been invented and imparted, it necessarily follows that antiquity would regard it as a function and business of the priest, and that the notions of priest, prophet and poet would meet and touch. aud here i attach some weight to our finding the as. word hregowine (pp. 93. 235, which seems to indicate a follower and friend of the poet-god bragi, as we at the present day call the minstrel a friend or favourite of the muses. in lauds and times that looked kindly on the tuneful art, we may even suppose that mins

the time by telling tales, 39' utile opus manuum vario sermone levemus, jerque vices aliquid, quod tempora longa videri non sinat, in medium vacuas referamus ad aures' dicta probant, primamque jubent narrare sorores. 167: desierat, mediumque fuit breve tempus, et orsa est dicere leuconoe, vocem tenuere sorores. 274: poscitur alcithoii, postquam siluere sorores. but it was the festival of bacchus, the priest had bidden them keep it' immunes operum dominas famulasque suorum' and the god avenged himself by turning their web into a tissue of vines and ivy, and the minyads into owls and bats (the song of women at the loom is also mentioned by agathias, p. 29) holda and berhta arc often angry at spinning which desecrates their' 0. boh. glosses in hanka so' icodna= mnsa (jungm. 5, lil. is this wa

ins (z. f. d. a. 1, 575. but from fichte, himself a lausitz man, we derive the information that hnecht ruprecht (p. 504) is there called dietrich von bern (deut. heldensage p. 40. the two interpretations admit of being harmonized. knecht ruprecht makes his appearance beside frau berhta, as her servant and companion (p. 514-5, sometimes her substitute, and like from all hope, so in swed. tradition the priest says to the musical 'neck' sooner will this cane i hold in my hand grow green and blossom, than thou obtain salvation' the neck sorrowfully throws his harp away, and weeps. the priest rides ou, and presently his staff begins to put forth leaf and flower, he turns back to tell the marvel to the neck, who then plays joyful tunes the whole night long, afz. 2, 156. but this myth of tanhause

nt, he learns to conjure. miracle is wrought by honest means, magic by unlawful; the one is geheuer (blessed, wholesome, p. 914, the other ungeheuer. at the same time the origin of all conjuring must be traced directly to the most sacred callings, which contained in themselves all the wisdom of heathendom, viz. religious worship and the art of song. sacrificing and singing came to mean conjuring; the priest and the poet, confidants of the gods and participants of divine inspiration, stand next-door to the fortune-teller and magician (see suppl. it is so with all nations, and was so with our ancestors: by the side of divine worship, practices of dark sorcery, by way of exception, not of contrast. the ancient germans knew magic and magicians; on this foundation first do all the later fancies

ke, cries in his sleep' veshtitse su me iz-yele, maika mi srtso vadila, strina yoi luchem svetlila' witches have eaten me out, mother took my heart, cousin lighted her with a torch. fortis cap. 8 relates, how two witches took a young man's heart out in his sleep, and began to fry it; a priest had looked on without being able to hinder, and the spell was not broken till the youth awoke; then, when the priest approached the witches, they anointed themselves out of a mug, and fled. he took the heart half- cooked os" the fire, and bade the youth gulp it down quick, by doing which he was completely restored. to me this servian witch, making her appearance at shrovetide and cutting open people's breasts, looks uncommonly like our periodical berhta, who cuts open the lazy workman's body and stiif

GRIMM TEUTONIC MYTHOLOGY VOL 2 1883 COMPLETE

ae in conventu populi maximo (pertz 2, 386; this was in 860. in 801 charles the great kept this festival at eporedia, now ivrea (pertz 1, 190. 223; and lewis the pious held assemblies of the empire on the same day in 824 and 831. descriptions of midsummer fires agree with those of easter fires, with of course some divergences. at gernsheim in the mentz country, the fire when lighted is blessed by the priest, and there is singing and prayer so long as it burns; when the flame goes out, the children jump over the glimmering coals; formerly grown-up people did the same. in superst. i, 1 judic. inquiry resp. the easter fire burned, contr. to prohib, on the kogelnberg near volkmarsen, apr. 9, 1833, see niederhess. wochenbl. 1834, p. 2229a. the older prohibitions allege the unchristian character

s le midi 3, 28. 341-5. 622 elements. every commune looks out the tallest and slenderest tree, a pine or fir on the hills, a poplar in the plains; when they have lopped all the boughs off, they drive into it a number of wedges a foot long, and keep it till the 23rd of june. meanwhile it splits diamond-shape where the wedges were inserted, and is now rolled and dragged up a mountain or hill. there the priest gives it his blessing, they plant it upright in the ground, and set it on fire (ibid. 5, 387. strutt l speaks of midsummer fires in england: they were lighted on midsummer eve, and kept up till midnight, often till cock-crow; the youth danced round the flame, in garlands of motherwort and vervain, with violets in their hands. in denmark they are called sanct hans a/tens bins, but also g

he coming new birth and resurrection of the embryo. 3 the servians, by way of protesting, say tako mit zemlie! so (help) me earth. a gaelic saw (armstrong sub v. coibhi, priest, supra p. 92 note) declares: ged is fagus clach do n lar, is faigse na sin cobhair choibhi, near as a stone is to the ground, the coibhi s help is nearer still, which seems to imply the earth s prompt assistance as well as the priest s. eaeth. 643 puram hcrbam tollere/ as the hel. 73, 7 has hrencurni, an ohg. gloss rewcwrwe:=frumenti, mhg. f daz reine gras, lw. 6446, and grass and der melm/ dust, are coupled together, wh. 24, 28. the purport of the law is, that earth or dust must be taken up from the four corners of the field, and thrown with the hand over the nearest kinsman. it was a solemn legal ceremony of heath

HANDBOOK OF EGYPTIAN MYTHOLOGY

s painfully. ra cures him by letting out the pus and blood, and this is said to be the origin of the famous sacred lake at herakleopolis. a fragmentary new kingdom tale has heryshef appear to the hero meryra to ask for his help in a fight against a divine falcon. in a later text, an egyptian priest living among the persians claims to have been summoned back to egypt by a dream-vision of heryshef. the priest credits heryshef with helping alexander the great to conquer the persians. when the greeks settled in egypt, they identified heryshef with their deified hero herakles (hercules. see also banebdjedet; osiris references and further reading: h. kees. heracleopolis and the fayum. in ancient egypt: a cultural topography. london: 1961, 212 230. primary sources: ct 420; bd 175; stela of somtut

he inscription purports to be a decree of king djoser (c. 2667 2648 bce) but was actually composed about 2,500 years after his reign. it tells how egypt suffered seven terrible years of famine, because the nile did not rise high enough to flood the agricultural land. djoser summoned the wisest of the priests who could read the sacred books and ordered him to discover the source of the inundation. the priest consulted ancient books and discovered that the inundation came from twin caverns under the island of elephantine. he told the king that only the god khnum had the power to unbolt the doors and release the flood from these caverns. djoser hastily made offerings to the deities of elephantine. then khnum the maker of every body appeared to the king in a dream and promised to let the flood

or using the forbidden book. in another of the stories, an egyptian king called siamun is snatched from his bed every night and beaten by wax figures brought to life by a nubian sorcerer. the king is only saved from this humiliating treatment by the wisdom of a priest-magician. later in the same story, setna and his father, king rameses ii, are powerless against nubian sorcery until the spirit of the priest-magician returns to help them. herodotus tells a story about an egyptian king called rhampsinitus, who may be partly based on rameses ii. rhampsinitus is unable to protect his royal treasure from a clever thief. in the end he has to accept the thief as his son-inlaw. as in earlier egyptian tales, intelligence and courage come off best against hereditary power. see also bastet; cattle; h

HEAVEN HELL

name der al-bahari was given by the arabic-speaking egyptians. this building is mentioned in the great abbott papyrus preserved in the british museum (no. 10,221, where it is declared to have been found unviolated by the members of the commission which was appointed to inquire into the condition of the royal tombs, after the robberies which had taken place in them about the period of the rule of the priest-kings of thebes, b.c. 1,000. the remains of the tomb of menthu-hetep iii. have been recently discovered, 1 and though at the time of writing it has not been completely excavated, sufficient has been done to show that it is a very remarkable building. it is clear that the lower part of it is rectangular, and that it was surrounded by a colonnade; the outside is eased with limestone slabs

HELENA BLAVATSKY NIGHTMARE TALES

, after which she flung the whole into the water "it must not be left here" she firmly added "these are the st. john's plants, and they might attract thewandering ones" meanwhile the night had come, and the moon illuminated the landscape with a pale, ghostly light. the nightsin the banat are nearly as beautiful as in the east, and the frenchman had to go on with his experiments in theopen air, as the priest of the church had prohibited such in the tower, which was used as the parsonage, forfear of filling the holy precincts with the heretical devils of the mesmerizer, which, the priest remarked, hewould be unable to exorcise on account of their being foreigners. the old gentleman had thrown off his travelling blouse, rolled up his shirt sleeves, and now, striking atheatrical attitude, bega

not only in alljapan, but also throughout tibet and china. no other is so venerated in kioto. its monks belong to the sect ofdzeno-doo, and are considered as the most learned among the many erudite fraternities. they are, moreover,closely connected and allied with the yamabooshi (the ascetics, or hermits, who follow the doctrines oflao-tze. no wonder, that at the slightest provocation on my part the priest flew into the highest metaphysics,hoping thereby to cure me of my infidelity. no use repeating here the long rigmarole of the most hopelessly involved and incomprehensible of alldoctrines. according to his ideas, we have to train ourselves for spirituality in another world- as forgymnastics. carrying on the analogy between the temple and the "spiritual plane" he tried to illustrate hisi

nd, had taken firm hold of me "my mind" i argued "what is it? shall i believe with the superstitious and the weak that this production ofphosphorus and grey matter is indeed the superior part of me; that it can act and see independently of myphysical senses? never! as well believe in the planetary 'intelligences' of the astrologer, as in the'daij-dzins' of my credulous though well-meaning friend, the priest. as well confess one's belief in jupiterand sol, saturn and mercury, and that these worthies guide their spheres and concern themselves withmortals, as to give one serious thought to the airy nonentities supposed to have guided my 'soul' in itsunpleasant dream! i loathe and laugh at the absurd idea. i regard it as a personal insult to the intellect andrational reasoning powers of a man

arked "is like the heart inwhich it grows. if proud and gloomy, it is a poison-tree, that pierced to the utmost, weeps only tears of blood. perchance, it was the indefinite fear of something of that sort which caused me to remain so obdurate, and ledme to excuse, under the plea of terrible provocation, even the unprovoked insults that i had heaped upon thehead of my kind and all-forgiving friend, the priest. however, it was now too late in the day to recall thewords of offence i had uttered; and all i could do was to promise myself the satisfaction of writing him afriendly letter, as soon as i reached home. fool, blind fool, elated with insolent self-conceit, that i was! sosure did i feel, that my vision was due merely to some trick of the yamabooshi, that i actually gloated overmy coming

dzin can ever deprive you.fare thee well, then, and may the mother of mercy, the great queen of heaven, afford you comfort andprotection" we parted, and since then i have led the life of an anchorite, in constant solitude and study. though stilloccasionally afflicted, i do not regret the years i have passed under the instruction of the yamabooshis, butfeel gratified for the knowledge received. of the priest tamoora hideyeri i think always with sincereaffection and respect. i corresponded regularly with him to the day of his death; an event which, with all its tome painful details, i had the unthanked-for privilege of witnessing across the seas, at the very hour in whichit occurred. the luminous shieldwe were a small and select party of lighthearted travellers. we had arrived at constantino

HELENA BLAVATSKY THE KEY TO THEOSOPHY

ourly broken. page 38 the key to theosophy- hp blavatsky.txt q. what do you mean? what difficulties? a. i am thinking of an unanswerable argument offered once in my presence by a singhalese buddhist priest, a famous preacher, to a christian missionary-one in no way ignorant or unprepared for the public discussion during which it was advanced. it was near colombo, and the missionary had challenged the priest megattivati to give his reasons why the christian god should not be accepted by the "heathen" well, the missionary came out of that forever memorable discussion second best, as usual. q. i should be glad to learn in what way. a. simply this: the buddhist priest premised by asking the padre whether his god had given commandments to moses only for men to keep, but to be broken by god hims

? q. what would you do, then? a. act individually and not collectively; follow the northern buddhist precepts: never put food into the mouth of the hungry by the hand of another. never let the shadow of thy neighbor (a third person) come between thyself and the object of thy bounty. never give to the sun time to dry a tear before thou hast wiped it. again never give money to the needy, or food to the priest, who begs at thy door, through thy servants, lest thy money should diminish gratitude, and thy food turn to gall. q. but how can this be applied practically? a. the theosophical ideas of charity mean personal exertion for others; personal mercy and kindness; personal interest in the welfare of those who suffer; personal sympathy, forethought and assistance in their troubles or page 113

HP LOVECRAFT A DARK LORE

inally to cease altogether. a rising wind blew out most of the candles, so that the scene grew threatening dark. someone roused father merluzzo of spirito santo church, and he hastened to the dismal square to pronounce whatever helpful syllables he could. of the restless and curious sounds in the blackened tower, there could be no doubt whatever. for what happened at 2.35 we have the testimony of the priest, a young, intelligent, and well-educated person; of patrolman william j. monohan of the central station, an officer of the highest reliability who had paused at that part of his beat to inspect the crowd; and of most of the seventy-eight men who had gathered around the church's high bank wall- especially those in the square where the eastward fa ade was visible. of course there was noth

IRISH WITCHCRAFT AND DEMONOLOGY

, which is being taken up in parts of this country, will probably deal the death-blow to this p. 242 particular superstition. with regard to the stealing of butter many tales are told, of which the following may be taken as an illustration. a priest was walking in his field early one summer's morning when he came upon an old woman gathering the dew from the long grass, and saying "come all to me" the priest absent- mindedly muttered "and half to me" next morning he discovered in his dairy three times as much butter as he ought to have, while his neighbours complained that they had none at all. on searching the old beldame's house three large tubs of freshly-churned butter were discovered, which, as her entire flocks and herds consisted of a solitary he-goat, left little doubt of her evildo

ISIS UNVEILED

the odium tiieolofficum blazes in it on the dark sky of orthodox theology like an aurora borealia the precursor of god's wrath according to the teaching of certain medieval divines. we have attempted in the first part of this work to show by historical examples how completely men of science have deserved the sting- ing sarcasm of the late professor de morgan, who remarked of them that "they wear the priest's cast-off garb, dyed to escape detection" the christian clergy are in like manner attired in the cast-off garb of the htatken priesthood; acting diametrically in opposition to their gotta moral precepts, but nevertheless sitting in judgment over the whole worid. when dying on the cross, the martyred man of sorrows forgave his enemies. his last wonis were a prayer in their behalf. he ta

the rolls house" a priest named william stapleton was arrested as a conjurer during the reign of henry vih, and an account of his adventures is still pre- served in the rolls house records. the sicilian priest whom benvenuto cellini calls a necromancer, became famous through bis successful con- jurations, and was never molested. the remarkable adventure of cellini with him in the colosseum, where the priest conjured up a whole host of devils, is well known to the reading public. the subsequent meeting of cellini with his mistress, as predicted and brought about by the conjurer, at the precise time fixed by him, is to be considered, as a matter of course, a 'curious coincidence" in the latter part of the sixteenth century there was hardly a parish to be found in which the priests did not st

on the head a tall pointed cap, on the front of which was written in hebrew the holy word, the tetragrammaton the ineffable name. it was writtrai with a new pen dipped in the blood of a white dove. what the exordsts most yearned after, was to release miserable spirits wkich haunt spots v^ere hidden treasures lie. the exorcist sprinkles the circle with the blood of a black lamb and a white pigeon. the priest had to adjure the evil spirits of hell acheront, magoth, asmodei, bedzebub, beual, and all the damned souls, in the mighty names of jehovah, adonai, elohah, and sabaoth, which latter was the god of abraham, isaac, and jacob, who dwelt in the urim and thummim. when the damned souls flung in the face of the exorcist that he was a sinner, and could not get the treasure from them, the pries

the art from 'spirits' whether, being a medium, they acted independently on him, or he had 133. hitl. qf tte svpemalutid, ii, pp. 13-16. 134 auguitme: the cog o god, xxi, vi; dca maiumuz: memn tt prutiqae* it* lunotit, p. isl. digitizecoy google 68 isis dnteiled beea initiated into the science f)f 'evocation' by his fathers who knew it before himself. but who was it then that taught the exorcist? the priest who clothes himself with an authority not only over the magician, but even over all these 'spirits' whom he calls demons and deuiu as soon as he finds them obeying any one but himself? he must have learned somewhere from some one that power which he pretends to possess. for. how could one know had he not been taught by the demona thenuebea. the name watca auraeta, or that which forces t

'had an avenian to holy things' or at least the 400 devils within her distorted body had such an aversion, uad in the oonfusiod of the moment, thinliing that the father was *a holy thin' she doul^ up her )m, kreamed out with twitdiing mouth, ber whole body writhing and threw how sdf near^ off the bench. tbe male attendant seised ber k^ the women sapported ho- hesd and swept oat her dkbevded bur. the priest advanced and, mipgli; familiariy with the shuddering and boitor>ftnicfc crowd, said, pointing at the suffering child, now sobbing and twitching on the lioicfa 'promise me, my ckildreo. that you win he ^udent (prvj^ala, and^ a truth, sons and daughters mine, you shall see marvels' nie promise was given. tlie exhibitor went to procure stole and short surplice (etiebi y toqvtie, and return

JENNINGS HARGRAVE ROSICRUCIANS RITES MYSTERIES

itual ecliptic, or the gladius of the archangel michael, to the extremities of the solar system. thus are music, colours, and language allied. of the chaldsean astrology it may figuratively be said that, although their knowledge, in its shape of the portentous stone, in this instance, their grave-stone, shut up the devils in the depths of the abyss, and made the sages their masters (solomon being the priest or king, and his seal the talisman that secures the deep; man, on account of his having fallen into the shadow and the corruptions of existence, needs that mighty exterior hand (before which all tremble) to rescue him back into his native original light or rest. all the foregoing is pure bhuddism. thinkers who have weighed well the character of those supposed infractions of natural laws

appelaient le pr tre jean, par l abus du mot persan djeh n, qui veut dire le monde. ainsi le pr tre monde, le dieu monde, se tient parfaitement. volney, ruines, p. 251 (qy. prester- john? qy. also this verbal connection with saint john, as if pr tre john) in the old norman-french maistre is frequently met for ma tre. this prestre, or prester (anglicised, or pretre john, is probably no other than the priest or high-priest john, otherwise saint john, or the saint- esprit. the recognition of the+ in the great llama, al- ama, ama, anima (soul, spirit, alma, el-om &c, meaning white, is very curious. the antiquary bryant is positively of opinion, from the very names of columba and iona, that this island lona was anciently sacred to the arkite divinities. the great asylum of the northern druids

ng part of our book, we supply, in a series of figures, the succession of changes to which the most ancient head-covering, in itself a significant hieroglpyh, the phrygian cap, the classic mithraic cap, the sacrificial cap, or bonnet conique, all deducing from a common symbolic ancestor, became subject. the mithraic or phrygian cap is the origin of the priestly mitre in all faiths. it was worn by the priest in sacrifice. when worn by a male, it had its crest, comb, or point, set jutting forward; when worn by a female, it bore the same prominent part of the cap in reverse, or on the nape of the neck, as in the instances of the amazon s helmet, displayed in all old sculptures, or that of pallas-athene, as exhibited in the figures of minerva. the peak, pic, or point, of caps or hats (the term

o generation (hermes trismegistus. the same fine, catholic nature which in its preternatural exaltation appears so very precious in the eyes of the philosopher is in the common world defiled; abiding everywhere in putrefactions and the vilest forms of seemingly sleeping, but in reality most active, forms of life. according to ennemoser, magiusiah, madschusie, signified the office and knowledge of the priest, who was called mag, magius, magiusi, and afterwards magi t 296 the rosicrucians. and magician. brucker maintains (historia philosophi critic, i. 160) that the positive meaning of the word is fire-worshipper, worship of the light' to which opinion he had been led by the mohammedan dictionaries. in the modem persian the word is mag, and magbed signifies high-priest. the high-priest of th

ion, particularly a passage which we now cite: a golden bell and a pomegranate, a golden bell and a pomegranate, upon the hem of the robe round about. and it shall be upon aaron to minister: and his sound shall be heard when he goeth in unto the holy place before the lord, and when he cometh out, that he die not (exodus xxviii. 34, 35. the reason supposed in the targum for the directions given to the priest in these two verses of the chapter containing the law is, that the priest s approach should be cautious to the innermost holy of holies, or sanctuary of the tabernacle. the sound of the small bells upon his robe was intended to announce his approach before his actual appearance, in order to recall the attention of the descent of divinities. 301 angel of the lord to the fact of the comin

KETAB E SIYAH

e beauteous one: who am i, and what shall be the sign? so she answered him, bendingdown, a lambent flame of blue, all-touching, all penetrant, her lovely hands upon the black earth& her lithe body arched for love, and her soft feet not hurting the little flowers: thou knowest! and the sign shall be my ecstasy, the consciousness of the continuity of existence, the omnipresence of my body. 27. then the priest answered& said unto the queen of space, kissing her lovely brows, and the dew of her light bathing his whole body in a sweet-smelling perfume of sweat: o nuit, continuous one of heaven, let it be ever thus; that men speak not of thee as one but as none; and let them speak not of thee at all, since thou art continuous! 28. none, breathed the light, faint& faery, of the stars, and two. 29

e fools of men and their woes care not thou at all! they feel little; what is, is balanced by weak joys; but ye are my chosen ones. 416 32. obey my prophet! follow out the ordeals of my knowledge! seek me only! then the joys of my love will redeem ye from all pain. this is so: i swear it by the vault of my body; by my sacred heart and tongue; by all i can give, by all i desire of ye all. 33. then the priest fell into a deep trance or swoon& said unto the queen of heaven; write unto us the ordeals; write unto us the rituals; write unto us the law! 34. but she said: the ordeals i write not: the rituals shall be half known and half concealed: the law is for all. 35. this that thou writest is the threefold book of law. 36. my scribe ankh-af-na-khonsu, the priest of the princes, shall not in on

t; for the beast& his bride are they: and for the winners of the ordeal x. what is this? thou shalt know. 23. for perfume mix meal& honey& thick leavings of red wine: then oil of abramelin and olive oil, and afterward soften& smooth down with rich fresh blood. 24. the best blood is of the moon, monthly: then the fresh blood of a child, or dropping from the host of heaven: then of enemies; then of the priest or of the worshippers: last of some beast, no matter what. 428 25. this burn: of this make cakes& eat unto me. this hath also another use; let it be laid before me, and kept thick with perfumes of your orison: it shall become full of beetles as it were and creeping things sacred unto me. 26. these slay, naming your enemies& they shall fall before you. 27. also these shall breed lust& po

is wise to destroy this copy after the first reading. whosoever disregards this does so at his own risk and peril. these are most dire. those who discuss the contents of this book are to be shunned by all, as centres of pestilence. all questions of the law are to be decided only by appeal to my writings, each for himself. there is no law beyond do what thou wilt. love is the law, love under will. the priest of the princes, ankh-f-n-khonsu 434 the book of satan i. in this arid wilderness of steel and stone, i raise up my voice that you may hear. to the east and to the west i beckon. to the north and to the south i show a sign proclaiming: death to the weaklings, wealth to the strong! open your eyes that you may see, o men of mildewed minds; and listen to me, ye laborious millions! for i sta

LEADBEATER C W THE HIDDEN LIFE IN FREEMASONRY 2E

s definite as electricity- a spiritual power which is spread abroad over the people in certain ways, which leaves its own effect behind it, and needs its own vehicles, just as electricity needs its appropriate machinery. 55. it is possible by clairvoyance to watch the action of that force, to see how the service of the eucharist builds up a thought-form, through which that force is distributed by the priest with the aid of the angel invoked for that purpose. it has been so arranged that the attitude of the priest, his knowledge- even his character- does not in any way interfere with the due effect of the sacrament(*see no. 26 of the thirty-nine articles of the church of england in the book of common prayer) there is, in any case, an irreducible minimum which is transmitted. so long as he p

ament at his hands have the additional benefit of a share in his love and devotion, but that in no way affects the value of the sacrament itself; whatever his failings, the divine strength is outpoured upon the people. 56. the old egyptian religion had the same idea of pouring out spiritual force upon all its people, but its method was altogether different. the christian magic can be performed by the priest alone, and may even be done quite mechanically; but the intelligent assistance of the laity greatly increases its power and the amount of force which can be outpoured. the egyptian plan, however, positively required the earnest and intelligent co-operation of a considerable number of people. it was, therefore, much more difficult to achieve perfectly, but when thoroughly done it was far

bove ourselves- though they also have their cohorts of assistants at a level much below their own; in freemasonry we call rather upon beings at our own stage or slightly above it, and they bring with them assistants from the kingdom of the nature-spirits and even of the elementals. 355. in both cases the work is initiated by someone who is specially qualified and set apart to do it; in the church the priest; in freemasonry the r.w.m. still, the assistance of the brethren present is always a matter of importance and significance. in ecclesiastical circles they often speak of the priesthood of the laity. certain things the priest is commissioned to do, and only he can do them. but he requires the help and co-operation of the laity in order that he may work at the highest degree of effectiven

e in the case of the bishop it is far more highly specialized. 439. then the m.m. puts both his h c on the b c he is supposed when he has attained that high degree to be in a position of power, to be filled with the energy which has been poured into him in the symbolical death and rising again. therefore he can give that energy; he may give a blessing to other people just as a priest does, and as the priest has authority to administer certain sacraments, so is the m.m. qualified to accept office in the lodge. 440. still, neither the m.m. nor the priest can convey his power or authority to anyone else. the bishop alone has power to ordain priests or to consecrate other bishops, and only the i.m. is able to initiate, pass and raise masons, and to create other i.m.s. both the bishop and the i

ts, so is the m.m. qualified to accept office in the lodge. 440. still, neither the m.m. nor the priest can convey his power or authority to anyone else. the bishop alone has power to ordain priests or to consecrate other bishops, and only the i.m. is able to initiate, pass and raise masons, and to create other i.m.s. both the bishop and the i.m. have also the power to give a fuller blessing than the priest or the m.m. can bestow. thus there is a succession of i.m.s in masonry, just as there is a succession of bishops in the church. 441. in the science of the sacraments i have explained something of the inner meaning of the apostolic succession, the method designed by the christ for handing down the spiritual powers of the catholic church. it will be seen that we have a similar succession

LEADBEATER CW GLIMPSES OF MASONIC HISTORY

where; it is in every rock and in every stone. when a man becomes one with osiris the light, then he becomes one with the whole of which he was part, and then he can see the light in everyone, however thickly veiled, pressed down, and shut away. all the rest is not; but the light is. the light is the life of men. to every man- though there are glorious ceremonies, though there are many duties for the priest to do, and many ways in which he should help men- that light is nearer than aught else, within his very heart. for every man the reality is nearer than any ceremony, for he has only to turn inwards, and then will he see the light. that is the object of every ceremony, and ceremonies should not be done away with, for i come not to destroy but to fulfil. when a man knows, he goes beyond t

at his initiation: 113. then, behold, the day approached when as the sacrifice of dedication should be done; and when the sun declined and evening came, there arrived on every coast a great multitude of priests, who according to their ancient order offered me many presents and gifts. then was all the laity and profane people commanded to depart, and when they had put on my back a new linen robe, the priest took my hand and brought me to the most secret and sacred place of the temple. thou wouldest peradventure demand, thou studious reader, what was said and done there: verily i would tell thee if it were lawful for me to tell, thou wouldst know if it were convenient for thee to hear; but both thy ears and my tongue should incur the like pain of rash curiosity. howbeit i will not long torm

ing the religious structures and ideas of the m.m. ii period are supplemented by an object- the scale of which answers to the same series as the group of columns- in the form of a portable seat (plate ii, 3, following p. 50. within it are some remains of the lower part and attachments of a figure. it is evident that we have here a palanquin either for a divinity or for his earthly representative, the priest-king, recalling the sedia-gestatoria still used by the papa-re at rome(*op. cit, pp. 222, 223, 224) 248. in its general arrangements the ritual chamber of the palace of phaestos was similar to the masonic temple in the palace of minos, but it contained no throne- an omission which is explained by the portable seat found in the shrine. evidently in some cases the initiator in the mysteri

gh savage and primitive tribes who had bloodthirsty customs of mutilation and human sacrifice. i think it must be to this line that bro. ward refers in his remarkable work who was hiram abiff? in which he adduces a vast amount of evidence to show that our traditional history is based upon the myth of the death and resurrection of tammuz, and is in reality an account of the ritual murder of one of the priest-kings of that religion. he points out that most primitive races enact a drama in which some one, usually a priest or king, represents a god who is slain and comes to life again; that in earlier times at any rate such a representative was really killed and offered up as a sacrifice to ensure fertility; that we first hear of this myth of tammuz in connection with babylon, and that the tri

similar cultural rites are found in other lands, teutonic, celtic and greek, that they also survived among the essenes, and that the knights templars brought back from syria a story very similar to that of the 3. the tale of jonah, he remarks, has always been understood as a myth of death and resurrection, and he also was sacrificed to appease a deity, and obtain salvation for others, just as was the priest-king of old. he quotes many instances of foundation and consecration sacrifices; and, holding as he does that hiram abiff was the father of that other hiram who was king of tyre, he writes: 284. the phoenician and jewish followers of the old tammuz cult no doubt felt that the great goddess had been cheated of her just dues when hiram abiff was not slain, according to ancient custom, on

LEWIS JAMES SATANISM TODAY AN ENCYCLOPEDIA OF RELIGION FOLKLORE AND POPULAR CULTURE

torms and other natural calamities. bells are also sometimes used by religious satanists. thus in the satanic bible, for instance, anton lavey lists bells among the devices used in a satanic ritual. this ritual bell, which signals the beginning and end of ceremonies, should be loud and penetrating, rather than soft and tinkling. lavey asserts that a bell should be used to both purify and pollute: the priest rings the bell nine times, turning counter clockwise and 26 belphegor directing the tolling toward the four cardinal points of the compass. this is done once at the beginning of the ritual to clear and purify the air of all external sounds, and once again at the end of the ritual to intensify the working and act as a pollutionary indicating finality (137. see also church of satan for fu

books, 1991. victor, jeffrey. satanic panic: the creation of a contemporary legend. chicago: open court, 1993. the black hole an obsessive scientist (played by maximilian schell) explores a black hole in deep space where lost souls wander into a portal seething with fire and billowing smoke. this was disney s first pgrated movie. black mass in catholicism, a black mass is a requiem mass at which the priest is dressed in black vestments. as commonly used, however, this expression refers to the blasphemous parody of a conventional mass that was traditionally thought to be the central rite of satanism. however, like satanism more generally, it is unlikely that such rituals were anything more than the literary inventions of church authorities. although there was much variability in the detail

e an altar consisting of a nude woman, her legs spreadeagled and vagina thrust open, each of her outstretched fists grasping a black candle made from the fat of unbaptized babies, and a chalice containing the urine of a prostitute (or blood) reposing on her belly. an inverted cross hangs above the altar, and triangular hosts of ergot-laden bread or black-stained turnip are methodically blessed as the priest dutifully slips them in and out of the altarlady s labia. then, we are told, an invocation to satan and various demons is followed by an array of prayers and psalms chanted backwards or interspersed with obscenities. all performed within the confines of a protective pentagram drawn on the floor. if the devil appears he is invariably in the form of a rather eager man wearing the head of

ions for the kuei to depart: evil spirits of the east get you back to the east, or the south return thither. let all demons seek their proper quarters and vanish forthwith (burkhardt 1953 1958, vol. 2, 143. exorcisms of individuals possessed by demons can be even more dramatic, as reflected in peter goullart s account of an exorcism by a taoist exorcist in the monastery of jade mountain: china 49 the priest looked at the victim intensely, gathering all his inner strength; beads of perspiration appeared on his thin face. come out! come out! i command you to come out! he was repeating in a strong metallic voice with great force. i am using the power of the one compared to whom you are nothing. in his name i command you to come out. immobile, he continued to focus his powers on the [possessed

orm this ritual in robes, or nude. after gathering outside of temple space, the deacon addresses the group. deacon: none may partake of the bounty of the dreaming lord until they have taken his mark. those who would gain his blessings come forward to receive the mark of the beast. each apostate goes in turn to receive the mark, which is stamped onto their left hand. last of all, the deacon stamps the priest, who in turn stamps the deacon. the apostates then follow the priest and deacon into the temple space. later in the same rite, the notion of the devil s mark is further extended to encompass the mark of cain: priest: if any wish to abstain from these festivities, let them leave now, although the mark of the beast is permanent upon their souls and was inscribed there even before they too

LIBER 141

ay be created elementals fit to perform the will of the magician. now herein is a difficulty, since in this case the matter of the sacrament cannot exist, for that there is no white eagle to generate the gluten. howbeit, we hold that in this rite is great efficacy; it may be that for certain operations it is equal or superior to that explained to initiates of the ix. but we hold that in this case the priest must be an initiate, for that it is his will which determineth the magical character of his lion; so that if he hath no purpose but that of the goddess adonai he cannot raise agape to her lord thelema, nor will the intention of the priestess, although a lofty initiate, replace this essential power of the priest over that of which he is but the vehicle and guardian. for this reason the n

n shall the subconscious will choose inevitably the appointed vehicle of the work. it is for this reason that already in the seventh degree the sir knights are sworn to chastity. and this chastity is an abstinence from all gross sexual acts of every kind. moreover, this is further to be observed in the choice, that the second party must be consenting enthusiastically to co-operate physically with the priest, so that the lion be perfectly dissolved in a full portion of the gluten. and whether this preparation be truly and duly done is known by the appearance of the matter of the sacrament, and also by its taste. for not idly is it written in the book of judges "what is sweeter than honey, and what is stronger than a lion" and that this secret is here manifested by the holy ghost is clear fr

LIBER ARCANORUM

6. here then beneath the winged eros is youth, delighting in the one and the other. he is asar between asi and nepthi; he cometh forth from the veil. 7. he rideth upon the chariot of eternity; the white and the black are harnessed to his car. therefore he reflecteth the fool, and the sevenfold veil is reveiled. 8. also cometh forth mother earth with her lion, even sekhet, the lady of asi. 9. also the priest veiled himself, lest his glory be profaned, lest his word be lost in the multitude. liber ccxxxi 3 10. now then the father of all issued as a mighty wheel; the sphinx, and the dog-headed god, and typhon, were bound on his circumference. 11. also the lady maat with her feather and her sword abode to judge the righteous. for fate was already established. 12. then the holy one appeared in

LIBER CCXLII AHA

t the mind, that mothers mists, abides not there. the adept must fall exhausted. olympas. there fs an end of all? marysas. but not an end of this! above all life as is the pulse of love, so this transcends all love. olympas. ah me! who may attain? marysas. rare souls. olympas. i see aha! 7 imaged a shadow of this light. marysas. such is its sacramental might that to recall it radiates its symbol. the priest elevates the host, and instant blessing stirs the hushed awaiting worshippers. olympas. then how secure the soul fs defence? how baffle the besieger, sense? marysas. see the beleagured city, hurt by hideous engines, sore begirt and gripped by lines of death, well scored with shell, nigh open to the sword! now comes the leader; courage, run contagious through the garrison! repair the tre

LIBER CORDIS CINCTI SERPENTE

let the pleasure and pain be mingled in one supreme offering unto the lord adonai! 48. also i heard the voice of adonai the lord the desirable one concerning that which is beyond. 49. let not the dwellers in thebai and the temples thereof prate ever of the pillars of hercules and the ocean of the west. is not the nile a beautiful water? liber cordis cincti serpente svb figvra ynda 27 50. let not the priest of isis uncover the nakedness of nuit, for every step is a death and a birth. the priest of isis lifted the veil of isis, and was slain by the kisses of her mouth. then he was the priest of nuit, and drank of the milk of the stars. 51. let not the failure and the pain turn aside the worshippers. the foundations of the pyramid were hewn in the living rock ere sunset; did the king weep at

LIBER CXX

e hour of the dispersal of the lords of silence" 111- 11111- 111 (he knocketh (rising, he doeth the ceremony, precisely as in the opening unto the 2nd verse of the song called the spell. but he goeth with the sun, as allowing nature to resume her sway. at the e. of the throne of ra he standeth and crieth "it is the hour of the feast of ra-hoor-khuit (lifting up the cakes of the holy one of light, the priest shall recite "i fly like an hawk! i perch upon that abode of the aat on the festival of the mighty one of light. let us live upon that which the gods give us& the khus; let us live and get power by these cakes; let us eat them before the gods and the khus; let us get power by these cakes! let us eat thereof under the shade of the leaves of the palm tree of that, our lady and our holy on

LIBER DCCCXI ENERGIZED ENTHUSIASM

n can parody a poet; nobody can parody owen seaman. a critic is a bundle of impressions; there is no ego behind it. all photographs are essentially alike; the works of all good painters essentially differ. some writers suppose that in the ancient rites of eleusis the high priest publicly copulated with the high priestess. were this so, it would be no more gindecent h than it is gblasphemous h for the priest to make bread and wine into the body and blood of god. true, the protestants say that it is blasphemous; but a protestant is one to whom all things sacred are profane, whose mind being all filth can see nothing in the sexual act but a crime or jest, whose only facial gestures are the sneer and the leer. protestantism is the excrement of human thought, and accordingly in protestant count

de of it. the catholic church did, i believe, to some extent preserve the pagan tradition. marriage is a sacrament.1 but in the attempt to deprive the act of all accretions which would profane it, the fathers of the church added in spite of themselves other accretions which profaned it more. they tied it to property and inheritance. they wished it to serve both god and mammon. rightly restraining the priest, who should employ his whole energy in the miracle of the mass, they found their counsel a counsel of perfection. the magical tradition was in part lost; the priest could not do what was expected of him, and the unexpended portion of his energy turned sour. hence the thoughts of priests, like the thoughts of modern faddists, revolved eternally around the s.q. a special and secret mass

LIBER LIBERI VEL LAPIDIS LAZULI

hall be an end. svb figvra vii 9 48. o god! o god! 49. i am a fool to love thee; thou art cruel, thou withholdest thyself. 50. come to me now! i love thee! i love thee! 51. o my darling, my darling.kiss me! kiss me! ah! but again. 52. sleep, take me! death, take me! this life is too full; it pains, it slays, it suffices. 53. let me go back into the world; yea, back into the world. 10 iii 1. i was the priest of ammon-ra in the temple of ammon-ra at thebai. 2. but bacchus came singing with his troops of vineclad girls, of girls in dark mantles; and bacchus in the midst like a fawn! 3. god! how i ran out in my rage and scattered the chorus. 4. but in my temple stood bacchus as the priest of ammon-ra. 5. therefore i went wildly with the girls into abyssinia; and there we abode and rejoiced. 6

in good sooth! 7. i will eat the ripe and the unripe fruit for the glory of bacchus. 8. terraces of ilex, and tiers of onyx and opal and sardonyx leading up to the cool green porch of malachite. 9. within is a crystal shell, shaped like an oyster.o glory of priapus! o beatitude of the great goddess! 10. therein is a pearl. 11. o pearl! thou hast come from the majesty of dread ammon-ra. 12. then i the priest beheld a steady glitter in the heart of the pearl. 13. so bright we could not look. but behold! a bloodred rose upon a rood of glowing gold! svb figvra vii 11 14. so i adored the god. bacchus! thou art the lover of my god! 15. i who was priest of ammon-ra, who saw the nile flow by for many moons, for many, many moons, am the young fawn of the grey land. 16. i will set up my dance in you

let the invisible inform all the devouring light of its disruptive vigour! 48. yea! all the world is split apart, as an old grey tree by the lightning! 49. come, o ye gods, and let us feast. 26 liber liberi vel lapidis lazuli 50. thou, o my darling, o my ceaseless sparrow-god, my delight, my desire, my deceiver, come thou and chirp at my right hand! 51. this was the tale of the memory of al a fin the priest; yea, of al a fin the priest. 27 vii 1. by the burning of the incense was the word revealed, and by the distant drug. 2. o meal and honey and oil! o beautiful flag of the moon, that she hangs out in the centre of bliss. 3. these loosen the swathings of the corpse; these unbind the feet of osiris, so that the flaming god may rage through the firmament with his fantastic spear. 4. but of

LIBER MMCMXI NOTE ON GENESIS

ch elohim* symbol of the red fire of god, which brooded (v. 2) upon the face of the waters: or like the red glory that lights up the heavens at dawn, when the golden sun illumines the waters above the firmament. now this red glory is the ignis dei. which is also the agnus dei, or lamb of god that destroyeth (literally burns out) the sins of the world. as it is written in the ordinary of the mass: the priest goeth unto the south of the altar and prays .o agnus dei! qui tollis.qui tollis peccata mundi.dona nobis pacem. and this fire, this lamb of god, is aries, symbol of the dawning year: whose colour also is as the red fire, and which is the head of the fiery triplicity in the zodiac. so also in the grade of neophyte in the order of the golden dawn the hierophant weareth a robe of flame-sca

LINDOW JOHN NORSE MYTHOLOGY A GUIDE TO THE GODS HEROES RITUALS AND BELIEFS

that the issue would arise at the national level as well. there is documented missionary activity in scandinavia from the early viking age onward, most famously by ansgar, the gapostle of the north, h who worked with both danish and swedish kings in the first half of the ninth century. the process was to bear fruit first in denmark in the later tenth century, when king harald bluetooth witnessed the priest poppo carrying a red-hot piece of iron, with no harm to his hands, as a demonstration that christ was greater than the pagan gods. at jelling in jutland, king harald bluetooth erected an elaborate rune stone celebrating his parents and himself, the person who gmade the danes christian, h as the jelling rune stone says. in norway there is evidence of christian burial from around this tim

to pagans a kind of natural religion, one based on unenlightened observation of the environment. it was especially attractive to icelanders like snorri, who traced their genealogies from pagans and for whom the conversion of their land to christianity was a relatively recent event. the first extant work of icelandic history writing is a little treatise called islendingabok (book of icelanders, by the priest ari thorgilsson the learned, who wrote about a century before snorri did, and it is plain that for ari the conversion was the most important event in the history of the icelanders. in the sagas of icelanders, which were composed for the most part in the thirteenth century but which are often set in pagan iceland, the introduction 21 gnoble heathen h is a stock character. all that conver

a cunning loki who is odin fs liege man. whereas sorla thattr seems like a mythic-heroic saga, thidranda thattr ok thorhalls shares the setting of the sagas of icelanders and presents some of the evidence regarding the disir, female spirits. not all the important source material is from iceland or even in the vernacular. an extremely important source is gesta danorum, a danish history written by the priest saxo grammaticus (that is, gthe grammarian h. little is known about saxo, other than that he came from a family of warriors, probably in jutland, and that he was a member of the household of absalon, who was archbishop of lund from 1178.1201. some of the gesta seems to have been written before the death of absalon; the rest was probably completed after 1216, or in other words, just a fe

MANLY P HALL THE SECRET TEACHINGS OF ALL AGES

rch-druid was the iodhan moran, or breastplate of judgment, which possessed the mysterious power of strangling any who made an untrue statement while wearing it. godfrey higgins states that this breastplate was put on the necks of witnesses to test the veracity of their evidence. the druidic tiara, or anguinum, its front embossed with a number of points to represent the sun's rays, indicated that the priest was a personification of the rising sun. on the front of his belt the arch-druid wore the liath meisicith- a magic brooch, or buckle in the center of which was a large white stone. to this was attributed the power of drawing the fire of the gods down from heaven at the priest's command this specially cut stone was a burning glass, by which the sun's rays were concentrated to light the a

ter. as the sun is the source of all light and warmth, so should the worshipful master enliven and warm the brethren to their work. among the ancient egyptians the sun was the symbol of divine providence" the hierophants of the mysteries were adorned with many. insignia emblematic of solar power. the sunbursts of gilt embroidery on the back of the vestments of the catholic priesthood signify that the priest is also an emissary and representative of sol invictus. christianity and the sun for reasons which they doubtless considered sufficient, those who chronicled the life and acts of jesus found it advisable to metamorphose him into a solar deity. the historical jesus was forgotten; nearly all the salient incidents recorded in the four gospels have their correlations in the movements, phase

fter effects of their delirium. the confused recital of their experiences was interpreted by the priests according to the question to be answered. while the priests probably used some unknown herb to produce the dreams or visions of the cavern, their skill in interpreting them bordered on the supernatural. before consulting the oracle, it was necessary to offer a ram to the d mon of the cave, and the priest decided by hieromancy whether the time chosen was propitious and the sacrifice was satisfactory. the seven wonders of the world many of the sculptors and architects of the ancient world were initiates of the mysteries, particularly the eleusinian rites. since the dawn of time, the truers of stone and the hewers of wood have constituted a divinely overshadowed caste. as civilization spre

through nature's processes and reproduce the seed of the wheat as the ultimate form of their own growth. other numbers multiplied by themselves produce other numbers, but only 5 and 6 multiplied by themselves represent and retain their original number as the last figure in their products. the pentad represents all the superior and inferior beings. it is sometimes referred to as the hierophant, or the priest of the mysteries, because of its connection with the spiritual ethers, by means of which mystic development is attained. keywords of the pentad are reconciliation, alternation, marriage, immortality, cordiality, providence, and sound. among the deities who partook of the nature of the pentad were pallas, nemesis, bubastia (bast, venus, androgynia, cytherea, and the messengers of jupiter

s unnatural, and is evidence that there is a maladjustment within or between organs or tissues. permanent health cannot be regained until harmony is restored. the outstanding virtue of hermetic medicine was its recognition of spiritual and psychophysical derangements as being largely responsible for the condition which is called physical disease. suggestive therapy was used with marked success by the priest-physicians of the ancient world. among the-american indians, the shamans--or "medicine men--dispelled sickness with the aid of mysterious dances, invocations, and charms. the fact that in spite of their ignorance of modern methods of medical treatment these sorcerers effected innumerable cures, is well worthy of consideration. the magic rituals used by the egyptian priests for the curin

MICHAEL WYNN THE SOUL TRAVELERS

drawn from high above, or using it to trace invisible symbols in the air. at the beginning of the ritual the magician's imagination is essentially cleansed, where he begins to imagine everything in the world disappearing except that which he needs to complete the ritual at hand. the third difference regarding rituals involves invoking certain spirits to do certain jobs. while conducting a ritual, the priest will call upon higher forces, such as arch-angels, arch-demons, angels, intelligences, and other ruling spirits to see to it that the priest's command is executed. the priests call upon, or invoke, these higher forces, by uttering their names aloud while visualizing them. and so there it is; symbolic ritual, corresponding visualizations, and invocations to the dominant spirits open the

a result, they have increased vampiric senses and capabilities, but also suffer more of the weaknesses of vampires. their ability to reach out at long distances and feed is unmatched. they are even more sensitive to sunlight and heat than the rest of their kind, and their touch is colder. unlike most vampires, who can use their own fleshly bodies to supply a great deal of the required life-force, the priest must feed from others to sustain life. the priest class tend to be even more pale than the average vampire, and are more easily recognized for what they are. the priests are the most subject to the energies of the moon, and can even access an object s past by touching it. a vampire that becomes dangerously low on life-force can be reduced to an invalid, and eventually die a fleshly deat

MORALS AND DOGMA

gainst the national wrongs and follies; against usurpation and the first inroads of that hydra, tyranny. there is no more sovereign eloquence than the truth in indignation. it is more difficult for a people to keep than to gain their freedom. the protests of truth are always needed. continually, the right must protest against the fact. there is, in fact, eternity in the right. the mason should be the priest and soldier of that right. if his country should be robbed of her liberties, he should still not despair. the protest of the right against the fact persists forever. the robbery of a people never becomes prescriptive. reclamation of its rights is barred by no length of time. warsaw can no more be tartar than venice can be teutonic. a people may endure military usurpation, and subjugated

moses sprinkled the anointing oil upon the altar. the days of consecration of aaron and his sons were _seven_ in number. a woman was unclean _seven_ days after child-birth; one infected with leprosy was shut up _seven_ days _seven_ times the leper was sprinkled with the blood of a slain bird; and _seven_ days afterwards he must remain abroad out of his tent _seven_ times, in purifying the leper, the priest was to sprinkle the consecrated oil; and _seven_ times to sprinkle with the blood of the sacrificed bird the house to be purified _seven_ times the blood of the slain bullock was sprinkled on the mercy-seat; and _seven_ times on the altar. the _seventh_ year was a sabbath of rest; and at the end of _seven_ times _seven_ years came the great year of jubilee _seven_ days the people ate un

ss of its subject; it treated a mysterious subject mystically; it endeavored to illustrate what it could not explain; to excite an appropriate feeling, if it could not develop an adequate idea; and made the image a mere subordinate conveyance for the conception, which itself never became too obvious or familiar. the instruction now conveyed by books and letters was of old conveyed by symbols; and the priest had to invent or to perpetuate a display of rites and exhibitions, which were not only more attractive to the eye than words, but often to the mind more suggestive and pregnant with meaning. afterward, the institution became rather moral and political, than religious. the civil magistrates shaped the ceremonies to political ends in egypt; the sages who carried them from that country to

uggestive and pregnant with meaning. afterward, the institution became rather moral and political, than religious. the civil magistrates shaped the ceremonies to political ends in egypt; the sages who carried them from that country to asia, greece, and the north of europe, were all kings or legislators. the chief magistrate presided at those of eleusis, represented by an officer styled _king: and the priest played but a subordinate part. the powers revered in the mysteries were all in reality nature-gods; none of whom could be consistently addressed as mere heroes, because their nature was confessedly super-heroic. the mysteries, only in fact a more solemn expression of the religion of the ancient poetry, taught that doctrine of the theocracia or divine oneness, which even poetry does not

t indian degree. the gymnosophist priests came from the banks of the euphrates into ethiopia, and brought with them their sciences and their doctrines. their principal college was at meroe, and their mysteries were celebrated in the temple of amun, renowned for his oracle. ethiopia was then a powerful state, which preceded egypt in civilization, and had a theocratic government. above the king was the priest, who could put him to death in the name of the deity. egypt was then composed of the thebaid only. middle egypt and the delta were a gulf of the mediterranean. the nile by degrees formed an immense marsh, which, afterward drained by the labor of man, formed lower egypt; and was for many centuries governed by the ethiopian sacerdotal caste, of arabic origin; afterward displaced by a dyna

MOTTA MARCELO THE COMMENTARIES OF AL

ple must keep itself clean and comely, and worthy of the presence of the goddess. the ego is a good servant, but a bad master. that sign, nuit gives to all those who seek her, upon their reaching a certain grade. it is exactly as described. of course, a.c 'knew' who he was, since he called himself, and had been first called so by his own mother, 666 from childhood. see liber iv. part iv. 27. then the priest answered& said unto the queen of space, kissing her lovely brows, and the dew of her light bathing his whole body in a sweet-smelling perfume of sweat: 0 nuit, continuous one of heaven, let it be ever thus; that men speak not of thee as one but as none; and let them speak not of thee at all, since thou art continuous! there are several secret meanings, all of a technical nature, in this

liber artemis iota and liber a'ash for further information on this very difficult point. nor should aspirants fall into the mistake of believing that it is their duty to aspire to her. their duty is to do their will, and nothing else. if it is thy will to seek her, do so. if it isn't, do thy will. the grades are three, and 'they also serve who stand and wait. besides, she is everywhere. 33. then the priest fell into a deep trance or swoon& said unto the queen of heaven; write unto us the ordeals; write unto us the rituals; write unto us the law! law, in the common sense of the word, should be a formulation of the customs of a people, as euclid's propositions are the formulation of geometrical facts. but modern knavery conceived the idea of artificial law, as if one should try to square th

seem to contradict statements in another chapter (or even within the same chapter, contradiction is apparent, and there is a hidden key. unless this continuity of the law within the chapters, and from a chapter to another chapter, is kept in mind, aspirants will fall into a quantity of pitfalls that have been provided by the author aiwass to winnow out the chaff. 36. my scribe ankh-af-na-khonsu, the priest of the princes, shall not in one letter change this book; but lest there be folly, he shall comment thereupon by the wisdom of ra-hoor khu-it. readers will please note that this comment referred to is the comment signed ankh-f-n-khonsu at the end of the book. the comment is short and to the point, and is in class a. it must under no circumstances be confused with the commentaries by a

by your readiness to fight at any time, in anyplace, with any weapon, and at any odds. for her, from whom you come, of whom you are, to whom you go, your life is no more and no less than one continuous sacrament. you have no word but her praise, no thought but love of her. you have only one cry, of inarticulate ecstasy, the intense spasm, possession of her, and death, to her. you have no act but the priest's gesture that makes your body hers. the wafer is the disk of the sun, the star in her body. your blood is spilt from your heart with every beat of your pulse into her cup. it is the wine of her life crushed from the grape of your sunripened vine. on this wine you are drunk. it washes your corpse that is as the fragment of the host, broken by you, the priest, into her golden chalice. yo

aw, to feel ourselves the puppets of determinism, and to suffer the agonies of impotence which have afflicted the thinker, from gautama to james thompson. now then "there is great danger in me" we have seen what it is; but why should it lie in hadit? because the process of self-analysis involves certain risks. the profane are protected against those subtle spiritual perils which lie in ambush for the priest. a bushman never has a nervous breakdown (see cap i, v.3 1) when the aspirant takes his first oath, the most trivial things turn into transcendental terrors, tortures and temptations (parts ii and iii of book 4 elaborate this thesis at length) we are so caked with dirt that the germs of disease cannot reach us. if we decide to wash, we must do it well; or we may have awakened some sleep

MYTHS AND LEGENDS OF ANCIENT CIVILIZATIONS E

t a point where three roads met, for which reason she is called trivia (from tri, three, and via, way. a temple was dedicated to her on the aventine hill by servius tullius, who is said to have first introduced the worship of this divinity into rome. the nemoralia, or grove festivals, were celebrated in her honour on the 13th of august, on the lacus nemorensis, or forest-buried lake, near aricia. the priest who officiated in her temple on this spot, was always a fugitive slave, who had gained his office by murdering his predecessor, and hence was constantly armed, in order that he might thus be prepared to encounter a new aspirant. hephastus (vulcan. hephastus, the son of zeus and hera, was the god of fire in its beneficial aspect, and the presiding deity over all workmanship accomplished

ificial knife, and the crowns, were placed in a small basket, and carried to the sanctuary by a young maiden, whereupon the victim was conducted into the temple, frequently to the accompaniment of music. if a small animal, it was driven loose to the altar; if a large one, it was led by a [194]long trailing rope, in order to indicate that it was not an unwilling sacrifice. when all were assembled, the priest, after walking in solemn state round the altar, besprinkled it with a mixture of meal and holy water, after which he also besprinkled the assembled worshippers, and exhorted them to join with him in prayer. the service being ended, the priest first tasted the libation, and after causing the congregation to do the like, poured the remainder between the horns of the victim, after which fr

g evidence, the attempt to prove his innocence would be vain. defection of achilles..during the first year of the campaign the greeks ravaged the surrounding country [292]and pillaged the neighbouring villages. upon one of these foraging expeditions the city of pedasus was sacked, and agamemnon, as commander-in-chief, received as his share of the spoil the beautiful chryseis, daughter of chryses, the priest of apollo; whilst to achilles was allotted another captive, the fair briseis. the following day chryses, anxious to ransom his daughter, repaired to the greek camp; but agamemnon refused to accede to his proposal, and with rude and insulting words drove the old man away. full of grief at the loss of his child chryses called upon apollo for vengeance on her captor. his prayer was heard

NAGEL CARL AMAZING SECRETS OF OCCULT POWER

ll to the fear inside her, as hooded figures draw close to the altar and a low-pitched chant begins to fill the night air. standing before her, the coven master takes up the chant as, with head bowed, an assistant hands him the sacrificial knife, its blade shining in the silver moonlight. from out of the darkened wood another figure appears leading a goat that he takes to the side of the altar as the priest begins his litany. he calls out a list of demonic names and to them he addresses his earnest plea for them to bear witness to what is about to take place "astaroth, help us! he intones "demons, dagon, azazel, pan help us! asmodeus, we beseech thee! we are gathered here in thy honor, o great god, baal! we offer unto thee the body of the virgin, so that we may live eternally in the darkne

NAUDON PAUL THE SECRET HISTORY OF FREEMASONRY

east "the dwelling was not an object, a 'machine to inhabit: it was the universe that man built in imitation of god's exemplary creation, the cosmogony."2 the home was not merely a geometrical space; it was an existential and sacred place. when trade associations were indispensable, as was the case with those of the builders in ancient times, they were of a sacerdotal nature. among the egyptians, the priest embodied a special branch of human knowledge. each grade put its students through a predetermined series 6 the origins of freemasonry from ancient times to the middle ages of studies specific to the art or science that it professed. in addition, for each novitiate degree, students were subjected to trials of initiation the purpose of which was to ensure them a vocation and which added t

es to the middle ages territory. the increased peopling of the area seems to have been a direct result of the arrival of brothers of the militia of the temple. in fact, population growth in this area was so great that in 1220 it proved necessary to create a new parish cemetery. in 1399 the church was expanded: the church wardens of saint nicolas des champs. decided, after obtaining the consent of the priest and the bishop of paris and the counsel of the king's sworn representatives of masonry and carpentry masons kenton du temple [emphasis mine, jehan filleul, regnault lorier, and adam ravier (known as de moret, and carpenters robert focuchier and philippe milon to see to the construction of the masonry of the three chapels in the alley between said church and the hostel of said priest. p

sart, who was notably the architect of jacques de souvre, grand prior of malta (1666; and of jules hardouin mansart (may 11, 1708. finally, how could we note the name of rabelais? the epitaph record of saint paul parish gives us the date of his death: francois rabelais, deceased at the age of 70 years, rue des jardins, on april 9, 1552, was buried in saint paul cemetery."51 rabelais, who was then the priest beneficiary of meudon, seems to have lived the last two years 136 the origins of freemasonry from ancient times to the middle ages of his life on the rue des jardins saint paul, which was in the jurisdiction of the censive district of the benedictines of saint maur, for whom he was a canon. this mention of rabelais and his home in the masons' quarter, the quarter of the mortar makers, i

NECRONOMICON ALAZIF

i hear the crawling chaos that calls beyond the stars and they created nyarlathotep for their messenger, and they clothed him with chaos that his al azif page 9 of 18 http//www.chaosmatrix.org/library/books/al_azif/al_azif.html 10/10/2003 form might be ever hidden amidst the stars. who shall know the mystery of nyarlathotep? for he is the mask and will of those that were when time was not. he is the priest of the ether, the dweller in air and hath many faces that none shall recall. the waves freeze before him; gods dread his call. in men's dreams he whispers, yet who knoweth his form? of leng in ye cold waste who seeketh northwards beyond the twilight land of inquanok shall find amidst the frozen waste the dark and mighty plateau of thrice-forbidden leng. know ye time-shunned leng by the

ONYX TABLET OF SET

on and suspicion. this is- in the precise sense of the term- a natural tendency which cannot be rationally overcome. the priesthood should not resent humankind for this, but must take the tendency into account when interacting with humans. an empathetic, sensitive balance must be found in which the influence unique to the priesthood continues to be brought to bear upon humanity, but also in which the priest or priestess is not ostracized by humanity. this is a continuous, difficult task- and one which all initiates of the priesthood must expect for the duration of their exercise of office. the _onyx tablet of set_ is that part of the _jeweled tablets of set_ which contains information peculiar to the experience of the priesthood of set. it is divided into two principal sections: the "outer

tements concerning pylons apply equally to orders, elements, projects, and other formal and informal groups of setians] summary: recognizing that sentinels invest significant amounts of time, energy, and money in their pylons, no setian should intentionally interfere with any pylon- 1. if any pylon member chooses to work intently or regularly with a priest not associated with that setian's pylon, the priest should make sure that the sentinel knows of this. they should work together to avoid conflicts of interest, excessive demands on the setian, etc- 2. if a pylon member who works closely with a priest outside a pylon chooses to leave that pylon, then these two should discuss their situation openly and completely with the pylon's sentinel, even if the departure is for perfectly ordinary re

another) can rerecognize any ii to the i any time. however, priests need to use responsible care in exercising this authority- 1. we must always remember that different initiates wear different faces for different priests. this is natural and inescapable (only the most senior adepts and priests can be openly honest with all their setian seniors. therefore, before taking either of these two steps, the priest should always find out which other priests are (or have recently) worked with the initiate in question, and consult/discuss the situation with those priests- 2. under no conditions should any priest recognize any pylon member to the ii or i without first discussing this with the iii+ pylon sentinel and/or sponsor- 3. never use anyone's possible expulsion or downgrade as a threat. it can

o a setian, then either formal expulsion procedures should be followed, or the high priest should be involved in whatever problem warrants expulsion consideration- c. downgrades from ii to i should be handled similarly- d. once a setian has been downgraded to the i, any priest may rerecognize him to the ii any time. before doing so, beyond all other considerations, this priest should consult with the priest who downgraded that setian, to properly evaluate whether that initiatory problem has been resolved by the setian in question- 4. we should never get into a petty recognition reversal struggle. if another priest reverses your recognition (in either direction, or just strongly disagrees with a (pending) recognition, then resolve the differences of opinion and reach agreement on the setian

, adepts, and priests as possible- 1. if a conflict between two setians (whether one, both, or neither are priest) is simply a personality conflict, then a peaceful separation is often advisable. we're not required to like all setians, and normally setians should not be required to work with or communicate with others they simply do not like- 2. if a conflict is due to an initiatory problem, then the priest who identifies the initiatory problem is authorized and should work with the initiate having these problems, despite personal conflicts. if another priest is willing and able to handle the initiatory problem, he should do so only after the first priest agrees to hand off the problem to the second priest, or agrees that the two priests can work together on the problem- 3. honest dealings

PHILIP NEIL MYTHS LEGENDS EXPLAINED

en set off across the water, taking with them breadfruit, yams, coconuts, and other things to plant and, after a long journey, came to easter island, an open land of grasses that waved like the sea. they explored the land but rejected it as uninhabitable because there was no fresh water. but as they came back to the beach, they saw two canoes one belonging to hotu matua, the other to tu u ko ihu, the priest. hotu matua landed first, and his son tu u ma heke was born on the beach. the priest cut the child s navel cord with his teeth, put the cord in a gourd, and sent it out to sea. then the people came ashore by the hundreds to settle the new land with hotu matua as king. tane, the forest god t ane, the forest god, was born with his brothers rongo, the god of cultivated plants; tangaroa, th

RABBI MOSHE WISNEFSKY APPLES FROM THE ORCHARD THE ARIZAL ON THE PARASHAH

beard flows into z feir anpin, the partzuf of the midot. as we said, midot can mean both emotions and garments. however, the high priest wore eight garments, while we usually speak of only seven midot. the eighth midah, then, is the next sefirah in the series, which, if we begin with malchut and count upwards, is binah. in aaron, or arich anpin, we may thus consider binah together with the midot. the priest in his service elicits divine goodwill, as is seen in many verses throughout the torah. as we have also explained previously, the priest (kohen) expressed the divine attribute of chesed, while the levite (levi) expressed the attribute of gevurah. the beard moreover is a garment, as it is written, ghis robe was like white snow [and the hair of his head was like pure wool] h6 and the bear

ved atonement for the death of his sons. after this had been accomplished, he and his sons could join together, and the three of them together were reincarnated as uriah 21 1 samuel 7:16-17. 22 ibid. 1:11. 23 zohar 2:107a; kidushin 76b. 24 s.v. nun. this is a midrash, and the word gletters h in the title refers to the letters of the alphabet, not to correspondence. the arizal on parashat vaeira 6 the priest in the generation of king yehoyakim. this is why specifically three letters of the name gaaron h are present in the name guriah. h also, this latter uriah was a priest, just as was aaron. the reason why aaron fs sons had to be reincarnated [into uriah the priest] was because they had first been reincarnated by themselves into the prophet elijah, as we have explained elsewhere. in this w

fice for their own sakes. nonetheless [they still needed to rectify] the lack of fulfillment of positive commandments that they should have fulfilled in the rest of their natural lives, and similarly the commandment of being fruitful and multiplying that they did not fulfill.as it is stated, gand they did not have children, h25 for they were single. they therefore were reincarnated now into uriah the priest in order to rectify this. still, the main aspect of uriah the priest fs soul derived from aaron, who was reincarnated into him in order to rectify his second sin that still had not been rectified, that is, to be killed in the sanctification of g-d fs name. nadav and avihu joined with him in a temporary sort of way for the said purpose. thus uriah the priest was killed by king yehoyakim

joined up with him only because since aaron caused their death, it follows that he was also responsible for the fact that they did not fulfill all the positive commandments they were supposed to in their lifetimes. it was therefore necessary that they be rectified by him, and for this reason they joined with him in this incarnation. after aaron had been completely rectified in the murder of uriah the priest, he then had the power to rectify his sons properly. before this, however, while he himself still needed to be rectified, he could not do this. thus, the three of them were then incarnated again into zechariah ben yeverechyahu, who was also a priest, just as the three of them were. aaron then rectified his sons completely, when the three of them were together in this incarnation. this i

. thus, the three of them were then incarnated again into zechariah ben yeverechyahu, who was also a priest, just as the three of them were. aaron then rectified his sons completely, when the three of them were together in this incarnation. this is the mystical meaning of the verse: gand i will call to testify for 25 numbers 3:4. the arizal on parashat vaeira 7 myself trustworthy witnesses, uriah the priest and zechariah the son of yeverechiah. h26 what have these two to do with each other? they did not even know each other, inasmuch as they were in two different generations. but for the reason we have given, that they were both rooted in the same incarnation, they are called g-d fs gwitnesses. h since in uriah aaron was not rectified completely, he prophesied about the destruction of the

REGARDIE ISRAEL THE COMPLETE GOLDEN DAWN

with three forward swings. between the altar and the entrance into the holy place, stood the laver of brass wherein the priests washed before entering the tabernacle. it was the symbol of the waters of creation. stol. makes cross with water on neophyte's forehead and sprinkles thrice in silence. having made offering at the altar of burnt sacrifice, and having been cleansed at the laver of brass, the priest then entered the holy place. k m ta kes neophyte behind pillars to north. stolistes and dadouchos return to their places. hiereus takes his stand between the pillars (kerux having removed the chair) facing neophyte. he guards the path with his sword and says: hiereus thou canst not pass the gateway which is between the pillars, unless thou canst give the signs and words of a neophyte. n

tor round the hall once slowly, while <75> hiereus reads. hierophant rises with banner of west in left hand -fan in right. hiereus the sphinx of egypt spake and said "i am the synthesis of the elemental forces. i am also the symbol of man. i am life and i am death. i am the child of the night of time" as kewandzelatorapproach theeast, hierophant bars the way with banner of the west and fan. hiero the priest with the mask of osiris spake and said "thou canst not pass the gate of the eastern heaven unless thou canst tell me my name" k e w thou art nu, goddess of the firmament of air. thou art hormaku, lord of the eastern sun. hiero in what signs and symbols do ye come? kerux in the letter aleph. in the banner of light, and the symbol of the equated forces. hierophant stands back and signs aq

g, while hiereus again reads: hiereus i am osiris, the soul in twin aspect, united to the higher by purification, perfected by suffering, glorified through trial. i have come where the great gods are, through the power of the mighty name. 158 the golden dawn: volume iz book two kerux and zelator have now reached hegemon who bars their way, lamp in <76> right hand- banner of west in left hand. heg the priest with the mask of the lion, spake and said "thou canst not pass by the gate of the southern heaven unless thou canst tell me my name" keyux mau the lion, very powerful, lord of fire, is thy name. thou art ra, the sun in his strength. heg in what signs and symbols do ye come? kerux in the letter shin; in the banner of the east, and the symbol of the cubical cross. heg (standing back and s

lator slowly round the temple, returning to hiereus when the speech is finished. hiereus (as they go round the third time) i have passed through the gates of the firmament. give me your hands, for i am made as ye, ye lords of truth! for ye are the formers of the soul. hiereus puts down sword and stands with cup in right hand, banner of west in left, barring the way of hegemon and zelator. hiereus the priest with the mask of the eagle spake and said "thou canst not pass the gate of the western heaven, unless thou canst tell me my name <77> heg heka, mistress of hesur, ruler of water, is thy name. thou art toum, the setting sun. hiereus in what signs and symbols do ye come? heg in the letter mem* in the banner of light; and the symbol of the twenty-two letters. hiereus (standing back and mak

of west to kerux as he passes him. hiereus reads as theygo round the fourth time, whi1ekeru.x rises with saltin his right hand, the banner of the west in left. hiereus (as they go round) 0 lord of the universe- thou art above all things and thy name is in all things; and before thee, the shadows of night roll back and the darkness hasteth away. kenu (barring the way with salt and banner of west) the priest with the mask of the ox, spake and said "thou canst not pass the gate of the northern heaven, unless thou canst tell me my name" heg satem, in the abode of shu, the bull of earth, is thy name. thou art kephra, the sun at night 'the "mother letters1'are given as relating to the primary elements appropriate to each quarter, i.e. aleph, east; shin, south; mem, west; and all three together

RITUEL ET DOGME DE LA HAUTE MAGIE BY ELIPHAS LEVI PART II

e, shall enchain for ever the hideous spectre of satan, and, explaining all abnormal phenomena, shall destroy the empire of superstition and imbecile credulity. to the accomplishment of this work we have consecrated our life, and do still devote it in the most toilsome and difficult researches. we would emancipate altars by overthrowing idols; we desire the man of intelligence to become once more the priest and king of nature, and we would preserve by explanation all images of the universal sanctuary. the prophets spoke in parables and images, because abstract language was wanting to them, and because prophetic perception, being the sentiment of harmony or of universal analogies, translates naturally into images. taken literally by the vulgar, these images become idols or impenetrable myst

ure, appetite and sleep; he must be insensible to success and to indignity. his life must be that of a will directed by one thought and served by entire nature, which he will have made subject to mind in his own organs, and by sympathy in all the universal forces which are their correspondents. all faculties and all senses should share in the 14 the ritual of transcendental magic work; nothing in the priest of hermes has the right to remain idle; intelligence must be formulated by signs and summarized by characters or pantacles; will must be determined by words and must fulfil words by deeds. the magical idea must be turned into light for the eyes, harmony for the ears, perfumes for the sense of smell, savours for the palate, objects for the touch. the operator, in a word, must realize in

, afflicted with an apparently aggravated ophthalmia, having been suddenly and mysteriously cured, confessed to a priest that she had betaken herself to magic. she had long importuned a clerk, whom she regarded as a magician, to give her a talisman that she might wear, and he had at length delivered her a scroll of parchment, advising her at the same time to wash three times daily in fresh water. the priest made her give up the parchment, on which were these words: eruat diabolus oculos tuos et repleat stercoribus loca vacantia. he translated them to the good woman, who was stupefied; but, all the same, she was cured. insufflation is one of the most important practices of occult medicine, because it is a perfect sign of the transmission of life. to inspire, as a fact, means to breathe upon

ROBERT KIRK WALKER BETWEEN WORLDS

s thereafter. they use spitting as an antidote against all that is poisonous and diabolical. 4. a charm [is] spoke[n] in[to] a napkin, and [then] the napkin is sent many miles off to be tied about a child's open-head to lift it up, as they speak [the charm, and it does the fact [that is, does work. i will lift up thy bones as mary lifted up her hands, as the forks are lifted under the heavens, as the priest lifts up the upright mass, up to the crown of thy head i lift thy cheekbones, the bones of thy hind-head, thy brow before and behind. this they labour to justify as to its institution and operation by the reports they hear of the weapon-salve and sympathetic powders, which they suppose may have some such words accompanying [them, and aiding the natural and sympathetic application [such

RUBY TABLET OF SET

lation to the self. there is still no true objectivity, however (4) objective consciousness: comparable to the master of the temple iv, who is fully cognizant and can see. there is a complete framework available to the individual with objective consciousness, hence absolute truths can be seen and understood. in some ways, the temple of set degrees are not quite as far advanced as indicated above. the priest of set has a degree of self-consciousness, but cannot be said to be 100% selfconscious in the sense intended by ouspensky and gurdjieff. in other senses, however, we are ahead of the ouspensky definitions. for instance, the above framework is based on the assumption of the objective universe being a consistent framework following natural laws. the iii+ initiate recognizes this to be a l

otional. man-4 has made a commitment to break free of this "automatic existence" hence corresponds to the setian i /ii. ouspensky also suggests that each category must have a different sort of "religion" or guiding philosophy. this is certainly true within the temple. the setian i has made a commitment to will, and this may be said to be his "religion" the adept ii aspires to xeper, which is his. the priest of set iii, corresponding to man-5 (the unified and self-conscious man, is in a transition phase between xeper and xem, and the phrase "xeper ir xem" is especially appropriate to describe his "religion" the master of the temple iv has acquired objective consciousness, and could be said to "worship" xem. the v is a concept not corresponding to an ouspensky level, hence must be considered

anent "i" and free will, being immortal within the limits of the solar system. this leads me to add a man-8 to ouspensky's scheme, being the man who has become god, who has reached a position where the entire universe lies open to his command (as opposed to merely being accessible. one who has achieved that pointed to by xem.(1) the above implies that "knowing oneself" can be taken as the sign of the priest iii. this is not, however, complete. remember that the temple of set started with the ideas of gurdjieff and others, then evolved from there. i think the key to this lies in the concept of neter. in "knowing himself" the priest unlocks an additional gate to an aspect of himself which can be expressed as a neter. this symbolic expression of himself acts as (1) a magnifier with which to s

ution of the egyptian priests, and diligently endeavoring to participate thereof, desired polycrates the tyrant to write to amasis king of egypt, with whom he had friendship (as appears also by herodotus) and hospitality (formerly) that he might be admitted to the aforesaid doctrine. coming to amasis, amasis gave him letters to the priests, and going first to those of heliopolis, they sent him to the priest of memphis, as the more ancient, which was indeed but a pretence of the heliopolitans [for the egyptians imparted not their mysteries to every one, nor committed the knowledg of divine things to profane persons, but to those only who were to inherit the kingdom; and, of priests, to those who were adjudged to excel the rest in education, learning, and descent] from memphis, upon the same

cquaint himself with all their studies, which was never known to have been granted to any forraigner besides. clemens alexandrinus relates particularly, that he was disciple to sonchedes, an egyptian arch-prophet. the sphinx: again something catches my eye. that comment about egyptian initiation normally being reserved for the pharaoh and the priesthood alone. in the statesman plato writes:16 for the priest and the diviner have great social standing and a keen sense of their own importance. they win veneration and respect because of the high tasks they undertake. this is shown in the fact that in egypt none can be king unless he belongs to the priestly caste, and if a man of some other caste succeeds in forcing his way to the throne, he must then be made a priest by special ordination. the

SABBATIC KABALA OF THE CROOKED PATH

internal in these kinds of operations. mysteries connected to the luchiferian gnosis are inherent and implicit in this cell and will blossom into full flower in the forthcoming cells (p. 233-236p. 237-238) the sabbatic kabala displays a formulae for eroto-manic behaviour on behalf of the high priest towards the use of the tower as the external and therefore aggressive component in the communion. the priest become the vessel and the container of the powers drawn upon, mainly through the mystery of the sexual eucharist. it also reflects its double -natured house of power (or sah) in the tetragrammic vessel- the hand being the extension of the phallus and the eye being the cranial abode of the higher mouth (i.e. vulva- note due to this that the lone witch in norse lore was called volva and w

e that you enter secret priesthoods that meet in dark cellars where the genii of commandment will force you to drink from the rod of fire in your un-natural search for disgracing your flesh and mouth and hand to the work of the backward wand. this can accomplish external changes and the formation of the perverse manifesting in the outer. this kind of obsession are reflected in the weird cloaks of the priest of these congregations and their vampyric drift towards drinking constantly from the rod of fire to quench their unnatural thirst for the light they believe to be found in churches formed as seedy dungeons. this will almost always be the case if the novice embarks on the road of in-between-ness forged by cain and upheld by lilitu in the double house of this cell. the sacred letters in t

SAPPHIRE TABLE OF SET MAIN

somewhat related [but not l-for-l] impact upon the ou. this is magic. the adept ii is one who is expert at manipulating the pu for desired results in the ou. but neither the i nor the ii really understands what the pu is, or why it exerts the influence that it does on the ou. it is this understanding that constitutes access to the powers of darkness, and it is something that begins with the iii. the priest iii is still a usual "resident" of the ou. he now understands, however, that the pu can embody a reality of its own when energized by the force of his will [or that of the will of set. he can thus "materialize" the pu by his will, but to do so requires intense concentration and effort on his part- and cannot be sustained for long. the priest must still rely upon the automatic laws of th

reafter it is treated from peripheral aspects. are these things to be discussed with those who have not attained to the knowledge and perceptual powers of a master of the temple? even with a priest of set iii? as is my practice, i make no injunction against it. i urge you to consider the probable consequences of any such discussion, however. a thorough description of the iv to a iii may result in the priest's deliberate or subconscious mimicking of iv characteristics in order to attain iv recognition. to be a true iv, he must display such characteristics creatively on his own initiative. as a false iv otherwise, he would be virtually doomed to the cancerous fate described by crowley [editor's note: the following paragraphs of the original iv -1 letter were not included in copies published

SAPPHIRE TABLET OF SET

somewhat related [but not l-for-l] impact upon the ou. this is magic. the adept ii is one who is expert at manipulating the pu for desired results in the ou. but neither the i nor the ii really understands what the pu is, or why it exerts the influence that it does on the ou. it is this understanding that constitutes access to the powers of darkness, and it is something that begins with the iii. the priest iii is still a usual "resident" of the ou. he now understands, however, that the pu can embody a reality of its own when energized by the force of his will [or that of the will of set. he can thus "materialize" the pu by his will, but to do so requires intense concentration and effort on his part- and cannot be sustained for long. the priest must still rely upon the automatic laws of th

reafter it is treated from peripheral aspects. are these things to be discussed with those who have not attained to the knowledge and perceptual powers of a master of the temple? even with a priest of set iii? as is my practice, i make no injunction against it. i urge you to consider the probable consequences of any such discussion, however. a thorough description of the iv to a iii may result in the priest's deliberate or subconscious mimicking of iv characteristics in order to attain iv recognition. to be a true iv, he must display such characteristics creatively on his own initiative. as a false iv otherwise, he would be virtually doomed to the cancerous fate described by crowley [editor's note: the following paragraphs of the original iv -1 letter were not included in copies published

SATANIC BIBLE

worship god, how many different interpretations of god can there be- and who is right? all devout "white-lighters" are concerned with pleasing god so that they might have the "pearly gates" opened for them when they die. nevertheless, if a man has not lived his life in accordance with the regulations of his faith, he can at the last minute call a clergyman to his deathbed for a final absolution. the priest or minister will then come running on the double, to "make everything right" with god and see to it that his passport to the heavenly realm is in order (the yezidis, a sect of devil worshippers, take a different viewpoint. they believe that god is all-powerful, but also all-forgiving, and so accordingly feel that it is the devil whom they must please, as he is the one who rules their li

an altar consisting of a nude woman, her legs spread-eagled and vagina thrust open, each of her outstretched fists grasping a black candle made from the fat of unbaptized babies, and a chalice containing the urine of a prostitute (or blood) reposing on her belly. an inverted cross hangs above the altar, and triangular hosts of ergot-laden bread or black-stained turnip are methodically blessed as the priest dutifully slips them in and out of the altar-lady's labia. then, we are told, an invocation to satan and various demons is followed by an array of prayers and psalms chanted backwards or interspersed with obscenities. all performed within the confines of a "protective" pentagram drawn on the floow. if the devil appears he is invariably in the form of a rather eager man wearing the head

ands facing the altar and symbol of baphomet throughout ritual, except when other positions are specifically indicated. 2. if possible, altar should be against west wall. 3. in rituals performed by one person the role of priest is not required. when more than one person is involved in the ceremony, one of them must act as priest. in a private ritual the sole performer follows the instructions for the priest. 4. whenever the words "shemhamforash" and "hail satan" are spoken by the person acting as priest, the other participants will repeat the words after him. the gong is struck following the other participants' response to "hail satan" 5. conversing (except within the context of the ceremony) and smoking are prohibited after the bell is rung at the beginning, until after it is again rung a

3. if a woman is used as the altar she now takes her position- head pointing south, feet pointing north. 4. purification of the air by ringing of the bell. 5 "invocation to satan" and "infernal names" which follow (see book of leviathan) are now read aloud by priest. participants will repeat each infernal name after it has been said by priest. 6. drink from chalice. 7. turning counter-clockwise, the priest points with the sword to each cardinal point of the compass and calls forth the respective princes of hell: satan from the south, lucifer from the east, belial from the north, and leviathan from the west. 8. perform benediction with the phallus (if one is used. 9. priest reads aloud appropriate invocation for respective ceremony: lust, compassion, or destruction (see book of leviathan

in or illness by proxy using any other means or devices desired. intense, calculated hatred and disdain should accompany this step of the ceremony, and no attempt should be made to stop this step until the expended energy results in a state of relative exhaustion on the part of the magician. when the exhastion ensues, proceed to step #11. 11 (a) if requests are written, they are now read aloud by the priest and then burned in the flames of the appropriate candle "shemhamforash" and "hail satan" is said after each request. 11 (b) if requests are given verbally, participants (one at a time) now tell them to the priest. he then repeats in his own words (those which are most emotionally stimulating to him) the request "shemhamforash" and "hail satan" is said after each request. 12. appropriate

SATANIC RITUALS

immediate assistant (deacon, a secondary assistant (subdeacon, a nun, an altar, an illuminator who holds a lighted candle where needed for reading, a thurifer, a gong-striker, an additional attendant and the congregation. hooded black robes are worn by all participants except two: a woman dressed as a nun, wearing the customary habit and wimple, and the woman who serves as the altar, who fa nude. the priest conducting the mass is known as the celebrant. over his robe he wears a chasuble bearing a symbol of satanism-the sigil of baphomet, inverted pentagram, inverted cross, symbol of brimstone or black pine cones. though some versions of the black mass were performed in vestments consecrated by the roman catholic church, records indicate that such garments were the exception rather than the

ss within the coffin. when the performance of l'air epais was resumed in 1799, it served as a celebration of the successful curse placed upon philip and pope clement v by jacques de molay, the last grand master of the templars, who had been condemned to death along with his knights. the present text employs the actual curse leveled against the king and the pope by de molay. though the dialogue of the priest of satan, the king, and the pope are presented in modern french prose, the statements of de molay have been retained in their actual stilted delivery. james thompson's diabolical litany of the nineteenth century, the city of dreadful night, has long been employed as the denunciation. it is doubtful that any words could be better suited to the occasion. portions of the text appear in ray

ted with death. for music suitable to this ritual, refer to le messe noir, or employ berlioz1 "funeral and triumphal symphony" procedure for performance the ceremony begins in the customary manner, as described in the satanic bible. the twelfth enochian key is read, and the tribunal begins. after the accusations have been made, and the king allowed to intercede on occasion, judgment is passed and the priest reads the denunciation (city of dreadful night. stopping halfway through the denunciation, the priest signals that the wine of bitterness be proffered to the celebrant who, accepting his last drink, listens while the litany is completed, after which the priest signals to make ready for the final abasement and joy for the celebrant. the lictors (guards) remove the celebrant from his seat

night. stopping halfway through the denunciation, the priest signals that the wine of bitterness be proffered to the celebrant who, accepting his last drink, listens while the litany is completed, after which the priest signals to make ready for the final abasement and joy for the celebrant. the lictors (guards) remove the celebrant from his seat and place him, face downward, on the coffin's lid. the priest then reads biblical passage, hebrews 1:6-12. after the scourging, the celebrant is lifted from the lid of the coffin. the priest then knocks three times on the coffin with a staff or the pommel of the sword a scream is heard from within the coffin, and the lid lifts from inside. the occupant's arms beckon seductively. the celebrant is lowered into the coffin by the lictors, who leave hi

t is lifted from the lid of the coffin. the priest then knocks three times on the coffin with a staff or the pommel of the sword a scream is heard from within the coffin, and the lid lifts from inside. the occupant's arms beckon seductively. the celebrant is lowered into the coffin by the lictors, who leave him to his doom or renewal, as the case may be. as the infusion takes place in the coffin, the priest reads the thirteenth enochian key. when the infusion is complete, the woman within shouts "assez (enough, and the celebrant is removed from the coffin and directed by the priest to speak. the celebrant proclaims his homage to satan, and, showing his new allegiance, casts aside his symbols of martyrdom. the priest calls for the king, ostensibly to pursue his case. it is discovered that t

SATANICON

the traditional symbol of carnality and black magick. the parallelogram represents the causative mental and physical phenomenon at work in black magick. the figure in the center of the symbol is devaxcus librt, the beast of revelation. devaxcus librt represents the beast within man. the satanagram altarpiece is placed on the wall above the altar. a satanagram pendant or inverted cross is worn by the priest and all congregants. the infernal altar the raised platform is the lower focal point of the black chapel. the candles and articles of ritual are arranged upon the altar in the specified manner. if possible, the altar rests against the west wall. the black art vestment black is symbolic of the earthly instincts and the powers of satan. therefore it s the color of the vestment which is wo

dds power and support to the potential of the working. legend: invisible angles of the pentagonia -24- each demon has a specific function and nature. therefore, evoke the appropriate demons for each ritual. demons are evoked after the partaking of the chalice of change. the rituals contained herein may be performed alone or with others who, if utilized, would give support and act as assistants to the priest. special note: the effectiveness of these magickal arts, to a large extent, depends upon the receptivity of the intended. therefore it is highly recommended that the person(s) whom the magick is directed at, have knowledge of it -25- the satanic ritual 1 the opening of the gates of pandemonium: grasp the bell of commencement and sound it once at each of the five points of the pentagonia

iduals who prefer to further formalize their dedication in a group setting. requirements for performance the standard altar articles are employed in the customary manner in addition to the initiate s pact articles (which sit upon a small table to the immediate right of the altar) which consists of: one satanagram pendant, a black robe, two pact of satan contracts (one for the initiate and one for the priest who represents the devil s emissary) and a pre-arranged satanic (magickal) name chose by the initiate. attendance requirements: the priest performing the rite, an assistant and the initiate. the priest and his assistant are garbed in the customary manner. the initiate wears a silver (gray is acceptable) robe -31- the pact of satan 1 the celebrant grasps the bell of commencement and open

SATANISM AN EXAMINATION OF SATANIC BLACK MAGIC

ll adorned in black robes, the three leading participants wear white (priestess, scarlet (mistress of the earth) and purple (master of the temple) and whilst the church of satan exclude the sexual element that seems to have been prevalent in many of the previous versions of the black mass, the order of nine angles have included two specifically sexual elements, the first being the masturbation of the priest by the satanism- an examination of satanic black magic side 4 af 21 file//c:\windows\skrivebord\nyt%20til%20bibilotek\ona\various\satanism_an_examin. 20-04-03 priestess, who then ejaculates over the host, which is duly trampled upon by the congregation and the inclusion of an orgy at the end of the ritual. the usefulness of the black mass has a number of different features. its first an

conceptual approach to ritualistic sexual magic the order of nine angles rite of nine angles provides a prime example of a method of ritualistic sexual magic. the sexual nature of the rite may be performed in two ways. firstly, a priest and priestess perform the ritual naked upon an isolated hilltop. the rite itself involves the use of the sound magick technique known as vibration, which involves the priest projecting, in syllables the following words of power "nythra kthunae atazoth" thus the syllable "ny" is sounded for a period of between ten and twenty seconds, then "thra" is sounded for the same period of time and so on. such methods of sound magic enable the participants to activate hitherto unknown areas of their minds and cause changes in consciousness as though inducing a semi tra

ecting, in syllables the following words of power "nythra kthunae atazoth" thus the syllable "ny" is sounded for a period of between ten and twenty seconds, then "thra" is sounded for the same period of time and so on. such methods of sound magic enable the participants to activate hitherto unknown areas of their minds and cause changes in consciousness as though inducing a semi trancelike state. the priest therefore vibrates these words in the direction of the priestess who holds a quartz crystal tetrahedron in her palms. after this vibration has been completed, the priestess lies on the ground, still holding the crystal whilst the priest performs cunnilingus. when the priestess is suitably aroused the priest then begins copulation, during which the priestess visualises a gateway situated

the stars above them opening and a black nebulous chaos flowing downwards to the earth. satanism- an examination of satanic black magic side 6 af 21 file//c:\windows\skrivebord\nyt%20til%20bibilotek\ona\various\satanism_an_examin. 20-04-03 the second form of the rite of nine angles, known as the cthonic form, is performed with the addition of a congregation who hold an orgy after the rite whilst the priest and priestess vibrate specific words of power and trained cantors chant a particularly difficult and elaborate sinister chant. the energy from the orgy is used to enhance the presencing of the dark gods who are then said to manifest. the changes of consciousness that may occur through such a rite can be equated on one level with the creation of the antichrist, that is, the satanist who

) this tradition has continued until modern times and although it is believed to have remained as it once was in essence, the outward form, that is, the words and chants of the ritual are believed to have been altered over the years. what is understood is that the ritual sacrifice was performed in honour of the dark and violent goddess baphomet- the severed head being associated with her worship. the priest himself would have secured an acausal existence in the land of the dark gods and would thereby become immortal. in more modern times the order of nine angles approach to ritual sacrifice has significantly altered from a willing sacrificial victim- that of the initiated priest- to that of an unwilling sacrificial victim. yet such acts are not performed without conscious decision, accurat

SCHLAGER NEIL WORLD RELIGIONS REFERENCE LIBRARY

shop, priest, or deacon of the church; extreme unction, a rite that is meant to give spiritual comfort 138 world religions: almanac christianity to the sick and dying; and penance, during which sins are confessed and forgiven. protestants, in general, have fewer ceremonies and rites. mass a part of the service in most branches of christianity, however, includes a sermon or homily, a discussion by the priest or clergy about some aspect of the bible or perhaps a topic of current social interest viewed in context with christian teaching. in some denominations, laypersons are encouraged to speak, while in others, only the official clergy or priests conduct services. music is often a part of services, with choirs and organ accompaniment. in the roman catholic church, the eastern orthodox church

catholic tradition, each friday during lent is declared a day of abstinence, when the faithful are asked to avoid eating meat. the church does not recognize fish as a type of meat, so observant catholics may eat fish on these days. there is no specific dress code or diet for christians. the clergy of various branches, denominations, and orders do, however, have distinctive clothing. this includes the priest s collar, the robes of some monks, the black attire and headpiece that nuns (women who have devoted their lives to god) used to wear, and the distinctive robes and circular hats worn in the eastern orthodox tradition. in the western tradition, the pope, the cardinals, and the bishops of the roman catholic church wear hats or caps called mitres that are presented to them when they enter

many couples write their own vows, or world religions: almanac 143 christianity wedding promises. the couples also exchange rings, which they wear on the fourth finger of the left hand. in the eastern orthodox church the ceremony most often follows the traditional two-part model. first comes the betrothal, or engagement service, which is followed by the marriage service. in the betrothal service, the priest first blesses the rings the couple exchange, and places them on the fourth fingers of their right hands. later comes the marriage ceremony. the priest gives the man and woman lighted candles to hold, signifying that the light of god will follow them through their married lives. a wedding crown, made of flowers or an actual crown of gold and jewels, is placed on the groom and then on the

early in the apostle s creed: i believe in the holy spirit; the holy catholic church; the communion of saints; the forgiveness of sins; the resurrection of the body; and life everlasting. for christians, death is a passage to eternal life. just before death, if possible, ministers or priests will give a final sacrament to the believer. this is called the anointing (touching with oil) of the sick. the priest or minister touches the dying person with holy oil and says, through this holy anointing may the lord in his love and mercy help you with the grace of the holy spirit. amen. may the lord who frees you from sin save you and raise you up. amen. catholics also confess their sins to the priest so that they can go to heaven without waiting in purgatory. after death, all christian traditions

be repented and absolved, or forgiven. for catholics confession is officially called the sacrament of reconciliation. reconcile means to restore, and by confessing, catholics believe they restore their relationship with god. this can be done sitting face-to-face with a priest and telling the sins one has committed. confession also happens at regular times in a confessional, a kind of booth where the priest is shielded from the layperson by a screen. sins are of two types, minor, or venal, and major sins, or mortal. examples of venal sins are gossiping, rudeness, and cursing. examples of mortal sins are sex outside of marriage and divorce. the priest will forgive the sins and give the believer religious duties to perform, such as reciting the lord s prayer many times. catholics are require

SIR EDWARD BULWER LYTTON ZANONI A ROSICRUCIAN TALE

rom my breast to thine; yes, whenever thou shalt comprehend me better, whenever the laws of our being shall be the same" he moved on gently. they returned slowly home; but fear still was in the heart of viola, though she strove to shake it off. italian and catholic she was, with all the superstitions of land and sect. she stole to her chamber and prayed before a little relic of san gennaro, which the priest of her house had given to her in childhood, and which had accompanied her in all her wanderings. she had never deemed it possible to part with it before. now, if there was a charm against the pestilence, did she fear the pestilence for herself? the next morning, when he awoke, zanoni found the relic of the saint suspended with his mystic amulet round his neck "ah! thou wilt have nothing

refused to sleep. whenever she gazed upon its face, still those wakeful, watchful eyes! and in their earnestness, there spoke something of pain, of upbraiding, of accusation. they chilled her as she looked. unable to endure, of herself, this sudden and complete revulsion of all the feelings which had hitherto made up her life, she formed the resolution natural to her land and creed; she sent for the priest who had habitually attended her at venice, and to him she confessed, with passionate sobs and intense terror, the doubts that had broken upon her. the good father, a worthy and pious man, but with little education and less sense, one who held (as many of the lower italians do to this day) even a poet to be a sort of sorcerer, seemed to shut the gates of hope upon her heart. his remonstr

d to their probe, bartolomeo spoke less of danger to herself than to her child "sorcerers" said he "have ever sought the most to decoy and seduce the souls of the young, nay, the infant" and therewith he entered into a long catalogue of legendary fables, which he quoted as historical facts. all at which an english woman would have smiled, appalled the tender but superstitious neapolitan; and when the priest left her, with solemn rebukes and grave accusations of a dereliction of her duties to her child, if she hesitated to fly with it from an abode polluted by the darker powers and unhallowed arts, viola, still clinging to the image of zanoni, sank into a passive lethargy which held her very reason in suspense. the hours passed: night came on; the house was hushed; and viola, slowly awakene

rt not of those who, denying a life to come, are the victims of the inexorable horror. oh, when shall men learn, at last, that if the great religion inculcates so rigidly the necessity of faith, it is not alone that faith leads to the world to be; but that without faith there is no excellence in this, faith in something wiser, happier, diviner, than we see on earth! the artist calls it the ideal, the priest, faith. the ideal and faith are one and the same. return, o wanderer, return! feel what beauty and holiness dwell in the customary and the old. back to thy gateway glide, thou horror! and calm, on the childlike heart, smile again, o azure heaven, with thy night and thy morning star but as one, though under its double name of memory and hope" as he thus spoke, zanoni laid his hand gently

of heaven it was! for, at the murmur, the terror melted from her soul; upward, from the dungeon and the death, upward, where the happy cherubim chant the mercy of the all-loving, whispered that cherub's voice. she fell upon her knees and prayed. the despoilers of all that beautifies and hallows life had desecrated the altar, and denied the god! they had removed from the last hour of their victims the priest, the scripture, and the cross! but faith builds in the dungeon and the lazar-house its sublimest shrines; and up, through roofs of stone, that shut out the eye of heaven, ascends the ladder where the angels glide to and fro, prayer. and there, in the very cell beside her own, the atheist nicot sits stolid amidst the darkness, and hugs the thought of danton, that death is nothingness("ma

SIR WALLIS BUDGE EGYPTIAN MAGIC

s of the most degraded character flourished with rank luxuriance among the peasants p. xii and working classes of that country, who failed to understand the symbolism of the elaborate ceremonies which were performed in the temples, and who were too ignorant to distinguish the spiritual conceptions which lay at their root--to meet the religious needs of such people the magician, and in later times the priest, found it necessary to provide pageants and ceremonies which appealed chiefly to the senses, and following their example, unscrupulous but clever men took advantage of the ignorance of the general public and pretended to knowledge of the supernatural, and laid claim to the possession of power over gods, and spirits, and demons. such false knowledge and power they sold for money, and for

ar papyrus. 2 this document was written in the early part of the xviiith dynasty, about b.c. 1550 but it is clear that the stories in it date from the early empire, and are in fact as old as the great pyramid. the story is related to king khufu (cheops) by baiu-f-ra as an event which happened in the time of the king's father, and as a proof of the wonderful powers of magic which were possessed by the priest 3 called p. 8 tchatcha-em-ankh. it seems that on a certain day king seneferu was in low spirits, and he applied to the nobles of his royal household expecting that they would find some means whereby his heart might be made glad; but as they could do nothing to cheer up the king, he gave orders that the priest and writer of books, tchatcha-em-ankh, should be brought into his presence imm

cheer up the king, he gave orders that the priest and writer of books, tchatcha-em-ankh, should be brought into his presence immediately, and in accordance with the royal command he was at once brought. when he had arrived, seneferu said to him "my brother, i turned to the nobles of my royal household seeking for some means whereby i might cheer my heart, but they have found nothing for me" then the priest made answer and advised the king to betake himself to the lake near the palace, and to go for a sail on it in a boat which had been comfortably furnished with things from the royal house "for" said he "the heart of thy majesty will rejoice and be glad when thou sailest about hither and thither, and dost see the beautiful thickets which are on the lake, and when thou seest the pretty ban

new turquoise and belongeth to one of the maidens who row hath fallen into the water, and she hath in consequence become silent, and hath ceased to row, and hath disturbed the p. 10 rowing of those in her company. i said to her 'why dost thou not row' and she replied 'an ornament [of mine] made of new turquoise hath fallen into the water' then i said to her 'i will get it back for thee" thereupon the priest and writer of books tchatcha-emankh spake certain words of power (hekau, and having thus caused one section of the water of the lake to go up upon the other, he found the ornament lying upon a pot-sherd, and he took it and gave it to the maiden. now the water was twelve cubits deep, but when tchatcha-em-ankh had lifted up one section of the water on to the other, that portion became fou

he ground. the end of the story does not concern us, and so we pass on to note that the act of touching the mouth which zaclas performed is, of course, a part of the ceremony of "opening the mouth" which is so often referred to in religious texts, and was considered of extreme importance for the welfare of the dead, 1 and that the power of bringing back the dead to life which apuleius ascribes to the priest or magician was actually claimed some thousands of years before christ by the sages of egypt, as we may see from the following story in the westcar papyrus. a son of king khufu (or cheops, who reigned about p. 16 [paragraph continues] b.c. 3800) called herutataf, who was famous as a learned man and whose name is preserved in the "book of the dead" in connection with the "discovery" of c

STEINER RUDOLF CHRISTIANITY AS MYSTICAL FACT

us above all that the platonic worldview stands revealed in its character of a mystery. from the very beginning of the dialogue the conversation concerns an initiation; solon is initiated into the mysteries of creation and into the mythological traditions which use pictures to symbolize eternal truth by an egyptian priest. there have been, and will be many different calamities to destroy mankind, the priest tells solon: the greatest of them by fire and water, lesser ones by countless other means. your own story of how phaethon, child of the sun, harnessed his father s chariot, but was unable to guide it along his father s course, and so burnt up things on the earth, and was himself destroyed by a thunderbolt, is a mythical version of the truth that there is at long intervals a variation in

SZYMANSKI GREG SEARCHING FOR THE ILLUMINATI DEEP WITHIN THE BOWELS OF THE VATICAN

k and foreboding with the scent of evil dripping from the walls, was only accessible through a hidden passageway camouflaged by a large painting. once inside the secret chamber, 13 distinct passageways were visible, each leading to a separate catacomb with every one of the 13 doorways blocked by the horrific site of a mummified body "after the boy was sacrificed, i had to bow and kiss the ring of the priest in scarlet robes and swear to serve the new world order for the rest of my life" recalls svali, 48, about the senseless sacrifice of what looked like "a drugged little boy" during her 1970 induction ceremony into the feared illuminati "i also had to swear to serve he who is to come as the 'great leader' looking back, it was just horrific and terror rushes into my mind every time i think

TEXE MARRS CODEX MAGICA SECRET SIGNS MYSTERIOUS SYMBOLS AND HIDDEN CODES OF THE ILLUMINATI

lseeing eye in the capstone on the u.s.a.'s dollar bill. quite possibly, the masons' sign of admiration and astonishment came from practices of adherents to the old mystery religions of babylon and egypt (from book, other worlds, hilary evans, readers digest books, 1998) on all occasions when the egyptian high priest was called to officiate, he wore his robe of office, the spotted leopard's skin. the priest then led the rituals in worship of the "hidden one" the concealed mystery divinity, known esoterically as saturn, the sixth planet from the sun. here we see the priest, attired in leopard's skin, hands upraised, palms outward, exactly as is done in various masonic, rosicrucian, witchcraft, thelemic, and o.t.o. rituals to this day (hislop's, the two babylons, p. 45) a show of hands 179 a

y came from an italian foundation dedicated to the work of new age evolutionist and educator maria montessori. in the babylonian religion, as the initiate entered into the "mysteries" part of the ritual was the drinking from the cup of the woman (the goddess. here, in this ancient woodcut we find a supplicant kneeling while raising his hands in submissive fashion after just drinking from the cup. the priest (at right) appears to be administering an oath while offering an oblation perhaps a wafer, piece of bread, or honycomb with his left hand (kittos' biblical cyclopedia; reprinted in alexander hislop's the two babylons, first edition 1916, american edition by loi/eaux bros, 1916) 188 codex magica former president bill clinton gives the sign of admiration as he views a painting of the late

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ad provides an important source for an understanding of their concept of the afterlife journey of the soul. a lama (priest) sits at the side of the deceased and recites texts from the book, a ritual which is thought to revive the bla, the life force within the body, and give it the power to embark upon a 49-day journey through the intermediate stage between death and rebirth. such a recitation by the priest at the bedside of the deceased might include these words from the tibetan book of the dead: since you [no longer] have a material body of flesh and blood, whatever may come sounds, lights, or rays are, all three, unable to harm you; you are incapable of dying. it is quite sufficient for you to know that these apparitions are your own thoughtforms. recognize this to be the bardo [the int

arted, called the opening of the mouth. this ceremony was a magical treatment of the mouth and other apertures of the body to ensure the spirit s ability to continue to hear, see, eat, and so forth, should it need to in the spirit world. the egyptians also performed this ceremony over statues and paintings, to endow them with a form in the afterworld. sources: ruffle, john. ancient egypt: land of the priest-king; egyptian temples: houses of power. in eerdman s handbook to the world s religions. edited by r. pierce beaver. grand rapids, mich: william b. eerdman s publishing co, 1982. egyptian journey to the next world uponan egyptian s death the greatest care was taken to preserve the body as a center of individual spirit manifestation. life to the body and make it possible for the ba to re

assist the soul in the afterlife. it is believed that these items will help the deceased pay his or her way through the courts of judgment. the son of the deceased burns the most important and influential paper models. ten years after the burial, the coffin is then dug up. the remains, or the bones of the deceased are taken to be cleaned and then placed in a pot which is then sealed by a priest. the priest finds the right place to bury the pot in a special ceremony called feng-shui. they believed it important to bury the bones in a place where the dead person will be happy, or else his or her ghost might return to punish the family. annually, the chinese festival, ching-ming, is held to pay tribute to and honor the deceased. sources: mayled, john. death customs. morristown, n.j: silver bu

n april 2, 1968, two mechanics working in a city garage across the street from st. mary s church of zeitoun, egypt, were startled to see what appeared to be a nun dressed in white standing on top of the large dome at the center of the roof. fearful that something might happen to the sister, one of the men ran into the church to get a priest, the other telephoned for a police emergency squad. when the priest ran from the church to look up at the dome, he was the first to recognize it as a manifestation of mother mary. the image of the blessed mother remained in full view of the priest, the two mechanics, and a growing crowd of excited witnesses for several minutes, then disappeared. the news of the holy mother s visitation spread rapidly from zeitoun, a suburb of cairo, to the greater metro

but there is an area that science cannot explain, he said. the casting out of demons and the healing of the sick and the lame were two of the great facets of the apostolic commission that jesus (c. 6 b.c.e. c. 30 c.e) gave to his followers, but the practice of performing an exorcism on candidates for baptism was first recorded by the church father hippolytus (c. 170 c. 235) in third-century rome. the priest or layman instructing those who would join the church was instructed to lay his hands upon the heads t h e g a l e e n c y c l o p e d i a o f t h e u n u s u a l a n d u n e x p l a i n e d 204 religious phenomena thepractice of performing an exorcism on candidates for baptism was first recorded by the church father hippolytus (c. 170 c. 235) in third-century rome. of the catechumens a

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x, who had come to try to determine the origin of the manifestations. that night, the sound of a heavy ball was heard descending the stairs from the second floor to the first, jumping from step to step. the parish priest was also invited to stay a night in the castle. he heard the heavy tread of a giant descending the stairs and proclaimed the activity to be supernatural. marcel de x. agreed with the priest. he had quickly concluded that this ghost would be a most difficult one to banish and had decided to leave calvados castle to the noisy spirit. he wished m. de x. the best of luck and returned to his home. on halloween, the haunting seemed to outdo itself with a display of phenomena that kept the household from going to bed until three o clock in the morning. the center of the activity

x. terrible screams sounded outside his room, and the violence of the successive blows on his door shook every window on the floor. on the night of january 26, the parish priest arrived with the intention of conducting the rites of exorcism. he had also arranged for a novena of masses to be said at lourdes that would coincide with his performance of the ancient ritual of putting a spirit to rest. the priest s arrival was greeted by a long, drawn-out cry and what sounded like a stampede of hoofed creatures running from the first floor passage. there came a noise similar to that of heavy boxes being moved, and the door to maurice s room began to shake as if something demanded entrance. the rites of exorcism reached their climax at 11:15 on the night of january 29. from the stairway came a pi

habitants of calvados castle heard the voice of a man in the first-floor passage. m. de x. recorded in his journal that it seemed to cry ha! ha, and immediately there were 10 resounding blows, shaking everything all around. a final blow struck the door of the green room; then there was the sound of coughing in the first-floor passage. the family rose and cautiously began to move about the castle. the priest slumped in exhaustion, sweat beading his forehead from the long ordeal. there was no sound of the hammering fist, no raucous screams, no shaking of doors, no shifting of furniture. they found a large earthenware plate that had been broken into 10 pieces at the door to mme. de x. s room. no one had ever seen the plate before that night. although it appeared that the haunting was over, se

societies the occasion of a betrothal required a feast of great festivity and celebration. among certain peoples, the betrothal was not considered binding until a feast had been given and both families had eaten together. among many of the afghan tribes, no man may even see or speak to his promised wife from the time of betrothal until marriage. in greece, the rings for betrothal are exchanged in the priest s presence, and the engagement may then not be broken without the consent of the priest. following the betrothal, the engaged couple may not see each other or talk to each other until the day of the wedding. in old russia, it was considered a great disgrace for a man to propose directly to his sweetheart. until the two sets of parents had settled the amount of the dowry and selected the

to either or both the bride and groom. on the day of the wedding, the groom arrives at the church in the company of his best man. the bride awaits them in the company of her attendants, her bridesmaids, and, on occasion, a matron of honor, perhaps an older sister or some other relative. when the ceremony begins, the groom, his best man, and his groomsmen enter at the front of the church and join the priest or pastor at the altar. once they are in position, the organist, orchestra, or other musical accompaniment, begins to play a piece of music that signals the entrance of the bridesmaids, who one by one walk down the aisle to stand opposite the groom and groomsmen. when their processional is completed, the musicians play another selection that announces the arrival of the bride and her fa

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man soldiers. within a few days of siege, general church fs mercenaries entered the village and killed those decided ones who offered resistance and arrested the others. annunchiarico and three of his lieutenants managed to escape but were captured four days later. even as he was being led to the firing squad, annunchiarico boasted that he had killed 60 or 70 men with his own hands, and he mocked the priest who came to administer the last rites. many of the common people who had gathered on the day of execution murmured that the thunderer would call down one of jupiter fs thunderbolts and escape from the mercenaries who had captured him. incredibly, after the command was given to the 21-member firing squad to fire a volley at ciro annunchiarico, he remained alive, and somehow managed to ge

oper charm to drive away an evil spirit. in these same early societies, the roles of priest and magician were often combined into a man or a woman who had the ability to enter a trance state and commune with the entities that dwelt in nature and the spirits who lived t h e g a l e e n c y c l o p e d i a o f t h e u n u s u a l a n d u n e x p l a i n e d 56 magic and sorcery in the unseen world. the priest/magican knew how to appease angry entities whose sacred spaces were violated, how to eject an unwelcome possessing spirit from a human body, and where to find the herbs that could banish illness. all of these tasks were accomplished with the good of the tribal members as the priest/magician fs primary objective. by the middle ages in europe, magic and religion remained intertwined for t

horned god pictured on the wall of the caverne des trois in southern france. at le tuc d faudoubert, near the caverne des trois, archeologists found the clay figure of a bison. the figure shows a number of marks where spears were thrust into it during a ritual of sympathetic magic performed to ensure a successful hunt. according to buckland: ga model of the animal to be hunted was made. and under the priest fs direction, was attacked by the men of the tribe. successful in ekilling f the clay animal, the men could thus go about after the real thing confident that the hunt would go exactly as acted before the god. h it is interesting to note the association of horns with divinity, a condition that finds expression in numerous strange and seemingly unassociated places. it is not difficult to

tribes around the world, there was a conscious or unconscious awareness that humans were a part of nature, part of one whole. and conversely, the whole was part of humankind. because of this oneness, humans understood that they were a part of the power of creation and of all the creatures that walked, swam, or took flight. to be a recipient of tribal empowerment, the practitioner, the shaman, or the priest must live their commitment every moment of every day. they must believe in the unity and the cooperation of all forms of life. when they are forced to take the life of an animal in order to survive, they kill only after uttering a prayer, beseeching the group spirit of that animal to understand that such an act was necessary in the turning of the great wheel of life. when those tribal i

THE GOD OF THE WITCHES

le, like the english, were largely of the old faith, and the conquest made littledifference to the relative position of the two religions. therefore though the rulers professed christianity thegreat mass of the people followed the old gods, and even in the highest offices of the church the priests oftenserved the heathen deities as well as the christian god and practised pagan rites. thus in 1282 the priest ofinverkeithing led the fertility dance round the churchyard;[2] in 1303 the bishop of coventry, like othermembers of his diocese, paid homage to a deity in the form of an animal;[3] in 1453, two years before therehabilitation of joan of arc, the prior of saint-germain-en-laye performed the same rites as the bishop ofcoventry.[4] as late as 1613 de lancre can say of the basses pyr351n35

gods. scandinavia, alwaysin touch with great britain (norway held the hebrides till 1263, successfully resisted christianity till theeleventh century. sweyn, the son of harold bluetooth, was baptised in infancy, but when he became a man hereverted to the old faith and waged a religious war against his christian father; and as late as the end of thethirteenth century a norwegian king was known as "the priest-hater".there is no doubt that the records are incomplete and that if all the instances of renunciation of christianityhad been as carefully recorded as the conversions it would be seen that the rulers of western europe were notchristian except in name for many centuries after the arrival of the missionaries. until the norman conquestthe christianity of england was the very thinnest vene

f such a processional dance is seen in the folk-dance known as "green garters",which carried the procession from the place of assembling to the maypole, and was throughout england thecustomary introduction to the maypole rites (pl. xiv).a fact which stamps the processional dance as a religious rite is that it was often danced in the churchyard.to quote only a few out of many examples, in 1282[58] the priest of inverkeithing "led the ring" in his ownchurchyard, the dancers being his own parishioners. the quaint old story of the sacrilegious carollers[59]tells of a company of thirteen persons of both sexes, of whom the chief was the priest's daughter, who dancedin a churchyard; this was in 1303 (plate xiv. 2. in 1590, barbara napier[60] met the covens of northberwick at the church "where she

deity is seen bythe attitude of the church towards it. in 589 the third council of toledo[72, forbade the people to dance inchurches on the vigils of saints' days. in 1209[73] the council of avignon promulgated a similar prohibition. the god of the witcheschapter iv. the rites44as late as the seventeenth century the apprentices of york danced in the nave of the minster.[74] even at thepresent day the priest and choristers of the cathedral at seville dance in front of the altar on shrove tuesdayand at the feasts of corpus christi and of the immaculate conception; while at echternach in luxembourgon[75] whit-tuesday the priest, accompanied by choir and congregation, dances to church and round thealtar.the sacred dance is undoubtedly pre-christian, and nothing can emphasise more strongly its

in the court directing her how toreply, and that the saint even succeeded in speaking to her in her room in the prison, presumably through thespy-hole communicating with the next room. in the rehabilitation, fr351re isambard stated that he wasthreatened with a ducking because he nudged her and winked at her to indicate how she should reply; thethreat so frightened him that he fled to his convent. the priest loyseleur, who was accused after his death ofbeing an agent provocateur became her adviser. she was often excessively offhand to her judges, treatingthem consistently with a disrespect unexpected from a christian towards those in authority in the church. sheoften refused to answer a question, saying "pass that by. sometimes she would say that she would answer aquestion after an interval

THE KEY TO THE MYSTERIES

inition, that true natural religion is revealed religion. the true revealed religion is the hierarchical and traditional religion, which affirms itself absolutely, above human discussion, by communion in faith, hope, and charity. representing the moral authority, and realizing it by the efficacy of its ministry, the priesthood is as holy and infallible as humanity is subject to vice and to error. the priest, 4 "qua" priest, is always the representative of god. of little account are the faults or even the crimes of man. when alexander vi consecrated his bishops, it was not the poisoner who laid his hands upon them, it was the pope. pope alexander vi never corrupted or falsified the dogmas which condemned him, or the sacraments which in his hands saved others, and did not justify him. at all

protestants, as well as the credulous and imperious ignorance of bad catholics. the antichrist is what divides men instead of uniting them; it is a spirit of dispute, the obstinacy of the theologians and sectarians, the impious desire of appropriating the truth to oneself, and excluding others from it, or of forcing the whole world to submit to the narrow yoke of our judgments. the antichrist is the priest who curses instead of blessing, who drives away instead of attracting, who scandalizes instead of edifying, who damns instead of saving. it is the hateful fanaticism which discourages good-will. it is the worship of death, sadness, and ugliness. 38 "what career shall we choose for our son" have said many stupid parents "he is mentally and bodily weak, and he is without a spark of courag

the form preferred to the thing, the rite without reason, faith become insensate through isolating itself. it is in consequence the corpse of religion, the death of life, stupefaction substituted for inspiration. fanaticism is superstition become passionate, its name comes from the word "fanum" which signifies "temple" it is the temple put in place of god, it is the human and temporal interest of the priest substituted for the honour of priesthood, the wretched passion of the man exploiting the faith of the believer. in the fable of the ass loaded with relics, la fontaine tells us that the animal thought that he was being adored; he did not tell us that certain people indeed thought that they were adoring the animal. these people were the superstitious. if any one had laughed at their stup

ration of black magic. you know as well as i do, reverend sir, that the church has always condemned, and still condemns, severely, everything which relates to these forbidden practices" a pale smile, imprinted with a sort of sarcastic irony, was all the answer that the abbe gave, and the conversation fell to the ground. however, the cheiromancer desbarrolles was attentively looking at the hand of the priest; he perceived it, a quite natural explanation followed, the abbe offered graciously and of his own accord his hand to the experimenter. desbarrolles knit his brows, and appeared embarrassed. the hand was damp and cold, the fingers smooth and spatulated; the mount of venus, or the part of the palm of the hand which corresponds to the thumb, was of a noteworthy development, the line of li

" cried a woman who rented chairs "you can come back to the church: monseigneur is not hurt; they have just said so from the pulpit" the crowd then made a movement to return to the church. 171 "go! go" said at that very moment the grave and anguished voice of a priest "the office cannot be continued; we are going to close the church: it is profaned "how is the archbishop" said a man "sir" replied the priest "the archbishop is dying; perhaps even at this very moment he is dead" the crowd dispersed in consternation to spread the mournful news over paris. a bizarre incident happened to eliphas, and made a kind of diversion for his deep sorrow at what had just passed. at the moment of the uproar, an aged woman of the most respectable appearance had taken his arm, and claimed his protection. he

THE NECRONOMICON SIMON VERSION

whatever attacker had come nearest me, though i was unarmed. to my surprise what i saw was no priest of ancient horror, no necromancer of that forbidden art, but black robes fallen upon the grass and weeds, with no seeming presence of life or bodies beneath them. i walked cautiously to the first and, picking up a long twig, lifted the robe from the tangle of weeds and thorns. all that remained of the priest was a pool of slime, like green oil, and the smell of a body lain long to rot in the sun. such a stench nearly overpowered me, but i was resolute to find the others, to see if the same fortune had also befallen them. walking back up the slope that i had so fearfully run down only moments ago, i came across yet another of the dark priests, in identical condition to the first. i kept walk

ipping with fire and sword, with water and dagger, and with the assistance of a strange grass that grows wild in certain parts of masshu, and with which i had unwittingly built my fire before the rock, that grass that gives the mind great power to travel tremendous distances into the heavens, as also into the hells, i received the formulae for the amulets and talismans which follow, which provide the priest with safe passage among the spheres wherein he may travel in search of the wisdom. but now, after one thousand-and-one moons of the journey, the maskim nip at my heels, the rabishu pull at my hair, lammashta opens her dread jaws, azag-thoth gloats blindly at his throne, kutulu raises his head and stares up through the veils of sunkun varloorni, up through the abyss, and fixes his stare

sunkun varloorni, up through the abyss, and fixes his stare upon me; wherefore i must with haste write this indeed, it appears as though i have failed in some regard as to the order of the rites, or to the formulae, or to the sacrifices, for now it appears as if the entire host of ereshkigal lies waiting, dreaming, drooling for my departure. i pray the gods that i am saved, and not perish as did the priest, abdul ben-martu, in jerusalem (the gods remember and have mercy upon him. my fate is no longer writ in the stars, for i have broken the chaldean covenant by seeking power over the zonei. i have set foot on the moon, and the moon no longer has power over me. the lines of my life have been oblitered by my wanderings in the waste, over the letters writ in the heavens by the gods. and even

h may be opened in their turn. they have seven colours, seven essences, and each a separate step on the ladder of lights. the chaldeans were but imperfect in their knowledge, although they had understanding of the ladder, and certain of the formulae. they did not, however, possess the formulae for the passing of the gates, save one, of whom it is forbidden to speak. the passing of the gates gives the priest both power and wisdom to use it. he becomes able to control the affairs of his life more perfectly than before, and many have been content to merely pass the first three gates and then sit down and go no further than that, enjoying the benefits that they have found on the preliminary spheres. but this is evil, for they are not equipped to deal with the attack from without that must sure

as gone to its rest. no ray of sunlight should strike the seal, lest its power be rendered nil and a new seal must needs be cast. the number of nanna is thirty and this is his seal: the god of mercury is nebo. he is a very old spirit, having a long beard, and is the guardian of the gods, as well as the keeper of the knowledge of science. he wears a crown of one hundred horns, and the long robe of the priest. his colour is blue. his essence is in that metal known as quicksilver, and is sometimes also found in sand, and in those things bearing the sign of mercury. his gate is the second you will pass in the rituals that follow. his step on the ladder of lights is blue. this is his seal, which you must write on perfect parchment, or no the broad leaf of a palm tree, having no other person abo

THE STAR IN THE WEST BY CAPTAIN FULLER A CRITICAL ESSAY ON THE WORKS OF ALEISTER CROWLEY

opophagi: the vale is black with priests. they fight, wild beasts, for food, the orphan fs gold, the widow fs right, the virgin fs snood, all in their maws are crammed within the night that hides their chosen wood, where through the blackness sounds the sickening noise of cannibals that gloat on monstrous joys *mysteries: lyrical and dramatic, vol. i, p. 126. feeding perhaps first on man fs body, the priest soon found, after investing his victim with an immortal soul, that the soul would form an excellent basis for blackmail, enabling man to buy off the terrors of hell through the medium of the priest who held the keys of heaven: cstill death reigns, and god and priests are fed, man fs blood for wine, man fs flesh for meat and bread *mysteries: lyrical and dramatic, vol. i, p. 106. and the

gions have finally become subservient to an interested priesthood, so have all religions (however spiritual they may have been in their youth) been materialized and sacrificed on the altar of gain. to this rule christianity forms no exception; once crudely and sincerely spiritual, it has become deceitfully materialistic. god, who was formerly an almighty pleroma, is now but the moke which carries the priest fs eggs to market; and christ, the saviour and redeemer, the stick with which the wretched old jennet is beaten along. christianity is no longer what its name implies, the system of doctrines as taught by christ, but diametrically the reverse, the system of desires as wrought by man. it is no longer gsell all, h but gseize all h; or ggive all, h but gget all. h mammon is the god of to-d

between the theist and the atheist stands the agnostic, and as the most vital point of attack is that which lies nearest to the object to be attacked, the great danger to theistic churches was threatened not from the atheistical extremity, but from the agnostic frontier. the agnostic said, gi do not know, h the theist said, gi do, h hence the uninterrupted warfare of 3,000 years or more, in which the priest has ever been ready to lie for the greater glory of his god, as s fafi well said: then speak the truth, if so a priest may tune his tongue to anything but lies *the fatal force, vol. i, p. 142. and of the gods of this greater glory, amenhatep a few lines further on informs us: for the old gods indeed go down to death, but the new gods arise from rottenness *the fatal force, vol. i, p. 1

THE WITCH CULT OF ZOS VEL THANATOS

ichael dewitt is one of the most powerful descriptions of the essence of babalon that could be described. the ritual itself is opened with the quadriga sexualis banishing ritual and leads into the invoking of the force of darkness. the temple itself would be decorated in images of death, skulls and bones and a large black coffin in which one of the female magicians would be laying. it begins with the priest of thanatos invoking: now listen to the voice of thanatos known to men as the face of death, whom they worship with howling and shattering teeth. all the while a funerary drum beats and calls forth the dead. soon, the congregation throws human bones and grave soil within the coffin, which is soon closed. the celebrants then meditate on among other things, their own death, and understand

THE SECRET RITUALS OF THE OTO

s is death. but now being made free from sin, and become servants to god, ye have your fruit unto sanctification, and the end eternal life (romans vi, 12-13 and 19-22) consider also these passages of the old testament: and the lord said unto me, take thee a great tablet, and write upon it with the pen of a man, for maher-shalal-hash-baz; and i will take upon me faithful witnesses to record, uriah the priest and zechariah the son of jeberechiah. and i went unto the prophetess and she conceived and bare a son. then said the lord unto me, call his name maher-shalalhash- baz (isaiah viii, 1-4) when the lord spake at the first by hosea, the lord said unto hosea, go, take unto thee a wife of whoredom and children of whoredom: for the land doth commit great whoredom, departing from the lord. so h

rist is said to be equally in all the myriad consecrated hosts, and his blood in every drop of consecrated wine, everywhere and for all efficacious. consider this. iii of certain rites secretly practised in russia there is a body within the greek church which holds an esoteric doctrine and practises a secret rite. at the meetings of this body the lights being extinguished, the worshippers, led by the priest and a chosen and consecrated priestess, seek out each other by touch and by subtle attraction; then they consummate the pure charity of their hearts in holy zeal. if by the favour and indwelling of the holy ghost the priestess (that is unto this rite espoused, and else virgin) do conceive and bring forth, then is the child baptized by its father the priest for the purification by water

ignorant of our light and of our truth, that to them the attainment of life, liberty and love seemed only possible through a profanation of their own mysteries. for they knew not that these mysteries were themselves but profanation and corruption of the true and perfect mysteries of the adepts. they established therefore a cult whose fundamental formula was the defilement of the consecrated host. the priest therefore having made the bread into the body of christ (as he could theoretically do by virtue of his apostolic power) did, as he thought, defile that body by using it as the object and vehicle of lust. heroic children of liberty, but thrice blind! samsons that perish with the philistines! for if the ecclesiastical theory be true, in fact they do incur damnation, if false, verily they

for if the ecclesiastical theory be true, in fact they do incur damnation, if false, verily they lose their labour. but at least they set up man against the foul demon of the christians, and let this be accounted unto them for righteousness. but see, my brethren perfectly illuminated adepts, how great is their error, that they revolt who should be kings. for it is in truth not the apish antics of the priest that consecrate the bread, but his male power that should make holy all his deeds. consider of this. v of the sabbath of the adepts in the black hours of earth, when the christian superstition with fell blight withered most malignantly the peoples of europe, when our own holy order was dispersed and the sanctity of its preceptories lay violate, there were yet found certain to hold truth

THE HOLY BIBLE KING JAMES VERSION

and he brought back all the goods, and also brought again his brother lot, and his goods, and the women also, and the people. 14:17 and the king of sodom went out to meet him after his return from the slaughter of chedorlaomer, and of the kings that [were] with him, at the valley of shaveh, which [is] the king s dale. 14:18 and melchizedek king of salem brought forth bread and wine: and he [was] the priest of the most high god. 14:19 and he blessed him, and said, blessed [be] abram of the most high god, possessor of heaven and earth: 14:20 and blessed be the most high god, which hath delivered thine enemies into thy hand. and he gave him tithes of all. 14:21 and the king of sodom said unto abram, give me the persons, and take the goods to thyself. 14:22 and abram said to the king of sodom

id the wrong, wherefore smitest thou thy fellow? 2:14 and he said, who made thee a prince and a judge over us? intendest thou to kill me, as thou killedst the egyptian? and moses feared, and said, surely this thing is known. 2:15 now when pharaoh heard this thing, he sought to slay moses. but moses fled from the face of pharaoh, and dwelt in the land of midian: and he sat down by a well. 2:16 now the priest of midian had seven daughters: and they came and drew [water] and filled the troughs to water their father s flock. 2:17 and the shepherds came and drove them away: but moses stood up and helped them, and watered their flock. 2:18 and when they came to reuel their father, he said, how [is it that] ye are come so soon to day? 2:19 and they said, an egyptian delivered us out of the hand o

ing of egypt died: and the children of israel sighed by reason of the bondage, and they cried, and their cry came up unto god by reason of the bondage. 2:24 and god heard their groaning, and god remembered his covenant with abraham, with isaac, and with jacob. 2:25 and god looked upon the children of israel, and god had respect unto [them] 3:1 now moses kept the flock of jethro his father in law, the priest of midian: and he led the flock to the backside of the desert, and came to the mountain of god [even] to horeb. 3:2 and the angel of the lord appeared unto him in a flame of fire out of the midst of a bush: and he looked, and, behold, the bush burned with fire, and the bush [was] not consumed. 3:3 and moses said, i will now turn aside, and see this great sight, why the bush is not burnt

17:14 and the lord said unto moses, write this [for] a memorial in a book, and rehearse [it] in the ears of joshua: for i will utterly put out the remembrance of amalek from under heaven. 17:15 and moses built an altar, and called the name of it jehovahnissi: 17:16 for he said, because the lord hath sworn [that] the lord [will have] war with amalek from generation to generation. 18:1 when jethro, the priest of midian, moses father in law, heard of all that god had done for moses, and for israel his people [and] that the lord had brought israel out of egypt; 18:2 then jethro, moses father in law, took zipporah, moses wife, after he had sent her back, 18:3 and her two sons; of which the name of the one [was] gershom; for he said, i have been an alien in a strange land: 18:4 and the name of t

1 in the tabernacle of the congregation without the vail, which [is] before the testimony, aaron and his sons shall order it from evening to morning before the lord [it shall be] a statute for ever unto their generations on the behalf of the children of israel. 28:1 and take thou unto thee aaron thy brother, and his sons with him, from among the children of israel, that he may minister unto me in the priest s office [even] aaron, nadab and abihu, eleazar and ithamar, aaron s sons. 28:2 and thou shalt make holy garments for aaron thy brother for glory and for beauty. 28:3 and thou shalt page 47 exodus speak unto all [that are] wise hearted, whom i have filled with the spirit of wisdom, that they may make aaron s garments to consecrate him, that he may minister unto me in the priest s office

TRUE HISTORY OF WITCHCRAFT

would appear that the wiccan third degree is one of the most blatant examples of that influence. take, for example, this excerpt from what is perhaps the most intimate, most secret and most sublime moment in the entire repertoire of wicca rituals, the nonsymbolic (that is, overtly sexual) great rite of the third degree initiation, as related by janet and stewart farrar in the witches' way (p.34: the priest continues `o secret of secrets, that art hidden in the being of all lives, not thee do we adore, for that which adoreth is also thou. thou art that, and that am i [kiss] i am the flame that burns in the heart of every man, and in the core of every star. i am life, and the giver of life. yet therefore is the knowledge of me the knowledge of death. i am alone, the lord within ourselves, w

is in mind, observe the following, from aleister crowley's gnostic mass, first published in the equinox about 80 years ago and routinely performed (albeit ,usually in symbolic form) by me and by many other bishops, priests, priestesses and deacons in the oto and ecclesia gnostica (egc) today. the following is excerpted from gems from the equinox, p. 372, but is widely available in published form: the priest. o secret of secrets that art hidden in the being of all that lives, not thee do we adore, for that which adoreth is also thou. thou art that, and that am i. i am the flame that burns in every heart of man, and in the core of every star. i am life, and the giver of life; yet therefore is the knowledge of me the knowledge of death. i am alone; there is no god where i am. so, then, where

TWO ESSAYS ON THE WORSHIP OF PRIAPUS

any regard for the sex of these worshippers, he carried a wooden image of the male members of generation before them in the dance, and himself dancing with them, he accompanied their songs with movements in accordance, and urged them to licentious actions by his no less licentious language. the more modest part of those who were present felt scandalized by these proceedings, and expostulated with the priest, but he treated their words with contempt, and only gave utterance to coarser obscenities. he was cited before his bishop, defended himself upon the common usage of the country, and was allowed to retain his benefice; but he must have been rather a worldly priest, after the style of the middle ages, for a year afterwards he was killed in a vulgar brawl.1 the practice of placing the figu

other places. when dulaure wrote, the festival of palm sunday, in the town of saintes, was called the f te des pinnes, pinne being a popular and vulgar word for the membrum virile. at this f te the women and children carried in the procession, at the end of their palm branches, a phallus made of bread, which they called undisguisedly a pinne, and which, having generative powers 159 been blest by the priest, the women carefully preserved during the following year as an amulet. a similar practice existed at st. jeand'ang ly, where small cakes, made in the form of the phallus, and named fateux, were carried in the procession of the f te-dieu, or corpus christi.1 shortly before the time when dulaure wrote, this practice was suppressed by a new sous-pr fet, m. maillard. the custom of making ca

leurs de ces pauvres mis rables. et voulant mesler l impi t avec l abomination du sortil ge, pour leur faire paroistre qu il veut qu elles vivent avec quelque forme de religion, le service ou culte divin, 224 on the worship of the and contemptuous parody on the catholic mass. an altar was raised, and a priest consecrated and administered the host, but it was made of some disgusting substance, and the priest stood with his head downwards and his legs in the air, and with his back turned to the altar. thus all things were performed in monstrous or disgusting forms, so that satan himself appeared almost ashamed of them. de lancre acknowledges that there was some diversity in the manner of the proceedings of the sabbath in different countries, arising from difference in the character of the lo

TYSON DONALD NEW MILLENNIUM MAGIC

ity to project the point of self along a ray is difficult to master. it is seldom taught because it is so dangerous, both to the user and the person used. at one time in tibet priests learned how to invade the body of another and usurp it so that they might continue to occupy the earth after their physical death. the technique is similar to the casting of the evil eye except that when the self of the priest occupied the body of another, it expelled the rightful owner and remained in unlawful possession. outwardly, such a theft is marked by a sudden and complete change in the personality and habits of the dispossessed individual. there is a danger in projecting the self for any length of time, as it leaves the physical body without a center, therefore without a protective circle and prey to

is a hardship that would cause the death of all but the strongest. the norsemen were a physical race constantly pressing the boundaries of their endurance. one of the runes revealed by odin to his people is nyd, which means "the necessity to endure" they would have appreciated full well the meaning of nine days without water. interestingly, there is a japanese bud- dhist initiation that requires the priest undertaking it to go nine days and nights without water or food. this is still practiced today. what is the inner meaning of the sacrifices of odin? to be bound to the tree entails the curbing of the animal will to strike out in passion or hatred as soon as the impulse comes to mind. to mutilate one's own flesh is to proclaim to the depths of being that the pleasures and pains of the bo

TYSON DONALD SOUL FLIGHT

es and shamans. on another occasion, while columba was seeing the star of bethlehem on one of her astral excursions, her confessor noticed a globe of fire above her house and hurried over to learn the cause. the girl told him she had just seen the star of the magi, which had filled her chamber with light and left behind it a sweet scent.66 the intensity of her astral vision communicated itself to the priest who, being close to her on an emotional level, was able to see a reflexive manifestation of the same vision. this sort of sharing of an astral vision between the person actually having the vision and others who may be present, or who are emotionally linked with the astral traveler, is common enough that it leads to the suspicion that human minds are linked together on some unknown level

tuned harmonically to it to begin to vibrate and emit sound, so one mind powerfully moved by an astral experience can cause other minds in a receptive state to perceive a shadow of the vision. it is not always possible to explain this sharing of an astral vision solely by suggestibility of mind and the physical transmission of hints and cues from one individual to another. in the incident above, the priest had no prior knowledge of what columba would see, and was not even present in the same house at the time it occurred. emanuel swedenborg with the dawn of the protestant reformation, the rigid and complete control over the relationship between the common individual and the deity passed out of the hands of the clergy. this event gave rise to ordinary men and women having astral journeys o

with a medium was able to overcome any spirit without such a connection, due to the animal energy the control could siphon off from the physical body of the medium. there are many more parallels between shamanism and spiritualism. the medium does not choose her profession, but is chosen for it by her innate gift, and by visitations of the spirits, who urge her to use that gift. this differs from the priest of a conventional religion, who has no special talent of his own, but receives his power from his office. threats are sometimes employed by the spirits to ensure that the medium does not shirk from her calling. similar threats were used by spirits to compel reluctant men and women to adopt shamanism. both medium and shaman form a close bond of trust and affection with one or several spi

TYSON DONALD THE POWER OF THE WORD

was known to the common people and was used in a form of greeting not unlike "god be with you" as early as the fourth century before christ, its use was suppressed. the reason for the restriction of the name is not known. possibly it was to avoid profanation of the name by heathen lips, or to prevent its abuse in vulgar magic. i tend to believe it was connected with a growing social gulf between the priest class and the people. the priests reserved the name exclusively as the supreme emblem of their authority, in very much the same way that the catholic church of the middle ages bitterly resisted the translation of the bible into the common tongues of europe. knowledge is power. several generations before the fall of jerusalem to the romans in a.d. 70, the priests had ceased to speak the

my name jehovah (ihvh) was i not known to them (exod. 6:3. this has led to speculation that the name originally belonged to the resident deity of the holy mountain who was worshipped by the tribes that dwelt in the region south of palestine. in receiving the name, moses also took on the authority of the god of the mountain and conveyed its power to his people. that is why he married a daughter of the priest of midian (exod. 3: l b t h e tribe of midian grazed their flocks in the land of the sacred mountain and worshipped its god with sacrifices. that is why he led the israelites to this mountain after their deliverance from egypt and taught them how to worship ihvh. he wished them to have the continuing protection and blessing of this most potent god who had secured their freedom through h

.5. the name "breastplate" is misleading. the hebrew word used to describe this object is chosen (chshn. its meaning is unknown, but it has been translated as "ornament" or "breast-piece" it consisted of a linen pouch used in divination that was worn against the breast of the high priest. to allow the chosen to be worn in this manner, a hole was cut in the front of the ephod, or upper garment, of the priest. the ephod, which was always intimately joined with the breastplate, is another mysterious instrument. it seems in earliest times to have been an oracular idol or image (see judg. 8:27. however, the word may simply have been used as a synonym for "oracle" or it is possible that an oracular idol was arrayed in a special garment that was later adopted by the high priest for divination pur

he breastplate held twelve large precious and semiprecious stones arranged in four rows and three columns. the deep golden settings of 78 tetragrammaton the stones were joined together by a woven linen frame one span (about eight inches) wide and two spans long, which was folded over once like a towel and hung from the ephod by two gold loops so that the back panel lay against the undergarment of the priest over his heart. two more gold loops secured the bottom corners of this linen frame to the ephod by blue thread. the threads of the breastplate itself were of four colors: gold, blue, purple, and scarlet. josephus assigns these threads to the four elements, but not in the way we might expect. blue, he says, signifies the sky and the air; purple signifies the sea and water, because it is

or king of israel in times of great trial. within a pouch hidden inside the fold of the breastplate behind the twelve stones resided the two mysterious and sacred objects, urim and thummim. when moses robes aaron in the vestments of a priest, it is written "and he put the breastplate upon him: also he put in the breastplate urim and thumrnim (lev. 89. when god instructs moses about the making of the priest's apparel, he says "and thou shalt put in the breastplate the urim and the thummim; and they shall be upon aaron's heart when he goeth in before the lord: and aaron shall bear the judgment of the children of israel upon his heart before the lord continually" precisely what these objects were is never described clearly, but they were used as an oracle. when saul sought guidance from god

WALLIS BUDGE E A LEGENDS OF THE EGYPTIAN GODS

d, and may be assigned to a time between the xxvith dynasty and the ptolemaic period. the titles, catch-words, rubrics, names of apep and his fiends, and a few other words, are written in red ink. there are two colophons; in the one we have a date, namely, the "first day of the fourth month of the twelfth year of pharaoh alexander, the son of alexander" i.e, b.c. 311, and in the other the name of the priest who either had the papyrus written, or appropriated it, namely, nes-menu, or nes-amsu. the legend of the creation is found in the third work which is given in the papyrus, and which is called the "book of overthrowing apep, the enemy of ra, the enemy of un-nefer (i.e, osiris. this work contained a series of spells which were recited during the performance of certain prescribed ceremonie

y slain. one hundred and forty-two of them and a male hippopotamus were dragged on to the boat of ra, and there horus dug out their entrails, and hacked their carcases in pieces, which he gave to his blacksmiths and the gods who formed the crew of the boat of ra. before despatching the hippopotamus, horus leaped on to the back of the monster as a mark of his triumph, and to commemorate this event the priest of heben, the town wherein these things happened, was called "he who standeth on the back ever after" the end of the great fight, however, was not yet. another army of enemies appeared by the north lake, and they were marching towards the sea; but terror of horus smote their hearts, and they fled and took refuge in mertet-ament, where they allied themselves with the followers of set, th

e texts that every god was believed to possess this magical power, which is called the "sa of life" or the "sa of the god.[fn#40] this sa could be transferred by a god or goddess to a human being, either by an embrace or through some offering which was eaten. thus temu transferred the magical power of his life to shu and tefnut by embracing them,[fn#41] and in the ritual of the divine cult[fn#42] the priest says, the two vessels of milk of temu are the "sa of my limbs" the man who possessed this sa could transfer it to his friend by embracing him and then "making passes" with his hands along his back. the sa could be received by a man from a god and then transmitted by him to a statue by taking it in his arms, and this ceremony was actually performed by the king in the ritual of the divine

his mouth and had closed it; and he went with him before his father ra, who said "o horus, thou winged disk, twice great (urui- tenten) is the deed of valour which thou hast done, and thou hast cleansed the district" and ra, said unto thoth "the palace of heru- behutet shall be called 'lord of the district which is cleansed' because of this" and [thus is it called] unto this day. and the name of the priest thereof is called ur-tenten unto this day. and ra said unto thoth "let the enemies and set be given over to isis and her son horus, and let them work all their heart's desire upon them" and she and her son horus set themselves in position with their spears in him at the time when there was storm (or, disaster) in the district, and the lake of the god was called she-en-aha from that day

the hippopotamus, which was [as hard] as the khenem[fn#96] stone in its mountain bed [fn#94] the crown of the south [fn#95] the crown of the north [fn#96] a kind of jasper. and ra said unto thoth "indeed [heru-]behutet is like a master-fighter in the slaughter of his enemies" and thoth said unto ra "he shall be called 'neb-ahau (i.e, masterfighter; and for this reason he hath been thus called by the priest of this god unto this day. and isis made incantations of every kind in order to drive away the fiend ra from an-rut-f, and from the great god in this place. and thoth said [unto ra "the priestess of this god shall be called by the name of 'nebt-heka' for this reason" and thoth said unto ra "beautiful, beautiful is this place wherein thou hast taken up thy seat, keeping watch, as for a k

WEOR SAMAEL AUN ESOTERIC COURSE OF KABBLAH

the degree of job. this sign, this number, signifies trials and pains. these initiatic ordeals are performed in the superior worlds and in the physical world. eighth card of the tarot a woman with a sword in her hand, facing the scale [or balance] of cosmic justice appears in the arcanum eight of the tarot. indeed, only she [the priestess] can deliver the sword to the magician. thus, an initiate (the priest) without a woman cannot receive the sword. there exists the eve-venus, the instinctual woman. the venus-eve, the noble home woman. there also exist venus-urania, the woman initiated into the great mysteries and finally, we confirm the existence of the urania- venus, the female adept, the woman that is self-realized in depth. the flaming fire the flaming fire opens the seven churches of

s own unknowable profundities. the cosmic christ is the glorian, the incessant eternal breath profoundly unknowable to itself, the ray that joins us to the abstract absolute space. hieroglyph hieroglyphic of this arcanum: the crown of life is amidst the four mysterious animals of sexual alchemy. in the middle of the crown, truth is represented as a naked woman who has a little stick in each hand (the priest and the priestess; this is sexual alchemy. we can incarnate the truth only by working in the flaming forge of vulcan el n mero veintid s se adiciona kabal sti-camente as: 2 m s 2 igual: 4. el santo tres emana de la estrella interior, el tres m s su estrella interior es el santo cuatro, el misterioso tetragrammaton, el iod he vau he. ahora compren-deremos porque el arcano veintid s es la

WICCA EIGHT SABBATS OF WITCHCRAFT

s relaxed for the may eve rites. names such as robin hood, maid marian, and little john played an important part in may day folklore, often used as titles for the dramatis personae of the celebrations. and modern surnames such as robinson, hodson, johnson, and godkin may attest to some distant may eve spent in the woods. these wildwood antics have inspired writers such as kipling: oh, do not tell the priest our plight, or he would call it a sin; but we have been out in the woods all night, a-conjuring summer in! and lerner and lowe: it's may! it's may! the lusty month of may. eight sabbats of witchcraft get any book for free on: www.abika.com 19 those dreary vows that ev'ryone takes, ev'ryone breaks. ev'ryone makes divine mistakes! the lusty month of may! it is certainly no accident that q

WICCA WITCHCRAFT TODAY

ganisation was crushed and the surviving members were either in the households of nobles or among the secret cult members. the early trials show us what happened. people said 'we are good christians; we have always done these things so as to reap a good harvest' in many cases it was the parish priest who had led the fertility rites, and the people said they had not been told it was wrong; in fact the priest said it was right. at first only penances and fines were imposed, but as the church grew stronger torture and fire were used. the old religion made one great mistake. it had stated that paradise was reserved for the initiates; that the ordinary folk when they died went to a kind of spiritualist heaven, a happy hunting-ground: but it was one where they had to work, as only initiates coul

e at times because of a misunderstanding of certain ceremonies, etc. for instance, the romans accused the early christians of being cannibals, because it was said that at their meetings they ate the body and drank the blood of their god! and during the first world war the turkish police raided the english church at jerusalem, tore up the altar and dug up all the floor, because they had heard that the priest in charge had recently made two canons at the altar- canon had only one meaning for them. wearing a cord of heretical significance. to modern writers on the templars this has always seemed a curiously pointless charge at a time when all monks wore such a cord or girdle. but though the inquisitors may have been scoundrels, they were certainly not fools. the way they stressed this charge

of the cult. this stone brings food to its worshippers. in the diu crone version gawain achieves the quest, asks a long-awaited question and thereby restores to life the dead king guardian. is this not a regeneration or reincarnation motive? the high history also says 'after this came two priests to the cross, and the first ordered sir perceval to withdraw from the cross; and when he had done so 'the priest kneeleth before the cross and adoreth it, and boweth down and kisseth it more than a score of times and manifesteth the most joy in the world. and the other priest cometh after and bringeth a great rod and setteth the first priest aside by force, and beateth the cross with the rod in every part and weepeth right passing sore. perceval beholdeth him with great wonderment, and sayeth to h

n a score of times and manifesteth the most joy in the world. and the other priest cometh after and bringeth a great rod and setteth the first priest aside by force, and beateth the cross with the rod in every part and weepeth right passing sore. perceval beholdeth him with great wonderment, and sayeth to him "sir, herein seem you to be no priest. wherefore do you do so great a shame "sir" sayeth the priest "it nought concerneth you of whatsoever we may do, nor nought shall you know thereof for us" had he not been a priest, pereeval would have been right wroth with him, but he had no will to do him any hurt. therewithall he departed (1 [1] dr. sebastian evans, the high history of the holy grail, pp, 89,191- later the king hermit explains that both priests loved christ equally, and that he

ate and consisted of both irish and english members. mr. hughes mentions that the municipal archives of exeter show that in 1302 the grand jury found that 'dionysia baldwyn does often receive john and agnes de wormhille and joan de cornwale of taignmouth who are witches; and the said dionysia consorts with them' the name dionysia suggests to me that her parents belonged to some such cult and that the priest who christened her had no objections, though many church councils had fulminated against cults of diana and the moon. john, agnes and joan are all witch names, according to dr. margaret murray; wormhille (dragon hill) might be accidental, or it might have some meaning. one would have expected the local bishop to have secured a conviction; but the court apparently would have none of this

WICCA MAGICK OCCULT THREE GREEN BOOKS DRUIDISM

him on the cliffside he saw a luscious bunch of grapes. holding onto the vine with one hand, he reached and picked a grape with the other hand. how delicious (miracles) while bankei was preaching quietly to his followers, his talk was interrupted by a shinshu priest who believed in miracles, and thought salvation came from repeating holy words. bankei was unable to go on with his talk, and asked the priest what he wanted to say. the founder of my religion, boasted the priest, stood on one shore of a river with a writing brush in his hands. his disciple stood on the other shore holding a sheet of paper. and the founder wrote the holy name of amida onto the paper across the river through the air. can you do anything so miraculous? no, said bankei, i can only do little miracles. like: when i

WILLIAM WESCOTT NUMBERS THEIR OCCULT POWER AND MYSTIC VIRTUES

thers, there are 5 things, which are injurious; garlic, cucumber, melon, leeks and onions; said rashi. in one study 5 years and then has found no profit in it, he will never profit by it. talmud, chullin, 24. 1. five is the number of expiation and of sacrifice, the number of the passions, and the 5 wounds of christ. these were commemorated anciently by 5 crosses inscribed on the altar tables, and the priest made 5 crosses on himself at the canon in the liturgy. w. f. shaw. numbers--th eir occu lt power an d mys tic vir tu es by w. wyn n wes tcott jesus 5 times foretold his passion and gave 5 particulars concerning it and received 5 wounds. the brahmins speak of 5 skandhas, or attributes of men; they are rupa, form; vidana, perception; sanina, consciousness; sanskara, action; and vidyana, k

WOLFSON ELLIOT ALEF MEM TAU KABBALISTIC MUSINGS ON TIME TRUTH AND DEATH

t from the zoharic homily with which we began: even though he sees that it is the time that the other hand has been given power to rule in the world and it has been given to him to unite with it and to draw it close to the holy. the remark is offered as the rationale for the restriction imposed on the priests not to enter at any moment into the shrine, for when contemplating entry into the shrine the priest apprehends that even the demonic is not absolutely other in relation to the divine. the experience of god s oneness discounts the possibility of ontological dual- linear circularity (a)temporal poetics 103 ism an idea expressed by kabbalists, as well as by mystics in other traditions, in the image of the coincidence, and in some cases identity, of opposites. hence the high priest is tem

into the shrine, to traverse the boundary and thereby unite demonic and divine, to a rm, in the zoharic language, god s declaration, ana we-shem had hu, i and the name are one. although the monistic claim is metaphysically true, in the unredeemed world, the mandate for the pious jew is to keep pure and impure separate. when confronting the sacred in the form of the erotic energy of the feminine, the priest must resist the enticement to render the disjuncture of the moment the slashing of the instant conjunctive by blurring the boundaries separating holy and unholy. phallic fecundity and the spatio-temporal enshrining of prayer there is one more layer of meaning to expose in the zoharic homily, one that will help us uncover the most recondite dimension of the ontology of time and the kabba

e discussed this symbolism in several separate studies, i will not dwell on the point here, except to emphasize the particular relevance of this transposition to understanding the nexus of time and prayer. the et, which initially was identified as the female aspect, the matrona, in the end is assimilated into part of the male organ, the yod, which is also inscribed in the name. by what means does the priest enter the shrine? through zo t, which is the yod, the sign of circumcision. with this we reach the point of perfect symmetry in the homiletical rhetoric exhibited by the zoharic author: nadab and abihu cohabited with gentile women and thereby placed the sign of the covenant in an unworthy place. from this transgression the high priest learns that he can only go into the shrine through t

paul-louis. the experience of death. in essays in phenomenology, edited by maurice natanson, 193 231. the hague: martinus nijhoff, 1969. larrabee, mary jeanne. there s no time like the present: how to mind the now. in the many faces of time, edited by john b. brough and lester embree, 85 111. dordrecht: kluwer academic publishers, 2000. lasker, daniel j, and sarah stroumsa. the polemic of nestor the priest: qissat mujadalat al-usquf and sefer nestor ha-komer. introduction, annotated translations and commentary, with an appendix by johannis niehoff-panagiotides. 2 vols. jerusalem: ben-zvi institute, 1996. lauer, robert h. temporal man: the meaning and uses of social time. new york: prager publishers, 1981. leftow, brian. a timeless god incarnate. in the incarnation: an interdisciplinary sy

ZALEWSKI GOLDEN DAWN ENOCHIAN MAGIC OCR

a black cloth. opening: commence west of the altar. circumambulate deosil (circle clockwise) to north east. face the south west, holding the lotus wand up by the black band. say "hekas, hekas, este bebeloi" return to the west. put down the lotus wand and pick up your sword. perform the lesser banishing ritual of the pentagram (see appendix d. purify the temple by water while vibrating "and first the priest who governeth the works of fire must sprinkle with the lustral waters of the loud resounding sea" consecrate the temple by fire while vibrating "and when all the phantoms have vanished, thou shalt see that holy and formless fire, that fire which darts and flashes through the hidden depth of the universe" 21 take up the lotus wand, holding it by the white band, and circumambulate deosil

BOOK OF BARUCH

the king's sons, and in the hearing of the elders, and of all the people, from the lowest unto the highest, even of all them that dwelt at babylon by the river sud. 5 whereupon they wept, fasted, and prayed before the lord. 6 they made also a collection of money according to every man's power: 7 and they sent it to jerusalem unto joachim the high priest, the son of chelcias, son of salom, and to the priests, and to all the people which were found with him at jerusalem, 8 at the same time when he received the vessels of the house of the lord, that were carried out of the temple, to return them into the land of juda, the tenth day of the month sivan, namely, silver vessels, which sedecias the son of josias king of jada had made, 9 after that nabuchodonosor king of babylon had carried away j

18276066 GRIMM JACOB TEUTONIC MYTHOLOGY VOL 1

e ground) gein sinen fiiezen nieder, wh. 463, 2 an 0, boh. song has' sie idanieti bohu' to bow before god, koniginh. hs. 72; but the same has also the un- teutonic' se hiti lo celo prede bohy' to beat one's brow before god^ uncovering the head (see suppl) certainly was from of old a token of respect with our ancestors, which, like bowing, was shown to deity as well as to kings and chiefs. perhaps the priests, at least those of the goths, formed an exception to this, as their name pileati is thus accounted for by jornandes, quia opertis capitibus tiaris litabant, while the rest of the people stood uncovered. in a survival of heathenish harvest-customs we shall find this uncovering further established, ch. vii. in nicolai magni de gow registrum superstitionum (of 1415) it is said: insuper ho

r functions (see suppl. on them doubtless devolved also the performance of public prayers, the slaying of victims, the consecration of the kings and of corpses, perhaps of marriages too, the administering of oaths, and many other duties. of their attire, their insignia and gradations, we hear nothing at all; once tacitus cap. 43 speaks of a sacerdos muliebri ornatu, but gives no details. no doubt the priests formed a separate, possibly a hereditary order, though not so powerful and influential as in gaul. probably, beside that sacerdos civitatis, there were higher and lower ones. only one is cited by name, the cattian, i.e. hessian, libes in strabo (ai^t; rwv xdrrav lepeik, who with other german prisoners was dragged to eome in the pompa of germanicus. of him tacitus (so far as we still ha

(siem. 110. 111. if the enchantress's name were hcida instead of jettha, it would suit the locality better, and perhaps be an echo of the on. heidr. priestesses. 97 their blood in the sacrificial cauldron, appear as frightful witches by the side of the bructerian imaid; together with divination they exercise the priestly oftice. their minutely described apparel, we may suppose, resembled that of the priests. while in tac. germ. 40 it is a 'priest that attends the goddess, and guides the team of kine in her car; in the north conversely, we have handmaids waiting upon gods. from a remarkable story in the olaf tryggv. saga (fornm. sog. 2, 73 seq, which the christian composer evidently presents in an odious light, we at all events gather that in sweden a virgin attended the car of freyr on it

ALEISTER CROWLEY ACROSS THE GULF

bes-na-maut my mother; and in her arms myself, laughing in the midst of all that ruin. yet not one living creature took the slightest hurt! but the astrologers rent their robes and beat their faces on the ground; for the dread moment, the unknown terror, had gone by; and with it i had come to light. in their terror, indeed, as i learnt long after, they sent messengers to the oldest and wisest of the priests; the high-priest of nuit, who lived at the bottom of a very deep well, so that his eyes, even by day, should remain fixed upon the stars. but he answered them that since they had done all that they could, and fate had reversed their design, it was evident that the matter saw in the hands of fate, and that the less they meddled the better it would be for them. for he was a brusque old m

erwards i met him shall be written in its place. so then i was to be brought up as befitted one in my station, half-prince, half-priest. i was to follow my father, hold his wand and ankh, assume his throne. and now i begin to recall some details of my preparation for that high and holy task. memory is strangely fragmentary and strangely vivid. i remember how, when i had completed my fourth month, the priests took me and wrapped me in a panther s skin, whose flaming gold and jet-black spots were like the sun. they carried me to the river bank where the holy crocodiles were basking; and there they laid me. but when they left me they refrained from the usual enchauntment against the evil spirit of the crocodile; and so for three days i lay without protection. only at certain hours did my moth

my life stirred in me. they led me down cool colonnades of mighty stone clad in robes of white broidered with silver, and veiled with a veil of fine gold web fastened with rubies. they gave me not the uraeus crown, nor any nemyss, nor the ateph crown, but bound my forehead with a simple fillet of green leaves- vervain and mandrake and certain deadly herbs of which it is not fitting to speak. now the priests of the veiled one were sore perplexed, for that never before had any boy been chosen priestess. for before the vows may be administered, the proofs of virginity are sought; and, as it seemed, this part of the ritual must be suppressed or glossed over. then said the high priest "let it be that we examine the first woman that he shall touch with his hand, and she shall suffice" now when

this part of the ritual must be suppressed or glossed over. then said the high priest "let it be that we examine the first woman that he shall touch with his hand, and she shall suffice" now when i heard this, i thought to test the god; and, spying in the crowd, i beheld in loose robes with flushed face and wanton eyes, a certain courtesan well-known in the city, and i touched her. then those of the priests that hated me were glad, for they wished to reject me; and taking aside into the hall of trial that woman, made the enquiry. then with robes rent they came running forth, crying out against the veiled one; for they found her perfect in virginity, and so was she even unto her death, as latter appeared. but the veiled one was wroth with them because of this, and appeared in her glitterin

of the veiled one; and they put a silver sistron in my hand, and bade me perform the ceremony of adoration. this i page 10 gulf.txt did, and the veil of the goddess glittered in the darkness- for night had fallen by this- with a strange starry light. thereby it was known that i was indeed chosen aright. so last of all they took me to the banqueting-house and set me on the high throne. one by one the priests came by and kissed my lips: one by one the priestesses came by, and gave me the secret clasp of hands that hath hidden virtue. and the banquet waxed merry; for all the food was magically prepared. every beast that they slew was virgin; every plant that they plucked had been grown and tended by virgins in the gardens of the temple. also the wine was spring water only, but so consecrated

ALEISTER CROWLEY AD MEIORUM CTHULHI GLORIAM

surely larger than any i had ever seen. the thinnest section thereof was fully that of the arms of two men, and as it rose from the earth it was followed by another, although the end of the first was not seen as it seemed to reach down into the very pit itself. these were followed by still more, and the ground began to tremble under the pressure of so many of these enormous arms. the chanting of the priests, for i knew them now to be the servants of some hidden power, became much louder and very nearly hysterical. ia! ia! zi azag! ia! ia! zi azkak! ia! ia! kutulu zi kur! ia! the ground where i was hiding became wet with some substance, being slightly downhill from the scene i was witnessing. i touched the wetness and found it to be blood. in horror, i screamed and gave my presence away to

he priests, for i knew them now to be the servants of some hidden power, became much louder and very nearly hysterical. ia! ia! zi azag! ia! ia! zi azkak! ia! ia! kutulu zi kur! ia! the ground where i was hiding became wet with some substance, being slightly downhill from the scene i was witnessing. i touched the wetness and found it to be blood. in horror, i screamed and gave my presence away to the priests. they turned toward me, and i saw a loathing that they had cut their chests with the daggers they had used to raise the stone, for some mystical purpose i could not then divine; although i know now that blood is the very food of these spirits, which is why the field after the battles of war glows with an unnatural light, the manifestations of the spirits feeding thereon. may anu protec

some mystical purpose i could not then divine; although i know now that blood is the very food of these spirits, which is why the field after the battles of war glows with an unnatural light, the manifestations of the spirits feeding thereon. may anu protect us all! my scream had the effect of casting their ritual into chaos and disorder. i raced through the mountain path by which i had come, and the priests came running after me, although some seemed to stay behind, perhaps to finish the rites. however, as i ran wildly down the slopes in the cold night, my heart giving rise in my chest and my head growing hot, the sound of splitting rocks and thunder came from behind me and shook the very ground i ran upon. in fright, and in haste, i fell to the earth. rising, i turned to face whatever at

me fortune had also befallen them. walking back up the slope that i had so fearfully run down only moments ago, i came across yet another of the dark priests, in identical condition to the first. i kept walking, passing more of the robes as i went, not venturing to overturn them any longer. then, i finally came upon the grey stone monument that had risen unnaturally into the air at the command of the priests. it now upon the ground once more, but the carvings still glowed with supernatural light. the serpents, or what i had then though of as serpents, had disappeared. but in the dead embers of the fire, now cold and black, was a shining metal plate. i picked it up and saw that it also was carved, as the stone, but very intricately, after a fashion i could not understand. i did not bear the

and happiness, but that these are to be shunned as the purveyors of death, for the most radiant jewels are to be found buried deep in the earth, and the tomb of man is the splendour of ereshkigal, the joy of kutulu, the food of azag-thoth. therefore, thine obligation is as of the gatekeep of the inside, agent of marduk, servant of enki, for the gods are forgetful, and very far away, and it was to the priests of the flame that covenant was given to seal the gates between this world and the other, and to keep watch thereby, through this night of time, and the circle of magick is the barrier, the temple, and the gate between the worlds. know, fourthly, that it is become the obligation of the priests of the flame and the sword, and of all magick, to bring their power to the underworld and keep

ALEISTER CROWLEY BOOK OF LIES

itle is explained in the note. the number of the chapter may refer to the letter book of lies get any book for free on: www.abika.com 126 samech( samech, temperence, in the tarot. i paragraph 1 the real chastity of percivale or parsifal, a chastity which did not prevent his dipping the point of the sacred lance into the holy grail, is distinguished from its misinterpretation by modern crapulence. the priests of the gods were carefully chosen, and carefully trained to fulfill the sacrament of fatherhood; the shame of sex consists in the usurpation of its function by the unworthy. sex is a sacrament. the word virtus means "the quality of manhood. modern "virtue" is the negation of all such qualities. in paragraph 3, however, we see the penalty of conservatism; children must be weaned. in the

ALEISTER CROWLEY EQ I 1

nd pace by pace! mystic flashes swing and trace velvet soft the sigils stepped by the silver-starred adept. back and front, and to and fro, soul and body sway and flow in vertiginous caresses to imponderable recesses, 40 till at last the spell is woven, and the faery veil is cloven that was sequence, space, and stress of the soul-sick consciousness "give thy body to the beasts! give thy spirit to the priests! break in twain the hazel rod on the virgin lips of god! tear the rosy cross asunder! shatter the black bolt of thunder! such the swart ensanguine kiss of the resolute abyss" wonder-weft the wizard heard this intolerable word. smote the blasting hazel rod on the scarlet lips of god; trampled cross and rosy core; brake the thunder-tool of thor; meek and holy acolyte of the priestly hell

ALEX SANDERS THE KING OF THE WITCHES

nceptions and hostility towards witchcraft and was to influe ce public opinion in europe until after the reformation (protestants were even greater witch-haters than their predecessors. one of the first countries to declare war on witches had been france, where they .were burnt at the stake several decades before the papal bull. at that time whole villages still followed the old religion and even the priests, who were mostly drawn from the peasant class, were only outwardly christian. having tried to stamp out witchcraft by persuasion, the clergy, backed by civil law, overcame it by force-the same fate as had befallen the ancient religions of egypt and of the aztecs. ill england tolerance had prevailed until the arrival of the inquisitors. at first the law forbade them to use torture, but

' asked mrg. alexconfirmed that he was 'and that you are the.acknowledged master of witchcraf in euil.ope' alex explained that he believed so, although he had not' hadl1luch.contact with covens in,france and belgium 'but is there anyone more experienced in witchcraft and its magic than you?'mr g.was insistent. alexreplied thatifthere weresucha person, he had not met him.ereve heatd ofhim 'why are the priests of kati so interestedjnwitchcraft? are yon seeking initiation' the .man smiled and,assured him.that they. were entirely satisfied with their own. religion and had no wish to become witches 'but we do have need of you: he wellton 'let me explain; kali is the an.cientgoddess of destruction who lends us herpoweisto do our will solongasweworship her in theway she. prefers. during'oneof our

all merely disembowel her in. order to let the still warm bloodflow over the altarandtransfet itslifeforce to the power we.shall raise to guard the temple' interpreting alex's> stunned silence to meanconsent,mrg. hastened to add that as witcheraft,uubrokendownthe centuries .had developed so much .power' alex would be asked to remain in india for a period ofsix months so. that he 101 couldinstruct.the priests in the european.ways ofraising the cones of power and. setting them to work and because the new .temple must have 'the-very best equipment, they were prepcl.red to allot a large sum of money to purchase real witches knives,swords: and other magic weapons which alex could engrave, dedicate and hand.over to .the temple after the ceremony. recovering his composure, alex set them" right ab

that it was not a question of money. i-ie could marvel at his own honesty, for here was an opportunity to gain wealth such as he had not seen since he ended his .practice of black magic, and he happened to be sorely pressed for money. he had less than ten shillings in his pocket andcould not possibly have paid for even a round of drinks. no matter how hard he tried, however, he could not convince the priests of kalithat he would never agree to their offer. when he became angry they looked hurt and shook their heads sadly at his lack of consideration 'manyof our followers are quite poor people' mr g. said 'they have put their trust in us to supply them with a new temple to which they can .bring their problems, safe in the 102 knowledge that kaii will help them in return for all they have do

must work strongly against it. ii6. and any high priestess or high priest who consents to its breach must immediately be deposed for 'tis the blood of the brethren they endanger. 137 k.w.-1 0 ii7. do good, an it be safe, and only if it be safe. ii8. and strictly keep to the old law. ii9. never accept money for the use of the art, for money ever smeareth the taker 'tis sorcerers and conjurors and the priests of the christians who ever accept money for the use of their arts. and they sell pardons to let men escape from their sins. 120. be not as these. if you accept no money, you will be free from temptation to use the art for evil causes. 121. all may use the art for their own advantage or for the advantage of the craft only if you are sure you harm none. 122. but ever let the coven debate

ALEXANDRIAN BOOK OF SHADOWS OCCULT

roken, you must work strongly against it. and any high priestess or high priest who consents to its breach must immediately be deposed for 'tis the blood of the brethren they endanger. 116. 117. do good, an it be safe, and only if it be safe. 118. and keep strictly to the old law. payment never accept money for the use of the art, for money ever smeareth the taker 'tis sorcerors and conjurers and the priests of the christians who ever accept money for the use of their arts. and they sell pardons to let men ascape from their sins. 119. be not as these. if you accept no money, you will be free from temptation to use the art for evil causes. 120. all may use the art for their own advantage or for the advantage of the craft only if you are sure you harm none. 121. but ever let the coven debate

her wand and the scourge, for no obvious reason. he has to just put down the lot (or hand them to someone, as the next thing he does is light the cauldron. l beltane preparation: two white candles are on the altar with a wreath of spring flowers. quarter candles are green. hps leads the coven, riding poles if possible, about the covenstead with a quick, trotting step, singing: all: o do not tell the priests of our art, for they would call it sin; but we will be in the woods all night, a-conjuring summer in. and we bring you good news by word of mouth, for woman, cattle and corn, for the sun is coming up from the south with oak and ash and thorn. a ring dance follows after which the high priestess casts the circle. high priest draws down the moon upon the high priestess. all are purified i

ALICE A BAILEY07 FROM INTELLECT TO INTUITION

t humanity to its present point of development has been the growth and perfecting of its educational methods and systems. at first this was in the hands of the organized religions, but now it is practically divorced from the control of the religious bodies, and lies in the hands of the state. in the past, education was largely colored by theology and its methods were dictated by the churchmen and the priests. now the vast body of teachers are trained by the state; any religious bias is ignored on account of the many differentiated religious bodies, and the trend of the teaching is almost entirely materialistic and scientific. in the past, both in the east and in the west, we have had the education of the more highly evolved members of the human family. today we have mass education. in appr

ALICE A BAILEY14 THE REAPPEARANCE OF THE CHRIST

s and the sadducees were to the people of that land what the potentates of the church are to the people in the world today. but there has been a useful and wholesome swing away from churchianity and from orthodox religion during the past century, and this will present a unique opportunity for the restoration of true religion and the presentation of a simple return to the ways of spiritual living. the priests, the levites, the pharisees and the sadducees were not the ones who recognised him when he came before. they feared him. and it is highly improbable that the reactionary churchmen will be the ones to recognise him today. he may reappear in a totally unexpected guise; who is to say whether he will come as a politician, an economist, a leader of the people (arising from the midst of them

, which is the symbol of the perfect life of the soul, just as the tabernacle in the wilderness is the symbol of the imperfect ephemeral life of the transient personality; christ was, therefore, speaking on soul levels and not only as the spiritual man on earth. he was also serving, when he spoke these words, as a working member of the spiritual hierarchy, for he was found by his parents teaching the priests, the pharisees and the sadducees. these points all indicate his recognition of his work as a world teacher, becoming conscious, for the first time in his physical brain, of divine intention or of the divine- 13- the reappearance of the christ copyright 1998 lucis trust will. 2. next comes his statement to his disciples "i must go up to jerusalem" after which we read that he "steadfastl

ALICE A BAILEY19 THE UNFINISHED AUTOBIOGRAPHY

g faults, afraid of what people think of me, and afraid of the dark, and afraid of being looked up to by other people. i have never found it anything but a detriment to be put upon a pedestal and looked up to. i agree with the chinese proverb which says that "he who stands upon a pedestal has nowhere to step but off" i find the attitude of the average head of a group or occult teacher and many of the priests and clergy most irritating. they pose as if they were really the anointed of the lord; as if they were different from other people and not just human beings trying, with simplicity, to help their fellow-men. as the result of my background and training i used to be very much afraid of what people said. i don't care now because i find that, right or wrong, you are always wrong with certa

ALICE A BAILEY24 A TREATISE ON THE SEVEN RAYS VOLUME V THE RAYS AND THE INITIATIONS

ul was finished, for twelve is the number of completed labour. the symbolism of his twelve years is now replaced by that of the twelve apostles. b. he was in the temple of solomon, ever a symbol of the causal body of the soul, and he was therefore speaking on soul levels and not as the spiritual man on earth. c. he was serving as a member of the hierarchy, for he was found by his parents teaching the priests, the pharisees and the sadducees. d. he spoke as an expression of the substance aspect (he spoke to his mother) and also as a soul (he spoke to his father, but he was controlled by neither; he now functioned as the monad, above and beyond yet inclusive of both. 2. his statement to his disciples "i must go up to jerusalem" after which we read that he steadfastly set his face to go there

ALICE BAILEY THE LABOURS OF HERCULES

s the group, the universal soul. cancer was originally called the birth month of jesus. capricorn is, as we know, the birth month of the christ, and on the twenty-fifth of december down the centuries the birth of the world savior has been celebrated; but in very ancient days, the birthday of the infant sun gods was in cancer. we are told "the birthday of the infant jesus, being arbitrarily set by the priests, produces a serious discrepancy, as we are told he was born in a manger. the manger is found in the sign of the summer solstice, the constellation cancer, which was called the gate of the sun through which souls were said to descend from their heavenly home to earth, just as at the winter solstice in december, they were said to return to their heavenly or celestial home, the constellat

AN INTRO TO STUDY OF THE KABALAH

a long series of treatises of a more abstruse character, designed to illustrate their secret doctrines and esoteric views. the sepher yetzirah, and the zohar or book of splendour represent the kernel of that oral instruction which the rabbis of the olden times prided themselves upon possessing, and which they have even claimed as being "the secret knowledge" which god gave to moses for the use of the priests themselves, in contradistinction to the written law intended for the masses of the people. one of the principal conceptions of the kabalah is that spiritual wisdom is attained by thirty-two paths, typified by the ten numbers and the twenty-two letters; these ten again being symbols of the divine emanations, the sephiroth, the holy voices chanting at the crystal sea, the great sea, the

ARADIA GOSPEL OF THE WITCHES

f all on earth!thou shalt a goddess be,the goddess of the moon,of all enchantment queen! page 46 this she did, and standing by the door of the house, which is still there, prayed in the light of the fullmoon to diana, that she might be delivered from the dire persecution to which she had been sub-jected, since even her own parents had willingly given her over to an awful death.now her parents and the priests, and all who sought her death, were in the palace watching lest sheshould escape.when lo! in answer to her prayer there came a terrible tempest and overwhelming wind, a stormsuch as man had never seen before, which overthrew and swept away the palace with all who werein it; there was not one stone left upon another, nor one soul alive of all who were there. the godshad replied to the p

han ever,and, in fine, after much trouble, succeeded in having her again arrested and cast into prison. andthen in evil temper indeed she asked her whether she would become a nun: to which she repliedthat it was not possible, because she had left the catholic church and become a worshipper ofdianaand of the moon.and the end of it was that the mother, regarding her daughter as lost, gave her up to the priests tobe put to torture and death, as they did all who would not agree with them or who left their religion.but the people were not well pleased with this, because they adored her beauty and goodness, andthere were few who had not enjoyed her charity.but by the aid of her lover she obtained, as a last grace, that on the night before she was to be tor-tured and executed she might, with a gu

ou shalt bind the oppressors soul (with power; 3 and when ye find a peasant who is rich,then ye shall teach the witch, your pupil, howt o ruin all his crops with tempests dire,with lightning and with thunder (terrible),and the hail and wind..and when a priest shall do you injuryby his benedictions, ye shall do to himdouble the harm, and do it in the nameof me, diana, queen of witches all!and when the priests or the nobilityshall say to you that you should put your faithin the father, son, and mary, then reply:your god, the father, and maria arethree devils..for the true god the father is not yours;for i have come to sweep away the bad,the men of evil, all will i destroy!ye who are poor suffer with hunger keen,and toil in wretchedness, and suffer toofull oft imprisonment; yet with it allye

has never existed the least interest asregarded the strange lore of the witches, nor any suspicion that it embraced an incredible quantity ofold roman minor myths and legends, such as ovid has recorded, but of which much escaped himand all other latin writers. 2 this ignorance was greatly aided by the wizards themselves, in making a profound secret of all theirtraditions, urged thereto by fear of the priests. in fact, the latter all unconsciously actually contributedimmensely to the preservation of such lore, since the charm of the forbidden is very great, andwitchcraft, like the truffle, grows best and has its raciest flavour when most deeply hidden. howeverthis may be, both priest and wizard are vanishing now with incredible rapidity it has even struck afrench writer that a franciscan in

BLAVATSKY H P ANTHROPOGENESIS

e; hence the bearded venus in mythology* therefore, putting aside its religio-metaphysical aspect, the cross of the christians is symbolically far more phallic than the pagan svastica[[vol. 2, page] 31 the horses of sukra's car. of life" in eden anouki, a form of isis, is the goddess of life; and ank was taken by the hebrews from the egyptians and introduced by moses, one learned in the wisdom of the priests of egypt, with many other mystical words. the word ank in hebrew, with the personal suffix, means "my life" my being, which "is the personal pronoun anochi" from the name of the egyptian goddess anouki* in one of the most ancient catechisms of southern india, madras presidency, the hermaphrodite goddess adanari (see also "indian pantheon) has the ansated cross, the svastica, the "male

of priests called the aleim, while the head of their caste, or the chief of the hierophants was known as java-aleim. instead of becoming a neophyte, and gradually obtaining his esoteric knowledge through a regular initiation, an adam, or man, uses his intuitional faculties and, prompted by the serpent (woman and matter, tastes of the tree of knowledge- the esoteric or secret doctrine- unlawfully. the priests of hercules, or mel-karth, the "lord of the eden" all wore "coats of skin" the text says "and java-aleim made for adam and his wife[[hebrew 'chitonuth our" the first hebrew word "chiton" is the greek[[chiton, chiton. it became a slavonic word by adoption from the bible, and means a coat, an upper garment "though containing the same substratum of esoteric truth as does every early cosmo

periodical law which acts throughout the manvantaric cycle- it is this ignorance that is the chief cause of all the confusion. nor is bailly wrong again in assuring us that the hindus, egyptians, and phoenicians came after the atlanteans, for the latter belonged to the fourth, while the aryans and their semitic branch are of the fifth race. plato, while repeating the story as narrated to solon by the priests of egypt, intentionally confuses (as every initiate would) the two continents, and assigns to the small island which sunk last all the events pertaining to the two enormous continents, the prehistoric and traditional. therefore, he describes the first couple, from whom the whole island was peopled, as being formed of the earth. in saying so, he means neither adam and eve, nor yet his o

ies, and in exoteric worship they belonged to chthonian divinities. therefore christianity has made of them infernal gods. they are truly "the great, beneficent and powerful gods" as cassius hermone calls them (see macrob. sat. i, iii, c. 4, p. 376. at thebes, kore and demeter, the kabirim, had a sanctuary (pausan. ix. 22; 5, and at memphis, the kabiri had a temple so sacred, that none, excepting the priests, were suffered to enter their holy precincts (herodotus i. ii, c. 37. but we must not lose sight, at the same time, of the fact that the title of kabiri was a generic one; that the kabiri (the mighty gods as well as mortals, were of both sexes, as also terrestrial, celestial and kosmic. that, while in their later capacity of the rulers of sidereal and terrestrial powers, a purely geolo

sphere of other lying priests of heliopolis (freret "all those historians and priests" justly remarks the demonologist, de mirville "so veracious when repeating stories of human kings and men, suddenly become extremely suspicious no sooner do they go back to their gods. but there is the synchronistic table of abydos, which, thanks to the genius of champollion, has now vindicated the good faith of the priests of egypt (manetho's above all, and that of ptolemy. in the turin papyrus, the most remarkable of all, in the words of the egyptologist, de rouge. champollion, struck with amazement, found that he had under his own eyes the whole truth. it was the remains of a list of dynasties embracing the furthest mythoic times, or the reign of the gods and heroes. at the very outset of this curious[

BLAVATSKY H P COSMOGENESIS

en had to consult more than sixty commentators for the purpose of his translation" the earliest going back as far as the year 163 b.c, not earlier, as we see. during the four centuries and a half that preceded this earliest of the commentators there was ample time to veil the true lao-tse doctrine from all but his initiated priests. the japanese, among whom are now to be found the most learned of the priests and followers of lao-tse, simply laugh at the blunders and hypotheses of the european chinese scholars; and tradition affirms that the commentaries to which our western sinologues have access are not the real occult records, but intentional veils, and that the true commentaries, as well as almost all the texts, have long since disappeared from the eyes of the profane[[footnote(s "if we

constituted censor and editor of the sacred records of other men's religions- and they doubtless bear to this day the mark of his eminently veracious and trustworthy hand. for what is the history of this treatise on the once grand religion of babylon? written in greek by berosus, a priest of the temple of belus, for alexander the great, from the astronomical and chronological records preserved by the priests of that temple, and covering a period of 200,000 years, it is now lost. in the first century b.c. alexander polyhistor made a series of extracts from it- also lost. eusebius used these extracts in writing his chronicon (270-340 a.d. the points of resemblance- almost of identity- between the jewish and the chaldean scriptures* made the latter most dangerous to eusebius, in his role of d

present stage of development transcend, scarcely reach this plane of thought. it totters here, on the brink of incomprehensible absoluteness and eternity (b) the "watchers" reign over man during the whole period of satya yuga and the smaller subsequent yugas, down to the beginning of the third root race; after which it is the patriarchs, heroes, and the manes (see egyptian dynasties enumerated by the priests to solon, the incarnated dhyanis of a lower order, up to king menes and the human kings of other nations; all were recorded carefully. in the views of symbologists this mythopoeic age is of course only regarded as a fairy tale. but since traditions and even chronicles of such dynasties of divine kings- of gods reigning over men followed by dynasties of heroes or giants- exist in the an

construction of their temples, the figures given in the puranas, and especially in their chronology, their astronomical symbols, the duration of the cycles, and other computations, were, or were not, the same as those used in the biblical measurements and glyphs. for this will prove that the jews, unless they took their sacred cubit and measurements from the egyptians (moses being an initiate of the priests) must have got those notions from india. at any rate they passed them to the early christians. hence, it is the occultists and kabalists who are the "true" heirs to the knowledge, or the secret wisdom which is still found in the bible; for they alone now understand its real meaning, whereas profane jews and christians cling to the husks and dead letter thereof. that it is the system of

ters. then again, it is vishnu who emerges from within the egg with a lotus in his hand. vinata, a daughter of daksha and wife of kasyapa("the self-born sprung from time" one of the seven "creators" of our world, brought forth an egg from which was born garuda, the vehicle of vishnu, the latter allegory having a relation to our earth only, as garuda is the great cycle. the egg was sacred to isis; the priests of egypt never ate eggs on that account* diodorus siculus states that osiris was born from an egg, like brahma. from leda's egg apollo and latona were born, as also castor and pollux- the bright gemini. and though the buddhists do not attribute the same origin to their founder, yet, no more than the ancient egyptians or the modern brahmins, do they eat eggs, lest they should destroy th

BLUE EQUINOX

ur passed, and the music of the lutes was stilled. 25. but thou art eternity and space; thou art matter and motion; and thou art the negation of all these things. 26. for there is no symbol of thee. liber lxv 79 27. if i say, come up upon the mountains! the celestial waters flow at my word.but thou art the water beyond the waters. 28. the red three-angled heart hath been set up in thy shrine; for the priests despised equally the shrine and the god. 29. yet all the whie thou wast hidden therein, as the lord of silence is hidden in the buds of the lotus. 30. thou art sebek the crocodile against asar; thou art mati, the slayer in the deep. thou art typhon, the wrath of the elements, o thou who transcendest the forces in their concourse and cohesion, in their death and their disruption. thou a

or, of the great toward the small. you are a thousand times right; you have understood the secret of the o.t.o. that such qualities can flourish in an extended community may surprise so eminent and profound a student of humanity as yourself; yet examples abound of practices the most unnatural and repugnant to mankind which have continued through centuries. i need not remind you of jaganath and of the priests of attis, for extreme cases. a fortiori, then, it must be possible to train men in independences, to tolerance, to nobility of character, and to good manners, and this is done in the o.t.o. by certain very efficacious methods which (for i will not risk further wearying you) i will not describe. besides, they are secret. but beyond them is the supreme incentive; advancement in the order

BUCKLAND RAYMOND COMPLETE BOOK OF WITCHCRAFT

the maypole. each of the coven-ers takes a ribbon and dances around the pole with it, intertwining one with another. this is continued till all ribbons are tied around the pole, symbolizing the union of male and female; the joining of all together. a suitable chant/song to sing while dancing is found in the gardnerian book. it is gerald gardner's version of a rudyard kipling poem "oh, do not tell the priests of our art for they would call it sin. but we shall be in the woods all night a-conjuring summer in. and we bring you good news, by word of mouth, for women, cattle and corn; now is the sun come up from the south, with oak and ash and thorn" priest and priestess return to the altar. priestess stands with head bowed and arms crossed on her breast. priest takes up the crown and holds it

wish. priest/ess starts a hymn to the gods and all join in. finally, all halt and stop singing "now has our lord reached the zenith of his journey "now does he turn to face the lady "though apart they are one 'they are both the shadow and the light" then follows an enactment of a seasonal motif (e.g. the midpoint in the sun's winter journey; sweeping out the old and starting anew; the running of the priests of the lupercalia, at the ancient roman festival; the preparation of seed-grain for growing in the spring; the inviting of the goddess of fertility to enter into the house and lodge therein. bell is rung seven times. covener "our lord now has reached mid-journey. ahead he sees the light of our lady, and the start of life anew, after this period of rest. this was the first festival of t

DAVID ICKE AND THE TRUTH SHALL SET YOU FREE

ide of a ziggurat he saw in babylon "on the topmost tower there is a spacious temple, and inside the temple stands a great bed covered with fine bedclothes with a golden table at its side. there is no statue of any kind set up in this place, nor is the chamber occupied at night by any but a single native woman who, say the chaldean priests, is chosen by the deity out of all the women of the land. the priests also declare, but i for one do not credit it, that the god comes down in person into this chamber, and sleeps upon the couch."10 on a tomb found in rome and dated between the first and fourth centuries ad the inscription read "i am a son of the earth and the stars of the sky, but i am of the celestial race. may the knowledge be passed on!"11 the birth of y'shua (jesus, as described in

nnections. his father was a member of the brotherhood branch, the order of the christ. columbus himself was involved with a group which followed the beliefs of the poet dante, who was a member of the cathar church and an initiate of the knights templar. columbus was often seen wearing the garb of what was believed to be the franciscan order. columbus's son said his father had died in such attire. the priests at the ancient egyptian brotherhood temple at el-amarna wore a similar habit, as did a brotherhood group called the fraternites at the time of columbus. these are only some of his brotherhood connections. columbus's father-in-law was a member of the knights of christ, the undercover name for the knights templar. when the templars were purged across europe, they survived in portugal by

DAVID ICKE CHILDREN OF THE MATRIX

being. like super-gangsters, a celestial mafia ruling the world. the anunnaki have been protected from exposure all this time by the "middle men" they have placed between themselves and humanity. i call this the hybrid priesthood. in ancient times the hierarchy of the priesthood were the only ones allowed to "see god (the gods. the levite priesthood of the hebrews is just one example of how only the priests were allowed to approach the deity, as outlined in the hebrew torah. according to various descriptions, even most of the sumerian priests never looked the gods in the face. the priests controlled all the administration of the state on behalf of the unseen gods. what was yahweh-jehovah always saying? he must not be seen..you cannot see my face, for man may not see me and live".25 this w

estine and also egypt at the time of the so-called "exodus. rituals to destroy apop in egypt were very similar to those in asia designed to overcome the nagas. for me the hyksos were of the reptilian bloodline and played a major role in infiltrating the egyptian mystery schools. it was around 2000bc that the royal dragon court, now the imperial royal dragon court and order, was formed in egypt by the priests of mendes to protect, advance, and serve the "dragon bloodlines" and 4,000 years later it is still in operation and promoted by sir laurence gardner in england. this is the organisation, remember, that awarded the dracula family its most prestigious title. clearly the legends and accounts of the serpent gods, their royal hybrids, and their often grotesque activities, abound throughout

down in prayer. after an hour sounds of weeping were heard, the funeral pyre started to burn, and his clothes were consumed. from the flames of this fire a huge and almost transparent form arose, while the five prostrate figures went into terrible convulsions. now came the voice of an invisible hierophant [priest] booming from somewhere below."7 john a. keel points out that historical records say the priests claimed to have the ability to communicate with other-dimensional beings, and that the kings and emperors, including people like julius caesar and napoleon, met with strange beings who materialised and dematerialised. the same goes with today's leaders who consult their other-dimensional demonic masters. keel details the literature on secret societies that describes many materialisatio

DAVID ICKE THE BIGGEST SECRET

erhood and its reptilian bloodlines expanded across the middleand near east, especially to egypt, and eventually into europe and the americas. i thinkthe early egyptian civilisation after the v enus upheavels was the work of the aryans frommars, the phoenicians, with or without the reptilian anunnaki. but before 2,000 bc thereptilians were taking over. the royal court of the dragon was founded by the priests ofmendes in around 2,200 bc and this still exists today as the imperial and royal court ofthe dragon sovereignty. the author, laurence gardner, is the present chancellor of theimperial court of dragon sovereignty and his postal address in devon, england is atcolomba house. columba= dove= queen semiramis. according to gardner, the namedracula means son of dracul and was inspired by prin

a transition of some kind. exactly the point ofthe original mystery school teachings, a transition to greater enlightenment. abrbecame ambres, the name of the holy doctrine reserved for initiates, and it was alsowritten as ambric, hebric, hebraic and. hebrew.12 the hebrew alphabet has 22 letters,but the original, before the time of moses, only contained ten, and its true meaningwas known only to the priests.hebrews were not israelites or jews, they were initiates of the egyptian mysteryschools, or at least their founders were. no wonder it has proved impossible to identify agenetic hebrew or jewish race. cohen, the jewish name for priest, comes from cahen,the egyptian pronunciation for a priest and a prince.13 even circumcision, that uniquelyjewish tradition, came from the egyptian myster

mong all of the jews throughout the world, and a ringleader of the sect of thenazarenes.37 none of these people really existed, but the nazarene symbolism makes asecret society link through the bible. the essenes and the nazarites-nazarenes appearto be different offshoots of the same group. the essenes wore white according to thejudean historian josephus, but the nazarenes wore black, the same as the priests of isisin egypt. black is a colour of the babylonian brotherhood which has manipulated itsway through history. in keeping with this, black has become the colour associated withauthority (look at the legal profession) and with death. it is also the traditional colour ofthe teaching profession with the black gown and the black hat called the mortar board,which is the circle and square sy

i waswatching a roman catholic television channel in the united states and the guy with thelong frock was asked about that. he said it was a profound theological question. ohreally? he said that either the babys soul would go into limbo (until when onewonders) or it would be judged on the behaviour of the parents. what staggeringnonsense. thank goodness the baby wont be judged on the behaviour of the priests.and if you can only be saved by believing in jesus, what about all those billions ofpeople throughout the period of christianity who lived in vast areas of the world whohad never heard of jesus? are they all condemned by lack of information to stoke thefires, too? bit of an arsehole, this christian god, eh? but of course its not true. its allmake-believe, conjured up by the babylonian

nications with other dimensions. by this single papal decree, the vessels of godbecame vessels and witches of the devil, terms still used by many christians. king jamesi, the first king of both england and scotland, included a bitter condemnation of witchesin his king james bible in 1611 and he was true to his word as he had thousands ofwomen tortured and executed for being witches. jerome wanted the priests to be themiddle men between humanity and god. he did not want people going direct,contradicting the official line, or circulating unapproved knowledge. as he said:113we tell them (the channellers) that we do not so much reject prophecy, as refuse toreceive prophets whose utterances fail to accord with the scriptures old and new.24yet at the same time the initiates of the babylonian bro

DEMONIC BIBLE

nd evil world. civilizations rose to power and rose up animistic deities as gods who now demanded worship and sacrifice in return for their beneficence and blessing. the threat was no longer against an individual man but against an entire society. to gain the favor of the gods, these deities had to be appeased or else famine, pestilence, or war might come upon a nation and destroy it. ultimately, the priests of many of these gods decided that their particular deity was the true god, that all other gods were devils, and that the followers of other gods had to be converted or destroyed. egypt was decimated by the osirians as they attempted to eliminate the earlier religion of set. in the middle east, the hebrews went to war with the surrounding nations to annihilate them. out of the cults of

DION FORTUNE MYSTICAL QABALA

e the metaphysical concept with the pagan symbol; then we shall be able to apply to the former the vast mass of mystical experience which generations of contemplatives and expen. mental psychologists have organised about the latter. and when we speak of experimental psychologists, we must not make the mistake of thinking that they are an exclusively mystical qabala page 59 modern product, because the priests of the ancient mysteries, with their temple sleep and deliberately induced hypnogogic visions, were nothing more nor less than experimental psychologists, though their art has been lost, like many other of the ancient arts, and is only being laboriously recovered piecemeal in the more advanced circles of scientific thought. 11. the method used by the modern initiate for interpreting th

DONALDTYSON BLACKMAS

rted that his black mass was not intended to defile the christian god, because he denied the existence of such a god. since the deliberate degradation and defilement of christianity is one of the key features of the true black mass, the mass performed in the church of satan falls short of perfection. the concept of the black mass has no meaning outside of christianity. it was a fantasy created by the priests of the inquisition as the worst thing they could possibly accuse supposed witches of doing. after it became a part of the literature of the witch craze in various incomplete forms, and was widely accepted as historical fact, it was on rare occasions recreated from these accounts and performed by groups of 18th and 19th century decadents looking for magical power and cheap sexual thrill

DONALDTYSON MIRACLES

and manifests to human beings in various ways. however, the god of the old testament was able to channel this primal source of divine energy for his own intentions, and was able to facilitate the use of this divine energy by his worshippers. skilled magicians can bypass the gods, the angels and the saints, and can access this primal creative and destructive power directly through their magic. so the priests of egypt intimated when they wrote in the hermetic books that man was above the gods, and could command the gods. every time someone works a ritual of magic successfully without relying on a prayer for aid from a particular deity or spiritual creature, the divine source is directly and independently accessed, and a miracle is produced. these miracles are usually quite small, but they a

EGYPTIAN BOOK OF THE DEAD PAPYRUS OF ANI MALESTROM

/2001 11:22:27 am] sacred texts egypt index previous next introduction. the versions of the book of the dead. the four great versions of the book of the dead. the history of the great body of religious compositions which form the book of dead of the ancient egyptians may conveniently be divided into four[1] of the periods, which are represented by four versions- 1. the version which was edited by the priests of the college of annu (the on of the bible, and the heliopolis of the greeks, and which was based upon a series of texts now lost, but which there is evidence to prove had passed through a series of revisions or editions as early as the period of the vth dynasty. this version was, so far as we know, always written in hieroglyphics, and may be called the heliopolitan version. it is kno

or the complete hieratic text, transcript and translation, see erman, die m rchen des papyrus westcar, berlin, 1890, p. it, plate 6] p. xvi the book of the dead in the iind dynasty. passing from the region of native egyptian tradition, we touch firm ground with the evidence derived from the monuments of the iind dynasty. a bas-relief preserved at aix in provence mentions asen and ankef,[1] two of the priests of sent or senta, the fifth king of the iind dynasty, about b.c. 4000; and a stele at oxford[2] and another in the egyptian museum at gizeh[3] record the name of a third priest, shera or sheri, a "royal relative" on the stele at oxford we have represented the deceased and his wife seated, one on each side of an altar,[4] which is covered with funeral offerings of pious relatives; above

ication would be indicated; the coincidence of these words and the prayer for "thousands of loaves of bread, thousands of vases of ale" etc, with the promise "anpu-khent-amenta shall give thee thy thousands of loaves of bread, thy thousands of vases of ale, thy thousands of vessels [1. wiedemann, aegyptische geschichte, p. 170. in a mastaba at sakkara we have a stele of sheri, a superintendent of the priests of the ka, whereon the cartouches of sent and per-ab-sen both occur. see mariette and maspero, les mastaba de l'ancien empire, paris, 1882, p. 92. 2. see lepsius, auswahl, bl. 9. 3. see maspero, guide du visiteur au mus e de boulaq, 1883, pp. 31, 32, and 213 (no. 1027. 4 a discussion on the method of depicting this altar on egyptian monuments by borchardt may be found in aeg. zeitschri

yond a doubt that a form of the book of the dead was in use at least in the period of the earliest dynasties, and that sepulchral ceremonies connected therewith were duly performed.[2] the book of the dead in the ivth dynasty. with the ivth dynasty we have an increased number of monuments, chiefly sepulchral, which give details as to the egyptian sacerdotal system and the funeral ceremonies which the priests performed.[3] the inscriptions upon the earlier [1. teta, ii. 388, 389 (recueil, ed. maspero, t. v, p. 58) 2 the arguments brought forward here in proof of the great antiquity of a religious system in egypt are supplemented in a remarkable manner by the inscriptions found in the mastaba of seker-kha-baiu at sakkara. here we have a man who, like shera, was a "royal relative" and a pries

show that about three-fourths of the whole may be found in the monuments of his ancestors. what principle guided each king in the selection of his texts, or whether the additions in each represent religious developments, it is impossible to say; but, as the egyptian religion cannot have remained stationary in every particular, it is probable that some texts reflect the changes in the opinions of the priests upon matters of doctrine.[1] the "pyramid texts" prove that each section of the religious books of the egyptians was originally a separate and independent composition, that it was written with a definite object, and that it might be arranged in any order in a series of similar texts. what preceded or what followed it was never taken into [1. a development has been observed in the plan

ELIPHAS LEVI THE CONJURATION OF THE FOUR ELEMENTS

sign of the cross adopted by the christians does not belong to them exclusively. it is also kabalistic, and represents the contrasts, and the quaternary equilibrium of the elements. we see by the occult stanza of the lord's prayer, which we have indicated in our dogma, 9 that there were primitively two modes of making it, or at least two very different formulas to distinguish it. one reserved for the priests and initiated; the other granted to neophytes and the profane. thus, for example, said "to thee" then he added "belong" and continued while carrying his hand to his breast "the kingdom; then to his left shoulder "justice" to the right shoulder "and mercy" next he joined the two hands adding "in the generating cycles" tibi sunt malchut et geburah et chesed per oeonas. 10 the sign of the

ENCYCLOPEDIA OF OCCULTISM AND PARAPSYCHOLOGY VOL 1

y leaven. it was then rolled up in a greased paper, and cooked among the cinders. it was afterward taken out and rubbed with verbena leaves and given to the person suspected of deceit, who, if the suspicion was justified, would be unable to digest it. in ancient times, there was said to be a sacred wood at lavinium, near rome, where alphitomancy was practiced in order to test the purity of women. the priests kept a serpent or a dragon in a cavern in the wood. on certain days of the year the young women were sent there, blindfolded, and carrying a cake made of barley flour and honey. those who were innocent had their cakes eaten by the serpent, while the cakes of the others were refused. sources: waite, arthur edward. the occult sciences. 1891. reprint, secaucus, n.j: university books, 1974

y malays to protect them against snakebite. this correspondence of root to animal likeness is known as the doctrine of signatures. the celts used many kinds of amulets, such as the symbolic wheel of the sun god found frequently in france and great britain, pebbles, amulets of the teeth of the wild boar, and pieces of amber. the well-known serpent s egg of the druids was also probably an amulet of the priests. indian amulets are numerous, and in buddhist countries their use was universal, especially where that religion had degenerated. in northern buddhist countries, it was common to wear an amulet around the neck. these generally represented the leaf of the sacred fig tree and were made in the form of a box that contained a scrap of sacred writing, prayer, or a little picture. women of pos

at he bestowed upon the greatest sorcerers only. she described the sabbat as a masked ball to which some came in their ordinary forms, while others joined the dance in the guise of dogs, cats, donkeys, pigs, and other animals. however, no reliance can be placed on the confessions of any victims of de lancre, as he used torture and believed that most of the 30,000 inhabitants of labourd, including the priests, were infected with witchcraft. belmez faces strange pictures that appeared on the stone hearth in the kitchen of juan pereira sanchez in the village of belmez de la moraleda, spain, during 1971. the sanchez family was puzzled and frightened when the first face gradually manifested on the hearth, and eventually the son of the family hacked out the face with a pickaxe and filled in the

sed to depart for egypt and to take cagliostro with him.a proposal that the latter joyfully accepted. althotas informed cagliostro that he possessed no funds but told him that it was an easy matter for him to make sufficient gold to pay the expenses of their voyage. accompanied by cagliostro, althotas penetrated into africa and the heart of egypt, visiting the pyramids, making the acquaintance of the priests of different temples, and receiving from them much knowledge. following their egyptian tour, they visited the principal kingdoms of africa and asia, and were subsequently located at rhodes pursuing alchemical operations. at malta they assisted the grandmaster pinto, who was infatuated with alchemical experiments, and from that moment althotas completely disappeared, the memoir of cagli

y. the priesthood of peru practiced oracular methods by making idols speak, and this they probably accomplished through ventriloquial arts. the piages or priests of the uapes of brazil had a contrivance known to them as the paxiuba, which consisted of a tree trunk about the height of a man, on which the branches and leaves had been left. holes were bored in the trunk beneath the foliage, and when the priests spoke through these the leaves trembled and the sound was interpreted as a message from jurupari, one of their principal deities. but all over the american continent, from the land of eskimos to that of the patagonians, the methods of oracular divination were practically identical. the shaman, or medicine man, raised a tent or hut that he entered, carefully closing the aperture after h

ENCYCLOPEDIA OF OCCULTISM AND PARAPSYCHOLOGY VOL 2

observed to stir and change their place without any person being seen to touch them. and the only remedy in these cases, he claimed, was to cut off the head and burn the body of the persons supposed to appear. sources: calmet, augustine. the phantom world. 2 vols. london: richard bentley, 1850. magic general term for magic art, believed to derive from the greek magein, the science and religion of the priests of zoroaster (see magi, or, according to philologist skeat, from greek megas (great, thus signifying the great science. it commonly refers to the ability to cause change to occur by supernatural or mysterious powers and abilities. in the twentieth century, magic has been more stringently defined as the ability to create change by an act of the will and the use of the cosmic power belie

powers to spare these substances, that is, to leave a hope and a remedy for so many wounds. what we term extreme unction was the pure and simple practice of the master s traditional medicine, both for the early christians and in the mind of the apostle saint james, who has included the precept in his epistle to the faithful of the whole world. is any man sick among you, he writes, let him call in the priests of the church, and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the lord. this divine therapeutic science was lost gradually, and extreme unction came to be regarded as a religious formality, as necessary preparation for death. at the same time, the thaumaturgic virtue of consecrated oil could not be effaced altogether from remembrance by the traditional doctrine, and

nd augury although divination was practiced among the aztecs by means of astrology, there were other less intricate methods in use. a college of augurs existed, corresponding in purpose to the auspices of ancient rome, the members of which occupied themselves with observing the flight and listening to the songs of birds, from which they drew their conclusions. the calmecac, or training college of the priests, had a department where divination was taught in all its branches. a typical example of augury from birds may be found in the account of the manner in which the mexicans fixed upon the spot for the foundation of their city. halting after years of wandering in the vicinity of the lake of tezcuco, they observed a great eagle with wings outspread perched on the stump of a cactus, and hold

ability to perform extraordinary exploits and have power over the entire invisible world. the fourth was still more exalted. when an indian was ready to undergo initiation, he erected a wigwam in which he took steambaths for four days, one on each day. on the evening of the day before initiation he visited his teachers in order to obtain from them instructions for the following day. next morning the priests approached with the candidate at their head, entered the midiwigan, and the proceedings commenced. the publications of the bureau of american ethnology contain several good accounts of the ritual of this society. midwest psychic news former monthly publication covering psychic events in illinois and other states. it flourished for several years in the 1970s. milk-drinking statues on th

e given to the british lodge of the occult society oto (ordo templi orientis) when theodor reuss, head of the german order, proposed that aleister crowley start a british section. mysteries from the greek word muein, to shut the mouth, and mustes, an initiate: a term for what is secret or concealed in a religious context. although certain mysteries were probably part of the initiatory ceremony of the priests of ancient egypt, we are ignorant of their exact nature, and the term is usually used in connection with certain semi-religious ceremonies held by various cults in ancient greece. the mysteries were secret cults, to which only certain initiated people were admitted after a period of preliminary preparation. after this initial period of purification came the mystic communication or exho

EVERBURNING LAMPS

certain substances which burn alone without any wick or arrangement, such as camphor, which will burn even floating on water. the presence of a combustible gas, which issues from clefts in the rock in some mines and caverns, seems to have been known, and was probably taken advantage of by the ancient sages to enhance the mystery and majesty of their secret rites. it is very possible that some of the priests of old were aware of the lucent property of some forms of sulphide of calcium, which have attracted much attention the last few years, in the shape of luminous paint. i will sub mit also that references exist in the history of remote ages to suggest the mysterious light now so freely handled and produced by electricity was not unknown to the ancient sages. numa, king of rome, studied e

poured upon them, before all the people; when the clouds of the sky passed away, and the sun appeared; then the water that had been poured over the sacrifice burst into flame. the connection between fire and water again becomes prominent when we note the miracle of elijah, who made a sacrificial altar, poured water on it, and fire from heaven burned up the water, on the occasion when he condemned the priests of baal who could not do likewise.-see kings i, cap. xviii. blavatsky claims that at the present time the priests of the secret temples of the buddhists in tibet, india, and japan, use asbestos as a wick in lamps, which burn continuously without replenishing. trithemius, libavius, his commentator, and korndorf, about the year 1500, each composed a material, by chemical processes, which

r to sustain combustion, known to democritus and trismegistus. jacobus mancinus wrote to licetus that he knew of a burning lamp dug up from the monte cavallo at rome; it was still burning when found, and within it was a bituminous substance. plutarch in his work "de defectu oraculorum" states that in a temple to jupiter ammon a lamp stood in the open air, and neither wind nor rain put it out, and the priests told him it had burned continually for years- see also "licetus" cap. v. herodotus tells us that the egyptians made a special and extensive use of lamps in the religious festivals, and that the temples of king mycerinus had many mysterious ones. strabo, and pausanias in his atticus, narrate that in the temple of minerva polias, at athens, there was a mysterious lamp of gold always burn

FAUST

gh devil, man, or god was vain. your majesty it was who burst the fiery chain! it was in rome. still of most grateful mood, he pays heed to your path with deep solicitude. he has forgotten self from that dread moment on; he questions stars and depths for you alone. he charged us, as our task the most immediate, to stand by you. the mountain s powers are great; here nature works omnipotently free. the priests dull wits chide it as sorcery. emperor on festal days when guest on guest we re greeting, who come for joy and hope for joyous meeting, we like to see them shoving, pushing, one and all, so many men as make the rooms seem small. but still most highly welcome must the good man be if to our aid he comes with energy some morning hour when many dangers wait, and doubtful hang the balances

FELDMAN DANIEL QABALAH THE MYSTICAL HERITAGE OF THE CHILDREN OF ABRAHAM

ed levitical focus of the rabbinical sect developed from the codes of behavior and traditions institutionalized by the priesthood (kohanim) of the centralized temples in jerusalem. the strict codes reflected the extraordinary level of levitical purity that had to be maintained to enact the high level rituals performed in the first temple, which housed the ark of the covenant. within that context, the priests needed to be like angels who attend the throne of the lord hvhy. the kohanic codes had a significant impact on the development of the pharisaic rabbinate centuries later. they were redacted much later in the talmud yerushalmi and talmud babli, which contain voluminous commentary garnered from over four centuries of rabbinical dialectic. the talmud is composed of the mishnah and the gem

h (hebrew: holy spirit: the shell of embodied existence corresponding to the world of b riyah; bliss body. small face as the many. ruhiya latifa (arabic: the throat center on the sufi tree. corresponds to the sefirah knowledge/first on the qabalistic tree, and the vishuddha chakra on the tantric tree. sadducees (hebrew: one of the groups who vied for power during the hasmonean period. they viewed the priests as the only authoritative representatives of jewish law, did not believe in the immortality of the soul, and denied that there was a divine reward/punishment system in a life after this life. sahasrara chakra (sanskrit: crown center on the top of the head of the chakric tree, portrayed as a lotus with one thousand petals. corresponds to the sefirah crown/above on the qabalistic tree, a

FRANCIS A YATES GIORDANO BRUNO AND THE HERMETIC TRADITION

gods, that is some spirit above men, invented that illicit magic which by enticing demons into statues made these appear to be gods. i at first thought, following the opinion of the blessed thomas aquinas, that if they made statues which could speak, this could not have been only through stellar influence but through demons. but now let us return to mercurius and to plotinus. mercurius says that the priests drew suitable virtues from the nature of the world and mixed these together. plotinus follows him, and thinks that all can be easily conciliated in the soul of the world for it generates and moves the forms of natural things through certain seminal reasons infused with its divinity. which reasons he calls gods for they are not separated from the ideas in the supreme mind' an interpreta

h bruno and campanella teach as a necessary part of their reformed societies. and here yet another, and a very unexpected, comparison for the spaccio suggests itself, namely thomas more's utopia. more's ideal republic has been universally admired for its ethic of social utility. and what was the religion of the utopians like? they had very large, dark churches, dimly lighted by tapers, into which the priests made a spectacular entry clothed in vestments of "chaungeable colours" made of bird's feathers arranged in a manner which contained "certaine divine misteries".2 the dress of the utopian priests reminded an early critic of "conjuring garments",3 and there is certainly rather a strange atmosphere about the religion of more's communists. the utopia may reflect reform notions entertained

FREEMASONRY AND CATHOLICISM BY MAX HEINDEL

h in awe at the audacity of his purpose. the bible gives very little information about the molten sea. in second chronicles, the fourth chapter, we learn that hiram made such a vessel, that it was of considerable size, that it stood upon 12 oxen arranged so that their heads were at the periphery of this circular basin and their hind parts were towards its center. it was intended solely for use by the priests. much is said of a nature to bewilder the reader, but the above salient points prove the signal importance of this instrument, as we shall see when we study and compare the masonic account with this veiled word of the bible. the masonic story runs as follows: when hiram had about completed the temple, he commenced to cast the various vessels required in the service according to designs

FREEMASONS SATANISM AND SYMBOLISM

can see why this masonic web site depicted three different types of gavels in the familiar pentagram, above right. however, on page 381, pike also tells us that thor was the sun, the egyptian osiris, and kneph, the phoenician bel or baal. the bible tells us that worshipping baal is identical to worshipping the devil [1 kings 16:30-33, 22:53; 2 kings 17:16] god condemned baal worship, slaughtered the priests of baal, and finally abolished it altogether in israel. yet, here, freemasonry boldly states that they revere him. but, let us get back to the subject at hand, i.e, sexual connotations of masonic symbols. masonic author, j.s.m. ward states "thus we see that the hammer or gavel, and the tau, were originally the same, and this is a natural evolution of symbols, for the tau cross is evolv

FULLER J F C SECRET WISDOM OF THE QABALAH

of symbols led us to a mechanistic world conception- the world as a vast machine; the other leads us to one which can best be compared to a dice-box- accident, luck, odds on or against. in both, however, the exalted engineer and the supreme gambler remain unexplained; hence there is hope that the present symbols are not final ones, but those only which appeal to a small priesthood as exclusive as the priests of ancient elusis. are these scientific speculations nothing more than symbols? yes: as to this there can be no doubt. they are not truth, for at most they are but the reflections of truth upon the mind of a mathematician- just as the symbols of the first chapter of genesis were the reflections of truth upon the mind of some early poet, living not in a mathematical civilization, but in

GAMBLE ELIZA BURT THE GOD IDEA OF THE ANCIENTS OR SEX IN RELIGION

ly recognized parent. in the eumenides of aeschylus, the plea of orestes in extenuation of his crime is that he is not of kin to his mother. euripides, also, puts into the mouth of apollo the same physiological notion, that she who bears the child is only its nurse. the hindoo code of menu, which, however, since its earliest conception, has undergone numberless mutilations to suit the purposes of the priests, declares that "the mother is but the field which brings forth the plant according to whatsoever seed is sown" although, through the accumulation of property in masses and the capture of women for wives, men had succeeded in gaining the ascendancy, and although the doctrine had been propounded that the father is the only parent, thereby reversing the established manner of reckoning des

an allusion to the bo tree of ceylon, a slip of which is said to have been carried from india to that island by a certain priestess in the year 307 b.c, forlong observes "this wonderful idol has furnished shoots to half asia, and every shoot is trained as much as possible like the parent, and like it, also, enclosed and tended. men watch and listen for signs and sounds from this holy tree just as the priests of dodona did beneath their rustling oaks, and, as many people, even of these somewhat sceptical days, still do, beneath the pulpits of their pope, priest, or other oracle"[8 [8] rivers of life, vol. i, p, 36. the sacred ficus is worshipped in india and in many of the polynesian islands. regarding the palm, inman assures us that it is emblematical of the active male energy, or the cont

an world, unconscious, perhaps, of the original reason of their conduct" it is a significant fact that in nearly all the sacred paintings of the christians in the galleries throughout europe, especially those of the annunciation, a lily is always to be observed. in later ages as the original significance of the lotus was lost, any lily came to be substituted. godfrey higgins is sure that although the priests of the romish church are at the present time ignorant of the true meaning of the lotus, or lily "it is, like many other very odd things, probably understood at the vatican, or the crypt of st. peter's"[20 [20] anacalypsis, book vii, ch. xi. of the lotus of the hindoos nimrod says "the lotus is a well-known allegory, of which the expanse calyx represents the ships of the gods floating o

sonified which is represented as appearing to abraham and talking with him face to face. with this same god jacob wrestled, while the real god--the dual or triune principle, the jehovah or iav, no man could behold and live. to conceal the fact that the god of abraham originally consisted of a dual or triple unity, and that the deity was identical in significance with that of contemporary peoples, the priests have, as usual, had recourse to a trick to deceive the ignorant or uninitiated. in reference to this subject godfrey higgins says "in the second book of genesis the creation is described not to have been made by aleim, or the aleim, but by a god of a double name ieue aleim; which the priests have translated lord god. by using the word lord, their object evidently is to conceal from the

be identified with the imperial triad of the old chaldaic or babylonian philosophy"[43 [43] faber, pagan idolatry, book vi, ch. ii, p. 470. the history of the catastrophe known as the deluge, which, it is claimed, took place either in armenia, at cashgar, or at some other place in the east, is observed, in later ages, to furnish a covering beneath which have been veiled the mythical doctrines of the priests. of the catastrophes which from time to time have visited our planet, and of the belief which has come to be entertained by ecclesiastics that the earth will be destroyed by fire, celsus writes "the belief has spread among them, from a misunderstanding of the accounts of these occurrences, that after lengthened cycles of time, and the returns and conjunctions of planets, conflagrations

GILBERT THE GOLDEN DAWN TWILIGHT OF THE MAGICIANS

ne experiment on which thou art set: to wit, the word, the sign, and the way. guard well that secret knowledge, remembering the four oathsofthy initiation: to dare, to will, to learn, and to conceal. but as to this book, have no fear lest the profane and those unlearned in philosophie discover aught therein, since, even as the ark within the temple, all truth here dwells behind a veil; which veil the priests of the hidden wisdom alone may pass.'6theheroine discovers, too, the value of sounds and calls 'constance was now impelled to chant, in a loud tone and with a grave intense and crescent determination, the strange oldheb255rew spell.thewords drew fromher-sheknew not for whatreason-along and rhythmic cry; a wailing music, with curious ululative prolongationsofthe vowel sounds. it came fr

GILBERT THE MAGICAL MASON

alone without any wick or arrangement, such as camphor, which willbumeven floating on water. the presence of a combustible gas, which issues from clefts in the rock in some mines and caverns, seems to have been known, and was probably taken advantage of by the ancient sages to enhance thethoughts ontheever-burning lamps 57mystery and majesty of their secret rites. it is very possible that some of the priests of old were aware of the lucent property of some forms of sulphide of calcium, which have attracted much attention the last few years, in the shape of luminous paint. i will submit also that references exist in the history of remote ages to suggest the mysterious light now so freely handled and produced by electricity was not unknowntothe ancient sages. numa, king of rome, studied elec

waterwas poured upon them, before all the people; when the clouds of the sky passed away, and the sun appeared; then thewaterthat had been poured over the sacrifice burst into flame.theconnection between fire and water again becomes prominent when we note the miracle of elijah, who made a sacrificialaltar, pouredwateron it, and fire from heaven burned up thewater,on the occasion when he condemned the priests of baal who could not do likewise- see kingsi.,cap. xviii. blavatsky claims that at the present time the priests of the secret temples of the buddhists in tibet, india, and japan, use asbestos as a wick in lamps, which burn continuously without replenishing. trithemius, libavius, his commentator, and korndorf, about the year 1500, each composed a material, by chemical processes, which

of a wondrous liquor to sustain combustion, known to democ255 ritusandtrismegistus. jacobus mancinus wrote to licetus that he knew of a burning lampdugup from the monte cavallo at rome;itwas still burningwhenfound, and within it was a bituminous substance. plutarch in his workdedefectuoraculorumstates thatina temple tojupiterammon a lamp stood in the open air, and neither windnorrainputitout,and the priests told him ithadburned continually for years. see also licetus, cap. v. herod255 otus tells usthatthe egyptians made a special and extensive use of lamps in the religious festivals, and that the temples of king mycerinushadmany mysterious ones. strabo, and pausaniasinhis atticus, narrate that in thetempleof minerva polias, at athens, there was a mysterious lampofgold always burning; it w

later on, became collected into a singlevolume and calledzohar,orbookofsplendour.these two books are the oldest works still extant of hebrew secret doctrine. they represent the kernel of that oral instruction which the rabbis in all ages have prided themselves upon possessing, and which98themagical masonthey have always claimed as being the secret knowledge which god gave to moses for the use of the priests themselves, in contradistinction to the written law, intended for the masses of the people. one of the principal conceptions of the kabalah is that spiritual wisdom is attained by thirty-two paths, typified by the numbers and the twenty-two letters: these again being symbols of the divine emanations, the sephiroth, the holy voices chanting at the crystal sea, of the great sea, the moth

t the view that man is quadripartite, i.e, composed of a pair of higher, lasting principles, and a pair of lower and terrestrial elements which are evanescent and transitory: these four may be called spirit and soul with an astral form, the vehicle of the animal needs and desires, the nephesh of the hebrews, and a coat of skin or material envelope, the body. the mysteries which were celebrated by the priests and initiates of many countries in long past times were partly reproduced in the mystery plays of medieval christian europe and england. these may have been sometimes practised in the160themagical masonform of dramas, partly carried out in dumb show and partly explained by characterisation, by catechisation, and by conver255 sational discussion, as well as by set lectures. there is a g

GILBERT THE SORCERER AND HIS APPRENTICE

but we have to remember thatinancient egypt, as in medieval europe, evil was a term of very varying significance, and one thinks perhaps the hierophant's conception of evil might sometimes have been merely that which was personally annoying to himself. after all, this is but human nature, and we can. readily imagine that if a farmer on old nile should withold his temple dues, and attempt to cheat the priests, as without doubt they occasionally did, it might be a short and simple solution to devote him to typhon apophis, even as we may bid a man who has defrauded us go to the devil. only in ancient egypt we are told they did it with effect. an instance of the survivalofthis old idea was told me by a london doctor. a man came to see him from the basque, reputed to be a great magus and healer

tion? after he had been trained in all the wisdom of the egyptians, after he had become a trained occultist, an initiate, an adept.itwas that training which rendered him a fit vessel for the revelation.theesoteric teaching of moses is contained in the kabala.anyonewho wishes to understand all the difficulties of the pen255 tateuch,mustunderstand the kabala.thekabala was the key that was taught to the priests, and the priests alone, whereby they were able to expound as much as they thought desirable, or were allowed to teach, to the people. but the kabala was an absolute secret until afterthecoming of christ.itwas only in the second or third century that the kabala was compiled and made accessible: before that it was purely esoteric and secret. among the nations contacting with egypt were t

for the most part very complex and difficult to follow. one key may, however, be given here; it is often laid down in books on occultism that the signs of the zodiac were originally only ten, and that virgo and scorpio were originally one, as the likeness of the symbols seems to indicate, libra being added by the egyptian priests.inthis there is a certain amount of truth. libra was introduced by the priests of egypt, or perhaps earlier, but not as an additionbuta substitution; the original sign was the altar ara (fig. 11, sometimes called the altar of abel, which, with the decanal signs, clearly shows the mystery of the atonement, rising above the law of karma.thesign of libra, or the balance of the table of osiris, indicates the weighing of the actsofthedead, and the future state as the

GLOBAL FREEMASONRY

aid "detain him and his brother and send out marshals to the cities, to bring you all the skilled magicians (qur'an, 7: 104-112) it should be noticed that mention here is made of a council that advises pharaoh, that incites him against moses, and recommends to him certain methods. if we look at the records of egyptian history, we see that the two basic components of this council were the army and the priests. there is no need to explain the importance of the army; it constituted the basic military power of the regimes of the pharaohs. but, we should look more closely at the role of the priests. the priests of ancient egypt were a class referred to in the qur'an as magicians. they represented the cult which supported the regime. it was believed that they had special powers and possessed sec

riestly class (magicians. their beliefs later formed the roots of the kabbalah and were transmitted from there to masonry. tem. in this development, this esoteric enterprise, which began first in the east, in china and tibet, and then spread to india, mesopotamia and egypt, formed the basis of a priestly knowledge that had been practiced for thousands of years and formed the basis of the power of the priests in egypt.20 how can there be a relationship between the esoteric philosophy of the priests of ancient egypt and present-day freemasons? ancient egypt a classic example in the qur'an of a godless political system disappeared thousands of years ago. can it have any influence today? to find the answer to these questions, we must look at the ancient egyptian priests' beliefs with regards t

an judaism, that later entered the religion, and that its true roots are found in ancient egypt. 4. ancient egypt was governed by the pagan system of pharaoh, and there we found an idea that forms the basis of the modern atheistic philosophy: that of a universe existing of its own accord, and evolving by chance. all this surely paints an interesting picture. is it by chance that the philosophy of the priests of ancient egypt still thrives, and that there exist traces of a chain (kabbalah-templars-masonry) that has been responsible for maintaining the supremacy of this philosophy to the present day? is it possible masons, who have made their mark on the world's history since the eighteenth century, fomenting revolutions, promoting philosophies and political systems, can be the inheritors of

s justice, and recalls the barbarism of pagan cultures, who worshipped a mythical god of war. these pagan ideas that were introduced into the torah must have an origin. there must have been jews who adopted, honored and cherished a tradition foreign to the torah, and changed the latter by adding into it ideas derived from the tradition they espoused. the origin of this tradition stretches back to the priests of ancient egypt (the magicians of pharaoh's regime. it is, in fact, the kabbalah which was passed on from there by a number of jews. the kabbalah assumed a form that enabled ancient egyptian and other pagan doctrines to insinuate themselves into judaism and de- global freemasonry gg velop within it. kabbalists, of course, assert that the kabbalah simply explains in more detail the hid

a role in the classstruggle, and it is owing to this role that it spread so rapidly and had enthusiastic advocates and venomous opponents. darwinism served as a tool to the bourgeoisie in their struggle against the feudal class, against the nobility, clergy-rights and feudal lords..what the bourgeoisie wanted was to get rid of the old ruling powers standing in their way. with the aid of religion the priests held the great mass in subjection and ready to oppose the demands of the bourgeoisie. natural science became a weapon in the opposition to belief and tradition; science and the newly discovered natural laws were put forward; it was with these weapons that the bourgeoisie fought. darwinism came at the desired time; darwin' s theory that man is the descendant of a lower animal destroyed

GNOSTIC STUDIES THE GNOSTIC HANDBOOK II GNOSTIC THEURGY

of the organism through its central position. it is also elevated in that it dominates and controls the lower chakras. the characteristic of the city is that of being the capital city where the supreme court and priests of babylon sat in judgement. it can hence be understood that the pergamos is the seat of control and discrimination (right thinking. however, there is clearly a great danger, for the priests of babylon are fallen. accordingly, it is imperative that our self-control comes from the true self, not just from subpersonalities or the mind. the mind is a great servant, but a dangerous master. the commendation of the church is given because it holds fast to what it has been taught, has not denied the faith and has accepted the fact there are and will be many martyrs due to the sta

m virgo to leo. is the sphinx a mixture of feminine and lion characteristics? this is an intriguing and challenging possibility. heraldic cycles every astrological age lasts around 2150 years, these ages can again be sub-divided into 12 minor periods. the last minor period before the dawning of the next age is known as the equinox of the gods or the heraldic period. it was during this period that the priests of old prepared for the great change, modifying god-forms, ritual formulae and temple procedures to fulfil the characteristics of the new incoming sign. this preparatory period is 180 years in length and can be divided into 4 nexus dates and three periods of sixty years each. the present heraldic cycle, equinox of the gods or remnant age represents the expansion and development of the

GRAHAM HANCOCK FINGERPRINTS OF THE GODS

05. 6 ibid, p. 103. 7 the feathered serpent and the cross, p. 55. 8 mary miller and karl taube, the gods and symbols of ancient mexico and the maya, thames& hudson, london, 1993, pp. 96. graham hancock fingerprints of the gods 103 children of the fifth sun like the many different peoples and cultures that had preceded them in mexico, the aztecs believed that the universe operated in great cycles. the priests stated as a matter of simple fact that there had been four such cycles, or suns, since the creation of the human race. at the time of the conquest, it was the fifth sun that prevailed. and it is within that same fifth sun, or epoch, that humankind still lives today. this account is taken from a rare collection of aztec documents known as the vaticano- latin codex: first sun, matlactli

picted as a glaring skull, he was said to have been the owner of a mysterious object, the smoking mirror after which he was named, which he made use of to observe from afar the activities of men and gods. scholars quite reasonably suppose that it must have been a primitive obsidian scrying stone: obsidian had an especial sanctity for the mexicans, as it provided the sacrificial knives employed by the priests. bernal diaz [spanish chronicler] states that they called this stone tezcat. from it mirrors were also manufactured as divinatory media to be used by wizards. 24 representing the forces of darkness and rapacious evil, tezcatilpoca was said in the legends to have been locked in a conflict with 18 mexico, pp. 194-5. 19 the gods and symbols of ancient mexico and the maya, pp. 185, 188-9

from the ancients that had been transmitting itself over and over again down the epochs a message only now beginning to be unravelled and understood? such notions seemed fanciful. nevertheless i could hardly forget that out of this very same heliopolitan tradition the great myth of isis and osiris had flowed, covertly transmitting an accurate calculus for the rate of precessional motion. moreover the priests of innu, whose responsibility it had been to guard and nurture such traditions, had been renowned throughout egypt for their high wisdom and their proficiency in prophecy, astronomy, mathematics, architecture and the magic arts. they were also famous for their possession of a powerful and sacred object known as the benben.9 the egyptians called heliopolis innu, the pillar, because trad

ould seem that this meteorite was from six to fifteen tons in mass. the frightful spectacle of its fiery fall would have been very impressive, p. 204. 13 the penguin dictionary of religions, penguin books, london, 1988, p. 166. 14 e.g. the egyptian book of the dead, introduction, p. xlix; qsiris and the egyptian resurrection, volume ii, pp. 1-11. graham hancock fingerprints of the gods 350 egypt. the priests of heliopolis, after all, had taught of the creation, but who had taught them? had they sprung out of nowhere, or was it more likely that their doctrine, with all its complex symbolism, was the product of a long refinement of religious ideas? if so, when and where had these ideas developed? i looked up to discover that we had left heliopolis behind and were winding our way through the

t dawn one morning and had found himself by the side of a ruined pyramid looking into the bright amber eyes of a lone desert jackal: it was as if the animal were taunting his human observer. and inviting the puzzled man to chase him. slowly the jackal sauntered towards the north face of 17 atlas of ancient egypt, p. 36. 18 from fetish to god in ancient egypt, p. 147: judging by the pyramid texts, the priests of heliopolis borrowed very largely from the religious beliefs of the predynastic egyptians. see also the ancient egyptian book of the dead, p. 11. graham hancock fingerprints of the gods 352 the pyramid, stopping for a moment before disappearing into a hole. the bemused arab decided to follow his lead. after slipping through the narrow hole, he found himself crawling into the dark bow

GRIMM JACOB TEUTONIC MYTHOLOGY VOL 3

rs, may fairly be referable to that old peeface. 11 german way of thiuking. irmansul and yggdrasill were sacred trees, rearing their heads into the breezes: the tree is the steed (drasill, the snorter) on which wviotan, the bodeful thrill of nature, stormfully careers: yggr signifies shudder, thrill of terror (p. 120, and suppl. by the old. german forest-worship i also explain the small number of the priests, who only begin to multiply in temples entrusted to their charge. of all forms of belief, the monotheistic is at once the most agreeable to reason and the most honouring to deity. it also seems to be the original form, out of whose lap to a childlike antiquity polytheism easily unfolded itself, by the loftiest attributes of the one god being conceived first as a trilogy, then as a dode

^uhite lady with the snake (p. 588 n, the beast of sovereign'st healing power, servant to aesculapius himself. the servian vila too is a physician, and heals wounds for a high fee, vuk no. 321 [so the bulgarian yuda or samodiva, aug. dozon's bolgarski pesni no. 3, etc. we see from all this, that medical science in heathen times was lialf priestly, half magical. experience and higher culture gave the priests a knowledge of healing powers in nature, from the sacredness of their office proceeded salutary spells, the use of remedies was backed by sacrifice, nay, great cures and the averting of pestilence could only be effected by sacrifice. thus all through the mid. ages we find the christian priests also possessors, above other men, of medicine and the art of using it. yet some part of the o

GRIMM TEUTONIC MYTHOLOGY VOL 2 1883 COMPLETE

others, such as the offering of milk, bring the liome-snakes near to the notion of good helpful home-sprites (see suppl. the snake then comes before us as a beneficent inviolable creature, perfectly adapted for heathen worship. a serpent twined round the staff of asklepios, and serpents lay beside healing fountains (p. 588n. the ancient prussians maintained a large snake for their potrimpos, and the priests guarded it with care; it lay under ears of corn, and was nourished with milk.1 the lettons call snakes milk-mothers (peena mahtes; they were under the protection of one of the higher goddesses named brehkina (crier, who cried out to all that entered to leave her peena mantes unmolested in the house (mag. der lett. gesellsch. 6,144. there is milk set for them in pots. the lithuanians al

GRIMOIRE OF TURIEL

ted. the man was bearded, swarthy of complexion, and very thin. he spoke in broken english and snggested that we visit the cathedral. this we did, and as we walked the stranger informed me that the cathedral was founded in the 16th century but only completed in the 19th, he conducted me to a lift inside the cathedral, and smiled at two most corpulent priests who were seated at confessional boxes. the priests turned their heads away from the guide, who entered the lift with me. soon we were speeding upward to enjoy the most enchanting scene imaginable. in the sunlight, on each bank of the river, lay the houses of the capital down below the people walked, lilliputians in size. we stood for a considerable time, and indeed i could have remained much longer drinking in the view, but the guide s

HANDBOOK OF EGYPTIAN MYTHOLOGY

pring shu and tefnut are particularly prominent. many texts deal with transformations of the sun god into various forms. a new element is a stress on the dangers faced by the sun god during his celestial voyages, such as attacks by the chaos monster apophis. the prominence of the solar cult leads some egyptologists to believe that the coffin texts were, like the pyramid texts, mainly generated by the priests of heliopolis. other egyptologists point to the huge range of deities that feature in this collection and see the coffin texts as being more representative of regional traditions.29 coffin texts spells have been found in sites all over egypt, but the majority come from the geographical region known as middle egypt. the local deities of middle egypt, such as thoth and the group of prime

of egypt. some classicists and egyptologists think that herodotus made up his account from travelers tales, but others believe him to be a reliable eyewitness and take everything that he writes very seriously.77 herodotus claims to have talked with egyptian priests in several important religious centers, but his information mainly seems to derive from memphis and the eastern delta. he argued that the priests knowledge was important to humanity because, unlike the greeks, the egyptians had access to very ancient and continuous records. herodotus thought it possible to identify many egyptian deities with greek ones, so he calls osiris, dionysus, and horus, apollo. it became a general practice among classical writers to use greek names for egyptian deities, but these cross-cultural identifica

s that every child will be saved because horus was saved. cippi have been found in houses and tombs, but large examples such as the metternich stela would originally have been set up in an outer area of a temple. ptolemaic period temples are decorated with endless scenes of gods and pharaohs, but the absence of specific royal names from some cartouches gives a clue that it was often difficult for the priests to know who was in charge of the country or for how long. from the second century bce onward there were frequent wars between rival members of the ptolemy family as well as rebellions by native egyptians. in the first century bce, one of the feuding ptolemies unwisely sought help from rome, the city that was becoming the greatest military power in the ancient world. the romans were eag

t in the mid first century bce. in his description of the country he picked out elements introduction 39 of egyptian religion that he found bizarre, such as the reverential treatment of sacred animals. diodorus summarized the myth of osiris, including his murder by his brother, typhon (seth. he explained the symbolic tombs of osiris found in temples all over egypt by a myth in which isis deceives the priests in each temple into thinking that they have the true body of the god. this literalminded interpretation points up the differences between greek and egyptian thought. soon after diodorus s visit, rome was interfering in egyptian affairs. the roman general julius caesar took part in a civil war and secured the position of the last great member of the ptolemy family, queen cleopatra vii (

1992, 73 124. 45. for modern myth making about akhenaten and nefertiti, see d. montserrat, akhenaten history, fantasy, and ancient egypt (london and new york, 2000. 46. at a large temple such as the one at karnak, there were four shifts, so no one had to spend more than a quarter of their time on ritual duties. for all aspects of the priesthood, see david lorton s new translation of s. sauneron s the priests of ancient egypt (ithaca and london, 2000. 47. more specifically, the temples were models of the cosmos as it was newly created in the first time. for a summary of the symbolic aspects of temples, see the temple as cosmos, in e. hornung, idea into image: essays on ancient egyptian thought (princeton, 1992, 115 130; or worlds within worlds, in r. h. wilkinson, the complete temples of an

HEAVEN HELL

ich they were likely to meet on their way, and the copious texts which were given side by side with the pictures enabled the traveller through the tuat--always, of course, provided that he had learned them--to participate in the benefits which were decreed by the sun-god for the beings of each section of it. in primitive times each great city of egypt possessed its own other world, and, no doubt, the priests of each city provided the worshippers of their gods with suitable "guides" to the abode of its dead. in the beginning of the dynastic period, however, we find that the cult of osiris was extremely popular, and therefore it was only natural that great numbers of people in all parts of egypt should hope and believe that their souls after death would go to the kingdom in the other world o

abydos. the two other books, however, are as important, each in its own way, as the "book of the dead" for they throw considerable light on the development of the material and spiritual elements in the religion of egypt, and commemorate the belief in the existence of numbers of primitive gods, who are unknown outside these books. the "book am-tuat" in the form in which we know it, was drawn up by the priests of the confraternity of amen-ra at thebes, with the express object of demonstrating that their god was the overlord of all the gods, and the supreme power in "pet ta tuat" or, as we should say "heaven, earth, and hell" the tuat, or other world, which they imagined included the tuat of every great district of egypt, viz, the tuat of khenti-amenti at abydos, the tuat of seker of memphis

iopolis. in the book am-tuat the god amen-ra was made to pass through all these tuats as their overlord and god, and his priests taught that all the gods of the dead, including osiris, lived through his words, and that such refreshing as the beings of the tuat enjoyed each day was due to his grace and light during his passage through their regions and circles. moreover, according to the dogmas of the priests of amen-ra, only those who were fortunate enough to secure a place p. xi in the divine bark of the god could hope to traverse the tuat unharmed, and only those who were his elect had the certainty of being re-born daily, with a new supply of strength and life, and of becoming of like nature and substance with him. in the book of gates the dogmas and doctrines of osiris are far more pro

lae &c, are interspersed with others of later periods, and it seems as if, at the time when the "pyramid texts" were cut into stone, these religious compositions were intended to contain expressions of pious thought about the hereafter which would satisfy both those who accepted the ancient indigenous beliefs, p. 4 and those who were prepared to believe the doctrines which had been promulgated by the priests of the famous brotherhood of ra, the sun-god, who had made their head-quarters in egypt at annu, i.e, on, or heliopolis. the old native beliefs of the country were of a more material character than the doctrines which the priests of heliopolis taught, but it was found impossible to eradicate them from the minds of the people, and the priests therefore framed religious works in such a m

and the priests therefore framed religious works in such a manner that they might be acceptable both to those who believed in the old animal-gods, tree-gods, plant-gods &c, of egypt, and those who preferred a purely solar cult, such as that of the worship of the sun-god ra. the oldest books of the dead, in fact, represent the compromise arrived at under the ivth, vth, and vith dynasties, between the priests of the old and the new religions. this being so, the religious texts of the period represent too much a patch-work belief for purposes of systematic illustration, and in the result, and perhaps also through the funeral customs of the day, the growth in men's minds of the wish for illustrated guides to the underworld was retarded. when the glory of sovereignty departed from the kings wh

HELENA BLAVATSKY THE KEY TO THEOSOPHY

ydemus, and pythagorean philosophy and other subjects under euxenus of heraclea. according to the tenets of the pythagorean school he remained a vegetarian the whole of his long life, ate only fruit and herbs, drank no wine, wore vestments made only of plant fibers, walked barefooted and let his hair grow to the full length, as all the initiates have done before and after him. he was initiated by the priests of the temple of aesculapius (asclepios) at aegae, and learnt many of the "miracles" for healing the sick wrought by the god of medicine. having prepared himself for a higher initiation by a silence of five years, and by travel-visiting antioch, ephesus, and pamphylia and other parts-he repaired via babylon to india, alone, all his disciples having abandoned him as they feared to go to

on his travels. at babylon he got initiated by the chaldeans and magi, according to damis, whose narrative was copied by one named philostratus one hundred years later. after his return from india, he showed himself a true initiate in that the pestilence, earthquakes, deaths of kings, and other events, which he prophesied, duly happened. page 144 the key to theosophy- hp blavatsky.txt at lesbos, the priests of orpheus got jealous of him, and refused to initiate him into their peculiar mysteries, though they did so several years later. he preached to the people of athens and other states the purest and noblest ethics, and the phenomena he produced were as wonderful as they were numerous, and well authenticated "how is it" inquires justin martyr, in dismay, how is it that the talismans (tel

s of the egyptian, and the author of egyptian belief and modern thought informs us that our own word "chapel or capella is said to be the caph-el or college of el, the solar divinity" the well-known cabiri are associated with the mysteries. in short, the mysteries were in every country a series of dramatic performances, in which the mysteries of cosmogony and nature in general were personified by the priests and neophytes, who enacted the parts of various gods and goddesses, repeating supposed scenes (allegories) from their respective lives. these were explained in their hidden meaning to the candidates for initiation and incorporated into philosophical doctrines. mystery language the sacerdotal secret "jargon" used by the initiated priests, and employed only when discussing sacred things

HP LOVECRAFT A DARK LORE

ria by the first human beings. it crossed strange lands and stranger seas, and sank with atlantis before a minoan fisher meshed it in his net and sold it to swarthy merchants from nighted khem. the pharaoh nephren-ka built around it a temple with a windowless crypt, and did that which caused his name to be stricken from all monuments and records. then it slept in the ruins of that evil fane which the priests and the new pharaoh destroyed, till the delver's spade once more brought it forth to curse mankind. early in july the newspapers oddly supplement blake's entries, though in so brief and casual a way that only the diary has called general attention to their contribution. it appears that a new fear had been growing on federal hill since a stranger had entered the dreaded church. the ital

HP LOVECRAFT THE DOOM THAT CAME TO SARNATH

and curse the bones of the dead that lay beneath it. at first the high-priests liked not these festivals, for there had descended amongst them queer tales of how the sea-green eikon had vanished, and how taran-ish had died from fear and left a warning. and they said that from their high tower they sometimes saw lights beneath the waters of the lake. but as many years passed without calamity even the priests laughed and cursed and joined in the orgies of the feasters. indeed, had they not themselves, in their high tower, often performed the very ancient and secret rite in detestation of bokrug, the water-lizard? and a thousand years of riches and delight passed over sarnath, wonder of the world. gorgeous beyond thought was the feast of the thousandth year of the destroying of lb. for a dec

cooks in all mnar, and suited to the palate of every feaster. but most prized of all the viands were the great fishes from the lake, each of vast size, and served upon golden platters set with rubies and diamonds. whilst the king and his nobles feasted within the palace, and viewed the crowning dish as it awaited them on golden platters, others feasted elsewhere. in the tower of the great temple the priests held revels, and in pavilions without the walls the princes of neighboring lands made merry. and it was the high-priest gnai-kah who first saw the shadows that descended from the gibbous moon into the lake, and the damnable green mists that arose from the lake to meet the moon and to shroud in a sinister haze the towers and the domes of fated sarnath. thereafter those in the towers and

INITIATION INTO HERMETICS

there is no death at all, in the true sense of the word, but everything goes on living, transmuting and becoming perfect according to primitive laws. therefore a magician is not afraid of death, for he believes the physical death to be only a transition to a subtler sphere, the astral plane, and from there to the spiritual level, and so on. consequently he will not believe in heaven nor in hell. the priests of the various religions stick to these fancies solely to keep their kids to the point. their moralizing serves only to provoke fear of the hell or the purgatory and to promise heaven to morally good people. average people, as far as they are religiously inclined, are favorably influenced by such a point of view for, from fear of hell, they will try to be good. but as for the magician

IRISH WITCHCRAFT AND DEMONOLOGY

eptember 1317 (wright says 1320, bishop de ledrede held his first synod, at which several canons were passed, one of which seems in some degree introductory to the events detailed in the preceding chapter. in it he speaks of "a certain new and pestilential sect in our parts, differing from all the faithful in the world, filled with a devilish spirit, more inhuman than heathens or jews, who pursue the priests and bishops of the most high god equally in life and death, by spoiling and rending the patrimony of christ in the diocese of ossory, and who utter grievous threats against the bishops and their ministers exercising ecclesiastical jurisdiction, and (by various means) attempt to hinder the correction of sins and the salvation of souls, in contempt of god p. 48 and the church" 1 from thi

ISIS UNVEILED

erora have been pious men, their will haa been respected, and the images and aainta have remained quiet, and hardly been spoken of except as connected with religious worship. in poland, a land of furious ultramontanism, there were, at different times, desperate attempts at miracle-doing. they died at birth, however, for the argus-eyed police were there; a catholic mirade in poland, made public by the priests, generally meaning political revolution, uoodshed, and war. is it then not permissible at least to suspect that if in one country divine miracles may be arrested by civil and militaiy law, and in another they never occur, we must search for the explanation of the two facta in some natural cause, instead of attributing them to either god or devil? in our opinion if it is worth anything

hools of magic. the kabalists of the latter town were skilled in ail the abstruse sciences; they knew the virtues of precious stones and other minerals, and had ex- tracted from alchemy its most profound secrets. the authentic documents pertaining to the great trial of the mar- chale d'ancre, during the regency of marie de m^dicis, disclose that the unfortunate woman perished through the fault of the priests with whom, like a true italian, she surroimdedhersdf. she was accused by the people of paris of sorcery, because it had been asserted that she had used, after the ceremony of exorcism, newly-killed white cocks. believing herself constantly bewitched, and being in very delicate health, the marfoihale had the ceremony of exorcism publicly appued to herself in the church of the augustines

ation and conjuration were laid down" says thb veteran writer. he then proceeds to give a long description of the favorite modut operandi. the dogme et ritud de la haute magie of the late lipbas l vi, treated with so much abuse and contempt by des mousaeaux, tells nothing of the weird ceremonies and practices but what was pnc- tjsed legally and with the tacit if not open consent of the church, by the priests of the middle ages. the exorcist-priest entered a circle at mid- night; he was clad in a new surplice, and had a consecrated band hanging from the neck, covered with sacred characters. he wore on the head a tall pointed cap, on the front of which was written in hebrew the holy word, the tetragrammaton the ineffable name. it was writtrai with a new pen dipped in the blood of a white dov

treated by/nfm science, endeavoring, as she has, to turn into ridicule so grave a subject; the childish simplidty exhibited by ha in the desire to explaio the facts by absurd and contradictory hypotheses [signed "faoier vtntura de aoutico, etc, etc" thus encouraged by the greatest authorities of tbe church of some. andent and modem, the chevalier u^es the necessity and the efficacy of exorcism by the priests. he tries to demonstrate onfajth, as usual that the power of the spirits rites, 13s. l. jacodiot: u tptrititnu, tte, p. 162. 139. augustine: tht ciig of ood, xxi, vi. 140. mmn. do, p. ii (cd. 1865: also la auvi> xlxme tiku, p. iis. digitizecoy google a hcsbdh of astonishing relics 71 words and formal edgns "in the diabolical catboudsm" he says "as

h and of the magicians. the best latin scholars were, until a comparatively recent date, either churchmen or dependent upon the church. common people could not read latin, and even if they could, the reading of the books on magic was prohibited under the penalty of anathema and excommunication. the cunning device of the confessional made it almost impossible to consult, even surreptitiously, what the priests call a grimmre (a devil's scrawl) or ritual of magic. to make assurance doubly sure, the church began destroying or concealing everything of the kind she could lay her hands upon. the following are translated from the kabalistic ritual, and that gen- erally known as the roman ritttal the latter was promulgated in 1851 and 1852, under the sanction of cardinal engelbert, archbbhop of mal

JASMUHEEN THE FOOD OF GODS

ng with our death as this lack feeds the atrophy of life and with the lack of nourishment of human contact and love, our divine self cannot operate at its maximum potential. unaware of its true power and role in our life, we choose to block our inner voice, and the food it offers, by forgetting it is there or by treating our divine (authentic) self as if it were an external god that only talks to the priests and the holy instead of as a part of who we are. we ignore it by our material world focus, we seek its answers when in need and then relegate it like an unappreciated friend into the deeper valleys of our mind where only a bath in the theta. delta waves can release it from the prison of our ignorant actions. we choose lifestyles that perpetuate death and disease as if our life was neve

JENNINGS HARGRAVE ROSICRUCIANS RITES MYSTERIES

onolith? all the uprights constituting the grand attesting pillar to the supernatural tradition of a fire-born world? the ever-recurring globe with wings, so frequent in the sculptures of the egyptians, witnesses to the electric principle. it embodies the transmigration of the indians, the great pyramid. 93 reproduced by pythagoras. pythagoras resided for a long period in egypt, and acquired from the priests the philosophic transition knowledge, which was afterwards doctrine. the globe, disc, or circle of the phoenician astarte, the crescent of minerva, the horns of the egyptian ammon, the deifying of the ox, all have the same meaning. we trace, among the hebrews, the token of the identical mystery in the horns of moses, distinct in the sublime statue by michael angelo in the vatican; as a

emigration from wales. but the reverse may have occurred, if we trust the elaborate researches which would demonstrate that the druids were a scion of the oriental family. the reader is referred to toland s history of the druids, in his miscellaneous works, vol. ii. p. 163; also to a book published in. london in 1829, with the title, the celtic druids; or. an attempt to show that the druids were the priests of oriental colonies, who emigrated from india, by godfrey higgins. a recent writer confidently intimated that the knowledge 102 the rosicrucians. of druidism must be searched for in the talmudical writings; but another, in return, asserts that the druids were older than the jews. whence and when the british druids transplanted themselves to this lone world amid the ocean, no historian

ns. observed even in china, which worship, in protean forms, being also the worship of the dragon or snake, prevails, in its innumerable contradictory and effective disguises, over the whole world. how like are the noises and explosions of crackers &c, to the tumult of the festivals of dionusus or dionysius, to the riot or rout of the corybantes amongst the greeks, to the outcry and wild music of the priests of the salii, and, in modern times, to the noises said to be made at initiation by the freemasons, whose myths are claimed to be those (or imitative of those) of the whole world, whose mysteries are said to come from that first time, deep-buried in the blind, unconscious succession of the centuries! in the royal-arch order of the masons, as some have said, at an initiation, the u compa

article representative of woman s work, on her proper side, or the left or sinister side. the chalice as a symbol. 245 a chalice is, in general, the sign of the priestly order. the chalice on the tombstone of a knight, or over the door of a castle, is a sign of the knights templars, of whom st. john the evangelist was the patron saint. the cup was forbidden to the laity, and was only received by the priests, in consequence of the decree of pope innocent iii, a.d. 1215. it means the s.s, or holy spirit, to which we have frequently adverted. we have carefully inspected that which has been designated the crux antiquariorum, or the puzzle of antiquaries, namely, the famous font, which is of unknown and bewildering antiquity, in the nave of winchester cathedral. milner (a feeble narrator and m

tural escape or guise, by the medium of which the personal communication, whatever it might be, might be made without alarm, and without that bodily disturbance of nervous assent which should destroy. this alarm would, by the utter upsetting of the mind, and the possible fatal effect, otherwise have rendered the disclosure impossible. the denial of the interior parts of a sanctuary, or adytum, to the priests of the temple, or even to the chief hierarch sometimes, is supposed to have arisen on this account. mythological story is full of the danger of breaking in unpreparedly upon spiritual presences, or of venturing into their haunts rashly or fool-hardily. the real object and purpose of the veil to the hebrew temple, and of the curtains and enclosures ordered in the jewish ceremonial compl

KETAB E SIYAH

deliver from the sword my soul, deliver from the dogs my life. guard me of the lions and guard me of the horns of the re'em" now about him where rome's soldiers and their swords were taken out. casting his eyes to all sides he saw no path of escape. now did the constables of the law seize him by their hands and impelled him from the garden, 346 binding him with cords. so did they bring him before the priests that he might be questioned before he was brought to pontius pilate, thinking that they might trick of him some word or unguarded speech by which he might be shown guilty that they would not pay false witnesses to testify against him. at that time was caiaphas high amongst cohanim of god's temple and before him was jesu forced down and made humble upon the floor. now, as a trapper with

KNOWLEDGE LECTURE ONE

own light-bearer veiled from the material world. at the base of both pillars rise the lotus flowers, symbols of regeneration and metempsychosis. the archaic illustrations are taken from the vignettes of teh 17th and 125th chapter of the ritual of the dead the egyptian book of the per-em-hru or the book of coming forth into the day, the oldest book in the world as yet discovered. the recension of the priests of on is to be found in the walls of the pyramids of the kings of the 5th and 6th dynasties at sakarah, the recensions of the 11th and 12th dynasties on the sarcophagi of thatperiod, and the theban recension of the 18th dynasty and onward is found on papyri, both plain and illuminated. no satisfactory translation of these books is avalable, none having been yet attempted by a scholar h

LEADBEATER C W THE HIDDEN LIFE IN FREEMASONRY 2E

ed scarcely human work, stately boats in a medley of rainbow colours sweeping majestically down the placid nile, music triumphant or plaintive, but always thrilling- how shall i describe something so absolutely without parallel in our puny modern times? the common dress of all classes in egypt was white; but in contradistinction their religious processions were masses of splendid, glowing colour, the priests wearing vestments of crimson and a gorgeous blue supposed to represent the blue of the sky, and many other brilliant colours also. the life of ancient egypt, as indeed of modern egypt, centred round the river nile, slow-flowing and majestic, and richly decorated barges were used for all purposes of transit, and also for the celebration of religious festivals. on these the priests were

seven loops which extended round the pillar, making one festoon, correspond to one of the great root-races, such as the lemurian, the atlantean or the aryan. the whole set of seven festoons hanging one below the other denoted one world-period, one occupation of this planet of ours. 178. underneath the chain-work a beautifully executed system of fine network will be seen, and this was employed by the priests of old to elucidate yet another side of the marvellous mystery of evolution. when the holy spirit has brooded over the face of the waters of space, and has impregnated and vivified primordial matter, the activity of the second aspect of the logos begins, and innumerable streams of his divine life pour down into the field prepared for them. in a thousand ways they interlace and combine

more the two great laws of progress, karma and dharma, the former providing the environment or material world, and the latter the direction of the self within; by the union or harmonious working of these two laws a man may attain the stability and strength required for the occult path, and map thus reach the circle within which a m.m. cannot err. 188. also the pillars were used in the teaching of the priests to illustrate the great doctrine of the pairs of opposites- spirit and matter, good and evil, light and darkness, pleasure and pain, etc. 189. it is interesting to note that kabbalistic writers understood these pillars somehow to have represented involution, the descent of the divine life into lower worlds, though they may not have been familiar with all the details. a treatise named t

tow. thus there is a succession of i.m.s in masonry, just as there is a succession of bishops in the church. 441. in the science of the sacraments i have explained something of the inner meaning of the apostolic succession, the method designed by the christ for handing down the spiritual powers of the catholic church. it will be seen that we have a similar succession in masonry, extending back to the priests of the mysteries of ancient egypt, and beyond. 442. there is a further analogy between the degrees of freemasonry and the orders of the church, for just as the clergy of the church are linked in various degrees of connection with the head of the church, the lord christ himself, and with the reservoir of power which he has set apart for the celebration of the sacraments, so are the init

LEADBEATER CW GLIMPSES OF MASONIC HISTORY

abours, whose tradition was handed on to classical times. 55. it was to this people about 40,000 b.c. that the world teacher came forth from the white lodge, bearing the name of tehuti or thoth, called later by the greeks hermes; he founded the outer cult of the egyptian gods and restored the mysteries to the splendour of byegone days. 56. he came to teach the great doctrine of the inner light to the priests of the temples, to the powerful sacerdotal hierarchy of egypt, headed by its pharaoh. in the inner court of the chief temple he taught them of the light that lighteth every man that cometh into the world- phrase of his that was handed down through the ages, and was echoed in the fourth gospel in its early egyptian-coloured words. he taught them that the light was universal, and that th

hs of horus. he is born of isis, the god born into humanity, taking flesh of the mother eternal, matter, the ever-virgin. he is born again into osiris, redeeming his mother from her long search for the fragments of her husband scattered over the earth. he is born into osiris when osiris in the heart sees osiris in the heavens, and knows that the twain are one. 59. so taught he, and the wise among the priests were glad. 60. to pharaoh, the monarch, he gave the motto: look for the light; he said that only as a king saw the light in the heart of each could he rule well. and to the people he gave as a motto: thou art the light. let that light shine. and he set that motto round the pylon in a great temple, running up one pillar, and across the bar, and down the other pillar. and this was inscri

models, with brown veins running through them, and glazed. another favourite motto was: follow the light, and this became later: follow the king, and this spread westward and became the motto of the round table. and the people learned to say of their dead: he has gone to the light. 61. and the joyous civilization of egypt grew yet more joyous, because he had dwelt among them, the embodied light. the priests whom he had taught handed on his teachings and his secret instructions, which they enshrined in their mysteries, and students came from all nations to learn the wisdom of the egyptians, and the fame of the schools of egypt went abroad to all lands(*man: whence, how and whither, pp. 284-7) 62. the gods of egypt 63. it will be seen from the above that the deities, or rather forms of deit

ood which stood in the middle of the temple, before the figure and remembrance of the goddess; my vestment was of fine linen, covered and embroidered with flowers; i had a precious cope upon my shoulders, hanging down behind me to the ground, whereon were beasts wrought of divers colours, as indian dragons, and hyperborean griffins, whom in form of birds the other part of the world doth engender: the priests commonly call such a habit an olympian stole. in my right hand i carried a lighted torch, and a garland of flowers was upon my head, with white palm-leaves sprouting out on every side like rays; thus i was adorned like unto the sun, and made in fashion of an image, when the curtains were drawn aside and all the people compassed about to behold me. then they began to solemnize the feast

ded by the rings over an apparently fathomless abyss, from which issued a cold wind which blew out the tiny flame of his lamp and left him in profound darkness. he was left hanging there for a short time, but soon the noise ceased, the platform returned to its former position and the ivory door opened itself. through it he then entered a brilliantly lighted apartment in which he found a number of the priests of isis dressed in the mystic insignia of their offices, who welcomed and congratulated him. on the walls he saw the various symbols of the egyptian mysteries, the signification of which was by degrees explained to him. 121. one cannot guarantee all the details of such an account, but it is true that severe tests more or less of the nature described were applied to candidates for the i

LEWIS JAMES SATANISM TODAY AN ENCYCLOPEDIA OF RELIGION FOLKLORE AND POPULAR CULTURE

des masses for such mundane goals as healing sick people and cattle, bringing rain, invoking good weather, protecting individuals about to take a trip, and even obtaining children. saying the mass over fishing boats, farming implements, and livestock to make them more fruitful was common in the medieval period and continues to this very day. the church teaching that masses are effective even when the priests performing them are not in a state of grace only serves to underline the point that the rite has a magical efficacy of its own. one of the early records of the power of the mass being turned against other human beings comes from the council of toledo, which in 694 banished certain priests and a client who had paid them to perform a mass for the dead in which a living rather than a dece

LIBER CORDIS CINCTI SERPENTE

d. 24. the hour passed, and the music of the lutes was stilled. 25. but thou art eternity and space; thou art matter and motion; and thou art the negation of all these things. 26. for there is no symbol of thee. 27. if i say, come up upon the mountains! the celestial waters flow at my word.but thou art the water beyond the waters. 28. the red three-angled heart hath been set up in thy shrine; for the priests despised equally the shrine and the god. liber cordis cincti serpente svb figvra ynda 13 29. yet all the while thou wast hidden therein, as the lord of silence is hidden in the buds of the lotus. 30. thou art sebek the crocodile against asar; thou art mati, the slayer in the deep. thou art typhon, the wrath of the elements, o thou who transcendest the forces in their concourse and cohe

MANLY P HALL THE SECRET TEACHINGS OF ALL AGES

ritain was superior to that of their colleagues on the continent, and consequently many of the gallic youths were sent to the druidic colleges in britain for their philosophical instruction and training. eliphas levi states that the druids lived in strict abstinence, studied the natural sciences, preserved the deepest secrecy, and admitted new members only after long probationary periods. many of the priests of the order lived in buildings not unlike the monasteries of the modern world. they were associated in groups like ascetics of the far east. although celibacy was not demanded of them, few married. many of the druids retired from the world and lived as recluses in caves, in rough-stone houses, or in little shacks built in the depths of a forest. here they prayed and medicated, emergin

ling it and concealing the theft by spreading a story that the statue had come to life and, walking down the street leading from its temple, had boarded the ship prepared for its transportation to alexandria. upon its arrival in egypt, the figure was brought into the presence of two egyptian initiates--the eumolpid timotheus and manetho the sebennite--who, immediately pronounced it to be serapis. the priests then declared that it was equipollent to pluto. this was a masterly stroke, for in serapis the greeks and egyptians found a deity in common and thus religious unity was consummated between the two nations. several figures of serapis that stood in his various temples in egypt and rome have been described by early authors. nearly all these showed grecian rather than egyptian influence. i

nstrument was shattered into fragments and sparks flew from it. it is also quite probable that serapis was worshiped in the form of a serpent, in common with many of the higher deities of the egyptian and greek pantheons. serapis was called theon heptagrammaton, or the god with the name of seven letters. the name serapis (like abraxas and mithras) contains seven letters. in their hymns to serapis the priests chanted the seven vowels. occasionally serapis is depicted with horns or a coronet of seven rays. these evidently represented the seven divine intelligences manifesting through the solar light. the encyclop dia britannica notes that the earliest authentic mention of serapis is in connection with the death of alexander. such was the prestige of serapis that he alone of the gods was cons

that the earliest authentic mention of serapis is in connection with the death of alexander. such was the prestige of serapis that he alone of the gods was consulted in behalf of the dying king. the egyptian secret school of philosophy was divided into the lesser and the greater mysteries, the former being sacred to isis and the latter to serapis and osiris. wilkinson is of the opinion that only the priests were permitted to enter the greater mysteries. even the heir to the throne was not eligible until he had been crowned pharaoh, when, by virtue of his kingly office, he automatically became a priest and the temporal head of the state religion (see wilkinson's manners and customs of the egyptians) a limited number were admitted into the greater mysteries: these preserved their secrets in

umber were admitted into the greater mysteries: these preserved their secrets inviolate. much of the information concerning the rituals of the higher degrees of the egyptian mysteries has been gleaned from an examination of the chambers and passageways in which the initiations were given. under the temple of serapis destroyed by theodosius were found strange mechanical contrivances constructed by the priests in the subterranean crypts and caverns where the nocturnal initiatory rites were celebrated. these machines indicate the severe tests of moral and physical courage undergone by the candidates. after passing through these tortuous ways, the neophytes who survived the ordeals were ushered into the presence of serapis, a noble and awe-inspiring figure illumined by unseen lights. labyrinth

MATHERS MACGREGOR THE GREATER KEY OF SOLOMON VOL 2

amor, amator, amides, ideodaniach, pamor, plaior, anitor; through the merits of these holy angels will i robe and indue myself with the vestments of power, through which may i conduct unto the desired end those things which i ardently wish, through thee, o most holy adonai, whose kingdom and empire endureth for ever. amen. take notice that if the linen garments were vestments of the levites or of the priests, and had been used for holy things, that they would be all the better. figure 58. the key of solomon page 96 chapter vii. of places wherein we may conveniently execute the experiments and operations of the art the places best fitted for exercising and accomplishing magical arts and operations are those which are concealed, removed and separated from the habitations of men. wherefore de

MEANING OF MASONRY

d egypt, though developing along quite different lines. we know that pythagoras, like moses, after absorbing all his native teachers could impart, journeyed to egypt to take his final initiation prior to returning and founding the great school at crotona associated with his name. we know, too, from the timaus of plato how aspirants for mystical wisdom visited egypt for initiation and were told by the priests of sais that" you greeks are but children" in the secret doctrine, but were admitted to information enabling them to promote their own spiritual advancement. we know from the corresponden ce, recorded by iamblichus, between anebo and porphyry, the fraternal relations existing between the various schools or lodges of instruction in different lands; how their members visited, greeted and

MICHAEL TSARION ATLANTIS ALIEN VISITATION AND GENETIC MANIPULATION

rylltthe order of bards that colonized britain. also known as the pharon. they worshipped the serpent god-dess keridwen. their capital was emyrs, the ambrosial city overlooking the irish sea. this was alsocalled dinas affaraon.cauldron of keridwenused for the preparation of psychedelic drugs from plants and used in the rituals.amaraka/americaderived from a word meaning serpent. it is the word for the priests of the south american native tribes,particularly the inca. it may be the real root of the word america which has been referred to by blav-atsky as the land of the serpents.atlantis, alien visitation, and genetic manipulation207 appendix b: book abstracts machu piccugoes back to the period 3,000 b. c. according to the alignments of the hitching place of the sun.apache indiansdeclare the

leading him to associate moses with the reign of the pharaoh akhenaton.(p. 190)adonthe name aten was the equivalent of the hebrew adona tile borrowed from the phoenician andmeaning lordwith the familiar adonai meaning my lord (p. 189)name change at the same time, amenhotepchanged his name to akhenaton and closed all the temples of theegyptian gods, making himself very unpopular, particularly with the priests of ra and with those of theformer national deity, amen (p. 189)akhenaton abdicationakhenaton refused to allow the worship of other gods and was forced to step down in favor of hiscousin smenkhkare, who was succeeded by tutankhamun who lived only for 19 years. though therewas restored worship of amen, this pharaoh did not ban the cult of aten (see p. 189)akhenaton banishedbanished from

58atlantis, alien visitation, and genetic manipulation pointed to the comet, a fearful god who rained down rocks and stones, and hence the myth of thedragons bones sown by cadmus (p. 63)mizpahcentral emblem of israel, as the place of the sacred stones, can surely be identified as the same stonedragon as the theban round temple, or as manethos serpent typhon (p. 64)lambs skinwas originally worn by the priests of ammon, of which abraham was one.scotathe irish have definite records of jeremiah dwelling in their island, of his burial place, and of the twoprincesses, one named scota, who played a large part in the genealogy of the milesian kings of ireland,and who is described as a daughter of a pharaoh, as she was, for he adopted them both (p. 129)the serpents eggcrafted by the god ptah in the

MORALS AND DOGMA

e subject: it treated that mysterious subject mystically: it endeavored to illustrate what it could not explain; to excite an appropriate _feeling, if it could not develop an adequate _idea; and to make the image a mere subordinate conveyance for the conception, which itself never became obvious or familiar. thus the knowledge now imparted by books and letters, was of old conveyed by symbols; and the priests invented or perpetuated a display of rites and exhibitions, which were not only more attractive to the eye than words, but often more suggestive and more pregnant with meaning to the mind. masonry, successor of the mysteries, still follows the ancient manner of teaching. her ceremonies are like the ancient mystic shows--not the reading of an essay, but the opening of a problem, requiri

ambitious imbecility of its improvers. after leaving egypt, the mysteries were modified by the habits of the different nations among whom they were introduced, and especially by the religious systems of the countries into which they were transplanted. to maintain the established government, laws, and religion, was the obligation of the initiate everywhere; and everywhere they were the heritage of the priests, who were nowhere willing to make the common people co-proprietors with themselves of philosophical truth. masonry is not the coliseum in ruins. it is rather a roman palace of the middle ages, disfigured by modern architectural improvements, yet built on a cyclop an foundation laid by the etruscans, and with many a stone of the superstructure taken from dwellings and temples of the age

ly denies, that at which the sense of right revolts, that which is absurd or self-contradictory, or at issue with experience or science, or that which degrades the character of the deity, and would make him revengeful, malignant, cruel, or unjust. a man's faith is as much his own as his reason is. his freedom consists as much in his faith being free as in his will being uncontrolled by power. all the priests and augurs of rome or greece had not the right to require cicero or socrates to believe in the absurd mythology of the vulgar. all the imaums of mohammedanism have not the right to require a pagan to believe that gabriel dictated the koran to the prophet. all the brahmins that ever lived, if assembled in one conclave like the cardinals, could not gain a right to compel a single human b

old idol, that they cannot go into the streets and choose another grand llama. and so the effete state floats on down the puddled stream of time, until the tempest or the tidal sea discovers that the worm has consumed its strength, and it crumbles into oblivion* civil and religious freedom must go hand in hand; and persecution matures them both. a people content with the thoughts made for them by the priests of a church will be content with royalty by divine right--the church and the throne mutually sustaining each other. they will smother schism and reap infidelity and indifference; and while the battle for freedom goes on around them, they will only sink the more apathetically into servitude and a deep trance, perhaps occasionally interrupted by furious fits of frenzy, followed by helple

ce of error, which the wit of man, with his limited means of explanation, will never unravel. even the hebrew theism became involved in symbolism and image-worship, borrowed probably from an older creed and remote regions of asia--the worship of the great semitic nature-god al or els and its symbolical representations of jehovah himself were not even confined to poetical or illustrative language. the priests were monotheists: the people idolaters. there are dangers inseparable from symbolism, which afford an impressive lesson in regard to the similar risks attendant on the use of language. the imagination, called in to assist the reason, usurps its place or leaves its ally helplessly entangled in its web. names which stand for things are confounded with them; the means are mistaken for the

MYTHS AND LEGENDS OF ANCIENT CIVILIZATIONS E

was first worshipped at dodona in epirus, where, at the foot of mount tomarus, on the woody shore of lake joanina, was his famous oracle, the most ancient in greece. here the voice of the eternal and invisible god was supposed to be heard in the rustling leaves of a giant oak, announcing to mankind the will of heaven and the destiny of mortals; these revelations being interpreted to the people by the priests of zeus, who were called selli. recent excavations which have been made at this spot have brought to light the ruins of the ancient temple of zeus, and also, among other interesting relics, some plates of lead, on which are engraved inquiries which were evidently made by certain individuals who consulted the oracle. these little leaden plates speak to us, as it were, in a curiously hom

eligious belief what, in the first instance, was nothing more than a poetic simile. in the temple erected to demeter at eleusis, the famous eleusinian mysteries were instituted by the goddess herself. it is exceedingly difficult, as in the case of all secret societies, to discover anything with certainty concerning these sacred rites. the most plausible supposition is that the doctrines taught by the priests to the favoured few whom they initiated, were religious truths which were deemed unfit for the uninstructed mind of the multitude. for instance, it is supposed that the myth of demeter and persephone was explained by the teachers of the mysteries to signify the temporary loss which mother earth sustains every year when the icy breath of winter robs her of her flowers and fruits and gra

re of the state. as the god who strode with warlike step to the battlefield, he was called gradivus (from gradus, a step, it being popularly believed by the romans that he himself marched before them to battle, and acted as their invisible protector. as the presiding deity over agriculture, he was styled sylvanus, whilst in his character as guardian of the state, he bore the name of quirinus.[45] the priests of mars were twelve in number, and were called salii, or the dancers, from the fact that sacred dances, in full armour, formed an important item in their peculiar ceremonial. this religious order, the members of which were always chosen from the noblest families in rome, was first instituted by numa pompilius, who intrusted to their special charge the ancilia, or sacred shields. it is

st these rocky [159]heights, all of which were sacred to them and to poetic inspiration. aganippe and hippocrene on mount helicon, and the castalian spring on mount parnassus, were sacred to the muses. the latter flowed between two lofty rocks above the city of delphi, and in ancient times its waters were introduced into a square stone basin, where they were retained for the use of the pythia and the priests of apollo. page 179 calliope. the libations to these divinities consisted of water, milk, and honey, but never of wine. page 180 their names and functions are as follows. calliope, the most honoured of the muses, presided over heroic song and epic poetry, and is represented with a pencil in her hand, and a slate upon her knee. clio, the muse of history, holds in her hand a roll of parc

onic to apollo, artemis, and dionysus; and the corinthian to hestia. in the porch of the temple stood a vessel of stone or brass, containing holy water (which had been consecrated by putting into it a burning torch, taken from the altar, with which all those admitted to take part in the sacrifices were besprinkled. in the inmost recess of the sanctuary was the most holy place, into which none but the priests were suffered to enter. temples in the country were usually surrounded with groves of trees. the solitude of these shady retreats naturally tended to inspire the worshipper with awe and reverence, added to which the delightful shade and coolness afforded by tall leafy trees is peculiarly grateful in hot countries. indeed so general did this custom of building temples in groves become

NAUDON PAUL THE SECRET HISTORY OF FREEMASONRY

ules for themselves freely, provided none of these rules went against the laws of the state. although the sacred nature of the builders appears to have become somewhat blurred among the greeks, it survived all the same, notably the ancient corporations: colleges of builders in rome 7 in the legends concerning architect kings such as dadaelus, trophonius, and agamedes. a typical example is that of the priests of dionysius or bacchus. they were the first to erect theaters in greece and to institute dramatic representations principally linked to worship of the god. the architects responsible for the construction of these buildings maintained a priesthood through initiation; they were called dionysian workers or dionysiasts. we know through strabo and aulu-gelle that the dionysiasts' organizat

ONYX TABLET OF SET

ison our initiatory environment_ g. priest to priest summary: problems within the priesthood need to be resolved in the priesthood- 1. if they are not resolved fully, if they result in an "agree to disagree" state, a "cooling down period" or a "don't bother me and i won't bother you" state, then that is the extent of the problem, and it should not be allowed to color other setians' relations with the priests involved- 2. personal problems within the priesthood are not only personal, but when allowed to spread within or outside the priesthood they can and do weaken the temple as a whole- 3. if a priest chooses to act on private and confidential or personal information concerning another setian, and if that priest wants the cooperation of other priests, that information should be openly and

priesthood. some of the priesthood is making great leaps in making it more so, such as the creation of such unofficial bodies as the soa and scribe gilds. what are other ways to claim your power in the temple? 7. the temple is getting very close to a critical mass for change into anew level of activity. what can/should/shouldn't we do now that we have never done before? xeper, don webb priest to the priests cerberus at the gate some guidelines for meeting new candidates as the temple strives to raise the standards of human material the princeof darkness is provided with, an uneasy but potentially initiatory periodof experiment begins for his priesthood. since the founding of the temple,membership was granted to almost all comers so long as they sent the executivedirector a cashable check

finite ideas about what the temple needs to do/be, based not on inspiration from the prince of darkness but based on their own reasoning. because of the diversity of the temple's membership and priesthood, they eventually run into counter-examples of others who do not match these ideas, and yet are honored and/or recognized to the ii or even the iii priesthood within the temple. when this happens the priests are faced with a dilemma, with several possible outcomes. some awaken to that diversity and accept it. some recognize the potential of that onyx tablet: ot.o.4.21 temple of set author: robert menschel iv date: april 22, 1999 ce revision: html revision: september 28, 1999 ce diversity, and though they may be uncomfortable with this dissonance between reality and their expectations, they

PHILIP NEIL MYTHS LEGENDS EXPLAINED

from heaven to accomplish the same task (see p. 120. according to the yoruba people in west africa, the world was made when obatala, the son of the great sky god olorun, threw earth from a snail shell, and got a pigeon and a hen to scatter it. the supreme gods of africa tend, like olorun, to withdraw from their creation leaving the main work to their successors. in the original myth preserved by the priests of the fon skycult, it is the androgynous deity the eternal wheel of time this aztec calendar stone, found beneath the central plaza of mexico city, is a wheel of time commemorating the five world creations, of which the latest is the current world. the fifth sun, nahui ollin, was made by the gods at teotihuacan (just north of modern mexico city, which was also the birthplace of the go

s a god, but others refer to a human incarnation as king of the legendary city of tollan. all of the aztec kings modeled themselves on him. god of death mictlantecuhtli, shown as a skeleton, is covered in blood and wears an eyeball-necklace. every 260 days, a man representing the god was sacrificed at night in the temple of tlalxicco, the navel of the world. the victim may have then been eaten by the priests, in an act of communion. ritual staff the ritual staff with bells is made of bone and known as a chicahuaztli. glyphs the glyphs running down the sides of this image are a calendar for the 260-day ritual year, the tonalpohualli or book of the days, which was broken up into 20 x 13-day periods. this ritual calendar expressed the aztec understanding of the complex interrelation of the wo

RABBI MOSHE WISNEFSKY APPLES FROM THE ORCHARD THE ARIZAL ON THE PARASHAH

e falseness of this idol, elijah assembled the people and told the prophets of ba fal to prepare an offering to it, while he prepared an offering to g-d. everyone agreed that if one of the offerings would be devoured by fire, it would indicate that the deity to which it was offered was the true g-d. 4 ezekiel 1:18. 5 tikunei zohar 70 (126b. the arizal on parashat lech lecha 105 try as they might, the priests of ba fal could not get him to devour his offering with heavenly fire. when it was elijah fs turn, he first had pitchers of water poured on the altar, in order to demonstrate that the fire that was about to descend from heaven was indeed from heaven and not any trick he was performing. he poured so much water on his offering that it spilled over and filled the trench that he had dug ar

ation of abel, all his followers, i.e, the entire jewish people, were abel-souls. the only exception were the two elder sons of aaron, nadav and avihu. this is also the meaning of the verse, gthe priests, also, who approach g-d, must stay pure. h when g-d was about to give the torah, he instructed moses: gwarn the people not to break through [the barrier] to g-d to gaze, lest many of them perish. the priests also, who approach g-d, must stay pure, lest g-d break out against them c. you will ascend, and aaron with you, but the priests and the people should not break through to ascend the mountain, lest g-d break out against them. h19 these verses are understood to mean that during the giving of the torah, moses had his own station on the mountain, aaron had his own further down the mountain

e priests also, who approach g-d, must stay pure, lest g-d break out against them c. you will ascend, and aaron with you, but the priests and the people should not break through to ascend the mountain, lest g-d break out against them. h19 these verses are understood to mean that during the giving of the torah, moses had his own station on the mountain, aaron had his own further down the mountain, the priests had their own even closer to the foot of the mountain, and the rest of the people did not ascend the mountain at all.20 who exactly are these priests, since aaron ascended the mountain part way? we must say they were nadav and avihu. they are meant in the verse, gand [moses] sent the youths of the children of israel to offer burnt offerings and bulls as sacrifices to g-d. h21 this vers

and avihu. they are meant in the verse, gand [moses] sent the youths of the children of israel to offer burnt offerings and bulls as sacrifices to g-d. h21 this verse also describes the preparations for the giving of the torah. these youths were obviously priests, since only priests offer sacrifices. however, at this stage in jewish history, the descendants of aaron had not yet been designated as the priests. the priesthood was at this time the firstborn. only later, after the sin of the golden calf, would the tribe of levi be 16 genesis 4:4. 17 exodus 3:6. comment of rabbi shalom sharabi. 18 genesis 4:5. 19 exodus 19:21-22, 24. 20 rashi on exodus 19:24. 21 exodus 24:5. the arizal on parashat yitro (2) 307 designated as the officiants of the temple and aaron and his line designated as the

he women fs court is up to the yesod of its malchut, while the height of the stature of the israelites f court is up to the netzachhod- yesod of z feir anpin. the women fs court (ezrat nashim) is the additional courtyard outside the courtyard of the temple proper (it is not called the women fs court because women cannot enter any further, for women can indeed enter the israelite fs court.and even the priests f court.when they need to present a sacrifice. it is called the womens f court because the womens f gallery is above it, looking down into it) the various sections of the temple, as one enters on the east and proceeds westward, carry increasing holiness, meaning that only those purified from increasingly refined forms of defilement (tumah) may enter them. in mystical terms, this means

REGARDIE ISRAEL THE COMPLETE GOLDEN DAWN

light-bearer veiled from the material world. at the base of both pillars rise the lotus flowers, symbols of regeneration and metempsychosis. the archaic illustrations are taken from< 11 1> vignettes of the 17th and 125th chapter of the ritual of the dead, the egyptian book of the per-em-hnt or the book of coming forth into the day, the oldest book in the world as yet discovered. the recension of the priests of on is to be found in the walls of the pyramids of the kings of the 5th and 6th dynasties at sakarah, the recension of the 1 lth and 12th dynasties on the sarcophagi of that period, and the theban recension of the 56 the golden dawn: volume i book one 18th dynasty and onward is found on papyri, both plain and illuminated. no satisfactory translation of these books is available, none

RITUEL ET DOGME DE LA HAUTE MAGIE BY ELIPHAS LEVI PART I

he same counsel on every man when he seeks to approach science. magic, which the men of old denominated the sanctum regnum, the holy kingdom, or kingdom of god, regnum dei, exists only for kings and for priests. are you priests? are you kings? the priesthood of magic is not a vulgar priesthood, and its royalty enters not into competition with the princes of this world. the monarchs of science are the priests of truth, and their sovereignty is hidden from the multitude, 2 the doctrine of transcendental magic like their prayers and sacrifices. the kings of science are men who know the truth and them the truth has made free, according to the specific promise given by the most mighty of all initiators. the man who is enslaved by his passions or worldly prejudices can be initiated in no wise; h

d only revealed it in secret to his favoured disciple, the one kabalist, and he a great kabalist, among the apostles. so is the apocalypse the book of the gnosis or secret doctrine of the first christians, and the key of this doctrine is indicated by an occult versicle of the lord's prayer, which the vulgate leaves untranslated, while in the greek rite, which preserves the traditions of st. john, the priests only are permitted to pronounce it. this versicle, completely kabalistic, is found in the greek text of the gospel according to st. matthew, and in several hebrew copies, as follows. the sacred word malkuth substituted for kether, which is its kabalistic correspondent, and the equipoise of geburah and chesed, repeating itself in the circles of heavens called eons by the gnostics, provi

RITUEL ET DOGME DE LA HAUTE MAGIE BY ELIPHAS LEVI PART II

to spare these substances, that is, to leave a hope and a remedy for so many wounds. what we term extreme unction was the pure and simple practice of the master's traditional medicine, both for the early christians and in the mind of the apostle saint james, who has included the precept in his epistle to the faithful of the whole world. gif any man be sick among you, h he writes, glet him call in the priests of the church, and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the lord. h this divine therapeutic science was lost gradually, and extreme unction came to be regarded as a religious formality, a necessary preparation for death. at the same time, the thaumaturgic virtue of consecrated oil could not be effaced altogether from remembrance by traditional doctrine, and it

nd when young children were asked, ewhat is this egg? f they answered, eit is the earth. f those older children, the barbarians, hearing this, repeated, after the little children of the seers: ethe world is an egg. f but the book of hermes 145 they understood thereby the physical, material world, while the seers meant the geographical, ideal, image-world, created by mind and the logos. as a fact, the priests of egypt represented mind, intelligence, kneph, with an egg placed upon his lips, to express clearly that the egg was here only a form of comparison, an image, a mode of speech. choumountou, the philosopher of the ezour-veda, explains after the same manner to the fanatic biache what must be understood by the golden egg of brahma. h we must not despair altogether of a period which still

RUBY TABLET OF SET

e educated and intelligent egyptians to work with symbols as they worked with language. they were able to communicate ideas and ideals in a language particularly well suited to this purpose. setians use the ancient egyptian neters as symbols, representing aspects of the world, or aspects of the individual. we feel this is very close to the way the higher initiates of the ancient egyptian temples, the priests of the temples, and the smarter pharaohs used and viewed their neters. the neters were concepts that could be communicated to and shared among the initiated, rather than being actual gods and goddesses. the common man may very well have believed in the literal existence of his many gods and goddesses, but we believe the elite of the egyptian society understood that these neters were pu

or any of the other biographers could have known it either. hieroglyphic writing was a closely guarded skill in egypt, and, as we noted earlier, its teaching required many years of study. pythagoras' initiation seems all the more probable. the chimaera: here is the concluding passage from the chapter:19 thus being acquainted with the learning of that nation, and enquiring into the commentaries of the priests of former times, he knew the observations of innumerable ages, as valerius maximus saith. and living admir'd and belov'd of all the priests and prophets with whom he conversed, he informed himself by their means accurately, concerning every thing; not omitting any person, eminent at that time for learning, or any kind of religious rites; nor leaving any place unseen, by going into whic

son, eminent at that time for learning, or any kind of religious rites; nor leaving any place unseen, by going into which he conceived, that he might find something extraordinary [for he went into the adyta of the egyptians (and, as clemens saith, permitted himself to that end to be circumcised) and learned things not to be communicated concerning the gods, mystick philosophy] he travelled to all the priests, and was instructed by every one, in that wherein they were particularly learned. in egypt he lived twenty two years, in their private sacred places, studying astronomy and geometry, and was initiated (not cursorily or casually) into all the religious mysteries of the gods. laertius saith, he made three cups of silver, and presented them to each [society] of the egyptian priests; which

e alexandrian library and [possibly] such references to the matter as it may have contained for scholars of the time. the sphinx: for that matter, there may have been other sources available to st. jerome which, for one reason or another, have not survived to the present day. our second bit of evidence comes from proclus, who states that plato was initiated in egypt over a thirteen-year period by the priests patheneitb, ochoaps, sechtnouphis, and etymon of sebennithis.25 the chimaera: again we can indulge in a little detective work. the names of the first three priests can be rendered precisely in hieroglyphics; that argues for their authenticity [the fourth can be rendered only approximately and thus is not conclusive] the "thirteen-year period" happens to coincide with the normal trainin

satan, but such a connection is a fairly low voltage connection compared to what mankind is capable of (see below. it is the act of rebellion that makes the magical and philosophical connection, not the document associated with the working. i would fully expect the priesthood of set to either toss me out or rebel if i attempted to change the temple from a school into a personal vehicle. if any of the priests feels a greater personal loyalty to me or michael aquino or the next high priest or priestess than to the set's eternal purpose, then they are not priests but sheep with shiny black medallions. however the working did change the focus of lhp role models from the archetype of the rebel against cosmic injustice to the archetype of isolate intelligence. set is a fairly complex figure that

SATANIC RITUALS

erate miracle seeking is as prevalent today as it was then. in the performance of one of her more popular productions, a clandestine, highly commercial inversion of the catholic mass, lavoisin provided "authenticity" by actually engaging willing catholic priests as celebrants and sometimes using an aborted fetus as a human sacrifice (records indicate that she performed over two hundred abortions) the priests who supposedly celebrated the black mass for her supplied the holy propagandists with more material. if ordained priests were occasionally prone to take part in heretical rites, it is understandable when one considers the social conditions at the time. for centuries in france many men became priests because they were from upper class families and the priesthood was de rigeur for at lea

eteenth centuries, despite the prevailing orthodox climate. evidence indicates they were led and directed by men whose visionary abilities, practices, and goals revealed them as satanists of the first order. the sect of the khlysty demonstrates this more than any other. their wise men knew that the passions will always win out. on the surface, the "holy" justification of lust and life provided by the priests of the khlysty seems hypocritical, but it was clearly pragmatic when one understands the religious climate of russia under the czars. the russian religious response has always been known for overt sensualism, and reversals of emotion. extravagance in ritual has consistently played a substantial role for russians. and the pattern of roaring, drunken debauch followed by contrite and angu

SCHLAGER NEIL WORLD RELIGIONS REFERENCE LIBRARY

e more important after the arrival of the babylonians. priests increasingly relied on rituals to ward off evil spirits and to foretell future events to ensure the good will of the gods and to protect against demons. astronomical (relating to the heavens) events took on major importance and astrology, the study of the influence of the stars and planets on human affairs, became nearly a science for the priests. organized mesopotamian religion collapsed after cyrus of persia, a zoroastrian, conquered the babylonian empire in 539 bce. history of ancient egyptian religion the official ancient egyptian religion lasted from about 3110 bce to 550 ce. the official beginning of the religion is the date that menes (c. 2925 bce, a king of upper egypt, is believed to have defeated a king of lower egypt

ower of the priestly class 44 world religions: almanac ancient religions of egypt and mesopotamia and the nobility and reviving the power of the pharaoh. this experiment ended, however, with akhenaten s death in 1336 bce as the old gods were quickly brought back. all traces of akhenaten were destroyed, from the inscription of his name on temples to his mummy. with the restoration of the old gods, the priests of karnak and at another holy site, luxor, regained their power at the expense of the monarchy. at the city of thebes, the high priest of amen became the first of a ruling class of high priests, while the pharaoh continued to wield power from a new city center, tanis, in the nile delta. during the course of the second half of the first millennium bce the power and prestige of egypt was

ad their own personal gods and had small shrines devoted to them in their homes. there, they would worship their favored god and ask for protection or relief. these private gods were often fired if the people felt they were not getting satisfaction and that their offerings were being wasted. they would adopt another personal god in the hopes of getting better results from their prayers. early on, the priests in mesopotamian religion took charge of the temples and storehouses and also of the care of the gods. by the babylonian period these priests had created elaborate rituals and ceremonies, including offerings and sacrifices. they were responsible for foretelling the future and created more elaborate rituals for such acts of divination, or reading of the signs of the gods. wind, storms, r

gion. the babylonians were the first to divide the sky into the twelve zones of the zodiac. they followed the movements of planets and stars with great care in an effort to foretell the will of the gods. priests also made a good living in the sale of magic charms and formulas to drive away evil spirits. egyptian worship egyptians also had cults that worshipped their own particular god or goddess. the priests made daily offerings to their gods through the statues kept in their temples. the gods and goddesses were charged with maintaining justice and order in the world, and were considered too important to be bothered with the everyday problems of common people. priests made offerings to ensure that the gods fulfilled that function. commoners had no contact with these gods except when the st

s a high point of the festivities. then the enuma elish, the epic of creation, was read or performed as a play for the public. this work celebrates the god marduk. the next day, the people purified themselves, by bathing their sins away in water. the king also participated in these festivities, but he did so in the temples. there, to show his loyalty to marduk, the king was slapped in the face by the priests and made to promise to the statue of marduk that he had committed no sins in the previous year. a priest would then slap the king s face again, hard enough to bring tears. tears showed that marduk was pleased with the king. a bull was sacrificed, or killed, that evening. not all the rituals have been recorded, but it seems there was also a parade through the streets of the city with th

SET IT STRAIGHT

he egyptian mind was given by gods and is guarded by them, and it has a negative meaning (p. 24) in gods of the egyptians (part ii: p. 244) budge puts it that set was generally thought to be the cause of every thing which tended to reverse the ordinary course of nature and of law and order. from a moral point of view he was thus the personification of sin and evil. recalling what serge sauneron's the priests of ancient egypt has to say about the egyptian world- view, the negative connotations become understandable. sauneron explains that the egyptians thought that "the universe, predetermined since its creation, has been organized for all eternity according to patterns unvaryingly alike (p. 29, and that holding up this balance is indispensable, moreover not by 'inventing' new solutions whe

SIR EDWARD BULWER LYTTON ZANONI A ROSICRUCIAN TALE

er, the vulgar cannot comprehend to be lawfully in the power of others. but if by magic you mean a perpetual research amongst all that is more latent and obscure in nature, i answer, i profess that magic, and that he who does so comes but nearer to the fountain of all belief. knowest thou not that magic was taught in the schools of old? but how, and by whom? as the last and most solemn lesson, by the priests who ministered to the temple (psellus de daemon (ms) and you, who would be a painter, is not there a magic also in that art you would advance? must you not, after long study of the beautiful that has been, seize upon new and airy combinations of a beauty that is to be? see you not that the grander art, whether of poet or of painter, ever seeking for the true, abhors the real; that you

that we soon came to terms; and as the strange signor doubled the sum i myself proposed, he is in high favour with all his neighbours. we would guard the whole castle against an army. and now, signor, that i have been thus frank, be frank with me. who is this singular cavalier "who? he himself told you, a philosopher "hem! searching for the philosopher's stone, eh, a bit of a magician; afraid of the priests "precisely; you have hit it "i thought so; and you are his pupil "i am "i wish you well through it" said the robber, seriously, and crossing himself with much devotion "i am not much better than other people, but one's soul is one's soul. i do not mind a little honest robbery, or knocking a man on the head if need be, but to make a bargain with the devil! ah, take care, young gentleman

SIR WALLIS BUDGE EGYPTIAN MAGIC

h were buried with kings and queens and personages of royal or exalted rank declared the power and omnipotence of almighty god, whose visible emblem to mankind was the sun, and his sovereignty over things celestial and things terrestrial with no uncertain voice, and we should expect them to believe what they proclaimed, i.e, that god was sufficiently powerful to protect his emblem in the sky. yet the priests of thebes made copies of works which contained texts to be recited at specified hours of the day and night, and gave directions for the performance of p. xv magical ceremonies, the avowed object of such being to prevent the mythical monster apep from vanquishing the sun-god. and it is stated in all seriousness that if a piece of papyrus upon which a figure of the monster has been drawn

are declared to be superior to those of the egyptians. 5:3 an interesting paper on the use of the rod by the egyptians and hebrews was published by chabas in annales du musee guimet, tom. i. pp. 35-48, paris, 1880. 6:1 for details, see chapter iii (magical figures. 7:1 exodus xiv. 21-28. 7:2 see erman, die marchen des papyrus westcar, berlin, 1890. 7:3 he was the chief kher heb, i.e, the head of the priests who officiated in funeral ceremonies, and read the service from a book. 15:1 see chapter vi (magical ceremonies. 16:1 chapters xxx, lxiv, cxxxvii. see my chapters of coming forth by day (text, pp. 97, 141, 309. 21:1 les prairies d'or (ed. by b. de meynard and p. de courteille, paris, 1863, tom. ii. p. 398 f. 23:1 les prairies d'or (ed. b. de meynard, paris, 1865, tom. iv. pp. 266, 267

ce" when the deceased had uttered these words, it was believed that he would at once obtain the powers which he wished to possess in the next world; and when he had gained the mastery over his heart, the heart, the double, and the soul had the power to go where they wished and to do what they pleased. the mention of the god ptah and of his consort sekhet indicates that the chapter was the work of the priests of memphis, and that the ideas embodied in it are of great antiquity. according to the papyrus of nekhtu-amen, the amulet of the heart, which is referred to in the above chapter, was to be made of lapis-lazuli, and there is no doubt that this stone was believed to p. 31 possess certain qualities which were beneficial to those who wore it. it will also be remembered that, according to o

lso seen, for in chapter cxlix. 4 the deceased says "i set up a ladder among the gods, and i am a divine being among them; and in chapter cliii. he says "the p. 55 [paragraph continues] osiris nu shall come forth upon your ladder which ra hath made for him, and horus and set shall grasp him firmly by the hand" finally, when the custom of placing a model of the ladder in the tomb fell into disuse, the priests provided for the necessity of the dead by painting a ladder on the papyri that were inscribed with the texts from the book of the dead and were buried with them. 1 11. the amulet of the two fingers, this amulet is intended to represent the two fingers, index and medius, which the god horus employed in helping his father osiris up the ladder 2 into heaven, as has been described above; i

shattered the spirits which dwelt in them would have no place wherein to dwell, and would thereby be rendered homeless and powerless. it will be remembered that it is stated in the apocryphal gospels that when the virgin mary and her son arrived in egypt there "was a movement and quaking throughout all the land, and all the idols fell down from their pedestals and were broken in pieces" then all the priests and nobles went to a certain priest with whom "a devil used to speak from out of the idol" and they asked him the meaning of these things; and when he had explained to them that the footstep of the son of the "secret and hidden god" had fallen upon the land of egypt, they accepted his counsel and made a figure of this god. the egyptians acknowledged that the new god was greater than al

SOLOMON

i was glad in spirit in my kingdom, and there was peace in my days. and i took wives of my own from every land, who were numberless. and i marched against the jebusaeans, and there i saw jebusaean, daughter of a man: and fell violently in love with her, and desired to take her to wife along with my other wives. and i said to their priests "give me the sonmanites (i.e. shunammite) to wife [1" but the priests of moloch said to me "if thou lovest this maiden, go in and worship our gods, the great god raphan and the god called moloch" i therefore was in fear of the glory of god, and did not follow to worship. and i said to them "i will not worship a strange god. what is this proposal, that ye compel me to do so much" but they said [2] by our fathers [1. song of sol. vi. 12. 2. uthe s (sic) st

SPENSER THE CULT OF THE ALL SEEING EYE 1960

d the mystic tau, or t [also] the serpent set up by moses was originally the egyptian. sun-god, who was now known to his people as jehovah (lbid, p. 83) joseph von hammer, in the history of the assassins (eng. trans, 1835) explains the tau as the figure of the phallus (see also source 9, p. 791 "among the egyptians, the lotus was the symbol of osiris and isis. it was esteemed a sacred ornament by the priests (ibid, p. 477) the six-pointed star is the great oriental talisman known as the seal of solomon. its meaning and the identity of osiris and isis will be explained in part ii on the great seal of the united states. the arc of light on the bookplate is the en soph, from the cabalistic writings (mystical theosophy) which teach that it created the world by virtue of ten emanations from the

STEINER RUDOLF CHRISTIANITY AS MYSTICAL FACT

buddha and christ is shown in the necessity for the life of christ jesus to continue beyond the furthest point of the buddha s life.92 buddha and christ cannot be comprehended simply by lumping everything together. 96 christianity as mystical fact the correspondence between these two redemptive lives leads unambiguously to the conclusion, already indicated by the narratives themselves, that when the priests or sages hear what kind of birth has occurred they know already what is involved. they have to do with a divine man, and they know what course of life the personality must adopt so that it shall correspond to what they know of such a divine man. mysteriosophy contains the eternal prototype for such a course of life, which only he must and can fulfill. it is like a law of nature, and as

ntified in the rites with the creator-god marduk, who had also died before defeating the powers of chaos and ascending to his father, the wisdom-god ea, in heaven. on the festival, see henri frankfort, kingship and the gods: a study of ancient near eastern religion as the integration of society and nature (university of chicago, chicago, 1978, ch. 22. the wonderful epic recited on the occasion by the priests is translated in n.k. sandars, poems of heaven and hell from ancient mesopotamia (penguin, new york, 1989. the mystery significance of the events is further described by rudolf steiner, true and false paths in spiritual investigation (rudolf steiner press, london, 1985, pp. 33ff. there is an important study of the theme in french: j.e. m nard, le descensus ad inferos in the ex orbe rel

SYMBOLISM

e educated and intelligent egyptians to work with symbols as they worked with language. they were able to communicate ideas and ideals in a language particularly well suited to this purpose. setians use the ancient egyptian neters as symbols, representing aspects of the world, or aspects of the individual. we feel this is very close to the way the higher initiates of the ancient egyptian temples, the priests of the temples, and the smarter pharaohs used and viewed their neters. the neters were concepts that could be communicated to and shared among the initiated, rather than being actual gods and goddesses. 1571 the common man may very well have believed in the literal existence of his many gods and goddesses, but we believe the elite of the egyptian society understood that these neters we

TEXE MARRS CODEX MAGICA SECRET SIGNS MYSTERIOUS SYMBOLS AND HIDDEN CODES OF THE ILLUMINATI

nergies" on her behalf. the goddess was said to take possession of men's hearts. cutting out hearts and eating them! in the pyramids of mexico, central and south america, the gods were also gods of sacrifice and, once again, the heart was the centerpiece of devotion. bloodthirsty followers, egged on by high priests, cut out the hearts of victims of tribal wars. on the stone altars of the temples, the priests cut the heart out of the breast of sacrificial victims while they were still alive! the hearts were eaten, just as they were in ancient egypt and as they are in a number of satanic cults in existence today. back to egypt freemasonry today freely admits its connection to the religion and rituals of ancient egypt and proudly displays egyptian idols (the sphinx, etc) in and around its lod

lfproclaimed "beast 666" from great britain, once stated "every man and woman is a star" which, loosely interpreted, meant "every man and woman is a god."1 the star of initiation in the hindu religion, the pentagram is the "star of initiation" it is the caste-mark of 538 codex magica from left to right: pentagram, inverted pentagram, hexagram (star of david) and star of baphomet (goat of sabbath) the priests of siva, who dedicate it to the sun god by marking a black round dot inside the symbol of the star.2 the blazing star freemasons, because they venerate the sun and its rays, know the star emblem as the "blazing star" steve worrall-clare, a former mason, in freemasonry- the secret language, writes that in the lodge: the blazing star points out the glory of the sun. it is central to all

THE BOOK OF PLEASURE

ation that reifies the imagery of appetence. spare believed that the hieroglyphics of ancient peoples such as the egyptian and amerindian are the remains of an occult language. that the egyptians practised a form of sorcery involving a process similar to that of spare's formula of atavistic resurgence is suggested by the fact that the hieroglyphics are usually in zoomorphic form. it is known that the priests of antiquity assumed animal-headed masks when performing rituals designed to produce magical effects; also, that when dormant forces were awakened, the magician was shaken to the very depths of his being as he manifested the atavisms that his spells had invoked. the convulsions of tibetan 'oracles; the strange phenomena of spirit possession common to most peoples of antiquity are proof

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applied to these beliefs. the word mystery comes from the greek word myein, to close, referring to the need of the mystes, the initiate, to close his or her eyes and the lips and to keep secret the rites of the cult. in ancient greece, postulants of the mystery religions had to undergo a rigorous initiation that disciplined both their mind and body. in order to attain the self-mastery demanded by the priests of the mysteries, the neophytes understood that they must restructure their physical, moral, and spiritual being to gain access to the hidden forces in the universe. only through complete mastery of oneself could one see beyond death and perceive the pathways of the after-life. many times these mysteries were taught in the form of a play and were celebrated in sacred groves or in secre

een entrusted to the fields, and were conducted by a hereditary priesthood called the eumolpedie. sometime in the month of september, the eumolpedie removed the eleusinian holy objects from eleusis and carried them to the sacred city of athens, where they were placed in the eleusinion temple. three days after the holy relics had been transported, the initiates gathered to hear the exhortations of the priests, who solemnly warned all those who did not consider themselves worthy of initiation to leave at once. women and even slaves were permitted to join the mysteries of eleusis, providing that they were either greeks or romans, but it was required that all those wishing to be considered as initiates had first undergone the lesser mysteries held in agrae, a suburb of athens, six months befor

hat all those wishing to be considered as initiates had first undergone the lesser mysteries held in agrae, a suburb of athens, six months before. after the rites of purification had been observed, the initiates bathed in the sea and were sprinkled with the blood of pigs as they emerged. a sacrifice was offered to the gods, and a procession began the journey to eleusis, where, upon the arrival of the priests and the initiates, a midnight feast was celebrated and the new members of the cult were made one with the gods and goddesses by partaking of holy food and drink and enacting the ritual drama. t h e g a l e e n c y c l o p e d i a o f t h e u n u s u a l a n d u n e x p l a i n e d afterlife mysteries 33 the eleusinian rites were held at a fixed time in the early fall after the seeds ha

show them how to transcend secular and humanistic values, to transfigure them in the light of the spiritual ideal or the will of god. the mystic brings not peace, but the sword of discrimination and a sense of the holy. the mystics have played an important part in the making of civilization. most early civilizations owe a good deal to this creative minority. the early mystics would also be among the priests and medicine men of the tribe. m delving deeper bach, marcus. the inner ecstasy. new york-cleveland: world publishing, 1969. bancroft, anne. twentieth century mystics and sages. chicago: henry regnery co, 1976. james, william. varieties of religious experience. garden city, n.y: masterworks program, 1963. johnson, raynor c. the imprisoned splendour. new york: harper& brothers, 1953. ot

the greek word myein, to close, referring to the need of the mystes, the initiate, to close his or her eyes and lips and to keep secret the rites of the cult. in ancient times, the students who would be initiates of the mystery schools were well aware that they must undergo the rigors of disciplined study and the training of body, soul, and spirit. in order to attain the self-mastery demanded by the priests of the mysteries, the newcomers understood that they would undergo a complete restructuring of their physical, moral, and spiritual being. the priests, the hierophants, preached that only by developing one s faculties of will, intuition, and reason to an extraordinary degree could one ever gain access to the hidden forces in the universe. only through complete mastery of body, soul, an

THE GALE ENCYCLOPEDIA OF THE UNUSUAL UNEXPLAINED VOL 3

applied to these beliefs. the word mystery comes from the greek word myein, to close, referring to the need of the mystes, the initiate, to close his or her eyes and the lips and to keep secret the rites of the cult. in ancient greece, postulants of the mystery religions had to undergo a rigorous initiation that disciplined both their mind and body. in order to attain the self-mastery demanded by the priests of the mysteries, the neophytes understood that they must restructure their physical, moral, and spiritual being to gain access to the hidden forces in the universe. only through complete mastery of oneself could one see beyond death and perceive the pathways of the after-life. many times these mysteries were taught in the form of a play and were celebrated in sacred groves or in secre

earliest tools and constitute one of its most universal symbols. but where did the superstition originate that bad luck would dog one s path if he or she walked under a ladder? it would seem to make great sense not to walk under a ladder while a carpenter is standing on it pounding in nails with a heavy-headed hammer. is this superstition just plain common sense? going back to ancient egypt, when the priests placed ladders in the tombs for the dead so they might ascend upward if they chose to do so, it was believed that spirits collected in the space that formed in the area between the ladder and the wall that it leaned against. when a ladder leans against a wall, it forms a natural triangle, and that particular geometric shape has been regarded as sacred since the most ancient of times. a

THE GALE ENCYCLOPEDIA OF THE UNUSUAL UNEXPLAINED VOL

d to these beliefs. the word gmystery h comes from the greek word myein, gto close, h referring to the need of the mystes, the initiate, to close his or her eyes and the lips and to keep secret the rites of the cult. in ancient greece, postulants of the mystery religions had to undergo a rigorous initiation that disciplined both their mind and body. in order to attain the self-mastery demanded by the priests of the mysteries, the neophytes understood that they must restructure their physical, moral, and spiritual being to gain access to the hidden forces in the universe. only through complete mastery of oneself could one see beyond death and perceive the pathways of the after-life. many times these mysteries were taught in the form of a play and were celebrated in sacred groves or in secre

gh preparatory dance, cutting off a bit of an enemy fs hair or clothing to be used in a charm against him, and invoking evil spirits to cause destruction to competing villages, eventually gained a higher level of sophistication and evolved into more formal religious practices and the rudiments of early science. the word gmagic h comes from the greek gmagein, h denoting the science and religion of the priests of zoroaster (or according to some scholars from gmegas, h signifying the ggreat h secret science, i.e. knowledge. so it is that by the time of the historic period, the great civilizations of egypt, babylonia, and persia had fully developed magical systems with entire hierarchies of sorcerers, priests, seers, and magi. greece and rome supported both a state religion of gods and goddess

toussaint l fouverture (1743.1803) which was to lead to haiti fs independence from france in 1804. although l fouverture died in a napoleonic prison, his generals had become sufficiently inspired by his example to continue the struggle for freedom until the myth of white supremacy was banished from the island. after the concordat of 1860, when relations were once again reestablished with france, the priests who came to haiti found the vestiges of catholicism kept alive in vodun. the clergy fulminated against vodun from the pulpits but did not actively campaign against their rival priesthood until 1896 when an impatient monseigneur tried to organize an anti-vodun league without success. it wasn ft until 1940 that the t h e g a l e e n c y c l o p e d i a o f t h e u n u s u a l a n d u n e

when an impatient monseigneur tried to organize an anti-vodun league without success. it wasn ft until 1940 that the t h e g a l e e n c y c l o p e d i a o f t h e u n u s u a l a n d u n e x p l a i n e d 54 magic and sorcery voodoo religious articles (archive photos, inc) voodoorefers to gspirit. h catholic church launched a violent campaign of renunciation directed at the adherents of vodun. the priests went about their methodic attack with such zeal that the government was forced to intercede and command them to temper the fires of their campaign. today there are more than 60 million people who practice vodun worldwide, largely where haitian emigrants have settled in benin, dominican republic, ghana, togo, various cities in the united states, and, of course, in haiti. in south americ

ious althotas, a man of asian appearance, dressed in caftan and robes, who upon their first encounter proceeded to reveal the events of cagliostro fs past. as they became better acquainted, althotas said that he didn ft believe in ordinary magic, but maintained that the physical laws were mutable and could be manipulated by the powers of mind. the two traveled together to egypt where they visited the priests of many esoteric traditions and received much secret knowledge. from egypt they went to asia and began to pursue alchemical experiments. when althotas died on the island of malta, cagliostro returned to italy with a considerable fortune accumulated from his work with various alchemical teachers. in 1770, when he was 26 years old, he met lorenza feliciani while in rome, and he asked her

THE GOD OF THE WITCHES

g led the fertility dance round the churchyard;[2] in 1303 the bishop of coventry, like othermembers of his diocese, paid homage to a deity in the form of an animal;[3] in 1453, two years before therehabilitation of joan of arc, the prior of saint-germain-en-laye performed the same rites as the bishop ofcoventry.[4] as late as 1613 de lancre can say of the basses pyr351n351es "the greater part of the priests arewitches,[5] while madame bourignon in 1661 records at lille that "no assemblies were ever seen sonumerous in the city as in these sabbaths, where came people of all qualities and conditions, young andold, rich and poor, noble, and ignoble, but especially all sorts of monks and nuns, priests and prelates.[6]the political aspect of the organisation is well exemplified in the trial of

f every denomination, whowent out to convert the heathen in any part of the world, were apt to speak of the people among whom theylaboured as worshippers of devils, and many even believed that those to whom they preached were doomedto hell-fire unless they turned to the christian god. the gods of the pagans were often accredited with evilmagical powers, which could be mysteriously communicated to the priests. against such powers of hell thechristian missionaries felt themselves strengthened by the powers of heaven; and the belief that the devil hadbeen defeated by the archangel michael backed by the whole power of the almighty gave them courage inthe contest.the study of anthropology has changed much of this childish method of regarding the forms of religiousbelief which belong to another

the sixteenth and seventeenthcenturies the battle raged. the pagans fought a gallant, though losing, fight against a remorseless andunscrupulous enemy; every inch of the field was disputed. at first victory occasionally inclined to thepagans, but the christian policy of obtaining influence over the rulers and law-givers was irresistible. vaevictis was also the policy of the christians, and we see the priests of the papacy gloating over the thousandswhom they had consigned to the flames while the ministers of the reformed churches hounded on theadministrators of the law to condemn the "devil-worshippers. what can have been the feelings with whichthose unhappy victims regarded the vaunted god of love, the prince of peace, whose votaries condemnedthem to torture and death? what wonder that th

nteenth century, the most damning evidence against the accused wasacquaintance with the fairies; proof of such acquaintance meant, with very rare exceptions, condemnation tothe stake. these fairies were not the little gossamer-winged flower-elves of children's tales, but creatures offlesh and blood, who inspired the utmost fear and horror among the comfortable burgher folk of the towns,and filled the priests and ministers of the christian church with the desire to exterminate them.the number of recorded marriages between "mortals" and fairies is another proof that fairies were the samesize as ordinary folk and that they were human. the plantagenet kings had a fairy ancestry; conn, king oftara, married a fairy as his second wife; bertrand du guesclin had a fairy wife, so also had that sieur

account of the fairies occurs in scotland at the end of the seventeenth century,but in england they had disappeared long before. this strange and interesting people and their primitivecivilisation have degenerated into the diminutive gossamer-winged sprites of legend and fancy, and occuronly in stories to amuse children. the real upland-dweller, who struck terror into the lowlanders andhorrified the priests of the christian faith, has vanished utterly. the god of the witcheschapter ii. the worshippers23chapter iii. the priesthood"a witch is a person that hath conference with the devil to take counsel or to do some act."2424lord coke.in all organised religions, even those of the lower culture, there is a priesthood, and the more organised thereligion the more systematised does the priestho

THE KEY TO THE MYSTERIES

h you, their disagreeable and monotonous noise? they pray as they sleep, and they sacrifice as they eat. they are machines full of bread, meat and wine, and of senseless words. and when they plume themselves, like the oyster in the sun, on being without thought and without love, one says that they have peace of soul! they have the peace of the brute. for man, that of the tomb is better: these are the priests of folly and ignorance, these are the ministers of antichrist. the true priest of christ is a man who lives, suffers, loves and fights for justice. he does not dispute, he does not reprove; he sends out pardon, intelligence and love. the true christian is a stranger to the sectarian spirit; he is all things to all men, and looks on all men as the children of a common father, who means

THE NECRONOMICON SIMON VERSION

surely larger than any i had ever seen. the thinnest section thereof was fully that of the arms of two men, and as it rose from the earth it was followed by another, although the end of the first was not seen as it seemed to reach down into the very pit itself. these were followed by still more, and the ground began to tremble under the pressure of so many of these enormous arms. the chanting of the priests, for i knew them now to be the servants of some hidden power, became much louder and very nearly hysterical. ia! ia! zi azag! ia! ia! zi azkak! ia! ia! kutulu zi kur! ia! the ground where i was hiding became wet with some substance, being slightly downhill from the scene i was witnessing. i touched the wetness and found it to be blood. in horror, i screamed and gave my presence away to

he priests, for i knew them now to be the servants of some hidden power, became much louder and very nearly hysterical. ia! ia! zi azag! ia! ia! zi azkak! ia! ia! kutulu zi kur! ia! the ground where i was hiding became wet with some substance, being slightly downhill from the scene i was witnessing. i touched the wetness and found it to be blood. in horror, i screamed and gave my presence away to the priests. they turned toward me, and i saw a loathing that they had cut their chests with the daggers they had used to raise the stone, for some mystical purpose i could not then divine; although i know now that blood is the very food of these spirits, which is why the field after the battles of war glows with an unnatural light, the manifestations of the spirits feeding thereon. may anu protec

some mystical purpose i could not then divine; although i know now that blood is the very food of these spirits, which is why the field after the battles of war glows with an unnatural light, the manifestations of the spirits feeding thereon. may anu protect us all! my scream had the effect of casting their ritual into chaos and disorder. i raced through the mountain path by which i had come, and the priests came running after me, although some seemed to stay behind, perhaps to finish the rites. however, as i ran wildly down the slopes in the cold night, my heart giving rise in my chest and my head growing hot, the sound of splitting rocks and thunder came from behind me and shook the very ground i ran upon. in fright, and in haste, i fell to the earth. rising, i turned to face whatever at

me fortune had also befallen them. walking back up the slope that i had so fearfully run down only moments ago, i came across yet another of the dark priests, in identical condition to the first. i kept walking, passing more of the robes as i went, not venturing to overturn them any longer. then, i finally came upon the grey stone monument that had risen unnaturally into the air at the command of the priests. it now upon the ground once more, but the carvings still glowed with supernatural light. the serpents, or what i had then though of as serpents, had disappeared. but in the dead embers of the fire, now cold and black, was a shining metal plate. i picked it up and saw that it also was carved, as the stone, but very intricately, after a fashion i could not understand. i did not bear the

and happiness, but that these are to be shunned as the purveyors of death, for the most radiant jewels are to be found buried deep in the earth, and the tomb of man is the splendour of ereshkigal, the joy of kutulu, the food of azag-thoth. therefore, thine obligation is as of the gatekeep of the inside, agent of marduk, servant of enki, for the gods are forgetful, and very far away, and it was to the priests of the flame that covenant was given to seal the gates between this world and the other, and to keep watch thereby, through this night of time, and the circle of magick is the barrier, the temple, and the gate between the worlds. know, fourthly, that it is become the obligation of the priests of the flame and the sword, and of all magick, to bring their power to the underworld and keep

THE SECRET RITUALS OF THE OTO

prey of priestcraft, while the christs of the latin, lutheran and anglican churches alike are but the machine-gods of all fraud and oppression, being stolen and prostituted from that christ in whom our fathers in the gnosis strove to synthesize the warring gods of syria, greece, chaldea, rome and egypt at the time when the growth of the roman empire first made travel and the intercommunication of the priests of mithras, adonis, attis, osiris, dionysius, isis, astarte, venus and many scores of others possible. traces of this recension are still visible in the mass and in the calendar of the saints, all gods and goddesses of universal import receiving the same honour by the same rites as before, while the local gods were replaced by saints, virgins, martyrs, or angels, often of the same name

th availeth little. ye must partake of the life of our lord jesus christ in his resurrection; and the substance of the sacrament will be the elixir of life itself. it will be one and not two; neither male nor female, neither solid nor liquid. it will contain all possibilities, and without it no possibility could be. it is the fire of prometheus in the well-tended lamp of vesta; it is the kneph of the priests of memphis, the disc of the sun in the arms of khephra; and the serpent entwined about the egg. ask of our brethren the alchemists, and of the adepts of the rosy cross. the first answer: it is nothing but the lion with his coagulated blood, and the gluten of the white eagle; it is the ocean wherein both sun and moon have bathed. the others: it is the dew upon the rose that hath conceal

THE HOLY BIBLE KING JAMES VERSION

ive [us] seed, that we may live, and not die, that the land be not desolate. 47:20 and joseph bought all the land of egypt for pharaoh; for the egyptians sold every man his field, because the famine prevailed over them: so the land became pharaoh s. 47:21 and as for the people, he removed them to cities from [one] end of the borders of egypt even to the [other] end thereof. 47:22 only the land of the priests bought he not; for the priests had a portion [assigned them] of pharaoh, and did eat their portion which pharaoh gave them: wherefore they sold not their lands. 47:23 then joseph said unto the people, behold, i have bought you this day and your land for pharaoh: lo [here is] seed for you, and ye shall sow the land. 47:24 and it shall come to pass in the increase, that ye shall give the

nd four parts shall be your own, for seed of the field, and for your food, and for them of your households, and for food for your little ones. 47:25 and they said, thou hast saved our lives: let us find grace in the sight of my lord, and we will be pharaoh s servants. 47:26 and joseph made it a law over the land of egypt unto this day [that] pharaoh should have the fifth [part] except the land of the priests only [which] became not pharaoh s. 47:27 and israel dwelt in the land of egypt, in the country of goshen; and they had possessions therein, and grew, and multiplied exceedingly. 47:28 and jacob lived in the land of egypt seventeen years: so the whole age of jacob was an hundred forty and seven years. 47:29 and the time drew nigh that israel must die: and he called his son joseph, and s

f the trumpet sounded long, and waxed louder and louder, moses spake, and god answered him by a voice. 19:20 and the lord came down upon mount sinai, on the top of the mount: and the lord called moses [up] to the top of the mount; and moses went up. 19:21 and the lord said unto moses, go down, charge the people, lest they break through unto the lord to gaze, and many of them perish. 19:22 and let the priests also, which come near to the lord, sanctify themselves, lest the lord break forth upon them. 19:23 and moses said unto the lord, the people cannot come up to mount sinai: for thou chargedst us, saying, set bounds about the mount, and sanctify it. 19:24 and the lord said unto him, away, get thee down, and thou shalt come up, thou, and aaron with thee: but let not the priests and the peo

with all the frankincense thereof [it is] an offering made by fire unto the lord. 3:1 and if his oblation [be] a sacrifice of peace offering, if he offer [it] of the herd; whether [it be] a male or female, he shall offer it without blemish before the lord. 3:2 and he shall lay his hand upon the head of his offering, and kill it [at] the door of the tabernacle of the congregation: and aaron s sons the priests shall sprinkle the blood upon the altar round about. 3:3 and he shall offer of the sacrifice of the peace offering an offering made by fire unto the lord; the fat that covereth the inwards, and all the fat that [is] upon the inwards, 3:4 and the two kidneys, and the fat that [is] on them, which [is] by the flanks, and the caul above the liver, with the kidneys, it shall he take away. 3

tabernacle of the congregation. 6:27 whatsoever shall touch the flesh thereof shall be holy: and when there is sprinkled of the blood thereof upon any garment, thou shalt wash that whereon it was sprinkled in the holy place. 6:28 but the earthen vessel wherein it is sodden shall be broken: and if it be sodden in a brasen pot, it shall be both scoured, and rinsed in water. 6:29 all the males among the priests shall eat thereof: it [is] most holy. 6:30 and no sin offering, whereof [any] of the blood is brought into the tabernacle of the congregation to reconcile [withal] in the holy [place] shall be eaten: it shall be burnt in the fire. 7:1 likewise this [is] the law of the trespass offering: it [is] most holy. 7:2 in the place where they kill the burnt offering shall they kill the trespass

TWO ESSAYS ON THE WORSHIP OF PRIAPUS

1. 2 this elegant little figure is engraved in the first volume of the bronzes of the herculaneum. sir william hamilton 5 is evidently an emblem of the female part of generation. it is very natural then to suppose, that the amulets representing the phallus alone, so visibly indecent, may have been long out of use in this civilized capital; but i have been assured, that it is but very lately that the priests have put an end to the wearing of such amulets in calabria, and other distant provinces of this kingdom. a new road having been made last year from this capital to the province of abruzzo, passing through the city of isernia (anciently belonging to the samnites, and very populous1, a person of liberal education, employed in that work, chanced to be at isernia just at the time of the ce

symbols of that attribute, and were accordingly worshipped as the images of divine providence, acting in that particular direction. like many other customs, both of ancient and modern worship, the practice, probably, continued long after the reasons upon which it was founded were either wholly lost, or only partially preserved, in vague traditions. this was the case in egypt; for, though many of the priests knew or conjectured the origin of the worship of the bull, they could give no rational 1 proclus in theol. plat. lib. i. pp. 56, 57. 2 de is. et. osir. of priapus 31 account why the crocodile, the ichneumon, and the ibis, received similar honours. the symbolical characters, called hieroglyphics, continued to be esteemed by them as more holy and venerable than the conventional represent

d under another form, being equally a personification of the sun.2 the architecture is of the roman times; but the ground plan is probably that of a very ancient one, which this was made to replace; for it exactly resembles that of a celtic temple in zeeland, published in stukeley's itinerary.3 the ranges of square buildings which inclose it are not properly parts of the temple, but apartments of the priests, places for victims and sacred utensils, and chapels dedicated to subordinate deities introduced by a more complicated and corrupt worship, and probably unknown to the founders of the original edifice.4 the portico, which runs parallel with these buildings5 inclosed the temenos, or area of sacred ground, which in the pyr thia of the persians was circular, but is here quadrangular, as i

TYSON DONALD NEW MILLENNIUM MAGIC

ersia, were skilled in the arts of magic, astrology and healing. in ancient times the word magus became synonymous with "wise man" the irish historians applied the term to the druids who opposed the preaching of st. patrick. it may rightly be given to anyone, male or female, who seeks to work magic by accessing the spirit. there is no separate word for a female magus, because in old persia all of the priests were men, but in the modern age "magus" applies equally to men or women, in the same way that the title "aviator' originally given only to men because there were no female flyers, is now used for both sexes. magician is a better term for someone who pursues magic for material ends-for example, personal power or wealth. the magus is firstly a spiritual being. those divorced from spirit

TYSON DONALD SOUL FLIGHT

rienced today. whether or not an individual claims that birthright depends on expectation, belief, and persistent practice. no one can prevent you from entering the astral world if you are determined to do so. how to use this book the first part of this book relates the history of astral travel through the ages, beginning with the ritual practices of the tribal shamans who were the forerunners of the priests, physicians, and magicians of later times, and proceeding up to the modern experiences of remote viewing and alien abduction, both of which are forms of soul flight. the second part is devoted to practical techniques with which to experience soul flight reliably and safely on a personal level. those impatient to get started with the practice of projecting the astral body need not read

vely the active ingredients were the juices from narcotic or psychotropic plants. the inactive ingredients were occult in nature, and probably played no part in the effectiveness of the ointment. these include such things as soot and bat's blood. the base 27. robbins, 365. 28. hansen, 90. 28 soul flight of the ointment was rendered fat, into which the active and inactive ingredients were blended. the priests of the inquisition and the demonologists such as guazzo maintained that the fat was obtained from murdered babies. this should probably be regarded as little more than a slander against witches, who likely used the same type of lard they employed for cooking. however, it is possible that when this slander became common knowledge, some men and women who fancied themselves witches, as th

y (lia fail, a phallic standing stone on which the ancient kings of ireland were crowned. the stone is not in its original location, but was moved and re-erected. it was fabled to roar when a rightful king stood upon it. also upon the hill of tara was a great banqueting hall some 759 feet long by 46 feet wide. for centuries, kings ruled and made their laws here. when christianity came to ireland, the priests condemned tara as a seat of druidism and idolatry, and around the year ad 560 it was cursed by saint ruadan, and was abandoned by the irish in fear of the curse, leaving it as the habitation of the fairies. fairies were closely linked by the celts to the souls of the dead, so both virgil's sunny meadow of elysium where the dead sing and sport, and the large and splendid caverns in whic

TYSON DONALD THE MAGICAL WORKBOOK

also known as the tetragrammaton, is written all in capital letters because the name is too powerful and too universal to be spoken as a single word. its letters should always be voiced individually by vibrating the names of the letters, rather than their sounds. the ancient jewish pronunciation of this supreme name of god is unknown. in the fourth century before christ its use was suppressed by the priests of the temple at jerusalem, who kept the occult might of the name for their own uses. sometimes it is pronounced yahweh, but this pronunciation should not be used in ritual magic. ihvh is linked in the golden dawn system with the east and the element air, because the east is the first quarter and ihvh is the primary name that created the world. adonai means "lord" it is the name of god

TYSON DONALD THE POWER OF THE WORD

t and nose. in this way the magical essence of the om is drawn forth from deep in the abdomen and brought up into the head. 44 tetragrammaton the awareness that the life force in a name lies in its vowels caused the ancient hebrew priests to conceal the vowels of tetragrammaton, initially from outsiders such as the greeks and romans, then ultimately from their fellow hebrews, who were regarded by the priests as too worldly and corrupted to be entrusted with the true vibration of the name. when the priesthood failed after the destruction of herod's temple, the correct vibration of the name was lost. it would perhaps be a hopeless task to attempt to restore the correct vibrations of all twelve banners of the name when there is so much doubt over just the first banner, ihvh. however, it is th

ou up every man of you a stone upon his shoulder, according to the number of the tribes of the children of israel (josh. 4:5. the twelve representatives of the tribes took up a stone each "and carried them over with them unto the place where they lodged, and laid them down there (josh. 4:8. but it is also said "and joshua set up twelve stones in the midst of jordan, in the place where the feet of the priests which bare the ark of the covenant stood (josh. 4:9. this seems to indicate that there were two sets of twelve stones, one a monument of the crossing, and the other a sacrificial altar. it is absurd to think that all the words of the law delivered by god to moses could be written upon the mortared stones of the monument-there would not be enough space, or time, to write them. what is p

ars. sacrifice the twelve stones 69 was essential to attract the god of the israelites through its blood offering and entice this god across the river. the twelve commandments in the form of curses are part of a magic ritual conducted by joshua on the far bank of the jordan to exorcise the foreign soil and prepare it to receive the spirit of god that is resident within the ark. this is the reason the priests carrying the ark remain standing in the middle of the river, which the ark has miraculously caused to dry up "until everything was finished that the lord commanded joshua to speak unto the people, according to all that moses commanded joshua: and the people hasted and passed over (josh. 4:lo. the rite of passage is partially described by moses. after the twelve stones are carried acros

ebal, where the stones eventually resided. this may have occurred annually (see john l. mckenzie, dictionary of the bible, th std/r macmillan, new york, 1965, page 209. it would not have involved sacrifice /z but a shared feast. only after this complex rite of passage has been accomplished and all /d q (5 the peoples of the twelve tribes are permitted to cross the river does joshua q7f t k allow the priests who carry the ark of the covenant to step up onto the far bank of the jordan. the ground on the west has been prepared for the recep- efetion of the ark, where god dwells, by the sacrifice of the twelve and the faith rpi. bis of all the people. how do we know that the spirits of the twelve unfortunate men "pre- 7'l.d pared of the children of israel" by joshua really entered into the tw

isaac, god was only asking for what was rightfully his. by law, the first-born male of every mother, human or animal, belonged to god (exod. 34:19-20. the first-born males of sacrificial animals were sacrificed before the altar. the first-born males of non-sacrificial animals were simply destroyed, or redeemed by substituting a sacrificial animal. first-born sons were redeemed by the offering to the priests of five shekels of silver (num. 18:15-7, but strictly speaking they belonged to god in return for sparing the first-born of the hebrews during the last plague of egypt, when the first-born of the egyptians, including the son of the pharaoh, were taken (exod. 13:15. it is very possible that the twelve selected by joshua to carry the stones across the jordan were first-born sons. again

WALLIS BUDGE E A LEGENDS OF THE EGYPTIAN GODS

god with another, and mixed up historical facts with mythological legends to such a degree that his meaning is frequently uncertain. the great fact which he wished to describe is the conquest of egypt by an early king, who, having subdued the peoples in the south, advanced northwards, and made all the people whom he conquered submit to his yoke. now the king of egypt was always called horus, and the priests of edfu wishing to magnify their local god, horus of behutet, or horus of edfu, attributed to him the conquests of this human, and probably predynastic, king. we must remember that the legend assumes that ra, was still reigning on earth, though he was old and feeble, and had probably deputed his power to his successor, whom the legend regards as his son. plate i. horus holding the hipp

ightway. when horus returned in triumph to edfu, ra ordered that an image of the winged disk should be placed in each of his sanctuaries, and that in every place wherein a winged disk was set, that sanctuary should be a sanctuary of horus of behutet. the winged disks which are seen above the doorways of the temples still standing in egypt show that the command of ra, was faithfully carried out by the priests. plate xiii. horus of behutet in the form of a lion slaying his foes. v. legend of the birth of horus, son of isis and osiris. plate xiv. the procreation of horus, son of isis. the text which contains this legend is found cut in hieroglyphics upon a stele which is now preserved in paris. attention was first called to it by chabas, who in 1857 gave a translation of it in the revue arche

hat the king was in reality rameses ii. by a careful examination of the construction of the text he proved that the narrative on the stele was drawn up several hundreds of years after the events described in it took place, and that its author was but imperfectly acquainted with the form of the egyptian language in use in the reign of rameses ii. in fact, the legend was written in the interests of the priests of the temple of khensu, who wished to magnify their god and his power to cast out devils and to exorcise evil spirits; it was probably composed between b.c. 650 and b.c. 250.[fn#37 [fn#32] choix de monuments egyptiens, paris, 1847, plate xxiv [fn#33] transactions of the royal society of literature, new series, vol. iv, p. 217 ff [fn#34] journal asiatique (etude sur une stele egyptienn

th year of the reign of rameses ii, and found the king celebrating a festival in thebes. when he heard the petition of the envoy, he went to the temple of khensu nefer-hetep "a second time"[fn#38] and presented himself before the god and besought his help on behalf of his sister-in-law [fn#38] thus the king must have invoked the help of khensu on the occasion of the visit of the first envoy. then the priests of khensu nefer-hetep carried the statue of this god to the place where was the statue of khensu surnamed "pa-ari-sekher" i.e, the "worker of destinies" who was able to repel the attacks of evil spirits and to drive them out. when the statues of the two gods were facing each other, rameses ii. entreated khensu nefer-hetep to "turn his face towards" i.e, to look favourably upon khensu

d leave the country. it is probable that the demands made upon khensu nefer-hetep by the egyptians who lived in thebes and its neighbourhood were so numerous that it was impossible to let his statue go into outlying districts or foreign lands, and that a deputy-god was appointed to perform miracles outside thebes. this arrangement would benefit the people, and would, moreover, bring much money to the priests. the appointment of a deputy-god is not so strange as it may seem, and modern african peoples are familiar with the expedient. about one hundred years ago the priests of the god bobowissi of winnebah, in the tshi region of west africa, found their business so large that it was absolutely necessary for them to appoint a deputy. the priests therefore selected brahfo, i.e "deputy" and gav

WICCA EIGHT SABBATS OF WITCHCRAFT

this nebulous saint's connection to the secular pleasures of flirtation and courtly love. for modern witches, candlemas o.s. may then be seen as the pagan version of valentine's day, with a de-emphasis of 'hearts and flowers' and an appropriate re-emphasis of pagan carnal frivolity. this also re-aligns the holiday with the ancient roman lupercalia, a fertility festival held at this time, in which the priests of pan ran through the streets of rome whacking young women with goatskin thongs to make them fertile. the women seemed to enjoy the attention and often stripped in order to afford better targets. one of the nicest folk-customs still practiced in many countries, and especially by witches in the british isles and parts of the u.s, is to place a lighted candle in each and every window of

WICCA WITCHCRAFT TODAY

tries there are two kinds of witches: the ignorant herbalist and charmseller, and the witch who is a descendant of a line of priests and priestesses of an old and probably stone age religion, who have been initiated in a certain way (received into the circle) and become the recipients of certain ancient learning. at times the church ignored the witch; but when the papacy became firmly established the priests treated the cult as a hated rival and tried to persecute it out of existence. the puritans also took up the work with glee, and between them they practically succeeded. from the eleventh century onwards the church had a number of dangerous rivals. the manichean doctrines were widespread in southern europe; these had many different sects but they lived peacefully side by side. they were

templar in england these little people were mostly pre-celtic aborigines, but among them would be many roman-britons who had stayed on after the saxon conquest. most of these would be christians, but all their priests had fled. at that time many of the people of rome thought that all her troubles arose because they had deserted the old gods. presumably the roman-britons might think the same; but the priests of the recognised roman faiths had been abolished two hundred years before when rome turned christian. the little people had goddesses who were identified with diana and aphrodite, so it would be only natural for romans who wished to worship their own old gods, who had no temples, to call on and worship these. this influx might have brought about some changes in the cult, but the main

such rides have started the legend of the wild hunt? possibly the legend gave them the idea. it should be noted that the historical raymond de lusignon married a fairy named melusina from whom the lusignon kings of jerusalem and cyprus were descended, and melusina is one of the names of the witches' goddess. at this time, though the people of the heaths would attend the religious ceremonies, only the priests and priestesses would be initiated, passing the tests and taking the oaths. that is, anyone well affected to the people and the cult could attend these ceremonies. this would account for the stories of masked people who would come riding to attend the sabbat. they were known to be nobles, keeping to themselves and taking no part in the proceedings but dancing and feasting among themsel

d all over europe. there were also about twenty-five thousand priests and serving brothers, who do not seem ever to have been persecuted. so seemingly about forty thousand people dived underground and disappeared, as the witches did later. one curious point about this persecution is that the templar priests were never charged. if there is any truth in charges 3 and 7, it could only be the work of the priests. it was said they addressed the thief on the cross, which would probably have meant barabbas- surely an unlikely person to turn into a god. another story was that they called christ a thief because he claimed to be the son of god when he was the son of man. if they had said the liar or the pretender on the cross it would have made sense. actually, i think there is no doubt that it was

efs can occur independently, where they are very alike i am inclined to suspect a connection. i expect many people will attack this view and i only hope that they will. discussion and criticism is the only way to arrive at a satisfactory conclusion. the first and strongest argument against my views will be, i think, the belief 'that to gain power and to stop the people thinking of their miseries, the priests and kings encouraged the greatest excesses. in africa at present the action of missionaries and the government in putting down big tribal dances is said to have caused the present political unrest and campaign of murder. and it is certain that the mysteries made the population happy and quiet. that at them there were orgies at times is common knowledge; no one attempts to deny the fact

WILLIAM WESCOTT NUMBERS THEIR OCCULT POWER AND MYSTIC VIRTUES

vir tu es by w. wyn n wes tcott manner of its explanation and the ideas, which it represents, are not fit matters for description in his work. note also 3 stones of the arch, 3 principals and 3 sojourners; 3 veils; and in the craft lodges, 3 officers, 3 degrees, 3 perambulations. in the roman cultus, the number 3 is of constant occurrence, as for example see virgil, eclogue 8, the pharmaceutria; the priests used a cord of 3 colored strands and an image was carried 3 times round an altar. terna tibi haec primum triplici diversa colore. the druids also paid a constant respect to this number and even their poems are noted as being composed in triads. it is not necessary here to enlarge upon the transcendent importance of the christian trinity. in old paintings we often see a trinity of jesus

in dress. staying at home. refraining, as females then did, from celebrating public mysteries. piety and temperance. in roman marriage ceremonies it was customary to light 5 tapers and to admit the guests by fives. see plato in leg. iv. theology displays 5 modes of the conception of god, pantheism, polytheism, dualism, unitarianism and trinitarianism. jewish references to five are many 5 gifts to the priests, 5 things which might only be eaten in the camp. not to eat fruit from a tree until it was five years old. the trespass offering imposed on the philistines, 5 golden emerods and 5 golden mice. joseph gave benjamin 5 suits of raiment joseph presented only 5 of his brethren to pharaoh. david took 5 pebbles when he went to fight goliath. numbers--th eir occu lt power an d mys tic vir tu e

tended to last 6000 years. 2000 years of disorder; 2000 of the law and 2000 more before messiah should come; but his coming has been delayed by our iniquities. so says the talmudic treatise. sanhedrin, 97. 1. 25,000. according to ezekiel, the mystical city of jerusalem was surrounded by a square space measuring 25,000 roods in length and this he called the holy oblation, and it was for the use of the priests, the sons of zadok. 3.14159. this is the value of pi, the ratio of diameter to circumference of a circle. bode s law is a curious arithmetical and astronomical problem- take the series of numbers 0 3 6 12 24 48 96 192 numbers--th eir occu lt power an d mys tic vir tu es by w. wyn n wes tcott add 4 to each. 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 and we obtain 4 7 10 16 28 52 100 196 the numbers- these show th

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