The Rite of Luna by Sor. H.P., 1996
The Officers of the Temple
Luna. White deerskin, violin. Artemis, Lady of the Moon.
Cancer. Warden of the Holy Graal.
Taurus. Lord of the Bow.
Endymion. White chiton.
Pan.
Luna throned in the east, under a white gauze veil flung over the throne,
Cancer to her right, Taurus to her left.
Endymion off stage to start, Pan hidden somewhere onstage.
Altar a few feet in front of Luna, with a big chalice on it to Cancer's side
and a bow and arrow to Taurus' side. Incense optional.
The Rite of Luna
Full dark. If it makes sense, while folks are filing in,
someone can recite the Twelvefold Certitude of God
(the "Cancer" section) from Liber 963.
Luna
Deep as the sea is thy wisdom, O Star of the Ocean, thou, with the sun on thy breast and thy brow moon-crested. Like the tide's ebb and flow your hiding and showing; thou art the storehouse of wonders, Cup of the Prophets! Swallow me now, as I drink to the dregs your vessel.
Ancient and deeper indeed is my understanding, but my rede is given in riddles, not easy answers. I who have opened the door stand before it to bar you, nor may you by ruse nor by force endeavor to enter¯ out of mine eyes alone may it be apprehended. I am the sight and the seer, who gives voice to vision. Dare my draught, bitter as blood and sweeter than nectar, and I will set mind, and eyes, and mouth afire.
Lights up, slowly, during this speech, to half-light.
Cancer
Bear the Cup of Libation!
Taurus
[333-333-333].
Cancer
[333-333-333]. Brother Taurus, what is the hour?
Taurus
Moonrise. Brother Cancer, what is the place?
Cancer
The Grove of Limera. What is my office?
Taurus
Warden of the Graal. What is my weapon?
Cancer
The Bow of the Moon. What is our task?
Taurus
To show and to hide. Whom do we serve?
Cancer
The Lady Artemis.
Taurus
[333-333-333]. Bear the Cup of Libation!
Cancer
Brother Taurus, our Lady Artemis shall soon come to bathe in the pool.
Taurus
Let this place be purified that it may be fit to receive her.
Cancer performs Liber XXV and returns.
Cancer
Brother Taurus, is the shrine guarded?
Taurus
Takes up bow and arrow, makes brief pass with it aimed over the audience...
The shrine is perfectly guarded.
Cancer
Bear the Cup of Libation!
Taurus
Queen and huntress, chaste and fair, Now the sun is laid to sleep, Seated in thy silver chair, State in wonted manner keep: Hesperus entreats thy light, Goddess excellently bright. Earth, let not thine envious shade Dare itself to interpose; Cynthia's shining orb was made Heaven to clear, when day did close: Bless us then with wishéd sight, Goddess excellently bright. Lay thy bow of pearl apart, And thy crystal shining quiver; Give unto the flying hart Space to breathe, how short soever: Thou that mak'st a day of night, Goddess excellently bright.
(pause)
Bear the Cup of Libation!
Endymion wanders in dazedly, and stumbles to a stop in the "stage" area. Catching his breath, he looks around in wonder. Background music under the following:
Endymion
Chasing a fractious ram from my flock astray, under the garnet sky of a night a-borning, I followed him blindly into the crowding trees. Soon I was lost, with nothing to show my way, as darkness , whispering deadly ferocities, pounced without warning.
I was a hunted thing, fleeing foes unknown, plunging through brambles tearing me, never heeding. I knew nothing but the pursuit, and my breath burned — Stumbling, I fell — there was roaring — I was alone. I know not how long, until my senses returned, I lay there bleeding.
What is this place, half-veiled in an opal mist? What is this altar? What is this sweating chalice? Some god must be near, as sure as my fear has fled. I am a-tremble, my limbs are lightning-kissed — what fury girding my heart, what fire in my head, my belly, my phallus!
Grant me to see thy face, whatever god thou be — though it should blind me, I would that vision cherish. Allow me to hear but one word of your voice for a sign, though I be deaf thereafter to any but thee. I live for a taste of the breath of your mouth in mine, though I should perish!
Lights up, slowly again, to 3/4.
Now the mist clears, and by every lambent bough, Pearl of the skies, thy gossamer light for blessing, Queen of the Air, who pours out the draught of dream, O Lady of Night and the wild, I know thee now! Moonlight unceasing, drown all my flesh in a stream of white fire caressing!
Fatal and keen and cold in my fettered breast, Eros has planted the arrow that wounds without bleeding, loosed without fail under gaze of the passionless maid, a missile as eager as hers for its deadly rest. Its venom is spreading, a frenzy that cannot be stayed, passion exceeding!
If thou wilt not have me as lover, then take me as prey! Staff in hand, I come to thee in thy milk-washed naos. My breast I have bared to thee; clear is the path to my heart; If thou wilt not sain, then of thy mercy, slay! O draw me thy shining bow, with its bone-white dart; smite me to chaos!
Drums in a heartbeat rhythm.
Luna signals Taurus, who draws the bow and shoots Endymion.
Endymion dances, slowly at first, then faster, while Luna plays [Tarantella].
He dances faster and faster until he falls insensible.
Taurus and Cancer come forward with a shroud spread between them and Pan hiding behind it;
they hold the shroud up long enough for Endymion to slip away and lay it down on top of Pan.
Taurus
Bear the Cup of Libation!
Luna
Reed, you were straight in your youth, with pith at your core; then you were hollow and spent, a toy of the wind, able to sing by the grace of Aeolus alone, longing for breath of a god to fulfill you again. Destiny chose you: the gods' stolen fire you bore; somewhere you bear it still, hid under your skin, no longer heaven's indeed, but fully your own, Fury and force confounding the minds of men.
Call on the gods if you will, and when they respond, don't expect heaven to open for them to descend; you are the gate of flame, theophorus reed, out of your heart the god bursts forth full-grown. Boy who invoked the high gods from somewhere beyond, who is the god in your heart that omens portend? What is the stem that will spring from that planted seed? whom did you flee as he hunted you here to my throne?
God of the herds and beasts, the reed and the rod, footing it lightly on heights and by tumbling rills, sweet in the evening your pipes in the shadowed glade. Son of the luck-bringer, hunting through thicket and field, lover of noise and merriment, loud-laughing god, deathless and manic, fierce in the shuddering hills, Aigipes! Dikeros! dancing the measure you made, free of the cracked clay now rise revealed!
A brief, furious burst of drumming;
Pan springs up from the shroud.
Drums continue, more quietly, while he speaks.
Pan
Bear the Cup of Libation!
The shout from Arkady has come with horn and cymbal, pipe and drum; and, flinging sparks with every stride, the cloven hoof has cleft the stone! The old design is overthrown. The glory wrapped within this hide is shed of its profane disguise. The shell is cracked; the god arises!
Lightning crashes; heaven cries; and with this common clay's demise a star is born! Then, marked by signs made manifest in earth and air, ascends into its orbit, where uncaught, untamed, a beacon shines whose light was born when time began, whose fire shames the salamander!
One part god and one part man, look: I am all and all is Pan, and there is nothing not of me. We are unleashed and undenied; we are the passion and the pride; we are the crown; we are the key; we are exalted, the elect: we are the slain and resurrected!
Pan moves to throne, parts veil, kisses
Luna three times. Drumming continues as each officer (beginning with
Taurus) passes the cup to the next to speak.
Taurus
Lotus root where serpents rise from the fundamental sphere — spring of sap to fertilize.
Cancer
Kiss the cup, receive the spear; furnace stoked to melting heat forge intent, the bolts that sear.
Pan
Passion's sacrament is sweet soaked in wine that angels bled — taste and swallow; be complete.
Luna
Shout and sing! The gates are spread! Vision that beatifies blooms exploding overhead.
Bear the Cup of Liberation!
This time while the cup is borne around, Cancer and Taurus close the veil over Pan and Luna.
Lotsa drums & fiddle, then a pause.
Cancer
[333-333-333].
Taurus
[1]. Brother Warden of the Graal, our task is ended.
Cancer
Let us depart, it is accomplished.