Her Meeting With Us
a Thelemic Eucharist ritual
adapted from the writings and prophecies
of Aleister Crowley
by Mordecai Shapiro
The Temple:
In the east is an altar in the center of which is a Stélé of Revealing, with a red candle burning on each side and a platter of cakes of light in front of it. On one side of the platter is a small cup of wine, on the other side a censer with jasmine incense in front. Next to the censer is a starry crown of jewels, and next to the wine is a serpent crown, and all is surrounded by roses, and emblems of death. This altar is "concealed" by a veil (the material should be extremely diaphanous, a gauze or sheer silk perhaps, virtually transparent if possible). In the center of the temple is an altar short enough to sit on. The top of its altar cloth bears the design of a pentagram with a red circle inside its central pentagon; on the topmost point of the pentagram is a vessel of wine with a small vial of Abramelin oil in front of it, on the top left point is a copy of the Book of the Law, on the top right point is a small vessel of water, on the bottom left point is a bell, and on the bottom right point a censer with storax incense. Somewhere inside or close by this altar are the Priestess' blue and gold vestments and her dagger or short sword with its blue, gold, or bluegold belt or sash. Just east of the small central altar, facing the altar of the east, is a throne for the Exorcist, tan in color and dotted with white stars.
The 5 Officers
The Priestess: she represents Nuit, at first is unclothed and then wears a starry crown of jewels, and later vestments of blue and gold, and bears a dagger; –her element is water
Priest: he represents Hadit, is dressed in white and later receives a serpent crown; –his element is fire
Exorcist: it represents Tahuti, is habited in purple and yellow; –its element is air
Cakes of Light: they represent Ra Hoor Khuit, are borne on a platter of gold, or of silver and gold; –their element is spirit
Company: they represent the Children of men, and they each have a seat and a place to stand; –their element is earth
The Consecration of the Temple
The Priestess stands bare and rejoicing before the Stélé. The veil is closed. The Exorcist sits on its throne. A doorkeeper admits the Company and ushers them in, though they remain standing. When everyone is admitted and standing before a seat the Exorcist rises and goes deosil to the west of the central altar, picks up the bell and rings 1-333, replaces bell, turns to the Company, gives Sign of Horus.
Exorcist: By the wisdom of Ra-Hoor-Khu-it, Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law.
Company: Love is the law, love under will.
Exorcist and Company (hands on hearts):
We meet here at the summons of our Lady of Infinite Space and the Infinite Stars thereof.
We meet here to learn the secret that hath not yet been revealed.
We meet here to conquer! That is enough.
We meet here gathered into the fold, with the glory of the stars in our hearts.
We meet here as servants of the Star & the Snake.
We meet here as children, under the stars, & take our fill of love.
We meet here keen and proud, royal and lofty; as sisters and brothers.
We meet here as we are, & not other.
We meet here, regenerate, to receive your kiss.
Exorcist (sings):
Hear me, ye people of sighing!
The sorrows of pain and regret
Are left to the dead and the dying,
The folk that not know me as yet.
Exorcist rings bell 333-1. The Company is seated. Exorcist replaces bell on the altar on the intersection of the pentagram's lines in the top right (i.e., forming a small triangle with the BOTL and the wine). Exorcist picks up the small vessel of water.
Exorcist: Begone! ye mockers; even though ye laugh in my honour ye shall laugh not long.
Exorcist (sprinkles water in the southeast, the west and the northeast, each time proclaiming): For pure will, unassuaged of purpose, delivered from the lust of result, is every way perfect.
Exorcist sets the water back down in its place on the altar, then lights the incense.
Exorcist: Remember all ye that existence is pure joy!
Exorcist (censes in the northwest, the southwest, and the east, each time proclaiming): I am uplifted in thine heart; and the kisses of the stars rain hard upon thy body.
Exorcist places the incense on the intersection of the pentagram's lines in the top left (i.e., forming a small triangle with the water and the wine), and picks up and opens the BOTL., reading out whichever phrase or sentence is first to strike the eye. Exorcist replaces the BOTL, and takes its seat on the throne.
The Investments Made
Priestess (still facing the Stélé, sings):
Omari tessala marax,
tessala dodi phornepax.
amri radara poliax
armana piliu.
amri radara piliu son';
mari narya barbiton
madara anaphax sarpedon
andala hriliu.
Priestess: At all my meetings with you shall the priestess say — and her eyes shall burn with desire as she stands bare and rejoicing in my secret temple — To me! To me! calling forth the flame of the hearts of all in her love-chant. Sing the rapturous love-song unto me! Burn to me perfumes! Wear to me jewels! Drink to me, for I love you! I love you! I am the blue-lidded daughter of Sunset; I am the naked brilliance of the voluptuous night-sky. To me! To me!
During this speech the Priestess has burned jasmine incense, put on the starry crown, and drunk the cup of wine. As she finishes the Priest enters the temple suddenly and falls to the floor in front of the veil.
Priest: The Manifestation of Nuit is at an end.
Priestess (turns to Company): Now, therefore, I am known to ye by my name Nuit, and to him by a secret name which I will give him when at last he knoweth me. Since I am Infinite Space, and the Infinite Stars thereof, do ye also thus. Bind nothing! Let there be no difference made among you between any one thing & any other thing; for thereby there cometh hurt.
Priest (rises to kneeling position before the veil): But whoso availeth in this, let him be the chief of all!
Priestess: I am Nuit, and my word is six and fifty. Divide, add, multiply, and understand.
Priest: Then saith the prophet and slave of the beauteous one: Who am I, and what shall be the sign?
Priestess: 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.
The Priestess slowly reaches down both of her hands through the veil. The Priest suddenly grasps them in his hands.
Priest: 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!
Priestess: None, breathed the light, faint & faery, of the stars, and two. For I am divided for love's sake, for the chance of union. This is the creation of the world, that the pain of division is as nothing, and the joy of dissolution all.
At "This is the creation, etc." the Priest, rising, draws the Priestess out from behind the veil. The Exorcist then brings the Priestess' vestments to the Priest and returns to its throne. The Priest clothes the Priestess in her vestments.
Priest: Thy colour is black to the blind, but the blue & gold are seen of the seeing.
Priestess: Also I have a secret glory for them that love me.
The Exorcist then brings the Priestess' dagger or short sword and belt/sash to the Priest and returns to its throne. The Priest buckles on the dagger or short sword.
Priest: Let the woman be girt with a sword before me.
Priestess: Let blood flow to my name.
Priest and Priestess unveil the altar of the east completely. The Priestess takes the serpent crown from the altar.
Priestess: I charge you earnestly to come before me in a single robe, and covered with a rich headdress.
Priestess crowns Priest.
Priestess: Burn upon his brow, o splendrous serpent!
Priest (gives Sign of Puer): I am the Snake that giveth Knowledge & Delight and bright glory, and stir the hearts of men with drunkenness.
Priestess (gives Sign of Mulier): I am Heaven, and there is no other God than me, and my lord Hadit.
Priestess and Priest each grasp a side of the platter of cakes of light and elevate it before the Stele.
Priest, Priestess, Exorcist, and Company:
Unity uttermost showed!
We adore the might of Thy breath,
Supreme and terrible God,
Who makest the gods and death
To tremble before Thee
We, we adore thee!
The Supreme Ritual
They replace the platter, and go to the central altar, the Priest on the south side and the Priestess, bringing with her the small wine cup which she places next to the wine vessel, on the north side. They stand facing each other, and clasp their hands in an arch above the altar.
Priestess and Priest:
Face to face and heart to heart
That love may grace our royal art.
They drop their hands.
Priestess: What is the hour?
Priest: When time hath no power.
Priestess: What is the place?
Priest: At the limits of space.
Priestess: What God do we wake?
Priest: The Lord of the Snake!
Priestess: With what do we serve?
Priest: Bowels, Muscle, and Nerve!
Priestess: The shrine in the gloom?
Priestess gives the Sign of Puella, to which Priest responds with the Sign of Puer.
Priest: Is the Mouth Of Thy Womb.
Priestess: And the Priest in the Shrine?
Priest: Is this Manhood Of Mine!
Priest repeats Sign of Puer, and Priestess gives Sign of Mulier.
Priestess: and the wonder above?
Priest: The Quintessence of Love.
Priestess: There are sacraments?
Priest: Nine.
There are music and wine
And the delicate dance —
Priestess: To accomplish?
Priest: The trance.
Priestess: And are these three enough?
Priest: They are servants of Love.
Priestess: And the sacrifice?
Priest: I.
Priestess: And the priestess?
Priest: Is thou.
I am willing to die
At thy hands — even now.
Priestess: Worship me first!
Priest seats Priestess, facing west, upon the central altar.
Priest: Mistress, I thirst.
Priestess fills cup from the vessel of wine. They drink.
Priestess: My mouth is on fire
To my lord's desire.
They exchange the holy greeting by a kiss.
Priest: I kneel at thy feet,
And the honey is sweet.
Priest falls at Priestess' feet and kisses them. He then kisses her ankles, and up her shins to her knees, both of which he kisses with reverence, while worshipping in silence.
Priestess: Exhausted, I sink.
Priest: I am dead, on the brink.
Priestess: Let us dance!
Priest: Let us dance!
They rise and embrace.
Priestess and Priest:
The Lord give us power
To be lost in the trance.
For an hour — for an hour!
They dance together. A pause of perfect stillness and silence follows: until the Priestess, when she so desires, advances and places the Priest upon the central altar.
Priestess: Exhaust me!
Priest: Nay, drink!
Priestess: Ere I sink!
Priest: I shall sink!
Priestess: Drink wine! oh, drink wine!
Priest: I am thine!
Priestess: I am thine!
They drink and exchange the holy greeting by a kiss as before.
Priest: Art thou armed?
Priestess: With a knife.
Priestess draws the dagger from her belt/sash.
Priest: Love is better than life.
Priestess "cuts" a circle with an X inside it on Priest's breast.
Priestess: Let us dance!
Priest (giving wine): To the trance!
They drink, then dance.
Priestess: Back to the throne!
Priest returns, and takes seat upon the central altar.
Priest: I adore thee alone!
Priestess sings, plays music, or declaims verse, if so inclined, and continues as necessity or inclination may dictate.
Priestess: It is ended, the play:
I am ready to slay.
Anoint me!
Priest (gets off altar and embraces Priestess)
Priest: I rise
To the fire of thine eyes.
I anoint thee, thy priest,
Babalon — and The Beast!
He anoints the Priestess with Abramelin oil on left ankle, right wrist, left wrist, right ankle, forehead.
Priest: And I ask of Thee now:
Who art Thou?
Priest and Priestess dance together toward the altar of the east.
Priestess (sings while they dance):
"Omari tessala marax,
tessala dodi phornepax.
amri radara poliax
armana piliu.
amri radara piliu son';
mari narya barbiton
madara anaphax sarpedon
andala hriliu."
The Communication
They reach the altar before the song ends, and stand to either side of the platter. They seize a Cake of Light from the platter, Priest with right hand, Priestess with left, and hold it up together. Priest joins in the song on the final "hriliu", at which same point they break the Cake of Light in two. They each continue to hold up their portion.
Priestess and Priest: The unveiling of the company of heaven. Every man and every woman is a star.
The Priest puts his portion of Cake of Light into the Priestess' mouth. She consumes it.
Priest: Above, the gemmèd azure is
The naked splendour of Nuit.
Priestess puts her portion of Cake of Light into the Priest's mouth. He consumes it.
Priestess: She bends in ecstasy to kiss
The secret ardours of Hadit.
They kiss, then share a cup of wine. Then they each grasp one side of the platter and raise it up in front of the Stele.
Priest and Priestess: Of this make cakes and eat unto me!
Together they carry the platter between them and bring it before the enthroned Exorcist.
Priest: I, Hadit, am the complement of Nu, my bride. I am not extended, and Khabs is the name of my House. In the sphere I am everywhere the centre, as she, the circumference, is nowhere found. Yet she shall be known & I never.
Priestess: Invoke me under my stars! Love is the law, love under will. I give unimaginable joys on earth: certainty, not faith, while in life, upon death; peace unutterable, rest, ecstasy; nor do I demand aught in sacrifice.
Exorcist (rises, as does
Company):
But ye, o my people, rise up & awake!
Let the rituals be rightly performed with joy & beauty!
There are rituals of the elements and feasts of the times.
A feast for the first night of the Prophet and his Bride!
A feast for the three days of the writing of the Book of the Law.
A feast for Tahuti and the child of the Prophet — secret, O Prophet!
A feast for the Supreme Ritual, and a feast for the Equinox of the Gods.
A feast for fire and a feast for water; a feast for life and a greater feast for death!
A feast every day in your hearts in the joy of my rapture!
A feast every night unto Nu, and the pleasure of uttermost delight!
Aye! feast! rejoice! there is no dread hereafter. There is the dissolution, and eternal ecstasy in the kisses of Nu.
Exorcist takes the platter from the Priestess and Priest. He turns and displays the cakes to the Company, while also taking them deosil around the central altar and then placing them on it. The Priestess and Priest have advanced, each to one side of the central altar. The Exorcist, facing east, the platter on the altar before him, bows to the cakes.
Exorcist: These cakes we do eat, by rite of Ra Hoor Khuit!
Exorcist assumes the attitude of Ankh-af-na-khonsu on the Stele of Revealing (which is also a representation of the hieroglyph meaning to call or invoke), that is, the Exorcist’s feet are parallel, the right foot advanced about half a foot ahead of the left; the left arm is down at the side and slightly back, the hand held loosely open , knuckles facing forward; the right arm is held forward at a ninety degree angle, hand held flat and fully open, palm upwards, at about the same level as the Exorcist’s neck.
Exorcist: The light is mine; its rays consume
Me: I have made a secret door
Into the House of Ra and Tum,
Of Khephra and of Ahathoor.
I am thy Theban, O Mentu,
The prophet Ankh-af-na-khonsu!
By Bes-na-Maut my breast I beat;
By wise Ta-Nech I weave my spell.
Priest puts a cake of light in the Exorcist's mouth. Exorcist consumes the cake.
Priest and Priestess (whispering in its ears): Also these shall breed lust & power of lust in you at the eating thereof.
Priestess gives the Exorcist (who abandons the attitude of Ankh-af-na-khonsu) a small cup of wine . Exorcist drinks it, returns the cup and turns to the Company, assuming the attitude of Ankh-af-na-khonsu as before.
Exorcist: Show thy star-splendour, O Nuit!
Bid me within thine House to dwell,
O winged snake of light, Hadit!
Abide with me, Ra-Hoor-Khuit!
The Company: There is no law beyond Do what thou wilt!
Exorcist goes and sits on the throne. Now each member of the Company comes up individually before the central altar, assumes the attitude of Ankh-af-na-khonsu and receives a Cake of Light from the Priest. The Priestess and Priest whisper "Also these shall breed lust & power of lust in you at the eating thereof." in the individual's ears. The Priestess gives him or her a small cup of wine, which is drunk and returned. The member of the Company turns to the rest, assuming the attitude of Ankh-af-na-khonsu as before and declares, "Show thy star-splendour, O Nuit! Bid me within thine House to dwell, O winged snake of light, Hadit! Abide with me, Ra-Hoor-Khuit!", and the Company responds "There is no law beyond Do what thou wilt!"
The Closing and Departure
When everyone present has communicated. The Exorcist rises from throne and comes around widdershins to the west of the central altar, picks up and rings the bell 333-1, replaces the bell, faces the Company, and gives the Sign of Harpocrates.
Exorcist: Thou shalt not disclose the interior world of this rite unto any one: therefore have I written it in symbols that cannot be understood. I who reveal the ritual am IAO and OAI; the Right and the Averse. These are alike unto me. Now the Veil of this operation is called Shame, and the Glory abideth within. Thou shalt comfort the heart of the secret stone with the warm blood. Thou shalt make a subtle decoction of delight, and the Watchers shall drink thereof.
Exorcist gives the Sign of Harpocrates, picks up and rings the bell 1-333, replaces bell, then returns to the throne. Priestess and Priest turn to face each other. They clasp each other's hands in an arch above the altar.
Priest: Mouth to mouth and heart to heart!
Priestess: For the moment we must part.
Priest: Time and space renew the illusion.
Priestess: Love is swallowed in confusion.
Priest: Love sustains us eminent
Priestess: Till the hour of Sacrament.
Priest: I love you, and you love me.
Priestess: Now and ever may it be!
Priest and Priestess:
Hand in hand is heart to heart
Love be with us, though we part.
They greet, as before, and depart.
The Exorcist and the Company (all give Sign of Osiris Risen): Love be with us, though we part!