|
The Charge: "Lift Up the
Veil"
Magus: "Listen to the words of the Great
mother, who of old was also called among men Artemis, Astarte, Dione,
Melusine, Aphrodite, Cerridwen, Diana, Arianrhod, Bride, and by many other
names."
High
Priestess: "At mine Altars the youth of Lacedaemon in Sparta made due
sacrifice. Whenever ye have need of anything, once in the month, and
better it be when the moon is full, ye shall assemble in some secret place
and adore the spirit of Me who am Queen of all Witcheries and magics.
There ye shall assemble, ye who are fain to learn all sorcery, yet have
not won its deepest secrets. To these will I teach things that are yet
unknown. And ye shall be free from slavery, and as a sign that ye be
really free, ye shall be naked in your rites, both men and women, and ye
shall dance, sing, feast, make music, and love, all in my praise. There is
a Secret Door that I have made to establish the way to taste even on earth
the elixir of immortality. Say, 'Let ecstasy be mine, and joy on earth
even to me, To Me,' For I am a gracious Goddess. I give unimaginable joys
on earth, certainty, not faith, while in life! And upon death, peace
unutterable, rest, and ecstasy, nor do I demand aught in sacrifice."
Magus: "Hear ye the words of the Star
Goddess."
High
Priestess: "I love you: I yearn for you: pale or purple, veiled or
voluptuous. I who am all pleasure, and purple and drunkenness of the
innermost senses, desire you. Put on the wings, arouse the coiled splendor
within you. Come unto me, for I am the flame that burns in the heart of
every man, and the core of every Star. Let it be your inmost divine self
who art lost in the constant rapture of infinite joy. Let the rituals be
rightly performed with joy and beauty. Remember that all acts of love and
pleasure are my rituals. So let there be beauty and strength, leaping
laughter, force and fire by within you. And if thou sayest, 'I have
journeyed unto thee, and it availed me not,' rather shalt thou say, 'I
called upon thee, and I waited patiently, and Lo, thou wast with me from
the beginning,' for they that ever desired me shall ever attain me, even
to the end of all desire.
This much of the
rites must ever be performed to prepare for any initiation, whether of one
degree or of all three. |