BABALON’S RISING Full Moon Esbat
Dark Circle Collective
©2012 Lisa Babalon & Tim Ozpagan Dark Circle Collective
LUNACHILD Esbat Rite an introduction
Bablon’s Rising Coven Dark Circle Collective
Contents An Introduction to Lunachild
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The Creation of a Ritual
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Reflections on the Lunachild rite
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Exploring the images of Babalon and Therion
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Enochian elemental names
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Enochian magick
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A practical visualisation exercise
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Sigil magick
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Overview of the Lunacuild rite
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An Introduction to
Lunachild Insight into Babalon’s Rising Coven Full Moon Esbat
Bablon’s Rising is a coven that draws upon a variety of contemporary Witchcraft practices and Thelemic inspired ritual. The Lunachild rite was created as the coven’s personal expression of a witches’ full moon Esbat. Babalon’s Rising coven was founded in 2007 by Lisa Mason, an initiate of our Dark Circle Tradition and Nuit’s Veil coven. The coven draws its name and inspiration from Lisa’s personal initiation in 2005 into the Goddess Babalon’s mystery. In this seminar, Lisa provides some insight into her relationship with Babalon, and discusses with Tim Ozpagan some key aspects of the Lunachild ritual that have been shared at retreats, such as the Hidden Children of the Night Witch Camp, 2012. Special thank you also to Tori Collins for her extensive editing effort.
1. scarletimprint.com/redgoddess
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“I was first introduced to Babalon in 2005 during my first experience of the NOX rite. I took on the archetypal role of Babalon in the ritual and felt an intense connection to and familiarity with her energy. This propelled me into a period of intense study of this Goddess and I have been researching and channelling her energy since then, deepening my relationship with her.”
“I believe Babalon to be the Goddess manifest in the heart of the woman of the new Aeon, and she has led me on a remarkable journey of self discovery, self acceptance and independence. I am passionate about translating the elements I have learned about the Babalon current to others through the format of ritual. A great research resource on the subject of Babalon is the book “The Red Goddess”, published by Scarlet Imprint”.1 Lisa Mason, 2013
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Traditional foundations
The Creation of a Ritual Within our tradition we regularly use two preliminary ceremonies before the start of the main ritual; these are an Admittance rite and a Circle Casting. Both these engage the whole Coven and are used to prepare and aid each Coven member in moving from their mundane lives into the mind-set of a magickal ritual. We will be using both these ritual stages as a prelude to the Lunachild rite. In a traditional Witches’ circle, it is also common praxis to perform magickal workings at the full moon, and to use a mystery rite known as Drawing down the Moon. At the Witch Camp we have timed our Lunachild ritual to synchronise precisely with the full moon, just as it enters the sign of Aries (in this case). In the traditional ceremony of Drawing down the Moon, the spirit of the Goddess is invoked into manifestation in the Circle through the body of the Priestess. In our version of the rite we also invoke a masculine force alongside this feminine energy (not unlike the astrological qualities of the Full Moon in Aries). The feminine energy is embodied in the archetype of the Goddess Babalon (woman and Scorpio), while the masculine is personified in the God Therion (man-beast and Taurus). The purpose of this type of invocation
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is to create a balanced tension in a ritual-tantra that produces an alchemical or metaphysical marriage of opposites. Such a dynamic process is known in alchemy as the mysterium coniunctionis, the mysterious union. This magickal union is designed to give rise to a Moon Child. Again, in the practice of alchemy such a spirit-child is known as a homunculus (homunculus is Latin for “little man”). Interestingly, this Latin word, homunculus, reveals something of the real nature of the Moon Child. Homo simply means “man”, while culus derives from cululus, the word for a sacrificial vessel, a drinking vessel, or bowl; which is similar in meaning and purpose to the transforming vessel of the Witches’ cauldron and the alchemists’ incubating crucible. At the heart of the ritual our goal is to produce, via a magickal union of opposites, a spirit-child, a Moon Child. This Moon Child is at once both the individual offspring of each Coven member, and the amplified spirit of the Coven’s psychic experience in a mysterium coniunctionis, a mysterious union (use one or the other but not both as it’s a repetition of the paragraph before last). The ceremonial aspects of the ritual freely employ the use of rich symbolic expression. We use lunar perfumes, ritual infusions of moon-dew, while the key-celebrants utilise ritual attire to evoke the archetypes. The whole rite is immersed in an ambient invocation through ritual music, ecstatic dance, and an inner sabbatic mystery of Babalon and the Beast (woman and man) in a primal and dark synergy to manifest a Moon Child progeny.
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Mystery rites
Reflections on the Lunachild rite by Tim Ozpagan
The Lunachild rite of Babalon’s Rising Coven is a unique expression of their development as a group of ritualists. It is both a practical work of magick and mystery rite. As a practicum it holds the potential to enable the Coven to participate collectively in the psychic life of their mythological agendas; while magickally it holds a formulae to manifest a group-mind and participation-mystique. A participation-mystique is a psychic expression when a deeply felt connection is made with objects, spirits, or others, so that the ritualist cannot clearly distinguish between him/herself and the objects, spirits, etc, but is bound to it by a direct relationship that amounts to a type of personal identification—in this case the Moon Child. As a ritual work-in-progress, the Lunachild rite combines practices drawn from traditional and contemporary Witchcraft as well as Thelemic magick, and even Enochian invocations (in the form of elemental spells). If allowed the opportunity to progress further, new developments will no doubt emerge naturally from the spirit children of this inspired rite.
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The pervasive influence of Thelema Thelema, a Greek word translating to will and intention, is strongly aligned with the well-known magician Aleister Crowley. The work of Crowley and his expression of Thelemic Magick was popularised in the twentieth century and had a profound influence on Gerald Gardner, the father of modern British Witchcraft, Wicca. Fundamentally, the philosophic stance of Thelema is to discover one’s True Will, destiny, or purpose of being. At various points in the Lunachild rite there are invoked several deities that hold significance in Thelemic magick; although these deities are also modern expressions of ancient Pagan gods. The deities are Nuit and Hadit, Therion and Babalon. Nuit is the Ancient Egyptian goddess of the sky and is particularly associated with the night sky. In Thelemic mythology she is known by the epitaph “infinite space and infinite stars”, which is expressed by the initials I.S.I.S. and shows a symbolic relationship to the ancient Mother Goddess Isis. In this sense, Nuit is the original and primordial Great Mother, the deep womb of space. Hadit, an obscure name and aspect of the Ancient Egyptian Sun god, is both Nuit’s lover and her son. In the mythology of the Pyramid Texts (or the so-called Books of the Dead), each night at dusk Nuit swallows the Sun/Son, taking him into her body through a rite of passage of the twelve hours or gates of the night, and then finally gives birth to him at dawn each day. Together, Nuit and Hadit are the supreme, if not abstract, celestial forms of the archetypal God and Goddess. Astrologically, Nuit is attributed to Air or Space, Aquarius, the Milky Way, and the infinite
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expanse; and in contrast, Hadit is represented by Fire, the heart of every star, Leo, and infinitely small or the metaphysical “point” (a concept that has position/location, but no physical dimension). Philosophically Nuit may be expressed as the Macrocosm, Nature, and Woman, while Hadit is expressed as the complementary opposite, as the Microcosm, inner-nature, and Man. Therion and Babalon are energetic symbols of humanity’s primal nature and the earthly representations of the two great archetypes, the God and Goddess. In the ritual of the Lunachild, the ceremonial roles of Priest and Priestess are the personifications of Therion and Babalon. Babalon, also known as the Mother of Abominations, Whore, and the Scarlet Woman who’s message is to accept all of one’s nature, denying nothing of your personal nature and all that is embodied in the Thelemic principle of “Love under Will”. Therion, the Beast and Priest is the masculine counterpart of Babalon. Therion embodies the Thelemic principle of “Do what thou Wilt”, in the sense of finding what is your True Will.
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Atu XI Lust
Exploring the images of Babalon and Therion The symbolic and alchemical images of Babalon and Therion are expressed in the traditional Tarot as the “Strength” card (La Force), and in the modern Thoth (Thelemic) deck, as the “Lust” card. In the traditional Tarot, a Goddess is depicted opening or closing the mouth of a lion, while in the Thoth deck the Goddess Babalon is depicted riding on the back of the Lionbeast; although this image is actually a theomorphic animal of seven-heads drawn from the Biblical “Book of Revelations”. “The Whore of Babylon” or “Babylon the Great” is a Christian allegorical figure of evil mentioned in the Book of Revelation in the Bible. Her full title is given as “Babylon the Great, the Mother of Prostitutes and Abominations of the Earth.”…”2 The modern goddess Babalon, is in many ways similar the ancient world goddesses Cybele and Ishtar, whose animal totems are likewise the lion and freely express their love of the physical side to life. Cybele, who like Babalon, received the accursed-ire of the Christian Fathers—St.Augustine called her a harlot, “the mother, not of the gods, but of the demons”. Cybele was known as Magna Mater (“Great Mother”) and was the “Mistress of animals”. The pagan emperor Julian praised her, “She is the source of the intellectual and 2 en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whore_of_Babylon
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creative gods…she is in control of every form of life, and the cause of all generation…and in very truth is the Mother of all the Gods.” For the Assyrian’s Ishtar was both a goddess of war (Lioness of the battle), as well as one of love and the potency of sexual life belongs to her; worship freely embraced the sexual love (attested by her ishtarishtu, sacred prostitutes) found at the doors of the temple and hated by the prophets and priests of Judeo-Christians. The name Babalon means the “gate of the sun”. Babalon is the earthly or bodily equivalent to the celestial goddess Nuit. In Nuit’s mythology each night she swallows the Sun/Lion, and he then journeys through the twelve gates/hours of night to emerge at dawn. This is repetition of a previous paragraph. The lion/beast in the “Lust” card is the dominant energy. The lion in the Tarot, as in alchemy, represents the instinctual side to life. Crowley, in writing about the card, makes it clear that Babalon, who rides the lion-Beast, is in a state of “…divine drunkenness or ecstasy.” He goes on to say, “This signifies that the type of energy described is of the primitive, creative order; it is completely independent of [the] criticism of reason.” The word “Therion” means “wild beast”, in distinction to “ktenos”, a “tamed beast”, or domestic animal. Therion is specifically mentioned as the beast in the Book of Revelations and, like Babalon, has had a negative spin placed on its appearance because of its Pagan origins. The numbered placement of the Lust/Strength card is 11 in the deck. You may find variations on the card’s position with some decks, but many traditional Tarot (such as the Tarot of Marseille) agree with
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Crowley. The number 11 in modern esoteric thought signifies the combining of 5 (microcosm) with the 6 (macrocosm), and is expressed in the qabalah/gematria as the number that defines what “Magick” is. The esoteric meaning to this card is simply a way of describing that Magick is the harnessing of libido toward creative ends, expressed as “Love under Will”.
Other References: Book of Thoth. See this link to the book: bibliotecapleyades.net/crowley/libro_thoth.htm For reading from the Book of Thoth Tarot see the link on this page: rahoorkhuit.net/library/home.html
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Enochian Elemental Names
A brief introduction to the Elemental names used in the Circle Casting and Lunachild rituals. The Enochian language and system of magick has a long history, as well as being a well established practice among many contemporary practitioners of the Magick and Witchcraft. Our own tradition has utilised the four primary Enochian elemental names for Earth, Water, Air and Fire in our Circle Casting rite. These four elemental names— Nanta, Hcoma, Exarp, and Bitom—and other Enochian words will be used in the Lunachild rite. The Enochian language derives from the works of two famous 16th century occultists, Dr John Dee and Sir Edward Kelley. Dr Dee was the astrologer to Queen Elizabeth I, and together with Sir Edward Kelley conducted experiments in spirit vision via a Shew Stone, i.e. a crystal ball. This amazing shew-stone is housed in British Museum, along with his other magickal equipment. Descriptions from Dee and Kelley’s writings explain how a spirit would appear in the shew-stone and proceed to instruct them in what method should be used to communicate with angels and spirits. Briefly, the method entailed first creating a set of elaborate tablets, each inscribed with the special alphabet. This language and alphabet was named by Dr Dee “Enochian”, after the biblical prophet Enoch, of
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who it was said spoke to Angels. It should be remembered that both Dee and Kelley (a former priest) were Elizabethan Christians, and so their interpretation of the spirit communications were shaped in a bubble of their culture. However there is something primal about the Enochian language and invocations, and our interpretation of this work acknowledges this. An interesting episode that I think illustrates the elemental and primal instinctual qualities of Enochian spirits comes in the lives of these two Christian men when the angels instructed them to engage in wifeswapping!—they complied.) The four elemental names we use in the Circle Casting derive from the Tablet of Union. These four names—Nanta, Hcoma, Exarp, and Bitom—act as access points for the essence of each of the four basic elements: Earth, Water, Air and Fire. It is thought that the sound of the Enochian names act as keys to the elemental worlds. Use of these words in Coven ritual have proved helpful in stimulating the metaphysical qualities of the elements, using them principally to make a connection with the corresponding element. Practicing at using the names certainly assists us in not only making a connection to the spirits or elementals, but also to imbue our ritual space with a natural, elemental balance. As a practical tool in group ritual, we have found it has assisted us in producing a more tangible or elemental body of the Circle by the creation of a pure elemental atmosphere in which the Coven can work.
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Enochian magick, Babalon and the Moon Child Crowley had been trained in Enochian magickal practices when he was initiated into the Golden Dawn. Most modern occultists continue the convention of training in the use of Enochian. The connection to Babalon and Enochian magick comes from the work of Jack Parsons (1914–1952), an American occultist and rocket propulsion researcher. Parsons, with assistance from L.Ron Hubbard (the late founder of Scientology), incorporated Enochian magick into their famous Babalon working (1946). This was a series of rituals, conducted in the Californian Mojave Desert, designed to manifest the Goddess Babalon, in the first stage, and followed on with a second stage to produce a Moon Child. Parsons believed the working successful with the sudden appearance of the artist Marjorie Cameron, a red-head who readily embraced the role of avatar of Babalon, and the name designated title of the Scarlet Woman. Cameron said the birth of the Moon Child was as a magickal or astral being to herald in a new age of Babalon. The results of Parsons’ magickal work were later compiled and posthumously published. The most important written work is the Book of Babalon3, also called Liber 49. Interestingly Babalon, in her own words, forges a direct connection with Witchcraft.
3. rahoorkhuit.net/library/libers/lib_0049.html
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What is visualisation?
A Practical Visualisation Exercise For the Lunachild rite
Visualisation involves the creation of real or imagined images in our mind’s eye. It is a particularly important practice within magickal workings. Nearly all spells and rituals require the use of mental imagery in order to focus our energy and achieve our desired result. Some people find the idea of visualisation tricky, particularly if they lean towards a more auditory, or even sensory style of magickal working. However we perform acts of visualisation on a daily basis, whether we realise it or not: we all know how to imagine, daydream or fantasise, and we plan and conduct our lives according to the images that percolate in our minds. Based on the knowledge that the power of imagination, thoughts and intention or will can change circumstances greatly in the future, visualisation is the cornerstone of magick. As Witches and Magicians, our desire is to change our reality through the use of ritual. When we declare our true Will and cast our spell, our attention, concentration and imagination are all called into
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action. The energy evoked is the force that drives the mental images into physical manifestation. Within the Lunachild ritual, the Priest and Priestess lead the Drawing Down of the Moon, directing and channelling the group’s energy to create our Moon Child. They will invite all ritualists to play an active role in the creation of this magickal child through a group-led visualisation. To help you prepare for this, I have detailed a simple exercise below that I would like you to begin practicing each night before going to bed. It will help you to develop a familiarity with the Moon. As a result, you will start to become in tune with the Moon’s cycles and develop a relationship with the lunar energies. This will allow for an easy flow and a deeper ritual experience at the Witch Camp.
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Full Moon Visualisation Exercise Seek out the Moon in the sky before retiring to bed and gaze upon her for a while. Later when you retire to your bed and just before you drift off to sleep, close your eyes and take a few deep breaths. Visualise the Moon in your mind’s eye. Recall the brightness, shape and position in the sky. Allow it to grow larger and larger until it envelopes your entire being. Be still for a moment and allow yourself to appreciate and recognise the radiant lunar energy, noting how it feels. Breathe it in, taking it deep within you. Visualise the lunar energy surrounding your entire aura, concentrating on the expansive feeling within. When you are ready, take a deep breath. You can bid farewell to the Moon and draw your awareness back into the room, or simply fall asleep enveloped by the lunar energy. Try to do this several times a week in the lead up to the Witch Camp. I invite you to share any experiences you have as a result of this exercise on your Coven Group’s page.
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A short history and practice of
Sigil Magick The word Sigil is from the Latin word sigilla, meaning a little figure, statuette or image. It is related to other words like sign, signature and significator. The term sigil was commonly used in magick before the time of the twentieth century and still to denote the sign of a spirit or other occult symbols. In the early twentieth century, an Occult artist named Austin Osman Spare developed a unique method of art and image he described as Sigil Magick . Austin Osman Spare (1886-1956) a well known English artistmagician and his practice of Sigil Magick has become an established technique of the Western Magickal Tradition. Today it is amongst one of the most popular forms of contemporary spell-craft methods used and it is one which our Coven regularly employs. Since Spare’s time there has been a number of alternate forms or variations of Sigil Magick, but all are essentially based upon Spare’s original method.
The Method Spare’s method in the creation of images of intent drew on his considerable artistic abilities and talent for trance art. He would start by writing down in clear a statement his intent or desire. For example
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for such sigil of desire from Spare is as follows: “I, Zos Apuleius, desire the strength of my Tigers for my purpose is toward a great evil—therefore, let loose the fierceness of my Tigers so I receive great obsession.” Having formulated his desire in a written form, Spare then proceeded to reduce or concentrate the statement by removing the repetition of extra letters. For example, in his statement he says, “I Zos Apuleius, desire the strength of my Tigers .. etc.” The repeated letters such as “i” and “u” are removed so that they appear only once and we wind-up with the following series of letters “izosapuledrthngfy ... etc”. Next, he would proceed to assemble these letters into a type of monograph, but without regard to having to keep the letters separate or necessarily discernible. The graphic fusion of letters into a single symbol would produce for him his Sigil of desire. The title Zos Apuleius was an occult name used by Spare and his tigers were totemic or atavistic powers he frequently employed. These Tigers are not dissimilar to idea of the witches’ familiar spirit, and not surprising Spare learned much about the practice of magick through his contact with an elderly witch known as Mrs. Patterson. Once the sigil had been formed, Spare would charge or empower it with that ever emotional (psychic) energy he could access. Psychic energy included stress of any type, such as lust, fear, in fact anything he found exciting. In an emotionally psychic charged state he’d direct his focus upon the sigil. The symbol would become a sort of psychicbattery, absorbing the life force of the magician-witch.
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At this point it should be explained that Spare felt the sigil, or what it represented would become animated at an unconscious level and seek fulfilment in the life of the magician or witch. The sigil will have become an obsessing psychic and unconscious force, a spirit seeking one thing—fulfilment. The methods Spare used to animate or charge his sigils of desire were of course critical to the spell’s success. The more intense the psychic libido, the greater the likelihood of its incarnating or taking flesh. Spare describes his understanding of the power of this technique in his Book of Pleasure: “All desire, whether for pleasure, knowledge or power, that cannot find natural expression, can by Sigils and their formulae find fulfilment from the sub-consciousness.”
Sigils Many of Spares artworks are littered with sigils and his magickal language known as the Alphabet of Desire. It is best to see some actual examples of his work in order to gain a practical appreciation of his system of Sigil Magick.4 The following more complex example is from the quoted web page.
This example uses of both some shorthand sigils and his alphabet of desire. Spare described it as a Sigil for Pleasure and apparently reads: “I desire a large-bottomed woman for social congress”.
4. hermetic.com/spare/grimoire_of_zos.html
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He then combines this complex into a simple condensed sigil:
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An overview of the
Lunachild rite Summary: the interplay of opposites—unified realities—forming a bond. This ritual invites you to delve deep into the collective consciousness, cast your spell in accordance with your True Will and manifest in the birth of a magickal child. In this part of the Seminar we will summarise the ritual elements and practices that will form our work in the Lunachild ritual. The Lunachild rite is a welcomed and interesting alternative to the regular expression of ritual work normally undertaken within a traditional Coven setting. The study of this particular ritual makes for a rich experience, as you might have seen from the preceding background references. It draws liberally from a number different esoteric disciplines including: elements from Wiccan ritual and the Witches’ power-raising dance; the practice of vocae magicae (magickal voice) from Enochian workings; a type of alchemical ritual-tantra; and lastly, the use of Zos Kia Sigil Magick. I’ll begin by briefly summarising the nature of the Lunachild rite as a magickal working set within the framework of a Witches’ Esbat. At the centre of the ritual is the image of the “Lunachild”, a spirit conjured through the libidinal-psychic energy of the two archetypes Babalon
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(the priestess) and Therion (priest), as well as individually in the Coven members. Like Jack Parsons before us, we use an invocation of Enochian angels/ spirits to lend their energy to build an incubating container for the creation of our individual and collective Moon Child(ren). Our final goal will be to imbue this metaphysical spirit-child(ren) with the particular characteristics, strengths, and qualities capable of carrying out our individual magickal goals (via the use of ritual-sigils).
Five stages of the Rite Our ceremony begins before we actual enter the ritual space. We start individually with a period of quiet contemplation, taking in our thoughts and reflecting on our purpose and hoped-for outcome of the rite. The rite is full of purpose, a magickal working to manifest personal goals, and so now is time to get these goals squarely in mind.
1 Once the principal ritualists are ready, you will be invited individually into the first stage of ritual. This first stage is akin to a rite of passage and we accomplish this through an Admittance ceremony not unlike the initiation rites of the Ancient World’ Mystery cults. In many ways this is a minor initiation for you personally into the Coven with whom you are sharing this Witch Camp retreat. On a more practical level, this ceremony is designed to help you to leave all earthly trappings and concerns behind, and have you enter a sacred space properly prepared. Our ritual space is a Moon temple to the Goddess Babalon and her consort Therion, the Beast.
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2 Next, in the second stage, the whole Coven participates in casting our Witch’s Circle. This process of circumambulation around the temenos (sacred space) is an ancient one and serves several distinct purposes. First it hallows, gives acknowledgement to the inner work as distinct from the outer, mundane world. It marks the deep inner space within us where soul-making takes place. Secondly, from a magickal point of view, it is designed to ritually open a gateway to the psychic reality and invoke (i.e. awaken within) initially a balance of the elemental energy. And finally, from an alchemical point of view it creates the crucible, a vessel designed to contain the magickal work (opus) performed within. Generally, in the ritual creation of sacred space, it is our own bodies that hold the metaphysical elements. We consciously participate in this by creating through visualisation the image of the Circle. Like an enormous crucible or a giant Witches’ cauldron, it surrounds the whole Coven and is capable of holding together the metaphysical elements of life (i.e., Earth, Water, Air, and Fire).
3 With our psychic-cauldron prepared, we next proceed to the third stage, the coniunctio. This next step is arguable the most delicate part of the ritual, the conception of the Moon Child. This is accomplished through visualisation and invocation of the two great archetypes, Babalon and Therion. In reality these archetypes are within us all, but we personify them (as a projected mask) physically onto the faces and bodies of the presiding Priestess and Priest. We make them into the Scarlet Woman and the Beast. We might also feel and see these psychic
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projections in the faces and bodies of the all women and men in the Circle because in effect we will be mirroring the alchemical-tantra of the Priest and Priestess. This step is described in alchemy as the coniunctio, it is a ritual sacred marriage, in this case between two dynamic archetypes, Babalon and the Beast. The priestess and priest performing this work seated embracing in a coitus-asana while invoking the watery angelic and elemental currents that provide an embryonic like atmosphere in which to condense the Moon Child. Interestingly at precisely the same time the moon will have entered the fire sign of Aries; and as if reflecting our purpose, the Luna mother will be impregnated by fiery child of the zodiac. It is during this sensitive stage that the embryonic Moon Child is brought into being. The Moon Child is an astral or dream being whose body is made of alchemical water, but whose developing consciousness (alchemical fire) comes from each ritualist. The astral substance is given shape initially through our visualisation, but once loaded with consciousness, a thought-form may spontaneously shape-shift. At this moment, the whole Coven will be focussed upon the coniunctio of Babalon and the Beast as they perform the rite in vocae magicae, the use of magickal voice with the Enochian chant. If the Coven is focussed enough, just as there is a physical rise of libidinal energy in the Circle, there will be a psychic reflex in the Coven as they too begin to experience the forming of their personal Moon Child. This psychic reflex is not unlike the effect on an individual as they identify with the emotions of the characters in a play or movie. One
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can be brought to tears and great sadness, or experience laughing out loud and great joy even those these things are only being retold in a story. Within a magickal ritual the psychic reflex can manifest in a variety of ways and is not unlike a barometer on the psychicatmospheric conditions. The psychic reflex may also be consciously engaged in to cause a chain-reaction, in this case the birth of your personal Moon Child. So even though you are engaging in the ritual performed by Babalon and the Beast, it is as if this was happening to you and will produce the same reflex.
4 Next is the incubative fourth stage. In order for our Moon Child(ren) to develop and be seeded with your personal wish-fulfilling goals we use a practiced method called Sigil magick. Sigils are a type of concentrated shorthand, designed to encapsulate a specific magickal goal. The sigil is visualised as a place mark or tattoo onto the body of the Moon Child. Like all personal symbols, sigils have meaning to us because they are profoundly intimate and of our own creation. Our ritual also combines a unique Witchcraft practice for the final and fifth stage of this magickal working—dance, to raise the cone of power. In this last and lengthy stage, the Coven will join in the rhythmic circle dances to the point of exhaustion. This provides a powerful release effect in the mind and body, and subsequently in the Circle as a whole. Witches, unlike many magicians and shamans who frequently work in isolation, have long realised there is strength in numbers. Witches have used Covens to collectively channel not only psychic energy, but also the somatic (bodily) energy toward a common goal. A Coven who works well together can provoke a powerful response in their magickal work; taking to heart the wise words of
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Aristotle who tells us, “The whole is greater than the sum of its parts.” Dance holds a long association with Witches and in part draws from the ecstatic Dionysian bacchae, the dancing priestesses and followers of the God of Joy. If you are able to enter into the dance, and in a sense truly ‘become’ the dance, Witches experience a sort of tipping the balance where the Dionysian-ecstasy intoxicates the spirit. (It is not unlike what I imagine it would be like to simultaneously bathe in and drink champagne).
5 This final stage usually continues for quite some time, then falling bodily exhausted, your spirit can embrace the Moon Child with the sigil of desire. That is you can use the collective power raising of the Coven to amplify the psychic charge of your sigil upon the consciousness of your personal Moon Child. The purer and simpler this sigil of desire is, the easier it will be to take effect. In other words, a bit like with an object designed for just one clear purpose, the more elegant is its fulfilment. After a time the principal ritualists will draw the Coven back together and close the circle. From here, those ready and able will share their thoughts and impressions. Although there will be time for further reflection the following morning, it is sometimes useful to capture snapshots of our immediate feelings and hear from fellow Coven members before the time has passed.
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Afterword It’s advisable to attend an introductory workshop and be family with basic coven practicum. Speak to Tim Ozpagan or Lisa Mason.
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Finis