Afternoon:
I did a session entitled: Sacrifice, Both Animal and Other in the Magickal Community. Sacrifice is to "make sacred." All life is sacred to begin with. If an animal gives its life for you, the proper attitude is gratitude It is an offering, not a sacrifice. The only being you can make sacred is yourself. Therefore, the only proper sacrifice is yourself. The magicians own blood, the magicians own life. This is something I learnt while conducting the session.
Evening:
RITUAL: Linda Falario, Fred Fowler, Mishlen and me.
about 25 participants
WILL: Bring down the star currents in their Nightside, Voodoo, Tibetan Buddhist forms into the ritualists and participants.
Communication/communion with the Star Beings.
LOVE: Participants lying in a large circle with their heads pointed in to the four of us. Blowups from the SHADOW TAROT around inner circle. Linda did the NightSide calls to the 8 directions. I called Legba, Fred called Ochosi, Mishlen did the Gate Gate chant and sounded the bell, filled the skull bowl with stellar nectar and took it around offering it to the people. Linda worked with the bowl and walked the bowls contents around pouring them upon the people.
SUCCESS: The Stellar Nectar flowed.
COMMENT: Strong thought of Dr. John getting messages from the stars. Looked up and saw vast, soft rays of starlight pouring down upon the earth. I was immense, standing between the earth and the sky. Subtle beings began to form in the space between the stars lights.
Linda described the bowl as overflowing with the nectars. The nectars flowed over and out of the bowl and over the area covering the people.
Mishlen's period began exactly when the ritual began.
Evening
RITUAL: (from the Festivals Program)
First Night of the Prophet and His Bride:
Initiation of a Thelemic Nation of Loa.
The Thelemic God-Forms (Prophet) and the Loa (Bride) will be invited to commingle and inhabit all participants at the ritual. Those whose Will it is to participate, will be infused with the dual Thelemic/Voodoo current upon entering the central ritual space through a funnel of Initiators (Initiators will be wearing a red arm cloth).
Once in the central ritual space, the participants experience and act the initiation as the Prophet/Bride (Thelema/Voodoo)
and the participants Will ordains.
Bokor Louis Martinie' is conducting this Ritual.
WILL: Initiation of a Thelemic Nation of Loa.
LOVE: Creation of Active and Receptive Temples. The fire and ritual action took place in the Active Temple (Grouple). The Receptive Temple was composed of about 200 Luminaries that were placed to mirror the physical shape of the Active Temple. It was a place where the ritualists could go after the active segment of the rite to Eat/Feast Upon the current generated.
A group of Initiators stood at the entrance of the Active Temple. I drew a veve at the entrance to the Temple. Participants came forward and stood within the veve. As they stood, the Temple Flags from the New Orleans Voodoo Spiritual Temple were passed over the participants bodies and verses from Liber L were recited.
At the same time as the above was taking place, I held their head and pressed a bit of earth from Congo Square and BrushWood onto the back of their neck while calling Papa Legba. Did gate/ghate. Called the Flambeau of the New Orleans Voodoo Tarot. With the babies and children who came through, I pressed the Ghate, Ghate mantra.
After this I moved the participant into the circle around the fire.
Once all of those whose Will it was to participate were in the circle and moving clockwise around the fire, I lead the Initiators in a counterclockwise movement around the fire/participants.
When the immediate power raised by the Initiation had peaked, I directed the Initiators into the Shadow Temple to feast on what was raised.
SUCCESS: A birth; now to watch for the forms the manifestations will take. A FEAST(in the Shadow Temple)OF THE FIRST NIGHT (Initiation of a Thelemic Nation of Loa) OF THE PROPHET (Thelema) and his Bride (VooDoo).
COMMENT:
- I want to emphasize that this is "a" Thelemic Nation of loa. The word "the "is to often used in a tedious fashion in describing Workings such as this.
- I was acting as a Bokor, not a Priest. Therefore this Working was in large measure an experiment.
- Walking to the ritual site via a pre ritual feast, a 6(?) year old girl ran up to me and threw her arms around me saying, "I found you, I found you." I had never seen her before. She took me over to a woman who turned out to be her grandmother. The grandmother said that the child's mother was living in New Orleans. The name of the child was Silence. She and then another child sat on my lap. Ibiji, Marassa. The ritual had begun.
- When I made it over to the area of the ritual and the fire one of the fire keepers came up excitedly and said they found a snake in the wood they were about to burn. It was a baby (like the human child before). I remember the snake as being orange and black on top with a bright red stomach. From the attitude of the firekeepers, finding a snake in the wood to be burnt was not at all a common occurrence.
I took the snake to a high hill overlooking the ritual area and released it. I reminded the snake I was saving its life and that it was to speak to Ayida Wedo and to Damballah Wedo to help with the ritual.
Perfect fit with what I said about sacrifice at the session earlier on Friday. Interesting that before the StarWood rite I carried a frog to safety and charged it with a task.
- The veve I drew was to Legba (old). His cane was on one arm of the crossroads (to the right when facing the veve) and the Hebrew letter "lamed" was written, not printed, on the left arm of the crossroads. Lamed as a red snake. So...Black Snake, White Snake, Red Snake?.
- One man who lost (the use of) his feet at the Initiation.
Very snake like.
- RL & C experienced one leg expanding and one leg contracting. - Sitting Guede posture taken by one man. Firm in the posture, preventing movement. One leg crossed one leg down.
- C. who took the position of Babalon and carried the flag of Erzulie, was drained by the ritual. She went to lie down and heard a clicking in her ears. An Islamic mosaic appeared replete with the names of God., Then ants began crawling over the mosaic. Roaches also came...The Insect loa.
N. took the position of the Baron/Guedes. This was a strong current during the rite. Perhaps "the dead man" Ankh-f-n-Khonsu.
- The twin ShadowTemple seemed to me to be higher up than the Active Temple. This was also brought up by another ritualist.
-Definite ships prow mermaid figure in the fire. The figure was formed by a large piece of wood burning. Middle Passage through fire rather than water? Quiet drummer pointed the figure out to me...he was also the last person in the Shadow Temple as I gathered the flags at dawn.
-Drumming till dawn. I received the red suspenders of a third shift drummer.
Drive back to Bloomington.