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This is written to be performed in an elliptical temple, with a circular space inside it, itself enclosed by a wall. Inside that is an elliptical platform, about 6” high. In its center is a platform which is reached by two steps from behind. The front of the platform is painted with the Stele of Revealing. On the elliptical platform in front of that is a circle with a heptagram traced on it. A gold cup is in the center of the heptagram. Just behind the first step, a curtain which opens in the middle extends across the temple. The curtain is royal blue, studded with stars; in its center is a black pentagram with a scarlet circle in its middle. Behind the curtain is a gong and a crystal cup filled with sweet sparkling wine (Liber AL I:51).
The ceiling of the temple is black or deep blue, studded with stars which are tiny lights. If possible, part of the roof rolls back to reveal the night sky (Liber AL I:57).
To the congregation’s left of the platform is a lectern, and to the right a throne for the priest. The lectern has an image of Sekhet on its front (Liber Aleph, Epsilon Psi (p. 155)). The throne is structured like that of the Emperor in Crowley’s Tarot, and has the image of Hadit on its back. In the center just in front of the elliptical platform is a low table with an incense burner on it.
Just inside the door to the circular area, facing in, are two statues of cows, as of Hathor. On the outside of the door is a dragon, face towards those entering. Far enough away from the door to allow clearance is a font of water.
There is a strobe light trained on the platform with two steps at a level to illuminate a woman standing on its top. The light is off at the beginning of the ritual.
All dress in black or deep blue, in a single robe if possible (Liber AL I:51, 61) Everyone must wear at least one ring (Liber 777 particularly diamonds, silver, white gold, sapphires, and lapis lazuli (Liber Nu). The Priestess’s jewelry, of which she wears as much as possible, is only of these. She is dressed in a deep blue robe, studded with stars. Her robe opens down the front and is unfastened. It may be held together with a wide belt covered with stars.
The Ritual
Before the others arrive, the Priest lights charcoal in the incense burner. He then sits on his throne in meditation. When the congregation enters, they sit on the floor in front of the elliptical platform.
As people arrive, they dip a finger in the water in the font and trace a circle on their forehead. They then touch it to their mouth and heart. They then dip their hands into the font and shake water from them towards the dragon, open their arms, and say:
I cast all my impurities
into the fiery jaws
of the Guardian of the Gate.
Consume them, O mighty Dragon;
Transform me that I might be suitably prepared
to enter into the presence of the Star Mother.
They push the door open hard and enter.
When the time has come, a gong sounds once from behind the curtain. The Priest goes to the center and faces the veil until all echoes have died away. He then turns to the congregation and says:
We are here tonight to be part of the unveiling of the company of heaven (Liber AL I:2),
under the expanse of her starry body.
Blessed be the Queen of Stars.
The Congregation replies:
Holy, Holy, Holy,
Unto Five hundred and fifty-five times holy
Be the Name of Our Lady of the Stars! (The Book of Lies, K. 56)
The Priest puts jasmine and rose incense (Liber AL I:51) on the charcoal. He carries the incense burner once around the temple while all say:
We have offered our impurities
to the Great Guardian of the Dragon Gate;
offered them to be consumed.
If any still remain may they now pass away,
borne on the incense smoke,
an offering to the heavens.
When the Priest returns to the front, he replaces the censer. He faces the veil and says:
We are here: Properly prepared,
Properly purified,
in the temple of the stars.
He pauses, and then says:
We invoke the Mother of the Stars.
Congregation: Be with us!
Priest: Queen of the Mystic Rose (The Star Sapphire (Liber XXXVI) 1)
Congregation: Be with us!
Priest: Divine Mother Nuit
Congregation: Thee, Thee we call,
Be with us!
Then follows a reading, by the Priest or another. The entire first chapter of Liber AL would be a good one, as would one or more of Frater Achad’s Hymns to the Star Goddess
This is followed by this creed:
Priest: I believe in Nuit
All: Queen of Space, Queen of Stars (Liber AL 1:27; New Commentary on the Book of the Law 1:52)
and in Her mystical body, in which all things are one:
Proper, necessary, and perfect,(Liber Aleph, Epsilon Omicron (p. 146)
for every phenomenon is the Body of Nuit in Her passion. Liber Aleph 119
Her body has no limit:
There is no Void that She does not fill
with the variety and beauty of Her Stars
Nor is there any one Law of Her nature,
but in Her are all laws: (Liber Aleph, Zeta Upsilon (p. 203))
For Her nature transcendeth all (Magical Record, p. 174)
and is beyond our understanding;
Her body encompasseth all
and is here in our grasp.
Life is Her gift,
and death but dissolution in Her kiss: (Liber Aleph, Zeta Lamda (p. 194))
For beyond heaven and earth is the love of Our Lady Nuit. (The Book of Lies, K. 93)
The Great Goddess that bends over the Universe is my mistress;
I am the winged globe at Her heart.
I contract ever as She expands.
At the end all is One. (Liber Ararita VI:1-3)
A lesson is followed by a hymn. After the hymn, the Priest goes to the center in front and turns to face the congregation. He says:
Come, let us mount unto Nuit our Mother (The Vision and the Voice, 24)
and be lost!
Congregation: Let being be emptied in the infinite abyss. (a href=https://hermetic.com/crowley/the-vision-and-the-voice/aethyr24>The Vision and the Voice, 24)
The Priest adds incense, climbs to the center of the heptagram, and sits down, facing the curtain. He says:
O Circle of Stars
All: Whereof our Father is but the younger Brother,
Marvel beyond imagination,
Soul of Infinite Space,
Beore Whom Time is ashamed,
the mind bewildered,
and the understanding dark:
not unto Thee may we attain
unless Thine image we love.
Therefore by seed and root
and stem and bud
and leaf and flower and fruit do we invoke Thee. (“Gnostic Mass", IV)
He pauses, and then says:
Great One who became Heaven
All: Thou didst assume power,
Thou didst stir,
Thou hast filled all places with Thy beauty.
The whole earth lies beneath Thee;
Thou hast taken possession of it.
Thou enclosest the earth and all things upon it in Thy arms: (Frankfort, p.134)
Come, grant us Thy presence.
There is a pause, and then the Priest says:
O Queen of Space
All: O Jewel of Light,
Continuous One of the Heavens --
Let it ever be 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. (Liber AL I:27)
A member of the congregation adds a large quantity of incense. Then all lie down. After a long pause (at least five minutes), during which all practice formless meditation, a gong sounds from behind the veil. All the others sit up, and the Priestess, who is the one who has sounded the gong, says:
You called to me, and it availed thee not;
You waited patiently, and I was with you from the beginning. (Liber LXV 1.56)
The Priestess parts the curtain with a sword carried in her left hand. In her right she carries the crystal cup. She puts the sword in a holder on the first step and takes the cup with both hands. The strobe starts as soon as the curtain is split. During the following, it slows so that it stops when the spot comes on. The Priestess says (this speech is from “Thunder, Perfect Mind”):
I have come to those who reflect upon me.
Look upon me, you who reflect upon me,
You who are waiting for me, take me to yourselves.
I am the silence that is incomprehensible
and the idea whose resemblance is frequent.
I am the voice whose sound is manifold
and the word whose appearance is multiple.
I am the utterance of my name.
Give heed to me.
Be on your guard.
The Priestess steps up onto the first step. She continues:
I am the mother and the daughter.
I am the mother of my father
and the sister of my husband
and he is my offspring.
I am the one whose image is great in Egypt
and the one who has no image.
I am the one who has been hated everywhere
and who has been loved everywhere.
I am the one you have called Life
and you have called me Death.
Do not be ignorant of me anywhere or any time.
Be on your guard:
Do not be ignorant of me!
The Priestess steps up onto the second step. She continues:
Hear me in gentleness, and learn of me in roughness.
I am she who cries out,
and I listen.
I am the one whom you have hidden from
and you appear to me.
But whenever you hide yourselves,
I myself will appear.
The Priestess puts the cup down on the platform and steps to the center. She casts off her robe and stands with her legs and arms extended, so as to form a star with her limbs and head. At that moment the strobe stops and the spot comes up on her. All say:
Holy, Holy, Holy,
Unto Five hundred and fifty-five times holy
Be the Name of Our Lady of the Stars! The Book of Lies, K. 56)
The Priest: We offer our everything
with love to the cup of our Star Mother,
the Holy Grail of Immortality,
the Chalice of Salvation.
The Priest picks up the gold cup, kneels before the platform, and holds the cup up. He says:
But what shall be the sign? (Liber AL I:26)
The Priestess kneels and holds her cup arched over the edge of the platform and says:
Thou knowest!
The sign shall be my ecstasy,
the consciousness of the continuity of existence,
the omnipresence of my body. (Liber AL I:26)
Out of the Naught that is Two
I return the All with Love.
Behold the Milk of the Stars! (Liber LXV 1.28)
The Priestess pours wine from her cup into that of the Priest. She puts her cup down, stands like a star again, and says:
But beware!
If you are not willing to give all
to dissolve in my cup,
If you hold back even a grain of sand
you will be lost.
So come to me, pure of heart,
Unassuaged of purpose,
delivered from the lust of result;
Come to me, for I love you. (Liber AL I:63)
I love you, I yearn for you;
To Me, to Me,
My lovers, My children,
I love you, I love you,
To Me! (Liber AL I:63)
To Me!
The Priestess kneels in the dragon asana and wraps herself in her robe. The Priest rises and distributes the sacrament, to music if possible. As the Priest offers the cup to each person, he says:
May the milk of the stars inflame your heart.
Each person replies:
There is no part of me that is not of the Gods (The Egyptian Book of the Dead)
When everyone has partaken of the sacrament, the Priestess says:
Blessings, my children.
All: Blessings, Mother.
The Priestess says:
You are each a star in My body.
You are each unique, individual,
Yet there is no distance in Me, no separation:
I Who am the Naught and the Two,
I encompass all, and draw even paradox to My breasts.
For in order for My Naught to be complete
I need infinite diversity;
Without the least of you my starry body is incomplete. (Liturgy of the Fellowship of Isis)
Rejoice in your uniqueness,
and lose yourself in My Void:
There is no difference. (Liber AL I:14)
She stands and puts her robe back on. Standing like a star again, she says:
May the blessings of Nuit be upon you,
May the knowledge of the omnipresence of Her body be always within you,
And may you come to shine in the heavens, each of you a star!
All: We thank you, Mother, for your blessings and love.
The Priestess goes back down the steps and through the veil. The spot is turned off, music starts, and all either leave or sit in meditation for a while.
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