“We are the Poets! We are the children of the wood and stream, of mist and mountain, of sun and wind! We are the Greeks! and to us the rites of Eleusis should open the doors of heaven, and we shall enter in and see God face to face. Under the stars will I go forth, my brothers, and drink of that lustral dew: I will return, my brothers, when I have seen God face to face and read within those eternal eyes the secret that shall make you free. Then will I choose you and test you and instruct you in the Mysteries of Eleusis, oh ye brave hearts, and cool eyes, and trembling lips! I will put a live coal upon your lips, and flowers upon your eyes, and a sword in your hearts, and ye also shall see God face to face. Thus shall we give back its youth to the world, for like tongues of triple flame we shall look upon the Great Deep — Hail unto the Lords of the groves of Eleusis!”

Aleister Crowley in “Eleusis”

In order to induce this religious ecstasy in its highest form Crowley proposes to hold a series of religious services; seven in number. These services are to be held at Caxon Hall, Westminster, and will be conducted by Aleister Crowley himself, assisted by other Neophytes of the A.A., the mystical society ( not the common group now using these same letters)

The seven services will be typical of Shakespeare’s Seven Ages of Man, and each one will be dedicated to the Planet that rules its particular age. For example, Saturn “the lean and slippered pantaloon,” or sad old age. Jupiter the solemn and portentous justice, the serious and serene man who has arrived and controls. Mars the soldier, full of energy and life, vigorous and formidable. Sol the man who has still something of his youth left, and is gay betimes and serious betimes, the man who loves and the man who works. Venus explains itself in Shakespeare’s words “the lover with a woeful ballad.” Mercury the schoolboy, happy, careless and gay, mischievous and full of animal life. Luna the age of childhood and innocence, unsmirched and white as the planet herself.

Each will have its own ritual, arranged for the purpose of illustrating the particular deity to which it is devoted; each ritual will be both poetic and musical. Verses of the great poets appropriate to the planet and all that the planet represents will be recited, and the ideas suggested to the spectators will be translated into inspired music by a accomplished violin player. There will further be mystical dances by a brilliant young poet who thus draws down the holy influence.

We put the mind of the spectator in tune with the pure idea of austerity and melancholy which we call Saturn, or the idea of force and fire which we call Mars, or with the idea of nature and love which we call Venus, and so for the others. If he becomes identified with this one idea the union is one of ecstatic bliss, and its only imperfection is due to the fact that the idea in question, whatever it may be, is only partial. Ecstasy is therefore progressive. Gradually the adept unites himself with holier and higher ideas until he becomes one with the Universe. To him there is no more Death; time and space are annihilated; nothing is, save the intense rapture that knows no change for ever.

Let us add a short analysis of the present series of rites; they may be taken as illustrating Humanity, its fate both good and evil. Man, unable to solve the riddle of existence, takes council of Saturn, extreme old age. Such answer as he can get is the one word despair.

Is there more hope in the dignity and wisdom of Jupiter? No; for the noble senior lacks the vigour of Mars the warrior. Counsel is in vain without the determination to carry it out. Mars, invoked, is indeed capable of victory: but he has already lost the controlled wisdom of age; in the moment of conquest he wastes the fruits of it, in the arms of luxury.

It is through this weakness that the perfected man, the sun is of dual nature, and his evil twin slays him in his glory. So the triumphant Lord of Heaven, the beloved of Apollo and the Muses is brought down into the dust, and who shall mourn him but his Mother Nature, Venus, the lady of love and sorrow? Well is it if she bears within her the secret of resurrection!

But even Venus owes all her charm to the swift messenger of the Gods, Mercury, the joyous and ambiguous boy whose tricks first scandalize and then delight Olympus. But Mercury, too, is found wanting. Not in him alone is the secret cure for all the woe of the human race. Swift as ever, he passes, and gives place to the youngest of the Gods, to the virginal Moon.

Behold her, Madonna-like, throned and crowned, veiled, silent, awaiting the promise of the future. She is Isis and Mary, Istar and Bhavani, Artemis and Diana. But Artemis is still barren of hope until the spirit of the Infinite All, Great Pan, tears asunder the veil and displays the hope of humanity, the Crowned Child of the Future. All this is symbolized in the holy rites which we have recovered from the darkness of history, and now in the fullness of time disclose that the world may be redeemed.

For the corruptible shall put on incorruptibility, the mortal shall put on immortality; my adepts shall walk crowned in the Gardens of the World, enjoying the breeze and the sunlight, plucking the roses and filling their mouths with ripe grapes. They shall dance in the moonlight before Dionysus, and delight under the stars with Aphrodite; yet they shall also dwell beyond all these things in the unchanged Heaven– Here and Now

Reprinted from “The Sketch” of 24th August 1910

“Working on tradition, just as Wagner did when he took the old Norse Saga for his world drama, we find Saturn as a Black, Melancholy God, the devourer of his children. Ideas of Night, Death, Black Hellebore, Lead, Cypress, Tombs, Deadly Night-shade. All these things have a necessary connection with Saturn in the mind of anyone who has read the classics. The first condition of this rite is, then, to make the temple a kind of symbolic representation of the sphere of Saturn. So the representative of Saturn wears the Black Robe. The time is declared to be midnight (though, as a matter of fact, it is only twenty minutes past eight — this is an ordinary theatrical convention, and the masons will think of certain analogies in their own “Orgies”). If the Brethren are fed, it is “on the corpses of their children” as Saturn fed on his. If they drink, it is “Poppy-heads infused in blood” — symbols of sleep and death. Saturn further represents the earth, the plane of matter, humanity bounded by old age and death, humanity blindly groping after illumination and failing to get it.”

Aleister Crowley in “The Rites of Eleusis. Their Origin and Meaning”

This attention to occult and traditional symbolism was carried through by Crowley into the design and setting of the stage itself. Even the position of the characters at the opening of each Rite was, in conjunction with the props, representative of some piece of occult symbolism which Crowley felt to be appropriate. Thus the opening scene in The Rite of Saturn presented a cabbalistic diagram, that of Jupiter the “Wheel of Fortune of the Tarot”, Mars an astrological plan, and so on.

It was the competence of the soloists that really carried the Rites, and accounted largely for whatever modest success they enjoyed. Leila Waddell with her violin, Crowley with his recitations, and (Victor) Neuburg with his dance, each seemed to capture some of that ecstasy of which Crowley spoke, and if any of it was transmitted to the audience it was through their enthusiasm. Victor Neuburg with his wild dance was, by popular consent, the most impressive of the performers. Untrained in any form of dance as such, Neuburg had either developed the performance spontaneously, or more likely evolved it from his observations of tribal “trance dances”.

The competence of its soloists was not, however, enough to make a success of the Rites. Already weakened by inadequate financial backing and haste of preparation, they were crushed altogether under the weight of hostile criticism. Rather then making a profit for the A.A., as Crowley had intended, the performances probably scarcely covered costs.

What is certain is that the Rites of Eleusis Stand as a (largely forgotten) landmark in the histories of both the occult and the theatre. Half a century before the “experimental theatre” of the sixties and the seventies, Crowley and his small band were pioneering a form of theatre with transcendental manipulations and a level of audience involvement until then undreamed of. “Ahead of its time” The Rites of Eleusis accordingly suffered the usual fate of the boldly experimental.

Quotes from Keith Richmond in “The Rites of Eleusis”

Hail unto Thee who art Ra in Thy rising, even unto Thee who art Ra in Thy strength, who travellest over the Heavens in Thy bark at the Uprising of the Sun. Tahuti standeth in His splendour at the prow, and Ra-Hoor abideth at the Helm. Hail unto Thee from the Abodes of Night!

The sun god had a plenitude of names, Ra or Re being the Sun God of Heliopolis. The hieroglyph for Ra is an open mouth, an extended arm and a god seated with a sun and uraeus upon its head. Watching the sunrise upon the horizon, one can easily see why it appears as a mouth opening, its arms of light extending outward. A god sitting upon the edge of the world, or appearing to be born from the primeval abyss of water, which for the Egyptians was the Red Sea in the East. Budge declares that it was “by the agency of the god Khepera, who brought this result about by pronouncing his own name.” And, indeed, Khepera does proceed Ra coming from the darkness unto the light of day.

Ra’s bark is the Sektet (or Manjet) boat “the barque of millions of years,” which carries Him across the watery abyss of the celestial sky. Sektet can be translated as “sek,” that which gathers together and girds itself against something; and “te,” meaning a kiln or hot; and “t” is often used as an ending on nouns; Also, “tet” signifying stability or duration. Thus, “the stable, hot boat, which is and protects Ra.”

The crew of this boat is made up of the gods of creation, wisdom and magic. Tahuti, or Thoth, the God of Wisdom and magic, inventor of hieroglyphic writing and scribe of the Gods, sits in the front of the Sektet boat, like the baboon that ceremoniously, every day faces the rising of the sun; but in this case appears as an Ibis bird. Ra-Hoor, is another name for Horus, meaning “the house of Ra.” An ancient hymn, from the Papyrus of Ani describes this. “Thoth stands at the prow of thy boat, smiting all thine enemies,” and “I have seen Horus at the helm and Thoth acting at his command. ”

Hail unto Thee who art Ahathoor in Thy triumphing, even unto Thee who art Ahathoor in Thy beauty, who travellest over the Heavens in Thy bark at the Midcourse of the Sun. Tahuti standith in His spendour at the prow, and Ra-Hoor abideth at the helm. Hail unto Thee from the Abodes of Morning!

Ahathoor, Het-Hert, Het-Heru or Hathor when translated means “the dwelling or house of Horus” and was also known as “the mother of Light.” She is the symbolic celestial cow who gave birth to the universe. She was a sky goddess in general; but she was also considered both a sun goddess and a moon goddess. She represents the sky from the eastern to the western horizon. So honoring Her at noon, is to give recognition for Her creation at its peak. She is often depicted, being carried upon a boat, as water was Her element, and was identified astronomically with the star Sept, or Sothis, which is called “the second sun.”

Hathor was also the goddess of beauty. The Hathor Mirror, with its round brass face when highly polished was used by women of the Pharonic courts as a personal hand mirror. The suns celestial light was captured in the face of the beholder. The beauty of the sun transferred to the one who held the mirror. From the papyrus of Ani comes this sentence: “O thou beautiful being, thou dost renew thyself in thy season in the form of the Disk within thy mother Hathor.” The solar disc is often depicted between her horns. Her role of caring for the dead led Her to be called the Queen of the West, as she also ushered the dead to the underworld and fed the souls upon her milky tits.

Historically speaking, Hathor was not known to be the noon deity, Ra was, and Khepri or Khephera was the morning God, as Atum was in the evening. In the Boulaq translation, however, she is mentioned as one of the four main gods.

Hail unto Thee who art Tum in Thy setting, even unto Thee who art Tum in Thy joy, who travellest over the Heavens in Thy bark at the Down-going of the Sun. Tahuti standeth in His spendour at the prow, and Ra-Hoor abideth at the helm. Hail unto Thee from the Abodes of Day!

Tum or Atum, was the original god of Heliopolis, preceding Ra. He was a sun god whose name meant “to be complete” or “to make an end of.”  He represents the sun in the evening and in His form of the snake, he represents the concept of the end of the universe. Atum is also pictured as a bearded man wearing the Double crown of the Pharaoh. Also from the Papyrus of Ani is found this line. “I am Atum when he was alone in Nun, I am Ra when he dawned, when he began to rule that which he had made.” There is also, “The glory of Unas is in the sky, his power is in the horizon, like Atum his father who fashioned him,” which is from the Pyramid Texts of the Fifth dynasty (2600 B.C.E.). Tum is the representation of the “old god, who grows weary,” the father of Ra. The Boulaq translation spells his name “Toum.” Gardiner & Gunn spell it “Tom,” and the modern translation is “Atum.”

Hail unto Thee who art Khephra in Thy hiding, even unto Thee who art Khephra in Thy silence, who travellest over the heavens in Thy bark at the Midnight Hour of the Sun. Tahuti standith in His splendour at the prow, and Ra-Hoor abideth at the helm. Hail unto Thee from the Abodes of Evening.

Khepra (the Boulaq translation) or Khepri (Gardiner & Gunn translation) and Kheperi (the modern translation) is known as the sacred scarab beetle and “he who becomes,” or “self created.” Historically, again, Khepra symbolized the dawning sun, having been born in the East, not as Crowley spoke of him at night. His interpretation of the beetle, who rolled together a ball of dung for which the female laid her eggs and buried it in the earth until it was time to hatch, gives the impression that this was a time of darkness. At the time of a funerary death, it was a scarab amulet that was placed over the heart, which was intended to stimulate the dead heart to beat again at some future time. From the Book of That Which is in the Underworld, (Papyrus Naskhem), it says, “In the twelfth hour of the night, Ra enters into the confines of thick darkness. In this region the god is born under the form of Khepera.” It is not Ra who is seen in the boat now, but a beetle that stands in the center. And from the papyrus of Nesi-Khensu, The god Khepera,“who is unknown and who is more hidden than the other gods, the unknown one who hideth himself from that which cometh forth from him.”

Unity uttermost showed, I adore the might of Thy breath, Supreme and terrible God, Who makest the gods and death to tremble before Thee: I, I adore thee!

Unity uttermost showed is the poetic paraphrasing of the grouping of the Stele’s gods, Khepera, Ra, Hathor and Atum. The above became the dramatic interpretation from the Boulaq translation, “o formidable soul, who inspires terror of himself among the gods.”

Appear on the throne of Ra. Open the ways of the Khu, Lighten the ways of the Ka. The ways of the Khabs run through To stir me or still me, Aum, let it fill me.

The throne of Ra is the horizon. It is also that which is our eternal, internal flame.

The Khu is known as several things. Primarily, it is of the spiritual self. It is a spirited intelligence that has a higher and a lower form. In the lower form it shows itself visually as a specter of low flame. It is the seat of intelligence and mental perception. It is part of the person and their thought forms that perform thought, reason, judgment, analysis, reflective facilities, memory and acts as the creative self. It can be trained and disciplined and dedicated to the higher form of Khu. There is always the possibility of it developing as vampiric. The higher form is the “Glorious, or Shining One. ” Its form is the crested heron, having a shining or luminous effect. It is the spiritual side of man. The Gods and Goddesses and divine persons can have several spirits or Khus. Using this Khu, one can pass into the domains of Thoth and Hathor. One of the seven souls of Ra was a Khu, depicted as a disc raining down in the meaning of “splendour.” In the Boulaq translation, it is spelled, n khu meaning “to the bright one.” or  khu “the brightness.” For Gardiner & Gunn, they translated it as the Sekh; and the modern translates to “ah” or “i.” The sentence refers to opening to this higher source within.

The Ka is the double or abstract personality; the inner self; the principle of the body; the consciousness self; the protective genius. It is the transcendent part of man. The Ka governs the senses, perceptions and consciousness. It is the sum of all the senses. Visually, it is a light shadow, the etheric and the astral body. It could separate itself from or unite itself to the body at will and could move about freely. Funeral offerings were made to the Ka or offerings were painted on the tomb walls. There were priests of Ka, who performed services in honor of the Ka. Its hieroglyph is seen as two connecting arms held up. It is a part of the astral inner self. The Boulaq translation states that Ka means elevated or sublime. Also, kha, means “elevated or appearing.” Gardiner & Gunn translated it to a different part of the subtle body, the Ba soul. The modern translation spells it ka meaning the “high one.” The sentence refers to the lightening of those physical senses and allowing the astral to ascend.

The khabs is from the Boulaq translator who was referring to the Khaibit. It is the shadow, the dweller on the threshold. Khaibit, means, “to veil or cover.” In general it is where the power of the seven planets converge and manifest in each individual. The Boulaq translation spelled it n khab meaning “to the shadow” or “to the body.” Gardiner & Gunn named it the khabt. The modern translation was very different, sw(t) (i), meaning “my shadow.”

There are two aspects to the Khaibit, the lower and the higher. The lower khaibit is the black shadow attached to every person. It can be independent and free at will and can go out into open sunlight. Sometimes it is visible as an aura of light. It can be vampiric and similar to Don Juans’ shadow. This shadow is also known to the Greeks as the Umbra. When it is seen as light in its lower form, it appears as a flickering ectoplasmic light. In the higher khaibit form the hieroglyph is depicted as a shade. Within the khaibit, as the dweller on the threshold, it is the “protective God of the heavens,” the “opposer and terrible defender of the door.” Within it rests the element of self-deception, but it is also the bridge to the higher planes where the “ill will” will not go. It is the producer of motion and emotion; it sustains sensory perception; and sustains blood; and is therefore very important in diseases. It is considered to be the “abode of the psychic pattern.” Because of its heavenly influences, it can cause delusions. It is the root of emotional sensitivity and the proficiency of creative arts. As the dweller, it sustains and enhances pride, jealousy, fear and anxiety. It is therefore also volatile and can influence others. It is the plus and minus poles of the imagination. There are invocations to bring it out from the physical body through the use of a mirror. It is also closely associated with the Ba soul. The sentence refers to the association we have with our shadow. Will it keep us still to the point of stagnation or will it stimulate us to our fullest creative potential ?

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.

We are each filled with our own individuated light. The secret door is that process by which we open ourselves up to the different aspects of ourselves in the form of each of these gods, which are a phase, a path, a transmutation where we find experience. The amount of light we shed upon these parts of ourselves, both within a twenty-four hour period in the way in which the lighted heavenly bodies give us their light and through time, from birth until death. This is the consuming culmination of all the rays. May this light transpose us.

It was in Thebes, now Luxor, the great city of the dead, that the greatest tombs and monuments are found. Thebes was the home of the high priests that ruled Upper Egypt when it was divided in the 21st Dynasty. Its Egyptian name also means “Wise.” It is also the largest city in which Mentu or Montju or Mont was honored. Mentu was the war-like falcon-headed or bullhead god who came to power in the 11th Dynasty. In the 12th, Amun rose to power and Mut his consort adopted Montu into the Theban triad. He was compared and equated with Ra, Amun and Horus. One of his titles was “Horus with the strong arm.”

Ankh-af-na-khonsu is the deceased prophet of Mentu, Lord of Thebes, who is “true of voice,” honored in the Stele of Revealing. He is also the son of a person of the same rank as Bes-n-maut, and of the priestess of Ammon-Ra, the mistress of the house Ta-nech. On the reverse of the stele with the Boulaq translation, it says that it is he who “has left the multitudes and rejoined those who are in the light, he has opened the dwelling place of the stars; now then, the deceased, Ankh-af-na-khonsu, who has gone forth by day in order to do everything that pleased him upon earth, among the living.” In the Gardiner & Gunn translation, he is “the Opener of the Doors of Nut in Karnak, the Justified.” The modern translation spells his name Ankhef-en-Khonsu.

To further translate the meaning might be closer to the following, “Ankh” is both a tool and a symbol meaning of “new life.” The hyphen –af is always part of another word that lends exclamatory force. The word na is generally used as a preposition, such as “to, for, belonging to, through, or because.” “Khonsu” was the adopted son of Amun and Mut from the Theban triad. His name comes from a word meaning, “to cross over” or “wanderer” or “he who traverses.” So, his entire name may be translated as “the truth that has crossed over.”

By Bes-na-Maut my breast I beat; By wise Ta-Nech I weave my spell. Show thy star-Splendour, O Nuit. Bid me within thine House to dwell, O wing’d snake of light, Hadit, Abide with me, Ra-Hoor-Khuit.

In the Boulaq translation, Bes-na-maut is the “son of mnbsnmt (the fathers name who was a foreigner) and born of the Sistrum-bearer of Amon, the Lady Atne-sher.” It is also stated that Bes n mut, was the son of the priestess-musician of Amun-re, mistress of the house Ta nech. Bes-na-Maut (also spelled Bes-en-mut in the modern translation) can be broken down to mean, Bes, as bs, which means “to introduce, be initiated into a mystery, or having mysterious form.” Bes, was also a popular domestic deity, a bearded dwarf with shaggy hair, bandy legs and a tail, often wearing a lion’s skin. He was the patron of music, jollity, and childbirth. He was associated with human pleasures of all kinds and he protects mankind by first strangling then devouring any serpent that might threaten the one wearing his likeness as a charm. The word na, again to reiterate, means “to, for, belonging to, through, or because.” It can also be a negative, meaning “not,” or in this case may introduce a proper noun.

As for Maut, we must assume the phonetic pronunciation and make it that of the Goddess, Maat. Maat, in short was the personification of truth and justice, who was seen as wearing a single feather. The feather represented truth and it is seen in the judgment as being weighed on a scale in balance against the heart of an individual. So even though the name is foreign and there is no clue to the vocalization, if we use the Gardiner & Gunn translations, the name could be translated as an oath meaning essentially, “by the mysteries of initiation, I swear by all that is true,” or something similar.

For Ta-Nech we may break it down thus: Ta is the singular, feminine form for “this or the.” Once again, the particular spelling of Nech is not to be found on its own, and only conjecture can aid us here. It is of interest to note that it sounds very close to the God, Nekht, one of the fourteen names for Ra’s souls, meaning “strength.” It is also the root word for Nechabet, who was the vulture goddess most often shown on the double crown of Egypt, which represented the union of upper and lower Egypt. The name itself could be translated as meaning “by the wise uniting powers” that guide.

The starry spendour that is Nuit, or Nut, is both an eager and desirous request to be shown the night sky, and to be placed therein, as a star “in the company of stars.”

The god, Hadit in the Boulaq translation was spelled “Hudit.” By Gardiner & Gunn as “Behdet”; and in the modern translation as “Hehedite.” If we break down the syllables of the form that Crowley chose, we get these various meanings: Ha is a desert god. Had or hd means “to punish” or “defeat,” or to be “victorious.” The it means “father.” If we add an “n” to “it” it means the “sun” or the “sun’s disk.” So, I think we begin to see what Crowley was trying to say. He was invoking the light of night and the light of day that wings its way across the heavens, to be a part him.

Ra-Hor Khut, was as the Boulaq translation tells us, “chief of the gods” who faces Ankh-f-na-khonsu on the stele. Thankfully, there is a god of Egypt’s history, spelled only in a slightly different manner, as Ra-heru-Khuti. This is a compound name of the gods and attributes of Ra, Horus and Khuti. There is only one reference with Crowley’s spelling of “Khuit.” She was an ancient female deity from Anthribes that later became directly associated with “Hathor.” It is not surprising then, that Crowley chose the spelling of a goddess that was the personification of the great power of nature which was perpetually conceiving and creating. She was “the mother of her father, ” and “the daughter of her son.” Thus, Ra-Hoor-Khuit, was the Father, the son and the Mother, a potent triad in one magical formula. And after saying this all-encompassing power word, what could possibly be conveyed but the power of silence, with the sign of silence.