I’ve mentioned before, both pointedly and in passing, that the Judeo-Christian frame of much ceremonial magic does not work well for me. My attempts to reframe Golden Dawn and ceremonial rituals into my own neo-Pagan cosmology have been guided more by instinct and intuition than by research, and they have met with mixed results. My Pentagram Rite, for example, works better for me than the Lesser Banishing Ritual of the Pentagram ever did, and without the unfortunate side effects. The Titan’s Cross, however, while more aesthetically pleasing than the traditional Qabalistic Cross, never really had the same “umph”.
Last week, however, I had a sort of break through. Sitting out on the campus lawn, doing my Liber MMM meditation(1) under the sun, the name Abraxas came to mefrom nowhere(2). The creative juices started flowing, the synchretism got hot and heavy, and the following ritual is the result.
The Titan’s Cross: Satyr Magos’ Morning Invocation
I begin by forming a banishing pentagram and stepping into it to flush my aura.
I reach into the sky and intone(3) the name PHANES as the winged figure of Eros Protogonos descends into you from above.
Drawing my hand down my body, I reach toward the earth and intone the name GE, as the body of the earth opens and engulfs me.
Reaching out my left hand(4), I intone the name HELIOS as a sphere of solar light ignites there and envelops me.
Reaching out my right hand(5), I intone the name SELENE as a sphere of lunar light waxes into being and envelops me.
Brining my palms together I take a deep breath of that cumulative power and intone ABRASAX(6)
Finally, within another full breath, I intone IAO.
1 – Five minutes a day of motionless breathing concentration.
2 – Well, not quite out of nowhere. Rufus Opus had just mentioned him a few days before.
3 – Or “vibrate”, as it’s called in many circles. For some reason that word makes my skin itch. Probably because a lot of twits use the word too much.
4 – Because I have a solar tattoo on my left shoulder, and wear my Solar Talisman on my left hand.
5 – Because I have a lunar tattoo on my right shoulder. Yes, this is a deliberate inversion that throws of a hillarious and disturbing number of people.
6 – Why Abrasax not Abraxas? Because that’s what came to me. Gotta roll with the UPG when it comes to you, folks.