THE RITE OF MARS ®MDRV¯Charcoal in censer alight. No incense.®MDNM¯ ®MDRV¯SOL is concealed behind the veil in the East, enthroned upon the Altar.®MDNM¯ ®MDRV¯MARS, ARIES, & SCORPIO enthroned.®MDNM¯ CAPRICORNUS. 4444-1 ARIES. 1-4444 ®MDRV¯[MARS reads the Twelvefold Affirmation from 963. [SCORPIO plays a short martial air [CAPRICORNUS draws aside veil & admits Probationers. [The voice of mars is heqard reciting the 91st psalm of David.]®MDNM¯ ARIES. Let the sacred perfume be kindled upon the Altar of Mars. ®MDRV¯(does so)®MDNM¯ SCORPIO. Hail unto the Master of the Battle! ARIES. Hail unto the Leader of the Armies of Jupiter! CAPRICORNUS. Hail unto the Warrior of Eternity! MARS. Hail, brethren! [®MDRV¯CAPRICORNUS returns®MDNM¯] 1. Let the Temple be purified and consecrated. [®MDRV¯CAP. does so.®MDNM¯] 1. Are the Brethren prepared? ARIES. They are prepared, Master! They are drawn up in military array around the sacred altar. MARS. 1. Brother Capricornus, I command you to perform the Ritual of the Pentagram. CAPRICORNUS. Fiat. (®MDRV¯does so®MDNM¯) MARS. 1. Brother Aries, I command you to perform the Invocation of the Holy Fire. ARIES. Fiat. (®MDRV¯goes to altar.®MDNM¯) 333. (®MDRV¯erect®MDNM¯) I swear by Djinn and by Shin and by the space between that I will not stir from this place until the fire of God hath flamed upon the water that is upon the altar. (®MDRV¯His face over lamp®MDNM¯) Dost thou hear, Brother Ash? (®MDRV¯Erect®MDNM¯) By Aub, the witchery of the secret flame; By Aud, the subtlety of the inmost fluid; By Aur, the effulgence of the radiant light; I call the, Ash! I adore thee, Ash! (®MDRV¯Over lamp®MDNM¯) Ash! Ash! Ash! I caress thee! I kiss thee! I suck thee up into by mouth and nostrils! Ohooatan! Ohooatan! Ohooatan! (®MDRV¯The water flames®MDNM¯) Behold! the fire of God upon the altar as I have sworn by Djinn and by Shin and by the space between! (®MDRV¯returns to his throne®MDNM¯) MARS. 1. Hail, sister of the Scorpion! SCORPIO. Hail, Lord of the Eagle and the Serpent! MARS. Amen. I appoint you to lead the army. SCORPIO. Let us carry the holy symbols with sacred song and dance round the altar of Mars. [®MDRV¯The song is song as all march round five times deosil before MARS in procession headed by SCORPIO, ARIES, CAPRICORNUS.®MDNM¯] Strike, strike the louder chord! Draw, draw the Flaming Sword! Crowned child and conquering Lord! Horus, avenger! [®MDRV¯All resume stations.®MDNM¯] Brother Aries, let us invoke the Master of the Battle. ARIES. [®MDRV¯advances and kneels to MARS®MDNM¯] Mighty and Terrible One, we beseech thee to lead us the Battle. Here, by thy Symbols, thy Spear, the Sword, and the Drum, we pray thee to strengthen our arms and to defend our hearts. For we are thy chosen warriors, O thou Master of the Battle! ®MDRV¯[Silence]®MDNM¯ We now invoke thee, O Ama-Inanna, whom our Brethren worshipped in the days of ancient Babylon, great Goddess of Love and War, who made love and war to Gilgamesh, the ruler of thine own city Erech. We invoke thee, our Mother, that thou entreat for us with the Master of Battles. SCORPIO. To what end do we ask the aid of the Lord Mars? ARIES. Unto Jupiter we have given the thuderbolt and the lightning-flash; for we seek to enthrone him in the stead of Saturn his father. But Saturn yet reigns; we need the Sword of Mars. SCORPIO. My heart and hand are with you, children. [®MDRV¯She plays.®MDNM¯] [®MDRV¯MARS recites.®MDNM¯ (insert Cowboy in the boat of Ra.) [®MDRV¯Capricornus starts up wildly & dances the dance of Mars, then falls on floor near his place.®MDNM¯ SCORPIO. Brother Aries, let us crown the Master of Battles. [®MDRV¯They advance to altar, she takes crown & crowns Mars, all joining in chant as before (Strike, Strike)®MDNM¯ MARS. May Victory crown your arms! PROBATIONERS, ALL. Let us join battle! We conquer! We conquer! [®MDRV¯CAPRICORNUS rushes forward and threatnes them, saying ®MDNM¯ My head is split. .....dust of thought and dulled desire. [®MDRV¯SCORPIO, as if alarmed at the interruption, flees to the throne of Mars and there with Mars defies the rabble. ARIES rallies probationers to fight®MDNM¯] CAP. So, all is over......senseless as the sun. [®MDRV¯All are driven back®MDNM¯] CAP. There is no God. MARS: Silence! There is no God--but God! [Aries & Probationers dance war dance. Capricornus slinks from temple. [MARS recites. This is the day which down the void abysm At the Earth-born's spell yawns for Heaven's despotism, And Conquest is dragged captive through the deep; Love, from its awful throne of patient power In the wise heart, from the last giddy hour Of dead endurance, from the slippery steep, And narrow verge of crag-like agony, springs And folds over th world its healing wings. Gentleness, Virtue, Wisdom, and Endurance-- These are the seals of that most firm assurance Which bars the pit over Destruction's strength; And if, with infirm hand, Eternity, Mother of many acts and hours, should free The serpent that would clasp her with his length, These are the spells by which to reassume An empire o'er the disentangled doom. To suffer woes which Hope thinks infinite; To forgive wrongs darker than death or night; To defy Power, which seems omnipotent; To love, and bear; to hope till Hope creates From its own sreck the thing it contemplates; Neither to change, nor falter, nor repent; This, like thy glory, Titan, is to be Good, great and joyous, beautiful and free; This is alone Life, Joy, Empire, and Victory! [®MDRV¯SCORPIO plays in accordance.®MDNM¯] ARIES. Hail to Thee that sailest heavenwards! Hail to Thee in whose eye is a Flame of Fire! Hail, Lord of the Destroying Army! MARS. Hail, brethren. ARIES. Hail unto Thee, that hast fought at the side of our Lord in the great Battle! Hail unto Thee, our Lady of Tumult! Terrible and beautiful wast thou in the midst of the battle, upon thy chariot! Hail unto thee, as unto thy Lord! SCORPIO. Hail brethren! ARIES. Let us rejoice in our victory! [®MDRV¯He leads probationers in the triumphal dance which becomes slow and voluptuous] ARIES.®MDNM¯ 1-4444 CAPRICORNUS. (from without). 4444-1 [Bro Aries extinguishes all lights [MARS recites Who is this maiden robed for a bride, White shoulders and bright brows adorable, The flaming locks that clothe her, and abide, As God were bathing in the fire of Hell? They change, they grow, they shake As sunlight on the lake: They hiss, they glisten on her bosom bare. O maiden, maiden queen! The lightning flows between Thy mounting breasts, too magically fair. Draw me, O draw me to a dreaming death! Send out thine opiate breath, And lull me to the everlasting sleep, That, closing from the kisses of disdain To ecstasy of pain, I may sob out my life into their dangerous deep. Who cometh from the mountain as a tower Stalward and set against the fiery foes? Who, breathing as a jasmine-laden bower? Who, crowned and lissome as a living rose? Sharp thorns in thee are set; In me, in me beget The dolorous despair of this desire. Thy body sways and swings Above the tide of things,Laps me as ocean, wraps me round as fire! Ye elemental sorceries of song, Surge, strenuous and strong, Seeking dead dreams, the secret of the shrine; so that she drain my life and being up As from a golden cup, To mingle in her blood, death's kiss incarnadine. Who cometh from the ocean as a flower? Who blossometh above the barren sea, Thy lotus set beneath thee for a bower, Thine eyes awakened, lightened, fallen on me? O Goddess, queen and wife! O Lady of my life! Who set thy stature as a wood to wave? Whose love begat thy limbs? Whose wave-washed body swims That nurtured thee, and found herself a grave? But thou, O thou, hast risen from the deep! All mortals mourn and weep To see thee, seeing that all love must die Besides thy beauty, see thee and despair! Deadly as thou art fair, I cry for all mankind--they are slain, even as I! [Crown off] [Capricornus' anvil dance in increasing red light. Discovers MARS and SCORPIO in each other's arms] CAP: Ah, wanton! [SCORPIO charms with fiddle. MARS: Brethren in arms, this is not defeat, but victory! For though I be dethroned, not to me, not to our lady was the glory. For always is the true God hidden--behold! [SOL lit & unveiled] [MARS recites: 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! [®MDRV¯kneels®MDNM¯] O Hawk of gold with power enwalled whose face is like an emerald; Whose crown is indigo as night Smaragdine snakes about thy brow twine, and the disk of flaming light Is on thee, seated in the prow Of the Sun's bark, enthroned above With lapis-lazuli for love And ruby for enormous force Chosen to seat thee, thee girt round with leapar's pell, and golden sound of planets choral in their course! [®MDRV¯rises®MDNM¯] O thou self-formulated sire! Self-master of tht dam's desire! Thine eyes blaze forth with fiery light; Thine heart a secret sun of flame! I adore the insuperable might: I bow before the unspoken Name. [®MDRV¯bows®MDNM¯] For I am Yesterday, and I Today, and I tomorrow, born Now and again, on high, on high Travelling on Dian's naked horn. I am the Soul that doth create The gods, and the kin of breath. I come from the sequestered state; My birth is from the house of death. [®MDRV¯advance to altar®MDNM¯] Hail! ye twin hawks high pinnacled that watch upon the universe! Ye that the bier of god beheld! That bore it onwards, ministers of peace within the house of wrath, servants of him that cometh forth at dawn with many-coloured lights mounting from underneath the north the shrine of the celestial heights! [®MDRV¯at altar®MDNM¯] He is in me, and I in Him! Mine is the crystal radiance that filleth aether to the brim wherein all stars and suns may dance. I am the beautiful and glad, rejoicing in the golden day. I am the spirit silken-clad that fareth on the fiery way. I have escaped from Him whose eyes are closed at eventide, and wise to drag thee to the house of wrong: I am armed! I am armed! I am strong! I am strong! I make my way: opposing horns of secret foemen push their lust in vain: my son their fury scorns They sink, they grovel in the dust. [®MDRV¯to SOL®MDNM¯] Hail, self-created lord of night! Inscrutable and infinite! Let Orpheus journey forth to see The Disk in peace and victory. Let him adore the splendid sight The radiance of the Heaven of Nu; Soar like a bird, laved by the light, To pierce the far eternal blue! [®MDRV¯to ARIES & SCORPIO®MDNM¯] Hail Hermes! thou the wands of ill hast touched with strength, and they are shivered! The way is open unto will. The pregnant goddess is delivered. [®MDRV¯kneels to SOL®MDNM¯ Happy, yea happy, happy is he that hath looked forth upon the bier that goeth to the house of rest! His heart is lit with melody Peace in his house is master of fear His holy name is in the west when the sun sinks, and royal rays of moonrise flash across the day's. [®MDRV¯rise and face altar®MDNM¯] I have risen! I have risen! as a mighty hawk of gold From the golden egg I gather and my wings the world unfold. I alight in mighty splendour from the throned boats of light Companies of spirits follow me, adore the lords of night. Yea, with gladness did they paean, bowing low before my car, in my ears their homage echoed from the sunrise to the star. I have risen! I am gathered as a lovely hawk of gold, I the first-born of the Mother in her ecstasy of old. Lo! I come to face the dweller in the sacred snake of Khem; Come to face the Babe and Lion, come tomeasure force with them! Ah! these locksflow down, a river, as the earth's before the Sun, As the earth's before the sunset, and the God and I are One. I who entered in a Fool, gain the God by clean endeavour; I am shaped as men and women, fair for ever and for ever. [®MDRV¯He turns and falls clasping SOL's feet. All prostrate themselves in adoration. Scorpio plays her solar chant.®MDNM¯] [®MDRV¯SOL in ARIES recites®MDNM¯] The world's great age begins anew, The golden years return, The earth doth like a snake renew Her winter weeds outworn; Heaven smiles, and faiths and empires gleam, Like wrecks of a dissolving dream. A brighter Hellas rears its mountains From waves serener far; A new Peneus rolls his fountains Against the morning star. Where fairer Tempes bloom, there sleep Young Cyclads on a sunnier deep. A loftier Argo cleaves the main, Fraught with a later prize; Another Orpheus sings again, And loves, and weeps, and dies. A new Ulysses leaves once more Calypso for his native shore. Oh, write no more the tale of Troy, If earth Death's scroll must be! Nor mix with Laian rage the joy Which dawns upon the free; Although a subtler Sphinx renew Riddles of death Thebes never knew. Another Athens shall arise, And to remoter time Bequeath, like sunset to the skies, The splendour of its prime; And leave, if nought so bright may live, All earth can take or Heaven can give. Saturn and Love their long repose Shall burst, more bright and good Than all who fell, than One who rose, Than many unsubdued. Not gold, not blood, their altar dowers, But votive tears and symbol flowers. O cease! must hate and death return? Cease! must men kill and die? Cease! drain not to its dregs the urn Of bitter prophecy. The world is weary of the past. Oh, might it die or rest at last! ARIES. 1-4444 The battle is indeed fought. SOL IN ARIES. 333-333. The victory is indeed won. ARIES. Brethren, the Sun is arisen. Let us depart in joy. SCORPIO. Let us depart in love. MARS. Let is depart in peace.