Saturday, February 22, 2014

The Feast-Day of Gnostic Saint Doctor Dame Anna Mary Bonus Kingsford

Pungenday, Chaos 53, 3180 YOLD
Ab-ba-e 23
Moon of Stellar Clarity 1
a. d. V Id. Feb. MMDCCLXVII A.U.C.
Anno IVxxi æræ legis; ☉ in 4° ♓, ☾ in 5° ♐
3-Tochtli 1-Miquiztli 2-Tochtli
Anthesteria/Dystros 23, 1st year of the 698th Olumpiad
Parmouthi 3, 1412 years after the last Pharaoh
Mīna 23, Vijaya, 5123 years since Śrī Kṛṣṇa returned to his eternal abode
21 Rabīʿ ath-Thānī, 6763 in the Yezidi calendar
Third Quarter Moon (9:16)

One of the two festivals to be celebrated today is the feast day of a Gnostic saint, which is a Thelemic feast day.  I actually don't see her name on the list of Gnostic saints given in Liber XV now that I check (I got the festival from this liturgical calendar), but I am very glad to have ritually met this OTO initiate.

Not having done any actual work in Thelema yet (despite Hoor-paar-kraat's place in mup), I didn't feel an actual ritual was called for so much as getting to know some of the ideas and reaching for an understanding.  In this way, I magickally met and introduced myself to the Saint Doctor Dame, and listened for who she is.

That being said, just reading a text in and of itself, though holy and sacred isn't fully a devotional act, as my good friend PSVL has noted though I'm now having trouble finding that post (I will edit it in when I do).  Accordingly, I pulled on some Antinoan ritual, the Εκκλησία Αντινοου being the context in which I've performed/been present for the most work with the dead.  As I lit the candle I was using to call her in, I sung/chanted the usual Εκκλησία prayer for the dead: Ignis corporis infirmat, ignsi sed animae perstat (repeat as necessary) -- The flame of the body may diminish, but the flame of the spirit sticks around.

Sitting at the chair before the computer, still chanting, I found myself saluting the directions with the candle by an odd order.  I first raised the candle to Above and then lowered it to Below.  Following that, I extended it to my Left and then my Front and then my Right and then my Back and then a simple circle in both directions before me for center.  The circle in both directions is, partially, something I've picked up from doing danza Azteca.

I then poured Saint Doctor Dame Kingsford a small glass of my cherry Coke, which I was sharing with her, started the timer, and begin reading the book of hers that is thankfully available in full online, Clothed in the Sun.  Her being a saint in the tradition of Thelema, I read for 93 minutes, ignoring all else but the book, the time, and the occasional copypasta or a document so I wouldn't lose anything.  She insisted that some of that copypasta go to Facebook as well.

93 minutes of reading dense and obscure reports of spiritual visions is fun, but a little taxing (especially when it's just on the edge of your normal thought-patterns in such areas).  I found myself very excited in the beginning, with heavy OMG moments as I read various parts of her text, and then stretching out with a mind somewhat harder to penetrate with new ideas as time went on.  I never quite hit "TQ: Full", though, and that naturally lessened some near the end.

Twice more, Anna desired that I giver her more cola, including the last swallow.  Twice more, I gave it to her, including the last swallow.

When I was done, I lifted the drink, rather than the candle this time, and thanked Anna for reading with me.  I told her I hoped to see her again, maybe in my dreams (I'm curious as to how she will womanifest in my dreams if she should choose to so visit) and then used the drink to thank the directions in the reverse order in which I had invoked them: Center, Back, Right, Forward, Left, Below, Above.  I chanted the Latin again as I blew out the candle.

On an inspiration, I poured out the cola in a line at the threshold to my apartment (there's a slight step, so it all stayed outside), chanting more Εκκλησία Latin.  This time, the chant was. "Haec est under, haec est unde, haec est unde uita uenit."  I think the urge was to create a door by which honored ancestors could enter with the living.  The possible dangers thereof are obvious, hence the chant:  "This is whence, this is whence, this is whence life comes."  Only those spirits who will bring life may enter!

No comments:

Post a Comment