The Chaplet of the Holy Guardian Angel

Many traditions use a rosary, mala, or prayer beads of some stripe as an aid to meditation, prayer, and magickal working.

I've found few experiences as trance-inducing and powerful as that of reciting the (RC) Rosary in the context of a vigil for the recently-deceased, where the prayers are recited many many times over, in a ritual lasting three hours or more.

Recently, I became interested in the idea of developing a Thelemic "rosary" -- fully aware that I'm not the first person to try this experiment. I made an in-depth study of as many (again, RC) rosaries and "chaplets" (chaplet being a sort of lesser rosary dedicated to a particular Saint or concept such as the Sacred Heart or the Holy Spirit) as I could find in my research, and extrapolated from them all to develop the ritual that follows.

The Chaplet of the Holy Guardian Angel

The Chaplet consists of 7 groups of 7 beads, each group separated by a single bead (making 56 total), and a Guardian Angel medal or other such token.

The object of reciting the Chaplet is threefold:

1. to remove obstacles between one and one's True Will,
2. to bring one closer to one's Holy Guardian Angel,
3. to put one into a frame of mind to receive the Virtues of Gnostic Mass as effectively as possible

To begin, say on the Angel medal:

Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law.

[BINH]
Feel the obstructions in your life, and the obstacles to your knowing and doing your True Will, as a close darkness around you, as you recite:
The body is weary and the soul is sore weary and sleep weighs down their eyelids; yet ever abides the sure consciousness of ecstasy, unknown, yet known in that its being is certain. O Lord, be my helper, and bring me to the bliss of the Beloved!

On the first solo bead (and each of the subsequent solos), exclaim:
Glorious, glorious, glorious art Thou, O my lover supernal, O Self of myself!

As you recite on each of the first set of seven, see the darkness develop deep orange flashes, and work on feeling the darkness transform from a binding into a robe wrapped around you, tingling on your skin:
The night falls like a spangled cloak from the shoulders of a prince upon a slave.
He rises a free man!

[ChSD]
Then, before the next solo bead, feel your yeaning for the Angel as a deep hunger and thirst as you say:
Ah me! but the thirst of Thy joy parches up this throat, so that I cannot sing. I will make me a little boat of my tongue, and explore the unknown rivers. It may be that the everlasting salt may turn to sweetness, and that my life may be no longer athirst.

Exclaim on the second solo bead as on the first. See the robe around you lighten to a deep blue, visualize the Cake and Cup of the Gnostic Mass offered to you as by the Angel, and feel how it will nourish you for the Work as you say very fervently, on each bead of the second group:
Thou shalt bring me into great delight. Thou shalt give me of Thy flesh to eat
and of Thy blood for an offering of intoxication.

[GBURH]
Before the third solo bead, strive to open up your innermost self, to see and feel the ineluctable core of Will, the Hadit, inside you as you say:
But Thou hast burned within me as a pure flame without oil. In the midnight Thou art brighter than the moon; in the daytime Thou exceedest utterly the sun; in the byways of my being Thou flamest and dost dispell the illusion.

Exclaim on the third solo bead as before. The robe of light on your shoulders deepens to a bright, fiery crimson; feel your intent strengthen, your judgement clarify to one-pointedness as you affirm, on each bead of the third group:
For pure will, unassuaged of purpose, delivered from the lust of result, is every way perfect.

[TPhART]
Before the fourth solo bead, yearn with all your heart to the vision of the Angel as you recite:
O Holy Exalted One, O Self beyond self, O Self-Luminous Image of the Unimaginable Naught, O my darling, my beautiful, come Thou forth and follow me.

Exclaim on the fourth solo bead as before. Now you are robed in a rosy-gold brilliance; the light extends from within you, expanding all around you to illuminate your way. Fix that path in your mind as you declare, on each bead of the fourth group:
The Sun, Strength & Sight, Light; these are for the servants of the Star & the Snake.

[NTzCh]
Before the fifth solo bead, yearn to the touch of the Angel as to that of your ideal Lover, as you say:
O my darling, I also wait for the brilliance of the hour ineffable, when the universe shall be like a girdle for the midst of our love, extending beyond the permitted end of the endless One.

Knowing for a certainty that the Angel yearns as ardently to you too, exclaim on the fifth solo bead as before. Your robe of light darkens to a rich emerald green; try to feel the Angel's kiss as you say on each bead of the fifth group:
They that ever desired Thee shall obtain Thee, even at the End of their Desire.

[HUD]
Still your mind and try to clear it of any thought but that of the Angel, as you recite before the sixth solo bead:
Ah, messenger of the beloved One, let Thy shadow be over me! Thy name is Death, it may be, or Shame, or Love. So thou bringest me tidings of the beloved One, I shall not ask thy name.

Exclaim on the sixth solo bead, as before. The robe brightens and shifts to orange; pause and listen for the Angel's voice after each time you say on a bead of the sixth set:
Thou shalt instruct thy servant in his ways, thou shalt speak often with him.

[YSUD]
Before the seventh solo bead, think what it will be like to dissolve in the being of the Angel, to be perfected in Him, as you recite:
Yea, also verily Thou art the cool still water of the wizard fount. I have bathed in Thee, and lost me in Thy stillness. O Thou light and delight, ravish me away into the milky ocean of the stars!

Exclaim on the seventh solo bead, as before. The robe is a rich royal purple; relax into a deep peace and certainty, saying on each bead of the last set:
I turned me about thrice in every way; and always I came at the last unto Thee.

Pause and rest in stillness for a time, open to whichever of the energies you've invoked may come to inform you. (If this is part of an EGC Rite of Reconciliation, here is where one might also reflect on the counsel of the Priest/ess, if one hasn't been so doing all along.)

Coming back to just before the first solo bead, declare as you meditate one last time on the Virtues of the Mass:
O land beyond honey and spice and all perfection! I will dwell therein with my Lord forever.

Exclaim Glorious, glorious, glorious... one last time on the solo bead, then on the medal finish by saying:
Love is the law, love under will.

Notes

I refer to the Angel as "He" in this both for convenience and for custom, as Liber LXV consistently refers to the Angel as "He". You may do as you Will.

This ritual assumes that the practitioner ever attends Gnostic Mass. If not, then the practitioner may visualize whatever Eucharist s/he does partake in (Mass of the Phoenix, or even one's main meal of the day) in the ChSD section.

The "Rite of Reconciliation" mentioned in the text is still under development, and will be offered to general perusal upon completion.

Agape,
      - M

<  |  >