A Rite for Air

"Mini-Liber Nu"

[This was originally performed at Cheth House in Berkeley, California, as the ritual celebrating the passage of the Sun into 15 degrees Aquarius, or the Feast of Brigid. It's a streamlined adaptation of Liber NV sub figura XI, and includes many passages from the original. But this ritual is not intended to distract anyone from working Liber NV in its full powerful form.]

All are seated in a circle. In the center is an altar with a Sword, a Cup, and a cauldron of Elixir, with a ladle.

Lesser Banishing Ritual of the Pentagram.

Purify with "Pure will, unassuaged of purpose, delivered from the lust of result, is every way perfect."

Using galbanum, consecrate with "I am uplifted in thine heart; and the kisses of the stars rain hard upon thy body."

Perform the Opening of the Temple in Air.

The Priestess moves to the east of the central altar, facing West. She takes the Sword and holds it above the Cup, which is filled with the Elixir.

Priestess: But to love me is better than all things: if under the night-stars in the desert thou presently burn mine incense before me, invoking me with a pure heart, and the Serpent flame therein, thou wilt come a little to lie in my bosom. For one kiss wilt thou then be willing to give all; but whoso gives one particle of dust shall lose all in that hour. Ye shall gather goods and store of women and spices; ye shall wear rich jewels; ye shall exceed the nations of the earth in splendour & pride; but always in the love of me, and so shall ye come to my joy. I charge you earnestly to come before me in a single robe, and covered with a rich headdress. I love you! I yearn to you! Pale or purple, veiled or voluptuous, I who am all pleasure and purple and drunkenness of the innermost sense, desire you. Put on the wings, and arouse the coiled splendour within you: come unto me! To me! To me! Sing the rapturous love-song unto me! Burn to me perfumes! Wear to me jewels! Drink to me, for I love you! I love you! I am the blue-lidded daughter of Sunset; I am the naked brilliance of the voluptuous night-sky. To me! [Plunges Dagger into Cup.] To me!

All present partake of the Elixir in turn. There should be enough to supply everyone with a full portion. When everyone is finished, the central altar is moved outside of the circle.

An improvised lecture is given around these themes:

1. Above, the gemmed azure is
   The naked splendor of Nuit;
   She bends in ecstasy to kiss
   The secret ardours of Hadit
2. Consider the six and fifty that 6/50=0.12.
   0 the circumference Nuit.
   . the center, Hadit.
   1 the unity proceeding, Ra-Hoor-Khuit.
   2 the world of illusion.
   Nuit thus comprehends All in None.
   Also 50+6=56=5+6=11, the key to all Rituals.
   And 50X6=300, the Spirit of the Child within.
3. That these two practices are identical: to beware of the slightest exercise of one's will against another being, and to exercise one's will without the least consideration for any other being.

Following the lecture, a guided meditation is improvised around these themes:

1. Identify with the Khabs, the secret Light within the Heart. Within this is Hadit.
2. Meditate upon Nuit as the Continuous One Resolved into None and Two as the phases of her being.
3. Meditate upon the facts of Samadhi on all planes the liberation of heat in chemistry, joy in natural history, Ananda in religion, when two things join to lose themselves in a third.
4. Let the Aspirant stand upon the edge of a precipice in act or in imagination. And let him imagine and suffer the fear of falling. Next let him imagine with this aid that the Earth is falling, and he with it, or he from it; and considering the infinity of space, let him excite the fear within him to the point of ecstasy, so that the most dreadful dream of falling that he hath ever suffered be as nothing in comparison.

Everyone chants "Nu" eleven times together, slowly.

The final practice is explained in full before it's begun. Everyone vibrates the syllable "Ah" three times. With the first Ah, all of the universe outside of the body is dissolved into the Bliss of Infinite Space (Nuit). With the second Ah, all of the body is similarly dissolved, down to a Winged Globe at the Heart. With the third Ah, desiring earnestly the Kiss of Nuit, give one particle of dust, i.e., let Hadit give himself up utterly to Her.

All remain dissolved in Space for at least 5-10 minutes (or more, depending on the experience of the group).

[Bell.]

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