Young Man: To know the other is to know oneself. All nature is summed up in one loved face.

Young Woman: To know oneself is to look within. Gaze in a pool and you will see your twin.

Priestess/Priest Alchemist: (to Twin Apprentices) Deity, to enjoy Itself, divides Itself in two. Your souls’ quest is to find your twin soul. May the Goddess Muth, Who presides over Sacred Marriage with Her Husband Amon Ra, be invoked!

ORACLE OF THE GODDESS MUTH OF EGYPT

Priestess: (Invocation) Divine Muth, Mother of all beings, come to our hearts! Inspire us with wisdom and compassion, so that at the last we may dwell in Thy everlasting habitations overshadowed by Thy Wings.

Oracle: In verity the two lands of earth and after-life are one. They are only separated by the blindness of the ignorant. Day and Night are One. Sun and Moon are One, Man and Woman are One. The inner sun which shineth within the depths of the earth is One with the Sun in Heaven. Every heart is united with all hearts through the spheres with the warmth of Love, Yet every being and atom calleth to the others through unique quality that is its essence.

But discord destroys peace and joy through this very Love, when it becomes distorted into obsessive passion. It strikes through narrow devotion to family and nation, but it is at its most evil when it consumes the soul with religious fanaticism. Devotees so deluded will torture and kill those who will not accept the object of their worship.

My children of ancient Egypt saw Deity in the Many. They recognised innate divinity in cats and dogs and hippopotami, through beetles and crocodiles and rivers. As the intellect brought separation of man and nature, men found the Path of the One Light: they acknowledged the Many as emanating from the One. This satisfied mind and heart. Both ways of approaching reality have brought many to everlasting joy. Yet both have caused great evil, through abuse by overemphasis. Those who worshipped the Many in a mindless way degenerated. They became dissipated and lost strength of directed mind and purpose. After them came the followers of the One, whether the One God or Mind: these through unbalanced ideals killed millions of their fellows in the name of love and justice.

The Deities always provide an antidote to poison. And the antidote to obsessive devotion, whether to a person or to a country, to a religion or to an ideal, is to face the truth. This is not easy. If facts contradict long-held feelings and opinions, a man would rather die than accept them. Such people regard Truth as ugly and shun it. They are terrified of the unknown. For them the Goddess is shrouded in black night. Yet if they had the courage to unveil Her, they would see the beautiful countenance of Truth. Instead they pursue Love, thrusting aside all that stands in their way. Inevitably they are consumed by violence and insanity. Love must be approached with humility.

Let Love and Truth be brought into that Sacred Marriage which bringeth forth harmony.

Priestess/Priest Alchemist: (to Twin Apprentices) Accompanied by us all, you will enter into trance to face Divine Marriage. You, Aiden, will give us your report, as it comes to you.

*** Trance Journey. Aiden gives his report.

Aiden: This seeking for the perfect Other is a most private, sensitive matter, usually not to be told to anybody. The greater the longing, the greater the need for secrecy, especially from the object of ones adoration. And this has been my problem. I see the perfection in one lovely girl - or another - or another - but the moment my adoration is returned, even in the smallest way, the Divine Light moves to someone else! However, I will try at last to find my perfect twin . . . I find myself beside a pleasant stream with fish swimming in it, and high reeds with yellow irises. To my surprise, my Guide is now an elderly witch. Well, I suppose she is a witch because she is wearing a long black cloak with a hood and a pentacle hangs upon her green dress. She has cascading red hair falling below her hips. Or perhaps she is someone great - Mary Magdalene - Venus. I cannot quite see her face for her hood overshadows it. She beckons to me to follow her.

We reach a palace where the stream divides in two. Two paths form a fork and I am to choose which to follow. One leads through pleasant gardens and groves and I have a glimpse of lovely young men and girls strolling between a herd of deer and laughing together. I would like to join them. The other path is very different. It leads between rocky chasms as the water falls, foaming over tumbling stones. I have always been afraid of white water . . . I was nearly drowned as a child when I reached to pick a water-lily in a pool - and cut my leg on a sharp rock under the surface.

My Guide tells me that if I choose the pleasant path, I shall have many loves and many sorrows, but I will not reach my goal of finding my twin, because the Ideal will be dispersed through many emotions. This is the fulfillment of those who find the One in the Many. On the other path, I shall find endless disappointment. What I seek will ever elude me. This is the way of those who find the Many only in the One Being. But my Ideal will remain to inspire me.

Strange - I choose the harsh path. I pursue a rock way by tumultuous waters for what seems like years. But finally, when my strength is exhausted - I see before me She for Whom I have sought through many lives! She is robed in dazzling white Light so I cannot see Her face.

My Guide now assumes a stern air. She tells me that to attain the Alchemical Wedding, "Hieros Gamos" in its truth, I may not see, touch nor speak with the Divine Bride. Otherwise all will be lost of my hopes of union. She tells me to listen.

I hear the mystical words that sound like the rushing of many waters: "I am She Who was and is and shall be. No man hath lifted My veil and lived."

My Guide instructs me to hold out the palms of my hands to the Celestial Bride. In response, unearthly hands come forth from Her floating robes, palms facing mine. ***

I am suddenly struck by lightening and this may kill me . . . But instead, my consciousness expands throughout the universe. I am one with all that is. A Sun forms between the Bride’s palms and my own. At this, we turn away from each other. We send forth rays of love, truth and beauty to all that is. ***

Suddenly everything goes dark and I hear the strains of a harp that breaks its strings. I am back in this temple with my friends. But I am not the same man.

Meditation on report. If the Apprentice is credited with divine awareness, the degree is given.

End of Rite.

 

Note: When working with the rituals in "Nuit of the Milky Way", a Priestess/Priest Alchemist has the following choices. They may:

(1) use the rites presented in the book, or,

(2) create their own rites based on the Oracles presented in the book.

 

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