Autumn Equinox Rite
by Paula Pagani
All are assembled in a clearing in the woods. At approximately 11.30pm the High Priest casts the circle in whatever manner he chooses. At the centre of the circle is an unlit bonfire.
High Priest:
- In spring the fruitful Earth rejoiced
- To hear the ecstacies we voiced
- And we were glad in mind and heart,
- Pierced by Pan’s emboldening dart.
- But now, that optimism spent,
- We seek a new accomplishment,
- Using these barren months of need
- To nurture in ourselves the seed
- Of magick’s strength. In thought and deed
- We now aspire to kindle well
- The purple fire of Heaven and Hell:
- Through this Erisian rite we strive
- To bring the opposites alive.
All chant "ERIS". The High Priest responds:
- Eris: Goddess of the Night,
- Eris: Portal of the Light,
- Eris: Raving Succubus,
- Eris: Dea omnibus.
- Eris: Phoenix from the Fire,
- Eris: Icy heart for hire,
- Eris: Draught of languid Air
- Eris: Poison, liquid snare,
- Eris: Elemental Shrine
- Enter us strange concubine
- Of man and woman, as this wine
- Is consecrated in your name,
- Fulfilling now our steadfast aim.
The priest takes up the cup and the priestess approaches him holding the dagger above her head. As she speaks she brings the dagger down, plunging it into the cup.
Priestess:
- Love of man and woman both,
- With blade and wine we seal our troth,
- Transcending that foul chastity,
- That grey of mortal company,
- Absorbed awhile in thoughts of thee,
- Drunk in thy dearling harlotry.
The participants stand in an arc to the west of the circle and the priest lights the fire at it’s centre. He then administers the sacramental wine using (if he wishes) words of his own choosing. He sits looking through the flames and the others follow his example. After a period of silence Eris appears from the east. She is naked and her oiled body reflects the glow of the fire. She carries flail and wand.
Eris:
- Your sacrament is ill prepared
- For such a trifle’s often shared
- By folk debased of majesty
- Unpassioned in their pagentry
- And so another sacrament
- Do I suggest - a testament
- To Chaos - in that I shall choose
- At random several pairs to lose
- Themselves within the wildwood’s dark,
- Impassioned with the lust of stark,
- Unbridled ecstasy of man
- And Goddess in the Night of Pan.
- Let each man be ambitionless,
- Each girl a mad devouress,
- That actions hitherto unplanned
- be realized at her command.
Eris walks to the west of the circle and takes the hand of the nearest man. She kisses him on the lips and leads him to a woman at random. She kisses the woman, joins their hands, and they retire into the darkness. She does this until she is alone in the circle. The couples, in their chosen places of privacy, follow the command of the goddess. The woman need not ‘devour’ the man in a sexual way. She may choose to ‘devour’ knowledge or some other well developed aspect of the man to whom she has been paired. The man, however, has no choice and must comply with her requests. Afterwards, no questions may be asked, no information volunteered concerning this part of the rite. After a suitable period has elapsed Eris rings the bell seven times and all return to the circle.
Eris:
- The old school, claiming to their cost
- That knowledge shared is power lost,
- Display their common ignorance,
- Decrying our chaotic dance
- Illogical. Yet our’s is
- The choice of barrenness or bliss.
- Be prideless in your chosen path
- (The way is not the aftermath),
- And others in their choice are wise
- If they discover Dogma’s lies.
- And courage cries ‘Examine all
- Of nature’s gnoses - lest ye fall’.
The priest closes the circle in whatever manner he chooses and the rite is at an end.
From:
The Cardinal Rites of Chaos, Paula Pagani, 1985