G R S Mead - Echoes From the Gnosis, Vol 6 Mithriac Ritual (1906)

7/30/2019 G R S Mead - Echoes From the Gnosis, Vol 6 Mithriac Ritual (1906)

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COMITHRIACRITUAL

ECHOES"FROMTHE3MOSISBYG.R.S.MEAD

VOLVI,

BT1390-W441906v.6c. 1ROBARTS


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A. . . .MITHRIACRITUAL.


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WORKS BY THE SAMEAUTHORNet.THRICE GREATEST HERMES (3 vols.) - 307-

FRAGMENTS OF A FAITH FORGOTTEN - 10/6DID JESUS LIVE 100 B.C. ? - - - - 9/-THE WORU>-MYSTERY 57-THE GOSPEI, AND THE GOSPELS - - - 4/6APOIAONIUS OF TYANA 3/6THE UPANISHADS (2 vols.) - - - - 3/-PI.OTINUS i/-


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ECHOESFROMTHEGNOSISBYG. R. S.MEADVOL. VI.

AMITHRIACRITUAL

THETHEOSOPHICALPUBLISHINGSOCIETYLONDONANDBENARES1907


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ECHOES FROM THEGNOSIS.Under this general title is now being published

a series of small volumes, drawn from, or basedupon, the mystic, theosophic and gnostic writingsof the ancients, so as to make more easily audiblefor the ever-widening circle of those who love suchthings, some echoes of the mystic experiences andinitiatory lore of their spiritual ancestry. Thereare many who love the life of the spirit, and wholong for the light of gnostic illumination, but whoare not sufficiently equipped to study the writingsof the ancients at first hand, or to follow unaided the labours of scholars. These little volumesare therefore intended to serve as introductionto the study of the more difficult literature of thesubject ; and it is hoped that at the same timethey may become for some, who have, as yet, noteven heard of the Gnosis, stepping-stones tohigher things.

G. R. vS. M.


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A MITHRIAC RITUAL*

CONTENTSPAGEPREAMBLE 9

THE RITUAL X 8COMMENTS . . 34

Text : Dieterich (A.), Eine Mithrashturgie (Leipzig,1903).


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ECHOES FROM THEGNOSISVoi,. I. THE GNOSIS OF THE MIND.VOL. II. THE HYMNS OF HERMES.Voi,. III. THE VISION OF ARID^US.VOL. IV. THE HYMN OF JESUS.VOL. V. THE MYSTERIES OF MITHRA.Voi,. VI. A MITHRIAC RITUAL.SOME PROPOSED SUBJECTSFORFORTHCOMING VOLUMES

THE GNOSTIC CRUCIFIXION.THE CHALDEAN ORACLES.THE HYMN OF THE PRODIGAL.SOME ORPHIC FRAGMENTS.


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A MITHRIAC RITUAL.PREAMBLE.The last little volume gave the reader a

brief outline of what is known of the cultof Mithra and the spread of the MithriacMysteries in the Western world. Wehave now to deal with a Mithriac Ritualof the most instructive and intenselyinteresting character, which introducesus to the innermost rite of the carefullyguarded secrets of the Mithriaca.This Ritual is all the more preciousin that our knowledge of the Liturgiesof the ancient Pagan cults of the West isof the scantiest nature. A few fragmentsonly remain, mostly in the form ofhymns ; whereas the Ritual before usis complete, and the only complete oneso far discovered. Dieterich calls it a


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Liturgy ; but a Liturgy is a service inwhich several take Part whereas {i isplain that our Ritual was a secretand solemn inner rite for one persononly.The credit of unearthing it from theobscurity in which it was buried, andof conclusively demonstrating its parentage, is due to Dieterich ; for thoughCumont in his great work quotes severalpassages from the unrevised text, hedoes so only to reject it as a genuineMithriac document.

It is dug out of the chaos of the greatParis Magic Papyrus 574 (Supplementgrec de la Bibliotheque nationale), the dateof which is fixed with every probabilityas the earliest years of the fourth centuryA.D. The original text of the Ritual has,however, been plainly worked over by aschool of Egyptian magicians, whoinserted most of the now ûnintelligiblewords and names (aVâ ovoâra, nominabarbara, nomina arcana), and vowel-combinations and permutations (voces

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mystica), of their theurgic language Awhich were known in Egypt as " words RITUALof power."The subject is naturally one of the mostobscure that is known to scholarship, andso far no one has thrown any real lighton it. That, however, there was oncein Egypt and Chaldaea a science of this" nature language," or " tongue of thegods," which subsequently passed intothe superstition of a purely mechanicaltradition, is highly probable ; and onemeans towards a recovery of the understanding of its nature is a study ofthe still living tradition of mantra-vidyd,or the science of mantrdh, or mysticutterances and invocations, in India ofto-day.When these evidently later insertionsare removed, there still remains a certainnumber of nomina arcana and mysticczvoces which cannot be removed withoutdoing violence to the text. It, therefore,follows that these stand as part of theRitual. Did they, however, form part

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A of the original Ritual ? The originalRITUALAC Ritual must have contained, one would

have imagined, Persian names. But thedistinguished scholar Bartholomae, whomDieterich has called in to his assistance,declares that nothing Persian can bemade out of them without violent changesof the letters. But why, it might beasked, should not the original PersianRitual have contained nomina arcanataken over from Chaldsea ? Howeverthis may be, our Greek Ritual evidentlycontained certain names and words " ofpower," before it reached the hands ofthe Egyptian magical school who inserted the majority of the mantricformulae in our present text.The latter are, of course, entirelyeliminated from the translation, whilethe former are marked by obeli.On the whole the most likely supposition is that we have before us (whenthe latter insertions are removed) aRitual translated or paraphrased intoGreek, and adapted for use in Egypt,

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and that, too, for picked members ofj i . . . -, -.-^ -o j. ithe most esoteric circles. For our Ritual RITUAL.is not for the initiation of a neophyte ofthe lower grades, but for a candidatewho is to self-initiate himself in thesolitary mystery of apotheosis, wherebyhe became a true " Father " of the inmostrites, one possessing face to face knowledge and gnosis.

Dieterich thinks that this Greek ritualwas first made in Egypt about 100-150A.D., and was used in the Mysteries until200 A.D. It was then that it got intothe hands of the magical school, andwas included, together with many otherpieces, some of them similarly treated,in a collection which was copied on thepapyrus which we now possess, about300 A.D.

It is exceedingly probable, therefore,that we have in this Ritual of initiationcertain theurgic practices of Egyptiantradition combined with the traditionalMithriac invocations done into Greek.As to the chanting of the vowels, it is

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THRTAP * mterest to learn from Demetrius, OnInterpretation, c. 71 (p. 20 Raderm.), that :

" In Egypt the priests hymn the Godsby means of the seven vowels, chantingthem in order ; instead of the pipe andlute the musical chanting of these lettersis heard. So that if you were to takeaway this accompaniment you wouldsimply remove the whole melody andmusic of the utterance (logos)."The statement of Nicomachus of Gerasa,the " musician " and mystic (secondcentury A.D.), is still clearer ; for he notonly tells us about the vowels and consonants, but also of certain other " un-articulated " sounds which were usedby the theurgists, and which are directedto be used in the rubrics of our Ritual.In speaking of the vowels or " soundingletters " each of the seven spheres beingsaid to give forth a different vowel ornature-tone Nicomachus (c. 6) informsus that these root-sounds in nature arecombined with certain material elements,as they are in spoken speech with the

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consonants ; but " just as the soul withthe body, and music with the lyre- RITUAL.strings, the one produces living creaturesand the other musical modes and tunes,so do those root-sounds give birth tocertain energic and initiatory powersof divine operations. It is because ofthis that whenever theurgists are awestruck in any such operation, they makeinvocation symbolically by means ofhissings and poppings and un-

articulated and discordant sounds."The exact translation of the Greek terms,

crf/oty/xo? and TroTTTrucr/xo?, is somewhatof a difficulty. The first denotes a shrillpiping sound or hissing, the Latin stridor.It is used of such different sounds as therattling of ropes, the trumpeting ofelephants and a singing in the ears.The second is used of a clicking or clucking with the lips and tongue, and of thewhistling, cheeping, chirruping, warblingor trilling of birds. It is used of thesmack of a loud kiss and also of the cry" hush." Both Aristophanes and Pliny

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against, or rather a reverent greeting of,lightning ; and the latter adds that thiswas a universal custom.The English " pop " perhaps representsthe idea of the Greek most nearly. Inthe Ritual, however, I have rendered itby " puff " as it is connected with breath.

It is evident that we have here to dowith certain nature-sounds, which havedisappeared from articulate speech, except in some primitive languages suchas the "clicking" of the Zulus. Itpertains to the art of onomatopoiia oronomatopoiesis, or the forming of wordsexpressive of natural sounds. The root-idea seems to be that in mystic operationsdesigned to bring man in touch with thehidden powers of nature, the language ofnature must be employed.As we have said, the Ritual before usis not of the nature of a church or templeservice ; on the contrary, it containsdirections for a solitary sacrament, inwhich the whole effort of the celebrant

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is to stir into activity, and bring into dITHRIACconscious operation, his own hidden nature RITUAL.or the root-substance of his being. Itis a yoga-rite (unio mystica), or act forunion, in which the physical breath, theetheric currents, and the psychic aurae,or life-breaths, or pranks, work togetherwith the inbreathing_of the Great Breath,or Holy Spirit, or Atmic Energy.

It should therefore prove of very greatinterest to many who have of late heardmuch concerning yoga, both in its highercontemplative modes, and also in itsmodes of deep and psychic breathing(hatha-yoga) ; for it may be news tomany that in the ancient West, especiallyin Egypt, there was a high art of thisselfsame yoga which has been developedso elaborately in India.We will now give a translation of theRitual and then proceed to comment onit. The prayers and utterances areprinted in italics, and the rubrics orinstructions in Roman type.


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THE RITUAL.I.

[THE FATHER S PRAYER.]Providence, Fortune, bestow on meAC Thy Grace imparting these the Mysteriesa Father only may hand on, and that, too,

to a Son alone his Immortality [a Son]initiate, worthy of this our Craft, withwhich Sun Mithras, the Great God, commanded me to be endowed by His Archangel ; so that I, Eagle [as I am, by mineown self] alone, may soar to Heaven, andcontemplate all things.

II.THE INVOCATORYUTTERANCE (LOGOS).

i. Primal Origin of my origination;Thou Primal Substance of my substance ;18


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First Breath of breath, the breath that is ^ITHRIAin me ; First Fire, God-given for the RITUAL.Blending of the Mendings in me, [FirstFire] of fire in me ; First Water of [my]water, the water in me ; Primal Earth-essence of the earthy essence in me ; ThouPerfect Body of me N. N., son of N. N.(fern.) fashioned by Honoured Arm andIncorruptible Right Hand, in World that slightless, yet radiant with Light, [in World]that s soulless, yet filled full of Soul !

2. //, verily, it may seem good to you,translate me, now held by my lower nature,unto the Generation that is free fromDeath ; in order that, beyond the insistentNeed that presses on me, I may haveVision of the Deathless Source, by virtueof the Deathless Spirit, by virtue of theDeathless Water, by virtue of the [Deathless]Solid, and [by virtue of] the [Deathless]Air ; in order that I may become re-bornin Mind ; in order that I may becomeinitiate, and that the Holy Breath maybreathe in me ; in order that I may admirethe Holy Fire ; that I may see the Deep


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AC of the [New] Dawn, the Water that dothcause [the Soul] to thrill ; and that theLife-bestowing JEther which surrounds[all things] may give me Hearing.

3. For I am to behold to-day withDeathless Eyes /, mortal, born of mortalwomb, but [now] made better by the Mightof Mighty Power, yea, by the IncorruptibleRight Hand [/ am to see to-day] byvirtue of the Deathless Spirit the DeathlessJEon, the Master of the Diadems of FireI with pure purities [now ] purified, thehuman soul-power of me subsisting for alittle while in purity ; which [power] Ishall again receive transmitted unto mebeyond the insistent Bitterness that presseson me, Necessity whose debts can nevergo unpaid I, N. N., son of N. N. (fern.)according to the Ordinance of God thatnaught can ever change.

4. For that it is beyond my reach that,born beneath the sway of Death, I should[unaided] soar into the Height, togetherwith the golden sparklings of the Brilliancythat knows no Death.

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5. Stay still, nature doomed to perish, ATTHPTA[nature] of men subject to Death! And RITUALstraightway let me pass beyond the Needimplacable that presses on me ; for that Iam His Son ; I breathe ; I am !

III.

[THE FIRST INSTRUCTION.]1. Take from the [Sun-]rays breath,

inhaling thrice [as deeply] as thou canst ;and thou shalt see thyself being raisedaloft, and soaring towards the Height,so that thou seem st to be in midstof Air.

2. Thou shalt hear naught, nor mannor beast ; nor shalt thou see aught ofthe sights upon the earth, in that samehour ; but all things thou shalt see willbe immortal.

3. For thou shalt see, in that sameday and hour, the Disposition of theGods the Ruling Gods ascending heavenwards, the other ones descending.

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And through his Disk the God s,mY Father s there shall be seen theWay-of-going of the Gods accessibleto sight.

4. And in like fashion also [shall beseen] the Pipe, as it is called, whencecomes the Wind in service [for the day].For thou shalt see as though it were aPipe depending from His Disk ; andtoward the regions Westward, as thoughit were an infinite East Wind. But ifthe other Wind, toward the regions ofthe East, should be in service, in the likefashion shalt thou see, toward the regionsof that [side,] the converse of the sight.

5. And thou shalt see the Gods gazingintently on thee and bearing downupon thee.Then straightway lay thy dexter fingeron thy lips and say :

IV.[THE FIRST UTTERANCE.]

Silence ! Silence ! Silence !22


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The Symbol of the Living God beyond MITHRIACRITUAL.Protect me, Silence ! f !

Next " hiss " forth long : S / S !Then " puff " saying : / /And thereon shalt thou see the Gods

gazing benignly on thee, and no longerbearing down upon thee, but proceedingon the proper order of their doings.

V.[THE SECOND INSTRUCTION,]When, then, thou see st the UpperCosmos clean and clear, with no one of

the Gods (or Angels) bearing down onthee, expect to hear a mighty thunderclap so as to startle thee.Then say again :

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VII.THE THIRDUTTERANCE (LOGOS).

1. Hear me, give ear to me N. N., Ason of N. N. (fern.) Lord, who w^Thy Breath hast closed the Fiery Bars ofHeaven ; Twin-bodied ; Ruler of theFire ; Creator of the Light ; Holderof the Keys ; Inbreather of the Fire ;Fire-hearted One, whose Breath givesLight ; Thou who dost joy in Fire ; Beauteous of Light ; Lord of Light, whoseBody is of Fire ; Light-giver [and] Fire-sower ; Fire-loosener, whose Life is inthe Light ; Fire-whirler, who settfst theLight in motion ; Thou Thunder-rouser ;Thou Light-glory, Light-increaser ;Controller of the Light Empyrean ;Thou Star-tamer /

2. Oh ! Open unto me ! For on accountof this, the bitter and implacable Necessitythat presses on me, I do invoke ThyDeathless Names, innate with Life, mostworshipful, that have not yet descended

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unto mortal nature, nor have been madeAf articulate by human tongue, or cry ortone of man :Fed oeeo ibb oe eed eed oeeo

ibb oeee dee doe ie ed od oe ieboe doe iedoe ieed ee id oe ioeded eoe oed die bleed oi Hi eoedue ed oee edeia aeaeea eeee eeeeee ieb eed oeeeoe eeo eud oe eided de de de ee ooouide !

3. Utter all these with Fire and Spiritonce unto the end ; and then beginagain a second time, until thou hastcompleted [all] the Seven Immortal Godsof Cosmos.When thou hast uttered them, thundersand crashings shalt thou hear in theSurround, and feel thyself a-shake withevery crash.Then once more utter Silence ! [and]the utterance [following it].4. Thereon open thy eyes ; and thoushalt see the Doors thrown open, and theCosmos of the Gods that is within the

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Doors ; so that for joy and rapture of ^ITHRIACthe sight thy Spirit runs to meet it, and RITUAL.soars up.Therefore, hold thyself steady, and,gazing steadily into thyself, draw breathfrom the Divine.When, then, thy Soul shall be re

stored, say :

VIII.[THE FOURTH UTTERANCE*]

1 . Draw nigh, Lord !Upon this utterance His Rays shallbe turned on thee, and thou shalt be inmidst of them.2. When, then, thou hast done this,thou shalt behold a God, in flower of

age, of fairest beauty, [and] with Locksof Flame, in a white Tunic and a scarletMantle, wearing a Crown of Fire.

Straightway salute Him with the Salutation of the Fire :

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IX.

[THE FIFTH UTTERANCE.]A !. Hail Lord ! Thou of mightyRITUAL Power; King of mighty Sway ; Greatest

of Gods ; Sun ; Thou Lord of Heavenand Earth ; God of Gods ! Strong isThy Breath ; strong is Thy Might !

Lord, if it seem good to Thee, makeThou announcement of me unto GodMost-high, who hath begotten and createdThee !

2. For that a man I, N.N., son ofN.N. (fern.), born of the mortal wombof N.N. (fern.), and of spermatic ichor,yea, of this [ichor ], which at Thy Handsto-day hath undergone the transmutationof re-birth , one, from so many tens ofthousands, transformed to immortality inthis same hour, by God s good-pleasure,of God transcendent Good , [a man, Isay,] presumes to worship Thee, andsupplicates with whatsoever power a mortalhath.

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3- Upon this utterance He shall come Ato the Pole, and thou shalt see Him RITUALmoving round as on a path.Then gaze intently, and send forth a

prolonged " bellowing," like to a horn-note, expelling the whole breath, withpressure on the ribs, and kiss the amulets,and say first to that upon the right :

X.[THE SIXTH UTTERANCE.]

Protect me ! f !When thou hast uttered this, thou

shalt behold the Doors thrown open,and, issuing from the Depth, SevenVirgins, in byssus-robes, with serpent-faces, and golden sceptres in their hands.These are they who are the so-calledHeaven s Fortunes (Tychai).When thou dost see these things, makesalutation thus :

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XL[THE SEVENTH UTTERANCE.]

If Hail Heaven s Seven Fortunes,Virgins august and good, ye sacred oneswho live and eat with f ! Ye holiestProtectors of the Four Supports !

Hail thou, the First, f !Hail thou, the Second, f !Hail thou, the Third, f !Hail thou, the Fourth, f !Hail thou, the Fifth, f/Hail thou, the Sixth, f!Hail thou, the Seventh, 4 !

2. There come forth others, tooSeven Gods, with faces of black bulls, inlinen loin-cloths, with seven golden filletson their heads. These are the so-calledHeaven s Pole-lords.And in like fashion unto each ofthem thou must make salutation withhis special name.

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XII.[THE EIGHTH UTTERANCE,]

i. Hail Guardians of the Pivot, y^^TTHPTArsacred sturdy Youths, who all, at once,^revolve the spinning Axis of Heaven sCircle, ye who let loose the thunder andthe lightning, and earthquake-shocks andthunder-bolts upon the hosts of impiousfolk, but [who bestow] on me, who piousam and worshipper of God, good-health,and soundness of my frame in every part,and proper stretch of hearing and of sight,and calm, in the now present good-hoursof this day, mighty Ruling Lords andGods of me !

Hail thou, the First, f !Hail thou, the Second, f !Hail thou, the Third, f !Hail thou, the Fourth, f !Hail thou, the Fifth, f!Hail thou, the Sixth, f !Hail thou, the Seventh, / /


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G R S Mead - Echoes From the Gnosis, Vol 6 Mithriac Ritual (1906)