Rites of Eleusis
The Rites of Eleusis were a series of seven public invocations or rites written by British occultist Aleister Crowley, each centered on one of the seven classical planets of antiquity. They were dramatically performed by Aleister Crowley, Leila Waddell (Laylah), and Victor Benjamin Neuburg in October and November, 1910, at Caxton Hall, London. This act brought Crowley's occult organization the A∴A∴ into the public eye.[1]
The Rites
The names of the seven Rites are The Rite of "Saturn", "Jupiter", "Mars", "Sol", "Venus", "Mercury" and "Luna". Crowley claimed that the Rites were designed to inspire the audience with 'religious ecstasy', and that merely reading them would help people "cultivate their highest faculties". Some in the popular press thought otherwise, and considered the Rites an immoral display, riddled with 'blasphemy and erotic suggestion.' The Rite of Luna was danced by Joan Hayes also known as Ione de Forest, a lover of Victor Neuberg
In print
Rites of Eleusis: As Performed at Caxton Hall Illustrated by Dwina Murphy-Gibb. Edited by Keith Richmond. UK: Mandrake, 1990 (limited edition of 1,000 copies). Contains the complete scripts of all the Rites, with introduction by Richmond and explanatory essays by Richmond and Terence DuQuesne. Also includes a series of adorations, The Treasure House of Images by Capt J.F.C. Fuller, and Crowley's Magick Book 4 (Liber O).
Contemporary Performances
Several modern Ordo Templi Orientis groups regularly perform the Rites of Eleusis as written by Crowley. There is an additional "Rite of Earth" not written by Crowley which was penned by Lon Milo Duquette and others as a logical extension of the Rites to complete the sequence from Saturn (Binah) to Earth (Malkuth).
Beginning in 2000, Seattle based Eleusyve Productions has been composing original musical arrangements for each of the plays comprising The Rites of Eleusis. All seven have been created and staged, with the final video, "Rite of Saturn", released in May 2020.[2]
On March 7, 2008 experimental media artist Raymond Salvatore Harmon presented a three channel video performance of the Rites of Eleusis at Horse Hospital Gallery London, UK, by recontextualizing them into seven abstract films containing all of the original content as subliminal content hidden within each film.
References
Sources
- Crowley, Aleister - Rites of Eleusis: As Performed at Caxton Hall (ISBN 1-872736-02-5)
- King, Francis - The Rise of Western Occultism
External links
- The full text of the Rites of Eleusis
- v
- t
- e
- List of Thelemites
- Ankh-af-na-khonsu
- Aleister Crowley
- Kenneth Anger
- Allan Bennett
- William Breeze
- Mary Butts
- Marjorie Cameron
- Lon Milo DuQuette
- J. F. C. Fuller
- Karl Germer
- Kenneth Grant
- Lady Frieda Harris
- Leah Hirsig
- Christopher Hyatt
- Charles Stansfeld Jones
- George Cecil Jones
- Richard Kaczynski
- Carl Kellner
- Rose Edith Kelly
- James Lees
- Grady Louis McMurtry
- Mogg Morgan
- Marcelo Ramos Motta
- Nema Andahadna
- Victor Neuburg
- Sara Northrup
- Jack Parsons
- Helen Parsons Smith
- Israel Regardie
- Theodor Reuss
- C. F. Russell
- Phyllis Seckler
- Wilfred Talbot Smith
- Leila Waddell
- James Wasserman
- Sam Webster
- Jane Wolfe
- Aleister Crowley bibliography
- The Book of the Law (Liber AL vel Legis)
- The Equinox
- Liber 777
- Magick (Book 4)
- Confessions
- The Book of Lies
- "Liber OZ (Liber 77)"
- The Equinox of the Gods
- The Law is for All
- Konx Om Pax
- The Book of Thoth
- The Vision and the Voice
- Little Essays Toward Truth
- Eight Lectures on Yoga
- Magick Without Tears
- The Blue Equinox
- Liber Aleph
- Moonchild
- The Diary of a Drug Fiend
- White Stains
- Clouds without Water
- Collected Works of Aleister Crowley
- The Stratagem and other Stories
- The Holy Books of Thelema
- Thoth Tarot
- Nuit
- Hadit
- Heru-ra-ha
- Aiwass
- Therion
- Babalon
- Chaos
- Ma'at
- Harpocrates
- Ankh
- Number of the beast
- Pentagram
- Rose Cross
- Tree of Life
- Unicursal hexagram