Onwards Flames

Dear all,

I have to say I am absolutely and utterly exhausted!  I have been inundated with emails and messages, and even some cards and lovely pressies (thank you!)  in the last couple of days since the Rite of Her Sacred Fires.  I am absolutely and utterly proud of what we achieved together and I hope that all of you who participated enjoyed the experienced, and gained something from it!

There are numerous messages already in the guestbook of the Hekate Her Sacred Fires project - you will find it at — http://sacredfires.co.uk/?page_id=280.  People have been posting links to blogs, youtube films and photographs there, as well as saying more about their experiences in participating in the rite, its a great way of creating a small record of the event. 

For those who like facts and figures, though we can’t know for certain exactly how many people participated, there were around 3000 who said they would (via Facebook and other social networking sites, as well as by email).  These included individuals working alone, as well as many who participated with friends and partners, covens, lodges and other groups.  The rite was downloaded by people in numerous countries around the world, being (highest number of downloads, to the least) : Great Britain, United States, Canada, Australia, Germany, Sweden, Switzerland, Ireland, South Africa, Republic of Serbia, France, Netherlands, Chile, Croatia, Spain, Finland, Italy, Brazil, Greece, Bulgaria, Argentina, New Zealand, Belgium, Paraguay, Iceland, Norway, Portugal, Israel, Mexico, Bolivia, Poland, Uruguay, Japan, Czech Republic, Peru, Turkey, India, Colombia, South Korea, Russian Federation, Singapore, Philippines, Namibia, Slovenia, Costa Rica, Luxembourg, Venezuela, Indonesia, Malaysia, Belarus, United Arab Emirates, Ecuador, Nigeria, Austria, Denmark, Mauritius, Lithuania, Malta, Guatemala, Trinidad and Tobago, Macedonia, China, Belize, Bahrain, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Morocco, Qatar, Jordan & Panama.

When I have finally recovered a bit, and when I have caught up with emails and other messages, I will write a little bit more about my own experiences on the day of the ritual.  I did the ceremony several times through the day, including participating in a Welsh and Esperanto versions later in the day with the multi-talented Paul Harry Barron (author and translator of The Book of Gold, as well as being one of the contributors to Hekate Her Sacred Fires) – even though I don’t actually speak either language!

In the meantime, Hekate Her Sacred Fires is now available for order, you can order copies through the Avalonia website – http://www.avaloniabooks.co.uk/catalogue/titles/hekate_hersacredfires.htm or from the project’s website  http://www.sacredfires.co.uk (where you can also find more information on the contributors, as well as a table of contents, with more than 50 contributors, men and women from all over the world, this book is absolutely amazing, and at A4 size with 308 pages its also HUGE, so if you work with Hekate, or indeed with any Goddess, you are likely to love this.  With such diversity of experience it has a great deal to teach all of us, I know I learnt a great deal from reading everyone elses work!)

Please check out the Facebook page dedicated to the project for more photographs, http://www.facebook.com/hekatefires or my own facebook “author” profile – http://www.facebook.com/theurgia – in addition to my own, many others are posting links and tagging these two in photographs and films, so there is a wealth of resources related to The Rite of Her Sacred Fires!

May Her Fires continue to burn in your hearts forever,

Many blessings
From under the Full Moon here in Wales

Sorita d’Este

The Rite of Her Sacred Fires – Ritual Text

What follows is the text of the Rite of Her Sacred Fires, which thousands of people all over the world will be performing in honour of the Goddess Hekate on the 27th of May 2010, as an act of devotion, sacrament and celebration!

I am making it available here in this format for those who are having difficulty reading, or downloading the PDF’s with the entire rite as given below from the official www.sacredfires.co.uk website of the Hekate Her Sacred Fires project.  (direct link http://sacredfires.co.uk/?page_id=64 )

For further information on the words which are non-english, search for “ephesian letters” on this website using the search function in the menu.

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The Rite of the Her Sacred Fires

Written by Sorita d’Este (www.sorita.co.uk) for the celebration of the completion of the anthology

‘Hekate Her Sacred Fires’ (www.sacredfires.co.uk) and as an act of devotion and gratitude to the Goddess Hekate.

This rite is intended for use on the Full Moon, Thursday 27^th of May 2010 by all those who wish to honour the Goddess Hekate and dedicate themselves towards a greater understanding of Her Mysteries .  It can be performed by itself, or as part of a longer ceremony, with or without a “formal” ritual space – that is up to individual choice.  It is preferable (though not obligatory) that the wording and actions of the ceremony as presented below should be kept the same and remain unaltered, though if for spiritual, magical or personal reasons you need or wish to change some of it, you are hereby given permission to do so with the proviso that you do not alter in any way the purpose of the ceremony.

Preparation:

Find a quiet place where you will be able to perform the rite undisturbed. You will need a candle (or another form of devotional fire, such as a lamp or hearth fire) and something with which to light it.  You may wish to consecrate the candle, or other materials you will be using in keeping with your usual tradition of working, otherwise please simply ensure that it is clean.

Prelude:

Make yourself comfortable, breathe deeply and find your point of balance, a balance of mind and soul and body, which will present you proud and beautiful to the world.  Breathe deeply and find your voice, the voice with which you will speak words of true and pure intent.  Breathe deeply and call upon the freedom within your heart so that you will be able to express yourself with purity of intent and with strength of desire.

Place both your hands on your heart (three heartbeats),  your forefinger and middle finger of your dominant hand to your lips (three heartbeats),  and then to your brow (three heartbeats).  Now enclose your thumbs within both your hands (in fists) and raise both your arms to the heavens.

Open your hands and with palm upwards in your left hand, bring your right arm to your side palm facing downwards and invoke the Goddess.
Invocation:
I invoke thee, Great Mistress of the Heaven, Earth and Sea,
By your mysteries of Night and Day,

By the Light of the Moon and the Shadow of the Sun

I invoke thee, Mistress of life, death and rebirth
Emerge now from the shadow realm to feed my soul and enlighten my mind,
Triple-formed Mistress of the three ways

I entreat thee, Key-bearing Mistress of the Nightwandering Souls

To bring forth your wisdom from amongst the stars

To bring down your starfire from the darkness between,

Creatrix of Light!

Goddess of the Shadow Realms! Light-bearing queen!

Whisper now your secrets!

Fire-bringer! Earthly-one! Queen of Heaven!

[Raise both hands with palms facing upwards to the heavens (three heartbeats) and then touch the ground palms downwards]

[Sit before the candle and prepare to light it]

[Take three deep breaths and allow your senses to awaken]

Say:

Hekate, companion and guide to the mysteries

I light this sacred fire in your honour,  [light fire]

Its light uniting the stars and stones, the heavens and the earth,

With this fire I express my desire for a greater understanding of your mysteries

Askei Kataskei Er?n Ore?n I?r Mega Samny?r Baui (3 times) Phobantia Semn?,
Great Hekate, who spins the web of the stars and governs the spiral of life

Guide me through towards pathways of understanding,

From Crossroad to Crossroad,

The Torchbearers and the Keybearers of your mysteries,

will always find one another,
[Now sit and watch the flame flicker and dance, allow yourself to focus on the different colours in the flame, the yellows and reds, the blues and whites, and the black.  If you wish you may decide to spend some time meditating on the flame, skrying for visions or omens.  Likewise, you may wish to extinguish it and keep the candle let your true self radiate brightly its beautiful mysteries from this
day on forth, the flame of the fires of Hekate burns on in your heart!]

I banish now the shadows of doubt from my mind,

Infused by the silence and warmth of our union

I feel your golden radiance within my heart

And the glory of knowledge on my brow,

I am a student of your mysteries.

Extinguish the flame, then place both your hands on your heart (three heartbeats),  your forefinger and middle finger of your dominant hand to your lips (three heartbeats),  and then to your brow (three heartbeats).

Open your palms reaching towards the heaven, then reach down and touch the Earth.

The Rite of Her Sacred Fires

Written by Sorita d’Este for the  Hekate Her Sacred Fires – www.sacredfires.co.uk

This ceremony is provided for FREE non-commercial distribution. You can pass it on, reproduce it, print it, publish it and perform it in public or private without permission from the author, providing that this text is reproduced with it.

Resources

More information about this Rite and the Hekate Her Sacred Fires project can be found at www.sacredfires.co.uk and on our facebook page www.facebook.com/hekatefires and examples of the rite can be found on our youtube channel www.youtube.com/hersacredfires (including a guide to pronunciation together with other useful resources related to the Goddess Hekate).

NB. Those who wish to perform the rite and film themselves doing do not need permission to do so, however, we ask that you please do not do so before the date of the ritual 27^th of May 2010 unless you have express permission to do so.  The purpose of this ritual is to unite all those who honour the Goddess Hekate on the Full Moon of the 27^th of May 2010 in a unique ceremony in which during that day hundreds, maybe thousands of flames will be lit for Her all over the world !  If you wish to put your name on one of the lists for the event, please do so through the events on our facebook page – www.facebook.com/hekatefires , or alternatively on the MySpace page http://events.myspace.com/Event/3979730/THE-RITE-OF-HER-SACRED-FIRES – both can be used to invite and help others become aware of this unique day for Hekate!

DISCLAIMER: The Editor and Publisher will in no way be held accountable for the results obtained by those who decide to participate in this ceremony.  Participation in The Rite of Her Sacred Fires, or any other act of spiritual or magical devotion, is one of personal choice and responsibility, therefore you do so entirely at your own risk.  Likewise, remember that Fire, beautiful as it is, can also be dangerous – so act with care and responsibility at all times.

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This rite, including version of it in other languages, can be downloaded as a PDF from the Hekate Her Sacred Fires project website http://sacredfires.co.uk/?page_id=64

Torchbearers speak to Karagan

There is an extra special show tomorrow on WITCHTALK with Karagan as host, which will feature myself as editor of the forthcoming HEKATE HER SACRED FIRES, together with Mark Alan Smith (author of “Queen of Hell”), Vikki Bramshaw (author of “Craft of the Wise”) and Magin Rose (artist, poet and writer, whose painting featured on Hekate Keys to the Crossroad’s cover).  This is a three-hour show in which the Goddess Hekate will be discussed, from many different perspectives, and we will also hopefully talk about The Rite of Her Sacred Fires which is now less than one week away!

You can listen live, or you can download and listen to it as a podcast afterwards.

http://www.blogtalkradio.com/witchtalk/2010/05/23/hekate-her-sacred-firess–a-conversation-with-the-

Honouring the Goddess Hekate …

As many of you will already know, there will be a ceremony honouring the Goddess Hekate on the 27th of May 2010 (next week this time!) – in which men and women, Priests and Priestesses, from all over the world will join together in honouring the Goddess Hekate.   A ceremony has been created for this purpose, and is available for download from the website of the Her Sacred Fires Project.

The following is a short film in which Tara Sanchez, from the Temple of Hekate, filmed me during the first expression of the Rite of Her Sacred Fires on 1 May 2010 during a storm here in Wales (UK).  It shows one way in which someone may perform the ceremony, other examples are available at www.youtube.com/hersacredfires

The Rite of Her Sacred Fires

Over the years, as a Priestess, I have lead many private and public ceremonies, some small with groups of just a handful of dedicated people – and some large with several hundreds and on occasion a couple of thousand people,  honouring the Gods and Goddesses, and of course many of those were dedicated to honouring and celebrating the mysteries of the Goddess Hekate.   So facilitating a ceremony is not new to me – BUT when I woke up about a month ago with the idea of creating a ceremony to celebrate the completion of the project “Hekate Her Sacred Fires” I was not prepared for the amazing support and positive encouragement I would get!

Details of the rite, including a printable PDF is now available at http://sacredfires.co.uk/?page_id=64 – there are also some film examples of the rite available on the youtube channel for the project – http://www.youtube.com/hersacredfires

The Rite of Her Sacred Fires include the use of the “Ephesian Letters” – and already a few people have asked about this – so I decided to put together the following for those unfamiliar with its use, I hope that it explains its inclusion in the rite.

The Ephesian Letters

One of the oldest and most significant sets of voces magicae (a term used for magical words of unknown meaning and origin) was the Ephesian Letters or Characters, a group of six words.  These words were askion, kataskion, lix, tetrax, damnameneus and aision (or aisia).  We cannot be absolutely certain whether the Ephesian Letters were specifically connected with Hekate, though from the evidence it does seem likely.  Their first known appearance was in a Mycenaean inscription from the fifth century BCE.

The Ephesian Letters occur a number of times in the Greek Magical Papyri in charms which call on Hekate.  Thus the first two of the Ephesian Letters were used in a Hekate charm associated with initiation (PGM LXX.12) as part of a string of voces magicae, being:

“Askei Kataskei Eron Oreon Ior Mega Samnyer Baui Ohobantia Semne.”

The third and fourth words, Lix Tetrax, appear in the second century Jewish proto-grimoire, the Testament of Solomon as the name of one of the demons summoned by the Jewish king.  Curiously the name of the controlling angel for this demon was Azael, one of the fallen angels from the Book of Enoch.  The fifth word, damnameneia, was used in the Bear Charm, which included reference to Hekate as Brimo (PGM VII.686-702).  An early fragmentary protective charm on a lead tablet from Phalasarna on Crete included the Ephesian Letters with phrases indicative of Hekate like ‘She-wolf’.  It is also interesting to note that they are called the Orphic Formula in the Greek Magical Papyri (PGM VII.451).  Considering the connections between Hekate and the Orphic Mysteries, this is another hint which suggests a specific ritual connection with Hekate and these words.

The Ephesian Letters were also referred to by the Greek poet Anaxilas in his lost fourth century BCE play The Harp Maker, when he wrote “[unnamed person] carries around marvellous Ephesian letters in sewn pouches.” Various qualities were attributed to the Ephesian Letters, including endowing the wearer with great power (particularly wrestlers as described in Eustathius, Photius and the Suda) and protecting newly married couples (mentioned by Menander, fragment 371).

It should also be noted that when Plutarch commented on the powers of the Ephesian Letters (Moralia 706E), he referred to daimones, who were specifically under the rule of Hekate:

“For just as sorcerers advise those possessed by daimones to recite and name over to themselves the Ephesian letters.”

The Christian theologian Clement of Alexandria, who was well known for being the teacher of the theologian Origen, recorded suggested meanings for the Ephesian Letters in his workStromata (Miscellanies) in the early third century CE:

“Androkydes the Pythagorean, indeed, says that the so-called Ephesian letters, which were well-known among many, were of the order of symbols. And he said that Askion is darkness, for this has no shadow; and Kataskion is light, since it casts a shadow with its rays; and Lix is the earth, according to the ancient name; and Tetrax is the year, according to the seasons; and Damnameneus is the sun, the tamer; and Aisia is the true word. And truly the symbol signifies that the divine things have been set in order: darkness to light, the sun to the year, the earth to every kind of genesis of nature.”

(Based on Voces Magicae, ch. 5 of Hekate Liminal Rites, d’Este & Rankine, 2009:65-69)

Today the Ephesian letters continue to be used in rites honouring Hekate, I have been using it for many years in a form of chanting honouring Hekate, much like the pujas found in spiritual traditions such as Hinduism.  It is being used to honour Her, but also to protect and empower magical rites.

You can preorder your copy of Her Sacred Fires now, RRP £24.99 (with free P&P to all destinations worldwide)

We are on YouTube

In preparation for the RITE OF HER SACRED FIRES I have created a YouTube channel for the project, you can find us at:

http://www.youtube.com/hersacredfires