A Litany

From "Oracles" in "Collected Works ii" p. 30f
"Selected Poems" 1976 e.v. p. 56f
Poem also part of the Cairo Working
generating Liber Al vel Legis

I. 
Black thine abyss of noon
Flings forth the thunder-swoon.
Smite us, and slay, Amoun_b,  
         Amoun, Achiha!

 

II.
Thoth_c from the starry space
Flash out the splendid face!
Wisdom, immortal grace.
        Thoth, turn to usward!

III.
Deep, deep thy sombre Sea,
Spouse of eternity!
Mother, we cry to Thee:
         Hear us, Maut_d, Mother!

IV.
Sound sistron, sound afar!
Shine, shine, O dawning Star!
Flame, flame, O meteor Car!
         Isis_a, Our Lady!

V.
Strike, strike the louder chord!
Draw, draw the flaming sword,
Crowned child and conquering Lord:
Horus_b, avenger.

VI.
Dawn-star of flaming light,
Five rays in one unite,
Light, Life, Love, Mercy. Might,
         Star of the Magi.

VII.
Lift, lift the Cross of Light,
Rose, golden, green, and white,
Rise, rise athwart the night!
        Mighty Aeshuri!_c

VIII.
Flame, flame thou Blazoned Sun!_a
Seal-Star of Solomon!
Seven Mysteries in One!
    Godhead and Mankind!

IX.
Beauty and life and love!
Let fly thy darling dove!
Bend to us from above,
         Lady Ahathor!_b

X.
Where light and darkness meet,
There shine thy flaming feet,
There is thy splendid seat;
         Mighty Anubi!_c

XI.
Swift-winged Stability,
Lifting the earth and sky,
Hold me up utterly,
         Keep me, O Shuwe!_d

XII.
Virginal Queen of Earth,
Late love, and last of birth,
Loose, loose the golden girth,
         Nephthys,_a the crowned one!

XIII.
Hail, crowned Harpocrates,_b
Show, show thy secrecies,
Lotus-throned silences,
         Typhon's_c replacer!

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     a The Table of Correspondences will elucidate any doubtful point in this poem. (The Poet's note in "Collected Works ii" p. 30 alluding to columns XIX, XX & XXI of "777")

     b Amoun (modern spelling: "Amun": i.e., "The hidden one", Egyptian god of the invisible force in wind and water. Know as a goose and with phallus as Amun-Min, and with horns of a ram, as Amun-Ra, the sun god of Thebes

     c Thoth: The Egyptian god of wisdom, ibis-headed, with tools of writing

     d Maut (modern spelling: Mut): the middle-kingdom Egyptian mother-goddess with a vulture skin on her head. In some traditions wife of Amun, mother of Khonsu, and then  also regarded as the eye of the sun, even as a mother of the son

     a Isis: the mother-goddess, child of Nut, sister of Osiris, Set and Nephtys, mother of Horus. The planet Venus, "the morning star", a cosmic principle. The sistron explained in previous note

     b Horus: the sun-god, the child of Isis and Osiris, revenging the killing of his father by slaying Set, the evil god. Greatest of the Egyptian gods

     c Aeshuri: ... (well, ...) +

     a Blazoned Sun:  the sun as painted on shields, altars and the like, the sun as an holy sign, also the sun as the central theme of the faith of Thelema

     b Ahathor (modern spelling: Hathor): "The House of Horus". The sky-goddess as the big cow, sun begetter and also receiver (birth and death); the delta-lady of also dance, music and singing to the sistron

     c Anubi (modern spelling: Anubis): The dog- or jackal-headed god, protector of the necropolis, god of mummies, of the dead. When Osiris died and became God of the Underworld Anubis kept his position as friend of the dead and has several jobs with the dead and the dying

     d Shuwe (modern spelling: Shu): The air-god supporting the sky as Atlas of Greek legend. Child of Nut and Geb, with his wife, Tefnut (moisture) he begat life. When Amun became sun god, Shu became "son of Re" with a lion-head, his sign: one feather

     a Nephthys: The last of Nut's children, the reason the world mostly seems good, as her sister Isis and brother Osiris counts as good, and her brother Set everyone knows as bad bad and she stands somewhere in between, mostly good. A protector of coffins and the head of the dead, as her mother Nut she reaches everywhere, and has no special site or cult

     b Harpocrates: "Horus the Child", with finger of silence on his lips, hair-lock of youth at his head, sitting in a lotus. The child who will grow up to take revenge over and replace evil

     c Typhon: The worst of the Greek Giants, the monster of them all, killed at last by Zeus. Our Poet (and Magickal tradition) has this monster and the Apophis serpent of Egypt as the same symbol of primeval horror, the darkness and storm that attempts to obstruct the sun god in the night, the early forms of the Norse Midgårdsorm.

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