Bloodless Mass of the Phoenix?
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@kerlem93 said
"I just read it again this morning. He does specifically say that the Mass of the Phoenix should be performed daily, at sunset, by every magician. See the following quote"
I stand corrected.
(FWIW I'm sure he did no such thing himself. This counsel does appear to be more of a test of discrimination.)
"He also starts out saying that the Eucharist is the most simple thing...
" Take a substance [...] symbolic of the whole course of nature, make it God, and consume it."
...and then he goes on to make it sound complicated. He talks about a whole range of Eucharists that involve between one to seven elements that one may choose to consecrate and who knows which one to pick, or why"
The idea of the eucharist itself it simple - elegant - just as quoted above. The reason for various formulas is that different magicians may be drawn to different approaches. There are at least dozens of different approaches - but he has given the kernel of it.
Among formal rituals, the Thelemic Mass (like the similar Gnostic Mass) uses a eucharist of two elements. Temple of Thelema initiates have a monthly First Order ritual in which they partake of a eucharist of four elements (or five, if one knows where to look for the fifth); and the Second Order celebrates a very special annual mass of two elements. These are all efficacious in different ways. Each involves taking one or more substances symbolic of the whole life-cycle in nature, making it God, and then consumming it. Eventually, this God-matter, taken into the body, physically replaces every cell of the body.
"but apparently the Mass of the Phoenix is based on consecrating five elements. That's one of the reasons I didn't really want to go into trying to make up my own ritual for this. When it comes to the Eucharist that sounds like the best one, the one the you would really want to do, the Eucharist of One, he, of course, doesn't tell you what it is. "
Exactly. But I'll give you a big hint: All of the others, rightly done, become a Mass of One Element.
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Do you think that the modified version that I posted would be technically equivalent to the Mass of the Phoenix? meaning, would it accomplish the same result if performed by the same person. Does it meet the criteria of being a functional Eucharist of five elements as the Mass of the Phoenix is intended to be?
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@kerlem93 said
"Do you think that the modified version that I posted would be technically equivalent to the Mass of the Phoenix? meaning, would it accomplish the same result if performed by the same person. Does it meet the criteria of being a functional Eucharist of five elements as the Mass of the Phoenix is intended to be?"
I intentionally deleted it without reading it. I'm not going to analyze rewrites for another person like that. It feels too much like an "angels through the eye of a needle" arguement. I'll address principles, but you have to figure out particulars yourself.
I suppose I could add that you should question/challenge your motives for any particular change you want to make.
PS - I just remembered counsel I got from Soror Meral decades ago when I wrote her something or other about The Mass of the Phoenix. She said (I paraphrase from memory), "No, I don't think it's necessarily a good idea for you to go around cutting yourself. On the other hand, if you have a resistance to cutting yourself, then you need to get over that one of these days."
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"I'll address principles, but you have to figure out particulars yourself."
I wasn't asking you to do it for me, just to help grade the results.
"I suppose I could add that you should question/challenge your motives for any particular change you want to make."
Lol Well, that would be because I don't think gashing and wounding myself every night at sunset is going to work out too good. So, I can choose to interpret it differently, and just make a light redness on the skin and use something efficient like a lancet to actually draw the blood, or I could even choose to create my own version of the Eucharist and make it the way I want it, as you suggested. Of those options, the choice I am attempting to explore, is to take your advice and make my own version; one that is practical for being carried out on a daily basis, while keeping as many of the elements of the Mass of the Phoenix intact as possible, because that is the way I would like it to be. I like all the elements that are there, I just needed to do something about the gashing and wounding part, since it is not practical to carry that out every evening and I'm not sure what it would add to Eucharist anyway. The point of this is to take a substance, make it God, and consume it; not spend all night carving your chest up. To me, I think that if I wanted add my own blood, instead of just using corn and wine by themselves, (which, while being more difficult, it is still, apparently, possible to do) I would prefer, if I'm going to be doing it every night, to add a drop of blood from my fingertip into the wine. After all, If I'm making my own version, then why not? There are many equivalent ways to perform a Eucharist, I just need some help, from someone with more technical knowledge than I have, to verify that I have applied the principles in the right way to create what I want, which is a Eucharist of five elements, that accomplishes essentially the same thing that the Mass of the Phoenix was intended to do, while still being practical for being carried out on a nightly basis.
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@kerlem93 said
"I don't think gashing and wounding myself every night at sunset is going to work out too good."
@kerlem93 said
"I want, which is a Eucharist of five elements, that accomplishes essentially the same thing that the Mass of the Phoenix was intended to do"
From the commentary on the Mass of the Phoenix from the Book of Lies
"The word "Phoenix" may be taken as including the idea of "Pelican", the bird which is fabled to feed its young from the blood of its own breast."
The drop of blood from the chest is one of the essential elements of the ritual.
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@kerlem93 said
"
"I'll address principles, but you have to figure out particulars yourself."I wasn't asking you to do it for me, just to help grade the results. "
That's pretty much the same thing - to grade it, I'd have to have a unique insight into whether it was right in your universe. It's the same process as determining what's right in your universe.
"There are many equivalent ways to perform a Eucharist, I just need some help, from someone with more technical knowledge than I have, to verify that I have applied the principles in the right way to create what I want, which is a Eucharist of five elements, that accomplishes essentially the same thing that the Mass of the Phoenix was intended to do, while still being practical for being carried out on a nightly basis."
Take a substance representative of the entire birth-life-death cycle of nature, make it God, then eat it, intentionally taking it into your body and assimilating it as part of yourself.
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"The drop of blood from the chest is one of the essential elements of the ritual."
Sure, that's a good point and it's some nice symbolism and possibly a nice idea to be thinking about, but don't I see where it would necessarily be a critical component contributing to the core purpose of the ritual. Crowley was advocating that one should perform a daily eucharist. Naturally he would write a version, but he also wrote that whole chapter explaining how it could be done various other ways too. Like Jim was saying, bless some wine and bread if you want and make that your Eucharist. I don't necessarily see a need to depart that far from the example that he provided. Most of it is practical and inspiring and useful and I would like to use most of it in my own version that I can do every night, but some of it doesn't fit with something that could, or should, be done every night. And those particular parts that I'm referring to, the parts that are impractical for daily practice, don't even seem to contribute significantly to the main objective of the ritual.
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"I'd have to have a unique insight into whether it was right in your universe."
It would just need to be right in same universe that the Mass of the Phoenix, as it is now written, exists. The current version of the Mass of the Phoenix provides the point for objective comparison. Also, all of the objective rules for creating what may be objectively known as a Eucharist, or, more specifically, a Eucharist of five elements, would contribute to knowing whether or not what had been created matched the objective standard.
But, I get where you are coming from, I think. I'll just go with the input you have provided and do the best I can with it. I appreciate you taking the time to give hints and tips where you can.
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@kerlem93 said
"but don't I see where it would necessarily be a critical component contributing to the core purpose of the ritual."
It's kind of like if you're debating modes of transportation. Many different modes of transportation are designed to go from Point A to Point B, but that's not the sole measure of transportation.
Walking exercises your legs, and lets you see more. Driving is faster, but less healthy for you and the planet. Motorcycles are generally more dangerous, but have a sense of freedom and exhilaration. The nature of the trip is an essential part of each mode of transportation.
A core part of mass of the Phoenix is extracting blood from your chest. That is something that is pretty obvious when you **do **the ritual every day for a while (as well as the fact that it is possible to do every day, as many have done). It's not a core part of any eucharist; just this one. Asking for a similar ritual that is essentially the same, without the one core aspect of it, is like asking for a form of transportation that is essentially the same as motorcycling, but without the leaning into turns part.
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"Asking for a similar ritual that is essentially the same, without the one core aspect of it, is like asking for a form of transportation that is essentially the same as motorcycling, but without the leaning into turns part."
True, but most people have a motorcycle for joy-riding on limited occasions, and their daily driver, that gets them through the majority of the time, day in, day out, year after year, when it is cold, raining, snowing, when they need to haul the kids around, or ride in air conditioning on long road trips, and bring home the groceries, etc., is a car, or other similar vehicle.
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@kerlem93 said
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"Asking for a similar ritual that is essentially the same, without the one core aspect of it, is like asking for a form of transportation that is essentially the same as motorcycling, but without the leaning into turns part."True, but most people have a motorcycle for joy-riding on limited occasions, and their daily driver, that gets them through the majority of the time, day in, day out, year after year, when it is cold, raining, snowing, when they need to haul the kids around, or ride in air conditioning on long road trips, and bring home the groceries, etc., is a car, or other similar vehicle."
For "most people" that is true, but not exactly true about "most motorcycle riders." All Eucharists are sort of like saying "you are what you eat." The Mass of the Phoenix, the core is that you are eating your own personal vitality after it is identified with that of God.
For a "bloodless" (or rather, a "pain free" Mass), there's another "juice" i suppose you can use - but a problem I see with that (for a neophyte anyway) is knowing how not to profane it.
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"the core is that you are eating your own personal vitality"
I think that the core of the ritual is to be, "...filled with God, fed upon God, intoxicated with God. Little by little his body will become purified by the internal lustration of God; day by day his mortal frame, shedding its earthly elements, will become in very truth the Temple of the Holy Ghost. Day by day matter is replaced by Spirit, the human by the divine; ultimately the change will be complete; God manifest in flesh will be his name."
Eating your own personal vitality just happens to be an easy way to accomplish this. He clearly says that it is possible, but more difficult, to do this by transmuting corn and wine, for example.
I agree with Jim that, if the ritual is not performed as it is written, then it is a different ritual, but who cares if it's a different ritual. In M&TP, Crowley doesn't say that he had written the only ritual that was an effectual Eucharist. He never even says that it is more effective, or faster, or anything like that. He just said, do a Eucharist and using a little of your own blood, or possibly some other secret ingredient, will be easier than trying to transmute dead matter. He didn't say it had to come from the chest, or anywhere else. He does specifically present the Mass of the Phoenix as being suitable for daily practice, but Jim already said that he doubted Crowley ever did this every day himself, and I take that to mean that if he did, it was nothing as drastic as he makes it sound in Liber 44. On the same page, Crowley also leaves the door wide open when he says that the magician should simply do a daily Eucharist of "some sort."
I personally don't have a problem with contributing some blood during the performance of the ritual; the question is, how much. I think that part can be interpreted in many different ways. Some people might like to do it so that there is just a little redness to the skin and prick the center for a drop of blood, some might like to mark out the full symbol in something more like a scratch, some might like blood running down their chest and soaking their underwear every night, who knows, people do all kinds of things.
I think that the real gist of this thread hinges on whether or not it is possible to perform a successful Eucharist that fulfills the role of a Eucharist of five elements, just as The Mass of the Phoenix does, while only using things such as corn and wine, and the answer to that, I believe, is yes, but it may be more difficult. I'm sure it would be helpful to many people if someone created, or helped to create a ritual that factors in the option to draw blood from where they want, however they want to, or to add a secret ingredient, or to use something like corn and wine, or Cakes of Light and wine, etc., if they wanted to.
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I agree with the sentiment that a huge portion of this ritual's symbolism derives from blood being drawn from the breast of the magician. I have experimented with various other forms of this ritual that I've come across online, including a form that turns it into a sex magick operation, but haven't found them to be as effective as Crowley's original. Liber Aleph's "De Cultu" specifies a few suitable rites for daily consumption of the eucharist. If it isn't your Will to draw blood (and assuming you don't have a full Gnostic Mass team/setup), perhaps you can combine the formulae and symbolism of these various rites into a ritual of your own that you can do?