Solar Adoration

[RedKooga]

One of the few practices I kept up after cutting off my involvement with Ceremonial Magick groups was a solar adoration exercise often called (Liber) Resh. It was done four times a day, once at dawn, once at midday, once at sunset, and once at midnight. Each phase of the sun had a certain feel to it, and definitely charged me up. I realise now that its power came from being a gazing thing as well as being an invocation of the symbolic/inner sun, though I never looked directly at the sun (and still won't).

 

After a while I came across the Salutation to the Sun yoga exercise and a Christian friend who'd seen me doing Resh gave me notes on a Christian prayer version of the solar adoration by way of saying 'we are one'. So, I decided to strip the exercise of its Thelemic specific symbolic gestures and just used gestures that felt for me personally more appropriate to the universal archetype of those phases of the sun. A couple of years later on I changed it so much it would now only make sense to myself!

 

You can find the original Thelemic version on this Webpage. I thought I'd type out my old personalised version in case it was interesting to anyone or could spark some extra ideas for your own gazing. The way I've done it is if I was telling myself how to do it.

 

At Dawn face eastwards to the sun and extend your arms in a T shape as if you are lifting up. Take on the image of the Egyptian God Ra and say, "Hail unto thee who art Ra in thy rising, even unto thee who art Ra in thy strength, who travellest over the heavens in thy bark at the uprising of the Sun. Hail unto thee from the abodes of night."

 

Really imagine the strength of this God lifting the Sun up, and because you have taken on the image of this God, let that strength transfer onto you. This is the enormous effort that everything has when it is in infancy and has to overcome so many obstacles. Unify with that power. Absorb the Sun's energy and really gaze. Do whatever feels appropriate. When you've finished make a small bow.

 

At midday face southwards to the sun and lift your arms and face to the sun in an euphoric gesture. Take on the image of the God Hathor and say, "Hail unto thee who art Ahathoor in thy triumphing, even unto thee who art Ahathoor in thy beauty, who travellest over the heaves in thy bark, at the mid-course of the Sun. Hail unto thee from the abodes of Morning."

 

Fill yourself with the sense of solar magnificence at its peak, everything having been accomplished and the full potent beauty of Hathor all around. Take all that in, absorbing the Sun's energy, then finish with a small bow.

 

At sunset face westwards to the sun and bring your hands together in the most common 'prayer' pose. Take on the image of the God Tum and say, "Hail unto thee who art Tum in thy setting, even unto thee who art Tum in thy joy, who travellest over the heavens in thy bark, at the down-going of the Sun. Hail unto thee from the abodes of Day."

 

Invoke an ecstatic, rapturous, close to death feel. Burn brightly just before darkness, release, submit, let it all pour out. Kind of like the feeling you get when something of great effort that had paid off is now truly at its end over and the celebration has begun. Gaze, absorb, unify, then finish off.

 

At midnight face northwards to the (now hidden) sun and bow as if dead, completely 'yin', or whatever seems appropriate. Take on the image of the God Khephra and say, "Hail unto thee who art Khephra in thy hiding, even unto thee who art Khephra in thy silence, who travellest over the heavens in thy bark, at the midnight hour of the sun. Hail unto thee from the abodes of evening."

 

The silence and darkness are all consuming, yet although everything is veiled from view, the unknowable source of irrepressible lifeforce is present, it cannot be destroyed and will rise again in a new and unexpected form. Stay silent, stay still, be absorbed yourself in this state, then finish off with a small bow.

 

Some basic depictions of the Gods mentioned in Resh can be found below: -

 

Ra

Hathor

Tum

Khephra

[Yoda]

very cool--thanks for sharing! I'm getting the sense that there are lots of rituals from different cultures along these lines--and I like several of the details of this one especially the mono-no-aware (beauty in the cherry blossom like transitory quality of life) of the sunset. And the midnight ritual hadn't occured to me before.

 

-Yoda

[sean]

Great post. Liber Resh vel Helios is also one of the rituals I really enjoyed when doing ceremonial magick. I like your adaptation, especially of the mudras and it's nice how you elaborated the mindset to adapt in each phase. Check out my post last month where I scanned Donald Michael Kraigs mudra variation from "Modern Magick".

[RedKooga]

That's great Sean! With someone with CM background I feel right at home. Thanks for chatting btw

 

Yoda that mono-no-aware feeling makes up my everyday emotional background and seems to be getting stronger as I get older. Definately connected with meditation for me. Incidentally I'm thinking of starting up a part-time webdesign business and calling it mono no aware webdesign. I just can't think what else to call it.

[neimad]

sun worship is also a big 'illuminati' thing.

 

you can see this kind of symbology everywhere.

 

take for example paris (major brotherhood city), the champs elysees, the little arc in the middle of the road, is on a circle (roundabout) with 12 roads feeding into it (the 12 months of the zodiac), on the road that cars go over is even points looking like the suns rays.

 

there are many of these kinds of examples.

 

also jesus and his 12 apostles relates to the zodiac. the 12 apostles as the 12 signs of the zodiac with jesus as the sun. the 'sun' of god.

 

also the changes/ages/cycles of the planet are very closely correlated to the sunspot cycles occurring within the sun. some of these sunspots last for thousands of years, and the way the earth changes is directly related to these.

 

the sun is a very powerful energy that influences every facet of our existance on this planet earth.

i have been reading about and beginning to realise what 'chi' actually is. it is just oxygen, however it is not just normal o2 oxygen, it is oxygen that has been activated by the suns energy. it has captured the suns energy and in this way it has become a vital source of life. all life on this earth uses this activated oxygen in its processes. it is THE detoxifier for our bodies.

 

this activation occurs up in the thin band we call the ozone layer. the oxygen up there gets hit by the suns rays, three molecules of o2 then split apart to make 2 molecules of o3 (ozone), in this process the suns energy is then stored in the ozone. this ozone falls down to earth and makes all kinds of compounds, like hydrogen peroxide for example (h2o2) and is used by every single living organism (apart from those aneorobic nasty ones) to gather its energy.

 

this is how it is possible to be a breatharian, by living on activated oxygen alone you can get all the energy (suns energy) necessary to survive without other sustenance (or very little of it).

 

anyways i got a bit carried away.

[thelerner]

There is one song, Communion With Sun, on the RA album by Utopia. Yoda, you really should listen to it, I think it would be your bag.

 

Peace

 

Michael

[sean]

anyways i got a bit carried away.

2459[/snapback]

Not at all. Great post Neimad.

 

Sean.