Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law.
The word solstice is derived from the Latin sol (“sun”) and sistere (“to stand still”), because at the solstices, the Sun’s declination appears to “stand still”; that is, the seasonal movement of the Sun’s daily path (as seen from Earth) pauses at a northern or southern limit before reversing direction. When it is the summer solstice at one Pole, it is the winter solstice on the other. For locations not too close to the equator or the poles, the dates with the longest and shortest periods of daylight are the summer and winter solstices, respectively.
A solstice is the time, or in a broader sense as the day, when the Sun reaches its most northerly or southerly excursion relative to the celestial equator on the celestial sphere. Two solstices occur annually, around 20–22 June and 20–22 December.
“A feast for fire and a feast for water; a feast for life and a greater feast for death!” – Chapter II:41, Liber AL vel Legis (The Book of the Law)
Located as we are in the United Kingdom, close to the border between Scotland and England, today we mark the Winter Solstice. The photograph was taken today by me at Rickerby Park in Carlisle.
The following ritual comes from “Mjölnir: The Thelemic Journal of Yggdrasil Camp, Ordo Templi Orientis – December 2000 E.V. An IVviii Sol in Sagittarius Vol. II, No. 3”.
Fr Akhet Khepri, Bodymaster, Regulus Oasis
SOLAR WINTER SOLSTICE RITE BY FRATER T.C.
Officers: Priest or Priestess, and the People.
Setting: On a table in the centre of the room (or circle if rite is outdoors), are six yellow candles on the points of a unicursal hexagram (a rendering of a hexagram should be used if available). A black candle is in the centre.
Priest faces West.
Priest lights black candle only.
Priest: At this time in the cycle of the year, the Sun is fading away as the last vestige of its old self, and preparing to be reborn into even greater vigor. We gather to commemorate this perpetual event, and to reflect the renewal of strength, purpose, and Will embodied within ourselves.
Priest chants once: Hail unto thee who art Khephra in thy hiding, even unto thee who art Khephra in thy silence.
People chant repeatedly: Hail unto thee who art Khephra in thy hiding, even unto thee who art Khephra in thy silence.
Priest waits for People to chant one cycle and then begins:
Our Lord the Sun is dying, preparing for rebirth as a god: a tale told throughout time, symbolic of the cycle of nature and life.
Hail unto Helios, whose daily travels across the sky guide from dawn to sunset. With Eos, the dawn, he rises; with Hemera, the day, none can escape his gaze; and with Hespera, the dusk, he enters his seemingly endless rest. Behold his daily rebirth after braving the dark night.
Hail unto Mithras, embodiment of the Sol Invictus, who perishes as a bull at the solstice only to be reborn into even greater glory. He burst forth from his cave at the center of the cosmos, expanding the universe of what it is possible to become. Hail unto Horus, falcon-headed child of Isis and Osiris, who, as the rising Sun, became great lord of the daytime sky. He begins life as Harpocrates, and spreads his light as Hrumachis of the horizon.
Hail unto Ra, who as Ra-Hoor-Khuit ruled the day. He travels over the heavens in his bark, Madjet, at the uprising of the sun; he sails toward the setting of the sun in his bark, Semektet. His strength renewed, he slays Apep each morning to earn his inevitable rebirth.
Hail unto Balder, the purity and radiance of innocence and light. His death by Hodur, his brother of Darkness, was the victory of the deep night of winter over the brilliant light of summer. He comes again after Ragnarok, the longest night of the year, to show his radiance once again.
Hail unto Apollo, full of light, whose soul knew nearly no darkness. His golden chariot brings light to all the sky, burns out, and is continually renewed.
Our Lord the Sun has gathered his strength. His end was temporary, and he waits but to be roused from his slumber.
Priest pauses until current iteration of chant is finished.
Priest joins chant for one time, then all stop.
Priest gives signs of N.O.X., then the Sign of Silence (Harpocrates).
Priest pauses for appropriate amount of silence.
Priest faces East.
Priest lights six candles with middle candle, deosil, starting at the top.
Priest: The Sun endures his daily death and rebirth; now he is reborn as part of his even greater cycle. Likewise, let us cast off that which would impede our True Wills, as part of the dying Sun, and thereby remanifest ourselves into our Greater Selves with the energy of a new Sun. Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law!
People: Love is the law, love under will.
Priest gives signs of L.V.X., and remains in the Sign of Osiris Risen (also known as the Sign of the Blazing Star).
Priest chants once: Hail unto thee who art Ra in thy rising, even unto thee who art Ra in thy strength.
People and Priest together chant five more times.
Priest: So it is done.
COMMENTARY:
This rite is based around the number six, which signifies the Sun and its associations. (See Crowley’s Liber 777). Observe the different sixes in the ceremony: six candles (arranged on a unicursal hexagram); stories of six gods of the Sun; the adoration for the risen Sun (…Ra in thy rising…), chanted a total of six times.
The two chants are taken from Crowley’s Liber CC (200) (a.k.a. Liber Resh vel Helios, or Head of the Sun). This Thelemic solar adoration is meant to be performed four times daily and commemorates the daily journey of the Sun, with the practitioner assuming the god-forms symbolic of each stage. It is adapted here into a solar adoration based on the Sun’s yearly cycle, showing how smaller cycles are reflected in even greater cycles.
The candles reflect appropriate color symbolism for this point in the year of the Sun. The rite first commemorates the last rays of the old Sun with the single black candle and the beginning chant. After the tales of the births of various Sun gods, the yellow candles are lit to signify the newly reborn Sun.
Symbolically, the dying Sun represents the removal or overcoming of those qualities in ourselves which we find undesirable, or things which otherwise are obstacles to the knowledge or exercise of our True Wills. The rebirth following death is important as it signifies the remanifestation of ourselves minus that which was cast off. It is not enough simply to cast off some aspects of ourselves. We must also renew the strength of that which is left now that it is no longer hindered, and manifest the personal growth that is now possible. The purpose of the period of silence during the rite is to allow each celebrant to reflect on this transformation.
Love is the Law, Love under Will.
