Standing at the Crossroads: Prayer and Energy in Motion

A thing you will find in a few different ceremonial magic traditions, and a thing that I like to do when I am crafting ritual widgets, is to create a prayer of sorts which reflects the way that energy will flow throughout said ritual widget.

In the Q-Cross, the cross which is drawn onto the body reflects the cross represented by the arrangement of altars on the floor.  I have also seen smaller, less well known, but more creative groups begin and end ritual widgets with prayers that reflect their particular temple setting and cosmology.

I think it shouldn’t have to be said that the Q-Cross is derivative of the Lord’s Prayer, and is not “Judeo-Christian” but rather, specifically Christian. Not all establishing prayers of this sort need to be derivative of this prayer, a cross of any sort, or Kabalah.

In my previous article on gestures, I did use some Mudras. Those aren’t Greek. That said, if there had been a Greek system of specific hand poses for meditation, I would have used them preferentially. At some point in the distant future, I might feel compelled to derive some, though by what method, I can’t even begin to imagine. So, to, here. I believe it is completely reasonable and appropriate to compose an establishing prayer that in no way borrows from the Golden Dawn tradition. If I couldn’t figure it out for some reason, I’d borrow something fully formed. This is not above my pay grade.

What’s on the Drawing Board?

The theme of this prayer is that the Crossroads connect all places. All roads lead to Hermes and Hekate. While the beginning prayer gesturally refers to Hekate, and the ending one to Hermes, the words ought to be the same, and reference both of them. Mostly, this is because it will make this ritual, and other rituals based on it, easier to learn.

The Basic Meaning, In English

Hail Hekate of the Paths
Hail Hermes, Traveller
These are the crossroads
The road to the Deathless
The road to the Dwellers in the Sky
The road to where the Mountain Touches Moon
The road to Down Below
The road to Styx
The road to the Sea
Meet here, at the Crossroads
Hail Hekate, Guardian at the Gates
Hail Hermes, the Shower of the Way

Ok, so, there are some basic aesthetic choices we could make here.

1. We could leave this as it is. Each line, as is, pertains to a specific gesture, and it will work nicely, but it’s not pretty, exactly. There are exactly 12 lines, and that is such an amazing number for Greek Cosmology. Really.
2. We could make it into a series of six rhymed couplets. Could be corny in addition to being challenging to create, but the benefit is that it would be easy to memorize.
3. We could translate it into Ancient Greek. Could make future magician’s heads ache. Has the benefit of gravitas.
4. We could produce two versions and let people pick. In practice, that is probably what I’m going to do, even though I’m sure that my rendering in Greek will be a literary travesty. In the end, I’ll see which came out better, and put that into my final script.

Greek.

Despite the fact that my Greek sort of sucks, nevertheless, translating this into Greek seems like the path of least resistance. The Greek is more concise and does not match the exact wording of the English, but nonetheless conforms to the Cosmology I laid out. I beseech Thee, Gods of the Interwebs, to send to me a person who can check my Greek. K. Thanks.

Xaire Hekate, Enodia
Xaire Hermes, Hodoiporos
Autes He Triodos
Hoods Athanatois
Hodos Ouranois
Hodos Prosgeiois
Hodos Geia kai Hadei
Hodos Stugi
Hodos Pontois
Enosoun se autes He Triodos
Xaire Hekate, Phulax
Xaire Hermes, Hodoiphanes

Rhymes

I’ve got nothing on this right now. I could create something that was way longer that the original, but that would be undesirable. I will continue to cogitate on how to pull off this act of poetry Kung Fu, but in the mean time, I have what I need to start crafting a ritual script.

How I’ll Use It

The general idea would be that each of these lines would be associated with a ritual gesture which will, in turn, move energy to the part of the ritual space which symbolically represents the part of the Greek Cosmos that the particular part of the prayer is talking about. In total, the words and gestures will reflect, in brief, how energies will move throughout the ritual widget.

Like so:

Pointing to the Center, or Touching the Herm:

Xaire Hekate, Enodia
Xaire Hermes, Hodoiporos
Autes He Triodos

Drawing a line of light from the center to the East, and back to the center:

Hodos Athanatois

Drawing a line of light from the center to the South-East, and back to the center:

Hodos Ouranois

Drawing a line of light from the center to the South-West, and back to the center:

Hodos Prosgeiois

Drawing a line of light from the center to the West, and back to the center:

Hodos Geia kai Hadei

Drawing a line of light from the center to the North-West, and back to the center:

Hodos Stugi

Drawing a line of light from the center to the North-East, and back to the center:

Hodos Pontois

Pointing to the Center, or Touching the Herm:

Enosoun se autes He Triodos
Xaire Hekate, Phulax
Xaire Hermes, Hodoiphanes

 

And next up? Ritual script! Yay!