History of the Elixir of the Feast of the
Leaves of the Tree of Life or
Rite of Creation
The perpetual development of the Elixir of the Feast of the Leaves of the Tree of Life or Rite of Creation follows the rhythm of nature and allows the experience in turn of chaste celebration, joyous feasting, solemn meditation and venerative fasting. The dates are based on traditional holy days. The holiday cycle is a segmented dramatic ritual version of a deeper interpretation of the three degrees. The Royal Art Society calendar ties everything together.
The epitomic Elixir the Feast of the Leaves of the Tree of Life or Rite of Creation is the Supreme Ceremony, which symbolizes Creation; the Natural History of earth; the cycle of the seasons and life-death-rebirth; the individual human life (birth, battle and honor, marriage and reproduction, death); the power of the divine, the priest, and the king; and the Quest, journey to the Underworld, enlightenment, stewardship, and final annihilation of the Master. It all follows the eternal progress of the four seasons of the year. The microcosm is thus aligned with the macrocosm.
The Elixir of the Feast of the Leaves of the Tree of Life or Rite of Creation may be performed season by season, covering each of the four seasons, or alchemists may perform the ceremony as often and whenever they will, and may confine the entire ceremony to a single day. Likewise, the members of any Royal Art Society grade may perform their present or any lesser grade as often and whenever they will.
The Elixir of the Feast of the Leaves of the Tree of Life or Rite of Creation is meant to be perennial, like the holidays of the year. It does not contain developments in a grade structure, rather, it symbolizes the eternal four-fold cycle of birth, maturity, decline and death, based on traditional holidays.
The words of the ritual were designed to create an atmosphere of rich, creative energy. The ritual should contain the intellectual essence of the degrees, organized so as to flow logically, but ceremony demands a certain solemnity, so the prose must evoke profound imagery.
The words must inspire excitement, a kind of frenzy, clearing and expanding the mind until heightened awareness reaches the state of bliss, and enlightenment, and finally inspiration for the future. The ritual can to be committed to memory or recited from print. The physical rite must be practiced at least once with all involved prior to the actual staging of the rite.
The ceremonies take place within the Temple of the Alchemist’s Laboratory and are preceded by The Elixir of the All-Seeing Eye of the Royal Art Society: Rite of the Immortal Empire, Inner Temple and Dragon Throne.
Recipe of the Elixir of the
Feast of the Leaves of the Tree of Life or
Rite of Creation
COMPOSED IN ROSLIN CHAPEL DURING A STORM
FROM THE PRELUDE
by William Wordsworth (Dorothy Wordsworth’s brother)
COMPOSED DURING A TOUR IN SCOTLAND AND ON THE ENGLISH BORDER, IN THE AUTUMN OF 1831.
THE wind is now thy organist;–a clank
(We know not whence) ministers for a bell
To mark some change of service. As the swell
Of music reached its height, and even when sank
The notes, in prelude, ROSLIN! to a blank
Of silence, how it thrilled thy sumptuous roof,
Pillars, and arches,–not in vain time-proof,
Though Christian rites be wanting! From what bank
Came those live herbs? by what hand were they sown
Where dew falls not, where rain-drops seem unknown?
Yet in the Temple they a friendly niche
Share with their sculptured fellows, that, green-grown,
Copy their beauty more and more, and preach,
Though mute, of all things blending into one.
Part I: Spring Festival: The Birth Celebration (Conjunction Part I)
February 14 or Chinese New Year, Six O’clock Morning
Officers stand in their appointed stations in the Inner Temple of the Alchemical Laboratory. BA leads Apprentice (A) to the South. MT stands in the South with Apprentice and WA.
MC unstops the vial of oil.
MC: We consecrate this time and place to the Great Work with the presence of this oil. Let not profane, mundane things enter herein until after the vial is stopped. With this bell we begin the operation.
MC sounds the bell once.
MC: Let the Rite of Creation begin.
The MC carries a vessel of water with which he blesses the Apprentice with a sprinkle or dowsing.
MC: We meditate on birth, the womb, mother, father, ancestors, and evolution, today. As the sun rises in the East, we recite the Scroll of Time, in remembrance of eternal existence; that all time is now, every moment is new, and living beings may be purified in communion and union with the Source of manifestations, the ultimate origin of the whole universe.
White Knight, you have come from the earth, returned to the earth, and conquered death. You have purified your spirit of the four elements and united, again, your whole being, according to the Way of the Masters. You hold the Grail as a symbol of your Quest, and it is your duty and honor today to give those assembled here an account of the Creation of the universe. If it is your will, please proceed.
A: It is my will.
WA gives Scroll of Time to Apprentice.
Apprentice read from the Scroll of Time.
The Scroll of Time
- In the beginning, from nothing, were divided the heavens and the earth. The Source divided this one universe according to the absolute Law of Necessity. Thus history began, and so shall it end, eternally, returning to nothing.
- At first, the whole universe was pure change, or movement, or motion, or heat, which expanded in all direction to create, at once, space and time. The four dimensions: The Solenoid, the Point (within the Center), Above, Below, North, South, East, West.
- Even in expansion, which is called weak nuclear force and electromagnetism, existed contraction, called strong nuclear force and gravity.
- Thus the universe was created hot and cold, gas, liquid, and solid.
- So space and matter were formed, and the chemical elements, and the astronomical forces and bodies. In time, earth was formed as part of a solar system centered about one star; or sun. Surrounding the earth was atmosphere, and upon the earth the light and heat of the sun penetrated the sea and dry land. Single-celled spheres of life formed in the sea, and filled the atmosphere of the earth with the chemical element oxygen. Vegetation and animals filled the sea, the waters and the dry land. Survival in a competition for limited resources depended upon natural selection and conscious, mindful cultivation. Humans, like their gods, were, though highly flawed, singularly successful at government.
- Homo sapiens was born in the image of the macrocosm and microcosm united as a perfect spiritual child: with contraction and relaxation, with wisdom and understanding, with mercy and love, judgment and strength, memory and will, with pure awareness and compassion, imagination,
- emotion and desire, reason, perception, sensation, and a physical body.
- Energy created Homo sapiens in its own image, with the ability to learn the Laws of Necessity, and to know the true names of real forms and embrace the One, or to follow falsehood and evil, but the Laws of Necessity preordained all this and all things. So choose, a Homo sapiens must, but his (or her) choice is predestined.
- This is the foundation of the Laws of Necessity and the knowledge of the Way, the universe, life, and humankind.
- From hence have I come, and thus now, here I am.
When Apprentice has finished reading, MC: Thank you for this account of the so-called Creation. Let us proceed to our stations to prepare for the marriage of the mortal and the immortal, and the Wedding Feast of the Enlightened, the final goal of the mystical ascent.
The participants return to their appointed stations.
MC: Our youth has blossomed to maturity; our immature mortality has become mature immortality. Wisdom abides in all, and appearances can be deceiving. Judge not, love all unconditionally, and be aware of good and evil in all things. So be it. May peace be with you.
The participants respond to the MC: And also with you.
NEXT:
Part II: First Day of Summer, Eve of May or Beltane:
The Chymical Wedding (Conjunction Part II)
April 30 or May 5 – 7, Noon