U.S. O.T.O. Grand Lodge
Other U.S. O.T.O. bodies

The Scarlet Letter
Volume VI, Number 2 | September 2001
A Puissant Ritual
Barking God Project 34/55


An inspiration shall arise quickly and dissolve in shimmering amrita. The two officers of this rite bear the Mark of the Beast on brow and hand. They are concealed as Isis and Osiris. Throughout the ritual they are robed as B...s of the A…s. The temple is of any shape, but it is clear in the center, and contains 718 in the East.

Rosy Cross

I. The Elevenfold Embrace

O is in the East,
I in the West.
They advance to the center, facing one another.

I:   1-333
O: 333
I:   333-1

O performs the Vertical Component of the Enchantment upon I.
I performs the Vertical Component of the Enchantment upon O.
I performs the Horizontal Component of the Enchantment upon O.
O performs the Horizontal Component of the Enchantment upon I.
O grasps the Wand in both hands, and
I places both hands upon the throne of O.

Both chant slowly, using one another’s mouths as resonators:
λαςαλ  Θελημα  fιαοf  αγαπη  ανμγν

O: 333
I: 55555
O: 333

They clasp with arms crossed behind each other’s backs, hands on each other’s shoulder blades, and whisper αβρα’αδαβρα!

α —The Pronaos

They advance past one another, O to the West, I to the East. Both move widdershins around the space for ¾ of a revolution. In these and subsequent circumambulations, each makes the Sign of the Enterer upon passing the East.

O stops in the North, and I in the South. O invokes Nuit with an averse Pentagram of Air, while I invokes Hadit with an averse Pentagram of Fire. Then they turn to the center, O as puella, and I as puer. They circumambulate widdershins another 1½ revolutions.

I stops in the North, and O in the South. I invokes Nuit with an averse Pentagram of Air, while O invokes Hadit with an averse Pentagram of Fire. Then they turn to the center, I as puella, and O as puer. They circumambulate widdershins another 5/4 revolutions.

O stops in the East, and I in the West. O invokes Therion with an averse Pentagram of Earth, while I invokes Babalon with an averse Pentagram of Water. Then they turn to the center, O as vir, and I as mulier. They circumambulate widdershins another 1½ revolutions.

I stops in the East, and O in the West. I invokes Therion with an averse Pentagram of Earth, while O invokes Babalon with an averse Pentagram of Water. Then they turn to the center, I as vir, and O as mulier.

ς — The Sacred Stigma

They join hands and spin deosil, crying Ερως, until they fall together in the center.

They make the H...H...

They make the ...y...s, crying Θελημα upon its completion.

α —The Adytum

They separate; I climbs upon O and says λα; they kiss (ς); O says αλ.

They separate; O climbs upon I and says λα; they kiss (ς); I says αλ.

They separate, stand, link hands palm-to-palm with fingers interlaced, and extend their arms out horizontally, so that both form a cross with their fronts pressed together.

I says, “About us flames our father’s face, the star of force and fire.”

O says, “And in the column stands his six-rayed splendour.”

λ —The Elevenfold Embrace

As before.

* * * * *

Explications & Encouragements

This Puissant Ritual is Ritual 34/55 of the Barking God Project, a private and polymorphous canon of magick ritual and doctrine.

The Mark of the Beast is worn on the brow and the hand in this ritual, i.e. the ritualists must know and practice Ritual 34/5 in order to practice this one. Ritual 34/5 is fully detailed in the Master Therion’s “Book of the Princes” (Liber V). The key blinds in the 34/55 rubric should be transparent to initiates of I° M.'.M.'. M.'., but the rough context of the rite is in accord with the II°, and its substance harmonizes with the V°.

In each section λ, O strikes a total battery of 9 (i.e. 333—333—333), interspersed with I’s total battery of 13 (i.e. 1-333—333-1—55555). 9 is the number of the Moon, and 13 is the number of lunar cycles in a solar year. 13 is also achad, or Unity. O’s batteries are threes, thus related to Binah. In the initial battery, I contains O. In the final battery, O contains I.

In the Pronaos, the pentagrams may be supplemented with any appropriate invocations. The officers should totally identify with the forces invoked. When they make their individual signs of N.O.X., each experiences the drive for union with the complement on the opposite side of the space.

The Sacred Stigma is not clarified by ritual 34/5. See ritual 34/69 and “Energized Enthusiasm.”

In the Adytum, the officers extend the enchantment in all directions under the formula of λαςαλ, where each kiss is an echo of the Stigma in the Aethyr of their rapture. I identifies the circumference with Sut, and O extols the center as Aten.

Where there is smoke, there is heat.

Tree of Life


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