Hymns to the Third From the Sun
“Heart of Earth,” by Joseph Payne Brennan
Never forget: beneath your feet,
beneath the rose, below the wheat,
beyond the bastioned granite floor,
lies the ultimate, molten core.
The tides of fire, locked in sleep,
a vigil down the aeons keep.
Across the whirling gulfs of space
the elements of motion race.
The aeons burn; the cycles ebb;
the stenciled stars retrace their web.
Never forget: in the heart of earth
Still licks the fire that brought its birth.
Our calendar of iron and flame
invokes the time without a name,
the days of fire, the final men,
the molten core made whole again.
“The Green Hills of Earth,” by Robert A. Heinlein. From Heinlein’s short story, “The Green Hills of Earth,” copyright 1947 by The Curtis Publishing Company, included in the collection of his works, The Past Through Tomorrow (New York: Berkley Books, 1967), pp. 363-373.
I pray for one last landing
On the globe that gave me birth;
Let me rest my eyes on the fleecy skies
And the cool, green hills of Earth.
Let the sweet fresh breezes heal me
As they rove around the girth
Of our lovely mother planet,
Of the cool green hills of Earth.
We rot in the molds of Venus,
We retch at her tainted breath.
Foul are her flooded jungles,
Crawling with unclean death.
We’ve tried each spinning space mote
And reckoned its true worth:
Take us back again to the homes of men
On the cool, green hills of Earth.
The arching sky is calling
Spacemen back to their trade.
All hands! Stand by! Free falling!
And the lights below us fade.
Out ride the sons of Terra,
Far drives the thundering jet,
Up leaps the race of Earthmen,
Out far and onward! Yet -
We pray for one last landing
On the globe that gave us birth;
Let us rest our eyes on fleecy skies
And the cool, green hills of Earth.
"The Invocation of Luna": Adapted from Dion Fortune’s Moon-Magic by Yael Dragwyla
Copyright 1987, 1994 by Yael R. Dragwyla. Adapted from Dion Fortune’s Moon-Magic (New York: Samuel Weiser, Inc., 1979)
(The following is to be read slowly, with a feeling of tidal rhythms, becoming more and more entranced as one reads. This work is an outstanding accompaniment for rituals of invocation of Luna, Saturn, and Neptune and the Gods and Goddesses associated with them, especially as an immediate precursor of the invocation as such, to build up the force of the Call)
I am She Who, ere the Earth was formed,
Was Rhea, Binah, Ge.
I am that soundless, boundless, bitter Sea
Out of Whose Deeps life wells eternally.
Astarte, Aphrodite, Ashtoreth,
Giver of life and bringer-in of death;
Hera in Heaven, on Earth, Persephone;
Kali and Black Isis, dancing on Their hills of skulls,
Mikhail and Ezelie, Black Mary and Medusa,
Battling demons in the sky,
Star-flecked Nuit, o’er-arching all the world,
Diana of the Ways, and Hekate:
All these am I, all are found in Me.
The hour of the high full Moon draw near;
I hear the invoking words, hear and appear:
ShaDdaI EL ChaI, Kether, and Rhea, Binah, Ge,
And ELITh, self-creating Creation
In Aspects three,
I come unto the one who calleth Me.
* * *
O Isis Veiled and Rhea, Binah, Ge,
Lead us to the Well of Memory,
The Well-Head where the pale white cypress grows,
By secret twilight paths that no man knows,
The shadowy path dividing into three -
Diana of the Ways, and Hekate,
Selene of the Moon, and Persephone,
Mother Mary, Lilith, and Tsou-Mou,
Kali-Shiva-Chandi-Durga, Parvati,
And the Lord of Magick, Djehuti,
Thrice-Great Hermes, Psychopompos
And Divine Hermaphrodite.
The high full Moon at the zenith shines clear!
O hear the invoking words, hear and appear!
ShaDdaI EL ChaI, Kether, and Rhea, Binah, Ge!
* * *
Sink down, sink down, sink deeper and sink deep,
Into eternal and primordial sleep.
Sink down, forget, be still and draw apart
Into the Inner Earth’s Most Secret Heart.
Drink of the Waters of Persephone,
The Secret Well beside the Sacred Tree.
I am that secret Queen, Persephone.
All Tides are Mine, and answer unto Me.
Tides of the Airs, Tides of the Inner Earth,
The secret, silent Tides of Death and birth:
Tides of men’s souls, and dreams, and destiny -
Isis Veiled, and Rhea, Binah, Ge -
ELITh, self-creating Creation
In Aspects three.
* * *
I am that Star that rises from the Twilight Sea,
Bringing men dreams that rule their destiny.
I bring the Moon-Tides to the souls of men,
The Tides that flow and ebb and flow again,
That flow and ebb and flow alternately:
These are My Secret, these belong to Me.
* * *
I am eternal Woman, I am She -
The Tides of all men’s souls belong to Me.
The Tides that flow and ebb and flow again,
The secret, silent Tides that govern men:
These are My Secret, these belong to Me.
* * *
Out of My Hands he takes his destiny,
The touch of My Hands bestows serenity.
These are the Moon-Tides, these belong to Me.
Durga in Heaven, on Earth, Persephone,
Diana of the Ways, and Liberty,
Athena-Medusa, Aphrodite from the Sea,
All these am I, and They are found in Me.
* * *
The high full Moon at the zenith shines clear;
I hear thy prayer of invocation, and appear:
ShaDdaI EL ChaI, Kether, and Rhea, Binah, Ge,
I come unto those who call upon Me.
* * *
Sink down, sink down, sink deeper and more deep
Into eternal and primordial sleep.
Sink down, be still, forget and draw apart
Into the Inner Earth’s Most Secret Heart.
Drink of the Waters of Persephone,
The Secret Well beside the Sacred Tree.
Waters of life and strength and inner light -
Eternal joy born from the Deeps of Night.
Then rise, made strong, with life and hope renewed,
Reborn from darkness and from solitude,
Blessed with the blessing of Persephone
And secret strength of Rhea, Binah, Ge.
* * *
Persephone, O Moon of men’s desire,
Thy lambent light illumines with cold moon-fire!
Persephone, Persephone,
Moon of the night, we long for Thee.
In Outer Space, the Springs of Being arise;
With tidal sweep, Life streams across the skies,
And in men’s hearts awake the slumbering fires:
Thou art the Queen of Dreams and of Desires.
Persephone, Persephone,
Moon of the Night, we come to Thee!
* * *
The Moon is riding high and clear,
O Lovely One, draw near, draw near;
To lonely ones on lonely ways,
Come down in dream of silver haze.
Persephone, Persephone,
All in the end shall come to Thee,
Radiant ELITh, self-creating Creation
In Aspects three.
Never forget: beneath your feet,
beneath the rose, below the wheat,
beyond the bastioned granite floor,
lies the ultimate, molten core.
The tides of fire, locked in sleep,
a vigil down the aeons keep.
Across the whirling gulfs of space
the elements of motion race.
The aeons burn; the cycles ebb;
the stenciled stars retrace their web.
Never forget: in the heart of earth
Still licks the fire that brought its birth.
Our calendar of iron and flame
invokes the time without a name,
the days of fire, the final men,
the molten core made whole again.
“The Green Hills of Earth,” by Robert A. Heinlein. From Heinlein’s short story, “The Green Hills of Earth,” copyright 1947 by The Curtis Publishing Company, included in the collection of his works, The Past Through Tomorrow (New York: Berkley Books, 1967), pp. 363-373.
I pray for one last landing
On the globe that gave me birth;
Let me rest my eyes on the fleecy skies
And the cool, green hills of Earth.
Let the sweet fresh breezes heal me
As they rove around the girth
Of our lovely mother planet,
Of the cool green hills of Earth.
We rot in the molds of Venus,
We retch at her tainted breath.
Foul are her flooded jungles,
Crawling with unclean death.
We’ve tried each spinning space mote
And reckoned its true worth:
Take us back again to the homes of men
On the cool, green hills of Earth.
The arching sky is calling
Spacemen back to their trade.
All hands! Stand by! Free falling!
And the lights below us fade.
Out ride the sons of Terra,
Far drives the thundering jet,
Up leaps the race of Earthmen,
Out far and onward! Yet -
We pray for one last landing
On the globe that gave us birth;
Let us rest our eyes on fleecy skies
And the cool, green hills of Earth.
"The Invocation of Luna": Adapted from Dion Fortune’s Moon-Magic by Yael Dragwyla
Copyright 1987, 1994 by Yael R. Dragwyla. Adapted from Dion Fortune’s Moon-Magic (New York: Samuel Weiser, Inc., 1979)
(The following is to be read slowly, with a feeling of tidal rhythms, becoming more and more entranced as one reads. This work is an outstanding accompaniment for rituals of invocation of Luna, Saturn, and Neptune and the Gods and Goddesses associated with them, especially as an immediate precursor of the invocation as such, to build up the force of the Call)
I am She Who, ere the Earth was formed,
Was Rhea, Binah, Ge.
I am that soundless, boundless, bitter Sea
Out of Whose Deeps life wells eternally.
Astarte, Aphrodite, Ashtoreth,
Giver of life and bringer-in of death;
Hera in Heaven, on Earth, Persephone;
Kali and Black Isis, dancing on Their hills of skulls,
Mikhail and Ezelie, Black Mary and Medusa,
Battling demons in the sky,
Star-flecked Nuit, o’er-arching all the world,
Diana of the Ways, and Hekate:
All these am I, all are found in Me.
The hour of the high full Moon draw near;
I hear the invoking words, hear and appear:
ShaDdaI EL ChaI, Kether, and Rhea, Binah, Ge,
And ELITh, self-creating Creation
In Aspects three,
I come unto the one who calleth Me.
* * *
O Isis Veiled and Rhea, Binah, Ge,
Lead us to the Well of Memory,
The Well-Head where the pale white cypress grows,
By secret twilight paths that no man knows,
The shadowy path dividing into three -
Diana of the Ways, and Hekate,
Selene of the Moon, and Persephone,
Mother Mary, Lilith, and Tsou-Mou,
Kali-Shiva-Chandi-Durga, Parvati,
And the Lord of Magick, Djehuti,
Thrice-Great Hermes, Psychopompos
And Divine Hermaphrodite.
The high full Moon at the zenith shines clear!
O hear the invoking words, hear and appear!
ShaDdaI EL ChaI, Kether, and Rhea, Binah, Ge!
* * *
Sink down, sink down, sink deeper and sink deep,
Into eternal and primordial sleep.
Sink down, forget, be still and draw apart
Into the Inner Earth’s Most Secret Heart.
Drink of the Waters of Persephone,
The Secret Well beside the Sacred Tree.
I am that secret Queen, Persephone.
All Tides are Mine, and answer unto Me.
Tides of the Airs, Tides of the Inner Earth,
The secret, silent Tides of Death and birth:
Tides of men’s souls, and dreams, and destiny -
Isis Veiled, and Rhea, Binah, Ge -
ELITh, self-creating Creation
In Aspects three.
* * *
I am that Star that rises from the Twilight Sea,
Bringing men dreams that rule their destiny.
I bring the Moon-Tides to the souls of men,
The Tides that flow and ebb and flow again,
That flow and ebb and flow alternately:
These are My Secret, these belong to Me.
* * *
I am eternal Woman, I am She -
The Tides of all men’s souls belong to Me.
The Tides that flow and ebb and flow again,
The secret, silent Tides that govern men:
These are My Secret, these belong to Me.
* * *
Out of My Hands he takes his destiny,
The touch of My Hands bestows serenity.
These are the Moon-Tides, these belong to Me.
Durga in Heaven, on Earth, Persephone,
Diana of the Ways, and Liberty,
Athena-Medusa, Aphrodite from the Sea,
All these am I, and They are found in Me.
* * *
The high full Moon at the zenith shines clear;
I hear thy prayer of invocation, and appear:
ShaDdaI EL ChaI, Kether, and Rhea, Binah, Ge,
I come unto those who call upon Me.
* * *
Sink down, sink down, sink deeper and more deep
Into eternal and primordial sleep.
Sink down, be still, forget and draw apart
Into the Inner Earth’s Most Secret Heart.
Drink of the Waters of Persephone,
The Secret Well beside the Sacred Tree.
Waters of life and strength and inner light -
Eternal joy born from the Deeps of Night.
Then rise, made strong, with life and hope renewed,
Reborn from darkness and from solitude,
Blessed with the blessing of Persephone
And secret strength of Rhea, Binah, Ge.
* * *
Persephone, O Moon of men’s desire,
Thy lambent light illumines with cold moon-fire!
Persephone, Persephone,
Moon of the night, we long for Thee.
In Outer Space, the Springs of Being arise;
With tidal sweep, Life streams across the skies,
And in men’s hearts awake the slumbering fires:
Thou art the Queen of Dreams and of Desires.
Persephone, Persephone,
Moon of the Night, we come to Thee!
* * *
The Moon is riding high and clear,
O Lovely One, draw near, draw near;
To lonely ones on lonely ways,
Come down in dream of silver haze.
Persephone, Persephone,
All in the end shall come to Thee,
Radiant ELITh, self-creating Creation
In Aspects three.