Written by: Jon Sewell
Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law.
The Rites of Eleusis are a series of seven public invocations or rites written by British occultist Aleister Crowley, each centered on one of the seven classical planets of antiquity. They were dramatically performed by Aleister Crowley, Leila Waddell (Laylah), and Victor Benjamin Neuburg in October and November, 1910, at Caxton Hall, London. This act brought Crowley’s occult organization the A∴A∴ into the public eye.
Crowley claimed that the Rites were designed to inspire the audience with ‘religious ecstasy’, and that merely reading them would help people “cultivate their highest faculties”. Some in the popular press thought otherwise, and considered the Rites an immoral display, riddled with ‘blasphemy and erotic suggestion.’
Crowley wrote a great deal on the Rites himself, but as was often the case, he focused on the lofty ideal of what he was trying to express without getting into the basics of what they truly were, and why people would choose to involve themselves with the material.
So I am here to simplify the matter, if I can.
Imagine you want to learn about astrology, and the relationship between a specific planet and the signs of the zodiac that it governs. You could read a book. You could look at a chart. But what if there were a play, where-in you could take the part of that astrological sign, and act the role in relation to the planet, imbuing that role with emotion through dance and poetry and music.
Why, such a play would be a fantastic tool to learn about those subtle and confusing mythical relationships!
That is what the Rites of Eleusis are. And more.
Imagine you were interested in the evolution of man’s relationship to reality, to the religious function in general, to delving into ecstatic states of consciousness through the displacement of your personality to make space for something larger, something broader and somehow central to the human experience. That is what The Rites of Eleusis can be.
What starts out as a practical lesson plan for learning the relationships between various human moods and modes of consciousness becomes, when engaged in fully, a method for experiencing these root emotions in a way that awakens a broader sense of awareness in the individual.
But don’t just take my word for it.
In 2010 Bob Jones, Melissa Holm and I put together a documentary where we interviewed the individuals who were responsible for staging these plays again after they had gone unperformed for 70 years. These people talked about the history and their experiences, and included archival footage of these performances going back 40 years.
I’ve written a great deal more at www.ritesofeleusis.com about these remarkable plays and how to stage and scale them, and encourage people to do so!
Love is the law, love under will.