The Rites of Eleusis were a series of seven public invocations or

rites RITES Ltd, formerly known as Rail India Technical and Economic Service Limited, is an Indian public sector undertaking and engineering consultancy corporation, specializing in the field of transport infrastructure. Established in 1974 by the In ...

written by British occultist

Aleister Crowley Aleister Crowley ( ; born Edward Alexander Crowley; 12 October 1875 – 1 December 1947) was an English occultist, ceremonial magician, poet, novelist, mountaineer, and painter. He founded the religion of Thelema, identifying himself as the pr ...

, each centered on one of the seven classical planets of antiquity. They were dramatically performed by

, 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∴ The A∴A∴ ( ) is a magical organization established in 1907 by Aleister Crowley, a Western esotericist. Its members are dedicated to the advancement of humanity by perfection of the individual on every plane through a graded series of univ ...

into the public eye.

The Rites

The names of the seven Rites are ''The Rite of'' "Saturn", "Jupiter", "Mars", "Sol", "Venus", "Mercury" and "Luna". 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 Blasphemy refers to an insult that shows contempt, disrespect or lack of Reverence (emotion), reverence concerning a deity, an object considered sacred, or something considered Sanctity of life, inviolable. Some religions, especially Abrahamic o ...

and erotic suggestion.' The Rite of Luna was danced by Joan Hayes also known as Ione de Forest, a lover of Victor Neuberg

In print

''Rites of Eleusis: As Performed at Caxton Hall'' Illustrated by Dwina Murphy-Gibb. Edited by Keith Richmond. UK: Mandrake, 1990 (limited edition of 1,000 copies). Contains the complete scripts of all the ''Rites'', with introduction by Richmond and explanatory essays by Richmond and Terence DuQuesne. Also includes a series of adorations, ''The Treasure House of Images'' by Capt J.F.C. Fuller, and Crowley's '' Magick Book 4 (Liber O)''.

Contemporary Performances

Several modern Ordo Templi Orientis groups regularly perform the Rites of Eleusis as written by Crowley. There is an additional "Rite of Earth" not written by Crowley which was penned by Lon Milo Duquette and others as a logical extension of the Rites to complete the sequence from Saturn (Binah) to Earth (Malkuth). Beginning in 2000, Seattle base
Eleusyve Productions
has been composing original musical arrangements for each of the plays comprising ''The Rites of Eleusis''. All seven have been created and staged, with the final video, "Rite of Saturn", released in May 2020. On March 7, 2008 experimental media artist Raymond Salvatore Harmon presented a three channel video performance of the ''Rites of Eleusis'' at Horse Hospital Gallery London, UK, by recontextualizing them into seven abstract films containing all of the original content as subliminal content hidden within each film.

References

Sources

*Crowley, Aleister - Rites of Eleusis: As Performed at Caxton Hall () *King, Francis - The Rise of Western Occultism

External links

The full text of the Rites of Eleusis
{{Thelema series 1910 non-fiction books Books about magic Eleusinian Mysteries Thelemic texts Works by Aleister Crowley