I received a letter from someone who wants to use three different poems of mine on her website. "The three poems I would like to use are The Great Prayer, I Am Journeying and Invocation.". It was so long since I wrote those poems, I wondered if they had any relevance to my understanding now.

I sought them out, and happily, all three still are in my favor!

I Am Journeying I am journeying to the center, to the heart, To the heart of the Mother. Oh Magna Mater, Take me in. Show me your secrets, teach me your mysteries, that I may learn to bear the LIGHT glow incandescent with the white heat. That I may manifest PEACE transforming presence with ease. That all I touch may know LOVE JAL, 1995

Surprisingly, it still holds. I now call one of the aspects of my divine Self Illuminaria, in that she bears the light and glows incandescent with the white heat. I don't call First Mystery 'Magna Mater' any more, as Egyptian envisionings are most precious to me, Mystery and Power arise from NUT, Mother of all the Gods - First Mystery and her son SET, who is of Power and the Pride of Consciousness. But, yes, NUT can wear the title Magna Mater.

The Great Prayer was also written in 1995:

The Great Prayer To the Great Mystery which is within and without, Honor be to the Spirit of Life. May it flow like a river Through the channels of our hearts And branch out across the earth. Let us find healing at the peaceful waters And learn the love that empowers. May the love grow as the flame That brings light into the darkness And melts hatred and fear, And may we burn forever bright. May we know the strength of our souls, Know the worlds within us As we know we are cells of a greater whole. Two-fold in one, We are many fold in one. Ah-ho, so mote it be, AMEN. JAL, 1995

I especially wondered if I would still like this. I don't do 'prayer' as one who is a passive, powerless supplicant to Deity. But as I read it, that's not what's happening here. It is quite empowering. Wow! I still like it!

Now, about The Invocation: I went and Googled my own pages, and the finding of this isn't easy. The only reference I can find to an Invocation leads to this one written in early 2004:

From The Font Of The Double Fire Joan Ann Lansberry To the Seven Stillnesses gathered about, I invoke your presence at this hour. Calm of heart, I be. Calm of mind, I be. I have prepared the dwelling place. Ah dwee la! SET of the Power, I match your power with Ma'at discernment. Eye of Horus, vision to see far. Thoth will write it all down. Playful be Bast, May this ceremony be a pleasing and happy one. Ah dwee la! To the gathering I bring two more lights. Glowing within, a Black Flame, to know my strength True, to purify any weakness, and to transform fear and sorrow into joy and triumph. The Black Flame within - Self Godhood immanent, I will assure its growth. Within me shall always be its Chalice, the Black Fire until time's end. Ah dwee la! So Mote It Be! Gathering the Electric Power of SET into me, I declare another inner light. By my touch, what can I inspire? By this fire, change I the world? Know I this force, electricity coursing through me, what can I transform? What can I make right? What can I set free? Can I be an example of refinement in an ugly world? Gathering the Radiant Power of SEKHMET into me, I can do all these things. Ah dwee la! So Mote It Be! Eye of Horus to see far, clarifying the vision, I shall create a Plan. By my will, so it is done. Through my will, exalted and purified, all these mighty things can be done. I declare my aim. I declare my intention. From the font of the Double Fire, all these mighty things can be done. I have purified myself, I have declared my name, I have prepared the dwelling place, burn now within me, the Great Flame! Ah dwee la! So Mote It Be! Xepera Xeper Xeperu! Definition for 'Ah Dwee La': Ah-h-h-h!='Calm of heart, calm of mind. Dwee='I have prepared the dwelling place. la!=Come dwell here! (Addressed of course to SET and the Black Flame, and SEKHMET and the Bright Flame)

I ask myself, has my view changed since February 2004? It has broadened somewhat, but this invocation still holds strong.

It is curious. Some of the Kemetics have a view of Deity as Monolatry, that it is all one source, which changes form to become the different deities. I don't have that view, as SET to me is very distinct and has his own form and unique consciousness. However, all the other deities are like that to me, arising from NUT, Mother of the Gods. Therefore, Sekhmet to me is an aspect of First Mystery. She becomes Sekhmet. First Mystery becomes Ma'at. She (changing gender), becomes Thoth, Horus, or even RA. WE are also aspects of the Mystery. As Crowley said:

IT IS WRITTEN in The Book of the Law:
"Every man and every woman is a Star.

"It is Our Lady of the Stars that speaketh to thee, O thou that art a star, a member of the Body of Nuith! . . ."

When we invoke the Divinity within ourselves, there are many archetypes we can become. We can become Sekhmet, we can become Ma'at. We can have our own archetype, such as I do with Illuminaria. But for me, this is always in partnership with SET. "Great is the Might Of Set, Greater Still He Through Us!"

Now having looked at these poems, happily I claim them all.

Go to Idea Before Anything Else?
Go to Archive - May 2004 to April 2005
Go to INDEX of Markings Of My Path
© JAL: