Raising Cain

 At twilight…

• Erect the forked staff of the Wanderer in central position of the Threshing Floor.
• Place the goblet, containing wine and dragon’s blood (sangre de grado 1), athamé, serpentine stone and apple at the foot of the stand
• Move to extremity of the ring and mark out the seven pointed star with lighted candles at the points.
• Conjuring of the Holy Garden Sanctum:

At the end of the day, the Radiant Star, the Great light that fills the sky,

The Lady of the Evening appears in the heavens.

The people in all the lands lift their eyes to her.

The living creatures and the people kneel before her.

The Lady refreshes herself in the land.

There is great joy in the garden where

The young man makes love to his beloved.

My Lady looks in sweet wonder from heaven,

The people of Sumer parade before the holy Inanna,

Inanna, the Lady of the Evening, is radiant.

I sing your praises, Holy Inanna,

The Lady of the Evening is radiant on the horizon. 2

• Invocation:

O mighty Typhon, ruler of the realm

Above and master, god of gods, O lord.

O dark’s disturber, thunder’s bringer, whirlwind,

Night-flasher, breather-forth of hot and cold,

Shaker of rocks, wall-trembler, boiler of

The waves, disturber of the sea’s great depth,

I am he who searched with you the whole world and

Found great Osiris, whom I brought you chained.

I am he who joined you in war with the gods

I am he who closed heaven’s double gates and put

To sleep the serpent which must not be seen,

Who stopped the seas, the streams, the river currents

Where’er you rule the realm. And as your soldier

I have been conquered by the gods, I have

Been thrown face down because of empty wrath.

Raise up your friend, I beg you, I implore;

Throw me not on the ground, O lord of gods,

AEMINAEBARŌTHERRETHŌRABEANIMEA,

O grant me power, I beg, and give to me

This favour so that, whensoever I tell

One of the gods to come, he is seen coming

Swiftly to me in answer to my chants,

NAINE BASANAPTATOU EAPTOU MĒNŌPHAESMĒ PAPTOU MĒNŌPH AESIMĒ TRAUAPTI PEUCHRĒ TRAUARA PTOUMĒPH MOURAI ANCHOUCHAPHAPTA MOURSA ARAMEI IAŌ ATHTHARUI MĒNOKER BORO PTOUMĒTH AT TAUI MĒNI CHARCHARA PTOUMAU LALAPSA TRAUI TRAUEPSE MAMŌ PHORTOUCHA AEĒIO IOY OĒŌA EAI AEĒI ŌI IAŌ AĒI AI IAŌ 3

I am the daughter of Fortitude, and ravished every hour, from my youth.

For behold, I am Understanding, and Science dwelleth in me; and the heavens oppress me.

They covet and desire me with infinite appetite; few or none that are earthly have embraced me, for I am shadowed with the Circle of the Stone, and covered with the morning Clouds.

My feet are swifter than the winds, and my hands are sweeter than the morning dew. My garments are from the beginning, and my dwelling place is in my self.

The Lion knoweth not where I walk, neither do the beasts of the field understand me. I am deflowered, and yet a virgin; I sanctify, and am not sanctified.

Happy is he that embraceth me: for in the night season I am sweet, and in the day full of pleasure. My company is a harmony of many Cymbals, and my lips sweeter than health itself.

I am a harlot for such as ravish me, and a virgin with such as know me not: For Lo, I am loved of many, and I am a lover to many; and as many as come unto me as they should do, have entertainment.

Purge your streets, O ye sons of men, and wash your houses clean; make yourselves holy, and put on righteousness.

Cast out your old strumpets, and burn their clothes; abstain from the company of other women that are defiled, that are sluttish, and not so handsome and beautiful as I, and then will I come and dwell amongst you: and behold, I will bring forth children unto you, and they shall be the sons of Comfort.

I will open my garments, and stand naked before you, that your love may be more enflamed toward me.

As yet, I walk in the clouds; as yet, I am carried with the winds, and cannot descend unto you for the multitude of your abominations, and the filthy loathsomeness of your dwelling places. 4

• The Serpentine is placed into wine before:
• Slaying of seven headed serpent (insert point of the athamé into the red liquid to ‘strike’ the stone)

O great Lôtan, the fleeing serpent,

The twisting serpent, Chaos,

The close-coiled one with seven heads,

May Horon smash your head,

May ‘Athtart-name-of-Ba’al break thy crown! 5

• Rending to the four quarters – starting East/Oriens, casting of drops in honour of the Kings
• Eucharist of the Dragon’s Blood and Apple of Hesperides

Behold! the Perfect One hath said

Tried & found pure, a golden spoil.

These are my body’s elements Act accordingly.

Incense & Wine & Fire & Bread

These I consume, true Sacraments,

For the Perfection of the Oil

For I am clothed about with flesh

And I am the Eternal Spirit.

I am the Lord that riseth fresh

From Death, whose glory I inherit

Since I partake with him. I am

The Manifestor of the Unseen. 6

• Autoerotic worship of Babalon:

O BABALON, BABALON beloved, come now, partake of the sacrament, possess this shrine. Take me now! Let me be drunken on the wine of your fornications; let your kisses wanton me to death. Accept thou this sacrifice willingly given! 7

• Take the Serpentstone and erect the crown, binding it to the forked staff: Lucifer is Risen, Hakathriel! (Fix the volatile). The staff now becomes the serpent cross.
• Serpent Dance, Threshing Floor, working the clockwise mill of fate in a spiral pattern, coiling as you go.
• Depart through the East, where the sun doth rise, moving East of Eden.

Commentary:

This is a potent initiation rite, but yet more still. The forces of the ritual evoke genesis itself, the creation of order from chaos and bringing it all under the charge of the hero, as embodied by the operant. It is an individual ritual intended to be carried out alone and evokes the highest and hoary powers of Inanna, Ishtar, Ashtaroth, Lucifer, Babalon. The holy ring, Hekate’s Threshing Floor, is the garden of Hesperides, the Vespers, Inanna’s Holy Garden at Uruk wherein is planted the Hullupu Tree. This World Tree contains in its branches the Anzu bird, at its roots the serpent, while Lilith is its presiding spirit, maybe even Inanna itself. In this rendition, it is Gilgamesh who comes to the aid of the Goddess and strikes the serpent, liberating the tree which is then fashioned into a throne and a bed for the goddess. In the Raising of Cain, we work the rite that is synonymous with such myths, including the Edenic garden of which this forms prototype. In evoking the Daughter of Fortitude, Inanna in her manifest appearance as Babalon, the tree becomes enlivened as the throne, bestowing rulership, and bed whereby the sacred sovereignty is conveyed through sexual activation of Virtue. The climax of the operant denotes the sacrifice of self to self, having the power of Typhon through powerful invocation and overcoming the Midgard Serpent. Hence, through this sacred sexual union, we partake of the hieros gamos and claim the right of sovereignty through the Virtue now activated. In the great mythic episodes of antiquity, the serpent Chaos is overcome and the kingship claimed by the victor, the hero-magician, who fashions the world from the bones of the Old King, manifesting the watchers at the four quarters. Engaging the monad, in the One, we first create the Seven heads of the serpent (horizontal), then manifest through invocation the Three worlds upon the Tree (vertical), finally ordering the whole by fixing the volatile upon the Four-fold cross of the quarters (1-7-3-4).

There is a vast wealth and depth to be explored and revealed through this ritual, and this will emerge over time through further work, writing and art. The ritual demands performance to initiate not merely the individual but the entire magical cosmos within which they may operate, marking genesis, and activating, therefore, the Virtue of the operant.

If those who work this rite feel so inclined, please fee free to get in touch and let me know about it in strict confidentiality.

NB – Please note that reference to Dragon’s Blood is to Sangre de Grado only and no other variety or form is advised for consumption. The author retains no responsibility for any harm that may befall the operant in the execution. Caution, as always, is advised and proper and safe ritual practice should be adhered to at all times.

1. Only use Sangre de Grado, no other ‘dragons’ blood’ as this is variety is not only edible, but positively promotes excellent health.
2.  Adapted from The Lady of the Evening Hymn to Inanna, from Inanna, by Samuel Noah Kramer and Diane Wolkstein.
3.  From the Greek Magical Papyri in Translation, ed. Hans Dieter Betz.
4.  Daughter of Fortitude, received during scrying by Elizabethan magicians Dr John Dee and Edward Kelly.
5.  Adapted from the Ugaritic Ba’al Cycle, Môtu’s Reply to Baʿal (viii 48 – 5 i 8 ).
6.  From LIBER DCLXXI vel PYRAMIDOS.
7.  The Fourth Invocation, The Book of Babalon, Sub-Figura vel Liber Babalon .