The Opening of the Gates
As you open each Gate at the beginning of a ritual, you will find a series of images building in your imagination. You will start out with the images you have been taught to build. However when the temple has been established a while you may find a new set impinging on your consciousness. No two people have the same picture, but they augment each other and in the usual paradoxical way of the occult, they work perfectly together.
The usual opening of the Gates is done by building either wrought iron gates or immense wooden doors with massive hinges and locks. But you can have anything you like as long as you feel safe behind such gates. As they swing open, the quarter's God‐form or Archangel comes forward first, the landscape behind should conform to the symbology of the quarter, i.e. desert or volcanic for the South, lush fields or deep caves for the North, etc. After this figure comes the Elemental King seen in the colors
appropriate to his nature. Then add the elementals themselves, and even animals associated with that quarter. It is a good way to remember things by association.
When you come to write your own rituals you may on occasion decide to invoke just the Elemental Kings, or just the God‐forms, Archangels or whatever. For this you will need a proper invocation for each one. Sooner or later you are going to have to learn how to write an invocation. The best way is to read poetry because that is in essence what an invocation is. By reading it out loud you will train your ear to the most essential part of poetry, and that is rhythm. It must scan... in layman's terms it must have an 'umpty sound' like a nursery rhyme. Read Longfellow's poem Hiawatha, or Coleridges The Rhyme of the Ancient Mariner, both have a natural beat to the words. This is the kind of beat a good invocation must have.
At the end of this chapter you will find examples that you can use until you can come up with your own.
Get yourself a copy of The Poet's Rhyming Dictionary, it will save a lot of time trying to find words that sound the same.
When working with God‐forms in the quarters you must have the pantheons at your fingertips. It is no use remembering halfway through a ritual that Vulcan goes in the South and you have him in the East.
But there is a way to plan ahead. Buy a large sheet of cartridge paper and mark it off into 1 inch squares.
In the left‐hand column write the types of the traditions: Greek, Roman, Celtic, Qabalah, Egyptian, Assyrian, Chaldean, Norse, Chinese, Hindu, Aztec, American Indian, and any more you can find. Along the top write the areas of rulership: Sun, Moon, Stars, Earth, Sea, Sky, Smith, Corn, Magic, Wisdom, Time, Love, War, Sleep, Dreams, etc. Now with the aid of an encyclopaedia of mythology from your local library, fill in the names of the gods and goddesses according to tradition and rulership. (See Figure 22) With this table you will never put the wrong god in the wrong place. It will also act as a memory aid and you will soon be able to remember the right order without referring to the graph. You may find that some gods overlap into various rulerships, this is usual and means you can place the God‐form in any of those areas where it is marked. You can do this with colors and symbols as well, if your wall is big enough to carry all the charts!
SUN MOON FATHER MOTHER EARTH FIRE WATER – OCEAN
GREEK APOLLO ARTIMIS ZEUS HERA DEMETER HEPHASTEOS POSEIDON
ROMAN HELIOS DIANA JOVE JUNO CERES VULCAN NEPTUNE
NORSE FREY GEFYION ODIN FRIGGA NERTHUS LOKl NJORD
CELTIC LUGH ARIANRHOD DAGDA DIANA CERRUNOS
CERIDWEN
WAYLAND GOVANNON
HANANNAN LLYR QABALIST TIPHARETH
RAPKIEL
YESOD GABRIEL
CHOCKMAH AIN SOPH AUR
BINAH NETZACH
MALKUTH URIEL
NETZACH BINAH YESOD
EGYPTIAN RA ISIS ATUM NUIT NEPHTHYS SEKMET ISIS
HINDU SURYA NAKAYANA
SOMA MITRA
INDRA VISHNU
MAHASAKTI LAKSHMI
ADITI AGNI VARUNA
ASSYRIAN SHAMASH MARDUK NINAGAL
SIN BAAL ENLIL AN
MAMI NINLIL NINTU NINHURSAG
NUSKU EA TIAMAT
AMERICAN YOU FILL THIS ONE IN
AZTEC HUITZILOPOCHTLI TONATIUH
NANAHOATL VIRACOCHA COATLICUE CIHUACOATL UEUETEOTL TLALOC
CHINESE FU‐HSI HENG‐O HUANG‐TI NU‐KOA P'AN CHU CHU ‐YUNG
FLAME DRAGON
YU‐CHIANG
NOTES‐ LYRE BOW CHARIOT OISK
BOW VIRGIN CRESCENT TIOES
SKY LIGHTNING BOLT
HEAVEN MARRIAGE FIDELITY
CORN SICKLE
SWORD SMITH GODS
EARTHQUAKE HORSES TRIDENT
WAR WISDOM BEAUTY
LOVE
MESSENGER UNDERWORLD MUSIC WINE SACRIFICE
GREEK ARES ATHENE APHRODITE HERMES HADES MUSES
APOLLO
DIONYSIUS
ROMAN MARS MINERVA VENUS MERCURY PLUTO HELIOS BAACHUS
NORSE WODEN
THOR
ODIN IDUNA
FREYA
HEIMDALL HEL BALDUR
CELTIC BRAN GWYDION RHIANNON
OENGUS
GWION PWYLL BRIGID
TALIESIN
BRAN
QABALIST GEBURAH KHAMAEL
CHESED DAATH 4 HOLY CREATURES
NETZACH MANIEL
HOD YESOD GABRIEL
QLIPPOTH TIPHERETH RAPHAEL
TIPHERETH CHRIST
EGYPTIAN HORUS THOTH HATHOHR ANUBIS OSIRIS HATHOR OSIRIS
HINDU SKANDA KALI SHIVA
GARUDA TVASHIRI
KAMA KRISHNA
GANESHA HANUMAN PUSHAN
NAIARAJA THE AVATARS OF VISHNU
ASSYRIAN NERGAL ANAT TESHUP SHARMA
NABU EL
TANITH ISHTAR NINSIG
NABU MOT ANAT
AMERICAN
AZTEC GUKOMATZ QUETZACOATL TLAZOLTEUTL NANUALPILI XOCHIPILLI XIPETOTEC
CHINESE CHIYOU HSI WANG MU YI
THE ARCHER
LORD ON HIGH
NOTES‐ SHIELD AEGIS SPEAR
LOOM SPIDER BOOK PEN TREE
APPLE EMERALD OIL LAMP MIRROR BELT
CADUCEUS STAFF
DOG RICHES DJED SHOES
HARP FLUTE LYRE
GRAPES HEADS COLUMN MISTLETOE
The Pantheons : figure 22