Grand Invocation

GRAND INVOCATION OF THE HETHITE WITCHFATHER AND LORD OF LIGHT
THE FATHER GOAT, THE MASTER OF THE CUNNING-LODGE
AND THE ENDLESS FEAST
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Copyright © 2006
By Robin Artisson

The Grand Invocation-Litany of Nineteen Parts

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1. Mighty and Blessed Witchfather, Lord of seeking introspections and the Secret Gift of the Serpent by which the child of Wisdom is enseminated in the souls of women and men, Hear this invocation:

2. Where the forked tongue of the fire-serpent strikes, there the Arcmardi falls and the earth is consecrated with heavenly flame. Witchfather, double-headed and two-faced Master, whose head is encircled by the savage horns of the fertile goat, all prayers raised by the faithful are known to you. Here, surrounded by white dust, in the presence of holy fire, with blood shed from our left hands and our tongues annointed with salt, we make the grand invocation by which you are praised and worshipped.

3. As this invocation is made, so it is known by you, and you know us as your own. As you are aware of this invocation, so be present to the scions of your secret house. From the birthless and boundless void of darkness beyond darkness, shine with your splendid light. From the threshold of the unseen, glare with your double-gaze and appear in your many forms, great Turnskin God.

4. Called by many names and limited by none, Master, Andras, Bel-Bucca, Lordly, Strong, Handsome, Bestial, Seductive, Cunning, Ancient and Wise One, teacher of the Royal Art to women and men, radiant with the light of the Supernal sphere; Azarach-Theraza, great and princely One, descend and be among us again.

5. Awaken in us the knowledge of you, perpetual one, encircler, serpentine, light-seeding, teacher of the Word, master of all Arts, guide of the plow, beautifier of the face, worker of metal and most powerful in artifice. Terrible to the wicked, consoler of the innocent and the just, liberator, instructor in the arts of sorcery, giver of yourself to sacrifice, first brother and kin to all beings who bear the blessing of consciousness and the great vision of selfhood, let us know you in every season. We have taken your mark onto our left hands; let us always be aware of your presence.

6. Thrice-Great Master, Orvendale, Archer, praised by us as the Lord of Light and excoriated by foolish men as the devil, Let your horned serpent wrap around us, white and mysterious, from the roots of our bodies to the crowns of our skulls. Let our bodies become the trees of knowledge; let our bodies become the trees of life, in the gardens and meadows of the Goat.

7. May you consecrate us with your eternal hissing, the majestic sound in silence: let it penetrate our minds and awaken us when we are in darkness. Great Divine Sage, lord of ascetics and hedonists, destroy our illusions and carry us to the Deathless. Like stainless and sharp metal, hammered and tortured in flame, thrust into the bosom of waters and made brilliant like morning light, let us undergo your transmutation. Master-Spirit Elkunarsa, Let your sacred Artavus-sceptre be raised over the ruins of the shattered world of darkness, glimmering like a star over the regenerated age, an era of new life.

8. Master of all times, Saturnian witness of all ages, true sovereign of the Aeon, the seven heads of the serpent turn as one to look upon the Land and those who cry out for justice and reason. Ten and four eyes look with unblinking stare upon the wicked and the just, and seven tongues dart and strike, begetting deathless children upon the Maidens of Faery.

9. From the Master-Spirits and the Grey Women come the great lineages of instruction, that the minds of men be made noble and their spirits be enflamed with immortal fire. From the great inheritance of the House of the Satyr springs discovery, and from discovery comes knowledge of the world that is Unseen, that mankind might triumph over death and our spirit endure the grave. By the hands of the cunning and the wise, the Earth gives bounty in great share and all face the endless march of the seasons with new hope.

10. Over each life you appoint one of your deathless ministers to watch and guide, and summon that life to the Secret Inward Path when the Fate of death is finally ordained. Goat-horned, sharply hooved, serpent-eyed, wolf-taloned, beautiful of face, terrifying initiator, we have no allegiance higher than our pledge to you. You have a crown of roses and fire-circled horns, and you protect your faithful.

11. In you is the single image of the triumphant Divine descended to be among man, and in you, all of the misdeeds of human beings are destroyed by the Great Wisdom which recognizes reality, and the revelations of inescapable consequence. Serpent-Magister, Ophion-Lucifer, Spirit of fire mingled in clay, Your crown-stone was forged by immortals, endowed with the highest of powers; by the beauty of that treasure mankind was given knowledge of arts, and knowledge of good and evil.

12. In every time and place your power is known, Triple-Horned world-creating spirit, you go among mankind in the deeps of his winter, when the gate of solstice opens under the northern stars, heralding the time of night, the time of wolf-terror and the season of unforgiven dead who wander. In the white fields of snow and under the frost-hardened boughs of trees you fly to and fro, a spirit of warmth and radiance, the candle-light of the dead, ready to sleep in the bed of holly and reveal the pathway to life eternal.

13. In the heated nights of his summer, when life pulses forth in great abundance, you are witness to every lust-fire lit on every hill, and your spirit is a rushing in the loins of every creature that comes to rut. You are raised in sprigs of oak and mistletoe, prepared to speak a spell of mighty fertility and fortune, which will save man and beast.

14. Master Pouck, Harvester of Souls, You give your blessing to the corn-spirits and circle the court of their Straw-Crowned King, knowing his death and his life, and teaching mortals to be not afraid of the passions and deaths which are their Fated portion. You fly to death, and suffer the spear-wound, the blast of a thousand arrows of stone and steel, and the thick intoxication of hate and death, and yet you are unharmed.

15. By this power we know you, Azael, eternal spirit of wisdom. All realms of elemental power and moving substance are consecrated by your seal and spirit, O Invisible Master: forest and plowland, wide and bitter ocean, sun and moon filled sky. You are the lord of the bone-dance, king of corpses, gatherer of the dead, the warden of the forbidden knowledge known only to the shadows in the Underworld. You know the glyphs carved on the tablets of Fate, and you dart along the spine of the world-surrounding serpent.

16. Golden Goat, Your throne is in the eastern sun, and your three-pronged adamantine fork endows the world with the Whiteness of Truth, under whose veil mankind is made like the Gods; the Redness of Blood, in which our spirits are submerged and washed to final purification, and the Black of Midnight, under whose veil your rites are performed. By your masterful art, the Eye That Sees All is revealed. You are the royalty of the stars, the refreshing spirit of the waters, the emperor of those who dwell in the upper airs.

17. O, Earendil, you are the power of your Father, the prince of Faery-Elfhame, and none are more subtle than you, Buck-King. Great Goat Angel, sovereign of the Craft, servant of the Ancient of Days, lover of Old Fate, Lord of Elves, by your eldritch knowledge mankind is purified of ignorance and the door of Xvarenah opens. What is putrid and foul turns to fairest ambrosia in the skull-bowl you offer to your initiates. You are the oracle of oracles, and foresight is numbered among your many names. With deceit you tell the truth, and you are the truth-teller who destroys all deception. In a thousand forms you satisfy those who seek your hidden halls, and in a thousand forms you destroy that which they hold dearest.

18. Under the evening star and over the mound of the dead, you are summoned with ancient signs and gestures, with sacred words you placed on the tongues of the sons and daughters of your Undying House. We shake the bones of our ancestors and call forth the essence of the diamond-body in their dark marrow. We call unto you like the ancients called you, to teach us your wisdom, your faultless lore that saves from hunger, death, and uncertainty. We call to you to guide us through the charnal-grounds wherein illusions are burned away.

19. Take these gifts dark Master, these emblems of your power: a blade without blemish, a goblet of red earth hardened in fire, a horned mask of terrible aspect, a hammer that has beaten hot metal, a skull and crossed bones, a lamp of dancing flame, a triangle in a circle, and a mirror. Take these gifts and breathe your spirit into them. We will circle ourselves with them and stand in your full presence, in preparation for the glories to come. You will hear us; we will speak into your secret heart, enjoying your full attentions. Here we call you finally and ultimately, with words of beauty and power that have no second. Venite, Venite, Great Master, Come Forth.

Site last updated: October 30, 2006