the hymns of 'the Worshipped'
I. Leukothea
II. Melanotheos
III. The Holy One
Thus shall the praises sound of Leukothea; ever thus while praise shall
be:-
The crystal-flashing splendour of her love
pervades all things, nourishing and renewing.
Of her bounty she gives secret dew into an
earthen cup: those who love her drink deeply of it, and she casts around
them the brightness of her regard.
Treasure of the day is she, and mystery of
night.
Before the white-fire face of the Moon she
chants; and a lone devotee, enscorcelled, staff broken and magick set to
naught, casts himself, powerless, into the dark gulf of her being. Thus
without choice he waits, until the vision of splendour and flame arise,
and wisdom be his, or madness.
Upon her palm the single flame quivers, seeming
air-nurtured. Hand upon hand. Sign most awesome.
The beryl-stone in her circlet becomes a pool
filled with waters of compassion and clear vision; whoso gazes therein
shall mount a winged steed.
The crystal-flashing splendour of her love
pervades all things, nourishing and renewing.
Hear the Oracles concerning Melanotheos.
He is the pursuer of all who seek him not:
They awaken, they turn to find him who has
bestirred them;
But he has withdrawn. Beyond the deep of night
he has withdrawn.
To the imaging of the mind's lone seeking
The Unmanifest seems as the myriad flame-particles
which shadow forth his being.
One only is there, one in all her forms, to
whom without cease he draws nigh.
She who he seeks is found, and sought, and
found in all worlds to Time's ending.
Therefore as a quest is Existence transmitted
to all;
Therefore is Love the pulse of all being,
and the lance of light is the source of life.
In silence and darkness he moves
But that which he has wrought shines in flame,
dances in water,
And to all who know him through that which
he has wrought, the Father of All is manifold:
The thronging Star-Lords, Daimones,
The glittering dew of heaven imaging the seed-horde
of godhead -
The myriad of the star-host in the body of
the Goddess of Infinite Space.
She gives oneness to that multitude, for to
her he is one,
And the Gnostic for whom she is Wisdom knows
him as one, Melanotheos.
Io, Melanotheos!
Daimones Poliastres, Io!
Casmen III. The Holy One (Knouphis)
The Holy One shall arise
And his voice shall cry in the dawn,
Yea, his might voice shall cry in the dawn.
He shall go forth in his name Knouphis
And his crown of light shall enkindle the
worlds.
A thousand Aeons shall adore him,
And men shall seek death.
The earth shall tremble,
The voice of the Holy One shall sound in the
Tempest.
The Gnostic shall stand in contemplation
He shall lift up his hands in adoration.
Above him shall be the Diadem of Light,
And these shall be the words of the Gnostic:-
"Terror and Vastness are about me
But the broad wings of the Serpent enfold
me.
The Fleeing darkness is before me,
But I keep in concealment the glory which
is mine
And the time is not yet when I shall unveil my face;
Yet I stand in majesty and power and bliss
unending."
These shall be the words of the Gnostic in
Adoration of the Holy One.
Casmen IV. Knouphis-Agathodaimon
Sprung from thy secret abode in the limitless
deep.
Upward coursing, resistless, beautiful fire,
O sacred scintillant Serpent, Knouphis-Agathodaimon!
- we hail thee and give thee praise.
What is the chasm, the gulf whence thou are
arisen?
There darkly, immeasurably below, surge the
primal waters.
Imageless viewless counterpart of the high
Hidden Mother.
There is thy mirrored source.
Child of the heights supernal, swift-coursing
downward,
Bringing thy light through worlds of manifold
being,
Lifting them, drawing them higher -
Primeval mystery, ever shown forth in thy
children!
Water-deep calls unto water-deep, calls and
responds:
Upward, upward impelled,
Upward ever thy children must strive, flashing
wings seeking
Voice of her summoning, voice of the Mother
of waters supernal.
Thou, I flame unresting, thou dost impel thy
children:
Thou in them seekest upward, strivest upward,
questing, aspiring:
Thou in thy children art column of undulant
flame,
Listening wings of flame, questing to Herward.
The sping rises swaying, the Serpent of Fire
quests upward:
Lo, the whole form burgeons forth!
Out of the Serpent flashes a living tree:
roses of flame,
Beauteous many-hued whorls of flame
Borne upon slender stems spring from the central
shaft,
Each informed with the upward impulse, vibrant,
intent on its purpose of being -
Each a manifestation of thee.
For thou in thyself dost carry all modes of
being.
Not lost in thee is that primal Deep,
Not lost in that dark Water Mother, but inwoven
with thine essential fire:
She, she rises blissfully through her children,
Rises through thy coilings, rises through
the fire blossoms of thy tree.
Rises with thee, in thee -
Rises to find thy glory, as thou hers.
So the two wings flame forth at the head of
the Caduceus,
And its two wings flame forth at the head
of the Caduceus,
And its two powers, male-female, are one in
that radiance
And in that Light, which is thine, thy children
see their crown.
Sprung from thy secret above in the limitless
deep,
Upward coursing, resistless, beautiful fire,
O sacred scintillant Serpent, Knouphis-Agathodaimon!
- we hail thee and give thee praise.