review
by Dianus BlackCat
I've never had much experience with ceremonial magick. It is true my earliest witchcraft training took advantage of magickal sigils and the occasional Enochian word of power. Much has been written on the influence of ceremonial magick on Wicca. Yet to me, ceremonial magick always gave an impression of being very cerebral and academic. When I would pick up a book on the subject, I felt inundated with perfectionism, regulated body motions and complicated words in unknown languages. I enjoy the rush of emotion and the free expression of an artistic form that is my brand of witchcraft. For me, it's that emotional intensity and expression that gets the magickal energy flowing in a ritual.
Well, impressions are often based on partial or limited information, and I can honestly say that my attendance of the Apple Camp of the OTO (Ordo Templi Orientis)'s performance of The Rite of Jupiter dashed all my prior misconceptions of ceremonial magick ritual.
The Rite of Jupiter is a play written by Aleister Crowley (1875-1947), famous scholar, philosopher and magician. He was a member of the Order of the Golden Dawn in the early 1900s and later met up with the OTO, which originated in Germany, emphasizing sacred sexual practices. Later he traveled to Egypt. There he expanded his experiences by working with Egyptian god forms, notably Thoth, from whence he designed his popular Tarot deck. He eventually combined all these experiences and created his own system of magick, Thelema.
The play is quite abstract, although full of symbolic imagery. What made this performance so amazing yet accessible was having it all put to original music. Jon Sewell wrote original music and lyrics, and along with (Jon) Uly Ruiz on guitar and the other members of the Apple Camp cast meshed these with the prose, poetry and verse of Aleister Crowley's play to create a rock opera. It worked astoundingly well, for the music, dance and singing all carried that emotional intensity I look for in a ritual setting. And it was a ritual setting.
Nearly 70 people shuffled into the Vogue nightclub for the play, performed March 31. The Vogue might seem an unlikely location, but I think many of the interested attendees were familiar with the Capitol Hill area, and indeed many of the chorus can be spotted enjoying dance at the venue from time to time.
The ritual space was established by a charming and sexy man who began what appeared to be a banishing and clearing ritual. He faced the directions, gestured and articulated in strange tongues. I don't know the ritual, but I know magickal energy, and it began to swirl and change with his call and motions. He would speak the words, then chant, than gesture, throwing every fiber of his nimble form into the working. The room was silent, and the energy moved out, creating what felt to me like a vortex of cleared space. I have never witnessed a ritual performed with such exactness and yet such feeling combined. It was simply amazing! The whole room was silent and awestruck.
The play began equally impressively. The music began to pulse with a dramatic tone as a priestess came out in a provocative floor-length skirt, with only her breasts covered in a sensual, almost Egyptian style. She called out an adoration and invocation to God. A priest joined her and danced before her, twirling his muscular form. He reached out with strong arms, his long hair flowing, his face calm yet stern, exuding masculinity. It was a magickal and almost ecstatic combination to witness; her evoking and speaking out the words, with the music in the background, and him interpreting the music and expression of the adoration made flesh before us.
At this point, four others joined them and formed a clear ritual position. Seated at the center was a hooded figure as Jupiter, with the priestess and priest before him. Behind him was a seductive and darkly enchanting women dressed in black, full of sensuality, her lips shiny and red. To either side, hooded figures stood as if on guard. Like some molecular structure, Jupiter seated at the center reminded me of a Godhead, an ultimate divinity form, with the female and male before him as if expressions of Goddess and God coming from that ultimate singularity. The female behind them was the "Mother of Mystery," creatrix power, and the two surrounding other polarities the mix of creation, one part active and physical, one passive and mental. The whole image was to me a spiritual model of the universe.
The three circled about, as if to find a point of reference or sense of being. Each in turn seemed almost perplexed. But when the Mother of Mystery invoked the active physical force, he threw his hood back and sang a soulful, rock-guitar ballad full of emotion and expression. The passive mental force did not hear or respond. But in his turn, he was invoked and offered a poem of love and beauty.
It was not a dry ritual or merely abstract art performance. At key points, the music would kick in and, hoods removed, the players burst into song. The original music was strong and varied. The performers were really able to sing with full voice and express the dynamics of their unique representation in the magickal model. I recall the music being pagan with a chorus of beautiful women dancing -- scarlet women, enchantingly they moved. They were dressed seductively, each in her own style, high leather boots, full breasts peeking from strapped vests, slit skirts, glittering jewels and soft moist lips. There came a point when a wedding feast occured. The evoking by the creatrix of the physical and mental characters, all in accordance with the Jupiter form, or to me higher Will, led to a marriage of spiritual forces that is this model for universal energy and form. This combining is experienced in the outside world as well as in our own minds.
Each in the audience was welcomed to food and drink, tasty items of Greek origin and red wine. The music burst again, this time all the cast dancing, the women's chorus joined by men, clapping and smiling, swinging from the dancing poles over the staging area.
Crowley wrote: "Each man is more or less aware that his individuality includes several orders of existence even when he affirms that his more subtle principles are only symptomatic of the changes happening in his gross vehicle (in the physical body). Develop the Body of Light until it becomes as real as your other body, teach it to travel towards each desired symbol, give it the possibility to perform all the rituals and necessary invocations." The wedding celebration came because of the combining of subtle principles and the realization that this is God, this is the Universe and this is a human being.
I always knew that Crowley had a reputation for being a rebel. He was setting people free: free to express, free to emote, free to be sexual. I knew these elements were part of Crowley's life, but never before had I seen them as part of Crowley's magick. That was Apple Camp's gift. They gave an exciting performance, not a dry ritual. It was thrilling, titillating and sexual. Also it was poetic and intellectually stimulating in form. They showed us the universe, and the universe is in ecstasy!
The Apple Camp of the OTO is based in the Seattle area. Look for flyers for a planned repeat performance of the Rite of Jupiter later this spring.