A roiling ball of fire blazed out of control on Athena's altar. The pyramidal housing of the charcoal incense burner crackled and crumbled within the round flame.
With angelic serenity not at all befitting the circumstances, he said, "There's a fire. We need some water."
Hypnotized by the soft, pillow-talk-like quality of his voice, we paused before the meaning of the words sank in—then we flew like bat-winged devils to quench the flame.
All was fine. The incense burner was a sacrifice to Pallas, lover of the sacred flame, one given willingly, if unwittingly.
How should we choose to interpret this? The muggles will chalk it up to chance, of course, so we will utterly ignore them. We discussed at length the possible implications and how we should respond to them. There were negative and positive interpretations to be made, a lot hanging on how we viewed fire as an element and/or as a destructive force.
What was clear to us was that it was a real physical manifestation of our work on the Perseus Protocols, among many others. There was the frequent and intense occupation of our dreams, the sudden electrical surges outside, various distinct sounds and noises, and activity reminiscent of poltergeists. Most wonderfully, the alignment of the full moon above our altar, during the ritual.
It was our relationship to the gods and the nature of the Protocols that ultimately guided our interpretation of that fireball, and all the other signs. Perhaps, through the coming elucidation of those concepts, you will be able to determine what our conclusion was.
In this post, I will simply lay out the structure of the Protocols. A modest beginning. In the following posts, we will dive into the esoteric theory of it all.
The Protocols
- When?
- Once every week, on Thursdays, the day of Jupiter, in the first Mars hour of the night.
- This varies by location and time of year, so check yours here.
- The Altar:
- Spend time considering the attributes of Athena, and construct your altar accordingly. We will explore the altar in more detail in an upcoming post.
- The Tools:
- Wand
- Sword
- Perform the Orphic Hymns to our deities, twice each, in the following order:
- Zeus
- Hermes
- Play a recording of the Orphic Hymn to Athena in Greek
- Athena
- Ritually prepare for the battle with Medusa, as Perseus.
- Make an offering to Hermes in exchange for his winged sandals.
- Give to Athena the golden apple that Paris gave to Aphrodite in exchange for the shield.
- Take up the sword and march off to battle.
- Crucially, you will not perform the battle itself. That is what we all face, out in the world.
- Concoct and drink the immunity potion. Details to follow in an upcoming post.
- Toast to Athena, "General General," with a spirit of your choice. We like grappa.
- We think of intrepid Athena as a General, but she's not just a General of one army...she's the general General.
- Feast!
Hello!
ReplyDeleteThis is Njaal, I am very interested in starting this process, is it wise to do so already tonight? Can I do parts of it first, like read the hymns and drink a dram (toast) while saying General, General?
I made this alter, but don't know if it's good enough or good at all, I spent a long time on it, but looking at it now, maybe it's just not so good? I had to steal stuff from my mum to make it more feminine, even a piece of her furniture, her olive oil (for Athena?) etc etc etc. She was asleep upstairs ( I'm one of those sad guys that live in the basement of their mums house :(, she might go berserk on me when she notices! He,he. Please, let me know if I can start, I don't want to do anything wrong.
Nervous greetings from the north, north!
Yes absolutely Njaal! Our own practice evolved (and is still evolving) but we thought we wouldn't drop too much info in the first post - we'll detail altar composition, elixir ingredients, etc in subsequent posts. What you are planning to do/have done is more than enough to get started - just make sure you obey the planetary hours and we will be with you in Spirit this evening. :-) The Protocols, drawing on mythic timelessness, are hyperstitional.
DeleteHello from the dark!
DeleteThis is Njaal! I am so late posting this, I got really sick with the flu (no covid, hehe), it was so bad, I was scared we had done something wrong in our ritual.
So this is what happened:
I asked my buddy, Ragnar to do it with me, he likes stuff like this, but he doesn't want to post on the blog, he writes stuff on the computer for a living, so he gets a bit sick of it. He studied in England and has a phd, but lives with his parents (just like me hehe). I really wanted to read to Athena, but getting the rhythm right, was a bit difficult for me, so we decided that we would read 1 each of all. Ragnar read first and it was really good, then I would read, and I really hope I will get better. It was more difficult than I thought it would be, but when we finished I felt a energy that was really special, I felt like I was lighter and at the same time on fire. For the feast we had the best kebabs (we don't have Greek food where I live and I am not a good cook. It was really the best kebab in my life!! :D
We drank a lot, hope it's okay to do that and discussed the ritual and how it went. Ragnar said he would write me a short thing to post here about what he thinks after the ritual tonight, he had a lot of clever things to say. I haven't seen him since then, so will be interesting tonight.
Greetings from the north, north!
Lovely, the new moon in the sign of Libra on the 16th of October manifests luck and creative/artistic genius. I shall visit in the lucid ether for sure.
ReplyDeleteObviously Venus rules Libra, and there seems to be plenty of news about Venus lately. With NASA finding gas in 1978, and announced that fact, a week after Russia cheekily said they own the planet Venus.
Athena (A-Fena the Phoenician) was born from the head of Zeus. Jupiter represents Zeus as does JeZeus - better known as Jesus - who called himself the ‘morning star’ in the Bible. Venus is also called the Morning Star, as is one Lucifer.
The planet Venus was birthed by Jupiter, thus Athena is represented by the planet Venus.
Venus was originally spelt as Fenus
(hence A-Fena and obviously Phoenicians were ruled by the planet Fenus). Let’s not talk about the etymological root of Venice and Phoenicia (both city states made famous by their merchant activities, the former spawning a currently existing banking cabal).
According to the Bible, the second coming is near when Venus appears as the second sun (?).
I’ll leave you with this, the Sumerians called Venus, Nibiru, the mysterious planet that is set to collide with Earth.
(My apologies in advance if you all were aware of this... let me know and I’ll refrain from commenting like this in future)
Greetings, spartan.
ReplyDeleteVery interesting observations. A(f)ena the (F)enusian" does ring a bell, it's interesting you bring it up, because it did came to my mind recently. Among other things, Athena is wisdom and strategy, but in her care, there seems to be love, in the sense that once she is "Understood, rage to the wicked, and wisdom to the good," as her hymn says. I wonder if this "Venusian" side of her, actually means discipline, a type of "tough love," which is more introspective and focused on the actions of the self, rather than love and beauty that relies in the relationship with another; this came to me considering the type of bribes the Goddesses where offering to Paris in the story of the Trojan War.
Now, you mention Nibiru, and a whole net of information nets in my head. I will digest that one for a little longer.
Please keep posting things like this! Food for the thought.
That altar needed some water indeed. Maybe Athena was just thirsty :D
ReplyDeleteHi!
ReplyDeleteI have a few questions concerning some possible modifications of the ritual.
I have a small statue of Athena Parthenos with the goddess Nike in her hand. Do you think it would be a good idea to include a recitation of the orphic hymn of Nike in the procedure?
Also, what kind of incense would you consider to be most appropriate? I was thinking about cedar, but anytime I am in doubt in these matters I use frankincense as a general rule. And do you think blue candles would fit with the general structure?
Last but not least, I don't own a sword. :) What could be a substitute in such a case?
Hello!
DeleteIt's great to have your participation.
While I would include the statue, I am hesitant to recommend including another goddess in the rite, as the theurgy can become more complicated and/or mired down. Though the favour of the goddess of victory should not be turned down lightly! If you feel it is appropriate and sense no conflict with Zeus or Hermes, then follow your reason and intuition. Should you include Nike, I would suggest reading her hymn first.
According to some sources, myrrh was sacred to Athena, and that is what we've been using the most. Frankincense is typically associated with Hermes in the Greek traditions, and we have used it many times when we feel his presence is ascendant or we want to connect with Mercury. Based on both historical sources and our own strong sense from Athena herself, she prefers her spaces to be smoky and aromatic, so you can't really go wrong.
When we have used coloured candles, we went with yellow, but I think blue would be alright. Athena's eyes are famously blue-gray. Generally, we stick with white.
Have a look at the post focused on the altar for more information. https://perseusprotocols.blogspot.com/2020/10/altar-ing.html
As with all magical tools, we must sometimes substitute! For the sword, perhaps you can set aside a nice knife, purify it, and consecrate it for the ritual, keeping it on the altar when not in use.
I hope you find this helpful! Please share with us your experiences.