Altar-ing

 

The objects I see around me are not the actual physical objects themselves but sense images of light signals reflected off the objects represented somewhere within my mind.  The same goes for every sound I hear, every surface I touch; I hear the hearing, not the sound itself, I feel the feeling, not the surface itself.  The same goes for the sensations within myself, I do not directly experience them either, but only their representations.  This bubble of perception that is my consciousness of the world is at (what feels like) the centre of the psychic cell of my mind.  This perceptual ''sphere'' (more of a blob) is in turn bounded by, or rather, suspended within, the sphere of thought or ''the subconscious mind''.  Finally, that mind is then located in a brain, somewhere in a real, physical world - we assume.  

As an occultist, this appreciation of the mental reality of my experience of the world, this knowledge of the Inner Light, shapes the way I interact with any altar - I understand that what I am looking at on its surface is a mental object in my mind (my conceptual understanding coiled within that mental object), as much as it is a physical one.  In the Temple, I am not only a physical body standing in a sacred room, but by virtue of the temples structures/objects I am altering the contents of my perceptual sphere until my mind becomes the sacred room.  The most enlightened of us realise that we never leave the centre of this cell, that the feeling of movement as a physical object through the world is as much a representation as anything else and therefore once the temple is understood, in truth, they never leave this space nor have they ever left.

Although the principal deity of the Perseus Protocols is Athena, they also contain two other vital forces - Hermes and Zeus - which are integrated into aspects of the altar work in a variety of different ways.  For instance the ''Jupiterian'' aspect is conveyed by the ceremonial wearing of blue suits and blue robes and that the ritual is performed on a Thursday.  As Caduceum explained before, the Perseus Protocols were created as a reaction to the global emergency, and typically my own theurgical work is more focused on the Sumerian Pantheon.  However, after several weeks of investigation of our situation and our location it became clear that both Perseus and Athena would be central to our collective response.  Since the altar was originally constructed at the height of our national lock-down it was somewhat improvised at the beginning but has steadily evolved throughout the work.  I share these images now so people who want to engage in the Protocols can work, through their own ingenium, towards building an altar of their own, or more correctly, rediscovering their altar.  As a reminder its worth bearing in mind that not all deities mix well, and you should exercise caution if you were to blend other deities, and that the Hellenic fusion happening here is because of their shared roles in the drama of Perseus.  Even with Perseus holding these characters together the work exposed a series of different tensions between them, many of which we did not expect, but through which we came to learn more about the deities themselves.

EARLY TEMPLE

LATER TEMPLE

There are eight candles in the orange holders on either side of the main altar for Hermes. The two candles on top of these stacks are one for Hermes and one for Athena - their vigorous interplay often representing a conversation between them.   The central altar is mainly organised around the dyad and symmetry - both sacred to Athena - whatever is on the altar is two and is in balance.  Two rose crystals, two golden candlesticks, etc.  Owls (and birds in general) are sacred to Athena so there are two of those as well and other golden birds out of sight - and a lot of fire.

RITUAL OFFERINGS

Ritual offerings of the Perseus Protocols include a selection of Greek food: pita, olives (oil), lemons, grapes, feta cheese, etc and Greek or Italian alcohol.  COVID-19's strike on Northern Italy in the early phases of the European experience of the Pandemic made us feature/include Minerva, the Roman equivalent of Athena. You can see (what's left of) the grappa to the left of the above image, peculiarly this brand bore the symbol of Mercury on the label.  We also offer various incenses, smoke, flame, Palo Santo wood, Oil of St Cyprian, etc.    

THE GORGONEION

Perseus carried a mirrored shield given to him as a gift from Athena in his quest to defeat the Gorgons.  Medusa's head was later incorporated into the Gorgoneion which is a charm used in Greece against the evil eye/to ward off demons.  I mentioned in the comments section before that the idea of a form of ''mirroring'' is central to the way anti-bodies work i.e. as part of the complement system.  Our representative of the silver shield, includes a sketch of the Gorgoneion and various immunity boosting supplies and other oils are placed on top of it used for enchanted warding/enhancement.  The details of the elixir will follow in a subsequent post (very few of the ingredients are shown in this image).

THE GOLDEN APPLE

Perhaps one of the most controversial elements of the altar was the inclusion of a Golden Apple that I just happened to have in my esoteric supply stash.  In the Perseus Protocols rite Athena is offered the Golden Apple demonstrating to her that we were/are in disagreement with Paris.  The journey of the Golden Apple through the rites alongside the discoveries revealed by this piece of fruit will be discussed in subsequent posts.  If you do not feel comfortable including this aspect of the altar feel free to ignore it, but from my perspective this recognition of Athena's beauty was essential to the response we had from her in the beginning and the development of the idea from that moment on and what happened to the apple in the end was most surprising. 

THE CRYSTAL VASE

Eschewing an actual physical statue, the vessel for Athena, and centre piece of the altar is an ornate crystal vase - when struck with the ceremonial wand the sound is very powerful.  For me the vase is suitable for Athena as it is a) beautiful b) elegant c) symmetrical d) light e) airy f) refracts the firelight g) strong - the engraving also seems to capture something of the shielding that is so important to the Protocols.  

Journeys associated with the Perseus Protocols forced us to make our altar somewhat portable at times and we adapted as necessary, and as the altar ''moved'' with us, it gathered various different objects/concepts to itself; like a snowball rolling down a hill, the Altar strangely attracted other ideas and experiences.  But since we never really leave the Temple, nor have we ever left, we never really leave the Altar - it has always been strangely attractive.

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