Moonchild by Julia Fryer
from the Pete Sinfield book, Under the Sky
On its slopes, there once stood an ancient temple that was called the Helicon. Mount Helikon was the place where the first Greek Gods and Goddesses were born. They inhabited it during the matriarchy, before Greek religion was taken over by the patriarchy and spread to Mount Olympus. The Muses continued to live on Helikon after the others left for Mount Olympus. In fact, that temple called the Helicon; was their temple.

Helice was a night goddess, and was not only associated with the Moon, but also with Ursa Major, the circumpolar Great Bear, that never really sets, but instead runs round and round the Earth's celestial pole. Hence the word "helix." Thus Helice was also associated with the turning of the Earth. Some ancients even believed that the World had a Willow as its axis. Witches used to cut willow branches to make their wands. Those same willow wands could invoke the Muses. Its even said that a microcosmic version of the World spins round about a witch's willow wand."

- The Greek Goddesses
    Yesod : The ninth emanation on the Tree of Life.

    "Yesod is associated with the Moon and the element Water. Regarded as a Female sphere, it is the seat of sexual instinct. On the Tree of Life Yesod has the function of channelling the energies of the higher down to the earth below (Malkuth). Occultists associate Yesod with the Astral Plane, because if the sephiroth above Malkuth are regarded as a map of the unconscious psyche, Yesod is the most accessible area of the mind. Because Yesod is the sphere of Fertility and Lunar imagery, it is identified with Witchcraft and Goddess Worship. It is also the so called 'animal soul' know by kabbalists as Nephesch."

    - Cabala


    "Talking to the trees of the
    cobweb strange
    Sleeping on the steps of a fountain
    Waving silver wands to the
    night-birds song
    Waiting for the sun on the mountain.

    She's a moonchild
    Gathering the flowers in a garden.
    Lovely moonchild
    Drifting on the echoes of the hours."
    Moonchild, a novel by Aleister Crowley Moonchild
    Aleister Crowley's novel
    about a magical war between
    a white lodge and a black
    lodge over an unborn child,
    the "moonchild" of the title.
    (Written: 1917 / Published: 1929)


    In 1913, Aleister Crowley wrote the Gnostic Mass, the text of which begins:

    "The...High Altar ...should be covered with a crimson altar-cloth, on which may be embroidered fleur-de-lys in gold, or a sunblaze, or other suitable emblem."

    The liturgy includes a recitation of the names of the Gnostic Saints.

    "The Saints

    The DEACON: Lord of Life and Joy ...we worthily commemorate them worthy that did of old adore thee and manifest thy glory unto men."

    - The Gnostic Mass

    Among the names of those "who know and who are known" recited during the mass: "Frederick of Hohenstaufen".

    In the last verse of Moonchild , Peter Sinfield hints at the impending encounter with the opposite.

    "Sailing on the wind
    in a milk white gown
    Dropping circle stones on a sun dial"


    "The analemma (the figure-8 path that the sun makes in the sky) is used in constructing sun dials ...and thus pinpoints some architectonic lines that look as though they have been arranged according to the declination of the sun at the solstice and the equinox. We know of gnomonics applied to architecture in another geometrical monument, Castel del Monte, from the studies of Aldo Tavolaro published in 1981."

    - The Relationship Between Architecture and Mathematics in the Pantheon

    Castel del Monte as sun dial: The Solar Architecture of Castel del Monte

    "Playing hide and seek
    with the ghosts of dawn
    Waiting for a smile from a sun child."


    "There is no access to the mind of nature without connection to the natural mind of the nymph. But when the nymph has become witch and nature a dead objective field, then we have natural science without a natural mind. Science devises other methods for divining nature's mind, and the nymph factor becomes an irregular variable to be excluded. Psychologists then speak of the anima problem of the scientist. But the nymph continues to operate in our psyches. When we make magic of nature, believe in natural health cures and become nebulously sentimental about pollution and conservation, attach ourselves to special trees, nooks, and scenes, listen for meanings in the wind and turn to oracles for comfort--then the nymph is doing her thing."

    - James Hillman, Pan




In the Beginning was the Word ~ Malkuth

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