MerlynHerne
November 4th, 2005, 05:47 AM
At the risk of upsetting some Pagans (I sincerely hope you will read all of this post before getting mad), I believe that it can be argued the Orthodox Divine Liturgy is a form of High Magick (Theurgy). This was the tradition I came from before coming to the Lord and the Lady).
Back in 1995, I was reading The King of Ys and it suddenly struck me that the Eastern Liturgy could be seen as a form of High Magick. First, you have all the Elements (Earth--the Altar, Air--incense, Fire--the candles, Water--the water poured into the Chalice during the Preparation. It can be argued that there is also Spirit as I can tell you from experiences I had as a priest that, at least at the Liturgies I celebrated as well as many of those performed by other priests, that there is definitely a spiritual presence if the Liturgy is performed with concentration and right motive. Several times when picking up the chalice to give communion, I felt a burst of energy travel from the chalice to my fingers, then my hands, and my arm on on to my heart where I felt a wonderful burst of joy). The Altar is censed Widdershins and the part of the templeTemple (as the Orthodox call their places of worship) where the people stand is censed Deosil (those directions are as seen by the people in the outer part of the church, beyond the iconostasis (a screen with images of Christ, His Mother, and various saints. Furthermore, a part of the Liturgy known as the Great Entrance, there is a procession made out onto the Amvon (the platform in front of the iconostasis) when the priest carries out the chalice and paten. If it is a so-called Pontifical Liturgy (a Liturgy at which a bishop celebrates), the procession includes clergy carrying the Spear (which is used to cut up the Communion bread during the preparation, as well as the Spoon (this is used to distribute Communion to the people), just like the processions I had read about in connection with Celtic Paganism, when all of the Sacred Regalia was included in those processions--The Cup (symbol of the Goddess and Her Womb), the Plate, the Spear (symbol of the God and His generative powers) and according to some sources, the Spoon was carried in procession as well. I could be wrong about my theory, but I don't think that I am.
Back in 1995, I was reading The King of Ys and it suddenly struck me that the Eastern Liturgy could be seen as a form of High Magick. First, you have all the Elements (Earth--the Altar, Air--incense, Fire--the candles, Water--the water poured into the Chalice during the Preparation. It can be argued that there is also Spirit as I can tell you from experiences I had as a priest that, at least at the Liturgies I celebrated as well as many of those performed by other priests, that there is definitely a spiritual presence if the Liturgy is performed with concentration and right motive. Several times when picking up the chalice to give communion, I felt a burst of energy travel from the chalice to my fingers, then my hands, and my arm on on to my heart where I felt a wonderful burst of joy). The Altar is censed Widdershins and the part of the templeTemple (as the Orthodox call their places of worship) where the people stand is censed Deosil (those directions are as seen by the people in the outer part of the church, beyond the iconostasis (a screen with images of Christ, His Mother, and various saints. Furthermore, a part of the Liturgy known as the Great Entrance, there is a procession made out onto the Amvon (the platform in front of the iconostasis) when the priest carries out the chalice and paten. If it is a so-called Pontifical Liturgy (a Liturgy at which a bishop celebrates), the procession includes clergy carrying the Spear (which is used to cut up the Communion bread during the preparation, as well as the Spoon (this is used to distribute Communion to the people), just like the processions I had read about in connection with Celtic Paganism, when all of the Sacred Regalia was included in those processions--The Cup (symbol of the Goddess and Her Womb), the Plate, the Spear (symbol of the God and His generative powers) and according to some sources, the Spoon was carried in procession as well. I could be wrong about my theory, but I don't think that I am.