Drawing Down the Moon
From Free Encyclopedia of Thelema
Drawing Down the Moon is part of a traditional Gardnerian Wiccan ceremony, where the Priest invokes the Goddess into the Priestess. After this ritual gesture is completed the Priestess then delivers the Charge of the Goddess to the coven.
The more esoteric aspects of this ritual however are rooted in very ancient pagan practices. It is more then likely the priestess was actually hypnotised into an altared state of consciousness through the use of some form of trance induction technique or other narcotic substances. In this way she became a literal voice of the Goddess and delivered oracles using the gift of second sight.
For example, oracle temples such as the Oracle of Delphi existed using methods along these lines.
In the article referenced below it states that: "Plutarch believed that the gods had to rely on the materials of this corrupt and transitory world to accomplish their works. God though he was, Apollo had to speak his prophecies through the voices of mortals, and he had to inspire them with stimuli that were part of the natural world." It goes on to say that, "Plutarch's careful observations and reporting of data about the gaseous emissions at Delphi show that the ancients did not try to exclude scientific inquiry from religious understanding." (1)
The role of the Priests of the temple at Delphi were to interpret the oracles the Priestesses delivered while in their altered state. It may also be that the role of the Priests in other temples were to act as hypnotists in some way so as to assist the Priestesses in achieving their ecstatic state of consciousness.
In a workshop I attended a couple of years back with Janet Farrar and Gavin Bone, a great deal of explanation was given to these possibilities. In particular an account Gavin Bone shared with the audience concerning a discovery he himself made. After observing many ancient pictures in various texts of a repeating theme; that of a man kneeling in front of a woman standing in an epiphany gesture , the moon behind her back, and the man holding aloft a bowl or container presumably as an offering to the goddess who stood before him. Gavin and Janet decided to have a bit of fun and recreate this ritual gesture in one of their ceremonies. They discovered quite by accident that the silver bowl containing water which Gavin held in front of Janet as he knelt before her and raised the bowl in an offering gesture to her just as the pictures had shown, reflected the light of moon back into Janets face creating a strobe light effect. Noticing this and seeing a strange change come over Janets face he then tipped the bowl back and forth to move the light play into her eyes. The result, was that Janet experienced a profound hypnotic trance we were told. I might also add it was a trance he explained he could not wake her up from. Gavin was a registered nurse and had a signifigant amount of western medical training in his bag of tricks. In the end Janet had collapsed unconscious and Gavin realized the very real threat now facing Janet. She was carried back inside the house they were staying at, and she was treated for symptoms of shock. They both realized with a very grave newly found awareness what they had happened upon. They set out forthwith to, in the future, pepare for the serious hazards and dangers of playing with things one might know very little about. If I am not mistaken they have plans to address this topic in another book they wish to publish, which may still be in the process of being written, or which may have been released by now, I am not certain. (2)
Some of these practices depending on the culture and time period may have been defined as Dionysian, or Shamanic and they revolved around being very in touch with corporeal consciousness and ecstatic union with the divine. These were very old and potent practices. They also were practices that gave a great more meaning to the term initiation which usually implies one has to face a life threatening situation, come face to face with death, or some other situation involving fear and terror, or extremes of emotion, to heighten ones psychic sensitivities in order to experience divine ecstasy. These are highly dangerous practices, and they were undertaken only after serious preparation which lasted for many days in some cases. I need not remind the readers of this article that the circumstances were very highly controlled by the facilitators and management of the various temples which dotted the geography of the ancient world. These were not ceremonies where one simply memorised a script and play acted them.
The moon was a very important symbol to temple priestesses all over the world in ancient times. The moon represents the subconscious forces of the mind and is closely linked to our sensory apparatus in the physical body.
It is important to bear in mind that in this day and age the attempt to reproduce these kinds of practices is both physically and mentally dangerous and in some cases illegal with respect to the use of mind altering substances. Such activities are not recommended or endorsed. Even in ancient times there is at least one known rare case recorded of a temple priestess dying at the Oracle of Delphi as a result of these techniques or practices. It was noted that on an "inauspicious day" when the temple was closed for business, one of the Priestesses was forced to deliver an oracle to a visiting VIP. The Priests of the temple drug her against her will into the adytum of the temple and forced her to perform. In the end she collapsed in convulsions after having a raving psychotic fit of inarticulate screaming, thrashing about the adytum, and frothing at the mouth. She lay for three days in her bed, in a coma until she finally died. (1)
It is believed the trigger for the Delphic Oracle Priestesses for their trance induction was a type of ethelyne gas which rose through the geologic volcanic fissures underneath the adytum chamber and mixed with the limestone deposits of the water pool inside the adytum. This created a vapour of steam which was inhaled by the Priestesses. The tripod they sat upon was positioned directly above this fissure where the vapours rose up through the floor of this chamber which was built underground, underneath the rest of the temple complex. The only ones allowed into this sacred adytum of the temple were the Pythia themselves. Neither guests or priests as a general rule would enter but would rather stay just outside the chamber in an ante room, in order to hear what going on within. (1)
I am not a professinal herbalist and I am not qualified to comment on the validity of this but it did come to my mind that often times the poisen grows next to the cure. Many pictures of the Pythia sitting on their tri-pods show the Pythia holding a laural branch. It does make one wonder if perhaps the laural plant which was considered in the past to be the actual trigger of the trance states which has since been argued against since the plant possesses no known narcotic properties; but perhaps it was potentially a medicinal means of counteracting the gaseous poison of the ethelyne. It would be an interesting hypothesis for an herbalist or some other qualified person to research.
I am presuming that the Priestesses of Apollo, must have had some way of measuring the toxicity of those gases, or at the very least being able to prepare their bodies beforehand for several days to counteract its effects safely.
It is possible that this particular priestess who was clearly under duress to perform her duties was not given her proper time of preperation before hand by the temple priests. This would indicate to me on a hunch, that the Priests concerned and responsible for the nefarious affair perhaps were not trained in the secrets of measuring these toxin levels and that it was perhaps the women of the temple who attended to these matters. It does not otherwise make sense for a temple priest to knowingly send his Pythias to their deaths. It is my opinion that there was a very sound scientific reason the day was "inauspicious" for delivering prophecies. The account stated that the Priests were very alarmed and afraid at the incident even going so far as to run away from the scene, leaving the woman to fend for herself, only coming back later when she was fully unconscious in the chamber in order to carry her out. It was as if they themselves actually had no idea such a thing might have a chance of occuring. The VIP left in the end without his oracle after all. (1)
This is a very excellent example of how ambition, greed, ego, stupidity and outright lack of respect for taking precautions in these things can end up in a very real fatality even in our modern times among modern practitioners.
References
- [www.sciam.com] : Scientific American Magazine,: Questioning the Delphic Oracle; John R. Hale, Jelle Zeilinga de Boer, Jeffrey P. Chanton and Henry A. Spiller; Issue Date, August 2003
- Wiccan Workshop; Loomis, California. Sponsored by "Earth Central" (Wiccan store), hosting instructors, Janet Farrar and Gavin Bone. August 2001
Recommended reading
- Drawing Down the Moon written by Margot Adler. This is a very good general introduction to the different neo-pagan practices revolving around paganism and Goddess worship in our modern times.
- Drugs and Magic George Andrews; Illuminet Press; copywrite 1977 (the author points out that many topics presented in this book are dangerous to "life, health and sanity". This reference is included here for historical research value only. Please be sensible)
