Above is a video of the ceremony performed by a group in Canada.
The burning of the wicker man, said to have been done by the ancient Celts at the autumn equinox
This ceremony is based upon ancient ceremonies that were actually practiced at the autumn equinox and upon the universal principles of esoteric knowledge, which have a rich symbolism found throughout the world in sites like Chichen Itza, The Pyramid of the Sun, The Great Pyramid in Egypt, and Easter Island, as well as in the mythology of Jesus, Lucifer, and John the Baptist (esoteric Christianity), the Mayans, the goddesses Kali (India), Coatlicue (Aztec), Sekhmet (Egypt), Persephone (Greece), Inanna (Summeria), and Senge Dongma (Tibet) etc. To understand the symbolic spiritual meaning behind this ceremony, please read The Spiritual Meaning of the Autumn Equinox and how Ancient Sacred Sites Aligned to the Autumn Equinox.
The Set Up of the Sacred Circle
The ceremony begins just before the sun starts to set on the day of the autumn equinox. It takes place in a sacred circle with a place for a fire in the middle. There should be a passage to the circle; this represents the passage through the underworld. A wooden ladder, a scythe, and a trident should be placed upright inside the circle before the ceremony begins. A hole should be dug close to the bonfire prior to the ceremony in which to bury seeds.
Here is a detailed plan for a sacred autumn equinox circle with measurements, drawn by an architect: Setout Template – Autumn Equinox – 6metre Diameter
If it can only be celebrated indoors, create a workaround to suit your circumstances. Likewise, if you don’t have enough people for the ceremony, modify it as you consider best. The fire is not lit until the ceremony is underway, as lighting it is part of the ceremony.
The Participants
Participants should be dressed in red, or should wear red, but should wear no black items – not even shoes. Each participant who has no role in the ceremony should carry a flame as a candle or a torch.
The Greek god Hades, guardian of the underworld, who in the ceremony is guardian of the circle (photo copyright Aviad Bublil)
A man takes the role of a guardian of the circle representing Hades, the guardian of the underworld, and stands at the entrance to the passageway. He carries a set of scales and a sword.
Seven people dress in yellow, not red, to symbolize the seven solar bodies. They enter the circle first, and should face the fire and the sun, forming a semi-circle. Each of the seven wears a symbol of a serpent and carries one item. One carries water (symbolizing mercury), another sulphur (sulphur) or a lit candle if none is available, and another salt (salt), which are the materials of alchemical transformation. The remaining four each carry one stone: one black, one white, one yellow, and another red, symbolizing the change of energies in alchemy. The stones can be painted or can naturally be the chosen color. The seven also carry seeds of some kind such as wheat, or barley, or rice, or corn. They should line up in that order with the one carrying the water on the left.
The Performance of the Ritual
As the seven go to enter the passageway, the guardian, who has his sword held vertically, says to each one “remember Osiris is a dark god.” They each reply “Lux in Tenebris Lucem,” which means “the light shines in darkness.” The guardian allows them to enter. They take their places forming an inner circle, facing the setting sun, and continue to stand there throughout the ceremony.
The rest of the participants (apart from three) enter chanting a mantra and carrying a torch each, or a candle if no torch is available. Those who play the gong, drums, and bells carry them too. The guardian does not greet them in the same way as the seven, he just lets the participants pass. The participants chant the mantra as they enter, and take their place in the circle. They form a circle outside the seven and continue to pronounce the mantra until the three reach the guardian and the guardian makes his announcement – then they are silent.
The three remaining participants join the ceremony. One is a torch bearer (the torch symbolizing the sun), another is a man who carries the symbol of an initiate (a wicker man), and another is a woman who carries the symbol of the divine Mother (there are many in different cultures, like Mary in Christianity for example, and Durga in Hinduism). In the work of awakening the Mother closely accompanies the initiate.
The three walk to the beginning of the passageway. The torch bearer goes in front. Behind him are the other two, who walk side by side, the female on the left and the male on the right.
As they are about to enter, the guardian keeps the sword high. They stop at the guardian and he says to those present, “The mysteries are revealed to those who keep silence.” At that moment all who are present become silent. The silence represents the silence that must be kept when going through esoteric mysteries.
The three enter the passageway with the torch bearer in front. The guardian does not greet them as he does the seven. They stand around the fire: the torch bearer at some distance from the other two, and the two directly facing south.
The Maoi facing the equinox sunset at Ahu Akivi are symbols of the seven solar bodies one must have created before descending into the underworld, and are represented in the ceremony as the seven dressed in yellow, the color of the sun (photo copyright Ian Sewell)
The man places the wicker figure on the unlit fire. The woman, carrying the symbol of the Mother, lights the fire as the sun begins to set (the torch bearer can help with the fire if there are problems with it). There should not be a waiting period or just a short one, as the ceremony should flow. Light the fire as the first visible part of the sun begins to set. If the view of the horizon is obscured by terrestrial objects such as mountains, use the time when you see the sun setting over the terrestrial object, even though it may not have yet set across the horizon.
When the fire is lit the torch bearer pronounces the Egyptian “hbs m pht” pronounced khebs m pekht, which means “attain the star.” The participants respond “hbs m pht.”
The torch bearer reads a relevant sacred text (anything relevant will do – there is one from the ancient esoteric Christian text called The Pistis Sophia that can be used at the bottom of this page).
Once read all chant a mantra to the Mother apart from the guardian, who always stays at the entrance to the passageway.
A gong and drums sound, symbolizing chaos and the underworld. Then the mantra stops and the seven throw the seeds into the hole (the seed has to die for the new to be born). The man symbolizing an initiate buries the seeds. Then all lights are extinguished, apart from the main bonfire which is left burning, symbolizing the initiate’s work in darkness. If there are torches they can be thrown on the bonfire; if there are candles, they are extinguished.
Everyone leaves in darkness chanting a mantra, different to what has been used in the ceremony so far.
Sometime later, with the sun set and the ceremony closed, a song and mantra evening can be held sitting around the bonfire. It must conclude before midnight.
Above is a video of this ceremony celebrated by a group in the San Francisco Bay Area.
Mantras to the Mother Goddess in Her Warrior Aspect
The goddess Chamunda, who has many similarities with Kali (both inhabit cremation grounds, hold severed heads, etc.), and is seen as interchangeable with Kali and Durga. She is known as a destroyer of ignorance and evil.
The following mantras can be used during the ceremony, as they are particularly relevant to the celebration of the autumn equinox. They are mantras to the Mother (her aspect Kali), pleading that she destroys the egos at this time of descent into the underworld. She descends with the mystic at this stage in the esoteric work, into the underworld, to destroy the egos in the sexual alchemical fire.
Like Coatlicue of the Aztecs, Sekhemet of Egypt, Senge Dongma of the Buddhists, and Hecate and Persephone of Greece, Kali is the fierce warrior aspect of the Mother who has the role of destroying the egos within us, and thus liberating our consciousness so that we can awaken.
According to Indian traditions, Kali’s seed mantra is Krim. Seed mantras (called Bija mantras) in Indian traditions are thought, like a seed, to contain whole spiritual principles and do not have an easily definable literal meaning. The mantra Krim symbolizes all the work of sexual alchemy. This mantra is used to destroy the egos.
The meanings given for the mantras below are sourced from Indian texts, but they have many levels of meaning and depth.
The Mantra of Durga
Mantra: Om Aim Hrim Klim Chamundaye Vichche
Pronunciation: OHM eye-m hreem kleem chah-moon-dah-yai veech-chay
Meaning: In Indian traditions it is said that the mantra Om represents the primordial sound. Aim is the syllable of knowledge. Hrim is the syllable of purification and transformation, and dispels illusion and ignorance. It is the great mantra of the spiritual heart. It is said that through this mantra alone one can enter into the spiritual heart and the small space within its lotus in which the entire universe is held. Klim is a seed mantra that attracts spiritual energies from the sun god for protection. Chamundaye is another name given to Kali. It refers to a form of the goddess Paravati which is the destroyer of ignorance and evil. Vichche means cut, as in cutting one’s egos.
The Dakshine Kali Beej Mantra
Mantra: Krim Krim Krim Hum Hum Hrim Hrim Daksine Kalike Krim Krim Krim Hum Hum Hrim Hrim Swaha
Pronunciation: kreem kreem kreem hoom hoom hreem hreem dahk-shin-ay ka-li-kay kreem kreem kreem hoom hoom hreem hreem swa-ha
Meaning: According to Indian traditions this mantra is especially 22 syllables long – mantras of this length are thought to be some of the more powerful. It also contains Kali’s threefold Bija mantra of Krim, Hum, and Hrim.
Daksine Kalike is referring to Kali in a particular aspect, which is when she has her right foot forward as a protector. Daksine can be taken to mean “South” as Kali is traditionally seen as facing South in the same direction as the souls who are heading South towards hell, so that she can rescue them. The word Daksine also has connections to the transit of the sun as it travels South after crossing the equator at the autumn equinox. The Southern transit of the sun is also connected to the “night of the gods,” so she may also be said to be facing the night.
The mantra Krim symbolizes all the work of sexual alchemy. Hum is also used in sexual alchemy, and in Buddhist traditions in this context Hum refers to one consciousness. It terms of the seed syllables, Hum refers to the immovable, the unfluctuating, and that which cannot be disturbed by anything. Hrim purifies and transforms, dispelling illusion. And at the end, Swaha is an offering and surrender of oneself to inner awareness, or a consecration into the light.
A Reading from The Pistis Sophia
Note: Don’t read the numbers.
From The first repentance of Sophia (http://www.sacred-texts.com/chr/ps/ps036.htm)
1. O Light of lights, in whom I have had faith from the beginning, hearken now then, O Light, unto my repentance. Save me, O Light, for evil thoughts have entered into me.
2. I gazed, O Light, into the lower parts and saw there a light. thinking: I will go to that region, in order that I may take that light. And I went and found myself in the darkness which is in the chaos below, and I could no more speed thence and go to my region, for I was sore pressed by all the emanations of Self-willed, and the lion-faced power took away my light in me.
3. And I cried for help, but my voice hath not reached out of the darkness. And I looked unto the height, that the Light, in which I had had faith, might help me.
5. Now, therefore, O Light of Truth, thou knowest that I have done this in my innocence, thinking that the lion-faced light-power belonged to thee; and the sin which I have done is open before thee.
6. Suffer me no more to lack, O Lord, for I have had faith in thy light from the beginning; O Lord, O Light of the powers, suffer me no more to lack my light.
7. For because of thy inducement and for the sake of thy light am I fallen into this oppression, and shame hath covered me.
14. Save me out of the matter of this darkness, that I may not be submerged therein, that I may be saved from the emanations of god Self-willed which press me sore, and from their evil doings.
15. Let not this darkness submerge me, and let not this lion-faced power entirely devour the whole of my power, and let not this chaos shroud my power.
16. Hear me, O Light, for thy grace is precious, and look down upon me according to the great mercy of thy Light.
21. And when I sought the light, they gave me darkness; and when I sought my power, they gave me matter.
29. For they have taken my light from me, and my power hath begun to cease in me and I am destitute of my light.
30. Now, therefore, O Light, which is in thee and is with me, I sing praises to thy name, O Light, in glory.
31. May my song of praise please thee, O Light, as an excellent mystery, which leads to the gates of the Light, which they who shall repent will utter, and the light of which will purify them.
35. For God shall save their soul from all matters, and a city shall be prepared in the Light, and all the souls who are saved, will dwell in that city and will inherit it.
36. And the soul of them who shall receive mysteries will abide in that region, and they who have received mysteries in its name will abide therein.’”
An alternative text, which can be read as well as, or instead of the one above:
From Mary’s interpretation of the first repentance (http://www.sacred-texts.com/chr/ps/ps037.htm)
1. Save me, O God, for the waters are come in even unto my soul.
2. I sank, or am submerged, in the slime of the abyss, and power was not. I have gone-down into the depths of the sea; a tempest hath submerged me.
3. I have kept on crying; my throat is gone, my eyes faded, waiting patiently for God.
4. They who hate me without a cause are more than the hairs of my head; mighty are my foes, who violently pursued me. They required of me that which I took not from them.
5. God, thou hast known my foolishness, and my faults are not hid from thee.
7. For thy sake have I endured shame; shame hath covered my face.
8. I am become a stranger to my brethren, a stranger unto the sons of my mother.
9. For the zeal of thy house hath consumed me; the reviling of them that revile thee have fallen upon me.
10. I bowed my soul with fasting, and it was turned to my reproach.
11. I put on sackcloth; I became unto them a bye-word.
12. They who sit at the gates, chattered at me; and they who drink wine, harped about me.
13. But I prayed with my soul unto thee, O Lord; the time of thy well-liking is [now], O God. In the fulness of thy grace give ear unto my salvation in truth.
14. Save me out of this slime, that I sink not therein; let me be saved from them that hate me, and from the deep of waters.
16. Hear me, O Lord, for thy grace is good; according to the fullness of thy compassion look down upon me.
17. Turn not thy face away from thy servant, for I am oppressed.
18. Hear me quickly, give heed to my soul and deliver it.
More on the Autumn Equinox
The Spiritual Meaning of the Autumn Equinox
Ancient Sacred Sites Aligned to the Autumn Equinox
