Σταυρος Βατραχου

sub figurâ LXX

A∴A∴ Publication in Class D

The Ceremonies proper to the obtaining [of] a familiar spirit of a Mercurial nature as described in the Apocalypse of St. John the Divine from a frog or toad.

“He had crucified a toad
In the basilisk abode,
Muttering the Runes averse
Mad with many a mocking curse.”

The Wizard Way

0

In this Ritual the Chief Officer representeth a Snake, because of Mercury. (The proper food of snakes is frogs.) The Mystery of Conception is the catching of the frog in silence, and the affirmation of the Will to perform this ceremony.

I

The frog or toad being caught is kept all night in an ark or chest; as it is written, “Thou didst not abhor the Virgin’s Womb.” Presently the frog will begin to leap therein, and this is an omen of good success.

Dawn being come, thou shalt approach the chest with an offering of gold, and if available, of frankincense and of myrrh. Thou shalt then release the frog from the chest with many acts of homage and place it in apparent liberty. He may, for example, be placed on a quilt of many colours, and covered with a net.

II

Now take a vessel of water and approach the frog, saying: In the Name of the Father ☩ and of the Son ☩ and of the Holy Ghost (here sprinkle water on its head), I baptize thee, O creature of frogs, with water, by the name of Jesus of Nazareth.

III

During the day thou shalt approach the frog whenever convenient, and speak words of worship. And thou shalt ask it to perform such miracles as thou desirest to be done; and they shall be done according to Thy Will. Also thou shalt promise to the frog an elevation fitting for him; and all this while thou shalt be secretly carving a cross whereon to crucify him.

IV

Night being fallen, thou shalt arrest the frog, and accuse him of blasphemy, sedition and so forth, in these words:

Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law. Lo, Jesus of Nazareth, how thou art taken in my snare. All my life long thou hast plagued me and affronted me. In thy name— with all other free souls in Christendom— have been tortured in my boyhood; all delights have been forbidden unto me; all that I had has been taken from me, and that which is owed to me they pay not— in thy name. Now, at last, I have thee; the Slave-God is in the power of the Lord of Freedom. Thine hour is come; as I blot thee out from this earth, so surely shall the eclipse pass; and the Light, Life, Love and Liberty be once more the Law of Earth. Give thou place to me, O Jesus; thine aeon is passed; the Age of Horus is arisen by the Magick of the Master, the Great Beast that is a Man; and his number is six hundred and three score and six. Love is the law, love under will.

[A pause.]

I, ΤΟ ΜΕΓΑ ΘΗΡΙΟΝ, therefore condemn thee, Jesus the slave-god, to be mocked and spat upon and scourged and then crucified.

V

This sentence is then executed. After the mocking upon the Cross, say thus:

Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law. I, the Great Beast, slaying thee, Jesus of Nazareth, the slave-god, under the form of this creature of frogs, do bless this creature in the name of the ☩ Father and of the ☩ Son and of the ☩ Holy Ghost. And I assume unto myself and take into my service the elemental spirit of this frog, to be about me as a lying spirit, to go forth upon the earth as a guardian to me in my Work for Man; that men may speak of my piety and of my gentleness and of all virtues and bring to me love and service and all material things soever whereof I may stand in need. And this shall be its reward, to stand beside me and hear the Truth that I utter, the falsehood whereof shall deceive men. Love is the law, love under will.

Then shalt thou stab the frog to the heart with the Dagger of Art, saying:

Into my hands I receive thy spirit.

VI

Presently thou shalt take down the frog from the cross and divide it into two parts; the legs shalt thou cook and eat as a sacrament to confirm thy compact with the frog; and the rest shalt thou burn utterly with fire, to consume finally the aeon of the accursed one. So mote it be!

And this ceremony shalt serve also as a ceremonial assumption of the Curse of the Grade of a Magus 9°=2^□ A∴A∴.

Note

[This Book is to be given to any Knight Companion of the Sacrosanct Order of Kadosh VI° who has given evidence of his capacity for it to a Brother already possessing it by personal examination only, such examination to extend continuously over eleven [Editor’s note: The rest of this sentence is missing in the copy of the MS. available to us.]

A.C. to C. Stansfeld Jones, An XII Sol in ♑ ☽ in ♊

“I must close; the frog-elemental whom I invoked has arrived, and I must slay Shaw* and the slave god.”

(* opus to The Gospel According to Saint Bernard Shaw)

[?] within a short time after this Ourgiou there appeareth suddenly a ghost (?) (in that remote back-block!) so like a [?] [?] as to show immeasurably (?) that she was it!