THE NEW YORK TIMES

New York, New York, U.S.A.

13 November 1910

(page 18)

"RITES OF ELEUSIS" IN LONDON

LONDON. Nov. 5—Aleister Crowley, the poet and student of occultism, who not long ago began the publication of an extraordinary magazine called The Equinox, devoted largely to the subject of ceremonial magic, has found another means of giving expression to his delight in ancient and modern esotericism and symbolism.

He has arranged, in the Caxton Hall in this city, a series of celebrations of the “Rites of Eleusis.” The first, given a few days ago, was the “Rite of Saturn.” The rites of Jupiter, Mars, Sol, Venus, Mercury, and Luna are the others.

So far as the first celebration was concerned, it was remarked that the hall was so dark that one might well call the Rites of Eleusis elusive.

The Rite of Saturn is the first of the seven rites of Eleusis, which are described as illustrating humanity, its fate, good and evil. In the first rite, Man, unable to solve the riddle of existence, takes counsel of Saturn, extreme old age. Such answer as he can get is the one word “Despair.”

In his “Eleusis,” Mr. Crowley writes: “When I have seen God face to face and read within those eternal eyes of a secret that shall make you free, Then will I choose you and test you and instruct you in the mysteries of Eleusis, O ye brave hearts, and cool eyes, and trembling lips! I will put a live coal upon your lips, and flowers upon your eyes, and a sword in your hearts, and ye also shall see God face to face.”

The illustration of the “Rite of Saturn,” from The Sketch, sent herewith contains six scenes which are thus explained.

1. The rite opens with a litany of lamentation.

2. The Mother of Heaven [Leila Waddell] plays an invocation on the violin, her back to those present.

3. The Master of the Temple, seated by the ceremonial fire, called the Hell Broth, recites “The Eyes of Pharaoh.”

4. The suspected traitor, having been found, is slain with a spear.

5. After it is discovered that the temple is empty, the master recites a translation of Verlaine’s “Colloque Sentimental” and Swinburne’s “Garden of Proserpine.”

6. Impelled by the despair which he has expressed by a recital of Thomson’s “The City of Dreadful Night,” the master kills himself by the side of the Messenger of Joy, who has fallen exhausted by the altar; the Mother of Heaven weeps for him, and, for a moment, the Angel of Death is seen.