The Sacrifice

(An Experiment in the Prosaic)

Act One. Scene One.

[Curtain rises revealing an oblong grove in the centre of which is an open arena encompassed about with giant oaks closely set together. Within this large circle are several smaller ones bordered by large stones. Near the centre of these smaller circles are other stones of a prodigious size and convenient height, one of which, with a flat top, serves as an Altar.

 

A huge pyre is laid on the top of the flat Altar-stone, which is situated in the West— made  up of branches of juniper, pine, and thorn gathered by the people. It is night and the sixth day of the Moon.

 

The scene is lit by the flaming torches of those still busy gathering tinder. A white bull is seen fastened to a nearby tree by the horns. The occasion is the Annual Festival of Fire.

 

The Priest and Priestess approach the major circle from the West, the Priest bearing aloft a lighted torch, and the Priestess a large earthen bowl containing sacred (smouldering) embers. They are followed by more people, the men bearing lighted torches, and the women earthen bowls filled with kindling of unlighted juniper.

 

The Priest and Priestess take their stand on either side of the Altar-stone—the Priest in the South; the Priestess in the North. They remain silent with bowed heads, and a great gong is struck three times. The sound of the gong dies away and the Priest mounting the Altar-stone facing the people recites:—]

Priest:

Upon the Mountain of the Sun

Is set the sacred pyre;

And through its secret caverns run

The heat of Love's desire.

Come all ye servants off  the Flame

That is not slain by tears;

Our Master Aamaan, praise his name,

Shall banish all our fears.

People:

Our Master Aamaan, praise his name,

Ten thousand million years.

Priest:

Thee tiidal-tremours of the night

Now slowly ebb away;

And Zagreus with his rosy light

Shall captivate the day.

Come all ye creatures great and small

That creep, or run, or leap;

Too long have ye been held in thrall

By empty aimless sleep

O people, ye who blaze the Way

With torches from the plain

Lift up your voices that ye may

See Zagreus live again.

People:

O Zagreus, Lord of Earthly Fire,

In darkness Thou wast slain.

Priest:

O regal Ra, Lord of our Life,

Thy fires are laid, and we

Invoke Thee with the Cryptic Cry

Known to the Radiant Three.

Priest, turning to the South:

O Aamaan, Lord of the Under-fire

From thy cave come forth,

That we may hear the melody

That ravishes the North.

Priest, turning to the East:

O Zagreus Lord of Earthly  Fire,

O flame of ruby red,

By Baphomet Thy Holy Sire

Feed us as we have fed.

People:

Thy madness is upon us,

Fill us with ecstacy;

Lord, take all pity from us

That we may burn with Thee.

[The Priest leaps from the Altar-stone and stands in a listening attitude. From out of the darkness in the North come the low notes of a flute and the faint tap of a muffled drum. As the music swells a little, the Priestess begins to sway in the rhythmic movement of the Fire-dance. She circles the Altar-stone three times and at the third step prostates herself to the East of the good-stone. Suddenly leaping to her feet she raises her arms and chants.]

Priestess:

My spell is upon  Thee O Ra

From the darkness I come with my skill

And sure knowledge of things as they are,

To work the wild way of my will;

Thy Bride, she hath sighed in her sleep,

Her white body is aching for Thee,

O hasten, the tryst you must keep

To ripen the fruit on the tree.

O Bull of the Dawn and Delight,

O Vulture who seeketh the Dove,

Redemption from Death,, not respite,

Is the lasting reward of Thy Love.

My hair is a forest of jet,

Mine eyes are dark pools for Thy Flame,

My Haven the Palace of Set,

I invoke Thee, for Night is my Name.

[The Priestess again treads—(dance-wise)—the circle three times, and at the third stops facing the West.]

Priestess:

O Aamaan, thou Master of Being,

Thou hast kindled a fire with Thy Breath,

I swoon as I sway, I am fleeing

The menace and gangrene of Death.

I live to draw Thee to our presence,

And Ra from the East doth conspire

To double the rage of Thine essence,

To christen our Altar with fire.

Of the Under-fire thou art the Lord,

The earth pulses hot 'neath my feet,

But the mountains shall shake at my word,

That Thou and my body must meet;

And thy chains shall be melted and  broken,

And the hill-tops grow rosy with lust,

My body be burnished as token

The Devil doth drive when needs must.

[The Priestess again treads the circle three times, then faces the South.]

Priestess:

When the fire leaps out to embrace,

Then O subtle Zagreus Thou art there,

When Thy feet in the forest we trace,

The flute is forsaken by air;

When Ra storms the woods at high noon,

Thou didst sidle to mutter and peep

At the limpet—like lovers that swoon

In a trance that hath swallowed up sleep.

A chaplet of leaves from the oak

Thy people, O Zagreus, now wear,

The splendour of Ra is  a cloak

And Aamaan, unsees, absorbs prayer;

At Thy coming the flame doth ascend

On the Altar where we pay the price,

O Zagreus, on Thee we  depend

For Thou art the great sacrifice.

[The Priestess again treads the circle three times and returns to her place by the altar.]

Priest:

Let the fire be kindled, thou hast voiced the cryptic cry

The herald of  the dawn shall be the wind without a sigh.

[The Priestess takes the earthen bowl containing the sacred embers, and holding it before her recites]

Priestess:

To long hast Thou slept in the sable womb,

O Son of the Morning arise from Thy Tomb;

Cold kisses killed Thee, they were nurtured by Night,

Who wooed Thee, cajoled Thee, then robbed Thee of Light;

But now the seeds sown that the fire may return

Again to the Altar, more brightly to burn.

The tides of night turn back the shadows run

Before the fiery streamers of the sun.

I raise the symbol high, the torch of Ra,

The Under-fires are free, both near and far.

[Raising the bowl above her head the Priestess.]

Priestess:

Who dares to kindle the torch of Ra?

Priest:

One cometh from the South in brave array.

Priestess:

He who feeds the fire shall to the Fire be fed.

Priest:

I am the brand and the branded.

Priestess:

Behold the Serpent-fire  that is coiled about the heart of the world.

[The Priest ignites his torch at the embers in the earthen bowl and then proceeds to light the Pyre upon the Altar. As he does so the Priestess empties the contents of her bowl upon the pyre and the people extinguish their torches. The Priest then leaps on a flat stone before the Altar and, facing the people, chants the High Orison of Fire. The people making the responses, begin to move slowly round the Altar, the men deosily and the women widdershins, stamping in  time to the chant, and casting the tinder they have gathered upon the pyre as they pass.]

Priest:

There brims a wealth of colour to the East

Filling the sky with scintillating sheen;

The lustrous stars do swoon away unseen,

The day is suckled by the colour feast.

People:

Beaming the eye of the bird and fielded beast.

[The Priest descends from the stone and resumes his place in the East.]

Priest:

Thine Altar is prepared for Thee, O Lord of the velvet sky.

Priestess:

The fire is kindled. Reveal Thyself. The Bull of the Earth must die.

The sacrificial bull is led towards the Altar from the South.

Priest:

One now cometh from the South, his life and blood to give.

Priestess:

The Kerub of the Earth must die, that the Bull of Heaven may live.

[The Priestess raises her arms and chants as the Bull approaches the Altar.]

Priestess:

O Zagreus my power upon Thee is laid,

My minions have sought Thee in forest and glade;

The searching cold wind in the darkness I sent

To find Thee and bind Thee, the heavens I bent;

My beauty the lode-stone shall draw Thee to me,

Thy blood must be shed and Thy spirit set free.

[The Priest draws the sacrificial knife from his girdle and holds it in his right hand high above his head, its point directed towards the sky; his eyes are lifted to the heavens.]

Priest:

The red fire flickers on Thy sword, O Ra, Thou Soul of Light,

The floor of heaven is dappled with blood, Thou hast cut out heart of Night;

Thy sword has spoken, my knife is the token, it turns and twists in my hand,

As above, so below, must Thy Will be done, to vanquish thee Bull of the land;

O thou white Bull of the Morning, so that Thou livest again

Thou must batten and feed on the passion of the Bull of the earth that is slain.

[The Priest plunges the knife into the sacrifice which gives one great bellow of agony.]

Priestess:

Behold O radiant Ra the blood on Thine Altar shed,

O Aamaan, Lord of the Under-fire, Thy carpet of crimson is spread;

And Thou, Lord of the earthly fire, O Zagreus, Thou Snake of the World.

The sheen of Thy skin shall reflect once more the silvered, the gilded, the pearled.

Priest:

O Soul of Fire descend upon Thine Altar.

People:

O regal Ra descend.

Priestess:

Coil upward from Thy cavern, O Aamaan of old.

People:

Our hearts are cold.

Priestess:

O Snake of the World, Thou shalt not tempt in vain.

People:

Our bodies we lend.

Priestess:

See, see, the smoke thickens and rises..

People:

As world without end.

Priest:

The God comes.

People:

He is here, He is here.

Priestess:

O Lord of the Fire, Thy Priest hath need of Thee.

[She raises her left hand and points toward the Priest.]

Priestess:

Thy soul shall faint within thee as the bull of the earth did faint

It shall fly away to Oblivion, the haven of sinner and saint;

It has flown at my word, and thine eyes are blind, and thine ears are deaf to my voice

Thine house is empty, and void of light, thy lips can no longer rejoice.

At my call the God shall possess thee, thy body be shaken with fire,

The White Fire, the Red Fore, the fire of the Snake in the Mire;

Thou shalt twist and turn in the coil of thy bride, for she is as one with the night,

Yea, thou shalt thrill to the World's desire to feast on the lips of the Light.

[Priest raises his hand to heaven.]

Priest:

O Ra, thou Hawk of Heaven, I am slain by the sword of thy Will.

As the bull was slain by the Priest of the Sun, whose mission it is to kill;

All I boasted of heritage, freely to Thee I give,

And I am slain as the bull was slain, that the Lord of the World might live.

[He makes the Caballistic sign of the cross, saying.]

Priest:

White fire in the crown,

Red fire in the frame,

And in my heart and lower down,

The secret Serpent Flame.

[The Priestess raises her head and recites]

Priestess:

Like a pale poppy's shade they grow faint in the dawn

The stars that were bold and brave;

Silver and solemn the obese Moon

Doth sink 'neath the colour wave;

For the steeds of the Sun are abroad in the sky,

And they champ on their bits of gold,

The fleck of their foam in the Milky-way

Is the fleece of Diana's fold;

Like Omar of old, O mighty Ra,

Thou hast ravished the Queen of Night,

Thou hast filled thy Priest with the sacred fire

Blinding the bats in their flight;

Aamaan is here, Zagreus is here,

And hungry I stand by their side,

For I am Lilith, O hasten to me,

Lilith thy lawful bride.

Priest:

I hymn the Lord of the fire of day,

Receive his gifts and be glad;

I hymn the Lord of the fire of clay,

Receive his gifts and be sad;

I hymn the Lord of the hidden Way,

Receive his gifts and be mad.

Chants:

O Ra, my heart was gloriously glad

With the love of the stars and the maidenly Moon,

But stark was the change, and soon

My heart became heavy and sad.

For the King of the North bore away my bride,

Whose eyes were the stars of the maidenly Moon;

O grant my Thy servant a boon,

O let me but heal my side,

And I'll harry the earth where bides my bride,

Whose eyes were the spies of the maidenly Moon;

And I'll croon her Thy ravishing rune,

And cold she will lie by his side.

And again my heart will be gloriously glad,

With the love of the stars and the maidenly Moon;

I'll croon her Thy ravishing rune,

And my heart shall no longer be sad.

[The Priest re-kindles his torch at the pyre, and adding new tinder to the sacred bowl, again held by the Priestess, he fires it. The people begin to move in two lines towards the Altar, the men holding their unlighted torches and the women their bowls of tinder. As the people file past, the Priest lights the kindling in each bowl with his torch.

 

As the people move away from the Altar, the men to the South, the women to the North, they begin the Fire-dance. Every now and then a woman breaks from the crowd to dance alone with her bowl held before her. A man then breaks from the men's side and, kindling his torch at her bowl disappears with her into the wood. The Priest and the Priestess are now alone before the Altar. They turn to each other, making the Caballistic sign of the cross.]

Priest:

In my heart the fire doth rage and burn.

Priestess:

For thee, my love, O how I yearn.

[They stand clasped in each other's arms and the Altar fire dies down. In the distance is heard the Reveille, and Dawn breaks.]

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