by Georgia van Raalte

A ritual for the initiation of contact with Our Lady Babalon

This ritual is simple. The logic is as follows: make yourself empty through honesty and sacrifice. Create an image of Her. Enflame yourself toward Her. Call to Her, desire Her, draw Her in, beg for Her to come. Meditate upon Her absence and upon Her presence. Undertake and repeat as needed in order to initiate contact with Her, and merge your will with her will.

Before you begin, prepare an altar with an icon, a chalice of wine, a candle and heat-proof bowl or plate, and a bell. 

The Vow of Honesty 

I vow to be honest with myself, and with you, Oh Lady.

I vow never to profane thy temple with the lies of ego.

I vow to be utterly and completely honest with myself and with you in this holy space. 

Ring bell seven times

The Sacrifice 

We know gods like to be given things. Historically this was done through human and animal sacrifice and still today magicians love to sacrifice stuff. But babalon doesn't want literal death, because it isn't special, or hard (despite what our whitewashed hyperreal modernity likes to think); it’s the easiest thing in the world. Babalon wants the dedication of your life, the dedication of your will, your of your fight to her fight .

Babalon cannot be cajoled or persuaded; the gift she demands is nothing less than everything; utter sacrifice of all will ego and desire unto her; not to be castrated and rendered a eunuch; but to give all one’s power into her cup, and therein to find eternal life. Uniting ones will with her will does not mean giving up or destroying your will in order to be led or ridden; tbut to unite your will with her will; to act as and for her, to use your strength for her work, which is your work. It means complete honesty; it means pouring out all the things you value and love, your  conventions and complexes and everything that makes you who you are, and destroying them offering them all up into the Cup of Our Lady of the Abyss.

So here, in this holy space of ritual Give something to her; an offering of spirit, the sacrifice of an aspect of ego. Speak aloud what you give, then write it on paper; smear the paper with blood, lick your finger, and burn the paper, allowing the smoke and ash to carry your sacrifice to her.

Ring bell 7 times

The Invocation

You appear like the early morning rays of the Sun.

Your teeth are perfect, pearly black, black bees between red lips perfectly curved across the circle of your face, rising like the dawn. A curved half moon upon your forehead, your eyes impenetrable in your reddened brow. 

Your arms like the crescent of the moon, only more perfect.

Your lithe, playful hands with their glinting nails are wrapped around a simple golden Cup of exquisite craftsmanship.

Your rising breasts lie gleaming, pendulous upon the starry expanse of your chest.

Upon your beautiful, mountainous belly are the Monuments of Nations. Your round hips lie like precious jewels, or mountains amidst the sea. You wear a girdle of starry rubies.

You are veiled all in red silk, a gauze transparent in its fineness. You are adorned with red gems, set in gold.

Your redness is the redness of the rose, or of red earth, or of pomegranate seeds.

Your beautiful body, lithe as a gazelle but for the perfect protrusion of your belly.

Your whole body hums, like the drone of the honeybee. In your Form is infinite Force.

Smeared with red earth, You are the vanquisher of the God of Love. 

You stand in a pool of the sweetest water, for immortality flows from your vulva.

The Great Beast lies down to drink from your pool.

You are the Sacred Courtesan. The Harlot that Shaketh Death. You are the Blasphemed Against, the Beaten and Broken, the Rising Up. You are the Mother of Life and the Birth of Destruction. Yours is the most Holy and Sacred Cup of Fornications. 

My Lady, thou who hast inspired me; I have poured all into your holy cup! Fill me with the cold light of thy love, with thy fiery heat. Blend my will with thine that I may do your work in the world, and thus reveal your presence to those who are still blind.

Meditate

Ring bell seven times