“Alas! These are times of sorrow and grieve,
Of joyless and deceive,
Of weakness and mourn!
Let the light of the Old Stars shine through the golden spirit of Bacco,
Transmuted into the ’soma’ of mortal souls,
Bringing strength, power and rejoice!
Lo! I invoke thee, oh Muse!
I invoke thee, oh Ishtar,
Mistress of passions and lovers!
To guide the desires and the fire in the hearts of men!
I invoke thee, oh Hekat,
Mistress of night!
To guide the steps of human bodies through the Long Nights!
I invoke thee, oh Three Times Great,
Lord of the hidden ways!
To guide the minds of the Endless One’s Children beyond the Veil,
And tear it apart to find the Golden Path to Jah-Bel-On.
Rejoice with the golden spirit of Bacco, brothers and sisters!
Drink, sons and daughters of the stars,
and dream till the Dreaming’s Dawn!”
William Childless
(The Diary of Shades, §147, 1849).
