About This:
During each year there are twelve, or sometimes, thirteen Full Moons—each a short period of time in which the Moon is on the further side of the Earth and during which, symbolically, the spiritual radiation of the Sun can reach the Earth with no interference from the retrogressive influence of the Moon. Each such period offers a great spiritual opportunity to absorb the energies of the sign of the zodiac in which the Sun “finds itself”. The zodiacal influences carried by the energies of their planetary “rulers” must be used by the human soul to build its ‘Heavenly Temple” on the higher mental plane—“The Temple not made with hands, eternal in the Heavens”. When this building process is complete, and it requires, minimally, millions of years, the human being is fully mature and stands on the threshold of becoming a Master of the Wisdom—a full Member of the Spiritual Hierarchy of our planet and a wise and loving Agent of the Divine Plan held within the mind of the “God of our Planet’, the Planetary Logos. Our task as aspiring souls-in-incarnation is to recognize the opportunity which the Full Moon periods present. We call these periods, “Solar Fire Festivals” to emphasize the fact that it is the solar energies we seek to absorb and build into faculty and ability, and not at all the decaying lunar forces which are to be reconditioned and then mastered. The twelve Solar Fire Festival Rituals composed by Michael D. Robbins and orchestrated and arranged by Harold G. Moses, are offered to humanity as a spiritual service to deepen the understanding of the zodiacal and planetary energies uniquely available at each of the Full Moon periods, and to contribute to the absorption and expression of these energies for the spiritual-building of the individual human being and the upliftment of the human race. Each Solar Fire Festival can be performed as a staged ritual drama or as a combination of “reader’s theatre” and oratorio. As well, the individual songs can be lifted from their context and utilized in monthly Solar Fire Mediations and Ceremonies according to the imagination and creativity of the meditation/ceremony leader. In the Aries Solar Fire Ritual presented below, the “MC” is the “Master of Ceremonies”. However, the various sections of oratory can be assigned to numerous “Readers” drawn from the ensemble performing the Ritual. Following each song, short periods of reflective mediation are held. While stage directions have been kept to a minimum each of these Rituals has been fully staged and performed with attention to the principles of divine geometry and the utilization of a variety of symbolic group gestures and ‘asanas’ which facilitate the invocation of the energies and ideas to be embodied and expressed. One can conceive the twelve Solar Fire Festivals as mystery dramas empowered by music. Creative stage and ritual directors, inspired by the invocatory intentions of a New World Religion (based upon the Science of Invocation and Evocation), will find their own ways to present these Solar Fire Rituals, especially at the times of the Full Moons when the solar energies are strongest. We believe that the growing power of the seventh and fourth rays in the coming Aquarian Age will open the door to the utilization of musical ritual dramas, vivifying the presence in human experience of the great energies of cosmos, and rendering men and women of goodwill increasingly capable of receiving, absorbing and expressing them in service to humanity and our planet.
The Composition of the Aries Solar Fire Festival If you discern the value of our musical project, one purpose of which is to create choral and orchestral music composed especially for the celebration of the New World Religion which the Christ will inaugurate, please do contact us. We truly need your generous support so that we may bring our spiritual-cultural service project to its intended consummation.
The University of Seven Rays 730 E. Rowlands Lane Phoenix, AZ 85022 USA Michael D. Robbins • infinitize@aol.com H G Moses • hgmoses@mac.com • 602-751-8352
ARIES SOLAR FIRE FESTIVAL ALL GROUP MEMBERS: Processional/Alleluia
MC: We gather at a holy time, A time propitious to invoke The Cosmic Lord of Unrelenting Will, The Lord Who with His Fiat irresistible Propels the twelvefold Wheel to turn upon its evolutionary Path, Thus plunging lives of vast or tiny scope into the Cycle of Rebirth. Lord of the ever-new is He, The Lord Who sums the harvest of the Great Wheel's past into a vibrant seed of future life, Then plants that seed within the virgin soil of space, To grow the forms of solar spheres and their attendant planetary orbs. He, the Lord of Ideation!— Holding fast, as Law and Will, Original Intent of One far greater than Himself. He, the Monarch of Mind!— Our local Cosmo-Sphere His Mind-Born Son. He the Architect of pulsing Life within the vast Zodiacal Sphere. He, Director of the Cosmic Concept to be wrought into expression as the aeons pass away, And His the Will peremptory, which bends all lesser wills unto that great Zodiacal Task. Vast in power is He, (Vast, at least, to those such as the tiny unit man, and e'en unto man's Planetary God), Though truly in humility, He, the Lord of Aries, simply serves the One Who stand to Him as Master, The One of Whom Naught May Be Said. Aretian Lord! Alpha's Lord! Lord of Bold Commencement! Teach us to begin in faith and pow'r All that must be realized above— And All that must be actualized below. Teach us to inaugurate with courage Our small part to play within the mighty Plan of God. MC: We gather now within the stream of Solar Fire Streaming from the constellation Aries, For through our Solar Logos Blue pass all the Rays of all the Heavenly Twelve. Thus, Solarized these Rays become, Adapted for our better use upon this fragile Earth. But from Aries——most of all from Aries——pours Electric Fire as well, A Fire of towering and dynamic strength— Demanding utmost caution of all those who place themselves within its roaring current, For Fire Electric is the Fire of Life, Endangering the form until the day has come when Spirit claims the right of its release. And, yet, though peril stark attends the impact of Electric Fire, Some definite beginning must be made by those who seek ascent of Spirit, For doubtless and with certainty, The reign of form (in all its modes—its solar modes as well) must one day end, Though dire the course liberation to be borne. Thus does Aries, Sign of all initiative, Signal the "Beginning of the End" that leads to resurrection and to Life, Initiated through the application of Electric Fire. MC: In silence and let us all revere the Foremost Lord among the Twelve, He Who lights the holy Fire of Freedom, setting all our world ablaze with Life— He Who drives us through enslaved conditions 'till the wondrous day when we return in bliss—conditionless and free. Let us honor Aries, Lord of Electric Fire! (Pause) Invocation of the First and Seventh Rays MC: Through the constellation Aries, The Alpha and preem’nent Pow'r among the twelve, Pass two Rays upon the Line of Will— The First and Seventh Rays. The First Ray Lord with might declares the Law, Then drives the Spirit into form While ever poised supreme above the fray, And then, when form has been fulfilled, extracts again the Spirit From its prison into synthesis and freedom, Withdrawing 'fire immersed' into the one and only Fire Indivisible. The First Ray is the foremost Ray of Fire! And then the Seventh Ray— The Lord Who, when expressing through the Holy Ram, Compels below the rhythm which accords with higher Law, For many customed rhythms do not so accord. Order does this Ray demand and regimented life, For each and all must one day march precisely to the beat of the ‘Shamballic Drum’, March in time, For destiny, which cannot be deferred, awaits. (Pause) MC: We stand within this dual stream— Of fiery Will Invincible, and ordered, lawful Rhythm— A Rhythm through which lawful Will is, in compassion, forced upon those subject to its sway. For these two Rays pursue their task together, Enforcing and upholding, Conferring strength on all the lesser forms of life which must obey, Ensuring that these lowly, slowly rising forms may win the day in strength and in perfection. MC: Let us breathe within our aura, the scarlet red of Ray the First (most powerful in Aries), then with an OM direct it towards its healing mission on the Earth. (Pause) MC: Let us breathe within our aura, the violet stream of Ray the Seventh, then with an OM direct it towards its healing mission on the Earth. In concert with the Will of God we see these Rays, the red and violet, passing through the constellation Aries (the Lord of Resurrection and Eternal Life), thence passing to our home the Earth, which suffers, long awaiting its assured upliftment into lighted, sacred life. (Pause) MC: At this our time of monthly invocation, We focus our attention on the Cardinal Cross of Heavens, The highest of the Crosses Three, Upon which e'en the Lord of Lords Himself, the Ancient Youth, stands firm— Steadfast in His fixed intent to save and resurrect. Upon this Cross dwell Those Who truly live— The Ones Who hold the promise of what struggling and bemired man may one day hope to be. Cardinal Lives live ever free— Free, at least, of those depressed conditions which oppress the “man of earth” and form. These greater Beings, too, must have Their struggles, but of such a kind that tiny man can know but naught, nor need he know for now. The lowliest of Cardinal Lives stands, for man, upon a height supreme, And thither must man rise in time. Towards the Cardinal Cross man ever longs, Though, in his primal phase, he knows it not, For Man at Root is Spirit, and the Spirit must express in fullness— This its chief demand. The Cardinal Cross, the Cross of Spirit, is for man-as-Spirit, home— A home unto his being true. The Spirit is the Author of that urgent Discontent Divine, Which drives the questing human being ever upwards to his destined lofty place Wherefrom, at last, a ruler he may be and not a slave— Ruler of the lower spheres of subjugated durance. Thus, let the Will be spurred to new exertions, That Cardinal life may be attained! MC: Four Signs are found upon this first and yet the last of Crosses three— The Cross of man departing from the Earth into the Kingdom of the Will. But, Aries, first and foremost of them all, is most potent at this time. Thus let us focus mind and Spirit on the Lord Whose Will, which cannot be subdued, initiates the vast Zodiacal Round, And on three circling Deities Who carry out that Will. MC: The first a planetary Lord of war and fiery strife, But of valor and bravery as well. He the god Who plucks our courage So that we may face the foe and overcome. The higher spheres of Cosmos sound as harmony resplendent. The lower spheres are spheres of war and battle unabating. Whether or no one so desires, each and all must fight— Fight their way to resurrection, Fight for the right to ascend. The Harmony of Heaven is won alone through war and strife, And over all this combat Mars is Lord. MC: The second planetary Lord is intimate unto the Solar Sphere, Receiving seven times the solar light that travels to our little darkened Earth. He the god of mind entire, He a god of intuition, He the swiftest of the local gods, Who in his wondrous speed unites all spheres into a sudden oneness. The radiance of His luminescence yields a calor hugely threatening to the ancient darkness. Incendiary mind, He ignites Illusion's Jungle, which for long had sealed the rays of Solar Wisdom from man's sight. He, the fearless, clear-eyed guiding god into the Mysteries of Life, Demanding that each human being "Enquire the Way" and thus return to Source. MC: The third and highest Lord is god of lightning, god of storm, He who sets the "burning ground" ablaze with Fire Electric, He who shocks all human beings to yield unto transmuting flame impurity and dross, and thus be free. He the Lord of Spirit, Of the highest fire resident in man, Demanding that this fire descend, Imparting its intensity, its archetypal purity, To ev'ry form below. 'Tis He who wills vibrational conformity of baseness to the heights. He sets the tempo of the fiery dancing— Faster ever faster 'till the Spirit dances bliss within the form. MC: Let us focus on the firm intent that all who breathe may one day know and do the Will of God, And in that doing find their freedom, even as they recreate the lower worlds as God would have them be. ALL or MC: In the center of the Will of God I stand. Naught shall deflect my will from His. I implement that will by love. I turn towards the field of service. I, the Triangle divine, work out that will Within the square and serve my fellowmen. MC: Together and as one, We step within the aura of the Lord of Fiery Will, And place ourselves within the mighty stream Fire Electric. (Group takes one step forward) In union with the first and most commanding Lord of all the Twelve, We pledge to do our utmost to initiate on Earth the Plan of God. We pledge to do the Will of Him Whose sacrifice preserves us from defeat— The destitution of all those who, darkened, lose their way upon the Homeward Path. We pledge to act with fortitude and virile power to drive the world towards its salvation through fulfillment of the Will Divine May the strength required descend upon our lives! SECTION II MC: Let us seek the Root of Pow’r— The Root of that which drives the Dance of all the Worlds. Can it be found within a single form—e’en if that form be vast? A form as vast as Cosmos? (Pause) No! Never can this be! Securely hidden is the ROOT of Roots. Though ev'ry form of life wields pow'r— Though ev'ry form, except the lowest, dominates a lesser form— And every form seeks power so that it may rise to greater pow’r and thus ascend unto the FREEDOM which has ever BEEN— Yet no form is the Root of its own pow'r! No Entity, however great, is pow'rful in itself! The power sought can never REALLY be its own— For Entities are all un-REAL, The ROOT of Roots is not! The greatest of all Entities is but a mite compared to THAT which ever IS. Power rests in BEING. The DEITY SUPREME WHO has no name, and never will— Is, Alone, the SOURCE of every Pow’r. Fire in Cosmos is the Pow'r of pow'rs, The One and Only Cosmic Life, And yet a lesser Life compared to THAT—which is of Life the LIFE ITSELF. Ever in the Cosmos shall our pow'r increase, Until the power we possess is but the Power of the One. Yet, powerless are we, in essence, lest we know ourselves as THAT which lies at Power's ROOT. In Aries we seek mounting power; and know our might will grow. In Aries we become the Fire and rise into the Cosmic Flame. This is good; So Be It! But let us not forget the ONE ETERNAL LIFE WHO IS the LIFE of Fire, and the ROOTLESS ROOT of Pow'r. Infinitely more than Power, Infinitely more than Fire, Is THAT we truly ARE. Production Credits: Michael D. Robbins - Composer, Libretto, Conductor (ASCAP) Harold Grandstaff Moses - Orchestration, Choral Arrangement, Lead Engineer (ASCAP) ©2008 The University of Seven Rays - All Rights Reserved