Tag Archives: Rite of Sol

Before the Beginning of Years

Video of Jon Sewell performing “Before the Beginning of Years”, the chorus to Atalanta in Calydon by Algernon Charles Swinburne, in 2007, five years prior to the Eleusyve Productions staging of The Rite of Sol, based on the Rites of Eleusis script by Aleister Crowley.

The Invocation of Holy Fire

The Invocation of Holy Fire from The Rite of Mars featuring Kristin Holsather is a video with music and photos from Eleusyve Productions related to Aleister Crowley’s Rites of Eleusis. The music is from the upcoming production of Rite of Mars planned for 2014, which you can help make a reality, with photos from the 2012 live production of Rite of Sol. On the Eleuysve YouTube page, they are posting a new video each week in December 2013 featuring previews of Rite of Mars tracks.

“This is a musical interpretation of The Invocation of Holy Fire composed for The Rite of Mars, scheduled to be staged in 2014 by Eleusyve Productions. The vocal track is performed by Kristin Holsather performing at Aries, the same role she performed on stage in The Rite of Sol.

The photographs were taken in 2012 by Sandra Buskirk and Todd Gardiner during live presentations of The Rite of Sol.

The Invocation of Holy Fire is one of many ritual incorporate directly into The Rites of Eleusis by Aleister Crowley. While this ritual is not one of the rituals of The Golden Dawn that are incorporated elsewhere among The Rites of Eleusis (including The Lesser Banishing Ritual of The Pentagram, which is also featured during The Rite of Mars) this ritual does follow a formulaic structure similar to other Golden Dawn style workings and seems to be a variation on a similar theme.

Aleister Crowley’s invocations throughout these Rites, particularly his understanding of Mars, would have been informed by The Bartzabel Workings that took place in July of 1909 and the Enochian working detailed in The Vision and The Voice that took place later that year.

The Rites of Eleusis were originally stage at Caxton Hall in London during the Autumn of 1910. While some have expressed the opinion that these were intended to be private ceremonies for initiates only, an interesting argument given the presence of magickal rituals within the plays, all surviving documentation from playbills to diaries support the understanding that they were intentionally written and produced with an educated public in mind.”

Aleister Crowley’s The Rite of Sol, a rock opera

Aleister Crowley’s The Rite of Sol, a rock opera is now available on DVD from Eleusyve Productions [also].

Aleister Crowley's Rite of Sol from Eleusyve Productions

Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law.

Eleusyve Productions is proud to announce the release of the fourth in its series of feature length musical adaptations of The Rites of Eleusis written by Aleister Crowley, the most important figure in the Western Occult Revival over the last 100 years. Eleusyve Productions is a theater group of actors, dancers and musicians based in Seattle, Washington, whose primary current purpose is the presentation of the seven plays comprising Aleister Crowley’s Rites of Eleusis (originally presented as a series in London in 1910) as modern musical theater pieces, using music, light, dance and drama to enhance the poetry and symmetry of the original works.

Aleister Crowley drew upon his deep knowledge of classical Greek arts and culture to produce these seven works (each centered upon one of the seven planets of antiquity) and intended them as a vehicle to entertain, instruct and to generate interest in the A∴A∴, his magickal teaching order. More than a century later, interest in Crowley’s occult knowledge and methods continues to grow, and the renewal of the Rites of Eleusis; their reworking in a modern rock opera format, staging and release on DVD and soundtrack CDs; has successfully brought these entertaining occult works into the 21st century.

Story synopsis: The Rite of Sol: a scene of post-conflict bliss is emerging following The Rite of Mars; a proud but precarious Utopia. Like a shadow cast by the brilliance of the Sun, however, something unseen moves beneath the glittering façade, haunting the devotees of the silent, ever-shining God.

Once again, the Rite of Sol features an outstanding cast of Seattle performers and musicians, including featured solos by Sunnie Larsen, with music composed by Jon Sewell and Melissa Holm. More information about all the completed Rites of Eleusis, with audio and video samples and purchase information available at the Eleusyve Productions website. We are very excited to present The Rite of Sol, a culmination of several years work, and the latest in an outstanding series.

Love is the law, love under will.

Jon Sewell
Eleusyve Productions

 

The Spirit of Tragedy

 

“The Spirit of Tragedy” from Aleister Crowley’s The Rite of Sol, a rock opera by Eleuyve Productions

“Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law.

This video is an artistic edit of “The Spirit of Tragedy” containing additional clips from Aleister Crowley’s The Rite of Sol, a rock opera as it was performed during November of 2012 in Seattle, WA at The Richard Hugo House.

The feature length DVD will be available from Eleusyve Production on March 8th, 2013.

For more information on this and other presentations, sound track recordings and full length DVDs visit us at eleusyve,com

Love is the law, love under will.” [via]

 

Excerpt from Aleister Crowley‘s The Rite of Sol:

Mortals never learn from stories
How catastrophé becomes;
How above the victor’s glories
In the trumpets and the drums
And the cry of millions “Master!”
Looms the shadow of disaster.
Every hour a man hath said:
“That at least is scotched and dead.”
Some one circumstance; “At last
That, and it effects, are past.”
Some one terror—subtle foe!
“I have laid that spectre low.”
They know not, learn not, cannot calculate
How subtly Fate
Weaves its fine mesh, perceiving how to wait;
Or how accumulate
The trifles that shall make it master yet
Of the strong soul that bade itself forget. [via]