O • T • O • A

4
1 st Temple Ritual

RITUAL IN SATURN – QBL = BINAH

 BY

Michael P. Bertiaux
AND

H.F. Jean-Maine

Copyright © 1993 Michael P. Bertiaux

 Gnostic Eucharist of the Earth

The Altar is prepared to represent prayer for the earth and for the healing, which comes
from the earth.
Bread and wine (grape juice) are used in any form desired by the initiate.

Opening Prayer

O you, the never fading splendor of that most glorious Sun, we live in a sacramental
universe made manifest by your love: from the beginning of our light, we have sought to be
close to you, we have sought to be immersed in your being and eternity, we have sought to
be baptized in your depth and wisdom.

(The initiate now offers the bread and wine.)

II

Prayer of Offering

So we offer to you these creatures of the soil, rain, sunlight, and air.
We offer to you this bread, for the grain is the holy seed of life.
We offer to you this chacile of wine, the fruit of the vine, the joyful sign of human art
and skill, for the wine is the blood of the sun.
And we mix this wine with pure water, that all nature may be kept pure and seen as
free, holy, and our mother.

(Next, the spirit is invoked upon the gifts.)

III

Prayer of Invocations

We offer to you these holy and pure gifts, O father of time, and we plead that you will
send your holy spirit and fire, and breathe upon these gifts, making them for us, who stand
here, a part of you.

“Silence”

(The prayer of consecration is a meditation upon the gifts.)

1
Here, water is poured and mixed with the wine or grape of juice four times. At this point, the initiate, who is
making a priestly offering my perceive that he is a channel for the invisible beings and may use shamanistic
and ecstatic forms of action, in order to focus the energy and enrich the ceremony.
 IV

Consecration

And the Lord of all being breathed upon all being, saying:
Thou art Osiris;
Thou art Amon-Ra.

Prayer of Oblation

(The initiate will stand back from the altar and offer the following prayer:)

Accept eternal father of light these offerings and this sacrifice. May the thoughts of our
hearts which we bring to this altar be shared by you, in your eternity.
We pray that this eucharist will draw us closer and make us brighter to you, since the
purpose of our work, here, is to draw all beings back to you. This we ask through your body,
life, and spirit, made present everywhere in the world.

VI

Communion

(All those present receive the bread first and then the chalice. All must be consumed.
Nothing is to remain of the bread and wine.)

VII

After Communion

(After communion has been taken, the closing prayer is said as follows:)

May this sacrifice which we have offered and this sacrament which we have received
enable us to live more fully within you, linking us with all other beings, with the world, with
nature, and with the soul present within all things.
May the sun of life, which is in eternity, shine forth in the soil, and in all creatures, so
we may know them to be the presence of the father in our midst, in our prayers, and the life
stream and essence of the great mother, of the sea, hills, valleys, swarms of beings, and all
breath, flesh, bone, fur, moisture and warmth. Amen.

2
As this prayer is thought, the initiate will gently breathe over the gifts, almost silently. The initiate, here, acts
as a vehicle for the spiritual and gnostic powers which will pass through his invisible bodies. He will be a
medium for divine healing.
 VIII

Dismissal

(Standing before the altar the initiate now blesses all being:)

May the sun of light and the father and great mother of all creatures be with us in the
life of the spirit, in the mystical church of the initiates, in the soul of the earth, and in the
bodies of our priests. Amen.

“The ritual work has ended”

Notes

1. This eucharist is from “Eucharistic Liturgies of the Ecclesia Gnostica Spiritualis”

by Michael Bertiaux (MSS), section 2, pt.l.a.
2. Each initiate of the O.T.O.A. is encouraged to use this liturgy as frequently as he
deems the need to exist.
3. The altar may be of any size or shape and may have two candles or more or may
be without lights or decoration.
4. The initiate being a pneumatic gnostic should celebrate nude, for the body is the
divine image, the sign of Godmanhood.
5. Incense, music, and any other ritual aide may be used to enhance the atmosphe-
re.
6. The vessels used for the bread and wine should be washed separetely from other
dishes, but this does not imply any belief in any sacramental presence similar to
that held by some christians. Likewise, the sacred vessels are not to be viewd as
ordinary vessels, for being used in the liturgy they have taken on a new and spe-
cial meaning as magical tools.
7. It has been found that the celebration of this liturgy is most effective early in the
a.m.: but it may be celebrated at any time.
8. Traditionally, initiates will bathe before offering this gnostic liturgy of the earth.

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In gnostic theology, the universe is a sacrament. All being has value and is good and essentially divine. What
is offered becomes a focus of our meditation upon the divine essence in all thing. The theology of this church
accepts the hylomorphic panentheism of David of Dinant, Avicebron, and Giordano Bruno as being closest
in explication to the Voudon-Gnosis of the O.T.O.A. (Courtney Willis, S.G.M.)