The Nuptial Congress of Two Stars

                   Being the Dissolution into Marriage

When you make the two one, and when you make the inner as the outer and the outer as the inner and the above as the below, and when you make the male and the female into a single one, so that the male will not be male and the female not be female . . . then shall you enter the kingdom. --Gospel of Thomas

                 Gnostic Church of L.V.X.

                Member: A.M.H.R.

                 By Order of the Acting Council of Elders

The Congregation is let into the Hall by the Wedding Parties whom act as Ushers. The Wedding Parties then disappear behind the High Altar.

The Gnostic Mass is assembled and performed to the point preceding the Ceremony of the Opening of the Veil. And then proceeds to the point at which the Priestess is enthroned upon the Altar. The immediate Congregation surrounds the circle and is composed of aspirants robed in their highest grade. Behind them are the Public in fine dress.

The Bride and Groom enter from their respective sides of the High Altar having been waiting behind it. The Bride accompanied by her Father and the Groom accompanied by his Mother. Both parents are dressed in fine apparel They are escorted by the Children of the Mass to the Circle and joined by the Deacon who awaits them at his station on the square of Tiphareth.

Pageant music is heard.

The Children return to their stations and take up the items for the Consecration and Purification and hand them over to the Parents who stand beside the couple. They then return forming a triangle behind the couple to be Wed.

The Priest and Priestess then descend from the High Altar and approach the couple. The Priestess arms the Bride with her Sword and the Priest does likewise with his Lance. The Priest and Priestess then form a triangle behind the Deacon.

The Wedding Parties of the Couple will then enter the Hall from their places in like manner to the Wedding Couple. They are dressed in fine and matching apparel and surround the Circle immediately beyond it's perimeter.

The Deacon directs the parents to perform the rites of Purification and Consecration. The Parents will each then circumambulate the Circle thrice within the confines of the surrounding wedding parties and hand their instruments to the Deacon upon completion. The Deacon will then Purify and Consecrate the Couple and the Parents resume their stations.

The Priest then recites the Oration to Nuit:

O circle of Stars whereof our Father is but the younger brother, marvel beyond imagination, soul of infinite space, before whom Time is ashamed, the mind bewildered, and the understanding dark, not unto Thee may we attain, unless Thine image be Love. Therefore by seed and root and stem and bud and leaf and flower and fruit we do invoke Thee.

Then the priest answered & said unto the Queen of Space, kissing her lovely brows, and the dew of her light bathing his whole body in a sweet-smelling perfume of sweat: O Nuit, continuous one of Heaven, let it be ever thus that men speak not of Thee as One but as None; and let them speak not of thee at all, since thou art continuous!

The Priestess then recites the Oration of Nuit:

But to love me is better than all things: if under the night-stars in the desert thou presently burnest mine incense before me, invoking me with a pure heart, and the Serpent flame therein, thou shalt come a little to lie in my bosom. For one kiss wilt thou then be willing to give all; but whoso gives one particle of dust shall lose all in the hour. Ye shall gather goods and store of women and spices; ye shall wear rich jewels; ye shall exceed the nations of the earth in splendour & pride; but always in the love of me, and so shall y come to my joy. I charge you earnestly to come before me in a single robe, and covered with a rich headdress. I love you! I yearn to you! Pale or purple, veiled or voluptuous, I who am all pleasure and purple, and drunkenness of the innermost sense, desire you. Put on the wings, and arouse the coiled splendour within you: come unto me! To me! To me! Sing the rapturous love-song unto me! Burn to me perfumes! Wear to me jewels! Drink to me, for I love you! I love you! I am the blue-lidded daughter of Sunset; I am the naked brilliance of the voluptuous night-sky. To me! To me!

The Deacon assumes the Sign of Silence

The Couple proclaims in unison:

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

Deacon: What is thy will?

Couple: To enjoin upon a common path together.

Deacon: To what end?

Couple: For Beauty's sake and for Love

Deacon: To what end?

Couple: That the manifestation of our Love may be shared with all.

Deacon: To what end?

Couple: That we may each fortify the other in the accomplishment of the Great Work.

The Deacon holds both arms in the Sign of Benediction and leads the entire wedding party in the vibration of AUMGN.

The Congregation responds with: Love is the law, love under will.

The Deacon instructs:

The principle of love in such a union of Stars is the agent that turns two people from their once divided paths as they now both look in the same direction and not at one another. As this is their will, they have the inertia of the universe at their disposal.  ON in the Greek language means 'being,' suggesting One.  It equals 120 in the Greek Qabalah, suggesting the whole universe.

AL I.45:  "The Perfect and the Perfect are one Perfect and not two; nay, are none!"

The Congregation responds with: So mote it be.

The couple then exchange symbols and/or vows which they intend to employ in guiding their partnership.

The Deacon then questions the couple individually and by name:

_________________ is it your will to consummate this marriage with _________________?

Each responds with: It is my will.

The Deacon then proclaims:

If it be both thy wills to form this union then let it de done, for we who are here assembled rejoice in thy joy. Let thy paths arc parallel in your free-fall unto Our Lady of the Stars. "O man! Refuse not thy wife, if she will! O lover, if thou wilt, depart! There is no bond that can unite the divided but love: all else is a curse."

The Priest and Priestess conclude the rite by saying simultaneously:

"...thou hast no right but to do thy will."

Triumphant music is heard and the immediate cast congratulates the happy Couple. The Wedding Party escorts all others without the Hall and rejoins the immediate cast for photos and other similar rites of passage. The Weapons are returned to the Priest and Priestess.

The crowd has now assembled outside. First the Children leave, then the Wedding Parties, then the Parents, then the Priest and Priestess. The Deacon next leaves to introduce to the crowd the newly married couple.

All proceed to the reception.

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