The Rite of Babalon
Written by Scott Wilde for performance at Horizon Lodge for the Summer Solstice of Anno Vi.
A celebration of the unveiling of our Lady Babalon and her triumph over the kings of the earth.
An imperfect exploration of blind desire reified into seven coarse parts which are in turn brought to perfection by our Lady.
Synopsis
The Human Spirit is that which draweth together men.
Babalon as the ultimate incarnation of this Spirit.
The Dragon desireth the woman, but this is pure lust of result unbridled and undirected.
He divides himself up into the heads of the beast, reifying this desire through the actions of the seven planets, each expressing it according to its own nature.
Each addresses Babalon with their rough, unrefined, or temporal desires and in turn Babalon shows them the transcendent or thelemic version of those desires.
Each becoming perfected and brought within to be a head of the Beast.
Theory
In a large part this ritual is an exploration of the origin of Babalon.
Previous to Thelema, Babylon was seen as the ultimate incarnation of human desire or object of individual will. In revelation this is seen as opposed to the pure desire for union with God's will as embodied by the Lamb. Babylon in this vision is a pure human creation, the sinful city which has yoked the world, her origin certainly not the work of God.
So enter Thelema, the main theme of which is the turning of the old formulas on their head, transcending the old virtue and vice of old with the new law of "Do what thou wilt". Man and God are no longer divided with the sharp line of purity and lineage that allows one to enter the city of God in revelation, rather "There is no god but man" unites them, the true will of each IS God's will.
Thus is the origin of Babalon now both Man and God at the same time. Of course this does not negate that she also has a part in the creation of this font of Will from which she springs, for which came first, Will or the Object of Will? Thelema and Agape cannot be separated. Babalon cannot exist separately from those whom she must harvest, just as it would be folly to think that the divine will which flows through man can exist in division upon the earth without a reconcilier to bring it back to unity.