Rosaries have been used for millennia by mantra-yogis of various religions. The one described here is modeled directly on the traditional usage of the Roman Church of the Pseudo-Christ, usage which has a history of five centuries to date. In addition to being a useful instrument for work with mantras, the regular employment of a rosary can transform the material talisman into a significant engine of magick.

Construction of the Rosary

• Pendant (1): Cross or Lingam
• Large Beads (6): Skulls or spheres
• Small Beads (53): Spherical or disc-shaped
• Lamen (1): Red triangle, heptagram, OTO lamen, or the personal lamen of the magician

Fifty small beads are strung in a loop in sets of ten, separated by four large beads and the lamen. From the lamen depends a large bead, then three small ones, then another large bead, and finally the pendant.

This is a five-decade design, which has the virtue of including 61 parts in all. The five decades are attributable to the elements of earth, water, air, fire and spirit. Other possibilities include:

• A single decade of 17 parts
• A double decade of 28 parts
• A triple decade of 39 parts, where the decades are the three gunas
• A quadruple decade of 50 parts, where the decades are the Powers of the Sphinx
• A sextuple decade of 72 parts, where the decades are Father, Mother, Son, Daughter, Spirit Without, and Spirit Within
• A heptuple decade of 83 parts, where the decades are the planets

Incantations With the Rosary

Typically a full set of incantations with the rosary will include a different formula to be recited for each of the four different bead elements. A quasi-traditional practice of incantation with the rosary begins with the pendant, progresses up the chain to the lamen, and then completes three circuits of the decades, reciting the appropriate formula at each part. On a five-decade rosary, that would amount to a single recital of the formula for the pendant, 14 repetitions of the "large" formula, 153 repetitions of the "small" formula, and 6 repetitions of the "lamen" formula. Typically, a single long invocation concludes the practice. This count gives the five decade rosary a total of 175 recitals. Note that 175 is a special number of Venus, whose glyph bears a close similarity to the rosary itself. (This esoteric symbolism is curiously consonant with the rosary's role in Roman Mariolatry.)

The following are a couple of "recipes" for rosary work. In addition to the incantations, it may be useful to focus the aspiration during the three circuits of the decades as follows:

• First Circuit--Adoration of Nuit
• Second Circuit--Identification with Hadit
• Third Circuit--Reverence to Ra-hoor-khuit

Formul : Garden of the Gnosis

• Formula for the Pendant: Thelemic Gnostic Creed
• Formula for Large Beads: The Cry of the Hawk
• Formula for Small Beads: Ave Babalon
• Formula for the Lamen: Doxology from Ritual XXXVII
  Gloria Patri et Matri et Filio et Filiae
  et Spiritui Sancto Externo et Spiritui Sancto Interno,
  ut erat est erit in saecula Saeculorum
  sex in uno per nomen Septem in uno ARARITA.


• Concluding Invocation: Nike Babalon

Formul : Smagdarine Enchantment

• Formula for the Pendant: Invocation of Tahuti, Liber Israfel vv. 4-7
  I invoke Tahuti, the Lord of Wisdom and of Utterance, the God that cometh forth from the Veil.
  O Thou! Majesty of Godhead! Wisdom-crowned Tahuti! Lord of the Gates of the Universe! Thee, Thee, I invoke.
  O Thou of the Ibis Head! Thee, Thee I invoke.
  Thou who wieldest the Wand of Double Power! Thee, Thee I invoke!
  Thou who bearest in Thy left hand the Rose and Cross of Light and Life: Thee, Thee, I invoke.
  Thou, whose head is as an emerald, and Thy nemmes as the night-sky blue! Thee, Thee I invoke.
  Thou whose skin is of flaming orange as though it burned in a furnace! Thee, Thee I invoke.
  Behold! I am Yesterday, To-Day, and Brother of To-Morrow!
  I am born again and again.
  Mine is the Unseen Force, whereof the Gods are sprung! Which is as Life unto the Dwellers in the Watch-Towers of the Universe.
  I am the Charioteer of the East, Lord of the Past and of the Future.
  I see by mine own inward light: Lord of Resurrection; Who cometh forth from the Dusk, and my birth is from the House of Death.
  O ye two Divine Hawks upon your Pinnacles!
  Who keep watch over the Universe!
  Ye who company the Bier to the House of Rest!
  Who pilot the Ship of Ra advancing onwards to the heights of heaven!
  Lord of the Shrine which standeth in the Centre of the Earth!
• Formula for Large Beads: from the Preliminary Invocation of the Goetia
  Come Thou forth, I say, come Thou forth!
  And make all Spirits subject unto Me:
  So that every Spirit of the Firmament
  And of the Ether,
  Upon the Earth,
  And under the Earth,
  On dry land
  And in the Water,
  Of whirling Air
  And of rushing Fire,
  And every Spell and Scourge of God the Vast One, may be obedient unto Me!
• Formula for Small Beads: from the Emerald Tablet of Hermes
  Thou, Star of the East, that didst conduct the Magi!
  Thou art The Same all-present in Heaven and in Hell!
  Thou that vibratest between the Light and the Darkness!
  Rising, descending! Changing ever, yet ever The Same!
  The Sun is Thy Father!
  Thy Mother the Moon!
  The Wind hath borne Thee in its bosom; and Earth hath ever nourished the changeless Godhead of Thy Youth!
• Formula for the Lamen: "General Exordium" of the Neophyte Ritual
  The Speech in the Silence.
  The Words against the Son of Night.
  The Voice of Tahuti in the Universe in the Presence of the Eternal.
  The Formulas of Knowledge.
  The Wisdom of Breath.
  The Root of Vibration.
  The Shaking of the Invisible.
  The Rolling Asunder of the Darkness.
  The Becoming Visible of Matter.
  The Piercing of the Scales of the Crocodile.
  The Breaking Forth of the Light!
• Concluding Invocation: Liber Israfel vv. 8-11
  Behold, He is in me, and I in Him!
  Mine is the Radiance, wherein Ptah floateth over the firmament!
  I travel upon high!
  I tread upon the firmament of Nu!
  I raise a flashing flame, with the lightning of Mine Eye!
  Ever rushing on, in the splendour of the daily glorified Ra: giving my life to the Dwellers of Earth.
  If I say "Come up upon the mountains!" the Celestial Waters shall flow at my Word.
  For I am Ra incarnate!
  Khephra created in the Flesh!
  I am the Eidolon of my father Tmu, Lord of the City of the Sun!
  The God who commands is in my mouth!
  The God of Wisdom is in my Heart!
  My tongue is the Sanctuary of Truth!
  And a God sitteth upon my lips.
  My Word is accomplished every day!
  And the desire of my heart realises itself, as that of Ptah when He createth his works!
  I am Eternal; therefore all things are as my designs; therefore do all things obey my Word.

Formul : The Abomination of Desolation

• Formula for the Pendant: Liber Legis III:10-20 (eleven verses)
  Get the stele of revealing itself; set it in thy secret temple-and that temple is already aright disposed-& it shall be your Kiblah for ever. It shall not fade, but miraculous colour shall come back to it day after day. Close it in locked glass for a proof to the world.
  This shall be your only proof. I forbid argument. Conquer! That is enough. I will make easy to you the abstruction from the ill-ordered house in the Victorious City. Thou shalt thyself convey it with worship, o prophet, though thou likest it not. Thou shalt have danger & trouble. Ra-Hoor-Khu is with thee. Worship me with fire & blood; worship me with swords & with spears. Let the woman be girt with a sword before me: let blood flow to my name. Trample down the Heathen; be upon them, o warrior, I will give you of their flesh to eat!
  Sacrifice cattle, little and big: after a child.
  But not now.
  Ye shall see that hour, o blessed Beast, and thou the Scarlet Concubine of his desire!
  Ye shall be sad thereof.
  Deem not too eagerly to catch the promises; fear not to undergo the curses. Ye, even ye, know not this meaning all.
  Fear not at all; fear neither men nor Fates, nor gods, nor anything. Money fear not, nor laughter of the folk folly, nor any other power in heaven or upon the earth or under the earth. Nu is your refuge as Hadit your light; and I am the strength, force, vigour, of your arms.
  Mercy let be off: damn them who pity! Kill and torture; spare not; be upon them!
  That stele they shall call the Abomination of Desolation; count well its name, & it shall be to you as 718.
  Why? Because of the fall of Because, that he is not there again.

• Formula for Large Beads: From Stele 666
  Above, the gemmed azure is
  The naked splendour of Nuit;
  She bends in ecstasy to kiss
  The secret ardours of Hadit.
  The winged globe, the starry blue,
  Are mine, O Ankh-af-na-khonsu!
• Formula for Small Beads: The Holiest of All Mantras
• Formula for the Lamen: From Stele 666
  I am the Lord of Thebes, and I
  The inspired forth-speaker of Mentu;
  For me unveils the veiled sky,
  The self-slain Ankh-af-na-khonsu
  Whose words are truth. I invoke, I greet
  Thy presence, O Ra-Hoor-Khuit!
  
  Unity uttermost showed!
  I adore the might of Thy breath,
  Supreme and terrible God,
  Who makest the gods and death
  To tremble before Thee: --
  I, I adore thee!
  
  Appear on the throne of Ra!
  Open the ways of the Khu!
  Lighten the ways of the Ka!
  The ways of the Khabs run through
  To stir me or still me!
  Aum! let it fill me!
  
  The light is mine; its rays consume
  Me: I have made a secret door
  Into the House of Ra and Tum,
  Of Khephra and of Ahathoor.
  I am thy Theban, O Mentu,
  The prophet Ankh-af-na-khonsu!
  
  By Bes-na-Maut my breast I beat;
  By wise Ta-Nech I weave my spell.
  Show thy star-splendour, O Nuit!
  Bid me within thine House to dwell,
  O winged snake of light, Hadit!
  Abide with me, Ra-Hoor-Khuit!
• Concluding Invocation: From Stele 666
  Saith of Mentu the truth-telling brother
  Who was master of Thebes from his birth:
  O heart of me, heart of my mother!
  O heart which I had upon earth!
  Stand not thou up against me a witness!
  Oppose me not, judge, in my quest!
  Accuse me not now of unfitness
  Before the Great God, the dread Lord of the West!
  For I fastened the one to the other
  With a spell for their mystical girth,
  The earth and the wonderful West,
  When I flourished, o earth, on thy breast!
  
  The dead man Ankh-f-n-khonsu
  Saith with his voice of truth and calm:
  O thou that hast a single arm!
  O thou that glitterest in the moon!
  I weave thee in the spinning charm;
  I lure thee with the billowy tune.
  
  The dead man Ankh-f-n-khonsu
  Hath parted from the darkling crowds,
  Hath joined the dwellers of the light,
  Opening Duant, the star-abodes,
  Their keys receiving.
  The dead man Ankh-f-n-khonsu
  Hath made his passage into night,
  His pleasure on the earth to do
  Among the living.

A further application
of the rosary and its incantations is to use it for "ceremonial close reading" of sacred texts, where each bead (or each bead of a specified type) includes contemplation of a verse of scripture, sealed with incantation of the chosen formula.

Prayers and Mantras
The Exposed Adytum