Household Gods E-Book

Aleister Crowley

• Herausgeber: Blackmore Dennett
• Kategorie: Religion und Spiritualität
• Sprache: Englisch
• Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2018

Beschreibung

THE SCENE is at the hearth of CRASSUS, where is a little bronze altar dedicated to the Lares and Penates. A pale flame rises from the burning sandal-wood, on which CRASSUS throws benzoin and musk. He is standing in deep dejection. CRASSUS. Smoke without fire No thrill of tongues licks up The offerings in the cup. Dead falls desire... Aleister Crowley (1875 – 1947) was an English occultist, ceremonial magician, poet, painter, novelist, and mountaineer. He founded the religion of Thelema, identifying himself as the prophet entrusted with guiding humanity into the Æon of Horus in the early 20th century. A prolific writer, he published widely over the course of his life.

Leseprobe

HOUSEHOLD GODS

by Aleister Crowley

Published 2018 by Blackmore Dennett

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

SCENE

HOUSEHOLD GODS

SCENE

THE HEARTH OF CRASSUS; AFTERWARDS THE LAWNS, THE WOODS, THE LAKE, THE ISLE.

CHARACTERS

CRASSUS, a barbarian from Britain.ADELA, his wife, a noble Roman lady.ALICIA, a servant in the house.A STATUE OF PAN.A FAUN.

HOUSEHOLD GODS

THE SCENE is at the hearth of CRASSUS, where is a little bronze altar dedicated to the Lares and Penates. A pale flame rises from the burning sandal-wood, on which CRASSUS throws benzoin and musk. He is standing in deep dejection.

CRASSUS.Smoke without fire!  No thrill of tongues licks up  The offerings in the cup.Dead falls desire.

Black smoke thou art,  O altar-flame, that dost dismember,  Devour the hearth, to leave no emberTo warm this heart.

I see her still -  Adela dancing here  Till dim gods did appearTo work our will.

The delicate girl!  Diaphanous gossamer  Subtly revealing herBrave breast of pearl!

Now - she's withdrawn  At dusk to the wild woods,  Mystic beatitudesThat dure till dawn.

Let life exclaim  Against these things of spirit,  Mankind that disinheritOf love's pure flame![He bends before the altar and begins to weep.]

Ye household gods!  By these male tears I swear  That ye shall grant this prayer.All things at odds

Shall be put straight -  Harmonized, reconciled  By some appointed childOf some far Fate![A curtain has been drawn aside during this invocation, andALICIA advances. She smiles subtly upon him; and, giving astrange gesture, makes one or two noiseless steps of dancing.]

ALICIA.Master still sad?

CRASSUS.These faint and fearful shores  Of time are beaten by the surge of sense,  Love worn away - by love? - to indifference.Who knows what god - or demon - she adores?  Or in what wood she shelters, or what grove  Sees her profane our sacrament of love?

ALICIA.I saw her followThe stream in the hollowWhere never Apollo  Abides.So thick are the treesThat never the breezeStirs them, or sees  What satyr inhabits the glen, what nymph in the    pools of it hides.

Lighter of foot  Than a sylph or a fairy,  Sinuous, wary,  I passed from the airyLawns, where the flute  Of the winds made tremulous music for man.

I followed the ripple  Of the stream; I crept  Where the waters wept -    The floss in the foss    Gurgling across    The bosses of moss,Like a dryad's nipple  In the mouth of Pan!

CRASSUS.O pearl of the house! you came to the end?

ALICIA.The dusk of the slave, the dawn of a friend?

CRASSUS.Freedom is thine for the skill and the will.

ALICIA.The skill is mine - but the will lies still,Still as the earth that dare not stirTill the kiss of the sun awaken her!

CRASSUS.Yet at these secrets and riddles? Behold!I can fill thy lap with a harvest of gold.

ALICIA.Yet all the gold you could give to meWould fall at my feet when I rose to be free.

CRASSUS.What will you then?