Societas Rosicruciana in Anglia
Initiation Ritual for Grade IX, The Grade of Magus

 
2019

The Ritual of the Grade of Magus together with the Introduction prefaced thereto, is from a MS. in the writing of the Most Worthy Frater Dr. William Wynn Westcott, IX°, Supreme Magus, which states that the Ritual was copied by him from a MS. of the late M.W. Frater R. Wentworth Little, the first Supreme Magus of the Society. The Installation Oath of a Supreme Magus is also from a MS. in the writing of Dr. W. Wynn Westcott.
The M.W. Supreme Magus may confer the Grade of Magus to fill the office of a substitute Magus whenever there is a vacancy; and he may confer the title of Magus Honoris Causa 9° upon any Magister who has done excellent work for the Society or its Fratres. This Grade is the highest Grade in Anglia, or in any other country; yet there has been in the past, and there may still be a Rex of all Magi.
Our great Founder, Christian Rosencreutz, was the Supreme Magus of Germany, and we believe he looked up to the Divinity as the Crown. Yet after his decease and after the 120 years of silence, when the Rosicrucian Revival took place about 1614, the Rosicrucians became separated into centres in various countries, and the senior and most learned Frater became the Supreme Magus, each in his own country. After this distribution of authorities, it was deemed well, for some centuries, to recognise one of these Magi as superior to the others, and he represented the Crown - Kether - the King, the First Sephirah in the Qabalistic Decad, or Ten Divine Ideals. The Supreme Magus of a country knew the Rex of all Magi; but other Magi did not know who was Rex, and of the Tenth Grade.
The Temple is arranged with chairs in a circle with the S.M. in the east and the Magister sits in the West. A small altar ought to be placed in the centre. Bible to be opened at the Book of Revelations.
The Knocks of the Ninth Grade are various:-
The usual knocks are 4 and 5,
Four for IHVH- Jehovah. Five for IHSVH- Jehoshua (the Qabalistic Hebrew for Jesus.)
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The knocks may be 4, 4, 1,
Four for IHVH. Four for INRI,
One for the Divine Unity.
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The knocks may be 5, 3, 1,
Five for IHSVH. Three for The Holy Trinity, One for Unity.
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The knocks may be 7, 2,
Seven the Perfect Number of Creation. Two for "On Earth as in Heaven" .
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Opening of a Council of Magi
 
Supreme Magus: Right Worthy Fratres, we are assembled in our Sacred Temple to perform our duties as Magi of the Societas Rosicruciana In Anglia, and I give you a most warm Fratemal and Christian greeting.
Please rise and stand to order for prayer.
I now ask you all to offer up silently your most sacred prayer and then to pray for the welfare of our ancient Society and fervently that the Light of our risen Redeemer INRI may so illuminate the Path of our new Magus that he radiates the love of Christian Rosencreutz and so leads his Fratres along the Way that leads to Eternal Life.
Pause
By the power and authority vested in me I declare this Council of Magi duly opened.
Gives Four and Five knocks
Be seated Right Worthy Fratres.
Right Worthy Secretary General, please read the Minutes of the last Assembly of Magi to have been held in the Society.
If the Celebrant is a Commissioner, then he must read his Commission from the M.W. Supreme Magus.
 
 
Reception of a Magus
 
Candidate is admitted and stands to the west of the Altar.
Supreme Magus: Right Worthy Fratres please rise.
or, when performed by some other Magus.
By the authority under the hand of the Most Worthy Supreme Magus of this Society,
or, at the Installation of a new Supreme Magus.
By the authority of a High Council of Magi and Magistri convened to choose a new Supreme Magus, I have the privilege of conferring upon you the Rank and Title of Supreme Magus of the Societas Rosicruciana in Anglia.
You, Right Worthy Frater .... a Magister of this Society, pledged to support its honour and dignity, its welfare and its progress, have excelled in the performance of your duties to the other Magistri, and to the Fratres of the Second and First Orders. For work well done I have the privilege and honour of enrolling you among the Magi in Anglia.
or You are now to be installed as the Supreme Magus.
Draw near then, and in a solernn manner receive at my hands the Consecration reserved for the exalted Grade of Magus.
All Fratres sit with bowed heads.
Kneel then, my Right Worthy Frater, and repeat after me this ancient Rune:-
I bend my knee in the eye of the Father who created me,
In the eye of the Son who purchased me;
In the eye of the Spirit who cleansed me;
Grant me to listen to the Wisdom of God;
Give me Understanding in the Ways of God;
Bestow upon me a fullness in Love towards God;
To walk in the Fear of God;
So as to dwell in the Light and Grace of God;
That I might aspire to do His Will in the world as saints and angels do in Heaven.
For this I pray.
Now breathe in silence your prayer to God, asking for enlightenment of mind, uprightness in action, and life in health, for so long as it may please Him, so that you may be and ever remain a pillar of strength and virtue in this our Society of the Rose of Silence and the Cross of Suffering; and your Fratres here present will, in silence, join their prayers with yours.
A period of silent prayer
Silence and secrecy must be sacred, for in silence and in secret is the soul of man most free to commune with the Divine. Then may we acquire love towards God; gain an insight to the wisdom of God; grasp the grace of God and stand in fear of God, not as slaves, but in awe and reverence as we are empowered by the will of God to fulfil His purpose in our lives.
We ask to become inspired with his supreme power and may the prayers that you have now offered prove to be acceptable to the Great King Above, and may your future conduct as a Magus among Rosicrucians show that you are worthy to be numbered with the Chiefs of this Society, true in heart, honest in purpose, and a faithful friend.
Rise my Right Worthy Frater.
I now place my two hands upon your shoulders, and I earnestly pray that enthusiasm for our aim, (pause) representing Fire (pause) a soaring desire for wisdom, (pause) representing Air (pause) a flowing river of love, (pause) representing Water (pause) and a steadfast determination to be just, (pause) representing Earth (pause) may inspire your thoughts and guide your actions throughout a life well spent in service, until, at the end, you can triumphantly exclaim, as cl.id St. Paul, "I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith".
From such anticipation comes the secret word of a Magus. It is Tetelestai, a Greek word which means 'It has been completed' This, we believe, was the last sentiment uttered by our Saviour on the Cross before He died, when He had completed His work for our redemption, and cried "It has been completed" - Tetelestai and from His finished work comes the strength for our continuing work and service. The reply to the Secret Word is also a Greek word, composed of three vowels. A.E. I. which means 'for ever'. (it is pronounced like a two syllable word Ah-ey;).
The grip of the Grade of Magus is a mutual hand clasp of a somewhat curious nature. Each magus, with the four fingers and thumb of the right hand, encircles from behind the four fingers of the others left hand, the thumb being free. You will recognise that this grip is emblematical of the number Nine, the Grade of Magus being the Ninth Grade in our Society. With this grip and salutation I greet you as a Magus, whispering in your ear the Secret Word Tetelestai and with you whispering in my ear 'Aei' I name you a Magus in Anglia.
So to remain during the will and pleasure of the Supreme Magus.
The new Magus is now invested with the jewel of the Grade.
Be careful, my Right Worthy Frater, to remember the Grand Word and Salutation of a Magus, for it may fall to your lot to consecrate some other Frater, and to induct him into the Grade of Magus, and perchance it may be your lot to induct the coming Supreme Magus.
Candidate sits to the West of the Altar.
The text in Blue is optional and may be adapted to suit the Masonic life of the candidate
 

Address
 
My Beloved Right Worthy Frater, when you entered a Lodge in a state of helpless indigence you stood at the North East part of the Lodge to show that you were newly admitted into Freemasonry and thereby figuratively to mark your birth into this world. In the second degree you were moved to the South East part of the Lodge to mark the progress that you had made in the Lodge and in your Life. Your attention was drawn to the symbol of an ear of com on the Tracing Board which through contemplation you might reflect on the quality and productivity of your life to God's service. In the third degree you were figuratively laid in the grave in the centre of the Lodge, which centre is also the pivotal point of balance and sacrifice on the Qabalistic Tree of Life. It is called Tiphareth and it is the fundamental focus and essence of Beauty. It is symbolised by the Child, which we all are; a Place of Sacrifice through which we grow and finally as a King which in time we must all aspire to be.
From here and with these secrets you returned to the outer world and being aware that there was more, you searched for a path that you could not see but yet you knew deep down was there.
For much time you sought this highway back to your Heavenly home only in time to perceive that you were already on that path. In truth I say that it surrounds you and wherever you are is where you need and where you deserve to be and this Path is the Experience of Life.
Finally and by a winding way, life itself led you along seven mystic steps and ages to a portal wherein you were taught to reflect and to work on the elemental aspects of your body and personality - the state of your body in Earth; the powers of your instincts and emotions within the World of water; your Airy thought and finally your Destiny of the World of Fire. Thus might you so chisel your rough hewn Ashlar into the perfection of a polished stone ready and fit to be used in the building of the Holy Temple. (In symbol and by a glimmering ray you stepped over the abyss of the grave; by the lamp of Raphael you climbed seven rungs of the spiritual ladder; you fought the powers of the vices through seven symbolic years of personal warfare and by your own flickering light of penance and sorrow from within you aimed to follow the Path of the Arrow shot by the unerring hand of the Almighty Archer - the Path and the Way of a life of truth, which through itself triumphs over all.)
But yet that Inner Voice remained unquenched and again called out to you and in due time you were led to a vault at the dead of night where you came to consider that time whence the door of life would be fully and finally opened and the designs on your trestle board seen in their fullest splendour in your perpetual noontide of bliss. The principles of Life and Death were unveiled to you as the tides of days and nights which like the seas ebb and flow in to smooth the rough and troubled stones of your mortality. Gradually your coarse stones were smoothed by the loving rush of the waters and rendered into the purest pearls of beauty, truth and wisdom, even a perfect Ashlar.
Patiently you waited for the dawning of that new day of knowing into that higher realm and that Holy Place of meeting wherein dwelt all those who had trodden the Path before you. You were called to search even into the depths of your own heart and soul until at last you reached in and wrenched forth the key stone of your earthly vault.
Then did the meridian splendour of the divine rays stream in, around and within you as the door to your tomb of being was opened to the risen Light and perfect splendour of that bright Morning Star which is the radiance of the Lost Word. With this Light of life I bid you turn your eyes and look back from whence you came that you might be as a beacon to those who as yet have not lifted up their eyes to that Morning Star and who still live their lives under the shadow of the fear of the finality of death.
But for you death is no more; it is but a gateway or portal that leads onwards to the threshold of Destiny. About are all those who look to you as the way for them to follow and for you to be their guide . The responsibility is yours, you are their Light. You have indeed fought a good fight; you have indeed finished the course and in faith have you lived. Now to you is given the continuance of the work of the Lord; to make the crooked Way straight for those who come after and to reach out your crook to return those who are lost to the fold and your work is His Work. But, stretching out before you and lying beyond this threshold is also the Way to Eden and our Heavenly home.
Here lies that Path of diamond light leading upwards to the radiance of Kether, the Crown and our Heavenly Kingdom wherein rises the spire of a great church set at the centre of a great city which is Salem - the City of God.
There my beloved Frater will you pass between the guardians of the courtyard and alone, cross to the threshold of His most holy church where Great Michael will raise his sword of fire and shall bid you to knock on the door.
Then the portal of the Temple of Salem shall be opened unto you and one will come to greet you hearing bread and wine even as he did our forefather Abram and you will be led into the Sanctuary by our Grand Master, Melchizedek, there to stand in awe of God who we pray will be pleased, in time, to receive you into His most glorious and everlasting Presence, there for you to adore and to walk with Him for evermore.
At this threshold you stand and the time is now.
Right Worthy Fratres to order for prayer.
All rise but candidate kneels fb the West of the Altar.
O Rex gloriose, Qui inter sanctos Tuos semper es laudabilis, et tamen ineffabilis, salve nos, Domine, vigilantes; custodi nos dormientes; ut vigilemus cum Christa, et requiescamus in pace.
All: Amen
Vale Frater Rosae et Crucis, and may the blessing of Jesus Nazarenus Rex Judaeorum be upon you and remain with you always.
All: Amen
Supreme Magus: R.W. Frater ... I bid you rise.
Candidate rises.
The Magi present greet the newly honoured Magus with the grip and the word.
Supreme Magus: In the name of INRI, I declare the Assembly of Magi closed.
Supreme Magus gives Four and Five knocks.
Benedicite Domino, laudate et superexaltate eum in coelo . Gloria Patri et Filio et Spiritui Sancto, sicut erat in principio, et nunc et semper, in saecula saeculorum.
All: Amen
 
Translation of the prayer "O Rex gloriose ..... "
O King of glory, Who among Your saints are always to be praised, yet you are beyond any words, save us, Lord, while waking ; and guard us sleeping ; that we, awake, may watch with Christ, and asleep we may rest in peace.