Kate & "Lilly" (LONG!)

["Rick Creighton" <rcreighton@smtpinet.aspensys.com>]

Lovehounds,

I have been a KaTe fan for over 10 years (and a student of the "occult" for 
longer) I have been wondering about the song "Lilly" on TRS. I have been 
studying the Golden Dawn (and it's associated orders) for about 5 years, and the 
first time I heard "Lilly", I immediately recognized that it was a song about 
the "Lesser Banishing Ritual of the Pentagram" (LBRP), a ritual popularized by 
the G.'.D.'. and now used (in one form or another) by just about every Western 
"path".

This letter is NOT to discuss whether KaTe is, was, or wants to be a member of 
the G.'.D.'. (or ANY occult or Magickal Order, for that matter). What I would 
like to discuss is the wording that KaTe uses in the song "Lilly", and it's 
deviance from the "traditional" version of the LBRP.

The "standard" version of the LBRP procedes thus:

    Raphael before me,
    Gabriel behind me,
    Michael to my right, 
    Uriel on my left side...

Aside from the fact that KaTe uses blatently Anglecised pronounciations for the 
Angels' names (traditionally they are spoken using the Hebrew pronounciations: 
ga-vri-EL, ra-fay-EL, mee-chah-EL, oo-ree-EL) our dearest Lady has transposed 
the first two Angels, in relation to her self:

    Gabriel before me,
    Raphael behind me,
    Michael to my right, 
    Uriel on my left side...

To most people, this would seem a simple mistake, perhaps due to artistic 
license, or faulty memory, or mere unfamiliarity with the intricacies of the 
LBRP. However, to a student of this particular path, or someone learned in 
Angelic Evocation, Ceremonial Magick, or Qabala, this transposition of Raphael 
and Gabriel is a MAJOR change to the ritual. In Angelic Magick, Angels have very 
specific correspondences to directions, elements, even days of the week and 
hours of the day. (These correspondences are usually treated with special care 
and respect, because they are often believed to be "divinely" revealed, through 
direct contact with Angels or other spirits)

So to switch the first two angels is quite a serious change to make to this 
ritual! In fact, the prevailing attitude among shcolars of this art comment that 
by merely Calling the Quarters in a different order would render the ritual 
ineffective. So for KaTe to switch the first two angels brings creat concern 
among those of us who are intimately familiar with this path (in general) and 
this ritual (in specific).

We can endlessly speculate the reasons for this "switch" in KaTe's song, but I 
have hraed the following four explanations:

1) KaTe heard or read this ritual once, and wanted to write a song about it, but 
she mis-remembered it.

2) KaTe is actually quite knowledgeable in this field, and knows the "real" 
version of the LBRP, but she modified it for the song to render it ineffectual, 
because she didn't want to be responsible for millions of "circles of 
protection" being generated world-wide, everytime "Lilly" plays on a radio or 
stereo.

3) KaTe is, in fact, divine, and in contact with Angelic powers, who have told 
Her to revise the LBRP, and have assigned a "New Order" to the Angels...

4) KaTe is actually a Hermetic Discordian, and has constructed this "twisted" 
version of the LBRP in order to help Immanetize the Eschaton, by throwing 
discord and confusion into the "currents" of Angelic Magick, Hermeticism, and 
Ceremonial Magick, because every time "Lilly" is played, it pisses off the 
Angels a little more, and they are going to eventually call for the "Opening of 
the Abyss"...

Although all three of these explanations are extremely likely (well, OK, the 3rd 
one, anyway...) I would like to offer the following fifth theory:

5) KaTe is familiar with the LBRP (although probably NOT a member of any 
Magickal Order, at least not an active member, although she may be a "social" 
member of the British G.'.D.'.) and uses it occasionally, and has written this 
song to illustrate the struggle she had integrating it into her paradigm. I also 
propose that even though the order of the Angels in "Lilly" is different than 
the "traditional" LBRP, that the two "calls" are actually one in the same, and, 
in fact, NOT different. Allow me to illustrate:

If we assume the following table to be the "standard" directional/Angelic 
correspondence, as practiced in the LBRP, where East is the direction the 
"caller" (the person calling the Angels) faces: 

                Raphael
                (east)

    Michael     +-O-+       Uriel
    (south)     (caller)    (north)

                Gabriel
                (west)

You can see that if the "caller" turns around so as to face Gabriel (as in 
KaTe's lyric), then Michael and Uriel are also on different sides of the caller. 
However, in "Lilly", although Raphael & Gabriel switch, Michael & Uriel do not! 
No matter how the caller orients him/er self, the standard correspondences don't 
work.

HOWEVER, if we t"think outside of the box", and approach this space as truely 3-
dimensional (which it IS, both in "reality", and in ritual space...) the answer 
to this quandry becomes clear. If the caller does a partial backflip, and stands 
on his/er head, s/he ends up facing Gabriel, AND Michael is still on the right! 
Viola!

I interpret this as KaTe's rather obtuse way of saying that when she was first 
exposed to this particular path, it "turned her world on it's head"! In other 
words, her paradigm underwent a traumatic shift, and she had to literally "turn 
herself upsidedown" in order to assimilate the whole concept of Magick...

Of course, I may be reading a lot more into this song than was intended by KaTe, 
but that is what is so wonderful about the Internet. Here I can indulge my 
fantasies to a captive audience...

Let me know what you think!

Bright Blessings!

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|   Richard A. Creighton            |  e:mail: emerald7@his.com            |
|   Member, HTML Writer's Guild     |  WWW: http://www.his.com/~emerald7   |
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|        "Ne laeteris inimica mea super me" - Thomas Ravenscroft           |
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