Order of the Shining Helmet of Athena: Fourth Path
Order of the Shining Helmet of Athena
By Olivia Robertson
"Athena: Goddess of Light and Darkness" by Olivia Robertson
Fourth Path: Helmet and the Stars
Halo of Light, the Oracles
“We are hoping for the gift of the Helmet, which is the Halo of Light, and comes through the head.” – Olivia Robertson
My friends in California say Goddess energy is like water, it flows around the stone that would block it. In my experience, when the Goddess current flows, water runs over stone. The stone, instead of acting as an obstacle, becomes instead, a foundation, a support. My brother Lawrence likened the bed of the Nile with the womb of Isis. The waters, which some liken to Her tears, he saw as Osiris. There is no wearing away! Stones provide a foundation. The waters of the Goddess are the Waters of Life.
I am asked when did the Goddess begin to come through me, when did I begin to bring forth oracles! The answer is astonishingly simple! I had visions, I received messages, but the real turning point came when my brother and I started daily attunement times for Fellowship of Isis members at the temple. I prepared the night before and asked the Goddess for inspiration before sleep. At night I received impressions and dreams. The next morning, I was charged, I was attuned. Sitting on a bench near the well - whose waters we use for inspiration and healing - the rites and oracles would come through. It was attuning to the Rainbow Network - which consists not only of FOI members and their centers – but beings of other realms, which we attribute to being in the sky. Rainbows are in the sky, the colors they produce come from water in air, illumined by sunlight. The Inner Sun of Isis traditionally comes to us at Midnight, as a sign of initiation. But it can illumine us at any time. The sun is a star, and in the Rainbow Network we attune to Stellar Beings. Our sky is the bridge between heaven and earth.
In our work at the temple, the oracular priestess wears a veil. The veil obscures the earthly identity of the priestess - she becomes the oracle. She is removed from mundane existence and her body becomes a sacred vessel. During this period, a priest stands near her, maintaining a stable and protective sphere. My brother Lawrence took on this role in our temple. When I travel, if there is no priest available, I ask one or two priestesses to assist. If one, she stands behind me with arms outstretched on either side like the Wings of Isis. Or, if two, they stand on either side, their outstretched arms likened to the Wings of the two Maat’i Goddesses – Isis and Nephthys. The oracular priestess communes with the Goddess, and so does the assisting priest - or priestess.
A priestess is not a medium for the Goddess, serving Her as a handmaiden, but as a spark from the starry body of Nuit. I believe one cannot commune with anybody, great or small, without a basic equality of latent Divinity. Otherwise there would be no communion, only communication. The priestess or priest who enters oracular trance becomes a Daughter or Son of that Deity. In the Fellowship of Isis, our priestesses and priests do not give total control to the incoming Being. When Deity manifests, the priestess or priest retains their own sense of self, they retain their own consciousness. My brother and I believe this is true to the ancient Egyptian practice.
How do we best affect sensitivity to Deity? The New Aeon brings energies to awaken our true Essence. It brings a new language - cosmic in scope – designed to effect response through use of the Arts. Speak the Name of a Goddess, chant Her Name, or dance for Her, paint a picture of Her, and a Presence can be felt. Study the arts to learn of associative symbols, their interpretation is another art. Through use of symbols and color it is possible to strike a note on one level of being and so awaken the same note on other octaves. Psychic keynotes may be placed into the creative imagination to promote visualization. Visualization leads to communion.
In oracular work, we have the sacred triad of Goddesses who oversee our fellowship - Dana of the waters, Isis of sun, stars and sky, and Tara of our earth. The message flows through the eternal nurturing and goodness that is the current of the Great Mother. It takes us to the heights of our perceptions of existence. It illuminates the hidden depth of current that runs through our earth.
One of my latest paintings is of the Goddess Pele. She's shown me a prophecy of fire within the earth, exploding - which isn't very cheerful! But the painting is a fractal, because you see the fire rising right up through the planes. I've depicted myself looking on all this amazed and aghast in the lower right hand corner. Pele awakened the top of my head - my crown chakra, which is the light, it linked my consciousness with "loas", or other beings. I had received the Halo of Light.
Olivia's painting of her vision of the Goddess Pele and the Three Loas.
*Note: Work on each path consists of psychic questing. “Athena: Arcadian Awakening” may be used, and oracles by Olivia Robertson – “unscripted rites” - development of one’s own rites and oracles is encouraged. The order honors and reveres all Athenian Ancestors of Arcadia, as the Goddess Athena shares Her inspiration and wisdom through spirituality and the arts.
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Transcription of notes taken at the Nesu House, 2009.