TheRites of Eleusis were a series of seven publicinvocations orrites written by British occultistAleister Crowley, each centered on one of the seven classical planets of antiquity. They were dramatically performed byAleister Crowley,Leila Waddell (Laylah), andVictor Benjamin Neuburg in October and November 1910, atCaxton Hall, London. This act brought Crowley's occult organization theA∴A∴ into the public eye.[1]
The names of the seven Rites areThe Rite of "Saturn", "Jupiter", "Mars", "Sol", "Venus", "Mercury" and "Luna". Crowley claimed that theRites were designed to inspire the audience with 'religious ecstasy', and that merely reading them would help people "cultivate their highest faculties". Some in the popular press thought otherwise, and considered theRites an immoral display, riddled with 'blasphemy anderotic suggestion.' The Rite of Luna was danced by Joan Hayes also known as Ione de Forest, a lover ofVictor Neuberg
Rites of Eleusis: As Performed at Caxton Hall Illustrated by Dwina Murphy-Gibb. Edited by Keith Richmond. UK: Mandrake, 1990 (limited edition of 1,000 copies). Contains the complete scripts of all theRites, with introduction by Richmond and explanatory essays by Richmond and Terence DuQuesne. Also includes a series of adorations,The Treasure House of Images by CaptJ.F.C. Fuller, and Crowley'sMagick Book 4 (Liber O).
Several modernOrdo Templi Orientis groups regularly perform the Rites of Eleusis as written by Crowley. There is an additional "Rite of Earth" not written by Crowley which was penned byLon Milo Duquette and others as a logical extension of the Rites to complete the sequence from Saturn (Binah) to Earth (Malkuth).
Beginning in 2000, Seattle basedEleusyve Productions has been composing original musical arrangements for each of the plays comprisingThe Rites of Eleusis. All seven have been created and staged, with the final video, "Rite of Saturn", released in May 2020.[2]
On March 7, 2008 experimental media artistRaymond Salvatore Harmon presented a three channel video performance of theRites of Eleusis at Horse Hospital Gallery London, UK, by recontextualizing them into seven abstract films containing all of the original content as subliminal content hidden within each film.