Introduction

1. Hotepu!

A testimony of faith and devotion offered at the lotus feet of Antinous the God, who lives forever by the Word and by the Law of the Heavens, and for the benefit of his many lovers, all beneficiaries of the divine inundation. May they know no hunger or thirst. May they have peace and bliss.

May this testimony never cease to benefit countless sentient beings in all the worlds forever and ever, keeping them safe, at ease, healthy, scaring away every evil spirit and filling their cup with pleasure.

2. First Admonition: Opening Blessing

May all who place their faith in this testimony be blessed in great measure with health, joy, and tranquility. May their ba be refreshed as by a stream of cool waters. May they have a lighter load to bear. May their fears vanish. May the study of this teaching gladden their souls.

May all who share this testimony with others enjoy manifold merit for all time in proportionate measure. May all their kindred benefit. May they enjoy peace and pleasure. May their ba be refreshed as by a stream of cool waters. May all the beings in all the worlds benefit from this testimony.

3. Second Admonition: A Joyful Faith

May the people of the House of Antinous live in joy and practice a life-affirming faith.

For Antinous surrendered to the Powers that bring forth life, fertility, joy, prosperity, and stability, and his cult was inaugurated with a prayer for the innundation: so that the intention of the faith is to secure bounty, prosperity, stability, and fertility.

Therefore we must avoid austerity and the things that deter life, fertility, and prosperity; and stand for the forces of life.

For some among us believe that “rejoicing in Antinous” and being full of joy is the Holy Obelisk’s description of divinity, and that therefore all the souls who take refuge in Antinous are divine insofar as they rejoice in him. But the Holy Obelisk offers us another definition of gods: through them his words endure upon the Earth. Therefore, our divinization is complete when we meet both requirements: we must both rejoice in Antinous and spread his Word.

Others among us opine that immortals are a heavenly race of beings, distinct from mortals, but that when we imitate their blessedness, we partake in their joy and become godlike in our blissful state. For these, homotheosis is blissful abiding in Antinous.

Those who rejoice, understand. For so says the Emerald Tablet: as it is below, so it will be above and as it is above, so it will be below. Antinous’ ascension is a cosmic event and his apotheosis is a paradigm shift. Those who engage joyfully in this faith will spread joy. Those who engage in peace, will spread peace. Those who refresh the souls of mortals with this faith, will spread coolness. Ours is the key to the heavens.

4. Third Admonition: Against the Nihilists

We pronounce our heka against the spiritual confusion of the monotheisms, against the god-slayers and against the nihilists; we issue our proclamation against all the god-killing cults and beliefs; for this is the error of our forefathers for which we must atone and from which the new religion of the eternal youth Antinous, a Living God, can save us.

Do you not see the souls thirsty for meaning, thirsty for love, and thirsty for the divine, calling out for a Savior to save them from the harm of the god-killing cults? For those cults who claim to be god-filled are the slayers of the Gods, the enemies of life and the poisoners of joy and of this Earth, and they close the doors of their temples to the thirsty, and the souls of the thirsty roam afar. But this is now become a boon!

For yet we know that to worship is natural, and we know that the full humanization of spirituality is needed, that the age of divinizing humanity is here, and Antinous the Living God is a path to it. Ergo many among us say: “Antinous must be re-sacralized!”, and “He has answered our prayers!

Antinous’ faith is a humanism. It is a Promethean fire whose purpose is the divinization of the human condition, for as mortals have withdrawn from the old Gods, and the Gods have withdrawn from the culture of mortals, all of the divine qualities have had to become more humanlike and embodied. The flesh is thirsty to recognize its divine fire.

And so while the nihilists say: “Nothing true can be said!”, we say: “Antinous the God lives!”.

5. Fourth Admonition: Vanquish the Barbarians!

Humans belong in tribes, and tribes have their own internal rules, but the faith of Antinous is a Hellenizing, cosmopolitan truce of friendship and trade between all the tribes. There are some who have violently rejected the “ways of the West”, fearing the world, fearing progress, and fearing inter-tribal friendship. Some among us say: “Is Osiris not the Lord of the West? Is not the West the way of the setting of the Sun, and the way of the future, and the way of progress? Is not the faith of Antinous a thing of the West?”

Hence the revival of the cult coincides with the Advent of the sacred history of the people of the rainbow, and the enshrinement of diversity as a human value in the codes of law. Many cultures in the past have recognized the shamanic powers of sexual minorities, and their great creativity, and how different kinds of souls manifest diverse powers.

Some among us say: “Perhaps Antinous was awaiting a new age and a New World”. Others note the ease with which Antinous blends with the Gods of the many tribes, and how people say: “Is that not the Mercury of your land? Is this not the Venus of your land? Is Antinous not the New Bacchus?”, and recognize in each other’s Gods a likeness.

6. Fifth Admonition: Spread this Teaching

Many among us believe that this age of science and of information is an Age of Djehuty, the imperishable Preserver of Antinous’ ba, and that this is the New Age predicted in the West Face of the Holy Obelisk, an age where once again we know the Pax Deorum. For it is in the West that we read: “His teaching is a never-ending river of admonition, inspiration and mystery.” And as the Sun sets in the West, many among us believe that this is for the people of the future, the people from where the sun sets in the West; that it is we who are addressed here; therefore we say that the West Face of the Holy Obelisk is the most prophetic utterance and divine heka.

As it is in the West Face that Thoth, the Divine Scribe, is asked to forever rejuvenate the soul of Antinous; we consider this to refer to all future scripture and holy words placed at his feet, for it is through the power of heka that Antinous is rejuvenated. And so many among us conclude that it is by spreading the words of the Holy Obelisk and of this teaching and all other pious commentary, that Antinous’ ba is refreshed for the rest of history in this world, for symbiotic benefit and merit, just as the divine heka of Thoth preserves his ba in the Tuat.

7. Sixth Admonition: Priestly Proclamations

A faith born from holy words can only persist by holy words. Let the priests and the faithful make declarations in the sites of worship similar to the Holy Obelisk, writing down their proclamations on the sites of worship so their words’ power is steady.

For does the Holy Obelisk not say: “He strides forth to all places … “? And in this manner, you will connect the heka of the innumerable household altars and portable shrines to the Holy Obelisk. May all the altars of Antinous everywhere be centers of peace, prosperity, stability, and bliss. May their benefit extend to their surroundings and to all the beings in all the worlds.

In loud voice we are told to worship. Therefore, many among us believe we must make music, sing songs, and chant the holy names as we rejoice.

And if you should wish to perform ablutions following the ways of the ancient priests, great merit will you attain by performing sacred bath rituals. May your ba be refreshed and purified by calling on Antinous the God. May your burdens be lifted. May all beings everywhere benefit.

8. Seventh Admonition: On the Lesser Spirits

One’s own ancestors and familiar spirits are the beginning of all religion and all spirituality, and the first ones who take an interest in answering our prayers.

And yet would you open the door of your House to all strangers, regardless of their evil intentions or their bad habits? Would you endanger yourself, your sacred House and place of rest, and your people? Just as we seek the hygiene of our House, so must we seek purity in our spirituality. For just as some mortals are filled with evil and with sorrow, some spirits carry sorrows and sadness and evil; but they either run terrified away from the presence of an Antinous the God and the other shining beings, or run thirsty to his refuge, and then are no longer spirits we should fear.

It is the Law of the Heavens that the nights of Antinous must precede the Day of the Dead, for he is our Guardian in this work as we return to the old ways.

9. First Inspiration: a Loving God

The nature of this religion is that this is a cult of love: “the love of Antinous is with his followers”.

Hence, he has become a beautiful and lovely sight in order to awaken our hearts. We give ourselves to him, and he gives himself to us, and we become godlike and experience pure bliss.

10. Second Inspiration: the Art of the Dream

Sunset and night are the most auspicious times to pray to Antinous. The best time is prior to rest and sleep, for this is a time of surrender, of loosening, of freeing the soul.

11. Third Inspiration: the Shapeshifter

Ours is a God of artists, writers and poets: his adorers are the artists of Thoth, all creative souls. What will be produced by the seeds of your awakening? Those works you may offer at his lotus feet.

May your offerings in his shrine be well received. May he show you his Presence, and may you abide in peace and know pleasure and prosperity.

We have seen that nothing remains the same. That change is everlasting, as a river that runs forever. All things are in flow. This we even see in ourselves. Antinous also transforms himself forever: immortality is preservation in change, eternal transformation and transfiguration.

12. First Mystery: Homotheosis

As the seed of god was in Antinous, so it is within us. It is natural for beings to ascend to a godlike state in the course of their spiritual progress.

We have identified the great inner alchemy, the work to be done: we must now concern ourselves with the divinization of select humans. We must learn to live as gods, cultivate the seed and make it blossom. How do we awaken our own divine nature, how do we ourselves become god-like?

The Obelisk defines the Gods as having their hearts filled with joy, and indeed rejoicing in Antinous. For ecstatic joy is the first attribute assigned to him. It also describes how the Gods are preserving his Word. Therefore we hold that the Gods’ bliss is uninterrupted and pure, their eyes feasting on Antinous’ presence and beauty.

The Obelisk also describes how all divinities breathe eternal life into him and keep him young. Our divinization therefore calls for our participation in Djehuty’s heka: by preserving the fierce, wild vitality of Antinous’ ba on Earth, we are symbiotically divinized. The ordinary becomes transcendental. Nihilism is vanquished and the God lives; the dry desert is inundated. The meaningless gains meaning by the holy Word of Thoth, which we preserve.

This is the miracle that is observed in the lives of those who become god-like and blissful by remembering Antinous as Isis remembered Osiris.

13. Second Mystery: He is risen

There are those among us who declare that the central mystery of this faith is: “He is risen!”.

For just as blood rushes to the phallus, as life and strength surge, and it is full of life and vitality, so with the inundation. We see that all things in nature regain their life, their color, and their vitality.

And there are those among us who say: “this is where life comes from”. It is this coming forth that is indicated by the inundation, bringing greenery to the thirsty desert. Reborn from Hapi’s body, Antinous rose again like Osiris when Horus was conceived, a surge of the current of life’s awakened potential.

14. Third Mystery: From Death comes Life

And yet life does not only come from the seeds of Priapus or from the inundation. The Earth feeds on death as much as it births life.

Many among us have said: “Look! This is where life comes from!”, and have speculated that this great mystery is sexual, or is like a dormant seed. But it is also true that the living feed on the dead, and that the dead fertilize the land for the living, and that the living all came into being from the seeds of those that are dead.

Behold, most deities worshiped by mortals are deified and glorified ancestors. Many orishas were originally known as “crowned heads”, kings and queens, and so it was with Osiris and other great early Pharaohs of Kemet. Hence the elders say: “Iku lobi ocha”, or “Death makes the orisha”. Because the dead have given of themselves for our sake, and insofar as we owe our life to them, they are the Cause of our existence and worthy of reverence.

15. Fourth Mystery: On Antinous’ Great Merit

There are some among us who have asked: “What would have made Antinous worthy of Osiris’ glory?”

And some among us have considered this, and thought that Imhotep, Amenhotep, Teos were all divinized by the power of Dhehuty, and that He is fond of making men Gods when they excel in some way and are loyal to him, and that it is to Him that prayers are addressed for the apotheosis of Antinous.

We have also considered that Djehuty reports and records the weight of the hearts against the feather of Maat at the time of death, ergo He is trusted and impartial in his wisdom, righteous, just; and who is better able than Djehuty to choose or recommend someone righteous enough to be elevated to Godhood, as Antinous was?

And hence, some among us have pondered that it may be that after many lives and thousands of years of loyal service, one beloved by Djehuty had an opportunity to ask the Great God for a special boon, perhaps a favorite and most loved servant, one who always went out on errands, one who loved to travel between the worlds and wanted to experience this Earth. And it may be that such a being was deemed deserving of such a great honor.

And so Djehuty, by special dispensation, conceded his wish and declared that he would descend to Earth and be full of wisdom and beauty, and know the most powerful man on Earth and be loved and protected by him, then die at the appointed time shortly upon seeing the holy city of Hermopolis, the city of Djehuty, and become a God and be revered on Earth at the most auspicious moment in history–but once this was accomplished, the new God would answer to the cries of humans and become entangled in their pains and pleasures; love them and assist them, and be released forever from direct service to Djehuty. The new God would lose his former appearance, and acquire the blessed form of an eternal Youth. His holy city would not be far from Hermopolis. And so it may be that Antinous died, as the Word of the Heavens established, as a sign that he had come to his destined place. In this way, Djehuty fulfilled his vow on the day of Antinous’ ascension.

And we have observed that Djehuty is served by baboons, but He produces divinities. Just as out of ape-like ancestors the humans evolved, similarly may we ascend to divinity by the alchemy and the mysteries of Antinous, who is beloved by Thoth and all the Gods, who endured this ordeal as a result of being as curious as an ape, to the point of penetrating these mysteries and becoming a God.

Let us therefore offer our praise and libation to Djehuty, and learn His secrets, and be initiated in His mysteries. May we benefit from Antinous’ merit and greatness! May all the beings in all the worlds benefit!

And so we conclude this heka that has been offered, as fifteen petals of a lotus flower, at the holy feet of Antinous the God. May Antinous’ name be praised. May our spirits be refreshed by this teaching; May our solitude vanish by His Presence; may our powerlessness vanish by His Succour; May all the beings in all the worlds be at ease; may they be safe, may they prosper and may their lives be filled with pleasure.

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