Seven Gates: Astarte's Descent into the Underworld at Autumn Equinox

Frater Thabian leads the Festival of Seven Gates, a ceremonial drama staged around a henge and an alchemical altar. The episode follows the goddess Astarte as she descends through seven planetary gates, leaving a colored veil at each, to confront the Dark Lord Mot and reclaim the grail that will revive Baal. The ritual interweaves Orphic hymns, pentagram and alchemical operations, processions, and a sacramental sharing of the grail. Mot is overcome, Baal is resurrected, and the celebrants close the ceremony with chants and a vanishing pentagram, marking the seasonal rebirth and the coming rains. 

Much gratitude to Lucy Von (Soror Cleopatra) for recording the audio of this year's "Festival of Seven Gates" at Montsalvat Temple in Pasadena, CA.