4.
The Sabian Procedures

• The Sabian Lessons • The Nature of Sabian Authority
• The Study Group • Some Details of Ritual • The Healing Regime
• The Healing Ritual • The Steps in Solar Rehearsal • The Chapel Service
• The Ceremonies of Dedication • The Full Moon Meeting • The Message of the Hierarch • The Quarterly Meeting • The Message of Ezekiel • The Acolyte Meeting • The Sabian Pledges • Summary

The Acolyte Meeting

The acolyte sessions are closed to all but acolytes and legates, but as at Full Moon meetings an exception is made for members of the family, house guests and representatives of well-established institutions or any civil authority desiring to investigate Sabian activities and practices. At the beginning the door should be closed temporarily for the Meditation on the Solar Breath, and then opened to admit tardy members. Candles should be lighted after the door is closed again, according to any simple ritual the group chooses for itself, and extinguished immediately after the Acolyte Dismissal in similar fitting fashion. The discussion should center at all times on the acolyte lessons. Sessions preferably should be fortnightly. A breaking of bread together should be a regular feature, and this should be before the candles are extinguished unless it is necessary to move to another room.

The leader of the meeting first presents the Meditation on the Solar Breath in its entirety, or without a break. He then announces, "The meditation on the cosmos, or on all manifestation as a whole," and (1) repeats the first two lines of the first stanza, (2) again repeats the two lines, (3) repeats the third line twice, (4) repeats the fourth and fifth lines, (5) again repeats these two lines, (6) repeats the last line twice. Without any break he announces, "The meditation on the vital principle of being," and proceeds in the same fashion with the second stanza. Similarly he announces, "The meditation on the emotional principle of being," and proceeds in the same fashion with the third stanza. Finally he announces, "The meditation on the intellective or encompassing principle of being," and proceeds in the same fashion with the fourth stanza. He closes the meditation by repeating the last line of each stanza in order, and emphasizes the closing by employing a different tone of voice. In the meditative consciousness the first three lines of each stanza articulate a spiritual outbreathing, and the last three a complementary inbreathing.

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4.The Sabian Procedures

The Acolyte Meeting

4.
The Sabian Procedures