Armor of Helios

 

The Chaldean Oracles, an ancient text, offered advice to visualize armor of light that preceded magic work. The armor was named the Armor of Hecate. After reading about the imaginary armor, I experimented with visualizing it. It was an electrifying experience. It led to the conclusion that the Armor of Hecate was a potent exercise, and a useful addition to include in future spiritual work. In fact, the exercise planted a seed for a later development. One weekend afternoon, I sat upon a quiet mountaintop. I meditated and performed a ritual to Helios on the planetary hour of the Sun. The thought then occurred to me that there was an Armor of Helios that drew upon the solar deity’s vast resources, characteristics, and protection. It was suitable for certain types of meditation, ritual, and spiritual work. I then thought it out, tried it, and found it was worth sharing. The Armor of Helios was inspired by worship of the sun god. It reflects a special relationship with the deity, one that seemed to just happen through coincidences, dreams, and personal gnosis. The Armor of Helios befits the sun deity, the master of truth, healing, wisdom, success, and protection. Below, I’ve shared instructions for creating the armor.

 

Instructions

The Armor of Helios is constructed of light. It’s important to focus on the nature of the light. The light appears to be a majestic orange and gold. It is not limited to one color, but covers the spectrum of orange and yellow including light yellow, dark yellow golden yellow, greenish yellow, light orange, reddish orange, and brownish orange. The sun, in fact, emits the entire color spectrum. But for the exercise, yellow and orange will be the focus. The participant should imagine orange of a most vibrant, majestic, and royal tint. The yellow should be that of the midday sun, reflecting the active, life- affirming, and abundant qualities of the solar principle.

After reading through at least once and preparing, the participant should begin the exercise. It should be from a seated position with the eyes closed.

Speak the following words:

“Helios, place a ball of your divine light at the position of the heart.”

The heart is the source of the spirit, the resting place of the mind.

Now the exercise participant will follow the brilliant orange and yellow light as it expands from the heart and envelopes the rest of the body. Participants should pay careful attention to the light as it moves, watching it’s slow progress. It’s crucial they pay attention and focus on the slow, outward expansion over each subsequent part of the body. At the beginning, it might help to do the exercise with the eyes open, so the participant can visually see the limbs and parts of the torso and head that are gradually swallowed by the light.

Speak the following words:

“Helios, move the light through my body as you appear to move in the heavens.”

The movement of the light mimics the appearance of the path of the sun. It moves from the east to the west. As a result, in the exercise, the light will start on the left side and end on the right. The exercise will adopt a northern hemisphere viewpoint. From the perspective of the northern hemisphere, the sun’s path starts at a lower arc in winter and is further south. It appears to be in the south at this time. The winter solstice is when the sun and earth are closest to each other, the point where the sun’s light begins to increase again, and the return from darkness. So, the exercise starts in the lower part of the body first, to correspond with the southern hemisphere.

The light moves from the heart to each successive part. The participant should imagine the light surging forth from the heart, covering an entire side of the torso. The ball of light extends, first to the left side of the torso, and the left arm, then to the right side and right limb. It likewise goes to the bottom of the body, from the hips through the legs and feet, and then to the neck, and head.

Speak to the solar deity:

“Helios, sustain the divine light that now envelops my mortal body.”

Address the deity a final time.

“Helios, I wear your mighty armor. Bring wisdom and righteousness to my soul. See that my actions are worthy of your life-giving name. Let the fires of this armor burn until I ask. I will chant your name three times. Blessed lord, the armor ceremony is now complete.”

 

 

Photo Credits

1. Featured image: A sunflower outside, in Yokohama, Japan. Photo by Dandy1022.