Blessing of the Water of Exorcism

This is the third of my corrected English translations from Robert Ambelain’s Sacramentaire du Rose + Croix ([1964]). With the Blessing of the Salt of Exorcism and the Blessing of the Taper of Exorcism done, we have everything needed to make the Water of Exorcism, which the rest of the Sacramentaire calls for again and again.

This is not “holy water.” Holy water means specific things in different traditions, and Ambelain doesn’t make that claim for the Water of Exorcism. It is what is called “lustral water,” water consecrated for spiritual use outside of the context of water as a sacramental in a specific tradition, such as holy water in the Roman Catholic Church.

The making of the water has four parts. First the water itself is exorcised and blessed. Then the blessed salt is cast into it, and the salted water is breathed upon in the form of a cross. Last, the lit taper is plunged into it. Salt, water, breath, and fire all come together in the one vessel.

Now on to the sacralisation of the water.

Blessing of the Water of Exorcism

Robert Ambelain, Sacramentaire du Rose + Croix (Paris: La Diffusion Scientifique, [1964]), 46–48.

Set a vessel of clean water, ideally spring water, on a table before you, with your blessed salt beside it and your blessed taper lit in its holder. When you see ✠, make the sign of the cross over the water.

I exorcise you, creature of water, by the Living ✠ God, by the True ✠ God, by the Holy ✠ God, that henceforth, purified, you may serve against all sickness and against every snare of the Demonic Power; and that in whatever dwelling or place you are sprinkled, that dwelling and that place may be under the protection of the Eternal and Almighty God, defended as the dwellings of the Hebrews in Egypt were once defended by the mark of the blood of the Passover lamb. And so may the dwellings and the goods of Your servants and Your handmaids be defended, Lord Jesus Christ. I exorcise you therefore, pure Water, in the name of Him ✠ who led the children of Israel through the Red Sea; I exorcise you in the name of Him ✠ whose sanctified feet walked upon you on the Sea of Galilee; I exorcise you in the name of Him ✠ whom John baptized with you. By this, may every invasion of Satan be driven far from you, and wherever you are sprinkled, may the power of the Demons our enemies vanish far away, whether it be called phantoms, whirlwinds, strokes of lightning, the rending of thunder, the calamity of the storm, fire, or earthquake. Almighty and Eternal God, Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, deign to pour ✠ upon this water the invincible strength of Your Power, and deign to grant it this grace, no less great: to purify, by and in the name of Jesus ✠ Christ Your Son, our Master and Lord, everything it touches. May it drive out of the dwellings of Your servants and Your handmaids, and out of their bodies and their souls, every working of the Spirits of Evil. May it destroy spells, dispel obsessions, and free the places and dwellings haunted by Evil Spirits; and, joined to the Sign of the Holy Cross of Your Son Jesus Christ, our Master and Lord, may it give all-powerful help to all who use it in Your Name. Amen.

Cast blessed salt into the blessed water four times, in the form of a cross, saying:

May this mingling of salt and water therefore be made intimately, in the Name of the Father ✠, and of the Son ✠, and of the Holy Spirit ✠, and by the virtue of Jesus Christ, our Master and Lord, to whom glory and honor are rendered, world without end. Amen.

Breathe upon the surface of the salted water in the form of a cross, saying:

And by the almighty power of the Name of the Eternal, by that of the Holy Cross of Jesus Christ, Instrument of our salvation, and by the blessing of Almighty God, may this mingling of salt and water be sanctified ✠. Amen.

Plunge the shaft of the blessed and lit taper into the water in three successive stages, a little deeper each time, saying:

Almighty and Eternal God, Father of Jesus Christ our Master and Lord, Light of lights, Living Water of eternal salvation, deign to sanctify ✠ this Water of wisdom and strength, joined to Your divine Fire. Give it, Lord, the power to subdue, to enslave, and to drive out the Spirits of Evil, to destroy their illusions and their evil spells, to soothe the sorrow and the anguish of Your servants and Your handmaids, to heal their sicknesses of body and of spirit, and to wash their minds and their souls of the filth of sin. And so through it may honor and glory be rendered to You, world without end. Through Jesus Christ our Master and Lord, and by Saint John His servant. Amen.

The burning taper goes down into the water, and the prayer names what has been made: a water “joined to Your divine Fire.” The taper’s own blessing was the one sacralisation without water. Here its fire is given to the water instead. Once made, the water is what the rest of the Sacramentaire uses. Ambelain gives a general rule that every one of his orisons ends with an aspersion of the Water of Exorcism: four casts in the form of a cross into the space before you, top to bottom, then right to left. Keep it in a clean, covered vessel, and it will be ready whenever the work calls for it.

Until next time, may God bless you.

✠ ✠ ✠
Arthur