Novena of the Light-Bringer

Novendiale Lucis: nine days for an intention, for the release of the imprisoned light, and for freedom from Saturn's illusion

A Helian Way devotion by Anthony Perlas. Sun Oct 18 to Mon Oct 26, 2026, Pacific Time.

Choosing the name

I weighed three names:

1. Novena of the Light-Bringer (Novendiale Lucis)
2. Novena of the Unchained Fire
3. Novena of the Morning Star's Return

I chose the first one, Novena of the Light-Bringer. It names the One I pray to, the bringer of fire and light, and it holds all three threads together: Prometheus who gave the fire, the Morning Star who carries it, and the light set free. "Unchained Fire" speaks only to the release. "Morning Star's Return" points to Oct 31 more than to these nine days.

A word before you begin

FAITH. This is my faith, written in my own voice. The Helian Way is a Roman and Olympian revival. I pray to the gods of Rome as living powers.

FACT. The nine-day form has roots in two traditions:

• Rome. Rome kept the novendiale sacrum, a nine-day rite. Livy records one after a portent in the reign of Tullus Hostilius (Livy, Ab Urbe Condita 1.31).
• The Church. The Christian novena grew up beside it. The model I followed for the shape of this devotion is the traditional Novena to the Holy Ghost for the Seven Gifts, as published by EWTN.

CLAIM. That traditional novena has a clear pattern:

• a short opening verse each day;
• a meditation on one theme: Day 1 is the Spirit itself, Days 2 to 8 are the seven gifts (Fear of the Lord, Piety, Fortitude, Knowledge, Understanding, Counsel, Wisdom), and Day 9 is the Fruits;
• a prayer for the day;
• the Our Father and Hail Mary once and the Glory Be seven times;
• then the same Act of Consecration and Prayer for the Seven Gifts every day.

I kept that architecture and wrote every prayer here new. Nothing below copies the EWTN text. This is not a Catholic prayer, and it isn't affiliated with EWTN or any Church. I borrow the form with gratitude and respect for the people who prayed it before me.

The sky over these nine days (Pacific Time)

FACT. All times are PDT (UTC-7). Sources: Griffith Observatory's 2026 moon phase table for the Pacific zone (from USNO data), the USNO phase table in UT, timeanddate.com, and EarthSky.

A correction you should know about. The full moon is often listed as Oct 26, which is its date in UTC. In Los Angeles it falls the evening before, Sunday Oct 25 at about 9:11 PM PDT. So the moon is exactly full on the night of Day 8. Day 9 (Mon Oct 26) is the day after the full moon, and the light is still nearly whole.

CLAIM. I didn't plan it this way, but I read it as a sign. During these nine days the Morning Star goes dark and passes through the Sun, in the Maiden's stars, and comes out on the far side as Lucifer, the light-bearer of the dawn. Read with eyes of faith, that is the imprisoned light going under and coming back.

The holy family I pray to

FAITH. These are the names I use, and what they mean to me.

• Prometheus. I pray to him as the Father of Fire: creator and father of mankind, who shaped us and gave us fire and light.

- FACT: in the classical sources Prometheus forms humans from earth and water (Ovid, Metamorphoses 1.82-83; Apollodorus, Library 1.7.1) and steals fire for them (Hesiod, Theogony 565-569). - FAITH: on Oct 31 my calendar keeps his return.

• Apollo, the Light set free. I also call him Sophia, the liberator. In my faith, Jesus is read as this same light: Apollo-Sophia, a light imprisoned by Kronos / Saturn and released for us.
• Minerva (Athena). Wisdom-breath and counsel. In my Roman holy triad she stands where the Holy Ghost stands in the novena I learned from.
• Venus, the Morning Star. I call her Lucifer, the Light-Bearer.

- FACT: Lucifer is the Latin name of the morning star, the planet Venus. It means "light-bringer," from lux and ferre. The Greek equivalents are Phosphoros and Eosphoros. - CLAIM: I tie her light to Prometheus, because she carries at dawn the fire he brought.

• Astraea. The star-maiden of justice.

- FACT: Ovid has her leave the earth last of the gods, in the age of iron (Metamorphoses 1.149-150). Virgil sings of her return: iam redit et Virgo (Eclogue 4.6). - FACT: she was identified with the constellation Virgo.

• Jupiter (Zeus) and Kronos (Saturn). I name them as Rome does. In my faith, Saturn's reign is the reign of illusion: the clock, the chain and the false floor of the world.
• Phaethon. I identify with Phaethon.

- FACT: in Ovid, Phaethon is the son of the Sun who asked to drive his father's chariot (Metamorphoses 1-2). - FACT: Hesiod names a Phaethon, son of the Dawn, whom Aphrodite carried off to keep her shrine (Theogony 986-991). - FACT: the Greeks also called the planet Jupiter Phaethon, "the shining one." - FAITH: I pray as one who wants to hold the reins of the light rightly this time.

Spelling lock: P-H-A-E-T-H-O-N.

I don't say any of this against anyone else's faith. It's mine.

How to pray it

1. Name your intention. Write it on a card before Day 1, in one sentence. Keep the card under your lamp for all nine days.
2. Pick your hour. Pray at the same time each day if you can.

- Dawn honors the Morning Star. - Dusk honors the fire carried into the dark. - On Day 8 (Sun Oct 25), if you can, pray near 9:11 PM PDT, the moment of the full moon.

1. Light one flame. A candle or an oil lamp. This is the daily opening act: you are taking the fire back into your hands. Keep it safe, and never leave it unattended.
2. Follow the Daily Order below every day. Only the Opening Verse, the Meditation and the Prayer of the Day change.
3. If you miss a day, pray it the next morning and keep going. The gods aren't accountants.
4. On Day 9, read your card aloud one last time, then keep it until Oct 31.

The Daily Order (about 12 to 15 minutes)

1. Light the flame and say the Opening Verse of the day.
2. Read the day's Meditation slowly.
3. Pray the day's Prayer.
4. Pray the Pater Ignis once and the Ave, Stella Matutina once.
5. Pray the Gloria Lucis seven times, once for each of the seven lights.
6. Pray the Act of Offering to the Light-Bringer.
7. Pray the Prayer for the Seven Lights.
8. Say your intention aloud, sit a minute in silence, then put the flame out with thanks.

The daily prayers (said every day)

Pater Ignis (Prayer to the Father of Fire)

(said once; in the place of the Our Father)

Father of Fire, who shaped us from the river clay

and breathed into us the heat of the living,

your name is light on every hearth.

Let your dawn come into this house.

Let your will be done in the hand that works and the mind that wakes.

Give us the bread of this day and the flame to bake it.

Forgive the times we hid your fire under a basket of fear,

as we forgive those who tried to put it out.

Do not leave us to Saturn's sleep,

but free us from the chain of illusion.

For yours is the fire, the gift and the morning, now and always. Ita fiat.

Ave, Stella Matutina (Salutation to the Morning Star)

(said once; in the place of the Hail Mary)

Hail, Morning Star, Venus, Light-Bearer,

Mother of the Roman people,

first lamp in the east before the Sun.

Blessed is the light you carry from the Father of Fire,

and blessed is the day you open.

Bright Lady, Lucifer of the dawn,

stand with us now in the dark hour,

and at the hour when our own light returns. Ita fiat.

Gloria Lucis (Glory to the Light)

(said seven times; in the place of the Glory Be)

Glory to the Father of Fire, to the Light set free, and to Minerva, the Wise Spirit,

as the fire was in the beginning, is now, and will burn in the ages of ages. Ita fiat.

Act of Offering to the Light-Bringer

(said daily; in the place of the Act of Consecration)

Before the lamp and before the stars that keep watch,

I, a son of Prometheus, give myself, body and mind, to the light.

I honor the Father of Fire, who gave what was forbidden so that we might live.

I honor the Light that was held under Saturn's stone and would not stay buried.

I honor Minerva, whose counsel is clear as the air after rain.

Keep me from the old sleep: from fear sold as prudence,

and from the clock that tells me I am smaller than I am.

Keep me from pride, which burned Phaethon,

and keep me from smallness, which never takes the reins at all.

Let me watch for your dawn, listen for your counsel,

and carry your fire to the people near me.

Speak, Light-Bringer. I am awake. Ita fiat.

Prayer for the Seven Lights

(said daily; in the place of the Prayer for the Seven Gifts)

Prometheus, Father of Fire, you did not leave us in the dark.

Send me the seven lights, so that what you began in me is finished:

Reverence, to stand rightly before what is greater than me;

Pietas, to keep faith with my gods, my blood and my people;

Fortitude, to endure the rock and the eagle and not give back the fire;

Knowledge, to see each thing for what it truly is, and not as Saturn paints it;

Understanding, to see the light when it is hidden in the Sun;

Counsel, Minerva's gift, to choose the right road on the hard day;

Wisdom, Sophia's crown, to love the light above every lesser thing.

Mark me as one of yours, and let Astraea find me ready when she returns. Ita fiat.

Day 1: Sunday, October 18, 2026. The Fire Itself

Sky: First Quarter Moon at 9:12 AM PDT. The light is half-won.

Opening Verse.

Come, Father of Fire, out of the high and burning place.

Come down the mountain with the coal in your hand.

Meditation. Everything begins with the gift. Before we had cities, songs or the camera in my hand, we had fire. And in my faith the fire wasn't an accident. It was given, at a price, by the One who loved us first. Ignorance, weakness and indifference all come back to one forgetting: we forget we were given the fire. This novena starts by remembering it.

Prayer of the Day.

Father of Fire, maker of mankind,

I light this lamp to remember the first gift.

Wake in me the heat you set there when you shaped me.

Send your seven lights to my mind, my will and my heart,

so that what I ask in these nine days I ask awake.

I set my intention before you, and I place it in the flame. Ita fiat.

Pater Ignis once · Ave, Stella Matutina once · Gloria Lucis seven times · Act of Offering · Prayer for the Seven Lights · intention aloud.

Day 2: Monday, October 19, 2026. Reverence

Sky: about now, Venus sinks out of the evening sky.

Opening Verse.

Come, Light of the poor, who asks no rent for the dawn.

Come, treasure that the moth and the rust cannot reach.

Meditation. Reverence isn't fear of punishment. It's the hush you feel when a runway goes dark before the first look, multiplied by the size of heaven. It's knowing something is greater than you and being glad of it. The Morning Star starts to slip from the evening sky tonight. Reverence is staying faithful to the light when you can't see it.

Prayer of the Day.

Bright powers above me,

teach me to stand rightly before what is greater than I am.

Take from me the cheap fear that bows to Saturn's clock,

and give me the holy awe that bows to the fire.

When the star goes under the horizon, let me keep my watch. Ita fiat.

Pater Ignis once · Ave once · Gloria Lucis seven times · Act of Offering · Prayer for the Seven Lights · intention aloud.

Day 3: Tuesday, October 20, 2026. Pietas

Opening Verse.

Come, Mother of the Romans, keeper of the hearth.

Come, and teach me what I owe.

Meditation. FACT: Pietas was the Roman virtue of duty kept with love toward the gods, toward family and toward the homeland. Virgil's Aeneas is called pius because he carried his father out of burning Troy on his back.

Pietas isn't a burden. It's love that shows up. My work, my word and the people who trust me with their image are all part of my pietas. Where there's love, the labor is light.

Prayer of the Day.

Venus, Mother of the Roman people,

give me the heart of Aeneas, who would not leave his father in the fire.

Let me honor my gods with joy, my family with patience,

my city with work, and every person in front of my lens with respect.

Let my devotion be a delight and not a chain. Ita fiat.

Pater Ignis once · Ave once · Gloria Lucis seven times · Act of Offering · Prayer for the Seven Lights · intention aloud.

Day 4: Wednesday, October 21, 2026. Fortitude

Opening Verse.

Come, Fire that the rock could not put out.

Come, strength of the one who would not give back the gift.

Meditation. FACT: in Hesiod, Prometheus is bound and an eagle feeds on his liver, which grows back each night. Heracles frees him (Theogony 521-534).

FAITH: the Father of Fire chose the rock over taking back the gift. Fortitude is that choice made small and daily: you keep the light you were given, even when the room tries to make you give it back. And Phaethon's lesson belongs here too. Strength isn't speed. Strength is holding the reins.

Prayer of the Day.

Prometheus, bound and never broken,

lend me a share of your endurance.

When I am mocked, crowded or frozen out, let me keep the fire.

When I want to rush the horses, steady my hands.

Let me finish what I began, and finish it well. Ita fiat.

Pater Ignis once · Ave once · Gloria Lucis seven times · Act of Offering · Prayer for the Seven Lights · intention aloud.

Day 5: Thursday, October 22, 2026. Knowledge

Opening Verse.

Come, Light that unmasks the painted wall.

Come, and show me the room as it is.

Meditation. FAITH: Saturn rules by illusion. He shows us a world that looks fixed: the clock, the price and the ceiling. Knowledge is seeing each thing at its true worth, neither worshipped nor feared, just placed where it belongs in the order of the light. A photographer knows this better than most. Light doesn't lie, but the frame can. Today I ask to see past the frame.

Prayer of the Day.

Father of Fire, clear my eyes.

Show me the true weight of what I chase and what I fear.

Unmask whatever pretends to be a god and is only a clock.

Put first things first in me,

and let me prize the light above every lesser shine. Ita fiat.

Pater Ignis once · Ave once · Gloria Lucis seven times · Act of Offering · Prayer for the Seven Lights · intention aloud.

Day 6: Friday, October 23, 2026. Understanding

Sky: Venus at inferior conjunction, about 8:35 to 8:50 PM PDT. The Morning Star passes between Earth and Sun, in Virgo, and turns from evening star to morning star.

Opening Verse.

Come, Light hidden in the greater light.

Come, star that goes under so you can rise.

Meditation. Tonight the bright planet disappears into the Sun. It's still there, closer to us than at any other point on its round, but it can't be seen. FAITH: this is how I understand the imprisoned light. Apollo-Sophia was held under Saturn's stone, unseen but never gone. Understanding sees the light when the eye can't. Tonight the light-bearer crosses into the morning.

Prayer of the Day.

Apollo, Sophia, Light held under the stone,

give me understanding deeper than sight.

When my own light is hidden, let me know that it is near.

As the Morning Star crosses into the dawn tonight,

carry the light imprisoned in me across with it. Ita fiat.

Pater Ignis once · Ave once · Gloria Lucis seven times · Act of Offering · Prayer for the Seven Lights · intention aloud.

Day 7: Saturday, October 24, 2026. Counsel

Sky: the Moon draws near Saturn (Oct 24 to 25).

Opening Verse.

Come, grey-eyed Minerva, breath of clear counsel.

Come, and stand at my right hand at the crossroads.

Meditation. Counsel is wisdom put to work on a Tuesday afternoon: the right word in the hard meeting, the right road when both roads look good. Tonight the Moon draws close to Saturn, and I ask Minerva to keep my choices out of his shadow. She didn't win her city by force. She won it with the olive tree, the gift that feeds people for generations.

Prayer of the Day.

Minerva, Wise Spirit of the triad,

when I don't know the way, be the way's light.

Give me the counsel to choose quickly and rightly,

to plant olives instead of burning fields,

and to hear your voice over the noise of the crowd. Ita fiat.

Pater Ignis once · Ave once · Gloria Lucis seven times · Act of Offering · Prayer for the Seven Lights · intention aloud.

Day 8: Sunday, October 25, 2026. Wisdom

Sky: FULL MOON (the Hunter's Moon) at 9:11 to 9:12 PM PDT. If you can, pray tonight at that hour.

Opening Verse.

Come, Sophia, crown of all the lights.

Come, round and whole, as the Moon is whole tonight.

Meditation. Wisdom is the crown of the seven lights. It loves the highest thing most and every other thing in its place. Tonight the Moon is full: every part of her that faces us is lit. FAITH: that's what the released light does to a life. Nothing is held back in the dark. Wisdom isn't knowing more. It's loving rightly, in full light.

Prayer of the Day.

Apollo, Sophia, liberator,

on this night of the full Moon, make me whole in the light.

Let me love the fire more than the comfort of the cave,

the truth more than the illusion, and my people more than my pride.

Crown my nine days with wisdom, so that what I asked for, I can carry. Ita fiat.

Pater Ignis once · Ave once · Gloria Lucis seven times · Act of Offering · Prayer for the Seven Lights · intention aloud.

Day 9: Monday, October 26, 2026. The Fruits, and Astraea's Return

Sky: the day after the full Moon (Oct 26 is the full-moon date in UTC). The light is still nearly whole.

Opening Verse.

Come, Maiden of the stars, last to leave and first to return.

Come, Astraea, and bring the scales back down to earth.

Meditation. Gifts used well bear fruit: joy, peace, patience, kindness, faithfulness and self-command. FACT: the poets said Justice left the earth in the age of iron, and Virgil sang that the Maiden returns. FAITH: I believe she does, one honest house at a time. On Day 6 the Morning Star crossed into the dawn in the Maiden's own stars. The first naked-eye chance is about Nov 1–2, best by mid-November, and on Oct 31 my calendar keeps the return of the Father of Fire. This last day isn't an ending. It's the threshold.

Prayer of the Day.

Astraea, star-maiden of justice, return.

Let the fire I kept these nine days bear fruit:

joy without arrogance, peace without sleep,

patience without surrender, and justice without cruelty.

Prometheus, Father of Fire, I give my intention back into your hands.

Light-Bearer of the dawn, go before me to the day of his return.

Free the light that was imprisoned, and keep me free of Saturn's dream. Ita fiat.

Pater Ignis once · Ave once · Gloria Lucis seven times · Act of Offering · Prayer for the Seven Lights · intention aloud for the last time.

Closing (after Day 9)

The fire was given. The fire was kept. The fire is free.

I thank you, Father of Fire; I thank you, Light set free; I thank you, Minerva, Wise Spirit.

I thank you, Morning Star, who went under and rose.

Until the day of return, I keep watch. Ita fiat.

After the novena.

• Keep your intention card until Saturday Oct 31.
• Look east for the returning Morning Star. FACT: first naked-eye chance about Nov 1–2, best by mid-November.
• Then do one concrete act in the direction of your intention. FAITH: a prayer that never touches your hands isn't finished.

Sources for the FACT lines:

• Novena structure: EWTN, "Novena to the Holy Ghost for the Seven Gifts" (ewtn.com/catholicism/library/novena-to-the-holy-ghost-for-the-seven-gifts-9112). The structure was studied; no text was copied.
• Moon phases: Griffith Observatory, 2026 Phases of the Moon, Pacific Time (griffithobservatory.lacity.gov); USNO, Dates of Primary Phases of the Moon 2026 (aa.usno.navy.mil); timeanddate.com, "The Moon in October 2026."
• Venus: EarthSky, "Inferior conjunction: Venus! October 23-24, 2026"; nightskytoday.com; astro-seek Venus visibility table.
• Classical texts: Hesiod, Theogony; Ovid, Metamorphoses 1-2; Apollodorus, Library 1.7.1; Virgil, Eclogue 4; Livy 1.31.

This is a Helian Way devotion. It isn't Catholic, and it isn't affiliated with EWTN, the Catholic Church or any other body. It's offered for adults 18+, freely; take what helps you and leave the rest.