Chrism: Holy Anointing Oil

"Chrism is superior to baptism, for it is from the word 'chrism' that we have been called 'Christians,' certainly not from the word 'baptism.' And it is from the 'chrism' that the 'Christ' has his name."

— The Gospel of Philip

The Sacred Oil from Which Christ Takes His Name

Of all the sacred substances known to the ancient world, none carries a deeper mystery than chrism — the holy anointing oil. It is from this oil that the title Christos derives, and from Christos the name Christian. The word itself is a threshold: to speak of chrism is to speak of the act that consecrates a man as king, a priest as mediator, a soul as vessel of the divine. The entire Christic revelation is encoded in this single substance — an oil that sets apart, that sanctifies, that seals the covenant between God and the anointed.

Chrism — also called myrrh, myron, and consecrated oil — has been used across the Catholic, Eastern Orthodox, Oriental Orthodox, Assyrian, Anglican, and Old Catholic churches in the administration of sacraments and holy rites. In the Latin tradition it is made of olive oil scented with balsam. But its roots reach far deeper than any single church, back into the Hebrew priesthood, the Tabernacle in the Wilderness, and the coronation of kings — and deeper still, into the interior alchemy of the human body itself.

Charisma — charm that can inspire devotion in others — shares the same root.

Etymology

The English word chrism descends from the Koine Greek khrîsma (χρῖσμα), originally the verbal noun of χρίειν ("to anoint") — meaning "the act of anointing" or "unction." By extension, along with khrîma (χρῖμα) and khrîstai (χρῖσται), it came to denote the anointing oil itself. The Greek khrísma passed into Latin as chrisma, appearing in the works of Tertullian (d. c. 220).

The Proto-Indo-European root has been reconstructed as *gʰrey-, meaning "to trickle" — an image of oil dripping, flowing, descending. This root connects chrism to a web of ancient cognates: Sanskrit ghṛtə (घृत), from the radix घृ (भासे / क्षरणे / छादने), meaning "to shine, to trickle, to cover" — and from it the Hindi ghī (घी, "ghee"), the clarified butter used in Vedic ritual. The same root yields Lithuanian gr(i)ejù, griẽti ("skimming"), Middle Low German grēme ("grime"), and Old English grīma ("mask, helm, spectre") — from an original sense of "covering" or "concealment." Even the English word grime descends from this stream, as does possibly Phrygian gegreimenan ("painted, ornamented, inscribed").

The word "anoint" itself entered English through Old French enoint, past participle of enoindre, from Latin inungere — an intensified form of ungere, "to anoint." It is thus cognate with "unction."

In every branch of this etymology, the same primal image persists: something that flows, covers, seals, shines. Oil that trickles down from above. Grace descending upon the head of the chosen one.

The Ancient Rite of Anointing

Anointing is the ritual act of pouring aromatic oil over a person's head or body. By extension, the term encompasses any act of sprinkling, dousing, or smearing a person or object with perfumed oil, milk, butter, or fat. Scented oils served as perfumes in the ancient world, and sharing them was an act of hospitality. But their deeper use — to invoke a divine influence or presence — is recorded from the earliest times. Anointing was understood as a form of sacred medicine, thought to rid persons and things of dangerous spirits and to consecrate them for holy purpose. The anointing of the sick, known as unction, persists to this day; the anointing of the dying as part of last rites is specified as extreme unction in the Catholic tradition.

The practice stretches across the ancient Near East. Mesopotamian kings were anointed at their enthronement. Egyptian priests used sacred oils in embalming and consecration. But nowhere was the rite more central, more charged with theological meaning, than in Israel.

Anointing in Israel: The Making of Kings and Priests

In the ancient Israelite religion, the holy anointing oil — shemen ha-mishchah (שמן המשחה, "oil of anointing") — formed an integral part of the ordination of the priesthood, the consecration of the High Priest (Kohen Gadol), and the sanctification of the Tabernacle and its sacred vessels (Exodus 30:26). The primary purpose of anointing with this oil was to set the anointed person or object apart as qodesh — "holy" (Exodus 30:29).

To the ancient Israelite, no oil or fat carried more symbolic weight than olive oil. It was used as an emollient, a fuel for lamps, a source of nourishment, and a medium of blessing. It was scented olive oil that God commanded as the base of the holy anointing oil — the substance that would set apart priest from layman, king from commoner, the sacred from the profane.

Anointing in Israel was a strictly priestly or kingly right. Prophets, priests, and kings were all anointed — the kings from a horn, as when Samuel anointed both Saul (1 Samuel 10:1) and David (1 Samuel 16:13). The chrism prepared according to the ceremony described in the Book of Exodus was understood to impart the "Spirit of the Lord." The practice was not always observed but appears to have been essential at the consecration of a new royal line or dynasty.

When a non-king was anointed — as when Elijah anointed Hazael and Jehu — it was a sign of future kingship: Hazael would become king of Aram, and Jehu king of Israel. Extra-biblical sources confirm that anointing kings was common across ancient Near Eastern monarchies. Anointing was thus not merely a sacred act but a socio-political one: the oil did not merely bless, it appointed. It conferred authority. It sealed a covenant between the anointed and God.

Because of its supreme importance, the High Priest and the king were sometimes called "the Anointed One" — in Hebrew, Mashiach (מָשִׁיחַ). This title gave rise to the prophesied figure of the Messiah, the one who would come anointed by God to restore the Kingdom. In Greek, the equivalent is Christos — the Anointed One. The entire messianic hope of Israel — and the long history of those who claimed that title — flows from this single act: the oil descending upon the head of the chosen.

The Biblical Recipe

The holy anointing oil described in Exodus 30:22–25 was compounded from five ingredients:

• Pure myrrh (mār-dərōr, מָר-דְּרוֹר) — 500 shekels (about 6 kg)
• Sweet cinnamon (qīnnəmōn-besem, קִנְּמָן-בֶּשֶׂם) — 250 shekels (about 3 kg)
• Fragrant cane (qənē-ḇōsem, קְנֵה-בֹשֶׂם) — 250 shekels (about 3 kg)
• Cassia (qīddā, קִדָּה) — 500 shekels (about 6 kg)
• Olive oil (šemen zayīt, שֶׁמֶן זַיִת) — one hin (about 6 litres)

While four of the five ingredients are agreed upon by scholars, the identity of the fifth — kaneh bosem — has long been debated. Sometimes translated as calamus, the Bible indicates it was an aromatic cane or grass imported from a distant land by way of the spice routes and also cultivated in Israel (Song of Songs 4:14). Several different plants have been proposed as candidates. The mystery of this ingredient endures — a fitting enigma at the heart of the most sacred oil in scripture.

The Miraculous Oil of Moses

The Talmud preserves a remarkable tradition: the original anointing oil compounded by Moses remained miraculously intact and was used by future generations without replacement — to be used even in the future Third Temple when it is rebuilt. The ancient custom was to add new oil to the old, thus continuing the original consecration for all time. The oil of Moses was understood not merely as a substance but as a living vessel of holiness — an unbroken stream flowing from Sinai forward through all ages, never exhausted, always renewed.

The Anointed Christ

The entire edifice of Christianity rests upon the concept of anointing. The title Christos (Χριστός) is the Greek equivalent of the Hebrew Mashiach — "the Anointed One." The epithet "Christ" as a title for Yeshua refers to this and this alone: the anointed one.

Yeshua of Nazareth was not anointed by the High Priest according to the Exodus ceremony. He was understood to have been anointed by the Holy Spirit at the moment of baptism in the Jordan — the heavens opening, the dove descending, the voice declaring, "This is my beloved Son." The baptism was his chrismation. The Spirit was his oil.

A literal anointing also took place at Bethany, when Mary poured costly oil of spikenard over his head and feet — an act of devotion that Yeshua himself declared to be preparation for his burial (Matthew 26:6–13; John 12:1–8). The house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume. In this moment, the ancient priestly rite and the Christic Passion converge: the oil that consecrated kings now consecrates the one who will be crucified. Mary, without knowing it — or perhaps knowing perfectly — performs the final anointing of the Mashiach.

The Gospel of Philip, the Gnostic text that gives the most exalted teaching on chrism, declares anointing to be the supreme sacrament:

"Chrism is superior to baptism, for it is from the word 'chrism' that we have been called 'Christians,' certainly not from the word 'baptism.' And it is from the 'chrism' that the 'Christ' has his name. For the Father anointed the Son, and the Son anointed the apostles, and the apostles anointed us. He who has been anointed possesses everything. He possesses the Resurrection, the Light, the Cross, the Holy Spirit. The Father gave him this in the bridal chamber; he merely accepted the gift. The Father was in the Son and the Son in the Father. This is the Kingdom of Heaven."

— The Gospel of Philip

Here anointing is not merely a ritual — it is the mechanism of transmission itself. The Father anoints the Son, the Son the apostles, the apostles us. The oil flows downward from the Source, consecrating everything it touches. And the place where this gift is given is not the Temple but the bridal chamber — the innermost sanctuary of union, where the soul and God become one.

The Anointing of Royalty

Beyond the priesthood and the messianic office, anointing has served as the supreme rite of kingship throughout the Western world. In the Christian coronation tradition, the monarch is anointed with holy oil as a sign that royal authority descends not from the people, nor from earthly power, but from God. The pre-Reformation English coronation rite used chrism itself. Napoleon was anointed with chrism by Pope Pius VII. The general Roman coronation rite, codified in the Roman Pontifical of Pope Clement VIII, prescribed the oil of catechumens — but the principle remained the same: the king is made king not by the crown alone, but by the oil.

"Not all the water in the rough rude sea

Can wash the balm off an anointed king."

— Shakespeare, Richard II

The anointed king is set apart. No earthly force can undo what the oil has sealed. This is the deep meaning of consecration: once the oil descends, the man is no longer merely a man — he is a vessel of divine appointment, a living bridge between heaven and earth.

The Holy Chrism in the Early Church

Multiple early Christian documents discuss the rite of chrism, including works by Theophilus of Antioch (d. 181) and Tertullian (d. c. 220), as well as the Apostolical Constitutions. But the most detailed account comes from Cyril of Jerusalem, who describes how the ointment was "symbolically applied to the forehead, and the other organs of sense" — the ears, nostrils, and breast each anointed in turn.

Cyril taught that the ointment was "the seal of the covenants" of baptism and God's promises to the newly anointed Christian. To be anointed with the holy oil of God was the sign of a Christian — a physical representation of having received the Gift of the Holy Spirit. It retains this meaning in Catholicism and Orthodoxy to this day. He declared:

"Having been counted worthy of this Holy Chrism, ye are called Christians, verifying the name also by your new birth. For before you were deemed worthy of this grace, ye had properly no right to this title, but were advancing on your way towards being Christians."

— Cyril of Jerusalem, On the Mysteries 3.5

The name Christian is not, in its origin, a doctrinal label. It is an anointing. One becomes a Christian by being anointed — by receiving the chrism. Before the oil, the seeker is merely "advancing on the way." After the oil, the name is verified, the birth is new, the covenant is sealed.

The Sacred Secretion: The Christ Oil Within

Beyond its ritual and sacramental dimensions, chrism points to an even deeper mystery — one that the esoteric traditions have always preserved: the anointing is not only external but internal. There is an oil within the human body, a sacred secretion produced by the brain itself, and it is this interior chrism that constitutes the true anointing of the Christ.

Christ means "oil." The Christos is not only a title for a man but a name for a substance — or rather, for the man in whom the substance has completed its Work. The oil is produced in the brain, in the region of the claustrum, and descends down the spine. It is a divine oil, rising and falling with the rhythm of the celestial bodies — a monthly chrism that purifies the body and prepares it for illumination.

The Sacred Secretion, also known as Christ oil, pertains to internal alchemy in the body — the process undertaken by the biological body, in response to astronomical influences, to release natural chemicals that are charged and modified, providing the individual with an enhanced perception and an ability to sense energy fields that were otherwise beyond ordinary awareness. The pituitary and pineal glands generate different oils: golden melatonin (honey) from the pituitary, and oxytocin and vasopressin (milk) from the pineal. These oils meet in the crucible of the skull — crucified at Golgotha, "the place of the skull" — and travel down the spine with the cerebrospinal fluid. According to the Gospel of Philip, this is an oil of holy anointing, superior to baptism itself.

The fluid descends to the solar plexus, where it remains for two and a half days — represented by Christ's burial in the tomb. After this period, if the mixture is not destroyed by impurity or excess, it channels its way back up the spine into the brain, creating a resurrection experience. The two and a half days correspond to the moon's period in a zodiacal sign — specifically, the moon passing through the sun sign of one's birth.

"I will tear down this temple and rebuild it in three days."

— John 2:19

"He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water."

— John 7:38

The spinal cord — the staff of Moses, the serpent that rises — is understood as the main organ for the generation of this fluid. The Spinal Fire is a central element of transformation in alchemical tradition. The staff turning into a serpent is indicative of the latent potential of the spine: it lies dormant until evoked, and once active it transforms the mind of a man into the consciousness of Christ.

An Irish oral tradition preserves this teaching with remarkable clarity:

"In our ancient Irish folk lore/oral traditions the oils are released monthly when the moon is in your sun sign for 2.5 days. This process purifies the body over 12 months in preparation for your 'big day' when the sun and NEW MOON (male/female) are present in your sign for the fertilisation of the (gifted) seed. This big day only occurs annually in/or around your birthday. Hence why Christmas/Santa gift giving only occurs once a year on Jesus/Iesa's birthday. Therefore the entire process, if done correctly takes approximately 12/13 months. Twelve months for bodily/psychological preparation/purification. The process can still be read in our ancient sites and monuments including Tara Hill, Knowth, Dowth and particularly Newgrange."

— YouTube comment on Brad's video

George W. Carey, in his teaching on the sacred secretion, articulates the interior anatomy of the Christ mystery with extraordinary precision:

Primitive Christians, the Essenes, fully realized and taught the great truth that Christ was a substance, an oil or ointment contained especially in the Spinal Cord, consequently in all parts of the body, as every nerve in the body is directly or indirectly connected with the wonderful "River that flows out of Eden (the upper brain) to water the garden." The early Christians knew that the Scriptures, whether written in ancient Hebrew or Greek, were allegories, parables, or fables based on the human body "fearfully and wonderfully made."

These adepts knew that the secretion (gray matter — creative) that issues, (secretes) from the cerebrum, was the source and cause of the physical expression called man; and they knew that the "River of Jordan" was symbolized in the spinal cord and that the "Dead Sea" was used to symbolize the Sacred Plexus at the base of the spinal column where the Jordan (spinal cord) ends, typifying the entrance of Jordan into the Dead Sea.

The thick, oily, and salty substance composing the Sacral Plexus, "Cauda Equina," (tail of the horse) may be likened to crude Petroleum, (Petra, mineral, or salt, and oleum — Latin for oil) and the thinner substance, oil or ointment in the spinal cord, may be compared with coal oil; and when this oil is carried up and crosses the Ida and Pingala (two fluid nerves that end in a cross in medulla oblongata where it contacts the cerebellum (Golgotha — the place of the skull) — this fluid is refined, as coal oil is refined, — to produce gasoline a higher rate of motion that causes the ascension of the airship. When the oil (ointment) is crucified — (to crucify means to increase in power a thousandfold not to kill) it remains two days and a half, (the moon's period in a sign) in the tomb (cerebellum) and on the third day ascends to the Pineal Gland that connects the cerebellum with the Optic Thalmus, the Central Eye in the Throne of God that is the chamber overtopped by the hollow Life" breathed into a man — therefore the "Holy (whole) Ghost" or breath. The Pineal Gland is the "Pinnacle of the Temple."

Brad discusses the Sacred Secretion in "The Origin of Adronis" video (December 29, 2023), around the 45-minute mark.

The Oil of Abramelin

The tradition of sacred anointing oil continued beyond the Biblical period into the heart of Western esotericism. The Oil of Abramelin — named after the medieval grimoire The Book of the Sacred Magic of Abramelin the Mage — is a consecrated anointing oil used in ceremonial magic, blended from aromatic plant materials and adapted directly from the Biblical recipe of Exodus 30:22–25.

The grimoire is attributed to Abraham the Jew (c. 1362–c. 1458). In the most complete German manuscript sources, compiled by Georg Dehn and translated by Steven Guth in The Book of Abramelin: A New Translation (2006), the formula reads:

Take one part of the best myrrh, half a part of cinnamon, one part of cassia, one part galanga root, and a quarter of the combined total weight of good, fresh olive oil. Make these into an ointment or oil as is done by the chemists. Keep it in a clean container until you need it. Put the container together with the other accessories in the cupboard under the altar.

The first printed edition (Peter Hammer, 1725) gives a slightly different formula:

"Nimm Myrrhen des besten 1 Theil, Zimmt 1/2 Theil, soviel des Calmus als Zimmet, Cassien soviel als der Myrrhen im Gewicht und gutes frisches Baumöl..."

(Take 1 part of the best myrrh, 1/2 part cinnamon, as much calamus as cinnamon, of cassia as much as the myrrh in weight and good fresh tree oil...)

The proportions in this edition conform to the Biblical recipe — the golden thread of sacred formulation preserved across millennia, from Moses to the medieval adepts.

Crowley's Oil of Abramelin

In the early twentieth century, Aleister Crowley created his own version of the oil, based on S.L. MacGregor Mathers' substitution of galangal for calamus. Crowley departed from the grimoire's method of blending raw materials, opting instead for distilled essential oils in a base of olive oil:

• 8 parts cinnamon essential oil
• 4 parts myrrh essential oil
• 2 parts galangal essential oil
• 7 parts olive oil

Crowley intended the cinnamon to dominate — so that when applied to the skin "it should burn and thrill through the body with an intensity as of fire." This formula was not meant to be poured over the head as in the ancient rite, but applied in small amounts to the crown of the head or the forehead, and used for the anointing and consecration of magical instruments. He used this oil throughout his life.

For Crowley, the Oil of Abramelin came to symbolize the aspiration toward the Great Work itself:

"The Holy Oil is the Aspiration of the Magician; it is that which consecrates him to the performance of the Great Work; and such is its efficacy that it also consecrates all the furniture of the Temple and the instruments thereof. It is also the grace or chrism; for this aspiration is not ambition; it is a quality bestowed from above. For this reason the Magician will anoint first the top of his head before proceeding to consecrate the lower centres in their turn (...) It is the pure light translated into terms of desire. It is not the Will of the Magician, the desire of the lower to reach the higher; but it is that spark of the higher in the Magician which wishes to unite the lower with itself."

Crowley also articulated a Kabbalistic symbolism of the four ingredients, mapping them onto the Tree of Life:

"This oil is compounded of four substances. The basis of all is the oil of the olive. The olive is, traditionally, the gift of Minerva, the Wisdom of God, the Logos. In this are dissolved three other oils; oil of myrrh, oil of cinnamon, oil of galangal. The Myrrh is attributed to Binah, the Great Mother, who is both the understanding of the Magician and that sorrow and compassion which results from the contemplation of the Universe. The Cinnamon represents Tiphereth, the Sun — the Son, in whom Glory and Suffering are identical. The Galangal represents both Kether and Malkuth, the First and the Last, the One and the Many, since in this Oil they are One. [...] These oils taken together represent therefore the whole Tree of Life. The ten Sephiroth are blended into the perfect gold."

The oil as a symbol of the Tree of Life. The four substances as the four worlds. The olive as Chokmah (Wisdom), the myrrh as Binah (Understanding), the cinnamon as the Sun of Tiphereth, the galangal as the unity of Kether and Malkuth — Crown and Kingdom dissolved into one. All blended into a single golden ointment: the Philosopher's Stone in liquid form.

Within the Royal Art Opus

Chrism is one of the most potent symbols in the Royal Art. It is the substance from which the entire Christic mystery takes its name — and therefore the substance that names the Work itself. The Royal Art is, at its deepest, the art of anointing: the restoration of the soul's royal nature through the descent of grace from above.

The oil flows downward — from the Father to the Son, from the Son to the apostles, from the apostles to us. This is the Golden Chain, the Aurea Catena, the lineage of sacred transmission that runs through the entire opus. Moses compounded the oil at Sinai. Samuel poured it upon the heads of Saul and David. Mary broke the alabaster jar and anointed Yeshua for burial. The apostles anointed the faithful. And the oil of Moses, the Talmud says, never ran out — new oil added to old, the original consecration preserved for all time. The lineage does not break. The oil does not run dry.

Within the body, the same pattern repeats at the microcosmic scale. The sacred secretion descends from the brain — the upper Eden — down the spine — the River Jordan — to the Dead Sea of the sacral plexus. There it rests in the tomb for two and a half days. And on the third day, if the temple has been kept pure, the oil ascends — through Golgotha, through the Pineal Gland, the Pinnacle of the Temple — and the resurrection is accomplished within. The twelve monthly purifications correspond to the twelve signs of the zodiac, the twelve tribes of Israel, the twelve labours of the soul. The great annual event — when sun and new moon converge in the birth sign — is the interior Christmas, the birth of the Christ within.

This is the alchemical meaning of the Crucifixion: not death but intensification. The oil is crucified — increased in power a thousandfold — and rises as the Philosopher's Stone, the perfected gold, the light of Christ awakened in the body. The crown of thorns becomes the Crown of Light. The anointed one — the Mashiach, the Christos — is not merely a historical figure but an interior event: the moment when the sacred oil completes its circuit and the soul remembers its royal nature.

The five ingredients of the Biblical recipe correspond to a fivefold consecration: myrrh (suffering and purification — Nigredo), cinnamon (the solar fire of Tiphereth — Citrinitas), fragrant cane (the mysterious fifth element, the kaneh bosem whose identity remains veiled — the hidden path), cassia (the bark that protects the living wood — the outer garment of the initiate), and olive oil (Wisdom, the Logos, the base in which all are dissolved — the prima materia of the Work). Together they form a single ointment — as the branches of the Tree of Life form a single Tree, and as the paths of the Royal Art converge upon a single Crown.

Crowley saw the same pattern: the oil as the entire Tree of Life — the ten Sephiroth blended into perfect gold. The aspiration of the Magician, the grace of the chrism, the spark of the higher that wishes to unite the lower with itself. This is not ambition. It is not the will of the ego ascending. It is the descent of the divine — the oil poured from above — that anoints, consecrates, and transforms everything it touches.

To be anointed is to be set apart. To be christened is to be named. The oil seals the covenant. The Grail overflows. And the King, anointed at last, takes the Throne that was always his.

Related Pages

• Christos: “The Anointed One”
• The Anointing at Bethany
• Gospel of Phillip
• Magia Divina: The Abramelin Operation
• The Eucharist: Holy Communion

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