Vampires performing the Raising.
- “As it was written, they shall prepare the way, and the very gate of hell shall open. That which is above shall tremble, for that which is below shall arise. And the world shall know the beast--and the beast shall know the world.”
- ―Vocah, quoting the scrolls of Aberjian[src]
The Raising[1] was a ritual described in the Scroll of Aberjian. Wolfram & Hart hoped to raise someone that would lure Angel from his mission.[1] The raising could not be performed without the scrolls.
In order to steal back the scrolls and perform the ritual, lawyers including Holland Manners, Lindsey McDonald, and Lilah Morgan hired a pair of monks to summon the demon Vocah, "the bringer of calamity." He prepared the ritual after first slaughtering the Oracles and planting his mark on Cordelia Chase, opening her up to endless visions and incapacitating her.
After finding from the spirit of one of the Oracles that the way to spare Cordelia was an incantation also contained on the scrolls, Angel followed the lawyers to the raising, interrupting Vocah. As he fought the demon, Lindsey stepped up and finished the ritual.
The "beast" raised from hell was Darla. The ritual returned her fully human, with her soul, but with her memories of four centuries as a vampire intact; when she asked whether they had brought back "the girl whose name I don't remember" or "the other thing," Lindsey couldn't answer, saying "both" and "neither."[2] When she was resurrected, Darla came back with the syphilis that was killing her as a human the first time before she was sired by the Master. Though Darla did not fall deathly ill immediately, the syphilis returned beyond treatment as it had been when she was human the first time.
It is implied later, in Skip's explanation, that the Raising is a part of the Tro-Clon, the series of events that bring about the arrival of Jasmine on earth, as Darla's resurrection was necessary for the birth of Connor.[3]
The Ritual[]
The ritual was performed with five vampires chained to a large box - a cage for the being summoned from hell. Vocah performed it in a mausoleum with a five-pointed star inside a circle on the floor. In preparation, which must be done in darkness, his attendants (presumably the monks who summoned him) drew the blood of a living human and anointed the space with oil.
In performing the ritual, an incantation was read from the scrolls. A portion could be read in English, though the end must be read in Latin. Holland complained, upon arriving, that Vocah had not even gotten to the Latin yet. While speaking of the vampires being held as part of the ritual, there was a call-and-response; the one performing the ritual spoke of how there was no time (or sun, etc.) for the five, and his attendants responded "Yet they live." Though Vocah's attendants were reluctant to respond in kind for Lindsey, they did.
Upon reaching the end of the Latin, the five vampires were exterminated, spontaneously dusting, one by one, as they were sacrificed to summon the being from hell. The bones of the vampires were sucked into the box as they disintegrated and then energy was released in the form of a ring of light; this energy threw Lindsey across the room.
Immediately after the ritual was performed, Holland had the box moved and the summoned being, Darla, was released back at the office. Weeks later, she did not remember what followed--"no one ever remembers their first few moments of life," Holland remarks.
The Incantation[]
Vocah had already started the ritual when the lawyers from Wolfram & Hart arrived, but the incantation from that point was as follows:
- Five are without breath (yet they live).
- Five are without time (yet they live).
- Five are without soul (yet they live).
- Five are without sun (yet they live).
- Five are dead (yet they live).
- Et illi quinque sacrificium est et ille que est mortuus vivet
- dum vita et mors non duae res sed una sunt.
- In tenebris lux est, in luce tenebrae sunt.
- Surge! Surge! Surge!
Vocah's ritual was interrupted at "Five are dead," and that line is where Lindsey takes over, having to repeat the line after shouting "say it!" to the attendants so they would respond. There was also an interruption, mid-sentence, between the first and second lines of Latin as Holland asked Lilah to "get the movers in here," and she responded "yes, sir," though this exchange did not affect Lindsey's reading.
Behind the Scenes[]
- The Latin read by Lindsey contained at least two mistakes, as "the five" should take a plural verb. It would be rendered better "Et illi quinque sacrificia sunt." Likewise, because "two things" should obviously be plural, the second line of Latin should use "rei" instead of "res."