Ordo Equitum Solis do not really come from deepest
vaults, as
GLASNOST: What is the menaing of your name?
Leithana: Ordo Equitum Solis means "Order of the Knights of the Sun".
The central term is sun. We want to emphasize that the sun is present
for life, for humans, for nature. We want to defend the sun from
destruction.
GLASNOST: In certain systems of magic, the sun sun represents good and
the moon evil, in others it's the other way round. Which direction do
you take by worshipping the sun?
Leithana: This distinction is absolutely incorrect. The moon is not
black magical. The sun can just as well be black magical. It depends on
how you use magic. This is why I do not subscribe to this
categorization. Pur next album will be about the moon. It will deal with
the greeek goddess Hekate, but it will not be something black magical no
matter what.
GLASNOST: Which meaning do the sun and the moon have for you?
Leithana: the sun and the moon represent the two sides of humans. we
cannot live without the darkness, we cannot live without the light. It
is an equilibrium.
GLASNOT: Which are the two sides of humans?
Leithana: Strength adn intelligence. They are not in conflict with each
other, they are the greatest assets that humans possess. He can make use
of them or not.
Deraclamo: Sun and moon are not generally positive or negative. It is
in man's power to act positively or negatively. This leads back to the
mening of our name: it is there to remind people to be aware of the way
they treat their environment. It is indeed vital that we respect and
protect our environment. we must awaken from our dream thinking that
everything will turn out well and that the sun will rise tomorrow again.
We don't know it to be true. We might wake up one day and find that the
sun is no longer shining. Because man killed the sun! With our name, we
want to remind people how important the sun is for animals, humans,
nature and life in general.
GLASNOST: Does the sun in your case symbolize nature, as wind, water,
air, a.s.o. are equally essential? You also use sounds of nature like
thunder and rain on your albums.
Deraclamo: We live out in the fields, outside the city. When we wake up
in the morning, we see trees and nature. This is why we include
recordings from nature on our albums. These things, trees, animals,
water, flies..., are very important for us. Humans have forgotten this,
because they ran away from it.
GLASNOST: In early relifions, the sun was adulated as the highest
life-giving force. Do yu refer to this old faith?
Deraclamo: It is very important to study old religions. I do not mean
religion history, this is common knowledge, which can be looked up. What
I mean is that one should gain clarity about what god is. God is not
what religions like christianity tell. For me personally, religion is:
man and god, and god and man, and nature and god. Religion does not
stand between man and god. Old religions are history which we can study
and think about. Religion is our force and our personality.
Leithana: No matter which one, there is something to learn from every
old religion. Certainly there is nothing to learn from the present day's
christian church. I cannot say I believe in any specific religion
because I coonstantly learn something new.
GLASNOST: Are you personally involved in any magical or occult order?
Leithana: No, I am member of no order! I perform magic by myself. I do
not want to involve other people - my public - or preach to them or try
to convince them of my belief. People have to find out by themselves
what is right for them.
GLASNOST: Why do you write lyrics in latin?
Deraclamo: We also use english and french. Mny people think that latin
is a dead language. I don't think so at all. It is a very interesting
language, especially for music. "Angoris Nox" is a very poetical text.
The expressivity of the words is different from modern languages. Latin
is really a very pure language. We should also remember that latin is
the history of our modern languages, french, italian, spanish, partly
english and german.
GLASNOST: On the song "Final" from the new album, Leithana does not
sing, but weeps. What does this mean?
Deraclamo: We recorded this album during the gulf war. "Final" was our
mood at the moment. This weeping should remind of what humans can do to
other humans, how easily life can be taken by bombs, how easily even the
whole world could be destroyed. Before it gets to the point where one
has to weep, there is till a possibility to change things, but after
that no more! The weeping is a warning to remind people of what they can
do.
Leithana: I think, singing would not have been appropriate on this
track. I could only express what I felt and wanted to say by weeping, as
I was surrounded by this atmosphere of apocalypse.
GLASNOST: There is a track with the title "Message to Pan" on your new
album. Is this directly aimed at the greek god?
Leithana: Yes, this is something I want to tell him personally. Pan is
the messenger between humans and gods. I ask him to confer the message
of this song to the gods.
GLASNOST: Do you think he hears you?
Leithana: Oh, I wish! Pan is the god of nature, the god who often dwells
on earth in between humans and sees everything. In this song I ask him
to infuence the gods, so that something happens on this world!
GLASNOST: Who are the gods?
Leithana: I don't know. By gods, I mean everything that I cannot
understand. Literally speaking, the gods dwell on the Olymp. Bur for me,
they represent all the forces who govern the world.
Deraclamo:Every human is free in his beliefs. We cannot say we believe
in this and that and we want to convince you of it. That would be
propagating a new religion. We think that everybody is free.
In this sense, may Leithana and Deraclamo be small gods for all the people, whose heart
they touch with the wonderful earthbound honesty of their music.
Oliver Köble