The PRIEST. Bears the Sacred Lance, and is clothed at first in a plain white robe.
T.S.: This has been interpreted symbolically as being something along the lines of (to paraphrase Liber C) that One Vestment which was bestowed upon him at his Initiation (Brewer's records a slang English phrase with a similar signification); this would make it possible to reconcile the rest of the script with the injunction “come before me in a single robe” (AL I, 61) in the Priestess’ speech, although official EGC policy frowns on such interpretations in public Masses.
The PRIESTESS. Should be actually virgo intacta or specially dedicated to the service of the Great Order. She is clothed in white, blue and gold. She bears the Sword from a red girdle, and the Paten and Hosts, or Cakes of Light.
The DEACON. He is clothed in white and yellow. He bears The Book of the Law.
T.S.: Make sure you pick it up before the start. It is not unknown for ‘helpful’ Priests or Priestesses to put the thing in its place on the altar during setup.
Two Children. They are clothed in white and black. One bears a pitcher of water and a cellar of salt, the other a censer of fire and a casket of perfume.
T.S.: Make sure the child with the censer can handle a swing-chain censer without tangling the chains, spilling the contents, or burning themselves or other officers. Check the charcoal in the censer is lit before the start. If not enough people (i.e. 6 or fewer people present total), Children may be dispensed with; in this case the ewer and salt are initially on top of the font, and the censer (the charcoal already lit) and pot of incense on the altar of fire. Can I just get this straight – which child is which, anyway? If one is going for a parallel with the G.D. 0°=0° temple then the child with the incense is analogous to the Dadouchos and so is the “positive” child on the right, and the “negative” child on the left bears the water & so is analogous to the Stolistes; this though does not answer the question as to whether their colours match the pillars or are counterchanged. The usual practice here seems to be matching the pillars, i.e. white child has the censer and incense, the black child the salt and water. Subsequent references to “white child” and “black child” in these notes should be read with this in mind. All this of course assumes we read the direction as meaning that one child is clothed solely or primarily in white and the other solely or primarily in black; while this is the customary reading in the Yorkshire groups and has been so since long before I became involved (1998 e.v.) it is by no means the only possible one.
T.S. (later): In fact, some groups do read “clothed in white and black” as meaning that both children are clothed in white with black trimmings, as a parallel to the “white and yellow” of the Deacon and the “white, blue and gold” of the Priestess (postings on GnosticMass Yahoo! group, August 2003 e.v.).