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On the Lesser Banishing Ritual of the Pentagram
by Tim Maroney
The Lesser Banishing Ritual of the Pentagram is one of the chief
rituals of Western Magick. It has been with us at least since the
Golden Dawn of the nineteenth century, and it has penetrated into all
the many Golden Dawn spinoffs, including Neo-Paganism. Yet there is
still no widely available, clear instruction. The directions of the
magical orders are mere mnemonics for those who are assumed to have
personal instructors. To formulate my personal approach to the
ritual, to aid any others who may be considering practicing the LBR,
and to satisfy the idle curiosity of any gawking onlookers, I have put
together this short discussion of the ritual and its symbolism and
performance.
A. Intent of the Ritual
The real action of a magick ritual takes place in the mind. Ritual
is a form of moving meditation. The effect is also primarily
psychological.* The LBR is a tool to facilitate meditation.
[*Not all players would agree with this statement. Many would say
that the effect of the LBR is a fortified and cleansed area on the
astral plane, which they think is as real as Hoboken, if not more so.
It doesn't really matter in practice.]
The experience of a proper LBR is pleasurable and soothing, yet
energizing and empowering. One is made at home in the mystical realm,
protected from lurkers and phantasms by strongly imagined wards. This
solace from mundane experience is a precondition for more serious
works of meditation or ritual, but it can also form a healthy part of
the life of the mind by itself.
B. The Ritual
I'll just reprint the description of the Lesser Banishing Ritual of
the Pentagram from Liber O, a publication of the occult order A.'.
A.'.
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i. Touching the forehead say Ateh (Unto Thee), ii. Touching the
breast say Malkuth (The Kingdom), iii. Touching the right shoulder,
say ve-Geburah (and the Power), iv. Touching the left shoulder, say
ve-Gedulah (and the Glory), v. Clasping the hands upon the breast, say
le-Olahm, Amen (To the Ages, Amen).
vi. Turning to the East, make a pentagram (that of Earth) with the
proper weapon (usually the Wand). Say (i.e. vibrate) IHVH.
vii. Turning to the South, the same, but say ADNI. viii. Turning to
he West, the same, but say AHIH. ix. Turning to the North, the same,
but say AGLA. [Pronounce: Ye-ho-wau*, Adonai, Eheieh, Agla.]
x. Extending the arms in the form of a cross say, xi. Before me
Raphael;
xii. Behind me Gabriel; xiii. On my right hand Michael; xiv. On my
left hand Auriel;
xv. For about me flames the Pentagram, xvi. And in the Column stands
the six-rayed Star.
xvii-xxi. Repeat (i) to (v), the "Qabalistic Cross."
[* Modern scholarship has a different take on the pronunciation of the
Big Guy's name. I use "Yahweh" rather than the "Ye-ho-wau" of Liber
O because that's what the Catholic priests of my youth taught me to
say, and I've never been able to shake it off. Use whatever
pronunciation you prefer, or a different name altogether.]
C. Politics of the Ritual
With practice, you will no doubt come up with your own style of
performance, and your own different symbolism for ritual acts.
Different people do rituals as differently as actors play parts, even
though the lines and motions may be fundamentally the same. (The
alternative is an authoritarian, dogmatic horror which is alien to the
deep occult understanding of religion, but is still common in magical
groups.) Slavish imitation will get you nowhere in Magick
-- except, perhaps, to some high spiritual degree!
The Christianity -- or at least angelic monotheism -- of the ritual
symbolism may give a start to some. Many of us involved in occultism
have strongly negative feelings about Christianity. These are perhaps
justified, but there are a few saving graces here.
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First, as with any ritual, you should feel free to make it yours, to
mess around with it. If you don't start to at least play with the
styles of a ritual after a while, you are probably not doing it very
well. It is perfectly legitimate to substitute cognate symbols at any
time. However, the saying in the martial arts is that one first
learns another's style, and after mastering it, moves on to create
one's own. For a beginner, it will be easiest simply to use an
existing ritual form in order to explore the meaning of a banishing
ritual.
Given that experience, which transcends any mere set of symbols, one
may devise a form more in keeping with the emergence of one's personal
style. For instance, Neo-Pagans use a highly reified form of the same
basic ritual in many of their traditions, but with non-Christian
deities, spirits, and heros at the quarters. Aleister Crowley wrote a
new version which made the performance more dancelike, and used the
names of Thelemic deities and officers rather than monotheist gods and
angels. My private version, called "Opening the Threshold", is
entirely atheistic and philosophical.
In any case, of those people who so abhor Christianity,how many have
looked at some of the practices of historical pagans in Europe, Asia,
Africa, and the Americas? No religion should ever be "accepted" by an
occultist. When using any religion's symbolism, the adept should cut
to its sacred poetical core, and discard the political dross. By this
standard, Christianity looks
about as good as any other religion. Without this standard, and by
factoring in historical excesses and power plays, almost all known
religions look just about as bad as Christianity.
In other words, someone who will happily use Norse gods, Arthurian
heroes, Taoist immortals, Voudoun loas, or what have you in rituals,
but will never touch a Christian angel, is guilty of the same
narrowness he or she probably imparts to the Christians.
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The Vibration of God-Names
--------------------------
In the LBR, the vibration of the god-names "charges" or "enlivens"
the pentagrams in the air. This is difficult to describe, but easy to
recognize. There is a feeling of presence in one of these charged
warding images -- though not necessarily a feeling of true externality
or separate intelligence.
Weare told to "vibrate" the names. The description and illustration
of the "vibration" given in Liber O have been known to mislead people
into hilarious postures. What the picture most resembles is the
skulking monster from the movie The Mummy. To the modern eye, it is
remarkable how truly unclear a photograph can be.
I didn't learn how to vibrate a god-name until I signed up with yet
another occult order and was taught it in person. I wouldn't wish the
ensuing experience on anyone, so here is a description which I hope
will be adequate in print.
106
Vibration phase i -- The Sign of the Enterer (1-4)
--------------------------------------------------
1. Stand upright. Blow all the air out of your lungs. Hold your
arms straight out at your sides.
2a. Close your eyes and inhale nasally, imagining that the breath is
the name. The exact nature of this imagination differs from person to
person. Thus, you imagine yourself inhaling the name into your lungs.
2b. As you inhale, sweep your forearms smoothly and deliberately up
so that your fists rest on your temples.
3. Imagine the breath moving down through your torso slowly, and
through your pelvis, your legs, and finally to the soles of your feet.
(Don't do this so slowly that you are hurting for air when the name
reaches your feet!)
4a. The instant the inhaled vibrational name hits the soles of your
feet, imagine it rushing back up and out.
4b. Simultaneously, throw yourself forward, thrusting your left foot
forward about twelve inches (or thirty centimeters) and catching
yourself on it. Your hands shoot forward, together, like a diver.
You bend forward at the waist so that your torso winds up parallel to
the floor.
4c. The air in your lungs should be blown out through your nose at
the same time, but imagine the name shooting out straight ahead.
Steps 3-4 are known as the Sign of the Enterer, or of Horus. This
symbolizes powerful active energy. The Enterer should be something of
a "rush". The vibrational name is projected outwards into more
tangible manifestation -- in this case, in the pentagrams of the LBR,
which are charged by the force of the projected god-names.
It is highly inadvisable to omit the portion of step(4b) which reads
"catching yourself on it." But again, I have no desire to infringe on
your freedom of choice.
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Vibration phase ii -- The Sign of Silence (5)
---------------------------------------------
5. Finally, withdraw into a standing position, left arm hanging at
your side, right forefinger on lips, left foot pointing ninety degrees
out from the body.
Step 5 is called the Sign of Silence, or of Harpocrates. This
Egyptian god was mistakenly believed (at the turn of the century) to
pertain to silence, because his finger or thumb was touching his lips.
This gesture is now believed to be a symbol of childhood; this
correction appears in the World card of Crowley's "Book of Thoth"
Tarot deck. Harpocrates was the god of the Sun at dawn, and so
symbolizes wonder, beauty, potential, growth. So, step 5 may be done
in this academically corrected light instead.
However, the "hush" gesture of the Golden Dawn Sign of Silence is
adequate for the modern occultist, even if deprived of A Divine
Identification. It is a common gesture, at least in the European
culture, meaning silence. Silence perhaps balances the ultra-active
Sign of the Enterer better than does the more scholarly
positive/active "Sign of Harpocrates the Rising Sun", and silence is
surely no alien concept to mystics.
The Invocation
--------------
The pentagrams are given form by the drawing, life by the vibration,
identity by the four-part prayer of steps (x) to (xiv). Some people
do very elaborate visualizations of angelic guardians on each of (xi)
to (xiv). Because of my tragic personal deficiencies, I am content
with strong feelings of presence, identity, and divinity in each of
the four directions.
A horizontal cross is built up step by step as you say, "Before me
Raphael", etc, with you at the center; and the position of your arms
forms a vertical cross, a renewal of the Qabalistic Cross from the
start of the ritual. You may feel a quite peculiar rising and
expansion when both of these crosses are formulated. One has become
the center of the geometry of the space, and it is like a little world
in itself, cut adrift from the mundane currents of everyday
experience.
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Steps (xv) and (xvi) are when the real banishing takes place, during
"For about me flames the pentagram, and in the column stands the
six-rayed star." A great pulse of force is emitted during these steps,
imposing the personal will on the space and clearing it of all hostile
influences.
After this is done, the invoked "archangels" maintain the banishing
effect, guarding in all four directions. Of course this talk of
angels is all bullshit -- the importance lies in the psychological
effect. Whether there "really is" an archangel standing there
keeping out inimical spirits is not important. The "feeling of
cleanliness" is what matters.
Concluding Cross
----------------
The final Qabalistic Cross is an affirmation of the completeness and
symmetry of the ritual, and also a new self-consecration. This is
more efficacious than the previous Cross because it is done in a
banished environment.
One is now ready to do a formal invocation, an evocation, a
meditation, or whatever the overall purpose may be. The LBR is a
preliminary ceremony, although it has a beneficial effect in itself.
It can profitably be done as a stand-alone ritual, but you should move
on. The LBR should keep away the horrible ickies that turn so many
novices away from Magick. Its mastery is a first step to adeptship.
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