The Lesser Banishing Ritual of the Pentagram (LBR)
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
Ritual is a form of moving meditation and the
LBR is a tool to facilitiate meditation. The
real action of a magick ritual takes place in
the mind, in my view, but not all ritualists
would agree. Many would say that the effect of
the LBR is to create 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 as the
only effect we know is the one in our
perceptions.
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.·.
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 the 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."
C. Preliminary Acts
There are a number of necessary preconditions
in any cleansing ritual. Not the least
important are the physical conditions.
It's not a good idea to just launch into this
thing from a standing start. You should start by
evacuating any bodily wastes. Heavy food in the
digestive tract is bound to interfere, so
don't pig out right before practice. If your
nose is clogged, clear it. (There are some
gross yogic techniques for doing this if necessary.)
Remove any serious muscle
tensions; I do this in two ways, by stretching
and by sitting quietly for a few minutes. If
you do hatha yoga, this would be a good time
to sit in a pose like vajrasana or lotus.
It's best to bathe or shower first, and put on
special clothes worn only during ritual, but
those are optional considerations.
It's very useful to have a room in your home that
is either set aside for ritual, or can be
transformed into a suitable room readily. In
1984, I shared my ritual room with my lover,
who uses it for typing. This was a fortunate
arrangement, since we both want the room to
be simple, uncluttered, and non-distracting,
and all I had to do is hide the typewriter and
throw a cloth over the desk. If you can't arrange
something like that, make sure you at
least have enough free floor space in the center
of the room you're using for freedom of
movement.
D. Ritual Gestures
You should refer to the ritual above while reading
this section.
The "Qabalistic Cross"
The "Qabalistic Cross" (steps i-v) is a self-consecration.
The magician becomes a
sanctified instrument for the execution of the
rest of the ritual. This can't be an empty
exercise; linger on each phrase for as long as
it takes to form some strong, albeit brief
concentration on the meaning.
Think of the short prayer of the Qabalistic Cross
as a baptism, using light rather than
water. Imagine that your body has "centers" which
you are bringing to life by anointing
them with your hand. There are five such "centers".
At the end of the Cross, remain for a
moment in that posture, upright, hands clasped,
feeling the Cross within yourself,
yourself as the Cross. This should bring on a
purified perception of the body.
The Cross addresses a second person, a "thee".
Who is this mysterious person?
"Thee" is your own "higher self", by some readings.
If you prefer monotheistic
symbolism, read "God[dess]" for "thee". Even
for monotheists, the consecration is of
yourself, although "by the power of God". The
two symbolisms can be mapped easily
onto each other; it's an issue of God within
or God without.
The "vanilla" version of the Cross is not what
most Thelemites use. Instead, go "Atoh"
(touch brow), "Aiwass" (touch breast), "Malkuth"
(touch genitals), and then the arms as
normal. "Aiwass who?" That's a name Crowley's
Holy Guardian Angel called itself by. If
you attain to the Knowledge and Conversation
of your Holy Guardian Angel (as it is so
quaintly called), use its name instead of Aiwass.
Don't expect this attainment to happen
tomorrow or next week; inthe Golden Dawn and
Thelema, it's a major attainment, the
center of the path. But then, you're the only
real judge of it.
The Banishing Pentagram of Earth
This pentagram is a five pointed star, point
up. To draw it, start from the lower left-hand
corner (your left), go up to the top point, and
continue from there. The index finger is a
common tool for drawing the stars; it's a very
natural way of writing symbols in the air. A
good wand can be hard to find.
Note that you do not draw the stars at the end
of your finger, but project them outwards
as if your finger was a laser, with the stars
being drawn by the beam onto an outlying
vertical plane - perhaps a few inches short of
the wall, or on the wall, or just in a
convenient expanse of air. Over time I've come
to draw them at the outermost reaches
of space, at the thrones of the Guardians of
the Watchtowers at the four quarters of the
earth, in the flat-earth Christian cosmology
employed by the Renaissance magicians
Dee and Kelley. This approach sanctifies the
entire earth rather than just the room.
Drawing the pentagram will be easy or hard for
you, depending on whether you are
good at visualization. I'm not, so it's hard.
(I'm getting better with practice, though.)
Ideally, the stars should be of flame, drawn
in the air, but early on a faint outline is no
cause to complain. It's not a good idea to use
drugs to increase your visualization
abilities on a routine basis. If you are experienced
with drugs, it may be useful to employ
them for an LBR every once in a while just to
show you what it could be like.
The pentagram can be a potent symbol. Recall Leonardo's
image of the microcosm,
i.e., the individual human. The central pentagon
represents the torso, the top point the
head, the other four points the limbs.
For a religious humanist, the individually named
pentagrams are essentially aspects of
the higher self, given life/breath by the vibrations
of the god-names. For a theist, the
pentagrams are anthropomorphic manifestations
of deity, summoned by the vibration of
god-names.
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.
We are 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
membership in an occult fraternity on anyone,
so here is a description which I hope will be
adequate in print.
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 or like Superman taking
flight. 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.
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 European/American culture, meaning silence.
Silence 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.
You'll note that "Ye-ho-wau" is given as the pronunciation
of YHWH. 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.
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 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 world
in itself, cut adrift from the mundane
currents of everyday experience.
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 nonsense - 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.
E. Comments on 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 a high spiritual degree in some
parochial in-group!
The Christianity - or at least angelic monotheism
- of the ritual symbolism may give
pause to some. Many of us involved in occultism
have negative feelings about
Christianity. These may be somewhat justified,
but there are a few saving graces here.
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 experience with the ritual, 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 various highly reified
forms of the same basic ritual in many
of their traditions, but with non-Christian deities,
spirits, and heroes at the quarters.
Aleister Crowley wrote a new version, the Star
Ruby, which used the names of deities
and officers from his "Thelemic" system rather
than monotheist gods and angels.
In any case, of those people who 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 hardly better or
worse than any other religion. Without this
selection process, and by factoring in historical
excesses and power plays, almost all
known religions look as bad as Christianity.
In other words, those who happily use
Norse gods, Arthurian heroes, Taoist immortals,
Voudoun loas, or what have you in
rituals, but never touch a Christian angel, are
guilty of the same narrowness they impart
to the Christians.
Having performed the banishing ritual, one is
now ready to do a formal invocation, an
evocation, a meditation, or whatever the overall
spiritual 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. Its mastery is a first step to
adepthood.
