Lesser Ritual of the Pentagram - invoking vs banishing
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Hmmmmm it’s the only technique that came close to Crowley’s instructions for vibration of God-names:
*5. It is a sign that the student is performing this correctly when a single “Vibration” entirely exhausts his physical strength. It should cause him to grown hot all over, or perspire violently, and it should weaken him that he will find it difficult to remain standing.
6. It is a sign of success, though only by the student himself is it perceived, when he hears the name of the God vehemently roared forth, as if by the concourse of ten thousand thunders; and it should appear to him as if that Great Voice proceeded from the Universe itself, and not from himself.
In both the above practices all consciousness of anything but the God-form and name should be absolutely blotted out; and the longer it takes for normal perception to return the better. *
(Book 4, 605)The Egyptian god-forms in the LBRP refer to doing the Sign of the Enterer while thrusting into the traced pentagram and then assuming the Sign of Silence. That’s how it was originally taught to me and I’ve seen lots of practitioners doing it that way. I always disliked it only because I don’t like to mix divine names and god forms from different systems (Hebrew vs Egyptian) in one ritual.
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Ah, I see. That's two separate techniques, though. (I described their relationship above.) But I see what you were saying.
BTW I would call what you were doing the using of Egyptian god postures, unless you were also building the Yetziratic image of the actual god.
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What about in IR's "The Golden Dawn", on page 54 of the lewellen (pg. 108-109 of the old), note #2, says to "Project it our of your aura with the Saluting Sign of a Neophyte, and when it is about three feet away, prevent its return with the Sign of Silence."???
Also, I found this video as a (very stylish) example:
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or this one's better:
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His gestures are ok (note in the second link he is doing the Sign of Enterer plus Sign of Silence) but he seems to be going through it too quickly. Plus, most importantly, you can’t hear him vibrating the divine names. Personally I’ve found all the LBRP samples on Youtube to be pretty crap – most of them look like they’re “going through the motions”. I came across one really good version about 3 years ago, some German practitioner doing a GD-style LBRP in his living room, but the video was removed.
I should clarify my comment on hyperventilating. I agree that if I were hyperventilating throughout the entire LBRP, that would be sick indeed. What I do instead is, each time I draw a pentagram in a quarter, I inhale deeply for the first angle of the pentagram, exhale deeply for the second angle, so by the time I finish tracing the pentagram, I’ve hyperventilated about 5x, before holding breath and then exhaling/vibrating the divine name for the quarter. You definitely feel a “head rush” and it’s easy to lose your balance. The sensation is over in a few seconds and by then you’ve moved on to the next quarter.
I adapted the above from studying Crowley’s comments in Liber O. Plus it made sense in terms of technique (for example, one way of implanting sigils into the unconscious is by staring at it and holding one’s breath until you pass out – it’s all about bypassing the rational/conscious mind to imprint deeper levels of the mind). Eventually you can trigger the banishing effect by just mentally thinking “For about me flames the pentagram and in the column stands the six-rayed star!”
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@he atlas itch said
"I should clarify my comment on hyperventilating. I agree that if I were hyperventilating throughout the entire LBRP, that would be sick indeed. What I do instead is, each time I draw a pentagram in a quarter, I inhale deeply for the first angle of the pentagram, exhale deeply for the second angle, so by the time I finish tracing the pentagram, I’ve hyperventilated about 5x, before holding breath and then exhaling/vibrating the divine name for the quarter. You definitely feel a “head rush” and it’s easy to lose your balance. The sensation is over in a few seconds and by then you’ve moved on to the next quarter. "
My response was to the idea of hyperventilating in any sense at all, and especially for the goal you originally stated. That's sick. And it's not about producing either oxygen starvation or oxygen saturation of the brain.
OTOH if all you meant is that you use coordinated breathing, then, sure, cool. We teach that the best technique (regardless of the particular pentagram being used) is to inhale on an upstroke, exhale on a downstroke, and hold the breath on a horizontal. This coordinates a number of body and mind rhythms.
"for example, one way of implanting sigils into the unconscious is by staring at it and holding one’s breath until you pass out – it’s all about bypassing the rational/conscious mind to imprint deeper levels of the mind"
Or you could just stare at them with your head in a bag of glue. More or less the same thing.
"Eventually you can trigger the banishing effect by just mentally thinking “For about me flames the pentagram and in the column stands the six-rayed star!”"
But this misses most of the virtue of the ritual.
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Alrah - no, I must admit that I've never considered that. Nor, if I think about it, am I particularly inclined toward it. Possibly because of a certain rigidity in my thinking. Or maybe because I associate the LBRP with the idea of foundation, grounding oneself spatially, aligning oneself with the Tree.. Let's just say that should you ever unexpectedly find yourself under magickal attack, it's good to have a solid structure imprinted in your mind for fast activation.
Perhaps you can demonstrate your Alrah-style sometime..
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@Jim Eshelman said
"Or you could just stare at them with your head in a bag of glue."
Don't try this at home, kids!
As far as the LBRP, or any ritual, is concerned, I think it's best not to over-analyze the situation. I mean, not that we should wave our wands whilst shouting gibberish in the streets, but a little Spirit goes a lot further than the letter, yes? A Banishing should come from the heart, and if this means you breathe once, or fifty times, or not at all, or even with a tube of glue in your nose--so be it. (Though it's probably best if you practice auto-erotic asphyxiation on your own time.
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Hi Jim - yes I suppose sniffing glue might achieve the same results. But I believe it also kills brain cells. I know magicians who get high before performing magickal rituals and this, while effective, seems like cheating for me (one of them invoked the Aeon of Horus while off his head on chemicals, saw the Egyptian gods, and ended up in a psychiatric ward for several months afterwards). For me, a good LBRP is a combination of pacing, vibration, and visualization. If done right, I feel a charge run up my body by the time I get to "and in the column stands the six-rayed star"
@Jim Eshelman said
"But this misses most of the virtue of the ritual."
What is the virtue you refer to?
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@he atlas itch said
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@Jim Eshelman said
"But this misses most of the virtue of the ritual."What is the virtue you refer to?"
A couple of ways of answering that (just going by what was in my mind at the moment I wrote that sentence).
Despite its name, it's only secondarily a banishing ritual. It's primarily an invoking ritual, which, by regular repetition, attunes ones consciousness to certain ideas inherent in the geometry of the pentagram. Among other things, these ideas encode and unlock most of the ideas about the H.G.A. that have been expressed in the extant literature.
Also, one of the chief virtues of the ritual, so far as the course of training is concerned, is that it requires you to do many things at once. That is, several independent techniques are overlain and coordinated in this one ritual. Besides the inherent virtue from practicing each of them in turn, there is also the training aspect that comes from practicing them simultaneously, in the particular overlapping and interweaving way that the Pentagram ritual requires.
"Cut to the chase" variants will miss both of the above.
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@Jim Eshelman said
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@he atlas itch said
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@Jim Eshelman said
"But this misses most of the virtue of the ritual."What is the virtue you refer to?"
A couple of ways of answering that (just going by what was in my mind at the moment I wrote that sentence).
Despite its name, it's only secondarily a banishing ritual. It's primarily an invoking ritual, which, by regular repetition, attunes ones consciousness to certain ideas inherent in the geometry of the pentagram. Among other things, these ideas encode and unlock most of the ideas about the H.G.A. that have been expressed in the extant literature.
Also, one of the chief virtues of the ritual, so far as the course of training is concerned, is that it requires you to do many things at once. That is, several independent techniques are overlain and coordinated in this one ritual. Besides the inherent virtue from practicing each of them in turn, there is also the training aspect that comes from practicing them simultaneously, in the particular overlapping and interweaving way that the Pentagram ritual requires.
"Cut to the chase" variants will miss both of the above."
What do you think about the revised LBRP in the Book of Lies?
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@JPF said
"What do you think about the revised LBRP in the Book of Lies?"
You speak of the Star Ruby, yes?
It an interesting ritual, and quite useful for some particular purposes. I included it in the Appendix of my new book. IMHO it doesn't begin to compare to the Lesser Ritual of the Pentagram, which is possibly the most sublime and useful ritual in all magicdom.
BTW, I've never been able to find a record of even a single instance of Crowley ever performing the Star Ruby. It certainly wasn't his standard and, in the last decade of his life, it was specifically the Lesser Ritual of the Pentagram on which he wrote new commentary and which he sent to his students.
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@Tinman said
"You speak of Crowley writing new commentary on the Lesser Ritual of the Pentagram? Published? Available?"
Sure, it shows up in lots of places. One place is In the Continuum, Vol. I, No. 1. But here is the document in full. - These were notes he wrote to send to Agape Lodge O.T.O. in the late '30s or early '40s.
"NOTES ON THE RITUAL OF THE PENTAGRAM
by Aleister CrowleyYou are supposed to be standing at the intersection of the paths of Samekh and Pé. You are facing Tiphareth (the Sun), thus on your right hand is Netzach (Venus) and on your left hand Hod (Mercury), and behind you Yesod (the Moon).
You take one step with the right heel in the hollow of the left foot towards Tiphareth and vibrate the Divine Name as given in the ritual. You then carry round the point of the Wand towards Netzach, then take a step again (always recovering after each forward step so that you remain in the centre) and vibrating the Divine Name as before.
Continue the process facing Yesod and vibrating; then Hod, and vibrating; but carry the point of the Wand round to Tiphareth so as to complete the circle.
[NOTE: The step he is discribing is the Masonic 1° step, which had a particular significance in O.T.O. at that point in time, but not at present. These were notes specifically sent to an O.T.O. lodge. - JAE]
As you vibrate the Divine Name the angels, as given in the ritual, appear (note that they should appear and if the ritual is properly performed do appear).
You are thus standing in a Column which is protected by your microcosmic invocation. The consequent result, being macrocosmic response, is that without any effort on your part the hexagram or sixfold star appears both above and below you. (Note the equilibration of 5°=6°.)
In this way you are completely shut off from the outer and Qliphotic parts of the universe.
Get well into your mind the realization of this Column with its surrounding pentagrams and its hexagrams above and below you. Continuous practice is essential if you are to perform this ritual as you should. It is particularly important not to slur any part of it; to visualize clearly and cleanly the forces invoked, with the exception of the Divine Being, who will not appear, in the ordinary course of events, for such slight cause.
You can figure out for yourself the forms of the angels, or rather archangels. For instance, Raphael, commencing with an "R" will have a head of solar glory and the Pé which follows shows that the rest of him is martial: the "AL" which concludes the name (in the case of most angelic beings) indicates that they wield the sword and the balance."
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Regarding the "intersection of Peh and Samekh":
I've been imagining this as the point of stasis (not quite right that word - more like the area between 2 equal and opposite forces pushing or pulling in opposite directions which is both a place of non-movement and yet drastically different forces pulling). Basically I'm visualizing Peh as being Destruction and Samekh as being Creation.
I'm not sure that was Crowley's intent with those comments though (had seen that one before - was hoping for more juicy bits).
Would someone help me with better understanding the "intersection of Peh and Samekh": what that means, how to visualize it's relationship, etc.
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@Tinman said
"Would someone help me with better understanding the "intersection of Peh and Samekh": what that means, how to visualize it's relationship, etc."
For the purpose of this particular ritual, I think it's just important to know your symbolic location - and this strikes you however it does on a particular occassion.
But more generally discussing that intersection point - quite an essay could be written on this one location and its relationship to what has gone before on the Tree. (For example, it ties into the whole QShTh "bow / rainbow" symbolism, Path of the Arrow, Yesod as the Yod-Sod hand pulling the string etc. etc. etc.) Your word "stasis" is pretty good, in the sense of equilibrium, yet carries unfortunate implications of the static and rigid (which would not apply). Aside from the red/blue natures of the two individual Paths, note that this point (which is essentially the location of the critical point of the Portal ceremony - hence all this equilibrium) is perfectly balanced both horizontally and vertically. It is the point where the equilibrium of Netzach and Hod (and thus of the two pillars in general) intersects with the eqiulibrium of Yesod and Tiphereth (Moon and Sun).
The two Paths also share the number 800. This number is the value of Peh-final, and also of QShTh, qesheth, Hebrew for "Sagittarius."
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I never understood Crowley’s intent behind his instructions to stand “at the intersection of the paths of Samekh and Pe”, facing Tiphareth. Visually and logically it does not seem to be satisfying.
Compare his instructions to the Qabalistic Cross. In the latter the practitioner “backs himself” into the Tree, facing outward, head corresponding to Tiphareth, feet in Malkuth. The QC stance implies the right shoulder matches Hod (“the Power”) and the left shoulder matches Netzach (“the Glory”). There is a logical top>bottom and front>back position for the practitioner implied by the words of the QC. This upright position vis-a-vis the Tree is further attested by the fact that one is supposed to visualize a ball of white light descending from Kether down to the head before commencing the QC.
In contrast, Crowley’s new comments on the LBRP imply the Tree is visualized in a flat horizontal manner, like a diagram sketch on a floor, in which the practitioner stands at the Samekh/Pe intersection, facing Tiphareth and Malkuth behind him. I could go with that, but it still would not seem correct to ascribe “the Power” to Netzach and “the Glory” to Hod. If anything, the Power should be ascribed to the left side of the Tree, the Pillar of Severity, and the Glory should be ascribed to the right side of the Tree, the Pillar of Mercy.
Or am I missing something here?
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@he atlas itch said
"I never understood Crowley’s intent behind his instructions to stand “at the intersection of the paths of Samekh and Pe”, facing Tiphareth. Visually and logically it does not seem to be satisfying."
This didn't originate with him (though he did choose to perpetuate it).
Some thoughts: Remember that the Pentagram Ritual was created as a First Order ritual to operate in the sphere below Tiphereth. Though that isn't its full limit by any means, it is its "original mandate," so to speak. Also, as mentioned above, this is a very critical location on the Tree, and it is only location that explains the symbolism (which ties into the archangels) of being equilibrated between Tiphereth, Hod, Yesod, and Netzach (the archangels Raphael, Michael, Gabriel, and Hanael [for whom Uriel substitutes]).
The "orientation" question you asked is just one you have to sort out on the floor. The horizontal and vertical orientations of the Tree do differ. You are, so to speak, embodied as a Tree while standing on the Tree - think two Trees, not one. That should help sort it out.
And these orientations vary according to the ritual. In Liber Resh, one is again at the same intersection, but Netzach is in the south and Hod in the north.
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"And these orientations vary according to the ritual. In Liber Resh, one is again at the same intersection, but Netzach is in the south and Hod in the north."
Clarification: Isn't Nezach in the south and Hod in the north in the LBRP as Crowley described it above?
The combined correspondences as I am understanding them (perhaps incorrectly):
East - Air - Tiphareth
South - Fire - Netzach
West - Water - Yesod
North - Earth - HodIs that correct?
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@Frater LR said
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"And these orientations vary according to the ritual. In Liber Resh, one is again at the same intersection, but Netzach is in the south and Hod in the north."Clarification: Isn't Nezach in the south and Hod in the north in the LBRP as Crowley described it above?"
No.
Hod is in the south (your right). Its archangel, Michael, is placed there.
Netzach is in the north (your left). Though Hanael is the normally named archangel of Netzach, there are old Rabbinical traditions sometimes substituting Uriel.
But I see your point in the original. He did get them mixed up in this particular paper. I suspect he had Resh on his mind when he dictated that.