Quick question concerning the LRP.
-
Hey guys,
I have a quick question concerning the LRP. The ritual has thus far revealed much to me, but I am wondering about one aspect that doesn't make sense.While tracing the pentagram, the point over the right shoulder (Gevurah, Fire) corresponds to Water. The other pairs are Kether/Spirit(which works to me), Gedulah/Air (doesn't make sense to me), Gevurah/Water (doesn't make sense), Netzach/Earth (doesn't make sense) and Hod/Fire (Doesn't make sense).
Is there supposed to be a correspondence between these, or am I trying to link some attributes that shouldn't be linked?
Also, if we're trying to banish, wouldn't it make sense to start at Earth and carry the energies through progressively less dense phases (Earth to Water to Air to Fire to Spirit) of existence, back into Spirit? Why do we go straight from Earth to Spirit and then back around the pentagram? This confuses me.
Thanks for any assistance!
-
@FraterBen said
"While tracing the pentagram, the point over the right shoulder (Gevurah, Fire) corresponds to Water. The other pairs are Kether/Spirit(which works to me), Gedulah/Air (doesn't make sense to me), Gevurah/Water (doesn't make sense), Netzach/Earth (doesn't make sense) and Hod/Fire (Doesn't make sense)."
There is no intentional mapping of the Qabbalistic Cross you trace on yourself and the points of the pentagram. I think you are mixing schemes that stand on their own.
"Also, if we're trying to banish, wouldn't it make sense to start at Earth and carry the energies through progressively less dense phases (Earth to Water to Air to Fire to Spirit) of existence, back into Spirit? Why do we go straight from Earth to Spirit and then back around the pentagram? This confuses me."
There are a couple of layers of complexity here, but I'll try to make it clear.
The main thing to get is that, having determined that the line dealing with invoking and banishing Earth is the line between Earth and Spirit (see below for the "why"), banishing Earth is then moving away from the Earth point along that line, and invoking Earth is moving toward the Earth point.
So now for the complicated one: Why is Earth-to-Spirit the line for invoking and banishing Earth. To understanding this, remember that the forms of use are intrinsic to the Golden Dawn system. (Depending on which interpretation you accept, this is either the system invented by the GD, or the one they inherited.) The First Order of that system builds to a synthetic grade called the Portal. Critical to the Portal is the equilibration of the four elements, first accomplished by equilibrating Actives with Actives (Fire & Air) and Passives with Passives (Water & Earth). The forms that we casually label the "Spirit pentagrams" are rightly called the Pentagram of the Equilibration of Actives - which invokes and banishes along the Air-Fire line - and the Pentagram of the Equilibration of Passives - which invokes and banishes along the Earth-Water line. These "Spirit pentagrams" key off every single point of the pentagram except Spirit. Spirit - Quintessence - is transcendant to the process, not a linear development of the process. When the Actives are equilibrated, and the Passives are equilibrated, and the Active and Passive axes are equilibrated with each other, there manifests a fifth thing above and transcendant to them - the top point of the pentagram.
This is perhaps the most critical alchemical step in the GD system. It absorbs the two lines Air-Fire and Earth-Water, taking them out of consideration for any other purpose.
That being done, there is only one line left that touches Earth - the one that connects it to Spirit. There is only one line left that touches Fire - the one that connects it to Spirit. There is only one line left that touches either Air or Water, and it's the line that connects them to each other.