Lesser ritual of the pentagram

The Lesser Ritual of the Pentagram (or LRP) is a magickal ritual that originated from the "Key of Solomon"Fact|date=July 2008 and is used extensively by the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn but which has come to be practiced by numerous other magickal schools. It is considered by many to be a basic preliminary to any other magickal work, so much so that it was the only ritual, beside initiation rituals, taught to members of the Golden Dawn before they advanced to the Inner Order. [cite book | first=Donald Michael | last=Kraig | year=1998 | edition=Second Edition | title=Modern Magick | publisher=Llewellyn | pages=p165-166| id=ISBN 0-87542-324-8]

The ritual is used either to invoke the four elements (the Lesser Invoking Ritual of the Pentagram) or to banish them (the Lesser Banishing Ritual of the Pentagram or LBRP). The banishing form is used in many traditions at the beginning of most rituals, and has thus become the more commonly known form.

The ritual

Equipment

Although many modern orders suggest all sorts of magical equipment to perform the LRP the original Golden Dawn did not use anyFact|date=July 2008. However a modern approach might include the following:
*An altar in the centre of the ritual space, upon which are placed instruments representing the four elements.
*A tau robe or other suitable ritual garb worn by the magician.
*A steel dagger, which is used to gesture to the points of the Kabbalistic Cross, and to draw the pentagrams and the circle connecting them.

Procedure

The Golden Dawn LRP consists of three main parts, in this order:
#The "Kabalistic Cross", sometimes repeated at the end of the LRP. This is meant to construct an astral cross in the body of the magician, with points corresponding to Sephiroth on the Tree of Life. While constructing this cross, the magician vibrates a Hebrew translation of the last few lines of the Lord's Prayer (Thine is the kingdom, etc.).
#The "Formulation of the Pentagrams", in which a banishing earth pentagram (for the Banishing Ritual) or an invoking pentagram (for the Invoking Ritual) is drawn in the air at each of the four cardinal points and an associated name of God is vibrated (YHVH, ADNI, AHIH and AGLA for East, South, West and North respectively). This segment of the ritual is meant to banish or invoke the four elements (Air, Fire, Water and Earth respectively). The four pentagrams are connected by a circle, also drawn in the air.
#The "Evocation of the Archangels", during which the magician declares the Archangels Raphael, Gabriel, Michael and Uriel (or Auriel) to be present, while visualizing them at the four cardinal points.

Some traditions, in order to distance themselves from the Judeochristian content of the ritual, replace the Kabalistic Cross, names of God and archangels with suitable substitutes - using, for example, the chakra system instead of the Tree of Life, mantras instead of God names, etc.

References

Partial bibliography

All of the following books contain some variation of the Lesser Banishing Ritual of the Pentagram, its history, instructions on performance and/or commentary on the ritual. There are many more.

*Cicero, Chic (2003). "The Essential Golden Dawn: An Introduction to High Magic". Llewellyn Worldwide. ISBN 0738703109
*Crowley, Aleister. "". (2006). York Beach, ME : Weiser Books. ISBN 1-57863-351-6
*Crowley, Aleister. "". (1997). York Beach, ME : S. Weiser. ISBN 0-87728-919-0
*Drury, Nevill (2002). "The Dictionary of the Esoteric: 3000 Entries on the Mystical and Occult". Sterling Publishing Company. ISBN 1842931083
*DuQuette, Lon Milo. "The Magick of Aleister Crowley: A Handbook of the Rituals of Thelema", Weiser Books, 2003.
*DuQuette, Lon Milo (1995). "Tarot of Ceremonial Magick: A Pictorial Synthesis of Three Great Pillars of Magick". Weiser. ISBN 978-0877287643
*Harper, George Mills (1980). "W.B. Yeats and W.T. Horton: The Record of an Occult Friendship". Macmillan. ISBN 0333271653
*Hougham, Paul (2006). "The Atlas of Mind, Body and Spirit". Sterling Publishing Company. ISBN 185675247X
*Howe, Ellic (1972). "The Magicians of the Golden Dawn: A Documentary History of a Magical Order". Routledge and Kegan Paul.
*King, Francis (1990). "Tantra, the Way of Action: A Practical Guide to Its Teachings and Techniques". Inner Traditions. ISBN 0892812745
*Kraig, Donald Michael (1988). "Modern Magick: Eleven Lessons in the High Magickal Arts". Llewellyn Worldwide. ISBN 0875423248
* Regardie, Israel, et al., eds., "The Golden Dawn: A Complete Course in Practical Ceremonial Magic" (Llewellyn, 1989) ISBN 0-87542-663-8
* cite book
id=ISBN 0-87542-664-6
publisher= Llewellyn Publications
author=Regardie, Israel
title=The Golden Dawn
year=1982
*Regardie, Israel. "The Middle Pillar: The Balance Between Mind and Magic". Llewellyn Worldwide, 1998. ISBN 1567181406
* Scarborough, Samuel. [http://www.jwmt.org/v1n5/vibratoryform.html The Vibratory Formula and its Use in Daily Ritual Work] in "Journal of the Western Mystery Tradition", No. 5, Vol. 1, Autumnal Equinox 2003
*Wasserman, James (2006). "Aleister Crowley and the Practice of the Magical Diary". Weiser. ISBN 1578633729

External links

* [http://www.kheper.net/topics/Hermeticism/LBR.htm The Lesser Banishing Ritual of the Pentagram]