The Lesser Banishing Ritual of the Pentagram, or LBRP, is one of the foundational rituals in Western esotericism and is designed predominantly to clear your area (and yourself) of negative energies. However, this ritual can also be used to invoke, banish, and balance out other elements, it entirely depends on how the pentagrams are drawn. See Figure 2 below for an illustration of how to draw the banishing and invoking pentagrams of each element.
Ideally, this ritual should always be performed before and after any other magical work, to ensure a clear working space before you start, and then at the end to ensure everything is effectively closed down.
You Will Need
- A ritual dagger (Athame), incense stick, or simply your finger to draw the pentagrams for ease, I will refer to it as “the implement”
- Something to determine compass directions (Most mobile phones have a compass built in if you are unsure).
- Sage, Frankincense, or Hyssop to cleanse the space before starting. (Not mandatory, but nice to have)
The Qabalistic Cross
- Stand and face East.
- Take a couple of slow, deep breaths in and out to centre and still yourself, and become aware of your body and its connection with the earth below you and the sky above.
- Visualise a bright, burning white star far above your head in the heavens. This is the potent energy of the universe. Imagine yourself connecting with this energy and feeling its power. Take a moment to feel this energy.
- On your next deep breath in, reach up with your dominant hand to the light and visualise yourself drawing divine light or energy down from the heavens to the energy centre at the top of your head, Kether (or your Crown Chakra). Touch your forehead.
- Vibrate ATEH (pronounced “Ah-tah,” means “Thou art”). At this point, the light becomes brighter and stronger. Visualise this light flowing down through you from the point above your head.
- As you breathe out, draw this energy down from the top of your head to the energy centre at your heart, Tipareth (or the Heart Chakra). Touch your chest.
- On your next breath out, visualise the light following as an unbroken line down your body to stop at the energy centre at your feet, Malkuth (or the Root Chakra).
- Vibrate MALKUTH (pronounced “mahl-koot,” means “Kingdom”). Again, the light becomes brighter and stronger.
- Draw the energy back up to your heart centre, and then draw the energy to the energy centre at your right shoulder, Geburah. Touch your right shoulder, the sphere of brilliant red light.
- Vibrate VE-GEBURAH (pronounced “veh geh-boo-rah,” means “and the power”).
- Draw the energy from your right shoulder, through your heart centre, to the energy centre at your left shoulder, Chesed. Touch your left shoulder, the sphere of brilliant blue light.
- Vibrate VE-GEDULAH (pronounced “veh geh-dyoo-lah,” means “and the glory”).
- Bring the energy back to rest at your heart centre. Visualise a completed cross of light running from head to feet and shoulder to shoulder with all points of light fully connected and vibrant. Place your hands in the prayer position.
- Vibrate LE-OLAM, AMEN (pronounced “leh o-Lahm, ah-men,” means, “from now until the end of time, Amen”)
What is happening here is that you are visualising yourself as the centre of the universe with only the divine light flowing through you. You may wish to remain in this position for a few moments to feel its power.
The Formulation of the Pentagrams
Drawing a Banishing Earth Pentagram
- To draw a Banishing Earth Pentagram, hold your implement in your dominant hand and point it towards your left foot. Imagine a bright white light coming out of your implement and extending to where your foot touches the ground.
- Next, quickly move your arm above your head while visualising yourself tracing a line in bright, flaming, gas-jet blue light. Bring the light back down to your right foot, continuing to visualise the line created as you trace with your implement.
- Bring your implement up to your left shoulder and then across to your right shoulder, ensuring it’s in line with your shoulders. Finally, trace the line back down to your left foot to complete the pentagram.
Note: If you’re having difficulty visualising the process of drawing pentagrams, I suggest using sparklers to practice. This will give you a visual reference point to work with. You can even get sparklers in different colours! However, please ensure you practice with sparklers outdoors and take all necessary safety precautions.
- Move to the Eastern edge of your area, your circle, facing out. Here, draw a banishing earth pentagram in the air. (Typically, for this ritual, banishing earth pentagrams are drawn at all quarters as standard since earth represents the material, earthly world, and you want to transcend this for a little while.)
- Point to the middle of the pentagram and vibrate the god name “YOD HEH VAV HEH” (Yee-Oh-Vay) to activate the pentagram. Visualise it glowing more brightly and vibrantly.
- Next, take your implement and trace a line of protective energy in brilliant white from the centre of the pentagram you just drew, moving around your circle to the South. Trace another flaming blue banishing earth pentagram into the air, vibrating the name “ADONAI” (ah-doh-nye) to activate it this time.
- Visualise the two pentagrams with the unbroken protective line connecting them at their centres. Repeat this process of tracing the protective circle and pentagram to move around to the West, this time vibrating “EHEIEH” (eh-hey-yay) to activate it, and then to the North, vibrating “AGLA” (ah-gah-lah).
- Finally, visualise yourself tracing the white protective light round to connect at the centre of the Eastern pentagram to complete your protective sphere of light connecting all your pentagrams at their centres. You’re now surrounded by four blue flaming pentagrams in the four equal corners of the circle you’ve just made, each charged with a God name and connected with the unbroken white sphere of light. Take a moment to be aware of the powerful protective energy. On your next exhale, visualise the pentagrams getting larger and more powerful. Visualise yourself pushing your circle of pentagrams out wider to cover a greater distance.
Invoking the Archangels
- Stand facing East and outstretch your arms like a cross with your palms facing up. Visualise yourself standing in the Qabalistic cross that you made earlier.
- Look before you (East) and say, “Before Me”. Then vibrate: RAPHAEL (rah-fay-el). Feel his presence and the airy breeze hitting your face.
- Imagine another presence behind you and say, “Behind Me”. Then vibrate: GABRIEL (gah-bree-el). Feel his presence with the element of water on your back.
- Look to your right and say, “On my right hand”. Then vibrate: MICHAEL (mi-kai-el). Feel his presence with the heat of fire.
- Look to your left and say, “On my left hand”. Then vibrate: URIEL (oor-ee-el). Feel his presence with the sense of the solidity of the earth coming from this direction.
- Raise your arms to form a V shape, palms still facing up. Say, “For about me flame the pentagrams, and in the column of light shines the six-rayed star.”
- Visualise yourself standing in a spotlight of vibrant light with two hexagrams in vibrant purple, one above your head and the other below your feet. Surrounding you are the four archangels standing tall and vibrant, and beyond that, your four blue flaming pentagrams connected with the white sphere of light. Take a moment to connect with and appreciate this energy.
The Qabalistic Cross
- Repeat the Qabalistic Cross to close
Supporting Materials
The banishing ritual is perceived as banishing any chaotic or impure forms of the elements from the magician’s circle by tracing the pentagrams in the air and by the power of specific divine names. The invoking ritual is perceived to invoke pure forms of the elements. To banish, ALWAYS draw AWAY from you into the air/sky. To Invoke, it’s the opposite. You are pulling down energy from the air/sky TOWARDS you.
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