- The only implement you will need is a small steel dagger or
knife. A kitchen knife or letter opener will do, but it should
be kept for this and other rituals, and not used for any mundane
purposes. If necesary, the ritual can be done pointing with
your index and middle fingers. Of course, if you have them, a
wand or sword or other magical weapon could be used as
appropriate
- You will be using the Pentagrams of Earth in all four
quarters. They are traced point up; the "invoking" form with
the first stroke from the top point to the bottom left point,
the "banishing" form with the first stroke in the other
direction; the other strokes follow round in sequence. See the
figure below. As a general rule, in this ritual the Banishing
Pentagram only is used; the Lesser Invoking Ritual is not so
useful.
- Taking the dagger in your right hand, face East and make the
Qabalistic Cross as follows:
Touching your forehead, say ATEH ("thou art")
Touching the centre of your breast, say AIWASS
(or the name of your own Holy Guardian Angel if known, or
simply pause)1
Bringing your hand down to groin level, say MALKUTH ("the
Kingdom")
Touching your right shoulder, say VE-GEBURAH ("and the Power")
Touching your left shoulder, say VE-GEDULAH ("and the Glory")
Clasping your hands in front of your chest, say LE-OLAM ("unto
the Ages")
With your hands still clasped, turn the dagger point up and
say AMEN.
- Advance to the East,2 then trace the
Pentagram with the point of your dagger (the Pentagrams should
be made as large as possible, the top point roughly level with
your forehead and the bottom points with your hips; they should
be traced the same size in all four quarters). Bring the point
of the dagger to the centre of the Pentagram and vibrate the
Deity Name YOD HEH VAU HEH.3
- Go round clockwise to the South, keeping your arm extended
with the dagger pointing outwards, then trace the Pentagram,
bring the point of the dagger back to its centre, and vibrate
the Name ADONAI.
- Go round to the West, keeping your arm extended as before.
Trace the Pentagram, bring the point of the dagger back to its
centre, then vibrate EHEIEH (pron. Eh-hey-yeh).
- Go round to the North, keeping your arm extended, then trace
the Pentagram and vibrate AGLA.
- Go round to the East, with your arm extended, completing a
circle joining the centres of all four Pentagrams. Then return
to the centre, face East and extend your arms to your sides in
the form of a cross and say:
BEFORE ME RAPHAEL
(pron. Rah-fay-el, "Healing of
God")
BEHIND ME GABRIEL (pron. Gah-bray-el, "Strength of
God")
AT MY RIGHT HAND MICHAEL
(pron. Mee-kye-el, "who is
like unto God")
AT MY LEFT HAND AURIEL
(pron. Or-ray-el, "Light of
God")
FOR ABOUT ME FLAMES THE PENTAGRAM
AND IN THE COLUMN SHINES THE SIX-RAYED STAR
- To finish, repeat step (c), the Qabalistic Cross.
When you are familiar with the outward form of this ritual it
should be accompanied by suitable visualisations and meditations.
These are beyond the scope of the present brief treatment.
NOTES ON THE RITUAL OF THE PENTAGRAM
By
Aleister Crowley4
You are supposed to be standing at the intersection of the
paths of Samekh and P�. You are facing Tiphareth (the Sun), thus
on your right hand is Netzach (Venus), on your left hand Hod
(Mercury),5 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. As you
vibrate the Divine Names the angels, as given in the ritual,
appear, (note well 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 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 P� 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.6
Footnotes
1: This is the distinguishing feature of the
"Thelemic" Lesser Pentagram. In the version ordinarily taught in
the Golden Dawn (as given, for example, in Crowley's Liber O
� it is based on chapter IV of Levi's Rituel de Haute Magie)
you touch your forehead and say ATEH, then the centre of your
breast, saying MALKUTH, thus symbolically attempting to drag
Malkuth up into Tiphareth. The present form is based on a version
of the ritual used by Crowley at the Abbey of Thelema, and in it
one uses the HGA in Tiphareth to transmit the energies from Kether
down into Malkuth. There is � shall we say � something of a
tension between Crowley�s various statements on the nature of
Aiwass or Aiwaz. Aiwass only represents the Holy Guardian Angel
in so far as Crowley considered Aiwass to be his Angel, and
invoking anyone else's HGA is a piece of folly and futility
(compare the final remarks in Z2 Shin of Shin) so if the name of
one's own "Angel" is unknown, or if doing the ritual in company,
it might be better to substitute some general name or title, or
simply pause briefly.
Now, in
Liber V
vel Reguli, which in its published form was "adapted for the
daily use of the Magician of whatever grade," Aiwaz appears as a
more universal name, as the transmitter of the 93 current, etc.;
here, though, the name is vibrated while touching forehead, mouth
and throat: this is explained by Crowley's
notes on
the ritual, "Aiwaz is Silence and Speech (Ajna and Visuddhi.)"
As such, I do not believe the general use of the name Aiwass in
the LBRP is warranted. (I consider the statement that Aiwass may
be considered the HGA of the O.T.O. to be simply laughable; at
best a cateogory mistake, at worst an example of creeping
personality cult. If we accept the Platonic/Hermetic principle of
analogies suggested by
Liber
CXCIV, then the "Holy Guardian Angel of the Order" would be,
by analogy, another office, possibly the mythical "Inner Head": if
we do not, the concept is simply incoherent).
There exist other variants of the Qabalistic Cross where this
step is omitted and the vertical component is a single move from
forehead to groin level (for example, the first form given in the
appendix to Qabalah: a Primer by John Bonner), or
alternatively bringing the hand as far down as you can while
standing erect, visualing the Malkuth centre at the feet.
2: If considerations of space prohibit this the
entire ritual may be performed in one place, turning on the spot.
If the intention is to "clear" an area or working space, though,
you should make a circle of the place if at all possible.
3: Detailed instructions for the vibration of
Divine Names are given in Liber O; the technique is
discussed in more detail in the Golden Dawn Z documents.
4: I am unsure of the exact provenance of this
piece. It was published by DuQuette in Magick of Thelema
and also in the endnotes to the "Blue Brick" edition of Magick.
In this connection it is also suggested that the student read
Crowley's poem "The Palace of the World" and the notes thereon in
Collected Works vol. i pp. 204-205.
5: This explains the attribution of signs to
solar stations in Crowley's note on
Liber
Resh. However, according to the Golden Dawn teachings, in
this ritual you are backed onto the Tree, hence in making the
Qabalistic Cross you say "ve-Geburah" at your right
shoulder and "ve-Gedulah" at your left shoulder; this also
puts Michael, the Archangel of Hod, on your right as in the final
point. The reading above may have been a slip by Crowley or a
"correction" by a copyist unfamiliar with the finer points of the
G.D. teaching.
6: This refers to the Golden Dawn teachings
concerning Telesmatic Figures, which can be studied in Regardie
(ed.) The Golden Dawn.
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