A Study of the Lesser Banishing Ritual of the Pentagram

LBRP
1. Facing east, touch the forehead and say Atah (I am).
2. Touch the groin and say Malkuth (the Kingdom).
3. Touch the right shoulder and say ve-Geburah (and the Power).
4. Touch the left shoulder and say ve-Gedulah (and the Glory).
5. Clasp the hands upon the breast and say le-Olahm Amen (Forever, Amen).
6. Go to east, draw Banishing Pentagram of EARTH, point to center, vibrate:
YHWH [Yod-hey-vah-hey]YOD-Father/HEY-Mother/VAH-Son/HEY-Daughter
Then do the Sign of Silence
7. Carry line to south, draw Banishing Pentagram of EARTH, point to center, vibrate:
ADONAI [Ah-do-nai] (Hebrew meaning "lord, ruler") often used by Thelemites as a name for the Holy Guardian Angel
Then do the Sign of Silence
8. Carry line to west, draw Banishing Pentagram of EARTH, point to center, vibrate:
EHEHEH [AHIH] [Eh-hey-yah] "I Am"
Then do the Sign of Silence
9. Carry line to north, draw Banishing Pentagram of EARTH, point to center, vibrate:
AGLA [Ah-gul-lah]
“Thou are mighty forever, Lord”
Then do the Sign of Silence
10. Carry line to east, completing circle, return to center.
11. Hands out, say [or vibrate]: "Before me, Rah-Fay-El; "GOD HEALS"Behind me, Gahb-Ray-El; "GOD IS MIGHTY"On my right hand Mih-Chai-El; "LIKENESS OF GOD"On my left hand Ohr-Ree-El. "LIGHT OF GOD"
For I stand, the Human Pentagram and About me the Shining six sided Star
Six sided star-East-South-West-North/ Above & Below
Or [about me flames the pentagram], [within me shines the six-rayed star.]"
12. Facing east, touch the forehead and say Atah (I am).
13. Touch the groin and say Malkuth (the Kingdom).
14. Touch the right shoulder and say ve-Geburah (and the Power).
15. Touch the left shoulder and say ve-Gedulah (and the Glory).
16. Clasp the hands upon the breast and say le-Olahm Amen (Forever, Amen).

The Sign of Silence-Withdraw into a standing position, left arm hanging at your side, right forefinger on lips, left foot pointing ninety degrees out from the body.
Step 5 is called the Sign of Silence, or of Harpocrates. This Egyptian god was mistakenly believed (at the turn of the century) to pertain to silence, because his finger or thumb was touching his lips. This gesture is now believed to be a symbol of childhood; this correction appears in the World card of Crowley's Book of Thoth Tarot deck. Harpocrates was the god of the Sun at dawn, and so symbolizes wonder, beauty, potential, growth. So, step 5 may be done in this academically corrected light instead.
However, the "hush" gesture of the Golden Dawn Sign of Silence is adequate for the modern occultist, even if deprived of A Divine Identification. It is a common gesture, at least in European/American culture, meaning silence. Silence balances the ultra-active Sign of the Enterer better than does the more scholarly positive/active "Sign of Harpocrates the Rising Sun", and silence is surely no alien concept to mystics.

A Study of the LBRP

The Lesser Banishing Ritual of the Pentagram is said to be most effective in the Qabalistic realm of Assiah - the physical, active world that is associated with the tenth Sephirah of Malkuth. This is the realm in which we live and function. Malkuth is said to contain the four elements of the manifest universe. This is why in many drawings, Malkuth is shown divided into four sections. The sub-elements are: air of Malkuth, water of Malkuth, fire of Malkuth, and earth of Malkuth. But for our purposes it would be better to refer to them simply as air, fire, water, and earth - the elements of our physical plane. With respect to the entire Tree of Life, Malkuth is the only Sephirah to which is assigned the element of earth. This is why the banishing earth pentagram 1 in particular is used throughout the LBRP. However, in this instance it would be better to refer to the pentagram used in this ritual as the lesser banishing pentagram to avoid confusion. 2 All of the divine Hebrew names intoned in the Lesser Banishing Ritual of the Pentagram are composed of four letters. And the specific names used are attributed to the four sub-elements of Malkuth. The name of YHVH, the Tetragrammaton, is vibrated after the pentagram is drawn in the east, the direction attributed to elemental air. Tradition tells us that YHVH is a symbol for the highest, most divine name of God. Therefore it is appropriate that this name is vibrated in the east, the place of the dawning of the light. YHVH is our sunrise, our source of life. The east symbolizes elemental air which has further correspondences with Mercury, the highest of the three alchemical principles. Alchemists often refer to Mercury as spirit. All of this is in keeping with the idea of the "highest name of God." Adonai, meaning "lord," is the name vibrated after the figure is traced in the south. This name is particularly associated with Malkuth, whose complete divine name is Adonai ha-Aretz. The name "lord" carries with it connotations of high rank, especially power, rulership, and dominion. Here the name is associated with fire and the south, the direction of the sun's greatest strength. This is a reminder that here on Malkuth, our immediate symbolic link with the lord of light and strength is through the life-giving rays of the sun. The name of Eheieh is vibrated after the western pentagram is drawn. Eheieh, meaning " I am," is the divine name of Kether. The west is the place of sunset, the completion of the sun's journey across the sky. It represents rest and peace. To the ancient Egyptians, Ra, the Sun god died each night when he entered Amentet (the west). The west is a symbol of the completion of the soul's journey and the goal of spiritual growth. Therefore the west is an emblem of Kether, the goal which we seek throughout our incarnation on earth and which we hope to reach at the end of life, when we (like Ra) journey to Amentet. The name Eheieh vibrated in the west suggests that the goal of all esoteric work is the magician's complete identification with the true and eternal self of Kether. After the northern pentagram is drawn, the word Agla is vibrated. This is not really a word but rather a notariqon which uses the first letter of each word in a sentence to form a single word. In this case the sentence from which Agla is formed is Atah Gebur Le-Olam Adonai. This means, "Thou art great forever, my Lord," which is a powerful invocation - clearly calling upon all the might of Adonai to aid and guide us through the darkness of things unknown. Agla is vibrated in the north because that is the direction of the greatest symbolic cold, darkness, shadow, illusion, and the unfamiliar. It is "the place of Forgetfulness, Dumbness (silence), and Necessity, and of the greatest symbolical Darkness." It represents all the dormant and unmanifested forces of the universe, as well as those which are hidden or veiled to us. These are forces which we are largely ignorant of. However, all things, manifest or unmanifested (light or dark), exist then, now, and always under the rulership of Adonai. This we affirm by the phrase "Thou art great forever, my Lord!"

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 Judeo-Christian 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.

1. Facing east, touch the forehead and say Atah (I am).
2. Touch the groin and say Malkuth (the Kingdom).
3. Touch the right shoulder and say ve-Geburah (and the Power).
4. Touch the left shoulder and say ve-Gedulah (and the Glory).
5. Clasp the hands upon the breast and say le-Olahm Amen (Forever, Amen).RAPHAEL, Rah-Fay-El , meaning "GOD HEALS"GABRIEL, Gahb-Ray-El, meaning "GOD IS MIGHTY"MICHAEL, Mih-Chai-El, meaning "LIKENESS OF GOD"URIEL, ARIEL, Ohr-Ree-El, meaning "LIGHT OF GOD"

(“Y-H-V-H”), tetragamatron
which is pronounced YOD-HEY-VAH-HEY is generally considered to be the usually unutterable name of God.

“The symbolism and structure of Yod-He-Vau-He is simple, yet deeply profound. And when its few simple elements combine, they give birth to the entire complexity of life. In part, YHVH represents that perfect simple pattern we spoke of earlier - the atom or solar system. It also speaks of human procreation, and stellar/planetary procreation. The first part, “Yod”, represents the positive (+), “Sun”, “light”, “the Father” principles. The first “He” represents the “negative”, not in the sense of “bad” or “evil”, but in the sense of (-), negative polarity, pure darkness like that of the void of space, the receptive, the Mother principles. “Vau” is the meeting of Yod and He; the place of interplay, intercourse, and combining of the first two principles. It is its own principle, and the place of conception of, and the birth of, the second “He” (again, pronounced “hay”). The second “He” is the offspring of Yod and He, the result of their interaction, their subsequent creation. The second “He” has the same attributes as its Father, the Yod, in that it actually IS a Yod in its own macro or microcosmic realm. The second “He” is on a vibrational plane an octave apart. The second “He” begins the cycle (Yod-He-Vau-He) again, but AS THE YOD in micro-cosm or macro-cosm, and its polarity is reversed from its “father” YOD. Interestingly, the “father” principle, Yod, was distorted through translation over time from “Yod” into “God”, which is also often given a “father” principle connotation.”

EAST-YHWH [Yod-hey-vah-hey]YOD-Father/HEY-Mother/VAH-Son/HEY-Daughter, SOUTH-ADONAI [Ah-do-nai] (Hebrew meaning "lord, ruler") often used by Thelemites as a name for the Holy Guardian Angel,
WEST-EHEHEH [AHIH] [Eh-hey-yah] "I Am"
NORTH-,AGLA [Ah-gul-lah] “Thou are mighty forever, Lord”

A study of Angelicks energies
An angel (from Greek: άγγελος, angelos, "messenger", pl. άγγελοι) is a supernatural being. Secular scholars believe that Judeo-Christianity owes a great debt to Zoroastrianism in regards to the introduction of angelology.
Although older (9th/10th century BCE) Zoroastrianism only enters recorded history in the mid-5th century BCE. Herodotus' The Histories (completed c. 440 BCE) includes a description of Greater Iranian society with what may be recognizably Zoroastrian features, including exposure of the dead. Perhaps more importantly, The Histories is a primary source of information on the early period of the Achaemenid era (648–330 BCE), in particular with respect to the role of the Magi.

In the early stellar cults of Mesopotamia there were four "royal" Stars (known as Lords) which were called the Watchers. Each one of these stars "ruled" over one of the four cardinal points common to Astrology. This particular system would date from approximately 3000 BC. The stars:

• Aldebaran, when it marked the Vernal Equinox, held the position of Watcher of the East.
• Regulus, marking the Summer Solstice, was Watcher of the South.
• Antares, marking the Autumn Equinox, was Watcher of the West.
• Fomalhaut, marking the Winter Solstice, was Watcher of the North.

Therefore, the equivilant would be

• EAST-Raphiel = Aldebaran,
• SOUTH-Michael = Regulus,
• WEST-Gabriel = Antaries, &
• NORTH-Uriel = Fomalhaut

The arabic angels are thus:

• EAST-Raphiel = Israfil (or Israafiyl or Raphael),
• SOUTH-Michael = Mikail (or Mikaaiyl or Michael),
• WEST-Gabriel = Jibrail (or Jibraaiyl or Jibril], &
• NORTH-Uriel = Izra'il (or Azrael]

In ancient times, the Four Winds were also invoked in the stead of the Angelick hosts:

• Eruos,
• Notus,
• Zephyrus, &
• Boreas

Alternate Version, the Wiccan Cross

WICCAN CROSS

Face East. Touch forehead. Say IO EVOE HERTHA ('Blessed be Hertha,' or other Name by which you worship the Goddess as Creatrix)
Touch solar plexus or genitals. Say IO EVOE CERNUNNOS ('Blessed be Cernunnos,' or other name by which you worship the Horned God as the Earth)
Touch right shoulder. Say EKO EKO AZARAK ('Hail, hail force of fire')
Touch left shoulder. Say EKO EKO AMELAK ('Hail, hail to the glory')
Extend arms in form of a cross. Say IO EVOE ('Blessed be.')
Clasp hands upon breast and say 'So mote it be.'

CIRCLE OF PROTECTION

Trace pentagram in East. Say HERNE. Trace circle of protection until facing South.
Trace pentagram in South. Say CERNUNNOS. Trace circle of protection until facing West.
Trace pentagram in West. Say ARADIA. Trace circle of protection until facing North.
Trace pentagram in North. Say HABONDIA. Finish tracing circle, closing it in the East.
INVOCATION OF THE GREAT GODSReturn to center of circle and face East.
Extend arms in form of a cross.
Chant:
Before me HERNE The Huntsman
Behind me ARADIA The Maiden
On my right hand CERNUNNOS, the Horned God
On my left hand HABONDIA,
the Great MotherAbout me flame the pentagramsAnd above me shines the light of the Goddess.

Repeat the Wiccan Cross.

Rather than performing this in the rather measured cadences of Qabalistic Ritual, a form of dancing and chanting more pleasing to the God-forms of Wicca might profitably be devised