A Divine Feminine Adaptation Of The Lesser Banishing Ritual Of The Pentagram

Posted on December 10, 2021 by Carmilla de Rosa

The Lesser Banishing Ritual of the Pentagram (LBRP) is a powerful ceremonial magic ritual designed to banish impure elements from the magician’s workspace. The original ritual was designed by the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn and is heavily influenced by the Jewish tradition of Kabbalah as well as Christian interpretations of the archangels and their correspondences. In each of the four directions, the Earth banishing pentagram is traced by the magician with an outstretched arm, forming a protective circle around herself.

The LBRP is not a tool of low magic. It does not offer material rewards. It also is not intended to banish external demonic entities but rather shadow aspects of the self. The LBRP is an affirmation of the magician’s place in the Universe. The LBRP also is a clearing of unhelpful and stagnant energies in order to open up space for purer, thamelic energies. It is ideally performed on a daily basis.

The calling of the Archangels in the original LBRP was modified in this version to the names of the Janyati (Déanic Angels, viewed as aspects of Déa). The Janyati invoked have the same planetary correspondences as the Archangels. Feel free to substitute other feminine Angelic names that correspond to the planetary principles invoked.

There are many variations of the LBRP in circulation, but this is the first that I am aware of designed specifically for those who worship God in the feminine form.

The Qabalistic Cross

Stand before your altar, facing east, and imagine your consciousness expanding above and beyond your earthly existence.
Imagine a bright white sphere of light hovering and descending down to the top of your head.
Reach up with your right hand or wand and pull this white sphere of light down to your forehead. When you do this vibrate the word AT (pronounced “aht”, the feminine pronoun “thou” in Hebrew) In the sense it is used in the Qabalistic Cross, it is best translated into formal English as “Thou art”. Note: In the original LBRP, the masculine pronoun Atah is used.
Move your right hand or wand down the center of your body, feeling the light beam being drawn down through your central energetic pillar. Touch your breast, move your hand over the sacral chakra, pointing downward to the earth, vibrate MALKUTH (pronounced mahl-kooth, a feminine Hebrew word corresponding to the English term “Queendom” and the Herthelan term “Ranyam”.) Imagine there is now a beam of light running through you, connecting the sphere of light above your head to the earth below your feet. Note: Malkuth is the tenth sephirah in the Qabalah and is identified with the Shekinah. She is Mother God’s presence in the earthly Creation.
Touch your right shoulder and imagine that the light beam travels from the sacral base of Malkuth to your right side, extending into space. Vibrate VE-GEVURAH (pronounced v’ge-vuw-rah, the Hebrew word ve meaning “and” and the feminine word Gevurah meaning “strength, power”). Note: Gevurah is the fifth sephirah of the Qabalah and is associated with Sai Rhavë in the Filianic tradition. She represents the Saturnian qualities of Dea, who purifies through justice and accountability.
Touch your left shoulder, extending the light beam to your left side, extending into space. Vibrate VE-GEDULAH (pronounced v’ge-doo-lah, a feminine Hebrew word meaning “glory”). The word Gedulah is associated with the fourth sephirah Chesed, representing the devotional piety of maid to Dea as well as Dea’s love and mercy towards maid. She is associated with Sai Sushuri.
Bring both of your hands to the center of your breast and clasp them together in prayer, vibrate LE-OLAHM, AMEN (pronounced lay-oh-lahm, ah-men, the Hebrew adverb le-olahm meaning “forever” and amen meaning “verily, in truth”). You are now standing in the center of a cross of light that extends to the ends of the Universe.

The Four Pentagrams

Face east and trace with your hand or wand a large Earth banishing pentagram in the air before you.

Visualize the pentagram glowing in flaming blue light. Perform the Sign of the Enterer (stand with feet parallel and shoulder-width apart, visualize a white sphere of light above your head with a beam of light descending from the above sphere to a second sphere beneath your feet as you inhale, simultaneously raise your elbows upward and outward parallel to the shoulders, hold your hands flat on either side of your neck with palms facing down and fingers pointed forward, while exhaling step forward with your left foot while thrusting your hands forward, lower your head between your arms with eyes forward, visualize the white beam of light rising back up through your body and projecting through your fingertips). Vibrate IOT ‘E VOH (pronounced “yot-eh-voh, pronouncing the final “h” sound with the exhaled breath. Note: IVH is Dea’s Sacred Name of Power in the Madrian tradition.

Perform the Sign of Silence (place the right foot facing forward with the left foot turned toward the left slightly behind it, raise the right forefinger to the lips). This Sign seals the motion of magical energy.

2. Keeping your finger or wand in the center of your pentagram, move to the south, and trace a white beam of light to the southern quarter of the magical circle. These lines connect your pentagrams. Trace another pentagram the same way, now perform the sign of the enterer and vibrate GEBIRAH (pronounced gheb-ee-rah, meaning My Lady or Queen in Hebrew). Perform the sign of silence, remembering to keep your right arm out in front of you. Note: In the original LBRP, the name Adonai is used, which is a masculine name meaning “My Lord”

3. Trace the white beam of light to the west, repeat the steps of tracing and charging your pentagram, but this time vibrate EHYEH ASHER EHYEH (pronounced eh-yeh ash-ehr eh-yeh, translated commonly into English as “I am that I am”, but in Hebrew is more accurately used in the sense of a constant state of “becoming”. Note: First person pronouns are gender neutral in Hebrew.)

4. Trace the white beam of light to the north, do the same sequence one last time, and vibrate AT GIBORAH LE OLAHM GEBIRAH (pronounced “aht gee-bor-ah lay-olahm gheb-ee-rah, translated as “Thou O Lady art mighty forever.”) Note: In the original LBRP, the Qabbalistic acronym AGLA is used which stands for “Atah gibor le-olahm Adonai”, both the name of God and the adjective for the word “mighty” are masculine and therefore feminized for use in the Déanic context.

5. Trace the white beam of light back to the east, connecting all your pentagrams together. You should now be surrounded by four blue flaming pentagrams in the four quarters of your circle.

The Calling of the Archangels

Visualize the Qabbalistic Cross you made earlier, extend your arms out to either side parallel to the floor to become the Cross. Look in front of you (east) and say “Before Me, SAI MATI“ (pronounced sai mah-ti). Feel Her presence manifest before you in the element of wind.

2. Visualize another presence behind you and say, “Behind Me, SAI CANDRÉ (pronounced sai cahn-dray). Feel Her presence manifest behind you in the element of water.

3. Visualize a presence to your right and say, “At my right hand, SAI RAYA” (prononced sai rah-yah. Feel Her presence manifest to your right in the element of fire.

4. Visualize a presence to your left and say, “At my left hand, SAI VIKHE (pronounced sai vik-hay). Feel Her presence manifest to your left in the element of earth.

5. Face east again and contemplate the flaming pentagrams around you while saying, “For around me flameth the pentagram” Then visualize a brilliant golden hexagram within you at heart level and state “And within me shineth the six-rayed star”.

6. To finish, repeat the steps of the Qabbalistic cross.

May Dea bless you.

Sources:

https://stateofformation.org/2016/03/blessed-are-male-you-gendering-god-in-jewish-text/

https://journeyingtothegoddess.wordpress.com/2012/09/16/malkuth/

https://www.aish.com/sp/k/Kabbala_11_Gevurah_The_Strength_of_Judgment.html

https://ritualwell.org/ritual/shabbat-amidah-feminine-god-language

https://sacredwicca.com/high-magick

https://uhg.readthedocs.io/en/latest/person_first.html

https://www.wikihow.com/Perform-the-Lesser-Banishing-Ritual-of-the-Pentagram

http://www.mother-god.com/goddess-religion.html

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vXFKCcaYGtI&ab_channel=FoolishFish

Out With The Old, In With The New

Posted on March 30, 2014 by Carmilla de Rosa

For many, this is the time for spring cleaning, and many cultures have spring cleaning embedded into their traditions.

Iranians celebrate the New Year festival (Nowruz) on the day of the vernal equinox (March 21st). Two weeks prior to Nowruz, a ritual called khaneh takani (“shaking the house”) is undertaken in preparation for the new year and the welcoming of spring. Every corner of the home is dusted, scrubbed, and scoured. Jewish custom also has its own spring cleaning tradition before the holiday of Pesach (celebrated in March-April), which celebrates the Hebrew people’s emancipation from slavery in Egypt. Slaves in Egypt were fed unleavened bread, and so the Hebrew’s descendants kept this tradition as a reminder of the subjugation they had overcome. Keeping leavened bread in the house during Pesach is prohibited, and even leavened bread crumbs must not be left within the home. To ensure that no bread crumbs have been overlooked, Jews thoroughly clean their houses before Pesach every year.

This time of year is not only for a physical cleaning of the home, however, but also a time of spiritual cleaning (although a physically clean environment certainly helps to promote spiritual cleaning). By spiritual cleaning, I mean purifying the mind, racinating the image sphere, and living more in line with one’s true self. A fair assessment of one’s mind and soul is the first step in this process so that we know what our short-comings are and can take steps toward correcting them. I must emphasise here that making sudden, drastic changes are the quickest way to failure. It is one matter to form a solemn commitment to not back-track into old ways that no longer serve our souls, our families, our communities, or our world. It is another mater entirely to try to accomplish everything in a day. Set small goals for yourself, for even one step toward truth is one step out of the darkness. For example, one of my goals this spring is to start praying before meal time. A fairly simple goal one may think, but after going years of eating meals without praying beforehand, it can be a challenge to remember to thank Dea (I also thank the plants/animals that died in order to provide me with sustenance). Sometimes I remember, sometimes I remember only when I am already chewing on the first couple of bites, but I always try, and if I fail I keep trying.

In the Islamic tradition, this is known as the Greater Jihad (not to be confused with the Lesser Jihad, or Holy War, which is the more common understanding of the word’s meaning here in the West). The concept itself is not only limited to Islam, however, but is a universal call of action to people from all faith backgrounds. According to Mr. John Heit:

Jihad is the effort to purify oneself from within, to purify oneself of selfish appetites–the intention behind the action is important to the action itself…The greater jihad is further divided into three types of struggle:

1) Jihad of the Heart ( the struggle for moral reformation and faith)

2) Jihad of the Tongue (the struggle to proclaim God’s word abroad; right speech)

3) Jihad of the Hand (doing good works in accord with the will of God)

When I speak of image spheres, I speak of everything which we surround ourselves with: art, music, films, television shows, the decoration of our homes, the clothes we wear. Are we surrounded by profanities that encourage our lowest natures or are we surrounded by reflections of a higher spiritual Order that encourage an upliftment of the soul? I am a firm believer in the effect of our surroundings on our minds, and by extension, on our words and deeds.

Recent findings in psychology and the research into neuroplasticity support this notion. A research study conducted on the link between childhood and adolescent aggression with profanity exposure in media found a posititve coorelation between the two. As stated in the findings of this study in the research paper “Profanity in Media Associated With Attitudes and Behavior Regarding Profanity Use and Aggression”:

The use of profanity also is related to aggressive behavior. For example, profanity use has been associated with more-hostile personalities, as well as other forms of aggression. Profanity use often is included as an item on problem behavior scales for children and adolescents. Furthermore, other studies have found that exposure to profanity can induce a numbing effect on normal emotional responses. Researchers also have shown that, when profanity is used with the intent to harm or to belittle another, the offender subsequently is less disturbed by exposure to profanity in general.

Neuropsychiatrist Dr. Valerie Voon also discovered that the brain scans of people suffering from pornography addiction experience the same changes as the brain scans of drug addicts. As summarised by Mr. Norman Doidge:

Until recently, scientists believed our brains were fixed, their circuits formed and finalised in childhood, or “hardwired”. Now we know the brain is “neuroplastic”, and not only can it change, but that it works by changing its structure in response to repeated mental experience. One key driver of plastic change is the reward centre, which normally fires as we accomplish a goal. A brain chemical, dopamine, is released, giving us the thrill that goes with accomplishment. It also consolidates the connections between neurons in the brain that helped us accomplish that goal. As well, dopamine is secreted at moments of sexual excitement and novelty. Porn scenes, filled with novel sexual “partners”, fire the reward centre. The images get reinforced, altering the user’s sexual tastes. Many abused substances directly trigger dopamine secretion – without us having to work to accomplish a goal. This can damage the dopamine reward system. In porn, we get “sex” without the work of courtship. Now, scans show that porn can alter the reward centre too. Once the reward centre is altered, a person will compulsively seek out the activity or place that triggered the dopamine discharge. (Like addicts who get excited passing the alley where they first tried cocaine, the patients got excited thinking about their computers.) They crave despite negative consequences. (This is why those patients could crave porn without liking it.) Worse, over time, a damaged dopamine system makes one more “tolerant” to the activity and needing more stimulation, to get the rush and quiet the craving. “Tolerance” drives a search for ramped-up stimulation, and this can drive the change in sexual tastes towards the extreme.

In essence, we become what we surround ourselves with. Our surroundings can either uplift or debase us. I have personally experienced this in my own life, for as I have cut away the thorns of khear by reducing an eliminating my exposure to unwholesome media, I have become more at peace and more in tune with not only my true self, but also with Dea. I will not pretend that this path is easy. I have fallen back into old ways more times than I can count. It is difficult to break bad habits. I have also lost friends who I have outgrown because we simply no longer have the same interests and outlooks on life. But at the same time, I have opened a space up for better habits and better friends.

Our separation from Dea is like a wound. When caring for a wound, it is important to first remove the damaged and dead tissue before new tissue can grow. The process of debridement can be very painful (as I have learned from the procedure of wet-to-dry dressing changes in nursing school!) but it also promotes wound healing, which is what we are striving toward. The same process happens when we make a solemn decision to repair our spiritual wounds, the chasm that separates us from Our Mother. As Mother Iulya says:

I do not mean to pretend that the Gentle Way is easy. It is simple, but it is not easy. We shall be tempted often away from the path of gentleness and simplicity; we shall be tempted away from kindness and purity and assailed by anger, greed, idleness, pride, carnality and the spirit of joylessness and complaining; and sometimes we shall fall. But if we pick ourselves up with meekness and humility and ask Dea to set us back upon the path, all the work of the grumms and darklings in tripping us up will have been for nothing. The Gentle Way demands discipline and a strong will to overcome the lower self. But it is the way by which we may enjoy all the glories of the world; and the practice of moderation and a little asceticism will only make them the sweeter. As we live upon the world as our Lady’s little child-servants, we begin to learn that there is only one Enjoyer of the world, and that is our Lady Herself. She who is perfect has perfect enjoyment, and therefore to enjoy the world through Her is the best way, and in the end the only way, to enjoy it. That is why She wants us to follow this way — because She loves us even more than we love ourselves.