I covered the Star Ruby, so let us move to the Lesser Ritual of the Pentagram. I must admit that I avoided this ritual when I first started ceremonial magick. A sticking point was the use of Hebrew/Christian gods and angels. In my youth, I was exposed to fundamentalist/charismatic Christianity and was rabidly anti-Christian. (I have since mellowed so that I only see it as yet another weak and oppressive form of herd morality.) Due to this aversion, I threw myself whole heartedly into the Star Ruby. It’s use of Thelemic deities, Greek language, and Chaldean entities made it a perfectly valid alternative to the hated Christian ritual.
Unfortunately, the Star Ruby is a banishing ritual. To my knowledge, there is no invoking form. This was not a problem at first since we only did banishings anyway (Keith418 has written extensively on this problem). However, the time came when I was actually ready to do magick and I needed an invoking pentagram ritual. I could only see two options. The first was to eschew proper ritual format and allow Christianity to control my life through my aversion. The alternative was to overcome these barriers and master the ritual.
I went through many mental games on my way. The first was to create an arbitrary division between the tetragrammaton and Yahweh. In the east, I would intone each letter, telling myself that this was the true god and that Yahweh was the demi-urge. My sense of aesthetics broke this one, since it is imbalanced to spell YHVH, but not ADNI, EHIH, and AGLA. Especially, AGLA since it is an acronym. Today, I realize that I am not going to let some bloodthirsty, desert totem of genocide mar my spiritual practices. I hope this digression has been of help to anyone dealing with similar issues.
The lesser ritual of the pentagram has two forms, the banishing and the invoking. They are commonly abbreviated as LBRP and LIRP. I indicate the Thelemic variant by prefacing a ‘T’ to the previous acronyms. The difference between the “classical” and Thelemic variants lie in the Qabalistic Cross. In the “classical” version, one makes an equal armed cross. In the Thelemic, one makes a Calvary Cross and inserts the name of one’s Holy Guardian Angel, if known, or “Aiwass,” who can be seen as the archetypal HGA. The lesser pentagram ritual is a building block and component of all Western ceremonial magick. Its importance, and mastery, cannot be understated.
The ritual is actually very simple. It is composed of four parts (the Star Ruby has six). These parts are: (1) The Qabalistic Cross, (2) The Charging of the Quarters, (3) The Invocation of the Archangels, and (4) repeat The Qabalistic Cross. For reference, the Star Ruby’s parts are: (1) The Casting Out of Demons, (2) The Cross Qabalistic, (3) The Charging of the Quarters, (4) The Paean and -Godforms, (5) The invocation of the Chaldean entities, and (6) The Cross Qabalistic.
You begin the Qabalistic Cross by standing in the Sign of Silence while facing East and holding the dagger (note, Liber O says “usually the wand,” but I have always seen it performed with the dagger). Inhale, and with the hand that is holding the weapon, one touches one’s forehead and vibrates “ATEH.” Bringing the hand down to the heart, one vibrates “AIWASS.” Next, one brings one’s hand to the groin (Svadisthana Chakra) and vibrates “MALKUTH.” I do this as one breath. This can be roughly translated as “Unto thee, my HGA, is the Kingdom.” Next is the crossbar. Inhale and touch the right shoulder while vibrating “VE-GEBURAH.” Bring the hand across to the left shoulder and vibrate “VE-GEDULAH.” This is also completed in one breath. This is commonly translated as “and the Power and the Glory.” Finally, inhale and bring the hands together while saying “LE-OLAHM AMEN.” One should end in a posture similar to that of prayer, though as magicians and Thelemites, that is not the mental attitude. This can be thought to mean “To the Ages, AMEN.” Then return to the Sign of Silence.
The second section is the charging of the quarters. For the Lesser Ritual of the Pentagram, one uses the pentagram of Earth for all four quarters. The invoking pentagram is drawn from the uppermost point (attributed to Spirit) to the lower left point (attributed to Earth). The banishing pentagram is done in reverse, starting with the lower left and moving upward. Note that these describe the first line of the pentagram and one should draw the remaining lines sequentially (i.e., invoking: Spirit, Earth, Water, Air, Fire, and Spirit). Since the magician is standing at the intersection of Pe & Samekh (Tower & Art), my imagery is related to the Sephiroth of the Qabalistic Tree of Life.
[While I really loved the symbolism of Venus being Adonai, it is wrong. I have corrected the attributions 2015 09 02.]
To the East (Tiphareth) visualize the symbol of the sun and trace a golden pentagram about it. Make the Sign of the Enterer and vibrate “YHVH” (yahweh) while visualizing a anthropomorphic solar burst. Return to the Sign of Silence. Turn to the South (Netzach) and visualize the sign of Venus. Trace a green pentagram, make the Sign of the Enterer, vibrate “ADNI” (adonai) while visualizing a beautiful youth (the Morning Star, Lucifer), and return to the Sign of Silence. Turn to the West (Yesod). Visualize the Lunar symbol. Trace a Violet pentagram. Make the Sign of the Enterer, vibrate “AHIH” while visualizing a Warrior with a bow, and return to the Sign of Silence. Finally, Turn to the North (Hod). Repeat as before, but the sign is Mercury, the color orange, and the image should be that of Atu I, the Magus, of the Thoth Tarot deck. Turn back to the East.
For the Invocation, Make sign of Osiris Slain while standing in the center and visualize each angel as you vibrate their name. “Before me Raphael, Behind me Gabriel, On my right hand Michael, On my left hand Auriel.” Next say “For about me flames the Pentagram.” Make the Sign of Osiris Risen and finish with “And in the Column stands the six-rayed Star,” followed by the Sign of Silence.
To end, one repeats the Qabalistic Cross. By finishing in the Sign of Silence, one is ready for the next ritual. In the case of one’s morning adorations, this would be Resh.
While writing this, I found that I had made an error with the colors for Yesod/AHIH. All of the other quarters use the Queen scale of colors, which coincide with the planetary colors. However, Yesod is violet, but the Moon is silver, so I was drawing a silver pentagram. I will change this for future practice.
[Errata]
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