The Lesser Banishing Ritual of the Pentagram

The Lesser Banishing Ritual of the Pentagram is the most complete ritual ever devised for preparing the place for magical work. The ritual as described here is used as a general means of opening and closing any ritual, meditation or exercise, banishing inimical influences, invoking helpful spiritual reinforcement to the circle, and strengthening the aura.

The ritual was first revealed by Aleister Crowley in his Magick in Theory & Practice,[1] and has appeared countless times in books published since, especially over the last twenty years. As a result it is probably the best known of all rituals. However, it has suffered from widespread misunderstanding due to the fact that Crowley, although extremely accurate, was very minimal in his treatment of such things. He rather hoped that others would take upon themselves the task of explaining magical technique in more detail, in the same way that the chef leaves the preparation of salad dressing to a kitchen assistant. The nearest Crowley got to the "nitty gritty" of magical techniques was in his book of letters, Magick Without Tears,[2] where among other things he gives detailed descriptions of how to accomplish "Rising on the Planes", a form of astral investigation, and how to improvise a magical temple from whatever happens to be around.
It seems unlikely that anyone could have foreseen the explosion of interest in magick that was to take place through the seventies and eighties, which the English writer and occultist Kenneth Grant dubbed The Magical Revival in the first of his series of "Typhonian Trilogies".[3] As more and more material became subject to mass distribution, it opened the way to a new generation of occultists. With this new generation, brought up on a diet of rock music and video entertainment, to whom sex and drugs were recreational activities rather than the closely guarded secrets of a sacred science, occultism began to be recognised not so much as something a person underwent arduous training for, but rather as another "alternative lifestyle". With the widening popularity of the use of magical techniques as a way to gain personal power, wealth, health and other material ends, many subtleties have been lost along the way. Worse, the reasons for taking up such pursuits in the first place have been twisted slightly, then later bent out of all recognition by second and third generations of occultists. In the present place it may be enough to remind the reader that the very hub of the Great Work has always been Service to Humanity. It was only in comparatively recent times that this has been taken to mean "Service to Myself!"
Now one thing needs to be made clear about the pentagram itself, which is of course integral to the subject of this inquiry. It is a five-pointed star, and as such, it is not only a symbol of Man dominating and controlling the elements, but it is a symbol of Mars, attributed to Geburah or "Severity" by the Qabalists, the fifth emanation upon the Tree of Life. It is therefore a symbol of energy, war, strife, and conquest. It might also be borne in mind that the "five" is a symbol of the hand or womb of the Goddess filled with creative fire, the feminine power that manifests the Will. The Lesser Banishing Ritual of the Pentagram is far more than merely a means of "getting rid" of things. Aleister Crowley commented in his notes on the ritual that:
"Those who regard this ritual as a mere device to invoke or banish spirits, are unworthy to possess it. Properly understood, it is the Medicine of Metals and the Stone of the Wise."[4]
In all the details of the ritual (which will follow shortly), one must be careful not to lose sight of the whole. The ritual, properly performed and with repeated and persistent practice, constructs a complete symbol in the aura or Sphere of Sensation of the practitioner. The idea of using a symbol of the Great Work in this manner is an exceedingly ancient one. In the East there is the holy mountain called Meru, which has its counterpart in Abiegnus of the Rosicrucian or Western Mysteries. There is the Building of the Temple. In times of remote antiquity, cities and gods were interchangeable terms.
First of all - after cleansing oneself of everything and anything that is not essential to the Great Work in hand, and having studied the sacred scriptures (at source) and meditated on them, and having cultivated fiery aspiration and acceptance of the path - all the powers of the mind and imagination are directed towards constructing a suitable symbol of the Universe (be that a God, a City, or a Man). One then places oneself at the centre of that symbol imaginatively, while physically assuming asana. Once the distractions of body and mind have been overcome and concentration perfected through use of the sacred symbol, a miracle may find its beginning there. The symbol properly constructed, the prana is then circulated in the subtle body along with the physical breath in the physical body. Various centres, rooms, chakras or sephiroth are activated, as according to instruction. And if the aspiration of the person leads all the while to That which is Above and Beyond, then perhaps - if God be willing! - an infinitely subtle transference of energy begins to take place.
It is worthwhile quoting once more from Crowley's notes on the ritual, concerning this matter of the aura or Sphere of Sensation:
"Every man has a natural fortress within himself, the Soul impregnable. ... Besides this central citadel, man has also outworks, the Aura. This Aura is sensitive, and must be sensitive. Unless it were responsive to impressions it would cease to be a medium of communication from the non-Ego to the Ego. This Aura should be bright and resilient even in the case of the ordinary man. In the case of the Adept it is also radiant. In ill-health this Aura becomes weakened. It will be seen flabby, torn at the edges, cloudy, dull. It may even come near to destruction. It is the one duty of every person to see that his Aura is in good condition."[5]
It is not only that the mind of the practitioner becomes sensitised to dimensions that were not previously apparent, but that the energy of the universe itself, by degrees, becomes realised as the basis of the self. However, this is also a very dangerous point in the spiritual journey of the aspirant. All too often, this realisation is taken to be a sign of Mastery, when in fact it is but the very beginning.
The regular use of the Lesser Banishing Ritual of the Pentagram may at the very least provide a means of beginning this work of Building the Temple. The careful placing of symbols in the aura may not only help to calm the mind and free oneself of unwanted influences, it may all the while transform the astral-etheric structure latent in the subtle body of the practitioner into a Matrix of the Divine Image. We must at all costs avoid that same territory becoming a chaos of symbols and thought-forms that together do not add up to anything but confusion.
While on this subject, it is worth mentioning that there are very good reasons for choosing geometric forms such as the pentagram. Geometry expresses, as do numbers, which are the basis of the Qabalah, spiritual ideas in their purest, simplest form. To argue against these expressions of simple beauty and truth merely betrays dishonesty. It is for precisely this reason that the pentagram, the "wizard's foot" of old, was chosen as a means of obtaining supremacy over lying, deceitful spirits.
Having explained some of the underlying theory, we can move on to the practice of the ritual itself. For the benefit of the weaker souls who still cling to the superstition of "authentic, original, authoritative" editions, and who hope to find such authenticity in the "genuine" rituals, discovered left behind in the bottom drawer of some worthy old gentleman's antique cabinet,[6] I hasten to mention that the Qabalistic Cross here differs slightly from that given in Magick in Theory & Practice. For this I make no apologies. I was never particularly satisfied with the method involving the use of one hand only (usually given as the right hand, although left-handed ritualists should - as they would if they were engaged in mortal combat - use their left, as their best and most advantageous). The method of using both hands has a very ancient tradition of its own, one only has to examine the ritual gestures and dances of the eastern tradition, as well as shown in ancient Egyptian papyri and on tomb and temple walls. There are zones or chakras in the palms of the hands which link to powerful centres in the brain, and the corresponding centres in the subtle body. There is far more to the familiar prayer gesture widely adopted by Christianity than a mere symbolic act. I must mention, while on this subject, that the idea of ritual being "symbolic" is an erroneous one. Ask any Catholic priest, if possible one from a monastic tradition such as the Benedictine.
Finally, as well as altering the accompanying gestures of the Qabalistic Cross, I have in other places restored the ritual somewhat. Although the idea has gained popularity recently, I have never seen fit to use the Sign of the Enterer[7] in the ordinary banishing rituals. I reserve this sign - which is important enough to warrant an essay all to itself - for more specific invocations that usually follow after preliminary banishings. Another popular idea originating from the writings of Israel Regardie, is that the pentagrams should be visualised in a bright blue, or "gas jet blue" colour. Although I can see nothing wrong in having them in bright blue, I find it far more effective to follow the original instructions in Magick in Theory & Practice, which exhort the practitioner only to ensure that they are seen flaming. Fire, is of course, the natural correspondence of Mars, and therefore of the pentagram.