Banishing/Invoking Ritual of the Pentagram
This is an advanced form of the various ceremonial pentagram rituals, combining both the lesser and greater, banishing and invoking. As such it should only be practiced by those already well familiar with the standard pentagram rituals through regular use. It also requires a mastery of visualization & vibration techniques and a good familiarity with energy movement in general.
Stand in the center of the cross whose arms are the 4 directions, the point of balance, facing East.
Make the Kabbalistic Cross as in the Lesser Banishing Pentagram Ritual.
Touch the forehead, visualizing a sphere of white light at your fingertips, vibrate "Atoh"
Touch the genitals or Muladhara chakra, visualizing a black sphere, vibrate "Malkuth"
Touch the right shoulder, visualizing a red sphere, vibrate "Ve Geburah"
Touch the left shoulder, visualizing a blue sphere, vibrate "Ve Gedulah"
Clasp the hands, right fist in left palm, over the upper chest or Anahata chakra, visualizing a golden sphere, vibrate "Le Olam"
While vibrating each point, you should see and feel the colored sphere vibrating the word along with you.
Keeping the hands in the same position, visualize all the spheres and
vibrate "AUM", feeling them all vibrating in harmony. 1
Draw a Banishing Earth pentagram in the East, visualizing it in black.
Close your eyes and breathe out and as you slowly draw breath back in, empty your mind of all thoughts and try to connect with your inner god/goddess. As you make this connection visualize your body beginning to glow with a white light, brighter and brighter.
When you have drawn a full breath, visualize the pentagram opening up onto the Abyss and simultaneously push your palm(s) towards it, pushing all the impurities within out and
let all the air rush from your lungs at once.
Then visualize the pentagram close as you
withdraw your hand into the Sign of Silence and let your mind rest in that silence as you start the invocation. 2
Draw an Invoking Air pentagram with the Aquarius symbol in its center, visualize it flaming in golden yellow.
Vibrate "YHVH" and "EXARP", and as before you should see and feel the pentagram vibrating with you.
Visualize the pentagram opening onto the Realm of Air, then
make the Sign of Shu and say
"Hail to Thee, Spirits of Air", or any other appropriate greeting. 3
Draw a Circle of Protection on the ground, flaming white, from the East to the South.
Repeat the Banishing pentagram as before.
Draw the Invoking Fire pentagram with the Leo symbol in the center, visualize it flaming in bright red.
Vibrate "Elohim" and "BITOM"
Visualize the pentagram opening onto the Realm of Fire and
make the Sign of Thoum-aesh-neith,
greeting the Spirits "Hail to Thee, Spirits of Fire". 4
Return to the center if you have left it and face again East.
Draw the Invoking Spirit Active pentagram, visualizing it flaming in bright white, and
vibrate "Eheieh", as before.
Then project all your energy with an out-breath into the
Sign of the Enterer, passing through the pentagram of Spirit.
Pull your hands apart in the Sign of the Rending of the Veil, and beholding the Mysteries beyond the Veil, withdraw your hands again into the Sign of Silence.
This whole motion should be smooth with each sign flowing into the next. 5
Return to the center and,
draw the Circle of Protection from the South to the West.
Repeat the Banishing pentagram as before.
Draw the Invoking Water pentagram with the Scorpio symbol in the center, visualize it flaming in cool blue.
Vibrate "El" and "HCOMA"
Visualize the pentagram opening onto the Realm of Water and
make the Sign of Auramot,
greeting the Spirits "Hail to Thee, Spirits of Water". 6
Draw the Circle of Protection from the West to the North.
Repeat the Banishing pentagram as before.
Draw the Invoking Earth pentagram with the Taurus symbol in the center, visualize it flaming in vibrant green.
Vibrate "Adonai" and "NANTA"
Visualize the pentagram opening onto the Realm of Earth and
make the Sign of Set Fighting,
greeting the Spirits "Hail to Thee, Spirits of Earth". 7
Complete the Circle of Protection from North back to East.
Return to the center if you have left it.
Draw the Invoking Spirit Passive pentagram, visualizing it flaming in bright white, and
vibrate "AGLA".
Draw the energy you projected out earlier, back in with an in-breath,
making the Sign of the Closing of the Veil.
Finish with the Sign of Silence, making the whole motion smooth and flowing. 8
If you have lost astral vision of the other pentgrams and circle, re-visualize them now. You may also add a glowing hexagram below your feet and above your head.
Extend your arms outward in the Sign of Osiris Slain.
Vibrate "Raphael", "Gabriel", "Michael", "Auriel", visualizing each angel in the appropriate Quarter as you call its name, and holding the image as you call the others. 9
Repeat the Kabbalsitic Cross but formulate it with the Macrocosm instead of the Microcosm.
When you vibrate "Atoh", touching your head, see Raphael imitating your gesture and feel him vibrating along with you. You should maintain a clear image of all of the angels but shift focus on the one you are working with currently.
The appropriate Angel will join you in vibrating the other points of the cross.
Then when you vibrate "Le Olam", continue to see and sense the others but feel your whole body vibrating as the point in the middle and the Kabbalistic Cross within creating balanced harmony.
When you vibrate "AUM" feel all the others vibrating in unison as you balance out the whole. 10
Bow or thank the energies in some way. 11
This ritual should be treated as a framework to hang your own symbols and visualizations on rather than taken as is and practiced rote. Change the god names and words of power to suit you. When I started doing this ritual I vibrated the Elemental King's name along with the god name and Tablet of Spirit name, but it felt too distracting so I dropped it. Maybe it will work better for you. Experiment. Modify.
After you have mastered the ritual, it is helpful to practice it astrally, concentrating on moving and feeling the energy without physically moving or speaking. This will give a better grasp of the energy mechanics involved.
When practiced regularly this ritual should put you more in harmony with your True Will and help to keep you on your Path. It will allow you to more easily let minor distractions flow past so you can concentrate on the more important things in life. If it fails to do this then you are not doing it right.
If you do incorporate this ritual into daily practice don't be disappointed if every performance is not as magically charged as the first few. The energy rush is caused by the flow of energy to balance out the poles. After regular use of the ritual your energy will be tending to stay more balanced on its own and thus less flow will be required. Also the energy level will vary with you and may be affected by things like stress, drugs, or other magical influences. Judge the ritual's success from the effects it has on your life and magic, rather than the feelings you get from doing the ritual itself. After doing it for a month daily, take a break and see what changes manifest in you. I have found I get quite cranky when I fail to do my daily balancing. Vary the time of day you do it and see what effect that has. Variation prevents stagnation.
1 When you are making the Kabbalistic Cross, you are creating and balancing two sets of polarities. What they are is up to you. I use Heaven and Earth, vertically, and Male and Female, horizontally. When you vibrate the first polarity, you should feel that element within yourself. Then when you vibrate the complement, feel that as well and the two energies should rush together and mix in a tangible way. It can help this mixing process to visualize a glowing energy path connecting them, as the Sephira on the tree of life are connected by paths, but this is not necessary as long as balanced flow is achieved. When you vibrate the center point, make sure to connect it to the other spheres though there may not be a corresponding energy rush until you harmonize all of them with the AUM. There should be a mixing of all four energies in the center by the end however, though the precise timing may vary.
2 It may help with the banishing to imagine your ego mind as a dark black shell around your glowing form or as black specks within you and when you project out into the Abyss, see that darkness flowing out into the emptiness. Also I imagine a great rushing air going into the void as if a door on a complete vacuum had been opened, and it sucks all air and energy into it. You may choose to banish something specifically, but I have found that it is best not to give it any conscious thought whatever and just let whatever needs to be banished, be banished. The strength of each banishing will vary depending on how much needs to be banished, but after a really good banishing your mind should be completely empty, to the point of forgetting that you are in the midst of ritual and forgetting what is supposed to happen next. It is useful then to have the ritual well memorized and be very familiar with the other pentagram rituals so you can perform the ritual on instinct and maintain that "empty mind" feeling as long as possible. Even a weak banishing should leave you with a clean feeling of freshness.
3 It is important to follow the banishing with the invocation quickly in order to fill the void you have just created with the desired energy rather than letting any stray energy fill it. When the invocation is done properly you should feel the gate open on it own, without having to be forced. You will feel it open within and without at once. I usually visualize the Realm of Air as a clear blue sky full of sunlight and clouds, though you may choose whatever feels most appropriate for you. When the gate opens you may feel the energy rushing out to meet with you and if so you should commune with it. I sometimes visualize being carried on the wind. Also if you desire to enact the sexual formula, it is at this point you would imagine a Spirit of Air coming through the gate and engage in some form of union or sexual congress with it. This would be repeated with each Quarter and with the Archangels when they are called.
4 I visualize the Realm of Fire as an open land covered with flowing lava and spouting fire. When the energy rushes to meet me I give the greeting as a Spirit of that realm. I visualize my body as a glowing ember surrounded by flames.
5 When you charge the Spirit pentagram, you will feel the other two pentagrams vibrating in sympathy with you and it may help this effect to visualize everything you have charged so far while vibrating the Spirit pentagram. When the Spirit pentagram is fully charged you will feel an energy rush similar to that between the points of the Kabbalistic Cross. The intensity of the rush will vary depending on how much corrective balancing needs to take place between the Air and Fire energies. If you do feel a rush draw it in with your in-breath following the vibration and immediately expel the energy before it dissipates, through the Spirit pentagram with the Sign of the Enterer. When I rend the Veil I imagine pulling reality apart like a stage curtain and stepping through into the Abyss.
6 I visualize the Realm of Water as an endless ocean, and when it greets me I visualize it as a pouring rain drenching me. Sometimes I feel emotions going along with the elemental energies, and often I feel love from the Water Spirits. Each of the quarters will give a certain feeling you will become accustomed to.
7 It is important not to become too rigid in your visualizations and to let the energy move you as it will. Sometimes I visualize the Earth pentagram overgrown with creeping vines, and when it opens I see a verdant growing landscape, either cultivated fields or wild jungle. When I greet the Spirits it is as one of them. I visualize the lower half of my body as a tree rooted in the earth and the upper half as a horned beast like a goat. Also when vibrating the names I sometimes hear a deep horn blowing and echoing in the bowels of the earth.
8 The energy flow between Earth and Water is more subtle and not as violent as the other two, and it may be harder to discern any energy movement at all. It helps to try to see and feel all three pentagrams, (Spirit, Earth, Water) as you charge Spirit. Be sure to visualize closing the Veil the same way you opened it and feel the energy of the opening and revelation withdrawn inside again and transformed. I tend to project the energy out with the Ajna or Anahata chakra and pull it back in with the Anahata or Manipura chakra. Also I place the elemental pentagrams at the the edges of the space I am clearing at the four corners of the Circle of Protection, and place the two Spirit pentagrams in the center.
9 You may need to re-establish you connection with each of the Quarters if you have lost it, before calling the Archangels. The image of the Archangels themselves may vary quite a bit. Sometimes I will see them come forth from the pentagram gates, or materialize out of their element. Sometimes they appear as humans dressed in the colors of their Quarter, other times as glowing, winged angels, wielding swords or other magical weapons, and as I call them they raise their swords above my head forming a pyramid. Sometimes I see them as glowing columns of light, and sometimes I feel them more than I see them. If this is the case you should hold on to the feeling rather than the image. When you visualize them the image should always gets stronger as you vibrate and you should have a feeling of a definite presence of a real being rather than just a mental construct. When I do a good invocation I see their eyes glowing brightly. The colors and specifics may vary but should be consistent within themselves and your internal symbolism and you will get to have a feeling for it.
10 This is the toughest and most critical part. You can fudge the whole earlier part and do this correctly and get a profound effect, or an unbroken success can topple here. It is important to reinforce the earlier connection between you and each of the Angels. It may help to visualize paths of light connecting you as you vibrate the points of the Cross, and you may get an energy rush when you complete one arm. It depends on how you create the Cross. I originally did it in the same order as I called the Angels but later switched the places of Gabriel and Auriel, feeling that Auriel was more compatible with the Earth energy of Malkuth and Gabriel more compatible with the Watery feel of Chesed. It works both ways but the way the energy flows is different. Experiment and find your own way.
When formulating the Macrocosmic Cross you are again creating and balancing polarities. I use Mind and Emotion (East/West), and Energy and Life (South/North). It is very important to maintain contact with all four Angels as if you lose one you cannot properly balance the forces. Keeping up with all the visualizations can be difficult however and it is helpful to switch back and forth rapidly if you cannot hold all at once. It is also very helpful to come to see the Angels as independent energies working with you under your direction to assist you, rather than as purely mental constructs that you must control and which require your mental energy to hold together. In that case, in the finale, you must be in tune with all of them to keep the timing of the vibration between all, and harmonize the diverse energies. When done properly, you will feel the AUM, the word of creation, roar forth with their combined strength out into the four worlds, energizing them. Then at the completion the energy will rush back and again meet in the center. Channel the energy upwards spiraling around your spine up into your Sahasrara chakra and allow it to dissolve in bliss. When it gets to the top I see my chakra opening as the thousand petaled lotus blooming. This will raise your level of consciousness significantly and may allow divine contact.
There are many different methods of achieving this unity, allow yourself to intuitively flow with the right one. Sometimes instead of seeing the Angels as separate beings I will see them as aspects of my higher consciousness, and I will visualize myself as the Angel in the quarter and as myself in the center simultaneously, each doing the sign together as I call them out. When I do this I usually finish by merging all the Angels into me, into one composite being. Solve et Coagula.
11 This might seem superfluous, but it is actually an important part of maintaining a good working relationship with the magical energies and entities that is sorely neglected in most magical texts.
