Alright class. Raise your hand if you’re a Witch who has heard of the Lesser Banishing Ritual of the Pentagram, or the LBRP. Now, raise your hand if you identify as a Witch and have actually performed the LBRP. Uh-huh. That’s a lot less of you. Truthfully, lots of Witches today don’t know this ritual exist, and of the ones who do, many don’t think it can be useful for them. I’m here today to show you an adapted version that you might just love -- a Witches’ LBRP. (Rather catch all of this as a video? Watch it here.)
According to Thelemapedia, the Greater and Lesser Rituals of the Pentagram originated with the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn and are fundamental rituals within Thelema and Ceremonial Magick. They are usually performed in order to banish chaotic, unwanted, or negative entities or energies from the working space and the awareness of the Practitioner. You’ll note, I think, that the formal name doesn't actually include the word “banishing,” but because banishing is their primary function, most people lump it in there, and the acronym for the most common of these rituals is universally called the LBRP.
Quoting now from Graham John Wheeler’s article in Correspondences Journal: The LBRP was the only ritual … that was revealed to members of the Golden Dawn’s “first” or “outer” order, which prepared members for entry into the more exclusive “second” or “inner” order. The LBRP was “the nearest thing to a purely magical ritual found within the First Order curriculum”. It was disclosed to neophytes immediately after their initiation, in order that they “may have protection against opposing forces, and also that they may form some idea of how to attract and to come into communication with spiritual and invisible things”. Members were counselled to perform the ritual in the evening; a slightly different version, geared to invoking rather than banishing, was to be performed in the morning. … In addition to daily performances of the LBRP, Golden Dawn initiates were recommended to use the ritual for cleansing before a magical operation; as a “protection against impure magnetism”; and as part of a technique to “get rid of obsessing or disturbing thoughts”; they were also told to visualise themselves performing it as an exercise in meditation.
These are the purposes, ostensibly, of the LBRP. It clears the space, clears the mind, and sets the Millgrounds as ready for work. With flaming pentagrams at the Quarters (which we call Gates), Watchtowers (which we call Castles) at the cross-quarters, and hexagrams above and below, the space is clear and guarded.
In the late winter and early spring of 2013, three American Folkloric Witches undertook the task of adapting the LBRP for use within our ritual context. I was one of those Witches, along with my now-ex wife and our coven sister. I think a student of Ceremonial Magick will find that our version follows the same general format of the original Golden Dawn LBRP. However, a traveler on the Crooked Path of the Traditional Witch will probably find that it does a little more than cleanse and banish. It can actually serve as a Compass Laying in its own right. The Crossroads are called in, the Watchtowers are built. The Stang is raised within the body of the Witch. It is a complete casting. So. Let’s have a look.
That’s all I have to say about that for today, friends! I hope you found today’s demo informative -- or maybe inspirational! If so, bless me with the magic of the like button (and tell your Witchy friends that there’s good stuff happening here). I’d love to hear your thoughts and questions on this topic in the comments. Aaaand … if you’d like to add information like this -- with classic, woodcut styled, textually-rich printable pages -- to your Book of Arte, I have a free 13-page Mini Grimoire for you (and even more on in my Etsy shop -- including the full text and directions for this ritual).
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