Additional Notes on the Lesser Ritual of the Pentagram

Introduction

While most students are familiar with the LBRP as it is written in the Golden Dawn texts, and related sources, it is essential the ritual be understood in it multi-faceted format.

Applications

The LBRP is more than just a preparatory banishing, or cleansing ritual, done prior to meditation or other ritual work, for the increase in psychic force.  In this aspect the ritual is different because it cleanses and area for working, as opposed to regular banishing which release or disperse energy previously invoked during the ritual.  The ritual also has an invoking mode, and can be used as is, to allow an opening of the four Quarters of the ritual circle for an increased awareness of the individual Elemental energies present.

While the banishing mode of working should be done for three to six months on a regular basis (anywhere from three times a week to three times a day), after this period of probation and learning the mechanics as well as some of the effects of the ritual, it should then begin to follow it up with it invoking form.

“…More specifically, in the preparatory time, we recommend that you perform the ritual of the Pentagram in its banishing or closing version.  This term means closing the being to harmful influences and not closing the ritual.  The term opening, in reverse, means opening the being to the invoked forces.”

Thus, in the present phase of our work, it is necessary to work in the following manner:

In your oratory, after you have lit the candle and burned some incense:

1. Perform the ritual of the Pentagram - the banishing version - in order to induce a thorough cleansing and eliminate the psychic impurities which lately have penetrated the environment.
2. Collect your thoughts, and relax as deeply as possible.
3. Perform the opening ritual of the Pentagram in order to open yourself to the psychic and divine influences.
4. Practice the exercise of your choice [i]: meditation on the point or invocation of the Names, or both.
   • A) Meditation on the Point: is the direct method. It is very difficult because you need to attain an inner state in which you cannot even think that you no longer think….complete mental emptiness permits us to resonate with Kether. With your eyes closed, visualize a sphere of light.  Do not get tense.  Visualize this sphere as it progressively shrinks until it becomes a very bright point. Sometimes, when the experiment is successful, the point becomes so bright that it seems black.  At that moment, you know you have reached the energies of Kether.
   • B) Invocations: the indirect method. …During the first sessions, pronounce the Names in increasing order: in Assiah, in Yetzirah, in Briah, in Atziluth, as an attempt to raise consciousness from the heavier to the more subtle.  Then after 8 to 15 days of practice, perform a second invocation immediately after the first one reversing the order of the Names in an attempt to bring the energy down through resonance until the level of consciousness is the lowest.
5. Leave the Oratory.  Do not perform the banishing ritual of the pentagram.  Basically, the energies are in you and you should leave them there. [ii]

This understanding of the ritual is unique in several ways:

1. It shows that the Lesser Ritual of the Pentagram has both active and passive phases.
2. It can be used as a preparation for a sepherothic meditation.
3. he Names of the spheres have two phases as well, and can be used in more than just the usual ‘top down’ direction.
4. The energies are invoked and left in us, and not banished away after a period of absorption.

When the ritual is done as a banishing, and is immediately followed up with an invoking pentagram for all four Quarters using the Divine Names specific to each Quarter, the feeling is an intense heaviness, like one is being wrapped in a wet blanket.  This energy needs to be absorbed as best as possible, and then an additional and final banishing needs to take place to release any excess energy present.  In some instances, the energy will become more bearable, and need not be banished, but instead can be carried with the person doing the invoking thereby increasing there personal energy level.  This heaviness is a result of the fact that the pentagram being used is an Earth pentagram and brings with it a very real and solid sense of the energies being invoked.  These energies in short, exist just beyond our sensory realm and are seeking an avenue of materialization.

After experience has been acquired in the combined banishing and invoking uses of the ritual, it is advisable to move on to using its form to open and close the individual Quarters of the ritual circle.  This should be anywhere from six to nine months into the ritual work depending on the individual skill of each practitioner.

The formulae is the same, banish completely, and after the final statement of the Qabalistic Cross, turn to the East, perform an invoking pentagram (here of Earth, since this is the only pentagram known at this time) use the Divine Name for the East and declare the Eastern Quarter open. 

In addition, there are two additional activities that can be undertaken regarding the Lesser  Ritual of the Pentagram.

The student can imagine that he is surrounded by four pentagrams, and that there is a hexagram above and below him. Both should be flat so as to give a ‘floor’ and a ‘ceiling; to the ritual space.

An alternate method is to imagine oneself in the godform of Hooparcrates, thus concentrating the force of the aura back into the magician, fortifying and strengthening him/her. 

“Persistence in these exercises will make it impossible for any hostile agency to penetrate it, and it will further radiate its own light on all of those with whom it comes into communication, so that they themselves receive virtue from it.” [iii]

Crowley states, that when we do the ritual we can also imagine that we are standing at the intersection of the paths of Samek and Peh on the Tree of Life. In the East we are facing Tiphareth, at our right hand is Netzach, to our left is Hod, and Yesod is behind us. Stepping forward with our right foot, vibrate the Names as given in the ritual, recovering after each invocation.  Then, proceed around the circle again, calling the Names of the Archangels. If the ritual is done correctly, the angels will appear spontaneously, as will the Hexagrams above and below us. 

“Those who regard this ritual as a mere devise to invoke or banish spirits, are unworthy to possess it.  Properly understood, it is the Medicine of Metals and the Stone of the Wise. [iv]”

In the PON Qabala Course, two versions of the Lesser Ritual of the Pentagram are given.  The second version appears near the end of the Qabala Course. [v]  Here, the ritual is slightly modified, and a special note is made regarding the performance of this ritual:

“Draw them (the pentagrams) large enough …firmly, quickly, and especially close the drawing properly because we should not forget those who are outside coming from 'a certain elsewhere' and who are waiting for any “broken symbol, any line not properly closed when it should be, and open door, any hurdle taken down.” The twilight zones provide sometimes unpleasant surprises and it is good to form good habits from the start.” [vi]

The pentagrams are visualized in their Elemental colors of brilliant yellow (Air), cherry, or fire engine red (Fire), electric blue (Water), and bright green, or rusty red (Earth).  The Hebrew names used are: the Divine Name, the geographic direction, Elemental name, and the angel for that Quarter.  Thus we have:

East - YHVH, Mizrach, Ruach, Chassan.
South - Elohim, Darom, Eash, Aral.
West - El, Marab, Maim, Talihad.
North - Adoni, Tzaphon, Aretz, Forlock.

The Names are vibrated immediately after the drawing of each pentagram.  After they are completed, the operator pauses and visualizes the pentagrams in their respective colors flashing and blazing, connected by a brilliant white electric line.  The Archangels are visualized as more abstract concepts, and not in their usual anthropomorphic forms.

Raphael is imagined as a vast billowing breeze, or piece of yellow fabric, with violet highlights, blowing in the wind.

Michael is imagined as a blazing column of fire, with highlights of emerald green and a shining sword at its base, with a red handle.

Gabriel is imagined as a column of light blue mist and flashing orange highlights dominating.  A cup or chalice of deep blue crystal is seen at its base.

Auriel is imagined as a vast funnel cloud inverted (large at the bottom, narrow at the top), like a dust storm, moving and powerful.  A sheaf of golden wheat is in the foreground. [vii]

“The foundation of the Western occult philosophy is that man, who partakes of the Divine meditation, is the co-ruler of a world which is also mental.  If the world such as it is does not satisfy, let’s change our vision of it and it will change.  Man is capable of being and of using everything he perceives because everything he perceives is in some manner a part of his own being.  He can therefore subjugate the entirety of the Universe of which he is conscious in the realization of his inner will.” [viii]

“We will add that whoever realizes his Authentic Will (i.e. 'True Will) possess all the energy of the universe to assist him.  But he whose conscious will is in opposition with his Authentic Will loses his strength.  He cannot hope to influence his environment in an efficient manner.” [ix]

“That is why man can attract to himself any force of the universe by transforming himself in a receptacle suitable to this force, establishing thus a link between himself and this force taking the disposition necessary for the created conditions to let this force flow towards him.  But if he has the feeling of being separated and opposed to the universe this constitutes a barrier to the faculty he possesses, that of directing its flow.  This state of mind acts on him as an insulating force.

There are a great number of  “schools” of magic in the Western world, but in the final analysis these schools, even though they show some doctrinal differences, share the four great and traditional axioms of Western hermeticism:

1. The universe of the scientist is on a part - and a part only - of the whole reality.
2. The human will is a real and tangible force likely to be developed, trained and focused. This will can be disciplined and be then able to induce modifications in the environment and produce supranormal effects/results.
3. This will can be directed by the imagination. The creation is the result of an active and passive force.
4. The universe is not the result of random factors and influences, but an orderly and coherent system of correspondences. Arrived at the intimate and deep understanding of these designs and correspondences, the occultist can use them as he pleases for all aims he will deem useful.

The Kerubim

The Kerubim are the four principle guardians of the astral-material realm.  They are the ‘gate keepers’ of humanity and are the co-workers, or servants of the Archangels of the Quarters.  Through the Kerubim, the invisible energies are mediated and made potent so that they can manifest. The Kerub are the angelic order of Yesod, and are immediately beyond the ‘veil of matter’ and of the Lunar realm.

The kerub can be imagined in several manner, but all have the same thing in common - their ‘animal’ qualities.  In “The Secret Symbols of the Rosicrucians of the 16^th and 17^th Centuries” the Kerub are simply displayed as winged, or double winged in some instances, beings.  Hence, for the east we have a winged man, or and ‘angel’; in the south a winged lion, the west a winged eagle, and the north a winged bull.  In some instanced the eagle has two sets of wings to show that it is not a litter eagle of this world.

The Cicero’s suggest using the idea of human bodies with the appropriate heads attached and dressed in Egyptian garb for the Kerub. [x]

We can imagine that this is where our instinctual or ‘animal’ powers are directed and dedicated to our evolution and creation.   IT IS CRITICAL that we always maintain an inner attitude of superiority and confidence when addressing the Elemental forces, or even Angelic forces.  This is difficult for many beginners who assume that spiritual forces are:

A) outside of them, and not transmitted through themselves and/or an aspect of their psyche;

B) assume that spiritual forces are superior to themselves in intellect, power, and expression and therefore they should be obedient or subject to them.  These two views are false, and critically destructive to aspiring students.  We must seek to assume our proper place in the Universe as gods "in becoming" and have a healthy, loving, and respectful attitude to all beings and forces.  However, if we don't conceive of ourselves as dominant over, and having the ability to direct, our own internal instinctual forces, then we will be powerless to effect them in the material or astral (ie. Subconscious) realms. 

East - Adam - (Hu)Man - brings clarity of vision of the inner and outer worlds.

On the level of Assiah - increased health and awareness. Intake of actual air itself.
On the level of Yetzirah - control of the emotions as a result of the former (pranayama).
On the mental - clear understanding of the relationship of things and astral visions.
On the spiritual level it is individual consciousness, life itself, Ruach - the soul of everything.

South - Lion -brings energy and strength to our work.  In Assiah it is actual fire itself, and all forms of electro-magnetic radiation.  It is the life giving force of the sun that allows for matter, consciousness, and light to exist in our world. In Yetzirah it is the energy of emotions that move and enliven our inner worlds and allow them to manifest in Assiah.  In Briah it is the power of the Soul.  In Atzilooth it is the first primordial energy and the force behind all creation.

West - Eagle - brings the magnetic, form building qualities into existence.  It is the reflective part of our psyche, and as such, predominantly passive.  It is emotional and empathetic.  In the world of Assiah it is water itself, and all fluids. Water is known for its abilities to hold a psychic charge when cold, as well as fix it for a period of time when frozen.  In Yetzirah, the World of Water, it is in part the “Mercurial fluids” of the alchemist, connecting the higher realms of Briah with the realms of matter below.  It is the force or energy that penetrates all creation and binds it together. It is the downward forcing energies of matter.

North - Bull - brings power, density, virility, and slow moving stability to creation. In the world of Assiah it is all things that are dense, solid, inert.  In Yetzirah it is the forces of density and fecundity (Venus and Luna) seeking expression in tangible form.  In Briah it is the Philosophers Stone, the perfect expression of Divinity in matter, and in Atzilooth it is template of all possible limitation (Cube of Space in Sepher Yetzirah).

While mediations on Yesod will give greater understanding of the Kerubim as individualized expressions of the cosmic force working through the Quarters (just as the Archangels are the individualized intelligence working through them), only meditations of Tiphareth will give understanding of their function, and Kether of their origin and purpose (to sing Divine Praise eternally!).

Meditations on Chesed will give an understanding of their basic programming, or ‘plan’ for matter; and meditations of Geburah will give the strength and power to actually control and direct them consciously, willfully, and without fear.  In this regard, the Tarot card of The Chariot best exemplifies the meaning of Mastery.

Meditations on Hod will show the various patterns or relationships between the Elemental powers of the Kerubim, and meditations on Netzach will reveal the relationship of the Elements to the seven ancient planets (and psychic centers) of astrology.

Meditations on Hockmah will further explore their relationship to the fixed signs of the zodiac, and on Binah for how they express and form matter.  The kerubic function as an expression of cosmic ‘inertia’.

After completing all 22 Pathworking meditations from Malkooth to Kether, at least once, it is advisable to contemplate the relationship between the Kerubic Signs and the Elements.  This can be accomplished by placing the tarot card for the appropriate Sign in the Quarter, or by using it as an psychic gateway for that Element.  It is important that this not be done until the appropriate paths have all been experienced at least once, as the energy they release is of a very fundamental, and creative nature.  Remember, the higher on the Tree we go, the deeper (or lower) into our psyche we travel.  The creative forces at the top of the Tree are impersonal, powerful, and sexual in nature, because, they are the oldest forces in existence, and existed well before the development of our intellectual faculties.  The god forces experienced at the top of the Tree are a tremendous, creative, and joyful pressure, that will exacerbate whatever character traits, inclinations, or physical phenomena that it contacts on its way down the Tree.

The Star - Aquarius - Air

This is the element of great elevation, optimism, and humanitarianism.  The card shows us that all is in motion, and that the continued pouring forth of the waters of Binah allow for creation to take form, just as these waters on a lower arc, the 'astral sea' of Yetzirah, take form in the world of matter.  Our thoughts must guide our emotions, if we are to allow our emotional waters to guide our life.  In Crowley's "Thoth Deck" the card shows every form of energy as a spiral, further illustrating the nature of ascending and descending (or materializing and de-materializing) force.  Through clockwise and counterclockwise motion, energy and matter come into and out of being. Through the ascent and descent of these forces, we can elevate our consciousness to new levels.

Strength - Leo - Fire

It is said that this Path can allow one to experience the old Rosicrucian dictum of "Peace Profound."  Yet, so often this phrase is misunderstood by more passive mystics who place emphasis on the first part, peace, and forget the second part, or its profundity.  The nature of all experiences on the Middle Pillar is that of union and balance of polarities, or an extreme tension of energies around a stable center.  It is this stable center that gives us the feeling of peace, and the extreme tension of energies that gives power to it.  Crowley best explains it as not only power, but the joy of power in action.  "Lust implies not only strength, but the joy of strength exercised.  It is vigor, and the rapture of vigor." (The book of Thoth, p.92).   He further states that this "…is the most powerful of the twelve zodiacal cards, and represents the most critical of all the operations of magick and alchemy.  It represents the act of the original marriage as it occurs in nature…there is in this card no attempt to direct the course of the operation." (p.93)

Death- Scorpio - Water

"This sign is one of the two most powerful in the zodiac, but has not the simplicity and intensity of Leo." Here the gatekeeper of our deepest feelings and emotions is encountered.  It is opposite Air in that Air gives elevation and inspiriation, but it is the swirling force of our psychic waters (our deep and focuses emotions) that things take on form and life.  This Quarter can truly be seen by many as the genuine 'Terror of the Threshold" when it is encountered.   

The Hierophant - Taurus - Earth

As Earth, or material creation, in its most stable form, the Heirophant reminds us of the goal of all esoteric practices, the union of the microcosm and the macrocosm.  By directing the creative power of the zodiac into the prima materia, mastery of the Four Elements is attained.

Kerubim as Guardians

The Kerubim in involution and evolution.

The most significant aspect of the Kerubim is that they act at great forces holding the universe together, and restraining unbalanced forces from manifesting.  Yet, the power they represent is a totally unconscious force, as it resides in Yesod, just behind the veil of matter, and is instinctual.  It reacts to the principles of electro-magnetism at best, following the path of least resistance.   A close study of the effects of the moon on the earth would yield some additional insights into this area.

This unconscious energy of the Kerubim is most easily manifest through sexual power (as for the women, the fertility cycle is marked by lunar periods); as well as psychic impulses and sudden intuitions, dreams, etc.  All of these things occur through the Kerubim, but manifest in the material world.

The location of Yesod is in the sexual organs of each of us, and Malkooth in our feet.  However, this is really a convention more than a reality, as the feet, knees, sacral point, and adrenal glands all operate as a single unit, although on different energy levels.  Thus, physiologically and psychologically, the relationship of these two centers to each other is very close. In fact, in a healthy person, there is considerable overlap.

According to Rabbi Aryeh Kaplan, it was the clearing out of this particular channel, the 32^nd Path (Tav-Jupiter) that gave King David all of his power.  Thus, the Lesser Ritual of the Pentagram allows us to create a space in and around us whereby we can direct our inner creative power for either psychic or physical manifestations.  

"I will raise him up because he knows my Name." (Psalm 91:14) and "You will call, and God will answer." (Jeremiah 58:9)

When we know the specific Name associated with our need (sepheroth), god will respond.  Not maybe, not possibly, not weakly, but WILL RESPOND. It is this confidence that we must have if we are to fully understand the power of the Names.

The Gates of Light, or Shaarey Orah (Rabbi Joseph Gikatalia 1248-1323), the first qabalistic text on the ten sepherot, complete with hints at meditative techniques, states:

"The first name is the closest to all created things.  It is through this Name that one enters the presence of God the King.  Other than through this Name, there is no other way whatsoever that one can see the face of the Blessed King.

This Name is Adonoy.[It is the Name assocaited with Malkut-Kingship, the lowest Sefirah.]" [xi]

And:

"This is the lowest level of the Divine. From the level of Adonoy and above we find the mystery of Unity…below this is the world of seperation…"

The Name Adonoy is like a storehouse and a treasury.  It holds all influxes and every emanation that is transmitted through all spiritual channels from YHVH.

There are three names, one above the other.  Adonoy is on the bottom, YHVH is in the middle, and Ehyeh is on top.  It is from the name Eheyeh that all kinds of substances emanate, coming from the Source, which is the infinite (Ain Sof).  It then proceeds through a series of steps until it reaches the blessed name, YHVH.  From the Name YHVH all spiritual channels flow and the flux is transmitted to the name Adonoy.  The Name Adonoy is therefore the storehouse containing all of the King's devices, and it is the essence that distributes these to all creation.  It nourishes and sustains all things, through the power of YHVH that is in it." [xii]

"One who attaches himself to [Adonoy] is worthy of eternal life." [xiii]

"One who wishes to perceive Eternal Life should attach himslef to the attribute of El Chai (Living God), [which is associated with the Sephirah of Yesod - Foundation].

This means that through his prayers, one should bring El Chai into Adonoy.  It was regarding this that King David had passion and desire when he said, "My soul thirsts for God, for El Chai" (Psalms 42:3).

When the attribute (Yesod), which is called El Chai, is bound to Adonoy (Malkut), then one can draw down all his needs.  He can overcome his enemies, no one can stand up to him….

We must bind the sepherot together, attaching all levels through the attributes of Adonoy (Malkut-Kingship)…

When a person is attached to Adonoy in purity, then he is also attached to El Chai." [xiv]

This is important to point out, that we achieve a de facto relationship with Yesod as a result of our working on purification of Malkuth.  Malkuth can not purify itself.  It requires the energies of the invisible to assist it.  Also, by redirecting our energies away from the sensory world, we also, by default, direct them towards the inner, or invisible realm, of which Yesod is our first encounter.  Any esoteric ritual, if it is to be such, requires that our energy be directed away from the material and towards the invisible.  As soon as we pass this first "Veil" we end up closer to Yesod than when we began. Any dream, vision, impression, or even memory, is from the unconscious, and as such, from "Yesod".

In an unpublished lecture, attributed to Dion Fortune, states:

“You should remember also the great antiquity of these two interlocked planes (for Yesod is, of course, in a way a part of the Earth, for they share the same aura and in that aura are the seeds from  which the body and earth-conditions of mankind have taken root and grown).” [xv]

The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse

The Elements also two aspects that are often overlooked.  Since they are the most dense manifestation of spiritual energy, and are influenced, as we have said, actually an extension of the lunar forces of Yesod, they are also heavily influenced by the forces of Gedulah and Geburah. 

Geburah represents the forces of Mars, or Elemental forces in action under the presidency of Spirit; and Gedulah represents Jupiter, or the perfect and ideal expression of the Elements as part of the Cosmic Plan, or God’s Will.

These forces, can be very potent and at times stringent in their actions, giving the impression that they are ‘hostile’ or ‘evil’ from the very mundane and human point of view.  In fact, these forces are ever ready to assist and help us if we are willing to take up the task of our (and their) evolution.  When these forces react in a purgative, or purifying manner, they can be seen as “The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse”.  Sagittarius, the sign of the Horseman, has Jupiter as its ruling planet.  Here we see that the Four Horsemen, are nothing more than the four-fold expression of Jupiter through the Elements.  Jupiter fosters growth and increase in material as well as spiritual endeavors.  But this growth can only take place after the ‘deadwood’ of materialism is swept away. If we do not take an active role in this preparation and purification process on the inner levels first, then Nature has little left to do than do the work for us on the outer levels, where it is most blunt, traumatic, and painful from the human point of view.

Dolores Ashcroft-Nowicki states: “…This type of being, particularly if it is Elemental in nature, is not always aware of the inability of human beings to cope with other levels of existence.  That is when you find yourself in trouble, and is one of the reasons for never dealing directly with an elemental.  You should always work through the appropriate Elemental King, or through one of the Archangelic Regents.  On the other hand, you should not make the mistake of thinking that Elementals are necessarily evil.  Out of their natural element they are as unhappy to be with you as you are to be with them.  At the same time, you should offer an apology for causing such a misplacement of force.  Courtesy has its place on the inner levels every bit as much as on the physical plane, and, along with ethics and correct behavior, is as a vital a part of the art of ritual.” [xvi]

The Qabalistic Cross

The Qabalistic Cross [xvii] is an intrinsic part of the LRP and constitutes a de facto shortened version of the Middle Pillar. As we open our three principle central centers, and bring into play two of the more powerful side centers, we create a condition of mental, emotional, and physical equilibrium.  This is a powerful invocation in and of itself, and can be used as an opening and closing for all esoteric work.

The fundamental purpose of the Qabalistic Cross is to open our ability to access none physical energy via our Crown (Kether) and to bring that down to our material (Malkuth) and conscious (Tiphareth) realms.  The powers of imagination and energy (Chesed and Geburah) are also called into play, as they then effect the unspoken sepheroth of Yesod, or our unconscious.  Together, all of the major central pillar spheres are activated directly, or as in the case of Yesod, indirectly.

When doing the Qabalistic Cross, it is important that the opening phase, that of imagining the energy of our Crown descending to our head not be rushed over.  The imagery is that of a brilliant sphere of light that we touch with the first two fingers of our right hand (a traditional sign of blessing) and imagine a shaft of light being pulled down from it to our forehead. At this point we should pause for a moment and imagine our 'third eye' flashing with light as we intone the Divine Name "Atoh" - "Thou Art..".  Some might find it easier to imagine the light going into the top of their head, filling it, and flashing outward for a brief second through their 'third eye'.  In either case, the purpose is to align ourselves with our Highest Self via the spiritual organs of the head - the pineal and pituitary glands. [xviii] 

In one modern school it is not uncommon to pass over the heart (Tiphareth) in silence when intoning "…Malkooth…" and to simply imagine the feet centers as alive and active.  When bringing the hands together at the breast during the closing phase, the following phrase is added, either spoken or unspoken:  "I am the Rose of Sharon, I am the Lily of the Valley." [xix]  This indicates the inner desire to attain to that state of awareness known as "Rose+Croix", or where the old Rosicrucian dictum applies:  "While they (the Rosicrucian Brothers) wore no outer sign, they knew each other upon meeting."  This is because each had fully awakened their own inner rosy cross and it shown within their aura.   Thus, while the Qabalistic cross can be imagined as a large sliver-bluish cross, it can also be imagined later on as a large golden cross with a single unfolding red rose in the center, with an aurial of violet surrounding the four arms of the cross in a brilliant and vibrant circle of light.

It is also suggested that after each student realizes the 'name' of their "Holy Guardian Angel" that they may also add this vibration to the ritual. [xx]  Of course, an inner Name or even an esoteric name or grade name could be added as well - but only as a temporary measure until their "True Name" was received. [xxi]

This "True Name" or "Name of Power" whereby we can tap into our mystical as well as occult powers at will, is the name of our Holy Guardian Angel, or at least a surrogate name, or mantra,  that allows us to contact heightened awareness.

In fact, this phase of the ritual, where we stand with hands clasped in prayer, is a perfect time to invoke a particular and specific aspect of force for our general esoteric workings.  Any of the old Rosrucian phrases, especially in Latin, would work well here:

“Ad Rosem per Crucem; Ad Crucem per Rosem.”
“Jesus mihi omnia.”
“Ad Gloriam Roseae Crucis”
“Ad Crucis Roseae Glorium.”
 “Mea Victoria in Rosea Crucea.”

Or one could add the Invocation of the Bornless One:

“Holy Art Thou oh Lord of the Universe
Holy Art Thou whom Nature hath not formed
Holy Art Thou, vast and mighty One
Lord of Light and of Darkness.
Naught that Silence can express.”

In short, any suitable invocation that is short, memorable, and helps us to focus our attention on the highest will do.

Conclusion

The Ritual of the Pentagram is a suitable ritual for almost any occasion.  Repeated practice of the ritual as a whole, and meditation on its various sub-sections will allow each student of esotericism the opportunity discover what is meant when this ‘simple’ ritual is described as “the Medicine of Metals, the True Stone of the Wise.”

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[i] Here the meditation of choice is on the sphere of Kether on the Tree of Life. Of course the method outlined can be applied to the other spheres as well.