This article is about drawing the pentagram in the Lesser Banishing Ritual of the Pentagram. It is taken from my notes on the LBRP. Since this was taken from one mega article I’m sorry if somewhere in the text it doesn’t make sense out of context.
This ritual involves drawing a five-pointed star while facing East, then when facing South, then again facing West and then again facing North. The Lesser Ritual of the Pentagram uses a pentagram that is drawn identically to the pentagram of earth shown above. To clear a space you can use the bottom banishing pentagram or to attract spirits you can use the top invoking pentagram.
To do the Greater Ritual of the Pentagram this simple pentagram is substituted for elemental pentagrams and before drawing the pentagrams of Air and Fire, the pentagrams of active spirit are drawn. Before drawing the pentagrams of Water and Earth, the pentagrams of passive spirit are drawn. Also, the divine names which are intoned at each pentagram are changed for the greater ritual. It is possible that the LBRP includes the directions, but not the elements and the Greater ritual of the pentagram is the same ritual, but instead, it occurs on all elemental planes. That would explain the inclusion of the elemental pentagrams.
There are many clues as to why this ritual is more than just a banishing for both Thelemites and members of the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn. One of the main ways of determining this is through analysing the pentagram used throughout the ritual.
Pentagram could be the Fiery Sword
In the Palace of the World, in Temple of the Holy Spirit Chapter 1 of Crowley’s collected works, Crowley points out that the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn symbol the Fiery Sword is the Pentagram unwound. The Firey sword appears as follows:
The Firey Sword or Flaming Sword appears in the Second Lecture given to initiates of Stella Matutina initiation order as written about in The Golden Dawn by Israel Regardie and was probably mentioned in the second lecture of the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn. The symbol is a lightning-shaped sword which can be laid perfectly over a diagram (known as the tree of life) which represents all the aspects of god and reality. The Flaming is referred to in the second lecture as “formed by the natural order of the tree of life”. The natural order of the tree of life is the power of god descending into creation to create and sustain us. It should ideally be understood by a student at this time that the firey sword or flaming sword is the descent of the power of God from his highest aspect to the grossest manifestation. The Tree of Life is a symbol which resembles the process of creation so the sword over the top is God’s power coming into the world we live in and flowing from each emanation downward. Some will say that the lightning shape is there to remind us of the sudden realisation that is sometimes received in the presence of God when he chooses to send his spirit down to us.
So this pentagram is a sort of bundled-up version of firey sword power. This natural order and the descent of power potentially brings realisation, but why might it need to be bound up? The firey sword appears first mentioned in Genesis as a result of Adam and Eve being exiled from the Garden of Eden to cut them off from the Tree of Life. The firey sword is the power which appeared to separate mankind from the way to the tree of life, so Adam and Eve could not be immortal. There are some interpretations suggesting that the pentagram ritual is the layout of the rivers of Eden and later New Jerusalem. In order to enter and climb the tree of life, the power of the fiery sword would need to be manipulated and perhaps wound up on itself.
That said, I slightly disagree with the interpretation of the firey sword as related to the pentagram because the fiery sword has 8 lines which make it up and the pentagram has only 5, but maybe there is another way to make this connection. In the perimeter of the shape there are 10 vertices which is the number of sephiroth that the fiery sword flows through.
Pentagram as a symbol representing 5
The pentagram is an important symbol seen throughout many magical groups since ancient times. In order to derive some of its meaning we must consider the number it represents. To many magicians in the past, basic mathematics was a deeply occult skill and very important in wielding magic. To many early magicians, each number was like a spirit with its own powers and its own nature. So first we must recognize that the symbol consists of 5 lines, 5 points and 10 outside vertices.
The most influential author in ceremonial magic, Heinrich Cornelias Agrippa recognizes that the number 5 consists of additions of other numbers. The number of 5 has a secret power in it, relating to its nature being 2+3 and another secret nature which relates to its existence as 1+4.
5 = 2 + 3
This shows that for ancient magicians the pentagram symbolized love and attraction between two opposites, one odd and the other even. These were seen as: “one good and one evil” or “one female and one male”. According to Agrippa, the followers of the mystic Pythagoras, yes the same that provided us with Maths, suggested that the number 5 is the attraction and wedlock of these opposing forces. So this pentagram symbolizes the attraction of opposites. The hexagram symbolises their successful union and marriage but the pentagram their attraction. Note the Hexagram rituals where union is implied by the divine word Ararita which has connotations of union through sentence it stands for. Sometimes the Earthly self is symbolised as a bride awaiting marriage and the divine is symbolic of a prince that is to marry her. So this symbol could be the unity between the earthly or gross self with the higher self. There is some Golden Dawn indication that two marriages are to occur symbolised by the divine name YHVH which has two brides indicated by the Hs and the other letters are considered masculine. This could be the uniting of the Nephesh and the Ruakh and then the Ruakh and the Neshamah to allow the soul to act with oneness (Yechidah).
5 = 4 + 1
Ancient magicians also recognized that the number 5 could be considered the addition of 4 and 1. The number four represents the four elements, the four letters of the most sacred name of god (YHVH – this is the same name as Yahweh and Jehovah), the four worlds of the qabalah and much more. The number one indicates unity and the unifying principle. So the pentagram is considered by many to represent the four elements united into a divine fifth that some might suggest is God, ether, spirit, the soul of the world or the intellect. When the pentagram is drawn upright (there is point directly upwards and two pointing downwards) this divine fifth element rules over the 4 elements therein creating balance and harmony. This balance and harmony is symbolised by the two prongs pointing downward. According to the Whare Ra materials, when it is inverted it is considered an evil sign symbolizing and creating the chaos of the 4 elements ruling over the fifth element. This symbol would indicate material elements taking higher priority over the spiritual.
YHShVH
Also, there is a 5-letter name of god, which has a similar interpretation to that above. It is YHShVH (pronounced Yeheshuah). It is the shin which represents “spirit” or “fire” as the mother letter placed in the centre of the Tetragrammaton. This is actually similar to the name of Jesus and there are notes that suggest the creators of the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn believed this was the name of Jesus. It’s actually not. The name of Jesus in Hebrew is YHVShO (where O is Ayin).
2 + 3 = 4 + 1
How can it be both 4+1 and 2+3. I suggest that this symbol represents all the elements uniting together. The uniting is what is indicated by 2+3 and the elements are indicated by the 4 and the 1 is those elements united. They are united in the 5th quintessential element symbolised by shin of YHShVH.
Earth Pentagrams? Or Elemental?
There is one pentagram used consistently throughout the Lesser ritual of the pentagram, which is drawn similarly to the pentagram of Earth. While the teachings of the Whare-Ra Temple of the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn indicate that it is officially not the pentagram of Earth because it fails to have a Taurus in its centre. Also, I understand that one does not focus on the element of Earth while drawing it. It is possible that the pentagrams banish and invoke either on elemental planes OR they can do it in the lower grossest plane on which we live.
Enochian Interpretation
Alternatively, consider that the pentagram could be drawn over the Reformed Table of Enochian Magic as corrected by a vision Kelly had with a character claiming to be Raphael. If you do this then each of the points of the pentagram lands on part of the Grand table. The corner associated with air lands on the tablet which the Golden Dawn associates with air, the corner associated with water lands on the tablet associated with water and so on. This would imply that the pentagram unites the four corners of the earth which are associated with the four elements. It also places a 5th point above and beyond the table. This means that not only could the pentagram unite all the corners of the earth but potentially symbolically lift the initiate beyond the earthly plane.
Quintessence
In alchemy, there is a search for the quintessence or 5th element. Often in modern-day, we talk about quintessence being the pure unadulterated essence of something. This comes from Alchemy and the search for the pure element. The element that was potentially the source of all the other elements. The very name of this substance means “5th essence”. This being the number of points on a pentagram could hint at a link. The Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn’s rituals were filled with alchemical symbolism from their Rosicrucian inspiration and so it is possible that the pentagram was a symbol drawn to attract quintessence. Due to its pure heavenly nature, it was believed that ingesting quintessence could relieve the practitioner of diseases. Is this the medicine of metals that Crowley mentioned in the note to Palace of the World?
Pentagram as the Microcosm
The pentagram shows up in many Alchemical and Rosicrucian pieces of art showing how easily the shape of man can be made to appear like a pentagram. The most famous of these is Leonrdo Da Vinci’s Virtruvian man.
It should also be noted that the number 5 seems to be woven through out the human body. The torso has 5 main parts sticking out of it: the head, the 2 arms and the 2 legs. Also at the end of each limb is 5 digits whether they are fingers and thumbs or toes. The human being also has 5 gross senses.
Agrippa comments on this as demonstrative of the perfect measurements of man’s body which echos the perfection of the world. Agrippa suggests that man is a lesser copy of the world and this pentagram symbol is frequently used to demonstrate that. For many ancient authors man was seen as a copy of everything in the world to some degree. Isidore of Seville in his work on the nature of things points out how the world has four elements in it and man has 4 humors (the 4 main chemicals of which the doctors of the time believed the body to be made). Everything that was in the world, was also physically or spiritually within man and this pentagram symbolized man as a lesser copy of the perfect world we live in. This lesser world will often be called (Microcosm: micro for small and cosm / cosmos for universe). The pentagram could be the symbol of the microcosm.
So the pentagram represents our reflection of the universe. Putting us in our natural place. This ritual I would argue is about the self, man putting himself in his natural place in the universe and recognising himself as a reflection of the universe around him. Could drawing these pentagrams be an invocation of all the parts of the human working together to form its own coherent universe? It is often said that doing the LBRP is a microcosmic action with a macrocosmic effect. It draws together the inner-world of the initiate with the outer-world they share with others and marries these two. If so we could simply change something in ourselves to change it in the world. Again could this be the affection between man and god that we explored when we looked at 2+3? It is worth noting that if the pentagram is the microcosm it is possible the hexagram is the macrocosm.
There are 10 outside vertices to the pentagram, which is the number of all the sphiroth on the Lurianic Tree of Life (mentioned earlier) thereby indicating completion and a complete world. This can also be considered to be the man’s microcosm as well, if man is considered to be a total copy of the world including all 10 sphiroth.
5 holes in Christ
It is also noted that Christ was pierced through both hands, and both feet and to test that he was dead a soldier later called Longinus poked a spear in his side, giving him 5 holes. The Christ is the symbol of the initiate and initiator in Rosicrucian-based orders like that which the Golden Dawn was born from. So Christ is symbolic of the divine light initiating. In the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn the initiator was normally symbolised by Osiris, but Osiris is also a dying and resurrecting god like the Christ.
Agrippa calls it the number of the cross: 4 points and a centre. He says it is the seal of the Holy Spirit and can bind anything.
Summary
So the pentagram demonstrates our reception of the divine light, power of “God” and quintessence into physical reality with spirit presiding over us. It represents the natural order of things, our internal universe working as a complete and coherent system of 10 sephiroth, 4 elements united together, which reflects the nature of “God” and the universe we live in. It symbolises the reflection of the entire world including all 4 corners of the world and all the elements which make it up. We are receiving the divine, transcendental and initiating forces in our circle. This world is considered female in its relationship to the divine world above it the two are united in our symbol. This means that each of us whether male or female are symbolic of a bride of “God” ready to receive the spirit of “God” injected into her. In ancient times the act of taking bride would allow that bride to receive her new husband’s heirlooms and status so we begin to be part of the family of gods and have rights in accordance with that. In a way, this is the alchemical marriage that you may have heard of. Finally, this symbol binds up the power of the fiery sword that once kept us from the Tree of Life so we can approach it and begin our mystical ascent.
So this ritual is designed to be more than just a mere banishing ritual! It also symbolizes the unity of the elements presided over by spirit, a microcosm or reflection of the universe and thereby attracts the divine and symbolizes the magician as ready to receive the power of God in seeking union with it. When the magician unites these aspects of himself symbolic of “God” as the unifying principle of the universe, in the same way “God” transcends the universe the magician transcends himself and begins working magically in the world as well as in himself. Often this view point is disregarded by people who think about Magic as mere base psychologically, but held by those who have explored ancient grimoires and know the power of magic to affect their physical surroundings. These two views are married in a quote from Lon Milo Duquette, “Magic is all in your head. You just have no idea how big your head is!”.