The Lesser Ritual of the Pentagram is one of the first rituals to learn on your magical journey and should be practiced every day. Since the divine names of God - which correspond to each fourth elemental - are used to charge the pentagram, and the archangels of each quarter are called to protect your area, the circle formed by these magical ritual acts acts as an impenetrable barrier against forces. unwanted magic and allows you to proceed with your magical work.
The ritual is divided into three parts to make understanding and memorization easier.
Steps
Method 1 of 4: The Qabalistic Cross
Step 1. Stand in the center of your room, facing East and imagine that you are a towering figure and that the world is a tiny sphere below you
Perceive yourself as the center of the universe.
Step 2. Look up and imagine a white sphere shining
Watch the light from the sphere descend on your head.
Step 3. Reach for the light with your right hand (or ritual dagger, Athame) and drag the light across your forehead
As you do this, chant the word ATAH (ah-tah).
Step 4. Move your hand over your body, from top to bottom, feeling the light as it is drawn down in a beam through you
Touch your chest, move your hand to your groin, pointing down, chant MALKUTH (Mahl-koot [h]) and imagine that there is now an axis of light passing through you, connecting the light above you with the earth below your feet.
Step 5. Touch your right shoulder and imagine that a beam of light from the axis passes from that point and from your right side to the surrounding space
Intona VE-GEBURAH (v'ge-boo-rah).
Step 6. Do the same with your left shoulder and chant VE-GEDULAH (v'ge-doo-lah)
Step 7. Bring both hands to your chest and interlace them together, as if praying, chanting LE-OLAHM, AMEN (lay-ohlahm, ah-men)
You are now standing in the center of a cross of light reaching the ends of the universe.
Method 2 of 4: The 4 Staves
Step 1. Move East of the area you are in (or at least face East) and with your finger / wand / Athame draw a protective pentagram in the air in front of you
Visualize it glowing with a blazing blue light. Make the sign of the entrant and chant YOD HEH VAV HEH (yode-heh-vahv-heh). Make the sign of silence.
Step 2. Keeping your finger or the tip of the dagger in the center of your staff, move to the south quarter and draw a bright white line in the center of the south part of the circle
These lines connect your staves.
Step 3. Draw another staff in the same way, then make the sign of the entrant and chant ADONAI (ah-doe-nye)
Make the sound of silence, remembering to keep your right arm in front of you.
Step 4. Drag the white line of light to the West, repeat the same drawing and loading steps for the staff, but this time intone EHEIEH (eh-hey-yay)
Step 5. Bring the light north, repeat the steps one last time and chant AGLA (ah-gah-la)
Step 6. Return the line of light to the East and connect all your staves together
You should now be surrounded by 4 flaming staves of blue, placed at 4 equal corners of the circle you just made.
Step 7. Return to the center of the circle and turn clockwise to face East
Method 3 of 4: The Call of the Archangels
Step 1. Once again, visualize the Qabalistic cross you made earlier; extend your arms to create the same shape
Look in front of you (East) and say: "Come in front of me, RAPHAEL (rah-fay-el)." Try to sense its presence and feel a cool breeze brush your face.
Step 2. Imagine another presence behind you and say:
"Behind Me, GABRIEL (gah-bree-el)." Try to feel the humidity of the water element on your back.
Step 3. Look to the right and say:
"On my right hand, MICHAEL (mi-kai-el)." Feel the heat of the fire.
Step 4. Look left and say:
On my left hand, URIEL (or-ee-el). Try to feel the sense of solidity given by this fourth.
Step 5. Face East again and contemplate the flaming staves next to you, saying:
"Because the pentagrams shine around…". Then visualize a bright hexagram within your chest and say, "… and within me the six-rayed star shines."
Method 4 of 4: Conclusion
Step 1. To conclude, simply repeat the steps of the Qabalistic Cross once more
Advice
- If you want to increase the power of this ritual, visualize the archangels as you summon them.
- Remembering the order of angels may be difficult for some - as for me in the beginning - here is the formula I used: 'ragma' (RGMA). Rapahel, Gabriel, Michael, Auriel.
- When you draw the staves in the quarters you are moving clockwise.
- The sign of silence is simply placing your left index finger over your lips as you come back after making the sign in the center, as if you were saying to someone, "shh".
- The sign of the entrant consists in bringing your hands to the sides of the head; then take a deep breath, step forward with your left foot and push your hands (or a hand, or a wand / Athame) into the pentagram: this is when you charge the pentagram with the power of one of the divine names. As you step back, remember to keep your index / wand / Athame in the staff before drawing the lines.
- The translation of the Qabalistic Cross is: "Since yours is the kingdom, yours is the power and the glory forever and ever."
- As you chant these names, you feel the power and energy of the divine name running through your fingertips and into the staves.
- Don't forget to chant the names of the archangels.
- The protective staff is drawn like this: it starts from the bottom left corner (point), then up, down, left, right and back to the starting point.
- Of course, remember to exhale after inhaling deeply to chant these names.
