One of the most important parts of any occult work is a banishing ritual. Some groups, most notably the golden dawn, don't let you in until you can practice the banishing ritual from memory and with ease.
The most popular ritual is probably the LBRP or Lesser banishing ritual of the Pentagram.
I will give two rituals here, one is the original Golden Dawn version. The other is a Kemetic pagan banishing that is not based on the LBRP (Although influences of it are in there) I created for myself.
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The Lesser Ritual of the Pentagram (from the Essential skills of Magick, by B.Rowe)
The Opening.
1. Stand in the center of the circle, feet together, facing east. Using your
thumb, touch the center of your forehead, and vibrate “Ateh.”
As you say “Ateh,” imagine a beam of light coming down from the heavens,
and forming a sphere or dome of brilliant white light, about nine inches
across, above your head.
Vibrate “Malkuth.”
Imagine the column of light descending into the ground below your feet.
Once there, it anchors itself in place and forms another ball of light; this ball
starts out a dark red, but quickly becomes brighter and whiter as more
energy feeds into it.
3. Touch your right arm at the level of your heart and vibrate “ve-
Geburah.”
Imagine a small sphere of light forming where you touch.
Move your hand horizontally to the same point on your left arm and
vibrate “ve-Gedulah.”
As you move your hand, imagine another line of white light being traced
horizontally through the center of your body, intersecting the vertical column
about where your heart is. When the line reaches your left arm, imagine
another small ball of light forming there. Then imagine a flow of energy
back and forth between them. Feel that energy as it passes through your
body, and begins to produce a tingling sensation in your heart.
4.
Make a clockwise circle about 6" across around your heart. Vibrate “le-
Olahm.”
5. Vibrate “Amen.”
Bring your arms down to your sides, relax as much as you can while still
standing straight
6. Let the above visualizations fade. Don't try to “erase” them, just stop giving
attention to their maintenance.
7. Advance to the east point of the circle. Draw a large pentagram with your
wand, or with the pointed fingers of your hand.
The lines of all the pentagrams, and the circle connecting them, should be
seen in a blue-white color.
Make a stabbing gesture at the center of the pentagram with wand or
hand, and vibrate “Yahweh.”
As you vibrate the name, imagine the inside of the pentagram becoming an
open window into the Realms of Air. Beyond the window, you should imagine
some landscape that seems Airy to you. Imagine that this realm extends to
infinity in the direction you are facing.
Once you have the landscape firmly visualized, imagine a cool wind blowing
into your circle through the pentagram. Feel the wind filling up the circle
and blowing through your body and soul, leaving no part of you untouched.
It blows out and replaces the impure Airy elements of your own nature with
pure Airy power. Keep feeling this wind until you feel cleaned out and filled
with Airy power. (if banishing make all the energy that goes through you fade away after)
8. Move clockwise around the circle until you come to the south. Starting at
the center of the eastern pentagram, draw a blue-white line as you go.
Face the south and draw a large pentagram. Make the stabbing gesture at
the center of the pentagram, and vibrate “Adonai.”
Imagine the pentagram opening into the Realms of Fire. Feel it filling the circle and yourself,
burning out any impurities and totally consuming them, then replacing
them with pure Fiery force. Continue until you feel completely purified by
the Fire and filled with its force.
Take a few moments to stop and appreciate whatever degree of Fieryness you
have managed to bring into the circle
9. Move clockwise to the west, drawing a segment of the circle as you go.
Face the west, and draw a large pentagram. Make the stabbing gesture at
the center of the pentagram, and vibrate “Eheieh.”
Imagine the pentagram becoming a window into the Realms of Water.
Imagine a watery landscape. imagine Water gushing into the circle and
yourself, dissolving any impurities and diluting them into nothingness,
replacing them with its own pure power. Keep feeling this until you feel
clean and totally filled with Water.
Pause to appreciate the Watery element you have managed to bring into the
circle.
10.Move clockwise to the north, drawing the circle as you go. Face the north,
draw a large pentagram. Make the stabbing gesture at the center of the
pentagram and vibrate “AGLA.”
Imagine the pentagram becoming a window into the Realms of Earth,
beyond which you can see some landscape that seems supremely “Earthy” to
you.
Imagine the Earthy power moving through the pentagram, filling up the circle
and penetrating your body, making any impurities so inert and heavy
that they fall downwards out of your body, to be replaced by a pure earth
force. Keep feeling this until you feel clean and totally filled with Earth.
As in the preceding quarters, pause to appreciate the Earthy element you
have managed to bring into the circle.
11. Complete the circle by returning clockwise to the east, drawing the line as
you go. Return to the center of the circle and face east.
Standing in the center of the circle, try to see all four landscapes at once, and
feel the power of all four elements focused on you through the pentagrams.
Say: “Before me stands Raphael; behind me stands Gabriel; on my right
hand is Michael; on my left hand is Auriel.” The names of the archangels
should be vibrated.
The angels should be imagined appearing as their names are vibrated. Each
should be seen as an immense figure on the horizon beyond the landscape in
their quarter. You should have a definite sense of them as sapient, self-aware
beings of great power, come to aid you in your work. The landscapes represent
the natural, non-sapient force of the elements; the archangels represent
the divine powers that rule and direct those elements.
The archangels should have some form that signifies – in your mind – their
rulership over their elements. I see them as figures in robes the color of their
elements. Raphael has blond hair that moves in an invisible breeze; he holds
a fan or dagger in his right hand pointed towards you. His face has an aquiline
cast. Gabriel has dark hair with a bluish cast, dark skin, and holds a silver
cup towards you. His robes seem to move in an invisible current.
Michael has hair and eyes like flames, a slightly fox-like cast to his face, and
his robes seem to be made of woven threads of fire. He holds a flaming sword
pointed towards you. Auriel wears black or green robes. His face is rounded,
and of a nut-brown color. He holds a disk-like pantacle with one face
pointed towards you.
Imagine each of the archangels sending a benediction to you through his
weapon.
13. Stand with your arms stretched out to the sides, and feet apart. Say:
“About me flame the pentagrams...”
See the four pentagrams and the lines connecting them suddenly flaring to
an intense brightness around you. As they do so, imagine a fifth, equally
bright pentagram forming about your body, its points congruent with your
head, hands, and feet. Remember that the pentagram signifies rulership of
the Spirit over the four elements, and that by identifying it you are claiming
that rulership for yourself. Try to feel yourself as Spirit, connected to the four
elements, but also above them.
Say: “...and in the column shines the six-rayed star!”
Your mood as you say these words should be one of triumph and exultation,
a sense of complete success in the endeavor of invoking the elements.
Imagine a large golden hexagram, the same width as your circle, forming in
the air above you. Rays of power shine radially outwards from each of its
points. The lowest point of the hexagram is congruent with the highest point
of the pentagram previously visualized.
The hexagram signifies the planetary or “heavenly” realms that are above
the worlds of the elements. Elemental Spirit is a summation or concentration
of these heavenly forces. By claiming the power of the elemental Spirit,
you are also declaring your freedom from the rule of the mundane world,
and claiming the right to enter into and work in those higher realms.
The Response.
14. At this point, the invocation is effectively complete. You have finished setting
up the conditions for a response from the astral light; now you must
give that response a chance to occur. This is an utterly vital part of any
invocation you will ever do; you may get some response while performing
the ritual, but the most important, the most vital, revealing, and consciousness-
expanding part of the response nearly always takes place in
the quiet time after the active work has ended.
You should now cease all active visualizations, and assume a relaxed,
comfortable position, standing or sitting. Silently open yourself to the
forces you have invoked, listen for them with your mind, your body, and
your aura. Don’t do anything, and don’t think about doing anything for a
time; just absorb your magickal environment as passively as a “couch
potato” watching TV.
When it seems, after a while, as if everything that is going to occur has
occurred, do the ceremonial closing to complete the session.
The Closing
15. Repeat the “Cabalistic Cross” from steps 1 through 6.
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