A 21 CENTURY PENTAGRAM RITUAL

ST

Copyright © Cath Thompson

All Rights Reserved.
Guides to the Underworld
Published by Hadean Press.
www.hadeanpress.com

Thank you to Aequus Nox,

without whose encouragement this pamphlet would not have been written.
 INTRODUCTION
The patriarchal underpinning of the magical revival has been examined and
found wanting by new generations of sexually liberated occultists, yet the
ritual methodology remains sound and requires only a shift of emphasis
away from the doctrine of Hebrew Kabbalism to become relevant to the 21st
century. The LBRP is far too useful a ritual template to be left in the Golden
Dawn archive of Israel Regardie’s mildly psychotherapeutic mysticism. This
is the New Aeon, after all, and the new magical technology at hand is the
gematria of the English alphabet known as English Qaballa.

The first requirement of a revised pentagram ritual is a suitable

quaternary to replace the Hebrew God-Names with which the practitioner
energises the pentagrams. Four distinct symbolic utterances that correlate
with the traditional qualities of the four Elements are derived from EQ
correspondences relating to four continuous fundamental phenomena of
manifestation, namely Life (=68), Time (=93), Here (=66), and Now (=24).
In EQ the numbers are the main symbols, thus 68 is Life as well as Change
(=68). 66 is Heart as well as Here. 93 is Nature, and 24 = God. It is worth
noting the reconciliation that EQ offers in its correspondences, as 93 =
Virgin and Mother, Babe = 66, and Jesus and Rune are both 68. The words
of choice for the revised pentagram ritual are “now,” “life,” “here,” and
“being,” going clockwise from the East and drawing stars as usual.
Attempting to banish undesirable personal characteristics according to
Elemental attributions with the aid of the Powers-That-Be is abandoned in
favour of invoking a harmonious integration of the Powers-That-Be
according to Elemental attributions within the personality. The operator
briefly deifies the present moment, calls forth the primordial spark, sanctifies
the location, and crosses the border into the future.

At this stage you might think the ritual could resume its accustomed
pattern; the Archangels are a cosmopolitan bunch these days and don’t
mind talking to Catholics or pagans or E. Qaballists, and Raphael has the
same value as Venus – what’s not to like?
Why stop there?
 THE RITUAL

1. Stand with feet together, facing East. With the Wand, or the right
hand positioned as if holding a wand, draw a pentagram in front of
you, starting at the bottom left at about hip height and extending
upwards so that the top point is above head height, and back down
to the lower right point. The lines should be straight and made of
soft white brilliance. The upper left and right points are a little above
the eyeline, so that the centre of the completed star is in front of the
face. With the same soft white brilliance, write the number 24 in the
middle of the pentagram, and bring the number to your nose as if it
were a perfume, breathing it in so that it fills your body from head to
toe. Then project it back into the star with a quick thrust of the hand
and the word “Now!” vibrated in the traditional manner.
2. Keeping the right hand and arm extended, turn to face South,
bringing the line of light round from the middle of the first
pentagram. Draw a second pentagram in the same manner as the
first and inscribe the number 68 in the centre. Take up the essence
of the number with an inward breath as before and vibrate the word
“Life!” as you project it back to energise the star.
3. Take the line of brilliance round to the West and again draw a
pentagram. Inscribe the centre with the number 66 and energise the
star with the word “Here!”
4. Turn to face North, continuing the encircling line of brilliance. Draw
the fourth pentagram as before, inscribe the number 93, and vibrate
the word “Being!”
5. Lastly, complete the circle by bringing the circumference line back
round to the East. If you are holding a Wand, bring it vertically to
the middle of your body for a moment before setting it down.
6. Stand, feet together, and reach up with your right hand as if a cord
of soft white brilliance has been let down towards you. Take hold of
it, saying, “Above me, the Moon is the mirror of infinite space.”
7. Pull the brilliance downwards until it touches the ground in front of
 you, and say, “Below me, the floor of the palace is made smooth by
Saturn.”
8. Stand straight again and extend your arms horizontally in the
posture of crucifixion. Say, “Before me, Mercury brings the day.
Behind me, Venus holds the night. On my right hand, Mars guards
the flame. On my left hand, Jupiter turns the wheel. For about me
flames the pentagram, and within me the Sun is the naked brilliance
of the six-rayed star.”
 NOTES ON THE RITUAL
1. 24 is the value of GOD, a chthonic reference derived from
Germanic words meaning “the spirit that dwells in the burial
mound,” and combined with the present moment NOW it is a
dynamic symbol of coming into manifestation. This correlates easily
with the East being the place of dawn and the cusp of the
astrological First House. The potential of the ever-becoming source
is symbolised by the purifying Element of Air.
2. 68 is the value of LIFE, attributed to the Element of Fire. In
astrology the South Cardinal is the Midheaven, the place of
authority. These correspondences need no elaboration.
3. 66 is the value of HERE, a location marker at the Western edge of
the circle opposite the “Now” point in the East. This is the 7th
House, ruled by Libra, the balance upon the surface of the waters,
and the sanctifying cleansing that the Element bestows.
4. 93 is the value of BEING, and of SCORPIO which is the place of
Death in the Zodiac. Placed opposite the pentagram of Life,
astrological North is the House of the Mother (another word with
the value 93), and as they say, the hand that rocks the cradle tends
the grave.

The E. Qaballist, having drawn the pentagrams and made the circle, has
established two of the three spatial dimensions of the operation, and marked
four out of the five Elemental points, the fifth being the Element of Spirit
(whatever its definition). The addition of the vertical Up/Down directions
allows a consideration of seven archetypal forces more often associated with
the planets of traditional astrology. Placing Spirit at the centre, there are six
recognisable positions: front, back, right, left, up, and down. In this context
the Sun is the obvious central symbol, and the other six celestial deities form
an encirclement. The purpose here is a three-dimensional model which will
extend the ritual to incorporate the individual qualities of the seven planets
in a personally harmonious act of self-consecration.

The Moon is the nearest celestial body to the Earth and the most rapid of
the planetary deities. She reflects all the stellar activity into the environment
of the operator. She is assigned to the Up direction and as such represents
movement towards an infinitely vast expansion, countered by the infinitely
tiny contraction of the Down direction which follows. MOON=CROWN
by English Qaballa.

Saturn is assigned to the Down direction, representing a stopping of

movement that is the flip side of the Up impulse. Saturn is the slowest
planet, and he grinds out his gift of endurance. SATURN=POWER.

The aerial Mercury is invoked in the East. MERCURY=QUARTERS to

usher in the rest. Behind in the West, Venus is the Goddess of Nature
sustaining and nurturing all things, and needing no introduction!
(WATER=CUP). To the South, the fiery warrior Mars is called to stand
guard with spear or lance (or even assegai) and the Flame of the Life of all.
MARS=YOU, meaning that Mars is the energy independently identified as
your own Will-To-Be. And in the North with the Great Bear is Jupiter, Lord
of Fortune both good and bad. JUPITER=PERFECT, a necessary
condition occurring by chance which cannot survive the flow of time.
Finally, the familiar six-rayed star is identified as the Sun at the core of the
E. Qaballist’s own psyche. The customary visualised imagery at the quarters
need not be substantially changed; there is no point in forcing the
imagination. A light breeze on the face, warmth and coldness in the right
and left hands, and a ripple of water lapping at the heels are all noteworthy
associations.
 NOTES ON THE ELEMENTS IN
THE RITUAL

The Elemental Structure of the Modern Pentagram Ritual.

This is not intended to be an alchemical allegory but a straightforward

means of integrating traditional esoteric archetypes with consciously
observable phenomena in a coherent and holistic pattern.

Jupiter is placed at the top of the Fire Triangle in the North with the
Element of Earth and the number 93. The Cardinal correspondence refers
to the massive spread of the Great Bear constellation and the association
with Thor. Jupiter’s reputation for fateful unreliability is foreshadowed by
93, the numeric symbol of the unexpected. At this crossroads the word is
“Being” for only that is feasible. Jupiter is complemented by Venus and the
Watery Element at the Western extremity of the Fire Triangle, water being a
chief characteristic of earthly life. The inclination towards ill-fortune which
both planets have is countered by the Fire inherent in the Triangle, and by
the Moon and the impulse to move on to the next event, which includes the
gravitational pull on the tides and waters of planet earth.
 Mars is placed at the bottom of the Water Triangle to give his energy
some grace and take the edge off his rash hastiness. Saturn brings patience
and endurance to this trinity, and lest all activity slows too much, the
volatility of Mercury is a contrary action. The Water Triangle bestows its
blessing on the word uttered at the South Cardinal, “Life.” Jupiter and Mars
are thus balanced across the centre of the hexagram.

The Moon and Saturn are complementary, like a Go/Stop sign. The
Moon is the fastest and Saturn the slowest of the seven planets, Saturn
associated with old age and the Moon with innocence of youth.

Venus and Mercury at the West and East balance each other in the
“Here” and “Now.” As the Evening Star Venus personifies the sunset, while
the Messenger of the Company of Heaven heralds the dawn.

The Sun is naturally placed at the centre of this model, whether as the
hub of the solar system, or as Tiphareth, or as the Manipura Chakra, or
simply as your happy place for contemplating things.
 CONCLUSION
Doing magic is like negotiating with the space-time continuum to rearrange
a portion of the future. For this undertaking preparatory rituals to calm the
thinking mind and focus on the purpose at hand are strongly recommended
in the magical tradition. However, the operations which have been designed
for this are framed by the religious cultural background of an age which is
passing. The apparent conflict of interests between standard occult precept
and post-Abrahamic evolution of occult practice has created something of a
gap in the acquisition of knowledge for the unwilling inheritors of the
Victorian magical revival. This is merely a problem of technical approach,
however, which has been successfully resolved here by English Qaballa.