The Qabalistic Cross

I. Touching the forehead say Ateh.
II. Touching the breast¹ say Malkuth.
III. Touching the right shoulder, say ve-Geburah.
IV. Touching the left shoulder, say ve-Gedulah.
V. Clasping the hands upon the breast¹, say le-Olahm, Amen.

The Ritual

VI. Turning to the East, make a pentagram² (that of Earth) with the proper weapon (usually the Wand). say (i.e. vibrate) IHVH (pronounced: "Yod Heh Vav Heh").
VII. Turning to the South, the same, but say ADNI (pronounced "A-do-nai").
VIII. Turning to he West, the same, but say AHIH (pronounced "Eh-Hei-Yeh").
IX. Turning to the North, the same, but say AGLA (pronounced "A-Geh-La").

X. Extending the arms in the form of a cross say:

XI. "Before me Raphael"
XII. "Behind me Gabriel"
XIII. "On my right hand Michael"
XIV. "On my left hand Auriel"
XV. "For about me flames the Pentagram"
XVI. "And in the Column stands the six-rayed Star!"

XVII-XXI. Repeat (I) to (V), the "Qabalistic Cross."

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Notes

     (1) In some variations of the ritual, a male touches the phallus instead of the breast.
     (2) By this, the ritual is supposed to imply that one is to draw lines on the ground around them as they turn, forming the Pentagram around them.

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Original text taken from Liber 0 of The Golden Dawn
I need your help! This stuff is very cryptic, feel free to provide your own commentary.

I've been using the text of the "Qabalistic Cross" for a number of years, and I'd completely forgotten that it had any sort of meaning to other people.

I use this as a quick little blessing on myself. I close my eyes and imagine myself at the origin of a three-dimensional Cartesian system with axes (axises, not axes, mind you) aligned to my body. Then, imagining streams of golden light coming from me (up, down, left, right, back and forward, in that order), I say to myself: Ateh / malkuth, / v'geburah, / v'gedulah, / laolam / va-ed. This is Hebrew for Thine / is the Kingdom, / and the Power, / and the Glory, / forever / and ever.

I say to myself: Amen. And then I open my eyes and bring my mind back to the task at hand, whatever that is.

If this strikes your fancy ("Oh, I'm sorry... did my fancy just run into you?"), feel free to use it. Of course, if you're the type to use this, you probably don't feel a need for my permission. Take beauty and truth wherever you find them, that's my motto.

The LBRP, the Lesser Banishing Ritual of the Pentagram has several forms. My favorite comes from FutureRitual by Philip H. Farber, with a little help from http://www.digital-brilliance.com/kab/faq.htm#LRBP It has been used as a way to focus one's mind before performing a more complicated ritual, or for banishing outside influences before meditation, or in the Jewish Religion as a bedtime preparation.

The ritual seems to be just as effectual performed IRL or astrally (in ones mind alone).

I know of 3 versions of the ritual,and there are probably many more.

It starts with the Qabalistic Cross:
Stand facing East. Visualize yourself in magickal garb. Visualize your life force as a light at your solar plexus. Visualize a circle drawn around you, big enough that if you rotated it around the center (where you are standing) it would pass about a foot over the top of your head. Visualize that it is indeed a sphere, surrounding you, containing your energy and blocking out any external energy.
Expand your light by will alone to permeate and fill this sphere.
Reach up and touch the crown of your head with your finger or wand (this is astral, it can be anything!) and intone ATEH (sounds like ah-tech with a very soft ch). An intonation should take an entire deep breath.
Visualize an extremely bright light from infinity coming down upon your head.
Move your wand down to touch the base of your spine, visualize the light flowing down along your spine then down to infinity, intone MALKUTH (short a long u hard t then a soft breath).
Touch your right shoulder with your wand, imagine a very bright light from infinity coming to your right shoulder intone VE GEBURAH (short e's soft b almost a v long u short a very soft ch).
Draw your wand across to your left shoulder, the light flowing through your chest to the left shoulder then off to infinity, intone VE GEDULAH.
Clasp your hands at the point where the beams cross, intone LA OLAM.
Bow your head, intone AMEN (Ah Men not AY men).
(end of Qabalistic Cross)

In the East, draw a 3 foot tall pentagram, point up, on the sphere (I like blue flame), at eye level. Start at the bottom left, up to the top, down to bottom right, up to left arm across to right sown to start. Stab your wand at the pentagram and visualize it flashing brilliantly, intone YOD HE VAU HE (just like above, AU sounds like OW in COW).
Turn to your right, the south, visualize a line of flame (I like blue) following the arc of the sphere at eye level, here draw another pentagram the same way, stab, flash, intone ADONAI (AI sounds like eye).
Turn to your right, the west, same line, same pentagram, stab, flash, intone EHEIEH (eh heh eee eh).
Turn to your right, the north, same line, same pentagram, stab, flash, intone AGALA.
Turn to right, complete the circle.
Hold your arms out like a cross, facing east, say the following, intoning the names in caps:
"Before me RAPHAEL ( rah f-eye el, visualize a yellow wind blowing into the sphere and filling it.)
Behind me GABRIEL (gah bree el, visualize blue water from the west flowing into the sphere)
On my right hand MICHAEL (mee kha el, visualize red fire from the south roaring into the sphere.)
On my left hand AURIEL (ow ree el, visualize olive green earth rolling into the sphere from the north.)
For before me flames the pentagram (visualize all your pentagrams glowing with renewed vigor, plus a fifth one on your chest)
and in the column shines the 6 rayed star!" (visualise a 6 pointed star in your spine at heart level)

(repeat the Qabalistic Cross)
(commence meditation) (close the circle) (go about your new existence)

Share and Enjoy!

I'm a complete beginner to Magick. I've been doing the LBRP for a week now. I've never managed to keep a practice up for a whole week multiple times per day, but with this it's effortless, and I look forward to it.

I have dabbled with meditation and yoga a la Aleister Crowley for the past year, but have never experienced benefits like I have in the past week. With meditation and yoga, it's difficult to detach from the 'lust of result', to simple do yoga for the sake of yoga, and not with a goal in mind. When you do yoga expecting a result, it is like building a house of cards. Trying to find that perfect state of mind to stay in forever. Yet the wind always blows and knocks those cards over. I think Crowley's analogy was of trying to lift yourself up by your own shoelaces.

I believe most of us are somewhat attracted to the spiritual side as a method to remedy the lack of control we have over out lives, whether it's overeating, controlling sleeping patterns, feeling good about yourself, we all have our own reason. One of the main goals of the OTO is the elimination of mental bondage after all.

The first time I did the LBRP it had little effect. The second time I did it, I felt a great surge of energy for a few hours. I was in a state of awe and bliss, I felt like I could do anything. I can't explain this. I usually brood in my head, turned inward, and try to explain things rationally. Maybe it's just the effect of the ritual causing me to feel like something outside myself is giving me this energy, that causes me not to turn inward and go to war with myself. Maybe it's something deeper. I don't know. I don't think that I can know, and I'm too happy to care.

After the second session, this energy got the better of me and ended in a binge eating session. I then read that one should have ones Intentions in mind, knowing the results that one wants, directing the great surge of energy towards one's Will.

I have done it 7 times now, and have experienced the following benefits:

- Greater control over my problem with binge eating. Whereas before my mind would enter into a trance when passing the sweets shelf in the shop, losing control over myself. I've been walking past thinking "Fuck you sweet shelf, fuck you and all you've done to me, goodbye!"
- Greater control over my sleeping patterns. Mainly it gave me enough self-control to practice Steve Pavlini's early riser methods.
- I'm much more laid back around people. I conquered the fear I have of going up and talking to random girls. I have been trying to do that for 4 years. I simply decided to do it, and I magically got up, like something else was moving me, and I did it. This is the way I am supposed to be.

I must say for posterity that I have also been listening to an NLP confidence audio session, and while this definitely contributed, I don't think it would have had any effect without the clarity of mind that the ritual produced.

I've made a lot of changes to the ritual already, specifically removing some of the closing text (classical english has bad connotations to the Irish), changing the Archangels to Brahma, Shiva, Vishnu and _______, and sneaking in some of the yoga-esque breathing exercises prescribed by my singing teacher.

All this in a week after years of struggle! There's no other way to describe it, pure magick!