The Enochian LBRP
8.31.2004
The Lesser Banishing Ritual of the Pentagram (LBRP) is one of the most popular rituals in ceremonial magick. It was developed by the founders of the (now defunct) Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn. This was an Esoteric Order created in 1887 by a group of Freemasons. Although the LBRP is rooted in Jewish mysticism it is even utilized by many Wiccans and neo-pagans as an elaborate circle casting. I myself have performed the ceremony literally hundreds of times in the early years of my study of the occult. These days I do not perform this type of formal banishing as I feel it reinforces the suppression of the Shadow. While this may be useful for some in the early phases of their work, at this point in my evolution I seek to manifest a complete, harmonized self. This includes an exploration and healthy expression of the less integrated parts of my nature.
For those who are not already familiar with this ritual, the basic premise is that the practitioner will identify themselves with the macrocosm by tracing parts of the Kabalistic Tree of Life over their body, then they will seal each of the four directions with a banishing pentagram charged by an appropriate Hebrew name of God and finally the four elemental Archangels are called to guard each of the quarters. In general practice the practitioner will then repeat the macrocosmic identification. The LBRP can be performed on its own or as an opening to another working. If used as an opening rite, most practitioners will also repeat it at the end as a closing. For a more detailed description of the original version, I recommended checking out the write up by the Open Source Order of the Golden Dawn, which is a modern group that has adopted most of the practices of the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn while also adding innovations of their own. I am not affiliated with the OSOGD in any way.
You can effectively perform this Enochian LBRP without knowledge of any other type of Enochian magic, however there are several excellent books out there on the topic if you are interested. One excellent and practical book to start you off without getting overly complicated is Enochian World of Aleister Crowley by Lon Milo Duquette. I would also highly recommend Enochian Magic For Beginners by Donald Tyson. This book provides a very well thought out and detailed introduction to Enochian while simultaneously challenging some of the concepts that have become orthodox among modern practitioners. For additional book suggestions, please feel free to visit my categorized Recommended Reading Lists.
In preparing this translation, I went through the text of the Enochian Keys to find the multiple variations of each word or phrase that I wanted to use and selected the most appropriate form for the context I required. The Enochian language has a limited vocabulary, especially if you are only sourcing your words from the Keys. I was therefore required to use poetic verse to symbolically express the desired concepts and am quite proud of how it turned out.
I have included the literal translation of the Enochian into English for convenience. It should be understood that when performing this ceremony, the practitioner will only be vocalizing the Enochian, not the English. I decided not to include a pronunciation guide for the Enochian because everyone seems to have a different method. My suggestion is to investigate a few different systems to pronounce the words and then decide on your own personal standard. This may evolve over time if you use Enochian often in your workings, which is also fine.
My Enochian version of The Kabalistic Cross as presented was written using only words from the Keys, just like the rest of the ritual. That being said, there is no word found in the Keys to denote anything similar to the Hebrew "Le Olam". With that in mind, I decided to utilize a phrase from the First Key: ENAY SOBA IAOD IPAM OD UL IPAMIS. Alternatively, you could substitute that entire phrase for the single Enochian word GOHED meaning "Everlasting." It isn't quite as poetic and again, it isn't a word used in any of the Keys, but it is perhaps more practical. I leave the decision up to you.
For the Formulation of the Pentagrams, I didn't want to simply translate the literal meaning of the Hebrew God-names into Enochian. I wanted to use actual Enochian God-names that were appropriate to the task. Others have decided to use EXARP, NANTA, BITOM and HCOMA but as I understand it, these are simply spirits of the elements and not God names as such. The original LBRP called upon the highest Kabalistic world (Atziluth) for this section and I wanted to retain that aspect of the formula. That is why I chose the names from the Linea Spiritus Sancti of each Elemental Tablet, also known as the "Banner Names." Additionally, it is relevant to mention that Dr. John Dee invoked these Banner Names in his "Fundamental Obeisance" to gain the authority to call, petition and send away all of God's angelic spirits.
For the Evocation of the Archangels, I utilized a formula often repeated throughout the Keys themselves: Address the entities, call them and then tell them why they should listen to you. The "Arise, Move and Appear" section came directly from the Key of the Ayres. The final part of this section was quite difficult as there isn't a word for "pentagram", and the literal Enochian translation for "six-rayed-star" is somewhat cumbersome. I felt that "Living lamps" was a good description of charged pentagrams while also bringing to mind the lamps and stars in the opening of St. John's Revelation, which certainly ties into the symbology of the Keys. For the six-rayed star, since it represents the Macrocosm, I simply decided to use "the brightness of the heavens." Bringing the Archangel's attention to the 4 pentagrams charged with the 12 divine names as well as the brightness of the heavens within the energy body of the practitioner reminds them of the reason why they should heed the practitioner's call, which is why I included the word "For" in there, which is also used in this exact same way at the end of several Enochian Keys. I decided to keep the original Hebraic Archangels because they play such an important role in the original communications with Dee and Kelly.
Kabalistic Cross:
Touch your forehead and intone: GEH (Thou art)
Touch your solar plexus and intone: LONDOH (the Kingdom)
Touch your right shoulder and intone: LONSA (the Power)
Touch your left shoulder and intone: OD BUSDIR (and the Glory,)
Place hands together with palms touching, fingers pointed upwards and intone: ENAY SOBA IAOD IPAM OD UL IPAMIS (Lord Whose Beginning Is Not and End Cannot Be.)
Formulation of the Pentagrams:
In the East, using the index finger of your power hand (or some other ritual object such as a wand or athame) trace a large upright pentagram in front of you using your powers of visualization. Start at the lower left point, go to the top center point and continuing on in a clockwise manner until you return to your starting point.
Point at the center of the pentagram (or perform the Sign of the Enterer) and intone the Banner Names for the element of Air: ORO IBAH AOZPI
(If you utilized the Sign of the Enterer, now give the Sign of Silence. This will be the pattern for each of the subsequent pentagrams if you decide to use the signs of the Enterer and of Silence, so I will not continue to repeat this instruction.)
Point to the center of the pentagram and walk to the South, imagining a line being drawn in the air to complete a quarter of the circle.
Facing South, draw another upright pentagram in front of you in the same manner as described before.
Point to the center of the pentagram and intone the Banner Names for the element of Fire: OIP TEAA PDOCE
Point to the center of the pentagram and walk to the West, imagining a line being drawn in the air to complete another quarter of the circle.
Facing West, draw another upright pentagram in front of you in the same manner as described before.
Point to the center of the pentagram and intone the Banner Names for the element of Water: MPH ARSL GAIOL
Point to the center of the pentagram and walk to the North, imagining a line being drawn in the air to complete another quarter of the circle.
Facing North, draw another upright pentagram in front of you in the same manner as described before.
Point to the center of the pentagram and intone the Banner Names for the element of Earth: MOR DIAL HCTGA
Point to the center of the pentagram and walk to the East, imagining a line being drawn in the air to complete the final quarter of the circle.
Evocation of the Archangels:
Stand in the center of the circle/working space facing East, place your arms straight out like a cross and then spread your legs out beyond shoulder width. You will be standing in the general shape of a pentagram.
Intone: RAPHAEL! TORZU ZACAR OD ZAMRAN RAASY! (Raphael! Arise, Move and Appear in the East!
Intone: GABRIEL! TORZU ZACAR OD ZAMRAN SOBOLN! (Gabriel! Arise, Move and Appear in the West!
Intone: MICHAEL! TORZU ZACAR OD ZAMRAN BABAGE! (Michael! Arise, Move and Appear in the South!
Intone: URIEL! TORZU ZACAR OD ZAMRAN LUCAL! (Uriel! Arise, Move and Appear in the North!
Intone: LAP OL BIAB NOTHOA HUBARO OD ZOMD NAZ I LUCIFTIAS PERIPSOL! (For I stand in the presence of living lamps and inside of the pillar is the brightness of the heavens!
Kabalistic Cross:
Repeat the Kabalistic Cross as described above if desired.
If you feel that this material is important and useful please share it using the social media buttons provided at the side of the page. If you want to help support this website & the development of future content and projects please consider setting up an automatic monthly donation via my Patreon account:
