Creating Belief

There exists, even among long term practitioners, gross misunderstandings of magical principles. Even after the lessons of chaos magic theory (CMT) regarding belief as tool rather than operating system, some magicians still cling to the delusion that (for example) tracing five lines into a shape human minds recognize as the pentagram is by itself magically efficacious. Long-time practicing magicians (those who should most know better) are not immune to this phenomenon. Indeed, a tendency exists to imprint one's own tradition as the operating system of reality, lending their system an objective belief Robert Anton Wilson described as "the death of thought." Most modern magicians show at least a passing intellectual understanding of a principle outlined succinctly by Uncle Al several decades before CMT made it creed:

"In this book it is spoken of the Sephiroth, and the Paths, of Spirits and Conjurations; of Gods, Spheres, Planes, and many other things which may or may not exist. It is immaterial whether they exist or not. By doing certain things certain results follow; students are most earnestly warned against attributing objective reality or philosophic validity to any of them." (Liber 0 I:2).

It's a quote that gets thrown around a lot, but (as usual) few seem to have taken the time to really contemplate the occult meaning. On the one hand Crowley takes an almost radical nihilist position in the first and second sentences. He makes no comment on the validity of QBL, instead he highlights the metaphysical irrelevance of the magical model used. The third sentence seems almost conservative by comparison, bordering on an embrace of vulgar causality. But in the second clause of the same sentence the Beast undermines even the magical Newton's law formulated in the first, relegating magical praxis to the same dustbin as theory. It seems that the tension Crowley describes above remains at the vanguard of understanding the deeper principles of magic, regardless of the type of magic in question. To explain, I would like everyone to consider the Lesser Banishing Ritual of the Pentagram (LBRP), a staple ritual in magical schools influenced by the Western Hermetic Tradition in its various forms.

I have specifically chosen the ritual because of its ubiquity in contemporary occult praxis. Anyone who has not performed the LBRP should search Google. There are any number of sites which host LBRP pages, and I find Israel Regardie's instructions particularly illustrative. Perform the exercise (including the QBL cross) at least once before proceeding with this article. If the reader recognizes elements of the LBRP from one of its variations (the Gnostic Pentagram Ritual, for example) but have never actually performed the LBRP, do it anyway. Finally, if you are intimately acquainted with the LBRP and do it every day upon rising, go do it once now anyway.

Elements of the LBRP

Crowley tells the reader that "by doing certain things certain results follow." The LBRP, due to its simplicity represents an ideal place to begin breaking down and reassembling magickal praxis in the terms outlined by Crowley above. My work has lead me to the following conclusions about the various parts of the LBRP:

0. QBL Cross

The QBL cross centers the body both physically and mentally along two axes. Shoulders become squarer, posture becomes upright and relaxed, the spine straightens. The practitioner creates a vision of the so-called "astral" body or ka, and activates control over this doppelganger.

1. The Creation of the Pentagrams

The practitioner further creates a sense of center and balance, this time anchoring the astral body to the four corners of the world. The creation of pentagrams "banishes" the elements (i.e. baser nature) by creating signs of power barring the mundane from the workspace. Further, the symbols of power are activated by sounds and gestures.

2. The Calling of the Archangels

Having centered the self, rooted oneself in the components and directions of the physical, and created psychic barriers against unwanted influence, the magus then calls upon guardians to stand watch before his signposts. Powerful creatures embodying the most noble principles of the elements are imagined as guarding the magickian against external influence and acting as servants against anything which may intrude about the Work.

3. Symbols of Power and Recentering

The practitioner finally re-invokes his previous symbols of power, then identifies with new symbols of power representing the macrocosm (the external Universe considered as a whole, not its constituent parts) above and below the self. One then re-centers (QBL cross, redux) to do the Work.

Analysis of the Data

The above represents an excellent illustration of Uncle Al's observation. "By doing certain things certain results follow." What certain things are done? The LBRP utilizes sounds (various names of the ineffable gleaned from QBL), breath work (the practitioner is meant to breath in rhythm with the creation of pentagrams, never mind the heavy breath work involved in "vibrating" the names), movements (the practitioner makes various “grade signs” representative of the elements, projection of psychic power, and the keeping of silence, as well as motion along the magus' own axis) and visualization (of pentagrams, angels and the hexagram). What follows is a strong sense of center and what can be called (for lack of a better term) "holiness." The process eradicates the mundane world from their working environment. The practitioner is thus able to carry out their work without thinking of what they watched on television last night or how they'll spend their upcoming raise or the argument they had with socialist newspaper salesman.

It must emphatically be stated that the LBRP does not derive its power from tracing pentagrams in the air, Hebrew nonsense or anything else explicitly in the ritual. Rather the LBPR, like all ritual, derives its power from what is sometimes called juju, or, more simply, belief. Belief is not a kind of magickal wishful thinking, but rather the cornerstone of magical praxis. The magician must quite literally believe that everything s/he does in a ritual results in the desired effect, just as surely as water poured on fire will extinguish the flame. This is perhaps best thought of as belief in the self- one's powers, one's magic, one's particular spell or ritual. Again, the point here is not wishful thinking but a state of deep belief akin to what you know about the sun coming up tomorrow. However, as Crowley warns above, objective belief is problematic for a magician. Examples of occultists who degenerate in paranoia and "cosmic foo foo" are legion and hardly worth retelling here. A magickian needs subjective, temporary belief tapped only for the exercise. Perhaps the most important and hardest to acquire magical skill is the ability to believe anything for the time being, leaving the rational mind to the mundane world of reason.

Having seen a clear example of exactly what Al is driving at (no small feat) we can now proceed to the practical application of this knowledge. Metatextual interpretation of the LBRP opens the door to construction of one's own banishing ritual, disregarding the rather over-simplified instructions of Peter J. Carroll. Taking this deconstruction and applying my own personal, custom-designed occult practices, I have created my own version of the LBRP which I find to be far more useful than the store bought version. The point is here is not to get everyone doing my banishing (though, if you'd like, I suspect it will work better the more people utilize it), but rather to provide a concrete example of what can be done when one really understands that "by doing certain things certain results follow."

Banishing by Tesseract: An EsoTech Banishing

0. Formulation ov Thee Holy Tesseract

Stand in the center of thy temple armed with thee magickal dagger. Let hir formulate thee Holy Tesseract thusly:

i. Visualize cubes forming above thy head and below thy feet. When thou hast visualized thee cubes strongly so that thou can see their true existence, intone thee words NONCF KHYS as thou knowest how. As thou utters thee words ov power, feel a cord ov thee power ov thee Ineffable Name fill thyself from head to toe creating thee first axis ov thee Tesseract.

ii. Visualize cubes forming to thy right and then thy left. When thou hast visualized thee cubes strongly so that thou can see their true existence, intone thee word ADOHY as thou knowest how. As thou utters thee word ov power, feel a cord ov thee power ov thee Ineffable Name fill thyself from right to left at the level of thy shoulders, creating thee second axis ov thee Tesseract.

iii. Visualize cubes forming in front of and in back of thyself. When thou hast visualized thee cubes strongly so that thou can see their true existence, intone thee word LONSA as thou knowest how. As thou utters thee word ov power, feel a cord ov thee power ov thee Ineffable Name fill thyself from front to back through thy heart, creating thee third axis ov thee Tesseract.

iv. Visualize cubes forming in thy future and in thy past. When thou hast visualized thee cubes strongly so that thou can see their true existence, intone thee word YOYAD as thou knowest how. As thou utters thee word ov power, feel a cord ov thee power ov thee Ineffable Name fill thyself from Alpha to Omega, creating thee fourth axis ov thee Tesseract.

v. Visualuze a cube at thy center uniting all previous cubes into Thee Holy Tesseact, with thou Anahata cakra as thee center. Fill thyself filled with thee power ov thee Tesseract, grounding thyself but extending out into all infinity. Make thee Sign ov Silence as thou knowest how, hearing thee Perfect Silence ov thee Ineffable Name.

1. Crafting Thee Sacred Temple

Let the practitioner face thee east with magickal dagger. Let hir craft thee Sacred Temple thusly:

i. Trace thee Pentagram ov Air, intoning thee words ORO IBAH AOZPI as thou knowest how. Make thee Gesture ov Air.

ii. Trace thee Pentagram ov Fire, intoning thee words OIP TEAA PDOCE as thou knowest how. Make thee Gesture ov Fire.

iii. Trace thee Pentragram ov Water, intoning thee words MPH ARSL GAIOL as thou knowest how. Make thee Gesture ov Water.

iv. Trace thee Pentagram ov Earth, intoning thee words MOR DIAL HCTGA as thou knowest how. Make thee Gesture ov Earth.

v. Visualize thee Pentagrams stongly, as large flaming objects deterring thee interference of baser elements.

2. Calling ov Thee Great Elemental Kings and Queens

Assume thee position ov thee Holy Tesseract. Call upon thee Great Elemental Kings thusly:

i. Intone thee word BATAIVAH as thou knowest how. Feel thee presence ov thee Great Elemental King ov Air, attempting not to gaze upon His ineffable beauty but rather to feel thee energy ov His presence.

ii. Intone thee word EDLPRNAA as thou knowest how. Feel thee presence ov thee Great Elemental King ov Fire, attempting not to gaze upon His ineffable beauty but rather to feel thee space ov His presence.

iii. Intone thee word RAAGIOSL as thou knowest how. Feel thee presence ov thee Great Elemental Queen ov Water, attempting not to gaze upon Her ineffable beauty but rather to feel thee fluidity ov Her presence.

iv. Intone thee word ICZHIHAL as thou knowest how. Feel thee presence ov thee Great Elemental Queen ov Earth, attempting not to gaze upon Her ineffable beauty but rather to feel thee solidity ov Her presence.

3. Completion ov Thee Sacred Temple.

v. Intone thee words DS BYAH ASPS O NOKO as thou knowest how. See thee Pentagrams shine around thyself, brighter than ever before. See them fit together around thyself, as if forming four walls.

vi.Intone thee words MYKMA VNAL YALPOR OYVEAE as thou knowest how. See thee Hexagrams shining above, below and within thyself, completing thee construction of Thee Sacred Temple.

4. Repeat (0), recentering thyself within Thee Sacred Temple, feeling thee protection ov Thee Great Elemental Kings and Queens around thyself.

5. Having formulated thee Holy Tesseract again, make thee Sign ov Silence as thou foldest thee cubes into one another forming thee Holy Hypercube, which is just another form ov thee Tesseract.

6. Go forward to do thy Work.

What of it?

Just another version of the LBRP? Of course not. The point is to provide a practical example of what one can do when one truly understands the operating principles of magic. If the LBRP has never worked for you, it is unlikely that finding your own specific formulation of it is going to do much good. At the same time, experience has shown me that personally created and customized rituals work better if only because I am able to shift more subjective belief into them. Why stop at redesigning others rituals for your own purpose? Why not create one's own rituals? Why not come up with whole new kinds of ritual that break the ceremonial magic format? While a number of books available which deconstruct the component parts of a ritual, but why waste your money? Enough practice and experience in the esoteric arts will provide one with the necessary understanding of ritual components to begin constructing their own out of whole cloth. The easiest way to learn the components of a ritual is to practice as many rituals as possible. One then gains an understanding of the praxis and is able to formulate one's own praxis. While not endorsing the excesses of the Voudon Gnostic Workbook, why not create your own designer syncretic religion? Magic is not blindly bleating the rituals of boring, long dead pedophiles, or the general silliness and vacuousness that chaos magic and eclectic paganism have long since proved that they have to offer. It is possible to simultaneously connect with deep, powerful traditions and create one's own interpretation of them. In this regard, it seems that (as was his habit) To Mega Therion wrote better than he knew.

But within understanding the "meta" of reading magical rituals and occult texts lies a further level of "meta." Consider not the realization the Sephiroth and spirits are nothing more than metaphors, but the active creation of one's own unique metaphysical spaces. Enochian (the Angelic language of John Dee used in the above banishing ritual) represents an example of myth creation. While descended not only from the obvious sources Coptic and Ethiopian, it also comes from a long standing European tradition of barbarous tongues as well as the mind of Ed Kelley. The language was kicked around Europe unused for several generations before the Golden Dawn picked it up and began using it for advanced ceremonial magic. Aleister Crowley ignored the ceremonial trappings of the G.'.D.'. and instead used it as a literally magical language- that is to say a language capable of causing change in conformity with will on its own. Crowley divorced Enochian from ceremonial magic, giving the system a transcendent quality that is seen in few other systems. This represented not merely a shift in thinking but a qualitatively different system capable of operating within and alongside any number of other practices. Similarly, I have constructed a personal QBL using the idea of Sephiroth but rejecting categories that I scarcely comprehend. I do not know what "splendour" or "victory" are, but I know what space, time, will, energy, etc. are. One can embrace the idea of spheres of existence while rejecting the ready made categories of mediaeval Europe, just as Crowley embraced Enochian while rejecting the ceremonial pomp previously associated with it. Thus, a magical practice that I had little use for (QBL) became useful when I redesigned it for my own purposes

Thus not only are the rituals open source, but belief systems as well open source. Crowley himself demonstrates this not only with his words above, but his deeds. Despite the many failures of the man, the excesses of his followers and the sheer boring praxis associated with Thelema, Crowley was one of the first magicians to truly tap the psychic river of energy that subjective belief represents. The occult community would do well to emulate his "meta" understandings and his willingness to play around with belief. Actively working with belief- creating it as well as using what already exists- not only innovates the practice of magic, but also makes it more fun. Most importantly, creating one's own rituals, spells and psychic filing cabinets (such as a personal QBL or Tarot) reclaim theory and praxis of magic from new age booksellers, occult brotherhoods and other institutions that have attempted to make magic into a commodity or subculture. Creative belief allows the practitioner to reclaim hir rightful place in a lineage running from the reality engineers of ancient shamanism through to more contemporary tinkerers like Austin Osman Spare and William Seward Burroughs. Indeed, any magic without experimentation, customization and good old fashioned juju may not be worthy of the name.

Posted by Ulysses Lazarus at March 26, 2007 12:14 PM