Ch.9 The Mighty Ones (WMB 9.c)
Extract from: Wicca: Magical Beginnings written by d’Este & Rankine, 2008 (Avalonia.) PB / Kindle @ https://amzn.to/3Ay4HJr.
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This ritual was created by members of the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn in the late nineteenth century and has become one of the most popular and significant rituals in ceremonial magick. It is also one which was adopted by some Wiccans, notably Alex Sanders and those who followed in his footsteps, and incorporated in full or in part into Wiccan ceremonies. This is also a practice which we find in Ye Bok of ye Art Magickal in the early writings of Gardner.
The Lesser Banishing Ritual of the Pentagram comprises four parts, of which the relevant parts for consideration are the second and third. The first part, the Qabalistic Cross, is a centring exercise, and is repeated as the fourth part of the ritual. The second part is the vibration of divine names, where a banishing pentagram of Earth is drawn at each cardinal point with the vibration of Qabalistic divine names. A banishing pentagram of Earth is one which starts at the bottom left point and begins with an upward stroke to the top point. The opposite of this is the invoking Earth pentagram used in the invoking version of the Lesser Banishing Ritual of the Pentagram, and also in calling the Lords of the Watchtowers. A blue circle of fire is also traced with the hand and visualised joining the four pentagrams set as wards at the cardinal points.
The third part of the ritual is the calling of the elemental archangels, starting in the East with Raphael, invoking in turn also Gabriel (West), Michael (South) and Uriel (North) as guardians at the cardinal points. This does not follow the deosil invocations subsequently seen being used in the Wiccan tradition, and the archangels invoked correspond to the four elements.
From these archangels we thus see the four colours which are most often used in the Wiccan tradition today to correspond to the four elements and their respective directions. Some covens prefer to call on these archangels as the guardians of the cardinal points rather than the traditional Lords of the watchtowers.
Extract from: Wicca: Magical Beginnings written by d’Este & Rankine, 2008 (Avalonia.) PB / Kindle @ https://amzn.to/3Ay4HJr. Shared here with the intention to inspire and inform the now and future generations interested in Wicca and other Pagan traditions inspired by it.
