I’ve posted a new video on YouTube about the next steps to take in the LBRP once a student is comfortable with the mechanics of the ritual itself. I cover some minor quibbles about ritual performance, discuss visualizations, and then talk about the specific use cases for the LBRP.

For those of you who prefer to consume your information by reading rather than by watching videos, here’s a summary rundown.

  • While words other than divine and angelic names are not generally vibrated in Golden Dawn magic, the Qabalistic Cross is a notable exception.  Although the original manuscripts instruct only to say the words, today, by tradition, the words of the Qabalistic Cross are vibrated as well.
  • Note that the Qabalistic Cross is an equal-armed cross, not the familiar Calvary cross. It additionally touches the right shoulder first, whereas the customary Christian gesture of crossing oneself begins with the left shoulder.  Unlike the usual crossing gesture, this also isn’t “spectacles, testicles, wallet and watch” — if you reach your testicles, you’ve gone too far!  You’re aiming for somewhere between the bottom of your sternum and your bellybutton.  Keep those cross arms equal.
  • Now that you’re comfortable with the mechanics, it’s time to add visualizations. But don’t be too quick to add visualizations before you get the basics down: you don’t want to be focusing so much on your visualizations that you forget what you’re supposed to be doing. Note that ALL visualization is a matter of tradition–it was never part of the original writings on the LBRP when they were given to Neophytes of the Golden Dawn–and there’s significant variation out there as far as the specifics of visualization. In the video, I talk through the visualization that works for me.
  • The pentagrams should be visualized in a flaming light. In Liber O, Aleister Crowley, an initiate of the original order, relates that the pentagrams should “appear in flame”.  Regardie elaborated on this and said that the pentagrams should be visualized as “flaming figures of bluish-golden hue similar to that produced by igniting methylated spirit”.  There’s been a somewhat ridiculous amount of discourse on this subject, but the bottom line is that whether you visualize the pentagrams as the blue of a gas-jet flame, the golden color of a candle flame, or simply a brilliant white light, do whatever works best for you.  The core idea here is that the pentagrams should be flaming ones; the specific color of that flame is less important.
  • Some sources say that you should visualize the Archangels facing outward and away from you when banishing, and facing toward you when invoking. In practice, I have not found this to make any difference, and I always visualize them facing me.
  • The LBRP literally grounds or “earths” you. It is used as a preliminary and concluding ceremony in every other Golden Dawn ritual, and serves the same purpose as the magic circle in grimoiric magic.
  • Per Regardie, the LBRP is also used to get rid of disturbing or obsessive thoughts, and as an exercise in concentration–but these uses are secondary. Grounding and protection, and sweeping away the astral dust bunnies, are the primary use cases.