What is Banishing?

Banishing is one of the core skills that all witches, sorcerers and people who do magick of any kind are required to develop early on in their journey. 

Banishing spells are designed to drive away anything the magic-user feels is a threat or a nuisance; unwanted energy, a person, an obstacle, a debt, a disease, an addiction, a bad habit, etc.

In ceremonial magic, banishing refers to one or more rituals intended to remove non-physical influences ranging from spirits to negative influences. Although banishing rituals are often used as components of more complex ceremonies, they can also be performed by themselves.

In Wicca and various forms of neopaganism, banishing is performed before casting a Circle in order to purify the area where the ritual or magic is about to take place. In his books on Nocturnal Witchcraft, for example, Konstantinos recommends performing banishings regularly, in order to keep the magical workspace free of negativity, and to become proficient in banishing before attempting acts that are much more spiritually taxing on the body, such as magical spellworking. Banishing can be viewed as one of several techniques of magick, closely related to ritual purification and a typical prerequisite for consecration and invocation.

For actual workings Aleister Crowley recommends a short, general banishing, with a comment that "in more elaborate ceremonies it is usual to banish everything by name." 

Crowley also recommended that a banishing ritual be done at least once daily by Thelema in Liber Aleph vel CXI.

In the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, the Lesser Banishing Ritual of the Pentagram (LBRP for shorthand) must be learned by the Neophyte before moving on to the next grade (Zelator).

While some traditions frown upon banishing as manipulative magic on the theory that it impacts the free will of another, if your tradition has no prohibitions against such things, then there’s no reason you can’t do a banishing to get rid of negativity.

• A banishing can be carried out on a home, sending away unwanted energies and attendance, displeasure, stress, etc.
• A banishing can be performed on a person to send away an addiction, negative energy or influence that another person has on him or her.
• Banishing is also performed on items to get rid of the connection with previous owners. Or to remove and recharge the energy for a new purpose or goal.
• The term cleansing refers to a banishing that is done to remove unwanted energies from a person, location, or object. The term exorcism is used to describe a banishing for an unwanted entity.

There are a number of different methods to accomplishing a successful banishing. Which one you choose will vary, depending on how comfortable you are with the different techniques, and what you’re trying to achieve.

For many banishing spells, an object is chosen to represent the person, idea, thing or energy to be banished. This item is then charged or programed to represent the target using various means and then symbolically sent away.  Running water, such as a river, is often utilized in this way. Use fire to burn a symbol of whatever it is you wish to be rid of, or earth to bury it.

ELEMENTAL BANISHING

A popular method of banishing is the use of the various elements, in particular the use of fire or water.

Fire can be used as a method of purification and cleansing by way of destruction.

Water is used in a number of religions for a variety of purposes, including banishing. You can make your own consecrated water for use in rituals.

If you are banishing energy from your person, a ritual bath may be in order.

Salt is also a great tool for banishing. In some magical traditions, it represents earth, and has been used for centuries to get rid of negative energy. In some folk magic traditions, black salt - a blend of sea salt and another item such as charcoal - is used as a protective barrier.

What is your favorite method?

Also read:

• How Sacred Rituals can transform your daily life
• The threat of Psychic Attacks
• Scrying, The Ancient Art of Revelation

Lesser Banishing Ritual of the Pentagram

The Lesser Banishing Ritual of the Pentagram (or LBRP) is a ceremonial magic ritual devised and used by the original order of the Golden Dawn that has become a mainstay in modern occultism. This ritual is considered by many to be a basic preliminary to any other magical work, so much that it was the only ritual, beside initiation rituals, taught to members of the Golden Dawn before they advanced to the Inner Order.

Description and structure

The ritual is highly dynamic, using gesture, visualization and the pronunciation of certain words of power, combining prayer and invocation as well as clearing and preparing a space for further magical or meditative work. The ritual is perceived as banishing any "chaotic" and "impure" forms of the elements from the magician's circle tracing the Pentagrams in the air and by the power of certain Divine names followed by an invocation of the spiritual forces ruling the elements to fortify and guard the circle.

The principal components of the Qabalistic Cross and the LBRP are drawn from the works of French occultist Eliphas Levi. The text originated as a traditional Jewish prayer said before sleeping, as documented by Rabbi Samson Raphael Hirsch in The Hirsch Siddur [Feldheim Publishing, 1969], which reads as follows:

In the Name of God, the God of Yisrael: may Michael be at my right hand, Gabriel at my left, Uriel before me, Raphael behind me, and above my head, the presence of God.

The ritual

Although some orders suggest that magical equipment is needed to perform the LBRP, the original Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn did not use any. However a modern approach might include the following:

• An altar in the center of the ritual space, upon which are placed instruments representing the four Classical elements
• A ceremonial robe (e.g. a tau robe) or other suitable ritual garb worn by the magician
• A ritual dagger or sword (e.g. an "athame"), or a wand, used to gesture to the points of the Qabalistic Cross, and to draw the pentagrams and the magic circle connecting them.

The Golden Dawn LBRP consists of three main parts, in this order:

1. Qabalistic Cross, sometimes repeated at the end of the LBRP. This is meant to construct an astral cross in the body of the magician, with points corresponding to Sephiroth on the Tree of Life. While constructing this cross, the magician vibrates Hebrew words from the last few lines of the Lord's Prayer (Thine is the kingdom, etc.).
2. Formulation of the Pentagrams, in which a banishing earth pentagram (for the Banishing Ritual) or an invoking pentagram (for the Invoking Ritual) is drawn in the air at each of the four cardinal points and an associated name of God is vibrated (YHVH, ADNI, AHIH and AGLA for East, South, West and North respectively). This segment of the ritual is meant to banish or invoke the four elements (Air, Fire, Water and Earth respectively). The four pentagrams are connected by a circle, also drawn in the air.
3. Invocation of the Archangels, during which the magician declares the Archangels Raphael, Gabriel, Michael and Uriel (or Auriel) to be present, while visualizing them at the four cardinal points.

Some traditions, in order to distance themselves from the Judeo-Christian content of the ritual, replace the Qabalistic Cross, names of God and archangels with suitable substitutes; using, for example, the chakra system instead of the Tree of Life, mantras instead of God names, etc. Magicians practising Thelemic magick will often intone the name Aiwass at the heart while performing the Qabalistic cross, as reinforcing their commitment to the presiding intelligence of Liber AL.

Scrying, The Ancient Art of Revelation

“People of Orphalese, beauty is life when life unveils her holy face. But you are life and you are the veil. Beauty is eternity gazing at itself in a mirror. But you are eternity and you are the mirror.”

–Kahlil Gibran

Scrying is the occult practice of using a medium, most commonly a reflective surface or translucent body, to aid perceived psychic abilities such as clairvoyance. The media often used to "see" are water, polished precious stones, crystal balls, or mirrors. There are some who believe the art of scrying is not limited to the use of "reflective" or "translucent" bodies only, but includes other media. 

Scrying comes from the Old English word descry meaning "to make out dimly" or "to reveal." Adding the prefix/suffix 'be' (often 'gye' in Germanic languages), gives us the modern word 'describe'.

The objective might be personal guidance, prophecy, revelation, or inspiration, but down the ages, scrying in various forms also has been a prominent means of divination or fortune-telling. It remains popular in occult circles, discussed in many websites, and books; both modern and centuries old.

Scrying has been used for thousands of years by different cultures. Ancient Egypt used scrying in their Initiations. This included water scrying, dream scrying, oil scrying, and mirror scrying. One legend states that the goddess Hathor carried a shield that could reflect back all things in their true light. From this shield she allegedly fashioned the first magic mirror to "see."

One of the earliest written works of scrying comes from The Shahnameh, a historical epic work written in the late 10th century. Used in pre-Islamic Persia the epic gives a description of the Cup of Jamshid or Jaam-e Jam, as a cup of divination which, according to mythology, was long possessed by the rulers of ancient Greater Iran. The cup was filled with an elixir of immortality and was used for scrying. Ali-Akbar Dehkhoda explains that one could observe all the seven heavens of the universe by looking into the elixir and the whole world was reflected in it. In popular stories such as The Heroic Legend of Arslan, the cup is depicted as a crystal ball. Helen Zimmern's English translation of the Shahnameh uses the term "crystal globe".

Ancient Greeks practiced scrying using beryl, crystal, black glass, polished quartz, water, and other transparent or light catching bodies. 

In 1958, Classical Greek archaeologist, Sotiris Dakaris discovered a scrying center near the Dodona oracle. This temple was described by Homer and Herodotus, as a place where people would sit in complete darkness while awaiting their turn in front of the oracle. An extensive maze led to a long hallway where the 'gazing' would take place. Dakaris found the remnants of a bronze cauldron ringed with a banister which made it appear that people stand around the cauldron and gaze into it's contents for enlightenment or visions.

Dakaris also describes psychomanteums (sometimes spelled as psychomantium) used by ancient Greeks. These are mirrored rooms designed to communicate with the spiritual realm. 

Pausanias was a Greek traveler and geographer of the 2nd century AD. He is famous for his Description of Greece is a ten book series that is dedicated to some portion of Greece from firsthand observations. In his observations of Patras, he writes:

Before the Temple of Ceres at Patras, there was a fountain, separated from the temple by a wall, and there was an oracle, very truthful, not for all events, but for the sick only. The sick person let down a mirror, suspended by a thread till its based touched the surface of the water, having first prayed to the goddess and offered incense. Then looking in the mirror, he saw the presage of death or recovery, according as the face appeared fresh and healthy, or of a ghastly aspect.

One of the most detailed examples of oil scrying are written in the Greek Magical Papyri written in Egypt between 200 B.C. and A.D. 500. This method of scrying is traced back to ancient Babylonians and found its way to the Egyptians and Hebrews.

Cloud scrying was actually used by the ancient Celtic Druids in order to further their intuition. Instead of looking for specific shapes in the clouds, they would allow the clouds to spontaneously form and give spiritual images for insight in battles, spiritual rites, or the harvest.

In A.D. 312 when Emperor Constantine was marching against the army of Maxentius at Rome, both he and his entire army saw a shining cross of light amid the clouds. This form of cloud scrying has been used as a form of divination around the world. Clouds are said to be the written messages of the Heavens, foretelling the outcome of current events. This is also the predecessor to the modern childs game of seeing objects in the clouds.

There was an entire Aztec cult dedicated to the god Tezcatlipoca, which literally translated means ‘smoking mirror’ or ‘lord of the smoking mirror’, whereby priests would use flat black obsidian mirrors for obtaining their visions (black being the color of Tezcatlipoca reserved only by priests and also represented strength). 

Franciscan Friar Bernardino de Sahagún, who collected ethnographies in the New World, once commented about Tezcatlipoca, “like thewind he is invisible and, like a shadow he moves across the land.” Within the mythology itself Tezcatlipoca’s omniscient powers derived from the implementation of his obsidian mirror in which he was able to know everything and ‘see into the hearts of men.’

Native Americans used a form of scrying by way of rising smoke. This isn't just the stereotypical movie version where a blanket is draped over a small fire and then lifted to release the smoke. Rather watching the rising smoke from a flame and divining images held within the smoke stream.

Nostradamus is believed to have employed a small bowl of water as a scrying tool into which he gazed and received images of future events. 

Alchemists Edward Kelley and John Dee employed a form of scrying using a small crystal ball or shewstone - a piece of polished obsidian. The crystal ball and wax tablets used by Dee and Kelley are on display at the British Museum in London.

This powerful tool is now even being used for therapeutic purposes, as Dr. Raymond Moody has utilized scrying techniques to allow people to access an altered state of consciousness so they can connect with the spirit world and departed loved ones.

One class of methods of scrying involves a self-induced trance, with or without the aid of a medium such as a crystal ball. Some say that the sensation is drug-like, some that various drugs can potentiate the experience; others categorically exclude any connection with drug usage, claiming that it invalidates any images observed.

Many practitioners say that the scrying medium initially serves to focus attention, removing unwanted thoughts from the mind in much the same way as repetition of a mantra, concentration on a mandala, inducing the relaxation response, or possibly by hypnosis. Once this stage is achieved, the scryer may begin free association with the perceived images. The technique of deliberately looking for and declaring these initial images aloud, however trivial or irrelevant they may seem to the conscious mind, attempts to deepen the trance state. In this state some scryers hear their own disassociated voices affirming what they see, in a mental feedback loop.

Practitioners apply the process until they achieve a satisfactory state of perception in which rich visual images and dramatic stories seem to be projected within the medium itself, or in the mind's eye of the scryer. 

What each person sees is different. Some readers see only colours and light from which they can divine meaning. Others see shapes or cloudy figures in their visions. Still, others get perfectly clear images they are able to remember. It is very personal and there is no one right answer.

More than what a person sees, how they interpret the images varies as well. Depending on what you are seeing, whether colours or full scenes, will inform what you take away from it. Some people use scrying to get a feeling for a situation while others are able to read symbols and explain the meaning behind them.

You don’t have to do either. Scrying can just be a meditative process for you. This form of divination can also just help you relax your mind and find your inner self.

Scrying helps us to get in touch with our unconscious minds: the realm of the soul. As such, it can be used as a powerful form of self-understanding and psychoanalysis. If you’re struggling to find direction, meaning or purpose in life, scrying could be a wonderful way to get in touch with your core needs, dreams and goals.

Also read:

• The Folklore Of Iron
• Key Symbolism and Meaning
• Origins of the Magicians 

The Awakening of Consciousness

It is necessary to know that humanity lives with its Consciousness asleep. People work asleep. People walk through the streets asleep. People live and die asleep. When we come to the conclusion that the entire world lives asleep, then we comprehend the necessity of awakening. We need the awakening of the Consciousness. We want the awakening of the Consciousness.

Fascination: 

The profound sleep in which humanity lives is caused by fascination. People are fascinated by everything in life. People forget their Selves because they are fascinated. 

The drunkard in the bar is fascinated with the alcohol, the place, the pleasures, his friends and the women. The vain woman in front of a mirror is fascinated with her own glamour. The rich avaricious person is fascinated with money and possessions. The honest worker in the factory is fascinated with the hard work. The father of the family is fascinated with his children. All human beings are fascinated and sleep profoundly.

When driving a car we are astonished when we see people dashing across the roads and streets without paying attention to the danger of the running cars. Others willfully throw themselves under the wheels of cars. Poor people... they walk asleep, they look like sleepwalkers. They walk asleep, endangering their own lives. Any clairvoyant can see their dreams. People dream with all that keeps them fascinated.

Sleep: 

During the physical body’s sleep, the ego escapes from it. This departure of the ego is necessary so that the Vital Body can repair the physical body. However, in the Internal Worlds we can asseverate that the ego takes its dreams into the Internal Worlds. 

Thus, while in the Internal Worlds the ego occupies itself with the same things which keep it fascinated in the physical world. Therefore, during a sound sleep we see the carpenter in his carpentry shop, the policeman guarding the streets, the barber in his barbershop, the blacksmith at his forge, the drunkard in the tavern or bar, the prostitute in the house of pleasures, absorbed in lust, etc. All these people live in the Internal Worlds as if they were in the physical world.

During his sleep, not a single living being has the inkling to ask himself whether he is in the physical or Astral World. However, those who have asked themselves such a question during sleep, have awoken in the Internal Worlds. Then, with amazement, they have been able to study all the marvels of the Superior Worlds. 

It is only possible for us to ask such a question of ourselves in the Superior Worlds (during those hours of sleep) if we accustom ourselves to ask this question from moment to moment during the so-called vigil state. Evidently, during our sleep we repeat everything that we do during the day. Therefore, if during the day we accustom ourselves to asking this question, then, during our nocturnal sleep (while being outside of the body) we will consequently repeat the same question to ourselves. Thus, the outcome will be the awakening of the Consciousness.

Remembering Oneself: 

The human being in his fascinated trance does not remember his Self. We must Self-remember our Selves from moment to moment. We need to Self-remember our Selves in the presence of every representation that could fascinate us. 

Let us hold ourselves while in front of any representation and ask ourselves: Where am I? Am I in the physical plane? Am I in the Astral Plane? Then, give a little jump with the intention of floating within the surrounding atmosphere. It is logical that if you float it is because you are outside the physical body. Thus, the outcome will be the awakening of Consciousness. 

The purpose of asking this question at every instant, at every moment is with the intention of engraving it within the subconsciousness, so that it may manifest later during the hours given to sleep, hours when the ego is really outside the physical body. You must know that in the Astral Plane, things appear just as they are here in this physical plane. This is why during sleep, and after death, people see everything there in a form very similar to this physical world. This is why they do not even suspect that they are outside of their physical body. 

Therefore, no dead person ever believes himself to have died because he is fascinated and profoundly asleep. 

If the dead had made a practice of remembering themselves from moment to moment when they were alive, if they had struggled against the fascination of the things of the world, the outcome would have been the awakening of their Consciousness. They would not dream. They would walk in the Internal Worlds with awakened Consciousness.

• Whosoever awakens the Consciousness can study all the marvels of the Superior Worlds during the hours of sleep. 
• Whosoever awakens the Consciousness lives in the Superior Worlds as a totally awakened citizen of the cosmos. One then coexists with the great hierophants of the White Lodge.
• Whosoever awakens the Consciousness can no longer dream here in this physical plane or in the Internal Worlds.
• Whosoever awakens the Consciousness stops dreaming.
• Whosoever awakens the Consciousness becomes a competent investigator of the Superior Worlds.
• Whosoever awakens Consciousness is an illuminated one.
• Whosoever awakens the Consciousness can study at the feet of the master.
• Whosoever awakens the Consciousness can talk familiarly with the Gods who initiated the dawn of creation.
• Whosoever awakens the Consciousness can remember his innumerable reincarnations.
• Whosoever awakens the Consciousness can consciously attend his own cosmic initiations.
• Whosoever awakens the Consciousness can study in the temples of the great White Lodge.
• Whosoever awakens the Consciousness can know in the Superior Worlds the evolution of his Kundalini.

Every Perfect Matrimony must awaken the Consciousness in order to receive guidance and direction from the White Lodge. In the Superior Worlds the masters will wisely guide all those who really love one another. In the Superior Worlds the masters give to each one that which one needs for his inner development.

The Perfect Matrimony  by Samael Aún Weor 

Also read:

• Jinn State, The Elemental Art
• Primary Clairaudient and Clairvoyant Experiences
• The Still Small Voice by Samael Aun Weor
• The mystical sound of the cricket and astral projection practices

Saturn, The Lord Of Time And Karma Goes Retrograde

It takes Saturn much longer to travel around the sun than Earth, about 30 years. Just as we spend about a month in each astrological sign during our solar journey, Saturn spends about three years passing through each sign. For instance, Earth just moved from Pisces into Aries. In December of 2017, Saturn entered Capricorn. And this is especially significant because Saturn rules Capricorn, and the next sign, too, which is Aquarius.

Saturn is turning retrograde, moving backward through its home sign of Capricorn from April 17 to September 6, 2018. This planet of order's retrograde period is a time to cultivate discipline, patience, and self-restraint.

Normally, Saturn is something of a celestial disciplinarian in astrology.

Saturn is known as the lord of time and karma; the embodiment of what goes around, comes around. And it’s during the retrograde period that karma is “sorted out.” Past, present, and future blur into one. If you have been bad in the past, then at a certain predestined time, an event will occur to teach you a lesson. If you been good in the past, then at a predestined time, an event will occur to reward you for your good deeds. With Saturn in retrograde motion, the karma will relate to how responsible you have been in the past.

The lessons associated with Saturn retrograde relate to your thoughts and words. Saturn retrograde 2018 will be especially challenging if you have a history of teasing or verbally abusing people. 

Saturn retrograde shows the areas of life, or the personality traits and behaviors, which specifically need extra development. It will teach us the importance of being mindful and acting correctly from the beginning, as every decision will have lasting and sometimes unexpected effects.

Saturn retrograde in your natal chart means there was a problem with self-discipline or avoiding responsibility in a former life. Due to illness, immaturity or disrespect, you may have neglected looking after your loved ones. Perhaps you failed to earn a living to support your parents, or ran out on your partner and children. There will be some lessons or extra effort required this life to pay back this karmic debt. You must learn the lessons so you don’t have to go through this difficult cycle again.

From now until Saturn direct on September 6 is the phase where you learn your lessons. The lessons you learn might be hard but they will be valuable.

The greatest Saturn nature is disciplined, responsible, stable, respectful and reliable.

Gloomy thoughts, bad news or loneliness are possible even if you have been perfectly nice to all you meet. If you are prone to low moods or depression, Saturn retrograde 2018 may intensify your negative thinking. You may find it harder to get bad thoughts out of your head.

Saturn retrograde 2018 will help you recognize your own depressive moods and negative thought patterns. This is a great opportunity to erase any negative and destructive ideas about yourself and your life that have played over and over in your brain for years.

Now is a great time to either learn or further cultivate patience, so be very deliberate in your actions and choices. There’s no rush. Feeling impulsive? Hold back a little. Go nice and easy and don’t lose your discipline. The more slowly you move, the more focused you will be. You will need that heightened sense of focus and awareness as you come to examine the nature of your karmic contracts.

Saturn also represents limitations. It is a time for us to restructure. Saturn deals with programs, organizations and all things that deal with better systems and processes. It is about duty, loyalty, perseverance, endurance, form, shape, substance, boundaries and  responsibility. It is about being  held accountable to others as well as to yourself. It is about building an empire; creating a solid foundation from which to grow from or toward. Without a solid foundation, we become unstable and cannot fulfill our soul's instruction for this lifetime. We could wander without direction, cause, goals or vision; much less have a dream to hold or work toward.

We often don’t always thinking of love as being a step by step process, but often times when we end up in shaky territory in a relationship, it’s because we didn’t take the time to properly build the foundation together.

Saturn retrograde period will assist you in completing anything that is left undone, unattended to, partially completed or not completed at all. It does not pressure you to do these things, but gives you time to do them.

Saturn going retrograde will possibly be an uncomfortable period of time. And a long one at that. But it’s also a chance to create real magic in your life. Why? Because if you can handle the lessons that Saturn will throw at you over the next few months, you will be able to take charge of your destiny. And not just in this lifetime, but across all time and space.

You are in a place of privilege. You are so close to waking up from the illusion. Seize this moment and go all the way. Deeper, more complex and infinitely glorious mysteries await you on the other side of the illusion. Are you ready?

Also read:

• Saturn in Capricorn 
• Jupiter Retrograde – Purify Body & Soul
• What does Mercury in retrograde mean?
• Millionaires Don’t Need Astrologers, Billionaires Do
• The Dark Side of Each Zodiac Sign

Iceland's first pagan temple in 1000 years ready in late 2018

The God of Thunder is making a triumphant return to Iceland. After 1,000 years without a temple of worship to the Norse gods, Iceland is resurrecting its pagan roots. Here’s everything you need to know about it.

In Iceland, the Ásatrúarfélagið, or Æsir faith, represents the contemporary continuation of Norse paganism. Named after the Norse pagan gods called the Æsir – which includes a pantheon of popular Norse gods such as Odin, Thor, Frigg, and Baldur – the spirits and entities that the folklore represents are also taken into consideration. This contemporary version of the original pagan religion was founded in Iceland in 1972, and was granted recognition as an official religion with the ability to legally conduct ceremonies and collect state tax following the year after.

The religion does not take a stance on politics, nor is there a fixed theology. However, a general pantheism is embraced. With an increase in members in the last few years, the need for an official space in which to officiate ceremonies and gather also heightened. The religion saw a 50% increase in registration of members since 2014, and is the largest non-Christian religious group in Iceland with almost 4,000 members.

In 2008, the Ásatrúarfélagið was granted a plot of land in the wooded Öskjuhlið area of Reykjavík on which to build a temple. Previously, the organisation only had a meeting office and a burial ground. The proposed plot of land is situated in an idyllic location next to a forest filled with walking paths and overlooking Nauthólsvík beach.

Members of the religion celebrated the Winter Solstice in 2017 with a ceremony and feast on the site of the new temple in Öskjuhlið. The current high chieftain, Hilmar Örn Hilmarsson, initiated the ceremony that’s celebrated among many different cultures and is a tradition that predates the first Icelandic settlers and even Christianity.

The architect, Magnús Jensson, has been designing the temple in a timeless aesthetic, with Viking-era connotations in a circular shape built into the surrounding natural features. The design will also take into account the significance of planetary alignments, the golden ratio, and sacred geometry, as is common in many important religious constructions around the world. The construction of the temple, although ready with a proposal since 2008, was delayed because of the financial crisis during the same year. However, construction began in 2015 with plans to complete the project in late 2018.

Also read:

• Krampusnacht will give you the Christmas of your nightmares
• Io, Saturnalia! The Pagan Roman Winter Solstice Festival
• The Yule Goat Pagan Tradition