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NMR ISSUE 8
Astrological
Forecast 8
Book of Troth
Coyote, Flicker
& Sturgeon
Editorial
Futhark Edred
Thorsson
Gimli
Here We Go Again
Holaf Festival
Lammas
Invocation to
Artemis
Invocation to the
Goddess
Lady of the Moon
Lazaris: A Question
on Magick and Wicca
Letters 8
Rune Might Edred
Thorsson
Support a Hebrew
Pantheon
The Alchemy of Basic
Ritual
The Magic of
Chocolate
The Oldest Magick
The Witches' God
The Zodiac Star
Was Jesus A Pagan?
Articles
Authors
Rituals
Book
Reviews
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The Alchemy of Basic Ritual
Connie S. Mizrachi
Simple magickal ritual can be effective tool in the willed transformation of the self. There are, however, reasons for our difficulties and we cannot simply do a ritual and have them disappear immediately. These sort of inner works at first draws out and focuses on the negative in order to create opportunities for change. If we are banishing impatience we might find ourselves in more traffic jams and long lines at the grocery store. As Noel Tyl explains in volume 11 of The Principles and Practice of Astrology, "Magick of any kind, through ceremony, works to identify the self with the Law, the Logos, what is yet to be learned. It symbolically states the openness of the practitioner, his readiness to be filled with strengths of many kinds. At the same time, any ceremony focused upon self awareness will reveal the self's deficiencies, its particular pressing needs."
As an astrologer, I have found that human problems are usually created by imbalance. Once one sees a problem in polarity, one can reduce it to symbols and work with it more easily. For example, if someone has a problem with excessive anger, one can see it as a Mars problem. One can then locate it in the natal chart or by a transit of Mars contacting a point in the natal chart. Thus we have the end of the polarity that this person wishes to banish. One can see the symbol as a bright red flaming glyph of Mars (). To balance the anger of Mars, the person needs to invoke the energy of Venus—harmony, peace and cooperation ().
This basic polarity ritual is of three parts; banishing, affirmation and invoking. I recommend the Lesser Banishing Ritual of the Pentagram as described in detail on pages 34-43 of Donald M. Kraig's Modern Magick. In our example, as we banish through the pentagram at the east Quarter while vibrating the God-name, we see the Mars glyph whirled away by a strong wind. At the South, we see it enveloped in flames, receding and disappearing. To the West, we see it taken by waves of a bottomless sea out to infinity. At the North, we see it fall through the Earth into deep space.
The second part, affirmation, proclaims that we have banished the problem at hand and are now ready to invoke the peace and harmony of Venus. Here is an example:
Procul Este Profant! [begone, unholy ones!] In the name of (vibrate the divine names appropriate to the purpose) I proclaim that I have banished Anger from my heart. I am now ready to receive the blessing of inner peace and harmony. This is my will, so Mote it Be!
Now we are ready for part three, invoking. When drawing back through the pentagram at the East, we pull in the clearly visualized symbol we have chosen for peace and harmony. It can be the glyph of Venus, a white dove, an image of the Christ or any other symbol appropriate to the practitioner. The symbol-image is drawn in through the Elements at each Quarter. As |
