Exactly what it says on the tin (well, the title). The recording below was made by me and Steve a couple of nights ago (just before our evocation of Leviathan but that, as they say, is another story…). Another group of occultists that we’re associated with had asked for some help with a demonstration of the vowel sounds (I, E, A, O, U) that Pete Carroll uses to build the various banishing rituals in his writing. As with many things in life it’s one thing to read a ritual text and another to see, hear and participate in it for oneself. Once upon a time it may have been necessary to do this kind of transmission of knowledge from mouth to ear but, thanks to digital technology and the miracle of the internet, we can share these technical tips over time and distance easily.

Flaming star

The banishing ritual being demonstrated here is the ‘classic’ (or ‘standard’) Gnostic Pentagram Ritual (GPR). This is the full version which means that it includes the ‘middle pillar’ or axis of five vowel sounds, then four pentagrams (‘traditionally’ the operator turns anticlockwise to each direction to draw these, usually one point uppermost), then the middle pillar again.

Naturally there are many variations of this ritual. My personal favourite is the Gnostic Chaosphere Ritual (GCR) version 1.8. This begins with the same middle pillar process (and includes some bonus stuff to visualise in the form of sigils at each centre if you fancy that), then chaospheres drawn at each of the eight directions. In the GPR the five lines of the pentagram are traced as each of the sounds (I,E,A,O,U) are sung. If you’re drawing a chaosphere in the GCR instead, four vowels are sung as the four lines of the symbol are made, with the last ‘U’ intoned as a circle is drawn in the centre of the intersecting lines to form each chaosphere. Version 1.8 of this ritual means that the middle pillar is performed, then the 8 chaospheres are drawn but the final pillar is omitted. I find this style of banishing works well when the rite is  followed by other Work. However if I’m only doing the banishing ritual itself as a practice I usually use version 1.8.1 (ie including the second middle pillar sequence) which I feel creates a self-contained, complete process.

To read a bit more background on these rites you can check out The Book of Baphomet & Chaosphere: Core Tech as well as Liber Kaos and Liber Null & Psychonaut.

Singing, vibration of holy names and a spot of barbaric blather are handy methods of changing our state of awareness, and when done with others can result in interesting overtones harmonics, group brainwave entrainment and groovy mirror neuron effects. The vowel sounds typically have fewer overt cultural associations than the specific names of Gods, angels or elementals, providing us with a general purpose sonic-technique for ritual that can be slotted easily into a variety of paradigms and processes.

Obviously these descriptions are about the mechanics of these rituals. To turn them into real magical work just add concentration, imagination, practice and play 😉

Enjoy!

JV