Occult lore
Lesser Banishing Ritual of the Pentagram
Direct answer
Lesser Banishing Ritual of the Pentagram: The Lesser Banishing Ritual of the Pentagram, or LBRP, is a short rite of the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn for clearing a working space, taught to its newest members.
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At a glance
- Also called
- lbrp, lbrp ritual, lesser ritual of the pentagram, what is the lbrp
- Found in
- Spells & Occult Terms
- Related
- Banishing, Pentagram, Ceremonial Magic, Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn
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What is the LBRP for?
The Lesser Banishing Ritual of the Pentagram is the first practical rite the Golden Dawn gave its members, and it is probably the most widely practised piece of ceremonial magic today. It takes a few minutes and needs no tools beyond a pointing hand or a dagger.
Lesser Banishing Ritual of the Pentagram has four parts. The Qabalistic Cross is a gesture over the body with Hebrew words adapted from the close of the Lord's Prayer. The practitioner then turns to east, south, west and north, tracing a pentagram in the air at each and speaking a Hebrew divine name. Next the archangels Raphael, Gabriel, Michael and Uriel are called to stand before, behind, right and left. The Qabalistic Cross is repeated to close. Practitioners use it to open and end other work and as a daily exercise in attention.
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What sets Lesser Banishing Ritual of the Pentagram apart
Its design is a compass. The body is set at the centre by the Qabalistic Cross, four pentagrams are drawn at the quarters and joined by a traced line, and four archangels are placed around the worker, so that by the end the practitioner stands inside a marked and named enclosure. Lesser distinguishes it from the Greater Ritual of the Pentagram, which uses a different pentagram for each element; the lesser rite uses one form throughout.
- Origin: Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, London, founded 1888
- Parts: Qabalistic Cross, four pentagrams, four archangels, Qabalistic Cross
- Divine names: YHVH east, Adonai south, Eheieh west, AGLA north
- Archangels: Raphael east, Gabriel west, Michael south, Uriel north
- In print: Crowley's Liber O, 1909; Regardie's The Golden Dawn, 1937 to 1940
Often mistaken for something else: The banishing form starts each pentagram at the lower left point and draws upward; the invoking form of the same rite starts at the top and draws down to the lower left.
The story behind Lesser Banishing Ritual of the Pentagram
The Golden Dawn was founded in London in 1888, and the ritual was issued to members of its Neophyte grade. The call to the four archangels echoes a Jewish bedtime prayer. Aleister Crowley printed the rite in Liber O in The Equinox in 1909, and Israel Regardie made the whole system public in The Golden Dawn (1937 to 1940). Later orders and authors have issued many variants, among them Crowley's Star Ruby.
Why Lesser Banishing Ritual of the Pentagram matters
Most modern Western banishing and circle casting descends from this one rite, so knowing its parts explains a great deal of later practice.
How to read Lesser Banishing Ritual of the Pentagram
It is performed at the start and end of ritual to mark the space as set apart, and on its own as a regular drill in visualisation, voice and posture.
Lesser Banishing Ritual of the Pentagram in practice: an example
A student of ceremonial magic might perform it each morning for some months before attempting anything else, which is how the curriculum of the order began.
Where readings of Lesser Banishing Ritual of the Pentagram go wrong
Lesser Banishing Ritual of the Pentagram is a religious and imaginative exercise; it is no substitute for help with fear, intrusive thoughts or a home that feels unsafe.
Sources and editorial method
This entry summarizes the tradition in the Almanac's own words; where no source is listed, it is an editorial summary rather than a primary text, and symbolic readings are named as the tradition's, not as fact.
Recorded here as history and lore. No rite is taught on this page.
- Source
- The Great Almanac Dictionary
- Category
- Spells & Occult Terms
- Aliases
- lbrp, lbrp ritual, lesser banishing ritual, lesser ritual of the pentagram, what is the lbrp
- Last updated
- 2026-09-26
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Common questions
What is the LBRP for?
Practitioners use it to clear and mark out a space before and after ritual, and as a daily discipline. Its effects are a matter of the practitioner's own tradition and experience; none has been tested.
Who created the Lesser Banishing Ritual of the Pentagram?
It comes from the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, founded in 1888. Its author within the order is not recorded, and its call to the archangels follows the pattern of a Jewish bedtime prayer.
Which archangels are called in the LBRP?
Raphael in the east, Gabriel in the west, Michael in the south and Uriel, often spelled Auriel, in the north.
