ENOUGH WITH THE RITUALS OF THE PENTAGRAM!
“I want real magick, not this boring shit!” says the internet.
One often repeated trope in occult social media discourse is that no one needs more people teaching the Lesser Ritual of the Pentagram.
Yet, I always wondered how many of these same people have any actual success with these rituals.
Crowley famously states in Liber Aleph to “Neglect not the Performance of the Ritual of the Pentagram” in the chapter dedicated to teaching his “magical son”, Frater Achad, the correct approach to daily practice. Of course, he’s referring strictly to a ceremonial approach to magick and spirituality — so if that’s something you already don’t jive with, by all means, feel free to disregard everything else I will say.
He also goes on to say:
“Those who regard this ritual as a mere device to invoke or banish spirits are unworthy to possess it. Properly understood, it is the Medicine of Metals and the Stone of the Wise”.
Those are both quite bold statements. Why is that?
One key to “properly understanding it” is to deconstruct the nature of these “Elements” and find them in our daily lives. So that, by learning to decipher, refine, and balance them, we can fully become in control of life itself — or at least be on the right track to do so.
You won’t do that by just learning the words and gestures by rota.
That’s not magick but mere performance. And that’s where most of the critics of the Pentagram fail since they miss the bigger picture.
These rituals are not in their words or gestures. They are meant to radically change how you perceive the Universe and your very role. They are meant for you to integrate the “Elements” to build a solid foundation of a superstructure to house your Divinity.
You can shrug them off, of course, but then maybe the whole practice of ceremonial magick isn’t for you. And that’s fine, too. There are innumerable ways to complete the Great Work.
However, if you want to learn more about these and other ceremonial magick tools and understand all the “hows” and “whys” of them, you can check out my courses at magick.marcovisconti.org
