Next tarot class is Wednesday, April 3rd at 5:00pm EST

Ritual Techniques and Procedures (LBRP Part 2)

Written by Frater TP

Read part 1 here

The Fourfold Breath

 The fourfold breath is a way of respiring which can be represented by a square which is just a 2  dimensional cube (which is just a 3 dimensional hypercube…) and as a result is sometimes known  as the box (cube) breath. The cube is a symbol of Tiphareth. 

To perform it, breathe in gently through the nose for the count of 4. (I say “count of 4” because  this is subjective depending on a person’s breathing ability, however it’s probably ¾ of a second.)  Then hold for 4. Then breathe out for 4. Then hold for 4. This sequence completes one cycle of fourfold breath.

If you’re wondering why you must breathe in through the nose, there are many  reasons but most important of all is that you don’t want Dracula to call you a “mouth-breather.” 

Some important notes: The out-breath hold is most important. The throat/neck should not be  strained at all during this process. Avoid if you have asthma or other conditions that may cause  injury. You must maintain correct tongue posture whilst doing this. That means your tongue is on  the plate at the front of your mouth, resting on the roof. Those familiar with the microcosmic orbit of qi gong will know what I mean. 

  1. Perform the fourfold breath for about 5 minutes, sitting down, with the spine comfortably erect.  For two cycles of this breath, focus on the feet and imagine the pores of the skin opening and being  nourished with white light. Then move to the legs, then thighs, etc...Once done, imagine the whole  

body being filled with lifeforce (qi), which enters again through the pores. It nourishes deep into the flesh and the bone. This can be as simple as knowing this idea and imagining the body filling up  with white light, since lux = light = life-force. I adapted this idea from Regardie’s Middle Pillar,  and found that a focus on the different parts of the body individually helps to induce an aware but  trance-like state by relaxing the body. I therefore found it more useful than the version described in Lyam Thomas Christopher’s Kabbalah, magic and the Great Work of self-transformation which  simply tells the Neophyte to imagine pores all over the skin opening to allow nourishment from the  air. 

The Qabalistic Cross 

  1. Go to the east of the circle and for 3 cycles of fourfold breath, imagine the body expanding to the  size of the entire universe. Your house, street, city, the world, then the sun and soon all existing  galaxies all appear beneath you but you are still firmly grounded and safe on Earth with the globe at your feet. Reach up with your dominant hand until you are on your tiptoes and it is stretching,  holding it in the sword mudra position. On the third in-breath, pull down the light of a brilliantly  white star which you must stretch up on your tiptoes to reach in your earnestness. 
  2. Touch your forehead, vibrating (ah-teh) ATEH in long, resonant syllables. If you are unable to  vibrate very loud, you can do it more quietly. It is possible to do it in your head occasionally but a  physical vibration is massively more powerful. Make sure you are vibrating from your diaphragm, not your throat. You might need to get singing lessons or learn some vocal warm-ups to be done  before the exercise if you are unable to get the hang of this. It is an important point because you  could damage your throat which can cause a whole host of issues both mundane and spiritual.  

  1. Keeping the sword mudra upright (make sure to not point it down), let the light descend to the  solar plexus, then to the earth at your feet as you touch your chest (NOT the groin!) and vibrate  MALKUTH (mal-koot) 
  2. Trace the light to your right shoulder, vibrating VE GEVURAH (veh geh-voo-rah)
  3. To your left shoulder, VA GEDULAH (vah geh-doo-lah) see the light go infinitely left. Gedulah  is another name for Chesed. 
  4. Put your hands by your heart in a prayer pose - with fingers together, not interlocked - LE  OLAM AMEN. (leh oh-lam ah-men) A brilliantly white sphere forms at your heart centre as you  breathe out. 

This translates roughly to “Thou art the Kingdom, the power and the glory. Forever and ever, so it  is” 

Now the qabalistic cross is over. 

The Pentagrams 

These are to be drawn swiftly in a relaxed "slicing" action. If possible, you see them in front of you  and you feel their heat, imagine the blue light reflected around the space and know their power.  Feel the heat. Hear the burning. They are perfectly proportioned to your sight when you trace them  on your out-breaths. Even if you drew them imperfectly. 

The pentagram goes clockwise in the banishing and counter-clockwise in the invoking version. In  the former, tracing is commenced from in front of the left hip and in the latter from the head. This is because you are drawing towards and away from the Earth element respectively. 

When I say "blue" I mean blue-white. The pentagrams actually ignite with flame once they are  charged. Until that point it's like a blue lightsaber colour from Star Wars. Once it is flaming it is like

a Bunsen burner fire: animated and intense. This differentiation in colour or imagery shows the fact  that you have given the pentagrams their power, like toggling an off and on mode. You can also  create a differentiation in sound and brightness for further efficacy. 

I have mentioned in passing that breath is synchronized with the ritual actions, and provided no  indication on how to do so. 

In-breath, hand is in sword mudra at heart centre, draw in energy 

Holding the breath - it travels to the fingertips and the hand is brought to starting point of the  pentagram 

Out-breath - the pentagram is drawn within this time – this might take practice Second hold, the hand is brought back to the heart, again upright in sword mudra. 

In-breath, same as before 

Holding the breath, hand stays poised 

Out-breath – Your hand surges suddenly forward and stabs the pentagram. Vibrate appropriate  god name. In the East - YHVH (yud-heh-vah-hey) I pronounce H final as hey to differentiate it  phonetically from H. I find this important because YHVH corresponds to the 4 elements and H final  is Earth, which is feminine. the "eh" sound as in metal (meh-tul) is masculine compared to "hey"  which sounds like "hay" that horses eat. We are saying that the consonant sounds are masculine and  vowel sounds are feminine. So basically, putting this slight difference in does change the tone of the word slightly to more accurately impress the representations (and therefore the energies) of YHVH  into the subconscious and therefore the aura. This also means that we are requesting invocation of  the energies of the godnames within our aura when we do this ritual. 

Hold Breath - feel the power of the godname and the charging of the pentagram as it bursts into  flame as described earlier when considering a lightsaber compared to a bunsen burner flame. 

Out-breath - draw a flaming white light to the place where the middle of the next pentagram shall  be. 

Hold Breath - Put the hand in back to your heart centre 

The other godnames: in the South – ADNI (ah-doe-ni), in the West EHEIEH (eh-hay-ee-eh)  Again, eh is like meh-tul in the word metal. Hay is what horses eat. In the North AGLA  

Make sure to finish the circle. 

The Archangelic Invocations 

Now we invoke the Archangels. They are imagined in my case in Golden Dawn flashing colours. In our case, the Golden Dawn's style of Enochian magick is used once Adepthood is reached, if one  uses it at all. 

East - Air - Raphael - Sunrise - Yellow and violet (sun is yellow) - holding a caduceus wand in  the right hand which represents healing and the wisdom of Hermes. 

South - Fire - Michael - Midday/Noon - Red and Green (sun is red) - holding upright a flaming sword (which has a double blade like the one in the Justice tarot card) representing Truth and  protection.  

West - Water - Gabriel - Sunset - Blue and Orange (the sun is orange) - an infinitely  overflowing cup of water in the left hand running into a stream 

North - Earth - Uriel - Midnight - Black and Green. Uriel is holding a book that is dark green  with a black pentacle on it, which contains an infinite grimoire of all things relating to the element  of Earth. The stars are shimmering white and there is one North Star that stands out from the rest. 

The black and green was actually odd to me (“Should it not be white?”) even until recently.  Meditation upon the esoteric associations of the tarot will shed light upon this apparent paradox.  The green is traditionally very dark, like an olive. Contrast that in your awareness to the bright  green of Michael’s flashing colours. They are different energies so the shade must be separated in  the mind. 

For the beginner, putting other colours in the scene is likely bad advice. 

  1. Put your arms out so that your body forms a tau cross. That is like a normal Christian cross but  with no upper quadrant.

Before me, RAPHAEL (rah-fah-el) Imagine the scenery as you call each Archangel. Behind me, GAVRIEL (gav-ree-el) 

At my right hand, MICHAEL (mee-cha-el) (If you are able to enunciate an upper uvular fractive  for the cha syllable without breaking your voice, go ahead) This is a gutteral sound like the ch in  Lochness monster. 

At my left hand, URIEL (yuh-ree-el) 

For about me flame the pentagrams (sizzling sound) Your vision switches to a third person  perspective and the Archangels go out of focus as you recall the charged blue pentagrams and the  brilliantly flaming white circle, protecting you, the Magician. The blue light from the pentagrams is  so bright that it reflects off of your black robes (white if Adept) 

And within me shineth the six-rayed star. 

See a hexagram within you with the uppermost point of fire in both attribute and colour, and a  lowermost point of water. So the fiery point is burning and the watery point is wavering. The fiery  point is at your throat. It is hot and dry. You will probably feel this in your throat even if your  visualization is poor when imagining sensations. The watery point is at your crotch. You may feel  mildly aroused, unless you’re a Scorpio. (This version of the hexagram is from Lyam Thomas  Christopher’s book mentioned in the first part of this article.)

You can make the hexagram golden yellow to represent Tiphareth. I would not make it unicursal.  

You may notice that I have not included the sign of the enterer and the sign of silence in this version of the rite. Whilst this is useful to experienced practitioners, it is not needed for the beginner in  order to activate the effects and serve the purposes that have been discussed. Curiously, Christopher  didn’t even suggest this to be added to the LBRP in his brief discussion on the work of the Adept in  his book, despite suggesting other modifications to the rite. 

Repeat Qabalistic Cross (except shrink your body at the end of it!) 

Summary 

Once the details are understood and memorized, the key points are as follows.  Fourfold breath 

Stand in West of space, facing East. 

Enlarge astral body

Forehead, ATEH 

Solar plexus, MALKUTH 

Right shoulder, VE GEVURAH 

Left shoulder, VA GADULAH 

Hands in prayer pose, LE OLHAM AMEN (finished qabalistic cross) 

Pentagrams drawn in sync with breath; East, YHVH, South ADNI, West EHEIEH, North AGLA 

Before me RAPHAEL. Behind me GAVRIEL. At my right hand MICHAEL. At my left hand URIEL 

For about me flame the pentagrams 

And within shineth the six-rayed star 

Repeat qabalistic cross and shrink astral body 

The Explanation 

Meditating upon a symbol which has had meaning impressed upon it for many centuries allows one  to receive insights. 

No explanation is concise or even sufficient, even if I thought that this information was worth  giving out to anyone. (simply giving you the information would have no benefit unless you came  back to it each time you developed your consciousness in order to glean insight. But this is  inefficient.) 

I am sorry to disappoint, but this work must be done by the student.  

Should you start your journey faithfully following these instructions, you will be guided to where  you need to be next.  

We know that when the student is ready, the Master shall appear. But that is not the end of the  saying for when the student is truly ready, the Master shall disappear.