Notes

The connection between Qabalah and Yoga is well documented in, for example, Ponce (Pt. II, Ch. 1).

On the transformation of the Shaman to the Macranthropos (Giant), see Butterworth (Tree, 178) and Eliade (Yoga, 235-6). The Corpus Hermeticum (XI.20b) says:

If then thou dost not make thyself equal to the God, thou canst not know the God; for by like is like known. Leap thou clear of everything corporeal, and make thyself grow to a magnitude like that magnitude which is beyond measure; rise above all time, and become eternal; then wilt thou know the God.

An ubiquitous spiritual practice in the ancient world was adopting the View from Above; it persists in the philosophies of Plato, the Epicureans, the Cynics and the Stoics (Hadot, ch. 9). One achieves Greatness of Soul (Megalopsukhía) and Inner Peace by mentally projecting yourself off of the earth and beyond the spheres, so one may adopt the viewpoint of the Gods, where one may discover hidden correspondences and other secrets of Nature. From this perspective, mundane human affairs shrink to insignificance, both literally and figuratively, and one sees the Universe as it really is. This is the first step towards bringing the motions of the Soul into Harmony with those of the World Soul. Then,

he is surely bound to have thoughts immortal and divine, if he shall lay hold upon truth, nor can he fail to possess immortality in the fullest measure that human nature admits; and because he is ever tending his divine part and fully magnifying that daimôn who dwells along with him, he must be supremely blessed. (Timaeus 90C)

Their bodies remain on the earth, but they give wings to their souls, so that, rising into the ether, they may observe the powers that dwell there... (quoted in Hadot, p. 244)

And yet at last the god seems to be sinking;
But new impulse awakes, to light
I hasten on, eternal brightness drinking,
Before me day, behind me night,
Above me heaven, and under me the billow.
(Faust I.1084-8, Priest tr.)

At the World’s Navel the Sun and the Moon always stand stationary (Butterworth, Tree, 1, 93).

An appropriate altar is, of course, an Omphalos (in the form of a dome or a truncated cone), which is always on a square base representing the four corners of the Earth. It would also be appropriate to have this surmounted by a symbol of the Cosmic Tree or Pillar (such as a Caduceus). Since at least the Fourth Millennium BCE, two or more concentric rings or dots are a standard symbol for the Omphalos, and for the magic power of the Enlightened, who work at the World Navel. Often this symbol is shown with a truncated cone, a representation of the Omphalos from the side. For fanfares, use a keras (a goat or ram horn trumpet, Hebrew shofar), representing the Cornucopia or Horn of Amaltheia (the goat who nursed Zeus); it dispenses the Sacred Sound (see next paragraph). An appropriate ritual chalice is an Omphalos Patera [phialê omphalotê], a shallow dish with a nipple in the center; it may be filled from the keras. (Butterworth, Tree, Ch. II)

Butterworth (Tree, 113-114) argues that the Horn above the Cosmic Tree produces the Sacred Sound, the Om or Aum of Eastern Traditions, which is the mystic nourishment produced continually by the Sun. This sound can be produced by the Horn of Amaltheia. Higgins (I.106-8) traces the connection between Sanscrit Om, Greek Omphê (the Voice of God) and Greek Omphalos (the Navel), where oracles were delivered. Further, Donnegan (s.v. omphalos) records that some etymologists connect Omphalos with Ompê (Fruit of the Earth). Thus we have the navel as the place of mystical communion, in both sound and substance.

On Gnostic gems is found the sacred name IAO (ἸΑΩ) of the Sun, which the Greeks took to be the name of the Jewish God, since the Tetragrammaton YHUH (using U for the semivowel wau) was often pronounced IAO. The Tetragrammaton has several other interesting connections with Greek religion. For example, it has been claimed that YHUH, pronounced YAUO or YAOU, is just IAO with a definite article. This in turn is Jove, which is pronounced YOUE (Jupiter is a contraction for Jove Piter = Jove the Father). The connection with Zeus (pronounced DZEUS) is harder to see, due to the retention of the initial consonant, but it is apparent from the hard pronunciation of J (as in Jehova), which is phonetically equivalent to DZH. Thus DZEU (Zeu, voc.) = DZHEU (Jeu) = DZHEUO (Jeuo) = DZHOUE (Jove), etc. Finally, consider the ecstatic cry of the Bacchantes, Io Euhoi (ἰὸ εὐοί), which is phonetically YO EUHOI. Dropping the vowels yields YUH, which is three fourths of the Tetragrammaton. The Tetragrammaton YHWH could be vocalized Yohewhoi (YO HEU HOI), which is nearly identical to the Bacchantic yell. These similarities may reveal a Sacred Sound (a “Secret God-Name”) common to many cultures. (See also Godwin, Vowels, Ch. 8.)

The Snake entwined around the Middle Pillar (of three) is seen in Babylonian/Assyrian art. The Serpent is a symbol of Life, Sexuality and Sensuality, as anyone will understand who has ever allowed a Snake to explore them (see also above on the serpent and eagle); it is associated with both sexes (with males by phallic association, with females by earth/water associations). The Snake also represents Wisdom, Power and Eternity, and was associated with Athena, Aesculapius, Hygeia and Hippocrates. (Goldsmith VI)

Typhon, the son of Gaia and Tartaros, is obviously a Chthonic figure; he is a Giant, taller than the mountains and able to reach from sunrise to sunset, who has snakes for legs and a hundred serpent heads on his shoulders. He was defeated by Celestial Zeus, with the complicity of the Chthonic Aigipan (Pan the Goat). Similarly, Python was a son of Gaia, who lived in a Cave by a Spring, or wrapped around a Laurel Tree (N.B), and was later the Oracular Serpent at Delphi and coiled around the Omphalos there. Celestial Apollo slew, not Python, but Delphyne, a female womb-serpent (delphus = womb) also at Delphi. (The Kundalini Serpent is also female.) Another Chthonic figure with serpent connections is Erichthonios, son of Gaia and Hephaistos, and foster-son of Athena; he stands beside Her shield in Phideas’ statue. (Kerenyi, Gods, 26-28, 125-126, 135-137)

Other Goddesses, besides Helen, associated with the Middle Pillar include Artemis, Hecate, Cybele, Demeter, Tyche and Athena (Butterworth, Tree, 102-107).

The image of Three Pillars is common to many cultures, including the Egyptians, Jews, Hindus, Druids, Mayans and Incas. Frequently they are associated with a Triad of Gods, and with a Trio of Qualities such as Wisdom / Strength / Beauty, or Wisdom / Power / Goodness; recall the Three Pillars of the Qabalistic Tree of Life: Might (Geburah or Boaz), Mildness (Shekhinah) and Mercy (Hesed or Yachin). Mycenaean art frequently features Sacred Pillars and Trees, often in threes (see Evans, Myc. Tree & Pillar Cult). (Goldsmith IV, XIX)

The “Black Shaman” and “White Shaman,” which correspond to the Chthonic (Telluric) and Celestial (Uranian) Paths, are known from many cultures; see Eliade (Sham., 184-189) for a discussion. There is in general no implication that the Black Shaman is evil and the White Shaman is good. (However we do have the Myth of Er in Plato’s Republic, 614b & seq., wherein we have two Celestial Openings and Two Chasms in the Earth, but the Bad Souls go down to the left and the Good Souls go up to the right.) Recall also Raphael’s School of Athens, where we see Plato, on the observer’s left, pointing to the Heavens and Aristotle, on the observer’s right, indicating the Earth. Although there is no evidence either engaged in ecstatic practices, we still have the distinction between the Celestial and Chthonic Ways. Pairs of figures, with one pointing up and the other pointing down, are found in Egypt as early as the Sixth Dynasty (Butterworth, Tree, 46-47)

For the Dioskouroi and Helen see Butterworth (Tree III, V). The Dioskouroi were represented by the dokona (δόκονα), two pillars connected by two cross-beams (Burkert 213), which could easily symbolize the Two Ways on the Tree of Life. Burkert thinks it may have been used as a Gate of Initiation. Sometimes the Heavenly Twins are Herakles (Black) and Apollo (White).

It is interesting to note that in the ancient tradition there is no fixed association between the two sexes and the Two Ways. For example, we do not find that Celestial Gods associated with Priests and Chthonic Gods with Priestesses; there are numerous exceptions to both. Nor do we find that only women tread the Way of the Earth, or only men the Way of the Air. Often the Two Ways are associated with two males (the Dioskouroi) or two females (Ashtar and Ashtart = Ishtar). Finally there is an absence of association of positive qualities with one Way and negative qualities with the other. This is all in marked contrast to the Qabalistic Tree of Life, with its strong gender associations. Of course, we may choose to consider the Sun’s side male and the Moon’s side female, but there seems to be little ancient evidence for this in Graeco-Roman antiquity, and it may lead us toward unwarranted gender assumptions.

Prometheus is befriended by Black Shamans: Oceanus and His Daughters and Herakles. Herakles is a Black Shaman, as shown by the animal form he adopts: the Lion. We recall also that He replaced Atlas (who is a Black Shaman, like His daughter Calypso, who lives at the Navel of the Sea) in His station at the Axis Mundi. Herakles’ club is a dead limb from the Tree of Life, which grows on the cliff over Charybdis, the Way Down. He uses his bow and arrow — common symbols for ascetic discipline — to slay the Eagle that torments Prometheus. Further, when Herakles went to get the Oxen of Geryon, he raised his internal heat by his ascetic practices (tapas), and then took his bow (Mind) and shot his arrow (Self) at the Sun (Celestial Illumination). During this same Labor he raised the Twin Pillars (N.B.) of Herakles. (Butterworth, Tree, 9-10, 133-134, 201-207)

Similarly, Tantalus was a Black Shaman stuck in the Underworld (unable to return from trance?) and unable to reach the Tree of Life (Butterworth, Traces, Ch. IV).

The Kuklopes (Cyclopes), who are known as Sons of Poseidon, seem to be like Zen Masters. They see from their brow (the Ajna-Chakra) and visit the Underworld. Note that “Cyclops” derives from kukl-ôps = wheel-eyed = chakra-eyed; they are Giants (Macranthopoi), like all Shamans. Recall that Odysseus visits the Cyclopes after his stop at the Land of the Lotus-Eaters. Odysseus and his comrades are unwilling to put up with the “soul-devouring” discipline of the Polyphemus, so they close his brow-eye with wine, and extinguish his illumination. When Odysseus called himself “Nobody” (Outis) he may have been mocking the Cyclopes practice of uniting their Ego with the World. They made the Keraunos (Thunderbolt, cf. vajra), which they later turned over to Zeus; it represents the (originally Chthonic) powers symbolized by the “Blazing Blossom” (the Lotus) and perhaps Lightning issuing from the Earth. (See below on the Vajra Thunderbolt.)  The Cyclopes were later the assistants of Hephaistos, the Master of the Fiery Discipline (cf., tapas). (Butterworth, Tree, 130-133, 172-178)

When he visits Prometheus, Odysseus takes the Twelve Best of his companions, and Butterworth (Traces, 130; Tree, 167, 174-175) observes that a Master with Twelve Disciples is a traditional size for covens and other mystical groups.

Interestingly, Pausanias (II.xxiv.3-4) describes an ancient wooden statue of Zeus at Argos, said to have been brought from Priam’s Troy, which shows Zeus with a Third Eye in His forehead. Although we normally associate Zeus with the Celestial rather than the Chthonic Path, Butterworth (Tree, 170-171, 177) observes that this figure represents Zeus Chrysaoreus, who rules both the Heavens and the Abyss (and so corresponds to both the Olympic Zeus and Poseidon); this deity is equivalent to the mysterious Chrysaor, who emerged with Pegasus from the severed neck of Medusa, a shamanic figure. (Pausanias suggests that the Three Eyes correspond to the Three Worlds, which we may call Heaven, Earth and Abyss.)

It is interesting that the Bull, Lion and Eagle were all associated with the Serpent Power (Butterworth, Tree, 152-153). This association recalls the Four Sacred Animals (Bull, Lion, Eagle, Man) of the later esoteric tradition. Perhaps originally the Four Sacred Animals were the Chthonic Bull and Lion, and the Celestial Eagle and Winged Horse.

After 1000 BCE Babylonian amulets are found with a cross indicating the four directions (see below); a symbol is in each of the angles (De Vogel, 294).

Shaman staffs, such as Hermes’ caduceus, often have a cross bar. The staff probably symbolizes the Tree of Life, and the crossbar its branches (Butterworth, Traces, 150). Hermes is, of course, the Psychopompos, the Spirit Guide, and is found in the vicinity of both Calypso’s and Circe’s caves at the Navel (Butterworth, Tree, 118). He visits with equal ease the Heavens and Hades.

Orphic grave tablets tell the “Child of Earth and Heaven” that to the left and right are both a cypress-tree and a well. On the supplicant’s left is a white-cypress, associated with day and the Sun; to the right, a dark cypress, associated with the Moon. (Butterworth, Tree, 215-216)

The order of the Tau Cross is: Fiery Pillar (top-bottom, center), Moon (left), Sun (right), back to center. Similarly, in meditating on the triangle in the pericarp of the Sahasrara Chakra, the Yogi begins with the Fire Bindu in the center, follows the Line of Fire to the Moon Bindu (left), follows the Line of the Moon to the Sun Bindu (right), and follows the line of the Sun back to the Fire Bindu (Avalon 490-491). This structure is also preserved in the Crucifixion on the back of the Lotharkreuz in Aachen. See Butterworth (Tree, pp. 175, 215-223, pll. xxix-xxxi).

There are similar problems with Qabalah depending on whether the Tree is faced externally or visualized internally. Regardie (III.1) says that to the observer, the Pillar of Mercy is on the Right and the Pillar of Strength on the Left, but that when you internalize the Tree, your Right side becomes Strength and your Left Mercy. On the other hand, Ponce (137-141) argues that the Tree is properly applied to the Primal Man facing away from the observer, so that on the Left is the Pillar of Strength (Dark, Passive) and on the Right the Pillar of Mercy (Light, Active).

In the foregoing I have placed Left and Right so that the system of correspondences is consistent with Yoga as interpreted by Butterworth and with the Qabalah as interpreted by Ponce. So in the Tau Cross the Moon/Earth Path is on the practitioner’s Left and the Sun/Air Path is on the Right. In this way the order of the Tau Cross (Heaven, Abyss, Moon/L, Sun/R) agrees with the triangle in the pericarp of the Sahasrara-chakra (Fire Bindu, Moon Bindu, Sun Bindu). Fortunately, this orientation also preserves the order of the Qabalistic Cross in the Golden Dawn Tradition (Kether, Malkuth, Gedulah/L, Geburah/R), since it’s from the perspective of an observer facing an altar (Regardie III.94); though Regardie (III.2), inconsistently, and other sources gives Geburah/R, Gedulah/L, and still others have Gedulah/R, Geburah/L.

Observe that, for most people, the Right is the Active Hand and the Left the Passive Hand, that is, the Initiating Sun and the Responding Moon. Further, if we face North, the Ascending Path is in the East and the Descending in the West, or if we face East, the Celestial Path is in the (warm, sunny) South and the Chthonic Path in the (cold, earthy) North. (On the other hand, the Paduka-Pancaka (v. 4, Avalon 490-491) puts the Fire Bindu in the South, the Moon Bindu in the Northeast and the Sun Bindu in the Northwest.) Finally, this orientation agrees with a Greek tradition that distinguished Left and Right Gods; the Left Gods are the Di Inferi (Lower Gods) and the Right Gods the Di Superi (Upper Gods), though apparently the Romans followed the Etruscans in reversing the associations (Weinstock 1946). In any case, I don’t consider the issue settled, and readers should conduct their own experiments; all the correspondences stay the same, just switch Left and Right.

The Trivium represents the three Ways we may go at any given time: the Celestial Way, the Mundane Way and the Chthonic Way, which correspond to the Three Planes on which we may move: Heaven, Earth and Hades (Overworld, Midworld, Underworld). The Three Ways correspond to the Three Principles of Alchemy: Sulphur (Anima), Salt (Corpus) and Mercury (Spiritus), respectively. (In other contexts, Mercury is the Active Mediator between Sun and Moon.)

Each Plane is divided into Four Quarters: the Four Quarters of Heaven, the Four Quarters of Earth, the Four Quarters of Hades. A crossroads or fourfold meeting of Paths is called a Quadrivium, and one Path leads to each Quarter. So the Trivium and Quadrivium together determine the possible Paths we can follow (Seven Ways total giving Twelve Paths in combination).

Interestingly, the traditional Pagan Curriculum (continued through the Renaissance) comprised the Trivium (Grammar, Dialectic, Rhetoric) and the Quadrivium (Arithmetic, Harmony, Geometry, Astronomy), yielding the Seven Liberal Arts. Their Planetary Patrons were as follows: Luna: Grammar, Mercury: Dialectic, Venus: Rhetoric; Sol: Arithmetic, Mars: Harmony, Jupiter: Geometry, Saturn: Astronomy. I will leave it as an exercise for the reader to establish the correspondences to the Worlds and Quarters.

Qabalah divides the Hebrew alphabet into three groups (Ponce I.2): Three Mothers, Seven Doubles (Dyads) and Twelve Singles (Monads). The Three Mothers are Aleph, Mem and Sin. These are traditionally associated with the elements Air, Water and Fire, respectively. Therefore we have the three Cosmic Planes: Fiery Heavens (Sin/Fire), Watery Abyss (Mem/Water) and the Upward Path between them (Aleph/Air), though the Downward Path (Earth) is either missing or assimilated with the Upward (as the single Axis). Alternately, since Aleph is the Mother of the Aspirates, Mem is the Mother of the Mutes, and Sin is the Mother of the Sibilants, we might expect Earth to be associated with a vowel that is the Mother of the other Vowels (which the Hebrew alphabet didn’t write).

The shamanic cosmology is better represented by the Seven Dyads, which are: Beth/Gimel = Above/Below, Daleth/Koph = East/West, Pe/Resh = North/South, and Tau = Center. Thus we have Three Planes (Above, Center, Below) and Four Quarters (NSEW), which correspond to the Seven Ways of the Trivium + Quadrivium. Interestingly, Tau is the center, as in the Tau Cross. The remaining letters comprise the Twelve Monads, which traditionally correspond with Zodiacal Signs, though we may also expect them to correspond to the Twelve Paths generated by the Seven Ways.

We find similar alphabetic correspondences in the Graeco-Roman Tradition.  The Seven Planets coorespond to the seven Greek variables ΑΕΗΙΟΥΩ (alpha, epsilon, eta, iota, omicron, upsilon, omega) and, by analogy, with the five Roman vowels and their associated semivowels AEIOUJV (Godwin Mys. Sev. Vow.; Agrippa I.lxxiv).  The order is generally taken to be Moon - Mercury - Venus - Sun - Mars - Jupiter - Saturn, but there is also evidence for the opposite order (which Agrippa uses) and for other orders (see Godwin, op. cit., and Agrippa/Tyson, p. 226, for a discussion).  The Zodiacal Signs correspond to the Greek simple consonants ΒΓΔΖΚΛΜΝΠΡΣΤ (Roman BCDFGLMNPRST),  in their natural order starting with Aries.  The Five Elements correspond to the Greek double consonants ΘΞΦΧΥ (theta, xi, phi, chi, psi) and to Roman KQXZH (Y is not used, since it is not properly a Roman letter); Agrippa assigns them in the order Earth - Water - Air - Fire - Spirit.  Certainly, more research is needed, especially to understand these correspondences in the Graeco-Roman Tradition.  (Agrippa/Tyson I.lxxiv; Dornseiff, 81-4)

Downward Motion follows the sequence Fire, Air, Water, Earth, that is to say, the Practitioner’s Head, Right Hand, Feet, Left Hand. This is exactly the opposite direction used in the first part of the Circulation exercise, which flows from the Head, down the Left Side, around the Feet, and up the Right Side. However, it agrees with Plato’s Cycle: Fire condenses into Air, Air liquifies into Water, Water solidifies into Earth, and Earth sublimates into Fire. In this exercise we are drawing Power from both Extramundane Worlds. The circulation draws the Celestial Fire down the Sun Channel into the Way of Air, and it draws the Abyssal Water up the Moon Channel into the Way of Earth. Exhalation corresponds to drawing down, inhalation to drawing up. It will be helpful to see the Elements going through the transformations of Plato’s Cycle, with the rotation driven by the streams of Heavenly Fire and Abyssal Water. This part of the exercise helps establish the Sun and Moon Channels. Upward Motion follows the sequence Earth, Water, Air, Fire, which in Plato’s Cycle is: Earth dissolves into Water, Water vaporizes into Air, Air rarefies into Fire, and Fire condenses into Earth, known in Alchemy as the Rotation of the Elements (Burckhardt, Ch. 6; see also my “Rotation of the Elements”). We can make this correspond to the second part of the exercise, if we turn to our Left (North), so that the Moon Pillar is in front of us, and the Sun Pillar behind, then the order of circulation is: Chest, Feet, Back, Head. Exhalation corresponds to descent, inhalation to ascent. Again, it is helpful to visualize the transformations of Plato’s Cycle, driven from Above and Below, as before. This further strengthens the Sun and Moon Channels, but facilitates the Journey on them (up for Sun, down for Moon), whereas the preceding circulation facilitated the Return (down for Sun, up for Moon).

In the last part of the exercise, the Energy spirals upward around the Body, beginning in front of the Right Foot, spiraling to the upper left, until it bursts from the Head to flow down all sides to the Feet. This obviously corresponds to Circular Motion and to the Fifth Element (Spirit, Quintessence, Aithêr). Some versions do not have the Energy spiral, but simply rise vertically up the Spine, until it bursts from the Head, like Athena from Zeus’s head. The basic pattern is still Circular (or Spherical), however, since the Energy flows back to the Feet on all sides. In both case you draw Sustenance from the Abyss and raise the Serpent Power to the Top of the Cosmic Tree, where its Abundance pours down again upon the World Navel.

According to Regardie (III.59-60), the purpose of the Circulation is to build up a three-dimensional Tree of Life with Five Pillars. However, as we’ve seen, the traditional Tree, in Qabalah and elsewhere, has three Pillars. Thus I’ve used the second part of the Circulation to open the opposite directions in the Moon and Sun Channels.

II. Pentagrams of the Quarters

Pythagoras may have become acquainted with the Pentagram during his sojourns in Egypt and Babylon (perhaps 554-533 BCE); in any case Pythagorean Initiates used it as a sign of recognition (Iambl., Vita Pyth. XXXIII). They called the Pentagram “Hugieia” (Ὑγίεια), which is usually translated “Health,” but has more the sense of Soundness or Wholeness. The Pentagram was still used with this meaning in Paracelsus’ time (c.1493-1541). The Pythagoreans also used “Be sound/whole!” as their greeting (Scholia in Aristoph., Nubes 609; Lucian, Pro lapsu 5). In fact Bonner (p. 177) notes that Hugieia is a fairly common inscription on amulets, and that Perdrizet thinks it and similar inscriptions are Oriental in origin (the word, of course, is Greek).

The Pythagoreans apparently labeled the points or angles of the Pentagram with the Greek letters ΥΓΙΕΙΑ. Allman (p. 26) shows them on the points arranged counterclockwise from the top thus: Υ, Γ, Ι, ΕΙ, Α. The fact that ΥΓΙΕΙΑ has six letters is an inconvenience, and Allman observes that the Pythagoreans wrote upsilon, gamma, iota, theta, alpha at the points (ΥΓΙΘΑ), perhaps because an adjacent epsilon and iota (ΕΙ) look something like a theta (Θ). Chasles (1875, p. 478-479) likewise lists these five letters, quoting Alstedius (Encyc. univ., 1620) and Kircher (Arithmologia, 1665).

Budge (Amul. & Superst., 232-233), in an exhibition of uncharacteristically sloppy scholarship, says that the “shield of Solomon” (i.e. the Hugieia Pentagram) is inscribed with the Greek letters ΙΓΙΡΑ “meaning something like ‘wholesome’, ‘good for health’,” though there is no such Greek word. Looking at the figure in his book we see an upright pentagram surrounded by two rings; between the rings and aligned with the angles between the pentagram’s points are Greek letters reading clockwise: ΥΓΙ?Α. The mysterious fourth letter is unidentifiable, but the figure is from Agrippa’s De occulta philosophia (Lib. III, cap. xxxi). The letter is still not entirely clear in editions of Agrippa (Brill, 1992; Llewellyn, 1993), but its appearance is consistent with a common medieval abbreviation for ει (which looks vaguely like θ, but more like a dollar sign made without lifting the pen). (Francis Barrett translates the relevant part of Agrippa in The Magus, Bk. II, Ch. XVII, but does not include the figure.)

So we can conclude that the Pythagoreans labeled the Pentagram with the letters Υ, Γ, Ι, ΕΙ, Α, reading clockwise (or perhaps counterclockwise), placing them on the points starting at the top (Alstedius, Kircher), or in the angles starting at the top right (Agrippa).

Now, of course, when one draws a Banishing or Invoking Pentagram of any kind, one does not visit the points in either a clockwise or counterclockwise order. One might suppose that some Great Secret is revealed when the Pentagram is labeled as above, but the letters visited in an invoking or banishing order. But if that is the case, I have not been able to penetrate the Mystery. The resulting sequences of letters do not seem to spell anything, let alone anything interesting. Therefore, I’ve decided that it’s more meaningful, in a Banishing or Invoking Pentagram, to call off the sounds in their natural order, but other approaches might be worth some experimentation.

The singing of the sounds, especially the vowel sounds, creates compact entities in the Spectral Realm. The longer they are continued, the denser (more compact) their Spectres. Their Power is collocated in the Spectral Realm with that of all similar sounds, no matter when they were made, or where. Thus connections and causal relations are established across Space and Time. This is a consequence of the Mathematics of Harmony (Fourier Analysis).

When it comes to intoning the name of the Pentagram, HUGIEIA is especially appropriate, since it is almost entirely vowels, and the G is easily extended as a velar fricative. The Latin version, SALUS, is not as good, but the sibilant S and liquid L are easily prolonged. For the English version, though SOUND and WHOLE both have five letters, they do not have five sounds. But WHOLENESS does (vowels: O, E; liquid: L; nasal: N; sibilant S), and corresponds better with HUGIEIA and SALUS, being a noun rather than an adjective.

I’ve kept the usual Earth Banishing Pentagram (lower-left to top) for this “Lesser” ritual, though I know of no ancient warrant for the usual association of the Five Elements with the points of the Pentagram.  See “The Pythagorean Pentacle” and “The Pentagram and the Elements” for a discussion.

The Growth and Destruction symbolized by the Keraunos is the Law (Logos) of the universe, governed by Zeus. As Heraclitus says, “Keraunos steers all things,” and Hippolytus explains, “by Keraunos he means the Eternal Fire, ... and he calls it Need and Glut” (DK 22B 64, 65). Heraclitus also says (DK 22B 20), “The World Order — the same for all — no one of Gods or people made, but it ever was and is and shall be: Fire Everliving, being kindled in measures and in measures being extinguished.” He says it is the basis of the Cosmos: “All things from Fire arise and into Fire resolve; all things come to be in accord with Destiny, and through opposing currents existing things are made a harmonia (structure)” (Diog. Laert. ix.7)

Similarly Empedocles, in a passage previously quoted, makes Strife (Neikos) and Love (Philotês), that is, Destruction and Growth, the two great motive forces of the Universe. He also says (DK 31B 17),

And these things never cease their continual interchange, now through Love all coming together into One, now again each carried apart by the hatred of Strife.

In form and nature the Keraunos is a “Blazing Blossom” or “Fiery Flower,” again representing Growth and Destruction. In the Second Olympian Ode, Pindar says (Houghton tr.):

And such as thrice have dared,
abiding either side of death,
To keep their souls aloof from evil doing,
Proceed the road of Zeus to Kronos’ tower,
Where ‘round the islands of the blest,
the Ocean breezes blow,
And the Blossoms blaze with gold ...

Hera’s Cuckoo-bearing Sceptre represents the Celestial Spirit nesting on the top of the World Tree. (Zeus first came to Hera in the form of a Cuckoo.)

Hades’ name may mean “the Unseen” (Ἅιδης < ἀιδής).

When projecting the Four Weapons through the Pentagrams, the practitioner might find it helpful to make an appropriate gesture: as though throwing a dart for Zeus’s Keraunos, as though throwing a frisbee for Hestia’s Burning Ring, as though throwing a javelin for Poseidon’s Trident, as though throwing a knife for Demeter’s Torch.

III. Wards of the Quarters

Pan may seem an unlikely Ward, but when Athens honored Him and asked Him to help defend them from the Persians, he did so (Herodt. VI.105.2-3).

The Gods suggested above correspond approximately to the Archangels usually invoked in the LBRP. East: Raphael (air, eagle), who presides over human spirit (cf. Apollo, Hermes). West: Gabriel (water, man), who presides over Paradise & Cherubim (cf. Aphrodite, Artemis). South: Michael (fire, lion), who is militant, and presides over human virtue (cf. Athena, Mars). North: Uriel (earth, calf), who presides over clamor and terror (cf. Pan, Dionysos). See also Spence (Enc. Occult., s.v. Angels), Agrippa (II.7) and Barrett (I.ii.xix, p. 112, II.iv, p. 135).

IV. The Macrocosm in the Microcosm

The Hexagram shining within the Body (Salt) signifies the Perfect Union of Spirit (Sulphur) and Soul (Mercury), which is the “Living Gold,” the goal of Spiritual Alchemy. That is, the Celestial and Chthonic Worlds meet in the Mundane World.

V. The Closing Tau Cross