Liber Yod Options

I'm fascinated by Liber Yod (http://hermetic.com/crowley/libers/lib831.html), but I'm uncertain as to how to go about it.

0. Let a magical circle be constructed, and within it an upright Tau drawn upon the ground. Let this Tau be devised into 10 squares (See Liber CMLXIII., Illustration 1.)
1. Let the magician be armed with the Sword of Art.1
2. Let him wear the black robe of a Neophyte.
3. Let a single flame of camphor burn at the top of the Tau, and let there be no other light or ornament.{Note 1}
4. Let him "open" the Temple as in DCLXXI or in any other convenient manner.
5. Standing at the appropriate quarters, at the edge of the circle, let him banish the 5 elements by the appropriate rituals.
6. Standing at the edge of the circle, let him banish the 7 planets by the appropriate rituals. Let him face the actual position of each planet in the heavens at the time of his working.
7. Let him further banish the twelve signs of the Zodiac by the appropriate rituals, facing each sign in turn.
8. Let him at each of these 24 banishings make three circumambulations widdershins, with the signs of Horus and Harpocrates in the East as he passes it.
9. Let him advance to the square of Malkuth in the Tau, and perform a ritual of banishing Malkuth. But here let him not leave the square to circumambulate the circle, but use the formula and God-form of Harpocrates.
10. Let him advance in turn to the squares Jesod, Hod, Netzach, Tiphereth, Geburah, Chesed and banish each by appropriate rituals.
11. And let him know that such rituals include the pronunciation of the appropriate names of God backwards, and also a curse against the Sephira in respect of all that which it is, for that which distinguishes and separates it from Kether.
12. Advancing to the squares of Binah and Chokmah in turn, let him banish these also. And for that by now an awe and trembling shall have taken hold upon him, let him banish these by a supreme ritual of inestimable puissance; and let him beware exceedingly lest his will falter or his courage fail.
13. Finally, let him, advancing to the square of Kether, banish that also by what means he may. At the end whereof let him set his foot upon the light, extinguishing it; and, as he falleth, let him fall within the circle.

Would love some help constructing this ritual from a Thelemic perspective:

Given that the Star Ruby is meant to banish more than the quarters, what would be ideal here? What could the Star Ruby replace here, or would it perhaps be wiser to banish each quarter using the appropriate pentagram? How would you go about banishing Spirit in your Temple?

Any suggestions on harmonizing this ritual with Thelemic symbolism to banish the planets?http://www.geocities.ws/nu_isis/heptagram.html

How would I banish the zodiac? Have never tried this. Is it feasible to arrange the appropriate tarot trumps in a circle around me and face them to banish? Suggestions on position (clustered by their corresponding quarter, or the actual order? If the latter, at what position in the temple would I begin the procession? I would begin with Aries, right?)?

Finally, any suggestions on banishing the Sephiroth? It was suggested to me that I should do it as I felt appropriate, but would greatly appreciate some advice.

Thanks so much for any guidance you may offer.

This post has been edited by th0th: Oct 3 2011, 01:29 AM

I'm fascinated by Liber Yod (http://hermetic.com/crowley/libers/lib831.html), but I'm uncertain as to how to go about it.
Would love some help constructing this ritual from a Thelemic perspective:

Given that the Star Ruby is meant to banish more than the quarters, what would be ideal here? What could the Star Ruby replace here, or would it perhaps be wiser to banish each quarter using the appropriate pentagram? How would you go about banishing Spirit in your Temple?

Any suggestions on harmonizing this ritual with Thelemic symbolism to banish the planets?http://www.geocities.ws/nu_isis/heptagram.html

How would I banish the zodiac? Have never tried this. Is it feasible to arrange the appropriate tarot trumps in a circle around me and face them to banish? Suggestions on position (clustered by their corresponding quarter, or the actual order? If the latter, at what position in the temple would I begin the procession? I would begin with Aries, right?)?

Finally, any suggestions on banishing the Sephiroth? It was suggested to me that I should do it as I felt appropriate, but would greatly appreciate some advice.

Thanks so much for any guidance you may offer.

I don't have a background in thelema, so take all this with a grain of salt.

I wouldn't include the star ruby ritual to replace anything, because it doesn't look like it's necessary. You already have an elemental and planetary banishing ritual from thelema, correct? Crowley drew heavily on GD ritual structure - it's practically all over this particular ritual - so I imagine these already exist and I would use those if you have them.

As for the zodiac, that's a tougher one. However, you might banish using the appropriate hebrew letter, perhaps the names of the angels of the zodiac, and the god-names of the zodiac. The ritual is already circular it would seem, so I would assign them 12ths around the circle as with the wheel of the zodiac. Aries is traditionally place in the east, but you could also simply put the current rising sign in the east. For banishing, I would tend to start with pisces and work backwards - think, deconstructing. The twelve signs of the zodiac have hebrew names as well. The great thing about hebrew is that you can simply construct any word backwards and it now has a new pronunciation. The Zodiac creates, in the cube of space, the angles of the cube, so four atop, for below, and four as pillars around the edges. A banishing form might be a twelve pointed star, but you might also draw a cube, or two-dimensionally simply a square, drawing each one starting with the side/point associated with the element in question. Perhaps do this while vibrating the name of the sign backwards, then banish with the name of God for that sign (backwards if you want to keep consistent with the rest of the ritual).

Banishing the spheres should be similarly constructing I should think, Perhaps begin by 'constructing' the sphere around you in the appropriate colors, and then 'shattering' that sphere in the banishing. Each sphere of course has a name, a choir of angels, and archangel, and a name of God. If the name of God is to be said backwards, then I would do this with the other names as well, and start with the name of the sphere. If you include as well the associations with Planets, and the association with numbers (Aleph through Yod, or Aleph through Tayt, with Aleph applying to both Kether and Malkhut) then you could banish in each of six hemispheres, shattering the sphere at the last with the name of God spoken backwards. It sounds like the curse against the sphere would be based upon the natures of the spheres as they're representation of an emnation, and therefore separation, from the True Divinity beyond the spheres. So, Malkhut would be the Separation of Matter and Spirit, Yesod would be the Separation of Truth from Illusion, etc. up the tree. I would associate the name of the Sphere with the hemisphere below, the name of God with above, the archangel behind, the choir ahead, the planet to the left, and the number to the right. This is based on the cube of space faces and their associations which may not be thelemic in nature, but there's probably something comparable available to draw on.

That's all I can come up with off the top of my head!

peace

Thank you for the advice! BTW, how would you banish Spirit?

I don't have a background in thelema, so take all this with a grain of salt.

I wouldn't include the star ruby ritual to replace anything, because it doesn't look like it's necessary. You already have an elemental and planetary banishing ritual from thelema, correct? Crowley drew heavily on GD ritual structure - it's practically all over this particular ritual - so I imagine these already exist and I would use those if you have them.

As for the zodiac, that's a tougher one. However, you might banish using the appropriate hebrew letter, perhaps the names of the angels of the zodiac, and the god-names of the zodiac. The ritual is already circular it would seem, so I would assign them 12ths around the circle as with the wheel of the zodiac. Aries is traditionally place in the east, but you could also simply put the current rising sign in the east. For banishing, I would tend to start with pisces and work backwards - think, deconstructing. The twelve signs of the zodiac have hebrew names as well. The great thing about hebrew is that you can simply construct any word backwards and it now has a new pronunciation. The Zodiac creates, in the cube of space, the angles of the cube, so four atop, for below, and four as pillars around the edges. A banishing form might be a twelve pointed star, but you might also draw a cube, or two-dimensionally simply a square, drawing each one starting with the side/point associated with the element in question. Perhaps do this while vibrating the name of the sign backwards, then banish with the name of God for that sign (backwards if you want to keep consistent with the rest of the ritual).

Banishing the spheres should be similarly constructing I should think, Perhaps begin by 'constructing' the sphere around you in the appropriate colors, and then 'shattering' that sphere in the banishing. Each sphere of course has a name, a choir of angels, and archangel, and a name of God. If the name of God is to be said backwards, then I would do this with the other names as well, and start with the name of the sphere. If you include as well the associations with Planets, and the association with numbers (Aleph through Yod, or Aleph through Tayt, with Aleph applying to both Kether and Malkhut) then you could banish in each of six hemispheres, shattering the sphere at the last with the name of God spoken backwards. It sounds like the curse against the sphere would be based upon the natures of the spheres as they're representation of an emnation, and therefore separation, from the True Divinity beyond the spheres. So, Malkhut would be the Separation of Matter and Spirit, Yesod would be the Separation of Truth from Illusion, etc. up the tree. I would associate the name of the Sphere with the hemisphere below, the name of God with above, the archangel behind, the choir ahead, the planet to the left, and the number to the right. This is based on the cube of space faces and their associations which may not be thelemic in nature, but there's probably something comparable available to draw on.

That's all I can come up with off the top of my head!

peace

Thank you for the advice! BTW, how would you banish Spirit?

Mmm.... I would think that you'd banish spirit at the center of the circle rather than a quarter, unless instead of quarters you're divising the circle by fifths, in which case it has an appropriate space. Based on the LBRP format, I think you'd want to adjust to using names with 5 syllables?, first of all, but in any case I think spirit could be given attributions of Metatron, JHSVH, and either white or black? I have never really considered spirit an element that needs banishing - it is the substrate from which the elements are constructed, itself neither active or passive until it is drawn into action through the manifestation of the elements. It is Aleph, itself timeless and neither dying nor living, but drawn into the temporal life/death pulsation through the activity of the other 'letters' or principles which it ultimately animates. But, in the interest of following the ritual those associations are my initial thoughts on the matter, MTTRVN, JHSVH. The JHSVH is obviously a reference to Jeheshuah, Jesus, but kabbalistically (given that he didn't historically exist it seems likely his name is not coincidence) the Sheen inserted into JHVH represents I believe the decscent of the Spiritual Fire into the Materiality represented by YHVH (Yod living the dual existence of Life/Death), whereas Sheen is a transcendental animation of the Ascended Aleph/Qof through the ascended container Bayt/Raysh.

The alternative is ALHIM which is I think already attributed to another element.

peace