objects, which are necessary. During many days we occupy 
ourselves in this process of cleansing and consécration; and this 
again is confirmed in the actual ceremony. 
The cleansed and consecrated M agi ci an takes his cleansed and 
consecrated instruments into that cleansed and consecrated place, 
and there proceeds to repeat that double ceremony in the ceremony 
itself, which has these same two main parts. The first part of 
every ceremony is the banishing; the second, the invoking. 
The same formula is repeated even in the ceremony of banishing 
itself, for in the banishing ritual of the pentagram we not only 
command the démons to départ, but invoke the Archangels and 
their hosts to act as guardians of the Circle during our pre-occupa- 
tion with the ceremony proper. 
In more elaborate ceremonies it is usual to banish everything 
by name. Each element, each planet, and each sign, perhaps even 
the Sephiroth themselves; ail are removed, including the very 
one which we wished to invoke, for that force as existing in Nature 
is always impure. But this process, being long and wearisome, is 
not altogether advisable in actual working. It is usually sufficient 
to perform a general banishing, and to rely upon the aid of the 
guardians invoked. Let the banishing therefore be short, but in 
no wise slurred — for it is useful as it tends to produce the proper 
attitude of mind for the invocations. “The Banishing Ritual of 
the Pentagram” (as now rewritten, Liber 333, Cap. XXV) is the 
best to use.1 Only the four éléments are specifically mentioned, 
but these four éléments contain the planets and the signs2 — the 
four éléments are Tetragrammaton; and Tetragrammaton is the 
Universe. This spécial précaution is, however, necessary: make 
exceeding sure that the ceremony of banishing is effective ! 
1. See also the Ritual called “The Mark of the Beast” given in an 
Appendix. But this is pantomorphous. 
2. The signs and the planets, of course, contain, the éléments. It is 
important to remember this fact, as it helps one to grasp what ail these 
terms really mean. None of the “Thirty-two Paths” is a simple idea; 
each one is a combination, differentiated from the others by its structure 
smd proportions. The chemical éléments are similarly constituted, as 
the critics of Magick hâve at last been compelled to admit. 
104 —