The Gnostic Banishing is a rite created by chaos mage Peter J. Carroll to fulfill the same purposes as The Lesser Banishing Ritual of the Pentagram (LBRP), but in a way with no specific ties to the Golden Dawn symbol set, or any other. Did he succeed? Well, the rite still has pentagrams and chakras embedded in it (it's arguable the chakras weren't even there in the LBRP). The title is somewhat misleading; this rite is not actually gnostic per se.
A later rite, the Gnostic Thunderbolt, removes symbols even further, but retains the word gnostic. Whether or not it is effective depends on what you feel a rite like this should do; I think this is a more effective banishing ritual than the Gnostic Thunderbolt (which strikes me as more of an opening ritual).
What is it used for?
There are several overlapping purposes to a banishing ritual such as this. One is to clean the area (perhaps the universe) to a null state, with no particular remnants of other workings, emotional trauma, spirits, etc. Another involves bringing the magician to a mental state conducive to further magical workings. Finally, there is the concept that something like this is a useful daily practice for a magician to get the kinks out.
Okay, how do you do it?
Well, the original version published in Liber Kaos is copyrighted, but the process itself is not so easily restricted, especially given I've glanced at Liber Kaos itself once.
- Visualize a beam of energy descending from above into your head. Visualize it lighting up a sphere in your forehead (where your pineal gland is). Vibrate the letter I (pronounced as a stretched-out 'eee').
- Continue the beam of energy to your Adam's apple, where it lights a sphere again. Vibrate the letter E (pronounced as a stretched out 'aay').
- Continue the beam of energy to your chest, where it lights up another sphere. Vibrate the letter A (pronounced as a stretched out 'aah').
- Continue it into your solar plexus and light up the penultimate sphere. Vibrate the letter O (pronounced as a stretched out 'ohh')
- Finally, bring it to your perineum, and light up a sphere. Vibrate the letter U (pronounced as 'ooo').
- Now, draw a pentagram in the air before you with your finger (or other tool). As you draw the five lines, vibrate the five vowels as above in order (I E A O U). Visualize it there. If you are going for the 'cleanse the universe' approach instead merely cleaning you and your environs, consider the pentagram to stretch out to infinity as if drawn by a laser pointer.
- Turn ninety degrees in a direction that seems appropriate (often clockwise to open a larger working, counterclockwise to close a working or banish), and draw another pentagram as above.
- Turn ninety degrees twice more, drawing pentagrams.
- Finally, turn ninety degrees to return to your original facing, and repeate the initial drawing down of power.
Any tips?
- Like all chaos magic, it's best to believe it completely while you are doing it. You can decide it is all a bunch of treehugging hippie crap before and afterward, but to do so while you are doing it will keep it from working.
- Regular practice helps. You may need to do it a bit before cultural conditioning stops keeping you from getting into it.
- Feel it enflame you as you do it. You'll get a lot more out of it if you go whole hog.
- If you get stressed out, give it a go.
- It is truly an experience to perform it in a nicely resonant chamber. Many public bathrooms fit the bill.