i’ve been researching the lake of fire ritual recently, and i was wondering how “destruction” of angelic sigils differs from “retirement” of the sigil. in the BoA, the example given is one of clay tablets engraved with the angelic seals being shattered after opening of the sigils themselves.
if drawn on parchment, could they instead be burned? i don’t see how this differs from simply retiring the sigil, though. my impression was that the angelic influence was to be “banished” to remove the light of the archangels from the ritual area. why would they need to be banished if they were never evoked to begin with (as with the LBRP for example)?
if one wanted to prevent angelic influence, wouldn’t it be more useful to bind the archangels of the quarters via their sigils instead? say, by charging them and placing them under a dressed candle consecrated to the task of preventing influence?
i own a bloodstone sphere which gives me horrible nightmares, so i charged a circle on a piece of paper with a few binding commands written in theban script, placed the stone inside and now i sleep much better. this is my only frame of reference, but it got me thinking on possibilities.
any explanations of this part of the lake of fire ritual, and any suggestions as to how to proceed with regards to banishing angelic influence would be greatly appreciated.
The Tablet smashing seems to me to be a symbolic act of violence against the Angels, and to demonstrate that the area where the lake of fire ritual is done is ‘beyond salvation’…
The Angels would not return to bail out someone who had just offended them in such a manner. This is a key to allowing the ritual to continue to its end without interference also.
The symbolism of it being tablets of earth, also has the kind of link to the averse of the lords prayer, “may your will be done on earth, as it is in heaven”…
The maxim as above so bellow can be used in magickal workings in the reverse.
The above is my own interpretation of that one act in the original post about the tablets being smashed.
I do agree with your statement of binding though, it is not as passionately demonstrative as going against the order in this act of rebellion against the system of things.
I did not read the Book of Azazel so excuse me if my comment is mistaken.
It was very clear however in all the other works of EA that Angels and Demons aren’t in opposition, but share the same goals : to help the Magician to Ascend.
One kind are just more oriented toward harmony and altruism (Angels) and the other is just passionate for the execution of Power (Demons).
Considering myself a “Black Magician” (I want to attain Self-Godhood for MY own interest), I don’t understand why someone would reject the powerful help of Angels if they can be useful for the Great Work (and even for minor workings).
Damned iPad killed my post. Here it is again in brief…
Since the angelic seals are opened before being destroyed, I think I’ll “banish” the archangels first by instructing them to keep clear of the ritual space. Obviously, their presence will be felt when their seals are open, and thus it will be a simple matter to tell if they have “left” when the sigils are destroyed. I’ll tear the parchment into pieces before I burn the seals. That will dismiss the energy without retiring the full image. If I just burned them, I feel as though it would be too close to retiring the energy in its complete form, without any kind of annulment or disruption. I agree that breaking a tablet is symbolically very effective, but it’s not my style, so I’ll go with my gut.
James
If you are doing the lake of fire ritual the sigils should be smashed. It is like Vagelli said it is symbolic. While burning the sigils will work to dissipate the energy of the sigil ,the angelic presence will still be there.
The way it was described to me is that while doing this ritual there can be no angelic presence at all. They give a sort of protection so that those who are not adept won’t harm themselves.
The lake of fire ritual is very powerful, and like Vagelli said it is “beyond Salvation”.
Depending upon one’s symbolic synthetic-synthesis immersion into the system, it seems it could be done in different ways; also the reference to the Smashing of the Angelic seals seems to recall Revealations (especially in the Gnositics interpretation: opening the sealed gateways),
and literally “iconoclastic” (smashing of idols) which is stepping into an area of unknown- beyond prior understandings. [setting the new, vs just continue the old order.] Both from the receiver’s viewpt (EA being influenced by such), as well as how that Rapture / Reveal-ation is shifting in context by the BoA context.
reaper, that’s why i was going to destroy the sigils before burning them. i’ll be using parchment, which doesn’t smash terribly easily, so i was planning on tearing them into quarters (for numerological reasons) as a banishing, then burning them to dissipate energy. destroying the physical sigil (through smashing clay tablets or tearing up parchment) is the same in my mind. releasing the fragments through burning wouldn’t be the same as burning the sigil as a whole pictogram, which would be more akin to retiring it. at least, that’s how i see it, symbolically.
it’s been my experience that angels tend to be a little pretentious, anyhow. they rarely help without being called upon, and fairly regularly refuse their assistance, even when called. or, at least they complain a lot and remind you of just how lowly the human race is, even while they’re helping. it’s not always the case, but with some of the shem angels in particular, i find myself muttering “asshole” a lot under my breath. the KoF angel are a different breed, just for the record.
thanks for everyone’s comments. i’ll proceed at my discretion and in a manner that best suits my style and sense of symbolism. i’ll make a new thread in the BoA section in a few days when i’ve completed the ritual.