A RITUAL OF THE HEPTAGRAM

                           BY BENJAMIN ROWE

                 Copyright 1990, 1992 by Benjamin Rowe


1	The magickal circle has the Heptagram inscribed, with its points
     touching the circle. Topmost point directed east. Glyphs of the
     planets or other appropriate sigillia should be drawn within the
     angles of the Heptagram. For invocations, the lotus wand or a
     planetary wand should be used. Either wand or the sword may be
     used for banishings.

2	Circumambulate the magickal circle with the magickal weapon
     directed outwards.

	Make the sign of Osiris Risen. Recite:

	I, R, N, I
	Yod, Resh, Nun, Yod
	Isis, Horus, Set, Thoth

	The linking of the Earth with the Stars!

	Isis - Nature, the Fullness of Earth!
	Horus - Warrior, the Triumph of Sol!
	Set - Apostate, Seed of Rebellion!
	Thoth - Perfection, Uniting them all!


3	Go to first point of Heptagram, draw the Heptagram of Saturn,
     invoking:

	ShBThAI, unmoving, horizon of perception, by IHVH ALHIM I invoke
     you!.

	Go clockwise following the lines of the Heptagram, drawing the
     Heptagrams of the planets and invoking the divine names & planets
     in this order:

	4th point:

	ShMSh, thou Sun, by IHVH ALVH VDOTh I invoke you!

	7th point:

	LBNH, whiteness in night, ShDI AL ChI enlivens you!

	3rd point:

	MADIM, ruler of forces, by ALHIM GBVR I invoke you!
 

	6th point:

	KVKB, fleet star, ALHIM TzBAVTh moves you!

	2nd point:

	TzDQ, righteous one, by AL I invoke you!

	5th point:

	NVGH, brightness of morning, IHVH TzBAVTh is your god!

	Complete the hexagram by returning to the first point.

4	Return to the center of the circle, face east. Recite:

	Isis - Nature, the Fullness of Earth!
	Horus - Warrior, the Triumph of Sol!
	Set - Nay-Sayer, Seed of Rebellion!
	Thoth - Perfection, Uniting them All!

	Make the sign of Osiris Risen.



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Symbolism and Visualizations.

1: This brief ritual was designed as a general planetary invocation
and banishing, to be used when invoking the Heptarchic Royalty and the
angels of the Table of the 49 Good Angels. The symbolism of these
divine beings is based on the number seven rather than six, with Sol
being treated as one among equals, instead of being given a place of
primacy. The ritual can also be used as a substitute for the Hexagram
Ritual in other, non-Heptarchic workings.

The preferred form of the Heptagram is the G.D. version. Going clock-
wise from the topmost point, the planets are attributed to the points
in the order of their apparent rate of motion, from slowest to fast-
est. This is identical with the order of their corresponding sephiroth
in the Tree of Life. I use this ordering because when the Heptagram is
drawn, the planets' points are touched in the order of the days of the
week. Thus this version of the Heptagram embodies both macrocosmic and
microcosmic aspects of the planetary powers. 

The orientation of Heptagram inscribed in the magickal circle is
arbitrary. One can make valid arguments for several different orienta-
tions, and the magician should use the orientation that fits his own
preferences.

To draw the invoking heptagram of a planet, start at the point at-
tributed to the planet and move clockwise. The banishing Heptagram is
drawn by starting at the same point and going counter-clockwise. The
glyph of the planet is drawn in the center of the completed Heptagram.

2: Points 2 and 3 of this ritual describe a complete cycle. Point 2
represents the raising of the Earth to the stars by expansion of the
elementally-based formula of INRI/IRNI to include the entire Tree of
Life. Point 3 represents the response of the macrocosmos being fixed
in matter.

The spoken portion of point 2 is a revision of the G.D. Hexagram
ritual and the keyword INRI to conform with an initiatory system shown
to me by the Enochian spirits. This system is described in the chap-
book Enochian Temples and the related papers in the Archives. Readers
interested in the fine details of the system should consult those
documents. Briefly, this system divides the Tree of Life into four
sections instead of the three major divisions of the G.D. system, and
views initiation as a more dynamic process than the G.D. does. The
four stages are:

Isis - Lunar-planetary stage. Corresponds to the Outer Order of the
G.D. system. Elemental Earth, astrological Virgo.

Horus - Solar-planetary stage. Corresponds to the transitional grades
between the Outer Order and the Order of the Rose Cross, the grade of
Adeptus Minor, and the paths between that grade and the full Adept
grades. Elemental fire, astrologically Sol/Aries.

Set - Solar-systemic stage. Corresponds to the full Adept grades, and
the paths connecting these grades with the grades of Magister Templi
and Magus. Elemental water, astrologically Scorpio.

Thoth or Nepthys - Cosmic stage. Corresponds to the "Secret Chiefs" of
the G.D., or the Order of the A.A. in Crowley's system. Normally Thoth
is attributed to the last I of IRNI as ruler of the Sphere of the
Fixed Stars. In this ritual Nepthys, in her aspect as a goddess of
perfection, is substituted to maintain a balance between the masculine
and feminine forces. Elemental Air, astrologically Mercury / Aquarius
(Thoth) or Libra (Nepthys).

Thelemic magicians might want to consider the correspondence between
these four gods and the thelemic quadruplicity of Babalon, Horus,
Hadit, and Nuit. There is also a strong correspondence between the
IRNI formula and the fixed zodiacal signs of Taurus, Leo, Scorpio, and
Aquarius.

The ritual begins with the sign of Osiris because it is Osiris,
humanity, that passes through these four stages of initiation. The
sign of Osiris Risen is used instead of Osiris Slain because Man must
have conquered the worlds of the elements and become the Pentagram
before he can enter into the purely planetary realms. The magician
affirms that he has accomplished this task by giving the sign.

The first three spoken lines are an abstract analysis of the keyword,
along the same lines as the G.D. Hexagram Ritual. The next line
celebrates both action of the IRNI formula and the purpose of the
ritual. IRNI links the Earth with the stars by encompassing the Tree.
The ceremony links the Earth with the stars because the sephiroth with
planetary attributes lie between Malkuth and Chokmah, sphere of the
fixed stars. The line also links the abstract preceding three lines
with the concrete and qualitative descriptions of the following four
lines, to make the holy seven that is the basis of the ritual.

The final four lines describe the attributes of the four initiatory
stages and the corresponding parts of the Tree through commemoration
of the relevant characteristics of the gods. As these lines are
recited, the gods should be visualized at the four quarters, in
backgrounds suggestive of the qualities mentioned. For instance, Isis
could be seen standing amidst lush vegetation, Horus standing above a
battlefield strewn with the bodies of his enemies, etc.

3: In invoking the planets, the lines of the Heptagram are followed in
order to tie the planetary powers to the Earth. Invoking each point in
order clockwise does not seem to produce as stable a manifestation.
The large Heptagram within the circle can be viewed as the Heptagram
of Earth, and the invoked powers as its sub-aspects. The magickal
image of the planet or its sephira should be visualized standing
beyond each Heptagram after it is drawn.

The invocation of the planets uses the Hebrew planet names and god-
names. The English following each planet's name is a loose translation
of the Hebrew inserted purely for emphasis. The variations in phrasing
in the invocations of Luna, Mercury, and Venus ("enlivens you", "moves
you", "is your god") are a cabalistic pun on the old Theosophical
phrase concerning the worlds in which the uninitiated man "Lives, and
moves, and has his being". The sephiroth corresponding to these
planets are the cabalistic equivalents of the Theosophical worlds.

The planet names are used first, to emphasize that the planets are not
merely points of light in the sky expressing the Assiatic aspect of
cosmic forces, but the bodies of beings expressing themselves in all
four worlds; beings whose power and nature qualifies them as gods in
their own right. 

Our magickal conception of the universe should always conform to the
known facts of physical reality. Prior to the advent of space travel,
our subjective experience of the planets as moving points of light was
more or less in conformance with the limited objective view. But
telecommunications and space probes have now provided us with a
clearer perspective on their true nature. The subjective experience is
now shown to be only a product of our relative locations in space. 

But while the new objective view invalidates the naive subjective view
of the planets, it actually enhances the magickal view of their
natures. Each of the known planets has at least one outstanding
physical characteristic that is a perfect correspondence to the
traditional magickal view of its nature and powers. For instance,
Saturn's rings are a graphic symbol of its restrictive and limiting
nature. Mars' surface is covered with iron, the traditional metal of
the planet. Mars also has the largest volcano in the solar system, an
order of magnitude larger than any on Earth, confirming the tradition-
al violence of its nature.

A similar alteration must be made in our view of the Earth. She is
still the sphere of the Elements - nowhere else in the solar system
are they as active as here. Her place as the life-holder is also still
secure. But the traditional magickal view of the Earth as the material
pole of the matter-spirit duality has to be modified. 

Our space explorations have shown that matter is much the same el-
sewhere in the solar system as it is here. There is no reason to think
that this sameness can not be extended to the rest of the universe.
The Earth is in no way more "material" than any other place. Our
perception of the Earth as different in some way from the rest of the
universe is purely subjective, and completely relative.

Further, matter itself has proven to be much different from the naive
subjective view. Beneath its seeming palpability is another world of
sub-atomic particles; and the further scientists delve into that
smaller world, the more it seems that there might be an even smaller
world, and smaller worlds yet beyond that one. 

The same is true in the physical macrocosm. We have pushed our concep-
tion of the universe to the theoretical limits of direct knowledge,
but our knowledge and the very structure of our conception is beginn-
ing to demand that we conceive that universe as being but a limited,
relatively local phenomenon, a bubble in some meta-universal stream of
activity. 

So our view of the physical universe is proving to be only a slice, a
range of phenomena in a continuum whose true limits are beyond our
perception, perhaps beyond our ability to conceive. Following the law
of correspondences the subjective spirit-matter duality described by
the Tree of Life must also be seen as a section of a larger continuum;
beyond the horizon of our perception in both the spiritual and mater-
ial directions must exist other realms as yet unperceived. Neither
Malkuth nor Kether is an absolute limit to existence, but both are
merely the horizon beyond which we can not presently see. Malkuth may
be seen as the Kether of some sub-microcosmic Tree, and Kether the
Malkuth of a larger Tree.

Under this conception, we must abandon the idea of the Earth being
irrevocably tied to Malkuth. Viewed from the spatial perspective she
actually encloses the elements, and the life she holds, within her-
self. Therefore she is properly placed in Binah. Under this same
conception Saturn, representing limitation, the "horizon" beyond which
we can not see but only speculate, can be taken out of Binah and more
properly placed in Malkuth. 

The astrological characters of the two planets have always supported
such a move -- a fact that has been indirectly recognized by many
writers as early as the Golden Dawn era. There is no obvious reason
why the change has not been proposed formally before now. Perhaps it
is the fact that the Hebrew divine names are the only truly effective
means of evocation that has been available, and the Hebrew system is
based entirely on the naive, subjective view in which the Earth was an
infinite expanse of stone totally separated from the ethereal realms
above. The only system of comparable effectiveness, the Enochian
system, as yet lacks a framework for invoking the powers of the
planets themselves, though the Heptarchy provides an avenue to those
powers through angelic intermediaries. 

                                 -oOo-