Rite of Awen and the Pentagram

I’ve always liked performing the Lesser Banishing Ritual of the Pentagram. And then I found the book, The Celtic Golden Dawn  by John Michael Greer. In this book, Greer presents an Original & Complete Curriculum of Druidic Study. Well, I don’t have to tell anyone how cool that is. This is a great book by the way. He includes a derivation on the Lesser Banishing Ritual of the Pentagram with a Druidic focus as well as a ritual he calls the Rite of the Rays¹ which I found wonderful. It resonates far more than the traditional Golden Dawn ritual, but I still felt that I could come up with something else that resonated even more. So, like any witch, I created my own.

Greer’s ritual focuses on the concept of Awen or flowing and inspirational life force. The three rays of the sigil project downward, reflecting harmony, light, and virtue. I decided to incorporate runes into the ritual, with the Norns of Fate, Verdandi (Isa), Skuld (Nauthiz), and Urdh (Hagalaz) serving as each ray. I also rewrote the LBRP to include the names of four Goddesses: Aradia, Brigid, Tiamat, and Elen who happens to be a great-grandmother in my ancestry.

This same ritual can be used for summoning or banishing. What defines that is the direction you begin drawing the pentagram in the air. To summon, I begin at the top of the pentagram on the left side and draw downward. To banish, I reverse that process and begin at the bottom left point. This particular pentagram reflects the Earth element. In fact, each element has it’s own direction and those can be also substituted if bringing in specific elemental energies are important to the working.

Of course, I translated what I came up with into Latin, such as that is. I do my best and I probably trust Latin translation software far too much, but it is what it is. So here’s what I came up with:

• Stand, facing East. Cast your circle or sacred space
• Visualize a white light above your head
• With arms out in supplication, say: Dea
• Visualize the white light above your head as it moves through your body into the Earth
• Say: Beo existere Verdandi…Isa
• Visualize the white light arcing downward and to the right, following it with your right hand
• Say: Beo existere Skuld…Nauthiz
• Visualize the white light arcing downward and to the left, following it with your left hand
• Say: Beo existere Urdh…Hagalaz
• Draw both hands up and out in supplication
• Say: Veritas revelat..Salva veritate
• Awen

Now you can stop after this, or use it to begin and end the pentagram ritual. A note on translation so far, beo existere means blessed be, veritas revelat means reveal truth, and salva veritate means with truth preserved. I’ll include the translation below for the pentagram ritual.

• To begin the pentagram ritual, continue to face East and point your projective finger in that direction while visualizing blue flame extending from it. Draw the appropriate pentagram in the air, point to the middle and say: Dea Aradia.
• Continue extending your projective finger in front of you, visualizing a line of blue flame extending from the Eastern pentagram to the Southern quadrant.
• Draw the appropriate pentagram in the air, point to the middle and say: Dea Brigid.
• Continue extending your projective finger in front of you, visualizing a line of blue flame extending from the Southern pentagram to the Western quadrant.
• Draw the appropriate pentagram in the air, point to the middle and say: Dea Tiamat. 
• Continue extending your projective finger in front of you, visualizing a line of blue flame extending from the Western pentagram to the Northern quadrant.
• Draw the appropriate pentagram in the air, point to the middle and say: Dea Elen.
• Continue extending your projective finger in front of you, visualizing a line of blue flame extending from the Northern quadrant back to the East. Say:
  • Coram animus imperium (The powers of Elemental Air before me)
  • Tergo aqua imperium (The powers of Elemental Water behind me)
  • Dextera incendium imperium (The powers of Elemental Fire at my right)
  • Laetrosum terrenus imperium (The powers of Elemental Earth at my left)
  • Cinctus excandesco stellae (As the pentagrams flame)
  • Penitus resplendo terci lumen de lumine (The rays of Awen shine within)

From there, I repeat the Rite of Awen to close the ritual.

I like the concept of Awen over more traditional religious language. It seems a better fit for a witch I think. And runes have been such a big part of my life that including them in the ritual is such a blessing. So try it and see how it feels, and then rewrite it to make it your own!

~Blessings!

References:

1. Greer, John Michael. The Celtic Golden Dawn: An Original & Complete Curriculum of Druidical Study (Kindle Location 513). Llewellyn Worldwide, LTD.. Kindle Edition.