In your opinion, what is the basic role of banishing in magical practices? Why is there so much emphasis on and talk about this practice in the occult community? What are some of the methods you use? Do you find personal banishings more or less effective than more traditional banishings?
I find there are two kinds of banishings, that often get confused with one another... the LBRP and it's ilk are likely what you are wanting to discuss here though, so I'll go with that to start... I never really got into it all that much, though when I first started to dabble into the occult, and specifically with Ceremonial Magick, I was doing this ritual daily. Often practicing(reading) it with a piece of paper between two huge power stations at work to hide what I was doing. I found that the daily ritual/routine was certainly a godsend in helping me to prepare for CM in general. Vibration, getting used to entities, ritual itself, and so on. Using the LBRP pre/post ritual is however something I have only ever done once, and I found that unlike most rites that I've done, doing this certainly set the tone for the even, and is likely one of the core reasons for it's practice in my opinion. It not only sets up your temple for ritual work, it sets up you! So in this sense it's like banishing all that was (the mundane) to usher in the magicial, then used again to usher out the magick so that one can re-enter the mundane. Clever by any means! I once even used it to try to banish an entity from a friends home, though it did little to oust the thing, but that is likely due to me being in a house full of Satanists, and my lack of 'faith' in God (and therefore in the entities I was invoking to banish. Another banishing is the Solar Wave (link) which again I have used as a daily practice. Though in this instance less of banishing spirits again, and more of banishing unwanted energies. To rid oneself of bad vibes and to replace them with solar power is, well, a power trip that I suggest all try. This is something I need to get back into the habit of doing. On the same evening of trying to get that entity out of the house that I used the LBRP on, once that was a fail I tried this one, and while it was more a battle of wills then the ritual, I did find that the energy increase in this one certainly helped me to get rid of the things... they no longer had complaints about things in the basement where I was, and started to get them just outside the backdoor... which is where I sent it. I find there is a LOT of talk about banishing, yet with the multiple types, I find that following the topics rather confusing... so maybe figure out which aspect of banishing you'd like to talk about, narrow it to that, and keep the topic better inline. Possibly even starting other threads to discuss the other aspects. Though that's more of a suggestion then an order
Banishing to me takes on a whole 'nother form of meaning. (Yes, y'all I'm from WV. I speak "Southern". LOL!) This may be the other form that Q did not discuss. Banishing to me does not involve the LBRP or anything like that. Having a history of practice in Wicca, I tend to view Banishing as ridding the area of negative/evil presences or beings, the presence or influence of another person, or even negative aspects of one's Self. Now, I do not take banishing, binding, cursing, blasting, or any such form of potentially destructive magic lightly. Ethics and such will vary from person to person. I, however, will do it and see to it that it is done as needed with little to no "repentance" for doing so but I do have my limits and guidelines when it comes down to it. This is why I always try to work in line with Spirit and not do it when I am angry or just want revenge. There is much discussion about this among the Occult/Craft community because of the ethics and sometimes I think it is because uneducated minds want to know so they can use such practices and unbeknownst to them, get themselves into a helluva mess! (I really hope that's not the case that often, though.) Methods I use vary based on Spirit and the situation. In the case of banishing entities/negative spirits . . . Normally it is smudging, praying, and reciting Psalms that does the trick. However for the nasties I tend to get a little more elaborate and use Holy Water, candles, incense, and the whole 9-yards. Sometimes the Pentecostal aspect of my practice will even induce speaking in other tongues to banish evil entities. If needs be, I will call other friends who are somewhat like-minded for assistance and then will resort to calling a Catholic priest to take care of it if it is so serious that I cannot fix it. In the case of banishing people and/or their influences . . . I will work within the hoodoo and folk magic practices. Using poppets is one of my forte. I also use the Psalms and will use whatever necessary to do so. I have instructed friends to use black candles along with mirrors and pictures to take care of these issues as well. I personally work best with Spirit. Now, if it's something simple and common I will go ahead and do it. If it requires discernment I will wait until I have an answer from Spirit. Personal for me is doing it myself. Traditional would be to call in outside sources (such as a Priest) or to use rituals that have been passed down from alternative sources. I normally find a blend of the two to work for me best. Hope I didn't confuse anyone with this post.
Banishing rituals seem to have 2 distinct functions depending on the situation: Preparing the space (and yourself) for a ritual. Exorcising undesirable entities or forces. Now, I personally do not get anything out of use #1 but maybe that is because I rarely practice ritual magic (I'm a more on-the-fly type of mage). However, #2 is a very rich subject that I would love to flesh out one day. I think FolkSeer has the right idea by adjusting his banishing method to circumstances. If you are dealing with negative or demonic entities, then holy water accompanied by psalms sounds like a good idea. However, this is not really an option for non-religious persons like myself and is a little much for basic purification. What I prefer to do is sprinkle freshly prepared salt water in the four cardinal directions without any incantations at all (I'm a minimalist). I use salt water for the following reasons: Water has connotions of purification and purity. Its been used from time immemorial for both ritual and practical cleansing Salt has been long used as a preservative in food and so it has picked up an association in the human mind with preservation and protection from decay. This makes it anathema to any destructive or entropic energies or beings. This is the origin of the practice of throwing salt over one's shoulder to ward off evil. If this option sounds good to you then I recommend getting your salt on a Sunday, preferably at the hour of the Sun, as this will enhance its life preserving/protecting properties. The water should be pure, preferably rain water (though spring water will do). Whenever you need to exorcise your space, mix the salt and water in a bowl which you have bought and keep especially for the purpose and no other. P.S. Don't bother calculating the planetary hours yourself (it's so tedious!), instead go to this website which does it automatically in seconds.
Sprinkling salt works great! I even use salt with quartz crystals or sometimes even selenite to lay in the corners or even lay the boundaries (marking the perimeter of the house). You're right, though, some methods that one person may use may not work for another, especially when it comes to whether or not the person is religious. You also gave great explanations of why you use salt water. And your idea is very quick and simple. I love ideas that can be quick and simple, as needed. Rain water is the best. It has all the powers of Nature because of the way rain becomes rain. Oh, and thanks for the link to the website to calculating planetary hours.
^ I agree with salt being an efficient banishment-substance, just as water is said to be a traditional spirit barrier. Japanese Sumo-wrestlers also always throw salt in the ring as a gesture of purification before the fight. I once was confronted with a room that had a bad vibe and an unpleasant stink to it (a very negative elderly person had lived there- one could say that she had been possessed). I put a large plastic bowl with water and lots of salt in the middle of it and did some projective visualization on all the corners of the room. Next day, the salt in the water was colored beige-brown and there were extremely curious lines and patterns in it. I threw it away, repeated it, this time there was less of the coloring, next day the stink was gone, too. Iron (the metal not the activity!) is also traditionally said to have a banishing effect but I have no experience with it. In your opinion, what is the basic role of banishing in magical practices? Drawing your attention and/or being away from something that becomes imminent, that wants to push itself on you or that wants you to concern yourself with it but that you do not want to bother with at this moment. Why is there so much emphasis on and talk about this practice in the occult community? Partly the influence of popular opinion and media (it fits the 'image' of a magical practitioner that s/he is permanently attacked by demons and sinister forces), partly because people don’t want to deal with shit in their lives- which is all too understandable (the Arts can give one good advise here, too, so can philosophy, psychology, martial arts and other supplementary disciplines), and partly –from a more esoteric view- they are unbalanced, possessed, partly because they crave the attention of others. All these points overlap and have to do with each other. To learn seeing the bigger picture (and then banishing it again!) is part of why magic is so much fun. What are some of the methods you use? Recently I for example use a very quick and effective method. When I want to refocus or after a magical operation, it even can be a curse, I quickly 'seal' the past (state) with a unicursal geometric shape (which one is my secret) in both directions- deosil and widdershins, encase this with a circle, inside of which is an upward triangle and again enclosed in it a downward-pointing triangle also executed in both directions and then do some action that belongs to another field completely or to that I have been looking forward to (like e.g. eating). LBRP and consorts would be better if one exclusively used the GD system I’d imagine but noone in today’s world does it, I believe. I myself consider that ritual more as a beautiful rite, a ceremony and an invocation. It is slightly invigorating and refreshing and it is clearing 'space' (but I don’t work in/with a classical circle, anyway). I got more inspired by Tantra, poetry, Taoism and witchcraft. In the magical field, a flexible and trained imagination will in the end always win against anything less creative and spontaneous. Facing ones inner fears can also very effectively be trained in lucid dreaming and pathworking which serves to peal away some layers of your Orphic onion and lets you know yourself –whatever that may be- a bit better. Also very effective for getting to the mundane mindset again is to read weekend editions of newspapers and fashion magazines (do the crosswords and the psycho-tests therein!) or eating lots of meat. Do you find personal banishings more or less effective than more traditional banishings? I especially find personalized banishings more effective than pre-designed ones, but of course with practice everything will become personalized inadvertently, anyway. I don’t know how others do it, but after only a couple of repetitions I tend to always take apart, change and reconstruct any pre-designed rites.
