Snuffin's ideas: GD LBRP has blinds?!

graspee

Hi all.

I was going to add this to the ritual of the hexagram thread, but I didn't want to be accused of going off topic, so I made a new thread.

I'm currently doing the Lesser Banishing Ritual of the Pentagram, (henceforth "LBRP") on a daily basis, as detailed in Israel Regardie's Golden Dawn (henceforth "GD") book.

All was going well and I was happy, until I stumbled across a website detailing Snuffin's changes to the LBRP.

Snuffin identifies four places where he claims the GD used a "blind" in the LBRP. In other words they knew that what they were instructing people to do was wrong, but that you needed to be higher up in the organization to be told the truth, or you needed to work it out for yourself maybe.

Here are the 4 blinds according to Snuffin:

1) He says that it makes more sense in the Qabalistic Cross for the light to be associated with the person doing the ritual, not an external entity, so he changes "Ateh" (thou art) to "Eheieh" (I am). This for me is a bit weak, especially since he backs it up by saying this makes more sense "especially in light of the New Aeon", which of course is Thelemic, not GD.

He also changes the "Amen" to "IAO", and touching the chest to touching the groin, both of which are Crowley Star Ruby changes.

2) The second blind he says is that the magician should move counterclockwise not clockwise when drawing the pentagrams, i.e. E -> N -> W -> S rather than E -> S -> W -> N, since counterclockwise is for banishing and clockwise is for invoking. The change of direction is another feature taken from the Star Ruby.

3) The third blind, Snuffin says that in each quarter the appropriate element should be banished, rather than banishing earth in each one, so that all elements are banished.

4) Fourth, Snuffin says that three of the four God names are in the wrong quarter, (YHVH, ADNI, AHIH, AGLA). He also changes YHVH to ALVH, Eloah, claiming that YHVH doesn't vibrate well and that his choice fits better with water, which is the element of its quarter.

So, there you have his four claimed blinds. He makes a couple of other minor changes too but doesn't claim that what he is replacing was a deliberate GD blind.

On one hand I want to dismiss Snuffin's changed LBRP, (He calls it the NBRP, N for "New"), because he has just taken some elements of Crowley's Star Ruby and retrofitted them onto the GD LBRP. I would say if you follow Thelema then do the Star Ruby, if not do the LBRP; It seems odd to change the LBRP to be more like the Star Ruby.

On the other hand, certain of his changes, namely the direction of travel, the which God name to which quarter and the banishing pentagram to be done of each element to its quarter instead of all four being earth, do make a heck of a lot of sense, and I wonder if, because someone who has been "going" for a lot longer than me is saying it, could it be true that these were GD blinds?

I wonder though, if they were blinds, when or how was the real information given? Was it left for the student to uncover the truth? Or was the corrected version given in the RR et AC, the inner order? I haven't read any of the leaked RR et AC stuff so I don't know if it says.

Can anyone please help me out here?
 

Aeon418

Don't panic!

Quick answer; ignore Snuffin and carry on as you are. I'll give you a detailed point by point answer later on when I've got more time.
 

Grigori

graspee said:
All was going well and I was happy, until I stumbled across a website detailing Snuffin's changes to the LBRP.

I think Snuffin is great, but his ideas are quite a ways from GD as well as OTO or AA proper. Doesn't mean they're no good, just not authoritative for someone who wants "traditional".

Snuffin identifies four places where he claims the GD used a "blind" in the LBRP. In other words they knew that what they were instructing people to do was wrong, but that you needed to be higher up in the organization to be told the truth, or you needed to work it out for yourself maybe.

the same directions appear in papers published for inner order adepts, with the only change being an inner order weapon (lotus wand) instead of a general dagger. I have details somewhere, will dig them up for you.

1) He says that it makes more sense in the Qabalistic Cross for the light to be associated with the person doing the ritual, not an external entity, so he changes "Ateh" (thou art) to "Eheieh" (I am). This for me is a bit weak, especially since he backs it up by saying this makes more sense "especially in light of the New Aeon", which of course is Thelemic, not GD.

He also changes the "Amen" to "IAO", and touching the chest to touching the groin, both of which are Crowley Star Ruby changes.

Interesting to me that Crowley did the GD version of the LBRP his entire life, not the Thelema-fied version (which I prefer) and he left no record of performing the Star Ruby at all. It was LBRP all the way.

2) The second blind he says is that the magician should move counterclockwise not clockwise when drawing the pentagrams, i.e. E -> N -> W -> S rather than E -> S -> W -> N, since counterclockwise is for banishing and clockwise is for invoking. The change of direction is another feature taken from the Star Ruby.

Or clockwise to invoke the four angels...

3) The third blind, Snuffin says that in each quarter the appropriate element should be banished, rather than banishing earth in each one, so that all elements are banished.

This assumes the LBRP is an elemental ritual, which it's not. Some great discussion of this out there, have a google cause I can't give a link here.

4) Fourth, Snuffin says that three of the four God names are in the wrong quarter, (YHVH, ADNI, AHIH, AGLA). He also changes YHVH to ALVH, Eloah, claiming that YHVH doesn't vibrate well and that his choice fits better with water, which is the element of its quarter.

Again, only I you think it's an elemental ritual.
 

Aeon418

graspee said:
1) He says that it makes more sense in the Qabalistic Cross for the light to be associated with the person doing the ritual, not an external entity, so he changes "Ateh" (thou art) to "Eheieh" (I am).
Ateh does not necessarily imply an external entity, but it does suggest "otherness". When I focus on the Crown and intone Ateh, I am trying to connect to my own inner core of being. But this core is not part that thing which I ordinarily identify as myself. It is not a part of my personality. It is essentially Other.
graspee said:
This for me is a bit weak, especially since he backs it up by saying this makes more sense "especially in light of the New Aeon", which of course is Thelemic, not GD.
Not sure where you're going with this. It sounds a bit "apples and oranges."
graspee said:
He also changes the "Amen" to "IAO", and touching the chest to touching the groin, both of which are Crowley Star Ruby changes.
If someone wanted to make this change in their personal practice, I would have no objections. But it's not part of the rubric of the ritual as it is written.

Crowley's actual change of the Q.C. was:
Ateh (Crown)
Aiwass (Heart)
Malkuth (Groin - pointing to feet.)
ve-Geburah (Right Shoulder)
ve-Gedulah (Left shoulder)
le-Olahm, Amen (Heart)
graspee said:
2) The second blind he says is that the magician should move counterclockwise not clockwise when drawing the pentagrams, i.e. E -> N -> W -> S rather than E -> S -> W -> N, since counterclockwise is for banishing and clockwise is for invoking. The change of direction is another feature taken from the Star Ruby.
Too simplistic. Counter-clockwise motion (widdershins) isn't neccessarily always about banishing. There are numerous other reasons why it is sometimes used. (I posted on this subject before. In which thread though?).

In the LBRP you work your way through a sequence of names clockwise. (Y.H.V.H. Lord - I AM. Thou art mighty forever, Lord.) But the banishing effect comes from the pentagrams.
graspee said:
3) The third blind, Snuffin says that in each quarter the appropriate element should be banished, rather than banishing earth in each one, so that all elements are banished.
That's what the Greater Ritual of the pentagram is for. ;)

This also high-lights a gap in Snuffin's understanding. Even though the pentagram used in the LBRP is usually described as an earth pentagram, it's not the same one that is used to banish the sub-element of earth. The pentagram used in the LBRP is a generic, all purpose banishing pentagram. It's purpose is to banish everything.
graspee said:
4) Fourth, Snuffin says that three of the four God names are in the wrong quarter, (YHVH, ADNI, AHIH, AGLA). He also changes YHVH to ALVH, Eloah, claiming that YHVH doesn't vibrate well and that his choice fits better with water, which is the element of its quarter.
How can the god names be in the wrong quarters. They are not connected to the elements in the LBRP (unlike in the Greater ritual). The names in the Lesser ritual are an invocation in a sequence that goes clockwise. Elements don't come into it until the Archangel section later on.
graspee said:
I would say if you follow Thelema then do the Star Ruby, if not do the LBRP; It seems odd to change the LBRP to be more like the Star Ruby.
Eh? I identify myself as a Thelemite and find nothing in the traditional LBRP that is un-Thelemic.
 

graspee

Aeon418 said:
graspee said:
This for me is a bit weak, especially since he backs it up by saying this makes more sense "especially in light of the New Aeon", which of course is Thelemic, not GD.
Not sure where you're going with this. It sounds a bit "apples and oranges."

Of course it's apples and oranges, but Snuffin is claiming that "Ateh" rather than ""Eheieh" is a GD blind; He can't use the fact that the replacement word fits in more with Thelema as evidence that the GD really meant one thing but wrote another.
 

graspee

Aeon418 said:
How can the god names be in the wrong quarters. They are not connected to the elements in the LBRP (unlike in the Greater ritual). The names in the Lesser ritual are an invocation in a sequence that goes clockwise. Elements don't come into it until the Archangel section later on.

To quote Snuffin:

"Adonai is associated with Earth through the god-name Adonai ha-Aretz (Lord of Earth) in Malkuth. Eheieh is associated with breath and therefore Air. AGLA is notariqon for Ateh Gibor le-Olam Adonai (“Thou art mighty forever my Lord”), Gibor being of the same root of the fiery sephira Geburah."
 

Aeon418

Personally I see it as evidence of Snuffin's general ignorance about the pentagram ritual.

Crowley's re-write, the Star Ruby, begins with the Greek word, Soi. It means "thou".
 

ravenest

Yeah, I agree with post #5, plus :
Direction of movement becomes interesting when one lives in the southern hemisphere ;) .

I think YHVH vibrates more than fine, as long as one is not silly enough to try and vibrate the english letters.

I like to substitute IAO for AMEN - just a personal preference. I find it vibrates better and has a more posative unconconcious effect for me, I have learnt more about that formula and find it better constructed.

- I dont have much to do with Snuffin.
 

graspee

Well thanks for all your responses so far. I think I'm leaning toward continuing with the ritual as written for now, but more opinions are welcomed as I'm enjoying the discussion.