______

[GentleWanderer]

______

[rva_jeremy]

1) It is used for protection and purification of a place before a working, but is it also useful for inner purification, balancing distortions, karma... ?

In my opinion as an extremely novice practitioner, it is for setting up a physical space for work, inner or otherwise. But it's not in and of itself for those things except to the extent there may be aspects of yourself you want to "banish" or purge, such as thoughts/thought forms.

2) Does one has understand the meaning of everything in the ritual for it to be effective ?

According to my inquiries, no. What you're doing, to quote a teacher, is leaning on the inertia of past practitioners who have created the metaphysical constructs of the ritual. I'm not even sure understanding the exact meaning helps, since the real understanding comes from the experience of practicing the ritual over and over. The form points to the content, but if the content were clear we would simply invoke that. The ritual form is designed to create an opening, I believe, for meaning (content) that we can't conceptualize, at least easily and tractably.

3) Do you think the material elements of ritual in itself are quite insignificant in themselves, and that what makes it work is really the intention, thoughts and feelings of the entity performing it ?

Your intent is primary. That said, following the form rigorously is one means of certifying to yourself your intent and honesty. So I find that if I do not adhere to certain parts of a ritual that I deem valuable or necessary, that has an impact. This is not because the ritual was bad per se as I performed it. Rather, because the power the ritual delivers comes from a "deal" I've made with myself to use the ritual as a symbol of certain ineffable qualities within myself that I am working with, I broke that agreement and deadened the impact of the ritual to effect within me what I sought. In other words, because ritual invokes the magical personality, to the extent you take this connection seriously you have to take the protocols of the connection seriously. That's all a ritual is: protocols for effecting a change in consciousness at will.

The ritual is a means to an end, but it has constraints upon it that make it useful, and respecting the constraints allows you to concretize your respect for the ends. For example, imagine living your whole life as a big, ritualistic symbol where everything is deeply imbued with meaning. There would be no play involved, no ability to allow yourself to make a mistake or simply have fun or, for that matter, just be at rest. Ritual allows us to be able to invoke the magical personality because we don't want to live in that personality constantly.

The intent is more important than the form of the ritual. But the ritual, in order to be useful, has to be done in a formalized way or it's not a ritual. Does that make sense?

4) The protocol given by the Golden Dawn is one of the most popular but according to some, all the members of the GD don't always have the highest spiritual intentions and aren't always financially disinterested.
When performing a ritual designed by a group, it is said you set up a connection with this organisation's egregore and will be influenced by it, there will be an energy exchange between you and the egregore. Is it possible to do this ritual without connecting to any organisation's egregore as it is impossible to know the purity, motives and goals of a group. Can we simply and only use this ritual to tap into the archangelic and spiritual realm ?

I've never heard of the concept of the egregore! I'm practicing from the GD manual, but I pick and choose what I feel has significance and use to me. If I'm invoking some connection with the GD group, I'm not aware of it.

5) Did Carla and the the group always used this ritual before their working ? I ask this because of the loyal opposition which is often mentioned in the books.

My understanding is that Jim regularly performs the banishing ritual in the space where the public meditations occur, and that this is a long running practice. With the Ra contact, I'm pretty sure they started their ritual work pre-session as soon as they recognized the need. But I believe it was those of Ra that impressed upon the group the need for ritual. I am not certain, though, and would appreciate somebody with more knowledge weighing in.

[GentleWanderer]

______

[Aion]

1) It is used for protection and purification of a place before a working, but is it also useful for inner purification, balancing distortions, karma... ?

This is actually it's primary intent and that of protection and purification of a space is actually secondary. Its primary intent is wide but it is in general about all of these things. It is a microcosm of the intent to become whole and one, balancing all the elements within and without. Its work is first on the self and second on the space.

2) Does one has understand the meaning of everything in the ritual for it to be effective ?

No you do not, and practicing it is actually a great way to get to know the elements. Learning about the cardinal directions, the names of god used (or whatever calls to the corners), the form of the pentagram, the names of the archangels (or whatever deities), and all the details of the ritual itself are important, but not necessarily understanding the detailed meaning of everything. Keep in mind this ritual came from a tradition which has many other ideas associated with it and it has largely been taken out of context, even in the Ra Material in my opinion and so I think that there is a lot of 'magical appropriation' in terms of GD because plenty of people are happy to borrow from it and use pieces of it for themselves but few venture to actually learn the roots and base of the elements of the tradition itself. Not saying you are doing this, but it's something I've noticed.

3) Do you think the material elements of ritual in itself are quite insignificant in themselves, and that what makes it work is really the intention, thoughts and feelings of the entity performing it ?

No, I do not think they are insignificant although I know that is a very popular idea. I believe what 'makes it work' is the communication that is done with the intelligent energy around you. I don't believe it is just an isolated experience of the individual reflecting only on themselves I think that one of the defining features of positive magic is the communion with other intelligences. Some approach it from a purely intellectual or psychological point of view, but I personally believe that when you call to an entity you are calling to something that is real and not just a figment of your mental constructs. Thus, I think faith is probably the most important element, followed closely by peace, relaxation and lastly by good knowledge and consistency which also aids any working by 'sharpening the instrument'.

It is my opinion that you should not 'mix up' your rituals too much but rather it is by consistent repetition that their real potency comes out. So whether you are doing the version with the archangels or one of the other versions (gaelic, greek, meso, etc) created by the Ciceros or others, I would suggest doing the same one for an extended period of time, at least 6 months and recording what you experience.

4) The protocol given by the Golden Dawn is one of the most popular but according to some, all the members of the GD don't always have the highest spiritual intentions and aren't always financially disinterested.
When performing a ritual designed by a group, it is said you set up a connection with this organisation's egregore and will be influenced by it, there will be an energy exchange between you and the egregore. Is it possible to do this ritual without connecting to any organisation's egregore as it is impossible to know the purity, motives and goals of a group. Can we simply and only use this ritual to tap into the archangelic and spiritual realm ?

Each Temple has its own egregore to my understanding so unless you have learned a particular temple's particular way of doing things then you likely won't be connecting to the egregore of any temple. More likely you will attract all of the many scattered elementals which are attracted to this type of work. As I said, the Ciceros have created some versions of the ritual which use deities from various other cultures, you might find one of those fruitful for personal work. It is true that all the members of GD don't always have the highest spiritual intentions, but so what? That's the same for any group and any situation. That is the same for the membership of this forum and the egregore here. If you're looking for 'total purity' then alas I think you will find human groups wanting as such.

I believe that proper initiation through the Golden Dawn path can only be achieved in a real functioning temple and don't really believe that solitary initiation is efficacious. Not that you won't achieve anything through it, but I think that Golden Dawn was intentionally created to require a group effort. I'm sure plenty would oppose me on that point and there are many valuable arguments, but still my intuitive notion persists.

5) Did Carla and the the group always used this ritual before their working ? I ask this because of the loyal opposition which is often mentioned in the books.

They did not until Ra suggested it would be effective although I'm not sure if they were 100% consistent since I know there were some missteps at times. However, I personally think that the issue wasn't ultimately the use of the ritual or not but the relationships that were built in to the group. Ra paints a very bright picture of their harmonies but I think Don in particular struggled with himself and this left openings in their protection. There is plenty to speculate here but I don't see the need to at this point too much.

[GentleWanderer]

_________

[Aion]

I wouldn't say normal but not unheard of in my experience. If you continue to have that effect then I would see a doctor.

[Coordinate_Apotheosis]

The headache/dizziness might be a rush of blood to the head.  Be gentler in extending your spine during any flourishes of the upper body.  Your blood pressure still exists even as a magician

[GentleWanderer]

______