Before me...

[undercrypt]

Interesting article in light of the LBRP:

Angels in the Talmud: Michael, Gabriel, Uriel and Raphael: Four Angels of the Presence

Some differences in placement and direction. Need to ponder this more.

Comments

[adityanath]

Yup. The Raphael/Gabriel switch is known. Both arrangements have come down to the present day, though I am not sure what lineages transmit the older system. It is, however, used in Kate Bush's song 'Lily'...
I said
"Lily, Oh Lily I'm so afraid
I fear I am walking in the Veil of Darkness"
And she said
"Child, take what I say
With a pinch of salt
And protect yourself with fire"

Gabriel before me
Raphael behind me
Michael to my right
Uriel on my left side
In the circle of fire

[aishmlchmh]

We find no mention of angels' names until we reach the Book of Daniel, where Michael and Gabriel make their appearance. This fact led the Rabbis to assert that the names of the angels were something that the returning exiles brought with them from Babylonia.

Its interesting to note that the Iynges, Synoches and Teletarchs used in the Star Ruby are "Chaldaean (a Greek term for Babylonian) divinities pertaining to the Second Order of Platonist philosophy."

Furthermore, besides what the Rabbi's assert, much from the Book of Daniel - along with even the character of Daniel himself, is heavily borrowed from (to put it nicely) Ugaritic literature.

Lastly, Bablyonian (and probably earlier) exorcisms utilized the formula you cite but instead of archangels utilized gods:

"Shamash is before me,
Sin is behind me,
Nergal is at my right hand,
Ninib is at my left hand"

Of course the Babylonians faced south.

[undercrypt]

Very interesting.

Are there any general references that trace the development of some of these more common rituals? It seems like a lot of the pieces we use go back to older sources.

[aishmlchmh]

K, 93

There are general references as far as Grimories (the Magic in History series by the University of PA comes to mind)go, but not so much on the LRP - at least as far as I'm aware. You might want to check out Levi's "Ritual and Dogma of Magic" (BTW, Levi was a G.D. alumni according to their history)for another precursor in respect to the LRP. As far as the Hexagrams in the LRH go, there is a precursor for these in the Greater Key of Solomon (though one might consider double-checking on Mather's source material). In many instances, one can find pieces that are common to parts of the rituals we use, but not necessarily a Ugaritic, Jewish, Babylonian, etc. "Lesser Ritual of the Pentagram" per say.

IMO, its certainly good to know ones precursors so long as one takes the "older is better" mentality with a rather small grain of salt - particularly if the emphases are at odds or even extraneous to the system one is currently working in.

93 93/93

D