The Rose Cross Ritual

The Rose Cross Ritual (RCR) is one of several ceremonial techniques including the Lesser Banishing Ritual of the Pentagram (LBRP) and the Lesser Banishing Ritual of the Hexagram (LBRH) commonly used to ward a space or create a psychically cleansed area for spiritual or magical work. The RCR has certain differences from the others which make it useful. These points will be covered after instructions on how to perform the ritual.


Casting the Circle
The RCR creates a circle or sphere of protected space which can be thought of as a curtain or bubble of energy surrounding the working area. Generally one will want to ward the entire room one is working in, so the perimeter of the bubble should roughly approximate the room. It is OK if the bubble of energy projects slightly outside the walls if the room is irregular in shape. Particularly the bottom and top of the bubble may project through the floor or ceiling, especially if a sphere is visualized. It is fine if mundane furniture in the room falls without the circle. It helps the visualization to let the walls of the room assist in containing the energy, for physical walls reinforce the mental sense of protection, and it is the mind that does the work. In general, it is a harder to visualize protection of only a small area around yourself when you are in a room which is much larger. We have found that when working out of doors, without any walls, it is harder to cast any kind of circle. In such a case, using natural boundaries to define the space warded helps, such as trees or rocks. This is probably why clearings surrounded by a wall of trees, sacred groves, or circles of standing stones have been favourite sites for ceremonies. We have found that erecting banners helps define an outdoor space. Rarely, when working with a small group in a very large room, we have again used banners to cir*****scribe an area to be warded instead of using the entire room.

The Basic Image
The basic image of the Rose Cross Ritual in operation is of a rectangular bubble of white light surrounding the operator with Rose Crosses glowing at four points around the circle, at the apex above the centre, at the nadir below the centre, and at the centre of the room. This totals seven Rose Crosses in all, six at the periphery and one in the centre. Each Rose Cross except the one in the centre of the room is connected to the others by a line of light. This creates an image similar to lines of a force field. The Bubble is often slightly squashed into a rectangular shape along the sides since most rooms are usually rectangular in shape. The Rose Crosses at the periphery are not in the true quarters of the room ? East, South, West, and North ? but in the cross quarters ? Southeast, Southwest, Northwest, and Northeast. It really doesn?t matter what sequence you follow in tracing the lines and drawing the Rose Crosses, as long as they are all there when you finish. Different techniques are given by different authorities, and we will give the one given in our tradition...