Lesser, Greater, Supreme: Different Rituals, Different Purposes

One of the first encounters in Magick is ritual terms like ‘Lesser,’ ‘Greater,’ and ‘Supreme.’ What do they actually mean? And which should you practice?

While my viewers know the answer, checking Occult subreddits during the holidays made me think others could benefit from addressing it. So what better time than the beginning of the year when many embark on a Magickal journey?

The idea is to provide a general overview, not an exhaustive explication of the individual techniques.

Lesser vs. Greater

The first to clarify is that:

1. Lesser doesn’t mean less special or exciting.
2. Greater and Supreme don’t imply more and most special and exciting.

It’s a terminology describing rituals serving different purposes. So, let’s start with the first.

Lesser Rituals

The term Lesser translates into:

• General,
• Unimportant,
• Nonspecific,
• Preliminary,
• Non-particular, etc.

In Golden Dawn-based approaches, the Lesser rituals set operational, magickal, or sacred space or field. They…