Do I really need to practice the LBRP to

No — and I'm not the one who gets to decide what counts as a witch, either half of that answer is mine to hand back. What's yours to check is the ritual itself, so let me take that part in full.

What the LBRP is, in plain words: it's a short ceremonial magic ritual, four-ish minutes of spoken words and traced pentagrams, traditionally used to clear a space of unwanted influences before you do other work in it.

Formal definition: the Lesser Banishing Ritual of the Pentagram — the lesser, because it's the shorter of two banishing pentagram rituals (the greater one is the same outline with the Lord's Prayer substituted and repeated over four quarters); banishing, because its stated purpose is to drive out unwanted presence; of the pentagram, because the traced figure is a five-pointed star drawn in one continuous line, usually with a candle at each of the outer points.

Where it comes from: the earliest version anyone can point to is in *The Grimoire of Oberon* (15th century), attributed to Peter de Abundia. It's not a folk practice that survived from pre-Christian times and not a Wiccan invention — it's medieval European ceremonial magic, and it enters modern occultism largely through the Golden Dawn, and from there through Aleister Crowley and his successors. That's why it's so widely circulated in English-language witch circles: a specific lineage, not a universal rite.

Is it required? No tradition I'm describing makes it a condition of anything. The Wiccan traditions that people usually mean by "witch" — the newer forms especially — don't require it, and Wicca was formalized in the 20th century, long after this text, so it couldn't be a founding requirement of a newer tradition. What's true is that some groups do treat banishing work as central to their own practice, and members of those groups may well feel strongly that it's part of the path. That's a real thing about a real community, not a fact about witchcraft in general. If your actual question underneath is "am I doing this right / would they count me," that question belongs to the specific tradition or circle you're in — not to me, and not to a website.

The comparison people usually want: many modern witches use the Banishing Pentagram from the Cunningham tradition instead, or a tradition-specific lesser banishing, which do the same symbolic work with fewer lineages attached. If you're drawn to LBRP, there's nothing improper about learning it; if you're not, nothing is missing.

What I can do here is tarot: the structure, how to read a spread, or a practice pull to learn on. Ceremonial magic isn't a system I can cast or walk you through — so if you want a practice something tonight, say the word and we'll do a single card instead.