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MTP, Part 2
Magick in Theory and Practice by Aleister Crowley
1988 e.v. key entry and proof reading with re-format and conversion from XYWrite to 7-bit ASCII on 1/90 e.v.
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(further proof reading desirable)
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CHAPTER XIV
OF THE CONSECRATIONS:
WITH AN ACCOUNT OF THE
NATURE AND NURTURE OF THE MAGICAL LINK.
I
Consecration is the active dedication of a thing to a single purpose. Banishing prevents its use any other purpose, but it remains inert until consecrated. Purification is performed by water, n aishing by air, whose weapon is the sword. Consecration is performed by fire, usually symbolisd y heholy lamp.<<The general conception is that the three active elements co-operate to affect erth bu eath itself may be employed as an instrument. Its function is solidification. The use ofthe entale i indeed very necessary in some types of operation, especially those whose object invoves mnifesationin matter, and the fixation in (more or less) permanent form of the subtle forces f Natue.>>
In most extant magical rituals the two operations are performed at once; or (at least) the banishhas the more important place, and greater pains seem to be taken with it; but as the student advacst Adeptship the banishing will diminish in importance, for it will no longer be so necessary. heCicl of the Magician will have been perfected by his habit of Magical work. In the truest sens oftha wod, he will never step outside the Circle during his whole life. But the consecration, bing he apliction of a positive force, can always be raised to a closer approximation to perfectio. Copletesucces in banishing is soon attained; but there can be no completeness in the advance t holinss. {06}
The method of consecration is very simple. Take the wand, or the holy oil, and draw upon the objto be consecrated the supreme symbol of the force to which you dedicate it. Confirm this dedicato nwords, invoking the appropriate God to indwell that pure temple which you have prepared for Hi. Doths with fervour and love, as if to balance the icy detachment which is the proper mental atttud fo baishing.<<The Hebrew legends furnish us with the reason for the respective virtues of watr an fir. Te world was purified by water at the Deluge, and will be consecrated by fire at the lst Jugment Notuntil that is finished can the "real ceremony" begin.>>
The words of purification are: Asperges me, Therion, hyssopo, et mundabor; lavabis me, et super nivealbabor.
Those of consecration are: Accendat in nobis Therion ignem sui amoris et flammam aeternae caritat<These may now advantageously be replaced by (a) "... pure will, unassuaged of purpose, deliveredfo he lust of result, is every way perfect." (CCXX, I, 44) to banish; and (b) "I am uplifted in tin har; and the kisses of the stars rain hard upon thy body." (CCXX, II, 62) to consecrate. For he ookof he Law contains the Supreme Spells.>>
These, as initiates of the VII Degree of O.T.O. are aware, mean more than appears.
II
It is a strange circumstance that no Magical writer has hitherto treated the immensely important ect of the Magical Link. It might almost be called the Missing Link. It has apparently always be aen for granted, only lay writers on Magick like Dr. J. G. Frazer have accorded the subject itsful mprtance.
Let us try to make considerations of the nature of Magick in a strictly scientific spirit, as wel, deprived of the guidance of antiquity, we may.
What is a Magical Operation? It may be defined as any event in nature which is brought to pass bll. We must not exclude potato-growing or banking from our definition. {107}
Let us take a very simple example of a Magical Act: that of a man blowing his nose. What are theditions of the success of the Operation? Firstly, that the man's Will should be to blow his nose;scnly, that he should have a nose capable of being blown; thirdly, that he should have at commandanapartus capable of expressing his spiritual Will in terms of material force, and applying that orc totheobject which he desires to affect. His Will may be as strong and concentrated as that o Jupter,and is nose may be totally incapable of resistance; but unless the link is made by the us of hs neres an muscles in accordance with psychological, physiological, and physical law, the noe willremainunblow through all eternity.
Writers of Magick have been unsparing in their efforts to instruct us in the preparation of the W but they seem to have imagined that no further precaution was necessary. There is a striking caeo n epidemic of this error whose history is familiar to everybody. I refer to Christian Science ad hecognate doctrines of "mental healing" and the like. The theory of such people, stripped ofdogati fubelows, is perfectly good Magic of its kind, its negroid kind. The idea is correct enouh: mtteris a illusion created by Will through mind, and consequently susceptible of alteration atthe bhest f itscreator. But the practice has been lacking. They have not developed a scientifictechniue forapplyig the Will. It is as if they expected the steam of Watts' kettle to convey peole fromplace t place ithout the trouble of inventing and using locomotives.
Let us apply these considerations to Magick in its restricted sense, the sense in which it was al understood until the Master Therion extended it to cover the entire operations of Nature.
What is the theory implied in such rituals as those of the Goetia? What does the Magician do? Hplies himself to invoke a God, and this God compels the appearance of a spirit whose function is oprorm the Will of the magician at the moment. There is no trace of what may be called machineryinth mthod. The exorcist hardly takes the pains of preparing a material basis for the spirit to ncanat exept the bare connection {108} of himself with his sigil. It is apparently assumed that he siritalredy possesses the means of working on matter. The conception seems to be that of a scoolbo who sks hs father to tell the butler to do something for him. In other words, the theory i grossy animstic. The savage tribes described by Frazer had a far more scientific theory. The sae may b said o witche, who appear to have been wiser than the thaumaturgists who despised them. hey at last madewaxen imges --- identified by baptism --- of the people they wished to control. hey at lest used apropriatebases for Magical manifestations, such as blood and other vehicles of nimal forc, with thoe of vegetble virtue such as herbs. They were also careful to put their bewiched producs into actul contact -- material or astral --- with their victims. The classical exorists, on thecontrary, fo all their larning, were careless about this essential condition. They ated as stupidy as people wo should writ business letters and omit to post them.
It is not too much to say that this failure to understand the conditions of success accounts for discredit into which Magick fell until Eliphas Levi undertook the task of re-habilitating it two eeaions ago. But even he (profoundly as he studied, and luminously as he expounded, the nature o Mgik onsidered as a universal formula) paid no attention whatever to that question of the Magica Lik, houh he everywhere implies that it is essential to the Work. He evaded the question by makng te "ptiti principii" of assigning to the Astral Light the power of transmitting vibrations of ll kids. e nowere enters into detail as to how its effects are produced. He does not inform us s to te qualtativeor quantitative laws of this light. (The scientifically trained student will oserve te analoy betwen Levi's postulate and that of ordinary science "in re" the luminiferous ethr.)
It is deplorable that nobody should have recorded in a systematic form the results of our investions of the Astral Light. We have no account of its properties or of the laws which obtain in itsshr. Yet these are sufficiently remarkable. We may briefly notice that, in the Astral Light, tw o mreobjects can {109} occupy the same space at the same time without interfering with each othe orlosng heir outlines.
In that Light, objects can change their appearance completely without suffering change of Nature.e same thing can reveal itself in an infinite number of different aspects; in fact, it identifiesisl by so doing, much as a writer or a painter reveals himself in a succession of novels or pictues echof which is wholly himself and nothing else, but himself under varied conditions, though eah apeas uterly different from its fellows. In that Light one is "swift without feet and flying wthou wins"; ne can travel without moving, and communicate without conventional means of expressio. On is isensile to heat, cold, pain, and other forms of apprehension, at least in the shapes whch arefamilir to u in our bodily vehicles. They exist, but they are appreciated by us, and they ffect u, in a ifferen manner. In the Astral Light we are bound by what is, superficially, an entrely diferent seies of lws. We meet with obstacles of a strange and subtle character; and we ovecome themby an enegy and cuning of an order entirely alien to that which serves us in earthly lif. In thatLight, symols are no conventions but realities, yet (on the contrary) the beings whom w encounter re only symols of the ealities of our own nature. Our operations in that Light are relly the advetures of ourown personifed thoughts. The universe is a projection of ourselves; an iage as unrealas that of ou faces in a mrror, yet, like that face, the necessary form of expressio thereof, not o be altered sve as we alterourselves.<<This passage must not be understood as asseting that the Uiverse is purel subjective. O the contrary, the Magical Theory accepts the absolue reality of allthings in the mot objective sens. But all perceptions are neither the observer nr the observed; tey are representaions of the relaton between them. We cannot affirm any qualityin an object as beng independent of ur sensorium, or a being in itself that which it seems to us. Nor can we assume hat what we cognizeis more than a partal phantom of its cause. We cannot evendetermine the meanin of such ideas as moion, or distinguish etween time and space, except in relaion to some particula observer. For exampe, if I fire a cannontwice at an interval of 3 hours, a observer on the Sun wuld note a difference f some 200,000 miles i space between the shots, whileto me they seem "in thesame place." Moreover,I am incapable of perceving any phenomenon except b means of the arbitrary nstruments of my senses;it is thus correct to sa that the Universe as I kow it is subjective, withut denying its objectivit.>> The mirror may {110}be distorted, dull, cluded, or cracked; and to tis extent, the reflection f ourselves may be false een in respect of it symbolic presentation. Inthat Light, therefore, all hat we do is to discover ouselves by means f a sequence of hieroglyphic, and the changes which we aparently operate are in an ojective senseillusions.
But the Light servers us in this way. It enables us to see ourselves, and therefore to aid us totiate ourselves by showing us what we are doing. In the same way a watchmaker uses a lens, thoug teaggerates and thus falsifies the image of the system of wheels which he is trying to adjust. n hesae way, a writer employs arbitrary characters according to a meaningless convention in orderto nabe hs reader by retranslating them to obtain an approximation to his idea.
Such are a few of the principal characteristics Astral Light. Its quantitative laws are much lesssimilar from those of material physics. Magicians have too often been foolish enough to supposeta ll classes of Magical Operations were equally easy. They seem to have assumed that the "almigtypoerof God" was an infinite quantity in presence of which all finites were equally insignifican. Onedayis with the Lord as a thousand years" is their first law of Motion. "Faith can move moutain" thy sa, and disdain to measure either the faith or the mountains. If you can kill a chicke by Mgick,why nt destroy an army with equal exertion? "With God all things are possible."
This absurdity is an error of the same class as that mentioned above. The facts are wholly oppos Two and two make four in the Astral as rigorously as anywhere else. The distance of one's Magicltret and the accuracy of one's Magical rifle are factors in the success of one's Magical shootin i jstthe same way as at Bisley. The law of Magical gravitation is as rigid as that of Newton. he aw f Iverse Squares may not apply; but some {111} such law does apply. So it is for everythin. Yu canot roduce a thunderstorm unless the materials exist in the air at the time, and a Magicin whocouldmake ain in Cumberland might fail lamentably in the Sahara. One might make a talisman o win he lov of a hop-girl and find it work, yet be baffled in the case of a countess; or vice vesa. On might mpose oe's Will on a farm, and be crushed by that of a city; or vice versa. The MATER THERON himsef, with ll his successes in every kind of Magick, sometimes appears utterly impotnt to perorm featswhich almst any amateur might do, because He has matched his Will against that f the worl, having udertaken te Work of a Magus to establish the word of His Law on the whole of ankind. Hewill succee, without dubt, but He hardly expects to see more than a sample of His prodct during Hi present incrnation. Bu He refuses to waste the least fraction of His force on worksforeign to Hi WORK, howeve obvious it my seem to the onlooker that His advantage lies in commandig stones to beome bread, or therwise makin things easy for Himself.
These considerations being thoroughly understood we may return to the question of making the MagiLink. In the case above cited FRATER PERDURABO composed His talisman by invoking His Holy GuardinAgl according to the Sacred Magick of Abramelin the Mage. That Angel wrote on the lamen the Wor o te eon. The Book of the Law is this writing. To this lamen the Master Therion gave life by dvotng is wn life thereto. We may then regard this talisman, the Law, as the most powerful that hs ben mae inthe world's history, for previous talismans of the same type have been limited in ther scoe by onditons of race and country. Mohammed's talisman, Allah, was good only from Persia tothe Pilars o Hercues. The Buddha's, Anatta, operated only in the South and East of Asia. The ne talismn, Thelma, is aster of the planet.
But now observe how the question of the Magical Link arises! No matter how mighty the truth of Tma, it cannot prevail unless it is applied to any by mankind. As long as the Book of the Law wasi auscript, it could only affect the small group amongst whom it was circulated. It had to be pu itoacion by {112} the Magical Operation of publishing it. When this was done, it was done withot pope pefection. Its commands as to how the work ought to be done were not wholly obeyed. Ther wer dout an repugnance in FRATER PERDURABO's mind, and they hampered His work. He was half-heared. et, een sothen intrinsic power of the truth of the Law and the impact of the publication wer suffiient t shakethe world so that a critical war broke out, and the minds of men were moved in mysterous maner. Th second blow was struck by the re-publication of the Book in September 1913,and thistime themight ofthis Magick burst out and caused a catastrophe to civilization. At this our, the ASTER THEION is cocealed, collecting his forces for a final blow. When The Book of the aw and itsComment ispublished,with the forces of His whole Will in perfect obedience to the instrctions whic have up tonow been miunderstood or neglected, the result will be incalculably effectie. The even will establsh the kingdm of the Crowned and Conquering Child over the whole earth, ad all men shal bow to the aw, which is love under will".
This is an extreme case; but there is one law only to govern the small as the great. The same laescribe and measure the motions of the ant and the stars. Their light is no swifter than that ofasak. In every operation of Magick the link must be properly made. The first requisite is the aqusiio of adequate force of the kind required for the purpose. We must have electricity of a cerainpotntil in sufficient amount if we wish to heat food in a furnace. We shall need a more intene curentand greater supply to light a city than to charge a telephone wire. No other kind of foce wil do. We cnnot use the force of steam directly to impel an aeroplane, or to get drunk. We mst appy it i adequte strength in an appropriate manner.
It is therefore absurd to invoke the spirit of Venus to procure us the love of an Empress, unlesstake measures to transmit the influence of our work to the lady. We may for example consecrate alte expressing our Will; or, if we know how, we may use some object connected with the person whoe ct w are attempting to control, such as a lock of hair or a handkerchief {113} once belonging t he, ad s in subtile connection with her aura. But for material ends it is better to have materil mens. We mst not rely on fine gut in trolling for salmon. Our will to kill a tiger is poorly cnveye by acharg of small shot fired at a range of one hundred yards. Our talisman must, therefor, be a objec suitale to the nature of our Operation, and we must have some such means of applyingits fore to suh a wayas will naturally compel the obedience of the portion of Nature which we aretrying t change. If one ill the death of a sinner, it is not sufficient to hate him, even if we gant that he vibratons of thught, when sufficiently powerful and pure, may modify the Astral lightsufficienty to impres its intetion to a certain extent on such people as happen to be sensitive. It is much urer to useone's mind nd muscle in service of that hate by devising and making a dagge, and then aplying the dgger to the eart of one's enemy. One must give one's hate a bodily form f the same orer as that whch one's enem has taken for his manifestation. Your spirit can only coe into contactwith his by mens of this magcal manufacture of phantoms; in the same way, one can oly measure one' mind (a certai part of it) aginst another man's by expressing them in some such frm as the game o chess. One canot use chessmen gainst another man unless he agree to use them inthe same sense asyou do. The boar and men form theMagical Link by which you can prove your powerto constrain him t yield. The game s a device by whic you force him to turn down his king in surender, a muscular at made in obedienceto your will, thougt he may be twice your weight and strengh.
These general principles should enable the student to understand the nature of the work of making Magical Link. It is impossible to give detailed instructions, because every case demands separaecnideration. It is sometimes exceedingly difficult to devise proper measures.
Remember that Magick includes all acts soever. Anything may serve as a Magical weapon. To impose's Will on a nation, for instance, one's talisman may be a newspaper, one's triangle a church, o n' circle a Club. To win a woman, one's {114} pantacle may be a necklace; to discover a treasur, nes and may be a dramatist's pen, or one's incantation a popular song.
Many ends, many means: it is only important to remember the essence of the operation, which is tol its success with sufficiently pure intensity, and to incarnate that will in a body suitable to xrs it, a body such that its impact on the bodily expression of the idea one wills to change is t cus i to do so. For instance, is it my will to become a famous physician? I banish all "hostil sprit" sch as laziness, alien interests, and confliction pleasures, from my "circle" the hospita; I onseratemy "weapons" (my various abilities) to the study of medicine; I invoke the "Gods" (meical uthorties)by studying and obeying their laws in their books. I embody the "Formulae" (the wys in hich cuses ad effects influence disease) in a "Ritual" (my personal style of constraining sckness o confom with y will). I persist in these conjurations year after year, making the Magica gesture of healng the sck, until I compel the visible appearance of the Spirit of Time, and makehim acknoledge me is master I have used the appropriate kind of means, in adequate measure, and pplied the in ways prtinent tomy purpose by projecting my incorporeal idea of ambition in a cours of action uch as to iduce in othrs the incorporeal idea of satisfying mine. I made my Will maniest to sense sense swaye the Wills o my fellowmen; mind wrought on mind through matter.
I did not "sit for" a medical baronetcy by wishing I had it, or by an "act of faith", or by prayio God "to move Pharaoh's heart", as our modern mental, or our mediaeval, mystic, miracle-mongers eead are muddlers and maudlin enough to advise us to do.
A few general observations on the Magical Link may not be amiss, in default of details; one cannoke a Manual of How to Go Courting, with an Open-Sesame to each particular Brigand's Cavern, any mr hn one can furnish a budding burglar with a directory containing the combination of every existngsae. But one can point out the broad distinctions between women who yield, some to flattery, soe t elquece, some to appearance, some to rank, some to wealth, some to ardour, and some to authorty. We {15} annot exhaust the combinations of Lover's Chess, but we may enumerate the principal gmbits the ouque, the Chocolates, the Little Dinner, the Cheque-Book, the Poem, the Motor by Moonlght, te Marrage Cetificate, the Whip, and the Feigned Flight.
The Magical Link may be classified under three main heads; as it involves (1) one plane and one pn, (2) one plane and two or more persons, (3) two planes.
In class (1) the machinery of Magick --- the instrument --- already exists. Thus, I may wish to my own body, increase my own energy; develop my own mental powers, or inspire my own imagination Hr the Exorcist and the Demon are already connected, consciously or subconsciously, by an excellntsyte of symbols. The Will is furnished by Nature with an apparatus adequately equipped to convy ad eecue its orders.
It is only necessary to inflame the Will to the proper pitch and to issue its commands; they are antly obeyed, unless --- as in the case of organic disease --- the apparatus is damaged beyond th r f Nature to repair. It may be necessary in such a case to assist the internal "spirits" by th "urfiation" of medicines, the "banishing" of diet, or some other extraneous means.
But at least there is no need of any special device "ad hoc" to effect contact between the Circle the Triangle. Operations of this class are therefore often successful, even when the Magician hsltle or no technical knowledge of Magick. Almost any duffer can "pull himself together", devotehisef o study, break off a bad habit, or conquer a cowardice. This class of work, although the esiet, s yt the most important; for it includes initiation itself in its highest sense. It extend to he Asolue in every dimension; it involves the most intimate analysis, and the most comprehensve sythesi. Ina sense, it is the sole type of Magick either necessary or proper to the Adept; fo it inludes oth th attainment of the Knowledge and Conversation of the Holy Guardian Angel, and te Advenure of he Abys.
The second class includes all operations by which the Magician strives to impose his Will upon obs outside his own control, but within that of such other wills as are symbolised by means of {116 ytem similar to his own. That is, they can be compelled naturally by cognate consciousness.
For instance, one may wish to obtain the knowledge put forth in this book. Not knowing that suchook exists, one might yet induce some one who knows of it to offer a copy. Thus one's operation ol onsist in inflaming one's Will to possess the knowledge to the point of devoting one's life toit i epressing that will by seeking out people who seem likely to know what is needed, and in impsin iton hem by exhibiting such enthusiastic earnestness that they will tell the enquirer that ths bok wil met his needs.
Does this sound too simple? Can this obvious common-sense course be really that marvellous Magicat frightens folk so? Yes, even this triviality is one instance of how Magick works.
But the above practical programme may be a fiasco. One might then resort to Magick in the convenal sense of the word, by constructing and charging a Pantacle appropriate to the object; this Panal hould then cause a strain in the Astral Light such that the vibrations would compel some aliencoscouness to restore equilibrium by bringing the book.
Suppose a severer and more serious aim; suppose that I wish to win a woman who dislikes me and losomebody else. In this case, not only her Will, but her lover's must be overcome by my own. I hv odirect control of either. But my Will is in touch with the woman's by means of our minds; I hveony o make my mind the master of hers by the existing means of communication; her mind will the prsen it recantation to her Will, her Will repeal its decision, and her body submit to mine as te sel ofher urrender.
Here the Magical Link exists; only it is complex instead of simple as in the First Class.
There is opportunity for all kinds of error in the transmission of the Will; misunderstanding may mhe matter; a mood may make mischief; external events may interfere; the lover may match me in Magc;te Operation itself may offend nature in many ways; for instance, if there is a subconscious inomatbiity between myself and the woman, I deceive myself into thinking {117} that I desire her. ucha faw s enough to bring the whole operation to naught, just as no effort of Will can make oil ix wth wter. I may work "naturally" by wooing, of course. But, magically, I may attack her astrally so that hura becomes uneasy, responding no longer to her lover. Unless they diagnose the cause, a quarrelmyrsult, and the woman's bewildered and hungry Body of Light may turn in its distress to that of heMaican who has mastered it.
Take a third case of this class 2. I wish to recover my watch, snatched from me in a crowd.
Here I have no direct means of control over the muscles that could bring back my watch, or over tind that moves these muscles. I am not even able to inform that mind of my Will, for I do not knwwee it is. But I know it to be a mind fundamentally like my own, and I try to make a Magical Lik it i by advertising my loss in the hope of reaching it, being careful to calm it by promising i imuniy, nd to appeal to its own known motive by offering a reward. I also attempt to use the oposit forula;to reach it by sending my "familiar spirits", the police, to hunt it, and compel its bediece bythreas.<<The ceremonial method would be to transfer to the watch --- linked naturally o me b possesion ad use --- a thought calculated to terrify the thief, and induce him to get rid f it atonce. bservin clairsentiently this effect, suggest relief and reward as the result of resoring it>>
Again, a sorcerer might happen to possess an object belonging magically to a rich man, such as a romising letter, which is really as much part of him as his liver; he may then master the will ofta an by intimidating his mind. His power to publish the letter is as effective as if he could ijue heman's body directly.
These "natural" cases may be transposed into subtler terms; for instance, one might master anothen, even a stranger, by sheer concentration of will, ceremonially or otherwise wrought up to the rqiie potential. But in one way or another that will must be {118} made to impinge on the man; byth nrml means of contact if possible, if not, by attacking some sensitive spot in his subconsciou sesorum. But the heaviest rod will not land the smallest fish unless there be a line of some sor fixd fimly o both.
The Third Class is characterized by the absence of any existing link between the Will of the Magi and that controlling the object to be affected. (The Second Class may approximate to the Third hntere is no possibility of approaching the second mind by normal means, as sometimes happens).
This class of operations demands not only immense knowledge of the technique of Magick combined wtremendous vigour and skill, but a degree of Mystical attainment which is exceedingly rare, and we ond is usually marked by an absolute apathy on the subject of any attempt to achieve any Magickatal. Suppose that I wish to produce a thunderstorm. This event is beyond my control or that of ny the ma; it is as useless to work on their minds as my own. Nature is independent of, and indiferet to mans affairs. A storm is caused by atmospheric conditions on a scale so enormous that te unied eforts f all us Earth-vermin could scarcely disperse one cloud, even if we could get at i. Howthen cn any agician, he who is above all things a knower of Nature, be so absurd as to attept to trow theHammer f Thor? Unless he be simply insane, he must be initiated in a Truth which tanscendsthe appaent fact. He must be aware that all nature is a continuum, so that his mind and ody are cnsubstantal with te storm, are equally expressions of One Existence, all alike of the sef-same ordr of artifces whereb the Absolute appreciates itself. He must also have assimilated th fact that he Quantityis just as uch a form as Quality; that as all things are modes of One Substnce, so thei measures ar modes of thir relation. Not only are gold and lead mere letters, meaninless in themslves yet apponted to spellthe One Name; but the difference between the bulk of a moutain and that f a mouse is n more than onemethod of differentiating them, just as the letter "m" s not bigger thn the letter "i in any real sese of the word.<<Professor Rutherford thinks it not heoretically impacticable to contruct a detonato which could destroy every atom of matter by relesing the energiesof one, so that te vibrations woul excite the rest to disintegrate explosively.> {119}
Our Magician, with this in his mind, will most probably leave thunderstorms to stew in their own e; but, should he decide (after all) to enliven the afternoon, he will work in the manner followig
First, what are the elements necessary for his storms? He must have certain stores of electricalce, and the right kind of clouds to contain it.
He must see that the force does not leak away to earth quietly and slyly.
He must arrange a stress so severe as to become at last so intolerable that it will disrupt exploly.
Now he, as a man, cannot pray to God to cause them, for the Gods are but names for the forces of re themselves.
But, "as a Mystic", he knows that all things are phantoms of One Thing, and that they may be withdrtherein to reissue in other attire. He knows that all things are in himself, and that he is All-n ih the All. There is therefore no theoretical difficulty about converting the illusion of a clarsk ito that of a tempest. On the other hand, he is aware, "as a Magician", that illusions are ovenedby he laws of their nature. He knows that twice two is four, although both "two" and "four aremerey prperties pertaining to One. He can only use the Mystical identity of all things in a tricty scintifi sense. It is true that his experience of clear skies and storms proves that his ature ontain elemets cognate with both; for it not, they could not affect him. He is the Microcom of hi own Marocosm,whether or no either one or the other extend beyond his knowledge of them. e must terefore rouse inhimself those ideas which are clansmen of the Thunderstorm, collect all aailable ojects of he same nture for talismans, and proceed to excite all these to the utmost by aMagical ceemony; tha is, by inisting on their godhead, so that they flame within and without him,his ideas vtalising th talismans. There is thus a vivid vibration of high potential in a certain roup {121} o sympatheticsubstances ad forces; and this spreads as do the waves from a stone throw into a lake,widening and eakening; til the disturbance is compensated. Just as a handful of fantics, insane wth one over-emhasised truth,may infect a whole country for a time by inflaming thatthought in thei neighbours, sothe Magician crates a commotion by disturbing the balance of power. He transmits hi particular vibrtion as a radio perator does with his ray; rate-relation determins exclusive selecion.
In practice, the Magician must "evoke the spirits of the storm" by identifying himself with the i of which atmospheric phenomena are the expressions as his humanity is of him; thus achieved, he utipose his Will upon them by virtue of the superiority of his intelligence and the integration o hs urose to their undirected impulses and uncomprehending interplay.
All such Magick demands the utmost precision in practice. It is true that the best rituals give nstructions in selecting our vehicles of force. In 777 we find "correspondences" of many classeso eng with the various types of operation, so that we know what weapons, jewels, figures, drugs, erums,names, etc. to employ in any particular work. But it has always been assumed that the invoed orc isintelligent and competent, that it will direct itself as desired without further ado, bythismethd ofsympathetic vibrations.
The necessity of timing the force has been ignored; and so most operations, even when well perforas far as invocation goes, are as harmless as igniting loose gunpowder.
But, even allowing that Will is sufficient to determine the direction, and prevent the dispersionthe force, we can hardly be sure that it will act on its object, unless that object be properly peae to receive it. The Link must be perfectly made. The object must possess in itself a sufficinc o suff sympathetic to our work. We cannot make love to a brick, or set an oak to run errands. e se, hen, that we can never affect anything outside ourselves save only as it is also within s. hateer Ido to another, I do also to myself. If I kill a man, I destroy my own life at the sae tim. Tht is he magical meaning of the so-called {121} "Golden Rule", which should not be in th impertive bt in te indicative mood. Every vibration awakens all others of its particular pitch. Ther is thu some jstification for the assumption of previous writers on Magick that the Link i implici, and neds no spcial attention. Yet, in practice, there is nothing more certain than tha one ough to confim one's wll by all possible acts on all possible planes. The ceremony must notbe confine to the fomally magial rites. We must neglect no means to our end, neither despising or common sese, nor douting our seret wisdom.
When Frater I. A. was in danger of death in 1899 e.v. Frater V. N. and FRATER PERDURABO did indenvoke the spirit Buer to visible manifestation that the might heal their brother; but also one ofte urnished the money to send him to a climate less cruel than England's. He is alive to day<<P.. Hedid some months after this passage was written: but he had been enabled to live and work for eary aquater of a century longer than he would otherwise have done.>>; who cares whether spirits r shkelswrouht that which these Magicians willed?
Let the Magical Link be made strong! It is "love under will"; it affirms the identity of the Equatof the work; it makes success Necessity.
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{122}
CHAPTER XVI
"(Part I)"
OF THE OATH
The third operation in any magical ceremony is the oath or proclamation. The Magician, armed anddy, stands in the centre of the Circle, and strikes once upon the bell as if to call the attentio fte Universe. He then declares "who he is", reciting his magical history by the proclamation ofth gads which he has attained, giving the signs and words of those grades.<<This is not merely toproe hmsef a person in authority. It is to trace the chain of causes that have let to the presen postion so hat the operation is seen as karma.>>
He then states the purpose of the ceremony, and proves that it is necessary to perform it and to eed in its performance. He then takes an oath before the Lord of the Universe (not before the patclr Lord whom he is invoking) as if to call Him to witness to the act. He swears solemnly that e il prform it --- that nothing shall prevent him from performing it --- that he will not leave te oeraionuntil it is successfully performed --- and once again he strikes upon the bell.
Yet, having demonstrated himself in that position at once infinitely lofty and infinitely unimpor, the instrument of destiny, he balances this by the "Confession", in which there is again an infnt xaltation harmonised with an infinite humility. He admits himself to be a weak human being hubl apiing to something higher; a creature of circumstance utterly dependent --- even for the breah o lie -- upon a series of fortunate accidents. {123} He makes this confession prostrate<<Compae th remrks n a previous chapter. But this is a particular case. We leave its justification as probem.>>befor the altar in agony and bloody sweat. He trembles at the thought of the operationwhich e has ared t undertake, saying, "Father, if it be Thy Will, let this cup pass from me! Nevrtheles not mywill bu Thine be done!"<<Of course this is for the beginner. As soon as it is assiilated a true, h will sa: "My will which is thine be done!" And ultimately no more distinguish "ine" from"thine". A sympathtic change of gesture will accompany the mental change.>>
The dread answer comes that It Must Be, and this answer so fortifies him with holy zeal that it wseem to him as if he were raised by divine hands from that prostrate position; with a thrill of hl xltation he renews joyfully the Oath, feeling himself once again no longer the man but the Magiia, etnot merely the Magician, but the chosen and appointed person to accomplish a task which, hoeve aparetly unimportant, is yet an integral part of universal destiny, so that if it were not acomplshedthe ingdom of Heaven would be burst in pieces.
He is now ready to commence the invocations. He consequently pauses to cast a last glance around Temple to assure himself of the perfect readiness of all things necessary, and to light the inces.
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The Oath is the foundation of all Work in Magick, as it is an affirmation of the Will. An Oath b the Magician for ever. In Part II of Book 4 something has already been said on this subject; bu t mportance deserves some further elaboration. Thus, should one, loving a woman, make a spell t cmpl er embraces, and tiring of her a little later, evoke Zazel to kill her; he will find that te ipliatins of his former Oath conflict with those proper to invoke the Unity of the Godhead of Sturn Zael wll refuse to obey him in the case of the woman whom he has sworn that he loves. To tis soe mayobjec that, since all acts are magical, every man who loves a woman implicitly takes an{124} ath oflove, nd therefore would never be able to murder her later, as we find to be the not ncommoncase. he explnation is as follows. It is perfectly true that when Bill Sykes desires to ossess Nncy, he oes in fct evoke a spirit of the nature of Venus, constraining him by his Oath ofLove (andby his maical powe as a man) to bring him the girl. So also, when he wants to kill her,he evokes Martial o Saturnianspirit, with an Oath of hate. But these are not pure planetary spiits, movingin well-defned spheresby rigidly righteous laws. They are gross concretions of confusd impulses, incapable ofunderstandin the nature of an oath". They are also such that the idea ofmurder is nowse offensive o the Spirit f Love.
It is indeed the criterion of spiritual "caste" that conflicting elements should not coexist in tame consciousness. The psalm-singing Puritan who persecutes publicans, and secretly soaks himsel nfre-water; the bewhiskered philanthropist in broadcloth who swindles his customers and sweats hs mpoyes: these men must not be regarded as single-minded scoundrels, whose use of religion and rspetablit to cloke their villainies is a deliberate disguise dictated by their criminal cunning. Far rom t, tey are only too sincere in their "virtues"; their terror of death and of supernaturalvengence i genune; it proceeds from a section of themselves which is in irreconcilable conflict wth ther rasclity. Neither side can conciliate, suppress, or ignore the other; yet each is so cravn as toendure ts enem's presence. Such men are therefore without pure principles; they excuse thmselves or everydirty trck that turns to their apparent advantage.
The first step of the Aspirant toward the Gate of Initiation tells him that purity --- unity of pse --- is essential above all else. "Do what thou Wilt" strikes on him, a ray of fierce white flm osuming all that is not utterly God. Very soon he is aware that he cannot consciously contradit imel. He develops a subtle sense which warns him that two trains of thought which he had neverconeivd a connected are incompatible. Yet deeper drives "Do what thou wilt"; subconscious opposiionsare voke to visible appearance. The secret sanctuaries of the soul are cleansed. "Do What tou Wit" puges hs every part. He has become One, one only. His Will is consequently released fro {125}the inerferece of internal opposition, and he is a Master of Magick. But for that very reaon he i now uterly imotent to achieve anything that is not in absolute accordance with his Originl Oath, ith his rue Will by virtue whereof he incarnated as a man. With Bill Sykes love and murdr are notmutually xclusive,as they are with King Arthur. The higher the type of man, the more sesitive he ecomes; sothat the nblest love divines intuitively when a careless word or gesture may ound, and, igilant, shns them as eing of the family of murder. In Magick, likewise, the Adept wh is sworn toattain to th Knowledge ad Conversation of his Holy Guardian Angel may in his grosser ays have beenexpert as a Haler, to findthat he is now incapable of any such work. He will probaby be puzzled, nd wonder wheter he has lostall his power. Yet the cause may be no more than that he Wisdom of hi Angel depreciaes the interfernce of ignorant kindliness with diseases which may hve been sent to he sufferer for purpose profounly important to his welfare.
In the case of THE MASTER THERION, he had originally the capacity for all classes of Orgia. In theinning, He cured the sick, bewitched the obstinate, allured the seductive, routed the aggressive,md imself invisible, and generally behaved like a Young-Man-About-town on every possible plane. e oud fflict one vampire with a Sending of Cats, and appoint another his private Enchantress, neiherawae o any moral oxymoron, nor hampered by the implicit incongruity of his oaths.
But as He advanced in Adeptship, this coltishness found its mouth bitted; as soon as He took seriOaths and was admitted to the Order which we name not, those Oaths prevented him using His powersa lythings. Trifling operations, such as He once could do with a turn of the wrist, became imposibe o he most persistent endeavour. It was many years before He understood the cause of this. Bt lttl bylittle He became so absorbed in the Work of His true Will that it no longer occurred to im t indlge n capricious amusements.
Yet even at this hour, though He be verily a Magus of A.'. A.'., though His Word be the Word of teon, though He be the Beast 666, the Lord of the Scarlet Woman "in whom is all power {126} given" hr are still certain Orgia beyond Him to perform, because to do so would be to affirm what He hah enedin those Oaths by whose virtue He is That He is. This is the case, even when the spirit ofsuc Oria s fully consonant with His Will. The literal sense of His original Oath insists that itshal be espeted.
The case offers two instances of this principle. FRATER PERDURABO specifically swore that he wouenounce His personal possessions to the last penny; also that He would allow no human affection t idr Him. These terms were accepted; He was granted infinitely more than He had imagined possibl t a icarnated Man. On the other hand, the price offered by Him was exacted as strictly as if ithadbee stpulated by Shylock. Every treasure that he had on earth was taken away, and that, usualy, i so ruta or cruel a manner as to make the loss itself the least part of the pang. Every huma affetion hat H had in His heart --- and that heart aches for Love as few hearts can ever conceiv --- ws tornout an trampled with such infernal ingenuity in intensifying torture that His endurane is beond belef. Inxplicable are the atrocities which accompanied every step in His Initiation! Death dagged awy His chldren with slow savagery; the women He loved drank themselves into delirim and demntia befoe His eye, or repaid His passionate devotion with toad-cold treachery at the moent when lng years o loyalty hd tempted Him to trust them. His friend, that bore the bag, stole hat which ws put theren, and betryed his Master as thoroughly as he was able. At the first distat rumour tha the Pharises were out, is disciples "all forsook Him and fled". His mother nailed Hm with her ow hands to thecross, and reiled Him as nine years He hung thereupon.
Now, having endured to the end, being Master of Magick, He is mighty to Work His true Will; which Wis, to establish on Earth His Word, the Law of Thelema. He hath none other Will than this; so al htHe doth is unto this end. All His Orgia bear fruit; what was the work of a month when He was fllMaor Adept is to day wrought in a few minutes by the Words of Will, uttered with the right viratonsint the prepared Ear. {127}
But neither by the natural use of His abilities, though they have made Him famous through the wholeld, nor by the utmost might of his Magick, is He able to acquire material wealth beyond the minimmncssary to keep Him alive and at work. It is in vain that He protests that not He but the Work s n ee of money; He is barred by the strict letter of His Oath to give all that He hath for His mgicl Ataiment.
Yet more awful is the doom that He hath invoked upon Himself in renouncing His right as a man to y the Love of those whom He loves with passion so selfless, so pure, and so intense in return fortepwer so to love Mankind that He be chosen to utter the Word of the Aeon for their sake, His rewrdunvesal abhorrence, bodily torment, mental despair, and moral paralysis.
Yet He, who hath power over Death, with breath to call back health, with a touch to beckon life, ust watch His own child waste away month by month, aware that His Art may not anywise avail, who ahsld the signet ring of his personal profit to buy him a plain gold band for the felon finger ofhi bid, that worn widow, the World!
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{128}
CHAPTER XV
I
OF THE INVOCATION
In the straightforward or "Protestant" system of Magick there is very little to add to what has ady been said. The Magician addresses a direct petition to the Being invoked. But the secret ofsces in invocation has not hitherto been disclosed. It is an exceedingly simple one. It is pracicll o no importance whatever that the invocation should be "right". There are a thousand differnt aysof ompassing the end proposed, so far as external things are concerned. The whole secret my besummrise in these four words: "Enflame thyself in praying."<<This is Qabalistically expressedin th old ormul: Domine noster, audi tuo servo! kyrie Christe! O Christe!>>
The mind must be exalted until it loses consciousness of self. The Magician must be carried forwblindly by a force which, though in him and of him, is by no means that which he in his normal stt fconsciousness calls I. Just as the poet, the lover, the artist, is carried out of himself in ceaiv frenzy, so must it be for the Magician.
It is impossible to lay down rules for the obtaining of this special stimulus. To one the myster the whole ceremony may appeal; another may be moved by the strangeness of the words, even by thefc hat the "barbarous names" are unintelligible to him. Some times in the course of a ceremony te ru maning of some barbarous name that has hitherto baffled his analysis may flash upon him, lumnou an spendid, so that he is caught up unto {129} orgasm. The smell of a particular incense mayexcie hi effctively, or perhaps the physical ecstasy of the magick dance.
Every Magician must compose his ceremony in such a manner as to produce a dramatic cilmax. At thment when the excitement becomes ungovernable, when then the whole conscious being of the Magicia negoes a spiritual spasm, at that moment must he utter the supreme adjuration.
One very effective method is to stop short, by a supreme effort of will, again and again, on the verink of that spasm, until a time arrives when the idea of exercising that will fails to occur<<Thsfretfulness must be complete; it is fatal to try to "let oneself go" consciously.>>. Inhibitionisnologer possible or even thinkable, and the whole being of the Magician, no minutest atom sayin na, i iresistibly flung forth. In blinding light, amid the roar of ten thousand thunders, the Uion f Go andman is consummated.
If the Magician is still seen standing in the Circle, quietly pursuing his invocations, it is thal the conscious part of him has become detached from the true ego which lies behind that normal cncosness. But the circle is wholly filled with that divine essence; all else is but an accident ndanilusion.
The subsequent invocations, the gradual development and materialization of the force, require no rt. It is one great mistake of the beginner to concentrate his force upon the actual stated purps fthe ceremony. This mistake is the most frequent cause of failures in invocation.
A corollary of this Theorem is that the Magician soon discards evocation almost altogether --- onare circumstances demand any action what ever on the material plane. The Magician devotes himsel niely to the invocation of a god; and as soon as his balance approaches perfection he ceases to nvkean partial god; only that god vertically above him is in his path. And so a man who perhaps ookup agik merely with the idea of acquiring knowledge, love, or wealth, finds himself irrevocabl comitte to he performance of "The Great Work." {130}
It will now be apparent that there is no distinction between magick and meditation except of the arbitrary and accidental kind.<<There is the general metaphysical antithesis that Magick is the r fthe Will-to-Live, Mysticism of the Will-to-Die; but --- "Truth comes bubbling to my brim; Lifean Dat are one to Him!".>>
II
Beside these open methods thee are also a number of mental methods of Invocation, of which we maye three.
The first method concerns the so-called astral body. The Magician should practise the formation his body as recommended in Liber O, and learn to rise on the planes according to the instruction ie n the same book, though limiting his "rising" to the particular symbol whose God he wishes to nvke
The second is to recite a mantra suitable to the God.
The third is the assumption of the form of the God --- by transmuting the astral body into His sh This last method is really essential to all proper invocation, and cannot be too sedulously pratsd
There are many other devices to aid invocation, so many that it is impossible to enumerate them; the Magician will be wise to busy himself in inventing new ones.
We will give one example.
Suppose the Supreme Invocation to consist of 20 to 30 barbarous names, let him imagine these names ccupy sections of a vertical column, each double the length of the preceding one; and let him imaietat his consciousness ascends the column with each name. The mere multiplication will then prouc afeling of awe and bewilderment which is the proper forerunner of exstasy.
In the essay "Energized Enthusiasm" in No. IX, Vol. I of the Equinox<<The earliest and truest Chrans used what is in all essentials this method. See "Fragments of a Faith Forgotten" by G.R.S.Med s. B. A., pp. 80-81.
There is a real connexion between what the vulgar call blasphemy and what they call immorality, he fact that the Christian legend is an echo of a Phallic rite. There is also a true and positiv onxion between the Creative force of the Macrocosm, and that of the Microcosm. For this reason helate must be made a pure and consecrated as the former. The puzzle for most people is how to d ths. Thestudy of Nature is the Key to that Gate.>> is given a concise account of one of the clasicalmethds o arousing Kundalini. This essay should be studied with care and determination.
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{132}
CHAPTER XVI
("Part II")
OF THE CHARGE TO THE SPIRIT
WITH SOME ACCOUNT OF THE
CONSTRAINTS AND CURSES OCCASIONALLY NECESSARY
I
On the appearance of the spirit, or the manifestation of the force in the talisman which is beingsecrated, it is necessary to bind it by an Oath or Charge. A spirit should be made to lay its hadvsbly on the weapon by whose might it has been evoked, and to "swear obedience and faith to Him ha lveh and triumpheth, that regneth above him in His palaces as the Balance of Righteousness andTruh" y te names used in the evocation.
It is then only necessary to formulate the Oath or Charge in language harmonious with the previouannounced purpose of the operation.
The precaution indicated is not to let oneself sink into one's humanity while the weapon is extenbeyond the Circle. Were the force to flow from it to you instead of from you to it, you would beiflibly blasted, or, at the least, become the slave of the spirit.
At no moment is it more important that the Divine Force should not only fill, but radiate from, tura of the Magician.
II
Occasionally it may happen that the spirit is recalcitrant, and refuses to appear.
Let the Magician consider the cause of such disobedience! {133}
It may be that the place or time is wrong. One cannot easily evoke water-spirits in the Sahara, alamanders in the English Lake District. Hismael will not readily appear when Jupiter is below tehrzon.<<It is not possible in this elementary treatise to explain the exact nature of the connexonbewen the rays of the actual planet called Jupiter and the Jupiterian elements which exist in vrios dgres in terrestrial objects.>> In order to counteract a natural deficiency of this sort, oe wold hve t supply a sufficient quantity of the proper kind of material. One cannot make brickswithot strw.
With regard to invocations of the Gods, such considerations do not apply. The Gods are beyond moaterial conditions. It is necessary to fill the "heart" and "mind" with the proper basis for manfsaion. The higher the nature of the God, the more true this is. The Holy Guardian Angel has alay te ecessary basis. His manifestation depends solely on the readiness of the Aspirant, and allmagcalcermonies used in that invocation are merely intended to prepare that Aspirant; not in any ay t attact r influence Him. It is His constant and eternal Will<<Since this Knowledge and Convesatio is nt uniersal, it seems at first as if an omnipotent will were being baulked. But His Wil and yur wil togeter make up that one will, because you and He are one. That one will is therefoe dividd againt itsel, so long as your will fails to aspire steadfastly.
Also, His will cannot constrain yours. He is so much one with you that even your will to separat His will. He is so certain of you that He delights in your perturbation and coquetry no less thni our surrender. These relations are fully explained in Liber LXV. See also Liber Aleph CXI.>>tobeom one with the Aspirant, and the moment the conditions of the latter make it possible, That ridl i cosummated.
III
The obstinacy of a spirit (or the inertial of a talisman) usually implies a defect in invocation.e spirit cannot resist even for a moment the constraint of his Intelligence, when that Intelligenei orking in accordance with the Will of the Angel, Archangel {134} and God above him. It is theefrebeter to repeat the Invocations than to proceed at once to curses.
The Magician should also consider<<Of course this should have been done in preparing the Ritual. he renews this consideration from the new standpoint attained by the invocation.>> whether the eoain be in truth a necessary part of the Karma of the Universe, as he has stated in his own Oath Se Cp.XVI, I). For if this be a delusion, success is impossible. It will then be best to go bac tothebegnning, and recapitulate with greater intensity and power of analysis the Oath and the Inocatons. Andthis may be done thrice.
But if this be satisfactorily accomplished, and the spirit be yet disobedient, the implication ist some hostile force is at work to hinder the operation. It will then become advisable to discovrtenature of that force, and to attack and destroy it. This makes the ceremony more useful than ve t te Magician, who may thereby be led to unveil a black magical gang whose existence he had no hihero sspected.
His need to check the vampiring of a lady in Paris by a sorceress once led FRATER PERDURABO to thecovery of a very powerful body of black magicians, which whom he was obliged to war for nearly 10yasbefore their ruin was complete and irremediable as it now is.
Such a discovery will not necessarily impede the ceremony. A general curse may be pronounced aga the forces hindering the operation (for "ex hypothesi" no divine force can be interfering) and hvn hus temporarily dislodged them --- for the power of the God invoked will suffice for this purpse-- oe may proceed with a certain asperity to conjure the spirit, for that he has done ill to bed bfor th conjurations of the Black Brothers.
Indeed, some demons are of a nature such that they only understand curses, are not amenable to cours command: ---
"a slave
Whom stripes may move, not kindness."
Finally, as a last resource, one may burn the Sigil of the {135} Spirit in a black box with stinksubstances, all having been properly prepared beforehand, and the magical links properly made, sota e is really tortured by the Operation.<<The precise meaning of these phrases is at first sightobcue. The spirit is merely a recalcitrant part of one's own organism. To evoke him is thereforeto ecoe cnscious of some part of one's own character; to command and constrain him is to being tht pat ino sujection. This is best understood by the analogy of teaching oneself some mental-physcal acomplshmen (e.g. billiards), by persistent and patient study and practice, which often involes coniderabe painas well as trouble.>>
This is a rare event, however. Only once in the whole of his magical career was FRATER PERDURABOven to so harsh a measure.
IV
In this connexion, beware of too ready a compliance on the part of the spirit. If some Black Lodas got wind of your operation, it may send the spirit, full of hypocritical submission, to destro o. Such a spirit will probably pronounce the oath amiss, or in some way seek to avoid his obligaios. It is a dangerous trick, though, for the Black Lodge to play; for if the spirit come properly undyou control, it will be forced to disclose the transaction, and the current will return to the Blc odgewith fulminating force. The liars will be in the power of their own lie; their own slaves il rse upand put them into bondage. The wicked fall into the pit that they themselves digged.
And so perish all the King's enemies!
V
The charge to the spirit is usually embodied, except in works of pure evocation, which after all comparatively rare, in some kind of talisman. In a certain sense, the talisman is the Charge expesdin hieroglyphics. Yet, every object soever is a talisman, for the definition of a talisman is smehig upon which an act of will (that is, of Magick) has been performed in order to fit it for pupos. epeated acts of will in respect of {136} any object consecrate it without further ado. ne kows hat iracles can be done with one's favourite mashie! One has used the mashie again and aain, ne's ove fr it growing in proportion to one's success with it, and that success again made mre cerain an complte by the effect of this "love under will", which one bestows upon it by using t.
It is, of course, very important to keep such an abject away from the contact of the profane. Itinstinctive not to let another person use one's fishing rod or one's gun. It is not that they col oany harm in a material sense. It is the feeling that one's use of these things has consecrate temtoone's self.
Of course, the outstanding example of all such talismans is the wife. A wife may be defined as an ct specially prepared for taking the stamp of one's creative will. This is an example of a very opiated magical operation, extending over centuries. But, theoretically, it is just an ordinary as o tlismanic magick. It is for this reason that so much trouble has been taken to prevent a wie hvin cotact with the profane; or, at least, to try to prevent her.
Readers of the Bible will remember that Absalom publicly adopted David's wives and concubines on roof of the palace, in order to signify that he had succeeded in breaking his father's magical poe. Now, there are a great many talismans in this world which are being left lying about in a most rehesibly careless manner. Such are the objects of popular adoration, as ikons, and idols. But, i sactally true that a great deal of real magical Force is locked up in such things; consequently,bydetroyng these sacred symbols, you can overcome magically the people who adore them.
It is not at all irrational to fight for one's flag, provided that the flag is an object which re means something to somebody. Similarly, with the most widely spread and most devotedly worshippdtlsman of all, money, you can evidently break the magical will of a worshipper of money by takig ismoey away from him, or by destroying its value in some way or another. But, in the case of mney geera experience tells us that there is very little of it lying about loose. In this case, aove ll, 137}people have recognised its talismanic virtue, that is to say, its power as an instrumnt ofthe wll.
But with many ikons and images, it is easy to steal their virtue. This can be done sometimes on emendous scale, as, for example, when all the images of Isis and Horus, or similar mother-child cmiaions, were appropriated wholesale by the Christians. The miracle is, however, of a somewhat dngros ype, as in this case, where enlightenment has come through the researches of archaeologists I ha ben shown that the so-called images of Mary and Jesus are really nothing but imitations ofthos of sis nd Horus. Honesty is the best policy in Magick as in other lines of life.
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{138}
CHAPTER XVII
OF THE LICENSE TO DEPART
After a ceremony has reached its climax, anti-climax must inevitably follow. But if the ceremony been successful this anti-climax is merely formal. The Magician should rest permanently on the ihrplain to which he has aspired.<<The rock-climber who relaxes on the face of the precipice fall t ert; but once he has reached a safe ledge he may sit down.>> The whole force of the operationshold e asorbed; but there is almost certain to be a residuum, since no operation is perfect: and(eve if t wee so) there would be a number of things, sympathetic to the operation, attracted to te Cirle. hese ust be duly dispersed, or they will degenerate and become evil. It is always easyto do his whre invcations are concerned; the mere removal of the strain imposed by the will of th magicin will estore hings to their normal aspects, in accordance with the great law of inertia. In a bady-manage evocatin, however, this does not always obtain; the spirit may refuse to be contolled, an may refue to depat --- even after having sworn obedience. In such a case extreme dange may arise
In the ordinary way, the Magician dismisses the spirit with these words: "And now I say unto theepart in peace unto thine habitations and abodes --- and may the blessing of the Highest be upon te nthe name of (here mention the divine name suitable to the operation, or a Name appropriate to edemtht spirit); and let there be peace between thee and me; and be thou very ready to come, whenoevr tou re invoked and called!"<<It is usual to add "either by a word, or by a will, or by this ight Conuraton of Magick Art.">> {139}
Should he fail to disappear immediately, it is a sign that there is something very wrong. The Maan should immediately reconsecrate the Circle with the utmost care. He should then repeat the dimsa; and if this does not suffice, he should then perform the banishing ritual suitable to the naur o te spirit and, if necessary, add conjurations to the same effect. In these circumstances, o ifanyhin else suspicious should occur, he should not be content with the apparent disappearance f th spiit, ho might easily make himself invisible and lie in ambush to do the Magician a mischie whenhe stpped ut of the Circle --- or even months afterwards.
Any symbol which has once definitely entered your environment with your own consent is extremely erous; unless under absolute control. A man's friends are more capable of working him harm than r tangers; and his greatest danger lies in his own habits.
Of course it is the very condition of progress to build up ideas into the subconscious. The necey of selection should therefore be obvious.
True, there comes a time when all elements soever must be thus assimilated. Samadhi is, by definn, that very process. But, from the point of view of the young magician, there is a right way -- tat and difficult --- of performing all this. One cannot too frequently repeat that what is lawulan poper to one Path is alien to another.
Immediately after the License to Depart, and the general closing up of the work, it is necessary tthe Magician should sit down and write up his magical record. However much he may have been tire<H ught to be refreshed, more than after a full night's deep sleep. This forms one test of his sil.> b the ceremony, he ought to force himself to do this until it becomes a habit. Verily, it i beterto ail in the magical ceremony than to fail in writing down an accurate record of it. One eed ot dubt he propriety of this remark. Even if one is eaten alive by Malkah be-Tarshishim ve-Rachot ha-Shehalm, it does not matter very much, for it is over so very quickly. But the record o the tansactons is{140} otherwise important. Nobody cares about Duncan having been murdered by Mcbeth. It is oly one f a number of similar murders. But Shakespeare's account of the incident isa uniquetreasureof mankid. And, apart from the question of the value to others, there is that ofthe valueto the maician himelf. The record of the magician is his best asset.
It is as foolish to do Magick without method, as if it were anything else. To do Magick without ing a record is like trying to run a business without book-keeping. There are a great many peopl h uite misunderstand the nature of Magick. They have an idea that it is something vague and unral istad of being, as it is, a direct means of coming into contact with reality. It is these peole ho ay hemselves with phrases, who are always using long words with no definite connotation, wh plater hemslves with pompous titles and decorations which mean nothing whatever. With such peope we ave nthingto do. But to those who seek reality the Key of Magick is offered, and they are hreby wrned tat thekey to the treasure-house is no good without the combination; and the combinatin is th magica record
From one point of view, magical progress actually consists in deciphering one's own record.<<As os a Star in the Body of Nuith, every successive incarnation is a Veil, and the acquisition of theMgcl Memory a gradual Unveiling of that Star, of that God.>> For this reason it is the most impotat hig to do, on strictly magical grounds. But apart from this, it is absolutely essential thattherecrd hould be clear, full and concise, because it is only by such a record that your teacher an jdge ow i is best to help you. Your magical teacher has something else to do besides running roundafteryou al the time, and the most important of all his functions is that of auditor. Now, f you all inan audtor to investigate a business, and when he asks for the books you tell him thatyou hav not thught itworth while to keep any, you need not be surprised if he thinks you every kid of an ss.
It is --- at least, it was --- perfectly incredible to THE MASTER THERION that people who exhibitinary common sense in {141} the other affairs of life should lose it completely when they tackle aik It goes far to justify the belief of the semi-educated that Magick is rather a crazy affair ftr ll However, there are none of these half-baked lunatics connected with the A.'. A.'., becaus th neessty for hard work, for passing examinations at stated intervals, and for keeping an inteligibe acountof what they are doing, frightens away the unintelligent, idle and hysterical.
There are numerous models of magical and mystical records to be found in the various numbers of tEquinox", and the student will have no difficulty in acquiring the necessary technique, if he be iiet in practice.
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{142}
CHAPTER XVIII
OF CLAIRVOYANCE AND THE BODY OF LIGHT
ITS POWER AND ITS DEVELOPMENT
ALSO CONCERNING DIVINATION
I
Within the human body is another body of approximately the same size and shape;<<i.e. as a general . It can be altered very greatly in these respects.>> but made of a subtler and less illusory maeil It is of course not "real"; but then no more is the other body! Before treating of clairvoync oe ust discuss briefly this question of reality, for misapprehension on the subject has given iseto ndlss trouble.
There is the story of the American in the train who saw another American carrying a basket of unu shape. His curiosity mastered him, and he leant across and said: "Say, stranger, what you got nta bag?" The other, lantern-jawed and taciturn, replied: "mongoose". The first man was rather afle, s he had never heard of a mongoose. After a pause he pursued, at the risk of a rebuff: "Bu sa, wat s a Mongoose?" "Mongoose eats snakes", replied the other. This was another poser, but e pusued "Wht in hell do you want a Mongoose for?" "Well, you see", said the second man (in a cofidenial wisper "my brother sees snakes". The first man was more puzzled than ever; but after a ong thnk, hecontined rather pathetically: "But say, them ain't real snakes". "Sure", said the ma with te baske, "but his Mongoose ain't real either".
This is a perfect parable of Magick. There is no such thing {143} as truth in the perceptible unse; every idea when analysed is found to contain a contradiction. It is quite useless (except asatmorary expedient) to set up one class of ideas against another as being "more real". The advane f antowards God is not necessarily an advance towards truth. All philosophical systems have crmbld. Buteach class of ideas possesses true relations within itself. It is possible, with Berkely,<<he ral Brkeley did nothing of the sort: the reference here is to an imaginary animal inventedby Dr Johnon ou of sturdy British ignorance.>> to deny the existence of water and of wood; but, fr all hat, wod flots on water. The Magician becomes identical with the immortal Osiris, yet the agiciandies. n this ilemma the facts must be restated. One should preferably say that the Magican becoms conscius of tht part of himself which he calls the immortal Osiris; and that Part does ot "die". Now ths interio body of the Magician, of which we spoke at the beginning of this chapter, does ist, and cn exert cetain powers which his natural body cannot do. It can, for example, pass throg "matter", nd it can mve freely in every direction through space. But this is because "matter",inthe sense inwhich we comonly use the word, is on another plane<<We do not call electrical resisanc, or economiclaws, unreal,on the ground that they are not directly perceived by the senses. Or maical doctrine s universally ccepted by sceptics --- only they wish to make Magick itself an eceptin!>>.
Now this fine body perceives a universe which we do not ordinarily perceive. It does not necessa perceive the universe which we do normally perceive, so although in this body I can pass throughterof, it does not follow that I shall be able to tell what the weather is like. I might do so, r mgh not: but if I could not, it would not prove that I was deceiving myself in supposing that ha pasedthrough the roof. This body, which is called by various authors the Astral double, bodyof Lght,bodyof fire, body of desire, fine body, scin-laeca and numberless other names is naturall fittd to erceie objects of its own class ... in particular, the phantoms of the astral plane. {14}
There is some sort of vague and indeterminate relation between the Astrals and the Materials; andis possible, with great experience, to deduce facts about material things from the astral aspect hc hey present to the eyes of the Body of Light.<<This is because there is a certain necessary corepodece between planes; as in the case of an Anglo-Indian's liver and this temper. The relationappars"vaue and indeterminate" only in so far as one happens to be ignorant of the laws which stae th cas. Te situation is analogous to that of the chemist before the discovery of the law of "Cmbinig Weihts",etc.>> This astral plane is so varied and so changeable that several clairvoyantslookin at th same hing might give totally different accounts of what they saw; yet they might eac make crrect dduction. In looking at a man the first clairvoyant might say: "The lines of force re all dooping";the secod: "It seems all dirty and spotty"; a third; "The Aura looks very ragged. Yet all ight agre in deducng that the man was in ill-health. In any case all such deductions ar rather uneliable. ne must bea highly skilled man before one can trust one's vision. A great may people thnk that the are extremly good at the business, when in fact they have only made some ocasional shrwd guesses (hich they naurally remember) in the course of hundreds of forgotten failues.
The only way to test clairvoyance is to keep a careful record of every experiment made. For exam FRATER O. M. once gave a clairvoyant a waistcoat to psychometrize. He made 56 statements about h wer of the waistcoat; of these 4 were notably right; 17, though correct, were of that class of taemntwhich is true of almost everybody. The remainder were wrong. It was concluded from this tat e sowe no evidence of any special power. In fact, his bodily eyes, --- if he could discern Talorig -- woud have served him better, for he thought the owner of the vest was a corn-chandler, isteadof anearl,as he is.
The Magician can hardly take too much trouble to develop this power in himself. It is extremely ul to him in guarding himself against attack; in obtaining warnings, in judging character, and eseily in watching the process of his Ceremonies. {145}
There are a great many ways of acquiring the power. Gaze into a crystal, or into a pool of ink ie palm of the hand, or into a mirror, or into a teacup. Just as with a microscope the expert opeao eeps both eyes open, though seeing only through the one at the eye-piece of the instrument, soth ntual eyes, ceasing to give any message to the brain, the attention is withdrawn from them, an th ma beins to see through the Astral eyes.
These methods appear to The MASTER THERION to be unsatisfactory. Very often they do not work at It is difficult to teach a person to use these methods; and, worst of all, they are purely passv! ou can see only what is shewn you, and you are probably shewn things perfectly pointless and ireevnt
The proper method is as follows: --- Develop the body of Light until it is just as real to you as yother body, teach it to travel to any desired symbol, and enable it to perform all necessary Rite n nvocations. In short, educate it. Ultimately, the relation of that body with your own must b ecedigly intimate; but before this harmonizing takes place, you should begin by a careful differntitio. he first thing to do, therefore, is to get the body outside your own. To avoid muddlingthe wo, ou bgin by imagining a shape resembling yourself standing in front of you. Do not say: "h, its onl imagnation!" The time to test that is later on, when you have secured a fairly clear ental mage o such body. Try to imagine how your own body would look if you were standing in itsplace; ry to tansfer our consciousness to the Body of Light. Your own body has its eyes shut. Ue the eys of theBody of ight to describe the objects in the room behind you. Don't say. "It's ony an effot of subcnscious mmory" ... the time to test that is later on.
As soon as you feel more or less at home in the fine body, let it rise in the air. Keep on feelihe sense of rising; keep on looking about you as you rise until you see landscapes or beings of teatal plane. Such have a quality all their own. They are not like material things --- they are otlie ental pictures --- they seem to lie between the two.
After some practice has made you adept, so that in the course {146} of any hour's journey you cankon on having a fairly eventful time, turn your attention to reaching a definite place on the asta lne; invoke Mercury, for example, and examine carefully your record of the resulting vision ---dicoerwhether the symbols which you have seen correspond with the conventional symbols of Mercury
This testing of the spirits is the most important branch of the whole tree of Magick. Without ite is lost in the jungle of delusion. Every spirit, up to God himself, is ready to deceive you ifpsile, to make himself out more important than he is; in short to lay in wait for your soul in 33 spaat ways. Remember that after all the highest of all the Gods is only the Magus,<<See Liber 48, rd ethr.>> Mayan, the greatest of all the devils.
You may also try "rising on the planes".<<See Infra and Appendix.>> With a little practice, espely if you have a good Guru, you ought to be able to slip in and out of your astral body as easilya o slip in and out of a dressing-gown. It will then no longer be so necessary for your astral bdytobesent far off; without moving an inch you will be able to "turn on" its eyes and ears --- assimly s te man with the microscope (mentioned above) can transfer his complete attention from oneeye o th othr.
Now, however unsuccessful your getting out the body may apparently have been, it is most necessary se every effort to bring it properly back. Make the Body of Light coincide in space with the phyia ody, assume the God-Form, and vibrate the name of Harpocrates with the utmost energy; then recve uit of consciousness. If you fail to do this properly you may find yourself in serious troubl. ourBod of Light may wander away uncontrolled, and be attacked and obsessed. You will become aare f ths though the occurrence of headache, bad dreams, or even more serious signs such as hysteia, fintin fits possibly madness or paralysis. Even the worst of these attacks will probably wea off, ut it ay leae you permanently damaged to a greater or less extent. {147}
A great majority of "spiritualists", "occultists", "Toshosophists", are pitiable examples of repe losses from this cause.
The emotional type of religionist also suffers in this way. Devotion projects the fine body, whis seized and vampirized by the demon masquerading as "Christ" or "Mary", or whoever may be the obeto worship. Complete absence of all power to concentrate thought, to follow an argument, to forultea ill, to hold fast to an opinion or a course of action, or even to keep a solemn oath, mark ndeibl thse who have thus lost parts of their souls. They wander from one new cult to another evn crzier Ocasionally such persons drift for a moment into the surrounding of The MASTER THERION,and ae sho out y the simple process of making them try to do a half-hour's honest work of any kin.
In projecting the Astral, it is a valuable additional safeguard to perform the whole operation inroperly consecrated circle.
Proceed with great caution, then, but proceed. In time your Body of Light will be as strong againsirits as your other body against the winds of Heaven. All depends upon the development of that Bd fLight. It must be furnished with an organism as ramified and balanced as its shadowy brother,th mteial body.
To recapitulate once more, then, the first task is to develop your own Body of light within your circle without reference to any other inhabitants of the world to which it belongs.
That which you have accomplished with the subject you may now proceed to do with the object. You wlearn to see the astral appearance of material things; and although this does not properly belongt ue clairvoyance, one may here again mention that you should endeavour to the utmost to develop ndfotiy this Body of Light. The best and simplest way to do this is to use it constantly, to execis itin very way. In particular it may be employed in ceremonies of initiation or of invocation--- hilethe hysical body remains silent and still.
In doing this it will often be necessary to create a Temple on the astral plane. It is excellentctice to create symbols. This one precaution is needed: after using them, they should be reabsore. 148}
Having learned to create astral forms, the next step will be at first very difficult. Phantasmal fleeting as the astral is in general, those forms which are definitely attached to the material oss enormous powers of resistance, and it consequently requires very high potential to influence he. Th material analogues seem to serve as a fortress. Even where a temporary effect is produced th inrti of matter draws it back to the normal; yet the power of the trained and consecrated wil in wel-devloped astral body is such that it can even produce a permanent change in the materialupon hose ody o Light you are working, e.g.; one can heal the sick by restoring a healthy appearace to heir atral frms. On the other hand, it is possible so to disintegrate the Body of Light evn of a trong mn that e will fall dead.
Such operations demand not only power, but judgment. Nothing can upset the sum total of destiny everything must be paid for the uttermost farthing. For this reason a great many operations theoeialy possible cannot be performed. Suppose, for example, you see two men of similarly unhealthyasra apearance. In one case the cause may be slight and temporary. Your help suffices to restor hi ina fw minutes. The other, who looks no worse, is really oppressed by a force incalculably geate tha youcould control, and you would only damage yourself by attempting to help him. The dianosisbetwen thetwo cases could be made by an investigation of the deeper strata of the astral, suh as cmpose he"caual body".
A body of black magicians under Anna Kingsford<<Anna Kingsford, so far as her good work is concer was only the rubber stamp of Edward Maitland.>> once attempted to kill a vivisector who was not atclarly well known; and they succeeded in making him seriously ill. But in attempting the same hig it Pasteur they produced no effect whatever, because Pasteur was a great genius --- an adept n hs on lne far greater than she in hers --- and because millions of people were daily blessing hm. t canot e too clearly understood that magical force is subject to the same laws of proportionas an othe kindof force. It is useless for a mere millionaire to try to bankrupt a man who has te Bankof Engand beind him. {149}
To sum up, the first task is to separate the astral form from the physical body, the second to dep the powers of the astral body, in particular those of sight, travel, and interpretation; third,t nfy the two bodies without muddling them.
This being accomplished, the magician is fitted to deal with the invisible.
II
It is now useful to contine with considerations of other planes, which have commonly been classeder the Astral. There is some reason for this, as the delimitations are somewhat vague. Just as h eetable kingdom merges into the animal, and as the material plane has beings which encroach upo te oudaries of the astral, so do we find it in the higher planes.
The mental images which appear during meditation are subjective, and pertain not at all to the as plane. Only very rarely do astral images occur during meditation. It is a bad break in the cirl,a a rule, when they do.
There is also a Magical Plane. This touches the material, and even includes a portion of it. Itludes the Astral, chiefly a full-blooded type of the Astral. It reaches to and includes most, ifntal, of the spiritual planes.
The Magical plane is thus the most comprehensive of all. Egyptian Gods are typical inhabitants ois plane, and it is the home of every Adept.
The spiritual planes are of several types, but are all distinguished by a reality and intensity t found nowhere else. Their inhabitants are formless, free of space and time, and distinguished b noparable brilliance.
There are also a number of sub-planes, as, for example, the Alchemical. This plane will often ap in the practice of "Rising on the Planes"; its images are usually those of gardens curiously kep,mutains furnished with peculiar symbols, hieroglyphic animals, or such figures as that of the "Hrmti Acanum", and pictures like the "Goldseekers" and the "Massacre of the Innocents" of Basil Vaentne. Thre is a unique quality about the alchemical Plane which renders its images immediately rcognzabl. {50}
There are also planes corresponding to various religions past and present, all of which have theiculiar unity.
It is of the utmost importance to the "Clairvoyant" or "traveler in the fine body" to be able to his way to any desired plane, and operate therein as its ruler.
The Neophyte of A.'. A.'. is examined most strictly in this practice before he is passed to the de of Zelator.
In "Rising on the Planes" one must usually pass clear through the Astral to the Spiritual. Some be unable to do this. The "fine body" which is good enough to subsist on lower planes, a shadowaogshadows, will fail to penetrate the higher strata. It requires a great development of this boy,an a intense infusion of the highest spiritual constituents of man, before he can pierce the vels. Th costant practice of Magick is the best preparation possible. Even though the human consciusnes fal toreach the goal, the consciousness of the fine body itself may do so, wherefore whoso ravel in tat boy on a subsequent occasion may be found worthy; and its success will react favouraly on he humn consiousness, and increase its likelihood of success in its next magical operation. Simiarly, te power gained in this way will strengthen the magician in his mediation-practices. His Wil becomesbetter ale to assist the concentration, to destroy the mental images which distur it, and o reject he lesserrewards of that practice which tempt, and too often stop the progress f, the mysic.
Although it is said that the spiritual lies "beyond the astral", this is theoretical;<<The Hon. Band Russell's "Principia Mathematica" may be said to "lie beyond" Colenso's "School Arithmetic"; u n can take the former book from one's shelves --- as every one should --- and read it without frs gin all through the latter again.>> the advanced Magician will not find it to be so in practic. e wll e able by suitable invocation to travel directly to any place desired. In Liber 418 an xampe ofperfction is given. The Adept who explored these Aethyrs did not have to pass through an beyod theUnivese, the whole of which yet lies within even the inmost (30th) Aethyr. He was ableto sumon theAethyr he wanted, and His chief difficulty was that sometimes {151} He was at first uable topierce heir vels. In fact, as the Book shows, it was only by virtue of successive and mos exaltedinitiatins underone in the Aethyrs themselves that He was able to penetrate beyond the 15h. The Gardians o such forresses know how to guard.
The MASTER THERION has published the most important practical magical secrets in the plainest lane. No one, by virtue of being clever or learned, has understood one word; and those unworthy whohv rofaned the sacrament have but eaten and drunken damnation to themselves.
One may bring down stolen fire in a hollow tube from Heaven, as The MASTER THERION indeed has don a way that no other adept dared to do before him. But the thief, the Titan, must foreknow and cnetto his doom to be chained upon a lonely rock, the vulture devouring his liver, for a season, uti Hrcles, the strong man armed by virtue of that very fire, shall come and release him.
The TEITAN<<GR:Tau-Epsilon-Iota-Tau-Alpha-Nu = 300+5+10+300+1+50 = 666.>> --- whose number is theber of a man, six hundred and three score and six --- unsubdued, consoled by Asia and Panthea, mutsn forth constant showers of blessing not only upon Man whose incarnation he is, but upon the tyan ad he persecutor. His infinite pain must thrill his heart with joy, since every pang is but te eho f sme new flame that leaps upon the earth lit by his crime.
For the Gods are the enemies of Man; it is Nature that Man must overcome ere he enter into his kim.<<In another sense, a higher sense, Nature is absolutely right throughout. The position is tha h agician discovers himself imprisoned in a distorted Nature of Iniquity; and his task is to disntnge t. This is all to be studied in The Book of Wisdom or Folly (Liber ALEPH, CXI) and in the astr Terin's edition of the "Tao Teh King". A rough note from His Magical Diary is appended here
"All elements must at one time have been separate, --- that would be the case with great heat. Nhen atoms get to the sun, when we get to the sun, we get that immense, extreme heat, and all the lmns are themselves again. Imagine that each atom of each element possesses the memory of all hi avetues in combination. By the way, that atom (fortified with that memory) would not be the sam atm; et t is, because it has gained nothing from anywhere except this memory. Therefore, by thelaps of ime,and by virtue of memory, a thing could become something more than itself; and thus a eal dvelopent i possible. One can then see a reason for any element deciding to go through this eries f incanation; because so, and only so, can he go; and he suffers the lapse of memory which e has dring thse incanations, because he knows he will come through unchanged.
"Therefore you can have an infinite number of gods, individual and equal though diverse, each one sme and utterly indestructible. This is also the only explanation of how a being could create a wr{E NOTE: SIC, probably should be "world"} in which war, evil, etc. exist. Evil is only an appeaane,beause, (like "good") it cannot affect the substance itself, but only multiply its combinatios. Thi issomething the same as mystic monotheism, but the objection to that theory is that God ha to reat thigs which are all parts of himself, so that their interplay is false. If we presuppos manyelemets, teir interplay is natural. It is no objection to this theory to ask who made the eements --- te elemnts are at least there, and God, when you look for him, is not there. Theism i "obscuum per bscuriu." A male star is built up from the centre outwards; a female from the circmferenceinwards. This iswhat is meant when we say that woman has no soul. It explains fully the ifferencebetween te sexes.> The true God {152} is man. In man are all things hidden. Of these he Gods, Nture, Time all the pwers of the universe are rebellious slaves. It is these that men mst fight an conquer inthe power ad in the name of the Beast that hath availed them, the Titan, th Magus, the an whose numer is six hudred and three score and six.
III
The practice of Rising on the Planes is of such importance that special attention must be paid to It is part of the essential technique of Magick. Instruction in this practice has been given wt uh conciseness in Liber O, that one cannot do better than quote verbatim (the "previous experimnt rfered to in the first sentence is the ordinary astral journey.):
"1. The previous experiment has little value, and leads to few results of importance. But it isceptible of a development which merges into a form of Dharana --- concentration --- and as such myla to the very highest ends. The principal use of the practice in {153} the last chapter is to amlirie the student with every kind of obstacle and every kind of delusion, so that he may be perectmaser f every idea that may arise in his brain, to dismiss it, to transmute it, to cause it intanty toobeyhis will.
"2. Let him then begin exactly as before; but with the most intense solemnity and determination."3. Let him be very careful to cause his imaginary body to rise in a line exactly perpendicular oteearth's tangent at the point where his physical body is situated (or, to put it more simply, sragh uwards).
"4. Instead of stopping, let him continue to rise until fatigue almost overcomes him. If he shofind that he has stopped without willing to do so, and that figures appear, let him at all costs ieaove them. Yea, though his very life tremble on his lips, let him force his way upward and onwrd
"5. Let him continue in this so long as the breath of life is in him. Whatever threatens, whateallures, though it were Typhon and all his hosts loosed from the pit and leagued against him, thog twere from the very Throne of God himself that a voice issues bidding him stay and be content, ethi sruggle on, ever on.
"6. At last there must come a moment when his whole being is swallowed up in fatigue, overwhelme its own inertia. Let him sink (when no longer can he strive, though his tongue be bitten throug ihthe effort and the blood gush from his nostrils) into the blackness of unconsciousness; and thn n omng to himself, let him write down soberly and accurately a record of all that hath occurred ye, arecrd of all that hath occurred."
Of course, the Rising may be done from any starting pint. One can go (for example) into the circf Jupiter, and the results, especially in the lower planes, will be very different to those obtaie rm a Saturnian starting point.
The student should undertake a regular series of such experiments, in order to familiarise himselt only with the nature of the different spheres, but with the inner meaning of each. Of course, ti ot necessary in every case to push the {154} practice to exhaustion, as described in the instrcton, ut this is the proper thing to do whenever definitely practising, in order to acquire the pwerof isig. But, having obtained this power, it is, of course, legitimate to rise to any particuar pane hat ay be necessary for the purpose of exploration, as in the case of the visions recorde in Lber 48, whre the method may be described as mixed. In such a case, it is not enough to invoe the lace yu wishto visit, because you may not be able to endure its pressure, or to breathe itsatmosphre. Seeral intances occur in that record where the seer was unable to pass through certai gateway, or to emain incertain contemplations. He had to undergo certain Initiations before he as able t proceed. Thus, itis necessary that the technique of Magick should be perfected. The Boy of Lightmust be redered capale of going everywhere and doing everything. It is, therefore, alwys the quesion of dril which is o importance. You have got to go out Rising on the Planes every ay of your lfe, year aftr year. Youare not to be disheartened by failure, or too much encouragedby success, i any one pracice or set ofpractices. What you are doing is what will be of real vale to you in th end; and thatis, developinga character, creating a Karma, which will give you the ower to do yourwill.
IV
Divination is so important a branch of Magick as almost to demand a separate treatise.
Genius is composed of two sides; the active and the passive. The power to execute the Will is but d force unless the Will be enlightened. At every stage of a Magical Operation it is necessary toko hat one is doing, and to be sure that one is acting wisely. Acute sensitiveness is always asscite wth genius; the power to perceive the universe accurately, to analyse, coordinate, and judgeimpessonsis the foundation of all great Work. An army is but a blundering brute unless its inteligene deartmnt works as it should.
The Magician obtains the transcendental knowledge necessary to an intelligent course of conduct dtly in consciousness by clairvoyance and clairaudience; but communication with superior {155} intlieces demands elaborate preparation, even after years of successful performance.
It is therefore useful to possess an art by which one can obtain at a moment's notice any informa that may be necessary. This art is divination. The answers to one's questions in divination ar o onveyed directly but through the medium of a suitable series of symbols. These symbols must b iteprted by the diviner in terms of his problem. It is not practicable to construct a lexicon i whch he olution of every difficulty is given in so many words. It would be unwieldy; besides, nturedoesnot appen to work on those lines.
The theory of any process of divination may be stated in a few simple terms.
1. We postulate the existence of intelligences, either within or without the diviner, of which henot immediately conscious. (It does not matter to the theory whether the communicating spirit so-aldis an objective entity or a concealed portion of the diviner's mind.) We assume that such intllgece are able to reply correctly --- within limits --- to the questions asked.
2. We postulate that it is possible to construct a compendium of hieroglyphs sufficiently elasticmeaning to include every possible idea, and that one or more of these may always be taken to reprsn ny idea. We assume that any of these hieroglyphics will be understood by the intelligences wih ho w wish to communicate in the same sense as it is by ourselves. We have therefore a sort of angage Oe may compare it to a "lingua franca" which is perhaps defective in expressing fine shads ofmeanng, nd so is unsuitable for literature, but which yet serves for the conduct of daily affirs i placs whee many tongues are spoken. Hindustani is an example of this. But better still isthe anlogy btween he conventional signs and symbols employed by mathematicians, who can thus convy theirideas prfectly<As a matter of fact, they cannot. The best qualified are the most diffiden as to hving graped the eaning of their colleagues with exactitude; in criticising their writingsthey ofte make a pint of aplogising for possible misunderstanding.>> without speaking a word of ech other'slanguages. {156}
3. We postulate that the intelligences whom wish to consul are willing, or may be compelled, to ar us truthfully.
Let us first consider the question of the compendium of symbols. The alphabet of a language is ae or less arbitrary way of transcribing the sounds employed in speaking it. The letters themselvshv not necessarily any meaning as such. But in a system of divination each symbol stands for a efnie dea. It would not interfere with the English language to add a few new letters. In fact, omesysemsof shorthand have done so. But a system of symbols suitable for divination must be a coplet repesenation of the Universe, so that each is absolute, and the whole insusceptible to increse ordimintion. It is (in fact) technically a pantacle in the fullest sense of the word.
Let us consider some prominent examples of such system. We may observe that a common mode of divion is to inquire of books by placing the thumb at random within the leaves. The Books of the Syi,te works of Vergil, and the Bible have been used very frequently for this purpose. For theoretca jstfication, one must assume that the book employed is a perfect representation of the Univers. ut venif this were the case, it is an inferior form of construction, because the only reasonabe cocepton o the Cosmos is mathematical and hieroglyphic rather than literary. In the case of a ook, uch a the ook of the Law which is the supreme truth and the perfect rule of life, it is not epugnat to god sene to derive an oracle from its pages. It will of course be remarked that the Bok of te Law i not meely a literary compilation but a complex mathematical structure. It therefoe fulfil the reqired conitions.
The principal means of divination in history are astrology, geomancy, the Tarot, the Holy Qabalahd the Yi King. There are hundreds of others; from pyromancy, oneiromancy, auguries from sacrifics n the spinning-top of some ancient oracles to the omens drawn from the flight of birds and the roheyig of tea-leaves. It will be sufficient for our present purpose to discuss only the five sytem fist numerated.
ASTROLOGY is theoretically a perfect method, since the symbols employed actually exist in the macsm, and thus possess a {157} natural correspondence with microcosmic affairs. But in practice th aclations involved are overwhelmingly complicated. A horoscope is never complete. It needs to e upleented by innumerable other horoscopes. For example, to obtain a judgment on the simplest qeston,onerequires not only the nativities of the people involved, some of which are probably inacessile, ut scondary figures for directions and transits, together with progressed horoscopes, to ay nohing f preatal, mundane, and even horary figures. To appreciate the entire mass of data, tobalanc the eementsof so vast a concourse of forces, and to draw a single judgment therefrom, is atask prcticall beyondhuman capacity. Besides all this, the actual effects of the planetary positons and spects ae still lmost entirely unknown. No two astrologers agree on all points; and mostof them ae at oddson fundamntal principles.<<Nearly all professional astrologers are ignorant of heir own sbject, as f all othes.>> This science had better be discarded unless the student chancs to feel srongly draw toward it. It is used by the MASTER THERION Himself with fairly satisfactoy results, bt only in spcial cases, n a strictly limited sphere, and with particular precautions. Even so, He eels great difidence in baing His conduct on the result so obtained.
GEOMANCY has the advantage of being rigorously mathematical. A hand-book of the science is to bend in Equinox I, II. The objection to its use lies in the limited number of the symbols. To repeetthe Universe by no more than 16 combinations throws too much work upon them. There is also a ret esriction arising from the fact that although 15 symbols appear in the final figure, there ar, i relit, but 4, the remaining 11 being drawn by an ineluctable process from the "Mothers". It ay b addd tht the tables given in the handbook for the interpretation of the figure are exceedingy vage on he on hand, and insufficiently comprehensive on the other. Some Adepts, however, appea to fid thissystemadmirable, and obtain great satisfaction from its use. Once more, the personalequatio must b allowe full weight. At one time the MASTER THERION employed it extensively; but H was nevr whollyat ease ith it; He found the {158} interpretation very difficult. Moreover, it semed to Hm that th geomanti intelligences themselves were of a low order, the scope of which was onfined toa small setion of th things which interested Him; also, they possessed a point of view f their ownwhich was fr from sympthetic with His, so that misunderstanding constantly interfered ith the Work
THE TAROT and THE HOLY QABALAH may be discussed together. The theoretical basis of both is identicThe Tree of Life.<<Both these subjects may be studied in the Equinox in several articles appearin nsveral numbers.>> The 78 symbols of the Tarot are admirably balanced and combined. They are adqutetoall demands made upon them; each symbol is not only mathematically precise, but possesses a aristc sgnificance which helps the diviner to understand them by stimulating his aesthetic percetion. Te MATER THERION finds that the Tarot is infallible in material questions. The successiveoperaions escrie the course of events with astonishing wealth of detail, and the judgments are reiable n all espect. But a proper divination means at least two hours' hard work, even by the impoved mehod devloped b Him from the traditions of initiates. Any attempt to shorten the proceedins leads o disappintment;furthermore, the symbols do not lend themselves readily to the solution o spiritua question.
The Holy Qabalah, based as it is on pure number, evidently possesses an infinite number of symbolIts scope is conterminous with existence itself; and it lacks nothing in precision, purity, or inedi any other perfection. But it cannot be taught;<<It is easy to teach the General Principles o eegsi, and the main doctrines. There is a vast body of knowledge common to all cases; but this s n moe tan the basis on which the student must erect his original Research.>> each man must selet fo himelf he materials for the main structure of his system. It requires years of work to erec a wothy bildin. Such a building is never finished; every day spent on it adds new ornaments. Te Qabaah is herefoe a living Temple of the Holy Ghost. It is the man himself and his universe exressed n termsof thouht whose {159} language is so rich that even the letters of its alphabet hav no limi. This ystem isso sublime that it is unsuited to the solution of the petty puzzles of ou earthly xistence. In the lght of the Qabalah, the shadows of transitory things are instantly banshed.
The YI KING is the most satisfactory system for general work. The MASTER THERION is engaged in treparation of a treatise on the subject, but the labour involved is so great that He cannot pledg islf to have it ready at any definite time. The student must therefore make his own investigatinsino he meaning of the 64 hexagrams as best he can.
The Yi King is mathematical and philosophical in form. Its structure is cognate with that of thealah; the identity is so intimate that the existence of two such superficially different systems stascendent testimony to the truth of both. It is in some ways the most perfect hieroglyph ever ontrctd. It is austere and sublime, yet withal so adaptable to every possible emergency that itsfigresmaybe interpreted to suit all classes of questions. One may resolve the most obscure spiriual iffiultis no less than the most mundane dilemmas; and the symbol which opens the gates of themost xalte palaes of initiation is equally effective when employed to advise one in the ordinary usines of lie. Th MASTER THERION has found the Yi King entirely satisfactory in every respect. he inteligence which irect it show no inclination to evade the question or to mislead the querent A furter advanage is tat the actual apparatus is simple. Also the system is easy to manipulate and fiveminutes i sufficiet to obtain a fairly detailed answer to any but the most obscure questons.
With regard to the intelligences whose business it is to give information to the diviner, their nes differ widely, and correspond more or less to the character of the medium of divination. Thus h eomantic intelligences are gnomes, spirits of an earthy nature, distinguished from each other y hemoifications due to the various planetary and zodiacal influences which pertain to the severa sybol. he intelligence governing Puella is not to be confused with that of Venus or of Libra. t issimpy a articular terrestrial daemon which partakes of those natures. {160}
The Tarot, on the other hand, being a book, is under Mercury, and the intelligence of each card indamentally Mercurial. Such symbols are therefore peculiarly proper to communicate thought. The r ot gross, like the geomantic daemons; but, as against this, they are unscrupulous in deceivingth dvier.<<This does not mean that they are malignant. They have a proper pride in their office s Oacls o Truth; and they refuse to be profaned by the contamination of inferior and impure inteligenes. A Maician whose research is fully adapted to his Neschamah will find them lucid and reliale.>> Th Yi Kng is served by beings free from these defects. The intense purity of the symbols preve them rom beng usurped by intelligences with an axe of their own to grind.<<Malicious or pranksom lementas instictively avoid the austere sincerity of the Figures of Fu and King Wan.>>
It is always essential for the diviner to obtain absolute magical control over the intelligences he system which he adopts. He must not leave the smallest loop-hole for being tricked, befogged,o oked. He must not allow them to use casuistry in the interpretation of his questions. It is acomo kavery, especially in geomancy, to render an answer which is literally true, and yet deceive. or nstnce, one might ask whether some business transaction would be profitable, and find, afte geting n afirmative answer, that it really referred to the other party to the affair!
There is, on the surface, no difficulty at all in getting replies. In fact, the process is mechal; success is therefore assured, bar a stroke of apoplexy. But, even suppose we are safe from deet ow can we know that the question has really been put to another mind, understood rightly, and nserd rom knowledge? It is obviously possible to check one's operations by clairvoyance, but thi israter ike buying a safe to keep a brick in. Experience is the only teacher. One acquires wha onemay lmos call a new sense. One feels in one's self whether one is right or not. The divinermust evelo thissense. It resembles the exquisite sensibility of touch which is found in the grea billird plaer whoe fingers can estimate infinitesimal degrees of force, {161} or the similar pheomenon n the pofessioal taster of tea or wine who can distinguish fantastically subtle difference of flavur.
It is a hard saying; but in the order to divine without error, one ought to be a Master of the Temp Divination affords excellent practice for those who aspire to that exalted eminence, for the faits reath of personal preference will deflect the needle from the pole of truth in the answer. Unes te iviner have banished utterly from his mind the minutest atom of interest in the answer to hs qeston,he is almost certain to influence that answer in favour of his personal inclinations.
The psycho-analyst will recall the fact that dreams are phantasmal representations of the unconsc Will of the sleeper, and that not only are they images of that Will instead of representations o betive truth, but the image itself is confused by a thousand cross-currents set in motion by thevaios omplexes and inhibitions of his character. If therefore one consults the oracle, one must akesur tht one is not consciously or unconsciously bringing pressure to bear upon it. It is justas wen a Engishman cross-examines a Hindu, the ultimate answer will be what the Hindu imagines wil bes pleae theinquirer.
The same difficulty appears in a grosser form when one receives a perfectly true reply, but insisn interpreting it so as to suit one's desires. The vast majority of people who go to "fortuneteles ave nothing else in mind but the wish to obtain supernatural sanction for their follies. Apar fomOcultism altogether, every one knows that when people ask for advice, they only want to be tod hw wse hey are. Hardly any one acts on the most obviously commonsense counsel if it happens toclas wit hisprevious intentions. Indeed, who would take counsel unless he were warned by some litle wisperin hi heart that he was about to make a fool of himself, which he is determined to do, nd onl wantsto be ble to blame his best friend, or the oracle, when he is overtaken by the disastr whichhis owninterio mentor foresees?
Those who embark on divination will be wise to consider the foregoing remarks very deeply. They know when they are getting deep enough by the fact of the thought beginning to hurt them. It isesnial to explore oneself to the utmost, to analyse {162} one's mind until one can be positive, byod hepossibility of error, that one is able to detach oneself entirely from the question. The oacl isa jdge; it must be beyond bribery and prejudice.
It is impossible in practice to lay down rules for the interpretation of symbols. Their nature mbe investigated by intellectual methods such as the Qabalah, but the precise shape of meaning in n n case, and the sphere and tendency of its application, must be acquired by experience, that is bt ndction, by recording and classifying one's experiments over a long period; and --- this is te btte pat --- by refining one's ratiocination to the point where it becomes instinct or intuitio, whchevr on likes to call it.
It is proper in cases where the sphere of the question is well marked to begin the divination by cations of the forces thereto appropriate. An error of judgment as to the true character of the usin would entail penalties proportionate to the extent of that error; and the delusions resultin foma ivination fortified by invocation would be more serious than if one had not employed such havyartlley.<<The apparent high sanction for the error would fortify the obstinacy of the mule.>>
There can, however, be no objection to preparing oneself by a general purification and consecratievised with the object of detaching oneself from one's personality and increasing the sensitiveneso ne's faculties.
All divination comes under the general type of the element Air. The peculiar properties of air an consequence its uniform characteristics. Divination is subtle and intangible. It moves with mseius ease, expanding, contracting, flowing, responsive to the slightest stress. It receives andtrnsit every vibration without retaining any. It becomes poisonous when its oxygen is defiled bypasingthrugh human lungs.
There is a peculiar frame of mind necessary to successful divination. The conditions of the problee difficult. It is obviously necessary for the mind of the diviner to be concentrated absolutelyuo is question. Any intrusive thought will confuse the oracle as certainly as the reader of a nesppe i confused {163} when he reads a paragraph into which a few lines have strayed from another olun. It s equally necessary that the muscles with which he manipulates the apparatus of divinatin mut beentiely independent of any volition of his. He must lend them for the moment to the inteligene who he i consulting, to be guided in their movement to make the necessary mechanical actios whic deterine th physical factor of the operation. It will be obvious that this is somewhat awward fo the diiner wh is also a magician, for as a magician he has been constantly at work to kee all hisforces uder his wn control, and to prevent the slightest interference with them by any alen Will. It is, infact, comonly the case, or so says the experience of The MASTER THERION, that te most proising Magiians are te most deplorable diviners, and vice versa. It is only when the asirant approches perfecion that hebecomes able to reconcile these two apparently opposing facultie. Indeed, tere is no suer sign of al-round success than this ability to put the whole of one's pwers at the srvice of any ype of task.
With regard to the mind, again, it would seem that concentration on the question makes more diffi the necessary detachment from it. Once again, the diviner stands in need of a considerable degreo ttainment in the practices of meditation. He must have succeeded in destroying the tendency o te goto interfere with the object of thought. He must be able to conceive of a thing out of allreltio wih anything else. The regular practice of concentration leads to this result; in fact, i desroysthe hing itself as we have hitherto conceived it; for the nature of things is always veild fro us b our abit of regarding them as in essential relation without ourselves and our reaction towar them. One cn hardly expect the diviner to make Samadhi with his question --- that would be going too farnd destoy the character of the operation by removing the question from the class of concatenated da. It wold mean interpreting the question in terms of "without limit", and this imply an equall frmess answe. But he should approximate to this extreme sufficiently to allow the question entie feedm to make or itself its own proper links with the intelligence directing the answer, {164} resevingits positio on its own plane, and evoking the necessary counterpoise to its own deviationfrom he nom of nothingess.
We may recapitulate the above reflections in a practical form. We will suppose that one wishes tvine by geomancy whether or no one should marry, it being assumed that one's emotional impulses sgetso rash a course. The man takes his wand and his sand; the traces the question, makes the appopiae entagram, and the sigil of the spirit. Before tracing the dashes which are to determine th for "othrs", he must strictly examine himself. He must banish from his mind every thought whichcan ossily at as an attachment to his proposed partner. He must banish all thoughts which concer himslf, tose o apprehension no less than those of ardour. He must carry his introspection as fa as posible. He mut observe with all the subtlety at his command whether it pains him to abandon ny of tese thoghts. o long as his mind is stirred, however slightly, by one single aspect of thesubject,he is no fit to egin to form the figure. He must sink his personality in that of the intlligence earing th questionpropounded by a stranger to whom he is indifferent, but whom it is hisbusiness t serve faihfully. H must now run over the whole affair in his mind, making sure of thi utter alooness therefom. He mus also make sure that his muscles are perfectly free to respond t the touch o the Will ofthat intellience. (It is of course understood that he has not become so amiliar with eomancy by dit of practiceas to be able to calculate subconsciously what figures he ill form; for his would vitite the experimnt entirely. It is, in fact, one of the objections to eomancy that soner or later on does become awre at the time of tracing them whether the dots are oing to be even r odd. This nees a special traiing to correct).
Physio-psychological theory will probably maintain that the "automatic" action of the hand is conled by the brain no less than in the case of conscious volition; but this is an additional argumetfridentifying the brain with the intelligence invoked.
Having thus identified himself as closely as possible with that intelligence, and concentrated on question as if the "prophesying spirit" were giving its whole attention thereto, he must {165} aatte impulse to trace the marks on the sand; and, as soon as it comes let it race to the finish. Hee ries another technical difficulty. One has to make 16 rows of dots; and, especially for the eginer th mind has to grapple with the apprehension lest the hand fail to execute the required nuber. It s alo troubled by fearing to exceed; but excess does not matter. Extra lines are simply ull ad voi, so hat the best plan is to banish that thought, and make sure only of not stopping to soon.<Practce soo teaches one to count subconsciously ... yes, and that is the other difficulty gain!>> The ines beng traced, the operation is over as far as spiritual qualities are required, for a te. The rocess o setting up the figure for judgment is purely mechanical.
But, in the judgment, the diviner stands once more in need of his inmost and utmost attainments. should exhaust the intellectual sources of information at his disposal, and form from them his juget But having done this, he should detach his mind from what it has just formulated, and procee t cncntrate it on the figure as a whole, almost as if it were the object of his meditation. Onenee hadlyrepeat that in both these operations detachment from one's personal partialities is as ncessry a it as in the first part of the work. In setting up the figure, bias would beget a Freudan phntasmto relace the image of truth which the figure ought to be; and it is not too much to sa that he entre subonscious machinery of the body and mind lends itself with horrid willingness tothis ap-like atic of reason. But now that the figure stands for judgment, the same bias would ted to for its phatasm of ish-fulfilment in a different manner. It would act through the mind to bwray soun judgment It migh, for example, induce one to emphasize the Venereal element in Puella t the expese of the aturnian. It might lead one to underrate the influence of a hostile figure, o to neglectaltogether ome elementof importance. The MASTER THERION has known cases where the divr was so afrid of an unfvourable anser that he made actual mistakes in the simple mechanical consruction of th figure! Finlly, in the {66} summing up; it is fatally easy to slur over unpleasantess, and to brathe on the tiiest spark tha promises to kindle the tinder --- the rotten rags! ---of hope.
The concluding operation is therefore to obtain a judgment of the figure, independent of all intetual or moral restraint. One must endeavour to apprehend it as a thing absolute in itself. One utteat it, in short, very much the same as one did the question; as a mystical entity, till now ureatd ith other phenomena. One must, so to speak, adore it as a god, uncritically: "Speak, Lord,forthyserant heareth." It must be allowed to impose its intrinsic individuality on the mind, to ut is figersindependently on whatever notes it pleases.
In this way one obtains an impression of the true purport of the answer; and one obtains it armedh a sanction superior to any sensible suggestions. It comes from and to a part of the individualwihis independent of the influence of environment; is adjusted to that environment by true necessty ad ot by the artifices of such adaptations as our purblind conception of convenience induces u tofabicae.
The student will observe from the above that divination is in one sense an art entirely separatem that of Magick; yet it interpenetrates Magick at every point. The fundamental laws of both areietcal. The right use of divination has already been explained; but it must be added that proficeny heein, tremendous as is its importance in furnishing the Magician with the information necessry o hs srategical and tactical plans, in no wise enables him to accomplish the impossible. It s no witin te scope of divination to predict the future (for example) with the certainty of an asronomr in alculting the return of a comet.<<The astronomer himself has to enter a caveat. He canonly clculat the pobability on the observed facts. Some force might interfere with the anticipatd movemnt.>> here isalways much virtue in divination; for (Shakespeare assures us!) there is "muh virtuein IF"!
In estimating the ultimate value of a divinatory judgment, one must allow for more than the numersources of error inherent {167} in the process itself. The judgment can do no more than the fact rsnted to it warrant. It is naturally impossible in most cases to make sure that some importantfato hs not been omitted. In asking, "shall I be wise to marry?" one leaves it open for wisdom t bedefnedin divers ways. One can only expect an answer in the sense of the question. The connottionof "ise"would then imply the limitations "in your private definition of wisdom", "in referenc to yur prsent ircumstances." It would not involve guarantee against subsequent disaster, or proounce philoophica dictum as to wisdom in the abstract sense. One must not assume that the oracl is omnscient. By thenature of the case, on the contrary, it is the utterance of a being whose poers are artial ad limite, though not to such an extent, or in the same directions, as one's own. But a manwho is adised to prchase a certain stock should not complain if a general panic knocks te bottom ot of it a ew weeks lter. The advice only referred to the prospects of the stock in itslf. The diination mus not be blaed any more than one would blame a man for buying a house at Yprs there year before the orld-War.
As against this, one must insist that it is obviously to the advantage of the diviner to obtain thiformation from beings of the most exalted essence available. An old witch who has a familiar spii fmerely local celebrity such as the toad in her tree, can hardly expect him to tell her much moe f riate matters than her parish magazine does of public. It depends entirely on the Magician hw h issered. The greater the man, the greater must be his teacher. It follows that the highest ormsof cmmuncating daemons, those who know, so to speak, the court secrets, disdain to concern thmselvs wit mattrs which they regard as beneath them. One must not make the mistake of calling ina famos physcian t one's sick Pekinese. One must also beware of asking even the cleverest angel questin outsie his abit. A heart specialist should not prescribe for throat trouble.
The Magician ought therefore to make himself master of several methods of divination; using one oe other as the purpose of the moment dictates. He should make a point of organizing a staff of sc prits to suit various {168} occasions. These should be "familiar"spirits, in the strict sense;mebes f his family. He should deal with them constantly, avoiding whimsical or capricious change. e soul choose them so that their capacities cover the whole ground of his work; but he should ot mltipy thm unnecessarily, for he makes himself responsible for each one that he employs. Suchspiris shold beceremonially evoked to visible or semi-visible appearance. A strict arrangement sould b made nd swon. This must be kept punctiliously by the Magician, and its infringement by th spiritseverel punishd. Relations with these spirits should be confirmed and encouraged by frequnt interourse. hey shoud be treated with courtesy, consideration, and even affection. They shoud be taugt to loveand respet their master, and to take pride in being trusted by him.
It is sometimes better to act on the advice of a spirit even when one knows it to be wrong, thoug such a case one must take the proper precautions against an undesirable result. The reason for hsi that spirits of this type are very sensitive. They suffer agonies of remorse on realising tht he hve injured their Master; for he is their God; they know themselves to be part of him, theiraimis o atain to absorption in him. They understand therefore that his interests are theirs. Cae mut betake to employ none but spirits who are fit for the purpose, not only by reason of their apaciy to upplyinformation, but for their sympathy with the personality of the Magician. Any attmpt tocoerceunwillng spirits is dangerous. They obey from fear; their fear makes them flatter, ad tell miable alsehoos. It also creates phantasmal projections of themselves to personate them; nd thesephantasm, beside being worthless, become the prey of malicious daemons who use them to atack the Mgician invarious wys whose prospect of success is enhanced by the fact that he has himsef created link withthem.
One more observation seems desirable while on this subject. Divination of any kind is improper itters directly concerning the Great Work itself. In the Knowledge and Conversation of his Holy Gada Angel, the adept is possessed of all he can possibly need. To consult any other is to insulton's{19} Angel. Moreover, it is to abandon the only person who really knows, and really cares, i faourof ne who by the nature of the case, must be ignorant<<No intelligence of the type that opeatesdiviatio is a complete Microcosm as Man is. He knows in perfection what lies within his own phere and ittleor nothing beyond it. Graphiel knows all that is knowable about Marital matters, s no Mn can ossibl do. For even the most Marital man is limited as to Madim by the fact that Mar is onl one elment inhis molecule; the other elements both inhibit concentration on their colleage, and vil him b insistig on his being interpreted in reference to themselves. No entity whose sructure des not inlude the ntire Tree of Life is capable of the Formulae of Initiation. Graphiel consultedby the Asprants to Aeptship, would be bound to regard the Great Work as purely a questin of combat and ignoreall other cnsiderations. His advice would be absolute on technical points f this kind;but its veryperfection wuld persuade the Aspirant to an unbalance course of action whch would ental failure anddestruction. It is pertinent to mention in this connection that one mus not expect abolute informaton as to what s going to happen. "Fortune-telling" is an abuse of diination. At th utmost one canonly ascertain hat may reasonably be expected. The proper functionof the process i to guide one's udgment. Diagnois is fairly reliable; advice may be trusted, genrally speaking; bt prognosis shoul always be cautios. The essence of the business is the consulttion of specialist.>> of the essenceof the matter --- ne whose interest in it is no more (at the est) than that of awell-meaning strangr. It should go wihout saying that until the Magician has ttained to the Knowldge and Conversationof his Holy GuardianAngel he is liable to endless deceptins. He does not knowHimself; how can he eplain his business toothers? How can those others, thogh they do their best or him, aid in anythin but trifles? One mus therefore be prepared for disapointment at every stag until one attains to aeptship.
This is especially true of divination, because the essence of the horror of not knowing one's Angs the utter bewilderment and anguish of the mind, complicated by the persecution of the body, andevnmed by the ache of the soul. One puts the wrong questions, and puts them wrong; gets the wron aswrs judges them wrong, and acts wrongly upon them. One must nevertheless persist, aspiring wih adou toards one's Angel, and comforted {170} by the assurance that He is guiding one secretly tward Himelf,and that all one's mistakes are necessary preparations for the appointed hour of meetng Hi. Eah misake is the combing-out of some tangle in the hair of the bride as she is being coifed fo marrige.
On the other hand, although the adept is in daily communication with his Angel, he ought to be cal to consult Him only on questions proper to the dignity of the relation. One should not consultoesAngel on too many details, or indeed on any matters which come within the office of one's famiia sirts. One does not go the the King about petty personal trifles. The romance and rapture oftheinefabe union which constitutes Adeptship must not be profaned by the introduction of commonplce cres. Onemust not appear with one's hair in curl-papers, or complain of the cook's impertinenc, if ne wats tomake the most of the honeymoon.<<As the poet puts it; "Psyche, beware how thou dislose Ty trics of tilet to Eros, Or let him learn that those love-breathing Lyrical lips that whiser, wrething Hs browswith sense-bewitching gold, Are equally expert to scold; That those caressin hands wll maybeYet box is ears and slap the baby!">>
To the Adept divination becomes therefore a secondary consideration, although he can now employ ith absolute confidence, and probably use it with far greater frequency than before his attainment Ided, this is likely in proportion as he learns that resort to divination (on every occasion whe hs il does not instantly instruct him) with implicit obedience to its counsels careless as to whthe orno hey may land him in disaster, is a means admirably efficacious of keeping his mind untrobledby eternl impressions, and therefore in the proper condition to receive the reiterant strokesof rature ith wich the love of his Angel ravishes him.
We have now mapped out the boundaries of possibility and propriety which define the physical and tical geography of divination. The student must guard himself constantly against supposing that hsat affords any absolute means of discovering "truth", or indeed, of using that word as if it mentmoe han the {171} relation of two ideas each of which is itself as subject to "change without ntic" a a usical programme.
Divination, in the nature of things, can do no more than put the mind of the querent into conscioonnection with another mind whose knowledge of the subject at issue is to his own as that of an epr o a layman. The expert is not infallible. The client may put his question in a misleading mane, r ven base it on a completely erroneous conception of the facts. He may misunderstand the exerts aswe, and he may misinterpret its purport. Apart from all this, excluding all error, both qestin an anser are limited in validity by their own conditions; and these conditions are such tha trut may ease o be true, either as time goes on, or if it be flawed by the defect of failure to onside some ircumsances whose concealed operation cancels the contract.
In a word, divination, like any other science, is justified of its children. It would be extraorry should so fertile a mother be immune from still-births, monstrosities, and abortions.
We none of us dismiss our servant science with a kick and a curse every time the telephone gets of order. The telephone people make no claim that it always works and always works right.<<Excepti e York City.>> Divination, with equal modesty, admits that "it often goes wrong; but it works el eouh, all things considered. The science is in its infancy. All we can do is our best. We n moe peted to infallibility than the mining expert who considers himself in luck if he hits the bll'seye our imes in ten."
The error of all dogmatists (from the oldest prophet with his "literally-inspired word of God" to newest German professor with his single-track explanation of the Universe) lies in trying to proetomuch, in defending themselves against critics by stretching a probably excellent theory to incud al he facts and the fables, until it bursts like the overblown bladder it is.
Divination is no more than a rough and ready practical method which we understand hardly at all, operate only as empirics. Success for the best diviner alive is no more certain in any particula ntnce than a long putt by a champion golfer. Its calculations {172} are infinitely more complexthn hes, a Chess played on an infinite board with men whose moves are indeterminate, and made stil mre iffcult by the interference of imponderable forces and unformulated laws; while its conductdemads nt ony the virtues, themselves rare enough, of intellectual and moral integrity, but intuiion cmbinig delcacy with strength in such perfection and to such extremes as to make its existenc appea monstous an miraculous against Nature.
To admit this is not to discredit oracles. On the contrary, the oracles fell into disrepute justause they pretended to do more than they could. To divine concerning a matter is little more tha oclculate probabilities. We obtain the use of minds who have access to knowledge beyond ours, bt ottoomniscience. HRU, the great angel set over the Tarot, is beyond us as we are beyond the an; bt, or ll we know, the knowledge of HRU is excelled by some mightier mind in the same proportio. Nr hae weany warrant for accusing HRU of ignorance or error if we read the Tarot to our own deusion He ay hae known, he may have spoken truly; the fault may lie with our own insight.<<The qustion f the ense i which an answer is true arises. One {WEH NOTE: sic, interpolate "should"} notmix up he plans. Yetas Mr. Russell shows, "Op Cit. p". 61, the worlds which lie behind phenomen must posess thesame strcture as our own. "Every proposition having a communicable significance ust lie i just tha essence f individuality which, for that very reason, is irrelevant to science" Just so:but this i to confes the impotence of science to attain truth, and to admit the urgencyof developig a mental nstrument o superior capacity.>>
The MASTER THERION has observed on innumerable occasions that divinations, made by him and dismisas giving untrue answers, have justified themselves months or years later when he was able to revs i judgment in perspective, untroubled by his personal passion.
It is indeed surprising how often the most careless divinations give accurate answers. When thino wrong, it is almost always possible to trace the error to one's own self-willed and insolent prsmton in insisting that events shall accommodate themselves to our egoism and vanity. It is comialy nsientific to adduce {173} examples of the mistakes of the diviners as evidence that their ar isfatous Every one knows that the simplest chemical experiments often go wrong. Every one know theeccetricties of fountain pens; but nobody outside Evangelical circles makes fun of the Cavendsh exerimet, orasserts that, if fountain pens undoubtedly work now and then, their doing so is meely concidene.
The fact of the case is that the laws of nature are incomparably more subtle than even science suts. The phenomena of every plane are intimately interwoven. The arguments of Aristotle were depneton the atmospheric pressure which prevented his blood from boiling away. There is nothing in heunvese which does not influence every other thing in one way or another. There is no reason inNatre hy he apparently chance combination of half-a dozen sticks of tortoise-shell should not be o liked oth ith the human mind and with the entire structure of the Universe that the observationof thir fal shold not enable us to measure all things in heaven and earth.
With one piece of curved glass we have discovered uncounted galaxies of suns; with another, endlerders of existence in the infinitesimal. With the prism we have analysed light so that matter an oc have become intelligible only as forms of light. With a rod we have summoned the invisible eerie o electricity to be our familiar spirit serving us to do our Will, whether it be to outsoar he ondr, r to dive deeper into the demon world of disease than any of our dreamers dared to dream
Since with four bits of common glass mankind has learnt to know so much, achieved so much, who daeny that the Book of Thoth, the quintessentialized wisdom of our ancestors whose civilizations, prse though they be, have left monuments which dwarf ours until we wonder whether we are degenerat fomthm, or evolved from Simians, who dare deny that such a book may be possessed of unimaginablepowrs? t is not so long since the methods of modern science were scoffed at by the whole cultured worldIn te sacred halls themselves the roofs rang loud with the scornful laughter of the high priests sech ne postulant approached with his unorthodox offering. {174} There is hardly a scientific disovryin hisory which was not decried as quackery by the very men whose own achievements were scarc ye reognizedby the world at large.
Within the memory of the present generation, the possibility of aeroplanes was derisively denied hose very engineers accounted most expert to give their opinions.
The method of divination, the "ratio" of it, is as obscure to-day as was that of spectrum analysigeneration ago. That the chemical composition of the fixed stars should become known to man seemda nsane imagining too ridiculous to discuss. To-day it seems equally irrational to enquire of te esrtsand concerning the fate of empires. Yet surely it, if any one knows, should know!
To-day it may sound impossible for inanimate objects to reveal the inmost secrets of mankind and re. We cannot say why divination is valid. We cannot trace the process by which it performs it avl.<<The main difference between a Science and an Art is that the former admits mensuration. It pocsss must be susceptible of the application of quantitative standards. Its laws reject impondrabe vriales. Science despises Art for its refusal to conform with calculable conditions. But een t-day in he boasted Age of Science, man is still dependent on Art as to most matters of practial imortane to im; the arts of Government, of War, of Literature, etc. are supremely influential,and Scence des litle more than facilitate them by making their materials mechanically docile. Th utmostextensin of Scence can merely organize the household of Art. Art thus progresses in percetion andpower byincrease control or automatic accuracy of its details. The MASTER THERION has mae an Epoc in the At of Magik by applying the Method of Science to its problems. His Work is a cotribution f unique vlue, compaable only to that of those men of genius who revolutionized the emprical guessork of "natral philosohers". The Magicians of to-morrow will be armed with mathematicl theory, oranized obseration, and eperimentally-verified practice. But their Art will remain incrutable as eer in essence talent will ever supplant genius. Education is impotent to produce a oet greater thn Robert Burns the perfectio of laboratory apparatus prepares indeed the path of a asteur, but canot make mastersof mediocrities>> But the same objections apply equally well to thetelephone. No mn knows what eletricity is, or te nature of the forces which determine its action We know only tht by doing certai things we get cetain results, and that the least error {175} o our part will brig our work to naugt. The same is exctly true of divination. The difference beween the two sciencs is not more than his: that, more mins having been at work on the former we hve learnt to master ts tricks with greatr success than in th case of the latter.
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{176}
CHAPTER XIX
OF DRAMATIC RITUALS.
The Wheel turns to those effectual methods of invocation employed in the ancient Mysteries and brtain secret bodies of initiates to-day. The object of them is almost invariably<<The word is unarnably universal. It would not be impracticable to adopt this method to such operations as TalimaicMaick. For example, one might consecrate and charge a Pantacle by the communication by AIWAZto he crie of the BOOK of the LAW, the Magician representing the Angel, the Pantacle being the Bok, ad th peron on whom the Pantacle is intended to act taking the part of the Scribe.>> the invoction f a Gd, tht God conceived in a more or less material and personal fashion. These Rituals ar thereore wel suitd for such persons as are capable of understanding the spirit of Magick as oppoed to te lette. One f the great advantages of them is that a large number of persons may take pat, so tht there s conseqently more force available; but it is important that they should all be iitiates o the samemysteries bound by the same oaths, and filled with the same aspirations. They hould be asociated oly for thi one purpose.
Such a company being prepared, the story of the God should be dramatised by a well-skilled poet atomed to this form of composition. Lengthy speeches and invocations should be avoided, but actio hud be very full. Such ceremonies should be carefully rehearsed; but in rehearsals care should e akn o omit the climax, which should be studied by the principal character in private. The playshold e s arranged that this climax depends on him alone. By this means one prevents the ceremon fro becmingmechanical or hackneyed, and the element of surprise. {177} assists the lesser characers t get ut ofthemselves at the supreme moment. Following the climax there should always be an nreheased ceemony,an impromptu. The most satisfactory form of this is the dance. In such ceremoies appopriatelibatios may be freely used.
The Rite of Luna (Equinox I. VI) is a good example of this use. Here the climax is the music of goddess, the assistants remaining in silent ecstasy.
In the rite of Jupiter the impromptu is the dance, in that of Saturn long periods of silence.
It will be noticed that in these Rites poetry and music were largely employed --- mostly publisheeces by well-known authors and composers. It would be better<<"PERHAPS! One can think of certai wu Consequences". "But, after all, they wouldn't seem so to the authors!" "But --- pity the poo Gds" "Bother the Gods!">> to write and compose specially for the ceremony<<A body of skilled Magcias acusomed to work in concert may be competent to conduct impromptu Orgia. To cite an actual nstace i recnt times; the blood of a Christian being required for some purpose, a young cock was rocurd andbaptied into the Roman Catholic Church by a man who, being the son of an ordained Pries, was agicaly an icarnation of the Being of that Priest, and was therefore congenitally possessedof the owers tereto apurtenant. The cock, "Peter Paul," was consequently a baptized Christian fo all magcal purpses. Orer was then taken to imprison the bird; which done, the Magicians assumin respectiely the caracters f Herod, Herodias, Salome, and the Executioner, acted out the scene ofthe dance nd the behading, on he lines of Oscar Wilde's drama, "Peter Paul" being cast for the pat of John te Baptist. This ceremoy was devised and done on the spur of the moment, and its spontaeity and simlicity were resumably poent factors in its success.
On the point of theology, I doubt whether Dom Gorenflot sucessfully avoided eating meat in Lent by izing the pullet a carp. For as the sacrament --- by its intention, despite its defects of form - old not fail of efficacy, the pullet must have become a Christian, and therefore a human being. Crpwa therefore only its baptized name --- cf. Polycarp --- and Dom Gorenflot ate human flesh inLen, s tht, for all he became a bishop, he is damned.>>.
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{178}
CHAPTER XX
OF THE EUCHARIST
AND OF THE ART OF ALCHEMY
I
One of the simplest and most complete of Magick ceremonies is the Eucharist.
It consists in taking common things, transmuting them into things divine, and consuming them.
So far, it is a type of every magick ceremony, for the reabsorption of the force is a kind of contion; but it has a more restricted application, as follows.
Take a substance<<This may be of composite character.>> symbolic of the whole course of nature, mit God, and consume it.
There are many ways of doing this; but they may easily be classified according to the number of tlements of which the sacrament is composed.
The highest form of the Eucharist is that in which the Element consecrated is One.
It is one substance and not two, not living and not dead, neither liquid nor solid, neither hot nold, neither male nor female.
This sacrament is secret in every respect. For those who may be worthy, although not officially gnized as such, this Eucharist has been described in detail and without concealment, "somewhere" ntepublished writings of the MASTER THERION. But He has told no one where. It is reserved for te iges initiates, and is synonymous with the Accomplished Work on the {179} material plane. It i th Meicie of Metals, the Stone of the Wise, the Potable Gold, the Elixir of Life that is consume theein. Thealtar is the bosom of Isis, the eternal mother; the chalice is in effect the Cup of or Lad Babaon Heself; the Wand is that which Was and Is and Is To Come.
The Eucharist of "two" elements has its matter of the passives. The wafer (pantacle) is of corn,ical of earth; the wine (cup) represents water. (There are certain other attributions. The Wafe ste Sun, for instance: and the wine is appropriate to Bacchus).
The wafer may, however, be more complex, the "Cake of Light" described in Liber Legis.
This is used in the exoteric Mass of the Phoenix (Liber 333, Cap: 44) mixed with the blood of theus. This mass should be performed daily at sunset by every magician.
Corn and wine are equivalent to flesh and blood; but it is easier to convert live substances into body and blood of God, than to perform this miracle upon dead matter.
The Eucharist of "three" elements has for basis the symbols of the three Gunas. For Tamas (darkn take opium or nightshade or some sleepy medicine; for Rajas (activity) take strychnine or other xiat; for Sattvas (calm) the cakes of Light may again be suitable.<<The Cakes of Light are univeraly ppicable; they contain meal, honey, and oil (carbohydrates, fats, and proteids, the three necssaiesof uman nutrition): also perfume of the three essential types of magical and curative virtu; th suble pinciple of animal life itself is fixed in them by the introduction of fresh living blod.>> Th Euchrist of "four" elements consists of fire, air, water, and earth. These are represented a flae for ire, by incense or roses for air, by wine for water, and by bread and salt for earth. The Euharist f "five" has for basis wine for taste, a rose for smell, a flame for sight, a bellfo sound, nd a dager for touch. This sacrament is implied in the Mass of the Phoenix in a slighty dfferent frm. {180
The Eucharist of "six" elements has Father, Son, and Holy Spirit above; breath, water, and blood ath. It is a sacrament reserved for high initiates.<<The Lance and the Graal are firstly dedicatdt he Holy Spirit of Life, in Silence. The Bread and Wine are then fermented and manifested by vbrtin,and received by the Virgin Mother. The elements are then intermingled and consumed after te Eiphny f Iacchus, when "Countenance beholdeth Countenance).>>
The Eucharist of "seven" elements is mystically identical with that of one.
Of the method of consecrating the elements it is only necessary to say that they should be treate talismans. The circle and other furniture of the Temple should receive the usual benefit of thebnsings and consecrations. The Oath should be taken and the Invocations made. When the divine frc mniests in the elements, they should be solemnly consumed. There is also a simpler method of onscraionreserved for initiates of high rank, of which it is here unlawful to speak.
According to the nature of the Sacrament, so will its results be. In some one may receive a mysticce, culminating in Samadhi; in others a simpler and more material benefit may be obtained.
The highest sacrament, that of One element, is universal in its operation; according to the declapurpose of the work so will the result be. It is a universal Key of all Magick.
These secrets are of supreme practical importance, and are guarded in the Sanctuary with a two-edsword flaming every way<<J.K.Husmans, who was afraid of them, and tried to betray the little he ke fthem, became a Papist, and died of cancer of the tongue.>>; for this sacrament is the Tree of if isef, and whoso partaketh of the fruit thereof shall never die<<The use of the Elixir of Life s oly ustfiable in peculiar circumstances. To go counter to the course of natural Change is to aproxmateperiously to the error of the "Black Brothers".>>.
Unless he so will. Who would not rather work through incarnation; a real renewal of body and brainan content himself with a stagnant immortality upon this mote in the Sunlight of the Universe whihw all earth? {181}
With regard to the preparations for such Sacraments, the Catholic Church has maintained well enough traditions of the true Gnostic Church in whose keeping the secrets are.<<Study, in the Roman Misa,te Canon of the Mass, and the chapter of "defects".>>
Chastity<<The Word Chastity is used by initiates to signify a certain state of soul and of mind dminant of a certain habit of body which is nowise identical with what is commonly understood. Chsiyin the true magical sense of the word is inconceivable to those who are not wholly emancipatedfrm heobsession of sex.>> is a condition; fasting for some hours previous is a condition; an earnst nd ontnual aspiration is a condition. Without these antecedents even the Eucharist of the Oneand evenis prtially --- though such is its intrinsic virtue that it can never be wholly --- baulkd of ts efect.
A Eucharist of some sort should most assuredly be consummated daily by every magician, and he shoulgard it as the main sustenance of his magical life. It is of more importance than any other magia eemony, because it is a complete circle. The whole of the force expended is completely re-absobe; etthe virtue is that vast gain represented by the abyss between Man and God.
The magician becomes filled with God, fed upon God, intoxicated with God. Little by little his bwill become purified by the internal lustration of God; day by day his mortal frame, shedding itserhy elements, will become in very truth the Temple of the Holy Ghost. Day by day matter is replce b Sirit, the human by the divine; ultimately the change will be complete; God manifest in fles wil b hi name.
This is the most important of all magical secrets that ever were or are or can be. To a Magicians renewed the attainment of the Knowledge and Conversation of the Holy Guardian Angel becomes an nvtble task; every force of his nature, unhindered, tends to that aim and goal of whose nature nethr annor god may speak, for that it is infinitely beyond speech or thought or {182} ecstasy or slene. Samdhi and Nibbana are but its shadows cast upon the universe.
II
If the Master Therion effects by this book nothing else but to demonstrate the continuity of natund the uniformity of Law, He will feel that His work has not been wasted. In his original designo at III he did not contemplate any allusion to alchemy. It has somehow been taken for granted tatths ubject is entirely foreign to regular Magick, both in scope and method. It will be the mai obectof he following description to establish it as essentially a branch of the subject, and to how hat t ma be considered simply as a particular case of the general proposition --- differing fom evcator and alismanic Magick only in the values which are represented by the unknown quantitie in th pantoorphou equations.
There is no need to make any systematized attempt to decipher the jargon of Hermetic treatises. eed not enter upon an historical discussion. Let it suffice to say that the word alchemy is an Aai erm consisting of the article "al" and the adjective "khemi" which means "that which pertains o gyt"<This etymology differs from that given by Skeat; I can do no more than present my submissin.>. rogh translation would be "The Egyptian matter". The assumption is that the Mohammedan grmmarans eld raditionally that the art was derived from that wisdom of the Egyptians which was theboastof Moes, Pato, and Pythagoras, and the source of their illumination.
Modern research (by profane scholars) leaves it still doubtful as to whether Alchemical treatisesuld be classified as mystical, magical, medical, or chemical. The most reasonable opinion is tha l hese objects formed the pre-occupation of the alchemists in varying proportions. Hermes is alketh gd of Wisdom, Thaumaturgy, therapeutics, and physical science. All these may consequently caimthetite Hermetic. It cannot be doubted that such writers as Fludd aspired to spiritual perfecion. It s eqally sure that Edward Kelly wrote primarily from the point of view {183} of a Magicia; tha Paraelesu applied himself to the cure of disease and the prolongation of life as the first onsideation,althouh his greatest achievements seem to modern thinkers to have been rather his disoveriesof opiu, zinc,and hydrogen; so that we tend to think of him as a chemist no less than we d of Van elmont, hose coneption of gas ranks him as one of those rare geniuses who have increased uman knowedge by afundamentlly important idea.
The literature of Alchemy is immense. Practically all of it is wholly or partially unintelligiblIts treatises, from the "Asch Metzareph" of the Hebrews to the "Chariot of Antimony" are deliberaeycuched in hieratic riddles. Ecclesiastical persecution, and the profanation of the secrets of owr,wee equally dreaded. Worse still, from our point of view, this motive induced writers to insrt ntetioally misleading statements, the more deeply to bedevil unworthy pretenders to their mystries
We do not propose to discuss any of the actual processes. Most readers will be already aware thae main objects of alchemy were the Philosopher's Stone, the Medicine of Metals, and various tinctrsad elixirs possessing divers virtues; in particular, those of healing disease, extending the spn f if, increasing human abilities, perfecting the nature of man in every respect, conferring magcalpowrs,and transmuting material substances, especially metals, into more valuable forms.
The subject is further complicated by the fact that many authors were unscrupulous quacks. Ignorof the first elements of the art, they plagiarized without shame, and reaped a harvest of frauduln an. They took advantage of the general ignorance, and the convention of mystery, in just the smewa a their modern successors do in the matter of all Occult sciences.
But despite all this, one thing is abundantly clear; all serious writers, though they seem to spef an infinity of different subjects, so much so that it has proved impossible for modern analyticrsach to ascertain the true nature of any single process, were agreed on the fundamental theory o wic tey based their practices. It appears at first sight as if hardly any two of them were in acor asto he nature of the "First Matter of the work". {184} They describe this in a bewildering ultiliciy ofunintelligible symbols. We have no reason to suppose that they were all talking of te sam thin, or therwise. The same remarks apply to every reagent and every process, no less thanto thefinal roductor products.
Yet beneath this diversity, we may perceive an obscure identity. They all begin with a substancenature which is described as existing almost everywhere, and as universally esteemed of no value. h lchemist is in all cases to take this substance, and subject it to a series of operations. Bysodong he obtains his product. This product, however named or described, is always a substance wichrepesets the truth or perfection of the original "First Matter"; and its qualities are invarialy sch a perain to a living being, not to an inanimate mass. In a word, the alchemist is to takea dea thin, impre, valueless, and powerless, and transform it into a live thing, active, invaluabe and haumatrgic.
The reader of this book will surely find in this a most striking analogy with what we have alreadid of the processes of Magick. What, by our definition, is initiation? The First Matter is a ma,ta is to say, a perishable parasite, bred of the earth's crust, crawling irritably upon it for aspn,an at last returning to the dirt whence he sprang. The process of initiation consists in remvin hi imurities, and finding in his true self an immortal intelligence to whom matter is no morethanthe eansof manifestation. The initiate is eternally individual; he is ineffable, incorruptibe, imune fom evrything. He possesses infinite wisdom and infinite power in himself. This equatin is ientica with hat of a talisman. The Magician takes an idea, purifies it, intensifies it by nvokinginto itthe insiration of his soul. It is no longer a scrawl scratched on a sheep-skin, bu a word f Truth,imperishble, mighty to prevail throughout the sphere of its purport. The evocatin of a sprit is prcisely siilar in essence. The exorcist takes dead material substances of a natre sympathtic to thebeing whomhe intends to invoke. He banishes all impurities therefrom, prevens all intererence therwith, and poceeds to give life to the subtle substance thus prepared by insilling his sul. {185}
Once again, there is nothing in this exclusively "magical". Rembrandt van Ryn used to take a numof ores and other crude objects. From these he banished the impurities, and consecrated them to i ok, by the preparation of canvasses, brushes, and colours. This done, he compelled them to tak te tap of his soul; from those dull, valueless creatures of earth he created a vital and powerfu beng f tuth and beauty. It would indeed be surprising to anybody who has come to a clear compreensin ofnatue if there were any difference in the essence of these various formulas. The laws ofnatur appl equaly in every possible circumstance.
We are now in a position to understand what alchemy is. We might even go further and say that evf we had never heard of it, we know what it must be.
Let us emphasize the fact that the final product is in all cases a living thing. It has been theat stumbling block to modern research that the statements of alchemists cannot be explained away. rmthe chemical standpoint it has seemed not "a priori" impossible that lead should be turned int gld ur recent discovery of the periodicity of the elements has made it seem likely, at least inthery,tha our apparently immutable elements should be modifications of a single one.<<See R.K.Dunan, The ew Kowledge", for a popularisation of recent results.
Aleister Crowley held this doctrine in his teens at a period when it was the grossest heresy.>> nic Chemistry, with its metatheses and syntheses dependent on the conceptions of molecules as geoercl structures has demonstrated a praxis which gives this theory body; and the properties of Radumhae riven the Old Guard from the redoubt which flew the flag of the essential heterogeneity of he lemnts The doctrines of Evolution have brought the alchemical and monistic theory of matter ito lne wth or conception of life; the collapse of the wall between the animal and vegetable kingdms ha shakn tha which divided them from the mineral.
But even though the advanced chemist might admit the possibility of transmuting lead into gold, huld not conceive of that {186} gold as other than metallic, of the same order of nature as the ledfo which it had been made. That this gold should possess the power of multiplying itself, or ofacin a a ferment upon other substances, seemed so absurd that he felt obliged to conclude that th alhemstswho claimed these properties for their Gold must, after all, have been referring not to hemitry,but o some spiritual operations whose sanctity demanded some such symbolic veil as the crptogrphic se ofthe language of the laboratory.
The MASTER THERION is sanguine that his present reduction of all cases of the art of Magick to a le formula will both elucidate and vindicate Alchemy, while extending chemistry to cover all clase fChange.
There is an obvious condition which limits our proposed operations. This is that, as the formulaany Work effects the extraction and visualization of the Truth from any "First Matter", the "Ston"o Elixir" which results from our labours will be the pure and perfect Individual originally inheen i te substance chosen, and nothing else. The most skilful gardener cannot produce lilies fromthewil roe; his roses will always be roses, however he have perfected the properties of this stoc.
There is here no contradiction with our previous thesis of the ultimate unity of all substance. s true that Hobbs and Nobbs are both modifications of the Pleroma. Both vanish in the Pleroma whnte attain Samadhi. But they are not interchangeable to the extent that they are individual modiictins the initiate Hobbs is not the initiate Nobbs any more than Hobbs the haberdasher is Nobbs f "he ailan sarspan business as he got his money by". Our skill in producing aniline dyes does nt enble s todispense with the original aniline, and use sugar instead. Thus the Alchemists said:"To mke god youmust take gold"; their art was to bring each substance to the perfection of its ow prope natur.
No doubt, part of this process involved the withdrawal of the essence of the "First Matter" withie homogeneity of "Hyle", just as initiation insists on the annihilation of the individual in the mesnal Infinity of Existence to emerge once more as a less confused and deformed Eidolon of the Tut o Hmself. This is the guarantee that he is uncontaminated by alien elements. The {187} "Elixr" ustposess the activity of a "nascent" substance, just as "nascent" hydrogen combines with arseic (n "Mrsh' test") when the ordinary form of the gas is inert. Again, oxygen satisfied by sodiu or dlutedby nirogen will not attack combustible materials with the vehemence proper to the pure as.
We may summarize this thesis by saying that Alchemy includes as many possible operations as there original ideas inherent in nature.
Alchemy resembles evocation in its selection of appropriate material bases for the manifestation he Will; but differs from it in proceeding without personification, or the intervention of alien lns<<Some alchemists may object to this statement. I prefer to express no final opinion on the mttr.> It may be more closely compared with Initiation; for the effective element of the Product i oftheessnce of its own nature, and inherent therein; the Work similarly consists in isolating itfromits ccreions.
Now just as the Aspirant, on the Threshold of Initiation, finds himself assailed by the "complexehich have corrupted him, their externalization excruciating him, and his agonized reluctance to tereimination plunging him into such ordeals that he seems (both to himself and to others) to havetune fom a noble and upright man into an unutterable scoundrel; so does the "First Matter" blacke an puref as the Alchemist breaks up its coagulations of impurity.
The student may work out for himself the various analogies involved, and discover the "Black Drag the "Green Lion", the "Lunar Water", the "Raven's Head", and so forth. The indications above gie huld suffice all who possess aptitude for Alchemical Research.
Only one further reflection appears necessary; namely, that the Eucharist, with which this chapte properly preoccupied, must be conceived as one case --- as the critical case --- of the Art of teAcemist.
The reader will have observed, perhaps with surprise, that The MASTER THERION describes several t of Eucharist. The reason is that given above; there is no substance incompetent to {188} serve sa lement in some Sacrament; also, each spiritual Grace should possess its peculiar form of Mass,an terfore its own "materia magica". It is utterly unscientific to treat "God" as a universal hoogeeit, ad use the same means to prolong life as to bewitch cattle. One does not invoke "Electriity"indicrimnately to light one's house and to propel one's brougham; one works by measured appliationof on's poers to intelligent analytical comprehension of the conditions of each separate cas.
There is a Eucharist for every Grace that we may need; we must apprehend the essential characterseach case, select suitable elements, and devise proper processes.
To consider the classical problems of Alchemy: The Medicine of Metals must be the quintessence ome substance that serves to determine the structure (or rate of vibration) whose manifestation isi hracteristic metallic qualities. This need not be a chemical substance at all in the ordinary ene f he word.
The Elixir of Life will similarly consist of a living organism capable of growth, at the expense ts environment; and of such a nature that its "true Will" is to cause that environment to serve i sis means of expression in the physical world of human life.
The Universal Medicine will be a menstruum of such subtlety as to be able to penetrate all matter transmute it in the sense of its own tendency, while of such impartial purity as to accept perfetyte impression of the Will of the Alchemist. This substance, properly prepared, and properly chrgd,isable to perform all things soever that are physically possible, within the limits of the prporion ofits momentum to the inertia of the object to which it is applied.
It may be observed in conclusion that, in dealing with forms of Matter-Motion so subtle as these,is not enough to pass the Pons Asinorum of intellectual knowledge.
The MASTER THERION has possessed the theory of these Powers for many years; but His practice is s in progress towards perfection. Even efficiency in the preparation is not all; there is need tob uicious in the manipulation, and adroit in the administration, of the product. He does not peror hphzard miracles, but applies His science and skill in conformity with the laws of nature.
{189}
CHAPTER XXI
OF BLACK MAGIC
OF THE MAIN TYPES OF THE OPERATIONS OF MAGICK ART
AND OF THE POWERS OF THE SPHINX
I
As was said at the opening of the second chapter, the Single Supreme Ritual is the attainment of Knowledge and Conversation of the Holy Guardian Angel. "It is the raising of the complete man in etcal straight line."
Any deviation from this line tends to become black magic. Any other operation is black magic.
In the True Operation the Exaltation is equilibrated by an expansion in the other three arms of tross. Hence the Angel immediately gives the Adept power over the Four Great Princes and their sevtr.<<See the Book of the Sacred Magic of Abramelin the Mage.>>
If the magician needs to perform any other operation than this, it is only lawful in so far as it inecessary preliminary to That One Work.
There are, however many shades of grey. It is not every magician who is well armed with theory. Pps one such may invoke Jupiter, with the wish to heal others of their physical ills. This sort o hn is harmless,<<There is nevertheless the general objection to the diversion of channels of Iniiaio t the Sea of Attainment, into ditches of irrigation for the fields of material advantage. I isbadbusness to pay good coin for perishable products; like marrying for money, or prostituting oeti genus t political purposes. The converse course, though equally objectionable as pollution f thepurit of te planes, is at least respectable for its nobility. The ascetic of the Thebaid orthe Trppist onastey is infinitely worthier than the health-peddler and success-monger of Boston o Los Aneles; fr the oe offers temporal trash to gain eternal wealth, while the other values spiriual subsance onl as enabing him to get better bodily conditions, and a firmer grip on the dollars>> or almst so. I is not eil in {190} itself. It arises from a defect of understanding. Until he Great Wrk has bee performed it is presumptuous for the magician to pretend to understand the uiverse, anddictate itspolicy. Ony the Master of the Temple can say whether any given act is a crme. "Slay tht innocent cild?" (I her the ignorant say) "What a horror!" "Ah!" replies the Knowe, with foresiht of history "but that chld will become Nero. Hasten to strangle him!"
There is a third, above these, who understands that Nero was as necessary as Julius Caesar.
The Master of the Temple accordingly interferes not with the scheme of things except just so far e is doing the Work which he is sent to do. Why should he struggle against imprisonment, banishmn,dath? It is all part of the game in which he is a pawn. "It was necessary for the Son of Man o uferthese things, and to enter into His glory."
The Master of the Temple is so far from the man in whom He manifests that all these matters are o importance to Him. It may be of importance to His Work that man shall sit upon a throne, or be agd In such a case He informs his Magus, who exerts the power intrusted to HIm, and it happens acodigl. Yet all happens naturally, and of necessity, and to all appearance without a word from Hm.
Nor will the mere Master of the Temple, as a rule, presume to act upon the Universe, save as the ant of his own destiny. It is only the Magus, He of the grade above, who has attained to Chokhma,Wsom, and so dare act. He must dare act, although it like Him not. But He must assume the Curs o Hs rade, as it is written in the Book of the Magus.<<Equinox I, VII, 5-9.>>
There are, of course, entirely black forms of magic. To him who has not given every drop of his d for the cup of BABALON {191} all magic power is dangerous. There are even more debased and evi om, things in themselves black. Such is the use of spiritual force to material ends. ChristianSceniss, Mental Healers, Professional Diviners, Psychics and the like, are all "ipso facto" BlackMagcias.
They exchange gold for dross. They sell their higher powers for gross and temporary benefit.
That the most crass ignorance of Magick is their principal characteristic is no excuse, even if Ne accepted excuses, which she does not. If you drink poison in mistake for wine, your "mistake" ilnt save your life.
Below these in one sense, yet far above them in another, are the Brothers of the Left Hand Path<<Liber 418, and study it well, in this matter. Equinox I, V,
Supplement.>>. These are they who "shut themselves up", who refuse their blood to the Cup, who havempled Love in the Race for self-aggrandisment.
As far as the grade of Exempt Adept, they are on the same path as the White Brotherhood; for untiat grade is attained, the goal is not disclosed. Then only are the goats, the lonely leaping mouti-asters, separated from the gregarious huddling valley-bound sheep. Then those who have well laredth lessons of the Path are ready to be torn asunder, to give up their own life to the Babe oftheAbys wich is --- and is not --- they.
The others, proud in their purple, refuse. They make themselves a false crown of the Horror of tbyss; they set the Dispersion of Choronzon upon their brows; they clothe themselves in the poisoe oes of Form; they shut themselves up; and when the force that made them what they are is exhaused tei strong towers fall, they become the Eaters of Dung in the Day of Be-with-us, and their shrds,strwn n the Abyss, are lost.
Not so the Masters of the Temple, that sit as piles of dust in the City of the Pyramids, awaiting Great Flame that shall consume that dust to ashes. For the blood that they have surrendered is raued in the Cup of OUR LADY BABALON, a mighty {192} medicine to awake the Eld of the All-Father,an rdem the Virgin of the World from her virginity.
II
Before leaving the subject of Black Magic, one may touch lightly on the question of Pacts with thvil.
The Devil does not exist. It is a false name invented by the Black Brothers to imply a Unity in r ignorant muddle of dispersions. A devil who had unity would be a God<<"The Devil" is, historicly he God of any people that one personally dislikes. This has led to so much confusion of thougt ha TE BEAST 666 has preferred to let names stand as they are, and to proclaim simply that AIWAZ---thesolr-phallic-hermetic "Lucifer" is His own Holy Guardian Angel, and "The Devil" SATAN or HAIT o ourpartcular unit of the Starry Universe. This serpent, SATAN, is not the enemy of Man, butHe wh madeGods f our race, knowing Good and Evil; He bade "Know Thyself!" and taught Initiation. He is the Deil" ofthe Book of Thoth, and His emblem is BAPHOMET, the Androgyne who is the hieroglph of acane pefection The number of His Atu is XV, which is Yod He, the Monogram of the Eternal,the Fathr one wih the Moher, the Virgin Seed one with all-containing Space. He is therefore Life and Love But morover his etter is Ayin, the Eye; he is Light, and his Zodiacal image is Capriconus, that eaping goa whose attibute is Liberty. (Note that the "Jehovah" of the Hebrews is etymoogically conected withthese. Theclassical example of such antinomy, one which has led to such diastrous misuderstandings is that beteen NU and HAD, North and South, Jesus and John. The subjectis too abstrue and complicted to be disussed in detail here. The student should consult the writngs of Sir R. ayne Knight, Gneral Forlong,Gerald Massey, Fabre d'Olivet; etc. etc., for the data n which these cnsiderations ar ultimately basd.)>>.
It was said by the Sorcerer of the Jura that in order to invoke the Devil it is only necessary tol him with your whole will.
This is an universal magical truth, and applies to every other being as much as to the Devil. Foe whole will of every man is in reality the whole will of the Universe.
It is, however, always easy to call up the demons, for they are always calling you; and you have to step down to their level {193} and fraternize with them. They will tear you in pieces at therliure. Not at once; they will wait until you have wholly broken the link between you and your HlyGurdan Angel before they pounce, lest at the last moment you escape.
Anthony of Padua and (in our own times) "Macgregor" Mathers are examples of such victims.
Nevertheless, every magician must firmly extend his empire to the depth of hell. "My adepts stand ght, their heads above the heavens, their feet below the hells."<<Liber XC, verse 40. See The Eqio.>
This is the reason why the magician who performs the Operation of the "Sacred Magic of Abramelin Mage", immediately after attaining to the Knowledge and Conversation of the Holy Guardian Angel, uteoke the Four Great Princes of the Evil of the World.
"Obedience and faith to Him that liveth and triumpheth, that reigneth above you in your palaces ae Balance of Righteousness and Truth" is your duty to your Holy Guardian Angel, and the duty of tedmn world to you.
These powers of "evil" nature are wild beasts; they must be tamed, trained to the saddle and the le; they will bear you well. There is nothing useless in the Universe: do not wrap up your Talen nanapkin, because it is only "dirty money"!
With regard to Pacts, they are rarely lawful. There should be no bargain struck. Magick is not ade, and no hucksters need apply. Master everything, but give generously to your servants, once hyhve unconditionally submitted.
There is also the questions of alliances with various Powers. These again are hardly ever allowa<<Notwithstanding, there exist certain bodies of spiritual beings, in whose ranks are not only anei orces, but elementals, and even daemons, who have attained to such Right Understanding of the niere hat they have banded themselves together with the object of becoming Microcosms, and realiz tht teirbest means to this end is devotion to the service of the true interests of Mankind. Socetie of piriual forces, organized on these lines, dispose of enormous resources. The Magician wh is hmselfswornto the service of humanity may count upon the heartiest help of these Orders. Ther sincrity my alwas be assured by putting them to the test of the acceptance of the Law of Thelem. Whos denies"Do wha thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law" confesses that he still clings to he conflct in hi own natre; he is not, and does not want to be, true to himself. "A fortiori", h will proe false t you.>> o Power which is not {194} a microcosm in itself --- and even archanges reach raely to thi centre ofbalance --- is fit to treat on an equality with Man. The proper stdy of mankid is God; wth Him is hs business; and with Him alone. Some magicians have hired legios of spiritsfor some speial purpose;but it has always proved a serious mistake. The whole idea o exchange is oreign to magck. The dignty of the magician forbids compacts. "The Earth is the Lod's and the funess thereof".
III
The operations of Magick art are difficult to classify, as they merge into each other, owing to theential unity of their method and result. We may mention:
1. Operations such as evocation, in which a live spirit is brought from dead matter.
2. Consecrations of talismans in which a live spirit is bound into "dead" matter and vivifies thme.
3. Works of divination, in which a live spirit is made to control operations of the hand or brai the Magician. Such works are accordingly most dangerous, to be used only by advanced magicians,adten with great care.
4. Works of fascination, such as operations of invisibility, and transformations of the apparentm of the person or thing concerned. This consists almost altogether in distracting the attention rdsturbing the judgment, of the person whom it is wished to deceive. There are, however, "real"trnsorations of the adept himself which are very useful. See the Book of the Dead for methods. he ssuptin of God-Forms can be carried to the point of actual transformation.
5. Works of Love and Hate, which are also performed (as {195} a rule) by fascination. These worre too easy; and rarely useful. They have a nasty trick of recoiling on the magician.
6. Works of destruction, which may be done in many different ways. One may fascinate and bend te's will a person who has of his own right the power to destroy. One may employ spirits or talisas The more powerful magicians of the last few centuries have employed books.
In private matters these works are very easy, if they be necessary. An adept known to The MASTERRION once found it necessary to slay a Circe who was bewitching brethren. He merely walked to th orof her room, and drew an Astral T ("traditore", and the symbol of Saturn) with an astral dagge. Wihi 48 hours she shot herself.<<As explained above, in another connexion, he who "destroys" an beng ustaccept it, with all the responsibilities attached, as part of himself. The Adept here i quetionwas herefore obliged to incorporate the elemental spirit of the girl --- she was not huma, thesheat of aStar, but an advanced planetary daemon, whose rash ambition had captured a body beond it capacty to onduct --- in his own magical vehicle. He thereby pledged himself to subordinae all te sudde accesson of qualities --- passionate, capricious, impulsive, irrational, selfish, hort-sigtedness,sensual,fickle, crazy, and desperate, to his True Will; to discipline, co-ordinat and emply them inthe GreatWork, under the penalty of being torn asunder by the wild horses whichhe had boud fast to is own bod by the act of "destroying" their independent consciousness and conrol of thei chosen vehcle. See Hs Magical Record An XX, Sun in Libra and onward.>>
7. Works of creation and dissolution, and the higher invocations.
There are also hundreds of other operations;<<Examples of Rituals for several such purposes are g in the Equinox.>> to bring wanted objects --- gold, books, women and the like; to open locked dor,t discover treasure; to swim under water; to have armed men at command --- etc., etc. All thes ae ealy matters of detail; the Adeptus Major will easily understand how to perform them if necesary<<Mral become an Adeptus Major!>> {196}
It should be added that all these things happen "naturally".<<The value of the evidence that your otions have influenced the course of events is only to be assessed by the application of the Laws fpoability. The MASTER THERION would not accept any one single case as conclusive, however improabe t ight be. A man might make a correct guess at one chance in ten million, no less than at on inthre. If one pick up a pebble, the chance was infinitely great against that particular pebble;yet hichver ne was chosen, the same chance "came off". It requires a series of events antecedenty unlkely o dedce that design is a work, that the observed changes are causally, not casually, prduced. The pedictin of events is further evidence that they are effected by will. Thus, any man ay fluk a ten hot at illiard, or even make a break of a few strokes. But chance cannot account fr consisent succss, evenif moderate, when it extends over a long period of time. And the abilityof the exert to "nme his sht" manifests a knowledge of the relations of cause and effect which cofirms the estimony o his empircal skill that his success is not chance and coincidence.>> Perfor an operatin to bring old --- you rich uncle dies and leaves you his money; books --- you see thebook wanted n a catalogu that very dy, although you have advertised in vain for a year; woman ---but if you hae made the sprits bring yo enough gold, this operation will become unnecessary.<<Thi cynical stateent is an absudity of Black agic.>>
It must further be remarked that it is absolute Black Magic to use any of these powers if the objcan possibly be otherwise attained. If your child is drowning, you must jump and try to save him twn't do to invoke the Undines.
Nor is it lawful in all circumstances to invoke those Undines even where the case is hopeless; mait is necessary to you and to the child that it should die. An Exempt Adept on the right road wilmk no error here --- an Adept Major is only too likely to do so. A through apprehension of thisbok il arm adepts of every grade against all the more serious blunders incidental to their unfortnat poitins.
IV
Necromancy is of sufficient importance to demand a section to itself.
It is justifiable in some exceptional cases. Suppose the magician fail to obtain access to livinachers, or should he need some {197} especial piece of knowledge which he has reason to believe de ih some teacher of the past, it may be useful to evoke the "shade" of such a one, or read the "kaicreord" of his mind.<<The only minds likely to be useful to the Magician belong to Adepts swor tosufer eincarnation at short intervals, and the best elements of such minds are bound up in the"Uncnscius Slf" of the Adept, not left to wander idly about the Astral Plane. It will thus be moe proitabl to ty to get into touch with the "Dead Teacher" in his present avatar. Moreover, Adeps are t pain to reord their teaching in books, monuments, or pictures, and to appoint spiritual gardiansto presrve suc heirlooms throughout the generations. Whenever these are destroyed or lost the reaon usualy is tha the Adept himself judges that their usefulness is over, and withdraws th forces wich proteted them. The student is therefore advised to acquiesce; the sources of informaion availale for himare probaby selected by the Wardens of Mankind with a view to his real necessties. One ust learn t trust one' Holy Guardian Angel to shape one's circumstances with skill. I one be but bsorbed in te ardour of ne's aspiration toward Him, short indeed is the time before Eperience instls the certai conviction tat His works and His ways are infinitely apt to one's need.>>
If this be done it must be done properly very much on the lines of the evocation of Apollonius ofna, which Eliphas Levi performed.<<See Rituel et Dogme de la Haute Magie; Rituel, ch. XIII.>>
The utmost care must be taken to prevent personation of the "shade". It is of course easy, but carely be advisable, to evoke the shade of a suicide, or of one violently slain or suddenly dead. fwa use is such an operation, save to gratify curiosity or vanity?
One must add a word on spiritism, which is a sort of indiscriminate necromancy --- one might prefer word necrophilia --- by amateurs. They make themselves perfectly passive, and, so far from emplyn ny methods of protection, deliberately invite all and sundry spirits, demons, shells of the ded,al te excrement and filth of earth and hell, to squirt their slime over them. This invitation s radiy acepted, unless a clean man be present with an aura good enough to frighten these foul deizen of he pt.
No spiritualistic manifestation has ever taken place in the {198} presence even of FRATER PERDURAhow much less in that of The MASTER THERION!<<Even the earliest Initiations confer protection. Cmaethe fear felt by D. D. Home for Eliphas Levi. See Equinox I, X, "The Key of the Mysteries".>> Ofal the creatures He ever met, the most prominent of English spiritists (a journalist and paciistof orethan European fame) had the filthiest mind and the foulest mouth. He would break off an conersaion o tell a stupid smutty story, and could hardly conceive of any society assembling forany oher prposethan "phallic orgies", whatever they may be. Utterly incapable of keeping to a suject, e woul drag he conversation down again and again to the sole subject of which he really thoght ---sex andsex-perersions and sex and sex and sex and sex again.
This was the plain result of his spiritism. All spiritists are more or less similarly afflicted.ey feel dirty even across the street; their auras are ragged, muddy and malodorous; they ooze thesieof putrefying corpses.
No spiritist, once he is wholly enmeshed in sentimentality and Freudian fear-phantasms, is capabl concentrated thought, of persistent will, or of moral character. Devoid of every spark of the dvn ight which was his birthright, a prey before death to the ghastly tenants of the grave, the wrtc, ik the mesmerized and living corpse of Poe's Monsieur Valdemar, is a "nearly liquid mass of lathome ofdetestable putrescence."
The student of this Holy Magick is most earnestly warned against frequenting their seances, or evdmitting them to his presence.
They are contagious as Syphilis, and more deadly and disgusting. Unless your aura is strong enouo inhibit any manifestation of the loathly larvae that have taken up their habitation in them, shnte as you need not mere lepers!<<It occurs in certain rare cases that a very unusual degree of prsna prity combined with integrity and force of character provides even the ignorant with a certan nturl dfence, and attracts into his aura only intelligent and beneficent entities. Such person mayperhps pactise spiritualism without obvious bad results, and even with good results, within lmits. But uch eceptions in no wise invalidate the general rule, or in any way serve as argument aainst he magcal thory outlined above with such mild suasion.>> {199}
V
Of the powers of the Sphinx much has been written.<<In Liber CXI (Aleph) the subject is treated wirofound and all-comprehensive wisdom.>> Wisely they have been kept in the forefront of true magia ntruction. Even the tyro can always rattle off that he has to know, to dare to will and to kee slece It is difficult to write on this subject, for these powers are indeed comprehensive, and he ntepla of one with the other becomes increasingly evident as one goes more deeply into the subect. Bt thre is one general principle which seems worthy of special emphasis in this place. These fr powrs ar thus complex because they are the powers of the Sphinx, that is, they are functions ofasingleorganim.
Now those who understand the growth of organisms are aware that evolution depends on adaptation tvironment. If an animal which cannot swim is occasionally thrown into water, it may escape by soepee of good fortune, but if it is thrown into water continuously it will drown sooner or later, nlssitlearns to swim.
Organisms being to a certain extent elastic, they soon adapt themselves to a new environment, prod that the change is not so sudden as to destroy that elasticity.
Now a change in environment involves a repeated meeting of new conditions, and if you want to adaptrself to any given set of conditions, the best thing you can do is to place yourself cautiously adpristently among them. That is the foundation of all education.
The old-fashioned pedagogues were not all so stupid as some modern educators would have us think.e principle of the system was to strike the brain a series of constantly repeated blows until thepoe reaction became normal to the organism.
It is not desirable to use ideas which excite interest, or may come {200} in handy later as weapoin this fundamental training of the mind. It is much better to compel the mind to busy itself wihro ideas which do not mean very much to the child, because you are not trying to excite the brai, uttodrill it. For this reason, all the best minds have been trained by preliminary study of clssis ad mthematics.
The same principle applies to the training of the body. The original exercises should be of a chter to train the muscles generally to perform any kind of work, rather than to train them for som pcal kind of work, concentration of which will unfit them for other tasks by depriving them of te latiity which is the proper condition of life.<<Some few forms of exercise are exempt from thes stictres Rock-climbing, in particular, trains every muscle in an endless variety of ways. It mreovr copelsthe learner to use his own judgment, to rely on himself, to develop resource, and to ependupon is ow originality to attack each new problem that presents itself. This principle may e exteded toall deartments of the education of children. They should be put into contact with al kinds f truth and alowed to make their own reflections thereon and reactions thereto, without th least atempt tobias ther judgment. Magical pupils should be trained on similar lines. They shold be mad to work lone fromthe first, to cover the whole ground impartially, to devise their own xperimentsand draw teir own coclusions.>>
In Magick and meditation this principle applies with tremendous force. It is quite useless to tepeople how to perform magical operations, when it may be that such operations, when they have leandt do them, are not in accordance with their wills. What must be done is to drill the Aspirant n hehad routine of the elements of the Royal Art.
So far as mysticism is concerned, the technique is extremely simple, and has been very simply desed in Part I of this Book 4. It cannot be said too strongly that any amount of mystical success htvr is no compensation for slackness with regard to the technique. There may come a time when Smahiitelf is no part of the business of the mystic. But the character developed by the original raiingremins an asset. In other words, the person who has made himself a first-class brain capabe ofelasicit is competent to {201} attack any problem soever, when he who has merely specialized as go intoa grove, and can no longer adapt and adjust himself to new conditions.
The principle is quite universal. You do not train a violinist to play the Beethoven Concerto; yrain him to play every conceivable consecution of notes with perfect ease, and you keep him at th otmonotonous drill possible for years and years before you allow him to go on the platform. Youmae f im an instrument perfectly able to adjust itself to any musical problem that may be set befre im. Ths technique of Yoga is the most important detail of all our work. The MASTER THERION ha bee himelf omewhat to blame in representing this technique as of value simply because it leads t the reat eward, such as Samadhi. He would have been wiser to base His teaching solely on the grund ofevoluton. Bt probably He thought of the words of the poet:
"You dangle a carrot in front of her nose,
And she goes wherever the carrot goes."
For, after all, one cannot explain the necessity of the study of Latin either to imbecile children o stupid educationalists; for, not having learned Latin, they have not developed the brains to leanayhing.
The Hindus, understanding these difficulties, have taken the God-Almighty attitude about the matt If you go to a Hindu teacher, he treats you as less than an earthworm. You have to do this, andyuhve to do that, and you are not allowed to know why you are doing it.<<This does not conflict wthth "o-as-you-please" plan put forward in the previous note. An autocratic Adept is indeed a blssig t th disciple, not because he is able to guide the pupil "aright" in the particular path whih hapensto sit his personality, but because he can compel the beginner to grind away at the wearist wok andthus cquire all-round ability, and prevent him from picking out the plums which please im fro the Pe of Kowledge, and making himself sick of a surfeit of sweets to the neglect of a balnced dit of whlesome ourishment.>>
After years of experience in teaching, The MASTER THERION is not altogether convinced that this it the right attitude. {202} When people begin to argue about things instead of doing them, they eoeabsolutely impossible. Their minds begin to work about it and about, and they come out by thesae oo as in they went. They remain brutish, voluble, and uncomprehending.
The technique of Magick is just as important as that of mysticism, but here we have a very much mdifficult problem, because the original unit of Magick, the Body of Light, is already something ufmlar to the ordinary person. Nevertheless, this body must be developed and trained with exactlyth smerigid discipline as the brain in the case of mysticism. The essence of the technique of Maickis he evelopment of the body of Light, which must be extended to include all members of the oranis, an inded of the cosmos.
The most important drill practices are:
1. The fortification of the Body of Light by the constant use of rituals, by the assumption of gorms, and by the right use of the Eucharist.
2. The purification and consecration and exaltation of that Body by the use of rituals of invoca.
3. The education of that Body by experience. It must learn to travel on every plane; to break devery obstacle which may confront it. This experience must be as systematic and regular as possil;fr it is of no use merely to travel to the spheres of Jupiter and Venus, or even to explore the30Aehys, neglecting unattractive meridians.<<The Aspirant should remember that he is a Microcosm. "Uivesussum et Nihil universi a me alienum puto" should be his motto. He should make it his daiy prctic to ravel on the Astral Plane, taking in turn each of the most synthetic sections, the Sehirot and he Pahs. These being thoroughly understood, and an Angel in each pledged to guard or t guidehim atneed, e should start on a new series of expeditions to explore the subordinate sectios of eah. He ay thenpractice Rising on the Planes from these spheres, one after the other in rottion. Wen he isthoroughy conversant with the various methods of meeting unexpected emergencies, e may proeed to inestigate he regions of the Qliphoth and the Demonic Forces. It should be his am to obtai a comprehnsive knowedge of the entire Astral Plane, with impartial love of truth for is own sake;just as a cild learns he geography of the whole planet, though he may have no intentio of ever leaing his natie land.>> {03}
The object is to possess a Body which is capable of doing easily any particular task that may lieore it. There must be no selection of special experience which appeals to one's immediate desire Oemust go steadily through all possible pylons.
FRATER PERDRABO was very unfortunate in not having magical teachers to explain these things to HiHe was rather encouraged in unsystematic working. Very fortunate, on the other hand, was He to hv ond a Guru who instructed Him in the proper principles of the technique of Yoga, and He, havingsufiiet sense to recognize the universal application of those principles, was able to some extentto epar Hs original defects. But even to this day, despite the fact that His original inclinatio is uch troner towards Magick than towards mysticism, he is much less competent in Magick.<<Reconideraion o thes remarks, at the request of a loyal colleague, compels Him to admit that this may ot be he cas, It s true that He has been granted all Mystical Attainment that is theoretically pssible,while Hs power in Magick seem to be uneven and imperfect. Despite this, it may yet be tha He has ompassedthe Possble. For Mystical Attainments are never mutually exclusive; the trance o Sorrow (or exampl) is not ncompatible with the Beatific Vision, or the "Universal Joke". But inMagick anyone Operaton debars ts performer from accomplishing some other. The reason of this is hat the Oat of any Wor bonds the agician once and for all to be the principles implied therein. ee Chapter XI Part I. Frther, it isobviously possible to reach the essence of anything without iterfering wit other thingswhich obstruc each other. Crosscountry journeys are often scarcely praticable.>> A race of this cn be seen evenin His method of combining the two divisions of our scince, for in tha method He make concentration ear the Cross of the work.
This is possibly an error, probably a defect, certainly an impurity of thought, and the root of i to be found in His original bad discipline with regard to Magick.
If the reader will turn to the account of his astral journeys in the Second Number of the First Ve of the Equinox, he will find that these experiments were quite capricious. Even when, in Mexic,H ot the idea of exploring the 30 Aethyrs systematically, He abandoned the vision after only 2 Athrsha been investigated. {204}
Very different is His record after the training in 1901 e.v. had put Him in the way of disciplineecent developments have enabled Him to correct these conditions,
so that this Book (as now finally revised for the Press) may be considered
practically free from serious defect in this particular.>>
At the conclusion of this part of this book, one may sum up the whole matter in these words: Ther no object whatever worthy of attainment but the regular development of the being of the Aspirantb tady scientific work; he should not attempt to run before he can walk; he should not wish to gosoewer until he knows for certain whither he wills to go.
---------
{205}
APPENDIX I.
The reader will find excellent classical examples of rituals of Magick in The Equinox, Volume I, he following places ---
"Number I." --- The supplement contains considerations for preparing
a ritual of self-initiation. The supplement is also a perfect
model of what a magical record should be, in respect of the
form.
"Number II." --- On pages 244-288 are given several rituals of Initiation.
Pages 302-317 give an account of certain astral visions.
Pages 326-332 give a formula for Rising on the Planes.
"Number III." --- Pages 151-169 give details of certain magical formulae.
Pages 170-190 are a very perfect example --- classical, old
style --- of a magical ritual for the evocation of the spirit of
Mercury.
Pages 190-197 --- a ritual for the consecration of a talisman.
A very perfect example.
Pages 198-205 --- a very fine example of a ritual to invoke
the Higher Genius.
Pages 208-233 --- Ritual of Initiation, with explanation of the same.
Pages 269-272 --- Ritual of obtaining the Knowledge and Conversation of the
Holy Guardian Angel by the formula of I.A.O.
Pages 272-278 --- Ritual to make one's self invisible.
"Number IV." --- Pages 43-196 --- Treatise, with model Records, of
Mental Training appropriate to the Magician. {207}
"Number V." --- The supplement is the most perfect account of
visions extant. They explore the farthest recesses of the
magical universe.
"Number VI." --- the Supplement gives seven rituals of the dramatic
order, as described in Chapter XIX.
Pages 29-32 --- A highly important magical ritual for daily
use and work.
"Number VII." --- Pages 21-27 --- Classical ritual to invoke
Mercury; for daily use and work.
Pages 117-157 --- Example of a dramatic ritual in modern
style.
Pages 229-243 --- An elaborate magical map of the universe
on particular principles.
Pages 372-375 --- Example of a seasonal ritual.
Pages 376-383 --- Ritual to invoke Horus.
"Number VIII." --- Pages 99-128 --- The conjuration of the
elemental spirits.
"Number IX." --- Pages 117-136 --- Ritual for invoking the spirit of Mars.
"Number X." --- Pages 57-79 --- Modern example of a magical
ritual in dramatic form, commemorating the return of Spring.
Pages 81-90 --- Fragment of ritual of a very advanced
character.
VOL. III.
No. I. --- This volume contains an immense number of articles of
primary importance to every student of magick.
The rituals of The Book of Lies and the Goetia are also to
be studied. The "preliminary invocation" of the Goetia is in
particular recommended for daily use and work.
Orpheus, by Aleister Crowley, contains a large number of
magical invocations in verse. There are also a good many
others in other parts of his poetical works.
The following is a complete curriculum of reading officially
approved by the A.'. A.'.
{208}
CURRICULUM OF A.'. A.'.
COURSE I.
GENERAL READING.
SECTION 1. --- Books for Serious Study:
The Equinox. The standard Work of Reference in all occult matters. The Encyclopaedia of Initiat
Collected Works of A. Crowley. These works contain many mystical and magical secrets, both stateearly in prose, and woven into the robe of sublimest poesy.
The Yi King. (S.B.E. Series, Oxford University Press.) The "Classic of Changes"; gives the inied Chinese system of Magick.
The Tao Teh King. (S.B.E. Series.) gives the initiated Chinese system of Mysticism.
Tannhauser, by A. Crowley. An allegorical drama concerning the Progress of the soul; the Tannhaustory slightly remodelled.
The Upanishads. (S.B.E. Series.) The Classical Basis of Vedantism, the best-known form of Hindu icism.
The Bhagavad-Gita. A dialogue in which Krishna, the Hindu "Christ", expounds a system of Attainm
The Voice of the Silence, by H. P. Blavatsky, with an elaborate commentary by Frater O. M.
The Goetia. The most intelligible of the mediaeval rituals of Evocation. Contains also the favo Invocation of the Master Therion.
The Shiva Sanhita. A famous Hindu treatise on certain physical practices.
The Hathayoga Pradipika. Similar to The Shiva Sanhita.
Erdmann's "History of Philosophy". A compendious account of philosophy from the earliest times. t valuable as a general education of the mind. {209}
The Spiritual Guide of Molinos. A simple manual of Christian mysticism.
The Star of the West. (Captain Fuller.) An introduction to the study of the Works of Aleister Cry.
The Dhammapada. (S.B.E. Series, Oxford University Press.) The best of the Buddhist classics.
The Questions of King Milinda. (S.B.E. Series.) Technical points of Buddhist dogma, illustrated ialogues.
Varieties of Religious Experience. (James.) Valuable as showing the uniformity of mystical attant.
Kabbala Denudata, von Rosenroth: also the Kabbalah Unveiled, by S. L. Mathers.
The text of the Kabalah, with commentary. A good elementary introduction to the subject.
Konx om Pax. Four invaluable treatises and a preface on Mysticism and Magick.
The Pistis Sophia. An admirable introduction to the study of Gnosticism.
The Oracles of Zoroaster. An invaluable collection of precepts mystical and magical.
The Dream of Scipio, by Cicero. Excellent for its Vision and its Philosophy.
The Golden Verses of Pythagoras, by Fabre d'Olivet. An interesting study of the exoteric doctrinf this Master.
The Divine Pymander, by Hermes Trismegistus. Invaluable as bearing on the Gnostic Philosophy.
The Secret Symbols of the Rosicrucians, reprint of Franz Hartmann. An invaluable compendium.
Scrutinium Chymicum, by Michael Maier. One of the best treatises on alchemy.
Science and the Infinite, by Sidney Klein. One of the best essays written in recent years.
Two Essays of the Worship of Priapus, by Richard Payne Knight. Invaluable to all students. {210} The Golden Bough, by J. G. Frazer. The Text-Book of folk Lore. Invaluable to all students.
The Age of Reason, by Thomas Paine. Excellent, though elementary, as a corrective to superstitio Rivers of Life, by General Forlong. An invaluable text-book of old systems of initiation.
Three Dialogues, by Bishop Berkeley. The Classic of subjective idealism.
Essays of David Hume. The Classic of Academic Scepticism.
First Principles, by Herbert Spencer. The Classic of Agnosticism.
Prolegomena, by Emanuel Kant. The best introduction to Metaphysics.
The Canon. The best text-book of Applied Qabalah.
The Fourth Dimension, by H. Hinton. The text-book on this subject.
The Essays of Thomas Henry Huxley. Masterpieces of philosophy, as of prose.
The object of this course of reading is to familiarize the student with all that has been said by Great Masters in every time and country. He should make a critical examination of them; not so uhwth the idea of discovering where truth lies, for he cannot do this except by virtue of his ownspriua experience, but rather to discover the essential harmony in those varied works. He shouldbe n hs gard against partisanship with a favourite author. He should familiarize himself thorougly wth te mehod of mental equilibrium, endeavouring to contradict any statement soever, although t maybe aparenty axiomatic.
The general object of this course, besides that already stated, is to assure sound education in ot matters, so that when spiritual illumination comes it may find a well-built temple. Where the idi strongly biased towards any special theory, the result of an illumination is often to inflametht orion of the mind which is thus overdeveloped, with the result that the aspirant, instead of ecoingan dept, becomes a bigot and fanatic. {211}
The A.'. A.'. does not offer examination in this course, but recommends these books as the founda of a library.
SECTION 2. --- Other books, principally fiction, of a generally
suggestive and helpful kind:
Zanoni, by Sir Edward Bulwer Lytton. Valuable for its facts and suggestions about Mysticism.
A Strange Story, by Sir Edward Bulwer Lytton. Valuable for its facts and suggestions about Magick. The Blossom and the Fruit, by Mabel Collins. Valuable for its account of the Path.
Petronius Arbiter. Valuable for those who have wit to understand it.
The Golden Ass, by Apuleius. Valuable for those who have wit to understand it.
Le Comte de Gabalis. Valuable for its hints of those things which it mocks.
The Rape of the Lock, by Alexander Pope. Valuable for its account of elementals.
Undine, by de la Motte Fouque. Valuable as an account of elementals.
Black Magic, by Marjorie Bowen. An intensely interesting story of sorcery.
Le Peau de Chagrin, by Honore de Balzac. A magnificent magical allegory.
Number Nineteen, by Edgar Jepson. An excellent tale of modern magic.
Dracula, by Bram Stoker. Valuable for its account of legends concerning vampires.
Scientific Romances, by H. Hinton. Valuable as an introduction to the study of the Fourth Dimens
Alice in Wonderland, by Lewis Carroll. Valuable to those who understand the Qabalah. {212}
Alice Through the Looking Glass, by Lewis Carroll. Valuable to those who understand the Qabalah. The Hunting of the Snark, by Lewis Carroll. Valuable to those who understand the Qabalah.
The Arabian Nights, translated by either Sir Richard Burton or John Payne. Valuable as a storehoof oriental magick-lore.
Morte d'Arthur, by Sir Thomas Mallory. Valuable as a storehouse of occidental Magick-lore.
The Works of Francois Rabelais. Invaluable for Wisdom.
The Kasidah, by Sir Richard Burton. Valuable as a summary of philosophy.
The Song Celestial, by Sir Edwin Arnold. "The Bagavad-Gita" in verse.
The Light of Asia, by Sir Edwin Arnold. An account of the attainment of Gotama Buddha.
The Rosicrucians, by Hargrave Jennings. Valuable to those who can read between the lines.
The Real History of the Rosicrucians, by A. E. Waite. A good vulgar piece of journalism on the sct.
The Works of Arthur Machen. Most of these stories are of great magical interest.
The Writings of William O'Neill (Blake). Invaluable to all students.
The Shaving of Shagpat, by George Meredith. An excellent allegory.
Lilith, by George MacDonald. A good introduction to the Astral.
La-Bas, by J. K. Huysmans. An account of the extravagances caused by the Sin-complex.
The Lore of Proserpine, by Maurice Hewlett. A suggestive enquiry into the Hermetic Arcanum.
En Route, by J. K. Huysmans. An account of the follies of Christian mysticism.
Sidonia the Sorceress, by Wilhelm Meinhold. {213}
The Amber Witch, by Wilhelm Meinhold.
These two tales are highly informative.
Macbeth; Midsummer Night's Dream; The Tempest, by W. Shakespeare. Interesting for traditions tre.
Redgauntlet, by Sir Walter Scott. Also one or two other novels. Interesting for traditions trea
Rob Roy, by James Grant. Interesting for traditions treated.
The Magician, by W. Somerset Maugham. An amusing hotchpot of stolen goods.
The Bible, by various authors unknown. The Hebrew and Greek Originals are of Qabalistic value. ontains also many magical apologues, and recounts many tales of folk-lore and magical rites.
Kim, by Rudyard Kipling. An admirable study of Eastern thought and life. Many other stories by author are highly suggestive and informative.
For Mythology, as teaching Correspondences:
Books of Fairy Tales generally.
Oriental Classics generally.
Sufi Poetry generally.
Scandinavian and Teutonic Sagas generally.
Celtic Folk-Lore generally.
This course is of general value to the beginner. While it is not to be taken, in all cases, too ously, it will give him a general familiarity with the mystical and magical tradition, create a de nerest in the subject, and suggest many helpful lines of thought.
It has been impossible to do more, in this list, than to suggest a fairly comprehensive course ofding.
SECTION 3. --- Official publications of the A.'. A.'.
"Liber I.
"Liber B vel Magi."
An account of the Grade of Magus, the highest grade which {214}
it is ever possible to manifest in any way whatever upon this
plane. Or so it is said by the Masters of the Temple.
Equinox VII, p. 5.
"Liber II."
The Message of the Master Therion. Explains the Essence
of the new law in a very simple manner.
Equinox XI (Vol. III, No. 1), p. 39.
"Liber III.
Liber Jugorum."
An instruction for the control of speech, action and thought.
Equinox IV, p. 9 & Appendix VI of this book.
"Liber IV. ABA."
A general account in elementary terms of magical and mystical
powers.
Part. 1. "Mysticism" --- published.
2. "Magick" (Elementary Theory) --- published.
3. "Magick in Theory and Practice" (this book).
4. "The Law." Not yet completed.
"Liber VI.
Liber O vel Manus et Sagittae."
Instructions given for elementary study of the Qabalah,
Assumption of God forms, vibration of Divine Names, the
Rituals of Pentagram and Hexagram, and their uses in
protection and invocation, a method of attaining astral visions
so-called, and an instruction in the practice called Rising on
the Planes.
Equinox II, p. 11 and appendix VI in this book.
"Liber VII.
Liber Liberi vel Lapis Lazuli, Adumbratio Kabbalae
Aegyptiorum."
sub Figura VII.
Being the Voluntary Emancipation of a certain exempt
Adept from his Adeptship. These are the Birth Words of
a Master of the Temple. {215}
Its 7 chapters are referred to the 7 planets in the
following order:
Mars, Saturn, Jupiter, Sol, Mercury, Luna, Venus.
"Liber VIII."
See CCCCXVIII.
"Liber IX.
Liber E vel Exercitiorum."
Instructs the aspirant in the necessity of keeping a record.
Suggests methods of testing physical clairvoyance. Gives
instruction in Asana, Pranayama and Dharana, and advises the
application of tests to the physical body, in order that the
student may thoroughly understand his own limitations.
Equinox I, p. 25 & Appendix VI of this Book.
"Liber X."
"Liber Porta Lucis."
An account of the sending forth of the Master Therion by
the A.'. A.'. and an explanation of His mission.
Equinox VI, p. 3.
"Liber XI.
Liber NV."
An Instruction for attaining Nuit.
Equinox VII, p. 11.
"Liber XIII.
Graduum Montis Abiegni."
An account of the task of the Aspirant
from Probationer to Adept.
Equinox III, p. 3.
"Liber XV.
Ecclesiae Gnosticae Catholicae Cannon Missae."
Represents the original and true pre-Christian Christianity.
Equinox XI (vol. iii, part 1) And Appendix VI of this
book. {216}
"Liber XVI.
Liber Turris vel Domus Dei."
An Instruction for attainment by the direct destruction of
thoughts as they arise in the mind.
Equinox VI, p. 9.
"Liber XVII.
Liber I.A.O."
Gives three methods of attainment through a willed series of
thoughts.
Unpublished. It is the active form of Liber CCCLXI.
"Liber XXI.
The Classic of Purity," by Ko Hsuen.
A new translation from the Chinese by the Master Therion.
Unpublished.
"Liber XXV.
The Ritual of the Star Ruby."
An improved form of the lesser ritual of the Pentagram,
Liber CCCXXXIII, The Book of Lies, pp. 34 & 35.
Also Appendix VI of this book.
"Liber XXVII.
Liber Trigrammaton, being a book of Trigrams of the Mutations
of the Tao with the Yin and Yang."
An account of the cosmic process: corresponding to the stanzas
of Dzyan in another system.
Unpublished.
"Liber XXX.
"Liber Librae."
An elementary course of morality suitable for the average man.
Equinox I, p. 17.
"Liber XXXIII."
An account of A.'. A.'. first written in the Language of his {217}
period by the Councillor Von Eckartshausen and now revised
and rewritten in the Universal Cipher.
Equinox I, p. 4.
"Liber XXXVI.
The Star Sapphire."
An improved ritual of the Hexagram. Liber CCCXXXIII
(The Book of Lies), p.p. 46 & 7, and Appendix VI of this
book.
"Liber XLI.
Thien Tao."
An Essay on Attainment by the Way of Equilibrium.
Knox Om Pax, p. 52
"Liber XLIV"
"The Mass of the Phoenix."
A Ritual of the Law.
Liber CCCXXXIII (The Book of Lies), pp. 57-7, and
Appendix VI in this book.
"Liber XLVI."
"The Key of the Mysteries."
A Translation of "La Clef des Grands Mysteres", by Eliphas
Levi.
Specially adapted to the task of the Attainment of Bhakta-
Yoga.
Equinox X, Supplement.
"Liber XLIX.
Shi Yi Chien."
An account of the divine perfection illustrated by the seven-
fold permutation of the Dyad.
Unpublished.
"Liber LI.
The Lost Continent."
An account of the continent of Atlantis: the manners and
customs, magical rites and opinions of its people, together {218}
with a true account of the catastrophe, so called, which ended
in its disappearance.
Unpublished.
"Liber LV.
The Chymical Jousting of Brother Perardua with the seven
Lances that he brake."
An account of the Magical and Mystic Path in the language
of Alchemy.
Equinox I, p. 88.
"Liber LVIII."
An article on the Qabalah in Equinox V, p. 65.
"Liber LIX.
Across the Gulf."
A fantastic account of a previous Incarnation. Its principal
interest lies in the fact that its story of the overthrowing of
Isis by Osiris may help the reader to understand the meaning
of the overthrowing of Osiris by Horus in the present Aeon.
Equinox VII, p. 293.
"Liber LXI.
Liber Causae."
Explains the actual history and origin of the present move-
ment. Its statements are accurate in the ordinary sense of
the word. The object of the book is to discount Mythopeia.
Equinox XI, p. 55.
"Liber LXIV.
Liber Israfel," formerly called "Anubis."
An instruction in a suitable method of preaching.
Unpublished.
"Liber LXV.
Liber Cordis Cincti Serpente."
An account of the relations of the Aspirant with his Holy
Guardian Angel.
Equinox XI (vol. iii, part 1), p. 65. {219}
"Liber LXVI.
Liber Stellae Rubeae."
A secret ritual, the Heart of IAO-OAI, delivered unto
V.V.V.V.V. for his use in a certain matter of "Liber Legis."
See Liber CCCXXXIII (The Book of Lies), pp. 34-5. Also
Appendix VI in his book.
"Liber LXVII.
The Sword of Song."
A critical study of various philosophies. An account of
Buddhism.
A. Crowley, Collected Works, Vol. ii, pp. 140-203.
"Liber LXXI.
The Voice of the Silence, the Two Paths, the Seven Portals,"
by H. P. Blavatsky, with an elaborate commentary by Frater
O. M.
Equinox III, I. Supplement.
"Liber LXXXIII. --- The Urn."
This is the sequel to "The Temple of Solomon the King," and is
the Diary of a Magus. This book contains a detailed account
of all the experiences passed through by the Master Therion
in his attainment of this grade of Initiation, the highest
possible to any manifested Man.
Unpublished.
"Liber LXXVIII."
A complete treatise on the Tarot giving the correct designs of
the cards with their attributions and symbolic meanings on
all the planes.
Part-published in Equinox VII, p.143.
"Liber LXXXI.
The Butterfly Net."
An account of a magical operation, particularly concerning the
planet Luna, written in the form of a novel.
Published under the title "Moon-child" by the Mandrake
Press, 41, Museum St., London, W.C.1. {220}
"Liber LXXXIV.
Vel Chanokh."
A brief abstraction of the Symbolic representation of the
Universe derived by Dr. John Dee through the Scrying of
Sir Edward Kelly.
Part-published in Equinox VII, p. 229 & VIII, p. 99.
"Liber XC.
Tzaddi vel Hamus Hermeticus."
An account of Initiation, and an indication as to those who are
suitable for the same.
Equinox VI, p. 17.
"Liber XCV.
The Wake-World."
A poetical allegory of the relations of the soul and the Holy
Guardian Angel.
Knox Om Pax, p. 1.
"Liber XCVI.
Liber Gaias."
A Handbook of Geomancy.
Equinox II, p. 137.
"Liber CVI.
A Treatise on the Nature of Death, and the proper attitude
to be taken towards it."
Published in "The International", New York, 1917.
"Liber CXI (Aleph).
The Book of Wisdom or Folly."
An extended and elaborate commentary on the Book of the
Law, in the form of a letter from the Master Therion to his
magical son. Contains some of the deepest secrets of initiation,
with a clear solution of many cosmic and ethical problems.
Unpublished.
"Liber CL.
De Lege Libellum." {221}
A further explanation of the Book of the Law, with special
reference to the Powers and Privileges conferred by its
acceptance.
Equinox III, part 1, p. 99.
"Liber CLVI.
Liber Cheth, vel Vallum Abiegni."
A perfect account of the task of the Exempt Adept considered
under the symbols of a particular plane, not the intellectual.
Equinox VI, p. 23.
"Liber CLVII.
The Tao Teh King."
A new translation, with a commentary, by the Master Therion.
Unpublished.
"Liber CLXV.
A Master of the Temple," Being an account of the attainment
of Frater Unus In Omnibus.
The record of a man who actually attained by the system
taught by the A.'. A.'.
Part-published in Equinox III, I, p. 127.
"Liber CLXXV.
Astarte vel Liber Berylli."
An instruction in attainment by the method of devotion, or
Bhakta-Yogi.
Equinox VII, p. 37.
"Liber CLXXXV.
Liber Collegii Sancti."
Being the tasks of the Grades and their Oaths proper to
Liber XIII. This is the official paper of the various grades.
It includes the Task and Oath of a Probationer.
Unpublished.
"Liber CXCVII.
The High History of Good Sir Palamedes the Saracen Knight
and of his following of the Questing Beast." {222}
A poetic account of the Great Work and enumeration of many
obstacles.
Equinox IV, Special Supplement.
"Liber CC.
Resh vel Helios."
An instruction for the adoration of the Sun four times daily,
with the object of composing the mind to meditation, and of
regularising the practices.
Equinox VI, p. 29.
"Liber CCVI.
Liber RU vel Spiritus."
Full instruction in Pranayama.
Equinox VII, p. 59.
"Liber CCVII.
Syllabus." An enumeration of the Official publications of
A.'. A.'. with a brief description of the contents of each book.
Equinox XI (vol. iii part 1), p. 11.
This appendix is extracted therefrom.
"Liber CCXX (L vel Legis).
The Book of the Law," which is the foundation of the whole work.
Text in Equinox X, p. 9. Short commentary in Equinox VII,
p. 378. Full commentary by the Master Therion through
whom it was given to the world, will be published shortly.
"Liber CCXVI.
The Yi King."
A new translation, with a commentary by the Master Therion.
Unpublished.
"Liber CCXXXI.
Liber Arcanorum" GR:tau-omega-nu ATU GR:tau-omicron-upsilon TAHUTI quas
vidit ASAR in AMENNTI sub figura CCXXXI. Liber Carcerorum GR:tau-omega-nu
QLIPHOTH cum suis Geniis. Adduntur Sigilla et Nomina
Eorum. {223}
An account of the cosmic process so far as it is indicated by
the Tarot Trumps.
Equinox VII, p. 69.
"Liber CCXLII." AHA!
An exposition in poetic language of several of the ways of
attainment and the results obtained.
Equinox III, p. 9
"Liber CCLXV.
The Structure of the Mind."
A Treatise on psychology from the mystic an magical stand-
point. Its study will help the aspirant to make a detailed
scientific analysis of his mind, and so learn to control it.
Unpublished.
"Liber CCC. Khabs am Pekht."
A special instruction for the Promulgation of the Law. This
is the first and most important duty of every Aspirant of
whatever grade. It builds up in him the character and Karma
which forms the Spine of Attainment.
Equinox III, I, p. 171
"Liber CCCXXXIII.
The Book of Lies falsely so-called."
Deals with many matters on all planes of the very highest
importance. It is an official publication for Babes of the
Abyss, but is recommended even to beginners as highly
suggestive.
Published.
"Liber CCCXXXV. Adonis."
An account in poetic language of the struggle of the human
and divine elements in the consciousness of man, giving their
harmony following on the victory of the latter.
Equinox VII, p. 117.
"Liber CCCLXI.
Liber H.H.H." {224}
Gives three methods of attainment through a willed series of
thoughts.
"Liber CCCLXV, vel CXX.
The Preliminary Invocation of the Goetia" so-called, with a
complete explanation of the barbarous names of evocation
used therein, and the secret rubric of the ritual, by the Master
Therion. This is the most potent invocation extant, and was
used by the Master Himself in his attainment.
See p. 265 of this book.
"Liber CD.
Liber TAU vel Kabbalae Truium Literarum sub figura CD."
A graphic interpretation of the Tarot on the plane of initiation.
Equinox VII, p. 75.
"Liber CCCCXII.
A vel Armorum."
An instruction for the preparation of the elemental Instruments.
Equinox IV, p. 15.
"Liber CCCCXVIII.
Liber XXX AERUM vel Saeculi."
Being of the Angels of the Thirty Aethyrs, the Vision and the
Voice. Besides being the classical account of the thirty Aethyrs
and a model of all visions, the cries of the Angels should be
regarded as accurate, and the doctrine of the function of the
Great White Brotherhood understood as the foundation of
the Aspiration of the Adept. The account of the Master of
the Temple should in particular be taken as authentic.
Equinox V, Special Supplement.
"Liber CDLXXIV. Os Abysmi vel Da'ath."
An instruction in a purely intellectual method of entering the
Abyss.
Equinox VII, p. 77.
"Liber D. Sepher Sephiroth."
A dictionary of Hebrew words arranged according to their {225}
numerical value. This is an Encyclopaedia of the Holy
Qabalah, which is a Map of the Universe, and enables man
to attain Perfect Understanding.
Equinox VIII, Special Supplement.
"Liber DXXXVI.
A complete Treatise on Astrology."
This is the only text book on astrology composed on scientific
lines by classifying observed facts instead of deducting from "a
priori" theories.
Unpublished.
"Liber DXXXVI."
GR:Beta-Alpha-Tau-Rho-Alpha-Chi-Omicron-Phi-Rho-Epsilon-Nu-Omicron-Beta-Omicron-Omicron GR:Kappa-Oon-Sigma-Mu-Omicron-Mu-Alpha-Chi-Iota-Alpha.
An instruction in expansion of the field of the mind.
Equinox X, p. 35.
"Liber DLV. LIBER HAD."
An instruction for attaining Hadit.
Equinox VII, p. 83.
"Liber DCXXXIII.
De Thaumaturgia."
A statement of certain ethical considerations concerning
Magick.
Unpublished.
"Liber DCLXVI.
The Beast."
An account of the Magical Personality who is the Logos of
the present Aeon.
Unpublished.
"Liber DCCLXXVII. (777).
Vel Prolegomena Symbolica Ad Systemam Sceptico-Mysticae
Viae Explicandae, Fundamentum Hieroglyphicorum sanctissimorum
Scientae Summae."
A complete Dictionary of the Correspondences of all magical
elements, reprinted with extensive additions, making it the {226}
only standard comprehensive book of reference ever published.
It is to the language of Occultism what Webster or Murray
is to the English Language.
The reprint with additions will shortly be published.
"Liber DCCCXI.
Energised Enthusiasm"
Specially adapted to the task of Attainment of Control of the
Body of Light, development of Intuition and Hathayoga.
Equinox IX, p. 17.
"Liber DCCCXIII.
vel ARARITA."
An account of the Hexagram and the method of reducing it
to the Unity, and Beyond.
Unpublished.
"Liber DCCCXXXI.
Liber IOD, formerly called VESTA."
An instruction giving three methods of reducing the manifold
consciousness to the Unity.
Adapted to facilitate the task of the Attainment of Raja-Yoga
and of the Knowledge and Conversation of the Holy Guardian
Angel.
Equinox VII, p. 101.
"Liber DCCCXXXVII.
The Law of Liberty." This is a further explanation of the
Book of the Law in reference to certain Ethical problems.
Equinox XI (vol. III, No. 1), p. 45.
"Liber DCCCLX.
John St. John."
The Record of the Magical Retirement of G. H. Frater O.'. M.'.
A model of what a magical record should be, so far as accurate
analysis and fullness of description are concerned.
Equinox I, Supplement. {227}
"Liber DCCCLXVIII.
Liber Viarum Viae."
A graphical account of magical powers classified under the
Tarot Trumps.
Equinox VII, p. 101.
"Liber DCCCLXXXVIII."
A complete study of the origins of Christianity.
Unpublished.
"Liber CMXIII.
Liber Viae Memoriae."
Gives methods for attaining the magical memory, or memory
of past lives, and an insight into the function of the Aspirant
in this present life.
Equinox VII, p. 105.
"Liber CMXXXIV.
The Cactus."
An elaborate study of the psychological effects produced by
"Anhalonium Lewinii" (Mescal Buttons), compiled from the
actual records of some hundreds of experiments.
Unpublished.
"Liber DCCCCLXIII.
The Treasure House of Images."
A superb collection of Litanies appropriate to the Signs of the
Zodiac.
Equinox III, Supplement.
"Liber MMCCMXI.
A Note on Genesis."
A model of Qabalistic ratiocination. Specially adapted to
Gana Yoga.
"Liber MCCLXIV.
The Greek Qabalah."
A complete dictionary of all sacred and important words and
phrases given in the Books of the Gnosis and other important
writings both in the Greek and the Coptic.
Unpublished.
{228}
APPENDIX II.
ONE STAR IN SIGHT.
Thy feet in mire, thine head in murk,
O man, how piteous thy plight,
The doubts that daunt, the ills that irk,
Thou hast nor wit nor will to fight ---
How hope in heart, or worth in work?
No star in sight!
Thy gods proved puppets of the priest.
"Truth? All's relation!" science sighed.
In bondage with thy brother beast,
Love tortured thee, as Love's hope died
And Lover's faith rotted. Life no least
Dim star descried.
Thy cringing carrion cowered and crawled
To find itself a chance-cast clod
Whose Pain was purposeless; appalled
That aimless accident thus trod
Its agony, that void skies sprawled
On the vain sod!
All souls eternally exist,
Each individual, ultimate,
Perfect --- each makes itself a mist
Of mind and flesh to celebrate
With some twin mask their tender tryst
Insatiate. {229}
Some drunkards, doting on the dream,
Despair that it should die, mistake
Themselves for their own shadow-scheme.
One star can summon them to wake
To self; star-souls serene that gleam
On life's calm lake.
That shall end never that began.
All things endure because they are.
Do what thou wilt, for every man
And every woman is a star.
Pan is not dead; he liveth, Pan!
Break down the bar!
To man I come, the number of
A man my number, Lion of Light;
I am The Beast whose Law is Love.
Love under will, his royal right ---
Behold within, and not above,
One star in sight!
ONE STAR IN SIGHT.
A glimpse of the structure and system of the Great White Brotherhood.
A.'. A.'.<<The Name of the Order and those of its three divisions are not losed to the profane. Certain swindlers have recently stolen the initials A.'. A.'. in order to rftby its reputation.>>.
Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law.
1. The Order of the Star called S. S. is, in respect of its existence upon the Earth, an organizody of men and women distinguished among their fellows by the qualities here enumerated. They exs ntheir own Truth, which is both universal and unique. {230} They move in accordance with theirow Wll, which are each unique, yet coherent with the universal will.
They perceive (that is, understand, know, and feel) in love, which is both unique and universal.
2. The order consists of eleven grades or degrees, and is numbered as follows: these compose thrroups, the Orders of the S. S., of the R. C., and of the G. D. respectively.
"The Order of the S. S."
Ipsissimus .................. 10 Degree = 1Square
Magus ....................... 9 Degree = 2Square
Magister Templi ............. 8 Degree = 3Square
"The Order of the R. C."
(Babe of the Abyss --- the link)
Adeptus Exemptus ............ 7 Degree = 4Square
Adeptus Major ............... 6 Degree = 5Square
Adeptus Minor ............... 5 Degree = 6Square
"The Order of the G. D."
(Dominus Liminis --- the link)
Philosophus ................. 4 Degree = 7Square
Practicus ................... 3 Degree = 8Square
Zelator ..................... 2 Degree = 9Square
Neophyte .................... 1 Degree = 10Square
Probationer ................. 0 Degree = 0Square
(These figures have special meanings to the initiated and are commonly employed to designate the es.)
The general characteristics and attributions of these Grades are indicated by their correspondencn the Tree of Life, as may be studied in detail in the Book 777.
Student. --- His business is to acquire a general intellectual
knowledge of all systems of attainment, as declared in the
prescribed books. (See curriculum in Appendix I.) {231}
Probationer. --- His principal business is to begin such practices
as he my prefer, and to write a careful record of the same for
one year.
Neophyte. --- Has to acquire perfect control of the Astral Plane.
Zelator. --- His main work is to achieve complete success in Asana
and Pranayama. He also begins to study the formula of the
Rosy Cross.
Practicus. --- Is expected to complete his intellectual training, and
in particular to study the Qabalah.
Philosophus. --- Is expected to complete his moral training. He
is tested in Devotion to the Order.
Dominus Liminis. --- Is expected to show mastery of Pratyahara
and Dharana.
Adeptus (without). --- is expected to perform the Great Work
and to attain the Knowledge and Conversation of the Holy
Guardian Angel.
Adeptus (within). --- Is admitted to the practice of the formula
of the Rosy Cross on entering the College of the Holy Ghost.
Adeptus (Major). --- Obtains a general mastery of practical
Magick, though without comprehension.
Adeptus (Exemptus). --- Completes in perfection all these matters.
He then either ("a") becomes a Brother of the Left
Hand Path or, ("b") is stripped of all his attainments and of himself
as well, even of his Holy Guardian Angel, and becomes
a babe of the Abyss, who, having transcended the Reason,
does nothing but grow in the womb of its mother. It then
finds itself a
Magister Templi. --- (Master of the Temple): whose functions
are fully described in Liber 418, as is this whole initiation
from Adeptus Exemptus. See also "Aha!". His principal
business is to tend his "garden" of disciples, and to obtain a
perfect understanding of the Universe. He is a Master of
Samadhi. {232}
Magus. --- Attains to wisdom, declares his law (See Liber I, vel
Magi) and is a Master of all Magick in its greatest and
highest sense.
Ipsissimus. --- Is beyond all this and beyond all comprehension
of those of lower degrees.
But of these last three Grades see some further account in "The Temple of Solomon the King", EquiI to X and elsewhere.
It should be stated that these Grades are not necessarily attained fully, and in strict consecutior manifested wholly on all planes. The subject is very difficult, and entirely beyond the limit ftis small treatise.
We append a more detailed account.
3. "The Order of the S. S." is composed of those who have crossed the Abyss; the implications ofs expression may be studied in Liber 418, the 14th, 13th, 12th, 11th, 10th, and 9th Aethyrs in patclr.
All members of the Order are in full possession of the Formulae of Attainment, both mystical or idly-directed and Magical or outwardly-directed. They have full experience of attainment in both hs aths.
They are all, however, bound by the original and fundamental Oath of the Order, to devote their ey to assisting the Progress of their Inferiors in the Order. Those who accept the rewards of thereacipation for themselves are no longer within the Order.
Members of the Order are each entitled to found Orders dependent on themselves on the lines of th C. and G. D. orders, to cover types of emancipation and illumination not contemplated by the oriia or main) system. All such orders must, however, be constituted in harmony with the A.'. A.'. s egrd the essential principles.
All members of the Order are in possession of the Word of the existing Aeon, and govern themselveereby.
They are entitled to communicate directly with any and every member of the Order, as they may deetting.
Every active Member of the Order has destroyed all that He is and all that he has on crossing thess; but a star is cast forth in {233} the Heavens to enlighten the Earth, so that he may possess eile wherein he may communicate with mankind. The quality and position of this star, and its fucton, re determined by the nature of the incarnations transcended by him.
4. The Grade of Ipsissimus is not to be described fully; but its opening is indicated in Liber I Magi.
There is also an account in a certain secret document to be published when propriety permits. Hereis only said this: The Ipsissimus is wholly free from all limitations soever, existing in the naueo all things without discriminations of quantity or quality between them. He has identified Bengan nt-Being and Becoming, action and non-action and tendency to action, with all other such trilictie, nt distinguishing between them in respect of any conditions, or between any one thing andany therthin as to whether it is with or without conditions.
He is sworn to accept this Grade in the presence of a witness, and to express its nature in word deed, but to withdraw Himself at once within the veils of his natural manifestation as a man, andt ep silence during his human life as to the fact of his attainment, even to the other members ofth Ode.
The Ipsissimus is pre-eminently the Master of all modes of existence; that is, his being is entirfree from internal or external necessity. His work is to destroy all tendencies to construct or ocnel such necessities. He is the Master of the Law of Unsubstantiality (Anatta).
The Ipsissimus has no relation as such with any Being: He has no will in any direction, and no Coousness of any kind involving duality, for in Him all is accomplished; as it is written "beyond teWr and the Fool, yea, beyond the Word and the Fool".
5. The Grade of Magus is described in Liber I vel Magi, and there are accounts of its character iber 418 in the Higher Aethyrs.
There is also a full and precise description of the attainment of this Grade in the Magical Recor the Beast 666.
The essential characteristic of the Grade is that its possessor utters a Creative Magical Word, w transforms the planet on {234} which he lives by the installation of new officers to preside ove t nitiation. This can take place only at an "Equinox of the Gods" at the end of an "Aeon"; thatis wenthe secret formula which expresses the Law of its action becomes outworn and useless to itsfurherdevlopment.
(Thus "Suckling" is the formula of an infant: when teeth appear it marks a new "Aeon", whose "Word""Eating").
A Magus can therefore only appear as such to the world at intervals of some centuries; accounts ostorical Magi, and their Words, are given in Liber Aleph.
This does not mean that only one man can attain this Grade in any one Aeon, so far as the Order incerned. A man can make personal progress equivalent to that of a "Word of an Aeon"; but he willietfy himself with the current word, and exert his will to establish it, lest he conflict with th wrkofthe Magus who uttered the Word of the Aeon in which He is living.
The Magus is pre-eminently the Master of Magick, that is, his will is entirely free from internalersion or external opposition; His work is to create a new Universe in accordance with His Will. H sthe Master of the Law of Change (Anicca).
To attain the Grade of Ipsissimus he must accomplish three tasks, destroying the Three Guardians ioned in Liber 418, the 3rd Aethyr; Madness, and Falsehood, and Glamour, that is, Duality in Act,Wr nd Thought.
6. The Grade of Master of the Temple is described in Liber 418 as above indicated. There are fuccounts in the Magical Diaries of the Beast 666, who was cast forth into the Heaven of Jupiter, ado mnia in Uno, Unus in Omnibus, who was cast forth into the sphere of the Elements.
The essential Attainment is the perfect annihilation of that personality which limits and oppressis true self.
The Magister Templi is pre-eminently the Master of Mysticism, that is, His Understanding is entirfree from internal contradiction or external obscurity; His word is to comprehend the existing Uies in accordance with His own Mind. He is the Master of the Law of Sorrow (Dukkha).
To attain the grade of Magus he must accomplish Three 235} Tasks; the renunciation of His enjoymof the Infinite so that he may formulate Himself as the Finite; the acquisition of the practical ert alike of initiating and governing His proposed new Universe and the identification of himselfwih heimpersonal idea of Love. Any neophyte of the Order (or, as some say, any person soever) poseses he ight to claim the Grade of Master of the Temple by taking the Oath of the Grade. It is ardl necssar to observe that to do so is the most sublime and awful responsibility which it is posibleto asume, nd an unworthy person who does so incurs the most terrific penalties by his presumtion.
7. "The Order of the R. C." The Grade of the Babe of the Abyss is not a Grade in the proper senbeing rather a passage between the two Orders. Its characteristics are wholly negative, as it isatied by the resolve of the Adeptus Exemptus to surrender all that he has and is for ever. It isananihlation of all the bonds that compose the self or constitute the Cosmos, a resolution of allcomlextie into their elements, and these thereby cease to manifest, since things are only knowabl in espet oftheir relation to, and reaction on, other things.
8. The Grade of Adeptus Exemptus confers authority to govern the two lower Orders of R. C. and G
The Adept must prepare and publish a thesis setting forth His knowledge of the Universe, and his osals for its welfare and progress. He will thus be known as the leader of a school of thought.
(Eliphas Levi's "Clef des Grands Mysteres," the works of Swedenborg, von Eckarshausen, Robert FluParacelsus, Newton, Bolyai, Hinton, Berkeley, Loyola, etc., etc., are examples of such essays.)
He will have attained all but the supreme summits of meditation, and should be already prepared trceive that the only possible course for him is to devote himself utterly to helping his fellow cetrs.
To attain the Grade of Magister Templi, he must perform two tasks; the emancipation from thought utting each idea against its opposite, and refusing to prefer either; and the consecration of {23}hmelf as a pure vehicle for the influence of the order to which he aspires.
He must then decide upon the critical adventure of our Order; the absolute abandonment of himself his attainments. He cannot remain indefinitely an Exempt Adept; he is pushed onward by the irreitbe momentum that he has generated.
Should he fail, by will or weakness, to make his self-annihilation absolute, he is none the less st forth into the Abyss; but instead of being received and reconstructed in the Third Order, as aBb n the womb of our Lady BABALON, under the Night of Pan, to grow up to be Himself wholly and trlyasHewas not previously, he remains in the Abyss, secreting his elements round his Ego as if isoate frm te Universe, and becomes what is called a "Black Brother". Such a being is gradually disntegatedfromlack of nourishment and the slow but certain action of the attraction of the rest of he Unverse despte efforts to insulate and protect himself, and to aggrandise himself by predatorypracties. H may ideed prosper for a while, but in the end he must perish, especially when with anew Aeo a new ord is roclaimed which he cannot and will not hear, so that he is handicapped by tring to ue an obslete metod of Magick, like a man with a boomerang in a battle where every one els has a rile.
9. The Grade of Adeptus Major confers Magical Powers (strictly so-called) of the second rank.
His work is to use these to support the authority of the Exempt Adept his superior. (This is notbe understood as an obligation of personal subservience or even loyalty; but as a necessary part fhsduty to assist his inferiors. For the authority of the Teaching and governing Adept is the baisofal orderly work.)
To attain the Grade of Adeptus Exemptus, he must accomplish Three Tasks; the acquisition of absolSelf-Reliance, working in complete isolation, yet transmitting the word of his superior clearly, ocby and subtly; and the comprehension and use of the Revolution of the wheel of force, under itstheesucessive forms of Radiation, Conduction and Convection (Mercury, Sulphur, Salt; or Sattvas, aja, Tmas, with their corresponding natures on {237} other planes. Thirdly, he must exert his whle pwer nd athority to govern the Members of lower Grades with balanced vigour and initiative in uch away a to alow no dispute or complaint; he must employ to this end the formula called "The Best conoined ith th Woman" which establishes a new incarnation of deity; as in the legends of Leda Semele Miriam Pasiphe, and others. He must set up this ideal for the orders which he rules, so hat theymay possss a nottoo abstract rallying point suited to their undeveloped states.
10. The Grade of Adeptus Minor is the main theme of the instructions of the A.'. A.'. It is chaerised by the Attainment of the Knowledge and Conversation of the Holy Guardian Angel. (See the qio, "The Temple of Solomon the King;" "The Vision and the Voice" 8th Aethyr; also "Liber Samekh" ec.et.) This is the essential work of every man; none other ranks with it either for personal pogrss r fr power to help one's fellows. This unachieved, man is no more than the unhappiest and lindst o anials. He is conscious of his own incomprehensible calamity, and clumsily incapable ofrepaiing i. Acieved, he is no less than the co-heir of gods, a Lord of Light. He is conscious o his on conscratedcourse, and confidently ready to run it. The Adeptus Minor needs little help o guidane even rom hissuperiors in our Order.
His work is to manifest the Beauty of the Order to the world, in the way that his superiors enjoind his genius dictates.
To attain the Grade Adeptus Major, he must accomplish two tasks; the equilibration of himself, esally as to his passions, so that he has no preference for any one course of conduct over another,adte fulfilment of every action by its complement, so that whatever he does leaves him without tepttin o wander from the way of his True Will.
Secondly, he must keep silence, while he nails his body to the tree of his creative will, in the e of that Will, leaving his head and arms to form the symbol of Light, as if to make oath that hi vr thought, word and deed should express the Light derived from the God with which he has identiie hs ife, his love and his liberty --- symbolised by his heart, his phallus, and his legs. It {38}is mposible to lay down precise rules by which a man may attain to the knowledge and conversaton o HisHolyGuardian Angel; for that is the particular secret of each one of us; as secret not tobe tod or ven dvined by any other, whatever his grade. It is the Holy of Holies, whereof each ma is hi own Hgh Prist, and none knoweth the Name of his brother's God, or the Rite that invokes Hi.
The Masters of the A.'. A.'. have therefore made no attempt to institute any regular ritual for tcentral Work of their Order, save the generalised instructions in Liber 418 (the 8th Aethyr) and h eailed Canon and Rubric of the Mass actually used with success by FRATER PERDURABO in His attaimet. Tis has been written down by Himself in Liber Samekh. But they have published such accountsas hos in"The Temple of Solomon the King" and in "John St. John." They have taken the only propercoure; t tran aspirants to this attainment in the theory and practice of the whole of Magick and ysticsm, s thateach man may be expert in the handling of all known weapons, and free to choose an to us thosewhich is own experience and instinct dictate as proper when he essays the Great Experment.
He is furthermore trained to the one habit essential to Membership of the A.'. A.'.; he must regall his attainments as primarily the property of those less advanced aspirants who are confided tohscarge.
No attainment soever is officially recognised by the A.'. A.'. unless the immediate inferior of terson in question has been fitted by him to take his place.
The rule is not rigidly applied in all cases, as it would lead to congestion, especially in the l grades where the need is greatest, and the conditions most confused; but it is never relaxed in h rer of the R. C. or of the S. S.: save only in One Case.
There is also a rule that the Members of the A.'. A.'. shall not know each other officially, savey each Member his superior who introduced him and his inferior whom he has himself introduced.
This rule has been relaxed, and a "Grand Neophyte" appointed to superintend all Members of the Orof the G. D. The real object of the rule was to prevent Members of the same Grade {239} working oehr and so blurring each other's individuality; also to prevent work developing into social intecors.
The Grades of the Order of the G. D. are fully described in Liber 185<<This book is published in Equinox Vol. III No. 2 ---- Addenda by WEH: No, it isn't. Vol. III, 2 didn't get out of printer' ros and was not published. The book in question was finally published in Regardie's "Gems from heEqinx".>>, and there is no need to amplify what is there stated. It must however, be carefullyremrke tht in each of these preliminary Grades there are appointed certain tasks appropriate, andthatthe mpleaccomplishment of each and every one of these is insisted upon with the most rigorousrigidty.<<iber 85 need not be quoted at length. It is needful only to say that the Aspirant is tained ystemaicallyand comprehensively in the various technical practices which form the basis of ur Work One my becom expert in any or all of these without necessarily making any real progress,just as man migt be firt-rate at grammar, syntax, and prosody without being able to write a singe line ofgood poety, althouh the greatest poet in soul is unable to express himself without the ad of thosethree elemnts of litrary composition.>>
Members of the A.'. A.'. of whatever grade are not bound or expected or even encouraged to work oy stated lines, or with any special object, save as has been above set forth. There is however a boute prohibition to accept money or other material reward, directly or indirectly, in respect o ay erice connected with the Order, for personal profit or advantage. The penalty is immediate epulion wih no possibility of reinstatement on any terms soever.
But all members must of necessity work in accordance with the facts of Nature, just as an architeust allow of the Law of Gravitation, or a sailor reckon with currents.
So must all Members of the A.'. A.'. work by the Magical Formula of the Aeon.
They must accept the Book of the Law as the Word and the Letter of Truth, and the sole Rule of Li<This is not in contradiction with the absolute right of every person to do his own true Will. BtayTrue Will is of necessity in harmony with the facts of Existence; and to refuse to accept the oo o te Law is to create a conflict within Nature, as if a physicist insisted on using an incorret frmua o mechanics as the basis of an experiment.>> They must acknowledge the Authority of the east666 nd o the Scarlet Woman as {240} in the book it is defined, and accept Their Will<<"Their ill" -- no, of ourse, their wishes as individual human beings, but their will as officers of the ew Aeo.>> asconcenrating the Will of our Whole Order. They must accept the Crowned and Conquerin Child s the Lrd of te Aeon, and exert themselves to establish His reign upon Earth. They must aknowledg that "Te word o the Law is GR:Theta-Epsilon-Lambda-Eta-Mu-Alpha." and that "Love is thelaw, loveunder wil."
Each member must make it his main work to discover for himself his own true will, and to do it, ao nothing else.<<It is not considered "essential to right conduct" to be an active propagandist o h aw, and so on; it may, or may not, be the True Will of any particular person to do so. But siceth fndamental purpose of the Order is to further the Attainment of humanity, membership implies bydefniton, the Will to help mankind by the means best adapted thereto.>>
He must accept those orders in the Book of the Law that apply to himself as being necessarily in rdance with his own true will, and execute the same to the letter with all the energy, courage, adaiity that he can command. This applies especially to the work of extending the Law in the worl, heei his proof is his own success, the witness of his Life to the Law that hath given him lightin is ays and liberty to pursue them. Thus doing, he payeth his debt to the Law that hath freed im b woring ts will to free all men; and he proveth himself a true man in our Order by willing tobringhis fllowsinto freedom.
By thus ordering his disposition, he will fit himself in the best possible manner for the task oferstanding and mastering the divers technical methods prescribed by the A.'. A.'. for Mystical an aial attainment.
He will thus prepare himself properly for the crisis of his career in the Order, the attainment oe Knowledge and Conversation of his Holy Guardian Angel.
His Angel shall lead him anon to the summit of the Order of the R. C. and make him ready to face thspeakable terror of the Abyss which lies between Manhood and Godhead; teach him to Know that agon,t are that destiny, to Will that catastrophe, {241} and to keep Silence for ever as he accomplisesth at of annihilation.
From the Abyss comes No Man forth, but a Star startles the Earth, and our Order rejoices above thbyss that the Beast hath begotten one more Babe in the Womb of Our Lady, His concubine, the ScarltWmn, BABALON.
There is not need to instruct a Babe thus born, for in the Abyss it was purified of every poison ersonality; its ascent to the highest is assured, in its season, and it hath no need of seasons fri s conscious that all conditions are no more than forms of its fancy.
Such is a brief account, adapted as far as may be to the average aspirant to Adeptship, or Attain, or Initiation, or Mastership, or Union with God, or Spiritual Development, or Mahatmaship, or Fedm or Occult Knowledge, or whatever he may call his inmost need of Truth, of our Order of A.'. A'. Itis designed principally to awake interest in the possibilities of human progress, and to proclm te pinciples of the A.'. A.'.
The outline given of the several successive steps is exact; the two crises -- the Angel and the A --- are necessary features in every career. The other tasks are not always accomplished in the re iven here; one man, for example, may acquire many of the qualities peculiar to the Adeptus Majr,an yt lack some of those proper to the Practicus.<<The natural talents of individual differ ver wiely Te late Sir Richard Jebb, one of the greatest classical scholars of modern times, was so nferor t theaverage mediocrity in mathematics, that despite repeated efforts he could not pass th "litle go at Cmbridge --- which the dullest minds can usually do. He was so deeply esteemed forhis clssics hat a pecial "Grace" was placeted so as to admit him to matriculation. Similarly a billiantExorcis might e an incompetent Diviner. In such a case the A.'. A.'. would refuse to swere from Is system the Asprant would be compelled to remain at the Barrier until he succeeded in braking it own, thouh a new icarnation were necessary to permit him to do so. But no technical faiure of anykind soeve could necssarily prevent him from accomplishing the Two Critical Tasks, sinc the fact o his incarntion itselfproves that he has taken the Oath which entitled him to attain t the Knowlede and Converation of hisHoly Guardian Angel, and the annihilation of this Ego. One mght thereforebe an AdeptusMinor or evena Magister Templi, in essence, though refused official recgnition by theA.'. A.'. as aZelator owing o (say) a nervous defect which prevented him from acquiing a Posture wich was "steadyand easy" as reuired by the Task of that grade.>> But the system hre given shows {43} the correct rder of events, s they are arranged in Nature; and in no case is t safe for a man o neglect to mastr any single detal, however dreary and distasteful it may seem. It often does so,indeed; that only nsists on the necesity of dealing with it. The dislike and cntempt for it bear itness to a weaknes and incompletenessin the nature which disowns it; that paricular gap in one's efences may admit th enemy at the very trning-point of some battle. Worse, oe were shamed for eve if one's inferior shuld happen to ask foradvice and aid on that subject andone were to fail in sevice to him! His failre --- one's own failue also! No step, however well on for oneself, till heis ready for his own adance!
Every Member of the A.'. A.'. must be armed at all points, and expert with every weapon. The exations in every Grade are strict and severe; no loose or vague answers are accepted. In intellecta ustions, the candidate must display no less mastery of his subject than if he were entered in te fial for Doctor of Science or Law at a first class University.
In examination of physical practices, there is a standardised test. In Asana, for instance, the idate must remain motionless for a given time, his success being gauged by poising on his head a u iled with water to the brim; if he spill one drop, he is rejected.
He is tested in "the Spirit Vision" or "Astral Journeying" by giving him a symbol unknown and uniligible to him, and he must interpret its nature by means of a vision as exactly as if he had rea t ame and description in the book when it was chosen.
The power to make and "charge" talismans is tested as if they were scientific instruments of precn, as they are.
In the Qabalah, the candidate must discover for himself, and prove to the examiner beyond all douthe properties of a number never previously examined by any student. {243}
In invocation the divine force must be made as manifest and unmistakable as the effects of chloro; in evocation, the spirit called forth must be at least as visible and tangible as the heaviest aor; in divination, the answer must be as precise as a scientific thesis, and as accurate as an adi; n editation, the results must read like a specialist's report of a classical case.
But such methods, the A.'. A.'. intends to make occult science as systematic and scientific as chtry; to rescue it from the ill repute which, thanks both to the ignorant and dishonest quacks tha aeprostituted its name, and to the fanatical and narrow-minded enthusiasts that have turned it itoa etsh, has made it an object of aversion to those very minds whose enthusiasm and integrity mae tem ostin need of its benefits, and most fit to obtain them.
It is the one really important science, for it transcends the conditions of material existence an is not liable to perish with the planet, and it must be studied as a science, sceptically, with h tost energy and patience.
The A.'. A.'. possesses the secrets of success; it makes no secret of its knowledge, and if its sts are not everywhere known and practised, it is because the abuses connected with the name of ocutsience disincline official investigators to examine the evidence at their disposal.
This paper has been written not only with the object of attracting individual seekers into the wa Truth, but of affirming the propriety of the methods of the A.'. A.'. as the basis for the next ra tep in the advance of human knowledge.
Love is the law, love under will.
O. M. 7 Degree= 4Square A.'. A.'.
Praemonstrator of the
Order of the R... C...
Given from the Collegium ad Spiritum Sanctum, Cefalu, Sicily, in the Seventeenth Year of the Aeon orus, the Sun being in 23 Degree Virgo and the Moon in 14 Degree Pisces.
{244}
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