Magick in Theory and Practice (Section 3)

working together and so blurring each other’s individuality; also to prevent work developing into social intercourse. The Grades of the Order of the G. D. are fully descrihed in Liber 185 1, and there is no need to amplify what is there stated. It must however, be carefuliy remarked that in each of these preliminary Grades there are appointed certain tasks appropriate, and that the ample accomplishment of each and every one of these is insisted upon with the most rigorous rigidity. 2 3 * * * * Members of the A A of whatever grade are not bound or expected or even encouraged to work on any stated lines, or with any spécial object, save as has been above set forth. There is however an absolute prohibition to accept money or other material reward, directly or indirectly, in respect of any service connected with the Order, for personal profit or advantage. The penalty is immédiate expulsion, with no possibility of reinstatement on any terms soever. But ail members must of necessity work in accordance with the facts of Nature, just as an architect must allow for the Law of Gravitation, or a sailor reckon with currents. So must ail 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 Life.9 They must acknow- ledge the Authority of the Beast 666 and of the Scarlet Woman as 1. This book is published in the Equinox Vol. III No. 2. 2. Liber 185 need not be quoted at length. It is needful only to say that the Aspirant is trained systematically and comprehensively in the various technical practices which form the basis of Our Work. One may become expert in any or ail of these without necessarily making any real progress, just as a man might be first-rate at grammar, syntax, and prosody without being able to write a single line of good poetry, although the greatest poet in soûl is unable to express himself without the aid of those three éléments of literary composition. 3. This is not in contradiction with the absolute right o f every person to do his own true Will. But any True Will is of necessity in harmony with the facts of Existence; and to refuse to accept the Book of the Law is to create a conflict within Nature, as if a physicist insisted on using an incorrect formula of mechanics as the basis of an experiment. 240 —