Magick in Theory and Practice (Section 3)

The Golden Bough, by J. G. Frazer. The Text-Book of Folk Lore. Invalidable to ail students. The Age of Reason, by Thomas Paine. Excellent, though elementary, as a corrective to superstition. Rivers of Life, by General Forlong. An invaluable text-book of old Systems of initiation. Tliree Dialogues, by Bishop Berkeley. The Classic of sub¬ jective idealism. Essays of David Hume. The Classic of Academie Scepticism. First Principles, by Herbert Spencer. The Classic of Agnos- ticism. 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 ail that has been said by the Great Masters in every time and country. He should make a critical examination of themj not so much with the idea of discovering where truth lies, for he cannot do this except by virtue of his own spiritual expérience, but rather to discover the essential harmony in those varied Works. He should be on his guard against partisanship with a favourite author. He should familiarize himself thoroughly with the method of mental equilibrium, endeavouring to contradict any statement soever, although it may be apparently axiomatic. The general object of this course, besides that already stated, is to assure sound éducation in occult matters, so that when spiritual illumination cornes it may find a well-built temple. Where the mind is strongly biased towards any spécial theory, the resuit of an illumination is often to inflame that portion of the mind which is thus overdeveloped, with the resuit that the aspirant, instead of becoming an Adept, becomes a bigot and fanatic. 211