Magick in Theory and Practice (Section 1)

Further, the attitude of the magician to his weapous should be tliat of the God to the suppliant who invokes Him. It should he the love of the father for his child, the tenderness and care of the hridegroom for his bride, and that peculiar feeling which the creator of every work of art feeïs for his masterpieee. Where this is clearly understood, the magician will find no difficulty in observing the proper ritual, not only in the actual cérémonial consécration of each weapon, but in the actuai prépara¬ tion, a process which should adumbrate this ceremony; e.g., the magician will eut the wand from the tree, will strip it of leaves and twigs, will remove the bark. He will trim the ends neatly, and smooth down the knots: —this is the banishing. He will then rub it with the consecrated oil until it becomes smooth and glistening and golden. - He will then wrap it in silk of the appropriate colour: —this is the Consécration. He will then take it, and imagine that it is that hollow tube in which Prometheus brought down fire from Heaven, formulating to himself the passing of the Holy Influence through it. In this and other ways he will perform the initiation; and, this being accomplished, he will repeat the whole process in an elaborate ceremony.1 To take an entirely different case, that of the Circle; the magician will synthesize the Vermilion required from Mercury and Sulphur which he has himself sublimated. This pure I. I hâve omitted to say that the whole subject of Magick is an example of Mythopoeia in that particular form called Disease of Lan- miage. Thoth, God of Magick, was merely a man who invented writing, as his monuments déclaré clearly enough. “Gramarye”, Magick, is.only the Greek “Gramma”. So also the old name of a Magical Ritual, “Grimoire”, is merely a Grammar. It appeared marvellous to the vulgar that men should be able to communicate at a distance, and they began to attribute other powers, merely invented, to the people who were able to Write. The Wand is then nothing but the pen; the Cup, the Inkpot; the Dagger, the knife for sharpening the pen; and the disk (Pantacle) is either the papyrus roll itself; or the weight which kept it in position, or the sandbox for soaking up the ink. And, of course, the “Papyrus of Ani is only the Latin for toilet-paper. — 66 —