The Magician must therefore take the utmost care in the 
matter of purification, firstly, of himself, secondly, of his instru¬ 
ments, thirdly, of the place of working. Ancient Magicians 
recommended a preliminary purification of from three days to 
many months. Durîng this period of training they took the 
utmost pains with diet. They avoided animal food, lest the 
elemental spirit of the animal should get into their atmosphère. 
They practised sexual abstinence, lest they should be influenced 
in any way by the spirit of the wife. Even in regard to the 
excrements of the body they were equally carefulj in trimming 
the hair and nails, they ceremonially destroyed* 1 the severed 
portion. They fasted, so that the body itself might destroy 
anvthing extraneous to the bare necessity of its existence. They 
purified the mind by spécial prayers and conservations. They 
avoided the contamination of social intercourse, especially the 
conjugal kind; and their servi tors were disciples specially chosen 
and consecrated for the work. 
In modem times our superior understanding of the 
essentials of this process enables us to dispense to some 
extent with its external rigours; but the internai purification 
must be even more carefully performed. We may eat méat, 
provided that in doing so we affirm that we eat it in order to 
strengthen us for the spécial purpose of our proposed invocation. 2 
the atmosphère would crush us if we “banished” that of our bodies; and 
we should crumble to dust if we rebelled successfully against cohésion. A 
man who is normally an “allround good sorr* often becomes intolérable 
when he gets rid of his collection of vices; he is swept into monomania 
by the spiritual pride which had been previously restrained by counter- 
vailing passions. Again, there is a worse draught when an ill-fitting door 
is closed than when it stands open. It is not as necessary to protect his 
mother and his cattle from Don Juan as it was from the Hermits of 
the Thebaid. 
1. Such destruction should be by burning or other means which 
produces a complété Chemical change. In so doing care should be taken 
to bless and liberate the native elemental of the thing burnt. This maxim 
ic of universal application. 
2. In an Abbey of Thelema we say “Wïll” before a meal. The 
formula is as follows. “Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the 
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