Magick in Theory and Practice (Section 1)

objects, which are necessary. During many days we occupy ourselves in this process of cleansing and consécration; and this again is confirmed in the actual ceremony. The cleansed and consecrated M agi ci an takes his cleansed and consecrated instruments into that cleansed and consecrated place, and there proceeds to repeat that double ceremony in the ceremony itself, which has these same two main parts. The first part of every ceremony is the banishing; the second, the invoking. The same formula is repeated even in the ceremony of banishing itself, for in the banishing ritual of the pentagram we not only command the démons to départ, but invoke the Archangels and their hosts to act as guardians of the Circle during our pre-occupa- tion with the ceremony proper. In more elaborate ceremonies it is usual to banish everything by name. Each element, each planet, and each sign, perhaps even the Sephiroth themselves; ail are removed, including the very one which we wished to invoke, for that force as existing in Nature is always impure. But this process, being long and wearisome, is not altogether advisable in actual working. It is usually sufficient to perform a general banishing, and to rely upon the aid of the guardians invoked. Let the banishing therefore be short, but in no wise slurred — for it is useful as it tends to produce the proper attitude of mind for the invocations. “The Banishing Ritual of the Pentagram” (as now rewritten, Liber 333, Cap. XXV) is the best to use.1 Only the four éléments are specifically mentioned, but these four éléments contain the planets and the signs2 — the four éléments are Tetragrammaton; and Tetragrammaton is the Universe. This spécial précaution is, however, necessary: make exceeding sure that the ceremony of banishing is effective ! 1. See also the Ritual called “The Mark of the Beast” given in an Appendix. But this is pantomorphous. 2. The signs and the planets, of course, contain, the éléments. It is important to remember this fact, as it helps one to grasp what ail these terms really mean. None of the “Thirty-two Paths” is a simple idea; each one is a combination, differentiated from the others by its structure smd proportions. The chemical éléments are similarly constituted, as the critics of Magick hâve at last been compelled to admit. 104 —