Let us take a very simple example of a Magical Act: that of a 
man blowing his nose. What are the conditions of the success of 
the Operation? Firstly, that the man’s Will should be to blow 
his nose; secondly, that he should hâve a nose capable of being 
blown; thirdly, that he should hâve at command an apparatus 
capable of expressing his spiritual Will in terms of material force, 
and applying that force to the object which he desires to affect. 
His Will may be as strong and concentrated as that of Jupiter, 
and his nose may be totally incapable of résistance; but unless the 
link is made by the use of his nerves and muscles in accordance 
with psychological, physiological, and physical law, the nose will 
remain unblown through ail eternity. 
Writers on Magick hâve been unsparing in their efforts to 
instruct us in the préparation of the Will, but they seem to hâve 
imagined that no further précaution was necessary. There is a 
striking case of an épidémie of this error whose history is familiar 
to everybody. I refer to Christian Science, and the cognate 
doctrines of “mental healing” and the like. The theory of such 
people, stripped of dogmatic furbelows, is perfectly good Magic 
of its kind, its negroid kind. The idea is correct enough: matter 
is an illusion created by Will through mind, and consequently 
susceptible of alteration at the behest of its creator. But the 
practice has been lacking. They hâve not developed a scientific 
technique for applying the Will. It is as if they expected the 
steam of Watts’ kettle to convey people from place to place 
without the trouble of inventing and using locomotives. 
Let us apply these considérations to Magick in its restricted 
sense, the sense in which it was always understood until the 
Master Therion extended it to cover the entire operations of 
Nature. 
What is the theory implied in such rituals as those of the 
Goetia? What does the Magician do? He applies himself to 
invoke a God, and this God compels the appearance of a spirit 
whose function is to perform the Will of the Magician at the 
moment. There is no trace of what may be called machinery in 
the method. The exorcist hardly takes the pains of preparing a 
material basis for the spirit to incarnate except the bare connection 
-— 108