Magick in Theory and Practice (Section 1)

pantacle may be a necklace} to discover a treasure, one’s wand may be a dramatisas pen, or one’s incantation a popular song. Many ends, many means: it is only important to remember the essence of the operation, which is to will its success with suffi- ciently pure intensity, and to incarnate that will in a body suitable to express it, a body such that its impact on the bodily expression of the idea one wills to change is to cause it to do so. For instance, is it my will to become a famous physician? I banish ail “hostile spirits” such as laziness, alien interests, and conflicting pleasures, from my “circle” the hospital} J. consecrate my “weapons” (my various abilities) to the study of medicine} I invoke the “Gods” (medical authorities) by studying and obeying their laws in their books. I embody the “Formulae” (the ways in which causes and effects influence disease) in a “Ritual” (my Personal style of constraimng sickness to conform with my will). I persist in these conjurations year after year, making the Magical gestures of healing the sick, until I compel the visible appearance of the Spirit of Time, and make him acknowledge me his master. I hâve used the appropriate kind of means, in adéquate measure, and applied them in ways pertinent to my purpose by projecting my incorporeal idea of ambition in a course of action such as to induce in others the incorporeal idea of satisfying mine. I made my Will manifest to sense} sense swayed the Wills of my fellow- meii} mind wrought on mind through matter. I did not “sit for” a medical baronetcy by wishing I had it, or by an “act of faith”, or by praying to God “to move Pharaoh’s heart”, as our modem mental, or our mediaeval, mystic, miracle- mongers were and are muddlers and maudlin enough to advise us to do. A few general observations on the Magical Link may not be amiss, in default of details} one cannot make a Manual of How to Go Courting, with an Open-Sesame to each particular Brigand’s Cavern, any more than one can furnish a budding burglar with a directory containing the combination of every existing safe. But one can point out the broad distinctions between women who yield, some to flattery, some to éloquence, some to appearance, some to rank, some to wealth, some to ardour, and some to authority. We