Magick in Theory and Practice (Section 1)

of sympathetic substances and forces ; and this spreads as do the waves from a stone thrown into a lake, widening and weakeningj till the disturbance is compensated. Just as a handful of fanatics, insane with one over-emphasised truth, may infect a whole country for a time bv inflaming that thought in their neighbours, so the Magician créâtes a commotion by disturbing the balance of power. He transmits his particular vibration as a radio operator does with his ray 5 rate-relation détermines exclusive sélection. In practice, the Magician must aevoke the spirits of the storm” by identifying himself with the ideasof which atmospheric phenom- ena are the expressions as his humanity is of him; this achieved, he must impose his Will upon them by virtue of the superiority of his intelligence and the intégration of his purpose to their undirected impulses and uncomprehending interplay. Ail such. Magick demands the utmost précision in practice. It is true that the best rituals give us instructions in selecting our vehicles of Force. In 777 we find “correspondences” of many classes of being with the various types of operation, so that we know what weapons, jewels, figures, drugs, perfurnes, names, etc. to employ in any particular work. But it has always been assumed that the invoked force is intelligent and competent, that it will direct itself as desired without further ado, by this method of sympathetic vibrations. The necessity of timing the force has been ignored; and so most operations, even when well performed as far as invocation goes, are as harmless as igniting loose gunpowder. But, even allowing that Will is sufficient to détermine the direc¬ tion, and prevent the dispersion, of the force, we can hardly be sure that it will act on its object, unless that object be properly prepared to receive it. The Link must be perfectly made. The object must possess in itself a sufficiency of stuff sympathetic to our work. We cannot make love to a brick, or set an oak to run errands. We see, then, that we can never affect anything outside ourselves save only as it is also within us. Whatever I do to another, I do also to myself. If I kill a man, I destroy my own life at the same time. That is the magical meaning of the so- 121