Magick in Theory and Practice (Section 1)

what that implied; it was a passionately ecstatic sense of identity. In my third year at Cambridge, I devoted myself consciously to the Great Work, understanding thereby the Work of becoming a Spiritual Being, free from the constraints, accidents, and déceptions of material existence. I found myself at a loss for a name to designate my work, just as H. P. Blavatsky some years earlier. “Theosophy”, “Spiritua- lism”, “Occultism”, “Mysticism”, ail involved undesirable con¬ notations. I chose therefore the name. “MAGICK” as essentially the most sublime, and actually the most discredited, of ail the available terms. I swore to rehabilitate MAGICK, to identify it with my own career; and to compel mankind to respect, love, and trust that which they scorned, hated and feared. I hâve kept my Word. But the time is now corne for me to carry my banner into the thick of the press of human life. I must make MAGICK the essential factor in the life of ALL. In presenting this book to the world, I must then explain and justify my position by formulating a définition of MAGICK and setting forth its main principles in such a way that ALL may understand instantly that their soûls, their lives, in every relation with every other human being and every circumstance, dépend upon MAGICK and the right compréhension and right application thereof. I. DEFINITION. MAGICK is the Science and Art of causing Change to occur in confor- mity with Will. XVI —