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 —