Magick in Theory and Practice (Section 1)

number len. * Ail these numbers are o£ course parts of the mogician himself considérée! as the microcosm. The microcosm is an exact image o£ the Macrocosm; the Great Work is the raising of the whole man in perfect balance to the power of ïnfinity. The reader will remark that ail criticism directed against the Magical Hierarchy is futile. One cannot call it incorrect — the only line to take might be that it was inconvénient. In the same way one çannot say that the Roman alphabet is better or worse than the Greek, since ail required sounds can be more or less satisfactorily represented by either; yet both these alphabets were found so liitle satisfactory when it came to an attempt at phonetic printing of Oriental languages, that the alphabet had to be expanded by the use of italics and other diacritical marks. In the same way our magical alphabet of the Sephiroth and the Paths (thirtv-two letters as it were) has been expanded into the four worlds corresponding to the four letters of the name nîPP > and each Sephira is supposed to contain a Tree of Life of its own. Thus we obtain four hundred Sephiroth instead of the original ten, and the Paths being capable of similar multiplications, or rather of subdivision, the number is still further extended. Of course this process might be indefinitely continued without destroying the original System. The Apologia for this System is that our purest eoncep- (i) It is not possible to give a full account of the twenty-two “patlis’* in this condensed sketch. They shouîd be studied in view of ail their attributes in 777, but more especially that in which they are attributed to the planets, éléments and signs, as also to the Tarot Trumps, while their position on the Tree itself and their position as links between the particular Sephiroth which they join is the final key to their understanding. It will be noticed that each chapter of this book is attributed to one of them. This was. not intentional. The book was originally but a collection of haphazard dialogues between Fra. P. and Soror A.; but on arranging the MSS, they fell naturally and of necessity into this division. Conversely, my knowledge of the Schéma pointed out to me numerous gaps in my original exposition; thanks to this, I hâve been able to make it a complété and systematic treatise. That is, when my laziness had been jogged by the criticisms and suggestions of various colleagues to vvhom I had submitted the early drafts. 4