CHAPTER I 
The Principles of Ritual,. 
There is a single main définition of the object of ail 
magical Ritual. It is the uniting of the Microcosm with the 
Macrocosm. The Suprême and Complété Ritual is there- 
fore the Invocation of the Holy Guardian Angel; 1 or* in 
the language of Mysticism, Union with God. 2 
Ail other magical Rituals are particular cases of this general 
principle, and the only excuse for doing them is that it sometimes 
occurs that one particular portion of the microcosm is so weak that 
its imperfection of impurity would vitiate the Macrocosm of 
which it is the image, Eidolon, or Reflexion. For example, God 
is above sex; and therefore neither man nor woman as such can 
be said fully to understand, much less to represent, God. It is 
therefore incumbent on the male magician to cultivate those female 
virtues in which he is déficient, and this task he must of course 
accomplish without in any way impairing his virility. It will then 
be lawful for a magician to invoke Isis, and identify himself with 
her; if he fail to do this, his appréhension of the Universe when 
he attains Samadhi will lack the conception of maternity. The 
resuit will be a metaphysical and — by corollary — ethical limita¬ 
tion in the Religion which he founds. Judaism and Islam are 
striking examples of this failure. 
To take another example, the ascetic Üfe which dévotion to 
1. See the “Book of the Sacred Magic of Abramelin the Mage”; and 
Liber 418, 8th Aethyr, Liber Samekh; see Appendix 3. 
2. The différence between these operations is more of theoreticaî than 
of practical importance.