Magick in Theory and Practice (Section 1)

magick so often involves argues a poverty o£ nature, a narrowness, a lack of generosity. Nature is infinitely prodigal — not one in a million seeds ever cornes to fruition. Whoso fails to recognise this, let him invoke Jupiter.1 2 The danger o£ cérémonial magick — the subtlest and deepest danger —is this: that the magician will naturally tend to invoke that partial being which most strongly appeals to him, so that his natural excess in that direction will be still further exaggerated. Let him, before beginning his Work, endeavour to map out his own being, and arrange his invocations in such a way as to redress the balance. 2 This, of course, should hâve been done in a preliminary fashion during the préparation of the weapons and furniture of the Temple. To consider in a more particular mammer this question of the Nature of Ritual, we may suppose that he finds himself lacking in that perception of the value of Life and Death, alike of individuals and of races, which is characteristic of Nature. He has perhaps a tendency to perceive the ‘first noble truth’ uttered by Buddha, that Everything is sorrow. Nature, it seems, is a tragedy. He has perhaps even experienced the great trance called Sorrow. He should then consider whether there is not some Deity who expresses this Cycle, and yet whose nature is joy. He will find what he requires in Dionysus. There are three main methods of invoking any Deity. The First Method consists of dévotion to that Deity, and, being mainly mystical in character, need not be dealt with in this place, especially as a perfect instruction exists in Liber 175 (See Âppendix). The Second Method is the straightforward cérémonial invocation. It is the method which was usually employed in the Middle Ages. Its advantage is its directness, its disadvantage its 1. There are much deeper considérations in which it appears that “Everything that is, is right”. They are set forth elsewhere; we can only summarise them here by saying that the survîval of the frttest is their upshot. 2. The ideaî method of doing this is given in Liber 913 (Equinox VII). See also Liber CXI Aleph. 12