Magick in Theory and Practice (Section 1)

It is evidently impossible to give details of ail these formulæ. Before beginning any operation soever the magician must make a thorough Qabalistic study of it so as to work out its theory in symmetry of perfection. Preparedness in Magick is as important as it is in War. V It should be profitable to make a somewhat detailed study of the strange-looking word AUMGN, for its analysis affords an excellent illustration of the principles on which the Practicus may construct his own Sacred Words. This word has been uttered by the Master Therion himself, as a means of declaring his own personal work as the Beast, the Logos of the Aeon. To understand it, we must make a preliminary considération of the word which it replaces and from which it was developed: the word AUM. The word AUM is the sacred Hindu mantra which was the suprême hieroglyph of Truth, a compendium of the Sacred Knowledge. Many volumes hâve been written with regard to it j but, for our présent purpose, it will be necessary only to explain how it came to serve for the représentation of the principal philosophical tenets of the Rishis. of classifying observed facts. One is reminded of the Democracy, who, on being informed by the Minister of the Interior that the scarcity of provisions was due to the Law of Supply and Demand, passed a unanimous resolution calling for the immédiate repeal of that iniquitous measure! Every person, whatever his grade in the Order, has also a “natural” grade appropriate to his intrinsic virtue. He may expect to be “cast out” into that grade when he becomes 8° = 30. Thus one man, throughout his career, may be essentially of the type of Netzach; another, of Hod. In the same way Rembrandt and Raphaël retained their respective points of view in ail stages of their art. The practical considération is that some aspirants may find it unusually difficult to attain certain grades; or, worse, allow their inhérent prédispositions to influence them to neglect anti- pathetic, and indulge sympathetic, types of work. They may thus become more unbalanced than ever, with disastrous results. Success in one’s favourite pursuit is a temptress; whose yields to her wiles limits his own growth. True, every Will is partial; but, even so, it can only fulfil itself by symmetrical expansion. It must be adjusted to the Universe, or fail of perfection. 45