Book 4 (Part II)

146 which must be studied in Liber CCXX and Liber CDXVIII; but having thus dealt with special Robes, let us consider the use of the Robe in general. The Robe is that which conceals, and which protects the Magician from the elements; it is the silence and secrecy with which he works, the hiding of himself in the occult life of Magick and Meditation. This is the "going away into the wilderness " which we find in the lives of all men of the highest types of greatness. And it is also the withdrawing of one's self from life as such. In another sense it is the " Aura " of the Magician, that invisible egg or sheath which surrounds him. This " Aura " must be shining, elastic, impenetrable, even by the light, that is, by any partial light that comes from one side. The only light of the Magician is from the Lamp which hangs above his head, as he stands in the centre of the Circle, and the Robe, being open at the neck, opposes no obstacles to the passage of this light. And being open, and very wide open, at the bottom, it permits that light to pass and illumine them that sit in darkness and in the shadow of death.