140 
MAGICK WITHOUT TEARS 
There is only one method to adopt in such circumstances 
as those of the Aspirant to Magick and Yoga: the method of 
Science. Trial and error. You must observe. That implies, first 
of all, that you must learn to observe. And you must record 
your observations. No circumstance of life is, or can be 
irrelevant. "He that is not with me is against me." In all these 
letters you will find only two things: either I tell you what is 
bad for you, or what is good for you. But I am not you; I 
don't know every detail of your life, every trick of your 
thought. You must do ninety percent of the work for 
yourself. Whether it is love, or your daily avocation, or diet, 
or friends, or amusements, or anything else, you must find 
out what helps you to your True Will and what hinders; 
cherish the one and eschew the other. 
I want to insist most earnestly that concentration is not, as 
we nearly all of us think, a matter of getting things right in 
the practices; you must make every breath you draw 
subservient to the True Will, to fertilize the soil for the 
practices. When you sit down in your Asana to quiet your 
mind, it is much easier for you if your whole life has tended 
to relative quietude; when you knock with your Wand to 
announce the opening of an Invocation, it is better if the 
purpose of that ceremony has been simmering in the 
background of your thought since childhood! 
Yes indeed: background! 
Deep down, on the very brink of the subconscious, are all 
those facts which have determined you to choose this your 
Great Work. 
Then, the ambition, conscious, which arranges the general 
order and disposition of your life. 
Lastly, the practices themselves. And my belief is that the 
immense majority of failures have their neglect to brush up 
their drill to thank for it. 
Love is the law, love under will. 
Fraternally, 
666