Magick Without Tears

MAGICKAL MEMORY 245 There is one Oath more important than all the rest put together, from the point of view of the A :. A: .. You swear to refuse all the "rewards," to acquire your new vehicle without a moment's delay, so that you may carry on your work of helping Mankind with the minimum of interruption. Like all true Magical Oaths, it is certain of success. So then we have a man not only very well prepared to reincarnate at once-this means about six months after his death, for his vehicle will be a foetus about three months old, but to extirpate more deliberately all impressions that may assail its integrity. Alternatively, there may be something in the nature of such impressions that is unsuitable for carrying over into the conscious mind of the new man. Or there may be a rule-e.g., the draught of the waters of the River Lethe-and it might be possible for some Adept (whose initiation is of a higher degree than, or of a different type to, mine) to make his way through that particular barrier. Enough of may, might, perhaps, and all that harpy brood! The plain fact is that I remember nothing at all of any Post Mortem experiences, and I have never known anyone else who does. There is one exception. I do remember the first, almost momentary, reaction . I am in my Astral Form, in my best Sunday-go-to-meeting Ceremonial Vestments, and with my Wand-I seem to hold this raised, attaching great importance to the act-looking down upon the corpse, exactly as one does at the outset of an "Astral Journey" in one's days of learning how to do it. I recall no impression at all made by this sight; neither regret nor relief nor even surprise. But there is one intensely strong reaction-I fancy I have mentioned this already-when one first remembers one of one's deaths: "By Jove! that was a narrow squeak!" What was it that one feared? I haven't the foggiest. And that is what I had to tell you about the Magical Memory.