Magick Without Tears

THE HOLY GUARDIAN ANGEL 281 of will in any intelligible sense of the word. Their actions in fact are merely re-actions. They are, of course, entirely lacking in the Supernal Triad. There is therefore no question of anything in them which would persist through change. Perhaps it would be better to say that change does not really affect them. Another way to put it would be that they are adjectives, not nouns. They are merely sensible manifestations of the elements to which they are attributed , and to the letters of their name. Now, on the othe: hand, there is an entirely different type of angel; and here we must be especially careful to remember that we include gods and devils, for there are such beings who are not by any means depend en t on one particular element for their existence. They are microcosms in exactly the same sense as men and women are. They are individuals who have picked up the elements of their composition as possibility and convenience dictates , exactly as we do ourselves. I want you to understand that a goddess like Astarte, Astaroth, Cotytto , Aphrodite, Hathoor, Venus, are not merely aspects of the planet? they are separate individuals who have been identified with each other , and attributed to Venus merely because the salient feature in their character approximates to this ideal. Now then , it is simple to answer the question of their development , their growing old and dying ; for , being of the same order of Nature as we are ourselves , almost anything which is true of us is true also of them. I have tended rather to elaborate this theme, because of the one personally important question which arises in more recent letters ; for I believe that the Holy Guardian Angel is a Being of this order. He is something more than a man, possibly a being who has already passed through the stage of humanity, and his peculiarly intimate relationship with his 2. "Venus" is, of course, a "thing-in-itself"; the planet merely one case of the idea.