Magick Without Tears

ANGELS AND SHAVING 363 animal, as we are; as such, he appeals to all our senses exactly as if he were "material." But everything sensible is matter in some state or other ; how then are we to regard an Angel, complete with robes, weapons, and other impedimenta? (I have never known a god thus encumbered, when he has been "materialised" at all. Of course, the mere apparition of a God is subject to laws similar to those governing the visions of angels.) For one thing, all the laws that we find in operation on various parts of the "Astral plane" are valid. Two things can occupy the same place at the same time . They are "swift without feet, and flying without wings." They change size, shape, appearance, appurtenances of all sorts, at will. Anything that is required for the purpose of the vision is there at will. They bring their own background with them. They are able to transfer a portion of their energy to the seer by spontaneous action without appreciable means. But here is where your question arises-what is their "life" like? In the visions, they never do anything but "go through the motions" appropriate to their nature and to the character of the vision. Are we to conclude that the whole set of impressions is no more than symbolic? Is it all a part of oneself , like a daydream, but a daydream intensified and made "real" because its crucial incidents turn out to be true, as must always occur during the testing of the genuineness of the vision? It seems to me much simpler to say that these Angels are "real" individuals, although living in a world of whose laws we have no conception ; and that, in order to communicate with us, they make use of the symbolic forms appropriate; employ, in short, the language of the Astral Plane. After all, it's only fair; for that is precisely what we do to them when we invoke them. Ha! Ha! Ha! I suppose you think you've caught me out in an evasion there! Not so, dear child, not so: this state of affairs is nothing strange.