392 
MAGICK WITHOUT TEARS 
is nearly always a mistake to try to do things entirely off 
one's own bat . It is much simpler to look for an existing 
force, in good working order , that is doing the sort of stuff 
that you need, and take from it, or control in it, just that bit 
of it that you happen to require . 
You can, theoretically , walk from Cadiz to Vladivostock; 
but unless there be some special reason, it will save time and 
waste of energy to make use of a fraction of the 
machine-power that happens to be moving in that direction . 
This is particularly true of moral and political reform. 
Hitler would have got exactly nowhere if he had been 
content to announce his evangel; he became master of 
Germany, and, for a time, of nearly all Europe, by playing 
upon existing instruments of human passion; th.e revenge-lust 
of Central Europe , the panic of the Blimps and Junkers , the 
discontent of the property-lacking classes, the pride and 
ambition of the Prussian military clique, and so on. When he 
had used them to the full, he callously flung them to the 
wolves. But make no mistake! The Magical Power behind all 
his actions lay in himself. He had succeeded in making 
himself a prophet, like Mohammed ; even a symbol, like the 
Cross of the Crusades. 
His magical technique was 
indescribably admirable ; he adopted 
the Swastika, the 
Hammer of Thor, the distinctive dress, the slogan, the 
gestures, the greeting; he even imposed a Sacred Book upon 
the people. If that book had only been more mystic and 
incomprehensible
, instead of reasonable , diffuse and 
intolerably dull, he might have done better. As it was, he 
came within an ace of capturing England, even before he 
came to power in Germany ; and it was American money that 
saved the Nazi party at the most critical moment. Cleverest 
move of all, he gave the world something to hate: the 
Communist and the Jew. 
His only trouble was that he couldn't count on his fingers! 
I perceive that I am turning into the late Samuel Smiles; 
having given you an example to imitate - but don't forget