Magick Without Tears

81 Method of Training Cara Soror, Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law. The first and absolutely essential task for the Aspirant is to write his Magical Record. You know some elementary Mechanics-the Triangle of Forces, and all that. Well, if we have a body acted on by two equal forces, one pulling it East, the other South, it will tend to move in a South-Easterly direction. But if the "south" force is (say) twice as strong, it will move south of South-East. Now you, sitting in your study reading this letter, got there and were compelled to do that, as the result of the impact upon you of countless quintillions of forces of every kind. I don't expect you to discover all these and calculate and report them; but I want you to set down all the main currents. For so you should be able to get some sort of answer to the question, "Where do we go from here, boys?" I am not a guesser; and I cannot judge you, or advise you, or help you, unless and until I know the facts as thoroughly as you are able to allow me to do. The construction of this Record is, incidentally, the first step in the practice called Sammasati, and leads to the acquisition of the Magical Memory-the memory of your previous incarnations. So there is another reason, terrifically cogent, for writing this Magical Record as clearly and as fully as you can. 491