FOLLOW A WORD THROUGH THE COLLECTION
Search the corpus.
Phrase search ignores case and repeated whitespace. All-words search finds whole words anywhere on the same page. OCR errors can affect results.
18 matching pages
Page 1 of 11930 · PDF PAGE 80
V Of the powers of the Sphinx much has been written. * 1 Wisely they hâve been kept in the forefront of true magical instruction. Even the tyro can always rattle off that he has to know, to dare to will and to keep silence. It is difficult to Write on this subject, for these powers are indeed comprehensive, and the interplay of one with the other becomes increasingly évident as one goes more deeply into the subject. But there is one general principle which seems worthy of spécial emphasis in this place. These four powers are thus complex becaus…
1930 · PDF PAGE 69
…t invoke “Electricity77 indiscrimi- nately to light one7s house and to propel one’s brougham; one Works by measured application of one7s powers to intelligent analytical compréhension of the conditions of each separate case. There is a Eucharist for every Grâce that we may need; we must apprehend the essential characters in each case, select suitable Eléments, and devise proper processes. To consider the classical problems of Alchemy: the Medicine of Metals must be the quintessence of some substance that serves to détermine the structure (or ra…
1930 · PDF PAGE 74
…ces as the Balance of Righteousness and Truth” is your duty to your Holy Guar¬ dian Angel, and the duty of the démon world to you. These powers of “evil” nature are wild beasts; they must be tamed, trained to the saddle and the bridle; they will bear you well. There is nothing useless in the Universe: do not wrap up your Talent in a napkin, because it is only “dirty money”! With regard to Pacts, they are rarely lawful. There should be no bargain struck. Magick is not a trade, and no hucksters need apply. Master everything, but give generouslv t…
1930 · PDF PAGE 70
CHAPTER XXI OF BLACK MAGIC OF THE MAIN TYPES OF THE OPERATIONS OF MAGICK ART AND OF THE POWERS OF THE SPHINX I As was said at the opening of the second chapter, the Single Suprême Ritual is the attainment of the Knowledge and Conver¬ sation of the Holy Guardian Angel. It is the raisin g of the complété man in a vertical straight line. Any déviation from tliis line tends to become black magic. Any otlier operation is black magic. In the True Operation the Exaltation is equilibrated by an expansion in the other three arms of the Cross. Hence the …
1930 · PDF PAGE 30
To sum up, the first task is to separate the astral form from the physical body, the second to develop the powers of the astral body, in particular those o£ sight, travel, and interprétation 3 third, to unify the two boclies without muddling them. This being accomplished, the magician is htted to deai with the invisible. Il It is now useful to continue with considérations of other planes, which hâve commonly been classed under the Astral. There is some reason for this, as the délimitations are somewhat vague. Just as the vegetable kingdom merge…
1930 · PDF PAGE 72
…rofessional Diviners, Psychics and the like, are ail ipso facto Black M agi ci ans. Thev exchange gold for dross. They sell their higher powers for gross and temporary benefit. That the most crass ignorance of Magick is their principal characteristic is no excuse, even if Nature accepted excuses, which she does not. If you drink poison in mistake for wine, your “mistake” will not save your life. Below these in one sense, yet far above them in another, are the Brothers of the Left Hand Path L These are they who “shut themselves up”, who refuse t…
1930 · PDF PAGE 64
…aling disease, extending the span of life, increasing human abilities, perfecting the nature of man in every respect, conferring magical powers, and transmuting material substances, especially metals, into more valuable forms. The subject is further complicated by the fact that many authors were unscrupulous quacks. Ignorant of the first éléments of the art, they plagiarized without shame, and reaped a harvest of fraudulent gain. They took advantage of the general ignorance, and the convention of mystery, in just the same way as their modem suc…
1930 · PDF PAGE 54
… we wonder whether we are degenerate from them, or evolved from Simians, who dare deny that such a book may be possessed of unimaginable powers? It is not so long since the methods of modem science were scoffed at by the whole cultured world. In the sacred halls themselves the roofs rang loud with the scornful laughter of the high pnests as each new postulant approached with his unorthodox offeiing. 174 —
1930 · PDF PAGE 31
…s will react favourably on the human consciousness, and increase its likelihood of success in its next magical operation. Similarly, the powers gained in this way will strengthen the magician in his meditation-practices. His Will becomes better able to assist the concentration, to destroy the mental images which disturb it, and to reject the lesser rewards of that practice which tempt, and too often stop the progress of, the mystic. Although it is said that the spiritual lies “beyond the astral”, this is theoreticalj 1 the advanced Magician wil…
1930 · PDF PAGE 24
… not “die”. Now this interior body of the Magician, of which we spoke at the begmning of this chapter, does exist, and can exert certain powers which his natural body cannot do. It can, for example, pass tirough matter , and it can move freelv in every direction * ni ough space. But this is because “matter”, in the sense in which we commonly use the word, is on another plane 2. Now this fine body perceives a uni verse which we do not ordinarily . perceive. It does not necessarily perceive the universe which we do normally perceive, so although …
1930 · PDF PAGE 44
…these two apparently opposing faculties. Indeed, there is no surer sign of all-round success than this ability to put the whole of one’s powers at the service of any type of task. With regard to the mind, again, it would seem that concentra¬ tion on the question makes more difficult the necessary detachment from it. Once again, the diviner stands in need of a considérable degree of attainment in the practices of méditation. He must hâve succeeded in destroying the tendency of the ego to interfère with the ohject of thought. He must be able to c…
1930 · PDF PAGE 29
…fficult. Phantasmal and fleeting as the astral is in general, those forms which are definitely attached to the material possess enormous powers of résistance, and it consequently requires very high potential to influence them. Their material analogues seem to serve as a fortress. Even where a temporary effect is produced, the inertia of matter draws it back to the normal; yet the power of the trained and consecrated will in a well-deveioped astral body is such that it can even produce a permanent change in the material upon whose Body of Light …
1930 · PDF PAGE 58
…the son of an ordained Priest, was magicaliy an incarnation of the Being of that Priest, and was therefore congenitally possessed of the powers thereto appurtenant. This cock, “Peter Paul,” was consequently a baptized Christian for ail magical purposes. Order was then taken to imprison the bird; which done, the Magicians assuming respectively the characters of Herod, Herodias, Salome, and the Execu- •tioner, acted out the scene of the dance and the beheading, on the lines of Oscar Wilde’s drama, “Peter Paul” being cast for the part of John the …
1930 · PDF PAGE 6
… its mouth bittedj as soon as He took serious Oaths and was admitted to the Order which we name not, those Oaths prevented him using His powers as playthings. Trifling operations, such as He once could do with a turn of the wrist, became impossible to the most persistent endeavour. It was many years before He understood the cause of this. But little by little He became so absorbed in the Work of His true Will that it no longer occurred to Him to indulge in capricious amusements. Yet even at this hour, though He be verily a Magus of A. \ A.*., t…
1930 · PDF PAGE 48
…se. One must not assume tliat the oracle is omniscient. By the nature of the case, on the contrary, it is the utterance of a being whose powers are partial and limited, though not to such an extent, or in the same directions, as one’s own. But a man who is advised to purchase a certain stock should not complain if a general panic knocks the bottom ont of it a few weeks later. The advice only referred to the prospects of the stock in itself. The divination must not be blarned any more than one would blâme a man for buying a house at Ypres three …
1930 · PDF PAGE 84
…mit that this may not be the case. It is true that He has been granted ail Mystical Attainment that is theoretically possible, while His powers in Magick seem to be uneven and imperfect. Despite this, it may yet be that He has compassed the Possible. For Mystical Attainments are never mutually exclusive; the trance of Sorrow (for example) is not incompatible with the Béatifie Vision, or the “Universal Joke”. But in Magick any one Operation debars its performer from accomplishing some other. The reason of this is that the Oath of any Work bonds …
1930 · PDF PAGE 77
…u enough gold, this operation will become unnecessary. 2 It must further be remarked that it is absolute Black Magic to use any of these powers if the object can possibly be otherwise attained. If your child is drowning, you must jump and try to save him; it won’t do to invoke the Undines. Nor is it lawful in ail circumstances to invoke those Undines even where the case is hopeless; maybe it is necessary to ycu and to the child that it should die. An Exempt Adept on the right road will make no error here — an Adept Major is only too likely to d…
1930 · PDF PAGE 33
is man. In man are ail things hidden, Of these the Gods, Nature, Time, ail the powers of the universe are rebellions slaves. It is these that men must fight and conquer in the power and in the name of the Beast that hath availed them, the Titan, the Magus, the Man whose number is six hundred and three score and six. III Ihe practice of Rising on the Planes is of such importance that spécial attention must be paid to it. It is part of the essential tech¬ nique of Magick. Instruction in this practice has been given with such conciseness in Liber …