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Page 1 of 31929 · PDF PAGE 43
educated students can be guilty of so gross a violation of the first principles of common sense. 1 A synopsis of the grades of the A.*. A.*, as illustrative of the Magical Hierarchy in Man is given in Appendix 2 “One Star in Sight.” This should be read before proceeding with the chapter. The subject is very difficult. To deal with it in full is entirely beyond the limits of this small treatise. FU RT HE R CONCERNING THE MAGICAL U NIV ERSE Ail these letters of the magical alphabet — referred to above — are like so many names on a map. Man himsel…
1929 · PDF PAGE 62
…women as partaking in witchcraft, which is, properly speaking, restricted to the use of such women as are no longer women in the Magical sense of the word, because they are no longer capable of corresponding to the formula of the male, and are therefore neuter rather than féminine. It is for this reason that their method has always been referred to the moon, in that sense of the term in which she appears, not as the féminine corré¬ lative of the sun, but as the burnt-out, dead, airless satellite of earth. No true Magical operation can be perfor…
1929 · PDF PAGE 152
…quer a cowardice. This class of work, although the easiest, is yet the most important ; for it includes initiation itself in its highest sense. It extends to the Absolute in every dimension; it involves the most intimate analysis, and the most comprehensive synthesis. In a sense, it is the sole type of Magick either necessary or proper to the Adept; for it includes both the attainment of the Knowledge and Conversation of the Holy Guardian Angel, and the Adventure of the Abyss. The second class includes ail operations by which the Magician striv…
1929 · PDF PAGE 80
…ome a Néophyte, i° = io°, than to pass from that grade to Zelator, 2° = 90. Initiation is, therefore, progressively easier, in a certain sense, after the first step is taken. But (especially after the passing of Tiphareth) the distance between grade and grade increases as it were by a geometrical progression with an enormously high factor, which itself progresses. 2 1. The Holy Qabalah (see Liber D in Eqiiinox I, VIII, Supplément, and Liber 777) affords the means of analysis and application required. See also Equinox I, V, “The Temple of Solomo…
1929 · PDF PAGE 98
…ood, and is to that extent qliphotic 3 and dangerous. Even an idea like “truth” is unsafe unless it is realized that ail Truth is in one sense falsehood. For ail Truth is relative ; and if it be supposed absolute, will mislead.4 “The Book of Lies falsely so called” (Liber 333) is worthy of close and careful study in this respect. The reader should also consult Konx Om Pax, “Introduction”, and “Thien Tao” in the same volume. Ail this is to be expressed in the words of the ritual itself, and symbolised in every act performed. II It is said in the…
1929 · PDF PAGE 153
…tic earnestness that they will tell the enquirer that this book will meet his needs. Does this Sound too simple? Can this obvious common-sense course be really that marvellous Magick that frightens folk so? Yes, even this triviality is one instance of how Magick Works. But the above practical programme may be a fiasco. One might then resort to Magick in the conventional sense of the Word, by constructing and charging a Pantacle appropriate to the object; this Pantacle should then cause a strain in the Astral Light such that the vibrations would…
1929 · PDF PAGE 144
…rom place to place without the trouble of inventing and using locomotives. Let us apply these considérations to Magick in its restricted sense, the sense in which it was always understood until the Master Therion extended it to cover the entire operations of Nature. What is the theory implied in such rituals as those of the Goetia? What does the Magician do? He applies himself to invoke a God, and this God compels the appearance of a spirit whose function is to perform the Will of the Magician at the moment. There is no trace of what may be cal…
1929 · PDF PAGE 49
…ordered everything duly, we shall exalt the mind by repeated prayers or conjurations to the highest conception of the God, until, in one sense or another of the Word, He appears to us and floods our consciousness with the light of His divinity. The Third Method is the Dramatic, perhaps the most attractive of ail; certainly it is so to the artist’s tempérament, for it appeals to his imagination through his aesthetic sense. Its disadvantage lies principally in the difficulty of its per¬ formance by a single person. But it has the sanction of the …
1929 · PDF PAGE 121
…ber. Thus, 7 knocks will intimate Venus, 11 the Great Work, 17 the Trinity of Fathers, and 19 the Féminine Principle in its most general sense. Analyzing the matter a little further, we remark firstly that a battery of too many knocks is confusing, as well as liable to over- weight the other parts of the ritual. In practice, 11 is about the limit. It is usually not difficult to arrange to cover ail necessary ground with that number. Secondly, each is so extensive in scope, and includes aspects so diverse from a practical standpoint that our dan…
1929 · PDF PAGE 151
…l idea of ambition in a course of action such as to induce in others the incorporeal idea of satisfying mine. I made my Will manifest to sense} sense swayed the Wills of my fellow- meii} mind wrought on mind through matter. I did not “sit for” a medical baronetcy by wishing I had it, or by an “act of faith”, or by praying to God “to move Pharaoh’s heart”, as our modem mental, or our mediaeval, mystic, miracle- mongers were and are muddlers and maudlin enough to advise us to do. A few general observations on the Magical Link may not be amiss, in…
1929 · PDF PAGE 66
…on would call) “him- self”, as one — or, rallier, sonie — among a group of phenomena. He is that “nothing” whose consciousness is in one sense the universe considered as a single phenomenon in time and space, and in another sense is the négation of that consciousness. The body and mind of the man are only important (if at ail) as the telescope of the astronomer to him. If the telescope were destroyed it would make no appréciable différence to the Universe which that telescope reveals. It will now be understood that this formula of I A O is a fo…
1929 · PDF PAGE 44
…ut only that he has a certain rank and character; and although we can invoke hinij we do not necessarily mean that he exists in the same sense of the Word in which our butcher exists. When we “conjure Nakhiel to visible appearance,” it may be that our process resembles création — or, rather imagination — more nearly than it does calling-forth. The aura of a man is called the “magical mirror of the universe”; and, so far as any one can tell, nothing exists outside of this mirror. It is at least convenient to represent the whole as if it were sub…
1929 · PDF PAGE 158
…anes. The ceremony must not be confined to the formally magical rites. We must neglect no means to our end, neither despising our common sense, nor doubting our secret wisdom. When Frater I. A. was in danger of death in 1899 e.v. Frater V. N. and Frater Perdurabo did indeed invoke the spirit Buer to visible manifestation that he might heal their brother; but also one of them furnished the money to send him to a climate less cruel than England’s. He is alive to day1 } who cares whether spirits or shekels wrought that which these Magicians willed…
1929 · PDF PAGE 18
what that implied; it was a passionately ecstatic sense of identity. In my third year at Cambridge, I devoted myself consciously to the Great Work, understanding thereby the Work of becoming a Spiritual Being, free from the constraints, accidents, and déceptions of material existence. I found myself at a loss for a name to designate my work, just as H. P. Blavatsky some years earlier. “Theosophy”, “Spiritua- lism”, “Occultism”, “Mysticism”, ail involved undesirable con¬ notations. I chose therefore the name. “MAGICK” as essentially the most sub…
1929 · PDF PAGE 77
… the Charioteer of Our Lady Babalon, whose Cup or Graal he bears. Now this is an important formula. It is the First of the Formulæ, in a sense, for it is the formula of Renunciation. 1 2 It is also the Last ! This Cup is said to be full of the Blood of the Saints ; that is, every “sainC’ or magician must give the last drop of his life’s blood to tliat cup. It is the original price paid for magick power. And if by magick power we mean the true power, the assimilation of ail force with the Ultimate Light, the true Bridai of the Rosy Cross, then i…
1929 · PDF PAGE 142
…, for it will no longer be so necessary. The Circle of the Magician will hâve been perfected by his habit of Magical work. In the truest sense of that Word, he will never step outside the Circle during his whole life. But the consécration, being the application of a positive force, can always be raised to a doser approximation to perfection. Complété success in banishing is soon attained; but there can be no completeness in the advance to holiness. I. The general conception is that the three active éléments co-operate to affect earth; but earth…
1929 · PDF PAGE 58
…l things are necessarily comprehended in it$ but its use in a magical ceremony is little understood. The climax of the formula is in one sense before even the formulation of the Yod. For the Yod is the most divine aspect of the Force —the remaining letters are but a solidification of the same thing. It must be understood that we are here speaking of the whole ceremony considered as a unity, not merely of that formula in which Yod is the God invoked, Hé the Archangel, and so on. In order to understand the ceremony under this formula, we must tak…
1929 · PDF PAGE 19
…al” I mean “willed”. But even unintentional actj so-seeming are not truly so. Thus, breathing is an act of the VŸ ill-to-Live. I. In one sense Magick may be dehned as the name given to Science by the vulgar. — XVII —
1929 · PDF PAGE 24
…revent it from leaking away; and I arrange to take advantage of water’s accordance with the laws of Hydrostatics to fill it.) (19) Man’s sense of himself as separate from, and opposed to, the Universe is a bar to his conducting its currents. It insulates him. (Illustration: A popular leader is most successful when he forgets himself, and remembers only “The Cause”. Self-seeking engenders jealousies and schism. When the organs of the body assert their presence otherwise than by silent satisfaction, it is a sign that they are diseased. The single…
1929 · PDF PAGE 23
…eproduce images.) (14) Man is capable of being, and using, anytbing which he perçoives, for everything thaï he perçoives is in a certain sense a part of his being. He may thus subjugate the whole Universe of which he is conscious to his individual Will. (Illustration: Man has used the idea of God to dictate his Personal conduct, to obtain power over his fellows, to excuse his crimes, and for innumerable other purposes, including that of realizing himself as God. He has used the irrational and unreal conceptions of mathematics to help him in the…