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Page 1 of 11913 · PDF PAGE 130
…the Abyss. There is, therefore, nothing movable or immovable under the whole firmament of heaven which is not included in this pantacle, though it be but " eight inches in diameter, and in thickness half an inch." Fire is not matter at all; water is a combination of elements; air almost entirely a mixture of elements; earth contains all both in admixture and in combination. So must it be with this Pantacle, the symbol of earth. And as this Pantacle is made of pure wax, do not forget that "every- thing that lives is holy." All phenomena are sacr…
1913 · PDF PAGE 61
…and is seen to be necessary. From this one is tempted to break a lance on that most ancient battlefield, free-will and destiny. But even though every man is "determined" so that every action is merely the passive resultant of the sum-total of the forces which have acted upon him from eternity, so that his own Will is only the echo of the Will of the Universe, yet that consciousness of " free-will " is valu- able; and if he really understands it as being the partial and individual expression of that internal motion in a Universe whose sum is res…
1913 · PDF PAGE 141
129 Now though this Pantacle is composed only of shams, some shams somehow seem to be more false than others. The whole Universe is an illusion, but it is an illusion difficult to get rid of. It is true compared with most things. But ninety-nine out of every hundred impressions are false even in relation to the things on their own plane. Such distinctions must be graven deeply upon the surface of the Pantacle by the Holy Dagger. There is only one other of the elemental Instruments to be considered, namely the Lamp.
1913 · PDF PAGE 171
… both placed in the triangle and worn on the breast; but in this case, since that 1 Scholars are uncertain as to what these really were, though apparently they were methods of divination. 159
1913 · PDF PAGE 23
CHAPTER II THE CIRCLE THE Circle announces the Nature of the Great Work. Though the Magician has been Umited in his choice of room, he is more or less able to choose what part of the room he will work in. He will consider convenience and possibility. His circle should not be too small and cramp his movements; it should not be so large that he has long distances to traverse. Once the circle is made and consecrated, the Magician must not leave it, or even lean outside, lest he be de- stroyed by the hostile forces that are without. He chooses a ci…
1913 · PDF PAGE 102
…in. This is a mystical charge to the new-born soul to keep still, to remain steadfast in meditation ; for, in Bye^ Beth is the letter of thought, Yod that of the Hermit. It tells the soul that the Father of All will clothe him about with His own majestical silence. For is not the rabbit he " who lay low and said nuffin ' "? Pat-a-cake, pat-a-cake, baker's man ! Bake me a cake as fast as you can ! Pat it and prick it and mark it with P ! Bake it in the oven for baby and me ! This rime is usually accompanied (even to-day in the nursery) with a ce…
1913 · PDF PAGE 81
… The savage has none but the most simple associations of ideas. Even the ordinary civilized man goes very little further. All advance in thought is made by collecting the greatest possible number of facts, classifying them, and grouping them. The philologist, though perhaps he only speaks one language, has a much higher type of mind than the linguist who speaks twenty. This Tree of Thought is exactly paralleled by the tree of nervous structure. Very many people go about nowadays who are exceedingly " well- informed," but who have not the slight…
1913 · PDF PAGE 108
…lt, for steel is the metal of Mars, as copper is of Venus. Those two planets are male and female —and thus reflect the Wand and the Cup, though in a much lower sense. The hilt is of Venus, for Love is the motive of this ruthless analysis — if this were not so the sword would be a Black Magical weapon. The pommel of the Sword is in Death, the guard extends to Chesed and Geburah; the point is in jNIalkuth. Some magi make the three spheres of lead, tin, and gold respectively; the moons are silver, and the grip contains quicksilver, thus making the…
1913 · PDF PAGE 140
…n order to do it, it is most necessary to understand our tendencies, and to will the development of one, the destruction of another. And though all elements in the Pantacle must ultimately be destroyed, yet some will help us directly to reach a position from which this task of destruction becomes possible; and there is no element therein which may not be occasionally helpful. And so —beware ! Select ! Select ! Select ! This Pantacle is an infinite storehouse; things will always be there when we want them. We may see to it occasionally that they…
1913 · PDF PAGE 88
…ne of Heaven," and it is that Dew which bathes the body of the Adept " in a sweet-smelling perfume of sweat."' ^ In this cup, therefore, though all things are placed, by virtue of this ^ See Liber Legis. Equinox VIT.
1913 · PDF PAGE 60
48 And though a man may have a tremendous Will in one direction it need not always be sufficient to help him in another ; it may even be stupid. There is the story of the man who practised for forty years to walk across the Ganges; and, having succeeded, was reproached by his Holy Guru, who said: "You are a great fool. All your neighbours have been crossing every day on a raft for two pice." This occurs to most, perhaps to all, of us in our careers. We spend infinite pains to learn something, to achieve something, which when gained does not see…
1913 · PDF PAGE 119
… record of events. Even the common physical bases of emotion, the senses of pleasure and pain, lead the observer infallibly to err. This though they be not sufficiently excited to disturb his mind. Plunge one hand into a basin of hot water, the other into a basin of cold water, then both together into a basin of tepid water; the one hand will say hot, the other cold. Even in instruments themselves, their physical qualities, such as ex- pansion and contraction (which may be called, in a way, the roots of pleasure and pain), cause error. Make a t…
1913 · PDF PAGE 110
98 Its function is to keep off the enemy or to force a passage through them —and though it must be wielded to gain admission to the palace, it cannot be worn at the marriage feast. One might say that the Pantacle is the bread of life, and the Sword the knife which cuts it up. One must have ideas, but one must criticize them. The Sword, too, is that weapon with which one strikes terror into the demons and dominates them. One must keep the Ego Lord of the impressions. One must not allow the circle to be broken by the demon; one must not allow any…
1913 · PDF PAGE 133
…s not some coherence with the general plan of the mind. All Pantacles will contain the ultimate conceptions of the circle and the cross, though some will prefer to replace the cross by a point, or by a Tau, or by a triangle. The Vesica Piscis is sometimes used instead of the circle, or the circle may be glyphed as a serpent. Time and space and the idea of causality are sometimes represented; so also are the three stages in the history of philosophy, in which the three objects of study were successively Nature, God, and Man. The duality of consc…
1913 · PDF PAGE 131
…ls of whom that chalk is the remains? This then is a very great difficulty for the Magician. He cannot possibly have all experience, and though he may console himself philo- sophically with the reflection that the Universe is conterminous with such experience as he has, he will find it grow at such a pace during the'early years of his life that he may almost be tempted to believe in the possibility of experiences beyond his own, and from a practical standpoint he will seem to be confronted with so many avenues of knowledge that he will be bewil…
1913 · PDF PAGE 52
…trong enough to obtain anything we want without loss of time. It is therefore necessary to develop the will to its high- est point, even though the last task but one is the total sur- render of this will. Partial surrender of an imperfect will is of no account in Magick. The will being a lever, a fulcrum is necessary; this fulcrum is the main aspiration of the student to attain. All wills which are not de- pendent upon this principal will are so many leakages ; they are like fat to the athlete. The majority of the people in this world are ataxi…
1913 · PDF PAGE 65
…n? How shall I interpret this Word of God Most High?" The Magus thinks: "How shall I use this slug?" And in this course he must persist. Though many things useless, so far as he can see, are sent to him, one day he will find the one thing he needs, while his Understanding will appreciate the fact that none of those other things were useless. So with these early practices of renunciation it will now be clearly understood that they were but of temporary use. They were only of value as training. The adept will laugh over his early absurdities —the…
1913 · PDF PAGE 72
6o Just as if you tell a child not to do a thing —no matter what —it will immediately want to do it, though otherwise the idea might never have entered its head, so it is with the saint. "We have all of us these tendencies latent in us; of most of them we might remain uncon- scious all our lives —unless they were awakened by our Magick. They he in ambush. And every one must be av^akened, and every one must be destroyed. Every one who signs the oath of a Proba- tioner is stirring up a hornets' nest. A man has only to affirm his conscious aspirat…
1913 · PDF PAGE 64
…n as a particular dealing of God with my soul." In Liber CLXXV many practical devices for attaining this one- pointedness are given, and though the subject of that book is devotion to a particular Deity, its instructions may be easily generalized to suit the development of any form of will. This will is then the active form of understanding. The Master of
1913 · PDF PAGE 87
…ing the light down and establishing it even in the abyss. Elementary as this is, it is a very satisfactory hieroglyph of the Great Work, though the student is warned that the obvious sentimental interpretation will have to be dis- carded as soon as it has been understood. It is a very noble illusion, and therefore a very dangerous one, to figure one's self as the Redeemer. For, of all the illusions in this Cup —the subtler and purer they are, the more difficult they are to detect.