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Magick in Theory and Practice by Aleister Crowley
1989 e.v. key entry and proof reading with re-format and ASCII conversion
9/18/90 e.v. done by Bill Heidrick, T.G. of O.T.O.
(further proof reading desirable)
disk 1 of 4
Copyright (c) O.T.O.
O.T.O.
P.O.Box 430
Fairfax, CA 94930
USA
(415) 454-5176 ---- Messages only.
LIMITED LICENSE
Except for notations added to the history of modification, the text on this
diskette down to the next row of asterisks must accompany all copies made of
this file. In particular, this paragraph and the copyright notice are not to
be deleted or changed on any copies or print-outs of this file. With these
provisos, anyone may copy this file for personal use or research. Copies may
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*************************************************************************
Pages in the original are marked thus at the bottom: {page number}
Comments and notes not in the original are identified with the initials of the
source: AC note = Crowley note. WEH note = Bill Heidrick note, etc.
footnotes have been moved up to the point of citation in the text and set off
by <<... >> just before and after the note.
**************************************************************************
Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law
MAGICK
IN THEORY AND
PRACTICE
by
The Master Therion
Aleister Crowley
{Based on the Castle Books edition of New York}
HYMN TO PAN
epsilon-phi-rho-iota-xi epsilon-rho-omega-tau-iota
pi-epsilon-rho-iota-alpha-rho-chi-eta-sigma delta
alpha-nu-epsilon-pi-tau-omicron-mu-alpha-nu
iota-omega iota-omega pi-alpha-nu pi-alpha-nu
omega -pi-alpha-nu pi-alpha-nu
alpha-lambda-iota-pi-lambda-alpha-gamma-chi-tau-epsilon,
chi-upsilon-lambda-lambda-alpha-nu-iota-alpha-sigma
chi-iota-omicron-nu-omicron-chi-tau-upsilon-pi-omicron-iota
pi-epsilon-tau-rho-alpha-iota-alpha-sigma alpha-pi-omicron
delta-epsilon-iota-rho-alpha-delta-omicron-sigma phi-alpha-nu-eta-theta,
omega theta-epsilon-omega-nu chi-omicron-rho-omicron-pi-omicron-iota
alpha-nu-alpha-xi
SOPH. AJ.
Thrill with lissome lust of the light,
O man! My man!
Come careering out of the night
Of Pan! Io Pan!
Io Pan! Io Pan! Come over the sea
From Sicily and from Arcady!
Roaming as Bacchus, with fauns and pards
And nymphs and satyrs for thy guards,
On a milk-white ass, come over the sea
To me, to me,
Come with Apollo in bridal dress
(Shepherdess and pythoness)
Come with Artemis, silken shod,
And wash thy white thigh, beautiful God,
In the moon of the woods, on the marble mount,
The dimpled dawn of the amber fount!
Dip the purple of passionate prayer
In the crimson shrine, the scarlet snare,
The soul that startles in eyes of blue {V}
To watch thy wantonness weeping through
The tangled grove, the gnarled bole
Of the living tree that is spirit and soul
And body and brain --- come over the sea,
(Io Pan! Io Pan!)
Devil or god, to me, to me,
My man! my man!
Come with trumpets sounding shrill
Over the hill!
Come with drums low muttering
From the spring!
Come with flute and come with pipe!
Am I not ripe?
I, who wait and writhe and wrestle
With air that hath no boughs to nestle
My body, weary of empty clasp,
Strong as a lion and sharp as an asp ---
Come, O come!
I am numb
With the lonely lust of devildom.
Thrust the sword through the galling fetter,
All-devourer, all-begetter;
Give me the sign of the Open Eye,
And the token erect of thorny thigh,
And the word of madness and mystery,
O Pan! Io Pan!
Io Pan! Io Pan Pan! Pan Pan! Pan,
I am a man:
Do as thou wilt, as a great god can,
O Pan! Io Pan!
Io Pan! Io Pan Pan! I am awake
in the grip of the snake.
The eagle slashes with beak and claw;
The gods withdraw:
The great beasts come, Io Pan! I am borne
To death on the horn
Of the Unicorn.
I am Pan! Io Pan! Io Pan Pan! Pan! {VI}
I am thy mate, I am thy man,
Goat of thy flock, I am gold, I am god,
Flesh to thy bone, flower to thy rod.
With hoofs of steel I race on the rocks
Through solstice stubborn to equinox.
And I rave; and I rape and I rip and I rend
Everlasting, world without end,
Mannikin, maiden, Maenad, man,
In the might of Pan.
Io Pan! Io Pan Pan! Pan! Io Pan!
-------------
{VII}
{Illustration on page VIII described:
This is the set of photos originally published facing page 12 in EQUINOX I,
2 and titled there: "The Signs of the Grades."
These are arranged as ten panels: * * * *
* *
* *
*
*
In this re-publication, the original half-tones have been redone as line
copy. Each panel consists of an illustration of a single human in a black Tau
robe, barefoot with hood completely closed over the face. The hood displays a
six-pointed figure on the forehead --- presumably the radiant eye of Horus of
the A.'. A.'., but the rendition is too poor in detail. There is a cross
pendant over the heart. The ten panels are numbered in black in the lower left
corner.
The panels are identified by two columns of numbered captions, 1 to 6 to the
left and 7 to 10 to the right. The description is bottom to top and left to
right:
"1. Earth: the god Set fighting." Frontal figure. Rt. foot pointed to the fore
and angled slightly outward with weight on ball of foot. Lf. heel almost
touching Rt. heel and foot pointed left. Arms form a diagonal with body, right
above head and in line with left at waist height. Hands palmer and open with
fingers outstretched and together. Head erect.
"2. Air: The god Shu supporting the sky." Frontal. Heels together and slightly
angled apart to the front, flat on floor. Head down. Arms angled up on either
side of head about head 1.5 ft. from head to wrist and crooked as if supporting
a ceiling just at head height with the finger tips. The palms face upward and
the backs of the hands away from the head. Thumbs closed to side of palms.
Fingers straight and together.
"3. Water: the goddess Auramoth." Same body and foot position as #2, but head
erect. Arms are brought down over the chest so that the thumbs touch above the
heart and the backs of the hands are to the front. The fingers meet below the
heart, forming between thumbs and fingers the descending triangle of water.
"4. Fire: the goddess Thoum-aesh-neith." Frontal. Head and body like #3. Arms
are angled so that the thumbs meet in a line over the brow. Palmer side facing.
Fingers meet above head, forming between thumbs and fingers the ascending
triangle of fire.
"5,6. Spirit: the rending and closing of the veil." Head erect in both. #5 has
the same body posture as #1, except that the left and right feet are
countercharged and flat on the floor with the heels in contact. Arms and hands
are crooked forward at shoulder level such that the hands appear to be clawing
open a split veil --- hands have progressed to a point that the forearms are
invisible, being directly pointed at the front. Lower arms are flat and
horizontal in the plain of the image.
#6. has the same body posture as #1, feet in same position as #5. The arms are
elbow down against abdomen, with hands forward over heart in claws such that the
knuckles are touching. Passing from #5 to #6 or vice versa is done by motion
of shoulders and rotation of wrists. This is different from the other sign of
opening the veil, the Sign of the Enterer, which is done with hands flat palm
to palm and then spread without rotation of wrists.
"7-10. The L V X signs."
"7. + Osiris slain --- the cross." Body and feet as in #2. Head bowed. Arms
directly horizontal from the shoulders in the plane of the image. Hands with
fingers together, thumbs to side of palm and palmer side forward. The tau shape
of the robe dominates the image.
"8. L Isis mourning --- the Svastica." The body is in semi-profile, head down
slightly and facing right of photograph. The arms, hands, legs and feet are
positioned to define a swastika. Left foot flat, carrying weight and angled
toward the right of the photo. Right foot toe down behind the figure to the
left in the photo. Right upper arm due left in photo and forearm vertical with
fingers closed and pointing upward. Left arm smoothly canted down to the right
of the panel, with fingers closed and pointed down.
"9. V Typhon --- the Trident." Figure frontal and standing on tip toe, toes
forward and heels not touching. Head back. Arms angled in a "V" with the body
to the top and outward in the plain of the photo. Fingers and thumbs as #7, but
continuing the lines of the arms.
"10. X Osiris risen --- the Pentagram." Body and feet as in #7. Head directly
frontal and level. Arms crossed over heart, right over left with hands
extended, fingers closed and thumb on side such that the palms rest on the two
opposite shoulders.}
INTRODUCTION
"Epsilon-sigma-sigma-epsilon-alpha-iota
alpha-theta-alpha-nu-alpha-tau-omicron-sigma theta-epsilon-omicron-sigma,
alpha-mu-beta-rho-omicron-tau-omicron-sigma, omicron-upsilon-chi
epsilon-tau-iota theta-nu-eta-tau-omicron-sigma
Pythagoras.
"Magic is the Highest, most Absolute, and most Divine Knowledge of Natural
Philosophy, advanced in its works and wonderful operations by a right
understanding of the inward and occult virtue of things; so that true Agents
being applied to proper Patients, strange and admirable effects will thereby be
produced. Whence magicians are profound and diligent searchers into Nature;
they, because of their skill, know how to anticipate an effect, the which to the
vulgar shall seem to be a miracle."
"The Goetia of the Lemegeton of King Solomon."
"Wherever sympathetic magic occurs in its pure unadulterated form, it is
assumed that in nature one event follows another necessarily and invariably
without the intervention of any spiritual or personal agency.
Thus its fundamental conception is identical with that of modern science;
underlying the whole system is a faith, implicit but real and firm, in the order
and uniformity of nature. The magician does not doubt that the same causes will
always produce the same effects, that the performance of the proper ceremony
accompanied by the appropriate spell, will inevitably be attended by the desired
results, unless, indeed, his incantations should chance to be thwarted and
foiled by the more potent charms of another sorcerer. He supplicates no higher
power: he sues the favour of no fickle and wayward being: he abases himself
before no awful deity. Yet his power, great as he believes it to be, is by no
means arbitrary and unlimited. He can wield it only so long as he strictly
conforms to the rules of his art, or to what may be called the laws of nature
as conceived by {IX} him. To neglect these rules, to break these laws in the
smallest particular is to incur failure, and may even expose the unskilful
practitioner himself to the utmost peril. If he claims a sovereignty over
nature, it is a constitutional sovereignty rigorously limited in its scope and
exercised in exact conformity with ancient usage. Thus the analogy between the
magical and the scientific conceptions of the world is close. In both of them
the succession of events is perfectly regular and certain, being determined by
immutable laws, the operation of which can be foreseen and calculated precisely;
the elements of caprice, of chance, and of accident are banished from the course
of nature. Both of them open up a seemingly boundless vista of possibilities
to him who knows the causes of things and can touch the secret springs that set
in motion the vast and intricate mechanism of the world. Hence the strong
attraction which magic and science alike have exercised on the human mind; hence
the powerful stimulus that both have given to the pursuit of knowledge. They
lure the weary enquirer, the footsore seeker, on through the wilderness of
disappointment in the present by their endless promises of the future: they take
him up to he top of an exceeding high mountain and shew him, beyond the dark
clouds and rolling mists at his feet, a vision of the celestial city, far off,
it may be, but radiant with unearthly splendour, bathed in the light of dreams."
Dr. J. G. FRAZER, "The Golden Bough"."
"So far, therefore, as the public profession of magic has been one of the
roads by which men have passed to supreme power, it has contributed to
emancipate mankind from the thraldom of tradition and to elevate them into a
larger, freer life, with a broader outlook on the world. This is no small
service rendered to humanity. And when we remember further that in another
direction magic has paved the way for science, we are forced to admit that if
the black art has done much evil, it has also been the source of much good; that
if it is the child of error, it has yet been the mother of freedom and truth."
Ibid.
{X}
"Prove all things; hold fast that which is good."
St. Paul.
"Also the mantras and spells; the obeah and the wanga; the work of the wand
and the work of the sword; these he shall learn and teach."
"He must teach; but he may make severe the ordeals."
"The word of the Law is Theta-epsilon-lambda-eta-mu-alpha."
LIBER AL vel xxxi: The Book of the Law.
-------------
This book is for
ALL:
for every man, woman, and child.
My former work has been misunderstood, and its scope limited, by my use of
technical terms. It has attracted only too many dilettanti and eccentrics,
weaklings seeking in "Magic" an escape from reality. I myself was first
consciously drawn to the subject in this way. And it has repelled only too many
scientific and practical minds, such as I most designed to influence.
But
MAGICK
is for
ALL.
I have written this book to help the Banker, the Pugilist, the Biologist, the
Poet, the Navvy, the Grocer, the Factory Girl, the Mathematician, the
Stenographer, the Golfer, the Wife, the Consul --- and all the rest --- to
fulfil themselves perfectly, each in his or her own proper function.
Let me explain in a few words how it came about that I blazoned the word
MAGICK
upon the Banner that I have borne before me all my life.
Before I touched my teens, I was already aware that I was THE BEAST whose
number is 666. I did not understand in the least {XI} 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 deceptions 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", "Spiritualism", "Occultism",
"Mysticism", all involved undesirable connotations.
I chose therefore the name.
"MAGICK"
as essentially the most sublime, and actually the most discredited, of all the
available terms.
I swore to rehabilitate
MAGICK
to identify it with my own career; and to compel mankind to respect, love, and
trust that which they scorned, hated and feared. I have kept my Word.
But the time is now come for me to carry my banner into the thick of the
press of human life.
I must make
MAGICK
the essential factor in the life of
ALL.
In presenting this book to the world, I must then explain and justify my
position by formulating a definition of
MAGICK
and setting forth its main principles in such a way that
ALL
may understand instantly that their souls, their lives, in every relation with
every other human being and every circumstance, depend upon
MAGICK
and the right comprehension and right application thereof.
I. "DEFINITION."
MAGICK
is the Science and Art of causing Change to occur in conformity with Will.
{XII}
(Illustration: It is my Will to inform the World of certain facts within my
knowledge. I therefore take "magical weapons", pen, ink, and paper; I write
"incantations" --- these sentences --- in the "magical language" i.e. that which
is understood by the people I wish to instruct; I call forth "spirits", such as
printers, publishers, booksellers, and so forth, and constrain them to convey
my message to those people. The composition and distribution of this book is
thus an act of
MAGICK
by which I cause changes to take place in conformity with my Will<<By
"Intentional" I mean "willed". But even unintentional acts so-seeming are not
truly so. Thus, breathing is an act of the Will-to-Live.>>)
II. "POSTULATE."
ANY required Change may be effected by the application of the proper kind and
degree of force in the proper manner through the proper medium to the proper
object.
(Illustration: I wish to prepare an ounce of Chloride of Gold. I must take
the right kind of acid, nitro-hydrochloric and no other, in sufficient quantity
and of adequate strength, and place it, in a vessel which will not break, leak,
or corrode, in such a manner as will not produce undesirable results, with the
necessary quantity of Gold: and so forth. Every Change has its own conditions.
In the present state of our knowledge and power some changes are not possible
in practice; we cannot cause eclipses, for instance, or transform lead into tin,
or create men from mushrooms. But it is theoretically possible to cause in any
object any change of which that object is capable by nature; and the conditions
are covered by the above postulate.)
III. "THEOREMS."
(1) Every intentional act is a Magical Act.<<In one sense Magick may be defined
as the name given to Science
by the vulgar.>>
(Illustration: See "Definition" above.) {XIII}
(2) Every successful act has conformed to the postulate.
(3) Every failure proves that one or more requirements of the postulate have
not been fulfilled.
(Illustrations: There may be failure to understand the case; as when a doctor
makes a wrong diagnosis, and his treatment injures his patient. There may be
failure to apply the right kind of force, as when a rustic tries to blow out an
electric light. There may be failure to apply the right degree of force, as
when a wrestler has his hold broken. There may be failure to apply the force
in the right manner, as when one presents a cheque at the wrong window of the
Bank. There may be failure to employ the correct medium, as when Leonardo da
Vinci found his masterpiece fade away. The force may be applied to an
unsuitable object, as when one tries to crack a stone, thinking it a nut.)
(4) The first requisite for causing any change is through qualitative and
quantitative understanding of the conditions.
(Illustration: The most common cause of failure in life is ignorance of one's
own True Will, or of the means by which to fulfil that Will. A man may fancy
himself a painter, and waste his life trying to become one; or he may be really
a painter, and yet fail to understand and to measure the difficulties peculiar
to that career.)
(5) The second requisite of causing any change is the practical ability to
set in right motion the necessary forces.
(Illustration: A banker may have a perfect grasp of a given situation, yet
lack the quality of decision, or the assets, necessary to take advantage of it.)
(6) "Every man and every woman is a star." That is to say, every human being
is intrinsically an independent individual with his own proper character and
proper motion.
(7) Every man and every woman has a course, depending partly on the self, and
partly on the environment which is natural and necessary for each. Anyone who
is forced from his own course, either through not understanding himself, or
through external opposition, comes into conflict with the order of the Universe,
and suffers accordingly. {XIV}
(Illustration: A man may think it his duty to act in a certain way, through
having made a fancy picture of himself, instead of investigating his actual
nature. For example, a woman may make herself miserable for life by thinking
that she prefers love to social consideration, or "vice versa". One woman may
stay with an unsympathetic husband when she would really be happy in an attic
with a lover, while another may fool herself into a romantic elopement when her
only true pleasures are those of presiding at fashionable functions. Again, a
boy's instinct may tell him to go to sea, while his parents insists on his
becoming a doctor. In such a case, he will be both unsuccessful and unhappy in
medicine.)
(8) A Man whose conscious will is at odds with his True Will is wasting his
strength. He cannot hope to influence his environment efficiently.
(Illustration: When Civil War rages in a nation, it is in no condition to
undertake the invasion of other countries. A man with cancer employs his
nourishment alike to his own use and to that of the enemy which is part of
himself. He soon fails to resist the pressure of his environment. In practical
life, a man who is doing what his conscience tells him to be wrong will do it
very clumsily. At first!)
(9) A man who is doing this True Will has the inertia of the Universe to
assist him.
(Illustration: The first principle of success in evolution is that the
individual should be true to his own nature, and at the same time adapt himself
to his environment.)
(10) Nature is a continuous phenomenon, though we do not know in all cases
how things are connected.
(Illustration: Human consciousness depends on the properties of protoplasm,
the existence of which depends on innumerable physical conditions peculiar to
this planet; and this planet is determined by the mechanical balance of the
whole universe of matter. We may then say that our consciousness is causally
connected with the remotest galaxies; yet we do not know even how it arises from
--- or with --- the molecular changes in the brain.)
(11) Science enables us to take advantage of the continuity of Nature by the
empirical application of certain {XV} principles whose interplay involves
different orders of idea connected with each other in a way beyond our present
comprehension.
(Illustration: We are able to light cities by rule-of-thumb methods. We do
not know what consciousness is, or how it is connected with muscular action;
what electricity is or how it is connected with the machines that generate it;
and our methods depend on calculations involving mathematical ideas which have
no correspondence in the Universe as we know it.<<For instance, "irrational",
"unreal", and "infinite" expressions.>>)
(12) Man is ignorant of the nature of his own being and powers. Even his
idea of his limitations is based on experience of the past, and every step in
his progress extends his empire. There is therefore no reason to assign
theoretical limits<<i.e., except --- possibly --- in the case of logically
absurd questions, such as the Schoolmen discussed in connection with "God".>>
to what he may be, or to what he may do.
(Illustration: A generation ago it was supposed theoretically impossible that
man should ever know the chemical composition of the fixed stars. It is known
that our senses are adapted to receive only an infinitesimal fraction of the
possible rates of vibration. Modern instruments have enabled us to detect some
of these suprasensibles by indirect methods, and even to use their peculiar
qualities in the service of man, as in the case of the rays of Hertz and
Rontgen. As Tyndall said, man might at any moment learn to perceive and utilise
vibrations of all conceivable and inconceivable kinds. The question of Magick
is a question of discovering and employing hitherto unknown forces in nature.
We know that they exist, and we cannot doubt the possibility of mental or
physical instruments capable of bringing us into relation with them.)
(13) Every man is more or less aware that his individuality comprises
several orders of existence, even when he maintains that his subtler principles
are merely symptomatic of the changes in his gross vehicle. A similar order may
be assumed to extend throughout nature.
(Illustration: One does not confuse the pain of toothache with {XVI} the
decay which causes it. Inanimate objects are sensitive to certain physical
forces, such as electrical and thermal conductivity; but neither in us nor in
them --- so far as we know --- is there any direct conscious perception of these
forces. Imperceptible influences are therefore associated with all material
phenomena; and there is no reason why we should not work upon matter through
those subtle energies as we do through their material bases. In fact, we use
magnetic force to move iron, and solar radiation to reproduce images.)
(14) Man is capable of being, and using, anything which he perceives, for
everything that he perceives 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 fellow, 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 construction
of mechanical devices. He has used his moral force to influence the actions
even of wild animals. He has employed poetic genius for political purposes.)
(15) Every force in the Universe is capable of being transformed into any
other kind of force by using suitable means. There is thus an inexhaustible
supply of any particular kind of force that we may need.
(Illustration: Heat may be transformed into light and power by using it to
drive dynamos. The vibrations of the air may be used to kill men by so ordering
them in speech as to inflame war-like passions. The hallucinations connected
with the mysterious energies of sex result in the perpetuation of the species.)
(16) The application of any given force affects all the orders of being which
exist in the object to which it is applied, whichever of those orders is
directly affected.
(Illustration: If I strike a man with a dagger, his consciousness, not his body
only, is affected by my act; although the dagger, as such, has no direct
relation therewith. Similarly, the power of {XVII} my thought may so work on
the mind of another person as to produce far-reaching physical changes in him,
or in others through him.)
(17) A man may learn to use any force so as to serve any purpose, by taking
advantage of the above theorems.
(Illustration: A man may use a razor to make himself vigilant over his
speech, but using it to cut himself whenever he unguardedly utters a chosen
word. He may serve the same purpose by resolving that every incident of his
life shall remind him of a particular thing, making every impression the
starting point of a connected series of thoughts ending in that thing. He might
also devote his whole energies to some one particular object, by resolving to
do nothing at variance therewith, and to make every act turn to the advantage
of that object.)
(18) He may attract to himself any force of the Universe by making himself
a fit receptacle for it, establishing a connection with it, and arranging
conditions so that its nature compels it to flow toward him.
(Illustration: If I want pure water to drink, I dig a well in a place where
there is underground water; I prevent 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 oppose 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 exception is the
organ of reproduction. Yet even in this case its self-assertion bears witness
to its dissatisfaction with itself, since it cannot fulfil its function until
completed by its counterpart in another organism.
(20) Man can only attract and employ the forces for which he is really
fitted.
(Illustration: You cannot make a silk purse out of a sow's ear. A {XVIII}
true man of science learns from every phenomenon. But Nature is dumb to the
hypocrite; for in her there is nothing false.<<It is no objection that the
hypocrite is himself part of Nature. He is an "endothermic" product, divided
against himself, with a tendency to break up. He will see his own qualities
everywhere, and thus obtain a radical misconception of phenomena. Most
religions of the past have failed by expecting Nature to conform with their
ideals of proper conduct.>>)
(21) There is no limit to the extent of the relations of any man with the
Universe in essence; for as soon as man makes himself one with any idea the
means of measurement cease to exist. But his power to utilize that force is
limited by his mental power and capacity, and by the circumstances of his human
environment.
(Illustration: When a man falls in love, the whole world becomes, to him,
nothing but love boundless and immanent; but his mystical state is not
contagious; his fellow-men are either amused or annoyed. He can only extend to
others the effect which his love has had upon himself by means of his mental and
physical qualities. Thus, Catullus, Dante and Swinburn made their love a mighty
mover of mankind by virtue of their power to put their thoughts on the subject
in musical and eloquent language. Again, Cleopatra and other people in
authority moulded the fortunes of many other people by allowing love to
influence their political actions. The Magician, however well he succeed in
making contact with the secret sources of energy in nature, can only use them
to the extent permitted by his intellectual and moral qualities. Mohammed's
intercourse with Gabriel was only effective because of his statesmanship,
soldiership, and the sublimity of his command of Arabic. Hertz's discovery of
the rays which we now use for wireless telegraphy was sterile until reflected
through the minds and wills of the people who could take his truth, and transmit
it to the world of action by means of mechanical and economic instruments.)
(22) every individual is essentially sufficient to himself. But he is
unsatisfactory to himself until he has established himself in his right relation
with the Universe.
(Illustration: A microscope, however perfect, is useless in the {XIX} hands
of savages. A poet, however sublime, must impose himself upon his generation
if he is to enjoy (and even to understand) himself, as theoretically should be
the case.)
(23) Magick is the Science of understanding oneself and one's conditions.
It is the Art of applying that understanding in action.
(Illustration: A golf club is intended to move a special ball in a special
way in special circumstances. A Niblick should rarely be used on the tee, or
a Brassie under the bank of a bunker. But also, the use of any club demands
skill and experience.)
(24) Every man has an indefeasible right to be what he is.
(Illustration: To insist that any one else shall comply with one's own
standards is to outrage, not only him, but oneself, since both parties are
equally born of necessity.)
(25) Every man must do Magick each time that he acts or even thinks, since a
thought is an internal act whose influence ultimately affects action, thought
it may not do so at the time.
(Illustration: The least gesture causes a change in a man's own body and in
the air around him; it disturbs the balance of the entire Universe, and its
effects continue eternally throughout all space. Every thought, however swiftly
suppressed, has its effect on the mind. It stands as one of the causes of every
subsequent thought, and tends to influence every subsequent action. A golfer
may lose a few yards on his drive, a few more with his second and third, he may
lie on the green six bare inches too far from the hole; but the net result of
these trifling mishaps is the difference of a whole stroke, and so probably
between halving and losing the hole.)
(26) Every man has a right, the right of self-preservation, to fulfil himself
to the utmost.<<Men of "criminal nature" are simply at issue with their true
Wills. The murderer has the Will-to-Live; and his will to murder is a false
will at variance with his true Will, since he risks death at the hands of
Society by obeying his criminal impulse.>>
(Illustration: A function imperfectly preformed injures, not {XX} only
itself, but everything associated with it. If the heart is afraid to beat for
fear of disturbing the liver, the liver is starved for blood, and avenges itself
on the heart by upsetting digestion, which disorders respiration, on which
cardiac welfare depends.)
(27) Every man should make Magick the keynote of his life. He should learn
its laws and live by them.
(Illustration: The Banker should discover the real meaning of his existence,
the real motive which led him to choose that profession. He should understand
banking as a necessary factor in the economic existence of mankind, instead of
as merely a business whose objects are independent of the general welfare. He
should learn to distinguish false values from real, and to act not on accidental
fluctuations but on considerations of essential importance. Such a banker will
prove himself superior to others; because he will not be an individual limited
by transitory things, but a force of Nature, as impersonal, impartial and
eternal as gravitation, as patient and irresistible as the tides. His system
will not be subject to panic, any more than the law of Inverse Squares is
disturbed by Elections. He will not be anxious about his affairs because they
will not be his; and for that reason he will be able to direct them with the
calm, clear-headed confidence of an onlooker, with intelligence unclouded by
self-interest and power unimpaired by passion.)
(28) Every man has a right to fulfil his own will without being afraid that
it may interfere with that of others; for if he is in his proper place, it is
the fault of others if they interfere with him.
(Illustration: If a man like Napoleon were actually appointed by destiny to
control Europe, he should not be blamed for exercising his rights. To oppose
him would be an error. Any one so doing would have made a mistake as to his own
destiny, except in so far as it might be necessary for him to learn to lessons
of defeat. The sun moves in space without interference. The order of Nature
provides an orbit for each star. A clash proves that one or the other has
strayed from his course. But as to each man that keeps his true course, the
more firmly he acts, the less likely are others to get in his way. His example
will help {XXI} them to find their own paths and pursue them. Every man that
becomes a Magician helps others to do likewise. The more firmly and surely men
move, and the more such action is accepted as the standard of morality, the less
will conflict and confusion hamper humanity.)
--------------
I hope that the above principles will demonstrate to
ALL
that their welfare, their very existence, is bound up in
MAGICK.
I trust that they will understand, not only the reasonableness, but the
necessity of the fundamental truth which I was the means of giving to mankind:
"Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law."
I trust that they will assert themselves as individually absolute, that they
will grasp the fact that it is their right to assert themselves, and to
accomplish the task for which their nature fits them. Yea, more, that this is
their duty, and that not only to themselves but to others, a duty founded upon
universal necessity, and not to be shirked on account of any casual
circumstances of the moment which may seem to put such conduct in the light of
inconvenience or even of cruelty.
I hope that the principles outlined above will help them to understand this
book, and prevent them from being deterred from its study by the more or less
technical language in which it is written.
The essence of
MAGICK
is simple enough in all conscience. It is not otherwise with the art of
government. The Aim is simply prosperity; but the theory is tangled, and the
practice beset with briars.
In the same way
MAGICK
is merely to be and to do. I should add: "to suffer". For Magick is the verb;
and it is part of the Training to use the passive voice. This is, however, a
matter of Initiation rather than of Magick in {XXII} its ordinary sense. It is
not my fault if being is baffling, and doing desperate!
Yet, once the above principles are firmly fixed in the mind, it is easy
enough to sum up the situation very shortly. One must find out for oneself, and
make sure beyond doubt, "who" one is, "what" one is, "why" one is. This done,
one may put the will which is implicit in the "Why" into words, or rather into
One Word. Being thus conscious of the proper course to pursue, the next thing
is to understand the conditions necessary to following it out. After that, one
must eliminate from oneself every element alien or hostile to success, and
develop those parts of oneself which are specially needed to control the
aforesaid conditions.
Let us make an analogy. A nation must become aware of its own character
before it can be said to exist. From that knowledge it must divine its destiny.
It must then consider the political conditions of the world; how other countries
may help it or hinder it. It must then destroy it itself any elements
discordant with its destiny. Lastly, it must develop in itself those qualities
which will enable it to combat successfully the external conditions which
threaten to oppose is purpose. We have had a recent example in the case of the
young German Empire, which, knowing itself and its will, disciplined and trained
itself so that it conquered the neighbours which had oppressed it for so many
centuries. But after 1866 and 1870, 1914! It mistook itself for superhuman,
it willed a thing impossible, it failed to eliminate its own internal
jealousies, it failed to understand the conditions of victory,<<At least, it
allowed England to discover its intentions, and so to combine the world against
it. {WEH NOTE: This footnote in Crowley's text belongs to this page, but it is
not marked in the text. I have assigned it this tentative point, as following
the general context.>> it did not train itself to hold the sea, and thus, having
violated every principle of
MAGICK,
it was pulled down and broken into pieces by provincialism and democracy, so
that neither individual excellence nor civic virtue has yet availed to raise it
again to that majestic unity which made so bold a bid for the mastery of the
race of man.
The sincere student will discover, behind the symbolic technicalities of his
book, a practical method of making himself a {XXIII} Magician. The processes
described will enable him to discriminate between what he actually is, and what
he has fondly imagined himself to be<<Professor Sigmund Freud and his school
have, in recent years, discovered a part of this body of Truth, which has been
taught for many centuries in the Sanctuaries of Initiation. But failure to
grasp the fullness of Truth, especially that implied in my Sixth Theorem (above)
and its corollaries, has led him and his followers into the error of admitting
that the avowedly suicidal "Censor" is the proper arbiter of conduct. Official
psycho-analysis is therefore committed to upholding a fraud, although the
foundation of the science was the observation of the disastrous effects on the
individual of being false to his Unconscious Self, whose "writing on the wall"
in dream language is the record of the sum of the essential tendencies of the
true nature of the individual. The result has been that psycho-analysts have
misinterpreted life, and announced the absurdity that every human being is
essentially an anti-social, criminal, and insane animal. It is evident that the
errors of the Unconscious of which the psycho-analysts complain are neither more
nor less than the"original sin" of the theologians whom they despise so
heartily.>>. He must behold his soul in all its awful nakedness, he must not
fear to look on that appalling actuality. He must discard the gaudy garments
with which his shame has screened him; he must accept the fact that nothing can
make him anything but what he is. He may lie to himself, drug himself, hide
himself; but he is always there. Magick will teach him that his mind is playing
him traitor. It is as if a man were told that tailors' fashion-plates were the
canon of human beauty, so that he tried to make himself formless and featureless
like them, and shuddered with horror at the idea of Holbein making a portrait
of him. Magick will show him the beauty and majesty of the self which he has
tried to suppress and disguise.
Having discovered his identity, he will soon perceive his purpose. Another
process will show him how to make that purpose pure and powerful. He may then
learn how to estimate his environment, learn how to make allies, how to make
himself prevail against all powers whose error has caused them to wander across
his path.
In the course of this Training, he will learn to explore the Hidden Mysteries
of Nature, and to develop new senses and faculties in himself, whereby he may
communicate with, and control, Beings and Forces pertaining to orders of
existence which {XXIV} have been hitherto inaccessible to profane research, and
available only to that unscientific and empirical
MAGICK
(of tradition) which I came to destroy in order that I might fulfil.
I send this book into the world that every man and woman may take hold of
life in the proper manner. It does not matter of one's present house of flesh
be the hut of a shepherd; by virtue of my
MAGICK
he shall be such a shepherd as David was. If it be the studio of a sculptor,
he shall so chisel from himself the marble that masks his idea that he shall be
no less a master than Rodin.
Witness mine hand:
Tau-Omicron Mu-Epsilon-Gamma-Alpha Theta-Eta-Rho-Iota-Omicron-Nu
(Taw-Resh-Yod-Vau-Nunfinal ): The Beast 666; MAGUS 9 Degree = 2Square A.'. A.'.
who is The Word of the Aeon THELEMA; whose name is called V.V.V.V.V. 8 Degree
= 3Square A.'. A.'. in the City of the Pyramids; OU MH 7 Degree = 4Square A.'.
A.'.; OL SONUF VAORESAGI 6 Degree = 5Square, and ... ... 5 Degree = 6Square A.'.
A.'. in the Mountain of Abiegnus: but FRATER PERDURABO in the Outer Order or the
A.'. A.'. and in the World of men upon the Earth, Aleister Crowley of Trinity
College, Cambridge.
-----------
{XXV}
CONTENTS
-------
(This portion of the Book should be studied in connection with its Parts I. and
II.)
0 The Magical Theory of the Universe.
I The Principles of Ritual.
II The Formulae of the Elemental Weapons.
III The Formula of Tetragrammaton.
IV The Formula of Alhim: also that of Alim.
V The Formula of I. A. O.
VI The Formula of the Neophyte.
VII The Formula of the Holy Graal, of Abrahadabra, and of
Certain Other Words; with some remarks on the
Magical Memory.
VIII Of Equilibrium: and of the General and Particular Method
of Preparation of the Furniture of the Temple and the
Instruments of Art.
IX Of Silence and Secrecy: and of the Barbarous names of
Evocation.
X Of the Gestures.
XI Of Our Lady BABALON and of The Beast whereon
she rideth: also concerning Transformations.
XII Of the Bloody Sacrifice and Matters Cognate.
XIII Of the Banishings, and of the Purifications.
XIV Of the Consecrations: with an Account of the Nature and
Nurture of the Magical Link.
XVI (1) Of the Oath.
XV Of the Invocation.
XVI (2) Of the Charge to the Spirit: with some Account of the
Constrains and Curses occasionally necessary.
XVII Of the License to Depart.
XVIII Of Clairvoyance: and of the Body of Light, its Powers and
its Development. Also concerning Divinations.
XIX Of Dramatic Rituals.
XX Of the Eucharist: and of the Art of Alchemy.
XXI Of Black Magick: of the Main Types of the Operations of
Magick Art: and of the Powers of the Sphinx.
{XXVII}
CHAPTER 0
THE MAGICAL THEORY OF THE UNIVERSE
There are three main theories of the Universe; Dualism, Monism and Nihilism.
It is impossible to enter into a discussion of their relative merits in a
popular manual of this sort. They may be studied in Erdmann's "History of
Philosophy" and similar treatises.
All are reconciled and unified in the theory which we shall now set forth.
The basis of this Harmony is given in Crowley's
"Berashith" --- to which reference should be made.
Infinite space is called the goddess NUIT, while the infinitely small and
atomic yet omnipresent point is called HADIT.<<I present this theory in a very
simple form. I cannot even explain (for instance) that an idea may not refer
to Being at all, but to Going. The Book of the Law demands special study and
initiated apprehension.>> These are unmanifest. One conjunction of these
infinites is called RA-HOOR-KHUIT,<<More correctly, HERU-RA-HA, to include
HOOR-PAAR-KRAAT.>> a unity which includes and heads all things.<<The basis of
this theology is given in Liber CCXX, AL vel Legis which forms Part IV of this
Book 4. Hence I can only outline the matter in a very crude way; it would
require a separate treatise to discuss even the true meaning of the terms
employed, and to show how The Book of the Law anticipates the recent discoveries
of Frege, Cantor, Poincare, Russell, Whitehead, Einstein and others.>> (There
is also a particular Nature of Him, in certain conditions, such as have obtained
since the Spring of 1904, e.v.) This profoundly mystical conception {1} is
based upon actual spiritual experience, but the trained reason<<All advance in
understanding demands the acquisition of a new point-of-view. Modern
conceptions of Mathematics, Chemistry, and Physics are sheer paradox to the
"plain man" who thinks of Matter as something that one can knock up against.>>
can reach a reflection of this idea by the method of logical contradiction which
ends in reason transcending itself. The reader should consult "The Soldier and
the Hunchback" in Equinox I, I, and Konx Om Pax.
"Unity" transcends "consciousness". It is above all division. The Father
of thought --- the Word --- is called Chaos --- the dyad. The number Three, the
Mother, is called Babalon. In connection with this the reader should study "The
Temple of Solomon the King" in Equinox I, V, and Liber 418.
This first triad is essentially unity, in a manner transcending reason. The
comprehension of this Trinity is a matter of spiritual experience. All true
gods are attributed to this Trinity.<<Considerations of the Christian Trinity
are of a nature suited only to Initiates of the IX Degree of O.T.O., as they
enclose the final secret of all practical Magick.>>
An immeasurable abyss divides it from all manifestations of Reason or the
lower qualities of man. In the ultimate analysis of Reason, we find all reason
identified with this abyss. Yet this abyss is the crown of the mind. Purely
intellectual faculties all obtain here. This abyss has no number, for in it all
is confusion.
Below this abyss we find the moral qualities of Man, of which there are six.
The highest is symbolised by the number Four. Its nature is fatherly<<Each
conception is, however, balanced in itself. Four is also Daleth, the letter of
Venus; so that the mother-idea is included. Again, the Sephira of 4 is Chesed,
referred to Water. 4 is ruled by Jupiter, Lord of the Lightning (Fire) yet
ruler of Air. Each Sephira is complete in its way.>>; Mercy and Authority are
the attributes of its dignity.
The number Five is balanced against it. The attributes of Five are Energy
and Justice. Four and Five are again combined and harmonized in the number Six,
whose nature is beauty and harmony, mortality and immortality.
In the number Seven the feminine nature is again predominant, {2} but it is
the masculine type of female, the Amazon, who is balanced in the number Eight
by the feminine type of male.
In the number Nine we reach the last of the purely mental qualities. It
identifies change with stability.
Pendant to this sixfold system is the number Ten<<
The balance of the Sephiroth:
Kether (1) "Kether is in Malkuth, and Malkuth is in Kether, but
after another manner."
Chokmah (2) is Yod of Tetragrammaton, and therefore also Unity.
Binah (3) is He of Tetragrammaton, and therefore "The
Emperor."
Chesed (4) is Daleth, Venus the female.
Geburah (5) is the Sephira of Mars, the Male.
Tiphereth (6) is the Hexagram, harmonizing, and mediating between
Kether and Malkuth. Also it reflects Kether. "That
which is above, is like that which is below, and
that which is below, is like that which is above."
Netzach (7) and Hod (8) balanced as in text.
Jesod (9) see text.
Malkuth (10) contains all the numbers.>>
which includes the whole of Matter as we know it by the senses.
It is impossible here to explain thoroughly the complete conception; for it
cannot be too clearly understood that this is a "classification" of the
Universe, that there is nothing which is not comprehended therein.
The Article on the Qabalah in Vol. I, No. V of the Equinox is the best which
has been written on the subject. It should be deeply studied, in connection
with the Qabalistic Diagrams in Nos. II and III: "The Temple of Solomon the
King".
Such is a crude and elementary sketch of this system.
The formula of Tetragrammaton is the most important for the practical
magician. Here Yod = 2, He = 3, Vau = 4 to 9, He final = 10.
The Number Two represents Yod, the Divine or Archetypal World, and the Number
One is only attained by the destruction of the God and the Magician in Samadhi.
The world of Angels is under the numbers Four to Nine, and that of spirits under
the {3} number Ten.<<It is not possible to give a full account of the twenty-two
"paths" in this condensed sketch. They should be studied in view of all their
attributes in 777, but more especially that in which they are attributed to the
planets, elements and signs, as also to the Tarot Trumps, while their position
on the Tree itself and their position as links between the particular Sephiroth
which they join is the final key to their understanding. It will be noticed
that each chapter of this book is attributed to one of them. This was not
intentional. The book was originally but a collection of haphazard dialogues
between Fra. P. and Soror A.; but on arranging the MSS, they fell naturally and
of necessity into this division. Conversely, my knowledge of the Schema pointed
out to me numerous gaps in my original exposition; thanks to this, I have been
able to make it a complete and systematic treatise. That is, when my laziness
had been jogged by the criticisms and suggestions of various colleagues to whom
I had submitted the early drafts.>> All these numbers are of course parts of
the magician himself considered as the microcosm. The microcosm is an exact
image of the Macrocosm; the Great Work is the raising of the whole man in
perfect balance to the power of Infinity.
The reader will remark that all criticism directed against the Magical
Hierarchy is futile. One cannot call it incorrect --- the only line to take
might be that it was inconvenient. In the same way one cannot say that the
Roman alphabet is better or worse than the Greek, since all required sounds can
be more or less satisfactorily represented by either; yet both these alphabets
were found so little satisfactory when it came to an attempt at phonetic
printing of Oriental languages, that the alphabet had to be expanded by the use
of italics and other diacritical marks. In the same way our magical alphabet
of the Sephiroth and the Paths (thirty-two letters as it were) has been expanded
into the four worlds corresponding to the four letters of the name
Yod-Heh-Vau-Heh; and each Sephira is supposed to contain a Tree of Life of its
own. Thus we obtain four hundred Sephiroth instead of the original ten, and the
Paths being capable of similar multiplications, or rather of subdivision, the
number is still further extended. Of course this process might be indefinitely
continued without destroying the original system.
The Apologia for this System is that our purest conceptions {4} are symbolized
in Mathematics. "God is the Great Arithmetician." "God is the Grand Geometer."
It is best therefore to prepare to apprehend Him by formulating our minds
according to these measures.<<By "God" I here mean the Ideal Identity of a man's
inmost nature. "Something ourselves (I erase Arnold's imbecile and guilty
'not') that makes for righteousness;" righteousness being rightly defined as
internal coherence. (Internal Coherence implies that which is written
"Detegitur Yod.")>>
To return, each letter of this alphabet may have its special magical sigil.
The student must not expect to be given a cut-and-dried definition of what
exactly is meant by any of all this. On the contrary, he must work backwards,
putting the whole of his mental and moral outfit into these pigeon-holes. You
would not expect to be able to buy a filing cabinet with the names of all your
past, present and future correspondents ready indexed: your cabinet has a system
of letters and numbers meaningless in themselves, but ready to take on a meaning
to you, as you fill up the files. As your business increased, each letter and
number would receive fresh accessions of meaning for you; and by adopting this
orderly arrangement you would be able to have a much more comprehensive grasp
of your affairs than would otherwise be the case. By the use of this system the
magician is able ultimately to unify the whole of his knowledge --- to
transmute, even on the Intellectual Plane, the Many into the One.
The Reader can now understand that the sketch given above of the magical
Hierarchy is hardly even an outline of the real theory of the Universe. This
theory may indeed be studied in the article already referred to in No. V of the
Equinox, and, more deeply in the Book of the Law and the Commentaries thereon:
but the true understanding depends entirely upon the work of the Magician
himself. Without magical experience it will be meaningless.
In this there is nothing peculiar. It is so with all scientific knowledge.
A blind man might cram up astronomy for the purpose of passing examinations, but
his knowledge would be {5} almost entirely unrelated to his experience, and it
would certainly not give him sight. A similar phenomenon is observed when a
gentleman who has taken an "honours degree" in modern languages at Cambridge
arrives in Paris, and is unable to order his dinner. To exclaim against the
Master Therion is to act like a person who, observing this, should attack both
the professors of French and the inhabitants of Paris, and perhaps go on to deny
the existence of France.
Let us say, once again, that the magical language is nothing but a convenient
system of classification to enable the magician to docket his experiences as he
obtains them.
Yet this is true also, that, once the language is mastered, one can divine
the unknown by study of the known, just as one's knowledge of Latin and Greek
enables one to understand some unfamiliar English word derived from those
sources. Also, there is the similar case of the Periodic Law in Chemistry,
which enables Science to prophesy, and so in the end to discover, the existence
of certain previously unsuspected elements in nature. All discussions upon
philosophy are necessarily sterile, since truth is beyond language. They are,
however, useful if carried far enough --- if carried to the point when it become
apparent that all arguments are arguments in a circle.<<See "The Soldier and the
Hunchback," Equinox I, I. The apparatus of human reason is simply one
particular system of coordinating impressions; its structure is determined by
the course of the evolution of the species. It is no more absolute than the
evolution of the species. It is no more absolute than the mechanism of our
muscles is a complete type wherewith all other systems of transmitting Force
must conform.>> But discussions of the details of purely imaginary qualities
are frivolous and may be deadly. For the great danger of this magical theory
is that the student may mistake the alphabet for the things which the words
represent.
An excellent man of great intelligence, a learned Qabalist, once amazed the
Master Therion by stating that the Tree of Life was the framework of the
Universe. It was as if some one had seriously maintained that a cat was a
creature constructed by placing the letters C. A. T. in that order. It is no
wonder that Magick has excited the ridicule of the unintelligent, since even its
{6} educated students can be guilty of so gross a violation of the first
principles of common sense.<<Long since writing the above, an even grosser
imbecility has been perpetrated. One who ought to have known better tried to
improve the Tree of Life by turning the Serpent of Wisdom upside down! Yet he
could not even make his scheme symmetrical: his little remaining good sense
revolted at the supreme atrocities. Yet he succeeded in reducing the whole
Magical Alphabet to nonsense, and shewing that he had never understood its real
meaning.
The absurdity of any such disturbance of the arrangement of the Paths is
evident to any sober student from such examples as the following. Binah, the
Supernal Understanding, is connected with Tiphereth, the Human Consciousness,
by Zain, Gemini, the Oracles of the Gods, or the Intuition. That is, the
attribution represents a psychological fact: to replace it by The Devil is
either humour or plain idiocy. Again, the card "Fortitude", Leo, balances
Majesty and Mercy with Strength and Severity: what sense is there in putting
"Death", the Scorpion, in its stead? There are twenty other mistakes in the new
wonderful illuminated-from-on-high attribution; the student can therefore be
sure of twenty more laughs if he cares to study it.>>
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.
"FURTHER CONCERNING THE MAGICAL UNIVERSE"
All these letters of the magical alphabet --- referred to above --- are like
so many names on a map. Man himself is a complete microcosm. Few other beings
have this balanced perfection. Of course every sun, every planet, may have
beings similarly constituted.<<Equally, of course, we have no means of knowing
what we really are. We are limited to symbols. And it is certain that all our
sense-perceptions give only partial aspects of their objects. Sight, for
instance, tells us very little about solidity, weight, composition, electrical
character, thermal conductivity, etc., etc. It says nothing at all about the
very existence of such vitally important ideas as Heat, Hardness, and so on.
The impression which the mind combines from the senses can never claim to be
accurate or complete. We have indeed learnt that nothing is in itself what it
seems to be to us.>> But when we speak of dealing with the planets in Magick,
{7} the reference is usually not to the actual planets, but to parts of the
earth which are of the nature attributed to these planets. Thus, when we say
that Nakhiel is the "Intelligence" of the Sun, we do not mean that he lives in
the Sun, but only that he has a certain rank and character; and although we can
invoke him, 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 creation --- 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
subjective. It leads to less confusion. And, as a man is a perfect
microcosm,<<He is this only by definition. The universe may contain an infinite
variety of worlds inaccessible to human apprehension. Yet, for this very
reason, they do not exist for the purposes of the argument. Man has, however,
some instruments of knowledge; we may, therefore, define the Macrocosm as the
totality of things possible to his perception. As evolution develops those
instruments, the Macrocosm and the Microcosm extend; but they always maintain
their mutual relation. Neither can possess any meaning except in terms of the
other. Our "discoveries" are exactly as much of ourselves as they are of
Nature. America and Electricity did, in a sense, exist before we were aware of
them; but they are even now no more than incomplete ideas, expressed in symbolic
terms of a series of relations between two sets of inscrutable phenomena.>> it
is perfectly easy to re-model one's conception at any moment.
Now there is a traditional correspondence, which modern experiment has shown
to be fairly reliable. There is a certain natural connexion between certain
letters, words, numbers, gestures, shapes, perfumes and so on, so that any idea
or (as we might call it) "spirit", may be composed or called forth by the use
of those things which are harmonious with it, and express particular parts of
its nature. These correspondences have been elaborately mapped in the Book 777
in a very convenient and compendious form. It will be necessary for the student
to make a careful study of this book in connexion with some actual rituals of
Magick, for example, {8} that of the evocation of Taphtatharath printed in
Equinox I, III, pages 170-190, where he will see exactly why these things are
to be used. Of course, as the student advances in knowledge by experience he
will find a progressive subtlety in the magical universe corresponding to his
own; for let it be said yet again! not only is his aura a magical mirror of the
universe, but the universe is a magical mirror of his aura.
In this chapter we are only able to give a very thin outline of magical
theory --- faint pencilling by weak and wavering fingers --- for this subject
may almost be said to be co-extensive with one's whole knowledge.
The knowledge of exoteric science is comically limited by the fact that we
have no access, except in the most indirect way, to any other celestial body
than our own. In the last few years, the semi-educated have got an idea that
they know a great deal about the universe, and the principal ground for their
fine opinion of themselves is usually the telephone or the airship. It is
pitiful to read the bombastic twaddle about progress, which journalists and
others, who wish to prevent men from thinking, put out for consumption. We know
infinitesimally little of the material universe. Our detailed knowledge is so
contemptibly minute, that it is hardly worth reference, save that our shame may
spur us to increased endeavour. Such knowledge<<Knowledge is, moreover, an
impossible conception. All propositions come ultimately back to "A is A".>> as
we have got is of a very general and abstruse, of a philosophical and almost
magical character. This consists principally of the conceptions of pure
mathematics. It is, therefore, almost legitimate to say that pure mathematics
is our link with the rest of the universe and with "God".
Now the conceptions of Magick are themselves profoundly mathematical. The
whole basis of our theory is the Qabalah, which corresponds to mathematics and
geometry. The method of operation in Magick is based on this, in very much the
same way as the laws of mechanics are based on mathematics. So far, therefore
as we can be said to possess a magical theory of the universe, it must be a
matter solely of fundamental law, with a {9} few simple and comprehensive
propositions stated in very general terms.
I might expend a life-time in exploring the details of one plane, just as an
explorer might give his life to one corner of Africa, or a chemist to one
subgroup of compounds. Each such detailed piece of work may be very valuable,
but it does not as a rule throw light on the main principles of the universe.
Its truth is the truth of one angle. It might even lead to error, if some
inferior person were to generalize from too few facts.
Imagine an inhabitant of Mars who wished to philosophise about the earth, and
had nothing to go by but the diary of some man at the North Pole! But the work
of every explorer, on whatever branch of the Tree of Life the caterpillar he is
after may happen to be crawling, is immensely helped by a grasp of general
principles. Every magician, therefore, should study the Holy Qabalah. Once he
has mastered the main principles, he will find his work grow easy.
"Solvitur ambulando" which does not mean: "Call the Ambulance!"
--------------
{10}
CHAPTER I
THE PRINCIPLES OF RITUAL.
There is a single main definition of the object of all magical Ritual. It is
the uniting of the Microcosm with the Macrocosm. The Supreme and Complete
Ritual is therefore the Invocation of the Holy Guardian Angel;<<See the "Book
of the Sacred Magic of Abramelin the Mage"; and Liber 418, 8th Aethyr, Liber
Samekh; see Appendix 3.>> or, in the language of Mysticism, Union with God.<<The
difference between these operations is more of theoretical than of practical
importance.>>
All other magical Rituals are particular cases of this general principle, and
the only excuse for doing them is that it sometimes occurs that one particular
portion of the microcosm is so weak that its imperfection of impurity would
vitiate the Macrocosm of which it is the image, Eidolon, or Reflexion. For
example, God is above sex; and therefore neither man nor woman as such can be
said fully to understand, much less to represent, God. It is therefore
incumbent on the male magician to cultivate those female virtues in which he is
deficient, and this task he must of course accomplish without in any way
impairing his virility. It will then be lawful for a magician to invoke Isis,
and identify himself with her; if he fail to do this, his apprehension of the
Universe when he attains Samadhi will lack the conception of maternity. The
result will be a metaphysical and --- by corollary --- ethical limitation in the
Religion which he founds. Judaism and Islam are striking example of this
failure.
To take another example, the ascetic life which devotion to {11} magick so
often involves argues a poverty of nature, a narrowness, a lack of generosity.
Nature is infinitely prodigal --- not one in a million seeds ever comes to
fruition. Whoso fails to recognise this, let him invoke Jupiter.<<There are
much deeper considerations in which it appears that "Everything that is, is
right". They are set forth elsewhere; we can only summarise them here by saying
that the survival of the fittest is their upshot.>>
The danger of ceremonial magick --- the sublest and deepest danger --- is
this: that the magician will naturally tend to invoke that partial being which
most strongly appeals to him, so that his natural excess in that direction will
be still further exaggerated. Let him, before beginning his Work, endeavour to
map out his own being, and arrange his invocations in such a way as to redress
the balance.<<The ideal method of doing this is given in Liber 913 (Equinox
VII). See also Liber CXI Aleph.>> This, of course, should have been done in
a preliminary fashion during the preparation of the weapons and furniture of the
Temple.
To consider in a more particular manner this question of the Nature of
Ritual, we may suppose that he finds himself lacking in that perception of the
value of Life and Death, alike of individuals and of races, which is
characteristic of Nature. He has perhaps a tendency to perceive the "first
noble truth" uttered by Buddha, that Everything is sorrow. Nature, it seems,
is a tragedy. He has perhaps even experienced the great trance called Sorrow.
He should then consider whether there is not some Deity who expresses this
Cycle, and yet whose nature is joy. He will find what he requires in Dionysus.
There are three main methods of invoking any Deity.
The "First Method" consists of devotion to that Deity, and, being mainly
mystical in character, need not be dealt with in this place, especially as a
perfect instruction exists in Liber 175 ("See" Appendix).
The "Second method"is the straight forward ceremonial invocation. It is the
method which was usually employed in the Middle Ages. Its advantage is its
directness, its disadvantage its {12} crudity. The "Goetia" gives clear
instruction in this method, and so do many other rituals, white and black. We
shall presently devote some space to a clear exposition of this Art.
In the case of Bacchus, however, we may roughly outline the procedure. We
find that the symbolism of Tiphareth expresses the nature of Bacchus. It is
then necessary to construct a Ritual of Tiphareth. Let us open the Book 777;
we shall find in line 6 of each column the various parts of our required
apparatus. Having 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 all;
certainly it is so to the artist's temperament, for it appeals to his
imagination through his aesthetic sense.
Its disadvantage lies principally in the difficulty of its performance by a
single person. But it has the sanction of the highest antiquity, and is
probably the most useful for the foundation of a religion. It is the method of
Catholic Christianity, and consists in the dramatization of the legend of the
God. The Bacchae of Euripides is a magnificent example of such a Ritual; so
also, through in a less degree, is the Mass. We may also mention many of the
degrees in Freemasonry, particularly the third. The 5 Degree = 6Square Ritual
published in No. III of the Equinox is another example.
In the case of Bacchus, one commemorates firstly his birth of a mortal mother
who has yielded her treasure-house to the Father of All, of the jealousy and
rage excited by this incarnation, and of the heavenly protection afforded to the
infant. Next should be commemorated the journeying westward upon an ass. Now
comes the great scene of the drama: the gentle, exquisite youth with his
following (chiefly composed of women) seems to threaten the established order
of things, and that Established Order takes steps to put an end to the upstart.
We find Dionysus confronting the angry King, not with defiance, but with
meekness; yet with a subtle confidence, an underlying laughter. His forehead
is wreathed with vine tendrils. He is an effeminate figure with those broad
leaves clustered upon his brow? But those leaves hide {13} horns. King
Pentheus, representative of respectability,<<There is a much deeper
interpretation in which Pentheus is himself "The Dying God". See my "Good
Hunting!" and Dr. J.G.Frazer's "Golden Bough".>> is destroyed by his pride. He
goes out into the mountains to attack the women who have followed Bacchus, the
youth whom he has mocked, scourged, and put in chains, yet who has only smiled;
and by those women, in their divine madness, he is torn to pieces.
It has already seemed impertinent to say so much when Walter Pater has told
the story with such sympathy and insight. We will not further transgress by
dwelling upon the identity of this legend with the course of Nature, its
madness, its prodigality, its intoxication, its joy, and above all its sublime
persistence through the cycles of Life and Death. The pagan reader must labour
to understand this in Pater's "Greek Studies", and the Christian reader will
recognise it, incident for incident, in the story of Christ. This legend is but
the dramatization of Spring.
The magician who wishes to invoke Bacchus by this method must therefore
arrange a ceremony in which he takes the part of Bacchus, undergoes all His
trials, and emerges triumphant from beyond death. He must, however, be warned
against mistaking the symbolism. In this case, for example, the doctrine of
individual immortality has been dragged in, to the destruction of truth. It is
not that utterly worthless part of man, his individual consciousness as John
Smith, which defies death --- that consciousness which dies and is reborn in
every thought. That which persists (if anything persist) is his real John
Smithiness, a quality of which he was probably never conscious in his life.<<See
"The Book of Lies", Liber 333, for several sermons to this effect. Caps.
Alpha, Delta, Eta, Iota-Epsilon, Iota-Sigma, Iota-Eta, Kappa-Alpha,
Kappa-Eta, in particular. The reincarnation of the Khu or magical Self is
another matter entirely, too abstruse to discuss in this elementary manual. {WEH
NOTE: I have made a correction in the above list of chapters from Liber 333.
The published text cites Iota-Digamma, which does not exist. The correct
chapter is Iota-Sigma, which does exist and discusses the subject}.>>
Even that does not persist unchanged. It is always growing. The Cross is
a barren stick, and the petals of the Rose fall and decay; but in the union of
the Cross and the Rose is a constant {14} succession of new lives.<<See "The
Book of Lies", Liber 333, for several sermons to this effect. The whole theory
of Death must be sought in Liber CXI Aleph.>> Without this union, and without
this death of the individual, the cycle would be broken.
A chapter will be consecrated to removing the practical difficulties of this
method of Invocation. It will doubtless have been noted by the acumen of the
reader that in the great essentials these three methods are one. In each case
the magician identifies himself with the Deity invoked. To "invoke" is to "call
in", just as to "evoke" is to "call forth". This is the essential difference
between the two branches of Magick. In invocation, the macrocosm floods the
consciousness. In evocation, the magician, having become the macrocosm, creates
a microcosm. You "in"voke a God into the Circle. You "e"voke a Spirit into the
Triangle. In the first method identity with the God is attained by love and by
surrender, by giving up or suppressing all irrelevant (and illusionary) parts
of yourself. It is the weeding of a garden.
In the second method identity is attained by paying special attention to the
desired part of yourself: positive, as the first method is negative. It is the
potting-out and watering of a particular flower in the garden, and the exposure
of it to the sun.
In the third, identity is attained by sympathy. It is very difficult for the
ordinary man to lose himself completely in the subject of a play or of a novel;
but for those who can do so, this method is unquestionably the best.
Observe: each element in this cycle is of equal value. It is wrong to say
triumphantly "Mors janua vitae", unless you add, with equal triumph, "Vita janua
mortis". To one who understands this chain of the Aeons from the point of view
alike of the sorrowing Isis and of the triumphant Osiris, not forgetting their
link in the destroyer Apophis, there remains no secret veiled in Nature. He
cries that name of God which throughout History has been echoed by one religion
to another, the infinite swelling paean I.A.O.!<<This name, I.A.O. is
qabalistically identical with that of THE BEAST and with His number 666, so that
he who invokes the former invokes also the latter. Also with AIWAZ and the
Number 93. See Chapter V.>> {15}
CHAPTER II
THE FORMULAE OF THE ELEMENTAL WEAPONS.
Before discussing magical formulae in detail, one may observe that most
rituals are composite, and contain many formulae which must be harmonized into
one.
The first formula is that of the Wand. In the sphere of the principle which
the magician wishes to invoke, he rises from point to point in a perpendicular
line, and then descends; or else, beginning at the top, he comes directly down,
"invoking" first the god of that sphere by "devout supplication"<<Beware, O
brother, lest thou bend the knee! Liber CCXX teaches the proper attitude. See
also Liber CCCLXX. Infra, furthermore, there is special instruction: Chapter XV
and elsewhere.>> that He may deign to send the appropriate Archangel. He then
"beseeches" the Archangel to send the Angel or Angels of that sphere to his aid;
he "conjures" this Angel or Angels to send the intelligence in question, and
this intelligence he will "conjure with authority" to compel the obedience of
the spirit and his manifestation. To this spirit he "issues commands".
It will be seen that this is a formula rather of evocation than of
invocation, and for the latter the procedure, though apparently the same, should
be conceived of in a different manner, which brings it under another formula,
that of Tetragrammaton. The essence of the force invoked is one, but the "God"
represents the germ or beginning of the force, the "Archangel" its development;
and so on, until, with the "Spirit", we have the completion and perfection of
that force. {16}
The formula of the Cup is not so well suited for Evocations, and the magical
Hierarchy is not involved in the same way; for the Cup being passive rather than
active, it is not fitting for the magician to use it in respect of anything but
the Highest. In practical working it consequently means little but prayer, and
that prayer the "prayer of silence".<<Considerations which might lead to a
contrary conclusion are unsuited to this treatise. See Liber LXXXI.>>
The formula of the dagger is again unsuitable for either purpose, since the
nature of the dagger is to criticise, to destroy, to disperse; and all true
magical ceremonies tend to concentration. The dagger will therefore appear
principally in the banishings, preliminary to the ceremony proper.
The formula of the pantacle is again of no particular use; for the pantacle
is inert. In fine, the formula of the wand is the only one with which we need
more particularly concern ourselves.<<Later, these remarks are amplified, and
to some extent modified.>>
Now in order to invoke any being, it is said by Hermes Trismegistus that the
magi employ three methods. The first, for the vulgar, is that of supplication.
In this the crude objective theory is assumed as true. There is a god named A,
whom you, B, proceed to petition, in exactly the same sense as a boy might ask
his father for pocket-money.
The second method involves a little more subtlety, inasmuch as the magician
endeavours to harmonize himself with the nature of the god, and to a certain
extent exalts himself, in the course of the ceremony; but the third method is
the only one worthy of our consideration.
This consists of a real identification of the magician and the god. Note
that to do this in perfection involves the attainment of a species of Samadhi:
and this fact alone suffices to link irrefragably magick with mysticism.
Let us describe the magical method of identification. The symbolic form of
the god is first studied with as much care as an artist would bestow upon his
model, so that a perfectly clear and {17} unshakeable mental picture of the god
is presented to the mind. Similarly, the attributes of the god are enshrined
in speech, and such speeches are committed perfectly to memory. The invocation
will then begin with a prayer to the god, commemorating his physical attributes,
always with profound understanding of their real meaning. In the "second part"
of the invocation, the voice of the god is heard, and His characteristic
utterance is recited.
In the "third portion" of the invocation the magician asserts the identity
of himself with the god. In the "fourth portion" the god is again invoked, but
as if by Himself, as if it were the utterance of the will of the god that He
should manifest in the magician. At the conclusion of this, the original object
of the invocation is stated.
Thus, in the invocation of Thoth which is to be found in the rite of Mercury
(Equinox I, VI) and in Liber LXIV, the first part begins with the words "Majesty
of Godhead, wisdom-crowned TAHUTI, Thee, Thee I invoke. Oh Thou of the Ibis
head, Thee, Thee I invoke"; and so on. At the conclusion of this a mental image
of the God, infinitely vast and infinitely splendid, should be perceived, in
just the same sense as a man might see the Sun.
The second part begins with the words:
"Behold! I am yesterday, today, and the brother of tomorrow."
The magician should imagine that he is hearing this voice, and at the same
time that he is echoing it, that it is true also of himself. This thought
should so exalt him that he is able at its conclusion to utter the sublime words
which open the third part: "Behold! he is in me, and I am in him." At this
moment, he loses consciousness of his mortal being; he is that mental image
which he previously but saw. This consciousness is only complete as he goes on:
"Mine is the radiance wherein Ptah floateth over his firmament. I travel upon
high. I tread upon the firmament of Nu. I raise a flashing flame with the
lightnings of mine eye: ever rushing on in the splendour of the daily glorified
Ra --- giving my life to the treaders of Earth!" This thought gives the
relation of God and Man from the divine point of view.
The magician is only recalled to himself at the conclusion of the {18} third
part; in which occur, almost as if by accident, the words: "Therefore do all
things obey my word." Yet in the fourth part, which begins: "Therefore do thou
come forth unto me", it is not really the magician who is addressing the God;
it is the God who hears the far-off utterance of the magician. If this
invocation has been correctly performed, the words of the fourth part will sound
distant and strange. It is surprising that a dummy (so the magus now appears
to Himself) should be able to speak!
The Egyptian Gods are so complete in their nature, so perfectly spiritual and
yet so perfectly material, that this one invocation is sufficient. The God
bethinks him that the spirit of Mercury should now appear to the magician; and
it is so. This Egyptian formula is therefore to be preferred to the
Hierarchical formula of the Hebrews with its tedious prayers, conjurations, and
curses.
It will be noted, however, that in this invocation of Thoth which we have
summarized, there is another formula contained, the Reverberating or
Reciprocating formula, which may be called the formula of Horus and Harpocrates.
The magician addresses the God with an active projection of his will, and then
becomes passive while the God addresses the Universe. In the fourth part he
remains silent, listening, to the prayer which arises therefrom.
The formula of this invocation of Thoth may also be classed under
Tetragrammaton. The first part is fire, the eager prayer of the magician, the
second water, in which the magician listens to, or catches the reflection of,
the god. The third part is air, the marriage of fire and water; the god and the
man have become one; while the fourth part corresponds to earth, the
condensation or materialization of those three higher principles.
With regard to the Hebrew formulae, it is doubtful whether most magicians who
use them have ever properly grasped the principles underlying the method of
identity. No passage which implies it occurs to mind, and the extant rituals
certainly give no hint of such a conception, or of any but the most personal and
material views of the nature of things. They seem to have thought that there
was an Archangel named Ratziel in exactly the same sense as there was a
statesman named Richelieu, an individual being living in a definite place. He
had possibly certain powers of a somewhat metaphysical order --- he might be
{19} in two places at once,<<He could do this provided that he can travel with
a speed exceeding that of Light, as he does. See A.S.Eddington "Space, Time,
and Gravitation". Also: what means "at once"?>> for example, though even the
possibility of so simple a feat (in the case of spirits) seems to be denied by
certain passages in extant conjurations which tell the spirit that if he happens
to be in chains in a particular place in Hell, or if some other magician is
conjuring him so that he cannot come, then let him send a spirit of similar
nature, or otherwise avoid the difficultly. But of course so vulgar a
conception would not occur to the student of the Qabalah. It is just possible
that the magi wrote their conjurations on this crude hypothesis in order to
avoid the clouding of the mind by doubt and metaphysical speculation.
He who became the Master Therion was once confronted by this very difficulty.
Being determined to instruct mankind, He sought a simple statement of his
object. His will was sufficiently informed by common sense to decide him to
teach man "The Next Step", the thing which was immediately above him. He might
have called this "God", or "The Higher Self", or "The Augoeides", or
"Adi-Buddha", or 61 other things --- but He had discovered that these were all
one, yet that each one represented some theory of the Universe which would
ultimately be shattered by criticism --- for He had already passed through the
realm of Reason, and knew that every statement contained an absurdity. He
therefore said: "Let me declare this Work under this title: 'The obtaining of
the Knowledge and Conversation of the Holy Guardian Angel'", because the theory
implied in these words is so patently absurd that only simpletons would waste
much time in analysing it. It would be accepted as a convention, and no one
would incur the grave danger of building a philosophical system upon it.
With this understanding, we may rehabilitate the Hebrew system of invocations.
The mind is the great enemy; so, by invoking enthusiastically a person whom we
know not to exist, we are rebuking that mind. Yet we should not refrain
altogether from philosophising in the light of the Holy Qabalah. We should
accept the Magical Hierarchy as a more or less convenient classification of the
facts of the Universe as they are {20} known to us; and as our knowledge and
understanding of those facts increase, so should we endeavour to adjust our idea
of what we mean by any symbol.
At the same time let us reflect that there is a certain definite consensus
of experience as to the correlation of the various beings of the hierarchy with
the observed facts of Magick. In the simple matter of astral vision, for
example, one striking case may be quoted.
Without telling him what it was, the Master Therion once recited as an
invocation Sappho's "Ode to Venus" before a Probationer of the A.'. A.'. who was
ignorant of Greek, the language of the Ode. The disciple then went on an
"astral journey," and everything seen by him was without exception harmonious
with Venus. This was true down to the smallest detail. He even obtained all
the four colour-scales of Venus with absolute correctness. Considering that he
saw something like one hundred symbols in all, the odds against coincidence are
incalculably great. Such an experience (and the records of the A.'. A.'.
contain dozens of similar cases) affords proof as absolute as any proof can be
in this world of Illusion that the correspondences in Liber 777 really represent
facts in Nature.
It suggests itself that this "straightforward" system of magick was perhaps
never really employed at all. One might maintain that the invocations which
have come down to us are but the ruins of the Temple of Magick. The exorcisms
might have been committed to writing for the purpose of memorising them, while
it was forbidden to make any record of the really important parts of the
ceremony. Such details of Ritual as we possess are meagre and unconvincing, and
though much success has been attained in the quite conventional exoteric way
both by FRATER PERDURABO and by many of his colleagues, yet ceremonies of this
character have always remained tedious and difficult. It has seemed as if the
success were obtained almost in spite of the ceremony. In any case, they are
the more mysterious parts of the Ritual which have evoked the divine force.
Such conjurations as those of the "Goetia" leave one cold, although, notably in
the second conjuration, there is a crude attempt to use that formula of
Commemoration of which we spoke in the preceding Chapter. {21}
CHAPTER III
THE FORMULA OF TETRAGRAMMATON.<<Yod, He, Vau, He, the
Ineffable Name (Jehovah) of the Hebrews. The four letters refer respectively
to the four "elements", Fire, Water, Air, Earth, in the order named.>>
This formula is of most universal aspect, as all 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, "He" the Archangel, and so on.
In order to understand the ceremony under this formula, we must take a more
extended view of the functions of the four weapons than we have hitherto done.
The formation of the "Yod" is the formulation of the first creative force,
of that father who is called "self-begotten", and unto whom it is said: "Thou
has formulated thy Father, and made fertile thy Mother". The adding of the "He"
to the "Yod" is the marriage of that Father to the great co-equal Mother, who
is a reflection of Nuit as He is of Hadit. Their union brings forth the son
"Vau" who is the heir. Finally the daughter "He" is produced. She is both the
twin sister and the daughter of "Vau".<<There is a further mystery herein, far
deeper, for initiates.>>
His mission is to redeem her by making her his bride; the result of this is
to set her upon the throne of her mother, and it is only she whose youthful
embrace can reawaken the eld of the {22} All-Father. In this complex family
relationship<<The formula of Tetragrammaton, as ordinarily understood, ending
with the appearance of the daughter, is indeed a degradation.>> is symbolised
the whole course of the Universe. It will be seen that (after all) the Climax
is at the end. It is the second half of the formula which symbolises the Great
Work which we are pledged to accomplish. The first step of this is the
attainment of the Knowledge and Conversation of the Holy Guardian Angel, which
constitutes the Adept of the Inner Order.
The re-entry of these twin spouses into the womb of the mother is that
initiation described in Liber 418, which gives admission to the Inmost Order of
the A.'. A.'. Of the last step we cannot speak.
It will now be recognised that to devise a practical magical ceremony to
correspond to Tetragrammaton in this exalted sense might be difficult if not
impossible. In such a ceremony the Rituals of purification alone might occupy
many incarnations.
It will be necessary, therefore, to revert to the simpler view of
Tetragrammaton, remembering only that the "He" final is the Throne of the
Spirit, of the Shin of Pentagrammaton.
The Yod will represent a swift and violent creative energy; following this
will be a calmer and more reflective but even more powerful flow of will, the
irresistible force of a mighty river. This state of mind will be followed by
an expansion of the consciousness; it will penetrate all space, and this will
finally undergo a crystallization resplendent with interior light. Such
modifications of the original Will may be observed in the course of the
invocations when they are properly performed.
The peculiar dangers of each are obvious --- that of the first is a flash in
the pan --- a misfire; that of the second, a falling into dreaminess or reverie;
that of the third, loss of concentration. A mistake in any of these points will
prevent, or injure the proper formation of, the fourth.
In the expression which will be used in Chapter XV: "Enflame thyself", etc.,
only the first stage is specified; but if that is properly done the other stages
will follow as if by necessity. So far is it written concerning the formula
of Tetragrammaton. {23}
CHAPTER IV.
THE FORMULA OF ALHIM, AND THAT OF ALIM.
"ALHIM", (Elohim) is the exoteric word for Gods.<<"Gods" are the Forces of
Nature; their "Names" are the Laws of Nature. Thus They are eternal,
omnipotent, omnipresent and so on; and thus their "Wills" are immutable and
absolute.>> It is the masculine plural of a feminine noun, but its nature is
principally feminine.<<It represents Sakti,or Teh; femininity always means form,
manifestation. The masculine Siva, or Tao, is always a concealed force.>> It
is a perfect hieroglyph of the number 5. This should be studied in "A Note on
Genesis" (Equinox I, II).
The Elements are all represented, as in Tetragrammaton, but there is no
development from one into the others. They are, as it were, thrown together ---
untamed, only sympathising by virtue of their wild and stormy but elastically
resistless energy. The Central letter is "He" --- the letter of breath --- and
represents Spirit. The first letter "Aleph" is the natural letter of Air, and
the Final "Mem" is the natural letter of Water. Together, "Aleph" and "Mem"
make "Am" --- the mother within whose womb the Cosmos is conceived. But "Yod"
is not the natural letter of Fire. Its juxtaposition with "He" sanctifies that
fire to the "Yod" of Tetragrammaton. Similarly we find "Lamed" for Earth, where
we should expect Tau --- in order to emphasize the influence of Venus, who rules
Libra.
"ALHIM", therefore, represents rather the formula of Consecration than that
of a complete ceremony. It is the breath of benediction, yet so potent that it
can give life to clay and light to darkness.
In consecrating a weapon, "Aleph" is the whirling force of the thunderbolt,
the lightning which flameth out of the East even {24} into the West. This is
the gift of the wielding of the thunderbolt of Zeus or Indra, the god of Air.
"Lamed" is the Ox-goad, the driving force; and it is also the Balance,
representing the truth and love of the Magician. It is the loving care which
he bestows upon perfecting his instruments, and the equilibration of that fierce
force which initiates the ceremony.<<The letters Aleph and Lamed are infinitely
important in this Aeon of Horus; they are indeed the Key of the Book of the Law.
No more can be said in this place than that Aleph is Harpocrates, Bacchus
Diphues, the Holy Ghost, the "Pure Fool" or Innocent Babe who is also the
Wandering Singer who impregnates the King's Daughter with Himself as Her Child;
Lamed is the King's Daughter, satisfied by Him, holding His "Sword and Balances"
in her lap. These weapons are the Judge, armed with power to execute His Will,
and Two Witnesses "in whom shall every Truth be established" in accordance with
whose testimony he gives judgment.>>
"Yod" is the creative energy -- the procreative power: and yet "Yod" is the
solitude and silence of the hermitage into which the Magician has shut himself.
"Mem" is the letter of water, and it is the Mem final, whose long flat lines
suggest the Sea at Peace HB:Mem-final ; not the ordinary (initial and medial)
Mem whose hieroglyph is a wave HB:Mem.<<In the symbolism above outlined, Yod is
the Mercurial "Virgin Word", the Spermatozoon concealing its light under a
cloke; and Mem is the amniotic fluid, the flood wherein is the Life-bearing Ark.
See A. Crowley "The Ship", Equinox I, X.>> And then, in the Centre of all,
broods Spirit, which combines the mildness of the Lamb with the horns of the
Ram, and is the letter of Bacchus or "Christ".<<The letter He is the formula of
Nuith, which makes possible the process described in the previous notes. But
it is not permissible here to explain fully the exact matter or manner of this
adjustment. I have preferred the exoteric attributions, which are sufficiently
informative for the beginner.>>
After the magician has created his instrument, and balanced it truly, and
filled it with the lightnings of his Will, then is the weapon laid away to
rest; and in this Silence, a true Consecration comes.
THE FORMULA OF ALIM
It is extremely interesting to contrast with the above the formula of the
elemental Gods deprived of the creative spirit. One {25} might suppose that as
ALIM, is the masculine plural of the masculine noun AL, its formula would be
more virile than that of ALHIM, which is the masculine plural of the feminine
noun ALH. A moment's investigation is sufficient to dissipate the illusion.
The word masculine has no meaning except in relation to some feminine
correlative.
The word ALIM may in fact be considered as neuter. By a rather absurd
convention, neuter objects are treated as feminine on account of their
superficial resemblance in passivity and inertness with the unfertilized female.
But the female produces life by the intervention of the male, while the neuter
does so only when impregnated by Spirit. Thus we find the feminine AMA,
becoming AIMA<<AMA is 42, the number of sterility; AIMA, 52, that of fertility,
of BN, the SON.>>, through the operation of the phallic Yod, while ALIM, the
congress of dead elements, only fructifies by the brooding of Spirit.
This being so, how can we describe ALIM as containing a Magical Formula?
Inquiry discloses the fact that this formula is of a very special kind.
The word adds up to 81, which is a number of the moon. It is thus the formula
of witchcraft, which is under Hecate.<<See A. Crowley "Orpheus" for the
Invocation of this Goddess.>> It is only the romantic mediaeval perversion of
science that represents young 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 thy are no longer capable of
corresponding to the formula of the male, and are therefore neuter rather than
feminine. 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 feminine
correlative of the sun, but as the burnt-out, dead, airless satellite of earth.
No true Magical operation can be performed by the formula of ALIM. All the
works of witchcraft are illusory; and their apparent effects depend on the idea
that it is possible to alter things by the mere rearrangement of them. One {26}
must not rely upon the false analogy of the Xylenes to rebut this argument. It
is quite true that geometrical isomers act in different manners towards the
substance to which they are brought into relation. And it is of course
necessary sometimes to rearrange the elements of a molecule before that molecule
can form either the masculine or the feminine element in a true Magical
combination with some other molecule.
It is therefore occasionally inevitable for a Magician to reorganize the
structure of certain elements before proceeding to his operation proper.
Although such work is technically witchcraft, it must not be regarded as
undesirable on that ground, for all operations which do not transmute matter
fall strictly speaking under this heading.
The real objection to this formula is not inherent in its own nature.
Witchcraft consists in treating it as the exclusive preoccupation of Magick, and
especially in denying to the Holy Spirit his right to indwell His Temple.<<The
initiate of the XI Degree of O.T.O. will remark that there is a totally
different formula of ALIM, complementary with that here discussed. 81 may be
regarded as a number of Yesod rather than of Luna. The actual meaning of the
word may be taken as indicating the formula. Aleph may be referred to
Harpocrates, with allusion to the well-known poem of Catullus. Lamed may imply
the exaltation of Saturn, and suggest the Three of Swords in a particular
manner. Yod will then recall Hermes, and Mem the Hanged Man. We have thus a
Tetragrammaton which contains no feminine component. The initial Force is here
the Holy Spirit and its vehicle or weapon the "Sword and Balances". Justice is
then done upon the Mercurial "Virgin", with the result that the Man is "Hanged"
or extended, and is slain in this manner. Such an operation makes creation
impossible --- as in the former case; but here there is no question of
re-arrangement; the creative force is employed deliberately for destruction, and
is entirely absorbed in its own sphere (or cylinder, on Einstein's equations)
of action. This Work is to be regarded as "Holiness to the Lord". The Hebrews,
in fact, conferred the title of Qadosh (holy) upon its adepts. Its effect is
to consecrate the Magicians who perform it in a very special way. We may take
note also of the correspondence of Nine with Teth, XI, Leo, and the Serpent.
The great merits of this formula are that it avoids contact with the inferior
planes, that it is self-sufficient, that it involves no responsibilities, and
that it leaves its masters not only stronger in themselves, but wholly free to
fulfil their essential Natures. Its abuse is an abomination.>> {27}
CHAPTER V
The Formula of I.A.O.
This formula is the principal and most characteristic formula of Osiris, of
the Redemption of Mankind. "I" is Isis, Nature, ruined by "A", Apophis the
Destroyer, and restored to life by the Redeemer Osiris.<<There is a quite
different formula in which I is the father, O the Mother, A the child --- and
yet another, in which I.A.O. are all fathers of different kinds balanced by
H.H.H., 3 Mothers, to complete the Universe. In a third, the true formula of
the Beast 666, I and O are the opposites which form the field for the operation
of A. But this is a higher matter unsuited for this elementary handbook. See,
however, Liber Samekh, Point II, Section J.>> The same idea is expressed by the
Rosicrucian formula of the Trinity:
"Ex Deo nascimur.
In Jesu Morimur
Per Spiritum Sanctum reviviscimus."
This is also identical with the Word Lux, L.V.X., which is formed by the arms
of a cross. It is this formula which is implied in those ancient and modern
monuments in which the phallus is worshipped as the Saviour of the World.
The doctrine of resurrection as vulgarly understood is false and absurd. It
is not even "Scriptural". St. Paul does not identify the glorified body which
rises with the mortal body which dies. On the contrary, he repeatedly insists
on the distinction.
The same is true of a magical ceremony. The magician who is destroyed by
absorption in the Godhead is really destroyed. The {28} miserable mortal
automaton remains in the Circle. It is of no more consequence to Him that the
dust of the floor.<<It is, for all that, His instrument, acquired by Him as an
astronomer buys a telescope. See Liber Aleph, for a full explanation of the
objects attained by the stratagem of incarnation; also Part IV of this Book 4.>>
But before entering into the details of "I.A.O." as a magick formula it
should be remarked that it is essentially the formula of Yoga or meditation; in
fact, of elementary mysticism in all its branches.
In beginning a meditation practice, there is always<<If not, one is not working
properly.>> a quiet pleasure, a gentle natural growth; one takes a lively
interest in the work; it seems easy; one is quite pleased to have started. This
stage represents Isis. Sooner or later it is succeeded by depression --- the
Dark Night of the Soul, an infinite weariness and detestation of the work. The
simplest and easiest acts become almost impossible to perform. Such impotence
fills the mind with apprehension and despair. The intensity of this loathing
can hardly be understood by any person who has not experienced it. This is the
period of Apophis.
It is followed by the arising not of Isis, but of Osiris. The ancient
condition is not restored, but a new and superior condition is created, a
condition only rendered possible by the process of death.
The Alchemists themselves taught this same truth. The first matter of the
work was base and primitive, though "natural". After passing through various
stages the "black dragon" appeared; but from this arose the pure and perfect
gold.
Even in the legend of Prometheus we find an identical formula concealed; and
a similar remark applies to those of Jesus Christ, and of many other mythical
god-men worshipped in different countries.<<See J.G.Frazer, "The Golden Bough:"
J.M.Robertson "Pagan Christs;" A. Crowley "Jesus," etc., etc.>>
A magical ceremony constructed on this formula is thus in close essential
harmony with the natural mystic process. We find it the {29} basis of many
important initiations, notably the Third Degree in Masonry, and the 5 Degree =
6Square ceremony of the G.'. D.'. described in Equinox I, III. A ceremonial
self-initiation may be constructed with advantage on this formula. The essence
of it consists in robing yourself as a king, then stripping and slaying
yourself, and rising from that death to the Knowledge and Conversation of the
Holy Guardian Angel<<This formula, although now superseded by that of HORUS, the
Crowned and Conquering Child, remains valid for those who have not yet
assimilated the point of view of the Law of Thelema. But see Appendix, Liber
SAMEKH. Compare also "The Book of the Spirit of the Living Gods," -- where
there is a ritual given "in extenso" on slightly different lines: Equinox I,
III, pages 269-272.>>. There is an etymological identity between Tetragrammaton
and "I A O", but the magical formulae are entirely different, as the
descriptions here given have schewn.
Professor William James, in his "Varieties of Religious Experience," has well
classified religion as the "once-born" and the "twice-born"; but the religion
now proclaimed in Liber Legis harmonizes these by transcending them. There is
no attempt to get rid of death by denying it, as among the once-born; nor to
accept death as the gate of a new life, as among the twice-born. With the A.'.
A.'. life and death are equally incidents in a career, very much like day and
night in the history of a planet. But, to pursue the simile, we regard this
planet from afar. A Brother of A.'. A.'. looks at (what another person would
call) "himself", as one --- or, rather, some --- 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 negation
of that consciousness. The body and mind of the man are only important (if at
all) as the telescope of the astronomer to him. If the telescope were destroyed
it would make no appreciable difference to the Universe which that telescope
reveals.
It will now be understood that this formula of I A O is a formula of
Tiphareth. The magician who employs it is conscious of himself as a man liable
to suffering, and anxious to transcend that state by becoming one with god. It
will appear to him as the Supreme Ritual, as the final step; but, as has already
been {30} pointed out, it is but a preliminary. For the normal man today,
however, it represents considerable attainment; and there is a much earlier
formula whose investigation will occupy Chapter VI.
THE MASTER THERION, in the Seventeenth year of the Aeon, has reconstructed
the Word I A O to satisfy the new conditions of Magick imposed by progress. The
Word of the Law being Thelema, whose number is 93, this number should be the
canon of a corresponding Mass. Accordingly, he has expanded I A O by treating
the O as an Ayin, and then adding Vau as prefix and affix. The full word is
then
Vau Yod Aleph Ayin Vau
whose number is 93. We may analyse this new Word in detail and demonstrate that
it is a proper hieroglyph of the Ritual of Self-Initiation in this Aeon of
Horus. For the correspondence in the following note, see Liber 777. The
principal points are these: {31}
--------------.---.-------------.---.--------------.------------------------
: : : : :
Atu :No.: Hebrew :No.:Correspondence: Other
:of : :of : :
(Tarot Trump) :Atu: letters :let: in Nature : Correspondences
: : :ter: :
--------------+---+-------------+---+--------------+------------------------
: : : : :
: : : : :
The Hiero- : V :Vau (a nail) : 6 :Taurus (An :The Sun. The son in Te-
phant. (Osi-: : English V, : : earthy sign : tragrammaton. (See Cap.
ris throned : : W, or vo- : : ruled by : III). The Pentagram
& crowned, : : wel between : : Venus; the : which shows Spirit
with Wand. : : O and U- : : Moon exalt- : master & reconciler of
: : ma'ajab and : : ed therein. : the Four Elements.
: : ma'aruf. : : but male.) :
Four Wor- : : : : Liberty,i.e.:The Hexagram which un-
shippers;the: : : : free will. : God and Man. The cons-
four ele- : : : : : sciousness or Ruach.
ments. : : : : :
: : : : :Parzival as the Child in
: : : : : his widowed mother's
: : : : : care: Horus, son of
: : : : : Isis and the slain
: : : : : Osiris.
: : : : :
: : : : :Parzival as King &
: : : : : Priest in Montsalvat
: : : : : performing the mir-
: : : : : acle of redemption;
: : : : : Horus crowned and
: : : : : conquering, taking the
: : : : : place of his father.
: : : : :
: : : : :Christ-Bacchus in Hea-
: : : : : ven-Olympus saving the
: : : : : world.
: : : : :
: : : : :
: : : : :
The Hermit :IX :Yod (a hand) : 10:Virgo (an :The root of the Alphabet
(Hermes : : English I : : earthy sign : The Spermatozoon. The
with Lamp, : : or Y. : : ruled by : youth setting out on
Wings, : : : : Mercury : his adventures after
Wand, : : : : exalted : receiving the Wand.
Cloak, and : : : : therein; : Parzival in the desert
Serpent). : : : : sexually : Christ taking refuge
: : : : ambivalent) : in Egypt, and on
: : : : Light, i.e. : the Mount tempted by
: : : : of Wisdom, : the Devil. The uncon-
: : : : the Inmost. : scious Will, or Word.
{32}
--------------.---.-------------.---.--------------.------------------------
: : : : :
Atu :No.: Hebrew :No.:Correspondence: Other
:of : : of: :
(Tarot Trump) :Atu: letters :let: in Nature : Correspondences
: : :ter: :
--------------+---+-------------+---+--------------+------------------------
: : : : :
: : : : :
The Fool : O :Aleph (an ox): 1 :Air (The con- :The free breath. The
(The Babe : : English A, : : dition of : Svastika. The Holy
in the Egg : : more or : : all Life, : Ghost. The Virgin's
on the Lo- : : less : : the impar- : Womb. Parzial as "der
tus, Bacchus: : : : tial vehicle: reine Thor" who knows
Diphues, : : : : Sexually : nothing. Horus.
etc. : : : : undevelop- : Christ-Bacchus as the
: : : : ed). Life; : innocent babe, pursued
: : : : i.e. the : by Herod-Here.
: : : : organ of : Hercules strangling
: : : : possible : the serpents. The
: : : : expression. : Unconscious Self not
: : : : : yet determined in any
: : : : : direction.
: : : : :
: : : : :
The Devil :XV :Ayin (an : 70:Capricornus :Parzival in Black Armour,
(Baphomet : : eye) En- : : (an earthy : ready to return to
throned & : : glish A, or: : sign ruled : Montsalvat as Redeemer-
adored by : : O more or : : by Saturn; : King: Horus come to
Male & Fe- : : less: the : : Mars exalt- : full growth. Christ-
male. See : : bleat of a : : ed therein. : Bacchus with Calvary-
Eliphas : : goat, A'a. : : Sexually : Cross Kithairon ---
Levi's de- : : : : male) : Thyrsus.
sign.) : : : : love: i.e. :
: : : : the instinct:
: : : : to satisfy :
: : : : Godhead by :
: : : : uniting it :
: : : : with the :
: : : : Universe. :
: : : : :
Iota-Alpha-Digamma varies in significance with successive Aeons.
{33}
"Aeon of Isis." Matriarchal Age. The Great Work conceived as a
straightforward simple affair.
We find the theory reflected in the customs of Matriarchy. Parthenogenesis
is supposed to be true. The Virgin (Yod-Virgo) contains in herself the
Principle of Growth --- the epicene Hermetic seed. It becomes the Babe in the
Egg (A --- Harpocrates) by virtue of the Spirit (A = Air, impregnating the
Mother---Vulture) and this becomes the Sun or Son ( Digamma = the letter of
Tiphareth, 6, even when spelt as Omega, in Coptic. See 777).
"Aeon of Osiris." Patriarchal age. Two sexes. I conceived as the
Father-Wand. (Yod in Tetragrammaton). A the Babe is pursued by the Dragon, who
casts a flood from his mouth to swallow it. See "Rev." VII. The Dragon is also
the Mother --- the "Evil Mother" of Freud. It is Harpocrates, threatened by the
crocodile in the Nile. We find the symbolism of the Ark, the Coffin of Osiris,
etc. The Lotus is the Yoni; the Water the Amniotic Fluid. In order to live his
own life, the child must leave the Mother, and overcome the temptation to return
to her for refuge. Kundry, Armida, Jocasta, Circe, etc., are symbols of this
force which tempts the Hero. He may take her as his servant<<Her sole speech
in the last Act is "Dienen: Dienen".>> when he has mastered her, so as to heal
his father (Amfortas), avenge him (Osiris), or pacify him (Jehovah). But in
order to grow to manhood, he must cease to depend on her, earning the Lance
(Parzival), claiming his arms (Achilles), or making his club (Hercules)<<Note
that all these three remain for a time as neuters among woman, prevented from
living the male life.>>, and wander in the waterless wilderness like Krishna,
Jesus, Oedipus, chi. tau. lambda. --- until the hour when, as the "King's
Son" or knight-errant, he must win the Princess, and set himself upon a strange
throne. Almost all the legends of heroes imply this formula in strikingly
similar symbols. Digamma. Vau the Sun --- Son. He is supposed to be mortal;
but how is this shewn? It seems an absolute perversion of truth: the sacred
symbols have no hint of it. This lie is the essence of the Great Sorcery.
Osirian religion is a Freudian phantasy fashioned of man's dread of death and
ignorance of nature. The parthenogenesis-idea {34} persists, but is now the
formula for incarnating demi-gods, or divine kings; these must be slain and
raised from the dead in one way or another.<<All these ideas may be explained
by reference to anthropology. But this is not their condemnation, but their
justification; for the customs and legends of mankind reflect the true nature
of the species.>>
"Aeon of Horus." Two sexes in one person.
Digamma Iota Alpha Omicron Digamma: 93, the full formula, recognizing the Sun
as the Son (Star), as the pre-existent manifested Unit from which all springs
and to which all returns. The Great Work is to make the initial Digamma
Digamma of Assiah (The world of material illusion) into the final Digamma Iota
Digamma of Atziluth,<<For these spellings see 777.>> the world of pure reality.
Spelling the Name in full, Digamma Digamma + Iota Digamma Delta + Alpha
Lambda Pi + Omicron Iota Nu + Digamma Iota = 309 = Sh T = XX + XI = 31 the
secret Key of the Law.
Digamma is the manifested Star.
Iota is the secret Life .............. Serpent
--- Light ............. Lamp
--- Love .............. Wand
--- Liberty ........... Wings
--- Silence ........... Cloak
These symbols are all shewn in the Atu "The Hermit".
They are the powers of the Yod, whose extension is the Vau.
Yod is the Hand wherewith man does his Will. It is also
The Virgin; his essence is inviolate.
Alpha is the Babe "who has formulated his Father, and made fertile
his Mother" --- Harpocrates, etc., as before; but he develops
to
Omicron The exalted "Devil" (also the "other" secret Eye) by the
formula of the Initiation of Horus elsewhere described in
detail. This "Devil" is called Satan or Shaitan, and regarded with
horror by people who are ignorant of his formula, and, imagining themselves to
be evil, accuse Nature herself of their own phantasmal crime. Satan is Saturn,
Set, Abrasax, Adad, Adonis, Attis, Adam, Adonai, etc. The most serious charge
against him is that he is the Sun in the South. The Ancient Initiates, {35}
dwelling as they did in lands whose blood was the water of the Nile or the
Euphrates, connected the South with life-withering heat, and cursed that quarter
where the solar darts were deadliest. Even in the legend of Hiram, it is at
high noon that he is stricken down and slain. Capricornus is moreover the sign
which the sun enterers when he reaches his extreme Southern declination at the
Winter Solstice, the season of the death of vegetation, for the folk of the
Northern hemisphere. This gave them a second cause for cursing the south. A
third; the tyranny of hot, dry, poisonous winds; the menace of deserts or oceans
dreadful because mysterious and impassable; these also were connected in their
minds with the South. But to us, aware of astronomical facts, this antagonism
to the South is a silly superstition which the accidents of their local
conditions suggested to our animistic ancestors. We see no enmity between Right
and Left, Up and Down, and similar pairs of opposites. These antitheses are
real only as a statement of relation; they are the conventions of an arbitrary
device for representing our ideas in a pluralistic symbolism based on duality.
"Good" must be defined in terms of human ideals and instincts. "East" has no
meaning except with reference to the earth's internal affairs; as an absolute
direction in space it changes a degree every four minutes. "Up" is the same for
no two men, unless one chance to be in the line joining the other with the
centre of the earth. "Hard" is the private opinion of our muscles. "True" is
an utterly unintelligible epithet which has proved refractory to the analysis
of our ablest philosophers.
We have therefore no scruple in restoring the "devil-worship" of such ideas
as those which the laws of sound, and the phenomena of speech and hearing,
compel us to connect with the group of "Gods" whose names are based upon Sht,
or D, vocalized by the free breath A. For these Names imply the qualities of
courage, frankness, energy, pride, power and triumph; they are the words which
express the creative and paternal will.
Thus "the Devil" is Capricornus, the Goat who leaps upon the loftiest
mountains, the Godhead which, if it become manifest in man, makes him Aegipan,
the All.
The Sun enters this sign when he turns to renew the year in the North. He
is also the vowel O, proper to roar, to boom, and {36} to command, being a
forcible breath controlled by the firm circle of the mouth.
He is the Open Eye of the exalted Sun, before whom all shadows flee away:
also that Secret Eye which makes an image of its God, the Light, and gives it
power to utter oracles, enlightening the mind.
Thus, he is Man made God, exalted, eager; he has come consciously to his full
stature, and so is ready to set out on his journey to redeem the world. But he
may not appear in this true form; the Vision of Pan would drive men mad with
fear. He must conceal Himself in his original guise.
He therefore becomes apparently the man that he was at the beginning; he lives
the life of a man; indeed, he is wholly man. But his initiation has made him
master of the Event by giving him the understanding that whatever happens to him
is the execution of this true will. Thus the last stage of his initiation is
expressed in our formula as the final:
Digamma --- The series of transformations has not affected his identity; but it
has explained him to himself. Similarly, Copper is still Copper after
Cu+O = CuO:+H SO =CuS O(H O):+K S=CuS(K SO ):
2 4 4 2 2 2 4 + blowpipe and reducing agent
= Cu(S).
It is the same copper, but we have learnt some of its properties. We observe
especially that it is indestructible, inviolably itself throughout all its
adventures, and in all its disguises. We see moreover that it can only make use
of its powers, fulfill the possibilities of its nature, and satisfy its
equations, by thus combining with its counterparts. Its existence as a separate
substance is evidence of its subjection to stress; and this is felt as the ache
of an incomprehensible yearning until it realises that every experience is a
relief, an expression of itself; and that it cannot be injured by aught that may
befall it. In the Aeon of Osiris it was indeed realised that Man must die in
order to live. But now in the Aeon of Horus we know that every event is a
death; subject and object slay each other in "love under will"; each such death
is itself life, the means by which one realises oneself in a series of episodes.
The second main point is the completion of the A babe Bacchus by the O Pan
(Parzival wins the Lance, etc.). {37}
The first process is to find the I in the V --- initiation, purification,
finding the Secret Root of oneself, the epicene Virgin who is 10 (Malkuth) but
spelt in full 20 (Jupiter).
This Yod in the "Virgin" expands to the Babe in the Egg by formulating the
Secret Wisdom of Truth of Hermes in the Silence of the Fool. He acquires the
Eye-Wand, beholding the acting and being adored. The Inverted Pentagram ---
Baphomet --- the Hermaphrodite fully grown --- begets himself on himself as V
again.
Note that there are now two sexes in one person throughout, so that each
individual is self-procreative sexually, whereas Isis knew only one sex, and
Osiris thought the two sexes opposed. Also the formula is now Love in all
cases; and the end is the beginning, on a higher plane.
The I is formed from the V by removing its tail, the A by balancing 4 Yods,
the O by making an inverted triangle of Yods, which suggests the formula of Nuit
--- Hadit --- Ra-Hoor-Khuit. A is the elements whirling as a Svastika --- the
creative Energy in equilibrated action.<<WEH Note: Thus, note the vesica:
Vau Yod
Aleph Yod Yod -----. :
: :
.----+----.
Yod Yod : :
: .-----
Ayin Yod Yod
Yod
>>
--------------
{38}
CHAPTER VI
THE FORMULA OF THE NEOPHYTE<<See the Neophyte Ceremony, Equinox
I,II.>>.
This formula has for its "first matter" the ordinary man entirely ignorant
of everything and incapable of anything. He is therefore represented as
blindfolded and bound. His only aid is his aspiration, represented by the
officer who is to lead him into the Temple. Before entering, he must be
purified and consecrated. Once within the Temple, he is required to bind
himself by an oath. His aspiration is now formulated as Will. He makes the
mystic circumambulation of the Temple for the reasons to be described in the
Chapter on "Gesture". After further purification and consecration, he is
allowed for one moment to see the Lord of the West, and gains courage<<Fear is
the source of all false perception. Even Freud had a glimpse of this fact.>>
to persist. For the third time he is purified and consecrated, and he sees the
Lord of the East, who holds the balance, keeping him in a straight line. In the
West he gains energy. In the East he is prevented from dissipating the same.
So fortified, he may be received into the Order as a neophyte by the three
principal officers, thus uniting the Cross with the Triangle. He may then be
placed between the pillars of the Temple, to receive the fourth and final
consecration. In this position the secrets of the grade are communicated to
him, and the last of his fetters is removed. All this is sealed by the
sacrament of the Four Elements.
It will be seen that the effect of this whole ceremony is to endow a thing
inert and impotent with balanced motion in a given direction. Numerous example
of this formula are given {39} in Equinox I, Nos. II and III. It is the formula
of the Neophyte Ceremony of G.'. D.'. It should be employed in the consecration
of the actual weapons used by the magician, and may also be used as the first
formula of initiation.
In the book called Z 2<<Those sections dealing with divination and alchemy
are the most grotesque rubbish in the latter case, and in the former obscure and
unpractical.>> (Equinox I, III) are given full details of this formula, which
cannot be too carefully studied and practised. It is unfortunately, the most
complex of all of them. But this is the fault of the first matter of the work,
which is so muddled that many operations are required to unify it.
------------
{40}
CHAPTER VII
THE FORMULA OF THE HOLY GRAAL:
OF
ABRAHADABRA:
"and of certain other Words."
Also: THE MAGICAL MEMORY.
The Hieroglyph shewn in the Seventh Key of the Tarot (described in the 12th
Aethyr, Liber 418, Equinox I, V) is the Charioteer of OUR LADY BABALON, whose
Cup or Graal he hears.
Now this is an important formula. It is the First of the Formulae, in a
sense, for it is the formula of Renunciation.<<There is no moral implication
here. But to choose A implies to refuse not-A: at least, that is so, below the
Abyss.>> It is also the Last!
This Cup is said to be full of the Blood of the Saints; that is, every
"saint" or magician must give the last drop of his life's blood to that cup.
It is the original price paid for magick power. And if by magick power we mean
the true power, the assimilation of all force with the Ultimate Light, the true
Bridal of the Rosy Cross, then is that blood the offering of Virginity, the sole
sacrifice well-pleasing to the Master, the sacrifice whose only reward is the
pain of child-bearing unto him.
But "to sell one's soul to the devil", to renounce no matter what for an
equivalent in personal gain<<"Supposed" personal gain. There is really no
person to gain; so the whole transaction is a swindle on both sides.>>, is black
magic. You are no longer a noble giver of your all, but a mean huckster. {41}
This formula is, however, a little different in symbolism, since it is a
Woman whose Cup must be filled. It is rather the sacrifice of the Man, who
transfers life to his descendants. For a woman does not carry in herself the
principle of new life, except temporarily, when it is given her.
But here the formula implies much more even than this. For it is his whole
life that the Magus offers to OUR LADY. The Cross is both Death and Generation,
and it is on the Cross that the Rose blooms. The full significance of these
symbols is so lofty that it is hardly fitted for an elementary treatise of this
type. One must be an Exempt Adept, and have become ready to pass on, before one
can see the symbols even from the lower plane. Only a Master of the Temple can
fully understand them.
(However, the reader may study Liber CLVI, in Equinox I, VI, the 12th and 2nd
Aethyrs in Liber 418 in Equinox I, V, and the Symbolism of the V Degree and VI
Degree in O.T.O.)
Of the preservation of this blood which OUR LADY offers to the ANCIENT ONE,
CHAOS<<CHAOS is a general name for the totality of the Units of Existence; it
is thus a name feminine in form. Each unit of CHAOS is itself All-Father.>> the
All-Father, to revive him, and of how his divine Essence fills the Daughter (the
soul of Man) and places her upon the Throne of the Mother, fulfilling the
Economy of the Universe, and thus ultimately rewarding the Magician (the Son)
ten thousandfold, it would be still more improper to speak in this place. So
holy a mystery is the Arcanum of the Masters of the Temple, that it is here
hinted at in order to blind the presumptuous who may, unworthy, seek to lift the
veil, and at the same time to lighten the darkness of such as may be requiring
only one ray of the Sun in order to spring into life and light.
II
ABRAHADABRA is a word to be studied in Equinox I, V., "The Temple of Solomon
the King". It represents the Great Work complete, and it is therefore an
archetype of all lesser magical operations. It is in a way too perfect to be
applied in {42} advance to any of them. But an example of such an operation may
be studied in Equinox I, VII, "The Temple of Solomon the King", where an
invocation of Horus on this formula is given in full. Note the reverberation
of the ideas one against another. The formula of Horus has not yet been so
fully worked out in details as to justify a treatise upon its exoteric theory
and practice; but one may say that it is, to the formula of Osiris, what the
turbine is to the reciprocating engine.
III
There are many other sacred words which enshrine formulae of great efficacity
in particular operations.
For example, V.I.T.R.I.O.L. gives a certain Regimen of the Planets useful in
Alchemical work. Ararita is a formula of the macrocosm potent in certain very
lofty Operations of the Magick of the Inmost Light. (See Liber 813.)
The formula of Thelema may be summarized thus: Theta "Babalon and the Beast
conjoined" --- epsilon unto Nuith (CCXX, I, 51) --- lambda The Work accomplished
in Justice --- eta The Holy Graal --- mu The Water therein --- alpha The Babe
in the Egg (Harpocrates on the Lotus.)
That of "Agape" is as follows:
Dionysus (Capital Alpha) --- The Virgin Earth gamma --- The Babe in the Egg
(small alpha --- the image of the Father) --- The Massacre of the Innocents, pi
(winepress) --- The Draught of Ecstasy, eta.
The student will find it well worth his while to seek out these ideas in
detail, and develop the technique of their application.
There is also the Gnostic Name of the Seven Vowels, which gives a musical
formula most puissant in evocations of the Soul of Nature. There is moreover
ABRAXAS; there is XNOUBIS; there is MEITHRAS; and indeed it may briefly be
stated that every true name of God gives the formula of the invocation of that
God.<<Members of the IV Degree of the O.T.O. are well aware of a Magick Word
whose analysis contains all truth, human and Divine, a word indeed potent for
any group which dares to use it.>> It would therefore be impossible, even were
it desirable, to analyse all such names. The general method of doing so has
been {43} given, and the magician must himself work out his own formula for
particular cases.<<The Holy Qabalah (see Liber D in Equinox I, VIII, Supplement,
and Liber 777) affords the means of analysis and application required. See also
Equinox I, V, "The Temple of Solomon The King".>>
IV.
It should also be remarked that every grade has its peculiar magical formula.
Thus, the formula of Abrahadabra concerns us, as men, principally because each
of us represents the pentagram or microcosm; and our equilibration must
therefore be with the hexagram or macrocosm. In other words, 5 Degree = 6Square
is the formula of the Solar operation; but then 6 Degree = 5Square is the
formula of the Martial operation, and this reversal of the figures implies a
very different Work. In the former instance the problem was to dissolve the
microcosm in the macrocosm; but this other problem is to separate a particular
force from the macrocosm, just as a savage might hew out a flint axe from the
deposits in a chalk cliff. Similarly, an operation of Jupiter will be of the
nature of the equilibration of him with Venus. Its graphic formula will be 7
Degree = 4Square, and there will be a word in which the character of this
operation is described, just as Abrahadabra describes the Operation of the Great
Work.
It may be stated without unfairness, as a rough general principle, that the
farther from original equality are the two sides of the equation, the more
difficult is the operation to perform.
Thus, to take the case of the personal operation symbolized by the grades,
it is harder to become a Neophyte, 1 Degree = 10Square, than to pass from that
grade to Zelator, 2 Degree = 9Square.
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.<<A
suggestion has recently been made that the Hierarchy of the Grades should be
"destroyed, and replaced by" --- a ring system of 13 grades all equal. There
is, of course, one sense in which every grade is a Thing-in-Itself. But the
Hierarchy is only a convenient method of classifying observed facts. One is
reminded of the Democracy, who, on being informed by the Minister of the
Interior that the scarcity of provisions was due to the Law of Supply and
Demand, passed a unanimous resolution calling for the immediate repeal of that
iniquitous measure!
Every person, whatever his grade in the Order, has also a "natural" grade
appropriate to his intrinsic virtue. He may expect to be "cast out" into that
grade when he becomes 8 Degree = 3Square. Thus one man, throughout his career,
may be essentially of the type of Netzach; another, of Hod. In the same way
Rembrandt and Raphael retained their respective points of view in all stages of
their art. The practical consideration is that some aspirants may find it
unusually difficult to attain certain grades; or, worse, allow their inherent
predispositions to influence them to neglect antipathetic, and indulge
sympathetic, types of work. They may thus become more unbalanced than ever,
with disastrous results. Success in one's favourite pursuit is a temptress;
whose yields to her wiles limits his own growth. True, every Will is partial;
but, even so, it can only fulfill itself by symmetrical expansion. It must be
adjusted to the Universe, or fail of perfection.>> {44}
It is evidently impossible to give details of all these formulae. Before
beginning any operation soever the magician must make a through Qabalistic study
of it so as to work out its theory in symmetry of perfection. Preparedness in
Magick is as important as it is in War.
V
It should be profitable to make a somewhat detailed study of the
strange-looking word AUMGN, for its analysis affords an excellent illustration
of the principles on which the Practicus may construct his own Sacred Words.
This word has been uttered by the MASTER THERION himself, as a means of
declaring his own personal work as the Beast, the Logos of the Aeon. To
understand it, we must make a preliminary consideration of the word which it
replaces and from which it was developed: the word AUM.
The word AUM is the sacred Hindu mantra which was the supreme hieroglyph of
Truth, a compendium of the Sacred Knowledge. Many volumes have been written
with regard to it; but, for our present purpose, it will be necessary only to
explain how it came to serve for the representation of the principal
philosophical tenets of the Rishis. {45}
Firstly, it represents the complete course of sound. It is pronounced by
forcing the breath from the back of the throat with the mouth wide open, through
the buccal cavity with the lips so shaped as to modify the sound from A to O (or
U), to the closed lips, when it becomes M. Symbolically, this announces the
course of Nature as proceeding from free and formless creation through
controlled and formed preservation to the silence of destruction. The three
sounds are harmonized into one; and thus the word represents the Hindu Trinity
of Brahma, Vishnu, and Shiva; and the operations in the Universe of their triune
energy. It is thus the formula of a Manvantara, or period of manifested
existence, which alternates with a Pralaya, during which creation is latent.
Analysed Qabalistically, the word is found to possess similar properties.
A is the negative, and also the unity which concentrates it into a positive
form. A is the Holy Spirit who begets God in flesh upon the Virgin, according
to the formula familiar to students of "The Golden Bough". A is also the "babe
in the Egg" thus produced. The quality of A is thus bisexual. It is the
original being --- Zeus Arrhenothelus, Bacchus Diphues, or Baphomet.
U or V is the manifested son himself. Its number is 6. It refers therefore,
to the dual nature of the Logos as divine and human; the interlacing of the
upright and averse triangles in the hexagram. It is the first number of the
Sun, whose last number<<The Sun being 6, a square 6x6 contains 36 squares. We
arrange the numbers from 1 to 36 in this square, so that each line, file, and
diagonal adds to the same number. This number is 111; the total of all is
666.>> is 666, "the number of a man".
The letter M exhibits the termination of this process. It is the Hanged Man
of the Tarot; the formation of the individual from the absolute is closed by his
death.
We see accordingly how AUM is, on either system, the expression of a dogma
which implies catastrophe in nature. It is cognate with the formula of the
Slain God. The "resurrection" and "ascension" are not implied in it. They are
later inventions without basis in necessity; they may be described indeed as
Freudian phantasms conjured up by the fear of facing reality. To {46} the
Hindu, indeed, they are still less respectable. in his view, existence is
essentially objectionable<<Thelemites agree that manifested existence implies
Imperfection. But they understand why Perfection devises this disguise. The
Theory is developed fully in Liber Aleph, and in Part IV of this Book 4. See
also Cap V Paragraph on Digamma final of Digamma-Iota-Alpha-Omicron-Digamma.>>;
and his principle concern is to invoke Shiva<<The Vaishnava theory,
superficially opposed to this, turns out on analysis to be practically
identical.>> to destroy the illusion whose thrall is the curse of the
Manvantara.
The cardinal revelation of the Great Aeon of Horus is that this formula AUM
does not represent the facts of nature. The point of view is based upon
misapprehension of the character of existence. It soon became obvious to The
Master Therion that AUM was an inadequate and misleading hieroglyph. It stated
only part of the truth, and it implied a fundamental falsehood. He consequently
determined to modify the word in such a manner as to fit it to represent the
Arcana unveiled by the Aeon of which He had attained to be the Logos.
The essential task was to emphasize the fact that nature is not catastrophic,
but proceeds by means of undulations. It might be suggested that Manvantara and
Pralaya are in reality complementary curves; but the Hindu doctrine insists
strongly on denying continuity to the successive phases. It was nevertheless
important to avoid disturbing the Trinitarian arrangement of the word, as would
be done by the addition of other letters. It was equally desirable to make it
clear that the letter M represents an operation which does not actually occur
in nature except as the withdrawal of phenomena into the absolute; which
process, even when so understood, is not a true destruction, but, on the
contrary, the emancipation of anything from the modifications which it had
mistaken for itself. It occurred to him that the true nature of Silence was to
permit the uninterrupted vibration of the undulatory energy, free from the false
conceptions attached to it by the Ahamkara or Ego-making facility, whose
assumption that conscious individuality constitutes existence let it to consider
its own apparently catastrophic character as pertaining to the order of nature.
{47}
The undulatory formula of putrefaction is represented in the Qabalah by the
letter N, which refers to Scorpio, whose triune nature combines the Eagle, Snake
and Scorpion. These hieroglyphs themselves indicate the spiritual formulae of
incarnation. He was also anxious to use the letter G, another triune formula
expressive of the aspects of the moon, which further declares the nature of
human existence in the following manner. The moon is in itself a dark orb; but
an appearance of light is communicated to it by the sun; and it is exactly in
this way that successive incarnations create the appearance, just as the
individual star, which every man is, remains itself, irrespective of whether
earth perceives it or not.
Now it so happens that the root GN signifies both knowledge and generation
combined in a single idea, in an absolute form independent of personality. The
G is a silent letter, as in our word Gnosis; and the sound GN is nasal,
suggesting therefore the breath of life as opposed to that of speech. Impelled
by these considerations, the Master Therion proposed to replace the M of AUM by
a compound letter MGN, symbolizing thereby the subtle transformation of the
apparent silence and death which terminates the manifested life of Vau by a
continuous vibration of an impersonal energy of the nature of generation and
knowledge, the Virgin Moon and the Serpent furthermore operating to include in
the idea a commemoration of the legend so grossly deformed in the Hebrew legend
of the Garden of Eden, and its even more malignantly debased falsification in
that bitterly sectarian broadside, the Apocalypse.
Sound work invariable vindicates itself by furnishing confirmatory
corollaries not contemplated by the Qabalist. In the present instance, the
Master Therion was delighted to remark that his compound letter MGN, constructed
on theoretical principles with the idea of incorporating the new knowledge of
the Aeon, had the value of 93 (M = 40, G = 3, N = 50). 93 is the number of the
word of the Law --- Thelema --- Will, and of Agape --- Love, which indicates the
nature of Will. It is furthermore the number of the Word which overcomes death,
as members of the degree of M M of the O.T.O. are well aware;<<WEH NOTE: III
Degree O.T.O., a word never to be written, published or spoken without the
rite.>> and it is also that of the complete formula of existence as expressed
in the {48} True Word of the Neophyte,<<WEH NOTE: Another unpublished word, this
time belonging to the A.'. A.'. and not to O.T.O. The two words are different,
even to the number of letters. It was written down once, in a letter to Frank
Bennett.>> where existence is taken to import that phase of the whole which is
the finite resolution of the Qabalistic Zero.
Finally, the total numeration of the Word AUMGN is 100, which, as initiates
of the Sanctuary of the Gnosis of the O.T.O.<<WEH NOTE: IX Degree O.T.O.>> are
taught, expresses the unity under the form of complete manifestation by the
symbolism of pure number, being Kether by Aiq Bkr<<A method of exegesis in which
1 = 10 = 100, 2 = 20 = 200, etc.>>; also Malkuth multiplied by itself<<10 to the
2 power = 100.>>, and thus established in the phenomenal universe. But,
moreover, this number 100 mysteriously indicates the Magical formula of the
Universe as a reverberatory engine for the extension of Nothingness through the
device of equilibrated opposites.<<Koph-Pehfinal = 100 (20 + 80). HB:Koph = chi
= Kappa-tau-epsilon-iota-sigma: HB:Pehfinal = phi =
Phi-alpha-lambda-lambda-omicron-sigma; (by Notariqon).>>
It is moreover the value of the letter Qoph, which means "the back of the
head", the cerebellum, where the creative or reproductive force is primarily
situated. Qoph in the Tarot is "the Moon", a card suggesting illusion, yet
shewing counterpartal forces operating in darkness, and the Winged Beetle or
Midnight Sun in his Bark travelling through the Nadir. Its Yetziratic
attribution is Pisces, symbolic of the positive and negative currents of fluidic
energy, the male Ichthus or "Pesce" and the female Vesica, seeking respectively
the anode and kathode. The number 100 is therefore a synthetic glyph of the
subtle energies employed in creating the Illusion, or Reflection of Reality,
which we call manifested existence.
The above are the principal considerations in the matter of AUMGN. They
should suffice to illustrate to the student the methods employed in the
construction of the hieroglyphics of Magick, and to arm him with a mantra of
terrific power by virtue whereof he may apprehend the Universe, and control
in himself its Karmic consequences. {49}
VI
THE MAGICAL MEMORY.<<WEH NOTE: This is not the same
"Magical Memory" as that described by F. A. Yates and used by the ancient Roman
orators for mnemonics.>>
I
There is no more important task than the exploration of one's previous
incarnations<<It has been objected to reincarnation that the population of this
planet has been increasing rapidly. Were do the new souls come from? It is not
necessary to invent theories about other planets; it is enough to say that the
earth is passing through a period when human units are being built up from the
elements with increased frequency. The evidence for this theory springs to the
eye: in what other age was there such puerility, such lack of race-experience,
such reliance upon incoherent formulas? (Contrast the infantile emotionalism
and credulity of the average "well-educated" Anglo-Saxon with the shrewd common
sense of the normal illiterate peasant.) A large proportion of mankind today is
composed of "souls" who are living the human life for the first time. Note
especially the incredible spread of congenital homosexuality and other sexual
deficiencies in many forms. These are the people who have not understood,
accepted, and used even the Formula of Osiris. Kin to them are the "once-born"
of William James, who are incapable of philosophy, magick, or even religion, but
seek instinctively a refuge from the horror of contemplating Nature, which they
do not comprehend, in soothing-syrup affirmations such as those of Christian
Science, Spiritualism, and all the sham 'occult' creeds, as well as the
emasculated forms of so-called Christianity.>>. As Zoroaster says: "Explore the
river of the soul; whence and in what order thou has come." One cannot do one's
True Will intelligently unless one knows what it is. Liber Thisarb, Equinox I,
VII, give instructions for determining this by calculating the resultant of the
forces which have made one what one is. But this practice is confined to one's
present incarnation.
If one were to wake up in a boat on a strange river, it would be rash to
conclude that the direction of the one reach visible was that of the whole
stream. It would help very much if one remembered the bearings of previous
reaches traversed before one's nap. It would further relieve one's anxiety when
one became aware that a uniform and constant force was the single determinant
of all the findings of the stream: gravitation. We could rejoice "that even the
weariest river winds somewhere safe to sea."
Liber Thisarb describes a method of obtaining the Magical Memory by learning
to remember backwards. But the careful {50} practice of Dharana is perhaps more
generally useful. As one prevents the more accessible thoughts from arising,
we strike deeper strata --- memories of childhood reawaken. Still deeper lies
a class of thoughts whose origin puzzles us. Some of these apparently belong
to former incarnations. By cultivating these departments of one's mind we can
develop them; we become expert; we form an organized coherence of these
originally disconnected elements; the faculty grows with astonishing rapidity,
once the knack of the business is mastered.
It is much easier (for obvious reasons) to acquire the Magical Memory when
one has been sworn for many lives to reincarnate immediately. The great
obstacle is the phenomenon called Freudian forgetfulness; that is to say, that,
though an unpleasant event may be recorded faithfully enough by the mechanism
of the brain, we fail to recall it, or recall it wrong, because it is painful.
"The Psychopathology of Everyday Life" analyses and illustrates this phenomenon
in detail. Now, the King of Terrors being Death, it is hard indeed to look it
in the face. Mankind has created a host of phantastic masks; people talk of
"going to heaven", "passing over", and so on; banners flaunted from pasteboard
towers of baseless theories. One instinctively flinches from remembering one's
last, as one does from imagining one's next, death.<<This later is a very
valuable practice to perform. See Liber HHH; also read up the Buddhist
meditations of the Ten Impurities. {WEH NOTE ADENDA: Right, but it scares the
dickens out of you! When I succeeded in the practice in my teens, I panicked out
of using the related abilities for several years. This was without benefit of
initiation.}>> The point of view of the initiate helps one immensely.
As soon as one has passed this Pons Asinorum, the practice becomes much easier.
It is much less trouble to reach the life before the last; familiarity with
death breeds contempt for it.
It is a very great assistance to the beginner if he happens to have some
intellectual grounds for identifying himself with some definite person in the
immediate past. A brief account of Aleister Crowley's good fortune in this
matter should be instructive. It will be seen that the points of contact vary
greatly in character.
1. The date of Eliphas Levi's death was about six months previous to that of
Aleister Crowley's birth. The reincarnating ego is supposed to take possession
of the foetus at about this stage of development. {51}
2. Eliphas Levi had a striking personal resemblance to Aleister Crowley's
father. This of course merely suggests a certain degree of suitability from a
physical point of view.
3. Aleister Crowley wrote a play called "The Fatal Force" at a time when he
had not read any of Eliphas Levi's works. The motive of this play is a Magical
Operation of a very peculiar kind. The formula which Aleister Crowley supposed
to be his original idea is mentioned by Levi. We have not been able to trace
it anywhere else with such exact correspondence in every detail.
4. Aleister Crowley found a certain quarter of Paris incomprehensibly
familiar and attractive to him. This was not the ordinary phenomenon of the
"deja vu", it was chiefly a sense of being at home again. He discovered long
after that Levi had lived in the neighbourhood for many years.
5. There are many curious similarities between the events of Eliphas Levi's
life and that of Aleister Crowley. The intention of the parents that their son
should have a religious career; the inability to make use of very remarkable
talents in any regular way; the inexplicable ostracism which afflicted him, and
whose authors seemed somehow to be ashamed of themselves; the events relative
to marriage<<Levi, on her deliberately abandoning him, withdrew his protection
from his wife; she lost her beauty and intelligence, and became the prey of an
aged and hideous pithecoid. Aleister Crowley's wife insisted upon doing her own
will, as she defined it; this compelled him to stand aside. What happened to
Mme. Constant happened to her, although in a more violent and disastrous
form.>>: all these offer surprisingly close parallels.
6. The characters of the two men present subtle identities in many points.
Both seem to be constantly trying to reconcile insuperable antagonisms. Both
find it hard to destroy the delusion that men's fixed beliefs and customs may
be radically altered by a few friendly explanations. Both show a curious
fondness for out-the-way learning, preferring recondite sources of knowledge
they adopt eccentric appearances. Both inspire what can only be called panic
fear in absolute strangers, who can give no reason whatever for a repulsion
which sometimes almost amounts to {52} temporary insanity. The ruling passion
in each case is that of helping humanity. Both show quixotic disregard of their
personal prosperity, and even comfort, yet both display love of luxury and
splendour. Both have the pride of Satan.
7. When Aleister Crowley became Frater Omicron-Upsilon Mu-Eta and had to
write his thesis for the grade of Adeptus Exemptus, he had already collected his
ideas when Levi's "Clef des Grands Mysteres" fell into his hands. It was
remarkable that he, having admired Levi for many years, and even begun to
suspect the identity, had not troubled (although an extravagant buyer of books)
to get this particular work. He found, to his astonishment, that almost
everything that he had himself intended to say was there written. The result
of this was that he abandoned writing his original work, and instead translated
the masterpiece in question.
8. The style of the two men is strikingly similar in numerous subtle and
deep-seated ways. The general point of view is almost identical. The quality
of the irony is the same. Both take a perverse pleasure in playing practical
jokes on the reader. In one point, above all, the identity is absolute ---
there is no third name in literature which can be put in the same class. The
point is this: In a single sentence is combined sublimity and enthusiasm with
sneering bitterness, scepticism, grossness and scorn. It is evidently the
supreme enjoyment to strike a chord composed of as many conflicting elements as
possible. The pleasure seems to be derived from gratifying the sense of power,
the power to compel every possible element of thought to contribute to the
spasm.
If the theory of reincarnation were generally accepted, the above
considerations would make out a strong case. FRATER PERDURABO was quite
convinced in one part of his mind of this identity, long before he got any
actual memories as such.<<Long since writing the above, the publication of the
biography of Eliphas Levi by M. Paul Chacornat has confirmed the hypothesis in
innumerable striking ways.>>
II
Unless one has a groundwork of this sort to start with, one must get back to
one's life as best one can by the methods above indicated. {53} It may be of
some assistance to give a few characteristics of genuine Magical Memory; to
mention a few sources of error, and to lay down critical rules for the
verification of one's results.
The first great danger arises from vanity. One should always beware of
"remembering" that one was Cleopatra or Shakespeare.
Again, superficial resemblances are usually misleading.
One of the great tests of the genuineness of any recollection is that one
remembers the really important things in one's life, not those which mankind
commonly classes as such. For instance, Aleister Crowley does not remember any
of the decisive events in the life of Eliphas Levi. He recalls intimate
trivialities of childhood. He has a vivid recollection of certain spiritual
crises; in particular, one which was fought out as he paced up and down a lonely
stretch of road in a flat and desolate district. He remembers ridiculous
incidents, such as often happen at suppers when the conversation takes a turn
such that its gaiety somehow strikes to the soul, and one receives a supreme
revelation which is yet perfectly inarticulate. He has forgotten his marriage
and its tragic results<<It is perhaps significant that although the name of the
woman has been familiar to him since 1898, he has never been able to commit it
to memory.>>, although the plagiarism which Fate has been shameless enough to
perpetrate in this present life, would naturally, one might think, reopen the
wound.
There is a sense which assures us intuitively when we are running on a scent
breast high. There is an "oddness" about the memory which is somehow annoying.
It gives a feeling of shame and guiltiness. There is a tendency to blush. One
feels like a schoolboy caught red-handed in the act of writing poetry. There
is the same sort of feeling as one has when one finds a faded photograph or a
lock of hair twenty years old among the rubbish in some forgotten cabinet. This
feeling is independent of the question whether the thing remembered was in
itself a source of pleasure or of pain. Can it be that we resent the idea of
our "previous condition of servitude"? We want to forget the past, however good
reason we may have to be proud of it. It is well known that many men are
embarrassed in the presence of a monkey. {54}
When the "loss of face" does not occur, distrust the accuracy of the item
which you recall, The only reliable recollections which present themselves with
serenity are invariably connected with what men call disasters. Instead of the
feeling of being caught in the slips, one has that of being missed at the
wicket. One has the sly satisfaction of having done an outrageously foolish
thing and got off scot free. When one sees life in perspective, it is an
immense relief to discover that things like bankruptcy, wedlock, and the gallows
made no particular difference. They were only accidents such as might happen
to anybody; they had no real bearing on the point at issue. One consequently
remembers having one's ears cropped as a lucky escape, while the causal jest of
a drunken skeinsmate in an all-night cafe stings one with the shame of the
parvenu to whom a polite stranger has unsuspectingly mentioned "Mine Uncle".
The testimony of intuitions is, however, strictly subjective, and shrieks for
collateral security. It would be a great error to ask too much. In consequence
of the peculiar character of the recollections which are under the microscope,
anything in the shape of gross confirmation almost presumes perjury. A
pathologist would arouse suspicion if he said that his bacilli had arranged
themselves on the slide so as to spell Staphylococcus. We distrust an
arrangement of flowers which tells us that "Life is worth living in Detroit,
Michigan". Suppose that Aleister Crowley remembers that he was Sir Edward
Kelly. It does not follow that he will be able to give us details of Cracow in
the time of James I of England. Material events are the words of an arbitrary
language; the symbols of a cipher previously agreed on. What happened to Kelly
in Cracow may have meant something to him, but there is no reason to presume
that it has any meaning for his successor.
There is an obvious line of criticism about any recollection. It must not
clash with ascertained facts. For example --- one cannot have two lives which
overlap, unless there is reason to suppose that the earlier died spiritually
before his body ceased to breathe. This might happen in certain cases, such as
insanity.
It is not conclusive against a previous incarnation that the present should
be inferior to the past. One's life may represent the full possibilities of a
certain partial Karma. One may have {55} devoted one's incarnation to
discharging the liabilities of one part of one's previous character. For
instance, one might devote a lifetime to settling the bill run up by Napoleon
for causing unnecessary suffering, with the object of starting afresh, clear of
debt, in a life devoted to reaping the reward of the Corsican's invaluable
services to the race.
The Master Therion, in fact, remembers several incarnations of almost
uncompensated wretchedness, anguish and humiliation, voluntarily undertaken so
that he might resume his work unhampered by spiritual creditors.
These are the stigmata. Memory is hall-marked by its correspondence with the
facts actually observed in the present. This correspondence may be of two
kinds. It is rare (and it is unimportant for the reasons stated above) that
one's memory should be confirmed by what may be called, contemptuously, external
evidence. It was indeed a reliable contribution to psychology to remark that
an evil and adulterous generation sought for a sign.
(Even so, the permanent value of the observation is to trace the genealogy
of the Pharisee --- from Caiaphas to the modern Christian.)
Signs mislead, from "Painless Dentistry" upwards. The fact that anything is
intelligible proves that it is addressed to the wrong quarter, because the very
existence of language presupposes impotence to communicate directly. When
Walter Raleigh flung his cloak upon the muddy road, he merely expressed, in a
cipher contrived by a combination of circumstances, his otherwise inexpressible
wish to get on good terms with Queen Elizabeth. The significance of his action
was determined by the concourse of circumstances. The reality can have no
reason for reproducing itself exclusively in that especial form. It can have
no reason for remembering that so extravagant a ritual happened to be necessary
to worship. Therefore, however well a man might remember his incarnation as
Julius Caesar, there is no necessity for his representing his power to set all
upon the hazard of a die by imagining the Rubicon. Any spiritual state can be
symbolized by an infinite variety of actions in an infinite variety of
circumstances. One should recollect only those events which happen to {56} be
immediately linked with one's peculiar tendencies to imagine one thing rather
than another.<<The exception is when some whimsical circumstance ties a knot in
the corner of one's mnemonic handkerchief.>>
Genuine recollections almost invariably explain oneself to oneself. Suppose,
for example, that you feel an instinctive aversion to some particular kind of
wine. Try as you will, you can find no reason for your idiosyncrasy. Suppose,
then, that when you explore some previous incarnation, you remember that you
died by a poison administered in a wine of that character, your aversion is
explained by the proverb, "A burnt child dreads the fire." It may be objected
that in such a case your libido has created a phantasm of itself in the manner
which Freud has explained. The criticism is just, but its value is reduced if
it should happen that you were not aware of its existence until your Magical
Memory attracted your attention to it. In fact, the essence of the test
consists in this: that your memory notifies you of something which is the
logical conclusion of the premisses postulated by the past.
As an example, we may cite certain memories of the Master Therion. He
followed a train of thought which led him to remember his life as a Roman named
Marius de Aquila. It would be straining probability to presume a connection
between (alpha) this hieroglyphically recorded mode of self-analysis and (beta)
ordinary introspection conducted on principles intelligible to himself. He
remembers directly various people and various events connected with this
incarnation; and they are in themselves to all appearance actual. There is no
particular reason why they, rather than any others, should have entered his
sphere. In the act of remembering them, they are absolute. He can find no
reason for correlating them with anything in the present. But a subsequent
examination of the record shows that the logical result of the Work of Marius
de Aquila did not occur to that romantic reprobate; in point of fact, he died
before anything could happen. Can we suppose that any cause can be baulked of
effect? The Universe is unanimous in rebuttal. If then the exact effects which
might be expected to result from these causes are manifested in the career {57}
of the Master Therion, it is assuredly the easiest and most reasonable
explanation to assume an identity between the two men. Nobody is shocked to
observe that the ambition of Napoleon has diminished the average stature of
Frenchmen. We know that somehow or other every force must find its fulfilment;
and those people who have grasped the fact that external events are merely
symptoms of external ideas, cannot find any difficulty in attributing the
correspondences of the one to the identities of the other.
Far be it from any apologist for Magick to insist upon the objective validity
of these concatenations! It would be childish to cling to the belief that
Marius de Aquila actually existed; it matters no more that it matters to the
mathematician whether the use of the symbol X to the 22 power involves the
"reality" of 22 dimension of space. The Master Therion does not care a scrap
of yesterday's newspaper whether he was Marius de Aquila, or whether there ever
was such a person, or whether the Universe itself is anything more than a
nightmare created by his own imprudence in the matter of rum and water. His
memory of Marius de Aquila, of the adventures of that person in Rome and the
Black Forest, matters nothing, either to him or to anybody else. What matters
is this: True or false, he has found a symbolic form which has enabled him to
govern himself to the best advantage. "Quantum nobis prodest hec fabula
Christi!" The "falsity" of Aesop's Fables does not diminish their value to
mankind.
The above reduction of the Magical Memory to a device for externalizing one's
interior wisdom need not be regarded as sceptical, save only in the last resort.
No scientific hypothesis can adduce stronger evidence of its validity than the
confirmation of its predictions by experimental evidence. The objective can
always be expressed in subjective symbols if necessary. The controversy is
ultimately unmeaning. However we interpret the evidence, its relative truth
depends in its internal coherence. We may therefore say that any magical
recollection is genuine if it gives the explanation of our external or internal
conditions. Anything which throws light upon the Universe, anything which
reveals us to ourselves, should be welcome in this world of riddles.
As our record extends into the past, the evidence of its truth is cumulative.
Every incarnation that we remember must increase {58} our comprehension of
ourselves as we are. Each accession of knowledge must indicate with
unmistakable accuracy the solution of some enigma which is propounded by the
Sphynx of our own unknown birth-city, Thebes. The complicated situation in
which we find ourselves is composed of elements; and no element of it came out
of nothing. Newton's First Law applies to every plane of thought. The theory
of evolution is omniform. There is a reason for one's predisposition to gout,
or the shape of one's ear, in the past. The symbolism may change; the facts do
not. In one form or another, everything that exists is derived from some
previous manifestation. Have it, if you will, that the memories of other
incarnations are dreams; but dreams are determined by reality just as much as
the events of the day. The truth is to be apprehended by the correct
translation of the symbolic language. The last section of the Oath of the
Master of the Temple is: "I swear to interpret every phenomenon as a particular
dealing of God with my soul." The Magical Memory is (in the last analysis) one
manner, and, as experience testifies, one of the most important manners, of
performing this vow.
-------------
{59}
CHAPTER VIII
OF EQUILIBRIUM, AND OF THE GENERAL AND PARTICULAR
METHOD OF PREPARATION OF THE FURNITURE OF THE
TEMPLE AND OF THE INSTRUMENTS OF ART.
I
"Before there was equilibrium, countenance beheld not countenance."<<The full
significance of this aphorism is an Arcanum of the grade of Ipsissimus. It may,
however, be partially apprehended by study of Liber Aleph, and the Book of the
Law and the Commentaries thereon. It explains Existence.>> So sayeth the
holiest of the Books of the ancient Qabalah. (Siphra Tzeniutha 1. 2.) One
countenance here spoken of is the Macrocosm, the other the Microcosm.<<This is
the case because we happen ourselves to be Microcosms whose Law is "love under
will". But it is also Magick for an unit which has attained Perfection (in
absolute nothingness, 0 Degree), to become "divided for love's sake, for the
chance of union".>>
As said above, the object of any magick ceremony is to unite the Macrocosm
and the Microcosm.
It is as in optics; the angles of incidence and reflection are equal. You
must get your Macrocosm and Microcosm exactly balanced, vertically and
horizontally, or the images will not coincide.
This equilibrium is affirmed by the magician in arranging the Temple.
Nothing must be lop-sided. If you have anything in the North, you must put
something equal and opposite to it in the South. The importance of this is so
great, and the truth of it so obvious, that no one with the most mediocre
capacity {60} for magick can tolerate any unbalanced object for a moment. His
instinct instantly revolts.<<This is because the essence of his being a Magician
is his intuitive apprehension of the fundamental principles of the Universe.
His instinct is a subconscious assertion of the structural identity of the
Macrocosm and the Microcosm. Equilibrium is the condition of manifested
existence.>>. For this reason the weapons, altar, circle, and magus are all
carefully proportioned one with another. It will not do to have a cup like a
thimble and a wand like a weaver's beam.<<See Bagh-i-Muattar, V, par. 2.>>
Again, the arrangement of the weapons of the altar must be such that they
"look" balanced. Nor should the magician have any unbalanced ornament. If he
have the wand in his right hand, let him have the Ring<<The Ring has not been
described in Part II of this book, for reasons which may be or may not be
apparent to the reader. It is the symbol of Nuit, the totality of the possible
ways in which he may represent himself and fulfill himself.>> on his left, or
let him take the Ankh, or the Bell, or the Cup. And however little he move to
the right, let him balance it by an equivalent movement to the left; or if
forwards, backwards; and let him correct each idea by implying the contradictory
contained therein. If he invoke Severity, let him recount that Severity is the
instrument of Mercy;<<For example, as when Firmness with one's self or another
is the truest kindness; or when amputation saves life.>> if Stability, let him
show the basis of that Stability to be constant change, just as the stability
of a molecule is secured by the momentum of the swift atoms contained in
it.<<See Liber 418, 11th Aethyr.>>
In this way let every idea go forth as a triangle on the base of two
opposites, making an apex transcending their contradiction in a higher harmony.
It is not safe to use any thought in Magick, unless that thought has been
thus equilibrated and destroyed.
Thus again with the instruments themselves; the Wand must be ready to change
into a Serpent, the Pantacle into the whirling Svastika or Disk of Jove, as if
to fulfil the functions of the Sword. {61} The Cross is both the death of the
"Saviour"<<It is the extension in matter of the Individual Self, the Indivisible
Point determined by reference to the Four Quarters. This is the formula which
enables it to express its Secret Self; its dew falling upon the Rose is
developed into an Eidolon of Itself, in due season.>> and the Phallic symbol of
Resurrection. Will itself must be ready to culminate in the surrender of that
Will:<<See Liber LXV and Liber VII.>> the aspiration's arrow that is shot
against the Holy Dove must transmute itself into the wondering Virgin that
receives in her womb the quickening of that same Spirit of God.
Any idea that is thus in itself positive and negative, active and passive,
male and female, is fit to exist above the Abyss; any idea not so equilibrated
is below the Abyss, contains in itself an unmitigated duality or falsehood, and
is to that extent qliphotic<<See The Qabalah for the use of this word, and study
the doctrine concerning the Kings of Edom.>> and dangerous. Even an idea like
"truth" is unsafe unless it is realized that all Truth is in one sense
falsehood. For all Truth is relative; and if it be supposed absolute, will
mislead.<<See Poincare for the mathematical proof of this thesis. But Spiritual
Experience goes yet deeper, and destroys the Canon of the Law of Contradiction.
There is an immense amount of work by the Master Therion on this subject; it
pertains especially to His grade of 9 Degree = 2Square. Such profundities are
unsuited to the Student, and may unsettle him seriously. It will be best for
him to consider (provisionally) Truth in the sense in which it is taken by
Physical Science.>> "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.
All this is to be expressed in the words of the ritual itself, and symbolised
in every act performed.
II
It is said in the ancient books of Magick that everything used by the
Magician must be "virgin". That is: it must never have been used by any other
person or for any other purpose. The {62} greatest importance was attached by
the Adepts of old to this, and it made the task of the Magician no easy one.
He wanted a wand; and in order to cut and trim it he needed a knife. It was not
sufficient merely to buy a new knife; he felt that he had to make it himself.
In order to make the knife, he would require a hundred other things, the
acquisition of each of which might require a hundred more; and so on. This
shows the impossibility of disentangling one's self from one's environment.
Even in Magick we cannot get on without the help of others.<<It is, and the fact
is still more important, utterly fatal and demoralizing to acquire the habit of
reliance on others. The Magician must know every detail of his work, and be
able and willing to roll up his shirtsleeves and do it, no matter how trivial
or menial it may seem. Abramelin (it is true) forbids the Aspirant to perform
any tasks of an humiliating type; but he will never be able to command perfect
service unless he has experience of such necessary work, mastered during his
early training.>>
There was, however, a further object in this recommendation. The more
trouble and difficulty your weapon costs, the more useful you will find it. "If
you want a thing well done, do it yourself." It would be quite useless to take
this book to a department store, and instruct them to furnish you a Temple
according to specification. It is really worth the while of the Student who
requires a sword to go and dig out iron ore from the earth, to smelt it himself
with charcoal that he has himself prepared, to forge the weapon with his own
hand: and even to take the trouble of synthesizing the oil of virtiol with which
it is engraved. He will have learnt a lot of useful things in his attempt to
make a really virgin sword; he will understand how one thing depends upon
another; he will begin to appreciate the meaning of the words "the harmony of
the Universe", so often used so stupidly and superficially by the ordinary
apologist for Nature, and he will also perceive the true operation of the law
of Karma.<<In this sense especially: any one thing involves, and is involved in,
others apparently altogether alien.>>
Another notable injunction of the ancient Magick was that whatever appertained
to the Work should be "single". The Wand was to be cut with a single stroke of
the knife. There must be no {63} boggling and hacking at things, no clumsiness
and no hesitation. If you strike a blow at all, strike with your strength!
"Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with all thy might!" If you are going
to take up Magick, make no compromise. You cannot make revolutions with
rose-water, or wrestle in a silk hat. You will find very soon that you must
either lose the hat or stop wrestling. Most people do both. They take up the
magical path without sufficient reflection, without that determination of
adamant which made the author of this book exclaim, as he took the first oath,
"PERDURABO" --- "I will endure unto the end!"<<"For enduring unto the End, at
the End was Naught to endure." Liber 333, Cap Zeta.>> They start on it at a
great pace, and then find that their boots are covered with mud. Instead of
persisting, they go back to Piccadilly. Such persons have only themselves to
thank if the very street-boys mock at them.
Another recommendation was this: buy whatever may be necessary without
haggling!
You must not try to strike a proportion between the values of incommensurable
things.<<However closely the square of any fraction approximates to 2, no
fraction equals the square root of 2. The square root of 2 is not in the
series; it is a different kind of number altogether.>> The least of the Magical
Instruments is worth infinitely more than all that you possess, or if you like,
than all that you stupidly suppose yourself to possess. Break this rule, and
the usual Nemesis of the half-hearted awaits you. Not only do you get inferior
instruments, but you lose in some other way what you thought you were so clever
to have saved. Remember Ananias!<<Observe well that there is never any real
equivalence or measurable relation between any two things, for each is
impregnably Itself. The exchange of property is not a mathematically accurate
equation. The Want is merely a conventional expression of the Will, just as a
word is of a thought. It can never be anything else; thus, though the process
of making it, whether it involves time, money, or labour, is a spiritual and
moral synthesis, it is not measurable in terms of its elements.>>
On the other hand, if you purchase without haggling you will find that along
with your purchase the vendor has thrown in {64} the purse of Fortunatus. No
matter in what extremity you may seem to be, at the last moment your
difficulties will be solved. For there is no power either of the firmament of
the ether, or of the earth or under the earth, on dry land or in the water, of
whirling air or of rushing fire, or any spell or scourge of God which is not
obedient to the necessity of the Magician! That which he has, he has not; but
that which he is, he is; and that which he will be, he will be. And neither God
nor Man, nor all the malice of Choronzon, can either check him, or cause him to
waver for one instant upon the Path. This command and this promise have been
given by all the Magi without exception. And where this command has been
obeyed, this promise has been most certainly fulfilled.
III
In all actions the same formulae are applicable. To invoke a god, i.e. to
raise yourself to that godhead, the process is threefold, PURIFICATION,
CONSECRATION and INITIATION.
Therefore every magical weapon, and even the furniture of the Temple, must
be passed through this threefold regimen. The details only vary on inessential
points. E.G. to prepare the magician, he purifies himself by maintaining his
chastity<<See The Book of the Law and the Commentaries thereon for the true
definition of this virtue.>> and abstaining from any defilement. But to do the
same with, let us say, the Cup, we assure ourselves that the metal has never
been employed for any other purpose --- we smelt virgin ore, and we take all
possible pains in refining the metal --- it must be chemically pure.
To sum up this whole matter in a phrase, every article employed is treated as
if it were a candidate for initiation; but in those parts of the ritual in which
the candidate is blindfolded, we wrap the weapon in a black cloth<<This refers
to the "formula of the Neophyte". There are alternatives.>>. The oath which
he takes is replaced by a "charge" in similar terms. The details of the
preparation of each weapon should be thought out carefully by the magician.
{65}
Further, the attitude of the magician to his weapons should be that of the
God to the suppliant who invokes Him. It should be the love of the father for
his child, the tenderness and care of the bridegroom for his bride, and that
peculiar feeling which the creator of every work of art feels for his
masterpiece.
Where this is clearly understood, the magician will find no difficulty in
observing the proper ritual, not only in the actual ceremonial consecration of
each weapon, but in the actual preparation, a process which should adumbrate
this ceremony; e.g., the magician will cut the wand from the tree, will strip
it of leaves and twigs, will remove the bark. He will trim the ends nearly, and
smooth down the knots: --- this is the banishing.
He will then rub it with the consecrated oil until it becomes smooth and
glistening and golden. He will then wrap it in silk of the appropriate colour:
--- this is the Consecration.
He will then take it, and imagine that it is that hollow tube in which
Prometheus brought down fire from heaven, formulating to himself the passing of
the Holy Influence through it. In this and other ways he will perform the
initiation; and, this being accomplished, he will repeat the whole process in
an elaborate ceremony.<<I have omitted to say that the whole subject of Magick
is an example of Mythopoeia in that particular form called Disease of Language.
Thoth, God of Magick, was merely a man who invented writing, as his monuments
declare clearly enough. "Grammarye", Magick, is only the Greek "Gramma". So
also the old name of a Magical Ritual, "Grimoire", is merely a Grammar.
It appeared marvellous to the vulgar that men should be able to communicate
at a distance, and they began to attribute other powers, merely invented, to the
people who were able to write. The Wand is then nothing but the pen; the Cup,
the Inkpot; the Dagger, the knife for sharpening the pen; and the disk
(Pantacle) is either the papyrus roll itself; or the weight which kept it in
position, or the sandbox for soaking up the ink. And, of course, the Papyrus
of Ani is only the Latin for toilet-paper.>>
To take an entirely different case, that of the Circle; the magician will
synthesize the Vermilion required from Mercury an Sulphur which he has himself
sublimated. This pure {66} vermilion he will himself mix with the consecrated
oil, and as he uses this paint he will think intently and with devotion of the
symbols which he draws. This circle may then be initiated by a
circumambulation, during which the magician invokes the names of God that are
on it.
Any person without sufficient ingenuity to devise proper methods of
preparation for the other articles required is unlikely to make much of a
magician; and we shall only waste space if we deal in detail with the
preparation of each instrument.
There is a definite instruction in Liber A vel Armorum, in the Equinox,
Volume I, Number IV, as to the Lamp and the Four Elemental Weapons.
-------------
{67}
CHAPTER IX
OF SILENCE AND SECRECY:
AND OF
THE BARBAROUS NAMES OF EVOCATION.
It is found by experience (confirming the statement of Zoroaster) that the
most potent conjurations are those in an ancient and perhaps forgotten language,
or even those couched in a corrupt and possibly always meaningless jargon. Of
these there are several main types. The "preliminary invocation" in the
"Goetia" consists principally of corruptions of Greek and Egyptian names. For
example, we find "Osorronnophris" for "Asor Un-Nefer".<<See appendix 4, Liber
Samekh; this is an edition of this Invocation, with an elaborate Rubric,
translation, scholia, and instruction.
{WEH ADDENDUM: This is the "Preliminary Invocation" placed in the "Goetia"
in the Mathers transcription (Not "translation") by Crowley. This invocation
is not a part of the original text, but comes to us from the Greco-Egyptian
period of perhaps the 6th century. The Goetia is itself a small portion of the
"Lemegeton" or "Lesser Key of Solomon." This "Preliminary Evocation" is altered
in Liber Samekh over that published in the "Goetia".>> The conjurations given
by Dr. Dee (vide Equinox I, VIII) are in a language called Angelic, or Enochian.
Its source has hitherto baffled research, but it is a language and not a jargon,
for it possesses a structure of its own, and there are traces of grammar and
syntax.
However this may be, it "works". Even the beginner finds that "things
happen" when he uses it: and this is an advantage --- or disadvantage! ----
shared by no other type of language,. The rest need skill. This needs
Prudence!
The Egyptian Invocations are much purer, but their meaning has not been
sufficiently studied by persons magically competent. We possess a number of
Invocations in Greek of every degree of excellence; in Latin but few, and those
of inferior quality. It will be noticed that in every case the conjurations are
very sonorous, {68} and there is a certain magical voice in which they should
be recited. This special voice was a natural gift of the Master Therion; but
it can be easily taught --- to the right people.
Various considerations impelled Him to attempt conjurations in the English
language. There already existed one example, the charm of the witches in
Macbeth; although this was perhaps not meant seriously, its effect is
indubitable.<<A true poet cannot help revealing himself and the truth of things
in his art, whether he be aware of what he is writing, or no.>>
He has found iambic tetrameters enriched with many rimes both internal an
external very useful. "The Wizard Way" (Equinox I,I) gives a good idea of the
sort of thing. So does the Evocation of Bartzabel in Equinox I,IX. There are
many extant invocations throughout his works, in many kinds of metre, of many
kinds of being, and for many kinds of purposes. (See Appendix).
Other methods of incantation are on record as efficacious. For instance
Frater I.A., when a child, was told that he could invoke the devil by repeating
the "Lord's Prayer" backwards. He went into the garden and did so. The Devil
appeared, and almost scared him out of his life.
It is therefore not quite certain in what the efficacy of conjurations really
lies. The peculiar mental excitement required may even be aroused by the
perception of the absurdity of the process, and the persistence in it, as when
once FRATER PERDURABO (at the end of His magical resources) recited "From
Greenland's Icy Mountains", and obtained His result.<<See "Eleusis", A. Crowley,
"Collected Works", Vol. III Epilogue.>>
It may be conceded in any case that the long strings of formidable words
which roar and moan through so many conjurations have a real effect in exalting
the consciousness of the magician to the proper pitch --- that they should do
so is no more extraordinary than music of any kind should do so.
Magicians have not confined themselves to the use of the human voice. The
Pan-pipe with its seven stops, corresponding to the seven planets, the
bull-roarer, the tom-tom, and even the violin, have all been used, as well as
many others, of which the {69} most important is the bell<<See Part II. It
should be said that in experience no bell save His own Tibetan bell of Electrum
Magicum has ever sounded satisfactory to the Master Therion. Most bells jar and
repel.>>, though this is used not so much for actual conjuration as to mark
stages in the ceremony. Of all these the tom-tom will be found to be the most
generally useful.
While on the subject of barbarous names of evocation we should not omit the
utterance of certain supreme words which enshrine (alpha) the complete formula
of the God invoked, or (beta) the whole ceremony.
Examples of the former kind are Tetragrammaton, I.A.O., and Abrahadabra.
An example of the latter kind is the great word StiBeTTChePhMeFSHiSS, which
is a line drawn on the Tree of Life (Coptic attributions) in a certain
manner.<<It represents the descent of a certain Influence. See the Evocation
of Taphtatharath, Equinox I, III. The attributions are given in 777. This Word
expresses the current Kether - Beth - Binah - Cheth - Geburach - Mem - Hod -
Shin - Malkuth, the descent from 1 to 10 via the Pillar of Severity.>>
With all such words it is of the utmost importance that they should never be
spoken until the supreme moment, and even then they should burst from the
magician almost despite himself --- so great should be his reluctance<<This
reluctance is Freudian, due to the power of these words to awaken the suppressed
subconscious libido.>> to utter them. In fact, they should be the utterance of
the God in him at the first onset of the divine possession. So uttered, they
cannot fail of effect, for they have become the effect.
Every wise magician will have constructed (according to the principles of the
Holy Qabalah) many such words, and he should have quintessentialised them all
in one Word, which last Word, once he has formed it, he should never utter
consciously even in thought, until perhaps with it he gives up the ghost. Such
a Word should in fact be so potent that man cannot hear it and live. {70}
Such a word was indeed the lost Tetragrammaton<<The Master Therion has
received this Word; it is communicated by Him to the proper postulants, at the
proper time and place, in the proper circumstances.>>. It is said that at the
utterance of this name the Universe crashes into dissolution. Let the Magician
earnestly seek this Lost Word, for its pronunciation is synonymous with the
accomplishment of the Great Work.<<Each man has a different Great Work, just as
no two points on the circumference of a circle are connected with the centre by
the same radius. The Word will be correspondingly unique.>>
In this matter of the efficacity of words there are again two formulae exactly
opposite in nature. A word may become potent and terrible by virtue of constant
repetition. It is in this way that most religions gain strength. At first the
statement "So and so is God" excites no interest. Continue, and you meet scorn
and scepticism: possibly persecution. Continue, and the controversy has so far
died out that no one troubles to contradict your assertion.
No superstition is so dangerous and so lively as an exploded superstition.
The newspapers of to-day (written and edited almost exclusively by men without
a spark of either religion or morality) dare not hint that any one disbelieves
in the ostensibly prevailing cult; they deplore Atheism --- all but universal
in practice and implicit in the theory of practically all intelligent people ---
as if it were the eccentricity of a few negligible or objectionable persons.
This is the ordinary story of advertisement; the sham has exactly the same
chance as the real. Persistence is the only quality required for success.
The opposite formula is that of secrecy. An idea is perpetuated because it
must never be mentioned. A freemason never forgets the secret words entrusted
to him, thought these words mean absolutely nothing to him, in the vast majority
of cases; the only reason for this is that he has been forbidden to mention
them, although they have been published again and again, and are as accessible
to the profane as to the initiate.
In such a work of practical Magick as the preaching of a new {71} Law, these
methods may be advantageously combined; on the one hand infinite frankness and
readiness to communicate all secrets; on the other the sublime and terrible
knowledge that all real secrets are incommunicable.<<If this were not the case,
individuality would not be inviolable. No man can communicate even the simplest
thought to any other man in any full and accurate sense. For that thought is
sown in a different soil, and cannot produce an identical effect. I cannot put
a spot of red upon two pictures without altering each in diverse ways. It might
have little effect on a sunset by Turner, but much on a nocturne by Whistler.
The identity of the two spots as spots would thus be fallacious.>>
It is, according to tradition, a certain advantage in conjurations to employ
more than one language. In all probability the reason of this is than any
change spurs the flagging attention. A man engaged in intense mental labour
will frequently stop and walk up and down the room --- one may suppose for this
cause --- but it is a sign of weakness that this should be necessary. For the
beginner in Magick, however, it is permissible<<This is not to say that it is
advisable. O how shameful is human weakness! But it does encourage one --- it
is useless to deny it --- to be knocked down by a Demon of whose existence one
was not really quite sure.>> to employ any device to secure the result.
Conjurations should be recited, not read:<<Even this is for the weaker
brethern. The really great Magus speaks and acts impromptu and extempore.>> and
the entire ceremony should be so perfectly performed that one is hardly
conscious of any effort of memory. The ceremony should be constructed with such
logical fatality that a mistake is impossible.<<First-rate poetry is easily
memorized because the ideas and the musical values correspond to man's mental
and sensory structure.>> The conscious ego of the Magician is to be destroyed
to be absorbed in that of the God whom he invokes, and the process should not
interfere with the automation who is performing the ceremony.
But this ego of which it is here spoken is the true ultimate ego. The
automaton should possess will, energy, intelligence, reason, and resource. This
automaton should be the perfect man far more {72} than any other man can be.
It is only the divine self within the man, a self as far above the possession
of will or any other qualities whatsoever as the heavens are high above the
earth, that should reabsorb itself into that illimitable radiance of which it
is a spark.<<This is said of the partial or lesser Works of Magick. This is an
elementary treatise; one cannot discuss higher Works as for example those of
"The Hermit of Aesopus Island".>>
The great difficulty for the single Magician is so to perfect himself that
these multifarious duties of the Ritual are adequately performed. At first he
will find that the exaltation destroys memory and paralyses muscle. This is an
essential difficulty of the magical process, and can only be overcome by
practice and experience.<<See "The Book of Lies"; there are several chapters on
this subject. But Right exaltation should produce spontaneously the proper
mental and physical reactions. As soon as the development is secured, there
will be automatic reflex "justesse", exactly as in normal affairs mind and body
respond with free unconscious rightness to the Will.>>
In order to aid concentration, and to increase the supply of Energy, it has
been customary for the Magician to employ assistants or colleagues. It is
doubtful whether the obvious advantages of this plan compensate the difficulty
of procuring suitable persons<<The organic development of Magick in the world
due to the creative Will of the Master Therion makes it with every year that
passes easier to find scientifically trained co-workers.>>, and the chance of
a conflict of will or a misunderstanding in the circle itself. On one occasion
FRATER PERDURABO was disobeyed by an assistant, and had it not been for His
promptitude in using the physical compulsion of the sword, it is probable that
the circle would have been broken. As it was, the affair fortunately terminated
in nothing more serious than the destruction of the culprit.
However, there is no doubt that an assemblage of persons who really are in
harmony can much more easily produce an effect than a magician working by
himself. The psychology of "Revival meetings" will be familiar to almost every
one, and though such {73} meetings<<See, for an account of properly-conducted
congregational ceremonial, Equinox I, IX. "Energized Enthusiasm", and Equinox
III, L. Liber XV, Ecclesiae Gnosticae Catholicae Cannon Missae. The "Revival
meetings" here in question were deliberate exploitations of religious
hysteria.>> are the foulest and most degraded rituals of black magic, the laws
of Magick are not thereby suspended. The laws of Magick are the laws of Nature.
A singular and world-famous example of this is of sufficiently recent date
to be fresh in the memory of many people now living. At a nigger camp meeting
in the "United" States of America, devotees were worked up to such a pitch of
excitement that the whole assembly developed a furious form of hysteria. The
comparatively intelligible cries of "Glory" and "Hallelujah" no longer expressed
the situation. Somebody screamed out "Ta-ra-ra-boom-de-ay!", and this was taken
up by the whole meeting and yelled continuously, until reaction set in. The
affair got into the papers, and some particularly bright disciple of John Stuart
Mill, logician and economist, thought that these words, having set one set of
fools crazy, might do the same to all the other fools in the world. He
accordingly wrote a song, and produced the desired result. This is the most
notorious example of recent times of the power exerted by a barbarous name of
evocation.
A few words may be useful to reconcile the general notion of Causality with
that of Magick. How can we be sure that a person waving a stick and howling
thereby produces thunderstorms? In no other way than that familiar to Science;
we note that whenever we put a lighted match to dry gunpowder, an unintelligibly
arbitrary phenomenon, that of sound, is observed; and so forth.
We need not dwell upon this point; but it seems worth while to answer one of
the objections to the possibility of Magick, chosing one which is at first sight
of an obviously "fatal" character. It is convenient to quote verbatim from the
Diary<<In a later entry we read that the diarist has found a similar train of
argument in "Space, Time, and Gravitation", page 51. He was much encourage by
the confirmation of his thesis in so independent a system of thought.>> of a
distinguished Magician and philosopher.
"I have noticed that the effect of a Magical Work has followed {74} it so
closely that it must have been started before the time of the Work. E.g. I work
to-night to make X in Paris write to me. I get the letter the next morning, so
that it must have been written before the Work. Does this deny that the Work
caused the effect?
"If I strike a billiard-ball and it moves, both my will and its motion are
due to causes long antecedent to the act. I may consider both my Work and its
reaction as twin effects of the eternal Universe. The moved arm and ball are
parts of a state of the Cosmos which resulted necessarily from its momentarily
previous state, and so, back for ever.
"Thus, my Magical Work is only one of the cause-effects necessarily
concomitant with the case-effects which set the ball in motion. I may therefore
regard the act of striking as a cause-effect of my original Will to move the
ball, though necessarily previous to its motion. But the case of magical Work
is not quite analogous. For my nature is such that I am compelled to perform
Magick in order to make my will to prevail; so that the cause of my doing the
Work is also the cause of the ball's motion, and there is no reason why one
should precede the other. (CF. "Lewis Carroll," where the Red Queen screams
before she pricks her finger.)
"Let me illustrate the theory by an actual example.
"I write from Italy to a man in France and another in Australia on the same
day, telling them to join me. Both arrive ten days later; the first in answer
to my letter, which he received, the second on "his own initiative", as it would
seem. But I summoned him because I wanted him; and I wanted him because he was
my representative; and his intelligence made him resolve to join me because it
judged rightly that the situation (so far as he knew it) was such as to make me
desire his presence.
"The same cause, therefore, which made me write to him made him come to me;
and though it would be improper to say that the writing of the letter was the
direct cause of his arrival, it is evident that if I had not written I should
have been different from what I actually am, and therefore my relations with him
would have been otherwise than they are. In this sense, therefore, the letter
and the journey are causally connected.
"One cannot go farther, and say that in this case I ought to write the letter
even if he had arrived before I did so; for it {75} is part of the whole set of
circumstance that I do not use a crowbar on an open door.
"The conclusion is that one should do one's Will 'without lust of result'.
If one is working in accordance with the laws of one's own nature, one is doing
'right'; and no such work can be criticised as 'useless', even in cases of the
character here discussed. So long as one's Will prevails, there is no cause for
complaint.
"To abandon one's Magick would shew lack of self-confidence in one's powers,
and doubt as to one's inmost faith in Self and in Nature.<<i.e. on the ground
that one cannot understand how Magick can produce the desired effects. For if
one possesses the inclination to do Magick, it is evidence of a tendency in
one's Nature. Nobody understands fully how the mind moves the muscles; but we
know that lack of confidence on this point means paralysis. "If the Sun and
Moon should doubt, They'd immediately go out", as Blake said. Also, as I said
myself. "Who hath the How is careless of the Why".>> Of course one changes
one's methods as experience indicates; but there is no need to change them on
any such ground as the above.
"Further, the argument here set forth disposes of the need to explain the
"modus operandi" of Magick. A successful operation does not involve any theory
soever, not even that of the existence of causality itself. The whole set of
phenomena may be conceived as single.
"For instance, if I see a star (as it was years ago) I need not assume causal
relations as existing between it, the earth, and myself. The connexion exists;
I can predicate nothing beyond that. I cannot postulate purpose, or even
determine the manner in which the event comes to be. Similarly, when I do
Magick, it is in vain to inquire why I so act, or why the desired result does
or does not follow. Nor can I know how the previous and subsequent conditions
are connected. At most I can describe the consciousness which I interpret as
a picture of the facts, and make empirical generalizations of the superficial
aspects of the case.
"Thus, I have my own personal impressions of the act of telephoning; but I
cannot be aware of what consciousness, electricity, mechanics, sound, etc.,
actually are in themselves. And although I can appeal to experience to lay down
'laws' as to what {76} conditions accompany the act, I can never be sure that
they have always been, or ever will again be, identical. (In fact, it is
certain that an event can never occur twice in precisely the same
circumstances.)<<If it did so, how could we call it duplex?>>
"Further, my 'laws; must always take nearly all the more important elements of
knowledge for granted. I cannot say --- finally --- how an electric current is
generated. I cannot be sure that some totally unsuspected force is not at work
in some entirely arbitrary way. For example, it was formerly supposed that
Hydrogen and Chlorine would unite when an electric spark was passed through the
mixture; now we 'know' that the presence of a minute quantity of aqueous vapour
(or some tertium quid) is essential to the reaction. We formulated before the
days of Ross the 'laws' of malarial fever, without reference to the mosquito;
we might discover one day that the germ is only active when certain events are
transpiring in some nebula<<The history of the Earth is included in the period
of some such relation; so that we cannot possibly be sure that we may deny:
"Malarial fever is a function of the present precession of the Equinoxes".>>,
or when so apparently inert a substance as Argon is present in the air in
certain proportions.
"We may therefore admit quite cheerfully that Magick is as mysterious as
mathematics, as empirical as poetry, as uncertain as golf, and as dependent on
the personal equation as Love.
"That is no reason why we should not study, practice and enjoy it; for it is
a Science in exactly the same sense as biology; it is no less an Art that
Sculpture; and it is a Sport as much as Mountaineering.
"Indeed, there seems to be no undue presumption in urging that no Science
possesses equal possibilities of deep and important Knowledge;<<Magick is less
liable to lead to error than any other Science, because its terms are
interchangeable, by definition, so that it is based on relativity from the
start. We run no risk of asserting absolute propositions. Furthermore we make
our measurements in terms of the object measured, thus avoiding the absurdity
of defining metaphysical ideas by mutable standards, (Cf. Eddington "Space,
Time, and Gravitation". Prologue.) of being forced to attribute the qualities
of human consciousness to inanimate things (Poincare, "La mesure du temps"), and
of asserting that we know anything of the universe in itself, though the nature
of our senses and our minds necessarily determines our observations, so that the
limit of our knowledge is subjective, just as a thermometer can record nothing
but its own reaction to one particular type of Energy.
Magick recognizes frankly (1) that truth is relative, subjective, and
apparent; (2) that Truth implies Omniscience, which is unattainable by mind,
being transfinite; just as if one tried to make an exact map of England in
England, that map must contain a map of the map, and so on, ad infinitum; (3)
that logical contradiction is inherent in reason, (Russell, "Introduction to
Mathematical Philosophy", p. 136; Crowley, "Eleusis", and elsewhere); (4) that
a Continuum requires a Continuum to be commensurable with it: (5) that
Empiricism is ineluctable, and therefore that adjustment is the only possible
method of action; and (6) that error may be avoided by opposing no resistance
to change, and registering observed phenomena in their own language.>>that no
Art offers such opportunities to the ambition {77} of the Soul to express its
Truth, in Ecstasy, through Beauty; and that no Sport rivals its fascinations of
danger and delight, so excites, exercises, and tests its devotees to the
uttermost, or so rewards them by well-being, pride, and the passionate pleasures
of personal triumph.
"Magick takes every thought and act for its apparatus; it has the Universe
for its Library and its Laboratory; all Nature is its Subject; and its Game,
free from close seasons and protective restrictions, always abounds in infinite
variety, being all that exists.<<The elasticity of Magick makes it equal to all
possible kinds of environment, and therefore biologically perfect. "Do what
thou wilt..." implies self-adjustment, so that failure cannot occur. One's true
Will is necessarily fitted to the whole Universe with the utmost exactitude,
because each term in the equation a+b+c=0 must be equal and opposite to the sum
of all the other terms. No individual can ever be aught than himself, or do
aught else than his Will, which is his necessary relation with his environment,
dynamically considered. All error is no more than an illusion proper to him to
dissipate the mirage, and it is a general law that the method of accomplishing
this operation is to realize, and to acquiesce in, the order of the Universe,
and to refrain from attempting the impossible task of overcoming the inertia of
the forces which oppose, and therefore are identical with, one's self. Error
in thought is therefore failure to understand, and in action to perform, one's
own true Will.>>
{78}
CHAPTER X
OF THE GESTURES
This chapter may be divided into the following parts:
1. Attitudes.
2. Circumambulations (and similar movements).
3. Changes of position (This depends upon the theory of the construction of the
circle).
4. The Knocks or Knells.
I
Attitudes are of two Kinds: natural and artificial. Of the first kind,
prostration is the obvious example. It comes natural to man (poor creature!)
to throw himself to the ground in the presence of the object of his
adoration.<<The Magician must eschew prostration, or even the "bending of the
knee in supplication", as infamous and ignominious, an abdication of his
sovereignty.>>
Intermediate between this and the purely artificial form of gesture comes a
class which depends on acquired habit. Thus it is natural to an European
officer to offer his sword in token of surrender. A Tibetan would, however,
squat, put out his tongue, and place his hand behind his right ear.
Purely artificial gestures comprehend in their class the majority of
definitely magick signs, though some of these simulate a natural action --- e.g.
the sign of the Rending of the Veil. But the sign of Auramoth (see Equinox I,
II, Illustration "The Signs of the Grades") merely imitates a hieroglyph which
has only a remote connection with any fact in nature. All signs must of course
be studied with infinite patience, and practised until the connection {79}
between them and the mental attitude which they represent appears "necessary."
II
The principal movement in the circle is circumambulation.<<In Part II of this
Book 4 it was assumed that the Magician went barefoot. This would imply his
intention to make intimate contact with his Circle. But he may wear sandals,
for the Ankh is a sandal-strap; it is born by the Egyptian Gods to signify their
power of Going, that is their eternal energy. By shape the Ankh (or Crux
Ansata) suggests the formula by which this going is effected in actual
practice.>> This has a very definite result, but one which is very difficult
to describe. An analogy is the dynamo. Circumambulation properly performed in
combination with the Sign of Horus (or "The Enterer") on passing the East is one
of the best methods of arousing the macrocosmic force in the Circle. It should
never be omitted unless there be some special reason against it.
A particular tread seems appropriate to it. This tread should be light and
stealthy, almost furtive, and yet very purposeful. It is the pace of the tiger
who stalks the deer.
The number of circumambulations should of course correspond to the nature of
the ceremony.
Another important movement is the spiral, of which there are two principal
forms, one inward, one outward. They can be performed in either direction; and,
like the circumambulation, if performed deosil<<i.e. In the same direction as
the hands of a watch move.>> they invoke --- if widdershins<<i.e. In the
opposite direction.>> they banish<<Such, at least, is the traditional
interpretation. But there is a deeper design which may be expressed through the
direction of rotation. Certain forces of the most formidable character may be
invoked by circumambulation Widdershins when it is executed with intent toward
them, and the initiated technique. Of such forces Typhon is the type, and the
war of the Titans against the Olympians the legend. (Teitan, Titan, has in
Greek the numerical value of 666.)
WEH Addenda: Crowley is using the spelling Tau-epsilon-iota-tau-alpha-nu in
place of the more usual Tau-iota-tau-alpha-nu or Tau-alpha-iota-tau-alpha-nu to
obtain 666 in place of 661 or 662.>>. In the spiral the tread is light and
tripping, almost approximating to a dance: while performing it the magician will
usually turn on his own axis, either in the same direction as {80} the spiral,
or in the opposite direction. Each combination involves a different symbolism.
There is also the dance proper; it has many different forms, each God having
his special dance. One of the easiest and most effective dances is the ordinary
waltz-step combined with the three signs of L.V.X. It is much easier to attain
ecstasy in this way than is generally supposed. The essence of the process
consists in the struggle of the Will against giddiness; but this struggle must
be prolonged and severe, and upon the degree of this the quality and intensity
of ecstasy attained may depend.
With practice, giddiness is altogether conquered; exhaustion then takes its
place and the enemy of Will. It is through the mutual destruction of these
antagonisms in the mental and moral being of the magician that Samadhi is
begotten.
III
Good examples of the use of change of position are given in the manuscripts Z.1
and Z.3;<<Equinox I, II, pp. 244-260.>> explanatory of the Neophyte Ritual of
the G.'. D.'., where the candidate is taken to various stations in the Temple,
each station having a symbolic meaning of its own; but in pure invocation a
better example is given in Liber 831<<Equinox I, VII, pp. 93 sqq.>>.
In the construction of a ceremony an important thing to decide is whether you
will or will not make such movements. For every Circle has its natural
symbolism, and even if no use is to be made of these facts, one must be careful
not to let anything be inharmonious with the natural attributions.<<The
practical necessities of the work are likely to require certain movements. One
should either exclude this symbolism altogether, or else think out everything
beforehand, and make it significant. Do not let some actions be symbolic and
others haphazard.>> For the sensitive aura of the magician might be disturbed,
and the value of the ceremony completely destroyed, by the embarrassment caused
by the discovery of some such error, just as if a pre-occupied T-totaller found
that he had strayed into a Temple of the Demon Rum! It is therefore impossible
to neglect the theory of the Circle. {81}
To take a simple example, suppose that, in an Evocation of Bartzabel, the
planet Mars, whose sphere is Geburah (Severity) were situated (actually, in the
heavens) opposite to the Square of Chesed (Mercy) of the Tau in the Circle, and
the triangle placed accordingly. It would be improper for the Magus to stand
on that Square unless using this formula, "I, from Chesed, rule Geburah through
the Path of the Lion"; while --- taking an extreme case --- to stand on the
square of Hod (which is naturally dominated by Geburah) would be a madness which
only a formula of the very highest Magick could counteract.
Certain positions, however, such as Tiphareth<<Tiphareth is hardly
"dominated" even by Kether. It is the son rather than the servant.>>, are so
sympathetic to the Magus himself that he may use them without reference to the
nature of the spirit, or of the operation; unless he requires an exceptionally
precise spirit free of all extraneous elements, or one whose nature is
difficulty compatible with Tiphareth.
To show how these positions may be used in conjunction with the spirals,
suppose that you are invoking Hathor, Goddess of Love, to descend upon the
Altar. Standing on the square of Netzach you will make your invocation to Her,
and then dance an inward spiral deosil ending at the foot of the altar, where
you sink on your knees with your arms raised above the altar as if inviting Her
embrace.<<But NOT "in supplication".>>
To conclude, one may add that natural artistic ability, of you possess it,
forms an excellent guide. All Art is Magick.
Isadora Duncan has this gift of gesture in a very high degree. Let the
reader study her dancing; if possible rather in private than in public, and
learn the superb "unconsciousness" --- which is magical consciousness --- with
which she suits the action to the melody.<<This passage was written in 1911 e.v.
"Wake Duncan with thy Knocking? I would thou couldst!">>
There is no more potent means than Art of calling forth true Gods to visible
appearance. {82}
IV.
The knocks or knells are all of the same character. They may be described
collectively --- the difference between them consists only in this, that the
instrument with which they are made seals them with its own special properties.
It is of no great importance (even so) whether they are made by clapping the
hands or stamping the feet, by strokes of one of the weapons, or by the
theoretically appropriate instrument, the bell. It may nevertheless be admitted
that they become more important in the ceremony if the Magician considers it
worth while to take up<<Any action not purely rhythmical is a disturbance.>> an
instrument whose single purpose is to produce them.
Let it first be laid down that a knock asserts a connection between the
Magician and the object which he strikes. Thus the use of the bell, or of the
hands, means that the Magician wishes to impress the atmosphere of the whole
circle with what has been or is about to be done. He wishes to formulate his
will in sound, and radiate it in every direction; moreover, to influence that
which lives by breath in the sense of his purpose, and to summon it to bear
witness to his Word. The hands are used as symbols of his executive power, the
bell to represent his consciousness exalted into music. To strike with the wand
is to utter the fiat of creation; the cup vibrates with his delight in receiving
spiritual wine. A blow with the dagger is like the signal for battle. The disk
is used to express the throwing down of the price of one's purchase. To stamp
with the foot is to declare one's mastery of the matter in hand. Similarly, any
other form of giving knocks has its own virtue. From the above examples the
intelligent student will have perceived the method of interpreting each
individual case that may come in question.
As above said, the object struck is the object impressed. Thus, a blow upon
the altar affirms that he has complied with the laws of his operation. To
strike the lamp is to summon the Light divine. Thus for the rest.
It must also be observed that many combinations of ideas are made possible
by this convention. To strike the wand within the cup is to apply the creative
will to its proper complement, and so {83} perform the Great Work by the formula
of Regeneration. To strike with the hand on the dagger declares that one
demands the use of the dagger as a tool to extend one's executive power. The
reader will recall how Siegfried smote Nothung, the sword of Need, upon the
lance of Wotan. By the action Wagner, who was instructed how to apply magical
formulae by one of the heads of our Order, intended his hearers to understand
that the reign of authority and paternal power had come to an end; that the new
master of the world was intellect.
The general object of a knock or a knell is to mark a stage in the ceremony.
Sasaki Shigetz tells us in his essay on Shinto that the Japanese are accustomed
to clap their hands four times "to drive away evil spirits". He explains that
what really happens is that the sudden and sharp impact of the sound throws the
mind into an alert activity which enables it to break loose from the obsession
of its previous mood. It is aroused to apply itself aggressively to the ideals
which had oppressed it. There is therefore a perfectly rational interpretation
of the psychological power of the knock.
In a Magical ceremony the knock is employed for much the same purpose. The
Magician uses it like the chorus in a Greek play. It helps him to make a clean
cut, to turn his attention from one part of his work to the next.
So much for the general character of the knock or knell. Even this limited
point of view offers great opportunities to the resourceful Magician. But
further possibilities lie to our hand. It is not usually desirable to attempt
to convey anything except emphasis, and possibly mood, by varying the force of
the blow. It is obvious, moreover, that there is a natural correspondence
between the hard loud knock of imperious command on the one hand, and the soft
slurred knock of sympathetic comprehension on the other. It is easy to
distinguish between the bang of the outraged creditor at the front, and the
hushed tap of the lover at the bedroom, door. Magical theory cannot here add
instruction to instinct.
But a knock need not be single; the possible combinations are evidently
infinite. We need only discuss the general principles of determining what
number of strokes will be proper in any case, {84} and how we may interrupt any
series so as to express our idea by means of structure.
The general rule is that a single knock has no special significance as such,
because unity is omniform. It represents Kether, which is the source of all
things equally without partaking of any quality by which we discriminate one
thing from another. Continuing on these lines, the number of knocks will refer
to the Sephira or other idea Qabalistically cognate with that number. Thus, 7
knocks will intimate Venus, 11 the Great Work, 17 the Trinity of Fathers, and
19 the Feminine 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 overweight the other parts
of the ritual. In practice, 11 is about the limit. It is usually not difficult
to arrange to cover all necessary ground with that number.
Secondly, each is so extensive in scope, and includes aspects so diverse from
a practical standpoint that our danger lies in vagueness. A knock should be
well defined; its meaning should be precise. The very nature of knocks suggests
smartness and accuracy. We must therefore devise some means of making the
sequence significant of the special sense which may be appropriate. Our only
resource is in the use of intervals.
It is evidently impossible to attain great variety in the smaller numbers.
But this fact illustrates the excellence of our system. There is only one way
of striking 2 knocks, and this fact agrees with the nature of Chokmah; there is
only one way of creating. We can express only ourselves, although we do so in
duplex form. But there are three ways of striking 3 knocks, and these 3 ways
correspond to the threefold manner in which Binah can receive the creative idea.
There are three possible types of triangle. We may understand an idea either
as an unity tripartite, as an unity dividing itself into a duality, or as a
duality harmonized into an unity. Any of these methods may be indicated by 3
equal knocks; 1 followed, after a pause, by 2; and 2 followed, after a pause,
by 1.
As the nature of the number becomes more complex, the possible varieties
increase rapidly. There are numerous ways of striking 6, each of which is
suited to the nature of the several {85} aspects of Tiphareth. We may leave the
determination of these points to the ingenuity of the student.
The most generally useful and adaptable battery is composed of 11 strokes.
The principal reasons for this are as follows: "Firstly", 11 is the number of
Magick in itself. It is therefore suitable to all types of operation.
"Secondly", it is the sacred number par excellence of the new Aeon. As it is
written in the Book of the Law: "...11, as all their numbers who are of us."
"Thirdly", it is the number of the letters of the word ABRAHADABRA, which is the
word of the Aeon. The structure of this word is such that it expresses the
great Work, in every one of its aspects. "Lastly", it is possible thereby to
express all possible spheres of operation, whatever their nature. This is
effected by making an equation between the number of the Sephira and the
difference between that number and 11. For example, 2 Degree=9Square is the
formula of the grade of initiation corresponding to Yesod. Yesod represents the
instability of air, the sterility of the moon; but these qualities are balanced
in it by the stability implied in its position as the Foundation, and by its
function of generation. This complex is further equilibrated by identifying it
with the number 2 of Chokmah, which possesses the airy quality, being the Word,
and the lunar quality, being the reflection of the sun of Kether as Yesod is the
sun of Tiphareth. It is the wisdom which is the foundation by being creation.
This entire cycle of ideas is expressed in the double formula 2 Degree =
9Square, 9 Degree = 2Square; and any of these ideas may be selected and
articulated by a suitable battery.
We may conclude with a single illustration of how the above principles may
be put into practice. Let us suppose that the Magician contemplates an
operation for the purpose of helping his mind to resist the tendency to wander.
This will be a work of Yesod. But he must emphasize the stability of that
Sephira as against the Airy quality which it possesses. His first action will
be to put the 9 under the protection of the 2; the battery at this point will
be 1-9-1. But this 9 as it stands is suggestive of the changefulness of the
moon. It may occur to him to divide this into 4 and 5, 4 being the number of
fixity, law, and authoritative power; and 5 that of courage, energy, and triumph
of the spirit {86} over the elements. He will reflect, moreover, that 4 is
symbolic of the stability of matter, while 5 expresses the same idea with regard
to motion. At this stage the battery will appear as 1-2-5-2-1. After due
consideration he will probably conclude that to split up the central 5 would
tend to destroy the simplicity of his formula, and decide to use it as it
stands. The possible alternative would be to make a single knock the centre of
his battery as if he appealed to the ultimate immutability of Kether, invoking
that unity by placing a fourfold knock on either side of it. In this case, his
battery would be 1-4-1-4-1. He will naturally have been careful to preserve the
balance of each part of the battery against the corresponding part. This would
be particularly necessary in an operation such as we have chosen for our
example.
-----------
{87}
CHAPTER XI
OF OUR LADY BABALON AND OF THE BEAST
WHEREON SHE RIDETH.
ALSO CONCERNING TRANSFORMATIONS.
I
The contents of this section, inasmuch as they concern OUR LADY, are too
important and too sacred to be printed. They are only communicated by the
Master Therion to chosen pupils in private instruction.
II
The essential magical work, apart from any particular operation, is the
proper formation of the Magical Being or Body of Light. This process will be
discussed at some length in Chapter XVIII.
We will here assume that the magician has succeeded in developing his Body
of Light until it is able to go anywhere and do anything. There will, however,
be a certain limitation to his work, because he has formed his magical body from
the fine matter of his own element. Therefore, although he may be able to
penetrate the utmost recesses of the heavens, or conduct vigorous combats with
the most unpronounceable demons of the pit, it may be impossible for him to do
as much as knock a vase from a mantelpiece. His magical body is composed of
matter too tenuous to affect directly the gross matter of which illusions such
as tables and chairs are made.<<The one really easy "physical" operation which
the Body of Light can perform is "Congressus subtilis". The emanations of the
"Body of Desire" of the material being whom one visits are, if the visit be
agreeable, so potent that one spontaneously gains substance in the embrace.
There are many cases on record of Children having been born as the result of
such unions. See the work of De Sinistrari on Incubi and Succubi for a
discussion of analogous phenomena.>> {89}
There has been a good deal of discussion in the past within the Colleges of
the Holy Ghost, as to whether it would be quite legitimate to seek to transcend
this limitation. One need not presume to pass judgment. One can leave the
decision to the will of each magician.
The Book of the Dead contains many chapters intended to enable the magical
entity of a man who is dead, and so deprived (according to the theory of death
then current) of the material vehicle for executing his will, to take on the
form of certain animals, such as a golden hawk or a crocodile, and in such form
to go about the earth "taking his pleasure among the living."<<See "The Book of
Lies" Cap. 44, and The Collected Works of Aleister Crowley, Vol. III, pp.
209-210, where occur paraphrased translations of certain classical Egyptian
rituals.>> As a general rule, material was supplied out of which he could
construct the party of the second part aforesaid, hereinafter referred to as the
hawk.
We need not, however, consider this question of death. It may often be
convenient for the living to go about the world in some such incognito. Now,
then, conceive of this magical body as creative force, seeking manifestation;
as a God, seeking incarnation.
There are two ways by which this aim may be effected. The first method is to
build up an appropriate body from its elements. This is, generally speaking,
a very hard thing to do, because the physical constitution of any material being
with much power is, or at least should be, the outcome of ages of evolution.
However, there is a lawful method of producing an homunculus which is taught in
a certain secret organization, perhaps known to some of those who may read this,
which could very readily be adapted to some such purpose as we are now
discussing.
The second method sounds very easy and amusing. You take some organism
already existing, which happens to be suitable to your purpose. You drive out
the magical being {89} which inhabits it, and take possession. To do this by
force is neither easy nor justifiable, because the magical being of the other
was incarnated in accordance with its Will. And "... thou hast no right but to
do thy will." One should hardly strain this sentence to make one's own will
include the will to upset somebody else's will!<<Yet it might happen that the
Will of the other being was to invite the Magician to indwell its instrument.>>
Moreover, it is extremely difficult thus to expatriate another magical being;
for though, unless it is a complete microcosm like a human being, it cannot be
called a star, it is a little bit of a star, and part of the body of Nuit.
But there is no call for all this frightfulness. There is no need to knock
the girl down, unless she refuses to do what you want, and she will always
comply if you say a few nice things to her.<<Especially on the subject of the
Wand or the Disk.>> You can always use the body inhabited by an elemental, such
as an eagle, hare, wolf, or any convenient animal, by making a very simple
compact. You take over the responsibility for the animal, thus building it up
into your own magical hierarchy. This represents a tremendous gain to the
animal.<<This is the magical aspect of eating animal food, and its
justification, or rather the reconciliation of the apparent contradiction
between the carnivorous and humanitarian elements in the nature of "Homo
Sapiens".>> It completely fulfils its ambition by an alliance of this extremely
intimate sort with a Star. The magician, on the other hand, is able to
transform and retransform himself in a thousand ways by accepting a retinue of
such adherents. In this way the projection of the "astral" or Body of Light may
be made absolutely tangible and practical. At the same time, the magician must
realise that in undertaking the Karma of any elemental, he is assuming a very
serious responsibility. The bond which unites him with that elemental is love;
and, though it is only a small part of the outfit of a magician, it is the whole
of the outfit of the elemental. He will, therefore, suffer intensely in case
of any error or misfortune occurring to his protegee. This feeling is rather
peculiar. It is quite instinctive with the best men. They {90} hear of the
destruction of a city of a few thousand inhabitants with entire callousness, but
then they hear of a dog having hurt its paw, they feel Weltschmertz acutely.
It is not necessary to say much more than this concerning transformations.
Those to whom the subject naturally appeals will readily understand the
importance of what has been said. Those who are otherwise inclined may reflect
that a nod is as good as a wink to a blind horse.
-------
{91}
CHAPTER XII
OF THE BLOODY SACRIFICE: AND MATTERS COGNATE.
It is necessary for us to consider carefully the problems connected with the
bloody sacrifice, for this question is indeed traditionally important in Magick.
Nigh all ancient Magick revolves around this matter. In particular all the
Osirian religions --- the rites of the Dying God --- refer to this. The slaying
of Osiris and Adonis; the mutilation of Attis; the cults of Mexico and Peru; the
story of Hercules or Melcarth; the legends of Dionysus and of Mithra, are all
connected with this one idea. In the Hebrew religion we find the same thing
inculcated. The first ethical lesson in the Bible is that the only sacrifice
pleasing to the Lord is the sacrifice of blood; Abel, who made this, finding
favour with the Lord, while Cain, who offered cabbages, was rather naturally
considered a cheap sport. The idea recurs again and again. We have the
sacrifice of the Passover, following on the story of Abraham's being commanded
to sacrifice his firstborn son, with the idea of the substitution of animal for
human life. The annual ceremony of the two goats carries out this in
perpetuity. And we see again the domination of this idea in the romance of
Esther, where Haman and Mordecai are the two goats or gods; and ultimately in
the presentation of the rite of Purim in Palestine, where Jesus and Barabbas
happened to be the Goats in that particular year of which we hear so much,
without agreement on the date.
This subject must be studied in the "Golden Bough", where it is most learnedly
set forth by Dr. J. G. Frazer.
Enough has now been said to show that the bloody sacrifice has from time
immemorial been the most considered part of Magick. {92} The ethics of the
thing appear to have concerned no one; nor, to tell the truth, need they do so.
As St. Paul says, "Without shedding of blood there is no remission"; and who are
we to argue with St. Paul? But, after all that, it is open to any one to have
any opinion that he likes upon the subject, or any other subject, thank God!
At the same time, it is most necessary to study the business, whatever we may
be going to do about it; for our ethics themselves will naturally depend upon
our theory of the universe. If we were quite certain, for example, that
everybody went to heaven when he died, there could be no serious objection to
murder or suicide, as it is generally conceded --- by those who know neither ---
that earth is not such a pleasant place as heaven.
However, there is a mystery concealed in this theory of the bloody sacrifice
which is of great importance to the student, and we therefore make no further
apology, We should not have made even this apology for an apology, had it not
been for the solicitude of a pious young friend of great austerity of character
who insisted that the part of this chapter which now follows --- the part which
was originally written --- might cause us to be misunderstood. This must not
be.
The blood is the life. This simple statement is explained by the Hindus by
saying that the blood is the principal vehicle of vital Prana.<<Prana or force"
is often used as a generic term for all kinds of subtle energy. The prana of
the body is only one of its "vayus". Vayu means air or spirit. The idea is
that all bodily forces are manifestations of the finer forces of the more real
body, this real body being a subtle and invisible thing.>> There is some ground
for the belief that there is a definite substance<<This substance need not be
conceived as "material" in the crude sense of Victorian science; we now know
that such phenomena as the rays and emanations of radioactive substances occupy
an intermediate position. For instance, mass is not, as once supposed,
necessarily impermeable to mass, and matter itself can be only interpreted in
terms of motion. So, as to "prana", one might hypothesize a phenomenon in the
ether analogous to isomerism. We already know of bodies chemically identical
whose molecular structure makes one active, another inactive, to certain
reagents. Metals can be "tired" or even "killed" as to some of their
properties, without discoverable chemical change. One can "kill" steel, and
"raise it from the dead"; and flies drowned in icewater can be resuscitated.
That it should be impossible to create high organic life is scientifically
unthinkable, and the Master Therion believes it to be a matter of few years
indeed before this is done in the laboratory. Already we restore the apparently
drowned. Why not those dead from such causes as syncope? If we understood the
ultimate physics and chemistry of the brief moment of death we would get hold
of the force in some say, supply the missing element, reverse the electrical
conditions or what not. Already we prevent certain kinds of death by supplying
wants, as in the case of Thyroid.>>, not isolated as yet, whose presence makes
all {93} the difference between live and dead matter. We pass by with deserved
contempt the pseudo-scientific experiments of American charlatans who claim to
have established that weight is lost at the moment of death, and the unsupported
statements of alleged clairvoyants that they have seen the soul issuing like a
vapour from the mouth of persons "in articulo mortis"; but his experiences as
an explorer have convinced the Master Therion that meat loses a notable portion
of its nutritive value within a very few minutes after the death of the animal,
and that this loss proceeds with ever-diminishing rapidity as time goes on. It
is further generally conceded that live food, such as oysters, is the most
rapidly assimilable and most concentrated form of energy.<<Once can become
actually drunk on oysters, by chewing them completely. Rigor seems to be a
symptom of the loss of what I may call the Alpha-energy and makes a sharp break
in the curve. The Beta and other energies dissipate more slowly. Physiologists
should make it their first duty to measure these phenomena; for their study is
evidently a direct line of research into the nature of Life. The analogy
between the living and complex molecules of the Uranium group of inorganic and
the Protoplasm group of organic elements is extremely suggestive. The faculties
of growth, action, self-recuperation, etc., must be ascribed to similar
properties in both cases; and as we have detected, measured and partially
explained radioactivity, it must be possible to contrive means of doing the same
for Life.>> Laboratory experiments in food-values seem to be almost worthless,
for reasons which we cannot here enter into; the general testimony of mankind
appears a safer guide.
It would be unwise to condemn as irrational the practice of those savages who
tear the heart and liver from an adversary, and devour them while yet warm. In
any case it was the theory of {94} the ancient Magicians, that any living being
is a storehouse of energy varying in quantity according to the size and health
of the animal, and in quality according to its mental and moral character. At
the death of the animal this energy is liberated suddenly.
The animal should therefore be killed<<It is a mistake to suppose that the
victim is injured. On the contrary, this is the most blessed and merciful of
all deaths, for the elemental spirit is directly built up into Godhead --- the
exact goal of its efforts through countless incarnations. On the other hand,
the practice of torturing animals to death in order to obtain the elemental as
a slave is indefensible, utterly black magic of the very worst kind, involving
as it does a metaphysical basis of dualism. There is, however, no objection to
dualism or black magic when they are properly understood. See the account of
the Master Therion's Great Magical Retirement by Lake Pasquaney, where he
"crucified a toad in the Basilisk abode".>> within the Circle, or the Triangle,
as the case may be, so that its energy cannot escape. An animal should be
selected whose nature accords with that of the ceremony --- thus, by sacrificing
a female lamb one would not obtain any appreciate quantity of the fierce energy
useful to a Magician who was invoking Mars. In such a case a ram<<A wolf would
be still better in the case of Mars. See 777 for the correspondences between
various animals and the "32 Paths" of Nature.>> would be more suitable. And
this ram should be virgin --- the whole potential of its original total energy
should not have been diminished in any way.<<There is also the question of its
magical freedom. Sexual intercourse creates a link between its exponents, and
therefore a responsibility.>> For the highest spiritual working one must
accordingly choose that victim which contains the greatest and purest force.
A male child of perfect innocence and high intelligence<<It appears from the
Magical Records of Frater Perdurabo that He made this particular sacrifice on
an average about 150 times every year between 1912 e.v. and 1928 e.v. Contrast
J.K.Huyman's "La-Bas", where a perverted form of Magic of an analogous order is
described.
"It is the sacrifice of oneself spiritually. And the intelligence and
innocence of that male child are the perfect understanding of the Magician, his
one aim, without lust of result. And male he must be, because what he
sacrifices is not the material blood, but his creative power." This initiated
interpretation of the texts was sent spontaneously by Soror I.W.E., for the sake
of the younger Brethern.
WEH ADDENDA: When Crowley speaks of sacrificing a male child, his diaries
and other writings indicate that he thereby obfuscates the actual practice.
Crowley did this by diversion of the act of sexual intercourse and other sexual
actions. He considered contraception as human sacrifice. There is no
indication in any of his writings that he ever performed infanticide. In fact,
Crowley was even against abortion.>> is the most satisfactory and suitable
victim. {95}
For evocations it would be more convenient to place the blood of the victim in
the Triangle --- the idea being that the spirit might obtain from the blood this
subtle but physical substance which was the quintessence of its life in such a
manner as to enable it to take on a visible and tangible shape.<<See Equinox (I,
V. Supplement: Tenth Aethyr) for an Account of an Operation where this was
done. Magical phenomena of the creative order are conceived and germinate in
a peculiar thick velvet darkness, crimson, purple, or deep blue, approximating
black: as if it were said, In the body of Our Lady of the Stars.
See 777 for the correspondences of the various forces of Nature with drugs,
perfumes, etc.>>
Those magicians who abject to the use of blood have endeavored to replace it
with incense. For such a purpose the incense of Abramelin may be burnt in large
quantities. Dittany of Crete is also a valuable medium. Both these incenses
are very catholic in their nature, and suitable for almost any materialization.
But the bloody sacrifice, though more dangerous, is more efficacious; and for
nearly all purposes human sacrifice is the best. The truly great Magician will
be able to use his own blood, or possibly that of a disciple, and that without
sacrificing the physical life irrevocably.<<Such details, however, may safely
be left to the good sense of the Student. Experience here as elsewhere is the
best teacher. In the Sacrifice during Invocation, however, it may be said
without fear of contradiction that the death of the victim should coincide with
the supreme invocation.
WEH addenda: A sworn testimony by Crowley declares that he held actual
human sacrifice to physical death to be the most efficacious, but that he never
did such a thing. On the matter concerning death of the victim in invocation,
Crowley elsewhere enlarges that this is the ephemeral death of the Ego.>> An
example of this sacrifice is given in Chapter 44 of Liber 333. This Mass may
be recommended generally for daily practice.
One last word on this subject. There is a Magical operation of maximum
importance: the Initiation of a New Aeon. When it becomes necessary to utter
a Word, the whole Planet must be bathed in blood. Before man is ready to accept
the Law of Thelema, the Great War must be fought. This Bloody Sacrifice is the
critical point of the World-{96}Ceremony of the Proclamation of Horus, the
Crowned and conquering Child, as Lord of the Aeon.<<Note: This paragraph was
written in the summer of 1911 e.v., just three years before its fulfilment.>>
This whole matter is prophesied in the Book of the Law itself; let the
student take note, and enter the ranks of the Host of the Sun.
II
There is another sacrifice with regard to which the Adepts have always
maintained the most profound secrecy. It is the supreme mystery of practical
Magick. Its name is the Formula of the Rosy Cross. In this case the victim is
always --- in a certain sense --- the Magician himself, and the sacrifice must
coincide with the utterance of the most sublime and secret name of the God whom
he wishes to invoke.
Properly performed, it never fails of its effect. But it is difficult for
the beginner to do it satisfactorily, because it is a great effort for the mind
to remain concentrated upon the purpose of the ceremony. The overcoming of this
difficulty lends most powerful aid to the Magician.
It is unwise for him to attempt it until he has received regular initiation
in the true<<It is here desirable to warn the reader against the numerous false
orders which have impudently assumed the name of Rosicrucian. The Masonic
Societas Rosicruciana is honest and harmless; and makes no false pretences; if
its members happen as a rule to be pompous busy-bodies, enlarging the borders
of their phylacteries, and scrupulous about cleansing the outside of the cup and
the platter; if the masks of the Officers in their Mysteries suggest the Owl,
the Cat, the Parrot, and the Cuckoo, while the Robe of their Chief Magus is a
Lion's Skin, that is their affair. But those orders run by persons "claiming"
to represent the True Ancient Fraternity are common swindles. The
representatives of the late S. L. Mathers (Count McGregor) are the
phosphorescence of the rotten wood of a branch which was lopped off the tree at
the end of the 19th century. Those of Papus (Dr. Encausse), Stanislas de Guaita
and Peladan, merit respect as serious, but lack full knowledge and authority.
The "Ordo Rosae Crucis" is a mass of ignorance and falsehood, but this may be
a deliberate device for masking itself. The test of any Order is its attitude
towards the Law of Thelema. The True Order presents the True Symbols, but
avoids attaching the True Name thereto; it is only when the Postulant has taken
irrevocable Oaths and been received formally, that he discovers what Fraternity
he has joined. If he have taken false symbols for true, and find himself
magically pledged to a gang of rascals, so much the worse for him!>> Order of
the Rosy Cross, {97} and he must have taken the vows with the fullest
comprehension and experience of their meaning. It is also extremely desirable
that he should have attained an absolute degree of moral emancipation<<This
results from the full acceptance of the Law of THELEMA, persistently put into
practice.>>, and that purity of spirit which results from a perfect
understanding both of the differences and harmonies of the planes upon the Tree
of Life.
For this reason FRATER PERDURABO has never dared to use this formula in a
fully ceremonial manner, save once only, on an occasion of tremendous import,
when, indeed, it was not He that made the offering, but ONE in Him. For he
perceived a grave defect in his moral character which he has been able to
overcome on the intellectual plane, but not hitherto upon higher planes. Before
the conclusion of writing this book he will have done so.<<P.S. With the
happiest results. P.>>
The practical details of the Bloody Sacrifice may be studied in various
ethnological manuals, but the general conclusions are summed up in Frazer's
"Golden Bough", which is strongly recommended to the reader.
Actual ceremonial details likewise may be left to experiment. The method of
killing is practically uniform. The animal should be stabbed to the heart, or
its throat severed, in either case by the knife. All other methods of killing
are less efficacious; even in the case of Crucifixion death is given by
stabbing.<<Yet one might devise methods of execution appropriate to the Weapons:
Stabbing or clubbing for the Lance or Wand, Drowning or poisoning for the Cup,
Beheading for the Sword, Crushing for the Disk, Burning for the Lamp, and so
forth.>>
One may remark that warm-blooded animals only are used as victims: with two
principal exceptions. The first is the serpent, which is only used in a very
special Ritual;<<The Serpent is not really killed; it is seethed in an
appropriate vessel; and it issues in due season refreshed and modified, but
still essentially itself. The idea is the transmission of life and wisdom from
a vehicle which has fulfilled its formula to one capable of further extension.
The development of a wild fruit by repeated plantings in suitable soil is an
analogous operation.
WEH ADDENDA: The serpent is the phallus. The vessel and the seething are
likewise sub rosa.>> the second the magical beetles of Liber Legis. (See Part
IV.) {98}
One word of warning is perhaps necessary for the beginner. The victim must
be in perfect health --- or its energy may be as it were poisoned. It must also
not be too large:<<The sacrifice (e.g.) of a bull is sufficient for a large
number of people; hence it is commonly made in public ceremonies, and in some
initiations, e.g. that of a King, who needs force for his whole kingdom. Or
again, in the Consecration of a Temple.
See Lord Dunsany, "The Blessing of Pan" --- a noble and most notable prophecy
of Life's fair future.>> the amount of energy disengaged is almost unimaginably
great, and out of all anticipated proportion to the strength of the animal.
Consequently, the Magician may easily be overwhelmed and obsessed by the force
which he has let loose; it will then probably manifest itself in its lowest and
most objectionable form. The most intense spirituality of purpose<<This is a
matter of concentration, with no ethical implication. The danger is that one
may get something which one does not want. This is "bad" by definition.
Nothing is in itself good or evil. The shields of the Sabines which crushed
Tarpeia were not murderous to them, but the contrary. Her criticism of them was
simply that they were what she did not want in her Operation.>> is absolutely
essential to safety.
In evocations the danger is not so great, as the Circle forms a protection;
but the circle in such a case must be protected, not only by the names of God
and the Invocations used at the same time, but by a long habit of successful
defence.<<The habitual use of the Lesser Banishing Ritual of the Pentagram (say,
thrice daily) for months and years and constant assumption of the God-form of
Harpocrates (See Equinox, I, II and Liber 333, cap. XXV for both of these)
should make the "real circle", i.e. the Aura of the Magus, impregnable.
This Aura should be clean-cut, resilient, radiant, iridescent, brilliant,
glittering. "A Soap-bubble of razor-steel, streaming with light from within"
is my first attempt at description; and is not bad, despite its incongruities:
P.
"FRATER PERDURABO, on the one occasion on which I was able to see Him as He
really appears, was brighter than the Sun at noon. I fell instantly to the
floor in swoon which lasted several hours, during which I was initiated." Soror
A.'.. Cf. Rev. I, 12-17.>> If you are easily disturbed or alarmed, or if you
have not yet overcome the tendency of the mind to wander, it is not advisable
for you to perform {99} the "Bloody Sacrifice".<<The whole idea of the word
Sacrifice, as commonly understood, rests upon an error and superstition, and is
unscientific, besides being metaphysically false. The Law of Thelema has
totally changed the Point of View as to this matter. Unless you have thoroughly
assimilated the Formula of Horus, it is absolutely unsafe to meddle with this
type of Magick. Let the young Magician reflect upon the Conservation of Matter
and of Energy.>> Yet it should not be forgotten that this, and that other art
at which we have dared darkly to hint, are the supreme formulae of Practical
Magick.
You are also likely to get into trouble over this chapter unless you truly
comprehend its meaning.<<There is a traditional saying that whenever an Adept
seems to have made a straightforward, comprehensible statement, then is it most
certain that He means something entirely different. The Truth is nevertheless
clearly set forth in His Words: it is His simplicity that baffles the unworthy.
I have chosen the expressions in this Chapter in such a way that it is likely
to mislead those magicians who allow selfish interests to cloud their
intelligence, but to give useful hints to such as are bound by the proper Oaths
to devote their powers to legitimate ends. "...thou hast no right but to do thy
will." "It is a lie, this folly against self." The radical error of all
uninitiates is that they define "self" as irreconcilably opposed to "not-self."
Each element of oneself is, on the contrary, sterile and without meaning, until
it fulfils itself, by "love under will", in its counterpart in the Macrocosm.
To separate oneself from others is to destroy oneself; the way to realize and
to extend oneself is to lose that self --- its sense of separateness --- in the
other. Thus: Child plus food: this does not preserve one at the expense of the
other; it "destroys" or rather changes both in order to fulfil both in the
result of the operation --- a grown man. It is in fact impossible to preserve
anything as it is by positive action upon it. Its integrity demands inaction;
and inaction, resistance to change, is stagnation, death and dissolution due to
the internal putrefaction of the starved elements.>>
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{100}
CHAPTER XIII
OF THE BANISHINGS:
AND OF THE PURIFICATIONS.
Cleanliness is next to Godliness, and had better come first. Purity means
singleness. God is one. The wand is not a wand if it has something sticking
to it which is not an essential part of itself. If you wish to invoke Venus,
you do not succeed if there are traces of Saturn mixed up with it.
That is a mere logical commonplace: in magick one must go much farther than
this. One finds one's analogy in electricity. If insulation is imperfect, the
whole current goes back to earth. It is useless to plead that in all those
miles of wire there is only one-hundredth of an inch unprotected. It is no good
building a ship if the water can enter, through however small a hole.
That first task of the Magician in every ceremony is therefore to render his
Circle absolutely impregnable.<<See, however, the Essay on Truth in "Konx om
Pax". The Circle (in one aspect) asserts Duality, and emphasizes Division.>>
If one littlest thought intrude upon the mind of the Mystic, his concentration
is absolutely destroyed; and his consciousness remains on exactly the same level
as the Stockbroker's. Even the smallest baby is incompatible with the virginity
of its mother. If you leave even a single spirit within the circle, the effect
of the conjuration will be entirely absorbed by it.<<While one remains exposed
to the action of all sorts of forces they more or less counterbalance each
other, so that the general equilibrium, produced by evolution, is on the whole
maintained. But if we suppress all but one, its action becomes irresistible.
Thus, the pressure of the atmosphere would crush us if we "banished" that of our
bodies; and we should crumble to dust if we rebelled successfully against
cohesion. A man who is normally an "allround good sort" often becomes
intolerable when he gets rid of his collection of vices; he is swept into
monomania by the spiritual pride which had been previously restrained by
countervailing passions. Again, there is a worse draught when an ill-fitting
door is closed than when it stands open. It is not as necessary to protect his
mother and his cattle from Don Juan as it was from the Hermits of the Thebaid.>>
{101}
The Magician must therefore take the utmost care in the matter of
purification, "firstly", of himself, "secondly", of his instruments, "thirdly",
of the place of working. Ancient Magicians recommended a preliminary
purification of from three days to many months. During this period of training
they took the utmost pains with diet. They avoided animal food, lest the
elemental spirit of the animal should get into their atmosphere. They practised
sexual abstinence, lest they should be influenced in any way by the spirit of
the wife. Even in regard to the excrements of the body they were equally
careful; in trimming the hair and nails, they ceremonially destroyed<<Such
destruction should be by burning or other means which produces a complete
chemical change. In so doing care should be taken to bless and liberate the
native elemental of the thing burnt. This maxim is of universal application.>>
the severed portion. They fasted, so that the body itself might destroy
anything extraneous to the bare necessity of its existence. They purified the
mind by special prayers and conservations. They avoided the contamination of
social intercourse, especially the conjugal kind; and their servitors were
disciples specially chosen and consecrated for the work.
In modern times our superior understanding of the essentials of this process
enables us to dispense to some extent with its external rigours; but the
internal purification must be even more carefully performed. We may eat meat,
provided that in doing so we affirm that we eat it in order to strengthen us for
the special purpose of our proposed invocation.<<In an Abbey of Thelema we say
"Will" before a meal. The formula is as follows. "Do what thou wilt shall be
the whole of the Law." "What is thy Will?" "It is my will to eat and drink"
"To what end?" "That my body may be fortified thereby." "To what end?" "That
I may accomplish the Great Work." "Love is the law, love under will." "Fall
to!" This may be adapted as a monologue. One may also add the inquiry "What
is the Great Work?" and answer appropriately, when it seems useful to specify
the nature of the Operation in progress at the time. The point is to seize
every occasion of bringing every available force to bear upon the objective of
the assault. It does not matter what the force is (by any standard of judgment)
so long as it plays its proper part in securing the success of the general
purpose. Thus, even laziness may be used to increase our indifference to
interfering impulses, or envy to counteract carelessness. See Liber CLXXV,
Equinox I, VII, p. 37. This is especially true, since the forces are destroyed
by the process. That is, one destroys a complex which in itself is "evil" and
puts its elements to the one right use.>> {102}
By thus avoiding those actions which might excite the comment of our
neighbours we avoid the graver dangers of falling into spiritual pride.
We have understood the saying: "To the pure all things are pure", and we have
learnt how to act up to it. We can analyse the mind far more acutely than could
the ancients, and we can therefore distinguish the real and right feeling from
its imitations. A man may eat meat from self-indulgence, or in order to avoid
the dangers of asceticism. We must constantly examine ourselves, and assure
ourselves that every action is really subservient to the One Purpose.
It is ceremonially desirable to seal and affirm this mental purity by Ritual,
and accordingly the first operation in any actual ceremony is bathing and
robing, with appropriate words. The bath signifies the removal of all things
extraneous to antagonistic to the one thought. The putting on of the robe is
the positive side of the same operation. It is the assumption of the fame of
mind suitable to that one thought.
A similar operation takes place in the preparation of every instrument, as
has been seen in the Chapter devoted to that subject. In the preparation of the
place of working, the same considerations apply. We first remove from that
place all objects; and we then put into it those objects, and only those {103}
objects, which are necessary. During many days we occupy ourselves in this
process of cleansing and consecration; and this again is confirmed in the actual
ceremony.
The cleansed and consecrated Magician takes his cleansed and consecrated
instruments into that cleansed and consecrated place, and there proceeds to
repeat that double ceremony in the ceremony itself, which has these same two
main parts. The first part of every ceremony is the banishing; the second, the
invoking. The same formula is repeated even in the ceremony of banishing
itself, for in the banishing ritual of the pentagram we not only command the
demons to depart, but invoke the Archangels and their hosts to act as guardians
of the Circle during our pre-occupation with the ceremony proper.
In more elaborate ceremonies it is usual to banish everything by name. Each
element, each planet, and each sign, perhaps even the Sephiroth themselves; all
are removed, including the very one which we wished to invoke, for that forces
as existing in Nature is always impure. But this process, being long and
wearisome, is not altogether advisable in actual working. It is usually
sufficient to perform a general banishing, and to rely upon the aid of the
guardians invoked. Let the banishing therefore be short, but in no wise slurred
--- for it is useful as it tends to produce the proper attitude of mind for the
invocations. "The Banishing Ritual of the Pentagram" (as now rewritten, Liber
333, Cap. XXV) is the best to use.<<See also the Ritual called "The Mark of the
Beast" given in an Appendix. But this is pantomorphous.>> Only the four
elements are specifically mentioned, but these four elements contain the planets
and the signs<<The signs and the planets, of course, contain, the elements. It
is important to remember this fact, as it helps one to grasp what all these
terms really mean. None of the "Thirty-two Paths" is a simple idea; each one
is a combination, differentiated from the others by its structure and
proportions. The chemical elements are similarly constituted, as the critics
of Magick have at last been compelled to admit.>> --- the four elements are
Tetragrammaton; and Tetragrammaton is the Universe. This special precaution is,
however, necessary: make exceedingly sure that the ceremony of banishing is
effective! {104} Be alert and on your guard! Watch before you pray! The
feeling of success in banishing, once acquired, is unmistakable.
At the conclusion, it is usually well to pause for a few moments, and to make
sure once more that every thing necessary to the ceremony is in its right place.
The Magician may then proceed to the final consecration of the furniture of the
Temple.<<That is, of the special arrangement of that furniture. Each object
should have been separately consecrated beforehand. The ritual here in question
should summarize the situation, and devote the particular arrangement to its
purpose by invoking the appropriate forces. Let it be well remembered that each
object is bound by the Oaths of its original consecration as such. Thus, if a
pantacle has been made sacred to Venus, it cannot be used in an operation of
Mars; the Energy of the Exorcist would be taken up in overcoming the opposition
of the "Karma" or inertia therein inherent.>>
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