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Magick in Theory and Practice by A. Crowley
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 drick, T.G. of O.T.O.
(further proof reading desirable)
disk 1 of 4
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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 = Croy 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 befornd after the note.
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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 lta 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-upon-lambda-lambda-alpha-nu-iota-alpha-sigma chi-iota-omicron-nu-omicron-chi-tau-upsilon-pi-omicronit
pi-epsilon-tau-rho-alpha-iota-alpha-sigma alpha-pi-omicron delta-epsilon-iota-rho-alpha-delta-omon-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: e 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 consisof an illustration of a single human in a black Tau robe, barefoot with hood completely closed ove h face. The hood displays a six-pointed figure on the forehead --- presumably the radiant eye ofHousof the A.'. A.'., but the rendition is too poor in detail. There is a cross pendant over the ear. he 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 theght. 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 ward with weight on ball of foot. Lf. heel almost touching Rt. heel and foot pointed left. Arms oma diagonal with body, right above head and in line with left at waist height. Hands palmer and pe wth fingers outstretched and together. Head erect.
"2. Air: The god Shu supporting the sky." Frontal. Heels together and slightly angled apart to theont, flat on floor. Head down. Arms angled up on either side of head about head 1.5 ft. from hea owrist and crooked as if supporting a ceiling just at head height with the finger tips. The palm fceupward and the backs of the hands away from the head. Thumbs closed to side of palms. Finger staigt and together.
"3. Water: the goddess Auramoth." Same body and foot position as #2, but head erect. Arms are brougdown over the chest so that the thumbs touch above the heart and the backs of the hands are to thefot. The fingers meet below the heart, forming between thumbs and fingers the descending triangleofwaer.
"4. Fire: the goddess Thoum-aesh-neith." Frontal. Head and body like #3. Arms are angled so that thumbs meet in a line over the brow. Palmer side facing. Fingers meet above head, forming betwentumbs 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 postuas #1, except that the left and right feet are countercharged and flat on the floor with the heelsi ontact. Arms and hands are crooked forward at shoulder level such that the hands appear to be lain open a split veil --- hands have progressed to a point that the forearms are invisible, beingdirctl 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 amen, with hands forward over heart in claws such that the knuckles are touching. Passing from #5 o# or vice versa is done by motion of shoulders and rotation of wrists. This is different from th ohe sign of opening the veil, the Sign of the Enterer, which is done with hands flat palm to palmandthe 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 frthe shoulders in the plane of the image. Hands with fingers together, thumbs to side of palm and amr 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 rt of photograph. The arms, hands, legs and feet are positioned to define a swastika. Left foot fa,carrying weight and angled toward the right of the photo. Right foot toe down behind the figuretoth left in the photo. Right upper arm due left in photo and forearm vertical with fingers close an ponting upward. Left arm smoothly canted down to the right of the panel, with fingers closed ad ponteddown.
"9. V Typhon --- the Trident." Figure frontal and standing on tip toe, toes forward and heels not thing. Head back. Arms angled in a "V" with the body to the top and outward in the plain of the poo 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. s crossed over heart, right over left with hands extended, fingers closed and thumb on side such ta he palms rest on the two opposite shoulders.}
INTRODUCTION
"Epsilon-sigma-sigma-epsilon-alpha-iota alpha-theta-alpha-nu-alpha-tau-omicron-sigma theta-epsilomicron-sigma, alpha-mu-beta-rho-omicron-tau-omicron-sigma, omicron-upsilon-chi epsilon-tau-iota hta-nu-eta-tau-omicron-sigma
Pythagoras.
"Magic is the Highest, most Absolute, and most Divine Knowledge of Natural Philosophy, advanced its works and wonderful operations by a right understanding of the inward and occult virtue of thins o that true Agents being applied to proper Patients, strange and admirable effects will thereby e rouced. Whence magicians are profound and diligent searchers into Nature; they, because of thei skll,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 oneent follows another necessarily and invariably without the intervention of any spiritual or personlaency.
Thus its fundamental conception is identical with that of modern science; underlying the whole sym is a faith, implicit but real and firm, in the order and uniformity of nature. The magician doe o doubt that the same causes will always produce the same effects, that the performance of the prpe cremony accompanied by the appropriate spell, will inevitably be attended by the desired result, ules, indeed, his incantations should chance to be thwarted and foiled by the more potent charmsof aothe sorcerer. He supplicates no higher power: he sues the favour of no fickle and wayward beng: h abass himself before no awful deity. Yet his power, great as he believes it to be, is by nomeans rbitray and unlimited. He can wield it only so long as he strictly conforms to the rules ofhis art or to hat may be called the laws of nature as conceived by {IX} him. To neglect these ruls, to brak theselaws in the smallest particular is to incur failure, and may even expose the unskiful practtioner hiself to the utmost peril. If he claims a sovereignty over nature, it is a consttutional svereignty igorously limited in its scope and exercised in exact conformity with ancient sage. Thusthe analogybetween the magical and the scientific conceptions of the world is close. I both of the the successon of events is perfectly regular and certain, being determined by immutabe laws, the oeration of whch can be foreseen and calculated precisely; the elements of caprice, ofchance, and ofaccident are bnished from the course of nature. Both of them open up a seemingly bondless vista ofpossibilities t him who knows the causes of things and can touch the secret springsthat set in motin the vast and itricate mechanism of the world. Hence the strong attraction whichmagic and sciencealike have exercied on the human mind; hence the powerful stimulus that both havegiven to the pursut of knowledge. Tey lure the weary enquirer, the footsore seeker, on through th wilderness of disapointment in the prsent by their endless promises of the future: they take him p to he top of an exeeding high mountainand shew him, beyond the dark clouds and rolling mists at is feet, a vision of he celestial city, fa off, it may be, but radiant with unearthly splendour, bthed in the light of deams."
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 havessed to supreme power, it has contributed to emancipate mankind from the thraldom of tradition andt levate them into a larger, freer life, with a broader outlook on the world. This is no small sevie endered to humanity. And when we remember further that in another direction magic has paved te wy fr science, we are forced to admit that if the black art has done much evil, it has also beenthe ourc of much good; that if it is the child of error, it has yet been the mother of freedom andtruth"
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 sw; 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 hattracted only too many dilettanti and eccentrics, weaklings seeking in "Magic" an escape from reaiy I myself was first consciously drawn to the subject in this way. And it has repelled only toomay cientific 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, throcer, the Factory Girl, the Mathematician, the Stenographer, the Golfer, the Wife, the Consul ---adall 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 nunderstand 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 ther the Work of becoming a Spiritual Being, free from the constraints, accidents, and deceptions of mtral existence.
I found myself at a loss for a name to designate my work, just as H. P. Blavatsky some years earl. "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 theyorned, 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 efinition 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 beiand 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 therefotake "magical weapons", pen, ink, and paper; I write "incantations" --- these sentences --- in the"aical language" i.e. that which is understood by the people I wish to instruct; I call forth "spiit",such as printers, publishers, booksellers, and so forth, and constrain them to convey my messae t thse 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".ut even unintentional acts so-seeming are not truly so. Thus, breathing is an act of the Will-to-ie>>)
II. "POSTULATE."
ANY required Change may be effected by the application of the proper kind and degree of force in 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 acinitro-hydrochloric and no other, in sufficient quantity and of adequate strength, and place it, inavssel which will not break, leak, or corrode, in such a manner as will not produce undesirable reuls,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 can cause eclipses, for instance, or transform lead into tin, or create men from mushrooms. But it i horetically possible to cause in any object any change of which that object is capable by nature;an te 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 tcience
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 diagnos and his treatment injures his patient. There may be failure to apply the right kind of force, aswe a rustic tries to blow out an electric light. There may be failure to apply the right degree o frc, as when a wrestler has his hold broken. There may be failure to apply the force in the righ maner as when one presents a cheque at the wrong window of the Bank. There may be failure to empoy te corect medium, as when Leonardo da Vinci found his masterpiece fade away. The force may be pplie to a 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 understand of the conditions.
(Illustration: The most common cause of failure in life is ignorance of one's own True Will, or ohe means by which to fulfil that Will. A man may fancy himself a painter, and waste his life tryigt become one; or he may be really a painter, and yet fail to understand and to measure the difficltespeculiar to that career.)
(5) The second requisite of causing any change is the practical ability to set in right motion thecessary forces.
(Illustration: A banker may have a perfect grasp of a given situation, yet lack the quality of deion, 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 andependent 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 environt which is natural and necessary for each. Anyone who is forced from his own course, either throuhnt understanding himself, or through external opposition, comes into conflict with the order of te nierse, and suffers accordingly. {XIV}
(Illustration: A man may think it his duty to act in a certain way, through having made a fancy pure of himself, instead of investigating his actual nature. For example, a woman may make herselfmsrable for life by thinking that she prefers love to social consideration, or "vice versa". One omn ay stay with an unsympathetic husband when she would really be happy in an attic with a lover,whie aother may fool herself into a romantic elopement when her only true pleasures are those of pesidng a fashionable functions. Again, a boy's instinct may tell him to go to sea, while his parets inists n his becoming a doctor. In such a case, he will be both unsuccessful and unhappy in meicine.
(8) A Man whose conscious will is at odds with his True Will is wasting his strength. He cannot e to influence his environment efficiently.
(Illustration: When Civil War rages in a nation, it is in no condition to undertake the invasion other countries. A man with cancer employs his nourishment alike to his own use and to that of th nmy which is part of himself. He soon fails to resist the pressure of his environment. In practca lfe, a man who is doing what his conscience tells him to be wrong will do it very clumsily. Atfirt!) (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 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 connect
(Illustration: Human consciousness depends on the properties of protoplasm, the existence of whicepends on innumerable physical conditions peculiar to this planet; and this planet is determined b h mechanical balance of the whole universe of matter. We may then say that our consciousness is aualy connected with the remotest galaxies; yet we do not know even how it arises from --- or with---themolecular changes in the brain.)
(11) Science enables us to take advantage of the continuity of Nature by the empirical application certain {XV} principles whose interplay involves different orders of idea connected with each othri a way beyond our present comprehension.
(Illustration: We are able to light cities by rule-of-thumb methods. We do not know what conscioess is, or how it is connected with muscular action; what electricity is or how it is connected wihte machines that generate it; and our methods depend on calculations involving mathematical ideaswhchhave no correspondence in the Universe as we know it.<<For instance, "irrational", "unreal", ad "nfiite" expressions.>>)
(12) Man is ignorant of the nature of his own being and powers. Even his idea of his limitations based on experience of the past, and every step in his progress extends his empire. There is theeoe no reason to assign theoretical limits<<i.e., except --- possibly --- in the case of logicallyabur questions, such as the Schoolmen discussed in connection with "God".>> to what he may be, or o wat e may do.
(Illustration: A generation ago it was supposed theoretically impossible that man should ever knohe chemical composition of the fixed stars. It is known that our senses are adapted to receive onya infinitesimal fraction of the possible rates of vibration. Modern instruments have enabled us o etct some of these suprasensibles by indirect methods, and even to use their peculiar qualities n te srvice of man, as in the case of the rays of Hertz and Rontgen. As Tyndall said, man might a anymomet learn to perceive and utilise vibrations of all conceivable and inconceivable kinds. Th quesion o Magick is a question of discovering and employing hitherto unknown forces in nature. W know hat thy exist, and we cannot doubt the possibility of mental or physical instruments capableof brining us nto relation with them.)
(13) Every man is more or less aware that his individuality comprises several orders of existenceven when he maintains that his subtler principles are merely symptomatic of the changes in his grs ehicle. 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. nimate objects are sensitive to certain physical forces, such as electrical and thermal conductiviy ut neither in us nor in them --- so far as we know --- is there any direct conscious perception f hee forces. Imperceptible influences are therefore associated with all material phenomena; and her isno reason why we should not work upon matter through those subtle energies as we do through heirmateial bases. In fact, we use magnetic force to move iron, and solar radiation to reproduce mages)
(14) Man is capable of being, and using, anything which he perceives, for everything that he perces is in a certain sense a part of his being. He may thus subjugate the whole Universe of which h sconscious to his individual Will.
(Illustration: Man has used the idea of God to dictate his personal conduct, to obtain power overs fellow, to excuse his crimes, and for innumerable other purposes, including that of realizing hisl as God. He has used the irrational and unreal conceptions of mathematics to help him in the costucion of mechanical devices. He has used his moral force to influence the actions even of wild nimls. 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 ng suitable means. There is thus an inexhaustible supply of any particular kind of force that we a eed.
(Illustration: Heat may be transformed into light and power by using it to drive dynamos. The vitions of the air may be used to kill men by so ordering them in speech as to inflame war-like passos The hallucinations connected with the mysterious energies of sex result in the perpetuation ofth secies.)
(16) The application of any given force affects all the orders of being which exist in the object 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 act; although the dagger, as such, has no direct relation therewith. Similarly, the power of {XI}my thought may so work on the mind of another person as to produce far-reaching physical changesinhi, 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 abovheorems.
(Illustration: A man may use a razor to make himself vigilant over his speech, but using it to cuimself whenever he unguardedly utters a chosen word. He may serve the same purpose by resolving ta very incident of his life shall remind him of a particular thing, making every impression the strtngpoint of a connected series of thoughts ending in that thing. He might also devote his whole neriesto some one particular object, by resolving to do nothing at variance therewith, and to makeever actturn to the advantage of that object.)
(18) He may attract to himself any force of the Universe by making himself a fit receptacle for iestablishing a connection with it, and arranging conditions so that its nature compels it to flow oad him.
(Illustration: If I want pure water to drink, I dig a well in a place where there is underground er; I prevent it from leaking away; and I arrange to take advantage of water's accordance with thelw of Hydrostatics to fill it.)
(19) Man's sense of himself as separate from, and oppose to, the Universe is a bar to his conduct its currents. It insulates him.
(Illustration: A popular leader is most successful when he forgets himself, and remembers only "TCause". Self-seeking engenders jealousies and schism. When the organs of the body assert their peece otherwise than by silent satisfaction, it is a sign that they are diseased. The single excepio i the organ of reproduction. Yet even in this case its self-assertion bears witness to its disatifacion with itself, since it cannot fulfil its function until completed by its counterpart in aothe orgnism.
(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 lea from every phenomenon. But Nature is dumb to the hypocrite; for in her there is nothing false.<<ti no objection that the hypocrite is himself part of Nature. He is an "endothermic" product, divde aainst himself, with a tendency to break up. He will see his own qualities everywhere, and thu obaina radical misconception of phenomena. Most religions of the past have failed by expecting Ntureto cnform 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; fos soon as man makes himself one with any idea the means of measurement cease to exist. But his poe o utilize that force is limited by his mental power and capacity, and by the circumstances of hi hma environment.
(Illustration: When a man falls in love, the whole world becomes, to him, nothing but love boundl and immanent; but his mystical state is not contagious; his fellow-men are either amused or annoyd He can only extend to others the effect which his love has had upon himself by means of his mentl ndphysical qualities. Thus, Catullus, Dante and Swinburn made their love a mighty mover of manknd y vrtue of their power to put their thoughts on the subject in musical and eloquent language. gain Clepatra and other people in authority moulded the fortunes of many other people by allowing ove t inflence their political actions. The Magician, however well he succeed in making contact wth thesecretsources of energy in nature, can only use them to the extent permitted by his intellecual andmoral qalities. Mohammed's intercourse with Gabriel was only effective because of his statsmanship soldierhip, and the sublimity of his command of Arabic. Hertz's discovery of the rays whch we nowuse for wreless telegraphy was sterile until reflected through the minds and wills of thepeople whocould takehis truth, and transmit it to the world of action by means of mechanical and eonomic instuments.)
(22) every individual is essentially sufficient to himself. But he is unsatisfactory to himself il 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, ever sublime, must impose himself upon his generation if he is to enjoy (and even to understand) hmef, as theoretically should be the case.)
(23) Magick is the Science of understanding oneself and one's conditions. It is the Art of apply that understanding in action.
(Illustration: A golf club is intended to move a special ball in a special way in special circumsces. A Niblick should rarely be used on the tee, or a Brassie under the bank of a bunker. But alo he 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, nonly 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 internalt 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; iisturbs the balance of the entire Universe, and its effects continue eternally throughout all spac. very thought, however swiftly suppressed, has its effect on the mind. It stands as one of the cuss f every subsequent thought, and tends to influence every subsequent action. A golfer may losea fw yrds on his drive, a few more with his second and third, he may lie on the green six bare inces to fa from the hole; but the net result of these trifling mishaps is the difference of a whole troke and o 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 "criminal nature" are simply at issue with their true Wills. The murderer has the Will-to-Live; n is will to murder is a false will at variance with his true Will, since he risks death at the hadsofSociety by obeying his criminal impulse.>>
(Illustration: A function imperfectly preformed injures, not {XX} only itself, but everything assated with it. If the heart is afraid to beat for fear of disturbing the liver, the liver is starvdfr blood, and avenges itself on the heart by upsetting digestion, which disorders respiration, onwhchcardiac welfare depends.)
(27) Every man should make Magick the keynote of his life. He should learn its laws and live by m.
(Illustration: The Banker should discover the real meaning of his existence, the real motive whiced him to choose that profession. He should understand banking as a necessary factor in the econoi xistence of mankind, instead of as merely a business whose objects are independent of the genera wlfre. He should learn to distinguish false values from real, and to act not on accidental fluctatins ut on considerations of essential importance. Such a banker will prove himself superior to ther; beause he will not be an individual limited by transitory things, but a force of Nature, as mpersnal, mpartial and eternal as gravitation, as patient and irresistible as the tides. His systm willnot besubject to panic, any more than the law of Inverse Squares is disturbed by Elections. He willnot be nxious about his affairs because they will not be his; and for that reason he will b able todirect tem with the calm, clear-headed confidence of an onlooker, with intelligence uncloued by sel-interestand power unimpaired by passion.)
(28) Every man has a right to fulfil his own will without being afraid that it may interfere withat of others; for if he is in his proper place, it is the fault of others if they interfere with hm
(Illustration: If a man like Napoleon were actually appointed by destiny to control Europe, he shounot be blamed for exercising his rights. To oppose him would be an error. Any one so doing wouldhv made a mistake as to his own destiny, except in so far as it might be necessary for him to lear t lssons of defeat. The sun moves in space without interference. The order of Nature provides a orit or each star. A clash proves that one or the other has strayed from his course. But as to ach an tat keeps his true course, the more firmly he acts, the less likely are others to get in hi way. His xample will help {XXI} them to find their own paths and pursue them. Every man that becmes a agicia helps others to do likewise. The more firmly and surely men move, and the more such ction i acceptd 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 fundamentaluth 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 is their right to assert themselves, and to accomplish the task for which their nature fits them Ya, more, that this is their duty, and that not only to themselves but to others, a duty founded po uiversal necessity, and not to be shirked on account of any casual circumstances of the moment hic ma 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 therom 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 sim 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 thraining to use the passive voice. This is, however, a matter of Initiation rather than of Magick n{XII} 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 situon very shortly. One must find out for oneself, and make sure beyond doubt, "who" one is, "what" n s, "why" one is. This done, one may put the will which is implicit in the "Why" into words, or aterinto One Word. Being thus conscious of the proper course to pursue, the next thing is to undestad te conditions necessary to following it out. After that, one must eliminate from oneself evey elmentalien or hostile to success, and develop those parts of oneself which are specially neededto cotrol he aforesaid conditions.
Let us make an analogy. A nation must become aware of its own character before it can be said toist. From that knowledge it must divine its destiny. It must then consider the political conditin f the world; how other countries may help it or hinder it. It must then destroy it itself any eemnt discordant with its destiny. Lastly, it must develop in itself those qualities which will enbleit o combat successfully the external conditions which threaten to oppose is purpose. We have ad arecet example in the case of the young German Empire, which, knowing itself and its will, discpline and rained itself so that it conquered the neighbours which had oppressed it for so many cenuries. But ater 1866 and 1870, 1914! It mistook itself for superhuman, it willed a thing impossibe, it filed toeliminate its own internal jealousies, it failed to understand the conditions of vicory,<<Atleast, i allowed England to discover its intentions, and so to combine the world against i. {WEH NOE: This fotnote in Crowley's text belongs to this page, but it is not marked in the text. I have asigned it tis tentative point, as following the general context.>> it did not train itsel to hold th sea, and tus, having violated every principle of
MAGICK,
it was pulled down and broken into pieces by provincialism and democracy, so that neither individualcellence nor civic virtue has yet availed to raise it again to that majestic unity which made so bl bid for the mastery of the race of man.
The sincere student will discover, behind the symbolic technicalities of his book, a practical med of making himself a {XXIII} Magician. The processes described will enable him to discriminate bten what he actually is, and what he has fondly imagined himself to be<<Professor Sigmund Freud an hs chool have, in recent years, discovered a part of this body of Truth, which has been taught fo may cnturies in the Sanctuaries of Initiation. But failure to grasp the fullness of Truth, especallythatimplied in my Sixth Theorem (above) and its corollaries, has led him and his followers int the rror f admitting that the avowedly suicidal "Censor" is the proper arbiter of conduct. Offical psyho-anaysis is therefore committed to upholding a fraud, although the foundation of the sciene was te obseration of the disastrous effects on the individual of being false to his Unconscious elf, whoe "writig on the wall" in dream language is the record of the sum of the essential tendences of thetrue natue of the individual. The result has been that psycho-analysts have misinterpretd life, an announcedthe absurdity that every human being is essentially an anti-social, criminal, nd insane aimal. It i evident that the errors of the Unconscious of which the psycho-analysts comlain are neiher more norless than the"original sin" of the theologians whom they despise so heartiy.>>. He mus behold his sul in all its awful nakedness, he must not fear to look on that appallin actuality. H must discard he gaudy garments with which his shame has screened him; he must accep the fact that othing can makehim anything but what he is. He may lie to himself, drug himself, hde himself; but e is always ther. Magick will teach him that his mind is playing him traitor. Itis as if a man wee told that tailos' fashion-plates were the canon of human beauty, so that he trid to make himself ormless and featurless like them, and shuddered with horror at the idea of Holben making a portraitof him. Magick wil show him the beauty and majesty of the self which he has tred to suppress and dsguise.
Having discovered his identity, he will soon perceive his purpose. Another process will show himw to make that purpose pure and powerful. He may then learn how to estimate his environment, lear o to make allies, how to make himself prevail against all powers whose error has caused them to wndr cross his path.
In the course of this Training, he will learn to explore the Hidden Mysteries of Nature, and to dlop new senses and faculties in himself, whereby he may communicate with, and control, Beings and ocs pertaining to orders of existence which {XXIV} have been hitherto inaccessible to profane reserc, nd 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 mann 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 froimself 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 ):e Beast 666; MAGUS 9 Degree = 2Square A.'. A.'. who is The Word of the Aeon THELEMA; whose name iscled V.V.V.V.V. 8 Degree = 3Square A.'. A.'. in the City of the Pyramids; OU MH 7 Degree = 4SquareA.. .'.; OL SONUF VAORESAGI 6 Degree = 5Square, and ... ... 5 Degree = 6Square A.'. A.'. in the Montan o Abiegnus: but FRATER PERDURABO in the Outer Order or the A.'. A.'. and in the World of men pon he Erth, 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 toter into a discussion of their relative merits in a popular manual of this sort. They may be stude n 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 Hary 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 nt is called HADIT.<<I present this theory in a very simple form. I cannot even explain (for instne that an idea may not refer to Being at all, but to Going. The Book of the Law demands special tuy nd initiated apprehension.>> These are unmanifest. One conjunction of these infinites is caled A-HOR-KHUIT,<<More correctly, HERU-RA-HA, to include HOOR-PAAR-KRAAT.>> a unity which includes nd hads ll things.<<The basis of this theology is given in Liber CCXX, AL vel Legis which forms Pat IV f thi Book 4. Hence I can only outline the matter in a very crude way; it would require a searate reatis to discuss even the true meaning of the terms employed, and to show how The Book of te Law aticipats the recent discoveries of Frege, Cantor, Poincare, Russell, Whitehead, Einstein an others.> (Ther is also a particular Nature of Him, in certain conditions, such as have obtained ince the pring of 904, e.v.) This profoundly mystical conception {1} is based upon actual spiritul experiene, but thetrained reason<<All advance in understanding demands the acquisition of a new oint-of-vie. Modern cnceptions of Mathematics, Chemistry, and Physics are sheer paradox to the "pain man" whothinks of Mater as something that one can knock up against.>> can reach a reflection o this idea bythe method oflogical contradiction which ends in reason transcending itself. The reaer should conslt "The Soldie and the Hunchback" in Equinox I, I, and Konx Om Pax.
"Unity" transcends "consciousness". It is above all division. The Father of thought --- the Wor-- is called Chaos --- the dyad. The number Three, the Mother, is called Babalon. In connection ihthis 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 thirinity is a matter of spiritual experience. All true gods are attributed to this Trinity.<<Considrtons of the Christian Trinity are of a nature suited only to Initiates of the IX Degree of O.T.O. a tey enclose the final secret of all practical Magick.>>
An immeasurable abyss divides it from all manifestations of Reason or the lower qualities of man.n the ultimate analysis of Reason, we find all reason identified with this abyss. Yet this abyss ste crown of the mind. Purely intellectual faculties all obtain here. This abyss has no number, orinit all is confusion.
Below this abyss we find the moral qualities of Man, of which there are six. The highest is symbsed by the number Four. Its nature is fatherly<<Each conception is, however, balanced in itself. Fu is also Daleth, the letter of Venus; so that the mother-idea is included. Again, the Sephira o 4isChesed, referred to Water. 4 is ruled by Jupiter, Lord of the Lightning (Fire) yet ruler of Ar. Eac 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 andve are again combined and harmonized in the number Six, whose nature is beauty and harmony, mortalt nd immortality.
In the number Seven the feminine nature is again predominant, {2} but it is the masculine type ofmale, 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 sility.
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 clearlyderstood that this is a "classification" of the Universe, that there is nothing which is not comprhned therein.
The Article on the Qabalah in Vol. I, No. V of the Equinox is the best which has been written on subject. It should be deeply studied, in connection with the Qabalistic Diagrams in Nos. II and I:"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, He3, Vau = 4 to 9, He final = 10.
The Number Two represents Yod, the Divine or Archetypal World, and the Number One is only attained the destruction of the God and the Magician in Samadhi. The world of Angels is under the numbers orto Nine, and that of spirits under the {3} number Ten.<<It is not possible to give a full accoun o te twenty-two "paths" in this condensed sketch. They should be studied in view of all their atribtesin 777, but more especially that in which they are attributed to the planets, elements and sgns,as aso to the Tarot Trumps, while their position on the Tree itself and their position as link betwen th particular Sephiroth which they join is the final key to their understanding. It will e notied tha each chapter of this book is attributed to one of them. This was not intentional. Te book as orignally but a collection of haphazard dialogues between Fra. P. and Soror A.; but on aranging he MSS, hey fell naturally and of necessity into this division. Conversely, my knowledge f the Schma pointe out to me numerous gaps in my original exposition; thanks to this, I have beenable to mae it a comlete and systematic treatise. That is, when my laziness had been jogged by th criticismsand suggestons of various colleagues to whom I had submitted the early drafts.>> All tese numbers re of courseparts of the magician himself considered as the microcosm. The microcosm s an exact imge of the Macocosm; the Great Work is the raising of the whole man in perfect balanceto the power o Infinity.
The reader will remark that all criticism directed against the Magical Hierarchy is futile. One not call it incorrect --- the only line to take might be that it was inconvenient. In the same wa n cannot say that the Roman alphabet is better or worse than the Greek, since all required soundsca b more or less satisfactorily represented by either; yet both these alphabets were found so litle atifactory when it came to an attempt at phonetic printing of Oriental languages, that the alphbet ad t be expanded by the use of italics and other diacritical marks. In the same way our magicl alpabet f the Sephiroth and the Paths (thirty-two letters as it were) has been expanded into thefour wrlds crresponding to the four letters of the name Yod-Heh-Vau-Heh; and each Sephira is suppoed to cntain aTree of Life of its own. Thus we obtain four hundred Sephiroth instead of the origial ten, nd the Pths being capable of similar multiplications, or rather of subdivision, the numberis still urther exended. Of course this process might be indefinitely continued without destroyin the origial system. The Apologia for this System is that our purest conceptions {4} are symbolized in Mathematics. "Gis the Great Arithmetician." "God is the Grand Geometer." It is best therefore to prepare to appeed Him by formulating our minds according to these measures.<<By "God" I here mean the Ideal Idenit o a man's inmost nature. "Something ourselves (I erase Arnold's imbecile and guilty 'not') tha maes or righteousness;" righteousness being rightly defined as internal coherence. (Internal Cohrenc impies that which is written "Detegitur Yod.")>>
To return, each letter of this alphabet may have its special magical sigil. The student must notpect to be given a cut-and-dried definition of what exactly is meant by any of all this. On the cnrry, he must work backwards, putting the whole of his mental and moral outfit into these pigeon-hle. You would not expect to be able to buy a filing cabinet with the names of all your past, preset ad fture correspondents ready indexed: your cabinet has a system of letters and numbers meaninglss i theselves, but ready to take on a meaning to you, as you fill up the files. As your businessincresed, ach letter and number would receive fresh accessions of meaning for you; and by adoptingthis oderly rrangement you would be able to have a much more comprehensive grasp of your affairs tan woul otherwse be the case. By the use of this system the magician is able ultimately to unify he wholeof his kowledge --- 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 outline of the real theory of the Universe. This theory may indeed be studied in the article alrayreferred to in No. V of the Equinox, and, more deeply in the Book of the Law and the Commentarie teron: but the true understanding depends entirely upon the work of the Magician himself. Withou maica experience it will be meaningless.
In this there is nothing peculiar. It is so with all scientific knowledge. A blind man might crup astronomy for the purpose of passing examinations, but his knowledge would be {5} almost entireyurelated to his experience, and it would certainly not give him sight. A similar phenomenon is oseve when a gentleman who has taken an "honours degree" in modern languages at Cambridge arrives i Pais,and is unable to order his dinner. To exclaim against the Master Therion is to act like a prsonwho,observing this, should attack both the professors of French and the inhabitants of Paris, nd pehaps o on to deny the existence of France.
Let us say, once again, that the magical language is nothing but a convenient system of classificon 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 ohe known, just as one's knowledge of Latin and Greek enables one to understand some unfamiliar Engihword derived from those sources. Also, there is the similar case of the Periodic Law in Chemisty,whch enables Science to prophesy, and so in the end to discover, the existence of certain previoslyunsspected elements in nature. All discussions upon philosophy are necessarily sterile, since ruthis byond language. They are, however, useful if carried far enough --- if carried to the poin whenit beome apparent that all arguments are arguments in a circle.<<See "The Soldier and the Hunhback, Equinx I, I. The apparatus of human reason is simply one particular system of coordinatingimpressons; it structure is determined by the course of the evolution of the species. It is no moe absolue than te evolution of the species. It is no more absolute than the mechanism of our musces is a cmplete tye wherewith all other systems of transmitting Force must conform.>> But discussons of thedetails ofpurely imaginary qualities are frivolous and may be deadly. For the great daner of this agical theoy is that the student may mistake the alphabet for the things which the word represent.
An excellent man of great intelligence, a learned Qabalist, once amazed the Master Therion by stag that the Tree of Life was the framework of the Universe. It was as if some one had seriously mananed that a cat was a creature constructed by placing the letters C. A. T. in that order. It is o oner that Magick has excited the ridicule of the unintelligent, since even its {6} educated studntscanbe guilty of so gross a violation of the first principles of common sense.<<Long since writig th aboe, an even grosser imbecility has been perpetrated. One who ought to have known better tred toimproe the Tree of Life by turning the Serpent of Wisdom upside down! Yet he could not even ake hi schem symmetrical: his little remaining good sense revolted at the supreme atrocities. Yethe succeded inreducing the whole Magical Alphabet to nonsense, and shewing that he had never undertood itsreal meaing.
The absurdity of any such disturbance of the arrangement of the Paths is evident to any sober stut from such examples as the following. Binah, the Supernal Understanding, is connected with Tipheeh the Human Consciousness, by Zain, Gemini, the Oracles of the Gods, or the Intuition. That is, heatribution represents a psychological fact: to replace it by The Devil is either humour or plainidicy. Again, the card "Fortitude", Leo, balances Majesty and Mercy with Strength and Severity: wht sese i there in putting "Death", the Scorpion, in its stead? There are twenty other mistakes inthe nw wonerful illuminated-from-on-high attribution; the student can therefore be sure of twenty ore laghs ifhe cares to study it.>>
A synopsis of the grades of the A.'. A.'. as illustrative of the Magical Hierarchy in Man is given Appendix 2 "One Star in Sight." This should be read before proceeding with the chapter. The sujc is very difficult. To deal with it in full is entirely beyond the limits of this small treatis.
"FURTHER CONCERNING THE MAGICAL UNIVERSE"
All these letters of the magical alphabet --- referred to above --- are like so many names on a m Man himself is a complete microcosm. Few other beings have this balanced perfection. Of courseeey sun, every planet, may have beings similarly constituted.<<Equally, of course, we have no mean o kowing what we really are. We are limited to symbols. And it is certain that all our sense-pecepion give only partial aspects of their objects. Sight, for instance, tells us very little abou soldity weight, composition, electrical character, thermal conductivity, etc., etc. It says nothng atall aout the very existence of such vitally important ideas as Heat, Hardness, and so on. Th impresion wich the mind combines from the senses can never claim to be accurate or complete. We ave inded leart that nothing is in itself what it seems to be to us.>> But when we speak of dealig with te planet in Magick, {7} the reference is usually not to the actual planets, but to parts o the eart which ar of the nature attributed to these planets. Thus, when we say that Nakhiel is te "Intellience" of te Sun, we do not mean that he lives in the Sun, but only that he has a certainrank and chracter; andalthough we can invoke him, we do not necessarily mean that he exists in thesame sense o the word inwhich our butcher exists.
When we "conjure Nakhiel to visible appearance," it may be that our process resembles creation --- rather imagination --- more nearly than it does calling-forth. The aura of a man is called the "aial mirror of the universe"; and, so far as any one can tell, nothing exists outside of this mirrr. I is at least convenient to represent the whole as if it were subjective. It leads to less conusin. And, as a man is a perfect microcosm,<<He is this only by definition. The universe may contin a infnite variety of worlds inaccessible to human apprehension. Yet, for this very reason, the do nt exit for the purposes of the argument. Man has, however, some instruments of knowledge; wemay, terefor, define the Macrocosm as the totality of things possible to his perception. As evoluion devlops thse instruments, the Macrocosm and the Microcosm extend; but they always maintain ther mutualrelation Neither can possess any meaning except in terms of the other. Our "discoveries"are exacty as muchof ourselves as they are of Nature. America and Electricity did, in a sense, exst before e were awae of them; but they are even now no more than incomplete ideas, expressed in smbolic term of a serie of relations between two sets of inscrutable phenomena.>> it is perfectly esy to re-modl one's concption at any moment.
Now there is a traditional correspondence, which modern experiment has shown to be fairly reliabl There is a certain natural connexion between certain letters, words, numbers, gestures, shapes, prues and so on, so that any idea or (as we might call it) "spirit", may be composed or called fort b te use of those things which are harmonious with it, and express particular parts of its nature Tesecorrespondences have been elaborately mapped in the Book 777 in a very convenient and compeniousform It will be necessary for the student to make a careful study of this book in connexion wth soe actal rituals of Magick, for example, {8} that of the evocation of Taphtatharath printed inEquino I, II, pages 170-190, where he will see exactly why these things are to be used. Of course as thestudentadvances in knowledge by experience he will find a progressive subtlety in the magicl univere corresonding to his own; for let it be said yet again! not only is his aura a magical miror of th 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 pencilliby weak and wavering fingers --- for this subject may almost be said to be co-extensive with one'swoe knowledge.
The knowledge of exoteric science is comically limited by the fact that we have no access, except the most indirect way, to any other celestial body than our own. In the last few years, the semieuated have got an idea that they know a great deal about the universe, and the principal ground fr her fine opinion of themselves is usually the telephone or the airship. It is pitiful to read te bmbatic twaddle about progress, which journalists and others, who wish to prevent men from thinkng, ut ot for consumption. We know infinitesimally little of the material universe. Our detailedknowldge i so contemptibly minute, that it is hardly worth reference, save that our shame may spurus to ncreasd endeavour. Such knowledge<<Knowledge is, moreover, an impossible conception. All popositins comeultimately back to "A is A".>> as we have got is of a very general and abstruse, of philosohical an almost magical character. This consists principally of the conceptions of pure mthematics It is, herefore, almost legitimate to say that pure mathematics is our link with the ret of the uiverse andwith "God".
Now the conceptions of Magick are themselves profoundly mathematical. The whole basis of our the is the Qabalah, which corresponds to mathematics and geometry. The method of operation in Magicki ased on this, in very much the same way as the laws of mechanics are based on mathematics. So fr,threfore as we can be said to possess a magical theory of the universe, it must be a matter soley o fudamental law, with a {9} few simple and comprehensive propositions stated in very general tems.
I might expend a life-time in exploring the details of one plane, just as an explorer might give life to one corner of Africa, or a chemist to one subgroup of compounds. Each such detailed piec fwork may be very valuable, but it does not as a rule throw light on the main principles of the uivrs. Its truth is the truth of one angle. It might even lead to error, if some inferior person ereto eneralize from too few facts.
Imagine an inhabitant of Mars who wished to philosophise about the earth, and had nothing to go but the diary of some man at the North Pole! But the work of every explorer, on whatever branch ofteTree of Life the caterpillar he is after may happen to be crawling, is immensely helped by a grap f eneral principles. Every magician, therefore, should study the Holy Qabalah. Once he has masere th 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 Micosm with the Macrocosm. The Supreme and Complete Ritual is therefore the Invocation of the Holy urian Angel;<<See the "Book of the Sacred Magic of Abramelin the Mage"; and Liber 418, 8th Aethyr,LierSamekh; see Appendix 3.>> or, in the language of Mysticism, Union with God.<<The difference bewee thse operations is more of theoretical than of practical importance.>>
All other magical Rituals are particular cases of this general principle, and the only excuse foring them is that it sometimes occurs that one particular portion of the microcosm is so weak that t mperfection of impurity would vitiate the Macrocosm of which it is the image, Eidolon, or Reflexon or example, God is above sex; and therefore neither man nor woman as such can be said fully toundrstnd, much less to represent, God. It is therefore incumbent on the male magician to cultivat thoe feale virtues in which he is deficient, and this task he must of course accomplish without i any ay imairing his virility. It will then be lawful for a magician to invoke Isis, and identifyhimsel with er; if he fail to do this, his apprehension of the Universe when he attains Samadhi wil lack he concption of maternity. The result will be a metaphysical and --- by corollary --- ethial limittion in he Religion which he founds. Judaism and Islam are striking example of this failue.
To take another example, the ascetic life which devotion to {11} magick so often involves argues overty of nature, a narrowness, a lack of generosity. Nature is infinitely prodigal --- not one i illion seeds ever comes to fruition. Whoso fails to recognise this, let him invoke Jupiter.<<Threar much deeper considerations in which it appears that "Everything that is, is right". They aresetforh elsewhere; we can only summarise them here by saying that the survival of the fittest is teir psho.>>
The danger of ceremonial magick --- the sublest and deepest danger --- is this: that the magicianll naturally tend to invoke that partial being which most strongly appeals to him, so that his natrlexcess in that direction will be still further exaggerated. Let him, before beginning his Work,eneaour to map out his own being, and arrange his invocations in such a way as to redress the balace.<Th ideal method of doing this is given in Liber 913 (Equinox VII). See also Liber CXI Aleph.> Ths, o course, should have been done in a preliminary fashion during the preparation of the weapns an furnture of the Temple.
To consider in a more particular manner this question of the Nature of Ritual, we may suppose thae finds himself lacking in that perception of the value of Life and Death, alike of individuals an fraces, which is characteristic of Nature. He has perhaps a tendency to perceive the "first nobl tut" uttered by Buddha, that Everything is sorrow. Nature, it seems, is a tragedy. He has perhas een xperienced the great trance called Sorrow. He should then consider whether there is not som Deiy wh expresses this Cycle, and yet whose nature is joy. He will find what he requires in Dionsus.
There are three main methods of invoking any Deity.
The "First Method" consists of devotion to that Deity, and, being mainly mystical in character, n not be dealt with in this place, especially as a perfect instruction exists in Liber 175 ("See" Apnix).
The "Second method"is the straight forward ceremonial invocation. It is the method which was usuy employed in the Middle Ages. Its advantage is its directness, its disadvantage its {12} crudity Te "Goetia" gives clear instruction in this method, and so do many other rituals, white and black e hall 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 symbolisf Tiphareth expresses the nature of Bacchus. It is then necessary to construct a Ritual of Tiphart. Let us open the Book 777; we shall find in line 6 of each column the various parts of our requiedaparatus. Having ordered everything duly, we shall exalt the mind by repeated prayers or conjurtios t the highest conception of the God, until, in one sense or another of the word, He appears t us nd foods 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 thetist'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 ias the sanction of the highest antiquity, and is probably the most useful for the foundation of a eiion. It is the method of Catholic Christianity, and consists in the dramatization of the legendofth God. The Bacchae of Euripides is a magnificent example of such a Ritual; so also, through ina lss egree, is the Mass. We may also mention many of the degrees in Freemasonry, particularly th thid. he 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 hereasure-house to the Father of All, of the jealousy and rage excited by this incarnation, and of th evenly protection afforded to the infant. Next should be commemorated the journeying westward upn n ss. Now comes the great scene of the drama: the gentle, exquisite youth with his following (ciefy cmposed of women) seems to threaten the established order of things, and that Established Ordr taes seps to put an end to the upstart. We find Dionysus confronting the angry King, not with dfianc, butwith meekness; yet with a subtle confidence, an underlying laughter. His forehead is wrathed ith vie tendrils. He is an effeminate figure with those broad leaves clustered upon his bro? But hose leves hide {13} horns. King Pentheus, representative of respectability,<<There is a mch deepe interprtation in which Pentheus is himself "The Dying God". See my "Good Hunting!" and D. J.G.Fraer's "Golen Bough".>> is destroyed by his pride. He goes out into the mountains to attac the womenwho have fllowed Bacchus, the youth whom he has mocked, scourged, and put in chains, yetwho has onl smiled; an 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 sathy and insight. We will not further transgress by dwelling upon the identity of this legend wit h course of Nature, its madness, its prodigality, its intoxication, its joy, and above all its sulie ersistence through the cycles of Life and Death. The pagan reader must labour to understand tis n Pter's "Greek Studies", and the Christian reader will recognise it, incident for incident, inthe toryof 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 whihe takes the part of Bacchus, undergoes all His trials, and emerges triumphant from beyond death. H ust, however, be warned against mistaking the symbolism. In this case, for example, the doctrin o idividual immortality has been dragged in, to the destruction of truth. It is not that utterlyworhles part of man, his individual consciousness as John Smith, which defies death --- that conscousnss wich dies and is reborn in every thought. That which persists (if anything persist) is hisreal ohn Sithiness, a quality of which he was probably never conscious in his life.<<See "The Bookof Lie", Libr 333, for several sermons to this effect. Caps. Alpha, Delta, Eta, Iota-Epsilon, Iota-Sima, Ioa-Eta, Kappa-Alpha, Kappa-Eta, in particular. The reincarnation of the Khu or magcal Selfis anothr matter entirely, too abstruse to discuss in this elementary manual. {WEH NOTE: Ihave madea correcton in the above list of chapters from Liber 333. The published text cites IotaDigamma, wich does nt exist. The correct chapter is Iota-Sigma, which does exist and discusses te subject}.>
Even that does not persist unchanged. It is always growing. The Cross is a barren stick, and thetals of the Rose fall and decay; but in the union of the Cross and the Rose is a constant {14} sucsion of new lives.<<See "The Book of Lies", Liber 333, for several sermons to this effect. The wol teory of Death must be sought in Liber CXI Aleph.>> Without this union, and without this deathof he ndividual, the cycle would be broken.
A chapter will be consecrated to removing the practical difficulties of this method of InvocationIt will doubtless have been noted by the acumen of the reader that in the great essentials these tremethods are one. In each case the magician identifies himself with the Deity invoked. To "invoe"isto "call in", just as to "evoke" is to "call forth". This is the essential difference betweenthetwobranches of Magick. In invocation, the macrocosm floods the consciousness. In evocation, te maicia, having become the macrocosm, creates a microcosm. You "in"voke a God into the Circle. ou "evoke Spirit into the Triangle. In the first method identity with the God is attained by lov and b surreder, by giving up or suppressing all irrelevant (and illusionary) parts of yourself. t is th weedin of a garden.
In the second method identity is attained by paying special attention to the desired part of yourf: positive, as the first method is negative. It is the potting-out and watering of a particular lwr 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 losimself completely in the subject of a play or of a novel; but for those who can do so, this methodi nquestionably the best.
Observe: each element in this cycle is of equal value. It is wrong to say triumphantly "Mors janvitae", unless you add, with equal triumph, "Vita janua mortis". To one who understands this chai fthe Aeons from the point of view alike of the sorrowing Isis and of the triumphant Osiris, not frgttng their link in the destroyer Apophis, there remains no secret veiled in Nature. He cries tht nme f God which throughout History has been echoed by one religion to another, the infinite sweling aeanI.A.O.!<<This name, I.A.O. is qabalistically identical with that of THE BEAST and with Hisnumbe 666,so that he who invokes the former invokes also the latter. Also with AIWAZ and the Numbr 93. See Chpter V.>> {15}
CHAPTER II
THE FORMULAE OF THE ELEMENTAL WEAPONS.
Before discussing magical formulae in detail, one may observe that most rituals are composite, anontain 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 invoke, he rises from point to point in a perpendicular line, and then descends; or else, beginnin tthe top, he comes directly down, "invoking" first the god of that sphere by "devout supplication<<ewre, O brother, lest thou bend the knee! Liber CCXX teaches the proper attitude. See also Libr CCLX. Infra, furthermore, there is special instruction: Chapter XV and elsewhere.>> that He may eignto snd the appropriate Archangel. He then "beseeches" the Archangel to send the Angel or Anges of hat shere to his aid; he "conjures" this Angel or Angels to send the intelligence in question and tis intlligence he will "conjure with authority" to compel the obedience of the spirit and hi manifetation. To this spirit he "issues commands".
It will be seen that this is a formula rather of evocation than of invocation, and for the lattere procedure, though apparently the same, should be conceived of in a different manner, which bring tunder another formula, that of Tetragrammaton. The essence of the force invoked is one, but the"Gd"represents the germ or beginning of the force, the "Archangel" its development; and so on, untl, iththe "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 inved in the same way; for the Cup being passive rather than active, it is not fitting for the magicint use it in respect of anything but the Highest. In practical working it consequently means litte utprayer, and that prayer the "prayer of silence".<<Considerations which might lead to a contrar cocluion 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 criticise, to destroy, to disperse; and all true magical ceremonies tend to concentration. The dge 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, tformula of the wand is the only one with which we need more particularly concern ourselves.<<Later hse 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 meds. The first, for the vulgar, is that of supplication. In this the crude objective theory is asue as true. There is a god named A, whom you, B, proceed to petition, in exactly the same sense a abo might ask his father for pocket-money.
The second method involves a little more subtlety, inasmuch as the magician endeavours to harmonihimself with the nature of the god, and to a certain extent exalts himself, in the course of the crmny; 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 perfion involves the attainment of a species of Samadhi: and this fact alone suffices to link irrefragbymagick with mysticism.
Let us describe the magical method of identification. The symbolic form of the god is first stud with as much care as an artist would bestow upon his model, so that a perfectly clear and {17} unhkable mental picture of the god is presented to the mind. Similarly, the attributes of the god ae nsrined in speech, and such speeches are committed perfectly to memory. The invocation will the bein ith a prayer to the god, commemorating his physical attributes, always with profound understndin of heir real meaning. In the "second part" of the invocation, the voice of the god is heard,and Hs chaacteristic utterance is recited.
In the "third portion" of the invocation the magician asserts the identity of himself with the go In the "fourth portion" the god is again invoked, but as if by Himself, as if it were the utteraneo the will of the god that He should manifest in the magician. At the conclusion of this, the orgialobject 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 Liber LXIV, the first part begins with the words "Majesty of Godhead, wisdom-crowned TAHUTI, Thee,Te I invoke. Oh Thou of the Ibis head, Thee, Thee I invoke"; and so on. At the conclusion of thi ametal image of the God, infinitely vast and infinitely splendid, should be perceived, in just th sae snse 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 echoint, that it is true also of himself. This thought should so exalt him that he is able at its conclso to utter the sublime words which open the third part: "Behold! he is in me, and I am in him." t hi moment, he loses consciousness of his mortal being; he is that mental image which he previousy bt sw. This consciousness is only complete as he goes on: "Mine is the radiance wherein Ptah flatet ove his firmament. I travel upon high. I tread upon the firmament of Nu. I raise a flashin flam withthe lightnings of mine eye: ever rushing on in the splendour of the daily glorified Ra -- givig my lfe to the treaders of Earth!" This thought gives the relation of God and Man from thedivine oint ofview.
The magician is only recalled to himself at the conclusion of the {18} third part; in which occur, ost as if by accident, the words: "Therefore do all things obey my word." Yet in the fourth part,wih begins: "Therefore do thou come forth unto me", it is not really the magician who is addressin te od; it is the God who hears the far-off utterance of the magician. If this invocation has bee corecly performed, the words of the fourth part will sound distant and strange. It is surprisingthata dumy (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 maial, that this one invocation is sufficient. The God bethinks him that the spirit of Mercury shoudnw appear to the magician; and it is so. This Egyptian formula is therefore to be preferred to te iearchical 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 aner formula contained, the Reverberating or Reciprocating formula, which may be called the formula fHrus and Harpocrates. The magician addresses the God with an active projection of his will, and he bcomes passive while the God addresses the Universe. In the fourth part he remains silent, lisenig, o the prayer which arises therefrom.
The formula of this invocation of Thoth may also be classed under Tetragrammaton. The first part fire, the eager prayer of the magician, the second water, in which the magician listens to, or cace the reflection of, the god. The third part is air, the marriage of fire and water; the god andth mn have become one; while the fourth part corresponds to earth, the condensation or materializaionof hose three higher principles.
With regard to the Hebrew formulae, it is doubtful whether most magicians who use them have ever perly grasped the principles underlying the method of identity. No passage which implies it occur omind, and the extant rituals certainly give no hint of such a conception, or of any but the mostpesoal and material views of the nature of things. They seem to have thought that there was an Arhanel amed Ratziel in exactly the same sense as there was a statesman named Richelieu, an individul beng lving in a definite place. He had possibly certain powers of a somewhat metaphysical order--- h migh be {19} in two places at once,<<He could do this provided that he can travel with a sped exceding tat of Light, as he does. See A.S.Eddington "Space, Time, and Gravitation". Also: wha means at once?>> for example, though even the possibility of so simple a feat (in the case of spiits) sees to be enied by certain passages in extant conjurations which tell the spirit that if he appens tobe in chans in a particular place in Hell, or if some other magician is conjuring him so hat he canot come, ten let him send a spirit of similar nature, or otherwise avoid the difficultly But of corse so vulgr a conception would not occur to the student of the Qabalah. It is just pssible that he magi wrot their conjurations on this crude hypothesis in order to avoid the cloudin of the mind y doubt and mtaphysical speculation.
He who became the Master Therion was once confronted by this very difficulty. Being determined tnstruct mankind, He sought a simple statement of his object. His will was sufficiently informed b omon sense to decide him to teach man "The Next Step", the thing which was immediately above him. H mght have called this "God", or "The Higher Self", or "The Augoeides", or "Adi-Buddha", or 61 oherthigs --- but He had discovered that these were all one, yet that each one represented some thery o theUniverse which would ultimately be shattered by criticism --- for He had already passed though he relm of Reason, and knew that every statement contained an absurdity. He therefore said: Let medeclar this Work under this title: 'The obtaining of the Knowledge and Conversation of the Hly Guarian Angl'", because the theory implied in these words is so patently absurd that only simpltons woud waste uch time in analysing it. It would be accepted as a convention, and no one would ncur the rave dangr of building a philosophical system upon it.
With this understanding, we may rehabilitate the Hebrew system of invocations. The mind is the greenemy; so, by invoking enthusiastically a person whom we know not to exist, we are rebuking that mn. Yet we should not refrain altogether from philosophising in the light of the Holy Qabalah. We holdaccept the Magical Hierarchy as a more or less convenient classification of the facts of the Uivese s they are {20} known to us; and as our knowledge and understanding of those facts increase,so souldwe 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 thorrelation of the various beings of the hierarchy with the observed facts of Magick. In the simpl ater 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 tenus" before a Probationer of the A.'. A.'. who was ignorant of Greek, the language of the Ode. Tedsciple then went on an "astral journey," and everything seen by him was without exception harmonou wth Venus. This was true down to the smallest detail. He even obtained all the four colour-sclesof enus with absolute correctness. Considering that he saw something like one hundred symbols n al, th odds against coincidence are incalculably great. Such an experience (and the records of he A.. A.' contain dozens of similar cases) affords proof as absolute as any proof can be in this orld o Illuson 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 all. One might maintain that the invocations which have come down to us are but the ruins of theTmle of Magick. The exorcisms might have been committed to writing for the purpose of memorising he, hile it was forbidden to make any record of the really important parts of the ceremony. Such etals f Ritual as we possess are meagre and unconvincing, and though much success has been attaine in he qite conventional exoteric way both by FRATER PERDURABO and by many of his colleagues, yet eremoies o this character have always remained tedious and difficult. It has seemed as if the sucess wee obtaned almost in spite of the ceremony. In any case, they are the more mysterious parts f the Rtual whch have evoked the divine force. Such conjurations as those of the "Goetia" leave oe cold, lthough,notably in the second conjuration, there is a crude attempt to use that formula ofCommemoraion of whch we spoke in the preceding Chapter. {21}
CHAPTER III
THE FORMULA OF TETRAGRAMMATON.<<Yod, He, Vau, He, the Ineffable Name (Jehovah) of Hebrews. The four letters refer respectively to the four "elements", Fire, Water, Air, Earth, inteorder named.>>
This formula is of most universal aspect, as all things are necessarily comprehended in it; but iuse 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 ise most divine aspect of the Force --- the remaining letters are but a solidification of the same tig It must be understood that we are here speaking of the whole ceremony considered as a unity, nt erly of that formula in which "Yod" is the god invoked, "He" the Archangel, and so on. In orderto ndestand the ceremony under this formula, we must take a more extended view of the functions ofthe our eapons than we have hitherto done.
The formation of the "Yod" is the formulation of the first creative force, of that father who is led "self-begotten", and unto whom it is said: "Thou has formulated thy Father, and made fertile tyMther". The adding of the "He" to the "Yod" is the marriage of that Father to the great co-equalMohe, who is a reflection of Nuit as He is of Hadit. Their union brings forth the son "Vau" who i th her. Finally the daughter "He" is produced. She is both the twin sister and the daughter of Vau"<<Thre 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 tne of her mother, and it is only she whose youthful embrace can reawaken the eld of the {22} All-Fte. In this complex family relationship<<The formula of Tetragrammaton, as ordinarily understood,enin with the appearance of the daughter, is indeed a degradation.>> is symbolised the whole cours oftheUniverse. It will be seen that (after all) the Climax is at the end. It is the second halfof te fomula which symbolises the Great Work which we are pledged to accomplish. The first step o thisis th attainment of the Knowledge and Conversation of the Holy Guardian Angel, which constitues theAdept f the Inner Order.
The re-entry of these twin spouses into the womb of the mother is that initiation described in Li 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 Tetragrammn in this exalted sense might be difficult if not impossible. In such a ceremony the Rituals of prfcation alone might occupy many incarnations.
It will be necessary, therefore, to revert to the simpler view of Tetragrammaton, remembering onlhat 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 m reflective but even more powerful flow of will, the irresistible force of a mighty river. This saeof mind will be followed by an expansion of the consciousness; it will penetrate all space, and hi wll finally undergo a crystallization resplendent with interior light. Such modifications of te oigial 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 misfirthat of the second, a falling into dreaminess or reverie; that of the third, loss of concentration Amistake 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 specified; but if that is properly done the other stages will follow as if by necessity. So far s t 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" athe Laws of Nature. Thus They are eternal, omnipotent, omnipresent and so on; and thus their "Wils re immutable and absolute.>> It is the masculine plural of a feminine noun, but its nature is piniplly feminine.<<It represents Sakti,or Teh; femininity always means form, manifestation. The mscuineSiva, or Tao, is always a concealed force.>> It is a perfect hieroglyph of the number 5. Ths shuld e studied in "A Note on Genesis" (Equinox I, II).
The Elements are all represented, as in Tetragrammaton, but there is no development from one intoe others. They are, as it were, thrown together --- untamed, only sympathising by virtue of theirwl and stormy but elastically resistless energy. The Central letter is "He" --- the letter of brat -- and represents Spirit. The first letter "Aleph" is the natural letter of Air, and the Final"Me" i the natural letter of Water. Together, "Aleph" and "Mem" make "Am" --- the mother within wose omb he Cosmos is conceived. But "Yod" is not the natural letter of Fire. Its juxtaposition wth "H" santifies that fire to the "Yod" of Tetragrammaton. Similarly we find "Lamed" for Earth, were weshouldexpect 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 ceremon It is the breath of benediction, yet so potent that it can give life to clay and light to darknes. In consecrating a weapon, "Aleph" is the whirling force of the thunderbolt, the lightning which fmeh out of the East even {24} into the West. This is the gift of the wielding of the thunderbolt fZeu or Indra, the god of Air. "Lamed" is the Ox-goad, the driving force; and it is also the Balace repesenting the truth and love of the Magician. It is the loving care which he bestows upon pefecing hs instruments, and the equilibration of that fierce force which initiates the ceremony.<<Te leters Aeph and Lamed are infinitely important in this Aeon of Horus; they are indeed the Key ofthe Bok of te Law. No more can be said in this place than that Aleph is Harpocrates, Bacchus Diphes, th Holy Ghst, the "Pure Fool" or Innocent Babe who is also the Wandering Singer who impregnate the Kig's Daugher with Himself as Her Child; Lamed is the King's Daughter, satisfied by Him, holdng His "word and Blances" in her lap. These weapons are the Judge, armed with power to execute Hi Will, an Two Witneses "in whom shall every Truth be established" in accordance with whose testimoy he givesjudgment.>>
"Yod" is the creative energy -- the procreative power: and yet "Yod" is the solitude and silence the hermitage into which the Magician has shut himself. "Mem" is the letter of water, and it is teMm final, whose long flat lines suggest the Sea at Peace HB:Mem-final ; not the ordinary (initialan mdial) Mem whose hieroglyph is a wave HB:Mem.<<In the symbolism above outlined, Yod is the Mercria "Vrgin Word", the Spermatozoon concealing its light under a cloke; and Mem is the amniotic flud, te flod wherein is the Life-bearing Ark. See A. Crowley "The Ship", Equinox I, X.>> And then,in th Cente of all, broods Spirit, which combines the mildness of the Lamb with the horns of the Rm, andis theletter of Bacchus or "Christ".<<The letter He is the formula of Nuith, which makes posible th proces described in the previous notes. But it is not permissible here to explain fully te exact atter ormanner of this adjustment. I have preferred the exoteric attributions, which are ufficienty informaive for the beginner.>>
After the magician has created his instrument, and balanced it truly, and filled it with the lightns of his Will, then is the weapon laid away to rest; and in this Silence, a true Consecration coe.
THE FORMULA OF ALIM
It is extremely interesting to contrast with the above the formula of the elemental Gods deprived the creative spirit. One {25} might suppose that as ALIM, is the masculine plural of the masculienun AL, its formula would be more virile than that of ALHIM, which is the masculine plural of thefeinne noun ALH. A moment's investigation is sufficient to dissipate the illusion. The word masclin ha 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 objectse treated as feminine on account of their superficial resemblance in passivity and inertness with h nfertilized female. But the female produces life by the intervention of the male, while the neuerdos so only when impregnated by Spirit. Thus we find the feminine AMA, becoming AIMA<<AMA is 42 th nuber of sterility; AIMA, 52, that of fertility, of BN, the SON.>>, through the operation of te phllicYod, while ALIM, the congress of dead elements, only fructifies by the brooding of Spirit. Thisbeingso, how can we describe ALIM as containing a Magical Formula? Inquiry discloses the factthat tis forula 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 under Hecate.<<See A. Crowley "Orpheus" for the Invocation of this Goddess.>> It is only the romni mediaeval perversion of science that represents young women as partaking in witchcraft, which i, roerly speaking, restricted to the use of such women as are no longer women in the Magical senseof he ord, because thy are no longer capable of corresponding to the formula of the male, and are hereore euter rather than feminine. It is for this reason that their method has always been refered tothe mon, in that sense of the term in which she appears, not as the feminine correlative of te sun,but asthe burnt-out, dead, airless satellite of earth.
No true Magical operation can be performed by the formula of ALIM. All the works of witchcraft aillusory; and their apparent effects depend on the idea that it is possible to alter things by themr rearrangement of them. One {26} must not rely upon the false analogy of the Xylenes to rebut tisarument. It is quite true that geometrical isomers act in different manners towards the substane t whch they are brought into relation. And it is of course necessary sometimes to rearrange theelemnts f a molecule before that molecule can form either the masculine or the feminine element ina tru Magial combination with some other molecule.
It is therefore occasionally inevitable for a Magician to reorganize the structure of certain elets before proceeding to his operation proper. Although such work is technically witchcraft, it mutnt be regarded as undesirable on that ground, for all operations which do not transmute matter fal trctly speaking under this heading.
The real objection to this formula is not inherent in its own nature. Witchcraft consists in treng it as the exclusive preoccupation of Magick, and especially in denying to the Holy Spirit his rgtto indwell His Temple.<<The initiate of the XI Degree of O.T.O. will remark that there is a totalydiferent formula of ALIM, complementary with that here discussed. 81 may be regarded as a numbe ofYesd rather than of Luna. The actual meani | |
