The Equinox (Volume I, Number VI)

THE DANCERS OF MYSTICISM AFFECTIONA TELY INSCRIBED TO ARTHUR EDWARD WAITE A CURIOUS idea is being sedulously disseminated, and appears to be gaining ground, that mysticism is the “ Safe " Path to the Highest, and magic the dangerous Path to the Lowest. There are several comments to be made on this assertion. One may doubt whether anything worth doing at all is free from danger, and one may wonder what danger can threatenthe man whose object is his own utter ruin. One may also smile a little grimly at the integrity of those who try to include all Magic under Black Magic, as is the present trick of the Mystic Militant here on earth. Now, as one who may claim to a slight acquaintance with the literature of both paths, and to have been honoured by personal exposition from the adepts of both paths, I believe that I may be able to bring them fairly into the balance. This is the magical theory, that the first departure from the Infinite must be equilibrated and so corrected. So the “great Magician,” Mayan, the maker of Illusion, the Creator, must be met in combat. Then “if Satan be divided against Satan, how can his kingdom stand?” Both vanish: the illusion is no more. Mathematically, I + (—— I):o. And this path is symbolised in the Taro under the figure of the I53