Should lie fai! to disappear immediately, it is a sign thaï 
there is something ver y wrong, The Magician should 
immediaîely reconsecrate the Circle with the uîmost care. 
He should then repeat the dismissal; and if this does not suffice, 
he should then perform the banishing ritual suitable to the nature 
of the spirit and, if necessary, add conjurations to the same 
effect. In these circumstances, or if anything else suspicious should 
occur, he should not be content with the apparent disappearance of 
the spirit, who might easily make himself invisible and lie in 
ambush to do the Magician a mischief when he stepped out of the 
Circle — or even months afterwards. 
An y symhol whieh lias once definitely entered your 
environment with your own consent is extremely danger ous; 
unless under absolut e c ont roi, A man’s friends are more 
capable of working him harm than are strangers; and his 
greatest danger lies in his own habits. 
Of course it is the very condition of progress to build up ideas 
into the subconscious. The necessity of sélection should therefore 
be obvious. 
True, there cornes a time when ail éléments soever must be 
thus assimilated. Samadhi is, by définition, that very process. 
But, from the point of view of the young magician, there is a 
right wav — strait and difficult •— of performing ail this. One 
cannot too frequently repeat that what is lawful and proper 
to one Path is alien to another. 
Immediately after the License to Départ, and the general 
closing up of the work,it is necessary that the Magician should sit 
down and write up his magical record. However much he may 
hâve been tired 1 by the ceremony, he ought to force himself to do 
this until it becomes a habit. Verily, it is better to fail in 
the magical ceremony than to fail in writing down an 
accurate record of it. One need not doubt the propriety of this 
remark. Even if one is eaten alive by Malkah be-Tarshishim 
ve-Ruachoth ha-Schehalim, it does not matter very much, for it 
is over so very quickly. But the record of the transaction is 
I. He ought to be refreshed, more than after a full night’s deep sleep. 
This forms one test of his skill. 
— 140 —