Magick in Theory and Practice (Section 2)

of an hour’s journey you can reckon on having a fairly eventful time, turn your attention to rcaching a definite place on the astral plane j invoke Mercury, for example, and examine carefully your record of the resulting vision — discover whether the symbols which you hâve seen correspond with the conventional symbols of Mercury. Tliis iesting of the spirits is the most important branch of tlie whoïe tree of Magick. Without it, one is lost in the jungle of delusion. Every spirit, up to God himself, is ready to deceive you if possible, to make himself ont more important than lie is; in short, to lay in wait for your soûl in 333 separate ways. Remember thaï after ail the highest of ail the Gods is en!y the Magus, 1 Mayan, the greatest of ail the devils. Your may also try “rising on the planes”.2 With a little practice, especially if you hâve a good Guru, you ought to be able to slip in and out of your astral body as easily as you slip and out of a dressing-gown. It will then no longer be so necessary for your astral body to be sent far off ; without moving an inch you will be able to “turn on” its eyes and ears — as simplv as the man with the microscope (mentioned above) can transfer his complété attention from one eye to the other. Now, however unsuceessful your geîting ouï of the body may apparently hâve been, it is most necessary to use every effort to bring it properly back. Make the Body of Light coincide in space with the physica! body, assume the God- Form, and vibrate the name of lïarpocrates with the utmost energy; then recover unity of consciousness. If you fail to do this properly you may find vourself in serious trouble. Your Body of Light may wander away uncontrolled, and be attacked and obsessed. You will become aware of this through the occurrence of headache, bad dreams, or even more serious signs such as hysteria, fainting fits, possibly madness or paralysis. Even the worst of these attacks will probably wear off, but it may leave you permanently damaged to a greater or less extent. 1. See Liber 418, 3rd Aethyr. 2. See Infra and Appendix. — 147