Magick in Theory and Practice (Section 2)

There is hardly a scientific discovery in history which was not decried as quackery by the very men whose own achievements were scarce vet recognized by the world at large. Within the memory of the présent génération, the possibility of aéroplanes was derisively denied by those very engineers accounted most expert to give their opinions. The method of divination, the ratio of it, is as obscure to-day as was that of spectrum analysis a génération ago. That the Chemical composition of the fixed stars should become known to man seemed an insane imagining too ridiculous to discuss. To-day it seems equally irrational to enquire of the desert sand concerning the fate of empires. Yet surely it, if any one knows, should know! To-day it may Sound impossible for inanimate objects to reveal the inmost secrets of mankind and nature. We cannot say whv divination is valid. We cannot trace the process by which it per- forms its marvels.1 But the same objections apply equally well to the téléphoné. No man knows what electricity is, or the nature of the forces which détermine its action. We know only that by doing certain things we get certain results, and that the least error I. The main différence between a Science and an Art is that the former admits mensuration. Its processes must be susceptible of the applica¬ tion of quantitative standards. Its laws reject impondérable variables. Science despises Art for its refusai to conform with calculable conditions. But even to-day, in the boasted Age of Science, man is still dépendent on Art as to most matters of practical importance to him; the Arts of Govern¬ ment, of War, of Literature, etc. are supremely influential, and Science does little more than facilitate them by making their materials mechanically docile. The utmost extension of Science can merely organize the household of Art. Art thus progresses in perception and power by increased control or automatic accuracy of its details. The Master Therion has made an Epoch in the Art of Magick by applying the Method of Science to its problems. His Work is a contribution of unique value, comparable only to that of those men of genius who revolutionized the empirical guess- work of “natural philosophers”. The Magicians of to-morrow will be armed with mathematical theory, organized observation, and experimentally- verified practice. But their Art will remain inscrutable as ever in essence; talent will never supplant genius. Education is impotent to produce a poet greater than Robert Burns; the perfection of laboratory apparatus préparé» indeed the path of a Pasteur, but cannot make masters of mediocrities. 175 “