Magick in Theory and Practice (Section 4)

day; a week, and so on. Difficultés vanish before him as he advancesj the extension from a day to the course of his whole life will not prove so difficult as the perfecting of the five minutes. 18. This practice should be repeated at least four times daily, and progress is shown firstly by the ever easier running of the brain, secondly by the added memories which arise. 19. It is useful to reflect during this practice, which in time becomes almost mechanical, upon the way in which effects spring from causes. This aids the mind to link its memories, and préparés the adept for the preliminary practice of the second method. 20. Having allowed the mind to return for some hundred times to the hour of birth, it should be encouraged to endeavour to penetrate beyond that period. 1 If it be properly trained to run backwards, there will be little difficulty in doing this, although it is one of the distinct steps in the practice. 21. It may be then that the memory will persuade the adept of some previous existence. Where this is possible, let it be checked by an appeal to facts, as follows : -— 22. It often occurs to men that on visiting a place to which they hâve never been, it appears familiar. This may arise from a confusion of thought or a slipping of the memory, but it is con- ceivably a fact. If, then, the adept arememberî? that he was in a previous life in some City, say Cracow, which he has in this life never visited, let him describe from memory the appearance of Cracow, and of its inhabitants, setting down their names. Let him further enter into details of the city and its customs. And having done this with great minuteness, let him confirm the same by consultation with historians and geographers, or by a personal visit, remembering (both to the crédit of his memory and its discrédit) that historians, geographers, and himself are alike fallible. But let him not trust his memory, to assert its conclusions as fact, and act thereupon, without most adéquate confirmation. 23. - This process of checking his memory should be practised 1. Freudian forgetfulness tries to shield one from the shock of death. One has to brace oneself to face it in other ways, as by risking one’s life habitually. 419 —