Magick in Theory and Practice (Section 4)

with the earlier memories of childhood and youth by reference to the memories and records of others, always reflecting upon the fallibility even of such safeguards. 24. Ail this being perfected, so that the memory reaches back into aeons incalculably distant, let the Exempt Adept meditate upon the fruitlessness of ail those years, and upon the fruit thereof, severing that which is transitory and worthless from that which is eternal. And it may be that he being but an Exempt Adept may hold ali to be savourless and full of sorrow. 25. This being so, without réluctance will he swear the Oath of the Abyss. 26. Second Method. — Let the Exempt Adept, fortified by the practice of the first method, enter the preliminary practice of the second method. 27. Second Method. — Preliminary Practices. Let him, seated in his Asana, consider any event, and trace it to its immédiate causes. And let this be doue very fully and minutely. Here, for example, is a body erect and motionless. Let the adept consider the many forces which maintain it 5 firstly, the attraction cf the earth, of the sun, of the planets, of the farthest stars, nay of every mote of dust in the room, one cf which (could it be annihilated) would cause that body to move, although so imper- ceptibly. Also the résistance of the floor, the pressure of the air, and ail other external conditions. Secondly, the internai forces which sustain it, the vast and complex machinery of the skeleton, the muscles, the blood, the lymph, the marrow, ail that makes up a man. Thirdly the moral and intellectual forces involved, the mind, the will, the consciousness. Let him continue this with unremitting ardour, searching Nature, leaving nothing out. 28. Next, let him take one of the immédiate causes of his position, and trace out its equilibrium. For example, the will. What détermines the will to aid in holding the body erect and motionless ? 29. This being discovered, let him choose one of the forces which determined his will, and trace out that in similar fashion; and let this process be continued for many days until the inter- dependence of ail things is a truth assimilated in his inmost being. 420