Magick in Theory and Practice (Section 4)

deed into dévotion, and consecrated by the right performance of the holy ceremonies. Yet herein is danger, for that the Mind is fluid as quicksilver, and bordereth upon the Abyss, and is beset by many sirens and devils that seduce and attack it to destroy it. Therefore let the devotee beware, and précisé accurately his médi¬ tations, even as a man should build a canal from sea to sea. 21. Continuation. — Let then the Philosophus meditate upon ail J ove that hath ever stirred him. There is the love of David and of Jonathan, and the love of Abraham and Isaac, and the love of Lear and Cordelia, and the love of Damon and Pythias, and the love of Sappho and Atthis, and the love of Romeo and Juliet, and the love of Dante and Béatrice, and the love of Paolo and Frances- ca, and the love of Caesar and Lucrezia Borgia, and the love of Aucassin and Nicolette, and the love of Daphnis and Chloe, and the love of Cornelia and Caius Gracchus, and the love of Bacchus and Ariadne, and the love of Cupid and Psyché, and the love of Endymion and Artémis, and the love of Demeter and Persephone, and the love of Venus and Adonis, and the love of Lakshmi and Vishnu, and the love of Siva and Bhavani and the love of Buddha and Ananda, and the love of Jésus and John, and many more. Also there is the love of many saints for their particular deity, as of St Francis of Assisi for Christ, of Sri Sabhapaty Swami for Maheswara, of Abdullah Haji Shirazi for Allah, of St Ignatius Loyola for Mary, and many more. Now do thou take one such story every night, and enact it in thy mind, grasping each identity with infinité care and zest, and do thou figure thyself as one of the lovers and thy Deity as the other. Thus do thou pass through ail adventures of love, not omitting one 3 and to each do thou conclude : How pale a reflection is this of my love for this Deity! Yet from each shalt thou draw some knowledge of love, some intimacy with love, that shall aid thee to perfect thy love. Thus learn the humility of love from one, its obedience from another, its intensity from a third, its purity from a fourth, its peace from yet a fifth. So then thy love being made perfect, it shall be worthy of that perfect love of His. — 395 ~