Book 4 (Part II)

CHAPTER XV THE LAMEN '"T^HE breastplate or Lamen of the Magician is a very elaborate and JL important symbol. In the Jewish system we read that the High Priest was to wear a plate with twelve stones, for the twelve tribes of Israel (with all their correspondences), and in this plate were kept the Urim and Thummim.^ The modern Lamen is, however, a simple plate which (being worn over the heart) symbolizes Tiphereth, and it should therefore be a harmony of all the other symbols in one. It connects natur- ally by its shape with the Circle and the Pentacle; but it is not sufficient to repeat the design of either. The Lamen of the spirit whom one wishes to evoke is both placed in the triangle and worn on the breast; but in this case, since that 1 Scholars are uncertain as to what these really were, though apparently they were methods of divination. 159