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