160 
MAGICK WITHOUT TEARS 
much; but, secondly, which is of supreme importance, there 
is a definite connection between the personal appearance and 
manner of the native, and the Sign of the Zodiac which was 
rising when he first drew air into his lungs. 
Let me add, to strengthen the argument , that on the few 
occasions where I have erred there has been a good 
astrological reason for it. E.g., I might plump for Pisces rising 
when it was actually Capricornus; but in that case Saturn 
would have been afflicted by being in Cancer, with bad 
aspects from Venus and the Moon, thus taking away aU his 
rugged, male, laborious qualities, and in the Ascendant might 
have been Jupiter, suggesting many of the qualities of Pisces: 
and so forth. 
Now let me start! You want me to explain the system-or 
no-system-which I use. I do not "move in a mysterious way 
My wonders to perform"; for nothing could be simpler. For 
its origin I have to thank Abramelin the Mage, who empties 
the vials of his scorn upon the astrologers of his time with 
their meticulous calculations of "the hours of the planets" 
and so on. I think he goes too far when he says that a planet 
can have no influence at all, or very little, unless it is above 
the horizon; but he meant well, bless him! And, though he 
does not say so, I believe that I do my stuff in very much the 
same way as he did. 
Here is my system in a Number 000 Ampoule. 
Put up the figure at birth: study it, make notes of the 
aspects and dignities, concentrate - and turn on the Magical 
Tap! 
Occasionally, when I began, I set up the "progressed 
figure" to see how the patient was doing this week, but it 
never seemed to help enough to compensate for the 
distraction caused by the complication. What I do observe to 
examine the situation of to-day is Transits. These I have 
found very reliable; but even with these I usually ignore 
aspects of minor importance. Truth to tell, conjunctions 
mean very much more than the rest put together. 
Thousands of books have been written on Astrology;