1954 · CLOSE READING
Magick Without Tears
Magick Without Tears (1954), PDF p. 242
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29
What Is Certainty?
Cara Soror,
Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law.
The Chinese cannot help thinking that the Octave has
five notes.
The more necessary anything appears to my mind, the
more certain it is that I only assert a limitation .
I slept with Faith, and found a corpse in my arms on
awaking.
I drank and danced all night with Doubt , and found her
a virgin in the morning.
(The Book of Lies)
I wouldn't start to argue with the Chinese, if I were you;
they might remind you that you exude the stench peculiar to
corpses.
Again, that other "Hymn to St. Thomas ," as I ought
perhaps to have called it:
Doubt.
Doubt Thyself
Doubt even if thou doubtest thyself
Doubt all
Doubt even if thou doubtest all.
It seems sometimes as if beneath all conscious doubt
there lay some deepest certainty. 0 kill it! slay the
snake!
209
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