Magick Without Tears

HOW TO RECOGNIZE MASTERS 325 My first surprise was to find that I had brought with me exactly those Magical Weapons which were suitable for the work proposed , and no others. But a yet more startling circumstance was to come. For the purpose of the Cairo Working, Ouarda and I had bought two abbai; one, scarlet , for me; one, blue, for her. I had brought mine to St. Moritz ; the other was of course in the possession of Ouarda. Imagine my amazement when Virakam produced from her trunk a blue abbai so like Ouarda's that the only difference were minute details of the gold embroidery! The suggestion was that the Secret Chiefs, having chosen Ouarda as Their messenger, could not use anyone else until she had become irrevocably disqualified by insanity . Not till now could her place be taken by another ; and that Virakam should possess a duplicate of her Magical Robe seemed a strong argument that she had been consecrated by Them to take the place of her unhappy predecessor . She was very unsatisfactory as a clairvoyant; she resented these precautions. She was a quick-tempered and impulsive woman, always eager to act with reckless enthusiasm. My cold scepticism no doubt prevented her from doing her best. Ab-ul-Diz himself constantly demanded that I should show "faith ," and warned me that I was wrecking my chances by my attitude . I prevailed upon him, however, to give adequate proof of his existence, and his claim to speak with authority. The main purport of his message was to instruct me to write a book on my system of Mysticism and Magick, to be called Book 4, and told me that by means of this book, I should prevail against public neglect. I saw no objection to writing such a book ; on quite rational grounds , it was a proper course of action . I therefore agreed to do so. But Ab-ul-Diz was determined to dictate the conditions in which the book should be written ; and this was a difficult matter. He wanted us to travel to an appropriate place. On this point I was not wholly satisfied with the result of my cross-examination. I know now that I was much to blame throughout. I was not honest either with him, myself or Virakam. I allowed