Magick Without Tears

OBST ACLES ON THE PATH 449 accounts; trusting that Thou wilt give this small matter Thine immediate attention, for Jesus' Christ's sake, Amen ." Sure enough, when he came to open his post, there would be just enough, sometimes exactly enough, to cover that amount. This story was told me by an enemy, who thought quite seriously that he would go to Hell for being "Open." ("Open" Brethren were lax about the Lord's Supper, let people partake who were not sound upon the Ramsgate Question; and other Theological Atrocities!) It meant that the facts were so undeniable that the "advertisement for Answer to Prayer" outweighed the "miracle of a Heretic." I knew a poetess of great distinction who used to amuse herself by breaking off a conversation and saying, "Give me a franc" (or a shilling, or any small sum) and then going on with her previous remarks . She told me that of over a hundred people I was the second who had passed the coin to her without remark of any.kind._ This story-do you think?-is neither here nor there . No, my remarks are rarely asyntartete. The Master, at one stage or another of initiation-it is forbidden to indicate the conditions-arrange for some test of the Aspirant's attitude in some matter, not necessarily involving cash. If he fail, goodnight! Swords, now. The snags connected with this type of test are probably the nastiest of any. Misunderstanding, confusion, logical error (and, worse, logical precision of the kind that distinguishes many lunatics) dispersion, indecision, failure to estimate values correctly-oh!-there is no end to the list. So much so, indeed, that there is no specific critical test, it is all part of the routine , and goes on incessantly. Well, there is just one. Without warning a decision of critical importance has to be made by the candidate, and he is given so many minutes to say Yes or No. He gets no second chance. But I must warn you of one particular disgrace. You know that people of low mentality haunt fortune-tellers of equal calibre, but with more low cunning. They do not really want