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Page 1 of 41930 · PDF PAGE 52
…ompletely erroneous conception of the facts. He may misunder- stand the expert’s answer, and he may misinterpret its purport. Apart from ail this, excluding ail error, both question and answer are limited in validity by their own conditions 3 and these conditions are such that truth may cease to be true, either as time goes on, or if it be flawed by the defect of failure to considei some circum- stances whose concealed operation cancels the contract. In a word, divination, like any other science, is justified of its children. It would be extrao…
1930 · PDF PAGE 65
They describe this in a bewildering multiplicity of unintelligible symbols. We hâve no reason to suppose that they were ail talking of the same thing, or otherwise. The same remarks apply to every reagent and every process, no less than to the final product or products. Yet beneath this diversity, we may perceive an obscure identity. They ail begin with a substance in nature which is described as existing almost everywhere, and as universally esteemed of no value. The alchemist is in ail cases to take this substance, and subject it to a sériés …
1930 · PDF PAGE 30
… the astral, so do we hnd it in the higher planes. The mental images which appear during méditation are subjec¬ tive, and pertain not at ail to the astral plane. Only verv rarely do astral images occur during méditation. It is a bad break in the circle, as a rule, when they do. There is also a Magical Plane. This touches the material, and even includes a portion of it. It includes the Astral, chiefly a fuli- blooded type of the Astral. It reaches to and includes most, if not ail, of the spiritual planes. The Magical plane is thus the most compr…
1930 · PDF PAGE 34
… until fatigue almost overcomes him. If he should find that he has stopped without willing to do so, and that figures appear, let him at ail costs rise above them. Yea, though his very life tremble on his lips, let him force his way upward and onward ! “5. Let him continue in this so long as the breath of life is in him. Whatever threatens, whatever allures, though it were Typhon and ail his hosts loosed from the pit and leagued against him, though it were from the very Throne of God himself that a voice issues bidding him stay and be content, …
1930 · PDF PAGE 38
…éléments of so vast a concourse of forces, and to draw a single judgment therefrom, is a task practically beyond human capacity. Besides ail this, the actual efîects of the planetary posi¬ tions and aspects are still almost entirely unknown. No two astro- logers agréé on ail points 5 and most of them are at odds on fonda¬ mental principles.1 This science had better be discarded unless the student chances to feel strongly drawn toward it. It is used by the Master Therion Himself with fairly satisfactory results, but only in spécial cases, in a s…
1930 · PDF PAGE 69
…e structure (or rate of vibration) whose manifestation is in characteristic metallic qualities. This need not be a Chemical substance at ail in the ordinary sense of the Word. The Elixir of Life will similarly consist of a living organism capable of growth, at the expense of its environment ; and of such a nature that its “true Will75 is to cause that environment to serve it as its means of expression in the physical world of human life. The Universal Medicine will be a menstruum of such subtlety as to be able to penetrate ail matter and transm…
1930 · PDF PAGE 67
…ubstances, seemed so absurd that he felt obliged to conclude that the alchemists who claimed these properties for their Gold must, after ail, hâve been referring not to Chemistry, but to some spiritual operations whose sanctity demanded some such symbolic veil as the cryptographie use of the language of the laboratory. The Master Therion is sanguine that his présent réduction of ail cases of the art of Magick to a single formula will both elucidate and vindicate Alchemy, while extending chemistry to cover ail classes of Change. There is an obvi…
1930 · PDF PAGE 25
…hat they saw; yet they might each make correct déductions. In looking at a man the first clairvoyant might say : “The lines of force are ail drooping”; the second : “It seems ail dirtv and spotty”; a third; “The Aura looks very ragged.” Yet ail might agréé in deducing that the man was in ill-health. In any case, ail such déductions are rather unreliable. One must be a highly skilled man before one can trust one’s vision. A great many people think that they are extremely good at the business, when in fact they hâve onlv made some occasional shre…
1930 · PDF PAGE 71
…except just so far as he is doing the Work which he is sent to do. Why should he struggle against imprisonment, banishment, death? It is ail part of the game in which he is a pawn. “It was necessary for the Son of Man to suffer these things, and to enter into His glory.” The Master of the Temple is so far from the man in whom He manifests that ail these matters are of no importance to Him. It may be of importance to His Work that man shall sit upon a throne, or be hanged. In such a case He informs his Magus, who exerts the power intrusted to Hi…
1930 · PDF PAGE 32
…position is that the Magician discovers himself imprisoned in a distorted Nature of Iniquity; and his task is to disentangle it. This is ail to be studied in the Book of Wisdom or Folly (Liber ALEPH, CXI) and in The Master Therion’s édition of the Tao T eh King. A rough note from His Magical Diary is appended here : “Ail éléments must at one time hâve been separate, — that would be the case with great heat. Now when atoms get to the sun, when we get to the sun, we get that immense, extreme heat, and ail the éléments are themselves again. Imagin…
1930 · PDF PAGE 64
…se rare geniuses who hâve increased human knowledge by a fundamentally important idea. The literature of Alchemy is immense. Practicaliy ail of it is wholly or partially unintelligible. Its treatises, from the aAsch Metzareph” of the Hebrews to the “Chariot of Antimony” are deliberately couched in hieratic riddles. Ecclesiastical persécution, and the profanation of the secrets of power, were equally dreaded. Worse still, from our point of view, this motive induced writers to insert intentionally misleading statements, the more deeply to bedevil…
1930 · PDF PAGE 39
…cal basis of both is identical: The Tree of Life.1 The 78 symbols of the Tarot are admirably balanced and combined. lhey are adéquate to ail demands made upon them; each Symbol is not only mathematically précisé, but possesses an artistic significance which helps the diviner to understand them by stimulating his aesthetic perceptions. The Master Therion finds that the Tarot is infallible in material questions. The successive operations describe the course of events with astonishing wealth of detail, and the judgments are reliable in ail respect…
1930 · PDF PAGE 27
…ssible, to make himself ont more important than lie is; in short, to lay in wait for your soûl in 333 separate ways. Remember thaï after ail the highest of ail the Gods is en!y the Magus, 1 Mayan, the greatest of ail the devils. Your may also try “rising on the planes”.2 With a little practice, especially if you hâve a good Guru, you ought to be able to slip in and out of your astral body as easily as you slip and out of a dressing-gown. It will then no longer be so necessary for your astral body to be sent far off ; without moving an inch you …
1930 · PDF PAGE 4
…o commence the invocations. He consequently pauses to cast a last glance around the Temple to assure himself of the perfect readiness of ail things necessary, and to light the incense. The Oath is the foundation of ail Work in Magick, as it is an affirmation of the Will. An Oath binds the Magician for ever. In Part II of Book 4 something has already been said on this subject; but its importance deserves some further élaboration. Thus, should one, loving a woman, make a spell to compel her embraces, and tiring of her a little later, evoke Zazel …
1930 · PDF PAGE 76
…d, books, women and the like; to open locked doors, to discover treasure; to swim under water3 to hâve armed nen at command — etc., etc. Ail these are really matters of detail 3 the Adeptus Major will easily understand how to perform them if necessary. 3 1. As explained above, in another connexion, he who' “destroys” any being must accept it, with ail the responsibilities attached, as part of himself. The Adept here in question was therefore obliged to incorporate the elemental spirit of the girl — she was not human, the sheath of a Star, but a…
1930 · PDF PAGE 58
…be better 1 to Write and compose specially for the ceremony 2. (f ** PERHAPS ! One can think of certain Awful Conséquences”. “But, after ail, they wouldn’t seem so to the authors! ” “But — pity the poor Gods!” “Bother the Gods! ” 2. A bodv of skilled Magicians accustomed to work in concert may be competent to conduct impromptu Orgia. To cite an actual instance in recent times; the blood of a Christian being required for some purpose, a young cock was procured and baptized into the Roman Catholic Church by a man who, being the son of an ordained…
1930 · PDF PAGE 7
…t therein, and betrayed his Master as thoroughly as he was able. At the first distant rumour that the Pharisees were out, his disciples “ail forsook Him and fled”. Elis mother nailed Him with lier own hands to the cross, and reviled Him as nine years He hung thereupon. Now, having endured to the end, being Master of Magick, He is mighty to Work His true Will- which Will is, to establish on Earth His Word, the Law of Thelema. He hath none other Will than this j so ail that He doth is unto this end. Ail His Orgia bear fruit; what was the work of …
1930 · PDF PAGE 17
…terial sense. It is the feeling that one’s use of these things has consecrated them to one’s self. Of course, the outstanding example of ail such talismans is the wife. A wife may be defined as an object specially prepared for taking the stamp of one’s Creative will. This is an example of a very complicated magical operation, extending over centuries. But, theoretically, it is just an ordinary case of talismanic magick. It is for this reason that so much trouble has been taken to prevent a wife having contact with the profane; or, at least, to …
1930 · PDF PAGE 6
… been expert as a Healer, to find that he is now incapable of any such work. He will probably be puzzled, and wonder whether he has lost ail his power. Y et the cause may be no more than that the Wisdom of his Angel deprecates the interférence of ignorant kindlmess with diseases which may hâve been sent to the sufferer for a purpose profoundly important to his welfare. In the case af The Master Therion, he h ad originally the capacity for ail classes of Orgia. In the beginnmg, He cured the sick, bewitched the obstinate, allured the seductive, r…
1930 · PDF PAGE 84
…ay lie before it. There musî be no sélection of spécial expérience which appeals to one’s immédiate desire. One must go steadily through ail the possible pylons. Frater Perdurabo was very unfortunate in not having magical teachers to explain these things to Him. He was rather encouraged in unsystematic working. Very fortunate, on the other hand, was He to hâve found a Guru who instructed Him in the proper principles of the technique of Yoga, and He, having suffirent sense to recognize the universal application of those principles, was able to s…