FOLLOW A WORD THROUGH THE COLLECTION
Search the corpus.
Phrase search ignores case and repeated whitespace. All-words search finds whole words anywhere on the same page. OCR errors can affect results.
19 matching pages
Page 1 of 11930 · PDF PAGE 37
…se of the word. Let us consider some prominent examples of such System. We may observe that a common mode of divination is to inquire of books by placing the thumb at random within the leaves. The Books of the Sybil, the Works of Vergil, and the Bible hâve been used ’very frequently for this purpose. For theoretical justification, one must assume that the book employed is a perfect représentation of the Universe. But even if this were the case, it is an inferior form of construction, because the only reasonable conception of the Cosmos is mathe…
1930 · PDF PAGE 85
… different is His record after the training in 1901 e. v. had put Him in the wav of discipline. 1 At the conclusion of this part of this book, one may sum up the whole matter in these words : There is no object whatever worthy of attainment but the regular development of tbe being of the Aspirant by steady scientific work; he should not attempt to run before he can walk; he should not wish to go somewhere until he knows for certain whither he wills £0 go. 1. Recent developments hâve enabled Him to correct these conditions, so that this Book (as…
1930 · PDF PAGE 57
…rations as Talismanic Magick. For example, one might consecrate and charge a Pantacle by the communication by AIWAZ to the Scribe of the BOOK :of the LAW, the Magician repre- senting the Angel, the Pantacle being the Book, and the person on whom the Pantacle is intended to act taking the part of the Scribe. in —
1930 · PDF PAGE 54
…eamers dared to dream. Since with four bits of common glass mankind has learnt to know so much, achieved so much, who dare deny that the Book of Thoth, the quintessentialized wisdom of our ancestors whose civilizations, penshed though they be, hâve left monuments which dwarf ours until we wonder whether we are degenerate from them, or evolved from Simians, who dare deny that such a book may be possessed of unimaginable powers? It is not so long since the methods of modem science were scoffed at by the whole cultured world. In the sacred halls t…
1930 · PDF PAGE 32
He was at first unable to pierce their veils. In fact, as the Book shows, it was only by virtue o£ successive and most exalted initia¬ tions undergone in the Aethyrs themselves that He was able to penetrate beyond the I5th. The Guardians of such fortresses know how to guard. The Master Therion has published the most important prac- tical magical secrets in the plainest language. No one, by virtue °£ being clever or learned, has understood one word; and those unworthy who hâve profaned the sacrament hâve but eaten and drunken damnation to themse…
1930 · PDF PAGE 77
…be added that ail these things happen “naturally”. 1 Perform an operation to bring Gold — your rich uncle dies and leaves you his moneyj books — you see the book wanted in a catalogue that very day, although you hâve advertised in vain for a year; woman — but if you hâve made the spirits bring you enough gold, this operation will become unnecessary. 2 It must further be remarked that it is absolute Black Magic to use any of these powers if the object can possibly be otherwise attained. If your child is drowning, you must jump and try to save hi…
1930 · PDF PAGE 70
…upiter, with the wish to heal others of their physical ills. This sort of thing is harmless,2 or almost so. It is not evil in 1. See the Book of the Sacred Magic of Abramelin the Mage. 2. There is nevertheless the general objection to the diversion of channels of Initiation to the Sea of Attainment, into ditches of irrigation for the fields of material advantage. It is bad business to pay good coin for perishable products; like marrying for money, or prostituting poetic genius to political purposes. The converse course, though equally — 190
1930 · PDF PAGE 75
… the person whom it is wished to deceive. There are, however, “real” transformations of the adept himself which are very useful. See the Book of the Dead for methods. The assumption of God-Forms can be carried to the point of actual transformation. 5. Works of Love and Hâte, which are also performed (as test of the acceptance of the Law of Thelema. Whoso déniés “Do what thou wilt shall be the Whole of the Law” confesses that he still clings to the conflict in his own nature; he is not, and does not want to be, true to himself. A fortiori, he wi…
1930 · PDF PAGE 63
ecstasy or silence. Samadhi and Nibbana are but its shadows cast upon the universe. II If the Master Therion effects by tliis book noihing else but to demonstrate the continuily of nature and the uniformity of Law5 He will feel that Mis work bas not been wasted. In his original design of Part III he did not contemplate any allusion to alchemy. It has somehow been taken for granted that this subject is entirely foreign to regular Magick, both in scope and method. It will be the main object of the following descrip¬ tion to establish it as essent…
1930 · PDF PAGE 11
…e the formation of this body as recom- mended in Liber O, and learn to rise on the planes according to the instruction given in the same book, though limiting his arising” to the particular Symbol whose God he wishes to invoke. The second is to recite a mantra suitable to the God. The third is the assumption of the form of the God — by transmuting the astral body into LIis shape. This last method îs really essential to ail proper invocation, and cannot be too sedulously practised. There are many other devices to aid invocation, so many that it …
1930 · PDF PAGE 4
…he 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 to kill her; he will find that the implications of his former Oath conflict with those proper to invoke the Unity of the Godhead of Saturn. Zazel will refuse to obey him in the case of t…
1930 · PDF PAGE 41
lhe Tarot, on the other hand, being a book, is under Mercury, and the intelligence of each card is fundamentally Mercurial. Such symbols are therefore peculiarly proper to communicate thought. Ihey are not gross, like the geomantic daemons; but, as against this, they are unscrupulous in deceiving the diviner.1 The Y i King is served by beings free from these defects. The intense purity of the symbols prevent them from being usurped by intelligences with an axe of their own to grind.2 It is always essential lor the diviner to obtain absolute mag…
1930 · PDF PAGE 38
…ls great diffidence in basing His conduct on the resuit so obtained. Geomancy has the advantage of being rigorously mathematical. A hand-book of the science is to be found in Equinox I, II. The objection to its use lies in the limited number of the symbols. To represent the Universe by no more than 16 combinations throws too much work upon them. There is also a great restriction arising from the fact that although 15 symbols appear in the final figure, there are, in reality, but 4, the remaining 11 being drawn by an inéluctable process from the…
1930 · PDF PAGE 65
…ead thing, impure, valueless, and powerless, and transform it into a live thing, active, invaluable and thaumaturgie. The reader of this book will surely find in this a most striking analogy with what we hâve already said of the processes of Magick. What, by our définition, is initiation ? The First Matter is a man, that is to say, a perishable parasite, bred of the earth’s crust, crawl- ing irritably upon it for a span, and at last returning to the dirt whence he sprang. The process of initiation consists in removing his impurities, and findin…
1930 · PDF PAGE 31
… The Hon. Bertrand Russell’s Princifia Mathemcitica may be said to “lie beyond” Colenso’s School Arithmetic; but one can take the former book from one’s shelves — as every one should — and read it without first going ail through the latter again.
1930 · PDF PAGE 21
…to do Magick without method, as if it were anything else. To do Magick without keeping a record is like tiying to run a business without book-keeping. There are a great manv people who quite misunderstand the nature of Magick. They hâve an idea that it is something vague and unreal, instead ot being, as it is, a direct means of coming into contact with reauty. It is these people who pay themselves with phrases, who are always using long words with no definite connotation, who p aster themselves with pompous titles and décorations which mean not…
1930 · PDF PAGE 71
… Wisdom, and so dare act. He must dare act, although iî like Him not. But He must assume the Curse of His grade, as it is written in the Book of the Magus. * 1 There are, of course, entirely black forms of magic. To him who has not given every drop of his blood for the cup of Babalon objectionable as pollution of the purity of the planes, is at least respectable for its nobility. The ascetic of the Thebaid or the Trappist Monastery is infinitely worthier than the health-peddler and success-monger of Boston or Los Angeles; for the one offers tem…
1930 · PDF PAGE 81
…the Royal Art. So far as mysticism is concerned, the technique is extremely simple, and has been very simply described in Part I of this Book 4. It cannot be said too strongly that any amouni of mystical success whatever is 110 compensation for slackness with regard to the technique. There may corne a time when Samadhi itself is no part of the business of the mystic. But the character developed by the original training re¬ mains an asset. In other words, the person who has made himself a first-class brain capable of elasticity is competent to 1…
1930 · PDF PAGE 73
…of Man, but He who made Gods of our race, knowing Good and Evil; He bade “Know Thyself!” and taught Initiation. He is “the Devil” of the Book of Thoth, and His emblem is Baphomet, the Androgyne who is the hieroglyph of arcane perfection. The number of His Atu is xv, which is Yod Hé, the Monogram of the Eternal, the Father one with the Mother, the Virgin Seed one with all-containing Space. He is therefore Life, and Love. But moreover his letter is Ayin, the Eye; he is Light, and his Zodiacal image is Capricornus, that leaping goat whose attribut…