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Page 1 of 21929 · PDF PAGE 19
(Illustration: It is my Will to inform the World of certain facts within my knowledge. I therefore take “magical weapons”, pen, ink, and paper ; I Write “incantations” — these sentences — in the “magical language” i.e. that which is understood by the people I wish to instruct; I call forth “spirits”, such as printers, publishers, booksellers, and so forth, and constrain them to convey my message to those people. The composition and distribution of this book is thus an act of __ . MAGICK by which I cause Changes to take place in conformity with …
1929 · PDF PAGE 125
…of a man who is dead, and so deprived (according to the theory of death then current) of the material vehicle for executing his will, to take on the form of certain animais, such as a golden hawk or a crocodile, and in such form to go about the earth “taking his pleasure among the living.” * 1 As a general rule, material was supplied out of which he could construct the party of the second part aforesaid, hereinafter referred to as the hawk. We need not, however, consider this question of death. It may often be convenient for the living to go ab…
1929 · PDF PAGE 100
… you strike a blow at ail, strike with your strength! “Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with ail thy might!” If you are going to take up Magick, rnake no compromise. You cannot make révolutions with rose-water, or wrestle in a silk hat. You will find very soon that you must either iose the hat or stop wrestling. Most people do both. They take up the magical path with ou t sufficient reflection, without that détermination of adamant which made the author of this book exclaim, as he took the first oath, “PERDURABO” — “I will endure unto t…
1929 · PDF PAGE 102
…omes smooth and glistening and golden. - He will then wrap it in silk of the appropriate colour: —this is the Consécration. He will then take it, and imagine that it is that hollow tube in which Prometheus brought down fire from Heaven, formulating to himself the passing of the Holy Influence through it. In this and other ways he will perform the initiation; and, this being accomplished, he will repeat the whole process in an elaborate ceremony.1 To take an entirely different case, that of the Circle; the magician will synthesize the Vermilion …
1929 · PDF PAGE 126
which inhabits il, and take possession. To do this by force is neither easy nor justifiable, because the magical being of the other was incarnated in accordance with its Will. And “Thou hast no right but to do thy Will.” One should hardly strain this sentence to make one’s own will include the will to upset somebody else’s will! 1 Moreover, it is extremely difficult thus to expatriate another magical being ; for though, unless it is a complété microcosm like a human being, it cannot be called a star, it is a little bit of a star, and a part of …
1929 · PDF PAGE 99
…culty your weapon costs, the more useful you will find it. “If you want a thing well done, do it yourself.” It would be quite useless to take this book to a départ¬ aient store, and instruct them to furnish you a Temple according to spécification. It is really worth the while of the Student who requires a sword to go and dig out iron ore from the earth, to* smelt it himself with charcoal that he has himself prepared, to forge the weapon with his own hand: and even to take the trouble of synthesizing the oil of vitriol with which it is engraved.…
1929 · PDF PAGE 31
…MAGICK (of tradition) which I came to destroy in order that I might fulfil. I send this book into the world that every man and woman may take hold of life in the proper manner. It does not matter if one’s présent house of flesh be the hut of a shepherd; by virtue of my MAGICK he shall be such a shepherd as David was. If it be the studio of a sculptor, he shall so chisel from himself the marble that masks his idea that he shall be no less a master than Rodin. Witness mine hand : TO META 0HPION (nnn) • The Beast 666; MAGUS 9°=2° A.*. A.*, who is …
1929 · PDF PAGE 47
…l and — by corollary — ethical limita¬ tion in the Religion which he founds. Judaism and Islam are striking examples of this failure. To take another example, the ascetic Üfe which dévotion to 1. See the “Book of the Sacred Magic of Abramelin the Mage”; and Liber 418, 8th Aethyr, Liber Samekh; see Appendix 3. 2. The différence between these operations is more of theoreticaî than of practical importance.
1929 · PDF PAGE 58
…at formula in which Yod is the God invoked, Hé the Archangel, and so on. In order to understand the ceremony under this formula, we must take a more extended view of the functions of the four weapons than we hâve hitherto done. The formation of the Yod is the formulation of the first créative force, of that father who is called “self-begotten,?, and unto whom it is said: <cThou hast formulated thy Father, and made fertile thy Mother”. The adding of the Hé to the Yod is the marriage of that Father to the great co-equal Mother, who is a reflectio…
1929 · PDF PAGE 118
To take a simple example, suppose that, in an Evocation of Bartzabel, the planet Mars, whose sphere is Geburah (Severity) were situated (actually, in the heavens) opposite to the Square of Chesed (Mercy) of the Tau in the Circle, and the triangle placed accordingly. It would be improper for the Magus to stand on that Square unless using this formula, “I, frora Chesed, rule Geburah through the Path of the Lion”; while — taking an extreme case -— to stand on the square of Hod (which is naturally dominated by Geburah) would be a madness which only…
1929 · PDF PAGE 24
…f I want pure water to drink, I dig a well in a place where there is underground water; I prevent it from leaking away; and I arrange to take advantage of water’s accordance with the laws of Hydrostatics to fill it.) (19) Man’s sense of himself as separate from, and opposed to, the Universe is a bar to his conducting its currents. It insulates him. (Illustration: A popular leader is most successful when he forgets himself, and remembers only “The Cause”. Self-seeking engenders jealousies and schism. When the organs of the body assert their pres…
1929 · PDF PAGE 20
…es. (Illustration: A banker may hâve a perfect grasp of a given situation, yet lack the quality of decision, or the assets, necessary to take advantage of it.) (6) “Every man and every woman is a star’. That is to say, every human being is intrinsically an independent individual with his own proper character and proper motion. ( 7 ) Every man and every woman has a course, depending partly on the self, and partly on the environment which is natural and necessary for each. Anyone who is forced from his own course, either through not understanding…
1929 · PDF PAGE 41
…ent and future correspondents ready indexed: y our cabinet has a System of letters and numbers meaningless in them- selves, but ready to take on a meaning to you, as you fill up the files. As your business increased, each letter and number would receive fresh accessions of meaning for youj and by adopting this orderly arrangement you would be able to hâve a much more comprehensive grasp of your affairs than would otherwise be the case. By the use of this System the magician is able ultimately to unify the whole of his knowledge — to trans¬ mute…
1929 · PDF PAGE 16
… enquirer, the footsore seeker, on through the wilderness of disappointment in the présent by their endless promises of the future: they take him up to the top of an exceeding high mountain and shew him, beyond the dark clouds and rolling mists at his feet, a vision of the celestial city, far off, it may be, but radiant with unearthly splendour, bathed in the light of dreams.” Dr. J. G. FRAZER, «The Golden Bough “So far, therefore, as the public profession of magic has been one of the roads by which men hâve passed to suprême power, it has cont…
1929 · PDF PAGE 101
…ith, let us say, the Cup, we assure ourselves that the métal has never been employed for any other purpose — we smelt virgin ore, and we take ail possible pains in refining the métal — it must be chemically pure. To sum up this whole matter in a phrase, every article employed is treated as if it were a candidate for initiation; but in those parts of the ritual in which the candidate is blindfolded, we wrap the weapon in a black cloth 2. The oath which he takes is replaced by a “charge” in similar terms. The details of the préparation of each we…
1929 · PDF PAGE 89
…milar in numerous subtle and deep-seated ways. The general point of view is almost identical. The quality of the irony is the same. Both take a perverse pleasure in playing practical jokes on the reader. In one point, above ail, the identity is absolute — there is no third name in literature which can be put in the same class. The point is this: In a single sentence is combined sublimity and enthusiasm with sneering bitterness, scepticism, grossness and scorn. It is evidently the suprême enjoyment to strike a chord composed of as many conflicti…
1929 · PDF PAGE 87
…The date of Eliphas Levi’s death was about six months previous to that of Aleister Crowley s birth. The reincarnating ego is supposed to take possession of the foetus at about this stage of development. i. This latter is a very valuable practice to perforai. See Liber HHH; also read up the Buddhist méditations on the Ten Impurities. — 51 —
1929 · PDF PAGE 21
… He cannot hope to influence his environment efficiently. (Illustration: When Civil War rages in a nation, it is in no condition to undertake the invasion of other countries. A man with cancei employs his nourishment alike to his own use and to that of the enemy which is part of himself. He soon fails to resist the pressure of his environment. In practical life, a man who is doing what his conscience tells him to be wrong will do it verv clumsily. Atfirst!) (9) A man who is doing his True Will has the inertia of fhe Universe to assist him. (Ill…
1929 · PDF PAGE 80
…pie, that the farther from original equality are the two sides of the équation, the more difficult is the operation to perform. Thus, to take the case of the personal operation symbolized by the grades, it is harder to become a Néophyte, i° = io°, than to pass from that grade to Zelator, 2° = 90. Initiation is, therefore, progressively easier, in a certain sense, after the first step is taken. But (especially after the passing of Tiphareth) the distance between grade and grade increases as it were by a geometrical progression with an enormously…
1929 · PDF PAGE 25
…ery of the rays which we now use for wireless telegraphy was stérile until reflected through the minds and wills of the people who could take his truth, and transmit it to the world of action bv means of mechanical and économie *» instruments.) (22) Every individual is essentially sufficient to himself. But he is unsatisfactory to himself until he has established himself in his right relation with the Universe. (Illustration: A microscope, however perfect, is useless in the i. It is no objection that the hypocrite is himself part of Nature. He …