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… of the elements, and the sigils of the holy elemental kings, as shown in The Equinox, No. VII; for these are syntheses of the forces of Nature. Yet these are rather special than general symbols, and this book purports to treat only of the grand principles of working.
…He will recognize that any thought merely establishes a relation be- tween the Ego and the non-Ego. Kant has shown that even the laws of nature are but the conditions of thought. And as the current of thought is the blood of the mind, it is said that the Magick Cup is filled with the blood of the Saints. All thought must be offered up as a sacrifice. The Cup can hardly be described as a weapon. It is round like the pantacle — not straight like the wand and the dagger. Reception, not projection, is its nature.^ 1 As the Magician is in the positi…
…Whether they are hypocrites or morally insane is a matter which we can leave to their own consideration. All these phantoms, of whatever nature, must be evoked, examined, and mastered; otherwise we may tind that just when we want it there is some idea with which we have never dealt; and perhaps that idea, springing on us by surprise, and as it were from behind, may strangle us. This is the legend of the sorcerer strangled by the Devil !
CHAPTER II THE CIRCLE THE Circle announces the Nature of the Great Work. Though the Magician has been Umited in his choice of room, he is more or less able to choose what part of the room he will work in. He will consider convenience and possibility. His circle should not be too small and cramp his movements; it should not be so large that he has long distances to traverse. Once the circle is made and consecrated, the Magician must not leave it, or even lean outside, lest he be de- stroyed by the hostile forces that are without. He chooses a ci…
… LXV, "To await Thee is the end, not the beginning." This training may lead through all sorts of complications, varying according to the nature of the student, and hence it may be necessary for him at any moment to will all sorts of things which to others might 39
CHAPTER XII THE ROBE THE Robe of the Magician may be varied according to his grade and the nature of his working. There are two principal Robes, the white and the black; of these the black is more important than the white, for the white has no hood. These Robes may be varied by the addition of various symbols, but in any case the shape of the Robe is a Tau. The general symbolism which we have adopted leads us, however, to prefer the description of a Robe which few dare wear. This Robe is of a rich silk of deep pure blue, the blue of the night s…
…ld. See Equinox I. Adeptus Minor. A grade of adeptship, ^S^t'Equinox III. Aethyrs. See Equinox V and VII. Aima. The Great Fertile Mother Nature. Ama. The Great Mother not yet fertile. A?noufi. The God Amen = Zeus = Jupiter, etc., etc. Ankh. The Symbol of " Life." A form of the Rosy Cross. 6*6'^Equinox III. Apophis. The Serpent-God who slew Osiris. See Equinox III. Babalon., Our Lady. 5tv Equinox V, The Vision and the \'oice, 14th Aethyr. Babe of the Abyss. See Equinox VIII, Temple of Solomon. Bhagavadij^ita. Sacred Hymn of India, translated by …
…isagree. On the other hand we are always being terribly punished for actions that are not faults at all. Even our virtues rouse insulted nature to revenge. Karma only grows by what it feeds on: and if Karma is to be properly brought up, it requires a very careful diet. With the majority of people their actions cancel each other out; no sooner is effort made than it is counterbalanced by idleness. Eros gives place to x\nteros. Not one man in a thousand makes even an apparent escape from the commonplace of animal life. Birth is sorrow ; Life is s…
…owledge which abut directly upon universal problems. He should choose not one but several, and these should be as diverse as possible in nature. It is important that he should strive to excel in some sport, and that that sport should be the one best calculated to keep his body in health. He should have a thorough grounding in classics, mathematics and science; also enough general knowledge of modern languages and of the shifts of life to enable him to travel in any part of the world with ease and security. History and geography he can pick up a…
…the symbol of the Spirit. RVCh ALHIM, the Spirit of God, is 300, the number of the holy letter Shin. As this is the breath, which by its nature is double, the two edges of the
I07 spilled in the sunlight is perhaps the most beautiful colour that is to be found in nature. It is a notorious fact that it is practically impossible to get a reliable description of what occurs at a spiritualistic seafice; the emotions cloud the vision. Only in the absolute calm of the laboratory, where the observer is perfectly indifferent to what may happen, only concerned to observe exactly what that happening is, to measure and to weigh it by means of instruments incapable of emotion, can one even begin to hope for a truthful record of …
…as others.' These "tendencies" must be combated: distasteful facts should be insisted upon until the Ego is perfectly indifferent to the nature of its food. " Even as the diamond shall glow red for the rose, and green for the rose-leaf, so shalt thou abide apart from the Impressions." This great task of separating the self from the impressions or "vrit- ^ The Motto of the Chief of the A.-. A.'., "the Light of the World Him- self.'' - It does not occur to a newly-hatched chicken to behave in the same way as a new-born child.
… sometimes represented; so also are the three stages in the history of philosophy, in which the three objects of study were successively Nature, God, and Man. The duality of consciousness is also sometimes represented; and the Tree of Life itself may be figured therein, or the categories. An emblem of the Great Work should be added. But the Pantacle will be im- perfect unless each idea is contrasted in a balanced manner with its opposite, and unless there is a necessary connection between each pair of ideas and every other pair. The Neophyte wi…
…ws), which should be studied carefully before constructing the Altar. For this Altar must embody the Magician's knowledge of the laws of Nature, which are the laws through which he works. He should endeavour to make geometrical constructions to symbolize cosmic measurements. For example, he may take the two diagonals as (say) the diameter of the sun. Then the side of the altar will be found to have a length equal to some other cosmic measure, a vesica drawn on the side some other, a "rood cross" within the vesica yet another. Each Magician shou…
… consecrate it; invocations must be made. Hence it is neces- sary to be constantly doing things of a positive, not merely of a negative- nature, to affirm that Will.
…tempting to break your oath is to involve your- self in the most frightful trouble. It cannot be too clearly understood that such is the nature of things: it does not depend upon the will of any persons, however powerful or
…e it absorbs all light; infusible by the apphcation of any known heat; the lightest of those elements w^hich occur in the solid state in nature; the essential constituent of all known forms of life. It has been treated wnth nitre, whose potassium has the violet flame of Jupiter, the father of all, whose nitrogen is that inert element which by proper combination becomes a constituent of all the most explosive bodies known; and oxygen, the food of fire. This fire is blown upon by the Magician ; this blaze of destruction has been kindled by his wo…
…") are spelt out. But this is a rather different symbolism. Of course in ordinary specialised working the number of lamps depends on the nature of the work, e.g., three for works of Saturn, eight for works Mercurial, and so on. ^ Or sometimes of " birth-strangled babes," i.e., of thoughts slain ere they could arise into consciousness.
…he flowering of the Magical Understanding. The Wand must be made to grow in length as well as in strength ; it need not do so of its own nature.
… in a hundred other ways. Whatever the form chosen, it is the symbol of the Great Work. This place of his working therefore declares the nature and object of the "Work. Those persons who have supposed that the use of these symbols implied worship of the generative organs, merely attributed to the sages of every time and country minds of a calibre equal to their own. The Tau is composed often squares for the ten Sephiroth/ About this Tau is escribed a triangle, which is inscribed in the great Circle; but of the triangle nothing is actually marke…