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Page 1 of 61954 · PDF PAGE 114
THREE SCHOOLS OF MAGICK (2) 81 Cruciftxion, seems at first sight a fair example of the White tradition; but the idea of sin and of propitiation tainted it abominably with Blackness. There have been, however, certain Christian thinkers who have taken the bold logical step of regarding evil as a device of God for exercising the joys of combat and victory . This is, of course, a perfectly White doctrine; but it is regarded as the most dangerous of heresies. (Romans VI: I, 2, et al.) For all that, the idea is there. The Mass itself is essentially a…
1954 · PDF PAGE 537
…nalyse ever more minutely, and the control to which one approaches is not external but internal. At all times one is concentrated on the idea of simplication. The recognition of any new idea or form of ideas, is invariably the signal for its rejection: "not that, not that." One might simplify this explanation by constructing some sort of apophthegm; Magic is the journey from 0 to 2, Yoga from 2 to o. It is a very good rule for the Yogi to keep his mind constantly fixed on the fact that any idea soever is false. There is actually a Hindu proverb…
1954 · PDF PAGE 46
… not only the matter under immediate consideration, but the general method of Qabalistic research and construction. Note how new cognate ideas arise to enrich the formula. 666 Letter F August 20, 1943 Cara Soror, Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law. Let me begin by referring to my letter about the motto and make clear to you the working of this letter. In this motto you have really got several ideas combined, and yet they are really, of course, one idea. Fiat, being 811, is identical with lAO, and therefore FIAT YOD might be read no…
1954 · PDF PAGE 372
…lean sweep that is made of all pretence. This too is painful beyond words at first. Until the process starts , you have not the faintest idea of how you have wrapped yourself in layers of lies. Now go ahead! Love is the law, love under will. Yours fraternally , 666
1954 · PDF PAGE 268
… in any sense which Europe could understand. It is neither existence , nor a condition or form of existence . Equally, TO MH ON gives no idea of Tao. Tao is altogether alien to all that class of thought. From its connection with "that principle which necessarily underlies the fact that events occur" one might suppose that the "Becoming" of Heraclitus might assist us to describe the Tao. But the Tao is not a principle at all of that kind. To understand it requires an altogether different state of mind to any with which European thinkers in gener…
1954 · PDF PAGE 97
…ricted uses of the word; one suited to the present purpose. It is particularly to be noted that Magick, so often mixed up in the popular idea of religion, has nothing to do with it. It is, in fact, the exact opposite of religion; it is, even more than Physical Science, its irreconcilable enemy. Let us define this difference clearly. Magick investigates the laws of Nature with the idea of making use of them. It only differs from 'profane' science by always keeping ahead of it. As Fraser has shown, Magick is science in the tentative stage; but it…
1954 · PDF PAGE 105
…urse. Its primary theorem is the 'First Noble Truth' of the Buddha- "Everything is Sorrow." In the primitive classics of this School the idea of sorrow is confused with that of sin. (This idea of universal lamentation is presumably responsible for the choice of black as its symbolic colour. And yet? Is not white the Chinese hue of mourning?) The analysis of the philosophers of this School refers every phenomenon to the category of sorrow. It is quite useless to point out to them that certain events are accompanied with joy: they continue their …
1954 · PDF PAGE 435
…can say in all simplicity, "Go thou and do likewise!" I think myoId friend Claude Farrere had more than an inkling of these matters; the idea of using young cellular tissue to fortify the old is plainly stated in La maison des hommes vivants; but as to the method of transmission his water was drawn from Wells (H.G.). After that-you will agree that I have written enough. Love is the law, love under will. Fraternally, 666
1954 · PDF PAGE 113
… repugnant elements of Nature that their triumph may be the greater. The formula is evidently one of dauntless courage. It expresses the idea of vitality and manhood in its most dynamic sense. The only religion which corresponds to this School at all is that of ancient Egypt; possibly also that of Chaldea. This is because those religions are Magical religions in the strict technical sense; the religious component of them is negligible. So far as it exists, it exists only for the uninitiate. There are, however, traces of the beginning of the inf…
1954 · PDF PAGE 510
…ssing! Love is the law, love under will. Fraternally, 666 P.S. One further reflection. With all these "sore spots" is closely linked the idea of cruelty. I need not touch upon the relation of cruelty to sex; the theme has been worn threadbare. But in religion, note the Bottomless Pit and the Eternal Flame; in Buddhism, the eighteen hot and eighteen cold Hells, with many another beneath. Hindu eschatology has countless Hells; even pedestrian, precise Islam, and the calculating Qabalists, each boast of Seven. Again with drugs as with insanity, we…
1954 · PDF PAGE 128
…, does anything ever go wrong?" There are several lines of reply; coalescing, they suffice: 1. What is "wrong"? Since four wars is Their idea of "right," you may well ask by what standard you may judge events. 2. Their Work is creative; They operate on the dull mass of unrealized possibilities. Thus they meet, firstly, the opposition of Inertia; secondly, the recoil, the reaction, the rebound. 3. Things theoretically feasible are practically impossible when (a) desirable though their accomplishment may be, it is not the one feat essential to th…
1954 · PDF PAGE 451
…n by "Old Nobodaddy" with no better object than to prepare the grotesquely tragic farce of the "Atonement." I will merely remark that no idea at once so base and so contemptible, so bestial and so idiotic, can challenge its ignoble absurdity. Rotten with sex-perversion, it is a noisome blend of sadism and masochism based on the most abject form of fear. The only argument for it is that it ever did exist; but it does not exist for wholesome minds.
1954 · PDF PAGE 64
WHA T IS MAGICK? 31 of Nature by the empirical application of certain principles whose interplay involves different orders of idea, connected with each other in a way beyond our present comprehension. (Illustration: We are able to light cities by rule-of-thumb methods. We do not know what consciousness is, or how it is connected with muscular action; what electricity is or how it is connected with the machines that generate it; and our methods depend on calculations involving mathematical ideas which have no correspondence in the Universe as we…
1954 · PDF PAGE 144
…t) the other 400 square inches. Hence they dazzled; the limitation, restriction, demarcation, disappeared; and the result was an equable idea of form and colour which is beyond physical understanding. (At one time Picasso tried to work out this idea on canvas.) Destroy that eqUilibrium by one ten-millionth of an inch, and the effect is lost. The unbalanced item stands out like a civilian in the middle of a regiment. True, this faculty, this feeling for equilibrium must be acquired; but once you have done so, it is an unerring guide. Instant dis…
1954 · PDF PAGE 145
112 MAGICK WITHOUT TEARS Unless your Universe is perfect-and perfection includes the idea of balance-how can you come even to Atmadarshana? Hindus may maintain that Atmadarshana, or at any rate Shivadarshana, is the equivalent of crossing the Abyss. Beware of any such conclusions! The Trances are simply isolated experiences, sharply cut off from normal thought-life. To cross the Abyss is a permanent and fundamental revolution in the whole of one's being. Much more, upon the brink of the Abyss. If there be missing or redundant even one atom, the…
1954 · PDF PAGE 143
…between the White and the Black Adept in similar case, it is that the one, working by "love under will" achieves a marriage with the new idea, while the other, merely grabbing, adds a concubine to his harem of slaves. The about-to-be-Black Brother constantly restricts himself; he is satisfied with a very limited ideal; he is afraid of losing his individuality-reminds one of that "Nordic" twaddle about "race-pollution." "Now, Master!" (What reproach in the tone of your voice!) All right, all right! Keep your hair on!-I know that is the precise t…
1954 · PDF PAGE 445
412 MAGICK WITHOUT TEARS the sound gives the idea of a continuum , an eternal movement; and this is of course our Thelemic conception of the Universe, the "Star-sponge ," of which I have elsewhere written at such length. But at the moment I am especially desirous that you should compare and contrast this letter with the S sound. (S or Sh combined with T is discussed rather fully in Magick, pp. 336-8.) You should find it child's play to determine the significance of the sibilant. It is the one letter which necessitates the exposure of the skelet…
1954 · PDF PAGE 40
…rying. I will answer your various points as best I can. I am arranging to send you the official papers connected with the O.T.O. but the idea that you should meet other members first is quite impossible. Even after affiliation, you would not meet anyone unless it were necessary for you to work in co-operation with them. I am afraid you have still got the idea that the Great Work is a tea-party. Contact with other students only means that you criticize their hats, and then their morals; and I am not going to encourage this. Your work is not anyb…
1954 · PDF PAGE 178
…d! Strive ever to more! and if thou art truly mine-and doubt it not, an if thou art ever joyous!-death is the crown of all. The mystic's idea of deliberately stupefying and stultifying himself is an "abomination unto the Lord." This, by the way, does not conflict with the rules of Yoga. That kind of suppression is comparable to the restrictions in athletic training, or diet in sickness. Now we get back to the Qabalah-how to make use of it. Let us suppose that you have been making an invocation, or shall we call it an investigation, and suppose …
1954 · PDF PAGE 414
…ntain climbing was guideless, and a very great deal of it solitary. Well, this is not an example for you to copy, is it? But it gives an idea of the principle "Take the bull by the horns." A practice easier to imitate was this following. In most great cities, always in Eastern cities, are black slums. Here one may find blind alleys, dark doorways open to unlighted houses. One may explore such places, looking for adventure-and it was rather a point of honour to accept the challenge in whatever form it took. Again, one may walk with deliberate ca…