Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law.

WHY KEEP A MAGICAL RECORD?

A Man with his Record.

The magical record, or diary, is the foundational stone of Crowley’s system of Scientific Illuminism, as stated overtly in the A.’.A.’., but also present in O.T.O. and E.G.C. Again and again Crowley stresses the importance of keeping a regular log of one’s magical experiments and experiences. In his book, Aleister Crowley and the Art of the Magical Diary (Weiser 2006), James Wasserman describes five reasons to keep a magical record, to which I would add two more:

1.        Scientific Illuminism. The motto of the A.’.A.’. is “The method of Science, the Aim of Religion.” This implies a certain approach to the business of enlightenment. The scientific method, with its process of observation, hypothesis, deduction, and testing, comes to mind, but this is approach is incongruous when it comes to the human spirit and evolution of the soul. To Crowley, its function falls more in line with the doctor who follows the progress of a disease on his patient’s chart, or a business man who follows the course of his company in its financial reports and books. The remaining four reasons Wasserman gives also relate to Scientific Illuminism, in that the record is necessary to monitor where you are and where you have been as you make your way forward.

2.        Spiritual Honesty. In this line of work it is easy to exaggerate your success. It is equally easy to minimize it, depending on your general outlook. The magical record, as long as it is kept in the spirit of a disinterested scientific observer, goes a great way in keeping the magician who exists outside the record honest. As Crowley wrote in John St. John, “This, by the way, is the supreme use of a record like this. It makes it impossible to cheat oneself.” Moreover, this spiritual dishonesty might not even be conscious, but a defense mechanism of operating below the surface of the mind: “The great obstacle is the phenomenon called Freudian forgetfulness; that is to say, that, though an unpleasant experience may be recorded faithfully enough by the mechanism of the brain, we fail to recall it, or recall it wrong, because it is painful.” (Magick in Theory & Practice, p. 51.)

3.        States of Mind in Magick. The states of mind one experiences in magical exploration, especially as the rational realms are left behind, defy clear and concise description. This is the ineffable nature of the Gnosis, and it accounts for much of the vagueness of Crowley’s advanced writing. A magus standing above the Abyss has great difficulty in communicating effectively to those still below. On a more mundane level, the practitioner enters states of consciousness where the clarity of vision grows increasingly dark as he returns to the normal state, much like a dream makes perfect sense until one wakes and it begins to fade until only the scantest glimmers remain. Regular practice of the magical record, especially immediately after experiments, helps keep the door open longer so more information may be recorded.

4.        Clarification Writing Brings to an Issue. This is true elsewhere besides in magick. The rational brain, engaged in forming words and coordinating the eye and hand movement necessary to transfer those words to the page, lets down its guard, and the subconscious, or perhaps the Holy Guardian Angel, sends forth a bolt of light that splits open a puzzle, or leads the magician to a new path of inquiry.

5.        Teacher and Student. The system of A\A\ is based on the guru-chela system whereby a practitioner one level higher guides the student based on what she sees are the strengths and weaknesses of the student’s magical record. One need not be involved in such a relationship to benefit from this aspect of the magical record. In a sense, as one progresses, one’s current self is the guru and the former self is the chela. In a manner less disruptive of the space-time continuum, however, one can see areas of difficulty in one’s progress as seen in the record, and then ask for outside help to those further along the path. This does not establish a guru-chela experience, but it is somewhat in keeping with its nature.

6.        Inertia. Many remember only the first half of the scientific definition of inertia, “A body at rest tends to stay at rest.” The second half, “a body in motion tends to stay in motion,” is equally true. Just as it takes more energy to change a body from a static to a kinetic state, it takes less energy to maintain a moving body in its kinetic state. In a vacuum it would take no energy at all. In the physical realm of friction, gravity, and other distractions, some energy is required to keep up one’s practice, but it gets much easier after one invests the initial energy to start. Thus, keeping a magical diary perpetuates itself. Having access to three volumes of a record, for example, and being able to refer back to chart one’s successes and failures, and past experiments, pulls the benefits of the magical record together into a palpable tool. For this reason, electronic formats, such as Facebook and blogs are not good media for magical records (also, they are impermanent and the fear of outside monitoring might lead to self-censorship, a deadly enemy of progress).

7.        Past life recall. For those who believe in reincarnation, each individual is the confluence of two streams: the family from which one descended, and the line of incarnations of which one’s current life is the most recent avatar. In Magick Without Tears, Crowley writes,

It is absolutely essential to begin a magical diary, and keep it up daily. You begin by an account of your life, going back even before your birth to your ancestry. In conformity with the practice which you may perhaps choose to adopt later . . . , you must find an answer to the question: “How did I come to be in this place at this time, engaged in this particular work?” As you will see from the book, this will start you on the discovery of who you really are, and eventually lead you to your recovering the memory of previous incarnations.

GETTING STARTED WITH YOUR MAGICAL RECORD

Liber E vel Exercitiorum sub figurâ IX describes the minimum requirements for a magical record for purposes of A.’.A.’.:

It is absolutely necessary that all experiments should be recorded in detail during, or immediately after, their performance.

It is highly important to note the physical and mental condition of the experimenter or experimenters.

The time and place of all experiments must be noted; also the state of the weather, and generally all conditions which might conceivably have any result upon the experiment either as adjuvants to or causes of the result, or as inhibiting it, or as sources of error.

Whatever one choses to include, for the individual practitioner who seeks to create a personal reference tool, the magical record must be consistent.

Conventions

For those magicians in O.T.O., certain conventions are observed. For example, in listing the date of an entry, a practitioner might indicate the vulgar date (May 8, 2012) for quick reference, but also the Thelemic (IV:xx, ☉ in 18° ♉: ☽ in 26° ♐ : dies Martis) date for more esoteric purposes. Habitual rituals, such as Liber Resh, the Thelemic solar adoration, can be added as shorthand. For example, in my magical record, I record daily Resh practices as [EARTH SIGN]R, [AIR SIGN]R, [FIRE SIGN]R, and [WATER SIGN]R, depending on which station of the Sun is involved. One could also use glyphs and symbols to represent atmospheric conditions and moods, things which are to be noted without getting bogged down in detail.

Codes

In the previous section, glyphs and symbols were used to denote events and phenomena important only for their having occurred. Had more importance attached to them, such as a performance of Resh that had unusual results, it would be entered into the record in detail rather than as simply a symbol. There are other times, however, when coding is necessary to keep one’s record secret. Secrecy is an important tool in this Work. For example, were one practicing in an unenlightened land where the laws might oppress those whose experiments run afoul of prevailing mores, the need for such coding is evident. In Crowley’s magical diaries of 1923, he used the astrological symbol for Aquarius to represent heroin and the symbol for Leo to represent cocaine. In his magical diary, the Elizabethan magician Dr. John Dee represented the exchange of wives with Edward Kelley (as recommended by an Angel) with an X. These examples suffer somewhat, as the drugs Crowley took were legal at the time, but illegal now, and while adultery was once punishable by death, it is now just a civil matter, if anything at all. Perhaps a better example is Samuel Pepys, the eighteenth century member of British Parliament who kept one of the world’s most famous diaries. He wrote his record in naval shorthand, of sexual liaisons and, more obscurely, of his masturbatory habits. By no means am I suggesting that practitioners should conduct lurid cocaine-fueled sexual escapades and write about it in their records. That sort of behavior, especially in our day of neo-Puritanism and excess as entertainment, would only tend to lead the searcher away from enlightenment rather than to it, but that is the subject of another essay. My purpose in mentioning coding is to help keep the magical record safe from prying eyes that might interfere with your practice. On a more intimate level, such coding helps distance the observer from the observed, even when they are both the same person. In other words, if you have a practice that, while perfectly legal in the confines of your own home, but embarrassing or even dangerous if commonly known, coding assists in the recordkeeping process so important to this particular line of attainment. This holds true even if the embarrassment and danger exists only in one’s own mind.  The first cautious steps  of a novice record keeper will be made more sure with the protective armor coding affords, whether it is really needed or not. If you do engage in coding, however, keep a key somewhere safe until you are thoroughly versed in your own system.

Love is the law, love under will.

Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law.

 Liber O vel Manus & Sagittæ sub figurâ VI (“Book O, or Hand and Arrows under the number 6”) is a brief text first published by Aleister Crowley in The Equinox, his periodical encyclopedia of initiation, on the autumnal equinox of 1909. Over the course of 4,200 words, he describes a framework of training and practice whereby the serious student may attain a satisfactory level of proficiency in the magical arts. How is it that 17 ½ pages of text can serve as the basis of the eleven-part course that the members of Indianapolis Thelema envisage to present, especially when much of it is known, at least superficially, to the occult community at large?

Simple! Each of the topics briefly described in Liber O merit closer study. The prerequisites alone, which Crowley mentions in § I, ¶ 4 and only hints at in ¶5, occupy three sessions. Liber O is not so much a textbook, but a map, with what is written being the legend. It is left to the students to map the territory by their own experience. Even such practices as the Pentagram and Hexagram rituals reveal deeper meanings and wider application upon closer scrutiny.

The structure of the class is a symposium, not a lecture. This leads, however, to discussion of various points at the cost of covering all the material. To remedy this, I am posting, in more or less lecture format, what would have been covered had there been no constraints on our time.

This is a free class, but it has no grades. Diligently do the work, however, and I guarantee you will get eleven times more out of it than what you put into it or your money back.

Love is the law, love under will.

Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law.

            This essay examines the importance of Liber 777, its structures and uses. The text at hand is that which is found in 777 and Other Qabalistic Writings of Aleister Crowley (Weiser 1983). The original edition, printed in 1909, lacks Crowley’s notes and essays. The version available in Magick: Liber ABA (Book 4), 2d rev. ed. (Weiser 1998), is even more limited. 

THE STRUCTURE OF LIBER 777

            The structure of Liber 777 is mechanical and may be addressed quickly before going on to the more interesting part of this essay.

Liber 777 comprises six tables of aggregated occult information divided into 194 columns. The foundational reference is to the Kabbalistic Tree of Life. Following the pattern of the Hebrew alphabet, which is written from right to left, the columns within the tables are also arranged from right to left. This can be confusing at first, as, for example, one is comparing the four color scales, especially since the columns are enumerated using Roman numerals. The following chart breaks down the organization of Liber 777 by table, number of columns, and general table subject.

* Four columns, running left to right, are appended after the main series of tables.

** Three columns, running left to right, are appended after the main series of tables.

Thus, if you seek information on the Olympic Spirits, you would turn to Table III, or the Attributions of the Pentagram, Table II, etc.

Since Table I comprises the entire scale, it is naturally subdivided into Sephirotic, Elemental, Planetary, and Zodiacal portions. These subdivisions can be easily referenced through the Key Scale, the unnumbered column on the right of each columnar division. Within this unnumbered column are three sub-columns of numbers situated either in the central, left-hand, or right-hand column of the Key Scale. Briefly, those numbers set in boldface in the central sub-column (0-10) represent the Sephirothic correspondences. Those numbers in the left-hand sub-column (11, 23, 31, 31 bis, 32 bis) represent the Elemental correspondences. Those in the central sub-column not set in boldface (12-14, 21, 27, 30, 32) are the Planetary correspondences. Finally, the numbers in the right-hand sub-column (15-20, 22, 24-26, 28-29) represent the Zodiacal correspondences.  Thus, for example, if you want to look up the precious stones associated with particular Elements, you would turn to Table I, col. XL, and select those stones which correspond to the Elemental division of the Key Scale.

In addition to the Tables, Columns, and Key Scale, Liber 777, as it appears in the 1983 Weiser collection of Crowley’s Kabbalistic writing, also contains notes on the Tables and Columns, some of which are detailed enough to constitute essays in their own right. For example, Crowley’s notes on the Color Scales should be studied for both the magical and mystical applications, the latter of which will be detailed below. Two general essays, “What is Qabalah?” and “What is a ‘Number’? or a ‘Symbol’?,” form Appendices A and B, both of which should be studied for a firmer grasp of the potential uses of Liber 777. Following these appendices is a collection of technical notes on the correspondences themselves. These are both highly technical and helpful, if you need to mine the ore as deeply as this. The final section is a third appendix, labeled I, The Trigrams of the Yi King. It is a list of correspondences keyed to the I Ching, and not to the Key Scale of the Six Tables of Liber 777.

MAGICAL USES OF LIBER 777

            Some of the uses described below are directly magical, while others constitute the labor of preparation for magical endeavor. These uses are (1) ritual construction and analysis; (2) literary construction and analysis; (3) dream interpretation; (4) communication and testing in altered states of consciousness; and (5) memorization.

 Ritual Construction and Analysis

            The text of Liber O provides the simplest explanation for the use of Liber 777 in ritual construction:

If we take an example, the use of the table will become clear. Let us suppose that you wish to obtain knowledge of some obscure science.
In column xlv., line 12, you will find “Knowledge of Sciences.”

By now looking up line 12 in the other columns, you will find that the Planet corresponding is Mercury, its number eight, its lineal figures the octagon and octagram. The God who rules that planet Thoth, or in Hebrew symbolism Tetragrammaton Adonai and Elohim Tzabaoth, its Archangel Raphael, its Choir of Angels Beni Elohim, its Intelligence Tiriel, its Spirit Taphtatharath, its colours Orange (for Mercury is the Sphere of the Sephira Hod, 8), Yellow, Purple, Grey, and Indigo rayed with Violet; its Magical Weapon the Wand or Caduceus, its Perfumes Mastic and others, its sacred plants Vervain and others, its jewel the Opal or Agate; its sacred animal the Snake, &c., &c.

You would then prepare your Place of Working accordingly. In an orange circle you would draw an eight-pointed star of yellow, at whose points you would place eight lamps. The Sigil of the Spirit (which is to be found in Cornelius Agrippa and other books) you would draw in the four colours with such other devices as your experience may suggest.

And so on.

Liber O, § II, ¶¶ 2-4. Crowley goes on to admonish the beginning magician not to “slavishly adhere” to established rituals, “the student should do nothing the object of which he does not understand; also, if he have any capacity whatever, he will find his own crude rituals more effective than the highly polished ones of other people.” The idea is that by setting up a series of stimuli harmonized according to the task at hand, everything that the magician sees, hears, feels, touches, and tastes reminds him of the task at hand. On a deeper cognitive level, it drives the reality of the working deeper into the subconscious of the magician, where the real magic happens. Any deviation from this harmony would tend to distract the concentration of force, resulting in confusion, failure, or the opposite of what was intended.

            Just as Liber 777 can be used to put rituals together, it can also be used as an analytical tool to assess the magical practice of others and to improve one’s own. Benjamin Franklin, the Hellfire Club’s most famous American member, learned to write by deconstructing the work of his favorite authors, attempting to reassemble them in his own words in a way equal or superior to the original. Such a technique is useful for ritual work as well. Using the tables of correspondences in Liber 777, one can reduce a well written ritual to its constituent parts, analyze how they are assembled, and attempt to reconstruct it along other lines.

Literary Analysis and Construction

            Similar to ritual uses, one can also use Liber 777 for literary analysis and construction. One of the most readily apparent texts susceptible to such analysis is Crowley’s Wake World, which appears in Konx Om Pax. It is an allegory of the enlightened soul’s progress toward redintegration told as a fairy tale of Lola Daydream and her Fairy Prince. Although the marginalia is in Latin, such as “Domus IX v. Fundamentum” and “Yod v. Membrum sancti foederis,” it is readily apparent that the roads she travels and the palaces she visits are the Sephiroth and paths of the Tree of Life. The images that she sees along the way correspond appropriately.  Another example comes from The Book of Lies:

ΚΕΦΑΛΗ ΟΥΚ ΕΣΤΙ ΚΕΦΑΛΗ 

O!

The Ante Primal Triad which is

NOT-GOD

Nothing is.

Nothing becomes.

Nothing is not. 

The First Triad which is GOD

I AM

I utter The Word.

I hear the Word. 

The Abyss

The Word is broken up.

There is Knowledge.

Knowledge is Relation.

These fragments are Creation.

The broken manifests Light. 

The Second Triad which is GOD

GOD the Father and Mother is concealed in Generation.

GOD is concealed in the whirling energy of Nature.

GOD is manifest in gathering: harmony: consideration: the Mirror of the Sun and of the Heart. 

The Third Triad

Bearing: preparing.

Wavering: flowing: flashing.

Stability: begetting. 

The Tenth Emanation

The world. 

As with ritual construction and analysis, Liber 777 can be used in the creation of literary works just as well as in analysis.

Dream Interpretation

            Unless one ascribes to the notion of a universal symbolic language of the subconscious, Liber 777 becomes useful as a tool for dream interpretation only after one has begun to learn the correspondences as recommended in Liber O. This is similar to people who experience improved dream recall and increased vividness once they begin recording their dreams. The subconscious mind, seeing the observer of dreams take the process seriously, recognizes a common means of communication. It is as if you suddenly realized that the randomly banging air vent in your apartment could also be used to communicate with a fascinating person in a distant apartment late at night. The same holds true for the correspondences of Liber 777. In that case, however, it is as though you and the fascinating stranger at the other end of the air vent both speak French and can now communicate intelligibly. In short, the more you use the correspondences in Liber 777, the more useful they will become. Since it is all about you and your Holy Guardian Angel, the same holds true for correspondences you discover on your own.

Communication and Testing in Altered States of Consciousness

            It is only a brief step from dream work to realize that the correspondences are also a common language for use in other altered states of consciousness, such as lucid dreaming, astral travel, and rising on the planes. Because these other altered states move beyond the closed circuit of the subconscious mind, the magician in these states will have to contend with entities of an independent nature. Whether these entities actually exist outside the magician’s subconscious or whether they are merely alienated portions of the subconscious is unimportant. In order to protect himself from potential malice or misinformation, he must be able to check the credentials of the beings with which he interacts. For example, if he has traveled to the Sphere of Venus seeking advice on how to attract members of the opposite sex (why are these examples always so adolescent?), he should be able to challenge his interlocutor, who should appear in a form appropriate to that sphere, with the proper signs and words, or else he might get advice from a bisexual trickster visiting from Hod, or a bitter malcontent from the anti-sphere of A’arab Zaraq.

Memorization

            As noted in an earlier post, medieval monks took the classical idea of locational memory and applied it to biblical structures, such as Noah’s Ark and the Temple of Solomon, to memorize vast amounts of text. A similar thing can be done with the ten Spheres and Thirty-Two plus Two paths of the Tree of Life. The advantage of using the Tree of Life as a framework for memory is that once a datum is committed to memory according to its location on the Tree, one can easily recollect the members of its neighborhood. Thus, the calling to mind that the Lamen and the Rosy Cross are the magical weapons of Tiphereth, the weapons of the surrounding paths come to mind as well, such as the bow and arrow for Gimel, the Cross of Equilibrium for Lamed, the Hidden Force for Ayin, the Swift and Straight Application of Force for Samekh, the Pain of the Obligation for Nun, etc. The Pain of the Obligation may remind you of the Death ATU, or of Scorpio, and so on.  The various columns, once memorized, interconnect to form a flowing multidimensional model within the mind.

            Perhaps the easiest way to memorize the columns according to the location of their data on the Tree of Life is to begin with an unlabeled diagram depicting only the Spheres and their proper connections. Such a form can be downloaded from the Internet, but it would speed the learning process to draw such diagrams by hand. With a blank diagram before you, fill in the data, such as Perfumes, Signs of the Zodiac, Tarot Trumps, etc. Repeat this four of five times and then review a completed chart. It is as unglamorous as all that, but it works quickly and well.

MYSTICAL USES OF LIBER 777

            When I speak of mystical uses of Liber 777, I mean meditation. There are two meditative approaches in particular that I will address here: (1) Discrete meditation; and (2) Adam Kadmon meditation. These techniques are likely discussed elsewhere under other names. I have selected them randomly for the sake of convenience.

Discrete Meditation

            The Tables of Liber 777 a treasure house of objects for meditation. In some instances, the correspondences seem arbitrary, yet their contemplation leads to a deeper mystical understanding. Take, for example, the attributions of the Colour Scales. Crowley suggests that the various colors ascribed to Elements, Planets, the Zodiac, etc., are ripe for meditation. In the Notes section of Liber 777 he provides his observations on the matter, but stresses, “The above represents merely one of an indefinitely large number of interpretations which may be derived from meditation on this attribution.” Taking this further, one sees that the colors change as they move from the King Scale through Queen and Emperor on the Empress Scale. This also represents the modification of color through the forumula of יהוהּ. This is only one such series of meditations, but, as should now be apparent, there are several such courses in the Tables.

            A second area of meditation lies in the various aspects of attributions where more than one item forms a single correspondence. For example, under Col. XIX, “Some Egyptian Gods,” the number 4 corresponds to both Isis and Amoun. This does not mean that Isis and Amoun are interchangeable and both are 4, but that Isis and Amoun “are necessary to complete the connotation of the number 4.” How this might be is a matter for meditation. In the Notes to Liber 777, Crowley also comments in this regard:

The case of Venus is germane to the argument.  Venus is astrologically used as a synthetic term for the feminine aspect of the Deity. She has then many parts, Vesta, Ceres, Cybele, Isis, etc. The main distinction to be borne in mind is that with Luna; and the task is all the more difficult in that the symbols continually overlap. It is by harmonizing and transcending such difficulties that the student arrives at a metaphysical conception which is perfectly positive and lucid on the one hand, and on the other emancipated from the bondage of the Laws of Contradiction.

(Emphasis added.)

Adam Kadmon Meditation

            Adam Kadmon is the name given to cosmic, primordial man. For meditative purposes, it is useful to imagine that Adam Kadmon’s proportions correspond to the framework of the Tree of Life. As Adam Kadmon is the macrocosmic model, the body of the magician is the microcosmic model. This link forms an important meditative model. For example, in the Egyptian Papyrus of Nu, the departed soul recites a prayer that unifies itself with the body of a god. (“My fore-arms are the fore-arms of Neith, the Lady of Saïs. . . . My backbone is the backbone of Suti. . . . My phallus is the phallus of Osiris. . . . My feet are the feet of Ptah[.]”) This litany culminates in the proclamation, “There is no member of my body which is not the member of a god.”  A similar proclamation is familiar to anyone who has communicated at a Gnostic Mass.  As the gods have correspondences with the human body, we know that they correspond with myriad other things as well according to Liber 777. Adam Kadmon meditation consists of imagining the Tree of Life as one’s own body and running through various correspondences accordingly. Bill Heidrick has developed this technique and published the process here.

Love is the law, love under will.

Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law. 

N.B.: This essay does not deal with the Magical Memory, but rather the importance of memory in magical ritual and how to cultivate it. Magical Memory is a specific term of art that involves the recall of past lives. For those interested in Magical Memory and how to attain it, see Liber ThIShARB.

            The word ABRACADABRA comes from the Aramaic phrase  אברא כאדברא, “I create as I speak.” This is a concept that stretches back to ancient Egyptian creation myths. The magical creation, either in the form of speaking forth, spitting forth, or ejaculating creation into existence, denotes a process by which the Magician externalizes something that was contained within his essence.  The same is true in modern magick. Memorization is the process by which the text is internalized for later articulation. This has several benefits over merely reading off the printed page. First, memorization allows the subconscious mind to ruminate over the text, bringing forth unexpected insights and deeper understanding. Second, memorization allows recitation when the printed text is unavailable, such as in the wilderness, or in dream or trance states. Perhaps most importantly, memorization allows the Magician to go more deeply into the text, bringing it forth with increasingly powerful visualization to the point that the circuit completes itself and the Magician creates as he speaks.

            Memorization was important for Crowley. He found the ritual of Freemasonry to be verbose with the accretions of generations of ritualists. One of his greatest achievements was the reformation of the initiatory process to its simplest structure without sacrifice of its effectiveness. On a more individual scale, in writing Liber Samekh, Crowley not only sought to design a ritual that abbreviated the time necessary to complete an Abramelin operation, he also sought to make it easier to memorize. Frank Bennett memorized it over the course of several days at Cefalù, recording his progress in his magical record. Crowley does not, however, specifically address how to go about the process of memorization. The want of such techniques is all the more acute today, when, bombarded as we are by such post-modern stimuli as the Internet and text messaging, our power to memorize seems dangerously weak and flickering.

            In medieval period of Europe, monks adapted several Classical methods of memorization, some of which may be reviewed here and here. In particular, Hugh of St. Vincent outlined a method that is easily applied to a modern context. His goal was to teach how the Psalms might be memorized in order. (The bible was an early object of memorization. In fact, its books are divided into verses to facilitate the memorization process.) He found that the mind can hold small bits, or glimpses of text, but that through application and practice, these glimpses can be assembled, either in their original order, or in new configurations. This idea of glimpses of memory was later tested by Bell Laboratories in experiments to find optimal telephone number lengths. Testing revealed that the average human mind can retain information strands of seven bits, give or take two. This became known as the 7 +/-2 formula.

            Below is the invocational portion of Liber Israfel. The original verse divisions are retained. As mentioned above, versification is a traditional method for breaking up a text for purposes of memorization. The text below, however, is further subdivided by the 7 +/-2 formula. The divisions typically fall between participial or prepositional phrases. These are the smallest units of connected lexical meaning. Splitting them further would undermine the logical cohesion of the sentences and inhibit memorization. Using this technique results in a text that can be memorized relatively quickly, especially if it is used in conjunction with some other physical activity, such as walking or exercise, and repeated aloud. 

4.        I invoke Tahuti, | the Lord of Wisdom | and of Utterance, | the God that cometh forth | from the Veil.

5.        O Thou! | Majesty of Godhead! | Wisdom-crowned Tahuti! | Lord of the Gates of the Universe! | Thee, Thee, I invoke. 
| O Thou of the Ibis Head! | Thee, Thee I invoke. 
| Thou who wieldest the Wand of Double Power! | Thee, Thee I invoke! 
| Thou who bearest | in Thy left hand the Rose and Cross | of Light and Life: | Thee, Thee, I invoke. |
Thou, whose head is as an emerald, | and Thy nemmes | as the night-sky blue! | Thee, Thee I invoke. |
 Thou, whose skin is of flaming orange | as though it burned in a furnace! | Thee, Thee I invoke.

6.        Behold! | I am Yesterday, To-Day, | and the Brother of To-Morrow! |
 I am born again and again. |
 Mine is the Unseen Force, | whereof the Gods are sprung! | Which is as Life | unto the Dwellers in the Watch-Towers | of the Universe. | 
I am the Charioteer of the East, | Lord of the Past | and of the Future. | 
I see by mine own inward light: | Lord of Resurrection; | Who cometh forth from the Dusk, | and my birth is | from the House of Death.

7.        O ye two Divine Hawks | upon your Pinnacles! |
 Who keep watch over the Universe! |
 Ye who company the Bier | to the House of Rest! |
 Who pilot the Ship of Ra advancing onwards | to the heights of heaven! |
 Lord of the Shrine | which standeth | in the Centre of the Earth!

8.        Behold, He is in me, | and I in Him! | 
Mine is the Radiance, | wherein Ptah floatheth | over the firmament! | 
I travel upon high! |
 I tread upon the firmament of Nu! | 
I raise a flashing flame, | with the lightning of Mine Eye! |
Ever rushing on, | in the splendour | of the daily glorified Ra: | giving my life | to the Dwellers of Earth.

9.        If I say “Come up upon the mountains!” | the Celestial Waters shall flow | at my Word.
 | For I am Ra incarnate! |
 Kephra created in the Flesh! | 
I am the Eidolon | of my father Tmu, | Lord of the City of the Sun!

10.      The God who commands | is in my mouth! |
 The God of Wisdom | is in my Heart! |
 My tongue is the Sanctuary of Truth! |
 And a God sitteth upon my lips.

11.       My Word is accomplished every day! |
 And the desire | of my heart realises itself, | as that of Ptah | when He createth! |
 I am Eternal; | therefore all things are | as my designs; | therefore do all things obey my Word.

12.      Therefore | do Thou come forth | unto me from Thine abode | in the Silence: | Unutterable Wisdom! | All-Light! All-Power! |
 Thoth! Hermes! Mercury! Odin! |
 By whatever name I call Thee, | Thou art still nameless to Eternity: | Come Thou forth, I say, | and aid and guard me | in this work of Art.

13.      Thou, Star of the East, | that didst conduct the Magi! |
 Thou art The Same all-present | in Heaven and in Hell! |
 Thou that vibratest | between the Light and the Darkness! | 
Rising, descending! | Changing ever, yet ever The Same! | 
The Sun is Thy Father! |
 Thy Mother is the Moon! | 
The Wind hath borne Thee | in its bosom: | and Earth hath ever nourished | the changeless Godhead of Thy Youth!

14.      Come Thou forth, I say, | come Thou forth! |
 And make all Spirits | subject unto Me: | 
So that every Spirit of the Firmament, |
 and of the Ether, |
and of the Earth, |
 and under the Earth, |
 on dry land, 
and in the Water, |
 of whirling Air, |
 and of rushing Fire,
 | and every Spell and Scourge of God, | the Vast One, | may be obedient unto Me!

15.      I invoke the priestess | of the Silver Star, | Asi the Curved One, | by the ritual of Silence.

16.      I make open the gate of Bliss; | I descend from the Palace of the Stars; | I greet you, | I embrace you,  | O children of Earth, | that are gathered together | in the Hall of Darkness. 

            A similar process may be used to memorize linguistically challenging texts, such as barbarous words or Enochian calls. Both of these present there own challenges. Part of the efficacy of barbarous words lies in their strangeness. As Crowley writes in Magick in Theory and Practice, “Sometimes in the course of a ceremony the true meaning of some barbarous name that has hitherto baffled his analysis may flash upon him, luminous and splendid, so that he is caught up into orgasm.” (A good argument in itself for memorization so that the subconscious mind might puzzle it out!)

The following is a selection of barbarous words from Liber Samekh:

AR-O-GO-GO-RU-ABRAO SOTOU MUDORIO PhALARThAO OOO AEPE

Crowley provides a summary translation of these words:

Thou spiritual Sun! Satan, Thou Eye, Thou Lust! Cry aloud! Whirl the Wheel, O my Father, O Satan, O Sun! Thou, the Saviour! Silence! Give me Thy Secret! Give me suck, Thou Phallus, Thou Sun! Satan, Thou Eye, Thou Lust! Satan, Thou Eye, Thou Lust! Satan, Thou Eye, Thou Lust! Thou self-caused, self-determined, exalted Most High!

Since they are not a word-for-word correspondence, it is not helpful for memorization purposes. (The summary, however, may be very useful for purposes of visualization once the barbarous words are memorized and can be used as a mantra.)

This may also be the case when it comes to Enochian. With Enochian, however, we have the advantage of verbatim translations. In such a case, it would be helpful to first memorize the English call, and then start working on the Enochian. In additional to the punctuational landmarks, this will provide textual meaning that will help bind the speech together.

I reign over you, | sayeth the God of Justice, | in power exalted |  above the firmaments of wrath: | in whose hands | the Sun is as a sword | and the Moon | as a through-thrusting fire: | which measureth your garments | in the midst of my vestures, | and trussed you together | as the palms of my hands: | whose seats I garnished | with the fire of gathering, | and beautified your garments with admiration. | To whom I made a law | to govern the holy ones | and delivered you a rod | with the ark of knowledge. | Moreover you lifted up your voices | and swore [obedience and faith | to him that liveth and triumpheth] | whose beginning is not, | nor end cannot be, | which shineth as a flame | in the midst of your palace, | and reigneth amongst you | as the balance of righteousness and truth. | Move, therefore, and shew yourselves: | open the Mysteries of your Creation: | Be friendly unto me: | for I am the servant | of the same your God, | the true worshipper of the Highest.


From the logical cues of the English translation, one can find the corresponding divisions in the original Enochian:

Ol sonf vors g, | goho Iad Balt, | lonsh | calz vonpho; | sobra zol | ror i ta nazps od | graa ta malprg; | ds holq qaa | nothoa zimz, | od commah | ta nobloh zien; | soba thil gnonp | prge aldi; | ds urbs oboleh grsam; | casarm ohorela | taba pir; | ds zonrensg cab | erm iadnah. | Pilah farzm znurza | adna gono iadpil, | ds hom od toh; | soba i pam | lu ipamis; | ds loholo | vep zomd poamal, | od bogpa aai | ta piap piamol od vooan. | Zacare, ca, od zamran; | odo cicle qaa; | zorge, | lap zirdo noco | mad, | hoath Iaida.

Note that the Enochian divisions do not correspond to the 7 +/-2 formula. These divisions are to help associate the Angelic words with the English phrases. Once the latter is memorized, the former will follow.

For those wanting to memorize poetry, a different process is called for. One of the key mnemonic devices of poetry is its rhythm and rhyme. Punctuation is a secondary device. Line breaks are irrelevant. Take, for example, the opening sestet of Crowley’s “Hymn to Pan”:

Thrill with lissome lust of the light,


O man! My man!


Come careering out of the night

Of Pan! Io Pan!


Io Pan! Io Pan! Come over the sea


From Sicily and from Arcady!
 

The rhyme scheme is ABABCC. This helps to keep the line order straight, but it is not so important in logically flowing poetry. It hardly even functions on a conscious level. The more important aspect is the rhythm. Mark it out on the page. For unfamiliar words, use a good dictionary. The rhythm can also reveal places where the pronunciation varies from the text, as below when the syllabification is determined to be 8/4/8/4/8/8:

Thríll wĭth líssŏme lúst ŏf thĕ líght,


Ó mán! Mý mán!


Cóme căreérĭng oút ŏf thĕ níght

Ŏf Pán! Ió Pán!


Ió Pán!
 Ió Pán!
 Cóme ó’er thĕ séa


Frŏm Síc’l˘y ănd frŏm Árcăd˘y!

The verse may be divided along poetic feet, or by the 7 +/-2 formula. For those familiar with standard poetical feet (iamb, trochee, dactyl, anapest, spondee), the rhythm above seems strange. Crowley may be using the more obscure Classical meters for rhythmic effect. Their arrangement provides further choices for the Magician as to which words to emphasize, and where to place pauses.

This section of “Hymn to Pan” also shows why line breaks are to be disregarded unless they have a punctuational landmark. There is no reason to pause between “Come careering out of the night” and “Of Pan!”  Likewise, it lacks grace to pause between “Come over the sea” and “From Sicily and from Arcady!”  Thus, written out as spoken, the lines would be:

Thríll wĭth líssŏme lúst ŏf thĕ líght,
Ó mán!

Mý mán!


Cóme căreérĭng oút ŏf thĕ night ŏf Pán!

Ió Pán!


Ió Pán!


Ió Pán!


Cóme ó’er thĕ séa
frŏm Síc’l˘y ănd frŏm Árcăd˘y!

Love is the law, love under will.

Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law.

As a topic, “The Components of Ritual” was somewhat controversial. I attribute this to not having come to an agreement on terms before the discussion began. Regardless, the discussion was spirited and enjoyable. For the purposes of this entry, however, I have decided to work with a model ritual, which, etherized upon the table of inquiry, can be dissected and examined according to the theme of the hour. 

The model ritual that follows is Liber Israfel, sub figurâ LXIV, formerly called “Anubis.”  Based in part on the Sixty-Fourth chapter of the Egyptian Book of the Dead, Allan Bennett wrote Liber Israfel as a Golden Dawn ritual to invoke the Mercurial spirit Taphthartharath. Crowley refined the ritual and developed it further as an A∴A∴ publication in Class B, i.e., a work of ordinary scholarship, enlightened and earnest.  The text of Liber Israfel follows in boldface. The paragraphs are not numbered as in the original, but according to the general component of the ritual. Please note, this is not an investigation of Liber Israfel itself, but rather an analysis of the constituent parts of ritual using Liber Israfel as a model.

0.        LABOUR OF PREPARATION.

In the broadest sense, this includes everything in the Magician’s life that lead up to this particular conjunction of space and time resulting in the ritual. More specifically, however, it includes the design of the ritual, coordinating the participants, preparing the Temple space, etc. It also includes the preparation of the Magician’s body, such as a ritual bath and preparation of vestments.

For these latter preparations, Crowley suggests rituals described in the Goetia. For the ritual bath, for example, “And in [bathing], thou shalt say as David said: . . . ‘Thou shalt purge me with hyssop, O Lord! and I shall be clean: Thou shalt wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.” And for those inclined to a more modern incantation, Crowley also offers, Asperges me, Therion, hyssopo, et mundabor; lavabis me, et super nivem dealbabor.

As for dedication of the vestments, study of Liber AL vel Legis reveals several applicable passages.

I.         BANISHING  

Banishing clears the one’s workspace of undesired influences. Technically, banishing also encompasses the next two components, purification and consecration, the three being attributed to Air, Water and Earth, and Fire, respectively. In the following section of Liber Israfel, the banishing is effected by the knock, represented by the Hebrew letter Vau, and the Latin statement, “[Go] far, far away, ye profane.”

The Temple being in darkness, and the Speaker ascended into his place let him begin by a ritual of the Enterer, as followeth.

ו Procul, O procul este profani.

Bahlasti! Ompehda!

In the name of the Mighty and Terrible One, I proclaim that I have banished the Shells unto their habitations.

 II.        PURIFICATION

As the person of the Magician should be purified and consecrated before undertaking a magical operation, so should the Magician’s Temple. Purification, as the name implies, cleanses the area, the implements, and the space of the working. It is done with the elements of Water and Earth. In a sense, it is the water and earth analog of the airy banishing. Liber Israfel does not appear to have a purification, although “Bahlasti” might fit the bill, as its sound suggests the crashing of surf.

The purification ritual from Liber XV, the Gnostic Mass, is also appropriate: “Let the salt of the Earth admonish the Water to bear the virtue of the Great Sea.”

In Magick in Theory and Practice, Crowley suggests two formulæ of purification. First, the one suggested in the previous section, substituting Therion for Domine. Second, he suggests “pure will, unassuaged of purpose, delivered from the lust of result, is every way perfect.” Liber AL vel Legis, I:44.

III.       CONSECRATION

Whereas purification cleans the slate for the working, consecration actively dedicates it to the single purpose of the ritual. Like purification, it is a type of banishing, but one which partakes of the element Fire. Again, Liber Israfel does not have a specific consecration, unless one considers “Ompehda” to be it. This hypothesis is supported by Crowley’s comment that the word is an onomatopoetic explosion.

The corresponding ritual from Liber XV is “Let the Fire and the Air make sweet the world.”

The formulæ from Magick in Theory and Practice are Accendat in nobis Therion ignem sui amoris et flammam æternæ caritatis and, from the Book of the Law, “I am uplifted in thine heart; and the kisses of the stars rain hard upon thy body.” II:62.

IV.      THE INVOCATION

The goal of invocation is for the Magician, by “inflaming himself in prayer,” to exalt himself to so high a degree as to lose consciousness of his ego in the influx of god he invokes. There are numerous ways in which to achieve this effect, the three most common being (1) rising on the planes; (2) mantra yoga; and (3) assumption of the godform. We have already discussed mantra yoga at a previous meeting. Rising on the planes and assumption of godforms will be dealt with later. One point to remember, however, is that assumption of godforms is not merely striking a pose, like many beginning practitioners are wont to do when they assume, for example, Horus and Harpocrates. One does not just assume the posture of a god, the Magician must study all the aspects of the god, the god’s appearance, habits, legends, etc., until he can enter the reality of the god as easily as a pair of comfortable old boots. Properly executed, assumption of the godform results in the transference of the Magician’s astral form into the shape of the chosen God. As Crowley notes in Magick in Theory and Practice, “[Assumption of the godform] is really essential to all proper invocation and cannot be too sedulously practiced.”

Also in Magick in Theory and Practice, Crowley describes the process of invocation in terms of building toward an orgasm that manifests itself in the union of God and man. Such an orgasm can be physical, but need not be. It can be spiritual, astral, psychic, etc.  “One very effective method is to stop short, by a supreme effort of Will, again and again, on the very brink of the spasm, until a time arrives when the idea of exercising that Will fails to occur.”

The following section of Liber Israfel depicts the invocation of Tahuti in the mode of assumption of the godform. The building of the spasm can also be seen in the text. In actual practice, however, the Magician would use the words as a guide to go more deeply into the ritual.

I invoke Tahuti, the Lord of Wisdom and of Utterance, the God that cometh forth from the Veil.

O Thou! Majesty of Godhead! Wisdom-crowned Tahuti! Lord of the Gates of the Universe! Thee, Thee, I invoke. 
O Thou of the Ibis Head! Thee, Thee I invoke. Thou who wieldest the Wand of Double Power! Thee, Thee I invoke! Thou who bearest in Thy left hand the Rose and Cross of Light and Life: Thee, Thee, I invoke. 
Thou, whose head is as an emerald, and Thy nemmes as the night-sky blue! Thee, Thee I invoke. 
Thou, whose skin is of flaming orange as though it burned in a furnace! Thee, Thee I invoke.

Behold! I am Yesterday, To-Day, and the Brother of To-Morrow! 
I am born again and and again. 
Mine is the Unseen Force, whereof the Gods are sprung! Which is as Life unto the Dwellers in the Watch-Towers of the Universe. 
I am the Charioteer of the East, Lord of the Past and of the Future. 
I see by mine own inward light: Lord of Resurrection; Who cometh forth from the Dusk, and my birth is from the House of Death.

O ye two Divine Hawks upon your Pinnacles! 
Who keep watch over the Universe! Ye who company the Bier to the House of Rest! 
Who pilot the Ship of Ra advancing onwards to the heights of heaven! 
Lord of the Shrine which standeth in the Centre of the Earth!

Behold, He is in me, and I in Him! 
Mine is the Radiance, wherein Ptah floatheth over the firmament! 
I travel upon high! 
I tread upon the firmament of Nu! 
I raise a flashing flame, with the lightning of Mine Eye! 
Ever rushing on, in the splendour of the daily glorified Ra: giving my life to the Dwellers of Earth.

If I say “Come up upon the mountains!” the Celestial Waters shall flow at my Word.
For I am Ra incarnate! Kephra created in the Flesh! 
I am the Eidolon of my father Tmu, Lord of the City of the Sun!

The God who commands is in my mouth! 


The God of Wisdom is in my Heart!

My tongue is the Sanctuary of Truth! 


And a God sitteth upon my lips.

My Word is accomplished every day! 


And the desire of my heart realises itself, as that of Ptah when He createth! 


I am Eternal; therefore all things are as my designs; therefore do all things obey my Word.

Therefore do Thou come forth unto me from Thine abode in the Silence: Unutterable Wisdom! All-Light! All-Power! 
Thoth! Hermes! Mercury! Odin! 
By whatever name I call Thee, Thou art still nameless to Eternity. Come Thou forth, I say, and aid and guard me in this work of Art.

Thou, Star of the East, that didst conduct the Magi! 
Thou art The Same all-present in Heaven and in Hell! 
Thou that vibratest between the Light and the Darkness! 
Rising, descending! Changing ever, yet ever The Same! 
The Sun is Thy Father! 
Thy Mother is the Moon! 
The Wind hath borne Thee in its bosom: and Earth hath ever nourished the changeless Godhead of Thy Youth!

Come Thou forth, I say, come Thou forth! 
And make all Spirits subject unto Me: 
So that every Spirit of the Firmament 
And of the Ether. 
And of the Earth. 
And under the Earth. 
On dry land 
And in the Water. 
Of whirling Air 
And of rushing Fire. 
And every Spell and Scourge of God the Vast One, may be obedient unto Me!

I invoke the priestess of the Silver Star, Asi the Curved One, by the ritual of Silence.

I make open the gate of Bliss; I descend from the Palace of the Stars; I greet you, I embrace you, O children of Earth, that are gathered together in the Hall of Darkness.

V.        THE OATH

The Oath is the crystallization of object of the ritual, and therefore, it is also the crystallization of the Will of the Magician. This must be carefully considered, especially if the Oath is spoken as part of a group ritual. In such a case, the Will of the Magician contributes to the egregore of the ritual, the will of the sum of the parts assembled to do the working at hand. Obviously, such an Oath should be worked out, agreed upon, and committed to memory as part of the Labour of Preparation.

Oaths are eternal and become part of the Magician who undertakes them. An Oath cannot be broken, but a Magician can be broken upon an Oath.

In Liber Israfel, the Oath may come during the marked pause. This would be especially true if the Oath is memorized beforehand to the point that it continues unbidden, like a mantra, in the silence of contemplation.

(A pause.)

The Speech in the Silence. 


The Words against the Son of Night. 


The Voice of Tahuti in the Universe in the Presence of the Eternal. 


The Formulas of Knowledge. 


The Wisdom of Breath. 


The Root of Vibration. 


The Shaking of the Invisible. 


The Rolling Asunder of the Darkness. 


The Becoming Visible of Matter.


The Piercing of the Scales of the Crocodile. 


The Breaking Forth of the Light!

VI.      THE OPUS

This is the part of the ritual where the higher planes manifest in the material plane. Here is where talismans are charged, spirits evoked, divinations conducted, secret rites practiced, etc.

Because Liber Israfel invokes Tahuti, the text suggests that the proper working is a reading.

(Follows the Lection.)

VII.     THE LICENSE TO DEPART

After the completion of the Opus, the Magician begins the grounding process of returning to mundane reality. He divests himself of the assumed godform, and starts closing the passages he opened during the ritual.  The License to Depart comes from the Solomonic tradition, but it is also a polite way of dealing with forces summoned, intentionally or unintentionally, in keeping with the admonition of Liber Libræ to “fear not the Spirits, but be firm and courteous with them; for thou hast no right to despise or revile them; and this too may lead thee astray.”

In The Goetia, one finds the classical license to depart. Nothing so complicated is needed for operations that do not involve such unbalanced forces as Solomonic demons. Essentially, the party is over and the Magician is bidding his guests farewell. For those guests who do not heed the call, there are the more abrupt banishings that follow.

There is an end of the speech; let the Silence of darkness be broken; let it return into the silence of light.

VIII.    BANISHING

The speaker silently departs; the listeners disperse unto their homes; yea, they disperse unto their homes.

As the Magician banished the Temple to establish a clean slate for the work at hand, he banishes once again to bring it back to mundane reality. The Magician sets everything back to zero, turns off the lights, and shuts the door astrally. Failure to do so may result in leakage into the Magician’s everyday reality.

IX.      RECORDING

 The final step of any operation is recording it in one’s magical record.

“But to those who seek reality the Key of Magick is offered, and they are hereby warned that the key to the treasure-house is no good without the combination; and the combination is the magical record. From one point of view, magical progress actually consists in deciphering one’s own record.”

–A. Crowley, Magick in Theory & Practice.

Love is the law, love under will.

Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law.

Manus & Sagittæ, our eleven-month symposium focusing on Liber O is now in its fourth month. One thing that I am learning as we progress is that the sessions are too short to fully explore the material. To remedy that, I will add prepared lectures of the various topics to this blog.  The lecture on The Parts of Ritual and The Importance of Memory will be posted presently.

Love is the law, love under will.

Affectionately inscribed to Arthur Edward Waite

There are several comments to be made on this assertion. One may doubt whether anything worth doing at all is free from danger, and one may wonder what danger can threaten the man whose object is his own utter ruin. One may also smile a little grimly at the integrity of those who try to include all Magic under Black Magic, as is the present trick of the Mystic Militant here on earth.

Now, as one who may claim to a slight acquaintance with the literature of both paths, and to have been honored by personal exposition from the adepts of both paths, I believe that I may be able to bring them fairly into the balance.

This is the magical theory, that the first departure from the Infinite must be equilibrated and so corrected. So the “great Magician,” Mayan, the maker of Illusion, the Creator, must be met in combat. Then “if Satan be divided against Satan, how can his kingdom stand?” Both vanish: the illusion is no more. Mathematically, 1 + (-1) = 0. And this path is symbolized in the Taro under the figure of the Magus, the card numbered 1, the first departure from 0, but referred to Beth, 2, Mercury, the god of Wisdom, Magic and Truth.

And this Magus has the twofold aspect of the Magician himself and also of the “Great Magician” described in Liber 418.

Now the formula of the mystic is much simpler. Mathematically, it is 1 – 1 = 0. He is like a grain of salt cast into the sea; the process of dissolution is obviously easier than the shock of worlds which the magician contemplates. “Sit down, and feel yourself as dust in the presence of God; nay, as less than dust, as nothing,” is the all-sufficient simplicity of his method. Unfortunately, many people cannot do this. And when you urge your inability, the mystic is only too likely to shrug his shoulders and be done with you.

This path is symbolized by the “Fool” of the Tarot, who is alike the Mystic and the Infinite.

But apart from this question, it is by no means certain that the formula is as simple as it seems. How is the mystic to assure himself that “God” is really “God” and not some demon masquerading in His image? We find Gerson sacrificing Huss to his “God”; we find a modern journalist who has done more than dabble in mysticism writing, “This mystic life at its highest is undeniably selfish”; we find another writing like the old lady who ended her criticism of the Universe, “There’s only Jock an’ me’ll be saved; an’ I’m no that sure o’ Jock”; we find another who at the age of ninety-nine foams at the mouth over an alleged breach of her alleged copyright; we find another so sensitive that the mention of his name by the present writer induces an attack of epileptic mania; if such are really “united with” or “absorbed in” God, what of God?

We are told in Galatians that the fruits of the Spirit are peace, love, joy, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance; and somewhere else, “By their fruits ye shall know them.”

Of these evil-doers then we must either think that they are dishonest, and have never attained at all, or that they have united themselves with a devil.

Such are “Brethren of the Left Hand Path,” described so thoroughly in Liber 418.

Of these the most characteristic sign is their exclusiveness. “We are the men.” “Ours is the only Way.” “All Buddhists are wicked,” the insanity of spiritual pride.

The Magician is not nearly so liable to fall into this fearful mire of pride as the mystic; he is occupied with things outside himself, and can correct his pride. Indeed, he is constantly being corrected by Nature. He, the Great One, cannot run a mile in four minutes! The mystic is solitary and shut up, lacks wholesome combat. We are all schoolboys, and the football field is a perfect prophylactic of swelled head. When the mystic meets an obstacle, he “makes believe” about it. He says it is “only illusion.” He has the morphino-maniac’s feeling of bien-être, the delusions of the general paralytic. He loses the power of looking any fact in the face; he feeds himself on his own imagination; he persuades himself of his own attainment. If contradicted on the subject, he is cross and spiteful and cattish. If I criticize Mr. X, he screams, and tries to injure me behind my back; if I say that Madam Y is not exactly St. Teresa, she writes a book to prove that she is.

Such persons “swollen with wind, and the rank mist they draw, Rot inwardly, and foul contagion spread,” as Milton wrote of a less dangerous set of spiritual guides.

For their unhappy followers and imitators, no words of pity suffice. The whole universe is for them but “the glass of their fool’s face”; only, unlike Sir Palamedes, they admire it. Moral and spiritual Narcissi, they perish in the waters of illusion. A friend of mine, a solicitor in Naples, has told me strange tales of where such self-adoration ends.

And the subtlety of the devil is shown particularly in the method by which such neophytes are caught by the Black Brothers. There is an exaggerated awe, a solemnity of diction, a vanity of archaic phrases, a false veil of holiness upon the unclean shrine. Stilted affectation masquerades as dignity; a rag-bag of medievalism apes profundity; jargon passes for literature; phylacteries increase about the hem of the perfect prig, prude, and Pharisee.

Corollary to this attitude is the lack of all human virtue. The greatest magician, when he acts in his human capacity, acts as a man should. In particular, he has learnt kindheartedness and sympathy. Unselfishness is very often his long suit. Just this the mystic lacks. Trying to absorb the lower planes into the higher, he neglects the lower, a mistake no magician could make.

The Nun Gertrude, when it came to her turn to wash up the dishes, used to explain that she was very sorry, but at that particular moment she was being married, with full choral service, to the Savior.

Hundreds of mystics shut themselves up completely and for ever. Not only is their wealth-producing capacity lost to society, but so is their love and good-will, and worst of all, so is their example and precept. Christ, at the height of his career, found time to wash the feet of his disciples; any Master who does not do this on every plane is a Black Brother. The Hindus honor no man who becomes “Sannyasi” (nearly our “hermit”) until he has faithfully fulfilled all his duties as a man and a citizen. Celibacy is immoral, and the celibate shirks one of the greatest difficulties of the Path.

Beware of all those who shirk the lower difficulties: it’s a good bet that they shirk the higher difficulties too.

Of the special dangers of the path there is here no space to write; each student finds at each step temptations reflecting his own special weaknesses. I have therefore dealt solely with the dangers inseparable from the path itself, dangers inherent in its nature. Not for one moment would I ask the weakest to turn back or turn aside from that path, but I would ask even the strongest to apply these correctives: first, the skeptical or scientific attitude, both in outlook and method; second, a healthy life, meaning by that what the athlete and the explorer mean; third, hearty human companionship, and devotion to life, work, and duty.

Let him remember that an ounce of honest pride is better than a ton of false humility, although an once of true humility is worth an ounce of honest pride; the man who works has no time too bother with either. And let him remember Christ’s statement of the Law “to love God with all thy heart, and thy neighbor as thyself.”

SYSTOLE AND DIASTOLE: these are the phases of all component things. Of such also is the life of man. Its curve arises from the latency of the fertilized ovum, say you, to a zenith whence it declines to the nullity of death? Rightly considered, this is not wholly truth. The life of man is but one segment of a serpentine curve which reaches out to infinity, and its zeros but mark the changes from the plus to minus, and minus to plus, coefficients of its equation. It is for this cause, among many others, that wise men in old time chose the Serpent as the Hieroglyph of Life.

Life then is indestructible as all else is. All destruction and construction are changes in the nature of Love, as I have written to you in the former chapter proximate. Yet even as the blood in one pulse-throb of the wrist is not the same blood as that in the next, so individuality is in part destroyed as each life passeth; nay, even with each thought.

What then maketh man, if he dieth and is reborn a changeling with each breath? This: the consciousness of continuity given by memory, the conception of his Self as something whose existence, far from being threatened by these changes, is in verity assured by them. Let then the aspirant to the sacred Wisdom consider his Self no more as one segment of the Serpent, but as the whole. Let him extend his consciousness to regard both birth and death as incidents trivial as systole and diastole of the heart itself, and necessary as they to its function.

To fix the mind in this apprehension of Life, two modes are preferred, as preliminary to the greater realizations to be discussed in their prper order, experiences which transcend even those attainments of Liberty and Love of which I have hitherto written, and this of Life which I now inscribe in this my little book which I am making for you so that you may come unto the Great Fulfilment.

The first mode is the acquisition of the Magical Memory so-called, and the means is described with accuracy and clearness in certain of our Holy Books. But for nearly all men this is found to be a practice of exceeding difficulty. Let then the aspirant follow the impulse of his own Will in the decision to choose this or no.

The second mode is easy, agreeable, not tedious, and in the end as certain as the other. But as the way of error in the former lieth in Discouragement, so in the latter are you to be ware of False Paths. I may say indeed generally of all Works, that there are two dangers, the obstacle of Failure, and the snare of Success.

Now this second mode is to dissociate the beings which make up your life. Firstly, because it is easiest, you should segregate that Form which is called the Body of Light (and also by many other names) and set yourself to travel in this Form, making systematic exploration of those worlds which are to other material things what your own Body of Light is to your own material form.

Now it will occur to you in these travels that you come to many Gates which you are not able to pass. This is because your Body of Light is itself as yet not strong enough, or subtle enough, or pure enough: and you must then learn to dissociate the elements of that Body by a process similar to the first, your consciousness remaining in the higher and leaving the lower. In this practice do you continue, bending your Will like a great Bow to drive the Arrow of your consciousness through heavens ever higher and holier. But the continuance in this Way is itself of vital value: for it shall be that presently habit herself shall persuade you that the body which is born and dieth within so little a space as one cycle of Neptune in the Zodiac is no essential of your Self, that the Life of which you are become partaker, while itself subject to the Law of action and reaction, ebb and flow, systole and diastole, is yet insensible to the afflictions of that life which you formerly held to be your sole bond with Existence.

And here must you resolve your Self to make the mightiest endeavours: for so flowered are the meadows of this Eden, and so sweet the fruit of its orchards, that you will love to linger among them, and to take delight in sloth and dalliance therein. Therefore I write to you with energy that you should not do thus to the hindrance of your true progress, because all these enjoyments are dependent upon duality, so that their true name is Sorrow of Illusion, like that of the normal life of man, which you have set out to transcend.

Be it according to your Will, but learn this, that (as it is written) they only are happy who have desired the unattainable. It is then best, ultimately, if it be your Will to find alway your chiefest pleasure in Love, that is, in Conquest, and in Death, that is, in Surrender, as I have written to you already. Thus then you shall delight in these delights aforesaid, but only as toys, holding your manhood firm and keen to pierce to deeper and holier ecstacies without arrest of Will.

Furthermore, I would have you to know that in this practice, pursued with ardour unquenchable, is this especial grace, that you will come as it were by fortune into states which transcend the practice itself, being of the nature of those Works of Pure Light of which I will to write to you in the chapter following after this. For there be certain Gates which no being who is still conscious of dividuality, that is, of the Self and not-Self as opposites, may pass through: and in the storming of those Gates by fiery assault of lust celestial, your flame will burn vehemently against your gross Self, though it be already divine beyond your present imagining, and devour it in a mystical death, so that in the Passing of the Gate all is dissolved in formless Light of Unity.

Now then, returning from these states of being, and in the return also there is a Mystery of Joy, you will be weaned from the Milk of Darkness of the Moon, and made partaker of the Sacrament of Wine that is the blood of the Sun. Yet at the first there may be shock and conflict, for the old thought persists by force of its habit: it is for you to create by repeated act the true right habit of this consciousness of the Life which abideth in Light. And this is easy, if your will be strong: for the true Life is so much more vivid and quintessential than the false that (as I rudely estimate) one hour of the former makes an impression on the memory equal to one year of the latter. One single experience, in duration it may be but a few seconds of terrestrial time, is sufficient to destroy the belief in the reality of our vain life on earth: but this wears gradually away if the consciousness, through shock or fear, adhere not to it, and the Will strive not continually to repetition of that bliss, more beautiful and terrible than death, which it hath won by virtue of Love.

There be moreover many other modes of attaining the apprehension of true Life, and these two following are of much value in breaking up the ice of your mortal error in the vision of your being. And of these the first is the constant contemplation of the Identity of Love and Death, and the understanding of the dissolution of the body as an Act of Love done upon the Body of the Universe, as also it is written at length in our Holy Books. And with this goeth, as it were sister with twin brother, the practice of mortal love as a sacrament symbolical of that great Death: as it is written “Kill thyself”: and again “Die daily.”

And the second of these lesser modes is the practice of the mental apprehension and analysis of ideas, mainly as I have already taught you, but with especial emphasis in choice of things naturally repulsive, in particular, death itself, and its phenomena ancillary. Thus the Buddha bade his disciples to meditate upon Ten Impurities, that is, upon ten cases of death of decomposition, so that the Aspirant, identifying himself with his own corpse in all these imagined forms, might lose the natural horror, loathing, fear or disgust which he might have had for them. Know this, that every idea of every sort becomes unreal, phantastic, and most manifest illusion, if it be subjected to persistent investigation, with concentration. And this is particularly easy to attain in the case of all bodily impressions, because all material things, and especially those of which we are first conscious, namely, our own bodies, are the grossest and most unnatural of all falsities. For there is in us all, latent, that Light wherein no error may endure, and It already teaches our instinct to reject first of all those veils which are most closely wrapt about It. Thus also in meditation it is (for many men) most profitable to concentrate the Will to Love upon the sacred centres of nervous force: for they, like all things, are apt images or true reflexions of their semblables in finer spheres: so that, their gross natures being dissipated by the dissolving acid of the Meditation, their finer souls appear (so to speak) naked, and display their force and glory in the consciousness of the aspirant.

Yea, verily, let your Will to Love burn eagerly toward this creation in yourselves of the true Life that rolls its waves across the shoreless sea of Time! Live not your petty lives in fear of the hours! The Moon and Sun and Stars by which ye measure Time are themselves but servants of that Life which pulses in you, joyous drum-beat as you march triumphant through the Avenue of the Ages. Then, when each birth and death of yours are recognized in this perception as mere milestones on your ever-living Road, what of the foolish incidents of your mean lives? Are they not grains of sand blown by the desert wind, or pebbles that you spurn with your winged feet, or grassy hollows were you press the yielding and elastic turf and moss with lyrical dances? To him who lives in Life naught matters: his is eternal motion, energy, delight of never-failing Change: unwearied, you pass on from aeon to aeon, from star to star, the Universe your playground, its infinite variety of sport ever old and ever new. All those ideas which bred sorrow and fear are known in their truth, and thus become the seed of joy: for you are certain beyond all proof that you can never die; that, though you change, change is part of your own nature: the Great Enemy is become the Great Ally.

And now, rooted in this perfection, your Self become the very Tree of Life, you have a fulcrum for your lever: you are ready to understand that this pulsation of Unity is itself Duality, and therefore, in the highest and most sacred sense, still Sorrow and Illusion; which having comprehended, aspire yet again, even unto the Fourth of the Gifts of the Law, unto the End of the Path, even unto Light.