Treat your body with respect. Regardless of whether you believe in reincarnation or not, you will never again be the YOU you are now. Suicide is an affront to yourself, whether it be the slow suicide of drugs or alcohol; or the quick suicide of a bullet to your brain. If your body has fallen into disrepair, it is because you (the high priest, the god) has let it. Repair it if you can; if you can't, then it's your privilege ot walk away, but it's no excuse.
Feed your body well. This means enough sleep, good food, adequate liquid, intellectual stimuli, laughter, play, and sex. Each of these is important to the health of the magician. Let's break this down into the four levels of the self: again, equated with the four magical elements. There is your physical body (pentacles) which needs sleep, food, water, and sexual release; your emotions (cups) which needs laughter and the comfort of other sentient beings; your intellect (swords) which needs stimulation to keep it thinking, growing, and healthy; and your spirit (wands) which needs understanding and the comfort of a god (something whether abstract or concrete that you can rely on and be a child to, even if this god is nothing more than your inner-self, an ideal, or some politcal ism).
-- excerpt from THE SCARLET WAND, Chapter Two,pages 26-27; copyright by Raji Dorotez, 1993, 1998
