OF BLACK MAGIC
OF THE MAIN TYPES OF
THE OPERATIONS OF MAGICK ART
AND OF THE POWERS OF
THE SPHINX
I
As was said at the opening of the second chapter, the Single
Supreme Ritual is the attainment of the Knowledge and Conversation of the
Holy Guardian Angel. "It is the raising of the complete man in a vertical
straight line."
Any deviation from this line tends to become black magic.
Any other operation is black magic.
In the True Operation the Exaltation is equilibrated by
an expansion in the other three arms of the Cross. Hence the Angel
immediately gives the Adept power over the Four Great Princes and their
servitors.<>
If the magician needs to perform any other operation than this,
it is only lawful in so far as it is a necessary preliminary to That One
Work.
There are, however many shades of grey. It is not every
magician who is well armed with theory. Perhaps one such may invoke
Jupiter, with the wish to heal others of their physical ills. This
sort of thing is harmless,<> or almost so. It is not evil in {190}
itself. It arises from a defect of understanding. Until the
Great Work has been performed, it is presumptuous for the magician to pretend
to understand the universe, and dictate its policy. Only the Master
of the Temple can say whether any given act is a crime. "Slay that innocent
child?" (I hear the ignorant say) "What a horror!" "Ah!" replies
the Knower, with foresight of history, "but that child will become Nero.
Hasten to strangle him!"
There is a third, above these, who understands that Nero
was as necessary as Julius Caesar.
The Master of the Temple accordingly interferes not with
the scheme of things except just so far as he is doing the Work which he
is sent to do. Why should he struggle against imprisonment, banishment,
death? It is all part of the game in which he is a pawn. "It
was necessary for the Son of Man to suffer these things, and to enter into
His glory."
The Master of the Temple is so far from the man in whom
He manifests that all these matters are of no importance to Him.
It may be of importance to His Work that man shall sit upon a throne, or
be hanged. In such a case He informs his Magus, who exerts the power
intrusted to HIm, and it happens accordingly. Yet all happens naturally,
and of necessity, and to all appearance without a word from Him.
Nor will the mere Master of the Temple, as a rule, presume
to act upon the Universe, save as the servant of his own destiny.
It is only the Magus, He of the grade above, who has attained to Chokhmah,
Wisdom, and so dare act. He must dare act, although it like Him not.
But He must assume the Curse of His grade, as it is written in the Book
of the Magus.<>
There are, of course, entirely black forms of magic.
To him who has not given every drop of his blood for the cup of BABALON
{191} all magic power is dangerous. There are even more debased and
evil forms, things in themselves black. Such is the use of spiritual
force to material ends. Christian Scientists, Mental Healers, Professional
Diviners, Psychics and the like, are all "ipso facto" Black Magicians.
They exchange gold for dross. They sell their higher
powers for gross and temporary benefit.
That the most crass ignorance of Magick is their principal
characteristic is no excuse, even if Nature accepted excuses, which she
does not. If you drink poison in mistake for wine, your "mistake"
will not save your life.
Below these in one sense, yet far above them in another,
are the Brothers of the Left Hand Path<>. These are they who "shut
themselves up", who refuse their blood to the Cup, who have trampled Love
in the Race for self-aggrandisment.
As far as the grade of Exempt Adept, they are on the same
path as the White Brotherhood; for until that grade is attained, the goal
is not disclosed. Then only are the goats, the lonely leaping mountain-masters,
separated from the gregarious huddling valley-bound sheep. Then those
who have well learned the lessons of the Path are ready to be torn asunder,
to give up their own life to the Babe of the Abyss which is --- and is
not --- they.
The others, proud in their purple, refuse. They
make themselves a false crown of the Horror of the Abyss; they set
the Dispersion of Choronzon upon their brows; they clothe themselves in
the poisoned robes of Form; they shut themselves up; and when the force
that made them what they are is exhausted, their strong towers fall, they
become the Eaters of Dung in the Day of Be-with-us, and their shreds, strewn
in the Abyss, are lost.
Not so the Masters of the Temple, that sit as piles of
dust in the City of the Pyramids, awaiting the Great Flame that shall consume
that dust to ashes. For the blood that they have surrendered is treasured
in the Cup of OUR LADY BABALON, a mighty {192} medicine to awake the Eld
of the All-Father, and redeem the Virgin of the World from her virginity.
II
Before leaving the subject of Black Magic, one may touch
lightly on the question of Pacts with the Devil.
The Devil does not exist. It is a false name invented
by the Black Brothers to imply a Unity in their ignorant muddle of dispersions.
A devil who had unity would be a God<<"The Devil" is, historically,
the God of any people that one personally dislikes. This has led
to so much confusion of thought that THE BEAST 666 has preferred to let
names stand as they are, and to proclaim simply that AIWAZ --- the solar-phallic-hermetic
"Lucifer" is His own Holy Guardian Angel, and "The Devil" SATAN or HADIT
of our particular unit of the Starry Universe. This serpent, SATAN,
is not the enemy of Man, but He who made Gods of our race, knowing Good
and Evil; He bade "Know Thyself!" and taught Initiation. He is "the
Devil" of the Book of Thoth, and His emblem is BAPHOMET, the Androgyne
who is the hieroglyph of arcane perfection. The number of His Atu
is XV, which is Yod He, the Monogram of the Eternal, the Father one with
the Mother, the Virgin Seed one with all-containing Space. He is
therefore Life, and Love. But moreover his letter is Ayin, the Eye;
he is Light, and his Zodiacal image is Capricornus, that leaping goat whose
attribute is Liberty. (Note that the "Jehovah" of the Hebrews is
etymologically connected with these. The classical example of such
antinomy, one which has led to such disastrous misunderstandings, is that
between NU and HAD, North and South, Jesus and John. The subject
is too abstruse and complicated to be discussed in detail here. The
student should consult the writings of Sir R. Payne Knight, General Forlong,
Gerald Massey, Fabre d'Olivet; etc. etc., for the data on which these considerations
are ultimately based.)>>.
It was said by the Sorcerer of the Jura that in order
to invoke the Devil it is only necessary to call him with your whole will.
This is an universal magical truth, and applies to every
other being as much as to the Devil. For the whole will of every
man is in reality the whole will of the Universe.
It is, however, always easy to call up the demons, for
they are always calling you; and you have only to step down to their level
{193} and fraternize with them. They will tear you in pieces at their
leisure. Not at once; they will wait until you have wholly broken
the link between you and your Holy Guardian Angel before they pounce, lest
at the last moment you escape.
Anthony of Padua and (in our own times) "Macgregor" Mathers
are examples of such victims.
Nevertheless, every magician must firmly extend his empire to
the depth of hell. "My adepts stand upright, their heads above the
heavens, their feet below the hells."<>
This is the reason why the magician who performs the Operation
of the "Sacred Magic of Abramelin the Mage", immediately after attaining
to the Knowledge and Conversation of the Holy Guardian Angel, must evoke
the Four Great Princes of the Evil of the World.
"Obedience and faith to Him that liveth and triumpheth,
that reigneth above you in your palaces as the Balance of Righteousness
and Truth" is your duty to your Holy Guardian Angel, and the duty of the
demon world to you.
These powers of "evil" nature are wild beasts; they must
be tamed, trained to the saddle and the bridle; they will bear you well.
There is nothing useless in the Universe: do not wrap up your Talent in
a napkin, because it is only "dirty money"!
With regard to Pacts, they are rarely lawful. There
should be no bargain struck. Magick is not a trade, and no hucksters
need apply. Master everything, but give generously to your servants,
once they have unconditionally submitted.
There is also the questions of alliances with various
Powers. These again are hardly ever allowable.<> No Power
which is not {194} a microcosm in itself --- and even archangels reach
rarely to this centre of balance --- is fit to treat on an equality with
Man. The proper study of mankind is God; with Him is his business;
and with Him alone. Some magicians have hired legions of spirits
for some special purpose; but it has always proved a serious mistake.
The whole idea of exchange is foreign to magick. The dignity of the
magician forbids compacts. "The Earth is the Lord's and the fulness
thereof".
III
The operations of Magick art are difficult to classify, as they merge into each other, owing to the essential unity of their method and result. We may mention:
1. Operations such as evocation, in which a live spirit is brought from dead matter.
2. Consecrations of talismans in which a live spirit is bound into "dead" matter and vivifies the same.
3. Works of divination, in which a live spirit is made to control operations of the hand or brain of the Magician. Such works are accordingly most dangerous, to be used only by advanced magicians, and then with great care.
4. Works of fascination, such as operations of invisibility, and transformations of the apparent form of the person or thing concerned. This consists almost altogether in distracting the attention, or disturbing the judgment, of the person whom it is wished to deceive. There are, however, "real" transformations of the adept himself which are very useful. See the Book of the Dead for methods. The assumption of God-Forms can be carried to the point of actual transformation.
5. Works of Love and Hate, which are also performed (as {195} a rule) by fascination. These works are too easy; and rarely useful. They have a nasty trick of recoiling on the magician.
6. Works of destruction, which may be done in many
different ways. One may fascinate and bend to one's will a person
who has of his own right the power to destroy. One may employ spirits
or talismans. The more powerful magicians of the last few centuries
have employed books.
In private matters these works are very easy, if they
be necessary. An adept known to The MASTER THERION once found it
necessary to slay a Circe who was bewitching brethren. He merely
walked to the door of her room, and drew an Astral T ("traditore", and
the symbol of Saturn) with an astral dagger. Within 48 hours she
shot herself.<>
7. Works of creation and dissolution, and the higher
invocations.
There are also hundreds of other operations;<> to bring
wanted objects --- gold, books, women and the like; to open locked doors,
to discover treasure; to swim under water; to have armed men at command
--- etc., etc. All these are really matters of detail; the Adeptus
Major will easily understand how to perform them if necessary.<> {196}
It should be added that all these things happen "naturally".<>
Perform an operation to bring gold --- your rich uncle dies and leaves
you his money; books --- you see the book wanted in a catalogue that very
day, although you have advertised in vain for a year; woman --- but if
you have made the spirits bring you enough gold, this operation will become
unnecessary.<>
It must further be remarked that it is absolute Black
Magic to use any of these powers if the object can possibly be otherwise
attained. If your child is drowning, you must jump and try to save
him; it won't do to invoke the Undines.
Nor is it lawful in all circumstances to invoke those
Undines even where the case is hopeless; maybe it is necessary to you and
to the child that it should die. An Exempt Adept on the right road
will make no error here --- an Adept Major is only too likely to do so.
A through apprehension of this book will arm adepts of every grade against
all the more serious blunders incidental to their unfortunate positions.
IV
Necromancy is of sufficient importance to demand a section
to itself.
It is justifiable in some exceptional cases. Suppose
the magician fail to obtain access to living Teachers, or should he need
some {197} especial piece of knowledge which he has reason to believe died
with some teacher of the past, it may be useful to evoke the "shade" of
such a one, or read the "Akasic record" of his mind.<>
If this be done it must be done properly very much on
the lines of the evocation of Apollonius of Tyana, which Eliphas Levi performed.<>
The utmost care must be taken to prevent personation of the
"shade". It is of course easy, but can rarely be advisable, to evoke
the shade of a suicide, or of one violently slain or suddenly dead.
Of what use is such an operation, save to gratify curiosity or vanity?
One must add a word on spiritism, which is a sort of indiscriminate
necromancy --- one might prefer the word necrophilia --- by amateurs.
They make themselves perfectly passive, and, so far from employing any
methods of protection, deliberately invite all and sundry spirits, demons,
shells of the dead, all the excrement and filth of earth and hell, to squirt
their slime over them. This invitation is readily accepted, unless
a clean man be present with an aura good enough to frighten these foul
denizens of the pit.
No spiritualistic manifestation has ever taken place in
the {198} presence even of FRATER PERDURABO; how much less in that of The
MASTER THERION!<>
Of all the creatures He ever met, the most prominent of
English spiritists (a journalist and pacifist of more than European fame)
had the filthiest mind and the foulest mouth. He would break off
any conversation to tell a stupid smutty story, and could hardly conceive
of any society assembling for any other purpose than "phallic orgies",
whatever they may be. Utterly incapable of keeping to a subject,
he would drag the conversation down again and again to the sole subject
of which he really thought --- sex and sex-perversions and sex and sex
and sex and sex again.
This was the plain result of his spiritism. All
spiritists are more or less similarly afflicted. They feel dirty
even across the street; their auras are ragged, muddy and malodorous; they
ooze the slime of putrefying corpses.
No spiritist, once he is wholly enmeshed in sentimentality
and Freudian fear-phantasms, is capable of concentrated thought, of persistent
will, or of moral character. Devoid of every spark of the divine
light which was his birthright, a prey before death to the ghastly tenants
of the grave, the wretch, like the mesmerized and living corpse of Poe's
Monsieur Valdemar, is a "nearly liquid mass of loathsome, of detestable
putrescence."
The student of this Holy Magick is most earnestly warned
against frequenting their seances, or even admitting them to his presence.
They are contagious as Syphilis, and more deadly and disgusting.
Unless your aura is strong enough to inhibit any manifestation of the loathly
larvae that have taken up their habitation in them, shun them as you need
not mere lepers!<> {199}
V
Of the powers of the Sphinx much has been written.<>
Wisely they have been kept in the forefront of true magical instruction.
Even the tyro can always rattle off that he has to know, to dare to will
and to keep silence. It is difficult to write on this subject, for
these powers are indeed comprehensive, and the interplay of one with the
other becomes increasingly evident as one goes more deeply into the subject.
But there is one general principle which seems worthy
of special emphasis in this place. These four powers are thus complex
because they are the powers of the Sphinx, that is, they are functions
of a single organism.
Now those who understand the growth of organisms are aware
that evolution depends on adaptation to environment. If an animal
which cannot swim is occasionally thrown into water, it may escape by some
piece of good fortune, but if it is thrown into water continuously it will
drown sooner or later, unless it learns to swim.
Organisms being to a certain extent elastic, they soon
adapt themselves to a new environment, provided that the change is not
so sudden as to destroy that elasticity.
Now a change in environment involves a repeated meeting of new
conditions, and if you want to adapt yourself to any given set of conditions,
the best thing you can do is to place yourself cautiously and persistently
among them. That is the foundation of all education.
The old-fashioned pedagogues were not all so stupid as
some modern educators would have us think. The principle of the system
was to strike the brain a series of constantly repeated blows until the
proper reaction became normal to the organism.
It is not desirable to use ideas which excite interest,
or may come {200} in handy later as weapons, in this fundamental training
of the mind. It is much better to compel the mind to busy itself
with root ideas which do not mean very much to the child, because you are
not trying to excite the brain, but to drill it. For this reason,
all the best minds have been trained by preliminary study of classics and
mathematics.
The same principle applies to the training of the body.
The original exercises should be of a character to train the muscles generally
to perform any kind of work, rather than to train them for some special
kind of work, concentration of which will unfit them for other tasks by
depriving them of the elasticity which is the proper condition of life.<>
In Magick and meditation this principle applies with tremendous
force. It is quite useless to teach people how to perform magical
operations, when it may be that such operations, when they have learned
to do them, are not in accordance with their wills. What must be
done is to drill the Aspirant in the hard routine of the elements of the
Royal Art.
So far as mysticism is concerned, the technique is extremely
simple, and has been very simply described in Part I of this Book 4.
It cannot be said too strongly that any amount of mystical success whatever
is no compensation for slackness with regard to the technique. There
may come a time when Samadhi itself is no part of the business of the mystic.
But the character developed by the original training remains an asset.
In other words, the person who has made himself a first-class brain capable
of elasticity is competent to {201} attack any problem soever, when he
who has merely specialized has got into a groove, and can no longer adapt
and adjust himself to new conditions.
The principle is quite universal. You do not train
a violinist to play the Beethoven Concerto; you train him to play every
conceivable consecution of notes with perfect ease, and you keep him at
the most monotonous drill possible for years and years before you allow
him to go on the platform. You make of him an instrument perfectly
able to adjust itself to any musical problem that may be set before him.
This technique of Yoga is the most important detail of all our work.
The MASTER THERION has been himself somewhat to blame in representing this
technique as of value simply because it leads to the great rewards, such
as Samadhi. He would have been wiser to base His teaching solely
on the ground of evolution. But probably He thought of the words
of the poet:
"You dangle a carrot in
front of her nose,
And she goes wherever the
carrot goes."
For, after all, one cannot explain the necessity of the study of Latin
either to imbecile children or to stupid educationalists; for, not having
learned Latin, they have not developed the brains to learn anything.
The Hindus, understanding these difficulties, have taken
the God-Almighty attitude about the matter. If you go to a Hindu
teacher, he treats you as less than an earthworm. You have to do
this, and you have to do that, and you are not allowed to know why you
are doing it.<>
After years of experience in teaching, The MASTER THERION
is not altogether convinced that this is not the right attitude.
{202} When people begin to argue about things instead of doing them, they
become absolutely impossible. Their minds begin to work about it
and about, and they come out by the same door as in they went. They
remain brutish, voluble, and uncomprehending.
The technique of Magick is just as important as that of
mysticism, but here we have a very much more difficult problem, because
the original unit of Magick, the Body of Light, is already something unfamiliar
to the ordinary person. Nevertheless, this body must be developed
and trained with exactly the same rigid discipline as the brain in the
case of mysticism. The essence of the technique of Magick is the
development of the body of Light, which must be extended to include all
members of the organism, and indeed of the cosmos.
The most important drill practices are:
1. The fortification of the Body of Light by the
constant use of rituals, by the assumption of god-forms, and by the right
use of the Eucharist.
2. The purification and consecration and exaltation
of that Body by the use of rituals of invocation.
3. The education of that Body by experience.
It must learn to travel on every plane; to break down every obstacle which
may confront it. This experience must be as systematic and regular
as possible; for it is of no use merely to travel to the spheres of Jupiter
and Venus, or even to explore the 30 Aethyrs, neglecting unattractive meridians.<>
{203}
The object is to possess a Body which is capable of doing
easily any particular task that may lie before it. There must be
no selection of special experience which appeals to one's immediate desire.
One must go steadily through all possible pylons.
FRATER PERDRABO was very unfortunate in not having magical
teachers to explain these things to Him. He was rather encouraged
in unsystematic working. Very fortunate, on the other hand, was He
to have found a Guru who instructed Him in the proper principles of the
technique of Yoga, and He, having sufficient sense to recognize the universal
application of those principles, was able to some extent to repair His
original defects. But even to this day, despite the fact that His
original inclination is much stronger towards Magick than towards mysticism,
he is much less competent in Magick.<> A trace of this can be
seen even in His method of combining the two divisions of our science,
for in that method He makes concentration bear the Cross of the work.
This is possibly an error, probably a defect, certainly
an impurity of thought, and the root of it is to be found in His original
bad discipline with regard to Magick.
If the reader will turn to the account of his astral journeys
in the Second Number of the First Volume of the Equinox, he will find that
these experiments were quite capricious. Even when, in Mexico, He
got the idea of exploring the 30 Aethyrs systematically, He abandoned the
vision after only 2 Aethyrs had been investigated. {204}
Very different is His record after the training in 1901
e.v. had put Him in the way of discipline.<>
At the conclusion of this part of this book, one may sum
up the whole matter in these words: There is no object whatever worthy
of attainment but the regular development of the being of the Aspirant
by steady scientific work; he should not attempt to run before he can walk;
he should not wish to go somewhere until he knows for certain whither he
wills to go.