The Book of Ceremonial Magic

power in the quest and attainment of it. It is summarized by the ambition of the Magus original: "Magus"; a practitioner of magic or a sorcerer, often distinguished from a mystic by their search for power over the natural or supernatural world. in contrast with the superficial desires and the hope which fills the heart of the true mystic. I do not mean to suggest that the Magus as such is necessarily in conflict with the Decalogue The Ten Commandments., or that he is being judged solely by that standard for punishment or reward. Since this position can be stated as a fixed principle, and as such is not subject to change, I will express it as a dogma as follows: Whoever looks inward to find anything other than the Divine at their center is working toward their own loss.

Just as there is the height of Kether The highest point on the Kabbalistic Tree of Life, representing the "Crown" or Divine Will. in Kabalism A school of Jewish mysticism; also spelled Kabbalah., so there is the abyss which is below Malkuth The lowest point on the Tree of Life, representing the physical world or the "Kingdom.", and those who are seeking to exercise the powers of the soul apart from its spiritual graces are walking the downward path. The movement of grace is so entirely universal original: "catholic"; here meaning all-encompassing or universal rather than referring to the Roman Catholic Church., and there is correspondingly so much divine protection original: "prevention"; in traditional theology, "prevenient grace" refers to God's grace acting on a soul before any human effort. operating everywhere, that in most instances these experiments result in very little. The wasting of effort usually stops simply because the seeker grows weary of the business. However, the quest for miraculous power—and I use this unscientific phrase intentionally, because I am now dealing with the most inexact of all subjects—is what is generally meant by the term occult science. Generally speaking, the occult sciences are the sciences of the abyss.

I exclude astrology from this, which—only through the accident of many historical associations—has been forced into this category. It is not an occult science, and despite a few insignificant claims from certain schools, it has no secret method of operation whatsoever. It is simply a calculation of probabilities based on experience regarding observable things. Setting that aside, on the fringe of the whole circle there are also dozens of other foolish practices which I would not even call the stages of preparation for the abyss unless I had a reason to be unnaturally serious. I have described these enough in the main text, and here I will say only that all paths of folly lead to the Houses of Sin.

There remains the question of Magic. Regarding this, I am aware that the practitioners, who are many, and the

amateurs, who are many more, may be inclined to interrupt at this point and call attention to the ancient and honorable distinction between White and Black Magic. But I have dealt with this so fully in the text that I wonder if the entire work is not an illustration of my argument: that, except in a very slight, verbal, and superficial sense, no such distinction exists—I mean to say that it has no roots in the deeper reality of the subject.

However, so that I do not seem uncritical regarding things important enough to be viewed from different angles, I must make two further distinctions of my own. One of the secret sciences is, of course, Alchemy. Insofar as this was the method, mystery, or art of transforming metals, of healing physical human disease, or of extending human life by certain physical methods—to this extent it is, as it always was, a matter of scholarly research. Though I would not say that students of the old literature are in the least bit likely to discover these secrets from books, there is such an excusable and pleasant air...