A black and white illustration of a serpent with a patterned, scaled body coiled multiple times around a vertical staff or tree trunk. At the top of the staff, two curved, branch-like appendages with beaded textures droop downwards on either side.

THE SERPENT OF THE GARDEN OF THE HESPERIDES.

From a Greek Vase Painting.

In Greek mythology, the Hesperides were nymphs who tended a blissful garden; the serpent Ladon coiled around a tree to protect the golden apples.

CHAPTER I

The Antiquity of Magical Rituals

§ 1. The Importance of Ceremonial Magic

The standard fields of psychological study, which are mostly the domain of the pathologist original: "pathologist"; here referring to early psychiatrists or those studying "abnormal" mental states, are bordered by a fringe of hidden original: "occult" and questionable experimentation. While psychologists might occasionally venture there, it is mostly left to unofficial explorers. Beyond these fields and this border region lies the legendary world of wonders known as Theurgy Theurgy: A type of magic intended to invoke the presence of gods or divine spirits, often for the purpose of self-perfection or achieving supernatural effects., Magic, and Sorcery. It is a world that inspires either fascination or terror, depending on the mindset of the observer, but in either case, it is the exact opposite of what is considered possible.

In that world, all paradoxes seem to actually occur, and contradictions exist together logically; the effect is greater than the cause, and the shadow carries more weight than the physical object. There, the visible dissolves into the unseen, and the invisible is openly revealed. Traveling from place to place happens without crossing the space in between, and solid matter passes through other matter. In this realm, two straight lines can enclose a space; space has a fourth dimension with unexplored regions beyond it. Literally and without exaggeration, the circle is mathematically squared original: "the circle is mathematically squared"; squaring the circle is a famously impossible problem in ancient geometry, used here to illustrate the suspension of natural laws. In this world, life is extended, youth is restored, and physical immortality is achieved. There, common earth turns into gold, and...