MAGICK IN THEORY AND PRACTICE [BOOK 4 (LIBER ABA) PART III] First published Paris: Lecram Press., 1930 Corrected edition included in Magick: Book 4 Parts I-IV, York Beach, Maine: Samuel Weiser, 1994 This electronic edition prepared and issued by Celephaïs Press, somewhere beyond the Tanarian Hills, and manifested in the waking world in Leeds, Yorkshire, England July 2004. (c) Ordo Templi Orientis JAF Box 7666 New York NY 10116 U.S.A. MAGICK IN THEORY AND PRACTICE BY THE MASTER THERION (ALEISTER CROWLEY) BOOK 4 PART III Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law. Celephaïs Press Ulthar - Sarkomand - Inquanok – Leeds 2004 — v — Hymn to Pan ——— ἔφιξ᾿ἔρωτι περιαρχὴς δ᾿ ἀνεπιόµαν ἰὼ ἰὼ πὰν πὰν ὢ πὰν πὰν ἁ λιπλαγκτε, κυλλανίας χιονοκτύποι πετραίς ἀπὸ δειράδος φάνηθ᾿, ὦ θεῶν χοροπόι ἄναξ —SOPH. Aj. ——— 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! Roaming as Bacchus, with fauns and pards And nymphs and satyrs for thy guards, On a milk-white ass, come over the sea To me, to me, Come with Apollo in bridal dress (Shepherdess and pythoness) Come with Artemis, silken shod, And wash thy white thigh, beautiful God, In the moon of the woods, on the marble mount, The dimpled dawn of the amber fount! Dip the purple of passionate prayer In the crimson shrine, the scarlet snare, The soul that startles in eyes of blue To watch thy wantonness weeping through [v] [vi] HYMN TO PAN — vi — The tangled grove, the gnarléd bole Of the living tree that is spirit and soul And body and brain - come over the sea, (Io Pan! Io Pan!) Devil or god, to me, to me, My man! my man! Come with trumpets sounding shrill Over the hill! Come with drums low muttering From the spring! Come with flute and come with pipe! Am I not ripe? I, who wait and writhe and wrestle With air that hath no boughs to nestle My body, weary of empty clasp, Strong as a lion and sharp as an asp - Come, O come! I am numb With the lonely lust of devildom. Thrust the sword through the galling fetter, All-devourer, all-begetter; Give me the sign of the Open Eye, And the token erect of thorny thigh, And the word of madness and mystery, O Pan! Io Pan! Io Pan! Io Pan Pan! Pan Pan! Pan, I am a man: Do as thou wilt, as a great god can, O Pan! Io Pan! Io Pan! Io Pan Pan! I am awake In the grip of the snake. The eagle slashes with beak and claw; The gods withdraw: The great beasts come, Io Pan! I am borne To death on the horn Of the Unicorn. HYMN TO PAN — vii — I am Pan! Io Pan! Io Pan Pan! Pan! I am thy mate, I am thy man, Goat of thy flock, I am gold, I am god, Flesh to thy bone, flower to thy rod. With hoofs of steel I race on the rocks Through solstice stubborn to equinox. And I rave; and I rape and I rip and I rend Everlasting, world without end, Mannikin, maiden, Mænad, man, In the might of Pan. Io Pan! Io Pan Pan! Pan! Io Pan! [vii] — viii — Prefatory Note Our beloved Soror VIRAKAM, feeling the hoodwink of her inexperience in Practical Magick, has asked me to take up the work of obtaining this book from the lips of Frater Perdurabo. Conscious of my own defects, I yet yielded to her insistence, and most earnestly thank and bless her for the privilege conferred. The bravest as the sweetest of all the women I have known, she has now, at the suggestion of the Master, entered the harem of a Turk in order to study Mohammedan methods of Mysticism and Magick. Blessed among women be her name unto the ages! I have done my best to cross-examine Frater Perdurabo on all points of difficulty that have occurred in my own working, and I have been incomparably blest by the instruction, and yet more by the Initiation, which I have received. However, it has proved impossible to confine Part III to such elementary thought as the former parts. Remonstrance has only drawn from Frater Perdurabo the reply that He has it in mind to say these things, and that they had better be said now, lest He forget to say them at some other time. This must be my excuse to any who find portions of this Part III difficult to understand. Let them take courage; practice and progress will make all clear as it is glorious. It is earth that breeds the clouds that hide the sun. Let them leave earth; they will find Him, the source of all Light.1 SOROR AGATHA. ————————————— 1. It is amazing to observe that FRATER PERDURABO, when He had completed the series of discourses in Part II, supposed that He had exhaussted the subject. Everyone (He thought) would say, “Oh, that is the meaning of the Wand!” “Now I understand about the Cup!” It never occurred to Him that there were people who had not done magick. He only thought that there might be a few who were doing it badly!!!!! — ix — Introduction Ἔσσεαι ἀθάνατος θεός, ἀµβροτος, ὀυκ ἔτι θνητός. Pythagoras.1 “MAGIC is the Highest, most Absolute, and most Divine Knowledge of Natural Philosophy, advanced in its works and wonderful operations by a right understanding of the inward and occult virtue of things; so that true Agents being applied to proper Patients, strange and admirable effects will thereby be produced. Whence magicians are profound and diligent searchers into Nature; they, because of their skill, know how to anticipate an effect, the which to the vulgar shall seem to be a miracle.” The Goëtia of the Lemegeton of King Solomon.2 “Whenever sympathetic magic occurs in its pure unadulterated form, it is assumed that in nature one event follows another necessarily and invariably without the intervention of any spiritual or personal agency. “Thus its fundamental conception is identical with that of modern science; underlying the whole system is a faith, implicit but real and firm, in the order and uniformity of nature. The magician does not doubt that the same causes will always produce the same effects, that the performance of the proper ceremony accompanied by the appropriate spell, will invariably be attended by the desired results, unless, indeed, his incantations should chance to be thwarted and foiled by the more potent charms of another sorcerer. He supplicates no higher power: he sues the favour of no fickle and wayward being: he abases himself before no awful deity. Yet his power, great as he believes it to be, is by no means ————————————— 1. [Grk., “You shall be a deathless god, immortal, no longer subject to death.” The final line of the “Golden Verses of Pythagoras,”] 2. [Part of the “Preliminary Definition of Magic” which appears at the start of some MSS. of the Lemegeton, a 17th-century English compilation of magical texts attributed to Solomon; in turn taken from an English translation of Themis Auræ, a Rosicrucian work by Michael Maier.] MAGICK IN THEORY AND PRACTICE — x — arbitrary and unlimited. He can wield it only so long as he strictly conforms to the rules of his art, or to what may be called the laws of nature as conceived by him. To neglect these rules, to break these laws in the smallest particular is to incur failure, and may even expose the unskilful practitioner himself to the utmost peril. If he claims a sovereignty over nature, it is a constitutional sovereignty rigorously limited in its scope and exercised in exact conformity with ancient usage. Thus the analogy between the magical and the scientific conceptions of the world is close. In both of them the succession of events is perfectly regular and certain, being determined by immutable laws, the operation of which can be foreseen and calculated precisely; the elements of caprice, of chance, and of accident are banished from the course of nature. Both of them open up a seemingly boundless vista of possibilities to him who knows the causes of things and can touch the secret springs that set in motion the vast and intricate mechanism of the world. Hence the strong attraction which magic and science alike have exercised on the human mind; hence the powerful stimulus that both have given to the pursuit of knowledge. They lure the weary enquirer, the footsore seeker, on through the wilderness of disappointment in the present by their endless promises of the future: they take him up to the top of an exceeding high mountain and shew him, beyond the dark clouds and rolling mists at his feet, a vision of the celestial city, far off, it may be, but radiant with unearthly splendour, bathed in the light of dreams.” Dr. J. G. FRAZER, The Golden Bough.1 “So far, therefore, as the public profession of magic has been one of the roads by which the ablest men have passed to supreme power, it has contributed to emancipate mankind from the thraldom of tradition and to elevate them into a larger, freer life, with a broader outlook on the world. This is no small service rendered to humanity. And when we remember further that in another direction magic has paved the way for science, we are force to admit that if the black art has done much evil, it has also been the source of much good; that if it is the child of error, it has yet been the mother of freedom and truth.” Ibid.2 ————————————— 1. [The Magic Art and the Evolution of Kings (part I of the third edition Golden Bough), i. 220-221. Emphasis Crowley’s.] 2. [The Magic Art &c., i. 218-219. Emphasis Crowley’s.] [x] INTRODUCTION — xi — “Prove all things; hold fast that which is good.” St PAUL.1 “Also the mantras and spells; the obeah and the wanga; the work of the wand and the work of the sword: these he shall learn and teach. “He must teach; but he may make severe the ordeals. “The word of the Law is θεληµα.” LIBER AL vel xxxi: The Book of the Law.2 ———— This book is for ALL: for every man, woman, and child. My former work has been misunderstood, and its scope limited, by my use of technical terms. It has attracted only too many dilettanti and eccentrics, weaklings seeking in “Magic” an escape from reality. I myself was first consciously drawn to the subject in this way. And it has repelled only too many scientific and practical minds, such as I most designed to influence. But MAGICK is for ALL. I have written this book to help the Banker, the Pugilist, the Biologist, the Poet, the Navvy, the Grocer, the Factory Girl, the Mathematician, the Stenographer, the Golfer, the Wife, the Consul— and all the rest—to fulfil themselves perfectly, each in his or her own proper function. Let me explain in a few words how it came about that I blazoned the word MAGICK upon the Banner that I have borne before me all my life. Before I touched my teens, I was already aware that I was THE BEAST whose number is 666. I did not understand in the least what that implied; it was a passionately ecstatic sense of identity. ————————————— 1. [1 Thess. V. 21.] 2. [cap. I vv. 37-39.] [xi] [xii] MAGICK IN THEORY AND PRACTICE — xii — In my third year at Cambridge, I devoted myself consciously to the Great Work, understanding thereby the Work of becoming a Spiritual Being, free from the constraints, accidents, and deceptions of material existence. I found myself at a loss for a name to designate my work, just as H. P. Blavatsky some years earlier. “Theosophy,” “Spiritua- lism,” “Occultism,” “Mysticism,” all involved undesirable con- notations. I therefore chose the name “MAGICK” as essentially the most sublime, and actually the most discredited of all the available terms. I swore to rehabilitate MAGICK to identify it with my own career; and to compel mankind to respect, love, and trust that which they scorned, hated and feared. I have kept my Word. But the time is now come for me to carry my banner into the thick of the press of human life. I must make MAGICK the essential factor in the life of ALL. In presenting this book to the world, I must then explain and justify my position by formulating a definition of MAGICK and setting forth its main principles in such a way that ALL may understand instantly that their souls, their lives, in every relation with every other human being and every circumstance, depend upon MAGICK and the right comprehension and right application thereof. I. DEFINITION. MAGICK is the Science and Art of causing Change to occur in conformity with Will. INTRODUCTION — xiii — (Illustration: It is my Will to inform the World of certain facts within my knowledge. I therefore take “magical weapons,” pen, ink, and paper; I write “incantations”—these sentences—in the “magical language” i.e. that which is understood by the people I wish to instruct; I call forth “spirits,” such as printers, publishers, booksellers, and so forth, and constrain them to convey my message to those people. The composition and distribution of this book is thus an act of MAGICK by which I cause Changes to take place in conformity with my Will.1) II. POSTULATE. Any required Change may be effected by the application of the proper kind and degree of force in the proper manner through the proper medium to the proper object. (Illustration: I wish to prepare an ounce of Chloride of Gold. I must take the right kind of acid, nitro-hydrochloric and no other, in sufficient quantity and of adequate strength, and place it, in a vessel which will not break, leak, or corrode, in such a manner as will not produce undesirable results, with the necessary quantity of Gold: and so forth. Every Change has its own conditions. In the present state of our knowledge and power some changes are not possible in practice; we cannot cause eclipses, for instance, or transform lead into tin, or create men from mushrooms. But it is theoretically possible to cause in any object and change of which that object is capable by nature; and the conditions are covered by the above postulate. III. THEOREMS. 1. Every intentional act is a Magical Act.2 (Illustration: See “Definition” above.) 2. Every successful act has conformed to the postulate. 3. Every failure proves that one or more requirements of the postulate have not been fulfilled. ————————————— 1. In one sense Magick may be defined as the name given to Science by the vulgar. 2. By “Intentional” I mean “willed.” But even unintentional acts so-seeming are not truly so. Thus, breathing is an act of the Will-to-live. [xiii] [xiv] MAGICK IN THEORY AND PRACTICE — xiv — (Illustration: There may be failure to understand the case, as when a doctor makes a wrong diagnosis, and the treatment injures his patient. There may be failure to apply the right kind of force, as when a rustic tries to blow out an electric light. There may be failure to apply the right degree of force, as when a wrestler has his hold broken. There may be failure to apply the force in the right manner, as when one presents a cheque at the wrong window of the bank. There may be failure to employ the correct medium, as when Leonardo da Vinci found his masterpiece fade away. The force may be applied to an unsuitable object, as when one tries to crack a stone, thinking it a nut.) 4. The first requisite for causing any change is through qualitative and quantitative understanding of the conditions. (Illustration: The most common cause of failure in life is ignorance of one’s own True Will, or of the means by which to fulfil that Will. A man may fancy himself a painter, and waste his life trying to become one; or he may be really a painter, and yet fail to understand and measure up to the difficulties peculiar to that career.) 5. The second requisite of causing any change is the practical ability to set in motion the necessary forces. (Illustration: A banker may have a perfect grasp of a given situation, yet lack the quality of decision, or the assets, necessary to take advantage of it.) 6. “Every man and every woman is a star.”1 That is, every human being is intrinsically an independent individual with his own proper character and proper motion. 7. Every man and every woman has a course, depending partly on the self, and partly on the environment, which is natural and necessary for each. Anyone who is forced from his own course, either through not understanding himself, or through external opposition, comes into conflict with the order of the Universe, and suffers accordingly. (Illustration: A man may think it his duty to act in a certain way, through having made a fancy picture of himself, instead of investigating his actual nature. For example, a woman may make herself miserable for life by thinking that she prefers love to social consideration, or vice versa. One woman may stay with an unsym- ————————————— 1. [AL I. 3.] [xv] INTRODUCTION — xv — pathetic husband when she would really be happy in an attic with a lover, while another may fool herself into a romantic elopement when her only true pleasures are those of presiding at fashionable functions. Again, a boy’s instinct may tell him to go to sea, while his parents insist on his becoming a doctor. In such a case, he will be both unsuccessful and unhappy in medicine.) 8. A man whose conscious will is at odds with his True Will is wasting his strength. He cannot hope to influence his environment efficiently. (Illustration: When Civil War rages in a nation, it is in no condition to undertake the invasion of other countries. A man with cancer employs his nourishment alike to his own use and to that of the enemy which is part of himself. He soon fails to resist the pressure of his environment. In practical life, a man who is doing what his conscience tells him to be wrong will do it very clumsily. At first!) 9. A man who is doing his True Will has the inertia of the Universe to assist him. (Illustration: The first principle of success in evolution is that the individual should be true to his own nature, and at the same time adapt himself to his environment.) 10. Nature is a continuous phenomenon, though we do not know in all cases how things are connected. (Illustration: Human consciousness depends on the properties of protoplasm, the existence of which depends on innumerable physical conditions peculiar to this planet; and this planet is determined by the mechanical balance of the whole universe of matter. We may then say that our consciousness is causally connected with the remotest galaxies; yet we do not know even how it arises from—or with—the molecular changes in our brain.) 11. Science enables us to take advantage of the continuity of Nature by the empirical application of certain principles whose interplay involves different orders of idea connected with each other in a way beyond our present comprehension. (Illustration: We are able to light cities by rule-of-thumb methods. We do not know what consciousness is, or how it is connected with muscular action; what electricity is or how it is connected with the machines that generate it; and our methods depend on calculations involving mathematical ideas which have no correspondence in the [xvi]