The Occult Sciences E-Book

Arthur Edward Waite

• Herausgeber: Jazzybee Verlag
• Kategorie: Religion und Spiritualität
• Sprache: Englisch
• Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2013

Seitenzahl: 474

Beschreibung

The subject of occultism, by which we mean those sciences, called transcendental and magical, a knowledge of which has been transmitted and accumulated in secret, or is contained in books that have an inner or secret meaning, has been very fully dealt with in this volume. The results of many studies were condensed into this portable volume, which conducts the inquirer into the vestibule of each branch of " The Occult Sciences," and places within his reach the proper means of prosecuting his researches further in any desired direction. Contents: Part I. Definitions. White Magic. The Evocation Of Angels. White Magic. The Evocation Of The Spirits Of The Elements. Black Magic. The Evocation Of Demons. Necromancy. The Evocation Of The Souls Of The Dead. Part II. Alchemy. The Elixir Of Life. Crystallomancy. The Composition Of Talismans. Divination. Aeromancy Alectromancy Aleuromancy Alphitomancy Amniomancy Anthropomancy Arithmomancy Astragalomancy Axinomancy Belomancy Bibliomancy Capnomancy Ceroscopy Cleidomancy Dactylomancy Gastromancy Hydromancy Lithomancy Pyromancy Myomancy Onomancy Onychomancy Oomancy The Divining Rod. Astrology. Kabbalism. Part III. The Mystics. The Rosicrucians. The Freemasons. Part IV. Mesmerism. Modern Spiritualism Theosophy

Leseprobe

The Occult Sciences

A COMPENDIUM OF TRANSCENDENTAL DOCTRINE AND EXPERIMENT

Arthur Edward Waite

Contents:

The Occult Sciences

Preface.

Introduction.

Part I. Definitions.

White Magic. The Evocation Of Angels.

White Magic. The Evocation Of The Spirits Of The Elements.

Black Magic. The Evocation Of Demons.

Necromancy. The Evocation Of The Souls Of The Dead.

Part Ii. Alchemy.

The Elixir Of Life.

Crystallomancy.

The Composition Of Talismans.

Divination.

Aeromancy

Alectromancy

Aleuromancy

Alphitomancy

Amniomancy

Anthropomancy

Arithmomancy

Astragalomancy

Axinomancy

Belomancy

Bibliomancy

Capnomancy

Ceroscopy

Cleidomancy

Dactylomancy

Gastromancy

Hydromancy

Lithomancy

Pyromancy

Myomancy

Onomancy

Onychomancy

Oomancy

The Divining Rod.

Astrology.

Kabbalism.

Part Iii. The Mystics.

The Rosicrucians.

The Freemasons.

Part Iv. Mesmerism.

Modern Spiritualism

Theosophy

The Occult Sciences, A. E. Waite

Jazzybee Verlag Jürgen Beck

86450 Altenmünster, Loschberg 9

Germany

ISBN: 9783849628277

www.jazzybee-verlag.de

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The Occult Sciences

PREFACE.

THE subject of occultism, by which we mean those sciences, called transcendental and magical, a knowledge of which has been transmitted and accumulated in secret, or is contained in books that have an inner or secret meaning, has been very fully dealt with during recent years by various students of eminence. But the works of these well-equipped investigators are, in most instances, unsuited to an elementary reader, and they are all somewhat expensive. It has remained for the results of their studies to be condensed into a portable volume, which shall conduct the inquirer into the vestibule of each branch of " the occult sciences," and place within his reach the proper means of prosecuting his researches further in any desired direction. It is such an unpretending but useful task which we have set ourselves to perform in the present volume, which embraces, as we would claim, in a compressed and digested form, the whole scope of occult knowledge, expressed in the language of a learner.

We have sought as far as possible to distinguish between theory and practice, between facts which it is possible to ascertain and explanations over which views may diverge. We have checked our individual judgments and modified our individual opinions not only by the best authorities in the literature of the several subjects treated, but by the collaboration of many living writers who are specialists in distinct branches of esoteric science. In this respect the book may be accepted as the result of a collective endeavour rather than of an unaided effort, and it will be received with an increased confidence on this ground.

INTRODUCTION.

THE claims of Hermetic philosophy to the consideration of serious thinkers in the nineteenth century are not to be confounded with those merely of an exalted intellectual system, or of a sublime and legitimate aspiration. These may, indeed, be urged in behalf of it with the force of unadulterated truthfulness, but not as the principal point. What the philosophy which is indiscriminately called transcendental. Hermetic, Rosicrucian, mystical, and esoteric or occult, submits in its revived form, to the scrutator of life and her problems as a sufficing and rational cause for its resuscitation, and as an adequate ground for its recognition, is tersely this: — That it comprises an actual, positive, and realizable knowledge concerning the worlds which we denominate invisible, because they transcend the imperfect and rudimentary faculties of a partially developed humanity, and concerning the latent potentialities which constitute, by the fact of their latency, what is termed the interior man. In more strictly philosophical language, the Hermetic science is a method of transcending the phenomenal world, and attaining to the reality which is behind phenomena. At a time when many leaders of thought have substantially abandoned all belief in the existence of intelligence outside of the visible universe, it is almost superfluous to say that the mere claim of the mystics has an irresistible magnetic attraction for those who are conscious that deep down in the heart of every man there exists the hunger after the supernatural.

The mode of transcending the phenomenal world, as taught by the mystics, consists, and to some extent exclusively, of a form of intellectual ascension or development, which is equivalent to a conscious application of selective evolutionary laws by man himself to man.

Those latent faculties which are identified as Psychic Force pass, under this training, into objective life; they become the instruments of communication with the unseen world, and the modes of subsistence which are therein. In other words, the conscious evolution of the individual has germinated a new sense by which he is enabled to appreciate what is inappreciable by the grosser senses.

The powers of the interior man, and the possibility of communication with the unseen, are the subject of historical magic, which is filled with thaumaturgic accounts of experiments with these forces, and of the results of this communication. Whether these alleged occurrences are to be accepted as substantiated facts is not the question on which the enlightened mystic desires to insist. The evidence which supports them may be, and is, important; it may be, and is, overwhelming; but it is not upon the wonders of the Past only that the Hermetic claim is sought to be established, or demands recognition, in the Present. Whatever be the evidential value for the success of the psychic experiments conducted by the investigators of old, they may at least be said to constitute a sufficient ground for a new series of scientific inquiries on the part of those persons who are devoting their intelligence and their energy to the solution of the grand mysteries of existence. Otherwise, the transcendental philosophy would be simply the revival of an archaic faith, and would be wholly unadapted to the necessities of to-day. It should be remembered, however, when speaking of scientific inquiry, that the reference is not confined to the professed scientists of the period, but to all who are capable of exact observation, and can appreciate the momentous character of the issues involved.

The standpoint indeed is this: the successful experiments of the past are capable of repetition in the present, and it is open to those who doubt it to be convinced by individual experience. In one of his most mystical utterances, Christ is recorded to have said that there are those who are eunuchs from their mother's womb, and that there are those who become eunuchs in the interests of the Kingdom of God: so also there are natural magicians and magicians who are the product of art, yet, generally speaking, the magician, unlike the poet, is not born but made, for the same potentialities abide in the whole of humanity, and they can be ultimately developed in all. What is wanted, therefore, is not merely persons possessed of the gifts of clairvoyance, or even of lucidity, of prophetic foresight, or of the equalities called mediumistic, but those who by the nature of their aspirations, and by the help of a favorable environment, are able to apply the arcane laws of evolution to their own interior selves. But there is another and an indispensable condition, namely, the power to distinguish between Hermetic truth and the shameless frauds which have encompassed it from time immemorial. At present, the intellectual world is substantially divided into those who reject esoteric doctrine and practice as unmixedly fraudulent, and those whose credulity identifies its worst impostures and most puerile perversions with its highest forms of truth. Transcendentalism is concerned with the development and application of certain powerful forces resident in the interior man, and as these forces have been developed and applied in various directions, from many motives, and with a multiplicity of ends in view, historical mysticism is very diverse in its character, is often puerile, superstitious, dangerous, malevolent, and obscene, and from its very nature has been always peculiarly liable to the counterfeits of charlatans.

Certain sections of modern mystics have expressed somewhat too freely their indignation against the Christian churches for the abuses and corruptions which they have generated during the undermining process of the ages. Now, the history of no doctrine and of no religion can compare in its abuses and corruptions with that of Magic; for every species of abomination, of " unnatural love and more unnatural hate " have been fostered under the tenebrous wings of the goetic part of mysticism. There, as in other matters, the height of aspiration finds its exact counterpoise in the abysses of spiritual degradation. It is the custom with many to shield occultism from the responsibility of these dishonorable histories by means of transliteral interpretations, just as it is the custom among the more credulous section of spiritualists to cloak every phase of fraud among "mediums" by accrediting the " spirit world " with the impostures of many of those who pose as the avenues of communication between the seen and the unseen. In the current periodical literature of our newest and most elaborated mysticism may be found attempts to erect Cagliostro, the Sicilian mesmerist, into an adept of divine magic, on the plea that a person accepting the notorious facts of his life and character as historical truth, would be adopting a shallow and puerile view. Even the most obvious and direct contradictions which are to be found in the French mystics have been qualified and excused by a separation of the conflicting statements into different planes of thought. In the same manner, at a number of private stances where the non-professional avenues of communication refused all remuneration, and where, as a consequence, the essential element of fraud might be safely deemed wanting, the most incessant and clumsy imposture has been explained by the hypothesis that the unbuyable "avenues" were completely entranced and unconscious, that they were utilized in this manner by the " holy spirit world " in order to economize psychic force, and "form-manifestations" were being witnessed. But nevertheless the transcendental philosophy is the one hope of an age which is sick unto death of its own unprofitable speculations. It asks no faith; it offers a positive knowledge. But it is well that we should recognise the existence and proximity of its darker side. It is well also for all who approach the subject, and desire to preserve the even balance of an unbiased and well-regulated mind, to discount much of the gorgeous claim put forward by modern mystics concerning the antique masters. Hierophants who are supposed by their admirers to have achieved all heights, ought surely to have enjoyed an immunity from the " cosmogonical " ignorance of their age, whereas their writings reveal them as by no means advanced students of physical science. Those who are believed to have stood on the threshold of Deity might have enunciated theological, views of a broader character; nevertheless, we find that in most questions of religion they appear to have adhered to the doctrines which were current at their particular epochs. These facts suggest limitations which will, we fear, be conclusive proof to a large number of thinkers that the achievements of adepts in the past are of a somewhat imaginary nature. However, a comparison of their claims with the known facts of modern psychology will establish the general truth of their statements; and the higher and unexplored possibilities which to-day are indicated by psychic science, and which are known to advanced experimentalists, will be found, on comparison, to be precisely in the direction of the more exalted claims of the mystics. But in spite of the attainments of some brilliant exceptions, there is little reason to suppose that the turba philosophorum, as a whole, did much more than extend our actual psychic experiments — mesmeric, hypnotic, and spiritual — for a marked but a measurable distance beyond ourselves, and that the grand altitudes of occultism, of which we write and dream, were the Promised Land of their own aspirations, and not attained in their lives. "

This being the case, it is better for the present to confine our attention in the main to the repeatable experiments of the mystics. To serious students it is possibly permissible, with excessive discrimination and caution, to extend the circle of investigation to some of the branches of Black Magic (such as the control of evil spirits), knowledge and not gain being the only end in view. The alleged dangers in connection with magical practices are insignificant in comparison with the ends which are to be achieved, and the existing secret brotherhoods, more especially Masonry, which is founded on esoteric doctrine, could be utilized by the mystics in subservience to these ends.

The common presumptions established by modern science against the spiritual nature of man and the existence of spiritual intelligences outside the visible universe, are based on a sharp distinction between the substances respectively denominated material and spiritual, which offers a singular instance of the verbal tyrannies to which we subject our minds. No more abundant source of intellectual misconception and blunder can well be adduced than is comprised in the two words SPIRIT and MATTER. Believers and sceptics alike have exhausted the methods of philosophy in their attempt to establish the two conceptions at antipodean poles of thought. It is now universally admitted that we are exclusively limited to an acquaintance with the appearances of this world which we term material; of matter in its ultimate nature we know nothing whatever. No scientific analysis can throw light upon its eternally inscrutable problem. It is also admitted that, in the intellectual order, man realizes that he is a conscious being by a reflex and not a direct act, and the ultimate nature of the ego is a book permanently sealed. Once more, we are familiar alone with certain modes of manifestation; ever the reality escapes us. It is therefore impossible rationally to establish fundamental distinctions between substances about which we are fundamentally ignorant, and as, for all practical purposes, mind is identical with the vague concept which we denominate spirit, we may enunciate the following axiom with complete truth: — The distinction between matter and spirit is philosophically futile and frivolous. A direct consequence follows; those who affirm the existence of matter and deny spirit may be unconsciously contradicting themselves. Though identified in the common darkness which involves them, it is philosophically impossible, of course, to affirm their substantial identity; therefore reservation of judgment is the only prudent course. This reservation must be, moreover, extended in another and important direction. Seeing that the phenomena called thaumaturgic, magical and spiritual may be simply uninvestigated modes of manifestation in one force infinitely differentiated in the universe, it is unreasonable to deny their possibility on à priori grounds, for the possible modes of manifestation in an ultimately unknown substance cannot be theoretically limited. As a fact, we are unconsciously landed in pure Spinozism, for it is one of the tenets of this grand and singular thinker that matter and mind are but two finite manifestations of one infinite substance, which may be capable of an infinite number of other finite manifestations of which we can and do know nothing. It is outside the present order of inquiry, but these considerations lead us to touch briefly on a still more important subject. The existence of a creative mind exterior to the visible universe, and standing in relation thereto as its almighty author and architect, has been debated for long ages without the possibility having occurred to dialecticians on either side that the efficient cause of matter and mind may be something so totally transcending them both, and equally in nature and substance, that it cannot be identified with either. If the pantheistic identification of deity with the titanic forces of the Cosmos be a narrow and inadequate solution of the mystery of God, the anthropomorphic identification with mind is liable to the same objection.

If there be any philosophic accuracy in this method of reasoning, it follows that by virtue of our absolute and irretrievable ignorance concerning the fundamentals of matter and mind, mere speculations on the problems of life, on the possibility of intellectual subsistence devoid of a physical organism — in other words, on the existence of disembodied humanities, and of hierarchies of spiritual beings above or below humanity — can never ultimate in any solid knowledge; they will ever be speculations only, devoid of conviction and satisfaction. It follows, also, that there is no possible refuge from permanent agnosticism except by a formal act of faith in some system of alleged revelation, or by experimental researches, if possible, into the nature and powers of the mind. But faith is no longer what it was in the days of St Paul, " the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen -, " it is not a source of scientific conviction; it is aspiration formulated as creed; and by its nature it is unable to provide a true intellectual certainty.

It is at this point that the transcendental philosophy appears, and in the name of a thousand histories, and of ten thousand times ten thousand traditions and legends, declares it is possible to know by experimental research that disembodied humanities can and do subsist, that there are hierarchies of intelligence above and below humanity, that in this life, and with this environment, the potentialities of the interior man may be so developed as to put him in communication with forms of intellectual subsistence which transcend his normal mode; that the positive knowledge which is the result of such research can be attained now as it was attained in the past, and that a scientific solution of the problems of life is actually within the limits of every earnest man.

Such are the claims of the Hermetic philosophy, and such is the scientific basis of mysticism. On these claims the spiritual future of the world may be reasonably considered to depend. On this basis, if on any, must the religion of the future be built, if by religion we are to understand the establishment of a vital and vivifying correspondence between that which is highest in man and that which is supreme in the universe. The choice lies between agnosticism and the science of the mystics. If mysticism be a true science, grand and illimitable is the prospect which awaits the psychic man. If it be grounded in superstition and imposture, even from agnosticism itself we may devise a chilly consolation, for so insoluble is the mystery of the universe that no aspiration can be extinguished as wholly impossible of fulfillment; even in the insoluble mystery there is room for a forlorn hope.

PART I. DEFINITIONS.

EVERY branch of the occult or secret sciences maybe included under the word Magic, with the sole exception of astrology, which, important and interesting as it is, can hardly be termed a branch of arcane wisdom, as it depends solely on abstruse astronomical calculations, and on the appreciation of the value of those influences which are supposed to be diffused by the planets and the starry heavens over the lives of nations and individuals. But the doctrines concerning the nature and power of angels, ghosts, and spirits; the methods of evoking and controlling the shades of the dead, elementary spirits, and demons; the composition of talismans; the manufacture of gold by alchemy; all forms of divination, including clairvoyance in the crystal, and all the mysterious calculations which make up kabbalistic science, are all parts of magic. It is necessary to make this statement at the outset to prevent misconception, because in an elementary hand-book it would be clearly a source of confusion to include subjects so apparently distinct under a single generic title; and we have therefore determined to make a few introductory remarks upon magic viewed as a whole, and then to treat each of its branches under special titles which will be readily intelligible to those who are seeking for the first time an acquaintance with the mysteries of the esoteric sciences. The popular significance attached to the term magic diverges widely from the interpretations which are offered by its students. By the term magic, according to the common opinion, there is generally implied one of two things — either that it is the art of producing effects by the operation of causes which are apparently inadequate to their production, and are therefore in apparent defiance of the known order of nature, or that it is the art of evoking spirits,* and of forcing them to perform the bidding of the operator. The second alternative may be practically resolved into the first, for the invocation of invisible intelligences is inseparably connected in the minds of the vulgar with a certain hocus-pocus of preposterous rites and formulae, including the utterance of barbarous and, to them, meaningless words, which certainly appear to be inadequate to produce so stupendous an effect as a direct manifestation from a hidden side of Nature. Now, to establish communication with worlds which are normally beyond our reach is undoubtedly included in the great claims of the magus; and the art of evoking spirits, taken in its true and its highest sense, is the head and crown of Magic; but it is not in fact a violation of immutable natural laws, and the causes which are set in operation by its qualified initiates are really adequate to the effects which are produced, wonderful and incredible as they may appear. The popular conception of Magic, even when it is not identified with the trickeries of imposture and the pranks of the mountebank, is entirely absurd and gross.

* Editor's Note: Four classes of the intelligences called "spirits" are recognised by the science of the magi. There are the Angels who are the offspring of primeval creation, made and not begotten; there are the Devils, or Demons, the angelical hierarchies who fell from their first estate. There are the Elementary Spirits, who inhabit the four elements of ancient physical science, and are divided into Sylphs, Undines, Gnomes, and Salamanders — intelligences who reproduce their species after the manner of mankind. Finally, there are the Souls of departed men and women whose actual locality in the unseen world is variously described. Angels are invoked in the higher branches of white magic, and Demons in the operations of the black art; Elementary Spirits are the classes most easily commanded, and they are the " familiars " of the middle ages. The Souls of the Dead were conjured commonly for the revelation of mundane secrets, occasionally for the disclosure of future events, but most frequently in the interests of bereaved affection.

" Magic, or, more accurately, Magism," says Christian in his Histoire de la Magie, " if anyone would condescend to return to its antique origin, could be no longer confounded with the superstitions which calumniate its memory. Its name is derived to us from the Greek words Magos, a Magician, and Mageia, Magic, which are merely permutations of the terms Mog, Megh, Magh, which in Pehlvi and in Zend, both languages of the eldest East, signify ' priest,' ' wise,' and ' excellent.' It was thence also that, in a period anterior to historic Greece, there originated the Chaldean name Maghdim, which is equivalent to ' supreme wisdom,' or sacred philosophy. Thus, mere etymology indicates that Magic was the synthesis of those sciences once possessed by the Magi or philosophers of India, of Persia, of Chaldea, and of Egypt, who were the priests of nature, the patriarchs of knowledge, and the founders of those vast civilizations whose ruins still maintain, without tottering, the burden of sixty centuries."

Ennemoser, in his " History of Magic " (as translated by Howitt), says: " Among the Parsees, the Medes, and the Egyptians, a higher knowledge of nature was understood by the term Magic, with which religion, and particularly astronomy, were associated. The initiated and their disciples were called Magicians — that is, the Wise — which was also the case among the Greeks. . . . Plato understood by Wisdom nothing less than a worship of the Divinity, and Apuleius says that Magus means, in the Persian language, a priest. . . . India, Persia, Chaldea, and Egypt, were the cradles of the oldest Magic. Zoroaster, Ostanes, the Brahmins, the Chaldean sages, and the Egyptian priests, were the primitive possessors of its secrets. The priestly and sacrificial functions, the healing of the sick, and the preservation of the Secret Wisdom, were the objects of their life. They were either princes themselves, or surrounded princes as their counselors. Justice, truth, and the power of self-sacrifice, were the great qualities with which each one of these must be endowed; and the neglect of any one of these virtues was punished in the most cruel manner."

A theosophical writer who is said to belong to the most advanced school, Dr Franz Hartmann, who is said to be a practical as well as theoretical student, who also lays claim to the successful performance of recondite alchemical experiments by the application of spiritual forces to material things, and who, therefore, should at any rate be competent to provide us with a tolerable definition of his art, has the following assertion at the beginning of one of his books: — " Whatever misinterpretation ancient or modern ignorance may have given to the word Magic, its only true significance is The Highest Science, or Wisdom, based upon knowledge and practical experience." This definition reads an absolute value into a term which it does not historically possess, for though Magic be undoubtedly derived from a word which signifies Wisdom, it is Wisdom as conceived by the Magi to which it is alone equivalent, and so far as philosophy is concerned, magian Wisdom either may or may not be identical with the absolute and eternal Wisdom.

Magic, says Eliphas Levi, is "the traditional science of the secrets of Nature which has come down to us from the Magi," a definition devoid of nonsense, and narrowly escaping perfection, the limitation of the source of esoteric knowledge to the Persian hierarchs being, we think, its sole defect.

By these definitions it is plain that Magic is not merely the art of invoking spirits, and that it is not merely concerned with establishing a communication with other forms of intelligent subsistence in the innumerable spheres of the transcendental. If such invocation be possible, if such communication can be truly established, it is evidently by the intervention of certain occult forces resident in the communicating individual, man. Now, it is reasonable to suppose that the same forces can be applied in other directions, and the synthesis of the methods and processes by which these forces are utilized in the several fields of experiment, combined with a further synthesis of methods and processes by which the latent potentialities of a variety of physical substances are developed into manifest activity, constitutes Magic in the full, perfect, and comprehensive sense of that much abused term.

The maltreatment and odium of centuries has eliminated from the word Magic its original and sublime significance. Once, in the dead language of starry Chaldea, the solemn sanctuary, the cradle, if not the birthplace, of the sciences called transcendental, it was the equivalent of supreme wisdom; once its professors were the priests, the wise, the excellent: but the science is confounded with the impostures which have encompassed its history, and the initiates are identified with the rabble of rogues and charlatans. So it would almost seem as if the term Magic had become a word whose accepted meaning is a libel on the science which it signifies, and a slur on the memory of its grand masters. Fortunately, however, it is not the only term by which that science is described; esoteric wisdom, occult knowledge, the transcendental philosophy and practice are inter-convertible terms which all signify Magic, and are used indiscriminately throughout this volume, less to avoid tautology than to minimize the depreciatory effect of a now debased word by connecting it with the equivalents of its first and true significance.

We have already explained in the Introduction to this work what we conceive to be the objects of the present revival of mysticism, and the exact nature of its claims on the consideration of the nineteenth century. The origin and destiny of Man are the absorbing and vital problems which, in the present age, demand more urgently than ever a complete and satisfactory solution. Such a solution is offered, it is claimed, by Magic. Latent energies, undeveloped faculties, generally unknown possibilities, are affirmed by that science to be actually resident in man. By their effectual evolution it is said that the horizon of his energies and his perceptions can be so enlarged as to extend over a new range of existence. It is demonstrated that his physical envelope is not his real self, that he can transcend it without destroying, while he can establish a direct connection with numberless forms of intelligence who are dissevered from their perishable bodies, and with others of every rank who have never been joined with flesh. The desire of the long ages is promised a complete fulfillment in this sublime programme of an abandoned knowledge.

The psychological experiments of the past masters of mysticism are alleged to have brought them into communication with various classes of intelligences, such as angels, elementary spirits, demons, and the disembodied souls of men. The fundamental principle of this communication was in the exercise of a certain occult force resident in the Magus and strenuously exerted for the establishment of such a correspondence between two planes of Nature as would effect his desired end. This exertion was termed the evocation, conjuration, or calling of the spirit, but that which in reality was raised was the energy of the inner man; tremendously developed and exalted by combined will and aspiration, this energy germinated by sheer force a new intellectual faculty of sensible psychological perception, and enabled the prepared mystic to see into a new world, and communicate with its several populations. To assist and to stimulate this energy into the most powerful possible operation, artificial means were almost invariably used. The ordinary faculties and senses were worked upon, and frequently the narrow line which intervenes between exaltation and frenzy was overstepped in the temerity of the process. The appeal to the senses by a gorgeous and overwhelming ritual, which has been attended with grand success in the hierarchic religions of Christianity, was made also by the hierarchic magic of the past. The synthesis of these methods and processes was called Ceremonial Magic, which in effect was a tremendous forcing-house of the latent faculties of man's spiritual nature. Undoubtedly the end was occasionally accomplished by violent and unnatural means, for intellectual exaltation can be achieved by laudanum and haschisch as much as by divine grace applied to the soul; but the ethical value of the end cannot be impeached by the use of discreditable methods, though the operator may be personally discredited and permanently maimed thereby.

The gospel according to the mystics has, it will be seen, its darker side. As the known forces of modern material science can be used to preserve or destroy, so can the arcane potencies developed by magic be directed to a good or an evil end. In the suggestive language of the alchemists, coals may be turned into gold, but also it is possible to convert the precious metal into coal. We can rise into communion with the exalted understanding of the angels; we can sink into correspondence with the psychic deformities of the devils; we can compose the Universal Medicine and the arcane poison of the second death.

There is white and there is black magic. The lawful application of the arcane forces which are known to esoteric science constitutes White Magic; the lawless and vicious application of the same forces is the Black or infernal Art.

The seat of the law abides in the intention and will of the operator. That which is well meant must eventually work well. Actions must be appraised by their intention and not their effect alone, as the significance of words is extended, contracted, or changed by a reference to their philological origin. Black Magic has two preponderating elements — the diabolical, and the superstitious or absurd. The use of the term diabolical is not to be interpreted in an absolutely theological sense.

The contrast obtained by the epithets white and black may be considered to countenance their use, but such emblematical language has frequently been misapplied. Then we have red magic, which is characterized as the cream of the secret sciences and other fanciful designations.

As this book is by no means intended for an advanced student, but is exclusively addressed to the postulant in the pronaos of the mystical temple, as its information is therefore elementary, although practical, the supreme altitudes of magical science (where the adept passes into the saint, where communication with spiritual intelligences is transcended, and a union is said to be established with the fontal source of souls, with the divine, universal life) are not described herein, and the way of attainment in this transcendental branch is not delineated.

Here it is sufficient to observe that the mystics continually refer to the existence of an absolute and universal science which is not beyond possession by finite man. This divine knowledge is intimately associated with a divine power which may be either developed in man, or with which he may be energized from without. As it is impossible to conclusively determine that such heights have ever been truly scaled, the modern mystic will be unwise to insist on their existence, though he may feel personally assured of the fact.

For merely historical references to Magic among the Arabs, the Romans, the Chinese, the Early Christians, the Egyptians, the Greeks, the Israelites, the Germans, the Laplanders, and the Orientals, the reader is referred to Ennemoser's work, translated by Howitt and published under the title of " The History of Magic." There is also a learned work, translated in 1877 from the French of Lenormant, and called " Chaldean Magic," in which are translated some curious incantations in the cuneiform character. Del Rio's Disquisitionum Magicarum, a volume of 1100 pages, published in 1657, is an early authority, and contains a chapter on Fascination. An antiquarian work called " Narratives of Sorcery and Magic from the most Authentic Sources," was published by Thomas Wright, F.S.A., in 1851. Francis Barrett's " The Magus," an expensively illustrated work printed in 1801, is the work of one who styled himself a " professor " of occult science. In France the writings of Eliphas Levi — especially his Histoire de la Magie, and his Dogme et Rituel de la Haute Magie — are justly esteemed.

Pererius in 1598, Tiedemann in 1787, Freytag in 1710, Christophorus in 1711, have all written tracts on the subject of Magic, which are sometimes met with.

WHITE MAGIC. THE EVOCATION OF ANGELS.

THE highest orders of intelligence known to the Christian mystics, and derived, like their general conceptions of the Cosmos of matter and mind, from their Jewish initiators, were the messengers of Scriptural tradition, who are called in the Greek angelos, and in the Hebrew malak. The ambassadorial office has long been eliminated from our conception of these beings, who, in a condition of ecstatic adoration and in undiversified permanence of beatitude, seem to have survived their raison d'être. According to the Rabbinical commentary on Genesis, written by Rabbi Jacob, the angels have no free will, "for they, being of a pure understanding, and having an inclination to good only, cannot be otherwise than good; " and this is an actual doctrine of the Latin church. Practically, however, the angels of Catholic history and legend, in spite of their consummate perfection, would appear to rejoice in the plenary possession of that freedom which an abstract theology denies them. They respond to invocations, they perform miracles, they garner the prayers of the faithful, they overwatch human beings, and they engage everlastingly in a spiritual warfare with the emissaries of perdition and darkness.

This practical aspect of orthodox angelology corresponds to that of western magic, both being undoubtedly derived from the ancient faith of Israel, which in turn was indebted for the elements of its pneumatic hypotheses to Egypt, Babylon, and Chaldea, whence the doctrine of the Incommunicable Name, with the powers and virtues thereof, was derived by Rabbinical theosophists. The latter evolved out of its diverse combinations a complex hierarchy of intelligence, analogous to the Alexandrian system of successive emanations, differentiated by a downward egression out of the one and eternal substance.

The Incommunicable Name came to be considered a fountain of arcane power, and, by an easy and natural transition, it was at length regarded as the source of life. The letters which composed it were deemed especially prolific in the creations of intelligence, illumination, and harmony. A measure of their power was extended to the entire Hebrew alphabet, which was endowed with an abstruse mystical significance. It is necessary to explain this point in order to understand the angelical doctrines of the Jewish Magi. Each of the alphabetical symbols represented a vital and creative principle resident in the intelligible world. Just as out of the letters of an ordinary alphabet is evolved the vocabulary of a great language, so from the arcane potencies which were signified by the Hebrew signs, the variations of an infinite existence were divinely elaborated. Now, the supposition of an exact correspondence between the arcane potencies in question and the signs by which they were represented, as well as between the inexhaustible vitalities of the Cosmos and the language developed from the signs, constituted the magical character of the Jewish tongue.

In an interesting and valuable manuscript, entitled, " The Cabalistic Science, or the Art to Know the Good Genies," there is the following explanation of the mysteries which are contained in the Hebrew alphabet.

By the sequence of symbols extending from Aleph to Jod was symbolized the Angelical World, or the hierarchy of sovereign intelligences directly derived from the first Eternal Light, and attributed to Jod in first and superior correspondence. By the sequence from Caf to Tsad were represented the several orders of angels who inhabit the visible, or astronomical and astrological worlds, mystically attributed to Jah, each individual sphere being under the special safeguard of a particular presiding intelligence. The sequence from Tsad to Thau is in arcane correspondence with the elementary world, which is attributed by philosophers to Jaho in the paramount order. The destinies of humanity are dispensed in the elementary sphere, and its angelic intelligences preside over animated Nature.

Orthodox Christian theosophy enumerates nine choirs of angelical beings which differ from each other in order and in degree of glory, but are all of the same nature. In the mystical writings attributed to the apostolic Areopagite, an account of these hierarchies is given in an extended form, and it is undoubtedly to this transcendentalist that theology is indebted for the angelical doctrines subsequently developed by S. Thomas. Now the advanced mystic who borrowed the name of Dionysius was indebted in turn to the Kabbalists for his pneumatic hypotheses, as will be seen in the following tabulation of the attributes of the Divine Names, and of the intelligences in correspondence with each of the Hebrew letters.

I. The first letter of the Hebrew alphabet is called Aleph; it is in correspondence with Eheieh, the fontal name of God, which is interpreted as Divine Essence. Its seat is in the world called Ensoph, which signifies Infinity, and its attribute is Keter, the Crown. It rules over the Angels called by the Hebrews Haioth-ha-Kodesch, or The Living Creatures of Holiness, who are otherwise named Seraphim, and constitute the first and supreme choir.

II. The second letter is Beth, and the Divine name which corresponds to it is Bachour, or electus juvenis. It is the sign of the Ophanim, who are the Angels of the second order, and the Cherubim of exoteric theology. By their ministry, Jehovah unfolded and cleared the primordial chaos. The attribute of Bachour is Hocmah, or Divine Wisdom.

III. The third letter is Ghimel. It corresponds to the name Gadol, which signifies Grand or Great, and is assigned to the Angels of the third order whom the Hebrews called Aralym, the mighty and strong. These are the Thrones of the Kabbalists, and the third choir. By their ministry Tetragrammaton Elohim establishes and maintains the form of the Fluidic Matter. Its attribute is Binah, or Intelligence.

IV. The fourth letter is Daleth. It represents the name Dagoul, which is equivalent to Insignis, and it corresponds to the Angels of the Hasmalim, or Angels of the fourth order, who are the Dominions of current theology. By their ministry were elaborated the diverse forms of matter, and especially the human body. Hesed is the attribute of El, and it signifies Mercy and Goodness.

V. The fifth letter is He, which typifies the name Nadour, significant of the majesty of God, and corresponding to the fifth angelical hierarchy, which is the choir of might and power, and its Intelligences are called Powers. By their ministry the elements were evolved by Elohim-Gibor, whose numeration is Pachad, which signifies Fear and Judgment, and whose attribute is Geburah, which signifies Strength and Power.

VI. The sixth letter is Vau, whence is developed the name Vezio, cum splendore; it stands for the Angels of the sixth order, the Malakim, or Virtues, by whose ministry Eloah-Vaudahat produces the metals and other substances which belong to the mineral kingdom. His attribute is Tiphereth, which signifies Beauty and Splendour.

VII. The seventh letter is Zain, which originates the name Zakai, equivalent to pur us, munclus. It corresponds to the Angels of the seventh order, the Kabbalistic Children of Elohim, who are the Principalities of orthodox faith. By their ministry the vegetable kingdom was produced by Tetragrammaton-Sabaoth, whose attribute is Nezah, which, interpreted, is Triumph and Justice.

VIII. The eighth letter is called Cheth. It designates the name Chasid, which is equivalent to misericors. It corresponds to the Angels of the eighth choir, the Bene-Elohim, or Sons of God, who are identical with the archangelical host. By their ministry the animal creation was developed by Elohim-Sabaoth, whose attribute is Hod, which is Praise.

IX. The ninth letter is Teth. It corresponds to Tahor, or the Mundus purus, and to the Cherubim or ninth choir of Angels, who preside at the birth of man and inspire him with the light which is needed to direct him to eternal life. By their ministry are Guardian Angels devoted to the whole of humanity by Shaday and Elhai, whose attribute is the Foundation, or Jesod.

X. The tenth letter is Jod, which gives power to the name Jah, which is equivalent to Deus. It designates the tenth numeration of the Hebrews — Adonay-Melech, or the God-King, whose attributes are the Kingdom, the Temple, and the Empire. Its influences extend to the Issim — strong, happy, and blessed Men, located in the sphere of the spirit. By their ministry, intelligence, industry, and the knowledge of divine things descend as an influx to embodied humanity.

The Angelical World is completed with the tenth letter, but the rest of the Hebrew alphabet corresponds to individual princes of intelligence, governors of innumerable hosts, and severally enacting an important part in the economy of the mystical universe. Mettatron is in correspondence with Caf, the eleventh letter; by his ministry, the sensible world receives deific virtues. He belongs to the first Heaven of the Astronomic World. There is also the final Caf, which corresponds to the Intelligences of the second order, who govern the Heaven of the fixed stars, and especially the zodiacal signs. Their supreme chief is Raziel. Lamed, the twelfth letter, corresponds to the Intelligences of the third Heaven, who preside in the sphere of Saturn. Their lord is Schebtaiel, whose attribute is the Hidden God. Mem, which is the thirteenth letter, corresponds to the fourth Heaven, or sphere of Jupiter. The sovereign Intelligence who governs this planet is called Tsadkiel. There is also the final Mem, which is analogous to the fifth Heaven, or sphere of Mars, with Camael for its supreme Intelligence. He is the strength and fire of God, and presides over many princes. Nun is the fourteenth letter, and corresponds to the sixth Heaven, which is that of the Sun. Now, the first sovereign Intelligence which governs the grand luminary is the splendid and mighty Raphael, the House of God. Nun in its aspect as a final corresponds to the sphere of Venus, which is also the seventh Heaven, and has Haniel for its sovereign lord, who is the love, justice, and grace of God. Samech, the fifteenth letter, corresponds to the eighth Heaven, which is that of the star Mercury, and is governed by Michael. The sixteenth letter is Oin, which is analogous to the ninth Heaven, the sphere of the Moon, governed by the messenger-intelligence Gabriel. The Astrologic and Astronomic worlds finish with this letter, and the succeeding sequence of arcane correspondences is concerned with the Elementary Plane.

Thus Phé, the seventeenth letter of the Hebrew alphabet, has reference to the first of the mystical elements, which is held to be Fire, and its sovereign Intelligence is Seraphim. Phé final corresponds to the Air, which is the abode of the Sylphs, whose lord is Cherubim. Tsadé, the eighteenth letter, has reference to Water, which is the abode of the Nymphs. Now the Queen of the Nymphs is Tharsis. Koph is the nineteenth letter; it is in correspondence with Earth, which is the sphere of the Gnomes, having Ariel for its presiding Intelligence. Resh, which is the twentieth letter, applies to the Animal Kingdom, including Man; Schin corresponds to all vegetable substances, and Tau, the last symbol of the Hebrew alphabet, refers to the world of minerals."

Editor's Note:  In this list, by some mischance, the rulers of the Air and of the Earth have become confused; for Cherubim is usually referred to the latter element, and Ariel to the former.

Besides the celestial hosts, which are enumerated in the above tabulation, the mystical calculus of the Hebrews establishes the existence of other angelical sequences, as, for example, the angels who encompass the Great White Throne, and whose names are entirely extracted from three mysterious verses in the fourteenth chapter of Exodus. Such elaborations of a multitude of titles, by means of Kabbalistic computations, and their endowment with corresponding powers and formal periods of influence, were prized by rabbinical writers as containing the keys of the government of the universe.

It is hardly on their own merits that we have included these speculations in a practical handbook, of occultism, although they are almost venerated by a certain section of modern mystics. But they are vitally important as establishing the exact nature of Kabbalistic conceptions concerning those worlds of invisible intelligences, whose outer fringes are contiguous to our own horizon, of which they had glimpses as we have, but of which they had little real knowledge, and could formulate no adequate hypothesis. The inadequacy of their speculation is embarrassing to believers in the infallibility of the Hebrew mystics, but it offers no obstacle to those who are investigating the actual scope of ancient knowledge concerning the facts of psychology, and can distinguish the landmarks of true experimental progress amidst a wilderness of distraught speculations.

The rites to be used in the conjuration of the more exalted intelligences are found in the "Key of Solomon," an excellent edition of which has been issued by Mr. Mathers. Intelligences of this nature are generically denominated angels, but they often partake of the character of superior elementary spirits, and this is undoubtedly the case with most of those who are supposed to be controlled by the imprecations and threats of the Magus.

An anonymous German work published at Frankfort in 1686, and entitled Theosophia Pneumatica, appears to comprise in a comparatively small space the most satisfactory formulae for the invocation of the supreme angels. A translation in manuscript, made by Dr J. M. Rieder, having recently come into our hands, we have made it the foundation of the citations which follow. Students will perceive that it is somewhat similar to the treatise by Arbatel on " Magic." The classifications and names of the angels, as they exist in this curious work, are not in correspondence with those which have been already given, but as it is acknowledged by the mystics that the true names — which is equivalent to saying, the real and ultimate natures — of all unseen beings are inaccessible to human research, importance should not be ascribed to any of the variations. Titular distinctions in matters of magical practice have little but literary utility. Once in the presence of an angel, it is said, the soul has no need of speech, much less of the ordinary methods of social address.

The magical treatise in question has the common disability of all works of its age and class; its aspirations its intentions, and its practical value as a ritual must be sedulously separated from its crude philosophical setting. Whatever the spiritual knowledge attained by the Magus of old, it was seemingly insufficient to raise him above the intellectual limitations of his time, and it must ever be remembered that the modern scheme of mystical criticism which seeks to account for such obvious philosophical inadequacies as exist in the ancient mystics by assuming that, in spite of superior attainments, they condescended for concealed reasons to countenance current opinions, scientific or religious, is without any actual warrant in known fact.

In " Pneumatic Magic," the names of the angels are classified under the title of Olympian, or Celestial spirits, who abide in the firmament and the supreme constellations: " it is their function to acknowledge the Fata and to administer the inferior destinies. Each Olympic spirit accomplishes and teaches whatsoever is portended by the star in which he is insphered. Yet can he do nothing of his own power, nor without a special command from God.

" There are Seven Stewards of Heaven by whom God is pleased to administrate the world. To wit: — Arathron, Bethor, Phaleg, Och, Hagith, Ophiel, Phul. They are thus called in the Olympian language, and each of them has a numerous army and grand chivalry of the firmament.

Arathron commands over 49 visible regions.

Bethor commands over 42 visible regions.

Phaleg commands over 35 visible regions.

Och commands over 28 visible regions.

Hagith commands over 21 visible regions.

Ophiel commands over 14 visible regions.

Phul commands over 7 visible regions.

"The Olympic Regions are in all one hundred and ninety-six, over which the Seven Stewards extend their policy. The mysteries of these regions and of the firmaments are explained in the sublime science of transcendental astrology, and the means of establishing communication with the powers and principalities therein.

" Arathron appears on a Saturday at the first hour, and gives a true answer for his regions and their inhabitants. So also with all the others, each at his own day and hour, and each presiding over a space of four hundred and ninety years. The functions of Bethor began in the fiftieth year before the birth of Christ, and were extended till the year of Christ 430. Phaleg reigned till A.D. 920; Och till the year 1410; Hagith will govern till A.D. 1900. The others shall follow in succession. These intelligences are the stewards of all the elements, energizing the firmament, and, with their armies, depending from each other in a regular hierarchy.

"The names of the minor Olympian spirits are interpreted in divers ways, but those alone are powerful which they themselves give, which are adapted to the end for which they have been summoned. Generically, they are called Astra, and their power is seldom prolonged beyond one hundred and forty years.

" The heavens and their inhabitants come voluntarily to man and often serve against even the will of man, but how much more if we implore their ministry. That evil and troublesome spirits also approach men is accomplished by the cunning of the devil, at times by conjuration or attraction, and frequently as a penalty for sins; therefore, shall he who would abide in familiarity with celestial intelligences take pains to avoid every serious sin; he shall diligently pray for the protection of God to vanquish the impediments and schemes of Diabolus, and God will ordain that the devil himself shall work to the direct profit of the Theosophist.

" Subject to Divine Providence, some spirits have power over pestilence and famine, some are destroyers of cities, like those of Sodom and Gomorrah, some are rulers over kingdoms, some guardians of provinces, some of a single person. The spirits are the ministers of the word of God, of the Church and its members, or they serve creatures in material things, sometimes to the salvation of soul and body, or, again, to the ruin of both. But nothing, good or bad, is done without knowledge, order, and administration."

Arathron is the celestial spirit of Saturn; he can operate natural things prepared by astrological influences; he may change everything into stone, whether animals or plants; but they will preserve their exterior appearance. He changes treasures into coals and coals into treasures. He gives familiar spirits with definite power. He teaches alchemy, magic, and natural philosophy. He joins men to gnomes and earth spirits. He renders people invisible. He governs fertility and conception; he teaches the discovery of lead, its manipulation, and its change into gold. He teaches the art of curing the smaller animals of their diseases, such as goats, poultry, &c. He gives intelligence of prisoners and of sick people, dispatches ministering spirits, who serve after his own manner, enlarges the understanding, gives excellent advice on all elevating subjects, and is most exact in his calculations.

He must be invoked on a Saturday, at the first hour of sunset in the increasing moon.

Bethor administers the influence of Jupiter; he who can obtain his assistance may rise to the highest dignities; he dispenses treasures, subjects the spirits of the air to the Magus, and gives a true answer. These intelligences carry all things, even precious stones, with marvelous medicines, from one place to another. The spirit of Jupiter gives other ministering spirits of the firmament: he can extend life to seven hundred years, God willing. He has subject to him forty-two kings, thirty-five princes, twenty-eight dukes, one-and-twenty counselors, fourteen servants, seven messengers, and two thousand nine hundred legions of spirits; he instructs judges in the administration of equal justice to the poor as well as to the rich; he inspires his Magus with the love of justice, gives him true vision-haunted dreams, and assists in the attainment of venerable functions and dignities. He gives understanding to the old, even to fools and idiots, strengthens the weak memory, beautifies men under his influence, endows them with eloquence before princes and the great of this world, and makes them gentle, courteous, and noble; he gives a number of serving spirits for various purposes; and he appoints ministering spirits to teach the manufacture of gold from tin. This princely angel is Good Fortune ipsa persona; he dispenses a profusion of gifts, especially of a spiritual kind; his ministers can bring the object of your desires even from India and other lands of the Orient; they teach distillation from various herbs and roots, and the preparation all kinds of physics and spices. This spirit must be adjured on Monday in Pentecost at the first hour of sunrise.

Phales; is the master of matters which are ascribed to Mars, but he is also a prince of peace; whosoever receives his signum is exalted to supreme dignities. He teaches military science and medicine; how to judge and govern well, to find, extract, and manipulate iron, and how to manufacture gold.

He must be called on a Tuesday at the first hour of sunrise, between seven and eight in the morning, and between two and three in the afternoon, during the increasing moon.

Och is a sovereign over things belonging to the sun; he can extend life to six hundred years, insuring constant health and wisdom; he sends the most excellent angels, teaches a perfect medical science, can change anything into the purest gold, gives a purse in which gold grows, prepares the precious metal in the mountains during a long period, by alchemy in a briefer space, and by magic in a single moment. Whosoever receives his sign the kings of the earth must venerate as a divine being. He commands thirty-six thousand five hundred and thirty-six legions of spirits; he alone administers all things; all intelligences serve him. He and his subjects seldom exalt anyone till they have attained middle age, neither can they impart the highest rank, but their advice is excellent in several matters, especially in medicine, including the cure of wounds caused by the bite of a snake, scorpion, or spider.

The spirit of Sol must be invoked on a Sunday morning at sunrise.