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of genius differ from simple seers by their faculty of communicating sensibly to
others that which they themselves perceive, and of making themselves believed by
the force of enthusiasm and sympathy. Such persons are the media of the Divine
Word.
Let us now specify the manner in which visions operate. All forms correspond
to ideas, and there is no idea which has not its proper and peculiar form. The pri-
mordial light, which is the vehicle of all ideas, is the mother of all forms, and
transmits them from emanation to emanation, merely diminished or modified
26 The Doctrine of Transcendental Magic
according to the density of the media. Secondary forms are reflections which
return to the font of the emanated light. The forms of objects, being a modifica-
tion of light, remain in the light where the reflection consigns them. Hence the
Astral Light, or terrestrial fluid, which we call the Great Magnetic Agent, is satu-
rated with all kinds of images or reflections. Now, our soul can evoke these, and
subject them to its DIAPHANE, as the Kabalists term it. Such images are always
present before us, and are effaced only by the more powerful impressions of real-
ity during waking hours, or by preoccupation of the mind, which makes our
imagination inattentive to the fluidic panorama of the Astral Light. When we
sleep, this spectacle presents itself spontaneously before us, and in this way
dreams are produced dreams vague and incoherent if some governing will do
not remain active during the sleep, giving, even unconsciously to our intelligence,
a direction to the dream, which then transforms into vision. Animal Magnetism is
nothing but an artificial sleep produced by the voluntary or enforced union of two
wills, one of which is awake while the other slumbers that is, one of which
directs the other in the choice of reflections for the transformation of dreams into
visions and the attainment of truth by means of images. Thus, somnambulists do
not actually travel to the place where they are sent by the magnetizer; they evoke
its images in the Astral Light and can behold nothing which does not exist in that
light. The Astral Light has a direct action on the nerves, which are its conductors
in the animal economy, transmitting it to the brain. It follows that, in a state of
somnambulism, it is possible to see by means of the nerves, without being depen-
dent on radiant light, the astral fluid being a latent light, in the same way that
physics recognize the existence of a latent caloric.
Magnetism between two persons is certainly a wonderful discovery, but the
magnetizing of a person by himself, awakening his own lucidity and directing it
himself at will, is the perfection of magical art. The secret of this Great Work does
not remain for discovery; it has been known and practised by a great number of
initiates, above all by the celebrated Apollonius of Tyana, who has left a theory
concerning it, as we shall see in the Ritual . The secret of magnetic lucidity and
the direction of the phenomena of magnetism depend on two things agreement
of minds and complete union of wills, in a direction which is possible and deter-
mined by science. This is for the operation of magnetism between two or more
persons. Solitary magnetism requires preparations of which we have spoken in,
our initial chapter, when enumerating and establishing in all their difficulty the
essential qualities of a veritable adept. In the following chapters we shall elucidate
further this important and fundamental point.
The empire of will over the Astral Light, which is the physical soul of the four
elements, is represented in Magic, by the Pentagram, placed at the head of this
chapter.
The elementary spirits are subservient to this sign when employed with under-
THE PENTAGRAM 27
standing, and by placing it in the circle or on the table of evocations, they can be
rendered tractable, which is magically called their imprisonment. Let us explain
this marvel briefly. All created beings communicate with one another by signs,
and all adhere to a certain number of truths expressed by determinate forms. The
perfection of forms increases in proportion to the emancipation of spirits, and
those that are not overweighted by the chains of matter, recognize by intuition out
of hand whether a sign is the expression of a real power or of a precipitate will.
The intelligence of the wise man therefore gives value to his pantacle, as science
gives weight to his will, and spirits comprehend this power immediately. Thus, by
means of the Pentagram, spirits can be forced to appear in vision, whether in the
waking or sleeping state, BY THEMSELVES LEADING BEFORE OUR DIAPHANE THEIR
REFLECTION, WHICH EXISTS IN THE ASTRAL LIGHT, IF THEY HAVE LIVED, OR A
REFLECTION ANALOGOUS TO THEIR SPIRITUAL LOGOS IF THEY HAVE NOT LIVED ON
EARTH. This explains all visions, and accounts for the dead invariably appearing
to seers, either such as they were upon earth, or such as they are in the grave,
never as they subsist in a condition which escapes the perceptions of our actual
organism.
Pregnant women are influenced more than others by the Astral Light, which
concurs in the formation of the child, and offers them incessant reminiscences of
the forms that abound therein. This explains how it is that women of the highest
virtue deceive the malignity of observers by equivocal resemblances. On the fruit
of their marriage they impress frequently an image which has struck them in
dream, and it is thus that the same physiognomies are perpetuated from genera-
tion to generation. The kabalistic usage of the Pentagram can determine therefore
the appearance of unborn children, and an initiated woman might endow her son
with the characteristics of Nero or Achilles, with those of Louis XIV or Napoleon.
We shall indicate the method in our Ritual .
The Pentagram is called in Kabalah the Sign of the Microcosm, that sign so
exalted by Goethe in the beautiful monologue of Faust:
Ah, how do all my senses leap at this sight! I feel the young and sacred
pleasure of life quivering in my nerves and veins. Was it a God who traced
this sign which stills the vertigo of my soul, fills my poor heart with joy and,
in a mysterious rapture, unveils the forces of Nature around me? Am I
myself a God? All is so clear to me: I behold in these simple lines the revela-
tion of active Nature to my soul. I realise for the first time the truth of the
wise man's words: The world of spirits is not closed! Thy sense is obtuse, thy
heart is dead! Arise! Bathe, O adept of science, thy breast, still enveloped by
an earthly veil, in the splendours of the dawning day! (Faust, Part i. sc. I.)
On 24 July in the year 1854, the author of this book, Eliphas Levi, made an
28 The Doctrine of Transcendental Magic
experiment of evocation with the Pentagram, after due preparation according to
all the Ceremonies indicated in the thirteenth chapter of the Ritual . The success
of this experiment, details of which, as regards its principles, will be found in the
corresponding chapter of the present doctrinal part, establishes a new pathologi-
cal fact, which men of true science will admit without difficulty. The experience,
repeated even to a third time, gave results truly extraordinary, but positive and
unmixed with hallucination. We invite sceptics to make a conscientious and intel-
ligent trial on their own part before shrugging their shoulders and smiling. The
figure of the Pentagram, completed in accordance with science and used by the
author in his experiment, is that which is found at the head of this chapter, and it
is more perfect than any in the Keys of Solomon or in the Magical Calendars of
Tycho Brahe and Duchentau. We must remark, however, that the use of the Pen-
tagram is most dangerous for operators who are not in possession of its complete
and perfect understanding. The direction of the points of the star is in no sense
arbitrary, and may change the entire character of an operation, as we shall
explain in the Ritual .
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