第43章

The original requirements for the office of priest, and the rites of magic, were, as shown, a primitive, i.e., pure mind; one that had outgrown the lusts and passions of youth, a person of responsibility and experience; and even to this day the priest of the Roman Church is called by the familiar title of "father." And as Nature does not alter her laws and requirements in obedience to the moral development of the race, we may rest assured that the same requirements, of ten thousand years ago, still hold good to-day.You may enter your magic circle, drawn with prescribed rites, and you may intone your consecrations and chant your incantations; you may burn your incense in the brazen censer and pose in your flowing, priestly robes; you may bear the sacred pentacles of the spirit upon your breast and wave the magic sword to the four quarters of the heavens; yea, you may even do more--you may burn the secret sigil of the objurant spirit;and yell your conjurations and exorcisms till you are black in the face; but all in vain, my friend--all in vain.It will prove nothing but vanity and vexation of spirit unless the inward self, the soul, interblends with the outward Word, and contacting by its own dynamic intensity-- the elemental vibrations of Nature--arouses these spiritual forces to the extent of responding to your call.When this can be done, but not until then, will your magical incantations have any effect upon the voiceless air.Not the priestly robes nor magic sword, not the incantations, WRITTEN WORD, nor mystic circle, can produce Nature's response to Occult rite; but the fire of the inward spirit, the mental realization of each word and mystic sign, combined with the conscious knowledge of your own Deific powers--this, and this only, creates Nature's true magician.

Who and where can such be found? Are they so few that the echo answers back "Where and who?" Yet, there are many such upon the Earth at the present time, but the present mental conditions forbid them making their identity known.They would not be recognized and accepted as the TRUE teachers, but reviled and persecuted and dubbed as insane.But silently, they are sowing the seed of truth that will spring up and bear fruit, where and when least expected.

Because evil is so active, truth is not lying dormant.The spirit of God, that Divine spark of Deity within every human soul, never sleeps, never rests."On and upward" is its cry."Omnia vincit veritas."The grand sublimity of man's conception of at-one with the Infinite Father, at-one with the limitless universe of being, at-one with, and inheriting, all the sacred rights and inalienable prerogatives of the ineffable Adonai of the deathless soul, is the only test of man's qualification for the holy office; for, as Bulwer Lytton has truthfully said, "the loving throb of one great HUMAN HEART will baffle more fiends than all the magicians' lore." So it is with the sacred ritual.One single aspirational thought, clearly defined, outweighs all the priestly trappings that the world has ever seen.

The success of all incarnations depends upon the complete unison of VOICE and MIND, the interblend of which, produces the dynamic intonation, that chords with the inward rhythmic vibrations of the soul.

Once this magical, dynamic, vibration is produced, there immediately springs into being the whole elemental world belonging thereto, by correspondence.Vocalists who hold their audiences spellbound do so by virtue of the magical vibrations they produce, and are in reality practical, even though unconscious, magicians.The same power, to a degree, lies in the voice when speaking, the graceful movement of the hand when obeying the will, and the eye rays forth the same dynamic power and becomes magical in its effects.

These powers are exercised more upon the physical plane, and no better illustration can be given, than, the power man is able to exert over the animal when gazing into its eyes.

Here, as well as in incantations and invocations, within the power of the will, lies the success or failure.

At this point it may be asked, what, then, is the use of magical rites, of symbols and priestly robes? We answer, in themselves alone, nothing, absolutely nothing, except the facility and convenience we derive from system, order and a code of procedure.To this may be added the mental force and enthusiasm of soul which such things inspire, just as men and women may feel more dignified, artistic, and refined, when dressed in accordance with their ideas.So may the average priest feel more priestly, holy; and consequently, more powerful mentally; when arrayed in the robes of his office and surrounded by the outward symbols of his power and functions.But, in themselves alone, there is not, nor can there be, any real virtue.The same may be said of the incantations.The words used in their composition are the hieroglyphics of mystical ideas.Therefore, the correct pronunciation of the words or the grammatical construction of a sentence is nothing, if the underlying idea is conceived in the mind and responded to by the soul.Will and motive form the basis of true magic.

One word more and we have completed our subject.Magic swords, rings, pentacles, and wands, may, and often are powerful magical agents in the hands of the magician, by virtue of the power, or charm, that is invested within them when properly prepared; but apart from such preparation, by those who know, they are as powerless as unintelligible incantations.

All the foregoing are aids, but if physical manifestations of magical forces be required, there must always be present the necessary vital, magnetic pabulum, by means of which such phenomena are made to transpire; and in every case, to be successful, the assistance of a good natural magician, or seer, is necessary; for without this essential element the whole art, in its higher aspects, becomes abortive.