An ABC of Witchcraft Past and Present - Doreen Valiente 2018

Four Powers of the Magus

The Four Powers of the Magus are the attributes traditionally necessary for the successful practice of magic. They are: to know, to dare, to will and to be silent. These powers are often called by their Latin names: noscere, audere, velle and tacere.

A little reflection upon this traditional teaching about magic will show the reasoning behind it. None of the powers is sufficient alone in itself; the four powers must be present, balancing each other. Mere knowledge is not enough, without the will or the courage to put it into practice. Nor are will and daring of any avail without the knowledge to back them up. Audacity will not get far, without the will behind it to endure to the end. Will-power must in its turn summon the courage to take the first step. All these are in vain, unless the magician has the discretion to be silent and keep his own counsel. No babblers will ever attain to real magical power.

In fact, it has been said that the fourth power, to be silent, is the most important of all, and the most difficult to attain. Silence is a potency in itself; the silence of the great, timeless desert beneath the stars; the silence of the snow-capped mountains on the roof of the world; the silence within the vaults of the Pyramids. These are the silences of secret treasures, laid up for the initiate. No chatterers or boasters will find them.

People who blab their plans and ideas to everyone disperse their own forces. Occult operations in particular should not be talked about, or they will never come to fruition.

This is the reason why today, even though persecution by Church or State has generally ceased, all serious occult societies, including the Craft of the Wise, keep their innermost teachings and practices secret. It is not, as sensational writers suppose, because orgies of devil worship are going on; but because this is the mystical and magical tradition. Freemasonry observes it also, and defines itself as being, not a secret society, but a society with secrets.

The tradition goes back to the days of the ancient Mystery Cults, when a simple exoteric religion was taught to the general populace; while an esoteric teaching was to be found by those who wished to seek further and had the capacity to understand it. The Master Jesus evidently followed the same principle, when he told his disciples not to cast their pearls before swine or the swine would turn again and rend them.

There is a correspondence between the Four Powers of the Magus and the Four Elements. Noscere, to know, corresponds to air. Audere, to dare, corresponds to water. Velle, to will, corresponds to fire. Tacere, to be silent, corresponds to earth.

Air is the element of Mercury, the ruler of knowledge. Water brings with it the idea of launching boldly upon the waves of uncharted seas. Fire reminds us of the flame of will. Earth conveys the silent strength of rocks and mountains. When all these four are gathered together, there appears the fifth element, spirit; and its correspondence is the fifth power; ire, to go, the power of progression through the universe, the power of evolution.

Because the Sphinx is a representation of the Four Elements, these powers are also sometimes called the Four Powers of the Sphinx.