Dogma and Ritual of High Magic Part II - Eliphas Levi 1896

The Medium and Mediator

Two things, as we have shown, are necessary for the acquisition of magical power - the emancipation of will from servitude and its instruction in the art of domination. The sovereign will is represented in our symbols by the Woman who crushes the serpent's head and by the radiant angel who restrains and constrains the dragon with lance and heel. In this place let us affirm without evasion that the Great Magical Agent - the double current of light, the living and astral fire of the earth - was represented by the serpent with the head of an ox, goat or dog, in ancient theogonies. It is the dual serpent of the caduceus, the old serpent of Genesis, but it is also the brazen serpent of Moses, twined about the Tau, that is, the generating lingam. It is, moreover, the Goat of the Sabbath and the Baphomet of the Templars; it is the Hyle of the Gnostics; it is the double tail of the serpent which forms the legs of the solar cock of Abraxas. In fine, it is the devil of M. Eudes de Mirville and is really that blind force which souls must overcome if they would be freed from the chains of earth; for, unless their will can detach them from this fatal attraction, they will be absorbed in the current by the force which produced them, and will return to the central and eternal fire. The whole magical work consists therefore in our liberation from the folds of the ancient serpent, then in setting foot upon its head and leading it where we will. “I will give thee all the kingdoms of the earth, if thou wilt fall down and adore me,” said this serpent in the evangelical mythos. The initiate should make answer: “I will not kneel to thee, but thou shalt crouch at my feet; nothing shalt thou give me, but I will make use of thee, and will take that which I need, for I am thy lord and master” - a reply which, in a veiled manner, is contained in that of the Saviour.

We have said that there is no personal devil. It is a misdirected force, as the name indicates. An odic or magnetic current, formed by a chain of perverse wills, constitutes this evil spirit, which the Gospel calls legion, and this it is which precipitated the swine into the sea - another allegory of the attraction exercised on beings of inferior instincts by blind forces that can be put in operation by error and evil will. This symbol may be compared with that of the comrades of Ulysses transformed into swine by the sorceress Circe. Remark what was done by Ulysses to preserve himself and deliver his associates: he refused the cup of the enchantress and commanded her with the sword. Circe is Nature, with all her delights and allurements: we must overcome her in order to enjoy. Such is the significance of the Homeric fable, for the poems of Homer, those true sacred books of ancient Hellas, contain all the mysteries of high Eastern initiation.

The natural medium is therefore the ever active and ever seducing serpent of idle wills, which we must withstand by continual subjugation. Amorous, gluttonous, passionate, or idle magicians are impossible monstrosities. The Magus thinks and wills; he loves nothing with desire; he rejects nothing in passion. The latter word signifies a passive state, and the Magus is invariably active, invariably victorious. The attainment of this realization is the crux of the transcendent sciences: so when the Magus accomplishes his own creation, the Great work is fulfilled, at least as concerns cause and instrument. The Great Agent or natural mediator of human omnipotence cannot be overcome or directed save by an extra-natural mediator, which is an emancipated will. Archimedes postulated a fulcrum outside the world in order to raise the world. The fulcrum of the Magus is the intellectual cubic stone, the Philosophical Stone of AzOTH - that is, the doctrine of absolute reason and universal harmonies by the sympathy of contraries.

One of our most fertile writers, and one of those who are least fixed in their ideas, M. Eugene Sue, has founded a vast romance-epic upon an individuality whom he strives to render odious, who becomes interesting against the will of the novelist, so abundantly does he gift him with patience, audacity, intelligence and genius. We are in the presence of a kind of Sixtus V - poor, temperate, passionless, holding the entire world entangled in the web of his skilful combinations. This man excites at will the passions of his enemies, destroys them by means of one another, invariably reaches the point of view, and this without noise, without ostentation and without imposture. His object is to free the world of a society which the author of the book believes to be dangerous and malignant, and to attain it no cost is too great. Rodin is ill lodged, ill clothed, nourished like the refuse of humanity, but ever fixed upon his work. Consistently with his intention, the author depicts him as wretched, filthy, hideous, repulsive to the touch and horrible to the sight. But supposing this very exterior is a means of disguising the enterprise and so of more surely attaining it, is it not proof positive of sublime courage? When Rodin becomes pope, do you think that he will be ill clothed and dirty? Hence M. Eugene Sue has missed his point; his object was to deride superstition and fanaticism, but that which he attacks is intelligence, strength, genius, the most signal human virtues. Were there many more Rodins among the Jesuits, were there one even, I would not give much for the success of the opposite party, in spite of the brilliant and maladroit special pleadings of its illustrious advocates.

To will well, to will long, to will always, but never to lust after anything, such is the secret of power, and this is the Magical Arcanum which Tasso brings forward in the persons of the two knights who come to deliver Rinaldo and to destroy the enchantments of Armida. They withstand equally the most alluring nymphs and most terrible wild beasts. They remain without desires and without fear, and hence they attain their end. Does it follow from this that a true magician inspires more fear than love? I do not deny it, and while recognizing abundantly how sweet are the attractions of life, while doing full justice to the gracious genius of Anacreon and to all the youthful efflorescence of the poetry of love, I invite the estimable votaries of pleasure to regard the transcendental sciences merely as a matter of curiosity and never to approach the magical tripod: the great works of science are mortal to sense-enjoyment.

The man who has escaped from the chain of instincts will first of all realize his omnipotence by the obedience of animals. The history of Daniel in the lions den is no fable, and more than once, during the persecutions of infant Christianity, this phenomenon recurred in the presence of the whole Roman people. A man seldom has anything to fear from an animal of which he is not afraid. The bullets of Jules Gerard, the lion-killer, are magical and intelligent. Only once did he run a real danger; he allowed a timid companion to accompany him, and, looking upon this imprudent person as lost beforehand, he also was afraid, not for himself but for his comrade. Many persons will say that it is difficult and even impossible to attain such resolution, that strength in volition and energy in character are natural gifts. I do not dispute it, but I would point out also that habit can reform nature; volition can be perfected by education, and, as intimated otherwise, all magical, like all religious, ceremonial has no other end but thus to test, exercise and habituate the will by perseverance and by force. The more difficult and laborious the exercises, the greater their effect, as we have now advanced far enough to see.

If it have been hitherto impossible to direct the phenomena of magnetism, it is because an initiated and truly emancipated operator has not yet appeared. Who can boast that he is such? Have we not ever new self-conquests to make? At the same time, it is certain that Nature will obey the sign and word of one who is strong enough to be convinced that she will. I say that Nature will obey; I do not say that she will belie herself or disturb the order of her possibilities. The healing of nervous diseases by word, breath, or contact; resurrection in certain cases; resistance of evil wills sufficient to disarm and confound murderers; even the faculty of making one's self invisible by confusing the sight of those whom it is important to elude - all this is a natural effect of projecting or withdrawing the Astral Light. Thus was Valentius dazzled and terror-struck on entering the temple of Cesarea, even as Heliodorus of old, overwhelmed by a sudden madness in the temple of Jerusalem, believed himself scourged and trampled by angels. Thus also the Admiral de Coligny imposed respect on his assassins and could only be despatched by a madman who fell upon him with averted face. What rendered Joan of Arc invariably victorious was the fascination of her faith and the miracle of her audacity; she paralysed the arms of those who would have assailed her, and the English may have very well been sincere in regarding her as a witch or a sorceress. As a fact, she was a sorceress unconsciously, herself believing that she acted supernaturally, while she was really disposing of an occult force which is universal and invariably governed by the same laws.

The Magus-magnetizer should have command of the natural medium, and consequently of that astral body by which our soul communicates with our organs. He must say to the material body, “Sleep!” and to the sidereal body, “Dream!” Thereupon, the aspect of visible things changes, as in hashish-visions. Cagliostro is thought to have possessed this power, and he increased its action by means of fumigations and perfumes; but true magnetic ability should transcend these auxiliaries, all more or less inimical to reason and destructive of health? M. Ragon, in his learned work on Occult Masonry, gives the recipe for a series of medicaments calculated to induce the exaltation of somnambulism. It is by no means a knowledge to be despised, but prudent magists should avoid its practice.

The Astral Light is projected by glance, by voice, and by the thumb and palm of the hand. Music is a potent auxiliary of the voice, and hence comes the word enchantment. No musical instrument is more bewitching than the human voice, but the far-away notes of a violin or harmonica may augment its power. The patient whom it is proposed to subjugate is prepared in this way; and when he is half-stupefied, as it were, enveloped by the charm, the hands should be extended towards him; he should be commanded to sleep or to see, and he will obey despite himself. Should he resist, a fixed glance must be directed towards him, one thumb placed between his eyes and the other on his breast, so touching him lightly with a single and swift contact; the breath must be slowly drawn in and again breathed gently and warmly forth, repeating in a low voice, “Sleep!” or “See!”