The history of magic : $b including a clear and precise exposition of its procedure, its rites and its mysteriesLévi, Éliphas
Religion
The history of magic : $b including a clear and precise exposition of its procedure, its rites and its mysteries
Lévi, Éliphas
Magic -- History
It is by conformity with the rules of eternal power that man may unite
himself to the creative energy and become creator and preserver in his
turn. God has not limited narrowly the number of rounds on Jacob’s
ladder of light. Whatsoever Nature has constituted inferior to man
is thereby to him made subject: it is for man to extend his domain
in virtue of continual ascent. Length and even perpetuity of life,
the field of air and its storms, the earth and its metallic veins,
light and its wondrous illusions, darkness and the dreams thereof,
death and its ghosts—all these do therefore obey the royal sceptre
of the magi, the shepherd’s staff of Jacob and the terrible wand of
Moses. The adept becomes king of the elements, transmuter of metals,
interpreter of visions, controller of oracles, master of life in fine,
according to the mathematical order of Nature and conformably to the
will of the Supreme Intelligence. This is Magic in all its glory. But
is there anyone who in these days will dare to give credence to such
words? The answer is—those who will study loyally and attain knowledge
frankly. We make no attempt to conceal truth under the veil of parables
or hieroglyphical signs; the time has come when everything should
be told, and we propose to tell everything. It is our intention, in
short, to unveil that ever secret science which, as we have indicated,
is hidden behind the shadows of ancient mysteries, which the Gnostics
betrayed clumsily, or rather disfigured unworthily, which is recognised
dimly under the darkness shrouding the pretended crimes of Templars,
which is met with once again beneath the now impenetrable enigmas of
High-Grade Masonic Rites. We purpose further to bring into open day the
fantastic King of the Sabbath, to expose the very roots of Black Magic
and its frightful realities, long since surrendered to the derision of
the grand-children of Voltaire.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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