The MagicianMaugham, W. Somerset (William Somerset)
General
The Magician
Maugham, W. Somerset (William Somerset)
Magic -- Fiction; Paris (France) -- Fiction
“Having given the required promise Eliphas Levi was shown a collection
of vestments and of magical instruments. The lady lent him certain
books of which he was in need; and at last, as a result of many
conversations, determined him to attempt at her house the experience of
a complete evocation. He prepared himself for twenty-one days,
scrupulously observing the rules laid down by the Ritual. At length
everything was ready. It was proposed to call forth the phantom of the
divine Apollonius, and to question it upon two matters, one of which
concerned Eliphas Levi and the other, the lady of the crinoline. She
had at first counted on assisting at the evocation with a trustworthy
person, but at the last moment her friend drew back; and as the triad
or unity is rigorously prescribed in magical rites, Eliphas was left
alone. The cabinet prepared for the experiment was situated in a
turret. Four concave mirrors were hung within it, and there was an
altar of white marble, surrounded by a chain of magnetic iron. On it
was engraved the sign of the Pentagram, and this symbol was drawn on
the new, white sheepskin which was stretched beneath. A copper brazier
stood on the altar, with charcoal of alder and of laurel wood, and in
front a second brazier was placed upon a tripod. Eliphas Levi was
clothed in a white robe, longer and more ample than the surplice of a
priest, and he wore upon his head a chaplet of vervain leaves entwined
about a golden chain. In one hand he held a new sword and in the other
the Ritual.”
Susie’s passion for caricature at once asserted itself, and she laughed
as she saw in fancy the portly little Frenchman, with his round, red
face, thus wonderfully attired.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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