The Art & Meaning of Magic

[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]

Sephirotic universe. In fact, it affirms the soul's essential identity with the collective consciousness
of the whole of mankind.
If one attempted a further analysis, the Hebrew Word Atoh, meaning "Thou", would refer to the
divine white brilliance, the higher Self overshadowing each man. By drawing down the Light to the
pit of the stomach--which symbolically represents the feet, since to bend down to the feet would
make an awkward gesture--the vertical shaft of a cross of Light is established in the imagination.
The horizontal shaft is affirmed by touching both the shoulders, and vibrating words which state that
the qualities of the higher self include both power and majesty, severity and loving-kindness.
Equilibrium is the especial characteristic of the cross as a particular symbol, and the tracing of the
Qabalistic Cross within the aura affirms the descent of the spirit and its equilibrium within
consciousness or within the magical sphere. This meaning is further emphasised by the gesture of
clasping the hands over the Tipharas centre, the heart place of harmony and balance, and saying
le-Olahm, Amen, forever.
The Sanskrit word Sattva implies purity and rhythm and harmony, and of the three Gunas or qualities
refers to Spirit. Similarly in the Western equivalent of this schema, Alchemy, the three qualities are
correspondences of the three major Alchemical principles, Salt, Sulphur and Mercury. Of these the
Universal Mercury is an attribution of Keser--that holy angel who is the divine guardian and
Watcher, overshadowing the soul of man, ever awaiting an ordered approach so that its vehicle may
be lifted up to its own glory. There is here, then, a very great resemblance between the Tibetan
devotional exercise and that which is enjoined as one of the most important practices of the
Qabalistic Magic of the Occidental tradition.
In that section of the book where Waddell describes the Lamaistic celebration of the Eucharist,
another important parallelism is to be found. It describes how the priest or lama who conducts the
ceremony is obliged to have purified himself during the greater part of the preceding twenty four
hours by ceremonial bathing, and by having uplifted his mind through continual repetition of mantras
or invocations. The actual description of the inner or magical aspect of the ritual, while not
particularly well stated, is given for what it is worth: "Everything being ready and the congregation
assembled, the priest, ceremonially pure by the ascetic rites above noted, and dressed in robe and
mantle, abstracts from the great image of the Buddha Amitayus part of the divine essence of that
deity, by placing the vajra of his rdor jehi t'ag upon the nectar vase which the image of Amitayus
holds in his lamp, and applying the other end to his own bosom, over his heart. Thus, through the
string, as by a telegraph wire passes the divine spirit, and the Lama must mentally conceive that his
heart is in actual union with that of the god Amitayus and that, for the time being, he is himself that
god."
MAGIC IN EAST AND WEST 17
Israel Regardie: The Art Meaning of Magic
After this meditation, the rice-offerings and the fluid in a special vase are consecrated by very
"fierce" invocations and cymbal music. Then the consecrated food and water is partaken of by the
assembly.
From the theurgic viewpoint the rationale of the Eucharist is quite simple. There may be innumerable
types of Eucharist, all having different ends in view. A substance is chosen having a special affinity
according to the doctrine of sympathies for a particular kind of spiritual force or god and
ceremonially consecrated. Thus a wheaten wafer is of the substance of the Corn-goddess, attributed
either to the powers of Venus, or to the element of Earth, presided over by Ceres or Persephone.
Penetrative oils would be specially referred to the element of Fire, the tutelary deity of which is
Horus. Olives would be sacred to the force represented by the astrological sign Aquarius, the element
Air, and the goddess Hathor. And wine is referred to Dionysius and the solar gods generally, Osiris,
Ra, etc. By an elaborate table of correspondences it is possible to select any substance to be the
physical basis for the manifestation of a spiritual idea. The consecration, ceremonially, of the
material basis by means of an invocation of the divine force accomplishes what is vulgarly called the
miracle of transubstantiation. To use more preferable magical terminology, the substance is
transformed from a dead inert body into a living organism, a talisman in short. The consecration
charges it and gives it a soul, as it were.
At this juncture, I must register my emphatic disagreement with those writers on science and Magic
who impressed unduly or in the wrong way by modern psychology, explain the effect of a talisman
as due entirely to suggestion. This is sheer nonsense. And I can only assume that whoever makes this [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]

Tematy