Transcendental Magic — Éliphas Lévi
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HERE ENDS THE RITUAL OF TRANSCENDENT MAGIC.
SUPPLEMENT TO THE RITUAL
THE NTJCTEMERON OF APOLLONIUS OF TYANA The Greek text was first published after an ancient manuscript, by Gilbert Gautrinus, in De Vita et Morte Moysis, Lib. III., p. 206 ; and subsequently reproduced by Laurent Moshemius in his Sacred and Historico-Oitical Observations. Amsterdam, 1721. Translated and interpreted for the first time by £liphas Le"vi. NUCTEMERON signifies the day of the night or the night illumined by day. It is analogous to the " Light Issuing from Darkness," which is the title of a well-known Hermetic work. It may also be translated THE LIGHT OF OCCULTISM. This monument of transcendent Assyrian magic is sufficiently curious to make it superfluous to enlarge on its importance. We have not merely evoked Apollonius, we have possibly resuscitated him.
THE NUCTEMERON The First Hour. In unity, the demons chant the praises of God ; they lose their malice and fury. The Second Hour. By the duad, the Zodiacal fish chant the praises of God ; the fiery serpents interlace about the caduceus, and the lightning becomes liarmon, ous. The Third Hour. The serpents of the Hermetic caduceus entwine three times ; Cerberus opens his triple jaw, and fire chants the praises of God with the three tongues of the lightning. 387
p. 388The Fourth Hour. At the fourth hour the soul revisits the tombs ; the magical lamps are lighted at the four corners of the circle ; it is the time of enchantments and illusions. The Fifth Hour. The voice of the great waters celebrates the God of the heavenly
The Sixth Hour. The spirit believes itself immovable ; it beholds the infernal monsters swarm down upon it, and does not fear. The Seventh Hour. A fire, which imparts life to all animated beings, is directed by the will of pure men. The initiate stretches forth his hand, and pains are assuaged. The Eighth Hour.
The stars utter speech to one another ; the soul of the suns corresponds with the exhalation of the flowers ; chains of harmony create correspondence between all natural things. The Ninth Hour. The number which must not be divulged. The Tenth Hour. The key of the astronomical cycle and of the circular movement of human life. The Eleventh Hour.
The wings of the genii move with a mysterious and deep murmur ; they fly from sphere to sphere, and bear the messages of God from world to world. The Twelfth Hour. The works of the light eternal are fulfilled by fire. EXPLANATION THESE twelve symbolical hours, analogous to the signs of the magical Zodiac and to the allegorical labours of Hercules, represent the schedule of the works of initiation.
It is necessary therefore (1) To overcome evil passions, and, according to the expression of the wise Hierophant, compel p. 389the demons themselves to praise God. (2) To study the balanced forces of nature, and know how harmony results from the analogy of contraries ; to know also the great magical agent and the twofold polarisation of the universal light. (3) To gain initiation into the triadic principle of all theogonies and all religious symbols. (4) To know how to overcome all phantoms of imagination, and triumph over all illusions. (5) To understand after what manner universal harmony is produced in the centre of the four elementary forces. (6) To become inaccessible to fear. (7) To practise the direction of the magnetic light. (8) To learn prevision of effects by the calculus of the balance of causes. (9) To understand the hierarchy of instruction, to respect the mysteries of dogma, and to keep silence in presence of the profane. (10) To study astronomy exhaustively. (11) To become initiated by analogy into the laws of universal life and intelligence. (12) To fulfil the great works of nature by direction of the light.
Here follow the names and attributions of the genii who preside over the twelve hours of the ISTuctemeron. By these genii the ancient hierophants understood neither angels nor demons, but moral forces or personified virtues. Genii of the First Hour. PAPUS, physician. SINBUCK, judge. KASPHUIA, necromancer. ZAHUN, genius of scandal. HEIGLOT, genius of snowstorms. MIZKUN, genius of amulets. HAVEN, genius of dignity. Explanation.
Wj must become the physician and judge of ourselves in order to vanquish the witchcrafts of the necromancer, conjure and contemn the genius of scandal, triumph over the opinion which freezes all enthusiasms, and confounds everything in the same cold pallor, like the genius of the snowstorms; know, finally, the virtue of signs so as to enchain the
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