Transcendental Magic — Éliphas Lévi
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1 N A THE CANDIDATE DISCIPLINA ENSOPH KETER WHEN a philosopher adopted as the basis for a new apocalypse of human wisdom the axiom : " I think, therefore I am," in a measure he unconsciously altered, from the standpoint of Christian revelation, the old conception of the Supreme Being. I am that I am, said the Being of beings of Moses.
I am he who thinks, says the man of Descartes, and to think being to speak inwardly, this man may affirm like the God of St John the Evangelist : I am he in whom and by whom the word manifests — In prindpio erat verbum. Now, what is a principle ? It is a groundwork of speech, it is a reason for the existence of the word. The essence of the word is in the principle ; the principle is that which is; intelligence is a principle which speaks.
What, further, is intellectual light ? It is speech. What is revelation ? It is also speech ; being is the principle, speech is the means, and the plenitude or development and perfection of being is the end. To speak is to create.
But to say : " I think, therefore I exist," is to argue from consequence to principle, and certain contradictions which have been adduced by a great writer, Lamennais, have abundantly proved the philosophical imperfection of this method. I am, therefore something exists — would appear to us a more primitive and p. 28simple foundation for experimental philosophy, I AM, THEREFORE BEING EXISTS. Ego sum gui sum — such is the first revelation of God in man and of man in the world, while it is also the first axiom of occult philosophy. rrnN 1£>N nviK. Being is being. Hence this philosophy, having that which is for its principle, is in no sense hypothesis or guesswork.
Mercurius Trismegistus begins his admirable symbol, known under the name of the Emerald Table, by this threefold affirmation : It is true, it is certain without error, it is of all truth.
Thus, in physics, the true confirmed by experience ; in philosophy, certitude purged from any alloy of error ; in the domain of religion or the infinite, absolute truth indicated by analogy ; such are the first necessities of true science, and magic only can impart these to its adepts. But you, before all things, who are you, thus taking this work in your hands and proposing to read it ?
On the pediment of a temple consecrated by antiquity to the God of Light was an inscription of two words : " Know thyself. I impress the same counsel on every man when he seeks to approach science. Magic, which the men of old denominated the sanctum regnum, the holy kingdom, or kingdom of God, reynum Dei, exists only for kings and for priests. Are you priests ? Are you kings ?
The priesthood of magic is not a vulgar priesthood, and its royalty enters not into compete tion with the princes of this world. The monarchs of science are the priests of truth, and their sovereignty is hidden from the multitude like their prayers and sacrifices. The kings of science are men who know the truth and the truth has made free, according to the specific promise given by the most mighty of the initiators.
The man who is enslaved by his passions or worldly prejudices can in no wise be initiated ; he must alter or he will never attain; hence he cannot be an adept, for the word signifies a person who has attained by will and by work. The man who loves his own opinions and fears to part with them, who suspects new truths, who is unprepared to doubt p. 29everything rather than admit anything on chance, should close this book ; for him it is useless and dangerous ; he will fail to understand it, and it will trouble him, while if he should divine its meaning, it will be a still greater source of disquietude.
If you hold by anything in the world more than by reason, truth, and justice ; if your will be uncertain and vacillating, either in good or evil ; if logic alarm you, or the naked truth make you blush ; if you are hurt when accepted errors are assailed ; condemn this work straight away ; do not read it ; let it cease to exist for you ; but at the same time do not cry it down as dangerous.
The secrets which it records will be understood by an elect few, and will be held back by those who understand them. Shew light to the birds of the night-time, and you hide their light ; it is the light which blinds them, and for them is more dark than the darkness. I shall therefore speak clearly and make known everything, with the firm conviction that initiates alone, or those who deserve initiation, will read all and understand in part.
There is a true and a false science, a divine magic and an infernal magic — in other words, one which is delusive and darksome ; it is our task to reveal the one and to unveil the other, to distinguish the magician from the sorcerer, and the adept from the charlatan. The magician avails himself of a force which he knows, the sorcerer seeks to abuse a force which he does not understand.
If it be possible in a scientific work to employ a term so vulgar and so discredited, then the devil gives himself to the magician and the sorcerer gives himself to the devil. The magician is the sovereign pontiff of nature, the sorcerer is her profaner only. The sorcerer bears the same relation to the magician that a superstitious and fanatical person bears to a truly religious man. Before advancing further let us tersely define magic.
Magic is the traditional science of the secrets of nature which has been transmitted to us from the magi. By means of this science the adept becomes invested with
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