Transcendental Magic — Éliphas Lévi
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p. 30a species of relative omnipotence and can operate superhumanly — that is, after a manner which transcends the normal possibility of men. Thereby many celebrated hierophants, such as Mercurius Trismegistus, Osiris, Orpheus, Apollonius of Tyana, and others whom it might be dangerous or unwise to name, came after their death to be adored and invoked as gods.
Thereby others also, according to that ebb-and-flow of opinion which is responsible for the caprices of success, became emissaries of infernus or suspected adventurers, like the emperor Julian, Apuleius, the enchanter Merlin, and that arch-sorcerer, as he was termed in his day, the illustrious and unfortunate Cornelius Agrippa.
To attain the sanctum regmim, in other words, the knowledge and power of the magi, there are four indispensable conditions — an intelligence illuminated by study, an intrepidity which nothing can check, a will which nothing can break, and a discretion which nothing can corrupt and nothing intoxicate. To KNOW, TO DARE, TO WILL, TO KEEP SILENCE — such are the four words of the magus, inscribed upon the four symbolical forms of the sphinx.
These four words can be combined after four manners, and explained four times by one another.* On the first page of the Book of Hermes the adept is depicted with a large hat, which, if turned down, would conceal his entire head.
One hand is extended towards heaven, which he seems to command with his rod, while the other is placed upon his breast ; before him are the chief symbols or instruments of science, and he has others hidden in a juggler's wallet. His body and arms form the letter Aleph, the first of the alphabet which the Jews borrowed from the Egyptians ; to this symbol we shall have occasion to recur later on.
The magus is truly what the Hebrew Kabbalists call the Microprosopus, that is, the creator of the little world. The first of all magical sciences being the knowledge of one's self, * See the Tarot cards.
p. 31so is one's own creation first of all works of science; it contains the others, and is the principle of the great work. The term, however, requires explanation.
Supreme reason being the sole invariable and consequently imperishable principle — what we term death being change — hence the intelligence which cleaves closely to this principle and, in a manner, identifies itself therewith, does hereby make itself unchangeable, and, as a result, immortal.
To cleave invariably to reason, it will be understood that it is necessary to attain independence of all those forces which by their fatal and inevitable movement produce the alternatives of life and death. To know how to suffer, to forbear, and to die — such are the first secrets which place us beyond reach of affliction, the desires of the flesh, and the fear of annihilation.
The man who seeks and finds a glorious death has faith in immortality and universal humanity believes in it with him and for him, raising altars and statues to his memory in token of eternal life. Man becomes king of the brutes only by subduing or taming them ; otherwise he will be their victim or slave. Brutes are the type of our passions ; they are the instinctive forces of nature.
The world is a field of battle where liberty struggles with inertia by the opposition of active force. Physical laws are millstones ; if you cannot be the miller you must be the grain. You are called to be king of the air, water, earth, and fire ; but to reign over these four animals of symbolism, it is necessary to conquer and enchain them.
He who aspires to be a sage and to know the great enigma of nature must be the heir and despoiler of the sphinx ; his the human head in order to possess speech, his the eagle's wings in order to scale the heights, his the bull's flanks in order to furrow the depths, his the lion's talons to make a way on the right and the left, before and behind. You, therefore, who seek initiation, are you learned as Faust ? Are you insensible as Job ? No, is it not so ? But you may become equal to both if you will. Have you p. 32overcome the vortices of vague thoughts ? Are you without indecision or capriciousness ? Do you consent to pleasure only when you will, and do you wish for it only when you should ? No, is it not so ? Not invariably at least, but it may become so if you choose. The sphinx has not only a man's head, it has woman's breasts ; do you know how to resist feminine charms ? No, is it not so ?
And you laugh outright in replying, vaunting your moral weakness for the glorification of your physical and vital force. Be it so ; I allow you to render this homage to the ass of Sterne or Apuleius. The ass has its merit, I agree ; it was consecrated to Priapus as was the goat to the god of Mendes. But take it for what it is worth, and decide whether ass or man shall be master.
He alone can possess truly the pleasure of love who has conquered the love of pleasure. To be able and to forbear is to be twice able. Woman enchains you by your desires ; master your desires and you will enchain her. The greatest injury that can be inflicted on a man is to call him a coward. Now, what is a cowardly person ? One who neglects his moral dignity in order to obey blindly the instincts of nature.
As a fact, in the presence of danger it is natural to be afraid and seek flight ; why, then, is it shameful ? Because honour has erected it into a law that we must prefer our duty to our inclinations or fears. What is honour from this point of view ? It is universal presentience of immortality and appreciation of the means which can lead to it.
The last trophy which man can win from death is to triumph over the appetite for life, not by despair, but by a more exalted hope, which is contained in faith, for all that is noble and honest, by the undivided consent of the world. To learn self-conquest is therefore to learn life, and the austerities of stoicism were no vain parade of freedom !
To yield to the forces of nature is to follow the stream of collective life, and to be the slave of secondary causes. To resist and subdue nature is to make one's self a personal and imperishable life ; it is to break free from the vicissitudes of life and death. Every
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