Transcendental Magic — Éliphas Lévi
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53 THE TETRAGKAM . ne world ; of Kether, Chochmah, and Binah for the divi^ wQrld . and Tiphereth, Chesed, and Geburah in the mor worldj ^hich, of Jesod, Hod, and Netsah in the physical ie idea of thj together with the moral, is contained in t|e tenth chapter Kingdom or Malchuth, we shall explain in tr this theogony as rational as it is sublime. mancipation by Now, created spirits, being called to e^ege four ordeal, are placed from their birth between t two positive and two negative, and have it i affirm or deny good, to choose life or deaf^e the fixed point, that is, the fixed centre of^ve. ^~£ -niti"ai first problem which is given them to resc ^ begin by conquest must be that of their own libert^'^ sQuth . gome being drawn, some to the north, others togQ far ag ^ are to the right, others to the left ; and in ag(m nQr can they not free, they cannot have the use of reg ^^ unemanci. take flesh otherwise than in animal form! are thoge which the pated spirits, slaves of the four elements/ ^ people the kabbalists call elementary daimons, ajgtate of servitude. elements which correspond to their I therefore really Sylphs, undines, gnomes, and salaman^ &^ ^^ incarexist, some wandering and seeking izwaT vicious and impernate and living on this earth. These i£. fc ^ ^ fifteenth feet men. We shall return to this ~ chapter, which treats of enchantments which the andentg That is also an occult tradition P affeg ^ the worMj were led to admit the existence of ffV. that thege ageg only it was not made known to the ^ four geagong of were successive and were renewed, K dj and it is yet to the year. Thus, the golden age hasl -rifc of prophecv> and come. This, however, belongs to thT wMch ig concerned we shall speak of it in the ninth djwe nQW add the idea of with the initiate and the seer If ^ and separateiv> unity to the tetrad we shall have and anal is> the god the conceptions of the divine ByntH^ Here the doctrine of the initiates and that of the pr<; frQm the domain of the becomes more popular, and passer rveneg abstract ; the grand hierophant irf
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E DOCTRINE OF TRANSCENDENT MAGIC
THE PENTAGEAM GEBURAH ECCE
HEREUNTO we have arid and abstract P°sed the ma^lcal d°Sma in its more we can proclaim woises; n°W enchantments ^gin; now The pentagram sio-nirs and reveal the most secret thingsthe elements and by S the domination of the mind over the air, the spirits oiis sign are enchained the demons of ghosts of earth Equre' the Phantoms of the water> and posed, you may beholcfd Wlth this sign> and suitably dis~ that faculty which is he mfimte through the medium of ministered unto by le-i6 the soul>s e^e' and you wil1 be And now, in the fint" °f ^ and ^ °f fiendS< ciples. There is no i^CQ> let US establlsh certain Prinmany degrees of perfec'sible W°rM; there are> however' coarse and, as it were, 'm in 0^?' Th' ^ iS ^e ' le perishable cortex of the soul.
THE PENTAGRAM The soul can perceive of itself, and independently of the mediation of the physical organs, by means of its sensibility and its diaphane, the things, both spiritual and corporal, which are existent in the universe. Spiritual and corporal are simply terms which express the degrees of tenuity or density in substance.
What is called the imagination within us is only the soul's inherent faculty of assimilating the images and reflections contained in the living light, which is the great magnetic agent. These images and reflections are revelations when science intervenes to reveal us their body or light.
The man of genius differs from the dreamer and the fool in this only, that his creations are analogous to truth, while those of the fool and the dreamer are lost reflections and bewrayed images. Hence, for the wise man, to imagine is to see, as, for the magician, to speak is to create.
Therefore, by means of the imagination, demons and spirits can be beheld really and in truth ; but the imagination of the adept is diaphanous, whilst that of the crowd is opaque ; the light of truth traverses the one as ordinary light passes through a transparent casement, and is refracted by the other as when the ordinary light falls upon a vitreous block full of scoria and foreign matter.
That which most contributes to the errors of the vulgar is the reflection of depraved imaginations one in the other. But the seer, by a positive science, knows that what he imagines is true, and the event invariably confirms his vision. We shall state in the Eitual after what manner this lucidity can be acquired.
It is by means of this light that static visionaries place themselves in communication with all worlds, as so frequently occurred to Swedenborg, who, notwithstanding, was imperfectly lucid, seeing that he did not distinguish reflections from rays, and often intermingled chimerical fancies with his most admirable dreams.
We say dreams, because dream is the consequence of a natural and periodical ecstasy, which we term sleep; to be in ecstasy is to sleep ; magnetic somnambulism is a production and direction of sleep. The errors which occur therein
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