Transcendental Magic — Éliphas Lévi
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68 THE DOCTEINE OF TRANSCEx \T MAG . , iagical divine triad. Fatality, will, and power, ^h it . triad, which corresponds in things human >c° £he,. \c IiQ'enc Fatality is the inevitable sequence of effecr ^c, ,-, determined order. Will is the directing facif* *& .,, forces for the conciliation of the liberty of pf '. ,, necessity of things. Power is the wise appli^ ,. , which enlists fatality itself in the accomplish -, desires of the sage.
When Moses smote the^,, , ' not create the spring of water, he revealed it tli « because occult science had made it known tc ,, means of the divining rod. It is in like mar miracles of magic ; a law exists, which is igi , vulgar and made use of by the initiate. Occ i often diametrically opposed to common ideas.
'.. , , the crowd believes in the sympathy of thine, , , , alike and in the hostility of things contrary, 1 , opposite which is the true law. It used to be ' nature detests the void, but it should be said , , desires it, were the void not, in physics, the m<^ , of fictions. In all things the vulgar mind hat « shadow for reality, turns its back upon light, ar in the obscurity which it projects itself.
3 nature are at the disposal of one who knows 1, . , , them. Are you master sufficiently of yourseli , , intoxicated ? Then will you direct the terri , o1r ' power of intoxication. If you would maker; . , _ possess them with the desire of drink, but d , of it yourself. That man will dispose of theun ; , who is master of his own. If you would j give.
The world is magnetised by the light OL ^ we are magnetised by the astral light of the which operates in the body of the planet rej us. Within us there are three analogical £ ,. , worlds, as in all nature. it ^^ Man is the microcosm or little world, ant centres the doctrine of analogies, whatsoever is in th is reproduced in the small. Hence we have p. 69of fluidic attraction and projection — the brain, the heart or epigastric region, and the genital organ. Each of these instruments is double — in other words, we find the suggestion of the triad therein. Each attracts on one side and repels on another. It is by means of these apparatuses that we place ourselves in communication with the universal fluid transmitted into us by the nervous system.
These three centres are, moreover, the seat of the threefold magnetic operation, as we shall explain elsewhere. When the magus has attained lucidity, whether through the mediation of a pythoness, or by his own development, he communicates and directs at will the magnetic vibrations in the whole mass of the astral light, the currents of which he divines by means of the magic rod, which is a perfected divining rod.
By the aid of these vibrations he influences the nervous system of persons surrendered to his action, accelerates or suspends the currents of life, soothes or tortures, heals or hurts ; in fine, slays or brings to life. . . . Here, however, we pause in presence of the smile of incredulity. Let us permit it to enjoy the cheap triumph of denying what it does not know.
We shall demonstrate later on that death is always preceded by a lethargic sleep, and only takes place gradually ; that resurrection is possible in certain cases ; that lethargy is a real, but uncompleted, death ; and that the final paroxysm is in many cases subsequent to inhumation. This, however, is not the subject of the present chapter.
We now affirm that a lucid will can act upon the mass of the astral light, and, in concurrence with other wills, which it absorbs and draws along, can determine great and irresistible currents. We say also that the astral light condenses or rarefies in proportion as currents accumulate, more or less, at certain centres.
When it is deficient in the energy required for the support of life, diseases accompanied by sudden decomposition follow, of the kind which baffle physicians. There is no other cause, by example, in the case of cholera-morbus, and the swarms of animalcule observed or supposed by some specialists may be the effect p. 70rather than the cause. Cholera should therefore be treated by insufflation, did not the operator thereby run the chance of an exchange with the patient, which would be very formidable for himself. Every intelligent effort of will is a projection of the human fluid or light, and here it is needful to distinguish the human from the astral light, and animal from universal magnetism.
In making use of the word fluid, we employ an accepted expression, and would make ourselves understood in this manner, but we are far from deciding that the latent light is a fluid. Everything prompts us, on the contrary, to prefer the system of vibrations in the explanation of this phenomenal subject.
However it may be, the light in question, being the instrument of life, cleaves naturally to all living centres, attaches itself to the nucleus of planets, even as to the heart of man — and by the heart we understand magically the great sympathetic — identifying itself with the individual life of the being which it animates, and it is by this quality of sympathetic assimilation that it distributes itself without confusion.
Hence it is terrestrial in its affinity with the sphere of the earth, and human exclusively in its affinity with men. It is for this reason that electricity, caloric, light, and magnetism, produced by ordinary physical means, not only do not originate, but rather tend to neutralise the effects of animal magnetism.
The astral light, subordinated to a blind mechanism, and proceeding from arbitrary automatic centres, is a dead light, and works mathematically, following given impulsions or fatal laws ; the human light is fatal only to the ignorant in chance experiments ; in the seer it is subjected to intelligence, submitted to imagination, and dependent on will. This light, continually projected by the will, constitutes the personal atmospheres of Swedenborg.
The body absorbs what environs it, and radiates perpetually by projecting its influences and invisible molecules ; it is the same with the spirit, so that this phenomenon, by some mystics termed respiration, has really the influence, both physical and moral, which is assigned to it. It is un-
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