Transcendental Magic — Éliphas Lévi

THE BLAZING PENTAGRAM 227 magical theories, based upon the one dogma of Hermes and on tt^e analogical deductions of science, have been invariably confirmed by the visions of ecstatics and by the convulsions of cataleptics saying that they are possessed with spirits. The G which Freemasons place in the middle of the blazing star signifies GNOSIS and GENERATION, the two sacred words of the ancient Kabbalah.

It signifies also GRAND ARCHI- TECT, for the pentagram on every side represents an A. By placing it in such a way that two of its points are in the ascendant and one is below, we may see the horns, ears and beard of the hierarchic goat of Mendes, when it becomes the sign of infernal evocations.

The allegorical star of the magi is no other than the mysterious pentagram ; and those three kings, sons of Zoroaster, conducted by the blazing star to the cradle of the microcosmic God, are enough in themselves to demonstrate the wholly kabbalistic and truly magical beginnings of Christian doctrine. One of these kings is white, another black, and the third brown.

The white king offers gold, symbol of light and life ; the black king presents myrrh, image of death and of darkness ; the brown king sacrifices incense, emblem of the conciliating doctrine of the two principles. Then they return into their own land by another road, to show that a new cultus is only a new path, conducting man to the one religion, that of the sacred triad and the radiant pentagram, the sole eternal Catholicism.

St John, in the Apocalypse, beholds this same star fall from heaven to earth. It is then called absynth or wormwood, and all the waters of the sea become bitter — striking image of the materialisation of dogma, which produces fanaticism and the acridities of controversy. Then unto Christianity itself may be applied those words of Isaiah : " How hast thou fallen from heaven, bright star, which wast so splendid in thy prime !

" But the pentagram, profaned by men, burns ever unclouded in the right hand of the Word of Truth, and the inspired voice promises to him that overcoineth the possession of the morning

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star — solemn restitution held out to the star of Lucifer. As will be seen, all mysteries of magic, all symbols of the gnosis, all figures of occultism, all kabbalistic keys of prophecy, are summed up in the sign of the pentagram, which Paracelsus proclaims to be the greatest and most potent of all signs. Is there any cause now for astonishment at the conviction of the magus as to the real influence exercised by this sign over the spirits of all hierarchies ? Those who defy the sign of the cross tremble before the star of the microcosm. On the contrary, when he is conscious of failing will, the magus turns his eyes towards this symbol, takes it in his right hand, and feels armed with intellectual omnipotence, provided that he is truly a king, worthy to be conducted by the star to the cradle of divine realisation ; provided that he knows, dares, wills, and keeps silent ; provided that he is familiar with the usages of the pantacle, the cup, the wand, and the sword ; provided, finally, that the intrepid gaze of his soul corresponds to those two eyes which the ascending point of our pentagram ever presents open.

p. 229CHAPTER VI. THE MEDIUM AND MEDIATOR. Two things, as we have already said, are necessary for the acquisition of magical power — the emancipation of the will from all servitude, and its instruction in the art of domination. The sovereign will is represented in our symbols by the woman who crushes the serpent's head, and by the radiant angel who restrains and constrains the dragon with lance and heel.

In this place let us affirm without evasions that the great magical agent — the dual current of light, the living and astral fire of the earth — was represented by the serpent with the head of an ox, goat, or dog, in ancient theogonies. It is the double serpent of the caduceus, the old serpent of Genesis, but it is also the brazen serpent of Moses, twisted round the tau, that is, the generating lingam.

It is, further, the goat of the Sabbath and the Baphomet of the Templars ; it is the Hyle of the Gnostics ; it is the double tail of the serpent which forms the legs of the solar cock of Abraxas. In fine, it is the devil of M.

Eudes de Mirville, and is really the blind force which souls must overcome if they would be free from the chains of earth ; for, unless their will can detach them from this fatal attraction, they will be absorbed in the current by the force which produced them, and will return to the central and eternal fire.

The whole magical work consists, therefore, in our liberation from the folds of the ancient serpent, then in setting a foot upon its head, and leading it where we will. " I will give thee all the kingdoms of the earth, if thou wilt fall down and adore me," said this serpent in the evangelical mythos.

The initiate should make answer : " I will not fall down, and thou shalt crouch at my feet ; nothing shalt thou give me, but I will make use of thee, and will take what I require, for I am thy lord and master" — a reply which, in a veiled manner, is contained in that of the Saviour.