Transcendental Magic — Éliphas Lévi
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p. 233nervous diseases by word, breath, or contact ; resurrection in certain cases ; resistance of evil wills sufficient to disarm and confound murderers ; even the faculty of making one's self invisible by troubling the sight of those whom it is important to elude ; all this is a natural effect of projecting or withdrawing the astral light.
Thus was Valentius dazzled and terror-struck on entering the temple of Cesarea, even as Heliodorus of old, overcome by a sudden madness in the temple of Jerusalem, believed himself scourged and trampled by angels. Thus also the Admiral de Coligny imposed respect on his assassins, and could only be despatched by a madman who fell upon him with averted head.
What rendered Joan of Arc invariably victorious was the fascination of her faith and the miracle of her audacity ; she paralysed the arms of those who would have assailed her, and the English may have very well been sincere in regarding her as a witch or a sorceress.
As a fact, she was a sorceress unconsciously, herself believing that she acted supernaturally, while she was really disposing of an occult force which is universal and invariably governed by the same laws. The magus-magnetiser should have command of the natural medium, and, consequently, of the astral body by which our soul communicates with our organs. He can say to the material body, " Sleep !
" and to the sidereal body, " Dream I " Thereupon, the aspect of visible things changes, as in haschish-visions. Cagliostro is said to have possessed this power, and he increased its action by means of fumigations and perfumes ; but true magnetic ability should transcend these auxiliaries, all more or less inimical to reason and destructive of health. M.
Ragon, in his learned work on Occult Masonry, gives the recipe for a series of medicaments suitable for the exaltation of somnambulism. It is by no means a knowledge to be despised, but prudent magists should avoid its practice. The astral light is projected by glance, by voice, and by the thumb and palm of the hand. Music is a potent auxiliary of the voice, and hence comes the word enchantp. 234ment. No musical instrument has more enchantment than the human voice, but the far away notes of a violin or harmonica may augment its power. The subject whom it is proposed to overcome is in this way prepared ; then, when he is half-deadened and, as it were, enveloped by the charm, the hands should be extended towards him, he should be commanded to sleep or to see, and he will obey despite himself. Should he resist, a fixed glance must be directed towards him, one thumb must be placed between his eyes and the other on his breast, touching him lightly with a single and swift contact ; the breath must be slowly drawn in and again breathed gently and warmly forth, repeating in a low voice, " Sleep ! " or " See ! "
CHAPTER VII. THE SEPTENARY OF TALISMANS. CEREMONIES, vestments, perfumes, characters and figures, being, as we have stated, necessary to enlist the imagination in the education of the will, the success of magical works depends upon the faithful observation of all the rites, which are in no sense fantastic or arbitrary, having been transmitted to us by antiquity, and permanently subsisting by the essential laws of analogical realisation and of the correspondence which inevitably connects ideas and forms. Having spent many years in consulting and comparing all the most authentic grimoires and magical rituals, we have succeeded, not without labour, in reconstituting the ceremonial of universal and primeval magic. The only serious books which we have seen upon this subject are in manuscript, written in conventional characters which we have deciphered by the help of the polygraphy of Trithemius. The importance of others consists wholly in the hieroglyphs and p. 235symbols which adorn them, the truth of the images being disguised under the superstitious fictions of a mystifying text. Such, for example, is the " Enchiridion " of Pope Leo III., which has never been printed with its true figures, and we have reconstructed it for our own use after an ancient manuscript. The rituals known under the name of the " Clavicles of Solomon " are very numerous.
Many have been printed, while others remain in manuscripts, transcribed with great care. An exceedingly fine and elegantly written example is preserved in the Imperial Library ; it is enriched with pantacles and characters most of which have been reproduced in the magical calendars of Tycho-Brahe and Duchentau. Lastly, there are printed clavicles and grimoires which are catch-penny mystifications and impostures of dishonest publishers.
The book so notorious and •decried formerly under the name of " Little Albert " belongs mainly to the latter category ; some talismanic figures, and some calculations borrowed from Paracelsus, are its only serious parts. In any matter of realisation and ritual, Paracelsus is an imposing magical authority.
No one has accomplished works greater than his, and for that very reason he conceals the virtue of ceremonies and merely teaches in his occult )hilosophy the existence of the magnetic agent of the omnimce of will ; he also sums the whole science of characters two signs, the macrocosmic and microcosmic stars. It fas sufficient for the adepts, and it was important not to litiate the vulgar.
Paracelsus, therefore, did not teach the itual, but he practised, and his practice was a sequence of iracles. We have spoken of the magical importance of the triad id tetrad. Their combination constitutes the great reigious and kabbalistic number which represents the unisynthesis and comprises the sacred septenary.
In le belief of the ancients, the world is governed by seven mdary causes — secundcei, as Trithemius calls them — rhich are the universal forces designated by Moses under
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