Transcendental Magic — Éliphas Lévi

p. 273not seriously injured internally, but had succumbed to asphyxia, occasioned by the rush of air during his fall, or alternatively to the violent shock and to terror. In a parallel case, he who feels conscious of the power and faith necessary for such an accomplishment, must, like the apostle, practise insufflation, mouth to mouth, combined with contact of the extremities for the restoration of warmth.

Were it simply a matter of what the ignorant call miracle, Elias and St Paul, who made use of the same procedure, would simply have spoken in the name of Jehovah or of Christ. It is occasionally enough to take the person by the hand, and raise them quickly, calling them in a loud voice.

This procedure, which commonly succeeds in swoons, may even have effect upon the dead, when the magnetizer who exercises it is endowed with speech powerfully sympathetic and possesses what may be called eloquence of tone.

He must also be tenderly loved or greatly respected by the person on whom he would operate, and he must perform the work with a great burst of faith and will, which we do not always find ourselves to possess in the first shock of a great sorrow.

What is vulgarly called necromancy has nothing in common with resurrection, and it is at least highly doubtful that in operations connected with this application of magical power, we really come into correspondence with the souls of the dead whom we evoke. There are two kinds of necromancy, that of light and that of darkness, the evocation by prayer, pantacle, and perfumes, and the evocation by blood, imprecations, and sacrileges.

We have only practised the first, and advise no one to devote themselves to the second. It is certain that the images of the dead do appear to the magnetized persons who evoke them ; it is certain also that they never reveal any mysteries of the life beyond. They are beheld as they still exist in the memories of those who knew them, and, doubtless, as their reflections have left them impressed on the astral light.

When evoked spectres reply to questions addressed them, it is always by signs or by interior and imaginary impression, never with a voice S 2p. 274which really strikes the ears, and this is comprehensible enough, for how should a shadow speak ? With what instrument could it cause the air to vibrate by impressing it in such a manner as to make distinct sounds ?

At the same time, electrical contacts are experienced from apparitions, and sometimes appear to be produced by the hand of the phantom, but the phenomenon is wholly subjective, and is occasioned solely by the power of imagination and the local wealth of the occult force which we term the astral light.

The proof of this is that spirits, or at least the spectres pretended to be such, may indeed occasionally touch us, but we cannot touch them, and this is one of the most affrighting characteristics of these apparitions, which are at times so real in appearance that we cannot unmoved feel the hand pass through that which seems a body without touching or meeting anything.

We read in ecclesiastical historians that Spiridion, Bishop of Tremithonte, afterwards invoked as a saint, called up the spirit of his daughter, Irene, to ascertain from her the whereabouts of some concealed money which she had taken in charge for a traveller. Swedenborg communicated habitually with the so-called dead, whose forms appeared to him in the astral light.

Several credible persons of our acquaintance have assured us that they have been revisited for years by the dead who were dear to them. The celebrated atheist Sylvanus Marechal manifested to his widow and one of her friends, to acquaint her concerning a sum of 1500 francs which he had concealed in a secret drawer. This anecdote was related to us by an old friend of the family.

Evocations should have always a motive and a becoming end ; otherwise, they are works of darkness and folly, most dangerous for health and reason. To evoke out of pure curiosity, and to find out whether we shall see anything, is to be predisposed to fruitless fatigue. The transcendental sciences admit of neither doubt nor puerility. The permissible motive of an evocation may be either love or 3p. 275intelligence. Evocations of love require less apparatus and are in every respect easier.

The procedure is as follows : We must, in the first place, carefully collect the memorials of him (or her) whom we desire to behold, the articles he used, and on which his impression remains ; we must also prepare an apartment in which the person lived, or otherwise one of similar kind, and place his portrait veiled in white therein, surrounded with his favourite flowers, which must be renewed daily.

A fixed date must then be observed, either the birthday of the person, or that day which was most fortunate for his and our own affection, one of which we may believe that his soul, however blessed elsewhere, cannot lose the remembrance ; this must be the day for the evocation, and we must provide for it during the space of fourteen days.

Throughout this period we must refrain from extending to any one the same proofs of affection which we have the right to expect from the dead ; we must observe strict chastity, live in retreat, and take only one modest and light collation daily. Every evening at the same hour we must shut ourselves in the chamber consecrated to the memory of the lamented person, using only one small light, such as that of a funeral lamp or taper.

This light should be placed behind us, the portrait should be uncovered, and we should remain before it for an hour, in silence ; finally, we should fumigate the apartment with a little good incense, and go out backwards.

On the morning of the day fixed for the evocation, we should adorn ourselves as if for a festival, not salute any one first, make but a single repast of bread, wine, and roots, or fruits ; the cloth should be white, two covers should be laid, and one portion of the bread broken should be set aside ; a little wine should also be placed in the glass of the person we design to invoke.

The meal must be eaten alone in the chamber of evocations, and in presence of the veiled portrait ; it must be all cleared away at the end, except the glass belonging to the dead person, and his portion of bread, which must be placed before the portrait. In the evening,