Abstracted from Magick in Theory and Practice by Aleister Crowley
I) DEFINITION
Magick is the Science and Art of causing Change to occur in conformity with Will.
Illustration: It is my Will to inform the World of certain facts within
my knowledge. I therefore take
"magickal weapons", pen, ink, and paper; I write "incantations"---these
sentences---in the "magickal
language" ie, that which is understood by the people I wish to instruct;
I call forth "spirits", such as
printers, publishers, booksellers and so forth and constrain them to convey
my message to those people.
The composition and distribution of this book is thus an act of Magick
by which I cause Changes to take
place in conformity with my Will.
note: In one sense Magick may be defined as the name given to Science by
the vulgar.
II) POSTULATE
ANY required change may be effected by the application of the proper kind
and degree of
Force in the proper manner, through the proper medium to the proper object.
Illustration: I wish to prepare an ounce of Chloride of Gold. I must take
the right kind of acid,
nitro-hydrochloric and no other, in a vessel which will not break, leak
or corrode, in such a manner as
will not produce undesirable results, with the necessary quantity of Gold:
and so forth. Every change has
its own conditions.
In the present state of our knowledge and power some changes are not possible
in practice; we cannot
cause eclipses, for instance, or transform lead into tin, or create men
from mushrooms. But it is
theoretically possible to cause in any object any change of which that
object is capable by nature; and
the conditions are covered by the above postulate.
III) THEOREMS
1) Every intentional act is a Magickal act.
Illustration: See "Definition" above.
note:By "intentional" is meant "willed" But even unintentional acts so
seeming are not truly so. Thus,
breathing is an act of the Will to Live.
2) Evey successful act has conformed to the postulate.
3) Every failure proves that one or more requirements of the postulate have not been fulfilled.
Illustrations: There may be failure to understand the case, as when a doctor
makes a wrong diagnosis,
and his treatment injures the patient. There may be a failure to apply
the right kind of force, as when a
rustic tries to blow out an electric light. There may be failure to apply
the right degree of force, as when
a wrestler has his hold broken, There may be failure to apply the force
in the right manner, as when one
presents a cheque at the wrong window of the Bank. There may be failure
to employ the correct
medium, as when Leonardo da Vinci saw his masterpiece fade away. The force
may be applied to an
unsuitable object, as when one tries to crack a stone, thinking it a nut.
4) The first requisite for causing any change is thorough qualitative and
quantitative
understanding of the conditions.
Illustration: The most common cause of failure in life is ignorance of
one's own True Will, or of the
means to fulfill that Will. A man may fancy himself a painter, and waste
his life trying to become one; or
he may really be a painter, and yet fail to understand and to measure the
difficulties peculiar to that
career.
5) The second requisite of causing any change is the practical ability
to set in right motion the
necessary forces.
Illustration: A banker may have a perfect grasp of a given situation, yet
lack the quality of decision, or
the assets, necessary to take advantage of it.
6) "Every man and every woman is a star". That is to say, every human being
is intrinsically an
independent individual with his own proper character and proper motion.
7) Every man and every woman has a course, depending partly on the self,
and partly on the
environment which is natural and necessary for each. Anyone who is forced
from his own
course, either through not understanding himself, or through external opposition,
comes into
conflict with the order of the Universe, and suffers accordingly.
Illustration: A man may think it is his duty to act in a certain way, through
having made a fancy picture of
himself, instead of investigating his actual nature. For example, a woman
may make herself miserable for
life by thinking that she prefers love to social consideration, or vice
versa. One woman may stay with an
unsympathetic husband when she would really be happy in an attic with a
lover, while another may fool
herself into a romantic elopement when her only pleasures are those of
presiding over fashionable
functions. Again, a boy's instinct may tell him to go to sea, while his
parents insist on his becoming a
doctor. In such a case he will be both unsuccessful and unhappy in medicine.
8) A Man whose conscious will is at odds with his True Will is wasting
his strength. He cannot
hope to influence his environment efficiently.
Illustration: When Civil War rages in a nation, it is in no condition to
undertake the invasion of other
countries. A man with cancer employs his nourishment alike to his own use
and to that of the enemy
which is part of himself. He soon fails to resist the pressure of his environment.
In practical life, a man
who is doing what his conscience tells him to be wrong will do it very
clumsily. At first!
9) A Man who is doing his True Will has the inertia of the Universe to assist him.
Illustration: The first principle of success in evolution is that the individual
should be true to his own
nature, and at the same time adapt himself to his environment.
10) Nature is a continuous phenomenon, though we may not know in all cases
how things are
connected.
Illustration: Human comsciousness depends on the properties of protoplasm,
the existence of which
depends on innumerable physical conditions peculiar to this planet; and
this planet is determined by the
mechanical balance of the whole universe of matter. We may then say that
our consciousness is causally
connected with the remotest galaxies; yet we do not even know how it arises
from--or with--the
molecular changes in the brain.
11) Science enables us to take advantage of the continuity of Nature by
the empirical
application of certain principles whose interplay involves different orders
of idea connected
with each other in a way beyond our present comprehension.
Illustration: We are able to light cities by rule-of-thumb methods. We
do not know what consciousness
is, or how it is connected with muscular action; what electricity is or
how it is connected with the
machines that generate it; and our methods depend on calculations involving
mathematical ideas which
have no correspondance in the Universe as we know it. note: For instance
"irrational", "unreal" and
"infinite" expressions.
12) Man is ignorant of the nature of his own being and powers. Even his
idea of his limitations
is based on experience of the past, and every step in his progress extends
his empire. There is
therefore no reason to assign theoretical limits to what he may be, or
what he may do.
Illustration: A generation ago it was supposed theoretically impossible
that man should ever know the
composition of the fixed stars. It is known that our senses are adapted
to receive only a fraction of the
possible rates of vibration.Modern instruments have enabled us to detect
some of these supra-sensibles
by indirect methods, and even to use their peculiar qualities in the service
of man, as in the case of the
rays of Hertz and Roentgen. As Tyndall said, man might at any moment learn
to percieve and utilize
vibrations of all concievable and inconcievable kinds. The question of
Magick is a question of
discovering and employing hitherto unknown forces in nature. We know that
they exist, and we cannot
doubt the possibility of mental or physical instruments capable of bringing
us into relation with them.
note: i.e., except---possibly---in the case of logically absurd questions
such as the Schoolmen discussed
in connection with "God".
13) Every man is more or less aware that his individuality comprises several
orders of
existence, even when he maintains that his subtler principles are merely
symptomatic of the
changes in his gross vehicle. A similar order may be assumed to extend
throughout nature.
Illustration: One does not confuse the pain of a toothache with the decay
that causes it. Inanimate
objects are sensitive to certain physical forces, such as electrical and
thermal conductivity; but neither in
us nor in them--so far as we know--is there any direct conscious perception
of these forces.
Imperceptible influences are therefore associated with all material phenomena;
and there is no reason
why we should not work upon matter through these subtle energies as we
do through their material
bases. In fact, we use magnetic force to move iron and solar radiation
to reproduce images.
14) Man is capable of being, and using, anything which he perceives, for
everything which he
perceives is in a certain sense a part of his being. He may thus subjugate
the whole of the
Universe of which he is conscious to his individual Will.
Illustration: Man has used the idea of God to dictate his personal conduct,
to obtain power over his
fellows, to excuse his crimes, and for innumerable other purposes, including
that of realizing himself as
God. He has used the irrational and unreal conceptions of mathematics to
help him in the construction of
mechanical devices. He has used his moral force to influence the actions
even of wild animals. He has
employed poetic genius for political purposes.
15) Every force in the Universe is capable of being transformed into any
other kind of force by
using suitable means. There is thus an inexhaustible supply of any particular
kind of force that
we may need.
Illustration: Heat may be transformed into light and power by using it
to drive dynamos. The vibrations of
the air may be used to kill men by so ordering them in speech so as to
inflame war-like passions. The
hallucinations connected with the mysterious energies of sex result in
the perpetuation of the species.
16) The application of any given force affects all the orders of being
which exist in the object in
the object to which it is applied, whichever of of those orders is directly
affected.
Illustration: If I strike a man with a dagger, his consciousness, not his
body only, is affected by my act,
although the dagger, as such, has no direct relation therewith. Similarly,
the power of my thought may so
work on the mind of another person as to produce far-reaching physical
changes in him, or in others
through him.
17) A man may learn to use any force so as to serve any purpose, by taking
advantage of the
above theorems.
Illustration: A man may use a razor to make himself vigilant over his speech,
by using it to cut himself
whenever he ungaurdedly utters a chosen word. He may serve the same purpose
by resolving that every
incident of his life shall remind him of a particular thing, making every
impression the starting point of a
connected series of thoughts ending in that thing. He might also devote
his whole energies to some one
particular object, by resolving to do nothing at variance therewith, and
to make every act turn to the
advantage of that object.
18) He may attract to himself any force of the Universe by making himself
a fit receptacle for
it, and arranging conditions so that its nature compels it to flow toward
him.
Illustration: If I want pure water to drink, I dig a well in a place where
there is underground water; I
prevent it from leaking away; and I arrange to take advantage of water's
accordance with the laws of
Hydrostatics to fill it.
19) Man's sense of himself as seperate from, and opposed to, the Universe
is a bar to his
conducting its currents. It insulates him.
Illustration: A popular leader is most successful when he forgets himself
and remembers only "The
Cause". Self-seeking engenders jealousies and schism. When the organs of
the body assert their
presence other by silent satisfaction, it is a sign they are diseased.
The single exception is the organ of
reproduction. Yet even in this case its self-assertion bears witness to
its dissatisfaction with itself, since it
cannot fulfil its function until completed by its counterpart in another
organism.
20) Man can only attract and employ the forces for which he is really fitted.
Illustration: You cannot make a silk purse out of a sow's ear. A true man
of science learns from every
phenomeneon. But Nature is dumb to the hypocrite; for in her there is nothing
false.
note: It is no objection that the hypocrite is himself part of Nature.
He is an "endothermic" product,
divided against himself, with a tendency to break up. He will see his own
qualities everywhere, and thus
obtain a radical misconception of phenomena. Most religions of the past
have failed by expecting nature
to conform with their ideals of proper conduct.
21) There is no limit to the extent of the relations of any man with the
Universe in essence; for
as soon as man makes himself one with any idea the means of measurement
cease to exist.
But his power to utilize that force is limited by his mental power and
capacity, and by the
circumstances of his human environment.
Illustration: When a man falls in love, the whole world becomes, to him,
nothing but love boundless and
immanent; but his mystical state is not contagious; his fellow-men are
either amused or annoyed. He can
only extend to others the effect which his love has had upon himself by
means of his mental and physical
qualities. Thus Catullus, Dante and Swinburne made their love a mighty
mover of mankind by virtue of
their power to put their thoughts on the subject in musical and eloquent
language. Again, Cleopatra and
other people in authority moulded the fortunes of many other people by
allowing love to influence their
political actions. The Magician, however well he succeed in making contact
with the secret sources of
energy in nature, can only use them to the extent permitted by his intellectual
and moral qualities.
Mohammed's intercourse with Gabriel was only effective because of his statesmanship,
soldiership, and
the sublimity of his command of Arabic. Hertz's discovery of the rays which
we now use for wireless
telegraphy was sterile until it reflected through the minds and wills of
the people who could take his truth
and transmit it to the world of action by means of mechanical and economic
instruments.
22) Every individual is essentially sufficient to himself. But he is unsatisfactory
to himself until
he has established himself in his right relation with the universe.
Illustration: A microscope, however perfect, is useless in the hands of
savages. A poet, however
sublime, must impose himself upon his generation if he is to enjoy (and
even to understand) himself, as
theoretically should be the case.
23) Magick is the Science of understanding oneself and one's conditions.
It is the Art of
applying that understanding in action.
Illustration: A golf club is intended to move a special ball in a special
way in special circumstances. A
Niblick should rarely be used on the tee or a brassie under the bank of
a bunker. But also, the use of
any club demands skill and experience.
24) Every man has an indefeasible right to be what he is.
Illustration: To insist that any one else should comply with one's own
standards is to outrage, not only
him, but oneself, since both parties are equally born of necessity.
25) Every man must do Magick each time he acts or even thinks, since a
thought is an internal
act whose influence ultimately affects action, though it may not do so
at the time.
Illustration: The least gesture causes a change in a man's own body and
in the air around him; it disturbs
the balance of the entire Universe, and its effects continue eternally
throughout all space. Every thought,
however swiftly suppressed, has its effect on the mind. It stands as one
of the causes of every
subsequent thought, and tends to influence every subsequent action. A golfer
may lose a few yards on
his drive, a few more with his second and third, he may lie on the green
six bare inches too far from the
hole, but the net result of these trifling mishaps is the difference between
halving and losing the hole.
26) Every man has a right, the right of self preservation, to fulfill himself to the utmost.
Illustration: A function imperfectly performed injures, not only itself,
but everything associated with it. If
the heart is afraid to beat for fear of disturbing the liver, the liver
is starved for blood and avenges itself
on the heart by upsetting digestion, which disorders respiration, on which
cardiac welfare depends.
note: Men of "criminal nature" are simply at issue with their true Wills.
The murderer has the Will to Live;
and his will to murder is a false will at variance with his true Will,
since he risks death at the hands of
Society by obeying his criminal impulse.
27) Every man should make Magick the keystone of his life. He should learn
its laws and live
by them.
Illustration: The Banker should discover the real meaning of his existence,
the real motive which led him
to choose that profession. He should under-stand banking as a necessary
factor in the economic
existence of mankind instead of merely a business whose objects are independant
of the general welfare.
He should learn to distinguish false values from real, and to act not on
accidental fluctuations but on
considerations of essential importance. Such a banker will prove himself
superior to others; because he
will not be an individual limited by transitory things, but a force of
Nature, as impersonal, impartial and
eternal as gravitation, as patient and irresistable as the tides. His system
will not be subject to panic, any
more than the law of Inverse Squares is disturbed by elections. He will
not be anxious about his affairs
because they will not be his; and for that reason he will be able to direct
them with the calm,
clear-headed confidence of an onlooker, with intelligence unclouded by
self-interest, and power
unimpaired by passion.
28) Every man has a right to fulfill his own will without being afraid
that it may interfere with
that of others; for if he is in his proper place, it is the fault of others
if they interfere with him.
Illustration: If a man like Napoleon were actually appointed by destiny
to control Europe, he should not
be blamed for exercising his rights. To oppose him would be an error. Any
one so doing would have
made a mistake as to his own destiny, except insofar as it mught be necessary
for him to learn the
lessons of defeat. The sun moves in space without interference. the order
of nature provides an orbit for
each star. A clash proves that one or the other has strayed from its course.
But as to each man that
keeps his true course, the more firmly he acts, the less likely others
are to get in his way. His example
will helpthem to find their own paths and pursue them. Every man that becomes
a Magician helps others
to do likewise. The more firmly and surely men move, and the more such
action is accepted as the
standard of morality, the less will conflict and confusion hamper humanity.