Magick is what Hermetic philosophy becomes when it is put to work. If the cosmos is a single living order in which every level answers to every other, then a deliberate act performed on one level, with a symbol, a word or a gesture, may have its effect on another. The magician is someone who has learned the language of those correspondences and has trained the attention and will needed to speak it.
The art described in this section is the learned, ceremonial magic of the West: the tradition of the Renaissance philosophers and of the nineteenth century revival. It is sometimes called high magic to mark its chief aim, which is not to get things but to become someone. Practical results are not despised. They are treated as exercises and as evidence along the way.
We write about it plainly. Where the tradition makes a claim, we report it as a claim. Where a practice carries a risk, we say so. And we ask the reader for the one thing the tradition itself has always asked: do the work, keep the record and judge by the results.
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What Is Magick?
Definitions old and new, the kinds of magic, four ways of explaining how it might work, and what can reasonably be expected of it.
Begin with the question -
The Structure of Ritual
Every ceremony has the same seven parts. The circle, the altar and the quarters, and a simple daily rite to learn by heart.
Learn the form -
The Four Elements
Fire, water, air and earth as modes of nature and of character, with their directions, tools and powers.
Meet the elements -
Planetary Magick
The seven planets and their days, hours, metals and virtues, and how a planetary working is designed.
Work with the seven -
Sigils and Talismans
How an intention is condensed into a sign and fixed in an object, from the planetary squares to the letter method.
Make the sign -
Divination
Astrology, geomancy and tarot as arts of reading pattern, and how to use them without fooling yourself.
Read the pattern -
The Magical Diary
The one indispensable instrument. What to write, when to write it and how to read it back.
Keep the record -
Ethics and Safety
Consent, honesty and responsibility, and the practical cautions that keep body and mind sound.
Read this first
A suggested order of study
Read What Is Magick? and Ethics and Safety before anything else. Start the diary the same day. Learn the form of ritual and practice the simple rite given there for a month before going on to the elements and the planets. Sigils, talismans and divination are applications, and they work as well as the foundations beneath them.
To know, to will, to dare, to keep silent.
The four powers of the magus