The
                     Initiated Interpretation
                                         of
                          Ceremonial Magic1

IT is loftily amusing to the student of magical literature who is not
   quite a fool—and rare is such a combination!—to note the criticism
directed   by   the   Philistine   against   the   citadel   of   his   science. Truly,
since our childhood has ingrained into us not only literal belief in the
                                                                          2
Bible, but also substantial belief in Alf Laylah wa Laylah,  and only
adolescence can cure us, we are only too liable, in the rush and energy
of   dawning      manhood,      to  overturn    roughly    and   rashly   both    these
classics,    to   regard   them    both    on   the   same    level,  as   interesting
documents from the standpoint of folk-lore and anthropology, and as
nothing more.
    Even when we learn that the Bible, by profound and minute study
of   the   text,   may   be   forced   to   yield   up   Qabalistic   arcana   of   cosmic
scope     and   importance,     we    are  too   often  slow    to  apply   a  similar
restorative to the companion volume, even if we are the lucky holders
of Burton’s veritable edition.
    To me, then, it remains to raise the Alf Laylah wa Laylah into its
proper place once more.
    I am not concerned to deny the reality of all “magical” phenomena;
if   they   are   illusions,   they   are   at   least   as   real   as   many   unquestioned
facts of daily life; and, if we follow Herbert Spencer, they are at least
evidence of some cause.3

   Now,   this   fact   is   our   base. What   is   the   cause   of   my  illusion   of
seeing a spirit in the triangle of Art?
    Every   smatterer,   every   expert   in   psychology,   will   answer:   “That
cause lies in your brain.”

 English     children   are   taught   (pace    the  Education      Act)   that  the 

Universe lies in infinite Space; Hindu children, in the Akaca, which is 

the same thing. 

    Those Europeans who go a little deeper learn from Fichte, that the 

phenomenal        Universe      is  the   creation    of   the   Ego;    Hindus,     or 

Europeans   studying   under   Hindu   Gurus,   are   told,   that   by   Akaca   is 

mean   the   Chitakaca.     The   Chitakaca   is   situated   in   the   “Third   Eye,” 

i.e., in the brain.     By assuming higher dimensions of space, we can 

assimilate this face to Realism; but we have no need to take so much 

trouble. 

    This    being     true   for   the   ordinary     Universe,     that   all  sense- 

                                                                 1 

impressions are dependent on changes in the brain,  we must include 

illusions, which are after all sense-impressions as much as “realities” 

are, in the class of “phenomena dependent on brain-changes.” 

    Magical phenomna, however, come under a special sub-class, since 

they   are   willed,   and   their   cause   is   the   series   of   “real”   phenomena 

called the operations of ceremonial Magic. 

    These consist of: 

      (1)  Sight. 

              The   circle,   square,   triangle,   vessels,   lamps,   robes,   imple- 

                 ments, etc. 

      (2)  Sound. 

              The invocations. 

      (3)  Smell. 

              The perfumes. 

      (4) Taste. 

              The Sacraments. 

      (5) Touch. 

              As under (1) 

      (6) Mind. 

          The      combination       of  all   these    and    reflection    on   their 

              significance. 

    These   unusual   impressions   (1-5)   produce   unusual   brain-changes; 

hence their summary (6) is of unusual kind.               Its projection back into 

the apparently phenomenal world is therefore unusual. 

 Herein   then   consists   the   reality   of   the   operations   and   effects   of 

                         1 

ceremonial magic,  and I conceive that the apology is ample, so far as 

the    “effects”    refer   only    to  those    phenomena       which     appear     to  the 

magician       himself,     the   appearance      of   the   spirit,  his   conversation, 

possible shocks from imprudence, and so on, even to ecstasy on the 

one hand, and death or madness on the other.