CHAPTER 1

THE ANTIQUITY OF MAGICAL RITUALS

§ 1. The Importance of Ceremonial Magic.

The ordinary fields of phychological inquiry, largely in possession of thepathologist, are fringed by a borderland of transcendental experiment into whichpathologists may occasionally venture, but it is left for the most part tounchartered explorers. Beyond these fields and this borderland there lies thelegendary wonder-world of Mysticism, Magic, and Sorcery, a world of fascinationor terror, as the mind which regards it is tempered, but in either case theantithesis of admitted possibility. There all paradoxes seem to obtain actually,contradictions logically coexist, the effect is greater than the cause, and theshadow more than the substance. Therein the visible melts into the unseen, theinvisible is manifested openly, motion from place to place is accomplishedwithout traversing the intervening distance, matter passes through matter. Theretwo straight lines may enclose a space; space has a fourth dimension, andfurther possibilities beyond it; without metaphor and without evasion, thecircle is mathematically squared. There life is prolonged, youth renewed,physical immortality secured. There earth becomes gold, and gold earth. Therewords and wishes possess creative power, thoughts are things, desire realisesits object. There, also, the dead live, and the hierarchies of extra-mundaneintelligence are within easy communication, and become ministers or tormentors,guides or destroyers, of man. There the Law of Continuity is suspended by theinterference of the higher Law of Fantasia.

But, unhappily, this domain of enchantment is in all respects comparable to thegold of Faerie, which is presumably its medium of exchange. It cannot withstanddaylight, the test of the human eye, or the scale of reason. When these areapplied, its paradox becomes an anticlimax, its antithesis ludicrous; itscontradictions are without genius; its mathematical marvels end in a verbalquibble; its elixirs fail even as purges; its transmutations do not needexposure at the assayer's hands; its marvel-working words prove barbarousmutilations of dead languages, and are impotent from the moment that they areunderstood; departed friends, and even planetary intelligences, must not beseized by the skirts, for they are apt to desert their draperies, and these arenot like the mantle of Elijah.

The little contrast here instituted will serve to exhibit that there are atleast two points of view regarding Magic and its mysteries—the simple andhomogeneous view, prevailing within that charmed circle among the few survivalswhom reason has not hindered from entering, and that of the world without, whichis more complex, more composite, but sometimes more reasonable only byimputation. There is also a third view, in which legend is checked by legend andwonder substituted for wonder. Here it is not the Law of Continuity persistingin its formulae despite the Law of Fantasia; it is Croquemetaine explained byDiabolus, the runes of Elf-land read with the interpretation of Infernus; it isthe Law of Bell and Candle, the Law of Exorcism, and its final expression is inthe terms of the audo-da-fé. For this view the wonder-world exists without anyquestion, except that of the Holy Tribunal; it is not what it seems, but isadjustable to the eye of faith in the light from the Lamp of the Sanctuaries; ina word, its angels are demons, its Melusines stryges, its phantoms vampires, itsspells and mysteries the Black Science. Here Magic itself rises up and respondsthat there is a Black and a White art, an art of Hermes and an art of Canida, aScience of the Height and a Science of the Abyss, of Metatron and Belial. Inthis manner a fourth point of view emerges; they are all, however, illusive;there is the positive illusion of the legend, affirmed by the remainingadherents of its literal sense, and the negative illusion which denies thelegend crassly without considering that there is a possibility behind it; thereis the illusion which accounts for the legend by an opposite hypothesis, and theillusion of the legend by an opposite hypothesis, and the illusion of the legendwhat literature will prove to rule also in its history; have been disposed of,there remain two really important questions—the question of the Mystics and thequestion of history and literature. To a very large extent the first is closedto discussion, but, so far as may be possible, it will be dealt with a littlelater on. As regards the second, it is the sole concern and purpose of thisinquiry, and the limits of its importance may therefore be shortly stated.

There can be no extensive literatures without motives proportionate to accountfor them. If we take the magical literature of Western Europe from the MiddleAges and onward, we shall find that it is exceedingly large. Now, the actingprinciples in the creation of which reaffirms itself with a distinction. Whenthese what is obscure in the one may be understood by help of the other; eachreacted upon each; as the literature grew, it helped to make the history, andthe new history was so much additional material for further literature. Therewere, of course, many motive principles at work, for the literature and historyof Magic are alike exceedingly intricate, and there are many interpretations ofprinciples which are apt to be confused with the principles, as, for example,the influence of what is loosely called superstition upon ignorance; these andany interpretations must be ruled out of an inquiry like the present. The mainprinciples are summed in the conception of a number of mysterious forces in theuniverse which could be put in operation by man, or at least followed in theirsecret processes. In the ultimate, however, they could all be renderedsecondary, if not passive, to the will of man; for even in astrology, which wasthe discernment of forces regarded as peculiarly fatal, there was an art ofruling, and sapiens dominabitur astris became an axiom of the science. Thisconception culminated or centred in the doctrine of unseen, intelligent powers,with whom it was possible for prepared persons to communicate; the methods bywhich this communication was attempted are the most important processes ofMagic, and the books which embody these methods, called Ceremonial Magic, arethe most important part of the literature. Here, that is to say, is the onlybranch of the subject which it is necessary to understand in order to understandthe history. Had Magic been focussed in the reading of the stars, it would havepossessed no history to speak of, for astrology involved intellectual equipmentswhich were possible only to the few. Had Magic centred in the transmutation ofmetals, it would never have moved multitudes, but would have remained what thatstill is, the quixotic hope of chemistry. We may take the remaining occultsciences collectively, but there is nothing in them of themselves which wouldmake history. In virtue of the synthetic doctrine which has been alreadyformulated, they were all magically possible, but they were all subsidiary tothat which was head and crown of all—the art of dealing with spirits. Thepresumed possession of the secret of this art made Magic formidable, and madetherefore its history. There was a time indeed when Ceremonial Magic threatenedto absorb the whole circle of the occult sciences; it was the superior method,the royal road; it effected immediately what the others accomplishedlaboriously, after a long time. It had, moreover, the palmary recommendationthat it was a conventional art, working by definite formulae, a process inwords.

It was the fascination of this process which brought men and women—all sorts andconditions of both—to the Black Sabbath and to the White Sabbath, and blindedthem to the danger of the stake. It was the full and clear acceptation of thisprocess as effectual by Church and State which kindled the faggots for themagician in every Christian land. Astrology was scarcely discouraged, and if thealchemist were occasionally tortured, it was only to extract his secret. Therewas no danger in these things, and hence there was no judgment against them,except by imputation from their company; but Magic, but dealing with spirits,was that which made even the peasant tremble, and when the peasant shakes at hishearth, the king is not secure in his palace, nor the Pope at St. Peter's,unless both can protect their own. Moreover, in the very claim of CeremonialMagic there was an implied competition with the essential claim of the Church.

The importance of Ceremonial Magic, and of the literature which embodies it, tothe history of the occult sciences being admitted, there is no need to arguethat this history is a legitimate and reasonable study; in such a case,knowledge is its own end, and there can be certainly no question as to thedistinguished influence which has been exercised by the belief in Magicthroughout the ages. In order, however, to understand the literature of Magic,it is necessary to obtain first of all a clear principle of regarding it. Itwill be superfluous to say that we must surrender the legends, as such, to thosewho work in legends and dispute about their essential value. We need not debatewhether Magic, for example, can really square the circle, as magicians testify,or whether such an operation is impossible even to Magic, as commonly would beobjected by those who deny the art. We need not seriously discuss theproposition that the devil assists the magicians to perform a mathematicalimpossibility, or its qualified form, that the circle can be squaredindifferently by those who invoke the angel Cassiel of the hierarchy of Urieland those who invoke Astaroth. We shall see very shortly, as already indicatedin the preface, that we are dealing with a bizarre literature, which passes, byvarious fantastic phases, through all folly into crime. We have to account forthese characteristics.

The desire to communicate with spirits is older than history; it connects withineradicable principles in human nature, which have been discussed too often forit to be necessary to recite them here; and the attempts to satisfy that desirehave usually taken a shape which does gross outrage to reason. Between the mostancient processes, such as those of Chaldean Magic, and the rites of the MiddleAges, there are marked correspondences, and there is something of commondoctrine, as distinct from intention, in which identity would more or lessobtain, underlying them both. The doctrine of compulsion, or the power whichboth forms pretended to exercise even upon superior spirits by the use ofcertain words, is a case in point. In approaching the Ceremonial Magic of theMiddle Ages, we must therefore bear in mind that we are dealing with aliterature which, though modern in its origin, embodies some elements ofantiquity. It is doubtful whether the presence of these elements can beaccounted for on the principle that mankind in all ages works unconsciously forthe accomplishment of similar intentions in an analogous way; a bizarreintention, of course, tends independently to be fulfilled in a bizarre manner,but in this case the similarity is so close that it is more easily explained bythe perpetuation of an antique tradition, for which channels could be readilyassigned. There is one upon the face of the literature, and that is the vehicleof Kabbalistic symbolism.

There are two ways of regarding the large and still unknown literature whichembodies the Kabbalah of the Jews, and these in turn will give two methods ofaccounting for the spurious and grotesque processes which enter so extensivelyinto Ceremonial Magic. It is either a barren mystification, a collection ofsupremely absurd treatises, in which obscure nonsense is enunciated withpreternatural solemnity, or it is a body of symbolism. The first view is thatwhich is formed almost irresistibly upon a superficial acquaintance, and thereis not any need to add that it is the one which obtains generally in derivedjudgments for here, as in other cases, the second-hand opinion issues from themost available source. The alternative judgment is that which prevails among thereal students of the literature. From the one it would follow that theCeremonial Magic which at a long distance draws from the Kabbalah, reproducesits absurdities, possibly with further exaggerations. Two erroneous views haveissued from the other—an exaggerated importance attributed to the processes inquestion on the ground of their exalted connections, and—this however, is rarelymet with—an inclination to regard them also as symbolical writing.

There is no ground for the criticism of the first inference, which followslegitimately enough, and is that which will be most acceptable to the majorityof readers. Those who value Kabbalistic literature as a symbolism, the innersense of which is or may be of importance, but see nothing in the processes ofCeremonial Magic to make them momentous in their literal sense or susceptible tointerpretation, will be tempted to dismiss them as mediaeval and laterimpostures, which must be carefully distinguished from the true symbolicaltradition. In either case the ceremonial literature is disdainfully rejected.

There is, however, yet another point of view, and it is of some moment, as itconnects with that question of the Mystics about which it has been alreadyobserved that very little has transpired. All students of occultism areperfectly well aware of the existence in modern times of more than one MysticalFraternity, deriving, or believed to derive, from other associations of thepast. There are, of course, many unaffiliated occultists, but the secretFraternities exist, and the keys of mystic symbolism are said to be in theirpossession. From a variety of isolated statements scattered up and down theworks of professed occultists in recent years, it is possible to summarisebroadly the standpoint of these bodies in respect of Ceremonial Magic. There isno extant Ritual, as there is no doctrine, which contains, or can possiblycontain, the secret of mystical procedure or the essence of mystic doctrine. Thereason is not because there is, or can reasonably be, any indicible secret, butbecause the knowledge in question is in the custody of those who have takeneffectual measures for its protection; and though, from time to time, somesecrets of initiation have filtered through printed books into the world atlarge, the real mysteries have never escaped. The literature of Magic falls,therefore, under three heads: (a.) The work of adepts, stating as much as couldbe stated outside the circle of initiation, and primarily designed to attractthose who might be ripe for entrance. (b.) The speculations of independentseekers, who, by thought, study, and intuition, sometimes attained valuableresults without assistance. (c.) Travesties of mystic doctrine, travesties ofmystic intention, travesties of mystic procedure, complicated by filtrationsfrom the superior source.

Most Ceremonial Magic belongs to the third class; the first, by its nature, isnot represented; the second only slightly. In a word, Ceremonial Magic reflectsmainly the egregious ambitions and incorporates the mad processes of mediaevalsorcery—of the Sabbath above all. The additional elements are debasedapplications of certain Kabbalistic methods, seering processes current amongcountry people, and fantastic attempts to reduce magical legends to a formalpractice.

Whichever of the above views the reader may prefer to adopt, it will be seenthat the net result as regards the Rituals is not generically different, thatthey are of literary and historical interest, but nothing further. For theoccultist they will possess, from their associations, an importance which willbe of no moment to another student. It is desirable that they should not beundervalued because they have exercised an influence, and they are memorable ascuriosities of the past; but it is more desirable still that the weak andcredulous should be warned against acting like fools.

§ 2. The Distinction between White and Black Magic.

Having considered the possible stand-points from which the Rituals may beregarded, we come now to the distinctions that are made between them, and, firstand foremost, to that instituted between White and Black Magic. The history ofthis distinction is exceedingly obscure, but there can be no question that inits main aspect it is modern, that is to say, in so far as it depends upon asharp contrast between Good and Evil Spirits. In Egypt, in India, and in Greece,there was no dealing with devils in the Christian sense of the expression;Typhon, Juggernaut, and Hecate were not less divine than the gods of the over-world,and the offices of Canidia were probably in their way as sacred as thepeaceful mysteries of Ceres.