painted black • For Air: The sigil of Aquarius
painted in yellow.• For Fire: The sigil of Leo
painted in red. • For Water: The sigil of Scorpio
painted in blue.2 - First Steps in Magic
It is apparent that one cannot become a practising occultist until one has somewhere to practise - a 'magical Temple' of one's own.
This does not mean, however, that the would-be magician has to waste his or her substance in purchasing a disused chapel or castle. Nor does he even have to nave a room especially set aside for occult purposes; all the better if he can, of course, but with a little effort a perfectly ordinary bed-sitting room can be adapted to the secondary function of being a magical Temple.
Carrying out this adaptation doesn't involve cluttering your room with the assorted occult junk - astrological charts, skulls, reproductions of Egyptian sculpture, or photographs of Aleister Crowley with a bath-towel wrapped around his head - which too many people seem to find attractive. This sort of thing may serve to impress your friends and acquaintances with your Hermetic wisdom, or your total lack of aesthetic sense, but will not be found helpful in your occult work. For the confusion of symbols will make it much more difficult to employ the controlled imagination, the basis of all magical success.
Apart from your magical implements, the actual working tools of your craft, (1) the only essential items are a small table (preferably square in shape), a black covering for that same table, and either four canvases on stretchers - the type of canvases used for oil painting - or four large pieces of white cardboard.
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[1] Full instructions for the manufacture and consecration of these are contained in Chapters Four and Seven.
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The table will serve as your altar when it has its black covering upon it; when uncovered it can serve in any mundane capacity which happens to suit your personal convenience, although it is preferable to have a table set aside exclusively for this purpose.
On your canvases (or your pieces of cardboard) you should now proceed to paint the symbols of the Magical Elements -Earth, Air, Fire and Water. These are not, of course, elements in the chemical sense. Rather are they the symbolic representation of certain psycho-spiritual qualities present in both the individual human being and in the universe as a whole. It is these occult Elements which are referred to in everyday speech when it is remarked that someone has 'airy ideas', or 'a fiery temperament' or is 'a bit earthy'.
The symbols to be painted are as follows:
• For Earth: A yellow square
• For Air: A blue circle
• For Fire: A red equilateral triangle, apex upwards
• For Water: A silver crescent 'on its back', ie with the concave part upwards.
They should be painted as brightly as possible; good quality oil paint, enamel paint and poster paint are all excellent for this purpose, but ordinary water-colours should be avoided, they are far too wishy-washy.
It is worth adding that both these symbols, technically known as tattwas (2) and the colours employed are of Indian origin and are not really part of the occidental tradition, being derived from a Tantric treatise translated into English by a Theosophist named Rama Prasad. Over the last ninety years, however, they have been thoroughly assimilated into the synthetic structure of Western magic and should be found perfectly suitable for their intended purpose. If, however, you want to be a purist you can replace them with the Kerubic astrological sigils as follows:
• For Earth: The sigil of Taurus
painted black
• For Air: The sigil of Aquarius
painted in yellow.
• For Fire: The sigil of Leo
painted in red.
• For Water: The sigil of Scorpio
painted in blue.
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[2] See Chapter Six for an explanation of these symbols.
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Once again, the colours employed should be as brilliant as possible. (3)
When you employ your room as a Temple your symbols should be placed as follows:
• Earth symbol: In the North
• Air symbol: In the East
• Fire symbol: In the South
• Water symbol:In the West
It doesn't particularly matter exactly where a symbol is placed as long as it is in the right quarter and visible to you when you are standing in the middle of the room facing it; so you can, for example, either pin it on the wall at eye level or simply prop it against the skirting board. If, of course, you are fortunate enough to have a room that can be devoted exclusively to magical purposes you can attach your symbols permanently to its walls or even, should you have the required skill, paint them in tempera as murals.
Having painted your symbols and acquired your altar it is time to consider what you should wear while performing your magic. Strictly speaking there is no reason at all why you should not wear your everyday clothes, be they a dark suit with collar and tie, or jeans and sweatshirt. In practice, however, it makes the work of the imagination and the building up of a secondary magical personality much easier if you have a garment, or garments, worn only when you are engaged in occult work.
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[3] The colours can be counter-charged by providing backgrounds of the complementary colours. Thus the background for Earth would be White; for Air, purple; for Fire, green; and for Water, orange.
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Once again, there is no need to involve yourself in great expenditure. If you wish to do so, you can, of course, go to a specialist tailor and have 'magical' robes made for you; these are usually vaguely oriental, rather like the full-dress uniform of an Admiral in the Saudi Arabian navy. A home-made tabard - that is to say, a poncho worn belted - will usually be found far more satisfactory. Make it in the following way: get a length of cloth a little wider than yourself and a little less than twice the height between your shoulders and your ankles.
The cloth can be black, white or some primary colour (4) but should not be patterned, for this tends to distract the attention. Fold the material in half, cut a half circle along the fold (for your head), put the poncho on, tie a sash around your waist and you have a magical robe. Should this simple task exceed your dress-making capacity buy a coloured dressing-gown (once again, not patterned) and make this your invariable garb for your occult activities.
Just as you will find that having some particular garment associated exclusively with the magical aspect of your daily activities helps your creative imagination to transform an ordinary room into a Temple of the gods, so you will find that the traditional custom of adopting a 'magical motto' - a new name, symbolising your occult life - will aid you in the task of building up your magical personality. This motto 'is not', in the words of an instructional manuscript of the Golden Dawn, 'a name given to the outer man's body, but an occult signifier of the aspiration of his soul'.
Choose, therefore, some motto which expresses your own hopes, your own ideals. (5) Traditionally such mottoes have almost invariably been expressed in the Latin language -Perdurabo, 'I shall endure', and De Profundis ad Lucent, 'Out of the depths to the Light', are examples - but there is no good reason why such mottoes should not be in English, French or Italian. So choose any motto that expresses your own inmost nature. At a pinch you can do without any motto, taking as your magical name that of some hero or legendary magician whom you happen to admire and whose biography, real or imaginary, appeals to something in your essential self.
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[4] Coloured robes should strictly be reserved for particular planetary operations.
[5] Ideally this motto should be of your own construction, but if your languages are shaky then for ideas you could refer to the list of magical mottoes used by some members of the Golden Dawn, printed in R.G. Torrens, The Secret Rituals of the Golden Dawn. Aquarian Press, London, 1973, or the Latin motto/phrase lists in any good dictionary.
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Having chosen your name it is now advisable to dedicate yourself to magical studies with an oath. It is best to make this oath-taking as solemn as possible, otherwise the whole thing becomes a little like adolescent play acting. You can either devise your own ceremony or use the following rite:
Wearing your magical robe, with the symbols of the Elements on the walls of your temple, stand before your altar facing East. On the altar is placed whatever symbol or book is holy for you if you are a Christian, a Bible or a Crucifix; if a Muslim, a copy of the Koran; if a devotee of the fertility religion of witchcraft, a Book of Shadows; if a follower of Aleister Crowley, a copy of The Book of the Law; and so on.
Raising your right hand, palm outwards, slightly above your head say:
'I, ..................... (the name to be inserted here should be your new magical name, not your name in everyday life) do this day solemnly promise and swear before these symbols of Air, (turn to face South) of Fire, (turn to face West) of Water, (turn to face North) of Earth, (turn to East again and drop hand to rest on altar symbol) and by the sacred symbol on this my altar of Magic, that, with Divine permission, I will from this day forward apply myself unto the Great Work, which is so to purify and exalt my spiritual nature that with the Divine Aid I may at length attain to be more than human, and thus gradually raise and right myself to my Higher and Divine Genius, and that in this event I will not abuse the great power entrusted unto me. I further solemnly pledge myself not to debase my knowledge of practical magic to purposes of evil; raise hand from symbol, throw arms wide so that you are standing in the position of one crucified) Lords of the Four Quarters, witness this mine solemn oath!'
This is the conclusion of this simple ceremony; there is no formal closing - simply disrobe and dismantle your altar.
At the stage of occult development you have now reached there now arises an obstacle; a strong temptation to do no real practical work - to put off such actual experimentation until one has 'read a few more books' or 'acquired some more magical equipment'. To give in to this temptation is fatal. From postponing one's activities from day to day one goes on to postpone them from week to week, from month to month and eventually from year to year. It is essential that this should not happen, that you should start your actual magical work now.
It is most important to commence by establishing a rhythm of work, a regular practice which one performs every day no matter what circumstances arise. This makes the student continually aware that magic is a part of his life, not a 'once in a blue moon' experiment, strengthens his determination and at the same time increases his powers of visualization and concentration.
The best exercise for regular use, if possible at the same hour each morning or just before retiring at night, is the Lesser Banishing Ritual of the Pentagram. This should be gradually learnt by the student, beginning with just the Qabalistic Cross and gradually adding each section, the inscription of the pentagram, and the invocation of the Archangels, as he becomes proficient in the proceeding section. For details of this ritual refer to Appendix I.
Having established this regular ritual, which the student would do well to maintain as a permanent practice, it is necessary to obtain a Diary, which is to be used to record the exact time of the Ritual and its degree of success, that is the ease with which it was performed, and the resulting 'feel' of the place of working.
This Magical Diary (6) should also be used for entering full details of all other work done, written up at the time it is done, rather like a scientific record, a record which will become increasingly valuable to the aspiring magician as time goes on.
In the meantime, with this regular practice begun, the student should commence specific experiments. There can be no better way of commencing practical magic and, at the same time, developing your intuitive ability than the practice of ritual divination - the transformation of fortune-telling into Magic.
[6]A large diary already divided up by date is useful because it necessitates an entry every day (even if only a negative one). However, some practitioners prefer a blank minute book which they can date as they go along, thus allowing much greater flexibility of space, according to the amount of work in hand. The first is probably the better choice for the beginner.
