That is a mere logical commonplace: in magick one must go much farther than this. One finds one's analogy in electricity. If insulation is imperfect, the whole current goes back to earth. It is useless to plead that in all those miles of wire there is only one-hundredth of an inch unprotected. It is no good building a ship if the water can enter, through however small a hole.
That first task of the Magician in every ceremony is therefore to render his Circle absolutely impregnable.
See, however, the Essay on Truth in "Konx om Pax". The Circle
(in one aspect) asserts Duality, and emphasizes Division.
While one remains exposed to the action of all sorts of forces
they more or less counterbalance each other, so that the general equilibrium,
produced by evolution, is on the whole maintained. But if we suppress all but
one, its action becomes irresistible. Thus, the pressure of the atmosphere would
crush us if we "banished" that of our bodies; and we should crumble to dust
if we rebelled successfully against cohesion. A man who is normally an "allround
good sort" often becomes intolerable when he gets rid of his collection of vices;
he is swept into monomania by the spiritual pride which had been previously
restrained by countervailing passions. Again, there is a worse draught when
an ill-fitting door is closed than when it stands open. It is not as necessary
to protect his mother and his cattle from Don Juan as it was from the Hermits
of the Thebaid.
Such destruction should be by burning or other means which produces
a complete chemical change. In so doing care should be taken to bless and liberate
the native elemental of the thing burnt. This maxim is of universal application.
In modern times our superior understanding of the essentials of this process enables us to dispense to some extent with its external rigours; but the internal purification must be even more carefully performed. We may eat meat, provided that in doing so we affirm that we eat it in order to strengthen us for the special purpose of our proposed invocation.
In an Abbey of Thelema we say "Will" before a meal. The formula
is as follows. "Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law." "What is thy
Will?" "It is my will to eat and drink" "To what end?" "That my body may be
fortified thereby." "To what end?" "That I may accomplish the Great Work." "Love
is the law, love under will." "Fall to!" This may be adapted as a monologue.
One may also add the inquiry "What is the Great Work?" and answer appropriately,
when it seems useful to specify the nature of the Operation in progress at the
time. The point is to seize every occasion of bringing every available force
to bear upon the objective of the assault. It does not matter what the force
is (by any standard of judgment) so long as it plays its proper part in securing
the success of the general purpose. Thus, even laziness may be used to increase
our indifference to interfering impulses, or envy to counteract carelessness.
See Liber CLXXV, Equinox I, VII, p. 37. This is especially true, since the forces
are destroyed by the process. That is, one destroys a complex which in itself
is "evil" and puts its elements to the one right use.
We have understood the saying: "To the pure all things are pure", and we have learnt how to act up to it. We can analyse the mind far more acutely than could the ancients, and we can therefore distinguish the real and right feeling from its imitations. A man may eat meat from self-indulgence, or in order to avoid the dangers of asceticism. We must constantly examine ourselves, and assure ourselves that every action is really subservient to the One Purpose.
It is ceremonially desirable to seal and affirm this mental purity by Ritual, and accordingly the first operation in any actual ceremony is bathing and robing, with appropriate words. The bath signifies the removal of all things extraneous to antagonistic to the one thought. The putting on of the robe is the positive side of the same operation. It is the assumption of the fame of mind suitable to that one thought.
A similar operation takes place in the preparation of every instrument, as has been seen in the Chapter devoted to that subject. In the preparation of the place of working, the same considerations apply. We first remove from that place all objects; and we then put into it those objects, and only those objects, which are necessary. During many days we occupy ourselves in this process of cleansing and consecration; and this again is confirmed in the actual ceremony.
The cleansed and consecrated Magician takes his cleansed and consecrated instruments into that cleansed and consecrated place, and there proceeds to repeat that double ceremony in the ceremony itself, which has these same two main parts. The first part of every ceremony is the banishing; the second, the invoking. The same formula is repeated even in the ceremony of banishing itself, for in the banishing ritual of the pentagram we not only command the demons to depart, but invoke the Archangels and their hosts to act as guardians of the Circle during our pre-occupation with the ceremony proper. In more elaborate ceremonies it is usual to banish everything by name. Each element, each planet, and each sign, perhaps even the Sephiroth themselves; all are removed, including the very one which we wished to invoke, for that forces as existing in Nature is always impure. But this process, being long and wearisome, is not altogether advisable in actual working. It is usually sufficient to perform a general banishing, and to rely upon the aid of the guardians invoked. Let the banishing therefore be short, but in no wise slurred --- for it is useful as it tends to produce the proper attitude of mind for the invocations. "The Banishing Ritual of the Pentagram" (as now rewritten, Liber 333, Cap. XXV) is the best to use.
See also the Ritual called "The Mark of the Beast" given in an
Appendix. But this is pantomorphous.
The signs and the planets, of course, contain, the elements. It
is important to remember this fact, as it helps one to grasp what all these
terms really mean. None of the "Thirty-two Paths" is a simple idea; each one
is a combination, differentiated from the others by its structure and proportions.
The chemical elements are similarly constituted, as the critics of Magick have
at last been compelled to admit.
At the conclusion, it is usually well to pause for a few moments, and to make sure once more that every thing necessary to the ceremony is in its right place. The Magician may then proceed to the final consecration of the furniture of the Temple.
That is, of the special arrangement of that furniture. Each object
should have been separately consecrated beforehand. The ritual here in question
should summarize the situation, and devote the particular arrangement to its
purpose by invoking the appropriate forces. Let it be well remembered that each
object is bound by the Oaths of its original consecration as such. Thus, if
a pantacle has been made sacred to Venus, it cannot be used in an operation
of Mars; the Energy of the Exorcist would be taken up in overcoming the opposition
of the "Karma" or inertia therein inherent.