Sacred texts
Thelema
CHAPTER VI
THE FORMULA OF THE NEOPHYTE.
See the Neophyte Ceremony, Equinox I,II.
This formula has for its "first matter" the ordinary man entirely ignorant of
everything and incapable of anything. He is therefore represented as blindfolded
and bound. His only aid is his aspiration, represented by the officer who is to
lead him into the Temple. Before entering, he must be purified and consecrated.
Once within the Temple, he is required to bind himself by an oath. His aspiration
is now formulated as Will. He makes the mystic circumambulation of the Temple
for the reasons to be described in the Chapter on "Gesture". After further purification
and consecration, he is allowed for one moment to see the Lord of the West, and
gains courage
Fear is the source of all false perception. Even Freud had a glimpse
of this fact.
to persist. For the third time he is purified and consecrated, and he sees the
Lord of the East, who holds the balance, keeping him in a straight line. In the
West he gains energy. In the East he is prevented from dissipating the same. So
fortified, he may be received into the Order as a neophyte by the three principal
officers, thus uniting the Cross with the Triangle. He may then be placed between
the pillars of the Temple, to receive the fourth and final consecration. In this
position the secrets of the grade are communicated to him, and the last of his
fetters is removed. All this is sealed by the sacrament of the Four Elements.
It will be seen that the effect of this whole ceremony is to endow a thing
inert and impotent with balanced motion in a given direction. Numerous example
of this formula are given in Equinox I, Nos. II and III. It is the formula of
the Neophyte Ceremony of G.'. D.'. It should be employed in the consecration
of the actual weapons used by the magician, and may also be used as the first
formula of initiation.
In the book called Z 2
Those sections dealing with divination and alchemy are the most
grotesque rubbish in the latter case, and in the former obscure and unpractical.
(Equinox I, III) are given full details of this formula, which cannot be too carefully
studied and practised. It is unfortunately, the most complex of all of them. But
this is the fault of the first matter of the work, which is so muddled that many
operations are required to unify it.