LIBER LIBRAE

1.Thou therefore who desirest Magical Gifts, be sure that thy soul is firm and
steadfast; for it is by flattering thy weaknesses that the Weak Ones will gain
power over thee. Humble thyself before thy Self, yet fear neither man not
spirit. Fear is failure, and the forerunner of failure: and courage is the
beginning of virtue.
2.Therefore fear not the Spirits, but be firm and courteous with them; for thou hast
no right to despise or revile them; and this too may lead thee astray. Command
and banish them, curse them by the Great Names if need be; but neither mock
nor revile them, for so assuredly wilt thou be lead into error.
3.Remember that unbalanced force is evil; that unbalanced severity is but cruelty
and oppression; but that also unbalanced mercy is but weakness which would
allow and abet Evil. Act passionately; think rationally; be Thyself.
4.To obtain Magical Power, learn to control thought; admit only those ideas that
are in harmony with the end desired, and not every stray and contradictory Idea
that presents itself
Fixed thought is a means to an end. Therefore pay attention to the power of
silent thought and meditation. {19} The material act is but the outward expression of
thy thought, and therefore hath it been said that "the thought of foolishness is sin."
Thought is the commencement of action, and if a chance thought can produce much
effect, what cannot fixed thought do?

1.Be thou therefore prompt and active as the Sylphs, but avoid frivolity and
caprice; be energetic and strong like the Salamanders, but avoid irritability and
ferocity; be flexible and attentive to images like the Undines, but avoid
idleness and changeability; be laborious and patient like the Gnomes, but avoid
grossness and avarice.
1.So shalt thou gradually develop the powers of thy soul, and fit thyself to
command the Spirits of the elements. For wert thou to summon the Gnomes to
pander to thine avarice, thou wouldst no longer command them, but they would
command thee. Wouldst thou abuse the pure beings of the woods and
mountains to fill thy coffers and satisfy thy hunger of Gold? Wouldst thou
debase the Spirits of Living Fire to serve thy wrath and hatred? Wouldst thou
violate the purity of the Souls of the Waters to pander to thy lust of
debauchery? Wouldst thou force the Spirits of the Evening Breeze to minister
 to thy folly and caprice? Know that with such desires thou canst but attract the
Weak, not the Strong, and in that case the Weak will have power over thee.

KING OF SALOMON PREFACE

'regarding losing interest with things as they are named, from unknown to label'
In the old days, when but a small portion of the globe was known to civilised man,
the explorer and the traveller would return to his home with weird, fantastic stories of
long-armed hairy men, of impossible monsters, and countries of fairy-like wonder.
But he who travels now and who happens to see a gorilla, or a giraffe, or perchance a
volcano, forgets to mention it even in his most casual correspondence! And why?
Because he has learnt to understand that such things are. He has named them, and,
having done so, to him they cease as objects of interest. In one respect he gives birth
to a great truth, which he at once cancels by giving birth to a great falsehood; for his
reverence, like his disdain, depends but on the value of a name.
Not so, however, the adept; for as a zoologist does not lose {148} his interest in the
simian race because he has learnt to call a long-armed hairy man a gorilla; so he, by
learning to explain himself with clearness, and to convey the image of his thoughts
with accuracy to the brain of another, is winnowing the wheat from the chaff, the
Truth from the Symbol of Truth.
* "In the natural sciences and industrial arts it never occurs to any one to try to refute
opinions by showing up their author's neurotic constitution. Opinions here are
invariably tested by logic and by experiment, no matter what may be their author's
neurological type. It should be no otherwise with religious opinions." --- "The
Varieties of Religious Experience," pp. 17, 18.

'on sciencific illuminism'

"In other words, not its origin, but the way in which it works on the whole, is Dr.
Maudsley's final test of a belief. This is our own empiricist criterion; and this
criterion the stoutest insisters on supernatural origin have also been forced to use in
the end." --- "The Varieties of Religious Experience," pp. 19, 20.
To put it vulgarly, "the proof of the pudding is in the eating," and it is sheer waste of
time to upbraid the cook before tasting of his dish.
This application of the word "Why" is the long and short of what has been
called Scientific Illuminism,*
* Or Pyrrho-Zoroastrianism.
or the science of learning how not to say "Yes" until you know that it is YES,
and how not to say "No" until you know that it is NO

'new dogma after christian – darwinism'

And it is for this reason that we are so bitterly opposed to and use such scathing
words against the present- day rationalist*
* "We have to confess that the part of it [mental life] of which rationalism can give an
account is relatively superficial. It is the part that has the prestige undoubtedly, for it
has the loquacity, it can challenge you for proofs, and chop logic, and put you down
with words. But it will fail to convince or convert you all the same, if your dumb
intuitions are opposed to its conclusions. If you have intuitions at all, they come from
a deeper level of your nature than the loquacious level which rationalism inhabits."
--- "The Varieties of Religious Experience," p. 73.

when we attack him. For we see he is doing for Darwin, Huxley, and Spencer what
the early Christian did for Jesus, Peter, and Paul; and that is, that he, having already
idealised them, is now in the act of apotheosising them. Soon, if left unattacked,
will their word become THE WORD, and in the place of the "Book of Genesis" shall
we have the "Origin of Species," and in the place of the Christian accepting as Truth
the word of Jesus shall we have the Rationalist accepting as Truth the word of
Darwin.
HASHIS PSYCHOLOGY
'common life, scientific, mystic language differences'

One may add that the language difficulty is in some ways an essential one. Language
begins with simple expression of the common needs of the most animal life. Hence
we see that all sciences have formulated a technical language of their own, not to be
understanded of the common people. The {66} reproach against mystics that their
symbols are obscure is just as well founded as a similar reproach against the
algebraist or the chemist. A paper at the Chemical Society is often completely
intelligible only to some three or four of the odd hundred distinguished chemists in
the room.

' mystical system of classification '

The classical Eight Jhanas will be useless to us; the Hindu system is almost as bad;
the Qabalistic requires a preliminary knowledge of the Tree of Life whose
explanation would require a volume to itself; but fortunately we have, in the Buddhist
Skandhas and the Three Characteristics which deny them, a scheme easily
assimilable to Western psychology.
In "Science and Buddhism" I dealt in some detail with these Skandhas; but I will
briefly recapitulate.
In examining any phenomenon and analysing it we first notice its Name and Form
(Nama and Rupa). "Here is a Rose," we say. In such a world live the entirely vulgar.
Next (with Berkeley) we perceive that this statement is false. There is an optical
sensation (Vedana) of red; an olfactory sensation of fragrance; and so on. Even its
weight, its space, are modifications of sense; and the whole statement is transformed
into "Here is a pleasurable set of sensations which we group under the name of a
rose." In such a world lives the sensuous artist.
Next, these modifications of sense are found to be but percepts; the pleasure or pain
vanishes; and the sensations are observed coldly and clearly without allowing the
mind to be affected. This perception (Sañña) is the world of the surgeon or the man of
science.
Next, the perception itself is seen to be dependent on the {58} nature of the observer,
and his tendency (Sankhara) to perceive. The oyster gets no fun out of the rose. This
state establishes a dualistic conception, such as Mansel was unable to transcend, and
at the same time places the original rose in its cosmic place. The creative forces that
have made the rose and the observer what they are, and established their relation to
one another, are now the sole consciousness. Here lives the philosopher.
Easily enough, this state passes into one of pure consciousness (Viññanam). The rose
and the observer and their tendencies and relations have somehow vanished. The
phenomenon (not the original phenomenon, "a rose," but the phenomenon of the
tendency to perceive the sensation of a rose) becomes a cloudless light; a static, no
longer a dynamic conception. One has somehow got behind the veil of the universe.
Here live the mystic and the true artist.
The Buddhist, however, does not stop here, for he alleges that even this
consciousness is false; that like all things it has the Three Characteristics of Sorrow,
Change, and Unsubstantiality.
'path of attainment'
As a matter of practical politics, I think that a judicious mixture of the methods of
East and West is likely to give the best results.
Let the young Adept, for example, master thoroughly the groundwork of the Hindu
system.
Let him master Asana, posture, so that he can sit motionless for hours without any
message from his body reaching and so disturbing his brain. Let him include in his
accomplishments Paranayama, control of the breath and of the vital nervous currents
which react in sympathy with it.
Let him then exalt to the utmost his soul by the appropriate ritual of ceremonial
magic; and when by this means he has most thoroughly identified himself with the
Supreme, let him, as that Supreme One, continue to meditate with intense force upon
Himself, until his sphere is entirely filled with the single Thought.
Lastly, if this, the male energy, suffice not, let him transform it into a pure and perfect
emptiness and passivity, as of one waiting for the Beloved One, with intense longing
rendered passionless by the certainty that He will come. {83}
Then, it may be, the Eye will open upon him, and the tomb of his Pyramid be
unsealed.
' India systems of attainment '
we find in India {62} sprouting up
from the roots of the older Upanishads two great systems of practical
philosophy:

1. The attainment by Sanny?sa.

2. The attainment by Yoga.

The first seeks, by artificial means, to suppress desire. The second by

scientific experiments to annihilate the consciousness of plurality.
In the natural course of events the Sanny?sa precedes the Yoga, for it
consists in casting off from oneself home, possessions, family and all that
engenders and stimulates desire; whilst the Yoga consists in withdrawing the
organs of sense from the objects of sense, and by concentrating them on the
Inner Self, Higher Self, Augoeides, Atman, or Adonai, shake itself free from
the illusions of M?y? --- the world of plurality, and secure union with this
Inner Self or Atman.

' about everlasting spirit , cause of all things'

34. That Intelligence which incites the functions into the paths of virtue
and vice "am I." All this universe, moveable and immovable, is from me; all
things are seen through me; all are absorbed into me;34 because there exists
nothing but spirit, and "I am that spirit." There exists nothing else.
35. As in innumerable cups full of water, many reflections of the sun are
seen, but the substance is the same; similarly individuals, like cups, are
innumerable, but the vivifying spirit like the sun is one.
49. All this universe, moveable or immoveable, has come out of
Intelligence. Renouncing everything else, take shelter of it.
50. As space pervades a jar both in and out, similarly within and beyond
this ever-changing universe there exists one universal Spirit.
58. Since from knowledge of that Cause of the universe, ignorance is
destroyed, therefore the Spirit is Knowledge; and this Knowledge is
everlasting.

' ashrams and branches of yoga '

33 The four ?shramas are (1) To live as a Brahmach?rin --- to spend
a portion of one's life with a Brahman teacher. (2) To live as a
Grihastha --- to rear a family and carry out the obligatory
sacrifices. (3) To live as a V?naprastha --- to withdraw into
solitude and meditate. (4) To live as a Sanny?sin --- to await
the spirit's release into the Supreme Spirit.
34 At the time of the Pralaya.

62. Having renounced all false desires and chains, the Sanny?si and Yogi
see certainly in their own spirit the universal Spirit.
63. Having seen the Spirit that brings forth happiness in their own spirit,
they forget this universe, and enjoy the ineffable bliss of Sam?dhi.35

As in the West there are various systems of Magic, so in the East are there
various systems of yoga, each of which purports to lead the aspirant from the
realm of M?y? to that of Truth in Sam?dhi. The most important of these are:

1. Gana Yoga. Union by Knowledge.

2. Raha Yoga. Union by Will
3. Bhakta Yoga. Union by Love. {65}
4. Hatha Yoga. Union by Courage.
5. Mantra Yoga. Union though Speech.
6. Karma Yoga. Union though Work.36

The two chief of these six methods according to the Bhagavad-G?ta are: Yoga
by S?¤khya (Raja Yoga), and Yoga by Action (Karma Yoga). But the difference
between these two is to be found in their form rather than in their substance

' method of self mind control to attainment '

To turn the mind inwards, as it were, ad stop it wandering outwardly, and
then to concentrate all its powers upon itself, are the methods adopted by the
Yogi in opening the closed Eye which sleeps in the hear to every one of us,
and to create this will TO WILL. By doing so he ultimately comes face to face
with something which is indestructible, on account of it being uncreatable,
and which knows no dissatisfaction.

' description of yoga branhes '

GANA YOGA. Union through Knowledge.
 Gana Yoga is that Yoga which commences with a study of the impermanent
wisdom of this world and ends with the knowledge of the permanent wisdom of
the Atman. Its first stage is Viveka, the discernment of the real from the
unreal. Its second Vair?gya, indifference to the knowledge of the world, its
sorrows and joys. Its third Mukti, release, and unity with the Atman.

KARMA YOGA. Union through Work.

Very closely allied to Gana Yoga is Karma Yoga, Yoga through work, which
may seem only a means towards the former. But this is not so, for not only
must the aspirant commune with the Atman through the knowledge or wisdom he
attains, but also through the work which aids him to attain it.

MANTRA YOGA. Union through Speech.

This type of Yoga consists in repeating a name or a sentence or verse over
and over again until the speaker and the word spoken become one in perfect
concentration. Usually speaking it is used as an adjunct to some other
practice, under one or more of the other Yoga methods. Thus the devotee to
the God Shiva will repeat his name over and over again until at length the
great God opens his Eye and the world is destroyed.
Some of the most famous mantras are:
"Aum mani padme Hum."
"Aum Shivaya Vashi."

Aum Tat Sat Aum."

"Namo Shivaya namaha Aum."

The pranava AUM43 plays an important part throughout the whole of Indian
Yoga, and especially is it considered sacred by the Mantra-Yogi, who is
continually using it. To pronounce it properly the "A" is from the throat,
the "U" in the middle, and the "M" at the lips. This typifies the whole
course of breath.

BHAKTA YOGA. Union by love.

In Bhakta Yoga the aspirant usually devotes himself to some special deity,
every action of his life being done in honour and glory of this deity, and, as
Vivek?nanda tells us, "he has not to suppress any single one of his emotions,
he only strives to intensify them and direct them to god." Thus, if he
devoted himself to Shiva, he must reflect in his life to his utmost the life
of Shiva; if to Shakti the life of Shakti, unto the seer and the seen become
one in he mystic union of attainment.

Bhakta Yoga is divided

into two main divisions. (1) The preparatory, known as "Gauni";
(2) The devotional, known as "Par ." Thus it very closely
resembles, even in detail, the Operation of Abramelin, in which
the aspirant, having thoroughly prepared himself, devotes himself
to the invocation of his Holy Guardian Angel.
1. will now explain Love.
2. Its nature is extreme devotion to some one.
3. Love is immortal.
4. Obtaining it man becomes perfect, becomes immortal, becomes satisfied.
5. And obtaining it he desires nothing, grieves not, hates not, does not
delight, makes no effort.
6. Knowing it he become intoxicated, transfixed, and rejoices in the Self
(Atman).

Bhakti really means the constant perception of the form of the Lord by the
Antahkarana. There are nine kinds of Bahktis enumerated. hearing his
histories and relating them, remembering him, worshipping his feet, offering
flowers to him, bowing to him (in soul), behaving as his servant, becoming his
companion and offering up one's Atman to him. ... Thus, Bhakti, in its most
transcendental aspect, is included in Sampradny?ta Sam?dhi

' conditions of hatha and raja yoga '

In the practice of this mystic union which is brought about by the Hatha
Yoga and the Raja Yoga exercises the conditions necessary are:

1. "Yama:" Non-killing (Ahinsa); truthfulness (Satya); non-stealing (Asteya);

continence (Brahmacharya); and non-receiving of any gift (Aparigraha).
2. "Niyama:" Cleanliness (S'ancha); contentment (Santosha); mortification
(Papasaya); study and self surrender (Sw dhy ya); and the recognition of
the Supreme (I's'wara pranidh n ).
3. "A'sana:" Posture and the correct position of holding the body, and the
performance of the Mudras. {78}
4. "Pr?n?y?ma:" Control of the Pr?na, and the vital forces of the body.
5. "Praty?h?ra:" Making the mind introspective, turning it back upon itself.
6. "Dh?ran?:" Concentration, or the "will" to hold the mind to certain points.
7. "Dhy?na:" Meditation, or the outpouring of the mind on the object held by the
will.
8. "Sam?dhi:" Ecstasy, or Superconsciousness.

' case of chastity '

The Yogis claim that the energies of the human body are stored up in the
brain, and the highest of these energies they call "Ojas." they also claim
that that part of the human energy which is expressed in sexual passion, when
checked, easily becomes changed into Ojas; and so it is that they invariably
insist in their disciples gathering up the sexual energy and converting it
into Ojas. Thus we read:

It is only the chaste man and woman who can make the Ojas rise and become
stored in the brain, and this is why chastity has always been considered the

highest virtue. ... That is why in all the religious orders in the world that
have produced spiritual giants, you will always find this intense chastity
insisted upon. ...62 If people practise Raja-Yoga and at the same time lead
an impure life, how can they expect to become Yogis?

This argument would appear at first sight to be self-contradictory, and

therefore fallacious, for, if to obtain Ojas is so important, how then can it

be right to destroy a healthy passion which is the chief means of supplying it
with the renewed energy necessary to maintain it? The Yogi's answer is simple
enough: Seeing that the extinction of the first would mean the ultimate death
of the second the various Mudra exercises wee introduced so that this healthy
passion might not only be preserved, but cultivated in the most rapid manner
possible, without loss of vitality resulting from the practices adopted.
Equilibrium is above all things necessary, and even in these early stages, the
mind of the aspirant should be entirely free from the obsession of either
ungratified or over-gratified appetites. Neither Lust nor Chastity should
solely occupy hi