The Tree of Life - A Study in Magic

282 Pages·2003·10.38 MB·English

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TAHLTTI
The Patron of Magic.
SAMUEL WEISER, INC.
York Beach, Maine
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" You must understand therefore that this is the first path
to felicity, affording to souls an intellectual plenitude of divine
union. But the sacerdotal and theurgic gift of felicity is called
indeed the gate to the Demiurgos of wholes, or the seat, or
palace, of the good. In the first place, likewise, it possesses a
power of purifying the soul . . . afterwards it causes a coapta-
tion of the reasoning power to the participation and vision of
the good and a liberation from every thing of a contrary nature,
and in the last place, produces a union with the Gods, who are
the givers of every good."
IAMB LICHUS.
INTRODUCTION
To The Second Edition
D
OES a parent have a favorite child? Is there one, above all
others, that secretly he feels is the apple of his eye? More
often than not, despite all protestations to the contrary,
there certainly is.
So it is with me. In having been asked to write an introduction to
this new edition of The Tree of Life, I feel a warm inner glow which
combines a number of quite separate emotions. This book has
special meaning for me that none of my other writing ever had.
Primarily, there is the basic fact that it was the first book that
emerged from my burgeoning spirit. A Garden of Pomegranates, a
prior publication, simply expanded itself from a set of Qabalistic
notes I had kept for several years-and that is all it ever was.
The Tree of Life has been said to be the most comprehensive
introduction available to the numerous, complex, and sometimes
obscure mystical writing of Aleister Crowley. Both these books were
dedicated to him whom I served as a secretary for several years.
Symbolically, both came to be gestures of independence from him.
The Tree of Life also resulted in a correspondence all over the
world that has eventuated in several deep and abiding friendships.
For these I am most grateful.
Though this book contains many minor typographical errors-
principally due to haste and the carelessness of youth-it has been
found useful as a guide to the vast, complicated and ~vonderful
Golden Dawn system of initiation to which I am obligated; a debt
which must here be acknowledged. The two volumes of The Golden
Dawn (Llewellyn Publications, St. Paul, Minn. 1970) are alleged
by some students to contain such a diversified mass of information
that a clear guide is a pre-requisite to hew an intelligible pathway
through its papers, rituals and instructions. This new edition
should provide such a guide.
In the writing of The Tree of Life I learned much. It consoli-
dated many isolated fragments of disconnected knowledge and ex-
perience. Correspondence indicated it has served others equally well.
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THE TREE OF LIFE
Apart from its flamboyancy and a tendency to adjectivitis, which
were the hallmarks of my youth-some thirty-five years having
elapsed since it was written-it was declared a sincere, simple guide
to an intricate and otherwise obscure art. A British psychiatrist was
so kind as to admit to a sense of awe and, indeed, admiration that
one in his mid-twenties could have shown as much spiritual insight
and capacity for synthesis evidenced in this book. Should this con-
clusion be valid, much credit has to be given Aleister Crowley to
whom I owe very much. To his ultimate vindication from the idiocy
of biographers and muck-raking journalists I have dedicated many
years of my life. His material will never die, it will remain an inspira-
tion to students of the distant future as it has to me.
Credit must also be given to my higher and divine Genius, to use
the lovely Golden Dawn language-for without this inner direction,
no literature however profound, beautiful or ecstatic would mean
very much. Because the guidance obtained later from The Hermetic
Order of the Golden Dawn resulted from the publication of The
Tree of Life, its writing was not influenced by the Order. Subse-
quently, however, it did play a prominent part in my inner growth
and the writing of later books.
In retrospect, this testimony of my independence from Crowley
resulted in a letter from the Chief of one section of the Golden Dawn
condemning both me and the book in no uncertain terms. On the
other hand, it resulted in an invitation to become a member from
the Chief of another branch of the Order. I accepted the latter.
Though later years brought about a separation from the Order, I
now regret my youthful presumption and arrogance. Nevertheless,
destiny must have intervened, resulting in a re-issuance of the secret
Order teachings, the first exposure having been essayed just before
World War I by Crowley in the Equinox.
With due respect to Crowley's abundant genius, it has been said
my presentation did more justice to the Order than did his. It is
worth repeating a second time that this new edition of The Tree of
Life will give the student a bird's eye view of the Western magical
tradition. In this .connection, despite minor doctrinal and ritualistic
deviations, Crowley stands in direct line of descent from the Adepts
of the Golden Dawn; nothing that he has written can be understood
without reference to its teachings. Both the Golden Dawn and
Aleister Crowley gain in stature and depth if the newcomer to these
THE TREE OF LIFE
studies first obtains a synoptic view through The Tree of Life.
Finally, a former caution is still essential. I have long realized
modern psychological analysis should be wedded to methods of the
Great Work-a task yet to be Ecilly accomplished. It is strongly
recommended that the serious student undergo a course of some kind
of psychotherapeutic treatment before proceeding too far with these
practices. At the very least, he will have gained in self-awareness,
and eliminated a few bodily and emotional tensions exacerbated by
the magical art.
So to this new edition of The Tree of Life, I can only say with
humility, sincerity and conviction, go forth and spread the word.
It depicts a good teaching, a noble philosophy, and an archaic though
practical system of attainment, of reaching sun-drenched heights to
which all mankind ultimately must aspire and rest. May all readers
obtain as much gratification, spiritual aid, comfort, and enlighten-
ment as I have had in the initial writing and in the subsequent years.
Godspeed !
May 12, 1968
Studio City, California, 91604
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INTRODUCTION
B
Y virtue of the widespread ignorance concerning the sovereign
nature of the Divine Theurgy, despite frequent references
almost everywhere to the subject of Magic, a gross misunder-
standing has been permitted to make its growth during the centuries.
Few are there to-day who would appear to possess even the vaguest
idea as to what constituted the high objective of that system
considered by the sages of antiquity the Royal Art and the Trans-
cendental Magic. And because there have been even fewer in
number prepared to defend to the last its philosophy and disseminate
its true principles amoiigst those found worthy of receiving, the
field of war strewn with the mangled reputations of its Magi was
relinquished to the charlatans. These, alas, made good usc of their
opportunity for wholesale despoliation. So much so, that the word
Magic itself has now become synonymous with all that is odious,
and is conceived to be an obnoxious thing.
For several centuries in Europe was this unrighteous condition
of things permitted. It continued for some while until about the
middle of the last century, when Eliphas Levi, a writer with a
certain facility of expression and a flair for synthesis and surface
exposition, endeavoured to restore to Magic its age-old lofty reputa-
tion. How his efforts would have fared had not they been succeeded
and abetted by the advent of the philosophy of the Theosophical
Movement in 1875, together with the open discussion of occult and
mystical matters which thereafter ensued, is exceedingly hard to
say. Even so, they have been none too successful. For despite nearly
eighty long years of attention to and the unconcealed discussion of
the esoteric philosophy and practice in various of its branches, there
can be found in the Catalogue of the British Museum Reading
Room, for instance, no single work on Magic which attempts to
provide a lucid, unambiguous, and exact exegesis, unhampered by
too great an employment of symbol and figure of speech. Eighty
years of occult study ! And not one serious work on Magic !
For some little while has it been known in various quarters that
I I
12 INTRODUCTION
the writer was a student of Magic. As a consequence enquiries
would frequently be addressed to him as to its nature. So numerous
did they become as time went on, and so abysmal was the uninten-
tional ignorance of the subject that all displayed, that it seems
high time to make available for that public a synthetic and definitive
exposition. Inasmuch as no other individual has attempted this
task of paramount importance, upon the writer devolves this
difficult work. He does not propose to limit himself by specious
remarks concerning the incommunicability of occult secrets. Nor
will he mention the impossibility of conveying the true nature of
the mysteries of ancient time, as some recent authors have done.
Though all this is true, nevertheless there is enough in Magic which
is communicable. In spite of hundreds of pages to elucidate,
against these writers also must be levelled the grim accusation of
having done much to confirm public opinion in the already firm
belief that Magic was ambiguous, obscure, and fatuous. A greater
misconception than this could hardly be held. For Magic, let me
insist, is lucid. It is definite and precise. There are no vague
formulae or dubieties comprehended within the sphere of its
exactitude ; all is clear-cut and devised for practical experiment.
Its system is absolutely scientific, and each part thereof is capable
of verification and demonstrable proof. The Tree of Life is pub-
lished, somewhat hesitatingly it is true, with the sole object of
filling in the existent gap. The writer desires to render intelligible
and comprehensible to the ordinary intelligent layman, to the
student of the Mysteries and those versed in the lore of other mystical
systems and philosophies, the root principles from which the
tremendous high-towering structure of Magic is built. With one
exception, not known or suitable to the public at large unfor-
tunately, this necessary task has never previously been accom-
plished.
The frequency of long quotations from the writings of magical
authorities which the writer has inserted herein is quite simply
explainable. It was due solely to the desire to demonstrate that the
larger essentials of this exposition are not the outcome of any
inventiveness of the writer, but are firmly rooted in the wisdom of
antiquity. That there are crudities of expression, possible misinter-
pretations of fact or theory, sins of omission and commission, the
writer needs hardly to be informed. By reason thereof he is humbly
apologetic. He must be pardoned by virtue of his youth and
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INTRODUCTION I3
inexperience. May his efforts spur some other more learned
individual, gifted with greater facility of pen, and possessed of a
more profound knowledge of the subject and its concomitants, to
provide a better formulation of Magic. The writer will be among
the first to acclaim it with welcome and eulogy.
It is also necessary to acknowledge the courtesy of Messrs.
Methuen & Co. in extending permission to reproduce the illustrations
of the four Egyptian Gods from The Gods of the Egyptians, by
Sir E. A. Wallis Budge.