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Israel Regardie: The Art Meaning of Magic
THE ART OF MAGIC
by Israel Regardie
Copyright © 1964, F.I. Regardie
Published by
Helios
, 1969
The Publication of This Book was made possible through the co−operation of:
THE SANGREAL FOUNDATION INC.
P.O. Box 2580
Dallas, Texas, 75221
Of all the subjects which comprise what nowadays is called Occultism, the most misunderstood of
all is Magic. Even Alchemy, which to some of us is annoyingly dark and obscure, evokes far more
sympathy and understanding as a rule than does Magic. For example, the psychologist Jung has
observed of alchemy in his essay
The Ego and The Unconscious
that "it would be an unpardonable
depreciation of value if we were to accept the current view, and reduce the spiritual striving of the
alchemists to the level of the retort and the smelting furnace. Certainly this aspect belonged to it; it
represented the tentative beginnings of exact chemistry. But it also had a spiritual side which has
never yet been given its true value, and which from the psychological standpoint must not be
underestimated." Yet Magic, strange to say, receives no such evaluation−−except insofar as the term
Magic is allied to the unconscious, and is said to represent a primitive attempt to cognise the
Unconscious. There is, hence, hardly more than the barest minimum attempt to arrive at an
understanding of its processes. For the moment, I do not wish to analyse the possible reasons for this
amazing phenomenon. What is more to the point, however, is to provide some more or less
intelligible approach to the subject so that given an initial glimpse of the bright light flooding the
world of magic, more people may feel disposed to devote just a liltle of their energies and time to its
study. The advantages and benefits are such as to make this effort extremely worth while.
Putting it simply and briefly, let me say at the outset that Magic concerns itself in the main with that
self−same world as does modern psychology. That is to say, it deals with that sphere of the psyche of
which normally we are not conscious but which exerts an enormous influence upon our lives. Magic
is a series of psychological techniques so devised as to enable us to probe more deeply into
ourselves. To what end? First, that we shall understand ourselves more completely. Apart from the
fact that such self−knowledge in itself is desirable, an understanding of the inner nature releases us
from unconscious compulsions and motivations and confers a mastery over life. Second, that we may
the more fully express that inner self in every−day activities. It is only when mankind as a whole has
reached, or perhaps when the more advanced men and women in the world have evolved, some
degree of inner realisation that we may ever hope for that ideal utopian condition of things−−a wide
tolerance, peace, and universal brotherhood. It is to ends such as these that Magic owes its
raison
d'etre.
Approaching the matter from another point of view, it may be said that Magic deals with the same
problems as Religion. It does not waste its or our valuable time with futile speculations with regard
to the existence or nature of God. It affirms dogmatically that there is an omnipresent and eternal life
principle−−and thereupon, in true scientific fashion, lays down a host of methods for proving it for
oneself. How may we know God? Here, as before, there is a well−defined and elaborate technique
for dealing with the human consciousness as such and exalting it to an immediate experience of the
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Israel Regardie: The Art Meaning of Magic
universal spirit permeating and sustaining all things. I say advisedly that its technique is
well−defined. For the system has an abhorrence of the attitude of those good−natured but
muddle−headed thinkers who, refusing to accept their human limitations as they are now, aim too
high without dealing with the manifold problems in the way.
Let us assume that yonder building is ten storeys high. How may we reach the roof? Certainly not by
ignoring the very obvious fact that at least two hundred feet intervene between us and the roof! Yet
that is precisely the attitude of the so−called simplicity cult in mystical religion. God, they affirm, is
an exalted state of infinite consciousness to which the microcosmic mind must be united. So far, so
good−−and here Magic is in accord with their view. Therefore, these people propose to attempt
gaining the summit of attainment by ignoring the steps between man as we find him now and the
supreme end−− God. It is as though they wished to jump from the ground to the roof of the aforesaid
building.
Magic adopts a slightly different attitude. It is one, however, which is markedly similar to the
common−sense attitude of the mythical man in the street. To get to the top of the building we must
either climb the various flights of stairs leading there, or else take the lift upwards. In either case, it is
a graduated process−−an evolution, if you wish.
Man, holds the magical theory, is a more or less complicated creature whose several faculties of
feeling, sensation, and thinking have slowly been evolved in the course of aeons of evolution. It is
fatal to ignore these faculties, for evidently they were evolved for some useful purpose in answer to
some inner need. Hence, in aspiring towards divine union, surely a laudable goal, we must be quite
sure that our method, whatever it is, takes into consideration those faculties and develops them to the
stage where they too may participate in the experience. If evolution is held up as a suitable process,
then the whole man must evolve, and not simply little bits or aspects of him, whilst other parts of his
nature are left undeveloped at a primitive or infantile level of being. Moreover, these faculties must
be so trained as to be able to "take" the enormous tension sure to be imposed upon them by so
exalted but nevertheless so powerful an attainment. Each faculty must be deliberately trained and
carried stage by stage through various levels of human and cosmic consciousness so that gradually
they become accustomed to the high potential of energy, ideation, and inspiration that must
inevitably accompany illumination and an extension of consciousness. Failure to consider such a
viewpoint in terms of its dynamics undoubtedly must account for the catastrophies so frequently
encountered in occult and mystical circles.
To present a bird's−eye view of the entire field of Magic, let me summarily state that for convenience
the subject may be divided into at least three major divisions. One−− Divination. Two −− Evocation
and Vision. Three −− Invocation. I will define each separately and at some little length.
With regard to the first division, the magical hypothesis is quite definite. It holds that divination is
not ultimately concerned with mere fortune−telling−−nor even with divining the spiritual causes in
the background of material events, though this latter is of no little unimportance. On the contrary,
however, the practice of divination when conducted aright has as its objective the development of the
inner psychic faculty of intuition. It is an enormous asset spiritually to have developed an exquisite
sensitivity to the inner subtle world of the psyche. When carried on for a sufficiently long period of
time, the practice builds slowly but efficiently a species of bridge between the consciousness of man
and that deeper hidden part of his psyche of which usually he is not aware−−the Unconscious, or
higher Self. In these deeper spiritual aspects of his nature are the divine roots of discrimination,
spiritual discernment, and lofty wisdom. The object of divination is quite simply, then, the
construction of a psychic mechanism whereby this source of inspiration and life may be made
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Israel Regardie: The Art Meaning of Magic
accessible to the ordinary consciousness, to the ego. That this mechanism is concerned at the outset
with providing answers to apparently trivial questions is by itself no objection to the technique itself.
The preliminary approaches to any study may seem unworthy to or incompatible with that study.
And divination is no exception to the general trend. Nor is the objection valid that the technique is
open to frequent abuse by unscrupulous charlatans. But practised sincerely and intelligently and
assiduously by the real student, consciousness gradually opens itself to a deeper level of awareness.
"The brain becomes porous to the recollections and dictates of the soul," to use a current
theosophical expression, is a true statement of the actual results of the training. As the object of
analytical psychology is the assimilation of the repressed content of the Unconscious to the ordinary
wake−a−day consciousness, so by these other magical means the human mind becomes aware of
itself as infinitely vaster, deeper and wiser than ever it realised before. A sense of the spiritual aspect
of things dawns upon the mind−−a sense of one's own innate high wisdom, and a recognition of
divinity working through man and the universe. Surely such a viewpoint elevates divination above
the level of a mere occult art to an intrinsic part of mystical endeavour.
Geomancy, Tarot and Astrology, these are the fundamental techniques of the divinatory system.
Geomancy is divination by means of earth. At one time, its practitioners actually used sand or black
earth in which to trace its sigils and symbols−−a typically primitive or mediaeval method. Today
Geomantic diviners use pencil and paper, relying upon graphite in their pencils to formulate,
theoretically, a magical link between themselves and the so−called divining intelligences or
elementals of Earth. It is, so far as my own experience goes, a highly efficient technique, and I can
clairn at least an 80% degrce of accuracy over several years. Tarot is the name of a set of cards,
seventy−eight in number, which were introduced into Europe in either the fourteenth or fifteenth
century from . . . ? No−one knows where they came from. Their origin is a complete mystery. At one
period in Europe there were no such cards available, so far as we can see. At another time, the cards
were circulating freely. Little mention need be made of astrology, since that has long been one of the
most popular methods with which the public has been made familiar. Anyone who practises these
methods with this objective in mind will assuredly become aware of the results I have described.
And while, it is true, his querents for divination may receive perfectly good answers to the questions
they have asked, departing from his threshold in the spirit of gratitude and wonder, the intuitive
development accruing to him will constitute the more important side of that transaction.
It is when we leave the relatively simple realm of divination to approach the obscure subject of
Evocation that we enter deep waters. Here it is that most difficulty has arisen. And it is in connection
with this phase of Magic that the greatest misunderstanding and fear even has developed.
In order to elucidate the matter, let me again turn to the terminology of modern psychology. The
term "complex" has achieved a fairly wide notoriety during the last quarter of a century since the
circulation of the theories of Freud and Jung. It means an aggregation or group of ideas in the mind
with a strong emotional charge, capable of influencing conscious thought and behaviour. If my
interest is Magic, then naturally every item of information acquired, no matter what its nature, is
likely to be built by association into that constellation of ideas clustering around my
interest−−becoming in the course of years a thorough−going complex. Mrs. Jones my dairywoman,
because of her professional predilection, will have her complex centering about milk and cows and
butter and the price of eggs.
Over and above this definition, however, is the more subtle one of a group of ideas or feelings
congregating about a significant or dominant psychic theme, such as sex or the need to overcome
inferior feelings, or some psychic wound of childhood, tying or locking up nervous energy. Thus, as
a result of repression, we may find a complex of which the possessor is totally unconscious−−a
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Israel Regardie: The Art Meaning of Magic
complex expressing itself in a sense of insecurity, obsession by morbid unreasonable fears, and
persistent anxiety. Moreover, a constellation of feelings and moods and emotional reactions may
exist which have become so powerful and yet so obnoxious to reason as to have become completely
split off from the main stream of the personality. What modern psychology calls a complex in this
sense, the ancient psychology of Magic, which had its own system of classification and
nomenclature, named a Spirit. The system of classification was the Qabalistic Sephiros or the ten
fundamental categories of thought.
Thus, should we essay translation of terms, the sense of inferiority we might call the spirit of
Tipharas,
whose name is said to be
Soras,
inasmuch as the Sun, one of its attributions or
associations, is considered the planetary symbol of the individuality. Hence an affliction to the
personality, which may be considered a general or rough definition of the inferiority sense, could
well be referred to
Soras
−−since the spirit in the case of each Sephirah is considered evil. That
complex expressing itself in insecurity is the spirit of
Yesod
and the Moon, whose name
is
Chashmodai.
This sphere of
Yesod
represents the astral design or foundation imparting stability and
permanence to physical shapes and forms, in a word it is a symbol of security and strength. Should
we be confronted with a case where the emotions were split off from consciousness−− this is the
influence of the spirit of
Hod
and Mercury,
Taphthartharath.
One wallowing in emotional chaos,
having refused to develop equally consciousness and the rational faculties, is subject to the spirit of
Netsach
and Venus,
Haniel.
A purely destructive or suicidal neurosis which causes one to exhibit the
symptomatic tendency deliberately to break things, or to use them in attack against oneself, is of a
martial quality, belonging to
Gevurah
and Mars, the spirit
Samael.
This, naturally, is the subjective point of view. That there is a purely objective occult theory I do not
deny, but that cannot be dealt with here.
How, nowadays, do we deal with the psycho−neuroses in the attempt to cure them−−to eliminate
them from the sphere of the patient's thinking and feeling? Principally by the analytical method. We
encourage the patient to narrate freely his life−history, to delineate in detail his early experiences in
connection with his father and mother, his reactions to brothers and sisters, to school and playmates
and the entire environment. He is asked to dwell particularly on his emotional reaction to these
earlier experiences, to re−live them in his imagination, to recount and analyse his feelings towards
them. Moreover, his dreams at the time of analysis are subjected to a careful scrutiny. This is
necessary because the dream is a spontaneous psychic activity uninterfered with by the waking
consciousness. Such activity reveals present−day unconscious reactions to the stimuli of
life−−reactions which modify, even form his conscious outlook. In this way the patient is enabled to
realise
objectively
the nature of this complex. He must detach himself from it for a short space of
time. And this critical objective examination of it, this understanding of its nature and the means
whereby it came into being, enables him, not once and for all, but gradually and with the passage of
time, to oust it from his ways of thinking.
Magic, however, at one time proceeded according to a slightly different technique. It too realised
how devastating were these natural but perverse ways of thinking, and how crippling was the effect
they exercised on the personality. Indecision, vacillation, incapacitation of memory, anaesthesia of
feeling and sense, compulsions and phobias, besides a host of physical and moral ills, are the
resultants of these complexes or spirit−dominants. So completely is the patient at the mercy of
obsessing moods as almost to be beside himself, thus suggesting to the vivid imagination of the
ancients an actual obsession by some extraneous spirit entity. So, in order to restore man to his
former efficiency, or to the standard of normality, these afflictions must be eliminated from
consciousness.
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Israel Regardie: The Art Meaning of Magic
As its first step, Magic proceeded to personalise them, to invest them with tangible shape and forrm,
and to give them a definite name and quality. It is the nature of the psyche spontaneously to give
human characteristics and nomenclature to the contents of its own mind. In doing this, the magical
system receives the official blessing, if I may say so, of no less a modern psychological authority
than Dr. C. G. Jung. In his commentary to
The Secret of the Golden Flower,
Jung names these
complexes "autonomous partial systems." Referring to these partial systems, he asserts: "Being also
constituents of the psychic personality, they necessarily have the character of persons. Such
partial−systems appear in mental diseases where there is no psychogenic splitting of the personality
(double personality), and also, quite commonly, in mediumistic phenomena." It is, as I have said, a
natural tendency of the human mind to personalise these complexes or groupings of special ideas. As
another proof of this, we may cite the phenomenon of dreams, in which quite frequently the patient's
psychic difficulties or complexes are given symbolically some human or animal form.
Proceeding a step further, the ancient science of Magic postulated that to eliminate this complex it
was necessary to render it objective to the patient's or student's consciousness so that he might
acquire some recognition of its presence. Whilst these subconscious knots of emotion, or astral
spirits, are unknown and uncontrolled, the patient is unable to control them to the best advantage, to
examine them thoroughly, to accept the one or to reject the other. First of all, was the hypothesis,
they must acquire tangible, objective form before they may be controlled. So long as they remain
intangible and amorphous and unperceived by the ego, they cannot adequately be dealt with. By a
programme of formal evocation, however, the spirits of the dark underworld, or complexes of ideas
inhabiting the deeper strata of unconsciousness, may be evoked from the gloom into visible
appearance in the magical triangle of manifestation. Evoked in this technical way, they may be
controlled by means of the transcendental symbols and formal processes of Magic, being brought
within the dominion of the stimulated will and consciousness of the theurgist. In other words, they
are once more assimilated into consciousness. No longer are they independent spirits roaming in the
astral world, or partial systems dwelling in the Unconscious, disrupting the individual's conscious
life. They are brought back once more into the personality, where they become useful citizens so to
speak, integral parts of the psyche, instead of outlaws and gangsters, grievous and dangerous
enemies threatening psychic unity and integrity.
How are these evoked? What is the technical process of rendering objective these autonomous
partial−systems? Magic parts company here with orthodox psychology. Many months of tedious
analysis at enormous financial outlay are required by the present−day psychological method to deal
with these problems, and few there be who are strong enough or patient enough to persist. The
magical theory prefers a drastic form of emotional and mental excitation by means of a ceremonial
technique. During the Evocation ceremony, divine and spirit names are continuously vibrated as part
of a lengthy conjuration. Circumambulations are performed from symbolic positions in the
temple−−these representing different strata of the unconscious, different regions of the psychic
world. Breath is inhaled into the lungs, and, rather like the pranayama technique of the Hindu Yogis,
manipulated by the imagination in special ways. By means of these exercises, consciousness is
stimulated to such a degree as to become opened, despite itself, to the enforced upwelling of the
content of the Unconscious. The upwelling is not haphazard but is definitely controlled and
regulated. For the Qabalists were thoroughly familiar with the ideas of suggestion and association,
arranging their conjurations so that by means of association of ideas there would be suggested to the
psyche the train of ideas required−−and only that train. The particular partial−system is then exuded
from the sphere of sensation and projected outwards. It embodies itself in so−called astral or etheric
substance normally comprising the interior body which serves as the foundation or design of the
physical form, and acting as the bridge between the body and the mind, of which it is the vehicle.
The astral form now reflecting the partial system projected from the Unconscious, attracts to itself
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