it merely regards them as in some way incomplete, secondary, or illusory. now, as will be seen later, the yellowschool stand aloof from the other two by the nature of its postulates. but the blackschool and the white are always more or less in active conflict; and it is because just at this moment that conflict is approaching a climax that it is necessary to write this essay. the adepts of the whiteschool consider the present danger to mankind so great that they are prepared to abandon their traditional policy of silence, in order to enlist in their ranks the profane of every nation. we are in possession of a certain mystical document30 which we may describe briefly, for convenience sake, as an apocalypse of which we magic without tears get any book for free on: www.abika.com 82 hold t
ster, but obtains positive benediction. the tantric is not 51 obsessed by the will-to-die. it is a difficult business, no doubt, to magic without tears get any book for free on: www.abika.com 91 get any fun out of existence; but at least it is not impossible. in other words, he implicitly denies the fundamental proposition that existence is sorrow, and he formulates the essential postulate of the whiteschool of magick, that means exist by which the universal sorrow (apparent indeed to all ordinary observation) may be unmasked, even as at the initiatoryrite of isis in the ancient days of kehm. there, a neophyte presenting his mouth, under compulsion, to the pouting buttocks of the goat of mendez, found himself caressed by the chaste lips of a virginal priestess of that goddess at the base
his pantheism, represents fairly enough the fundamental thesis of the whitetradition. almost the first observation that we have to make is that this whitetradition is hardly discoverable outside europe. it appears first of all in the legend of dionysus (in this connection read carefully browning's apollo and the fates) the egyptiantradition of osiris is not dissimilar. the central idea of the whiteschool is that, admitted that "everything is sorrow" for the profane, the initiate has the means of transforming it to "everything is joy. there is no question of any ostrich-ignoring of fact, as in christian science. there is not even any more or less sophisticated argument about the point of view altering the situation as in vedantism. we have, on the contrary, and attitude which was perha
god, as in the remnants of the ancientegyptiancult. the docmagic without tears get any book for free on: www.abika.com 94 trine became abominably corrupted in committee, so to speak and the result was christianity, which may be regarded as a whiteritual overlaid by a mountainous mass of blackdoctrine, like the baby of the mother that kingsolomon non-suited. we may define the doctrine of the whiteschool in its purity in very simple terms. existence is pure joy. sorrow is caused by failure to perceive this fact; but this is not a misfortune. we have invented sorrow, which does not matter so much after all, in order to have the exuberant satisfaction of getting rid of it. existence is thus a sacrament. adepts of the whiteschool regard their brethren of the black very much as the arist
pt. he understands that the only joy worth while is the joy of continual victory, and victory itself would become as tame as croquet if it were not spiced by equally contin- 35* this passage appears to be a direct hint at the formula of the ix o.t.o, and the preparation of the elixir of life. 53 magic without tears get any book for free on: www.abika.com 95 ual defeat. the purest documents of the whiteschool are found in the sacred books of thelema. the doctrine is given in excellent perfection both in the book of the heart girt with the serpent and the book of lapis lazuli. a single passage is adequate to explain the formula. 7. moreover i beheld a vision of a river. there was a little boatthereon; and in it under purple sails was a golden woman, an image of asi wrought in finest gold
s of sleep, and her body embraced me. altogether i melted in her beauty and was glad. 15. the river also became the river of amrit, and the little boat was the chariot of the flesh, and the sails thereof the blood of the heart that beareth me, that beareth me. magic without tears get any book for free on: www.abika.com 96 liber lxv, cap. ii. we find even in profane literature this doctrine of the whiteschool of magick- o buddha! couldst thou nowhere rest a pivot for the universe? must all things be alike confessed mere changes rung upon a curse? i swear by all the bliss of blue my phryne with her powder on is just as false- and just as true- as your disgusting skeleton. each to his taste: if you prefer this loathly brooding on decay; i call it growth, and lovelier than all the glamours of
m the dark cloud of iniquity. they joined hands with the sufis and the vedantists. but this again led to the mere denial of the reality of evil. thus drawing away, little by little, from clear appreciation of the facts of nature, their doctrine became purely theoretical, and faded away, while the thundercloud of sin settled down more heavily than ever. the most important of all the efforts of the whiteschool, from an exoteric point of view, is islam. in its doctrine there is some slight taint, but much less than in christianity. it is a virile religion. it looks facts in the face, and admits their horror; but it proposes to overcome them by sheer dint of manhood. unfortunately, the metaphysical conceptions of its quasi-profaneschools are grossly materialistic. it is only the pantheism of
ree on: www.abika.com 99 the threeschools of magick (3) cara soror, do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the law. it has been a long- i hope not too tedious- voyage; but at last the harbour is in sight. our essay approaches its goal; the theory of life to which initiation tends. let us continue! there is in history only one movement whose object has been to organize the isolated adepts of the whiteschool of magick, and this movement was totally unconnected with religion, except in so far as it lent its influence to the reformers of the christianchurch. its appeal was not at all to the people. it merely offered to open up relations with, and communicate certain practical secrets of wisdom to, isolated men of science through europe. this movement is generally known by the name of rosic
ctually dead. materialistic science has overwhelmed the faith and magic without tears get any book for free on: www.abika.com 102 hope of the christians (they never possessed any charity to overwhelm) with a demonstration of the sorrow, transitoriness and cruel futility of the universe. a vast wave of pessimism has engulfed the fortress of mansoul. it was indeed a deadly blow to the adepts of the whiteschool when science, their own familiar friend in whom they trusted, lifted up his heel against them. it was in this conjuncture that the yellowadepts sent forth into the western world a messenger, helena petrowna blavatsky, with the distinct mission to destroy, on the one hand, the crude schools of christianity, and, on the other, to eradicate the materialism from physical science. she mad
t the yellowadepts sent forth into the western world a messenger, helena petrowna blavatsky, with the distinct mission to destroy, on the one hand, the crude schools of christianity, and, on the other, to eradicate the materialism from physical science. she made the necessary connection with edward maitland and anna kingsford, who were trying rather helplessly to put the exoteric formulae of the whiteschool into th hands of students, and with the secret representatives of the rosicrucianbrotherhood. it is not for us in this place to estimate the degree of success with which she carried out her embassy; but at least we see today that physical science is at last penetrating to the spiritual basis of material phenomena. the work of henry poincar, einstein, whitehead, and bertrand russell i
tion more complete, a wretched creature was chosen who, to the most loathsome moral qualities, added the most fatuous imbecility. and then blew up. this, then, is the present state of the war of the threeschools. we cannot suppose that humanity is so entirely base as to accept krishnamurti; yet that such a scheme could ever have been conceived is a symptom of the almost hopeless decadence of the white school37. the 36^ weh note: inject something about krishnamurti here, and soften the racial remark made above. 37* note. this passage was written in 1924 e.v. the master therion arose and smote him. what seemed a menace is now hardly even a memory. 58 blackadepts boast openly that they have triumphed all along the line. magic without tears get any book for free on: www.abika.com 104 their f
attained the destruction of all positive qualities. it is only one step to the stage when the annihilation of all life and thought will appear as a fatal necessity. the materialism and vital scepticism of the present time, its frenzied rush for pleasure in total disregard of any idea of building for the future, testifies to a condition of complete moral disorder, of abject spiritual anarchy. the whiteschool has thus been paralysed. we are reminded of the spider described by fabre, who injects her victims with a poison which paralyzes them without killing them, so that her own young may find fresh meat. and this is what is going to happen in europe and america unless something is done about it, and done in very short order. the yellowschool could not remain impassive spectators of the ab
victims with a poison which paralyzes them without killing them, so that her own young may find fresh meat. and this is what is going to happen in europe and america unless something is done about it, and done in very short order. the yellowschool could not remain impassive spectators of the abominations. madame blavatsky was a mere forerunner. they, in conjunction with the secret chiefs of the whiteschool in europe, chiefs who had been compelled to suspend all attempts at exoteric enlightenment by the general moral debility which had overtaken the races from which they drew their adepts, have prepared a guide for mankind. this man, of an extreme moral force and elevation, combined with a profound sense of worldly realities, has stood forth in an attempt to save the whiteschool, to reh
n an attempt to save the whiteschool, to rehabilitate its formula, and to fling back from the bastions of moral freedom the howling savages of pessimism. unless his appeal is heard, unless there comes a truly virile reaction against the creeping atrophy which is poisoning them, unless they enlist to the last man under his standard, a great decisive battle will have been lost. this prophet of the whiteschool, chosen by its masters and his brethren, to save the theory and practice, is armed with a sword far mightier than excalibur. he has been entrusted with a new magical formula, one which can be accepted by the whole human race. its adoption will strengthen magic without tears get any book for free on: www.abika.com 105 the yellowschool by giving a more positive value to their theory; w
with a new magical formula, one which can be accepted by the whole human race. its adoption will strengthen magic without tears get any book for free on: www.abika.com 105 the yellowschool by giving a more positive value to their theory; while leaving the postulates of the blackschool intact, it will transcend them and raise their theory and practice almost to the level of the yellow. as to the whiteschool, it will remove from them all taint of poison of the black, and restore vigour to their central formula of spiritualalchemy by giving each man an independent ideal. it will put an end to the moral castration involved in the assumption that each man, whatever his nature, should deny himself to follow out a fantastic and impracticable ideal of goodness. incidentally, this formula will
e of humanity. no doubt here is this much in that assertion, that magic without tears get any book for free on: www.abika.com 107 only the highest can take full advantage of the extraordinary opportunities which it offers. at the same time "the law is for all" each in his degree, every man may learn to realise the nature of his own being, and to develop it in freedom. it is by this means that the whiteschool of magick can justify its past, redeem its present, and assure its future, by guaranteeing to every human being a life of liberty and of love. such, then, are the words of g rard aumont. i should not like to endorse every phrase; but the whole exposition is so masterly in its terse, tense vigour, and so unrivalled by any other document at my disposal, that i thought it best to let you
CHIREAU YVONNE BLACK MAGIC RELIGION AND THE AFRICAN AMERICAN CONJURING TRADITION
ons for the benefit of their patients over the ehind leg of a frog. f" similar comments made their way into the letters of reformers, the newspapers, and popular literature. to many freedpersons, however, the offense that others took in supernatural practices was of little consequences. some of the exslaves, in fact, appeared to delight in the trepidation that conjure caused among outsiders "some whiteschool teachers from up north came to teach de chillen" declared a former texas slave "us have good times tellin f [them 'bout blackmagic and de conjure c de teacher from de north don't know what to think of all dat"[16] the lines of the cultural battle between the reformers and the ex-slaves were most sharply drawn at the freedmen's colleges. these schools had been established by benevolen
RUBY TABLET OF SET
, based upon differing concepts of the meaning of deification. for the purpose of convenience in this essay, i will label them the white and blackschools of esotericism. since this is not intended to develop into a book, the descriptions which follow are necessarily somewhat simplistic; but they are applicable not only to esotericorders but to exotericreligions as well. the ultimate aim of the whiteschool is the union (or reunion) of the humanmind with the non-conscious, mechanical order of the universe (also referred to as "nature" and "god. its methods and hierarchies are appropriately mechanical, leading in the direction of mental stasis and the inhibition of creative thought. deviations from accepted norms are not permissible; absolute obedience to superior authority is mandatory;