Chapter XL, Section 1

The doctrine and practice of one person deliberately inflicting harm on another through trained will, mind-power, or occult technique alone, without physical contact — producing exhaustion, illness, breakdown, or death in the victim; recognised cross-culturally as witchcraft, hexing, or the evil eye, and treated in Western esotericism as a genuine occult hazard requiring diagnosis and defence rather than dismissed as superstition. Distinct from magical_will (the general doctrine that trained volition has causal power, of which this is one malevolent application) and from spirit_conjuration (which subordinates an already-existing summoned spirit, rather than directing the operator's own power at a person).

The binding of men into hatred or sickness, and the binding of thieves, merchants, and armies so they cannot act, describe deliberate harm or constraint inflicted on persons and groups through occult technique.

Divine names or formulas that carry ontological power, used in prayer, liturgy, or magical practice.

The passage centrally lists 'names' and 'invocations' as primary tools for binding and influencing reality.

The consecration of an inscribed physical object — seal, pentacle, amulet, character, or figure — so that it holds and channels magical power independent of any ongoing spoken formula, protecting, attracting, or acting on its bearer's behalf. Distinct from sacred_names (the power resides in the name itself, spoken or written, not in a dedicated physical vessel) and from spirit_conjuration (the object is not commanding or binding a spirit but is itself the locus of power).

Rings, charms, images, and characters are enumerated as physical objects that hold and channel binding power independently of ongoing spoken formula.

Iamblichean ritual practice that engages the gods directly through consecrated material symbols and actions, on the premise that divine power descends into properly prepared matter — distinct from philosophical contemplation alone.

The passage details ritual practices like consecrations and sacrifices used to bind natural powers.

The doctrine and practice that spoken or sung word carries causal-magical force — that uttering names, formulas, songs, or incantations alters reality directly rather than merely communicating about it. Vainamoinen's runo-songs that move mountains and command iron, Norse galdr, Vedic mantra, Shinto kotodama, the magician's barbarous names in the Greek Magical Papyri, Iamblichean arcane signatures and inexplicable symbols, biblical creation-by-word. Distinct from sacred_names (the ontological power of names themselves) and prayer (address to the divine); word_power_incantation is the magical-causal efficacy of the spoken word as such.

The passage explicitly lists 'words', 'names', 'invocations', and 'sounds' as fundamental methods for binding reality.