Chapter LXXIII, Section 1

The doctrine that human volition, cultivated by discipline and emancipated from passion and servitude, is the primary instrument of magical operation — will confirmed by persistent acts acquires causal power over self, others, and nature; distinct from faith and from mere desire.

The passage stresses that the operator must 'express his affection' and declare 'for what use he doth it,' and cites the principle that 'a disposition does not cause an effect, but the act of the disposition,' making the active expression of will the operative cause of magical results.

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).

The passage explicitly commands that 'in every work there be imprecations and inscriptions made' so that the object (herb, stone, picture) is consecrated with written formulas that declare its purpose and give it magical efficacy independent of the operator's ongoing presence.

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 text centrally argues that speech, voice, and writing carry causal power to command effects on herbs, stones, and pictures.