Transcendental Magic I: The Doctrine (Éliphas Lévi) · 14 of 96 · tr. A.E. Waite
1. The Candidate-a
DISCIPLINA ENSOPH KETHERI WHEN a philosopher adopted as the basis for a new apocalypse of human wisdom the axiom: “I think, therefore I am”, in a measure he altered unconsciously, from the standpoint of Christian Revelation, the old conception of the Supreme Being.
I am that I am, said the Being of beings of Moses.
I am he who thinks, says the man of Descartes, and to think being to speak inwardly, such a one may affirm, like the God of St.
John the Evangelist: I am he in whom and by whom the word manifests – In principio eras verbum.
Now, what is this principle?
It is a groundwork of speech, it is a reason for the existence of the word.
The essence of the word is in the principle; the principle is that which is; intelligence is a principle which speaks.
What further is intellectual light?
It is speech.
What is revelation?
It is speech also, being is the principle, speech is the means, and the plenitude or development and perfection of being is the end.
To speak is to create.
But to say: “I think, therefore I exist”, is to argue from consequence to principle, and certain contradictions which have been adduced by a great writer, Lamennais, have proved abundantly the philosophical unsoundness of this method.
I am, therefore something exists might seem to be a more primitive and simple foundation for experimental philosophy.
I AM, THEREFORE BEING EXISTS.
Ego sum qui sum, such is the first revelation of God in man and of man in the world, while it is also the first axiom of occult philosophy.
.
Being is being.
Hence this philosophy, having that which is for its principle, can be in no sense hypothesis or guesswork.
Mercurius Trismegistus begins his admirable symbol known under the name of the “Emerald Table,” by this threefold affirmation: “It is true, it is certain without error, it is of all truth.” Thus, in physics, the true confirmed by experience; in philosophy, certitude purged from any alloy of error; in the domain of religion or the infinite, absolute truth indicated by analogy: such are the first necessities of true science, and Magic only can impart these to its adepts.
But you, before all things, who are you, thus taking this work in your hands and proposing to read it?
On the pediment of a temple consecrated by antiquity to the God of Light was an inscription of two words: “Know thyself.” I impress the same counsel on every man when he seeks to approach science.
Magic, which the men of old denominated the SANCTUM REGNUM, the Holy Kingdom, or Kingdom of God, REGNUM Dei, exists only for kings and for priests.
Are you priests?
Are you kings?
The priesthood of Magic is not a vulgar priesthood, and its royalty enters not into competition with the princes of this world.
The monarchs of science are the priests of truth, and their sovereignty is hidden from the multitude, like their prayers and sacrifices.
The kings of science are men who know the truth and them the truth has made free, according to the specific promise given by the most mighty of all initiators.
The man who is enslaved by his passions or worldly prejudices can be initiated in no wise; he must reform or he will never attain; meanwhile he cannot be an adept, for this word signifies a person who has achieved by will and by work.
The man who loves his own opinions and fears to part with them, who suspects new truths, who is unprepared to doubt everything rather than admit anything on chance, should close this book: for him it is useless and dangerous.
Eckhart's signature doctrine that the Father eternally begets the Son in the ground of the soul; the human interior as the actual site of the divine generative act, distinct from inner_light's static indwelling.
The passage states 'I am he in whom and by whom the word manifests,' locating the generative act of the Word within the human self.
Esoteric teachings reserved for those ready to receive them; outer meaning conceals an inner liberating truth.
Magic is described as existing only for kings and priests with sovereignty hidden from the multitude, indicating esoteric teachings reserved for the initiated.
The divine reason, word, or ordering principle through which the universe was created; mediates between the transcendent God and the material world.
The passage explicitly identifies the Word as the principle of creation and revelation, citing 'In principio eras verbum' and stating 'To speak is to create.'
The recognition of one's own true divine nature as the primary path to liberation; 'know thyself' as soteriology.
The text centers on the imperative 'Know thyself' as the primary counsel for approaching science and magic, linking it to the revelation of God in man.
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 doctrine that speech creates reality is central, asserting 'To speak is to create' and defining the essence of the word as the principle of existence.