4. The Conjuration Of The Four-a

THE four elementary forms separate and distinguish roughly the created spirits which the universal movement disengages from the central fire. The spirit toils everywhere and fructifies matter by life; all matter is animated; thought and soul are everywhere. By possessing ourselves of the thought which produces diverse forms we become masters of forms and make them serve our purposes. The Astral Light is saturated with such souls, which it disengages in the unceasing generation of beings. These souls have imperfect wills, which can be governed and employed by wills more powerful; then mighty invisible chains form and may occasion or determine great elementary commotions. The phenomena established by the criminal trials of Magic, and quite recently by M. Eudes de Mirville, have no other cause. Elementary spirits are like children: they torment chiefly those who trouble about them, unless indeed they are controlled by high reason and great severity. We designate such spirits under the name of occult elements, and it is these who frequently occasion our bizarre or disturbing dreams, who produce the movements of the divining rod and rappings upon walls or furniture; but they can manifest no thought other than our own, and when we are not thinking, they speak to us with all the incoherence of dreams. They reproduce good and evil indifferently, for they are without free will and are hence irresponsible; they exhibit themselves to ecstatics and somnambulists under incomplete and fugitive forms. This explains the nightmares of St. Anthony and most probably the visions of Swedenborg. Such creatures are neither damned nor guilty; they are curious and innocent. We may use or abuse them like animals or children. Therefore the Magus who makes use of them assumes a terrible responsibility, for he must expiate all the evil which he causes them to accomplish, and the extent of his punishment will be in proportion to that of the power which he may have exercised by their mediation. To govern elementary spirits and thus become king of the occult elements, we must first have undergone the four ordeals of ancient initiations; and seeing that such initiations exist no longer, we must have substituted analogous experiences, such as exposing ourselves boldly in a fire, crossing an abyss by means of the trunk of a tree or a plank, scaling a perpendicular mountain during a storm, swimming through a dangerous whirlpool or cataract. A man who is timid in the water will never reign over the Undines; one who is afraid of fire will never command Salamanders; so long as we are liable to giddiness we must leave the Sylphs in peace and forbear from irritating Gnomes; for inferior spirits will only obey a power which has overcome them in their own element. When this incontestable faculty has been acquired by exercise and daring, the word of our will must be imposed on the elements by special consecrations of air, fire, water and earth. This is the indispensable preliminary of all magical operations. The air is exorcised by breathing towards the four cardinal points and saying: The Spirit of God moved upon the waters and breathed into the face of man the breath of life. Be Michael my leader and Sabtabiel my servant, in and by the light. May my breath become a word, and I will rule the spirits of this creature of air; I will curb the steeds of the sun by the Will of my heart, by the thought of my mind, and by the apple of the right eye. Therefore I do exorcise thee, creature of air, by Pentagrammaton, and in the name Tetragrammaton, wherein are firm Will and true faith. Amen. Sela: fiat. So be it. The Prayer of the Sylphs must be recited next, after tracing their sign in the air with the quill of an eagle.