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Transcendental Magic II: The Ritual (Éliphas Lévi) · 101 of 123 · tr. A.E. Waite

20. The Thaumaturge-d

Rabelais, who was a greater magician than he seemed, made pantagruelism his special panacea. He compelled his patients to laugh, and all the remedies he administered subsequently succeeded the better in consequence. He established a magnetic sympathy between himself and them, by means of which he imparted his own confidence and good humour; he flattered them in his prefaces, termed them his precious, most illustrious patients, and dedicated his books to them. So are we convinced the Gargantua and Pantagruel cured more black humours, more tendencies to madness, more atrabilious whims, at that epoch of religious animosities and civil wars, than the whole Faculty of Medicine could boast. Occult Medicine is essentially sympathetic. Reciprocal affection, or at least real goodwill, must exist between doctor and patient. Syrups and juleps have very little inherent virtue; they are what they become through the mutual opinion of operator and subject; hence homeopathic medicine dispenses with them and no serious inconvenience follows. Oil and wine, combined with salt or camphor, are sufficient for the healing of all wounds and for all external frictions or soothing applications. Oil and wine are the chief medicaments of Gospel tradition. They formed the balm of the Good Samaritan, and in the Apocalypse - when describing the last plagues - the prophet prays the avenging powers to spare these substances, that is, to leave a hope and a remedy for so many wounds. What we term Extreme Unction was the pure and simple practice of the Master's Traditional Medicine, both for the early Christians and in the mind of the apostle Saint James, who has included the precept in his epistle to the faithful of the whole world. “If any man be sick among you,” he writes, “let him call in the priests of the church, and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord.” This divine therapeutic science was lost gradually, and Extreme Unction came to be regarded as a religious formality, a necessary preparation for death. At the same time, the thaumaturgic virtue of consecrated oil could not be effaced altogether from remembrance by traditional doctrine, and it is perpetuated in the passage of the Catechism which refers to Extreme Unction. Faith and charity were the most signal healing powers among early Christians. The source of most diseases is in moral disorders; we must begin by healing the soul, and then the cure of the body will follow quickly.
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Themes
Cosmic Sympathycosmology

The Stoic and Plotinian doctrine that all parts of the cosmos are bound by hidden affinities, so that a movement in one part resonates through the whole; the metaphysical basis for astrology, magic, and divination.

The passage explicitly states that 'Occult Medicine is essentially sympathetic' and describes establishing a 'magnetic sympathy' between doctor and patient as the mechanism for healing.

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Emotional Epistemologysoteriology

The doctrine that emotions constitute a valid and necessary mode of knowing reality, complementing or surpassing intellectual cognition.

The text argues that 'Reciprocal affection, or at least real goodwill, must exist' and that 'Faith and charity were the most signal healing powers,' positioning emotion as causal to reality.

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Love Of Neighbourethics

Active compassionate care for others as a central spiritual obligation or expression of divine love.

The author identifies 'charity' alongside faith as one of the 'most signal healing powers' among early Christians.

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Prayerpraxis

Direct address to the divine, whether petitionary, contemplative, or liturgical; speech and silence offered upward.

The passage directly quotes the instruction to 'let them pray over him' as part of the healing ritual.

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Rejection Of Hypocrisyethics

Critique of outward religious observance that lacks inner transformation; form without substance.

The text critiques how Extreme Unction became a 'religious formality' and 'necessary preparation for death' rather than the original healing practice.

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Sacred Namestheology

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

The healing ritual is performed 'in the name of the Lord,' implying the ontological power of the divine name.

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Theurgypraxis

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 describes the 'Thaumaturgic virtue of consecrated oil' and ritual anointing as a means to engage divine therapeutic science, fitting the definition of engaging gods through consecrated material symbols.

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Word Power Incantationpraxis

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 cites the epistle of Saint James regarding anointing 'in the name of the Lord' as a divine therapeutic science, attributing causal power to the spoken name and prayer.

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