More on Magic

Crowley's Annotated Postulates

(1) Every intentional act is a Magical Act. (In one sense Magick may be defined as the name given to Science by the vulgar.)

That reduces everything we do to Magic, including brushing our teeth, making a meal, paying a bill.

(2) Every successful act has conformed to the postulate.

 

(3) Every failure proves that one or more requirements of the postulate have not been fulfilled.
(Illustrations: There may be failure to understand the case; as when a doctor makes a wrong diagnosis, and his treatment injures his patient. There may be failure to apply the right kind of force, as when a rustic tries to blow out an electric light. There may be failure to apply the right degree of force, as when a wrestler has his hold broken. There may be failure to apply the force in the right manner, as when one presents a cheque at the wrong window of the Bank. There may be failure to employ the correct medium, as when Leonardo da Vinci found his masterpiece fade away. The force may be applied to an unsuitable object, as when one tries to crack a stone, thinking it a nut.)

This reduces analysis and applied procedure and logic to magic.

(4) The first requisite for causing any change is through qualitative and quantitative understanding of the conditions.
(Illustration: The most common cause of failure in life is ignorance of one's own True Will, or of the means by which to fulfill that Will. A man may fancy himself a painter, and waste his life trying to become one; or he may be really a painter, and yet fail to understand and to measure the difficulties peculiar to that career.)

AH, and we say the same - tho we say that one that does not know their true will is damaged, klippothic in a sense. A person that battles their own true will as if to negate it in favor of the false, is a bonafide klippoth. We agree on this though.

(5) The second requisite of causing any change is the practical ability to set in right motion the necessary forces.
(Illustration: A banker may have a perfect grasp of a given situation, yet lack the quality of decision, or the assets, necessary to take advantage of it.)

 

(6) "Every man and every woman is a star." That is to say, every human being is intrinsically an independent individual with his own proper character and proper motion.

And we recognize that some of these people's proper character and motion are to battle all Truths, including Self Inner Truth - their own True Wills.
That IS their nature.

(7) Every man and every woman has a course, depending partly on the self, and partly on the environment which is natural and necessary for each. Anyone who is forced from his own course, either through not understanding himself, or through external opposition, comes into conflict with the order of the Universe, and suffers accordingly.

We agree entirely - we even say it - quite independent of Crowley.

(8) A Man whose conscious will is at odds with his True Will is wasting his strength. He cannot hope to influence his environment efficiently.
(Illustration: When Civil War rages in a nation, it is in no condition to undertake the invasion of other countries. A man with cancer employs his nourishment alike to his own use and to that of the enemy which is part of himself. He soon fails to resist the pressure of his environment. In practical life, a man who is doing what his conscience tells him to be wrong will do it very clumsily. At first!)

Not valid analysis here. A country in a Civil War involves many individuals, and some of them ARE carrying out their True Will in engaging/promoting that war. Cancer and other diseases - again, Crowley didn't realize that viral and bacterial agents ALSO have a Will. And they DO follow it very successfully.

(9) A man who is doing this True Will has the inertia of the Universe to assist him.

YES! He FLOWS.

(10) Nature is a continuous phenomenon, though we do not know in all cases how things are connected.
(Illustration: Human consciousness depends on the properties of protoplasm, the existence of which depends on innumerable physical conditions peculiar to this planet; and this planet is determined by the mechanical balance of the whole universe of matter. We may then say that our consciousness is causally connected with the remotest galaxies; yet we do not know even how it arises from --- or with --- the molecular changes in the brain.)

 

(11) Science enables us to take advantage of the continuity of Nature by the empirical application of certain principles whose interplay involves different orders of idea connected with each other in a way beyond our present comprehension.

 

(12) Man is ignorant of the nature of his own being and powers. Even his idea of his limitations is based on experience of the past, and every step in his progress extends his empire. There is therefore no reason to assign theoretical limits to what he may be, or to what he may do.
(Illustration: A generation ago it was supposed theoretically impossible that man should ever know the chemical composition of the fixed stars. It is known that our senses are adapted to receive only an infinitesimal fraction of the possible rates of vibration. Modern instruments have enabled us to detect some of these supersensible by indirect methods, and even to use their peculiar qualities in the service of man, as in the case of the rays of Hertz and Rontgen. As Tyndall said, man might at any moment learn to perceive and utilize vibrations of all conceivable and inconceivable kinds. The question of Magick is a question of discovering and employing hitherto unknown forces in nature. We know that they exist, and we cannot doubt the possibility of mental or physical instruments capable of bringing us into relation with them.)

 

(13) Every man is more or less aware that his individuality comprises several orders of existence, even when he maintains that his subtler principles are merely symptomatic of the changes in his gross vehicle. A similar order may be assumed to extend throughout nature.

 

(14) Man is capable of being, and using, anything which he perceives, for everything that he perceives is in a certain sense a part of his being. He may thus subjugate the whole Universe of which he is conscious to his individual Will.

Ahem, or man may end up subjugated if he tries it. This is some of that "hubris at puny accomplishments" rampant during Crowley's day. Man is not all that smart, despite the technological advantages. Man just THINKS he's smart.

(Illustration: Man has used the idea of God to dictate his personal conduct, to obtain power over his fellow, to excuse his crimes, and for innumerable other purposes, including that of realizing himself as God. He has used the irrational and unreal conceptions of mathematics to help him in the construction of mechanical devices. He has used his moral force to influence the actions even of wild animals. He has employed poetic genius for political purposes.)

And was it all that wise to do this? This is a fancy way of defining the animal behavior of a specific species: man.

(15) Every force in the Universe is capable of being transformed into any other kind of force by using suitable means. There is thus an inexhaustible supply of any particular kind of force that we may need.

This is the basic theory of string theory - all things are really one thing (a string) that takes on different properties based on it's vibrations in a universe containing at least 9 dimensions.

(16) The application of any given force affects all the orders of being which exist in the object to which it is applied, whichever of those orders is directly affected.

(17) A man may learn to use any force so as to serve any purpose, by taking advantage of the above theorems.

This is what people thought because they were awed by electricity.

(18) He may attract to himself any force of the Universe by making himself a fit receptacle for it, establishing a connection with it, and arranging conditions so that its nature compels it to flow toward him.

We're not sure he mean by force. Obviously, he's not talking physics.

(19) Man's sense of himself as separate from, and oppose to, the Universe is a bar to his conducting its currents. It insulates him.

Right!

(20) Man can only attract and employ the forces for which he is really fitted.
(Illustration: You cannot make a silk purse out of a sow's ear. A true man of science learns from every phenomenon. But Nature is dumb to the hypocrite; for in her there is nothing false. It is no objection that the hypocrite is himself part of Nature. He is an "endothermic" product, divided against himself, with a tendency to break up. He will see his own qualities everywhere, and thus obtain a radical misconception of phenomena. Most religions of the past have failed by expecting Nature to conform with their ideals of proper conduct.)

Right.

(21) There is no limit to the extent of the relations of any man with the Universe in essence; for as soon as man makes himself one with any idea the means of measurement cease to exist. But his power to utilize that force is limited by his mental power and capacity, and by the circumstances of his human environment.
(Illustration: When a man falls in love, the whole world becomes, to him, nothing but love boundless and immanent; but his mystical state is not contagious; his fellow-men are either amused or annoyed. He can only extend to others the effect which his love has had upon himself by means of his mental and physical qualities. Thus, Catullus, Dante and Swinburn made their love a mighty mover of mankind by virtue of their power to put their thoughts on the subject in musical and eloquent language. Again, Cleopatra and other people in authority moulded the fortunes of many other people by allowing love to influence their political actions. The Magician, however well he succeed in making contact with the secret sources of energy in nature, can only use them to the extent permitted by his intellectual and moral qualities. Mohammed's intercourse with Gabriel was only effective because of his statesmanship, soldiership, and the sublimity of his command of Arabic. Hertz's discovery of the rays which we now use for wireless telegraphy was sterile until reflected through the minds and wills of the people who could take his truth, and transmit it to the world of action by means of mechanical and economic instruments.)

 

(22) Every individual is essentially sufficient to himself. But he is unsatisfactory to himself until he has established himself in his right relation with the Universe.

 

(23) Magick is the Science of understanding oneself and one's conditions. It is the Art of applying that understanding in action.

True, but this has more to do with biological evolution.

(24) Every man has an indefeasible right to be what he is.

Metaphysically he has that right. Politically, well...? Depends on where one lives. While we believe the inherent rights of individuals, as enumerated in our philosophy, transcend temporal politics, all "rights" are essentially the rules that governments agree to abide by.

(25) Every man must do Magick each time that he acts or even thinks, since a thought is an internal act whose influence ultimately affects action, thought it may not do so at the time.

 

(26) Every man has a right, the right of self-preservation, to fulfill himself to the utmost.

 

(27) Every man should make Magick the keynote of his life. He should learn its laws and live by them.

 

(28) Every man has a right to fulfil his own will without being afraid that it may interfere with that of others; for if he is in his proper place, it is the fault of others if they interfere with him.

This has in it an inherent contradiction. Two men living perfectly in tune - may oppose each other. This is why the Temple of Lylyth does not support the doctrine of "harm none". While we do not seek conflict with others, this is often unavoidable. Rather, we seek to minimize entanglements.

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© 2001, Temple of Lylyth,
Annotations by
Tani Jantsang and Kaiden Fox
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