VI. MAGIC AND SORCERY 



In proportion as an art or science is lost or forgotten, 

 the very name by which it was called becomes misunder- 

 stood, misapplied, and finally forgotten. In proportion 

 as men become unspiritual and material, they will grow 

 incapable of comprehending the power of spirit. There 

 are many persons even to-day who deny the existence 

 of spirit, or of anything that transcends the power of 

 perception of their physical senses. One example of the 

 degradation of terms is the meaning which is at present 

 commonly attributed to the word magic. The true signi- 

 ficance of that term is the application of spiritual know- 

 ledge, or Wisdom, in contradistinction to that science 

 which sees only the material aspect of Nature. But the 

 vulgar have come to believe " magic " to mean only 

 sleight-of-hand performances, or perhaps conjuring or 

 dealings with the devil, or with the spirits of the dead. 

 True magic is the greatest of all natural sciences, because 

 it includes a true knowledge of visible and invisible 

 Nature. It is not only a science, but also an artj because 

 it cannot be learned out of books, but must be acquired 

 by practical experience. To acquire that spiritual ex- 

 perience is to become spiritual ; it is to perceive and 

 know the true nature of the visible and invisible elements 

 that compose the Macrocosm and the Microcosm, and to 

 possess the art to direct and employ the invisible powers 

 of Nature.* Divine knowledge and divine powers do 



1 " Magic is the knowledge of how to employ spiritual powers ; but it is 

 self-evident that nobody can employ any spiritual powers unless he has 

 come into their possession by the awakening of his own spirituality ; nor 

 can any one become spiritual by merely imagining himself to be so. Xt in 



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