The Book of ceremonial Magic

happiness in domestic matters and in the enterprises which contribute to prosperity and to
the pleasures of a contented life. The proviso is that
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"the instructions must be followed as accurately as human weakness will allow."
Fortunately they are more simple than the Grimoires. When a copy of the book has been
secured, it must be placed in a small bag of new leather, so that it may be kept clean. A
vow must be made to carry it as far as practicable on one's person, and to read with
attentive devotion at least one page daily. If a specific danger be apprehended, a page
suitable to its nature should be selected. Reading must be done upon the knees, with the
face turned to the east: "so did Charlemagne invariably." Furthermore, works of piety
must be performed in honour of the celestial genii whose benign influence it is desired to
attract; alms also must be given to the poor, "as this is of all things most pleasing unto
such spirits, for thereby we become their coadjutors and friends, the economy of the
universe being committed to them by the Creator."
Here we have the magical doctrine concerning planetary intelligences which connects the
Enchiridion with the Arbatel, and the hint of "secondary deities" which connects it with
Trithemius. 1]
The In Principio, or first chapter of the Gospel according to St. John, is declared to be the
most potent of all the devotions in the book, and it is to be recited the most frequently.
The mysterious figures are said to have been extracted from the rarest manuscripts which
antiquity has committed to us, and their virtue is not only highly efficacious, but so easily
Put in motion, that it is enough for this purpose to carry the work reverently on one's
person. "Experience will remove any doubt which may be felt in this respect, while the
scruples which may be occasioned by the idea that there is Magic or
p. 44
superstition herein will be banished by a slight exercise of reason.
As to this latter point, it is said that a little reflection upon the infinite number of secret
sympathies and antipathies found in different beings here below will explain how it is
that such figures may be in sympathy with the Celestial Intelligences which govern this
vast universe.
It will scarcely be necessary to observe that the doctrine of sympathies and antipathies is
the very essence of Natural Magic, and connects it with the recondite branches. The
mysterious figures referred to were originally nine in number, and in most cases recur
several times. The most conspicuous is the Labarum of Constantine and the Tau symbol,
which Lévi connects with the Tarot.
The apparently unmeaning enumeration of various Divine Names is a special
characteristic of Ceremonial Magic, and certainly makes the Enchiridion interlink with a
cycle of literature from which it is otherwise thinly distinct. There is, indeed, little