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THE TREE OF LIFE
This Magus, like a number of our modern contemporaries, was unfair
in that he considered anyone who did not use his particular system
to be a charlatan ; thougll it is probable that in his day there was
just as much need for stringent warning against quacks as there is
to-day. IIe then lays down the rule that the chief thing to be
considered is " Whether ye be in good health, because the body
being feeble and unhealthy, it is subject to divers infirmities, whence
at length result impatience and want of power to operate and pursue
the Operation ; and a sick man can neither be clean and pure, nor
enjoy solitude ; and in such a case it is better to cease."
The true, that is the most convenient, time for cominencing this
Operation, a time when all the forces of Nature are propitious to
the effort, is the first day after the cclebration of the Feast of
Passover or Easter, just about the time of the Vernal Equinox.
Then the Sun commences its northward journey, bringing with it
light, warmth, sustenance and grace, and the whole of the living
world, plants, trees, birds and beasts, respond to its resurrection
eagerly and joyfully. It is thus the most appropriate season for
upward growth and interior development, wcll suited to the growth
and manifestation of the spirit. The time necessary to bring the
Operation to a successful conclusion is six lunar months, so that
should it be commenced on March 22nd it would end about the
Autumnal Equinox in September. The whole period of six months
is divided into three definite periods of two months each, each
period being characterized by the severity of self-denials, but
mainly by the addition of further invocations, thus malting the
concentration towards the Holy Guardian Angel more intense and
fervent.
There is a great deal of preliminary discussion as to the nature of
the scene of the Operation. If possible it should be performed in the
country where actualsolitude can be obtained. I say" actual solitude"
advisedly, since, as all know, it is possible in the heart of a big city
to isolate oneself from the rest of the world simply by withdrawing
within. The solitude this book suggests is a physical retreat from
the teeming life of town and city, mention being made that Abraham,
Moses, David, Elijah, John and other holy men retired into desert
places until they had acquired this holy science and Magic. The
best place is, Abraham suggests, " Where tllere is a small wood, in
the midst of which you shall make a small altar, and you shall
cover the same with a hut of fine branches, so that the rain may not