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THE TREE OF LIFE 191
has made deep impress upon his mind, and which has served in
some way to arouse the higher feelings, and to stimulate love and the
fine emotions. This meditation will also provide clues assisting in
the composition of the supreme rituals.
So far as the ordinary habits of life are concerned, Abraham
suggests moderation in all things, and eating and drinking and
sleeping should not be overmuch or too little. None of the things
engaged in by the Magician should partake in the least of superfluity.
On the subject which to most students of Magic and Mysticism
is surrounded by a veil of obscurity Abraham advises in addition
to the injunction of moderation that " you may sleep with your wife
in the bed when she is pure and clean " and never otherwise. The sole
question involved in celibacy is simply that of the conservation of
energy, and nothing else. Since all the forces of the individual
are being transformed by the Operation, and directed towards a
noble spiritual end, any waste or leakage of the force which is so
important on matters apart from that one end are thus grossly
immoral, in the sense that they partake of folly and self-destruction.
Few people during the Operation should occupy the house with him ;
" as for that which regardeth the family, the fewer in number, the
better ; also act so that the servants may be modest and tranquil."
Charity is suggested, also modesty concerning dress and clothing ;
and all vanity should be severely shunned.
Thus far for the first period. The tasks in these two months
are comparatively easy, indicating but a simple meditative life,
wherein repose and tranquillity are insisted upon. Twice daily, at
sunrise and at sunset, when certain occult forces in Nature are at
their ascendancy and at their purest, should the invocations be
performed ; and the remainder of the day is to be spent in perfecting
in various ways the concentration of the mind in fervour towards
the " Holy Angel who shall serve unto you as a Guide." The
schedule proposed by Abraham can easily be supplemented by other
items of Magic, conforming to the main aspiration, which the ingenuity
of the individual may suggest. During this period, the
Magician should devote all the faculties he has acquired through
attention to other phases of the technique, towards strengthening
the main aspiration. Banishing rituals may usefully be performed,
and Rising on the Planes may prove a most useful adjunct to the
invocations. The continual repetition of a sacred mantram, congruous
to the Magician's conception of the nature of his Angel,