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THE TREE OF LIFE
which belongs to another world, another ason, and exists in the
nature of a dream. Other individuals may find this an objective
whose sweet fruit is swiftly yielded to hand with but little expenditure
of labour in its plucking. In any event, no student is in the
position to say, at the outset, when the goal may finally be reached.
Nor is it a problem about which worry should be entertained. For
the soul grows and progresses as comprehension and intuition
expand through successive acts of the spirit on the road of the Magic
of 'light. The wings then grow stronger, the flight itself grows
longer, and the inner lamp fed on the oil of wisdom remains constantly
burning. That light within must the Magician ever regard,
and carry it patiently with him into the byways and highways
of men, until he becomes that light. What is required first of all
is that imperturbable aspiration and indomitable Will ; then
work ! Let the Magician aspire to be like the wise Ibis bird of
Khem. Turn aside from thy human ways, and take on those of
the God ! The Knowledge and the Conversation may be a gift
which may not be bestowed upon him for hundreds and thousands of
years ; but who knows whither the spirit listeth It may be that
by grim determination, like that of the Ibis, to attain the goal, no
matter how long it may take, there may blossom the golden flower
of Adonai's life within the heart more speedily than otherwise might
have been the case.
Meanwhile, the Magical work should be continued. Daily should
the Theurgist rise on the planes seeking to ascend higher and higher,
and to fight his way into the translucent spheres of the limpid light
of the Fire. The passing of every season will see his aspiration
growing stronger, presenting him with the force to pursue his task
of magical conquest and union. All things must be brought within
the scope of his Will. The highest heavens, and the lowest hells too.
On the lowest denizens of the astral must that Will be imposed,
and to his every wish and domination must they bend the knee.
Resting upon the Magician, obviously, is a tremendous responsibility,
increasing with every step forward that he takes, and with
the passing of every hour in his career. " Nature teaches us, and the
Oracles also affirm, that even the evil germs of matter may alike
be made useful and good."l Hence the responsibility devolving
as a sacred trust upon the Magician is this. His is the task, and his
alone, of transforming the universe, and of transmuting the base
1 The Chaldann Oracles. Tr. by W. W. Westcott.