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236 THE TREE OF LIFE
composed of the coarse smoke-particles of incense, deliberately
burned for that purpose. In addition, the Magician has the power
of causing that spirit to answer questions intelligently, and of
banishing it when no longer is there necessity for its presence.
This is, let me repeat, only so far as concerns the lower aspect of
the work, inasmuch as Evocations are universally recognized to
partake of the lesser grades of Theurgic technique. What then of
the Magic of Light This also is in accord with the magical Will.
When there arrives that supreme crisis in the Invocation when the
ego is rendered passive to the advent of the Bridegroom and, fearfully
and with trembling, it surrenders its own being, that abdication
is according to a conscious and willed determination. These few
remarks should suffice to show conclusively that the two orders of
phenomena lie altogether on different planes and that no connection
exists between the two. Spiritualism seems concerned almost
entirely with the production of physical phenomena for their own
sake, and in any event these are hardly conducive to any sort of
proof for the survival and continued existence of the soul. The
other system, Theurgy, concerns itself with a noble realm and with
the development of great powers in man. The Magician seeks to
conjoin his essence with a deep, abiding reality, aspiring to a
spiritual knowledge, that he may apprehend with wisdom and
intuition his supreme immortality, incorruptibility and eternity.
To discuss Spiritualism intelligently it is necessary to return to
fundamental principles laid down on an earlier page. Theurgy
conceives the removal of the enclosing sheaths from the soul after
the death of the physical body in very much the same way as does
the Theosophy of Madame Blavatsky. Following the death of the
body, which is the visible vehicle of the higher principles, the Real
Man, perfectly intact though minus the physical body, is thrust on
to the Astral Plane. Gradually he ascends to the several Palaces
which have been self-created by the mode of the life just passed ;
Palaces wherein he rests before the Ancient of Days, assimilating
his earthly experience, and building them into faculty for a further
incarnation. Magic, following the Qabalists, embraces the philosophic
idea of the Reincarnation or Gilgolent of souls. Indeed, so
far do Magicians go in the direction of this philosophic theory that
they claim that at certain stages of development, when the human
organism by repeated consecrations and invocations becomes
luminous, refined and sensitive, the recollections of the Nesclzamah