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252 THE TREE OF LIFE
care is required to prevent the unguarded loss of the elements. There
is the possibility of actual leakage or an overflowing from the Cucurbite,
and the assimilation or evaporation of the corrupted elements within
that instrument is also an accident greatly to be deplored. It cannot
be stressed too strongly or too frequently that if the elements are
not consecrated aright ; or in the first place if the invoked force does
not properly impinge upon or is insecurely bound within the elements,
the whole operation may be nullified. And it may easily degenerate
to the lowest depths, resulting in the creation of a Qliphotic horror
to exist like a vampire upon the unnaturally sensitive and those
who are inclined to hysteria and obsession. If the elixir be properly
distilled, serving as the medium of the invoked spirit, then the
Heavens are opened, and the Gates swing back for the Theurgist,
and the treasures of the earth are laid at his feet. " If you discover
it be silent and keep it sacred. Trust to nobody but to God."
The problem of the link to connect the magical operation with
the desired result should be considered in all its numerous aspects.
If the Operation is one actually requiring an exterior talisman for
the visible production of its effect, a suitable seal should be constructed
in metal, wax, or on parchment. It may be consecrated
and anointed with the elixir which has been created through the
channels of the Hermetic Work. Those seals and talismans described
in the Key of Solomon the King and The Magus are for the purpose
quite suitable. Should it be that the operation proposed by the
Theurgist is one pertaining to the qualities of Jupiter, a suitable
pantacle should be prepared before the Operation. During the
manufacture of the Elixir, the God-Mask of Maat should be assumed,
and a conjuration of the required angel or intelligence recited.
Upon the completion of the Mass a minute quantity of the supernal
dew should be placed on the sigil or talisman of Jupiter thus charging
it with an insuperable force for the production of the desired results.
Variations of this procedure will probably occur with practice.
No question of a link enters into a ceremony conducted for an
end wherein the Circle and the Triangle, so to speak, or the demon
and the exorcist, occupy the same plane. That is, when the Theurgist
works solely upon his own consciousness without reference to any
exterior effect. The Mass of the Holy Ghost, in such a case, is automatically
climaxed by the consumption of the charged elements,
the invoked force incarnating within the Magician as a matter of
course. It is in this type of operation, I think, that the Mass of the