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CHAPTER FIVE
I
N connection with the complex philosophical controversy of
centuries relating to the subjectivity or the objectivity of
phenomena, there are some highly abstruse problems to be
resolved by each individual Theurgist. Each one clamours imperiously
for response. The Qabalah leaves the whole question
open to be answered eventually in the light of spiritual experience.
Not lightly to be passed over is this great problem, although the
magical practice need not necessarily be affected by one view held
in preference to another. Many Theurgists have preferred the
obvious straightforward view of consideration free of all complexities
of metaphysics. It considers all individual things, the Gods, and
all the forces of Nature to exist independently of one another, and
exterior to the individual consciousness ; that the Theurgist is but
an infinitesimal portion of the majestic grandeur of universality.
This theory presupposes that the spiritual hierarchies exist in the
most objective fashion conceivable. Somewhere in the universe on
some subtle invisible plane, is an intelligence named Taphthartharath,
for example, who is as real a being in his own way as one's
tailor is in his, and that like the tailor he responds when called
forth by the appropriate methods. Taphthartharath is thus as
independent of the sensorium and consciousness of the Magician, as
the latter is independent of that of a common house fly. Both exist
objectively each on his own plane and in his own way. The same
remarks apply to the various subtle planes of Nature with which
the Magician comes in contact. Though they are invisible, and are
composed of a very subtle and rarefied substance, yet they likewise
are objective to his own mind. Thus progress in Theurgy implies
an actual union between the lesser consciousness of the Magician
and the greater consciousness of the God. The former is assimilated
into the very fabric and nature of the Other.
One of the fundamental postulates of Magic is that Man is an
exact image in miniature of the universe, both considered object-
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