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p. 147
strict, the meals being limited to bread and water, with abstinence from all sin and
repetition of the above prayer.
Footnotes
144:1 Here the Fourth Book of Occult Philosophy merely reproduces the instruction of
the genuine work. "Consecration is a lifting up of experiments, by which a spiritual soul,
being drawn by proportion and conformity, is infused into the matter of out works
according to the tradition of Magical Art rightly and lawfully prepared, and our work is
vivified by the spirit of understanding. The efficacy of consecration is perfected by two
things especially, viz., the virtue of the person himself consecrating and the virtue of the
prayer itself. In the person are required holiness of life and a power to consecrate. The
former, nature and desert perform, the latter is acquired by imitation and dignification."
Book III. c. 62. The virtue of prayer derives from its institution by God, the ordinance of
the Church, or the commemoration which it may make of sacred things.
144:2 So also in the Third Book De Occulta Philosophia, which is especially devoted to
Ceremonial Magic, the student is directed to abstain "from all those things which infect
either mind or spirit," and above all from idleness and luxury, "for the soul being
suffocated by the p. 145 body and the lust thereof, can discern nothing that is celestial," c.
55. The fourth book merely says: "Let the man who would receive an oracle from the
good spirits be chaste, pure and confessed." Compare Peter de Abano: "The operator
should be clean and purified for the space of nine days before beginning the work; he
should be confessed also, and should receive the Holy Communion."
145:1 Grand Grimoire, Book I. c. 2.
146:1 An adaptation of the Key of Solomon, Book II. c. 4.
146:2 The following is added in the Clavicle, loc. cit.: O Lord God, Father Eternal! O
Thou Who art seated upon Cherubim and Seraphim, Who beholdest the earth and the sea!
Unto Thee do I lift up my hands, and beseech Thine aid alone--Thou Who art the
fulfilment of good works, Who givest rest unto those who toil, Who humblest the proud,
Who art Author of all life and Destroyer of death. Our rest art Thou, Protector of those
who call upon Thee; do Thou guard and defend me in this undertaking, O Thou who
livest and reignest for ever and ever. Amen.
§ 4. Concerning the External Preparation of the Operator, and firstly
Concerning Ablution
The rite of lustration, being the sacramental mark of inward cleanliness, is prescribed in
all magical ceremonies, and is equally important in Goëtic art. The ordinary daily