[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]

that according to the magical hypothesis, the whole cosmos is permeated and vitalised by One
omnipresent Life, which in itself is both immanent as well as transcendent. At the dawn of the
manifestation of the universe from the thrice unknown darkness, there issue forth the Lives--great
gods and spiritual forces, Cosmocratores, who become the intelligent architects and builders of the
manifold parts of the universe. From their own individual spiritual essence, other lesser hierarchies
are begotten, and these in turn emanate or evolve from themselves still other groups. These are they
which represent in the hidden depths of the psyche those primordial ideas which Jung speaks of as
archetypal images ever present in the Collective Unconscious of the race. Thus it is that through the
union of the human consciousness with the being of the gods in an ascending scale that the soul of
man may gradually approach the final root and source of his being. In the Buddhist scheme this is
"the essence of mind which is intrinsically pure," the Dharmakaya, the unconditioned divine body of
truth. The intent to frighten malignant demons has no inclusion within the scope of this technique.
Whether the later hypothesis is original with Major Waddell or not is difficult to surmise, though the
thesis is common to all primitive peoples. Probably it was made by a Lama in a lighter vein to put an
end to leading questions, though at the same time it is true that in moments of psychic danger, the
assumption of a Godform is of enormous assistance. Not because the threatening elemental or
demon. for example, is fooled or frightened by the form, But because the operator, in opening
himself to one phase of the divine spirit by the assumption of its symbolic form, does take upon
himself or is empowered with the authority and dominion of that God.
It was in Egypt, so far as the western form of magic is concerned, that these cosmic forces received
close attention and their qualities and attributes observed and recorded. Thus arose the
conventionalised pictographs of their Gods which are profound in significance, while simple in the
moving eloquence of their description. It is the Egyptian God-forms that are used in occidental
magic, not those of Tibet or India. The technical use of these God-forms consists in the application
of the powers of will and imagination--as well as of sound and colour. A very profound paragraph
may be found in The Mahatma Letters, where K. H. wrote to A. P. Sinnett: "How could you make
yourself understood--command in fact those semi-intelligent forces, whose means of
communicating with us are not through spoken words but through sounds and colours, in correlations
between the vibrations of the two. For sound, light and colour are the main factors in forming these
grades of intelligence . . ."
Though it is hardly politic to enter more deeply into this matter, the remarks of K. H. apply equally
to other forces and powers than elemental. The astral form of colour and light assumed in the
imagination creates a mould or a focus of a special kind into which, by technical modes of vibration
MAGIC IN EAST AND WEST 14
Israel Regardie: The Art Meaning of Magic
and invocation, the force or spiritual power desired incarnates. By the clothing of one's own astral
form with the ideal figure of the God, now vitalised by the descent of the invoked force, it is held
that man may be assumed or exalted into the very bosom of Godhead, and so gradually return, with
the acquisition of his own humanity, to that unnameable mysterious Root wherefrom originally he
came.
Another instance of Waddell's lack of humour and insight occurs on page 322. In describing the
training of the novice, it is said that the Lama adopts a "deep hoarse voice, acquired by training in
order to convey the idea that it emanates from maturity and wisdom." It is not known to me whether
any of my readers have witnessed any kind of a magical ceremony, or heard an invocation recited by
a skilled practitioner--though I should say few have. The tone always adopted is one which will
yield the maximum of vibration. For many students a deep intoning, or a humming, is the one which
vibrates the most. Therefore that is the ideal tone whereby to awaken from within the subtle magical
forces required. It will have been noted too that the best invocations are always sonorous and
intensely vibrant. The idea that the voice should suggest maturity and wisdom is merely silly. This is
another instance of Western contempt rather than a sympathetic attempt really to understand a
foreign system. The Tibetan specimens of ritual given by Waddell contain an amusing number of
Oms, Hums, Has, and Phats, but then Western conjurations contain equally amusing barbarous
names of evocation. Yah, Agla, etc.
With this question of sound in magical conjurations I have dealt at some length elsewhere. Suffice to
remark here that in The Secret Doctrine Madame Blavatsky suggests that the vibratory use of [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]