A Collection of Sacred-Magick.Com < The Esoteric Library TAHLTTI The Patron of Magic. SAMUEL WEISER, INC. York Beach, Maine A Collection of Sacred-Magick.Com < The Esoteric Library " You must understand therefore that this is the first path to felicity, affording to souls an intellectual plenitude of divine union. But the sacerdotal and theurgic gift of felicity is called indeed the gate to the Demiurgos of wholes, or the seat, or palace, of the good. In the first place, likewise, it possesses a power of purifying the soul . afterwards it causes a coapta- tion of the reasoning power to the participation and vision of the good and a liberation from every thing of a contrary nature, and in the last place, produces a union with the Gods, who are the givers of every good." IAMBLICHUS. INTRODUCTION To The Second Edition OES a parent have a favorite child? Is there one, above all others, that secretly he feels is the apple of his eye? More D often than not, despite all protestations to the contrary, there certainly is. So it is with me. In having been asked to write an introduction to this new edition of The Tree of Life, I feel a warm inner glow which combines a number of quite separate emotions. This book has special meaning for me that none of my other writing ever had. Primarily, there is the basic fact that it was the first book that emerged from my burgeoning spirit. A Garden of Pomegranates, a prior publication, simply expanded itself from a set of Qabalistic notes I had kept for several years-and that is all it ever was. The Tree of Life has been said to be the most comprehensive introduction available to the numerous, complex, and sometimes obscure mystical writing of Aleister Crowley. Both these books were dedicated to him whom I served as a secretary for several years. Symbolically, both came to be gestures of independence from him. The Tree of Life also resulted in a correspondence all over the world that has eventuated in several deep and abiding friendships. For these I am most grateful. Though this book contains many minor typographical errors- principally due to haste and the carelessness of youth-it has been found useful as a guide to the vast, complicated and ~vonderful Golden Dawn system of initiation to which I am obligated; a debt which must here be acknowledged. The two volumes of The Golden Dawn (Llewellyn Publications, St. Paul, Minn. 1970) are alleged by some students to contain such a diversified mass of information that a clear guide is a pre-requisite to hew an intelligible pathway through its papers, rituals and instructions. This new edition should provide such a guide. In the writing of The Tree of Life I learned much. It consoli- dated many isolated fragments of disconnected knowledge and ex- perience. Correspondence indicated it has served others equally well. A Collection of Sacred-Magick.Com < The Esoteric Library THE TREE OF LIFE Apart from its flamboyancy and a tendency to adjectivitis, which were the hallmarks of my youth-some thirty-five years having elapsed since it was written-it was declared a sincere, simple guide to an intricate and otherwise obscure art. A British psychiatrist was so kind as to admit to a sense of awe and, indeed, admiration that one in his mid-twenties could have shown as much spiritual insight and capacity for synthesis evidenced in this book. Should this con- clusion be valid, much credit has to be given Aleister Crowley to whom I owe very much. To his ultimate vindication from the idiocy of biographers and muck-raking journalists I have dedicated many years of my life. His material will never die, it will remain an inspira- tion to students of the distant future as it has to me. Credit must also be given to my higher and divine Genius, to use the lovely Golden Dawn language-for without this inner direction, no literature however profound, beautiful or ecstatic would mean very much. Because the guidance obtained later from The Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn resulted from the publication of The Tree of Life, its writing was not influenced by the Order. Subse- quently, however, it did play a prominent part in my inner growth and the writing of later books. In retrospect, this testimony of my independence from Crowley resulted in a letter from the Chief of one section of the Golden Dawn condemning both me and the book in no uncertain terms. On the other hand, it resulted in an invitation to become a member from the Chief of another branch of the Order. I accepted the latter. Though later years brought about a separation from the Order, I now regret my youthful presumption and arrogance. Nevertheless, destiny must have intervened, resulting in a re-issuance of the secret Order teachings, the first exposure having been essayed just before World War I by Crowley in the Equinox. With due respect to Crowley's abundant genius, it has been said my presentation did more justice to the Order than did his. It is worth repeating a second time that this new edition of The Tree of Life will give the student a bird's eye view of the Western magical tradition. In this .connection, despite minor doctrinal and ritualistic deviations, Crowley stands in direct line of descent from the Adepts of the Golden Dawn; nothing that he has written can be understood without reference to its teachings. Both the Golden Dawn and Aleister Crowley gain in stature and depth if the newcomer to these THE TREE OF LIFE studies first obtains a synoptic view through The Tree of Life. Finally, a former caution is still essential. I have long realized modern psychological analysis should be wedded to methods of the Great Work-a task yet to be Ecilly accomplished. It is strongly recommended that the serious student undergo a course of some kind of psychotherapeutic treatment before proceeding too far with these practices. At the very least, he will have gained in self-awareness, and eliminated a few bodily and emotional tensions exacerbated by the magical art. So to this new edition of The Tree of Life, I can only say with humility, sincerity and conviction, go forth and spread the word. It depicts a good teaching, a noble philosophy, and an archaic though practical system of attainment, of reaching sun-drenched heights to which all mankind ultimately must aspire and rest. May all readers obtain as much gratification, spiritual aid, comfort, and enlighten- ment as I have had in the initial writing and in the subsequent years. Godspeed ! May 12, 1968 Studio City, California, 91604 A Collection of Sacred-Magick.Com < The Esoteric Library INTRODUCTION Y virtue of the widespread ignorance concerning the sovereign nature of the Divine Theurgy, despite frequent references Balmost everywhere to the subject of Magic, a gross misunder- standing has been permitted to make its growth during the centuries. Few are there to-day who would appear to possess even the vaguest idea as to what constituted the high objective of that system considered by the sages of antiquity the Royal Art and the Trans- cendental Magic. And because there have been even fewer in number prepared to defend to the last its philosophy and disseminate its true principles amoiigst those found worthy of receiving, the field of war strewn with the mangled reputations of its Magi was relinquished to the charlatans. These, alas, made good usc of their opportunity for wholesale despoliation. So much so, that the word Magic itself has now become synonymous with all that is odious, and is conceived to be an obnoxious thing. For several centuries in Europe was this unrighteous condition of things permitted. It continued for some while until about the middle of the last century, when Eliphas Levi, a writer with a certain facility of expression and a flair for synthesis and surface exposition, endeavoured to restore to Magic its age-old lofty reputa- tion. How his efforts would have fared had not they been succeeded and abetted by the advent of the philosophy of the Theosophical Movement in 1875, together with the open discussion of occult and mystical matters which thereafter ensued, is exceedingly hard to say. Even so, they have been none too successful. For despite nearly eighty long years of attention to and the unconcealed discussion of the esoteric philosophy and practice in various of its branches, there can be found in the Catalogue of the British Museum Reading Room, for instance, no single work on Magic which attempts to provide a lucid, unambiguous, and exact exegesis, unhampered by too great an employment of symbol and figure of speech. Eighty years of occult study ! And not one serious work on Magic ! For some little while has it been known in various quarters that I I 12 INTRODUCTION the writer was a student of Magic. As a consequence enquiries would frequently be addressed to him as to its nature. So numerous did they become as time went on, and so abysmal was the uninten- tional ignorance of the subject that all displayed, that it seems high time to make available for that public a synthetic and definitive exposition. Inasmuch as no other individual has attempted this task of paramount importance, upon the writer devolves this difficult work. He does not propose to limit himself by specious remarks concerning the incommunicability of occult secrets. Nor will he mention the impossibility of conveying the true nature of the mysteries of ancient time, as some recent authors have done.