Magia

Courteous reader, observe the meaning right; we understand not by this description a beginning of the Deity, but we show you the manifestation of the Deity through nature.

Without nature God is a mystery, for without nature is the nothing, as a mirror; and in this nothing there is an eye that stands or sees into the abyss; and it is as a Chaos, a complexion of great wonders, where all colors, powers, and virtues are contained in this only Chaos, or wonder-eye; which Chaos is God himself – the Being of all beings, who thus manifests himself in particular beings with the eyes of eternity.

And this same eye is a will, a longing after manifestation; but prior to nature there is nothing before the will, where it might find something, where it might have a place to rest, therefore it enters into itself, and finds itself through nature.

 

 

For in the nothing the will would not be manifest to itself, wherefore we know that the will seeks itself, that it might find, feel, and behold itself. Its seeking is a dark desire,  which is itself, which it draws into itself, that is, draws itself into itself, and finds itself in itself. For the nothing loves to make itself shine out of freedom through the deathly darkness, apparently because the nothing will not be a nothing, and cannot be a nothing, and without the evil and the good it would have no ground upon which to be.

Thus the eternal by darkness, pain and torment, introduces itself through fire and light into a kingdom of joy, so that the void will be recognized in something, and that there will be a game of antipathy, whereby the abyss should have a ground upon which to manifest itself through the playing out in its opposition of wills.

 

 

And that is the eternal origin of magic, which makes within itself where there is nothing; which makes something out of nothing, and that in itself only, though this craving is also a nothing, that is, merely a will. Seeing then there is a craving in the nothing, it makes in itself the will to something. This will is a spirit, as a thought, which goes out of the craving and is the seeker of the craving, as its mother.

For God is a spirit, and as subtle as a thought or will, and nature is his corporeal essence; and the outward nature of this visible comprehensible world is a manifestation of the inward spiritual fabric and essence in evil and good, that is, a representation, resemblance, and typical similitude of heaven and hell. This world is a parable of God’s nature, and God in an earthly simile, as a counterpart and designation of the eternal spiritual world.

 

 

Magic is the mother of eternity, of the being of all beings; for it creates itself, and is understood in desire. It is in itself nothing but a will, and this will is the great mystery of all wonders and secrets, but brings itself by the imagination of the desiring hunger into being. And the desire is a stern attraction, and yet has nothing but itself, or the eternity without foundation, and it draws magically its own desiring into a substance.

Thus the craving is a Magia, and the will a Magus; this will is a spirit, as a thought, which goes out of the craving and is the seeker of the craving. Then is this will a Magician in its mother; for it has found in the nothing something, and so now has a place for its dwelling. And the will is greater than its mother which gives it, for it is lord in the mother; and the mother is dumb, but the will has a life without origin. The craving is certainly a cause of the will, but without knowledge or understanding. The will is the understanding of the craving.

 

 

Its desire makes an imagination, and imagination or figuration is only the will of desire. But desire makes in the will such a being as the will in itself is. True Magic is not a being, but the desiring spirit of the being. Magic is spirit, and being is its body; and yet the two are but one, as body and soul are but one person. Thus the Will-spirit is an eternal knowing of the abyss, and the life of the craving an eternal being and body of the will.

Imagination is gentle and soft, and resembles water. But Desire is harsh and dry, like a hunger; it makes the soft hard, and is found in all things, for it is the greatest thing  in the Deity. It leads the bottomless to foundation, and the nothing into something. In Magic are all forms of Being of all beings.  Magic leads into a fierce fire, and yet it is not to be understood as fire, but the power or mother to fire. Fire is called the principle, and Magic is called desire.

Seeing then the eternal will is free from the craving, but the craving is not free from the will (for the will rules over the craving), we recognise the will as the eternal Omnipotence, for it has no parallel. The craving is indeed a movement of attraction or desire, but without understanding; it has a life, but without knowledge. We recognise, therefore, the eternal Will-spirit as God, and the moving life of the craving as Nature. For there is nothing prior, and either is without beginning, and each is a cause of the other, and an eternal bond.

By Magic is everything accomplished, both good and bad. Its own working is Nigromantia, but it is distributed into all the properties. In that which is good it is good, and in that which is evil it is evil. It is of use to the children for God’s kingdom, and to the sorcerers for the devil’s kingdom; for the understanding can make of it what it pleases.  It is without understanding, and yet comprehends all; for it is the comprehension of all things.

It is impossible to express its depth, for it is from eternity a ground and support of all things. It is a master of philosophy, and likewise a mother thereof. Magic is the book of all scholars. All that will learn must first learn Magic, be it a high or a lowly art. Even the peasant in the field must go to the magical school, if he would cultivate his field.

Magic is the best theology, for in it true faith is both grounded and found. And he is a fool that reviles it; for he knows it not, and blasphemes against God and himself, and is more a juggler than a theologian of understanding. As one that fights before a mirror, and knows not what the quarrel is, for his fighting is superficial; so also the unjust theologian looks on Magic through a reflection, and understands nothing of the power. For it is godlike, and he is ungodlike, yea, devilish, according to the property of each principle.

In sum: Magic is the activity in the Will-spirit.