Greetings All!

In Part IV, we get to the meat of the matter: Magick!

You'll note that I've adopted the fairly recent spelling of the word magic, adding a 'k' at the end {Note that the text found at the link provided later in this post uses the old spelling, magic}. This is done to differentiate the stage magician, who relies on the art of distraction and illusion, to the Magus, or Magi in the plural. Remember the Three Wise Men mentioned in the Bible who followed a star that led them to the birth of Jesus? They were Magi... :)

You'll learn more about the definition of Magus just a bit further down the page, in the Introduction from the text for this section, which I'll post in its entirety at the end of this post, so I'll not repeat, nor paraphrase from the great work of the Magus Franz Bardon, to whom I, and all, modern students of Magick, owe a debt of gratitude. I humbly attempt to repay this debt by "paying it forward", by offering it to those who truly seek it and can benefit from its study.

Do you believe in Magick? I plead with the reader, and even more the would-be-student of the Mysteries, to suspend your disbelief until you have read the text, or at least the Introduction.

The word "Magick" invokes many different responses in many different people. Some are curious, some are appalled - but most, if not all, people who have not studied magick feel a "tinge of fear" at the mere sight or mention of the word. This is to be expected, because magick has gotten a "bad rap" throughout the ages, and its teachings were, and are still by some religions, considered to be heretical. Many students of magick were, and are today, alchemists. Hence my choosing alchemy for Part III, as alchemy is used in magick for the making of unctions, tinctures, elixirs and the like. And as we learned in Part III about Alchemy, up until fairly recent times, anyone found to have magickal texts, or Magickal instruments - such as a magick wand, or a magick circle - were condemned to a horrible death at the hands of religious authorities.

There are those that were born into "magickal families", and were taught magick from birth as matter-of-fact from the Adepts, or Magi, within their family. These people have a distinct advantage over those who are not born into magickal families and are not taught magick, who are taught that magic(k) isn't real, it's only fiction and fantasy, like the Harry Potter books - and that disbelief is echoed throughout civilization as we know it today.

Magick is an ancient science, hidden by those who know of it and how to use it. For the multitude of "muggles", the only science is of the physical, of matter. Magick is the science of the many realms, or dimensions; what they are, the beings that inhabit them and how to interact with them.

The magickal families have generally followed bloodlines for eons and kept their teachings within their family circles, keeping them hidden from the masses so that they can use their magickal powers surreptitiously over anyone unaware of the reality of the existence of Magick and its many uses, while outwardly they scoff at the existence of Magick, which makes their work all that much easier, as it remains hidden in plain sight.

So, what I am attempting to do in Part IV is to offer you the means by which you can attain greater awareness, which upon study and contemplation, will give you "the eyes to see and the ears to hear" for yourself, by yourself.

Magick is the study and practical application of the power of the will - WILLPOWER: what it is, its uses and how to develop it. Magick is not to be undertaken lightly and should be studied intently and deliberately - and always with great care and respect.

For this section, I provide the long-time go-to textbook for those beginning their magickal studies: Initiation Into Hermetics -
A Course of Instruction of Magic Theory & Practice By Franz Bardon. This textbook is not light reading, nor is its teachings simple undertakings. Some of them may take you months, even years of practice to learn. Feel free to read ahead, passed the chapters with which you have difficulty, as seeing what chapters await you will spur your motivation.

Here is a link to a downloadable PDF of this book (this entire link must be copied/pasted into your browser): http://files.vsociety.net/data/library/Section%205%20(C,%20I,%20O,%20U)/Bardon,%20Franz/The%20Holy%20Mysteries/Initiation%20into%20Hermetics.pdf

And below, I will post the entire Introduction to this book, prefaced by a short Forward.

With this, it is my intent to provide you with methods that will let you see the world anew.

Go well upon your path and may fear never find you!

Blessings and Namaste,

Gaian

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Foreword
There is no doubt that every one who has been searching for the true and authentic cognition,
in vain looked for years, if not even for a lifetime, to find a reliable method of training. The
ardent desire for this noble aim made people again and again collect a mass of books, from
near and far, supposed to be the best ones, but which were lacking a great deal for real
practice. Not one, however, of all the seekers could make any sense from all the stuff
collected in the course of time, and the goal aimed at so fervently vanished more and more in
nebulous distances. Provided the one or the other did start to work on the progress after
instructions so highly praised, his good will and diligence never saw any practical results.
Apart from that, nobody could reliably answer to his pressing questions, whether or not just
this way he had selected, was the correct one for his individual case.

Just at this time Divine Providence decided to help all those seekers who have been searching
with tough endurance to find means and ways for their spiritual development. Through this
book universal methods are given into the hands of mankind by a highest initiate who was
chosen by Divine Providence for this special task.

It can be said without exaggeration that never before have these complete magical methods
been accessible for the public.

Otti Votavova

Introduction
Anyone who should believe to find in this work nothing else but a collection of recipes, with
the aid of which he can easily and without any effort attain to honor and glory, riches and
power and aim at the annihilation of his enemies, might be told from the very inception, that
he will put aside this book, being very disappointed.

Numerous sects and religions do not understand the expression of “magic” otherwise than
black art, witchcraft or conspiracy with evil powers. It is therefore not astonishing that many
people are frightened by a certain horror, whenever the word “magic” is pronounced. Jugglers,
conjurers, and charlatans have discredited this term and, considering this circumstance, there
is no surprise that magic knowledge has always been looked upon with a slight disregard.
Even in the remotest times the MAGUS has been regarded as one of the highest adepts and it
might be of interest to learn that, as a matter of fact, the word “magic” is derived from this
word. The so called “sorcerers” are by no means initiates but only imitators o the mysteries,
who counting partly on the ignorance and partly on the credulity of the individuality or a
whole nation in order to reach their selfish aims by, lies and fraud. The true magician will
always despise such practices.

In reality, magic is a sacred science, it is, in the very true sense the sum of all knowledge
because it teaches how to know and utilize the sovereign rules. There is no difference between
magic and mystic or any other conception of the name. Wherever authentic initiation is at
stake, one has to proceed on the same basis, according to the same rules, irrespective of the
name given by this or that creed. Considering the universal polarity rules of good and evil,
active and passive, light and shadow, each science can serve good as well as bad purposes. Let
us take the example of a knife, an object that virtually ought to be used for cutting bread only,
which, however, can become a dangerous weapon in the hands of a murderer. All depends on
the character of the individual. This principle goes just as well for all the spheres of the
occult sciences. In my book I have chosen the term of “magician” for all of my disciples, it
being a symbol of the deepest initiation and the highest wisdom.

Many of the readers will know, of course, that the word “tarot” does not mean a game of
cards, serving mantical purposes, but a symbolic book of initiation which contains the
greatest secrets in a symbolic form. The first tablet of this book introduces the magician
representing him as the master of the elements and offering the key to the first Arcanum, the
secret of the ineffable name of Tetragrammaton*, the quabbalistic Yod-He-Vau-He. Here we
will, therefore, find the gate to the magician’s initiation. The reader will easily realize, how
significant and how manifold the application of this tablet is. Not one of the books published
up to date does describe the true sense of the first Tarot card so distinctly as I have done in my
book. It is – let it be noted – born from the own practice and destined for the practical use of a
lot of other people, and all my disciples have found it to be the best and most serviceable
system.

*Tetragrammaton literally means “the four-letter word”. It was a subterfuge to avoid the sin
of uttering the sacred name YHVH (Yahveh) or Jehova as it later became when the vowels of
another word were combined with the consonants of YHVH.

But I would never dare to say that my book describes or deals with all the magic or mystic
problems. If anyone should like to write all about this sublime wisdom, he ought to fill folio
volumes. It can, however, be affirmed positively that this work is indeed the gate to the true
initiation, the first key to using the universal rules. I am not going to deny the fact of
fragments being able to be found in many an author’s publications, but not in a single book
will the reader find so exact a description of the first Tarot card.

I have taken pains to be as plain as possible in the course of the lectures to make the sublime
Truth accessible to everybody, although it has been a hard task sometimes to find such simple
words as are necessary for the understanding of all the readers. I must leave it to the judgment
of all of you, whether or not my efforts have been successful. At certain points I have been
forced to repeat myself deliberately to emphasize some important sentences and to spare the
reader any going back to a particular page.

There have been many complaints of people interested in the occult sciences that they had
never got any chance at all to be initiated by a personal master or leader (guru). Therefore
only people endowed with exceptional faculties, a poor preferred minority seemed to be able
to gain this sublime knowledge. Thus a great many of serious seekers of the truth had to go
through piles of books just to catch one pearl of it now and again. The one, however, who is
earnestly interested in his progress and does not pursue this sacred wisdom from sheer
curiosity or else is yearning to satisfy his own lust, will find the right leader to initiate him in
this book. No incarnate adept, however high his rank may be, can give the disciple more for
his start than the present book does. If both the honest trainee and the attentive reader will
find in this book all they have been searching for in vain all the years, then the book has
fulfilled its purpose completely.

The Author.