T H E F I F T H P O I N T
ON MAGIC. WHAT MAGIC IS. WHAT THE MAGICAL GROUND IS.
1. Magic is the mother of eternity, of the being of all beings; for it creates itself, and is understood in desire.
2. 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 desireful hunger into being.
3. It is the original state of Nature. Its desire makes an imagination (Einbildung), 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.
4. True Magic is not a being, but the desiring spirit of the being. It is a matrix without substance, but manifests itself in the substantial being.
5. Magic is spirit, and being is its body; and yet the two are but one, as body and soul is but one person.
6. Magic is the greatest secrecy, for it is above Nature, and makes Nature after the form of its will. It is the mystery of the Ternary, viz. it is in desire the will striving towards the heart of God.
7. It is the formative power in the eternal wisdom, as a desire in the Ternary, in which the eternal wonder of the Ternary desires to manifest istelf in co-operation with Nature. It is the desire which introduces itself into the dark Nature, and through Nature into fire, and through fire, through death or fierceness, into the light of Majesty.
8. It is not Majesty, but the desire in Majesty. It is the desire of the divine power, not the power itself, but the hunger or craving in the power. It is not God's Almightiness, but the directix in God's power and might. The heart of God is the power, and the Holy Spirit is the revelation of power.
9. It is, however, the desire not only in the power, but also in the conducting spirit; for it has in it the Fiat. What the Will-spirit reveals in it, that it brings into a being by the sourness which is the Fiat; all according to the model of the will. According as the will makes a model in wisdom, so does desiring Magic reveive it; for it has in its property imagination as a longing.
10. 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 (Wesen) in the Deity. It leads the bottomless to foundation, and the nothing into something.
11. In Magic are all forms of Being of all beings. It is a mother in all three worlds, and makes each thing after the model of that thing's will. It is not the understanding, but it is a creatrix according to the understanding, and lends itself to good or to evil.
12. All that the will models in wisdom, if the will of the understanding also enter thereinto, that does Magic make into a being. It serves those that love God in God's Being; for it makes in the understanding divine substance, and takes this from imagination, as from the gentleness of the light.
13. It is Magic that makes divine flesh; and the understanding is born of wisdom, for it is a discerner of colours, powers and virtues. The understanding guides the right true spirit with a bridle; for the spirit is soaring, and the understanding is its fire.
14. The spirit is not dissentient, that it should dissent from the understanding; but it is the will of the understanding. But the senses in the understanding are flying-out and dissentient.
15. For the senses are the flash from the fire-spirit, and bring with them in the light the flames of Majesty; and in the darkness they bring with them the flash of terror, as a fierce flash of fire.
16. The senses are such a subtle spirit that they enter into all beings, and take up all beings into themselves. But the understanding tries all in its own fire; it rejects the evil and retains the good. Then Magic, its mother, takes this and brings it into a being.
17. Magic is the mother from which Nature comes, and the understanding is the mother coming from Nature. Magic leads into a fierce fire, and the understanding leads its own mother, Magic, out of the fierce fire into its own fire.
18. For the understanding is the fire of power, and Magic the burning 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.
19. 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.
20. 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.
21. But philosophy leads Magic, its mother, as it pleases. As the divine power, viz. the Word (the heart of God), leads the severe Father into gentleness; so also does philosophy (or the understanding) lead its mother into a gentle divine quality.
22. 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.
23. 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.
24. 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 of the Will-spirit.
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