C o p y rig h t. 1910, b y A m erlc an -E x am ln er.
Quite Odd
To RAist E v il Eondon, Nov. 20.
H E titled b ea u ties of England,
T
and for th a t m atter b eauties
w ithou t title s and t itle s w ith­
o ut beauty, h a v e taken up m ost
e a rn estly th e pursuit o f the higher
“B lack Art,” th e conjuration of
sp irits e v il and o th erw ise, the re­
v ival o f a n cien t m y steries, su ch a s
th o se o f E leu sis, for profanation of
w hich beautiful G recian P hryne w as
condem ned to death and saved only
by her advocate sn a tchin g asid e her
ga rm ents and dazzling her judges.
N o t perhaps sin ce the days of
C agliostro and o f the begin in g s of
the S p iritu a listic era has su ch a
fev er for occu lta tio n and w eird rites
th a t flourish b e st a t m idnight
se ize d upon aristo cra tic and lit­
erary London, •’erh aps the cause
is the d u lln ess of th e Court of
G eorge and Mary a s contrasted to
the a lw a y s som ething-doing-reign of
Edw ard. P erhaps It is only the
n atu ral progress from m ind heal­
in g , Indian Sw am is, theosoph y and
g h o st bunting. A t any rate, as th e
w itty C oun tess o f W arw ick said the
other day—"Everybody se em s to
have their h ea r ts’ hearts s e t on rais-
, ____________________ He
i a so ciety w hich, in 1888, re­
v iv ed the old order of the Rosicru-
cia n s, tha t m ed iaeval so ciety of
m y stics, w hich e v en up to the end
of the eig h teen th c en tu ry had for
its m em bers all the a strologers and
alc h e m ists—and m ost of th e great
sc h o la rs, ch em ists and sages. If it
had rem ained a s it w as tw o decades
ago— a sm a ll com m un ity of enthu­
sia sts and dream ers—there would
ben no o cca sio n now to rem ark
upon it, sa v e as a curious re-ap­
pearance o f m y sticism in a singular
form .
B u t in th e la st five years the
so c iety ha s spread am azingly and
its adh erents are in every country.
W ithin th e la st year the soulful
branch of th e E n g lish aristocracy
h a s em braced it, and chapters are
soon to give dem onstration s in the
U nited Sta tes.
E v e n Sir O liver L od ge has not
been above a ttend ing various se ­
a n c e s in a scien tific effort to dis­
c over if the old in ca n tation s could
r ea lly ra ise anything. The beauti­
ful and eccen tric Lady M arjorie
M anners, the daughter of the
equally eccen tric D uchess of Rut­
land, is said to be am ong th e fore­
m ost o f the R osicru cian s.
M etings o f the R osicru cian s for
th e purpose of conjuration and of
in vokin g “forbidden k n ow led ge”
have been se cr et u n til la st w eek.
T h en the E leu sinia n r ite s w ere per­
form ed openly in a London hall.
T he original r ite s w ere celebrated
in a ncient G reece in honor of De­
m eter or Ceres, the Earth Mother
or G oddess and to P erseph one or
Proserpine her daughter w ho w as
captured by P lu to, God of the under
world.
T h ese m odern R osicru cian s ad­
m it frankly that their purpose is to
attain relig io u s ecsta sy , \r.d to get
in to com m unication w ith spirits,
not disem bodied com m on spirits
w hich on earth w ere plain John
Jones or W illiam Sm ith, but sp irits
that w ere pow erful when Lilith
flirted w ith Adam and haven’t any
place in a resp ectab le Church of
England H eaven.
Lady M arjorie isn ’t certain that
she. i i s se w i any ?pirito yet and be­
trays an im patience that m ay take
ner from the fold soon if her curi­
o sity isn ’t gratified R aisin g the
sp irits is hard work, according to
the form ulae prescribed bj P oet
C row ley, in h is book, “The Equi­
nox,” whicti, by the way, come
dow n quite directly from th e an­
c ien t sources. Som etim es it takes
six m onths to raise even the sem ­
blance o f one, and if the conjurator
G re a t B rita in B ig h ts R eserved.
Diversion of
English 4
Society
W hich Is
Conjuring
Demons” and
Practicing the “Black
.
Beautiful Lady Marjorie
Manners, Who Is Much
_ A r t”—B ut Seems
to Need a Lot
M ore Practice
S p ir its
Interested in the New
Incantation Fad.
Taph h e sita tes at first,
b ecause then alw ays
com es th e “stron ger and
p 0et Alister Crowley in a Rosi- V More Poten t Conjura­
• * ttit1 ld p jyr- C r o w le v tion.” T h is rem ind s us
crucian A t t it u d e . M r. urowiey of the w itch es in Mac­
Is the Only Member of the beth —“bubble, bubble*
Order Who Can Pronounce toil and trouble ” such a dreadful lo t of cursing!
Correctly the Magic Word, The m ighty M agus
p asses to the altar hold­
■‘StiBeTTChePhMeFshiSS. ’’ in g her dagger and si-
gil. H er a ssista n t is be­
h a s fallen dow n any­ hind her to “the east of
w here during that tim e the M agical Cauldron,
the sp irit eith er doesn’t and sh e c a sts in to it at
appear or e lse the ap­ each appropriate mo­
p lican t is afflicted in a m ent t h e in gredient
m anner th at m akes nam ed.” T h ese in gre­
Job’s lo t seem lik e a dien ts do not seem to
p leasan t dream. be pleasant.
F or in stan ce, the n ew T h e Chief M a g u s
R osicru cian s are very cries;
desirous of evokin g the “Come forth! Come
m ighty sp irit Táphthar- forth!' Come forth unto
tharath, w ho seem s to us, sp irit of Kohab
have kn ow led ge of a lot Taphthartharath, I con­
of th in gs {hey w ould jure th ee! Come! Ac­
lik e to learn from him. cep t o f us th ese m agic­
An elaborate “tem ple” a l sacrifices, prepared
has to be prepared to give thee body and
for the conjuration.
The cerem ony takes “For the sw ee t sc en t o f the m ace
a lot of people. If they can’t get is that w hich sh all purify th e e
T aphthartharath, h e m ust be a very finally from the bondage o f evil.
un reason able and unaccom m odating (Throw s in th,e m ace.)
spirit. “And the flesh of the serp en t is
the sym bol o f thy body, w hich we
How ever, w hen the “Tem ple”—
and it is very aw e in spirin g—is pre­ destroy by w ater and fire that it
pared, th e R osicru cian s begin. may be renew ed before us.
(T hrow s in the sn ake.)
T he M agus of A rt is usually a
wom an, and th is is the part the “And the blood of the serp en t is
titled b eauties ju st sim ply love to the sym bol of the m agic word o f
take. Sh e w ears a w hite robe, y el­ M essiah, w hereby w e trium ph over
low sash, red overm antle, indigo N ahash ! (T hrow s in th e blood.)
nem ys; upon h er breast sh e w ears “And the fire w hich flam es over
a great tab let w hereon is th e m agic all (a ssista n t ligh ts hell-broth) is
seal of M ercury; and over th is “the the utter pow er o f our sacred r ites!
Lam en bearing the sign atu re of “Come forth! Come forth! Come
Taph on its obverse and the Lam en forth unto u s sp irit o f M ercury, O,
of a H ierophant»’ Sh e w ears a Taphthartharath. I bind and conjure
dagger in her sash and a red rose thee by him th at sltteth forever
on her heart; and sh e carries in on th e throne o f thy planet, the
her le ft hand the A nkh o f Thoth— know er, th e m aster, th e all dom inat­
in g by w isdom , T hoth the great
th at is the old crux an sata or cross
of life of the E gyp tians, and in her king, lord of the upper and low er
right th e Ibis wand. c row n s!”
This, in the language o f ‘Arry, is T h en they conjure th e unhappy
a neat but b it gaudy outfit. The Tat)h by the ..am e— Iahdonl.
a ssista n t does h is b e st to com pete. And by “the great m agic w ord”
—it seem s im possible that Taph
He w ears a w hite robe w ith a girdle
of sn akeskln , a black headdress; can liste n to th is and not do som e­
h e bears in h is right hand a sw ord, thing—here it is:
StiB eL T T C h eP hM eS hiSS!
in h is le ft hand a m agical candle
and a black chain about b is neck. A nd then by this— ZBaTH.
In com m anding tones the chief After w hich com es a full hour
more of nam es, but none quite so
M agus cries:
“H ekas, HcTcas E ste Bebeloi! peculiar.
If Taph can stand all th is and
“F ratres of the Order o f the R osy
Cross, w e are th is day assem bled still rem ains obdurate, th ey keep
together for the purpose of evoking right a t him w ith w hat is called
in t o v isib le
the “extrem ely pow erful conjura­
a p p e a ranee tion.” T h is puts it on the unfortu­
the sp irit T aph­
nate Taph dread­
tharth arath.” fu lly. P a r t runs
T hen they lik e this:
k n ee l and pray “Zodocar E ca od
at the four Zodamerahnu odo
po i n t s. But k ikale Im ayah piape
as th e form of p i a m o e l od Vao-
conjuration of
Taph t a k e s “I curse and b last
n e a r ly two thee. I con sign thee
hours to finish unto the lo w e st h ell
and u ses up at of Abaddon.
le a st ten thou­ “I curse thy life!
san d w o r d s , “And b la st thy be­
one can give ing!
only the m ost “Dow n! Sink down
e x t raordinary to the depths of hor­
parts of this r o r!”
ritual. And then it is
T he tem ple r eally horrifying, all
is purified with the thin gs they w ish
w ater and fire. to poor Taph. It
T h ey proceed seem s I n c r e dible
to conjure — that really nice girls
oh, very im- w ill talk so. For
3 i vely. th ey a r e r e a l l y
Ap parentiy Floor of the ‘‘Roscrucian Temple,” and ‘‘Cross and Rose” Symbol, Which Is “ Worshipped.” nice despite their
* '
p eculiar ta ste s. T h ey w ant the
earth to suffocate Taph, and fire to
torm en t him . T hey plead th at “air
sh all not fan him , nor w ater cool
him , but torm en t unspeakable, hor­
ror undying, terror un alterln g, pain
unendurable” sh all a ssa il him . Oh,
W ith the queer lig h ts flickering
and all in ton in g th e se m ost hor­
rible w ish es one begins to fee l right
creepy. One w ish es that Taph
w ould appear and sa v e him self. But
one fe e ls that if he does appear it
m ay be equally unfortuate for those
presen t!
I f Taph should come up and not be
too put out a t the w ay he has been
abused, then they com m and him as
follow s:
“T hat thou teach un t j us continu­
a lly th e M ysteries of the A rt of
M agus, declarin g unto u s now in
w hat best m anner m ay each of us
progress tow ards the accom plish­
m ent of the Great Work. Teach us
the M ysteries of a ll the Hidden
A rts and Sciences w hich are under
the D om inion of M ercury."
Bu t if Taph d oesn ’t com e— and
there isn’t any record th at he ever
h a s—w hy then the w orsh ip pers go
over it a ll again at tne next m eeting
night. It m ust m ake Taph feel
som ething dreadful. And they’re all
as has been said, such nice girls too.
H as any one ever raised the spir­
its? W ell, now! P oet C rowley’s
book, “The Equinox,” w hich relates
a t length th e se conjurations, t e lls of
a very earn est seeker who for six
m onths follow ed the exceed ingly rig­
orous and ascetic course prescribed
for the R osicru cian wa_ of seein g
things. W hat he saw irresistib ly re­
m inds one of easier w ays of seeing
them —and not so ascetic. T his is
w hat he says happened:
“In bed I invoked the F ire angels
and the sp irits on the tablet, w ith
nam es, etc., and the 6th Key. I then
(a s H arpocrates) entered m y crystal.
An angel m eeting m e told m e am ong
other things, that they were a t war
w ith the angels of the 30 A ethyrs to
prevent th e squaring o f the circle. . I
w ent w ith him un to the abodes of
Fire, but I m ust have fallen asleep,
or nearly so. A nyhow, I regained
consciousness in a very singular
state, h alf consciousness being there
and half here. I recovered and ban­
ished the Spirits, but was burning all
over and tossed restlessly about—
very sleepy, but consumed of fire.
(N ote—N oth in g Is said here about
the singular hallucin ation of a cir­
cum am bulating bedroom .) Then I
had a lon g dream of a w om an elop­
in g whom I helped, and after of a
man stealin g m y R ose Cross jew el
from a dressing table in a hotel. I
caught him and found him a man
w eak beyond the natural (I could
bend or flatten him at w ill) and then
the dream seem ed to lose coher­
ency— I carried him about and found
a hair brush to beat him , etc., etc.
Query: W as I to tally ob sessed ?”
You were, brother, indeed you
were! But m any a man could have
gone you several better on that vision
and not have them six m onths to
hatch it either.
Is it not sad to see fair young
sprigs of aristocracy, budded sprigs
and withered branches seek ing this
T aphthartharath in th e nam e of
“StiB eT T C heP hM eF Sh iS S! ” a n d
others and ta lking so dreadfully
when he doesn’t seem to understand?
It is sad. It other days it would
have been sadder because they
w ould a ll probably have gone the
uncom fortable w ay of w itch es and
wizards. In th is more enlightened
day they are ju st allow ed to go
ahead and talk. Ana so they talk.
And that’s quite a ll there is to it.