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THE HERB DANGEROUS
I. The Pharmacy of Hashish. By E. WHINERAY, M. P. S.
II. The Psychology of Hashish. With an attempt at a new
classification of the mystic states of mind known to me,
with a plea for Scientific Illuminism. By OLIVER
HADDO.
III. The Poem of Hashish. By CHARLES BAUDELAIRE.
(Translated.)
IV. Selections illustrating the Psychology of Hashish, from
"The Hashish-Eater." By H. S. LUDLOW.
{231}
A PHARMACEUTICAL STUDY
OF CANNABIS SATIVA
(BEING A COLLATION OF FACTS AS KNOWN
AT THE PRESENT DATE)
CANNABIS INDICA was introduced into England by O'Shaughnessy, and the first
extract was made by the late Mr. Peter Squire, the well-known pharmacist of
Oxford Street. According to the "British Pharmacopeia" the official
variety may consist of the flowering or fruiting tops; and is frequently of
inferior quality, seeing that the fruiting tops yield less resin.
According to the "Journal" of the Chemical Society's Transactions, the
important constituent is a resin. The active principle is stated to be a
red oil, Cannabinol, which is liable to be come oxidised and inert.
Its medicinal properties are sedative, anodyne, hypnotic and
antispasmodic. It has been used with success in migraine and delirium,
neuralgia, pain of the last stages of phthisis and in acute mania, also in
menorrhagia and dysmenorrhoea. ("Squire's Companion," Page 167, 1904
edition.)
It does not produce constipation or loss of appetite; on the contrary
it restores the appetite which had been lost by chronic opium or chloral
drinking. (1889, "Lancet," vol. 1. page 65.) {233}
Dr. Martindale remarks that recently the Cannabis imported had more
toxic effects than formerly (this in spite of the fact that a high export
duty has been placed upon the drug); it has indeed been stated that toxic
symptoms have been produced by doses of the extract within the official
limits. According to the "British Pharmacopeia" the dose is 1/4 to 1
grain. The "Lancet" vol. i, page 1042 (1908), records two interesting cases
of toxic symptoms caused by taking overdoses of the tincture.
Antidotes for Cannabis poisoning are the stomach-pump or emetics
followed by stimulating draughts of brandy and water or strong coffee,
vegetable acids, such as lemon juice or vinegar.
Dr. Robert Hooper in his "Lexicon Medicum" (page 315), published in
1848, says: "Cannabis Indica is a variety of hemp much used in the East as
an excitant. The Hindoos call it "Bangue," the Arabs "Hasheesh," the Turks
"Malach."
"The leaves are chewed or smoked like those of tobacco and an
intoxicating liquor is prepared from them. This plant is also used by the
Hottentots who call it "Dacha."
The following article by Mr. David Hooper, F.C.S., F.L.S. (Curator of
the Botanical Gardens at Calcutta) read at the last meeting of the British
Pharmaceutical Conference at Aberdeen, throws a certain amount of light on
to the commercial side of the question. At the close of the discussion Mr.
D. B. Dott, an eminent Scottish Pharmacist, remarked that Professor
Stockman had refuse to investigate the drug, as it was useless. Mr. Edmund
White, Ph.C., considered that the deterioration of the drug was due to
enzymes, and suggested careful storage to preclude enzymic activity. {234}
CHARAS OF INDIAN HEMP
BY DAVID HOOPER, F.C.S., F.L.S.
Although "charas" has been properly described as "a foul and crude
drug, the use of which is properly excluded from civilised medicine," it is
imported into British India to the value of œ120,000 per annum, a total
exceeding the combined value of all the other medicinal imports, so that it
is an article which deserves more than passing notice. Indian hemp
(Cannabis Sativa), when grown in the East, secretes an intoxicating
resinous matter on the upper leaves and flowering spikes, the exudation
being marked in plants growing throughout the Western Himalayas and
Turkestan, where charas is prepared as a commercial article. Formerly it
was cultivated in fields in Turkestan, but now it is grown as a border
around other crops (such as maize), the seeds of both being sown at the
same time. A sticky exudation (white when damp and greyish when dry) is
found on the upper parts of the plant before the flowers show, and in April
and May, when the plants attain a height of 4 or 5 ft. and the seeds ripen,
the Cannabis is gathered, after reaping the crops, and stored in a cool,
dry place. When dry the powdery resinous substance can be detached by
even slight shaking, the dust being collected on a cloth. In some
districts the plants are cut close to the roots, suspended head downwards,
and the dust or "gard" shaken from them and collected on sheets placed on the
floor. The leaves, seeds, etc., are picked out, and sand, etc., separated
by passing through a fine sieve, the powder being collected and stored in
cloth or skin bags, when it is ready for export. In some villages the
charas or {235} extract is made up into small balls, which are collected by
the middleman.
On reaching British territory all charas is weighed before the nearest
magistrate, by whom it is sealed, a certificate of weight signed by the
Deputy Commissioner being given to the owner. The trader, before leaving
the district, obtains a permit allowing him to take the drug to a special
market. The zamindars of Chinese Turkestan are the vendors of the drug,
the importers being Yarkhandis or Ladakhis, who dispose of it at Hoshiapur
and Amritsar principally, returning with piece-goods, or Amritsar merchants
who trade with Ladakh. The drug in this way reaches the chief cities of
Punjab during September and October. Thence it is distributed over the
Central and United Provinces as far as Bombay and Calcutta, and is used
everywhere for smoking. Charas, though a drug, plays the part of money to
a great extent in the trade that is carried on at Ladakh, the price of the
drug depending on the state of the market, and any fluctuations causing a
corresponding increase or decrease in the value of the goods for which it
is bartered. The exchange price of charas thus gives rise to much
gambling. A pony-load (two pais or three maunds) sells for Rs. 40 or Rs.
50, the cost of transport to Hoshiapur (the chief Punjab depot) is Rs. 100,
and there it fetches from Rs. 30 to Rs. 100 per maund. Retail dealers sell
small quantities at a price that works out at Rs. 200 to Rs. 500 per maund.
Five years ago the Kashgar growers, encouraged by the high prices, sowed a
large crop and reaped a bumper harvest, only to find the market already
overstocked and prices on the Leh Exchange fallen from Rs. 60 to RS. 30 per
maund. The following are {236} the imports of charas from Ladakh and
Kashmir between 1904 and 1907:
1904-5 1905-6 1906-7
Cwt. . . 2818 ... 2446 ... 2883
Value . . Rs. 12,13,860 ... Rs. 18,39,960 ... Rs. 22,90,560
Small quantities of charas are made, chiefly for local consumption, in
the Himalayan districts of Nepal, Kumaon, and Garhwal, and in Baluchistan.
Samples of Baluchistan charas made in the Sarawan division of the Kalat
State have been sent to the Indian Museum by Mr. Hughes-Buller.
The following is the mode of preparation.
"The female 'bhang' plants are reaped when they are waist high and
charged with seed. The leaves and seeds are separated and half dried.
They are then spread on a carpet made of goat's hair, another carpet is
spread over them and slightly rubbed. The dust containing the narcotic
principle falls off, and the leaves, etc., are removed to another carpet
and again rubbed. The first dust is the best quality, and is known as "nup;"
the dust from the second shaking is called "tahgalim," and is of inferior
quality. A third shaking gives "gania," of still lower quality. Each kind
of dust is made unto small balls called "gabza," and kept in cloth bags. The
first quality is recognised by the ease with which it melts."
The local rates per tola are: for first quality 2a.5p., second quality
1a.7p., and third quality 11p. Small quantities of charas find their way
from Thibet into British and Native Garhwal, and a little is prepared in
Simla and Kashmir; while other sources are Nepal and the hill districts of
Almora and Garhwal. In preparing Nepal charas, the ganja-plant is squeezed
between the palms of the hands, and the sticky {237} resinous substance
scraped off. "Momea," black wax-like cakes, valued at Rs. 10 per seer, and
"Shahjehani," sticks containing portions of leaf, valued at Rs. 3 per seer,
are the two kinds of Nepal charas, a few maunds being exported annually to
Lucknow and Cawnpore. No charas is made in the plains of India, except a
small quantity in Gwalior, the Bengal ganja yielding no charas in all the
handling it undergoes in the process of perparation --- thus emphasising
the fact that the intoxicating secretion is developed in plants growing
where the altitude and climate are suitable, as in the Himalayas and
Turkestan.
"Adulterations." --- Aitchison in 1874 stated that no charas of really
good quality ever came to Leh, the best charas in the original balls being
sent to Bokhara and Kokan. He said the chief adulterant is the mealy
covering of the fruits of the wild and cultivated Trebizond date ("Eloeagnus"
"hortensis"). The impression in the United Provinces and the Punjab is that
the Yarkhand drug is sophisticated, and a preference is given in some
quarters to the Nepal and other Himalayan forms, which command a higher
price. The Special Assistant in Kashgar declares there is no advantage in
increasing the weight, as when dealers in India buy the drug they test it,
otherwise they would pay a heavy duty on the adulterant as well as on the
charas itself; so no exporter at present would spoil his charas by adding
extraneous substances.
Mr. Hooper added descriptions of samples, namely: Kashgar charas,
Yarkhand charas, Baluchistan charas, Gwalior charas, Kumaon charas, Garhwal
charas, Nepal charas and Momea charas, from Simla.
"Chemical Examination." --- The table of analyses appended is taken from
the author's report to the Indian Hemp Drug {238} Commission of 1893-4, but
a few recent analyses have been added:
Ú____________________________Â_________Â_________Â_______Â______Â________¿
³ Description of Charas ³ Extract,³Vegetable³ Ash, ³ Sand ³Volatile³
³ ³Alcoholic³ Matter ³Soluble³ ³ Matter ³
Ã____________________________Å_________Å_________Å_______Å______Å________´
³Yarkhand . . . . ³ 40.0 ³ 18.2 ³ 23.9 ³ 11.4 ³ 6.5 ³
³Amballa "Mashak" . . ³ 42.7 ³ 12.9 ³ 12.4 ³ 28.2 ³ 5.8 ³
³Amritsar "Bhara" . . ³ 38.1 ³ 14.9 ³ 10.8 ³ 29.8 ³ 6.4 ³
³ " "Mashak" . . ³ 46.5 ³ 12.6 ³ 10.0 ³ 27.3 ³ 3.6 ³
³Delhi Dust, 12a. . . ³ 42.4 ³ 17.9 ³ 9.8 ³ 25.9 ³ 4.0 ³
³ " 1r. 1a. . . ³ 42.6 ³ 18.8 ³ 11.1 ³ 23.2 ³ 4.3 ³
³ " "Mashak" . ³ 41.1 ³ 11.3 ³ 10.7 ³ 29.5 ³ 7.4 ³
³ 1r. 9a ³ ³ ³ ³ ³ ³
³Bombay . . . . ³ 36.1 ³ 20.2 ³ 11.8 ³ 27.3 ³ 4.6 ³
³Gwalior . . . . ³ 43.3 ³ 27.7 ³ 8.2 ³ 17.7 ³ 3.1 ³
³Kumaon (wild) . . . ³ 22.2 ³ 52.0 ³ 9.2 ³ 7.4 ³ 9.1 ³
³ " (cult.) . . . ³ 34.2 ³ 46.3 ³ 9.0 ³ 3.0 ³ 7.5 ³
³Garhwal . . . . ³ 41.9 ³ 37.0 ³ 7.9 ³ 5.5 ³ 7.7 ³
³Almora . . . . ³ 36.9 ³ 40.5 ³ 10.5 ³ 4.6 ³ 7.5 ³
³Nepal . . . . ³ 44.6 ³ 35.1 ³ 8.2 ³ 6.5 ³ 5.6 ³
³ " "Shahjehani" . . ³ 44.4 ³ 37.7 ³ 9.6 ³ 4.1 ³ 4.2 ³
³Simla "Momea" . . . ³ 37.0 ³ 32.0 ³ 12.3 ³ 9.3 ³ 9.4 ³
³Baluchistan (1) 1903 . ³ 22.4 ³ 19.9 ³ 14.8 ³ 38.6 ³ 4.3 ³
³ " (2) " . . ³ 22.0 ³ 35.2 ³ 20.8 ³ 15.1 ³ 6.9 ³
³ " (3) 1905 . ³ 24.2 ³ 16.0 ³ 13.3 ³ 39.3 ³ 7.2 ³
³ " (4) " . . ³ 26.0 ³ 24.1 ³ 9.6 ³ 31.0 ³ 9.3 ³
³ " (5) " . . ³ 24.9 ³ 27.3 ³ 11.5 ³ 25.8 ³ 10.5 ³
³Kashgar (1) . . . ³ 40.2 ³ 21.1 ³ 9.2 ³ 16.8 ³ 12.7 ³
³ " (2) . . . ³ 40.9 ³ 16.3 ³ 9.9 ³ 20.5 ³ 12.4 ³
³ " (3) . . . ³ 48.1 ³ 15.6 ³ 8.2 ³ 16.1 ³ 12.0 ³
À____________________________Á_________Á_________Á_______Á______Á________Ù
According to Fluckiger and Hanbury, charas yields one-fourth to one-
third of its weight of amorphous resin, and it has been stated that good
samples yield 78 per cent. of resin. It will be seen above that the
average yield in the North Indian samples is 40 per cent., the highest
being from Kashgar and the lowest from Baluchistan and from Kumaon wild
plants, the last-named corresponding to a good sample of ganja. {239}
"Physiological Values." --- Captain J. F. Evans. I.M.S., Chemical
Examiner to the Government of Bengal, also gave results of his
physiological tests in the Indian Hemp Drug Commission's Proceedings for
1893-4. His experiments were made with alcoholic extracts, and only one
sample --- Amritsar best charas --- approached in definite physiological
effects the extract, taken as a standard, prepared from Bengal ganja. The
following are the values compared with that of Amritsar mashak, designated
as 32:
Amritsar Mashak . 32 ³ Bombay . . . 4
Delhi Mashak . . 24 ³ Amballa Mashak . 2
Amballa Mashak . 23 ³ Delhi dust . . 2
Garhwal . . 21 ³ Kumaon wild . . 1
Delhi dust (2nd) . 20 ³ Kumaon cultivated . 1
Amritsar Bhara . 19 ³ Gwalior . . . 1
so that the best Amritsar charas is thirty-two times as potent as the
Gwalior product, the latter from plants grown in the plains, while the
amount of alcoholic extract bears no relation to the physiological activity
of the drug.
Professor Greenish in his well-known work on "Materia Medica" says the
Cannabis Indica is an annual dioecious herb indigenous to Central and
Western Asia, but largely cultivated in temperate countries for its strong
fibres (hemp) and its oily seed (hemp-seed) and in tropical countries also
for the resinous secretions which it there produces. The secretion
possesses very valuable and powerful medicinal properties; but it is not
produced in the plant when grown in temperate climates; on the other hand
the fibre of the plant under the latter condition is much stronger than
that of the tropical plant.
The hemp plant grown in India differs, however, in certain {240}
particulars from that grown in Europe; and the plant was formerly
considered a distinct species and named Cannabis Indica, but this opinion
is now abandoned.
The cultivation of hemp for its seed and fibre dates from very remote
periods. It was used as an intoxicant by the Persians and Arabians in the
eleventh and twelfth centuries and probably much earlier, but was not
introduced into European medicine until the year 1838. For medicinal use
it is grown in the districts of Bogra and Rajshaki to the North of Calcutta
and westward, thence through central India to Gujerat. Very good qualities
of the drug are purchased in Madras, but the European market is chiefly
supplied with inferior grades from Ghalapur.
The pistillate plants by which alone the resin is secreted in any
quantity are pruned to produce flowering branches, the tops of these
flowering branches are collected, allowed to wilt, and then pressed by
treading them under the feet into more or less compact masses. This forms
the drug known as "ganjah," or (on the London market) Guaza.
The larger leaves are collected separately; when dried they are known
as "bhang."
During the manipulations to which the plant is subjected in preparing
the drug, a certain quantity of the resin is separated; it is collected and
forms the drug known as "charas" (Churrus). Charas is also prepared by
rubbing ganjah between the hands or by men in leather garments brushing
against the growing plants, in any case separating part of the active
adhesive resin; hence the official description limits the drug to that from
which the resin has not been removed. {241}
All these forms of the drug are largely used in India for producing an
agreeable form of intoxication; ganjah and charas are smoked, while bhang
is used to prepare a drink or sweetmeat.
The drug has a powerful odour, but is almost devoid of taste.
Numerous attempts have been made to isolate the active constituent of
Indian hemp; it is not possible here to do more than allude to the chief
late ones.
In 1881 Siebold and Bradbury isolated a thick yellowish oily liquid
which they termed "Cannabinine" and their results were confirmed in 1884 by
Warden and Waddell.
In 1894 Robert separated a dark red syrupy mass possessing
intoxicating properties and in 1896 Wood, Spivey, and Easterfield obtained
from charas under reduced pressure certain inactive terpenes and a viscous
resin "Cannabinol" which when warmed melts to an oily liquid. Cannabinol
when taken internally induces delirium and sleep, and, as far as at present
known, is the intoxicating constituent of Indian hemp.
In addition to this principle Matthew Hay in 1883 obtained colourless
crystals of an alkaloid "tetano-cannabine" which in physiological action
resembled strychnine.
Cannabis Indica was formerly used as a hypnotic and anodyne but is
uncertain in its action.
It is administered in mania and hysteria as an anodyne and
antispasmodic.
Mr. E. M. Holmes, F.L.S., Curator of the Pharmaceutical Society's
Museum, writing on the subject of Cannabis Indica says "The Dervishes make
a preparation by macerating the resinous type in almond oil and give a
small quantity of it in soup to produced prolonged sleep." {242}
A strong dose of Cannabis produces curious hallucinations abolishing
temporarily the ideas of time and distance; but the ordinary drug as
imported is never the current crop, which the Hindoos keep for their own
use. The active principle Cannabinol (as far as is known) rapidly oxidises
and loses its properties so that if a really active preparation is
required, it is best to get it made in India, using absolute alcohol and
the fresh tops, or recently made charas, which, being a solid mass, does
not readily oxidise.
Before closing it might be well to notice in detail the final
investigations made by Messrs. Wood, Spivey, and Easterfield.
The following is re-printed from the "Proceedings of the Chemical
Society" for 1897-8, and is to be found on page 66.
CANNABINOL
"The Authors have continued their examination of Cannabinol, the toxic
resinous constituent of Indian Hemp (Trans. 1896, "69", 539).
"The substance boils with slight decomposition at about 400ø its
absorption spectrum shows no characteristic bands, its vapour-density at
the temperature of boiling Sulphur corresponds with the formula C18H24O2
already assigned to the compound.
"An account is given of the reaction of Cannabinol with Acetic
Anhydride, benzoyl Chloride and phosphoric Anhydride; the results indicate
that one hydroxyl group is present. In the case of Acetic Anhydride or
Acetyl chloride, however, a crystalline compound melting at 75ø is one of
the products of the {243} reaction. The Authors assign the formula
C15H18O2 to this compound. The same compound has recently been described
by Dunstan and Henry (Proc. 1898, 14, 44, Feb. 17), who ascribe the formula
C18H22OAc to it, fuming hydriodic Acid gives no methyl or ethyl iodide when
boiled with Cannabinol. Reduction with hydrodic Acid in sealed tubes
produces a hydro-carbon, C10H20.
"By long boiling with or without dehydrating agents a hydro-carbon
C10H16 is formed.
"Oxidation with aqueous chromic acid, alkaline or acid permanganate or
dilute nitric acid is accompanied by the production of a caproic acid,
lower fatty acids being probably produced at the same time. The action of
fuming nitric acid upon cannabinol dissolved in cold glacial acetic acid
removes one carbon atom as carbonic anhydride, and produces a red amorphous
substance which gives numbers on analysis agreeing with the formula
C17H20N2O6.
"This substance when boiled with nitric acid yields a light-red
substance C17H20N2O8 which upon further oxidation yields among other
substances a yellow acid crystalline compound C13H15N2O5, which forms
sparingly soluble crystalline sodium, ammonium and silver salts and is
probably a dinitrophenol, and a compound C11H11NO4, the properties of which
agree closely with those of the oxycannabin of Bolas and Francis ("Chemical"
"News" 1871, 24, 77).
"This compound has the properties of a nitro-lactone, as has already
been shown by Dunstan and Henry.
"Corresponding crystalline potassium and silver Salts have been
prepared and analysed. The name Cannabinic Acid is proposed for the
unnitrated parent oxy-acid. {244}
"Amido-Cannabinolactone, C11H11O2NH2 is obtained in colourless
crystals melting at 119ø when the nitro-lactone is reduced either by
hydriodic acid, or by tin and hydrochloric acid.
"The base is readily re-crystallised from hot water, its salts cannot
be recrystalised from water without decomposition; the hydriodide and the
platinochloride have been analysed."
In a later paper read before the Chemical Society Messrs. Wood,
Spivey, and Easterfield (Proc. Chem. Soc. 1897-8, page 184) say:
"The oily lactone prepared from nitrocannabinolactone (oxycannabin) is
shown to be a metatolybutyrlactone, oxycannabin being the corresponding
nitroderivative.
"By the oxidation of Cannabinolactone a lactonic acid is produced
which on fusion with potash yields isophthalic acid.
Nitrocannabinolactonic acid is obtained by oxidising oxycannabin either by
nitric acid in sealed tubes or by potassium permanganate. The volatile
fatty acids produced on oxidising Cannabinol by nitric acid are shown to be
normal butyric (Dunstan and Henry, Proc. Chem. Soc. 1898, "14", 44) normal
valeric and normal caproic acids, Valeric acid being formed in largest
amount."
Through the courtesy of Messrs. Parke, Davis and Co., manufacturing
chemists of London and Detroit, Michigan, U.S.A., we are enabled to
reproduce a clear pharmacological study of the drug by E. M. Houghton,
Ph.C., M.D.; and H. C. Hamilton, M.S. (Excerpt from an article in the
"American Journal of Pharmacy" for January 1908.)
From several samples of Cannabis Americana fluid {245} extracts and
solid extracts were prepared according to the U.S.P., and were tested upon
animals for physiological activity.
The method of assay, which has previously been called to the attention
of this Society, is that which one of us (Houghton) devised and has
employed for the past twelve years. This method consists essentially in
the careful observation of the physiological effects produced upon dogs
from the internal administration of the preparation of the drug under test.
It is necessary in selecting the test animals to pick out those that are
easily susceptible to the action of the Cannabis, since dogs as well as
human beings vary considerably in their reaction to the drug. Also,
preliminary tests should be made upon the animals before they are finally
selected for test purposes, in order that we may know exactly how they
behave under given conditions. After the animals have been finally
selected and found to respond to the standard test dose, 0.01 Gm. per kilo,
they are set aside for this particular work, care being taken to have them
well fed, well housed, and in every way kept under the best sanitary
conditions. Usually we have found it desirable to keep two or more of the
approved animals on hand at all times, so there may not be delay in testing
samples as they come in.
In applying the test, the standard dose (in form of solid extract for
convenience) is administered internally in a small capsule. The dog's
tongue is drawn forward between the teeth with the left hand and the
capsule placed on the back part of the tongue with the right hand. The
tongue is then quickly released and the capsule is swallowed with ease. In
order that the drug may be rapidly absorbed, food should be {246} withheld
for twenty-four hours before the test and an efficient cathartic given if
needed.
Within a comparatively short time the dog begins to show the
characteristic action of the drug. There are three typical effects to be
noticed from active extracts on susceptible animals: first a stage
excitability, then a stage of inco-ordination, followed by a period of
drowsiness. The first of these is so dependent on the characteristics of
the dog used that it is of little value for judging the activity of the
drug, while with only a few exceptions the second, or the stage of inco-
ordination, invariably follows in one or two hours; the dog loses control
of its legs and of the muscles supporting its head, so that when nothing
occurs to attract its attention its head will droop, its body sway, and,
when severely affected, the animal will stagger and fall, the intoxication
being peculiarly suggestive and striking.
Experience is necessary on the part of the observer to determine just
when the physiological effects of the drug begin to manifest themselves,
since there is always, as in the case of many chemical tests, a personal
factor to be guarded against. When an active extract is given to a
susceptible animal, in the smallest dose that will produce any perceptible
effect, one must watch closely for the slightest trace of incoordination,
lack of attention, or drowsiness. It is particularly necessary for the
animals to be confined in a room there nothing will excite them, since when
their attention is drawn to anything of interest the typical effect of the
drug may disappear.
The influence of the test dose of the unknown drug is carefully
compared with that of the same dose of the standard {247} preparation
administered to another test dog at the same time and under the same
conditions.
Finally, when the animals become drowsy, the observations are recorded
and the animals are returned to their quarters.
The second day following, the observations upon the two dogs are
reversed, "i.e.", the animal receiving the test dose of the unknown receives
a test dose of the known, and "vice versƒ", and a second observation is made.
If one desires to make a very accurate quantitative determination, it is
advisable to use, not two dogs, but four or five, and to study the effects
of the test dose of the unknown specimen in comparison with the test dose
of the known, making several observations on alternate days. If the
unknown is below standard activity, the amount should be increased until
the effect produced is the same as for the test dose of the standard. If
the unknown is above strength, the test dose is diminished accordingly.
From the dose of the unknown selected as producing the same action as the
test dose of the standard, the amount of dilution or concentration
necessary is determined. The degree of accuracy with which the test is
carried out will depend largely upon the experience of the observer and the
care he exercises.
Another point to be noted in the use of dogs for standardising
Cannabis is that, although they never appear to lose their susceptibility,
the same dogs cannot be used indefinitely for accurate testing. After a
time they become so accustomed to the effects of the drug they refuse to
stand on their feet, and so do not show the typical inco-ordination which
is its most characteristic and constant action.
Previous to the adoption of the physiological test over twelve years
ago, we were often annoyed by complaints of {248} physicians that certain
lots of drugs were inert; in fact some hospitals, before accepting their
supplies of hemp preparations, asked for samples in order to make rough
tests upon their patients before ordering. Since the adoption of the test
we have not had a well-authenticated report of inactivity, although many
tons of the various preparations of Cannabis Indica have been tested and
supplied for medicinal purposes.
At the beginning of our observations careful search of the literature
on the subject was made to determine the toxicity of the hemp. Not a
single case of fatal poisoning have we been able to find reported, although
often alarming symptoms may occur. A dog weighting 25 pounds received an
injection of two ounces of an active U.S.P. fluid extract in the jugular
vein with the expectation that it would certainly be sufficient to produce
death. To our surprise the animal, after being unconscious for about a day
and a half, recovered completely. This dog received, not alone the active
constituents of the drug, but also the amount of alcohol contained in the
fluid extract. Another dog received about 7 grammes of Solid Extract
Cannabis with the same result. We have never been able to give an animal a
sufficient quantity of a U.S.P. or other preparation of the Cannabis
(Indica Americana) to produce death.
There is some variation in the amount of extractive obtained, as would
be expected from the varying amount of stems, seeds, etc., in the different
samples. Likewise there is a certain amount of variation in the
physiological action, but in every case the administration of 0.01 gramme
of the extract per kilo body weight, has elicited the characteristic
symptoms in properly selected animals. {249}
The repeated tests we have made convince us that Cannabis Americana
properly grown and cured is fully as active as the best Indian drug.
Furthermore, we have placed our quantities of fluid extract and solid
extract of Cannabis Americana in the hands of experienced clinicians, and
from eight of these men, who are all large users of the drug, we have
received reports which state that they are unable to determine any
therapeutic difference between the Cannabis Americana and the Cannabis
Indica.
CONCLUSIONS
1. The method, outlined in the paper, for determining the
physiological activity of Cannabis Sativa by internal administration to
especially selected dogs, has been found reliable when the standard dose of
extract 0.01 gramme per kilo body weight, is tested on animals, the effects
being noted by an experienced observe in comparison with the effects of the
same quantity of a standard preparation.
2. Cannabis Sativa, when grown in various localities of the United
States and Mexico, is found to be fully as active as the best imported
Indian-grown Cannabis Sativa, as shown by laboratory and clinical tests.
Much has been written relative to the comparative activity of Cannabis
Sativa grown in different climates (Cannabis Indica, Mexicana and
Americana). It has been generally assumed that the American-grown drug was
practically worthless therapeutically, and that Cannabis Sativa grown in
India must be used if one would obtain physiologically active preparations.
{250}
Furthermore, it has been claimed that the best Indian drug is that
grown especially for medicinal purposes, the part used consisting of the
flowering tops of the unfertilised female plants, care being taken during
the growing of the drug to weed out the male plants. According to our
experience, this is an erroneous notion, as we have repeatedly found that
the Indian drug which contains large quantities of seed is fully as active
as the drug which consists of the flowering tops only, provided the seed be
removed before percolation.
Several years ago we began a systematic investigation of American-
grown Cannabis Sativa. Samples from a number of localities were obtained
and carefully investigated. From these samples fluid and solid extracts
were prepared according to the Pharmacopoeial method, and carefully tested
upon animals for physiological activity, and eventually they were
standardised by physiological methods. Repeated tests have convinced us
that Cannabis Americana properly grown and cured is fully as active as the
best Indian drug, while on the other hand we have frequently found Indian
Cannabis to be practically inert.
Before marketing preparations of Cannabis Americana, however, we
placed specimens of the fluid and solid extracts in the hands of
experienced clinicians for practical test; and from these men, all of whom
had used large quantities of Cannabis Indica in practice, we have received
reports which affirm that they have been unable to determine any
therapeutic difference between Cannabis Americana and Cannabis Indica. We
are, therefore, of the opinion that Cannabis Americana, will be found
equally as efficient as, and perhaps more uniformly reliable than Cannabis
Indica obtained from abroad, {251} since it is evident that with a source
of supply at our very doors proper precautions can be taken to obtain crude
drug of the best quality.
The proper botanical name of the drug under consideration is Cannabis
Sativa. The Indian plant was formerly supposed to be a distinct species
"per se," but botanists now consider the two plants to be identical. The old
name of Cannabis Indica, however, has been retained in medicine. Cannabis
Indica simply means Cannabis Sativa grown in the Indies, and Cannabis
Americana means Cannabis Sativa grown in America. Its introduction into
Western medicine dates from the beginning of the last century, but it has
been used as an intoxicant in Asiatic countries from time immemorial, and
under the name of "hashish," "bhang," "ganja," or "charas," is habitually
consumed by upwards of two hundred millions of human beings.
The physiological action of Cannabis Americana is precisely the same
as that of Cannabis Inidca. The effects of this drug are said to be due
chiefly to its action upon the central nervous system. It first produces a
state of excitement similar to that of the initial stage of acute
alcoholism. This excitement of the motor areas and other lower centres in
the brain, according to W. E. Dixon, of the University of Cambridge, "is
not the result of direct stimulation of these, but is due to depression of
the highest and controlling centres. At all events there is a depression
of the highest centres, and this is shown by diminished efficiency in the
performance of mental work, by inability to concentrate attention, and by
feeble judgment." In lower animals the effects of Cannabis Indica resemble
those in man, and present the {252} same variations. A stage of exaltation
with increased movements is sometimes present, and is followed by
depression, lassitude and sleep. Reflex excitability is first increased
and then diminished. Cannabis Indica differs from opium in producing no
disturbance of digestion and no constipation. The heart is generally
accelerated in man when the drug is smoked. Its intravenous injection into
animals slows the pulse, partly through inhibitory stimulation and partly
through direct action upon the heart muscle. The pupil is generally
somewhat dilated. Death from acute poisoning is extremely rare, and
recovery has occurred after enormous doses. The continued abuse of hashish
by natives of the East sometimes leads to mania and dementia, but does not
cause the same disturbance of nutrition that opium does; and the habitual
use of small quantities, which is almost universal in some Eastern
countries, does not appear to be detrimental to health.
Cannabis Americana is employed for the same medicinal purposes as
Cannabis Indica, which is frequently used as a hypnotic in cases of
sleeplessness, in nervous exhaustion, and as a sedative in patients
suffering from pain. Its greatest use has perhaps been in the treatment of
various nervous and mental diseases, although it is found as an ingredient
in many cough mixtures. In general, Cannabis Americana can be used when a
mild hypnotic or sedative is indicated, as it is said not to disturb
digestion, and it produces no subsequent nausea and depression. It is of
use in cases of migraine, particularly when opium in contra-indicated. It
is recommended in paralysis agitans to quiet the tremors, in spasm of the
bladder, and in sexual impotence not the result of organic disease,
especially in combination with nux vomica and ergot. {253}
The ordinary dosage is:
Extractum Cannabis Americanae, 0.01 gramme (1.5 grain).
Fluidextractum Cannabis Americanae, 0.05 cc. (1 minim).
The dosage of Cannabis Americana is the same as that of Cannabis
Indica, as from our experiments we find that there is no therapeutic
difference in the physiological action of the two drugs.
Cannabis Sativa, when grown in the United States (Cannabis Americana)
under careful precautions, is found to be fully as active as the best
imported Indian-grown Cannabis Sativa, as shown by the laboratory and
clinical tests. The advantages of using carefully prepared solid and fluid
extracts of the home-grown drug are apparent when it is considered that
every step of the process, from planting of the drug to the final marketing
of the finished product, is under the supervision of experts. The imported
drug varies extremely in activity and much of it is practically inert or
flagrantly adulterated.
The writer desires to acknowledge the able assistance given him in
preparing the above notes by Mr. E. M. Holmes, F.L.S., and Mr. S. Jamieson,
M.P.S. (Messrs. Parke, Davis and Co.) Readers acquiring further
information on the subject are referred to the British Pharmaceutical Codex
(1907) and Squire's "Companion to the British Pharmacopoeia," recently
published. {254}
REFERENCES
Marshall, London "Lancet," 1897, i. p. 235.
Dixon, "British Medical Journal," 1899, ii p. 136.
Fraenkel, "Arch. f. exp. Path. u. Pharm." xlix, p. 266.
Cushny, "Textbook of Pharmacology," 1906, p. 232.
Houghton and Hamilton, "Am. Jour. Pharm.," January 1908.
"Transactions Chem. Society," 1896, "69", 539.
"Proceedings Chem. Soc." 1898, "14", 44, Feb. 17; "Ibid." 1898, p. 184.
Squires, "Companion to British Pharmacopoeia," 1908.
Martindale's "Extra Pharmacopeia," 1908.
Hooper's "Medical Dictionary."
"Chemist and Druggist."
E. WHINERAY, M.P.S., ETC.
{WEH note: presentation continues in no. 2}
{255}
"SPECIAL SUPPLEMENT"
JOHN ST. JOHN
THE RECORD OF THE MAGICAL RETIREMENT OF
G. H. FRATER, O.'. M.'.
{1 --- WEH note: The supplement has its own pagination.}
{Illustration: BW halftone: In a black border, this is a photograph of a
person, presumably Crowley, in a violet (assumed from text) robe. The
figure is shown in right profile, inclined forward to the right about
thirty degrees off the vertical. The feet are bare and visible, with left
foot flat and toes pointed directly right, as is the orientation of the
figure. The right foot is also bare, but pointed at right angles to the
body and directly forward, as a support at the extreme left of the figure.
Only the ball of the right foot meets the floor. The left hand and arm are
not visible. The right hand and arm to mid forearm are extended directly
horizontal at shoulder height and pointing forward to the right. The right
forefinger is extended, and a simple cylindrical stick of a thickness of
the finger is gripped in such fashion that one end of the stick (wand)
emerges directly at and beneath the extended forefinger. There may be a
design on the finger end of this wand, but that cannot be clearly
distinguished. The wand angles down slightly under the right hand and
terminates about a foot from its beginning in direct contact with the
under-forearm. The wand is gripped by all but the forefinger of the right
hand. No ring is worn. The Head is completely covered by a crumpled and
tailed hood, apparently of a material like silk or satin. Draped over the
back and about the neck of the figure is an untrimmed leopard skin. The
tail and limbs hang to the floor in back, and are taken about the neck at
top, with one bit visible behind the figure at the front at about the
height of the diaphragm. Although not captioned in situ, the illustration
is identified as "Blind Force" in the list of illustrations. Some nameless
wag is reported to have uttered the following characterization during a
lecture, when confronted by a slide of this illustration: "And this is a
shot of Crowley with a dead cat around his neck".}
{2}
PREFACE
NOBODY is better aware than myself that this account of my Retirement
labours under most serious disadvantages.
The scene should have been laid in an inaccessible lamaserai in Tibet,
perched on stupendous crags; and my familiarity with Central Asia would
have enabled me to do it quite nicely.
One should really have had an attendant Sylph; and one's Guru, a man
of incredible age and ferocity, should have frequently appeared at the
dramatic moment.
A gigantic magician on a coal-black steed would have added to the
effect: strange voices, uttering formidable things, should have issued from
unfathomable caverns. A mountain shaped like a Svastika with a Pillar of
Flame would have been rather taking; herds of impossible yaks, ghost-dogs,
gryphons. ...
But my good, friends, this is not the way things happen. Paris is as
wonderful as Lhassa, and there are just as many miracles in London as in
Luang Prabang.
I did not even think it necessary to go into the Bois de Boulogne and
meet those Three Adepts who cause bleeding at the nose, familiar to us from
the writings of Macgregor Mathers. {3}
The Universe of Magic is in the mind of a man: the setting is but
Illusion even to the thinker.
Humanity is progressing; formerly men dwelt habitually in the exterior
world; nothing less than giants and Paynim and men-at-arms and distressed
ladies, vampires and succubi, could amuse them. Their magicians brought
demons from the smoke of blood, and made gold from baser metals.
In this they succeeded; the intelligent perceived that the gold and
the lead were but shadows of thought. It became probable that the elements
were but isomers of one element; matter was seen to be but a modification
of mind, or (at least) that the two things matter and mind must be joined
before either could be perceived. All knowledge comes through the senses,
on the one hand; on the other, it is only through the senses that knowledge
comes.
We then continue our conquest of matter; and we are getting pretty
expert. It took much longer to perfect the telescope than the motor-car.
And though, of course, there are limitations, we know enough to be able to
predict them.
We know in what progression the Power to Speed coefficient of a
steamboat rises --- and so on.
But in our conquest of Nature, which we are making principally by the
use of the rational intelligence of the mind, we have become aware of that
world itself, so much so that educated men spend nine-tenths of their
waking lives in that world, only descending to feed and dress and so on at
the imperative summons of their physical constitution.
Now to us who thus live the world of mind seems almost as savage and
unexplored as the world of Nature seemed to the Greeks. {4}
There are countless worlds of wonder unpath'd and uncomprehended ---
and even unguessed, we doubt not.
Therefore we set out diligently to explore and map these
untrodden regions of the mind.
Surely our adventures may be as exciting as those of Cortes or Cook!
It is for this reason that I invite with confidence the attention of
humanity to this record of my journey.
But another set of people will find another disappointment. I am
hardly an heroic figure. I am not The Good Young Man That Died. I do not
remain in holy meditation, balanced on my left eyelash, for forty years,
restoring exhausted nature by a single grain of rice at intervals of
several months.
You will perceive in these pages a man with all his imperfections
thick upon him trying blindly, yet with all his force, to control the
thoughts of his mind, so that he shall be able to say "I will think this
thought and not that thought" at any moment, as easily as (having conquered
Nature) we are all able to say "I will drink this wine, and not that wine."
For, as we have now learnt, our happiness does not at all depend upon
our possessions or our power. We would all rather be dead than be a
millionaire who lives in daily dread of murder or blackmail.
Our happiness depends upon our state of mind. It is the mastery of
these things that the Magicians of to-day have set out to obtain for
humanity; they will not turn back, or turn aside. {5}
It is with the object of giving the reins into the hands of others
that I have written this record, not without pain.
Others, reading it, will see the sort of way one sets to work; they
will imitate and improve upon it; they will attain to the Magistry; they
will prepare the Red Tincture and the Elixir of Life -- for they will
discover what Life means.
{6}
PROLOGUE
IT hath appeared unto me fitting to make a careful and even an elaborate
record of this Great Magical Retirement, for that in the first place I am
now certain of obtaining some Result therefrom, as I was never previously
certain.
Previous records of mine have therefore seemed vague and obscure, even
unto the wisest of the scribes; and I am myself afraid that even here all
my skill of speech and study may avail me little, so that the most
important part of the record will be blank.
Now I cannot tell whether it is a part of my personal Kamma, or
whether the Influence of the Equinox of Autumn should be the exciting
cause; but it has usually been at this part of the year that my best
Results have occurred. It may be that the physical health induced by the
summer in me, who dislike damp and chill, may being forth as it were a
flower the particular kind of Energy --- Sammav yamo --- which gives alike
the desire to perform more definitely and exclusively the Great Work, and
the capacity to achieve success.
It is in any case remarkable that I was born in October (18-);
suffered the terrible mystic trance which turned me toward the Path in
October (18-); applied for admission to G.'. D.'. in October (18-);
opened my temple at B---e in {7} October (18-); received the mysteries of
L.I.L. in October (19-); and obtained the grade of 6ø = 5ø; obtained
the first true mystic results in October (19-); first landed in Egypt in
October (19-); landed again in Egypt in October (19-); first parted from
... in October (19-); wrote the B.-i-M. in October (19-), and obtained the
grade of 7ø = 4ø; received the great Initiation in October 19-; and,
continuing, received ........ in October 19-.
So then in the last days of September 19- do I begin to collect and
direct my thoughts; gently, subtly, persistently turning them one and all
to the question of retreat and communion with that which I have agreed to
call the Holy Guardian Angel, whose Knowledge and Conversation I have
willed, and in greater or less measure enjoyed, since Ten Years.
Terrible have been the ordeals of the Path; I have lost all that I
possessed, and all that I love, even as at the Beginning I offered All for
Nothing, unwitting as I was of the meaning of those words. I have suffered
many and grievous things at the hands of the elements, and of the planets;
hunger, thirst, fatigue, disease, anxiety, bereavement, all those woes and
others have laid heavy hand upon me, and behold! as I look back upon these
years, I declare that all hath been very well. For so great is the Reward
which I (unworthy) have attained that the Ordeals seem but incidents hardly
worthy to mention, save in so far as they are the Levers by which I moved
the World. Even those dreadful periods of "dryness" and of despair seem
but the necessary lying fallow of the Earth. All those "false paths" of
Magic and Meditation and of Reason were not false paths, but steps upon the
{8} true Path; even a a tree must shoot downwards its roots into the Earth
in order that it may flower, and bring forth fruit in its season.
So also now I know that even in my months of absorption in worldly
pleasure and business, I am not really there, but stand behind, preparing
the Event.
Imagine me, therefore, if you will, in Paris on the last day of
September. How surprised was I --- though, had I thought, I should have
remembered that it was so --- to find all my necessary magical apparatus to
my hand! Months before, for quite other reasons, I had moved most of my
portable property to Paris; now I go to Paris, not thinking of a
Retirement, for I now know enough to trust my destiny to bring all things
to pass without anxious forethought on my part --- and suddenly, therefore,
here do I find myself --- and nothing is lacking.
I determined therefore to begin steadily and quietly, allowing the
Magical Will to come slowly forth, daily stronger, in contrast to my old
plan, desperation kindling a store of fuel dried by long neglect, despair
inflaming a mad energy that would blaze with violence for a few hours and
then go out --- and nothing done. "Not hurling, according to the oracle, a
transcendent foot towards Piety."
Quite slowly and simply therefore did I wash myself and robe myself as
laid down in the Goetia, taking the Violet Robe of an Exempt Adept (being a
single Garment), wearing the Ring of an Exempt Adept, and that Secret Ring
which hath been entrusted to my keeping by the Masters. Also I took the
Almond Wand of Abramelin and the Secret Tibetan Bell, made of Electrum
Magicum with its striker of human {9} bone. I took also the magical knife,
and the holy Anointing Oil of Abramelin the Mage.
I began then quite casually by performing the Lesser Banishing Ritual
of the Pentagram, finding to my great joy and some surprise that the
Pentagrams instantly formulated themselves, visible to the material eye as
it were bars of shining blackness deeper than the night.
I then consecrated myself to the Operation; cutting the Tonsure upon
my head, a circle, as it were to admit the light of infinity: and cutting
the cross of blood upon my breast, thus symbolising the equilibration of
and the slaying of the body, while loosing the blood, the first projection
in matter of the universal Fluid.
The whole formulating the Ankh --- the Key of Life!
I gave moreover the signs of the grades from 0ø = 0ø to 7ø
4ø.
Then did I take upon myself the Great Obligation as follows:
I. I, O.M. &c., a member of the Body of God,
hereby bind myself on behalf of the whole
Universe, even as we are now physically bound
unto the cross of suffering:
II. that I will lead a pure life, as a devoted servant
of the Order:
III. that I will understand all things:
IV. that I will love all things:
V. that I will perform all things and endure all
things:
VI. that I will continue in the Knowledge and
Conversation of My Holy Guardian Angel:
VII. that I will work without attachment: {10}
VIII. that I will work in truth:
IX. that I will rely only upon myself:
X. that I will interpret every phenomenon as a
particular dealing of God with my soul.
And if I fail herein, may my pyramid be profaned, and the Eye be
closed upon me!
All this did I swear and seal with a stroke upon the Bell.
Then I steadily sat down in my Asana (or sacred Posture), having my
left heel beneath my body pressing into the anus, my right sole closely
covering the phallus, the right leg vertical; my head, neck, and spine in
one straight vertical line; my arms stretched out resting on their
respective knees; my thumbs joined each to the fourth finger of the proper
hand. All my muscles were tightly held; my breath came steady, slow and
even through both nostrils; my eyes were turned back, in, up to the Third
Eye; my tongue was rolled back in my mouth; and my thoughts, radiating from
that Third Eye, I strove to shut in unto an ever narrowing sphere by
concentrating my will upon the Knowledge and Conversation of the Holy
Guardian Angel.
Then I struck Twelve times upon the Bell; with the new month the
Operation was duly begun.
Oct. I. "The First Day"
At Eight o'clock I rose from sleep and putting on my Robe, began
a little to meditate. For several reasons --- the journey and
business of the day before, etc., etc., I did not feel fresh.
But forcing myself a little I rose {11} and went out to the Caf‚
du D“me where I took coffee and a biroche, after buying an
exercise book in which to write this record.
This was about 8.45; and now (10.10) I have written thus far.
[Including the Prologue, but not the Preface. --- ED.]
10.45. I have driven over to the Hammam through the beautiful sunshine,
meditating upon the discipline of the Operation.
It seems only necessary to cut off definitely dispersive things,
aimless chatter and such; for the Operation itself will guide
one, leading to disgust for too much food and so on. It there by
upon my limbs any chain that requires a definite effort to break
it, perhaps sleep is that chain. But we shall see --- "solvitur"
"ambulando." If any asceticism be desirable later on, true
wariness will soon detect any danger, and devise a means to meet
it and overcome it.
12.0. Have finished bath and massage, during which I continued steadily
but quite gently, "not by a strain laborious and hurtful but with
stability void of movement," willing the Presence of Adonai.
12.5. I ordered a dozen oysters and a beefsteak, and now (12.10) find
myself wishing for an apple chewed and swallowed by deglutition,
as the Hatha Yogis do. The distaste for food has already begun.
12.12. Impressions already "failing to connect."
I was getting into Asana and thinking "I record this fact," when
I saw a jockey being weighed. {12}
12.12. I thought of recording "my own" weight which I had not taken.
Good!
12.13. Pranayama [10 seconds to breath in, 20 seconds to
12.24. breathe out, 30 seconds to hold in the breath.] Fairly good;
made me sweat again thoroughly. Stopped not from fatigue but
from lunch.
[Odd memoranda during lunch.
Insist on pupils writing down their whole day; the play as well
as the work. "By this means they will become ashamed, and prate
no longer of 'beasts.'"]
I am now well away on the ascetic current, devising all sorts of
privations and thoroughly enjoying the idea.
12.55. Having finished a most enjoyable lunch, will drink coffee and
smoke, and try and get a little sleep. Thus to break up sleep
into two shifts.
2.18. A nice sleep. Woke refreshed.
3.15. Am arrived home, having performed a little business and driven
back.
Will sit down and do Asana, etc.
3.20. Have started.
3.28. 7 Pranayama cycles enough. Doubtless the big lunch is a
nuisance.
I continue meditating simply.
3.36. Asana hurts badly, and I can no longer concentrate at all. Must
take 5 minutes' rest and then persevere. {13}
3.41. Began again. I shall take "Hua allalu alazi lailaha illa hua"
for mantra [any sacred sentence, whose constant repetition
produces many strange effects upon the mind. --- ED.] if I want
one, or: may Adonai reveal unto me a special mantra to invoke
Him!
3.51. Broke down again, mantra and all.
3.52- Went on meditating in "Hanged Man posture" [Legs
4.14. crossed, arms below head, like the figure of the Hanged Man in
the Tarot Cards. --- ED.] to formulate sacrifice and pain self-
inflicted; for I feel such a worm, able only to remain a few
minutes at a time in a position long since "conquered." For this
reason too I cut again the Cross of Blood; and now a third time
will I do it. And I will take out the Magical Knife and sharpen
it yet more, so that this body may fear me; for that I am Horus
the terrible, the Avenger, the Lord of the Gate of the West.
4.15- Read Ritual DCLXXI. [The nature of this Ritual is
4.30. explained later. --- ED.]
5.10. I have returned from my shopping. Strange how solemn and
dignified so trivial a thing becomes, once one has begun to
concentrate!
I bought two pears, half a pound of Garibaldi biscuits, and a
packet of Gaufrettes. I had a citron press‚, too, at the D“me.
At the risk of violating the precepts of Zoroaster 170 and 144 I
propose to do a Tarot divination for this Operation. {14}
5.10. I should explain first that I write this record for other eyes
than mine, since I am now sufficiently sure of myself to attain
something or other; but I cannot foretell exactly what form the
attainment may take. Just so, if one goes to call upon a friend,
he may be walking or riding or sleeping.
Thus, then, is Adonai hidden from me. I know where He lives; I
know I shall be welcome if I call; but I do not know whether He
will invite me to a banquet or ask me to go out with him for a
long journey.
It may be that the Rota will give me some hint.
[We have omitted the details of this divination. --- ED.]
I am never content with such divinations; trustworthy enough in
material concerns, in the things of the Spirit one rarely obtains
good results.
The first operation was rather meaningless; but one must allow
("a") that it was a new way of dealing those cards for the opening
of an operation; ("b") that I had had two false starts.
The final operation is certainly most favourable; we shall see if
it comes true. I can hardly believe it possible.
6.10. Will now go for a stroll, get some milk, and settle down for the
evening.
10.50. I regret to have to announce that on going across to the D“me
with this laudable intention, Nina brought up that red-headed
bundle of mischief, Maryt Waska. This being in a way a
"bandobast" (and so inviolable), I took her to dinner, eating an
omelette, and {15} some bread and Camembert, and a little milk.
Afterwards a cup of coffee, and then two hours of the Vajroli
Mudra badly performed.
All this I did with reluctance, I did with reluctance, as an act
of self-denial or asceticism, lest my desire to concentrate on
the mystic path should run away with me.
Therefore I think it may fairly be counted unto me for
righteousness.
I now drink a final coffee and retire, to do I hope a more
straightforward type of meditation.
So mote it be.
Naked, Maryt looks like Corregio's Antiope. Her eyes are a
strange grey, and her hair a very wonderful reddish gold --- a
colour I have never seen before and cannot properly describe.
She has Jewish blood in her, I fancy; this, and her method of
illustrating the axiom "Post coitum animal triste" made me think
of Baudelaire's "Une nuit que j'etais prŠs d'une affreuse Juive":
and the last line
Obscurcir la splendeur des tres froides prunelles.
and Barbey d'Aurevilly's "Rideau Cramoisi" suggested to me the
following poem. [We omit this poem. --- ED.]
11.30. Done! i' th' rough! i' th' rought! Now let me go back to my
room, and Work!
(11.47.) Home --- undressed --- robed --- attended to toilet -- cut cross
of Blood once more to affirm mastery of Body --- sat down at
11.49 and ended the day with 10 Pranayamas, which caused me to
perspire freely, but were not altogether easy or satisfactory.
{16}
"The Second Day"
The Stroke of Twelve found me duly in my Asana, practising
Pranayama.
Let me continue this work; for it is written that unto the
persevering mortal the Blessed Immortals are swift ...
What they should happen to a persevering Immortal like myself?
12.7. Trying meditation and mantra.
12.18. I find thoughts impossible to concentrate; and my Asana, despite
various cowardly attempts to "fudge" it, is frightfully painful.
12.20. In the Hanged Man posture, meditating and willing the Presence of
Adonai by the Ritual "Thee I invoke, the Bornless One" and mental
formulae.
12.28. I'm hopelessly sleepy! Invocation as bad as bad could be ---
attention all over the place. Irrational hallucinations, such as
a vision of either Eliphaz Levi or my father (I can't swear
which!) at the most solemn moment!
But the irrational character of said visions is not bad. They
come from nowhere; it is much worse when your own controlled
brain breaks loose.
12.33. I will therefore compose myself to sleep: is it not written that
He giveth unto His beloved even in sleep? "Others, even in
sleep, He makes fruitful from His own strength." {17}
7.29. Woke and forced myself to rise. I had a number of rather
pleasing dreams, as I seem to remember. But their content is
gone from me; and, in the absence of the prophet Daniel, I shall
let the matter slide.
7.44. Pranayama. 13 cycles. Very tiring; I began to sweat. A
mediocre performance.
8.0- Breakfast. Hatha Yogi --- a pear and two gaufrettes.
8.20
8.53. Have been meditating in Hanged Man position. Thought dull and
wandering; yet once "the conception of the Glowing Fire" seen as
a planet (perhaps Mars). Just enough to destroy the
concentration; then it went out, dammit!
10.40. Have attended to correspondence and other business and drunk a
citron press‚.
The Voice of the Nadi began to resound.
10.50. Have done "Bornless One" in Asana. Good; yet I am filled with
utter despair at the hopelessness of the Task. Especially do I
get the Buddhist feeling, not only that Asana is intensely
painful, but that all conceivable positions of the body are so.
11.0. Still sitting; quite sceptical; sticking to it just because I am
a man, and have decided to go through with it.
11.13. Have done 10 P.Y. cycles. A bit better,and a slight hint of the
Bhuchari Siddhi foreshadowed. Have been saying mantra; the
question arises in my mind: {18}
11.13. Am I mixing my drinks unduly? I think not; if one didn't change
to another mystic process, one would have to read the newspaper.
11.20. This completes my half-hour of Asana. Legs very painful; yet
again I find myself wishing for Kandy (not sugar candy, but the
place where I did my first Hindu practices and got my first
Results) and a life devoted entirely to meditation. But not for
me! I'm no Pratyeka-Buddha; a Dhamma-Buddha every inch of me!
[A Pratyeka-Buddha attains the Supreme Reward for himself alone;
a Dhamma-Buddha renounces it and returns to hell (earth) to teach
others the Way. --- ED.]
I now take a few minutes "off" to make "considerations."
I firmly believe that the minutest dose of the Elixir would
operate as a "detonator." I seem to be perfectly ready for
illumination, if only because I am so perfectly dark. Yet my
power to create magical images is still with me.
11.40- Hanged Man posture. Will invoke Adonai once more
12.0. by pure thought. Got into a very curious state indeed; part of
me being quite perfectly asleep, and part quite perfectly awake.
2.10. Have slept, and that soundly, though with many dreams. Awaking
with the utmost horror and loathing of the Path of the Wise ---
it seemed somehow like a vast dragon-demon with bronze green
wings iridescent that rose up startled and angry. And I saw that
{19}
2.10. the littlest courage is enough to rise and throw off sleep, like
a small soldier in complete armour of silver advancing with sword
and shield --- at whose sight that dragon, not daring to abide
the shock, flees utterly away.
2.15. Lunch, 3 Garibaldis and 3 Gaufrettes. Wrote two letters.
2.50. Going out walk with mantra.
8.3. This walk was in a way rather a success. I got the good mantra
effects, "e.g.," the brain taking it up of its own accord; also the
distaste for everything but Adonai became stronger and stronger.
But when I returned from a visit to B---e on an errand of
comradeship --- 1 1/2 hours' talk to cut out of this mantra-yoga
--- I found all sorts of people at the D“me, where I drank a
citron press‚: they detained me in talk, and at 6.30 Maryt turned
up and I had to chew a sandwich and drink coffee while she dined.
I feel a little headache; it will pass.
She is up here now with me, but I shall try to meditate.
Charming as she is, I don't want to make love to her.
8.40. Mixed mantra and caresses rather a success. (At her request I
gave M. a minimum dose of X.)
9.15. Asana and Meditation with mantra since 8.40. The blackness seems
breaking. For a moment I got a vague glimpse of one's spine (or
rather one's Sushumna) as a galaxy of stars, thus suggesting the
stars as the ganglia of the Universe.
9.18 To continue.
10.18. Not very satisfactory. Asana got painful; like a {20} worm I
gave up, and tried playing the fool; got amused by the New
Monster, but did not perform the "Vajroli Mudra." [For this see
the Shiva Sanhita, and other of the Holy Sanskrit Tantras. ---
ED.]
However, having got rid of her for the moment, one may continue.
10.24- P.Y. [Prana Yama. --- ED.] 14 cycles. Some effort required;
10.39. sweating appears to have stopped and Bhuchari hardly begun.
My head really aches a good deal.
I must add one or two remarks. In my walk I discovered that my
mantra Hua allahu, etc., really belongs to the Visuddhi Cakkrƒm;
so I allowed the thought to concentrate itself there. [The
Visuddhi-Cakkrƒm: the "nerve centre," in Hindu mystic physiology,
opposite the larynx. --- ED.]
Also, since others are to read this, one must mention that almost
from the beginning of this Working of Magick Art the changed
aspect of the world whose culmination is the keeping of the oath
"I will interpret every phenomenon as a particular dealing of God
with my soul" was present with me. This aspect is difficult to
describe; one is indifferent to everything and yet interested in
it. The meaning of things is lost, pending the inception of
their Spiritual Meaning; just as, on putting one's eye to the
microscope, the drop of water on the slide is gone, and a world
of life discovered, though the real import of that world is not
apprehended, until one's knowledge becomes far greater than a
single glance can make it. {21}
10.55. Having written the above, I shall rest for a few moments to try
and get rid of my headache.
A good simile (by the way) for the Yogi is to say that he watches
his thought like a cat watching a mouse. The paw ready to strike
the instant Mr. Mouse stir.
I have chewed a Gaufrette and drunk a little water, in case the
headache is from hunger. (P.S. --- It was so; the food cured it
at once.)
11.2. I now lie down as Hanged Man and say mantra in Visuddhi.
11.10. I must really note the curious confusion in my mind between the
Visuddhi Cakkrƒm and that part of the Boulevard Edgar Quinet
which opens on to the cemetery. It seems an identity.
In trying to look "at" the Cakkrƒm, I saw that.
Query: What is the connection, which appeared absolute and
essential? I had been specially impressed by that gate two days
ago, with its knot of mourners. Could the scene have been
recorded in a brain-cell adjoining that which records the
Visuddhi-idea? Or did I at that time unconsciously think of my
throat for some other reason? Bother! These things are all dog-
faced demons! To work!
11.17. Work: Meditation an Mantra.
11.35. No good. Went off into a reverie about a castle and men-at-arms.
This had all the qualities of a true dream, yet I was not in any
other sense asleep. I soon will be, though. It seems foolish to
persist. {22}
11.35. And indeed, though I tried to continue the mantra with its high
aspiration to know Adonai, I must have slept almost at once.
"The Third Day"
6.55. Now the day being gloriously broken, I awoke with some weariness,
not feeling clean and happy, not burning with love unto my Lord
Adonai, though ashamed indeed for that thrice of four times in
the night I had been awakened by this loyal body, urging me to
rise and meditate --- and my weak will bade it be at ease and
take its rest --- oh, wretched man! slave of the hour and of the
worm!
7.0- Fifteen cycles of Prana Yama put me right mentally
7.16. and physically: otherwise they had little apparent success.
7.30. Have breakfasted --- a pear and two Garibaldis. (These by the
way are the small size, half the big squares.)
7.50. Have smoked a pipe to show that I'm not in a hurry.
8.5. Hanged Man with mantra in Visuddhi. Thought I had been much
longer. At one point the Spirit began to move --- how the devil
else can I express it? The consciousness seemed to flow, instead
of pattering. Is "that" clear?
One should here note that there may perhaps be some essential
difference in the operation of the Moslem and Hindu mantrams.
The latter boom; the former ripple. I have never tried the
former at all seriously until now. {23}
8.10- "Mˆme jeu" --- no good at all. Think I'll get up and have
8.32. a Turker.
9.0. Am up, having read my letters. Continuing mantra all the time in
a more or less conscious way.
9.25. Wrote my letters and started out.
10.38. Have reached the Caf‚ de la Paix, walking slowly with my mantra.
I am beginning to forget it occasionally, mispronouncing some of
the words. A good sign! Now and then I tried sending it up and
down my spine, with good effect.
10.40. I will drink a cup of coffee and then proceed to the Hammam.
This may ease my limbs, and afford an opportunity for a real go-
for-the-gloves effort to concentrate.
It cannot be too clearly understood that nearly all the work
hitherto has been preliminary; the intention is to get the
Chittam (thought-stuff) flowing evenly in one direction. Also
one practises detaching it from the Virttis (impressions). One
looks at everything without seeing it.
O coffee! By the mighty Name of Power do I invoke thee,
consecrating thee to the Service of the Magic of Light. Let the
pulsations of my heart be strong and regular and slow! Let my
brain be wakeful and active in its supreme task of self-control!
That my desired end may be effected through Thy strength, Adonai,
unto Whom be the Glory for ever! Amen without lie, and Amen, and
Amen of Amen.
11.0. I now proceed to the Hammam. {24}
12.0. The Bath is over. I continued the mantra throughout, which much
alleviated the torture of massage. But I could not get steady
and easy in my Asana or even in the Hanged Man or Shavasana, the
"corpse-position." I think the heat is exciting, and makes me
restless. I continue in the cooling-room lying down.
12.10. I have ordered 12 oysters and coffee and bread and butter.
O oysters! be ye unto me strength that I formulate the 12 rays of
the Crown of HVA! I conjure ye, and very potently command.
Even by Him who ruleth Life from the Throne of Tahuti unto the
Abyss of Amennti, even by Ptah the swathed one, that unwrappeth
the mortal from the immortal, even by Amoun the giver of Life,
and by Khem the mighty, whose Phallus is like the Pillar in
Karnak! Even by myself and my male power do I conjure ye. Amen.
12.20 I was getting sleepy when the oysters came.
I now eat them in a Yogin and ceremonial manner.
12.45. I have eaten my oysters, chewing them every one; also some bread
and butter in the same manner, giving praise to Priapus the Lord
of the oyster, to Demeter the Lady of corn, and to Isis the Queen
of the Cow. Further, I pray symbolically in this meal for
Virtue, and Strength, and Gladness; as is appropriate to these
symbols. But I find it very difficult to keep the mantra going,
even in tune with the jaws; perhaps it is that this peculiar
method of eating (25 minutes {25} for what could be done normally
in 3) demands the whole attention.
1.30. Drifted into a nap. Well! we shall try what Brother Body really
wants.
1.35. My attempt to go to sleep has made me supernaturally wakeful.
I am --- as often before --- in the state described by Paul (not
my masseur; the other Paul!) in his Epistle to the Romans, cap.
vii. v. 19.
I shall rise and go forth.
1.55. I have a good mind to try violent excitement of the Muladhara
Cakkrƒm; for the whole Sushumna seems dead. This at the risk of
being labelled a Black Magician --- by clergymen, Christian
Scientists, and the "self-reliant" classes in general.
2.15. Arrived (partly by cab) at the Place. Certain curious phenomena
which I have noticed at odd times --- "e.g.", on Thursday night ---
but did not think proper to record must be investigated. It
seems quite certain that meditation-practices profoundly affect
the sexual process: how and why I do not yet certainly know.
2.45. Rubbish! everything perfectly normal.
Difficult, though, to keep mantram going.
3.0. Am sitting on the brink of the big fountain in the Luxembourg.
This deadness of the whole system continues.
To explain. Normally, if the thought be energetically directed
to almost any point in the body, that point is {26}
felt to pulse and even to ache. Especially this is the case if
one vibrates a mantra or Magical name in a nerve-centre. At
present I cannot do this at all. The Prana seems equilibrated in
the whole organism: I am very peaceful --- just as a corpse is.
It is terribly annoying, in a sense, because this condition is
just the opposite of Dharana; yet one knows that it is a stage on
the way to Samadhi.
So I rise and give confidently the Sign of Apophis and Typhon,
and will then regard the reflection of the sweet October Sun in
the kissing waters of the fountain. (P.S. --- I now remember
that I forgot to rise and give the Sign.)
3.15. In vain do I regard the Sun, broken up by the lips of the water
into countless glittering stars --- abounding, revolving,
whirling forth, crying aloud --- for He whom my soul seeketh is
not in these. Nor is He in the fountain, eternally as it jets
and falls in brilliance of dew; for I desire the Dew Supernal.
Nor is He in the still depths of the water; their lips do not
meet His. Nor --- O my soul! --- is He anywhere to be found in
thy secret caverns, unluminous, formless, and void, where I
wander seeking Him --- or seeking rest from that Search! O my
soul! --- lift thyself up; play the man, be strong; harden
thyself against thy bitter Fate; for at the End thou shalt find
Him; and ye shall enter in together into the Secret Palace of the
King; even unto the Garden of Lilies; and ye shall be One for
evermore. So mote it be! {27}
Yet now --- ah now! --- I am but a dead man. Within me and
without still stirs that life of sense that is not life, but is
as the worms that feast upon my corpse. ... Adonai! Adonai! my
Lord Adonai! indeed, Thou hast forsaken me. Nay! thou liest, O
weak soul! Abide in the meditation; unite all thy symbols into
the form of a Lion, and be lord of thy jungle, travelling through
the servile Universe even as Mau the Lion very lordly, the Sun in
His strength that travelleth over the heaven of Nu in His bark in
the mid-career of Day.
For all these thoughts are vain; there is but One thought, though
that thought be not yet born --- He only is God, and there is
none other God than He!
3.30. Walking home with mantra; suddenly a spasm of weeping took me as
I cried through the mantra --- "My God, my God, why hast Thou
forsaken me?" --- and I have to stop and put it down!
A good thing; for it calms me.
3.45. At the D“me, master of myself. The Mantra goes just 30 times a
minute, 1800 times an hour, 43,200 times a day. To say it a
million times would take longer than Mrs. Glyn's heroine did to
conceive. Yet I will get the result if I have to say it a
hundred and eleven million times. But oh! fertilise my Akasic
egg today!
This remark, one should notice, is truly characteristic of the
man John St. John. I see how funny it is; but I'm quite serious
withal. Ye dull dogs! {28}
[The "Akasic Egg" is the sphere of the personality of man. A
theosophic term. --- ED.]
3.55. N.B. --- Mantras might with advantage be palindromes.
3.56. I try to construct a magic square from the mantra. No good. But
the mantra is going much better, quite mechanically and "without
attachment" ("i.e.", without conscious ulterior design. "Art for
Art's sake" as it were).
4.10. I drink a "citron press‚."
4.25. Alas! here comes Maryt (with a sad tale of X. It appears that
she fainted and spent some hours at the hospital. I should have
insisted on her stying with me; the symptoms began immediately on
her drinking some coffee. I have noticed with myself, that
eating has started the action).
5.30. An hour of mingled nap and mantra.
I now feel alive again. It was very strange how calm and
balanced I was: yet now I am again energised; may it be to the
point of Enthusiasm!
People will most assuredly smile at this exalted mystic; his life
seems made up of sleep and love-making. Indeed, to-day I have
been shockingly under the power of Tamas, the dark sphere. But
that is clearly a fatigue-effect from having worked so hard.
Oh Lord, how long?
5.50. The Mantra still ripples on. I am so far from the Path that I
have a real good mind to get Maryt to let me perform the Black
Mass on her at midnight. I would {29}
just love to bring up Typhon, and curse Osiris and burn his bones
and his blood!
At least, I now solemnly express a pious wish that the Crocodile
of the West may eat up the Sun once and for all, that Set may
defile the Holy Place, that the supreme Blasphemy may be spoken
by Python in the ears of Isis.
I want trouble. I want to say Indra's mantram till his throne
gets red-hot and burns his lotus-buttocks; I want to pinch little
Harpocrates till he fairly yells ... and I will too! Somehow!
6.15. I have now got into a sort of smug content, grinning all over
like some sleepy Chinese god. No reason for it, Lord knows!
I can't make up my mind whether to starve or sandwich or gorge
the beast St. John. He's not the least bit hungry, though he's
had nothing to call a Meal since Thursday lunch. The Hatha-Yoga
feeding game is certainly marvellous.
I should like to work marching and breathing with this mantra as
I did of old with Aum Tat Sat Aum. Perhaps two steps to a
mantra, and 4-8-16 steps to a breath-cycle? This would mean 28
seconds for a breath-cycle; quite enough for a marching man. We
might try 4-8-8 to start; or even 8-8-8 (for the Chariot, wherein
the Geburah of me rises to Binah --- Strength winning the Wings
of Understanding). [These symbols, allusions, and references
will all be found in 777, just published by "The Equinox" --- see
advt. --- ED.] {30}
6.55. I shall now ceremonially defile the Beyt Allah with Pig, to
express in some small measure my utter disgust and indignation
with Allah for not doing His job properly. I say in vain
"Labbaik!" [I am here. --- ED.] He answers, "But I'm "not" here,
old boy --- another leg-pull!" He little knows His man, though,
if He thinks He can insult me with impunity. Andr‚, un sandwich!
[Beyt Allah, the Mosque at Mecca, means "House of God" --- ED.]
7.5. I shall stop mantra while I eat, so as to concentrate ("a") on the
chewing, ("b") on defiling the House of God. Not so easy! the
damned thing runs on like a prairie fire. Important then to stop
it absolutely at will: even the Work itself may become an
obsession.
11 hours with no real break --- no bad.
The bad part of to-day seems the Asana, and the deadness. Or,
perhaps worse, I fail to apprehend the true magical purport of my
work: hence all sort of aimless formulae, leading --- naturally
enough --- to no result.
It just strikes me --- it may be this Isis Apophis Osiris IAO
formula that I have preached so often. Certainly the first two
days were Isis --- natural, pleasant, easy events. Most
certainly too to-day has been Apophis! Think of the wild cursing
and black magic, etc. ... we must hope for the Osiris section
to-morrow or next day. Birth, death, resurrection! IAO!
7.35. The Sandwich duly chewed, and two Coffees drunk, I resume the
mystic Mantra. Why? Because I dam well choose to. {31}
7.50. 'Tis a rash thing to say, and I burn incense to the Infernal Gods
that the Omen may be averted; but I seem to have conquered the
real Dweller of the Threshold once and for all. For nowadays my
blackest despair is tempered by the certainty of coming through
it sooner or later, and that with flying colours.
9.30. The last 3/4 hour I wasted talking to Dr. R---, that most
interesting man. I don't mean talking; I mean listening. You
are a bad, idle good-for-nothing fellow, O.M.! Why not stick to
that mantra?
10.40. Have drunk two citrons press‚s and gone to my room to work a
mighty spell of magick Art.
11.0. Having got rid of Maryt (who, by the way, is Quite mad), and
thereby (one might hope) of Apophis and Typhon, I perform the
Great Ritual DCLXXI with good results magically; "i.e.", I
formulated things very easily and forcibly; even at one time I
got a hint of the Glory of Adonai. But I made the absurd mistake
of going through the Ritual as if I was rehearsing it, instead of
staying at the Reception of the Candidate and insisting upon
being "really" received.
I will therefore now (11.50) sit down again and invoke really
hard on these same lines, while the Perfume and the Vision are
yet formulated, though insensibly, about me. And thus shall end
the Third day of my retirement.
"The Fourth Day"
12.15. So therefore begins the fourth day of this my great magical
retirement; I bleed from the slashes of the {32}
magick knife; I smart from the heat of the Holy Oil; I am bruised
by the scourge of Osiris that hath so cruelly smitten me; the
perfume yet fills the chamber of Art; --- and I?
Oh Adonai my Lord, surely I did invoke Thee with fervour; yet
Thou camest not utterly to the tryst. And yet I know that Thou
wast there; and it may be that the morning may being rememberance
of Thee which this consciousness does not now contain.
But I swear by Thine own glory that I will not be satisfied with
this, that I will go on even unto madness and death if it be Thy
will --- but I will know Thee as Thou art.
It is strange how my cries died down; how I found myself quite
involuntarily swinging back to the old mantra that I worked all
yesterday.
However, I shall try a little longer in the Position of the
Hanged Man, although sleep is again attacking me. I am weary,
yet content, as if some great thing had indeed happened. But if
I lost consciousness --- a thing no man can be positive about
from the nature of things --- it must have happened so quietly
that I never knew. Certainly I should not have thought that I
had gone on for 25 minutes, as I did.
But I do indeed ask for a Knowledge and Conversation of the Holy
Guardian Angel which is not left so much to be inferred from the
good results in my life and work; I want the Perfume and the the
Vision. ...
Why am I so materially wallowing in grossness? It matters
little; the fact remains that I do wallow. {33}
I want that definite experience in the very same sense as
Abramelin had it; and what's more, I mean to go on till I get it.
12.34. I begin, therefore, in Hanged Man posture, to invoke the Angel,
within the Pyramid already duly prepared by DCLXXI.
12.57. Alas! in vain have I tried even the supreme ritual of Awaiting
the Beloved, although once I thought --- Ah! give unto Thy
beloved in sleep!
How ashamed I should be, though! For an earthly lover one would
be on tiptoe of excitement, trembling at every sound, eager,
afraid ...
I will, however, rise and open (as for a symbol) the door and the
window. Oh that the door of my heart were ever open! For He is
always there, and always eager to come in.
1.0. I rise and open unto my Beloved.
... May it be granted unto me in the daylight of this day to
construct from DCLXXI a perfect ritual of self-initiation, so as
to avoid the constant difficulty of assuming various God-forms.
Then let that ritual be a constant and perfect link between Us
... so that at all times I may be perfect in Thy Knowledge and
Conversation, O mine Holy Guardian Angel! to whom I have aspired
these ten years past.
1.5. And though as it may seem I now compose myself to sleep, I await
Thee ... I await Thee!
7.35. I arise from sleep, mine eyes a little weary, my soul fresh, my
heart restored. {34}
8.0. Accordingly, I continue in gentle and easy meditation on my Lord
Adonai, without fear or violence, quite directly and naturally.
One of the matters that came up last night with Dr. R---d was
that of writing rubbish for magazines. He thought that one could
do it in the intervals of serious work; but I do not think that
one should take the risk. I have spent these many years training
my mind to think cleanly and express beautifully. Am I to
prostitute myself for a handful of bread?
I swear by Thyself, O Thou who art myself, that I will not write
save to glorify Thee, that I will write only in beauty and
melody, that I will give unto the world as Thou givest unto me,
whether it be a consuming fire, or a cup of the wine of Iacchus,
or a glittering dagger, or a disk brighter than the sun. I will
starve in the street before I pander to the vileness of the men
among whom I live --- oh my Lord Adonai, be with me, give me the
purest poesy, keep me to this vow! And if I turn aside, even for
a moment, I pray Thee, warn me by some signal chastisement, that
Thou art a jealous god, and that Thou wilt keep me veiled,
cherished, guarded in Thine harem a pure and perfect spouse, like
a slender fountain playing in Thy courts of marble and of
malachite, of jasper, of topaz, and of lapis lazuli.
And by my magick power I summon all the inhabitants of the ten
thousand worlds to witness this mine oath.
8.15. I will rise, and break my fast. I think it as well to go on with
the mantra, as it started of its own accord. {35}
9.0. Arrived at Panth‚on, to breakfast on coffee and biroche and a
peach.
I shall try and describe Ritual DCLXXI; since its nature is
important to this great ceremony of initiation. Those who
understand a little about the Path of the Wise may receive some
hint of the method of operation of the L.V.X.
And I think that a description will help me to collect myself for
the proper adaptation of this Ritual to the purpose of Self-
initiation.
Oh, how soft is the air, and how serene the sky, to one who has
passed through the black rule of Apophis! How infinitely musical
are the voices of Nature, those that are heard and those that are
not heard! What Understanding of the Universe, what Love is the
prize of him that hath performed all things and endured all
things!
The first operation of Ritual DCLXXI is the preparation of the
Place.
There are two forces; that of Death and that of Natural Life.
Death begins the Operation by a knock, to which Life answers.
Then Death, banishing all forces external to the operation,
declares the Speech in the Silence.
Both officers go from their thrones and form the base of a
triangle whose apex is the East. They invoke the Divine Word,
and then Death slays with the knife, and embalms with the oil,
his sister Life.
Life, thus prepared, invokes, at the summons of Death, {36}
the forces necessary to the Operation. The Word takes its
station in the East and the officers salute it both by speech and
silence in their signs; and they pronounce the secret Word of
power that riseth from the Silence and returneth thereunto.
All this they affirm; and in affirming the triangular base of the
Pyramid, find that they have mysteriously affirmed the Apex
thereof whose name is Ecstasy.
This also is sealed by that secret word; for that Word containeth
All.
Into this prepared Pyramid of divine Light there cometh a certain
darkling wight, who knoweth not either his own nature, or his
origin or destiny, or even the name of that which he desireth.
Before he can enter the Pyramid, therefore, four ordeals are
required of him.
So, bound and blinded, he stumbles forward, and passes through
the wrath of the Four Great Princes of the Evil of the World,
whose Terror is about him on every side. Yet since he has
followed the voice of the Officer who has prepared him, in this
part of the Ritual no longer merely Nature, the great Mother, but
Neschamah (his aspiration) and the representative of Adonai, he
may pass through all. Yea, in spite of the menace of the
Hiereus, whose function is now that of his fear and of his
courage, he goes on and enters the Pyramid. But there he is
seized and thrown down by both officers as one unworthy to enter.
His aspiration purifies him with steel and fire; and there as he
lies shattered by the force of the ritual, he hears --- even as
{37}
a corpse that hears the voice of Israfel --- the Hegemon that
chants a solemn hymn of praise to that glory which is at the
Apex, and who invisibly rules and governs the whole Pyramid.
Now then that darkling wight is lifted by the officers and
brought to the altar in the centre; and there the Hiereus accuses
him of the two and twenty Basenesses, while the Hegemon lifting
up his chained arms cries again and again against his enemy that
he is under the Shadow of the Eternal Wings of the Holy One. Yet
at the end, at the supreme accusation, the Hiereus smites him
into death. The same answer avails him, and in its strength he
is uplifted by his aspiration --- and now he stands upright.
Now then he makes a journey in his new house, and perceives at
stated times, each time preceded by a new ordeal and
equilibration, the forces that surround him. Death he sees, and
the Life of Nature whose name is Sorrow, and the Word that
quickeneth these, and his own self --- and when he hath
recognised these four in their true nature he passes to the altar
once more and as the apex of a descending triangle is admitted to
the lordship of the Double Kingdom. Thus is he a member of the
visible triad that is crossed with the invisible --- behold the
hexagram of Solomon the King! All this the Hiereus seals with a
knock and at the Hegemon's new summons he --- to his surprise ---
finds himself as the Hanged Man of the Tarot.
Each point of the figure thus formed they crown with light, until
he glitters with the Flame of the Spirit. {38}
Thus and not otherwise is he made a partaker of the Mysteries,
and the Lightning Flash strikes him. The Lord hath descended
from heaven with a shout and with the Voice of the Archangel, and
the trump of God.
He is installed in the Throne of the Double Kingdom, and he
wields the Wand of Double Power by the sings of the grade.
He is recognized an initiate, and the word of Secret Power, and
the silent administration of the Sacrament of Sword and Flame,
acknowledge him.
Then, the words being duly spoken and the deeds duly done, all is
symbolically sealed by the Thirty Voices, and the Word that
vibrateth from the Silence to the Speech, and from the Speech
again unto the Silence. Then the Pyramid is sealed up, even as
it was opened; yet in the sealing thereof the three men partake
in a certain mystical manner of the Eucharist of the Four
Elements that are consumed for the Perfection of the Oil.
Knox Om Pax. [With these mystic words the Mysteries Eleusinian
were sealed. --- ED.]
10.0. Having written out this explanation, I will read it through and
meditate solemnly thereupon. All this I wrote in the Might of
the Secret Ring committed unto me by the Masters; so that all
might be absolutely correct.
One thing strikes me as worthy of mention. Last night when I
went into the restaurant to speak to {39}
R---d, my distaste for food was so intense that the smell of it
caused real nausea. To-day, I am perfectly balanced, neither
hungry nor nauseated. This is indeed more important than it
seems; it is a sure sign when one sees a person take up fads that
he is under the black rule of Apophis. In the Kingdom of Osiris
there is freedom and light. To-day I shall eat neither with the
frank gluttony of Isis nor with the severe asceticism of Apophis.
I shall eat as much and as little as I fancy; these violent means
are no longer necessary. Like Count Fosco, I shall "go on my way
sustained by my sublime confidence, self-balanced by my
impenetrable calm."
10.50. I have spent half an hour wandering in the Mus‚e du Luxembourg.
I now sit down to meditate on this new ritual.
The following, so it appears, should be the outlines --- damn it,
I've a good mind to write it straight off --- no! I'll be
patient and tease the Spirit a little. I will be coquettish as a
Spanish catamite.
1. Death summons Life and clears away all other
forces.
2. The Invocation of the Word. Death consecrates
Life, who in her whirling dance invokes that
Word.
3. They salute the Word. The Signs and
M---M1 must be a Chorus, if anything.
4. The Miraculous appearance of Iacchus,
uninvoked. {40}
10.50 1. The 3 Questions.
2. The 4 ordeals. Warning and comfort as an
appeal to the Officers.
3. The Threshold.
1 WEH Note: "M---M" refers to the secret Neophyte word of the
A.'. A.'..
The Chorus of Purification.
The Hymn "My heart, my mother!" as already
written, years ago.
4. At the altar. The accusation and defence as
antiphonies.
5. The journey. Bar and pass, and the 4 visions
even as a mighty music.
6. The Hanged Man --- the descent of Adonai.
7. The installation --- signs, etc.
Sealing as for opening; but insert Sacrament.
1.15. During a lunch of 12 oysters, Cˆpes Bordelaise, Tarte aux
C‚rises, Caf‚ Noir, dispatched without Yoga or ceremonial, I
wrote the Ritual in verse, in the Egyptian Language. I don't
think very well. Time must show: also experience. I'd recite
Tennyson if I thought it would give Samadhi!
Now more mantra, though by the Lord I'm getting sick of it.
1.40. It occurs to me, now that I am seeing my way in the Operation a
little more clearly, that one might consider the First Day as
Osiris Slain +, the Second as that of the Mourning of Isis
, the third as that of the Triumph of Apophis V, and to-day
that of Osiris Risen X; these four days being perfect in
themselves as a 5ø = 6ø operation (or possibly with one or
two more {41} to recapitulate L.V.X. Lux, the Light of the
Cross). Thence one might proceed to some symbolic passage
through the 6ø = 5ø grade --- though of course that grade
is really symbolic of this soul-journey, not "vice versƒ" --- and
through 7ø = 4ø; so perhaps --- if one could only dare to
hope it! --- to the 8ø = 3ø attainment. Certainly what
little I have done so far pertains no higher than Minor adeptship
though I have used higher formulae in the course of my working.
1.55. My Prana is acting in a feverish manner; a mixture of fatigue and
energy. This is not good: it probably comes from bolting that
big lunch, and may mean that I must sleep to recover equilibrium.
I will, however, use the Pentagram ritual on my Anahata Cakkrƒm
[the heart; a nerve-centre in Hindu mystical physiology. --- ED.]
and see if that steadies me. (P.S. --- Yes: instantly). Notice,
please, how in this condition of intense magical strain the most
trifling things have a great influence. Normally, I can eat
anything in any quantity without the slightest effect of any
sort; witness my expeditions and debauches; nothing upsets me.
P.S. --- But notice, please! Normally half a bottle of Burgundy
excites me notably; while doing this magic is like so much water.
A "transvaluation of all values!"
3.55. Over a citron press‚ I have revised the new Ritual. Also I have
bought suitable materials for copying it fair; and this I did
without solemnity or ceremonial, {42} but quite simply, just as
anybody else might buy them. In short, I bought them in a truly
Rosicrucian manner, according to the custom of the country.
I add a few considerations on the grade of Adeptus Major 6ø =
5ø.
(P.S. --- Distinction is to be made between attainment of this
grade in the natural and in the spiritual world. The former I
long since possessed.)
1. It may perhaps mean severe asceticism. In case I should be
going out on that path I will try and get a real good
dinner to fortify myself.
2. The paths leading to Geburah are from Hod, that of the
Hanged Man, and from Tiphereth, that of Justice, both
equilibrated aspects of Severity, the one implying
Self-Sacrifice, the other involuntary suffering. One
is Freewill, the other Karma; and that in a wider sense
than that of Suffering.
The Ritual DCLXXI will still be applicable: indeed, it
may be considered sufficient; but of course it must be
lived as well as performed.
(I must here complain of serious trouble with fountain pens, and
the waste of priceless time fixing them up. They have been wrong
throughout the whole operation, a thing that has not happened to
me for near eight years. I hope I've got a good one at last ---
yes, thank God! this one writes decently.) {43}
4.15. Somehow or other I have got off the track; have been fooling
about with too many odd things, necessary as they may have been.
I had better take a solid hour willing the Tryst with Adonai.
5.40. Have done all this, and a Work of Kindness. I will again revise
the new ritual, dine, return and copy it fair for use.
Let Adonai the Lord oversee the Work, that it be perfect, a sure
link with Him, a certain and infallible Conjuration, and Spell,
and Working of true Magick Art, that I may invoke Him with
success whenever seemeth good unto Him.
Unto Him; not unto Me! Is it not written that Except Adonai
build the House, they labour in vain that build it?
6.15. Chez Lavenue. Not feeling like revision, will read through this
record.
My dinner is to be Bisque d'Ecrevisses, Tournedos Rossini, a
Coupe Jack, half a bottle of Meursault, and Coffee. All should
now acquit adepts of the charge of not knowing how to do
themselves well.
7.20. Dinner over, I return the Mantra-Yoga. One may note that I
expected the wine to have an excessive effect on me; on the
contrary, it has much less effect than usual.
This is rather important. I have purposely abstained from
anything that might be called a drug, until now, for fear of
confusing the effects.
With my knowledge of hashish-effects, I could very {44}
likely have broken up the Apophis-kingdom of yesterday in a
moment, and the truth of it would have been 5 per cent. drug and
95 per cent. magic; but nobody would have believed me. Remember
that this record is for the British Public, "who may like me
yet." God forbid! for I cannot echo Browning's hope. Their
greasiness, hypocrisy, and meanness are such that their
appreciation could only mean my vileness, not their redemption.
Sorry if I seem pessimistic about them! A nasty one for me, by
the way, if they suddenly started buying me! I should have, in
mere consistency, to cut my throat!
Calm yourself, my friend! There is no danger.
7.40. At home again and robed. Am both tired and oppressed, even in my
peace; for the day has been, and the evening is, close and hot,
with a little fog, and, one may suspect, the air is overcharged
with electricity. I will rest quietly with my mantra as Hanged
Man, and perhaps sleep for a little.
8.10. No sleep --- no rest for the wicked! 'Tis curious how totally
independent is mantra-yoga of reverie. I can say my mantra
vigorously while my thought wanders all over the world; yet I
cannot write the simplest sentence without stopping it, unless
with a very great effort, and then it is not satisfactory to
either party!
Meditation --- of the "rational' sort --- on this leads me to
suggest that active "radiant" thought may be incompatible with
the mantra, itself being (?) active. One can {45}
read and understand quite easily with the mantra going; one can
remember things.
For example, I see my watch chain; I think. "Gold. Au, 196
atomic weight. AuCl3, œ3 10s. 0"d". an ounce" and so on "ad"
"infinitum;" but the act of writing down these things stops the
mantra. This may be (partly) because I always say under my
breath each word as I write it. [P.S. --- But I do so, though
less possibly, as I read.]
8.22. As I am really awake, I may as well do a little Pranayama.
8.40. How little I know of magic and the conditions of success! My 17
cycles of breath were not absolutely easy; yet I did them. After
a big dinner!!! The sweating was quite suppressed, in spite of
the heat of the night and the exercise; and the first symptoms of
the Bhuchari-Siddhi --- the "jumping about like a frog" --- were
well marked. I am encouraged to spend a few minutes (still in
Asana) reading the Shiva Sanhita.
9.0. Asana very painful again. True, I was doing it very strictly.
I notice they give a second stage --- trembling of the body ---
as preliminary to the jumping about like a frog --- I had omitted
this, as one is so obviously the germ of the other.
The Hindus seem to lack a sense of proportion. When the Yogi, by
turning his tongue back for one half-minute, has conquered old
age, disease and death; then instead of having good time he
patiently (and rather pathetically, I think!) devotes his
youthful {46} immortality to trying to "drink the air through the
crow-bill" . . . . . . . . in the hope of curing a
consumption of the lungs which he probably never had and which
was in any case cured by his former effort!
9.40. Have been practising a number of these mudras and asanas.
Concerning the Visuddi Cakkrƒm which is "of brilliant gold or
smoke colour and has sixteen petals corresponding to the sixteen
vowel sounds," one might make a good mantra of the English vowel
sounds, or the Hebrew.
"Curiouser and curiouser!" The Yogis identify the Varana
(Ganges) with the Ida-Nadi, the Asi (?) with the Pingala-Nadi,
and Benares with the space between them. Like my identification
of my throat with the Gate of the cimetiŠre du Montparnasse.
Well, it requires very considerable discrimination and a good
sound foundation of knowledge, if one means to get any sense at
all out of these Hindu books.
10.20. A little Pranayama, I think.
10.22. Can't get steady and easy at all! Will try Hanged Man again.
10.42. Not much good. The mantra goes on, but without getting hold of
the Chakkrƒm.
'Tis difficult to explain; the best simile I can get is that of a
motor running with the clutch out; or of a man cycling on a
suspended machine.
There's no grip to it. {47}
The fact of the matter is, I am quite unconcentrated. Evidently
the Osiris Risen stage is over; and I think it is a case for
violent measures.
If one were to slack off now and hope for the morning, like a
shipwrecked Paul, one would probably wake up a mere man of the
world.
The Question then arises: What shall I do to be saved?
The only answer --- and one which is quite unconnected with the
question -- is that a Ritual of Adeptus Major should display the
Birth of Horus and Slaying of Typho | | |
