Magic, that is, the art of causing change in conformance with one’s will, depends on the principle of the supremacy of the subtle over the dense. In particular, this means the supremacy of
- Force over matter
- Consciousness over force
- Superconsciousness over consciousness
The Unmoved Mover, the Absolute Self — transcendent, dispassionate, unattached to results — rules over consciousness, or the life of the soul. Our desires, fantasies, likes, dislikes, feelings, thoughts — all arbitrary, arising spontaneously out of the unconscious — become ordered, intelligent and purposeful. Forces, both natural and occult, become understood under the power of a focused mind. Matter, formless and void, is informed by the forces of consciously applied energy.
This is contrary to the common view that matter-energy creates consciousness as a by-product. The superconscious, if it is not denied totally, becomes an object of faith, not a state experienced and attained.
I cannot accept Crowley’s “magic for dummies” definition of “causing change to occur in conformity with the will.” If I write on a piece of paper that is not magic. There is also no such thing as a “transcendental magic”; magic has nothing to do with the superconscious self.