Prepa

1 - First Steps The Powers and Their Attainment Having read the preceding pages, you now may be ready to take your first step, your initial, practical commitment to the way of witchcraft. For your first step, it will be sufficient for you to make a token gesture. The traditional initiation rites we defer to Chapter 7; it is entitled, "The Coven and How to Form One." Here and now it will besufficient for you to make a symbolic gesture which will ceremonially demonstrate your severance from old restraints and inhibitions that in the past have acted as the main obstacles to the development of the powers within you. Basically, these restraints can be symbolized as the yoke imposed by such established systems of irrational thought as organized religion, be it Christianity, Judaism, orBuddhism. Organized religion, let me emphasize. Of course, there are many other ironclad systems of thought without occult bases which have been imposed upon the public mind from time to time, such as Communism, Fascism, or capitalism, but these at least function under the pretence of ministering to the bodies of mankind rather than to the good of the soul, whatever that might be. The domain ofwitchcraft is the realm of the unseen and the point at which it impinges upon man's psyche, and as it is in this very same area that the various churches have sought to dabble their fingers, it is with these institutions that we witches take issue in principle. Ironically, you will find that all the innovators and founders of said religions were revolutionaries in their time who took issue with theirparent religions and were usually labeled heretics of one sort or another for their pains. So enough of all the cant—religious, political, nationalist, whatever. Overboard with the lot of it. And this is where your little gesture comes in. No, we are not going to ask you to burn a draft card or an American flag; the time-honoured tradition of repeating the so-called Lord's Prayer backwards is all youhave to observe. Whether you are or were a practising Christian, Buddhist, Jew, Mohammedan, Parsee, Hindu, whatever, make no difference at all. As long as you are living in a "Christian" country, the gesture is most effective. It is a defiant relic from the days of the great witch persecutions, and though witches used not to be specifically anti-Christian, many of them became so, not unnaturally,with the advent of that tide of religiously motivated oppression and bloodshed. It is a symbol of defiance towards the dead letter as opposed to the living spirit of organized religion. This is what you must do: When you are quite sure you wish to take this first step, prior to going to bed on three successive nights, making quite sure you are not observed, light a candle and address yourself to itwith the following words. This gibberish is, in fact, the Lord's Prayer written out backwards. It is somewhat difficult to pronounce, but struggle through as best you can. It will be no more complicated than some of the peculiar words of power you will encounter later on, and it will be good practice for you. You should find it easier to say on each successive occasion; the third time you will befairly fluent. I have written it phonetically, hence the slight difference from the usual backward spelling.

Nema! Livee morf su revilled tub Noishaytpmet ootni ton suh deel Suh tshaiga sapsert tath yeth Vigrawf eu za sesapsert rua suh vigrawf. Derb ilaid rua yed sith suh vig Neveh ni si za thre ni Nud eeb liw eyth Muck mod-ngik eyth Main eyth eeb dwohlah Neveh ni tra chioo Rertharf rua! Asyou chant the words, use your imagination to visualize great iron shackles struck off your hands and feet by sizzling bolts of lightning and disintegrating into molten shards to either side of you. Hear the whine and crackle of the searing flashes as they accomplish the work of liberation, and consciously try to feel the burden of all your inherited guilts, all those awful shalt's and shalt...