The Magical Ritual of The Sanctum Regnum
Eliphas Levi
XV. Satan - The Devil - Le Diable
Come hither now and let us consider without fear this great one, the bugbear of the Christian creed, this ghost of Ahriman, the monstrous androgynous sphynx of Mendes; it is the synthesis of unbalanced forces - a Demon.
The Devil is truly Blind Force. If you help the blind, you may be served by him; if you let the blind lead, you are lost.
Each element and every number has its demon, because each element and every number enshrines a force which ignorance may put to evil purposes. The same sword by which you defend your father, may also slay him.
Know then that the demonic force of each entity must be conquered by knowledge and good purpose. Avoid darkness where demonic power prefers to manifest; fight it in broad daylight, and fearlessly. The Devil, one day, desiring to stop the progress of an adept, broke one wheel of his chariot; but this true adept compelled the Devil to curl himself up on the wheel and act for the time as its tire, and so drove on, reaching his destination even sooner than he would have done if the Devil had let him alone.
Meditate deeply on this old allegorical epigram, Aude et Tace, and when you have seized its occult sense, tell no other of your success.
The symbolic representation of the Devil shows a multiple, disharmonious and anarchic sort of sphynx, typical of confusion and disorder. Note this maxim: - A devil is a magnetic current consisting of a concourse of blind and perverse wills.
When certain superstitious mystics relegated intelligence and reason to the Devil, they reversed the Absolute.
That is to say, they chose as their God him who was truly the Devil, and they attributed the malice of Satan to the True God.
There is no child with even ordinary sense who is not more learned than the Devil.
The Devil is even of lower grade than the beings of the Elements. He is doubtless more powerful, but he is as blind as poor Samson became. But to enable the Devil to pull down the pillars of a temple, you would have to lead him to the pillars and say to him, There they are.
No true Magician ever made any attempt to evoke the Devil, for he knows where the Devil is always to be found; but he may order the Devil to work - and the Devil obeys.
In Black Magic, the Devil means the employment of the Grand Magical Agent for a wicked purpose by a perverted Will.
Notes
The Fifteenth Tarot Trump is said by Levi to be the only one that Etteilla understood. This Etteilla was an illumine hairdresser who published a work on the Tarot, making grave alterations of the designs collected by Court de Gebelin, a much more reliable authority. His true name was Alliette.
The card shows an altar upon which stands a demon in human form, to which are added horns, long goat ears, and bat-like wings; he holds a torch in his left hand; two smaller demons, one male the other female, stand on the ground beside the altar. Some authors say the figure is that of Baphomet, the idol which the Knight Templars were said to worship.
Christian alleges that this demon represents the Typhon of Egypt, the genius of misfortune; and as related to the three worlds it refers to Predestination, Mystery, and Fatality.