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Admittedly the practices there described, if carried out in every detail would be an ideal form of self
initiation, but it is seldom that the aspiring magician finds that he has six months completely at his
disposal.
Another type of magical retirement was recorded by Aleister Crowley in his magical diary John St.
John. (9)
'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" at any moment, as easily as (having conquered Nature) we are all able to say "I will drink
this wine and not that wine".'
This retirement was designed to enable him to explore the world of his mind with as great a facility as
man has been able to explore the world of nature over the last century.
The retirement did not however, take Crowley out of the mainstream of things, for we find him still
having the occasional citron presse at the Dome and entertaining his mistresses in between the more
serious business of the retirement. The essence however was the psychological pressure built up by
repeating again and again practices such as the IAO (10) mantra, For more details see Aleister
Crowley's Liber CCVI in Magick in Theory and Practice, pp405-06.
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8] ibid pp25-26.
9] Published as a supplement in Crowley's periodical, The Equinox Vol I, No 1. London, 1910.
10] The cyclic repetition of IAO (Ee-ay-oo) used in conjunction with pranayama breathing.
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Middle Pillar exercise, (11) Augoeides (12) invocation, and so on. Quite often in the course of his
notes we come across exclamations of frustration, failure, and boredom, but towards the end of the
retirement the pall begins to lift and the retirement gathers momentum, culminating in the experience
of Samadhi.
Although Crowley disposed of his meditations, mantras and magical practices in an irregular pattern
throughout the day, it is advisable to maintain a fairly strict regimen of times with well defined hours
off for walking, reading or resting. An additional technique for building up the magical pressure is to
limit food and alcohol intake and eliminate any sexual activity during the period of retirement. (13)
As the number of distractions and outlets are thus limited, you are forced to come to terms with the
deeper layers of yourself.
Examples of suitable invocations of the Holy Guardian Angel which could be used during such a
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