Concerning the Purpose of this Operation
This operation is to be performed when the Soul Mirror has shown a deficiency of the Water Element in the character of the operator. It is intended to call forth, strengthen, and internalize those virtues belonging to Water: receptivity, connection, softness without weakness, adaptability without loss of form, feeling without confusion, and nearness without dissolution.
By sign, by sound, by gesture, and by conscious embodiment, the operator gives form to the lacking element, invites it into the body, and confirms it through attention and will.
This is not done for fantasy, nor for display, but for transformation.
Of the Time and Place
Let the operation be performed in a space set apart for magical work, clean, quiet, and withdrawn from ordinary disturbance. Let the operator enter this space deliberately, knowing that he crosses from common activity into sacred action.
If it pleases the operator, let the chamber contain signs or colours harmonious with Water, such as deep blue, silver, a bowl of pure water, or a simple lamp whose light stands for awakened consciousness. Yet let the room not be cluttered, for excess distracts the mind and disperses intention.
Of the Vesture of the Operator
Let the operator dress in garments reserved for the work, or at least in clothing distinct from daily use, simple, clean, and chosen with reverence. For by vesture the body itself is instructed that another mode of being is entered.
He shall stand upright, recollected, and inwardly silent, remembering the purpose of the operation: to restore the living current of Water within the system.
Of the Opening and the Pillar of Light
When all is prepared, let the operator stand in stillness and gather himself.
Then let him begin the rite by establishing the ceremony of the Pillar of Light.
He may raise his hands, or make the appointed gestures of ascent and descent, while speaking the words proper to the creation of the Light. Let him do this not mechanically, but with full attention, as one who awakens the inner axis.
He shall imagine, sense, or know a current of light descending from above and establishing itself through the crown, the throat, the heart, the trunk, and the whole body, until he himself stands as a living pillar between above and below.
He shall say inwardly or aloud:
Light above me, descend.
Light within me, awaken.
Light through me, stand upright.
Let the axis be established.
Let him remain in this for a little while, until his mind grows clearer, his body more gathered, and the place more inwardly consecrated.
Of the Sign and the Sound
Then let the operator call to mind the sigil of Water, previously made in accordance with the diagnosis and intention of the work. Let him remember that this sigil is not merely a mark, but a condensed vessel of the force to be restored.
Likewise let him take up the magical sound:
U-A-LI-OM
or in its fully resonant form:
UALIOOOMMM
Let the sound be spoken, chanted, or intoned in a slow and flowing manner, each syllable carried on the breath, so that the vibration may be felt and not merely heard.
Let the operator understand that in this rite the sigil is the form, and the sound is the current. The gesture traces the path, the voice gives it life, and the body receives its imprint.
Of the Charging of the Body by the Sigil and the Word
Let the operator now begin the main work of the session.
He shall use the right hand to trace the sigil in the air over or before each bodily region. Then with the left hand he shall trace the same sigil as mirror image, so that both sides of the body are instructed, and the current is not one-sided but balanced.
With each tracing he shall intone:
U-A-LI-OM
or
UALIOOOMMM
Let the sound be allowed to fill the region being addressed. Let the operator feel, imagine, or know that the deficiency of Water is being met there by the formative and vivifying force of the rite.
He shall proceed in this order.
1. The Left Leg
He makes the sigil with the right hand, then with the left in mirror form, intoning the sound. He fills the left leg with the current of Water, so that it may learn receptivity, steadiness, and fluid support.
2. The Right Leg
Again he traces and intones. He fills the right leg with the same current, that movement and support may become less rigid and more living.
3. The Pelvis
He signs the pelvis and intones the word. Here he invites Water into the basin of life, the place of rootedness, feeling, and deep embodiment.
4. The Abdomen
He signs the abdomen and sounds the name. Let Water soften contraction, wash through defended places, and restore a deeper responsiveness.
5. The Left Arm
He signs the left arm and intones. Let the arm of receiving become living and responsive.
6. The Right Arm
He signs the right arm and intones. Let the arm of giving become gentle, measured, and connected.
7. The Abdomen and Pelvis Once More
He returns again to abdomen and pelvis, tracing the sigil with both hands in turn and sounding the formula with greater fullness. For here the current is deepened and made more stable, so that the lower vessel may truly hold the Water invoked.
8. The Head and Neck
He signs the head and neck and intones the word. Let Water enter thought without confusion, speech without dryness, perception without severance. Let the neck grow supple between thought and feeling.
9. The Whole Body
At last he stands before himself, as it were, and traces the sigil in broader form over the whole body, first with the right hand, then with the left as mirror image, or with both in a great encompassing movement if that is preferred. He chants:
UALIOOOMMM
slowly, fully, and with resonance, until the whole body seems pervaded by the current.
Let him know that the body is now sealed, filled, and instructed by the sign and sound of the restored Water.
Of the Interior Act
When the body has thus been signed and sounded, let the operator stand or sit in stillness and receive the effect of the work.
He shall not rush.
He may sense the Water as coolness, flow, softness, depth, nearness, yielding presence, or quiet emotional continuity. Or he may simply observe without strain. If images arise, let them come. If feeling arises, let it move. If nothing remarkable appears, let him remain steady, for not all operations declare themselves dramatically.
At this stage he may inwardly affirm:
Let the waters live within me.
Let receptivity awaken.
Let connection become natural.
Let softness and depth enter action.
What was lacking, let it now grow.
He may remain thus for some minutes, breathing calmly and allowing the sigil, the sound, and the elemental quality to sink from imagination into embodiment.
Of the Seal in Action
If the work is done in full operative form, then before closing the session the operator should determine one concrete act through which the newly strengthened Water shall be expressed in life.
This may be simple, but it must be real.
For example:
- to listen without interruption,
- to remain present in an emotional conversation,
- to speak one sincere word of feeling,
- to approach rather than withdraw,
- to soften a defensive reaction,
- to make one act of reconciliation or contact.
Thus the rite is not left in the chamber only, but carried into behaviour, where the elemental force becomes character.
The operator may say:
As within, so in deed.
What has been shaped in sign and sound,
let it now appear in action.
Of the Closing Pillar of Light
When the work is complete, let the operator close as he began, by again establishing the Pillar of Light.
He raises or lowers the hands in the appointed gestures, and once more lets the current of light stand through him. This seals the work, gathers the forces, and prevents dissipation.
He may say:
Light above me, remain.
Light within me, order what was stirred.
Light around me, preserve the work.
What has been awakened, let it endure in balance.
Let him stand quietly for a little while, neither hurried nor dispersed.
Then let the rite be declared complete.
Admonition to the Operator
Let the operator remember that one session may plant the form, but repeated sessions establish the habit, and repeated habits shape the character.
Let him therefore observe afterward, not merely whether he felt something in the rite, but whether Water begins to appear more often in life: in listening, in emotional presence, in adaptive response, in tenderness, in nearness, in the willingness to receive and to be touched without collapse.
For this is the true test of the operation.
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