I, Mary Elspeth Carlisle, being of sound mind and disposing memory, do hereby make, publish and declare this instrument to be my last will and testament, hereby revoking any and all wills and codicils by me at any time heretofore made.

To my son John, I leave my house, my wedding ring, my hands and my feet. To my daughter Dinah, I leave my furniture, my confirmation ring, my eyes and my hair. To my daughter Elizabeth, I leave my silver broach and my skin. To all three of my children, I leave my knowledge, in the hopes that it will bring them as much suffering as it has brought me.

I confess to being a witch. I confess to murder. I confess to spreading sickness and blight. I confess to laying my curse upon my neighbors. I do not repent and expect no mercy from the Lord. I have earned my damnation and though I regret bringing myself to such a condition, I will not demean myself with false and pointless declarations of redemption. I have lived my life by truth and I shall die the same way that I have lived.

All religions aim at comprehension of the truth, and truth lies behind all religions, but all religions capture only a fragment. Truth may be glimpsed by revelation, contagion or transmission and God may be known through ecstasy. All men are one, just as all sciences are one. All men may recognize the laws of nature, for the laws were made for man.

All things are conscious and all souls are immortal, but the body is not immortal. He who will not unite his soul and his body will die. The soul will live again and again. The soul evolves into the body and the body evolves into the soul, just as the primate evolves into the god. I will teach you the art of calling out and the art of casting down. I will teach you to murder. I will teach you to spread sickness and blight. I will teach you to leave your curse upon your neighbors.

And so on. Carlisle describes, in confusing and disjointed fashion, her view of the universe, and of magic.

Below are some of Tadgh’s interpretations, although it should be said that Carlsise hasn’t made much of an attempt to make herself clear.

Very generally, what is her `view of the universe'? her `view of magic'?

The Universe: She seems to believe in a God. Sometimes this figure seems to be a personified individual and at other times it seems to be identified with fundamental truth. God can be encountered through “ecstasy” which may be achieved through ritual and/or the intercession of spirits. There are different types and “depths” of ecstasy and none is permanent – at least, not until union with God is achieved. Religion, philosophy and science are all the study of the truth from different perspectives and all capture some part of the truth.

She claims that everything in the universe is conscious. However, unlike inanimate objects, humans and animals have two natures – a physical nature and a spiritual nature. The physical nature dooms humans to die, but the spirit gives them the chance of immortality. Humans evolve towards godhood (or possibly, just the presence of God – either way, she doesn’t state how this evolution takes place). She does say that there are ten planes that must be ascended on the way – the “sephiroth”. Confusingly, the sephiroth are often presented as beings of some kind, who plot against each other and take a hand in human affairs. Every mage has a patron sephira.

Magic: Magical ability is a corruption of the mind, in something like the way that a disease is a corruption of the body. Through careful study and observation, the mage learns to perceive the universe as it truly is. Some magi who have gone before have left magical knowledge to posterity for a variety of reasons, resulting in an unbroken chain of teachers and students, leading back to the dawn of Indian civilization some four-thousand years ago. This ancient tradition was taught to the “monotheist west” (an area that apparently stretches from Ireland to Afghanistan) by three great magi – Serapis Bey, Polydorus Isurenus and John King. Though these magi are long dead, they still “patronize students”. Carlisle’s own magical knowledge is said to be derived ultimately from all three great teachers.

What is `the art of calling out' and how is it accomplished?

Carlisle writes: On Calling Out. The art of calling out is the art of sharing one’s blood with the cosmos, for the purpose of mutual infection. It is the art of exposing yourself to the cruel reality beyond the cozy prison of our own willful ignorance. To call out is to howl into the sephiroth, “I exist”. It is not easy to be heard, nor not to be heard, and the secrets of calling out are the most precious secrets in all magic, for the mage who can call down an angel is a god.

Judging from other passages, it seems that calling out is the act of trying to stir up supernatural activity. All magic involves calling out, but it seems to be particularly involved in trying to attract notice in the “unseen worlds”. Calling out so as to be heard by a specific type of entity, and only that entity, is very difficult and involves performing complex rituals. Carlisle stresses that like all magic, calling out is an art and not a science.

Only three rituals focusing on calling out are laid out step by step – everything else is general advice. The first of the three rituals calls out to something that Carlisle refers to as “air elementals” and “vampires”, beings which seem to be somehow related to human magical aspirations. The second calls out to something that Carlisle refers to as “earth elementals” and “soultakers”, which seem somehow related to space and time. The third calls out to something that Carlisle refers to as “pixies”, which are related in some way to the search for enlightenment. She denies that the “pixies” are water elementals, although it isn’t clear why she thinks the reader might believe them to be water elementals in the first place.

Why does she seem to want to teach murder? To spread sickness and blight?

Usually, she doesn’t say, although sometimes she admits to doing it for personal benefit by removing inconvenient persons, and sometimes she seems to be doing it as a way of aiding other spells. For whatever reason, this grim obsession also applies to the three great teachers. John King, according to Carlisle, kills for pleasure and particularly delights in human sacrifice. Polydorus Isurenus pefers to drive people insane, and Serapis Bey to spread disease and pestilence.

What curses does she specify?

She describes three means of direct killing – striking at the heart, striking at the brain, and striking at the stomach. She also describes in detail the means of inflicting cholera, dementia, dipsomania, epilepsy, influenza, mania, melancholia, monomania, paresis, and tuberculosis.

Does she mention how she came to learn her magical arts or refer to any of her life's story?

She does. She claims to have been born in New York City in 1820. Her mother died when she was still a baby, her father was a publican. She married Charles Carlisle, a book merchant, in 1841 and the pair had three children – John, Dinah and Elizabeth. It was Elspeth’s maternal grandmother who introduced her to magic, though it was through collaboration with another mage named Henry Steele Olcott that she learned of the three great sages. Olcott went on to found the Theosophical Society, a group which Carlisle refused to have anything to do with. She claims that the society was merely a front to allow Olcott to find subjects for magical experiments. Carlisle herself devoted her life to ascending through the planes to God, something she never achieved.

Does she expound on how she intends to leave various body parts to her descendants (or why she would want to?) Does she explain why she wishes them to be unhappy?

She says absolutely nothing on either topic.

Does the book mention Blavatsky at all? How about William Wescott?

It says that Blavatsky and Wescott were dupes of Henry Steele Olcott, who lead them into thinking that they would receive power. She states that the Theosophical Society was simply a front to allow Olcott to find subjects for magical experiments. Olcott did believe, at first, that Wescott might have secrets of his own to reveal, but concluded that the man knew nothing.

What does Tadhg gather about `the art of casting down'?

Casting down seems to be something done to supernatural entities – to either dispel them, or gain control of them (“binding” them). She notes that entities will generally be upset if an attempt is made to cast them down.

If `calling out' is a way of attracting the notice of a specific type of entity, would it be true to say that Carlisle's magic involves getting these entities to do what you want? If so, do you bargain with the entities? Threaten them? Bribe them?

She never directly addresses that topic, although she does mention trying all three herself. Unfortunately, she neglects to state which works best.

Do the sephiroth she mentions correspond with the traditional Quabbalistic ones (Kether, Chokmah, Binah, Chessed, Geburah, Tipareth, Netzach, Hod, Yesod, Malkuth)?

Yes, although she seems to have her own idiosyncratic conception of them.

If every mage has a patron sephira, can a mage have more than one? (It would seem that Carlisle herself had three – or am I wrong in assuming that Bey, Isurenus, and King are sephira personified?)

She claimed to have Tiphereth as a patron, as Serapis Bey did. Sometimes, she seems to speak of them as being human servants of the sephiroth and sometimes she seems to use the names of the mage and the sephirot interchangeably.

Since the sephiroth are sometimes presented as beings, does she mention who or what are the personifications of the others?

She says that Polydorus Isurenus corresponds to Binah and John King to Malkuth. Again, sometimes she seems to identify the mage with the sephirot, and sometimes she presents the mage as being a human servant. She does not personify any other sephirot.

If one must achieve/pass through each of the sephira to ascend to God, must they be taken in a particular order?

Yes. The mage already stands in Malkuth, the lowest of the planes. From there, they may ascend to one of three planes – Hod, Netzach or Yesod. Hod is described as a “realm of pure perception”, Netzach as “the epicenter of chaos”, and Yesod as “the membrane between the conscious and the unconscious”.

How is `ecstasy' achieved through ritual?

Carlisle indicates that there are many methods, but she seems to favor meditating inside a “circle”. “Meditating” seems to involve not only silent contemplation, but also the speaking of special words and the inscription of special symbols – Carlisle includes some of these, but never completely details a ritual from beginning to end.

What are the details of the three rituals to call out air elementals/vampires, earth elementals/soultakers, and pixies?

All three rituals are to be performed in a “circle” and involve channeling energies from a sepirot – Tiphareth for the “vampires”, Malkuth for the “earth elementals”, and Binah for the “pixies”. The rituals require chalking symbols and speaking words – some of which are French, some of which are Hebrew, and most of which are in no language that Tadgh can recognize. There are a few other minor material requirements, which vary between the rituals.

Does the "Will" give any way to find out for sure if a spirit is present or to make them visible or audible?

This seems to fall under the art of “calling up”. However, there doesn’t seem to be much distinction in Carlisle’s mind between detecting a spirit that is already there and calling in a spirit from elsewhere.