Whoso should wish to recount all the Arts and Operations which in these times be reputed and preached abroad as Wisdom and Magical Secrets; he should as well undertake to count the waves and the sands of the Sea; seeing that the matter hath come to such a pass that every trick of a buffoon is believed to be Magic, that all the abominations of impious Enchanters, all Diabolical Illusions, all Pagan Idolatries, all Superstitions, Fascinations, Diabolical Pacts, and lastly all that the gross blindness of the World can touch with its hands and feet is reckoned as Wisdom and Magic: The Physician, the Astrologer, the Enchanter, the Sorceress, the Idolater, and the Sacrilegious, is called by common people a Magician: Also he who draweth his Magic whether from the Sun, whether from the moon, whether from the Evil Spirits, whether from Stones, Herbs, Animals, Brutes, or lastly from thousand divers sources, so that the Spirits are astonished thereat. There be certain ones who draw their Magic from Air, from Earth, from Fire, from Water, from Physiognomy, from the Land, from Mirrors, from Glasses, from Birds, from Bread, from Wine, and even from the very excrements « themselves; and yet, however, all this is reputed as Magic.

I exhort you, ye who. read, to have the fear of God, and to study Justice, because infallibly unto you shall be opened the Gate of the True Wisdom which the Hindu Priests and Adepts gave unto their Disciples and unto their descendants. It is this Wisdom and Magical Knowledge that delivers man from the torments of his soul and Evil Spirits, and it has been taught to every true Disciple who desires to learn this ancient mystery of Magical Rites of Hindu Spirit Art and East Indian Occultism. I, Dr. L. W. de Laurence (upon whom has fallen the solemn duty of writing and arranging this volume) am considered the only person who has the legitimate right to teach these mysteries in this country, as all who will say that have read and studied "The Great Book of Magical Art, Hindu Magic and East Indian Occultism," by Dr. L. W. de Laurence, that the same is a most excellent work, teaching in full all the Imprecations, Benedictions, Conjurations; as well as the solemn Rites of Initiation in the Temples and Lamaseries of India, Arabia, China and other Eastern and Oriental lands, therefore I am certainly well qualified to teach and advance an opinion on Art Magic and the greatest mystery known to man, which is "Death."

Therefore, let everyone know that this, which I now teach unto you, and that which I have taught is the True Wisdom and Magic, and which is in this same "Book of Magical Art," and independent of any other Science, or Wisdom, or Magic, soever. It is, however, certainly true that these miraclous operations have much in common with the Hindu Spiritism; it is also true that there be other Arts which have some stamp of Wisdom; which alone would be worth nothing were they not mingled with the foundation of the Sacred Wisdom of the Hindus, whence later arose the Mixed Qabalah.