EXCERPT The doctrine of the Right Hand Path—which encompasses the entirety of the Western Hermetic tradition—is a theory of self-deification. Comparing esoteric doctrines to scientific theories, we might say that each doctrine builds around its dogmas a model of reality, made up of axioms and connections, which allows a certain vision of the cosmos to sustain and expand itself. As in physics, there is no Hermetic theory of everything; each esoteric doctrine leaves a loose thread, an open circle; each one forgets something, more or less consciously. More precisely, as is the case with the sciences, no model claims to be exact or complete, rather each one satisfies a specific human need for understanding and control. For centuries, all practices of ceremonial magic, including the most explicitly dark and sinister ones, have been based on the same assumptions and have referred back to the same model of reality. The conceptual structure of this model and the rituals derived from it are enclosed in the Hermetic Kabbalah and in the glyph of the Celestial Man. A precise understanding of the meaning of this glyph is complex, and opens a vortex of connections and interpretations. Continuing with our scientific metaphor, for our current purposes it is not necessary to know all of the equations that make up the model we are studying; it is sufficient to understand its goals, and know the axioms upon which it is based. …