MAGICK IN THEORY AND PRACTICE, Aleister Crowley, éd. Celephais Press, 2004, chap. CHAPTER XII Of the Bloody Sacrifice: and Matters Cognate, p. 86-87.
Magick in theory and practice
Original: «It would be unwise to condemn as irrational the practice of those savages who tear the heart and liver from an adversary, and devour them while still yet warm. In any case it was the theory of the ancient Magicians, that any living being is a storehouse of energy, varying in quantity according to the size and health of the animal, and in quality according to its mental and moral character. At the death of the animal this energy is liberated suddenly. The animal should therefore be killed within the Circle, or the Triangle, as the case may be, so that its energy cannot escape. An animal should be selected whose nature accords with that of the ceremonythus, by sacrificing a female lamb one would not obtain any appreciable quantity of the fierce energy useful to a Magician who was invoking Mars. In such a case a ram would be more suitable. And this ram should be Virgin the whole potential of its original total energy should not have been diminished in any way. For the highest spiritual working one must accordingly choose that victim which contains the greatest and purest force. A male child of perfect innocence and high intelligence is the most suitable sacrifice.».