I had seen a good deal of practical occultism, had lent a hand at similar operations, and possessed the necessary formulae.
So I went round the town, asked certain friends to lend a hand, and others to come and see the fun.
To be frank, our attitude was that of a party of small boys going ratting.
We met at the appointed time and place.
Formed our circle, and went to work.
The method I meant to use made it necessary for me to leave my body, and the group were really there to look after it while I was out of it, and see it came to no harm.
I got out on to the astral readily enough, did my job, and returned, feeling very pleased with myself, for it was the first time I had operated entirely on my own, without the supervision by my teacher.
As I began to recover physical consciousness, which is just like coming round from an anaesthetic, I had a sensation as of machinery running, and felt as if I were lying on something very lumpy.
I opened my eyes, and saw some thing brown towering above me to an enormous height.
As I gathered my senses together, I discovered that I was lying on the floor, close to the skirting, across the feet of an unfortunate man, who was thus securely pinned against the wall, and it was he, shaking in his shoes, that had felt to me like the vibration of machinery.
Various other members of the circle slowly and reluctantly reappeared from behind the piano and sofa and other heavy articles of furniture.
They had seen some practical occultism for once in their lives, but they did not appear to like it.
It appears that, after I had gone out and left them with my unconscious body, they got a good deal of phenomena in the way of bells and voices outside the circle.
If they had kept quiet, it would have been quite all right, but they lost their heads and scattered.
Then, the circle being broken, I began to perform antics, arching up on my head and my heels and, in some way that has never been explained, arriving at the far side of the room at the feet of one of the circle, which, of course, did not improve matters.
Then an extraordinary thing happened.
We were just gathering ourselves together, thinking that everything was over, when a force of what nature I have never known suddenly rushed round the circle, and one member seemed to take the brunt of it.
He went flying across the room and landed, fortunately for him, face downwards in an arm-chair, and was ill in bed for three weeks.
While all this was going on, the father of one of the people taking part became uneasy about her, and walked across from where he lived at the far side of the little town, to see what was happening.
Like most little country towns, this one usually went to bed early, but he told us that as he came along he saw that innumerable windows were lit up, and he heard the sounds of children crying all down the street.
When I think of the risks I took and the conditions under which I worked in those early days, I wonder that I or any of my friends are alive to tell the tale.
It is said that there is a special Providence to look after fools, drunkards and little children.
I think there must be another that looks after inexperienced occultists and their friends.
It may be interesting to note that as a result of this operation which I so rashly undertook, the girl was entirely freed from the domination of her mother, and began forth with to put on flesh and rapidly became normal.
That end of it, at least, was entirely successful.
Another very curious case is that referred to in the Occult Review of January, 1930 .
“The mysterious death of a student of occultism, Miss N.
Pronoia — the doctrine that the divine actively orders the unfolding of the cosmos and human affairs toward intelligible ends, against pure chance or blind necessity.
The narrator explicitly reflects on a 'special Providence' looking after fools and inexperienced occultists despite the dangers taken.
The doctrine and practice by which the etheric or astral double separates from the physical body, at will or involuntarily, to act, travel, or encounter other entities on a plane subtler than the physical — remaining tethered to the body by a silver cord, and capable of returning physical injury (bruises, exhaustion) sustained while thus projected. Distinct from linga_sharira (the static doctrine that a subtle form persists as a template) in describing its active operative use, and from shamanic_journey (a trance-journey framed within a shamanic ritual complex, undertaken to return with knowledge, songs, or a recovered soul) in being a Western-esoteric technical practice with its own physiology of cord-attachment and reciprocal wounding.
The passage centrally describes the narrator leaving their body to operate on the astral plane while friends guard the physical form.
A ritual intended to drive out an unwanted possessing or afflicting spirit from a person or place, restoring it to its unafflicted state. Distinct from spirit_conjuration (the operator summons and binds a spirit that was not already present, rather than expelling one) and from possession (the affliction this ritual answers, not the ritual itself).
The operation was intended to free a girl from the domination of her mother, functioning as a form of spiritual liberation or removal of influence.
The doctrine that human volition, cultivated by discipline and emancipated from passion and servitude, is the primary instrument of magical operation — will confirmed by persistent acts acquires causal power over self, others, and nature; distinct from faith and from mere desire.
The operation relies on the narrator's will to leave the body and perform a job, though the outcome highlights the risks of untrained will.
The state of a person being controlled or inhabited by an external spirit or entity — the entity as subject acting through the person's body, rather than merely troubling them from without. Distinct from haunting (a discarnate soul or place-bound presence that interferes without necessarily entering and controlling a living body) and from spirit_conjuration (an operator deliberately commanding a spirit's appearance, the reverse relation — here the spirit is uninvited and in control, not summoned and subordinated).
The narrator's body performs uncontrolled antics ('arching up on my head and my heels') upon return, suggesting external influence or loss of control over the physical vessel.
The doctrine and practice of one person deliberately inflicting harm on another through trained will, mind-power, or occult technique alone, without physical contact — producing exhaustion, illness, breakdown, or death in the victim; recognised cross-culturally as witchcraft, hexing, or the evil eye, and treated in Western esotericism as a genuine occult hazard requiring diagnosis and defence rather than dismissed as superstition. Distinct from magical_will (the general doctrine that trained volition has causal power, of which this is one malevolent application) and from spirit_conjuration (which subordinates an already-existing summoned spirit, rather than directing the operator's own power at a person).
A force rushes around the circle injuring a member, and the text discusses risks incidental to magic including harm to participants.
The grimoire-tradition practice of ceremonially commanding or binding a spirit through consecrated seals, circles, divine names, and prescribed instruments, compelling its appearance and obedience. Distinct from theurgy in the direction of the power relationship — theurgy is reverent engagement with the gods on the premise of the operator's own ascent, this is subordination of a lesser spirit to the operator's will — and from word_power_incantation and sacred_names, which name components (verbal force, name-power) this practice deploys rather than the ritual structure itself.
The group performs a ceremonial operation involving a circle and formulae intended to manipulate spiritual forces, though it goes awry.