9. Distinction Between Objective Psychic Attack And Subjective Psychic Disturbance-c
A woman who is broadcasting the tale of her own shame is usually a woman scorned, and the reliability of her testimony in the matter is in inverse ratio to her loquacity.
Do not let us forget that it takes two to make a scandal as well as a quarrel, and the person who admits a mistake and asks for help to retrace wandering footsteps is much more likely to be worth helping than the one who claims to be even as the angels in heaven, where there is neither marrying nor giving in marriage.
So great is the need for caution in assessing the facts in a charge of immorality that the law courts will not accept the evidence of the victim, even on oath and under cross-examination, unless it is supported by additional testimony.
Equally well does the doctor know the same type of mentality, and a common form of mental derangement is called Old Maid’s Insanity, even in the textbooks.
I could cite cases by the dozen in exemplification of the preceding statements, but they have not sufficient occult interest to justify their inclusion in these pages.
If the leader of the group is a woman, a different set of reactions comes into play though the same causes are at work.
It is not generally realised that the fixation, or “crush” of one woman for another is really a substitute love affair, as is proved by the fact that the girl who has plenty of admirers, or the woman who is happily married is never given to them.
In this case, just as much as in the normal, heterosexual attraction, “hell knows no fury like a woman scorned”; it is not, for obvious reasons, possible to bring charges of improper behaviour.
(Though in one accusation this was alleged against me, and I was accused of being a man in disguise and attempting to seduce the complainant, and the charge found believers.) The charge brought in such cases usually takes one of two forms, the mechanism being either, “You don’t love me, therefore you are cruel.
I have been badly treated”; and the most far-fetched instances are raked up in support of this charge.
Or, “You don’t love me, therefore I hate you.
The attraction you have for me is hypnotic.” It must be borne in mind in assessing these charges that a trained occultist, especially if of high grade, has an exceedingly magnetic personality, and this is apt to prove disturbing to those who are unaccustomed to high-tension psychic forces.
For whereas the person who is ripe for development will unfold the higher consciousness rapidly in the atmosphere of a high-grade initiate, the person who is not ready may find these influences profoundly disturbing.
An adept who allows unsuitable persons to enter his magnetic field is blameworthy for his lack of discrimination and discretion, but he cannot justly be charged with abuse of occult powers.
He emanates force involuntarily and cannot help himself.
The greater adepts always live in seclusion, for not only do they need solitude for their work, but their influence upon unprepared souls produces too violent a reaction, and it ends in the Cross or the hemlock cup.
We must not be unmindful of the fact that the person who comes to us with a long tale of occult attack and asks for assistance, especially financial assistance, may simply be “pitching a yarn,” and should use the same discrimination that we would in listening to any other “hard-luck story,” trying to differentiate between the deserving and the undeserving.
I knew a man who allowed an alleged adept who was undergoing an alleged occult attack to take refuge in his studio, and returned after a short absence to find that the alleged one had been selling the furniture to buy drink; and there was every reason to believe that the only spirits who were in any way concerned with his troubles had entered the studio in bottles.
The universal fluid or medium of occult philosophy — Lévi's Great Magical Agent — that transmits will, thought, and magical influence between minds and matter, and preserves the impress of all forms and actions as a book of consciences; cognate with akasha and the anima mundi. Distinct from cosmic_sympathy (a doctrine of hidden affinity) in being a substantival medium that can be charged, directed, and abused.
The text describes a 'magnetic personality' and 'high-tension psychic forces' that emanate involuntarily from adepts, functioning as the medium of influence described in occult philosophy.
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 passage references 'occult powers' and the influence of a 'trained occultist,' implying the doctrine that cultivated will or presence can affect others.
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).
The passage is explicitly titled and focused on distinguishing between objective psychic attack and subjective psychic disturbance, analyzing the validity of such charges.
Critique of outward religious observance that lacks inner transformation; form without substance.
The author critiques those who claim to be 'even as the angels' while engaging in scandalous behavior or using spiritual claims to mask mundane vices like alcoholism.