10. Non-Occult Dangers Of The Black Lodge-d

It is amazing to what an extent women of the highest ideals and of good family and wide culture can be induced to accept such theories and practices. The danger of membership of such a group to young girls or unsophisticated women can readily be imagined. I have often been accused of being narrow-minded in my attitude towards groups in which such happenings are allowed to go on, but the cost in human suffering is so great and the general demoralisation so sordid that tolerance comes perilously near to cynicism. It may not generally be realised, but there is just as much danger of corruption in a Black Lodge for boys and youths as there is for women. There have been a number of cases so flagrant that the police have intervened, both here and abroad. In ancient times, and among primitive peoples, human sacrifice was a common incident in connection with occult practices. It is not unknown in Eastern Europe even at the present day. The nursery story of Bluebeard has its origin in the practices of the infamous Gilles de Rais, Marshal of France and comrade of Joan of Arc, who slaughtered innumerable children and youths in connection with his magical experiments. I have never heard of a case in England, but there have been at various times some curious killings reported from the United States which look suspiciously like ritual murders, but in the absence of adequate information it is impossible to come to a final conclusion upon them. There recently came into my hands, however, a book upon magic published for private circulation, in which the statement is made that the ideal blood sacrifice is a male child. The charge of revolutionary activities is one that has been frequently made against the occult movement. There are certain things, however, which must be borne in mind when assessing the truth of this charge. Firstly, the occult movement is not a homogeneous whole. It is totally unorganised and unregulated, and may best be likened to the state of England before the Norman Conquest. Conditions in the various groups and associations vary widely, and what is true of one may not be true of another. There can be no doubt whatsoever that various organisations at various times have been implicated in politics, as witness the Theosophical Society’s association with Indian political movements; but we must bear in mind that one generation’s revolutionaries are the next generation’s reactionaries. After all, politics are a matter of opinion, and even the people we disagree with may turn out to be right in the end. I, personally, am of the opinion that an occult fraternity is extremely ill-advised to concern itself with politics for reasons which I have stated in another of my books, Sane Occultism, and which I will not enter upon now, as they are not relevant to these pages. But as folk from time immemorial have banded themselves together for political action we cannot very well take exception to what the law permits. People who join an organisation established for political work join it with their eyes open and presumably for the purposes for which it was founded. Grounds for objection arise, however, when an organisation is founded for non political pursuits and subsequently the leaders, without consulting, or even informing their supporters, take up political activities on their own account and use their organisation for the purpose, thus involving their followers without their consent in whatever complications may arise, and using money contributed for a specific purpose for ends other than the donors had in view. It may be wondered what use, at the present day, revolutionaries could make of the occult organisations. Within my personal knowledge they have used, or attempted to use them, for the purpose of getting letters to people whose correspondence is being watched, and I myself once received a request to allow a person who had been deported to return to the country under an assumed name and reside in one of our community houses as a member, and was offered some hundreds of pounds for so doing.