11. The Psychic Element In Mental Disturbance-e

Hence it is that when the unstable soul advances by the Path of Saturn that bridges the Astral and enters the Sphere of Luna, he touches her Hecate aspect and finds himself en rappart with the Gamaliel, the Obscene Ones, whose chief is Lilith, she who giveth lustful dreams. Need we then wonder that Freud finds the dreams of the neurotic filled with sexual images in their most perverted and debased forms? The Rabbis knew their psychology just as well as he does. As has already been noted, the neurotic is very often psychic, and the psychic is very often neurotic. What may we expect to happen to the soul that has taken initiation in a past life, retains subconsciously the psychic development thus conferred, and finds itself incarnated in a neurotic personality in this life? He will come under the dark dominion of the Moon, and Lilith will be his mistress. Through the ill-fitting doors of the neurotic temperament the forces of the Abyss find ingress. The dissociated complexes of the Microcosm are reinforced by the dissociated complexes of the Macrocosm, for that is precisely what the Qlippoth are. Occultists and their ignorant admirers, the superstitious, have always held that insanity had to do with demonic possession. Modern medicine disputes this, and declares the various manifestations of the diseased mind to be due entirely to subjective psychological processes. At present these two schools of thought are like two armed camps, drawn up for battle and shaking their weapons at each other. Each is too sure of his own ground to be willing to give the other a hearing. It is my belief that a common ground can be found for the meeting of these two opposing view-points. Psychology demonstrates the mechanism of the mind and can explain the mental processes whereby the ideas of the deranged assume their ultimate form. It can show the connection between these ideas and the dreams of the normal mentality. What it cannot explain is the fundamental difference between these subjective states and the normal waking consciousness. It is here that the occultist can tell the psychologist something that it is worth his while to hear, for he can show how these visions can be produced experimentally and at will by means of ceremonial magic. And still more important, the occultist can show him how these visions can be dispersed and the psychic faculties closed down and sealed. This brings us to the practical part of our considerations: How far can the methods of ritual magic be applied to the relief of mental disease? They are undoubtedly palliative, but they will not produce a permanent cure unless the origin of the disturbed mental condition is found and cleared up. Unless this be done, as fast as we disperse the phantoms, they will re-form, because the mental state of the patient is invoking them. Under such circumstances, no magic circle can be kept intact. As fast as we break the rapport with the Abyss, the patient renews it. But such conditions constitute a vicious circle. The Qlippotic forces with which a contact has been established will actively develop it, and will hold on to their victim when attempts are made to dislodge them. In this rationalistic age we are apt to forget that there is such a thing as organised and intelligent evil. If the physical causes of this disturbance have been cleared up, the septic focus eradicated, or the tumour pressing upon the ductless gland excised, and still the mentality does not return to normal, an exorcism will often produce immediate and marked results. In the case of the neurotic, whose trouble is entirely in the sphere of the mind, an exorcism is of enormous value as a preliminary to the appropriate psycho-therapeutic treatment because it clears the ground and prevents re-infection, giving the patient a chance to make a fresh start.