13. The Motives Of Psychic Attack. I-a

WE have noted in a previous chapter that the simplest way to find out whether the victim of an alleged psychic attack is romancing or not, is to seek for motives, and if they are not discernible, to give imagination the benefit of the doubt. The commonplace motives of greed, lust, revenge and fear of betrayal do not need psychic discernment for their discovery but are perceptible to the naked eye. There are other motives, however, that may be operative in occult circles but which would be passed by unsuspected by the ordinary investigator. The old charm-books that have come down to us, mostly via the servants’ hall, are replete with recipes for securing the love of the opposite sex. The ancient grimoires supply more elaborate ritual prescriptions, and the reports of witch-trials contain frequent indictments of the wise woman who, for a consideration, undertook to direct people’s affections towards persons for whom they apparently had no natural predilection. Are such operations to be taken seriously, or should we class them with the anti-fat pills that reduce without dieting? We have already referred to the old love-philtres. The ancients were well acquainted with the aphrodisiac drugs which excited sexual passion. Nor are the modems altogether ignorant of them, as carefully-worded advertisements in certain occult publications reveal. There are firms in France which specialise in the manufacture of chocolates which contain masked doses of these drugs. Publicity was given to their productions recently owing to the death of two girls and a man through taking overdoses. There are cocktails in use in this country containing so-called “tonic” ingredients whose effect is well known. If these are not “love-philtres,” what are they? We are not concerned in these pages with methods that belong solely to the physical plane, but these matters call for mention because there are grounds for belief that upon more than one occasion, even in this country, aphrodisiacs have been employed as an adjuvant to occult practices. There was a certain firm which began to advertise extensively and was building up a nice business in what might be called “occultist’s sundries.” Among other preparations which they supplied was “Incense for the operation of Venus.” However, the firm came to an untimely end through the intervention of the police, both partners going to jail. But apart from the use of purely material means, it is not difficult to see what uses could be made of mental influence in this direction. I have seen several cases that looked extremely suspicious, but in these matters it is very difficult to get at the facts. The manner of attack is intangible and leaves no trace, and the victim may be unsuspicious and entirely ignorant not only of the psychic side of sex, but also of its physical and subtler emotional aspects. Moreover, those who have suffered most usually talk least. One may occasionally hear of the attempt which was frustrated. The attempt which was successful very rarely comes to light because the victim has just as much motive for concealing it as the aggressor. When we come to purely occult practices, there are two ways in which the desired end can be achieved; psychic pressure may be brought to bear upon the desired person so that he or she shall come under the influence of the operator; or the psychic operation known as congressus subtilis may take place. What exactly is congressus subtilis? We shall have to know a good deal more than we do at present about the occult side of sex before we can answer that question. In the first place, what are the facts, or alleged facts, of the matter? The ancients held very definite beliefs upon the subject, and these beliefs can very often afford us a clue, even if we do not accept the very anthropomorphic explanations by which they are accompanied. It was believed that the arch-demon Lilith had a very great deal to do with these matters.