15. Physical Aspect Of Psychic Attack And Defence-b
In the ordinary way, if a person who is out on the astral meets with an occult attack, he bolts back to his body like a rabbit to its burrow and wakes up as if from a nightmare; but if the sleep is made unnaturally deep by a sleeping- draught, he cannot wake up, and is locked out on the astral, as it were, which is the last thing one wants in the case of a psychic attack.
If a sleeping-draught is considered essential, for it is impossible to go without sleep indefinitely, the person who is watching beside the sleeper should observe carefully any signs that the sleep is being disturbed by dreams, and if he observes muttering or twitching, should immediately perform the necessary banishings and whisper into the ear of the sleeper soothing and reassuring suggestions such as Coue recommends should be done in the case of young children.
One of the most distressing features of a psychic attack is that the victim fears to sleep because he feels that in sleep he is defenceless.
Those who have read Kipling’s terrible story, “The End of the Passage,” may remember that the victim of the occult attack therein described always went to bed wearing spurs in order that he might rowel himself and so wake up if he were struggling with his invisible enemy during sleep.
There is a great deal that can be done upon the physical plane to help the person who is suffering from an occult attack, and we may as well consider these physical methods while we are upon the subject of the part that can be played by a doctor in dealing with the case.
Sunlight is exceedingly valuable because it strengthens the aura and makes it much more resistant.
People are often advised to go away into the country on this account, but for the victim of an occult attack to go into the depths of the country may not be the wisest thing, because elemental forces are much more potent away from towns, and if he is threatened by an uprush of atavistic forces, he had better cling to the haunts of men.
The sea, too, is an elemental force that is best avoided, for water is an element intimately associated with psychism.
Large bodies of water and high mountains should be avoided in choosing a health resort for a person suffering from psychic trouble.
The best place is an inland spa.
Games, physical training, massage, anything that improves the bodily condition, are invaluable, but long solitary walks should be avoided because there is often a risk of suicide.
The person who is the victim of an occult attack should at all costs avoid solitude.
There is another very simple measure which gives immense relief in cases of psychic interference.
It is obvious that the attack is made through the psychic centres, therefore any thing which closes those centres will render the victim comparatively immune.
It is well known how the stolid, materialistic type of person can live with impunity in haunted houses that drive the sensitive to madness and suicide.
It is also well known that psychic work cannot be performed if there is food in the stomach; the best results are always obtained when fasting.
The obvious corollary of these facts is that if we want to keep the psychic centres closed, we should not allow the stomach to become empty.
The person who is facing a psychic attack should not go more than two hours without food.
Certain important psychic centres are in the head.
One of the simplest ways of checking their activity is by drawing the blood down from the head.
This can be done effectually by a hot bath or putting the feet in hot mustard and water.
Another important centre is the solar plexus; during a psychic attack this is often felt to be tense and distressing.
A large hot-water bottle, well filled so that it is heavy as well as hot, laid upon the solar plexus, which is the hand-breadth between the pit of the stomach and the ribs, will effectually relieve tension in that spot.
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 passage explicitly discusses the 'astral' plane where attacks occur and mentions the 'aura' which is strengthened by sunlight, aligning with the concept of a medium for psychic influence.
The Hermetic axiom that the structure of the cosmos is reflected at every scale — 'as above, so below; as within, so without' — making each level a legible map of the others.
The text implies a correspondence between physical states (stomach fullness, blood flow) and psychic vulnerability ('attack is made through the psychic centres').
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 text describes a person being 'out on the astral' during sleep and the danger of being locked out there, which corresponds to involuntary etheric or astral projection.
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 text mentions a watcher performing 'necessary banishings' to protect the sleeper, which is a form of defensive exorcism or protective ritual.
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 entire passage is dedicated to defining, describing the symptoms of, and providing physical defenses against 'occult attack' or 'psychic attack'.