15. Physical Aspect Of Psychic Attack And Defence-c
Indeed, pressure without heat will give relief, and I have known cases where a firm pad held in place by a belt or corsets gave much comfort.
Above all things, the bowels should be kept freely open while facing a psychic attack, because there is nothing that puts one at so great a disadvantage as the accumulation of effete matter within the body.
All these simple physical remedies are readily available.
They will not afford a cure for psychic pathologies, nor a complete defence from psychic attack, but they can give great relief from distress; they enable the victim to put up a much more effectual resistance, and by relieving the strain, they increase his endurance.
In many cases of psychic attack, he who endures longest wins; psychic attacks by human beings are not things which can be maintained indefinitely because they use up too much energy.
There is an old adage, “Never use a big spade if a little spade will do.” Physical methods of defence involve much less outlay of energy than psychic ones, therefore it is psychically economical to make as much use of them as possible.
Why trouble to exorcise the earth elementals with a ritual if you can do it with a pill?
The question of diet also requires to be considered in this connection.
The widespread propaganda of the Theosophical Society has caused vegetarianism to be regarded as a sine qua non of occult training.
This, however, is not the case.
The Western Esoteric Tradition does not make vegetarianism any part of its system, but teaches that a man should partake sparingly and temperately of the food of the land in which he finds himself.
Personally I am inclined to think that occultism and vegetarianism are apt to be an injudicious mixture for a European, the result being a hyper-sensitiveness that makes life very difficult in our hard-driving civilisation.
Vegetarianism has to be thoroughly understood and exceedingly well done if it is to be successful, and even so, there is a goodly proportion of people who are incapable of digesting vegetable proteins, which are not nearly so easily dealt with as animal substances.
Nothing but experience and experimentation can show whether a vegetarian diet suits a given person.
Indigestion is not the only indication that all is not well.
Loss of appetite, loss of energy, loss of weight, or a flabby stoutness are all danger signals which if disregarded will cause chronic ill-health.
Vegetarianism may agree with a person well enough at first, but after a considerable period, possibly years, they may find that they are becoming subject to neuritis, neuralgia, sciatica, or one or another of the nerve pains.
This is a sure indication that a vegetarian diet is affording insufficient nourishment, not because it does not contain the necessary food units, but because the digestion is unable to assimilate them and they are passing out of the body unchanged.
Wherever there is a history of neuralgic pains complicating a case of psychic disturbance, I should be inclined to suspect chronic malnutrition as the cause of a hypertrophied psychism.
In such cases it will probably be found that a gradual return to a nourishing mixed diet will bring about a reduction of the hyper-sensitiveness, the undesirable contacts that have been formed will fade, and the condition return to normal.
The change of diet, however, should always be made gradually lest the digestion be upset.
Anyone who is having trouble with psychic disturbance should immediately discontinue all occult practices and should exchange his habitual meditations for the prayers of his childhood, or New Thought methods.
It is no time to open up the psychic centres when there is astral trouble.
The thing to do in such cases is to get back on to the physical plane and stop there resolutely.
There was a picture in an old number of Punch which to my way of thinking exactly expresses the correct attitude for the person afflicted by psychic trouble.
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 author explicitly mentions 'exorcise the earth elementals with a ritual' as a comparison to physical remedies like pills.
Disciplined inward attention — sitting, focused, or open-awareness practice — as a stand-alone term that umbrellas active_contemplation, inner_silence, and dhyana-style sitting.
The passage advises discontinuing 'habitual meditations' during times of psychic trouble to avoid opening psychic centres.
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 the physical aspects of psychic attack and defence, discussing symptoms, remedies, and the nature of such attacks.
Organized, persisting groups — fraternities, orders, lodges — that maintain esoteric knowledge or practices as an institution distinct from public religion or mainstream society, holding 'the keys' collectively rather than through any one master-disciple pair. Distinct from esoteric_lineage (a genealogical chain of individual transmission, not an institution) and hidden_sayings (the concealment of a teaching's meaning, independent of whether any organized body holds it).
The text references the 'Theosophical Society' and its propaganda regarding vegetarianism in occult training.