17. Methods Of Defence I-b

You do not know whom you have rubbed shoulders with in bus or train, so why give their magnetism a chance to contaminate your sleeping place? Fortunately for all of us, magnetism is a very fugitive force, and although it may be potent when fresh, it soon fades unless it has been deliberately created by means of ritual. The terrible atmosphere that surrounds the victim of an occult attack and permeates all his belongings is not difficult to get rid of, though it will rapidly reform unless the conditions which gave rise to it are cleared up. The most effectual way of getting rid of magnetism is to move to a fresh place, taking nothing of one’s old belongings with one. This, however, is a counsel of perfection for most people. Fortunately there are other devices which enable us to attain our ends nearly as effectually. If it be in any way possible, let the victim of an occult attack move temporarily to another environment, taking with him as few of his belongings as possible, and let him make the move in new clothes, or in clothes that are just back from the cleaner. Let him, moreover, keep his whereabouts a secret as far as it is convenient for him to do so. There is an old superstition that a witch can be thrown off the trail by crossing running water. It is my opinion that many of these old folk-beliefs have a basis in fact, however overlaid by superstition they may have become. I once had a curious experience which gives support to this opinion. I was about to take part in an important piece of occult work to which I knew there would be opposition. A friend who was concerned in the matter asked me to dine with her on the night before the day fixed for the proceeding. We were both conscious of tension in the atmosphere, and she suggested that I should remain the night at her flat instead of returning to my own, informing no one of my whereabouts in order to throw the attack off the trail. The maneuver was not wholly successful, and we had a rather trying night, and I was conscious of a good deal of psychic tension next day. I decided therefore to walk to the appointed place across Hyde Park in order to refresh myself. When part of the way across, I suddenly felt that the tension relaxed, and I was able to go through the work in hand without interference. I told my friend of this experience, and she questioned me as to where I was when it took place. We looked up the spot on a map, and found that I had just crossed the underground conduit which takes the overflow from the Serpentine. I did not know of the old superstition concerning running water, neither did I know of the existence of the conduit. Nevertheless, the sense of relief was sufficiently marked to cause me to mention it when I saw my friend again, and to be able to indicate the spot where it had occurred. We have very little exact knowledge concerning these subtle forces which are the basis of both occult attack and spiritual healing, but we have good reason to believe that in their nature they are closely analogous to electricity. They are not inanimate forces, however, but have in their nature something that is akin to life, though of a low type. It has been my experience that if we work on a blended analogy of electricity and bacteriology, we get pretty near the facts; as near, at any rate, as our present state of know ledge permits. In other words, if we act as if thought possessed the combined qualities of electricity and bacteria we shall have a sufficiently accurate method of steering by dead reckoning in the absence of certain knowledge and actual sight. If we consider the various methods used in folk-magic of all ages and races, we shall observe that they are in agreement with these hypotheses. Running water, we know, has peculiar electrical qualities, as is witnessed by its effect on the divining-rod in the hands of a sensitive person.