Having discerned the type of the force with which he has to deal, he then proceeds to meditate upon its opposite, concentrating upon purity and selflessness if the force be lust; compassion and love, if it be malice; and upon God as the creator and sustainer of all life if it be vampiric.
He continues this meditation until he feels himself suffused with the quality upon which he is meditating; until he feels himself so imbued with purity and selflessness that lust causes him to feel nothing but pity, malice causes him to feel nothing but compassion, and in regard to vampirism, he is so assured that his life is hid with Christ in God that he would willingly let the vampire finish its meal in peace if he could thereby help it.
In fact, the adept who proposes to perform a magical absorption has to reach the point where he has clearly realised the nothingness of the evil he proposes to absorb, and no longer has any feeling towards it but pity for an ignorance that thinks it can gain any good thing for itself in this way.
He desires to uplift and educate and free the misguided soul from its bondage.
Until he has arrived at the point when he has no other feeling than this towards his persecutor, it is not safe for him to attempt an absorption.
Having satisfied himself that he is ready for the attempt, he proceeds to draw the thought-form towards him by pulling in the silver cord that connects it with his solar plexus if it be a vampiric thought-form, or by opening his aura to it and enfolding it if it be one of the other two types.
He literally sucks it in.
This process should be done slowly and gradually, taking some minutes in the doing.
If it be done suddenly, the adept may not find it possible to keep his own vibrations steady, and then he will indeed be in an unpleasant situation.
As the thought-form is absorbed, the adept will feel a reaction in his own nature corresponding to the type of the thought-form.
If it is a lust-force, he will feel desire rise within him; if it is a malicious force, he will feel anger; and if it is a vampire, he will feel blood-lust.
He must immediately overcome this feeling and revert to his mediation upon the opposite quality, maintaining it until his vibrations are once more fully harmonised.
He will then know that the evil force has been neutralised and there is that much less evil in the world.
He will immediately feel a great access of vigour and a sense of spiritual power, as if he could say to a mountain, “Be ye cast into the sea,” and it would be done.
It is this sense of spiritual exaltation and power which tells him that the work has been successfully accomplished.
It is, however, advisable to repeat the meditation at intervals for two or three days in case another thought-form is formulated and sent after the first.
As for the sender of the thought-form, when the absorption takes place he will feel that “virtue has gone out of him,” and may even be reduced temporarily to a state of semi- collapse.
He will soon revive, however, but with his power for evil of this particular type considerably reduced for some time to come; and if he have the possibility of reform in his nature, it may even be that he himself will be permanently freed from this type of evil.
The great advantage of this method is that it actually destroys the evil, root and branch; whereas the mere destruction of a thought-form is like cutting off the top of a weed.
On the other hand, it can only be done by an advanced occultist keyed up to the highest pitch.
If one is disturbed or harassed or has in any degree lost his nerve, one dare not attempt it.
A form of meditation that uses imagery, imagination, or symbolic thought rather than purely empty stillness.
The practitioner actively concentrates on specific qualities (purity, compassion, God) and visualises drawing in thought-forms, fitting the definition of active contemplation.
The magical manufacture of a semi-autonomous entity from the operator's own creative mind-stuff, formulated with sufficient force and sustained attention that it acquires a distinct, independent life of its own beyond an ordinary passing thought-form — directable as tool, weapon, or guardian, but capable of escaping the operator's control if mishandled. Distinct from spirit_conjuration (binding a spirit that already exists, rather than manufacturing one) and from word_power_incantation (the causal force of the spoken word itself, rather than the sustained mental construction of an entity).
The text refers to 'thought-forms' sent by a sender as entities that can be absorbed and neutralised, aligning with the concept of artificial elementals created by mind.
Augustinian and Plotinian doctrine that evil has no positive being of its own but is a lack, distortion, or absence of the good — denying ontological dualism while preserving moral seriousness.
The adept must realise the 'nothingness of the evil' he proposes to absorb, viewing it as ignorance rather than positive being.
The doctrine that human volition, cultivated by discipline and emancipated from passion and servitude, is the primary instrument of magical operation — will confirmed by persistent acts acquires causal power over self, others, and nature; distinct from faith and from mere desire.
The adept uses will to draw the thought-form in and maintain vibrations, demonstrating the causal power of cultivated volition.
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 centrally describes a method of defence based on sustained meditation upon opposite qualities to neutralise psychic attacks.
The Hermetic doctrine that apparent opposites are identical in nature but differ in degree — two extremes of the same scale (hot/cold, love/hate) — such that one pole can be shifted toward its opposite by a change of degree ('mental transmutation'). Distinct from opposites_transcended (a completion-state marking the path's end, not this doctrine's active technique) and magical_equilibrium (balance held BETWEEN two forces, not identity-by-degree of what looks like two forces).
The method relies on meditating upon the opposite quality (purity vs lust, love vs malice) to transmute or neutralise the negative force.
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 a manual for defending against and neutralising deliberate psychic attacks (lust, malice, vampirism) sent by others.
The condition, often unconscious on the vampire's part, in which one person chronically drains the vital force of another in close relationship, leaving the victim persistently exhausted or ill while the vampire is sustained. Distinct from psychic_attack in mechanism (a parasitic, often unintentional energy-transfer within an ongoing relationship, rather than a deliberate willed assault) and in being a chronic condition rather than a discrete event.
The passage specifically addresses defence against 'vampiric' forces that drain life, describing the sender's collapse as virtue goes out of them.
The Hermetic doctrine that nothing rests — matter, energy, mind, and spirit are a single continuum differing only in rate of vibration, from the grossest matter to the least material spirit. Distinct from cosmic_sympathy (affinity resonating BETWEEN separate things) in being a claim about what constitutes any one thing in the first place, and from magical_equilibrium (Lévi's operational balancing technique, which presupposes some vibration doctrine rather than stating this general principle).
The text explicitly discusses maintaining steady vibrations and harmonising them to neutralise evil forces.