That for many past lives she had been upon the Path, and that in her last life, a male incarnation, in order to speed up her progress she had travelled in the East, and eventually took initiation into one of the Thibetan Orders, which unfortunately turned out to be upon the Left-hand Path.
Here she learnt the Hatha Yoga which gives control over the functions of the body.
In her present life, she retained the powers her training had given her, but not the memory of its technique.
Consequently her emotional states affected those automatic systems of nervous control whose functions are normally not under the direction of the mind.
Whenever, therefore, she was emotionally disturbed, her subconscious mentation overflowed into the automatic mind and threw certain of the functional systems of the body out of gear.
It is my belief that this explanation affords a key to a good many cases of functional disorder.
Many people in the course of occult meditative practices obtain control of the automatic mind which controls the functioning of the bodily organs.
It may be recalled that the famous scientist, Sir Francis Galton, the founder of the science of eugenics, experimented with mental control of respiration, and having obtained it, found that the automatic function had fallen into abeyance, and he had to spend three anxious days breathing by will power and voluntary attention until the automatic function was re-established.
In this particular case, however, there was more than disturbance of function, there was this peculiar and very marked chronic exhaustion.
I formed the opinion that a rapport still existed between her and the Thibetan Order of which she had been an initiate in her previous life.
As is well known to occultists, one returns life after life to the Order of which one is an initiate, the rapport being a very strong one.
This is one of the reasons why the great Mystery Schools have no need to make themselves known by advertising, they know their own, and pick them up on the astral plane.
But while it is an invaluable thing to be under the aegis of a reputable Order, it is an exceedingly unpleasant thing to stand in a similar relationship to a disreputable Order.
In this particular case it was my opinion that the Order to which this lady had belonged in her previous life had sunk to a very low ebb indeed, and its leaders were deliberately drawing upon the vitality of its members.
Acting upon this hypothesis, I projected myself astrally in the way I have already described, and visited this lady at night.
I perceived that from her solar plexus as she lay asleep there stretched a black, elastic, stringy-looking substance that resembled nothing so much as a stick of Spanish liquorice that has been well chewed by a small boy.
This went off into space.
Upon trying to see its further end I had a brief and far-off vision of a monastery with a Chinese type of roof perched on a crag among vast mountains.
I tackled the situation by the simple expedient of passing in my astral body athwart the line of black substance, thus breaking it.
It immediately transferred itself to my solar plexus, and for a moment I felt a surge of tempting thoughts urging me to get this woman under my thumb and exploit her to her full financial capacity.
I cast these out, and “went for” the rope of astral liquorice in the manner I have described, casting it off and searing the stump, and had the satisfaction of seeing it curl up and disappear into the darkness.
I then fell into what I considered a well-earned sleep.
I had told this lady nothing of my ideas because I wanted to see whether I could clear up the case by working solely on the occult hypothesis without any admixture of suggestion.
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 narrator projects astrally and perceives a black substance connecting the subject to a distant monastery, implying an astral medium or plane of operation.
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 narrator explicitly describes projecting himself astrally to visit the lady at night and severing a cord connected to her solar plexus.
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 narrator performs a ritualistic severing of an astral cord to remove an affliction (vitality drain) from the subject.
The ritual admission of an individual into esoteric knowledge or a sacred order through a formal rite of passage — testing, ordeal, or ceremony — marking a definite before/after threshold in the initiate's status and access. Distinct from hidden_sayings (the doctrine being concealed, not the rite of admission to it) and esoteric_lineage (the historical chain of transmission across generations, not a single individual's admission).
The text details the subject's initiation into a Tibetan Order in a past life and the enduring rapport that results from such initiation.
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 narrator uses will to project astrally, break the cord, and cast off the transferred temptation, demonstrating volition as a magical instrument.
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 mentions 'occult meditative practices' used to obtain control of the automatic mind and bodily functions.
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 text describes a disreputable Order deliberately drawing upon the vitality of its members, causing chronic exhaustion in the subject.
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 passage refers to 'Mystery Schools' and 'Orders' that maintain esoteric knowledge and pick up their own on the astral plane without advertising.