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Psychic Self-Defence (Dion Fortune) · 120 of 129

19. Methods Of Defence III-f

Next morning I visited her to see how she was getting on, and found her sitting up in bed eating a hearty breakfast and looking an entirely different woman to the grey-faced, exhausted creature I had seen the day before. Without waiting for any enquiry from me, she said, “I don’t know what has been done, but I feel as if something has been broken and I am free.” After breakfast she got up, went for a stroll, and met the doctor who was attending her in the street. So great was the change in her appearance that he failed to recognise her until she spoke to him. I told her that in my opinion she ought to have nothing whatever to do with occult studies lest she re-form the magnetic link with her old Order, and also taught her how to prevent her subconscious mind from giving disruptive suggestions to her bodily systems of functional control. For some years she remained in good health, but later, unfortunately, took up the study of occultism again and relapsed into a condition approximating to her previous one, having presumably re-forged the contacts with the Thibetan Brotherhood which had proved so disastrous to her.
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Themes
Astral Lightcosmology

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 describes a 'magnetic link' and the transmission of disruptive suggestions from the subconscious or external orders affecting the physical body, which aligns with the function of the Astral Light as a medium for occult influence.

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Psychic Attackpraxis

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 details a case of psychic affliction (exhaustion, grey-faced) caused by occult contacts and the subsequent defence/healing to break the link, which is the central theme of the book and this specific narrative.

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Secret Societiessoteriology

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 explicitly references an 'old Order' and a 'Thibetan Brotherhood' as organized groups maintaining esoteric knowledge or practices that can form magnetic links with individuals.

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Related passages · 2 parallels
theosophy|The Secret Doctrine|Page 13 (part 3)
It is already the outline of the two "Supremes" -- God and Satan. But in the Stanzas no such idea exists. Most of the Western Christian Kabalists -- pre-eminently Eliphas Levi -- in their desire to reconcile the Occult Sciences with Churc…”
Shared concept: Astral Light — 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. (derived)
theosophy|The Secret Doctrine|Page 6 (part 3)
The Lotus thus typifies the life of man and also that of the Kosmos; for the Secret Doctrine teaches that the elements of both are the same, and that both are developing in the same direction. The root of the Lotus sunk in the mud represen…”
Shared concept: Astral Light — 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. (derived)