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Psychic Self-Defence (Dion Fortune) · 123 of 129

20. Methods Of Defence IV-c

It should be invoked in every operation of psychic self-defence where any human element, incarnate or discarnate, is concerned. Where non-human elements, such as elementals, thought-forms, or the Qlippoth, have to be dealt with, it is the power of God the Father, as Creator of the universe, that is invoked, His supremacy over all the kingdoms of nature, visible and invisible, being affirmed. God the Holy Ghost is the force that is employed in initiations, and it should not be invoked during times of psychic difficulty, as its influence will tend to intensify the condition and render the Veil yet thinner. There is a very curious aspect of the occult field concerning which something must be said in the present pages, though not a great deal can be revealed, and, to be frank, I do not know a great deal about it myself, but only such aspects as I have actually come across. I have always heard it called the Occult Police; others may know it by different names but I believe it to be a very real and concrete thing, though its organisation is not upon the physical plane, nor, so far as I know, are its mundane activities gathered up into any single pair of hands. I have crossed its trail upon a number of occasions, and played my part in its activities, and I have talked with others who have also been concerned in it, and they have always said as I do, that it is the inner voice and circumstances alone that direct our activities when we co-operate with this mysterious organisation. I think myself that it is organised in national units, for people seem to go in and out of jurisdictions, or to be passed on from one to another. In my experience it has no particular political bias, but concerns itself solely with occult methods applied to criminal ends and offences against society. One or two illustrative cases may help to make the matter clear. Some complications arose at one time over an Indian occultist who was visiting this country in order to found a school. He was deeply involved in the politics of his own country, and there could be no doubt about it that he disliked the English and all their ways very much indeed. I think that I was the only pure-blooded Anglo-Saxon who was in touch with him. As far as I know, he did not concern himself with mundane plane political activities, his idea being to organise a meditation group which should pour the regenerative spiritual force of the East into the group- soul of the British Empire, which he declared was in a very bad way indeed. I maintained, however, that the group-soul was not dying, as he held, but very tired, for it was immediately after the War. Moreover, I could not see how any body who disliked it so very much was going to be able to regenerate it. Nor was I sure that the regeneration was going to be to our taste if we were to get it. This man, whom I will call X., was of an intense spiritual pride, and his root-idea was that England must acknowledge the spiritual supremacy of India and take her spiritual inspiration from the East. I was young and inexperienced at the time, but I began to ask myself what manner of spiritual force was going to be poured in through the channel we were constructing. Sup posing during the War a group of English Occultists had tried to perform a similar service for Germany, what line would they have taken? Would they not have tried to influence the German group-mind to give up its militarist ideals and concentrate on the League of Nations? Was it not more than likely that our Indian friend was trying to disabuse us of our Imperialistic tendencies? Would it not appear to him, smarting as he was under the race prejudice of the white man, that the world would be a much better place for humanity if the English cultivated their own garden and let other people alone?
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Themes
Living Godtheology

The divine conceived as active, present, and dynamic—not an abstract principle but a personal responsive reality.

God is described as an active power ('force that is employed') rather than an abstract principle.

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Meditationpraxis

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 case study mentions an Indian occultist organizing a 'meditation group'.

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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 is explicitly titled 'Psychic Self-Defence' and details methods for protecting against occult methods applied to criminal ends and offences against society.

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Sacred Namestheology

Divine names or formulas that carry ontological power, used in prayer, liturgy, or magical practice.

The passage instructs on invoking specific divine names (God the Father) for magical effect.

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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 describes the 'Occult Police' as a mysterious organization with national units and jurisdictions that deals with occult methods applied to criminal ends.

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Trinitytheology

The doctrine that the one Godhead or first principle subsists as three co-equal aspects or persons rather than a bare unity — the Christian Father/Son/Holy Ghost invoked in the recurring liturgical formula 'In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost,' but structurally the same pattern as the Egyptian Amen/Ptah/Osiris, the Hindu Brahma/Vishnu/Siva, and the Kabbalistic Chochmah/Binah/Kether triads that esoteric writers explicitly map onto it as instances of one universal law. Distinct from unity_of_being (the general claim that all existence is one substance, agnostic about internal plurality) and divine_simplicity (God as having no parts or divisions at all) in asserting a definite three-aspected differentiation within a single divine essence.

The passage explicitly distinguishes between invoking God the Father and God the Holy Ghost in different magical contexts, reflecting a Trinitarian framework.

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Related passages · 8 parallels
theosophy|The Secret Doctrine|Page 49 (part 1)
The Secret Doctrine by H. P. Blavatsky -- Vol. 1 [[Vol. 1, Page]] 668 THE SECRET DOCTRINE. [[This page continued from previous section ]] XVIII. SUMMARY OF THE MUTUAL POSITION. T HE reader has had the whole case presented to him from…”
Shared concept: Trinity — The doctrine that the one Godhead or first principle subsists as three co-equal aspects or persons rather than a bare unity — the Christian Father/Son/Holy Ghost invoked in the recurring liturgical formula 'In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost,' but structurally the same pattern as the Egyptian Amen/Ptah/Osiris, the Hindu Brahma/Vishnu/Siva, and the Kabbalistic Chochmah/Binah/Kether triads that esoteric writers explicitly map onto it as instances of one universal law. (derived)
theosophy|The Secret Doctrine|Page 14 (part 4)
I am merged in Sekten." This last sentence gives the corroboration of, and repeats the doctrine of, esoteric Buddhism, for it alludes directly to the fifth principle (Manas), or the most spiritual part of its essence rather, which merges in…”
Shared concept: Trinity — The doctrine that the one Godhead or first principle subsists as three co-equal aspects or persons rather than a bare unity — the Christian Father/Son/Holy Ghost invoked in the recurring liturgical formula 'In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost,' but structurally the same pattern as the Egyptian Amen/Ptah/Osiris, the Hindu Brahma/Vishnu/Siva, and the Kabbalistic Chochmah/Binah/Kether triads that esoteric writers explicitly map onto it as instances of one universal law. (derived)
egyptian|The Egyptian Heaven and Hell|Chapter 6 (part 5)
The Rubric had, in fact, so far back as B.C. 2600, become a traditional magical formula of a most powerful character, and it must have been composed at the time when the abode of the blessed was supposed to resemble the "great field" in wh…”
Shared concept: Sacred Names — Divine names or formulas that carry ontological power, used in prayer, liturgy, or magical practice. (derived)
christian_mysticism|The Life and Doctrines of Jacob Boehme|Chapter 2 (part 3)
This other will is the sensitivity and conceivability of the primordial will, by means of which that which is nothing finds itself to be something. By so doing the inconceivable causeless will issues by means of that which it has eternally…”
Shared concept: Living God — The divine conceived as active, present, and dynamic—not an abstract principle but a personal responsive reality. (derived)
christian_mysticism|Pseudo-Dionysius: The Divine Names|Chapter 4, Section 1k
and all things are moved by a longing for the Beautiful and Good, to accomplish every outward work and form every act of will. And true reasoning will also dare to affirm that even the Creator of all things Himself yearneth after all thing…”
Shared concept: Living God — The divine conceived as active, present, and dynamic—not an abstract principle but a personal responsive reality. (derived)
neoplatonism|Iamblichus: On the Mysteries|Chapter XIX
But neither does the cause [of the energies] of more excellent natures subsist as a certain middle instrument, nor does he who invokes operate through him who prophesies; for to assert these things is impious. And it is much more true to sa…”
Shared concept: Living God — The divine conceived as active, present, and dynamic—not an abstract principle but a personal responsive reality. (derived)
hinduism|Yoga Sutras of Patanjali, Book III|Sutra 7
This threefold power, of Attention, Meditation, Contemplation, is more interior than the means of growth previously described. Very naturally so; because the means of growth previously described were concerned with the extrication of the sp…”
Shared concept: Meditation — Disciplined inward attention — sitting, focused, or open-awareness practice — as a stand-alone term that umbrellas active_contemplation, inner_silence, and dhyana-style sitting. (derived)
hinduism|Yoga Sutras of Patanjali, Book III|Sutra 3
When the perceiving consciousness in this meditative is wholly given to illuminating the essential meaning of the object contemplated, and is freed from the sense of separateness and personality, this is contemplation (samadhi). Let us revi…”
Shared concept: Meditation — Disciplined inward attention — sitting, focused, or open-awareness practice — as a stand-alone term that umbrellas active_contemplation, inner_silence, and dhyana-style sitting. (derived)