Negative Evil is the thrust-block of Good; the principle
of resistance, of inertia, that enables Good to "get a purchase."
But Negative Evil is more than this. We might call the principle of
resistance
the "negative~~
aspect of Negative Evil. For it has also a "positives' aspect, the
Principle of Destruction.
We can best explain the cosmic function of the Principle of Destruction
by calling it by its esoteric name of the Scavenger of the Gods. Its
function is to clear up behind the advancing tide of evolution, removing
that which has become effete so that it may not choke and clog evolving
life.
We now find the answer to the eternal riddle as to why God tolerates the
Devil. The Devil is the cosmic thrust-block and Scavenger of the Gods.
It is this aspect of evil which is given a more detailed symbolism in
the pantheons of other faiths, having its Shiva and Kali, or its Pluto
and Hecate aspects. We can now see why these resistive and destructive
forces are classed as gods and not as demons, for they are reactions
according to cosmic law, not anarchical and chaotic forces.
We now come to the consideration of Positive Evil. This
again has a "negative's and "positive's aspect. Its "negative's aspect
is pure chaos, unformed substance and unco-ordinated force. It has been
aptly called the Cosmic Abortion. To drift into the sphere of "negative"
Positive Evil is like being caught in a psychic quicksand.
We are now ready to consider the sphere of "positive"
Positive Evil, the demons themselves, or the Qlippoth, as they are
called in the Qabalah. In order to understand their significance we must
make a further excursion into Qabalistic philosophy.
The Creator is conceived of as bringing the universe into
manifestation through a series of Divine Emanations, ten in number.
These are called the Ten Holy Sephiroth, and are represented in a
diagram as arranged in a particular pattern. This is the famous Tree of
Life, the key to all symbolism.
The Sephiroth were not emanated independently, each from the Divine
Source; but overflowed, the one from the other. As soon as one Sephira
has emanated another, these two are said to be in equilibrium,
compensating each other. But there is a period during the emanation of a
Sephira when the force is not yet in equilibrium, but is pushing out
unsupported, like an incomplete arch. It is the uncompensated force
emanated during this epoch of unbalance, and never subsequently absorbed
after the establishment of the new sphere, which constitutes Positive
Evil. There are, therefore, ten kinds of Positive Evil, just as there
are ten Divine Emanations.
To these spheres go, according to their kind, all the evil
imaginings of the heart of man that are not neutralised by repentance or
compensated by the overplus of good in other members of the same
group-soul. There is a deep occult doctrine here which we cannot enter
upon now; it must suffice to state it dogmatically in explanation of the
Qabalistic conception of the Qlippoth. When we consider all that must
have been poured into these ten sinks of iniquity since the days of
Atlantean Magic, through the decadence of
Babylon and Rome, down to the Great War, we can guess what rises up from
them when their seals are broken.
Not only do influences emanate from them which tempt and corrupt souls,
each according to its susceptibility, but time has served for the
formulation of evil intelligences. These probably originated through the
workings of Black Magic, which took the essential evil essence and
organised it for purposes of its own. The beings thus formulated assumed
an independent existence, developed, and multiplied their kind. They
appear as dreams and hallucinations, and may produce a considerable
degree of objective phenomena, such as noise, deposit of slime or blood,
balls of light, and, above all, stenches of an amazing pungency.
The Ten Divine Emanations are personified as Archangels, and the Ten
Infernal Emanations are personified as Archdemons. It is these which
are the Names of Power in Magic. Each Sephira, then, has its obverse
side in the corresponding Qlippottic demon. The initiated adept always
gains control over the demonic force before he attempts to utilise the
angelic force which, by the appropriated means, can be contacted in each
Sephira. If he does not do so, he contacts them both simultaneously.
Moreover, the planets, the elements and the Signs of the Zodiac are all
intimately connected with the Sephiroth, being arranged upon the Tree of
Life in a pattern known only to initiates.
The initiated adept is exceedingly careful what he does
when he is working with these potencies because he knows that he has
always got the Qlippoth in the background. The uninitiated occultist
goes ahead gaily, juggling with such Names of Power as he has picked up
from the innumerable books on the subject now available for the general
reader, thinking that if he does not invoke the demons he will not get
them. He forgets that every planet is a Jekyll and Hyde. Consequently,
ceremonial magic has got a bad name owing to the unpleasant frequency of
untoward results, just as surgery got a bad name before the days of
Lister. It is the imperfect technique that is the trouble.
I
was once doing some experimental work with geomancy, which is a method
of divination belonging to the Element of Earth. Now all divinations,
when performed according to their esoteric formulae, always begin with
an evocation of the genius that presides over that particular operation.
The genii of geomancy are not of a very high type. I was imperfectly
familiar with the method, and was trying to set up my prick-figure on a
piece of paper instead of using a tray of wet sand as I should have
done. Things began to go wrong, and the room was filled with the most
terrible stench of drains. The appropriate banishing ritual was
immediately performed, and the air cleared; but there was not much doubt
about the objectivity of this phenomenon while it lasted.
A very interesting case is given in the
Occult Review
for December,
1929.
in a letter to the editor, signed H. Campell.
"Desiring some information which I could not get in any
ordinary way, I resorted to the System of Abra Melin, and to this end
prepared a copy of the necessary Talisman, perfecting it to the best of
my ability with my little stock of knowledge. The ritual performed, I
proceeded to clear my 'place of working.' A little knowledge is a
dangerous thing; my ritual was imperfect and I only rendered the
Talisman useless without in any way impairing the activities of the
entity invoked. This looks like nothing else than gross carelessness on
my part; and to a certain extent this is true - but the point I wish to
make is this, that my knowledge of this particular system, and therefore
my ritual, were imperfect; and in any case, I had been shown no method
of combating this particular entity when once aroused. Now note the
results.
"Unfortunately I have no account of the date when these
occurrences began, but the first hint of trouble must have come on or
about March 3, 1927.
I can guess the date with fair accuracy because, as I was to learn, the
manifestations were always strongest about the new moon, and after I had
gone to sleep. Upon this occasion I can remember waking up suddenly with
a vague feeling of terror oppressing me; yet it was no ordinary
nightmare terror, but an imposed emotion that could be thrown off by an
effort of the will. This passed almost as soon as I stood up, and I
thought no more about it.
"Again on April 2, or thereabouts, I was troubled by the
same feeling, but regarded it as nothing more than a severe nightmare,
though the fact that my sleep was distorted towards the time of the new
moon had occurred to me; while as full moon drew on, the nights were
peaceful again.
"The new moon of May I brought a recurrence of the trouble. This time
very much more powerful, and necessitating an almost intolerable effort
of will to cast if off. Also it was about this time that I first saw the
entity which was rapidly obsessing me. It was not altogether unlovely to
look at. Its eyes were closed and it was bearded, with long flowing
hair. It seemed a blind force slowly waking to activity.
"Now there are three points which I must make quite clear before I
proceed. In the first place, I was never attacked twice in the same
night. Secondly, when I speak of physical happenings, the smashing of
glass and voices, they were never, with one absolutely inexplicable
exception, actual, but pure obsessions; and this leads to the third
point. Not one of these incidents happened while I was asleep. Always I
found myself awake with the terror upon me and struggling violently to
cast off the spell. I have had nightmares before, but no nightmare that
I have ever had could hold my mind in its grip for minutes at a time as
this thing did, or send me plunging through a ten-foot-high window to
the ground below.
"The first indication I had that these visitations were
absolutely out of the ordinary course of events came on May
30.
About midnight I was suddenly awakened by a voice calling loudly, 'Look out,' and at once I became aware of a red
serpent coiling and uncoiling itself under my bed, and reaching out onto
the floor with its head. Just as it was about to
attack me I jumped through my window, and came to earth among the rose
bushes below, fortunately with no more damage done than a badly bruised
arm.
"After this there was absolute peace until June
30, when the real climax came. I had
seen the thing again on the night of the new moon, and had noticed
considerable changes in its appearance. Especially it seemed far more
active, while its long hair had changed into serpent heads. The night
after I was awakened by a violent noise and jumped out of bed. I then
saw the noise was caused by a great red obelisk which crashed through
the west wall of my room and leaned against the wall at the east end,
smashing both that and the window to pieces but missing my bed, which
was in an alcove to the left of its path. In its transit it had smashed
all the mirrors, and the floor and top of my bed were strewn with broken
glass and fragments of wood. This time the obsession must have lasted
some minutes, I dared not move for fear of cutting myself, and to reach
the matches - wherein, I knew, lay safety - I had to lean across the bed
and again risk the glass. Yet in my heart I knew that all this was
false, but had no power to move. I could only stand there, incapable,
looking at the shattered room in a state of hopeless terror.
"And now comes the most extraordinary part of the whole
business. When I had finally mastered the obsession, I went to bed again
dead tired, and I know that the only sound I made that night was jumping
to the floor, also my room is at least a hundred yards from the rest of
my family, yet next morning at breakfast I was asked what was the
terrible noise in my room during the night.
"After that I realised that the game was up. I had not taken these
occurrences lying down, but I knew that it was impossible for me to try
and control the force which I had set in motion. In desperation I turned
to a good friend, who, I was aware, knew much of these things. She did
not hesitate, but came at once to my assistance, and from that day to
the present the trouble has absolutely gone from me.
"Such is the case; and I only hope it may warn those who are
contemplating my folly to treat with the greatest of care any printed
systems of magic, and not to use them at all unless they have the
fullest control over the entities invoked."
Among the general public, who do not dabble in occultism, the results of
a magical mishap are never seen, and the only doctors who ever see them
are fellow-initiates who happen to be medical men, and they, naturally,
keep silence. The catastrophes are of varying degrees of severity,
ranging from a bad fright to a fatality.
I cannot say much upon these subjects, for they are among
the most secret paths of occult lore. Enough must be hinted, however, to
reveal what, under certain circumstances, may be experienced. I do not
think it in the least likely, however, that the Qlippotic demons will be
encountered save through the use of ceremonial magic. They are as rare
as anthrax in
England, but it is as well to know the manner of their manifestation so
that, when encountered, they may be recognised.
The great majority of dabblers in occultism are protected
by their own ineptitude. They fail to get results, and consequently come
to no harm; but if they should succeed in getting results they would
find that they had their hands full. The serious student, unless he is
working under skilled guidance, may also find himself in difficulties,
and for various reasons.
He may be insufficiently experienced in the operation he
has undertaken, for in magic theory is one thing and practice is
another. A student of occult science will often take a formula out of a
book and
try to use it. He ~night just
as well study the instructions in a book on surgery and try to operate.
Most formula are incomplete, there is always unwritten work. Some of the
"barbarous names of evocation" which the uninitiated use as Words of
Power, are really the initial letters of a mantric sentence or formula.
I came across an invocation once in which the Word of Power was Tegatoo.
On investigation this turned out to be the battered remains of The Great
Architect Of The Universe.
Even an experienced occultist may get into difficulties if he attempts
magical work when he is in bad health, over-tired, or has had even a
moderate amount of alcohol, for very little is too much when the
Invisible Forces are being handled. Equally does this apply to each of
his assistants. A chain is no stronger than its weakest link, and if one
of the team cannot handle the forces, everybody is going to suffer. A
ritual lodge is no place for the well- meaning ineffectual.
There is an immense amount of dabbling in occultism going
on today. Most of it is innocuous because it is totally
ineffective; but there is never any knowing when one is
going to strike a live wire. Take, for instance, the advertisers in
various occult papers who offer to supply "charms that work." One of two
things is certain. Either they do not work at all, in which case one is
wasting one's money on them; or they work by means of some power with
which they have been charged. What is the nature of that power, and did
the persons who made the charm or talisman really know what they were
about? Did they take the precaution to bind the baser aspect before
magnetising with the higher aspect? These are the elementary precautions
of the practical occultist who has been properly trained. Did the maker
of the talisman know them?
Again, one buys second-hand books on magic. Who was the
previous owner and for what purposes were these books used? Or one buys
a new book which has been brought out by some occult school for
propaganda purposes. These books are often magnetised before they are
sent out, and so form a magnetic link between the purchaser and the
Order which caused them to be issued.
Or someone may join a group who has previously been
associated with another occult group whose contacts were debased. Unless
the proper precautions are taken, that person will bring the psychic
contagion in with him, and his fellow-members may have unpleasant
experiences.
I well remember it being said to me by an occultist of
great experience that two things are necessary for safety in occultism,
right motives and right associates. We lull ourselves into a false
security if we believe that good intentions are sufficient protection.
My advice to the would-be student is to invoke the Master to send him an
initiator, and to refuse to attempt any practical work until he is fully
satisfied that the initiator has been found.
I
cannot here enter into either the precautions to be taken against
untoward happenings in practical occult work, nor the remedies to apply
if they take place; I will merely indicate the signs by which such an
eventuality may be recognised. This is all that can be done, and all
that is necessary in a book of this type; the initiate knows what to do
without need of guidance from me; the non-initiate cannot do anything,
and must seek assistance. It is enough for him if he knows when such
assistance is needed.
If things go wrong in the course of a magical ceremonial, the power
"shorts," and someone, it may be the operator,
or it
may be the weakest person in the team, gets " knocked out " as if he had
received a punch from an invisible pugilist. When picked up, he will be
very dazed and badly shaken, and will certainly be some days, possibly
weeks, before he gets over it. He will be in a state of complete
prostration and considerable mental confusion, which will gradually wear
off. Unless there is some organic defect, such as hereditary mental
instability, a bad heart, or hardened arteries, there will be a complete
recovery, given time; but naturally it is a bad outlook should one of
these conditions be present, and those who have them should not take
part in occult experiments. Personally, I do not believe that the
invisible forces alone will ever actually cause the loss of life or
permanent disability in the absence of any physical lesion. The person
who goes out of his mind as the result of a psychic shock would have
gone out of his mind if he had been in a railway disaster or any other
drastic emotional experience.
Unless the psychic atmosphere indicates otherwise, it is not necessary
to do any banishings, or take precautions against obsession, because the
power has dispersed itself in the very act of inflicting the shock.
During my early days of occultism I developed my powers
very rapidly because I recovered the memories of previous incarnations
en bloc,
and with them the capacities
acquired in previous lives, and I shook myself up severely on numerous
occasions before I learnt the technique of handling the invisible
forces. I never experienced any permanent ill-effects from my mishaps,
though I admit that upon occasion I have been extricated by my friends
from a considerable amount of debris.
During the early days of my occult career a girl was
brought to me by a mutual friend, who told me that the mother of this
girl, an ardent student of occultism, seemed to have a terrible effect
upon her daughter. The mother was a widow, and mother and daughter lived
together under very comfortable material circumstances; but whenever the
girl made a friend, or showed any desire to leave home, the mother
performed extraordinary antics, coming to the daughter's room at night
and drawing signs in the air about her bed. The effect of all this upon
the girl was most peculiar. She felt unable to free herself from the
mental domination the mother had obtained over her, and she was wasting
away in a
most curious fashion. When I saw her, although able to get about, she
looked like nothing I have ever seen save a famine victim.
I
made a psychic investigation, and formed the opinion that the mother was
working by means of an entity of which she had obtained possession. How
this had been accomplished in the present instance, I do not know, but
such things are common in occultism. I determined to take on the case,
and to chase and, if possible, break up this artificial elemental. I was
away from the group I was accustomed to work with, but among people
keenly interested in occultism of every sort, size and description, and
I had no difficulty in picking up a team to help me with the
undertaking.
I had no qualms about the undertaking. A second-hand
elemental, directed by a woman with only a rule-of-thumb knowledge of
magic, did not appear to me to be a formidable opponent. I had seen a
good deal of practical occultism, had lent a hand at similar operations,
and possessed the necessary formulae. So I went round the town, asked
certain friends to lend a hand, and others to come and see the fun. To
be frank, our attitude was that of a party of small boys going ratting.
We met at the appointed time and place. Formed our circle, and went to
work. The method I meant to use made it necessary for me to leave my
body, and the group were really there to look after it while I was out
of it, and see it came to no harm. I got out on to the astral readily
enough, did my job, and returned, feeling very pleased with myself, for
it was the first time I had operated entirely on my own, without the
supervision by my teacher.
As I began to recover physical consciousness, which is just like coming
round from an anaesthetic, I had a sensation as of machinery running,
and felt as if I were lying on something very lumpy. I opened my eyes,
and saw some thing brown towering above me to an enormous height. As I
gathered my senses together, I discovered that I was lying on the floor,
close to the skirting, across the feet of an unfortunate man, who was
thus securely pinned against the wall, and it was he, shaking in his
shoes, that had felt to me like the vibration of machinery. Various
other members of the circle slowly and reluctantly reappeared from
behind the piano and sofa and other heavy articles of furniture. They
had seen some practical occultism for once in their lives, but they did
not appear to like it.
It appears that, after I had gone out and left them with my unconscious
body, they got a good deal of phenomena in the way of bells and voices
outside the circle. If they had kept quiet, it would have been quite all
right, but they lost their heads and scattered. Then, the circle being
broken, I began to perform antics, arching up on my head and my heels
and, in some way that has never been explained, arriving at the far side
of the room at the feet of one of the circle, which, of course, did not
improve matters.
Then an extraordinary thing happened. We were just gathering ourselves
together, thinking that everything was over, when a force of what nature
I have never known suddenly rushed round the circle, and one member
seemed to take the brunt of it. He went flying across the room and
landed, fortunately for him, face downwards in an arm-chair, and was ill
in bed for three weeks.
While all this was going on, the father of one of the
people taking part became uneasy about her, and walked across from where
he lived at the far side of the little town, to see what was happening.
Like most little country towns, this one usually went to bed early, but
he told us that as he came along he saw that innumerable windows were
lit up, and he heard the sounds of children crying all down the street.
When I think of the risks I took and the conditions under
which I worked in those early days, I wonder that I or any of my friends
are alive to tell the tale. It is said that there is a special
Providence to look after fools, drunkards and little children. I think
there must be another that looks after inexperienced occultists and
their friends.
It may be interesting to note that as a result of this
operation which I so rashly undertook, the girl was entirely freed from
the domination of her mother, and began forth with to put on flesh and
rapidly became normal. That end of it, at least, was entirely
successful.
Another very curious case is that referred to in the
Occult
Review of January, 1930.
"The mysterious death of a student of occultism, Miss N.
Fornario, is receiving the attention of the authorities at the present
time. Miss Fornario was found lying nude on the bleak hill-side in the
lonely island of Iona Round her neck was a cross secured by a silver
chain, and near at hand lay a large knife which had been used to cut a
large cross in the turf. On this cross her body was lying. A resident of
London, Miss Fornario seems to have made her way to lona for some
purpose connected with occultism. One of the servants at her house in
London
stating that a letter had been received saying she had a 'terrible case
of healing on.' One newspaper report alludes to 'mysterious stories on
the island about blue lights having been seen in the vicinity of where
her body was found, and there is also a story of a cloaked man.'
Occultists no less than the general public will await with interest any
disclosures that may be forth coming concerning this occurrence."
No disclosures ever were forthcoming, however, and
conjecture alone can work upon the case. One detail only can I add to
the brief but comprehensive report of the
Occult Review.
The body bore marks of scratches.
I
knew Miss Fornario intimately, and at one time we did a good deal of
work together, but some three years before her death we went our
separate ways and lost sight of each other. She was half Italian and
half English, of unusual intellectual calibre, and was especially
interested in the Green Ray elemental contacts; too much interested in
them for my peace of mind, and I became nervous and refused to
co-operate with her. I do not object to reasonable risks, in fact one
cannot expect to achieve anything worth while in life if one will not
take risks, but it appeared to me that "Mac," as we called her, was
going into very deep waters, even when I knew her, and that there was
certain to be trouble sooner or later.
She had evidently been on an astral expedition from which she never
returned. She was not a good subject for such experiments, for she
suffered from some defect of the pituitary body. Whether she was the
victim of a psychic attack, whether she merely stopped out on the astral
too long and her body, of poor vitality in any case, became chilled
lying thus exposed in mid-winter, or whether she slipped into one of the
elemental kingdoms that she loved, even as Swinburne swam out to sea,
who shall say? The information at our disposal is insufficient for an
opinion to be formed. The facts, however, cannot be questioned, and
remain to give sceptics food for thought.
It may be as well to say in concluding this chapter, that
when I speak of the experiments of ceremonial magic, I do not mean
ritual initiation. Now a ritual initiation is of course ceremonial
magic, and so, for the matter of that, are the sacraments of the Church.
But the occultist, using his terms perhaps somewhat loosely, does not
include the initiatory rituals when he speaks of ceremonial magic.
There are many varieties of initiatory ceremonies, but these are all
designed to work upon the soul of the candidate only. Ceremonial magic,
on the other hand, in the technical sense of the term, is designed to
work upon the soul of nature. The two operations, although there are
innumerable forms of each, are entirely different in type, and aim at,
and achieve, entirely different results.
There is a strong prejudice against ritual magic among
those interested in popular occultism owing to the strictures passed
upon it by Mme Blavatsky. Now Mine Blavatsky was trained in the
Eastern School and had very little, if any, practical acquaintance with
the inner aspect of Western Occultism, nor was she a master of its
methods. She spoke from an Eastern standpoint and judged Western
esoteric conditions by those she had seen in the East, where Tantric
magic has become depraved in the hands of Dugpas and similar sects.
In the dense and materialistic atmosphere of the West it
is exceedingly difficult to get any results worth mentioning without the
use of some form of ceremonial. Even the Theosophical Society, of which
she was the foundress, has unconsciously drifted into Western methods,
adopting the Catholic ceremonial and the Masonic initiations as side
chapels to its main temple, and the mixture is giving trouble. The "Back
to Blavatsky" movement within its ranks may be able to produce a much
purer ethical and metaphysical teaching, but I think we may safely
prophesy it will produce no practical results, in Europe at any rate.
Ought we to eschew ceremonial methods because occasionally, in inexpert
hands or under unsuitable conditions, they lead to disastrous results?
Ought we to eschew motor racing, or mountaineering, or flying, or
research into the nature of
radio-active substances? All these take their toll of life each year.
There is an unjustifiable risk which no level-headed person will run if
they can help it, and there is a justifiable risk which everybody must be
prepared to take who wants to
come out of the ruck. It is not every follower of the Inner Way who is
suitable for ceremonial work, just as it is not every individual who is fitted to handle the controls of
an aeroplane; but there are some people, both men and women, to whom a
spice of danger is a spur which brings out the mettle of their pasture,
and these will always be found in the van of great adventure.
