Clairvoyance and Occult Powers, William Walker Atkinson [best book clubs TXT] 📗

to that thing, and tended to attract it to him, and to be attracted toward it. She held that true wisdom consists in so managing our thoughts that we shall relate ourselves only to those things which we know to be desirable and beneficial to ourselves, and to avoid thinking of those which are harmful and detrimental to us. The student of this book will see how this practical Mental Scientist was really using the same principles that we have examined and become acquainted within this book, although she called them by another name, and explained them by another theory. At the bottom of all the teachings and theories you will always find the one same basic principle and universal law.

The advanced student of occultism knows that each and every one of us is really a creator of his own circumstances, environment and conditions, to a great extent. Each of us is able to so modify our mental activities as to bring about such changes in our environment and surroundings as to actually re-create them. The things accomplished by successful men are really but materializations of that which they have previously held in their mental vision. Everything is first created on the psychic plane, and then manifested in the physical world. All the great works of man, the great bridges, great buildings, tunnels, machinery, cities, railroads, canals, works of art, musical compositions, etc., first existed in the mind of their creators, and were then afterward materialized in physical form and shape. And, so you see we are proceeding with our work of mental creations whenever we think and make mental images. This, however, is no new teaching. It is as old as the race of mankind. Over twenty-five hundred years ago, Buddha said to his disciples: "All that we are is the result of what we have thought; it is founded on our thoughts; it is made up of our thoughts."

I would be telling you but half the story did I not warn you that strong Fear may play the part ordinarily filled by Desire in the production of the psychic phenomena of materialization of mental pictures. Strange as it may appear at first, a strong fear that a thing will come to pass will act much the same as a strong desire that the happening will occur. Consequently, many persons by continually dwelling upon the thing that they fear may happen to them, actually attract that thing to them, just as if they had actually desired and wished for it. I cannot go into occult technicalities in explaining this strange fact; but the gist of the secret may be said to consist in the fact that the person clearly and vividly pictures in his mind the thing that he fears may happen to him. He thus creates a strong mental-picture or image of it, which sets into forces the attractive power of psychic influence and draws the feared thing into material reality. As Job said: "The thing that I feared hath come upon me." The moral of this is, of course, that persons should learn to stamp out fear and mental images of things feared. Instead, they should make strong positive mental denials of the things that they may find themselves fearing. They should deny the reality of the feared thing, and assert positively their own superiority to the thing, and their power to overcome it.

A great religious cult has sprung into existence which makes a leading doctrine of this ability to materialize the things which one desires, and to deny out of existence undesirable things. Many persons who have witnessed the wonderful success of some of the followers of this cult or organization, have been puzzled to account for the same on scientific and rational grounds. A little understanding of fundamental occult and psychic principles, as given in these lessons, will show the "why and wherefore" of these strange and wonderful manifestations. In this connection you must remember that the combined thought of the thousands of persons composing this cult or organization undoubtedly gives additional psychic force to the mental affirmations and denials of the individual member thereof.

In past and present, and probably in future time, there have been many instances of magical procedures tending to bring about the results that we have herein seen to come about by reason of psychic influence, in some of its many phases. These magic procedures have usually been accompanied by incantations, ceremonies, strange rites, evocations, etc., which were supposed to have great virtue in bringing about desired results. But the true occultists now know that these ceremonies and rites were merely hopes to the imagination and aids to faith, and thus tended to bring about the psychic phenomena. There was no virtue in these ceremonies themselves, and the same results may be secured by simply following the procedure outlined in this book. The wonders of ancient magic have been reproduced by the modern occultists, without all the mumbo-jumbo of the past rites and ceremonies.

A gifted English writer upon the subject of the relation of mysticism and magic, sums up the gist of the principles of Magic as follows:

"The central doctrine of Magic may now be summed up thus:

"(1) That a supersensible and real cosmic medium exists, which interpenetrates, influences, and supports the tangible and apparent world, and is amenable to the categories both of meta-physics and of physics." [This of course is the astral plane, which is the container of the subtle form or framework of all that exists on the physical plane.]

"(2) That there is an established analogy and equilibrium between the real (and unseen) world, and the illusory manifestation that we call the world of sense." [By this of course is meant the correspondence and balance between the subtle form of things and the material manifestation thereof. Things created in the astral, tend to materialize on the physical plane. All creation proceeds from the astral to the physical.]

"(3) That this analogy may be discerned, and this equilibrium controlled, by the disciplined will of man, which thus becomes master of itself and of fate." [The essence of Will consists of strong desire accompanied by a clear mental picture of the thing desired, and held steady and firm by concentration.]

So you see by reference to the above very clear statement of the central doctrine of Magic, and my explanations thereof, that in these lessons you have been taught the very essence of the wonderful, mysterious ancient Magic, and its modern counterpart. As for the various rites and ceremonies, as I have said, these are mere symbols and aids to mental imaging and concentration. As an eminent occultist once said, "Ceremonies being but artificial methods of creating certain habits of the will, they cease to be necessary when these habits have become fixed." The master of occultism sees ceremonies, rites, and ritual as but the playthings of the kindergarten scholar—useful and important so far as they go, but serving merely to teach the scholar, sooner or later, that he may proceed without them.

In this chapter I have condensed enough information to fill a whole book. I trust that you will study it carefully, and not miss its main points.

LESSON XX.

PSYCHIC AND MAGNETIC HEALING

Probably no phase of psychic influence is more familiar to the average person of the Western world than is that of the healing of physical ills and conditions by means of psychic influence under one name or another. Great healing cults and organizations have been built up upon this basis, and the interest in the subject has taken on the form of a great popular movement.

As is natural in cases of this kind, there have been hundreds of theories advanced to account for the phenomena of psychic healing, and a still greater number of methods of treatments devised to carry out the principles of the theories. Ranging from the teaching of actual divine interposition and influence arising from certain forms of belief and practice, covering many intermediate stages, the theories even include a semi-materialistic hypothesis in which mind is considered as an attribute of matter, but having a magic influence over the forms of matter when properly applied. But it is worthy of note that no matter what the general or particular theory, or what the favored method of application, these healing schools or cults, as well as the independent practitioners, meet with a very fair degree of success and perform quite a number of cures.

Many of these Western advocates and practitioners of psychic healing practically hold that the whole system is of very recent discovery, and that it has nothing whatsoever to do with ordinary occult science. The occultists however are able to smile at these ideas and beliefs, for they not only recognize the general principles involved, but they also are aware that these principles, and their application, have been known to advanced occultists for thousands of years. I do not say this in any dispargement of the moderns schools of psychic healing, for I am in full sympathy with their great work; I merely mention the matter that the student may get the right historical perspective in considering this phase of psychic phenomena and influence.

So far as the methods of application are concerned, the true occultist recognizes that most of the methods and forms of treatment are but outward cloaks or disguises for the real psychic healing principle. The gist of the real methods is to be found in the principles of the application of psychic influence which I have presented to you in these lessons, viz: (1) Strong desire to make the cure; (2) clear mental image or picture of the desired condition as actually present in the patient at this time; and (3) concentration of the attention and mind of the healer, so as to bring to a focus to two preceding mental states. Here you have the real secret of psychic healing methods—the rest are all elaborations thereof, dressed up forms and ceremonies which affect the imagination, faith, belief and confidence of the patient, and thus make the healing process much easier. In fact, with the proper degree of faith and confidence on the part of the patient, there is but little need of a healer, for the patient may treat and cure himself. However, in most cases, the presence of the healer aids materially in arousing the fate and confidence of the patient, and hastens the cure.

Again, so far as the theories underlying the cures are concerned, occultists are able to reduce them all to a single working theory or principle, which includes all the rest. Brushing aside all technical details, and all attempts to trace back the healing process to the ultimate facts of the universe, I may say that the gist of the principle of all psychic healing is that of influencing the astral foundation of the various organs and parts, cells and centres, so as to make it proceed to manifest a more perfect physical counterpart. All psychic healing is really accomplished on the astral body first—then the physical body responds to the renewed activities of its astral counterpart. To get the real significance of this statement it is necessary for you to realize just what the astral body really is. This once grasped, the difficulties vanish, and you are able to form a clear conception of the entire matter and process.

The astral body is a precise counterpart of the physical body, its organs, its parts, its centres, and its cells. In fact, the astral body is the pattern upon which the physical body is materialized. The astral body is composed of an etheric substance of a very high rate of vibration. In one sense it may be considered as a very subtle form of matter—in another as a semi-materialized form of force or energy. It is finer and more subtle that the rarest vapors or gases known to science. And, yet, it has a strong degree of tenacity and cohesiveness that enables it to resist attacks