Laws of Psychic Attraction : Part 5

Clairvoyance and Occult Powers
By Swami Panchadasi

(Page 23 of 24)

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 people 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 therefore 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 have come upon me." The moral of this is, of course, that people 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 people 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 people 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 therefore 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 therefore 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.