The Headwaters of Occultism

Dion Fortune

Where do occultists look as the source of their science? What are its classics, and when was its Golden Age? People are sometimes surprised that the occultist should take seriously the. scientific views of the ancients, concerning himself with ‘humours’ and all the jargon of alchemy. All such things, it is said, have been out-moded ever since the Renaissance; why waste time on such exploded superstitions?

The reason that the occultist seeks his inspiration in the remote past is because the nearer the source, the purer the stream. The wisdom of the initiates is not so much a body of doctrine that has been built up by experimental research, each worker handing on the fruits of his studies to his successors, as in large part a revelation received from sources other than those to which humanity normally has access. This revelation, once received, is developed and applied, but in its essence it is a gift to humanity brought by the Elder Brethren; it is, firstly, the garnered fruits of previous evolutions; secondly, it is the pioneer work of those who have gone on ahead of evolution; and thirdly, it is brought down from planes of existence which human consciousness cannot normally contact.

Out of these varying elements the body of doctrine called Esoteric Science has been elaborated and adapted to the needs of different ages and races. All its fundamental principles in the present age have been received as ‘the gifts of the Gods’, and it is only its practical applications that humanity has had to work out for itself. For a proper understanding of the Wisdom Tradition we must therefore know something of the means by which this gift of primordial wisdom was brought to mankind.

For a force to manifest on the planes of form, it has to be expressed through a form; otherwise there is no manifestation. The Christ Within functions when we realise, even momentarily, the perfect love which makes all things one, but for the Christ-force to function through the group-mind there has to be group realisation of Its nature, and therefore it is that we have the Christs of the Rays, and not one manifestation of an impersonal force for the whole universe and all evolution.

Each Ray manifests its force in a phase of evolution, and the positive and negative aspects of these Rays are the Lesser Days and Nights of Brahma. The Secret Wisdom tells us that the Rays come into action in turn, like the shining forth of beams from the One Light, and of their dawn and dusk the precession of the equinoxes is the cosmic clock. Each Ray works out a phase of evolution, and each phase of evolution recapitulates the work of its predecessors before it commences upon its own, and in order to expedite this task, the fruits of the previous evolution are brought to it by certain Entities who are known to the Secret Tradition as the ‘Seedbearers’. The Entities of each life-wave, having achieved equilibrium, are stabilised as co-ordinated systems of reactions; the Lords of Flame are the forerunners of the Devas of the Elements; the Lords of Form range from Building Elementals, to the Geometrising Consciousness who ‘Guide Arcturus with his sons’; and the Lords of Mind are the Laws of biology.

The Seedbearers who come at the beginning of each life-wave are drawn from the evolution immediately preceding, but as the Rays represent sub-cyclic activities which do not recapitulate but rather manifest forth a special aspect, the Seedbearers to the Rays are drawn from the previous life-wave which has a correspondence with the work to be carried out in that particular ray-phase of evolution. These Seedbearers are known to tradition as the Culture-Gods, and it will be noted that each of the ancient races had a tradition of a Divine Progenitor, or priest-emperor who gave it its culture.

This priest-emperor, being a perfected soul of a previous evolution, is immeasurably superior to the rudimentary consciousnesses to whom He comes, for, having completed His evolution, He is of the plane of God, and intuition, recognising this, invariably treats Him as a divinity because Divinity is made manifest in Him. He plants in the group-soul of the evolving race those archetypal ideas which are faculties; this process is analogous to that whereby the individuality transmits the fruits of its evolution to each successive personality in which it manifests. The civilisation thus inaugurated runs its course to the nadir of its material evolution, the point furthest out from God, metaphorically speaking; it is at this point that it has to turn about and come back on the evolutionary arc, and it is here that the Star Logos of Christ of the Ray comes to it upon the physical plane. Before His coming, the Ray is an outpouring of the Divine Life, governed by the laws evolved in previous evolutions, but the Star Logos says, ‘A new law give I unto you’.

The function of the Star Logos, incarnating as man, is two-fold; its exoteric aspect is to live the archetypal human life, the life that all men of that Ray will live when they have achieved perfection, and thereby to impress that standard of life and action of the group-mind, and so He is not only ‘Perfect God’, being Divinity made manifest, but he is also ‘Perfect Man’, or the archetypal ideal of humanity for that phase of evolution, and what He is during His brief earthly manifestation, all men must be when they are ‘made perfect even as our Father which is in heaven is perfect’.

The Christs of the Rays always manifest on the physical plane during the sub-cycles of the Ray which corresponds in number and colour with the Ray itself; thus, it was on the fourth subcycle of the Green Ray, in the fourth sub-race of the fourth root race, that the Manu Narada founded the Temple of the Sun in the City of the Golden Gates in lost Atlantis. The Manu Narada was a Lord of Mind, for the Atlanteans were evolving the conscious mind.

It was in the same way that the archetypal ideas were brought to mankind by the Manu Melchizedek, who was a Lord of Form, and to this school it is that the most ancient initiations of our present race are traceable, and therefore it is that the highest of our Initiates are referred to as ‘High Priests after the Order of Melchizedek’, that is to say, they trace back their spiritual lineage to an Atlantean initiation.

The Manu Melchizedec brought to His people, among other things, wheat, and the honeybee, as His symbols in the Mysteries indicate. Wheat is the staff of life to His peoples; and it is curious to note that all wheat eaters are Christians, and where wheat will not grow, Christianity will not spread; and that from the fermentation of sugar is derived alcohol.

Now alcohol, whatever may be said of its modern abuse, was originally the Western Equivalent of the Soma Juice, the means whereby the brain was enabled to respond to the vibrations of abstract mentation, which it is the function of this root race to develop, just as the Atlanteans developed the concrete mind and bequeathed it to us. Drunkenness is really
black magic, the use of occult knowledge for personal ends, and is the characteristic evil of Europe; and what alcohol was to this sub-race, the knowledge of the function and manipulation of the endocrine glands will be to the next sub-race. This knowledge has long been the secret of the initiates, and forms the basis of the Yogi-breathing systems, but exoteric science is now re-discovering these truths on its own account, and therein are contained the seeds of destruction.

It must not be thought, however, that because the Manu of the Ray functions as a Priest-King at its inception, and the Star Logos of a Ray as its Christ in the sub-cycle that corresponds in its number to the number of the Ray, that humanity is ever left without guidance. Each subcycle of a Ray, each sub-race of humanity, has its Great One, but these are not of the grade of the Star Logoi who are the perfected Humanity of previous evolutions, but They are the perfected humanity of the previous sub-race which corresponds in number to the sub-cycle of the Ray on which They are working. These entities may be distinguished from the true Star Logoi by the fact that of the Christs it is always recorded that They manifested through Virgin Birth and died the sacrificial death, and in this there is a deep occult significance.

It may not unreasonably be asked; how can the foregoing statements be verified? No one who has developed rational consciousness can be justifiably asked to accept any statement on faith, and therefore, as obliged by the laws of his nature, he demands evidence. The evidence in these matters is based on the law of correspondences. ‘As above, so below’. What is true of the microcosm, man, is true of the macrocosm; and what is true of man is true of the amoeba, and what is true of the amoeba is true of the macrocosm. Unless the findings of a psychic fit in with the Cosmic system they cannot be considered accurate. Therefore, it is that the psychic who is not also an initiate is at a grave disadvantage, for he can never compare his measure with the Great Pyramid.

There are no exceptions in the Cosmic Law; neither do the systems of the different occult schools vary when understood in their purity, and it will be found that the scheme set forth in the preceding pages, though derived from the Western Tradition, in no way conflicts with the scheme which Mme Blavatsky outlines in the ‘Secret Doctrine’, and which she received from the Eastern Tradition.

Sound and its Power

Dion Fortune

In sound and rhythm we have a thing that makes an immediate and profound emotional appeal, irrespective of culture or conditioning, and which has the unique power of appealing to the subconscious; conscious, and super-conscious mind simultaneously, and therefore forms the most effectual method we possess of uniting them.

The power of music to stir emotion is too well known to need either stress or analysis, and I will content myself with dealing with the technical use of sound in magic. A good deal has already been written on this subject by Theosophical writers, under the heading of Mantra; but as with so much of the Neo-theosophical writings of the Leadbeater school, it is dogmatic and superstitious, rightly describing phenomena, but rashly interpreting them. For my part, I propose to do more description than interpretation, for we do not know in precisely what manner the results are obtained; at least, I do not, and I suspect even the glibbest of my contemporaries to be in the same boat.

Let us commence our study by classifying the different kinds of sound that are used for magical purposes. These are four in number – rhythm, pitch, vowel-sounds, and consonantal sounds, but the two former can also be rendered instrumentally as well as vocally.

In inducing emotional states, rhythm, in my experience, has far greater power than pitch. This may not apply strictly to those who are naturally musical, and who have cultivated their sensibilities, but for the average person, and for primitive peoples, I think that my dictum will be found to apply. It is easier to endure a steady noise than an intermittent one; and even the daylong hooting of cars at a cross-road is less trying than a barrel-organist who settles down under one’s window.

Primitive peoples have a music which is pure percussion and nothing else, such as tom-tomming, and its effect on the European is truly devastating, showing that even in the most cultured of us there is something that reacts to rhythm, for the reaction of rage is just as much a tribute to its power as is pleasure. Folk not quite so primitive have a very lovely bell and gong music, in which rhythm predominates but tune has begun. An effectual appeal to the primitive in the alleged civilised is made by a drum and fife band, and the League of Nations will never be able to rest on its laurels as long as decent citizens unconsciously keep step and boys run after the band. The decorous Victorian waltz is as surely a mating-call as the belling of stags, and had much the same effect on the gentle does; for deny it who will, a ball-room is the marriage mart of our tribe. In syncopation, borrowed from the negro, we get a return to the tom-tom motif, wherein rhythm, and the break in the rhythm, are the most important factors in the tune.

In syncopated dance-music we combine the belling and the tom-tomming, and its influence can be seen in modern manners and morals. It is interesting to note, however, that the tendency of sophisticated poetry as well as music – both rhythmical arts – is to discard rhythm; and the more sophisticated they are, the less rhythmical they are, and therefore the less they appeal to the popular taste and are limited for their audience to those who are ‘conditioned’ to their symbolism.

The part played by tone, pitch, and timbre is subtler, and it is a curious fact that there are sounds which speak effectually to the subconscious which consciousness does not reckon to be particularly pleasant, such as the nasal vocalisation of the crooner and the lamentable bleatings of a jazz band. These things, which sound as if something had gone wrong with the works of an orthodox orchestra – and syncopation, which sounds as if it were missing on one cylinder, are emotional irritants; and irritants, of which the homely cruet of condiments affords an example, are exceedingly valuable as stimulants, and the more jaded the palate, or the more monotonous the diet, the stronger it likes them, as instance the Anglo-Indian and his curries and the Mexican and his chillies. It is the jaded pleasure-palates of the rich and the monotonous emotional diet of the poor that drive them to jazz.

Very little attention is paid to the phonetics of vocal music, possibly for the good and excellent reason that one comparatively seldom has the opportunity to appreciate them, for vocalists give all their attention to the timbre of their vowel sounds, and regard consonants as difficulties to be overcome. In poetry, however, the subtle music of the consonants plays an important part, and in prose the good writer, while not making play with sounds for their own sake as does the poet, avoids repetitions of dissonances. If poetry were chanted, as it ought to be, instead of being recited as if it were prose, all these factors would immediately become apparent, and the different arts concerned would in consequence take on a finer edge. The old Welsh art of the chanting of poetry to a running accompaniment of harp-music, affords a very interesting example of the setting of music to words instead of the utilisation of words by music; for in song-writing, the words are simply a means of vocalisation; and although there is a point beyond which they may not outrage our sense of the ridiculous, that point is set a long way off. An interesting new art could be evolved, in which the music is used as a background to the chanted words, to emphasise their rhythm, and reinforce the imaginative response of the conscious mind by the instinctive response of the subconscious mind, thus attacking our emotions from two points.

All this excursion into the realms of music must not be treated as a digression from the subject of this chapter, which is alleged to be sound in relation to magic; it is, rather, a gathering together of the building materials upon the site; for if there is one thing above all others that I have striven to show in this, and my other writings, it is that the magical powers, which are but the practical application of occult knowledge, are neither hocus nor miracle, but depend upon the development of skill in the in the use of certain little-understood capacities of the human mind. The power of the mantra or chant is simply a specialised application of the well-known influence of music in general; it is music applied, not to pleasure, but to power, and has for its criterion psychology instead of aesthetics.

Having thus prepared our minds for a rational understanding of the matter instead of either scoffing or gaping, let us now consider exactly what is done when magicians get down to their rites. I have seen a very great many rites of widely different types, and I have observed that there are certain factors that bring power, and that when these are not utilised, the power generated is minimal; as soon as these are used, up goes the psychic pressure at once, and the two most potent are incense and chanting. In speaking of occult rituals, it must be understood that I refer to what they can be, and what they ought to be, and not what, alas, they so often are; for there are very few people in Europe who combine technical skill with an intelligent appreciation of first principles. However powerful a ritual may be, the power will not come through unless it is adequately worked. I have seen a ritual wherein the chief officers arrived late, unpacked their robes from brown paper parcels in open lodge, collected the candidate from the stairs, where he had been put to sit in a half-initiated state while this process was going on, and started off once more. I maintain that these conditions do not conduce to the best results. I also maintain, however, that a system which survives such handling must have something in it beyond autosuggestion.

Leaving aside these minor defects, which are due rather to the frailties common to human nature, than to any faults inherent in the occult system of illumination, let us consider what can be done with a ritual, and what is done under reasonably good working conditions.

The principles of all rituals are the same – first the sealing and then the dedication of the place of working, and then the invocation of the power. I do not propose to give instructions for the practical workings because, in the first place, they are useless in untrained hands, and in the second place, they can be dangerous to sensitives; in fact, anyone who is mediumistic can burn their fingers very badly in these matters unless working under experienced guidance. Nonpsychics obtain nothing if they experiment ignorantly with these things, and psychics may obtain more than they bargain for.

Inside this cleared and consecrated place the astral temple is then built by visualising it in the imagination, and the work of the imagination is aided by descriptive ritual setting forth the various incidents associated with the tradition of the personality, whether mythical or historical, that is to represent the cosmic potency to be invoked. For an example of such workings, attend the three hours’ service on a Good Friday in any Catholic or Anglo-catholic church. Note especially the hymns by which it is punctuated at intervals, which are not designed merely to relieve the cramped limbs of the congregation.

Various reforms have been introduced at various times into church music, and many a well intentioned cleric has tried to brighten his service with the help of new hymnals containing tunes to which the music-hall has nothing to teach, but for building the true mystical atmosphere the Gregorian chant with its curious barless beat is unequalled. An interesting example of the Gregorian chant adapted to modern liturgical use is to be found in the processional hymn which is sung every Christmas-day in Westminster Abbey. Anything more impressive than this hymn, drawing near and dying away through the length of the great nave, I have never known.

In certain rites the chants form a very important part of the ceremony because by means of them emotional tension of both operators and onlookers is worked up until effective invocation becomes possible. Such chants are adapted to their purpose in a very special way; these are, in the words of the Eastern Tradition, mantric, that is to say, sound as well as sense plays a part in their influence. This, of course, is the case with all poetry, but in the case of the magical invocations certain psychological principles are involved, which we will now proceed to study. The appeal of ritual, as cannot too often be made clear, is to the subconscious mind, evoking it to visible and conscious appearance; and it is the subconsciousness, thus energised and directed, that is capable of the feats that are commonly ascribed to supernatural causes.

In appealing to the subconscious mind we must always remember that its consciousness is of a very simple and primitive type, and that for anything to sink into it and take effect, reiteration is necessary. Any ceremonial chant, therefore, to be effective, must be monotonous. But as the conscious mind rebels against monotony and withdraws its attention, the ideal chant, though consisting of a few very simple musical phrases, rises and falls by the simple expedient of the change of key; and because the subconscious mind is a primitive mind, the rhythm must be strongly marked, as it is in all folk-music.

The question of pitch is an important one. Modern music is built up around the pitch to which the pianoforte is tuned, which is popularly called concert pitch. Mantric music, however, builds up around the primitive pitch, which is half a tone lower than concert pitch, and consequently sounds abominably flat to cultured ears. It also rises and falls by quarter-tones. It can neither be played on the piano nor rendered in ordinary musical notation, and its effect is either to exasperate or fascinate according to temperament.

For its rendering the full singing voice is unsuitable; in fact, mantric music, played in the ordinary pitch and sung with the ordinary voice, is ineffectual; but rendered as it is meant to be renderedin the primitive manner, it is exceedingly potent for the induction of change of consciousness in both performers and listeners.

Reality and Appearance

Dion Fortune

There is a certain concept of occult science which it is absolutely necessary the student should clearly realise if any practical results are to be achieved. It concerns the true nature of the atomic substance of the universe, the bricks out of which all forms are built up on a framework of static force under the moulding pressure of kinetic force. In brief, it is the concept of noumenon and phenomenon – reality and appearance – the actual thing and the mental image of it held in the mind of some entity.

The only realities are cosmic beings, whether infinitely great, like the Great Entities, or infinitely minute, like the cosmic atoms. These are evolved out of pure movement as has already been described, and are really systems of stresses, simple or complex. The universes evolved by the Great Entities are nothing but thought-forms, images in the minds of their creators, and they have no existence apart from the mind conceiving them; which mind determines their nature by its concept of them. This concept, however, is not arbitrary, for the universe is the Logoidal idea of Itself, and, as the Logos evolved under the influences of the cosmic laws, this image must reproduce these laws as faithfully as a reflection in a mirror. Hence the Hermetic dictum – ‘As above so below.’ If the Logos were, by any inconceivable chance, to imagine an untrue image of itself, in that image, the co-ordinated stresses which are the framework of form, would not be fully balanced and compensating, and such a form would not hold together. As a Great Entity does not proceed to the construction of an objective thought-form till all its internal stresses have been adjusted, such an occurrence is impossible. We may, therefore, posit the fundamental and ultimate good of the universe, for, were not the Logoidal Law a law of perfect harmony, our universe would have shaken itself to pieces long ago by sheer friction!

Each new phase of evolution, however, goes through a period of stress when a new set of reacting forces are adjusting and compensating themselves into equilibrium. This is a time of stress and strain, but as the units undergoing this experience are indestructible, such a phase, looked at form the point of view of the Logos, is immaterial, though looked at form the point of view of the units, which have achieved consciousness but not control, it may be hell and the end of the world. Our feelings are in proportion to the range of our perceptions. To a limited consciousness, the stresses appear overwhelming, for it has no periphery of peace; but to an extended consciousness of cosmic scope, they appear but an incident, a passing sensation for such a consciousness contains so much beside them. The intensity of sensation is in proportion to the limitation of the consciousness.

In our universe there are but three types of reality to be reckoned with: The Logos Itself; the Cosmic Atoms, which are at the back of all substance, of whatever plane; and the Divine Sparks of Spirit in the innermost souls of spiritual beings, whatever their state of evolution. All else is but thought-forms, mental images, pictures held in the imagination of some spiritual being. Of these, the Logos and the Cosmic Atoms never abandon the cosmic state in order to participate in the life of the universe, but only project their thought-forms into it; but the Divine Sparks do actually put aside their cosmic consciousness and immerse themselves in the phenomenal universe, opening their consciousness to its sensations, and consequently closing it to cosmic awareness. They do this in order that they may go through in miniature in a universe the experiences which the Great Entities went through during the building up of a cosmos, experiences which are no longer available when once the cosmos is stabilised, and thus become in their turn Great Entities. This is a concept which will yield much to contemplation.

What mind has created, mind can influence. The substance of the universe being but the thought-form of the cosmic atoms, and the framework of its organisation being but the thought-form of the Logos, it follows that when the spiritual beings evolving in such a universe have achieved a state of development wherein the image-making and thought-directing mind comes into function, whether in the normal course of progress, or through the intensive culture of initiation, they, in proportion to their development, will be able to influence the phenomenal universe of thought-forms in which they find themselves. This fact, obvious when once it is pointed out, is the Key of Solomon.

This key unlocks the door of magic. Now it is well known that magic may be both white and black. How, then, is it that such knowledge is not much more freely abused than is known to be the case? And further, how is it that, if the above stated facts be indeed the Key of Solomon, that they can be thus freely put into the hand of the casual reader?

Firstly, all magical processes must proceed in accordance with the Logoidal Law if they are to succeed. If they proceed against it, not only the whole universe is thrown into the scale against them, but the cosmos itself. No part can hope to overbalance the whole any more than it can hope to contain the whole. Magic is but a speeding-up of the course of nature, just as initiation is but a speeding-up of the course of evolution.

If this be the case, then why should the processes of magic be guarded at all? Because all reaction has to proceed round a circle, and although the ultimate outcome of an unlawful cosmic act is self-destructive, much temporary disharmony is caused while the forces are making the necessary circuit before they return to destroy themselves. As the universe,
however, draws nearer to a state of equilibrium, the circuit of cause and effect grows smaller, so that reactions are speedier as evolution advances. Results now follow so quickly upon causes that there is not the same opportunity for disharmony if the laws of magic are broken. In fact, the universe has proceeded too far in its evolution and is too stabilised in its organisation to be any longer in danger from the machinations of the black magician. Man has reached a stage of development when his will and consciousness can co-operate with the Logoidal ideals, and it is therefore necessary that he should understand both these ideals and the powers that are inherent in his nature as a spiritual being. It is the power of the noumenal over the phenomenal which is the secret of magic. It is the power of the spiritual being over the creations of the created which is the wand of the magician. The tide of evolution is now flowing too strongly for any human will or mind, or any aggregation of wills and minds, to be able to dam that tide and send it into the reverse flow. Until, in 1875, the nadir of evolution, the deepest descent into matter, was safely overpast, there was a very real danger that retrograde souls might swing the universe into reverse, for at the nadir, the movement is overcome and the outgoing impulse is extended, and the pace has to slacken to a certain point before the momentum of its movement is overcome and the attraction of the centre can assert itself and draw the evolving life-wave back towards Spirit. This is the point where the Brethren of the Left-Hand Path are dangerous to humanity as a whole. Once that is overpast, they may be dangerous to individuals, but they are no longer dangerous to the Divine Plan.

It is because the danger-point is now safely overpast, that the Guardians of the Divine Wisdom, which makes men literally as Gods, have opened the gates of the temples. Hitherto, they only taught those rare individuals who were sufficiently in advance of their fellows to be ready for such teaching; now, humanity as a species has reached this point, and therefore humanity is being enlightened in order that it may enter into conscious co-operation with the Divine Plan; those individuals who turn to the Left-Hand Path being dealt with as individuals, but humanity as a whole no longer being denied opportunities on account of the risk from its recalcitrant units.

Such organisations as the Theosophical Society were permitted to give out the theory of esoteric science, and such movements as Christian Science were permitted to develop its elementary practice; but for the first fifty years of the new era, the two were not allowed to come together lest humanity, being insufficiently prepared, should eat of the fruits of the Tree of Knowledge and perish.

He that hath ears to hear, let him hear

Now, however, the time is arrived when humanity is being called upon to take up the burden of conscious evolution; the age of self-government has come, the time of suzerainty and tutelage is over. The Lords of Mind have gone to another sphere, and the Lords of Humanity, the perfected beings brought to their fullstature by initiation, must bring the human life-wave back up the planes and safe into its fold.

The Great Ones call for the co-operation of human souls in the task of shepherding their awakening brethren, and it is in order that co-operation may be forthcoming that thisteaching is given out. “He that hath ears to hear, let him hear” is written over the portal of the Temple now, and the gate stands open.