Manual of Occultism

The Manual of Occultism book  intended to place the lay reader in possession of some of the principal methods of the occultists and mediums; and although nothing of a purely esoteric nature is divulged, it will nevertheless be found that everything necessary to an initial understanding and practice of the various occult arts is included in this work. It is within the author’s purpose to place so much information at the disposal of the student as will effectually debar him from any excuse of ignorance concerning the psychic powers latent in man and the verity of the occult sciences.

It is within the power of everybody to be convinced, and to convince others, while he who perseveres to the point of perfection in the exercise of his faculty may justly be dignified by the name of Adept. The Magi of ancient times were astrologers, diviners, and prophets all, and he who would aspire to their high degree must pursue their methods and live their life.

Introduction:

IT is not the authors of Manual of Occultism intention in these pages to attempt an exposition of the deeper arcana in connection with the various subjects treated of; but rather to place before the lay reader a number of methods by means of which he will be able to demonstrate to his own satisfaction, and that of others, that there is a deep substratum of truth in what is usually called ” Occultism,” and that the occult arts are sure and definite means of exploring them.

The ancient Hermetic philosophers were well aware of a certain subtile correspondence or analogy existing between the superior and inferior worlds, the world of causation and that of effects. They traced a connection between the noumenal and the phenomenal, between the mind of man and his bodily condition, between the spiritual and the natural. They affirmed all this in a trite axiom: As above, so below. This philosophy extended to concrete observations and became a science which they embodied in the Doctrine of Correspondences. The hieroglyphic writings of the Chinese, Egyptians, and Assyrians are the outcome of this science, portions of which are currently in our own thought and language.

Thus when we speak of commerce, the merchant and the market, we are going back to traditional knowledge which associated the “winged messenger” of the gods with the ship in full sail; the word merx (trade) being at the root of the name Mercury, and the symbol  the hieroglyph for all that the name imports.

We call the Sun “he” and the Moon “she,” tracing unconsciously a subtile correspondence between the day and the active male function in nature, and between the night and the passive female function. We speak of jovial men and infer their connection with the planet Jupiter; and all our destructive and hurtful ideas are embodied in such words as “to mar,” “martial,” “murder,” etc., linking them to their source in the root mama (to strike), because the destructive element in nature is represented in our system by the planet Mars.

This Doctrine of Correspondences is at the root of all occult interpretation. It is our human presentation of the Universal Law which binds the Microcosm to the Macrocosm as an effect to its antecedent cause. The mystic, the poet and the creative artist are all unconscious interpreters of this universal law. They have in some degree the universal sense by which their souls are rendered responsive to the pulsations of Nature’s own heartbeat.

The Sybil, the diviner, and the seer are in even closer touch with the Great Life, while they have less conscious enjoyment of that intimacy. Others there are who reach to the heart of things by clear and conscious intellection: understanding what they see, analyzing and interpreting what they feel. These are the Occultists, the true masters of the secret knowledge. Here it is perhaps necessary to mark the distinction which exists between occultism and mediumism, between the voluntary conscious effort of the trained intellect and the automatic functioning of the natural “sensitive,” in their respective relations to the occult world. The Occultist is one who intelligently and continuously applies himself to the understanding of the hidden forces in nature and to the laws of the interior world, to the end that he may consciously co-operate with nature and the spiritual intelligence in the production of effects of service to himself and to his fellow-beings.

This entails upon him a close study of the mystery and power of sound, number, colour, form; the psychological laws underlying all expression of faculty; the laws of sympathy and antipathy; the law of vibration; of spiritual and natural affinity; the law of periodicity, of cosmic energy, planetary action; occult correspondences, etc. To these labours, he must bring a natural gift of understanding, an unusual degree of patience and devotion, and a keen perception of natural facts.

The Medium, or natural sense, is one who holds himself in negative relations to the interior worlds and submits himself to the operation of influences proceeding from things and persons, as well as to that of discarnate intelligence. The medium cultivates an unusual degree of responsiveness to the environment and to the emanations (atomic, magnetic or psychic) and suggestions of other persons. The phenomena developed by this process of mediumism include automatism (temporary loss of control over the motor nerves), as in the phenomena of involuntary speech and automatic writing; hyperesthesia, as in the function of clairvoyance, clairaudience, psychometry, etc. ; trance, with its attendant phenomena of unconscious cerebration, obsession, and a variety of physical effects of a supernormal character.

In its highest manifestation, following upon the “crucifying of the flesh,” the subjugation of the passions, and a process of intense religious aspiration, mediumism is frequently followed by spiritual revelation and spontaneous prophecy. “But this sort cometh not but by fasting and prayer.” The various forms of divination to which recourse is had in so-called occult circles rest largely upon the exercise of a faculty which is compounded of occultism and mediumism. They are seen to employ the automatic faculty in conjunction with empirical knowledge of certain occult methods of interpretation.

Contents:

-PART I: THE OCCULT SCIENCES

• ASTROLOGY-SECTION I
  • THE ALPHABET, ETC
  • THE ASPECTS
  • THE SIGNS
  • THE HOUSES
• ASTROLOGY-SECTION II
  • MAKING A HOROSCOPE
  • FOREIGN HOROSCOPES
• ASTROLOGY-SECTION III
  • PERSONAL APPEARANCE.
  • THE CONSTITUTION
  • HEALTH
  • ACCIDENTS
  • THE FORTUNES
  • THE POSITION
  • THE OCCUPATION
  • MARRIAGE
  • PROGENY
  • TRAVELING
  • FRIENDS AND ENEMIES
  • KIND OF DEATH
• ASTROLOGY-SECTION IV
  • THE MEASURE OF TIME
  • EXAMPLE OF DIRECTIONS
  • SECONDARY DIRECTIONS
  • TRANSITS AND ECLIPSES, ETC
  • MUNDANE ASTROLOGY
  • VI OTHER METHODS
• PALMISTRY
  • TYPES OF HANDS
  • MOUNTS OR CUSHIONS
  • THE PHALANGES
  • THE LINES
  • NINE PRINCIPAL LINES
  • INCIDENTAL MARKS
• THAUMATURGIC ART
  • THE KABALA
  • THE CALCULATORY ART
  • OF EVIL SPIRITS
  • MAN’S SPIRITUAL FREEDOM
  • ON TALISMANS
  • NUMEROLOGY

– PART II: THE OCCULT ARTS

• • DIVINATION
  • THE TAROT
  • CARTOMANCY
  • VARIOUS METHODS
  • CRYSTAL-GAZING
  • PRELIMINARIES AND PRACTICE
  • VISIONS AND INTERPRETATIONS
  • SOME EXPERIENCES
  • GEOMANCY
  • CASTING AND JUDGING THE FIGURE
  • SYMBOLS IN THE TWELVE HOUSES
  • PSYCHOMETRY
  • DREAMS
  • SORTILEGEs