From time to time as occasion requires we warn students of the Rosicrucian Fellowship in our private individual letters not to attend spirit seances, hypnotic demonstrations, or places where incense is burned by dabblers in occultism. Black Magic is practiced both consciously and unconsciously to an extent that is almost unbelievable. “Malicious animal magnetism,” which is only another name for the Black Force, is responsible for more failures in business, loss of health, and unhappiness in homes than most people are aware of. Even the perpetrators of such outrages are, as said, often unconscious of what harm they have done. Therefore it seems expedient to devote a chapter to an explanation of some of the laws of magic, which are the same for the white as for the black. There is only one force, but it may be used for good or evil; and according to the motive behind it and the use that is made of it, it becomes either black or white.

It is a scientific axiom that “Ex nihil, nihil fit” (out of nothing nothing comes). There must be a seed be102fore there can be a flower, but where the first seed came from is something which science has failed to explain. The occultist knows that all things have come from arche, the infinite essence of chaos, used by God, the Grand Architect, for the building of our universe; and, given the nucleus of anything, the accomplished magician can draw upon the same essence for a further supply. Christ, for instance, had some loaves and some fishes; by means of that nucleus He drew upon the primordial essence of chaos for the rest needed in performing the miracle of feeding a multitude. A human magician whose power is not so high can more easily draw upon the things which have already materialized out of chaos. He may take flowers or fruit belonging to some one else, miles or hundreds of miles away, disintegrate them into their atomic constituents, transport them through the air, and cause them to assume their regular physical shape in the room where he is entertaining friends in order to amaze them. Such magic is grey at best, even if he sends sufficient of his coin to pay for what he has taken away; if he does not, it is Black Magic to thus rob another of his goods. Magic to be white must always be used unselfishly, and in addition, for a noble purpose—to save a fellow being suffering. The Christ, when He fed the multitude from chaos, gave as His reason that they had been with Him for several days, and if they had to journey back to their homes103 without physical food they would faint by the wayside and suffer privation.

God is the Grand Architect of the Universe and the Initiates of the White Schools are also arche-tektons, builders from the primordial essence in their beneficent work for humanity. These Invisible Helpers require a nucleus from the patient’s vital body, which is, as students of the Rosicrucian Fellowship know, given to them in the effluvia from the hand, which impregnates the paper when the patient makes application for help and healing. With this nucleus of the patient’s vital body they are able to draw upon virgin matter for whatever they need to restore health by building up and strengthening the organism.

The Black Magicians are despoilers, actuated by hatred and malice. They also need a nucleus for their nefarious operations, and this they obtain most easily from the vital body at spiritualistic or hypnotic seances, where the sitters relax, put themselves into a negative frame of mind, drop their jaws, and sink their individualities by other distinctly mediumistic practices. Even people who do not frequent such places are not immune, for there are certain products of the vital body which are ignorantly scattered by all and which may be used effectively by the Black Magicians. Chief in this category are the hair and finger nails. The Negroes in their voodoo magic use the placenta for similar evil purposes. One particularly evil man, whose practices were exposed a104 decade ago, obtained from boys the vital fluid which he used for his demoniac acts. Even so innocent a thing as a glass of water placed in close proximity to certain parts of the body of the prospective victim, while the Black Magician converses with him can be made to absorb a part of the victim’s vital body. This will give the Black Magician the requisite nucleus, or it may be obtained from a piece of the person’s clothing. The same invisible emanation contained in the garment, which guides the bloodhound upon the track of a certain person, will also guide the Magician, white or black, to the abode of that person and furnish the Magician with a key to the person’s system whereby the former may help or hurt according to his inclination.

But there are methods of protecting oneself from inimical influences, which we shall men............