Dion
Fortune was definitely a product of her time – her language and approach
was very pre-1960s
counter-cultural revolution, and thus may seem a little archaic to us, but
she has some very good points in her book “Psychic
Self-Defence: A Study in Occult Pathology and Criminality” (my copy: The Aquarian Press, 1988, ISBN 0-85030-766-X).
Probably two of the main ones for me are:
- that psychic attack can be “accidental”, or unintentional, and occur for reasons that are not malicious;
- that the field of psychism attracts, at times, some unstable people, and thus it is necessary to check whether a psychic attack is real (objective) or the outcome of fantasy or internal flaws (e.g., attention seeking, or subjective). This is actually one of the aims of the “Divine Light test” that I was taught, but consideration of this can go further, if you are assessing whether someone else is experiencing psychic attack or … something else.
Ms Fortune’s path is not Wicca, Paganism,
New Age, or any of the other post-60s paths: it is Western
Mystery Tradition, and, as such, includes, for instance:
- a differentiation between Right Hand Path (“good”) and Left Hand Path (“not good”) – see here for more on this. Although this is much better than allocating colours (which has shades of racism), I prefer my descriptions of BPM for “good” and nonBPM for “not good” – or, at the very least, balanced positive (“good”) vs unbalanced (“not good”); and
- very fixed ideas about how Reality was and Spiritual Development should be. Some of those ideas – e.g., service, are, in my opinion, good – or, at the very least, worth some genuine reflection.
I have points of agreement and disagreement
with the content of this book.
For instance, I dispute Ms Fortune’s
statement that one needs to identify the method and/or source of a psychic
attack before being able to defend against it – that’s a bit like claiming one
has to know what caused a hole in a leaking ship before fixing it: in many
cases, you don’t need to know that, you just need to plug it. However, to
continue with the analogy, there are some times when you need to know what
caused said leak – for instance, if that was caused by the first outlying part
of a reef, you also need to change course … or, perhaps a better analogy, if
the leak has a very high pressure behind it, you need a plug that will resist
high pressure, rather than just normal hull depth pressures.
It seems to me that the “need” for
knowledge of details is something that is strongly emphasised in older western
mystery traditions: I suspect that could be based on their
view that energetic effects / magick is actually caused by various classes of
spirit, and thus one needs to know what spirit to conjure in order to defeat
the threat. My view, on the other hand, is that if one simply looks at the
energy at hand (or, if one cannot do that, the effect the energy is having), one
can deal directly with that, irrespective of the source. (This is probably a bit like the best way to defeat the “little green
men” type of threat that the Russians used in Crimea and eastern Ukraine:
historically similar events show
that it is best to go flat out against the little green men without worrying
about where they came from, or who is behind them.)
As a digression from what is in this book, I also dispute that one needs spirits to do
magick: humans are quite capable of doing that, which is perhaps what the
century of phenomena-based (also called
physical) mediumship
from mid-19th to mid-20th century was all about –
demonstrating human potential.
I consider there was probably too much
emphasis on telepathy and hypnosis when the author is considering psychic
attack (psychic energy potentially can have
a direct effect), although many modern
approaches to the topic fail to consider this aspect adequately (see also control).
I flat out disagree with the description of what happens at death (i.e., that there is some sort of split of
consciousness - my term).
I found Ms Fortune’s reference to “occult
police” an interesting idea, one that I will explore through meditation, as it
has similarities to what I’ve seen done by BPM Guides,
people’s Higher
Selves, and various hierarchies
and Deities, and I want to satisfy myself as to whether there is an actual
group identifiable as such, or whether that is the net impression created by
the list I just gave.
On the other hand, I found the tendency to use
“pathologies” (e.g., “The Pathology of
Non-Human Contact”) unhelpful, and consider that reflects (a) the poor
communication of what was considered to be “scientific” at that time –
particularly psychology as it was then
(and as it tends to still be, at times), and (b) the harshly judgemental
and confining nature of the society Ms Fortune had the misfortune to live in.
In fact, one of the reasons I recommend
reading this book is because it helps to give an insight into those times. On
the other hand, in modern times there is, perhaps, too strong a tendency to
overlook flaws of character as being acceptable on the basis of being inherent
to a person (or, perhaps, confusing inherent
worth, value and characteristics), whereas they should perhaps be changed.
The view on witchcraft is also narrow and
focused on one set of behaviours that neochristians and superstitious
folklorists have chosen, over the last couple of millennia, to label as witchcraft
is such a way that the word has become an epithet (in the nasty sense of that word’s meanings).
I am a witch, and proud of the good that I do.
I quibble with the differentiation between
thought form and “artificial elemental”, as I consider the latter, as described
in this book (which has NOTHING to do with the magickal elements or Nature
Spirits) are a subset of the former. On the other hand, I agree with the
comments about “residual psychic energy”.
The discussion on good and evil, whilst
very neochristian in its formation, has an interesting discernment between “negative
evil”, described as the Newtonian
(Third law) reaction to the force of “good”, and encompasses the beneficial
Principle of Destruction / Scavenger of the Gods (I wonder how that compares to Atropos?),
and “positive evil”, which ranges from chaos ( * SIGHS * ) to “the Qlippoth”.
There are also some common sense comments
about risk, non-psychic dangers of some groups (e.g., financial), and the
connection between psychism and mental illness in SOME people (the terminology
reflects the very young state of psychology, and the harsh judgementalism of
the Victorian Era in the United Kingdom).
There is a northern hemispheric bias at
times as well, as the author fails to realise that the Sun moves
counter-clockwise in the Southern Hemisphere.
The description of psychic attack methods
is reasonable, but, in my experience, it is a combination of uncontrolled
projected emotion (e.g., hate or rage – often
from jealousy or envy or resentment) and an aura that has not been closed (or not adequately closed) that results in the overwhelming
majority of psychic attack – not malicious misuse of telepathy or talismans,
etc.
In terms of defence against psychic attack,
I agree with continuing top use conventional, everyday, garden-variety doctors,
but then I would describe the techniques to be use as (a) the psychic
fundamentals (see my signature block
below), and (b) clearing,
including rescue,
IF
it is needed. The methods described by Ms Fortune are reasonable (except that I do not necessarily hold with
the half-day renewal requirement – it may be less, or longer, so I CHECK),
but if they cause discomfort in the person who is seeking defence, other
methods should be found, lest the discomfort undo the work.
And that last phrase tells me I’ve done
enough on this review :)
You can find other reviews on Amazon,
in Spiral
Nature magazine, on Reality
Sandwich (which goes beyond this book
to look at other sources), and on Good Reads (I’m not a member, so I’m trusting the
reviews are worthwhile).
Oh, and Ms Fortune completely fails to mention indirect psychic attack ...
Love, light, hugs and blessings
I am revamping my former website, and getting at least one other underway (pronounced "new-MYTH-ear"; ... aka Bellatrix
Lux … aka Morinehtar … would-be drýicgan or maga
... )
My "blogiography" (list of all posts and guide as to how to best use this
site) is here, and my glossary/index is here. The reasons for my caution when using Wikipedia are here.
I started this blog to cover karmic regression-rescue
(see here and here), and it grew ... See here for my group mind project, here and here for my "Pagans for Peace" project (and join me
for a few minutes at some time between 8 and 11 PM on Sunday, wherever you are,
to meditate-clear for peace), and here
for my bindrune kit-bag. I also strongly recommend
learning how to flame, ground
and shield, do alternate
nostril breathing, work
with colour, and see also here and be
flexible.
May the best in me, my Higher Self,
and those of the Clear Light who assist me,
help me to keep myself grounded, centred and shielded,
to be Balanced and a Fulcrum of Balance,
a centre of Balanced Positivity and Spiritual Maturity,
with my aura continuously cleansed, cleared and closed,
repelling all negative or unwanted energies,
whilst allowing positive, balancing and healing energies in and through.
The real dividing line is not between
Christianity and Islam, Sunni and Shia, East and West. It is between people who
believe in coexistence, and those who don’t.
- All of the above - and this blog - could be wrong, or subject to context, perspective, or state of spiritual evolution ...
Tags: Dion Fortune, indirect psychic attack, Psychic attack, psychic self defence,
First published: Tysdagr, 12th July, 2016
Last edited (excluding fixing typo's
and other minor matters): Tuesday, 12th July, 2016
