Apparently Stephen King wrote (in "The Colorado Kid") "Sooner or later, everything old is new again".
Well, I've just come across some supporting evidence when re-=reading Dion Fortune's "Psychic Self Defence":
"To astral vision the telepathic link appears as a ray of light, a shining cord, or some similar thought-form, because it is in this form that it is usually formulated by the person who is making the magnetic link."
That is a description of a psychic link. I'd read Ms Fortune's classic in the 70s (or maybe early 80s), before I was taught about links, but had forgotten about that reference.
Furthermore, the descriptions of clearing are similar to what I had been taught, although the techniques I was taught in the 80s were better than cutting and then cauterising (my terms) that Ms Fortune describes.
Still, there are other comments in Ms Fortune's work that are worth considering.I don't agree with all she writes, but consider, for instance, the continuation of the above quote:
"It sometimes happens, however, if the operator has a high grade of initiation, that instead of connecting the ray direct to the person with whom he desires to be in touch, he will formulate an astral animal at the end of it to which he transfers a modicum of his own consciousness. This animal-form is called a Watcher; it does not act on its own initiative unless attacked, when it defends itself according to the nature of the species in whose likeness it is made. The use of a Watcher is to obtain a record of what is transpiring without the necessity of focussing consciousness thereon. When the psychic substance of the Watcher is reabsorbed by the adept, he becomes aware of the content of the Watcher's consciousness. The disadvantage of this method lies in the vulnerableness of the Watcher to psychic attack, and the fact that its projector is affected if it is injured or disintegrated."
And there are people who won't bother with such books because they are "old", or they don't like the dated phrasing ...
What utter fools.
