This question we may very well ask if we intend to devote time and trouble to its pursuit. Are we to content ourselves with tales of haunted houses, accounts of telepathy among primitive peoples, and research into the esoteric literature of the past? These things certainly have their value; all available occult phenomena should be carefully investigated, not only for the sake of obtaining knowledge, but also for the sake of unmasking charlatans; and the results obtained by investigators in the past are of the greatest value for counter-checking the results we are obtaining at the present day.
But is this enough? Is our attitude towards occult science to be the same as our attitude towards the classical languages, in which we admire the masterpieces of antiquity but ourselves produce no living literature in the present? We know that the Mysteries exercised a profound influence on the ancient civilizations, and that some of the noblest men [and women] of all races were inspired by them, and looked on them with reverence and awe.
Are the phenomena we call "occult" merely those of the seance room on a larger scale,or, in addition to the little known laws of Nature whose operations we seek to understand, is there an energizing spiritual influence such as raised the consciousness of the initiates of old, and gave them a deeper understanding of their gods?
Let us consider the phenomena which may justly be described as occult, or hidden in their working and nature: ectoplasm; psychometry; clairvoyance in all its forms; telepathy; the various forms of divination, which are far from being altogether delusive; mystic experiences; conversion; trance and rapture; hypnotism, suggestion and auto-suggestion; the survival of bodily death; and last but not least, certain forms of mental disease. All these things are hidden in their nature, not amendable to ordinary scientific methods of investigation with instruments of precision, and legitimately form the field of investigation of occult science.
There is, however, another aspect to occult science as well as its scientific side, and that is the realm of inner experience which experimentation opens up. The gateway into the Unseen can be found by the practical application of its principles, and those who care to fulfill the conditions and take the risk may adventure therein. The powers that the ancient rituals invoked still remain, and are not very far to seek for those who combine knowledge, faith, and courage.
If, however, we desire to essay this adventure, we should remember that the ancient rituals were used as part of a religious system, and that no initiate of the ancient Mystery schools would ever have dreamed of experimenting with them to satisfy his curiosity or love of the marvelous. He approached them with reverence, after strict discipline of character and severe tests of fitness. It was when the lofty ideals fell into abeyance that black magic began.
If we want to penetrate into the deeper issues of occultism, it is not enough that we should approach it out of intellectual curiosity. This will reveal us no more than its outer form. The Occult Path is not so much a subject of study as a way of life. Unless the element of devotion and sacrifice be present, the key will not turn in the lock that opens the door of the Mysteries. Unless we approach the Sacred Science as did the initiates of old, we shall not find in it what they found.
It is not enough that we work for its secrets as men work for the prizes of their profession; we must live for it as men [and women] live for a spiritual ideal. There is only one motive that will take us safely through the labyrinth of astral experience - the desire for light on the path of spiritual development that ends in Divine union. This was the goal of the Mysteries in their noblest form, and it is only by seeking the same goal that we shall be able to enter into them in their higher aspect.
Occult science is a very potent thing, and many people are protected in their researches therein by their own ineptitude. Did they succeed in some of the operations they undertake, their natures, unpurified and undisciplined, would be shattered by the result. It is only because no power comes through that no disaster follows. If we desire to safely to investigate the Mysteries, we must first approach them under their nobler aspect, as part of a system of spiritual regeneration, and only after we have submitted to their discipline and offered the dedication of the lower self to the purposes of the Higher, and had that dedication accepted, can we safely study the magical aspects of occultism which usually attract the unenlightened.
Our intellectual questionings can only find their resolution in spiritual illumination. Occult science, rightly understood, is the link between psychology and religion; it gives the means of a spiritual approach to science, and a scientific approach to the spiritual life. The experiences to which it admits us, rightly understood, form a stairway from rational brain-consciousness, dependent on the five physical senses, to the direct apprehensions of spiritual intuition. (Dion Fortune ... read more ...)
