Among the negroes of the South, in America; and among the Hawaiians; we find marked instances of this kind.  The negro Voodoo men and women work black magic on those of their race who are superstitious and credulous, and who have a mortal fear of the Voodoo.  You see the conditions obtained are much the same as in the case of the German case just cited.  Travellers who have visited the countries in which there is a large negro population, have many interesting tales to recite of the terrible workings of these Voodoo black magicians.  In some cases, sickness and even death is the result.  But, mark you this! it is only those who believe in, and fear, the power of the Voodoos that are affected.  In Hawaii, the Kahunas or native magicians are renowned for their power to cause sickness and death to those who have offended them; or to those who have offended some client of the Kahuna, and who have hired the latter to “pray” the enemy to sickness or death.  The poor ignorant Hawaiians, believing implicitly in the power of the Kahunas, and being in deadly fear of them, are very susceptible to their psychic influence, and naturally fall easy victims, unless they buy of the Kahuna, or make peace with his client.  White persons living in Hawaii are not affected by the Kahunas, for they do not believe in them, neither do they fear them.  Unconsciously, but still strongly, they deny the power, and are immune.  So, you see, the principle working out here, also.  Once you have the master-key, you may unlock many doors of mystery which have heretofore been closed to you.

We do not have to fall back on cases of witchcraft, however, in order to illustrate this phase of the use of psychic influence for selfish ends.  In Europe and America there are teachers of a low form of occultism who instruct their pupils in the art of producing induced mental states in the minds of others, for purposes of financial gain or other selfish ends.  For instance, there is a Western teacher who instructs his pupils to induce desired mental states in prospective customers, or others whom they may wish to influence for selfish reasons.  This teacher tells his pupils to:  “Imagine your prospective customer, or other person, as seated in a chair before which you are standing.  Make the imagined picture as strong as possible, for upon this depends your success.  Then proceed to ‘treat’ this person just as if he were actually present.  Concentrate your will upon him, and tell him what you expect to tell him when you meet him.  Use all of the arguments that you can think of, and at the same time hold the thought that he must do as you say.  Try to imagine him as complying with your wishes in every respect, for this imagining will tend to ‘come true’ when you really meet the person.  This rule may be used, not only in the case of prospective customers, but also in the case of persons whom you wish to influence in any way whatsoever.”  Surely this is a case of employing psychic powers for selfish purposes, if anything is.