Another theory concerning talismans which commended itself to many of the old occult philosophers, PARACELSUS for instance, is what may be called the “occult force” theory.  This theory assumes the existence of an occult mental force, a force capable of being exerted by the human will, apart from its usual mode of operation by means of the body.  It was believed to be possible to concentrate this mental energy and infuse it into some suitable medium, with the production of a talisman, which was thus regarded as a sort of accumulator for mental energy.  The theory seems a fantastic one to modern thought, though, in view of the many startling phenomena brought to light by psychical research, it is not advisable to be too positive regarding the limitations of the powers of the human mind.  However, I think we shall find the element of truth in the otherwise absurd belief in talismans by means of what may be called, not altogether fancifully perhaps, a transcendental interpretation of this “occult force” theory.  I suggest, that is, that when a believer makes a talisman, the transference of the occult energy is ideal, not actual; that the power, believed to reside in the talisman itself, is the power due to the reflex action of the believer’s mind.  The power of what transcendentalists call “the imagination” cannot be denied; for example, no one can deny that a man with a firm conviction that such a success will be achieved by him, or such a danger avoided, will be far more likely to gain his desire, other conditions being equal, than one of a pessimistic turn of mind.  The mere conviction itself is a factor in success, or a factor in failure, according to its nature; and it seems likely that herein will be found a true explanation of the effects believed to be due to the power of the talisman.

On the other hand, however, we must beware of the exaggerations into which certain schools of thought have fallen in their estimates of the powers of the imagination.  These exaggerations are particularly marked in the views which are held by many nowadays with regard to “faith-healing,” although the “Christian Scientists” get out of the difficulty—­at least to their own satisfaction—­ by ascribing their alleged cures to the Power of the Divine Mind, and not to the power of the individual mind.

Of course the real question involved in this “transcendental theory of talismans” as I may, perhaps, call it, is that of the operation of incarnate spirit on the plane of matter.  This operation takes place only through the medium of the nervous system, and it has been suggested,[1] to avoid any violation of the law of the conservation of energy, that it is effected, not by the transference, as is sometimes supposed, of energy from the spiritual to the material plane, but merely by means of directive control over the expenditure of energy derived by the body from purely physical sources, e.g. the latent chemical energy bound up in the food eaten and the oxygen breathed.