It should never be forgotten that Occultism is concerned with the inner man, who must be strengthened and freed from the dominion of the physical body and its surroundings, which must become his servants.  Hence the first and chief necessity of Chelaship is a spirit of absolute unselfishness and devotion to Truth; then follow self-knowledge and self-mastery.  These are all-important; while outward observance of fixed rules of life is a matter of secondary moment.—­Lucifer:  IV, 348, note.

OCCULTISM VERSUS THE OCCULT ARTS

    “I oft have heard, but ne’er believed till now,
    There are, who can by potent magic spells
    Bend to their crooked purpose Nature’s laws.”
          
                              Milton

In this month’s Correspondence several letters testify to the strong impression produced on some minds by our last month’s article “Practical Occultism.”  Such letters go far to prove and strengthen two logical conclusions:—­

(a) There are more well-educated and thoughtful men who believe in the existence of Occultism and Magic (the two differing vastly) than the modern materialist dreams of; and:—­

(b) That most of the believers (comprising many theosophists) have no definite idea of the nature of Occultism and confuse it with the Occult sciences in general, the “Black art” included.

Their representations of the powers it confers upon man, and of the means to be used to acquire them are as varied as they are fanciful.  Some imagine that a master in the art, to show the way, is all that is needed to become a Zanoni.  Others, that one has but to cross the Canal of Suez and go to India to bloom forth as a Roger Bacon or even a Count St. Germain.  Many take for their ideal Margrave with his ever-renewing youth, and care little for the soul as the price paid for it.  Not a few, mistaking “Witch-of-Endorism” pure and simple, for Occultism—­“through the yawning Earth from Stygian gloom, call up the meager ghost to walks of light,” and want, on the strength of this feat, to be regarded as full blown Adepts.  “Ceremonial Magic” according to the rules mockingly laid down by Eliphas Levi, is another imagined alter ego of the philosophy of the Arhats of old.  In short, the prisms through which Occultism appears, to those innocent of the philosophy, are as multicolored and varied as human fancy can make them.

Will these candidates to Wisdom and Power feel very indignant if told the plain truth?  It is not only useful, but it has now become necessary to disabuse most of them and before it is too late.  This truth may be said in a few words:  There are not in the West half-a-dozen among the fervent hundreds who call themselves “Occultists,” who have even an approximately correct idea of the nature of the Science they seek to master.  With a few exceptions, they are all on the highway to Sorcery.