Foreign Foreign Occultism by Dion Fortune narrated by Matthew Schmitz 17. Eastern methods and Western bodies many people think that the East is the only home of occultism but this is far from being the case every race has had and still has its traditional guarded wisdom revealed to the few and concealed
From the many our own Western tradition traces its origin to Egypt with tributaries from chaldea Greece and the fierce Norse tradition it comes down to us through the kabbalists and Alchemists and it is alive and active at the present day strange as it may appear it is the Eastern tradition its methods and
Terminology that are most generally known among us and for two reasons firstly because the Western tradition has always been and still is very guarded and secretive in its methods whether rightly or wrongly is a matter of opinion there is much to be said for both and against secrecy in occultism
Then secondly the theosophical society whose methods and contacts are Eastern has over 50 years of active propaganda work to its credit it may not unreasonably be asked why it was if there were an active esoteric tradition in Europe that Madame blavatsky the founder of the theosophical society did
Not take her initiation in its schools instead of having to seek her master in the East the explanation is a simple ethnological one the Russians according to the old saying are not the most easterly of the westerns but the most westerly of the Easterns one has only to
Look at the portraits of Madame blavatsky to see the tartar blood and to realize that her affinities would be with the light of Asia the principles taught in all the great racial Traditions are the same but the different Traditions have brought different aspects of esoteric science to a high degree of development according
To the Natural inclination of racial temperament the Pagan faiths of the West developed the nature context modern Western occultism rising from this basis seems to be taking for its field the little known powers of the Mind the Eastern tradition has a very highly developed metaphysics we do well to study these
Different aspects where we find them in their highest degree of development these sacred books of the East and the popular expositions thereof are invaluable to the Western occultist nevertheless when it comes to the practical application of these principles and especially the processes of occult training and initiation it is
Best for a man to follow the line of his own racial Evolution that is very seldom that a European living in Europe is successfully trained by Eastern methods if a man or woman is able to go to the East and completely sink themselves in the Eastern group Soul it is possible
For them to go a certain way in the Eastern tradition but we have no record of any European reaching the higher degrees the reason for the indivisibility of an alien initiation does not lie in racial antagonism nor in any failure to appreciate the beauty and profundity of
The Eastern systems but for the same reason that Eastern methods of Agriculture are inapplicable in the west because conditions are different as has already been said different schools develop different aspects of occult science these aspects are developed not only according to racial temperament but also according to racial
Dharma or Duty when a nation as a particular task to fulfill the initiates of that Nation give a lead along the destined lines the esoteric discipline which enabled the Hindu race to develop the higher mind would not only have been inapplicable to the Anglo-Saxon race whose task it was to develop the
Concrete mind but would actually have prevented the development from taking place because it is necessary to close down the higher Consciousness if the lower Consciousness is to be operated the two methods would be mutually antagonistic and destructive and yet they were right for those to whom they belonged nevertheless each of the races
Different as is their Destiny can profit by the achievements of the other for qualities and faculties once brought through into manifestation on this Earth belong to humanity as a whole and form part of the common Heritage to which each race in turn brings its gifts Beauty from Greece order from Rome
Spiritual Philosophy from India there will always be individuals in every race who feel that their spiritual home is elsewhere but they are exceptional there will never be many Richard Burtons or sadhu Sundar sings in a race for the most part they will be Smiths and McGregors and Murphy’s but
Although there will always be individual exceptions no one seeking the ancient wisdom should be encouraged to follow an alien tradition unless he has a very definite bias in that direction for even when there is a definite spiritual Affinity with the yeast the problem of training a western Body by Eastern
Methods presents many difficulties the study of such books as those of Swami Vivekananda in which the yogi methods are very plainly set forth reveals the fact that the opening of the higher centers of Consciousness according to the Eastern methods depends on the redirecting of the etheric currents in the physical body and the
Concentrating of them upon certain centers known as the chakras if we study the anatomy of the subject we shall see that these chakras correspond with the endocrine glands and that the changes in Consciousness are brought about by producing changes in the chemical composition of the blood by checking or stimulating the different
Ductless glands Western physiology is beginning to wake up to the intimate connection between the ductless glands and the mind and is studying them in connection with those changes of Consciousness known as insanity and there is no doubt at all as to the intimate connection between the endocrines or chakras and the mind the
Ancient Eastern tradition is confirmed in its Doctrine by Western experimental science But Here Comes the rub from the point of view of the Seeker after initiation the endocrine balance in different races differs profoundly it is this difference which produced the different racial types this is proved by the fact that if
We get a disturbance of the endocrine balance in childhood we shall get a Mongolian or even a negroid appearance in a child of pure European stock such a child however will be a diseased and subnormal individual because the other endocrine secretions have not been modified proportionately as they are in
The case of the normal Chinese or negro whose endocrines are balanced according to type it is quite true that other branches of the Aryan stuck are nearer akin to us than these other root races but the pigmentation of the skin and the structure of the skeleton reveal fundamental variations we have only to
Realize the difference in resistance to shock between the Hindu the Anglo-Saxon the Negro to realize that different initiatory methods would have to be used with them the Hindu dies readily from shock pure and simple the the Anglo-Saxon will be upset by it but he is exceedingly unlikely to die of it
That’s for the Negro he is practically immune it follows therefore that the methods to which the sensitive Hindu will respond will under normal conditions have as little effect on the other two as water on a duck’s back and the methods which suit the Negro would shatter the white man
In order to become a suitable subject for Eastern methods and Anglo-Saxon has to undergo a long period of sensitization at the end of that period he may be fitted for an Eastern initiation but he is quite unfitted for a western life in very few cases is a successful issue arrived at
The Western initiatory method consists in strengthening not sensitizing the candidate and then concentrating these subtle forces by means of a ritual a man thus trained far from being unfitted for the struggle for existence in the Russian Drive of modern life has acquired stamina quite out of the ordinary and is distinguished by his
Powers of endurance and ability to control the reactions of his body resisting cold hunger and pain in a remarkable degree this of course is equally true of the Eastern Adept he also has dominion over the elements in his own nature there are many well-authenticated accounts of the
Feats of endurance of those trained in the ancient wisdom of the East there is nothing in the occult discipline rightly applied which is going to make invalids or nervous wrecks of its students it is apparently the application of methods designed for one type of physique social organization and climate to individuals
Of another racial and social order which gives unsatisfactory results and produces the weedy looking neurotic so common in esoteric circles whatever arguments may be educed concerning the Brotherhood of Man experience proves that the spiritual methods of one racial type seldom suit another if the ethnological map of Europe be compared
With the map showing the distribution of different religious systems it will immediately become apparent that the boundary lines are identical Catholic Christianity coincides with the geographical distribution of the Latin races Protestant Christianity coincides with the Nordic populations even in a mixed racial stock such as the English
It is noticeable that the average Roman Catholic is of Darker complexion than the average member of the Church of England it is comparatively rare to see a blonde Roman Catholic the congregations of their churches are noticeably brunette in neither Asia nor Africa is the missionaries convert considered a desirable employee by other
White men a native converted is a native spoiled is a proverb in two different continents such observations as these confirmed the tradition that the Great White Lodge gives to each race the religion suited to its needs it is the esoteric and mystical side of each religion which
Forms the initiatory school of its race unless a man has had the elementary training of a tradition he is unlikely to profit by its advanced work to grow up under the discipline of exoterra Christianity and then suddenly go on to a school of esoteric Buddhism without first being received into the Buddhist
Faith is like working for the intermediate Bachelor of Arts and then wanting to proceed to the final Bachelor of Sciences still more do such considerations apply to the Hindu esoteric tradition wherein the greatest importance is attached to physical considerations such as heredity diet and contacts to take up Yogi
Systems while disregarding these things is mere occult amateurism no Asiatic would take such a person seriously the Eastern Guru is especially at a disadvantage in dealing with Western women because the eastern and western attitudes towards women differ so widely equally as he had a disadvantage in counseling his male pupils concerning
Such matters as marriage and their relations with women in general the management of these sex forces is an exceedingly important thing in occultism and the attitude towards sex in the East and in the west is Paul’s asunder the Eastern teacher may be able to instruct his pupils in philosophy but he can give
Little practical help in matters of ethics for the subtler aspects of the inner life of a race are a closed book to an alien equally do these considerations apply to Western occult systems transplanted to America they never Strike their Roots there but remain superficial and academic there is a certain aspect of
Occult work which has to make use of the magnetism of the land itself native systems of magic are built upon this basis and have a technique for its use alien systems transplanted have no such technique and therefore failed to complete their operations or alternatively should they succeed in
Contacting the elemental forces of the Land Experience much difficulty in keeping them under control and returning them to their proper place when the operation is finished American occultism will never come into its own until it ceases to import its systems from Europe and India but goes back along the lines of its own
Tradition picking up the Aboriginal contacts and daring to bend them to its own evolutionary purposes it must seek the contacts of the sun Temple of Atlantis through the Maya tradition Egypt has no message for the United States Americans can learn esoteric philosophy and science from the Western tradition just as Europeans can learn
From the Eastern tradition but the initiatory forces cannot be conveyed across the Atlantic or the Pacific someday there will come an American who will pick up the ancient Maya contacts adapt them to Modern needs and express their forces in an initiatory ritual which shall be valid for the civilization to which he belongs
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