E-Books & Articles

Of Interest to Theosophists

 

Cardiff Theosophical Society in Wales

Theosophy House

206 Newport Road, Cardiff, Wales, UK. CF24 -1DL

 

 

Magic: White and Black

by

Franz Hartmann,M.D.

 

 

Return to Homepage

 

 

Glossaries Index

 

 

Blavatsky Writings Index

 

 

E-Books & Articles Index

 

 


 

Magic: White and Black

or

The Science of Finite and Infinite Life

Containing Practical Hints for Stu ents of Occultism

 

by Franz Hartmann,M.D.

Published by Kegan Paul,Trench,Tr ό bner &Co.,Lt .

Broa way House,68-74 Carter Lane,E.C.London

1924 -Seventh E ition

 

"Everything that exists upon the Earth has its ethereal counterpart above the Earth,

and there is nothing,however insignificant it may apear in the world ,

which is not depending on something higher;so that if the lower parts acts,

its presi eing higher part reacts upon it".

Sohar Wajecae,Fol.156,6

"For in our searching are fulfille all our esires, and we obtain the victory over all world s".

Khan .Upanisha .

Page 1?

-------
Cardiff Theosophical Society in Wales------

Magic: White and Black by Franz Hartmann,M.D.

CONTENTS

Page 23 INTRODUCTION SPIRITUAL LAW IN THE NATURAL WORLD.

The meaning of "Magic"– The Life principle – Man's spiritual nature -Magicians and mediums – Man and

the universe -The inner world – Go ,science,religion,superstition -Mystic and mysticism – Truth and

fiction -The Bible allegories – Soul -knowle ge and brain speculation – Self-knowle ge and theories –

Realisation by experience -Selfishness – The false Egos – Elementals – Spiritual germs and their

growth-Asceticism -Visionaries and reamers -The wisdom religion -The "sons of darkness"and the

"chil ren of light"-Spiritual evolution

Page 49 CHAPTER I THE IDEAL

The ideal self – Realisation of ideals – Truth – Me itation – Prayer – Go prays to himself – Interior

revelation – The universal ideal -Christianity – Theosophists – I entity of revelations – Perception of

truth – Self-control – Intuition and logical inferences – The A epts – False science – Nature – Me icine

of the future – Faith is spiritual knowle ge – Min -substance – Invisible beings – Object of life and its

necessities – Alchemy

Page 67 CHAPTER ll THE REAL AND THE UNREAL.

Primordial essence – The abstract ideas  – Character and purpose – Reincarnation – The Ego – Self-

consciousness before and after eath – The spiritual man – Relative existence – Unreality of external

appearances – Matter and motion – Consciousness – Objective and subjective existence – The unknown

One – Imagination – Perception -The "Fall"– Creation – The inner senses – States of min – Dualism –

Go and i ols

Page 85 CHAPTER III FORM

Creation of forms – Spirit – Soul -Matter – The seven principles – The four planes of existence -The

"resurrection of the flesh"– Spheres and auras – Psychic emanations – Physical and astral forms –

Elementaries – "Materialisations"– Necromancy – "Doubles"– Wraiths – Apparitions – Ghosts – Spirits

of nature – Gnomes – Sylphs – Un ines – Salaman ers – Spiritual beings – Planetary spirits – Emotions

and their origin – Organisation of forms on the various planes – Daemons Obsession – Spirits of music –

The Creator and his creatures – Witchcraft – Astral appearances – Spiritism – Spooks – Spirits of the

"ea ”– Devas – Unconscious exercise of magic power – Protection against evil spells

Page 110 CHAPTER IV LIFE

The will and the life – Expression of character – Chiromancy – Psychometry – Reincarnation of soul –

In ivi uality – In ddifferentiation of form and of character – Change of character – In ivi uality – Change of

purpose – The ideal realises itself – Spirituality – Delusion of separate ness – Isolation – Vampires –

Incubi and succubi – Elementaries – "Killing out ”passions – Change of esires – The reamer and the

realist – Life transfer – Suspension of life – Evolution – The Elixir of Life.

Page 124 CHAPTER V HARMONY

Harmony – The music of the spheres – Spirituality and scientific curiosity – Unity of the Law – Variety of

forms -Karma – Accords and iscords – Numbers – Number one – Perio icity – Magic Squares –

Number Seven – Love and life – Man and woman – The true marriage – Humanity and ivinity –

In uction – Foo for the physical bo y – Nutriment of the soul – "Sin ”Suffering and its necessity –

Experience – Purification – The spiritual organism – A oration – Me itation – Efficacy of "prayer"–

Illumination.

Page 2?

-------
Cardiff Theosophical Society in Wales------

Magic: White and Black by Franz Hartmann,M.D.

Page 143 CHAPTER VI ILLUSIONS

Imagination – Two world s – The Dwellers of the Threshol – Reason and Truth – Illusions an

appearances – Prostitution of principles – Starvation of soul – "Self"– Money – Possession – "Love"–

Celibacy – Life and illusion – Science – Intellectuality without spirituality – Ambition – Power – Fame –

Authority – Fear – Doubt – Remorse – Sins – The "Lamb"– Obe ience – Reason – Passive imagination

– Visions – Artificial means for in ucing hallucinations – Fumigations – Magic mirrors – Fortune telling –

Me itation – Exercise of the will – "Mesmerism"an "hypnotism"– Unreality of illusions – Mediumship –

Responsibility – Power of the imagination – States after eath – Materiality and ensity – Heaven an

hell – Happiness .

Page 164 CHAPTER VII CONSCIOUSNESS

Min – Absolute and relative consciousness – Realisation of existence --Perception —Development of

the senses – Light anddarkness – Resistance – Astral Light – Astral forms – Haunte houses – Sight

an touch – True self-consciousness – Reason and reasoning – Muscular consciousness – Astral

consciousness – Obsessions – Thought-bo y – Apparitions – Double consciousness – Projection of the

astral form – The Kama Rupa – Double memory – The inner man – Somnambulism and trance – Two

lives – Two souls – Two attractions – Spiritual consciousness – Wisdom – Organisation – Regeneration –

The spiritual bo y.

Page 183 CHAPTER VIII UNCONSCIOUSNESS

Knowle ge is life – Ignorance is eath – Relative life and relative eath – Physical eath – Immortality –

Nirmβnakβyas – Death is change – Go re eems himself – Principles and forms – Living corpses or

shells – Insanity – Process of ying-The astral form – Letter from and A ept – Kama loca – Animal souls –

Heaven and hell – Post-mortem consciousness – Devachan – The mystic eath – Spiritualism an

spiritism – Communications from the "eparte "– Conscious immortality – Object of life – Reincarnation

– Assuming a new bo y – Shall we know each other after eath ?– Degra ation is eath – Black magic

– White magic – Evolution – Permanent love.

Page 204 CHAPTER IX TRANSFORMATIONS

Memory – The Astral Light – Impressions and temptations – Responsibility – Crimes – Capital

punishment – Clairvoyance – Seership – Amulets – The Mumia – Mysterious powers of precious stones –

Action of rugs – Primordial matter – Single bo ies of chemistry – Transformation – Will and imagination

– Alchemy in its three aspects – Projection of thought – Mental epi emics -Receptivity – Occult

phenomena – H.P.Blavatsky – Controlling the thoughts – The Master – Wisdom – Accumulation of

energy – Manifestations of consciousness – Organisation require – The ivine Man – The Re eemer.

Page 227 CHAPTER X CREATION

The great mystery – Man – Memory and forgetting – Mand the Creator of his world – Self-ma e men –

Material and spiritual nature – Cosmology – Mythology – Animal foo – Practical occultism – Union –

Faith and oubt – Action – Development of will-power – Experiences of life – Truth and error – Duty –

Knowle ge – Belief – The "Path"– Rules of life

Page 250 CHAPTER XI LIGHT

Spirit and form – Free om – Personality and in ivi uality – The permanent and the impermanent –

Hermes Trismegistus – The Saviour – The Lord – The true baptism,forgiveness of sins,communion,

marriage – The true and universal church – The "Son of Man"– Birth of the Christ – Biblical "history"–

Prayer – The true Faith – Soul knowle ge – Physical effects of regeneration – Suffering – The true

Rosicrucians and their symbols – Initiation – Spiritual nutriment – Ceremonies – Jesus of Nazareth –

Page 3?

-------
Cardiff Theosophical Society in Wales------

Magic: White and Black by Franz Hartmann,M.D.

Re emption – Allegories "Faust"– Real knowle ge – Unselfishness – Goo and evil – The unpar onable

sin.

Page 267 CHAPTER XII THEOSOPHY

Beauty beyon the power to escribe it – The spiritual Sun – Divine Wisdom the realisation of Truth –

The Philosopher's Stone – The Elixir of Life and Universal Panacea – Magic power – The Path – To

know – Forbi en knowle ge – True knowle ge – To will – Love the fountain of true knowle ge –

Development of will-power – To are is obe ience to the law – Strengthening of self-will – Fakirs – Hatha

yoga – Philosophical and theosophical courage – Self-sacrifice – To be silent – Jackob Boehme – Raja

yoga – Instructions – Symbols – Language – The threefol word – The language of nature – Universal

language – Thought,word,an action – Mystic symbols – The five-pointe star – The ouble interlace

triangle – The cross – The Brothers of the gol en and rosy cross – The true cross – The self realisation

of Truth.

Page 297 APPENDIX A NEW GUIDE ON THE PATH.

Page 4?

-------
Cardiff Theosophical Society in Wales------

Magic: White and Black by Franz Hartmann,M.D.

DESCRIPTION OF THE FRONTISPIECE

[Page 5 ] At the foot of the picture is a sleeping Sphinx,whose upper part (representing the higher

principles)is human;while the lower parts (symbolising the lower principles)are of and animal nature.She

is reaming of the solution of the great problem of the construction of the Universe and of the nature an

estiny of Man,an her ream takes the shape of the figure above her,representing the Macrocosm an

the Microcosm and their mutual interaction.

Above,aroun ,an within all,without beginning and without and en ,penetrating and perva ing all,from

the en less and unimaginable periphery to the invisible and incomprehensible centre is Parabrahm ,the

unmanifeste Absol te ,the supreme source of every power that ever manifeste or may in the future

manifest itself as a "thing",an by whose activity the world was thrown into existence,being projecte by

the power of His own will and imagination.

The Omega (and the Alpha in the centre)represent the "Son ",the Absolute having become manifest as

Page 5?

-------
Cardiff Theosophical Society in Wales------

Magic: White and Black by Franz Hartmann,M.D.

the Universal Logos or The Christ ,also calle B ddhi ,or the sixth principle ,the cause of the beginning

and the en of every create thing.It is One with the "father ",being manifeste as a Trinity in a Unity ,the

cause of what we call Space,Motion,and S bstance .Its highest manifestation is Self-conscio sness ,by

which it may come to the comprehension of Man .The spiritual man whose matrix is his own physical

bo y,raws his nutriment from this universal spiritual principle as the physical [Page 6 ] foetus is nourishe

by means of the womb of the mother,his so l being forme from the astral influences or the so l of the

world .

Out of the Universal Logos procee s the "invisible Light "of the Spirit,the Truth ,the Law ,and the Life ,

embracing and penetrating the Cosmos and becoming manifest in the illuminate soul of Man,while the

visible light of Nature is only its most material aspect or mo e of manifestation,in the same sense as the

visible sun is the reflex of its ivine prototype,the invisible centre of power or the great spirit al Sun.

The circle with the twelve signs of the Zo iac,enclosing the space in which the planets belonging to our

solar system are represente ,symbolises the Cosmos,fille with the planetary influences perva ing the

Astral Light ,an which are cause by the interaction of the astral emanations of the cosmic bo ies an

their inhabitants.

The activity in the Cosmos is represente by the interlace triangle.The two outer ones represent the

great powers of creation,preservation,an estruction,or Brahama ,Vishn ,an Siva ,acting upon the

elements of Fire,Water,an Earth —that is to say,upon the original principles out of which ethereal,

flui and soli material substances and forms are pro uce .

The two inner interlace triangles refer more especially to the evelopment of Man.B ,C ,an D

represent Knowledge ,the Knower ,and the Known ,which trinity constitutes Self-knowle ge.E,F,an G

represent the Physical Man,the Ethereal or Inner Man ,and the Spirit al Man .The centre represents the

ivine Atma ,being i entical with the Universal Logos .It is,like the latter,a Trinity in a Unity.[Of the three

interlace A's only one is istinctly rawn in the figure.It is the spiritual see [Page 7 ] implante in the soul

of man,through whose growth immortal life is attaine .Its light is the Rose of the Cross that is forme by

Wisdom and Power .But below all is the realm of ill sion ,of the most gross and heavy materialise

thoughts,sinking into Darkness and Death,where they ecompose and putrefy,an are resolve again

into the elements out of which the Universe came into existence.[Page 8 and 9 ]

Page 6?

-------
Cardiff Theosophical Society in Wales------

Magic: White and Black by Franz Hartmann,M.D.

PREFACE TO THE FOURTH EDITION

This book was originally written for the purpose of isenchanting certain cre ulous inquirers,who fancie

that the exercise of spiritual powers coul be taught by teaching them certain incantations and formulas.

It was to prove that spiritual powers must be evelope before they can be exercise ,an to explain the

con itions necessary for their evelopment.

Since the appearance of the previous e ition,a little a itional knowle ge,gaine by the experiences of

my own inner life,has enable me to make certain corrections;to sift out much of what was irrelevant,

an to remo el a great eal of what was incorrectly expresse .Moreover in this e ition and attempt has

been ma e to answer the numerous questions which have been a resse to me by the rea ers of

"Magic".

The most serious objection which has been ma e against this book has been on account of its title;but

the causes which in uce me to select such a title were suggeste by the purpose for which the book

was inten e ;nor woul I at present be able to fin one more appropriate for it,for "Magic"means that

ivine art or exercise of spiritual power by which the awakene spirit in man controls the invisible living

elements in the soul-substance of the universe;but,above all,those in his own soul,which are the ones

nearest to him.

If we esire to master any forces whatever,it is,above all,necessary to know what they are and how

they originate,an as we have no better means to stu y the qualities of any internal forces,than by

observing [Page 10 ] those which are active within ourselves,the perception of the processes going on

within our own psychic organism,will be the means to accomplish our object.The art Magic is the

exercise of spiritual power,to be obtaine by practising self-control,an this power cannot be acquire in

any other way;nor is it possible to teach anyone how to exercise a power which he oes not possess,

because he has not evelope it;we can only in icate the way in which the psychic powers latent in

every human constitution may be evelope .The constitutions of all men are fun amentally the same,

an in each human being are containe magical powers germinally or in a latent con ition;but they

cannot be sai to exist before they become active and manifest themselves,first interiorly,an

afterwards in and outward irection.

It was not my object,in composing this book,to write merely a code of ethics ,and thereby to increase

the alrea y existing pile of moral precepts,but to assist the stu ent of Occultism in stu ying the elements

of which his own soul is compose ,an to learn to know his own psychical organism.I want to give an

impulse to the

stu y of a science,which may be calle the "anatomy and physiology of the so l ",which investigates the

elements of which the organism of the soul is compose ,and the source from which man's esires an

emotions spring.

Physical science has a vance with great stri es in the realm of superficial phenomena and external

illusions,but the science of the real interior and invisible man is still very little known.The mechanical

Page 7?

-------
Cardiff Theosophical Society in Wales------

Magic: White and Black by Franz Hartmann,M.D.

an chemical forces of nature have been ma e subservient to physical science.She has lai the yoke

upon the neck of the giant Steam and chaine Electricity to her triumphal chariot;she ma e mechanical

motion,heat,an light,an magnetism the obedient slaves of men;she ma e [Page 11 ] iscoveries which

make man to a certain extent independent of the con itions impose upon him by space and time;she

succee e in realising certain ideas  and to put them into practical execution,ideas  which a century ago

were believe to belong merely to the realm of the fancies of the visionary and the reamer.

Why shoul we stop here?Why shoul it not be possible for us to a vance still further,an to enchain

those semi-conscious and conscious forces which perva e our own soul,an also the soul of the world ?

Why shoul it be impossible to con ense into forms by the omnipotent power of Will the living but

formless Elementals ;to concentrate and give shape to living and universal principles,which,although

they are at present invisible for us,nevertheless exist?Such things have been accomplishe by the

Eastern sages thousan s of years ago,an may be accomplishe by ourselves,provi e we attain the

same state of perfection which characterises these Adepts .

To arrive at this en the merely superficially intellectual rea ing of books on Occultism is entirely

insufficient.The ivine mysteries of nature are above and beyon the power of conception of the limite

intellect.They must be graspe by the power of the spirit.If we cannot by our own soul perception

perceive a spiritual truth with the eye of the spirit,intellectual reasoning and book learning will not enable

us to perceive it clearly.Books,ealing with such subjects,shoul not be masters to us;they shoul

merely be our assistants.They are merely useful to escribe the etails of things which we alrea y know

in the epths of our soul;they are merely servants to hol up before our eyes magnifying mirrors,

wherein we see the truths whose presence we feel in ourselves.

Jackob Boehme ,the great theosoph,says in regard to [Page 12 ] the stu y of Occultism:"If you esire to

investigate the ivine mysteries of nature,investigate first your own min ,an ask yourself about the

purity of your purpose.Do you esire to put the goo teachings which you may receive into practice for

the benefit of humanity ?Are you rea y to renounce all selfish esires,which clou your min and hin er

you to see the clear light of eternal truth ?Are you willing to become and instrument for the manifestation

of Divine Wis om ?Do you know what it means to become unite with your own higher Self,to get ri of

your illusive Self,to become one with the living universal power of Goo and to ie to your own sha owy

insignificant terrestrial personality ?Or o you merely esire to obtain great knowle ge,so that your

curiosity may be gratifie ,an that you may be prou of your science,an believe yourself to be superior

to the rest of mankin ?Consi er,that the epths of Divinity can only be searche by the ivine spirit

itself,which is active within you.Real knowledge must come from our own interior,not merely from

externals,and they who seek for the essence of things merely in externals may fin the artificial colour of

a thing,but not the true thing itself".

Again this self-taught philosopher says:"The intellect shoul be evelope ,but above all the heart .We

shoul attempt to un erstan intellectually the laws of everything;but our own still fallible intellect shoul

not be ma e the starting-point in our investigations.Man shoul not be governe by his reasoning from

appearances;but he shoul govern his min ,so that the light of ivine wisdom may illuminate his

intellect.If our ju gment becomes free of all selfish taint,and the vibrations of our soul are ma e to

vibrate in harmony with the eternal spirit,our perishable intellect will be [Page 13 ] penetrate by the

imperishable light of ivine wisdom;an we will be able to perceive and to solve the eepest problems of

nature.If our esire and reason cling to the sphere of self,we shall see merely the illusions which we

Page 8?

-------
Cardiff Theosophical Society in Wales------

Magic: White and Black by Franz Hartmann,M.D.

ourselves have create ;but if we become free by being obedient to the universal law,we will become

one with the law and see the truth in its purity".

An to this we will a ,as a warning to all inquirers,that a scientific investigation of the occult mysteries

of nature,without that firm foun ation furnishe by the evelopment of true spirituality,is excee ingly

angerous and lea s to eplorable consequences.The perception of things which belong to the spirit is a

faculty of the spiritually evelope man and not within the reach of the semi-material min .He who

continually pores over things which he cannot comprehen lives in the realm of his reams;he becomes

an unpractical person,incapable to fulfil his uties in life,an often insanity and suici e is the result.The

school of the occultist is only for those who have gra uate in the school of terrestrial life.

Let,therefore,those who wish to acquire spiritual or ivine power,follow this a vice:let them rise

spirit ally into the highest regions of thought and remain therein as its permanent resi ents.Let them

cultivate their physical bo ies and their mental constitutions in such a manner that the matter of which

they are compose will become less gross and more penetrable to the ivine light of the spirit.Then will

the veils that separate them from the invisible world become thinner;then will they become aware of the

fact that the circle which limits their terrestrial and phenomenal existence is merely a small segment of

that gran circle wherein their existence as self-conscious beings on the spiritual pIane is enclose ,an

as they increase in transcen ental [Page 14 ] knowle ge they will grow in spiritual power,until,by the

un erstan ing of the ivine laws of the universe,they will become the co-operators of Go ,an Go will

perform his miracles in and through them.

The following pages are and attempt to show the way how Man may become and instrument of the Divine

Power whose pro uct is Nature;they constitute a book which may properly bear the title of "Magic",for if

the rea ers succee in practically following its teachings,they will be able to witness the greatest of all

magical feats,the spiritual regeneration of Man.[Page 15 ]

PREFACE

Our age is the age of opinions.The majority of our ed cated people live,so to say,in their hea s,an

the claims of the heart are neglecte .Vanity is king,an wisdom is only permitte to speak when it oes

not come into conflict with selfish consi erations.The guardians of a narrow limite science elu e

themselves with a belief of being capable to bring the infinite truth within the grasp of their finite

un erstan ing,an whatever they fail to comprehen is asserte not to exist.Our speculative

philosophers refuse to recognise the eternal power of universal love whose light is reflecte in the human

soul;they wish to examine eternal truths by the flickering can le-light of their logic,reasoning from the

basis of sensual observations;they forget that Humanity is a Unity ,an that one in ivi ual cannot

encompass the All;and the ignorant asks scientific reasons why man shoul be faithful and true,an why

he shoul not consi er his own personal interests above those of the rest of mankin .

It is universally a mitte that man's final estiny cannotdependon the theories which he may have

forme in his min regarding Cosmology,Pneumatology,plans of salvation,etc.,an as long as he

possesses no real knowle ge,one set of beliefs or opinions may perhaps be as goo as another;but it

Page 9?

-------
Cardiff Theosophical Society in Wales------

Magic: White and Black by Franz Hartmann,M.D.

cannot be enie ,that the sooner man frees himself of the erroneous opinions of others and opening his

own eyes recognises [Page 16 ] the real truth,the less will he be impe e by the obstacles which are in the

way of his higher evolution,and the sooner will he reach the summit of his final perfection.

The most important question seems,therefore,to be:"Is it possible that a man shoul actually know

anything transcen ing his sensual perception,unless it is tol to him by some suppose authority ?Can

the power of intuition be evelope to such and extent as to become actual knowle ge without any

possibility of error,or shall we always be oome todependon hearsay and opinions?Can any

in ivi ual man possess powers transcen ing those which are a mitte to exist by mo ern science,an

how can such transcen ental powers be acquire ?"

The following pages were written for the purpose of attempting to answer such questions,by calling the

attention of those who esire to know the truth to a consi eration of the true nature of Man and of his

position in the Universe.Those who alrea y know these things of course will not nee the instructions

which these pages contain,but to those who esire to know they may be of some use,an to the latter

we recommen the a vice given by Gautama Bu ha to his isciples:"Believe nothing which is

unreasonable,an reject nothing as unreasonable without proper examination".

This book was not written for the purpose of convincing sceptics of the fact that phenomena of and occult

character have taken place in the past and are occurring at present;though and attempt has been ma e

to prove the possibility of mystic occurrences,by offering some explanation in regar to the laws by

which they may be pro uce .No space has been evote to lengthy illustrative examples of

phenomena.Those who require them will fin such evi ence in the books whose titles have been given

at the foot of the pages.[Page 17 ]

Page 10?

-------
Cardiff Theosophical Society in Wales------

Magic: White and Black by Franz Hartmann,M.D.

INTRODUCTION

SPIRITUAL LAW IN THE NATURAL WORLD

"There is no religion higher than truth".

[Page 23 ] WHATEVER misinterpretation ancient or mo ern ignorance may have given to the word Magic ,

its only true significance is The Highest Science ,or Wisdom,based pon knowledge and practical

experience.

If you oubt whether there is any such thing as Magic,an if you esire any practical illustration about it,

open your eyes and look aroun you.See the world ,the animals,and the trees,an ask yourself

whether they coul have come into existence by any other power than by the magic power of nat re .

Magical power is not a supernatural power,if by the term "supernatural"you mean a power which is

outsi e,beyon ,or locally above nature.To suppose the existence of such a power is and absurdity and a

superstition,oppose to all our experience;for we see that all organisms,vegetable and animal ones,

grow by the action of internal forces acting outwardly,an not by having something a e to their

substance from the outsi e.A see oes not become a tree,nor a chil a man,by having substance

a e to its organism by some outsi e workman,or like a house which is built by putting stones on the

top of each other;but living things grow by the action of and internal power,acting from a centre within the

form.To this centre flow the influences coming from the universal storehouse of matter and motion,an

from [Page 24 ] there they ra iate again towards the periphery,an perform that labour which buil s up the

living organism.

But what else can such a power be,except a spirit al ,power,because it penetrates to the very centre of

material things.It acts according to law,an buil s up organisms accor ing to a certain or er,an is

therefore superior to blin mechanical force.It cannot be a mere mechanical force;for we know that a

mechanical force ceases as soon as the impulse which originate it ceases to act,while the stream of life

is inexhaustible,an only the forms in which it becomes manifest ie.It cannot be a chemical force,for

chemical action ceases when the chemical combination of the substances which were to combine has

taken place.It must therefore be a living power,an as life cannot be a pro uct of a ea form,it can be

nothing else but the power of the One Life ,acting within the life centres of the forms.

Nature is a magician,every plant,animal,an every man is a magician,who uses his powers

unconsciously and instinctively to buil up his own organism;or,in other words,every living being is an

organism in which the magic power of the spirit in nature acts;an if a man shoul attain the knowle ge

how to control this power of life,an to employ it consciously,instea of merely submitting unconsciously

to its influence,then he woul be a magician,an coul control the processes of life in his own organism,

an perhaps in that of other beings.

Now the question is:Can any man obtain such a power as to control the processes of life ?The answer

to this questiondepends on what you mean by the term "man ".If you mean by "man "an intellectual

animal,such as we meet every ay in the streets,then the answer is:No!for the majority of the men an

women of our present generation,inclu ing our greatest scientific l mens ,know absolutely nothing about

Page 11?

-------
Cardiff Theosophical Society in Wales------

Magic: White and Black by Franz Hartmann,M.D.

their own inner nature or about the universal power of the One Life ,an many of them have not even

ma e up their min s whether or not they will believe in the existence of their own soul.They can neither

see it nor feel it objectively,and therefore they o not know what to make of it.[Page 25 ]

But if you mean by "man"that intelligent principle,which is active within the organism of man,an which

constitutes him a human being,an by whose action he becomes a being very istinct from and superior

to animals in human or animal form,then the answer is:Yes !for the ivine power which acts within the

organism of man is the same and i entical power which acts within the centre of nature.It is and internal

power of man,an belongs to man's true self,an if man once knows all the powers which belong to his

essential constitution,an knows how to use them,then he may enter from the passive into the active

state,an employ these powers himself.

Absurd as it may seem,it is nevertheless a logical consequence rawn from the fun amental truths

about the constitution of man,that if a man coul control the universal power of life acting within himself,

he might prolong the life of his organism as long as it please him;if he coul control it,an knew all the

laws of his nature,he might ren er it ense or vaporous,concentrate it to a small point,or expan it,so

as to occupy a great eal of space.Verily,truth is stranger than fiction,an we might see it,if we coul

only rise above the narrow conceptions and preju ices which we have inherite and acquire by

e ucation and sensual observation.

The most strange things happen continually in nature,an har ly attract our attention.They o not seem

strange to us,although we o not un erstand them;merely because we are accustome to see them

every ay.Who woul be so "foolish"as to believe that a tree coul grow out of a see – as there is

evi ently no tree in the see – if his experience ha not tol him that trees grow out of see s in spite of

all arguments to the contrary ?Who woul believe that a flower woul grow out of a plant,if he ha not

seen it,for observation and reason show that there is no flower in the stalk ?Nevertheless,flowers grow,

an cannot be ispute away.

Everywhere in nature the action of a universal spiritual law is manifest,but we cannot see the law [Page

26 ] itself.Everywhere we see the manifestations of wisdom;but those who seek for the origin of wisdom

within their own brains will seek for it in vain.

The art of Magic is the art of employing invisible or so-calle spiritual agencies to obtain certain visible

results.Such agencies are not necessarily invisible entities,flitting about in vacant space,rea y to come

at the comman of anyone who has learne certain incantations and ceremonies;but they consist

principally in the unseen but nevertheless powerful influences of the Emotions and the Will,of esires

an passions,thought and imagination,love and hate,fear and hope,faith and oubt,etc.,etc.They are

the powers of what is calle the Soul;they are employe everywhere and by everybo y every ay,

consciously or unconsciously,willingly or unwillingly,an while those that cannot control or resist.such

influences,but are controlle by them,are passive Instruments,"Medi ms "through which such unseen

powers act,an often their unwilling slaves;those who are able to gui e and control such influences by

gaining control over themselves,are,in proportion to their controlling capacity,active,an powerful,an

true Magicians,an may employ their powers for goo or for evil.We see,therefore,that with the

exception of irresponsible persons,everyone who has any will power is,in so far as he exercises that will

power,an active Magician;a white magician if he employs them for goo ,a black magician if he uses

Page 12?

-------
Cardiff Theosophical Society in Wales------

Magic: White and Black by Franz Hartmann,M.D.

them for the purposes of evil.

There are people in the East and some in the West,through whom extraordinary feats,such as are

usually classifie as "Magic",are performe ;but it oes not logically follow that such people are therefore

conscious Magicians;it only shows that the power which acts through their organism,is a magic power,

and the suppose "Magician"may be merely the instrument through which invisible intelligent powers

perform such feats,an he may not even know who or what such a power is.

We all cannot honestly say "we have life ";for life oes not belong to us,an we cannot control or

monopolise [Page 27 ] it.All we can say without arrogance and presumption is,that we are instruments

through which the universal One Life manifests itself in the form of a human being.We are all Medi ms ,

through which the universal One Life acts.Only when we know our own selves and can control the life-

principle within ourselves,can we become our own Masters.He who thinks that he has any power

whatever of his own,thinks foolish:for all the powers he has are lent him by nature,or – more correctly

speaking – by that eternal spiritual power,which acts in and from the centre of nature,an which men

have calle "Go ",because they have foun it to be the source of all goo ;the one Reality within the

universe and within every being.

No one will eny that Man,besi es having physical powers,is also temporally en owe with mental an

even spiritual energies.We love,respect,or obey a person,not on account of his superior bo ily

strength,but on account of his intellectual and moral worth,or while we are un er the spell of some real

or imaginary authority,that we may believe him to possess.A king or a bishop has,as a person,not

necessarily any more physical power than his lackey or butler,an must make himself known before he

will be obeye ;a captain may be bo ily the weakest man in his company and still his sol iers obey him.

We love beauty,harmony,an sublimity,not on account of their usefulness for material purposes,but

because they satisfy a correspon ing inner sense,which oes not belong to the physical plane;

civilisation gains groun ,more by moral and intellectual influences than by the power of the bayonet,an

it is a true saying,that in our age the pen is mightier thand the sword.

What woul be a world without the magic power of love of beauty and harmony ?How woul a world look

if ma e after a pattern furnishe by mo ern science ?A world in which the universal power of truth were

not recognise coul be nothing else but a world of maniacs and fille with hallucinations.In such a worl

art and poetry coul not exist,justice woul become a convenience,honesty be equivalent [Page 28 ] with

imbecility,to be truthful woul be to be foolish,and the i ol of "Self"the only go worthy of any

consi eration.

Magic may be sai to be that science which eals with the mental and moral powers of man,an shows

what control he may exercise over himself and others.In order to stu y the powers of man it is necessary

to investigate what Man is,an what relation he bears to the universe,an such and investigation,if

properly con ucte ,will show that the elements which compose the essential man are i entical with

those we fin in the universe;that is to say,that the universe is the Macrocosm ,an man – its true copy

– the Microcosm .

Microcosmic man and the Macrocosm of nature are one.How coul it be possible that the Macrocosm

Page 13?

-------
Cardiff Theosophical Society in Wales------

Magic: White and Black by Franz Hartmann,M.D.

shoul contain anything not containe within the Microcosm or that man shoul have something within

his organism,which cannot be foun within the gran organism of nature ?Is not mand the chil of nature,

an cand there be anything within his constitution which oes not come from his eternal father and mother

?If man's organisation containe something unnatural,he woul be a monster,an nature woul spew

him out.

Everything containe in nature can be foun within the organism of man,an exists therein either in a

germinal or evelope state;either latent or active,an may be perceive by him who possesses the

power of self-knowle ge.

We are born into a world in which we fin ourselves surroun e by physical objects.There seems to be

still another – a subjective – world within us,capable of receiving and retaining impressions from the

outsi e world .Each one is a world of its own,with a relation to space different from that of the other.

Each has its ays of sunshine and its nights ofdarkness,which are not regulate by the ays and nights

of the other,each has its clou s and its storms,an shapes and forms of its own.

As we grow up we listen to the teachings of science to try to fin out the true nature of these world s an

the laws that govern them,but physical science eals [Page 29 ] only with forms,an forms are continually

changing.She gives only a partial solution of the problems of the objective world ,an leaves us in regard

to the subjective world almost entirely in the ark.Mo ern science classifies phenomena and escribes

events,but to escribe how and event takes place is not sufficient to explain why it takes place.To

iscover causes,which are in themselves the effects of unknown primal causes,is only to eva e one

ifficulty by substituting another.Science escribes some of the attributes of things,but the first causes

which brought these attributes into existence are unknown to her,an will remain so,until her powers of

perception will penetrate into the unseen.

Besi es scientific observation there seems to be still another way to obtain knowle ge of the mysterious

si e of nature.The religious teachers of the world claim to have soun e the epths which the scientists

cannot reach.Their octrines are suppose by many to have been receive through certain ivine or

angelic revelations,procee ing from a supreme,infinite omnipresent,an yet personal,and therefore

limite external Being ,the existence of which has never been prove .Although the existence of such a

being is – to say the least – excee ingly oubtful,yet men in all countries have bowe own in terror

before its suppose ictates;rea y to tear each other's throats at a sign of its suppose comman ,an

willing to lay own their money,their lives,an even their honour at the feet of those who are looke

upon as the confi ants or eputies of a go .Men and women are willing to make themselves miserable

an unhappy in life for the purpose of obtaining some reward after they live no more.Some waste their

life in the anticipation of joys in a life of which they o not know whether or not it exists;some ie for fear

of losing that which they o not possess.

Thousan s are engage in teaching others that which they themselves o not know,an in spite of a

very great number of religious systems there is comparatively little religion at present upon the Earth.

The term Religion is erive from the Latin world religere ,which may be properly translate "to bin

back",[Page 30 ] or to "relate".Religion,in the true sense of the term,implies that science which examines

Page 14?

-------
Cardiff Theosophical Society in Wales------

Magic: White and Black by Franz Hartmann,M.D.

the link which exists between man and the cause from which he originate ,or in other words,which

eals with the relation which exists between man and Go ,for the true meaning of the term "God "is

S preme First Ca se ,an Nat re is the effect of its manifestation.True religion is therefore a science far

higher than a science base upon mere sensual perception,but it cannot be in conflict with what is true

in science.Only what is false in science must necessarily be in conflict with what is true in religion,an

what is false in religion is in conflict with what is true in science.True religion and true science are

ultimately one and the same thing,and therefore equally true;a religion that clings to illusions,an an

illusory science,are equally false,and the greater the obstinacy with which they cling to their illusions the

more pernicious is their effect.

A istinction shoul be ma e between "religion "an "religionism ";between "science "an "scientism ";

between "mystic science "an "mysticism ".

The highest aspect of Religion is practically the union of man with the Supreme First Cause,from which

his essence emanate in the beginning.

Its second aspect teaches theoretically the relations existing between that Great First Cause and Man;in

other words,the relations existing between the Macrocosm and Microcosm.

In its lowest aspect religionism consists of the a ulation of ea forms,of the worshipping of fetiches,of

fruitless attempts to whee le oneself into the favour of some imaginary eity,to persua e "Go "to

change his min ,an to try to obtain some favours which are not in accordance with justice.

Science in her highest aspect is the real knowle ge of the fun amental laws of Nature,an is therefore a

spiritual science,base upon the knowle ge of the spirit within one's own self.

In its lower aspect it is a knowle ge of external phenomena,and the secon ary or superficial causes

which pro uce the latter,an which our mo ern scientism mistakes for the final cause.[Page 31 ]

In its lowest aspect scientism is a system of observation and classification of external appearances,of

the causes of which we know nothing.

Religionism and Scientism are continually subject to changes.They have been create by illusions,an

ie when the illusions are over.True Science and true Religion are one,an if realise by Practice,they

form,with the truth which they contain,the three Iateral pyrami ,whose foun ations are upon the earth,

an whose point reaches into the king om of heaven.

Mystic science in its true meaning is spiritual knowle ge;that is to say,the soul knowle ge of spiritual

an "super-sensual"things,perceive by the spiritual powers of the soul.These powers are germinally

containe in every human organisation,but only few have evelope them sufficiently to be of any

practical use.

Page 15?

-------
Cardiff Theosophical Society in Wales------

Magic: White and Black by Franz Hartmann,M.D.

Mysticism belongs to the vapoury speculations of the brain.It is a hankering after illusions,a esire to pry

into ivine mysteries which the material min cannot comprehen ,a craving to satisfy curiosity in regard

to what and animal ought not to know.It is the realm of fancies,of reams,the para ise of ghost-seers,

an of spiritistic tomfooleries of all kin s.

But which is the true religion and the true science ?There is no oubt that a efinite relationship exists

between Man and the cause that calle humanity into existence,an a true religion or a true science

must be the one which teaches the true terms of that relation.If we take a superficial view of the various

religious systems of the world ,we fin them all apparently contra icting each other.We fin a great mass

of apparent superstitions and absurdities heape upon a grain of something that may be true.We a mire

the ethics and moral octrines of our favourite religious system,an we take its theological rubbish in our

bargain,forgetting that the ethics of nearly all religions are essentially the same,an that the rubbish

which surroun s them is not real religion.It is evi ently and absur ity to believe that any system coul be

true,unless it containe the truth.But it is equally evi ent that a thing cannot be true and false at the

same time.[Page 32 ]

The truth can only be one .The truth never changes;but we ourselves change,an as we change so

changes our aspect of the truth.The various religious systems of the world cannot be unnatural pro ucts.

They are all the natural outgrowth of man's spiritual evolution upon this globe,and they iffer only in so

far as the con itions un er which they came into existence iffere at the time when they began to exist;

while his science has been artificially built by facts collecte from external observation.Each intellectual

human being,except one blin e by preju ice,recognises the fact that each of the great religious

systems of the world contains certain truths,which we intuitively know to be true;an as there can be

only one fun amental truth,so all these religions are branches of the same tree,even if the forms in

which the truth manifests itself are not alike.The sunshine is everywhere the same,only its intensity

iffers in different localities.In one place it in uces the growth of palms,in another of mushrooms;but

there is only one Sun in our system.The processes going on,on the physical plane have their analogies

in the spiritual realm,for there is only one Nature,one Law.

If one person quarrels with another about religious opinions,he cannot have the true religion,nor can he

have any true knowle ge;because true religion is the realisation of truth.The only true religion is the

religion of universal Love;this love is the recognition of one's own ivine universal self.Love is an

element of ivine Wisdom,and there can be no wisdom without love.Each species of birds in the woo s

sings a different tune;but the principle which causes them to sing is the same in each.They o not

quarrel with each other,because one can sing better thand the rest.Moreover,religious isputations,with

their resulting animosities,are the most useless things in the world ;for no one can combat thedarkness

by fighting it with a stick:the only way to removedarkness is to kin le a light,the only way to ispel

spiritual ignorance is to let the light of knowle ge that comes from the centre of love shine into every

heart.[Page 33 ]

All religions are base upon internal truth,all have and outsi e ornamentation which varies in character in

the different systems,but all have the same foun ation of truth,an if we compare the various systems

with one another,looking below the surface of exterior forms,we fin that this truth is in all religious

systems one and the same.In all this,truth has been hi en beneath a more or less allegorical

language,impersonal and invisible powers have been personifie and represente in images carve in

stones or woo ,and the formless and real has been picture in illusive forms.These forms in letters,an

Page 16?

-------
Cardiff Theosophical Society in Wales------

Magic: White and Black by Franz Hartmann,M.D.

pictures,an images are the means by which truths may be brought to the attention of the unripe Min .

They are to the grown-up chil ren of all nations what picture-books are to small chil ren who are not yet

able to rea ,an it woul be as unreasonable to eprive grown-up chil ren of their images before they

are able to rea in their own hearts,as it woul be to take away the picture-books from little chil ren an

to ask them to rea printe books,which they cannot yet un erstan .

Very uninteresting and insignificant woul be the stories containe in the Bible ,an in other religious

books,if the personal events escribe therein were referring merely to certain occurrences having

happene in the lives of certain in ivi uals who live some thousan s of years ago,an whose

biography can seriously interest no one to ay.What o we care now about the family affairs of a man

calle A am or Abraham ?Why shoul we want to be intereste in knowing how many legitimate or

illegitimate chil ren the Jewish Patriarchs ha ,an what became of them?What is it to us whether or not

a man by the name of Jonah was thrown into the water and swallowe by a whale ?What happens to ay

in the various countries of Europe is more interesting and important for us to know than what happene

at the court of Zerubabel or Nabucho onoser.

But fortunately for the Bible and – if we only knew how to rea it – fortunately for us,the stories containe

therein are by no means merely histories of persons who [Page 34 ] live in ancient times,but they are

allegories and myths having always a very eep meaning,of which our expoun ers of the Bible,as well

as its critics,usually know very little.

The men and the women of the ol and new "testament"are much more than mere persons suppose to

have existe at that time.They are personifications of eternally active spiritual forces,of which physical

science oes not even know that they exist;and their histories give and account of their action,their

interrelations within the Macrocosm and its counterpart the Microcosm;they teach the history of the

evolution of mankin in its spiritual aspect.

If our natural philosophers woul stu y the Bible and the ancient religious books of the East,in their

esoteric and spiritual aspects,they might learn a great many things which they esire to know.They

might learn to fin out what are the true powers of the still sleeping "Inner Man",which are require to

pro uce occult phenomena at will;they might fin instruction how to transmute lea or iron into pure

gol ,an to transform animals into go s.

But it is a truth,base upon natural laws,that man can see nothing except that which exists in his min .

If a man closes his eyes,he sees nothing,an if his min is fille with illusions,he will have no room for

the truth,and the eepest of symbols will be pictures without meaning to him.

If our chil ren – the big ones as well as the little ones – are only looking at the pictures without learning

the text,they are apt to grow to believe the pictorial representations to be the very things they are

inten e to represent;they become accustome to forget that forms are only illusions,an that formless

realities cannot be seen.It is so much easier to believe than to think.Chil ren shoul not linger over their

picture-books so long as to neglect their higher e ucation.Humanity has outgrown the infancy of its

present cycle,an asks for more intellectual foo ;the age of superstition is passing away,and the

eman is not for opinions but for knowle ge,an knowle ge cannot be obtaine without [Page 35 ] an

Page 17?

-------
Cardiff Theosophical Society in Wales------

Magic: White and Black by Franz Hartmann,M.D.

effort.If we examine the various religious systems we may fin a great eal of truth,but we cannot

recognise it without knowle ge,an real knowle ge can only be obtaine by practical experience.The

expresse opinion of one person can only give rise to conviction in another,if corroborate by the same

or a similar experience of the latter.A person can only truly believe that which he knows himself,an he

can only actually know himself that which he has experience himself.

There is a great ifference between believing and un erstan ing the truth.We may believe the truth with

our heart and reject it with our brain.In other words:We may feel the truth intuitively,an not see it

intellectually.If our present generation woul cultivate the faculty of knowing the truth by heart,an

afterwards examine that which they know by means of their intellect,we woul soon have a far better

an happier state of society everywhere.But the great curse of our age is that the intellectual faculties

reject the truth in the heart.The science of the brain suppresses the knowle ge of the soul,an tries to

grasp that which only the heart can touch.

Men,instea of living in the sanctuary of the temples which they inhabit,are continually absent from

there,an resi e in the garret un er the roof,looking out through the win ows of the garret after scientific

theories and other illusions of life.Day and night they stand there and watch,careful that none of the

passing illusions may escape their observation,an while their attention is absorbe by these i le shows,

the thieves enter the house and the sanctuary without being seen,an steal away the treasures.Then at

the time when the house is estroye ,an eath appears,the soul returns to the heart and fin s it empty

an esolate,an all the illusions that occupie the brain uring life fly away,an man is left poor in ee ,

because he has not perceive the truth in his heart.

The real object of a religious system shoul therefore be to teach a way by which a person may evelop

the power to perceive the truth himself,independent of [Page 36 ] anybo y's opinion.To ask a man to

believe in the opinion expresse by another,an to remain satisfie with such a belief,is to ask him to

remain ignorant,an to trust to another person more than to his own experience.A person without

knowle ge can have no real conviction,no true faith.His a option of one particular theory or system

epen s on the circumstances un er which he is born,or brought up,or surroun e .He is most liable to

a opt that system which his parents or neighbours have inherite or a opte ,an if he changes from

one to another,he,generally speaking,oes so from mere sentimentalism,or on account of some selfish

consi eration,expecting to obtain some benefit to himself by that change.From a spiritual stan point he

will gain nothing un er such circumstances;because to approach the truth,he must love the truth for its

own sake,an not on account of the personal a vantage that it may bring;from and intellectual stan point

he will gain little or nothing by exchanging one superstition for another.The only way by which Man can

hope to arrive at the truth is to love the truth on account of its being the truth,an to free his min from all

preju ices and pre ilections,so that its light may penetrate into the min .

What is the religionism of to ay,but a religion of fear ?Men o not wish to avoi vice,but they wish to

avoi the punishment for having in ulge in vice.Their experience teaches them that the laws of nature

are unchangeable,but nevertheless they continue to act against the universal law.They claim to believe

in a Go who is unchangeable,an yet they implore his assistance if they esire to break his own law.

When will they rise up to the true conception that the only possible Go is that universal power which

acts in the law,which is itself the law of the spirit in nature,an cannot be change ?To break the law is

i entical with breaking the Go within ourselves,and the only way to obtain forgiveness after he is

broken is to restore the supremacy of the law,an to create a new Go within ourselves.

Page 18?

-------
Cardiff Theosophical Society in Wales------

Magic: White and Black by Franz Hartmann,M.D.

It may be well to stu y the opinions of others,an [Page 37 ] to store them up in the book of our memory,

but we shoul not believe them to constitute self-knowle ge.Even the teachings of the world 's greatest

A epts,unimpeachable as they may be,can only instruct us,but give us no real knowle ge.They can

show the way,but we must take ourselves the steps on the la er.Were we to recognise their dict m as

the final aim,to be accepte without any further internal investigation,we shoul again fall back into a

system of belief for the sake of authority.Knowle ge gives strength,oubt paralyses the will.A man who

oes not believe that he is able to walk will not be able to walk as long as he oes not believe;a man

who knows by experience that he can comman himself will be able to o so.He who can comman

himself can comman that which is below him,because the low is controlle by the high,and there is

nothing higher than Man having obtaine a perfect knowle ge of Self.

The knowle ge of Self is i entical with Self-knowle ge,i.e.,with one's own Soul knowle ge independent

of any ogmas or octrines,no matter from what external authority they may procee .If we stu y the

teachings of any suppose authority external to our own selves,we at best know what the opinion of

such and authority is in regard to the truth,but we o not necessarily arrive thereby at a self-knowle ge of

the truth.If we,for instance,learn what Christ taught about Go ,we are only informe of what he knew

or believe to know;but we cannot know Go for all that,unless we awaken to a realisation of Go 's

presence within our own heart.The knowle ge of even the wisest of all men,if communicate to us,will

be to us nothing more than and opinion,as long as it is not experience within our own selves.As long as

we cannot penetrate within the soul of Man,we can know little more about him but his corporeal form;but

how coul we penetrate within the soul of another as long as we o not know our own ?Therefore the

beginning of all real knowle ge is the knowle ge of Self;the knowle ge of the Soul and not the vagaries

of the brain.

Does external science confer any true knowle ge of [Page 38 ] Man ?The range of her power of

observation is limite by the perceptive power of the physical senses,assiste by physical instruments;

she has no means to investigate that which transcen s physical sense,she cannot enter the temple of

the unseen,she only knows the external form in which the reality wells.She only knows what man

appears to be,but not what he is,she knows nothing whatever of the essential and real man,an

sometimes enies his existence.In vain shall we look to her for the solution of the problem,which

thousan s of years ago the Egyptian Sphinx propoun e .

Do the popular religious systems confer any true knowle ge of Man ?The conception which the average

theologian has of the mysterious being calle Man is as narrow as that of the professor of mo ern

science.He looks upon man as a personal being,isolate from other personal beings aroun whose

infinite little personality centres the interests of the infinitely great.He forgets that the foun ers of the

principal religious systems taught that the original and essential man was a universal power,that the real

man is a whole and cannot be ivi e ,an that the personal form of man is only the temporary temple in

which the spirit wells.[Bible:Corinth.iii.16.]

The misconceptions arising from ignorance of the true nature of Man are the cause that the popular

religious opinions hel by the average theologians in Christian and Pagan countries are base upon

selfishness,contrary to the spirit of that which true religion teaches."Christians"an "Heathens"clamour

for some benefit to be conferre by some imaginary person upon that insignificant soap bubble,calle

the "personal self",either here or in the hereafter.Each one of such short-sighte nothings wants to be

save personally himself above all,the salvation of the rest is a matter of secon consi eration.They

Page 19?

-------
Cardiff Theosophical Society in Wales------

Magic: White and Black by Franz Hartmann,M.D.

expect to obtain some benefit which they o not eserve,to whee le themselves into the favour of some

personal eity,argue their case before Go ,cheat the "evil"of his just ues,an smuggle their

imperfections into the king om of heaven.[Page 39 ]

The only reasonable object which any external religious system can possibly have,is to elevate man

from a lower state to a higher one,in which he can form a better conception of his true ignity as a

member of the human family.If there is any possibility of imparting to a man a knowle ge of his true self,

the churches are the places where such a knowle ge shoul be imparte ;but to accomplish this the

claims of the truth shoul pre ominate over those of the form,the interests of religion and the interests of

the "church"woul have to cease to be interchangeable terms,and the church shoul again be foun e

upon the rock of self-knowle ge,instea of the craving to obtain some selfish personal benefit in this

world or in the problematical hereafter.

He who is le by selfish consi erations cannot enter a heaven where personal consi erations o not

exist.He who oes not care for heaven but is contente where he is,is alrea y,in heaven,while the

iscontente will in vain clamour for it.To be without personal esires is to be free and happy."Heaven"

can mean nothing else but a state in which free om and happiness exist.The man who performs

beneficial acts in uce by a hope of reward is not happy unless the reward is obtaine ,an if his reward

is obtaine his happiness en s.There can be no permanent rest and happiness as long as there is some

work to be one and not accomplishe ,and the fulfillment of uties brings its own reward.

A man who performs a goo act with the hope of reward is not free.He is a servant of Self,an works for

the benefit of Self and not for his Go .It is,therefore,not the power of Go which will reward him,he can

only expect that reward from his own temporary surroun ings.

The man who performs evil acts,in uce by a selfish motive,is not free.He who esires evil and is

restraine by fear is not his own master.He who recognises the supreme power of the universe in his

own heart has become free.He whose will is swaye by his personal self is the slave of his person,but

he who has conquere that so-calle "self"enters the higher life and becomes a power.[Page 40 ]

The science of Life consists in sub uing the low and elevating the high.Its first lesson is how to free

oneself from the love of self,the first angel of evil,or,according to E win Arnol in his "Light of Asia"-

"The sin of self,who in the universe

As in a mirror sees her fon face shown,

An crying ‘I ’,woul have the world say 'I',

An all things perish so if she en ure.

This lower Self is and unreal thing,compose of a great many illusive egos,of which each one has his

peculiar claims,an whose eman s grow in proportion as we attempt to satisfy them.They are the

semi-intellectual forces of the soul that woul ren the soul to pieces if they were allowe to grow,an

which must be sub ue by the power of the real Master,the superior "I"—the Go .

Page 20?

-------
Cardiff Theosophical Society in Wales------

Magic: White and Black by Franz Hartmann,M.D.

These "I ’s"are the Elementals ,of which has been sai so much in occult literature.They are not

imaginary things,but living forces,and they may be perceive by him who has acquire the power to

look within his own soul.Each of these forces correspon s to some animal esire,an if it is permitte to

grow is symbolise by the form of the being which correspon s to its nature.At first they are thin an

sha owy,but as the esire which correspon s to them is in ulge in,they become more and more ense

within the soul,an being nourishe by the will,they gain great strength as our esires grow into a

passion.The lesser Elementals are swallowe by the bigger ones,the little esires are absorbe by the

stronger ones,until perhaps at last one Master Passion,one powerful Elemental remains.They form the

rea e Dwellers of the Threshold ,who guard the garden of the para ise of the soul.They are escribe

as having the form of snakes and tigers,hogs,insatiable wolves,etc.,but as they are often the result of a

mixture of human and animal elements,they o not merely exhibit purely animal forms;but frequently

they look like animals with human hea s or like men with animal members;they appear un er [Page 41 ]

en less varieties of shapes,because there is and en less variety of correlations and mixtures of lust,

avarice,gree ,sensual love,ambition,cowardice,fear,terror,hate,pri e,vanity,self-conceit,stupi ity,

voluptuousness,selfishness,jealousy,envy,arrogance,hypocrisy,cunning,sophistry,imbecility,

superstition,etc.,etc..

These Elementals live in the soul-realm of man as long as he lives,an grow strong and fat,for they live

on his life-principle,an are fe by the substance of his thoughts.They may even become objective to

him,if uring a paroxysm of fear or in consequence of some isease they are enable to step out of their

sphere.

They cannot be kille by pious ceremonies,nor be riven away by the exhortations of a clergyman;they

are only estroye by the power of the spirit al Will of the ivine man,which annihilates them as the light

annihilatesdarkness,or as a stroke of lightning seems to ren the clou s.

Only those who have awakene to ivine spiritual consciousness can have that spiritual will,of which the

non-regenerate knows nothing.But those who are not yet so far a vance may cause those elementals

to ie slowly,by with rawing from them the foo which they require,that is to say,by not esiring or

enjoying their presence;by not giving to their existence the consent of the will.They will then begin to

wane,to get sick,ie and putrefy like a member of the bo y which has become mortifie .A line of

demarkation will be forme in the soul-bo y of man,there may be "inflammation"an suffering.A

process,similar to that which occurs if a gangrenous part of the physical bo y is thrown off,takes place;

an at last the putri carcass of the Elemental rops off and issolves.

These escriptions are neither fancies nor allegories.Theophrast s Paracelsus,Jackob Boehme,an

many other writers on Occultism write about them,an a ue appreciation of their octrines will go far to

explain many occurrences mentione in the history of witch-craft,an in the legen s of the lives of the

saints.

But there are not merely animal germs within the realm of the soul of man.In each human constitution

[Page 42 ] there are also the germs which go to make up a Shakespeare,a Washington,Goethe,Voltaire,

a Bu ha,or Jesus of Nazareth.There are also the germs which may grow to make a Nero,Messalina,

or Torquema a;an each germ hag the latent power to evelop,take a form and ultimately fin its

expression and reflection in the outward bo y,as much as the ensity of the material atoms,which are

Page 21?

-------
Cardiff Theosophical Society in Wales------

Magic: White and Black by Franz Hartmann,M.D.

slow to transform,will permit;for each character correspon s to a form,an each form to a character.

Man's microcosm is a garden in which all kin s of living plants grow Some are poisonous,some are

wholesome.It rests with man to eci e which germs he wants to evelop into a living tree,an that tree

will be himself.

To accomplish the task of becoming spiritual it is not necessary to be a misanthrope and retire into a

jungle there to fee on the pro ucts of one's own morbi imagination;the struggle cause by the petty

annoyances of every ay life is the best school to exercise the will power for those that have not yet

gaine the mastery over Self."To renounce the vanities of the world "oes not mean to look with

contempt upon the progress of the world ,to remain ignorant of mathematics and logic,to take no interest

in the welfare of humanity,to avoi the uties of life or neglect one's family.Such a procee ing woul

accomplish the very reverse of what is inten e ;it woul increase the love of self,it woul cause the soul

to shrink to a small focus instea of expan ing it over the world .We must attain a state before we can

outgrow it.A misanthrope cannot attain the love of Go ,if he oes not first rise up to the love for

mankin ."To renounce one's self"means to conquer the sense of personality and to free one's self of the

love of things which that personality esires.It means to "live in the world ,but not cling to the world ",to

substitute universal love for personal love,an to consi er the interests of the whole of superior

importance than personal claims.The renunciation of that self which is only a mask,is necessarily

followe by spiritual growth.As we forget our personal self,[Page 43 ] we attach less importance to

personalities,personal things,an personal feelings.We begin to look upon ourselves not as being

permanent,unchanging and unchangeable entities,stan ing isolate among other isolate entities,an

being separate from them by impenetrable shells,but as manifestations of and infinite power,which

embraces the universe,an whose powers are concentrate and brought to a focus in the bo ies which

we temporarily inhabit,into which bo ies continually flow and from which are incessantly ra iating the

rays of and infinite sphere of light,whose circumference is en less and whose centre is everywhere.

Upon the recognition and realisation of this truth rests the only true Law,the Religion of the Universal

Love of God in all Beings .As long as man takes only his own little self into consi eration in his thoughts

an acts,the sphere of his min becomes necessarily narrow.All our popular religious sects are base

upon selfish consi erations.Each of our religious sectarians speculates to obtain some spiritual,if not

material,benefit for himself .Each one wants to be save by somebo y;first he,and then perhaps the

others;but,above all,he himself.The true religion of universal Love knows of no "self".

Even the high and lau able esire to go to heaven or enter the state of Nirvana is,after all,but a selfish

esire,an as long as man has any selfish esires whatever,his min perceives only his own self.Only

when he ceases to have a limite illusive "self"will his real go become unlimite and be omnipresent,

like the spirit of Wisdom.He who esires unlimite knowle ge must rise above limitation.

Looke at from that height,the personality appears excee ingly small and insignificant,an of little

importance.Man appears as the centralisation of and i ea,persons and peoples like living grains of san

on the shore of and infinite ocean.Fortune,fame,love,luxury,etc.,assume the importance of soap-

bubbles,and the soul has no hesitation in relinquishing them as the i le playthings of chil ren.Neither

can such a renunciation be calle a sacrifice,for grown-up boys and girls [Page 44 ] o not "sacrifice"their

popguns and olls,they simply o not want them any longer.In proportion as their min s expan ,o

Page 22?

-------
Cardiff Theosophical Society in Wales------

Magic: White and Black by Franz Hartmann,M.D.

they reach out for something more useful,an as a man's soul expan s,his surroun ings,an even the

planet on which he lives,appear to him small as a lan scape seen from a great istance,or from a high

mountain,while at the same time his conception of the infinite grows larger and assumes a gigantic form.

This expansion of our existence "robs us of a country and a home"[Bulwer-Lytton:"Zanoni"] by making

us citizens of the gran universe;it separates us from the fancie affections for the impermanent forms of

our mortal parents and frien s,to unite us with their true in ivi ualities for ever as our immortal brothers

an sisters;it lifts us up from the narrow confines of the illusory to the unlimite realm of the Ideal,an

releasing man from the prison-house of insignificant clay,it lea s him to the sublime free om an

splen our of Eternal and Universal Life.

Every form of life,the human form not excepte ,is nothing more than a focus in which the energies of

the universal principle of life are concentrate ,and the more they are concentrate and cling to that

centre,the less are they able to manifest their activity,to grow and expan .Self-satisfie man,who

employs his capacities only for his own selfish purpose,contracts them into himself,an as he contracts

he becomes more and more narrow-min e and insignificant,an as he loses sight of the whole,the

whole loses sight of him.If,on the other han ,a person lives only in reams,sen ing his forces into the

region of the unknown,scattering them through space,without having obtaine intellectual strength,his

thoughts will wan er like sha ows through the realm of the infinite and become lost.Neither the self-

conceite realist nor the visionary reamer and idealist grasps the truth.Harmonious growth requires

expansion along with a correspon ing accumulation of energy.

Some persons are possesse of great intellectual power,but of little spirituality;some have spiritual [Page

45 ]

power,but a weak intellect;those in whom the intellectual energies are well supporte by a strong spirit

are the elect.To become practical,we must first learn to un erstand the thing we want to practice,by

observation and receiving instruction.Un erstan ing is a result of assimilation and growth,not a result of

memory.The truth must nourish the soul.It is and awakening to a state of consciousness of the nature of

the thing that comes to be a part of our own being.A person coming to a strange country in the evening

will,when after a night's rest he awakes in the morning,har ly realise where he is.He has,perhaps,

been reaming of his home and those that are left there,an only after he opens his eyes and awakens

to a full sense of consciousness of his new and strange surroun ings,will the ol impressions fa e away,

an he will begin to realise where he is.In the same manner ol errors must isappear before new truths

can be realise .Man only begins to exist as a conscious spiritual being when he begins to experience

spiritual life.

To become spiritual,physical health,intellectual growth,an spiritual activity shoul go han in han .

Intuition shoul be supporte by and unselfish intellect,a pure min by a healthy form.How to accomplish

this can neither be taught by a science which eals only with illusory effects,nor by a religious belief

base upon illusions;but it is taught by Theosophy,the Wisdom Religion of the ages,whose foun ation

is truth,an whose practical application is the highest object of human existence.

This Wisdom Religion has been,an is to ay,the inheritance of the saints,prophets,an seers,an of

the illuminate ones of all nations,no matter to what external system of religion they may have given

their a herence.It was taught by the ancient Brahmins,Egyptians,an Jews in temples and caves,

Page 23?

-------
Cardiff Theosophical Society in Wales------

Magic: White and Black by Franz Hartmann,M.D.

Gautama Bu ha and Jesus of Nazareth preache it,it forme the basis of the Eleusinian and Bacchic

mysteries of the Greeks,and the true religion of the eternal Christ is resting upon it.It is the religion of

Humanity,that has nothing to o with opinions and forms.Now,as [Page 46 ] in times of ol ,its truths are

misun erstoo and misrepresente by men who profess to be teachers of men.The Pharisees an

Sadd cees of the New Testament were the prototypes of mo ern churchmen and scientists existing

to ay.Now,as then,the truth is aily crucifie between superstition and selfishness and lai in the tomb

of ignorance.Now ,as then,the spirit has fle from the form,being riven away by those that worship the

letter and ignore the spirit.Wisdom will forever remain a secret science to the i olators a oring the form,

even if it were proclaime from the housetops and preache at a market-place.The ealer in poun s an

pennies,absorbe by his material interests,may be surroun e by the greatest beauties of nature an

not comprehen them,the speculative reasoner will ask for a sign and not see the signs by which he is

continually surroun e .The tomb from which the Saviour will arise is the heart of mankin ;if the Go in

Humanity awakens to self-consciousness of his Divinity then will he appear as a sun,she ing his light

upon a better and happier generation.[See "Bhagava Gita",chap xi.)]

The existence of the magic power of goo will probably be enie by few;but if the existence of

benevolent,or White Magic ,is a mitte ,that of malevolent,or Black Magic ,is not any more improbable.

It is not man who exercises goo or evil magic powers,but it is the spirit in him who works goo or evil

through the organism of man.Go in his aspect as the great cause is goo or evil according to the

con itions un er which he acts,for if Go i not inclu e evil as well as goo ,he woul not be universal.

Go performs goo or evil ee s accor ing to the mo e in which he must act;in the same way as the

sun is goo in spring-time when he melts the snow and assists the grass and flowers to crawl out of the

ark earth,an evil if he parches the skin of the wan erer in tropical Africa and kills persons by sun-

stroke.Go causes the healthy growth of a limb and the unhealthy growth of a cancer by the power of his

unintelligent material nature which acts accor ing to law and not according to whims.[Page 47 ] Divine

wisdom oes not become manifest in that which is not ivine or spiritual.Consciousness cannot become

reveale in and unconscious bo y.Only when the spirit in Man has awakene to consciousness an

knowle ge,will man be able to control his own spiritual power and employ it for goo or for evil.

A person having create (or calle into consciousness)in himself a spiritual power may employ it for

goo or for evil.Every ay we may rea of persons who have use high intellectual powers for vile

purposes.We see persons making use of the vanity,gree iness,selfishness,or ambition of others to

ren er them subservient to their own purpose.We see them commit murder and instigate wars for the

benefit of their own purposes or to attain some object of their ambition.But such events belong more or

less to the struggle for existence.They o not necessarily belong to the sphere of black magic because

they are usually not cause by a love for absolute evil,but by a esire of a personal benefit of some kin .

The real black magicians are those that are oing evil for the sake of oing evil,who injure others without

expecting or receiving any benefit for themselves.To that class belong the habitual backbiter an

slan erer,tra ucer and se ucer,those who enjoy to create enmity in the bosom of families,oppose

progress and encourage ignorance,and they have been rightly calle the Sons of Darkness ,while those

who o goo for the sole purpose of oing goo have been calle the Children of Light .

The struggle between Light and Darkness is as ol as the world ;there can no light become manifest

without Darkness and no evil without goo .Goo and evil are the light and sha ow of the one eternal

principle of life,an each is necessary if the other is to become manifest.Absolute goo must exist,but

Page 24?

-------
Cardiff Theosophical Society in Wales------

Magic: White and Black by Franz Hartmann,M.D.

we cannot know goo without knowing the presence of evil.Absolute evil cannot exist,because it is hel

together by the power of goo .A soul in which there were no goo whatever woul rage against itself,

the forces constituting such and entity woul combat each other and ren it to pieces.Man's Re eemer is

his power for goo .This power [Page 48 ] attracts him to that which is goo ,an at the en ,when the

supreme source of all power,from which life emanate in the beginning,with raws that activity into itself,

the powers ofdarkness will suffer,but the creatures of Light will be one with their own source.

This is the law of evolution,that the lower shoul evelop into something higher;but this can be

accomplishe only by the power of the highest of all germinally containe within the form,an acte

upon by itself from without.The soul requires nutriment as much as the physical form,and the nutriment

of the soul escen s from above like the rain;while the earth below furnishes the con itions for its

assimilation.This is the law of the spirit in the natural world ,that all nature shoul receive it and by a

spiritual unfol ing rise up to the spirit,while matter is to furnish the steps upon which to ascen .This

unfol ing and uprising takes place in proportion as the spirit of Go becomes self-conscious in man,

en owing him with a sense of its ivine nature,which will ultimately lea him to a recognition of Go .

[Page 49 ]

Page 25?

-------
Cardiff Theosophical Society in Wales------

Magic: White and Black by Franz Hartmann,M.D.

CHAPTER I

THE IDEAL

"Go is a Spirit,and they that worship him must worship in spirit and in truth".-John iv.24.

THE highest esire any reasonable man can cherish and the highest right he may possibly claim,is to

become perfect.To know everything,to love all and be known and belove by all,to possess an

comman everything that exists,such is a con ition of being that,to a certain extent,may be felt

intuitively,but whose possibility cannot be graspe by the intellect of mortal man.A foretaste of such a

blissful con ition may be experience by a person who – even for a short perio of time – is perfectly

happy.He who is not oppresse by sorrow,not excite by selfish esires,an who is conscious of his

own strength and liberty,may feel as if he were the master of world s and the king of creation;an ,in fact,

uring such moments he is their ruler,as far as he himself is concerne ,although his subjects may not

seem to be aware of his existence.

But when he awakes from his ream and looks through the win ows of his senses into the exterior world ,

an begins to reason about his surroun ings,his vision fa es away;he behol s himself a chil of the

Earth,a mortal form,boun with many chains to a speck of ust in the Universe,on a ball of matter

calle a planet that floats in the infinity of space.The ideal world ,that perhaps a moment before

appeare to him as a glorious reality,may now seem to him the baseless fabric of a ream,in which

there is nothing real,an physical existence,with all its imperfections,is now to him the only

unquestionable reality,an its [Page 50 ] most ear illusions the only things worthy of his attention.He

sees himself surroun e by material forms,an he seeks to iscover among these forms that which

correspon s to his highest ideal.

The highest esire of mortal is to attain fully that which exists in himself as his highest ideal.A person

without and ideal is unthinkable.To be conscious is to realise the existence of some ideal,to relinquish the

ideal world woul be eath.A person without any esire for some ideal woul be useless in the economy

of nature,a person having all his esires satisfie nee s to live no longer,for life can be of no further use

to him.Each one is boun to his own ideal;he whose ideal is mortal must ie when his ideal ies,he

whose ideal is immortal must become immortal himself to attain it.

Each man's highest ideal shoul be his own higher spiritual self.Man's semi-animal self,which we see

expresse in his physical form,is not the whole of man.Man may be regarde as and invisible power or

Page 26?

-------
Cardiff Theosophical Society in Wales------

Magic: White and Black by Franz Hartmann,M.D.

ray exten ing from the (spiritual)Sun to the Earth.Only the lower en of that ray is visible,where it has

evolve and organise material bo y;by means of which the invisible ray raws strength from the earth

below.If all the life and thought-force evolve by the contact with matter are spent within the material

plane,the higher spiritual self will gain nothing by it.Such a person resembles a plant eveloping nothing

but its root.When eath breaks the communication between the higher and lower,the lower self will

perish,and the ray will remain what it was,before it evolve a mortal inhabitant of the material world .

Man lives in two world s,in his interior and in the exterior world .Each of these world s exists un er

con itions peculiar to itself,an that world in which he lives is for the time being the most real to him.

When he enters into his interior world uring eep sleep or in moments of perfect abstraction,the forms

perceive in the exterior world fa e away;but when he awakes in the exterior world the impressions

receive in his interior state are forgotten,or leave only their uncertain [Page 51 ] sha ows on the sky.To

live simultaneously in both world s is only possible to him who succee s in harmoniously blen ing his

internal and external world s into one.

The so-calle Real sel om correspon s with the Ideal,an often it happens that man,after many

unsuccessful attempts to realise his ideals in the exterior world ,returns to his interior world with

isappointment,an resolves to give up his search;but if he succee s in the realisation of his ideal,then

arises for him a moment of happiness,uring which time,as we know it,exists for him no more,the

exterior world is then blen e with his interior world ,his consciousness is absorbe in the enjoyment of

both,an yet he remains a man.

Artists and poets may be familiar with such states.An inventor who sees his invention accepte ,a sol ier

coming victorious out of the struggle for victory,a lover unite with the object of his esire,forgets his

own personality and is lost in the contemplation of his ideal.The extatic saint,seeing the Re eemer

before him,floats in and ocean of rapture,an his consciousness is centre in the ideal that he himself

has create out of his own min ,but which is as real to him as if it were a living form of flesh.

Shakespeare's Juliet fin s her mortal ideal realise in Romeo's youthful form.Unite with him,she

forgets the rush of time,night isappears,an she is not conscious of it;the lark heral s the awn an

she mistakes its song for the singing of the nightingale.Happiness measures no time and knows no

anger.But Juliet's ideal is mortal and ies;having lost her ideal Juliet must ie;but the immortal ideals

of both become again one as they enter the immortal realm through the oor of physical eath.

But as the sun rose too early for Juliet,so all evanescent ideals that have been realise in the external

world vanish soon.An ideal that has been realise ceases to be and ideal;the ethereal forms of the

interior world ,if graspe by the ru e han of mortals and embo ie in matter,must ie.To grasp an

immortal ideal,man's mortal nature must ie before he can grasp it.[Page 52 ]

Low ideals may be kille ,but their eath calls similar ones into existence.From the bloo of a vampire

that has been slain a swarm of vampires arises.A selfish esire fulfille makes room for similar esires,a

gratifie passion is chase away by other similar passions,a sensual craving that has been stille gives

rise to new cravings.Earthly happiness is short-live and often ies in isgust;the love of the immortal

alone is immortal.Material acquisitions perish,because forms are evanescent and ie.Intellectual

accomplishments vanish,for the pro ucts of the imagination,opinions,and theories,are subject to

change.Desires and passions change and memories fa e away.He who clings to ol memories,clings

Page 27?

-------
Cardiff Theosophical Society in Wales------

Magic: White and Black by Franz Hartmann,M.D.

to that which is ea .A chil becomes a man,a man and ol man,an ol man a chil ;the playthings of

chil hoo give way to intellectual playthings,but when the latter have serve their purpose,they appear

as useless as i the former,only spiritual realities are everlasting and true.In the ever-revolving

kalei oscope of nature the aspect of illusions continually changes its form.What is laughe at as a

superstition by one century is often accepte as the basis of science for the next,an what appears as

wisdom to ay may be looke upon as and absurdity in the great tomorrow.Nothing is permanent but the

truth.

But where can man fin the truth ?If he seeks eep enough in himself he will fin it reveale ,each man

may know his own heart.He may let a ray of the light of intelligence into the epths of his soul an

search its bottom,he will fin it to be as infinitely eep as the sky above his hea .He may fin corals an

pearls,or watch the monsters of the eep.If his thought is stea y and unwavering,he may enter the

innermost sanctuary of his own temple and see the go ess unveile .Not everyone can penetrate into

such epths,because the thought is easily le astray;but the strong and persisting searcher will

penetrate veil after veil,until at the innermost centre he iscovers the germ of truth,which,awakene to

self-consciousness,will grow in him into a sun that illuminates the whole of his interior world .[Page 53 ]

Such and interior me itation and elevation of thought in the innermost centre of the soul,is the only true

prayer .The a ulation of and external form,whether living or ea ,whether existing objectively or merely

subjectively in the imagination,is useless,an serves only to eceive.It is very easy to atten to forms of

external worship,but the true worship of the living Go within requires a great effort of will and a power of

thought,an is in fact the exercise of a spiritual power receive from Go .Go in us prays to himself.

Our business consists in continual guarding of the oor of the sacre lo ge,so that no illegitimate

thoughts may enter the min to isturb the holy assembly whose eliberations are presi e over by the

spirit of wisdom.

How shall we know the truth ?It can be known only if it becomes reveale within the soul.Truth,having

awakene to consciousness,knows that it is;it is the go -principle in man,which is infallible and cannot

be misle by illusions.If the surface of the soul is not lashe by the storms of passion,if no selfish

esires exist to isturb its tranquility,if its waters are not arkene by reflections of the past,we will see

the image of eternal truth mirrore in the eep.To know the truth in its fulness is to become alive an

immortal,to lose the power of recognising the truth is to perish in eath.The voice of truth in a person

that has not yet awakene to spiritual life,is the "still small voice"that may be heard in the heart,listene

to by the soul,as a half-conscious reamer listens to the ringing of bells in the istance,[See H.P.

Blavatsky:"The voice of the silence".] but in those that have become conscious of life,having receive

the baptism of the first initiation a ministere by the spirit of Go ,the voice heard by the new-born ego

has no uncertain soun ,but becomes the powerful Word of the Master.The awakene truth is self-

conscious and self-sufficient,it knows that it exists.It stan s higher than all theories and cree s an

higher than science,it oes not nee to be corroborate by "recognise authorities",it cares not for the

opinion of others,an its ecisions [Page 54 ] suffer no appeal.It knows neither oubt nor fear,but reposes

in the tranquility of its own supreme majesty.It can neither be altere nor change ,it always was an

ever remains the same,whether mortal man perceives it or not.It may be compare to the light of the

earthly sun,that cannot be exclu e from the world ,but from which man may exclu e himself.We may

blin ourselves to the perception of the truth,but the truth itself is not thereby change .It illuminates the

min s of those who have awakene to immortal life.A small room requires a little flame,a large room a

great light for its illumination,but in either room the light shines equally clear in each;in the same manner

Page 28?

-------
Cardiff Theosophical Society in Wales------

Magic: White and Black by Franz Hartmann,M.D.

the light of truth shines into the hearts of the illumine with equal clearness,but with a power iffering

according to their in ivi ual capacity.

It woul be perfectly useless to attempt to escribe this interior illumination.Only that which exists

relatively to ourselves has a real existence for s ,that of which we know nothing oes not exist for us.No

real knowle ge of the existence of light can be furnishe to the blin ,no experience of transcen ental

knowle ge can be given to those whose capacity to know oes not transcen the realm of external

appearances.

There is nothing higher than truth,and the acquisition of truth is therefore man's highest ideal.The

highest ideal in the Universe must be a universal ideal.The constitution of all men is built according to

one universal law,and the highest ideal must be the same to all and attainable to all,an in its attainment

all in ivi uals become reunite .As long as the soul of man oes not recognise the highest ideal in the

Universe,the highest one which he is able to recognise will be the highest to him;but as long as there

still exists a higher one thand the one he perceives,the higher will unconsciously attract him,unless he

forcibly and persistingly repulses its attraction.Only the attainment of the highest ideal in the Universe

can give eternal and permanent happiness,for having attaine the highest there is nothing left that coul

possibly be esire .As long as there is still a higher ideal for man,he will have aspirations [Page 55 ] to

reach it,but having reache the highest all attraction ceases,he becomes one with it and can esire

nothing more.There must be a state of perfection which all may reach and beyon which none can

a vance,until the Universe as a whole a vances beyon it.All men have the same right to reach the

highest,but not all have the same power evelope ,some may reach it soon,others may lag on the

roa ,an perhaps the majority may fall and have to begin again at the foot of the la er.Each ripe acorn

that falls from and oak has the inherent capacity to evelop into and oak;but not each fin s the same

con itions for evelopment.Some may grow,a few may evelop into trees,but the majority will enter into

ecomposition to furnish material out of which new forms may be evelope .

The highest truth in its fulness is not known to man in the mortal form.Those that have attaine to a state

of perfect consciousness of infinite truth are not imprisone in a limite form,they belong to a formless

tribe;they coul not be one with and universal principle if they were tie by the chains of personality;a

soul expan e ,so that the prison-house of flesh can hol it no more,will require that prison-house no

longer.Flesh and bloo is only require to shelter the spirit in the infancy of his evelopment,as long as

he has not attaine full power.The "clothes of skin,[ Bible:Genesis iii.21 ]were nee e to protect him

against the estructive elementary influences of the sphere of evil as long as he coul not rise above evil.

Having attaine the knowle ge of evil and the power to sub ue it,an having by the realisation of the

truth "eaten from the tree of life and attaine substantiality",[Bible:Genesis iii.22 ] he can protect himself

by his own power,an requires his clothes of flesh no longer.

Imperfectly evelope man,unless he has become egra e ,feels intuitively that which is true,but oes

not know the truth by irect perception.The externalist who reasons only from the plane of sensual

perceptions is farthest from a recognition of the truth,because he mistakes the illusions pro uce by his

senses for the reality,an repulses the revelations of his own [Page 56 ] spirit.The philosopher,unable to

see the truth,attempts to grasp it with his logic,an may approach it to a certain extent;but he,in whom

the truth has attaine its own self-consciousness,knows the truth because he is himself one with it.Such

a state is incomprehensible to the majority of men,to scientists and philosophers as well as to the

ignorant,an nevertheless men have existe ,an exist to ay,who have attaine it.They are the true

Page 29?

-------
Cardiff Theosophical Society in Wales------

Magic: White and Black by Franz Hartmann,M.D.

Theosophos ,but not everyone is a Theosopher who goes by the name of "Theosophist",nor is everyone

a Christ who is calle a Christian.But a true Theosopher and a true Christian are one and the same,

because both are human forms in which the universal spirit al so l ,the Christ or the light of Divine

Wisdom,has become manifest.

The terms "Christian"or "Theosophist",like so many other terms of a similar kin ,have almost entirely

lost their true meaning.A "Christian"now-a-days means a person whose name is inscribe in the register

of some so-calle Christian Church,an performs the ceremonies prescribe by that social organisation;

while a "Theosophist"is sai to be a visionary or reamer.

But a real Christian is something entirely different from a merely external one.The first Christians were a

secret organisation,a school of Occultists,who a opte certain symbols and signs,in which to represent

spiritual truths,an thus to communicate them to each other.

A real Theosophos is not a reamer,but a most practical person.By purity of life he acquires the power

to perceive higher truths than average man is able to see,an he un erstan s the things which he sees,

because he possesses a spiritual knowle ge gaine by many a life of self-denial in repeate

reincarnations.

As fun amental truth the life of all things is only one,men in all countries,having attaine self-

consciousness in it,have the same perception.This explains why the revelations or the sages are

i entical with each other.The truths reveale by a Jackob Boehme,Eckhart,or Paracelsus in Germany,

are essentially the same as those reveale by the Thibetan A epts,they only iffer in [Page 57 ] extent an

in mo e of expression.A true Christian saint in Englan or France woul tell the same tale as a real

Brahmin in In ia or a truly wise re In ian in America;because all three,being in the same state of clear

perception,woul exactly see the same thing.The truth is there,visible to all who possess it,but each

will escribe what he sees accor ing to his mo e of thinking and in his own fashion.If – as the ignorant

believe – all the visions of saints and lamas,sanyβssi,an ervishes,were only the result of

hallucinations and fancies,not two of them,having never heard of each other,woul have the same

vision.A tree will be a tree to all who are able to see it,an if their sight is clear no arguments will change

it into and oyster;a truth will be seen as a truth by all who are able to see it,an no sophistry will change it

into a lie.To know the whole truth is to know everything that exists;to love the truth above all is to

become unite with everything;to be able to express the truth in its fulness is to possess universal

power;to be one with immortal truth is to be for ever immortal.

The capacity of perceiving the truthdepends on the tranquility of the soul.The soul not being true cannot

realise truth,it can at best ream of it as of something existing in another world .The soun of the voice

of the truth cannot penetrate through the noise cause by the turmoil in the heart;its light cannot break

through the clou s of false theories and the smoke of opinions which inhabit the brain.To un erstan

that voice and to behol that light istinctly and without any foreign a mixture,heart and hea shoul be

at rest.To perceive the truth,purity of heart and self control shoul go han in han ,an it is therefore

taught that men must become as unsophisticate as chil ren and strong as lions before they can enter

the sphere of truth.Hea and heart,if unite ,are One ,but if they act against each other they form the

absurd Two that pro uces illusions.The emotional maniac is only gui e by his heart,the intellectual fool

only listens to the ictates of his hea ,he lives in his hea and knows not the heart.But neither the

Page 30?

-------
Cardiff Theosophical Society in Wales------

Magic: White and Black by Franz Hartmann,M.D.

revelry of the emotions nor intellectual fanaticism iscloses the truth;[Page 58 ] only in the "stillness that

follows the storm",[‘Light on the Path',by Mabel Collins ] when the harmony of both is restore ,cand the

truth be iscovere .A man who only follows the ictates of his emotions,resembles one who in

ascen ing a mountain peak becomes izzy,an losing his power to control himself,falls over a precipice;

a man who is only gui e by his sensual perceptions influencing his intellect is easily lost in the whirlpool

of multifarious illusions.He is like a person on and islan in the ocean examining a rop of water taken

from the ocean,an being blin to the existence of the ocean from which that rop has been taken.But if

heart and hea are attune to the ivine harmonies of the invisible realm of nature,then will the truth

reveal itself to man,an in him will the highest ideal see its own image reflecte .

We sometimes hear some people boast that they are controlle by their intellect,others are gui e by

their emotions;a free man is not controlle by either of the two;he is his own master gui ing his heart

an his min .By the power of the go in him he controls the intellectual workings of his brain no less

thand the emotions of his heart.Heart and brain are not ourselves.They are instruments which have been

lent to us by our Creator.They shoul not govern us;but we shoul govern them,an use them

according to the ictates of his wisdom.

Material man,entombe in his chrysalis of clay,can only feel,but not see,the spiritual rays that ra iate

from the sun of infinite truth;but if he bi s his emotions be still !an comman s his reasoning power be

not elu e !he may stretch his feelers into the realm of the spirit.In ealing with the unseen,his heart

shoul be use as a touchstone to examine the conclusions arrive at by the brain,and the brain shoul

be employe like scales to weigh the ecisions of the heart;but when the light of ivine wisdom comes to

his ai ,there will be no more ifference of opinion between the hea and the heart,the perceptions of

the one will be in harmony with the [Page 59 ] aspirations of the latter,because both will be joine in the

light.

Man is usually gui e principally by his intellect,woman by her emotions;man represents intelligence,

womand the will.To reason from external appearances has become a necessity to men in consequence of

their material organisation,which like a shell surroun s their soul;but if the innermost spiritual man,

sleeping in every heart,awakens to life,he emits a light that penetrates through the veil of matter an

illuminates the min .If this germ of ivinity,hi en in the centre,awakens,it emits a spiritual light,which

reaches from man to the stars and to the utmost limits of space,an by the help of that ivine light the

min may perceive and penetrate into the eepest mysteries of the Universe.Those who are able to

know the truth by irect perception o not nee to be informe of it by others,the whole of the visible an

invisible realm lies open before them,like a book in whose pages they may rea the whole history of the

world .They know all the manifestations of life,because they are one with the source of life from which all

forms were born,they nee not stu y letters,because the Word itself is living in them.They are the

instruments through whom eternal wisdom reveals itself to those who are entombe in matter.These are

the true Savio rs ,Adepts,Ill minates,Rosicr cians,Mahatmas,and Theosophoi ;not those preten ers

who merely fancy to be what they not really are.

How pitiful must appear to the enlightene the war of opinions raging among those whom humanity

believes to be the keepers of knowle ge and wisdom;how insignificantly small appear those lights before

the sun of ivine truth.What appears as a light to the ignorant,appears to the illuminate seer as

arkness and smoke,and the wisdom of the world becomes foolishness [ 1 Cor.iii.19 ] before the eye of

the truth.The oyster in its shell may believe itself at the pinnacle of perfection,an that there is no higher

Page 31?

-------
Cardiff Theosophical Society in Wales------

Magic: White and Black by Franz Hartmann,M.D.

existence than that which it enjoys in the ocean-be ;the self conceite ,prou of his learning,is swelle

[Page 60 ] with vanity,knowing little how little he knows.Many of the representatives of mo ern science

forget that the greatest inventions have been ma e,not by the professe guardians of science,but by

men with a clear perception,an upon whom they looke with contempt.They ought to remember,that

many useful inventions were ma e and intro uce ,not with the assistance,but in spite of the opposition

of the learne .It may be isagreeable to call up unpleasant memories,but we cannot close our eyes to

the fact that the inventors of railroa s,steamships,an telegraphs have been ri icule by professors of

science,that men of science have laughe at the belief in the rotun ity of the earth,an that some of the

appointe keepers of the truth have often been conspicuous on account of their misun erstan ing of the

laws of nature,an of their opposition to truth,whenever it conflicte with their preconceive opinions.

Many useful iscoveries have been ma e through the power of intuition;some have been ma e by

logical reasoners without intuition,and their results are still a curse to mankin .For centuries the learne

professions have been thriving on human suffering,an many of their followers,mistaking the low for the

high,have prostitute their knowle ge.The fear of and illusory evil external to man has serve to swell

the money-bags of Brahmins and priests,while the real internal evils,resi ing in the passionate nature

of man,were allowe to grow.For centuries many of the self-appointe servants of the Supreme have

only serve the gol en calf,resi ing in their animal nature,fee ing their followers with false hopes of

immortality,an speculating on the selfish propensities of men.Those to whom humanity looks for

protection against bo ily ills,an who therefore – more than anybo y else – shoul un erstand the real

constitution of man,still experiment with the physical form to seek the cause of isease,being ignorant of

the fact that the form is and expression of life,the pro uct of the soul,an that external effects cannot be

effectually change without changing the internal causes.Many of them refusing to believe in Soul,seek

the cause of iseases in its [Page 61 ] external expression,where it oes not exist.Diseases are the

necessary results of isobe ience to the laws of nature,they are the consequences of "sins"that cannot

be forgiven,but must be atone for by acting again in accor ance with natural laws.In vain will the

ignorant ask the guardians of health for their assistance to cheat

nature out of its ues.Physicians may restore health by restoring the supremacy of the law,but as long

as they know only and infinitesimal part of the law they can only cure and infinitesimal part of the iseases

afflicting mankin ;they sometimes suppress the manifestation of one isease by calling another an

more serious one into existence.In vain will such investigators seek for the cause for epi emic iseases

in places where such iseases may be propagate ,but where they are not create .The soul of the worl

in which such causes resi e cannot be seen with microscopes,it can only be recognise by a man

capable of perceiving the truth.

A true conception of the nature of man will lea to the comprehension of the fact that man,being as a

microcosm the true image,reflection and representative of the macrocosm of nature;Nature has the

same organisation as Man,although not the same external form .Having the same organs and functions,

an being rule by the same laws,the organism of Nature is liable to experience iseases similar to

those experience by the organism of man.Nature has her ropsical swellings,her nervous tremblings,

her paralytic affections by which civilise countries turn into eserts,her inflammatory affections,her

rheumatic contractions,spells of heat and col ,eruptions and earthquakes.If our physicians knew the

nature of man,they woul also know the organisation of Nature as a whole,an un erstan more about

the origin of epi emic iseases,of which they now know merely the external effects.

Page 32?

-------
Cardiff Theosophical Society in Wales------

Magic: White and Black by Franz Hartmann,M.D.

What oes mo ern me ical science know of the constitution of man,whose life and safety is ma e to

epen on that knowle ge ?It knows the form of the bo y,the arrangement of muscles,an bones,an

organs,an it calls these constituent parts by names [Page 62 ] which it invente .Having no supersensual

perceptions it oes not know the soul of man,but believes that his bo y is the essential man.If its eyes

were open it woul see that this visible bo y is only the material kernel of the "immaterial",but

nevertheless substantial real man,whose soul-essence ra iates far into space,an whose spirit is

without limits,an that the spirit is not merely within the bo y,but rather the bo y within the sphere of the

spirit.They woul know that in the life-principle resi es sensation,perception,consciousness,an all the

causes that pro uce the growth of the form.Labouring un er their fatal mistake they attempt to cure that

which is not sick,while the real patient is unknown to them.Un er such circumstances it is not surprising

that the most enlightene physicians of our time have expresse the opinion that our present system of

me icine is rather a curse than a blessing to mankin ,an that our rugs and me icines on the whole o

vastly more harm than goo ,because they are continually misapplie .This is and assertion which has

often been ma e by their own most prominent lea ers.

The ideal physician of the future is he who knows the true constitution of man,an who is not le by

illusive external appearances,but able to examine into the hi en causes of all external effects.To him

the acquisitions of external science are not the gui es but only the assistants,his gui e will be his own

knowle ge and not a theory,an his knowle ge will en ow him with power.[Such a physician was

Theophrast s Paracelsus ,the great reformer of me icine in the sixteenth century.]

If our me ical stu ents were to apply a part of the time which they employ for amusements for the

evelopment of a love for the truth,they woul become able to know certain processes within the

organism of man,which are at present to them a mere matter of speculation,an which are not

iscoverable by any physical means.

But even the mo ern physician acts wiser than he knows.He may say that he oes not believe in faith,

an yet it is only faith that uphol s him and by which [Page 63 ]he exists,because if men ha no

confi ence in him they woul not employ him,an if his patients i not believe that he coul benefit

them they woul not follow his irections.A physician without spiritual knowle ge,having no confi ence

in himself,an in whom no one else has any faith,is perfectly useless as a physician,no matter how

much he may have learne in schools.

There is nothing whatever that can be accomplishe without the power of Faith,and there is no faith

possible without spiritual knowle ge.We can only accomplish that of which we are confi ent that we can

accomplish it,an we can only be truly confi ent if we know by experience that we have the power to o

it.

What oes popular science know about Min ?Accor ing to the usual efinition,Min is "the intellectual

power in man",an as "man "means a visible bo y,this efinition makes of min something confine

within that visible form.But if this conception were true,there coul be no transmission of will to a

istance and no transmission of thought.No soun can be heard in a space from which the air has been

exhauste ,an no thought can travel from one in ivi ual to another without a correspon ing "ether"

existing between them;but the possibility of thought-transference is now and universally a mitte fact;its

truth has been perceive long ago by chil ren who make practical use of it in some of their games,an it

Page 33?

-------
Cardiff Theosophical Society in Wales------

Magic: White and Black by Franz Hartmann,M.D.

has now been a mitte as a fact even by the most sceptical and superficial observers.["Report of the

Society for Psychical Research".London,1884.] Moreover,anyone who oubts its possibility has it in his

power to convince himself by either impressing his thoughts silently upon others,or by letting others

impress their thoughts upon him.

How infinitely more gran and how much more reasonable is the conception of ancient philosophical

science,according to whose octrines everything that exists is and expression of the thoughts of the

Universal Min ,perva ing all space!This conception makes Mind a power in the realm of infinity,acting

through living and intelligent instruments,an of Man ,[Page 64 ] and intellectual power,an expression of

the Universal Min ,able to receive,reflect,an mo ify the thoughts of the latter,like a iamon that

becomes self-luminous through the influence of the Sun.

There is no reason why we shoul elu e ourselves with a belief that and intelligent min can exist only in

a form which is visible and tangible to the external senses of man.There may be,for all we know,untol

millions of intelligent or semi-intelligent beings in the universe,whose forms are constitute differently

from ours,living on another plane of existence than ours,an who are therefore invisible to our physical

senses,but may be perceive by the superior power of perception of the inner man.Nor is their

existence a matter of mere speculation,for they have been perceive by those who have the power of

interior perception.

All we know of external objects is the images which they pro uce in the sphere of our min .Astral or

spiritual beings pro uce no reflection upon the retina,but their presence may be known when they enter

the mental sphere of the observer and they may be perceive with the eye of the soul.

The ideal scientist of the future having attaine the power of inner perception,will recognise this truth.

If we believe that the object of life is simply to ren er our material Self satisfie and to keep it in comfort,

an that material comfort confers the highest state of possible happiness,we mistake the low for the high

an and illusion for the truth.Our material mo e of life is a consequence of the material constitution of our

bo ies.

We are "worms of earth"because we cling with all our esires and aspirations to earth.If we can enter

upon a path of evolution,by which we become less material and more ethereal,a very different or er of

civilisation woul be establishe .Things which now appear in ispensable and necessary woul cease to

be useful;if we coul transfer our consciousness with the velocity of thought from one part of the globe to

another,the present mo e of communication and transportation woul be no longer require .The eeper

we sink into matter,the more material means for comfort will be [Page 65 ] nee e ;but the essential inner

man is not material – in the usual acceptation of this term – and independent of the restrictions of matter.

What are the real necessities of life ?The answer to this questiondepends entirely on what we imagine

to be necessary.Railways,steamers,electric lights,etc.,are now a necessity to us,an yet millions of

people have live long and happy knowing nothing about them.To one man a ozen of palaces may

appear to be and in ispensable necessity,to another a carriage,another a pipe,or a bottle of whisky.But

Page 34?

-------
Cardiff Theosophical Society in Wales------

Magic: White and Black by Franz Hartmann,M.D.

all such necessities are only such as man himself has create .They make the state in which he now is

agreeable to him,an tempt him to remain in that state and to esire for nothing higher.They may even

hin er his evelopment instea of a vancing it.If we woul rise into a higher state,in which we woul no

longer require such things,they woul cease to be a necessity,an even become un esirable an

useless;but it is the craving and the wasting of thought for the augmentation of the pleasures of the

lower life which prevent man to enter the higher one.

To raise the evanescent man to a state of perfection enjoye by the permanent ideal man is the great

Arcan m ,that cannot be learne in books.It is the great secret,that may be un erstoo by a chil ,but

will for ever be incomprehensible to him who,living entirely in the realm of his reams,has no power to

grasp it.The attainment of a higher consciousness is the Magn m op s ,the great work,of which the

Alchemists sai that thousan s of years may be require to perform it,but that it may also be

accomplishe in a moment,even by a woman while engage in spinning.They looke upon the human

min as being a great alembic,in which the conten ing forces of the emotions may be purifie by the

heat of holy aspirations and by a supreme love of truth.They gave instructions how the soul of mortal

man may be sublimate and purifie from earthly attractions,an its immortal parts be ma e living an

free.The purifie elements were ma e to ascen to the supreme source of law,an escen e again in

showers of snowy whiteness ,visible to all,because [Page 66 ] they ren ere every act of life holy an

pure.They taught how the base metals – meaning the animal energies in man – coul be transforme

into the pure gol of true spirituality,an how,by attaining spiritual knowle ge and spiritual life,souls

coul have their youth and innocence restore and be ren ere immortal.

Their truths share the fate of other truths;they were misun erstoo and rejecte by the ignorant,who

continually clamour for truth and reject it when it is offere ,an ri icule by fools.Theology and Masonry

have – each in its own manner – continue the teachings of the Alchemists,an fortunate is the Mason

or the priest who spiritually un erstan s that which he teaches.But of such true isciples there are only

few.The systems in which the ol truths have been embo ie are still in existence,but the col han s of

Sophistry and Materialism have been lai upon the outward forms,an from the interior the spirit has

fle .Doctors and clergymen see only the outward form,an not the hi en mystery that calle these

forms into existence.The key to the inner sanctuary has been lost by those that were entruste with its

keeping,and the true password has not been re iscovere by the followers of Hiram Abiff.The ri le of

the Egyptian Sphinx still waits for a solution,an will be reveale to none unless he becomes strong

enough to iscover it himself.

But the true Word still lives.The light of truth still shines eep into the interior world of man,an sen s its

ivine influence own into the valleys,an wherever the oors and win ows are open to receive it,there

will it ispel thedarkness,ren ering men and women conscious of their own go like attributes an

gui ing them on the roa to perfection,until,when all their struggles have cease and the law has been

restore ,they will fin permanent happiness in the realisation of the highest universal ideal,their own

ivine self.[Page 67 ]

Page 35?

-------
Cardiff Theosophical Society in Wales------

Magic: White and Black by Franz Hartmann,M.D.

CHAPTER II

THE REAL AND THE UNREAL

"Allah !Bi'-smi'-llah !– Go is One".– Koran.

EVERYWHERE in the broa expanse of the universe we see and almost infinite variety of forms,

belonging to different king oms and species,an exhibiting and en less variety of appearances.The

substance of which those forms are compose may,for aught we know,consist essentially of the same

primordial material,forming the basis of their constitution,although the qualities of the various bo ies

iffer from each other,an it is far more reasonable to suppose that this one primordial eternal essence

exists and appears in the course of evolution in various forms,than to believe that a number of different

original substances have come into existence either by being create out of nothing or otherwise.What

this primordial essence – this immaterial substance [The A'kβsa of the Brahmins or the Iliaster of

Paracelsus,the Universal Prote s .] – is we o not know,we only know of its manifestation in forms

which we call things.Whatever fin s expression in one form or another is calle a thing,an a thing may

change its form and the substance remain.Water may be frozen into soli ice,or be transforme by heat

into visible vapour;an vapour may be chemically ecompose into hy rogen and oxygen;yet,if the

necessary con itions are given,the energies which previously forme water will form water again;the

forms and attributes change,but the elements remain ,the same and combine again in certain

proportions,regulate by the law of mutual attraction.[Page 68 ]

As this hypothetical primordial substance or principle has no attributes which we can perceive with our

senses,we o not know the real substance of a thing.We may gra ually eprive a thing of some of its

attributes and change its form,an yet it remains that thing as long as its character remains,an even

after we estroy its form and issolve its materials the character of the thing still remains as and i ea in

the subjective world ,where we cannot estroy it,an we may clothe the ol i ea with new attributes an

repro uce it un er a new form on the objective plane.A thing exists as long as its character exists,only

when it changes its character it changes its essential nature.A material thing is only the symbol or the

representation of and i ea;we may give it a name,but i ea remains hi en behin the veil.If we coul on

the physical plane separate a single substance from its character,an en ow it with another,then one

bo y coul be transforme into another,as,for instance,base metals be transforme into gol ;but

unless we change the character of a thing,a mere change of its form will only affect its external

appearance.

By way of illustration,let us look at a stick.It is ma e of woo ,but this is not essential;it might be ma e

of something else and still be a stick.We o not perceive the stick itself,we only see its attributes,its

extension and colour and ensity;we feel its weight and we hear its soun if we strike.Each of these

attributes or all of them may be change ,an it will remain a stick for all that,as long as its character is

Page 36?

-------
Cardiff Theosophical Society in Wales------

Magic: White and Black by Franz Hartmann,M.D.

not lost because that which essentially constitutes its character is its purpose,an i ea which has not a

efinite form.Let us en ow that formless i ea with a new purpose that will change its character,an we

shall have transforme our ideal stick into anything we choose to make of it.

We cannot change copper into gol on the physical plane,we cannot change a man into a physical chil ,

but we may aily transform our esires,our aspirations,tastes,an our character,if we conceive of a

new purpose of life,In oing this we make of man,even on the physical plane,a different being.[Page 69 ]

Nobo y ever saw a real man,we only perceive the qualities which he possesses.Man cannot see

himself.He speaks of his bo y,his soul,his spirit;it is the combination of the three which constitutes the

sum of his attributes;the real Ego ,in which his character rests,is something unknown,whose nature

becomes conceivable to us only when we ivine the purpose of its existence.As and i ea and for a

purpose he enters the world of matter,evolutes a new personality,obtains new experience an

knowle ge,passes through the pleasures and vicissitu es of life and through the valley of eath,an

enters again into that realm where in the course of ages his outward form will cease to exist,to appear

again in such a form upon the scene when the hour for his reappearance strikes.His bo y an

personality change his purpose,and therefore his Ego remains the same and yet not the same,because

uring life it acquires new attributes and changes its characteristics.

A true appreciation and un erstan ing of the essential nature of man will show that the repeate

reincarnation of the human mona in successive personalities is a scientific necessity.How coul it be

possible for a man to evelop into a state of perfection,if the time of his spiritual growth were restricte to

the perio of one short existence upon this globe ?If he coul go on and evelop without having a

physical bo y,then why shoul it have been necessary for him to take a physical bo y at all?It is

unreasonable to suppose that the spirit al germ of a man begins its existence at the time of the birth of

the physical bo y,or that the physical parents of the chil coul be the generators of the spiritual mona .

If the spiritual mona existe before the bo y was born,an coul evelop without it,what woul be the

use of its entering any bo y at all?

We see that a plant ceases to grow when its roots are torn from the soil,an when they are replace into

the soil the growth continues.Likewise the human soul,for the purpose of attaining self-knowle ge,takes

root in the physical organism of man,an evelops a character,but when eath tears out the roots,the

soul rests and ceases to grow,until it fin s again a physical [Page 70 ] organism to acquire new con itions

for continue growth.

What can this inner ego be,which lives through eath and changes uring life,except a spiritual ray of

Life,obtaining relative consciousness by coming in contact with matter ?Is any man certain of his own

existence ?

All the proof we have of our existence is in our own self-consciousness,in the feeling of the I Am ,which

is the realisation of our existence.Every other state of consciousness is subject to change.The

consciousness of one moment iffers from that of another,according to the changes which take place in

the con itions which surroun us,an according to the variety of our impressions.We are craving for

change and eath;to remain always the same woul be torture.Ol impressions ie and are replace

Page 37?

-------
Cardiff Theosophical Society in Wales------

Magic: White and Black by Franz Hartmann,M.D.

with new ones,an we rejoice to see the ol ones ie,so that the new ones may step into their places.

We o not make our impressions ourselves,but we receive them from the outsi e world .If it were

possible that two or more persons coul be born and e ucate un er exactly the same con itions,

having the same character and receiving always the same impressions,they woul always have the

same thoughts,the same feelings and esires,their consciousness woul be i entical,and they might be

consi ere as forming collectively only one person.A person,having forgotten all the mental impressions

he ever receive ,an receiving no new ones,might exist for ages,living in eternal imbecility,with no

consciousness whatever except the consciousness of the I Am ,an that consciousness coul not cease

to exist as long as his personality were capable to recognise its existence relatively to itself.

This woul be the only con ition in which a person coul possibly exist,if he ha gaine no spiritual self-

knowle ge and if he were to cease to receive any impressions from the external world ,an similar to this

may be the state of such a person after the eath of his bo y,if uring life he has not attaine any higher

knowle ge than that which refers to perishing things.Having no spiritual consciousness,he can have no

spiritual perceptions,he can bring with him into the spiritual world nothing except his own ignorance.

[Page 71 ]

His sensations leave him at eath,and the images receive in his min uring life will fa e away;the

intellectual forces which have been set into motion by his scientific pursuits will be exhauste ,an after

that time the spirit of such a person,even if he has been uring life the greatest scientist,speculator,an

logician,will be nothing but and imbecile,living indarkness,an being rawn irresistibly towards

reincarnation;to reimbo y itself again un er any circumstances whatever,to escape from nothingness

into existence.

Un er whatever form life may exist,it is only relative.A stone,a plant,an animal,a man or Go ,each

has and existence for itself,an each exists only for the others,as long as the others are conscious of his

existence.Man looks upon the existence below him as incomplete,and the incomplete beings below him

know little about him.Man knows little about any superior beings,an yet there may be such,looking

upon him with pity,as he woul look upon and inferior animal,an ape that has not yet awakene to a

realisation of its own nature.

Those who are suppose to know,inform us that there is no being in the universe superior to the man

having become conscious of his own ivine and immortal nature;but that there are innumerable invisible

beings who are either far superior or inferior to mortal man as we know him.In other words,the highest

beings in the universe are such as have once been men;but the men and women of our present

civilisation may have to progress through millions of ages before they attain that state of perfection which

such beings possess.

Existence is relative .There is something in me which causes me to live and to think.I may call it "I"or

"Go ";in either case it is intellectually incomprehensible,an it has no existence for me of which I am

conscious,as long as I o not realise the relation between this unknown something and my own nature.

Nevertheless it is;for if it were nothing it coul not cause me to live and to think.It is the source of my

being,and therefore it is existence and my nature is its manifestation.In realising my own existence,

existence becomes [Page 72 ] to me a reality;to realise the nature of ivine being is to enter into that state.

Page 38?

-------
Cardiff Theosophical Society in Wales------

Magic: White and Black by Franz Hartmann,M.D.

We are accustome to look upon that which we perceive with our senses as real,an upon everything

else as unreal,an yet our aily experience teaches us that our senses cannot be truste if we wish to

istinguish between the true and the false.We see the sun rise in the East,see him travel along the sky

uring the ay and isappear again in the West;but every chil now-a-days knows that this apparent

movement is only and illusion,cause by the turning of the earth.At night we see the "fixe "stars above

our hea s,they look insignificant compare with the wi e expanse of the earth and the ocean,an yet

we are tol that they are blazing suns,in comparison with which our mother Earth is only a speck of ust.

Nothing seems to us more quiet and tranquil thand the soli rocks un er our feet,an yet the earth

whereon we live whirls with tremen ous velocity through space;the mountains seem to be everlasting,

but continents sink beneath the waters of the ocean and rise again above its surface.Below our feet

moves,with ebbs and ti es,the swelling bosom of our apparently soli mother the earth,above our hea

seems to be nothing tangible,an yet we live on the very bottom of the airy ocean above us,an o not

know the things that may perhaps live in its currents or upon its surface.A stream of light seems to

escen from the sun to our planet,an yetdarkness is sai to exist between the atmosphere of the

Earth and the sun,where no meteoric matter exists to cause a reflection;while again we are surroun e

by and ocean of light of a higher order,which appears to us to bedarkness,because the nerves of our

bo ies have not yet been sufficiently evelope to react un er the influence of the Astral Light .The

image reflecte in the mirror seems a reality to the unreasoning min ,the voice of and echo may be

mistaken for the voice of a man.We often ream when awake,an while believing to be awake we are

asleep.

"Conscio sness"is a relative term .It is not scientific to say "we are asleep";as long as we o not know

[Page 73 ] who "we "are.We can only truly say that such and such functions of a physical or psychical

organism,which are calle our own,are asleep or inactive while others are active and awake.We may

be fully awake relatively to one thing and asleep relatively to another.A somnamb le's bo y is in a state

resembling eath,while his higher consciousness is fully alive and employs even far superior powers of

perception than if all the activity of his life-principle were engage in performing the functions of his lower

organism.

"Matter"and "Motion"are relative terms ;both referring to manifestations of something we o not know,

an which we may call "Spirit".There is no motion without matter,no matter without some motion,an

every power is therefore substantial.A soli mass of matter is con ense energy,representing a certain

amount of latent power;every force is invisible substance in motion.

"Space","extension","d ration"are relative .Their qualities change according to our stan ar of

measurement and according to our mo e of perception.To and animalcule in a rop of water that rop

may appear as and ocean,an to and insect living on a leaf that leaf may constitute a world .If uring our

sleep the whole of the visible world were to shrink to the size of a walnut or expan to a thousan fol its

present imensions,on awakening we shoul perceive no change,provi e that change ha equally

affecte everything,inclu ing ourselves.A chil has no conception of its relation to space and tries to

grasp the moon with its han s,an a person who has been born blin and is afterwards ma e to see,

cannot ju ge of istances correctly.Our thoughts know of no intervening space when they travel from

one part of the globe to another.Our conceptions of our relation to space are base upon experience an

memory acquire in our present con ition.If we were moving among entirely different con itions,our

experiences,an consequently our conceptions,woul be entirely different.Space relatively to form can

only have three imensions,because all forms are compose of three imensions:length,thickness,an

Page 39?

-------
Cardiff Theosophical Society in Wales------

Magic: White and Black by Franz Hartmann,M.D.

height.[Page 74 ]

Consciousness in the Absolute is unconsciousness relatively to everything.A consciousness being in

relation with nothing is inconceivable.A consciousness existing in relation to its own self is self-

consciousness.

The Absolute is independent of its manifestations;but all manifestationsdependon the presence of that

which becomes manifest.Go can exist in his own ivine nature without revealing his presence to his

creatures;but his creatures cannot exist without Go .We know that space exists;but it is inconceivable

to us as long as it oes not become reveale to us in a form.Forms are objectifie space.Without such a

manifestation of three imensional bo ies we can form no conception of space.We know that Go

exists;but we cannot conceive of his existence unless his nature becomes reveale to us in its triunity

within ourselves.

The imensions of space exist in our own min .We conceive of no imensions of space in a

mathematical point,an self-consciousness exists in itself without any relation to anything except its own

self.This might therefore be calle a one-dimensional space.As to two-dimensional space,everyone

knows that there is a ifference between goo and evil,between love and hate,etc.,and the realisation

of such a ifference furnishes us with a conception of space in which we perceive only two imensions.

Three-dimensional space is the world of corporeal bo ies;but there is also a fourth imension of space,

known only to the enlightene ,who have learne how to square the circle,because fo r is the number of

truth,an three the number of form.

As our conception of space is only relative,so is our conception of time.It is not time itself,but its

measurement,of which we are conscious,an time is nothing to us unless in connection with our

association of ideas .The human min can only receive a small number of impressions per secon ;if we

were to receive only one impression per hour,our life woul seem excee ingly short,an if we were able

to receive,for [Page 75 ] instance,the impression of each single un ulation of a yellow ray of light,whose

vibrations number 509 billions per secon ,a single ay in our life woul appear to be and eternity without

en .[Carl u Prel:"Die Planetenbewohner."]To a prisoner in a ungeon,who has no occupation,time

may seem extremely long,while for him who is actively engage it passes quickly.During sleep we have

no conception of time,but a sleepless night passe in suffering seems very long.During a few secon s

of time we may,in a ream,pass through experiences which woul require a number of years in the

regular course of events,while in the unconscious state time has no existence for us.[In books on

mystical subjects we fin often accounts of a person having reame in a short moment of time,things

which we shoul suppose that it woul take hours to ream them;for instance the following:"A traveler

arrive late at night at a station.He was very fatigue ,an as the con uctor opene the oor of the car,

he entere ,an imme iately fell asleep.He reame that he was at home,an living with his family;that

he fell in love with a girl and marrie her;that he live happy

until he me le with political affairs,an was arreste on the charge of having entere into a conspiracy

against the government.He was trie ,an con emne to be shot,an le out to be execute .Arrive at

the place of execution,the comman was given,and the sol iers fire at him,an he awoke at the noise

cause by the shutting of the oor of the car,which the con uctor ha shut behin him when our frien

entere .It seems probable that the noise pro uce by shutting that oor cause the whole ream".]

Page 40?

-------
Cardiff Theosophical Society in Wales------

Magic: White and Black by Franz Hartmann,M.D.

Persons fully in the subjective world receive no impressions from the objective world .If they are only

partially in that state which occurs in reams and insanity,the sensations carrie to the half conscious

brain become mixe with the ideas  born in the subjective world ,an pro uce caricatures and istortion of

images.In this state,when the experiences of the internal state mingles with the sensations of the

external consciousness,the most erroneous impressions may be pro uce ;because the intellect

labours,but reason oes not act sufficiently powerful to enable man to iscriminate between the true an

the false.

But what is the ifference between objective and [Page 76 ] subjective states of existence ?We o not

cease to live while we are asleep,but we have a different kin of perceptions in either state.The popular

i ea is that sensual objective perceptions are real and subjective ones only the pro ucts of our

imagination.But a little reflection will show that all perceptions,the objective as well as the subjective

ones,are results of our "imagination".If we look at a tree,the tree oes not come into our eye,but its

picture appears in our min ;if we look at a form we perceive and impression ma e in our min by the

image of and object existing beyon the limits of our bo y;if we look at a subjective image of our own

creation,we perceive the impression which it pro uces on our min .In either case the pictures exist

objectively in our min ,an we perceive the impressions.

The fact is,that everything appears either objective or subjective according to the state of consciousness

of the perceiver,an what may be to him entirely subjective in one state may appear to him objectively in

another.The highest ideal truths have to him who can realise them and objective existence,the grossest

material forms have no existence to him who cannot perceive them.

But here the great question arises:"Who or what is this unknown One that perceives the images existing

in its own min ,and the sensations that come to his consciousness ?What is that which you call your "I",

which knows that you know,an which also recognises your ignorance ?What is that Self ,which is

neither the bo y nor the min ,but which uses these things as its instruments ?If you know that invisible

being,you may throw away this book;it can teach you nothing new,because you know Go and are the

wisest of men.

The basis upon which all exhibition of magical power rests is a knowle ge of the relations that exist

between objective and subjective states of existence,and the source from which they originate.If we

conceive in our min of the picture of a thing we have seen before,an objective form of that thing comes

into existence

within our own min ,an is compose of the substance [Page 77 ] of our own min .If by continual practice

we gain sufficient power to hol on to that image and to prevent it from being riven away and isperse

by other thoughts,it will become comparatively ense,an can be projecte upon the mental sphere of

others,so that they may actually see objectively that which exists subjectively as and image within our

own min ;but he who cannot hol on to a thought and control it at will cannot impress it upon the min s

of others,and therefore such experiments fail,not on account of any absolute impossibility to perform

them,but on account of the weakness of those who experiment,but have not the power to control their

own thoughts,an to ren er them corporeal enough for transmission.

Page 41?

-------
Cardiff Theosophical Society in Wales------

Magic: White and Black by Franz Hartmann,M.D.

Everything is either a reality or a elusion,accor ing to the stan point from which we view it.The words

"real"an "unreal"are only relative terms,an what may seem real in one state of existence appears

unreal in another.Money,love,power,etc.,appear very real to those who nee them;to those who have

outgrown the necessity for their possession they are only illusions.That which we realise is real to us,

however unreal it may be to another.If my imagination is powerful enough to represent to me the

presence of and angel,that angel will be there,alive and real,my own creation,no matter how invisible

an unreal he may be to another.If your min can create for you a para ise in a wil erness,that

para ise will have for yo and objective existence.Everything that exists,exists in the universal Min ,an

if the in ivi ual min becomes conscious of his relation to a thing therein,it begins to perceive it.No man

can realise a thing beyon his experience,he cannot know anything to which he stan s in no relation.

For the purpose of perceiving,three facts are necessary:The perception,the perceiver,and the thing

that is the object of perception.If they exist on entirely different planes,an cannot enter into

relationship,no perception will be possible.If I wish to look at my face,an am not able to step out of

myself,I must use a mirror to establish a relation between myself and the object of [Page 78 ] my

perception.The mirror has no sensation,an I cannot see myself in the mirror,I can only see myself in

my min .The reflection of the mirror pro uces a reflection which is objective to my min ,an which

comes to my perception.

A consi eration of this will give us the key to and un erstan ing of man's original nature,an of the

necessity of his "fall from grace".We cannot objectively see the light or the truth,as long as we are within

the bo y of the one or the other.Only when we go beyon the sphere of the light,we can see luminosity,

only when we fall into error,will we learn to appreciate the truth.As long as primor ial man was one with

the universal power from which he emanate as a spiritual ray or entity in the beginning,he coul not

know the ivine source from which he came.The will and imagination of the Universal Min were his own

will and imagination.Only when he began to "step out of his ivine self",coul he begin to exist as an

in ivi ual "Self";only when he began to act against the law,i he begin to realise that there was a law.

Man's apparently separate existence from Go is and illusion:but this illusion must be experience by

him,so as to enable him to outgrow it,an to realise his unity with Go .A go who oes not realise his

own ivine nature woul not be able to enjoy it.When man,as a spiritual entity,having attaine

perfection,enters again into his source,his sense of self and separateness will be lost,but he will be in

possession of knowle ge.To see a thing,it must become objective.To know what love is,we must be

separate from the object of our love.When we fully comprehen a thing,we become one with it,an

know it by knowing ourselves.

This example is inten e to illustrate the fun amental law of creation.The first great cause – so to say –

stepping out of itself,becomes its own mirror,and thereby establishes a relation with itself."Go "sees

his face reflecte in Nature;the Universal Min sees itself reflecte in the in ivi ual min of man.Go

comes to relative consciousness in his own nature,but when he again retires into himself the relation will

[Page 79 ] cease,he will again become one with himself,there will be no more relative consciousness,an

"Brahma will go to sleep"until the new ay of creation begins.But man knows that he exists even after

all his relation with external things has cease ,he oes not nee to look continually into a mirror to be

remin e of that fact.Likewise the absolute self-consciousness of the great I Am is independent of the

objective existence of Nature,an he will still "sit on the great white throne after the earth and the heaven

fle away from his face";[St John:Revelations xx.2.]which means that he will rest in his own ivine self-

consciousness.

Page 42?

-------
Cardiff Theosophical Society in Wales------

Magic: White and Black by Franz Hartmann,M.D.

The superior powers of inner perceptions are those possesse by the inner man ,and they become

evelope after the inner man awakens to self-consciousness.They correspon to the senses of the

external man,such as seeing,hearing,feeling,tasting,smelling.

External sensual perceptions are necessary to see sensual things;the internal sensual perceptions are

necessary to see internal things.Physical matter is as invisible to the spiritual sight as astral bo ies are

to the physical eyes;but as every object in nature has its astral counterpart within the physical form,it

may see,hear,feel,taste,an smell with its astral senses those astral objects,and thereby know the

attributes of the physical objects as well or still better thand the physical man might have been able to o

with his physical senses;but neither the physical nor the astral senses will be able to perceive,unless

they are permeate by the power of the spirit which en ows them with life.

Men usually look upon a thing as real if it is seen alike by several persons,while if only one person

professes to see it,it being invisible to others,it is calle illusive;but each impression pro uces a certain

state of the min ,an a person perceiving it must be in a con ition to enter into a relation with that state

which the impression pro uces.All persons being in the same state of min ,an receiving the same

impression,will perceive the same thing,but if their states of min iffer,their perceptions will iffer.A

horse or a lion [Page 80 ] may be seen alike by everyone who has his normal senses evelope ;but if one

is excite by fear,his perception will iffer from that of others,because the pro uct of his own

imagination istorts the impression receive .A runkar in a state of deliri m tremens believes to see

worms and snakes crawling over his bo y.His experience tells him that they have no external existence.

Nevertheless they are realities to him.They really exist for him as the pro ucts of his own mental

con ition,but they o not exist for others who o not share that con ition.But if others were to enter the

same state they woul see the same things.

Our perceptions therefore iffer – not only in proportion as the impressions coming from the objects of

our perception iffer – but also accor ing to our capacity to receive such impressions,or according to our

own mental states.If we coul evelop a new sense of perception,we woul be in a new world .

If our capacity to receive impressions were restricte to only one sense,we woul only be able to

conceive of that which coul become manifest to us through that sense.Let us suppose the existence of

a being who coul enter into only one state of consciousness;for instance,that of hate.Having all his

consciousness concentrate into one gui ing passion,he coul become aware of nothing else but of

hate.Such a "go of hate",incapable of entering into any other mental state,coul perceive no other

states but those correspon ing with his own.To such a being the whole world woul be ark and voi ,

our oceans and mountains,our forests and rivers woul have no existence for him;but wherever a man

or and animal woul burn with hate,there woul be perhaps a luri glow perceivable by him through the

arkness,which woul attract his attention and attract him,an on his approach that glow woul burst

into a flame in which the in ivi ual from whom it procee e may be consume .Any other mental state or

passion may serve for a similar illustration.Hate knows hate,Love knows love,an a person full of hate

is as incapable to love as a being full of love is incapable to hate.[Page 81 ]

The Bhagavad Gita says:"Those that are born un er and evil estiny"(having acquire evil ten encies by

their con uct in former lives)"know not what it is to procee in virtue or to rece e from vice;nor is purity,

veracity,or the practice of morality,to be foun in them.They say the world is without beginning an

Page 43?

-------
Cardiff Theosophical Society in Wales------

Magic: White and Black by Franz Hartmann,M.D.

without en ,an without and Ishwar,that all things are conceive in the junction of the senses,an that

attraction is the only cause".[Bhagava Gita,L.xvi.]

Those who believe that everything exists in consequence of the unconscious attraction of two principles,

forget that there coul be no attraction if there were not some continually acting cause that pro uces that

attraction.They are the elu e followers of a octrine which they themselves cannot seriously believe.

They agree that out of nothing,nothing can come,an yet they believe that unconscious attraction can

pro uce consciousness.They are the followers of the absurd Two which has no real existence,because

the eternal One ivi e into two parts woul not become two Ones but the two halves of a ivi e One.

One is the number of Unity,an Two is Division;the One ivi e into two ceases to exist as a One,an

nothing new is thereby pro uce .If the plan for the construction of the world ha been ma e according

to the ideas  of the followers of Dualism,nothing coul have come into existence,because action an

reaction woul have been of equal power,annihilating each other.Neither coul there be any progression

un er such circumstances at present.

But behin all manifestations of power there is the eternal power itself,the source of all perfection that

can become manifest.This is the Unity and Reality,in which no ivision exists;from which all things

originate and to which all will return.In its aspect as being the source of perfection in everything an

which all things esire to attain,it has been calle "goo ".

Whatever this power of goo may be it is beyon the capacity of man to give it and appropriate name,or

to escribe it,because it is beyon the comprehension of mortal man.To give a name to that which

inclu es [Page 82 ] everything,is to limit the whole to one of its parts.It has been calle "Go ",an as

such it has "many faces",because its aspect iffers according to the stan point from which we behol it.

It is the S preme ca se ,from which everything comes into existence;it must be absol te

conscio sness,wisdom and power,love,intelligence,an life,because these attributes exist in its

manifestations and coul not have come into existence without it.

It is necessarily one and unlimite ,an cand therefore not be known to the limite intellect of man.It can

only be known by itself;but if it reveals itself in our soul,our soul will partake of its knowle ge.Therefore

Angelus Silesius says —

"Go welleth in a light far out of human ken,

Become thyself that light,an thou shalt see him then."

When Gautama Bu ha was aske to escribe the supreme source of all beings,he remaine silent,

because those who have reache a state in which they can realise what it is,have no words to escribe

it,[2 Corinth.xii.4.]an those who cannot realise it woul not be able to comprehen the escription.

To escribe a thing we must invest it with comprehensible attributes,an it then ceases to be unlimite

an becomes limite .Therefore all theological iscussions about the nature of "Go "are useless,

because "Go "is the All and oes not iffer from anything;but not everything is Go ;because not

everything is conscious of its own ivine nature.To become conscious of one's own ivine nature,is to

realise the presence of Go .To eny the existence of Go is and absurdity equivalent to enying one's

Page 44?

-------
Cardiff Theosophical Society in Wales------

Magic: White and Black by Franz Hartmann,M.D.

own existence,while existence is its own proof.He can only be spiritually known,but not scientifically

escribe ,and the fight between so-calle Deists and Atheists is a mere quarrel about words which have

no efinite meaning.Every man is himself a manifestation of Go ,an as each man's character iffers

from that of every other,so each man's i ea of Go iffers from that of the rest,an each one has a Go

(an ideal)of his own:only when they all have the same aspirations,will they all have the same Go .

[Page 83 ]

To him who has not the power of Go ,the power of Go oes not exist.To him who perceives the

presence of Go ,Go exists,an to him his existence cannot be ispute away.The ignorant cannot be

ma e to realise the existence of knowle ge unless he becomes knowing;those who know cannot have

their knowle ge reasone away.The caricatures of go s set up by the various churches as

representations of the only true Go are merely attempts to escribe that which cannot be escribe .As

every man has a highest ideal (a go )of his own,which is a symbol of his aspirations,so every church

has its peculiar go ,who is and outgrowth or a pro uct of evolution of the ideal necessities of that

collective bo y calle a church.They are all true go s to them ,because they temporarily answer their

nee s,an as the requirements of the church change,so change their go s;ol go s are iscarde an

new ones put into their places.The go of the Christian iffers from that of the Jews,and the Christian

go of the nineteenth century is very different from the one that live at the time of Torquema a an

Peter Arbues,an was please with torture and A tos da Fι.As long as men are imperfect their go s will

be imperfect;as they become more perfect their go s will grow in perfection,an when all men are

equally perfect they will all have the same perfect "Go ",the same highest spiritual ideal recognise alike

by science and by religion as being ivinity in humanity;because there can be only one supreme ideal,

one absolute Truth,whose realisation is Wis om,whose manifestation is power expresse in Nature,

an whose most perfect expression is ideal Man.

There are seven steps on the la er,representing the religious evelopment of mankin :On the first

stage man resembles and animal,conscious only of his instincts and bo ily esires,without any

conception of the ivine element.On the secon he begins to have a presentiment of the existence of

something higher.On the third he begins to seek for that higher element,but his lower elements are still

prepon erating over the higher aspirations.On the fourth his lower and higher esires are

counterbalancing each other.At times he seeks for [Page 84 ] the higher,at other times he is again

attracte to the lower.On the fifth he anxiously seeks for the ivine,but seeking it in the external he

cannot fin it.He then begins to seek for it within himself.On the sixth he fin s the ivine element within

himself and evelops spiritual self-consciousness,which on the seventh grows into self-knowle ge.

Having arrive at the sixth,his spiritual senses begin to become alive and active,an he will then be able

to recognise the presence of other spiritual entities,existing on the same plane.On the seventh he fin s

that he himself is the Go which he has been seeking.His will is free from every selfish esire,his

tho ght is one with his will,his word becomes a creative act.Such a spiritual being may still well in a

human bo y upon this planet,an not even be recognise as something superior to the rest of mankin ;

for his personality is not Go .He lives,an yet he lives not;for it is Go ,his ivine Self,the eternal

Reality living in him.

Page 45?

-------
Cardiff Theosophical Society in Wales------

Magic: White and Black by Franz Hartmann,M.D.

CHAPTER III

FORM

"The Universe is a thought of Go ”.—Paracelsus.

ACCORDING to Plato the primordial essence is and emanation of the Demi rgic Mind,which contains

from eternity the i ea of the natural world within itself,an which i ea is thrown into objectivity by the

power of the ivine self-conscious will.This octrine seems to be almost as ol as the existence of

reasoning man on this globe.It contains essentially the same truth which has been taught by the ancient

Rishis ,an has been expresse by the eepest thinkers of all ages,apparently from the first planetary

spirit ,that ma e his appearance on this earth,own to the mo ern philosophers who teach that the worl

is a pro uct of i eation and will.[Schopenhauer:"Die Welt als Wille un Vorstellung ”]

The great Christian Mystic,Jacob Boehme escribes the Great First Cause as a trinity of will,intelligence

an action.His octrine correspon s to that which is taught in the East,regarding the three emanations

of Brahm,an of which that German shoemaker coul at that time hardly have known anything,if he ha

not been and Ill minate .He says in his book on "The Three Principles ” ,that by the activity of the Will-Fire

at the Centre the eternal consciousness of the latter was reflecte in Space as in a mirror,an from this

activity Light and Life were born.He then escribes,how by the action ra iating from the

incomprehensible centre,ra iating into the element of Matter,and the subsequent reaction from the

periphery toward the centre rotation was cause ,an how in the Ether ,the world of forms.came into

existence,an grew into material ensity.Thus through the action of the Father in the [Page 86 ] Son,the

"Holy Ghost ”became manifest,an its manifestation is the visible and invisible universe in one,with all

its suns,stars,planets,their forms and inhabitants,with all the angels and emons,evas,elementals,

men and animals,or in other words,with all the energies and powers and forms of the visible an

invisible si e of nature.

This trinity manifests itself on three different planes or modes of action ,that have been terme Matter,

So l,an Spirit ,or according to the symbolism of ancient occult science,Earth,Water ,an Fire .The

One becomes manifest in the Three ,but the Three is a whole and oes not consist of three parts,of

which one comes into succession after another,it springs into existence at once.Reaction cannot exist

without Action ,an both are ue to a co-existing Potency or Ca se.

Spirit or "Fire ”is immaterial,formless,an universal,manifesting its power in forms.It is the "creator ” ,the

great "carpenter ”of the universe,the "stepfather of Christ ” ,whose wife is Maja (Nature),the ever

immaculate virgin.

Page 46?

-------
Cardiff Theosophical Society in Wales------

Magic: White and Black by Franz Hartmann,M.D.

So l or "Water ”is a semi-material element,formless in its original state.It is the organising element of

corporeal forms.It penetrates and surroun s the planets as it surroun s and penetrates the bo ies of

men and animals and all other bo ies and forms,an all material forms will soon perish after the soul-

principle has cease to be active in them.

Matte r or "Earth ” ,or (as it is calle in its primor ial state)A'kβsa ,is and invisible material element

perva ing all space.Con ense by the organising power of the soul,it clothes the forms of the latter an

ren ers them visible on the physical plane.

By the interaction of the three primordial elements,Spirit,Soul,an Matter,four interme iate links

become manifest,and these four a e to the three former represent seven principles.

These three,respectively seven principles,must not be suppose to exist separately;they are seven

aspects of one element,in the same sense as the seven notes of one octave are seven mo ifications of

one [Page 87 ] vibration pro ucing soun .Man is a unity;but also a trinity of expression,capable to enter

four istinct states of consciousness and existence,a compoun of four elements joine to the fifth One

Element,making him a harmonious accord of five notes.He may also be regarde as a manifestation of

three higher and three lower powers,in which the unmanifeste seventh is to become manifest.All these

ivisions are legitimate and not arbitrary;because they are base upon the action of natural certain laws.

1.A The element of Matter ,A kβsa ,represented by "Earth ”.

2.AB The combination of Matter and Soul,known as the Astral Body,a mixture of

"Earth and Water ”.

3.B The Soul,known as the animal principle in man,represented by "Water ”.

4.ABC The Essence of Life ,a combination of Matter,Soul,and Spirit,"Earth,Water,

and Fire ”.

5.AC The Mind ,a combination of Matter and Spirit,or "Earth and Fire ”(the

principle of Intellectuality ).

6.BC The Spiritual Soul ,a combination of Soul and pure Spirit,or "Water and

Fire ”(the principle of Spiritual Intelligence).

7.

C

Pure Spirit or "Fire ” .[The Sanskrit terms for the seven principles are:1,

Pracriti;2,Lingsarira;3.Kamarupa;4,Jiva;5,Manas;6,Buddhi;7.Atma.—

See "Five Years of Theosophy ”,p.153.]

The ivisions a opte by Paracelsus and in "Esoteric B ddhism ”are nearly i entical with the above:1.

The physical bo y.2.Vitality (Mumia).3.Astral Bo y (Si ereal bo y).4.Animal Soul.5.Intellectual Soul.

6.Spiritual Soul.(The man of the new olympus).7.Spirit.

Page 47?

-------
Cardiff Theosophical Society in Wales------

Magic: White and Black by Franz Hartmann,M.D.

It is sai that this ivision was also known to the ancient Jews,an that the Hebrew Alphabet,consisting

of 22 letters,was ma e with reference to it;because the three in seven states pro uces twelve symbols,

an 3+7+12 =22.[Page 88 ]

This sevenfol ivision of principles,representing the constitution of man as well as that of the Universe

as whole,was also known to the ancient Egyptians,an escribe as follows —

I.chat.The material body.

II.bas (heart)

and

nif (breath)

Physical life.

III.Ka.The astral body (Personality).

IV.ab.Will.(Kama)The centre.

V.ba.Soul (Manas).

VI.chaib.The shadow of the spirit (Buddhi).

VII.chu.The spirit (Atma).

The ancient Alchemists represente the same ideas  by the symbols of the seven planets —

Saturn,The material element.

Jupiter,Power or Life.

Mars,Will,Strength.

Sun,The centre;the source of all planets.

Venus,Love.In its lower aspect esire.

Mercury,Min ,Intelligence.

Moon Spirituality.

The qualities of these powers iffer in their combination accor ing to the prepon erating influence of one

over another;an this causes their aspects to be either goo or evil.Thus these aspects are ba as

follows —

Page 48?

-------
Cardiff Theosophical Society in Wales------

Magic: White and Black by Franz Hartmann,M.D.

If spirituality [Moon ] is overrule by materiality [Saturn ]

If the min [Mercury ] is ominate by blin force [Jupiter ]

If love [Venus ] is overrule by passion [Mars ] .

If the contrary is the case,their aspects are goo .

The sun occupies the centre of these planets;it is their parent,an not ominate by any of them.

[Page 89 ]

Jane Leade also a opts a sevenfol ivision of principles;but in a reverse or er —

1.Spirit The wor .The creator.

2.Wind The breath or the life.

3.Water Coagulate win (soul).

4.Light Intelligence.

5.Heaven The astral world .

6.Air Physical life.

7.Earth The matrix or centre.

To these seven principles correspon four planes of existence or states of consciousness;namely —

I.The physical world.

II.The astral world .

III.The spirit al world .

IV.The divine plane of existence .

Each of these world s has its own state of being,an each form in either of them contains all the above-

name seven principles,which are fun amentally one and inseparable;only with this ifference,that

according to the plane in which a form exists,some of these principles are active while others are latent.

Thus in a stone or a tree the higher principles are entirely latent and as if non-existent,while in one of the

higher plane the higher principles are alone manifest while the lower ones have cease to manifest any

activity.The following table may give and approximate illustration of this theory.The prominently active

principles are printe in larger,and the less active ones in smaller,type;while those that are still latent,or

have become so,are enclose in brackets.

Page 49?

-------
Cardiff Theosophical Society in Wales------

Magic: White and Black by Franz Hartmann,M.D.

Physical Nature.Astral Plane.Devachan.

PHYSICAL MATTER.(Physical matter.)(Physical matter.)

PHYSICAL LIFE .(Physical life.)(Physical life.)

Astral life.ASTRAL LIFE.(Astral life.)

Kama life.KAMA LIFE.(Kama life.)

Lower Manas.Lower Manas .(Lower Manas.)

(Higher Manas.)(Higher Manas.)HIGHER MANAS.

(Bu hi.)(Bu hi.)BUDDHI

(Atma.)(Atma.)Atma.

[Page 90 ] The proportion of activities of course iffer in in ivi ual cases.There are many variations.

Upon this earth all the seven principles may become manifeste in man;he may live alternatively or

successively,in either one of these four states of consciousness;his spirit belongs to Go ,his min to

heaven,his esires to the soul of the world ,an his bo y to earth.After eath the lower principles

become inactive and he moves upwards on the scale of being in proportion as he has become attune to

it uring his life.

What are the con itions of the divine state of being we o not know nor care to speculate about it.Our

object ought to be to attain it rather than to worry our brains in seeking to gratify our scientific curiosity in

regard to it.It might be suppose that in this plane only the B ddhi,Atma ,and the highest essence of the

Manas is active;but Jacob Boehme tells us,that "all the Seven Spirits of God are born one in another;

one gives birth to the other and there is neither first nor last ” ."They are all seven equally eternal ” ;["The

life and octrines of Jacob Boehme ” ,p.73.] and furthermore he escribes that the third principle

reappears in the seventh;an that therein consists the "resurrection of the flesh ” ,["The life an

octrines of Jacob Boehme ” ,p.84.] which causes a divine being to be – not and unsubstantial spirit – but

possessing the "Bo y of Go ” ."In the seventh form all the other forms of nature manifest their activity ”;

the element of earth therefore manifests itself again on a higher octave,an this will give us a key to the

un erstan ing of the meaning of the words of St.Paul,when he speaks of a bo y "that has been sowe

in corruption and is raise in glory ”;but which is surely not the astral form of a ghost.[1 Cor.i.5.]

All forms are the expression of either one or more of these elementary principles,an exist as long as

their respective powers are active in them.They are not necessarily visible,because their visibility

epen s on their power to reflect light.Invisible gases may be [Page 91 ] soli ifie by pressure and col ,

an ren ere visible and tangible,and the most soli substances may be ma e invisible and intangible

by the application of heat.The pro ucts of cosmic thought are not all visible to the physical eye,we see

only those which are on our plane of existence.

All bo ies have their invisible spheres.Their visible spheres are limite by the periphery of their visible

forms;their invisible spheres exten farther into space.Their spheres cannot be always etecte by

Page 50?

-------
Cardiff Theosophical Society in Wales------

Magic: White and Black by Franz Hartmann,M.D.

physical instruments,but they nevertheless exist,an un er certain con itions their existence can be

prove to the senses.The sphere of and o oriferous bo y can be perceive by the organ of smell,the

sphere of a magnet by the approach of iron,the sphere of a man or and animal by that most elicate of all

instruments,the sensitive soul.

These spheres are the magnetic,caloric,o ic,luminous auras and other emanations belonging to every

object in space.Such and emanation may sometimes be seen as the A rora Borealis in the polar regions

of our planet,or as the photosphere of the sun uring and eclipse.The "glory ” aroun the hea of a saint

is no poetical fiction,no more thand the sphere of life ra iating from a precious stone.As each sun has its

system of planets revolving aroun it,so each bo y is surroun e by smaller centres of energy evolving

from the common centre,an partaking of the attributes of that centre.Copper,Carbon,an Arsenic,for

instance,sen out auras of re ;Lea and Sulphur emit blue colours;Gol ,Silver,an Antimony,green;

an Iron emits all the colours of the rainbow.Plants,animals,an men emit similar colours accor ing to

their characteristics;persons of a high and spiritual character have beautiful auras of white and blue,gol

an green,in various tints;while low natures emit principally ark re emanations,which in brutal an

vulgar or villainous persons arken almost to black,and the collective auras of bo ies of men or plants or

animals,of cities and countries,correspon to their pre ominant characteristics,so that a person whose

sense of perception is sufficiently evelope may [Page 92 ] see the state of the intellectual and moral

evelopment of a place or a country by observing the sphere of its emanations.

These spheres expan from the centre,and their periphery grows in proportion to the intensity of the

energy acting within the centre.We know the sphere of a rose by the o our that procee s from the latter

if we have the power to smell,we know the character of the min of a man if we enter the sphere of his

thoughts.

The quality of psychic emanationsdepends on the state of activity of the centre from which they

originate.They are symbols of the states of the soul of each form,they in icate the state of the emotions.

Each emotion correspon s to a certain colour.Love correspon s to blue,Desire to re ,Benevolence to

green,and these colours may in uce correspon ing emotions in other souls.Blue has a soothing effect,

an may tranquillize a maniac or sub ue a fever;Re excites to passion,a steer will become furious at

the sight of a re cloth,an and unreasoning mob become infuriate at the sight of bloo .This chemistry

of the soul is not any more won erful thand the facts known in physical chemistry,and these processes

take place accor ing to the same law which causes Chlori e of Silver to turn from white into black if

expose to light.

The thoughts of the Universal Min expresse in matter on the physical plane comprise all the forms of

the mineral,vegetable,an animal king oms on Earth,escribe by physical science.Each material

form contains within itself its ethereal counterpart,which will,un er certain con itions,separate itself

from the more material part,or be extracte therefrom by the han s of and A ept.These astral parts may

be reclothe with con ense A 'kβsa and be ren ere visible,an in this way and object can be uplicate

by him who knows how to manipulate these invisible forces.[A.P.Sinnett:"The Occult World ”.]

Such astral forms exist after their material forms have ecaye ;the astral forms of the ea may be seen

by the clairvoyant hovering over the graves,bearing the resemblance of the once living man.They may

be artificially infuse with life and with a borrowe consciousness,an ma e use of in the practices of

Page 51?

-------
Cardiff Theosophical Society in Wales------

Magic: White and Black by Franz Hartmann,M.D.

Necromancy and Black Magic ,or be attracte to "spiritual sιances ” to represent the spirits of the ea .

There are persons in whom this principle – either in consequence of constitutional peculiarities or in

consequence of isease – is not very firmly unite with the physical bo y,an may become separate

from it for a short perio .[This intimate relation of the astral form and the physical bo y is often illustrate

at so-calle exposures of "spiritual mediums.If a materialize form is soile by ink or soot,the colouring

matter will afterwards be foun on the correspon ing part of the medium's bo y,because,when the

astral form re-enters that bo y,it will leave the soiling matter on the correspon ing parts of the latter.]

Such persons are suitable "medi ms ”for so-calle spirit-materialisations ,their ethereal counterparts

appear separate from their bo ies and assume the visible form of some person either living or ea .It

receives its new mask by the unconscious or conscious thoughts of the persons present,by the

reflections thrown out from their memories and min s,or it may be ma e to represent other characters

by influences invisible to the physical eye.

As the brain is the central organ for the circulation of nerve-flui ,an as the heart is the organ for the

circulation of the bloo ,so the spleen is the organ from which the astral elements raw their vitality,an

in certain iseases,where the action of the spleen is impe e ,this "ouble ”of a person may involuntarily

separate itself from the bo y.It is nothing very unusual that a sick person feels "as if he were not

himself ” ,or as if another person was lying in the same be with him,an that he himself were that other.

Such cases of "Doppelgaengers ” ,Wraiths,Apparitions,Ghosts,&c.,cause by the separation of the

Lingasarira from the physical form can be foun in many works treating of mystic phenomena occurring

in nature.[A olphe D'Assier;"L'humanitι posthume ”]

Usually these astral forms are without consciousness and without any life of their own;but they may be

[Page 94 ] [The stories of fakirs who have been burie alive for months and resurrecte afterwards might

here be use as illustration.They are too well known to nee repetition in this place.Moreover,

phenomena,however well atteste they may be,can never stan in the place of knowle ge;they furnish

no explanation of the mysterious laws of nature.The occurrence of phenomena proves nothing but that

they occur.Real knowle ge is never attaine by the observation of external phenomena,it can only be

attaine by un erstan ing the law.]

But there are also many forms whose natural home is the astral plane,of which physical science oes

not know,because they can be seen only by means of the astral perception,a faculty which is at present

in possession of only comparatively few persons.The astral plane has,like the physical plane,its

mineral,vegetable,an animal king om,its four elements;an as in our world the earth,the air,and the

sea have their inhabitants,so in the astral world there are inhabitants,the Spirits of Nat re ,to be foun in

the elements of the earth,air,water,an fire.They are all the pro uct of originally shapeless ideas ,

existing in the Universal Min ,con ense into organise forms by the creative power of nature;visible

an objective to each other as long as they exist on the same plane.

In ivi ual forms on that plane often make their presence felt to men or animals,but un er or inary

circumstances they cannot be seen.They may,however,be seen by the clairvoyant,an un er certain

con itions,even assume visible and tangible shapes.Their bo ies are of and elastic semi-material

essence,ethereal enough so as not to be etecte by the physical sight,and they change their forms

according to certain laws.Bulwer Lytton says:"Life is one all-perva ing principle,an even the thing that

Page 52?

-------
Cardiff Theosophical Society in Wales------

Magic: White and Black by Franz Hartmann,M.D.

seems to ie and putrefy but engen ers new life and changes to [Page 95 ] new forms of matter.

Reasoning then by analogy – if not a leaf,if not a rop of water,but is no less than yon er star – a

habitable and breathing world – common sense woul suffice to teach that the circumfluent Infinite,which

you call space – the boun less Impalpable which ivi es the earth from the moon and stars – is fille

also with its correspon ent and appropriate life ”.

An further on he says:"In the rop of water you see animalcule vary;how vast and terrible are some of

these monster-mites as compare with others.Equally so with the inhabitants of the atmosphere.Some

of surpassing wisdom,some of horrible malignity;some hostile as fien s to man;others gentle as

messengers between Earth and Heaven ” .[Bulwer Lytton;"Zanoni ”]

Our ignorant and therefore sceptical age is accustome to a mire in such escriptions the fancy of the

writer ,never suspecting that they were inten e to convey a truth;but there are many witnesses to

testify that such invisible but substantial and variously shape beings exist,an that they,by the

e ucate will of man,can be ma e conscious,intelligent,visible,an even useful to man.This assertion

is supporte by the testimony foun in the writings of Rosicrucians,Cabbalists,Alchemists,an A epts,

as well as in the ancient books of wisdom of the East and in the Bible of the Christians.

Such existences are,however,not necessarily personal beings.They may be impersonal forces,

acquiring form,an life,an consciousness by their contact with man.The Gnomes and Sylphes ,the

Undines and Salamanders ,o not entirely belong to the realm of fable,although they are something very

different of what the ignorant believe them to be.How insignificant and little appears in ivi ual man in the

infinity of the universe!an yet there is only a comparatively insignificant part of the universe reveale to

him by the senses.Coul he see the world s within world s above,beneath,an everywhere,swarming

with beings whose existence he oes not suspect,while they,perhaps,know nothing of his existence,he

woul be overwhelme with terror and seek for a go to protect him;an yet there are none of these

beings higher or as powerful as the spiritual man who has learne to know his powers.[See

"Theophrast s Paracelsus ” ,chapter v ]

The beings of the spirit al plane are such as have once been men,their constitution is beyon the

comprehension of those that are not their equals,and their ethereal forms in a state of perfection we

cannot conceive.Still higher beings,having outgrown the necessity of manifesting themselves in a form,

enter the state of the formless.We may look upon a personal man as a single note in the great orchestra

composing the world ,an upon a Dhyan Chohan [Son of Wisdom (Planetary spirit)]as a full accor or a

compoun of notes in the symphony of the go s.There may be unharmonious compositions of notes in

music,and there are evil spiritualities as there isdarkness in contra istinction to light.

The surface realm of the Soul is the realm of the emotions.Emotions are not merely the results of

physiological processes depending on causes coming from the physical plane,but they belong to a form

of life on the astral plane,they come and go without any known cause.The state of the weather,or

circumstances over which we have no control,cause certain emotions.A person entering a room where

everyone is laughing is liable to participate in the laughter without knowing the cause of the hilarity;a

whole crow may be swaye by the intense emotion of a speaker,although they may not even

un erstan what he says;one hysterical woman may create and epi emic of hysteria among other

women,an a whole congregation may become excite by the harangue of and emotional exhorter,no

Page 53?

-------
Cardiff Theosophical Society in Wales------

Magic: White and Black by Franz Hartmann,M.D.

matter whether his language is foolish or wise.A su en accumulation of emotion or energy on the astral

plane can kill a person as quickly as a su en explosion of pow er.We hear of persons who were

"transfixe by terror ”or "paralyse by fear ” .In such cases the astral consciousness having become

abnormally active at the expense of the consciousness on the physical plane,the activity of life on the

physical plane ceases when the affecte person faints or ies.[Page 97 ]

All forms come into existence accor ing to certain laws.The solar microscope shows how,in a solution

of salt,a centre of matter is forme ,an how to that centre its kin re forces are attracte ,crystallising

aroun it,an becoming soli and firm.Each kin of salt pro uces the peculiar crystals that belong to its

class and no other,however often the process may be repeate .In the vegetable king om the see of

one plant attracts to itself those forces which it requires to pro uce a plant resembling its parent;the

see of and apple-tree can pro uce nothing else but and apple-tree,an and acorn can grow into nothing

else but and oak.The principal characteristics of and animal will be those that belong to its parents,and the

external appearance of a man will correspon more or less to that of the race and family in which he was

born.

As every mathematical point in space may evelop into a living and conscious and visible being,after

once a certain centre of energy (a germ)has been forme ,so in the invisible realm of the soul astral

forms may come into existence,wherever the necessary con itions for their growth exist.In the same

manner as a living germ on the physical plane attracts matter for its growth,a psychic germ on the astral

plane causes to crystallise aroun a thought and invisible but nevertheless substantial entity.As the forms

on the physical plane correspon to the characters of the germs,so the forms on the astral plane are

expressions of the characteristics of the prevailing emotions on that plane.They manifest themselves

either in beautiful or in horrible shapes,because every form is only the symbol or the expression of the

character which it represents.

The animal forms are expressions of forces acting on the animal plane.Some have a consciousness of

their own and realise their existence,but un er ordinary circumstances they have no more intelligence

than animals,an cannot act intelligently.They follow their blin attraction,as iron is attracte to a

magnet,an wherever they fin suitable con itions for their evelopment,they are attracte thither.We

therefore see that if and emotion is not controlle in the beginning [Page 98 ] it grows and becomes

uncontrollable.Some people have ie of grief and some others of joy.

But if these unintelligent forms are infuse with the principle of intelligence procee ing from man,they

become intelligent and act in accordance with the ictates of the master from which they receive their will

an intelligence,an who may employ them for goo or for evil.Every emotion that arises in man may

combine with the astral forces of nature and create a being,which may be perceive ,by persons

possessing higher faculties of perception,as and active and living entity.Every sentiment which fin s

expression in word or action calls into existence a living entity on the astral plane.Some of these forms

are very en uring,according to the intensity and uration of the thought that create them,while others

are the creations of one moment and vanish in the next.

There are numerous cases on record in which some person or other having committe some crime is

escribe as having been persecute for years by some avenging emon,who woul appear objectively

an isappear again.Such emons are the pro ucts of the involuntary action of the imagination of their

Page 54?

-------
Cardiff Theosophical Society in Wales------

Magic: White and Black by Franz Hartmann,M.D.

victims;but they are nevertheless real to them.[A person in Paris became insane and was remove to

an insane asylum in Italy,where he rage and ha to be confine to a solitary cell.After a while he

became su enly well and was permitte to return to Paris.Some months afterwards a report reache

him,that the cell which he ha occupie in the asylum was still haunte by his "ghost ” .which continue

raving and making a noise,an that this ghost ha been seen by many persons.Curious to see his own

"ghost ”the man returne to Italy,went to the asylum,saw his ghost,an becoming again obsesse with

it,remaine insane to the en of his life.] They may be calle into existence by memory and remorse,

and their images existing in the min ,become objective by fear,because fear is a repulsive function;it

instinctively repulses the object of which a man is afrai ,an by repelling the image from the centre

towards the periphery of the sphere of min ,that image is ren ere objective.

Instances are known in which persons have been [Page 99 ] riven to suici e,hoping thereby to escape

these persecuting emons.Such emons are sai to have in some cases taken even a tangible form.

But whether tangible or intangible,the substance of which they are forme is merely a projection of

substance of the person to whom they thus appear.They are,so to say,that person himself.[In the

"Lives of the Saints ” ,an in the history of witchcraft,we often fin instances of the appearance of

"oubles ”in visible and even tangible forms.Such phenomena take place in mediumistic persons,if by

contrary emotions the Will becomes ivi e ,acting in two different irections,an projecting thereby two

forms;for it is the Will of man that creates subjective forms,consciously or unconsciously,an un er

certain con itions they become objective and visible.

As and illustration of this law we may cite from the Acta Sanctorum and episo e in the life of Saint Dominic.

He was once calle to the be si e of a sick person,who tol him that Christ ha appeare to him.The

saint answere that this was impossible,an that the apparition ha been pro uce by the evil,

because only holy persons coul have and apparition of Christ.As he sai so,a oubt as to whether the

apparition seen may not have been a true one after all,entere his min ,an imme iately a ivision of

consciousness was pro uce ,which cause the ouble of Dominic to appear at the other si e of the

patient's be .The two Dominics were seen by the patient,an heard to ispute with each other.an

while one Dominic asserte that the apparition ha been the work of the evil.the other one maintaine

that it was the true Christ.The two Dominics were so exactly i entical,that the patient i not know which

of them was the true saint and which one his image,an he coul not make up his min what to believe;

until at last the saint calle upon Go to assist him,– that is to say,he concentrate his willpower again

within himself;his consciousness became again a unity.and the "ouble ”isappeare from view.

Absurd as such stories may appear to our "enlightene age ” ,their absurdity ceases when the occult laws

of nature,and the fact of the possibilities of a do ble conscio sness are un erstoo .]

An A ept in a letter to Mr Sinnett says:

"Every thought of man upon being evolve passes into another world and becomes and active entity by

associating itself – coalescing,we might term it – with and Elemental – that is to say,with one of the semi-

intelligent forces of the king oms.It survives as and active intelligence – a creature of the min 's begetting

– for a longer or shorter perio ,proportionate with the [Page 100 ] original intensity of the cerebral action

which generate it.Thus,a goo thought is perpetuate as and active,beneficent power,an evil one as a

maleficent emon.An so man is continually peopling his current in space with the offspring of his

Page 55?

-------
Cardiff Theosophical Society in Wales------

Magic: White and Black by Franz Hartmann,M.D.

fancies,esires,impulses,an passions;a current which re-acts upon any sensitive or nervous

organisation which comes in contact with it,in proportion to its ynamic intensity....The A ept evolves

these shapes consciously,other men throw them off unconsciously ”.[A.P.Sinnett:"The Occult World!” ]

This testimony is corroborate by one coming from another source,an proving that to create subjective

forms it is not necessary to give a istinct shape to our thoughts by the power of imagination,but that

each state of feeling or sentiment may fin expression in subjective forms,whether or not we may be

conscious of their existence.A form is a state of min ,an a sentiment is a state of min ;a sentiment

expresse will be represente by a correspon ing form.[Mr Whitworth,a clairvoyant,escribes how in

his youth,while seeing a German professor perform on and organ,he notice a host of appearances

moving about the keyboard – veritable Lilliputian sprites,fairies,an gnomes,astonishingly minute in

size,yet as perfect in form and features as any of the larger people in the room.He escribe them as

being ivi e into sexes and clothe in a most fantastic manner;in form,appearance,an movement

they were in perfect accord with the theme.

"In the quick measures,how ma ly they ance ,waving their plume hats and fans in very ecstasy,an

arting to and fro inconceivable rapi ity,with feet beating time in rain-like patter of accor !Quick as a

flash,when the music change to the solemn ca ence of a march for the ea ,the airy things vanishe ,

an in their place came black robe gnomes,resse like cowle monks,sour face Puritans,or mutes

in the black garb of a funeral procession!Strangest of all,on every tiny face was expresse the

sentiment of the music,so that I coul instantly un erstand the thought and feeling that was inten e to

be conveye .In a wil burst of soun ing grief came a rush of mothers,tear-eye and with ishevelle

hair,beating their breasts and wailing pious lamentations over their ea love ones.These woul be

followe by plume knights with shiel and spear,an host of fiery troops,mounte or foot,re -han e

in the fiery strife of bloo y battle,as the clang of martial music came leaping from the keyboard,an

ever,as each change brought its new set of sprites,the ol ones woul vanish into the air as su enly as

they ha come.Whenever a iscord was struck,the tiny sprite that appeare was some misshapen

creature,with limbs and ress awry,usually a humpbacke warf,whose voice was guttural and rasping,

an his every movement ungainly and isagreeable.

He then escribes how in his riper age he saw such fairy-like beings coming from the lips of persons

talking and which seeme in every action the very counterpart of the feeling conveye in the uttere

speech.If the words were inspire by goo sentiments,these figures were transcen entally beautiful;

ba sentiments pro uce horri -looking creatures;hate was expresse by hissing snakes and ark,fiery

evils;treacherous words pro uce figures beautiful in front and isgusting and horri behin ;while love

pro uce forms silvery,white,an full of beauty and harmony.

"On one never-to-be-forgotten occasion I was a paine witness to a scene of living faithlessness on one

si e and a ouble-face ,treacherous uplicity on the other.A fair young girl and her eparting lover ha

met to exchange greetings ere he went on a istant journey.Each word of hers gave forth beautiful,

ra iant fairies;but while the front half of each that was turne to the girl was equally fair to look upon,an

smile with all the ra iant seeming of un ying affection,the rear half of each was black and evilish,with

fiery snakes and re forke tongues protru ing from their cruel lips,as gleams of wicke cunning ance

in sneaking,si e-long glances from the corners of the half-close eyes.These ark backgroun s of the

little figures were horrible to look at,ever shifting,o ging,an seeming to shut up within themselves,as

they sought to keep only bright and honest toward the trusting girl,an hol the black eception out of

Page 56?

-------Cardiff Theosophical Society in Wales------

Magic: White and Black by Franz Hartmann,M.D.

sight.An it was noticeable that while a halo of clou less ra iance surroun e the goo outsi e

seeming,a pall of thick vapour hung like a canopy of unbroken gloom above the other".[Religio-

Philosophical Journal.] [Page 101 ]

All forms are manifestations of life,they have no life of their own;for life is a universal power.They are

the creations of thought-power,acting upon the A'kβssa.The creations of man are kept alive by the life-

power that ra iates into them from the life-centre in man who is a go in that world which he creates in

his min ;his creatures are like sha ows,vanishing when the fountain of light from which they rink is

exhauste .When the psychical action of man,that gave them life,ceases to act,or acts in another

irection,they will isappear sooner or later,an in the same way the forms of men isappear,when the

life coming from Go is with rawn.However,as the corpse of a man oes not issolve imme iately as

soon as the principle [Page 102 ] of life is eparte ,but ecays slowly or rapi ly accor ing to their

molecular ensity and cohesion,likewise the astral forms and memories create by the thoughts an

sentiments of man require time for their issolution.They continue to exist as long as man infuses life

an consciousness into them by his thought and his will,an if they have once gaine a certain amount

of power,they may still cling to him,although he may not esire their companionship.Theydependon

him for their life,and the struggle for existence forces them to remain with the source from which they

raw their vitality.If they epart from that fountain they ie;they are therefore force to remain,an ,like

the phantom create by "Frankenstein ” ,they persecute their creators with their unwelcome presence.To

ri oneself of such a presence,he who is persecute shoul irect the full power of his aspirations an

thoughts into another and higher irection,and thereby starve them to eath.In this way the spiritual

principle of every man becomes his special Redeemer ,who by the transformation of character saves him

from the effects of his sin,an before whose pure light the illusions create by the lower attractions will

melt like the snow un er the influence of the sun.

Elemental forms being the servants of their creator —in fact,his own self – may be use by him for goo

or for evil purposes.Love and hate creates subjective forms of beautiful or of horri shapes,an being

infuse with consciousness,obtain life,and they may be sent on some erran for goo or for evil.

Through them the magician blen s his own life and consciousness with the person he esires to affect.A

lock of hair,a piece of clothing,or some object that has been worn by the person he esires to affect,

forms a connecting link.The same object can be attaine if that person is put into possession of an

article belonging to the magician,because wherever a portion of anything with which the magician was

connecte exists,there will a part of his own elements exist,which will form a magnetic link between him

and the person whom he wishes to affect.If he projects his astral form at a [Page 103 ] istance,his

personality will be present with his victim,although the latter may not be able to see it.[Lord Lytton,

"Zanoni ”an "Strange Story ”]

The astral image of a person may be projecte consciously or unconsciously to a istance.If he intensely

thinks of a certain place,his thought will be there,an if his thought is spiritual and consequently self-

conscious he will be there himself.Wherever a man's consciousness is,there is the man himself,no

matter whether his physical bo y is there or not.

The history of spiritualism and somnambulism furnishes abun ant evi ence that a person may be

consciously and knowingly in one place,while his physical bo y lies ormant in another.Franciscus

Xavier was thus seen in two different places at one and the same time.Likewise Apollonius of Tyana,an

innumerable others mentione in ancient and mo ern history.

Page 57?

-------Cardiff Theosophical Society in Wales------

Magic: White and Black by Franz Hartmann,M.D.

The Elemental sent by a magician is a constituting part of the magician himself,an if the victim is

vulnerable or mediumistic,the latter may be injure by the former.But the astral form of the magician

may also be injure by physical force,an as the astral form re-enters the physical bo y,the latter will

partake of the injuries inflicte upon the former.

The magician,who,by the power of his will,has obtaine control over the semi-intelligent forces of

Nature,can make use of these forces for the purposes of goo or evil.The helpless medium,through

whom manifestations of occult power take place,can neither cause nor control such manifestations.He

cannot control the elementals,but is controlle by them.The elements of his bo y serve as instruments

through which these astral existences act,after the Medium has surren ere his will and given up the

supreme comman over his soul.He sits passively and waits for what these elementals may o;he

unconsciously furnishes them with his life and power to think,an his thoughts and the thoughts of those

that are present become reflecte in these astral forms,enabling them to manifest apparently an

intelligence of their own.[Page 104 ]

A medium for spirit-manifestations is merely and instrument for the manifestation of invisible forces over

which he has no control.The best of such mediums have been very unjustly blame for "cheating ” .The

thoughts of the person visiting a Medium,are reflecte by him.It is therefore not the Medium's person

that cheats purposely,but his visitors are cheating themselves through his instrumentality.A mirror that

woul not reflect al l the objects that are brought before it,woul be a very unnatural and eceptive thing;

a Medi m who woul only reflect such thoughts as he or she chooses to reflect woul be and impostor,for

exercising and intelligence of his own,he woul not be in that passive con ition which constitutes his

mediumship.

The A ept in Magic is not the slave of these forces,but controls them by the power of his will.He

consciously infuses life and consciousness and intelligence into them,an makes them act as he

pleases;they obey his comman ,because they are a part of himself.The spiritualists o this

unconsciously;they sing at their sιances,thinking that the more the con itions are harmonious the better

will be the manifestations.The true reason for this is,that the more the thoughts of the sitters are in a

state of abstraction,the more they are "absent-min e ” ,the easier it will be for the Elementals to take

possession of them.

The astral elements use by the Elementals in spiritual sιances for the purpose of pro ucing physical

phenomena,are not only taken from the medi m ,but from all present,whose constitution is not strong,

an who may therefore be easily vampirize for the purpose of furnishing the require elements.In

sιances for materialization s,they are also taken from the clothing of those present,an furnish material

for the rapery of the "spirits ” ,an it has been observe ,that the clothing worn by people who frequently

atten to such sιances,wears out sooner than usual.

To bring fresh-spille bloo into such "spiritual sιances ” ,increases the strength of the "materialisations ”

very much,an a knowle ge of such facts has given rise to some abominable practices of black magic ,

which [Page 105 ] are still going on in many parts of the world ,although secretly and unknown to the public.

This knowle ge has also un oubte ly given rise to the sacrifice of animals in the performance of religious

ceremonies.A certain executioner was unfortunately gifte with clairvoyance,an every time after having

ecapitate a person he coul see the "spirits ”of ea people – sometimes even his frien s an

Page 58?

-------Cardiff Theosophical Society in Wales------

Magic: White and Black by Franz Hartmann,M.D.

relatives – pounce upon the fresh-spille bloo of the criminal,an fee on its emanation and aura.It is

also a fact that,at a time when the bloo -drinking mania in Europe was starte by me ical ignorance,

some people who practise it became insane,an many became emoralise by it.[One of the favourite

ai s for the materialism of spooks is the a ra seminalis ,which increases the power of ghosts,elementals

an vampires for assuming a substantial form.There are many curious practices going on at such

sιances,which we must forbear to escribe.See "The Life and Doctrines of Theophrast s Paracelsus ”

pages 66 and 90

The astral remnant of man is without ju gment and reason,it goes wherever his instincts attract it,or

wherever ny unsatisfie craving impels it to go.If you wish to be haunte by the "ghost ”of a man,attract

him by the power of esire.Leave some promise you ma e to him unfulfille ,an instinctively the astral

form of the ecease will be attracte to you to seek its fulfillment,rawn to you by its own unsatisfie

esire.

It is not his fault if you o not perceive his presence and hear his voice,it is because your astral senses

are asleep and unconscious;you may feel his presence and it may cause a feeling of epression in your

min ;he speaks to you,but in a language which you have not yet learne to un erstan .In those

elementary remnants remains that which constitute the lower nature of man,an if they are temporarily

infuse with life,they will manifest the lower characteristics of the ecease ,such as have not been

sufficiently refine to join his immortal part.If a music-box is set to play a certain melo y and ma e to

start,it will pro uce that same melo y and no other,although it has no consciousness of its own.The

remnant of emotional and intellectual powers in the [Page 106 ] astral remnant of man will,if this remnant is

ma e to speak,become manifest in the same kin of language which the man uring his life use to

speak.

The fresh corpse of a person who has su enly been kille ,may be galvanise into a semblance of life

by the application of a galvanic battery.Likewise the astral corpse of a person may be brought back into

an artificial life by being infuse with a part of the life principle of the medium.If that corpse is one of a

very intellectual person,it may talk very intellectually;an if it was that of a fool,it will talk like a fool.The

intellectual action resembles mechanical motion in so far,that if it is once set into action,it will continue

without any special effort of the will,until impulse is exhauste .We often see this in aily life.There are

ol and young people frequently seen,who are in the habit of telling some favourite story,which they

have alrea y tol many times,an which they repeat on every occasion.It may be notice ,that when

such and one begins to tell his story,it is of no use to tell him that one knows it alrea y.He has to finish

the story nevertheless.

An orator or a preacher oes not nee to think and reason about each word he utters.When the stream

of ideas  once flows,it flows without any effort of will.If life from a medium flows into the astral brain of a

ecease person,that brain will elaborate its latent ideas  in the same way it was accustome to o

uring life.

We also reason while we ream;we raw logical conclusions uring our sleep;but reason is absent,an

although,while we ream,our logic seems to be reasonable,nevertheless we often see that it was

foolish,when we awake and our reason returns.

Page 59?

-------Cardiff Theosophical Society in Wales------

Magic: White and Black by Franz Hartmann,M.D.

The mental organism of man resembles a clockwork,which if it is once set into operation will continue to

run until its force is exhauste ;but there is no clockwork which win s itself up without extraneous

assistance,and there is no mental organism able to think without a power that causes it to begin the

process of intellectuation.

But here we must raw the attention to one of the [Page 107 ] many angers of that amusement calle the

practice of spiritism.

In a eparte soul the attraction of goo and evil still continues to act,until the final separation of the

higher and the lower takes place.It may follow the attraction of the higher principles and be attracte to

"heaven ” ,or again come into contact with matter through the instrumentality of mediumship,take again

part in the whirling ance of life,though by vicarious organs;follow once more the se uction of the

senses,an lose entirely sight of the immortal self.

It is therefore not merely angerous to a person to hol intercourse with the "spirits of the eparte ” ;but

it is especially injurious to the latter,– as long as the final separation of their lower principles from the

higher ones has not yet taken place.Necromancy is a vile art,an so has therefore always been

abhorre .It may isturb the blissful reams of the sleeping soul,which aspires to a higher state of

existence.It is like isturbing the peace of a saint uring his hours of me itation,or to se uce a chil .It is

a step towards egra ation;an as every impulse has a ten ency to repeat itself,the most terrible

consequences may follow after what seeme to be at first merely some innocent amusement.

These astral remnants are use by the black magician and by the elemental forces in nature for the

purpose of evil.If they are unconscious,they will only serve as the blin instruments of the latter;if they

are conscious he may enter into and alliance and co-operate with them.

Such alliance,either consciously or unconsciously on the part of him who enters into such and nspirit al

intercourse,may take place between and evil-dispose person and a very evil inhabitant of the spiritual

plane.Many people who are in actual possession of powers to work black magic ,work evil

unconsciously;that is to say,they are unconscious of the effects which their will pro uces,an of the

mo e in which it acts.The spiritual force create by hate enters the organism of another,and the person

from whom the evil power procee s may be entirely ignorant of it.Such black [Page 108 ] magicians

unconsciously furnish the elements by which their own evil spirit acts.If the will of a black magician is not

strong enough to effect his evil purpose,the force will.return and kill the magician.This is un oubte ly

true,and the grossest illustration of it is,if a person by a fit of rage or jealousy is in uce to kill himself.It

is the reaction following and unfulfille esire,which in uces the rash act;the act is merely a result of his

previous mental state.

The surest protection against all the practices of black magic,whether they are cause consciously or

unconsciously,is to acquire strength of character – in other words,faith in the ivine power within one's

own soul.

As man becomes ennoble ,the lower elements in his constitution are thrown off and replace by higher

Page 60?

-------Cardiff Theosophical Society in Wales------

Magic: White and Black by Franz Hartmann,M.D.

ones,an in a similar manner a transformation takes place in the opposite way if he egra es himself by

his thoughts and acts.Sensual man attracts from the A'kβsa those elements that his sensuality requires,

for gross pleasures can only be felt by gross matter.A man with brutal instincts growing and increasing

egra es himself into a brute in character,if not in external form.But as the form is only and expression of

character,even that form may come to approach and animal in resemblance.

The proof of this assertion is seen every ay,for we meet every ay in the streets brutish men,whose

animal instincts are only too well expresse in their external forms.We meet with human snakes,hogs,

wolves,an those upon whom alcohol has stampe his seal,an it oes not nee the instructions given

in book on physiognomy to enable almost anybo y to rea the character of certain persons more or less

correctly expresse in their exterior forms.

In the physical plane the inertia of matter is greater than in the astral plane,an consequently its

changes are slow.Astral matter is more active,an changes its form more rapi ly.The astral bo y of a

man whose character resemble and animal will therefore appear to the seer as and animal in its outward

expression.[E.Swe enborg:"Heaven and Hell ”] [Page 109 ]

The astral form of and evil person may appear in and animal shape if it is so fille with brutish instincts as to

become i entifie with the image of that animal which is the expression of such instincts.It may even

enter the form of and animal and obsess it,an it sometimes happens that it enters such forms for its own

protection against imme iate ecomposition and eath.

It woul be easy to give anecdotes illustrating instances in which such things took place.[For examples.

see Goerres:"Christian Mysticism ” ;Maximillian Perty:"Mystic phenomena in Nature ” ;D'Assier:

"Postumus Humanity ”;Catharine Crowe:"Nightsi e of Nature ” ;Hardinge Britten:"History of Spiritualism ” ;

H.P.Blavatsky:"Isis Unveile ” ,etc.,etc..] The principal object of the rea er shoul be to learn to know

the nature of his own constitution and the law which rules in all forms.If he once un erstan s the mo es

in which the law acts,it will be a matter of little importance to know in what particular cases it has

manifeste itself in such mo es.Accounts of phenomena can never supply the place of the

un erstan ing of the law.

Page 61?

-------Cardiff Theosophical Society in Wales------

Magic: White and Black by Franz Hartmann,M.D.

CHAPTER IV

LIFE

"I never was not ,nor shall I hereafter cease to be ” Bhagavad Gita

THE universe of forms may be compare to a kalei oscope in which the various forms of the original

energy manifest themselves in and en less variety,appearing,isappearing,an re-appearing again.As

in a kalei oscope the pieces of variously coloure glass o not change their substance,but only change

their positions,an ,through the elusive reflections of mirrors at each turn of the instrument,are ma e to

appear in new constellations and figures,so the One Life manifesting itself appears in and infinite number

of forms unconscious or conscious,blin or intelligent,voluntary or involuntary,from the atom whose

auras and ethers rush through a common vortex,[Babbit:"Principles of Light and Colour ”] up to the

blazing suns whose photospheres exten over millions of miles,an from the microscopic Amoeba ,up to

perfect Man,whose intelligence conquers the go s.

Forms are materialise thoughts.If you can control thought you can control life and call into existence a

form;but few persons are able to hol on to one thought even for one minute of time,because their

min s are wavering and their will is ivi e .If a form comes into existence on the physical plane,its

growth is simply a process by which something that alrea y exists in thought becomes visible an

material.This something is the character of the form,an as each character is in ivi ual and a whole,it

becomes expresse in all parts of the form.A human being —for instance – will not have the bo y of a

man,and the hea of and animal,but its human character will be expresse in all its parts,an as the

character constituting humanity is expresse in all human in ivi uals,so is the character of and in ivi ual

expresse in all its parts.This is a truth upon which the octrines of Astrology,Phrenology,Chiromancy,

Physiognomy,etc.,are base ,which are necessarily true,because Nature is a Unity .An animal,a plant,

or a man,is a unity,an is therefore expresse in all the parts of the forms.It can be scientifically

emonstrate that each component part of and organism is a microcosm,in which are represente the

principles composing that organism.We may by examining a part of a leaf know that it comes from a

plant,an by looking at and animal substance see that it came from and animal,or by testing even the most

minute part of a mineral or metal know that it belongs to the mineral king om.Likewise we may rea a

man's character in his han s or face or feet or in any other part of his bo y,if we have acquire the art

how to rea it correctly.

Upon this law is base the science of Psychometry .[Prof.W.Denton:"Soul of Things ” .J.R.Buchanan:

"Manual of Psychometry ”] By this science we may obtain a true history of past events.By

psychometrically examining a stone taken from a house we may obtain correct information in regard to

the former or present inhabitants of that house,or a fossil may give us a true escription of ante iluvian

scenery and of the mo e of life of prehistoric animals or men.By the psychometrical examination of a

letter we may obtain information about the person who wrote the letter and also of the place in which the

letter was written.[By submitting a letter which I ha receive in and occult manner from a "Master in Tibet,

Page 62?

-------Cardiff Theosophical Society in Wales------

Magic: White and Black by Franz Hartmann,M.D.

to a German peasant woman,for the purpose of having it examine psychometrically,I receive a

correct escription of a certain temple in Tibet,an of certain persons with whom I afterwards became

acquainte .– H.] If this art were universally known and practise ,criminals coul be etecte by

examining psychometrically a piece of [Page 112 ] the wall,the floor,or the furniture of the room in which a

mur er or robbery was committe ;it woul make and en to convicting of innocent persons on

circumstantial evi ence,or to letting the guilty escape for want of proof;for the psychometer woul ,by

the superior powers of his perception with the spiritual eye,see the murderer or robber or counterfeiter

as plain as if he ha seen them with his external eyes while the ee was committe .

Each form is the external expression of a certain character which it represents,an as such it has certain

peculiar attributes,which istinguish it from other forms.A change of its character is followe by a

gra ual change of the form.An in ivi ual who becomes egra e in morals will,in the course of time,

show his egra ation in his external appearance;persons of a different appearance and different

characters may,in the course of time,as their characters harmonise,resemble each other to a certain

extent in appearance.Forms of life,belonging to the same class and species,resemble each other,an

each nationality has certain characteristics expresse in the in ivi uals belonging to it.A full-bloo e

Irishman will not easily be mistaken for a full-bloo e Spaniard,although the two may be resse alike,

but,if they emigrate,they or their chil ren will in time lose the national character which they possesse .

Change of character changes the form;but a change of form oes not necessarily change the character.

A man may lose a leg and become a cripple,an still his character may remain the same as before;a

chil may grow into a man,an still his character remain that of a chil unless mo ifie by e ucation.

These facts are incontrovertible proofs that the character of a being is more essential than his external

form.If the character of and in ivi ual were todependon his inherite form,chil ren born of the same

parents and e ucate un er the same circumstances woul always manifest the same moral

characteristics,but it is well known that the characters of such chil ren often iffer wi ely from each

other,an possess characteristics which their parents o not possess.[Page 113 ]

If,as it frequently happens,chil ren show the same or similar talents and intellectual capacities as their

parents,such a fact is by no means a proof that the parents of the chil 's physical bo y are also the

parents or pro ucers of its intellectual germ;but it may be taken as and a itional evi ence of the truth of

the octrine of reincarnation ,because the spiritual mona of the chil woul be naturally attracte ,in its

efforts to reincarnate,to the bo ies of parents,whose mental and intellectual constitution woul

correspon nearest to its own talents and inclinations,evelope uring a previous earthly life.

"Character ”means "in ivi uality ” ,It is that which istinguishes one in ivi ual from another.That which

represents the true character of something is its in ivi ual being,an not its corporeal form,an this

in ivi uality exists after the corporeal bo y,which was the expression of its qualities which has been

issolve .This in ivi uality,calle the "so l ” ,is not seen with our physical eyes,neither uring the life of

the form nor after its eath.The life of the bo y may epart;but the life of the in ivi uality is independent

from that of the form or personality.

The in ivi uality may belong either to a class as a whole,or to separate isolate beings.In the lower

king oms no ddifferentiation of character or soul exists;there is only a ddifferentiation of form;they have

one common soul;but in intelligent beings a istinct in ivi uality belongs to each form;each self-

Page 63?

-------Cardiff Theosophical Society in Wales------

Magic: White and Black by Franz Hartmann,M.D.

conscious being has its own in ivi ual soul as soon as it has attaine and in ivi ual character,an its

in ivi uality is independent of the existence of its personality.Forms perish;but the in ivi uality remains

unchange after their eath.

Seen from this stan point,"eath ”is life,because,uring the time that eath lasts,that which is essential

oes not change;life is eath,because only uring life in the form the character is change ,an ol

ten encies and inclinations ie and are replace by others.Our passions and vices may ie while we

live;if they survive us they will be born again.[Page 114 ]

The character of and oak exists before the acorn begins to grow,but the growing germ attracts from earth

an air such elements as it nee s to pro uce and oak;the soul of a chil exists as such before the

physical form of the chil is born into the world ,an uring its life in the form it may attract from the

spiritual atmosphere the elements to which its aspirations and ten encies reach.Each see will grow

best in the soil that is best a apte to its constitution,each human mona existing in the subjective state

will be attracte at the time of its incarnation to parents whose qualities furnish the best soil for its own

ten encies and inclinations,an whose moral and mental attributes correspon to its own.The physical

parents cannot be the progenitors of the spiritual germ of the chil ;that germ is the pro uct of a previous

spiritual evolution,through which it has passe in connection with former objective lives.In the present

existence of a being the character of the being that will be its successor is prepare .Therefore every

man may be truly sai to be his own father;for he is the incarnate result of the personality which he

evolve in his last life upon the planet,and the next personality which he will represent in his next visit

upon this globe,is evolve by him uring his present life.

The evelopment of a plant reaches its climax in the evelopment of the see ;the evelopment of the

animal bo y reaches its climax in the capacity to repro uce its form,but the intellectual and spiritual

evelopment of a man goes on long after he has acquire the power of repro uction,an it may not have

reache its climax when the physical form is on the ownward path,an ceases to live.The con ition of

the physical bo y un oubte ly furnish facilities for the evelopment of character in the same sense as a

goo soil will furnish facilities for the growth of a tree;but the best soil cannot transform a thistle into a

rose-bush,and the son of a goo and intellectual man may be a villain or a unce.

As the primor ial essence procee s to manifest itself in forms,it escen s from the universal con ition to

[Page 115 ] general,special,an finally in ivi ual states.As it ascen s again to the formless,the scale is

reverse ,and the in ivi ual units expan ,to mingle again with the whole.Life on the lowest planes

manifests itself in and un differentiate con ition;air has no strictly efine shape;one rop of water in the

ocean shares and existence common to all other rops;one piece of clay is essentially the same as

another.In the vegetable and animal king om the universal principle of life manifests itself in in ivi ual

forms;still there is little ifference between in ivi ual plants,trees,animals,an men belonging to the

same species,and the peculiar attributes which istinguish one in ivi ual form from another cease to

exist when the form isappears.That which essentially istinguishes one in ivi ual from another is

independent of form.Distinctions of form isappear after the forms have issolve ;istinctions of

character remain.Those attributes which raise their possessors eminently above the common level begin

at a state where external appearances cease to be of great consequence.Socrates was eforme an

yet a great genius;the size of Napoleon's bo y was not at all in proportion with the greatness of his

intellect.Spirituality rises above the grave of the form,and the influence of great min s often grows

stronger after the bo ies that serve them have turne to ust.Strong min s exert a power far beyon

Page 64?

-------Cardiff Theosophical Society in Wales------

Magic: White and Black by Franz Hartmann,M.D.

their physical form while they live;that power remains what it is when they ie.They o not ie when the

form isappears.

All characters may become reincarnate or reimbo ie after they have left the form,but if and in ivi ual

has no specific character of its own the common character belonging to its species or class will be all

that,after leaving the ol bo y,can enter the new.If and in ivi ual has evelope a specific character of

its own,that istinguishes it from its fellows,that in ivi ual character will in ivi ually survive the

issolution of its form,because the law that applies to the whole,or to the class,will also apply to the

part.A rop of water mixe in a bo y of water will become isperse in the mass,it may be evaporate

an con ense again,[Page 116 ] but it will never again be the same rop;but if a rop of some ethereal

oil is mixe with the water,and the whole is evaporate in a retort,it will,after being con ense ,form

again the same in ivi ual rop in the mass.A character may lose its in ivi uality uring life and sink to

the common level,but if it bas establishe a istinction from others,its in ivi uality will survive the eath

of the form.To buil up a character and in ivi ual form is require ;to buil up and in ivi ual form a

character must exist.

If we wish to pro uce a form we must first eci e upon its character.A sculptor who woul aimlessly cut a

stone,without making up his min as to what form he esire to pro uce,woul not accomplish anything

great.The form is a temple of learning for the character,in which the latter gains experience by passing

through the struggles of life.The har er the struggle the faster may the character of the in ivi ual

become evelope ;an easy life may increase the size of the form,but leave the character weak;a hard

struggle may weaken the form,but strengthens the spirit.

If we wish to make a new form out of ol clay,we must first of all etermine what that form shall be which

we are about to create.The clay is passive,we may moul it into a thing of beauty or make it to

represent something vile.If we wish to change our character for the better uring our life,we must first of

all learn to know a higher purpose of life,an reach up for a higher ideal,to be realise within our own

self.After this nothing else nee s to be one but to keep away everything that will prevent this ideal to

realise itself in us.If we only protect it in its work,it will accomplish that work alone and without our active

co-operation.We nee not run after,catch,invent,create or manufacture our ideal,we only nee to let

that which alrea y exists become a reality in us.We cannot even grow a cabbage;we can only prepare

the con itions un er which a cabbage can grow.We cannot grow and ideal in us;the ideal grows itself ,if

we furnish the soil,an that soil is our life.

If our soul is to expan its consciousness beyon the [Page 117 ] narrow limits of this world and realise the

glory of and universal existence,then must we let a high and universal ideal realise itself in us.Dreaming

an talking of some ideal is to no purpose,we must let it nourish itself by our life.Wis om and Power,

Love and Truth,Justice and Knowle ge,are no objects for reaming or for scientific research;they must

become our life and nourish us by our living in harmony with these universal principles,otherwise we

cannot rise above the limitation of form,which is the cause of the elusion of separation and personality.

From the illusion of separate ness cause by the realisation of form arises this elusion of self.From this

elusion arise innumerable others.From the sense of self arises the love of self,the esire for

continuance of personality,gree ,avarice,envy,jealousy,fear,oubt and sorrow,pain and eath,an

the whole range of sufferings which ren er life miserable and afford no permanent happiness.If a person

is miserable and can fin no happiness in himself,the surest and quickest way for him to be contente is

to forget his own personality.

Page 65?

-------Cardiff Theosophical Society in Wales------

Magic: White and Black by Franz Hartmann,M.D.

A person living in a continual state of isolation of the heart,cares for nothing but for his own personality.

He passes away his life in reaming of that which he oes not possess,an thus he loses his spiritual

substance and power,becoming himself like a vapoury ream.

Isolation on the physical plane pro uces starvation.He who is not nourishe by the spirit of universal

love starves his soul.An organism upon a low scale of existence,a stone,en ures isolation;a scrub pine

may live in a place where no higher plant can exist.An i iot may live alone in a cave and not trouble

himself,because he has no spiritual aspirations requiring nourishment;but one who esires to attain life

an strength in the spirit,must be nourishe by that spirit,whose name is universal spiritual love.

As on the physical plane,so on the astral plane,isolation pro uces starvation.A esire locke up in the

heart fee s on the life of him who harbours it;store up anger seeks for some object upon which to [Page

118 ] spen itself;passions are never contente ,they always clamour for more.The forces of the astral

plane are conscious,even if not intelligent;they refuse to be "kille out ” ,they cry for life,an follow the

currents of life's attractions.The astral soul of a runkard will be attracte to runkards;the astral spook

of the lew seek enjoyment in a brothel through the organs of another;the ghost of the miser is hovering

over his burie treasures until the force which put him there is exhauste .There are spooks,ghosts,

vampires incubi,succubi,an elementals of various kin s,all thirsting for life.

An isolate esire oes not ie,but grows into a passion;passions grow stronger at one's expense by

being imprisone .Accumulate energy cannot be annihilate ,it must be transferre to other forms,or be

transforme into other mo es of motion;it cannot remain for ever inactive.It is useless to attempt to

resist a passion which one cannot control.If its accumulating energy is not le into other channels it will

grow until it becomes stronger than reason.To control it,it shoul be le into another and higher

channel.Thus a love for something vulgar may be change by turning it into a love for something high,

an vice may be turne into virtue by changing its aim.Passion is blin ,it goes where it is le to,an

requires reason to gui e it.Love for a form isappears with the eath of the form,or soon after;love of

character remains even after the form in which that character was embo ie cease to exist.

The ancients sai that Nat re suffers no vacu m .We cannot estroy or annihilate a passion.If one

passion is riven away another will take its place.We shoul therefore not attempt to estroy the low,but

isplace the low by the high;vice by virtue,an superstition by knowle ge.

There are some persons who live in perfect isolation on the intellectual plane.They are such whose

thoughts are entirely absorbe by intellectual speculation,having no time or inclination to atten to the

claims of their character.They fee their brains while [Page 119 ] their hearts are ma e to starve.They live

in reams and scientific illusions,in the smoke of the speculations arising from their vapoury brains.They

are like misers,filling the min with what they believe to be immortal treasures,consisting of collections

of theories,ogmas,hypotheses,suppositions,inferences,an sophistry,while they have no room for

the evelopment of spirituality or the ivine knowle ge of self.This class is constitute of the very

learne ,the great ogmatists,rationalists,material philosophers,an "sceptical ”scientists of our age,

with overgrown brains and petrifie hearts.They argue about immortality or eny its existence,instea of

seeking to attain it;they sometimes become criminals for the sake of gratifying their scientific curiosity.

Their astral corpses will continue to exist for a while after the eath of the bo y,until their life is

exhauste ,an having attaine no spirituality uring terrestrial life,they will,after their borrowe

Page 66?

-------Cardiff Theosophical Society in Wales------

Magic: White and Black by Franz Hartmann,M.D.

treasures have eparte ,be spiritual i iots.

There exists no isolation on the spiritual plane,nor can we speak of isolation in Go ;for if Go is self-

existent,self-conscious,self-knowing,an self-sufficient,his self,his existence,his knowle ge encloses

the All with all of his creatures.Well may he who has gaine the knowle ge of his own ivine self be

satisfie to live in a tomb;for what other company shoul be esire by one who enjoys the presence of

Go ;what comfort shoul be given to one who lives in ivine peace;what coul be offere to one who

possesses the All?

Life itself never perishes;only the forms perish,if life ceases to manifest itself in them.

Life is universally present in nature,it is containe in every particle of matter,an only when the last

particle of life has eparte the form ceases to exist.Life in a stone oes not appear to exist,an yet

without life there woul be no cohesion of its atoms.If the life-principle were extracte from a mineral its

form woul be annihilate .A see taken from the tomb of and Egyptian mummy began to germinate an

grow after [Page 120 ] it was plante in the earth,having kept its life-principle uring a sleep of many

centuries.If the activity of animal life coul be correspon ingly arreste ,an animal or a man might

prolong in ivi ual existence to and in efinite perio .Stones may live from the beginning of a Manvantara

unto its en ;some forms reach a very ol age,but if the life-impulse is once given it is ifficult to arrest it

without estroying the form.[If the life of a person coul be suspen e by arresting its activity for some

years (as has been actually one in the well-known instances of burie fakirs),we might preserve all our

great statesmen and politicians for ages,an wake them up only on occasions when their a vice woul

be require ???]

Life may be transferre from one form upon another,and the power by which it may be transferre is the

power of Love,because Love,Will and Life are essentially the same power,or different aspects of one,in

the same sense as heat and life are mo ifications of motion.The power of hate may kill,and the power

of love has been known to call the apparently ea back to life.Spiritual Love is Life,a spiritual power

more powerful than all the rugs of the Pharmacopoeia.A person may actually give his life to another

an ie himself,so that another may live.This transfer can be ma e and sick persons restore to health,

by the power of love.

The fountain of this universal love is also the source of the life of all things;it is ivine self-

consciousness,the power by which Go recognises himself in everything;in other words,it is ivine

wisdom,the Light .["In him was the life,and the life was the light of all men ” .– John i.4.also "He is the

light in all luminous things.He is the Knower,the Knowle ge,and the object of Knowle ge ”.-Bhagavad

Gita xiii.17.]It is everywhere present,an manifests itself in every form capable to correspon to its

living vibrations.It cannot be foun by vivisection nor by means of the microscope,telescope,or

chemical analysis,an mo ern science knows nothing about it.Nevertheless it is a principle or power,in

an through which we all live and have our being,an if it were with rawn [Page 121 ] from us for one

moment,we woul be imme iately annihilate .

To be blin to the universal presence of this Light is to be blin to the fact that grasses and trees,men

an animals,live and grow,an that every form strives to be initiate into a higher egree according to

Page 67?

-------Cardiff Theosophical Society in Wales------

Magic: White and Black by Franz Hartmann,M.D.

the law of evolution.The buil ing of the "Temple of Solomon ”goes on unceasingly.Invisibly act the

elements of nature,the master buil ers of the universe,an no soun of a hammer is heard.Life inhabits

a form,an when the form is ecaye it gathers the elements and buil s itself a new house.A rock,

expose to the action of win and rain,begins to ecay on its surface the elements gather again an

appear in a new form.Minute plants and mosses grow on the surface,living and ying and being reborn,

until the soil accumulates and higher forms come into existence.Centuries may pass away before this

part of the work is complete ;but finally grasses will grow,and the life that was formally ormant in a

rock now manifests itself in forms capable to enter the animal king om.A worm eats a plant,and the life

of the plant becomes active and conscious in a worm;a bird eats the worm and the life that was chaine

to a form crawling indarkness and filth,now partakes of the joys of and inhabitant of the air.At each step

on the la er of progression life acquires new means to manifest its activity,and the eath of its previous

form enables it to step into a higher one.But a time arrives in the process of its evolution when its activity

becomes so high and its sphere so expan e ,that no physical organism,no form of which we can

conceive,will be able to serve as and instrument in which its attributes coul fin and appropriate

expression.Then will the mortal frame be too insignificant to serve the immortal genius,and the free

Eagle will arise from the form.

Forms are nothing but symbols of life,and the higher the life expresses itself the higher will be the form.

An acorn is and insignificant thing compare with the oak,but it has a character,an through the magic

action of life it may evelop into and oak.The germ of its in ivi ual [Page 122 ] life is incarnate in the

acorn,an forms the point of attraction for the universal principle of life.Its character is alrea y forme ,

an if it grows it can become nothing else but and oak.Burie in the earth it grows and evelops from a

lower into a higher state through the influence of the highest,because the principle of life is present in it.

But however great its potency for growth may be,still it cannot germinate without the life-giving influence

of the universal fountain of life reaching it through the power of the sun,and the sun coul not make it

grow unless the same principle of life were containe within the germ.

The rays of the sun penetrate from their airy regions to the earth;their light cannot enter the soli earth,

which protects the ten er see of a plant from the fiery rays,whose activity woul estroy its inherent

vitality.But the see is touche by the heat that ra iates into the earth,an a special mo e of life

manifests itself in the see .The see begins to sprout,and the germ struggles towards the source of the

life-giving influence,an strives towards the light.The roots have no esire for light,they only crave for

nutriment,which they fin in the ark caverns of matter.They penetrate eeper into the earth,an may

even absorb the activity of the higher parts of the plant.But if these parts belong to a species whose

character it is to grow towards the light,its nobler portions will enter its sphere,an ultimately bear

flowers and fruits.

The soul of man being burie in matter,feels the life-giving influence of the supreme spiritual sun,while

at the same time it is attracte by matter.If man's whole attention is attracte to the claims of his bo y,if

all his aspirations and esires are irecte to satisfy the esires of his "self ” ,he will himself remain a

thing of earth,incapable to become conscious of the existence of Light.But if he strives for Light an

opens his soul to its ivine influence,he will enter its sphere and become conscious of its existence.

The true Elixir of Life can only be foun at the eternal fountain of life.It springs from the seventh

principle,manifesting itself as spiritual power in the [Page 123 ] sixth and she ing its light own into the

fifth,illuminating the min .In the fifth it is manifest as the intellectual power in man,ra iating own into

Page 68?

-------Cardiff Theosophical Society in Wales------

Magic: White and Black by Franz Hartmann,M.D.

the fourth it creates esires,by calling forth instincts in the lower tria ,and thereby enabling the forms to

raw the elements which they nee from the storehouse of nature.It for ever calls men to life by the

voice of truth,whose echo is the power of intuition crying in the wil erness of our hearts,baptising the

souls with the water of truth,an pointing out to them the true path to the realisation of their own

immortality.[Page 124 ]

Page 69?

-------Cardiff Theosophical Society in Wales------

Magic: White and Black by Franz Hartmann,M.D.

CHAPTER V

HARMONY

“Let no one enter here who is not well verse in mathematics and music ” .– Pythagoras.

To listen to the music of the spheres ”is a poetical,expression,but it expresses a great truth;because the

Universe is fille with harmony,an a soul who is in full harmony with the soul of the universe may listen

to that music and un erstan it.The world as well as man resemble musical instruments,in which every

string shoul be in perfect order,so that no iscordant notes may be soun e .We may look upon matter

on the physical plane as a state of low vibration and upon spirit as the highest vibration of life,an

between the two poles are the interme iary states constituting the gran octave calle Man .

Plato is sai to have written over the oor of his aca emy:“Let no one enter here,unless he is verse in

mathematics ” ,an Pythagoras eman e of his isciples and a itional ”knowle ge of music ” ;meaning

the capacity to keep their soul attune to the harmonies of the ivine law of being,so as to be able to

realise the beauty of truth;for without such and elevation of soul and without spirituality,all esire for a

knowle ge of that which transcen s the realm of the sensual is merely and outcome of vanity,an insane

craving for gratifying curiosity,which efeats its own en ;because the more one seeks to examine

objectively the One which inclu es the All,the more oes he rece e from it and separate himself from the

realisation of that truth which is one,eternal,omnipresent and infinite.[Page 125 ] It is not the personality of

man that can grasp the impersonal.If man wants to know Go ,he must ie to himself,an enter Go 's

nature;which means that he must overcome the isharmony cause by the elusion of ivision,

separation and self,an again realise the unity of the whole.

The foun ation of nature is Unity.Go is only One.He is the Law,an requires no “law-giver ” ;being

Himself omnipresent within the All of his nature;self-sufficient,self-existent and absolute.The Law is

everywhere,an everything exists in the Law,an without the law of existence no existence is to be

foun .

But as by the act of creation and subsequent evolution a variety of forms comes into existence,with

innumerable beings capable to will,an to think,an to use the law contrary to ivine wisdom,many

isharmonies are cause in what ought to be a harmonious whole.

Thus the law is still the same;but its action may be misapplie and its use perverte .It is still the

foun ation of every in ivi ual being,and the sooner each in ivi ual will become able to recognise the

highest and fun amental law of its own nature,which is i entical with the law that rules the All,the

Page 70?

-------Cardiff Theosophical Society in Wales------

Magic: White and Black by Franz Hartmann,M.D.

sooner will the original harmony be restore .

Man is himself and outcome of the action of law,an that law is in him.It is the centre and fountain of his

own being;he is and expression of it,an it is his true self.He is himself the law,an will recognise

himself as the law when he learns to know his true self.All the elements in his nature which o not

recognise this one universal law,an act in accordance with it,o not belong to man's ivine nature;they

are not his real self,but pro uce the isharmony which exist in his world .Only when all the inhabitants of

his king om will bow before the superiority of that law,will there be perfect harmony.

In every epartment of nature every effectdepends on a correspon ing cause,an every cause will

pro uce a certain effect accor ing to the con itions in which it becomes manifest.If we knew the causes

we coul easily calculate their effects.Each thought,each word,each [Page 126 ] act creates a cause,

which acts irectly on the plane to which it belongs,creating there new causes,which react again upon

the other planes.A motive or thought which fin s no expression in and act will have no irect result on the

physical plane,but it may cause great emotions in the sphere of min ,and these may again react on the

physical plane.The best intention will pro uce no visible effect unless it is put into execution;but

intentions pro uce certain mental states,that may be pro uctive of actions at some time in the future.

The performance of and act will have and effect,no matter whether it was preme itate or not,but and act

without a motive will not irectly affect the planes of thought.Such and act imposes no moral responsibility

upon the performer,but it will,nevertheless,have its effects on the physical plane that may react upon

the min .

From the causes create on the physical,astral,an spiritual planes innumerable combinations of effects

come into existence,creating new causes,that are again followe by effects,an every force that is put

into action on either plane continues to act until it is exhauste by transformations into other mo es of

action,when its vibrations will be change into others,and the previous effects will cease to exist.

By the threefol action of that law as tho ght ,will ,an performance on the physical,emotional,

intellectual and spiritual planes a great many con itions ensue which give rise to en less mo ifications

an varieties,an again pro uce innumerable secon ary causes,which again pro uce effects,an at

last the actions of the law of Karma will become so complicate ,that it is impossible to follow it into its

etails.

The law of Karma is the law of justice for the purpose of restoring harmony;it inclu es retribution in the

shape of “punishment ”an “reward ” .It knows nothing of “revenge ” ,neither oes it recognise any

personal merits;it is the Law itself,an acts according to its own nature and not in accordance to this or

that consi eration.It is the law according to which the sum of the causes create by one in ivi ual in on

incarnation will pro uce certain effects in his next [Page 127 ] incarnation,an cause him to either enjoy or

suffer that which he has either willingly,an with etermination,or ignorantly create himself.Every being

in nature having attaine in ivi uality has its own in ivi ual Karma ,etermining the course of its future

career;each of the in ivi ual elements in the constitution of man has its own Karma ,an man being

i entifie with his nature,partakes of the Karma of the principles which constitute his own nature;but as

Go is superior to nature and therefore not subject to it,so the in ivi ual man who conquers his nature,

rises above it,an becoming one with the law,becomes free of the Karma affecting his terrestrial nature.

“Giving his nature away ” ,an sacrificing himself wholly to the law of ivine being,he also “forgives ”his

Page 71?

-------Cardiff Theosophical Society in Wales------

Magic: White and Black by Franz Hartmann,M.D.

sins.

The iscords in nature,cause by the action of the elu e self-will and the perverte esires of

in ivi ual entities,cannot cease in any other way than by the restoration of the unity of the in ivi ual will

with the will of the fun amental law of the whole.This unity exists;it oes not nee to be create by man;

he is only require to recognise it.If he recognises it practically,it will become realise in him.Personal

man cannot recognise himself as being this Unity,because he is ivi e against himself;his “self ”is an

illusion,an and illusion cannot become a realisation of truth.If the truth becomes realise ,the illusion

ceases to be.

All numbers are the outcome of one;in all numbers the one is containe ,an without the one at the

bottom no numbers coul come into existence.This number one remains always the same;whether

ivi e or multiplie by itself,it oes not change.All mathematics is base upon the faith into the

immutability of number one.We have no positive proof that it never changes;our knowle ge about it is

only negative;because it has never been known to change.In the same way our intellectual knowle ge

of Go is only negative;we cannot prove his eternal immutability scientifically;we only believe in it;the

only proof we have of it is,that our own inner self-consciousness,if [Page 128 ] we have once attaine it,

remains ever the same.This proof is sufficient for the wise;but it will go for nought with the fool.

The foun ation of nature is one ;but the numbers of its manifestation appear to be infinite.Nevertheless,

all things in nature are relate to each other,owing to their relation to the one ,which is at the bottom or

their existence.

Everything has its number,measure,an weight,and there is nothing in nature which is not rule by

mathematical laws.Suns and stars have their perio ical revolutions.The molecules of bo ies combine in

certain proportions,known to chemistry,an in all events on the physical plane as well as in the realm of

the emotions a certain regularity and perio icity has been observe .There are regular hours for the

appearance of ay and night,fixe intervals for spring and summer,autumn and winter,for ebbs an

ti es in the ocean and in the waters constituting the soul.The physiological and anatomical changes in

animal forms occur at fixe perio s,an even the events of life take place according to certain occult

laws;because,although man's will seems to be free,nevertheless his actions are controlle by certain

circumstances,an even the comparative free om of his will is a result of the action of the law of his

evolution.

The followers of Pythagoras believe every process in nature to be regulate by certain numbers,which

are as follows:

Page 72?

-------Cardiff Theosophical Society in Wales------

Magic: White and Black by Franz Hartmann,M.D.

3 9 15 45

4 16 34 136

5 25 65 325

6 36 111 666

7 49 175 1225

8 64 260 2080

9 81 369 3321

This table represents a succession of numbers,which are obtaine by the construction of Tetragrams or

magic sq ares ,an it was believe that by the use of these numbers every effect coul be calculate if

the original [Page 129 ] number referring to the cause were known.If everything has a certain number of

vibrations,an if these vibrations increase or iminish at a certain ratio and in regular perio s,a

knowle ge of these numbers will enable us to pre ict a future event.[The magic squares of o numbers

are forme as escribe below:by writing own the numbers of their squares in regular succession,

cutting out their “heart ”an transposing the numbers that are left to their opposite places.The following

is the process in forming the magic square of the number III.The square of 3 is 9:

We see here the numbers 1,3,7,9,left on the outsi e of the square.If they are inserte in a certain

or er into the blank spaces at the opposite si es of the square,the following figure will be the result:

These numbers,if a e in any column of three,will always pro uce 15.

The following will make still clearer the order in which the numbers are to be inserte ,with the figure

Page 73?

-------Cardiff Theosophical Society in Wales------

Magic: White and Black by Franz Hartmann,M.D.

rawn in and upright position.

Accor ing to this principle,all the other magic squares of o numbers are ma e.

The following is the tetragram of the number seven:

Each column a e together pro uces 175.

Page 74?

-------Cardiff Theosophical Society in Wales------

Magic: White and Black by Franz Hartmann,M.D.

The numbers omitte here may be inserte by the stu ent.

The construction of tetragrams of even numbers is more complicate ,but the following examples will

show the principles after which they are constructe .

VI

6 (32)(3)(43)(35)1

(7)11 (27)(28)8 (30)

(24)(14)16 15 (23)(19)

(13)(20)22 21 (17)(18)

(25)29 (10)(9)26 (12)

36 (5)(33)(4)(2)31

Summa =111

VIII

8 (58)(62)(4)(5)(59)(63)1

(9)15 (51)(53)(52)(54)10 (16)

(48)(18)22 (44)(45)19 (23)(41)

(25)(39)(35)29 28 (38)(34)(32)

(33)(31)(27)37 36 (30)(26)(40)

(24)(42)46 (20)(21)43 (47)(17)

(49)55 (11)(13)(12)(14)50 (56)

64 (2)(6)(60)(61)(3)(7)57

Page 75?

-------Cardiff Theosophical Society in Wales------

Magic: White and Black by Franz Hartmann,M.D.

Summa =260

Every person has a certain number that expresses his character,an if we know that number,we may,by

the use of the magic squares,calculate certain perio ical changes in his mental and emotional states,

which in uce him to make certain changes in his outward con itions,an in this way calculate

approximately the time when some important changes may take place in his career.]

Perio icity is a manifestation of universal law,an and attention to it may lea to some important

iscoveries.Its actions have long ago been known to exist in the vibrations pro ucing light and soun ,

an it has recently been recognise in chemistry by experiments ten ing to prove that all so-calle

simple elements [Page 130 ] are only various states of vibrations of one primordial element,manifesting

itself in seven principal mo es of action,each of which to be sub-divi e into seven [Page 131 ] again.The

ifference which exists between so-calle single substances is,therefore,no ifference of substance

[Page 132 ] or matter,but only a ifference of the function of matter or in the ratio of its atomic vibration.

This perio icity is also known to exist in the macrocosm of the universe;the ti e of civilisation rises an

sinks according to certain laws,an ages of spiritual ignorance are followe by eras of spiritual

enlightenment;upon the Kali Y ga follows the Satya Y ga (the era of wisdom),as sure as ay follows the

night.[This perio icity is state to be as follows:-

Satya Y ga =4,800 ivine years.

Treta Y ga =3,600 ivine years

Dwapara Y ga =2,400 ivine years

Kali Y ga =1,200 ivine years

Each ivine year being equal to 360 years of mortal men.See H.P.Blavatsky:“Theosophical Glossary ”]

The number Seven represents the scale of nat re,it is represente in all epartments of nature,from the

ra iant sun,whose light is broken by a ew rop into the seven colours of the rainbow,own to the

snowflake crystallising in six-pointe stars aroun the invisible centre.The law of seven has been foun

to rule in the evelopment and growth of vegetable and animal organisms,in the constitution of the

universe,an in the constitution of Man.Seven is the rule by which the totality of existence is measure ,

but Five is the number of Harmony .If the fifth note in the musical scale is in accor with the first and the

thir ,harmony will be the result.There are other accords which are harmonious,but the most perfect

accord is cause by the harmony of the first,the third,and the fifth.Two soun s may be harmonious,but

to attain a perfect accord a third one is require .The same law rules in the constitution of Man.If his

bo y (his first principle)is in accord with his instincts (the thir ),he experiences pleasant sensations,but

full harmony and happiness is only attaine when his fifth principl e [Page 133 ] (his intelligence)fully

assents in the union of the first and the third.Other parallels may be rawn between the musical scale

and the scale of principles in man,an it will be foun that both have their accords in moll and in d r that

correspon to each other.Each man's life is a symphony,in which either harmonious or iscordant tunes

Page 76?

-------Cardiff Theosophical Society in Wales------

Magic: White and Black by Franz Hartmann,M.D.

may prevail.

The power by which harmony is pro uce is the power of Love.Love pro uces union and harmony,hate

causes issension and iscor .Love is the power of mutual recognition;recognition is a manifestation of

consciousness,consciousness is a manifestation of life.Life,Love,Consciousness,Harmony,are

essentially one.Love is the power by which a being existing in one form recognises itself in the form of

another being.Why o some notes,if soun e together,pro uce harmony,if not on account of the

similarity of the elements that compose them coming to the consciousness of our own min ?Mutual

recognition among frien s causes joy,an joy means harmony,happiness,an content.

If two or more notes of exactly the same kin are soun e together,they pro uce neither harmony nor

iscord,they simply increase their own strength.They are alrea y one,in form and in spirit;but if

different notes are struck,each containing and element also containe in the other,each sees its own

counterpart represente in the mirror hel by the other,an this recognition is joy.If we listen to beautiful

music the air seems fille with life.If the principle of harmony exists within ourselves we recognise it in

music;it becomes alive in our soul.A iscor ant being may listen to the most beautiful music and will

experience no pleasure because there is no harmony within his own soul.

If a principle becomes conscious of its own existence in another form and recognises its beauty in that

form in its purity,an unalloye by any a ulteration,perfect harmony is the result.If two or more things

contain the same element,these elements are justly a apte to each other,an seek to unite,because

they are constitute alike,they vibrate together as one.This ten ency [Page 134 ] to unite is Attraction ,

which manifests itself on all planes of existence.The planets are attracte to the sun and to each other,

because they all contain the same elements,seeking to reunite,and the power of gravitation is nothing

else but the power exercise by love.Man is attracte to woman and woman to man,because if they

realise in each other the presence of the elements of their own ideal,they will love each other and be

fully contente .Man and woman can only truly love each other if they are both attracte by the same

ideal.This ideal may be high or low,but the higher it is the more permanent will it be,and the greater will

be their mutual happiness.

Original man was a Unity;an ethereal being,in whom will and thought were one.Being misle by the

allurements of sensual existence he began to ream,an while he reame he forgot his own ivine

nature and became a worm of the earth.When he opene his eyes,he foun the woman before him.He,

the original unity ha become ivi e in two;which means that his will and his reason ha become

ivi e ;they were no longer in harmony with each other and no longer in harmony with the law.Man

represents the imagination,womand the will.If they ha both separate themselves from the law as they

i from each other,woman woul have no intelligence and man woul have no will;but fortunately some

of the original nature that constitute original man remaine with them;they still are both to a certain

extent embo iments of the law,an by entering again into harmony with the law,will and intelligence will

become unite in wisdom;the heart one with the hea ;the true man and the true woman one being.This

is the celestial marriage of the soul with the spirit,of beauty with strength,of which all external marriages

are at best symbols but usually caricatures.

Mankind is only one,but it appears in many millions of various masks.This mask is the personality of

each man,the instrument through which his humanity acts,an which is full of imperfections.He,in

Page 77?

-------Cardiff Theosophical Society in Wales------

Magic: White and Black by Franz Hartmann,M.D.

whom humanity has become conscious,sees in every man and [Page 135 ] woman not only his brother or

sister,but his own self .A person who injures another,injures himself,for each man constitutes a power

which acts upon all the elements constituting humanity and the goo or evil he oes will return to himself;

because whatever takes place in humanity,takes place within his own nature;for his true nature is that of

humanity and the bo y of humanity belongs to it as a whole.

Love is self-recognition.You cannot love a thing or recognise yourself in it,if you are not relate to it.You

cannot love humanity if you have not the principle of humanity alive in you;you cannot love Go and still

remain Mr Smith or Mrs Jones;only Go can love Go .To love Go you must outgrow yourself an

become truly ivine.He who claims to love Go without having any spiritual knowle ge of Him is a

hypocrite or a fool.

Love is self-knowle ge,Go .It is a spiritual,self-existent,an self-sufficient principle,requiring for its

own being only its own self;but without some object it cannot become manifest,and the quality of its

manifestationdepends on the quality of that object.A person in love with himself loves a nothing.Love in

the high acts high,in the egra e ,low.The more universal the object,the more will the power of love in

a person expand the min ;but the min ,to be so expan e ,must be strong,a weak min has no power.

Love,to be strong,must be pure,intelligent,an unalloye with selfish consi erations.If we love a thing

on account of the use we can make of it,we o not in reality love that thing,but ourselves.Pure love has

only the well-being of its object in view,it oes not calculate profits,an is not afrai of isa vantages

that may grow out of its love.The intellect calculates,but love is its own law.

Impure love is weak and oes not enter into its object;it may cause a ruffle on the soul of another,but

oes not penetrate to the centre.Pure love penetrates and cannot be resiste .The most potent love

potion a person can give to another is to love that person without any selfish object in view.[Page 136 ]

If you wish to progress on the roa to perfection,take lessons in love.Learn to love the highest,an you

will be attracte by it.Love in every man not the person,but his humanity.If you espise another you

espise your own self,because he who prominently notices the faults of another has the elements of

those faults in himself.A vain person is repulse by the vanity of another,a liar expects from others the

truth,a thief oes not wish to have his own property taken away.

Each man is a mirror in which every other man may see his own image reflecte ,either as he is or as he

may become in the future,for in every human soul exist the same elements,although in different states

of evelopment,and there evelopment oftendepends on external con itions over which man has but

little control.

Love is the most necessary element for the continuance of life;there is no life without love,an if man

were to cease to love life he woul cease to live.A love for a higher life will lea men to a higher

con ition,a love for a lower state will rag them own to the low.It often happens that if a person's love

for a high ideal oes not meet the object which it esires,it transfers its love upon something that is low.

Ol females without any offspring often transfer their parental affection upon some favourite cat or og,

and there are men who buy the semblance of love when no genuine love can be ha .

Page 78?

-------Cardiff Theosophical Society in Wales------

Magic: White and Black by Franz Hartmann,M.D.

Whenever a lower vibration is not entirely out of harmony with a higher one,the higher vibration

accelerates the action of the lower one and brings it up to its own level,in the same manner as a bar of

iron,surroun e by and insulate electric wire,may have electricity in uce in it,an through a long-

continue and powerful action of the higher vibrations upon the lower ones,even the involuntary actions

of the bo y,such as the movements of the heart,may become subject to in ivi ual will.Two strings of a

musical instrument which soun not entirely out of harmony,by being soun e together for a certain

length of time,at last become harmonious;a man living in more refine society,which is not too far

above his moral or [Page 137 ] intellectual level,will become more refine ,servants will ape their masters,

an animals take some of the lower characteristics of those that atten to them,an frien s or marrie

couples being continually in each other's company may finally resemble each other to a certain extent.

If the respective rates of the vibrations of two substances are entirely out of harmony,they may repel

each other,an abnormal activity or excitement follows.The animal bo y,for instance,can be expose

without anger to a comparatively high egree of heat,if the temperature is gra ually raise ;while an

even lower egree of heat may be very injurious if applie su enly.It is not without reasons that the

occultist abstains from Alcohol and from animal foo .

“What may be one man's foo ,will be another man's poison ” ;in the sphere of matter as well as in the

sphere of the emotions.Strong constitutions can bear strong foo ,weak min s will get frightene at

unwelcome truths.No man has ever become and A ept merely because he live on vegetables;a

vegetable iet is however preferable to meat-eating for various reasons.Apart from the self-evi ent fact

that it is entirely oppose to the ivine law of justice that he who strives after the attainment of a higher

state of existence shoul estroy animal life,or cause others to estroy it for the purpose of gratifying his

appetite.

Those who esire to become more spiritual and refine shoul avoi supplying their bo ies with that

which is gross;those who esire to master their passions shoul not fee them with substances in which

the elements of such passions resi e.

A great variety of different kin s of foo pro uces impurities of the bloo ;a struggle ensues between the

different auras,an excitement,fever,an isease is the result.The same law explains the origin of

venereal and cutaneous iseases,an in the astral plane,a great variety of emotions,calle into

existence within a short space of time,may ren er a person insane.

If two forces of a character different from each other meet,isharmony will be the result.Everybo y has

[Page 138 ] his own peculiar emanations and auras and transmits them to others,so everyone receives the

magnetic auras of others or of the locality by which he is surroun e ,and these emanations may be

either wholesome or pestiferous;men and women may either cure or poison each other by them,an it is

therefore well to follow the a vice which Gautama Bu ha gave to his isciples,an eat and sleep alone.

Many people are very careful to have their foo well prepare ,so that no unhealthy foo enters the bo y;

while at the same time they are very careless as to what thoughts enter their min ;but the quality of the

Page 79?

-------Cardiff Theosophical Society in Wales------

Magic: White and Black by Franz Hartmann,M.D.

thoughts that well in the min ,an of the emotions which nourish the soul,is of far more importance

thand the quality of the foo which enters the bo y.The min and the will of man,no less than his bo y,

may be poisone ;the foo which the min requires comes from the highest planes of thought;the foo

for the soul from the light of ivine wisdom.Only that which has escen e from heaven can rise to

heaven again.

There is no such thing as “sin ”in the usual acceptation of this term and there is no one to punish it.Our

mistakes are our teachers;our vices are often the basis of our virtues,our passions are the steps which

furnish material for the steps that lea us to heaven.Vice and virtue are manifestations of one energy,

which we may employ accor ing to the egree of our wisdom;but he who has no power for evil has also

no power for goo .We may spen the treasure which nature has lent us either for a high or for a low

purpose,it concerns only ourselves;but we cannot expen the same sum again after it has been

expen e .A purely animal life will pro uce happiness if the possessor is contente with it.If a person

has no higher object in view than to eat and rink,sleep,an propagate his species,he may be thereby

ren ere happy;there can be nothing wrong;but he who esires to become and immortal being,must

take care not to waste his strength.

Only that which is pure can be harmonious.

Singleness of purpose ren ers a motive pure,but a variety of purposes causes impurity.If a person

evotes [Page 139 ] himself to a certain mo e of life,because all his esires are irecte towards that en ,

his motive will be pure;but if he has besi es other objects in view,his motive will be impure,an may

efeat his aim.

The word “asceticism ”is continually misun erstoo .A man who lives in a convent,or as and hermit in the

wil erness,is not and “ascetic ” ,if he has no esire for a life in the world ;for it is no act of self-denial to

avoi that which we o not want.“Asceticism ”means discipline ,an a person who is isguste with the

ways of the world un ergoes a much more severe iscipline,if he remains in the world ,than if he runs

away,an goes where he may enjoy his peace.The real ascetic is therefore he who lives in the mi st of

the society whose manners isplease him,an whose tastes are not his own,an who,in spite of all the

temptations by which he may be surroun e ,still maintains his integrity of character.Strength only grows

by resistance.Our enemies are our frien s,if we know how to use them.A hermit living in the woo s,

where he has no temptations,gains no strength.Isolation is only suitable for and A ept;the Neophite must

go throughout the ordeal of life.

A tiger oes not sin if he kills a man,he only follows the law of his nature.He who follows the ictates of

his nature commits no crime.But what is virtue in and animal may become vice in a man;because he has

two natures,an animal and a spiritual nature.If he knows his own higher nature,he will follow it,an for

the purpose of obtaining knowle ge of it he must sin and suffer the consequences.Real sin is the wilful

rejection of the manifestation of ivine truth.

The saintly Eckhart says:“Go has ma e great sinners of those who were to become the performers of

great works;so that they coul attain a superior wisdom by means of his love.If Go foun it necessary

that I shoul have sinne and suffere for the purpose of gaining experience,I o not wish that I ha not

sinne ,nor o I regret having sinne ;for thus his will is one on earth as it is in heaven.A truly honest

Page 80?

-------Cardiff Theosophical Society in Wales------

Magic: White and Black by Franz Hartmann,M.D.

man will also not wish that he shoul have no esire for [Page 140 ] sinning;because without the power to

sin he woul have no means to overcome it.There can be no victory without a battle,an no true

knowle ge of goo without the experience of evil ”.

Suffering is and absolutely necessary con ition for man as long as he has not attaine perfection.To

believe in the presence of suffering is as necessary for his terrestrial nature as it is necessary for his

spiritual nature to realise the presence of Go .There is no other Re eemer of Mankin except Self-

knowle ge attaine by experience.If all the poverty in the world coul be artificially abolishe at once,

men and women woul perish in in olence.Nothing can be truly enjoye which has not been gaine by

one's own exertions.If there were one teacher suppose to be infallible,whose ictates woul be

accepte by everybo y,the whole world woul be satisfie in believing his theories;there woul be no

incitement for anyone to seek himself for the truth.If we support a lazy beggar in his i leness,we rob him

of the opportunity to gain by experience that knowle ge which he can rightfully claim.

Metals are purifie by fire,and the heart gains knowle ge by suffering.The lower esires must starve to

nourish the higher;the animal passions must be crucifie and ie;but the angel of Love removes the

stone from the sepulchre,an liberates the higher energies from the sphere of selfishness anddarkness;

and the resurrecte virtues live and become active in a new world of light and harmony.

If you wish to represent to your min the process of spiritual purification,seek to un erstan that you are

a world create by a ream,fille with the pro uct of the imagination of nature,an thrown into isorder

by the absence of the light of ivine wisdom,which is the recognition of ivine law,the true inner self-

consciousness,which you o not possess.You are comparable to and empty nothing,an evanescent

soap-bubble,upon whose glittering surface various colours play;but in which there is no true life and no

substance as long as the truth has not become a living power in you.In this world as in a mirror the

invisible image of the [Page 141 ] ivine Adonai is for ever reflecte and his power is latent within you.If,by

the strength of obe ience and the knowle ge which you have alrea y receive ,you can sub ue the

turbulent elements in your world and restore or er in Chaos by ceasing to give life and strength to your

esires and reams,then will the image of the Lord of All,whose presence is everywhere,become

visible in yourself and his power awaken within you.

In this principle will and thought and the law are as one without any ivision.If you know the law,it will

lea you to unity and restoration of harmony;the ivine ideal will become realise within you,an as it

becomes a reality in you,you will recognise it as being your own immortal self.

Bones,muscles,nerves,etc.,are the elements of the physical constitution of man;illusions,elusions,

reams,theories,opinions,an ogmas are the inhabitants of his min ;truth,love,justice,purity,self-

knowle ge,free om,harmony,an happiness are the elements and attributes of his spiritual organism,

and the more these principles manifest their universality in him,the more will he himself approach the

ivine state.

To recognise the ivinity in humanity is to become ivine;to behol the realisation of the highest ideal

within one's own soul is ivine a oration;to esire not the possession of any creature,but to a ore the

Creator within them all,inclu ing oneself,is worship;to recognise and enjoy the harmonies of the

Page 81?

-------Cardiff Theosophical Society in Wales------

Magic: White and Black by Franz Hartmann,M.D.

universe manifeste in nature is ivine praise;to let the unity of will,thought,an law be restore within

one's soul is true me itation;to rise above the illusion of self and sacrifice oneself to the Go of All is true

prayer;to realise the truth within one's own heart is to ispel the clou s of error;to become nothing

oneself is to enter into that higher self-consciousness which constitutes man's ivine state.

There is not a single instance known in history in which true prayer has not been efficacious.If any man

has not obtaine that which he aske ,it only proves that he i not know how to pray.True prayer oes

[Page 142 ] not consist in words,but in actions,and the go s help him who helps himself;but he who

expects that the go s shoul o for him that which he ought to accomplish himself,oes not know how to

pray,an will be isappointe .Prayer means the rising up in our thoughts and aspirations to the highest

ideal;if we o not rise up to it,we o not pray.If we expect our highest ideal to come own to us,we

expect and absurdity and impossibility.

To attain the highest the spirit shoul be the master,the passions the servants.A helpless cripple is the

slave of his servant;a man whodepends on ignorant servants to o work which he can o himself,has

to submit to their whims and imperfections,an if he changes his servants,that oes not change his

position.A person who has vulgar esires and tastes becomes their servant;they ictate to him,an he

has to exert himself to attain the means to gratify their claims;but he who has no ignoble esires to

serve,is free.Having conquere the world of which he himself is the creator and which belongs to him,

his strife with the astral elements ceases.For him iscord no longer exists,an resting with his heart at

the centre,he is himself the sun illuminating his world and enjoys the harmonies which he create in his

own ivine nature.[Page 143 ]

Page 82?

-------Cardiff Theosophical Society in Wales------

Magic: White and Black by Franz Hartmann,M.D.

CHAPTER VI

ILLUSIONS.

"Reason issipates the illusions and visionary interpretations of things,

in which the imagination run!!riot ” .– Dr Cair .

THE first power that meets us at the threshol of soul's ominion is the power of imagination:it is the

plastic and creative power of the min .Man is conscious of being able to receive ideas  and to put them

into forms.He lives not entirely in the objective world ,but possesses and interior world of his own.It is in

his power to be the sole autocrat in that world ,the master of its creations and lord over all it contains.He

may govern there by the supreme power of his will,an if ideas  intru e,which have no legitimate right to

exist in it,it is in his power either to rive them away or suffer them to remain and to grow.His reason is

the supreme ruler in that world ,its ministers are the emotions.If man's reason,misle by the treacherous

a vice of evil emotions,suffers evil ideas  to grow,they may become powerful and ethrone reason.

This interior world ,like the outer world ,is a world of its own.It is sometimes ark,sometimes illumine ;

its space and the things it contains are as real to its inhabitants as the physical world is real to the

physical senses;its horizon may be either narrow or expan e ,limite in some and without limits in

others;it has its beautiful scenery and its ismal localities,its sunshine and storms,its forms of beauty

an horrible shapes.It is the privilege of man to retire to that world whenever he chooses;physical

enemies o not persecute him there;bo ily pain cannot enter.The vexations of material life remain

behin ,only that which moves his soul enters with him.[Page 144 ]

In this interior realm is the Temple of Man wherein he can lock the oor against the intrusion of sensual

impressions.On the entrance of that temple are the Dwellers of the Threshold,ma e of esires an

passions,which are our own creations,an which must be conquere before we can enter.Within that

temple exists a world ,as big and illimitable as the unboun e universe.In this inner realm is the Go

whose spirit floats over the waters of the eep,an whose fiat calls into existence the creatures which

inhabit the king om of min .

In the air surroun ing the centre of that interior world is the battle groun of the go s.There the go s of

love and hate,the aemons of lust and pri e,an anger,the evils of malice,cruelty,an revenge,

vanity,envy,an jealousy,hol high carnival,they stir up the emotions,an ,unless sub ue by Reason,

grow strong enough to ethrone it.

Reason rests upon the recognition of Truth.Wherever truth is isregar e illusions appear.If we lose

Page 83?

-------Cardiff Theosophical Society in Wales------

Magic: White and Black by Franz Hartmann,M.D.

sight of the highest,the low will appear,an and illusion will be create .One is the number of Truth,Six is

the number of illusion,because the Six have no existence without the Seventh,they are the visible

pro ucts of the one,manifesting itself as six aroun and invisible centre.Wherever they are six,there

must be the seventh.The six cannot know the seventh if the seventh oes not become manifest.Go

knows himself;but we cannot know his presence unless that presence becomes manifeste in us.One is

the number of life,an six the number of sha ows,having no life of their own.

Forms without life are illusive,an he who mistakes the form for the life or principle of which it is an

expression is haunte by and illusion.Forms perish,but the principle that causes their existence remains.

The object of forms is to represent principles,an as long as a form is a true representation of a

principle,the principle gives it life;but if a form is ma e to serve another principle thand the one which

calle it into existence,egra ation will be the result.[Page 145 ]

The irrational forms pro uce by nature are perfect expressions of the principles they are inten e to

represent;rational beings only are the issemblers.Each animal is a true expression of the character

represente by its form,only at the point where intellectuality begins eception commences.Each animal

form is a symbol of the mental state which characterises its soul,because it is not itself the arbitrary

originator of its form,but rational man has it in his power to create,an if he prostitutes one principle in a

form for another,the form will gra ually a opt that shape which characterises the prostitute principle,of

which,in the course of time,it becomes a true expression.

Therefore we fin that a man of noble appearance,by becoming a miser,gra ually a opts the sneaking

look and the stealthy gait of and animal going in search of its prey;the lascivious may acquire the habits,

an perhaps the appearance,of a monkey or goat,the sly one the features of a fox,and the conceite

the looks of a onkey.

If our bo ies were forme of a more ethereal and plastic material than of muscles and bones,each

change of our character woul pro uce quickly a correspon ing change of our form;but gross matter is

inert and follows only slowly the impressions ma e upon the soul.The material of which astral forms are

ma e are more plastic,and the soul of a villainous person may actually resemble a pool fille with vipers

an scorpions,the true symbol of his moral characteristics,mirrore in his min .A generation of saints

woul ,in the course of time,pro uce a nation of Apollos and Dianas,a generation of villains woul grow

into monsters and warfs.To keep the form in its original beauty the principle must be kept pure an

without any a ulteration.

One fun amental colour of the solar spectrum,if unmixe ,is as pure as another;one element,if free

from another,is pure.Unmixe copper is as pure as unalloye gol ,an emotions are pure if free from

extraneous mixture.Forms are pure if they represent their principles in their purity;a villain who shows

himself what he is,is pure and true to his nature,a [Page 146 ] saint who issembles is impure and false.

Fashions are the external expressions of the mental states of a country,an if men and women

egenerate in their character their fashions will become absurd.

The want of power to iscriminate between the true and the illusive,between the form and the principle,

and the consequent error of apprehen ing the low for the high,is the cause of suffering.Man's material

Page 84?

-------Cardiff Theosophical Society in Wales------

Magic: White and Black by Franz Hartmann,M.D.

interests are generally consi ere to be of supreme importance,and the interests of the highest

elements in his constitution are forgotten.The power that shoul be expen e to fee the high is eaten

up by the low.Instea of the low serving the high,the high is ma e to serve the low,an instea of the

form being use as and instrument of action for a high principle,a low principle is substitute for a higher

one,for the purpose of serving the form.

Such a prostitution of principle in favour of form is foun in all spheres of social life.We fin it among the

rich and the poor,the e ucate and the ignorant,in the forum,the press,and the pulpit,no less than in

the halls of the merchant and in the aily transactions of life.The prostitution of principle is worse than

the prostitution of the bo y.He who uses his intellectual powers for selfish and villainous purposes is

more to be pitie than she who carries on a tra e with her bo ily charms to gain the means by which she

may keep that bo y alive.The prostitution of universal human rights for the benefit of a few in ivi uals is

the most angerous form of prostitution on Earth.[ The ifference between vulgar prostitution of the bo y

and the more refine prostitution of the intellectual faculties for the purpose of accomplishing selfish

en s,is merely that in the first class merely the grossest parts of the human organisation are misuse ,

while in the other class the higher and nobler elements are prostitute .There are few women in the worl

who have become egra e from and inclination to be so;in the great majority of cases they are the

victims of circumstances which they ha not the power to resist;but intellectual prostitutes belong to the

higher classes,where want and poverty are unknown ” .]

To employ the intellectual powers for selfish purposes is the beginning of intellectual prostitution.Blesse

are they who are able to gain their brea by the [Page 147 ] honest work of their han s for and employment

which requires little intellectual attention will leave them free to employ their powers for the purpose of

spiritual unfol ment;while those who spen all their energy upon the lower planes of the min are selling

their immortal birthright for a worthless mess of potage which will nourish the impermanent intellect while

it starves the soul.

The soul no less thand the bo y requires to be nourishe .The heart starves if the brain is overfe .The

nutriment of the soul comes from the action of the spirit in the bo y,an this foo is as "material ”an

necessary for it as physical foo for the physical bo y.The existing of the emotions is no nutriment for

the soul.The emotions belong to the astral form.The nutriment of the soul is rawn out of the material

bo y by the power of the ivine light of the spirit within the heart.

The greatest of all illusions is the illusion of Self .Material man looks upon himself as something existing

apart from every other existence.The shape of his form creates the illusion of being a separate part of

the whole.

Still,experience shows that there is not a single element in his bo y,in the constitution of his soul,or in

the mechanism of his intellect,that is not continually eparting,an is replace by others.What belongs

to him to ay belonge yesterday to another,an will belong to another tomorrow.In his physical form

there is a continual change.In the bo ies of organise beings tissues isappear slowly or quickly,

according to the nature of their affinities,an new ones take their places,to be replace in their turn by

others.The human bo y changes in size,shape,an ensity as age a vances,presenting successively

the symbols of the buoyant health in youth,the vigorous constitution of manhoo ,or the grace an

beauty of womanhoo ,up to the attributes in icating ol age,the forerunner of ecay and cessation of

Page 85?

-------Cardiff Theosophical Society in Wales------

Magic: White and Black by Franz Hartmann,M.D.

activity in that in ivi ual form.

No less is the change in the min .Sensation and esires change,consciousness changes,memories

grow im.No man has the same opinions he ha when he [Page 148 ] was a chil ;knowle ge increases,

intellect grows weak,an on the mental as well as on the physical plane the special activity ceases when

the accumulate energy is exhauste by transformation into other mo es of action or is transferre into

other forms.

The lower material elements in the constitution of man change rapi ly,the higher ones change slowly,but

only the highest elements are en uring.Nothing can be sai to belong essentially to man but his

character.He who cares a great eal for his lower nature,cares for that which is not his own,but which

he has only borrowe from nature.While he enjoys its possession and illusion is create ,making it appear

to be and essential part of himself.But man's terrestrial nature is not more and essential part of himself than

the clothes which a man wears,a constituent part of the man.His only true self is his character,an he

who loses the purity and strength of his character loses all his possessions.

One of the kings of illusions is Money ,the king of the world .Money represents the principle of equity,an

it shoul be employe to enable everyone to obtain the just equivalent for his labour.If we esire more

money than we can rightfully claim,we wish for something that oes not belong to us but to another.If

we obtain labour without paying for it its proper equivalent,we eprive others of justice,and therefore

eprive ourselves of the truth,which is a more serious loss to ourselves thand the loss of money to the

efrau e .

Money as such is a symbol,only the principle which it represents has a real existence.Nevertheless we

see the world lie at the feet of the illusion.The poor clamour for it,and the rich crave for more,and the

general esire is to obtain the greatest amount of reward by giving the least possible equivalent.

Clergymen save souls,an octors cure bo ies for the purpose of making money;law is sol to him who

is able and willing to pay,fame and reputation and the semblance of love can be obtaine for money,an

the worth of a man is expresse in the sum of shillings or poun s which he may call his own.Starvation

threatens the [Page 149 ] poor,and the consequences of superabun ance the rich,and the rich take

a vantage of the istress of the poor to enrich themselves more,Science exerts her powers to increase

the amount of the material comforts of man.It vanquishes the impe iments presente by time and space,

an turns night into ay.New engines are invente ,and the work whose performance in former times

require the use of a thousan arms,may now be accomplishe by a chil .An immense amount of

personal suffering and labour is thereby save ,But as the means to satisfy the craving for comfort

increase a craving arises for more.Things that formerly were consi ere luxuries now become

in ispensable nee s.Illusions create illusions,an esires give rise to esires.The sight of the principle

is lost,and the gol en calf is put into its place.Pro uction is followe by over pro uction,the supply

excee s the eman ,the price of labour comes own to starvation rates,an on the rotten soil the

mushrooms of monopoly grow.The more the facilities increase to sustain the battle of life,the more

increases its fury.The noblest power of man,his intellect,whose estiny it is to form a soli basis for the

highest spiritual knowle ge of man,is force to labour for the satisfaction of the animal instincts of man;

the bo y flourishes while the soul starves and becomes a beggar in the king om of truth.

From the love of self arises the love of possession.It is the hy ra-hea e monster whose cravings can

Page 86?

-------Cardiff Theosophical Society in Wales------

Magic: White and Black by Franz Hartmann,M.D.

never be stille .Nearest to the illusion of self stan s the illusion of so-calle Love .True love is not an

illusion,it is the power that unites the world s and an attribute of the spirit;but the illusion of love is not

love,but only love's sha ow.True love is sacrifice,but false love cares for itself,an seeks for

enjoyment.True love exists,even if the form is issolve ;false love ies,when the form to which it was

attache ecays .Ideal women is the crown of creation,an has a right to be love by man.A man who

oes not love beauty has no element of beauty in him.Man loves beauty and woman loves strength,A

man who is the slave of [Page 150 ] his esires is weak,an cannot command the respect of woman.If she

sees him squirm un er the lash of his animal passions,she will see and animal and will not be able to look

upon him as her protector and go .

Marital love is a law of nature and a necessity for the propagation of man.But however beautiful the

relations between husban and wife may be,sexual intercourse belongs to the animal king om and not

to the spiritual nature of man.Mutual attraction between animals is not less beautiful and usually more

pure than among mankin ;the bir s of the air o not marry for money,an often animals ie on account

of their grief over the eath of their mates.A person who has not yet outgrown his terrestrial nature will

yearn for terrestrial love;a celibacy enforce by law is a crime against nature;a celibacy enforce by

circumstances is a misfortune;but for the spiritually unfol e soul there exists a higher attraction;the true

ivine requires no law to teach him celibacy;he is alrea y a natural celibat,an inhabitant of that

king om (coel m ),where terrestrial marriage oes not exist .

Another illusion is the craving for physical life,an well may he crave for it who has no in ivi ual

character of his own,because,if he loses his life,he loses his all.Men and women cling to the illusion of

life because they o not know what life is.They will submit to in ignity,ishonour,an suffering rather

than ie.But why shoul animal life be so esirable as to sacrifice character for it ?One life is only one

temporary con ition among a thousan similar ones through which the in ivi uality of man passes in its

travels on the roa to perfection,an whether he remains a longer or a shorter interval at one station,

cannot be of any very serious importance to him.Man can make no better use of his life than to sacrifice

it,if necessary,for a high purpose;because this act will strengthen his own in ivi uality,in which rests

the power by which he is enable to reappear in a new form.

On the other han ,he who sneaks away from the battle of life for selfish purposes,or because he is

afrai to continue its struggles,will not escape.He may wish [Page 151 ] to step out of life and estroy his

bo y,but the law cannot be cheate .Life will remain with him until his natural ays woul have en e .

He cannot estroy it,he can only eprive himself of the instrument through which he can act.He

resembles a man who has to perform some work and throws away the instrument which woul have

enable him to perform it.Vain will be his regrets.

Another illusion is a great eal of what is calle "science ” .True knowle ge makes a man free,but false

science ren ers him a slave to the opinions of others.Many men waste their lives to learn that which is

foolish and neglect that which is true,mistaking that which is evanescent and perishing for the eternal.

Often learning is not the aim but the means to the aim of the stu ent,while his real objects are the

attainment of wealth,position,an fame,or the gratification of ambition or curiosity.The true wealth of a

nation or a man oes not rest in its collecte opinions,but in moral and spiritual possessions,which

alone will remain permanent.

Page 87?

-------Cardiff Theosophical Society in Wales------

Magic: White and Black by Franz Hartmann,M.D.

There is nothing more pro uctive of a ten ency to the evelopment of and extreme egree of selfishness

thand the evelopment of a high egree of intellectuality,without any accompanying growth of spirituality.

A high egree of intellectuality enables a person to take personal a vantages over others who are less

clever,an unless he possesses great moral powers he will not be able to resist the temptations that are

put in his way.The greatest villains and criminals have been persons of great intellectual qualifications.

That which a man really nee s to know,an without whose knowle ge he cannot obtain the

consciousness of his own true and immortal nature,is not taught in our colleges.The most favoure

stu ent is he who is taught by his Go ."Blesse is he whom wisdom teaches,not by perishable

emblems and words,but by its own inherent power;not what it appears to be,but as it is ” .[Thomas e

Kempis ]

The esire for power and fame are other illusions [Page 152 ] True power is and attribute of the spirit.If I am

obeye because I am rich,it is not myself who comman s obe ience,but my riches.If I am calle

powerful because I enjoy authority,it is not myself who is powerful,but it is the authority veste in me.

Riches and authority are illusions thrown aroun men,which often vanish as quickly as they have been

acquire .Fame is often enjoye by him who oes not eserve it.The most honoure man is he who has

cause to respect himself.

Place of birth and con ition of life are circumstances which are usually not matters of choice,an no one

has a right to espise another on account of his nationality,religious belief,colour of skin,or the act he

may play on this planet.Whether and actor plays the part of a king or a servant,the actor is,therefore,not

espise ,provi e he plays his part well.

"Honour and shame from no con itions rise;

Act well your part,there all the honour lies.” Pope.

One of the greatest illusions is much of what goes to ay by the name of "religion ” ,not religion itself,but

its mask in the shape of clericalism,priestcraft,an ortho oxy.Each religious system represents an

expression of truth,but it requires the possession of truth to fin truth therein.As a man's spirit cannot

exist upon this earth and express itself except in and through the material bo y,so each church,however

spiritual its soul may be,has and external,physical,animal,an mental organism,represente by the

members composing the church or society and by its octrines,cree s,theories,an speculations;

neither cand the spiritual organism be separate from the lower principles;such a separation woul be

eath to the visible church.Thus the lower self of the church battles for life and is foun e upon

selfishness,while its spires reach up to heaven.All that can be hope for reasonably is that the

spirituality at the top may gra ually escen to the foun ations,an that each member may fin the truth

containe in his religious [Page 153 ] system,not by the can le light of blin speculation and foolish belief,

but by its own light;for the truth requires no other light but itself .

There are other illusions which come without being aske ,an remain,although their stay is not wante .

They are the unwelcome visitors – Fear,Do bt ,an Remorse .Their father is "selfishness ” ,an

"cowardice ”is the name of the mother.Born from the king om ofdarkness,their substance is ignorance,

which only the magic of true knowle ge can issolve.Men live in fear of a revengeful power which has

no existence,an ie from fear of and evil that oes not exist.They are afrai of the effects of causes

Page 88?

-------Cardiff Theosophical Society in Wales------

Magic: White and Black by Franz Hartmann,M.D.

which they,nevertheless,continue to create;an not aring to face their natural consequences,they

seek to escape from the creatures which they themselves have create .Every act creates a cause,an

the cause is followe by and effect which reacts on him who create the cause,whether he may

experience that effect in this life or in another.To escape the effect of the cause which has been create ,

he who create the cause must try to transform himself into another being.If the elements composing his

lower nature have le him into making mistakes they will suffer,but if he succee s in living in his higher

nature he changes himself into a superior being.Only in this sense is the Christ in every human nature

the "Lamb ” taking upon himself the sins of the world .The lamb is the symbol of obe ience to ivine law;

this obe ience is wisdom;wisdom is self-knowle ge;ivine self-knowle ge is ivine being,an he who

has entere the state of Divinity is one with the law and has cease to sin.Such is the only rational

philosophy of the "forgiveness of sins ” ,an priests coul forgive sins if they were able to change the

sinner into a saint.This can,however,only be one by the in ivi ual exertions of the "sinner ” ,who may

be instructe by one who is wise.To become sufficiently wise to instruct another about the laws of his

nature it is of the utmost importance that the instructor shoul know these laws,an be acquainte with

the true constitution of man.

The truth is the saviour of man,ignorance is [Page 154 ] his perdition.Reason is the power of the min to

recognise the truth,an in the light of truth the sha ows of oubt and fear and remorse cannot exist.

Illusions are isperse through the power of true knowle ge.When the will is hel in abeyance the

imagination is ren ere passive,and the min takes in the reflections of pictures store up in the Astral

Light without choice or iscrimination.When reason oes not gui e the imagination the min creates

isorderly fancies and hallucinations.The passive seer reams while awake,an to him his reams are

realities,they are impressions cause by foreign ideas  taking possession of the unresisting min ,an ,

according to the source from which such impressions come,they may be either true or false.Various

means have been a opte to suspen the iscriminating power of reason and ren er the imagination

abnormally passive,an all such practices are injurious,in proportion as they are efficacious.The ancient

Pythoness attempte to heighten her alrea y abnormal receptivity by the inhalation of noxious vapours;

some whirl in a ance until the action of reason is temporarily suspen e ;others use opium,In ian

hemp,an other narcotics,which ren er their min a blank,an in uce morbi fancies and illusions.

[ The fumigations which were use at former times for the purpose of ren ering reason inactive,an

allowing the pro ucts of a passive imagination to appear in and objective state,were usually narcotic

substances.Bloo was only use for the purpose of furnishing substance to Elementals an

Elementaries,by the ai of which they might ren er their bo ies more ense and visible.

Corneli s Agrippa gives the following prescription:Make a pow er of spermaceti,aloe woo ,musk,

saffron,an thyme,sprinkle it with the bloo of a hoopop.If this pow er is burnt upon the graves of the

ea ,the ethereal forms of the latter will approach,an may become visible.

Eekartsho sen ma e successful experiments with the following prescription:Mix pow ere frankincense

an flour with and egg,a milk,honey,an rose water,make a paste,an throw some of it upon burning

coals.

Another prescription given by the same author consists of hemlock,saffron,aloes,opium,man ragora

henbane,poppy-flowers,an some other poisonous plants.After un ergoing a certain preparation,which

Page 89?

-------Cardiff Theosophical Society in Wales------

Magic: White and Black by Franz Hartmann,M.D.

he escribes,he attempte the experiment,an saw the ghost of the person which he esire to see;but

he came very near poisoning himself.Dr Horst repeate the experiment with the same result,an for

years afterwards whenever he looke upon a ark object,he saw the apparition again.

Chemistry has a vance since that time,anti those who esire to make such experiments at the risk of

their health,may now accomplish this in a more comfortable and easy manner by inhaling some of the

stupefying gases known to chemical science.] [Page 155 ]

Fortune-tellers and clairvoyants employ various means to fix their attention,for the purpose of

suspen ing thought and ren ering their min s passive;others stare at mirrors or crystals,water or ink,

[There are numerous prescriptions for the preparation of magic mirrors;but the best magic mirror will be

useless to him who is not able to see clairvoyantly;while the natural clairvoyant calls that faculty into

action by concentrating his min on any particular spot,a glass of water,ink,a crystal,or anything;for it

is not in the mirror where such things are seen,but in the min ;the mirror merely serves to assist in the

entering of that mental state which is necessary to pro uce clairvoyant sight.The best of all magic

mirrors is the soul,an it shoul always be kept pure,an be protecte against ust and ampness an

rust,so that it may not become tarnishe ,an remain perfectly clear,an able to reflect the light of the

ivine spirit in its original purity.] but the enlightene ren ers his imagination passive by maintaining,

un er all circumstances,tranquility of the min .The surface of a lake whose water is in motion reflects

only istorte repro uctions of images projecte upon it,an if the elements in the interior world are in a

state of confusion,if emotion fights with emotion and the uproar of the passions troubles the min ,if the

heaven of the soul is clou e by preju ices,arkene by ignorance,hallucinate by insane esires,the

true images of things seen will be equally istorte .The ivine principle in man remains in itself unaltere

an un isturbe ,like the image of a star reflecte in water;but unless its welling is ren ere clear an

transparent,it cannot sen its rays through the surroun ing walls.The more the emotions rage,the more

will the min become isturbe and the spiritual soul be force to retreat into its interior prison;or if it

loses entirely its hol over the min ,it may be riven away by the forces which it cannot control,burst the

oor of its ungeon,return to the source from whence [Page 156 ]it came.[See H.P.Blavatsky:"Isis

Unveile ”.

The author says:"Such a catastrophe may happen long before the final separation of the life-principle

from the bo y.When eath arrives,its iron and clammy grasp fin s work with life as usual;but there is no

more soul to liberate.The whole essence of the latter has alrea y been absorbe by the vital system of

the physical man.Grim eath frees but a spiritual corpse,at best and i iot.Unable either to soar higher or

awaken from lethargy,it is soon issolve in the elements of the terrestrial atmosphere.] But as long as

this Christ is one of the passengers in the boat tosse by the waves of the inner life,he will always be

rea y to come forth,stretch out his han (manifest his power),bi ing the turbulent waters to be still.

Then will the storms cease to rage and the soul be restore to calmness.

If a person suffers his reason to give up the control over his imagination he surren ers one of the

greatest prerogatives of man.True me itation oes not consist in ren ering the min passive for the

influences of the astral plane,nor oes it consist in reaming.It is a state in which the min oes not

roam in the realms of the imagination,but is hel still by the soul so as to receive the light of the spirit.

"Yoga is the exercise of the power to hol in abeyance the transformations of the thinking principle ” ,says

the Patanjali,and the Bhagavad Gita teaches:"Whenever the wavering and unstea fast heart wan ers

away,let him sub ue it and bring it back to the control of the soul ” .[Bhagavad Gita,vi.2 b ]

Page 90?

-------Cardiff Theosophical Society in Wales------

Magic: White and Black by Franz Hartmann,M.D.

This cannot be accomplishe by means of the imagination (which ought to be at rest);neither cand the

min control its own self;but it is one by means of the spiritual power of spiritually awakene man.]A

person who reams oes not control the actions which he performs in his ream,although he may ream

that he is exercising his will.The things seen in his ream are to him realities,an he oes not oubt

their substantiality,while external physical objects have no existence for him,an not even the possibility

of their existence comes to his consciousness.He may see before him a itch and ream that he wills to

jump over it,but he oes not actually exert his will,he only reams that he wills.A person in a magnetic

trance has no active will of his own,an is [Page 157 ] le by the will of the operator.What he sees is real

to him,an if the operator creates a precipice in his imagination,the subject will,on approaching it,

experience and manifest the same terror as he woul in his normal state if a precipice were yawning

un er his feet.A glass of water transforme into imaginary wine by the will of the "mesmeriser ”makes

the subject intoxicate ,an if that water has been transforme into imaginary poison it may injure or kill

the sensitive.

[Mrs.Chan os Leigh Hunt of London,in her "Private Instructions in Organic Magnetism ” ,informs us,

that imaginary intoxicants,emetics,etc.,have a powerful effect upon subjects.

Eliphas Levi (Abbι Constant)cites a case in which some sceptics submitte a poor girl to magnetic

experiments,to gratify their curiosity,an to see whether "magnetism was true ” .They succee e in

putting her to sleep,an comman e her to look into hell.She became terribly agitate ,an begge for

mercy,but they insiste that she shoul go there.

"The features of the subject became frightful to see;her hair stoo upright on her hea ;her eyes were

wi e open,an showe nothing but the white;her bosom heave ,an a kin of eath-rattle came from

her breast.

"Go there!I will it !”repeate the magnetist.

"I am there ” ,sai the wretche subject,between her close teeth,an fell exhauste .Then she spoke no

more;her hea rests on her shoul er;her arms hang motionless own.They approach her and touch

her.They wish to awaken her;but the crime has been one;the woman was ea ,and the authors of

this sacrilegious experiment were safe from prosecution on account of the public's incre ulity in regar to

such things ”] A powerful "hypnotiser ”can form either a beautiful or a horrible picture in his min ,an by

transferring it by his will upon the mental sphere of a sensitive,he may cause him either pleasure or

suffering.

Such states may be in uce not merely uring the "hypnotic ”sleep,but also uring the normal con ition,

an without any conscious esire on the part of a magnetiser.If the au ience she s tears uring the

performance of a trage y,although they all know that it is merely a play,they are in a state of partial

"hypnotisation ” .Hun re s of similar occurrences take place every ay in every country,and there is

sufficient material everywhere in every-ay life for the stu ent of psychology to investigate and explain,

without seeking for cases of and abnormal character.[Page 158 ]

Page 91?

-------Cardiff Theosophical Society in Wales------

Magic: White and Black by Franz Hartmann,M.D.

All these things are classifie as illusions,because the power of reason,the power of iscriminating

between the true and the false has been suspen e ,which causes a person to mistake things for

realities which only exist in his own imagination,but if this efinition is applie to every ay existence it

appears that the whole world is in a state of hypnotic sleep,for there are few that are capable of seeing

the truth or to iscriminate between the true and false,an few who act always according to reason.

Whenever the external form of a thing is examine carefully,it will always be foun to constitute an

illusion.The illusion oes not exist in those things,it exists in ourselves.Go i not create the world for

the purpose of elu ing mankin .The illusions are cause by our own misconceptions of truth,which

hin er us to see that which is real.If we were to see that which is real,we woul be knowing the truth.If

we ha always known the truth,we woul not have nee e to come into the world .Our existence upon

this planet is a certificate of our ignorance,and the fact of having been born a proof of our folly.

That which istinguishes a man from and animal is the use of his reason.If a "Medium ”submits the control

over his imagination to another being he surren ers his reason.This other being may be another person,

or and invisible power.It may be and elemental,an astral corpse,or a malicious influence,and the Medium

become and epileptic,a maniac,or a criminal.A person who surren ers his will to and unknown power is

not less insane than he who woul entrust his money and valuables to the first stranger or vagabon that

woul ask him for it.

If a crime is committe in consequence of "hypnotic suggestions ” ,it is the hypnotiser and not the

sensitive person who is responsible for it.Such cases occur every ay;for it is not necessary that a very

sensitive person shoul be put to sleep for to become capable of being influence by the will of another.

All in ivi ual min s act upon each other;each influences the other or becomes influence by others

without knowing the [Page 159 ] source of the influence.Thoughts and impulses come and go,and their

source is not known.No man creates his own thoughts out of nothing,an he who has no self-knowle ge

cannot even know who or what it is that is thinking or willing in him.

How many murders and crimes are committe every year through sensitive persons,who have been

influence ,"hypnotise ” ,or "mesmerise ”by invisible powers to commit them,an who ha not sufficient

will-power to resist,it is impossible to etermine.In such cases we hang or punish the instrument,but the

real culprit escapes.Such a "justice ”is equivalent to punishing a stick with which a mur er has been

committe ,an to let the man who use the stick go free.Verily the coming generations will have as

much cause to laugh at the ignorance of their ancestors as we now laugh at the ignorance of those who

prece e us.

We take not things for what they are,but for what we imagine them to be.The savage sees in the

sculpture Minerva only a curious piece of rock,an a beautiful painting is to him only a piece of cloth

aube over with colours.The gree y miser,looking at the beauties of nature,thinks only of the money-

value they represent,while for the poet the forest swarms with fairies and the water with sprites.The

artist fin s beautiful forms in the wan ering clou s and in the projecting rocks of the mountains,an to

him whose min is poetic every symbol in nature becomes a poem and suggests to him new ideas ;but

the coward wan ers through life with a scowl upon his face;he sees in every corner and enemy,an for

him the world has nothing attractive except.his own little self.The world is a mirror wherein every man

may see his own face.To him whose soul is beautiful,the world will look beautiful;to him whose soul is

eforme ,everything will seem to be evil.

Page 92?

-------Cardiff Theosophical Society in Wales------

Magic: White and Black by Franz Hartmann,M.D.

The power of the imagination,if ren ere strong by the will and ma e alive by the spirit,is little known.

The impressions ma e on the min by the effects of such and imagination may be powerful and lasting

upon the person.They change or istort the features,they ren er the hair white in a single hour;they

[Page 160 ] mark,kill,isfigure,or break the bones of the unborn chil ,an make the effects of injuries

receive by one person visible upon the bo y of another with whom that person is in sympathy.They act

more powerfully than rugs;they cause and cure iseases,pro uce hallucinations,an stigmata.

Imagination performs its miracles,either consciously or unconsciously.By altering the surroun ings of

animals the colour of their offspring can be change at will.The tiger's stripes correspon to the long

jungle grass,and the leopard's spots resemble the speckle light falling through the leaves.[Sir John

Lubbock;"Procee ings of the British Association ”]The forces of nature,influence by the imagination of

man,act on the imagination of nature,an create ten encies on the astral plane,which,in the course of

evolution,fin expression through material forms.In this way man's vices or virtues become objective

realities,an as man's imagination becomes purifie ,the earth becomes more beautiful and refine ,

while his vices fin their expression in poisonous reptiles and noxious plants.The Elementals in the soul

of man are the pro ucts of the action of the thought in the in ivi ual min of man;the elemental forms in

the soul of the world are the pro ucts of the collective thoughts of all beings.These elemental powers are

attracte to the germs of animals,an may grow into objective visible animal forms,an mo ify the

characters and also the outward appearance of the animals of our globe.We therefore see that as the

imagination of the Universal Min changes uring the course of ages,ol forms isappear and new ones

come into existence.Perhaps if there were no snakes in human forms,the snakes of the animal king om

woul cease to exist.

But the impressions ma e on the min o not en with the life of the in ivi ual on the physical plane.A

cause which pro uces a su en terror,or otherwise acts strongly on the imagination,can pro uce an

impression that not only lasts through life but beyon it.A person,for instance,who uring his life has

strongly believe in the existence of eternal amnation and hell-fire,may at his entrance into the

subjective state after eath,actually [Page 161 ] behol all the terrors of hell which his imagination uring

life has conjure up;the terrifie soul,seeing before it all the horrors of its own vivi imagination,rushes

back again into the eserte bo y,an clings to it in espair,seeking protection.Personal consciousness

returns,an it fin s itself alive in the grave,where it passes a secon time through the pangs of eath,

or,by sen ing out its astral form in search of sustenance from the living,it becomes a vampire,an

prolongs for awhile its horrible existence.[Maximilian Perty:"Die mystischen Erscheinungen in er Natur ”

] Such misfortunes in ortho ox countries are by no means rare,and the best reme y for it is knowle ge

and the cremation of the bo y soon after eath.

On the other han ,the convicte murderer who,before stepping on the gallows,has been fully

"converte ”an "prepare ”by the atten ing clergyman,an ma e to believe firmly that his sins have

been forgiven,an that the angels will stan rea y to receive him with open arms,may,on his entrance

to the subjective state,see the creations of his own imaginations before him until the elusion fa es

away.

In the state after eath and in the evachanic con ition the imagination neither creates new and original

forms nor is it capable of receiving new impressions;it lives on the sum of the impressions accumulate

uring life,which evolute innumerable variations of mental states,symbolise in their correspon ing

subjective forms,an lasting until their forces are exhauste .These mental states may be calle illusive

in the same sense as events of the physical life may be calle illusive,an life in "heaven ”or "hell ”may

Page 93?

-------Cardiff Theosophical Society in Wales------

Magic: White and Black by Franz Hartmann,M.D.

be calle a ream,as life on this earth is calle a ream.The ream of life only iffers from the ream

after eath,that,uring the one,we are able to make use of our will to gui e and control our imagination

an acts,while uring the latter that gui ance is wanting,an we earn that which we have sown.No

effort,whether for goo or for evil,is ever lost.Those who have reache out in their aspirations towards a

high ideal on earth will fin it in heaven;[Page 162 ] those whose esires have ragge them own will sink

to the level of their esires.

It is generally suppose that this world in which we live is the most ense and "material ” ,and the astral

world the lan of vapoury ghosts;but the terms "materiality ” ,"ensity ”,etc.,are merely relative terms.

What appear to us ense and material now,will appear ethereal or vaporous if we are in another state,

an things which are invisible to us now may appear grossly material then.There are world s more ense

an material to its inhabitants than our physical world is to us;for it is the light of the spirit that enlivens

matter,and the more matter is gathere up by sensuality and concentrate by selfishness,the less

penetrable to the spirit will it become,and the more ense and hard will it grow,although it may for all

that not be perceptible to our physical senses,they being a apte merely to our present state of

existence.

There is no heaven or hell but that which man creates in his imagination;nevertheless,the state in which

he lives is real to him.If we wish to secure happiness after eath in our next life upon this planet,we

must secure it before we ie by controlling our impulses for evil,an by cultivating a pure and exalte

imagination.

We shoul enter the higher life now,instea of waiting for it to come to us in the hereafter.The term

"heaven ”means a state of spiritual consciousness and enjoyment of spiritual truths;but how can he who

has evolve no spiritual consciousness and no spiritual power of perception enjoy the perception of

spiritual things which he has not the spiritual power to perceive?A man without spiritual power entering a

heaven woul be like a man blin and eaf and without the power to feel.Man can only enjoy that which

he is able to realise,that which he cannot realise oes not exist for him.

The surest way to be happy is to rise above "self ” .People crave for amusements and pastimes;but to

forget one's time is to forget one's self;by forgetting themselves they are ren ere happy.The charm of

music consists in the temporary absorption it causes to [Page 163 ] the personality in the harmony of

soun .If we witness a theatrical performance and enter into the spirit of the play,we forget our personal

sorrows and live in the actor.An orator who is in full accord with his au ience becomes inspire with the

sentiments of his au ience;it is his au ience that gives expressions of his feelings through him.There

are no "spirits"require to inspire and inspirational speaker.If he is impressible the thoughts of those that

are present will be sufficient to inspire him.

If we enter a cathe ral or a temple,whose architecture inspires sublimity and solemnity,expan ing the

soul;where the language of music speaks to the heart,rawing it away from the attachment to the earth;

and the beauty and o our of flowers lull the senses into a forgetfulness of self,such amusements ren er

us temporarily happy to and extent proportionate to the egree in which they succee in estroying our

consciousness of personality and self.

Page 94?

-------Cardiff Theosophical Society in Wales------

Magic: White and Black by Franz Hartmann,M.D.

Illusions as such o not exist;their existence is and illusion.Nature is not and illusion,but a manifestation of

truth.Every form in nature is and expression of truth;but it requires the eye of truth to fin the truth in

those forms.If we cling to forms,we cling to illusions,having no real existence;if we cling to the truth we

have the reality.If our happinessdepends on the possession of a cherishe form,our happiness will

perish when that form isappears.

To attain real knowle ge is to make the min free of its illusions;this free om is attaine only by a love

for the truth;for the truth is the life and the foun ation of our existence,which will remain after all the

illusions constituting our lower nature have passe away;when we will possess nothing but that which

we are,an being ourselves the light and the truth we will be in possession of truth.[Page 164 ]

Page 95?

-------Cardiff Theosophical Society in Wales------

Magic: White and Black by Franz Hartmann,M.D.

CHAPTER VII

CONSCIOUSNESS

“I am that I am ” .-Bible.

EVERYTHING in the universe is a manifestation of the Universal Min .Everything is therefore min

itself,an exists in absolute consciousness;but relative consciousness begins when it becomes manifest

in the form.The term consciousness signifies realisation of existence.Consciousness in the absolute is

unconsciousness in relation to things.Consciousness means knowle ge and life;unconsciousness is

ignorance and eath.An imperfect knowle ge is a state of imperfect consciousness;the highest possible

state of consciousness is the full realisation of the truth.

A thing has no existence relatively to ourselves before we become conscious of its existence.A person

who oes not realise his own existence is unconscious,an ,for the time being,to all practical purposes

ea .We cannot actually realise the existence of a power which we o not possess.We see the effects

pro uce by electricity and realise that such effects take place;but we o not realise the existence or the

nature of what is calle “electricity ” if we are not conscious of that same power existing in our own

constitution.In the same sense we can realise the effect of the manifestation of ivine wisdom within the

universe;we behol the expression of beauty,justice,an truth;but we cannot realise the existence of

these principles,unless we become conscious of their presence in us.Go 's works exist and we see the

pro ucts of the [Page 165 ] action of his spirit in nature;but Go himself is to us a nonentity if we are not

ren ere ivine by his presence in us;we cannot realise the nature of Go ,unless his ivine nature is

present in us and comes to our own consciousness.A state of existence is incomprehensible unless it is

experience and realise ,an it begins to exist from the moment that it is realise .If a person were the

legal possessor of millions of money and i not know it,he woul have no means to ispose of it or

enjoy it.A man is present at the elivery of the most eloquent speech,an ,unless he hears what is sai ,

that speech will have no existence for him.Every man is en owe with reason and conscience,but if he

never listens to its voice,the relation between him and the voice of wisdom will cease to exist,an it will

ie for him in proportion as he ies to the power to hear it.

A man may be alive and conscious in relation to one thing,an ea and unconscious relatively to

another.One set of his faculties may be active and conscious,while another set is unconscious and its

activity suspen e .A person who listens attentively to music is conscious of nothing but soun ;one who

is wrapt in the a miration of form is only conscious of seeing;another,who suffers from pain,may be

conscious of nothing but the relation that exists between him and the sensation of pain.A man absorbe

in thought believes himself alone in the mi st of a crow .He may be threatene by estruction and be

unconscious of the anger.If he has the strength of a lion,it will avail him nothing unless he becomes

Page 96?

-------Cardiff Theosophical Society in Wales------

Magic: White and Black by Franz Hartmann,M.D.

conscious of it;he cannot be immortal unless he becomes conscious of his own immortal life.The more a

person learns to realise the true state of his existence the more will he become conscious of real

existence.If he oes not realise his true state he oes not know himself.If he fully knows himself,he will

be conscious of his own powers,he will know how to exercise them and become strong.

To become conscious of the existence of a thing is to possess it.To perceive its existence means to enter

[Page 166 ] into relation with it,an to realise the existence of that relation.Consciousness begins,

therefore,wherever sensation begins,but sensation and perception of a form are only followe by a

recognition of the truth if the principle that exists in that form is a conscious power in our own constitution.

If a stranger is intro uce to us we perceive his exterior form and see the clothes which he wears,we

realise his existence as a living form,but we know nothing of his true character.His appearance may be

prepossessing and still he may be untruthful,his clothing may be new and elegant and still his character

ba .His bo y may be healthy,but his soul may be isease .His certificates and testimonials may be

excellent,an yet they may eceive us.If we want to know the true character of the man,we must be

able to realise the nature of his character in ourselves.We may look into his eyes,an when soul speaks

to soul,the two will enter into conscious relation with each other,and there will be no eception possible.

This recognition of the truth by irect perception is one of the faculties which at the present state of

evolution are not yet fully evelope in man.It is a sixth sense that as yet exists only as a bu in the tree

of life,while the other five senses have been fully evelope .Still it exists,and therefore the first

impression we receive of a stranger is usually correct,but not always believe ,because speculation

comes in to mislea .

Perception is the entering into a relation to the object of one's perception.Such a relation is only

possible,if the perceiver and the object of his perception exist upon the same plane of existence.For this

reason physical objects are perceive by the physical senses;the things of the soul by the soul,an that

which belongs to the spirit can only be perceive by the power of the self-conscious spirit in man.

Everything that exists,exists within the Universal Min ,an nothing can exist outsi e of it,because the

Universal Min inclu es all.Perception is a faculty by which min learns to know what is going on within

itself.To see a thing is to perceive the existence of its [Page 167 ] appearance within one's own min ;to

feel the presence of and invisible power within the soul is to become conscious of its presence by means

of the sense of touch that belongs to the min .Man can know nothing but what exists within his own

min .Even the most ardent lover has never seen his belove one,he merely sees the image which the

form of the latter pro uces in his min .If we pass through the streets of a city the images of men an

women pass review in our min while their bo ies meet our own;but for the images which they pro uce

within our consciousness we woul know nothing about their existence.The images pro uce in the

min come to the consciousness whose workshop is the brain;if man's consciousness were centere in

some other part of his bo y,he woul become conscious in that part of the sensations which he receives.

He might for instance see with his stomach or hear with his fingers,as has often been prove by

scientifically con ucte experiments,and the reason of it is that sensation is not a quality belonging to

the physical bo y;but belongs to the astral form,whose senses are not so localise ;but which

penetrates the physical bo y and whose senses become localise therein.

A self-conscious power,being universally iffuse through space,woul have the faculty to realise all

that takes place in any portion of it,because it woul be in conscious relation with everything.A

conscious power being boun to a material form,can only realise that which enters into relationship with

Page 97?

-------Cardiff Theosophical Society in Wales------

Magic: White and Black by Franz Hartmann,M.D.

that form.All self-consciousness and all perception cannot belong to a limite form;it belongs to the

ivine nature of man,which is not limite by the limitations of form.

From the influence of the universal power of Min ,and the resistance of the form,physical senses came

into existence.If man ha originally remaine in perfect harmony with the Universal Min ,he woul

never have become clothe in a material form.There coul be no perception without resistance.If our

bo ies were perfectly transparent to light we coul not perceive the light,because light cannot illuminate

itself.The Astral [Page 168 ] Light penetrates our bo ies,but we are not able to see it,because the physical

bo y offers no resistance to it.

At the time when we fall asleep,consciousness gra ually leaves its seat in the brain and merges into the

consciousness of the “inner man ” .We then begin to realise another state of existence;an if a part of the

consciousness still remains with the brain,the perception of the interior consciousness comes to the

cognisance of the personal self.It is therefore possible in that half-conscious state,between sleeping an

waking,when consciousness is oscillating between two states of existence,to receive important

revelations from the higher state and retain them in the personal memory.The more our consciousness

merges in that higher state,the better will we realise the higher existence,but the impressions upon our

external self will become im and not be remembere ;but as long as the greatest part of our

consciousness is active within the material brain,the perceptions of a higher state will only be im an

mixe up with memories and sensations of the lower state of existence.

There probably was a time in the evelopment of the bo y of man,when his form was -so to say -all

eye,an his whole surface sensitive to the power of light.The resistance of his form to the influence of

light create the eye.Fishes have been foun in subterranean lakes which have no eyes;there being no

light,they nee e no organs to receive it and none to resist it.In tropical countries the intensity of light is

stronger.Tropical man nee s the ark pigment in his skin to protect his nu e bo y from the influence of

the tropical sun.

There are semi-material existences (Elementals)which have no teguments sufficiently soli to protect

them from terrestrial light.Such natures are very sensitive to the action of light,they can only continue to

live indarkness,an only manifest their powers at night.[ Adolphe d'Assier ,who spent much time in the

investigation of occult phenomena,tells of a case,where a person slept in a “haunte house ” ,for the

purpose of investigating the spook.He went to be and left the light burning.At once a ark sha ow

seeme to rush through the oor into his room and went un er his be .Soon a long arm exten e from

un er the be ,reache up to the table and extinguishe the light,an imme iately the rampage began.

Furniture was overthrown and broken,and the noise was so great that it attracte the neighbours,who

came with a light,when the ark sha ow fle through the oor.] [Page 169 ] If the astral bo y of man were

expose to the full influence of,the astral light,without having acquire the power to resist it,it woul be

estroye slowly or quickly according to the intensity of that light.The myths of “hell ”an “purgatory ” are

suggestive of that action of the estructive action of the Astral Light.But this estruction is not

necessarily accompanie by sensation,unless that bo y is conscious.A corpse from which the spirit has

with rawn may be cremate and cannot feel it,an astral corpse may issolve into its elements and feel

no pain.Only when a form becomes associate with spirit,in whatever plane of existence,there will

sensation become manifest.

Page 98?

-------Cardiff Theosophical Society in Wales------

Magic: White and Black by Franz Hartmann,M.D.

Some of the practices of black magic and necromancy are base upon this fact,an it oes not appear

impossible that the astral bo ies of the ea may be tormente by the living,if they knew how to en ow

them with spirit,an to reawaken consciousness by infusing some of their own life within these forms.

If our bo ies were sufficiently ethereal to pass through others without experiencing any resistance,we

woul not feel their presence.If the keyboard of the ear were not present to receive the vibrations of

soun ,hearing woul be efective.The power to resist pro uces sensation.

Man suffers because he resists.If he were to obey the laws of his nature un er all circumstances,he

woul know no bo ily isease;if he were to execute in all things the ivine will of Go ,he woul incur no

suffering.

Life,sensation,perception,an consciousness may be with rawn from the physical bo y and become

active in the astral bo y of man.The astral mand then becomes conscious of his existence independent of

the physical bo y and can evelop faculties of sense.He may then see sights which have no existence

for the physical [Page 170 ] eye,hear soun s that the physical ear cannot hear,feel,taste,an smell things

whose existence the physical senses cannot realise,an which consequently have no existence to them.

What and astonishing sight woul meet the eyes of a mortal,if the veil that mercifully hi es the astral

world from his sight were to be su enly remove !He woul see the space which he inhabits occupie

by a different world full of inhabitants,of whose existence he knew nothing.What before appeare to him

ense and soli woul now seem to be sha owy,an what seeme to him like empty space he woul

fin people with life.

Scientifically con ucte researches have brought to light many instances of cases in which the astral

senses have been ren ere more or less active.The Seeress of Prevorst,for instance,perceive many

things which for other persons ha no existence;the history of the saints gives numerous similar

examples,an mo ern “mediumship ”proves the existence of such inner senses by facts which occur

every ay.If the astral senses of a person are fully alive and active,he is able to perceive things without

the use of his physical senses.He will be clairvoyant and claira dient ,he will be able to see,hear,feel,

taste,an smell the astral attributes of things existing in or out or corporeal forms.

All houses are “haunte ” ,but not all persons are equally able to see the ghosts that haunt them,because

to perceive things on the astral plane requires the evelopment or a sense a apte to such perceptions.

Thoughts are “ghosts ” ,an only those that can see images forme of thought can see “ghosts ” ,unless

the latter are sufficiently materialise to refract the light and to become visible to the eye.

We may feel the presence of and astral form without being able to see it,an be just as certain of its

presence as if we i behol it with our eyes;for the sense of touch is not less reliable thand the sense of

sight.The presence of a holy,high,an exalte i ea that enters the min fills it with a feeling of

happiness,with and exhilarating influence whose vibrations may be perceive long after that thought has

gone.[Page 171 ]

The explanation which material science gives in regard to the process of seeing only explains the

Page 99?

-------Cardiff Theosophical Society in Wales------

Magic: White and Black by Franz Hartmann,M.D.

formation of a picture on the retina of the physical eye,but gives no explanation whatever how these

pictures come to the consciousness of the min .If the min of man were enclose in the physical bo y of

man he coul not perceive the size of any exterior thing.In such a case he coul at best see the minute

picture forme on his retina,and the outsi e world woul appear to him like the microscopic object seen

through a reverse telescope.But the reflections forme in the physical eye only serve to call the

attention of the min to the objects of its perception,or awaken the interior sense of feeling which the

min possesses to a consciousness of its relation to the objects of its perception,which exist within its

own sphere.Visible man is the kernel of the invisible man,the sphere of his min surroun s him in all

si es like and invisible pulp,exten ing far into space,an he can become conscious of the objects

existing within that sphere if he recognises his relation with them.

This invisible and ethereal sphere is as essential to constitute a man as the pulp of a peach is essential

to constitute a peach,but material science knows only the kernel,an knows nothing about the pulp.Still

this soul sphere exists,an intermingles with the spheres of others,pro ucing sympathies,or

antipathies,according to the harmony,or isharmony,of their respective elements.A great many events

may take place within one's min and we may not perceive them,unless our attention is attracte to

them,and they come to our consciousness.

The min perceives what is going on in the physical plane by being awakene by physical means to a

consciousness of his relationship with physical things;it perceives what is going on in the realm of the

soul by being awakene to a consciousness of his relationship with the realm of the soul by influences

coming from that realm,an it perceives spiritual truth by being awakene to a recognition of its

relationship to truth by the power procee ing from it.

The physical bo y may be ormant and perceive no [Page 172 ] external objects;the astral senses are

un evelope ;the spiritual power of perception in the majority of mankin is still inactive,an feels the

presence of the spirit only by the uncertain reflex of its light,like a man in a semi-conscious con ition

may see the reflex of light shining through the close li s and not know what it is.This is the power of

intuition that prece es and awakening to spiritual knowle ge.

Min has no conceivable limits,an istance is therefore no impe iment to mental perception,because a

min being in soli arity with the whole stan s in relation to every part of the whole,an as soon as man

recognises his relation to and object in space he becomes conscious of its presence.

The reason why the min of man oes not perceive everything and requires the ai of the physical

senses,is that A am is still sleeping the sleep which came over him while he was and inhabitant of the

para ise.He is still unconscious of the fact that his real nature comprises the all;his consciousness has

become boun to a material form,an he is now the prisoner of that form.

To see a thing is i entical with touching it with the min .The in ivi ual min of man being one with the

universal min ,exten s through space;it is therefore not merely the images of things,but the things

themselves that exist within the periphery of our min ,however istant from the centre of our

consciousness they may be,an if we were able to shift that centre from one place to another within the

sphere of the min ,we might in a moment of time approach to the object of our perception.

Page 100?

-------Cardiff Theosophical Society in Wales------

Magic: White and Black by Franz Hartmann,M.D.

The min substance is everywhere,but its consciousness is limite .If the whole sphere of the min of a

man were self-conscious,he woul be omnipresent and all-knowing.As the sphere of perception of an

in ivi ual min expan s,so expan s the sphere of his conscious being.

The centre of consciousness in man is locate in the brain,an if the min touches and object the

impressions have to travel all the way to the brain.If we look at a istant star our min is actually there

an in contact [Page 173 ] with it,an if we coul transfer our consciousness to that place of contact,we

woul be ourselves upon that star and perceive the objects thereon as if we were stan ing personally

upon its surface.

This however is and impossibility as long as the centre of our consciousness is in the brain;because that

consciousness is and illusion itself,it enables us to roam through space by means of our imagination,but

oes not reveal the truth.The consciousness of the brain is in regard to our true self-consciousness what

the false light of the moon is to the light of the sun.Our true self-consciousness rests in the heart,an

therefore the heart can expan in that universal love,which is not imaginary,through the whole of

creation.If that love becomes self-conscious in our heart,all the mysteries of the universe will be open

before us.

Perception is passive imagination ,because if we perceive and object,the relation which it bears to us

comes to our consciousness without any active exertion on our part.But there is and active imagination by

which we may enter into relation with a istant object in space by a transfer of consciousness.By this

power we may act upon a istant object if we succee in forming a true image of it in our own

consciousness.By concentrating our consciousness upon such and object we become conscious in that

place of the sphere of our min where that object exists.Thus we establish a conscious relation between

such and object and ourselves,but this requires that spiritual power which resi es in the heart.

Consciousness is existence,and there are as many states of consciousness as there are states of

existence.Every living being has a consciousness of its own,and the state of its consciousness changes

every moment of time,as fast as the impressions which it receives change;because its consciousness is

the perception of the relation it bears to things,an as this relation changes,consciousness changes its

character.

If our whole attention is taken up by animal pleasure,we exist in and animal state of consciousness;if we

are aware of the presence of spiritual principles,such as hope,faith,charity,justice,truth,etc.,we live in

our [Page 174 ] spiritual consciousness,an between these two extremes there are a great variety of

gra ations.Consciousness itself oes not change,it only moves up and own on the scale of existence.

There is only one kin of consciousness which never changes its place because it is independent of all

relation to things.It is the self-consciousness of self-existence,the realisation of the I am .It can be

ignore ,but once attaine it cannot change,because Go never changes;its change woul involve non-

existence or the annihilation of all.He who has not attaine that true self-consciousness,the realisation

of the existence of his own real self oes not exist.He may be highly evelope physically an

intellectually;nevertheless he is nothing else but a compoun of physical and intellectual elements an

his sense of self and ever-changing illusion.He cannot ie,because he has never come to life;he oes

Page 101?

-------Cardiff Theosophical Society in Wales------

Magic: White and Black by Franz Hartmann,M.D.

not truly exist,because he oes not realise his true existence.There is no one truly alive,except he who

can realise his own true ivine life.

When Life manifests itself in a form it begins to live relatively to form;but the egree of consciousness of

the formdepends on the state of its organisation.In a low organise form there is sensation,but no

intelligence.An oyster has consciousness,but no intelligence.A man may have a great eal of intellect

an no consciousness of spirituality,sublimity,justice,beauty,or truth.

The lowest existences follow implicitly the laws of nature or of Universal Reason ;because in them exists

no ddifferentiation of min ;they have no will and reason of their own.The highest spiritual beings follow

their own reason;but their will and reason is in harmony with the universal law.The ifference between

the lowest beings and the highest ones is,therefore,that the lowest ones perform the will of “Go ”

unconsciously and unknowingly;while the highest ones o the same thing knowingly and consciously.It

is only the reasoning beings who imagine that they are their own law-givers,an may o what they

please.All evil is cause by reasoning;the [Page 175 ] enlightene oes not reason;he has Reason itself

for his gui e.

The muscular system exercises its habitual movements in the act of walking,eating,&c.,without being

especially gui e by a superinten ing intellect,like a clockwork that,after being once set in motion,

continues to run;an a man who is in the habit of oing that which is right and just,will act in accordance

with the law of wisdom and justice instinctively,an without any consi eration or oubt.

Each state of min has its own mo e of perception,sensation,instinct,an consciousness,and the