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JOHN BULL London, England 21 November 1931 (pages 20-21)
BLACK MAGIC MENACE: A Warning.
The Lure of Strange Cults.
Disquieting stories have gained wide currency in the Press recently to the effect that the exotic forms of perversion known as “Black Magic” are being more extensively practiced in this country to-day than in the Middle Ages.
Some newspapers have devoted columns to sensational disclosures under such headings as “Black Magic in England”; “Black Magic Murders—London Search for a Leader”; “Devil Worship in London”; “Search for Satanist” and “Evil Spirits Summoned.”
The fantastic stories which appeared under these and similarly disturbing headlines arose out of the fact that police in Finland were investigating cases of cemetery robbing in which nearly fifty bodies had been disinterred and ghoulishly mutilated.
These outrages were attributed to devil-worshippers who, gathering in graveyards when the moon is at its full, engage in weird rites so that they may command the dread service of the “Devil.”
The Truth—
Now, what happens in Finland is no great concern of the British public; but when, following the publication of such horrors, reports are circulated to the effect that the same sort of things are happening in our midst on a large scale, reliable confirmation or denial is called for.
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Black Death—
The effect of all these debased doctrines upon neurotic people can easily be imagined. In fact, the Rev. C.E. Proctor, of Liverpool, publicly stated that he personally knew a case some time ago of a woman who, falling into the hands of a Black Magic cult, died owing to the appalling effect upon her constitution and emotions.
Most practitioners of Black Magic in this country are aliens whose operations are chiefly dictated by gain. They move from district to district to avoid any clash with the police, who are determined to keep them in check.
Several attempts were made by the late Benjamin Purnell, an evil Magus, who amassed a million from dupes in America in a cult called the House of David, to establish a branch here.
All his plans failed, though it is known that several of his followers have recently been here and on the Continent with similar ends in view. But police vigilance has thwarted many attempts, among them those of the famous Crowley, the self-affirmed “Beast 666.”
But that there is money to be made from Black Magic, in a very simple way, is confirmed by the fact that books dealing with its inner secrets are only obtainable at certain specialized shops in London’s West End, where a volume priced at £6 6s. is considered “cheap.”
These works show that blood plays a big part in Black Magic ritual. Students are told, for instance, that while one set of people will visit a bull fight for excitement, another will go for the perverse fascination which real or simulated horror affords.
“Blood freshly spilled in the sunlight is perhaps one of the most beautiful colours that is to be found in Nature” is one of the teachings.
Converts who break their vow of Holy Obedience are, in the secret precincts of a “Temple,” made to suffer unspeakable punishment, and even in public have to cut themselves repeatedly with a razor until they have suffered enough “permanently” to make amends.
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