THE FRANKLIN TIMES

Auckland, New Zealand

3 October 1932

(page 6)

THE BLACK ART

IS PRACTICED TO-DAY.

STUDY OF PURE MAGIC.

In these material and scientific times, there are still many devotees of Black Magic and Satanism. As a student of the Occult I have no hesitation in saying that the number of people attracted by Black Magic is greater to-day than it has ever been, writes Donald Campbell in a London paper.

In England, one of the High Priests of the study of the Wisdom of the Left Hand Path is a man who might have done marvels in Occult research. I refer to Aleister Crowley, who has been the target of tremendous abuse. He revived the movement on his return from Tibet and it has since spread extensively. He published an extraordinary magazine called “The Equinox,” which aroused great interest and fierce arguments among Occultists. Crowley’s book on the significance of the Tarot is a classic.

Before Crowley popularized magic among the young intelligentsia of England, a lodge was opened in Paris which brought together some of the most distinguished men in France and England for the purposes of Occult study. This was the famous Order of the Golden Dawn. Hundreds of men celebrated in all branches of mental activity there gathered knowledge. One of the best-known British dramatists and novelists of to-day was a member for a long time until his health became seriously affected.

There was also an order in Ireland, that of the Silver Rose, for the study of White Magic. This was founded by a famous Irish poet, but its meetings were eventually dispelled by a village priest accompanied by members of his flock with pitchforks!

The order of the Golden Dawn inspired some English students of the Occult to form a lodge known as the “A.A.” in London, to which I believe Aleister Crowley belonged. Crowley had an organization in Victoria, London, but this was broken up by a Jesuit priest, and Crowley went abroad.

The aftermath of the war with the tremendous increase of spiritualism has caused many people to dabble in the Occult, deeming it a short-cut to knowledge. The acquirement of magic (which in its “White” form is wisdom that we have forgotten because our vision has become obscured) is extremely hard work, involving the strictest self-control.

Personally, I am totally in favour of the suppression of all lodges formed for the study of Black Magic, while people who celebrate the Black Mass ought to be prosecuted or sent to an asylum for the insane. Spiritualism has always seemed to me a dangerous practice. Women, especially intelligent women, are the most gullible. They are not admitted to properly constituted magic circles, but have often been the victims of Black Magic lodges, where the ritual is half-fraudulent, half-dangerous. A little knowledge is a very dangerous thing in matters of magic, the study of which should be left to qualified and genuine scholars.

It seems to be that Occultism in its debased form is a very subtle attack on Christianity, though I do not believe that it is an organized attack from the Middle East.

There is one place in this world where the study of pure magic of the White variety is carried on in the best manner possible. This is in Benares, where only the earnest and genuine seeker after knowledge is allowed to partake of the instructions of the Great White Brotherhood.