BOOK MANUFACTURERS

RAHWAY NEW JERSEY




INTRODUCTION


The individual who deals with the by-paths and mysteries of that great
Science which we term loosely Occultism, courts neither personal
notoriety nor publicity for the strange proceedings in which he plays a
part.

I have always been an energetic student of psychic matters, drawn
thereto by the possession of certain unusual gifts with which Nature
has endowed me. (Throughout the history of mankind there have always
been a certain number of individuals who have kept alive the sacred
fire and held the secret keys of many mysteries, and from time to time
an advance in general human knowledge or in an applied art or science
has revealed to the vulgar some small part of the outer mysteries that
have always been known to the initiates. These disclosures are hailed
as discoveries and set in their ordered place in the catalogue of human
knowledge.)

There are in this book certain disclosures of hidden facts which are
given to the world simply because the time is ripe when they should be
more fully known and their revelation is counselled by wisdom.

Human nature has always suffered from its lack of discrimination
between Prophets and False Prophets, and one of the greatest
difficulties that besets the Occultist is to know what is safe to
reveal. It is for this reason that secrets are hidden from the vulgar
and the charlatan, for these things must be hidden lest they are turned
to base ends.

The revival of deep public interest in psychic matters is only a matter
of time, and then those things which have been of absorbing interest to
the few will become of vital interest to the many.

The following chapters are simply transcripts of some of the
astoundingly interesting matters which have been reposing for years in
my diaries and note-books.

They have been set out in conventional narrative form with no great
changes except of names and places and the elimination of the rather
involved scientific terminology of the psychologist and the laboratory.
In these days when men are turning from the crude materialism of the
nineteenth century and the true scientist is the last person to deny
the realities which were deemed mythical a few short years ago, they
may serve to fill a certain need.

An interest in Occultism is common to most people, but a deep study
of its principles and its phenomena is attainable only by the few. It
is not advisable to seek transcendental experiences without a sound
working knowledge of the root-springs of these phenomena, and one of
the purposes of this volume is to render invaluable assistance to those
who possess psychic gifts in greater or lesser degree.

The Spiritualist, the Theosophist, and the student of Psychic Research
will all find in these pages much to interest them and much to ponder.
It throws light in some of the dark places which have seemed obscure
to those of the modern schools of thought who have not studied ancient
knowledge.

As it is impossible to expound an infinite mass of fact within the
limits of a slender volume, I have added footnotes here and there which
will direct any interested reader to further sources of information
than my condensed text affords, but the purpose of the book is directed
to the general reader rather than to the student or specialist who will
doubtless know more than these pages can tell him.

OLIVER BLAND.




CONTENTS