CHAPTER XXVII

Psycnrc Rrsrpurs

Tsr last point mentioned in connectionwith " shananism " needsto be clarified,for it containsthe main reason for the introduction of the subject; for this purpose it must be made clearthat the caseof the persistentvestiges of a degeneratetradition that has lost its superior or " spiritual " part is fully comparableto the case of the psychic remains left behind by a human being in passing to another state, for these remains can be used for any purposoncethey havebeen abandoned by the " spirit ", Whether they be made use of consciously by a magician or a sorcerer,or unconsciouslyby spiritualists,the more or lessmaleficenteffectswhich can accruehave evidently nothing to do with the inherent characterof the being to whom they belonged before; they are no longer anything but a specialcategoryof "wandering infuences" to use the terminology of the Far-Eastern tradition, and they have kept at the most a purely illusory likeness to the said being, Comparisonsof this kind can only be fully understood if it is rememberedthat even spiritual influences thcmselves must necessatily,if they are to come into action in our world, take appropriate " supports ", first of all in the psychic order, then in the corporeal order itseli so that the result is something analogous to the constitutionof a human being. If later on the spiritual influencesfor any reasonwithdraw themselves, their former corporeal supports, whether places
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OF QUANTITY or objects(and when placesare in questiontheir situation is naturally connected with the " sacred geography" mentionedearlier)will none the lessremain chargedwith psychicelementswhich will be all the stronger and more persistent through having previously srved as the and the instrumentsof a yet more powerful intermediaries action. It would be logical to conclude that imPortant more or lesslong since traditionaland initiatic centres, extinct, must in generalbe the most important potential sourcesof danger,whether arising from violent reactions in such persisting, Frovokdin the psychicconglomerates from the placesby sheerimprudence,or more especially seizureof these elementsby " black magicians") to use them who could thn manceuvre expression, the accepted a to conforming at will in order to obtain results Plan' of danger of the first of thesetwo sources The existence explainingthe harmful character goesa long way tow-ards civilizations,when they come vestiges of extinct of certain to be exhumedby peoplewho, like the modern archeologists, know nothing of such matters' and so inevitably fail to act with prudence. That is not to say that there may not somtimesbe other factors in the situation: for instance, a particular ancient civilization may have developmentof magic through an excessive degenerated always will naturally and its remains in its final phases,"a shape of in the that development, imprint of bear the also It is order. inferior psychic influencesof a very of that of any degeneration possible,even in the absence sort, that places or objects may have been specially preparedby way of defensiveaction againstanyonewho of this kind might touch them improperly, for precautions no way illegitimate as such, although the fact of "r";n attaching too great an importance to them is none too THE REIGN
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PSYCHIC RESIDUES favourable an indication, for it affords evidenceof preoccupationsrather remote from pure spirituality, and even perhapsof a certainlack of knowledgeof the power possessed by pure spirituality, which should make it unncessary to resort to such " extras". But apart from all this, persistent psychicinfluences, when deprivedof the " spirit " which formerly directed them, are reduced to a sort of " larval " state,and can easily by themselves react to a particular provocation,however involuntary it may be, in a more or lessdisorderedmanner, and in any casein a mannerquite unrelatedto the intentionsof those who used them formerly for purposesof quite another order. Just in the same way the gruesomemanifestations of psychic " corpses " which sometimesoccur in spiritualist sdances, have absolutely no relation in any circumstances whateverto the possibilitiesof action or of desireof the individualitieswhosesubtleforms they were, and whoseposthumous" identity " they imitate more or lessbadly, to the great amazement of the ingenuouswho are all too ready to take them for " spirits ". So under many conditions the influencesin question can be quite pernicious enough, even when they are simply left to themselves; this fact is merely a result of the inherent nature of the forces of the " intermediate world ", about which nobody can do anything, any more than they can prvent " physical" forces, meaning the forces belonging to the corporeal order studied by the physicists, from acting in cerraincircumstances so as to cause accidentsfor which no human will can be held responsible; what is revealed by all this is the true significanceof modern antiquarian researches, and the part they actually plav in opening up some of the " previously referred to. But in addition, " fissures
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OF OUANTITY these same influencesare at the mercy of anyone who knows how to " capture" them, just as are " physical" forces; it goes without saying that either can be made to servethe nost diverseand eventhe most contradictory ends, according to the intentions of whoever has taken control ofthem and can direct them to his chosenpurpose; are involved,iftheir controller and, when subtleinfluences happens to be a " black magician", it is obvious that they will be used by him for a purpose quite contrary to that for which they might have been used in earlier timesby the qualifiedrepresentatives ofa regular tradition. All that has been said so far relatesto the vestigesleft by an entirely extinct tradition; but there is anothercase to be consideredalongsidethis one: that of an ancient traditional civilization which lives on so to speak for itself alone, in the sensethat its degenerationhas proceeded to such a point that the " spirit " has at last withdrawn entirely from it. Certain kinds ofknowledge, having nothing of the spiritual in them and belonging only to the order of contingent applications, may still continue to be transmitted, particularly the more inferior among them, but they will naturally therafter be liable to every kind of deviation, for they themselves represent nothing more than " residues" of anotherkind, the pure doctrine on which they ought norrnally to dependhaving disappeared. In this sort of case of " survival " the psychic influences st to work in earlier times by the representatives of the tradition will again be liable to be " captured", even without the knowledge of their apparent guardians,who will thenceforth be illegitimate and entirely without real authority; those who really make use of the influencesthrough them will thus have the advantage of having at their disposalnot only so-called

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" inanimate" objects as unconsciousinstruments of the action they want to exercise,but also living men who serye no less well as " supports" to the influences,and whose real existenceconfers on them a much grater vitaliry. Exactlythis sortof thing wasin view in quoting an example like that of " shamanism ", but of course with the reservationthat it must not be held to apply indisuiminately to all the things that are commonly grouped under that rather conventionalheading,for they may not all have arrived at an equal degree of decadence. A tradition deviated to that extent is really dead as such, just as dead as a tradition which no longer even appearsto be in existence; if there were any life left in it, however little, no such subversioncould in any event take place, for it consistsin nothing but a reversal of what remainsof the tradition so as to make it work in a direction by definition anti-traditional. It is however as well to add that before things reach that point, and as soon as traditional organizationsare so diminished and enfeebledas no longer to be capableof adequateresistance,the more or lessdirect agentsof the " adversary "rrr can begin to work their way in with a view to hastening the time when " subversion" will becomepossible; they are not alwayssure to succed, for whateverstill has some life can always recover itself; but if death takes place, the enemywill then be found to be asit were in possession and ready to take advantageof his position and to use the " corpse" for his own purposes. The reprsentatives of everything in the Western world that still retains an authentically traditional character,in the exoteric as *ell as in the initiatic domain, might be thought to have the strongstpossibleinterest in paying attention to this

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THE RE iGN OF SUANTITY last observationwhile there rs still time, for all around them the menacing signs indicating " infiltrations " of this kind are unfortunately by no means indiscernable by anyonewho knows how to find them. Another consideration having its own importance is ", (asto whosenature somemore this: if the " adversary exact indications will follow) has something to gain by taking possession of placeswhich were the seatof former spiritual centres,it is not solely because of the psychic influencesaccumulatedin them and more or less free to be madeuse of, but it is also for the very reasonthat th placesare where they are, for of course they were not chosenarbitrarily for the part they had to play at one tim or another, and in connectionwith one traditional form or another. " Sacredgeography", the knowledge of which determines the choicein question,is susceptible, like every other traditional science of a contingntorder, of being diverted from its legitimatepurposeand of being applied " inversely". If a place is " privileged" to servefor the emissionand direction of psychicinfluences when they are acting as vehiclesof a spiritual action, it will be no lessso when thesesamepsychicinfluences are used in quite another way and for ends opposedto all spirituality. It may be observed in passing that the dangerof the misdirectionof certainkinds of knowledge, of which this last is a very clear example,accountsfor much of the secrecythat is quite natural in a normal civilization, but the moderns show themselvesto be entirely incapable of understandingit, for they commonly mistake what is really a measure designed as far as possibleto prvent the misuseof knowledgefor a desire to monopolizethat knowledge. And in truth secrecy only to be effectivewhen the orsanizationswhich are ceases
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PSYCHIC RESIDUES the repositoriesof the knowledge in question allow unqualified individuals to pntrate into their ranks, for theseindividualsmay evenbe agentsof the " adversary ", and if they are so one of their first objectswill be to discover the secrets. All this hasof courseno direct relation to the tru initiatic secret, which resides,as explained earlier, exclusively in the " inef,able" and " incommunicable", and is therefore evidently protected from although none but all indiscreet research; nevertheless, contingent mattersare in questionhere, it must be recognized that the precautionsthat may be taken within the contingent order with a view to avoiding all deviation, and thus all harmful action which might arisefrom it, are far from having in practice only a relatively negligible interest, In any case,whether it be a question of the places themselves, of the influencesremaining attachdto them, or again of knowledge of the kind just mentioned, the " may be recalled, old adage: " corruptio optimi pessima and may be applied perhaps more accuratelyhere than in any other case; and moreover " corruption " is just the right word, even in its most literal sense,for the " residues " here concernedare, as stated at the beginning, comparableto the products of the decomposition of a once living being; and as all corruption is more or Iesscontagious, theseproductsof the dissolutionofthings past will themselvesexercise, wherever they may be " projected ", a particularly dissolvingand disaggregating action, especially if they are made use of by a will clearly conscious of its objectives, All this may be likened to a sort of " necromancy ", making useof psychic remainsquite other than thoseof human individuals, and it is by no means th least redoubtable sort, for it has
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OF QUANTITY by its nature a 6eld of action far more extensive t}.an that of common witchcraft, indeed no comparison between the two is possible in t}rat respect: matters have reached such a point nowadays that our contemporaries must indeed be blind not to have even ttre least susoicion of where thw stand I

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z2E