BLACK MAGIC.

Auckland Star, Volume LIV, Issue 219, 13 September 1923, Page 10

BLACK MAGIC.

MENTAL TRICKS IN BUSINESS. OCCULTISM IN THE WEST. f. r ,',v.:i: v iii :iU thai pertain- tv ii ;,.i- :i -troiij jrip upon I!iu imagination That tiii- is a-iicraih recognised may be judged by current, literature and even by tliu stage for such |ii:i\* a* ■■The Thirteenth Chair" undjuMedly 'have their orL'in in the appeal tn the mind of tluit mysticism so i.i.~iMi.itiiiLr to Westerns aiid α-iuilly associated with the Orient Hut there are many people who do not realise tiie full .•'iglinilii-anee of tin , present position, and it would surprii-i , tiiem to learn ihat m-cult ism ill daily life is well established in America, Ureat Britain anJ elsewhere in tlie western world. A typical example of the method of working may lie quoted. If a business man, who ha* fallen under the heel of occultism anticipates a deal with another man. he makes a point, of securing a photograph of his competitor, and for some days prior to the meeting, he addresses the remarks to t're photcgraph, taking care to state the case just as he wanta it to be understood. JJy putting hits whole mind into the matter he imagines that be so strengthens his own position, that any possible opposition on the part of the other man is either weakened or wiped out. and when the actual interview takes place it is claimed that it will work out exactly on the linos lie desiies. Whether there is any business morality i:i Mich a proceeding may be questioned, i>..! tiie practitioner probably does not ion-idcr that aspect. Another "stunt" that is practised is the dominating of a man's personality. This can be done in several ways. One method is used, consciously or unconsciously, by most medical men when they interview patients. When anyone goes to the doctor, the visitor is invariably placed with hU face towards the light,' , while the doctor sits in t)he shadow. This, of course, gives a decided advantage to the medical man, who can watch every movement on the patient's face and can probably detect his tboug-hts, while the visitor is powerless to know what the other is thinking. The device can be worked up to a fine art by placing the visitor on a low chair so that the other is in a natural position to dominate. THE SHOPKEEPERS' TRICKS. These may seem minor matters, but their simplicity is no gauge of their value in the mastery of another man's mind. There are various American publications which explain ways of improving one's business practically at the expense of the other man, and even a brief experience in the East clearly indicates their origin. It is no uncommon thing to find the native shopkeepers of India literally towering over their customers and fixing upon them the most penetrating gaze possible. The Western shopkepeer in adapting the underlying idea, sizes up his customer, perceives an indecision of mind, and proceeds at once by mental processes to induce the customer to make a purchase, whether he wants tiie goods or ndt. The Yankee goes even further, and advocates the visualisation of flocks of customers in the shop. It will be recalled that when Sir Thomas Lipton first started in business he practised the deception upon himself (and incidentally upon the public) that he had a huge amount of trade, for he used to carry out of his promises big bundles of dummy orders. Whether Sir Thomas achieved success wholly or even partially as a result of this "visualisation" is another matter, but there are d'lubtles many people who would not wkt' Vy discuarS the effort of the scheme. HOT*" TO The mental attitude in re.JT jl to money must be changed, aecerd. ig to these people. No longer do they want dollars; but dollars want them. This may seem ridiculous at first sight, but it is argued that what the dollars require is somebody to circulate them, and it seems that by laying one's self open as a spending source the dollars will flutter along. But there must be no half-way house, no hoarding up, or the supply will stop. As proof of the attracting power of a spending personality (although, like most analogies it cannot be carried too far) it is pointed out that time and again the ne'er-do-well in a family comes into possession of a fortune which a thrifty relative has accumulated by a life-time's scrimping and saving. The occult in the West is used more for the promotion of material ends than for anything else, whereas it is well known that in the East it has largely a spiritual tendency. The Indian mind is metaphysical, and the Yogi philosophy particularly is beyond the practical mind of the Western, which fails utterly to contemplate, say, for example, half a dozen camels prancing on the point of a needle The Western perceives some worldly gain in training his mind to do battle with the mind of his fellows, and unfortunately the lure of the occult is too often mervly the result of a selfish oLT m t a °gic PraCtiCe SOmethiUS akiQ t0