READERS’ QUESTIONS

1. It is rather difficult at the moment to assess what you believe in, what you stand for. Certainly not the “traditional” image! Maybe things will become clearer in the future editions, and I look forward to them. Meanwhile, how would you react to such statements as the following, which was seriously propagated in a book which I recently read: in a cave in Tibet is concealed every invention which has ever been made and every inventions which will ever be made.

Before dismissing such ideas (and there are many similar ones) as too far-fetched, it is useful to examine them more closely. The cave exists, but it might just as well be in Stump Cross Caverns. Every invention that has been or will be is already here, only the future inventions have not been recognised or put together yet. How much real wonder that cave contains depends entirely on what year it is discovered.

2. I want to learn the responsible use of power.

Responsible use of power is nearly always non-use. The mistake that all would-be Occultists make is that they try to apply an Occult solution to a non-Occult problem. This is like trying to pass electricity through water-pipes. And people still think that Occult power is something akin to electricity; once you have learnt how to turn on the generator, you have got it. Real Occult power comes from knowledge, and the big trap is that, until one gets there, the individual does not know how much knowledge he or she can stand. Hence, again, “ignorance is bliss”. A rough equation: for every milligram of knowledge, the price is a kilogram of peace of mind (if you are lucky).

3. Starting such a controversial magazine, I am sure you have received a few curses and challenges to Occult duels. How do you react?

I do not know of anyone with enough power to do me harm. If another Adept wanted to do me harm, he would have to convince himself that what he was doing was right and justified and also he would have to convince himself that he would win. By and large, I would get as excited about an attack from an Occult source as a guy driving along in a tank would be concerned about an attack by a caveman waving a club. Leaping up and down on the tank, sooner or later the caveman would fall under the tracks. His end is of his own choosing the.

4. Why are there no by-lines on your articles?

By-lines would be counter-productive. If we stated that this article is by the Adept, this articles by one of his pupils, this by another pupil, this by a subscriber to DL, this by the editor of another mag, etc, each reader would automatically adjust his scale of belief, depending on his personal preferences. If the author of the article is not indicated, the reader assesses its validity solely on his/her opinion of the content. That is the object of the exercise.

From the Dark Lily Journal No 2, Society of Dark Lily (London 1987).