FOREWORD

"To Occult Medicine we shall owe discoveries

destined to extend the domain of Philosophy," was
the prophecy of the renowned French philosopher
Descartes. Today, nearly three hundred years later,
we find his words approaching fulfilment, for the
world is face to face with a new movement in Thera-
peutics. An insistent, increasing, persevering demand
is arising for investigation into the hidden side of the
Health law for a fuller, clearer light upon the Truth
;

of Health itself. The hour of Occult Medicine has

come.
At present, however, the demand for the truth is not
universal; instead, the conditions strongly exemplify
the eternal struggle between the radical and the con-
servative. The radicals include a very large num-
ber of separate organizations of intellectual people
who believe that the laws of Health are as yet but
imperfectly known who
are seeking to discover the
;

hidden truths of Health which, from observed facts

of healing, they are convinced willmake them inde-
pendent of drugs and surgical operations. To the
radicals belong also the students of Sociology, who
are demanding that measures for the prevention of
disease and for the establishing of a true standanLof
Health shall obtain, not alone for the classes, buflpSr
the masses as well.

s
6 PRINCIPLES OF OCCULT HEALING

On the other hand, materialistic medical science,

basing itself on the inviolability and invariableness of
known physical laws, declares that healing other than
by physical remedies is not practical ; that the cited
cases of occult healing —where the disease is obscure,
and the remedies used measured and
cannot be
—
handled are not subject to fixed laws, and therefore
that such cases are wholly outside the domain of scien-
tific investigation. This ultimatum is supposed to
preclude further discussion.
But these so-called "unscientific" healings have oc-
curred and are continually occurring; so there must
be in this world, admittedly built and sustained by law,
a law governing these cures. It is in the hope of help-
ing to find a basis for the classification and scientific
study of these many thousands of unclassified cures,
to help to find the law of them, that this little book is

written.
It is fully in keeping with this intellectual evolution-
ary progress that we shall attempt to apply religious,
philosophic and scientific concepts in the solution of
the more fundamental medical problems which are
now coming to the front. For instance, we can more
easily investigate and explain the oftentimes extremely
difficult facts in cures, by noting their reciprocal
relations with other laws of Nature.
This is the age of scientific constructive hypotheses.
Medicine is in process of construction. It is only in
the experimental stage as yet, and experiment is its

method. Its first law is to study facts; to observe

reasonable caution in presenting explanations, and a
willingness to recast conclusions that may have been
 FOREWORD 7

arrived at on insufficient data ; to use the same open-

mindeness, tolerance and fearlessness as do the re-
searches in Astronomy or Physics.
The demand of the age is, that a scientific study be
made of the etheric bodies and the emotion and mental
bodies of our every-day humanity that the power
;

which the Self, the super-man, can assert over his own
mind, his own emotions, and over the etheric elements
in his physical body, shall be recognized and taught
as a definite part of the larger therapeutics. In addi-
tion to this, there must come an intellectual recog-
nition that there are greater and lesser intelligences
working in all matter. The subtler sense faculties of
healers and healed must be trained to note the actual
effect of thought and emotion upon and through human
bodies. For this training no divine gift is needed.
It is only necessary that healers shall learn to use the
sense organs which already exist in these finer bodies,
which belong to the phenomenal world of sense, but
are, except in a small number of cases, as yet unde-
veloped.
Science, working in Physics, is demonstrating con-
clusively by means of "rays" and "waves," that there
are different grades of matter, each with its own rate
of vibration. In advanced Photography, science is fur-
nishing proof that thought and emotion express them-
selves as definite shapes in matter so fine as to be
invisible to the physical eye. In Psychology, science
recognizes the Self as the builder and ruler of its

bodies. Other sciences are taking advanced steps.

Let us gather together these already established facts
and correlate with them the facts of healing, facts of
 —

8 PRINCIPLES OF OCCULT HEALING

differing bodies and types, facts of all the known laws

of Nature, including the great fact of Evolution, and
thus help to make ready for the next step forward in
medical progress. Reasonably, when the etheric and
desire-emotion and mental bodies of human beings
become disordered, each must have its own specialized
form of treatment. Should we not study carefully all

the bodies before attempting to treat the apparently

physical ailments which may be directly traceable to
a disabling of one of the finer bodies?
The evolution of the atomic theory furnishes an
illustration of the urgent necessity at this time for a
more liberal attitude of mind toward the inevitable
changes in the Science of Therapeutics. The theory
of atoms was supposedly complete ; the chemical atom
was, by the Western world, accepted as a finality in
atoms. But facts relating to atoms were from time
to time found which were not accounted for under
that theory, and through further research in Nature's
secret, occult storehouse, a still more ultimate atom
has been discovered, which consists of infinitely finer
matter and powers and possibilities, and the chemical
—
atom has been not blotted off the register, but
relegated to its proper place as a very fine molecule.
The real science of atoms has been advanced im-
measurably, but who can now say when the ultimate
atom will be found?
So of the Health law. The knowledge of it is but
fragmentary. The many unclassified facts of healing
can reasonably be hypothetically viewed as expressions
of certain unknown, or but dimly glimpsed, potentials
existing within the sphere of Health. These facts
 FOREWORD 9

cannot be suppressed, therefore their source should be

found at whatever cost to long-time cherished views.
In very ancient days, India had a graded system of
healing, adjusted to meet the needs of the various
types of bodies. gave to the younger in evolution
It

the crude drugs, while for those much more advanced

other remedies than drugs were used. Today, the
swift, resistless onward sweep of the new cycle of
evolution forces Therapeutics beyond the study of
remedies for the bodies of the less evolved alone, and
necessitates an understanding and control of such of
the hidden potential powers of the Health law as will
apply to the more advanced in evolution also.
The modern mind, with its ready acceptance of the
law of evolution, and of the continuity of life, is be-
ginning to glimpse the fact that a profound philosophy
underlies the healing power ; that there may be grades
above grades of studies in human needs in health and
healing and that the gross and etheric matters of the
;

physical body, and the still subtler matter of the emo-

tion and concrete mind bodies, must not be treated as
one undifferentiated mass of matter, but that their
differing rates of vibration shall be as definitely cal-
culated and given due place in treatment, as would be
done in a corresponding problem in physics.
In the few cases selected for illustration, no attempt
to prove their truth will be made, though that
known. is

They are given only as examples of well-known facts,

in and through which we may hope to find some ex-
planation of the occult processes of the Health law.
In what is set forth in the following pages, we have
drawn freely from the literature of all lands, believing
IO PRINCIPLES OF OCCULT HEALING

that we should not limit ourselves in our search for

truth.
The Theosophical Society is not responsible for any
statements contained herein.
 The Principles of Occult Healing

CHAPTER I

OCCULT HEALING AND OCCULTISM

The Healing Art, as understood by medical prac-

titioners today, may be defined in terms of Occultism
as Physical Occultism. It directs its attention to
physical results only, ignoring the hidden causes. The
greater Occultism, the knowledge of the Soul, of the
Self, of the continual action and reaction between Self
and the body, has no place in its curriculum. This
condition cannot long continue, for it is becoming
known even to the masses that all healing is occult,
hidden; that its source is not in the doctor nor the
drug.
In order to understand the term Occult Healing we
must know its source and something of its relation to
the great Principles of Occultism.
As defined by Madame H. P. Blavatsky, Occultism
is "The study of the Divine Mind in Nature."
Many records of such study are to be found in the
Principles of Eastern Occultism, set forth by great
Sages thousands of years ago. Within the last cen-
tury some of these occult records have been translated
into the languages of the Western world, and are found
to throw much light upon the Western investigations
ii
12 PRINCIPLES OF OCCULT HEALING

into Chemistry, Physiology, Psychology, Medicine,

Physics, Astronomy, and other scientific studies. Sir
Oliver Lodge, who holds high rank in the scientific
world, states that modern science appears to be redis-
covering some of the discoveries of the ancient scien-
tists, which have long been lost sight of and forgotten.
The principles of medicine, as known to the ancients,
are illuminating to those especially interested in estab-
lishing health instead of disease, and in maintaining
it when secured. Certain definite Occult Principles
are found to underlie phenomena of Health
all the
and Healing. These include the Constitution of Man,
his origin, his stage in evolution, and his ultimate goal,
all of which have direct bearing upon Health.
Very briefly stated, the Principles of Occultism
which relate to Health and Healing, so far as our
research has extended, are these : Coming forth from
the Unthinkable, is the One Only Creative Cause,
Creator of Nature and Nature's Laws, who is insepar-
ably united with all that He brings out into manifesta-
tion. Of Himself He says: "Having pervaded this
whole universe with a portion of Myself, I remain."*
His plan for His worlds includes two great factors,
both of which must be recognized as basic factors in
all healing. They are: First, Life, Consciousness,
pervading and informing all forms; and, second, the
differing grades or planes of spirit-matter in and
through which consciousness must work.
In order that these two, Life and Matter, shall reach
the perfection of His purpose for them, He has laid
down the law of Evolution, which makes every atom
* Bhagavad Gita, X, 42.
 OCCULT HEALING AND OCCULTISM 13

and every entity unfold and use its powers. Occultism,

taking into consideration the origin of both conscious-
ness and matter, shows their purposeful relation to
each other : Consciousness, as individualized Souls or
Selves, unfolding by means of experiences in matter;
Matter evolving finer qualities and greater responsive-
ness as consciousness uses it.

The origination of the Monads, the Units of Con-

sciousness —who are our potential selves — is within the
Divine Life. "The myriads of such Units who are
to be developed in that coming universe, are generated
within the Divine Life as germ-cells in organisms,
before the field for their evolution is formed."*
These myriads of Monads are sparks, fragments of
Himself, thought into separation as individual entities,

who become self-moving, self-determining, self-

are to
knowing. But, until the Solar System has been built,
they must wait without vehicles or bodies in which they
can unfold and express themselves. (It is well to note
that the difference in individuals is here shown to be
not superficial, but basic.)
The Logos of a System, selecting His spot in space
and encircling it for His definite work, breathes —we
use that word for lack of a better expression —breathes
something of His own Life into the pre-existing matter
in it, and all the matter of His system thus becomes
charged with His own Life-breath energies. For this
reason the types of matter which Science is investi-
gating today are found to have life and energy and
stability combined in their minutest particles ; for this
reason occultists call all grades of matter spirit-matter.
* A Study in Consciousness, by Annie Besant, p. 13.
 —

14 PRINCIPLES OF OCCULT HEALING

In Occultism it is stated that the spirit-matter of

this system is divided into seven distinct grades, planes
or states, each with its own
and each with
atomic level,

its fixed rate of vibration. From above down, the

matter of each plane is graded into seven types
atomic, sub-atomic, super-etheric, etheric, gaseous,
liquid, solid. Another enumeration, from below up-
wards, shows the relation of the seven types of matter
to consciousness, as physical matter, emotional matter,
:

mental matter, intuitional matter, and the three higher

grades known under the general term spiritual.
All of these seven types inhere in each human body,
interpenetrating but not intermingling. The finer mat-
ter remains inactive until the —which the
Ego is spe-
cialized channel for the power or the informing ray for
the Monad on the lower planes —has gained much
control over the lower types in his bodies. The more
highly evolved of humanity are using the matter of the
five lower planes. But mankind generally is using,
and that but partially, the matter of the three lowest,
the mental, the emotional or astral and the physical
planes,and gradually building by thought a mental
body out of the matter of the mental plane, by desire
and emotion a body out of astral matter, while etheric
and physical matter form the outer body. Disease
expresses itself in the matter of these three lower
planes, but medical science takes no heed of the types
of matter involved, nor does it recognize the differing
needs in treatment; and therefore it fails to find the
true causes of disease and the permanent remedy.
Occultism states that while each monad embodies
within itself the three attributes of divine conscious-