MAGIC AND SORCERY 147 



ing but obey blindly " ^ (Faramirum, tract, iv. cap. 

 viii.). 



" Faith stimulates and elevates the power of the spirit. 

 A person who has a strong faith feels as if he were lifted 

 up, and were living independent of the body. By the 

 power of faith the apostles and patriarchs accomplished 

 great things that were above the ordinary run of Nature, 

 and the saints performed their miracles* by the power 

 of faith. Such miracles as were performed by them 

 during their lifetime were performed by their own faith ; 

 other miracles that took place through their relics or 

 near their tombs were caused by the power of faith of 

 those who asked their help. All the wonders of Magic 

 are performed by Imagination and Faith." 



In producing magical cures, it is the power of faith in 

 the patient himself, and not the dead saint or the relic, 

 that cures the disease. 



" A dead saint cannot cure anybody. A living saint 

 may cure the sick by virtue of the divine power that 

 acts through him. This divine power does not die 

 with the body of the saint, and therefore true saints 

 are still living, although their mortal bodies have died. 

 The power which enabled the saints to work miracles 

 is still alive, and accessible to all. It is the power of 



^ We would not advise any reader to make any such experiment, 

 because, apart from the immorality of such a practice, it is known to every 

 occultist that if such an evil power is once propelled, and is not of sufficient 

 strength to penetrate the soul-sphere of his object, and to accomplish its 

 purpose, it rebounds with a destructive effect to the source from whence 

 it was projected. 



2 The term " miracles " means natural feats produced by spiritual 

 power. If a person acts against his own natural instincts — if he, for 

 instance, performs an act of unselfishness without any hope of reward — 

 such an act may be called a supernatural act. The natural law for self 

 is selfishness, and if a man causes his selfish nature to act in a manner 

 that goes against the interests of that nature, he acts in the strength 

 of a power that is beyond his selfish nature and supernatural to it, 

 although that power is not outside of him. Spirit may manifest itself 

 in Nature, but it is not produced by Nature. God is the original cause 

 of all things ; Nature is an effect. God is the will ; Nature its mani- 

 festation. 



