An occult revival is springing up in the United States and Europe.
How paradoxical that this highly technical, intellectually advanced age—capable of putting a man on the moon—may also go down in history as a period when the revival of witchcraft and demonology grew to such proportions that some churches felt it necessary to issue procedures for exorcising demons!
But this has happened even recently. In England, an ecumenical commission of Roman Catholics and Anglicans has issued a report, not only containing procedures for exorcising demons but also recommending that each diocese appoint an official exorcist.
Occultism—formerly associated with the ignorance and superstition of the Dark Ages —is even seeping into educational systems. Not only are some colleges offering courses in mysticism, astrology, and witchcraft, but here and there these subjects are being introduced at the high school level.
Recently my mail contained a circular from a highly respectable book club. It offered a selection of twenty-five books on the occult covering such subjects as witchcraft, astrology, demonology, and the black arts, including specific instructions on "how to cast spells and curses."
I remembered with chagrin that once I had considered astrology a harmless parlor game, and witches I associated almost exclusively with Halloween (like pumpkins, and just as harmless). Demons I had safely relegated to the status of fiction, to be seen occasionally in horror films on the late show on television. I know now that this was apathy toward occultism in some of its most insidious forms.
The study of Christian Science alerts us to the growing phenomenon of occultism, for it makes us aware of the dangers involved when a knowledge of the power of the human mind falls into the hands of individuals undisciplined by moral and spiritual laws. The rousing cry of the Apostle Paul to the ancient Romans needs to be taken literally today: "Let us therefore cast off the works of darkness, and let us put on the armour of light." Rom. 13:12;
Why should these "works of darkness" seem so appealing?
"Much of the occult, after all," a Time magazine article tells us, "is man's feeble attempt to become godlike, to master the world around him." And it goes on: "Power, the occultists and their critics agree, is at the core of the occult quest for self-realization . . . . In Christianity the Gospel message is submission to God; in the occult the ruling motive is control." Time, June 19, 1972;
Christian Science has been teaching for over a century that the real man—the true identity of each of us—is already Godlike. Man has no struggle for power, because he has never lost the God-given dominion assigned him in the first chapter of Genesis (the true account of creation). He is divinely governed and absolutely controlled by Principle. He exists right now at the standpoint of perfection, having all good, expressing all good, experiencing all good, forever inseparable from divine Love, the source of all good.
But these absolute truths need to be demonstrated humanly, and this takes a love of good and a conscious effort to bring human thought under the control of the divine. This means giving up all belief that man is a source of power or control. Man does not control anything. God controls everything.
Occultism tries to bypass this self-disciplining action. But this leads into great self-deception. There are no shortcuts to power. God, good, is all power.
Not recognizing that true selfhood is ever at one with God, mankind seems to be constantly striving either to find God, good, or to find power and control in evil—outside of God. Christian Science teaches that this belief in evil, which it terms animal magnetism, is entirely unreal—whether it claims to be a desire for evil, a search after it, or the practice of it. Because there is but one Mind, God, good, and because this Mind is infinite, there is neither evil nor anything else "outside." The claim of another mind, another consciousness, another existence, is an illusion.
Anyone who is learning to demonstrate these spiritual truths is not alarmed by the occult craze. But it would be a mistake to feel that we do not need to be concerned about it at all. Our Master, Christ Jesus, commanded that his followers "cast out devils." Matt. 10:8; We cannot ignore the mental atmosphere we live in, for what other people are thinking claims to influence us if we are not alert.
"In a world of sin and sensuality hastening to a greater development of power, it is wise earnestly to consider," cautions Mrs. Eddy, "whether it is the human mind or the divine Mind which is influencing one." Science and Health, pp. 82-83;
Mrs. Eddy, a faithful follower of the Master, recognized the evil of occultism and its mesmeric fascination for the unwary. With her knowledge of God's allness she confronted and scientifically punctured evil's inflated boast of intelligence and power. She deals with it thoroughly throughout the textbook, Science and Health—but especially in two whole chapters, "Animal Magnetism Unmasked" and "Christian Science versus Spiritualism." And in Miscellaneous Writings she tells us: "Truth is supreme and omnipotent. Then, whatever else seemeth to be intelligence or power is false, deluding reason and denying revelation, and seeking to dethrone Deity." Mis., p. 260;
Astrology, now riding the crest of the wave of intellectual respectability, is still a "work of darkness," no matter how up-to-date it may seem. Horoscopes that are worked out by computers differ little from those charted by wizards centuries ago. It is still the individual's belief about astrology —and not the planets or stars themselves —that affects his experience.
True, most of the daily readings of horoscopes printed in thousands of newspapers are usually so general that they can apply to anyone, but the danger lies in the reader's suggestibility. Anyone who either passively or actively accepts such predictions and character analysis may become a victim of limitations and weaknesses that could go uncorrected indefinitely, causing wholly unnecessary problems. Or he may, as a result of astrological guidance, plunge headlong into a job, a marriage, or a relationship that only an unthinking star could sanction. Such are but a few of the fruits of dethroning Deity.
Witchcraft, too, has become daringly modern. Witches have a new image; they no longer fly broomsticks but appear in public on television talk shows and lecture platforms. No matter how much good modern witches claim to do, no matter how far they attempt to divorce themselves from the Satanists and practitioners of the "black arts," witchcraft is still an evil because it encourages its adherents to disrupt other people's lives.
Occultism operates through a belief of influence. Whether it be planetary influences, electrical currents, magic potions, spells or curses, thought transference, hypnotism, spiritual control, or demonology, the belief in one mind influencing or controlling another is basic to its practice. Christian Science has nothing in common with the occult, for this Science recognizes only one real Mind, one all-encompassing, divinely loving influence that irresistibly governs all.
Presently it may seem that occultism is "hastening to a greater development of power." For complete protection from occult suggestions, each of us can earnestly consider what is influencing us and steadfastly accept the Christ as the only controlling power, the only real influence in human consciousness. We can magnify Truth's supremacy and omnipotence and rejoice that the divine Mind and its manifestation is all that really exists. As we do, we put on "the armour of light." This helps light the way for all mankind.
Sooner or later all must give up any claim to human power and give in to God's complete control. All will find themselves in the realm of spiritual understanding, where "there shall be no more curse . . . . And there shalt be no night there." Rev. 22:3, 5.
