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Angel Of The Threshold

When he comes to the gate of higher consciousness, however, he will be met by the Angel of the Threshold who will ask him the age-old question that he must answer before he can pass on, and the answer to this question is not any Shibboleth that admits to a secret society, but the very reasonable query to be addressed to the stranger who knocks at any door, "What is it you want?" and the answer to that question will depend, not on the knowledge, but on the character of the applicant. If rightly answered, the way will be made plain for his advancement; if wrongly answered, he will be left to find his way back to the Earth plane as best he may, and that is neither a very pleasant nor a very safe experience.

The Power Circuit

To study occultism is to connect up with a great power-house in the Unseen. There may be no tangible results, because one's nature is made of non-conducting material; or because doubt of the reality of the phenomena investigated prevents the terminals of the psychic contact from being pushed home in their sockets.

Knowledge and Force form the two poles of the circuit, and when these are conjoined the power flows through. A nature which contains no force can study the sacred science and no results will be brought about, and a nature which has no knowledge will be unable to utilize its force. But where there are both knowledge and force, it is only a matter of time until some illuminative idea gives a sudden glimpse of the significance of the inner life, which completes the contact, and that person, for good or ill, is in circuit with the unseen power-house.

Not Child's Play

Occult science, in itself, is neither good nor evil, save as it is used, and that is why it is so necessary to approach it with clean hands, a pure heart, and a disciplined and dedicated will.

Occultism is not child's play, and it is very far from being fool-proof. For its pursuit strength is required, as well purity; but all who have touched its deeper issues unite in declaring that it is no will o' the wisp, dancing over a bottomless bog, but a true path to the Light, though narrow as a razor's edge.

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