Psychic Self-Defense, by Dion Fortune

$9.95, trade paper, ISBN: 0-87728-381-8, Samuel Weiser

Spiritual Cleansing: A Handbook of Psychic Protection, by Draja Mickaharic

$5.95, trade paper, ISBN: 0-87728-531-4 Samuel Weiser

In the preface to Dion Fortune's Psychic Self-Defense, she speaks of the key experiences that lead to the study of psychology and occultism. She explains "I cite my own case, painful as it is to do so, because an ounce of experience is worth a pound of theory." Fortune had extensive background in psychological states and non-consensus reality phenomena, as well as the training of an adept in the Western magical tradition. Her anecdotes and case-histories in this book can be hair-raising and seem fanciful or beyond the pale. Nevertheless, the stories ring true, and Fortune's interpretations and advice are not to be discounted.

Prior to reading Ms. Fortune's hook, I had very little contact with occult reading matter. I also had, prior to my experience, the pollyanna-ish attitude that everyone on his/her way to the "city of brotherly love" should at least be willing to hold each other's hands symbolically. But here I was after years of intense self-observation under a variety of stressful circumstances, behaving in a manner I could not recognize as being even within my widest range of normal. Nor did my behavior look like new, "about to be normal," behavior. Something was amiss, my intuition kept telling me, and when my increasingly poor health started rendering me nonfunctional, it was time to find a different kind of help, outside the scope of my usual practices. A friend of mine told me that a friend of theirs swore that Psychic Self-Defense had saved her life, and so I thought it was time to check out this "occult classic," about which I had heard some years before.

The first experience I had was relief in seeing my symptoms addressed intelligently and responsibly. Fortune gives the would-be diagnostician fair warning that all other possibilities should be first thoroughly ruled out before giving the diagnosis that some form of psychic attack is in progress. Another very useful piece of information is that psychic attacks are not necessarily deliberate acts between individuals.

It is useful to have some background in the occult as well as psychology in order to be able to appreciate readily some of the author's analogies. But her clarity of vision and broad-based understanding as she explores the areas where the occult and psychology overlap float the reader over some rather murky waters. Even though the cases cited seemed far more melodramatic and occult than my own, her lucidity of presentation enabled me to extrapolate principles that helped me to view the problems I was having in a new light. At the end of her Preface, Dion Fortune states, "My chief aim in speaking so frankly is to open the eyes of men and women to the nature of the forces that are at work below the surface of everyday life. It may happen to any one of us to break through the thin crust of normality and find ourselves face to face with these forces. Reading of the cases cited in this hook, we may well say that there, but for the grace of God, goes any one of us. If I can give in these pages the knowledge which protects, I shall have fulfilled my purpose."

The intention behind this work, especially considering the climate in which it came into being, displays a selfless attitude of service, an attitude backed by some genuine intervention to help others, if her writing tells the story. It is this reviewer's opinion that self-help readers should at least check out what the lady's got to say, especially if they happen to be addressing issues in the magical realm.

Spiritual Cleansing is just what the subtitle states, a handbook intended for the lay person as an introduction to this world of unseen influences. It is not intended to satisfy the needs of serious students of the occult or those who engage in ceremonial or ritual magic. In very simple, unelaborate terms, the case for the need of psychic cleansing and protection is put forth. The common, everyday type of psychic negativity is discussed, and possible remedial aids, such as baths of various kinds (with specific herbal recipes) and incenses to use are given. The warnings throughout regarding experimentation with these recipes, and especially around the selection of a spiritual practitioner, give evidence of the author's conscientious effort to inform and equip the reader to deal with a variety of common situations. There is magical banishing and warding in many everyday interventions, in much folk medicine and traditional lore, and this very decent little book makes those techniques readily available.

-Kelly Rivera

The Zen of Recovery, by Mel Ash

$15.95, Trade Paper, ISBN; 0-87477-706-2, Tarcher/Putnam

Work on one's self is not easy; it involves tenacious and persistent confrontation with one's habits and constant re-affirmation of one's spiritual goals, especially during times of despair and overwhelm. This book is written by someone who has navigated that thorny mire of self-deception and whose words are those of experience. For the recovering substance abuser and serious student of spiritual work, this book is both eloquent and raw, providing support forged from the purest elements of Zen Buddhism, and delivering it with the humility, sincerity, and urgency of some-one who has actually been there.

-Della Heywood

©1996 Gateways Books and Tapes