Occult Psychology
by Alta J. LaDage
Forward
Chapter
1
The Eternal Quest
Chapter
2
The Roots of the Qabalah
Chapter
3
The Teachings of the Qabalah
Chapter
4
The Universal Force
Chapter
5
The Collective Unconscious
Chapter
6
The Archetypes as Psychological Factors
Chapter
7
The Archetypes - The Gods on the Tree
Chapter
8
The Four Functions
Chapter
9
The Process of Individuation
Occult Psychology
By Alta J. LaDage
Forward
The
purpose of this book is to describe, in as far as I understand, some of the
inner correspondences between the Qabalah and the psychology of C. C. Yung.
For this task I expect more criticism than praise, for even though there has
been an equally strong antipathy among their practitioners and adherents.
Occultists have accepted and absorbed Jung’s psychology to some degree,
on the other hand, have made a great effort to be "empirical"
and to prove things "scientifically." They have been criticized
for being "mystical" so much that they are too defensive about it.
Therefore they tend to reject much of occultism and to insulate themselves from
it.
Alchemy has come to have a certain
acceptance with Jung’s followers, and even with others, because of Jung’s
influence. But the Qabalah, even for all the interest shown in it in
recent years, is still relatively unknown. Yet much of the cosmology and
the philosophical writing so the alchemists were derived from the Qabalah,
and the Qabalah is an older (and purer) source. In many cases the
alchemists sought to "cover-up" the knowledge by overlaying it with
the symbolism of metals; this can be more of a blind to understand than n an
aid. The original Qabalah contains the ideas pure without the symbolic
coverings. Some Qabalists have been miffed because Jung did not give the
Qabalah as much space in his works as he did to the source material he gathered
from Eastern philosophical systems. But how much can we expect of the man
in one life? His books occupy a full shelf in my library and I can not
understand everything in them. How can we expect him to have done more!
But I have also heard it said that Jung had personal disrespect for his occult
contemporaries. If this were true, then this feeling, on the part of a few
occultists, was returned in kind. It led to split that has not yet been
healed, and may never heal. Jung came to do a service for many, just as
Madam Blavatsky did. Neither one choose to join an existing lodge, but
founded their own institutions. They where competes for the minds of their
contemporaries. But we who follow much later, need not to follow a single
banner so religiously. Some of Jung’s contemporaries also feel
that Jung’s cribbed from their works without giving them credit, but he in
turn had an urge to make these idea’s acceptable to the university mind.
He came to bring ideas to the rational thinker just as HPB came to bring Eastern
ideas to the West.
Jung so counteracted the current
trend in occultism to stress the magical aspect to the exclusion of the
mystical. The magical uses of the Tree-to analyze and manipulate the other
worlds, astrology, witchcraft, palmistry, healing (the emphasis on
physical health is very strong in magical types), Gematria-are "side
pillar" powers, and these can exert fascination over the student That
can often divert him from his goal of self-realization. Although Blavatsky
reestablished our Western Wisdom for us, most of her descendants adopted only
the superficial aspects of her work: The phenomena of miracles. But Jung
addressed himself understanding. To the extent that he was successful in this,
he can be said to be more properly in the mainstream of Western Occult
Tradition, Serving the development of the inner man.
Such an idea will no doubt raise a
great cry of protest from Qabalists and Jungians alike. Neither group has
any particular interest in being associated with the other. The
psychologists will criticize me for being mystical and the occultists will
criticize me for abandoning the purity of the ancient doctrine and selling out
to science. But so be it. I have heard the same said about my
own teacher, whose background and training were in Eastern Yoga, therefore
Associate his work with either occultism or psychology, though he drew heavily
from both camps. This is the petty quarreling of primitive chauvinism.
Because I do not belong to either tribe I can be free to adopt the wisdom of
both without having to restrict myself to what a group- mind would decree as
acceptable doctrine. My service is to the Law itself, and I cannot refuse
Its urge to manifest Itself.
This book is not intended to be
"scientific" or even rational! It is rather to be taken
intuitively and it should be used not as a source of study and thinking, but as
a source of dreaming and inspiration. In other words, it speaks to the
intuitive mind and to the unconscious rather than to the cortical mind. I
do hope, however, that it will arouse in the reader some respect for the
ancient wisdom left us by our forbears. In many cases they suffered great
brutalities for their heresies, so that we might be able to buy them in
paperback editions at the local liquor store. But just because we can buy
them at the liquor store, we are prone to not value the tragic cost to those who
made this easy access to truth possible to us today. Such great sacrifice
deserves more reward than the superficial attention we give to them as
curiosities.