I first learned about this episode in
Strindberg’s life from The Occult by Colin Wilson, who got his information from
Strindberg’s autobiographical novel Inferno. This bizarre book, which can be found on Project Gutenberg, is based on the diary that
Strindberg kept at the time.
Strindberg believed that he had brought all
his troubles on himself and attracted evil influences into his life by
deliberately using his special powers in an attempt to practise psychological black
magic.
There is much material of interest and some
familiar features in this case. It will take more than one article to summarise
even the most relevant and significant details of the nightmare episode, provide
a commentary and make some connections.
We begin with some information about when and
why the trouble started.
An obvious starting point
An obvious starting point
As described in many articles, there have
been occasions in my life when, after going for days, weeks, months, even years
without anything unusual to report, I suddenly experience a string of minor
misfortunes. There is an obvious starting point to the incidents; they stand
out in comparison with the preceding uneventful days.
It seems to me very significant that
Strindberg was going through a good patch in his life just before it all went
wrong. In his own words:
“The summer and autumn of the year 1895 I
count, on the whole, among the happiest stages of my eventful life. All my
attempts succeed; unknown friends bring me food as the ravens did to Elijah.
Money flows in; I can buy books and scientific instruments...”
Then he did something that caused it all to
go into reverse. There is an obvious starting point to his misfortunes, which stand
out in comparison with his prior easy existence.
An
obvious cause
This blog contains many examples of minor
misfortunes and unpleasant incidents that I have experienced over the years.
These are not the ordinary problems and setbacks of life: they are caused by
unseen influences.
When I have a bad day, I look for the cause.
I can usually attribute it to one of a small number of possibilities. Bad
energy or distress signals are often involved. For example, I may have been in
contact with an energy vampire or had a nasty, jarring shock.
August Strindberg knew very well what caused
his life to turn into a nightmare.
He was separated from his wife and child and
a divorce was on the horizon. While at first he enjoyed his freedom, he began
to feel lonely. He wanted to engineer a reconciliation. Rather than negotiate by letter like a
normal person, he used his powers to try to influence his family remotely.
He had a ‘good idea’: if his little girl became
ill, her mother would send for him:
“Children are always more or less ill; a
mother's fear exaggerates the danger; a telegram follows, and all is said. I had no idea of practising magic, but an
unwholesome instinct suggested I must set to work with the picture of my dear
little daughter…”
So he concentrated on his little girl’s
photograph and wished that she would fall ill just so that he would have a
pretext for getting together with his family again.
There is more to come about this evil action,
but for now it is enough to say that creating such mental scenarios and performing
procedures to actualise them is asking for trouble. Performing psychological
black magic attracts all kinds of evil entities and surrounds the practitioners
with bad energy that affects everything and everyone around them.
The troubles begin
Strindberg soon began to feel the effects of
his evil action. He spoke of it in terms of punishment, Paradise Lost and The
Fall:
“The fall has happened. I feel the
mercilessness of the unknown powers weigh heavily upon me. The hand of the
invisible is lifted and the blows fall thickly upon my head.
In the first place, my anonymous friend who
has supported me hitherto, feels insulted and deserts me, because I had written
him a presumptuous letter. So I am left without means.
Moreover, when I receive the proofs of my
work Sylva Sylvarum, I find the text in complete confusion. Not only are
the pages mixed and wrongly numbered, but the different parts are confused…
After endless hesitations and delays, the pamphlet is at last printed, but when
the printer sends me the bill, I find that it amounts to more than double the
sum originally agreed upon. I am obliged, to my regret, to pawn my microscope,
my black suit, and some remaining ornaments…”
These personal, professional and financial misfortunes
were just the start of Strindberg’s troubles; his journey through Hell had only
just begun.
