A last look at cult expert Steve Hassan's Freedom of Mind

After producing a series of articles in which I highlight and comment on material of special interest from Steven Hassan's best-selling guidebooks Combating Cult Mind Control and Freedom of Mind, I thought that I had reached the end of the exercise. However, Freedom of Mind has inspired just one more post.

Steve Hassan's detailed advice about how families and friends can help cult members and cult leavers via his Strategic Interactive Approach (SIA) is very useful indeed. It is best to go straight to the source for his wise words on building teams, planning interventions, role playing, winning the trust of the cult member, asking key questions and other associated exercises and procedures; here I just want to feature a few miscellaneous extracts of particular interest, some of which have a wider application.

Indirectly asking for help
Steve Hassan describes a technique used by clever cult members to drop subtle hints to their families:

“I have had several families contact me after their cult son or daughter told them not to get a professional counselor to get them out. Before the cult member made that remark, the families had not realized that they could contact someone like me for help.”

This approach could be used in other situations - and I don't mean just by people who say, “It's my birthday tomorrow, but please don't tell anyone and don't get me anything!”

Echoes of Dion Fortune
A recent article contains this quotation from a Dion Fortune occult novel:

“You don’t know what you do want, but you do know what you don’t want.

Steve Hassan says something similar:

“It is useful, for instance, to be able to recognize and articulate the difference between what you do not want (a mediocre job) and knowing what you do want (a fulfilling career).”

It is indeed very useful to bring goals, preferences and requirements out into the open and nail them down. 

Steve Hassan calls this exercise 'assertive motivation'. It can help to remove blocks, increase understanding and get someone going in the right direction.

Three cult-related exercises with a wider application

Steven Hassan's books Combating Cult Mind Control and Freedom of Mind contain much good advice about supporting and rehabilitating people who have escaped from destructive cults. People who want to help cult leavers and cult leavers who want to help themselves will find these books very useful.

I have mentioned some of Steve Hassan's suggestions in previous articles inspired by his books. Some of the techniques and practices that he promotes have a wider application: for example, people who have escaped from dysfunctional families - some of which can be very cultlike - and are trying to process the past and rehabilitate themselves may also find them worth trying. 

This article features and expands on three pieces of advice that are best followed in sequence: tell the story, rework the story and salvage as much as possible from the time spent in captivity. 

1) Telling the story
Steve Hassan says that cult leavers are stronger for being able to share their personal stories. He also says that the written word is a powerful medium of communication, and that writing the entire story down helps the writer to process and gain a better perspective on the experiences.

This is all very true, but the story-telling exercise may be very time consuming and it may be difficult to know where to start. 

This applies even more to people who are trying to come to terms with and move on from many years of neglect and ill-treatment at the hands of their families. People who are both cult leavers and members of dysfunctional families will have a lot of material to process.

A spreadsheet for topics and timelines provides a good structure and framework for the narrative, and using it to record key elements in someone's life may save time in the long run.

There are so many variables and different stories to tell that it is impossible to design a 'one size fits all' template. 

A good way to get the ball rolling is to set up column headings and sub-headings for basic, useful and important information. It is advisable to start with key items such as people, addresses, dates and milestones. Lists of elements such as food and clothes, schools and jobs, toys and pets, books and music, entertainment, outings and travel will help to fill out the picture of the past. Other categories could include accidents, illnesses and painful incidents such as a family breakup. Political events and news items that made a big impression may also be worth recording.

It is best to concentrate on one aspect at a time and follow it through in sequence over the years of dependency and captivity.

A few quotations from Dion Fortune's occult novels

In addition to her non-fiction books, the occultist Dion Fortune wrote five novels. While the stories themselves don't inspire commentary, some of the expressions and observations in these novels really stand out and are worth highlighting. 

This article contains a few propositions that particularly resonated when I first came across them.

Beggars can't be choosers

“...it does not do to be angry with life unless one has private means...”

From The Winged Bull (1935)

These wise words may be painful to read and difficult to accept, but they are very true. This may be a bitter pill to swallow, but the difference between operating from a position of weakness and operating from a position of strength is often a matter of financial independence. 

Some people just can't afford to have any feelings or views; they would make things worse for themselves and lose what little they have by challenging someone or something. 

People who have private means, money that is not dependent on the employment market or the whims of other people, are very fortunate: they don't need to put up with the hardships, ill-treatment and injustices that wage slaves and penniless people are forced to endure. 

They can afford to take a stand and fight for their cause.

Independence of mind is another great advantage

“People who value public opinion are at a very great disadvantage in dealing with people who don't.”

From The Sea Priestess (1938)

This proposition complements the one above.  It can also apply to people who overvalue the opinions of the people around them.

People who value public opinion can indeed be greatly handicapped when both dealing and competing with people who don't. 

People pleasers and others who care very much what people in general think of them are operating from a position of weakness. They may feel that they can't afford to get angry, say what they really think or do what they really want to do. Fear of negative reactions and manipulations such as criticism, disapproval, reproaches and rejection may hold them back and keep them in their place while people who don't care what others think of them forge ahead. 

People who are indifferent to public opinion operate from a position of strength. They have independent means – on the inside. They can afford to be straight with other people. They have the courage of their convictions; they take their own path through life, going where the other lot can't follow. 

Anyone who has both financial and psychological independence is very fortunate indeed.

Two more victims of 'psychological black magic'

The article about two very convenient 'accidents' describes how a work colleague escaped from some difficult situations at someone else's expense. 

I have remembered another example of someone I worked with causing suffering to others by using illegitimate methods to deal with a work-related problem. 

The victim of the first colleague was a little girl; on the second occasion two young men were involved. These men became ill rather than having accidents and they were deliberately targeted rather than indirectly affected, but once again the case involved a perpetrator who failed to negotiate with people in the normal manner and the phenomenon that I think of as psychological black magic.

The background to the story
The events described here happened some years after the first case, and they took place in a different company. 

They involved a colleague I shall call Ms X. I was very wary of her right from the start, and the trouble that she subsequently caused, of which this story is just a small example, showed that my instincts were correct.

Ms X was a senior accountant. In addition to her main job, she did the accounts for another organisation or two on a voluntary basis in her spare time – I think it was for the Brownies and/or her local church. 

The voluntary work started to feel like an imposition. Rather than just tell the people concerned that it was getting too much for her, Ms X very typically tried to manipulate some fellow employees into taking her place.

The first victim
Ms X got one of the more junior accountants to take on some of her voluntary work; he then became very ill and took extended medical leave. By the time he returned, she had left the company.

The second victim
The second man was a colleague of the first. He resisted the pressure to take over some of the voluntary accounts work; he then became very depressed. He left the company. His new job didn't work out, and he eventually returned to his old position.  By this time, Ms X had left the company.

A tale of two very convenient 'accidents'

The article about workplace memories was inspired by a few comments made to me by fellow workers many years ago. 

Two incidents involving another colleague surfaced in my mind recently while I was thinking about the past. Again, they seem much more significant now that they did at the time. They provide supporting evidence for some of my ideas about psychological black magic, one of the unseen influences that inspired the creation of this blog.

The first 'accident'
It all started when a colleague, a computer programmer I shall call Mrs M., realised that she had made a mistake after making some requested changes and putting the updated software onto a spool of magnetic tape for the computer operators to release into the live system. She suddenly thought of a possible problem; rather than confess and follow the proper procedures, she fixed the error and when she thought that no one was looking went to replace the original tape with the new one that she had made.

Mrs M. got caught by the operators in the act of substituting the new tape for the old one. She was not too popular with them and they had a big argument. She became very upset and said, “Why can't they trust me?” 

The atmosphere was becoming increasingly charged, then her phone rang. It was a neighbour: Mrs M.'s little girl had just fallen from her bike and the neighbour had carried her inside. She was slightly hurt, and the neighbour wanted Mrs M. to go and collect her.

So Mrs M. was off the hook – for a while at least. She had a perfect pretext for escaping from the office and the trouble that she had created.

A few points about helping cult leavers

This is the fourth and final article inspired by exit-counsellor Steven Hassan's thought-provoking book Combating Cult Mind Control, his illuminating 'Guide to Protection, Rescue, and Recovery from Destructive Cults'. 

The first article covers some of the interesting things that Steve Hassan has to say about how cults recruit people. 

The second article contains disturbing information about life inside cults.

The third article features a few of the useful points that he makes in connection with getting people out of cults.

I now want to highlight a few of his ideas about helping people who have left a cult. I have already produced an article about life after leaving a cult, but Steve Hassan's book has inspired some more commentary. 

Would-be helpers need to understand what they are up against and dealing with; Steve Hassan has some distressing and depressing information about this. 

Helpers also need to learn what to do about it; the book has some useful and encouraging suggestions about what works best when helping cult leavers rediscover and live from their real selves, recover from the abuse they have endured and make new, productive lives for themselves.

The worst comes first
Steve Hassan has a lot to say about the many and severe problems faced by cult leavers, the biggest of which is loss of identity. They may also be suffering from arrested development, they may behave in an inappropriately dependent way, their self-esteem may have been destroyed, their critical faculties may be atrophied, they may have memory loss and find it difficult to concentrate, they may have trouble making decisions and they may have serious adjustment problems.

They may also be living in fear of some kind of retaliation by the cult.

More minor incidents at the autumn equinox

Last year, I posted about some incidents at the time of the autumn equinox. They involved two rather weird women I encountered when I went out shopping while feeling under the weather. 

Once again, it is the time of year when seasonal depression may strike.

Once again, it is the time when strangers may behave strangely! 

I have a little more of the same to report. The recent incidents, the first since last year's equinox, were minor, even more so than they were last time around. They may hardly seem worth mentioning, but getting these things down in writing is good practice and may have good results. 

Last year, one of my shopping trips was a waste of time; my recent long bus trip to a big new branch of a store I like and a street market was also fruitless: I found that the store was self-checkout only, which for me is a deal-breaker, and the market was run down and didn't have many stalls.

The buses were packed on the journey out; a woman with a shopping bag with 'Jesus' on it got on, and kept saying things such as “May the Lord bless you” and “Jesus loves you” to someone who offered her a seat. She also made some random religious remarks. Someone who sat next to me seemed a little over-friendly, but I just replied pleasantly to her enthusiastic remarks.

I was a little down because of the time of year; the disappointing outcome of my journey made me feel slightly worse, so I decided to cut my losses and go home. I had a long wait for a bus; during this time a man at the bus stop kept talking loudly to himself, saying the same thing over and over again. I was a bit wary as he seemed rather angry, but he was probably harmless. He eventually got on a bus that came before mine did. 

I had to change buses, and while I was waiting a woman started to talk about my shopping bag and how it was not set up correctly. She even moved a flap to where it could reach some velcro. This was an improvement, and rather than feeling threatened or offended I thanked her for her help.

That was the end of this year's incidents. 

A few workplace memories with a wider application

A few comments that were made by colleagues in companies I worked for many years ago suddenly surfaced in my mind recently and inspired an article. At the time, I just accepted the remarks at face value; now, they seem more significant and to have a wider application. 

Settling for far too little
I remember a time when a new IT manager was taken on. One of his first tasks was to go round to each workstation in turn and speed it up.

The boss said that he had no idea what had been done, but he wanted everyone to know how amazed and delighted he was with his workstation's performance after the upgrade. 

The IT man told me that he was amazed to see what the workstation users had been living with for a long time in terms of a very slow service. He said that he had seen similar situations in his previous job and couldn't believe what people had been putting up with until he arrived to sort things out.

I have often felt amazed for similar reasons myself, and in many different scenarios. How can some people put up with what they are getting? How can they settle for so little?  Do they not know how much better things could be? Probably not; Who having known the Diamond and all that.

Or maybe they are aware that what they have is of low quality, but assume that for them a better deal is unattainable.

It is always advisable to monitor what is out there and investigate the chances of moving on to something better. It is also a good idea to seek advice and assistance from someone more knowledgeable and experienced.

Seeing with new eyes
A memory that comes to mind in a similar connection is of a colleague who resisted wearing glasses for a long time - contact lenses were not an option for some reason. She finally bought some, and was amazed at how much clearer and stronger her vision was.

She told me that she wanted to cry when she realised how much better things could have been and how much she had been missing all this time.

Acting unprofessionally and out of character revisited

A few examples of people causing damage by acting unprofessionally and out of character have been given in the past; the time has now come to go into this phenomenon in a little more detail. 

The multi-level approach to finding explanations article mentions some of the influences that might cause people who are normally professional and efficient to behave uncharacteristically and make serious mistakes; this article revisits the issue, expands on these influences and includes some supporting material from previous articles.

The cases of interest here are those that occur at the third level down, the dimension where unseen influences such as energy vampires, people with witch-like personalities, psychic crime and psychological black magic operate.

There are questions to ask and possibilities to eliminate at each level before descending to the one below; there are also some points to be made before starting the exercise.

The definition of the problem
It is important to understand that examples of people doing something wrong are worth investigating only where two elements appear together i.e. when someone acts both unprofessionally and out of character. After all, some people will act unprofessionally because this is their usual mode of operation; not only that, a few of these incompetents might act out of character by doing a good, professional job for once! Neither of these groups is relevant here.

Acceptable margin of error
People are not machines; they sometimes have off days. Occasional errors will be made and should be allowed for, but an investigation into the cause is called for when so much damage has been done that the mistake cannot be overlooked, excused or explained away.

This is where the multi-level approach comes in.

Level 1: the person and the job
On this, the top, level, it is best to work systematically through a list of the most obvious and likely explanations for a damaging, out of character action. The possibilities fall into two groups: one is of factors in the life of the person who made the mistake and the other of common and typical problems with the job.

Two minor incidents involving more help with doors

This blog contains many examples of 'incidents' in my life, both good and bad. 

The most recent article on this subject describes two weird women I encountered around the time of the last Autumn Equinox. These women have recently been balanced by two helpful men. The incidents that they were involved in were very minor, but it is always good practice to acknowledge favours from the universe.

I believe that recording and analysing incidents, good and bad, large and small, has helped to increase the number of positive experiences in my life and reduce the number of negative ones. 

The recent incidents support this belief. I had been feeling under the weather for various reasons at the time; this often results in unpleasant experiences when I am out, but not on these occasions.

The empty office
I had to go to a meeting in a place I had not visited for a while. 

The lights were low and the air was cold – probably to save electricity - and the place seemed to be empty. I struggled to open a fire door to get into the offices, then wondered whether I had come to the wrong floor by mistake.

I felt confused and uncertain what to do. A man suddenly appeared; he was very helpful: he assured me that meetings were always held on the floor below and saw me to the lift. I thanked him for his help.

The security door
I went to collect my laptop from the repair company I had left it with. They had moved offices since my first visit and were now in a different building. 

I really dislike modern security doors with their panel of buzzers, often with semi-legible names. Getting the door open when buzzed in can be a problem, as can finding the right floor and the right office door. In the past I have encountered front doors that won't open, inadequate and misleading signage, inconsistent floor numbering in the lifts and long empty corridors. These things can turn a visit into a nightmare scenario.

However, once again a helpful man who knew his way round the building suddenly appeared. He found the buzzer for the company I was looking for, opened the door and showed me where the lift was. I told him how grateful I was that he had come along at just the right time.

Isaac Asimov, public libraries, and National Science Fiction Day

This article for January 2nd is the last in a string of lighter posts for the holiday season. It will soon be time to get back to the depressing biographies and other heavy topics!

January 2nd is the official birthday of the great - if not the greatest - science fiction writer Isaac Asimov, who was featured in an article that marked the 25th anniversary of his death. There is also an article about a never forgiven or forgotten brushing-off experience that he had in common with Noel Streatfeild.

Isaac Asimov and public libraries 
Just like many other writers, Terry Pratchett for example, Isaac Asimov was a great user of public libraries as a boy. He learned far more from library books than he did at school, as did I and many other self-educators.

His autobiography In Memory Yet Green contains some details of his early dealings with public libraries, which he first joined at the age of six. Just as I did, he managed to wangle cards from two different libraries so got twice the normal ration of books; just I did, Asimov was soon able to get access to the adult section.

Isaac Asimov read voraciously to satisfy his craving for knowledge, but he was not indiscriminate. I could have written this myself:

“I wanted excitement and action in my stories rather than introspection, soul-searching, and unpleasant people. So if I did reach for fiction in the library it was likely to be a historical novel by Rafael Sabatini...(Usually, when I discovered one book by a prolific author I found I liked I would methodically go through all the others by him I could find.)“

Isaac Asimov remembers public libraries 
Even though he moved on to academic and other professional libraries and eventually established a reference library of his own at home, Isaac Asimov never forgot the huge debt that he owed to public libraries.

Something about the Open Library

When I wrote about public libraries and the lockdowns around a year ago, I said that eBooks and other online material can help to compensate for the lack of access to physical library books. 

The library restrictions eased during the summer, but there is a possibility that stricter rules will soon be re-instated. If so, I will once again stop visiting the public library. The pile of my own books that I set aside last year to re-read and donate in batches has shrunk to almost nothing, but I have found a new – to me - online resource in the form of the Open Library, a not-for-profit project that operates very like a public library.

Project Gutenberg is a good source of digitised books, but in some ways the Open Library is better. 

Where Project Gutenberg has only older books that are in the public domain because their copyrights have expired, the Open Library's lending stock includes newer, in-copyright books; where Project Gutenberg's books are available in various modern formats, the Open Library provides online images of the original print versions: readers get scanned covers and text pages, and illustrations and photographs are often reproduced too. 

As can be seen from the labels, ticket pockets and date stamps on some opening pages, many of the books were provided by public libraries; this makes the reading experience even more like the real thing.

Where Project Gutenberg has lists, the Open Library also has 'shelves' that are organised and can be browsed like those in a physical library.  

The ever-growing Open Library catalogue aims to list all works by a particular author whether they are in the Library or not; it is possible to select only those that are available for Reading and Borrowing.

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and facing the truth

There is a price for everything, and dealing in the truth is no exception. One of the articles about Upton Sinclair covers some aspects of this, and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle too had something to say on the subject of facing up to the truth.

In Conan Doyle's horror story The Parasite, Austin Gilroy says something that is worth highlighting:

“At least, I have shown that my devotion to science is greater than to my own personal consistency. The eating of our own words is the greatest sacrifice which truth ever requires of us.”

Some sacrifices can be very painful indeed. People who put respect for the truth above all else need great courage and endurance as it often involves dealing with very unwelcome, unpalatable, horrific and agonising even, information, insights, implications and conclusions.

Conan Doyle knew how much courage it can take for someone to align themselves with objective, unvarnished truths by discarding ignorance, illusions and wrong ideas.

Sherlock Holmes says this in Laurie R. King's tribute novel The Beekeeper's Apprentice:

“...there is no treachery in the truth. There may be pain, but to face honestly all possible conclusions formed by a set of facts is the noblest route possible for a human being.”

This quotation is often attributed to Conan Doyle, but no source is given. I couldn't find it in the Sherlock Holmes Complete Collection. Whatever the origin, it is very true; it deserves to be better known.

Protesting against local library closures in 2016

The previously-mentioned thread on a now closed forum about the value or otherwise of public libraries was created in 2016 by someone who had received a series of appeals to protest against the closure of his local public library. He thought that the protesters were making a fuss about nothing; I disagreed.

This is how it all started:

“I'm constantly receiving junk mail through my letterbox, informing me of protests to save the local library, which the district council has announced will be closed down. I'm completely apathetic towards the library; this is a small village and no one ever uses it. The situation is the same across the district: this is a rural district with no big towns, and the council have announced they're closing down several other small village libraries...”

He went on to say that public libraries are an outdated luxury and there are better options available. He alleged that people who protest against funding cuts and library closures are virtue-signalling, do-gooding, politically correct, lefty liberal middle-class Guardian readers acting out of pretended concern for 'the poor'!

I found an article that tells a very different story. 

A protest against closures in Cornwall

Here is a cry from the heart from a retired Cornishman who used to run library services; it shows how essential public libraries are for some people:

“Cornwall's library service was a high performer at a low cost compared to almost every council service down here and library services elsewhere.

It will surprise no one that I am dismayed that two thirds of libraries in Cornwall are recommended for the chop. My dismay may not matter very much; it's much more important for the parent who wants books for her children.

It's much more important if, like my mother, you are losing your sight and won't find large print and audio books anywhere else.

It's much more important if you're one of the 800 housebound people in Cornwall waiting in vain for a volunteer to bring you books from the library.

If you're a suit in County Hall, yes, you can order a book from Amazon in your lunch hour to read on your Kindle.

Public libraries and the lockdowns

My local public library was closed for several months earlier this year because of the coronavirus restrictions.  The online reservation service was not available for a while after they re-opened; now that it has been reinstated there are so many rules and restrictions that for me library visits are just not worth the trouble.

I don't want to have to deal with the welcoming committee at the door with their demands for contact details for Test and Trace, not to mention the compulsory face masks and hand sanitising! Reserving books would entail letting them know in advance what time I am coming to collect them, which doesn't appeal either.

I took two library books out just before the first lockdown started; they were automatically renewed so I didn't have to pay any fines for non-return. Taking them back when my library re-opened in July is the only time I have visited the place since March.

Some people max-ed out their library cards just before the first lockdown started so as to get a lot of reading material in before holing up at home; I have been filling the gap with online and downloaded material and by reading some of my own books one last time before donating them to charity shops. 

Former library books: a slight digression

My local library has book sales from time to time, but I have never seen anything I want. When it comes to buying books, there are much better sources.

Many of the books I have been reading during the lockdown were second hand and came from charity shops or eBay; ironically, many of them were ex library!  I bought them either before I re-joined the public library because I had no choice but to pay for reading material or after because they were not in the online catalogue. 

Some amusing criticisms of public libraries

This is the sixth article in the series about public libraries, with more still to come.

As previously mentioned, the value or otherwise of public libraries to the community was discussed in detail on the old Conservative Conspiracy Forum. Four members including me were strongly in favour of them while three took a negative view. 

While I couldn’t agree from my own experience with some of the criticisms, at least one of the antis lived in a small village so what they said may be true in the case of public libraries outside the big cities.

While some of the points made by the critics may have been valid, others seemed feeble, off the mark or even a little bizarre. 

I have salvaged some of the old material for reproducing on here. 

Uncomfortable chairs and spying

One CC member said this:

“I pretty much stopped using the library when they changed all the chairs to uncomfortable plastic jobs, because lots kept on breaking, and staining.”

Who says you have to read your library books in house! 

This is a good point where reference libraries and people who go in to use the Internet are concerned though.

Then there was this gem:

“You're being spied upon in the library, too - those places are covered in CCTV cameras, and every book you take out is kept on your record in the library's database, which can be accessed at will by the local government. Unfortunately, Big Brother surveillance is a feature of 21st century life, whether you're online or offline.”

I would be happy for anyone to see a list of the books I have borrowed, and anyway why would anyone be interested in me as an individual? Monitoring borrowings highlights patterns; it enables libraries to obtain statistics on which books are being taken out and by which demographics. Such information may help to decide which books are bought and which sold off. Maybe they discard certain books when they have not been borrowed for many years.

Context and the total picture: Part III

The previous article in the series describes how some people who for better or worse put painful personal experiences into the context of a few other, often well-known, people’s lives decide to leave it at that.  They go just as far as they want or are able to go.

Now it is time to say something about the next steps on the path to detecting and understanding the unseen influences that appear to be at work in certain people’s lives.

Up to this point, candidates for moving on may have come across some interesting information incidentally and in small amounts; now they change their approach and do some investigations - actively looking for writers with Celtic connections after coming across one or two with Scottish ancestry for example. This involves a top-down rather than a bottom-up approach. 

This stage also involves putting aside the personal approach in favour of thinking objectively and analytically about various patterns and common elements in the lives of many people of interest. These may or may not be elements that the investigator shares with them. 

Investigators may then move on to a stage where they start to wonder what, if anything, might be behind the patterns they detect. They start to think about the What, the Who, the How and the Why.

For example, I have experienced some unexpected, unwelcome and unsettling encounters  with people from the past. Recently I discovered that this also happened to the novelist Antonia White.  These encounters are not just random painful personal experiences shared with one or two others: looked at objectively and summarised, they are typical of the unpleasant incidents that certain selected people endure when, for example, they are at a low ebb, have received a jarring shock or had an encounter with an energy vampire.

This leads to speculation about orchestration, distress signals, telepathy and people who are remotely controlled by puppet masters behind the scenes! What forces are in operation? How does it all work? Who or what is behind it?

Predatory ghosts in Jonathan Stroud’s Lockwood books

Jonathan Stroud’s predatory ghosts were introduced in a brief article in which some of their similarities to Terry Pratchett’s Elves were mentioned.

Since then, I have re-read Jonathan Stroud’s excellent Lockwood & Co. series and experienced an attack by a predator. This has inspired me to repeat, enhance and add to some of the original material.

The Lockwood & Co. books

The main characters in these supernatural thrillers are very interesting, and there is much witty and amusing dialogue. The action mostly takes place in and around an alternative version of modern-day London, which for me makes the stories even more enjoyable to read.

While much of the material doesn't inspire commentary, there is some particularly illuminating and relevant information about predatory ghosts in The Empty Grave, the fifth and final full-length Lockwood & Co. novel. 

Just as Terry Pratchett did with his Elves, Jonathan Stroud gives some warnings about his ghosts in words that have a wider application - to energy vampires and other predators for example - and provide independent confirmation of a few points made on here.

Jonathan Stroud’s ghosts
The ghosts that invade the world of the living are known as Visitors; they come from the Other Side. They are malignant and very dangerous, often deadly. There is an ever-increasing infestation of them, known as the Problem.

Destroying these ghosts is a profession in itself, a service rather like exorcism or pest control, which is where Anthony Lockwood and his fellow agents in his paranormal detection agency Lockwood & Co. come in. 

In their world, the only good ghost is an eradicated ghost.

Context and the total picture: Part II

Part I introduces the idea that putting painful experiences into the context of the lives of well-known people can have both positive and negative effects. 

Some people are the worse for learning that they are not alone, some take comfort in the idea and try to make the best of things and a few of them take another big step forward: they start noticing patterns, joining dots and making connections. 

It seems strange to me that some of the writers featured on here appear never to have reached even the first stage. Their writings are full of insights about themselves and their lives but they looked at it all in isolation. 

No context for their lives
I first mentioned this important point in an article about the poet Kathleen Raine: I said that while she made a good, honest evaluation of herself and her life, she did not compare it with the personalities and lives of other creative writers. She actually had many ideas, insights, feelings and experiences in common with some of them, but she never, at least publicly, did much to put her life into the context of the lives of other, similar, people. 

For example, she admitted that her thoughts about and feelings for Gavin Maxwell placed a heavy and intrusive psychic burden on him and that he eventually turned against her because of this. He may not have been the only person she had a bad effect on: he called her a destroyer.

Would it have made things better or worse if she had known about the terrible effect that J. M. Barrie had on the Llewelyn Davies boys and their parents or Benjamin Disraeli had on various people?

Stella Gibbons, white magic and balancing the books

Feelings of depression and of being psychically poisoned are not the only problems faced by suggestible and impressionable readers.

When reading the previously mentioned biographical material, I have often felt exasperated by the subjects’ negativity, melodramatic outbursts and self-indulgent behaviour, lack of common sense and blindness to the cause of some of their problems.

Some writers’ chronic money troubles for example could often have been avoided. As for the messy relationships, why did they get involved with such awful people in the first place? Why did they never learn from experience? Why couldn’t they see that they were their own worst enemies! 

Reading other books just for their uplifting effect is not enough here: something more is needed. So what are the best solutions?

Stella Gibbons’s solution
Stella Gibbons became so exasperated by the doomy and dismal books of Mary Webb and similar writers that she wrote Cold Comfort Farm both as a parody of rural melodramas and a remedy for the plight of the characters. 

She transmuted tragedies into comedies and showed how common sense, determination, good advice and a positive approach could be used to produce solutions for the problems of many miserable and apparently doomed people, transform unsatisfactory lives and bring order out of chaos. 

Re-writing the scenarios to give them a positive outcome as Stella Gibbons did is a good way to break the spell; it can even be a form of white magic. 

Something like this happens in Sheri S. Tepper’s Marianne Trilogy, when an ally who is a white magician replaces a series of sinister gifts sent to Marianne by a black witch with similar but wholesome gifts to reverse the evil effects.