Cults, occultists and Stella Gibbons: Part VII

The material inspired by Stella Gibbons’s novel The Shadow of a Sorcerer has stretched to one more article.

Her occultist villain Esmé Scarron is a classic, textbook case. Much of what he says and does is scripted; it is all very predictable. Changing for the better is not part of the script, but it is an interesting exercise to think about things that he could have done and people who could have shown him the way.

What does Esmé Scarron really need?

Scarron needs to think about the inner differences between him and healthy, wholesome, decent human beings. He may be far above most people in some ways - wealth and scholarship for example - but he is far below in others.

Scarron needs to learn how to get what he wants using normal methods, not manipulation, psychological black magic and the ‘neutral force’ that he allows to run through him. He says that this force gives him his power and enables him to heal people, but he uses it to influence them against their will and best interests and to damage them.

He needs to realise that this force is a two-edged sword. Using it may have a damaging effect on him. For example, by influencing people around him so that they can’t make connections, he may be blocking himself from making some key connections.

Esmé Scarron needs to realise that he is on a path that leads to Hell.

In theory, he could redeem himself by losing some arrogance, showing some humility and looking at what other people have done to get off this path. People like him rarely do this though. In any case, he is a prisoner and hostage. The evil forces he has called up may not let go of him that easily.

Some positive role models

Esmé Scarron could have learned a lot from people he probably wouldn’t have given the time of day to. It is amusing to imagine him taking tea with and advice from a few fictional witches - not that he 

ever would.

The importance of self-protection

I have recently been reminded of minor incidents in my life that are ideal for further illustration of a very important point: people who can sense unseen influences need to take good care of themselves and avoid getting overloaded.

The good inner state

I was on a bus one morning. As it drew near to my stop, I got up and started to walk down the narrow aisle. A young man who immediately made me feel uncomfortable suddenly put a bag down in front of me, blocking my path. I sensed that a few people had moved in behind me, guessed why, and immediately moved my backpack round to the front so that no one could take anything.

The man smiled ruefully and moved his bag out of my way. I turned round; I did not like the look of the people standing very close to me. The area is not good; there are services that attract many people who are best avoided.

I was pleased with myself for immediately seeing the risk and taking appropriate action. I realised that the outcome could have been very different if my inner state had not been so good at the time.

I had had a good night’s sleep and a good breakfast. I was looking forward to doing some interesting work on a database: I enjoy bringing order out of chaos. I was looking forward to seeing a very good film on TV that evening.

I was living quite comfortably in the real world that day, and had some spare capacity for dealing with the unexpected.

The bad inner state

On another occasion, I had a successful shopping trip in an area I like very much. There is an open-air market and other attractions, and I got a lot of stuff. I should have quit the game while I was ahead and gone home, but I decided on impulse to take a long, scenic bus ride into Kent. This 'good idea' turned out to be a very big mistake; it resulted in a small-scale nightmare scenario.

Cults, occultists and Stella Gibbons: Part VI

This is yet another article in the series inspired by Stella Gibbons’s novel The Shadow of a Sorcerer.

Even though this book has already generated a lot of material, there are still a few more connections to be made, a few more ideas to be explored and a few more familiar scenarios to be described.

Esmé Scarron: energy vampire

It is not just Scarron’s victims who become cold, pale, tired and drained.

Stella Gibbons tells us that Scarron becomes cold and pale after expending energy cursing the group of young soldiers who made fun of him. Just like Helen Penclosa in Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s story The Parasite, he has temporarily used up all his resources.

He soon recovers and returns to normal after holding Meg’s hand for a short time.

He has to live off other people: no wonder he cannot bear to be alone; no wonder he fills his house with ‘friends’ and followers. Perhaps the extra work this involves is why his subordinates always look sulky!

Providential interventions

The above reference to Conan Doyle’s story has reminded me of another connection:

The anonymous traveller who delays Esmé Scarron reminds me of the talkative vicar in The Parasite who makes Agatha late for her meeting with Austin Gilroy.

She thought that the vicar would never go, but he is her unwitting saviour: by preventing her from going to Gilroy, he saves her from having acid thrown over her. His intervention was providential.

Rafael Sabatini: equality is a by-product of envy

I recently came across a quotation from one of Rafael Sabatini’s historical novels that is very relevant today:

“The idea of equality is a by-product of the sentiment of envy. Since it must always prove beyond human power to raise the inferior mass to a superior stratum, apostles of equality must ever be inferiors seeking to reduce their betters to their level. It follows that a nation that once admits this doctrine of equality will be dragged by it to the level, moral, intellectual and political, of its most worthless class.”

- From Scaramouche the King-Maker by Rafael Sabatini

This quotation is sometimes said to come from Scaramouche: a Romance of the French Revolution, but it comes from the sequel. The two books were published in 1921 and 1931.

Rafael Sabatini, who died in 1950 so never lived to see what life in the 21st century is like, got it right. What he said about the lowest people trying to drag everyone down to the lowest level is very true. It is getting worse and worse.

Cults, occultists and Stella Gibbons: Part V

Four articles so far; what more can there be to say about Stella Gibbons’s novel The Shadow of a Sorcerer?

One element of particular interest is something I think of as the big anomaly, where people who seem to have everything behave as if they have nothing. They are the exact opposite on the inside of what they appear to be on the outside. They are a combination of glamorous image and empty desperation.

I have some ideas to explore about this phenomenon.

Only one thing to live for

I said in a previous article that it is perfectly natural for some people to feel that there is nothing for them but a life of unbearable drabness. Their lives may indeed be very restricted, and there may be little hope of any improvement in the future.

I also gave examples of cases where this feeling was not natural and not based on reality: it was induced by an unscrupulous black magic practitioner.

The feeling some people have that there is only one thing to live for and that if they lose it or don’t get it they will be destroyed is also understandable in some, perhaps extreme, cases. The last ship might really have sailed or be about to sail. Sometimes one chance is all we ever get. Some people may be devastated because they know very well that they could have made the world a better place for many others if they had only got what they wanted.

However, it is very strange when people with many options, people such as Madeleine L’Engle’s Zachary Grey and Stella Gibbons’s Esmé Scarron, feel this way and behave like desperate predators who have pounced and missed, howling in rage and disappointment because now they will starve to death.

What is going on here? We can only speculate.

Help and hindrance: luck and chance or unseen influences?

Stella Gibbons’s novel The Shadow of a Sorcerer has inspired a series of articles. A minor incident mentioned in one of them has reminded me of a similar but complementary incident in the life of a colleague.

Hindrance

As described elsewhere, Esmé Scarron had to travel from Austria to Venice to get his final answer from the young girl Meg. He was in a rather desperate state and uncertain about what awaited him as he drove over the mountains.

He was delayed when he reached Venice; he finally rushed into his palazzo to find that his ex-wife and daughter had got there first and had been speaking against him and revealing his secrets to Meg and her mother.

I can’t remember exactly what happened to delay his arrival - someone may have stolen the last gondola from under him the way some people steal taxis! This anonymous person - Scarron said he would be forever accursed or something like that - greatly inconvenienced Scarron and may even have helped to sabotage his plans.

This was the last in a series of interventions, some of which helped to further Scarron’s evil plans and some of which helped to hinder them.

Perhaps the outcome would have been exactly the same if the delaying man had never existed; perhaps it was just all down to bad luck and chance. However, I suspect that unseen influences were at work.

Which side was behind the intervention? Good forces like to prevent evil from operating; evil forces like to sabotage everything and everyone including their own: being on the dark side is no protection.

Reading about this fictional incident brought something similar but positive from real life to mind.

Kathleen Raine died 15 years ago today

The mystical poet and scholar Kathleen Jessie Raine died on July 6th 2003 at the age of 95.

Her poetry - and that of her master William Blake - resonates with me much less than the poetry of Rudyard Kipling and many others does, but I find some of her other writings of great interest and relevance.

She has been featured and quoted in some articles on here, and there are some incidental references in others.

To mark the occasion, I want to say a little more about Kathleen Raine and her life.

Three books of interest

After reading Kathleen Raine’s three-volume autobiography, I went through it again and made notes of everything that seemed particularly insightful and resonated very strongly with my own thoughts and experiences. Much of the material I copied is very inspiring; much of is the exact opposite. Some of it provides independent confirmation of my own conclusions.  

I ended up with many pages of material; it is very tempting to reproduce a lot of it on here, but although I put some of her thoughts into this article and a few others, the quotations are best read in their original context. The three books I got the material from are Farewell Happy Fields, The Land Unknown and The Lion’s Mouth.

Kathleen Raine’s view of her life

While reading her autobiography, I noticed immediately that Kathleen Raine attempts to analyse and make sense of her ideas and experiences. She tries to make an honest evaluation of her life.

She tries hard to understand the causes of the suffering she has experienced; she takes responsibility where appropriate; she demonstrates great courage, understanding and insight.

All this is admirable and much of what she says seems spot on, but I noticed that something was missing.