RETRO ME SATHANAS!
This saying, Get thee behind me, Satan, uttered by Jesus on the Mount of Temptation, is in effect an exorcism, that is to say, a banishment of evil by a formula embodying an act of will. Whether this evil was present in objective and incarnate shape or in some more subtle way, does not matter for our present purpose.
Now, the exorcism is perhaps the most ancient form of prayer, belongs to the instinctive defense reactions of the human mind, and has been elaborated throughout the ages with every device, both of priestly cunning and genuine psychological knowledge. And with good reason, for what could be of more practical value than a banishment that actually works!? We need not comment its use by the Church, or even by occult Orders. The magician must clear his place of working, and not even a talisman can be made without binding of the adverse aspects. But it is very foolish of us, to confine its use to these two departments. For if we extend its meaning to include the circle of protection and the sealing of the aura, the exorcism is almost the only effective protection against psychic attack.
The psychic attack proper is usually distinguished by the fact that it begins on the inner planes, perhaps by telepathic suggestion, or etheric or astral incursions, whence it soon works through into consciousness, often with alarming symptoms, while its source may remain unknown. But we point out that every "attack", except one of actual physical violence, is "psychic." Hatred, envy, slander, the attempt to deceive, to domineer, to undermine - all these are obviously in the realm of mind or spirit, and hence psychic in the larger sense. Defense against attack, on all levels of the mind, demands a scientific procedure which is psychologically sound. And this is found nowhere else than in "occult" knowledge.
We take note of the pitying smiles of the "orthodox" psychologist, the religionist, and the well-known devotees of commonsense, which is usually common nonsense. Yet the world is over-full of people who are bullied and intimidated, or made wretched by insult and disgrace, and by fear of the future and distrust of themselves and everyone else. One does not note that their number decreases, despite the tracts of "practical" psychologists and religionists, or the Pooh-Bah blusterings of commonsense.
We have the effrontery to assert that simple rituals of banishment, the protection of the sleeping place, and the sealing of the aura have a thousand times more virtue in them than these wiseacre critics dream of - they actually work. They work because they are psychologically sound, and rooted in the principles of occult psychology - which recognizes the existence of the finer bodies, of thought forms, and the manner in which auto- and hetero-suggestion, telepathic or otherwise, actually operates. We concede the efficacy of religion, the ingenuity of psychoanalysts, and of faith-healers of a score of cults - some times and in some degree. They employ, in their own way, a diluted exorcism and a mild and fumbling magic - all the dodging and recovery of inefficient minds. There is a fuller knowledge and a better way than theirs - for those who are capable of understanding, accepting, and applying its principles.