A magazine which has been founded to represent, and that for the first time, the whole circle of knowledge which is included under the term occult, must obviously provide at the outset a clear notion of Mysticism – what it is, and how its branches are to be tabulated. In the popular mind the conception conveyed by the word is in all respects vague and confused. It is, nevertheless, difficult at the present day to meet with any tolerably educated person, whatever his pursuit in life, who does not confess ultimately to a certain curiosity about it. Not only in professedly intellectual circles but in the commercial world, and more singularly in that of finance, in the thronged centre of the city of London, where the congestion of this money-getting age is greatest, where, as at all centres, the rush of motion is swiftest, the writer of this paper has received over and over again evidence the most indubitable that there is a spirit of inquiry abroad, and a very general sentiment of interest in places where one would have thought that it would be least expected. There may be nothing solid in this interest, or serious in that inquiry, but the feeling is there and the curiosity at least is there; both in a certain way are significant that the awakening of the new spirit has an operation far outside the circle which is its visible limit, and, considering the classes referred to, this significance is perhaps greater than is the testimony of literature at the moment and the tendency of speculative thought in precisely the same direction. The case has been cited here because it indicates the need for definition, and it leads immediately to the keynote of this paper, which is this- that however profound and abstruse in some of its branches is that which we call Mysticism, a clear elementary comprehension of what it is can be very easily established even in the most ordinary mind. There is no reason inherent in the subject for the existing uncertainty and vagueness.
Mysticism admits of being separated into three chief divisions, and these are Transcendental Science, Transcendental Philosophy, and Transcendental Religion. The term transcendental applies to anything which is outside the normal sphere of experience, whether in fact, or thought, or faith. Transcendental Science deals with the operation and effects of forces generally unknown. Transcendental Philosophy is that body of doctrine which explains the phenomenal universe in accordance with the science of its secret laws. Transcendental Religion is the application of universal law to the interior nature of man. But while these comprehensive definitions are perfectly correct and acceptable, the actual limits of Mysticism are usually somewhat narrower. The idea of Transcendental Science is generally confined to such operations of unknown law as have a direct bearing upon Transcendental Religion, and Transcendental Philosophy does not commonly concern itself with the whole economy of the universe so much as with the intimate relations subsisting between the universe and man. A definition of Mysticism, independent of its natural classifications, will illustrate this point. It has been most rightly and philosophically defined as the endeavour of the human mind to grasp the divine essence or ultimate reality of all things, and to enjoy, while in this life and in this body, the blessedness of an immediate communion with the Highest. This being the end in view, Transcendental Science consists in the knowledge of those forces, and the laws governing the same, by which the union of man with the Divine is accomplished, and Transcendental Philosophy is the wisdom which can apply these forces once their knowledge has been given. In other words, it is a practical doctrine founded upon the experience of the Mystics. So, also, Transcendental Religion is the accomplishment of the union in question. But it is proposed by THE UNKNOWN WORLD to accept everything in its broadest sense, and to treat it from that standpoint. Thus, in the matter of
Transcendental Science
it will be understood that this includes the whole circle of methods and processes by which occultists in the past have made themselves acquainted with the secret forces resident in man and the universe. It is the exploration of the unknown in Nature, and it has passed; hitherto, under another term which there is no reason to conceal, notwithstanding that it has been abused and misinterpreted by its friends as well as by its enemies. This term is Magic, and it is mentioned here because one of its most illustrious exponents has given a definition concerning it which is not only admirable in itself, but exhibits it as interchangeable with the term Transcendental Science. "Magic," says Eliphas Levi, "is the traditional science of the secrets of nature, which has come down to us from the Magi." Now, this traditional science has been perpetuated in two ways- by a literature which, to a large extent, veils the secrets, and by occult assemblies and fraternities. THE UNKOWN WORLD will successively acquaint its readers with all that is important in all branches of the literature, and with the Mysteries which underlie its symbolism. It will acquaint them as well, up to the fullest point of possibility, with the history of the secret societies in connection with Mysticism, though at the same time the writers who may be engaged upon this work will violate no confidence with which they may have been entrusted on such a subject. Transcendental Science has several broad divisions. There is, for example, Astrology, which is the appreciation of the celestial influences in their operation upon the nature and life of man. There is Esoteric Medicine, which consists in the application of occult forces to the healing of disease in man: it includes also a traditional knowledge of the medicinal properties resident in various substances which are disregarded by ordinary pharmacy. There is Alchemy, which is the subject of a special notice elsewhere in the present issue, and does not therefore require to be defined here. It is, however, one of the most important and attractive branches of occult science. There is Divination, a term which will be made use of in THE UNKNOWN WORLD to indicate all that vast variety of methods and processes by which lucidity was supposed to be operated in suitable subjects, whether in mundane matters for the discovery of things unknown to the operator and of events to come, or in matters which are extra mundane for clairvoyant communication with spirits. This last-mentioned branch of Divination is a part of what has sometimes been termed Practical Pneumatology, and for purposes of classification it must be distinguished from that department of Transcendental Science which is commonly known as Ceremonial Magic, consisting in the scrupulous fulfillment of certain archaic rites and the operation of numerous bizarre formulae, as a result of which the Magician, or Magus, was enabled; as it is claimed, to invoke angels, demons, elemental and elementary spirits, the phantasms of the dead, and the astral entities of still living beings. A certain virtue inherent in certain words and actions is supposed by Ceremonial Magic, as also a great uninvestigated power resident in the will of the Magician, but it is open to question whether the results produced were not of the clairvoyant order.
Each and all of these Transcendental Sciences are supposed to be liable to that species of abuse which is technically known as Black Magic. The celestial influences could be perverted in the malefic composition of talismans. The malpractice of Esoteric Medicine produced the Secret Science. of Poisoning, and the destruction of health, reason, or life by unseen forces. The perversion of Alchemy resulted in the sophistication of metals, and on this subject there is quite an extensive literature still extant. In like manner, Divination was debased into Witchcraft, and Ceremonial Magic into dealing with devil, compacts with demons, and other forms of transcendental delusion and imposture. The actual principles which are at the basis of the Black Art, when interpreted from the standpoint of the occultist, will be explained from time to time in THE UNKNOWN WORLD, and some extremely rare rituals never before translated will be given upon the same subject. The precise bearings of Transcendental Science upon the true ends of Mysticism will also be developed, as occasion may arise, in a very full and intelligible manner.
Transcendental Philosophy
As already indicated, is the mystical explanation of the universe, on the one hand, while on the other it is an explanation of the correlation subsisting between that universe and man. Thus, it expounds the process of development which operated in the creation of the world, and it expounds also the special quality of evolution which is still proceeding in humanity. The writings attributed to Hermes Trismegistus and the extraordinary body of literature comprised in the Jewish Kabbalah are good instances of a transcendental philosophy of the cosmos. They are not the only instances which have become generally known in the West, while over and above all written record there is affirmed to be the unwritten record of esoteric investigation and experience transmitted from remote ages by the occult associations before referred to, and not beyond attainment at the present day by a properly qualified aspirant. The evidences which can be gleaned in connection with this important claim will be considered at a proper time in the pages of THE UNKNOWN WORLD. Concerning the evolution of humanity and the forces at work therein, as unfolded by mystic philosophy, it seems scarcely necessary to promise that this will have adequate treatment. It leads up to the end of all mysticism, the Divine Union, which also has already been mentioned. From the Hermetic standpoint, Man is the great subject; his origin, his nature, his potentialities, his destiny, constitute the one interest. There is nothing in Transcendental Science which is of any moment except in so far as it concerns him, and assists the mind of the philosopher to understand better what he is. If his destiny be written in the stars, then the stars are of moment, and Astrology is also of moment, but not otherwise does day speak unto day or night show knowledge to night, and there is no reason in all the starry depths except in their relation to the astronomer who gauges them, or to the babe who is affected by their influence. All that interests a man is man. It is the same through the whole gamut. There is no intrinsic importance in that which heals. The assuaging herb in itself is nothing; the man whom it salves is all; but when he is present the herb itself borrows importance from the possibility of its ministration to him, and from the application of his mind to its properties. Then even the "flower in the crannied wall" can tell us "what God and man is." The visible universe becomes intelligent in man, as man becomes intelligible in God. So, also, the modes of Divination are puerile, but there is no puerility about the sage who interprets the eternal world from the analogies of things which are seen. Thus, man is the focus of everything, towards him all forces tend, in him all interests centre; he is that point "through which the universe is continually passing." The very hierarchies of heaven are to him as nothing except in so far as there is some side in their nature which can adjust itself to man, so that it can exhibit a likeness to man, and put out a point for communication with him. It is for this reason that God Himself must become man in order that He can be understood by man, and can, in other and bolder words, be of any moment or importance to man, and it is also for this reason that the unknowable Deity of Agnostics is a more monstrous idol than is possessed by any pantheon. God is that which man is eternally knowing in himself, and that God is ever becoming man is a truth which must always be recognised by Mystics. Finally, the religion which most directly and vividly realises that God takes flesh in man, and that man puts off flesh in God, is the nearest to the heart of Mysticism. It need not be here said that this is Christianity or that this is Buddhism, but, more simply that this is true religion. Thus Transcendental Science with man for its pivot gives us Transcendental Philosophy as a circle within its circle, while Transcendental Philosophy, in its turn, converging more upon the centre, leads us to
Transcendental Religion
Now there are many definitions of religion, but there is one which includes all, just as there are many religions and one underlying all. It follows the philology of the word and exhibits it as a rebinding. There is nothing, it may be gratefully added, that is new in this definition; it is realised by many people who consciously are not Mystics, and it is intellectually understood by a still greater number who are not religious at all. The term rebinding involves the idea of some thing which has been set loose or has broken away from another thing. Here the reference is to the mind of man the individual which has been loosed from man the universal- the essential nature of man from the essential nature of God. It does not matter how or why this separation has taken place. It may be accepted that the Mystic has much to learn before he can plumb that mystery. It may be true that no written Mysticism, and no unwritten tradition of the inner orders, can expound it; but the end of all Mysticism as of all religion, is to attain that reunion. The possibility is not merely the fundamental doctrine of Transcendental Religion; it is the one doctrine; all else is a question of processes. Some of them may be better than some others, as some methods of divination produce the hypnotic state more readily than the rest. Hence the religion of the Mystics is the most simple, the most easy of popular understanding, because it is the least encumbered. Begin where one may in the universe it affirms that all roads ultimately lead to God. The path of vice will lead there though it passes through perdition by the way. Soul and body may be destroyed in hell but the spirit must return to God who gave it. But it is well, if it be possible, to save the soul alive, that Psyche may be united to Eros. There is no reason therefore why Mysticism should fail in the common understanding. It sees the end and it claims to know the way, while the direction of that way has no insuperable difficulties. It does not lie far from any man's walk in life, and it will be the chief object of THE UNKNOWN WORLD to simplify as far as possible the instructions of Transcendental Religion.
