Applied Magic by Dion Fortune States reincarnation is a fundamental principle in the occu lt, and that one should view v iew their lives as due to previous lives combined with the affairs in this life By a study of their life one can see trends, such as certain inner states which cause a recurring problem. By meditation, building thought-forms, or by destroying though-forms which are the cause of the undesirable trends or things in your life you ca n improve and change your life. States everyone is always creating thought-forms i.e. creating energies analogous to their though ts which affect their lives on the planes to some e! tent", that influence us, and form channels of ingressrepulsion and attraction to corresponding forces in the cosmos. – #hus, do not dwell on self-defeating thoughts. $f you do then the thought-forms or thought energies will become so strong that they will cause you problems corresponding to them. #his would be part of the reasons for meditations, banishment and purification rituals or wor%ings, invocation of forces that will cancel them out and improve us, etc. ch ance that forces corresponding to your thoug hts may be attracted to – #hus, there is a very real chance them, and thus intensify the energies, thus either improving or negatively affecting your lives.
“We “We are making thought-forms one way or the other all the time. Our thoughts not only inuence us, they form channels of ingress and attract the corresponding forces in the Cosmos itself. If you surround yourself with hate-thoughts, you will be attracting a son of Cosmic hate to yourself. he occultist has a system of labeling these forces, he works all these things out. We ha!e such a system in the "abalistic ree ree of #ife and the beliefs underlying it can be !ery !aluable in life$ they teach the tremendous power of mind and the strict limits in which it works, with which we can do so much.% - &ion 'ortune States that a thought form built up by continual visuali&ation and concentration, and concerning which a strong emotion is felt, becomes charged with that e motion and is capable of living independent independ ent of its creator. A more pronounced type of thought form is from a group such as a mob. #he same principle is involved in its creation, and it does not have be deliberate, it happens automatically. 'hen 'hen a bunch of people are focused on the same thing, especially with a strong emotion they ma%e a thought form, whose power is in proportion to the si&e of the crowd, their emotion, and the (uantity of thought energies on the thing of focus. #his thought-form is capable of giving telepathic suggestions to the people who are on the same wavelength, i.e. focused on the thing concerned that created it, and intensifies their emotions, corresponding mental forces, attention, etc. #he more the crowd focuses the stronger it gets. And this is partially the reason that mobs are capable of deeds the y would normally shrin% in horror from. – #his, thus, e!plains the power of religion, of the type of action at concerts, the power of people focused on the same thing especially with the same associated emotions such as hatred towards
a certain person, etc. She also states however, that mob thought-forms disperse rapidly however, because mobs have no continuity of e!istence, and disperse as soon as the ob)ect of their focus goes away. States these are also called elementals. – #hus, there are fundamentally two types of elementals* +" A #hought Form " A being made up of a specific or couple of elements such as a gnome or dryad She further states to build up a group-mind mob or group thought-form or current" of any endurance or lasting e!istence some method of ensuring community or group attention and feeling is essential. – #his is then the real use of the use of group rituals such as in religions prayer meetings, group meditation or wor% on some common goal, worship, etc." and occult groups. $t also shows the dangers however. Because religions tend to believe in the inherent v alidity of their religion and religious views, despite historical inaccuracy, and not %nowing the power and laws involved in the creation of thought-forms problems are apt to co me about, such as, for instance, in the middle ages common ideas in religion was that if you did not follow it you were evil and it was good to destroy such people and thus there definitely thought-forms or currents that at least partially pushed believers and followers and participants in such directions thus leading to such sic% periods as the in(uisition. $t is also at least partially the reason wh y it can be so hard for members of occult groups and certain religious institutions to leave. And why members of certain religious groups such as certain types of hristians tend to e!perience some serious problems when practicing the occult. Furthermore, it is not always necessary that some be a member to suffer from a thought form, for instance, sic% thought-forms have been created by certain hristian groups, and these thought forms have been %nown to attac% and hinder occultists who are practicing and performing great wor%. #his would be because the groups that spawned the particular thought forms believed or reinforced ideas such as the e!istence of certain beings, the evilness of magic, e!istence of beings who enforce so-called good hristianity, etc. – /uc%ily, such fanatical and oppressive ideas are not so enforced in modern times. – A level of training for the occultist is to be able to protect him or h erself from such thoughtforms, to destroy them, change them, banish them, and to even master them.
“Whene!er such continuity of attention and feeling has been brought about, a group mind, or group (lemental, is formed which with the passage of time de!elops an indi!iduality of its own, and ceases to be dependent for its e)istence upon the attention and emotion of the crowd that ga!e it birth. Once this occurs, the crowd no longer possesses the power to withdraw its attention or to disperse$ the group (lemental has it in its grip. he attention of each indi!idual is attracted and held in spite of himself$ feelings are stirred within him e!en if he does not wish to feel them. (ach newcomer to the group enters into this potent atmosphere and either accepts it, and is absorbed into the group, or re*ects it, and is
himself re*ected. +o member of a group with a strong atmosphere, group mind, or (lemental according to which term we prefer, is at liberty to think without bias upon the ob*ects of group concentration and emotion. It is for this reason that reforms are so hard to bring about. he !aster the organiation that needs reforming the harder it is to mo!e, and the stronger must be the personality that attempts the task. /et once that forceful personality has begun to make an impression he speedily 0nds that a group is gathering under his leadership, and that this in its turn is de!eloping an (lemental, and the momentum he has originated has begun to push him along When he ags in his leadership the mo!ement he created forces him forward.0 - Dion Fortune Applied Magic" States that an adept can wor% on the astral with picture consciousness, and d oes not have to leave his meditation posture, and the ritual will be effective. 1owever, if he desires to grow beyond what his will can ma%e come about and go beyond his unaided vision, or to create an atmosphere that will benefit his students, and will ma%e use of the power of the laws involved in a group mind or thought-form. – #hus, one can use the group-mind to go further than one can immediately progress on ones own. $t is most li%ely, beneficial that first the magician develop in his training on his own a bit and attain some success on his own before ma%ing use of a group-mind or group thought-form. She states that the group-mind of an ritual order affects the members of the group in the same w ay as that of a mob which induces such insanity as that of collectively %illing a ha ted person. 2!cept in an ritual or occult order the group-mind tends to have been created through focus on progress in magic and attaining god-li%e power, and so it lifts consciousness, grants or aids in the attaining of power, etc.
