ship is a _state of mind_, rather than a
life according to hard and fast rules, on the physical plane. This
applies especially to the earlier, probationary period, while the rules
given in _Lucifer_ for April last pertain properly to a later stage,
that of actual occult training and the development of occult powers and
insight. These rules indicate, however, the mode of life which ought to
be followed by all aspirants _so far as practicable_, since it is the
most helpful to them in their aspirations.

It should never be forgotten that Occultism is concerned with the _inner
man_, who must be strengthened and freed from the dominion of the
physical body and its surroundings, which must become his servants.
Hence the _first_ and chief necessity of Chelaship is a spirit of
absolute unselfishness and devotion to Truth; then follow self-knowledge
and self-mastery. These are all-important; while outward observance of
fixed rules of life is a matter of secondary moment.--_Lucifer_: IV,
348, note.

OCCULTISM VERSUS THE OCCULT ARTS

"I oft have heard, but ne'er believed till now,
There are, who can by potent magic spells
Bend to their crooked purpose Nature's laws."
_Milton_

In this month's Correspondence several letters testify to the strong
impression produced on some minds by our last month's article "Practical
Occultism." Such letters go far to prove and strengthen two logical
conclusions:--

(_a_) There are more well-educated and thoughtful men who believe in the
existence of Occultism and Magic (the two differing vastly) than the
modern materialist dreams of; and:--

(_b_) That most of the believers (comprising many theosophists) have no
definite idea of the nature of Occultism and confuse it with the Occult
sciences in general, the "Black art" included.

Their representations of the powers it confers upon man, and of the
means to be used to acquire them are as varied as they are fanciful.
Some imagine that a master in the art, to show the way, is all that is
needed to become a Zanoni. Others, that one has but to cross the Canal
of Suez and go to India to bloom forth as a Roger Bacon or even a Count
St. Germain. Many take for their ideal Margrave with his ever-renewing
youth, and care little for the soul as the price paid for it. Not a few,
mistaking "Witch-of-Endorism" pure and simple, for Occultism--"through
the yawning Earth from Stygian gloom, call up