Theosophical Correspondence.

Translation from German by Robert Hutwohl^[1]

Question: — Why do we not hear as much about witches and demons now as we did in the Middle Ages? — Is the Enlightenment the cause of this?

          Answer: — It is not so much the Enlightenment as disbelief that has partly driven them away. The Bhagavad-Gītā says: “Give food to the gods and they will feed you.” The same is true of demons. The more we feed a thought, be it good or bad, the stronger it will become within us; the more we turn our will to spiritual forces, the more they can influence us.

          During the Middle Ages, every kind of tyranny reigned, in the Church, in politics, society and the family. Torture, inquisition, prisons and cruelty of the most horrific kind aroused demonic forces. Knights and priests indulged in luxury, the people sank into poverty and superstition, and since they no longer expected help from God, they turned to the devil with their prayers. In thousands of monasteries, demonic forces were born through the suppression or deprivation of passions; people scourged and tortured themselves and sought, with feverish greed or bestial rage, through demonic possession, satisfactions that heaven would not grant. Under these circumstances, legions of vampires and demons were created and fed, and their effects soon became so overwhelming that not only every “medium” and madman, but even physically or morally ill people were seen as allies of the devil and burned alive.

          These exaggerations brought about the reaction which led to the partial disappearance of superstition, but in doing so the baby was thrown out with the bathwater and unbelief took its place. People turned away from the demons, and they thus received less nourishment and strength. Instead of calling on demons for help, people turned to the “souls of the dead,” and modern spiritualism became fashionable. But the influence of devils, larvae, ghosts, vampires, demons, etc. has not yet come to an end. There are still witches and sorcerers and black magic today. There are frequently astonishing cases of the influence of a demonic world in our visible world, but most of the time they are not understood. But if they are understood, it is better to keep quiet about it, because it is precisely in disbelief in such phenomena that protection against them lies. May heaven forbid that belief in demons takes over in educated and learned circles until they have reached a higher moral level, so that they do not misuse such a hidden science to satisfy their curiosity and to the detriment of humanity. No one need fear true enlightenment, but the road to it is still long, and a half-knowledge is a dangerous thing.

Note

^[1] Theosophical Correspondence. Witches and Demons. By Dr. Franz Hartmann [Theosophische Korrespondenz. Hexen und Dämonen. Von Dr. Franz Hartmann. Theosophischer Wegweiser 8, no, 4 (January 1907), 133-134] {This article was reformatted from the original, but with the content unchanged other than minor typos, translation from German by Robert Hutwohl, ©2025}