the coast towns. As they passed among the cliffs lining the shore,
they perceived two uncanny wandering figures which, gibbering,
followed them along. The two maniacs, for such they were, approached
the party, and one of them began to address the Master in a strange
manner, beseeching Him to relieve the two of the devils possessing
them. He called aloud, "O Master, thou Son of the Living God, have
mercy upon us, and drive away the unclean things that we have allowed
to enter into us."

The Gospels say nothing regarding the cause of this demoniac
obsession, and the preachers prefer to pass over it rapidly, or else
to treat it as a delusion of the insane, notwithstanding the direct
statement of the New Testament narrative and its sequel or concluding
statement. But the occult traditions have it that these two men were
victims of their dabbling into certain phases of psychic phenomena,
i.e., the "raising up of spirits" by the arts of Black Magic. In other
words, these men had been experimenting along the lines of Jewish
Necromancy, or Invocation and Evocation of Disembodied Astral
Intelligences by means of Conjuration. They had raised up Astral
Intelligences that had then refused to retire to their own plane, but
which had taken possession of the physical organisms of their invokers
and had remained in possession, causing the men to be regarded as
maniacs, which resulted in their becoming outcasts among the caves
with which the cliffs abounded, the same places being also the tombs
of the dead. We do not wish to go into details here regarding this
matter, but we wish to give the occult explanation of this little
understood "miracle" of Jesus, which, however, is clearly understood
by all occultists.

Jesus fully understood the nature of the trouble, and began at once to
drive out these invading Astral Intelligences by means of his occult
power. In a few moments, a cry was heard from the hills near by, and a
great herd of swine were seen rushing down the hill, and in a moment
were over the precipice and were soon drowned. The Gospel narrative is
perfectly plain on this subject--it states that the legions of devils
had passed from the men into the swine and the latter had plunged in
terror into the water and were drowned. Jesus had distinctly and
positively spoken to the demons, calling them "unclean spirits," and
bidding them "come out" of the men. And all advanced students of
Occultism understand why the pigs were used a