It is hardly worth reminding our readers of the content of Gogol's mystical story "Viy" or the film of the same name. But one point will have to focus your attention. The main character, the seminarian Homa Brutus, has to read prayers for three nights near the coffin of the lady installed in the church. And in order to protect himself from all evil spirits, he draws a circle on the floor near him, and the evil spirits are unable to overcome this chimerical barrier.
The idea of such protection from black forces probably dates back to ancient times, when settlements were surrounded by an earthen rampart, a wooden or stone wall. The most famous relic of those times (in Russia) is the Moscow Kremlin. In mysticism and occultism, it is also believed that the entities of the subtle world are not able to overcome magic circles and pentagrams.
It is unlikely that our ancestors thought about the problems of the multidimensionality of the world, but, for example, the inhabitants of the two-dimensional world - "flat", would really be unable to overcome the circle drawn on the plane. Probably, the first mystics and magicians instinctively believed that non-material objects have no volume, and a similar rule applies to them.
Apparently, experimentally, they established that the most effective magic circle (or pentagram-pentagon), drawn with coal. Somewhat worse - drawn with chalk. And an absolute protection, which no evil spirits can overcome, is provided by a circle drawn by its own blood. Alas, Khoma was just a seminarian and did not know these subtleties.
But drawing circles with blood is quite costly and painful, and in special cases the same role was played by a living circle of people holding hands (hence the well-known round dances). And living circles were used in the priestly practice of the ancient Greeks and Egyptians. If the Egyptian priest wanted to safely communicate with the otherworldly (astral) entity, his colleagues formed a vicious circle around him and patiently waited for this conversation to end.
Thousands of years later, already in our time, participants in spiritualistic seances form the same magic protective circle. They are absolutely sure that it is worth breaking this circle, as some dark otherworldly entity will immediately take advantage of this, penetrate inside the circle and cause all sorts of disgrace. She might even try to strangle the medium who disturbed her.
And, according to eyewitnesses, such cases were observed quite often. It was considered indecent to stain parquet with chalk or coal in an aristocratic living room, but advanced spiritualists quickly got out of the situation. It turned out that a circle made of copper wire through which a current is passed is no less effective. It was experimentally found that a battery of only 4 Leclanche cells, that is, six volts, is enough.
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However, the experimental magicians went further. A magic circle was drawn on the floor. The subject was hypnotized and asked to walk to the center of this circle. He refused because it seemed to him that the circle was formed by high flames. After much persuasion, he nevertheless decided to jump over the fire barrier (a very curious sight for a skeptic observer!)
But if the circle was unfinished, and there was a “passage” 50 centimeters wide, the subject calmly entered the circle.
In another experiment, the subject was immersed in a hypnotic state, a circle was drawn around him, and he could not get out of it. In addition, he reported on some vile entities gathered on the other side of the circle, but also unable to overcome it. Here is an excellent illustration for "Viy", considering that these experiments were carried out in France half a century after it was written!
In the next experiment, the subject was armed with a sword, and a passage was made in the circle. The vile creatures immediately rushed to the passage, but could not get inside, fearing the iron point.
Then the same experiments are carried out with a living circle. When he is closed, vile creatures, called, in the future, according to the occult tradition, larvas (larvas), cannot penetrate the circle. But as soon as those standing in the circle open their hands, they immediately rush into the passage and try to strangle the subject. But he is protected from them by holding the point of the sword near his forehead.
The living circle seems to be immersed in a trance not fiery, but simply luminous, the circle is surrounded by larvas, but they are not able to penetrate into it.
By the way, iron weapons have served to protect against evil spirits since ancient times. "Sitting in front of the grave with a sword, I did not allow the shadows of the dead to approach, until I questioned Theresia," Homer writes.
Well, Hamlet is talking with his father's ghost, too, with a sword in his hands.
Honestly, I would not want to be this subject, especially if before that I watched the pictures of Bosch, Dali, or their current Russian followers. After all, larvas are not some independent entities from the other world, but only our materialized thought images (thought forms). A small example of this: as a child, his mother brought the famous writer to the church, where paintings of the Last Judgment were depicted on the walls.
This sight had such an effect on his psyche that for many years the entities from the paintings haunted him in his sleep and even in reality after drinking. And these are not hallucinations at all - even an outside observer can see them, but the author of these thought forms himself, feeding them with his energy, cannot see them.
An excellent example of this is the story of the famous explorer of Tibet, Alexandra David-Neel.
“A Tibetan artist, an ardent admirer of his terrible gods, who liked to portray their terrible faces, once came to me. Behind him, I noticed a hazy image of one of the gods he most often painted. I shuddered with amazement, and he came up to me, asking what was the matter? Noticing that the ghost did not follow him, but remained standing where he was, I went to meet him, stretching out my hand forward. The hand touched the misty form.
I felt it as a touch of some soft substance, after which the ghost disappeared. Answering my question, the artist admitted that during the last weeks he performed a special ritual, invoking this deity. All his thoughts were occupied by this deity, on whose help he hoped in a certain matter. He himself did not see the ghostly form that accompanied him."
And although modern natural science does not believe in any materialized thought-forms, they are seen by psychics and even ordinary people, in some cases they can be photographed and even detected with special devices. Finally, they can be seen by animals that do not know anything about the opinion of scientists, for example, cats.
I would also like to remind you of the well-known experiments of Doctor of Biological Sciences S. Speransky from Novosibirsk. In them, the experimental mice clearly reacted to the mental image of a cat sent by a psychic Porvin from Moscow! (by the way, this cat was also seen by one of the psychic women who were tested in the laboratory).
In the 90s of the last century, in the laboratories of the engineer A. F. Okhatrin and Professor A. V. Chernetsky, instrumental experiments were carried out to register such thought forms. The thoughtform was created in a certain room, where there were devices that register them. Then the psychic operator, who could be far enough from the laboratory and had only its photograph, was asked to destroy this mental image. And the devices immediately recorded it.
In conclusion, I would like to remind you of the sad story of Pushkin's Eugene, running from the image of the Bronze Horseman galloping behind him. Sadly, they exist even if someone does not believe in them.
Oleg RADIN