A COMPARATIVE SURVEY
of Ritualistic Practice Among the Occult Communities of El Paso County, Texas
Being an Account of Observed Ceremonial Traditions,
Their Classification, and the Societies Which Employ Them
The following survey represents years of careful documentation gathered through firsthand observation, recovered manuscripts, and testimonies obtained under conditions. The author does not claim exhaustive knowledge of these traditions, nor does he recommend their practice to the uninitiated.
It is the author's firm conviction that El Paso County harbors a greater concentration of ritualistic activity than any comparable settlement in the American Southwest. The confluence of - and the unique spiritual geography of the Rio Grande basin - has created conditions that .
The most extensively documented tradition encountered in this survey. Practitioners employ elaborate, codified procedures - chalk circles, spoken formulae in bastardized Latin and Enochian, and the use of blood as a primary reagent. The author has catalogued no fewer than distinct working paths, including manipulation of the vital essence itself, command of lesser elemental forces, and .
Of the society responsible for systematizing these practices, this author will say only that they are organized, ancient, and unlikely to appreciate this document's existence.
A narrower but no less significant tradition, practiced by a closely-guarded family whose activities this author first noted in . Their rites center on communion with restless spirits, manipulation of osseous and corporeal remains, and several secondary working paths whose names this author declines to commit to paper at this time.
This tradition is distinguished from mere Spiritualism - so fashionable in Eastern parlors - by its practitioners' genuine results, and genuine dangers.
[This section is almost entirely unreadable. The following fragments were recovered:]
synthesizing shadow with Hermetic principle the Abyss is not a metaphor
do not look directly at them when they
this author will not be compiling a second volume
This author will confess only that the traditions of the Changing Breeds exist, that they are ancient, and that they are . Where the above ritual traditions are largely secretive and individualistic, those of the Changing Breeds are communal, hierarchical, and .
The author includes here only what was already and strongly advises the reader to treat this section as though it does not exist.
This author observed from a considerable distance and considers himself .
Archivist's Note - El Paso County Records Office, November 14th, 1884:
The original manuscript and all associated field notes belonging to Prof. were lost in the courthouse fire of November 3rd, 1884. Only these partial transcriptions, recovered from the professor's former lodgings at the Hotel, are known to survive. The professor's current whereabouts are unknown.
This office advises that the matter be considered closed.
- more to come -