any police court, clear, factual and obeying the rules such as they were. Wincanton witches were guilty of using a baptised image for cursing; witches of East Anglia used the familiar. Both could also heal, but not much is recorded about that. In any case, healing by means of incantations was considered no less a crime than cursing.
I can follow the baptism of the wax image. It pinpointedâa sinister word in this connectionâand named the target, so that you didnât harm 39 instead of 43; then dancing or trance provided the energy for transmission.
Now a step further. The human mind can in quite common experience influence an animal; therefore the opposite ought to be true provided that the human receptors are not atrophied. However, the target must be identified and in the neighbourhood. Tiger brother vaguely claimed to be able to receive from animals in the immediate district. He would never have claimed to be in rapport with an elephant in Ceylon.
What would be the effect of receiving from an animal? Sharing its normal stream of consciousness would appear as nightmare with such an enhancement of the senses and such a lack of everyday concepts that the sufferer would be carted off to the nearest asylum. But if the unknown enemy could programme a familiar to transmit fear and nothing else, that would explain what has been done to me.
July 9
I must now record an incident which I hope is not widely discussed among gossiping horsemen with rumours reaching as far as Penminster. I donât mind being known by close friends as somewhat fey, but I refuse to be saddled with a reputation for the supernatural as if I were some medium in a back room. I can understand why Paddy kept so quiet about all his dealings which were not leatherwork.
To start off my search for the cause of the sending which had nearly destroyed me, I decided to take up von Pluwigâs offer of a ticket to the International Horse Show and have a longer talk with him. He was most cordial and invited me to watch the events of the last day, when he was competing on his famous but not very dependable Arminius for the Puissance. He added that he would enjoy meeting Meg again if it was convenient for me to take her along; he was sure there would be no objection so long as she stayed quiet in my pocket.
I met him for a moment in the interval and he pressed me to visit the stables half an hour before he entered the collecting ring. I found him in the box with Arminius and his head groom, watched by a small group of cheery Germans and British who might have been hangers-on or riders in other minor events. He told me that the horse was in top form and had a very good chance of winning if only he didnât trail his off-hind. I asked him if that sort of fault was not cured in training by stretching a wire along the top pole so that the horse got a shock if he touched it. No, von Pluwig said, he had never liked the trick and seldom used it with Arminius. My late friend, Paddy Gadsden, had completely cured him, but since Paddyâs death the trouble had returned.
I put Meg down on the floor of the box knowing what she would do, for I had seen her often enough with horses and cattle. She ran round the angles of the box to get her bearings, cantered over to Arminiusâs foreleg, smelt the hoof and then stretched up as far as she could. The horse gave a slight start at the prickling of the claws and then put down his noble head in a graceful curve to blow at her. Meg, fearless as ever, threw up her black muzzle in something like a kiss. That was her usual method of investigating the intelligent end of anything on long legs, man or animal, but to anyone who did not know her it was the oddest sight. One could have sworn they were communicating with each other; so they were in a sense, and merely satisfying mutual curiosity.
âMeg, tell him to remember his off-hind!â von Pluwig said.
The remark would have sounded humorous to the onlookers. I
I can follow the baptism of the wax image. It pinpointedâa sinister word in this connectionâand named the target, so that you didnât harm 39 instead of 43; then dancing or trance provided the energy for transmission.
Now a step further. The human mind can in quite common experience influence an animal; therefore the opposite ought to be true provided that the human receptors are not atrophied. However, the target must be identified and in the neighbourhood. Tiger brother vaguely claimed to be able to receive from animals in the immediate district. He would never have claimed to be in rapport with an elephant in Ceylon.
What would be the effect of receiving from an animal? Sharing its normal stream of consciousness would appear as nightmare with such an enhancement of the senses and such a lack of everyday concepts that the sufferer would be carted off to the nearest asylum. But if the unknown enemy could programme a familiar to transmit fear and nothing else, that would explain what has been done to me.
July 9
I must now record an incident which I hope is not widely discussed among gossiping horsemen with rumours reaching as far as Penminster. I donât mind being known by close friends as somewhat fey, but I refuse to be saddled with a reputation for the supernatural as if I were some medium in a back room. I can understand why Paddy kept so quiet about all his dealings which were not leatherwork.
To start off my search for the cause of the sending which had nearly destroyed me, I decided to take up von Pluwigâs offer of a ticket to the International Horse Show and have a longer talk with him. He was most cordial and invited me to watch the events of the last day, when he was competing on his famous but not very dependable Arminius for the Puissance. He added that he would enjoy meeting Meg again if it was convenient for me to take her along; he was sure there would be no objection so long as she stayed quiet in my pocket.
I met him for a moment in the interval and he pressed me to visit the stables half an hour before he entered the collecting ring. I found him in the box with Arminius and his head groom, watched by a small group of cheery Germans and British who might have been hangers-on or riders in other minor events. He told me that the horse was in top form and had a very good chance of winning if only he didnât trail his off-hind. I asked him if that sort of fault was not cured in training by stretching a wire along the top pole so that the horse got a shock if he touched it. No, von Pluwig said, he had never liked the trick and seldom used it with Arminius. My late friend, Paddy Gadsden, had completely cured him, but since Paddyâs death the trouble had returned.
I put Meg down on the floor of the box knowing what she would do, for I had seen her often enough with horses and cattle. She ran round the angles of the box to get her bearings, cantered over to Arminiusâs foreleg, smelt the hoof and then stretched up as far as she could. The horse gave a slight start at the prickling of the claws and then put down his noble head in a graceful curve to blow at her. Meg, fearless as ever, threw up her black muzzle in something like a kiss. That was her usual method of investigating the intelligent end of anything on long legs, man or animal, but to anyone who did not know her it was the oddest sight. One could have sworn they were communicating with each other; so they were in a sense, and merely satisfying mutual curiosity.
âMeg, tell him to remember his off-hind!â von Pluwig said.
The remark would have sounded humorous to the onlookers. I
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