xviii preface
shared in his interest in the occult. Her mother likewise was not interested in the occult but went to meetings with Lou and met Crowley and Regardie, and others involved in the A.·.A.·. and O.·.T.·.O.·. She did not like any of them. Wanda Sue Parrott, forty-one years his junior but sharing the same birthday, then a young student who often shared coffee with him, wrote: “Many people look upon Louis T. Culling as a spiritual or occult master. Perhaps he was, but to me he was a kind, perhaps eccentric, unforgettable human being—an Aquarian like myself—who adventured into psychic territories because he was born to do so. Perhaps Lou’s greatest, most misunderstood message was that ALL human beings are demigods and demi-goddesses and he tried to help them see this truth that was the true light that shone in his young-old eyes.” He was a man whose mind had tremendous reach and vitality, whose life was one of adventure and fulfillment, and whose contributions to modern Occultism are unique. In 1931, Lou joined the Magickal Order G.·.B.·.G.·., and soon became head of its southern California section. In connection with the dream techniques of the Order and his work with Dr. Walker, he helped many people learn to “dream correctly and significantly.” He worked with many patients of Dr. Walker, applying the G.·.B.·.G.·. techniques, and sometimes was able to help a patient dream “the dream that actually resolved the case” within two days. In addition to this book on magickal initiation, Lou wrote several other books on the I Ching, Dream ESP, Nature Magick, Psychic SelfDefense, Sex Magick, and other shorter papers that we may be able to combine in an anthology of his writing and thoughts. There’s much here to explore, some in this book and more in the others. In the yet-tobe-published books Dream ESP, The Magick of Nature Worship, and Psychic Self-Defense, Lou, and myself, develop themes less known but more effective than other better known techniques. The same is true of the forthcoming new editions of The Manual of Sex Magick and The Pristine Yi-King. Lou Culling was involved with many of the southern California esoteric leadership during approximately forty years, and had friendships