Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1903-02-28
THE"OCCULT"GR GRAF TER
Species In Great Vogue in
New York.
VICTIMS ARE WOMEN
TENDENCY THERE TOWARD ORR
ENTAIL RELIGIOUS FADs.
The Women Of Leisure Are the Vo-
tartes Of This Craze
Also.
VICTIMS ARE WOMEN
Special Correspondence OF The Evening Star.

aganda-for- reyenue-only that makes suf-
fcently profuse use Of the terms PSYCHE
car' and "esoterio" Is bound to get the
money In New York. The town Is cluttered
with crafty, o.-eyed Hindus, spotlessly
turbaned and with untmpeachable robes OF
flowing linen, whose musical If quite unin-
tellfgible incantations with reference to
'Kharma" and "Nlrvana'' and "Avitchf'
and "Dvachan' make tremendous impress
sions upon the modsh women who sub
scribe to their soul outpourings in the par
Tors Of the hyphenated hotels. Nothing
could be much more instructive and divert
Ing than to see and hear an Immediately
togaed Hindu in the act Of reading Sanskrit
verse that is from 1900 to 5000 years old
to an assemblage of American women-all
of them seemingly inspired to the point OF
pallidness-in the green and gold room of
garish hotel, and to hear the comments OF
the women when the performance is at an
end. They find the Sanskrit verse too love-
ly and cute for anything, although they
don't understand a word Of 1t. However,
the Hindu who liouidly recites 1t has large,
bovine, dreamy eyes, and his toga Is inter-
esting, and he sways gracefully with the
meter of the verse-and he Is 80 old
worldish and so extremely good-looking
and-er-spiritual, Is he not?" the women
say to each other.
There Is a good deal of sameness about
the performances of these Brahmins. If
they are young and not too aesthetic-look-
ing-the aged and shriveled Hindus never
make any Roadway here-they easily cap
tivate their clienreles Of women, and when
they return to India they are gold-proof
against the famines of their ancient land
as long as they live. They all pose as
adopts and "mahatmas" - that word
"mahatma" seems to exercise an almost
fetich-like power over American women
who go in strongly for the occult-and they
cause It to be given out that they have
virtually unlimited sway over mind. mat
ter, distance and such other little matters
that present insuperable obstacles to the
finest intellects of the occidental races.
Still, 1t seems distinctly obvious that, de-
but one method of obtaining the dough-
so to speak, which consists in their ability
to befog the minds of fashionable women
who have not a great deal to do except to
mug their successive fads.
Oriental Beliefs In Vogue.
And, for the matter Of that, a peculiar
rehabilitation Of the oriental religions, and
of some Of the forms Of worship of an
tiquity not classed distinctly as religions, Is
taking place In the island of Manhattan.
islamism. Tor example, Is going along here
at famous rate among New Workers. who
were born and reared Christians-principal-
ly women Of the wealthy unemployed class.
There are a great many Mohammedans of
various races in New York. and they prac.
tice the picturesque forms Of their faith
here with every detail just as the forms
are practiced In the heart Of the Moham-
medan countries. The oriental glamor of
their performances appeals to women who,
as they calmly put 1t, have "wearied of the
outworn creeds'-it Is thus that many of
them have permitted themselves to advert
to Chrtstiahty-and thus 1t happens that
quite large number Of well-known New
York women now profess to be full-fedged
Mohammedans, Which, however, need not
be alarming. Next they will become fire.
Worshipers, and. later on, something else
The fire-worshipers. by the way, have
successful cult over here. too They cali
themselves Zoroastrians, II one remembers
correctly. and their rites strike the EEK
oteri9, d.stinguished from the "esoterio"
@ps R Fde aas eaaSa saSs abso not . Sss
tion-it would strike the iarmal Christian,
man or woman as rather horrifying to
see the devotees of this cult bowling their
heads In the presence of a measley little
bonfire made in the middle of their meet
Ing room, and delivering themselves Of hys-
terical nonsense concerning the benefice.t
light of the sun. That sort OF thing may
be impressive in Persia, but 1t looks silly
enough in New York as practiced by women
who divide their waking hours between
their dressmakers', pink teas and social
routs, and the cultivation of their occult"
fads. But It really does not seem sac
rIlegeous+t is too hopelessly absurd for
that
Worshipers Of the Old Greek Religion.
Another class Of female faddists Of New
York have reverted sQuarely to the myth
illogical religion Of tho ancient Greeks
Maybe the underlying idea in this Is that
they look pretty in their flowing Greek
robes and sandals. which they wear when
going through the ancient ceremonies. They
have got 1t is said, the Delphian oracle and
all the rest Of the business well established.
and Zeus, Herrmes and the others Of those
impossibly- Inuscled NEUROLOGICAL person.
ages figure in their nominations to the mel
low music of Greek Tyres. THE world was
happy then"-when the Greeks were wor-
Shipping their occasionally very human gods,
that is-"and 1t Is SO unhappy now" say
the adherents to this rejuvenated classical
cult-therefore they are going to be Greeks
s-untl next week, when they will become
Parsees or, mayhap. idolators Of the Congo
The sane but distinctly non-reiigious
teachings Of Confucius have gained the ear
of quito number of faddy women in New
York, but there seems to be too little Of the
truly "ocGult' and '.psychicaw in the
make 1t likely that there will ever be a
Very successful propaganda Of Confucian-
ism in New York. 1t Is said that another
element Of New York women looking for
sOHleUlllnS new are graphing rranttCally
with the To-Shintoism of Japan-as II To-
Shintoism did not antedate the relgns of
the Hyksos Kings of Egypt!
II this thing goes on, after awhile we
shall have the cult Of African voodooism
among the society women OF New York
and then We shall see what we shall see.
Campaign Against the Anarchists.
The police Of New York are again en-
Gagged In ore Of their mild periodical cam
paigns against the anarchists. That is to
say, they've arrested sixteen-year- old boy
who probably proclaimed his anarchistical
beliefs more out of a desire for notoriety
than for any other reason, and maybe the
frowsy, manufacturing lad will get thirty
days on the island or some such sentence
in the meantime, the anarchists of New
York have been publicly emitting theiI
''death to all rulers howl without any In.
reference on the part of the cops. The
East Side ayenues-1st avenue aud Ave
nues A and B parucularly-swarm with tn,
filthy looking reds, and they make no eff
Tort whatever to conceal the fact that they
are anarchists. They have many meetine
halls, and their howls against all consti
tuted authority are just as vicious as they
ever were.
For few months after the assassinatio,
of President Mckinley the anarchists O
New York skunk In corners and kept unde
cover, but when the generously announce,
intention OF the New York authorities T.
clean the anarchists out, root and branch