I have a few moments spare and am spending the time typing up the research for my third book (or fifth, if you count the two I did years ago). Mr Penry is being a sweetheart and taking care of the shopping for me today which has freed up a lot of time. And the dogs are being very good and quiet too!

I usually write out my notes by hand initially, since it makes me keep on track and write just the important stuff I can work on later. But there comes a point where I simply have to get it onto the computer in order to work on my first draft. SO today I am doing just that. I am listening to Monteverdi madrigals while I work, which instill a great sense of tranquility and peace all over the room.

I still have a lot more notes to make - probably another month which is a conservative estimate I think. It's probably just as well that I enjoy doing research! (But I confess I enjoy the actual writing a lot more!)

My last post about the nature of evil opened up a few interesting possibilities, including Life’s Lessons’ comment that people in groups behave quite differently from individuals, while Munzly drew attention to how word meanings themselves can be distorted for individual ends (in this case demonising women.)

Obviously a daily blog isn’t going to be able to deal with a subject as huge as the nature of evil, but it might be able to raise a few questions that set us thinking. Why do people behave differently in groups? Why would anyone want to demonise women (or men, for that matter)?

Ganesharocks said something interesting too, that people fear what they don’t understand. They do. And fear isn’t always rational, it can make a grown women such as myself run screaming from a spider less than three inches across when all that is required is a quick smack with a newspaper. (For the record, I usually try to remove spiders, wasps, bees etc unharmed outside, but it isn’t always possible.)

People who aren’t rational don’t behave sensibly. So fear can lead us to do stupid things. A nervous, fearful dog will often snap at strangers and other dogs. His terror is so great he feels he might as well get the first bite in before he is attacked. So possibly attacks on women as a general group, could be explained as being all down to fear.

(I asked Mr Penry if he was frightened of me. He said ‘Yes, terrified.’ I think he was exaggerating. )

But why do people behave so differently in groups? It doesn’t even need to be a large group, sometimes just two or three, and suddenly the behaviour of the group is worse than anything the component individuals might have been capable of.

My own feeling is that there are a couple of explanations, one of which involves the magic of thought forms. It’s quite a complex idea, but basically the thinking behind it goes like this:

Thoughts are capable of taking shape. It may sound mad, but once one is involved with the occult it’s easy to see how thoughts can assume a tangible form. Normally it’s quite short lived, but if the thought form is fed (and this is where the presence of a group of vaguely like-minded individuals comes in handy) it can not only grow, but become independent of the individual who first thought of it.

Once this happens there is a real danger that instead of being a mere following, the thought form can become active in its own right, in other words it can actually initiate the group’s behaviour. And it just keeps on growing, because an active thought form will attract other, similar forms in the vicinity – even from people who have nothing to do with the original group. It’s scary stuff, although a good occultist can disperse a thought form.

I think many aspects of modern life are encouraging malevolent thought forms to grow. I’m sure some of you out there are probably shaking your heads and muttering ‘She’s really flipped her lid this time,’ but after so many years experience of these things, they’re not only as real as the nose on your face, they’re actually increasing at the moment.

Whether they’re being deliberately encouraged for political or ideological ends, I don’t know. It certainly wouldn’t be the first time it’s happened!

Seeking the Green by Tylluan Penry, published soon by Capall Bann. For more info please watch this space!