The trance state of the medium is akin to light hypnosis and the subject or medium of a well-meaning little circle of Spiritualists may, unknown to him or herself, become the slave of one or other of the members of the circle. It is an asseveration with hypnotists that they have no power without the _consent_ of the individual. But once they have won the entry of the mind that entry is theirs for ever, and even the bodily presence of the operator is not required to achieve this domination of the mind of the subject.[25] The common instances where this kind of thing occurs cannot be classed as true sorcery, for in most cases the operator is unconscious of how or why the fulfilment of his desires comes about. The true sorcery only comes in when an individual possessing the required psychic faculty, and in addition, occult knowledge, exerts these of set purpose in order to gratify his desires. Vengeance of an enemy, the subjugation of another’s will, the satisfaction of a sex passion, all these are motives for sorcery. The witch-doctor of West Africa, the voodoo priestesses of Cuba and Hayti practise these accomplishments no less than their white brethren in black magic. Sorcery lives to-day no less than it lived centuries ago. There are several roads to its portals--but not a track leading back to the regions of light for those that pass its gates. The first aim of the sorcerer is to get the victim in a state of suggestibility. This can be accomplished in a dozen different ways well known to the practised student. In the first, fumes of a special sort of incense played no inconsiderable part in the rôle of sorcery. According to ritual they are to propitiate the spirits--in actual practice they induce relaxation on the part of the subject and assist in building up that necessary atmosphere which is essential to suggestibility. The effect of darkness, of points of light gleaming amid surrounding dark, the magic mirror or the crystal globe; all these were more than stage properties--they are the mechanical implements of suggestion. Let us suppose that some weak and curious woman visits a sorcerer to obtain his help in some affair of heart. The man of mystery seats her in a comfortable chair; the lights are lowered and he tells her to gaze at the crystal ball upon the table before her. Fumes of incense hang in the heavy air. The man’s voice is clear, dominant, and sonorous; slowly it becomes soothingly monotonous. Gradually the client feels languor stealing over her. The crystal becomes cloudy and in the globe appears something that she knows and recognizes. Probably the crystal tells her nothing that means anything to her. Certainly she has seen in it nothing but what she has known at some time before,[26] or something that the magician has seen before. But the net result is that she is convinced of the occult powers possessed by him.