In pursuit of this end “X” has revealed certain mysteries to which the attention of the common man has not heretofore been effectively called. That there is an “astral world” permeating and extending beyond the world of dense matter has been stated in Theosophical and other literature; “X” makes his readers realize the fact. The astral world is said to be the world of feeling and desire; and it is through man’s astral, feeling or desire body, made of a tenuous kind of matter invisible to untrained eyes, that he connects with and functions in that world. Within and beyond this again is said to be the thought world, and the theory is that man has also a thought body through which he contacts with and functions in it. And so on, plane after plane, till man reaches the formless and the universal, in other words pure divinity. The evil astral beings described by “X” are beings dwelling in the astral world. Some of them have no physical bodies in the material world; others are the more or less independent astral selves of men, which during sleep go here and there in the world invisible to our open eyes. They have been active in this war. There are also said to be beings of the elements, earth, air, fire and water, who are evolving along a line different from that of man. Some of these are amiable, some are malicious. Much information about these elementals can be found in the writings of Paracelsus. They also have been active in this war. Other and superior beings work on all three planes, physical, astral and mental, and in still higher worlds beyond our cognizance. But for the beneficent activity of some of these, mankind would destroy itself or be destroyed. “X” says that the feelings of hatred and the sufferings engendered by the great war have made the astral world at this time a very unpleasant place of sojourn. The purgatory of the Roman Catholics is the same thing as the place of post-mortem trial described by “X”. The Church has great knowledge. Good and evil may be called opposite and complementary forces, one working in harmony with the Law of the Universe (otherwise called the will of God), the other working disharmoniously with that Law. Some readers may be shocked by what “X” says of black magic. He is not writing to shock them, but to protect and instruct them. Superstition has been called the dark side of religion; but superstition is to be understood, not dismissed with the lifting of superior eyebrows. All things are to be understood. The great psychologists, scientists, do not now consider these subjects beneath their investigation. Refer to Professor William James, to Sir Oliver Lodge, to Dr. Baraduc. The names of recognized scientists who are now investigating occult phenomena would fill a small directory. When I admit that I am seeking to chart the unseen world, I am modestly enrolling myself in good company.