by Ivor Edwards
The next feat was performed by the older man and consisted in several instantaneous disappearances and reappearances. The curious point about this was that the old man was dripping wet.
Following this was a very interesting exhibition. By the old man’s directions we arranged ourselves round the fire at the three points of an imaginary triangle. The men waved their hands over the fire in rhythm with their chant when dozens of tic-polongas, the most deadly serpent in Africa, slowly crawled from the burning embers, and interlacing themselves together whirled in a mad dance on their tails round the fire, making all the while a continuous hissing. The young man then came round to me, and, kneeling down, opened his mouth, out of which the head of a tic-polonga was quickly protruded. He snatched it out, pulling a serpent nearly three feet long out of his throat, and threw it also into the fire. In rapid succession he drew seven serpents from his throat, and consigned them all to the same fiery end.
But I wanted to know what they could do in the way of evocation of spirits. The incantation this time lasted nearly twenty minutes, when, rising slowly from the fire, appeared a human figure, a man of great age, a white man too, but absolutely nude. I put several questions to him, but obtained no reply. I arose and walked round the fire, and particularly noticed a livid scar on his back. I could get no satisfactory explanation of who he was, but they seemed rather afraid of him, and had evidently – from the remarks they interchanged – expected to see a black man.
After the appearance of this white man, I could not persuade them that night to attempt anything more, although the next night I had no difficulty with them. A most impressive feat, which they on a subsequent occasion performed, was the old custom of the priests of Baal. Commencing a lugubrious chant they slowly began circling around the fire (which said fire always is an essential part of the proceedings), keeping a certain amount of rhythm in both their movements and cadences. Presently, the movement grew faster and faster till they whirled round dancing like dervishes. There were two distinct movements; all the time during which they were gyrating round the circle, they were rapidly spinning on their own axies. With the rapidity of their revolutions their voices were raised higher and higher until the din was terrific. Then, by a simultaneous movement, each began slashing his naked body on arms, chest and thighs, until they were streaming with blood and covered with deep gashes. Then the old man stopped his erratic course and sitting down on the ground narrowly watched the younger one with apparent solicitude. The young man continued his frantic exertions until exhausted. Nature could bear no more and he fell panting and helpless on the ground. The old man took both the knives and anointed the blades with some evil smelling grease from a calabash, and then stroked the young man’s body all over with the blade that had done the injuries and finished the operation by rubbing him vigorously with the palms of the hands smeared with the unguent. In a few minutes time the young man arose and there was not the slightest trace of wound or scar in his ebony skin. He then performed the same good offices on the old man with the same effect. Within ten minutes afterwards they were both laid on their mats in a sweet and quiet sleep. In this performance there were many invocations, gestures, the circular fire and other things which satisfied me that some portion, at all events, of the magical processes of West Africa had been handed down from the days of Baal and he was an actual God, and mighty in the land.
Lucifer, November 1890
Once in business with Collins and D’Onston, Cremers found herself both confidante and friend to D’Onston. If D’Onston was Jack the Ripper then Cremers was now in a position to notice any signs, including actions or comments. She did not have long to wait before a true picture began to emerge of this seemingly inoffensive man. A strange confrontation took place between the two which marked the start of her doubts.
One evening, when Cremers returned to Baker Street, she saw D’Onston standing outside the door of his room. He appeared to be drawing some sort of sign upon it with his thumb. She noticed the figure he traced was the outline of an inverted triangle on the door.
D’Onston asked Cremers if she had noticed the figure he had traced. She acknowledged seeing the figure and D’Onston told her a story about sensing a horrible presence outside his door several years before. He said he knew how to guard against its intrusion by making the sign of the triangle on the door of his room before entering.
Cremers said she did not know there was any magical significance, either black or white. As for his story of the ‘horrible presence’, it faintly recalled the awe-inspiring description of the Presence which figured in Bulwer Lytton’s Zanoni. This work partially describes the return of an evil spirit inadvertently summoned. Much of Lytton’s work contains occultist doctrine thinly veiled as fiction. D’Onston held strong beliefs in a presence which had scared him.
Some may consider that such beliefs hold no place in the realms of reality, and there are those that believe such writings do indeed play a part in the Great Plan of Life. D’Onston firmly believed in such things. It is well worth taking note that D’Onston thought that he could control the presence simply by making the outline of a triangle on his door, a sign which he thought could control what he believed were demons and spirits. This shows it was all in his mind.
D’Onston explained his signature, Tautriadelta, by saying that the Hebrew Tau was always shown in the form of a cross; it is the last letter of the sacred alphabet. Tria is Greek for three, while Delta is the Greek letter D, written in the form of a triangle. The completed word signifies ‘Cross three Triangles’. The plan does include three triangles.
By using the word Tautriadelta D’Onston was on another game-playing ego trip. He was simply stating, ‘I’m so clever and everyone else is so stupid, because only I know the true meaning of the word.’ Tau is also the first letter in the Greek word for cut, and some writers and mathematicians use this letter to represent the Golden Ratio which will be dealt with later.
The truth of the matter is that D’Onston’s ego got the better of him and he wanted to come out and tell the world what he had done. But he knew he would end up on the end of a rope if he did. The hidden meaning behind the name relates to hidden secrets and it was a dangerous game, but not for those who knew the stakes. Throughout time those in possession of secret knowledge have always put themselves above others. When all is said and done, it’s all a matter of deception.
From earliest times certain men possessed the ancient mysteries of life and they knew about the astronomical cycles and much more. To keep such information to themselves they simply used secret codes and symbols. This concealed their knowledge from others. As time passed the codes became more complicated and harder to break.
Cremers and a lot of other people would not have the slightest idea what Tautriadelta meant. We know that Cremers saw D’Onston with foul candles, possibly made of human fat. He had informed her that he had made the candles but did not inform her how. D’Onston wrote of the use of human fat in various black magic rituals. The symbols on the plan Vesica Pisces, and the missing uterus from two victims, all relate to the same thing, the vagina or yoni.
D’Onston wrote that the purpose of such studies was to obtain power, it would appear that this man would go to the darkest depths of human degradation to obtain it. Such things still exist today, unfortunately.
A friend of mine, just back from the West Coast of Africa and in hospital with a bout of malaria, told me of several cases of black magic which took place in a village near where he was located. One case involved a female victim murdered and with certain body parts missing. These parts were believed to have been stolen for use in black magic rituals.
This killing was nearly identical to the Millers Court murder. I was also informed that it was not an uncommon occurrence for children to become victims of the occult. During my research I have concluded that the occult practised on the West Coast of Africa is linked with the occult of the Egyptians.
The old Egyptian religion was no more than an occult
religion, which involved the use of magic in everyday life. Black and white magic were not separate at this time. The cult of Isis appears to have been centred at Abydos near the Delta in lower Egypt. She is in fact the archetype of a cult that continues in the Christian churches to the present day. She is also known as the Black Virgin. Her image was revived during the late 19th century. Many occult traditions equate her with the Virgin Mary.
Helen Blavatsky stated, ‘Cyril, the bishop of Alexandria, had openly embraced the cause of Isis, the Egyptian goddess and had anthropomorphised her into Mary, the mother of God. The black virgins, so highly reverenced in certain French cathedrals … proved, when at last critically examined, they were indeed basalt figures of Isis. She is also possibly the archetype for the high priestess of the Tarot.’
Blavatsky’s first book was called Isis Unveiled. Occult religion came into being to manipulate the masses by using fear on the ignorant; fear of death and the unknown. Control over the many by the few was essential religion and is still used for the same purpose today.
The Story of Isis
The Egyptian sun god Ra, depicted as ram-headed, was the creator of everything that existed in the known world of the ancient Egyptians, including man himself. By speaking the name of something Ra created it, and ultimately controlled it. He sailed his sun boat across the sky by day and through the underworld by night.
Isis, wife of Osiris, mother of Horus and sister of Seth, was a god in her own right. She possessed the art of magic and healing. However, she soon became envious of the powers of Ra. The key to his magical powers lay in his secret name. Isis, wanting greater powers, devised a method of obtaining Ra’s secret.
When Ra drooled Isis collected his spit and, by mixing it with soil, created a snake. The snake was then turned into dart form and placed in the path of Ra’s daily route across the sky. When Ra passed the snake it rose up and bit him. The venom from the snake then took effect on Ra and he became increasingly ill.
Because Ra had not made the snake he had no control over it. Isis offered to work her magic on Ra to cure him but only on the condition that he reveal his secret name. He offered several names but Isis, not to be outdone, was not taken in by such subterfuge. Owing to the increasing deterioration to his life Ra finally gave Isis his secret name.
Thus Isis learned of Ra’s all-powerful magic and knew the secrets of immortality. Seth the god of evil quarrelled with his brother, Osiris, killed him and cut his body into pieces, spreading the remains throughout Egypt so that he could never be restored to life.
The tears of Isis at the death of Osiris were said to cause the rising of the Nile. Isis travelled throughout the land collecting the remains of Osiris. The only part of Osiris that she failed to find was his penis. The remains of Osiris were put together and wrapped in bandages. Isis fashioned a substitute penis and placed it on the body and through her magical power brought him back to life.
Osirus, god of the dead, is depicted as a mummified man wearing a feathered crown and bearing the crook and flail of a king. Isis hid her son, Horus, from Seth, until Horus was fully grown and was in a position to avenge his father. Horus is depicted as a falcon-headed man with a solar disc on his head.
The chief aspect of Isis was that of a great magician, whose power was far greater than all other deities. The Egyptians were the master magicians of the ancient world. Master magicians were said to have turned sticks into snakes, and to have divided the waters of lakes.
Sound familiar?
Because D’Onston was in daily contact with Cremers over a period of 18 months, common sense dictates that he would loosen up to a certain degree. He would tell Collins far more than he ever told Cremers. So if Cremers thought he was Jack the Ripper, Collins would certainly know he was.
We know that Collins told Cremers that D’Onston was the Ripper. One afternoon he spoke to Cremers about an incident involving his favourite cousin. This cousin was in love with a girl who had rejected him as a suitor but had accepted him as a friend. One day the cousin came to D’Onston in great anguish. The girl he loved had been made pregnant by another man and this seducer had deserted her and left the country for America.
D’Onston asked for a handkerchief belonging to the girl, telling his cousin and the girl that they would not see nor hear from him until the girl had been avenged. His hunt for the seducer took all of 15 months but at last he caught up with him in California. On his return D’Onston bragged that he had dipped the handkerchief in the seducer’s blood and returned it to the girl.
It is interesting to note that a similar story is related in A Study in Scarlet (1887) by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. The story relates how Jefferson Hope, the hero, avenges Lucy Ferrier by killing two men who affronted her honour. After killing one victim in the USA, he returned to London to kill the other. During the second killing he suffers a nosebleed and writes the word ‘Rache’ upon the wall in his own blood. We know D’Onston more than likely used the graffito trick from the same book.
Cremers recalled thinking the story indicated what a braggart D’Onston was, yet the story was related to her in a very matter of fact way. Cremers was a born listener and prided herself on never asking questions or interrupting conversations; she let the speaker carry on ‘to the bitter end’.
One story D’Onston related to Cremers involved his experiences during the California Gold Rush. He recalled prospecting a claim with a friend but the resulting settlement did not amount to a large sum. The friend and D’Onston decided to ask a Chinese man if he would be interested in selling his allegedly larger claim. The pair followed the man and at an opportune moment D’Onston claimed his friend’s handgun ‘accidentally’ went off. No details were added to this story.
D’Onston’s apparent callousness was evident in many such stories. During his stint as a surgeon in the Garibaldean army of 1860 he worked under ghastly conditions in the field. He stated he often had to perform amputations without anaesthetic and his patients suffered horribly. His only comment about the experience was that he could not have acquired the same experience in 20 years as a surgeon in England.
Cremers began to understand the indifferent attitude D’Onston had when he mentioned a brutal incident for which he was directly responsible. D’Onston said he had gone for several days without sleep when he was awakened by a subaltern who said a wounded prisoner had been brought in.
The subaltern wanted to know what to do with the prisoner and D’Onston, half awake and irritable, ordered the prisoner to be dispatched straight away. His directive was carried out to the letter. He commented that the man was an enemy and enemies are meant to be killed. These events show that D’Onston was a man who believed life had no value, apart from his own, of course
Cremers recalled that the association between Mabel Collins and D’Onston was of the closest nature, adding that Collins was more involved than D’Onston appeared to be. Collins took D’Onston to Southsea to recuperate after his ‘illness’, provided him with his creature comforts and furnished a room for him in Baker Street, supplying him with money. Cremers said D’Onston was always polite and courteous but his actions never revealed any degree of pleasure when Collins was in his company.
A power struggle within the Theosophical Society began to take shape in which Blavatsky’s position was challenged by Colonel Orcotott and A. P. Sinett. In true political style the mud-slinging came into play. Collins was accused of sexual perversions. She was revealed to be a woman with much to hide. Collins was accused of accepting Tantrism, teachings that included group sex, sodomy, incest, bestiality and necrophilia.
It was humiliating for Collins to know that members of the society were free to picture her in unbridled private ecstasies. Blavatsky decided to purge her staff of disloyal members by fair means or foul. The struggle was fought by devious means; the knives came out, and malicious charges were aired. Blavatsky eventually asked Cremers to break her ties with Collins; instead Cremers resigned from the society.
Collins start
ed a libel suit against Blavatsky in July 1889, but it did not reach court until July 1890. It was a very short-lived action; in the opening moments Blavatsky’s attorney showed the counsel for Collins a letter she had written. The action was stopped immediately and the contents of the letter never revealed. It appears she was stupid enough to actually record details of her sexual taboo-breaking. Her vulnerability in this area makes it clear to understand why D’Onston could exercise such control over her.
Mabel Collins entered the offices of the Pompadour Cosmetique Company in Baker Street and nervously told Cremers that she believed D’Onston to be Jack the Ripper. Cremers was understandably shocked by this revelation and pressed Collins for proof. Collins never informed Cremers why she was suspicious of D’Onston but her actions convinced Cremers that she was speaking the truth. She did say that D’Onston showed her something which convinced her that he was Jack the Ripper.