Writers' roam in occultic fantasia

  “The occult fascinates writers, perhaps because writers are temperamentally attuned to the dark, creative urges, the forbidden of the universe” -  Ben Okri

IN Literature, there is a speciality within the genre of creative writing that is dubbed, magical realism. Nigerian born, naturalised British writer, Ben Okri is one of the leading lights in that endeavour.

  In magical realism hidden metaphysical narratives are infused into free-flowing prose through folkloric narratives as is very evident in Okri's, engaging fiction, Famished Road. The award winning novel, published in 1991, dwells on Azoro, an abiku (ogbanje) or spiritual child living in a typical African village. The novel employs a unique style incorporating the spirit world with the real world intermitently. That is why some western authorities in literary studies classify such writtings as magical realism.

  Wole Soyinka. Soyinka's works have been interpreted and reinterpreted by different scholars, layman and even theologians as mythical and mystical. Interestingly, Soynka hardly hides any secret for those who care to learn. The Nobel Laurate is sagacious in his espousal of his beliefs.  He probes deep into the ethos of African mythology. An ample example is such his poem, Abiku. His other works like Ogun Abibiman, Dance of the Forest, The King's Horseman among many others fit into the format.

  Edger Allen Poe, one of the literray figurers that influenced the  development of the short stories format as it is today, wrote the great pieces Ligeia, and The Masque of the Red Death. But his best stories can be read as allegories, in which the narator's disordered mind both project and represent the disdored universe. In The Fall of the House of Usher for instance, the house rpresents the mind, as it does in dreams. The narrator approches the “house” with depression of soul.

  Poe worked a good deal on dreams, nightmares, madness, and illusion. He contributed a lot to present day understanding of such emotional and surreal stages.

  Surreal novelist, Lobsang Rampa, a Tibetian monk who grew up in the Chkpori Lamasery, the Temple of Tebatian medicine. He studied clairvoyance and healing arts. As a young boy, he was reportedly given a special operation. The suggery opened the pineal gland, the so called “third eye” As a result, Rampa was said to be able to see other people's aura and read their minds. That was the story handed out by Rampa's publishers when his book, The Third Eye was released. Rampa's other esoteric books include, Doctor from Lhsa, The Rampa Story, The Cave of the Ancient, Living with Lima, You Forever, Wisdom of the Ancient,The Saffron Robe, Beyond the Tenth, and Cave of the Ancient. All of which read like mystic monographs, transformed to bestsellers.

  French writer, Victtor Hugo, like other gifted men of the pen, was one of the figures whose writing shaped some of the idea of the present day. But recently, a more curious twist has emerged on the source of his inspiration. He was alleged to be the Grand master of the ever underground, Prior of Sion, one of mordern world's very powerful secreet societies. The Prior of Sion is known for its cherveric tradition.And of course, many believed that Hugo wrting was simply the creative reinterpretation of Hermetic philosophies in which lies the deepest occult lores.

  Helen Petrovna Balavstky, the founder of Theosophy, though a gifted writer was one of the most important figures in the establishment of modern occult movements. Her books are numerous they  have influenced major political philosophies as well as helped to shape many people's grasp of theology. For instance, Balavastky book shaped some of the current understanding about UFO's and Astronmy.

  Similarly, L Ron Hubard's writing on dianetics and Scientiology are of literary intrest because the are so typical of their period that the formed the bastion of the teachings of the Church of Sientology. Hubard lived and died in a curious dome that housed the headquarters in the United States of America. Originally a journalist Hubard wrote works that are deeply influenced by occult beliefs.

   The list is of such literary figures is long and replete with outstanding writings, prompting the question why most writers are drawn to esoteric thoughts.But the deeper scholars are drawn to the study, the more they end up without answers, however, one thing remains clear, writers love to roam in the unseen worlds and often, when they return, they come with a lot of knowledge for their readers to chew.