B925 <=> B927 [BTG XLII Beelzebub in America, p. 926]

“Namely, every hostess, rolling her eyes to heaven and pointing to the chicken, would say with great feeling that it was the ‘famous Pamir pheasant’ and that it had been specially sent to them from Pamir by their dear nephew who resided there as consul for their great ‘fatherland.’

“On that planet there exist in general conjuries for every possible kind of purpose.

“These conjuries began multiplying particularly after many of the beings of this peculiar planet had become specialists in supernatural phenomena and came to be called ‘occultists,’ ‘spiritualists,’ ‘theosophists,’ ‘violet magicians,’ ‘chiromants,’ and so forth.

“Besides being able to create ‘supernatural phenomena,’ these ‘specialists’ also knew very well how to make the opaque look transparent.

“This same American prohibition of the consumption of alcohol can serve us yet again as an excellently illuminating example for understanding to what degree the possibilities for the crystallization of data for being-reflection are atrophied in these contemporary responsible power-possessing beings, in respect of the fact that such an absurdity is being actually repeated there.

“There on that continent, everybody without exception, thanks to this prohibition, now consumes this same alcohol – even those who in other circumstances would probably never have consumed it.

“There on the continent America, the very same is occurring with the consumption of alcohol as occurred with the chewing of the seeds of the poppy by the beings of the country Maralpleicie.

“The difference is that in the country of Maralpleicie the beings were then addicted to the use of a least genuine poppy seeds, whereas in America the beings now consume any liquid that comes their way, provided only that it bears the name of some alcoholic liquid existing somewhere on their planet.