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“THE DAWN” . . . WHAT A CHILD!

Naglowska had many critics, many of whom seem to have been jealous of her notoriety, and occasionally, as here, she took the trouble to publicly respond to one of them. In this case, it was the editor of a rival occult journal. This article is rather entertaining, and it shows a very human side of Naglowska, complete with a wicked sense of humor. It appeared in La Flèche No. 8, December 15, 1931. Naglowska signed it with her own name, and in the text below she has italicized her comments in response to those of her critic.

I have just received three issues of The Dawn: August, September, and October, 1931. They had not been sent to me before because La Flèche was not appearing.

The August number of The Dawn contains the following lines, concerning me: “Madame de Naglowska, a learned Russian—thanks!—is a woman of a certain worth—thanks again!—and surely initiated—oh! oh!—but I would categorize her as dangerously woman—these last two words are underlined in The Dawn by its timorous editor—for when one starts with this, one doesn’t know at all where one is going—why don’t you stay home then, Don Quixote without a sword?—She spreads her rancors, her disillusionments, over the astral plane, in her way, which is perhaps not a good way (in intention at least, the fact . . . I don’t know).”

If you don’t know, dear friend and colleague, let it be.

But no, he goes on. A little higher, in the same column on page three of The Dawn for the month of August, we find this ridiculous conclusion: “The Arrow, ‘magical organ’—he has never understood this subtitle, for his doesn’t have anything magical about it—belonging to Madame de Naglowska, who gives prominence to satanism and prides herself on it . . .”

Dear Sir, you who do not take the trouble to sign your article, written no doubt as a military parade, lacking any theme for real combat, you prove to me by your premature lines that you have not yet read La Flèche, whose seven issues that have appeared up to the present are all available to you in the offices of The Dawn.

Read, if you please, understand and meditate . . . we will discuss it afterward.

You like it when people respond to you, you become angry when they do not—perhaps it is because you would like The Dawn to be cited every time someone dips a pen into an inkwell—but you are forgetting that in the editorial offices of the world one has other things to do than defend oneself against your cardboard weapons.

For the rest, your accusations are monotonous. You always find satanism among those whom you do not like (but do you even know what it is?), venality (would you by any chance be affected by it?—one easily accuses his neighbor of the defects of which one would like to free himself), and dark designs . . .

I remember quite well having already invited The Dawn to send its emissaries to 11, rue Bréa,^*25 for the purposes of an investigation . . . in our offices (if one can call them such!). . . . Our doors are still open, and visitors are still received cordially.

Why torment yourself uselessly? Come and see.