DW was only too well aware of the tragedies that war could inflict at a personal level, having lost his closest friend in World War I ('the war to end all wars') and having seen death at first hand in France.
In 1939 he cautioned his beloved step-daughter Diana to be kind to her brother Jack in case - having gone off to war - he never returned.
As previous rooms have shown, DW was a firm believer in re-incarnation, and in World War II, he sought to persuade the public that death was not to be feared.
Early in the war he wrote a review of his friend Joan Grant's latest book, 'Life as Carola', in which the psychic told the (rather grim) story of her incarnation as a strolling player in mediaeval Italy in a sequel to her stunningly successful debut work 'Winged Pharaoh'.
Part of DW's review read:
'At this present time it is of immense importance because it carries
the message that Death is not to be feared. Death is a friend who
brings Release so that we once again become fully conscious of
our true and finer selves ... ... ... This is why every family, even if
they have to save their pennies, should give with their love copies
of LIFE AS CAROLA and its glorious predecessor, WINGED
PHARAOH, to their fighting men.'
For the full text of the review, click here
Later on in the Blitz, departing from his materialistic Gregory Sallust novels, DW wrote his second occult novel featuring the Duke de Richleau - 'Strange Conflict'.
The first edition of 'Strange Conflict' (1941)
In an early part of the novel, while he is on the 'astral plane', the Duke sees a building being bombed. A number of the inhabitants are killed, and DW explains that their lives are not over - they simply carry on living on a different plane of existence:
'At that moment the plane released a heavy bomb and de Richleau, deciding that he must
not hang about up there but get on with his own business, dropped swiftly with it to within twenty feet of the dark rooftops. The bomb struck a block of flats; brick, glass and cement
were hurled high into the air and one corner of the block dissolved into flaming ruins. That
it had killed several people the Duke knew, as he saw their spiritual bodies rise up from the smoking debris. One - evidently that of a person who in life had been conscious of the
hidden truths - gave a shout of joy, which was perceptible to de Richleau, and made off
at once, full of happy purpose. The others remained hovering there, forlorn, unhappy and bewildered, evidently not fully understanding yet what had happened to them and that they were dead; but they were not left in that state for long.
Even before the firefighters and rescue squads came clattering into the street below to aid
the still living, if there were any such pinned beneath the smoking heap of rubble, the
spiritual rescue-squads appeared to aid those from whom life had been stricken ...'
(Strange Conflict, Chapter V).
DW sent parts of the manuscript to Joan Grant after he had written them, inviting her comments on its accuracy, and the printed book was dedicated to her and her second husband.
If Phil Baker is right that in saying that 'The Devil Rides Out' should be regarded as an appeasement novel, then 'Strange Conflict' should certainly be seen as a novel promoting DW's religious beliefs and aimed at giving comfort to the bereaved and the dying.
References : Phil Baker pp 406-7.
