THE MEDIUMS’ BOOK
Experimental Spiritism
THE MEDIUMS’BOOK
or
MANUAL FOR MEDIUMS AND EVOKERS
Content
SPECIAL TEACHING BY THE SPIRITS CONCERNING THE THEORY OF ALL THE GENRES OF MANIFESTATIONS, THE MEANS OF COMMUNICATING WITH THE INVISIBLE WORLD, THE DEVELOPMENT OF MEDIUMSHIP, THE DIFFICULTIES AND PITFALLS THAT MAY BE ENCOUNTERED IN THE PRACTICE OF SPIRITISM
Comprising the Continuation of the Spirits’ Book
By Allan Kardec
Persons who are interested in spiritism very naturally desire to enter into communication with spirits, and it is with a view to smoothing their path in this direction, by giving them the results of our own long and laborious investigation of the subject, that we have written this book, a perusal of which will show that those who imagine they have only to put their hands upon a table to make it move, or to hold a pencil to make it write, have come to a false conclusion in regard to the whole question.
They would be equally mistaken who should expect to find in this work a universal and infallible recipe for making mediums; for, although every one possesses the germ of the qualities necessary for becoming a medium, those qualities exist in very different gradations, and their development depends on causes which no one can control by his own will alone. The rules of poetry, painting, and music, do not make poets, painters, or musicians, of those who are not gifted with genius, although those rules guide men in the employment of the faculties which they naturally possess. So it is with the work before us ; its object is to indicate the means of developing the medianimic faculty so far as the receptivity of each will permit; and, above all, to guide it in a manner that may elicit its usefulness. Not, however, that this is the sole end for which the present work has been undertaken.
Some persons have wished us to publish a very concise, practical manual, containing in a few words the method of procedure for obtaining communications from spirits ; they think that a little book of that character would be widely disseminated, owing to the small price at which it could be issued, and would prove a powerful means of propagandism through the multiplication of mediums ; but, for our own part, we should regard such a work as being, at the present time, more likely to be hurtful than useful. The practice of spiritism is environed by difficulties, and is not exempt from dangers which only complete and serious study can avert. It is therefore to be feared that too succinct a treatise might lead to experimentation too lightly made, and that might be injurious to the experimenters. Spiritism is a subject with which it is neither proper nor prudent to trifle ; and we shrink from bringing it within the reach of every frivolous individual who might think it an amusing pastime to talk with the dead. We address ourselves to those who recognise the serious nature of the subject, who comprehend its great importance, and who do not make a sport of holding intercourse with the invisible world.
We would add to the above considerations one more of no small importance, viz., the unfavourable impression which the sight of experiments entered on lightly, and with no proper knowledge of the cause of the phenomena evolved, necessarily produces on novices and persons who are ill-disposed towards spiritism, giving them a very false idea of the world of spirits, and bringing ridicule upon the cause of spiritism ; sceptics usually leave such sittings unconvinced, and but little disposed to admit that Spiritism can have its serious side. The ignorance and frivolity of some mediums have done more harm to the cause than is generally supposed.
Having treated of spiritism, in The Spirits’ Book, under its philosophical aspect, our object in the present work will be to elucidate its practical side for the guidance of those who are seeking manifestations through their own medianimity, and for those who desire to arrive at a correct appreciation of the phenomena. We would enable them to understand, and thus to avoid, the stumbling-blocks they may find in their path. These two works, although this one is a sequel to the other, are to a certain degree independent of each other ; but we would counsel the serious inquirer to read The Spirits’ Book first, because it contains the fundamental principles of spiritist science, without a knowledge of which, certain parts of the present book would hardly be understood.
The present treatise has been corrected with the utmost care by the spirits who have superintended its production, and who have introduced into it a great variety of remarks and instructions of the deepest interest. They have revised the whole, approving or modifying its various portions at their pleasure; and their co-operation has not been confined to the giving of the articles signed by them, although we have only appended their signatures when we have considered it advisable to do so, in order to render more evident the character of the communications given. Had we appended the names of all who have taken part in the work, every page would have borne testimony to their collaboration. We have, however, appended their signatures to all answers made by them to questions, the utility of so doing being evident; but names, in general, are of little importance in such a matter, what is essential being that the work, in its entirety, should answer the end proposed.
PARIS, 1861.
PART FIRST - PRELIMINARY OBSERVATIONS
CHAPTER I - DO SPIRITS EXIST?
Whatever ideas we may hold in regard to spirits, the belief in their existence is necessarily founded on that of the existence of an intelligent principle distinct from matter; this belief is therefore incompatible with an absolute negation of such a principle.
We assume then, as the ground-work of our belief, the existence, survival, and individuality of the soul, of which spiritualism is the theoretic and doctrinal demonstration, and spiritism the practical proof. Let us then, for a moment, leave out of sight the fact of spirit-manifestations, properly so called, and let us see to what conclusions we are led by inductive reasoning.
What has become of those concentric spheres called the "heaven of fire," the " heaven of stars," etc., since we have found out that the earth is not the centre of the universe, and that our sun is only one of the countless myriads of suns which shine in space, and each of which is the centre of a planetary system of its own ? Where is now the earth's importance, lost as it is in this immensity ? and by what unjustifiable privilege shall we assume that this imperceptible grain of sand, distinguished neither by its bulk, its position, nor any peculiarity of attribute, is the only sphere peopled by intelligent creatures? Reason refuses to admit such an inutility of infinitude; and common sense declares that all the other worlds of the universe must be inhabited, and that, being inhabited, they, too, must furnish their contingent to the realm of souls.
But what, it may next be asked, becomes of the souls thus multiplied to infinity by the theory of the plurality of worlds, now that astronomy and geology have annihilated their ancient habitations?
The souls, then, that people space, are what we call spirits: and spirits are nothing but the souls of men stripped of their envelope of gross terrestrial matter. If spirits were beings apart from ourselves, their existence would be merely hypothetical ; but, if we admit that souls exist, we must also admit that spirits are nothing else than souls, and, if we admit that universal space is peopled by souls, we must equally admit that spirits are everywhere. We cannot deny the existence of spirits without denying the existence of souls.
Let us, in the first place, consider the spirit in reference to its union with the body. The spirit is the principal being, because it is that which thinks, and which survives the body, the latter being only an envelope, a vestment, of gross matter, that the spirit throws off when it is worn out but, besides this material envelope, the spirit has a second envelope, which is semi-material, and which unites it to the first at death, the spirit casts off the first, but retains the second, to which we give the name perispirit.*
This semi-material envelope, which has the human form, constitutes, for the spirit, a vaporous, fluidic body, which, though invisible to us in its normal state, nevertheless possesses some of the properties of matter. A spirit is therefore not a mathematical point, an abstraction, but is a real being, limited and circumscribed, and lacking only the qualities of visibility and palpability to show its resemblance to human beings. Why then should it not act on matter? Is it because its body is fluidic? But is it not among the most rarified fluids, those which we call "imponderable," as electricity, for example, that man finds his most powerful motors? Does not imponderable light exercise a chemical action on ponderable matter? We do not understand the precise nature of the perispirit but, supposing it to be formed of electrical matter, or of something else equally subtle, why should it not have the same property of action as electricity, when under the direction of a will?
__________________
Do you believe in God?
Do you believe you have a soul?
Do you believe in the survival of the soul after death? he responds with a negative, or even if he simply says: -
1st. That the being who thinks in us during life will no longer think after death; 2d. That, if it thinks, it will not think of those whom it has loved;
3d. That, if it thinks of those whom it has loved, it will not desire to communicate with them;
4th. That, if it has the power of being everywhere, it will not have the power of visiting us;
5th. That, if it can visit us, it will not have the power of communicating with us; 6th. That it will not be able to act upon inert matter by means of its fluidic envelope;
7th. That, if able to act upon inert matter, it will not be able to act upon an animated being;
8th. That, if able to act upon an animated being, it will not direct his hand, and make it write;
9th. That, being able to guide a human hand in writing, it will not be able to answer questions, and transmit its own thoughts to the questioner.
When the adversaries of spiritism shall have proved all this, by reasoning as incontrovertible as that by which Galileo proved that the sun does not turn round the earth, we will admit that their doubts are founded. But as, up to the present time, their whole argument may be summed up in words such as these "I do not believe these things, therefore they are impossible," they will doubtless tell us that it is for us to prove the reality of the manifestations; to which we reply, that we prove them both by facts and by reasoning, and that, if they admit neither the one nor the other, if they deny even what they see themselves, it is for them to prove that our reasoning is false, and that the facts we adduce are impossible.
CHAPTER II - THE MARVELLOUS AND THE SUPERNATURAL
To meet this objection, we should have to enter upon a demonstration that would be out of place in the present book, and that would, in fact, be a work of supererogation, since the action of disincarnate spirits, as the cause of the phenomena in question, is affirmed in every branch of its teachings. Nevertheless, to sum up these in a few words, we will say that they are founded, in theory, on this principle, viz., that every intelligent effect must have an intelligent cause, and, in practice, on the fact that the phenomena called spiritist having given proofs of the action of intelligence, must have their cause in something outside of matter; that this intelligence, not proceeding from those who are present at the sitting,-a point fully proved by experience,-must be extraneous to the sitters, and that, as no active agent is visible, this intelligence must be that of some invisible being. It is, then, through repeated observation that we have arrived at the certainty that this invisible being, to which the name of "spirit" has been given, is nothing else than the soul of one who has lived in the body, one whom death has deprived of his gross, visible envelope, leaving him with an ethereal envelope invisible to us in its normal state. The existence of invisible beings once proved, their power over matter results from the very nature of their fluidic envelope; and the action of this power is intelligent, because, at death, those invisible beings only lost their body, but retained their intelligence, which is, in fact, their essence. The existence of spirits is therefore no preconceived theory, no mere hypothesis, invented to explain certain facts; it is a result of experience and of observation, and is the natural consequence of the existence of the soul: to deny their existence is to deny the soul and its attributes. If any one thinks he can give a more rational explanation of the phenomena in question, let him do so, taking care, however, to give a rational explanation of all the facts of the case ; and, when this has been done, we can discuss the merits of both sides of the question.
1st. All spiritist-phenomena imply, as their principle, the existence of the soul, its survival of the body, and the manifestations which result therefrom.
2d. These phenomena, occurring in virtue of natural law, are neither "marvellous" nor "supernatural," in the ordinary sense of those words.
3d. Many facts are only reputed to be "supernatural" because their cause is unknown; spiritism, by assigning to them a cause, brings them within the domain of natural phenomena.
4th. Among the facts commonly called "supernatural," there are many which spiritism shows to be impossible, and which it therefore relegates into the category of superstitions.
5th. Although spiritism recognises a foundation of truth in many popular beliefs, it by no means accepts all the fantastic stories created by the imagination.
6th. To judge of spiritism by pretended facts, the reality of which it does not admit, is to give proof of ignorance, and to deprive such judgement of all weight.
7th. The explanation of the causes of facts acknowledged by spiritism, and the ascertainment of their moral consequences, constitute a new science and a new philosophy, requiring serious, persevering, and careful study.
1st. All spiritist-phenomena imply, as their principle, the existence of the soul, its survival of the body, and the manifestations which result therefrom.
2d. These phenomena, occurring in virtue of natural law, are neither "marvellous" nor "supernatural," in the ordinary sense of those words.
3d. Many facts are only reputed to be "supernatural" because their cause is unknown; spiritism, by assigning to them a cause, brings them within the domain of natural phenomena.
4th. Among the facts commonly called "supernatural," there are many which spiritism shows to be impossible, and which it therefore relegates into the category of superstitions.
5th. Although spiritism recognises a foundation of truth in many popular beliefs, it by no means accepts all the fantastic stories created by the imagination.
6th. To judge of spiritism by pretended facts, the reality of which it does not admit, is to give proof of ignorance, and to deprive such judgement of all weight.
7th. The explanation of the causes of facts acknowledged by spiritism, and the ascertainment of their moral consequences, constitute a new science and a new philosophy, requiring serious, persevering, and careful study.
8th. Spiritism can only be conclusively disproved by one who should have thoroughly studied it and sounded its deepest mysteries with the patient perseverance of a conscientious observer; one as well versed in every branch of the subject as the most ardent of its adherents; one acquainted with all the facts of the case, and with every argument that could be opposed to him, and which he must refute, not by denials, but by arguments still more conclusive; one, in short, who can give, of admitted facts, a more rational explanation than is given by spiritism. But such a critic has yet to be discovered.
The word miracle, in its primitive acceptation, and by its etymology, signifies something extraordinary, something admirable or wonderful; but this word, like many others, has lost its original meaning, and has come to be understood, in common parlance, as an ad of the Divine power, contrary to the known laws of nature. This is, in fact, its usual acceptation ; and it is no longer applied. to common things which surprise us and of which the cause is unknown, except as a metaphor. It is not our intention to examine, in this place, whether God may see fit, under certain circumstances, to act in opposition to the laws established by Himself; our object is solely to show that spirit-phenomena, extraordinary as they are, derogate in no degree from those laws, that they have no "miraculous" character, and are not even "marvellous" or "supernatural." A miracle cannot be explained ; spirit-phenomena, on the contrary, explain themselves, and in the most rational manner ; they are, therefore, not miracles, but simply effects which occur in virtue of general laws. A miracle has quite another character; it is something unusual, isolated. If a fact can be made to recur, so to say, at will, and through different people, that fact is no miracle.
Science works miracles daily in the eyes of the ignorant. In former times, any man who knew more than his neighbours passed for a sorcerer, and, as people then believed that all unusual knowledge came from the devil, they generally burned him; but now that we have become so much more civilised, we content ourselves with consigning such a one to the madhouse.
For a man who is really dead, as we remarked above, to be recalled to life by Divine intervention, would be a veritable miracle, because it would be contrary to the laws of nature. But if the man's death were only apparent, if there were still within him some remains of latent vitality, and if a physician, or a magnetiser, should intervene and restore him to life, it would be, to men of science, a natural phenomenon; but, in the eyes of the ignorant vulgar, it would pass for a miracle, and its author would either be stoned by the mob, or venerated by it, according to circumstances. If, in some rural district, a natural philosopher, with the aid of an electrical machine, should strike down a tree, as though by lightning, the new Prometheus would certainly be regarded as being armed with diabolical power (and here let us remark, in passing, that old Prometheus would seem to have got the start of Franklin); but the arresting of the movement of the sun, or rather of the earth, by Joshua, would indeed be a miracle, for we know of no magnetiser sufficiently powerful to accomplish such a prodigy. Of all the spirit phenomena one of the most extraordinary, without doubt, is that of direct writing, demonstrating, as it does, the power of the occult intelligences by whom it is effected; but it is no more miraculous than any of the other phenomena due to the action of those invisible agents, because the occult beings who people space are one of the powers of nature, and exercise an incessant action on the material world, as well as on the moral world.
Spiritism, by enlightening us in regard to this power, gives us a key to a host of things hitherto unexplained, and that are inexplicable by any other theory; things which, in the olden times, have passed for prodigies. Spiritism, like magnetism, reveals to us a law, the effects of which, if not wholly unknown, have been hitherto imperfectly understood; a law of which, while its effects were known, the world was ignorant, and the ignorance of which engendered superstition. This law being known, the marvellous disappears ; and phenomena, formerly regarded as miraculous or super natural, are brought into the category of natural things. Spiritists no more perform miracles by making a table to rap, or the so-called dead to write, than does the physician when he restores a sick man to health, or the electrician, when he produces artificial lightning. Whoever should pretend to perform miracles by the aid of spiritism would prove himself an ignoramus or a charlatan by the mere fact of such a pretension.
Spirit-phenomena are sometimes contested because they appear to contradict known laws, and people therefore cannot see how they are to be accounted for. Give them a rational explanation of these things, and their doubt ceases. Explanation is the true means of conviction; and we constantly see those who have never witnessed any spirit-phenomena as fully convinced of the reality of those phenomena as we are ourselves, because they have read, and have comprehended their possibility. Were we to believe nothing that we had not beheld with our own eyes, the sum of our convictions would be reduced to a minimum.
CHAPTER III - PLAN OF PROCEEDING.
We have already said that spiritism is a new science, a new philosophy; he who wishes to understand it should therefore, as the first condition of doing so, lay himself out for serious work, with the full persuasion that this science, like every other, is not to be attained by making a play of it. Spiritism, as we have said, touches on every question that interests humanity; its field is immense, and it is especially in the vastness and importance of its consequences that the experimenter will find this to be true. A belief in spirits is undoubtedly its basis; but this belief no more suffices to make an enlightened spiritist, than the belief in God suffices to make a theologian. Thus, let us see what might be the most suitable way to proceed in its teaching in order to most effectively bring about conviction.
In spiritism, the question of spirit-communications is secondary and consequential; it is not the starting-point. Spirits being nothing else than the souls of men, the proper ground for argument is the existence of the soul. But how can we get the materialist to admit that beings exist outside the material world, when he believes that he himself is nothing but matter? How can he believe in spirits outside himself, when he does not believe that he has a spirit within himself? In vain will you urge the most conclusive arguments on such a one ; he will contest them all, because he does not admit the principle which is their basis. All methodical teaching should proceed from the known to the unknown; what the materialist knows about, is matter; take your stand, then, on matter, and endeavour, above all things, while bringing his mind on to your standpoint, to convince him that there is in himself something beyond the laws of matter; in a word, before trying to make him a spiritist try to make him a spiritualist;* but, for that purpose, you must appeal to quite a different order of facts, and adduce arguments of a very different character. To talk to a man of spirits, before he is con- vinced that he has a soul, is to begin where you should end ; for he cannot admit the consequence, if he do not admit the premiss. You should, before undertaking to convince the incredulous, even by facts, make sure of their Opinion respecting the soul, that is to say, ascertain whether they believe in its existence, in its survival of the body, in its individuality after death; if their answer be negative, to speak of spirits would be trouble thrown away. This is the rule; we do not say there are no exceptions to it, but, in the exceptional cases, there is probably some other cause which renders your interlocutor less recalcitrant.
* See Vocabulary for this distinction.
persons, incredulity is not theoretic; present to them a theory which is rational, and they will accept it gladly; such men can understand us, for they are nearer to us than they think. With the first class, speak not of revelation, of angels, or of "paradise," for they would not understand you, but, placing yourself on their own ground, prove to them, first of all, that the laws of physics are not able to explain everything; the rest will come in due time. It is altogether different with the incredulity which is not a foregone conclusion; in such cases, belief is not absolutely null, there is a latent germ, stifled by creeds, but which a ray of light may vivify; such doubters are like a blind man whose eyes you may open, and who will rejoice to behold the day, or like a ship wrecked mariner, who will seize the plank of safety you hold out to him.
1st. Those who believe purely and simply in the manifestations. For these, spiritism is a simple science of observation, a series of facts more or less curious; they may be called experimental Spiritists.
2nd. Those who see in spiritism something more than its peculiar phenomena, and perceive its philosophical bearing; they admire its morality, but do not practise it, and its influence on their character is slight or null; they change none of their habits, and do not deprive themselves of a single enjoyment; the covetous man remains sordid, the proud man remains full of himself, the envious and the jealous remain the same. For them, Christian charity is only a beautiful ideal; they are inconsistent spiritists.
3rd. Those who are not content with admiring the morality of spiritist doctrine, but who accept it practically, with all its consequences. Convinced that terrestrial life is only a brief trial, they strive to profit by its passing moments, and to advance, on the road of progress by which alone they can reach a higher degree in the hierarchy of the world of spirits, through activity in doing good, and in repressing their evil tendencies. Intercourse with such is always safe, for their convictions preserve them from all thought of evil, and charity is in all things their rule of conduct. They may be classed as true spiritists, or better yet, as Christian spiritists.
4th. Lastly, there are the excited spiritists. The human race would be perfect, if it took tip only the right side of a thing. Exaggeration is always hurtful; in Spiritism, it engenders a too blind confidence in everything that proceeds from the invisible world ; a confidence which sometimes becomes puerile, causing people to accept, too easily, and unreasoningly, what reflection and examination would have shown them to be absurd or impossible. Unfortunately, enthusiasm finds it hard to reflect, and is apt to get dazed. Such adherents are more hurtful than useful to the cause of spiritism ; they are unfit to convince, because their judgement is distrusted ; they become the easy dupes, either of spirits who hoax them, or of men who practise on their credulity. If they alone had to suffer the consequences of their blindness, the latter would be less regrettable ; but, unhappily, such persons unintentionally put arms into the hands of the incredulous, more desirous of opportunities for railing than of conviction, and prompt to impute, to all, the absurdities of the few.
The way to obviate this inconvenience is very simple, viz., to commence with the theory. In this way, all the phenomena are passed in review and explained, the inquirer gets at the gist of the matter, and understands the possibilities of the case and the conditions under which the phenomena may occur, as well as the obstacles that may be met with. Thus, whatever may occur will find him prepared, and nothing can take him by surprise. This plan offers yet another advantage, inasmuch as it spares the practical investigator a vast number of disappointments because, being forewarned of difficulties, he is able to keep on his guard, and to avoid having to gain experience at his own expense.
It would be difficult for us to compute the number of those who have come to us since we have been occupied with spiritism ; and how many of these have we seen, who have remained indifferent or incredulous in presence of the most evident facts, and who have only been convinced by rational explanation ; how many others who had been predisposed to conviction by reasoning; how many, in fine, who were already persuaded of the truth of spiritism, though they had seen nothing, because they had read and had understood the rationale of the matter! We therefore say, from our own experience, that the best method of acquiring a knowledge of spiritism is to bring reasoning to bear on the subject, first of all and afterwards to confirm reasoning by experiment.
— First. What is Spiritism ? This tract, of a hun dred pages only, is a summary exposition of the prin ciples of the spirit doctrine, a general glance, which permits us to embrace the whole in a brief outline. In a few words we see the end, and can judge of its range. Above all, here may be found answers to the principal questions, or objections, which novices are disposed to make.
This first, which calls for little time, is an introduc tion which facilitates a more profound study.
Second. The Book on Spirits. It contains the doctrine complete, dictated by the spirits themselves, with all its philosophy, and all its moral consequences ; it is the destiny of man unvailed, the initiation into the nature of spirits, and into the mysteries of the life beyond the grave. In reading this it will be seen that Spiritism has a serious aim, and is not a frivolous pastime.
Third. The Book on Mediums, intended to direct in the practice of manifestations, by the knowledge of the proper means of communicating with spirits ; it is a guide either for mediums or invocators, and is the complement of the Book on Spirits.
Fourth. The Spirit Reviewed. This is a varied col lection of facts, of theoretic explanations and detached fragments, which complete what is said in the two preceding works, and of which it is in some sort the application. It may be read at the same time, but will be more profitable and more intelligible, particularly after the Book on Spirits.
CHAPTER IV - THEORIES
The adversaries of spiritism have imagined that, in this divergence of Opinion, they find an argument against it. They say : "The spiritists themselves are at variance !" This is but a poor argument, for every new science is necessarily uncertain, until the facts which will settle a question have been brought together and arranged in their proper order. It is only in proportion as accumulated facts explain one another, that premature conclusions are got rid of and unity is established, at least in regard to fundamental points, if not in every detail. Spiritism could not escape the common law, and, from its very nature, was especially liable to give rise to a diversity of interpretations. But even in this respect, we can confidently assert that it has proceeded faster than any of the other sciences, its elders, in all of which we find that opposite opinions are held by minds of the highest order.
Spirit-phenomena are of two sorts, viz.: the physical, and the intelligent. Those who do not admit the existence of spirits, because they admit of nothing outside of matter, naturally deny the indications of intelligence in the phenomena referred to. As regards the physical effects, they comment upon these from their own stand-point; and their arguments may be summed up under the four following heads: -
It is true that a learned surgeon * has declared that the "spirit-rap" is produced by voluntary or involuntary contractions of the short tendon of the muscle of the instep. He enters into elaborate anatomical details, to show the way in which the mechanism of this tendon is made to produce those raps, to imitate the beating of a drum, and even to reproduce the rhythm of well-known tunes; from all of which he deduces the conclusion that people who believe they hear raps in a table are dupes, either of a mystification or of a delusion. Unfortunately for the author of this pretended discovery, his theory is far from being able to explain all the facts of the case. It is to be remarked, in the first place, that the persons who rejoice in the singular faculty of cracking at pleasure the short muscle of their instep, or any other muscle, and of playing tunes by this means, are exceedingly rare; while the faculty of obtaining raps in a table is a very common one, and those who possess it do not usually possess the muscular gift in question. In the second place, the learned surgeon has forgotten to explain how this muscle can be made to crack by a person who does not move. and how muscle-cracking, by one who is isolated from the table, can produce in it vibrations that are as sensible to the touch as to the ear; how the sounds thus produced can be repeated at the will of the company, on different parts of the table, on the other furniture, against the walls, the ceiling, etc. ; how, in fine, the action of that muscle can be extended to a table that is not touched, and make it move. But this pretended explanation, even if it explained the phenomena of the rappings, could not explain any of the other modes of communication. We therefore conclude that the learned gentleman has proclaimed a verdict without having examined the matter in dispute, and must be allowed to regret that scientific men should be in a hurry to give, in regard to what they do not understand, explanations disproved by the facts of the Case; whereas they, of all men, should be the most circumspect in laying down the law in regard to new subjects, because their knowledge has pushed back, for them, the barriers which separate the known and the unknown.
__________
* M. Jobert (de Lamballe). In strict justice it should be said that this discovery is due to M. Schiff; but to the great surgeon belongs the honour of bringing it, with its consequences, before the Academy of Medicine, for the purpose of felling all "spirit-rappers" with this terrible cudgel. Vide, for details of the onslaught alluded to, the Revue Spirite, for June 1859.
If the thought expressed in the communications thus made had been always that of the persons present, the theory of reflexion would have been confirmed; but, even in that case, would riot such phenomena have been of the deepest interest? Would not thought, exerting a reflex action on an inert body, and translating itself into sounds and movements, be something Very remarkable? something worthy to excite the curiosity of scientific men? Why has such a subject been disdained by those who wear themselves out in searching after the properties of a nervous fibre?
If the presence of an outside intelligence is morally proved by the nature of the answers given, it is physically proved by the fact of direct writing ; that is to Say, writing produced spontaneously, without pen or pencil, without contact, and in spite of all the precautions taken to render trickery impossible. The intelligent character of such a phenomenon being undeniable, that phenomenon must be due to something else than fluidic action; and the spontaneousness of the thought expressed, often disappointing our expectation and wandering away from the questions presented, renders it impossible for us to attribute its manifestation to any reflex action on the part of the persons present.
_________________________________________________
The theory of the exclusive communication of demons, however irrational, was evidently not incredible so long as spirits were looked upon as created beings, beyond the pale of humanity; but since it has been known that spirits are neither more nor less than the souls of deceased men and women, that theory has lost credit. The result of such an explanation came to this, viz., that all souls are demons, though they should be those of a father, a son, or a friend, and that we, too, on dying, shall also become demons, which is neither flattering nor consoling; nor would it be easy to persuade a mother that the cherished child whom she has lost, and who comes after death to proffer tokens of its identity and affection, is a tool of Satan. It is true that, among spirits, there are some who are no better than what are called demons, but the reason of this is very simple, viz., that there are in this world some very bad men, and that death does not change these into good spirits all at once. The gist of the question under con- sideration is this -Are bad spirits the only ones able to communicate with us? To those who would answer this query in the affirmative, we beg to address the following questions : -
1st. Are there good and evil Spirits?
2d. Is God more powerful than bad spirits, or than "demons," if this be your mode of expression?
3d. If we affirm that the bad spirits alone communicate, we say, in other words, that good spirits cannot do so; if this be so, it must be so by the will of God, or contrary to that will. If it be contrary to God's will, it proves that bad spirits are more powerful than God; if it be by God's will, why, in His goodness, does He not permit good spirits to counterbalance the influence of the others?
4th. What proof have you of the impotence of good spirits in this respect?
5th. When reference is made to the wisdom of some of the communications, you reply that the devil assumes all sorts of masks, in order to deceive. We know by experience that there are hypocritical spirits, whose language wears a false varnish of excellence; but do you admit that ignorance can counterfeit knowledge, or an evil nature counterfeit virtue, without letting out something that betrays the fraud?
6th. If the devil alone has the power of communicating, he being the enemy of God and men, how is it that he advises us to pray to God, to submit ourselves to His will, to bear without murmuring the tribulations of life, to desire neither honours nor riches, to practise charity and all the maxims of Christ; in a word, to do all we possibly can to destroy the devil's empire? If it be the devil who gives such counsels, it must be admitted, that, far from being so cunning as he is represented to be, he must be particularly short-sighted, thus to furnish arms against himself. *
7th. If spirits communicate with us, it must be by the permission of God; and when we find that there are both bad and good communications, is it not more reasonable to suppose that God permits the one in order to try us, and the other, in order to counsel us for our good?
8th. What would you think of a father who should leave his child at the mercy of pernicious examples and evil counsels, and who should prevent him from holding inter- course with persons who might turn him from evil? Can you believe that God would do what no good father, what no good man, would do?
9th. All religions recognise, as authentic, certain manifestations of saints, angels, etc., by apparitions, visions, and oral communications. Is not this recognition contradictory to the doctrine of the exclusive communication of demons?
We believe that some persons have held this theory in all honesty; but we also think that others have upheld it in order to dissuade people from the study of spiritism, because of the evil communications to which we are exposed. By saying that the devil alone manifests, they hope to frighten people, much as they would say to a child " Don't touch that; it bums I" The intention may be praiseworthy, but the means employed are a failure; for the prohibition itself excites curiosity, and few are deterred by fear of the devil people want to see him, if only to find out what he is like, and are quite astonished to find him not so black as he had been painted.
May not another reason for this exclusive attribution of the phenomena in question to the devil be found in the persuasion of certain persons that whoever differs with them in opinion must be in the wrong, and that, as the views expressed by some spirits are not in accordance with their own, those views can only be put forth by the devil?
If a Mussulman should hear a spirit speak against the Koran, he would assuredly think it was a bad spirit; it would be the same with the Jew, in regard to certain points of the law of Moses. As for the Catholics, we have heard one affirm that the spirit who communicated could only be the devil, because he differed with him in regard to the temporal power of the Pope, although the spirit had exhorted to charity, tolerance, love of the neighbour, and abnegation of the things of this world, all of which are in accordance with the teachings of Christ.
Spirits being nothing but the souls of men, and men being imperfect, it follows that there are spirits equally imperfect, and whose character is reflected in their words. That there are some who are evil, astute, and profoundly hypocritical, is an incontestable fact, and against these it is necessary to be on our guard; but, should we renounce society, because there are wicked men in the world? God has given us reason and judgement, in order that we may appreciate spirits as well as men. The best way to guard one’s self against the annoyances that may result from the practice of spiritism is not to interdict it, but to understand it. Imaginary danger does not frighten every one, and such fear is soon got rid of; but the clear setting forth of a reality is comprehensible by all.
__________
* Vide The Spirits' Book, 128, et seq.
When we bring forward, in opposition to these ideas, facts of identity, attesting the presence of relations, friends, or acquaintances, whether through written mani- festations, by vision, or otherwise, they reply that these are always produced by the same spirit, who is the devil according to some, Christ according to others, and who is thus seen to assume all forms; but they do not tell us why other spirits cannot communicate, nor why the Spirit of Truth should deceive us, by presenting Himself under false appearances; for instance, deceiving a poor mother, by making her believe, through a lie, that He is the child for whom she weeps. Reason refuses to admit that a holy and exalted spirit could stoop to play such a comedy. Besides, does not the denial of the possibility of all other communications rob spiritism of its most precious attribute, the consolation of the afflicted? But the theory alluded to is too irrational to bear serious examination.
1st. Spirit-phenomena are produced by extra-corporeal intelligences ; that is to say, by spirits.
2nd. Spirits constitute the invisible world ; they are everywhere; the infinity of space is peopled by them; they are always around us, and we are always in intimate union with some of them.
6th. Spirits are submitted to the law of progress, and all will arrive at perfection ; but, as they possess free-will, they arrive at perfection more or less rapidly, according to the amount of effort and determination put forth by them.
7th. Spirits are happy or Unhappy, in proportion to the good or the evil which they have done during their earthly life, and the amount of progress they have made. Perfect, unmixed felicity is the heritage of those spirits alone who have arrived at the supreme degree of perfection.
9th. Spirits communicate through the agency of mediums, who serve them as instruments and interpreters.
A knowledge of the different degrees passed through by spirits is indispensable to the comprehension of the nature of those who manifest themselves, with their good or evil qualities. *
__________
* Vide The Spirits' Book, 100; Spirit-Hierarchy.
This question, as we see, is of little consequence ; and we should not have touched upon it, had we not met with persons inclined to regard, as the beginning of a new school, what is really nothing more than a mere interpretation of words. The opinion now referred to is held by very few; but were it even more general, it would not make any separation among spiritists, any more than do, among natural philosophers, the two theories of the emission and undulation of light. Those who endeavour to sow dissension, by attributing an undue importance to details, prove that they attach more value to accessories than to the thing itself, and that they are urged to discussion by imperfect spirits, for elevated spirits never breathe acrimony and discord. For this reason, we would urge all true spiritists to be on their guard against suggestions tending to disunion among them. Let us attach no more importance to details than they deserve, and let us think more of essentials, on which we are agreed, than of minor points, in regard to which any differences of opinion are comparatively unimportant. This view of the matter having been thus clearly set forth, we nevertheless consider it to be our duty to state, in a few words, our reason for regarding the soul and the perispirit as being two distinct entities. The fact of this distinction is asserted by the enlightened spirits whose instructions have directed us in our labours, and who have never varied in this respect (we say "enlightened spirits," because there are among spirits many who know no more, or know even less, than men know) ; while the contrary theory has its rise in a merely human conception. We have neither invented nor imagined the perispirit; its existence was revealed to us by spirits, and observation has confirmed the statements thus made to us (The Spirits' Book, 93). Its existence is shown moreover, by the sensations of the spirits themselves (The Spirits' Book, 257) and above all by the phenomena of tangible apparitions, which would imply, according to the other opinion, the aggregation and subsequent disintegration of the constituents of the soul itself. It would imply, still further, that matter, palpable to the senses, is itself the intelligent principle ; a supposition no more rational than that which should confound the body with the soul, or our coat with our body. As to the particular nature of the soul, that is unknown to us. When it is stated to be immaterial the statement must be taken in a relative sense, and not absolutely, for absolute immateriality would be nothingness, whereas the soul, or spirit, is something. But we must necessarily admit that its essence is of so subtle a nature as to have no analogy with what we call matter; and that, from this point of view, we may call it immaterial (The Spirits' Book, 23, 82).
"What some call 'the perispirit' is the same as what others call the soul's 'fluidic envelope.' It is formed of the fluid which gives perfectibility to our senses, and extension to our view and our ideas. I speak of elevated spirits, for, as regards inferior spirits, the fluids inherent in them are altogether earthly, and therefore material, as you see; hence their sufferings of hunger, cold, etc., sufferings that the higher spirits cannot feel, because, with them, the terrestrial fluids are purified around the seat of their consciousness, that is to say, their soul. The soul, in order to progress, always requires an agent, for the soul without an agent is nothing, or rather, I should say, cannot be conceived of by you. The perispirit, for us, spirits in the state of erraticity, is the agent by which we communicate with you, whether indirectly, by means of your body, or, by means of your perispirit, directly with your soul; hence the infinite diversity of mediums and communications. As for the scientific explanation of the pen spirit, that is to say, the definition of its essence, that is quite another thing. Let the moral aspect of the question suffice to you for the present beyond that, any inquiry would involve disquisitions upon the nature of fluids, inexplicable for you at this time, because your physical sciences are not yet sufficiently advanced. But science will ascertain this point, in time, with the aid of light derived from spiritism. The perispirit can vary and change indefinitely; the soul is thought, and its nature does not change. Do not attempt to go any further in this direction ; for the nature of the soul is a point that cannot be explained. Do you suppose that we are not seeking, just as you are? You are searching after the perispirit; we, meanwhile, are searching after the soul. Therefore, wait.
PART SECOND - SPIRIT-MANIFESTATIONS
CHAPTER I - ACTION OF SPIRITS ON MATTER.
Let us begin by considering whether there can be any reason why intelligent beings, living, as it were, in our midst, although, from their nature, we are unable to see them, should not be able to manifest themselves in some way or other. Common sense tells us that there can be no á priori impossibility of their being able to do this; and it is something that the supposition is seen to be not intrinsicaly unreasonable. On the other hand, the belief that they can thus manifest themselves is indigenous among all nations, and has existed everywhere, and at all epochs ; and it is evident that no intuition could be so general, or manifest such vitality, in all ages, without having some foundation. Moreover, this belief is sanctioned by the testimony of Holy Writ and by the Fathers of the Church; and only the materialistic scepticism of our age could have relegated it into the category of superstitions.
If we observe people attentively at the moment of their death, we find that their soul is in a state of confusion ; their perceptions are muddled; they see their bodies, whole, or mutilated, according to the manner of their decease; and, at the same time, these souls see themselves, and feel that they are still living. Something tells them that the body lying there is their body, and they feel a difficulty in comprehending how it can be that they are separated from it. They Continue to see themselves under their previous form, and this sight produces in some of them, for a certain period, a singular illusion, viz., that of believing themselves to be still in the flesh. They have to gain experience of their new state, before they can become convinced of its reality.
Meanwhile, notwithstanding that they have lost their body, the souls retain their personality; they retain their human form, but a form which neither troubles nor embarrasses them; and they also retain the consciousness of their self, and of their individuality. What must we conclude from this? Why, that the soul does not leave its all in the coffin, but that it carries something away with it.
* If the reader will look again at what we have said, in The Spirits’ Book, about dreams and the state of the spirit during slumber (400, 418), he will see that those dreams which almost every one has experienced, in which we find ourselves moving as though we were flying, are nothing but a vague remembrance of the sensation experienced by the spirit, when, during slumber, it has momentarily quitted its body of gross matter, taking with it only its fluidic body; the same fluidic body which it will preserve after death. Those dreams may therefore give us at idea of the state of the spirit, when freed from the fetters which bind it to the earth.
Death is the destruction, or rather the disaggregation, of the grosser envelope, from which the soul withdraws itself; the other envelope disengages itself from the grosser one, and accompanies the soul; so that the soul always possesses an envelope. This latter, fluidic, ethereal, vaporous, and invisible to us in its normal state, is none the less matter, although, up to the present time, we have not been able to seize it, so as to submit it to analysis.
This inner envelope of the soul, or perispirit, exists, then. during our corporeal life; it is the go-between or intermediary for all the sensations experienced by the spirit, the means by which the spirit acts upon its fleshly organs and transmits its will to all that is exterior to itself. To employ a comparison borrowed from matter, it is the electric conducting-wire which serves for the transmission of thought it is, in short, that mysterious, inexplicable agent which we call the nervous fluid, and which plays so important a part in the human economy, but of which we take too little account in our discussion of physiological and pathological questions. Medical students, confining their researches to the material and ponderable elements, leave out of their calculations an incessant cause of vital action, the recognition of which would throw a flood of light on the facts with which they deal. But this is not the place to enter upon this highly important subject ; we would merely point out, in passing, that a knowledge of the perispirit is the key to a host of physiological and physical problems, until now unexplained.
The perispirit is not one of those mere hypotheses to which science sometimes finds it necessary to have recourse, in order to explain a fact; its existence has not only been revealed by spirits, but is proved by observation, as we shall show further on. For the present, and not to anticipate facts which will be brought forward in due time, we confine ourselves to saying that, whether during its union with its fleshly body, or after its disjunction therefrom, the soul is never separated from its perispirit.
Spirits, as we have seen, are beings like ourselves, and constitute a population environing us on every side, though invisible to us in our normal state; we say, our normal state, because, as we shall see, this invisibility is not absolute.
The action of a spirit on matter is easily understood when thus explained; and we see that all the effects produced by that action belong to the order of natural pheno- mena, and have nothing of the miraculous about them. They have only appeared to be supernatural, because people were ignorant of their cause ; their cause known, they no longer appear to be prodigies, and that cause is found in the semimaterial properties of the perispirit. All this is only a new order of facts, explained by a new law, and about which, ere long, people will feel no more wonder than they now feel at correspondence by the electric telegraph.
CHAPTER II - PHYSICAL MANIFESTATIONS - TABLE-TURNING
The simplest, and one of the earliest-observed, of these manifestations, was the circular movement of a table. This movement may be produced in any other object; but a table being the one with which most people make the trial, because the most convenient object for the purpose, the expression "table-turning" has come into general use to denote this particular phase of the manifestations we are considering.
When we say that this phenomenon was one of the earliest observed, we mean, with respect to what has occurred in these latter days; for it is quite certain that all kinds of spirit-manifestation were known in ancient times: nor could it be otherwise, because, being due to the action of natural causes, they could not but occur in all ages. Tertullian speaks explicitly of tables turning, and making themselves understood by words.
This phenomenon, for a time, excited the curiosity of drawing-rooms. People then grew tired of it, and took up some other amusement, because it really was, for them, only an amusement. There were two reasons for this abandonment of the new plaything; first, fashion, in the case of the frivolous, who rarely follow up the same amusement two winters together, but who, wondrous event in the lives of such persons! actually consecrated three or four winters to this one : and next, in the case of serious observers, the fact that results of a highly important nature had been elicited from this seemingly frivolous diversion, so that they, too, soon neglected "table-turning," because they were now busy with its consequences, the importance of which they had recognised. This is the whole secret of the apparent neglect of the tables, about which the scoffers scoffed so loudly.
Humble as such a beginning may appear, the turning of tables was none the less the groundwork, the starting-point, of the great spiritist movement of the present day, and on this account deserves a passing notice. Moreover, the results obtained through tables present the phenomena under an aspect of such simplicity that the study of their cause is rendered comparatively easy; and, as all the modern phenomena proceed from the same source, the ascertainment of the cause of the movement of tables will give us the key to the far more complicated manifestations which have since occurred.
The qualities of mediums are various. The medianimic power is sometimes very strong, producing strongly marked effects; a single individual who is really a powerful medium often producing more effect, alone, than twenty others united. If such a one lays his hands on the table for an instant, it immediately begins to move, rising up, turning over, spinning round with great velocity, or performing a variety of irregular and often violent motions.
The moving of a table is usually preceded by a slight creaking, and by a sort of shudder, that seems to occur in the fibres of the wood, and is felt under the hands of all present. The table then appears to be making an effort to move; and a rotator movement is gradually established, and is sometimes accelerated to such a degree, and the table spins round so rapidly, that those present can only follow it with difficulty. In some cases, when the movement has once been established, the experimenters may take their hands off the table, which continues to move in various directions, without any human contact.
Sometimes the table tilts upon one Bide, poising itself; first on one leg, and then on another, after which it gently subsides into its natural position. Sometimes it sways backwards and forwards, as though imitating the pitching and rolling of a ship. At other times-but, for this, the medium must be a powerful one-the table rises entirely from the floor, and remains in the air, with nothing to rest on, rising, perhaps, to the very ceiling, so that persons can stand or walk under it, and then gently lets itself down, with a fluttering movement, like that of a sheet of paper, or falls to the floor with a crash, and, perhaps, is broken by the fall. The sudden smashing of a solid oaken or mahogany table, of a couple of hundred-weight or so, is surely sufficient proof that the parties present are not the victims of any optical illusion.
CHAPTER III - INTELLIGENT MANIFESTATIONS
The first written communications were obtained by attaching a pencil to the foot of a toy-table, placed upon a sheet of paper. The table, set in motion by the influence of a medium, began by tracing letters, then words and phrases. This method was successively simplified, first, by making use of light baskets, boxes made of cardboard, and planchettes; and next, by finding that these objects were mere pencil-holders, and might all be dispensed with, and the pencil held the usual way, in the hand, which, moved and guided by an involuntary impulsion, was made to write, without the concurrence either of the will or of the thought of the medium. Thenceforth, communication was held as freely with the world of spirits as with people in the flesh.
We shall discuss the different methods of communication, explaining them in detail, in another part of the present work; we have only wished, in this rapid sketch, to record the succession of facts which have gradually led up to a recognition of the intervention of unseen intelligences, otherwise called "spirits," in the production of the phenomena we are considering.
CHAPTER IV - THEORY OF PHYSICAL MANIFESTATIONS
Movements and liftings - Sounds - Temporary increase and decrease of the weight of bodies.
In regard to these points, a supposition presented itself spontaneously to our own mind, and we held it for a time ; but, as it was combated by spirits, who gave us an explanation of the matter altogether different from the one which had occurred to us, it is evident that this explanation was not of our inventing. The idea that had first occurred to us may probably have occurred to many others also; as for the explanation given by the spirits, we do not think it would ever have come into the head of any human being. It will easily be seen how very superior it is to our own idea, although not so simple, because it explains a vast number of other facts which could not have been satisfactorily explained by our own idea.
I. Is the universal fluid an emanation of the Divinity? “No.”
3. Is the universal fluid the universal element "Yes, it is the elementary principle of all things."
4. Has it any relation to the electric fluid, the effects of which we know? "It is its element."
"To find it in its absolute simplicity, we must trace it up to the spirits who are completely purified ; in your world it is always more or less modified for the formation of the compact matter which encompasses you; but what you call the animal-magnetic fluid is the universal fluid in the simplest state in which it can be known to you."
6. It has been said that the universal fluid is the source of life ; is it also the source of intelligence ?
No ; this fluid only vitalises matter."
7. The fluid of which the perispirit is composed appears to exist, in connexion with our earth, in a state of condensation which identifies it, up to a certain point, with matter," properly so called. Is it so?
"Yes but only, as you say, up to a certain point; for it has not all the properties of matter; it is more or less condensed, according to the nature of each world."
8. How does a spirit effect the movement of a solid body?
"He combines a portion of the universal fluid with the fluid which is thrown off to this end by the medium."
9. Do spirits raise tables with the aid of their limbs rendered solid by some process known to them?
"Our answer to this question will not give you the confirmation you are wishing for. When a table moves under your hands, the spirit who is acting upon it draws from the universal fluid the means of vitalising this table with artificial life. The table being thus prepared, the spirit attracts it, and moves it, under the influence of his own fluid, thrown off by an exertion of his will. When the mass which he desires to move is too heavy for the spirit, he calls to his aid other spirits, of the same degree as himself; On account of his ethereal nature, a spirit cannot act upon gross matter without an intermediary, that is to say, without the link which unites spirit to matter; this link, which is what you call the perispirit, gives you the key to all the materialised spirit-phenomena. I think I have expressed myself clearly enough to be understood."
Remark. - We would call attention to tills first phrase : -" Our answer to this question will not give you the confirmation you are wishing for." The spirit evidently understood what we were driving at, and that all our previous questions had been put in order to lead up to it. He therefore alluded to our thought, which, in fact, anticipated an answer very different from the one we got; for, what we had expected was tile confirmation of our own idea with regard to the manner in which spirits move tables and other objects.
10. When a spirit calls other spirits to his aid, are they his inferiors ?-are they under his orders?
"They are almost always his equals; and they often come of their own accord."
11. Are all spirits capable of producing phenomena of this kind ?
"The spirits who produce effects of this kind are always inferior spirits, who are not yet entirely disengaged from material influences."
12. We can understand that superior spirits do not occupy themselves with things beneath them ; but we wish to ask, whether, being more dematerialised than the others, they would have the power of producing such effects, if they wished to do so?
"They have moral force, as the others have physical force ; when they want the latter, they make use of those who possess it. Have you not been told that they make use of inferior spirits as you make use of porters?"
Remark - It has been said that tile density of the perispirit, if one may so express it, varies according to the condition of each world but it appears that it also varies, in the same world, according to the state of each individual. In the case of spirits who are advanced morally, it is more subtle, and approaches nearer to that of the higher spirits ; with spirits of lower degree, on the contrary, it approaches to the condition of matter, and this Is why low spirits retain terrestrial illusions for so long a time. Such spirits think and act just as if they were still in the flesh ; they have the same desires, we might almost say, the same sensualities. This grossness of the perispirit, giving it more affinity with matter, renders the inferior spirits more fit for physical manifestations. It is, with spirits, just as it is with a man who, in this world, is accustomed to working with his intellect, and whose body, being therefore more delicate, cannot carry a heavy burden, like a porter. Tire matter of such a man's body is somewhat less compact, and, his organs having less of the nervous fluid, he has less power of resistance. The perispirit being to the spirit what the body is to the man, and its density being in proportion to the spirit's inferiority, it replaces, in lower spirits, the muscular force possessed by men of corresponding degree ; that is to say, it gives them the denser kinds of fluids that are necessary for the physical manifestations, and thus gives them more power to produce such manifestations than is possessed by those whose nature is more ethereal. If an elevated spirit desires to produce effects of this character, he does just what is done, here, by people who are delicate ; he gets it done by spirits whose quality fits them for that kind of work.
13. If we have rightly understood what you have told us, the vital principle resides in the universal fluid; the spirit draws from this fluid the semi-material envelope which constitutes his perispirit, and it is by means of this envelope that he acts upon inert matter. Is this so?
"Yes ; that is to say, he temporarily vitalises matter with a kind of factitious life, causing it to live, for a time, as it does in an animal body. When a table moves under your hands, the matter of which it is composed lives, for the time being, as matter lives in a body of flesh; that is to say, it spontaneously obeys the intelligent being who employs it. Intelligent beings do not move matter, as a man moves an object exterior to himself; matter moves of itself; under the impulsion of the intelligent will with which it is associated. So, when the table moves, it is not the spirit who moves it with his arms; it is the temporarily vitalised matter of the table that spontaneously obeys the impulsion communicated to it by the spirit."
14. What part does the medium play in the production of this phenomenon?
"I have told you that the fluid of the medium is combined with the universal fluid accumulated by the spirit. The union of these two fluids, that is to say, of the animalised fluid with the universal fluid, is necessary to give life to the table. But you must remember that this factitious life is only momentary; it ceases with the cessation of the spirit-action which produced it, and often before the cessation of that action, if the supply of fluid becomes insufficient to maintain it."
15. Can a spirit act on matter without the joint action of a medium?
"A spirit can act without the medium being aware of it; many persons serve as auxiliaries to spirits, in certain phenomena, without their suspecting it The spirit draws from them, as from a well, the animalised fluid that he requires ; * and this is why the concurrence of a medium, as you understand it, is not always necessary, especially in the case of spontaneous phenomena."
16. Does the table act with a knowledge of what it is about ?-does it think?
"It no more thinks than does the stick with which you make an intelligent sign; but the vitality with which it is momentarily endowed permits it to obey the impulsion of an intelligence. The table which moves does not turn into a spirit; it has not of itself either thought or will."
17. What is the preponderating cause in the production of these phenomena; is it the spirit or the fluid?
"The spirit is the Cause, the fluid is the instrument; both are necessary."
18. What part does the will of the medium play in this case?
"That of calling the spirits, and seconding them in the impulsion given by them to the fluid."
-Is the action of the medium's will always indispensable?
"It adds to the power of the spirits, but it is not always necessary, for a given movement may be made to take place, against, and in spite of; the medium's will; which is a proof that there is a cause at work that is independent of the medium."
Remark. - The contact of hands is not always necessary to make an object move. Such contact is needed, in most cases, to give the first impulsion ; but, when once the object is vitalised, it can obey the will without material contact; this depends either on the power of the medium or on the nature of the object. A first contact, even, is not always indispensable; we have proof of this in the spontaneous movements and displacements that occur without any one having thought of obtaining them.
19. How is it that every one cannot produce the same effects, and why have not all mediums the same power?
"That depends on the Organisation, and on the greater or less facility with which the combination of fluids can be effected; moreover, the spirit of the medium sympathises sometimes more, sometimes less, with the disincarnate spirits, who do, or do not, find in him the necessary fluidic power It is with this fluid as with that of magnetisers ; it is more or less powerful. There are persons whose animalised fluids are, in this respect, absolutely refractile; with others, the combination is only effected by an effort of their will ; while there are others, again, with whom the combination takes place naturally, and so easily that they are not even aware of it, and who thus serve as mediums without knowing it, as we have already said." (See, farther on, the chapter on Spontaneous Manifestations.)
Remark. - Magnetism is undoubtedly the principle of spirit-phenomena, but not in the way generally supposed ; for there are very powerful magnetisers who cannot move the smallest table, while there are persons, and even children, who cannot magnetise, and who yet, by only placing their fingers upon a heavy table, can make it move and therefore, as the medianimic power is not always proportioned to the magnetic power, it is evident that some other condition is required for the production of the phenomena.
20. Are persons who are called "electrical" to be regarded as mediums?
"Those persons draw to themselves the fluid necessary for the production of the phenomena, and are able to act without extraneous help. They are, therefore, not mediums, in the sense you attach to the word; but it is quite possible that a spirit may also assist them, and make use of their natural idiosyncrasy."
Remark. - It would seem to be with persons of this description as with somnambulists, who can act with or without the assistance of spirits. (See, in the chap. on Mediums, the article relating to Somnanbulic Mediums)
21. Is the spirit who acts on solid bodies, when he moves them, inside or outside their substance?
"He may be in or out of it; we have told you that matter is no obstacle to spirits; they penetrate everything; a portion of their perispirit identifies itself; so to say, with the object it penetrates."
22. How does a spirit manage to rap? does he make use of a material object?
"No more than he makes use of his arms to move a table. You are well aware that he has no hammer at his disposal. His tool is the combined fluid put in action by his will, whether he moves an object, or whether he raps upon it. When he moves a body, the light shows you the movements; when he raps, the air conveys to you the sound."
23. We can understand that it may be so, when he raps on a hard body; but how does he cause us to hear raps, or even articulate sounds, in the air?
"Since he can act on matter, he can act upon the air as well as upon a table. As to articulate sounds, he can imitate them like other sounds."
24. You tell us that a spirit does not make use of his hands in moving a table; nevertheless, in certain visual manifestations, we have seen hands appear, the fingers of which ran over the keyboard of a musical instrument, struck the keys, and produced audible sounds. Was there not, in such cases, every appearance of the movement of the keys being produced by the pressure of the fingers? - Is not this pressure as direct and as real as when we feel these fingers upon ourselves, and when these hands actually leave their impress on our skin?
"You cannot comprehend the nature of spirits, and their manner of acting, except by comparisons which give you but an incomplete idea of them; and you are wrong to be always wanting to assimilate their ways of proceeding with yours. Spirits can only work in the way that is in keeping with their organisation. Have we not told you that the fluid of the perispirit penetrates matter and identifies itself with the matter it penetrates, vitalising it, for the time being, with a factitious life? Well when the spirit places his fingers on the keys, he really places them there, and what is more, he moves them; but it is by no muscular force that he presses on the key; he vitalises the key, as he vitalises the table, and the key obeys his will, moves itself, and strikes the string. And there is, yet further, in some cases of this kind, something to be remarked which you will find it difficult to understand, viz., that there are spirits so little advanced, and so material, as compared with elevated spirits, that they still retain the illusions of terrestrial life, and imagine themselves to be acting as they did when in the body. They no more understand the real cause of the effects which they themselves produce, than the peasant understands the laws of acoustics by which he articulates. If you ask such spirits how they play on the piano, they will tell you that they strike it with their fingers, because they suppose themselves to do so; the effect is produced by them instinctively, without their knowing how, and yet it is really produced by an action of their will. When they cause you to hear words pronounced, they do it in the same way."
Remark. - From these explanations it appears that spirits can produce all the effects that we ourselves can produce, but that they do so by the use of means appropriate to their organisation. Certain forces, peculiar to themselves, replace the muscles which are necessary to us in our manipulations ; just as, with the dumb man, a gesture replaces the words which he is unable to articulate.
25. Among the phenomena adduced as proofs of occult power, there are some which are evidently Contrary to all the known laws of nature; does not doubt appear to be reasonable in regard to such?
"Man is far from knowing all the laws of nature ; if he knew them all, he would be superior to humanity. Every day disproves the pretensions of those who, believing they know everything, would assign limits to nature; and yet they remain as much puffed up as ever. By incessantly unveiling new mysteries, God warns man to distrust his own acquirements ; for a day will come when the science of the most learned will be confounded. * Have you not constantly before your eyes examples of bodies propelled by an impulsion capable of counteracting the force of gravity? - Does not a bullet, fired into the air, momentarily surmount that force? Poor human beings, who think yourselves so very wise, but whose absurd vanity is upset every instant, try to understand that you are, as yet, but very ignorant little creatures!"
As the vital fluid, under the action of the spirit, gives an artificial and momentary life to inert bodies, and as the perispirit is nothing else than this same vital fluid, it follows that, when the spirit is incarnated, it is the spirit that gives life to the body by means of the perispirit; and the perispirit remains united to the body, as long as the organisation of the latter permits; when separated from it, the body dies. If; therefore, instead of fashioning wood into a table, we should hew it into a statue, and if we then acted upon this statue as upon a table, we should have a statue moving, rapping, and responding to our action by movements and raps ,- we should, in short, have a statue vitalised for the moment with artificial life, and those who have so perseveringly sharpened their wits upon "talking-tables" might sharpen them upon talking-statues. But what a flood of light does this theory shed on a host of phenomena hitherto unexplained! Of how many allegories, how many mysterious legends, does it give us a rational explanation!
It may, perhaps, be said that, the vital fluid being imponderable, its accumulation cannot augment the weight of an object agreed ; but let it be understood that, in using the word accumulation, we did so by way of comparison, and not as implying similarity between that fluid and air. You say it is imponderable. Be it so; nevertheless, nothing proves this to be the case ; its essential nature is unknown to us, and we are far from being cognisant of all its properties. Before experiment had proved the weight of the air, we had no suspicion of the effects of that weight. Electricity is also ranged among the imponderable fluids; nevertheless, a body may be kept down by an electric current, so as to offer very great resistance to any one who would raise it, and will thus appear to have become heavier. Because, in the phenomenon referred to, we cannot see any means of support, it would be very illogical to assert that no support exists; for a spirit may make use of levers
CHAPTER V - SPONTANEOUS PHYSICAL MANIFESTATIONS
Noises, racket, and disturbances
A fact of a similar character occurred in the experience of a friend of ours. For some time his bedroom had resounded with different noises, which at length became very annoying. Having had an opportunity of conferring with the spirit of his father, through a writing medium, he learned that the noises had been made by him, ascertained his wishes, did what he was thus requested to do, and was never again disturbed. It may here be remarked that those who have the means of communicating regularly and easily with spirits are much more rarely subject to manifestations of this kind than those who have not the means of doing so ; a fact which explains itself.
The confusion thus produced among material objects is often very real ; but sometimes there is only the appearance of reality. We hear? a rattling in an adjoining room ; pots and pans appear to be falling about, and breaking with a crash ; logs of wood seem to be rolling about the floor; we hasten to see what is the matter, but find everything in order; and we have hardly left the room, before the tumult begins again.
Many authentic facts of the above nature are recorded in the Revue Spirite; among others, the history of the Rapping Spirit of Bergzabern, whose unpleasant tricks continued more than eight years (Nos. of May, June, and July 1858); that of Dibbelsdorf (August 1858); that of the Baker of Grandes Ventes, near Dieppe (March 1860); that of the disturbances which occurred in the rue des Noyers, in Paris (August 1860); that of the Spirit of Castelnaudary (February 1860); that of the Manufactory in Saint-Petersbourg (April 1860), and many others.
We fully admit that certain occurrences have been the result of trickery or of malice ; but if, when all the evidence has been examined, it is proved that some of these things are not the work of men, we must necessarily come to the conclusion that they are the work of unseen intelligences some will say of ''the devil!," we say, of spirits ; but the question next arises, of what sort of spirits?
It is not strange, however, that people are anxious to rid themselves of such visitants; but, unfortunately, they generally set about doing this in a wrong way. If spirits are only amusing themselves, the greater the gravity with which their antics are met, the more persistent they become ; like mischievous children, who only tease the more, the more anger they excite, and the more successful they are in frightening the timid. The wisest course is to laugh at their absurdities for they then get tired of playing the fool, and cease their efforts to annoy. We have an acquaintance who, far from being irritated by these attacks, excited them, defying their authors to do this or that, with such good effect, that, after a few (lays, they took themselves off. But, as we have said, there are some whose motives are less frivolous ; and for this reason it is always well to learn what they are aiming at. If they make some request, we may be sure they will cease their visits as soon as their wish is satisfied. The best way of gaining information in this respect is to evoke the spirit, through the intervention of a good medium, in order to ascertain with whom, and what, we have to do. Should it be a spirit who is unhappy, charity commands us to treat hint with the consideration due to his suffering ; if he be a practical joker, we may treat him more cavalierly if he be malicious, we must try to aid him in becoming better. In any case, prayer can only have a good effect, but the gravity of any formal exorcism only excites their merriment, and they treat it as of no account. If we are able to enter into communication with them, we must attach no importance to any titles they may assume, whether of a burlesque character, or assumed with a view of horrifying ; for this is often done to divert themselves with our credulity.
We shall recur to this subject, giving further details, and stating the reasons which often render prayer for spirits inefficacious, in the chapters on Haunted places and Obsession.
We should be very careful in regard, not only to tales which may be more or less exaggerated, but also to our own impressions, and not b in haste to attribute an occult origin to all that is beyond our comprehension. An immense number of very simple natural causes may produce effects that appear strange at first sight; and it would be mere superstition to lay to the account of spirits all the accidents that may happen in the house, or in daily life, and which are usually the result of our awkwardness or want of care.
Things thrown about
"Where is the medium in the cases just referred to?" - Spirits have told us that, even in these cases, there is always some one whom the unseen agent makes use of, with, or without, his knowledge. Spontaneous manifestations very rarely occur in isolated places; it is almost always in inhabited houses that such things take place, and through the unconscious mediumship of some one present, whose influence aids their production, without his desiring to do so. Such persons are unmistakably mediums, although themselves unaware of their power, and may therefore be called natural mediums. They are, in comparison with other mediums, what natural somnambulists are to magnetic somnambulists, and offer quite as curious a subject of study.
in June 1860. (See the Revue Spirite, for August 1860.)
1. (Question addressed to Saint Louis.) Will you have the kindness to tell us if the facts reported to have taken place in the rue des Noyers really took place? We have no doubt as to their possibility.
"Yes, they really occurred; the popular imagination exaggerates them, but they were really the work of a spirit who likes to amuse himself at the expense of the inhabi- tants of the house in question."
2. Is there any one in the house who is the cause of these manifestations?
"Such manifestations are always caused by the presence of the person attacked; they arise from the ill-will of the perturbing spirit towards an inhabitant of the place to which he conies; and his object is to annoy him, and to drive him out of the house."
3. We would ask if, among tile people of tile house, there is some one who causes these phenomena by a spontaneous, involuntary, medianimic influence?
"Without such an influence, these occurrences could not have taken place. A spirit dwells in a place for which lie has a predilection ; lie remains passive, as long as there is in it no one fitted to be used as a medium; but if such a person comes thither, he uses his medianimity as much as he can."
4. Is the presence of such a person at the very place itself indispensable?
"It is so usually, and such is the case in the present instance; this is why I said that, without the presence of such a person, the occurrences could not have taken place. But it was not lily object to generalise; there are cases in which the immediate presence of a medium is not necessary."
5. Uproarious spirits being always of an inferior order, is the aptitude for serving as their auxiliary a presumption of inferiority on the part of the person they use as a medium, and does it show his sympathy with the beings who thus use him?
nevertheless, it sometimes implies, on the part of the medium, a physical tendency from which he should endeavour to free himself. The more elevated you are morally, the higher are the spirits you attract; and these necessarily keep off the lower ones."
6. Where does the spirit find the projectiles he makes use of?
7. Since these spontaneous manifestations are often permitted, and even ordered, with a view to convincing the incredulous, it appears to us that, if the latter were them-selves the objects of these phenomena, they would be compelled to yield to the evidence of their own perceptions. They sometimes complain that they cannot get hold of conclusive facts is it not in the power of spirits to give such persons some proof that they could not deny?
"Do not atheists and materialists witness, every moment, the effects of the power of God and of thought? But does this hinder them from denying both God and the soul? Did the miracles of Jesus convert all his contemporaries? Do not those who, in your time, ask you to let them see some manifestations, too often resemble the Pharisees who said 'Master, show us a sign'? Those who are not convinced, by the wonders of the creation, of the existence of beings superior to man, would hardly be induced to admit the existence of spirits, even if the latter should appear to them in ways the most convincing. Opportunities of seeing are always to be found by those who seek for them with honesty and sincerity. Incredulity cannot hinder the accomplishment of the Providential purposes; it will not hinder the development of the spiritist movement. Do not trouble yourself about opposition, which is, to the truth, what shadow is to the picture, giving it a higher relief."
8. Do you think it would be of any use to evoke this spirit, so that we might ask him some questions?
"Evoke him if you will; but he is a spirit of low degree, who will not be able to give you much information."
95. (Communication with the disturbing spirit of the rue des Noyers.)
1. (Evocation.)
"Why do you call me? Do you want to have some stones thrown at you? In that case, we should soon see you scampering away, though you look so brave!"
2. We should not be frightened even though you threw stones at us; we ask you to tell us if it is really in your power to do so?
"Perhaps I could not, here; you have a guardian who looks so sharply after you."
3. Was there any one in the rue des Noyers who helped you in playing off your tricks on the inmates of that house?
"Certainly, I had a capital instrument, and no wise and priggish spirit to hinder me; for I am merry and like to amuse myself sometimes."
4. Who was the person that served as your instrument? "A maidservant."
5. Was she your auxiliary unawares?
"Oh yes; poor girl she was the most frightened of them all."
6. Did you do this from ill-will?
" I ? I had no ill-will whatever ; but you men, who get hold of everything, will turn this to your advantage."
7. What do you mean? We do not understand you.
"What I wanted was to amuse myself; but you spiritists will study the thing, and you will have one more fact to prove that we exist."
8. You say you had no ill-will; but you broke all the windows of the apartment; and that was a real injury of your doing!
"That's a mere trifle."
9. Where did you get the things you threw into the house?
"They are common enough ; I found them in the yard, and in the neighbouring gardens."
10. Did you find them all, or did you fabricate some of them? (See Chap. VIII.) "I created nothing, composed nothing."
11. If you had not found them, could you have made them?
"That would have been more difficult; but we can mix things together, and so make a sort of a whole."
12. Now tell us how you threw them?
"Ah! that is more difficult to tell. I helped myself by the electric nature of the girl, joined to my own, which is less material; we were able thus to transport these objects between us."
13. You would not object, I think, to give us some information about yourself. Tell us, first of all, if you have been long dead?
"A long time ; full fifty years."
14. What (lid you do when living?
"Not much good; I did rough work, such as picking up rags, &c., in this quarter; and people used to tease me, because I was too fond of Goodman Noah's red liquor. So I wanted to make them all decamp from the house."
15. Is it of yourself, and of your own free-will, that you have answered our questions?
"I had an instructor."
16. Who?
"Your good King Louis."
17. What are you doing now? do you ever think of your future?
"Not yet; I am a wanderer. People think so little of me upon the earth; nobody prays for me. I am not helped, and therefore I do not exert myself."
Remark.-We shall see, farther on, how much we may contribute to the comfort and advancement of inferior spirits, by prayer and counsel.
18. What was your name when living? "Jeannet."
19. Well, Jeannet, we will pray for you. Tell us if out evocation has given you pleasure, or whether it has annoyed you?
"Pleasure, rather; for you are kind, good folks, though somewhat too grave. You have listened to me, and I am pleased with that."
"JEANNET."
Objects brought by Spirits
Statements by a spirit in regard to these phenomena
"It is absolutely necessary, in order to obtain phenomena of this description, to have with you mediums whom I will call sensitives, that is to say, persons gifted, in the highest degree, with the medianimic faculties of expansion and penetrability; because, the nervous system of such mediums being easily excited, they are able, by means of certain vibrations, to project their animalised fluid around them in profusion.
"Impressionable natures, those whose nerves vibrate at the faintest emotion or sensation, responding at once to any moral or physical influence, internal or external, furnish excellent mediums for the physical phenomena of tangibility, and for the transport of objects. The peculiarity of their nervous system, which is almost entirely deprived of the refractile envelope that isolates the nervous system in the greater number of incarnated spirits, renders them specially apt for the development of these phenomena. Consequently, with a medium of this nature, and whose other faculties arc not antagonistic to medianimisation, phenomena of tangibility, raps in walls or furniture, intelligent movements, and even the floating of the heaviest bodies in the air, are easily obtained. And these results will occur with still greater certainty if, instead of a single medium, there are present several mediums equally endowed.
"But, between the production of these phenomena and the obtaining of the introduction of objects into closed rooms, there is an immense step to be accomplished; for, in the latter case, not only is the work of the spirit more complex and more difficult, but, what is still more important, the spirit can only operate by means of a single medianimic mechanism; in other words, in this case, several mediums cannot be made to co-operate simultaneously for the production of the same phenomenon. On the contrary, it often happens that the presence of persons antipathetic to the operating spirit renders the operation impossible. Moreover, this sort of medianimity always necessitates a greater power of concentration, and, at the same time, a full diffusion of certain fluids; and these fluids can only be obtained through mediums endowed with the highest medianimic gifts; those, in a word, whose electro-medianimic machinery is of the best quality.
"In general, the phenomenon of the transport of objects into closed rooms is, and will remain, exceptionally rare. There is no need for me to point out why phenomena of this character should be less common than the other facts of tangibility; from "'hat I have said, you can draw your own conclusions. On the other hand, these phenomena are of such a nature that, not only all mediums are not fitted for their production, but all spirits themselves cannot produce them. In fact, it is necessary that, between the spirit and the medium whom he influences, there should exist an affinity, an analogy, in a word, a certain homogeneity, which allows the expansible quality of the spirit fluid * of the incarnated agent to blend, unite, and combine with that of the spirit who desires to bring you something. This fusion must be such that the resulting force becomes, so to speak, one; as, when the electric current acts on charcoal, fire and light are produced as though the current and the charcoal were one. Why this union? Why this fusion? you will ask. It is because, for the production of these phenomena, it is necessary that the essential qualities of the spirit-motor should be increased by certain qualities of the medium; because the vital fluid, indispensable for the production of all medianimic phenomena, is the exclusive property of the incarnated spirit, and consequently, the operating spirit is obliged to impregnate himself with it. It is only then that he can, by means of certain properties of your surrounding atmosphere which are unknown to you, isolate certain material objects, and thus render them invisible, move certain objects, and even move people in the flesh as well.
"It is not permitted, at this time, to unveil to you the laws that regulate the gases and the fluids by which you are environed; but, before many years have passed, before the space of a human life is accomplished, the explanation of these laws and of these phenomena will be obtained by you; and you will witness the rise of a new variety of mediums, who will fall into a peculiar cataleptic state as soon as they are medianimised. *
"You have seen with what great difficulties the bringing of objects into closed rooms is surrounded. You may reasonably conclude, therefore, that phenomena of this nature are, as I have said, very rare, and the more so, because the spirits themselves are but little inclined to their production, since it necessitates on their part a kind of labour which, from being almost physical in its nature, is really disagreeable and fatiguing for them. There is yet another obstacle to the generalisation of facts of the character in question, viz., the state of the medium himself, which often opposes an insuperable barrier to their production, notwithstanding the energy and goodwill of the spirit operators.
"Raps, movements, and suspensions, are simple phenomena, produced by the concentration and dilatation of certain fluids, and can be obtained by the will and effort of mediums fitted for the work, provided they are seconded by the necessary concourse of special circumstances, only to be brought about by a single spirit and a single medium, and demanding, beyond the conditions of tangibility, a fluid combination of a peculiar nature, in order to isolate and render invisible the objects which are to be brought to the circle.
"You, spiritists, who have already studied the subject, will easily understand these explanations, and what I have said about the concentration of special fluids required for producing the transport and tactility of inert matter ; you are able to admit it, just as you admit the phenomena of electricity and magnetism, with which the facts of medianimity are in close analogy, and of which, they are, so to say, the confirmation and development. As for the incredulous, and those who oppose the light in the name of science, I am not anxious to convince them they will be convinced in time, by the force of evidence, and will have to admit the facts of spirit-manifestation, as they have had to admit so many other facts which human science formerly denied.
"To recapitulate the facts of tangibility are of frequent occurrence, but the bringing of objects to a circle is very rare, because the conditions for obtaining this order of phenomena are very difficult to combine ; consequently, no medium can say: 'At such an hour and moment I shall get something brought,' for the spirit himself often meets with an insuperable obstacle to his efforts. I should add that these phenomena are doubly difficult in public gatherings ; for, in such, there are almost always strongly refractile elements, which paralyse the spirit's action, and weigh even more heavily on that of the medium. You may hold it as certain, on the other hand, that these phenomena almost always occur in private and spontaneously, and generally without the medium's knowledge or expectation, for, in fact, they rarely occur when. the medium is expecting them; from all of which you may conclude that there is fair ground for suspicion, whenever a medium professes to be able to obtain these phenomena at his will, in other words, to command the spirits as he would a servant, which is simply absurd. Hold also as a rule for general use, that spirit-phenomena are not intended simply to excite and amuse the curious. If some spirits give themselves up to this sort of manifestation, it can only be for simple phe- nomena, and not for those that require exceptional conditions, such as are necessary for the bringing of objects into closed rooms.
"Keep in mind, spiritists, that, if it is absurd to repudiate systematically all spirit-phenomena, it is none the less so, on the other hand, to give a blind acceptance to every tale. When phenomena, such as facts of tangibility, apparitions, clairvoyance, or the transport of objects, occur spontaneously, and, as it were, instantaneously, accept them; but, I cannot urge you too strongly to accept nothing blindly, to subject every occurrence to a minute and thorough sifting. Believe me, spiritism, rich as it is in sublime and grand phenomena, has nothing to gain from petty manifestations that skilful conjurors may imitate.
"You may reply that these phenomena are useful to convince the incredulous ; but remember that, if spiritism did not offer other means of conviction, it would not have numbered at this time the hundredth part of its present adherents. Address yourselves to the heart ; it is thus that you will make converts worth gaining. If you consider it useful, for certain persons, to proceed by the presentation of physical phenomena, at least present these under circumstances that can give no handle to false interpretation ; and, above all, do not attempt to obtain these phenomena under any but their normal conditions; for even facts, when presented under wrong conditions, furnish arguments for the incredulous, instead of convincing them.
"ERASTES."
__________
* When a new idea has to be expressed by a new word, spirits show themselves to be quite capable of coining neologisms. The words electro-medianimic, and perispiritic, are not of our making. Those who have criticised us for creating the words spiritist, spiritism, perispirit, &c., should have directed their criticisms, not against us, but against the spirits from whom we have received them.
1. Will you have the kindness to tell us why it is that, whatever you bring us, comes while the medium is in the magnetic sleep?
"That is owing to the medium's nature ; what I bring, when my medium is asleep, I could bring, with another medium, when awake."
2. Why do you make us wait so long for what you bring, and why do you excite the covetousness of the medium, by stimulating his desire to obtain the promised gift?
"It takes time to prepare the fluids which I need for the transport; as to exciting the medium's desire, I often do so in order to amuse the people who are present, as well as the somnambulist himself."
Remark of Erastes. "The spirit who has answered does not know any better ; he does not take account of the use of this covetousness which he instinctively excites, without being aware of its effects he thinks he only amuses by so doing, whilst, ill reality, he thus brings about, without suspecting it, a greater emission of fluid. This stimulation is necessitated by the difficulty of the phenomenon ; all the greater when it is not spontaneous, and especially with certain mediums."
3. Does the production of the phenomenon depend upon the special nature of the medium., and could it be produced, more quickly and easily, with other mediums?
"Its production depends upon the nature of the medium, and cannot take place except with natures between whom there exists the requisite correspondence ; as to effecting the transport more quickly, the habit we get into, when we act frequently with the same medium, is of great service to us."
4. As regards the influence of the persons present, has it any effect in impeding or facilitating the production of the phenomenon?
"When there is disbelief and opposition, we are often much hampered by them we prefer to make our attempts in the presence of believers, and of persons versed in spiritism. But I do not mean to say that the ill-will of the incarnated can paralyse us completely."
5. Whence did you get the flowers and the sugar-plums that you have brought us?
"I get the flowers in the gardens; I take those that please me."
6. And the sugar-plums? The shopkeeper must perceive his loss.
"I take them just where I like ; the shopkeeper never perceives it at all, because I put others in their place."
7. But the rings you have brought? They are valuable; where did you get them? Have you not wronged the person from whom you took them ?
"I took them from places unknown to any one, so that nobody can be the worse for my taking them."
Remark of Erastes. - "The fact is insufficiently explained, owing to the want of knowledge on the part of the spirit who is replying. It is quite possible that some wrong may have been done in the matter; but the spirit is unwilling to pass for having committed a larceny. An object can only be replaced by another which is identical with it in form and value; consequently, if a spirit had the power of substituting an object precisely similar to that which he takes, he would have no motive for taking it, and should rather give the one which serves as a substitute."
8. Is it possible to bring flowers from another planet? "No ; that is not possible for me."
- (To Erastes.) Have other spirits this power?
"No, it is not possible, on account of the difference of the atmospheric surroundings."
9. Could you bring flowers from another hemisphere; from the tropics, for example?
"Yes; if they are on this earth, I could bring them."
10. These objects which you have brought, could you make them disappear and take them back?
"Just as easily as I brought them; I can take them back whenever I like."
11. Does the bringing of objects give you any trouble, or necessitate anything like labour or fatigue?
"It does not give us any trouble, when we have per-mission ; it might give us a good deal, if we attempted to produce these phenomena without permission."
Remark of Erastes. - "He will not admit that it gives him trouble, although it really does ; as he is obliged to perform an operation which is, so to say, almost physical in its nature."
12. What are the difficulties that you meet with?
"Only unfavourable fluidic conditions, that hinder our action."
13. How do you carry an object; do you hold it in your hands? " No, we envelop it in ourselves."
Remark of Erastes. - " He does not explain the operation clearly, for lie does not envelop the object in his own personality ; but as his personal fluid is dilatable, penetrable, and expansible, he combines a portion of this fluid of his with a portion of the animalised fluid of the medium, and it is in this combination of fluids that he hides and transports the object to be brought. It is therefore not correct to say that he envelops it in himself."
14. Could you bring us, with the same facility, an object of considerable weight; of a hundred pounds weight, for instance?
"Weight is nothing to us; we bring you flowers, because a flower is more agreeable than anything heavy."
Remark of Erastes. - "What he says is true he could bring two hundred- weight, or any weight, for the weight that exists to your perceptions is annulled in his case : but here again there is a hitch in his explanation. The mass of the combined fluids must be in proportion to the mass of the objects to be moved: in a word, the force employed must be in proportion to the resistance to be overcome ; from which it follows, that, if a spirit only brings a flower, or some light thing, it is often because lie does not find in the medium, or in himself, the elements necessary for any greater effort."
15. Does it sometimes happen that things which disappear, we know not how, have been removed by spirits?
"That happens very frequently, much oftener than you have any idea of; and it might be remedied by asking the spirit to bring back what has disappeared."
Remark of Erastes. - "That is true; nevertheless, what is carried away, is sometimes made away with very effectually, for the things are often conveyed to a great distance. But, as almost the same conditions are required for taking things away as for bringing them, it can only be accomplished by the aid of mediums gifted with special faculties therefore, when anything disappears, it is far more probable that your own carelessness, rather than spirit-action, has caused its disappearance."
16. Are some occurrences, which we regard as natural phenomena, really the work of spirits?
"Your daily life is replete with incidents of this character, which you do not understand, because you have not made them a subject of thought, but of which a little reflection would enable you to perceive the real nature."
Remark of Erastes. - "Do not attribute to spirits what is the work of men ; but remember that their occult influence is constantly exerted, and gives rise, around you, to various circumstances and incidents necessary to the accomplishment of your acts, and even to your existence."
17. Among the things brought by spirits, may there not be some which are fabricated by them, that is to say, spontaneously produced by the modifications which the universal fluid is made to undergo by spirits?
"Not in my case, for I have no such permission; only an elevated spirit could do this."
18. How did you manage to introduce those things, the other day, since the room was entirely closed?
"I brought them in with me, enveloped, so to say, in my substance: the long and the short of it is, 'tis inexplicable."
19. How did you manage to render visible those objects which were invisible an instant before?
"I took away the matter that enveloped them."
Remark of Erastes. - "Strictly speaking, it is not matter that envelops them, but a fluid drawn in part from the perispirit of the medium, and, in part, from that of tile operating spirit."
20. (To Erastes.) Can an object be brought into a room that is perfectly closed ; in short, can a spirit spiritualise a material object so that it may pass through matter?
"This is a complex question. A spirit can render material things invisible but not penetrable; he cannot break through the aggregation of matter, for that would be the destruction of the object.* An object being rendered invisible, he can bring it into the room when he pleases, and can deprive it of its invisibility at any given moment. It is quite another affair in regard to things that we compose, for, in such cases, we only introduce the elements of matter, and these elements are essentially penetrable ; for we ourselves can penetrate and pass through the most condensed bodies, as easily as the rays of the sun pass through a windowpane; so that we may truly say that we have introduced the object into the place, however closed it may be; but only in such a case." *
__________
* See hereafter, for the theory of the formation of evanescent objects by spirits, the chapter entitled: Laboratory of the invisible world.
CHAPTER VI VISUAL MANIFESTATIONS
Apparitions
1. Can spirits render themselves visible?
" Yes, especially when you are asleep; but there are who see them while awake, though is less common. "
Remark. - While the body reposes, the spirit disengages itself from its material bonds; it is then more free, and can more easily see other spirits, with whom it enters into communication. A dream is only a reminiscence of this state; when we remember nothing, we say we have had no dream, but the soul has none the less had its eyes open, and enjoyed its liberty. We shall here treat especially of apparitions seen while the seer is awake. *
2. Do spirits who manifest themselves to the sight belong to one class rather than another?
"No, they belong to all classes, the highest as well as the lowest."
3. Have all spirits the power of manifesting themselves visibly? "Yes, but they have not always the permission or the wish to do so."
4. When spirits thus manifest themselves, what is their object? "That depends upon their nature; their object may be good or bad."
5. What! do you assert that permission may be given when their object is a bad
one?
The intention of the spirit may be bad, but the result may be useful."
"In such cases the apparition is permitted as a trial for those to whom it appears.
6. What can be the object of spirits in showing themselves when their intentions are evil?
"The desire to frighten, or sometimes to take revenge."
-What is the object of spirits who come with good intentions?
"To console those who regret them; to prove that they still exist, and are still
near you; to give good counsels; and sometimes to ask help for themselves."
7. What harm would there be, if the possibility of seeing spirits were permanent and general? Would not this be a means of removing doubts from the minds of the most incredulous?
"Men being constantly environed by spirits, the incessant view of the latter would trouble them, would put them out in their work, and would take from them, in most cases, their freedom of action ; thinking themselves alone, men act more freely. As to the incredulous, they have means enough of conviction, if they would but profit by them. You know that there are people who have seen, and yet who do not believe any the more on that account, for they speak of what they have seen as illusions. Do not vex yourselves about such people; God has them in His keeping."
Remark. - It would be as inconvenient to find oneself incessantly in the presence of spirits, as to see the air which environs us, or the myriads of microscopic animals around us and upon us. Hence we may conclude that what God does is well done, and that He knows what is good for us, better than we do.
8. If there be inconvenience in seeing spirits, why is it permitted in some cases ?
"It is to give you proof that all does not die with the body, and that the soul preserves its individuality after death. The passing glimpse thus afforded is enough to give this proof, and to attest the presence of friends near you, but is attended with no permanent inconvenience."
9. Is the view of spirits more frequent in worlds which are more advanced than this is?
"The nearer man approaches to the spiritual nature, the more easily he enters into conscious relationship with spirits; it is the grossness of your envelope which renders the perception of ethereal beings rare and difficult."
10. Is it reasonable to be frightened at the apparition of a spirit?
"Any one who reflects must see that a spirit, whatever it may be, is less dangerous than a person in the flesh. Spirits go about everywhere; and there is no need of seeing them, to know that you have them at your elbow. If a spirit wishes to hart you, lie can do so without showing himself, and with greater certainty when unseen; he is not dangerous because he is a spirit, but he may be so through the subtle influence that he is able to exercise over your thoughts, in turning you from the right path, and urging you to evil."
Remark. - Persons who are afraid when alone, or in the dark, rarely understand the cause of their fear they could not tell you what they are afraid of, but, most assuredly, there is more to be feared in meeting with men than with spirits, for a malefactor is more dangerous while in the flesh than after his death. A lady of our acquaintance, saw, one evening, in her bedroom, an apparition so lifelike that she thought some-body had entered the room, and her first feeling was one of fear. Having ascertained that no one in the flesh was in the room, she said to herself: ''It seems that it was only a spirit: so I can sleep in peace."
11. Can a person to whom a spirit appears enter into conversation with him?
"Certainly, and, moreover, this is what you should always do under such circumstances. You should ask the spirit who he is, what he wants, and what you can do to be of service to him. If the spirit is unhappy and suffering, he will be soothed by your commiseration; if he is a kindly spirit, he may have come with the intention of giving you good counsel."
- How, in such a case, can the spirit answer?
"Sometimes he answers by articulate sounds, like a living person, but, more frequently, there is transmission of thought."
12. When spirits appear with wings, have they wings in reality, or are these wings only a symbolic representation?
"Spirits have no wings ; they have no need of them, because, from their spiritual capabilities, they are able to transport themselves everywhere. They assume any appearance they choose, according to the effect they desire to produce on the person to whom they show themselves. Sometimes they appear in ordinary clothing; sometimes enveloped in flowing drapery; sometimes with wings, &c., as attributes of the category of spirits which they represent."
13. Are the persons we see in dreams always those whom they seem to be by their appearance?
"They are almost always the very persons whom your spirit has been to see, or who come to find you, during your sleep."
14. Could not mocking spirits assume the appearance of persons who are dear to us, and so lead us astray?
"They may assume fantastic appearances, to amuse themselves at your expense; but there are some things that they are not permitted to meddle with."
15. Thought itself being a kind of evocation, we can well understand that it may induce the presence of a spirit; but why does it so frequently happen that the people of whom we think most often, and whom we most ardently desire to see again, never appear to us in our dreams, while, on the contrary, we constantly see people who are indifferent to us, and whom we never think of?
"Spirits have not always the power to manifest them-selves to your view, even in a dream, notwithstanding your desire to see them; causes which are independent of their will may prevent their doing so. Moreover, this often occurs as a trial, which your most ardent desire is powerless to escape. As to persons whom you regard with indif- ference, although, you do not think of them, it is quite possible that they may think you. Besides, you can form no idea of the relations of the world of spirits; you meet there with a host of acquaintances, old and new, of whom you have no remembrance during your waking hours."
Remark. - When there is no confirmation of visions or apparitions, we may fairly set them down as hallucinations; but, when they are confirmed by events, we cannot attribute them to imagination. Such are, for example, the apparitions so often seen, sometimes in a dream, sometimes in the waking state, of persons of whom we had not been thinking, and who come at the moment of their death, to show us, by various signs, the circumstances of their decease, of which we had no previous idea. Horses have been often found to rear, and refuse to on, in the presence of apparitions which frightened their riders also. If imagination counts for something in the human subject, we can hardly suppose horses to be troubled by it. Again, if the images that we see in dreams were always the reflex of the preoccupations of our waking hours, it would not explain the fact, that we often never dream at all of what we think of most frequently while awake.
16. Why do certain kinds of visions occur most frequently during illness?
"They occur as frequently in perfect health ; but the material bonds are relaxed during illness, when the weakness of the body leaves the spirit more free ; so that it then enters more easily into communication with other spirits.
17. Spontaneous apparitions appear to be more frequent in some countries than in others. Is it that some races are better endowed than others for receiving this kind of manifestation?
"Apparitions, noises, all kinds of manifestations, in short, occur equally, all over the earth; but they present distinctive characteristics according to the peoples among whom they occur. Among those nations, for example, where writing is in little use, you will not find writing mediums; elsewhere, they abound. Again, noises and movements of objects are more frequent than intelligent communications, because these last are least esteemed, and least sought after."
18. How is it that apparitions generally take place during the night? - Is it owing to the effect of silence and darkness on the imagination?
"It is for the same reason that you see stars during the night, and do not see them during the day. A strong light effaces an apparition of slight force, but it is an error to suppose that night has anything to do with the matter. Interrogate those who have seen apparitions, and you will find that the greater number of them have occurred during the day."
Remark. Apparitions are much more frequent and more general than is usually supposed; but many persons do not speak of them from fear of ridicule, while others attribute them to illusion. If facts of this nature appear to be more common among certain peoples, it is because these facts, true or false, are more carefully recorded in the traditions of those peoples, multiplied, as well as amplified, by the taste for the marvellous to which certain localities are more or less predisposed by their aspect, and other natural conditions; the credulity of the inhabitants dressing tip the commonest occurrences in the garb of the supernatural. The silence of sparsely-peopled regions, the abruptness of ravines, the moaning of the wind through the trees, the roar of the tempest, mountain echoes, the fantastic shapes of clouds, shadows, mirages, all tend to excite illusions in the minds of the rude and the unlettered, who recount, with entire belief, what they have seen, or fancy they have seen. But side by side with fiction, is a reality; the establishing of the latter, freed from the puerile and debasing accessories added by the former, is one of the most important results of the serious study of spiritist doctrine.
19. Does the seeing of spirits take place in the normal state or only in the ecstatic state?
"It may take place ttnder perfectly normal conditions; nevertheless, people who see them are often in a peculiar state, bordering on trance, which gives them a kind of second-sight." (See The Spirits' Book, N° 447.)
20. Do those persons who see spirits see them with their eyes?
"They think they do; but, in reality, it is their soul that sees, for they can see them with their eyes shut."
21. How does a spirit make himself visible?
"As in all other manifestations, by employing certain properties of the perispirit, which may be made to undergo a Variety of modifications, at the will of the spirit."
22. Can that which is the spirit himself be made visible, or can it only be manifested by the perispirit?
"To you, in your materialised state, spirits can only manifest themselves with the aid of their semi-material envelope, which is the intermediary that enables them to act on your senses. It is with this envelope that they sometimes appear to you under the human form or any other; whether in your dreams or in your waking state, whether in the light or in the dark."
23. Is it by the condensation of the fluid of the perispirit that the spirit renders himself visible ?
"Condensation is not the right word, but rather a term of comparison which may aid you to form an approximative idea of the phenomenon; for, there is, in reality, no condensation. The combination of fluids produces, in the perispirit, a peculiar condition, to which nothing in your experience offers any analogy, and which renders it perceptible by you."
24. Are the spirits who appear to us inaccessible to the touch ; could they not be laid hold of?
"When in their normal state, you could no more seize them than you could seize a shadow: but, they can, nevertheless, make themselves felt by your sense of touch, and leave traces of their presence. They Can even, in certain cases, render themselves tangible for a short time ; which proves that there is something material in common between them and you."
25. Are all persons so constituted as to be able to see spirits?
"Yes, during sleep; but not in the waking state. In sleep, the soul sees without any intermediary; while you are awake, it is always influenced more or less by your organs. This is why the conditions are not quite the same when you are awake as when you are asleep."
26. Whence comes the faculty of seeing spirits while we are awake?
"That faculty depends on the Organisation, and on the greater or less degree of facility with which the fluid of the seer combines with that of the spirit. It is, therefore, not sufficient for the spirit to desire to manifest himself; it is also necessary that he should find the requisite aptitude in the person by whom he wishes to be seen."
-Can this faculty be developed by exercise?
"Yes, like all other faculties ; but it is one of those of which it is well to await the natural development, for fear of Over-exciting the imagination. A general and permanent sight of spirits is exceptional, and does not appertain to the normal state of humanity."
27. Is it possible to obtain the apparition of a spirit by summoning him to appear?
"Sometimes, but very rarely; apparitions are almost always spontaneous. To evoke with authority, you must be endowed with a special faculty."
28. Can spirits render themselves visible under any other than the human form?
"The human form is the normal form ; a spirit can vary the appearance of this form, but it is always the human type." *
- Cannot they manifest themselves under the appearance of a flame?
"They can produce flames and lights, as they can any other appearances, in order to attest their presence; but these appearances are not the spirits themselves. A flame is often only a mirage, or an emanation of the perispirit, of which, in all such cases, it is only a part : the perispirit only appears, in its entirety, in visions."
29. What are we to think of the idea which attributes the Will-o'-the-Wisp to the presence of souls or spirits?
"Such an idea is mere superstition ; the result of ignorance. The physical cause of the Will-o'-the-Wisp is well known."
-Was the blue flame, said to have been seen on the head of Servius Tullius, when a child, a fable or a reality?
"It was a reality, produced by a familiar spirit who desired to warn his mother. The mother, a seeing medium, perceived the radiation of her child's spirit-guide. All seeing mediums do not see with the same degree of Vision, just as your writing mediums do not all write the same thing. While this mother saw only a flame, another medium might have seen the spirit's body."
30. Could spirits present themselves under the form of animals?
"That may happen but it is only very inferior spirits who assume such a form. It could not, in any case, be more than a momentary appearance: for it would be absurd to believe that any veritable animal could be the incarnation of a spirit. Animals are always animals and nothing else."
Remark. - Superstition alone could suggest the idea that certain animals are animated by spirits. Only a very gullible or moon-struck, 'imagination could see anything supernatural in the peculiarities some-times displayed by animals; but fear often makes people see things that have no real existence. Fear, however, is not the only source of this idea we knew a lady, a very intelligent person in other respects, who had an unbounded affection for a large black cat, because she believed it to be of a super- animal nature. This lady had never heard of spiritism; if she had known anything of it, she would have known that such a metamorphosis is impossible.
__________
* For farther details regarding the state of the spirit during sleep, see, in The Spirits’ Book, the chapter on the Emancipation of the Soul, N° 409.
Theoretic explanation of Apparitions
A spirit being able to assume any and every appearance, he presents himself under that by which he can best obtain recognition, if such be his desire. Although, as a spirit, he has no corporeal infirmity, he can appear as if maimed, lame, humpbacked, wounded, or scarred, should he consider this to be necessary to his identification. Aesop, for example, is not deformed as a spirit; but if we evoked him as Aesop, though he may have had many subsequent incarnations, he would show himself as Aesop, with his ugliness, his humped back, and his traditional costume. It is worthy of notice that, while the head, trunk, and arms, are always clearly defined, the lower limbs except under particular circumstances, are less clearly shown, and that apparitions rarely walk, but seem to glide, like shadows. Their costume generally consists of a drapery, terminating in long floating folds ; their hair is wavy and graceful ; such, at least, is the usual appearance of spirits who have retained none of their terrestrial peculiarities. But ordinary spirits, those whom we have known, generally preserve the costume that they wore in the latter part of their earthly existence. They often show themselves with appearances indicative of their degree of elevation ; with a halo or wings, for example, in the case of those whom we may consider as "angels ;" while others present themselves with the appear- ance of objects referring to their terrestrial occupations. Thus, a warrior may appear with his armour, a learned man with his books, an assassin with a dagger, &c. Spirits of ugh degree have a beautiful countenance, a serene and noble air; while the degraded have a fierce and bestial expression, and often show traces of the crimes they have committed, or of the punishments they have committed, or of the punishments they have endured. This question of spirit-aspect, with its various accessories, is perhaps what excites most astonishment among the uninitiated. We shall return to this subject in a special chapter, because of its bearing upon other very important phenomena.
Globular spirits
The aqueous humor of the eye offers points, scarcely perceptible, that have lost their transparency. These points are like opaque bodies in suspension in the liquid, and whose movements they follow. They produce in the air, and at a distance, from the effects of enlargement and refraction, the appearance of small disks varying from one to ten millimetres in diameter, and which seem to swim in the atmosphere. We have seen persons take these disks for spirits, who follow and accompany them everywhere, and in their enthuse asm take for figures the shades of irisation, which is almost as rational as to see a figure in the moon. A simple observation, furnished by these people them selves, would bring them to the land of reality.
These disks, or medallions, they say, not only accompany them, but follow all their movements ; they go to the right, to the left, up, down, or stop, according to the movement of the head : that is not astonishing, since the seat of the appearance is in the globe of the eye ; it should follow all its movements. If they were spirits, it must be admitted that they would be confined to entirely too mechanical a part for free and intelligent beings — a very tedious part, even for inferior spirits, and certainly entirely incompatible with our ideas of superior spirits. Some, it is true, think the black points bad spirits. These disks, the same as the black spots, have an undulatory movement which never varies from a certain angle, and their not rigidly following the line of vision adds to the illusion. The reason is very simple. The opaque points of the aqueous humor, primary cause of the phenomenon, are, as we have said, held, as it were, in suspension, and have always a tendency to descend ; when they ascend, it is in consequence of the movement of the eye from low to high ; but, after reaching a certain distance, if the eye is fixed, the disks descend of them selves, then stop. Their mobility is extreme, for an imperceptible movement of the eye . is sufficient to make them change their direction and traverse rapidly the whole extent of the arc in the space where the object is produced. So long as it is not proved that an image possesses a spontaneous and intelligent movement of its own, there can be seen in it but a simple optical or physiological phenomenon. It is the same with the sparks, which are sometimes produced in sheafs and bundles, more or less compact, by the contraction of the muscles of the eye, and which are, probably, owing to the phosphorescent electricity of the iris, as they are usually limited to the circumference of the disk of that organ. Similar illusions can only be the result of incomplete observation. Whoever may have seriously studied the nature of spirits by all the means practical science gives, will understand their puerility. While we combat the theories by which the manifestations are attacked, when these theories are based on ignorance of facts, we should also seek to destroy the false ideas which exhibit more enthusiasm than reflection, and which, in that very way, do more harm than good with the skeptical, already so disposed to look for the ridiculous.
Theory of Hallucination
As optics and physiology appear to have no secrets for their devotees, how is it that the latter have not yet explained the nature and source of the images, which, under certain circumstances, present themselves to our consciousness? They would fain explain everything by the laws of matter; let them then deduce from those laws a theory of hallucination, capable of giving a rational explanation of the facts comprised under that term.
admitting this solution, which is no solution at all, there still remains the question, what is the magic mirror which thus preserves the traces of things, and, above all, how are we to explain the visions we sometimes see of real things, never seen by us in our waking state, and about which we never thought? Spiritism alone can give us the key to this strange phenomenon, which is only overlooked because it is so very common, like all the other wonders of nature that we are so apt to trample under foot.
The votaries of science have disdained to trouble them-selves about hallucinations; but whether real or not, they nevertheless constitute an order of phenomena that physiology ought to be able to explain, under pain of avowing its insufficiency. If; some of these days, a scientific man should undertake to give, not a mere definition, but a physiological explanation, of this class 6f phenomena, we shall see how far his theory covers the whole ground; he must not omit the very common facts of the apparition of persons at the moment of their death, and he must show us the source of the coincidence of the apparition with the death of the person. If this coincidence had occurred but once, we might attribute it to chance; but the fact is of frequent recurrence, and chance is not recurrent. If the person who saw the apparition were already possessed with the idea that the party appearing was about to die, we might attribute the apparition to imagination ; but it generally happens that the person seen is not in the thoughts of the seer at the moment of the apparition, so that imagination has nothing to do with it. Still less can the imagination theory explain the presentation of the circumstances of a death, the idea of which never entered our heads. Will the partisans of hallucination assume that the soul (supposing they admit the existence of the soul) has moments of over-excitement, and of abnormal power? If so, we agree with them, for this may be the case ; but, when what is seen is proved by events to have been real, we must drop the theory of illusion. If the soul, in its excitement, sees an object which is not present, it must transport itself
to that object; and if our soul can transport itself to an absent person, why should not the soul of an absent person transport itself to us? Let those who adopt the theory of hallucination explain all this; and let them not forget that a theory which is opposed by facts is necessarily false or incomplete.
While awaiting the explanation demanded, we ask attention to the following considerations on the subject.
-Are visions always real, or are they not sometimes the effect of hallucination ? When one sees in a dream or otherwise, the devil, for example, or any other fantastic appearance which has no real existence, is not such an appearance a product of the imagination?
"Yes, sometimes, in the case of persons whose minds are excited by stories which leave a strong impression, and which they carry in their memory until they fancy they see what has no real existence. But we have already said that a spirit, with the aid of its semi-material envelope, can assume any and every form for manifestation. Thus, a mocking spirit can appear with horns and claws, if it pleases him so to play with your credulity ; just as a good spirit can show himself with wings and a radiant countenance."
-Can we regard as apparitions the faces and other images which often present themselves when we are halt asleep, or when we merely close our eyes?
"As soon as the senses grow torpid, the spirit disengages itself, and is able to see, whether far or near, what it could not see with the bodily eyes. The images then seen are frequently visions, but they may also be an effect of the impressions that the view of Certain objects has left on the brain, which retains traces of them as it does of sounds. The spirit, when disengaged, sees, in its own brain, these imprints which are fixed therein as in a daguerreotype. From their variety and their intermingling are formed fantastic but fugitive wholes, which disperse again almost immediately, in spite of the efforts made to retain them. It is to an analogous cause that you must attribute many fantastic apparitions which have nothing of reality in them, and which frequently occur during illness."
It is certain that memory is the result of impressions preserved by the brain ; by what singular arrangement is it that these impressions, so numerous and so varied, are not inextricably confused? That is an impenetrable mystery; but it is not more strange than the crossing of the sonorous undulations which pass athwart each other in the air, and vet are none the less distinct. In a healthy and well-organised brain, these impressions are clear and precise ; In a state less favourable, they become faint and confused, which produces loss of memory and confusion of ideas a result that appears less extraordinary, if we admit, with phrenologists, a special destination of each part, and even of each fibre, of the brain.
Images which come to the brain through the eyes leave in them an impression, so that we may remember a picture, as though we had it before us; but this is always an act of memory, for we do not see the object thus present to our mental eye. In the state of emancipation, the soul looks into the brain, and finds those images therein ; those, especially, which have struck it the most, according to its personal idiosyncrasy, prepossessions or disposition. Thus, it finds again, in its brain, the impress of religious events, of diabolical, dramatic, or worldly scenes, the figures of fantastic animals, which it has seen at some previous period in paintings. or has heard or read of for recitals also leave their impress. Thus the soul really sees; but what it sees is only an image daguerreotyped on the brain.
In the normal state, these images are fugitive and ephemeral, because the cerebral organs perform their functions freely; but in illness, the brain being always more or less enfeebled, the equilibrium of the organs is lost. some of them retaining their activity, while others are partially paralysed : hence the permanence of certain images, which are not effaced, as when in a normal state, by the pre-occupations of external life. This is veritable hallucination, and the determining cause of fixed ideas.
It will be seen that we have explained this anomaly by a well-known physiological law, that of cerebral impression but we have also had to assume the intervention of the soul. If the materialists have not yet been able to give a satisfactory solution of this phenomenon, it is because they do not admit of a soul ; and they will say that our explanation is worth nothing, because we assume the very point which is contested. Contested by whom? - By them; but admitted by the immense majority of mankind, ever since men have lived upon the earth ; and the negation of the few cannot be accepted as authoritative.
Is our explanation a sufficient one? - We give it for what it is worth, for want of another, and as one which may he regarded as a convenient hypothesis, while waiting for a better one. Does it explain all cases of vision? Certainly not ; but we defy physiologists to give, from their point of view, any explanation that can do this; for, when they have pronounced their sacramental words, excitement and imagination, they have not advanced the solution of the problem a single step. Therefore, as all theories of hallucination are insufficient to explain all the facts referred to, it follows that those facts imply something else besides hallucination properly so called. Our theory would fail if we applied it to all cases of visions, because there are cases which contradict it ; but it may, nevertheless, be true in regard to some kinds of visions.
CHAPTER VII. BI-CORPOREITY AND TRANSFIGURATION
Apparitions of the spirit of persons in the flesh
"As was no doubt the case!" the incredulous will say; but it is certain that this lady was not asleep, any more than the one first mentioned. If she had been dreaming, she must therefore have been dreaming when wide awake; in other words, she must have been labouring under an hallucination. What a glorious word that is! What a comprehensive explanation of everything that we do not comprehend ! As we have already sufficiently refuted this objection, we will continue to address ourselves to those who are able to understand us.
117. Here is a fact still more characteristic; and one which we should be curious to see explained by the theory of an excited imagination.
A gentleman, living in the country, would never marry, notwithstanding the persuasions of his family. They were very anxious that he should form an alliance with a lady, living in a neighbouring town, whom he had never seen. one day, while in his bedroom, he was struck with astonishment at seeing before him a young girl, dressed in white, with a wreath of flowers on her head. She informed him that she was betrothed to him, and held out her hand, which he took in his, and on which he saw an engagement-ring. A few moments afterwards, she vanished. Taken aback by this strange occurrence, and having assured himself that he was quite awake, he asked the people of the house if any one had come in during the day; but they assured him that they had seen no one. A year afterwards, yielding to the renewed solicitations of his relations, he made up his mind to go and see the young lady who had been so strongly recommended to him. He arrived in the town where she lived on the day of the "Fête-Dieu;" all the townsfolk were returning from the procession, and one of the first persons he saw, on entering the dwelling of the young lady's family, was a young girl whom he instantly recognized as the person who had appeared to him a year before. She was dressed just as he had seen her, for the apparition, we should have stated, took place on the "Fête-Dieu" of the preceding year. He was struck dumb with amazement; the young lady, on catching sight of him, uttered a cry of surprise and fainted. On recovering consciousness, she declared that she had already seen the gentleman, on that very day, the year before. The acquaintance, so strangely begun, ended in a marriage. All this occurred about the year 1835, before Spiritism had been heard of; and besides, both the gentleman and the lady were extremely prosaic, matter-of-fact people, with imaginations as little excitable as could well be conceived of.
It will perhaps be surmised that these persons may have had their minds filled with the idea of the proposed union between them, and that this pre-occupation produced an hallucination in both of them ; but we must not forget that, on the husband's side, indifference had been the predominant feeling, and that it was not until a year after the apparition had occurred, that he made up his mind to go and see the young lady in question.
Those who would explain the matter as being a case of hallucination are hound to explain the double apparition (for the young lady also saw the gentleman the year before), the coincidence of the festival-day and of the costume, and the mutual recognition of the parties; circumstances which could not be the product of the imagination.
Doubles - Saint Alfonso of Liguori and Saint Antony of Padua
Saint Alfonso of Liguori was canonised before the lapse of the usual period after his death, because he was seen simultaneously in two different places, which was accounted a miracle.
When Saint Antony of Padua was in Spain, and while he was one day preaching, his father, who was at Padua, was being led to death, having bee accused of murder. At the moment when he was about to be executed, Saint Antony appeared, proved his father to be innocent, and pointed out the real criminal, who underwent the punishment of his crime. It was subsequently ascertained that, at this time, Saint Antony had not quitted Spain.
Saint Alfonso, having been evoked by us, for interrogation in regard to these occurrences, the following conversation took place between us: -
1. Can you give us an explanation of this phenomenon?
"Yes; a man who, as the result of his moral advancement, has attained to a certain degree of dematerialisation, can show himself in a place other than that in which his body is, and by the following means. Finding sleep to be stealing upon him, he asks of God that his spirit may be enabled to transport itself to a given place. If his request is granted, his spirit abandons his fleshly body, as soon as the latter falls asleep, and, accompanied by a part of his perispirit, leaves the gross material body in a state closely bordering on death. I say bordering on death, because there still remains in the body a link which cannot be defined, but which keeps up its union with the perispirit and the soul. The perispirit then appears in the place where the spirit desires to show himself."
2. Your statement does not explain our question, as regards the visibility and the tangibility of the perispirit.
"The spirit, finding himself disengaged from the bonds of matter, according to his degree of elevation, can render himself tangible by a special action on matter."
3. Is the sleep of the body indispensable, in order that the spirit may appear in another place?
"The soul can divide itself when it feels itself attracted to a place, other than that in which its body is. It may happen that the body is not asleep when this takes place, though that is a very rare occurrence; but, on such occasions, the body is never in a perfectly normal state, it is always more or less entranced."
Remark. - The soul does not "divide itself" in the literal sense of those words ; it radiates in different directions, and can thus manifest itself on several points without being divided, just as a light can be simultaneously reflected in several mirrors.
4. How would it be if a man, whose spirit is appearing elsewhere "'bile his body is asleep, were suddenly awakened?
"That could not happen, because, if any one approached his body, with the intention of awaking it, the spirit would re-enter it, before the intention could be executed; for the
spirit would read the thoughts of the intending disturber."
The same explanation has repeatedly been given to us, by the spirits of persons deceased as well as living. Saint Alfonso explains the fact of the double presence; but he does not give us the theory of visibility and of tangibility.
Vespasian
"During the months passed by Vespasian in Alexandria, awaiting the periodical return of the summer winds and the season when the sea is smoothest, various prodigies took place, showing the favour of heaven, and the interest which the gods seemed to take in that prince.
"These prodigies increased Vespasian's desire to visit the sacred sojourn of the god, and to consult him concerning the empire. He gave orders that the temple should be kept closely shut, so that no one but himself might enter it, when, being entirely absorbed in anticipation of what the oracle was about to utter, he perceived behind him one of the principal Egyptians, named Basilides, whom he knew to be retained by illness at some distance from Alexandria. He questioned the priests, as to whether Basilides had been that day in the temple ; he inquired of the passers-by, whether they had seen him in the town ; at last he sent horsemen, and acquired through them the Certainty that, at the moment of the apparition, Basilides was eighty miles away. He then no longer doubted that the vision was supernatural; and the name of Basilides was accepted by him in lieu of the oracle." *
__________
' Tacitus, Histories (Burnouf’s Translation), Book IV., Chaps. 81, 82.
__________
* See the Revue Spirite, janvier, 1850; Le follet de Bayonne, 1859; Les Agénères; Mon ami Hermann; mai, 1859, Le Lien entre l’Esprit et le Corps; novembre 1859, l’Ame errante; janvier 1860, l’ Esprit d’un côte et le Corps de l’autre; mars 1860, Etudes sur l’esprit de personnes vivantes: Le docteur V. et mademoiselle I.; avril 1860, Le Fabricant de Saint-Petersbourg; Apparitions tangibles; novembre 1860, Histoire de Marie d’Agréda; juillet 1861, Une Apparition Providentielle.
Transfiguration
We assume, as a fundamental principle, that the spirit has the power of giving to his perispirit every kind of appearance, and that, by modifications of its atomic conditions, he can give it temporary visibility, tangibility, and consequently opacity. We also lay it down as a rule that the perispirit of a person in the flesh, when partially separated from the body, can be made to undergo the same transformations, and that this change of state is effected by the combinations of fluids to which we have so often adverted.
Let us, then, imagine the perispirit of a person in the flesh, not as separated from the body, but as radiating around the body, so as to envelop it like a vapour. In this state, the perispirit can be made to undergo the same modifications as if it were entirely separated from it; by causing the perispirit to lose its transparency, the body may be made to disappear and become invisible, being veiled, so to say, by the perispirit, as though surrounded by a mist. It may even change its aspect, and become luminous, if such be the will, or in the power, of the spirit. A second spirit, combining his own fluid with that of the former one, may substitute his own appearance for that of the former spirit, and so completely that the real body may be made to disappear under an exterior fluidic envelope, the appearance of which may be changed indefinitely at the will of the spirit-operators. * Such appears to be the true cause of the strange and very rare phenomenon in question. As to the difference of weight, that may be explained in the same way as the change of weight in inert bodies. The intrinsic weight of the young lady's body was not changed, because there was no change in the amount of matter it contained ; but her body was, for the time being, brought under the control of an exterior agent that was able to augment or to diminish its apparent weight, as we explained above (78 et seq.). It is therefore probable that, if the transfiguration had caused it to assume the aspect of a little child, the apparent weight of the body would have been proportionally diminished.
Invisibility
__________
* From the Greek privative a, and geinomai to engender; that which has not been engendered.
CHAPTER VIII. LABORATORY OF THE INVISIBLE WORLD
Spirit-clothing - Spontaneous formation of tangible objects- Modification of the properties of matter
This problem has always been a puzzling one for observers. With many, it is simply a matter of curiosity, but it really involves a point of great importance ; our search after its solution has set us on the track of a general law which is equally applicable to the spirit-world and to our corporeal world, and without a knowledge of which it is impossible to explain the complicated phenomena referred to.
In the case of a spirit who appears with the clothing he wore during life, we might explain the appearance as the result of an action of the spirit's memory, and as forming, so to say, a part of his individuality; but this could hardly be supposed to be the case as regards accessories, such, for instance, as the snuff-box of the old gentleman who visited the sick lady, as related above (127). And it is, moreover, to be remarked that, in the case alluded to, the apparition was not that of a dead person, but of a living one ; and that this same old gentleman, when he afterwards visited the lady in his material body, brought with him a snuff-box similar, in every respect, to that which had been used by his spirit. Where did his spirit find the snuff- box that was in his hand when he sat at the foot of the lady's bed ? A question that might be repeated in regard to a great number of cases which we could instance, in which the spirits of deceased as well as of living persons have appeared, carrying in their hands various objects, such as sticks, pipes, lanterns, books, &c.
It formerly occurred to us that inert bodies might possibly have their etherealised correspondents in the invisible world, and that the condensed matter which forms the objects of our world might have, in the spirit-world, a corresponding quintessence which our bodily senses are unable to perceive. This hypothesis was not devoid of probability, but it failed to account for all the facts that presented themselves, and of which one, especially, seemed to defy all our attempts at interpretation. Up to that time, there had occurred, in our experience, only instances of images or appearances; and although we had seen that the perispirit could acquire the properties of matter, and could become tangible, yet this tangibility had been only momentary, and the seemingly solid body thus produced had vanished like a shadow. That phenomenon was sufficiently extraordinary ; but what was still more so was to see persistently solid matter produced by spirits, as has been done in a number of perfectly authentic cases, and, among others, in the phenomenon to which we have just referred, viz., that of direct writing. We shall treat of that phenomenon in a special chapter; but as it is intimately connected with the point we are now considering, we will, before proceeding farther, offer a few remarks in regard to it.
1. We have laid before you the case of an apparition of the spirit of a person in the flesh. This spirit carried a snuff-box and took snuff; did he feel the sensation which we should feel in this act ?
"No."
2. This snuff-box looked exactly like the one which he habitually used ; but that real snuff-box was in his house. What was the snuff-box seen in his hand?
"An appearance; it was made to occur, in order both that the circumstance might be remarked, as, in fact, was the case, and also that the apparition might not be taken for an hallucination produced by the ill-health of the seer. The spirit desired that the lady should be convinced of the reality of his presence; he therefore assumed all the appearances of reality."
3. You say it was an appearance; but there is nothing real in an appearance, which is a sort of optical illusion.
What we want to know is whether this snuff-box was only an image without reality, or whether there was not something of materiality in its nature?
"Certainly there was something material in its nature; it is by the aid of this materiality that the perispirit takes on the appearance of clothes like those which the spirit wore while on earth."
Remark - It is evident that we must here understand the word "appearance" in the sense of aspect, or imitation. The snuff-box in its reality was not there ; what the spirit held in his hand was only its representative ; it was therefore an appearance as compared with the original, although formed of a sort of matter.
Experience teaches us not to take too literally every expression employed by spirits. By interpreting their expressions according to our own ideas, we run the risk of falling into serious errors; and we should therefore endeavour to ascertain the real meaning of their words, whenever these present the least ambiguity, as the spirits themselves constantly recommend us to do. For instance, without the explanation just given, the word appearance, frequently recurring in analogous cases, might give rise to false interpretations.
4. Can it be that inert matter has its "double?" Can it be that, in the invisible world, there is an essential matter which assumes the forms of the objects of our world? in other words, have the objects of the terrestrial world their ethereal counterparts in the invisible world, as spirits are the counterparts of men?
"That is not the case. A spirit exerts, over the material elements everywhere disseminated through space and in your atmosphere, a power such as you are far from suspecting. He can, by his will, concentrate those elements, and give them the apparent form required for his projects."
Remark. - The foregoing question, as will have been seen, was the translation of our own thought, that is to say, of the idea that we had formed in regard to the nature of those objects. If the answer had been, as some may surmise, the reflexion of our own thought, we should have received the confirmation of our own supposition, instead of receiving an explanation altogether contrary to the one which we had imagined.
5. We repeat our question, categorically, to avoid all ambiguity, and we again ask you: -
Are the clothes, worn by spirits, something real?
"It appears to me that my previous answer replies to your question. Do you not know that the perispirit itself is something real?"
6. Your explanation seems to imply that spirits transform ethereal matter at pleasure, and that, consequently, with regard to the snuff-box, for example, the spirit did not find it ready made, but made it himself, at the moment when he wanted it, by an act of his will, and that he was able, afterwards, to unmake it. It must therefore be the same in regard to all other objects seen with spirits, whether clothes, jewels, or what not.
"Evidently so."
7. The snuff-box in question was visible for the lady, and so plainly as to make her think it real. Could the spirit have made it tangible for her?
"He could have done so."
8. Could the lady have taken the box in her hands, and, in that case, would it still have appeared to her to be a real snuff-box?
"Y es."
9. If she had opened it, she would probably have found snuff there; if she had taken a pinch, would it have made her sneeze?
"Y es."
" Yes, if he so wills it ; it was in virtue of this principle that I gave affirmative replies to your preceding questions. You will have abundant proofs of the powerful action exercised by spirit over matter; proofs such as you little imagine at present, as I have already told you."
11. If a spirit had compounded a poisonous substance, and some human being should swallow it, would the latter be poisoned?
"Such a compound could be made; but no spirit could make it, for he would not be permitted to do so."
12. Could he fabricate a substance that would be beneficial to health, and capable of curing a malady? has such a thing ever been done?
"Yes, very often."
13. If so, he could, no doubt, as easily fabricate all alimentary substance; suppose he made some fruit, or any other article of food, would it appease a man's hunger if he ate it ?
"Yes, yes; but do not try so hard to find out what it is so easy to understand. A ray of sunlight suffices to enable your gross organs to perceive the material particles which fill the space in the midst of which you live. Do you not know that the air contains the vapour of water? Condense that vapour, and you bring it back to its normal state of water ; deprive it of heat, and do! the impalpable and invisible molecules of that vapour have been changed into a solid body ; and how many other substances are there, from which chemists will produce marvels even more astonishing ! But spirits possess instruments more perfect than yours, viz., their will, and the Divine permission."
Remark. - This question of the appeasing of hunger by substances of the character we are considering is very important. If a substance has only temporary existence and properties, and is, so to say, only a sort of pretence, how can it appease the hunger of the material body ? This substance, by its contact with the stomach, produces a sensation of satiety, but not the satiety which results from filling the stomach with its natural food. If such a substance can act on the bodily economy so as to modify a morbid state, it can just as well act on the stomach so as to produce the sensation resulting from the satisfaction of appetite. Nevertheless, those whose business it is to provide us with drugs and with dinners need not be jealous of spirit-power, nor imagine that the denizens of the other world are coming into competition with them. Such cases of spirit-action are rare, exceptional, and independent of the human will ; otherwise we should really be fed and cured too cheaply.
14. Could objects that have been thus formed by spirits, and rendered tangible by their will, obtain the attributes of permanence and stability, and be made use of by men?
"The thing is possible in itself, but it is never done; it would be an infringement of the laws of natural order in the sphere of human life."
15. Do all spirits possess the power of producing tangible objects in the same degree?
"The higher the spirit, the more easily does he obtain this effect; but it also depends upon circumstances: inferior spirits sometimes have this power."
16. Does a spirit always comprehend the way in which he makes his garments and the other objects he shows us?
"No, he often determines their formation by an instinctive act which, if he is not sufficiently enlightened, he does not understand."
17. If a spirit can draw from the universal element the materials for making all sorts of things, and if he can give to each of those things a temporary reality and peculiar properties, it is evident that he can draw from this element the matter necessary for writing; and your explanations would therefore appear to give us the key to the phenomenon of direct writing : is it so
"Ah! you've found that out, at last, have you ?"
Remark. - All our preliminary questions had been put with a view to arriving at the solution just given. The spirit's exclamation proves that he had read our thought.
18. If the matter employed by the spirit be not permanent, how is it that the traces of direct writing do not disappear ?
"Do not strain at words; I did not say that spirit-formations are never permanent. I have been speaking of voluminous objects ; but writing consists merely of signs that have been traced, and which it may be useful to preserve; and they are accordingly preserved. I meant to say that the objects thus composed by spirits could not become objects of common use, because there is, in them, no real aggregation of matter such as there is in your solid bodies."
131. This theory explains a fact well known in mesmerism, but hitherto unexplained, viz., that of the changes effected in the properties of water by the action of the will. The acting spirit, in this case, is that of the mesmeriser, who is frequently assisted by a disincarnate spirit, and who effects a transformation of the water by means of what, for want of a better term, we call the animalised-magnetic fluid, which, as we have said, is the substance that approaches most nearly to the cosmic matter, or universal element. If the mesmeriser can modify the properties of water, he can also effect an analogous modification of the fluids of the human organism ; hence the curative effect of the mesmeric action, when properly directed.
We know the important part that is played by the will in the production of all the phenomena of animal-magnetism; but how are we to explain the action of so subtle an agent on matter? The will is not a being, not a substance; it is not even a property of the most etherealised matter. True ; but will is the essential attribute of the spirit, that is to say, of the thinking being. With the aid of this instrument, a spirit acts on the elements of matter ; and, by the same action, exercised on the elements of the compound bodies formed from that matter, he is able to modify the properties of those bodies.
Will is the attribute of the incarnate spirit, as well as of the disincarnate spirit wandering in space ; hence the power of the mesmeriser, a power which, as we know, is proportioned to his force of will. The incarnate spirit being able to act upon elementary matter, he can also vary its properties within certain limits. We are thus enabled to explain the faculty of healing by the imposition of hands a faculty possessed by many persons in a greater or less degree.
CHAPTER IX. HAUNTED PLACES
1. Do spirits attach themselves to persons only, or do they also attach themselves to things?
"That depends upon their elevation. Certain spirits may attach themselves to terrestrial objects ; misers, for instance, who have hidden their hoards, and who are not sufficiently dematerialised, may still watch over and guard them."
2. Are there any places for which errant spirits have a predilection ?
"Spirits who are no longer earth-bound go where they find those whom they love, for they are attracted rather by persons than by material things. Some of them may, for a time, retain a preference for certain places; but those who do so are spirits of inferior advancement."
3. Since the attachment of spirits for localities is a sign of inferiority, is it also a proof that they are evil spirits ?
"Assuredly not; a spirit may be but little advanced, and yet not be a bad spirit; is it not so among men?"
4. Is there any foundation for the belief that spirits frequent ruins by preference? "No; spirits go to such places, just as they go every where else; but the lugubrious aspect of certain places strikes the human imagination, and leads you to attribute, to the presence of spirits, what is often merely a natural effect. How often does fear turn the shadow of a tree into a phantom, or mistake the cry of an animal, or the murmuring of the wind, for the wail of a ghost! Spirits like the presence of men, and usually seek out inhabited places rather than solitary ones."
- Nevertheless, knowing what we do of the diversity of character among spirits, may we not suppose that there are misanthropes among them, preferring solitude to society?
"Have I not already answered you on this point, by saying that spirits may seek out desolate places, as well as all other places? If some of them live alone, they do so because it pleases them, but this is no reason why spirits should necessarily prefer ruins ; and, assuredly, there are many more spirits in cities and inhabited dwellings than in solitary places."
5. Popular beliefs have generally a foundation of truth; what is the origin of the belief in haunted places?
"It has grown out of men's instinctive belief in spirit manifestations, a belief that has prevailed in all ages of the world; but, as I said just now, the aspect of lugubrious places strikes the imagination, and men have naturally located, in such places, the beings whom they have regarded as supernatural. This superstitious belief is upheld by the fanciful imaginings of your poets, as well as by the nonsensical stories told to you in the nursery."
6. Spirits who assemble together, have they any preferences in regard to days and hours of meeting?
"No; days and hours are measurements of time for the use of men, and for the needs of corporeal life; spirits have no need of any such measurements, and take very little heed of them."
7. What is the origin of the idea that spirits. come by preference at night?
"The impression produced on the imagination by darkness and silence. All such ideas are superstitions that a rational knowledge of spiritism will destroy. It is the same with respect to the notion, held by some people, that certain days and hours are more propitious than others; the influence of midnight has no existence except in story-books."
- If this be the case, how is it that many spirits announce their arrival and manifestations for midnight, or for certain pre-determined days, as Fridays, for example?
"Such spirits only trifle with your credulity. In the same way, there are spirits who declare themselves to be the devil, or give themselves some other diabolical or fantastic name. Show them that you are not to be taken in by them, and you will hear no more of such absurdities."
8. Do spirits come back by preference to the burial-place of their body?
"The body was but a garment; they care no more for their fleshly envelope, in which they have had to suffer, than the prisoner cares for his chains. The memory of those they love is the only thing they value."
- Are prayers offered up at their graves especially pleas. mg to them, and do they attract them more than prayers would do elsewhere?
"Prayer is an evocation which attracts a spirit, as you know. The more fervent and sincere the prayer, the greater the effect it produces; and therefore, the sight of a venerated tomb may serve to concentrate the thought of him who prays, while the interest attached to it, as to any other treasured relic, being a testimony of affection offered to the spirit, he is always attracted and touched thereby. But, in all such cases, it is the thought which acts on a spirit, and not any material objects; for these have less influence on the spirit who is prayed for than on the person who prays, and whose attention they serve to concentrate and intensify."
9. That being the case, the belief in haunted places would appear to be not absolutely groundless?
"We have told you that there are spirits who are attracted by material things ; such spirits may also be attracted to certain places, and may even take up their abode in them, until the cessation of the circumstances that have attracted them thither."
- What are the circumstances that may attract spirits to a given place?
"Their sympathy with persons who frequent that place, and, in some cases, the desire to communicate with them. Their motives, however, are not always so praiseworthy inferior spirits may desire to revenge themselves on persons against whom they have a grudge. Sojourn in a fixed locality may be, also, a punishment inflicted on them especially if they have committed a crime there, so that the crime may be constantly before their eyes." *
10. Have haunted places, in all cases, been the former habitation of the spirits who haunt them?
"Not in all cases ; if the former inhabitant be an elevated spirit, he will no more hold to his old house than to his old body. Spirits who haunt certain localities, when not attracted to them by sympathy for certain persons, are often only actuated by caprice."
- Can they attach themselves to certain places, in order to act as protectors of particular persons of families?
"Assuredly, if they are good spirits ; but, in that case, they never manifest their presence by disagreeable actions"
11. Is there any truth in the legend of "The White Lady."
"It is as true as are a thousand other facts of a similar nature."
12. Is it rational to dread places that are reputed to be haunted by spirits?
"No; the spirits who haunt certain places, and make disturbances there, do so to amuse themselves at the expense of the credulous and the cowardly, rather than for any evil purpose. Besides, you must not forget that there are spirits everywhere ; and that, wherever you may be, you have them incessantly around you, even in the quietest houses. They only appear to haunt certain habitations because they find, in them, the conditions necessary for manifesting their presence."
13. Is there any method of expelling them?
"Yes; but most frequently what people do for that purpose attracts rather than repels them. The best way of expelling bad spirits is to attract good ones, by doing all the good you can; the bad ones will then go away, for good and evil are incompatible. Be always good, and you will have only good spirits about you."
- Many very good people, however, are greatly annoyed by the persecutions of bad spirits.
"If persons thus annoyed are really good, the annoyance may be a trial to exercise their patience, and to excite them to greater goodness."
14. Can evil spirits be driven from haunted places by exorcisms?
"Have you often seen exorcisms successful? Have you not, on the contrary, often found that they increased the disturbances? Mischievous spirits are often amused at being mistaken for the devil.
"Spirits who come without any evil intention may also manifest their presence by rendering themselves visible, or by noises ; but the noises they make never degenerate into racket. They are often suffering spirits whom you may relieve by praying for them; they are sometimes kindly spirits, who desire to show you that they are near you ; or they may be frivolous spirits, who are only in sport. Since these who disturb you are, almost invariably, spirits in search of amusement, the best thing to do is to laugh at them they will tire of playing pranks, if they see that they neither frighten nor vex you."
From these explanations, we learn that there are spirits who attach themselves to localities, and remain in them by preference, without having any motive for manifesting their presence to us. Any place may be the sojourn of a spirit, either from a preference on his part, or from its having been assigned to him as a temporary abode, without his ever producing a manifestation of any kind; and this, even in the case of those who have led an evil life.
The spirits who attach themselves to localities, or to material things, are never of superior advancement; but although not of high degree, they are not necessarily wicked, nor animated by hostile intentions. Such inmates are sometimes even useful ; for, when they take an interest in the people of the house, they often render them various services.
__________
* See La Revue Spirit, February 1860, Histoire d’un damné.
CHAPTER X. NATURE OF SPIRIT COMMUNICATIONS
NATURE OF SPIRIT COMMUNICATIONS
If we bear in mind the infinite variety that exists among spirits, under the double aspect of intelligence and of morality (See The Spirits' Book, No. 100), we perceive that a corresponding diversity must exist in their communications, which necessarily reflect the elevation or the backwardness of the spirits by whom they are made ; and that the quality of their ideas, their degree of knowledge or of ignorance, their virtues and their vices, will be evidenced by the communications which emanate from them, and which will no more resemble each other than do, among men, those of the savage and the most enlightened European. But all the shades presented by spirit-Communications may be grouped into four principal categories ; according to their most salient characteristics, they may be designated as coarse, frivolous, serious, and instructive.
Coarse communications
Frivolous communications
Serious communications
It is therefore imperatively necessary to distinguish between communications that are seriously true and communications that are seriously false. But this is not always easy ; for it is often under the guise of seriousness that presumptuous and superficial spirits seek to foist upon us their erroneous ideas and absurd theories, unscrupulously assuming the most honoured and even the most venerated names, in order the more effectually to impose upon us ; a method of deception which constitutes one of the most dangerous stumbling-blocks of practical spiritism. We shall return to this subject, of which we shall treat, farther on, with all the minuteness that its importance demands ; we shall then point out the means of guarding ourselves against false communications.
Instructive communications
CHAPTER XI. SEMATOLOGY AND TYPTOLOGY
The language of signs ; raps and tiltings - Alphabetical typtology
A gentleman of our acquaintance, being one day in his drawing-room, where several persons were holding a seance, received a letter from us. While he was reading it, the little table, used by him for spiritist experimentation, suddenly moved up to him. Having finished reading our letter, he went towards another table at the farther end of the room, and laid the letter upon it. The little table followed him, and went up to the table upon which he had laid the letter. Surprised at this occurrence, our friend bethought him that there must be some connexion between the movements of the little table and the letter; he inquired the name of the spirit who had moved the table, and a name was given which is that of our familiar spirit. The gentleman having informed us of this circumstance, we, in our turn, begged the spirit to tell us the motive of the visit he had made to our friend ; whereupon, this reply was given -"It is natural that I should go and see those with whom you are in communication, in order that I may, if necessary, give to them, as well as to you, such advice as may be useful."
This mode of proceeding, as will be readily understood, is extremely tedious, and requires an enormous amount of time for obtaining communications of any length ; but practice soon suggested various abbreviative methods more rapid than the above. That which is generally employed, consists in having the letters of the alphabet, and the numerals, written on a sheet of paper or card-board. The medium being seated at the table, some member of the circle runs a pencil or other pointer along the letters, when words are wanted ; along the ciphers, when numbers are wanted. When the pencil reaches the desired letter or cipher, the table gives a tilt, and the letter or cipher thus indicated is written down; the person who holds the pencil going through the same operation for the next letter, and so on. If a mistake occurs in regard to a letter, the spirit gives notice of the fact by several tilts; and the pencil is again taken through the alphabet. In this way, by dint of practice, it is possible to get on with tolerable quickness.
Most mediums, however, by perseverance, can eventually succeed in obtaining raps, which have the double advantage of being not only more rapid, but also less open to suspicion, than the tiltings, which may be attributed to voluntary or involuntary pressure. It is true that the raps also can be imitated by untruthful mediums, for the best things may be counterfeited; a fact which proves nothing against their reality.
But however improved, this way of proceeding can never attain the ease and rapidity of writing; and, consequently, the old methods of tilting and rapping are now less frequently employed. The old way is nevertheless very interesting as a phenomenon, especially for beginners; and it has the special advantage of being independent of the medium's mind. By the old method, too, answers are often obtained, so unexpected, so apt and pertinent, that one must be prejudiced indeed to reject the evidence thus afforded, and which is often an effectual means of conviction. But neither by this method, nor by any other, can spirits be made to yield to the caprices of mere curiosity, or forced to answer misplaced or indiscreet questions.
It is to be remarked that the top of the little table does not turn round under the fingers, but that the fingers remain in their place and follow the movement of the table. A powerful medium might probably obtain an independent movement; in which case the experiment would be more conclusive, because less open to the possibility of trickery.
All spirits who rap are not, then, what are commonly called "rapping-spirits;" which designation should be reserved for those who may be styled professional rappers, and who take pleasure in going their rounds, amusing some, and boring others. Smart things are sometimes said by them, hut never anything really profound. It would be a loss of time to ask scientific or philosophical questions of ignorant pretenders, who are classed by higher spirits as the quacks and mountebanks of the spirit-world. They are, nevertheless, often employed by superior spirits as their instruments for the production of physical manifestations.
CHAPTER XII. PNEUMATOGRAPHY OR DIRECT WRITING - PNEUMATOPHONY OR DIRECT SPIRIT-SOUNDS
Direct Writing
Wonderful as is the phenomenon of direct writing, it is, nevertheless, a fully proved and incontestible fact. If the theoretic teachings of spiritism are required to enable us to account for the occurrence of spirit-phenomena in general, they are even more necessary in regard to this particular phenomenon, which may well appear "supernatural" to those who are unacquainted with those teachings, but which, with their aid, are easily explicable.
When this phenomenon was first observed, the predominant feeling in regard to it was that of suspicion; the idea of trickery with the aid of certain inks which, at first invisible, become subsequently visible, was in everybody's thoughts. We cannot affirm that such deception has never been practised ; on the contrary, we are convinced that some persons, from mercenary motives, and others from vanity and to acquire the reputation of being powerful mediums, have, in too many instances, employed deceptions of various kinds. (See the chapter on Frauds.)
But it would be absurd to conclude that, because a phenomenon can be imitated, the phenomenon itself does not occur. Has not ingenuity succeeded in imitating the lucidity of a somnambulist, and so cleverly as to make deception appear a reality? And because this feat of charlatanism has had a run at fairs, are we therefore to conclude that there are no real somnambulists? Because some dealers sell adulterated wine, are we to assert that no pure wine is to be had? It is the same with direct writing the precautions for making sure of the reality of the fact are simple and easy; and, thanks to the employment or those precautions, the reality of this phenomenon is no longer a matter of doubt.
The Middle Ages, so fertile in occult prodigies which it was sought to smother in the ashes of the stake, must also have witnessed the phenomenon of direct writing; and it was probably from a knowledge of the modifications which spirits can effect in matter, that the alchemists derived their belief in the transmutation of metals. (Chap. VIII.) But whatever partial knowledge of spirit-action may have been arrived at in the past, it is only in these latter days, and since the generalisation of the order of facts we are considering, that direct spirit-writing has attracted serious attention. The subject was first brought forward in Europe by Baron Guldenstubbe, in his very interesting work on this subject, containing a great number of fac-similes of direct spirit-writing obtained by him. * The phenomenon in question, however, had been known in America some time before; and has since occurred through several other mediums.
__________
* The Reality of Spirits and of their Manifestations, proved by the Phenomenon of Direct Writing, GULDENSTUBBE.
It was at first supposed to be necessary, in order to obtain direct spirit-writing, to place a pencil with the paper on which the spirit was to write; and as it is known that spirits can move, displace, and take hold of objects, it was inferred that they employed the pencil in producing the writing. But the presence of a pencil was soon found to be unnecessary; a blank sheet of paper-whether folded or not is immaterial-has often been found to contain writing executed, in the course of a few minutes or moments, upon its surface. By the abstraction of the pencil, the character of the resulting manifestation is radically changed, and we are introduced to an entirely new order of phenomena; for the words thus produced are written with some sort of sub stance, and this substance, if not provided by us for the spirit, must necessarily be a product of his own, something which he has himself composed or brought. If so, what is it, and whence did he get it? Such is the problem of which we have now to indicate the solution.
If the reader will refer to the explanations give in our eighth chapter (127 and 128), he will find this phenomenon fully explained. With the aid of the principles therein laid down, we see that a spirit, in producing direct writing, does not use either our substances or our implements, but fabricates for himself the substance and the implements which he needs; drawing his materials from the primitive universal element and causing them, by his will, to undergo the necessary modifications for the production of the desired effect. He can therefore fabricate crayons of various colours, printing ink or common ink, or even typographic characters, sufficiently firm in texture to give relief to his imitation of printing; examples of all of which operations have been seen by us. The daughter of a friend of ours, a child of only thirteen years of age, has frequently obtained entire pages of direct writing, produced with a substance resembling pastel.
As for the value of the direct writing, we must admit that its chief utility has hitherto been the additional proof thus afforded of the intervention of an occult power in the production of phenomena appreciable by our senses, power which has found, in this species of writing, a new method of manifesting itself. Direct writing has been obtained in various ancient and modern languages, in hieroglyphics, &c.; but the messages thus given have usually been short, this method of communication not having as yet acquired the continuity and rapidity of psychography or writing by the hand of the medium.
Pneumatophony
We must be careful not to take all sounds, the cause of which we know not, or mere tingling of the ears, for occult voices, any more than to share the silly fancy that, when our ears tingle, some one is talking about us. Those tinglings, which have a purely physiological cause, are without meaning; while pneumatophonic sounds express thoughts, and thereby prove themselves to be due to an intelligent cause, and not to accident. We may lay it down as a rule that spirit-intervention is only proved by intelligent manifestations, in all other cases, there are a hundred chances to one that what are taken for such are really due to fortuitous causes.
However produced, the phenomenon of pneumatophony is almost always spontaneous, and can rarely be obtained by evocation.
CHAPTER XIII. PSYCHOGRAPHY
Indirect Psychography: Baskets and Planchettes
With all these machines, two persons are almost always necessary; but it is not necessary that the sec- ond person should be endowed with the medianimic faculty : it is only to maintain the equilibrium, and diminish the fatigue of the medium.
Direct or Manual Psychography
Of all the means of communication, writing with the hand— called by some involuntary writing — is, with- out contradiction, the most simple, the easiest, and the most convenient, because it requires no preparation, and because, as in ordinary writing, it can be used for the most extended development. We shall return to this in speaking of mediums.
Besides, these instruments are not absolute; we know one person who, instead of the basket we have described, used a funnel with a neck, through which he put the pencil. It might have been said communica- tions of a funnel, or of a stewpan, or a salad dish. If they were given by rappings, and these rappings were made by a chair or cane, it is no longer a talking table, but a talking chair or cane. What is necessary to know is, not the nature of the instrument, but the method of obtaining. If the communications take place by writing, let the pencil-holder be what it may, for us it is psychography; if by rappings, it is typtology. Spiritism, having taken the proportions of a science, requires a scientific language.
CHAPTER XIV - OF MEDIUMS
It might thus be said that very nearly every one is a medium. Usually, this qualification is applied only to those in whom the medianimic faculty is clearly characterized, and shown by visible effects of a certain intensity, which depends on an organization more or less sensitive. It must be remarked that this faculty is not revealed in the same manner with all; mediums, usually, have a special aptitude for such or such order of phenomena, which makes as many varieties as there are kinds of manifestations. The principal are, mediums for physical effects; sensitive or impressible mediums; auditive ; speaking; seeing; somnambulis- tic; healing; pneumatographic ; writing or psychographic.
Mediums for Physical Effects
Optional Mediums are those who have a conscious- ness of their power, and who produce the spirit phe- nomena by the power of their will. This faculty, though, as we have said, inherent in the human spe- cies, is far from existing in all in the same degree; yet, if there are few persons with whom it is absolutely null, those who are capable of producing great effects, such as the suspension of heavy bodies in space, aerial trans- lation, and, above all, apparitions, are still more rare. The most simple effects are those of rotation of an object, rapping by the raising of the object, or even within its substance. Without attaching primary importance to these phenomena, we engage not to neglect them ; they may give occasion to interesting observations and aid conviction. But it is to be remarked that the faculty of producing physical effects rarely exists with those who have more perfect means of communication, as writing and speaking. Generally, the faculty diminishes in one sense in proportion as it develops in another.
This faculty is not, by itself, the indication of a pathological state, for it is not incompatible with perfect health. If the one who possesses it is suffering, that proceeds from a foreign cause; also therapeutic means are powerless to end it. It may, in some cases, be consecutive with a certain organic weakness, but it is never the efficient cause. No inquietude, then, can be reasonably felt in a hygienic point of view ; it could produce inconvenience only if the subject, having become an optional medium, should abuse its use, because in that case there might be enfeebling of the organs, from too abundant emission of the vital fluid.
Those who accredit such ideas know not the re- sponsibility they assume; they might kill. But the danger is not alone for the subject, but for those around him, who might be frightened at the thought of their house being a haunt of demons. It is this fatal belief that has caused so many acts of atrocity in times of ignorance. At the same time, with a little more discernment, they would, know that, in burning the body supposed to be possessed by the devil, they could not burn the devil. Since they wish to get rid of the devil, it is he they should kill: the spirit doc- trine, by-enlightening us on the true cause of all these phenomena, gives him the death-blow. Thus, far from encouraging this idea, we should, as a duty of morality and humanity, combat it where it exists.
What should be done when such a faculty is spon- taneously developed in an individual, is to leave the phenomenon to take its natural course. Nature is more prudent than man : besides, Providence has His views, and the smallest can be an instrument of the greatest designs. But it must be conceded that this phenomenon sometimes acquires fatiguing and importunate proportions for every one * ; here is what, in all cases, should be done. In Chapter V., on Spontaneous 'Physical Manifestations, we have already given some advice on this subject, saying that it is necessary to try to come into relations with the spirit, to know from him what he wants. ' T h e following method is also founded on observation. The invisible beings who reveal their presence by effects, are, in general, of an inferior order of spirits, who can be governed by moral ascendency ; it is this ascendency we must endeavor to acquire.
To obtain it, the subject must be made to pass from the state of natural to that of optional medium. Then there is produced an effect analogous to that which takes place in somnambulism. It is known that natu- ral somnambulism generally ceases when it is replaced by magnetic somnambulism. The emancipative fac- ulty of the soul is not stopped, but is turned into another course. It is the same with the medianimic faculty. Then, instead of arresting the phenomena, which is rarely successful, and not always without danger, the medium must be incited to produce them at will, by overawing the spirit; by this means he may be able to master him, and from a somewhat tyrannical ruler he makes of him a subordinate, and often very docile being. A fact worthy of remark, and justified by experience, is, that in such cases a child has as much, and often more, authority than an adult; new proof in support of this main point in the doc- trine that the spirit is a child only by the body, and that he has, by himself, a development necessarily anterior to his actual incarnation —a development that can give him the ascendency over spirits who are his inferiors.
The moralization of the spirit by the counsels of a third influential and experienced person, if the medium is not in a state to do it, is often a very efficacious means: we shall return to it later.
____________________________________________________
* One of the most extraordinary facts of this nature, for the variety and strangeness of the phenomena, is that which took place in 1852, in the Palatinate (Rhenish Bavaria) at Bergzabern near Wissembourg. It is the more remarkable, that it reunites, and with the same subject, nearly every kind of spontaneous mani festations — racket enough to shake the house, upsetting of fur niture, objects thrown to a distance by an invisible hand, visions and apparitions, somnambulism, ecstasy, catalepsy, electrical at traction, aerial cries and sounds, instruments playing without contact, intelligent communications, &c, and, what is not of minor importance, the verification of these facts during nearly three years, by innumerable eye-witnesses, all worthy of belief from their knowledge and social position. The authentic account of it was published in several German papers, and especially in a tract now out of print and very rare. The complete translation of this fact will be found in the Revue Spirite of 185 J, with the necessary commentaries and explanations. It is the only French publication, to our knowledge. Beyond the great interest at tached to these phenomena, they are eminently instructive for the pra:tical study of Spiritism.
Electrical Persons
This strange faculty, which might almost be called an infirmity, may sometimes be allied to mediumship, as may be seen in the history of the rapping Spirit of Bergzabern; but often it is completely independent. So, as we have said, the sole proof of the intervention of spirits is the intelligent character of the manifesta- tions ; wherever this character does not exist, there is the right to attribute them to a purely physical cause.
The question is, to know if electric persons would possess a greater aptitude for becoming mediums for physical effects; we think so, but this would be the result of experience.
Sensitive or Impressible Mediums
Hearing Mediums
This faculty is very agreeable when the medium hears only good spirits, or only those he calls ; but it is not the same when a bad spirit is always after him, making him hear at every moment the most disagreea- ble, and often the most improper things. It then becomes necessary to get rid of him by the means we indicate in the chapter on Obsession.
Talking Mediums
Though he may be perfectly awake, .and in a normal state, he rarely preserves the remembrance of what he has spoken ; in a word, speech is, with him, the instru- ment the spirit uses, and through which another per- son can enter into communication, as can be done by the interposition of the hearing medium.
The passivity of the hearing medium is not always so complete; there are some who have the intuition of what they say at the moment of pronouncing the words. We shall return to this variety when we treat of intuitive mediums.
Seeing Mediums
The seeing medium thinks he sees with his eyes, as also those who have double sight; but in reality it is the soul that sees, because he sees as well with his eyes shut as with them open'; from whence it follows that a blind person can see spirits as well as one who has the use of his eyes. This last point might give an interesting subject for study, to know if this faculty is more frequent with the blind. Spirits who have been blind have told us that, while living, they had, by the soul, a perception of certain objects, and that they were not plunged in black obscurity.
Among seeing mediums there are those who see only those whom they call, and whom they describe with a perfect minuteness; they tell, to the smallest detail, their gestures, their expression of countenance, their features, costume, and even the sentiments by which they are animated. With others this faculty is still more general; they see all the surrounding spirit population go, come, and, as one might say, attend to their affairs.
We afterward called the spirit of Weber, the author of the opera, and asked him what he thought of the execution of his work. " It is not so very bad," said he; "but it is tame; the actors sing—that is all; there is no inspiration. Wait!" added he ; "I will try to give them a little of the sacred fire." Then we saw him on the stage, hovering above the actors: a breath seemed to part from ,him, and spread over them, and a. very visible increase of energy took place among them.
So said, he was soon in the box, talking to the two ladies ; suddenly, from having been very attentive to the play, they looked at each other, consulted together, and finally went out, and did not return. The spirit made us a comical gesture, to show that he had kept his word, but did not return, that we might ask fur- ther explanations.
We have thus been many times witness of the part spirits play among the living : we have seen them at many reunions, — ball, concert, church, funerals, wed- dings, &c, — and everywhere we have found them ex- citing the evil passions, stirring up discord, inciting brawls, and rejoicing in their prowess ; others, on the contrary, combated this pernicious influence, though but rarely listened to.
A widowed lady, whose husband frequently commu- nicated with her, found herself one day with a seeing medium, who did not know her nor her family: the medium said to her, " I see a spirit near you."
" Ah ! " said the lady, " it is, doubtless, my husband, who seldom leaves me."
" No," answered the medium ; " it is an elderly lady; her head-dress is very singular; she has a white band across her forehead."
From this particular and other descriptive details, the lady unmistakably recognized her grandmother, of whom she was not thinking. If the medium had wished to simulate the faculty, it was easy to follow the thought of the lady, whereas, instead of the husband, of whom she was thinking, he sees a woman with a peculiarity of head-dress, of which nothing had given him the idea. This fact proves another thing, — that the sight, with the medium, was not the reflection of any person's thought. (See No. 102.)
Somnambulic Mediums
The medium, on the contrary, is the instrument of a foreign intelligence; he is passive, and what he says comes not from himself. To recapitulate: the somnam- bulist expresses his own thought, the medium that of another. But the spirit who communicates to an ordi- nary medium could also as well to a somnambulist; often the state of emancipation of the soul renders this communication more easy. Many somnambulists see spirits perfectly, and describe them with as much pre- cision as the seeing mediums; they can talk with them, and transmit their thought to u s ; what they say beyond the circle of their own knowledge is often suggested to them by other spirits. Here is a remark- able example, where the double action of the spirit of the somnambulist and of the foreign spirit reveals itself in the most unequivocal manner.
" That is not all," said they ; " now you must indi- cate the remedy." " I cannot," he answered. " My angel doctor is not here" "What do you mean by your angel doctor?" "He who dictates to me." " It is not you, then, who see the remedies ?" " Why, n o ; don't I tell you my angel doctor dictates them to me ?"
Thus, with this somnambulist, the action of seeing the disease was that of his own spirit, who for that needed no assistance, but the indication of the reme- dies was given by another; this other not being there, he could say nothing. Alone, he was only a somnam- bulist ; assisted by what he called his angel doctor, he was a somnambulistic medium.
Healing Mediums
176. Here are the answers to the following questions addressed to the spirits, on this subject: —
1. " Can persons endowed with magnetic power be considered as forming a variety of mediums ?"
" You cannot doubt it."
2. "Yet the medium is an intermediary between the spirits and man ; but the magnetizer, drawing his strength from within himself, seems not to be the inter- mediary of any foreign power."
" It is an error: the magnetic power resides, doubt- less, in the man ; but it is augmented by the action of the spirits he calls to his aid. If you magnetize with a view to healing, for instance, and you invoke a good spirit, who interests himself in you and your patient, he augments your strength and your will; he directs your fluid, and gives it the necessary qualities."
3. " But there are very good magnetizers who do not believe in spirits."
" Do you think that spirits act only on those who believe in them ? Those who magnetize for good pur- poses are seconded by good spirits. Every man who has a desire to do good undoubtedly calls them ; the same as by the desire of evil, and evil intentions, he calls the evil."
, 4. " Would he who has the power act more effica- ciously, should he believe in the intervention of spirits ?"
" He would do things you would look upon as mir- acles."
5. " Have some persons truly the gift of healing by the simple touch, without employing magnetic passes ?"
" Assuredly ; have you not numerous examples of it?"
6. " I n this case is there magnetic action, or only influence of spirits ?"
" Both; these persons are veritable mediums, be- eause they act under the influence of spirits ; but that is not to say they would be writing mediums, as you would understand it."
7. " Can this power be transmitted ?"
" The power, no ; but the knowledge of the things necessary to its exercise where it is possessed. A person would not suspect that he has this power if he did Jiof believe it has been transmitted to him."
8. " Can cures be made by prayer alone ?"
" Yes, sometimes, if God permits ; but perhaps the good of the sick person is that he should suffer, and then you believe that your prayers are not heard."
9. " Are there some forms of prayer more efficacious for that than others ?"
" Superstition alone can attach a virtue to certain words, and ignorant or lying spirits alone can enter- tain such ideas in prescribing forms. Yet it may happen that, for persons not much enlightened, and incapable of understanding things purely spiritual, the employment of a formula helps to give them confi- dence ; in this case it is not the form that is efficacious, but the faith that is increased by the idea attached to the use of the form."
Pneumatographic Mediums
CHAPTER XV - WRITING OR PSYCHOGRAPHIC MEDIUMS
Mechanical Mediums
The basket is, at times, shaken with so much vio- lence, that it escapes from the hands of the medium ; sometimes, even, it is directed toward certain persons in the circle, to strike them ; at other times, its move- ments testify an affectionate sentiment.
The same thing occurs when the pencil is in the hand ; often it is thrown forcibly to a distance, or the hand, like the basket, is convulsively shaken, and strikes the table with anger even when the medium is perfectly calm, and astonished not to be master of himself. Let us observe, in passing, that these effects always denote the presence of imperfect spirits; those really superior are constantly calm, dignified, and be- nevolent ; if they are not listened to properly, they retire, and others take their place. Thus the spirit can express his thought directly, either by the move- ment of an object in the hand of the medium, or by his action on the hand itself.
When the spirit acts directly on the hand, he gives to it an impulse completely independent of the will. It goes on without interruption, and in spite of the medium, as long as the spirit has anything to say, and stops when he has finished.
What characterizes the phenomenon in this case is, that the medium has no consciousness of what he writes ; absolute unconsciousness constitutes passive or mechanical mediums. This faculty is precious, as it can leave no doubt of its independence of the thought of him who writes.
Intuitive Mediums
Let us remark here one important thing to know ; it is, that the foreign spirit is not substituted for the soul, for he cannot displace it: he controls it at his will, he impresses his will upon it. The part of the soul is not absolutely a passive one; it receives the thought of the foreign spirit, and transmits it. In this case the medi- um' is conscious what he writes, though it is not his own thought; this is what is called intuitive medium.
If this be so, it may be said, nothing proves that it is any more the thought of a foreign spirit than of the medium. The distinction is, in fact, sometimes quite difficult to make, but it may happen that this will be of little consequence. The suggested thought can always be recognized, in that it is never preconceived ; it is born as it is written, and often is contrary to the idea previously formed; it may even be beyond the knowledge and capacity of the medium.
The part of the mechanical medium is that of a machine, the intuitive medium acts as an interpreter. In fact, to transmit the thought, he should understand it; appropriate it in some sort, in order to translate it faithfully; yet this thought is not his — it but passes through his brain. Such is exactly the part of the intuitive medium.
Semi-Mechanical Mediums
Inspired Mediums
If every one were thoroughly convinced of this truth, there would be more, frequent recourse to the guardian angel in moments when one knows not what to say or do. Let us, then, invoke him with fervor and confidence in cases of necessity, and we shall be more often astonished by the ideas that will come as by enchantment, whether we may have something to decide or something to compose. If no idea comes, it is because it is necessary for us to wait.
The proof that the idea that comes unexpectedly is one foreign to us, is, that if it had been in us we should always have been master of it, and there would be no reason it could not have manifested itself at will. He who is not blind has only to open his eyes to see when he pleases; so, the same, he who has ideas of his own always has them at his disposal; if they do not come at will, it is because he is obliged to draw them from other sources.
In this category may also be classed persons who, without being endowed with an extraordinary intelli- gence, and without leaving the normal state, have flashes of intellectual lucidity which gives them tem- porarily an unaccustomed facility of conception and elocution, and, in some cases, a presentiment of the future. In these moments, justly called, of inspiration, ideas abound, are continuous, carry us along, as it were of themselves, by an involuntary and almost feverish impulse; it seems to us that a superior intelligence comes to our aid, and that our mind is relieved of a load.
The following answers confirm this assertion: —
" What is the primary cause of inspiration ?"
" Spirits who communicate by the thought."
" Has not inspiration the revelation of great things for its object ?"
" No ; it often has relation to the most ordinary occurrences of life. For example, you wish to go somewhere : a secret voice tells you not to do so, for there is danger for you ; or it tells you to do a thing you had not thought of; that is inspiration. There are very few persons who have not been more or less inspired at certain moments."
" An author, a painter, a musician, for instance, could they, in moments of inspiration, be considered mediums ?"
" Yes, for in these moments the soul is freer and more withdrawn from matter; it recovers a portion of its faculties as spirit, and more easily receives the communications of other spirits who inspire it."
Presentiment Mediums
CHAPTER XVI — SPECIAL MEDIUMS
Special Aptitudes of Mediums
The nature of the communication always sustains a relation to the nature of the spirit, and bears the seal of his elevation or inferiority, his knowledge or igno- rance ; but, merit being equal in a hierarchical point of view, he has undoubtedly a propensity to engage in one thing rather than another ;• the rapping spirits, for instance, never depart from physical manifestations ; and among those who give intelligent manifestations are spirit poets, musicians, painters, moralists, scientists, physicians, &c. We speak of spirits of a middle order, for, once arrived at a certain degree, the apti- tudes are blended in the unity of perfection. But, besides the aptitude of the spirit, there is that of the medium, who is an instrument for him, more or less suitable, more or less flexible, and in whom he discov- ers special qualities that we cannot appreciate.
Let us make a comparison : a very skillful musician has in his hands several violins, which, to the ordinary eye, will all be very good instruments, but between which the consummate artist distinguishes a great difference ; he perceives therein shades of exceeding delicacy, which make him choose some and reject others, shades which he comprehends rather by intui- tion than by anything he can define in them. It is the same with respect to mediums ; with equal quali- ties in the medianimic power, the spirit will give the preference to one or to the other, according to the kind of communication he desires to make. Thus, for instance, persons, as mediums, write admirable poems, though in the ordinary conditions they never knew how, nor could compose two verses; others, on the contrary, who are poets, and who, as mediums, have been able to write only prose, in spite of their desire.
The same with drawing, music, &c.
There are those who, without having, by themselves, any scientific knowledge, have a more special aptitude for receiving scientific communications ; others are for historical studies; others serve more easily as interpreters for spirit moralists ; in a word, whatever may be the flexibility of the medium, the communications he receives with, most facility have, generally, a special seal; there are even those who never emerge from a certain circle of ideas, and when they are taken from that, they have but incomplete, laconic, and often false, communications. Aside from the causes of aptitude, the spirits communicate more or less willingly by such or such an intermediary, according to their sympa- thies ; so, all other things being equal, the same spirit will be much more explicit with certain mediums, solely because they suit him better.
The spirit, who reads in the thought, judges if the question proposed merits a serious answer, and if the person who addresses him is worthy to receive it: in a contrary case, he does not- lose his time sowing good seed on stony ground; and then trifling, mock- ing, spirits take his place, because, troubling themselves very little about the truth, they do not look at things so closely, and are usually but little scrupulous as to the end or means.-
We here sum up the principal kinds of mediumship, before presenting a kind of synoptical list, comprising those we have already described in the preceding chapters, indicating the numbers of those to which we shall add further details.
We have grouped the different varieties of mediums by analogy with causes and effects, but do not propose there shall be anything absolute in this classification. Some are frequently met, others are rare and exceptional, which we have taken care to mention. These last indications have all been furnished by spirits, who, besides, have reviewed this descriptive list with an exceedingly particular care, and have completed it by numerous observations and new categories, so that it may be said to be their entire work. We have indicated by quotation marks their textual observations when we have thought it necessary to make them more prominent. They are mostly from Erastus and Socrates.
Synoptical List of the different Varieties of Mediums
MEDIUMS FOR PHYSICAL EFFECTS. Those who have the power to induce material effects or ostensible manifestations. (No. 160.)
MEDIUMS FOR INTELLECTUAL EFFECTS. Those who. are more especially proper to receive and transmit intelligent communications.. (No. 65, &c.)
All the other varieties more or less directly belong to one or the other of these classes ; some pertain to both. If the different phenomena produced under medianimic influence are analyzed, it will be seen that in all there is a physical effect, and that to the physical effects are most often joined an intelligent one. The boundary between the two is sometimes difficult to establish; but that is of no consequence. We comprehend under the denomination Mediums for Intellectual Effects those who can more specially serve as intermediaries for regular and continuous communica- tions. (No. 133.)
188. Varieties common to all Kinds of Mediumship.
Sensitive Mediums. Persons susceptible to the presence of spirits by a general or local, a vague or material impression. Most of them distinguish the spirits, good or bad, by the nature of the impression.
"Delicate and very sensitive mediums should abstain from communications with violent spirits, or those whose impression is painful, because of the fatigue resulting from it."
Natural or Unconscious Mediums. Those who pro- duce the phenomena spontaneously/without any participation of their will, and often against it. (No. 161.)
Optional or Voluntary Mediums. Those who have the power of inducing the phenomena by an act of their will. (No. 160.) '
" Whatever may be this will, they could do nothing should the spirits refuse, which proves the intervention of a foreign power."
Tipping Mediums. Those by whose influence noises and rappings are produced. A very common variety, with or without the will. •
Moving Mediums. Those who produce the move- ment of inert bodies. Very common. (No. 61.)
Mediums for Translations and Suspensions. Those who produce the aerial translations and the suspension in space, without support, of inert bodies. There are those who can raise themselves. More or less rare, according to the development of the phenomenon ; very rare in the latter case. (Nos. 75, &c, and No. 80.)
Musical Mediums. They induce the playing of instruments without contact. V ery rare. (No. 74, ques- tion 24.)
Mediums for Apparitions. Those who can induce fluidic or tangible apparitions visible to those present (No.100, question 27, and No. 104.)
Mediums for Materialisation. Those who can serve as. auxiliaries to the spirits, to bring material objects. A variety of the moving mediums, and mediums for translations. Exceptional. (No. 96.)
Nocturnal Mediums. Those who obtain certain physical effects only in obscurity. I give the answer of a spirit to the question, if these mediums may be considered as forming a variety.
" A specialty may certainly be made of i t ; but this phenomenon pertains rather to surrounding conditions than to the nature of the medium or the spirits. I should add that some escape this influence of the surroundings, and that most of the nocturnal mediums could, by practice, succeed as well in the light as in the darkness. This variety is not very numerous ; and it must be said, that under cover of this condition, which allows so much liberty in the employment of tricks, ventriloquism, and acoustic pipes, charlatans have too often played upon credulity, passing themselves off for mediums in order to make money. But what matter ? Private as well as public jugglers will be cruelly un- masked, and the spirits will prove to them that it is not good to interfere with their affairs. Yes, I repeat it, certain charlatans will be rapped over the fingers in a rude enough fashion to disgust them with the part of false mediums. Besides, all that is but for a time.
" ERASTUS."
Pneumatographic Mediums. Those who obtain direct writing. A very rare phenomenon, and one very easy to imitate by jugglery. (No. 177.) '
Remark. The spirits have insisted, against our opinion, in classing direct writing among the physical phenomena, for the reason, they say, that "intelli- gent effects are those by which the spirits use the cerebral material of the medium, which is not the case in direct writing; the action of the medium is here wholly material, while with the writing medium, even when entirely mechanical, the brain always plays an active part."
Healing Mediums. Those who have the power of heal- ing or soothing by laying on of hands, or by prayer.
" This faculty is not essentially medianimic ; it be- longs- to all true believers, whether they are mediums or not; it is often only an exaltation of magnetic power, fortified, in case of need, by the concurrence of good spirits." (No. 175.)
Excitative Mediums. Persons who have the power of developing in others, by their influence, the faculty of writing.
" This is rather a magnetic effect, than mediumship proper, for nothing proves the intervention of a spirit. In all cases it belongs to the order of physical effects. (See chapter on the Formation of Mediums)
Hearing Mediums. Those who hear spirits. Quite common. (No. 165.)
" There are many who imagine they hear, when it is only imagination."
Speaking Mediums. Those who speak under the in- fluence of spirits. Quite common. (No. 166.)
Seeing Mediums. Those who see spirits in a waking state.
The accidental or unforeseen sight of a spirit under particular circumstances is quite frequent; but the habitual or optional sight of spirits without distinction is exceptional. (No. 167.)
" It is an aptitude to which the actual state of the organs is opposed; this is why you must not always believe the word of those who say they see spirits."
Inspired Mediums. Those to whom thoughts are suggested by spirits, most often against their will, be it for the ordinary acts of life, or for great intellectual labors. (No. 182.)
Mediums for Presentiments. Persons who, under certain circumstances, have a vague intuition of ordinary future events. (No. 184.)
Prophetic Mediums. A variety of the inspired or pre- sentiment mediums; they receive, by God's permission, and with more precision than presentiment mediums, the revelation of future events of a general interest, and which they are charged to make known to men for their instruction.
" If there. are true prophets, still more are there of false ones, and of those who take the dreams of their imagination for revelations, when they are not impostors who pretend to be prophets, from ambition." (See Book on Spirits, No. 624, Characters of the true prophets.)
Somnambulistic Mediums. Those who, in a state of somnambulism, are assisted by. spirits. (No. 172.)
Ecstatic Mediums. Those who, in a state of ecstasy, receive revelations from spirits.
" Many ecstatics are the sport of their own imagina- tion, and of deceiving spirits, who profit by their exatation. Those who deserve perfect confidence are very rare."
Painting and Drawing Mediums. Those who paint or draw under the influence of spirits. We speak of those who obtain serious things, for this name cannot be given to certain mediums who are made to draw, by mocking spirits, things so grotesque that the merest scholar would disavow them. Frivolous spirits are imitators. At the time when the remarkable draw- ings of Jupiter appeared, there arose a great number
'of pretended drawing mediums, with whom the mock- ing spirits amused themselves by making them draw the most ridiculous things. One of them, among others, wishing to outdo the drawings of Jupiter, in dimensions, at least, if not in quality, made a medium draw a monument covering sheets enough to have reached two stories high. Many others drew so-called portraits which were veritable caricatures. (Revue Spirite, August, 1858.)
Medium Musicians. Those who execute, compose, or write music under the influence of spirits. There are mechanical, semi-mechanical, intuitive, and inspired medium musicians; the same as for literary communications. (See Mediums for Musical Effects)
VARIETIES OF WRITING MEDIUMS
Mechanical Writing Mediums. Those whose hand receives an involuntary impulse, and who have no consciousness of what they write. Very rare. (No. 179.)
Semi-mechanical Mediums. Those whose hand moves involuntarily, but who have instantaneous consciousness of the words or phrases as they write them. The most common. (No. 181.)
Intuitive Mediums. Those to whom the spirit com- municates by the thought, and whose hand is guided by the will. They differ from inspired mediums, inso- much as these last have no need to write, while the intuitive medium writes the thought suggested to him instantaneously on any given and induced subject. (No. 180.)
" They are very common, but also very subject to error, because often they cannot distinguish what emanates from the spirits, and what from their own ideas.'
Polygraphic Mediums. Those whose writing changes with the spirit who communicates, or who are apt to reproduce the writing the spirit had during his life. The first case is very common ; the second — that of the identity of the writing — is more rare. (No. 219.)
Polyglot Mediums. Those who have the faculty of speaking or writing in languages unknown to them. Very rare.
Illiterate Mediums. Those who write as mediums, without knowing how to read or write in the ordinary state.
" More rare than the preceding; there is a much greater material difficulty to overcome."
192. Novice Mediums. Those in whom the faculty is not yet fully developed, and who lack the necessary experience.
Unproductive Mediums. Those who can succeed in obtaining only insignificant things — monosyllables, signs, or letters, without connection. (See chapter on Formation of Mediums)
Formed of Complete Mediums. Those in whom the medianimic faculties are completely developed, who transmit the communications they receive with facility and promptitude, without hesitation. It may be readily supposed that this result is not obtained without prac- tice, while with novice mediums the communications are slow and difficult.
Laconic Mediums. Those whose communications, though easy, are brief and without development.
Explicit Mediums. The communications they obtain have all the fullness and extent that a perfect writer can attain.
" This aptitude is due to the expansion and the facility of habit, often acquired in a short time, while experience is the result of a serious study of all the difficulties presented in the practice of Spiritism. Experience gives the medium the tact necessary to appreciate the nature of the spirits, who manifest themselves, to judge their qualities, good or bad, by the minutest signs, to discern the frauds of deceiving spirits, who shelter themselves under the appearance of truth."
The importance of this quality, in default of which all others are without real utility, may be easily comprehended ; the trouble is, many mediums confound experience, fruit of study, with aptitude, product of organization; they believe themselves " passed masters " because they write easily; they repudiate all advice, and become the prey of lying and hypocritical spirits, who take them captive by nattering their pride. (See after, chapter on Obsession)
Flexible Mediums. Those in whom the. faculty is most easily adapted to various kinds of communications, and by whom all spirits, or nearly all, can manifest themselves spontaneously, or by invocation.
" This variety of mediums approach very nearly to sensitive mediums."
Exclusive Mediums. Those by whom one spirit man- ifests himself by preference, and even to the exclusion of all others.
" This is always owing to a defect in flexibility; when the spirit is good, he may attach himself to the medium from sympathy, and with a praiseworthy object ; when he is bad, it is always with a view to bringing the medium into subjection to him. It is a defect rather than a good quality, and almost obsession." (See chapter on Obsession)
Mediums for Invocation. Flexible mediums are most fitted for this kind of communication, and to the questions in detail that may be addressed to spirits. There are, under this head, mediums who are entirely special.
" Their answers are almost always limited to a re- stricted outline, incompatible with the development of general subjects."
Mediums for Spontaneous Dictations. They receive, by preference, spontaneous communications from spir- its who come without being called. When this faculty is special with a medium, it is difficult, sometimes even impossible, to make an invocation by him.
" Yet they are better furnished than those of the preceding shade. Understand that by furnishing here is understood cerebral material; for there needs often, I will even say always, a greater amount of intelli- gence for spontaneous dictations than for invocations.
Understand here, by spontaneous dictations, those which really deserve this name, and not a few incomplete phrases, or some ordinary thoughts to be found in every human head-piece.
193. Versifying Mediums. They obtain, more easily than others, communications in verse. Very common for bad verses, very rare for good ones.
Poetic Mediums. Without obtaining verse, the com- munications they receive are somewhat vaporous and sentimental; nothing expresses roughness: they are, more than others, suited to the expression of tender and affectionate expressions. All is vague, and it would be useless to ask anything exact of them. Very common.
Positive Mediums. Their communications have, in general, a character of clearness and precision which is easily accommodated to circumstantial details and exact teachings. Quite rare.
Literary Mediums. They have neither the vagueness of poetic mediums, nor the matter of fact of positive mediums ; but they discuss with sagacity ; their style is correct, elegant, and often remarkably eloquent
Incorrect Mediums. They can obtain very good things, thoughts of irreproachable morality; but their style is diffuse, incorrect, full of repetitions and improper terms.
" Material incorrectness of style is, generally speak- ing, the fault of want of intellectual culture of the medium, who is not, in this respect, a good instrument for the spirit; the spirit attaches little importance to it; for him, the essential thing is the thought, and he leaves you free to give it a suitable form. It is not the same with the false and illogical ideas a communication may enclose; they are always an indication of the inferiority of the spirit."
Historical Mediums. Those who have a special ap- titude for historical developments. This faculty, like all the others, is independent of the knowledge of the mediums; for unlearned persons, and even children, are often seen to treat of subjects far above their men- tal caliber. A rare variety of positive mediums.
Scientific Mediums. We do not say scientists, for they may be very ignorant, and, notwithstanding that, they may be more especially suited to communications relating to the sciences.
Medical Mediums. Their speciality is to serve more easily as interpreters to spirits for medical prescrip- tions. They must not be confounded with healing mediums, for these absolutely do nothing but transmit the thought of the spirit, and have, by themselves, no influence. Quite common.
Religious Mediums. They receive, more especially, communications of a religious character, or those that treat questions of religion without regard to their beliefs or their habits.
Moral Philosophic Mediums. Their communications have usually for their object questions of morals and higher philosophy. Very common for morals.
" All these shades are varieties of aptitudes of good mediums. As to those who have a special aptitude for certain communications, scientific, historical, medi- cal, or others, beyond their actual caliber, be sure they have possessed these knowledges in another existence, and that they have remained with them in a latent state; they make a part of the cerebral material necessary to the spirit who manifests himself; they are the elements which facilitate the way for him to communicate his own ideas ; for these mediums are but instruments for him, more intelligent and more easily managed than an animal would be. ERASTUS."
Mediums for Trivial and Obscene Communications.
These words indicate the kind of communications that certain mediums habitually receive, and the nature of the spirit who makes them. Whoever has studied the spirit world in all the degrees of its scale, knows that there are those whose perversity equals that of the most depraved men, and who are pleased to express their thoughts in the grossest terms. Others, less abject, are contented with trivial expressions. These mediums should desire to be relieved from the pref- erence these spirits accord them, and should envy those who, in the communications they receive, have never had an unwholesome word. One must have a strange aberration of ideas, and an utter divorce from good sense, to believe such language could be that of good spirits.
194. Calm Mediums. They always write with a cer- tain slowness, and without experiencing the least agi- tation.
Rapid Mediums write with a rapidity greater than they could voluntarily, in the ordinary state; spirits communicate with them with the velocity of lightning it might be said, they have a superabundance of fluid, which permits their instantaneous identification with the spirit. This quality has sometimes its incon- venience, the rapidity of the writing making it very difficult to read for any other but the medium.
" It is also very fatiguing, for it expends too much fluid uselessly."
Convulsive Mediums. They are in an almost feverish state of over-excitement; their hand, and sometimes their whole person, is agitated with a trembling they cannot master. The primary cause is, without doubt, in the organization, but it depends also much on the nature of the spirits who communicate with them ; good and benevolent spirits always make a gentle and agreeable impression ; the bad, on the contrary, a painful one.
" Mediums should use but rarely their medianimic faculty, where the too frequent use of it may affect the nervous system." (Chapter on Identity, distinction between good and bad spirits.)
196. Obsessed Mediums. Those who cannot rid them- selves of importunate and deceiving spirits, but who are not deceived.
Fascinated Mediums. Those who are directed by deceiving spirits, and are deluded in the nature of the communications they receive.
Subjugated Mediums. Those who are subjected to a moral, and often material domination, on the part of bad spirits.
Trifling Mediums. Those who do not accept their faculty as serious, and use it only for amusement, or for futile things.
Indifferent Mediums. Those who draw no moral profit from the instructions, and in no way modify their conduct or their habits.
Presumptuous Mediums. Those who pretend that they alone are en rapport with superior spirits. They believe in their own infallibility, and regard as inferior and erroneous all that does not emanate from them.
Haughty Mediums. Those who are vain of the com- munications they receive; they think they have nothing more to learn of Spiritism, and do not take to themselves the lessons they often receive on the part of the spirits. They are not contented with the fac- ulties they possess ; they would have all.
Susceptible Mediums. A variety of the haughty mediums ; they are wounded by the criticisms of which their communications may be the object; they are angry at the least contradiction, and if they show what they obtain, it is to have it admired, and not to ask advice. Generally, they take an aversion to the persons who do not applaud them without reserve, and desert the reunions they cannot impose upon and control.
" Let them go and strut elsewhere, and seek ears more complaisant, or withdraw into isolation ; the reunions they deprive of their presence do not sustain a very great loss. "ERASTUS."
Mercenary Mediums. Those who sell their faculty.
Ambitious Mediums. Those who, without putting a price on their faculty, yet hope to draw from it some advantages.
Insincere Mediums. Those who, having real facul- ties, simulate those they have not, for the sake of being important. The title of medium cannot be given to those who, having no medianimic faculty, produce effects only by jugglery.
Egotistic Mediums.. Those who use their faculty only for personal use, and keep for themselves all the communications they receive.
Jealous Mediums. Those who see with envy other mediums better appreciated, and who are their superiors.
All these bad qualities have, necessarily, their coun- terparts in good.
197. Serious Mediums. Those who use their faculty only for good and for really useful purposes ; they would consider it profaned if used for the satisfaction of the curious and indifferent, or for trifles.
Modest Mediums. Those who take no merit to themselves for the communications they receive, however beautiful they may be ; they regard themselves, in connection with it, as strangers, and do not consider themselves proof against mystifications. Far from avoiding disinterested advice, they solicit it.
Devoted Mediums. Those who understand that the true medium has a mission to fulfill, and should, when it is necessary, sacrifice tastes, habits, pleasures, time, and even his material interests, to the good of others.
Certain Mediums. Those who, with facility of exe- cution, deserve the most confidence, by their own character, the elevated nature of the spirits, whose assistants they are, and who are the least exposed to be deceived. We shall see, by and by, that this secu- rity depends not at all on the names, more or less respectable, that the spirits -take.
" It is incontestable, you can readily see, that thus criticising the qualities and whims of mediums, will excite contrarieties, and even animosities, with some; but what matter ? Mediumship is spreading day by day, and more and more, and the medium who would take these reflections amiss would prove one thing — that he is not a good medium, or is assisted by bad spirits. Then, too, as I have already said, it is but for a time; and bad mediums, or those who abuse or misuse their faculties, will suffer the sad consequences, as some have already done ; they will learn to their cost what it is. to turn to the profit of their worldly passions a gift which God has given them for their moral advancement. If you cannot lead them into the good path, pity them, for I can tell you they are cast away by God. ERASTUS."
" This descriptive list is of great importance, not only for sincere mediums, who will truly seek, in reading it, to avoid the dangers to which they are exposed, but also for those who make use of mediums, because it will show them what they may rationally expect in it. It should be always kept in view by every one engaged in manifestations, the same as the Spirit Scale, which is its complement: these two descriptive lists sum up all the principles of the doctrine, and will contribute more than may be supposed to restore Spiritism to its true mission. SOCRATES."
It is a serious wrong to wish to press to the development a faculty one does not possess: all those whose germs are seen to be within us should be cultivated, but to pursue the others is, in the first place, to lose time, and, in the second place, to lose, perhaps, — weaken, certainly, — those with which we are en- dowed.
" When the principle, the germ of a faculty, exists, it is always shown by unequivocal signs. By adhering to his speciality the medium may excel, and obtain, grand and beautiful things ; in trying to do all, he will do nothing well. Be it remarked, in passing, that the desire to extend indefinitely the circle of his faculties is'a haughty presumption that the spirits never leave unpunished ; the good always abandon the presump- tuous, who thus become the sport of lying spirits.
" Unhappily, it is not rare to see mediums discontented with the gifts they have received, and aspire, from self-love or ambition, to possess exceptional faculties, that they may be noticed ; this presumption destroys their most precious quality — that of sure mediums. " SOCRATES."
It is, besides, to be remarked, that the shades that mediumship presents, and to which others might be added, are not always related to the character of the medium ; thus, for instance, a medium naturally gay and jovial, might habitually have grave, even severe communications, and vice versa; here, again, is an evident proof that he acts under a foreign influence. We shall return to this subject in the chapter that treats of the Moral Influence of tlie Medium.
CHAPTER XVII - FORMATION OF MEDIUMS
Developmeut of Mediumship
Writing can be obtained, as we have seen,*by means of baskets and planchettes, or directly with the hand; this last method being the easier, and, we may say, the only one at present employed, it is the one to which we shall give the preference. The process is of the simplest: it consists solely in taking pencil and paper, and the position of writing, without other preparation ; but to succeed, several recommendations are indispensable.
There is no particular form to be used; whoever pretends to give one may boldly be taxed with jug- glery, because, for spirits, form is nothing. The in- vocation should always be made in the name of God ; it may be made in the following terms, or in something equivalent: / pray Almighty God to permit a good spirit to communicate with me, and make me write; I
pray, also, my guardian angel kindly to lielp me, and drive away bad spirits. Then wait until a spirit mani- fests himself by writing something. It may be that it will be the one desired, or it may be the spirit of a stranger, or the guardian angel; in any case he gen- erally makes himself known by writing his name; but then comes the question of identity, one that requires the most experience, for- there are few beginners who are not liable to be deceived. We treat of this after- ward in a special chapter.
When it is desired to call certain spirits, it is very essential, in the beginning, to address only those known to be good and sympathetic, and who might have a motive for coming, as relations or friends. In this case the invocation might be thus expressed: In the name of Almighty God I pray the spirit of such a one, to communicate with me: or, I pray Almighty God to permit the spirit of so and so to communicate with me: or any other form answering to the same thought. It is not the less necessary that the first questions should be so contrived that the answer may be simply
yes or no, as, for instance, Are you there ? Will you answer me ? Can you make me write ? &c. Later this precaution will be useless: we are speaking only of the beginning, when the relation is to be established: the essential thing is, that the question be not useless; that it does not pertain to things of private interest; and. above all, that it be the expression of a benevolent and sympathetic sentiment for the spirit addressed. (See, later, the special chapter on Invocations.)
This can be readily explained. Persons united by a community of intention form a collective whole, whose power and susceptibility are increased by a kind of magnetic influence which aids in the development of the faculty. Among the spirits attracted by this con- course of wills, there are some who find the instrument suited to them ; if not one, it will be another, and they profit by it.
This method is suited to a circle of spiritists who are in want of mediums, or who have not a sufficient number.
Some mediums write easily and rapidly from the beginning, sometimes even from the first sitting, which lis quite rare.; others for a long time make lines and genuine calligraphic exercises; the spirits say to limber the hand. If these exercises are too prolonged, or de- generate into ridiculous signs, there can be no doubt it is a spirit amusing himself, for good spirits never do anything useless : in such case it is necessary to appeal to them with redoubled fervor. If, in spite of that, there is no change, stop as soon as it is found nothing serious can be obtained. The attempt may be renewed daily, but it is best to cease at the first equivocal signs, so as not to give such satisfaction to mocking spirits.
To these observations a spirit adds, " There are medi- ums whose faculty cannot go beyond these signs; when, at the end of some months, they obtain nothing but in- significant things, yes or no, or letters without continu- ance, it is useless to persist in soiling paper in pure loss: they are mediums, but unproductive mediums. The first communications obtained should be con- sidered only as exercises confided to secondary spir- its ; but slight importance should be atached to them, because of the spirits who are, so to say, employed as writing-masters to teach the beginner; for believe not that they are. elevated, spirits who take the medium through these preparatory exercises ; only it happens that, if the medium have no serious end in view, these spirits remain, and attach themselves to him. Nearly all mediums have gone through this crucible to be developed ; it is for them to do all they can to conciliate truly superior spirits.
The primary point consists in putting one's self, with a sincere faith, under the protection of God, and imploring the assistance of one's guardian angel, who is always good, while the familiar spirit, sympathizing with the good or bad qualities of the medium, may be trifling, or even bad.
The second point is to ascertain with scrupulous care, by every indication experience furnishes, the nature of the first spirits that communicate, and of whom it is always prudent to beware. If these indications are suspicious, a fervent appeal must be made to the guardian angel, and the bad spirit repulsed with the whole strength, proving to him that you are not his dupe, in order to discourage him. This is why a previous study of the theory is indispensable, if the dangers inseparable from inexperience would be avoided: fully developed instructions on this subject will be found in the chapters on Obsession and Identity of Spirits. We shall limit ourselves at this time to say- ing that, besides the language, all signs, figures, useless or trifling emblems, all absurd writing, jerky, designedly twisted, of exaggerated dimensions, or af- fecting ridiculous or unusual forms, are infallible proofs of the inferiority of the spirits; the writing may be very bad, quite illegible even, which is more the fault of the medium than of the spirit, without being at all unusual. We have seen mediums so deceived that they measure the superiority of the spirits by the dimensions of the characters, and who attached great importance to letters modelled like print — a puerility evidently incompatible with real superiority.
Some persons, impatient for the development in themselves of the medianimic faculty, — too slow in its growth for them, — have had the idea of calling to their aid any spirit whatever, even a bad one, intending to dismiss him afterward. Many have been served to their wish, and have written at once; but the spirit, not caring to be taken as a makeshift, has been less docile to go than to come. We know some who have been punished for their presumption in thinking them- selves strong' enough to drive them away as they pleased, by years of obsessions of every kind, by the most ridiculous mystifications, by a tenacious fascina- tion, and even by material misfortunes and the most cruel deceptions. The spirit at first showed himself openly wicked; then hypocritical, in order to lead to a belief in his conversion, or in the pretended power of his victim, to drive him away at will.
When the spirit has finished what he had to say, or will no longer answer, the hand remains immovable, and the medium, be his power and will what they may, can obtain no further word. On the contrary, until the spirit has finished, the pencil goes on with- out the hand being able to stop it. If he wish to say something spontaneously, the hand seizes the pencil convulsively, and begins to write without power to oppose it. The medium almost always feels within him something that indicates, if it is only a suspension, or if the spirit has ended. It is seldom he does not feel when he is gone.
Such are the most essential explanations we have to give concerning the development of psychography; experience will show, in the practice, certain details use- less to bring in here, and for which each one must be guided by general principles. Let every one try, and there will be found more mediums than are sup- posed.
If, after useless attempts followed up for some time, no indication of involuntary movement is produced, or if these movements are too weak to give results, he should not hesitate to write the first thought suggested to him, without troubling himself as to whether it come from himself or a foreign source ; experience will teach him to make the distinction. It very often hap- pens that the mechanical movement will be ulteriorly developed.
We have said above that there are cases in which it is indifferent to know if the thought is from the medium or a foreign spirit; when a purely intuitive or inspired medium writes a work of imagination, it is little matter if he should attribute to himself a thought suggested to him ; if good ideas come to him, let him thank his good genius, and he will have other good ones suggested to him. Such is the inspiration of poets, philosophers, and savants.
Change of Writing
Loss and Suspension of Mediumship
1. "Can mediums lose their faculty?"
" That very often happens, whatever kind it may be;
but often it is only a temporary interruption, which ceases with the cause that produced it."
2. " Is the cause of this loss the exhaustion of the fluid ?"
"With whatever faculty the medium may be en- dowed, he can do nothing without the sympathetic concurrence of the spirits ; when he obtains nothing, it is not always that the faculty is lacking, but that the spirits will, or can, no longer use him."
3. " F o r what cause would the spirits abandon him?"
" The use he makes of his faculty is the most power-' ful with good spirits. We may abandon him when he uses it for frivolities or for ambition ; when he refuses to impart our words or our facts to the incarnated who call to him, or who need to see in order to be con- vinced. This gift of God is not granted to the medium for his good pleasure, and still less to serve his ambi- tion, but for his own advancement, and to make known the truth to men. If the spirit sees that the medium no longer answers his views, and does not profit by his instructions, and by the warnings he gives him, he retires to find a more worthy protege.
4 " Might not the spirit who withdraws be replaced, and. thus the suspension of the faculty not be understood?"
" Spirits are not wanting who ask nothing better than to communicate, and are ready enough to replace those who withdraw ; but when it is a good spirit who forsakes the medium, it may very well be that he leaves him only temporarily, and deprives him for a certain time of all communication in order to give him a lesson, and prove to him that his faculty depends not on himself, and that he should not be vain of it This temporary impotence is also to give the medium a proof that he writes under a foreign influence; other- wise there would be no intermittence in it.
" Yet the interruption of the faculty is not always in punishment; it is sometimes a proof of the solicitude of the spirit for the medium, whom he loves; he would by that means procure him a material rest, which he sees to be necessary, and in such case he does not permit other spirits to replace him."
5. " Yet we see mediums, very meritorious in a moral point of view, who experience no need of rest, and are annoyed by interruptions, whose motive they cannot understand."
" It is in order to put their patience to the proof, and to judge of their perseverance; this is why the spirits assign no general end to this suspension; they wish to see if the medium will become disheartened. It is often, also, to leave them time to meditate on the in- structions they have given them, and this meditation on our teachings we recommend to all truly serious spiritists ; we cannot give this name to those who, in reality, are only amateurs of communications."
6. " Is it necessary in this case for the medium to continue his attempts to write ?"
"If the spirit so advise him*, yes: if he tells him to abstain, he should do so."
7. " Is there any way to abridge this trial ?"
"Resignation and prayer. It is enough that he make the attempt for a few minutes every day, for it would be useless to lose time in fruitless efforts ; the attempt has no other end but to see if the faculty is recovered."
8. " Does the suspension imply the absence of the spirits who were accustomed to communicate ?"
" Not the least in the world ; the medium is then like a person who has temporarily lost his sight, but is none the less surrounded by his friends, though he cannot see them. The medium can then, and should, continue to converse by thought with his familiar spirits, and feel convinced that he is heard by them. If the lack of mediumship can deprive him of material communications with spirits, it cannot deprive of moral communications."
9. " Then the interruption of the medianimic faculty does not always imply blame on the part of the spirits ?"
" No, doubtless; for it may be a proof of good will."
10. " By what sign can blame be recognized in the interruption ?"
" Let the medium question his conscience ; let him ask himself what use he has made of his faculty ; the good that has resulted from it to others ; the profit he has drawn from the advice that has been given him, and he will have the answer."
11. " Cannot the medium who can no longer write have recourse to another medium ?"
" That depends upon the cause of the interruption; it may often have for a motive to leave you some time without communications, after having given you advice, in order that you may not become accustomed to do nothing without us ; in such case he will be no more satisfied in using another medium ; and in that is still a motive, to prove to you that the spirits are free, and that you cannot make them come and go at your will. It is also for this reason that those who are not mediums do not always have all the communications they desire."
Remark. It must be observed that he who has re- course to a third for communications, notwithstanding the quality of the medium, often obtains nothing satis- factory, while at other times the answers are very explicit That depends so much on the will of the spirit, that you are no further advanced by changing the medium; the spirits even seem in that respect to give each other the word, for if nothing is obtained from one, you get no more from another. We should be careful not to persist or become impatient, if we would not be the dupe of deceiving spirits, who will answer if we wish it with all our strength, and the good will allow them, to punish us for our persist- ence.
12. " F o r what reason has Providence endowed cer- tain individuals with mediumship in a special manner?" " It is a mission with which they are charged, and which they are happy in filling; they are" interpreters between spirits and men."
13. " Yet there are mediums who employ their faculty only with repugnance."
" Those are imperfect, mediums ; they do not know the value of the favor accorded to them."
14. " If it be a mission, how does it happen that it is not the privilege of good men, and that this faculty should be given to people who merit no esteem, and who may abuse it ?"
" It is given to them because they need it for their own advancement, and in order that they may receive good instruction ; if they do not profit by it, they will suffer the consequences. Did not Jesus prefer to give His word to fishermen, saying, He must give to him who has not ?"
15. " Should those who have a great desire to write, and who cannot succeed, conclude there is something against them in the kind feelings of the spirits on this account ?"
" No ; for God may have refused them this faculty, as He may have refused them the gift of poetry or music; but if they have not this favor, they may have others."
16. " How can a man perfect himself by the instruc- tions of spirits, when he has neither by himself, nor by other mediums, the means of directly receiving this teaching ?"
" Has he not books, as the Christian has the Gospel ? To practice the morality of Jesus, the Christian does not need to hear the words from His very mouth."
CHAPTER XVIII - INCONVENIENCES AND DANGERS OF MEDIUMSHIP
Influence of the Exercise of Mediums hip on tlie Health; on the Brain ; on Children
" Abnormal sometimes, but not pathological; there are mediums of robust health ; those who are sick are so from other causes."
2. " Can the exercise of the medianimic faculty occa- sion fatigue ?"
" The too prolonged exercise of any faculty what- ever leads to fatigue: mediumship is the same, prin- cipally those who apply themselves to physical effects ; it necessarily occasions an outlay of fluid which leads to fatigue, and is repaired by rest."
3. " Has the exercise of mediumship dangers of itself, in a hygienic point of view, even if not abused ?" " There are cases where it is prudent, necessary even, to abstain from it, or, at least, to moderate its
use ; that depends on the physical and moral state of the medium. Besides, the medium generally feels it, and when he experiences fatigue, he should abstain."
4. "Are there some persons for whom this exercise is more unsuitable than for others ?"
" I have said that it depends upon the physical and, moral state of the medium. There are persons to whom it is necessary to avoid every cause for excite- ment, and this is of the number." (Nos. 188-194.)
5. " Can mediumship produce insanity ? "
"No more than anything else, when there is no predisposition, owing to weakness of the brain. Me- diumship will not produce insanity when the germ is not there ; but if the germ exists, which is very easy to know from the moral state, good sense says that careful management is necessary in every way, for the least shock might be injurious."
6. " Is there danger in developing mediumship in children ?"
" Certainly ; and I maintain that it is very danger- ous ; for these tender and delicate organizations would be too much shaken, and their young imagination over-excited. Wise parents will remove all these ideas from them, or at least speak to them only of the moral consequences."
7. " Yet there are children who are naturally medi- ums for physical effects, for writing, and for visions: has that dangers ?"
" No ; when the faculty is spontaneous in a child, it is in its nature, and its constitution agrees with it; it is not the same when induced and over-excited. Re- mark, that the child who has visions is generally very little impressed by them ; it seems to him a perfectly natural thing, to which he gives but little attention, and often forgets : later the fact returns to his mind, and if he knows anything of Spiritism, he can easily explain it."
8. " A t what age, without danger, can a person prac- tice mediumship ?"
" There is no precise age ; it depends upon development, physical, but still more upon moral. There are children of twelve years who would be less affected by it than some grown persons. I speak of medium- ship in general, but that which applies to physical effects is more fatiguing, corporeally; writing has one great danger for a child, on account of inexperience ; he might engage in it alone, and make it a matter of sport." •
expected of a child, it may readily be feared that, if left to himself, he would make a play of it. Even under the most favorable conditions, it is to be desired that a child gifted with the medianimic faculty should exercise it only under the eye of experienced persons, who will teach him, by their example, the respect due to souls that have already lived.
It will be seen from this, that the question of age is subordinate to the circumstances as much of tempera- ment as of character. At all events, the clear results of the answers given above are not to press this fac- ulty to development with children, when it is not spon- taneous, and that, in all cases, it must be used with great circumspection ; that it must be neither excited nor encouraged in debilitated persons. Those who have ever displayed the least symptoms of eccentricity, either in ideas or in weakness of mental faculties, should, by every possible means, be dissuaded from i t ; for there is, with them, an evident "predisposition to insanity, which any too exciting cause may develop. The spirit ideas have not a greater influence for this, but insanity, once aroused, would take the character of the predominant preoccupation, as it would take a religious character, if the person abandons himself to excess in devotional practices; and every one would consider Spiritism responsible. The best thing to do with any one who shows a tendency toward a fixed idea, is to direct his mind to other things, that so the weakened organs may rest. In this connection, we call the attention of our reader to paragraph XII. of the introduction to the Book on Spirits.
CHAPTER XIX - ROLE OF THE MEDIUM IN SPIRIT COMMUNICATIONS
Influence of the Personal Spirit of the Medium
" He is sometimes in a state of crisis more or less pronounced ; this is what fatigues him, and why he needs rest ; but more often his state does not sensi bly differ from the normal state, especially in writing mediums."
2. " Can written or verbal communications also pro ceed from the spirit incarnated in the medium ? "
"The soul of the medium may communicate, like that of any other ; if it enjoy a certain degree of lib erty it recovers its qualities of spirit. You have the proof of this in the soul of living persons who come to visit you, and communicate to you by writing, often without your calling them.
" For you must know that among the spirits you invoke, there are some who are incarnated on the earth ; then they talk to you as spirits, and not as men.
Why should you suppose it cannot be the same with that of the medium ? "
" This explanation seems to confirm the opinion of those who believe that all communications emanate from the spirit of the medium, and not from foreign spirits."
" They are wrong only because they are absolute ; for while it is certain that the spirit of the medium can act by himself, this is no reason that others cannot act through him."
3. " How may it be known if the spirit who answers is that of the medium, or a foreign spirit."
" By the nature of the communications. Study the circumstances and the language, and you will distin guish. It is more particularly in the state of som nambulism, or ecstasy, that the spirit of the medium manifests itself, because it is then more free ; but in the normal state, it is more difficult. Besides, there are answers it is impossible to ascribe to him : this is why I tell you to study and observe.
" Remark. When a person speaks to us, we readily distinguish what comes from him, or what is only an echo ; it is the same with mediums.
4. " As the spirit of the medium may have acquired knowledge in his former existences, which he has for gotten under his corporeal envelope, but which he remembers as spirit, can he not draw from his own sources the ideas that seem to surpass the breadth of his instruction ? "
" That often happens in the somnambulic or ecstatic crisis ; but even then there are circumstances that admit no doubt ; study long and meditate."
5. "Are the communications coming from the medium always inferior to those that -might be made by foreign spirits ? "
" Not always ; for the foreign spirit may himself be of an order inferior to that of the medium, and then speak less sensibly. It is seen in somnambulism, for then it is most often the somnambulist's spirit who manifests himself, and who yet says some very good things."
6. " Does the spirit who communicates by a medium transmit his thought direct ; or has he the spirit in carnated in the medium as an intermediary ? "
" The spirit of the medium is the interpreter, be cause he is bound to the body that serves us to speak, and a chain is necessary between you and foreign spirits who communicate, as an electric wire is neces sary to transmit news from afar, and at the end of the wire an intelligent person, who receives and trans mits it."
7. " Does the spirit incarnated in the medium influ ence the communications he has to transmit from for eign spirits ? "
" Yes ; if he is not in sympathy with them, he may alter their answers, and assimilate them to his own ideas and inclinations ; but he does not influence the spirits themselves ; he is only a bad interpreter."
8. " Is this the cause of the preference of spirits for certain mediums ? "
" There is no other ; they seek the interpreter who best sympathizes with them, and who renders most exactly their thought. If there is not sympathy be tween them, the spirit of the medium is an antagonist, who brings a resistance, and becomes an ill-willed, and often unfaithful, interpreter. It is the same among you when the advice of a wise man is transmitted by a blunderer or an insincere person."
9. " It can easily be supposed that it may be thus with an intuitive medium, but not with those who are mechanical."
" You do not thoroughly take into consideration the part played by the medium ; there is a law in it you have not yet grasped. Remember that to eftect the movement of an inert body, the spirit needs a portion of animalized fluid, which he borrows from the medi um, to animate, temporarily, the table, before it will obey his will. Well, understand, also, that for an in telligent communication he needs an intelligent inter mediary, and that this intermediary is the spirit of the medium."
—" This does not appear applicable to what are called talking tables ; for when inert objects, such as tables, planchettes, and baskets give intelligent an swers, it seems as if the spirit of the medium has noth ing to do with it."
" That is an error ; the spirit can give to the inert body a momentary, factitious life, but not intelligence : never has an inert body been intelligent. It is, then, the spirit of the medium who receives the thought unwittingly, and gradually transmits it by the help of various intermediaries."
10. " It seems to result from these explanations that the spirit of the medium is never entirely passive." " He is passive when he does not mingle his own ideas with those of the foreign spirit, but he is never absolutely null ; his concurrence is always necessary as intermediary, even in what you call mechanical mediums."
11. " Is there not a greater guarantee of independence in the mechanical medium than in the intu itive ? "
" Without doubt ; and for some communications a mechanical medium is preferable ; but when the facul ties of an intuitive medium are known, it is immaterial, according to circumstances ; I mean, there are com munications that require less precision."
12. "Among the different systems that have been set forth to explain the spirit phenomena, is one which consists in believing that the real mediumship is in a body completely inert — is in the basket or the card, for instance, which serves as the instrument ; that the foreign spirit identifies himself with this object, and renders it not only living, but intelligent ; from thence the name of inert mediums given to these objects. What do you think of it ?"
" There is but one word to say to that : if the spirit had transmitted intelligence to the card, at the same time as life, the card would write alone, without the help of the medium ; it would be strange if an intelli gent man should become a machine, and an inert object should become intelligent. This is one of the many systems born of a preconceived idea, and which, like so many others, fall before experience and obser vation."
13. "A well-known phenomenon — that of tables, baskets, &c, which express, by their movements, anger or affection —might easily accredit the opinion that there is in animated inert bodies more than intelli gence, even life."
" When a man shakes a stick in anger, it is not that the stick is angry, nor even the hand that holds the stick, but the thought that directs the hand ; tables and baskets are no more intelligent than the stick; they have not one intelligent sentiment, but obey an intelligence ; in a word, it is not the spirit transformed into a basket, nor even that he lives in it."
14. " If it be not rational to attribute intelligence to these objects, may they be considered as a variety of mediums, designating them as inert mediums ? "
" It is but a question of words, which is of little mo ment to us, provided you understand us. You are free to call a man a puppet."
15. " Spirits have but the language of thought ; they have no articulate language ; this is why there is, for them, but one single language ; according to that, could a spirit express himself through a medium in a lan guage he had never spoken during his lifetime, in such case, from whence would he draw the words he would use?"
" You have answered your own question by saying that spirits have but one language — that of thought ; this language is understood by all, as well by men as by spirits. The wandering spirit, in addressing him self to the incarnated spirit of the medium, speaks to him neither French nor English, but the universal language, which is that of thought ; to translate his ideas into an articulate, transmissible language, he draws his words from the medium's vocabulary."
16. " If this be so, the spirit would be able to express himself only in the language of the medium ; whereas mediums are seen to write in languages unknown to them : is that not a contradiction ? "
" Understand, in the first place, that all mediums are not fit for this kind of exercise ; and secondly, that the spirits lend themselves to it only incidentally, when they consider it may be useful ; but for ordinary communi cations, and those of some extent, they prefer to use a language familiar to the medium, because it presents less material difficulty to overcome."
17. "Does not the aptitude of some mediums for writing in a language foreign to them proceed from the fact of their having been familiar with this language in another existence, and that they may have preserved an intention of it ? "
" That may be, certainly, but it is not a rule ; the spirit can, with some effort, temporarily overcome the material resistance he encounters —exactly what hap pens when the medium writes in his own language words he does not understand."
18. "Could a person who does not know how to write serve as a writing medium ? "
" Yes ; but you can readily imagine that there would be a great mechanical difficulty to surmount, the hand being unaccustomed to the movement necessary to form the letters. It is the same with drawing medi ums, who do not know how to draw."
19. " Could a medium of slight intelligence transmit communications of an elevated order ? "
" Yes, by the same means that one can write in a language unknown to him. Mediumship, properly so called, is independent of intelligence as well as of the moral qualities, and in default of a better instrument, the spirit can use the one at hand ; but it is natural that, for communications of a certain order, he should prefer the medium who offers the least material obsta cles. And, then, another consideration : The idiot is often an idiot only from the imperfection of his organs, but his spirit may be more advanced than you sup pose ; you have a proof of it by certain invocations of idiots, dead or living."
Remark. This is a fact verified by experience ; we have several times invoked living idiots, who have given proofs patent of their identity, and answered in a very sensible and even superior manner. This state is a punishment for the spirit who suffers from the constraint in which he is bound. An idiot medium may sometimes offer to the spirit who desires to mani fest himself, greater resources than would be supposed. (See Revue Spirite, July, i860, article on Phrenology and Physiognomy.)
20. " From whence comes the aptitude of some medi ums to write in verse, notwithstanding their positive ignorance of poetry ? "
" Poetry is a language ; they can write in verse as they can write in a language they do not know ; and then, too, they may have been poets in another exist ence ; and, as you have been told, knowledge acquired is never lost to the spirit, who must attain perfection in all things. Thus, what they have known gives them, doubtless, a facility they do not have in the ordinary state."
21. " Is it the same for those who have a general ap titude for drawing and music ? "
" Yes, drawing and music are also methods of ex pressing the thought ; spirits use the instruments that offer them the greatest facility."
22. " Does the expression of the thought by poetry, drawing, or music, depend solely on the special apti tude of the medium, or on that of the spirit who com municates ? "
" Sometimes on the medium, sometimes on the spirit. The superior spirits have all aptitudes, the inferior spirits have limited knowledge."
23. "Why does the man who has a transcendent talent in one existence not have it in a following one?"
" It is not always so, for often he perfects in one existence what he began in a preceding one ; but it may happen that a transcendent faculty sleeps during a certain time, to leave another more free to be de veloped ; it is a latent germ, which will be found after ward, and of which there always remain some traces, or, at least, a vague intuition."
Aptitude of some Mediums for Things they do not know: Languages, Music, Drawing, &c
Let us add another consideration of great gravity in what concerns foreign languages. Trials of this kindare always made from curiosity and for experiment, and nothing is more antipathetic to the spirits than fhe trials to which persons endeavor to subject them. The superior spirits never lend themselves to it, and leave as soon as this is begun. Inasmuch as they like use ful and serious things, in so far they dislike to be engaged in frivolities and things without motive. Skeptics will say, " It is to convince us ; and that is a useful motive, since it gains believers to their cause." To that the spirits answer, " Our cause has no need of those who have so much pride as to consider them selves indispensable: we call to us those whom we wish, and they are often the least and the most hum ble. Did Jesus perform the miracles demanded of him by the scribes, and what men did he use to revolu tionize the world ? If you desire to be convinced, you have other means than by tricks ; begin first by sub mitting yourselves : it is not in order that the scholar should impose his will upon his teacher."
It thus results that, with some exceptions, the medi- , um renders the thoughts of the spirits by the mechani cal means at his disposal, and that the expression of this thought may, and most often must, partake of the imperfection of these means ; thus, the uncultured man, the peasant, might say the most beautiful things, ex press the most elevated, most philosophical thoughts, speaking as a peasant, for it is well known that with the spirits the thought is all.
This answers the objections of some critics on the subject of the incorrectness of style and of orthography with which they may reproach the spirit, and which may come from the medium, as well as from the spirit. It is frivolous to care for such things. It is not less puerile to take great pains to reproduce such faults with minute exactness, as we sometimes see done. They may be corrected without scruple, at least, un less they be a characteristic type of the spirit who communicates, in which case it is useful to preserve them, as proof of identity. Thus, for instance, we have seen a spirit constantly write Jule (without the s) in speaking to his grandson, because, during his life, he wrote it in this way, and though his grandson, who served as medium, knew perfectly well how to write his name.
Dissertation of a Spirit on the Role of Mediums
"Our thoughts do not need the clothing of words to be understood by spirits, and all spirits perceive the thought you desire to communicate to them, simply by your .directing the thought toward them, and this by reason of their intellectual faculties ; that is to say, a certain thought can be comprehended by certain ones according to their advancement, while to certain others the thought, awakening no remembrance, no knowledge in the depths of their heart or brain, is not perceptible to them. In such case the incarnated spirit who serves us as medium is more fit to render our thought for other incarnated beings, even should he not comprehend it, than a spirit decarnated and but little advanced could be to do so, were we forced to have recourse to his intervention ; for the terrestrial being puts his body at our disposal, which the wander ing spirit could not do.
Remark. This analysis of the role of mediums, and of the processes by help of which the spirits com municate, is as clear as it is logical. From it results this principle —that the spirit draws, not his ideas, but the materials necessary to express them, from the brain of the medium, and that the richer this brain is in materials, the easier is the communication. When the spirit expresses himself in the language familiar to the medium, he finds within him the words all formed with which to clothe the idea ; if it is a language un known to the medium, he does not find the words, but simply the letters ; the spirit then is obliged to dictate, as it were, letter by letter, exactly as you would do if you wished to make a person write German who is totally ignorant of that language. If the medium can neither read nor write, he does not possess even the letters ; it is then necessary to conduct the hand, as you would that of a scholar ; and there is a still greater material difficulty to overcome. These phenomena are possible ; we have numerous examples of them ; but it may readily be comprehended that this mode of procedure accords little with the extent and rapidity of communications, and that the spirits must prefer the most flexible instruments, or, as they express it, the mediums, from their point of view, best furnished with tools.
CHAPTER X - MORAL INFLUENCE OF THE MEDIUM
Various Questions
2. " It has always been said that mediumship is a gift of God, a grace, a favor ; why, then, is it not a privilege of good men, and why do we see unworthy people who are endowed in the highest degree, and who misuse it ? "
" All faculties are favors for which we should give thanks to God, for. there are men who are deprived of them. You might as well ask why God gives sight to malefactors, adroitness to thieves, eloquence to those who use it to say evil things. It is the same with mediumship ; unworthy persons are endowed with it, because they have greater need of it to be improved : do you think God refuses the means of salvation to the guilty ? He multiplies such means in their path ; he puts them in their hands ; it is for them to profit by it. Did not Judas, the traitor, as apostle, perform miracles, and heal the sick ? God permitted him to have this gift to render his treason more odious."
" If they use it wrongly, they will be doubly pun ished, because they have a means of being enlightened, and do not profit by it. He who sees clearly and stumbles is more blamable than the blind man who falls into the ditch."
" Yes ; and the motive is to enlighten them on a subject often repeated, or to correct them of certain faults ; for this reason they speak to one constantly of pride, to another of charity : only satiety can open their eyes. There is not a medium misusing his faculty from ambition or interest, or compromising it by a capital fault, such as pride, egotism, levity, &c, who does not receive from time to time some warning from the spirits ; the evil is, that they rarely take the warning to themselves."
" Often the advice and counsel are not dictated for him personally, but for others to whom we can address ourselves only through his agency ; but he ought to take his share of it, if he is not blinded by self-love.
" Do not think the medianimic faculty has been given solely to correct one or two persons ; no, the end is greater ; it is a question of all mankind. A medium is an instrument of too little importance individually : this is why, when we give instructions for general profit, we use those who possess the necessary facili ties ; but be assured there will come a time when good mediums will be so common that spirits will not need to use bad instruments."
" Do you know the inward recesses of the soul ? Besides, without being vicious, he may be light and frivolous, and then, also, sometimes he needs a lesson that he may be on his guard."
" They try to influence them ; but when they allow themselves to be carried into an evil way, they let them go. This is the reason they use them with ' repugnance, for truth cannot be interpreted by false hood."
" An imperfect medium may sometimes obtain good things, because, if he have a fine faculty, good spirits may avail themselves of him in default of another, in one particular case ; but it is always only temporarily, for, as soon as they find one who suits them better, they give him the preference."
Remark. It is to be observed that when the good spirits perceive that a medium ceases to be well assist ed, and becomes, by his imperfections, the prey of deceiving spirits, they almost always call forth circum stances that expose his irregularities, and withdraw from him serious and well-intentioned persons, whose sincerity might be abused. In such case, whatever may be their faculties, it is not to be regretted."
" Perfect ! You well know that perfection is not on the earth, or you would not be here ; say a good medium, and that is much, for they are rare. The perfect medium would be one on whom the bad spirits have never dared the attempt to deceive ; the' best is he who, sympathizing only with good spirits, has been least often deceived."
" The good spirits sometimes allow it with the best mediums, in order to exercise their judgment, and teach them to discern the true from the false ; and then, however good a medium may be, he is never so perfect that there may not be found some weak side in him hat can be approached ; it should serve him as a lesson. The false communications that he receives from time to time are warnings that he must not be lieve himself infallible, and pride himself upon it ; for the medium who obtains the most remarkable things has no more matter for glorification in it than the organ-grinder who produces the most beautiful airs by simply turning the crank of the instrument."
" To will good ; to remove all pride and egotism : both are necessary."
" No ; for the light always comes to him who wishes to receive it. Whoever wishes to be enlightened must flee the darkness, and darkness is in impurity of heart.
" Spirits whom you consider the personification of good do not willingly answer the appeal of those whose hearts are soiled by pride, cupidity, and a lack of charity.
" Let those, then, who desire enlightenment, throw aside all human vanity, and humble themselves before the infinite power of the Creator : this will be the best proof of their sincerity ; and this condition every one can fulfill."
Dissertations of a Spirit on Moral Influence
" We have already said, mediums, as mediums, have but a secondary influence in the communications of spirits : their task is that of an electric machine, which transmits telegraphic despatches from one point of the earth to another far distant. So, when we wish to dic tate a communication, we act on the medium as the telegraph operator on his instruments ; that is, as the tac-tac of the telegraph writes thousands of miles away, on a slip of paper, the reproduced letters of the dispatch, so we, from the immeasurable distance that separates the visible from the invisible world, the immaterial from the incarnated world, communicate what we wish to teach you by means of the medianimic in strument. But, also, as the atmospheric influences act upon, and often disturb, the transmissions of the electric telegraph, the moral influence of the medium acts upon, and sometimes affects, the transmission of our dis patches from beyond the tomb, because we are obliged to make them pass through a medium whose nature is contrary to them. At the same time, that influence is most often annulled by our energy and our will, and no disturbing element is manifest. Indeed, dictations of a high, philosophic bearing, communications of perfect morality, are sometimes transmitted through mediums .little suited to these superior teachings ; while, on the other hand, communications anything but edifying, sometimes come by mediums who are very much ashamed of having been used as their conductor. .
" As a general rule it may be affirmed that spirits call their like, and that spirits of an elevated plane rarely communicate by bad conductors, where they have at hand good medianimic instruments —good mediums.
" Light, trifling mediums call spirits of the same nature ; and thus their communications are impressed with vulgar expressions, frivolities, ideas disjointed and often very heterodox, spiritually. To be sure they can and do sometimes say good things, but it is in this case, particularly, that it is necessary to subject them to a rigid examination ; for, in the midst of these good things, some hypocritical spirits skillfully, and with calculating perfidy, insinuate inventions, lying asser tions, in order to deceive the sincerity of their auditors. Then every equivocal word or phrase must be merci lessly stricken out, preserving only as much of the dictation as is accepted' by logic, or as is already taught by the doctrine. Communications of this na ture are to be dreaded only for isolated spiritists, for circles newly formed, or not yet fully enlightened ; for in reunions where the believers are more advanced, and have gained experience, in vain the jackdaw bor rows the peacock's feathers ; he is always mercilessly expelled.
" I will not speak of mediums who are pleased to solicit and listen to filthy communications ; let us leave them to please themselves in the society of cynical spirits. Besides, communications of this order seek, of themselves, solitude and isolation ; in any case they could only inspire disdain and disgust among the members of philosophical and serious circles. But where the moral influence of the medium makes itself really felt, is when he substitutes his personal ideas for those which the spirits endeavor to suggest to him ; and again, when he draws from his own imagination fantastic theories, which he himself sincerely believes to be the result of an intuitive communication. Then it is a thousand to one that this is the reflex of the personal spirit of the medium ; then occurs this strange fact —the hand of the medium is sometimes moved almost mechanically, guided by a secondary and mocking spirit. It is against this touchstone that so many ardent imaginations are shattered ; for, car ried away by the impetuosity of their own ideas, by the tinsel of their literary learning, they despise the modest dictation of a wise spirit, and abandon the sub stance for the shadow, substitute for it a high-flown paraphrase. On this dreadful rock are personal ambi tions also stranded, when, in default of communications, which the good spirits refuse to them, they present their own work as the work of these same spirits. For this reason it is necessary that the chiefs of spir itist circles be possessed of exquisite tact and rare sagacity, in order to discern authentic communications, and not to wound those who delude themselves.
" ' In doubt, abstain,' says one of your old proverbs ; admit nothing that has not certain .evidence of truth. As soon as a new opinion is brought to light, if it seem ever so little doubtful, pass it through the cruci ble of reason and logic ; what reason and good sense refuse, reject boldly ; better reject ten truths than admit a single lie, a single false theory. For on this theory you might construct a whole system that would crumble at the first breath of truth, like a monument raised on the shifting sand ; while, should you reject some truths to-day, because they are not clearly and logically demonstrated, very soon a strong fact, an irrefutable demonstration, will come to show you its authenticity.
" Remember, nevertheless, O, spiritists, that there is nothing impossible for God, and for good spirits, except injustice and iniquity.
" Spiritism is now sufficiently diffused among men, and has so moralized the sincere believers of its holy doctrine, that spirits need no longer be reduced to employ bad instruments — imperfect mediums. If, now, a medium, whoever he may be, gives, by his con duct or his manners, by his pride, his want of love and charity, a legitimate cause for suspicion, —refuse, re ject his communications, for there is a snake hidden in the grass. That is my conclusion on the moral influence of mediums. Erastus."
CHAPTER XXI - INFLUENCE OF THE SURROUNDINGS
2. " Could not the superior spirits triumph over the bad will of the incarnated spirit, who serves them as interpreter, and over those who surround him ? "
" Yes, when they consider it useful, and according to the intention of the person who addresses them. We have already said so ; the most elevated spirits can sometimes communicate by a special favor, notwith standing the imperfection of the medium, and his sphere ; but then those surrounding spirits remain perfect strangers to it."
3. "Do the superior spirits seek to lead frivolous circles to more serious ideas ? "
" The superior spirits do not go into circles where they know their presence to be useless. Where the surroundings are but slightly instructed, yet sincere, we go willingly; even should we find but feeble in struments ; but in instructed spheres, where irony governs, we do not go. Then it is necessary to speak to the eyes and ears ; that is the role of rapping or mocking spirits. It is right that persons who boast themselves of their science should be humiliated by spirits less learned and less advanced."
4. " Are the inferior spirits denied access to serious reunions ? "
" No ; they remain there, sometimes to profit by the instructions given to you ; but they are silent, like the giddy in an assembly of the wiser
By this may be seen the enormous influence of the sphere on the nature of intelligent manifestations ; but this influence is not exercised, as some have supposed, when the world of spirits was not as well known as it is now, and before convincing proofs had cleared away all our doubts. When communications agree with the opinion of the assistants, it is not because the opinion is reflected in the spirit of the medium, as in a mirror ; it is because you have with you spirits who are in sympathy with you, for good as for evil, and who have your conceits ; and what proves this is, that if you have the strength to attract to you other spirits than those who surround you, the same medium will hold an entirely different language, and tell you things far removed from your thoughts and your convictions.
To recapitulate : the conditions of the sphere will be so much better as there may be more of homogeneity, for g;ood, more pure and elevated sentiments, more sincere desire to be instructed, without after thought.
CHAPTER XXII - OF MEDIUMSHIP IN ANIMALS
Dissertation on the question of the medianimity of animals
This communication was given at the end of a discussion that took place, on this subject, in the Paris Society for Spirit Studies.
" Men are always prone to exaggerate. Some — I speak not here of materialists —refuse a soul to animals ; and some would give them one, so to speak, like our own. Why thus desire to confound the perfectible with the imperfectible ? No, no ; be convinced in this : the fire that animates the beasts, the breath that makes them act, move, and speak in their language, has no aptitude, as to the present, to be min gled, to be united, to be fused with the divine breath, the ethereal soul, the spirit which animates the being essentially perfectible — man; this king of the crea tion. Now, is it not this very essential condition of perfectibility in which consists the superiority of the human species ? Well, understand, then, that no indi vidual of the other races living on the earth can be compared with man, alone perfectible in himself, and in his works.
" Certainly spirits can make themselves visible and tangible to animals, and often some sudden fright they have, and which seems to you motiveless, is caused by the sight of one or several of these spirits ill-inten tioned to the individuals present, or to those to whom the animals belong. Very often you see horses who will neither advance nor go back, or who rear up at an imaginary obstacle. Well, take it for certain that the imaginary obstacle is often a spirit, or group of spirits, who are pleased to hinder his advance.
CHAPTER XXIII - ON OBSESSION
Obsession presents various characteristics, which it is very necessary to distinguish, and which result from the degree of restraint, and the nature of the effects it produces. The word obsession is, in some sort, a generic term, by which we designate this kind of phenomenon, whose principal varieties are, simple obsession, fascination, and subjugation.
Simple Obsession
In simple obsession the medium knows very well that it is a deceiving spirit, and the spirit does not conceal himself : he disguises none of his bad inten tions and his desire to thwart. The medium easily recognizes the imposture, and as he is on his guard, is rarely deceived. This kind of obsession is simply dis agreeable, and has no other inconvenience than to oppose an obstacle to the communications that might be desired with serious spirits, or with those whom we love.
Physical Obsession may be ranked in this class ; those which consist in noisy and obstinate manifesta tions of certain spirits, who rap and make other noises spontaneously.
One can easily comprehend the great difference existing between simple obsession and fascination ; as also that the spirits who produce these two effects must differ in character. In the first, the spirit is a being troublesome only by his tenacity, and of whom one is impatient to be rid. In the second, it is quite another thing: to gain such ends needs an adroit, subtle, and profoundly hypocritical spirit, for he can create the delusion, and make himself accepted only by means of the mask he wears and of a semblance of virtue ; the grand words, charity, humility, and love of God, are as letters of credence ; but through all he shows signs of inferiority, which one must be fascinated not to perceive. He also dreads all people who see too clearly ; his tactics, therefore, are, almost always, to inspire his interpreter to withdraw from every one who could open his eyes : by this means, avoiding all contradiction, he is sure of being always right.
Subjugation
Subjugation may be moral or corporeal. In the first case, the subjugated is instigated to do things often absurd and compromising; which he is deluded into believing sensible : it is a kind of fascination. In the second case, the spirit acts on the material organs, and provokes involuntary movements. It shows itself in the writing medium by an incessant desire to write, even at the most inopportune moments. We have seen those who, in default of pen or pencil, would write with the finger, wherever they might be, even in the streets, on the doors and walls.
Corporeal subjugation sometimes goes further ; it may urge to the most ridiculous acts. We knew a man, neither young nor handsome, under the domin ion of an obsession of this nature, constrained by an irresistible force to kneel to a young girl whom he had never before seen, and ask her in marriage. At other times, he felt on his back and loins a violent pressure, which forced him, in spite of his opposing will, to kneel and kiss the ground in public and crowded places. This man passed for crazy among his friends, but we were convinced he was not at all so ; for he was per fectly Conscious of the ridicule of which he was unwill ingly the cause, and suffered horribly from it.
Causes of Obsession
Ninth. Persistent noises and disturbances about one, and of which one is the cause, or object.
Neither mediums nor spiritists created the spirits, but the spirits have been the cause of there being spiritists and mediums : spirits being only the souls of men, there have been spirits as long as there have been men ; and, consequently, they have, in all time, exercised their salutary or pernicious influence on humanity. The medianimic faculty is for them only a means of manifesting themselves ; in default of this faculty, they do it in a thousand other ways, more or less occult. It would be an error to believe that spir its exercise their influence only by written or verbal communications ; their influence is incessant, and those who do not concern themselves about spirits, or who do not even believe in them, are as exposed to it as others, and more than others, because they have no counterpoise. Mediumship is for the spirit a means of making himself known ; if he is bad he always betrays himself, however hypocritical he may be ; thus it may be said that mediumship allows one to see his enemy face to face, if it may be so expressed, and to fight him with his own weapons ; without this faculty he acts in the dark, and, under cover of his invisibility, can do, and does, much harm. To how many actions have not people been urged, to their misfortune, and which they might have avoided had they possessed the means of being enlightened ! The incredulous know not how truly they speak, when they say of a man who obstinately goes astray, " It is his evil genius urging him on to his destruction." Thus the knowledge of Spiritism, far from giving dominion to bad spirits, must, sooner or later, when it shall be widely spread, result in the destruction of that domination by giving to every one the means of being on his guard against their suggestions, and then he who yields will have no one to blame but himself.
General rule : whoever has bad spirit communica tions, written or verbal, is under an evil influence ; this influence is exercised on him, whether he writes or whether he does not write ; that is; whether he be a medium or not ; whether he believe or disbelieve. Writing gives a person the means of knowing the nature of the spirits who act on him, and of fighting against them if they are evil, which can be done with much greater success when the motive which makes them act is known. If he is too much blinded to understand it, others can open his eyes. To recapitulate : the danger is not so much in Spir itism itself, since it can, on the contrary, serve as a rontrolling influence, and save from him who incessantly pursues us against our will ; it is in the haughty propensity of some mediums to believe too easily that they are the exclusive instruments of superior spirits, and in the kind of fascination that prevents them from understanding the foolish things of which they are the interpreters. Those, even, who are not mediums, may be exposed to it. Let us make a comparison. A man has a secret enemy, who disseminates all kinds of calumnious reports that the blackest wickedness can invent ; he sees his fortune lost, his friends alienated, his internal happiness destroyed ; not being able to discover the hand that strikes him, he cannot defend himself, and yields ; but one day this secret enemy writes to him, and, in spite of his strategy, betrays himself. Now he faces the discovered foe, can put him to confusion, and recover himself. Such is the r6le of the evil spirits, whom Spiritism makes it possi ble to know and unmask.
Means of combating it
But precisely because it is disagreeable to him, is a reason the more for the spirit to follow him persis tently to vex him. There are two essential things to do in such case : to prove to the spirit that one is not his dupe, and that it is impossible to deceive us ; secondly tire his patience by showing ourself more patient than he ; if he is thoroughly convinced that he will lose his time, he will end by retiring, as importunate persons . do when we do not listen to them. But that does not always suffice, and it may be long, for some of them are very tenacious, and months and years are but little to them. The medium should make a fervent appeal to his good angel, also to the good spirits who are sympathetic to him, and beg them to assist him. As for the obsessing spirit, however bad he may be, he should be treated with firmness, but with kindness, vanquishing him by good in praying for him. If he is really perverse, he will at first mock at it ; but in perseveringly moralizing with him, he will end by amending ; it is a conversion to under take, a task often painful, ungrateful, even discoura ging, but whose merit is in the difficulty, and which, if well accomplished, always gives the satisfaction of having fulfilled a duty of charity, and often that of having led a lost soul into the good road.
It is equally expedient to break off all written com munication as soon as it is known to come from a bad spirit, who will not listen to reason, in order not to give him the pleasure of being listened to. In some cases, even, it might be necessary to cease writing for a time ; it must be regulated according to circum stances. But if the writing medium can avoid these discourses by abstaining from writing, it is not the same with the hearing medium, whom the obsessing spirit sometimes pursues every instant with his gross and obscene remarks, and who has not even the resource of closing his ears. There are persons who are amused by the frivolous language of these spirits, whom they encourage and urge by laughing at their follies, instead of imposing silence on them, and trying to teach them better. Our advice does not apply to those who will drown themselves.
We can give here only general advice, for there is no material process, no formula, nor any sacramental word that has the power to drive away obsessing spirits. Sometimes the obsessed lacks fluidic force ; in such case the magnetic action of a good magnetizer might be a very useful help. Then it is always well to take, by a sure medium, the advice of a superior spirit, or of his guardian angel.
Several sisters were, for a number of years, victims of very disagreeable depredations. Their clothing was constantly thrown about in every corner of the house, and even upon the roof, cut, torn, and riddled with holes, whatever care they might take to lock it up. These ladies, brought up in a small provincial locality, had never heard of Spiritism. Their first thought, naturally, was, that they were the butt of some joker's tricks ; but the persistence and their precau tions destroyed that idea. It was not until a long time after, that, on some indications, they thought they ought to address us to know the cause of the trouble, and the means to remedy it, if possible. The cause was not doubtful ; the remedy was more difficult. The spirit who manifested himself by these acts was evidently malicious. He showed himself, in the invo cation, of great perversity, and inaccessible to every good sentiment. Prayer seemed, nevertheless, to exer cise a salutary influence ; but after a short respite, the depredations recommenced. The advice of a superior spirit on this subject is here given.
" What these ladies had better do is, to pray their spirit protectors not to abandon them ; and I have no better advice to give them than to look into their con sciences, and confess to themselves, and examine if they have always practiced the love of the neighbor and charity ; I do not mean the charity that gives and distributes, but the charity of the tongue ; for unhappily they know not how to control theirs, and do not justify, by their pious acts, their desire of being delivered from him who torments them. They like too well to slander their neighbor, and the spirit who obsesses them is taking his revenge, for he was their drudge during his life. They have only to search their memory, and they will soon see with whom they have to do.
"At the same time, if they become better, their guardian angels will return to them, and their pres ence will suffice to drive away the bad spirit, who could not have troubled one of them, but that her guardian angel had withdrawn to a distance from her on account of some reprehensible acts or bad thoughts. What they must do is, to pray fervently for those who suffer, and to practice the virtues enjoined by God to each one according to his condition.
" On our observing that these words seemed to us a little severe, and that they ought to be somewhat softened before transmitting them, the spirit added, —
" I ought to say what I have said, and as I have said it, because the persons in question have the habit of believing they do no harm with the tongue, while they do a great deal. We must, therefore, strike their minds in such a way that it will be a serious warning."
From this may be drawn instruction of great signi fication —that moral imperfections give a footing to obsessing spirits, and that the surest means of ridding one's self of them is to attract the good by well doing. The good spirits have, without doubt, more power than the bad, and their will is sufficient to remove these last ; but they assist only those who second them by the efforts they make to become better; otherwise they withdraw, and leave the field free to the bad spirits, who thus become, in some cases, instru ments of punishment, for the good leave them to act for this purpose.
" The mortality or the sickness of this man's beasts is, because his stables are infected, and that he does not have them repaired because it costs."
1. " Why cannot certain mediums rid themselves of bad spirits who are with them, and how is it that the good spirits they call are not powerful enough to remove the bad spirits, and communicate directly ? "
" It is not power that is wanting to the good spirits, it is often the medium who is not strong enough to second them ; his nature adapts itself better to certain relations, or rather his fluid identifies itself sooner with one spirit than with another ; this ig what gives such great sway to those who wish to take advantage of it."
2. " Nevertheless, it seems to us that there are very many meritorious persons, of irreproachable morality, who yet are prevented from communicating with good spirits."
" It is a trial ; and, besides, who can tell if the heart is not stained with an evil thought ? if pride does not a little govern the appearance of goodness ? These trials, by showing to the obsessed his weakness, should turn him to humility.
" Is there any one on the earth who can say he is perfect ? and he who has all the appearances of virtue may still have hidden defects, an old leaven of imper fection. Thus, for instance, you say of him who does no wrong, who is loyal in his social relations, This is a true and worthy man : but do you know if his good qualities are not tarnished by pride ; if there is not within him a fund of egotism ; if he is not avaricious, jealous, spiteful, slanderous, and a hundred other things you do not perceive, because your relations with him have not developed them ? The most powerful means of striving against the influence of bad spirits is to make yourself as much as possible like the good."
3. " Is the obsession which prevents a medium's obtaining the communications he desires always a sign of unworthiness on his part ? "
" I did not say it was a sign of unworthiness, but that an obstacle might be there to oppose certain com munications ; it is to remove the obstacle within him that all attention should be given ; without that all his prayers, his supplications, will be of no avail. It is not enough for a sick person to say to his doctor, Give me health ; I want to be well : the doctor can do nothing if the patient does not do what is necessary."
4. " Would the privation, then, be a kind of pun ishment ? "
" In some cases, this may be a real punishment, as the possibility of communicating with them is a recom pense you should endeavor to deserve." (See Loss and Suspension of Mediumship, No. 220.)
5. " Cannot the influence of bad spirits be also over come by giving them moral instruction ? "
" Yes ; this is what no one does, but it is what should not be neglected ; for it is often a task given to you, and one that you should accomplish charitably and religiously. By wise counsel they may be incited to repentance, and their advancement hastened."
" How can a man have more influence in this respect than the spirits themselves ? "
"The perverse spirits are allied rather to men whom they seek to torment, than to spirits from whom they withdraw as far as possible. In this' approach to man, when they find one who talks to them trying to im prove their morals, they do not listen at first ; they laugh at it ; then, if you know how to take them, they will eventually allow themselves to be affected. The elevated spirits can speak to them only in the name of God, and that frightens them. Man, certainly, has not more power than the superior spirits, but his language is better identified with their nature, and in seeing the ascendency he can exercise over the inferior spirits, he comprehends better the solidarity existing between the heavens and the earth.
"Then, too, the ascendency that man can exercise over the spirits is by reason of his moral superiority. He cannot master the superior spirits, nor even those who, without being superior, are good and benevolent, but he can master the spirits who are morally inferior to him."
6. " Can corporeal subjugation carried to a certain length induce insanity ? "
" Yes ; a kind of insanity whose cause is unknown to the world, but which has no relation to ordinary insanity. Among those treated as insane, there are many who are only subjugated ; a moral treatment is necessary for them, while they make them really insane by their corporeal treatments. When doctors understand Spiritism, they will know how to make a distinction, and will cure more patients than they are now curing with their shower-baths." (221.)
7. "What may be thought of those who, seeing danger in Spiritism, think to prevent it by interdicting spirit communications ? "
" If they can prevent some persons from communi cating with spirits, they cannot prevent the sponta neous manifestations made to these same persons, for they cannot suppress the spirits, nor hinder their secret influence. It is like children shutting their eyes and thinking no one can see them. It would be folly to suppress a thing that offers great advantages because some imprudent persons might abuse it ; the way to prevent these abuses is, on the contrary, to search the thing to the bottom."
CHAPTER XXIV - IDENTITY OF SPIRITS
Possible Proofs of Identity
Distinction of Good and Bad Spirits
262. If the absolute identity of the spirits is, in many cases, a secondary question, one of little importance, it is not the same with the distinction of good and bad; their individuality may be indifferent to us, their quality never. In all instructive communications, it is on this point the whole attention should be concentrated, because it alone can give us the degree of confidence we may accord to the spirit, whatever may be the name under which he manifests himself. Is the spirit good, or bad ? To what degree of the spirit scale does he belong? That is the grand question. (See Spirit Scale in the Book on Spirits, No. ioo).It is quite generally believed that in interrogating the spirit of a man who was learned in a speciality on the earth, the truth will be more certainly obtained: this is logical, yet not always true. Experience shows that savants, as well as other men, especially those who have but lately left the world, are still under the dominion of the prejudices of corporeal life; they do not immediately rid themselves of the spirit of system. It may, then, be that, under the influence of the ideas they have cherished during their lives, and which have made for them a glorious title, they see less clearly than we think. We do not give this principle as a rule; far from it; we say only that it shows for itself, and that, consequently, their human science is not always a proof of their infallibility as spirits.
The good spirits are never offended by it, for they themselves advise it, and because they have nothing to fear from the examination ;• the bad alone take offence, and try to dissuade from it: this of itself proves what they are.
1. Good sense is the sole criterion by which to discern the value of the spirits. Every formula given for this purpose by the spirits themselves is absurd, and cannot emanate from superior spirits.
2. The spirits are judged by their language and by their actions. The actions of spirits are the sentiments they inspire and the advice they give.
3. It being admitted that good spirits can say and do only good, nothing bad can come from a good spirit.
4. The superior spirits have a language always worthy, noble, elevated, with not the least tincture of triviality ; they say everything with simplicity and modesty, never boast, never make a parade of their knowledge or their position among others. That of the inferior or ordinary spirit has always some reflex of human passions; every expression that savors of vulgarity, self-sufficiency, arrogance, boasting, acrimony, is a characteristic indication of inferiority, or of treachery if the spirit presents himself under a respected and venerated name.
5. We must not judge spirits by the material form and the correctness of their style, but probe its inmost sense, scrutinize their words, weigh them coolly, deliberately, and without prejudice. Any digression from logic, reason, and wisdom leaves no doubt of their origin, whatever may be the name under which the spirit is disguised. (224.)
6. The language of elevated spirits is always identical, if not in form, at least in the inmost. The thoughts are the same, whatever be the time and place; they may be more or less developed, according to circumstances, to the needs and to the facilities of communicating, but they will not be contradictory. If two communications bearing the same name are in opposition, one of the two is, evidently, apocryphal, and the true one will be that where NOTHING contradicts the known character of the personage. For instance, between two communications signed by St. Vincent de Paul, of which one should preach union and charity, and the other should tend to sow discord, no sensible person could mistake.
7. Good spirits tell only what they know ; they are either silent or confess their ignorance of what they do not know. The bad speak of everything with boldness, without caring for the truth. Any notorious scientific heresy, any principle that shocks good sense, shows fraud, if the spirit pretends to be an enlightened spirit.
8. Again, we recognize trifling spirits by the facility with which they predict the future and material facts not given us to know. The good spirits may presage future things when, that knowledge is useful for us to know, but they never fix dates ; any announcement of an event at a fixed date is indicatory of mystification.
9. The superior spirits express themselves simply, without prolixity ; their style is concise, without excluding the poetry of ideas and expressions, clear, intelligible to all, and requires no effort for its comprehension ; they have the art of saying much in a few words, because each word has its signification. The inferior spirits, or false savants, hide under inflated language and emphasis the emptiness of their thoughts. Their language is often pretentious, ridiculous, or obscure, by way of wishing to seem profound.
10. Good spirits never command ; they do not force themselves on any one ; they advise, and if they are not listened to, they withdraw. The bad are imperious; they give orders, wish to be obeyed, and remain, whether or no. Every spirit who forces himself on any one betrays his origin. They are exclusive and absolute in • their opinions, and pretend that they alone have the privilege of truth. They exact a blind belief, and make no appeal to reason, because they know that reason will unmask them.
11. Good spirits do not flatter; they approve when we do well, but always with reserve; the bad give exaggerated eulogiums, stimulate pride and vanity,' while preaching humility, and seek to exalt the personal importance of those with whom they would curry favor.
12. The superior spirits are above the puerilities of form in everything. Only ordinary spirits attach importance to petty details, incompatible with truly ele vated ideas. Any overparticular prescription is a certain sign of inferiority and treachery on the part of a spirit who takes an imposing name.
13. The odd and ridiculous names some spirits take, who wish to impose on credulity, should be distrusted ; it would be exceedingly absurd to take these names seriously.
14. It is also necessary to distrust those who present themselves easily under extremely venerated names, and to accept their words with the utmost reserve ; in this case a severe censorship is indispensable, for it, is often but a mask they assume to gain credit for their pretended intimate relations with spirits beyond them. -By this means they flatter the vanity of the medium, and make use of it often to draw him into doing ridiculous things, or things to be regretted.
15. The good spirits are very careful as to the steps they advise; they never have any but a serious and eminently useful aim. We should, then, regard with suspicion alL motives that are not of this character, or that would be condemned by reason, and should deliberate seriously before undertaking them, for we might be exposed to disagreeable mystifications.
16. We recognize good spirits by their prudent reserve on all subjects that might prove compromising; they dislike to unvail evil; light or malevolent spirits are pleased with displaying it. While the good seek to smooth over injuries and preach indulgence, the bad exaggerate them, and stir up discord by perfidious insinuations.
17. Good spirits advise only good. Any maxim, any advice, which is not strictly conformable to pure evangelical charity, cannot be the work of a good spirit.
18. Good spirits advise only perfectly rational things.
Any recommendation which departs from the right line of good sense, or from the immutable laws of nature, shows a narrow spirit, and is, consequently, little worthy of confidence. ,
19. Again, bad or simply imperfect spirits betray themselves by material signs which cannot be mistaken. Their action on the medium is sometimes violent, and provocative of sudden and jerking movements, a feverish and convulsive agitation, totally opposed to the calm and gentleness of the good spirits.
20. Imperfect spirits often use the means of communication opened to them to give perfidious advice; they excite distrust and animosity against those who are antipathetic to them; those who could unmask their imposture are especially the objects of their animadversion. Weak men are their best game; to induce them to evil. Employing by turns sophisms, sarcasms, insults, even material signs of their occult power the better to convince them, they strive to turn them from the path of truth.
21. The spirits of men who have had, in the world, a special preoccupation, whether material or moral, if they are not disengaged from the influence of matter, are still under the dominion of terrestrial ideas, and retain a part of their prejudices, of their predilections, and even of the fancies they had here below. This is easily discerned in their language.
22. The learning that some spirits display, often with a kind of ostentation, is not a sign of their superiority. Unalterable purity of moral sentiment is the true touchstone.
23. The simple interrogation of a spirit is not sufficient to know the truth. We should, before all things know whom we address ; for the inferior spirits, themselve ignorant, treat with frivolity the most serious questions. Neither does it suffice that a spirit should have been a great man on the earth to have supreme science in. the spirit world. Virtue alone, in purifying him, can bring him nearer to God and extend his knowledge.
24. On the part of superior spirits pleasantry is often fine and piquant, but never trivial. Among the joking spirits who are not gross, biting satire is often full of meaning.
25. In carefully studying the character of the spirits who present themselves, especially from a moral point of view, their nature and the degree of confidence to be accorded them is easily ascertained. Good sense cannot be deceived.
26. In order to judge spirits, as in order to judge men, one should know how to judge one's self. There are, unhappily, many men who take their personal opinion as exclusive'measure for good and bad, for true and false ; all that contradicts their mode of seeing, their ideas, the system they have conceived or adopted, is bad in their eyes. Such persons evidently lack the first requisite for a healthy appreciation — rectitude of judgment; but they do not suspect it; in the very defect is their greatest delusion.
All these instructions flow from experience and the teachings of the spirits ; we complete them by answers given by them on the most important points.
Questions on the Nature and Identity of Spirits
268. Questions on the Nature and Identity of Spirits." By their language, as you distinguish a trifler from a man of sense. We have already said, the superior spirits never contradict themselves, and say only good things ; they will nothing but good: it is their whole thought
" The inferior spirits are still under the dominion of material ideas ; their discourses show their ignorance and imperfection. It is given only to the superior spirits to know all things, and to judge without passion."
2. " Is scientific knowledge always a certain sign of a spirit's elevation ?"
" No, for if he is still under the influence of matter, he may have your vices and your prejudices. There are persons who, in this world, are excessively jealous and vain: do you believe that as soon as they leave here they lose these defects ? There remains, after the departure from here, especially to those who have had very decided passions, a kind of atmosphere that envelops them, and leaves them all these bad things.
" These semi-imperfect spirits are more to be dreaded than bad spirits, because most of them combine astuteness and pride with intelligence. By their pretended knowledge they impose on simple people and on the ignorant, who accept without criticism their absurd and lying theories ; though these theories cannot prevail against the truth, they none the less do temporary harm, for they hinder the progress of Spiritism, and mediums are willingly blind to the merit of what is communicated to them. This is what demands great study on the part of enlightened spiritists and mediums ; all their attention should be given to distinguish the true from the false."
3. " Many spirit protectors designate themselves by the names of saints or well-known personages ; what should we believe on this subject ?"
" All the names of saints and of well-known personages would not suffice to furnish a protector to each man; among the spirits are few who have a name known on the earth ; this is why very often they give none ; but almost always you want a name; then, to satisfy you, they take that of a man you know and respect."
4. " May not this borrowed name be considered a fraud?"
" It would be a fraud on the part of a bad spirit who might want to deceive; but when it is for good, God permits it to be so among spirits of the same order, because there is among them a solidarity and similarity of thought."
5. " So, when a spirit protector calls himself St. Paul, for instance, it is not certain to be the spirit or soul of that apostle ?"
" Not at all, for you find thousands of persons to whom it has been said that their guardian angel is St. Paul, or some other ; but what matters it, if the spirit who protects you is as elevated as St. Paul ? I have said, you want a name; they take one to be called, and recognized by, as you take a baptismal name to distinguish you from the other members of your family. They can just as well take those of the archangel Raphael, St. Michael, &c, and it would be a matter of no consequence.
" Besides, the more elevated the spirit, the more multiple his radiation; believe that a spirit protector of a superior order may have under his tutelage hundreds of incarnated beings. With you, on the earth, you have notaries who have charge of the affairs of one or two hundred families: why should you suppose that we, spiritually speaking, would be less capable of directing men morally than those of directing their material interests ?"
6. " Why do the spirits who communicate so often take the names of saints ?"
"They identify themselves with the habits of those to whom they speak, and take the names calculated to make the strongest impression on the man by reason of his belief."
7. " Do superior spirits, when invoked, always come in person ? or, as some think, do they come only by mandataries charged to transmit their thought?"
" Why should they not come in person, if they can ? but if the spirit cannot come, it will surely be a mandatary."
8. " Is the mandatary always sufficiently enlightened to answer as the spirit would who sends him ?"
" The superior spirits know to whom they confide the care of replacing them. Besides, the more elevated the spirits, the more they are commingled in one common thought, in such manner that they are indifferent to personality; and it ought to be the same for you. Do you think that, in the world of superior spirits, there are only those you have known on the earth capable of instructing you ? You are so prone to consider yourselves types of the universe, that you always believe out of your world there is nothing. Truly you are like those savages, who, never having left their own island, fancy the world does not go beyond it."
9. " We comprehend that this may be the case when it is a question of serious teaching; but how is it that the superior spirits permit spirits of a low class to avail themselves of respectable names to lead into error by perverse maxims ?"
" It is not with their permission ; does it not happen the same among you ? Those who thus deceive will be punished, believe me, and their punishment will be in proportion to the gravity of the imposture. Besides, if you were not imperfect, you would have around you only good spirits, and if you are deceived, you should blame no one but yourselves. God permits it to be so to make trial of your perseverance and your judgment, and to teach you to distinguish truth from error; if you do not, it is that you are not sufficiently elevated, and still need the lessons of experience."
10. " Are not spirits, slightly advanced but animated by good intentions and a desire to progress, sometimes delegated to replace a superior spirit, in order that they may exercise themselves in teaching ? "
" Never in great circles ; I mean serious circles for general instruction; those who present themselves there do it from their own desire, and, as you say, to exercise themselves ; this is the reason their communications, though good, always bear traces of their inferiority. Where they are delegated, it is for communications of little importance, and those that may be called personal."
11. " Ridiculous spirit communications are sometimes intermingled with very good maxims: how reconcile this anomaly, which would seem to indicate the simultaneous presence of good and bad spirits ?"
" Bad or frivolous spirits mingle thus to make sentences, without much concern as to their bearing or signification. Are all those among you superior men ? No ; the good and bad spirits do not mingle ; it is the constant uniformity of good communications by which you may recognize the presence of good spirits."
12. "Do the spirits that lead persons into error always do it purposely ?"
" No ; there are spirits, good, but ignorant, who might deceive in all sincerity; when they are conscious of their insufficiency, they say so, and tell only what they know."
13. "When a spirit makes a false communication, does he always do so with a malicious intention ?"
" No ; if it is a trifling spirit, he amuses himself by mystifying, and has no other motive."-
14. "As certain spirits can deceive by their language, can they also, to the eyes of a seeing medium, take a false appearance ?"
" That may be done, but with great difficulty. In all cases it never takes place, unless with an aim that the bad spirits themselves do not know. They serve as instruments to give a lesson. The seeing medium can see frivolous and lying spirits, as others hear them, or write under their influence. Frivolous spirits may profit by this disposition in order to abuse him by deceitful appearances; that depends on the qualities of his own spirit."
15. "Is it sufficient that we are actuated by good intentions, not to be deceived ; and are perfectly serious men, who mingle no sentiment of vain curiosity with their studies, as liable to be deceived ?"
" Less than others, evidently ; but man has always some hobby which attracts mocking spirits ; he thinks himself strong, and often is not; he should beware of the weakness born of pride and prejudices. These two causes, by which spirits profit, are not sufficiently taken into consideration; by flattering whims they are sure to succeed."
16. " Why does. God permit bad spirits to communicate and say evil things ? "
" Even in what is worst there is instruction ; it is for you to know how to extract it. There must be communications of all kinds, for you to learn to distinguish good spirits from bad, and to serve as mirrors to yourselves."
17. " Can spirits, by means of written communications, inspire unjust suspicions against certain persons, and embroil friends ?"
" Perverse and jealous spirits can do in evil all that men can do ; it is, therefore, necessary to beware of them. The superior spirits are always prudent and reserved when they are obliged to blame; they never speak evil; they warn with caution. • If they desire, for the interest of two persons, that they should never see each other, they will bring about incidents that shall separate them in a perfectly natural manner. Language calculated to sow trouble and discord is always from a bad spirit, whatever may be the name he assumes. Therefore receive with the greatest circumspection the evil that a spirit may say of one of you, especially when a good spirit has said good to you of the same; and also mistrust yourselves and your own prejudices. In communications from spirits, take only what is good, great, rational, and what your conscience approves."
18. " By the facility with which bad spirits mingle in communications, it appears that one is never sure of the truth ?"
" Yes, if you have judgment to appraise them. In reading a letter, you know how to judge if it is a hod man or a refined person, a fool or a savant, who has written to you: why can you not do the same when spirits write to you? If you receive a letter from a far-off friend, what proves to you it is really from him ? His writing, you will say: but are there not forgers who imitate all writing, rascals who might know your affairs ? Yet there are signs in which you cannot be mistaken. It is the same with spirits. Imagine, then, that it is a friend writing to you, or that you are reading a literary work, and judge by the same means."
19. " Could superior spirits prevent bad spirits from taking false names ?"
" Certainly they could do so; but the worse the spirits, the more headstrong they are, and they often resist injunctions. You must also know that there are persons in whom the superior spirits are more interested than they are in others ; and when they deem it necessary, they know how to preserve them from the injury of the lie : against these persons the deceiving spirits are powerless."
20. " What is the motive of this partiality ?"
" It is not partiality ; it is justice : the good spirits are interested in those who profit by their advice, and labor seriously in their own improvement: these are their preferred ones, and they help them; but they trouble themselves little about those with whom they lose their time in vain words."
21. "Why does God permit spirits to commit sacrilege, by falsely taking venerated names ?"
" You should also ask why God permits men to lie and blaspheme. Spirits, as well as men, have their free will, in good as in bad; but to neither will the justice of God be wanting."
22. " Is there any formula that will drive away deceiving spirits ?"
" Formula is matter ; good thought toward God is of more value."
23. "Some spirits have said they have inimitable graphic signs, a kind of emblems, by which they may be recognized and their identity established. Is that true?"
" The superior spirits have no other signs, by which they may be recognized, than the superiority of their ideas and of their language. Any spirit can imitate a material sign. As to the inferior spirits, they betray themselves in so many ways, that one must be blind to be deceived."
24. "Cannot deceiving spirits counterfeit thought, also ?"
" They counterfeit thought,, as theatrical decorators counterfeit nature."
25. " It appears, then, that it is always easy to detect fraud by an attentive study."
" Never doubt it; spirits deceive only those who allow themselves to be deceived. But it is necessary to have the eyes of diamond merchants to distinguish the true stone from the false ; he who knows not how to distinguish one from the other goes to the lapidary."
26. " There are persons who allow themselves to be seduced by emphatic language, who think more of words than of ideas, who take false and common ideas for sublime: how can these persons, who are not even capable of judging the works of men, judge those of spirits ?"
" When these persons have sufficient modesty to know their own inefficiency, they will not trust to themselves ; when, through pride, they think themselves capable, when they are not, they must bear the penalty of their silly vanity. The deceiving spirits know whom they address : there are simple, uninstructed persons more difficult to deceive than others who have wit and learning. By flattering his passions they make a man do as they please."
27. " In writing, do not bad spirits often betray themselves by involuntary material signs ?"
" The skillful do not; maladroits go astray. Any useless or puerile sign is a certain indication of inferiority ; elevated spirits do no useless thing."
28. " Many mediums recognize good and bad spirits by the agreeable or painful impression they experience at their approach. We ask if any disagreeable impression, convulsive agitation, any uneasiness, in short, are always indications of the evil nature of the spirits who manifest themselves ?"
" The medium experiences the sensations of the state in which the spirit is who comes to him. When the spirit is happy, he is tranquil, easy, sedate; when he is unhappy, he is agitated, feverish, and this agitation naturally passes into the nervous system of the medium. It is the same with men on the earth; he who is good is calm and tranquil, he who is wicked is constantly agitated."
Remark. There are mediums of greater or less nervous impressibility, so that the agitation cannot be regarded as a general rule; as in all other things, we must, in this, take into account the circumstances. The painful and disagreeable character of the impression is an effect of contrast; for if the spirit of the medium sympathizes with the bad spirit who manifests himself, he will be little or not at all affected by it. The rapidity of the writing, which pertains to the extreme flexibility of some mediums, must not be confounded with the convulsive agitation that the slowest mediums may experience from contact with imperfect spirits.
CHAPTER XXV - ON INVOCATIONS
General Considerations
When a spirit is invoked for the first time, it is best to designate him with some precision. In the questions addressed to him, we should avoid dry, imperative forms ; they might be a reason for his withdrawal. The forms should be affectionate or respectful according to the spirit, and in all cases testify the kindness of the innovator.
The messenger is not always a necessary intermediary, for the appeal of the invocator may be heard directly by the spirit, as is said, No. 282, Question 5, on the mode of transmitting thought.
When we say, Make the invocation in the name of God, we mean that our recommendation should^ be taken seriously, and not lightly; those who see in it only a formula, and of little consequence, would better abstain from it.
All those that have an insidious character should be declined, for it is well known that spirits do not like those intended to put them to the proof; to insist on questions of this nature is to wish to be deceived. The invocator should go frankly and openly to the desired end, without subterfuge or windings: if he fears to explain himself, he would better abstain. If invocations are made in the absence of the one who has requested them, it should be done with the greatest prudence ; it is even oftentimes preferable to abstain entirely, those persons alone being fit to criticise the answers, to judge of .the identity, to challenge explanations if there is cause, and to put incidental questions brought up by circumstances. Besides, their presence is a bond which attracts the spirit, often little disposed to communicate with strangers for whom he has no sympathy. In a word, the medium should avoid all that could transform him into a consulting agent, which, in the eyes of many persons, is synonymous with a fortune-teller.
Spirits who may be invoked
The good spirits, in such case, can very well give them the power to do what is asked of them, safe to punish severely afterward the rash man who dared to invoke their help and believe them more powerful than God. It is vain that he may have promised himself to make a good use of it in the end, and to dismiss the servitor once the service is rendered ; the very service solicited, however minute it may be, is a veritable pact concluded with the bad spirit, and he never lets himself be used easily. (See No. 212.)
Language to hold with Spirits
As to the inferior spirits, their character shows us the language proper to use with them. Among the number there are some who, though inoffensive, and even kind, are trifling, ignorant, stupid: to treat themthe same as serious spirits, as some persons do, is about the same as to bow before a schoiar or an ass muffled up in a professor's cap. A tone of familiarity would not be out of place with them, and they do not take offense at it; on the contrary, they willingly receive it.
Among the inferior spirits there are some who are unhappy. Whatever may be the faults they are expiating, their sufferings entitle them to our consideration, so much the more as no one can flatter himself that he does not deserve these words of the Christ: " Let him who is without sin among you cast the first stone." The kindness we show them is a comfort to them : in default of sympathy, they should find the indulgence we should wish them to show to us.
The spirits who reveal their inferiority by the cynicism of their language, their lies, the baseness of their sentiments, the perfidy of their counsels, are assuredly less worthy of our interest than those whose words show their repentance; we owe them, at least, the pity we accord the greatest criminals, and the way to reduce them to silence is to show ourselves superior to them : they indulge in their perversity only among persons with whom they think there is nothing to fear ; for the perverse spirits feel their masters in good men as in superior spirits.
To recapitulate: as much as it would be irreverential to treat the superior spirits as equals, just so much would it be ridiculous to extend the same deference to all without exception. Have veneration for those who deserve it, gratitude for those who protect and assist us, for all the others that kindness we may some day need for ourselves. In penetrating into the incorporeal world we learn to know it, and this knowledge should regulate us in our relations with those who inhabit it. The ancients, in their ignorance, elevated altars to them ; for us, they are only creatures more or less perfect, and we raise our altars only to God.
Utility of Special Invocations
Now, the superior spirits are the upper circles of the spirit world: their very elevation places them so much above us that we are frightened at the distance that separates us. Spirits more bourgeois (may they excuse the expression) make the circumstances of their new existence more palpable to us. With them; the tie between corporeal life and spirit life is more intimate; we comprehend it better, because it touches us more nearly. In learning from themselves what has become of the men of all conditions and of all characters, what they think, what they experience, good, as well as vicious, the great and the small, the happy and the unhappy of the age, in a word, the men who have lived among us, whom we have seen and known, with whose real life we are acquainted, whose virtues and whims we know, — we comprehend their joys and their sufferings, we are associated with them, and draw therefrom a moral instruction as much more profitable as the relations between them and us are more intimate. We put ourselves more easily in the place of him who has been our equal than of him whom we see only through the mirage of a celestial glory.
Ordinary spirits show us the practical application of the great and sublime truths of which the superior spirits teach us the theory. Besides, in the study of a science nothing is useless ; Newton found his law of the forces of the universe in the simplest phenomena.
The invocation of ordinary spirits has, besides, the advantage of putting us en rapport with suffering spirits who can be comforted, and whose advancement may be facilitated by useful advice, so that we can be useful while, at the same time, instructing ourselves ; there is egotism in seeking only one's own satisfaction in intercourse with the spirits, and he who disdains to extend a helping hand to the unhappy gives proof of pride. Of what use to obtain grand teachings from spirits of the highest order, if it does not make us inwardly better, more charitable, more benevolent for our brothers, both in this world and in the other? What would become of the diseased if the doctors refused to touch their sores ?
Questions on Invocations
I. ." Can we invoke spirits without being mediums?"
" Every one .can invoke spirits, and if those you call cannot manifest themselves materially, they are nevertheless near you, and listen to you."
2. " Does the spirit invoked always come at the call made to him ?"
" That depends on the conditions in which he is, for there are circumstances in which he cannot do so."
3. " What causes might prevent a spirit from coming at our call ?"
" Firstly, his will; then his corporeal state, if he is re-incarnated ; the missions with which he may be charged ; and still further, permission may be refused him. There are spirits who can never communicate — those who, by their nature, belong still to worlds inferior to the earth. Neither can those who are in the spheres of punishment, at least without a superior permission, which is granted only for the general good. That a spirit may be able to communicate, he must have attained the same degree of advancement as that of the world to which he is called; otherwise he is strange to the ideas of that world, and has no point of comparison. It is not the same with those who are sent on missions, or in expiation, to inferior worlds; they have the necessary ideas to reply."
4. " For what motives may the permission to communicate be refused to a spirit ?"
" It may be a trial or a punishment for him, or for the one who calls him."
5. " How can spirits, dispersed in space or in different worlds, hear from all points of the universe the invocations that are made ?"
" They are often forewarned by the familiar spirits that surround you, who go to seek them; but here is a phenomenon difficult to explain to you, because you cannot yet understand the transmission of thought among spirits. All I dan tell you is, that the spirit you invoke, however distant he may be, receives, as it were, the rebound of the thought as a kind of electrical commotion, which calls his attention to the side from whence comes the thought addressed to him. It might be said he hears the thought, as on earth you hear the voice."
" Is the universal fluid the vehicle of thought, as the air is that of sound ?"
" Yes, with, this difference, that sound can be heard only within a very limited radius, while thought attains the infinite. The spirit, in space, is like the traveler in the midst of a vast plain, who, hearing his name suddenly pronounced, directs his attention to the side on which he is called."
6. " We know that distances are but trifles to spirits ; yet one is astonished to see them sometimes respond as promptly to the call as if they had been all ready."
" And so, indeed, they are sometimes. If the invocation is premeditated, the spirit is forewarned, and often finds himself there before he is called."
7. " Is the thought of the invocator more or less easily heard according to circumstances ?"
" Without doubt; the spirit called by a sympathetic and kind sentiment is more quickly touched: it is to him the voice of a friend which he recognizes ; without that it often happens that the invocation miscarries. The thought that springs from the invocation strikes the spirit; if it is not well directed, it strikes in the void. It is with spirits as with men; if he who calls them is indifferent or antipathetic, they may hear, but do not often listen."
8. " Does the spirit invoked come voluntarily, or is he constrained to come ?"
" He obeys the will of God, that is, the general law that rules the universe ;• and yet constraint is not the word; for he judges if it be useful to come , and there still is his free will. A superior spirit always comes when he is called for a useful end ; he refuses to anwer only in circles of persons either not serious, or treating the thing as a joke."
9. " Can the invoked spirit refuse to come at the call made on him ?"
" Perfectly ; or where would be his free will ? Do you think all the beings in the universe are at your orders ? And do you consider yourselves obliged to answer all who pronounce your name ? When I say he can refuse, I mean on the demand of the invocator, for an inferior spirit may be constrained to come by a superior spirit."
10. "Is there any means by which the invocajtor may oblige a spirit to come against his will ?"
" None, if the spirit is your equal or your superior in morality; I say in morality, not in intelligence, because you have no authority over him: if it is your inferior, you can, if it is for his good, for then other spirits will second you." (No. 279.)
11. "Is there any difficulty in invoking inferior spirits ? and is there any danger, in calling them, of putting ourselves in their power ?"
" They rule only those who allow themselves to be ruled. . He who is assisted by good spirits has nothing to fear: he controls the inferior spirits; they do not control him. In isolation, mediums, especially those who are beginning, should abstain from such invocations." (No. 278.)
12. " Is it necessary to be in any particular frame of mind for invocations ?"
" The most essential of all dispositions is concentra tion of thought, when we desire aught of serious spirits. With faith and the desire of good, one is more powerful to invoke superior spirits. In elevating the soul by concentration of thought, at the moment of invocation, we are identified with good spirits, and attract them to us.
13. " Is faith necessary in invocations ?" " Faith in God, yes ; faith will come for .the rest if you desire good, and wish for instruction."
14. " Have men more power to invoke spirits when united by community of thought and intention ?"
" When all are united by charity and for good, they obtain grand things. Nothing is more injurious to the result of invocations than divergence of thought."'
15. "Is making a chain by joining hands for some minutes, at the beginning of reunions, of any use ?"
" The chain is a material means, which does not promote union among you if it exist not in the thought: what is more useful is to be united in one common thought, each one calling to his side good spirits. You do not know all you might obtain in a serious reunion, from whence is banished every sentiment of pride and personality, and where reigns a perfect sentiment of mutual cordiality."
16. "Are invocations for fixed days and hours preferable ?"
" Yes, and, if it be possible, in the same place; the spirits come to it more willingly: it is the constant desire you have that aids the spirits to come and put themselves into communication with you. Spirits have their occupations, which they cannot leave at a moment's warning for your personal satisfaction. I say, in the same place; but do not suppose this to be an absolute obligation, for spirits come everywhere: I mean, a place consecrated to that is preferable, because there concentration of thought is more perfect."
17. " Have certain objects, such as medallions and talismans, the property of attracting or repelling spirits, as some pretend ?"
" This is a useless question, for you know very well that matter has no action on spirits. Be very sure that no good spirit ever advises such absurdities ; the virtue of talismans, of whatever nature they be, has never existed save in the imaginations of credulous people."
18. "What must we think of spirits who give rendezvous in dismal places, and at undue hours ?"
" These spirits amuse themselves at the expense of those who listen to them.- It is always useless, and often dangerous, to yield to such suggestions: useless, because one gains absolutely nothing but to be mysti- . fied ; dangerous, not for the evil the spirits might do, but on account of its influence on weak brains."
19. " Are there days and hours more propitious than others for invocations ? "
" For spirits that is perfectly indifferent, as is everything material, and it is a superstition to believe in the influence of days and hours. The most propitious moments are those in which the invocator can be the least disturbed by his accustomed occupations ; when his body and mind are most calm."
20. "Is invocation an agreeable or a painful thing for spirits ? Do they come voluntarily when they are called?"
" That depends on their character and the motives from which they are called. When the object is praiseworthy, and when the surrounding is sympathetic to them, it is agreeable to them, and even attractive; the spirits are always happy in the affection testified for them. There are those to whom it is a great happiness to communicate with men, and who suffer from the indifference in which they are left. But, as I have said, it depends upon their character ; among spirits there are also misanthropes, who do not like to be disturbed, and whose answers show their ill humor, especially when they are called by indifferent people, in whom they are not at all interested. A spirit has often no motive for coming at the call of an unknown person, who is indifferent to him, and almost always moved by curiosity; if he comes, he usually makes but short visits, unless there may be a serious and instructive end in view in the invocation."
Remark. We see people who invoke their relations only to ask them the most ordinary things of material life ; for instance, one to know if he shall rent or sell his house, another to know what profit he shall have from his merchandise, the place where money is deposited, whether or no a certain business will be advantageous. Our relations from beyond the tomb are interested in us only by reason of the affection we have for them. If all our thought is limited to thinking them sorcerers, if we think of them only to ask favors of them, they cannot have any very great sympathy for us, and we should not be astonished at the little benevolence they sometimes evince.
21. "Is there a difference between good and bad spirits, in regard to their readiness to come at our call."
" There is a very great difference; bad spirits come voluntarily only inasmuch as they hope to govern and make dupes; but they experience a strong contrariety when they are forced to confess their faults, and only ask to go away again, like a pupil called up for correction. They can be constrained to come, by the superior spirits, as a punishment, and for the instruction of the incarnated. Invocation is painful for good spirits when they are called uselessly, for frivolities ; then they do not come at all, or soon withdraw."
" You may take it as a principle, that spirits, whatever they be, like no more than yourselves to serve as amusement for the curious. Often you have no other end, in invoking a spirit, than to see what he will tell you, or to question him on the particulars of his life, which he does not care to tell you, because he has no motive for giving you his confidence ; and think you he is going to put himself at the bar for your good pleasure ? Undeceive yourselves: what he would not have done during his lifetime, he will not do as a spirit."
Remark. Experience proves, in fact, that invocation is always agreeable to spirits, when made with a serious and useful motive ; the good come with pleasure to instruct us ; those who suffer find comfort in the sympathy shown them ; those whom we have known are satisfied with our remembrance. Frivolous spirits like to be invoked by frivolous persons, because that gives them an opportunity to amuse themselves at their expense ; they are ill at ease with grave persons.
22. " In order to manifest themselves, do spirits always need to be invoked ?"
" No; they very often present themselves without being called, and that proves that they come willingly."
23. "When aspirit comes of himself, can we be sure of his identity ?"
" Not at all; for deceiving spirits often employ this means, the better to delude."
24. "When we invoke the spirit of a person by thought, does he come to us even when there are no manifestations by writing or otherwise ?"
"Writing is a material means by which the spirit may attest his presence ; but it is the thought that attracts him, and we show it by writing,"
25. When an inferior spirit manifests himself, can we oblige him to withdraw ?"
"Yes; by not listening to him. But how do you expect him to withdraw when you amuse yourselves with his vileness ? The inferior spirits attach themselves to those who listen to them with complacence, like the fools among you."
26. " Is invocation, made in the name of God, a guarantee against the intermeddling of bad spirits ?"
"The name of God is not a check for all perverse spirits, but it restrains many ; by this means you always remove some, and you would remove many more, if it were made from the bottom of the heart, and not as a common formula."
27. " Could several spirits be invoked by name at the same time ?"
" There is no difficulty in that; and if you had three or four hands to write, three or four spirits could answer you at the same time : this is what does happen when there are several mediums."
28. "When several spirits are simultaneously invoked, and there is but one medium, which one answers ?"
" One answers for all, and he expresses the collective thought."
29. " In a stance, could the same spirit communicate with two mediums at the same time ?"
" As easily as you have men who can dictate several letters at the same time."
Remark. We have seen a spirit answer at the same time by two mediums,— to one in English, to another in French, — and the answers were identical in sense; some were the literal translation of the others. Two spirits, invoked simultaneously by two mediums, might establish a conversation with each other ; this mode of communication not being necessary for them, as they can read each other's thought, they sometimes do it for our instruction. If they are inferior spirits, as they are still imbued with terrestrial passions and corporeal ideas, it might happen that they would dispute and apostrophize each other with big words, upbraid each other with their wrongs, and even throw pencils, baskets, planchettes, &c, at each other.
30. " Can a spirit, invoked at the same time in different places, answer simultaneously to the questions addressed to him ?"
" Yes, if it is an elevated spirit."
—"In this case does the spirit divide himself? or has he the gift of ubiquity ?"
" The sun is one, yet he radiates all around, throwing his rays afar without subdividing himself: it is the same with spirits. The thought of the spirit is like a star that projects its light to a distance, and may be seen from all points of the horizon. The purer the spirit, the more his thought radiates and extends, like the light. The inferior spirits are too material; they can answer only to a single person at once, and cannot come if they are called elsewhere. A superior spirit, called at the same time to two different points, will answer both invocations, if they are equally serious and fervent; if not, he will give his preference to the more serious."
Remark. The same with a man who can, without changing his place, transmit his thought by signals seen from different points.
In a s&ance of the Parisian Society for Spirit Studies, when the question of ubiquity had been discussed, a spirit dictated spontaneously the following communication : " You asked, this evening, what is the hierarchy of spirits as to ubiquity ? Compare us to an aeronaut, who rises little by little in the air. When he leaves the ground, a very small circle can perceive him ; as he rises, the circle enlarges for him ; and when he has reached a certain height, he appears to an infinite number of persons. So with us : a bad spirit, who is still attached to the earth, remains in a very restricted circle, in the midst of persons who see him. If he grows in grace, if he becomes better, he can talk with several persons ; and when he has become a superior spirit, he can radiate like the light of the sun, show himself to many, persons, and in many places, at the same time. CHANNING."
31. "Can the pure spirits be invoked —those who have ended their series of incarnations ?"
" Yes, but very rarely : they communicate only with pure and sincere hearts, and not with the haughty and egotistical: you must be careful to distrust inferior spirits, who take this quality to give themselves more importance in your eyes."
32. " How is it that the spirit of the most illustrious men comes as readily and familiarly at the call of the most obscure ?"
' Men judge spirits by themselves, and that is an error: after the death of the body, terrestrial rank no longer exists ; there is but the distinction of goodness among them; and those who are good go wherever there is good to be done."
33. " At what length of time after death can a spirit be invoked ?"
" It can be done at the very instant of death ; but as, at this moment, the spirit is still in trouble, he answers but imperfectly."
Remark. The duration of the trouble being very variable, there can be no fixed time to make the invocation ; yet it is rare if, at the end of eight days, the spirit has not sufficiently recovered to be able to answer : he can sometimes very well do so two or three days after death; it can, in any case, be tried with care.
34. " Is the invocation at the moment of death more painful for the spirit than if made later ? "
" Sometimes ; it is as if you were torn from sleep before you are fully awakened. There are some, however, who are not at all disturbed by it, and even whom it helps out of their trouble."
35. " How can the spirit of a child, who has died very young, answer with knowledge, when, during rfis life, he had as yet no consciousness of himself?"
" The soul of a child is a spirit still enveloped in the swaddling-clothes of matter; but, disengaged from matter, he enjoys his spirit faculties, for spirits have no age ; which proves that the spirit of the child has already lived. Yet, until he shall have become completely disengaged, he may preserve in his language some traces of the character of childhood."
Remark. The corporeal influence which makes itself felt on the spirit of the child, for a longer or shorter time, is sometimes remarked, in the same way, on the spirit of a person dying in a state of insanity. The spirit himself is not crazy, but we know that some spirits, for a time, believe themselves still in this world: it is, then, not astonishing that the spirit of an insane person should still feel the fetters which, during life, opposed his free manifestation, until he become completely disengaged. This effect varies according to the causes of the insanity, for there are some maniacs who recover the lucidity of their ideas immediately after their death.
Invocation of Animals
36. " Can the spirit of an animal be invoked ?"
"After the death of the animal, the intelligent principle that was in him is in a latent state; he is immediately utilized, by spirits charged with such cares, to animate new beings, in whom he continues the work of his elaboration. Thus, in the spirit world there are no spirits of wandering animals, but only human spirits. This answers your question."
" How is it, then, that some persons have invoked animals and received answers ?" •
" Invoke a stone and it will answer you. There is always a crowd of spirits ready to speak for anything."
Remark. Just the same if you invoke a myth, or an allegorical personage, it will answer; that is, it will be answered for, and the spirit who would* present himself would take its character and appearance. One day, a person took a fancy to invoke Tartufe, and Tartufe came immediately ; still more, he talked of Orgon, of Elmire, of Damis, and of Valire, of whom he gave news ; as to himself, he counterfeited the hypocrite with as much art as if Tartufe had been a real personage. Afterward, he said he was the spirit of an actor who had played that character.
Trifling-spirits always profit by the inexperience of interrogators, but they take good care never to address those who they know are enlightened enough to discover their impostures, and who would give no credit to their stories.
It is the same among men.
A gentleman had in his garden a nest of goldfinches, in which he was much interested ; one day the nest disappeared ; being certain that no one about the house had been guilty of its destruction, he thought of invoking the mother of the little ones ; she came, and said, in very good French, " Do not accuse any one, and be easy about my little ones ; the cat overthrew the nest by jumping; you will find, under the grass, all the little ones that have not been eaten." He looked, and found it so. Must he conclude that the bird had answered him ? No, assuredly; but simply that a spirit knew the history of it. This proves how much appearances should be distrusted, and how just the above reply: Invoke a stone, and it will answer you. (See, further the chapter on Mediumship among Animals, No. 234.)
Invocation of Living Persons
37. " Is the incarnation of the spirit an absolute obstacle to his invocation ?"
' No; but the state of the body must be such, at the time, as to permit the spirit to disengage himself. The incarnated spirit comes as much more easily as the world in which he finds himself is of a more elevated order, because the bodies there are less material."
38. " Can the spirit of a living person be invoked ?"
" Of course, as you can invoke an incarnated spirit. The spirit of a living person can also, in his moments of liberty, come without being invoked; that depends on his sympathy for the person with whom he communicates." (See No. 116 — History of the Man and the Snuff-box)
39. " In what state is the body of the person when the spirit is invoked ?"
" He sleeps, or is dozing; it is then the spirit is free."
" Could the body awaken while the spirit is absent ?"
" No; the spirit is obliged to reenter it; if, at the moment, he may be talking to you, he leaves you, and often tells you the reason for so doing "
40. " How is the spirit, when absent from the body, warned of the necessity of its return ? "
" The spirit of a living body is never completely separated ; to whatever distance it may transport itself, it is held to the body by a fluidic bond, which serves to recall it when necessary ; this tie is broken only by death."
Remark. This fluidic tie has often been noticed by seeing mediums. It is a kind of phosphorescent train, which is lost in space in the direction of the body. Some spirits say it is by that they recognize those who arc still boumd to the corporeal world.
41. "What would happen, if, during sleep, and in the absence of the spirit, the body should be mortally wounded ?"
"The spirit would be warned, and would reenter before death."
— " So it could not happen that the body could die in the absence of the spirit, and that on his return he could not reenter it ?"
" No ; it would be contrary to the law regulating the union of the soul and body."
— "But if the blow was struck suddenly, and without premeditation ?"
" The spirit would be warned before the mortal blow could be given."
Remark. The spirit of a living person interrogated on this point, answered, —
" If the body could die in the absence of the spirit, it would be too convenient a method of committing hypocritical suicides."
42. " Is the spirit of a person invoked during sleep as free to communicate as that of a dead person ?"
" No ; matter always influences it more or less."
Remark. A person in this state, to whom this question was addressed, answered,—
" I am always chained to the ball I drag after me."
— "In this state, could the spirit be hindered from coming because of its being elsewhere ?"
" Yes ; the spirit might be in a place where it pleased him to remain ; then he would not come at the invocation, especially if it were made by some one in whom he felt no interest."
43. " Is it absolutely impossible to invoke the spirit of a person who is awake ?"
" Though difficult, it is not absolutely impossible; for if the invocation carries, it may produce sleep in the person ; but the spirit can communicate, as spirit, only in those moments when its presence is not necessary to the intelligent activity of the body."
Remark. Experience proves that invocation madeduring a waking state may produce sleep, or, at least an absorption bordering on sleep; but this can take place only through a very' energetic will, and when the ties of sympathy exist between the two persons; otherwise the invocation does not cany. Even in a case where the invocation causes sleep, if the moment is inopportune, the person not wishing to sleep will resist, and, if he yield, his spirit will be troubled, and answer with difficulty. It thus results that the most favorable moment for the invocation of a living person is during his natural sleep, because his spirit, being free, can as well come toward the one who calls him as- to go elsewhere.
When the invocation is made with the consent of the person, and he seeks to sleep for the purpose, this very desire may retard the sleep and trouble the spirit; an unforced sleep is preferable.
44. " Has a living person, on waking, a consciousness of having been invoked ? "
" No ; you are yourselves invoked more often than you think. The spirit alone knows it, and may sometimes leave with him a vague impression, like a dream."
— " Who can invoke us if we are but obscure beings ?"
" In other existences you may have been known either in this world or in others, and have had your relations and friends the same in this world or in others. Suppose your spirit may have animated the body of the father of another person: well, then, he invokes his father ; it is your spirit who is invoked, and who answers."
45. "Would the invoked spirit of a living person answer as spirit, or with the ideas pertaining to a waking state ?"
" That depends on his elevation ; but his judgment is more healthy, and he has fewer prejudices, exactly like somnambulists ; it is a nearly similar state."
46. " If the spirit of a somnambulist in a state of magnetic sleep were invoked, would he be more lucid than that of other persons?"
" He would, doubtless, answer more lucidly, because more disinthralled ; all depends on the degree of the spirit's independence of the body."
— "Could the spirit of a somnambulist answer a person at a distance, who might invoke him, at the same time that he is verbally answering another person ?"
"The faculty of communicating simultaneously at two different points pertains only to spirits completely disengaged from matter."
47. " Can the ideas of a. person in a waking state be modified by acting upon his spirit during sleep ?"
" Yes, sometimes ; the ties that bind the spirit to matter are not then so close ; he is more accessible to moral impressions, and these impressions may influence his mode of seeing in the ordinary state."
48. " Is the spirit of a living person free to say or not to say what he will ? "
" He has his faculties of spirit, and consequently his free will ; and as he has more perspicacity, he is even more circumspect than when in a waking state."
49. " In invoking a person, can he be constrained to speak when he wishes to be silent ? "
" I have said that the spirit has his free will; but it can very well be that, as spirit, he attaches less importance to certain things than in the ordinary state; his conscience may speak more freely. Besides, if he does not wish to speak, he can easily escape importunities by leaving, for a spirit cannot be retained as you can retain his body."
50. •'Can the spirit of a living person be forced by another spirit to come and speak, as can be done among wandering spirits ?"
" Among spirits, whether of the dead or the living, there is no supremacy, save from moral superiority; and you may well believe that a superior spirit will never lend his support to a cowardly indiscretion."
Remark. This abuse of confidence would, in fact, be a bad action, which, however, would have no result, since you cannot tear from a spirit a secret he desires to keep, at least unless, influenced by a sentiment of justice, he avows what, under other circumstances, he would withhold. A person, by this means, desired to know of one of his relatives if his will was in her favor. The spirit answered, " Yes, my dear niece, and you shall soon have the proof of it."
The thing was true; but a few days afterward the relative destroyed his will, and was mischievous enough to let her know of it, though he did not know he had been invoked. An instinctive feeling, doubtless, urged him to execute the resolution his spirit had taken at the time of his having been questioned. It is cowardly to ask of a spirit, either of the dead or living, what you would not have dared to ask him in person, and this cowardice is not even compensated by the expected result.
51. " Can one invoke a spirit whose body is still in the mother's womb ?"
" No; you know that, at such time, the spirit is in utter trouble."
Remark. The incarnation takes place actually only at the moment of the child's first breath ; but from the conception the spirit designated to animate it is seized with a trouble, which increases as the birth approaches, and takes from him his self-consciousness, and consequently the faculty of answering. (See Book on Spirits— Return to the Corporeal Life, Union of the Soul and Body, No. 344.)
52. " Could a deceiving spirit take the place of a living invoked person ?"
" That is not doubtful, and it very often happens, particularly when the intention of the invocator is not pure. But the invocation of living persons is interesting only as a psychological study : it is necessary to abstain always when it can have no instructive result."
Remark. If the invocation of wandering spirits does not always carry, — to use their own expression, — it must be much more frequent for those who are incarnated ; then, especially, do deceiving spirits take their place.
53. "Are there dangers in the invocation of a living person ?"
" It is not always without danger ; that depends on the person's position, for if he is sick, it might add to his sufferings."
54. " In what case could the invocation of a living person have most dangers ?"
" You should abstain from invoking children of a very tender age, persons seriously ill, infirm old men ; indeed, there are dangers in all cases when the body is very much enfeebled."
Remark. The sudden suspension of the intellectual faculties during a waking state might also be dangerous, if the person at the moment should find himself in need of his presence of mind.
55. " During the invocation of a living person, does the body experience fatigue by reason of the work his absent spirit performs ?"
"A person in this state, who said his body was fatigued, answered this question: ' My spirit is like a balloon tied to a post; my body is the post, which is shaken by the strugglings of the balloon.' "
56. " As the invocation of living persons may be dangerous when made without precaution, does not the danger exist when we invoke a spirit we do not know to be incarnated, and who might not find himself in favorable conditions ?"
" No ; the circumstances are not the same: he will come only if in a position to do so ; and besides, have I not told you to ask, before making an invocation, if it be possible ?"
57. " When, at the most inopportune moments, we experience an irresistible desire to sleep, does it warn us that we are invoked by some one ?"
" It may occur, but most often it is a purely physical effect; either the body or the spirit has need of its liberty."
Remark. A lady of our acquaintance, a medium, one day invoked the spirit of her grandson, who was sleeping in the same room. His identity was confirmed by the language, by the familiar expressions of the child, and by the exact recital of several things that had happened at his boarding-school; but one especial circumstance confirmed it. Suddenly the hand of the medium paused in the middle of a sentence, and it was impossible to obtain anything further: at this moment, the child, half awake, moved in his bed. Some moments after, he again slept; the hand went on anew, continuing the interrupted talk.
The invocation of living persons, made under good conditions, proves, in the least contestable manner, the distinct action of the spirit and the body, and consequently, the existence of an intelligent principle independent of matter. (See Revue Spirite of i860, pages 11 and 18, several remarkable examples of invocation of living persons.)
Human Telegraphy
58. ''Could two persons, by invoking each other, transmit their thoughts, and thus correspond?"
" Yes ; and this human telegraphy will some day be a universal means of correspondence'.'
" Why should it not be practiced at present ?"
" So it is, with some persons, but not with every one: men must purify themselves, in order that their spirit may be disengaged from matter ; and this is still another reason for making the invocation in the name of God. Until then it is confined to chosen and dematerialized souls, who are rarely met in the actual state of the world's inhabitants."
CHAPTER XXVI - QUESTIONS THAT MAY BE ADDRESSED TO SPIRITS
Preliminary Observations
The subject-matter of the question requires a still more serious attention, for it is often the nature of the request that draws forth a true or false reply ; there are those to which the spirits cannot or ought not to reply, from motives unknown to us : it is, therefore, useless to insist ; but what we should especially avoid are questions calculated to put their perspicacity to the proof. When a thing is, it is said they ought to know it ; but it is precisely because the thing is known to you, or that you have the means of verifying it for yourselves, that they do not give themselves the trouble of answering ; this suspicion annoys them, and nothing satisfactory is obtained.
Have you not daily examples of this with yourselves ? Would superior men, who are conscious of their value, answer all the foolish questions calculated to subject them to examination like scholars ? The desire of making a believer of such or such a person is not, for spirits, a motive for satisfying a vain curiosity ; they know that conviction will come sooner or later, and the means they employ to lead to it are not always those you think. Suppose a grave man, occupied with use ful and serious matters, incessantly harassed by the puerile questions of a child, and you will have an idea of what the superior spirits think of all the nonsense with which they are credited. It does not follow that very useful teachings and excellent advice may not be obtained from spirits ; but they answer according to the knowledge they themselves possess, according to the interest you deserve on their part and the affection they have for you, and according to the end proposed and the usefulness they see in the thing ; but if all our thoughts are limited to thinking them better fitted to teach us of the things of this world, they cannot have a very profound sympathy for us ; then they make visits very short or very often, according to the degree of their imperfection, evincing their annoyance for hav ing been uselessly troubled.
If what we have already said in this work has been thoroughly understood, some idea can be formed of the circle in which it is best to confine the questions to be addressed to spirits ; yet, for greater certainty, we give below the answers that have been made on the princi pal subjects on which persons of slight experience are usually disposed to interrogate them.
Questions sympathetic ou antipathetic to Sprits
1. " Do spirits answer willingly to questions that are addressed to them ? "
" That is according to the questions. Serious spirits always answer with pleasure to those which have for their end good, and the means, to advance you. They do not listen to futile questions."
2. " Is it sufficient that a question be serious to ob tain a serious answer ? "
" No ; that depends on the spirit who answers."
— " But does not a serious question drive away trifling spirits ? "
" It is not the question that drives away trifling spir its ; it is the character of him zvho asks it."
3. " What are the questions especially antipathetic to good spirits ? "
" All those that are useless, or are asked from a mo tive of curiosity or test ; then they do not answer, but. withdraw."
—" Are there any questions antipathetic to imper fect spirits ? "
" Only those that might unmask their ignorance or their fraud when they try to deceive; otherwise they answer all, without troubling themselves about the truth."
4. " What is to be thought of persons who see in spirit communications only a distraction or a pastime, or a means of obtaining revelations on what interests them ? "
" These persons are very pleasing to inferior spirits, who, like them, wish to be amused, and are content when they have mystified them."
5. " Where spirits do not answer certain questions, is it the effect of their own will, or, rather, that a supe rior power is opposed to certain revelations ? "
" Both ; there are things that cannot be revealed, and others that the spirit does not know."
—" By strongly insisting, would the spirit end by an swering ? "
" No ; the spirit who does not wish to answer can always leave. It is, therefore, necessary to wait when you are told to do so ; and do not be obstinate in wish ing to make us answer. To insist upon having an answer when we do not wish to give one, is a certain means of being deceived."
6. " Can all spirits understand the questions put to them ? "
" Very far from it ; the inferior spirits are incapable of comprehending some questions, which does not, however, prevent them from answering well or ill, just as it happens among yourselves."
Remark. In some cases, and when the thing is use ful, it frequently happens that a more enlightened spirit comes to the assistance of the ignorant spirit, and breathes to him what he ought to say.
The contrast between the answers is easily recog nized ; and, besides, the spirit often acknowledges it him self. This happens only for spirits really ignorant, never for those who make a parade of false knowledge.
Questions on the Future
7. " Can spirits tell us of the future ? "
" If man should know the future* he would neglect the present. And there is where you always insist upon having a precise answer; it is a great wrong, for the manifestation of spirits is not a means of divina tion. If you will, absolutely, have an answer, it will be given to you by a foolish spirit ; we tell you so always." (See Book on Spirits —Knowledge of the Future, No. 868.)
8. "Are there not future events sometimes spon taneously and truly announced by spirits ? "
" It may happen that the spirit may foresee things he thinks it useful to make known, or that he has a mission to make known ; but there is greater cause for suspecting it to be deceiving spirits, who are amusing themselves by making predictions. Only by taking all the circumstances together can we ascertain the degree of confidence they merit."
9. " What kind of predictions should we most mis trust ? "
" All that have no motive of general utility. Per sonal predictions may almost always be considered apocryphal."
10. " What is the motive of spirits who announce spontaneously events that do not come to pass ? "
" Most often it is to be amused by the credulity, the terror, or the joy they cause ; then they laugh at the disappointment. Yet these lying predictions have sometimes a more serious aim —that of putting to the test him to whom they are made, to see how he takes them, the nature of the sentiments, good or bad, they may awaken in him."
Remark. Such, for instance, as the announcement of what might excite cupidity or ambition, the death of a person, or a prospective inheritance, &c.
11. "Why do serious spirits, when they predict an event, ordinarily fix no date ; is it because they cannot, or will not ? "
" Both ; they may, in some cases, predict an event ; then it is a warning they give you. As to giving a precise date, often they ought not ; often, also, they cannot, because they do not know themselves. The spirit may foresee that a thing will take place, but the precise moment may depend on events not yet accom plished, and which God alone knows. Trifling spirits, who make no scruple of deceiving you, indicate the days and the hours, without troubling themselves with the issue. For this reason, all circumstantial predic tions should be distrusted. "
Once again, our mission is to make you progress ; we aid you as much as we can. He who asks wisdom of the superior spirits will never be deceived ; but do not believe that we lose our time listening to your nonsense, and telling your fortunes ; we leave that to frivolous spirits, whom it amuses, like mischievous children.
" Providence has imposed limits to the revelations that may be made to man. Serious spirits keep silence on everything forbidden to be made known. By in sisting on an answer, you are exposed to the impos tures of inferior spirits, always ready to seize every occasion to lay snares for your credulity."
Remark. Spirits see, or foresee, by induction, future events ; they see them fulfilled in a space of time which they do not measure as we do ; in order to give the exact date, they must identify themselves with our method of computing duration, which they do not always judge necessary ; this is often a cause of appar ent error."
12. "Are there not men endowed with a special faculty, which makes them foresee the future ? "
" Yes ; those whose souls are disengaged from mat ter ; then it is the spirit who sees ; and when it is use ful, God permits them to reveal some things for good ; but there are more impostors and charlatans. This faculty will be more common in the future."
13. What must be thought of spirits who predict a person's death at a certain day or hour ? "
" These are malicious jesters, — very malicious, — who have no other motive than to enjoy the fears they cause. Never believe them."
14. " How is it that some persons are warned by presentiment of the time of their death ? "
" Most often it is their own spirit, who knows it in his moments of liberty, and preserves an intuition of it on awakening. These persons, being prepared, are not frightened nor moved. They see in this separation of the body and soul only a change of situation, or, if you like better, and to be more common, the change from a thick coat to a silk one. The fear of death will dimin ish as spirit belief is extended."
Questions on Past and Future Existences
15. "Can the spirits acquaint us with our past existences ? "
" God sometimes permits them to be revealed ac cording to the end ; if for your edification and instruc tion, they will be true, and in such case the revelation is almost always made spontaneously, and in a totally unforeseen manner ; but He never permits it to sat isfy a vain curiosity."
—"Why do some spirits never refuse to give such revelations ? "
" They arc bantering spirits, who amuse themselves at your expense. In general, you should regard as false, or, at least, suspicious, all revelations of this na ture that have not one eminently serious and useful aim. Mocking spirits please themselves in flattering self-love, by pretended origins. There are mediums and believers, who accept for current coin all that is said on this subject, and who do not see that the ac tual state of their spirit justifies in nothing the rank they pretend to have occupied ; a small vanity, with which the bantering spirits are as much amused as men. It would be more logical and more in conform ity with the progression of beings, that they should ascend, not have descended ; it would be more honor able to them. In order that these revelations should be worthy of confidence, they should have been made spontaneously by various mediums, strangers to each other, to whom they should have been anteriorly revealed : then there would be evident reason for believing them."
—" If we may not know our anterior individuality, is it the same as to the kind of existence we have had, the social position we have occupied, the qualities and defects that have predominated in us ? "
" No ; that may be revealed, because you may profit by it, for your advancement ; but in studying your present, you can yourselves deduce your past." (See Book on Spirits — Forgetfulness of the Past, No. 392-)
16. " Can anything be revealed to us of our future existences ? "
" No ; all that some spirits tell you on this subject is simply a jest, —easily understood to be so ; your future existence is not decreed in advance, for it will be what you yourself have made it, by your' conduct in the world, and by the resolutions you will have made when you shall have become spirits. The less you have to expiate, the happier you will be ; but to know where and how this existence will be, is impossible, except in the special and rare cases of spirits who are on the earth only to accomplish an important mission, because then their way is in some sort traced in advance.
Questions on Moral and Material Interests
17. " Can one ask advice of spirits ? " " Yes, certainly ; good spirits never refuse to aid those who invoke them with confidence, principally on what concerns the soul ; but they repulse hypocrites, those who seem to ask for light, and yet delight in darkness?
18. "Can the spirits give advice on things of private interest ? "
"Sometimes, according to the motive. It depends, also, upon those to whom you address yourself. Ad vice concerning your private life is given with more certainty by the familiar spirit, because he attaches himself to a person, and interests himself in what con cerns him. This is the friend, the confidant of your most secret thoughts ; but often you tire him with questions so little to the purpose that he leaves you. It would be as absurd to ask about your private affairs of spirits who are strangers to you, as to address your self, for that purpose, to the first person you might meet on your road. You should never forget that puerility of questions is incompatible with the superi ority of the spirits. You must also take into account the qualities of the familiar spirit, who may be good or bad, according to his sympathies for the person to whom he attaches himself. The familiar -spirit of a wicked man is a wicked spirit, whose advice may be pernicious, but who removes and yields his place to a better spirit if the man himself becomes better. Like to like."
19. "Can the familiar spirits favor material interests by revelations ? "
" They can and do sometimes, accbrding to circum stances ; but be assured that good spirits never lend themselves to serve cupidity. The bad will display to your eyes a thousand attractions, to incite it, and mys tify you, at last, by deception. Be very sure, also, that if your lot is to undergo a certain vicissitude, your protecting spirits may aid you to support it with more resignation, may sometimes soften it ; but in the inter est of your future, it is not permitted them to deliver you from it ; as a good father does not give to his child all he may desire."
Remark. Our spirit protectors can, in many cases, indicate to us the better way, without, at the same time, leading us in a leash ; otherwise we should lose all initiative, and would not dare to take a step with out having recourse to them, and this to the prejudice of our perfecting. To progress, man often has to gain experience at his own expense ; for this reason wise spirits, even while advising us, leave us to our own energy, as a skillful teacher does for his pupils. In the ordinary circumstances of life, they counsel us by inspiration, and thus leave us all the merit of the good, as they leave us all the responsibility of the bad choice. It would be an abuse of the condescension of the familiar spirits, and a mistake as to their mis sion, to question them every instant about the most ordinary things, as do some mediums. There are those who, for a yes or no, take the pencil, and ask advice for the most simple action. This habit denotes poverty of ideas ; at the same time, it is a presumption to suppose we have always a spirit at our command, having nothing else to do but to be occupied with us and our small interests. It will also serve to destroy one's own judgment, and reduce one's self to a passive part, profitless for the present life, and most surely prejudicial to future advancement. If it is childish to interrogate the spirits for trifling things, it is not less so on the part of the spirits who occupy themselves spontaneously with what one. might call the details of the household : they may be good, but assuredly they are very terrestrial.
20. " If a person, in dying, leaves his affairs embarrasseJ, can one ask his spirit to aid - in disentangling them, and can one also question him upon the real estate he has left, in a case where the estate may not be known, if such questioning be in the interests of justice ? "
" You forget that death is a deliverance from the cares of the world ; do you think that the spirit who is happy in his liberty willingly returns to take up his chains, and occupy himself with things he no longer cares for, to satisfy the cupidity of those who, perhaps, are re joiced at his death, in the hope that it will be profitable to them ? You speak of justice, but the justice is in cheating their covetousness ; it is the beginning of the punishment which God reserves for their greediness for the goods of the world. Besides, the confusion which the death of a person sometimes leaves, makes a part of the trials of life, and it is not in the power of any spirit to deliver you from them, because they are in the decrees of God "
Remark. The above answer will, doubtless, disap point those wh6 imagine that spirits have nothing bet ter to do than to serve us as auxiliary clairvoyants, to guide us, not toward heaven, but on the earth. Another consideration comes to the support of this answer. If a man, during his life, has left his affairs in disorder from negligence, it is not likely that, afterhis death, he will take more care, for he would be happy to be freed from the trouble they caused him, and however little he may be elevated, he will attach less importance to them as spirit than as man. As to the unknown goods he may have left, he has no reason to interest himself for greedy heirs, who would prob ably think no more of him if they did not hope to gain something ; and if he is still imbued with human pas sions he may take a malign pleasure in their disap pointment. If, in the interest of justice and of persons he loves, a spirit deems it useful to make revelations of this kind, he makes them spontaneously, and for that there is no need of being a medium, or of having recourse to one ; he leads to the knowledge of the things by apparently accidental circumstances, but never on a question put to him about it ; inasmuch as this question cannot change the trials to be suffered, it would rather tend to increase them, because it is almost always an indication of cupidity, and proves to the spirits that they think of him only from interested motives. (See No. 295.
Questions on the Fate of Spirits
21. "May we ask of spirits information of their situ ation in the world of spirits ? "
" Yes ; and they give it willingly, when the question is dictated by sympathy or the desire of being useful, and not by curiosity."
22. " Can spirits describe the nature of their suffer ings, or their happiness ? "
" Perfectly ; and these revelations are of great in struction for you, for they initiate you into the true nature of future pains and recompenses, destroying the false ideas you have had on this subject ; they tend to reanimate faith and your confidence in the goodness of God. The good spirits are glad to describe to you the happiness of the chosen ; the bad can be con strained to describe their sufferings to incite them to repentance ; they sometimes find a comfort in it ; the unhappy pour out their complaint in the hope of com passion. "
Do not forget that the essential, exclusive end of Spiritism is your advancement, and it is to attain it that the spirits are permitted to initiate you into the future life, offering you examples by which you may profit. The more you identify yourself with the world that awaits you, the less you will regret the one in which you now are. This is, in short, the actual end of the revelation."
23. " In invoking a person whose fate is unknown, may we know from himself if he is still living ? "
" Yes, if the uncertainty concerning his death is not a necessity, or a trial for those w.ho are interested in knowing it."
" If he is dead, can he give us the circumstances of his death, so that they can be verified ? " " If he attaches any importance to it, he will do it ; otherwise he cares little about it."
Remark. Experience proves that, in such case, the spirit is not impressed by the motives of interest there may be to know the circumstances of his death ; if he chooses to reveal them, he does it of himself, either through a medium or by visions or apparitions, and can then give more exact indications ; if he does not desire it, a deceiving spirit may perfectly counterfeit him, and be amused by the vain search he causes.
It frequently happens that the disappearance of a person, whose death cannot be officially confirmed, creates confusion in family affairs. It is only in very rare and exceptional cases that we have known the spirits show the way of getting at the truth, after being asked to do so ; if they wish to do it, doubtless they can, but often it is not permitted if the embarrassments are trials for those who might be interested in disen tangling them.
It is, therefore, but a chimerical hope we follow, when we take such means of recovering an inherit ance ; the most certain thing about it will be the money spent in the effort.
There are not wanting spirits well disposed to flatter such hopes, who make no scruples of inciting to pro ceedings of which one is often very happy to be re lieved at the expense of a little ridicule.
Questions on the Health
24. " Can spirits give us advice for our health ?"
" Health is a condition necessary for the work one should accomplish in the world ; for this reason they willingly attend to it ; but as there are ignorant and learned among them, it is not proper for that, any more than for anything else, to address yourself to the first comer."
25. " In addressing one's self to the spirit of a med ical celebrity, is one more certain of obtaining good advice ? "
" Terrestrial celebrities are not infallible, and have, often, systematic ideas which are not always true, and from which death does not immediately deliver them. Terrestrial science is a very small thing compared with celestial science ; the superior spirits alone have this last science ; without having names known among you, they may know much more than your learned men about everything. Science alone does not make spirits superior, and you would be very much astonished at the rank certain learned men occupy among us. The spirit of a learned man may not know more than when he was in the world, if he has not progressed as a spirit."
26. " Cannot the learned, after becoming a spirit, recognize his scientific errors ? "
" If he have reached a sufficiently high degree to be rid of his vanity, and to understand that his develop ment is not complete, he recognizes and avows them without shame ; but .if he is not sufficiently dematerialized, he may preserve some of the prejudices with which he was imbued in the world."
27. " Could a doctor, by invoking those of his pa tients who are dead, obtain from them some enlight enment on the cause of their death, the faults he may have committed in the treatment, and thus acquire an addition to his knowledge ? "
" He can ; and that would be very useful should he have the assistance of enlightened spirits, who could supply the defects in the knowledge of some of the patients. But for that he must make this study in a serious and assiduous manner, with a humanitary design, and not as a means of easily acquiring knowl edge and fortune."
Questions on Inventions and Discoveries
28. "Can spirits guide in scientific researches and discoveries ? "
" Science is the work of genius ; it must be acquired only by labor ; for by labor alone is man advanced on his road. What merit would there be if he had only to question the spirits in order to know everything ? Any simpleton could become learned at that price. Industry alone can give us inventions and discoveries. Then there is another consideration ; everything must come in its time, when ideas are ripe 'to receive it : if man had this power I13 would overturn the order of things, pushing forward fruit before its season.
" God has said to man, Thou shalt draw thy nourish ment from the earth by the sweat of thy face : admi rable figure ! which pictures his condition here below. He must progress in everything by the effort of labor ; if we give him things already made, of what use would be his intelligence? He would.be like the scholar whose duty another person performs."
29. " Are the ' savant ' and the inventor never assist ed by spirits in their researches ? "
" O, that is very different. When the time has come for a discovery, the spirits charged with its direction seek the man capable of conducting it to a good end, and inspire him with the necessary ideas, in such a way as to leave him all the merit of it ; for these ideas he must elaborate and work out. It is thus with all the grand achievements of human intelligence. The spirits leave each man in his sphere ; of him who is fit only to cultivate the earth, they will not make a confidant of God's secrets ; but they know how to draw from obscurity the man capable of seconding His designs. Do not allow yourselves to be carried away, by curiosity or ambition, into a path which is not the end of Spiritism, and which will lead only to the most ridiculous manifestations."
Remark. A more enlightened knowledge of Spirit ism has calmed the fever for discoveries which, in its incipiency, were expected to be reached by this means. It was supposed persons had only to ask of the spirits recipes to color the hair or to make it grow, to cure .corns on the feet, &c. We have seen many persons who thought their fortunes made, and who received only more or less ridiculous processes for it. It is the same when persons desire, by the aid of spirits, to pry into the mysteries of the origin of things ; some spirits having, on such subjects, systems often worth no more than those of men, and which it is prudent to receive with the utmost reserve.
Questions on Hidden Treasures
30. " Can spirits discover to us hidden treasures ? "
" The superior spirits are not engaged in such mat ters ; but mocking spirits often indicate treasures that do not exist, or can make you fancy one in a spot in a directly contrary direction from where it is ; and that has its usefulness in order to show that tfue fortune is in labor. If Providence destines hidden riches for some one, he will find them naturally ; otherwise not."
31. "What are we to think of the belief of spirit guardians for hidden treasures ?"
" Spirits who are not dematerialized are attached to things. Misers who have hidden their treasures might still watch over and guard them after their death, and the trouble of seeing them carried away is one of their punishments, until they understand how useless they are to them. There are also spirits of the earth, charged to direct its interior transformations, who have been allegorically made the guardians of natural riches."
Remark. The question of hidden treasures is in the same category as that of unknown inheritances ; very silly would he be who should reckon upon the pretended revelations that might be made to him by the jokers of the invisible world. We have said that when spirits will or can make such revelations, they do it spontaneously, and have no need of mediums for that. We give an example. A lady lost her husband, after thirty years of married life, and found herself on the brink of being expelled from her home, without any resource, by her step-son, to whom she had been as a mother. Her despair was at its height, when, one evening, her husband appeared to her, told her to follow him into his study ; there he showed her his writing desk, which was still under seal, and by a kind of second sight he made her see its interior ; he pointed out a secret drawer that she had not known, explained to her its mechanism, and added, " I fore saw what would happen, and wished to make sure of your comfort : in this drawer is my last will ; I have given you the use of this house, and a yearly income :" then he disappeared. When the day came to remove the seals, no one could open the drawer ; then the lady related what had happened to her. She opened it as her husband had told her, and there found the will, in terms exactly as he had mentioned.
Questions on other Worlds
32. " What degree of confidence may we place in the descriptions spirits give us of the different worlds ? "
" That depends on the degree of real advancement the spirits who give these descriptions may have reached ; for you understand that ordinary spirits are as incapable of teaching you, in that respect, as an ignoramus in the world is to describe all the countries of the earth. You often ask scientific questions about these worlds that these spirits cannot solve : if they are sincere, they speak according to their personal ideas ; if they are trifling spirits, they amuse them selves by giving you absurd and fantastic descriptions ; inasmuch as these spirits, who are not deprived of imagination in the wandering state, any more than on earth, draw on this faculty for the recital of many things that have no reality. Yet, there is no absolute impossibility of having some enlightenment on these worlds ; good spirits are even pleased in describing to you those who inhabit them, in order to serve as in struction and for your advancement, and to induce you to follow the road that will lead you thither ; it is a means of fixing your ideas of the future, so as not to leave you with a vague impression."
" What certainty can we have of the exactness of these descriptions ? "
" The best is the agreement between them ; but remember, they have your moral advancement for their object, and that, consequently, it is on the moral state of the inhabitants you may receive the best teachings, and not on their physical or geological state. With your actual knowledge you could not even com prehend it ; its study would not serve your progress here below, and you will have every means of making it when you are there."
Remark. Questions on the physical constitution and astronomical elements of the worlds enter into the order of scientific researches, of which the spirits ought not to spare you the trouble ; otherwise an astronomer would find it very convenient to have them make his calculations, which, doubtless, he would not hesitate to do. If spirits could, by revelation, spare the labor of a discovery, it is probable that they would do so in favor of a " savant " modest enough to avow openly the source, rather than to allow those to profit by it who deny them, and for whose self-love, on the - contrary, they often contrive deceptions.
CHAPTER XXVII - CONTRADICTIONS AND MYSTIFICATIONS
Of Contradictions
Let us hasten to say, first, that these contradictions, of which some persons make great account, are in gen eral more apparent than real ; that they more often pertain to the superficies than to the depth of the thing, and, consequently, are unimportant. The con tradictions proceed from two sources, men and spirits.
It must not be forgotten that among spirits, as among men, there are false and half-learned scientists, haughty and presumptuous spirits, and systematists. As it is given only to the perfected spirits to know everything, there are for others, as well as for us, mys teries which Jhey explain in their own way, according to their ideas, and on which they may have opinions more or less correct, which from self-love they desire to have prevail, and which they like to put forth in their communications. The wrong is, that some of their interpreters have too lightly embraced opinions contrary to good sense, and of which the authors should be made responsible. Thus, the contradic tions of spirit origin have no cause but the diversity of intelligence, knowledge, judgment, and morality of spirits who are, as yet, unfitted to know everything, or . to comprehend everything. (See Book on Spirits. Introduction, § XIII. ; Conclusion, § IX.)
If in the number there are some who are not above humanity, there are many who are far beyond it ; and these could give us instructions, we should seek in vain among the most learned men. We must dis tinguish them from the rabble of inferior spirits, and a profound knowledge of Spiritism will certainly lead us to this distinction.
But even these instructions are limited, and if it is not given to spirits to know everything, for still greater reason should it be the same with men. Thus, there are things on which they are questioned in vain, either that it is forbidden to reveal them, or because they are themselves ignorant of them, and could give us only their personal opinion ; but these very personal opin ions are what vain spirits give as absolute truths. It is especially on what should remain hidden, as the future, and the principle of things, that they insist the most, in order to appear to be in the secrets of God ; so it is on these points there are the most contradic tions. (See the preceding chapter.)
1. "Can the same spirit, communicating to two dif ferent circles, transmit to them contradictory answers on the same subject ? "
" If the two circles differ in opinions and thoughts, the answer might reach them travestied, because they are under the influence of different columns of spirits : it is not the answer that is contradictory ; it is the manner in which it is rendered."
2. " We understand that an answer might be altered ; but when the qualities of the medium exclude all idea of bad influence, how does it happen that superior spirits hold a different and contradictory language on the same subject with persons perfectly serious? "
" The really superior spirits never contradict them selves, and their language is always the same with the same persons. It may be different according to the persons and places ; but it is necessary to pay atten tion to this —the contradiction is often only apparent ; more in the words than in the thought ; for on reflec tion it will be found that the fundamental idea is the same. Then the same spirit may answer differently on the same question, according to the degree of per fection of those who invoke him, for it is not always good that all should have the same answer, while they are not as advanced. It is exactly as if a child and a ' savant ' should ask you the same question ; surely you would answer to each in such a way as to be compre hended, and to satisfy them ; the answer, though differ ent, would always have the same groundwork."
3. " From what motive do serious spirits seem to agree with ideas and prejudices of some persons, while in others they assail the same ? "
" It is necessary that we make ourselves understood. If a person has a very confirmed conviction on a doc trine even false, we must turn him from this convic tion, but little by little ; for this reason we often use his terms, and appear to partake of his ideas, in order that he may not be suddenly disconcerted, and cease to allow us to instruct him. Besides, it is not good to shock prejudices too abruptly ; it might be the means of not being listened to : for this reason the spirits often speak in the sense of the opinion of those who hear them, in order to lead them little by little to the truth. They appropriate the language of the persons, as you would do yourself, were you a somewhat skillful orator ; thus they would not speak to a Chinese or to a Mohammedan, as they would to a Frenchman or to a Christian, for they would be sure to be repulsed.
" You must not take as a contradiction what is often but a skillful elaboration of the .truth. All spirits have their tasks marked out by God ; they accomplish them in the conditions He judges right for the good of those who receive their communications."
4. " Even apparent contradictions might engender doubts in the spirit of some persons ; by what means can we know the truth ? "
" To discern errors from truth, the answers must be examined thoroughly, and meditated long and serious ly ; it is an entire study. Time is necessary for this, as for all other studies.
" Study, .compare, examine thoroughly ; we tell you this constantly ; knowledge of the truth is at this price. How do you expect to reach the truth when you interpret everything after your own narrow ideas, which you take for great ones ? But the day is not far dis tant when the teachings of the spirits will be every where uniform in the details, as in the fundamentals. Their mission is to destroy error, but that can come only by degrees."
5. "There are persons who have neither time nor capacity for a serious and thorough study, and who accept what is taught them without examination. Is there no danger that they may thus give credence to error ? "
" Let them practice good and do no evil ; that is the essential thing ; for that there are not two doctrines. Good is always good, whether it be done in the name of Allah or Jehovah, for there is only one God for the universe."
6. " How can spirits, who appear to be developed in intelligence, have ideas evidently false on certain things ? "
" They have their doctrine. Those who are not suf ficiently advanced, but who think they are, take their own ideas of the truth. It is the same among you."
7. " What are we to think of that doctrine which says that only one spirit can communicate, and that one is God or Jesus ? "
" The spirit who teaches that is one who desires to govern ; for that reason he wants to have it believed that he is alone; but the wretch who dare take the name of God will bitterly expiate his pride. As to these doctrines, they refute themselves, because they are in contradiction to the most proved facts ; they do not deserve serious examination, for they have no root.
" Reason tells you that good proceeds from a good source, and bad from an evil one : why should you de sire a good tree to bring forth evil fruit ? Did you ever gather grapes from an apple tree ? The diversity of the communications is the most patent proof of the diversity of their origin.
" Besides, the spirits who pretend that they alone communicate forget to say why the others cannot. Their pretension is the negation of the most beauti ful and consoling facts of Spiritism —the relations of the visible and invisible worlds, of mankind with the beings dear to them, and who would otherwise be lost to them without return. These relations identify man with his future, and detach him from the material world ; suppress them, he .is again plunged into the doubt that makes his torment — given food for his egotism.
" In examining with care the doctrines of these spir its, we see, at every step, unjustifiable contradictions, the traces of their ignorance of the most evident thing, and, consequently, the certain signs of their in feriority. Spirit of Truth."
8. " Of all the contradictions we observe in the com munications of spirits, one of the most striking is that relating to re-incarnation. If re-incarnation is a neces sity of spirit life, how is it that all the spirits do not teach it ? "
" Do you not know that there are spirits whose ideas are limited to the present, as among many men of the earth ? They believe that what is for them must last forever ; they do not see beyond the circle of their perceptions, and trouble themselves neither about whence they come, nor whither they go ; and yet they must undergo the law of necessity. Re-incarnation is, for them, a law of necessity, of which they will not think until it comes ; they know that the spirit progresses, but how is for them a problem. Then, if you ask it of them, they will talk to you of the seven heavens, one above the other, like stagings : there are some, even, who will talk of the sphere of fire, the sphere of stars, then the city of flowers, and the city of the chosen."
9. "We can easily imagine that spirits but little advanced would not comprehend this question ; but then, how is it that spirits of a notoriously moral and intellectual inferiority speak spontaneously of their different existences, and of their desire to be re-incar nated, to make amends for their past? "
" There are many things occurring in the world of spirits difficult for you to comprehend. Have you not among you persons very ignorant on some things, and enlightened on others ; persons who have more judg ment than instruction, and others who have more instruction than judgment ? Do you not know, also, that some spirits are pleased to keep men in ignorance, while pretending to instruct them, profiting by the ease with which their words gain credit ? They may seduce those who do not go to the bottom of things, but when they are pressed to extremity by reasonings, they cannot long sustain their role.
" Notice, especially, the prudence with which the spirits in general promulgate the truth ; a too vivid and too sudden light dazzles without illuminating. They might, in certain cases, consider it useful to spread it only gradually, according to the times, the places, and the persons. Moses did not teach all that the Christ taught, and the Christ himself said many things the understanding of which was reserved for future gen erations. You speak of reincarnation, and are aston ished that this principle has not been taught in certain countries ; but remember, that in a country where the prejudice of color reigns supreme, where slavery is rooted in the manners, they would have rejected Spiritism, if only for that it proclaimed re-incarnation, for the idea that he who is master may become a slave, and the reverse, would have appeared monstrous. Was it not better that the general principle should be first accepted, safe, later, to bring its consequences ? O, mankind ! how short-sighted to judge the designs of God ! Know that nothing can be done without His permission, and without a motive which, very often, you cannot penetrate.
" I have told you that unity would come in the spirit belief ; take it as a certainty that it will come, and that the disagreements, already deeply-seated, will be effaced, little by little, as men are enlightened, and will disappear completely ; for such is the will of God, against which error cannot prevail. " Spirit of Truth."
10. " Will not the erroneous doctrines that some spirits teach have the effect of retarding the progress of true science ? "
" You would have everything without trouble : under stand that there is no field where weeds will not grow for the laborer to root out. These erroneous doc trines are a consequence of the inferiority of your world ; if men were perfect, they would accept only the true ; errors are like false stones, which an experi enced e_ye alone can distinguish ; you need an appren ticeship to distinguish the true from the false : well, these false doctrines are useful in exercising you to distinguish truth from error."
—"Are not those who adopt the error retarded in their progress ? "
" If they adopt error, it is because they are not sufficiently advanced to comprehend truth."
" The purest light is obscured by no cloud ; the diamond without flaw is most valuable : judge, then, the spirits by the purity of their teachings. Unity will come from that side where good has never been mingled with bad ; to that side man will rally by the law of events, for they will judge that there is the truth. Remark, besides, that the fundamental princi ples are everywhere the same, and should unite you in a common thought —the love of God and the practice of good. Whatever may be the mode of progression supposed for souls, the final end is the same, and the means of attaining it is also the same —do good ; and there are not two methods of doing it.
" Should there arise capital differences as to the principle, even, of doctrine, you have a certain rule for valuing them — the following : The best doctrine is that which best satisfies the heart and the reason, and which contains the most elements to lead men to good ; it is, I assure you, the one that will prevail. " Spirit of Truth."
Remark. The contradictions that present them selves in spirit communications may arise from the following causes : the ignorance of some spirits ; the deceptions of the inferior spirits, who, either from malice or mischief, say the very contrary from what the spirit whose name they have usurped has already said elsewhere : the will of the spirit, who talks accord ing to the times, the places, and persons, and consid ers it useful not to say everything to everybody ; the insufficiency of human language to express the things of the incorporeal world ; the insufficiency of the means of communication which do not always permit the spirit to render his whole thought; finally, to the in terpretation each one may give of a word or an expla nation, according to his ideas, his prejudices, or the point of view from which he sees the thing. Study, observation, experience, and the abnegation of all sentiment of self-love, alone can teach us to distinguish these different shades.
Of Mystifications
1. " Mystifications are among the greatest disagreea bles in the practice of Spiritism : is there any way to be preserved from them?"
" It seems to me you can find the answer in all you have been taught. Yes, certainly, there is a very simple means ; it is, not to ask of Spiritism more than it can or ought to give you ; its end is the moral amelioration of humanity ; so long as you depart not from that, you will never be deceived, because there are not two methods of comprehending true morality, which every man of good sense will admit.
" The spirits come to instruct and guide you into the way of good, and not into that of honors and fortune, or to serve your mean passions. If nothing trifling is ever asked of them, or nothing beyond their attributes, no foothold is given to deceiving spirits ; from whence you may conclude, that he who is mystified has only what he deserves.
" The role of the spirits is not to teach you about the things of this world, but to guide you surely in what may be useful to you in the other. When they talk to you of things here below, it is because they judge it to be necessary, but not on your asking. If you look upon spirits only as supplying the place of diviners or sorcerers, you will surely be deceived.
" If men had but to ask the spirits in order to know everything, they would no longer have their free-will, and would turn aside from the path marked out by God for humanity. Man should act for himself ; God does not send the spirits to smooth the road of material life, but to prepare that of the future."
" But there are persons who ask nothing, and who are unworthily deceived by spirits who come sponta neously, without being called."
" If they ask nothing, they allow themselves to tell what happens to them all the same. If they meet with reserve and distrust all that is not the essential object of Spiritism, trifling spirits will not so easily take them for dupes."
2. " Why does God permit sincere persons, those who accept Spiritism sincerely, to be mystified ? May not that shake their belief?"
" If it shake their belief, it must be because their faith is not very solid : those who renounce Spiritism from a simple disappointment would prove that they do not understand it, and do not belong to the serious party. God permits mystifications to test the perse verance of true believers, and to puniuh those who make it an object of amusement. "Spirit of Truth."
Remark. The turnings and doublings of the mysti fying spirits sometimes surpass anything that can be imagined ; the art with which they draw up their batteries and arrange their means of persuading would be a curiosity, were it always only for innocent pleasan tries ; but these mystifications may have disagreeable consequences for those who are not on their guard : we are happy that we have been able, in time, to open the eyes of some persons who have asked our advice, and to have spared them from ridiculous and compro mising actions. Among the means these spirits em ploy, we must place in the front rank, as being most frequent, those which have for their aim to tempt cupidity, such as the revelation of pretended hidden treasures, the announcement of inheritances, or other sources of fortune.
At first sight we ought especially to suspect all pre dictions for a fixed time, as well as all precise indica tions touching material interests ; to beware of every step prescribed or advised by spirits when the motive is not eminently rational ; never to allow ourselves to be dazzled by the names they take to give an appear ance of truth to their words ; to mistrust bold scientific theories and systems ; anything, in short, foreign to the true moral end of the manifestations. We could fill a volume with the history of all the strange mysti fications that have come to our knowledge.
Chapter XXVIII - CHARLATANISM AND JUGGLERY
Self-interested Mediums
If the gain a medium may draw from his faculty may be an object of suspicion, this would not be a proof that the suspicion is well founded ; he might have a real aptitude, and act in perfect sincerity, while making it pay : let us see if, in this case, we can rea sonably expect a satisfactory result.
We know the aversion of the spirits for everything that savors of cupidity and egotism, the few cases in which they help in material things ; and yet they are expected to assist in making money by their presence! The very thought is repugnant, and one must know very little of the spirit world to believe that this may be. But, as trifling spirits are less scrupulous, and only seek occasion to amuse themselves at our ex pense, it results that if persons are not mystified by a false medium, there is every chance of their being so by such spirits. These reflections alone will show the measure of the degree of confidence that should be given to communications of this kind. For the rest, why employ paid mediums, when now, if a person has not the faculty himself, he can surely find it in his family or among his friends and acquaintances ?
The inferior spirits like well to mystify, but they do not like to be mystified ; if they lend themselves will ingly to jesting, to things for curiosity, because they like amusement, they no more than others like to be used for money-making or selfish views ; and they prove at every instant that they have their will ; that they act when and how seems good to them, so that the medi um for physical effects is still less sure of the regularity of the manifestations than the writing medium. To pretend to produce them at fixed days and hours would be a proof of the most profound ignorance. What, then, will be done to earn his money ? Simulate the phenomena : this is what happens not only with those who make it a regular business, but even with persons apparently simple, who find this easier and more agreeable than to work. If the spirit does not give, they supply it : imagination is so fertile when money is in question ! Self-interest being a legitimate motive of suspicion, it gives the right for rigorous examina tion, and none can be offended by it without justifying suspicions. But as far as suspicion is legitimate in such case, just so far is it offensive toward honorable and disinterested persons.
From all that precedes we conclude that the most absolute disinterestedness is the best guarantee against charlatanism ; if it does not always insure the good ness of intelligent communications, it takes from bad spirits a powerful means of action, and silences de tractors.
What would be said of one who should take a corpse from the tomb to exhibit it for money, because there might be something about it to arouse curiosity ?
Is it less disrespectful to exhibit the spirit than the body, under the pretext that it is curious to see a spirit act ? It is also to be remarked that the price of seats is according to the wonders they can perform, and the attraction of the spectacle. Surely, during his life, had he been a comedian, he could hardly have supposed that, after his death, he would find a manager who would make him play comedy gratis for said manager's own profit.
It must not be forgotten that physical as well as in telligent manifestations are permitted by God only for our instruction.
The degree of confidence or mistrust that may be given to a paid medium depends entirely upon the esteem his character and morality may command, in dependent of circumstances. The medium who, with an eminently serious and profitable aim, would be pre vented from utilizing his time in any other way, and for that reason exonerated, must not be confounded with the speculating medium, him who, from premedLtated design, would make a trade of his mediumship. According to the motive and the end, the spirits could condemn, absolve, or even favor ; they judge the in tention rather than the material fact.
Spirit Frauds
It is, besides, a consideration that will not escape any one who reflects a little. There are, no doubt, marvelously skiLful prestidigitators, but they are rare. If all mediums practice juggling, it must be conceded that the art has made unheard-of progress in a short time, and become suddenly very common ; as it is found innate with persons who scarcely suspect it : even with children.
Even as there are quacks who sell drugs in public places, so there are mediums who, without going to public places, betray confidence : must it follow that all doctors are quacks, and that the medical corps is, for that reason, unworthy of consideration ? Because there are persons who sell adulterations for wine, does it follow that all wine merchants are adulterators of wine, and that there is none pure ? Everything is abused, even the most respectable things, and it may be said that fraud also has its genius. But fraud always has a motive, some material interest : where there is nothing to gain, there is no interest in deceiv ing. So we say, apropos to mercenary mediums, that the best of all guarantees is absolute disinterestedness.
A literary man, quite well known, came, one day, to see us, and told us that he was a very good intuitive writing medium, and that he would put himself at the disposal of the Spirit Society. As we were accustomed to admit into the society only mediums whose faculties were known to us, we requested him to come and give proofs in a special reunion. He came ; several ex perienced mediums gave dissertations and answers of remarkable precision on questions proposed and sub jects unknown to them. When this gentleman's turn came, he wrote some insignificant words, said he was indisposed that day, and since then we have never seen him : he doubtless found that the role of medium for intelligent effects was more difficult to play than he had supposed.
" I am not, perhaps, as severe as you in regard to mediums who, in a worthy and suitable way, accept a remuneration as indemnity for the time they devote to experiments often long and fatiguing ; but I am quite as much so —and one cannot be too much —in re gard to those who, in such cases, supply, on occasion, by trickery and fraud, the absence or insufficiency of the result's promised and expected. (See No. 311.)
" To mingle the false with the true, when phenom ena obtained through the intervention of spirits is in question, is wholly infamous, and there must be an utter obliteration of all moral sense with the medium who can do so without scruple. As you have so well observed, it is casting discredit upon the cause in the minds of the undecided, to find it mixed withfraud. I would add that it is compromising in the most deplora ble manner the honorable men who give to mediums the disinterested support of their knowledge and their light, who are guarantees of their sincerity, and in one way their patrons ; it is committing a veritable crime against them.
" Every medium convicted of fraudulent maneuvers, taken, to use a common expression, with his hand in the bag, deserves to be ostracized by all spiritualists and spiritists, for whom it should be a rigorous duty to unmask them, and send them adrift. " If you choose, sir, to insert these few lines in your Journal, they are at your service. " I am, &c, "Matthew ."
It will suffice to mention some subterfuges em ployed, or that it is possible to employ, in certain cases, to warn sincere observers against fraud. As to persons who persist in judging without studying, it would be labor lost to seek to convince them.
Once warned, the means of detecting this fraud are very simple. It is not possible if the hands are sepa rated, and if you are sure no other contact produces the noise. The true raps, however, have this char acteristic, that they change place and tone at will, which could not be if they were due to the cause we have mentioned, or any similar, if they go from the table to a piece of furniture no one is touching, on the walls, on the ceiling, &c, if they answer impromptu questions. (See No. 41.)
It is supposed there is more security with mechani cal mediums, not only for independence of ideas, but also against fraud ; for this reason many persons prefer material intermediaries. Well, it is an error. Fraud is everywhere, and we know that, with skill, even a writing basket or planchette can be directed at will. The sentiments expressed will relieve all doubts whether they come from a mechanical, intuitive, auditive, speak ing, or seeing medium. There are communications so far above the ideas, the knowledge, and even the intellectual strength of the medium, that we should strangely deceive ourselves in giving him the honor of their authorship. We see, in charlatanism, an extraor dinary skill and fertile resources, but we have yet to find it capable of giving knowledge to the ignorant, or mind to him who lacks it.
To recapitulate : we repeat, the best guarantee is in the known morality of the mediums, and in the absence of all material interested motives or self-love which might stimulate in him the exercise of the medianimic faculties he may possess ; for these same causes may lead him to simulate those he has not.
Chapter XXIX - REUNIONS AND SPIRITIST SOCIETIES
Of Reunions in General.
Spiritist reunions have very different characters, according to the end therein proposed, and'their qual ity must, for the same cause, also differ. According to their nature, they may be frivolous, experimental, or instructive.
These reunions are of little consequence ; but as the trifling spirits are often very intelligent, and are usually in an easy and jovial mood, they often produce in them very curious things, from which an observer may draw profit ; he who has seen only that, and should judge the world of spirits from that sample, would have as false an idea of it as one who should judge the whole society of a great city by the inhabit ants of a certain part of it. Simple good sense tells us that elevated spirits cannot enter such reunions, where the spectators are no more serious than the actors. If persons desire to engage in futile things, they must frankly call trifling spirits, as they would call jesters, to amuse a society ; but there would be profanation in inviting thither venerated names, — to mingle the sacred with the profane.
Yet there is a use in these experiments that no one should despise, for they were the means of discovering the laws that rule in the invisible world ; and for many they.are certainly a powerful means of conviction ; but we maintain that they alone could no more initiate the science of Spiritism, than an ingenious piece of mech anism could make us understand mechanics, were we unacquainted with its laws ; if they were always con ducted with method and prudence, better results would be obtained. We shall return to this subject.
The first of all is, to be- serious in the full accep tation of the word. We should remember that the spirits addressed are of a very special nature ; that the sublime cannot be allied to the trivial, nor the good to the bad ; if we desire to obtain good things, we must address good spirits ; but to ask good spirits is not sufficient ; express conditions are necessary, to be in propitious conditions, so that they may want to come ; but superior spirits will no more come into the assem blies of trifling and superficial persons than they would have come there during their lives.
A society is truly serious only on condition of being engaged in useful things, to the exclusion of all others ; if it aspire to obtain extraordinary things, for curiosity or pastime, the spirits who produce them will come, but the others will withdraw. In a word, whatever may be the character of a reunion, it will always find spirits ready to second its tendencies. A serious re union turns aside from its end, if it leaves instruction for amusement. Physical manifestations, as we have . said, have their use ; let those who wish to see them go to experimental reunions : let those who desire to understand go to reunions for study; thus both will be able to complete their spirit teachings, as, in the study of medicine, some take the course, others clinics.
We cannot too often repeat it, here is not only the stumbling-block, but the danger ; yes, we say it, a real danger. The only means of escaping it is the censorship of disinterested and kind-hearted persons, who, judg ing the communications with coolness and impartiality, may open his eyes, and make him see what he cannot see of himself. Every medium who fears this judgment is already on the road to obsession ; he who believes the light is made only for him, is completely under the yoke ; if he takes remarks in ill part, repulses, is irri tated by them, there can be no doubt of the bad nature of the spirit who assists him. We have said, a medi um may lack the knowledge necessary to understand errors ; he may be deluded by big words and preten tious language, be led astray by sophisms, and that in all sincerity ; therefore, in default of his own light, he should modestly have recourse to that of others, ac cording to these two adages, that four eyes see better than two, and that no one is a good judge for his own cause. In this point of view, reunions are of very great utility for a medium, if he is sufficiently sensible to listen to advice ; because he may find in them per sons more clairvoyant than himself, who can seize the most delicate shades by which a spirit may betray his inferiority.
Every medium who sincerely desires not to be the plaything of a lie, should try to be developed in seri ous reunions, and bring there what he obtains in pri vate ; accept with gratitude —solicit even — critical examination of the communications he receives ; if he is the dupe of deceiving spirits, it is the surest means of getting rid of them, and of proving to them that they cannot delude him. It is so much the worse for a medium who is irritated by criticism, as his self-love is not at all engaged, since what he says is not his own, and he is no more responsible for it than if he should read the verses of a bad poet.
We have insisted on this point, because, a stum bling-block for mediums, it is also one for reunions, to which it is of great importance not lightly to confide in all the interpreters of the spirits. The assistance of any obsessed or fascinated medium would be more injurious than useful ; it should not be accepted. We think we have so fully entered into their development, that it will be impossible to mistake the characteris tics of obsession, if the medium cannot recognize it himself; one of the most salient points is the supposi tion that he alone of all the world is right. Obsessed mediums, who will not be convinced, are like those sick persons who are deluded as to the state of their health, and are lost for want ofsubmitting to salutary regimen.
In order perfectly to comprehend what happens under these circumstances, we beg the reader to turn to what has been said, No. 331, on the Influence of the Surroundings. Each individual is surrounded by a certain number of invisible acolytes, who are identified with his character, his tastes, and his inclinations : thus, each person who enters a reunion brings with him spirits who are in sympathy with him. Accord ing to their number and nature, these acolytes may exercise a good or bad influence on the assembly, and on its communications. A perfect reunion would be that in which all the members, animated by an equal love of good, would bring with them only good spirits ; in default of this perfection, the better would be where the good would preponderate over the evil. This is too logical to need that we should insist upon it.
Then, again, the spirit, entering a completely sym pathetic circle, is more at his ease ; finding there only friends, he comes more willingly, and is more disposed to answer. Any person who has attentively watched intelligent spirit manifestations, must have become convinced of this truth.
If the thoughts are divergent, the result will be a clashing of ideas disagreeable for the spirit and injuri ous to the manifestations. It is the same with a man addressing an assembly ; if he feel all the thoughts to be sympathetic and kindly to him, the impression he receives will react on his own ideas, and give them more fervor ; the .unanimity of the assembly exercises on him a kind of magnetic action, which doubles his means, while indifference or hostility troubles or para lyzes him ; so actors are inspired by plaudits ; and spirits, being much more impressionable than human beings, are very much more sensitive to the influence of the surroundings.
Every spiritist reunion should tend as much as pos sible to homogeneity ; of course it is understood that we speak of those that would achieve serious and truly useful results ; if they desire simply to receive com munications, without caring for the quality of those who give them, it is evident that all these precautions are not necessary ; but then they should not complain of the quality of the product.
Of Societies Proper
Advice on their organization having been asked of us" several times, we will here recapitulate it in a few words.
Spiritism, but lately born, is still too diversely ap preciated, too little understood in its essence, by a great number of believers, to afford a powerful bond between the members of what may be called an association.
This bond may exist between those who perceive its moral end, understand it, and apply it to themselves. Between those who see only facts more or less curious, there can be no serious bond ; putting facts above principles, a simple divergence in the manner of view ing them may be a cause of division. It is not the same with the first mentioned, for there cannot be two ways of looking at moral questions : also, it must be remarked, that wherever they meet a reciprocal confi dence attracts them to each other ; the mutual benev olence that reigns among them banishes the uneasi ness and constraint born of sensitiveness, of the pride that is offended at the least contradiction, of the ego tism that takes everything to itself. A society where such sentiments reign supreme, where all are united for the purpose of being instructed by the teachings of the spirits, and not in the hope of seeing things more or less interesting, or to make one's own opinion pre vail, — such a society, we say, would not only contain the elements of life, but would be indissoluble. Again, the difficulty of bringing together numerous homoge neous elements for this purpose, moves us to say that, in the interest of study, and for the good of the thing even, spirit reunions should be multiplied in small groups, rather than in large agglomerations. These groups, corresponding, visiting, transmitting their ob servations, may now form the nucleus of the great spiritist family, that will, some day, bring together all opinions, and unite all men in one sentiment of frater nity, sealed by Christian charity.
It will, doubtless, be said that the members of a society who would act in such a manner would not be real spiritists, since the first duty the doctrine imposes is charity and benevolence. That is perfectly true ; those who do this are spiritists in name rather than in fact ; they do not assuredly belong to the third category (see No. 28) ; but who can say they are not in some sense spiritists ? This consideration is not without gravity.
It may, then, be established as a principle, that who ever, in a spiritist reunion, causes disorder or disunion, openly or secretly, by any means whatever, is either a designing agent, or, at least, a very bad spiritist, of whom they cannot too soon rid themselves ; but the obligations that bind the members are often obstacles to this ; and for this reason it is best to avoid all indis soluble engagements : good men are always sufficiently bound, bad men always too much so.
Perfect community of views and sentiments.
Reciprocal kind feeling among all fhe members.
Abnegation of every sentiment adverse to true Chris tian charity.
Sole desire for instruction, and to advance through the teachings of good spirits, and to profit by their advice. Whoever is convinced that the superior spirits manifest themselves with the view of making us pro gress, and not for our pleasure, will understand why they should withdraw from those who are limited to admiration of their style, without extracting the fruit of their teachings, and who prize the seances only for the greater or less interest they offer to their own in dividual tastes.
Exclusion of everything that, in communications asked of the spirits, has only curiosity for its end.
Concentration and respectful silence during the in terviews with the spirits.
Associations of all the assistants by thought, in the appeal made to the spirits invoked.
Concurrence of the mediums in the assembly, with abnegation of every sentiment of pride,- self-love, and supremacy, in the one desire to be useful.
Are these conditions so difficult to fulfill that it can not be done ? We think not ; on the contrary, we hope that truly serious reunions, as there are many already in different localities, will be multiplied, and we do not hesitate to say that it is to them that Spiritism will owe its most powerful propagation ; in bringing unto it honest and conscientious men, they will silence criticism ; and the purer their intentions, the more re spected they will be, even by their adversaries ; when ridicule attacks the good, it no longer amuses, it becomes despicable. Among reunions of this kind a true bond of sympathy, a mutual solidarity, will be established by the force of events, and will contribute to the general progress.
Physical manifestations, as we have said, are of great utility ; they open a vast field to the observer, for it is an entire order of unusual phenomena unfolded to his view, whose consequences are incalculable. Thus, an assembly may be occupied with very serious views, but may not attain its end, whether of study or means of conviction, if it is not placed in favorable conditions : the first of all is, not faith in the assistants, but their desire to be enlightened, without subterfuge, or deter mination to reject the evidence ; the second is the re striction of their number, to avoid the bringing together of heterogeneous elements. If physical manifestations are, in general, produced by the less advanced spirits, they have none the less a providential end, and good spirits always favor them when they can have a useful result.
Subject for Study
With elevated spirits, the range of study is enlarged ; besides the psychological questions, which are limited, there may be proposed to them a great number of moral problems, which extend to infinity on all the po sitions of life, on the best conduct under certain given circumstances, on our reciprocal duties, &c. The value of the instruction we receive on any subject, moral, historical, philosophical or scientific, depends entirely on the state of the spirit interrogated ; it is for us to judge.
We would warrant that a spiritist society that would organize its work in this way, procuring the necessary materials, would scarcely find time to give to the direct communications of spirits ; for this rea son, we call the attention to this point of truly serious circles, those who have self-instruction more at heart than 'pastime. (See No. 207, chapter on the Formation of Mediums)
Certain spirits, more presumptuous than logical, sometimes impose strange and impracticable systems under the venerated names they borrow, Good sense soon disposes of these ; but in the mean time, they may sow doubt and uncertainty among believers, whence arise temporary dissensions. In addition to the means we have given to know them, there is another criterion to measure their value ; it is the number of partisans they recruit. Reason tells us that the system which finds the loudest echo in the masses must be nearer truth than that which is repulsed by the majority ; so, hold for certain that, when spirits forbid discussion on their teachings, it is because they are aware of their weakness.
Such is the path into which we are bound to conduct Spiritism. The flag we bear aloft is that of Christian and humanitary Spiritism, around which we are happy already to see so many men rally, in all parts of the globe, because they understand that here is the anchor of safety, the safeguard of public order, the signal of a new era for humanity. We call upon all spiritist societies to concur in this grand work ; that from one end of the world to the other, they may stretch out the fraternal hand, and enclose the evil in an inextricable network.
Regulations of the Parisian Society for Spiritist Studies
Although these regulations are the result of experience, we do not provide them as a required model. Their sole purpose here is to aid start-up societies, which may take as guidelines the provisions they consider useful and applicable to their own set of circumstances. Even though they are presented in simplified form, their structure may be reduced still further with small individual groups, which only need to establish measures for their internal structure, precautions and regularity of their work. We also offer them as information to persons who want to establish relations with the Parisian Society, either by correspondence or as integrated members.
Article 2 - The Society shall be composed of registered members, free associates and correspondence members. It may confer honorary membership on individuals residing in France or abroad, who by their position or work may provide an important service to it. Honorary members are subject to annual reelection.
Article 3 - The Society shall only admit individuals who sympathize with its principles and the objective of its projects, those who have already been initiated into the fundamental principles of Spiritist Science, or those who are seriously animated by the desire for instruction in it. Consequently, it shall exclude all who may bring trouble to its meetings, either through a hostile attitude and theoretical disagreement or for any other reason that may cause a waste of time on needless argumentation.
All members are mutually obligated to display benevolence and good manners, and in all circumstances must place the general good above personal issues and self-importance.
Article 4 - To be admitted as a free associate, the request must be made in writing to the President, supported by the signature of two full members, who will be responsible for the intentions of the postulant.
The request must state: 1) if the postulant already possesses an understanding of Spiritism; 2) what his/her convictions are concerning the fundamental points of Spiritist Science; 3) a promise to fully comply with these regulations.
The request shall be submitted to the commission, which, depending on the case, shall propose admission, postponement or rejection.
Postponement is required for every candidate who does not yet possess any understanding of Spiritist Science or does not sympathize with the Society's principles.
Free associates have the right to attend all sessions, to participate in activities and study groups, but will have no right to vote on administrative matters of the Society.
Free associates shall only be such during the year of their admission and permanent membership in the Society must be ratified at the end of that year.
Article 5 - To be a full member it is necessary to have been a free associate for at least one year, to have attended more than half the sessions and to have given during that time obvious proof of the applicant's understanding of his/her convictions concerning Spiritism, his/her adhesion to the Society's principles and his/her willingness to act according to the principles of charity and Spiritist morality in all circumstances involving colleagues.
Free associates who have regularly attended the Society's sessions for six months may be admitted as full members if they have also fulfilled the other conditions.
Admission shall be proposed ex officio with the consent of the associate if supported by three full members. Next, and depending on the case, it shall be submitted to the vote of the Society by secret ballot after a verbal report by the commission.
Only full members have the right to vote and to enjoy the rights granted in Article 25.
Article 6 - If it deems it appropriate, the Society shall limit the number of free associates and full members.
Article 7 - Correspondence members are those who do not reside in Paris, but who maintain relations with the Society and furnish it with documents that may be useful for its studies. They may be nominated through the presentation of only one full member.
Article 9 - The board shall be comprised of a President, VicePresident, General Secretary, two Assistant Secretaries and a Treasurer.
Article 10- The Director-President shall dedicate all his/her attention to the interests of the Society and Spiritist Science. He/she is responsible for the general direction and supervision of administration, as well as the maintenance of the archives. The President is appointed for three years, and the other members of the board for one year, eligible to be reelected indefinitely.
Article 11 - The Commission is comprised of board members and five other full members, chosen from amongst those who have taken an active role in the Society's projects, have rendered service to the cause of Spiritism, or have revealed a benevolent and conciliatory spirit. These five members, like those of the board, are appointed for one year and may be reelected.
Article 12 - Decisions of either the Society or the Commission shall be made by the absolute majority of the members present; in case of a tie vote, the President shall cast the deciding vote.
Article 13 - Every three months, six members chosen from among the full members or free associates shall be appointed to fulfill the functions of Commissioners.
Article 14 - The business year shall begin April 1. Appointments to the board and Commission shall be made at the first May session. Incumbent members shall continue their duties until then.
Article 15 - To cover the Society's expenses, an annual fee of 24 francs shall be charged to full members and 20 francs to free associates.
Article 16 - A membership card stating their status shall be given to all who are admitted as free associates and full members. This card shall remain -with the Treasurer until the new member can pick it up after having paid his/her admission fee. The new member may not attend any sessions before picking up the card. Failure to do so within one month of admission shall mean that the member is regarded as having resigned.
Article 18 - Silence and concentration are strictly required during the sessions, and especially during study time. No one may speak without the President's permission.
All questions asked of the spirits shall go through the President, who may refuse to ask them, depending on the circumstances.
All pointless questions, or those of personal interest or involving mere curiosity, or those whose aim is to test the spirits are strictly prohibited, as well as all those that do not have a generally useful purpose from a study point of view.
Equally prohibited are all discussions that are off the subject.
Article 19 - Every member has the right to ask anyone who departs from appropriateness during the discussion or who disturbs the session in any way to be brought to order. The request shall immediately be put to a vote, and once approved, it shall be written in the minutes.
Three warnings within a year shall warrant dismissal of the member, whatever his/her status may be.
Article 20 - No spirit communication obtained outside the Society may be read without having been submitted to the President or the Commission, who may or may not approve its reading.
One copy of each outside communication, whose reading has been authorized, must be kept on file.
All communications obtained during the sessions belong to the Society, but the mediums who received them may keep a copy.
Article 21 - Closed sessions are reserved for Society members and shall be held on the first, third, and, if applicable, on the fifth Friday of each month.
The society reserves for individual sessions all questions concerning administration, as well as study materials that require greater peacefulness and concentration, or which it deems proper to delve into before being addressed in the presence of outside individuals.
Besides full members and free associates, correspondence members passing through Paris, and mediums who lend their help to the Society, have the right to attend closed sessions.
No outside person shall be admitted to closed sessions, except in exceptional cases and with the prior consent of the President.
Article 22 - General sessions shall be held on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays of each month.
During general sessions, the Society authorizes admitting outside observers, who may attend them temporarily without taking part in them. Such authorization may be suspended when deemed appropriate.
No one may attend sessions as an observer without having been introduced to the President by a Society member, who shall be entrusted with ensuring that his/her guest will not cause trouble or interrupt the session.
The Society only admits persons as auditors those who want to become members or those who are interested in its work and have already been sufficiently initiated into Spiritist Science to understand it. Anyone who wants to attend only out of curiosity, or whose opinions are hostile, must absolutely be refused admission.
An auditor is forbidden to speak except in exceptional cases as the President sees fit. Anyone who disturbs the order in any way or expresses ill will toward the Society's work may be invited to leave, and in all cases the fact shall be noted on the attendance sheet. He/she shall be refused entry in the future.
The number of auditors shall be limited to the available seats, and those who can attend the sessions shall be written down beforehand, making mention of who recommended them and their address. Consequently, every request for admittance to a session must be made to the President several days beforehand. The President is the only one authorized to grant admission cards until the list ends.
Cards are only good for the day indicated and for the persons so designated.
Permission cannot be granted to the same auditor for more than two sessions, except by the President's authorization and for exceptional cases. No member may introduce more than two persons at a time. There is no set limit on the number of admissions that may be granted by the President.
Auditors are not to be admitted after the session has begun.
Article 24 - The Society shall critique the various works published on Spiritism whenever it considers it appropriate. In order to do so, it shall entrust one of its full members or free associates with writing an opinion, which will be published in La Revue Spirite, when deemed appropriate.
Article 25 - The Society shall build a special library comprised of works that have been offered to it and that it acquires. At the Society's headquarters, full members may use this library and the archives on days and at times set for this purpose.
Article 26 - Considering that its responsibility may be morally compromised by private publications made by its members, the Society has determined that no one shall use the title Society Member in any writing without having been authorized to do so and without having made the text known beforehand. The Commission shall be in charge of making a report on the matter. If the Society regards the writing as incompatible with its principles, the author, after having been heard out, will be invited to modify it or renounce its publication, or not to publish it under the title Society Member. If he/she does not wish to abide by the decision, he/she maybe expelled.
Any writing published anonymously by a Society member without any clues as to whom the author is belongs to the category of ordinary publications, and the Society reserves the right to evaluate it. However, without wanting to hinder the free expression of personal opinion, the Society invites its members who intend to publish in this manner to ask for its official opinion beforehand in the interest of the Science,
Article 27 - Since the Society desires to maintain within itself the unity of the principles and spirit of mutual benevolence, it may expel any member who becomes a source of trouble or who expresses open hostility against it through writings that compromise the Doctrine, who holds subversive opinions or through any procedure of which the Society cannot approve, There shall be no expulsion, however, except after an unheeded warning, and after hearing the guilty member out, if he/she wishes to offer an explanation, The decision shall be made in top secret by a majority of three fourths of the members present.
Article 28 - Every member who withdraws voluntarily during the course of the year cannot request a proportional refund of his/her fee. However, such refund shall be made if the member is expelled by the Society.
Article 29 - These regulations shall be modified as necessary. Proposals for modification shall be made only through the President, to whom they shall be transmitted after having been accepted by the Commission.
CHAPTER XXXI - DISSERTATIONS BY SPIRITS
On Spiritism
"Communications are being opened, by land and sea, between all countries and peoples; and, when the physical barriers between them shall have been overthrown, the moral barriers of political and religious prejudices which kept them apart will also disappear, and the reign of fraternity will be firmly and durably established. The sovereigns themselves, impelled by an invisible hand, are seen, at the present day - a thing hitherto unheard of in your world-taking the lead in the inauguration of reforms; and reforms that are thus spontaneously begun from above will be at once more rapidly accomplished, and more durable, than those which are begun from below and by violence. Despite the prejudices of my childhood and education, despite my reverent affection for the past, I had a presentiment of the present epoch; I rejoice in it, and I rejoice still more to be able to come to you and to say: Courage, brothers! Work for your own future, and for that of those you love; work, above all, for your own personal improvement, and you will enjoy, in your next existence, a happiness which it would be as difficult for me to describe as for you to understand." "CHATEAUBRIAND."
"If spiritism should resuscitate spiritualism, it will have rendered an immense service to society, by awakening the aspiration which gives, to some, internal dignity, to others, resignation, to all, the desire to raise themselves towards the Supreme Being, lost sight of and forgotten by His ungrateful creatures." "J. J. ROUSSEAU."
"It is I who have come - your savior and your judge. I have come as I did long ago among the wayward children of Israel. I have come to bring truth and to disperse the darkness. Listen to me. As my words did long ago, Spiritism must remind materialists that the unchangeable truth reigns over them: the good God, the Almighty God, who causes the plants to grow and the ocean waves to rise. I have revealed the divine Doctrine. Like a reaper, I have gathered into bundles the good ones who were scattered among humankind and I have said: Come to me, all you who suffer!
This communication, obtained by one of the best mediums of the Paris Spiritist Society, was signed with a name that out of respect we could only reproduce with extreme reservation, so great would be the honor of its authentic signature, and because the name has already been much abused in obviously apocryphal 'writings. It is that of Jesus of Nazareth. We have absolutely no doubt that he can manifest himself. However, if truly high order spirits only do so under exceptional circumstances, reason prevents us from believing that the Pure Spirit par excellence would respond to any appeal. It would be at the very least a great sacrilege to attribute an unworthy communication to him.
On Mediums
"The France of the last few centuries - irreverent, carried away by philosophical systems which, aiming at the destruction of the abuses of religious intolerance, stifled under ridicule all aspiration after the ideal - could not but repel spiritism, which, nevertheless, did not cease to maintain itself in the North. This struggle of Positivism against Spiritualism was permitted by Providence, because Spiritualism had become fanatical; but now that the progress of industry and science has developed the arts of life to such a point that material tendencies have become predominant, God wills that interest in the soul should be re-awakened in the minds of the spirits incarnated upon the earth, and that the perfecting of the moral being should become, as it ought to be, the recognised end and object of human life. The human spirit follows a foreordained and necessary line of march, image of the gradations undergone by all the beings that people the visible and invisible universe. Each new step of progress is accomplished at the appointed time; the epoch fixed for the moral elevation of the human race has now come; and, although this elevation will not be fully accomplished in your present life-time, you may be thankful that you are permitted to witness the dawn of the glorious new day." "PIERRE JOUTY." (The Medium's Father.)
"I cannot too strongly urge upon all mediums the necessity of maintaining a constant communication with their guardian-angel, that he may be able to help them to keep clear of the pride which is their worst enemy. Bear constantly in mind, O you who have the happiness of being the interpreters between spirits and men, that, without the support of our Divine Master, you are in danger of laying up for yourselves punishment that will be severe in proportion to the greatness of the medianimic faculty that has been confided to you. May this communication have the effect of inducing all mediums to avoid the rock of offence on which they are in danger of making shipwreck - pride." "JEANNE DARC."
"Let every medium, who does not feel in himself the moral strength that will enable him to consecrate his faculty to the noblest use, withdraw altogether from the work of mediumship; for he who, being favoured with special light, allows himself to enter upon a wrong path, incurs the heavier retribution reserved for those who have gone wilfully astray." "PASCAL"
"Great missions are only confided to picked men, who are placed, not by any seeking of their own, but by the leadings of Providence, in the position in which their action will be most efficacious. Inexperienced mediums cannot be too distrustful of what may be said to them, by flattering spirits, as to the importance of the part they are called to play; for, if they take all this flattery seriously, they will reap disappointment, both in this world and in the next. Let mediums remember that they can do good service, even in the most obscure and modest sphere, by helping to convince the incredulous, or by giving consolation to the afflicted. If it be their mission to go beyond this narrower range of medianimic action, they will be guided onwards, into a wider sphere of activity, by an invisible hand that will open their way before them and bring them forward, so to say, in spite of themselves. Let all mediums bear in mind these words: 'He that exalteth himself shall be abased; and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted.' " "THE SPIRIT OF TRUTH."
On Spiritist Societies
[1] We met a gentleman who was accepted for a job of trust, in an important house, because he was a sincere spiritist. They understood that their beliefs were a guarantee of their morality.
"Do you imagine that we consider it an honour to show ourselves off in your assemblies, and to contest with one another the palm of eloquence, in order that you may say: 'We have had a very interesting meeting?' How much do you retain, with a view to putting its teachings into practice, of communications that you have declared to be admirable? Do you suppose that we care for your applause? Be not deceived by any such notion. Our sole object is to improve you morally. Therefore, when we find that our words bear no fruit, that they excite only a sterile approbation, we seek out other souls who are more docile to our suggestions; and our places are then taken by spirits who desire nothing better than to mislead you, and who rarely fail to do so. You have therefore only yourselves to thank when you are deceived (See 268, quests. 19, 20)." " MASSILLON."
Remark. - Spirits who wish to make us accept unfounded theories usually pretend that, if we only agree with them, we shall be wiser than everybody else. They do their utmost to avoid the discussion of their theories ; but, if worsted in argument, they disdainfully refuse to reply, and induce their mediums to keep away from the groups by whom their ideas are examined and criticised. Isolation is therefore especially dangerous for mediums, because it leaves them at the mercy of obsessors, who first blind them, and then, too often, lead them astray.
Apocryphal Communications
Remark. - In point of style, this communication, with its inaccuracies, redundancies, and eccentric terms of expression, is evidently very faulty; but these faults alone would prove nothing against its authenticity, because such imperfections might arise from the incapacity of the medium, as we have already shown. What the communicating spirit gives, is the idea; and therefore, when the author of this message tells us that there exist on our planet more places that we are ignorant of than places that are known, and that a new continent is about to be discovered, he gives indisputable proof of his ignorance. Certain tracts of land, as yet undiscovered, may very probably exist beyond the ice-barriers around the poles; but to say that those tracts are peopled, and that God has hidden them from us in order that we may not transport evil institutions thither, shows the folly of the spirit who could seek to palm off suds absurdities on mortal listeners. Contrast the foregoing with the following, obtained in the same group and signed with the same name, but presenting as evident marks of authenticity as the foregoing presents of substitution.
Remark - This communication was obtained "as stated above" in the same circle as the preceding one; but what a difference is observable between them, not only in style, but also in thought! This one is clear, profound, sensible, and such as Vincent de Paul would not disavow; and we may therefore safely assume that it is from him.
Remark. - If ever there were a grave and serious man, Napoleon, while living, was such an one ; his brief, concise style of utterance is known to all, and he must have strangely degenerated since his death, if he could have dictated a communication so verbose and ridiculous as this, which, however, may perhaps be from the spirit of some trooper named "Napoleon."
Remark. - Who could recognise the excellent and beneficent man called Saint Vincent de Paul in language so loose and in thoughts so void of common sense, as the foregoing? What does the spirit mean by saying "No, one does not 'change one's religion,' ""one falls from folly and domination into wisdom and liberty?" With his "bullets which are not yet cast," this spirit would seem to be the same as that of the trooper who signed Napoleon in the preceding communication. In regard to the two following quotations, the absurdity of signing such messages with such a name, is too obvious to call for comment.
"Children, spiritualists of my new doctrine, be ready to stiffer, to brave the waves of adversity, the sarcasms of your enemies. Faith will march forward incessantly in following your star, which will guide you on the road to eternal happiness, as the star led the Magi of the East, by faith, to the Cradle. Whatever your adversaries may be, whatever your trials, whatever the tears that you have shed in this sphere of exile, take courage, be sure that the joy which will overwhelm you in the world of spirits will be far above the torments of your passing existence. The valley of tears is a valley which must disappear to give place to the brilliant sojourn of joy, of fraternity and union, which you will reach through your dutiful obedience to the holy revelation. This life, my dear brothers of this terrestrial sphere, merely preparatory though it be, can only endure for the time necessary for living well prepared for that life which can never end. Love one another, love one another as I have loved you, and as I love you still ; brothers, Courage, brothers l I bless you; in heaven I await you." "Jesus."
"From these brilliant and luminous regions which human thought can scarcely penetrate, the echo of your words and of mine has come to me and touched my heart.
"Oh! with what joy do I feel inundated by the sight of you, you, the continuers of my doctrine! No, nothing approaches the testimony of your good thoughts! You see it, my children, the regenerating idea cast by me long since into the world, persecuted, stayed, for a moment, by the oppression of tyrants, is going on now without obstacles, lighting the ways of humanity so long plunged in darkness. "Every great and disinterested sacrifice, my children, has borne fruit sooner or later. My martyrdom proved this to you; my blood poured out for my doctrine will save humanity and efface the faults of great criminals! "Blessed be ye, ye who this day take your place in the regenerated family! Go forward, courage, children!" "JESUS."
Remark. - There is certainly nothing evil in these two communications ; but did Christ ever express Himself in such an awkward, pretentious, stilted, and ridiculous style?
All the communications now quoted as apocryphal were obtained in the same circle. We notice in them a sort of family-likeness, similar turns of phraseology, the frequent repetition of the same expressions, such as, for example, "Go forward, children!" &c., from which we may conclude that the same spirit probably dictated them all, under different names. It is to be remarked that in the circle alluded to - and which was a very conscientious one, though somewhat too credulous - they never made evocations nor asked questions, hot waited for communications to be made spontaneously ; yet we see that their doing so did not suffice to ensure the authenticity of the messages received by them. A series of home-questions would have put this spirit into his proper place; hut, as they asked him nothing, and accepted, blindly and unhesitatingly, everything he said, he knew that he had nothing to fear, and seems to have amused himself accordingly by playing on their credulity (See 269).
"God frequently inspires men with uneasiness about the future, to urge them to foresight; see how great are the means for exciting your fears, sown designedly, and which, most frequently, cover avaricious thoughts rather than the idea of a wise provisioning inspired by a feeling of humanity for the advantage of the poor. Behold the relations of nations with nations that will grow out of your uneasiness; see the transactions to which it will lead; what methods will work together to disappoint your fears for, as you know, every thing is linked together, and great and small will cooperate in the work.
"And do you not already see, in the whole of this movement, a source of wellbeing for the more laborious class of society, that truly interesting class which you, the great, you, the omnipotent of this earth, regard as people to be taxed at your pleasure, created for your satisfaction?
"And what comes of all this going and coming from one pole to the other? It is that, once well provided for, the weather has often changed; the sun, obeying the thought of its Creator, ripens your harvest in a few days; God brings abundance where your covetousness meditated a lack, and in spite of you the humble can live; and, without your suspecting it, you have been, unknown to yourselves, the cause of abundance.
"Nevertheless it happens-God permits this sometimes - that the evil ones succeed in their avaricious projects; but then it is a teaching that God wills to give to all ; it is human foresight that He would stimulate; it is that infinite order which reigns in nature, it is courage in view of events, which men should imitate, and should bear with resignation.
"As to those who, calculatingly, profit by disasters, you may be sure that they will be punished for it. God wills that all His creatures should live; man should neither tamper with necessity nor make a traffic of superfluity.
Just in His benefits, great in His clemency, too good for our ingratitude, God is impenetrable in His designs." "BOSSUET ALFRED DE MARIGNAC."
Remark. - This communication assuredly contains nothing objectionable; on the contrary, notwithstanding its defects of style, it contains profound and philosophical ideas, and sagacious advice, which might deceive illiterate readers in regard to the identity of its author. The medium who obtained it, having submitted it to the examination of the Spiritist Society of Paris, the latter declared unanimously that it could not be the production of Bossuet. Saint Louis, on being consulted respecting this communication, gave the following answer: - "This communication is intrinsically good, but you must not believe that it came from Bossuet. The spirit who dictated it may perhaps have done so, in some degree, under the inspiration of the great Bishop, and may have put the Bishop's name at the end of it, in order to get it more readily accepted; but you can easily detect the substitution of signature by the defectiveness of the language. It was dictated by the spirit who has placed his name after that of Bossuet." This spirit, being interrogated as to his motive in attempting such a fraud, replied: - "I was anxious to write something to bring myself hack to the notice of men; seeing that my communication was but weak, I borrowed a great name to give it weigh." - "But did you not foresee that it would he judged to be spurious?" - "Who can ever be sure as to what will happen? You might have been taken in. Other persons, less clear-sighted, would have accepted it as coming from Basset."
It is, in fact, the readiness with which many persons accept whatever comes from the invisible world, under the apparent sanction of a great name, that encourages deceptive spirits. We must employ our acumen to frustrate the tricks of such spirits ; and this is only to he done with the aid of experience and a serious study of the subject. It is for this reason that we constantly repeat our advice to study the subject before attempting experimentation ; for it is only thus that inquirers can avoid acquiring experience at the cost of mystifications and annoyance.
CHAPTER XXXII - SPIRITIST VOCABULARY
SPIRIT-RAPPERS. - A class of spirits who reveal their presence and their quality by raps and noises of different kinds.
SPIRITIST. - That which has to do with spiritism ; a partisan of spiritism; one who believes in the fact of spirit-manifestations. A good, a bad Spiritist; the Spiritist Doutrine.
SPIRITISM -Doutrine founded upon the belief in the existence os spirits and their manifestations.
SPIRITIST. - That which has to do with spiritism ; a partisan of spiritism; one who believes in the fact of spirit-manifestations.
SPIRITUALISM. -The opposite of materialism; a belief in the existence of the spiritual and immaterial soul. We say, Spiritualism is the basis of all religions.
Stereotype - (from the Greek, stéréos, solid). Quality of tangible apparitions.
Mediumship – (See Medianimity).
Medianimic – Belonging to the special faculty of mediums. The mediumistic faculty.
Mediumat – The providential mission of mediums. This word has been coined by the Spirits. (See chapter XXXI, communication XII).
PSYCHOPHONY. - The communication of spirits by the voice of a speaking medium.
PSYCHOGRAPHY. - The writing of spirits by a medium's hand.
Psychographer – (from the Greek, psukê, butterfly, soul, and graphô, I write). The person who psychographs; a writing medium.
REINCARNATION. - The return of a spirit to corporeal life; plurality of existences, in this planet and in other material worlds.
SEMATOLOGY (from the Greek sema, a sign, and logos, a discourse). - The language of signs. The communications of spirits by the movements of inert bodies.
TYPTOLOGY. - Language of raps or tilts; a mode of spirit-communication. Alphabetical typtology; the designation of letters (or cyphers) by raps or tilts.
Typter - (from the Greek, tuptô, I strike). The quality of mediums skillful at communications through typtology. A typological medium.