An officer of hunters, a long-time Spiritist, and one of the many examples of the moral reforms that Spiritism can operate, provides us with the following detailed report:
“Dear Master,
We used the long hours of winter to fully dedicate to the development of our mediumistic faculties. The triad of the 4th Regiment of Hunters is always united, energetic, inspired by its own duties and seeking new endeavors. You certainly wishes to know the object of our works to be able to establish if what we do is useless. You will be able to assess it by the following:
For some months now our works are concentrated on the study of fluids. Such study developed in us the healing mediumship so that we now apply it successfully. A few days ago a simple irradiation of fluids for five minutes with my hand was enough to remove a sharp neuralgia. Mrs. P… was affected by an acute hyperesthesia or an exaggerated sensitivity of the skin, a disease that kept her in her bedroom for fifteen years. She lives in a small neighboring town and having heard of our Spiritist group came to seek relief with us. After thirty five days she returned home completely cured. During that period shed received a daily dose of fifteen minutes of magnetic irradiation with the help of our spiritual guides. At the same time we extended our care to an epileptic that was affected by the disease for twenty seven years. Thirty five days were enough for that important cure and lo and behold the happiness of that mother on taking her child home, completely cured! The three of us take turns every eight hours. To emit the fluid we sometimes placed the hand on the stomach of the patient, sometimes on the back of the neck, at the bottom of the neck. The patient was able to detect some improvement every day. We ourselves, after the evocation and during the reverence, felt the exterior fluid invading us, passing by us and escaping from our extended fingers to the body of the patient under treatment.
At this point in time we are attending a second epileptic. This time the disease seems more rebellious because it is hereditary. The seed of the disease passed from the father to his four sons. We hope to be able to mitigate that on all four with the help of God. Dear master, we beg for the help of your prayers and the prayers of the Parisian brothers. Such help will be an encouragement and a stimulus to our efforts. Besides your good Spirits can come to help us, making the treatment more efficient and shorten their duration. We do not accept that for reward, as you can imagine, and for that it is enough to have the satisfaction of carrying out our duties and that of having followed the impulse given by the good Spirits. The true love towards our fellow human beings is an unblemished joy but that leaves in our soul an amazing, shiny and elevating thing. We therefore try, as much as allowed by our own imperfections, to concentrate on the duties of the true Spiritist that are not but the application of the precepts found in the Gospels.
Mr. G. de L… is supposed to bring us his brother-in-law that has been subjugated by a bad Spirit for two years. Our Spiritist guide, Lamennais, has assigned us with the task of treating such a rebellious case of obsession. Would God give us the power of expelling the demons? If that were the case instead of being proud we would have to humble ourselves before such a great favor. How much more wouldn’t we have to improve to demonstrate our recognition to God and not to lose such precious gifts?”
After reading this letter at the session of the Parisian Society of Spiritist Studies on December 18th, 1863 one of our good mediums spontaneously obtained the two following communications:
“Since the free-will appears in several levels of development in human beings it has served to both alleviate and cure at all times. We are regrettably forced to acknowledge that it has also been the source of much harm but that is one of the consequences of its abuse by many people. The free-will develops both the animal as well as the spiritual fluid because, as you all know now, there are several types of magnetism and among them the animal magnetism and the spiritual magnetism that, according to the case, may request the backing of the former. Another type of magnetism much more powerful still is the prayer that a pure and selfless soul addresses to God. The free-will has frequently been misunderstood. The person that magnetizes generally thinks only of extending her own magnetism upon the person under her care not considering if there is or there isn’t an even more interested Providence in the case. Acting alone once can only obtain what her own strength allows whereas our healing mediums begin by raising their souls to God and by acknowledging that they cannot do anything alone. Their confession of weakness is an act of humility and abnegation. God then sends them powerful help that cannot be received by the others that see themselves self-sufficient for the task. God always rewards sincere humbleness by elevating it whereas pride is sent below. The help sent by God is the presence of the good Spirits that embed the medium with their beneficial fluids that are then transmitted to the patient. That is also the reason why the magnetism of the healing mediums is so powerful producing cures classified as miracles and that are simply due to the nature of the fluids cast upon the medium. While the ordinary magnetizing person drains, sometimes uselessly, with the passes, the healing medium infiltrates a regenerating fluid by the simple extension of the hands, thanks to the support given by the good Spirits. Such a support, however, is only granted to someone with a sincere faith and pure intention.
Mesmer, medium Mr. Albert”
-o-
“One word about the healing mediums that you have just mentioned. They are all in the most favorable dispositions; they have the faith that carries mountains, the selflessness that purifies the acts of life and the humility that sanctifies them. May they persevere in the beneficent work; may they remember well that those that practice the sacred laws taught by Spiritism constantly moves towards the creator. May the prayer be always their guide and support for that is the stronger will. Jesus Christ gave you the most irrefutable proof of a very firm will in all of his life, but that was the will for the good and not of the proud. Whenever he said – I want – that was full of unction. His apostles felt their hearts opening to those sacred words. The permanent kindness of Jesus, his submission to the will of God, his perfect abnegation, are the most beautiful models of will that one may have by example.
Paul, apostle. Medium, Mr. Albert”
A few explanations will suffice for the understanding of what is going on in those cases. It is well-known that the ordinary magnetic fluid may provide particular active properties to certain substances. In that case it acts like a chemical agent, modifying the molecular state of the bodies. Hence there is nothing extraordinary about the fact that it may modify the condition of certain organs and that its more or less healthy action may depend on its quality, thus yielding the expressions “good or bad fluid; a pleasant or unpleasant fluid.”
In the magnetic action per se it is the personal fluid of the magnetizer that is transmitted and it is known that such a fluid is not more than the perispirit that always suffers the influence of the Spirit and that more or less depends on the material quality of the body. Therefore it is impossible that the own fluids of an incarnate person may show absolute purity and that is why its action is slow, sometimes inexistent or even harmful because it may transmit damaging fluids to the patient.
Considering that a fluid is sufficiently abundant and energetic to produce the instantaneous effect of sleep, catalepsy, attraction or repulsion, it does not absolutely follow that it may have the necessary healing properties. It is the force that takes down but not the balm that sooths and restores. As a result there are incarnate Spirits from an inferior order whose fluids may even be very harmful and that is commonly attested by the Spiritists.
It is only with the superior Spirits that the perispirit is rid of every impurity of matter; it is somehow quintessential; its action must therefore be healthier and prompter: it is a healing fluid by excellence. Now, since it cannot be found among the incarnate or the common discarnate it is necessary to request it to the elevated Spirits, like when we need to seek a medication that we don’t find around us in distant places.
The healing medium irradiates little of own fluid. The medium feels the strange flux that pass through her and to which she operates as a conductor. It is with that fluid that the medium magnetizes and that is what characterizes the spiritual magnetism and separates it from the animal magnetism: one comes from a human being, the other from the Spirits. From that it is clear that there is nothing wonderful about it but a phenomenon that results from a law of nature that was unknown so far.
Even the common therapeutics one cannot count on any medicine to achieve the cure. One does need conveniently prepared, valid, pure and non-damaged components. For the same reason in order to cure through the magnetic action the most depurated fluids are the healthiest ones. Since these are a property of superior Spirits one does need their support and that is why prayer and evocation are needed. However, in order to pray and to pray with fervor it is necessary to have faith. In order to have the prayer heard it must have been said with humility and dictated by a real feeling of benevolence and charity. But there is no true charity without devotion or devotion without selflessness. Without these conditions the magnetizer remains without the assistance of the good Spirits, reduced to her own strength sometimes insufficient, whereas with their help that strength can increase many fold in power and efficacy.
Nevertheless, however pure a liquid may be it is always altered by the impurity of its container. That is what happens to the fluid of superior Spirits in contact with the incarnate souls. That is why mediums that would like to see their faculty improving instead of fading away must work for their own moral betterment.
There is consequently a fundamental difference between a healing medium and a magnetizer because the latter utilizes her own fluid and the former the depurated fluid of the Spirits. It then follows that the Spirits give their contribution to whoever they wish and when they wish; that they can refuse to give it and consequently they are able to have that faculty removed from whoever had abused or veered off from its humanitarian and charitable objective by trading with that.
When Jesus said to the apostles: “Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse those who have leprosy, drive out demons.” Jesus then added: Freely you have received, freely give. (Mathew 10:8-9)
The healing mediums tend to multiply as announced by the Spirits and that with the aim at propagating Spiritism by the impression that inevitably this new order of phenomena leave on the crowds because everybody is aware of their health even the most nonbelievers. Thus, when they see what is possible to get with the intervention of the Spirits and that cannot be given by science they must acknowledge that there is a power beyond this world. Science will then be lead out of an exclusively materialistic path that it has walked up until now. When the anti-spiritualist and anti-Spiritist magnetizers realize the existence of a more powerful magnetism than theirs they shall be forced to go back to the true cause.
However one must be forearmed against charlatanism that will still try to exploit that new faculty. The simple way of doing that is to remember that there is no selfless charlatanism and that the absolute moral and material altruism are the best guarantors of honesty. If there is a God given faculty with such a pure objective that is the one because it imperiously demands the support of the superior Spirits and such support cannot be acquired by charlatanism. We describe it with some details exactly to give more awareness of the special nature of its special nature.
Although we may have attested its existence by the positive presentation of facts, many of which taking place before our eyes, we can say that it is still rare and that it only exists partially in the mediums that don’t have the full capability yet and that it is still in its beginning. That is why such facts have not had a great repercussion yet however it won’t be long when they will present a development capable of drawing the general attention. In just a few years the skills will be show on predestined persons with a strength that will eliminate adamant reactions but these are not the only facts reserved to the future and through which God will confuse and convince the proud in their impotence. Healing mediums are one among thousands of providential means of achieving that objective and speed up the victory of Spiritism.
It is easily understood that such a qualification cannot be given to the writing mediums that receive medical prescriptions from certain Spirits. We don’t see the healing mediumship but from the phenomenological point of view and as a means of propagation but not as a common resource. In a next article we will deal with its possible alliance with medicine and ordinary magnetism.
