[Illustration: seph01]
[Illustration: seph01]
In the foregoing illustration let A-B be the mirror with F for its focus. Let the subject be stationed at S. Then the rays directed towards the surface of the mirror will be represented by RR-RR. These rays impinge upon a diamagnetic surface which is concave. The rays are therefore bent inwards and thrown back upon the person at S in the form of a cone of energy which has the effect of producing auto-hypnosis. There are other forms of agency, such as the zinc disc with the copper centre as used by Braid to induce the hypnotic sleep, but these appear to depend upon tiring the optic nerves and thus, through their action upon the thalami to produce temporary inhibition of the whole basilar tract of the brain.
The mesmerist who throws streams of energy upon the patient would appear to be working on the same principle as that by which the person using the concave mirror induces self-hypnosis. Possibly the latter method may be found to be conducive to the phenomena arising from auto-suggestion, while the conditions induced by the action of the hypnotist may be less liable to the effects of auto-suggestion and more responsive to hypnotic suggestion,i.e.the mental action of the hypnotist.
These, however, are considerations which need not trouble us overmuch, since by whatever agent the subject is made clairvoyant, the results are equally curious and informing. Auto-suggestion, at least, can hardly be regarded in the category of objections, since we cannot auto-suggest that which does not first of all arise as an image in the mind. It is in the spontaneous and automatic production of auto-suggested impressions that the phenomena of clairvoyance very largely consist; only we have to remember that the suggesting self is a more considerable quantity than the personality to which these suggestions are made, and is in touch with a world immeasurably greater and in every sense less limited than that to which the person is externally related. Looked at from whatever point of view we may choose, the phenomena of clairvoyance cannot be adequately explained without recourse to psychology on the one hand and occultism on the other. Psychology is needed in order to explain the nature and faculty of the human soul, and occultism to define for us the nature of that universal mirror in which the whole category of human events, both past and future, are reflected. Having decided upon a course of experiments with a crystal or mirror, the best of the kind should be obtained. A black velvet covering should be made in which to envelop the crystal when not in use. Mirrors are usually made with a suitable lid or covering. Care should be taken not to scratch the surface, and all cleaning should be done with a dry silk handkerchief kept for the purpose. Exposure to the sun's rays not only scores the surface of a crystal or mirror, but also puts the odylic substance into activity, distributing and dissipating the magnetic power stored up therein.
And now a word or two about the disposition and attitude of the subject. The visions do not occur in the crystal itself. They may appear to do so, but this is due, when it occurs, to the projection and visualization of the mental images. The visions are in the mind or soul of the seer and nowhere else. It is a matter of constitutional psychism as to where the sense of clear vision will be located. Personally I find the sense to be located in the frontal coronal region of the brain about 150 to the right of the normal axis of vision, which may be regarded as the meridian of sight. Other instances are before me in which the sense is variously located in the back of the head, the nape of the neck, the pit of the stomach, the summit of the head, above and between the eyes, and in one case near the right shoulder but beyond the periphery of the body. The explanation appears to be that the nervo-vital emanations from the body of the seer act upon the static odyle in the agent, which in turn reacts upon the brain centres by means of the optic nerves. And this appears to be sufficient reason why the crystal or mirror should be kept as free as possible from disturbing elements. Water is extremely odylic and should never come in contact with the agent employed as it effectually carries off all latent or stored imports. I am forced to use a crude terminology in order to convey the idea in my mind, but I recognize that the whole explanation may appear vague and inadequate. It is of course at all times easier to observe effects than to offer a clear explanation of them. Yet some sort of working hypothesis is constructed when we collate our observations, and it is this that I have sought to communicate.
For similar reasons, when in use the crystal or mirror should be shaded and so placed that no direct rays from sun or artificial light may fall upon it. The odyle, as Reichenbach so conclusively proved by his experiments, rapidly responds to surrounding magnetic conditions and to the vibrations of surrounding bodies, and to none more rapidly than the etheric vibrations caused by combustion or light of any kind. There should be no direct rays of light between the agent and the seer.
The room in which the sitting takes place should be moderately warm, shady, and lit by a diffused light, such as may be obtained by a light holland blind or casement cloth, in the daytime. The subject should sit with his back to the source of light, and the illumination will be adequate if ordinary print can be read by it.
It is important that all persons sitting in the same room with the seer should be at least at arm's length from him.
Silence should be uniformly observed by those present, until the vision is attained.
It will then be found convenient to have two persons present to act as Interrogator and Recorder respectively.
The Interrogator should be the only person whose voice is heard, and it should be reduced to a soft but distinct monotone. The Recorder will be occupied in setting down in writing all questions asked by the Interrogator and the exact answers made by the seer. These should be dated and signed by those present when completed. It is perhaps hardly necessary to remark that precautions should be taken to prevent sudden intrusions, and as far as possible to secure general quiet without.
I may here interject an observation which appears to me suggestive and may prove valuable. It has been observed that the inhabitants of basaltic localities are more generally natural clairvoyants than others. Basalt is an igneous rock composed largely of augite and felspar, which are silicate crystals of calcium, potassium, alumina, etc., of which the Moonstone is a variety. The connecting link is that clairvoyance is found to be unusually active during and by means of moonlight. What psycho-physical effect either basalt or moonlight has upon the nervous system of impressible subjects appears to be somewhat obscure, but there is little difference between calcium light and moonlight, except that the latter is moderated by the greater atmosphere through which it comes to us. It is only when we come to know the psychological values of various chemical bodies that we can hope for a solution of many strange phenomena connected with the clairvoyant faculty. I recollect that the seeress of Prevorst experienced positive pain from the near presence of water during her abnormal phases. Reichenbach found certain psycho-pathological conditions to be excited by various metals and foreign bodies when brought into contact with the sensitive. These observations are extremely useful if only in producing an awareness of possible reasons for such disturbance as may occur in the conditions already cited.
At the outset the sittings should not last longer than at most half-an-hour, but it is important that they should be regular, both as to time and place. We are already informed from a number of observations that every action tends to repeat itself under similar conditions. Habits of life and mind are thus formed so that in time they become quite involuntary and automatic. A cumulative effect is obtained by attention to this matter of periodicity, while the use of the same place for the same purpose tends to dispose the mind to the performance of particular functions. In striving for psychic development of any sort we shall do well not to disregard these facts. For since all actions tend to repeat themselves and to become automatic, to pass from the domain of the purposive into the habitual, the psychic faculties will similarly, if actuated at any set time and place, tend to bestir themselves to the same effects as those to which they were first moved by the conscious will and intention of the seer. Until the clairvoyant faculty is fully assured and satisfactory results obtained without any inconvenience to the seer, not more than two persons should be present at the sittings. These should be in close sympathy with the seer and with each other.
When the sitting is over it will be found useful to repair to another place and fully discuss the results obtained, the impressions and feelings of the seer during the seance, and matters which appear to have a bearing on the facts observed.
A person should not be disheartened if at the first few sittings nothing of any moment takes place, but should persevere with patience and self-control. Indeed, if we consider the fact that for hundreds of generations the psychic faculties latent in man have lain in absolute neglect, that perhaps the faculty of clear vision has not been brought into activity by any of our ancestors since remote ages, it should not be thought remarkable that so few find the faculty in them to be practically dormant. It should rather be a matter of surprise that the faculty is still with us, that it is not wholly irresponsive to the behests of the soul. While in the course of physical evolution many important functions have undergone remarkable changes, and organs, once active and useful, have become stunted, impotent, and in some cases extinct, yet on the other hand we see that seeds which have lain dormant in arid soil for hundreds of years can spring into leaf and flower under the influence of a suitable climate.
The vermiform appendix, so necessary to the bone eaters of a carnivorous age, has no part in the physical economy of a later and more highly-evolved generation. The pineal gland and the pituitary body are adjuncts of the brain whose functions have long been in latency. TheAnastatica hierochuntica,commonly called the Rose of Jericho, is a wonderful example of functional latency. The plant will remain for ages rolled up like a ball of sun-dried heather, but if placed in water it will immediately open out and spread forth its nest of mossy green fronds, the transition from seeming death to life taking place in a few minutes. The hygrometric properties of the plant are certainly exceptional. They illustrate the responsiveness of certain natures to a particular order of stimulus, and in a sense they illustrate the functions of the human soul. The faculty of direct vision is like the latent life of the vegetable world. It waits only the conditions which favour its activity and development, and though for generations it may have lain dormant, yet in a few days or weeks it may attain the proportions of a beautiful flower, a thing of wonder and delight, gracing the Garden of the Soul.
CHAPTER V.
KINDS OF VISION
There are two kinds of vision, and each of these may be perceived in two different ways. The two sorts of vision are called the Direct Vision and the Symbolic Vision.
The first of these is an exact representation of some scene or incident which has taken place in the past or will subsequently be experienced in the future. It may have relation to the experience of the seer, or of those who are present at the sitting, or yet may have a general or public application.
The second order of vision is a representation by ideograph, symbol or other indirect means, of events similar to those conveyed by direct vision. The visions of Ezekiel and John of Patmos are of the symbolic order, and although to the seers themselves there probably was a very clear apperception of their import, yet for others they require interpretation. In most cases it will be found that the nature of the vision has relation to that sphere of life and interest in which the seer or those for whom he is serving are concerned. But this is not always the case, for there are some peculiarly sensitive seers whose visions have a wider range and a more general application. In the first case it would seem that the impressions latent in the individual sphere of subconscious activity are brought into evidence, and in the other case the seer comes into relations with the world-soul or earth-sphere, so that political, social and cosmic events are brought out of latency into conscious perception. In most cases it will be found that answers to questions are conveyed by symbols, though this is not an invariable rule, as will appear from the following remarks.
The vision, when it occurs, may be conveyed in one of two ways: first, as a vivid picture affecting the focus and retina of the eye, perfect in its outline and colouring, and giving the sense of nearness or distance; secondly, as a vivid mental impression accompanied by a hazy or dim formation in the "field" of vision. In this latter form it becomes an apperception rather than a perception, the mind receiving the impression of the vision to be conveyed before it has had time to form and define itself in the field.
As already intimated, there appears to be a connection between the temperamental peculiarities of the two classes of clairvoyants and the kind of vision developed in them. Thus the direct vision is more generally found in association with the passive temperament. The direct vision is neither so regular nor so constant as the symbolic vision owing to the peculiarities of the negative or passive subject. When it does develop, however, the direct vision is both lucid and actual, and has literal fulfilment in the world of experience and fact. It is an actual representation of what has actually happened or will have place in the future, or yet may be presently happening at some place more or less distant.
The symbolic vision, on the other hand, is more generally developed in the positive or active type of seer. It has the advantage of being more regular and constant in its occurrence than the direct vision, while at the same time being open to the objection that it is frequently misinterpreted. Nothing shows this better perhaps than the various interpretations which have been made of the Apocalypse.
The positive temperament appears to throw off the mental images as speedily as they are developed in the subconscious area, and goes out to meet them in a mood of speculative enquiry. But the passive temperament most frequently feels first and sees afterwards, the visionary process being entirely devoid of speculation and mental activity. In a word, the distinction between them is that the one sees and thinks while the other feels and sees.
The manner in which the visions appear to develop in the field requires some description, and for reasons which will presently appear it is essential that the earliest experiments should be made in the light of a duly informed expectancy.
At first the crystal or mirror will appear to be overclouded by a dull, smoky vapour which presently condenses into milky clouds among which are seen innumerable little gold specks of light, dancing in all directions, like gold-dust in a sunlit air. The focus of the eye at this stage is inconstant, the pupil rapidly expanding and contracting, while the crystal or mirror alternately disappears in a haze and reappears again. Then suddenly the haze disappears and the crystal looms up into full view, accompanied by a complete lapse of the seer into full consciousness of his surroundings.
This may be the only experience during the first few sittings. It may be that of many. But if it occurs it is an entirely satisfactory and hopeful symptom. For sooner or later, according to the degree of susceptibility or responsiveness in the subject, there will come a moment when the milky-looking clouds and dancing starlights will suddenly vanish and a bright azure expanse like an open summer sky will fill the field of vision. The brain will now be felt to palpitate spasmodically, as if opening and closing again in the coronal region; there will be a tightening of the scalp about the base of brain, as if the floor of the cerebrum were contracting; the seer will catch his breath with a spasmodic sigh and the first vision will stand out clear and life-like against the azure screen of space.
Now the danger at this supreme moment is that the seer will be surprised into full waking consciousness. During the process of abstraction which precedes every vision or series of visions, the consciousness of the seer is gradually but imperceptibly withdrawn from physical surroundings. He forgets that he is seated in a particular place or room, that he is in the company of another or others. He forgets that he is gazing into a crystal or mirror. He knows nothing, sees nothing, hears nothing, save that which is being enacted before the senses of his soul. He loses sight for the time even of his own identity and becomes as it were merged in the vision itself.
When, therefore, his attention is suddenly arrested by an apparition, startling in its reality and instantaneous production, the reaction is likely to be both rapid and violent, so that the seer is frequently carried back into full waking consciousness. When, however, the mind is previously instructed and warned of this stage of the process, a steady and self-possessed attitude is ensured and a subconscious feeling of expectancy manifests at the critical moment. I have known so many cases of people being surprised out of clairvoyance and so to have lost what has often been an isolated experience, that this treatise will be wholly justified if by the inclusion of this warning the novice comes successfully through his first experience of second sight.
We come now to the point where it becomes necessary to consider other important reactions which the development of any psychic sense involves. To some favoured few these supernormal faculties appear to be given without any cost to themselves. Perhaps they are direct evolutional products, possibly psychic inheritances; but to such as have them no price is asked or penalty imposed.
Others there are who are impelled by their own evolutional process to seek the development in themselves of these psychic powers; and to these a word of warning seems necessary, so that at the risk of appearing didactic I must essay the task. To some it may seem unwelcome, to others redundant and supererogatory. But we are dealing with a new stage in evolutional progress--the waking up of new forces in ourselves and the prospective use of a new set of faculties. It is of course open to anybody to experiment blindly, and none will seek to deter them save those who have some knowledge of the attendant dangers, and which knowledge alone can help us to avoid. I should consider the man more fool than hero who, in entire ignorance of mechanics and aeronautics, stepped on board an aeroplane and started the engines running. Even the most skilful in any new field of experiment or research consciously faces certain but unknown dangers. The victims of the aeroplane--brave pioneers of human enterprise and endeavour that they were--fell by lack of knowledge. By lack of knowledge also have the humane efforts of many physicians been cut short at the outset of what might have been a successful career. It was this very lack of knowledge they knew to be the greatest of all dangers, and it was this they had set out to remedy.
It is not less dangerous when we begin to pursue a course of psychic development. The ordinary functions of the mind are well within our knowledge and control. There is always the will by which we may police the territory under our jurisdiction and government. It is another matter when we seek to govern a territory whose peculiar features and native laws and customs are entirely unknown to us. It is obvious that here the will-power, if directed at all, is as likely to be effectual for evil as for good. The psychic faculties may indeed be opened up and the unknown region explored, but at fatal cost, it may be, to all that constitutes normal sanity and physical well-being; in which case one may say with Hamlet it be better to "bear those ills we have, than fly to others that we know not of."
Some of the conditions imposed upon those who, not being naturally gifted in this direction, would wish to experiment in clairvoyant development, may conveniently be stated and examined in another chapter.
CHAPTER VI.
OBSTACLES TO CLAIRVOYANCE
Various impediments stand in the way of inducing second sight, and certain others may be expected to arise in connection with the faculty when induced. Putting aside the greatest of all obstacles, that of constitutional unfitness, as having already been discussed in the preceding pages, the first obstacle to be encountered is that of ill health. It can hardly be expected that new areas can be opened up in the mind without considerable change and adjustment taking place by reflection in the physical economy. The reaction is likely to be attended by physical distress. But Nature is adaptable and soon accommodates herself to changed conditions, so that any results directly attributable to the development of the psychic centres of activity is not likely to be more than transient, providing that due regard has been given to the normal requirements of health.
The importance of a moderate and nourishing diet cannot be too strongly urged upon those who seek for psychic development. All overloading of the stomach with indigestible food and addiction to alcoholic drinks tend to cloud the higher faculties. The brain centres are thereby depleted, the heart suffers strain, and the equilibrium of the whole system is disturbed. Ill health follows, the mind is centred upon the suffering body, spiritual aspiration ceases, and the neglected soul folds its wings and falls into the sleep of oblivion.
But, on the other hand, one must not suppose that the adoption of a fruit and cereal diet will of itself induce to the development of the psychic powers. It will aid by removing the chief impediments of congestion and disease. Many good people who adopt this dietetic reform have a tendency to scratch one another's shoulder blades and expect to find their wings already sprouting. If it were as easy as this the complacent cow would be high up in the scale of spiritual aspirants.
The consciousness of man works from a centre which co-ordinates and includes the phenomena of thought, feeling, and volition. This centre is capable of rapid displacement, alternating between the most external of physical functions and the most internal of spiritual operations. It cannot be active in all parts of our complex constitutions at one and the same moment. When one part of our nature is active another is dormant, as is seen in the waking and sleeping stages, the dream-life being in the middle ground between the psychic and physical. It will therefore be obvious that a condition in which the consciousness is held in bondage by the infirmities of the body is not one likely to be conducive to psychic development. For this reason alone many aspirants have been turned back from initiation. The constitution need not be robust, but it should at all events be free from disorder and pain. Some of the most ethereal and spiritual natures are found in association with a delicate organism. So long as the balance is maintained the soul is free to develop its latent powers. A certain delicacy of organization, together with a tendency to hyperaesthesia, is most frequently noted in the passive or direct seer; but a more robust and forceful constitution may well be allied to the positive type of seership.
As a chronic state of physical congestion is altogether adverse to the development of the second sight or any other psychic faculty, so the temporary congestion following naturally upon a meal indicates that it is not advisable to sit for psychic exercise immediately after eating. Neither should a seance be begun when food is due, for the automatism of the body will naturally demand satisfaction at times when food is usually taken and the preliminary processes of digestion will be active. The best time is between meals and especially between tea and supper, or an hour after the last meal of the day, supposing it to be of a light nature. The body should be at rest, and duly fortified, and the mind should be contented and tranquil.
The attitude of the would-be seer should not be too expectant or over-anxious about results. All will come in good time, and the more speedily if the conditions are carefully observed. It is useless to force the young plant in its growth. Take time, as Nature does. It is a great work and much patience may be needed. Nature is never in a hurry, and therefore she brings everything to perfection. The acorn becomes the sturdy oak only because Nature is content with small results, because she has the virtue of endurance. She is patient and careful in her beginnings, she nurses the young life with infinite care, and her works are wonderfully great and complete in their issues. Moreover, they endure. Whoever breathes slowest lives the longest.
This statement opens up a very important matter connected with all psychic phenomena, and one that deserves more than casual notice. It has been long known to the people of the East that there is an intimate connection between brain and lung action, and modern experiment has shown by means of the spirometer that the systole and diastole motion of the hemispheres of the brain coincide exactly with the respiration of the lungs. The brain as the organ of the mind registers every emotion with unerring precision. But so also do the lungs, as a few common observations will prove. Thus if a person is in deep thought the breathing will be found to be long and regular, but if the mind is agitated the breathing will be short and stertorous, while if fear affects the mind the breathing is momentarily suspended. A person never breathes from the base of the lung unless his mind is engrossed. Hard exercise demands deep breathing and is therefore helpful in producing good mental reactions. It is said that the great preacher De Witt Talmage used to shovel gravel from one side of his cellar to the other as a preliminary to his fine elocutional efforts. It is this obvious connection between respiration and mental processes which is at the base of the system of psycho-physical culture known asHatha Yogain distinction fromRâj Yoga,which is concerned solely with mental and spiritual development. The two systems, which have of late years found frequent exposition in the New Thought school, are to be found in Patanjali'sYoga sutrâ.Some reference to the synchronous action of lung and brain will also be found in Dr. Tafel's translation and exposition of Swedenborg's luminous work onThe Brain.In this work the Swedish seer frankly refers his illumination regarding the functions of the brain to his faculty of introspective vision or second sight, and it is of interest to observe that all the more important discoveries in this department of physiology during the last two centuries are clearly anticipated by him. The scientific works of this great thinker are far too little known by the majority, who are apt to regard him only as a visionary and a religious teacher.
Ad rem. The vision is produced. The faculty of clairvoyance is an established fact of experience and has become more or less under the control of the mind. There will yet remain one or two difficulties connected with the visions. One is that of time measure, and another that of interpretation. The former is common to both orders of vision, the direct and the symbolic. The difficulty of interpretation is, of course, peculiar to the latter order of vision.
The sensing of time is perhaps the greatest difficulty encountered by the seer, and this factor is often the one that vitiates an otherwise perfect revelation. I have known cartomantes and diviners of all sorts to express their doubt as to the possibility of a correct measure of time. Yet it is a question that follows naturally upon a clear prediction--When?
It is sometimes impossible to determine whether a vision relates to the past, the present, or the future. In most cases, however, the seer has an intuitive sense of the time-relations of a vision which is borne in upon him with the vision itself. It will generally be observed that in ordinary mental operations the time sense is subject to localization, and a distinct throw of the mind will be experienced when speaking of the past and the future. Personally I find the past to be located on my left and the future on my right hand, but others inform me that the habit of mind, places the past behind and the future in front of them, while others again have the past beneath their feet and the future over their heads. It is obviously a habit of mind, and this usually inheres in the visionary state so that a sense of time is found to attach to all visions, though it cannot be relied upon to register on every occasion. But also it is frequently found that there is an automatic allocation of the visions, those that are near of fulfilment being in the foreground of the field, the approximate in the middle ground, and the distant in the background; position answering to time interval. In such case the vision has a certain definition or focus according to the degree of its proximity. These points are, however, best decided by empiricism, and rarely does it happen that the intuitive sense of the seer is at fault when allowed to have play.
The other difficulty to which I have referred, that of interpretation of symbols when forming the substance of the vision, may be dealt with somewhat more fully. Symbolism is a universal language and revelation most frequently is conveyed by means of it. As a preliminary to the study of symbolism the student should read Swedenborg'sHieroglyphical Key to Natural and Spiritual Mysteries,one of the earliest of his works and in a great measure the foundation of his thought and teaching. The Golden Book of Hermes containing the twenty-two Tarots is open to a universal interpretation as may be seen from the works of the Kabalists, and in regard to their individual application may be regarded in a fourfold light, having reference to the spiritual, rational, psychic and physical planes of existence. It is by means of symbols that the spiritual intelligences signal themselves to our minds, and the most exalted vision is, as an expression of intelligence, only intelligible by reason of its symbolism. Something more may be said in regard to the interpretation of symbols which may possibly be of use to those who have made no special study of the subject, and this may conveniently form the material of another chapter.
CHAPTER VII.
SYMBOLISM
Symbols formed the primitive language of the human race, they spoke and wrote in symbols. The hieroglyphic writings of the aborigines of Central America, of the ancient Peruvians, of the Mongolians, and of the ancient Copts and Hebrews all point to the universal use of the ideograph for the purpose of recording and conveying ideas.
If we study the alphabets of the various peoples, we shall find in them clear indications of the physical and social conditions under which they evolved. Thus the Hebrew alphabet carries with it unmistakable evidence of the nomadic and simple life of those "dwellers in tents." The forms of the letters are derived from the shapes of the constellations, of which twelve are zodiacal, six northern and six southern. This implies a superficial intimacy with the heavens such as would result from a life spent in hot countries with little or no superstructure to shut out the view. The wise among them would sit beneath the stars in the cool night air and figure out the language of the heavens.
It was God's message to mankind, and they sought not only to understand it but to make imitation of it. So they built an alphabet of forms after the pattern of things in the heavens. But when we come to the names of these forms or letters we come at once into touch with the life of the people. Thusaleph, an ox;beth, a tent;daleth, a tent-door;lamed, an ox-goad;mem, water;tzadde, a fish-hook;quoph, a coil of rope;gimel, a camel;yod, a hand;oin, an eye;vau, a hook or link;heth, a basket;caph, a head;nun, a fish;phe, a mouth;shin, a tooth;resh, a head;etc., all speaking to us of the ordinary things of a simple, wandering life. These symbols were compounded to form ideographs, asaleph= a, andlamed= l, being the first and last of the zodiacal circle, were employed for the name of the Creator, the reverse of these,la, signifying non-existence, negation, privation. In course of time a language and a literature would be evolved, but from the simple elements of a nomadic life. Knowledge came to them by action and the use of the physical sense. They had no other or more appropriate confession of this than is seen in the rootדעyedo--knowledge, compounded of the three symbolsyod,daleth,oin--a hand, a door, an eye. The hand is a symbol of action, power, ability; the door, of entering, initiation; the eye, of seeing, vision, evidence, illumination.
Hence the ideograph formed by the collation of these symbols signifies, opening the door to see,i.e.enquiry.
The Chinese alphabet of forms is entirely hieroglyphic and symbolical in its origin, though it has long assumed a typal regularity. What were once curved and crude figures have become squared and uniform letterpress. But the names of these forms bring us into touch at once with the early life of the Mongolian race. We have, however, indications of a wider scope than was enjoyed by the primitive Semites, for whereas we find practically all the symbols of the Hebrews employed as alphabetical forms, we also have others which indicate artifice, such ashsi,box;chieh,a seal or stamp;mien,a roof;chin,a napkin;kung,a bow;mi,silk;lei,a plough, and many others, such as the names of metals, wine, vehicles, leather in distinction from hides, etc. But further, we have a mythology as part of the furniture of the primitive mind, the dragon and the spirit or demon being employed as radical symbols.
Considered in regard to their origin, symbols may be defined as thought-forms which embody, by the association of ideas, definite meanings in the mind that generates them. They wholly depend for their significance upon the laws of thought and the correspondence that exists between the spiritual and material worlds, between the subject and object of our consciousness, the noumenon and phenomenon.
All symbols therefore may be translated by reference to the known nature, quality, properties and uses of the objects they represent. A few interpretations of symbols actually seen in the mirror may serve to illustrate the method of interpretation.
A foot signifies a journey, and also understanding. A mouth denotes speech, revelation, a message. An ear signifies news, information; if ugly and distorted, scandal and abuse.
The sun, if shining brightly, denotes prosperity, honours, good health, favours.
The moon when crescent denotes success, public recognition, increase and improvement; when gibbous, sickness, decadence, loss and trouble.
The sun being rayless or seen through a haze denotes sickness to a man, some misfortune, danger of discredit. When eclipsed it denotes the ruin or death of a man. The moon similarly affected denotes equal danger to a woman. These are all natural interpretations and probably would be immediately appreciated.
But every symbol has a threefold or fourfold interpretation and the nature of the enquiry or purpose for which the vision is sought will indicate the particular meaning conveyed. For if the enquiry be concerning things of the spiritual world the interpretation of the answering vision must be in terms of that world, and similarly if the question has relation to the intellectual or the physical worlds. Thus a pain of scales would denote in the spiritual sense, absolute justice; in the intellectual, judgment, proportion, comparison, reason; in the social, debt or obligation, levy, rate, or tax; and in the material, balance of forces, equilibrium, action and reaction. If the scales are evenly balanced the augury will be good and favourable to the purport of the quest, but if weighted unevenly it is a case ofmene, tekel, upharsin;for it shows an erring judgment, an unbalanced mind, failure in one's obligations, injustice. A sword seen in connection with the scales denotes speedy judgment and retribution. This is an illustration of an artificial symbol.
A ship is a symbol of trading, of voyaging, and is frequently used in the symbolical vision. If in full sail it indicates that communication with the spiritual world is about to be facilitated, that news from distant lands will come to hand, that trade will increase, that a voyage will be taken. If writing should appear on the sails it will be an additional means of enlightenment. If flying the pirate flag it denotes translation to another land, death. The land indicated may be the spiritual world itself, in which case the death will be natural; but if it should be a foreign country, then death will take place there by some unlooked-for disaster. The ship's sails being slack denotes a falling off of afflatus or spiritual influx, loss of trade, misfortune, delays and bad news, or if news is expected it will not come to hand.
Black bread denotes a famine; spotted or mottled bread, a plague. This symbol was seen in June 1896, with other symbols which connected it with India, and there followed a great outbreak of bubonic plague in that country. This symbol, however, was not properly understood until the event came to throw light upon it. The following note is from a seance which took place in India in the spring of 1893: "A leaf of shamrock is seen. It denotes the United Kingdom or the Triple Alliance. It is seen to split down the centre with a black line. It symbolizes the breaking of a treaty. Also that Ireland, whose symbol is the shamrock, will be separated by an autonomous government from the existing United Kingdom and will be divided into two factions."
In this way all symbols seen in the crystal or mirror may be interpreted by reference to their known properties and uses, as well as by the associations existing between them and other things, persons and places, in the mind of the seer. Nor is it always required that the scryer should understand symbology, for as already said, the meanings of most of the symbols will be conveyed to the consciousness of the seer at the time of their appearance in the field. Experience will continually throw new light upon the screen of thought, and a symbol once known will assume a constant signification with each seer, so that in course of time a language will be instituted by means of which constant revelations will be made.
It will thus be obvious, I think, that symbolism is to a large extent subject to a personal colouring, so that the same symbol may, by different associations, convey a different meaning to various seers. This may arise in part from the diversities of individual experience, of temperament, and the order to which the soul belongs in the spiritual world. These dissimilarities between individuals may be noted from their highest intellectual convictions down to the lowest of their sensations, and it is difficult to account for it. We all have the same laws of thought and the same general constitution. Humanity comprehends us all within the bonds of a single nature. Yet despite these facts we are divided by differences of opinion, of emotion, of sympathy, of taste and faculty. It is probable that these differences obtain in spheres immeasurably higher than our own, the sole element of consent being the recognition of dependence upon a Higher Power. God is the co-ordinating centre in a universe of infinite diversity.
Therefore, despite the fact that symbolism is capable of a universal interpretation, it would appear that the images projected by the magical power of the soul must have different significations with each of us, the meanings being in some mysterious way in agreement with the nature of the person who sees them. Hence we may come to the conclusion that every person must be his own interpreter, there being no universal code for what are peculiarly individualized messages. For although every symbol has a general signification in agreement with its natural properties and uses, it yet obtains a particular signification with the individual.
It is within common experience with those who have regard to the import of dreams, wherein the faculty of seership is acting on its normal plane, that a dream constantly recurring is found to have a particular meaning, which however is not applicable to others who have a similar dream. Every person is a seer in dream life, but few pay that attention to dreams which their origin and nature warrant. The crystal or mirror is an artificial means of bringing this normal faculty of dreaming into activity in waking life. Those who are capable of making the dream life normal to the working consciousness, rise to a higher plane when they sleep.
But, as stated above, the differences of import or meaning, even in dream life, of any particular symbol is a common experience. One person will dream of wading in water whenever there is trouble ahead. Another will dream of a naked child, and yet another of coal, when similar trouble is in store. Butchers' meat will signify financial trouble to one person, to another the same will denote a fortunate speculation.
The controlling factor in this matter would appear to be founded in the mental and psychic constitution conferred by physical heredity and psychic tradition, converging at the conception of the individual and expressed in the birth. Probably an argument could thence be made in regard to the influence of the planets and the general cosmic disposition attending upon birth: I have frequently found that dreams may be interpreted by reference to the individual horoscope of birth, and if dreams, possibly also visions, which are but dreams brought into the field of conscious reality. But any such argument, however tempting, would be beyond the scope of this work.
CHAPTER VIII.
ALLIED PSYCHIC PHASES
The faculty of second sight is not by any means the most common of the psychic powers. Psychometric impressions which proceed by the sense of touch into that of a superior order of feeling are far more general. We are affected much more than is generally recognized by the impressions gathered from the things we have contact with, and it is quite a common experience that very delicate and sensitive people take the "atmosphere" of places into which they go. I have in mind an instance of an extremely high-keyed person who invariably takes on the atmosphere of new localities, houses and even rooms. Going to view a house with the object of taking it on rental, she will as likely as not pronounce against the moment she enters on the ground that it is a "house of death" or a "quarrelsome house," full of sickness, intemperance or what not, and wherever enquiry has been possible it has invariably confirmed her impressions. On one occasion she had telegraphed to engage a room at an hotel in a seaside town, and on being shown to it by the maid found that it was locked. While the maid went to fetch the key the young lady tried the door and immediately received a psychometric impression. "Oh, M--," she said to her companion, "we cannot possibly have this room, there's a corpse in it!" This was confirmed, almost as soon as said, by the appearance of the proprietor, who explained that the maid had made a mistake in the number of the room, and then, feeling that there was a state of tension, confidentially informed his visitors that the locked room had really been booked to them but the old lady who was to have vacated it that morning had unfortunately died, and in order not to distress the other visitors the door had been locked pending the removal of the body, and even the servants had not been informed of it.
The experiments of Denton recorded in hisSoul of Thingsare full of interest for those who would learn something more about the phenomena of psychometry.
The suggestion is that every particle of matter has its own aura or "atmosphere" in which are stored up the experiences of that particle. What is said of the particle applies also to the mass of any body, and in effect we get the aura of a room, of a house, of a town, of a city; and so successively until we come to that of the planet itself. These stored-up impressions are not caused by the mental action of human beings in association with the material psychometrized, they appertain entirely to the associations of the material itself, and the psychometric sense consists in recovering these associations and bringing them into terms of human sense and consciousness. The experience seems to suggest a nexus between the individualized human soul and the world-soul in which the generic life is included; also that the human soul is a specialized evolution from the world-soul, and hence inclusive of all stages of experience beneath the human. I think it was Draper who suggested in hisConflictthat a man's shadow falling upon a wall produced an indelible impression which was capable of being revived. The cinematograph film is that brick wall raised to the nth power of impressibility. The occultist will point you to a universal medium as much above the cinema film as that is above the brick or stone, and in which are stored up thememoria mundi.It is this sensitized envelope of the planetary atom that your sensitive taps by means of his clairvoyant, psychometric and clairaudient senses.
Clairaudience is far more general than second sight, but there is the same variability in the range of perception as is seen in clairvoyance and psychometry. Thus while one hears only the evil suggestions of "obsessing spirits" or discarnate souls being dinned into his ears, another will be lifted to the third heaven and hear "things unutterable." Brain-cell discharges will hardly account for the phenomena of clairaudience. A brain-cell discharge never goes beyond the repetition of one's own name in some familiar voice, or at most the revival of a phrase or the monotonous clang of a neighbouring church bell. These are not clairaudiences at all. Clairaudience consists in receiving auditory impressions of intelligible phrases not previously associated with the name of person or place involved in the statement. These impressions may be sporadic or may be continuous. In the case of a genuine development where the interior sense is fully opened up, the communication will be continuous and normal, as much so as ordinary conversation, and the translation of consciousness into terms of sense will be so rapid and unimpeded as to give the impression to an Englishman that he is listening to his native language and to a Frenchman that he is listening to French, though the communication may proceed from a source which renders this impossible. The universal language of humanity is neither Volapuk, nor Esperanto, nor Ido. It is Thought, and when thought proceeds from a point beyond the plane of differentiation it can be determined along the line which makes for English as readily as that which makes for French, or any other tongue. It is they of the soul-world who convey the thought, it is we of the sublunary world who translate that thought into our own language. The Hebrew prophets were almost uniformly instructed by means of clairaudience. But as I have already said there are degrees of clairaudience, as of any other psychic faculty. The danger is that a false value may be set upon the experiences, especially during the early stages of development when everything is very new and very wonderful.
Telepathy is another and yet more general phrase of psychic activity. It may consist in the transmission from one person to another of a feeling or impression merely, which results in a certain degree of awareness to the state of mind in which the transmitter may be at the time, as when a mother has a "feeling" that all is not well with her absent child. Or it may yet take a more definite and perspicuous form, even to the transmission of details such as the names of persons and places, of numbers, forms and incidents. Telepathy commonly exists between persons in close sympathy; and when two persons are working along separate lines toward the same result, it is quite usual that they unconsciously "telepath" with one another, their brains being for the time in synchronous vibration. Spiritual communication in any degree is nothing more or less than sympathy--those who feel together, think together. The modern development of the aerial post is a step towards the universal federation of thought, but it is not comparable with the astral post which carries a thousand miles an hour. In this sort of correspondence the communication is written like any ordinary letter designed for transmission, but instead of stamping and posting it, a lighted match is applied to the finished work. The material part is destroyed, but the intangible and only real and lasting part remains behind. This is attached, by the direction of the will, to a particular person and set in a certain direction. If all the conditions have been properly observed it will not fail to reach its destination. I have fortunately been able to demonstrate this fact in public on more than one occasion. The phenomenon is repeated in a less striking form in every case of what is called "crossing," as when one correspondent feels suddenly called upon to write urgently to another and receives a reply to his enquiries while his letter is still in course of delivery.
Nature is full of a subtle magic of this sort for which we have no organized science. It is said that if you put snails together and afterwards separate them, placing each upon a copper ground to which electric wires are attached, a shock given to one snail will be registered by the other at the same moment. I have not tried this theory, but the idea is fundamental to a mass of telepathic observations which have found practical expression in wireless telegraphy. Some thirty years ago, however, I made trial of the twin magnet theory and was entirely successful in getting wireless messages from one room to another. The performance was, however, clumsy and tedious, and I did not then know enough to see how it could be perfected. The idea is now in the very safe custody of the Patents Office.
Community of taste can be demonstrated under hypnosis. It is not otherwise usually active in sensitives, and Swedenborg was hence of opinion that the sense of taste could not be obsessed. This, however, is incorrect. I have illustrated community of all the senses under hypnosis in circumstances which entirely precluded the possibility of feint or imposition on the part of the subject.
Another phase of psychic activity is that illustrated in "dowsing" or water-finding by means of the hazel fork. It may be accounted a form of hyperaesthesia and no doubt has a nervous expression, but it is not the less psychic in its origin. I have already referred to the action of water upon psychic sensitives, and there seems little room for doubt that it is the psychometric sense which, by means of the self-extensive faculty inhering in consciousness, registers the presence of the great diamagnetic agent. Professor Barrett has written a most interesting monograph on this subject, and there are many books extant which make reference to and give examples of this curious phenomenon. The late British Consul at Trieste and famous explorer and linguist, Sir Richard Burton, could detect the presence of a cat at a considerable distance, and I have heard that Lord Roberts experiences the same paralyzing influence by the proximity of the harmless feline. If, therefore, one can register the presence of a cat, and another that of a dead body, I see no difficulty in others registering water or any other antipathetic. All we have to remember is that these things are psychic in their origin, and not ignorantly confound sensation with consciousness, or hyperaesthesia with the various psychopathic faculties we have been discussing. But it is necessary to return to our main subject and consider where our developed clairvoyant or second-sight faculty will lead us, and what sort of experience we may expect to gain by its use. These points may now be dealt with.