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vol. title: vol. period: 1882 pages in vol.: 231 |
< More of Colonel Olcott's Experiences (continued from page 12-49) >
by them. To have communication with pure immortals, we must have pure-minded mediums; and the first thing necessary to free the mediums from the thrall under which they now are, is to learn the law by which “elementaries’’ can be controlled. Colonel Olcott told about having letters to a friend in India answered in a moment, in his own room, and of an occult “adept” clearing away a rainstorm for him when he wanted to go out once; but said, very considerately, that he didn’t expect his auditors to believe him.
In the evening, Colonel Olcott spoke of “Eastern Magic and Western Spiritualism.” The world, he said, moved in cycles; and to attempt to solve the mysteries of the ethereal world without going back to the men who built Karnak and Baalbac “before antiquity began” would seem useless. These men surpassed us in art and equalled us in science; and it is contrary to all analogy and all reason to suppose that they were ignorant of spirit matters.
The occult or divine art was professed by priests of all religions under a veil. This was the soul of all mythology; but, lest its dangerous power should be converted to base uses its votaries were bound to secresy and silence. It was then “white magic;” and what has since been practised by necromancers and Kabi-men is the abuse of it, called the black art. The one has dealings with immortals, the other with “elementaries.” The soul is the apex of the great pyramid of nature, and is given dominion over the microcosm or lesser world. The occult art supplies the “missing link’’ in Darwin’s theory of evolution, and explains the great cosmos governed by one creative force. Colonel Olcott told the story of the fakir who was buried eleven months, and revived, but did not vouch for it. He explained, however, the theory of a man’s “double,” saying that he met the other day the double of a woman whom he knew to be in Florida at the time; to touch and appearance she was solid as when in the body. He referred also to levitation, etc., and the power of passing through walls, which gifted magicians possess, and fortified his marvelous stories by references to the marvels told in the Bible and by patristic writers. The lecture, it is needless to say, was heard with a good deal of interest.
Spiritual Manifestations in Calcutta
Mr. Eglinton’s wonderful powers, as a Spiritualistic medium, are beginning to develops themselves more clearly and distinctly. He has been holding a seance again with the same sitters as on the last occasion, at the house of Babu Denonath Mullick, Parsi Bagan, Upper Circular Road, Calcutta. In our opinion, it was even more successful than the last one… Two materialised spirits appeared—one of a Hindu lady, and the other of a Hindu gentleman; but on this occasion not in the dark, but in the light of a lamp, though the light was not brilliant. They were the father and mother respectively of two of the gentlemen present. The forms, though distinctly visible as of a Hindu lady and a Hindu gentleman, were not quite recognisable yet, in their spirit life. We hope they will be so on a future occasion. But the most noticeable features of the last stance were the following: One of the sitters was requested to write the name of one of his departed relatives. The name written was not at all shown to Mr. Eglinton, nor did he know it, or was likely to know it before. The bit of paper, on which the name was written, was then folded up, and handed over to Mr. Eglinton, who, as soon as he received it in its folded state, burnt it in the flame of the lamp before which he sat. It was immediately reduced to ashes, and Mr. Eglinton then rubbed the ashes over one of his arms, which was laid bare and found to be quite clear, and free from any writing at all. But scarely had Mr. Eglinton rubbed the ashes over his arm, when the name of the departed relative of the sitter appeared in a minute or so in distinctly legible characters over the very arm, spelt similarly as on the bit of paper itself. But the most striking thing was this. When the materialised spirits had disappeared, a distinct sound of writing was heard in the dark for two or three seconds only, and immediately, when a light was brought in, a card was found stuck up on the edge of a book, near a certain distinguished sitter, and the following Sanskrit text appeared on it, in pencil, in pure and excellent Bengali handwriting, with the initials in English of one “P”:—“Tapasha Brahma bijigya sumbo,” which, when rendered into English, runs as follows:—“By devotion, and knowledge of God, a person is united with Him,’’ i.e., he attains salvation.
We may well look forward to still more startling glimpses into the spirit world, through the agency of Mr. Eglinton’s certainly most extraordinary powers. No man who has witnessed his seances can possibly doubt the genuineness of his manifestations.
Editor's notes
- ↑ Spiritual Manifestations in Calcutta by unknown author, London Spiritualist, No. 490, January 13, 1882, p. 21
Sources
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London Spiritualist, No. 490, January 13, 1882, p. 21