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vol. title: vol. period: 1882 pages in vol.: 231 |
< Communicating Spirits (continued from page 12-58) >
The testimony of Mr. T. Lake Harris is somewhat similar. “When a man enters the world of Spirits, after the old fashion of physical decease, it is but leaving one room for another; his earthly memory remains as before, there being a continuity of recollection; but when he is finally fitted for the heavenly eternity and enters into the light of Heaven the old natural memory sinks into entire quiescence; there is no continuity of recollection in the conscious memory, from present eternity into the past earthly time.” (“The Holy City,” p. 10.)
When we come to visible manifestations at a seance, however strong the likeness may be to deceased friends, there appears to me to be no ground whatever for supposing that in those simulacra the persons themselves are seen; and yet, to my thinking, there is quite as little ground for supposing that such individuals are not present. What is called materialisation may be the work of Spirits skilled in deception, fond, as Bohme* assures us all evil Spirits are, of jugglery,” but I cannot see why it may not be quite as possible for friendly Spirits, wishing to convince us of their presence, thus to represent it. That it is an effect of formative imagination on their part (not ours), I have long supposed from the transiency of such appearances. † We know that we can conjure up a face or a scene in our chambers of imagery for a few minutes, but to retain it there is not possible; the incessant movements of thought efface such ideas as quickly as one wave overflows its precursors. So, I fancy, do the vivid imaginations of the dead, when with matter abstracted from the medium, or other people present, they depict their former similitudes. Something, too, may be affected, as Madame Blavatsky says (“Isis Unveiled,” vol. I., p. 70), by deputy elementary Spirits effecting the same purpose.‡
In the context Madame Blavatsky repudiates the idea of the disembodied manifesting themselves because “their divine essence cannot materialise what is matterless and purely Spiritual.” To which I readily agree, but she assumes a great deal more than I can even suppose when she talks of the disembodied being matteriess and purely “spiritual.” I fear that is a condition few attain immediately after decease—if they do long afterwards.
* “Indeed, this is still to this day their greatest joy that they can transmute themselves, and bring themselves into many images; and thus achieve or make Phansie.”—10th Theosphie Question, par. 2.
† See par. 14 of chap. 14, “Sur les Fluides” in “La Genese” of Allan Kardec, for a very interesting and instructive account of this process.
‡ “Every so-called materialisation—when genuine—is either produced (perhaps) by the will of that Spirit whom the ‘appearance’ is claimed to be but can only personate at best; or by the elementary goblins themselves, which ‘are generally too stupid to deserve the honour of being called devils. Upon rare occasions the Spirits are able to subdue and control those soulless beings, which are ever ready to assume pompons names, if left to themselves, in such a way that the mischievous ‘spirit of the air,’ shaped in the real imago of the human Spirit, will be moved by the latter, like a marionette, and unable to either act or utter other words than those imposed on him by the ‘immortal soul.’” —‘‘Isis Unveiled,” vol. I., p. 68.
The Power of Healing
Sir,– ’Mid the numerous claimants to herding power—one of the greatest gifts bestowed upon man for the benefit of human beings—allow me to mention, not only from my personal experience, but from that of a very extended circle, tho great power for healing which Mr. Younger, of 23, Ledbury-road, Bayswater, possesses. To a naturally healthy physique, kept so by a strictly pure and upright life, is added a rare genuine sympathy. I have sought his aid for those in deepest distress of mind and body, and met with that quality of practical sympathy which at once graces the giver and consoles the recipient. I have consulted him for my own evidently failing health, and am fain to confess that I was never more ably treated, nor have I ever received from any one greater kindness. Mr. Younger is about to commence a series of mesmeric sittings at his own house for the instruction of those interested in the science of mesmerism. I need scarcely add to all intending students or observers that this peculiar study stringently demands a sound head and pure heart. Without these, dangers are frequently quite unavoidable, but those who would learn its highest uses may find in it an ever developing source of interest and usefulness.—Truly yours,
A. S. Slater.
98, Lancaster-road, Notting Hill, W.
January 16th, 1882.
<Untitled> (Better the chance...)
Better the chance of shipwreck on a voyage of high purpose than expend life in paddling hither and thither on a shallow stream to no purpose.
Spiritualism in Calcutta
While Theosophy is engaging the attention of our countrymen in the Western Presidency, Spiritualism has begun to stir up the minds of the most respectable and intelligent classes of the citizens of Calcutta with unquestionable manifestations of a power, the mystery of which is still unfathomable. Some loading Native gentlemen, who take a deep interest in Spiritualism, have, at some expense, brought over Mr. Eglinton, who, though young, has already acquired a world-wide reputation as a physical and materialising medium. This gentleman, who has recently arrived in Calcutta, has already held three seances, during which he has given undoubted proofs that he really possesses the powers he professes to be gifted with. The first stance was held at the house of the Honourable Maharajah Jotendro Mohun Tagore, C.S.I., when, with a view to prepare the minds of his sitters gradually for the mysterious wonders he is capable of exhibiting, Mr. Eglinton, though his hands were held on either side by two gentlemen of the highest respectability and intelligence, caused, through some agency which certainly could not have been material, a luminous cross on a dark ground, as of black velvet or broad cloth, to appear in the air ; then a harmonium, which, when the sitters took their places in the light, was some ten or twelve feet apart from them, to be brought by the same means to within two feet of them ; and finally, mirabile dictu, the same instrument to be played upon. The house of Babu Dinobhundu Mullick was the scene of the two subsequent stances; and no sceptic could possibly have doubted that the things he saw and heard could have been effected by other than immaterial agency. Not only was an organ played upon by invisible hands; and—though Mr. Eglinton, to prevent any suspicion of his being a ventriloquist, kept some water in his mouth, which he afterwards spat out in the light—the sitters distinctly heard articulate sounds spoken connectedly and sensibly by invisible voices, which, he said, belonged to his Spirit guides. To the surprise of the whole party, whose character for respectability and intelligence is absolutely unquestionable, the materialised form of a Native lady then appeared; and this lady, whose face was partially visible, a gentleman who was a sitter, solemnly assured the party that he distinctly recognised as his mother. But these things were done in darkness. Still, it is impossible to doubt that they were done in absolute good faith and without the least help from accomplices. Tho crowning feat then followed. Mr. Eglinton, then in the clear lamplight, tore oft' an end of a blank card, giving the rent piece to one gentleman to keep securely under his thumb, while he passed the card with the point of a black lead pencil, which ho broke off with his tenth, to another gentleman, whom he desired to place the card and the bit of pencil within a book on which he was resting his hands. The sound of writing was distinctly heard by every sitter from within the book. But some disturbance in the conditions necessary in these seances, quite unsettled Mr. Eglinton. Rather than lay himself open to the imputation of practising fraud, he chucked a card towards a window within the room. Shortly afterwards he asked the gentleman who had placed the first mutilated card into the book under his hands, to take it out, when, to the surprise of all, it contained part of the letter written at the dictation of the departed Spirit of a distinguished relative of a most distinguished member of the séance—the continuation of this letter being found on the card thrown near the window.
Mr. Eglinton has come out under the most distinguished auspices, and would have received no countenance if he had not given undeniable proof of his wonderful powers. Already his reputation has spread; and we hear that he lately held a seance at the house of a high public officer at Howrah, where some judges of the High Court were present. It should be known that Mr. Eglinton has not come out to exhibit his powers to the outside public, but only to a select few of the higher and more intelligent classes upon whom no imposture can be possibly be palmed off. We are almost sure that before long he will succeed in dispelling any doubts that may rest on the minds of people, who have not inquired into the subject, as to the reality and good faith of Spiritualism as practised by true Spiritualists. Milton, who was certainly not superstitious and weak-minded, tells us—
“Millions of Spiritual creatures walk this earth |
Editor's notes
Sources
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Light, v. 2, No. 55, January 21, 1882, p. 29