 |
vol. title: vol. period: 1876-1878 pages in vol.: 247 |
< Isis Unveiled (continued from page 4-80) >
extracts from the Kabala, the Hermetic tablets, the Vedas and sacred books of the Persians and Buddhists, as well as of the Grecian and Ionian philosophy and of sages of the mediæval period, are thus interspersed through the work—often, however, to be criticised and corrected. She has made the Chaldean of the pre-Abrahamic period live again; and, what is hard for us to believe, insists that he was of the Aryan or Indo-European race and the disciple of Bramin sages of Upper India. But the oldest faith—we can hardly call it a worship—she declares to have been the religion of wisdom. In this she confirms the assertions of the Alexandrian Eclectics and their modern followers. The great world religion, now known as Buddhism, is, accordingly, in her view, the most ancient and, with all its adulterations, the truest of any. She professes to know its arcane doctrines, and regards them as not only antedating the Vedic, Bramin and Mazdean theologies, but as comprising the sublimer revelation of the mysteries and the principal philosophical dogmas of the West. Others have not learned this, because they did not possess the key. The religious and scientific wealth of the oldest peoples of the earth has been so jealously guarded from inquisitorial foreigners by mysteries of jargon that the many have denied the existence of anything worth seeing, and the few have been so discouraged by the obstacles in the road that, for the most part, they have abandoned the undertaking. But men do not for so many centuries perform the rites and accept the ordinances of a religion that is merely a farce.
“Isis” everywhere asserts the antiquity of the older peoples and doctrines. Many efforts have been made to show the laws of Manu and the Aryan conquest of Hindostan to be almost within the confines of modern history. The Mahabharata and Ramagana have been declared post-Christian. But further knowledge of Hindoo methods of recording time is disproving that evolution as well as emanation and even the positive and molecular philosophies were taught beside the Himalayas. Telegraphs, and even telephones, seem to have been older than history. “Seventy thousand years of experience” in an indefinite number of cycles are cited in demonstration. But the book is not all dry logic or tedious philosopheme. The author is too true to the laws of her sex not to be sprightly or vivacious, and even capable of stinging invective. She outdoes the “Arabian Nights’ Entertainments” in marvelous story; and, while denying supernatural miracles, she does not hesitate to relate occurrences that surpass the capacity of faith usually possessed by mankind. Like Parclus and Paracelsus, she peoples the mid air with spiritual existences, elemental and elementary, good, bad, and indifferent. They can be evoked by music and peculiar vapors, and then made to reveal secrets or run on errands. Magic and necromancy are no fictions. There have been, there now are men who can “conjure down the moon.” It is no impossibility to manufacture gold, as Raymond Lully did for Edward III. Roger Bacon disclosed spiritual scenes to human view. These are common matters in Oriental countries, and the madam describes several which she herself witnessed. However skeptical we may be in many respects she is confident and sincere. From God the Universal Mind to Nirvana, the final bliss, there is no marvel that she does not believe. Vampires, the dead or cataleptic absorbing vitality from the living, the virtue of fresh-spilt blood to attract spirits, the possibility of re-incarnation and of losing the soul-life as described by Bulwer-Lytton, the power of inflicting mortal injury by cutting out the bowels and then healing the hurt by the mysterious Akâsa, the prolonging of life for centuries, are a few of the topics introduced and illustrated as actual facts. One who reads the book carefully through ought to know everything of the marvelous and mystical, except, perhaps, the passwords.
“Isis” will supplement the Anacalypsis. Whoever loves to read Godfrey Higgins will be delighted with Mme. Blavatsky. There is a great resemblance between their works. Both have tried hard to tell everything apocryphal and apocalyptic. It is easy to forecast the reception of this book. With its striking peculiarities, its audacity, its versatility and the prodigious variety of subjects which it notices and handles, it is one of the remarkable productions of the century.
Slate-Writing Phenomena
Having read in The Spiritualist of October 12th, Mr. Epes Sargent’s account of Mr. Watkins’s slate-writing manifestations, and hearing at the same time that Mr. Watkins had arrived in New York, I took an early opportunity of visiting him, in company with my friend, Madame Blavatsky.
The medium began by asking us to write the names of three or four deceased friends on slips of paper which he tore before our eyes from a fresh sheet of writing-paper. After writing the names, we folded the papers up tightly, at his request, and laid them in a little heap in front of us on the table. Mr. Watkins then stirred the pellets round with the point of a pencil, in order that we might not be able to distinguish one from the other. He requested me to take one in my hand, and to fix it on the point of his pencil; then holding it at arm’s length he said immediately, “This is the name of a sister of yours in the spirit-world, Clara Kislingbury, is that so?” Opening the pellet, I found the name to be correct; his statement that it was the name of my sister was equally so. The names on the three other pellets were rightly given, as well as the degree of relationship, including that of my maternal grandmother. I observed that Mr. Watkins had more difficulty in finding the name of one who was a friend, not connected with my family. He said at once, “This is the name of some one not a relation. I cannot see it so clearly; but he finally succeeded in giving it correctly.
In the case of Madame Blavatsky, one of the names written by her was in Russian character, and the medium made several unsuccessful attempts to pronounce it, but at last declared it to be too “crack-jaw,” and said he would try to get it written. He requested Madame Blavatsky to place her hand on a slate, under which he laid a small crumb of slate-pencil, in the manner of Slade. Mr. Watkins did not hold the slate. An instant after, on turning up the slate, the appellation, consisting of three names, was found written in full, and in Russian characters, with this curious exception, that one or two letters were exchanged for those of Latin character, having the same phonetic value; as, for instance, an f, pronounced in Russian v, but written b, was substituted for the latter. I will revert to this fact further on.
Mr. Watkins next took two small slates, and placing a point of pencil between them, held them firmly together at one end, while I held them at the other. The slate did not rest upon the table, but was held by us at arm’s length, both standing. In a few moments one of the slates was covered on the inner side with writing, signed “Alice Carey.” The handwriting was not known to me, but was familiar to the medium, as frequently appearing in his experiments.
I use the word “experiments” advisedly, for two reasons. The first is, that Mr. Watkins did not “sit,” except momentarily, during the whole hour that we were in his company, and then more often on the table than elsewhere. He walked nervously about the room, and occasionally fixed his eyes on us, with a vacant look, especially when about to utter the desired name, or to describe something about the sitter. The second reason is, that Mr. Watkins does not habitually use the terms commonly accepted by Spiritualists, neither does he accept unreservedly the usual explanation of the phenomena, viz., that they are produced by the spirits of the departed, whose names are signed on the slates. He boldly volunteered the opinion that they are in many cases produced by the action of his own spirit, reading (independently of his will or knowledge) that which is latent in the mind of the sitter, or is immediately projected from it. He prefers to call the phenomenon “independent slate-writing,” instead of “spirit-writing.”
In the course of the experiments, Mr. Watkins said that in each instance, just before the writing began, he felt a sudden “drawing” from his whole body, and that he was unable to articulate distinctly; as soon as the writing was finished there was another jerk, and he felt himself again.
One more incident. Mr. Watkins told me to place my hand on a slate which was lying near me, and on which I had ascertained that there was nothing written. Mr. Watkins himself was at that moment lying back in a rocking-chair at a distance of at least eight feet from me, and talking to Madame Blavatsky. He ceased speaking for a moment, and then bidding me turn up the slate, I found it covered with writing, purporting to be a communication from my sister Clara, and signed with her name. The writing was quite unlike that signed “Alice Carey,” but neither was it like mine or my sister’s. The names of two other relatives which I had previously written on the pellets were mentioned, but not those of others equally dear to me, and of the same degree of relationship, and who were equally in my mind, but were not written down.
The above experiences are to my mind suggestive of a theory which will explain the discrepancies in the spelling of the Russian name. I leave the application to those whom it may concern, and who are more qualified than myself to form correct conclusions. Let it be borne in mind, however, that the medium himself avers that, except on rare <... continues on page 4-82 >
Editor's notes
- ↑ Slate-Writing Phenomena by Kislingbury, Emily, London Spiritualist, No. 272, November 9, 1877, p. 222
Sources
-
London Spiritualist, No. 272, November 9, 1877, p. 222