< The Manifestations in Naples of the Alleged Spirit of Nana Sahib (continued from page 7-56) >
present and myself tried to pacify the spirit, and begged him to raise the medium, who was a lady in delicate health, when he said, “What do you mean by a medium? I am on my carpet, and here I shall stay.” When he was told that he was not on his carpet, he bawled out, “My warriors! my brave ones, come to the rescue! Where is my horse? Bring my steed! They shall not take me!” On our again begging him to raise the lady whom he was controlling, and explaining to him the laws of mediumship, he exclaimed:—“What! This is not my body! ... I recollect now that I parted with it. . . . Behold then Nana Sahib in woman’s clothes! But I am not ashamed. No! I feel grateful to this instrument, because through her means I have been able to express my feelings of abhorrence for the vile, cowardly, and hated. Feringhees! Oh! would that I could cover this lady with my best diamonds, pearls and rubies! I have hidden my best jewels from the thieves of my country. When I lavished them upon the detested British fiends, I was the good, the kind, the generous Nana; but when, as they deserved, I showered iron and lead upon them to deliver my country, I became a monster. Abomination!” Perceiving that the spirit was unable or disinclined to raise the medium from the floor, Canon Fiore and myself lifted her into her chair. Nana then, turning to the Canon, said:—“I see you are not an Englishman; let me press your hand and tell the medium, that whenever it shall be in my power, I will load her with my best jewels, for the opportunity she has offered me to give utterance to my feelings of abhorrence for the thrice cursed English nation.” I told him that it was not the action of a gallant man to speak thus in the presence of the ladies of that nation. “I know,” he replied, “that they hate me, and I wish them to know that I hate their blood. Oh! the beautiful thought of raising the Queen of England to the rank of Empress of India! We shall see, how long that will last!” Here a lady present said that this was one of Benjamin’s messes, when the spirit quickly replied: “A mess which will never be digested. The wealth which they have principally derived from robbing my country, is corrupting England to the very core, and will soon produce their downfall. They shall in their turn be conquered and taste the bitterness of foreign dominion. Their mastery of India will soon have an end; I and my brave companions are hard at work to accomplish the desired object. I hope ere long to be again in the flesh, and then Nana Sahib will be up again to deliver his country from the foreign intruders and marauders.”
Some kindly words spoken by the Canon and myself, seemed to calm the angry spirit, whom we advised to come again, to hear from us the way of improving his position. He seemed somewhat soothed, and exclaiming: “Oh that I could cover this lady with my jewels! I feel so much relieved 1” He uttered a deep sigh and left the control.
It may not be immaterial to state that the Indian mutiny of twenty-one years ago—its horrors, Lucknow, Feringhees, Nana Sahib, his wealth, his treachery, the horrible well—are all things and words perfectly unknown to the medium.
Naples, March 22nd, 1878.
Mission Ridge
Visions in Mirrors and Crystals*
In appearing, at the joint request of my esteemed friends, the Rev Stainton Moses, and Dr. Carter Blake, before your society, for the purpose of giving you a brief summary of certain phases of my spiritual experience, I feel that I have to throw myself much upon your indulgence. For several years I have been unable to pursue the same methodical system of research which at one time occupied almost the whole of my leisure, into the phenomena connected with crystallomancy. Many causes contributed to this, but the main reason was, that I was unable to command the aid of clairvoyant power in its normal waking condition, and to use trance clairvoyance I have been led to think undesirable, except in such cases as might prove of use in illness. I have been so fortunate, however, as to obtain and commit to writing quite enough on this important subject to furnish matter for thought and further investigation.
It may be as well to start with a definition of crystallomancy, the art or science by which, under certain peculiar conditions, the appearance of ultramundane intelligences may be obtained to actual vision by persons having a particular power in their waking and normal condition. These visions are attainable by means of crystals, mirrors, and vessels of water. In many cases it has been found impossible to predicate what special vision would present itself; but, in some rarer instances, these visions have proceeded in an orderly, cumulative series, exhibiting points of similarity with the visions obtained by other persons now actually living, or of whom we have authentic accounts.
Perhaps I may be allowed to state at the outset that I am not desirous of offering any opinion, or pledging myself to any view of these phenomena at variance with established modes of thought. The results stand, by themselves merely as matter of fact, and such philosophical views to which they may be presumed to lead are by no means insisted on by me. Personally, I may entertain an unhesitating belief in them, but I in no way desire to impose that faith on others. I certainly do not regard Spiritualism, in its most extended application, as a social need; it does not seem to me a necessity for the educated mind, for I fail to perceive that Spiritualism adds any very special weight to the arguments of the philosopher on immortality; nor do I think any one moderately considering the works of Nature and Providence*, can be wanting in a faith in a future life and world.
For, if we are to have for that want, termed religion, in our mental organisations, nothing more satisfactory than a series of phantasmata, then it is plain that Spiritualism is wholly inadequate for the satisfaction of that want. For in all our varied forms of spirit communion, we find it impossible to say what the exact results of the phenomena maybe. In this so-called spirit-world, the existence of which it is alike unsafe to affirm or deny, we find the same amount of contradiction and variety of opinion, as we do on this natural plane, of which our senses furnish us the right to say, “It is;” but even of that, when we regard the astounding facts brought out by science in our own times, we can have no absolute certainty. There is existence, it is true, but is it a dream state or a waking life? We cannot tell, and hence at the back of the most obstinate incredulity, we find some species of faith and hope. In the course of centuries these emotions have fashioned themselves creeds, and in these, under the protection of the Divine Creator of All, we abide and have our being.
In Spiritualism, as unfolded by the various methods employed at the present day with the utmost good faith, we discover a multitude of contradictory teachers, each claiming infallibility of a peculiar kind; and each, as a rule, confirming the inquirer in his preconceived or hereditary notions. The Protestant, for instance, communicates with Protestant spirits, the Roman Catholic with Roman Catholic spirits, the Mahometan with Mahometan spirits, and the Deist, and even the Atheist, with Deists and Atheists. At first sight this appears most discouraging; but, in fact, if carefully regarded, it is one of the most astounding evidences of the truth lying at the root of the matter. For, if persons in the present life congregate in congenial spheres, if their convictions are adopted deliberately, so that the sensorium of the brain is affected in a way that they cannot believe otherwise, it would appear reasonable that the spiritual brain should in like manner be replete with like ideas. And these beliefs in a spiritual condition would by analogy only be wrought upon by what would seem to us slow degrees, and become effaced, or modified, by the course of time, to which in the spiritual world the term “state” corresponds. Hence this variety of opinion is easily comprehensible. But when we pass from the more familiar forms of spiritual communications, we find opinions expressed, and doctrines enunciated alien in character, and singularly emphatic in enunciation, to those doctrines with which our educations, our tastes, our innate perceptions, have hitherto identified us.
Here all forms of known religions appear to be familiar, but no one of them elevated to an exclusive authority. This important consideration, which I would ask you kindly to bear in mind during the present discussion, brings me at once to my theme—to that peculiar world of which I am expected to give some report.
It is a fact that no crystallomancer will deny that a new and peculiar world is opened to him when he enters upon a complete conference with spirits communicating by these means. And, what is more, not only is it a new and peculiar world, but it is one of law, of order, of hierarchical development, as distinct in itself as any state of society, worldly or spiritual, can be—a world, moreover, not contradicting our present world, but supplementing and completing all other investigations of a like nature everywhere. It is also chronologically consistent, if I <... continues on page 7-58 >
* A paper read last Monday night before the British National Association of Spiritualists.
Editor's notes
Sources
London Spiritualist, No. 292, March 29, 1878, pp. 150-4