Quotes:Davis, Andrew Jackson

Zirkoff, Boris

Davis, Andrew Jackson. American Spiritualist and Seer, b. in Blooming Grove, Orange Co., N. Y., August 11, 1826; d. Jan. 13, 1910. He was the son of Samuel Davis, a stern, poverty stricken shoemaker, given to drink, and totally uneducated, as was also Andrew’s mother, a woman with a weak body but strong visionary powers. During the summer months, the father eked out his living by hiring himself out as a farm-laborer. The family moved frequently from one small town to another without seeming to better themselves. Some time prior to 1842, they settled at Poughkeepsie, N. Y., whence Andrew was later to receive his name of “the Poughkeepsie Seer.” The young lad was an undersized, delicate hoy, with next to no education, and in childhood of no conspicuous ability. His academic training consisted of a total of five months schooling acquired at different periods of a few weeks each. In 1841 he was apprenticed to a shoemaker named Armstrong, and worked at that trade for about two years. Incapable of really learning the trade, he became employed by a merchant in a general store, but he was a failure at this occupation also. In his later boyhood, Davis’ latent psychic powers began to develop. He heard voices in the field-gentle voices which gave him good advice and comfort. Clairvoyance followed clairaudience, and the ability to see visions of various kind.

In 1843, a certain Professor Grimes came to Poughkeepsie to lecture on animal magnetism; he attempted to put Davis into a trance, but the experiment failed; a few weeks later, however, William Levingston, a local tailor and amateur mesmerizer, succeeded in “magnetizing” him. The result was such a rare clairvoyance that Levingston gave up his own business and devoted his efforts to Davis, using his powers for the diagnosis and the cure of disease. The human body became transparent to Davis’ inner sight, and each organ stood out clearly and with a special radiance of its own which was dimmed by disease. His ministrations were not confined to those who were in his presence, as he was able to diagnose cases at considerable distance. In this earlier phase of Davis’ psychic experiences he had no immediate memory when he returned from trance of what his impressions had been; being registered, however, on a certain level of his inner consciousness, he was able to recall them at a later date.

In March, 1844, a very strange episode occurred in his life. He was suddenly possessed by some power which led him to take off on a rapid journey in a condition of trance. He found himself among wild mountains and claimed to have met two venerable men with whom he held intimate and inspiring exchanges upon medicine and morals. Either prior to or during this experience, he had wandered into the Catskill Mountains and was later found some forty miles from home. Davis claimed that he had met Galen and Swedenborg during this episode.

By 1845 Davis felt urged to turn from healing to writing. He selected as magnetizer Dr. S. S. Lyon, a physician then practicing in Bridgeport, Conn., and the Rev. Wm. Fishhough of New York, as reporter and scribe. Both men gave up their practices and followed the “call.” No money and no publicity of any kind was involved in this matter, which makes it that much more remarkable. From Nov. 28, 1845, to Jan. 25, 1847, Davis delivered while in a state of trance one hundred and fifty-seven lectures, which were carefully taken down verbatim and, after a minimum of editing, were published in the Summer of 1847 in the shape of a large octavo volume of nearly eight hundred closely printed pages, under the title of Principles of Nature, Her Divine Revelations, and A Voice to Mankind.

Among those who frequently attended the circle while this work was being dictated, was the Rev. Dr. George Bush, Professor of Hebrew in the University of New York, and a well-known Swedenborgian. He writes:

“I can solemnly affirm that I have heard Davis correctly quote the Hebrew language in his lectures, and display a knowledge of geology which would have been astonishing in a person of his age, even if he had devoted years to the study. He has discussed, with the most signal ability, the profoundest questions of historical and biblical archaeology, of mythology, of the origin and affinity of language, and the progress of civilization among the different nations of the globe ...”

The opening of the second part of this work will illustrate the nature of the subject and the phraseology used to describe it:

“In the beginning the Univercoelum was one boundless, undefinable, and unimaginable ocean of Liquid Fire! The most vigorous and ambitious imagination is not capable of forming an adequate conception of the height and depth and length and breadth thereof. There was one vast expanse of liquid substance. It was without bounds-inconceivable-and with qualities and essence incomprehensible. This was the original condition of Matter. It was without forms, for it was but one Form. It had not motions, but it was an eternity of Motion. It was without parts, for it was a Whole. Particles did not exist, but the Whole was as one Particle. There were no suns, but it was one Eternal Sun. It had no beginning, and it was without end. It had not length, for it was a Vortex of one Eternity. It had not circles, for it was one Infinite Circle. It had not disconnected power, but it was the very essence of all Power. Its inconceivable magnitude and constitution were such as not to develop forces, but Omnipotent Power.

“Matter and Power were existing as a Whole, inseparable. The Matter contained the substance to produce all suns, all worlds, and systems of worlds, throughout the immensity of Space. It contained the qualities to produce all things that are existing upon each of those worlds. The Power contained Wisdom and Goodness, Justice, Mercy, and Truth. It contained the original and essential Principle that is displayed throughout immensity of Space, controlling worlds and systems of worlds, and producing Motion, Life, Sensation, and Intelligence, to be impartially disseminated upon their surfaces as Ultimates.”

From these opening sentences Davis traces the evolution of the Universe, which he terms Univercoelum, by a gradual process of differentation into vast systems of suns, moving in concentric circles of inconceivable magnitude round the Great Eternal Centre. Later he describes the particular solar system to which we belong, and the gradual progression through geological cycles of our own planet. He seems to be as much at home in chemistry as in the realm of marine fauna or the history of fossils. In a lecture of March, 1846, he gives a fairly accurate description of an eighth planet which was not identified until September of the same year by Leverrier and Adams, and was given the name of Neptune.

Such was the beginning of Davis’ psychic revelations which extended eventually over some twenty-six works in all and became known as the “Hannonial Philosophy.” Among these should be mentioned: The Great Harmonia, 1850-52; The Philosophy of Spiritual Intercourse, 1856; The Penetralia, 1856. In some of these and other works, Davis displayed a remarkable prophetic power. He correctly described the automobile, the typewriter and flying machines. He also gave a description of certain belts or sheaths surrounding the earth, which are closely similar to present-day scientific discoveries of the magnetic belts around our globe. He also gave a very precise and minute description of the manner in which the dying person leaves his worn-out body.

Before he reached the age of twenty-one, Davis attained a state when he needed no second person to induce his trance, but could do so himself. Eventually, he attracted the attention of many earnest people, Edgar Allan Poe being one of his visitors.

The object of life for Davis was to qualify for advancement in the tremendous universal scheme of things, and the best method of human advancement was purification and self-control. The return to a simple life and to simple beliefs and a primitive brotherhood were essential. Money, alcohol, lust, violence and priestcraft were the chief impediments to racial progress. Davis consistently lived up to his own professions. His view of the general social order was along lines of idealistic Socialism, infused with the highest moral code. He preached social reconstruction and spiritual regeneration. The main source of information concerning his views and the story of his early life is his own Autobiography, The Magic Staff; published as early as 1857, this gives only a picture of his early years.

Davis’ literary output was enormous, and it stands to reason, of course, that his writings contain a great many errors, misconceptions, and somewhat confused ideas often expressed in very complicated language. This is always so in the case of natural-born visionaries and sensitives, and it is for the student himself to seek in the midst of much trivial material gems of truth and pearls of wisdom which abound in Davis’ philosophy of life. The Spiritualistic movement has attempted for years to identify Davis with it; yet it is obvious that his conceptions and his word-descriptions were vastly different from anything that has ever come through ordinary mediums; nor did he have any of the common Spiritualistic beliefs in regard to manifestations and the appearances in seance-rooms. His writings deserve a close study, especially by those who are interested in the earliest attempts on the part of the Teachers to introduce into the Western world long-forgotten ideas concerning the true nature of the Universe and Man. It may be stated, without fear of contradiction, that Davis’ writings contain scattered ideas and conceptions reminiscent of The Secret Doctrine, especially with regard to the origin and evolution of worlds. Even the language of some of the passages is akin to later installments of the Esoteric Philosophy. While it would be rash and unwise to consider Davis in the light of a trained occultist, which he certainly was not, and never claimed to be, yet he should be reckoned among those rare figures of extreme spiritual and psychic sensitivity whose inner Ego can at times become attuned to invisible Realities and channel into the brain-in a condition of trance and not self-consciously, however- pictures impressed upon the Akasic waves.

It is therefore no great wonder that H.P.B. would have had such profound respect for Andrew Jackson Davis, whom she considered to be a Seer, and whose warnings against intercourse with unprogressed entities in the astral world she quoted more than once.

Source: Boris de Zirkoff, «H. P. Blavatsky Collected Writings», vol. 1, pp. 455-459

Davis, Andrew Jackson (1826-1910). *Death and the After-Life, 1866; 4th enl. ed., Boston & New York, 1871.—*Stellar Key to the Summerland, ditto, 1868.—*Spiritual Congress.

Vide Vol. I, pp. 455-59, of present Series for comprehensive biography.

Source: Boris de Zirkoff, «H. P. Blavatsky Collected Writings», vol. 2, p. 526