HPB-SB-3-9

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vol. 3, p. 9

H. P. Blavatsky Scrapbooks

from Adyar archives of the International Theosophical Society

vol. 3 (1875-1878)

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eng • рус

Unprincipled Adventurers

Dr. H.B. Storer, widely known among the liberal minds of the country, not only as a sincere and ardent Spiritualist but as a careful investigator, in speaking of unprincipled adventurers, says: —

Now that the phenomena of materialization are upon the increase, and public interest and curiosity have been intensely stimulated by the careful statements of many trustworthy observers of these wonderful manifestations, it is not strange that unprincipled adventurers should take advantage of this interest, and seek to impose fraudulent representations upon the public. Several impostors, who have been traveling about the country as exposers of Spiritualism, finding that role of business unprofitable, now profess to have been recently developed as wonderful physical mediums, and announce genuine phenomena, religious seances, &c., taking public halls, or theatres, and hoping to impose successfully upon an ignorant but curious public.

It would seem to be the simplest dictate of common sense, to say nothing of the imperative demands of scientific investigation, that all media for physical manifestations be put under absolute test conditions, i.e., conditions that shall render imposture, on their part, impossible. What may occur under such conditions is of inestimable value in aiding us to study the relations of disembodied spirits to the forces and laws of the material world: unprotected by such conditions, the phenomena, even though genuine, are valueless, and tend to depreciate the importance of the claims which Spiritualism is to-day making upon the world. Such media as are unwilling to submit to test conditions, ought not to be sustained by the patronage of Spiritualists; and these public exhibitions of so-called materializations and physical manifestations, by irresponsible and untested parties, should be discredited by every true Spiritualist.

The Oldest Medical Work in the World

Fifteen hundred years before the birth of Christ, at a period when the Israelites were still in bondage in Egypt, Hermes, a king of that country, and surnamed “Trismegistus,” or thrice great, translated, from engraved tables of stone long before buried in the earth, certain sacred characters said to have been written thereon by the first Hermes, the Egyptian god Thoth or Thuti. The books thus produced were deposited in the temples; and the reputation of the king as a restorer of learning lived in history up to the time of the alchemists of the middle ages, who looked upon him as the “father of chemistry;” while bis name still exists in our word “hermetical,” commonly applied to a seal through which nothing, however subtle, can pass. Hermes’ writings, according to Clemens Alexandrinus, who described them in chronicles written 200 years after Christ, consisted of forty-two books, all of which were held by the Egyptians in the highest veneration. They treated of rules by which the king was to govern, of astronomy, cosmogony, and geography, of <... continues on page 3-10 >

The Reincarnation Controversy

BY THE DUKE OF LEUCHTENBERG.

I Have just read in No. 155 of The Spiritualist the “Researches on the Historical Origin of the Reincarnation Speculations of French Spiritualists,” by the Hon. A. Aksakof. Having no data to bring in argument against the facts mentioned, although they seem to me to be rather partial, I wish to state one fact, which stands in full contradiction to the assertion of M. Aksakof, namely, that through physical mediums the communications are not only more objective, but always contrary to the doctrine of reincarnation. I have many times witnessed physical manifestations, and can positively assert that through them, when the spirits are high and advanced, the doctrine of reincarnation is taught, and often sustained by proofs. The principal thing, and the difficulty, is to deal with good spirits, bad ones being more facile at producing physical manifestations. These latter spirits not only speak against reincarnation, but often deny even the existence of God. As to the “ignoring” of Mr. Home by Allan Kardec, it seems strange to hear it, as his name is mentioned by the latter in his writings as a powerful physical medium (The Medium's Book, 12th French edition, page 88).

Nicholas, Duke of Leuchtenberg.

18th August, 1875, Bavaria, Stain.

Editor's notes

Sources

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  Spiritual Scientist, v. 2, No. 19, July 15, 1875, p. 226

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  London Spiritualist, No. 157, August 27, 1875, p. 103

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  Scientific American, v. 3, No. 15, December 16, 1875, p. 169