HPB-SB-10-570

H. P. Blavatsky Scrapbooks

from Adyar archives of the International Theosophical Society

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vol. 10, p. 570	volume 10, page 570 vol. title: vol. period: 1879-1880 pages in vol.: 577
Legend HPB note HPB highlighted HPB underlined HPB crossed out <Editors note> <Archivist note> Lost or unclear SBT, DT Restored

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eng • рус

<Untitled> (Spiritualism in Bombay:..)

Spiritualism in Bombay:—Under the title of the Theosophist, a spiritualistic journal, edited by H. P. Blavatsky, made its appearance in October, 1879. It is devoted to Oriental Philosophy, Art, Literature, and Occultism:—embracing Mesmerism, Spiritualism, and, as the title expresses it, “Other Secret Sciences.” No. 4, for January, 1880, gives an account of the fourth anniversary of the Theosophical Society of Bombay, on November the 29th. Colonel H. S. Olcott, the President of the Society, delivered an address, in which he said, “They had not only founded a journal to serve as an organ for the dissemination of Hindu Scholarship, but also a workshop with machines of various kinds, in which to manufacture Indian goods for export. The invitation card of the evening, whose equal could not be turned out from any existing lithographic press in Bombay, Calcutta, or Madras, had been mainly executed by a young Parsee, taught by his colleague, Mr. Edward Wimbridge, within the past six weeks. Adopting, as he (Col. Olcott) had, India as his country, and her people as his people, it was his sacred duty to do all that lay in his power to promote the physical welfare of the teeming millions of this peninsula, no less than to humbly second the efforts of that great Aryan of our times, Swami Dyanund Paraswati for the revival of Vedic Monotheism and the study of Yoga.”—Trübners’ Literary Record.

The Occult Powers of Savages

A correspondent writes from Simla:—

“There are some points in Spiritualism on which I have been pondering for some time. One is the question whether there is any resemblance between the way in which, at séances, spirits build up the bodies in which they appear, and that in which spirits build ordinary human bodies before birth. I first thought of this from reading that materialised spirits have a distinct pulse. They must therefore have a heart or something corresponding to it to drive the blood and make a pulse; but one would think that nothing more could be necessary than an outward shell resembling our bodies. Possibly the reason why they fade away so quickly is that they build their bodies rapidly and therefore imperfectly, instead of taking time to do the work like ordinary human beings.

“Another question is connected with the fact that among uncivilised or (so-called) uneducated natives, visions, prophetic dreams and the general perceptions of what modern Europeans call supernaturalism are far more common than with ourselves. Are these people liars or mere dreamers, or is it not very probable that they have certain powers of perception which have become atrophied among educated Europeans through the excessive development of their reasoning faculties.

“The curious power possessed by the lower animals and by savages of finding their way in a straight line across an unknown tract of country is a case in point. It is certainly absent in white men of ordinary education, though apparently known sometimes in those who have been brought up by savages without having a chance of acquiring book learning.

“In the account of the ‘Northwest Passage by Land,’ written by Lord Milton and Dr. Cheadle, they say:—‘The unerring fidelity with which our guide followed a straight course in one direction in the dense forest where no landmarks could be seen, on days when the sun was not visible nor a breath of air stirring, seemed to us almost incomprehensible. La Ronde was unable to explain the power which he possessed and considered it as quite a natural faculty. Cheadle, on the other hand, found it quite impossible to preserve a straight course and invariably began to describe a circle by bearing continually towards the left; and this weakness was quite incomprehensible to La Ronde, who looked upon it as the most arrant stupidity.’”

< Spiritualism and Theosophy (continued from page 10-569) >

(Continued)

the under surface of the table top, or held in a Committeeman’s hand without the medium touching it. We also saw detached hands—that is, hands that floated or darted through the air and had no arm or body attached to them. These hands would clutch at our watch-chains, grasp our limbs, touch our hands, take the slates or other objects from us under the table, remove our handkerchiefs from our coat pockets, &c. And all this, mind you, in the light, where every movement of the medium could be as plainly seen as any that either of my present hearers might make now.

the variety of the manifestations.

Another form of signalling is the compulsory writing of messages by a medium whose arm and hand are controlled against his volition by some invisible power. Not only thousands, but lakhs of pages have been written in this way; some of the subject-matter being worth keeping, but the greater part trash. Another method is the impression by the unseen intelligence upon the sensitive brain of a medium of ideas and words outside his own knowledge, such as foreign languages, names of the deceased persons, the circumstances of their deaths, requests as to the disposal of property, directions for the recovery of lost documents or valuables, information about murders, or about distant tragedies of which they were the victims, diagnoses of hidden diseases and suggestions for remedies, &c. You will find many examples of each of these groups of phenomena on record and well attested.

A very interesting anecdote is related in Mr. Dale Owen’s Debatable Land, about the identification of an old spinet that was purchased at a Paris bric-à-brac shop by the grandson of the famous composer, Bach. The details are very curious and you will do well to read them, lack of time preventing my entering more at length into the subject at this time.

But of all the forms of intelligent communication from the other world to ours, of course, none is to be compared for startling realism with that of the direct voice. I have heard these voices of every volume from the faintest whisper close to the ear, sounding like the sigh of a zephyr through the trees, to the stentorian roar that would almost shake the room and might almost have been heard rods away from the house. I have heard them speak to me through paper tubes, through metal trumpets, and through empty space. And in the case of the world-famous medium, William Eddy, <... continues on page 10-571 >

Editor's notes

Sources

• 

  London Spiritualist, No. 436, December 31, 1880, p. 323

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  London Spiritualist, No. 436, December 31, 1880, p. 318

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  London Spiritualist, No. 436, December 31, 1880, pp. 321-23