HPB-SB-8-139

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vol. 8, p. 139

H. P. Blavatsky Scrapbooks

from Adyar archives of the International Theosophical Society

vol. 8 (September 1878 - September 1879)

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Sunday Services at the Cavendish Rooms

A Sunday Spiritualistic class meeting for children and adults, convened by Mr. J. W. Fletcher, was held at 11.30 a.m. on Sunday last at the Cavendish Rooms, Mortimer-street, W., London, and was well attended. Mr. Desmond Fitz-Gerald, M.S.Tel.E., who has consented to act as superintendent, presided, and made known to the audience in a few remarks the objects of the movement contemplated in founding the Lyceum, and said that he should watch with interest every step taken; he hoped that all present would enter most heartily into the work.

Mrs. Fletcher, on being called upon, spoke of the success of tire Children’s Lyceum in America, and urged upon those who were to become teachers to fitly prepare themselves for the work they had chosen to do, promising her aid and assistance. The teachers were then chosen by ballot, and subsequently classes were formed and lessons arranged for the coming week.

In the evening Mr. Fletcher delivered an inspirational address. He was introduced by Mr. Thomas Slater, who expressed his approval of the work now being done, and said that Mr. Fletcher was entitled to the thanks and good wishes of all true workers in the cause of Spiritualism,

Mr. Fletcher then delivered an address, of which the following is a summary:—

The subject to which we invite your attention this evening is “Some of the Laws relating to Spirit Control.” In the investigation of any subject all the knowledge and all the wisdom previously gained in various ways is brought to bear upon the subject in hand. Men never ordinarily dream of leaving reason outside in the consideration of any ideas that are old or new; but when they enter the realm of religious or theological research, they seem to have entered a strange world, in which the wisdom and the knowledge which they have gained plays no part. When they enter the door of a church some of them leave reason and common sense outside, and when the various forms of spiritual phenomena are demonstrated they look upon these manifestations either as miracles, or the working of a supernatural power. And why? Because when any of the various spiritual phenomena of nature have presented themselves, the theologian has said to the world, “You must not question concerning these things; God has wisely veiled them in mystery.” Nothing in Spiritualism is eternally veiled in mystery; and if there is anything which will not bear the clear searching rays of reason and intellect, we will bring it forth to the sun, and find wherein the mystery lies. Our lecture to-night is a supplement to a lecture given on a previous occasion in these rooms. Before studying the action of disembodied spirits it is better to know something of the action of embodied spirits, the control of mind over mind, the action of one will over the will of another; and this you see plainly manifested in mesmerism, where the operator makes his power felt by the subject. The action of mind upon mind is the first step beyond materialism. And how does the mesmeriser affect the subject? He places a certain number of people before him; he bids them lay aside all outside things and concentrate their thoughts upon him; he is enabled then to affect some of the number. He so brings his own spirit to the surface that he makes the power of that spirit felt by the subject, and every mesmeriser has a strong band of spirits who work in connection with him. He may not be able to affect every one the first, second, or third time, but each time the effort is made the subject comes more in harmony with the operator, and his efforts are crowned with greater success. “But,” says one, “mesmerism has nothing to do with Spiritualism; it is the power of one mind over the mind of another, and that’s all.” Now, if you could demonstrate the fact that the results were limited by the capacity of the operator, then you might say it had nothing to do with spirits or Spiritualism. But the operator sends his subject into unknown lands, where he describes scenes, faces, and conditions wholly unknown to the operator; and therefore we say that the operator makes, for the time being at least, a medium of his subject, and through the power of that mediumship the spirits impress various objects upon the brain of the subject. You could not have a stronger evidence of the power of mesmerism than is shown to you in the ordinary religious revivals which periodically devastate the country. The world says that God is working with this man or the other, that the spirit of the Lord is being poured out through the life of this or that preacher, and that people are “getting religion.” We reply that such is not the case the Spirit of the Lord is no more present at one time than another, with one person than another, since he is no respecter of persons. The revivalist preacher’s success is limited by his mesmeric power. He gathers the people together; their minds are fixed upon a subject of common interest, and they become responsive to him. Every clairvoyant would see clouds of mesmeric influence rolling out from him and blending with the influence of others, and those who are most responsive “get religion” the soonest. This is the action of mind over mind in the body. We come now to the action of the mind out of the body, where the spirit takes the place of the mesmeric operator, and the medium becomes the subject operated upon. It is a mistaken idea that in conscious mediumship the medium is controlled by the spirit. The spirit does not take possession of the medium, but the medium is simply overshadowed by the spirit. There are many people who say, “If the spirits made me do this, that, and the other, I would never be a medium.” We reply that all these efforts are but as primary steps towards the great result. As well say that since the child stumbles at every step he shall not walk until he can do so without falling; but all these mis-steps are simply to strengthen the muscles and the limbs, and to teach the child the process of volition. In the same way each effort of the spirit is an attempt to adapt its power to the medium, to gain flexibility and attain control over the muscles and nerves of the medium. In writing mediumship, in healing mediumship, and in all the varied phases of the action of the spirit, the ultimate is never gained, because two elements act in opposition to the best results; the will of the medium who determinedly thinks he must exercise some control over the manifestation oftentimes prevents results of great value. The physical condition of the medium also becomes an opposing element, especially when he endeavours to resist the influences of the spirit; the influences which surround him, the influence conveyed to him, all have an effect upon the spirit. Your very thoughts may affect him; the letters you write all carry an influence either for good or evil, and we say that much disease, and harm, and trouble are conveyed by the simple fact of keeping letters about your person, as many people do. Therefore, in this conscious form of mediumship, which is the most common, the medium should offer as little resistance as possible. We pass now to unconscious mediumship, which is by far the most valuable form, since it benefits not only those in this world, but those in the spirit as well, many of whom have not lived out their earthly conditions. Every medium is distinguished by a colour, and that colour indicates the particular spirit, or sphere of his surroundings, and corresponds to a sphere in the spirit world from which all the spirits controlling him must come; the dark colours indicate lower forms of development, and the lighter colours indicate higher forms of development. “Why is it,” the question is asked when I go for a sitting, “that my friends do not come to me?” You probably blame the medium, although he is the last to blame of any one. Your spirits may not be in a sphere corresponding to that of the medium at the time, therefore they are unable to communicate with you. Your own colour may change that of the medium, making it darker or lighter as the case may be. The colour, however, does not always remain the same, as it depends much upon the physical condition, and the surroundings of the medium. You may go two or three times to the same medium, and gradually your influence may harmonise with his, the successful manifestations may occur. You go to your friends in great trouble and pour out the burden of your woes to them, and you go away from them feeling so much better and happier. They have not made the burden lighter, they have not changed the condition of things in any way; but their own spiritual colour has blended with the darker one of your own trouble which surrounds you, and made your mesmeric conditions lighter. You call it sympathy; it is nothing more nor less than the blending of two spiritual spheres. There are two opposing elements which operate very strongly in unconscious mediumship. The food which is taken into the system attracts either high or low spirits; and mediums should be particularly careful of what they eat and drink before giving seances. If you will but remember, the Master fasted forty days that the power of the Spirit might be with Him; and mediums must be able to put sensuality, jealousy, and selfishness under their feet, before they will be able to realise the possibilities of their mediumship. They must remember that they live not for themselves alone; that through their organisation is the open door which communicates with both worlds; and that indulgence in any form serves to close that open door. Beyond the rank and position the world can give; beyond the fame and renown society may yield; aye, beyond everything in the power of this world to confer, is the gift of the Spirit called mediumship. And let every medium within the sound of our voice feel the trust imposed in her, or him, and furnish as far as possible physical conditions untainted by degrading influences. Mental conditions, also, act strongly in this form of mediumship. Your very thoughts are tangible: when you hate others you are sending waves of trouble to them; when you love others you are furnishing them the means wherein to accomplish their work. Then in this form of unconscious mediumship guard yourselves well both from enemies within and without, and when you make the condition the results are sure to come. There are those who have said that even in these lectures there was nothing new. No, there is nothing new, and we intend to repeat the old until you realise more of its teachings in your lives; there are new thoughts, new truths, new lessons waiting for you, and when you are ready they will be given to you. The lessons of spirit and of Spiritualism are not simply to be talked about, simply to be thought about, but they are to be lived as well. And when by your lives you make the conditions, we shall be enabled to teach you the higher lessons which we have learned. We pass now from the realm of unconscious mediumship into that higher, grander phase of power called inspirational mediumship—the rarest of all, since it is a perfect blending of the spirit outside the body with the spirit inside the body. It is an exaltation of the spirit, a lifting out of this world, a stepping into the next. Have you never thought that you were asking the spirit world to do the whole work? Have you never thought that it was possible for you to meet them half way? In the form of inspirational mediumship the spirit of the medium is in absolute association with the higher spirits; and when mankind lives less for earth and more for heaven, then will the power of inspiration be brought nearer to you. The laws of spirit control, in the main, cannot be given and applied the same to each human life; but we can say that the more love and less hate, the more charity and less selfishness, the more forgiveness and less condemnation you have, the more perfect you make the conditions whereby you shall receive a demonstration of the power of the spirit.

It was announced that at the close of the next lecture, when the conditions were harmonious, Mr. Fletcher would probably give some personal tests to those in the audience around whom he should see spirits.

A new Shorter Catechism

What is God?—The effectual cause of the phenomena of the universe; an entity whose existence it is scientifically unpleasant to assume, but logically impossible to deny.

Noto.—Whereas, God was once very much of a man, now man is very much of a God.

What is man?—The supreme product of the developmental forces acting on organic forms.

Koto.—Originally man was simply a cell, now he is a complex one.

Of what is man made?—Of protoplasm.

Note.—Formerly organisms were supposed to be made of dust, now we know dust to be made of organisms.

At death, to what does man return?—To gas.

Noto.—Spiritualism would mako this a verb in the infinitive; science shows that this supremest product of cosmic forces drops at once into its first elements.

What is the chief end of man?—To attain “ sweetness and light.” Note.—This only applies to the upper classes.

What is true morality?—Complete adaptation to one’s environment.

Noto.—This rule makes up by its universality for the limitation of the previous ono. It roaches from man to the polyp.

What is religion?—A form of sensibility ; the expression of a class of emotions (affecting women) developed by the desire to know our origin, destiny, and moral nature.

Koto.—Religion is universal, and will always be indispensable, except to those who have attained sweetness and light.

What is faith?—Faith is an emotion clinging to the high things which reason has not yet demonstrated.

Note.—There are two kinds: (a) Religious faith, the belief of an ennobling supernaturalism; (b) scientific faith, the belief in an alluring hypothesis.

C.L. Dana, in Scribner’s Monthly.

<Untitled> (Mr. Bret Harte in London...)

Mr. Bret Harte in London.—Mr. Bret Harte has arrived in London for an extended lecturing tour. He has delivered his first public lecture at the Crystal Palace, where he drew a large audience, and on the 4th inst. delivered a lecture at Hull. He is the guest, whilest in London, of Mr. Triibner, at whose house he was last Sunday evening welcomed by quite a number of English admirers, among them the editor of this journal. Mr. Frank Dietz has done much in London to popularise Mr. Bret Harte’s poetry among Spiritualists, by dramatically reciting selections at public meetings.

Our readers are requested to take notice that if they intend to bind their volumes of The Spiritualist they should not give away a single number now and then, for they may possibly he unable to replace it. We do not overprint so many, as was once the ease, to meet ail the irregular demand from irregular subscribers; consequently, some of the numbers this year will run out of print in a mouth or two. There was unexpectedly a larger demand for the number containing Mr. Harrison's paper a fortnight ago than for any for many months past; consequently, it ran out of print in three days, and had not some return numbers from newsvendors subsequently reached our City agent, those who parted with their copies would have been unable to replace them.

Apparitions of the Living

“The awful shadow of some unseen Power Floats, tho’ unseen, among us.” “White yet a boy, I sought for ghosts, and sped Thro’ many a listening chamber, cave, and ruin, And starlight wood, with fearful steps pursuing Hopes of high talk with the departed dead. I was not heard; I saw them not.”—Shelley. “Methinks I feel new strength within me rise, Wings growing, and dominion given me large, Beyond this deep; whatever draws me on, Or sympathy, or some connatural force, Powerful at greatest distance to unite With secret amity things of like kind By secret est conveyance. Milton’s “Paradise Lost,” Book X.

At our last meeting in these rooms, a question was put to the lecturer on that evening as to whether he would furnish any examples of apparitions of living persons, as such cases appeared to be akin to the subject then under discussion. That subject was hauntings and apparitions of the departed or departing, and the examples adduced were illustrative of the truth of the identity of the ghost or apparition with persons known to those to whom they had appeared.

Now, the cases of apparitions of the living, which I shall have the honour of bringing before you to-night, seem to me to prove something quite different; that is to say, if they can be said to prove anything; for I must own that to my mind they are altogether inexplicable, objectless, and not traceable to any law or cause with which I have even the slightest acquaintance. Though doubtless many other examples may be found in the literature connected with this subject, I have confined myself chiefly to those which have come within my own cognisance.

I regret very much that I am unable to give publicly the names of those concerned, but I will, in some instances, and under certain conditions, do so privately to any person wishing for further information. (It will perhaps be sufficient to say that the greater number, or indeed, all of them, are in this room at the present moment, or might he.)

The class of facts with which I have to deal were not heard of for the first time in connection with what is generally understood as modern Spiritualism. Indeed, I am sometimes puzzled to know why this movement should be said to date from the Rochester rappings, since these phenomena, and others which accompanied or succeeded them, have been known in all ages, as shown by the enactment and enforcement of laws against witchcraft, necromancy, and palmistry, even within very recent times; some of us can even remember the application of the latter term in a celebrated case tried at Bow-street before Mr. Flowers. In a work recently edited by Mrs. Hardinge Britten, reference is made to a society who practised experiments with the spirits of the living. The members found that certain of their number could effectually, by will-power, cause an apparition of themselves to be seen at a distance, generally, I believe, during sleep; they also found that by mesmeric power they could exercise their will on the spirit of a sleeping sensitive, and cause it to travel at their bidding. These experiments were so dangerous that they were happily not continued for any great length of time, and it would seem that the voluntary exercise of this power is even more exhausting and more detrimental than the involuntary working of ordinary mediumship.

There are, however, plenty of instances on record of the involuntary appearance of “doubles” at a distance; one I have heard related in this room at our discussion meetings. I allude to the adventure of Mr. Joy (no doubt remembered by many now present), who, at the moment when he was struck down by a ruffianly collier in Wales, touched a friend on the shoulder who was walking in the streets of Loudon, and who recognised and spoke to him.

I will now relate an incident in which I was myself one of the actors. I wrote it down in detail at the time, and showed it to one or two friends, who questioned me as to all the particulars, so that nothing was allowed to escape.

On Wednesday, 13th February, 1878, a friend, whom I will call M., entered the reading-room at 38, Great Russell-<... continues on page 8-140 >

Editor's notes

Sources

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  London Spiritualist, No. 337, February 07, 1879, pp. 62-3

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  London Spiritualist, No. 337, February 07, 1879, p. 63