< Proselyters from India (continued from page 1-62) >
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by Herbert D. Monachesi, F.T.S. #
# Our original programme is here clearly defined by Herbert Monachesi, F.T.S., one of the Founders. The Christian and Scientists must be made to respect their Indian betters. The Wisdom of India, her philosophy and achievement must be made known in Europe & America & the English be made to respect the natives of India & Tibet more than they do.
Col. Olcott answers The Banner
New York, Sept 27. 1875.
To the, Editor of The Spiritual Scientist:
Sir :—The Banner of Light Editor, puts in his issue of last week, certain direct questions to me, in a weak and untruthful article, entitled, “The New Departure,” which he wants answered in “plain speech.” On Sunday evening, 26th inst., I lectured before the Spiritualists of this city, and as my Boston editorial inquisitor seemed so very anxious for knowledge, and as some of his representatives were in my audience,
I concluded not to keep him waiting over Sunday, and answered the questions in presence of a hall full of people.
His first query is this: “Have you (I) had direct conversation with any persons, visible and tangible to your senses, who, not being mediums, could by mere forms and words, communicable to others and available by them, produce all the most startling phenomena of Modern Spiritualism?
Answer? — I have met four such persons, have seen two of them display their powers, and am to see a third do likewise as soon as my engagements give me a leisure evening.
His second question is this: “Have you known materialized forms of spirits to be made to appear simply by the use of Cabalistic words or forms of invocation, in the absence of mediums?”
Answer: — I have seen spirit-hands, faces and heads; a full form; butterflies, a canary bird, and a large fly (in midwinter), evoked under such circumstances. I have seen atmospheric phenomena produced, of a most incredible description. I have had a gold ring caused to leap out of a moss-rose, held in my own hand, in full light. I have known of a sentence being instantly engraved in the inside of a gold ring, while held in the closed hand of a certain editor. I have had letters to myself, in answer to letters written by me, made to come into the closed envelopes, laid upon the mantle- piece of the room where I was sitting, and never out of my sight nor touched by any one in the room; these answers being upon separate sheets of paper, and of a different kind from those upon which I had written. I have had writings instantly appear and disappear from paper, note-books and other books, when I was either holding the same or had them in view; and in broad daylight.
I have had all these, and more, which I shall not recite, for I have already spent too much time in answering an editor who is such an ignoramus as to say that there is no proof that there ever was or will be a Science of Magic. I have (neither the time nor disposition to save editors of Spiritualist journals the trouble of learning the rudiments of their profession. It is a sufficient commentary upon the gross ignorance which prevails among American Spiritualists about the. origin and nature of the phenomena which they have been watching for twenty-seven years, that their self-styled leading organ should be guilty of making such statements and propounding such silly questions as are to be found in this article on “The New Departure.” I remain. Sir,
Your obedient servant,
An Orissa Brahmin
Letters from a Distinguished Occultist
To the Editor of The Spiritual Scientist:
Dear Sir :—The author of the article on “Ancient Works on Occult Science,” in a recent number of the Spiritual Scientist, makes a bold assertion when he says that he “is in possession if the Key to the Hermetic Mystery." If this be so, he has the key to unlock the doors of the ancient sanctuaries. In other words, he possesses the knowledge that will enable him to raise the Veil of Isis, and penetrate into the “unknowable,” as Herbert Spencer terms it, and grasp the hidden secrets of Nature. But few, very few of the ancient sages, were able to accomplish so much. A knowledge of the Hermetic secrets will not only enable the recipient to make the Universal Medicine and the Lopis Philosophorum, but give him also a knowledge of universal nature General Hitchcock claimed to have found the Key of the Hermetic philosophy, and wrote a work entitled, “Remarks upon Alchemy and the Alchemists,” in which he attempts to explain the great mystery; but every Occultist student knows that he was far from the truth. He who knows it will not reveal it. Therefore, until the writer of genius gives it to the world as be promises, I will not believe he possesses it. The secret is hidden to them who would reveal it; for the Divine Mind will not permit his secret laws to be known to any until they have so advanced in purity as to be enabled to secure them, and when once revealed silence is enjoined upon the recipient; and if the injunction should be violated, tbc consequences would be most severe to the faithless one. A true initiate never boasts of his knowledge publicly. He is a man of silence, for one of the fundamental laws of Occultism is SILENCE.
The world at present is as unprepared to receive the secrets possessed by the Magi of the ancients, as it was thousands of years ago; and until it advances to that degree of harmony which is essential to the reception of Divine truths, so that they will not be abused, those truths, depend upon it, will not be revealed.
I cannot imagine a greater misfortune to humanity than to give them possession of the Divine Hermetic secrets. A great blessing would, in a short time, be converted into an abominable curse, and the spirit of Satan would soon take possession of society. Such knowledge cannot and will not be made public by the recipient. God would not, in the present condition of society, permit it. “From one who knows.”
Editor's notes
- ↑ Col. Olcott answers The Banner by Olcott, H. S., Spiritual Scientist, v. 3, No. 5, October 7, 1875, p. 55
- ↑ An Orissa Brahmin by unknown author
- ↑ image by unknown author. Colorful leaves
- ↑ Letters from a Distinguished Occultist by Pancoast, S. (signed as Lux), Spiritual Scientist, v. 3, No. 5, October 7, 1875, pp. 50-1
Sources
Spiritual Scientist, v. 3, No. 5, October 7, 1875, p. 55
Spiritual Scientist, v. 3, No. 5, October 7, 1875, p. 50