< Another Eminent Convert (continued from page 3-216) >
itself by and through the persons forming the circle,—and the parties included in it, are drawn into a peculiar state of disposition according to the condition of the medium himself. Undeniable facts go towards proving to us that the nervous disposition of the latter is communicated to the former.
Thus, we find in the chronicles of Spiritualism several recorded cases, where the most anti-mediumistical persons received the gift of mediumship after having been present at several seances, with a very powerful medium. It becomes evident thus, that this faculty can become contagious, like many nervous diseases. I am perfectly aware of the fact that from a physiological standpoint the above explanation is deficient; but it is hard to think of any other which could better describe the existing facts. I cannot accept the explanation of it, which Faraday attempted, some twenty years ago, —that it is simply an unconscious action of the muscles; or the profoundly absurd theory of “unconscious cerebration,” offered us by Carpenter; a theory that explains nothing at all.
Music, it appears, helps much towards bringing into rapport, or perfect harmony of disposition, the persons present with their medium. At the seances at which I was present, we usually had a small music-box. The manifestations never failed to grow stronger and more definite, when it played, and generally decreased in power when it stopped; with the exception, of course, of those periodical ebbs and flows to which they are subject. Very often we found that the raps followed, or kept time to the airs played by our box, and once witnessed how the table actually and literally jumped for some moments, keeping time, as in a dance, to the sounds of a Khiva March. Very naturally, then, anything that will throw the harmonious relations of the circle into disorder, will arrest also the progress of the mediumistical phenomena*. Loud talking, quarrelling, some unexpected noise, or rapid, sharp, angular movements, all interfere with the phenomena or stop them altogether. I suppose it must be one of the reasons why nearly all spiritual seances are held in the evening, at which time all confusing outside noises die out.
The predisposition and state of mind of the persons forming the circle, have an enormous influence on its success, especially at the beginning of the seance, when the manifestations are in what might be termed a state of initiation or preparation. In such cases as I had the opportunity to observe, persons who are the most mediumistic should sit opposite each other, after which, those who are the more so must sit in turn opposite those who are most deficient in that power, thus establishing an equilibrium. I noted more than once how the manifestations were difficult to develop, or events produce themselves at all if the parties present were not carefully selected and placed each at his proper post. Spiritualists commonly leave the settlement of this question to the table itself, but at the beginning of a seance, its directions are frequently very ambiguous, and understood with difficulty.
Why is it that the table, this strange mediator of spiritual seances, is so necessary for the phenomena! This question can be answered only hypothetically, like everything else connected with Spiritualism. Of course, the table cannot be an indispensable thing for such manifestations. It can be easily replaced, and, it seems to me, with more advantage, by some other apparatus with a level surface, on which might be laid the hands of the persons present. As far as I could learn, very few experiments have been made in this direction. Heat, or perhaps the electricity of the investigators sitting in the circle, must concentrate itself in the table, and gradually develop into motions. At the same time, or a little afterwards, the psychic force unites to assist the two other powers. By the “psychic force” I mean that which forms itself out of all the other forces of our organism, the combination into one general something, of several separate forces, and capable when combined of manifesting itself, in degree, according to the Individuality.
The mediumistical manifestations force us to the conclusion that this force, like all the other physical forces, can act at a distance; and that its effect, is not only able to detach itself from its original source, but can also act in its turn, as something which is in a certain sense independent. I will illustrate my words by an instance which may be easily understood. Heat coming out of some source gradually enters into other bodies, which are conductors of it Once that the process is performed, this same heat can act in its turn in those bodies, independently of its original source. I do not see why we may not admit the possibility that the psychal force, which, according to all evidence, is but the combination, or a sort of mixture of different, general, physical forces, can emanate from a person as from its fountain, and act to some extent at a distance. Until now we have had no instances of such phenomena, and such an hypothesis or juxtaposition rather of the general, physical forces to the psychal forces might have been considered perfect nonsense. But now the mediumistic faculty appears and in these phenomena we see the conclusive evidence of its existence.
I understand very well, that the above explanation is extremely insufficient, but I offer it as an attempt to describe the manifestations that I have seen in psychological and physiological language. The fact is that the phenomena are all of so peculiar a character, so capricious, and so incongruous with any precedents within the domain of science, that any conjecture or discussion about this question seems at present premature; our hypothesis must of necessity be totally unsatisfactory. One thing at least seems certain—all these phenomena present us the evidences of a psychic activity in the persons composing the spiritual circle, and especially of the medium himself.
I will turn now to a description of the phenomenal manifestations that I witnessed personally at spiritual seances, which in our case were formed quite differently from what they usually are.
In London, as in America, Spiritualists have come to the conclusion that the mediumistic manifestations are more intense and far more successful in cases where the medium sits apart from the rest of the circle, in total darkness, behind some partition or curtain, and falls very soon into a magnetic sleep (a trance). We tested this with Brediff, our medium; the idea having been suggested to us by some Spiritualists who had witnessed mediumistic manifestations under such conditions at Paris and London.
I will here proceed to describe one of such seances that took place in the presence of the regular members of our circle of investigators, namely, Boutleroff, Aksakoff, his lady, Dr. A—, and myself. The seance, as usual, took place at the private house of M. Aksakoff. One of the doorways of his library, cut in the centre of a thick wall, and having a very deep recess, was selected as the place where our medium should sit. A heavy hanging of gray broadcloth on this doo r separated the recess from the rest of the library room, and formed a very dark “cabinet.” I must here remark that darkness is considered one of the best conditions for mediumistic manifestations, and for the phase I am now going to describe—materialization—this condition seems indispensible. At such seances we used but one single wax-candle, which was placed in a corner, and sometimes screened.
As a preliminary performance, we had the usual light seance around the table. Most probable such a sitting is necessary, with a view to bring all the company into a congenial and harmonic state of mind. During this sitting we got the usual raps, jerks of the table, levitations, and so forth. Half an hour or so after, that we began preparing for the formation of the circle for a semi-dark seance. Having well examined the door with the dark cabinet, and carefully locked it up, I put the key in my pocket, and we proceeded at once to the secure tying of the medium, precluding by every possible caution, any means on his part to perform fraud.
Concluded in our next. The back number can be had if applied for immediately.
* The honorable and most learned Professor seems determined to avoid giving these manifestations the name of spiritual, and constantly supplies this word by the more prudent one of mediumistic. We will have to submit to it as to the rest.
A Phenomenal Memory
At the first meeting of the Psychological Society of Great Britain, held in London, May 20th, under the presidency of Mr. Sergeant Cox, a paper was read by Mr. G. Harris, on “The Psychology of Memory,” in which the author ably treated a most interesting topic. Numerous instances were cited by him to show the various peculiarities of this function of the mind, and he propounded the query “whether the mind <... continues on page 3-218 >
Editor's notes
- ↑ A Phenomenal Memory by Olcott, H. S., Spiritual Scientist, v. 2, No. 15, June 17, 1875, pp. 176-7
Sources
Spiritual Scientist, v. 2, No. 15, June 17, 1875, pp. 176-7