Light V1 May 1881 - Iapsop.com

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~~~~~~~~ 164 LIGHT. [May 28, 1881, TO OONTRIBUTOBS. Reports of t!u pro>34Udi11g• of Splrit11aliat Societies lu &S 111001nct r. f~'!" r. possible r.nd r.nthe11t~tei bf. the llgnatore of a l'tllponelble ollloerbr.re aoliosted for inae~tion in "LIGHT." Jlemben of prin.te oirOlea will al.a o llge by oon• tribnting brief reoorda of noteworthy ooonrrenoea at their IManoee. The .S:dltor or.n11ot 11Ddertr.lte the retlll"ll of mr.nnaoriptl unleea thtt writers expreuly request it at the time of fonrr.rding, r.nd enal018 stamps for tbe rP.tarn poatage. ijUBBOB.IPTION RA.TBS. The Annual 811becriptlo11 for " Lien," post free to r.ny r.ddreaa within the United ltiwrdom, or to plr.ce.• oompriled within the Poatal Uniou, including all p....ts of Bnrope, the Un1tod Btr.t.ee, and Briti.h North Amerio&, ii 10., lOd. per annnm, paid 111 r.dTanoe. A.DVBRTISBKKNT OHARGBS. Fhe llnea and Qllder, Ss. One lnoh, 41. 6d. H&lf..iolamn, £1. Whole coburr, 4!11 2a. Page, £4. A red110tion made for a aerial of lnaerttona. ••• Oheqn .. r.nd Poat Ollloe Ordon mr.1 be made p.1,able to BDWABD T. B .. sirrr, at the Ohief Ollloe, London. BMfpenny Postage Btr.mpa reoehed for r.moQlltl DDder 109; NOTIOB TO THE PUBLIO. " LIGHT" mr.1 be obtained of B. W. A.LLSJr, A.Te Maria-lr.ne, London, and of all Boobellen. eubscrl.bel'll whose eub80ript1ona have expired will receive the last copy due to them in a coloured wrapper, atter which the paper will be discontinued UD181!8 the eubscripttou le renewed. NOTES BY THE WAY. The Rev. Dr. Maurice Davies having accepted an appointment in South Africa has this week started for hia new home in Graham's Town. He had for some years been doing good ~ork for Spiritualism in this country, notably through the_ instrumentality of tl1e Guild of the Holy Spirit, of which he was the founder. He takes with him the best wishes of a large circle of Spiritualist friends, who are looking rowid to see on whom hia mantle will fall. We ask the special attention of our readers to a letter which appears in this week's "LmBT," by "An Old Spiritualist," on •'Mediumship in Relation to Health and Morals." The writer raises some important points, which call for very serious consideration. On 11ome of them we ourselves are quite at issue with "An Old Spirit~t." But the question can only be settled, if at a.ll, by a careful comparison of the facts which have come within the experience of a considerable number of candid and competent observers. Will some other " Old Spiritualists '' favour us with the results of their observations 1 Sir James Ingham does not acem to know his own mind. On the application of Mr. E. Dillon Lewis he granted a summons against Mrs. Hart-Davies for perjury: and then-when asked for a warral't, because Mrs. Hart-Davies had failed to appearhe refused the application on the ground that the '' Information " on which he had granted the summons, did not set out the same charge& as those which Mr. Dillon Lewis had made when the summons was applied for. A fresh '' Information" was accordingly sworn, and on this Sir James, having taken two daya for consideration, granted another summons on Saturday last-but within four and twenty hours, as we are informed, the worthy magistrate repented once again and revoked his expressed decision. We aay nothing about the merits of the case which recently occupied atoontion at the Central Criminal Court. Our duty, as journalists, ia to be strictly impartial. But the vacillation which ia so manifest a feature in the proceedings at Bowstreet, ia certainly ill-calculated to increase our respect for magisterial wisdom. The question of mediumship being hereditary receives illustration from a narrative that comes to us from a correspon· dent who has had great experience in Spiritualiam, and that largely derived from her own psychic powers. The events are of recent occurrence. " For a fortnight I have been nursing my daughter, and have had a number of interesting Spiritual phenomena both by night and day. One of the commonest was the sensation of being lifted up a few inches. Thia has happened at night several times, and at first I was startled and could only believe it real when it had been repeated two or three times. Repeated attempts have been made to lift a large American rocking-chair while I have been aeated in it with my little girl in my arms. In fact it has been moved several times, but I fancy my fear that the nurse should see it lifted (which I always felt when the impulse came into the chair) kept it from leaving the floor. I have not had this kind of movement for 10 or 12 years, and it may now have come through my daughter." The quickened feelings of the mother may well have operated to produce such an ebullition of physical mediumship. Or the returning vitality of the child, now six yean old, may have liberated the psychic power, and have set it in action. Or a combination of the powera of mother and daughter may have done it. That is a speculative question. The 1piritual powers of the child are, however, plain to see. The mother continues : "From a little child she has talked to me about little girl1 and other people who have come to her, and what they have aaid and done. The commonest thing has been for her to see a semi-circle of little girls with white frocka on, standing about her bed to sing her to sleep. During this illness ahe ha.a talked of seeing a little girl and her nurse, whom she had not seen for three yeara. She exactly described the girl of whom she used to apeak .... She aaid : ' Mamma, who are these people and when do they come into the house 1 Do you go down and let them in, and do they come up into my nursery, and do they go away when I &m asleep 1 I wish they would stay to play with me in the daytime.' The child, in fact,lh-es in a Spirit-world of her own, peopled with beings as real as those she sees around her here. They play with her, and on one occasion she called her nurse to put away a toy that one of the invisible playmates had moved in a way that she did not like." This narrative ia quite on a par with the accounts given by many mediums of their childhood. The im1er faculties are open, and things are seen as they really are, while the eyes of most " are holden that they cannot see.'' This species of mediumship ia at least free from suggeation of imposture, though our wide-awake critice will probably not allow it to escape the 1ug:gestion of delusion. To us the case ii iuteresting as ahewing the transmission in this case of the gift. possessed by the mother. It i& one of many cases known to ua where the medium ia a child of tender years, not a practised conjuror, nor a hysterical victim of delusions, but a child whoee inner visions al1l sin1ple and beautiful, and whose psychic gift.t are testified to by objective facts. According to Mr, W. L Bishop, rappings are the result of snapping tendons and expectant attention. Children don't snap tendons! and if they di!l it would require a regiment of them to make a tithe of the feeble rape n have heard in a single evening ; and not even the contortionist himself could rival with any appliances he could use the sledge-hammer blows which we have listened to, blows that seemed calculated to split the table into splinters, but which left no ascertainable mark on its polished surface. It ia a melancholy picture of educated folly, this thron 11ing of savans and acientilt. to be gulled and befooled by explanations and hankey-pankey tricks that ought not to deceive a child. And this ia not the first time that brazen pretenaions have taken in men who po&e a.a wise. The La.nut has been 1tirred up by Mr. Francia· Galton'• lecture on Mental Images to discourse on the anatomy of ghoeta. It ia fain to confess that ''when a man sees a ghost it ia as real 11 anything else he sees, and ia not to be explained away or accounted for by any reasonable process of argument." Having made this candid confesaion, our conM!mporary curiously pro-· ceeda to propound a long and elaborate argument which, we quite agree, does not merit the description of " reasonable." It seems that " there ia no such possibility as seeing things as they are. We see thinga aa they are presented by the external, &Dd as wa think of them." Thia may be, but what follows ii hardly consequent :- "A ghost may therefore be fonned of materials cast up in either, or all, of four processes in the seemingly single &Dd instantaneous mental act of observation. 1. We pel'Ctlive an external object, which aug~ests the thought of soma peraon. 2. We seem to aee the object in the form in which it has ~n presented to us on previous occasions, and associated with remembered characteristic• of colour and sound. Fonn, colour, sound and even odour, or touch, stand on precisely the same footing, as regards their mental associations, and either may ~y the part of a first agent or key-note in producing the impre1111on. 3. When we see a form or colour, hear a sound, smell .an odour, feel a touch which has been associated. in our mi:n~ With the form of an absent friend, we may be, a.a it were, vwted _b!, hia ghost, or, in other words, the fragment of real .exterww will call up, seemingly around it, but ~ually in our ~de, ~e complementary propertiea of the obJect. 4. Reoemng e picture projected from without, adorned by the memory _of previous impressions of its aubject, we still further ~evelop ~ adding the impression of our own present reftect1ons, probably finishing the picture according to the mood of th• moment, making the ' mental image 'grave or gay, and ~pt· ing it to the supposed aasociationa of the individual as !'e think of him wider the influence of any fear or fancy our mmde may cheriah with regard to his condition or circumstanoe1.'' Digitized b Google I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I
Hay 28, 1881.] LIGHT. 166 It appears to us very aorry trifling to refer to the category of hallucinatiou all the various narratives of the return of departed human Spirits, such as are to be found, for instance, in Mrs. Crowe's "Night Side of Nature," and Spicer's " Sights and Sounds." If it were the fact that apparitions were seen only by the hysterical, the victims of recognised mental disease, or those whoee bodily senses were at the time affected by sickneu or mental excitement, it would be scientifically accurate to refer them to so plain a cause. But this is very far from being the C886. If again, one sense only were concerned, it is conceivable that our scientific contemporary might exclude such weak evidence. But it is not 110. Various senses are appealed to, and the evidence receives solid confirmation and corroboration from the appeal. Moreover, if such visions were vouchsafed only to a single pers.:in he mi6ht be deemed the victim of illusion. But they are seen by various persons simultaneously, and the testimony is in many recorded cases consentient and clear. Yet, once more these ghosts are actually seen at times by animals, whose actio:U. and evident terror shew that to them the apparition is no creature of imagination, but a real fact. If one sense go wrong, do all err 1 And if they do, do they err only about ghosts-false guides in this matter, but true in all else 1 If one weak person dreams or is hallucinated, do all men err when they see ghosts 1 and only then 1 Is consentient testimony valueless 1 Are men simultaneously deceived, and unfit to estimate a fact "as real aa anything else they see "1 Have dogs and horses hysterical imaginations? or is the Lancet in a fog 1 SPmIT TEACHINGS. SECOND SERIES. This series of Spirit-Teachings, like t.he former, is made up of selections from a great ma98 which have been automatically written during a series of years. They are selected on no other principle than that of pointing what has been valuable to the pel'llOn for whom they were originally given, in so fl\l' aa this can be done without trenching on what is merely of personal and private application. The latter consideration excludes a great maas of what would otherwise be interesting and valuable matter. The phraseology has been preserved, aa far as possible, intact, names only being omitted. The ·series followa directly on thA first, from which, indeed, it is separated only by the accident of its publication in another journal, and after some considerable interval of time. The publication is resumed in deference to many repeated requests. M.A. (OxoN.) No. ID. (A new Spirit had manifested, and we were curious as to the attraction.] How waa it that that Spirit came to me 1 The mind waa directed to the subject, and being active it projected itself to you. Moreover, we were glad to be able to afford you another proof of our desire to bring home to you evidence of the truth of what we say. Ia it correct to say that the direction of thought cauau the Spir6t to be present 1 In aome caaes it is ao. Great activity of Spirit, coupled with anxiety to discover Truth, and to seek into the hidden causes of things combine to make it pouible for a Spirit to manifest ; juet aa pt love caWle& the presence of a Spirit with the loved one. Moreover intention gives what you would call direction or --- - - ---~ - -- - - -- to earth. And not in all cases does volition or thought cause union of Soula. Many other adjuncts are necessary before such can be. Material obstacles may prevent and the guardians may oppose. We are not able to pursue the subject now seeing that we write with difficulty. At another time we may resume. Cease for the present and do not try further. No. IV. In reading orer what luu been wrUten, I am at~ with this : - You 1aid once that conditiom had bun interfered with by the projection of antagoniatic tho"yhta from a distance. ..{nd now it auma a Spirit 1·eleaaed from it& body ii carried whither ita tho11gltt1 tiim. It aeema then that tho11.ght ii motion ; and that effects cml be produce1l idth-01it t.M acfoal pr&1euce, cu we 1inderatat&a it, of a Spirit in t/i.~ room. If thil be'°• it aums to foUo•o that manife,tatioiUJ may be performed objectively, or at least directed without tM actual pretence of the ·~irit wliu p1irporta to make them. Ia thia S'> ewr, and i1 it '° in our circle '! It is so frequently, in this way: Great Spirits operate through inferior agencies without themselves being present as you understand the term. This is very frequent, and directions are sent and acted on without the presence of the controlling Spirit. But in our circle, when certain Spirits are said to be present, they really are so. To say what you would understand in a different sense would be to say what ia r.ot true. We are scrupulous to be true. But in many cases where nan1es are not given the objective manifestations are controlled from a distance. There ii anotlkr point. If n~re projection of thought can interfere with the cu11ditiom, are we not, yu1& and I, all liable t-0 ]}l'rpet1wl a111wyaiu:e and ev~m injury from tlwse of whose i11te11t we are ii11awa1·e ? There are protections and means of defence that you know not of. If there be danger there is also help. ·We do not leave our friends unguarded. But in spite of all, the projection of thought does cause disturbance in the Spiritual atmosphere. It is not infrequently from that cause that we are unable to manifest succesafully at a circle. So, too, we cannot approach you to convey information to you. We then advise you to leave off. The atmosphere is turbid, and although we do not always know why, we frequently do know it is froru thia cause. Voes thia affect all alike, or mediums orJy, or circlu f Mediums being more sensitive would be most affected consciously, but Spiritual disturbance in very many cases is owing to this cause. Circles where Ul&ny meet are more liable again to disturbances from many causes -among others from the adversaries gathering round, a.a well as from the efforts of other Spirits to force an entrance. Can malignant thought& of persons still it' the body injure 1 For example, rnppose I sit down q"ieUy, and, directing my mind tv a certain perwn, deUberately wish him ill, would he bt af.ded 'I In some degree, probably, you would in such case be guilty of grievous wrong, and your own spiritual state would suffer more than his. .But you could probably distreu or injure anyone-some more and some leB&-by your will-power. . TMn the old c1mitig by bell, book, and candle, waa Mt'° utte1-ly ailly as meti haTJe thought ? There is an element of truth underlying all such ct remouies, distorted frequently, and well-nigh undiscoverable, but still true in the main. Such wicked ceremonies aa you have mentioned are partly the result of priestly domination registering, as it were, priestly power. The Church, that is the priest, cursed an enemy or a di.iobedient child in public so as to cast him off from communion. This was but a public registering of an already accomplished act. That refers back to the time when the :priest, being medium, and selected for that purpose, could work mjury if he were malicious, and could cut otr those who had transgressed, from communion, not only with man, but with the good Spirits. These are all traces of times when priests were properly selected. locality u; the thought. By that we mean that the instinctive tendency of the desire or thought causes a possibility of objective manifestation. Then, by the help of those who like ourselves are akilled in managing the elements, manifestation becomes Yea. lt aums to me this powel' which Spfrita po88U1 i.t a .:try pouible. This would not have been possible in this case only freadful one. ff' e kti0w 11e1y little of ti~ world of llpirits. that we took advantage of what would have passed unnoticed, You know nothing clearly yet. But we cannot now enlighten in order to work out another proof of the reality of our mission. you more. We have said more than we ought to have said. It is neceuarythat there should be a combination of circumstances Cease I and may the Supreme bleu you. before auch a manifestation can be pouible, and that combination ia rare. Hence the infrequency of such events, and the No. V. difficulty we have in arranging them, especially where anxiety 'rite bl 688 ing of the Supreme be on you. We desire to speak enters into the matter, aa in the case of a friend whose presence somewhat more fully and freely on some necessary subjects, is earnestly desired. It ~ight well be that so ready a proof as especially with reference to \vhat baa been said above, and with this might not occur agam. reference to the last sitting we had. In doing so, if we •peak TMn a combination of f:irourable circumatancu aided yott ? more personally than we have yet done, it is because it becomes WiU the Spirit rut 1 Or doe8 it not requit-e it 'I necellll&ry. We have striven, aa far as we could, to leave your We do not know the destiny of that Spirit. It will pass out discretion unfettered in all cases where injury would net ensue. But when we have done otherwise it has only been when we of our control Circumstances enabled us to use its presence, have found it necesil&ry, either for the protection of our friends, bUt that presence will not be maintained. or for the furtherance of our own work. If directio~ of thoug.ht causes moti.o1~ [ should have tho'.'flht it Consider, friend. The work with which we are charged .would be 10 w1tlt our fnenda, and that they would be more likely to cannot be permitted to fail or languish because of error or C011W 1 . · wilfulneu on the part of our earth friends. In this respect It ia not that alone, nor ia it ao with all. All cannot come we ·have many times pointed ou.t .. ~ :1ou pe.l'llQ~y how Digitized by Google
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