THE SCIENCE OF SEERSHIP

THE SCIENCE OF SEERSHIP

This notable work comprises not only a record of clairvoyant research under test conditions with men of science in various fields, such as astronomy, bacteriology, physics, psychology, and medical diagnosis; but also practical information with regard to the rationale, development and utility of the higher psychic powers.

With the rapidly approaching limit of refinement of physical apparatus, present-day science begins to feel the need of a new instrument of research. The author of this work claims that unsuspected powers of cognition lie latent in every mind, and eventually will be developed by all.

The topics dealt with embrace subjects such as psychometry, explorations of the emotional, mental and spiritual levels of consciousness, and clairvoyance in time, or the reading of the “akashic records”.

THE SCIENCE OF SEERSHIP

List of works by Geoffrey Hodson

FAIRIES AT WORK AND AT PLAY

THE KINGDOM OF FAERIE

THE MIRACLE OF BIRTH

HEALTH AND THE SPIRITUAL LIFE

AN OCCULT VIEW OF HEALTH AND DISEASE

FIRST STEPS ON THE PATH

THUS HAVE I HEARD

THE BROTHERHOOD OF ANGELS AND OF MEN

BE YE PERFECT

THE ANGELIC HOSTS

ANGELS AND THE NEW RACE

THE SCIENCE

OF SEERSHIP

A study of the faculty of clairvoyance, its development and use, together with examples of clairvoyant research

by

GEOFFREY HODSON

Diagrams by D. Kenrick

FIFTH IMPRESSION

LONDON: RIDER & CO.

PATERNOSTER ROW, E.C.4

Reprinted 1985

By

Health Research

P.O. Box 850

Pomeroy, WA 99347

www.healthresearchbooks.com

THE

SCIENCE OF SEERSHIP

CHAPTER I

SUPERNORMAL COGNITION

THE study of the powers, attributes, and faculties of human consciousness has made such rapid progress during the last quarter of a century, that concepts which would have been impossible of acceptance before that period arc now gradually becoming accepted as demonstrable facts. The science of psychology has emerged as a result of this progress, and bids fair to keep pace with the remarkable evolution and growth of scientific knowledge which is such a marked characteristic of the post-War period.

Those who have followed the development of psychology during recent years will recognize in this book much which is familiar to them under a different nomenclature and system of philosophy. The reader who approaches this subject for the first time, however, may well find the contents of this book to be well-nigh incredible to him. Yet the author would ask for patience, and that judgement may be reserved until the concluding chapters have been read.

The phenomenon of supernormal cognition in man has presented itself continuously throughout the whole range of human history. The literature of the past races of mankind, of past civilizations, teems with accounts and incidents concerning the possession of faculties which are not possessed by the general order of mankind. The same phenomenon is with us today, and apparently in a degree which is far greater than ever it has been the case in the past.

The purpose of this book Is to make a critical examination of the subject of supernormal cognition: to illustrate that study with a number of examples taken from the author’s own experience; and finally to offer an explanation of the rationale of psychic powers, together with some thoughts concerning their relationship to the five senses with which man is normally endowed. The author wishes to make it clear from the beginning that his approach to the subject of clairvoyance has nothing in common with that of the professional seer, fortune-teller, or spiritualistic medium; that such people do possess a certain form of hyper-sensitivity must be admitted, but the atmosphere in which their faculties arc employed is for the most part of such a nature that the scientific mind is inevitably repelled.

If clairvoyance exists and is to be of real use to its possessor and his fellows, it must be capable of being developed into a positively controlled faculty and become as readily available as are any other of the five existing senses.

It is unfortunate, therefore, that, with the exception of the records of the Society for Psychical Research, most of the available accounts of the possession and employment of supernormal faculties, both by ancient and modern psychics, refer to sporadic and uncontrolled psychism, and are frequently related in a manner which renders them practically useless for purposes of scientific inquiry.

There does, however, seem to be a substratum of evidence, a persistence of belief, and a recurrence of phenomenal incidents which justify at least an inquiry into the subject. The ancient peoples of India, for example, are shown, by their scriptures and their highly developed systems of Yoga,[1] to have been familiar with the manifestations of supernormal faculties, and even with laws which were supposed to govern their development and use. The ancient Chaldeans and Babylonians had their institutions for the instruction of astrologers, soothsayers, dream readers, who were maintained in their offices as public officials. The Jewish peoples, according to the Old Testament, had their schools of prophets, designed to give special methods of training for those who would undertake the priestly offices, with which was associated a very definite power of seership, and communion with God. King Saul is stated to have belonged to such a school.

The peoples of Egypt and Greece also had their seers, as well as their mysteries, the greater and the lesser, where such as desired to tread the path of swift unfoldment could obtain die necessary instruction.

The story of the Christian religion, both at its inception and during its later development, contains many accounts of the possession and use of supernormal faculties by its followers, many of whom have since been elevated to the rank of Sainthood.

In our own day there would seem to be an emergence of a large number of people who possess some form of peculiar and unusual powers of cognition. The following account from The Medical World for May 10th, 1929, is of especial interest in this connection.

THE CHILD WITH ROENTGEN RAY EYES

AN INEXPLICABLE MYSTERY

The well-known oculist, Dr. Pedro Niel of Madrid, not long, ago astonished the public by a bit of information which both in and outside scientific circles has created a great sensation. At a meeting of specialists in Paris, Dr. Niel spoke of his knowledge of a marvellous child whom he has had under observation for eighteen months. This remarkable child, Benito Paz, is the son of a village school teacher who had noticed nothing uncommon about the boy before his fifth year. When little Benito had reached the age of four-and-a-half his father began to teach him reading and writing in his own home. Then, for the first time, the boy surprised his father by suddenly exhibiting the mysterious power of being able to read the letters in a closed alphabet-book. The boy put in front of himself the dosed book and proceeded to read aloud in his clumsy way through the thick cover as though the book were open. His teacher at once jumped to the conclusion that his son had learned all this by heart, and was astounded at his perseverance. But the affair became more mysterious when the father was searching everywhere for a lost vest-button. Little Benito called out and said that his father had the button in a tobacco-box in his vest-pocket. The teacher opened the tobacco-box, and there was the button. Only then did he call to mind that on the previous day he had put the button there for safety. But how on earth could Benito have known this? On being seriously questioned, the boy, quite frightened, stated that he had seen the button in the tobacco-box. He had also seen in it four cigarettes. His father now tried a test. Benito could count as far as five. His father put three cigarettes into the tobacco-box, closed it, and ordered Benito to inform him how many cigarettes it contained. The boy counted: one, two, three. Other tests also gave similar results. One month afterwards the father travelled with his son to Madrid, and there called on the oculist, Dr. Niel. This gentleman carefully examined the child, and found nothing abnormal about him. Since that time he has kept little Benito in his house, in order to be able to make observations at all times. Later on, when the timid child had begun to lose his earlier fears, die doctor continued his experiments. He found out that the boy could clearly see and describe objects that were enclosed in a metal case. He could easily read letters enclosed in three or four coverings. He could, without difficulty, declare what you had in your various pockets. He could even indicate the colours of the objects, and that was perhaps the greatest puzzle of all. It seems as if this powerful vision can pierce through metal, cloth, and paper. That in this matter there is tip question of clairvoyance, but simply powerful vision, is shown by the fact that although Benito Paz, for example, can read letters between two metal plates, he could do nothing when plates of wood, instead of metal, were used. When Benito found this out he was terribly upset. The experimenters are still confronted by the puzzle.

Translated from Heroldo de Esperanto by A. A. Hill, M.D.B

The volumes of the Society for Psychical Research are full of examples of such phenomena, and of accounts of meetings at which psychics have been tested under scientific conditions. Examples of these could be here quoted in large numbers, but I will content myself with referring the reader to the many published volumes of their proceedings.

In closing these introductory remarks the author wishes to say that he has himself spent a number of years in the investigation of such phenomena, and also in an endeavour to develop the faculty of clairvoyance by the application of the methods outlined in the concluding chapter of this book. For some years now he has been engaged in clairvoyant research with men of science In the early chapters of this book he quotes briefly from the records of such experiments, not in the least to display his own small gifts, but to provide support for the theories brought forward, to illustrate various types of supernormal cognition, and to assist the reader in forming an opinion upon the subject for himself.

The author’s experiences of clairvoyant research, though admittedly but slight as yet, are sufficiently definite to convince him of the existence of such a faculty, and to indicate that, scientifically developed and employed, it will eventually provide the ideal instrument for future scientific investigation.

Of that possibility the reader must be left to judge for himself.

The time does seem to be approaching, if it has not already arrived, when the progress of scientific knowledge will be far in advance of the development of instruments sufficiently sensitive to record and measure its findings. When that time comes new, instruments will have to be evolved. The author wishes in this book to point to the possible direction in which these may be found; to suggest, in fact, that man may develop and use interior powers, of cognition, which, though supernormal at the present time, may become normal in the future.

Seers, both ancient and modern, have said that man possesses within himself all the instruments of research which he can ever need, and that, in the progressive development of each of his present five senses, he is far from having exhausted die faculties with which Nature has endowed him. May there not then be a sixth, and even a seventh, sense, still waiting to be evolved? May not the present and growing interest in all things psychic, and the existence at this time of large numbers of people claiming the possession of psychic powers, be signs of the emergence of a new sense to be added to die present five?

Science has long since passed from the study of matter to the study of force, and now, even in the last ten years, force itself is being split up and found to be granular in substance, to consist, in fact, of minute, but definitely measurable, “quanta” of energy. This is rapid travelling indeed, and we may well ask where the next ten years will lead us.

One answer seems certain: “Beyond the range of any instrument of research at present known.”

Will the new instrument be clairvoyance?

Such is the question to which, in this book, the author wishes to suggest an answer. He seeks to take the reader with him into those fields of research in which he is now working, and to share with him some of the results of his investigations. At the end he offers an account of the nature of clairvoyance, of the mechanism of seership, and methods whereby it may be developed and employed.

CHAPTER II

CLAIRVOYANCE AS AN INSTRUMENT OF SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH

(a) Astronomical

The first type of clairvoyance to which the reader is introduced is one which has been given the name Magnetic Vision. Investigations are now being made by a group of researchers into the subject of physics and astronomy by means of this type of cognition.

Some explanation of the use of this term is due to the reader who is interested in these branches of science. One of the members of the group who is familiar with the latest scientific developments has been kind enough to write the following introductory remarks for this chapter: —

“To readers unfamiliar with the supernormal powers of human consciousness, powers latent in all, but developed only in the few, the first effect of reading the contents of this volume will probably be a feeling of incredulity; nevertheless, the development of these powers of consciousness, as disclosed during the last half-century, has been fully as remarkable as the development of scientific knowledge. An understanding of what has been disclosed to the few who have acquired these conscious powers can be satisfactorily obtained only by those who have assimilated the corresponding advance in scientific knowledge; and this applies most particularly to that portion of the physical sciences which has emerged from the mathematical investigations of the last two years.

“A primary condition for reliable investigation of the forces of Nature by a developed consciousness, such as used in these researches, is that the observer should have no preconceived notions of the character of the phenomena he is observing, otherwise his observations may be vitiated or distorted. He must be an observer pure and simple, and in no way a theorist. One trained in modern scientific theories, say, of the nature of the atom, or of radiation, who had also these developed powers of consciousness, would be seriously handicapped, and would have to clear Ills mind of all such concepts before his observations would be reliable. A parallel case of this will be found in the recent more successful achievements of the physicist and mathematician. In 1925 Heisenberg laid down the fundamental idea that nothing should enter the mathematical formulation except such things as could be directly observed. This has had far-reaching consequences, and seems to point the way to a complete solution of the problem of the atom and of radiation. (‘The Quantum’, Allen, p. 224.) A study of the work of Heisenberg and his school during the last two years is, perhaps, the best preparation for the intelligent understanding of the work from which five observations are recorded here, and the whole of which will shortly be offered for publication.

“Some estimate of the importance of the work of Heisenberg can be formed when it is realized that it brings to a close the age-long conflict between religion and science. In this connection Prof. Eddington says that from Heisenberg’s work, about the year 1927, religion first became possible for the reasonable scientific man, and not only religion, but also the ordinary aspects of life. According to Eddington, the year 1927 will certainly rank as one of the greatest epochs in the development of scientific philosophy. (‘The Nature of the Physical World’, p. 350.)

“The results of Heisenberg’s work is fully confirmed by the new ‘Wave-Mechanics’, or ‘Quantum- Mechanics’, as developed by Schrodinger de Broglie and others, which is based on waves or ripples, not in the ether, the seat of light waves, etc., but in a sub-ether, in which are vibrations one million times faster than those of visible light. (ib. p. 211.) The interaction of these waves in the sub ether causes beats or splashes in the familiar ether of science, and these beats are the electrons and atoms of matter, which affect our gross consciousness, the waves of the sub-ether being too rapid to affect the physical consciousness (ib. p. 215.) But these waves in the sub-ether are not too rapid to affect the developed consciousness, such as has been used in these observations. In fact, the acquirement of this new power of observation is exactly the art of tuning up the consciousness to these sub-etheric wave-lengths.

“The nature of this process of tuning up the consciousness may be best understood in connection with the X-rays, and, for simplicity, it may be regarded as a kind of X-ray consciousness. Expressed in terms of difference of potential, the ordinary electromagnetic vision of light rays corresponds to a quantum energy of 2 volts. X-rays correspond to a potential difference of a few hundred volts to 300,000 volts. The Y-ray frequency corresponds to 3 and 4 million volts, whilst the recently discovered cosmic rays are of the order of 150 million volts, and imply a potential at their origin of about 1,000 million volts. (‘Rutherford, Nature’, vol. 122, pp. 883-6.) The characteristic of the X-ray vibrations is that they can penetrate into the interior of bodies, and are not reflected from surfaces, as is generally the r case with electro-magnetic rays. This is also the characteristic of the type of vision used in these investigations. The shorter the wave-length of the X-rays the more they are able to penetrate matter, and there is reason to believe that the vision used in some of these researches is even more penetrating than cosmic rays, and corresponds to a difference of potential of about 120,000 million volts, or 800 times greater than the cosmic rays. We have given it the name of ‘Magnetic Vision’.

“Sir J. J. Thomson and others have shown that the mass of electron may be of electrical origin (‘Conduction of Electricity Through Gases’, vol. I, p. 262), and researches based on observation by magnetic vision lead to the conclusion that the whole of the Earth’s mass, and probably all other masses, are of electrical origin, and that the formula connecting charge and mass for the Earth and planets is identical with that for the electron. This implies that the energy associated with mass is not within the mass, but in the surrounding spaces in which the mass is moving. In 1905 Einstein showed that the energy of a mass was equal to the mass multiplied by the square of the velocity of light, and by calculation it is found that the Einstein mass-energy is identical with the Poynting flux of energy in the classic magnetic field, as deduced from the classic equations of Maxwell. This enormous flux of energy is what is observed by magnetic vision, and its character is identical with what the sub-etheric vibrations disclosed by the wave-mechanics of Schrodinger. Proofs of this will be given in the companion work, ‘Magnetic Astronomy and Astrophysics’.

“An important result of the recent researches of physicists is, that a line of force constituting a light ray has a core (‘The Quantum’, Allen, p. 191), the velocity of which is greater than the surrounding waves. (‘The New Quantum Mechanics’, Birtwistle, p. 187; ‘Wave-Mechanics’, de Broglie and Brillouin, p. 116.) The mathematics, however, do not appear to determine the direction of this core velocity. It is here that magnetic vision comes to our aid, for this core of the fight ray is a magnetic core, and observation shows that the velocity of this magnetic core is very much greater than the surrounding waves, and is opposite in direction. Thus, whilst the outward flux of energy dissipates the mass- energy into space, the magnetic core returns this energy to the mass. Whether the returning energy is exactly equal to that radiated away cannot be determined by observation alone, but it appears to be of the same order of magnitude, and explains why the flux of energy observed is so very much greater than the amount indicated by physical measurements.

“As shown above, the use of the mathematics of wave-mechanics by physicists has disclosed the existence of a sub-ether which is fully confirmed by magnetic vision, but this magnetic vision further discloses a series of such sub-ethers, so that sub-ether number 2 performs the same function for sub-ether number I, as sub-ether number I performs for ordinary electro-magnetic waves. Now the difference between ordinary vision and developed vision lies in the faculty of developed vision to tune in to the vibrations of the sub-ethers which underlie the ordinary electro-magnetic ether. It is the difference between a wireless receiving ‘set tuned to one wavelength, and a receiving set which can be set to any wave-length. This power of tuning the consciousness to these different orders of vibratory systems is latent in all, and will eventually be developed in all. It is the next step in human evolution.

“As the author has stated in Chapter I, it is the purpose of this volume to give illustrations of the use of this new power of vision, both for physical, investigation and for the medical sciences. The following examples are taken from records of experiments on electricity and on the atom, and medical investigations are recorded later. These recorded observations arc compared with facts as far as they are known, and with current theories where facts are absent. Observations in connection with physics are handicapped by having largely to be compared with theories, but physical theories have changed so rapidly in recent years, that one theory is superseded by another almost before the first can obtain publication. For instance, Eddington published his ‘Internal Constitution of the Stars’ in 1926, and Jeans his ‘Astronomy and Cosmogony’ in 1928. Now both these writers assume the truth of Bohr’s theory of the atom, and many of their most important conclusions in connection with the stars, and with astrophysics, are based on the truth of Bohr’s theory. Yet Prof. Eddington, in his latest work, ‘The Nature of the Physical World’ (p. 204), tells us that by 1925 Bohr’s model of the atom had quite definitely broken down.

“It is evident from the above that the test of magnetic vision, by comparing it with the results of physical theories, may lead to uncertainties, and the only reliable test of magnetic vision is by comparing it with other observations where theories do not intervene.

“Many opportunities occurred to the group of investigators to test the reliability of this vision in a way which left no loophole for uncertainty. These observations consisted largely of exploring the solar system and observing the angular positions of the planets and their relative distances from the sun. Before the meeting a plan of the solar system was drawn up by one of us in the form of a clock face, the position of the sun being taken as at noon, and that of the Earth as at six o’clock. The heliocentric positions of the planets were then distributed amongst the hours from the nautical almanac for the date of the meeting. This also was not shown to the observer, but retained by one of us. The observer then explored the solar system by magnetic vision, and placed the planets to the nearest hour of the clock face, giving at the same time an indication of distance. In no single instance did we find a serious error in the positions indicated.

“The following is an illustration of this method of observation, which is dated 11.30 A.M., Dec. 7th, 1928:

Observations of Planetary Positions

There is a planet at about 8.30 Verified Uranus

One at about 3 o’clock — Verified Neptune

One at about I o’clock — Verified Mercury

One at about 6 o’clock — Verified Mars

One at about 7 o’clock — Verified Jupiter”

Recorder—G. E. Sutcliffe.

Only one typical example of this particular work is here given, but such experiments have been repeated continually with the same result. These astronomical investigations are still in process at the time of writing this book, and much information has already been gained on the subject of magnetic astronomy. The electro-magnetic energies of the solar system are being studied and information concerning the magnetic relationship between the planets and the sun, as also between the solar system and the major group of which it appears to be a part, is gradually being acquired.

For the purposes of this book, however, only the small table of observations of planetary positions are given as evidence of the existence of magnetic vision.

(b) Bacteriological Research

An example of the practical use of clairvoyance as an aid to medical research is given in die following account of experimental investigation in the sphere of bacteriology.

After many years of research some investigators have come to attach great importance to a group of intestinal bacteria as causes of chronic disease. They distinguish a number of varieties of these organisms, and make from them vaccines for treatment. The remedial doses made from cultures from each bacillus, and administered to the person from whom the original was extracted, have proved strikingly effective, and the results would seem to indicate that great possibilities exist in this method of treatment.

A detailed clairvoyant study of these “nosodes” has afforded information as to their nature and characteristics, which has proved accurate when checked with other sources of information.

The cultures from a number of persons were diluted by the homoeopathic process to the 30th potency.

The degree of dilution was such that no known chemical or bacteriological test disclosed the presence of anything but aqua distillata, with which the dilution was made.

A number of such specimens were enclosed in small glass tubes, with no other marking but a single recording figure, and were investigated by clairvoyance.

In all eases, although the nature of the dilution was unknown to anyone present during the investigations, the results were entirely consistent, the same phenomena and characteristics were described, with the variations made from the same organism.

In general it appeared that each remedy had distinct attributes peculiarly individual to themselves, and also conveying the individuality of the person from whom the original germs had been taken. In some cases it was possible to trace a connection to the source, and describe the sex, age, and other particulars of the patient.

Two such observations, made on different dates, will be sufficient to serve as evidence of the reliability and consistency of the clairvoyant investigations.

Nosodes investigated, amongst others, were: Morgan; Proteous; Gaertner; Dysentery.

Extracts are given below from the records of the investigators, in which the colour of the emanations from the dilution was observed. Only two accounts are given here, although these studies were very, frequently repeated. The contents of tubes were unknown to observer, controller, and recorder.

Direct Observations of Colours of Nosodes, November 29th, 1927.

Present: E. B., G. H, and J. H.

D

G

P

M

Indigo with helio trope haze

Bright blue, sky to sapphire, shot with silver

Myrtle to bottle green. Hint of emerald in flecks. Litte yellow flashes.

Bright red to dull magenta and muddy brown, bright red at surface.

Direct Observations of Colours of Nosodes, November 22nd, 1927.

Present: E. B., G. H., and J. H.

D

G

P

M

Indigo(core) and lavender (violet).

Blue

Green (bottle to emerald)

Red (little yellow, little orange

Because of their simplicity, the significance of these tables may not at first be clear to the reader. If, however, he will construct in his mind the conditions under which they were made, that significance may present itself to him.

Let him imagine four bottles, each containing a colourless liquid, with nothing to distinguish them from each other, placed before the clairvoyant investigator, who proceeds to describe their radio-active characteristics and their colour emanations. No member of the group of researchers knew the contents of the bottles, so that thought transference or mind reading could not possibly be adduced in explanation of the unfailing consistency with which the characteristics of the bottles and their contents were described on a number of different occasions.

Time after time convincing demonstrations were given during the course of the bacteriological investigations, from the records of which these two tables are taken.

A great deal of information was gained concerning the nature of disease germs, of plant consciousness, and the different types of emanations emitted by drugs and other substances in both allopathic and homeopathic doses. This information belongs rightly to the sphere of medical research, and, therefore, is not included in this work. A further book, which contains them, is, however, in course of preparation.

(c) The Electron

The following accounts are given as examples of clairvoyance as an instrument of scientific research, and are not intended to be complete or authoritative statements upon the subjects with which they deal. They indicate, however, the great possibilities of study and investigation which the possession of clairvoyance opens up to the student.[2]

The Scientific Group of the Theosophical Society in England was formed in January, 1923, for the purpose of correlating modern scientific views with Theosophy. The group is divided into several sections, each section being concerned with a specific branch of scientific thought, e.g., there are psychological, healing, anthropological geological, and psychic investigation sections.

The experiments here described were part of the work of the section which deals with chemistry and physics. Certain radio-active compounds and gases were examined clairvoyantly by the author in collaboration with and under conditions arranged by the section.

Three or four members of the section were always present, and the observations were recorded verbatim by two of them as they were made by the author. It is of interest to state that the author has no knowledge either of occult chemistry or of physics; and, though the members present have frequently recognized his descriptions as applying either to occult or to physical chemistry, it was obvious to them that they were entirely new to him.

In spite of the difficulties of the work, which can be readily appreciated when it is remembered that the electrons on which the clairvoyant work had to be done are inconceivably minute particles, Mr. Hodson has been able to give valuable confirmation of the probable identity of the electron and the positive ultimate physical atom, and the section would like to express its indebtedness to him for his co-operation and for his willingness to submit to many repetitions of work considered important, and to carry out the investigations under conditions imposed by the investigators. In the experiments uranium oxide was used. This substance gives off electrons as well as other radiations, and the apparatus was arranged so that the stream of electrons passed between the poles of a strong horse-shoe magnet. Mr. Hodson was asked to observe the stream without the magnet in position, and also with the magnet in position in different ways. The point of first importance was to determine if the particles which the clairvoyant saw were actually electrons. The effect of a magnet on a stream of electrons is to deflect the stream in one direction or in the opposite direction, according to the position of the poles of the magnet relative to the direction of the stream. It was found that the particles seen by the clairvoyant obeyed this rule of deflection, and the direction of deflection could be observed by him when the magnet was placed in varying positions. In these experiments care was taken that neither the clairvoyant nor any of the investigators knew the position of the magnet until after the clairvoyant had stated the direction of deflection. This precaution was taken to avoid any unconscious influence of the thoughts of the investigators on the clairvoyant After some preliminary experiments to establish the most satisfactory conditions for work, it was found to be best to carry out a series of five or seven tests, and then to stop to allow the clairvoyant to rest. Two such series of tests are given:

Series A.

No.

Position of Magnet.

Observed deflection.

If correct according to Science.

1

N—S

Left

Correct.

2

S—N

Right

Correct.

3

N—S

Left

Correct.

4

N—S

Left

Correct.

5

N—S

Right

Wrong.

Series B.

No.

Position of Magnet.

Observed

Deflection.

If correct according to Science.

1

S—N

Right

Correct.

2

N—S

Left

Correct.

3

N—S

Left

Correct.

4

N—S

Right

Wrong.

5

S—N

Right

Correct.

These results were sufficient to make it very likely that Mr. Hodson was actually observing the electrons as the particles observed obeyed the laws of deflection of the electrons. The clairvoyant was then asked if he considered the particles he was obeying to be etheric or astral; and he replied definitely that they were etheric and were the E_1 sub-plane. Consequently, both from ordinary scientific and from clairvoyant considerations, it is most probable that the electron is the positive ultimate physical atom E_1.

A study of the electron naturally leads us to consideration of the Aether. It was the fashion a short time ago to consider that the Aether of space has been entirely done away with; that it had contradictory properties, and therefore it did not exist. Some writers even on relativity, however, notably L. H. Bolton, in “Theory of Relativity”, say, “Aether so far from being dead is in process of being born”, and this view deserves consideration. The relation of the electron to the aether has been stated by various writers, for example:

(1) Poincare speaks of the electron as “holes in the aether round which the aether presses, like eddies round a boat”.

(2)  Sir J.J.Thomson says that the properties of the electron are the same as the properties of the boundary of the electron.

(3) Richardson goes so far as to say that “the real electron, the part which acts, is the surrounding aether, and the electron theory is the science of the properties of the aether of which the electric charges are local modifications”.

There is not much difference between these views and that put forward by Mr. Jinarajadasa, namely, that the electron was a kind of turbine through which force flows, and the similar conception of Mr. F. T. Peirce, that the electrons were “three dimensional ‘sources’ and ‘sinks’ through which a fluid flows into and out of our physical space.” It is interesting, of course, to notice the difference also, for the attention of the scientist is fixed on the boundary (the form), while the Theosophist concentrates on the life or the ‘fluid’ flowing into and out of our physical space. It is this step—the acceptance of a fluid or force, whether discrete or not, which makes the holes in the aether—which has not been accepted by science, and probably will not be accepted for some time The electron, probably, is not quite over the borders of the physical plane, but the next step of science must lead there, for at present it is dealing with the etheric levels of the physical—an advance that has been made only since the discovery of radio-activity—or in other words, science in the study of radio-activity is actually dealing with etheric matter.

Relation Between the Electron and Astral Matter.

There is, however, another line of advance which the author would like to recommend for study. It is forced upon one’s notice when studying the quantum theory. The simplest example of this theory is the photo-electric effect, which may be stated thus: that if a substance is exposed to light of the proper frequency, there is an emission of electrons. This does not depend on the intensity of the light. The energy of the emitted electron is always in quanta, or units, and similarly the energy required to liberate it is always in units. The full consideration of such facts suggests that when a body radiates energy it is actually shooting out in all directions a shower of invisible particles, small bundles of energy. “Matter,” says Mills, “which originally appeared to mankind as continuous and infinitely divisible, has been shown to be atomic, and electricity also has been shown to be granular in structure. Why then should we not expect that energy also should prove to be transmissible in finite amounts?”

Mr. Peirce in his latest paper goes even further, for he says, referring to the electron, “The flow through these vortices is not constant, but intermittent, varying from a maximum to a minimum in a cycle of constant period. From the source, or electron, then, the particles stream out in pulses in all directions, with a velocity of 3 X 10^10cms per sec. The pulse maxima are separated by a distance which I would put at about 35 x 10 cms. (more probably a small sub-multiple) and a time of about 10^19 secs, which we may regard as the tanmattra and tattva of the physical plane.”

If we try to obtain some general conception of the Aether of space and its relation to E, (the ultimate physical atom), the best description that I can find, and one which best expresses the Theosophic conception, is that given by the French physicist, Nordmann, who says: “Every material body bears along with it, as a sort of atmosphere, the ether, which is bound up with it. There is, in addition, a stationary ether in the interstellar space, an ether insensible to the motion of the material bodies which move in it, and which we may, to distinguish it from the ether bound up with the bodies, call the Super-ether.”

Now, Mr. Hodson says that the electron provides an outlet from the astral to the physical plane. The force seems to come from a high cosmic plane through the astral atomic, and then by a rotatory motion forms E_1

My idea at present is that the pressure of the divine will to manifest is everywhere in the “super-ether”, but can only show itself when it comes in contact with the astral atmosphere round our earth where it is continually producing electrons,.which come spirally down the lines of force, or arise within an atom like that of Uranium. This force itself, since it manifests as a stream of astral particles, is therefore granular in structure, and in a sense passes through the vortex, which it builds on its way, and out again. As it is granular or atomic in structure, it flows out in quanta, units which are much smaller than the electron. Here we have a possible solution of the problem of whither the force goes when it issues from the electron, for it may be the quanta of energy of Science.

The main points of the relations between Electron and E_1 may be summarized thus:

(1) The Electron is a Universal Constituent of matter. The Ultimate Physical Atom, E_1[3], is the physical unit of which all atoms are aggregates.

(2) The Electron is always associated with a unit charge of negative Electricity.

Electricity is one of the manifestations of Fohat which digs holes in space, thus forming E_1.

(3) The Electron has a mass or inertia of 1/1848 of a Hydrogen Atom.

1 Hydrogen atom = 18 E_1 or (88 2 + x) Astral atoms. Hence it is necessary to assume the inertial mass of the negative E_1 as equal to 200 times that of the positive E_1 (Electron).

(4) When a stream of electrons is subjected to a magnetic field it is deflected according to known laws.

A stream of E_1, appears to obey these laws.

(5) According to the Quantum Theory when a body radiates energy it is shooting out a shower of invisible particles, small bundles of energy.

The electron or E_1 provides an outlet for force from the Astral plane. This force is discrete since it is itself a stream of Astral atoms, and therefore flows out in quanta or units which are smaller than the electron. Thus in the Quantum Theory we have a foreshadowing of the laws governing the manifestation of Astral force on the Physical plane.

(d) Radioactive Substances[4]

In order to inquire further into the nature of the electron and of radio-activity in general, a few specks of uranium oxide were placed on a piece of lead, and the author endeavoured to describe the appearance of the radiations; he found four sets of these, which are described as follows. The author’s descriptions are in ordinary type, and the corresponding comments by the Group in smaller type.

(1) A rosy lavender radiation was seen all round the UO_1, as a kind of aura.

(2) Particles which are discharged and travel in straight lines to a distance of about 1in. and then appear to lose their charge and fall at a distance of about 2 x 1/2 ins. from the UO_2.

These are readily recognizable from the point of view of physical science as a particles; the range in the air at N.T.P. being found to be just under 3 inches.

(3) Very dynamic particles which shoot off with great velocity and penetrate through the roof and appear to be lost in space. They are yellow in colour, and each particle resembles a spinning top; they repel each other, and are most distinct under astral vision; they are deviated by a magnet as would be the ease if they carried a negative charge.

These resemble β particles, which are deviable by a magnet and have a negative charge. They are 1/1,800 the mass of the H atom and art 100 times more penetrating than the particles; they are absorbed by 1 mm. of lead.

(4) An emanation of a greyish colour which is discharged in all directions and even penetrates the 1/2 in. of lead.

The γ Rays are non-deviable and exceedingly penetrating, passing through 200mm, of lead or 2 feet of iron.

Mr. Hodson then endeavoured to study more closely the actual substance, of uranium oxide, and found a unit which he described as resembling a soda- water bottle of the old type; at the centre was a kind of nucleus consisting of a ring of particles, and around these and moving upwards there was a spirally arranged force.

This figure appears to represent the atom of UO_1 described in “Occult Chemistry”[5] and consisting of two oxygen snakes with the uranium unit as the bottle arrangement together with the ring of electrons. Tin also gives a bottle shape.

The next substance to be examined was Radium Bromide Ra Br_2; a speck of this substance, enclosed in a glass flask, was given to Mr. Hodson, who described, five sets of radiations as follows:

(1) A glowing zone round the particle of radium salt.

This appearance seems to occur in all radio-active substances and is not described by science.

(2) Particles which are not able to penetrate the glass container and, being reflected from its sides, buzz round and round inside.

These were also found in connection with the uranium oxide and are probably a particles.

(3) A distinct yellow-green colour inside the glass container.

This is probably a fluorescence due to particles discharged by the substance.

(4) Particles which pass through the glass, but do not travel in straight lines. They are discharged in all directions, but have a curved flight and fall.

β and α rays from Radium are complex and are different from those of “Uranium and Thorium. The fastest β rays from Radium have a Speed as high as 170,000 miles per sec.; there are also feebly penetrating β rays which travel slowly.

This would seem to corroborate the description in “Occult Chemistry”—that the particles discharged may be from any of the etheric levels.

(5) Fine radiations which pass through the glass in all directions; they make a hole or cup in the etheric double when they impinge upon it; they displace an area round the point at which they touch the skin; they move at a very high speed. Though, to etheric sight, they are straight lines of force, with astral sight they are seen to be composed of swiftly moving particles, following each other so closely as to produce the illusion of a line at the etheric level, where they can just be detected as streams of yellow light travelling in straight lines and disappearing into the etheric atmosphere. Astrally, they can be followed, and are seen to pass through the walls, floors, and ceiling of the room.

Enlarged, they are seen to be particles spinning in two directions, some clock-wise and some anticlockwise. Even with astral vision Mr. Hodson is unable to see the end of their flight There appears to be a centre, in the heart of the particle, which shows greater activity than the rest; in some cases this centre is spherical, and in others it is elongated and forms a kind of core; the shape, whether spherical or elongated, is maintained by the flow of fine lines of force round an inner central core, giving the appearance of a tenuous skin or film. The observer felt that if the film were broken there would be a tremendous explosion, as the particles contain an inconceivably great quantity of energy.

Magnifying the particle still more, and endeavouring to place his consciousness inside the central heart, Mr. Hodson finds that the streams of bubbles coming from the centre and travelling to the surface are then discharged; he is aware of a rhythmic sound or hum; The whole mass, with the exception of the enclosing film, consists of these bubbles, all in motion and tending to move outwards. From the inside, these appear as separate from each other, but from outside, and with less magnification, they appear to be tightly packed.

This description seems to be that of a B particle, but also applies to the ultimate physical atom as seen from the astral level. The B particle is not very complex and is near, or on, the border of the astral; this description is very complex, and it would appear that Mr. Hodson was describing the U.P.A. together With the astral atoms flowing through. Note the idea of a film and a centre from which force is welling up.

The relative activity of radium, mesothorium, and uranium were contrasted and found to be as follows:

Most active, Radium

Less active, Mesothorium

Least active, Uranium

Observations on Gases

A further series of experiments were made with gases, which were prepared, in as pure a state as possible, in glass tubes, numbered for reference. Neither Mr. Hodson nor the members present knew, at the time, which gas was being examined.

(1) The first tube contained oxygen, and as Mr. Hodson was entirely new to this work, and had never made the attempt to sec a chemical atom before, some considerable time passed before he began to discover the technique of this form of clairvoyance.

He first described an ovoid shape round which was a spiral flow of force; at first these ovoids appeared to move about in associations of two and four, but, as will be seen later, investigations modified this conception. Within the ovoid is a pillar, occupying about one-fifth of the diameter, and, outside this, a double spiral made by the rapid spiral revolution of small globes about one-sixtieth of the diameter of the ovoid round the pillar. Within the centre pillar appears a golden sun-like focus through which an incalculable supply of energy is welling up—he thought from the fourth dimension—into the atom.

Focusing his consciousness within the atom, he experiences a sensation similar to that of gazing outwards into the solar system from a planet, and is struck with the similarity of construction and the relativity of magnitude; he finds that the change of consciousness, resulting from the very high magnification, produces the illusion that when the atom is examined in this way from a point within it, it is as immeasurably large as is a solar system.

Comparing this and the observations which follow, it will be seen that Mr.Hodson correctly described the oxygen atom as given in “Occult Chemistry”.

(2) Mr. Hodson was handed a tube of chlorine, without knowledge of its contents.

He described greenish atoms of a bent dumb-bell shape, with radiating ends, which oscillate together in pairs as if linked together, their movements reminding him, he says, of dancers.

Again this description corresponds with that given in ‘‘Occult Chemistry”, where the chlorine atom is described as belonging to the dumb-bell group.

On other occasions, these experiments were repeated, and Mr. Hudson now says that he finds his previous observation largely verified, and adds that the appearance of a spiral flow on the outside of the oxygen atom appears to be due to corrugations, of which there were five or six, on the surface of the outer wall; he finds this outer wall to be, relatively, thick and rigid.

When an astral view is taken of the atom, its central form is much diminished in size, relatively to the outpouring force, which increases in prominence and size and spreads out like a flower; much of the force rushing up the centre is thrown off by the spiral. Mr. Hodson detects a similar atom in the air, but it appears to be alone.

Chlorine is again examined, and again, as practice is improving the technique, modifications of the first description are made. He concludes that any association in pairs is accidental, both in oxygen and chlorine, as he notices groups of two, three, and four, as well as single atoms; these groups were continually breaking up and reforming.

He now describes twelve funnels at each end of the chlorine bar, and says that the sides of the funnels are rather to be described as areas of flow of force than as rigid membranes.

Twelve is the number of funnels noted in “Occult Chemistry”, and we must assume that the atoms of oxygen and chlorine, not normally associating in pairs are in a state of dynamic equilibrium, continually associating and separating, and that any molecular ratio will only be an average equilibrium result.

The value of the above research lies in two things: Firstly, in the actual confirmation, or otherwise, of existing chemical and physical conceptions, and secondly, in the proof, which is gradually accumulating, of the value and usefulness of clairvoyance in the observations of physical as well as super-physical matter.

(e) The Electric Current [6]

In all scientific research the investigator begins with preliminary experiments, and as the work proceeds the problem unfolds before his eyes. He detects one phenomenon after another and traces it to its source, so far as he is able, until he can at length make a mental picture of the reaction concerned and formulate a theory concerning it.

In clairvoyant research into scientific problems, unless the observer has very extraordinary powers, a similar process takes place. The clairvoyant observer in this case is using a little-known and very delicate instrument, and he therefore has to master the technique of the instrument and to determine its range of accuracy as well as to investigate the problem in hand. This is quite in conformity with scientific usage, for the first business of the research chemist is to determine the percentage error of his apparatus, the rate of leak of his electroscope or the sensitiveness of his balance, and the magnifying power of his microscope.

The observations made by Mr. Hodson on the electric current were not completed in one day, and it was part of the interest of the work to the other members of the Group to find how each day’s experiments, for so we may call them, confirmed or amplified the previous facts ascertained.

The problem of observing what constitutes an electric current in a copper wire is not just as simple as it may sound. It is not possible, with the instruments at present available, merely to look at the wire and give instantly a complete description of what occurs. It is first necessary, as will be seen, to clear the ground by obtaining a knowledge of the wire itself in its normal state, its condition and surroundings, and in the very details described in the course of this work lie perhaps the greatest “proofs” of the truth of the observations; for while an effort of the imagination might suffice to give some sort of description of a current, it would be impossible to give, time after time, the wealth of detail that was forthcoming after patient examination, much of which detail is itself confirmed from other sources unknown to the clairvoyant.

A current of about half an ampere was passed through a circuit consisting of a small storage battery in series with a key and adjustable resistance. Part of the fairly thick copper wire used was left bare for observation.

Mr. Hodson first examined the copper wire with no current flowing. The wire was found to have a sapphire blue aura round it extending to a distance of about doable the thickness of the wire. A continuous discharge of very fine particles was being given off at right-angles to the wire. In this stream were to be seen points of golden light like tiny explosions. This stream was visible, etherically, for about two inches, and then became so fine as to be invisible amid the innumerable radiations from other objects in the room. With Astral sight this stream was seen to consist of minute glowing particles which moved so fast that they appeared to form a line and to travel a great distance into the air.

The current was now switched on, and with etheric sight the radiations just described did not seem at first to be in any way affected. Later experiments led Mr. Hodson to observe that, when the current was put on, there was a tendency for the emitted particles to curve instead of going straight out, forming something like a spiral coil round the wire.

Seen astrally, the copper looked like watered silk, the markings being of the colours of the spectrum. The copper seemed to be in a state of life, containing countless myriads of tiny points of light which were in rapid lateral motion along the wire, while there was an impression of extreme tension or compression within the material.

After repeated experiments with the current sometimes on and sometimes off, Mr. Hodson confirmed the observation that the direction of the lateral flow of these astral particles was in a direction from the negative To the positive pole of the battery, i.e., opposite to the usual convention, of which Mr. Hodson had not heard, but in agreement with the supposed motion of the electrons. It was thus established that there was a definite flow along the astral double of the wire, the impression being of a swiftly moving stream of particles, bluish-yellow in colour, which stopped instantly when the current was switched off. It is impossible to say at present whether these particles were newly-introduced when the current was switched on or not.

The atoms of the copper wire were next examined. These atoms were observed to be packed in an orderly fashion and to remain relatively still when the current was put on, there being the stream of much smaller particles through and between the interstices. Mr. Hodson described the copper atom as consisting of an upright bar with a spinning force up it and an utraying force at the top and bottom. This description is very similar to that of the Sodium or Chlorine atom given in “Occult Chemistry”, and agrees with the theory that copper belongs to the Dumb-bell (Sodium) group, i.e., chemists consider that copper belongs to the same group in the Periodic Table as Sodium.

The copper atoms were seen to be packed in a regular way, which suggested the packing of the atoms in a crystal. This again is in agreement with the theory, now accepted by chemists, that metals are usually crystalline in structure. In this case the copper atoms were arranged in long lines, and on looking down between them there appeared a vista of a long aisle where the bars of the atoms were mighty columns and the outraying forces formed a groined roof.

In the interspace between the copper atoms there was more or less solid etheric matter, consisting of many small particles not related to one another and not packed in any special way. These particles were heart-shaped, and appeared to answer to the description of Ultimate Physical Atoms (E_1).

When the current was put on a sudden state of tension was noticed, and all movement in the interspace appeared to cease. The heart-shaped particles immediately placed themselves laterally in lines along the wire, the point of one being attracted towards the hollow of the next. Along the line of the locked heart-shaped particles there was a continuous passage of very much smaller astral particles.

On switching off the current the previous condition was regained. This suggests that the current consists of these astral particles, and that the E_1 atoms (electrons) are not electricity themselves, but are necessary for the transference of the current. It should always be remembered that a force which manifests itself as a homogeneous fluid at one level will always be found to be granular in its constitution, when examined with a sufficiently high power of magnification.

We are here inevitably reminded of the discovery of the apparently granular nature of electricity, in some aspects, in the electron, and of the recent recognition of the probable granular nature of energy itself as postulated in the quantum theory. That the quantum of energy may be the astral ultimate atom is a theory which has previously” Been put forward by one of us, and it seems at least to be a possible explanation of certain physical facts; especially if we remember that the astral, as one of the “life’ planes of nature, should be specially connected with the manifestation of energy.

Summarizing what has been so far achieved, we find that:

1. The nature and direction of the current has been observed, i.e., That an electric current consists of a flow of astral ultimate particles along lines of locked E1 atoms (physical ultimate particles) from the negative to the positive pole of the battery.

2. The discovery of the role of the copper.

It is seen that in the case of this metal at least the copper acts as a road or pipe within which the other phenomena take place, and the very good electrical conductivity of the copper may be due to the special arrangement of the atoms which affords no friction or opposition to the passage of such current between the “columns”.

Thus a considerable advance has been made in the study of the electric current and, as should always be the case, in real “live” research work, many points of interest present themselves for solution. The next stage in the work will be the examination of the origin of the current and an attempt to determine whether the astral stream is newly-introduced into the wire by the battery.

CHAPTER III

CLAIRVOYANT DIAGNOSIS OF DISEASE

As we have seen in the previous chapters, the possession of the faculty of positive clairvoyance—not the negative impressionability which popularly passes under that name, and is usually associated with mediumship and trance—enables its possessor to respond to rates of vibration which are beyond the normal human range. Consequently it brings added powers within the seer’s reach, among which the following are of special interest in connection with medical research:

1. X-Ray vision.

2. The power of magnification and of television.

3. The power to see the feelings and the thoughts of others as well as the vehicles or “bodies” in which those aspects of consciousness normally function.

4. To observe the vital or etheric “body”.

5. To transcend, in varying degrees, the limitations of matter, time and space, as far as vision is concerned.

Concerning each of these five powers it may be said:

1. X-ray vision enables the clairvoyant to inspect the interior of solid bodies, and therefore to examine the interior organs of the body, and to study their functions.

2. Observation of the emotions and of the emotional body enables him to discover those states of consciousness which the psychologist calls complexes, and of the mental body, to perceive mental errors and limitations. From such observations the healer is able to trace the connection between conditions in these regions and the health or ill-health of the physical body.

3. As the etheric body[7] is both the vehicle for the vital forces and the connecting principle or link between mind and body, the power to examine it and to discover the general vital condition of the body and its parts is of great assistance in the study and diagnosis of disease.

4. The transcendence of time and space enables the seer to trace the past lives of patients, and so to observe the transgressions of which the particular disease is the Karma[8] It also permits him to study in a few hours natural evolutionary processes which have occupied millions of years.

These added capacities are made possible to man by the fact that he possesses a set of organs which have not yet been discovered by physical science. Although as yet unknown, they nevertheless have definite functions both in maintaining the health of the body and in enabling it to serve as an instrument of cognition and action.

These organs exist in the mental and emotional bodies, and also in the etheric double of the physical body—the vehicle which was discovered by Dr. Kilner, and made partially visible by his screens. They are known by the names of “chakras”. The Sanskrit word chakram means a “wheel”, and is applied in this way because of the appearance of spinning vortices which these psychic organs, or force-centres, present to the clairvoyant sight. They provide the material for a separate study, and a book by C. W. Leadbeater, who is an authority upon this subject, has recently been published by the Theosophical Publishing House, Ltd.[9]

They are dealt with in some detail in Chapter VIII of this volume, and for our present purposes we may merely note that the chakras are situated as follows:

The Root or Basic Chakram, at the base of the Spine.

The Splenic Chakram, over the Spleen.

The Umbilical Chakram, over the Solar Plexus.

The Cardiac Chakram, over the Heart.

The Laryngeal Chakram, at the front of the Throat.

The Frontal Chakram, in the space between and slightly above the Eyebrows.

The Coronal Chakram, at the top of the Head.

In addition to their normal function of conveying vitality and energy between the physical and the super-physical planes, the chakras are capable of being specially vivified so that they conduct the vibrations of the super-physical worlds into the physical brain. Under these conditions, super-physical phenomena can be cognized during waking consciousness.

The frontal chakram is of special interest, for when so vivified it bestows the faculty of clairvoyance; this brings the phenomena of the super-physical worlds within reach of the waking brain consciousness in terms of vision. It is associated with the pituitary gland, through which organ the subtler vibrations are conveyed from the chakram on the brain. The laryngeal chakram conveys vibrations in terms of hearing, and the coronal chakram, when vivified, gives memory of super-physical activities during physical sleep.

Clairvoyance operates under the same laws which govern ordinary sight, and is indeed an extension of the ordinary means of cognition. Ultimately this and other faculties connected with the chakrams will be developed by the whole race. It is possible, however, to arouse them into activity in advance of the normal time of their development by the practice of Yoga.

This is not the place to consider in any detail the science of Yoga as known in the East, as some considerable information upon the subject is given in the concluding chapter of this book. It may, however, be briefly stated in advance that by continued application of the principles inculcated by the science of Yoga, clairvoyance may be developed and employed with the same accuracy and precision as the sight of the physical eyes; moreover, as is shown in Chapter II, its results may be checked as carefully and satisfactorily as any which are gained by normal means of research.

Having postulated the existence of these organs, and the supernormal means of cognition which results from their vivification, let us examine some of the results of its application to the diagnosis of disease.

The six cases selected as illustrations of this method of medical research are not here recorded as demonstrations of the accuracy of clairvoyance. Such demonstration would only be made possible by post mortem examination, and, as some of the patients are still living and others have died since the diagnoses were made, autopsies are not available as a means of checking the clairvoyant findings. The cases are given merely as examples of clairvoyant diagnosis, rather than as evidence of its existence and reliability as a means of research.

Recognition of the existence of supernormal cognition of this diagnostic type is perhaps more general than is the case with any other type. Many physicians would admit that on certain occasions they have seemed to be possessed by a power of intuitive diagnosis which has frequently proved to be quite reliable, and is even capable of development after many years of practice. The six cases given below are intended to show the possibilities resulting from such development and to draw attention to the wide field of medical research which would immediately be opened up to those investigators who possessed trained clairvoyant powers.

Case A. Cerebral tumour. Female, aged 21.

Medical Report.

This case appeared to have a perfectly sound constitution with no disease, except that there were short periods of weakness which occurred at about thirteen.

Suddenly, in September, 1924, strange visual phenomena began; objects were seen in duplicate or divided into two, as if on different planes. This lasted for a few weeks; then general weakness set in, sight diminished, and finally disappeared from the left eye. The right eye followed suit after a few months. The ability to balance was also affected, until the patient could not stand.

The doctors diagnosed tumour of the brain, and tried to extirpate the tumour, but unsuccessfully, owing to severe haemorrhage.

Four months later a slight stroke of apoplexy occurred, from which the patient recovered with great difficulty. She has now found the use of her legs again, but sees no more, hears little, and cannot walk without leaning; nevertheless, she is up every day, though she lies down most of the time.

At all times the intelligence has been most lucid, and the memory perfect. She seems to have made a slight improvement; her faith in recovery is now assured, but there is no change in her blindness.

Clairvoyant Diagnosis.

There is a tumour the size of the terminal phalanx of the little finger in the position of the optic Chiasma. It is composed of practically solid tissue, at the centre of which is a small body of an irritant nature. The direction of its growth is upwards; in shape it is like a broad bean with the convex surface downwards, and the central source of irritation is at the “hilum”[10] of the bean, occupying a space about 1/6 th of an inch in diameter; there is some congealed blood at the base of the tumour surrounding this. The tumour does not look malignant, inflammatory, or unhealthy; but it is increasing in size, and is caused by an impurity in the blood-stream which first set up the primary irritation. The only hope lies in the possibility of the primary irritant being removed and the blood-stream purified. The impurity seems to have been there since birth.

The karma[11] of having inflicted torture appears to be the root cause. In a previous life, as a male, under orders from a superior, with Y-shaped iron instruments she had burnt out the eyes or certain victims who were condemned to that particular form of punishment. It was in a remote period, in the district where Carthage was later built, when such tortures were not regarded as being so terrible as they would be nowadays, and were the recognized custom of the country. Nevertheless, the pain was so terrible to the victims that many of them died under it. Inwardly the patient revoked against the office, and obeyed only through fear. The physical karma is therefore worse than the moral and spiritual in this life the physical karma will probably be exhausted. The chances of recovery are very remote, and a miracle would be demanded to effect it.

The latest news of this patient confirms this last conclusion.

Case B. Dementia pracox. Male, aged 18. Clairvoyant Diagnosis.

Degeneration of tissue is occurring in the brain. This process is progressive, and there is very little that can be done; in the early stages the etheric double of the brain appeared as though pitted and “pockmarked” like a heavily shelled area of ground seen from the air. The crown of the head is chiefly affected. The result of this condition is that prana[12] only reaches the brain with difficulty, and the supply is very much diminished.

The cause, in this case, appears to be purely etheric, as if the action of the law of karma took place directly on to that “principle”, the physical symptoms following when its action had reached a certain stage. The etheric double began to grow thin in an area which has the anterior fontanelle as its centre. Then small “pock-marks” appeared, and the thin area began to spread. Prana began to flow round this area rather than through it, and the brain cells, being thus deprived of “life”, functioned with difficulty and began to degenerate. The ego, noticing this, began to withdraw his attention from the body, so that the brain was deprived of the vitalizing properties of the super-physical pranas. The result is that complete withdrawal of egoic control, i.e., imbecility, is only a question of time.

The ego has deliberately chosen this quick method of settling a karmic claim, and is withdrawing himself, from the personality, rarely turning his attention to it. As time passes, this absence will become more and more noticeable at the physical level, and there is reason for the hope, which the ego entertains, that death will follow within five years, as the etheric double of the whole brain is disintegrating.

In a previous life the ego appears to have committed horrible cruelties, torturing his victims by means of spikes or needles pressed into the top of the head. He occupied the official position of torturer in some Oriental country, amongst a brown-skinned people. It is a curious fact that his own etheric double to-day is affected by the presence of small depressions in it corresponding to the imprints of the needlepoints of the instrument of torture he used upon his victims.

Later information confirms the progressive nature of the disease.

Case C. Subnormal Mentality. Male, aged 12.

To quote an extract from a letter written by the patient’s father:

“As regards the boy, he was a crypt-orchid until he was operated upon in December, 1923, at the London Hospital.... Since then he has developed very rapidly and has enjoyed almost robust health. His eyes, however, have been a source of trouble, and the spectacles prescribed are valueless for reading.

“Recently, his nervous twitchings have given me cause for alarm. He indulges in facial grimaces, but this has improved since he wore glasses. About a month ago he hurt his knee in jumping from a wall, since when he complains of lack of grip in one hand and pain in the arm and leg of that side. He carries his arm in a peculiarly shortened’ position, and periodically is seized with an attack of violent shaking and twitching in both arm and leg. His carnage is ungainly, he humps up his shoulders and seems to have no control over his feet and hands. I am inclined to think he exaggerates somewhat.”

Medical Report.

He has had pain over the right eye, at intervals, for about three years. The right pupil is contracted, and does not read to light or accommodation. The left pupil reacted very sluggishly to light, and not at all to accommodation.

There are clonic movements of left arm and leg when he attempts to move them; knee jerks are exaggerated, especially on the left side. Speech is slow and slightly stuttering. His mental state is sub-normal, except in Nature study. He is passionately fond of flowers, gardening, and books dealing with these subjects.

As the case progressed, the right pupil became widely dilated, and ptosis of the eyelid supervened, speech became more difficult and slow, the right side of the face became paralysed and clammy with perspiration, which was profuse at times. Paralysis of the lower limbs became almost complete, static pneumonia set in, he was unable to swallow, and he died on Thursday, June 3rd, 1925.

Clairvoyant Diagnosis, made before his death.

This was a young ego which had previously been incarnated in remote country districts, amid mountain fasthesses. He developed a certain amount of nature-instinct, and learned to live by the animal senses and instincts, and consequently the development of the concrete mind was sub-normal.

The mental body was only very partially developed, and almost entirely untrained, so far as the concrete activities of the mind are concerned. The emotional body was largely developed along the line of animal instincts, and there were strong indications of animal passions, which he had not been accustomed to control. There were certain traits of lovableness and innate refinement, which were the results of the efforts of the ego to correct the one-sided development.

In a fit of anger in a past life he severely injured one of his companions by pushing him over the edge of a clift. He, in his turn, was severely maltreated, in accordance with the primitive ideas of justice of the time, and in that life he passed through very great suffering, both before and after he died

His present vehicles in this life, especially the physical, bore the impress of this maltreatment, although the ego has made a great effort to adjust and harmonize the whole nature. Degeneration of tissue took place in the brain and spinal cord. This condition was progressive, and, from a clairvoyant point of view, the case appeared to be quite hopeless. This view was confirmed by the death of the patient within one year of the time at which the investigation was made; his after-death life was then examined, and the record included in Chapter VI of this work.

Case D. Male, aged 13.

One of five children. First admitted to hospital for chorea re-admitted one year later for post encephalitis lethargica. Exceedingly destructive and unmanageable.

Clairvoyant Diagnosis.

Clairvoyant investigation shows that sleepy sickness is an etheric disease. The physical causative poison lodges largely in the head, because it has a chemical affinity with certain of the constituents of the brain. With these it enters into combinations which at the solid level cause deterioration of certain of the brain centres. These constituents are chiefly situated in that portion of the brain behind a plane passing through the vertex and the external auditory meatus.

The emanations from the poisonous matter produce a gradual corrosion of the etheric double of the brain, shutting off the play of higher intelligence in those regions through which the higher consciousness functions. This results in a lack of moral consciousness.

In the case under consideration the etheric brain is partly, though not entirely, insulated from the rest of the etheric double by the effect of the emanations; therefore only a very limited supply of prana reaches the physical brain. The ego, in consequence, withdraws his attention from the now almost useless vehicle, as he finds himself unable to check the ravages caused by the disease in the etheric brain. A cure would have to begin with the elimination of The emanations from the poisonous matter these poisons, which, combining as described above, form a product whose etheric emanations cause the damage. The disease will be progressive.

The etheric poison seems to be connected with the blood, though the mechanism which controls and maintains the amount of force coming through the chemical atoms which compose the blood is functioning improperly. Karma, acting directly from the inner worlds, on to the etheric double, is the cause of the disturbance in the rhythm of the life force playing through the atoms of the blood.

The disease, in this case, arose spontaneously in the blood, as a result of the direct action of A similar effect may no doubt be produced physically by the introduction of poison into the blood stream. This case is the karmic result of cruelty of a bloodletting character, in which there has been a mental refinement of cruelty. The suffering penetrates deeply into the inner consciousness, and the ego cannot completely detach or dissociate himself from the brain. The diseased condition of the etheric double of the brain prevents the ego from completely withdrawing himself during sleep, and so limits his emotional and mental, as well as his physical life. He is only likely to be released from his body by death. The suffering is particularly great, because the sleep-consciousness is limited by this fact. When out of the body, his actions and consciousness, as well as the range of his movements, are severely limited by his inability to get away from the physical brain. The diseased etheric.double of the brain acts almost like an adhesive, with a corresponding effect at the emotional and mental levels.

No news has been received of this case since the above examination.

Case E. Dipsomania. Male, aged 40.

Diagnosis by means of clairvoyant sight shows that the physical body is saturated with alcohol; tile emotional body is seriously tainted with it, and with the effects of continual indulgence in sensual gratification. In addition, the patient is surrounded with alcohol elementals, which are associated with the vice of drunkenness. These are bathing in and feeding on the emanations of alcohol and coarse emotion, which, although unhealthy to the patient and to others, are highly stimulating to them.However, the case is even yet not without hope. If the ego could be aroused to make a stern fight, and the personality be helped during the periods of intense craving, he could win through, and become a very useful citizen.

His brain is not seriously affected as yet, though some harm has been done. He is a fine, strong character, with a serene and sunny temperament, and therefore thoroughly deserving of help. It is probable, however, that if left alone he will be unable to rouse himself, and irreparable harm will be done.

An inherent weakness of character has revealed itself, in one form or another, through many lives. This is an unwillingness to submit to the rulings of rate, the disciplinary effects of karma, or to any external force. This characteristic was acquired when, as a ruler in an ancient civilization, he had absolute power, and developed a deep-rooted egotism. He has, since, overcome this weakness in its more general aspects and applications to daily life and character, but the roots remain. It shows as petulant disdain, which, though concealed, nevertheless profoundly affects his attitude towards life and destiny, though he may be unconscious of the fact. This failing constitutes a real deficiency in the ego.

Ultimately this weakness will develop into the virtue of self-reliance and the ability to stand alone in the face of all difficulties, but at the present stage of his evolution it is a weakness which has caused more than one failure in recent lives. Whilst his present personal difficulty is dipsomania, pride is the real trouble, of which this disease is only a temporary expression Spiritual and mental humility is the virtue which he should endeavour to develop; and he must eliminate the sense of antagonism towards God and Nature, which is a relic of his all-powerful and commanding position as an ancient ruler.

Occult help was directed to this case with good results. The patient is reported as improving steadily.

Case F. Cancer of the left check. Female, aged 67.

In this instance the morbid condition of the tissue can be traced through the emotional, into the mental body. In this latter, round the left side of the mental counterpart of the physical head, there is a patch of matter which is dark brown in colour, and black at the edges. This mental “growth”, which closely resembles a splash of mud upon the face, consists of a type of elemental essence[13] far coarser than that of which the rest of the mental body is composed. By comparison with the brilliance and rapidity of movement of the mental body, it appears almost inert. When examined closely, it is seen to possess an independent life of its own, which is completely separated from that of the rest of the body. The matter of the “growth” is vibrating at an entirely different rate from that of the mental body as a whole, and is at a stage of evolution far below that of the latter, as though it belonged to a kingdom of nature several degrees below the human.

Contact with its consciousness produces a sense of repulsion, as from something foul and inimical There is a distinct sense of entityship, the instinct of which is to grasp finer matter, to eat it, to absorb it into itself, to destroy it, debase, and reduce it to its own level. It feels like the matter of a previous evolutionary age. This condition is reproduced at the emotional, etheric and physical levels.

At the under-surface of the etheric double of the growth a number of tentacles penetrate the skin in a curved direction, closing upon and gripping it tightly. These tentacles are projected at irregular intervals round the edge of the growth, whilst the whole of the under-surface is seen to be in motion in a sort of Brownian movement, causing it to resemble the rough surface of a starfish. There are millions of tiny flesh-like protuberances, which are embedded in the skin of the mental, emotional and etheric doubles, and a process of absorption takes place through these.[14]

In terms of consciousness, such an abnormality is entirely foreign to the present state of the patient’s mind, and its presence therein is due to a karmic reaction from the past. In that past the sufferer indulged in a similar kind of parasitic absorption of life from another person by means of black magic. The disease is connected with the grosser form of vampirism and elemental magic. Investigation shows that the karma of cancer was engendered during one of the darkest periods in the history of mankind. Whole tribes, communities, and even nations, engaged in black magical practices of the most obscene and devilish character. This was at a stage of evolution when forms of elemental life connected with the deeper layers of the earth, and with very low orders of evolution, were nearer to human consciousness than is the case to-day. These elementals were used with great freedom by the humanity of those ancient days.

Such scourges did these tribes and communities become, that armies had to be sent out against them, and they inspired dread in the bravest. They were cannibals, conscious were-wolves and vampires. In the days before the continent of Atlantis was overwhelmed,[15] millions of people were infected with the virus of these evils, and physically innocent persons, once victimized, found themselves ultimately forced to join in the practices of which they were the victims.

The karmic results to-day would be worse even man they are were it not for the fact that numbers of egos became detached from their personalities, and thus lost the power to continue their malpractices. This happened most frequently to those innocent ones who were drawn in by infection against their will. Millions of egos only succeeded in breaking free at death, and to suffer from cancer is their expiation.

Cancer is thus an elemental disease. The tissue form the body of an actual elemental entity, of the type employed in the practices referred to. It has been almost incurable, because it is the duty of the creator of an evil elemental to become its destroyer before the karmic debt can be paid and release obtained. Further, an elemental belonging to an earlier evolutionary period so coarse as to be almost immune from any effects of forces pertaining to the present age.

The cure for cancer lies primarily in the exorcism and destruction of the elemental. Certain radioactive substances are valuable because they project a type of energy into the body of the elemental, which has a destructive effect upon it. A bombardment of electrons, for example, would relieve, if not cure, certain types of cancer but, except in cases where the karma is outworn, methods must be employed which at the present time are considered to be occult. Even then the karmic cause is so powerful and so concentrated as to make this very difficult. Happily, the black magical karma of humanity as a whole is slowly being outworn; spiritual forces are being liberated by evolving humanity, which tend to cleanse the under-world of human karma. Unfortunately, this process i§ being delayed by the continuation of the practice of vivisection. Vivisectors are continually generating disease karma by their inhuman cruelty.

“A highly magnetized surgical instrument would be effective where operations on cancer are performed. Electrical magnetization, added to occult, would give greater chances of success. To subject the cancer to the discharges from the the pole of a powerful magnet might be effective. The application would need to be made at least twice daily, for not less than two hours at each sitting, with the pole of the magnet about one inch from the surface of the growth. In all cases the most profitable line of treatment and of research will prove to be that of the use of radioactive substances applied internally and externally, bombardment by electrons, and the application of electro-magnetic forces.

Attempts to discover a cure for cancer by means of experiments upon animals and with scrum are foredoomed to failure. Unfortunately, they constitute a karmic chain which tends to keep alive the very scourge they are employed to destroy. Even if the slightest benefit were ever gained by vivisection, the adverse karmic reactions would far out-weigh them.

Clairvoyant examination of highly diluted homoeopathic remedies, such as those referred to in Chapter II, shows that these are extremely active at the etheric level. Streams of minute particles, travelling at high speed, and charged with various types of energy, are continuously emitted from them.

The internal and external application of energy in this form, and of a nature which reproduces the vibratory rate of the cell atoms of the growth, has already proved successful in some cases.

CHAPTER IV

PSYCHOMETRY[16]

IN this chapter the author departs from the realm of strictly scientific research and invites his readers to join him in some speculations concerning the commonest of all forms of supernormal cognition.

One of the most prolific writers on occult subjects of our day once made the statement that she had not met anyone below the rank of an Adept who could explain Psychometry satisfactorily. In view of this statement an attempt may here usefully be made to discover some of the principles underlying this type of clairvoyance.

As is probably well known, the psychometrist is able, by taking hold of an object, to read the past history of that object and its immediate surroundings; if skilful, he will also be able to give precise information concerning its present conditions, while even its future may be foreseen.

Probably the occult student would explain that every object is surrounded by, and exists in, a sea of Akasha[17] upon which is indelibly imprinted a record of its complete history, and that psychometry is the art of contacting and reading these records. If further pressed for an explanation of the seer’s knowledge of the future of the object and its surroundings, the student must endeavour to explain the relativity of time and the elusive conception of the eternal NOW.

At first glance these explanations appear to be satisfactory enough, and undoubtedly do provide the groundwork for an understanding of the phenomenon under consideration. Closer study shows, however, that the problem is by no means so easily solved.

Apparently neither time nor space have any power to limit the range of the psychometrist’s powers. Hand him an object from the ruins of the temple of St. Columb on Iona, and he does not sec Iona as viewed from his present position in time and space; he sees it as it actually was at any period of its history he may desire, as if he himself were present in that period. He does not view it as through a telescope from his study, but stands upon the island, and within the temple if he wishes. He hears the waves beating on the shores of the island; he feels the climatic conditions, and may actually endure extremes of cold or heat in his present physical body. Whether the object is ten thousand year only one year old, its history is visible to the psychometrist’s inner eye.

The only possible explanation of this phenomenon appears to be that of the existence of the so-called Akashic records, which are said to form the memory section of the Divine Consciousness, and to exist on the lower planes, surrounding every object by the complete record of its life. Thus, when the navy drives his pick into the Virgin rock; sending shivered fragments flying about him, the thrill or vibration in the rock set up by the impact of the pick is indelibly imprinted upon every fragment, as well as upon the parent quarry. The psychometrist who handles any portion of the rock contacts that vibration, and converts it into terms of consciousness, and, finally, into a complete picture of the actual scene.

From this fact the question arises: “By what mechanism is the stored-up vibration translated into vivid pictures within the mind’s eye or inner consciousness of the seer?” In other words, how does a vibratory power, surrounding and penetrating an object, become a picture? Further, by what mechanism is the seer enabled, not only to observe the picture as a spectator, but to enter into it, and to place his consciousness at the actual place of occurrence? The second change is, if possible, more remarkable than the first, for the seer changes from an observer of a more or less small picture to a participator in the actual scene; whereupon the picture is no longer an external concentration of an event before his mind’s eye, but becomes a complete environment.

In the case of the fragment of stone he would find himself observing the whole scene, as if he were actually present at some definite point in or near the quarry; he could, if sufficiently developed in his art, continue his observations either backward or forward in time, and watch the actual process of formation of the rock itself; or he could accompany the navy home and assimilate his home conditions, state of consciousness, and enter completely into a full comprehension of his life.

Whilst all this detailed information could be gleaned by contact with a fragment of the shivered stone, and, presumably, be read from it, we must remember that the navy has not necessarily touched the fragment, which can therefore hardly be laid to be permeated with the vibrations of his personal history, appearance and home surroundings. How, then, is the information concerning him obtained?.

A clairvoyant of the author’s acquaintance always requests that he be told which line, of investigation he shall follow in order to obtain the information required; he states that having established contact with, say, the person or place, he can then branch off in various directions, e.g., to the relatives, home, health, occupation, state of consciousness or evolutionary standing of any person contacted.

Once, when handed a crystal earring, he began to describe our globe in a state of primeval uproar, evidently contacting the history of the formation of the crystal portion of the ornament. When informed Ị that it was the present owner of the ear-ring who formed the subject of inquiry, he was at once able to describe her accurately, her tricks of manner, habits of mind, and even name.

A further aspect of psychometry worthy of study in the fact that the seer may actually reproduce in his own person the condition of people and places at a certain period of the history of the object.

The same friend was once requested to investigate a piece of stone brought from a so-called Druids’ Circle near the Peak district of Derbyshire. He began with a description of the scenery of the place from the viewpoint of a person standing on the hilltop where the stone was found; he then saw a procession and a ceremony, at which a living human victim was sacrificed. This victim, he said, was a young girl, who was lying bound beside a rough altar stone.

When, after some unholy ceremonial, the moment of sacrifice arrived, he became much agitated, and began to tremble violently. The description ceased, and he was obviously making a great effort at self- control. After a pause he said, with strong feeling: “There is a vile elemental connected with the whole thing, and I have contacted it. It tried to obsess me. I hate it. I hate it!” and, taking the stone, he put it on the fire, and drove it into the flames with hard blows from the poker, still displaying great agitation, until it was hidden from sight in the glowing coal. He then warned the author of the danger of keeping this sort of curio, and the experiments ceased for that night.

Now that stone had been brought from the pile at the top of the hill, and it had rested on a mantelpiece beside another piece of stone brought from Cader Idris. This was a piece of white quartz of unusual beauty, and some time after the event described above, another clairvoyant was examining it with some interest.

“What do you get with that?” he was asked, and, after a few moments, he proceeded to describe precisely the game scales as those described by the first friend from the Druid stone destroyed in the fire some months previously. He also sensed the unpleasant conditions, and advised the destroyal of the Cader Idris stone.

This was evidently a case of impregnation. The white stone was probably virgin as far as any powerful human influence was concerned, and had become charged with the radiations from the other one, which had been influenced by contact with magical ceremonial.

In this case the clairvoyant was psychometrizing, not the white Cader Idris stone, but the magnetism with which it was charged. Technically, it was false vision, and the seer was misled. Probably a more highly trained clairvoyant would have been aware of the conditions, and have avoided the error.

We are now faced with two questions.

Does the object serve as a medium for transmitting vibrations which are conducted from it along the hand and arm of the psychometrist and to his consciousness; or does the object merely serve as a link to place the seer en rapport with the akashic records, when he then reads without further reference to the object itself?

If the former question be answered in the affirmative, we must admit a process of flow, during the time of reading, of the vibratory currents of the Akashic records. If the latter, however, the actual aura or emanation of the object itself plays little or no part when once contact has been obtained.

The incident of the impregnated stone might be considered to shake this latter conclusion, because it was the aura of the stone, rather than the stone itself, which was read.

This incident would also lead us to conclude that the physical object is not the means of producing the result in psychometry, but rather that the magnetic conditions, with which it is surrounded and impregnated, set up a corresponding rate of vibration in the aura of the seer, through which the consciousness becomes aware of them, decodes them, and sends them down to the brain.

This conclusion might satisfy us if it were accepted that actual contact with an object were a sine qua non in psychometry; so that, given this conclusion, it follows that in clairvoyance, without contact, a different form of seership is being employed.

The discovery of a lost article, for instance, may be attributed to psychometry, whilst, in fact, it may be due to another form of psychism, e.g., a psychic may discover the whereabouts of a right-hand glove by being placed in contact with its left-hand counterpart, in which case the left-hand glove serves to place the seer en rapport with the owner, whilst any further super-physical knowledge of the right-hand glove will be gained by the exercise of another kind of clairvoyance.

Our information upon these subjects is as yet so scanty that it is difficult to form conclusions; but it may be that we are now better able to appreciate the remark referred to in the first paragraph.

In what we know as physical consciousness, vibrational contact is essential. For example, we see an object, because vibrations radiating from it enter the eye, and affect the retina, according to colour, size and form. These vibrations travel via the optic nerve to the brain, where they arrive merely as vibrations. From the physical brain they are conveyed to the consciousness. Here they are recorded and translated, as a result of previous experience, into objects, shades of colour, etc., and are flashed into brain consciousness in the form in which they are presumed to exist.

Physically we only receive vibrations. We may speculate, therefore, upon the question of what an object really is. If this knowledge is withheld from us, we do not know of what the apparently familiar physical plane really consists; our knowledge of it is limited by the vibrations to which we are able to respond through the senses, these being our only avenues of contact with the world around us. This is, however, quite outside the range of our present subject, but might possibly find a place in speculations upon the elusive subject of Maya[18].

On occasion, endeavours have been made to follow in detail the actual processes of consciousness in psychometry, in order to obtain a more complete understanding of its rationale.

According to the statements of a clairvoyant, the first effort on taking the object into the left hand is to make mind and body completely still; when comparative quietness is obtained, an effort is made to unify the mind with the object. Pressed on this point, he is unable to explain further than that he consciously endeavours to become one with the object, or, rather, with the soul and essence of the object; during the process he becomes passive on the lower planes; his physical body is still and in a restful pose, with limbs uncrossed and spine erect.

Should he be successful, a single picture will sometimes appear before his mind’s eye, as if floating in the air on a level with his forehead, and some six inches in front of it. If nothing appears, he will place the object against the centre of his forehead, and make a still greater effort to read its very essence.

Unhesitatingly he describes the very first picture which appears, without reference to its apparent relevance and even physical common sense; he divests himself of all preconceived ideas on any subject whatever, endeavouring to eliminate any personal interpretation. He prefers to know nothing whatever of the object, its owner, or the purpose of the experiment; his only request being to be told when he is following that aspect of the reading which is required.

It is generally easily apparent from the description of the first picture whether he is en rapport with the subject of the inquiry. If he is, as is generally the case, he will ask for guidance as to direction of research, and, on being answered, will plunge into the subject, become completely oblivious of physical plane surroundings for the time, and yet remain sufficiently conscious to narrate his visions clearly as he goes along.

Describing the state of his consciousness, he says that having the assurance that Ins first picture is a true vision, and knowing the direction his inquiries are to take, he withdraws his mind from the object, and concentrates it on the picture, striving to enter and become one with it, whilst at the same time preserving calm and stillness within!)

When successful in this, he finds himself—or, rather, a portion of himself, for he is always subconsciously aware that he is seated in a room, and in the presence of others—actually present in or at the scene described, and further investigation becomes u question of focusing his consciousness upon that portion of the picture which contains the information required.

A good example of these various states of consciousness was given recently when he was asked to psychometrize a letter from a lady in South Africa, with a view to ascertaining, if possible, the state of her health and happiness.

The first picture was one of the open sea, and he had a feeling of being himself upon the ocean’. He asked if the letter came from abroad, and, on receiving an affirmative reply, he described a large town with many white buildings, and much foliage; he next gave the exact direction of the town from his present position, giving the compass bearing—this is a phase of his clairvoyance which is singularly accurate—and he was then told that he had described the town correctly and given the true direction.

He next saw a lady in a garden, and described both in detail; the lady was recognized, though the garden was not—it subsequently transpired that the lady had changed her residence. He then described the climate and her state of health. He said he felt the great heat of a hot country. After a pause he experienced a feverish condition in his own body, remarking that the lady would have a mild attack of fever, which would alter the present inquirer’s arrangements when he arrived out there.

All this proved to be quite true, even to the later illness. The experiment over, the feverish condition subsided, the subject was completely dismissed, and normal consciousness supervened.

From a careful study of psychometry by means of hundreds of such experiments, it appears to the author that the psychometrist is able:

(1) To attune his consciousness to that portion of the Divine Mind of which the object psychometrized is the physical manifestation. As physical touch, which is a feeling, appears to be an essential in this form of clairvoyance, the first contact is probably obtained on the emotional plane.

(2) To reproduce in his own vehicles the Akashic vibrations surrounding and impregnating the object. This is automatic, and invariably occurs in cases of sensory contact, so that the normal methods of consciousness are sufficient to explain its manifestations in an individual.

(3) To convey these vibrations to his brain, and from thence to the consciousness. This, again, is normal and automatic, though Ca certain hypersensitivity of brain is probably one of the essential factors in psychometry.

(4) To receive back into the brain the reply of the consciousness in the form of pictures and ideas. This is automatic; “the ego dramatizes”. The picture seen in miniature, as if before the face, is a thought form produced by the impact of the reply from the consciousness upon the mental or emotional body.

(5) To express the result in words, whilst stilt watching the decoded vibrational effects. This brings us to the point where the first picture has been seen and described, and answers the question: “How are the vibrations surrounding an object translated into pictures and ideas?” The answer is: “By the ordinary methods of consciousness.”

(6) To change the focus of consciousness from the object to the picture which it has induced

(7) To step in consciousness into the picture, which immediately changes into the appearance of actual physical environment. Although this power to step in consciousness into the picture would seem to involve great difficulties, it is probably only a question of focal knack. That conclusion is borne out by the statements of a psychomctrist, who says that it requires no effort to do this, and that it may even occur before he is aware of it, especially if the object be strongly impressed or charged with the vibrations of the place Probably this is made possible by the presence of the physical object which is constantly en rapport with every physical scene in its history.

(8) To maintain at the same time full control and use of the physical senses, to describe the experiences as they happen, and to hear and answer questions.

This calls for either a rapid change of mental focus, or some form of double consciousness, so that the ability to describe psychic experiences as they happen, and to hear and answer physical questions, may be the result of either of two processes.

(1) The process of changing the focus of consciousness from the physical to that on which the experience is taking place and back again. The processes of consciousness are so rapid that there would be no appearance of the passage of physical time.

(2) The process of reflection in man the microcosm, of an attribute of the Macrocosmic Logos, Who is conscious at every point in His universe, and at the same time is conscious outside that manifestation, where He may with reverence be presumed to “dwell” among His Peers. Cf. Bhagavad Gita. “Having pervaded this universe with a fragment of myself, I remain.”

It has been suggested to the writer by advanced students of occult science that in an emergency one may be called upon to give super-physical assistance at a distance, without the necessity for sleep or trance. If this is true, then man, too, may have a fragment of himself which “remains” outside and beyond his physical life and activities, and is capable of sustained action at a distance from the body.

Worthy of note in this connection is the fact that a too insistent questioning or an undue physical disturbance will cause the psychometrist to lose the thread of his observations, whereupon his whole awareness becomes centred upon the physical plane and the inner consciousness disappears. It would appear from this that, during psychometry, the consciousness is neither wholly physical nor wholly psychic, but “rests” at a state between and in working contact with both. Any disturbance of this “rest” has the effect of breaking the contact between the psychical and the physical states.

(9) To become physically aware of the physical conditions of the scene under observation, and to feel and reproduce in his own person the climatic conditions of a period or place, and the health of an individual. Physical reproduction and consciousness of the conditions observed may be due to the imagination, to a form of repercussion, or to the dose co-ordination, while in me sensitive condition, of the activities of mind and body.

To transcend in consciousness the physical limitations of time and space. We may assume that the psychometrist places himself at the centre of the vibrational life of the object, from which position he can read any portion of that life. Contact with the object places him en rapport with its whole history, so that he is able to focus his attention upon any period which he wishes to study.

It may well be that, if we can discover in what region or consciousness[19] the actual seeing takes place, we shall be sensibly nearer to a solution of the problem.Seers vary in ability; their power to see the past, the future, and the distant, may depend, among other things, upon a special physical constitution, the receptivity of the brain to super-physical vibrations and the condition of one or all of the subtler vehicles of consciousness.

We may safely assume, then, that psychometric visions occur either in that plane where past, present and future are blended in an eternal “now”, or upon a lower plane in which that state of consciousness, is to some degree reflected. If the former be true, a doubt arises as to whether many of the professional and other clairvoyants who have not received special training are in any degree able to respond to such lofty conditions demanded in order to rise above the limitations of time; the latter is more acceptable, for the possession of the gift of psychometry does not depend, so far as this one physical life in which the ability is shown is concerned, upon either spirituality, education, altruism, morality, hygiene, diet, or apparent evolutionary standing. It is sometimes, but not always, hereditary; it is probably more common in the Celtic people than in the Teutonic, though the latter possess it in large numbers, as experiments with friends will prove to the reader’s satisfaction. From the occult point of view it must be karmic, and presumably the result of development along psychic lines in past lives. Whatever the final explanation may be—and the author does not pretend to have given it—enough has, perhaps, been written to show that in psychometry we have a subject worthy of study and further elucidation.

CHAPTER V

EXPERIMENTAL EXPLORATIONS OF LEVELS OF CONSCIOUSNESS

THE accounts which form this chapter are intended only as examples of the experimental use of psychic consciousness to explore the super-physical worlds and states of consciousness.

Although extremely limited in their range, they may yet be useful in showing the possibilities of exploration and research which are open to all who care to make the necessary effort to develop the capacities by means of which they may be pursued.

The mental and emotional planes have been explored and described with a power and a knowledge far beyond the author’s capacity by that great seer and occultist, C. W. Leadbeater, in his three remarkable books, “The Devachanic Plane”, “The Astral Plane”, and “The Monad”,[20] and students are referred to those works for a detailed description of those interior worlds.

Egoic Consciousness

The name “ego” is generally applied to the spirit of man clothed in a vehicle called the Causal body, and built of the matter of the higher mental world. This part of the constitution of man was called the “shining augoeides” by the Greeks.

All the capacities which are acquired during successive incarnations[21] in the mental, astral and physical worlds are stored in the Causal body.[22] These are the “treasure in Heaven where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt”[23] referred to by our Lord.

Contact with the ego in his own world might reveal him as describing his condition thus: “I lack nothing. Everyone and everything I want is here. I abound in light, in life and power. Nowhere is there even the Faintest suggestion of limitation of any kind. Everything is eternally present in all its fullness.

“Within me is a central heart through which light, life and power are continually outpoured; I am the heart and the life. The heart is the body—the body is the heart. I am a unit of consciousness without division or knowledge of separation. My being, which is light, is equally radiant throughout its whole existence, varying and changing only in intensity and in colour. Memory and anticipation are unknown. Past and future exist only in an infinite present. Centre and circumference, consciousness and form are one.

Clairvoyant observation of the ego in his Causal body shows that within the indescribable splendour of outrushing power which is the “shining augoeides”, there is to be “seen” the ideation of a human form. Its appearance is most dearly defined at the head and shoulders. The face is a glorified expression of the physical face of the incarnated man, and the eyes are ablaze with concentrated power and intelligence. The consciousness is vividly alive, radiantly happy, and at the same time calm and serene. Changes in it appear as great flashes of light and colour. Perception, expression and action are simultaneous. Cognition is instantaneous, complete, and unlimited as regards numbers of “objects’ and ideas apprehensible at the same time; for [the ego can “converse” with any number of people at once, with equal perfection of comprehension and concentration.] There is, however, little or no sense of addressing an external form. (The life and consciousness behind all forms is contacted, not by the passage of vibrations, as in personal cognition, but by realization of unity of essence. Companionship reaches its apotheosis at the egoic level in complete fusion and mutual identification.)

Philosophies, principles, and abstract verities are also comprehended instantaneously by a process of unification and identification of the whole being with the essence of the subject. (The ego knows a truth, for example, by becoming that truth, by changing momentarily into a living expression of it) When that is achieved, a great flash or explosion of light and colour occurs, and the causal body is greatly expanded; for ever after it bears the imprint of that truth and retains the power of repeating the expansion.

To aid our comprehension, let us endeavour to translate all this into terms of form, using the ego of an advanced student of occultism as an example. Imagine a central focus of consciousness surrounded by a shining aura, consisting of radiations of light. Within this focus is a glorified human figure, upon whose face is an expression of ecstasy and exaltation, as of a genius which is perpetually at white heat, and afire with the divine afflatus.

Within the radiation many “forms” appear; forms of persons, alone and in groups, of movements, of the ideation of a cathedral, church, mosque, or masonic temple, of systems of education, philosophy, art, or of an order or society. Moving majestically timid them all, many great angels appear as the companions and co-workers of the immortal man.

In the case of advanced occultists the resplendent figures of the holy Masters of the Great White Brotherhood are present, together with the angel[24] assistants, by whom They and Their followers are attended in their labours.

We must continually remind ourselves, however, that at the level of the abstract mind, where the consciousness of the ego is seated, there are no fixed forms such as are known in the worlds below. The above description is true only in terms of the form levels of manifestation, and is untrue in terms of the formless.

The essence alone of the form exists in those higher worlds, so that the phenomenal environment of the ego consists of the ideation of principles, philosophies, movements, supermen, angels, men, and other kingdoms of Nature.

Furthermore, all these are far less an external environment than a part of himself, and are not separated from him in time, space and essence; he sees and knows all things in terms of unity.

This quality of egoic life finds expression in the personality of those sufficiently advanced to express it, as an abounding love for all men, a general benevolence, an instinct for cooperation, idealism, altruism, service, and it tendency to see the principles lying behind external phenomena. As the capacity for response to egoic consciousness increases, flashes of intuition illumine the thoughts of the personality, and produce an instantaneous realization of truth, a grasp of ‘metaphysical conceptions, and a growing faculty for abstract thought.

Remembering this, let us return to a further examination of the condition of egoic consciousness.

The ideation of all forms which are included within it is in continuous rapport with the forms themselves in the lower world. It follows, therefore, that the light and power from the ego, which shine upon and quicken the ideations, are at the same time illuminating and strengthening the person, group, or movement in the world below. (By this means an advanced ego, such as we are considering, becomes a source of inspiration and help to very large numbers of people, and exerts a definitely quickening influence upon evolution as a whole.

Although the ego is thus continuously occupied in keeping contact with many hundreds of people—and in the case of an adept, many thousands, and of a World-Teacher, many millions—and holds them in the direct play of his consciousness there is “no apparent diminution of the power by which he controls and inspires his own personal vehicles.

The entire absence of limiting forms, of fatigue, or of pain, leaves him free to acknowledge the presence of visitors, to withdraw into himself for contemplation, and to send down waves of power and light into his personality on occasions when special work which calls for inspiration is being done by the, physical, astral or mental man. A lecture, a study group, research work, literary and artistic effort, and daily meditations, offer opportunities for this, of which the ego never fails to take advantage.

Here, again, we find ourselves faced with a difficulty in describing egoic consciousness, for, paradoxical though it may sound, the ego and the personality are not two separate beings, but are one and the same.

The ego puts down only a fragment of himself into incarnation, and as that fragment is ensheathed in “bodies” of mental, emotional and physical matter, three pseudo-entities are formed. The limitations imposed by the relatively dense material of the lower planes are so great that a tendency arises for the mental, emotional and physical “men”, who, together, compose the personality, to escape from the control of the ego, and to express the attributes of the matter, of which they are partly composed, rather than those of the ego of whose essence they consist.

The power, freedom and happiness described apply only to the ego at his own level, and at such higher levels as he is able to contact. At each descent of consciousness into the planes below a progressive deprivation of power, freedom and happiness occurs. The nature or egoic consciousness is such that, although there are these definite limits to the range of its activities in the lower worlds, the ego’s inherent capacity for self-expression, and his sense of abounding power, are in no way diminished by them.

During the period when the ego is out of incarnation, he is quite powerless in the three worlds. During the process of descent into incarnation he builds the bodies in each of them, which are his only means of contact with, and eventual mastery of, those lower worlds. Into each of these bodies he allows a portion of his life to flow, his consciousness to play, and his power to manifest. The measure of himself which he thus puts down consists of a certain definite aspect of himself—not so much a division as an aspect. It might be described as a group of qualities, a particular set of capacities gathered in former lives, when he turns his attention towards a plane, he temporarily becomes conscious of the limitations which that particular plane imposes upon him. Whilst, on the one hand, incarnation is a limitation, on the other it is an expansion, because it is an opening into a field of manifestation beyond that which is normal to him at his own level. The impacts and experiences which reach him as a result definitely enrich his consciousness.In the early stages of evolution, as that of the savage, for example the development of the vehicles in the lower worlds is so elementary that the amount of the enrichment received from one incarnation is exceedingly small. It follows, therefore, that he develops a tendency to ignore the experiences of that aspect of himself which is in incarnation so far as he is able. He cannot entirely ignore it, however, as he is constantly in receipt of vibrations from it, and is also conscious of the passage of the life-force from higher planes through him into his lower vehicles.

This state of affairs continues through hundreds of incarnations, until a point in evolution is reached at which the personal vehicles begin to offer him a less limited field of activity and rich rewards for whatever force he puts down into them. Such rewards consist of added capacity at his own level, increasing mastery over his personality, and growing powers of self-expression through each of his vehicles.

On reaching that stage, the division between the abstract and the concrete mind begins to disappear. An increasing tendency towards abstract thought appears in the personal consciousness. A capacity to rise above the limitations of concrete analytical thought is developed, and an ability to express the characteristics of egoic consciousness is gradually attained.

As this phenomenon becomes more frequent and more marked, ego and personality turn their attention more and more towards each other. The ego gains an increase of power to express himself in the lower worlds, is enriched by the added experiences which result, and so achieves a quickening of his evolution. The personality, in its turn, begins to find within itself a never-failing source of light, life, power and knowledge.

From this point onwards, evolutionary progress is marked by a gradual fusion of the ego and the personality, which, as diagram 1 of Chapter VIII shows, indicates a definite stage in evolution.

Until this stage is reached the ego must guard continually against the danger of a temporary or permanent loss of control, which might be caused by the dominance of certain habits of thought, feeling and action which have been acquired during the hundreds of lives in the past. He is always in conflict with the consciousness evolving through the matter of the mental, emotional and physical bodies, whose evolutionary tendency is down wards towards coarser rates of vibration and increasingly denser fields of self-expression. If, however, these difficulties are successfully overcome, the close relationship between the ego and the personality produces genius in the world of action.

Side by side with this increase in the range of his powers in the lower worlds, an expansion of consciousness into the higher world above that of abstract thought begins. The power and radiance of the intuitional and spiritual level illumines him, and he begins to repeat in those worlds the processes through which he has passed in the lower. He builds vehicles through which he is able to gain contact with and express himself in those lofty levels.

As a savage, his development is gained almost entirely by contact with the lower worlds; as a civilized man, he learns to acquire the added powers of egoic consciousness; as an initiate, he begins to withdraw from the lower, and to focus his consciousness in the higher worlds; as an Adept, his mastery over all is complete. He has learnt all that they can possibly teach him, and is free to leave them behind him forever, to dwell in realms of consciousness in which their limitations are unknown.

No need hath such to live as ye name life;

That which began in him when he began

Is finished; he hath wrought the purpose through

Of what did make him Man.

Never shall yearnings torture him, nor sins

Stain him, nor ache of earthly joys and woes

Invade his safe eternal peace; nor deaths

And lives recur. He goes

Unto Nirvana. He is one with Life,

Yet lives not. He is blest, ceasing to be.

Om, mani padme, Om!

the dewdrop slips

Into the shining Seal[25]

Such are the stages through which the ego passes in his age long evolutionary progress. Such, though briefly and very imperfectly described, is the nature of that “Inner Ruler Immortal” who is the true self of man.

(1) Mental Consciousness

The first change which is noticed as the consciousness descends from the egoic to the mental plane— from the universal to the particular—is knowledge of the existence of separation, the loss of the universality by which unity is expressed at the level above. At the mental level, unity is limited to that which lies within the periphery of the mental body itself. The “skin”, or edge, is transparent and crystalline in its translucence and brilliance. It enables objects to be seen and contacted, but introduces the clearly defined conception of subject and object.

The experience of the change from the egoic to the mental consciousness may be likened to that of going down into water in a glass diving-bell. Hardness and clarity of outline show themselves as typical of the phenomena of the mental world. The confinement in such relatively small limits of that which was free and unconfined, and the concentration of the consciousness within the limits of a single form, give the feeling of great strength and power of resistance, and of complete mastery of the personal field of action. The experience of perfect happiness, characteristic of the higher level, persists, though it resembles more the happiness of a dream than of reality. Nevertheless, nothing is lacking here, nothing is desired from the point of view of consciousness in relation to its own plane.

An entirely new form of cognition is found to be in operation when we descend to this level: that of the passage of vibration from object to subject, and the sense is experienced of being separated from one’s surroundings in contrast to that of being part of them, as was the case at the causal level. The chief phenomenon within the mental body is that of the continual passage through it of vibrations from below and above, as if through a tube which formed the axis of the body. The physical head appears to be in the middle or the mental body, and the mental consciousness is in direct contact with the brain. The interplay between them appears as a perpetual phenomenon, from which there is no escape: the whole of the mental life centres found it.

An attempt to look outwards reveals the existence of incalculable numbers of human beings of both sexes, and of all ages, as well as of hosts of angels. The great majority of men appear to be asleep, and their mental bodies remind one of transparent cocoons. Examination of a single individual shows considerable activity within, where he dwells in a world peopled by forms of his own creation, and pervaded by an atmosphere of happy satisfaction and of complete fulfilment. These cocoon-like enclosures are to be seen scattered about over the whole landscape, which more resembles a skyscape. Apparently they are the souls in devachan,[26] or the heaven-world.

Occasionally the luminous figure of an advanced human being, wide-awake at the mental level, moves across the field of vision. Many such are to be seen congregated at certain points throughout the mental world. Their forms are outlined by a golden and white light. Each appears to be enclosed within an ovoid, like a transparent bubble of light. Vast distances, which would correspond to thousands of miles at the physical level, open before the mental eyes. The whole world seems to stretch away at one’s feet.

Everywhere the sleepers dream within their sheltering envelopes, unmoved and undisturbed by any external phenomena. Angels and men pass across the sky. There is an utter stillness, absolute quiet. Beings pass through it, but all else is motionless. It resembles rather an icebound landscape, lit by a full moon; the sky is indigo, and there are no stars visible. Every object shines with a white luminosity, a phosphorescence of its own. The ground seems to be quite solid to the feet; men and angels settle and “walk” upon it.

Each object has a glass-like prismatic translucency, but is relatively motionless. Waves of colour sweep over the whole landscape, like the changes of a sunset sky, though far more luminous and brilliant with hues of ethereal delicacy.

The first impression of utter silence is, however, an illusion. In reality the whole mental world is pervaded by sound—one might almost say is sound. Hearing is a means of cognition by which the whole plane may be observed. On earth hearing relates only to sound. Mental hearing is a general means of cognition, and the complete phenomena of the mental plane may be observed in term of sound, as well as of form and colour. Mentally the three are one.

All objects have a clearly discernible sound expression and formula. In addition, there is an undercurrent of sound which pervades the whole. It somewhat resembles the distant roar of the sea or the sweep of a high wind through a pine forest. Waves of this fundamental and basic sound-phenomena sweep over the mental world and through one’s mental consciousness. Each wave is part of a septenary rhythmic system of waves, which sweep continually through and over the whole solar system.

Their origin and source is as unknown to the dweller on the mental plane as is the source of water to the fish. They are not external to the plane, but rather its basic form of existence, as are the waves of the sea or the ripples of the running stream. They appear to come from an immense distance, to pass over and through one’s body and consciousness, and to disappear into immeasurable space.

If we could imagine waves of colour and of sound originating in the sun, and sweeping continuously and rhythmically in unbroken succession throughout all space, producing and maintaining all the stars and planets, we could realize a little of the grandeur and immensity of these great mental waves of power, of colour and of sound.

Variations are observable, for somewhere behind their rhythmic flow there is a master wave, a seventh, which is greater than the rest; an overwhelming wave which follows, yet includes the preceding and succeeding six.

Strange though it may- appear, this septenary division and ruling seventh wave are not discernible by ordinary mental consciousness, and the inhabitants are not normally aware of them. But if one becomes absolutely still, and throws one’s mind completely open to the inherent nature of mental things, the waves are heard and seen; manifestation appears as a shoreless sea of light and sound.

Closer examination shows that the waves are formed in moving matter. Minute and glowing particles compose that matter—each particle a living thing. Each atom has its note and colour, and each is singing and shining as it sweeps along in the great wave of which it is a part.

Whilst studying these waves it was found necessary to keep dipping down, as it were, into physical consciousness, to grasp at the dense physical body, lest one should be swept away and lost in than. Their attraction is very great, for they seem to be part of God Himself—the veritable life-force of the Father pulsing through the vast system, which is His wondrous body. It would indeed be joy to release one’s hold of manifestation in a single form, and be merged in the great sea of the divine life. Yet the pressure and watchful power of the ego in his causal home cannot be evaded or gainsaid. The choice does not remain with the personality; the ego is the incarnation of that choice made by tile monad long ago, when first the waves began their age-long sweep through time and space.

A further phenomenon which presents itself to the student is that, although human mental existence and awareness depends upon the possession of a mental body, yet there is a homogeneous mental consciousness of which all human mentality is but an expression and a part. the lower levels of the mental plane all forms are exceedingly dear cut, and are sharply divided from each other, as is the case on earth; at the higher levels, however, all these separate forms are seen to be part of a major existence, which, though it contains all forms, is itself formless and all-pervading. These mental forms of beings at many levels and in many kingdoms of Nature, are rather like designs upon a tapestry, and, although their movements and activities, internal and external, seem to the consciousness within them to be self-initiated, they are in reality but the movements of the whole mental universe, manifestations, as it were, of the thought of God.

This may sound paradoxical, yet one is unable either to avoid the conclusion or to express it more clearly. In a phrase: there is only one major mentality, of which all apparently separate mentalities are an expression and a part. Map, the thinker, is a partaker of that divine thought, outside of which his thoughts have no existence; or again, all conscious beings are expressions of a unit of consciousness which is the major mind—the Logos or God.

(2) Emotional Consciousness

In order to understand the relationship of the astral to the other bodies, we must remember that the ego himself is in direct and continuous contact with the brain, which he keeps charged or dynamized by means of the downflow of his energy, through his subtler vehicle. Though the resemblance of the causal body to a coloured sphere is produced by outrushing forces, there is a centre within it which acts as the focus for all the egoic activities. That centre is in direct contact with the brain. Geographical space is exceedingly difficult of exact examination at the causal level, but the effect is as though this egoic focal point were in the middle of the physical head.

On descending to mental consciousness, the ego and the brain seem to be drawn apart. The brain is still in the centre of the mental body, “but the ego is above it, the two being connected by a tube, or shaft of light. As far as its actual position in space is concerned, from this level the mental body rises for the distance of half its height above the physical head, whilst the causal body appears to be similarly situated above the mental.

Descending to the emotional level, the astral, etheric and physical “brains” appear to coincide, while the “tube” passes through the top of the emotional body into the mental body above, and travels upwards until it is no longer visible from any personal level. The astral and mental bodies serve as sheaths or insulating mediums for this egoic shaft.

One outstanding characteristic of the emotional body appears to be the existence of two centres of consciousness—like the twin foci of an ellipse— which are situated at the head and the solar plexus.

The head centre appears to be intensely positive in its polarity, and to be capable both of transmitting and receiving impulses, whilst the solar plexus is negative, and appears to be relatively sluggish, and largely concerned with receiving impulses direct from the astral plane.

Looking downward to the physical body from the emotional, the spinal cord is clearly visible as a line of bright yellow light, following closely the natural curves of the spine. The vertebrae themselves show up clearly at the astral level. The chakrams are all visible, arising like flowers with thin stems from the spinal cord, with the exception of the splenic chakram, which rises in or near the physical spleen.

It is evident that the brain is the egoic centre, for the impulses from the ego do not enter the solar plexus, which is therefore in no way in direct relationship with it. The astral solar plexus does not rely upon egoic energy for its activity, but is vitalized by the life-forces of the astral plane. It works like an engine to which tile primary impulse has been given, and which continues to run as long as the supply of fuel is maintained. The fuel in this case is astral “prana”, which is pouring into the funnel of the chakram along its axis to the spinal cord, from whence it is distributed throughout the body.

As evolution proceeds the direct influence of the emotional body upon the physical brain is diminished. Its funcion as all active vehicle decreases, and ultimately is changed to that of a link in the chain of consciousness, which connects the egoic and the physical man.

The matter of the emotional body has an inherent motion of its own, so that the whole body is in continuous movement. Small waves and eddies pass through it; billowy undulations appear on the surface as the result of interior movements. These movements, which are quite distinct from the changes produced by the thought of the individual, render it very difficult to hold the emotional body perfectly still. From the outside its appearance resembles that of the surface of a pool, stirred continually by the movement of some large fish or reptile below the surface.

When the consciousness of the observer is unified with that of the matter of the emotional body, the first impression is one of restriction, confinement, and a dim resentment against enforced discipline. When this discipline is continually applied, a state of consciousness remotely resembling boredom can be felt in the matter of the body. The consciousness of the matter is continually exerting energy to break down the limitations imposed by the human will, and to induce excitement, rapid movement, coarser vibrations, and a quality of abandonment in regard to action. When that desire is gratified a greater sense of entityship, of actual existence, of the reality of being, is gained by the collective elemental intelligence inhabiting the astral body.

All this is an inherent instinct pervading the matter; it is not localized in any part, but is rather a general tendency as of one who is always trying to stretch himself in a place where he cannot stand upright. It is in no sense self-conscious, but results from the vague stirrings of the mass-consciousness of the whole body. In this sense the whole emotional body might be called an elemental.

If the instinct for freedom and abandonment of control be indulged, the sense of entityship grows in proportion to the measure and frequency of the emotional indulgence. Under conditions of profligacy this mass-consciousness becomes more and more capable of resisting egoic control, and of influencing the actions of the physical body through the brain and solar plexus. The elemental then becomes very powerful, and the man scans as though he were tempted and driven continually by an external influence.

The ideal use of the astral body appears to be merely as a vehicle for the expression of the finer types of emotion, and to provide conditions in which the ego can manifest at the physical level. Without a healthy astral body the egoic line of communication on leaving the mental plane would be disturbed, distorted, and, unless the ego were very powerful, dissipated by the powerful currents of the astral, atmosphere. The astral body thus acts as a protective sheath for the lines of force travelling between the ego and the brain.

Many physical nervous disorders result from imperfect action of this function of the emotional body. There is a general tendency to overwork the emotions in the ceaseless pursuit of excitement and pleasurable thrills, which is one of the characteristics of post-War conditions. Up to a certain point this strengthens the emotional element, but beyond it the strain breaks down both the nerves which transmit the feelings and the mechanism of the astral body in which they first arise.

There is a great need for relaxation and poise to overcome the results of the noise and the restless search for pleasure and new means of excitement which is common to-day. Without them serious injury will be done to the human constitution, and the development of the race will be delayed. The coming generation will inevitably suffer for the conditions of life of the present one.

In order to function perfectly, the emotional body must have been deprived of all power to initiate feeling and action, must be capable of absolute stillness, and have become practically colourless and translucent. Ideally the ego alone should have the power to produce action in the three worlds and changes in the bodies of the personality. Colour should only appear in the mental and emotional bodies, when the ego uses them to express his will, his compassion and love, and his intellectual activities.

As stated in Chapter VIII, the personal vehicles must eventually become mere instruments of the ego, perfect in tone and power of response, for thus alone may the human temple become a fit dwelling-place for the God enshrined within.

CHAPTER VI

THE STUDY OF DISCARNATE LIFE AND SOME COMMUNICATIONS

Investigations into the conditions of discarnate existence may be made by means of clairvoyance and clairaudience.

Clairvoyance enables the student to see the people and places, the scenery and non-human inhabitants of the emotional world to which man passes after death.

Clairaudience permits him to receive information from such discarnate beings as, after careful scrutiny, he feels able to trust.

Such investigations may be made whilst in the body, and in full possession of the physical faculties; there is no need whatever for mediumship, conditions of trance or sleep. In fact, the student of occultism is most seriously warned against any methods which demand the cessation of full consciousness and intellectual awareness in order to obtain contact with the unseen.

The medium, on the other hand, is entirely at the mercy of such intelligences as he permits to make use of his body. He is quite unable to scrutinize his unseen visitors, or to apply the reasoning mind to the communications which he receives whilst in a state of trance.

The after-death world contains many types of beings at all stages of development. There are discarnate as well as incarnate tramps, thieves, robbers and cut-throats. Hosts of nature-spirits live there, and some of them are full of mischief. They delight to deceive the unwary by playing the parts of discarnate humans. They derive great amusement from the blind acceptance which their efforts at mimicry and play-acting frequently obtain.

If the pitfalls which beset those who pursue such methods are to be avoided, one must develop the power of examining both the conditions and the people of the emotional world with the same detachment and impartiality as that with which an explorer surveys a new country or a scientist examines a botanical or anatomical specimen.

Complete understanding of any plane of Nature cannot DC gained from the level of that plane. No fish, even if endowed with sufficient intelligence, could study the element of water, for the simple reason that it cannot exist and function outside of water. The emotional plane can only be studied accurately from the level of the mental plane. The Student must gain a measure of self-consciousness in his mental body, and learn to use his mental means of cognition. Then he may investigate the planes below with complete understanding, without being deceived by their ever-changing phenomena and mistaking a passing temporary condition for a permanent characteristic.

The ideal level for all occult investigation of and work in the three lower worlds of form is that of the causal body.

Deceit and error are impossible to the student whose consciousness is free at that level. A description of causal consciousness is attempted in Chapter V of this volume.

Hitherto research in this direction has remained largely in the hands of members of the spiritualist body, who have published a large number of books recording their findings upon the subject. While acknowledging the splendid contribution which has been made to human knowledge upon this subject by spiritualist investigators, writers and teachers, and by the various societies for psychical research, it must be slated that the student of occultism does not find himself convinced by them or able to regard their methods favourably. First-hand experience and direct personal observation alone satisfy him, and of all the writings on the subject he tends to regard the literature of the Theosophical Society as most convincing, for in this field many authors claim to write from personal experience.

The serious student of occultism approaches the question of the life after death in a strictly scientific attitude of mind. He knows that no demonstrable proof of communication between the living and the so-called dead, which will survive scientifically applied tests, can be given. Yet he believes in the life after death, and in the possibility of communication between incarnate and discarnate beings.

His methods of investigation are directly opposed to those of the spiritualist. His knowledge is the result of personal experience, and not second, or even third hand, as must be the case when a medium, guide and intermediate intelligences are employed for purposes of investigation. The occult student believes that such methods, even at their very best, cannot possibly produce evidence which will stand the test of scientific inquiry. The sorrowing and forlorn may, and undoubtedly do, gain satisfaction, comfort and consolation by these methods, and for this reason many thousands owe a debt of gratitude to spiritualism; further it must be admitted that one of the most effective attacks upon the materialism of the last century was made by spiritualistic methods. Valuable though these methods may be from these points of view, they do not appear to be suited to, scientific research.

Let us examine the claims of the spiritualist, made in support of his belief in the continuance of life and consciousness after death, and in die possibility of communication between the living and the dead.

He says, at best, that through the guide of a certain medium—admittedly a person of the highest morality and of scrupulous honesty, who had never met or heard of him before—he received a communication concerning matters with which only one other person in the world was conversant, and of which the medium could not possibly have been aware. Further, he claims that the other person was deceased, and that the guide, speaking through the medium, gave his name or initials, as the real communicator from the unseen. Later, perchance, this individual himself used the medium’s body, displayed certain peculiar tricks of manner and traits of character which were personal to him, and communicated further material which was only known to the two people concerned—the deceased and his living friend. He asserts that such demonstrations have been multiplied indefinitely, and, in fact, are the common experience of practically every spiritualist.

Such an event as the one here described is undoubtedly startling, calculated to shake the confidence of the most hardened sceptic, and to introduce a predisposition in favour of acceptance into the most unprejudiced mind. Yet it is the contention of the occultist that it does not contain evidence upon which an opinion could justly be based.

There are many facts which can be adduced in support of this somewhat drastic statement. Two or three will be sufficient to indicate reasons for the unreliability of spiritualistic methods as a guide to the truth in this matter.

Firstly, a mildly developed clairvoyance or telepathy, and a fair gift of mimicry, would quite easily enable the medium to elicit the information from the memory of the sitter, and to give a reasonably good imitation of the manner of his friend. Secondly, assuming that the medium does not possess either of these gifts, it is well within the power of any discarnate entity, who may be in the neighbourhood, or of such a one as may have attached himself to the medium as “guide”, to obtain the information, and to mimic the deceased through the medium’s entranced body. Clairvoyant study of the actual processes of mediumship reveals the fact that this is very frequently, though not always, the case.

It follows, therefore, that however conclusive such a manifestation appears to be, it is never reliable, never trustworthy, unless the sitter himself can see the true communicator. If he can do this, then all need for an intermediary vanishes, for the communication can be made direct, and in full waking consciousness. If, then, the seer’s power of vision is of a sufficiently skilled order to prevent his being deceived by a similar set of circumstances to those which I have described—and this is quite possible—then he has obtained for himself proof of the life after death.

This is the ideal of the occultist, for whom nothing less than such direct personal proof is conclusive. There is a great gulf fixed between secondhand information and first-hand knowledge. The latter, alone, is capable of withstanding all tests and remaining unshaken.

What, then, is the method of the occultist?

Briefly, it is the development and use of his own innate powers of seership, by methods such as those described in the last chapter of this book.

Just as the fact of three-dimensional existence can never be demonstrated to a two-dimensional being, so discarnate life can never be demonstrated to a being in the flesh. If, however, we postulate that the two- dimensional being possesses a three-dimensional extension of himself, of the existence of which he is entirely unaware, and that he is really a three-dimensional being, who, at the present stage of his evolution, is only using two-dimensional consciousness, while his three- dimensional power lies dormant or latent, then it will follow that, in his normal state, he cannot possibly comprehend three-dimensional existence; he can only observe its two-dimensional manifestations, and these are so imperfect and partial that no conclusive evidence can possibly arise from a study of them. There will always be the great unknown and unknowable behind, as it were. He may attempt to study this unknown, through the known, may learn much of interest, even of value, but nothing conclusive can ever emerge; the real facts can never enter his two- dimensional mind.

Let us further assume that it is possible for the latent three-dimensional portion of this being to be prematurely awakened, and its development to be forced, by the application of known laws, as a horticulturist forces a plant. The two-dimensional being will then become capable of observing three-dimensional phenomena. Gradually, as he perfects his ability to function in the three-dimensional world, he will be able to meet and study its denizens on equal terms. Under these conditions it becomes possible for him to obtain conclusive knowledge for himself.

Even so, it would still be quite impossible for him to demonstrate his knowledge conclusively to others, who did not possess his powers of investigation.

It is for this reason that the statement is made that no demonstrable proof of the life after death can ever be given by or through one person to another. The testimony of the whole of humanity, from first to last, concerning the glories of the sunset can never be proof to a man blind from birth. Only when he has opened his eyes, and has seen for himself, can he know.

Occultism teaches that every man has a vehicle of consciousness and appropriate organs of cognition by means of which he can enter and study the invisible worlds and such intelligences as dwell therein; if he will awaken and use them, he may then apply scientific tests to the problems of life after death and alleged spirit communication. The only satisfactory and final test of their existence is that applied by the trained occultist. Using age-long knowledge and experience, he unfolds and learns to use the necessary faculties. He awakens the latent seership, to which every man is heir, and by its means is enabled to explore the regions beyond the portal of death.

This is not the place to attempt a full statement of the results of such investigations, though brief records are given in this volume; it may be said, however, that the Knowledge so gained places death in its rightful place as an incident which marks the translation of human consciousness from one plane of manifestation and growth to another, and which differs from sleep only in that the change is permanent. During sleep we temporarily enter the after-death world, and there meet our departed friends and relations whenever we choose. At death we join them permanently, until the time comes for us or them to pass still farther onwards to the next stage in the cycle of life and development.

At the end of each life-cycle man withdraws from active manifested existence, and passes through a period in which all the experiences and faculties, resulting from the cycle which has just closed, are converted into capacities and character. When this process is complete a new cycle opens. Again he descends into manifested worlds, and is born of woman, to complete once more a pilgrimage through matter, further developing the faculties he already possesses, and at the same time acquiring new powers and new knowledge. Thus he is laying up for himself those “treasures in Heaven where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt”. (St. Matt., vi, 20.)

In the end all lessons are learned, all powers unfolded, and all knowledge gained. Then the outgoing ceases, for there is no longer need for experience in the flesh. New fields of evolution open up before the perfected man, higher peaks are then to be climbed, wider powers to be attained. For these no earthly form is needed, for “him that over- cometh will I make a pillar in the temple of my God, and he shall go no more out”. (Rev. 12.) [The italics are mine.—Author.]

With these explanatory remarks, we may now proceed to examine records of attempted study of discarnate life.

Human Life after Death.

Case C from Chapter III. Investigated a few weeks after death.

A very fair measure of self-consciousness at the emotional level had been developed before death. As the emotional capacities were in no way hindered by ill-health, his ego had been giving attention to the development of the emotional body for some years during earth life, so that the patient gradually became more conscious in the emotional than in the physical body. The ego realized that in the process of paying off past karmic debts the physical body would become an increasingly difficult vehicle through which to work and to grow. Emotional consciousness was very vivid during sleep, and during the last few weeks of physical life the ego was gradually transferring his consciousness from the physical to the emotional level.

When death actually occurred the personality received little or no shock; in fact, the patient was hardly aware of the change. A short period of sleep followed the breaking of the cord, after which the boy resumed the occupations in his emotional body to which he had become accustomed during physical sleep.

He has gravitated quite naturally to that region of the after-death world which Spiritualists call Summer- land. He finds himself amongst beautiful scenes of a pastoral nature, with mountains and valleys, and a profusion of wild flowers.

The state of his consciousness varies considerably.

He has moods of depression and longing for the physical companionship of his family. He sees them and their home surroundings fairly well, but finds himself unable to impress them with the sense of his presence, though he has tried more than once to do so.

Unfortunately, on one occasion when he returned to the home, he witnessed an expression of deep grief on the part of his mother. Her sorrow had overcome her, and she gave way to tears. This experience affected him profoundly, and cast a gloom over him for several days, and shut him out from the bright world into which he had been “born”.

By contrast with his painful physical life and the pain of parting, his life in the scenery previously described is bright and joyous in the extreme. There is something almost birdlike in the way in which he rejoices in the beauties of Nature, the purity of the air, and his own new-found freedom from the prison of the flesh.

Here, occasionally, the parents come to him at night, but they come clothed in black—symbol of grief and lack of understanding of the fact that death is in reality birth into a higher and better world— and it will take some considerable time before their philosophy enables them to overcome their grief. They do meet him, however, as also do some of the children, the latter being far brighter and, therefore, more able to enter the sphere in which he finds himself.

In one sense physical incarnation was a nightmare to him; he belongs by nature to a pastoral life amidst the birds, the beasts, the fishes, and the flowers, with all the sense of freedom and idyllic happiness which such associations produce in the true lover of Nature. During earth life he lived in the East End of London, therefore the sense of release is very great, and it would appear that, having paid the physical karmic debt, considerable progress will be made during the new life.

He seems to have left all trace of his physical disease behind him, although the consciousness still has a habit of expecting to find a dull brain and a heavy head. These are to some extent present by repercussion on occasion. They are entirely illusory, and will gradually pass away as the memory of them fades. There is a dull patch in the astral head, and down the astral spine, which is the result of badly circulating prana during earth life; when he forgets himself completely these will have no effect whatever upon his freedom of action or thought, and they will gradually be replaced by healthy astral matter.

The ego appears to be quite advanced in some directions, and to entertain the possibility and the hope of a return to earthly incarnation under much more favourable circumstances in the not far distant future. In the meantime the boy is, for the most part, remarkably well and happy, and has such friends and playmates as he needs; some of them he had already met during sleep, so that there has never been any loneliness from that point of view. As his parents learn to cast aside their personal sorrow, and to dwell entirely on the blessed release and the happy life which is his, so will they come nearer to him and he to them; so also will they become the support and help to him in his new life which only parents can be. When this change is complete the family life will be resumed, the only difference being that it will be expressed during the night instead of during the day.

It is of interest to notice the presence of angels and nature-spirits in the region to which he has gone, and his ability to see and converse with them; in fact, he has made friends quite readily with certain members of the fairy kingdom. The very earnest prayers of his father and mother, too, have surrounded him with beautiful thought-forms which resemble the more orthodox angels of the Christian faith. Occasionally the higher nature-spirits will enter one of these thought forms, and, by vivifying it, add to the prayer force by which it was originally created and inspired.

In spite of the presence of all these beautiful companions, he chooses to spend a great deal of his time alone, for he seems to be very much “one by himself”. He wanders by the little streams continually, pulling the flowers, smelling them, and peering into their depths in order to see the internal formation of the blossoms; he employs that nature-sense, with which he is considerably endowed, in order to gain an understanding of the mechanism of their growth and formation. Sometimes he lies in sunny meadows, hidden in the dewy grass, singing to himself and watching the white clouds sail slowly across the blue sky. On these occasions, in his truly natural surroundings he is exquisitely happy, and when, as time passes, the pain of separation has healed, this will be his normal condition for many years.

In this world of freshness and beauty, he will continue to encounter such of his relatives as are able to reach him at night, but their participation in and enjoyment of it will depend very largely upon their ability to enter into the love of Nature, and the spirit of unselfish and impersonal worship of its beauty which is characteristic of the boy.

It must be remembered that in all cases of after-death surroundings, the environment in which a person finds himself is in a very large measure an objective expression of the individual’s own nature.

(1) The After-Death Condition of a learned and spiritually-minded Unitarian Minister who died from tuberculosis whilst still young.

C.M., who died quite recently, appears as though still dressed in the dark clothing which he wore on earth. He seems to be taller than when in the flesh. His whole bearing is that of a man who is completely sure of himself, and his attitude is one of certainty and self-command. His expression is fearless, free, as of one who is already master of the world in which he lives. His eyes are large and lustrous, and their gaze is powerful. He gives a far greater impression of determination, strength, and supreme ability than was the case on earth. He is a man who has found that his philosophy of life has, under the great test, proved to be in the main sound and well-founded.

He says: “It was two days before I realized what had happened, and I first became aware of the shining of the great light, as if I had suddenly awakened into exceptionally bright sunlight; yet even then I did not realize what had occurred. Several unknown people were about me, and the surroundings were strange. After a short time I was told the truth, and when realization came, my first feeling was one of keen disappointment; there was so much I had hoped to do. That feeling has since vanished, for I am a parson still, with a wider parish and a larger flock than I ever dreamed of, and a ministry of a new order is opened up to me. I am preparing for even greater work, full of great promise.

“The different between the two worlds is not so great as I expected. In fact, allowing for the loss of body, the environment is not dissimilar, but the change is most marked in the mind, which is powerfully affected by the sense of freedom and ability, the power to work out ideas and ideals in actual practice, the wide sweep, the marvellous range and the vast store of knowledge which is here available. The results of a week’s study on earth can now be achieved in an hour. Prayer and meditation become scientific processes, the results of which are objectively visible as they are produced.

“The recognition of old friends is instant and unmistakable. Generally the first person who is seen is a loved one who has gone before, and who, seeing the approaching dissolution, waits in readiness to greet and welcome the new arrival. The joy of these meetings is very great and serves to detach the mind from the pain of release. One is then generally taken quite away from the scene to a place of quiet where readjustment can take place. I was met by several people as soon as I awoke, which was some fourteen hours after I slipped unexpectedly away from the body one of the chief people was my father, and I find that it is not necessary for those who greet the new arrival to be dead, as frequently they are still living on earth. Many of the people attending the college in which I now work have physical bodies and come to us during sleep, when an endeavour is made to give them ideas for their work on earth.

“I personally, am working more amongst the living than the dead, though some of the groups are permanently freed. It is a great work, full of immense possibilities, but tried workers are all too few. We teach by lecture, demonstration, and also by objective thought-visualization. Frequently the actual places under study are visited. One of the main objects is to enable the students to grasp the fact that ancient history and modern events are part of one single whole, and that all the events in the life of past races played a part in the production of the present conditions, which in their turn can only be understood dearly from that point of view. The tendency on earth is to make the studies of the past and or the life of other nations too detached, for, to be understood, they must be seen as a whole. So this idea of the unity of life is applied to the law of cycles, in order that the events of to-day can be seen as repetitions on a higher scale of the past, and dealt with from that angle. History and sociology are my two main subjects just now, and they embrace practically all the field of my previous studies, but are dealt with in a much wider and more inclusive fashion than is usual on earth. I lecture and demonstrate; I conduct parties and train individuals.

“The nature and method of our studies is very different from those used on earth. In botany, for example, we are able to observe the processes of Nature, the rising of the life force in the root or seed, and to trace its activities throughout the life of the plant; to watch the actual formation of cell and tissue. If you apply that principle to such objects as biology and anthropology, you will understand something of the difference of method.

“Recognition of people does not depend upon a knowledge of their physical appearance. There is another mode which enables us to know them instantly, whatever the particular form may be. It is a kind of soul recognition by means of which it is almost impossible to be deceived. I have met all the old friends who have passed on, and see them occasionally. I become very absorbed in my work, however, and this occupies nearly all my time.

“Meditation and prayer are very much easier here, and complete seclusion and perfect quiet can always be obtained if the mind is at rest. At first I spent most of my time in meditation, and was not very much aware of my surroundings. Inwardly I was lifted up to a great realization which I can only describe as union with God, an interior communication with Him which seemed to satisfy and answer all the spiritual cravings of my life. I can still retire that state, and in fact am conscious of it all the time. That is one reason why I was given my present work which I began about two months after I had arrived. It is like a wonderful dream conic true, far more wonderful than I ever dared hope, and the suffering on earth was part of the training.

“When I am working, I become filled with a most vivid joy and a spiritual keenness; as though I always had a fine edge on my soul, which is a stale I rarely attained in the body.

I can come nearest to those I love on earth at times of prayer and meditation. You may be sure that any supposed communication from me are spurious. The world in which we live is very far removed from the seance-room and the phenomena- producers. Even the studies which have a material basis are spiritualized to a great extent, whilst the motive is utterly purified by the absence of all desire for gain. From this, you may glimpse something of the splendidly ideal atmosphere in which we work.

“The teaching-place (do not make rigid thoughts of college of university, because they would not accurately represent the facts) is much more an attitude, a state of mind, than a building, though many who study here may fell the same separation from outer distraction that is gained by the use of buildings on earth. Of course, the school has a definite geographical position to which the students come for instruction. The farther one’s mind is removed from material and coarse conditions, the more spiritual one is and the farther one gravitates from earthly influences. The worst type of people occupy a space on a level with and a little below the earth’s surface, whilst the average person moves in an atmosphere some distance above the earth’s surface, thus free from the immediate contact of earth relations.

“Our work is done on and most of our lives are lived in the pure atmosphere of the higher levels, so that we are undisturbed by the coarse and inharmonious vibrations of the material world, with its ever driving necessity for providing the means for subsistence. Completely freed from that most potent source of difficulty, we are able to pursue our studies with a peace that is impossible to the ordinary man. The work, however, takes us very closely into contact with earthly conditions...

From here onwards the communication was of a more personal nature, and is therefore not included in this record.

(2) A Noble Soul.

Extract from wife’s letter.

“J.S., who died from paralysis at the age of fifty-three, was an organist and choir-director, using his gifts only for the glorification of the Divine, and feeling himself nothing but a channel, an instrument.

“He was from earliest childhood ardent in his faith and love for Christ. A Protestant, he was yet open to every teaching, interested in Theosophy because it became my life-interest and because he saw the great unifying influence it possessed. The Law of Unity was part of his creed.

“He opened the hearts of hundreds through his enthusiasm, gentleness, and unselfishness. To sing under his direction was to take part in a religious service.

“He was an excellent pedagogue, loving children and angels, being himself a happy child, a being of joy and brighthess…”

Clairvoyant investigation shows that J.S. had a full measure of self-consciousness out of the body before he died, and was quite accustomed to the conditions of the emotional plane. He has gravitated to the higher levels of that plane, and is already free of almost all the difficulties which the first few years of life there usually present. His nature is singularly pure and idealistic. He has entered a level of consciousness where he is in touch with the soul of music. He might be said to have entered the kingdom of music and to be living therein. He is surrounded by the ideations of music rather than by sound, and as a result is building up great musical knowledge for future lives. His consciousness is at present saturated with music he is living in and with the very essence of music, surrounded by divine harmonics and choirs of angels singing and playing on celestial instruments. He is in the centre or a world of music in which his aspirations as a composer, conductor, and artist are satisfied to the full.

Occasionally he leaves that world to enjoy the beauties of Nature as displayed at the higher levels of the emotional plane. Here he meets his wife during her sleep, and together they enjoy the world which he has entered. He tries to draw her into the same intimate contact with the soul of music he has himself attained.

Probably he is on the threshold of Devachan,[27] and occasionally enters it, but has not yet permanently withdrawn from objective consciousness. The link between husband and wife is very close; he frequently accompanies her to church, and is close beside her in the home. He has a distinctly dual personality. In one he is the composer and musical idealist, living in the kingdom of music, in the other he is a very kindly, homely husband with an intense love for his wife and for the beautiful things of life. He tends to live now more and more in the consciousness of the first of these. He is quite an advanced ego with distinct links with the leaders of the human race, though as an artist he would tend to take the mystical rather than the occult path to union. Death caused him little or no suffering, and he has in no sense lost the companionship of his wife. He sees her at will in the daytime, and they share each other’s lives at night. All is indeed well with him.

(3) A Quaker.

A Communication received from a devout Quaker a few weeks after his death from heart failure; one who was also an advanced student of and worker for Theosophy.—May 14th, 1922.

“For the last few days before I left the body and ever since, I have been enveloped in a great light like a cloud of fire. It prevented me from feeling any bodily sensations both before and during my passing, and kept me in a condition of exaltation and joy for three days afterwards. C. (his wife who is still alive) and the bairns came up to me into the cloud every night when their bodies were asleep, and we entered into a state of ineffable glory.

“The Master was present, and He shone amidst the glory with an even greater light. He upheld and supported me. I still glow within and without, with the power of the divine Fire in which I was bathed. It seemed to reach right up into the heavens above and down into the earth beneath. If I moved, it moved with me. I could not see the outside of it, but saw many people within it. This cloud was like the pillar of fire which guided the Israelites through the desert, and was the symbol of a great reality. Life here is joy, joy unutterable for me.

“I am not properly settled down as yet. I have not grown accustomed to the wonder of it at all and to the splendour of my passing, which was completely free from all pain or tear. I am full of life, as if an inexhaustible supply were pouring into me. The physical world is a poor place at the best, and it is hard not to wish you were all here. From where I stand I can see clearly that everybody’s life is guided and that all our anxieties are unnecessary. Things cannot really go wrong with good people if they will just do the work which lies before them and leave the future in God’s hands. You do not see God over here, but you know that He is ceaselessly at work. You see and feel the effects and you know the Cause.

“The influence of the great Masters[28] is everywhere present. You find Them behind every good movement, not so much as Persons or as Individuals, but tis Officers. There are many more Masters here than there are on the physical plane, and I have already joined a band which contains more than One. Tell my wife that the One we worshipped together is the One to Whom we both belong.

“I am so uplifted that the restraint is unbearable when I touch your earth through you. No one on earth knows what life is; such realization is impossible in the physical body. One feels like a bubble always rising to the top of the water and only being kept down by sheer force of will. C. [the wife] comes to the top of the water, too, at night, and the real c. lives there eternally. At last I have found her, the real c. with the real me, and here we are continually together.

“The bairns will see the coming of the Lord before very long; this place is all astir with preparations for His coming[29] like a great city being cleansed and prepared for the passing of the King. The beauty and the wonder of the Masters and of the Master of Masters is greater than you can possibly dream of, and like Their Peace, it passeth all understanding.

All the Masters will act together as a whole at His Coming, which will be greater than anything which has ever gone before. He will create a new Heaven and a new earth for thousands of people.

“One of the things which strikes me most here is the angel kingdom. Their numbers are like the stars, and they converse by means of their auras. The presence of a great angel obliterates everything else, as though he filled the sky from horizon to horizon.”

Further Communication one month later, in the presence of his wife.

On the occasion of his previous visit, F.R. was still strongly under the influence of the exaltation of consciousness which came to him at the time of his passing. He appeared to be so full of spiritual energy and to be so uplifted as to present an altogether abnormal appearance. This time he has his inner forces under control, and the gentleness and quietness of manner which distinguished him on earth are now expressed to a marked degree.

His presence was first made known to us by a gentle vibration and a spirit of quietness and affection which pervaded the room in which we were sitting. It seems that he has gravitated to an unusually interior condition, and is entirely free from the limitation of earth as well as of the lower levels of the after-death world. In appearance he is just as he was known on earth, even to the semblance of clothing of some dark blue material. His face shines with a happiness, a serenity, an absence of care and a sense of certainty beyond anything possible in the flesh, even during the days of his greatest happiness on earth.

His aura presents three main colourings arranged roughly in layers; rose-pink next to the form, then the pale-green of an evening sky which shades off to a bright and radiant yellow beyond which spark-like radiations are flowing for a considerable distance. He is a man of mark wherever he goes. His contact with earth is chiefly maintained for the sake of his family; but even with them it is but the lightest touch, the real contact being on the plane of egoic consciousness rather than that of form or feeling.

He says: “I am with the bairns on most nights, but not every night, C. generally comes along, but not always, as she, too, has much work to do. She is quite a different person here, and would hardly recognize herself. The body makes much more difference than I ever realized. The brain, by hereditary conditions, alters the personality and nearly all the limitations are due to it. C. does the greater portion of her spiritual and occult work at night. Meditation and study groups are held here, and she belongs to one of them. The members meet before they begin their nightly work;[30] the bairns just play about and enjoy themselves...

[Here follows much personal information concerning the character and future of the two children.]

...It is not only the form which is changed on passing from earth, but, much more, the mind. It is like being free after confinement in a prison cell. One can easily be aware in several places at once, and there is not so much travelling as you might suppose, at least from this level.

“The Master’s attention is like a wide beam of light, and in that beam His servants live, seeing things with His light, and doing His will. Although they experience external limitations, they have a wide range of interior expansion open to them. As long as our will is given to Him, we are within His light. When we think of ourselves, it is as if we stepped out of the beam. Although the Master’s attention is distributed over an enormously wide area, His concentration on any one portion of it is far more intense and vivid than anything we can achieve, and this is partly the secret of the power of the Masters. Some of this vividness of consciousness, which is a prominent characteristic of Theirs, is shared by all who work for Them.

“I did not previously realize the extent to which Their consciousness is concentrated upon us. Believe me, They know most intimately each one of us who try to serve Them. They care for us, both in the flesh and out of it, with a love that is both paternal land maternal and indeed passeth understanding. I always thought I was being guided, but now I know I was, more than I ever realized. No one who loves Them need have the slightest fear in his earth life; They know all Their followers, even though these number many thousands who have been collected during many centuries. One of Them has a school on the inner planes where He and His pupils teach. To this school belong many people, who gain from it the inspiration for their work. All the work done for the cause is known and recorded

“JOY is the keynote of all life, as well as love. The affinity between souls is so close that I think there must be a unity somewhere very high up. Some souls are so close as to seem to spring from the same spiritual unit.”

The communication closed with personal references, which are omitted.

ANGELIC COMMUNICATIONS

(1) A War-time Experience of angelic help in time of need

The following is an account of contact during the War with an angel attached to a village church in France.

The church was dedicated to St. Martin of Tours, and a strong thought-form of that Saint was used by the church angel[31] as a vehicle through which to work. I This form was built at the consecration of the church, I and was no doubt used by the Saint to maintain I contact with the church which was dedicated to him.

The Saint himself was not present continually in propria persona, but the existence of the thought-form enabled him continually to shed his beneficent influence upon his church and congregation.

An angel was also attached to the church, and evidently used St. Martin’s form as one familiar to the people and as especially, appropriate to the help he gave to the author when a soldier; for St Marlin was himself a soldier and the friend of soldiers. Probably it was a combination of his own influence with that of the angel which helped so much in a time of great need.

The account is given in the form in which it was written, shortly after the occurrence which it describes.

Tanks, like many other instruments of warfare, express themselves largely by noise and movement. Inside the tank, the former characteristic is predominant, and outside, the latter. To those who have learned to love the silence, they are not the most desirable companions of daily toil; to live with them, to sleep in or under them, and to fight in them over a period of eighteen months is not the happiest of occupations for a lover of peace.

When the day’s training, trekking, or fighting is over, it is customary to park the tanks in a line and cover them with tarpaulins and nets; in this garb they closely resemble prehistoric monsters. Those who are at once their masters and their slaves bid them a “good night” in which relief is mingled—so strange is the human heart—with something of affection.

Look, for example, at the Dinosaur at the end of the line I That is our tank, and we have lived with and fought in her for many months. Through her tiny loop-holes we have watched grim Death stalking by our side. We have heard his bullets rain like hail upon her flanks; we have driven her over deadly barbed-wire entanglements, trenches, and shell-holes. Heavy guns, deep-sunken in the mud and despaired of by their crews, has she pulled out on to dry ground. She has brought back the wounded after many a show—and we would not willingly change her for another. We understand all her little ways, and know that for all her weight and size she is very sensitive, and needs humouring and constant care; her resistless physical power moves us to admiration and—yes—we must admit, she has a place in our affections.

All the same, she rattles, grinds, and clangs forth an inferno of noise.

In the evening, in most village churches in France, silence, beauty and peace are to be found. One feels within die unlocked doors a sense of silent welcome.

So it is with the little Church of St. Martin, in the valley of the Ternoise.

I enter reverently... there seems a special peace and welcome here; the day has been hard, tiring, and very noisy. Relaxed completely, I drop into a seat. The familiar hint of incense still pervades the air— an outward symbol of harmony and purity, and of blessing recently outpoured.

There must have been Benediction this evening; the atmosphere is so full of life, the ether so vibrant with power. How beautiful is the peace of this little village church, built on the hill above the river and sheltered by tail trees.

The darkness descends swiftly, and the tiny lamp before the altar shines but dimly through the gloom. The pillars rise upwards to a roof fast fading into invisibility. What a blessed peace! How soothed and rested are body and soul in this gracious atmosphere of daily prayer and praise! I wonder if there is a special Angel of this place, whether I can reach his consciousness and thank him for the welcome of his church? Perhaps the patron saint watches over his people here? Can I reach him... or maybe the Blessed Virgin... Saint Thérèse... or Mary Magdalene...?

Gradually there is a change. The altar appears outlined with white light, the sanctuary vibrant with power. My eyes are closed, but inner sight—deliberately inhibited for many years of Wartime life—is aroused and aware. Behind and above altar a form appears—tall and impassive—a man. all red from head to foot, as if clad in crimson armour. He approaches, and stands behind and a little above me. All fear gradually disappears, and a great joy wells up from within me. I feel, too, a sense of comradeship with him—as though he were my friend who gladly welcomes me in his church.

Dread of the near future has been with me. We are shortly going forward again, and are undertaking special training for a new departure in tank warfare.

But now all fear leaves me; I feel supported, as though his armour were upon me and made me safe. A firm conviction conics that all will be well, that I shall not be alone in the Hell that has soon to be faced... that I shall come throughly.

I did not see his face clearly. There was an impression of a clear-cut, clean-shaven countenance —of a smile—and I felt that he realized fully the state of my mind and my needs, and gave of his power without stint. I was inwardly fortified by a strength which he called up from the deep within me. He gave me a sense or blessed companionship. I knew him, and still know him.

On many succeeding evenings, after the day’s training was finished, I returned to his church and to him. Many times afterwards I used the thought of him when most I needed it, and he never failed.

Some day I hope to re-visit the valley of the Ternoise and the little church on the hill dedicated to St. Martin. I hope I shall not be alone, and that we

two shall give thanks together for a great Light that shone in the darkness—for a healing that came to shattered nerves, and for a story which helped.someone waiting anxiously at home. And we shall ask a blessing upon those who built the little church, and upon the gracious Guardian of the holy place, who gave a welcome and held out his hand to a younger Brother who was finding his dharma rather beyond his strength.

THE WAY OF KNOWLEDGE

(2) An example of teaching received from an angel[32]

“We would teach man the way of knowledge, that he may learn to draw upon the hidden sources of energy latent within him and, releasing the forces of his own divinity, become a God.

“Mankind has forgotten his divinity, and, forgetting, seeks without for that which is within. There is no possibility of success in the search for power and knowledge, until its direction is reversed. The scientist, the philosopher, the explorer, and the investigator must cease their physical activities; that which they seek obeys no earthly laws, responds to no physical vibration. Spiritual in its nature, its presence may only be recorded on the seeker’s brain, after his mind, his feelings, and his body have been plunged into a profound silence, a stillness so complete, that the lofty vibrations of the spiritual worlds may reach the inner car. The subtler organs of the brain— dormant through long ages, save for their glandular secretions—are the sole physical instruments by means of which the search may be continued; by their aid alone man may hear, see, and measure the hidden forces which form the central core, the secret heart, of all material phenomena.

“Knowledge of that interior life force is the next step which the seeker must take, be he scientist or philosopher. The means is within him, therefore he must forsake his external instruments and learn to use those organs of cognition within himself by which alone he can discover that source of power within the heart of Nature, which is the object of his search. Thus, the first step must be a reversal of his present methods of inquiry. He must change from external observation to contact from within. New organs of cognition must be made to function; when they are aroused and under control, no secret shall be hid, all knowledge shall be revealed.

Man, by virtue of his divinity, possesses the capacity for the deepest of all researches, that into the divine behind the material; as by the material the material is known, so, by the divine must the divine be discovered. Man must learn to sec the God in Nature, through the God within himself.

“First he must find that God; this task should not be difficult for the determined mind, for that inner God is his true self, his very self, the ego which inspires his life. The blending of the material and the spiritual, the secular and the sacred, is the keynote of the research of the future. When this is achieved, the limitations of the material man will be transcended and the powers of the spiritual man will be released. By their aid, his vision may be telescopic or microscopic, may pass beyond the range of any external instrument, however powerful, however delicate. He may enlarge the atom, or examine the smallest detail of the sister planets of the earth. He may study all things, passing from external vision to a blending of his mind with the Mind which created him and them, and therefore know them from within. Distance will cease to limit him, and he will destroy the illusion of size. From the quiet of his own study he may explore both the surface and the interior of the globe, may range the aerial spaces, visit sun, moon, and stars. With this interior vision the hidden processes of Nature may be observed in all Her kingdoms; by it, the veil which separates the living from the dead may be drawn aside, and the regions of the underworld, the abodes of the blessed, and the egoic home of man may be explored.

“This is the next step, the immediate future in the evolution of human consciousness and its organs of cognition. The will and the mind of man must be united, in order to effect the unfolding of the latest faculties and the quickening of the organs in the brain, through which they will be expressed. In this direction the efforts of scientist, philosopher, teacher, statesman, and priest must be turned. With his inner powers awakened, each, in his own field, may pursue knowledge and gain wisdom, so that his labours may be spiritually inspired, and a fairer day dawn on the horizon of the human race.

“A new era will be born in which the faculties of the inner mind of man will be awakened and expressed through the newly-developed powers of his brain. This inner mind is the core of his being—the heart, from which flow the life streams which vivify external man. The outer mind is but a shell, or husk, enclosing precious seed; the shell must be broken, the husk be laid aside, ere the seed can grow into the plant.

“Within this life-centre are blended the human and divine; it is the real man, the immortal principle, which persists throughout the ages, the undying inspirer of his many lives, the single light which casts a thousand shadows into the impermanent worlds of thought, of feeling, and of action. Each shadow is an earthly mail, pursues an earthly life, and vanishes. With the passing of the centuries the shadows become less dense, as the mind which forms and governs their shape and density becomes more and more illumined by the light which is behind.

“The acceptance of this hypothesis is the first and essential step towards the development of the next phase of human consciousness; its truth and value will be rapidly revealed to those who proceed to its practical employment in scientific and philosophical research.

“The technique of this new method is not difficult to acquire, because it is the natural expression of the phase of human consciousness into which man is now passing. The faculty of external observation has been perfected, the next step is the development of the capacity for interior cognition until a similar standard of perfection has been reached.

“Interior cognition is the external aspect of meditation. Therefore the scientist must pass from external observation to meditation and, in the state of meditation, employ interior means of cognition. The meditation which he will employ will be that of knowledge.

“The meditation of knowledge will reveal every secret to him who learns the art of its employment as an instrument of research; its purpose is to lead the student to communion with the divine mind, within which all knowledge is contained. The consciousness of the Logos is represented in man by his inner mind, which is the core of his mental self; its presence ensures the future development of his intellect to that point at which it will be merged with the universal intelligence. That consummation— foreordained from the beginning—will be attained by every man at the close of the evolutionary cycle; a reflection of it may be obtained in advance by means of the meditation of knowledge.

“As the ruler of men discovers the meaning of omnipotence by uniting himself with the will of God and then is able to release the power of the One Will, and the lover of man discovers the meaning of omnipresence by uniting himself with the love of God and, releasing His wisdom and His love, is filled with a divine compassion, so the knower must unite himself with the One mind if he would discover the meaning of omniscience and acquire universal knowledge.

“Will, love, knowledge, these three are the divine attributes in man and constitute the promise of his triple union with God. As an Adept he will employ them all; as a scientist he begins by concentrating upon one. First he must discover the divine point within himself—the centre of the circle of his being; then he must learn to move the point until a line is formed, and from the line a square, and from the square a cube, for the cube is the symbol of the divine knowledge employed to give perfect understanding of the material universe.

“The centre of man’s being occupies a region of his consciousness one stage beyond his mental principle. To reach it, therefore, he must pass beyond the limitations of the deductive and analytical into the inductive and synthetic aspect of his intellect. When that higher level has been reached he must, by practice, learn to dwell therein habitually, for this is his true home; in the principle in which he dwells therein he is immortal; neither time nor space can bind him; nor can external force of any kind disturb the seclusion in which, treading the path of knowledge, his researches and experiments will be pursued. In his earthly body he is human and governed by the laws of human and terrestrial life; in the Augoiedes he is divine and incapable of error, as of sin; being divine he will study from the point of view of the creator and designer of the universe, instead of from that of a separated portion of the great design.

“The first step, therefore, is to find the way from the human to the divine, from the mortal to the immortal, from the separated self to the one Self, from the canvas of life to the heart and mind of the great Artist, there to see His vision of the picture which He paints. By meditation, the aspirant must gain access to the synthetic aspect of his mind, become familiar with that interior region and learn to function there with certainty and ease.

“The base from which he will begin the voyage of discovery is the lower mind, which must be trained! to instant obedience to the will; it must be robbed of all initiative, be recognized as an instrument, and employed by the consciousness as an external piece of apparatus; lifeless save when he gives it life; powerless apart from his will. He must learn to point it with accuracy and unwavering concentration in any desired direction, whether downwards towards the material worlds, or upwards into the spiritual; train it to become still, so that, mirror-like, it may record with perfect accuracy that which falls upon it and reflect it into the special organs of the brain, by which alone the knowledge of the invisible worlds may reach the earthly man.

“Before the eye within the brain may see, or inner car may hear, their vibratory rates must be raised by purity of life, of food, of action, and of thought. The scientist of the coming age cannot neglect the ancient teaching of religion concerning the culture of the body and the soul. He must learn to make of mind, of feeling, and of brain a single instrument of perfect tone. The votaries who would worship at the shrine of knowledge must lay aside all earthly pleasures which would mar the beauty, perfection, and minute accuracy of the instrument. All passion must be foregone, for passion is a storm or feeling, which would destroy the subtle delicacy of perception so essential for research. Food must be pure, light, vital, and free from the stain of blood and cruelty; drink free from the fumes of alcohol; in pleasure he must always seek the highest form of recreation. The finest music, the greatest beauty, and the purest form of intellect and wit must be deliberately selected, avoiding all that might sully, even for a moment, the bodies which are the temples into which divine knowledge is to be invoked.

“He must meditate daily, seeking to pierce the many veils which hang before the holy of holies, in which divine knowledge is enshrined, with concentrated mind he must think his way through the unreality and illusion of the lower worlds, past the phenomena and forms which hitherto have served him for the real, into the primeval Source of all existence Which is behind. Every object which has life may serve as starting-point; he may take the tree, the branch, the stem, the leaf, insect, animal, bird, or man, and seek to unify the life within himself with the life inspiring them.

“Gradually he will learn to use the various level of his consciousness freely and at will; to concentrate awareness in the planes of feeling or of thought exclusively, to focus his intellectual powers in the vehicle appropriate to the knowledge which he seeks. When this technique has been acquired, he will begin to draw aside the veil of the temple and approach the altar of knowledge and of truth. That veil symbolizes the region of the world of thought, which lies between the higher and the lower mind, the mortal and immortal man. The altar is his great Augoiedes, his shining and eternal Self, where truth and knowledge ever reign. Seated in calm and undisturbed peace, with life and bodies purified, with soul at rest, let him collect the force of every faculty of body and of mind and draw them up into himself and point them like an arrow through the centre of his head, upwards into the formless worlds, concentrating every power of his being into The Will To Know

“As practice brings success, he will form his lower vehicles into a chalice, which he will offer upon the altar of his higher self, that it may be filled with the wine of wisdom and of truth. As the precious fluid flows into the cup his mind will be illumined and his soul refreshed. A new life will descend and vivify his every thought and word and deed. His brain will be quickened, its dual glands of wisdom and of knowledge will be awakened, and, acting in unison, will provide him with an eye, which, piercing every obstacle of time and space, will dispel the illusion of distance, size, and form. Nature will begin to recognize the sovereign right to knowledge, which his aspiring soul has won. She will reveal Herself and lay Her secrets bare. The next stage in the development of human consciousness will have begun.

“The way of knowledge is the way of light, and ere the final illumination is bestowed, the knight of wisdom must perform his accolade; when at last he shall have drawn aside the veil, he must kneel before the altar of the God within himself and swear the vow which never may be broken. He must pledge himself that all the knowledge which he gains, and every power which his will evokes, shall be dedicated utterly and irrevocably to the service of the great ideal of the progress and perfection of the life in every form. He must become a builder in the service of the Great Architect of the Universe, destroying only when the form has been outgrown, and then with divine compassion and selfless desire to serve. With his new-found power he must become a protector, preserver, and regenerator, using knowledge only to these ends. Then, and then alone, may he grow in wisdom and be consecrated as a knight in the service of the King and a steward of the wisdom of the Great Scientist or the Universe.

“He shall rise from kneeling with the humility of one who, having seen the great light within the sanctuary, knows himself but a minute speck, illumined by its beams. His new-found powers will grow as he learns to use them. He will develop a new technique of research, will enter virgin fields of knowledge, the fruits of which he will employ for the upliftment and refinement of human life. In the field of interior illumination alone are to be found the sovereign remedies for every human ill, and when men learn to live according to the law which, by his new-found knowledge, he will teach, disease will be banished from the minds and bodies of those who live in obedience to its behests. The earth will be made more fruitful; the powers of the air will be discovered and turned to human use. Inexhaustible sources of power will be released. Light, heat, and energy will be discovered in the air. The vital forces of the human body may be studied, and the secret of life, maturity, and longevity may be known. The stone of the philosopher and his vital elixir are the bread and wine served upon the altar of truth, set up in that holy of holies, which is the deepest and truest self of man. He that would partake of that most precious sacrament must tread the way of service.

“The newly-consecrated knight will bear upon his shield the emblem of a cup and the words ‘power for service’. Thus he will display his goal and its reward.

“Such is the way of knowledge—let him who dares pursue it, and he shall win freedom from the bonds of illusion and of woe, shall break the shackles of desire and enter into eternal peace.”

CHAPTER VII

CLAIRVOYANCE IN TIME

(1)THE STORY OF SIMON THE ESSENE

AN ACCOUNT OF A CLAIRVOYANT VISION OF PALESTINE AT

THE TIME OF THE COMING OF THE LORD CHRIST[33]

SIMON the Essene was born some twenty-five or thirty years before the last coming of our Lord; he was the son of well-to-do parents, his father being a sheik or noble, who was in many ways a very remarkable man. He possessed considerable occult knowledge, and knew of the existence of the Great White Brotherhood, with which he was connected. He was a tall, handsome man, with dark hair and beard, large, deep-set eyes, strong, prominent nose, and high check-bones.

At the time at which he is seen he is wearing an Eastern head-dress of very bright colours, and a long robe. He seems to be more Jew than Arab, though he spends part of his life in the desert. He knows of the expected Coming, and has, in fact, the attitude of mind of those who are expecting Him to-day. He is in close contact with certain members of the Brotherhood, and is a man of mark, both in the inner and the outer worlds. He possesses both a house in one of the larger towns and a centre or camp out on the edge of the desert, where it appears that some of his occult activities take place. His wife is a pious and beautiful woman, and there appear to be several children, as well as servants and a number of animals.

As a boy, Simon had two distinct sides to his character. On one side he was somewhat intractable, adventure-loving, and independent, and under its influence he did a great deal of riding on horseback and pursued the manly exercises of the times. He was liable to outbursts of temper, followed, at times, by impulsive actions which he generally regretted soon after they were performed. On one occasion he rode off with a group of friends into the desert, causing much grief and no little heartache at home.

The other side of his character was dreamy, mystical, and full of strange longings; in these moods a past tradition lived in him again, when he would question his father on the deeper issues of life. It was to this side of his character that his father paid most attention, though without appearing to have done more than answer the boy’s questions. As he grew up, the deeper side of his nature became more in evidence, and seems to have been intensified by a love-affair which terminated in the early death of his beloved.

At this own request he was placed in a monastery, which was a stone building of one story and of a rather straggling character. He was already acquainted with several of the brothers, to some of whom he was much attached. The atmosphere of the monastery was very breezy and healthy, the life communal and by no means too austere, considerable freedom being allowed to lay brothers. There was an inner group, however, consisting of the disciples of the Head, who lived the ascetic life, possessed great occult knowledge, and rarely left the monastery.

This monastery was a centre where the Ancient Wisdom was known, practised, and taught, and its brethren were graded in orders according to the degree of their spiritual development. An ordinary visitor would have seen only the happy, healthy freedom of the lay brothers, who did the work of the community, particularly the gardening. There appeared to be no animals, and it looked as though the community were vegetarian; the inner group was certainly so.

The lay brothers visited the sick and attended to the hospitality for which the monastery was famous, as it was situated near a trade route. Even the lay brothers knew very little of the life of the inner group The monastery was visited from time to time by august members of the Great White Lodge, to whom great honour was always shown.

Simon became a lay brother, and definitely abjured the world when he was about twenty-five years of age. His mother wept, but her heart was glad, and the father saw in his son’s decision the fulfilment of his hopes. For the first year or so Simon was allowed to do much as he liked. He studied old manuscripts, copying many with diligence. From the first he felt the attraction of the inner group, and it was not long before he began to be admitted to certain of their gatherings. They possessed considerable astrological and magical knowledge, and performed certain ceremonies of an occult character. After being present at one of these, Simon became a changed man, and shortly afterwards was admitted as a member of the inner group. His demeanour then changed, and, gradually, his appearance altered; he became a deeply-thoughtful and for a time a highly-introspective young man. He possessed, however, a keen and wide sense of humour, which proved of the utmost value in his new life. He was gradually entrusted with important missions, on which he carried letters, manuscripts, and magical objects to other centres in the neighbourhood.

By this time the descent of the Spirit upon Jesus was beginning, and consequently there was very great activity in the various occult fraternities in and near Palestine. Great care was expended upon the disciple Jesus, who was guarded by angels on the inner planes and by members of an occult” fraternity on the physical. Simon first met Jesus when the manifestation of our Lord’s presence was just beginning. He was travelling with a number of his brothers of the monastery, when, in a secluded glade, the actual meeting took place.[34]

The scene was a very remarkable one. Some fifty or sixty adults, both men and women, as well as numbers of young people of both sexes, were gathered together. Jesus was singularly unaffected, frank, open, natural, and very like the picture by Hoffman of the boy Jesus in the Temple. At this time He was about twenty-eight, though looking younger. He was paler than most of the other people, His skin being fair for that district. He was wearing a light and somewhat downy moustache, medium-coloured hair worn rather long, and loose garments. His temperament was singularly happy, and a wonderful light shone all about Him. He bore evidence of having led a rather sheltered life, and seemed to prefer the companionship of the young people, amongst whom He had certain special friends. He was deferential to the elders of the party, and almost childlike in His obedience to them. There were a number of very great people in His train, who would almost appear to have reached Masterhood. Some of the women, too, were remarkable for their wisdom, as well as for their beauty and gentleness.

The monastic party approached, and its members were greeted by their friends. Some went straight up to the leaders, with whom they engaged in earnest conversation under the trees, whilst others joined the younger group. Simon was presented to Jesus, who received him in a gracious, unaffected manner. They talked naturally and freely, and towards evening a meeting was held at which Jesus spoke, being preceded by some of the leaders. As He spoke. He changed, and a magical atmosphere surrounded the whole group. The outer world was forgotten for a time, as He drew them close to Himself and taught them with words that were sweet, winsome, and compelling. The whole place became like a temple as they were all enfolded in the aura of the Blessed Lord Who had descended amongst them.

It is clear that very great care was being taken of the disciple, and that all the arrangements and details of the mission were very carefully planned. This was the work of the Great Ones and Their followers, and Jesus was left entirely free from all the organization of physical plane arrangements. There were with Him those who clearly had family ties, and He retired for the night with a group of His own people.

There was a wonderful charm of manner and beauty of person about Him; His lightest words were treasured, for wisdom fell constantly from His lips. The elders were grave and serious at this time, as though they were not satisfied with the progress of events; evidently they were conscious of a growing hostility amongst certain sections of the surrounding community.

The few days spent with this group had a most profound effect upon Simon, deepening his whole nature; and, strange though it may seem, in spite of his great longing to be near Jesus, he went back willingly to the monastery, for he felt the need of solitude and an opportunity for meditation and self- adjustment. During the time which followed, when the ministry was proceeding, he remained in the monastery, studying, praying, and receiving instruction. The order to which he belonged was partly a healing community, and it was along these lines that his studies were directed.

From time to time came news, often of a serious nature, and it is seen that in those fanatical times the ministry was carried on with great difficulty. Whilst the common people accepted Him, the better classes refused to do so; He was hedged in on every side by a cast-iron tradition and an impassable wall of prejudice.

One scene of the mission of our Lord may here be described. Jesus had been preaching in a large, open space in the centre of some town. It is an extraordinary sight to see the faces of the simple folk, many of whom are completely lifted out of themselves by the magic of His words and His Presence. Though He has finished speaking and is talking with His friends, the crowd remains motionless and still. The eyes of many are vacant; for them the walls of flesh have disappeared and they are unconscious that He has ceased to speak. Many children play at His feet, careless and unconscious of all that is happening, and, for the time being, forgotten by the mothers who brought them there are more women than men in the crowd, and most of the men remain standing on the outskirts. Some came to scoff, but not one, even the hardest heart, has been able to resist His all-compelling Presence. There is a glimpse, a faint glimpse, of the marvellous intimacy with Himself into which He drew His hearers.

He is now being led rapidly away, and soon disappears through the crowd, and none too soon, for a concerted and planned attack is being made. Soon the little square is a scene of confusion, as, howling and shouting, a large body of men, urged on by leaders who hold some official position, descends upon the audience and rapidly breaks it up, uttering scurrilous words of abuse concerning the Teacher. Even then the spell of His power is not broken; many suffer themselves to be mishandled and abused without resistance. Finally they all disperse to their homes in a condition of inward rapture, which is apparent on their faces.

This state of affairs cannot last for long, a fact clearly perceived by His associates, who know that there can only be one end. He also knows, but He is entirely without fear, and remains radiant and smiling as He submits Himself to the destined progress of events.

Simon is seen again, many years later. His hair is now turning grey, but he is wonderfully strong, outwardly cheerful and hearty, though at the back of his mind is still the memory of the great tragedy.

A very strong and numerous body of the followers of the Lord is carrying on His work of preaching and of healing, though there seems to be no idea of forming a particular religion. Simon, like many others, goes on long tours, mostly on foot, and has for a companion one who belonged to the immediate circle of the friends of Jesus. These two are closely united in bonds of affection, and the Spirit of the Lord is manifestly upon them both. Of this they are frequently conscious as they preach and heal in His name and by His power. Simon carries a satchel which contains a flask of water, a very rough-looking sort of bread, some dried fruit and locusts. An article of clothing and a case or smaller satchel, containing phials of consecrated liquids, is also carried. With these he anoints the more serious cases, and wonderful results are achieved. It is evident that some kind of special consecration has taken place, and a greater power has been placed at their disposal when they choose to call upon it.

His companion is a little younger, and though a remarkable psychic, he is not so much a born healer as Simon. He possesses, however, considerable eloquence, and at times the Spirit of the Master inspires him. They are an outstanding pair, doing great work, and in the joy of their calling and their mutual friendship live an extremely happy life.

Many scenes appear in which these two are seen tramping along side by side under the hot sun and in many varying types of scenery, talking of the Master, the Ancient Wisdom and their work.

Though they have, apparently, a fixed itinerary, they are very haphazard with regard to time; they are in no hurry, and some of their best work is done by the wayside, amongst the odd travellers whom they encounter. It is evident that some form of brotherhood has developed amongst those who knew the Master, and that they have signs by which they are recognized in the towns and villages which they visit.

Here we will leave them, before feebleness of age begins to dull their vision and weaken their limbs, noting especially their wonderful privilege and the remarkable development which they underwent as a result of the great experiences through which they passed.

(2) EARLY BRITISH RACES AT A TUMULUS IN THE COTSWOLDS

This neighbourhood appears to have been a settlement of the very early inhabitants of this land. They were of a very primitive type, slightly prognathous, the forehead sloping back from a thickened roll of flesh above the eyes. When fully upright, the male would probably be above six feet in height; the carriage, however, was not perfectly erect, the body being bent forward at the hips, the shoulders bowed, and the head carried slightly forward. The shoulders and arms were enormously developed, the chest deep and broad, and the whole body practically covered with hair, through which shone a fair skin tanned to a dark brown by exposure to the weather. The nose was short, the upper lip long, the mouth wide, teeth strong and powerful, the chin receding and the check-bone showing prominently through the skin. The female was smaller in build and much less hairy, though still larger and stronger than any average civilized man of to-day.

The field we are in appears to have been open grass land in those days; the whole country was thickly wooded, mighty forests ranging as far as the eye could see.

The particular settlement under observation covers an area of about a square mile, over which families or clans are spread, each with its separate group of earth and wood “houses”. Most of these are below the ground level, with entrances built above it, making a kind of arched doorway. In some cases the walls of these arches are only about a foot thick, and consist of earth moistened and plastered on both sides of a cone-shaped frame-work of plaited branches; in other cases the lateral spaces between the top of the arches and the ground-level are filled in with earth, making large mounds about six or eight feet in height. Sometimes two of these face each other at a distance of eight or ten feet; others again are arranged roughly in circular form with all the entrances facing inwards. The effect of this last arrangement seen from a distance is that of a rounded knoll; but at close quarters, if one climbs on to the summit of the mound, one looks down into the circle where the ground is lower.

In one particular circle there are two entrances on opposite sides of the circle. There are no houses at these points, but the soil has been heaped up to complete the circle. Looking round the countryside, many of these circular villages can be seen, all much alike in construction but varying considerably in size and height. Some of them are terraced on the outside.

Rough though these people are, there is a distinct air of domesticity about their villages, and however uncouth may be their behaviour to outsiders, they are very friendly among themselves.

At first they appeared to be exactly alike, but on closer study differences are detected in their appearances, particularly in the case of the women, the colour of whose hair and complexion varies considerably. The circle may be composed of the members of a family, and there is a gigantic man, rather beyond middle age but still in full possession of his faculties and his great physical strength, who appears to be the head. There are numbers of children running about naked, and one woman is sitting, facing the sun, at the entrance of her “house” With a baby at her breast. Though the children are treated with great tolerance by the men and are allowed many liberties, such as swarming up their great hairy legs, they appear to be handled very roughly. A man picks up a child by one of its arms and swings it up on to his shoulder in a very rough way; another man throws a child from his knee to a distance of some yards, but in neither case do the children seem to be seriously hurt.

As this last child fell it showed a peculiar formation of the base of the spine, which arrested attention. Instead of running straight, or with a slight curve into the sacrum, the spinal column makes an almost square turn into the pelvis with a slight protuberance at the outside of the angle. This looks suspiciously like the beginning or end of a tail. Allowing for this and the heavy, bowed shoulders and curious shaping of the head previously described, the children are very much like those of to-day.

The width of the circle is probably about eighty yards, and the children play about in the enclosure, following the amusements characteristic of their age. One group of boys, about ten years old, is engaged in a mock fight of a rather unusual nature. Five or six of them are armed with bows and arrows, with which they shoot at one who stands some twenty yards distant, covering himself with a large shield. This is composed of hide, with the hair still on it, and is, roughly, of circular shape: it is stretched over a framework of four pieces or curved wood bound together at the centre, where the four arms cross, with strips of hide. The whole being curved makes a hollow shield, and is strengthened by a straight cross- piece at the diameter, which is also used to hold it by. The bows of the children consist of willow or ash sticks, from which the bark has been scraped, strung with thin strips of hide, and the arrows are thin sticks scraped to a point. These toys are quite smooth and well-finished. The boy with the shield protects himself cleverly until at last an arrow hits him on the ankle, whereupon there is an excited yell and his place is taken by the boy who fired the shot. Apart from these cries, the game is played in silence, in which can be distinctly heard the tap of the arrowheads upon the tough, dry hide of the shield. The whole party is playing with great earnestness and concentration, whilst their elders watch with amused interest, noticing the marksmanship or agility of this or that boy, and commenting upon it to each other. The sight of half a dozen full-grown men is rather terrifying, they look so huge and hairy and so much like great apes; but, however terrible they may be when fighting or hunting, they appear to be very docile when in the bosom of their family.

In another place a man is working with wood. He is scraping a thick pole about eight feet long; in his hand he holds a piece of flint about four inches long and three inches wide, shaped like a pointed oval. The edge is very keen, and the marks of the chipping by which it has been made are dearly to be seen. The back of it, by which it is held, is round and smooth; with this he is able to scrape long strips from the pole, which he holds between his knees and which he keeps feeling with his hands and examining to test its smoothness. All around him are shavings, and at his feet are a number of other flints of different shapes, similar to the one described, all very sharp, but of many different sizes. He now uses the edge of one which is curved inwards. This curve is the same as that of the surface of the pole, and he uses this flint to obtain a finer finish. These poles appear to be used to hold up the area over the entrance to the houses; most of these poles are caked with dirt, owing to the fact that everyone in passing in and out seems either to hook an arm round it or grip it with his hand.

This pole seems to be regarded in a rather peculiar way, as though it marked the boundary between private and communal life, a barrier beyond which no one passes uninvited.

An amusing incident has just occurred. One of the smaller children was trying to climb the pole. He knew, it seems, that such an exercise was not permitted, for he kept a wary eye upon all those within reach of his vision. A woman, probably his mother, appeared from within, and, being caught in flagrante delicto, he suffered the natural and appropriate punishment, which sent him squealing off into the centre of the circle I

This incident caused much amusement amongst some of the menfolk who were watching.

There is an air of considerable activity about the place—much coming and going of the women and children, and several men are to be seen engaged in particular work, which will be described later; but there are also fifteen or twenty men who have been sitting about in apparent idleness. Whether these are the hunters, soldiers or agriculturists who are resting from their labours is not clear, but that is the impression they give.

There is one part of the circle which is set aside as a slaughter-house and butcher’s shop; here on rough tables animals are being skinned and cut up with flint-knives. Again the sharp edge obtained is noticeable. The hides come off quite easily and the flesh is cut up with very little difficulty. The larger bones are severed by the joint action of two men. One holds a flint, fixed and bound in the cleft-end of a stick which forms a handle; the other man holds between his hands a heavy stone, which he brings down on the back of the “knife”, and the operation is completed by a very few blows. The particular animal being cut up at the moment is a deer; evidently it is shared amongst the tribe, for the women keep coming to the bench and receiving pieces of meat and bone sometimes in their hands and sometimes in earthen bowls. This process of rationing the food is quite orderly and proceeds without argument or discussion. A woman approaches the table and speaks to the butcher, in some cases indicating with her hands the size of the piece she requires, in others she points to a piece of meat or draws with her finger on the carcass. Her indication of her needs appears to be accepted without question.

Not very far away are two men engaged in making bowls. Between them there is a mound of wet clay; one man is making an open bowl like a wash-basin, the other a kind of ewer, several’ of which are being used to hold water with which to moisten the clay. The process reminds one very much of making a pudding; the man takes a lump from the mound with his hands and puts it before him on the ground; he then flattens it—again with his hands— makes it slightly hollow and pours in water. When he has rolled it up and kneaded it until it is of equal consistency and stiffness throughout, he flattens it to the thickness he requires and begins to turn the edges up; as he has worked it to the stiffness of putty, it remains in whatever shape he gives it. It is interesting to watch him turn the clay into a bowl. He locks both hands and passes them under the flat slab of clay; then, using his body and arms to press and hold it in a circular shape, he begins to raise the edge slowly with his fingers. Having raised one side, he turns the piece round and repeats the process; he then works it up with his bare hands, which he keeps dipping into water, moulding the bowl into a more or less symmetrical shape.

Judging from the specimens of his work which are around him, he does not achieve exact repetition of shape, though there is a general similarity. There does not appear to be either lip or thickened base to his work, but he runs his hand round the edge and gives it as smooth a finish as he possibly can.

The man making jugs works in an almost exactly similar way. The pieces are all standing in the sun and appear to dry and get fairly quickly; they are then heated by being placed round—not in—a small but fierce fire. This fire is made of short stumps of wood closely packed together, which give off a very great heat.

The operation of turning the bowls and placing them before the fire has to be performed quickly; this is being done by the same men who moulded them.

Cooking appears to be done in the open, and to consist entirely of roasting. Four large stones are placed in the form of a square just inside or at the edge of the fire. A bowl is placed inside the hollow thus formed to catch the juice from the meat, which is laid across the top of the stones. Another form of cooking is done by building the fire round the “oven”. This appears to be the procedure with the larger joints. Meat, however, is also eaten raw.

Looking over the country-side at night, the scene is remarkable; the country round for several miles is dotted with encampments similar to the one described; the glow of their fires can be seen showing up the lips of the circles, and the smoke rises high into the sky. The scene is peaceful; primitive but quite happy.

No sign can be seen of any permanent defences or preparations for war other than the circular and inturned shape of the settlement.

Men are noticed walking about between the villages, their forms outlined against the glow of the fire. Some appear to live in the clearings of the woods, with which the country is thickly covered, the glow of their fires being visible between the stems of the trees. The ground between the huts is trampled flat by the passage of many feet, certain main routes being noticeable. In some cases there are groups of circles quite close together, others are isolated, and between them are large areas of what appear to be cultivated fields.

Not much is discernible about their agriculture; there appear to be some root crops; something not unlike a turnip, which looks like horse-radish, and a rough sort of seed of an unfamiliar kind. Here, too, the implements consist of flints of different sizes fixed into handles of varying shapes, according to the use to which they are to be put. All the agriculture appears to be carried out by hand. The only animals to be seen are the wild ones which have been killed by the hunters in the particular village described, which existed so long ago on the exact spot where these investigations were begun. At another tumults, distant about two miles to the S.W., from the one used as a starting-place for experiment, contact was obtained with the same tribe, as well as with a people of another race, superior to them in development. In every way.

These latter appear, however, to have been but a decadent branch of their own original stock. They are of commanding stature and bearing; their skins were of a reddish brown colour, and not covered with hair, and they wore long robes. Particular members, who appear to be connected with this place, acted as priests, and at one period held the people in subjection by their priestly arts. They had control of certain elementals and elemental forces, and possessed a considerable knowledge of magic, of a kind which we may perhaps describe as “grey”, and also were skilled in the use of herbs for medicinal and other purposes.

These people had a large settlement or city about forty or fifty miles away, in the direction of Stonehenge, which appears to have been a sort of central temple, from which came priests to officiate in the surrounding districts. It is evident that there was a time when the rulers and priests of this settlement were beneficent and wise, and their religion of sun and Nature worship was powerful and uplifting.

At the period with which we are concerned, however, small communities of priests in these outlying districts resorted to objectionable practices in order to overawe and subjugate the more primitive peoples previously described.

There is here to-day a large, flat slab of rock which ONCE FORMED PART OF A ROUGH OPEN TEMPLE, IN WHICH blood sacrifices were made; that rock still carries with it the unholy influence of those rites.

The sacrifices seem to have been chiefly of females, young women of between twenty and thirty years of age being usually selected. One is seen who has been stunned by a blow from a club, dragged by the hair to the foot of the altar, where she lies senseless, while the priests, seven in number, utter invocations to their Deity.

The chief priest stands before the altar, the six other priests stand three on either side behind it, all seven racing the people, who have gathered in a rough half-circle on the slope of the hill. There are probably about 300 of them of both sexes. They are obviously in great fear of the priest, who holds those nearest to him under a kind of magnetic or hypnotic control. Their eyes are glazed and fixed, and his power over the crowd increases as he addresses them. He sweeps his arms slowly from side to side, and is quite consciously using his own animal magnetism upon them the other six priests keep their concentrated gaze firmly fixed upon the people, until gradually the whole audience is spellbound, completely held within the grip of the priestly power. This control is obviously necessary, for there are murmurings in the hearts of the people, and particularly from the members of the family, living some half-mile away, from which the victim has been taken. These are combining with others who have suffered to form a conspiracy to overthrow the power of the priests.

The priests, however, hold within their power a certain number of the men of the tribe, who are their savants, bodyguards and emissaries, and who are kept in a state of semi-hypnotic glamour in which they are quite unable to resist any command of their matters. It is these emissaries who steal in among the people and seize the victims. Even should they be discovered in the act, however, the people are in such awe of the priests that they dare not resist. A powerful narcotic is now administered—at least in the case of the victim in the ceremony which is being watched—for she is breathing heavily, and, mercifully, does not regain consciousness.

Behind this priesthood there is a horrible deity of the infernal regions, in whose power they have placed themselves, and of whom they are as much afraid as the people are of them. It is from this source that they draw much of their magic power, and it is to feed and propitiate it that the sacrifices are made. I forbear to describe in detail the ceremony which followed, as it is too horrible; suffice it to say that the jugular vein is opened on the left side, and that the god, clothed in etheric matter, becomes visible in a ghastly travesty of a human form, placing himself so that the whole altar comes within his etheric double, and thus absorbs the offering that is made to him.

The people are terror-stricken, yet fascinated. The priest does not break the hypnotic rapport after the ceremony, but allows them to find their way home with fixed, unseeing eyes, bearing with them the atmosphere of the horror which they have witnessed, and carrying terror into their settlements and homes. Gradually the influence of this particular sacrifice wears off; but the priests hold the people under their power, and use it to call them to attend ceremony after ceremony, until at last their individual reason and will are completely merged in that of the priests, who, by these means, gradually extend their influence and sap the virility of the people immediately around them. There are, however, in the remoter districts, large numbers who are not under their dominion, and who live a normal healthy life of hunting and primitive agriculture.

(3) ENCAMPMENT. PAINSWICK BEACON, GLOUCESTERSHIRE.

This place appears to have been used as a military settlement by early inhabitants of this island, and the impress of more than one bloody battle remains. The natives were of a type similar to those previously described.

This high ground has been used as a fort. it would seem that they expect their enemies to approach by way of the River Severn, for the hill commands a magnificent view of that river, down to within a few miles of the estuary. An elaborate system of fortifications has been built here, which consist, in the main, of alternate ridges and ditches, terracing the hill right up to the summit. The hill was honeycombed with excavated dwellings, and probably quite a thousand warriors manned the fort in those days. Extensive use was made of heavily-constructed chevaux-de-frise, made by driving sharply-pointed spars firmly into the ground, and filling in the interstices with thorny growths and pointed branches. Three of these chevaux-de-frise encircled the hill at different levels, and, as they were placed in ditches, would be invisible to an attacking party until they had climbed the preceding ridge. There is a system of passages through these protections, which could be closed if necessary. The soldiers, who are very scantily clothed in skins of animals, are armed with bows and arrows, slings and wooden spears; they have also collected large quantities of heavy stones, which are placed in piles at various points in the defences, from which they can be rolled or thrown down upon the enemy.

A system of signalling by watch fires is employed, and at night these beacons are visible on many a hilltop, particularly to the east and south. A big fire is burning on the highest point of the fort, and smaller ones on outlying hills in the near neighbourhood. The number of these outlying fires is significant, and news is conveyed by lighting and extinguishing them.

Evidently an enemy is expected, for a sharp look out is being maintained down the Severn Valley. A steady stream of men passes backwards and forwards from the direction of Birdlip and the line of hills south of that place. Some are bringing food, and a party is carrying deer slung from poles carried on the shoulders of two men; others are carrying stones or materials for making arrows, while others again are at work upon the entrenchments. Though their language, which is very coarse and guttural, cannot be understood, the prevalent idea is that news has been received of the approach of invaders, who have sailed up the Severn in ships. Many of the men have the memory of previous encounters with, and victories over, these invaders, but the news shows that this time they come in far greater numbers.

The battle which followed was long and bloody, and ended in the capture of the hill by the invaders.

The foreign raiders are very primitive people, but slightly less so than the natives. They are aided by the fact that they have begun to discover the use of iron. They have shields, helmets and axes of that material, and their arrows are pointed with it. Their feet and legs are covered with leather, bound by thongs wound round the leg. They are smaller in build than the natives, less hairy, and their skin is much fairer. They are far fierier and more belligerent than the defenders, who appear to be a quiet, peace-loving people.

After the battle the wounded are despatched with extreme brutality, and many of the unwounded prisoners are bound and sent down to the ships to be borne away as slaves. Sporadic attempts at rescue, are made on the way down, and these are in some cases successful, but the dejection of the captives is pitiable in the extreme, and it is most pathetic to see their relations, gathered at different points on the route, watching their men-folk being carried off.

At this particular invasion a very wide area of the country was captured. The earlier inhabitants were being slaughtered of driven farther inland, and there appears to have been a considerable exodus northwards into Wales, where the mountains offered greater security from attack. The invaders, however, did not remain for any length of time, satisfying themselves with pillage and the carrying off of such game, food and captives as their ships would hold.

The ships are heavy, lumbering galleys, propelled by a single row of about twelve oars on each side, and by a single sail. The oarsmen sit on benches, two to an oar. There is nothing in the form of a dock, except fore and aft, where portions of the hull are roofed in. The ships are very strongly made of pine wood, and the sail, which in shape is nearly square, is of some woven woollen material. The owners of the ship use the roofed-in shelters when required, but there is no covering for the oarsmen, who are, on the return journey, the captured defenders of the fort. When loaded up the ships are turned down the Severn, and sail away to the west, on a route which would appear to take them by the south coast of Ireland.

CHAPTER VIII

PSYCHIC POWERS, THEIR DEVELOPMENT AND USE

EVIDENCE for the existence and examples of the use of the faculty of clairvoyance have been placed before the reader in the foregoing pages. In these concluding chapters consideration will be given, to the rationale of such faculties. Although the subject of seership is unfortunately enwrapped in a dense mass of superstition, charlatanry and ridicule, a study of history shows that there has always existed a body of people possessing knowledge concerning the interior constitution and supernormal faculties of man. This knowledge has been aptly styled the “Ancient Wisdom”, for it has existed throughout all ages and is, indeed, the basic body of truth behind all the great philosophies and religions of the world.

According to this “Ancient Wisdom”, students and investigators have turned their attention to super- physical research from the earliest days of human history on this planet. The results of their investigations have been preserved, and are available for those who sincerely seek an understanding of the deeper truth of life and of the powers latent in man. From the study of this vast source of learning a rational explanation of the faculty of clairvoyance can be gained. The so-called psychic faculties of man are shown to have a natural place in his constitution and their activities, and even their sporadic appearance in individuals to be governed by exact law. The word “psychic” is derived from the Greek word “psyche”, which means the “soul”. Psychic faculties, therefore, are faculties pertaining to the soul, and “soul” may be taken, broadly, to mean everything that is not body—the feeling, the thinking, the willing man, as distinct from the acting or physical man. Since these psychic faculties are the powers and capacities of the soul, it is necessary to make a clear distinction between the subtle and physical bodies, which are instruments, and the soul, which uses them.

Psychic faculties exist in embryo in every man— as also in every animal—and will one day be unfolded into their full and complete expression. They may be divided into two orders. Positive faculties are those which are controlled in the same way as are the normal bodily faculties of sight, hearing, touch, taste and smell. Negative ones are the result of those subconscious and instinctive uprushes of psychism, which are not uncommon to-day Positive faculties are employed at will, whilst the negative only arise spontaneously from the subconscious mind, into which they have been built during the passage of life and consciousness through the animal kingdom. Nearly all animals have negative psychic capacity which is in no sense under their control.

The order of psychism with which we are concerned is the positive and controlled type of seership to which every man is heir. When studying the subject of psychic unfoldment the student naturally fixes his eyes on the future, and only glances at the past in order to be able to correlate the present and the future.

Of what nature are these psychic faculties of man? First, there is clairvoyance, by means of which the limitations imposed upon the consciousness by physical matter may, in varying degree, be transcended. The illusions of size and separation in space may be overcome by its employment, as well as the limitations of time, both backwards and forwards, so that the seer is enabled to sec the infinitely small, the distant, the past, and the future, and to employ powers of magnification and of television.

Clairvoyance includes X-ray vision, or the power to see through solid objects, a power which may be usefully employed to diagnose disease. Combined with clairaudience, it gives the power to see and converse with the so-called and mis-called dead, and with other discarnate entities, with nature-spirits, and the great company of the angels.

Then there is clairaudience, which is closely allied to clairvoyance, and which gives the power of hearing sounds, the vibrations of which are beyond man’s normal range of perception.

Taking the definition of psychic faculties which we have adopted, we must include with those of a positive order the power to raise the consciousness to the level of abstract ideas, to trace the principles and archetypes behind all external phenomena, and bring back to the brain consciousness the result of such illuminations. This faculty is of the utmost importance if the seer is to understand what he sees. For example, clairvoyant vision of form and colour, however beautiful and interesting it may be, is useless unless the seer also has the power to interpret his vision, and to translate it into terms of physical, waking consciousness. Indeed, the actual seeing of form and colour, and the hearing of sounds, is the least important part of seership. Special powers of comprehension and interpretation are far more valuable, and it must be admitted that the majority of natural clairvoyants, lacking this faculty, are in no way illumined by the things they see.

In seeking to understand the rationale of the psychic faculties, we must remember that they are merely extensions of the range of the normal means of cognition. If we place a group of people before a spectrum—-which is the series of seven bands of colour into which white light may be divided by being passed through a prism, an artificial “straight” rainbow, as it were—and ask them to mark with a pencil the points where the red and violet rays end, we shall find that the limits of their vision at either end vary considerably. A clairvoyant is one who possesses a considerably wider range of vibratory response than is normal at the present stage of human evolution.

There are organs in the brain by means of which this extended vision is made possible. They are the pituitary body and the pineal gland. The latter is considered by medical science to be the atrophied remains of an organ which was active in the very early days of human evolution. That view is accepted by occult science, which adds that both these organs have also a function to fulfil in the future, when they will be employed as means of super-physical cognition, and that their development may be hastened by the application of special methods. When psychically developed and active they give the power first to respond to additional physical wave-lengths, and later to super-physical vibrations.

The analogy of wireless may help to a clearer comprehension or the subject, for clairvoyance is simply a question of tuning-in to wave-lengths to which the sense organs and brain cannot normally respond. The pituitary body and the pineal gland are essential parts of the receiving mechanism, and they must be ‘charged” with a special type of energy[35] appropriate to the function which they perform. The seer is then able to “tune in” and see and hear on super-physical wave-lengths, and thus to transcend physical limitations.

There are two essentials to success in hastening the unfoldment of the psychic faculties. One is an expansion of consciousness, and the other is a refinement of the vehicles so that they will accurately pick up and transform “signals” from super-physical to physical wave-lengths. The processes by which these two essential conditions are produced are fully explained by the science of Yoga.[36]

The application or the principles upon which that science is based will inevitably produce both expansion of consciousness and refinement of vehicles. The laws which govern the development and use of the faculties of seership are as exact and as inviolable as are the laws which govern chemical action, mechanics, or any other branch of physical science. If they are applied aright the result is definite and certain.

Let us now consider the way to gain this expansion of consciousness. The method, which has seen taught throughout the ages, is that of meditation upon subjects which are normally beyond the range of thought. As the muscles of the body develop by being given progressively heavier tasks, so the mind and consciousness will grow and expand if forced to undertake a similar progressions. The mind can be deliberately trained and developed along certain lines by forcing it to dwell upon subjects which are normally beyond its range of comprehension.

There are many systems of meditation, and many books have been written upon the subject. The student of the “kingly science”[37] deliberately selects a series of great ideas and ideals, of an abstract and metaphysical character, and dwells on them with concentrated thought, until his mental capacity is gradually enlarged to include them within its normal comprehension, and to admit of an increasingly complete realization of their inherent truth.

An example of such an idea is: “Where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them.”[38] Meditation upon that text will reveal the fact that it is not so much a promise made by a great Teacher as a statement of an eternal truth, and of an inviolable law. Whenever two or three people are gathered together in His name— that is, in the name of Love and Unity—then the Christ, Who is the embodiment of Love and Unity, is indeed manifest in their midst. From that relatively intellectual conception the student may gradually attain to a full realization of the divine immanence and of the unity of life.

The Lord’s Prayer is another subject suitable for meditation. In the West we think of prayers as something to be said, but if, in addition to “saying our prayers”, we meditate on them, depths of meaning will be revealed which otherwise we fail to appreciate. The Lord’s Prayer is an invocation to the God within to send His power and manifest His triple attributes through the personality, which is unreservedly surrendered to Him for ever and ever. By meditating on that prayer an actual descent of power will be experienced, and the entire nature will be refreshed and strengthened for the strain of daily lift, and inspiration and illumination will flood the whole consciousness.

“The Practice of the Presence of God” is another means of gaining an expansion of consciousness. Those who follow that road strive continually to realize the divine immanence, to know that God is everywhere present, and to attain union with Him.

A certain mediaeval monk, Brother Lawrence, who served for thirty years as a scullion in one of the monasteries on the Continent, had practiced this method so consistently and so regularly that he was able to say that he had lived for thirty years in the unbroken consciousness of the Presence of God; even at meal times, when the food had to be delivered rapidly from the kitchen to the monks in the refectory, and there was a great amount of bustle, he never, in the heat of the work, lost the sense of the divine companionship. He said, in effect: “I go into the chapel at stated times, because it is the Abbot’s wish; but I feel no nearer to Him there than when I am washing the dishes, because I am always in His Presence.”[39]

Meditation upon certain sentences will produce an expansion of consciousness. One such Example is: “Holy, Holy, Holy, Lord God Almighty, Heaven and earth are full of Thy Glory. Glory be to Thee, O Lord Most High.” This is one of the most pregnant phrases ever written. As its truth is realized, and the whole soul is poured out in worship, a great expansion of consciousness takes place.

In the Bhagavad Gita[40] the Logos proclaims: “Having pervaded this whole universe with a fragment of Myself, I remain.” And again He says: “He who seeth Me in everything and everything in Me, of him will I never lose hold, and he shall never lose hold of Me.” Meditation upon such sublime ideas lifts the student out of the personal into the egoic consciousness, and he touches for a moment that part of himself which is divine. That contact, frequently repeated, is the surest means of attaining expansion of consciousness.

Before leaving this part of our subject, one more example of prayer suitable for meditation may be given:

“Universal God, One Life, One Light, One Power,

Thou all in all, beyond expression, beyond comprehension.

O Nature! Thou Something from Nothing.

Thou symbol of Wisdom.

In myself, I am nothing.

In Thee, I am I.

I live in Thee; live Thou in me;

And bring me out of the region of self into the Eternal Light.”

Amen.

Meditation upon and study of these profoundly spiritual and metaphysical conceptions produce a wonderful expansion and growth of the soul. Years of tireless effort in this direction, maintained with unflinching determination, will undoubtedly hasten the unfoldment of the real powers of seership to a degree which, although abnormal at the present time, will be quite natural to the later races of mankind.

Combined with this life of meditation there must be an absolute self-consecration to the ideal of service. This is most essential if the many dangers which beset the path of psychism are to be avoided. A solemn vow must be made within thee soul, never to use supernormal powers for personal gain; never to use spiritual gifts for the attainment of purely selfish and “material, ends. In this way alone may perfect accuracy and reliability of vision be achieved, and the highest levels of consciousness be entered.

Before passing to a consideration of the second essential process, we may repeat that an expansion of consciousness is gained by thinking on great spiritual truths, and by engaging in concentrated thought upon lofty subjects. The student passes progressively from concentrated thought to meditation, and from meditation to profound contemplation, in which everything within him seems to stand still. He then dwells in utter silence upon the very essence of the idea which has been chosen. Eventually even that essence falls away, and the soul is left in darkness and alone.

In that silence the voice of the divine is heard, and in the darkness the light eternal shines.

Such experience, continually repeated, gradually brings illumination to the soul, and spiritual illumination is the basis, the only basis, of true seership.[41]

Any expansion of consciousness is valueless unless the personal vehicles of thought, feeling and action are sufficiently refined to receive and express its results. In order to achieve refinement of the vehicles a strictly ethical and aesthetic mode of life must be adopted; everything which is contrary to the highest ethical and cultural ideals must be avoided. All tendency to coarseness and self-indulgence must be gradually eliminated. The mind must be purified by pure thinking, and the feelings cleansed by resistance to every impure emotion. The body, in its turn, must be made as healthy, responsive and as pure as possible by scrupulous personal cleanliness, a pure diet, and complete obedience to the laws of health.[42]

Those who make this attempt will nearly always adopt a fleshless diet, because, as they find the sense of the unity of all life growing within them, it will become impossible for them to eat die dead bodies of their animal brothers, further, if matter which is vibrating at a lower rate than that of the human body, is taken for food, the bodily power of response is decreased; a flesh diet therefore interferes seriously with the development of seership.

In addition to the coarser vibrations of the matter of animal bodies, there are also present the terrible vibrations of cruelty, horror, pain and agonizing fear, which are inseparable from the use of flesh as food. By putting flesh into our bodies we are really desecrating the temple of the Most High. The law of life is the law of love, not of death. If we choose the way of life its laws must be obeyed, for disaster will quickly follow disobedience.

These laws may be summed up as purification of thought, refinement of feeling, and control of bodily conduct. The neophyte must settle down to steady self-training, never forgetting the object in view, which is the development to the highest possible degree of will power, wisdom and knowledge, and the attainment of the glorious goal of ever-widening fields of service.

As this path is followed, glimpses of light and power will gradually begin to be gained. The powers of the soul will unfold, and the student will find himself possessed of knowledge and capacities of which he little dreamed. His powers of perception and of understanding will gradually increase. He will find himself increasingly able to comprehend subjects previously beyond his mental grasp. In his relationship with others he will pierce through the veil of the personality to the real man which is beyond, and be able to understand their motives and ideals, as though they were his own. Flashes of perfect comprehension will begin to illumine his brain consciousness, and new means of acquiring knowledge will gradually develop.

This is a very critical stage in the unfolding of psychic consciousness, and the student must use the wisest discrimination if he is to make the most of his new powers and avoid the many dangers which beset his path. He should, by this time, have decided upon the nature of the service to humanity which the circumstances of his development and position in life will enable him to offer. He is advised not to pursue the purely psychic aspect of spiritual unfoldment, unless he has special natural capacities in that direction and determines to engage in occult research. The chief qualifications for that branch of service are:

1. An inherent clairvoyant faculty.

2. A balanced, sane and stable, yet flexible mentality.

3. A well-controlled emotional nature.

4. A very healthy, strong and refined physical body.

5. A sensitive and responsive brain.

6. An unfailing sense of humour.

7. The ability to relax both mind and body at will.

In addition, his environment must provide opportunity for complete retirement and seclusion whenever necessary. He must live in, or near, the country, where the air is pure and the atmosphere harmonious and free from noise.

He will need a companion, preferably non-clairvoyant, who perfectly understand his mission, maintains perfect poise in all circumstances, and who will protect him from undue strain, especially during periods of development, when he will be abnormally sensitive.

If these qualifications and conditions can be provided, the student may then proceed to develop, his growing faculties. The best way to develop them is to use them frequently, and to test the results by scientific methods. Errors and inaccuracies must be specially examined and eventually eliminated.

Nature herself provides him with a fruitful field of research, and his own garden will be a most suitable laboratory and study. He may endeavour to pierce the physical veil that hides from normal physical sight the flowing forces of magnetism, electricity, sound, heat, light and vitality which animate the vegetable kingdom. He should obtain the help of those with scientific training and attainments if possible, for they are accustomed to the methods of scientific research by which alone his observations may be checked, and accuracy and reliability achieved.

As his powers unfold, he may widen the range of his studies to include the hidden side of atomic, chemical and electrical phenomena, the super-physical counterparts of objects, such as the subtle bodies of plants, animals and men, the elemental kingdom of Nature, nature-spirits and angels. The super-physical realms of existence and the discarnate entities who inhabit them may then be studied, and attempts be made to develop and use the faculty of clairvoyance in time and space.

“Investigations such as these have been continuously carried out by an unbroken succession of students for millions of years. The results of their efforts form a vast store of knowledge which is called the Ancient

Wisdom, and is now being made, available gradually through the publications of the Theosophical Society The student will, therefore, be able to check his own findings by those of his predecessors in occult research, and, in his turn, to add to their discoveries, thereby enriching the sum total of human knowledge.[43]

It must be understood clearly, however, that clairvoyant research is by no means the only, or even the most important, method of acquiring knowledge; neither is the development of this power a necessity for either spiritual progress or the study of occultism.

A surer method exists, and a far more valuable faculty is available to man.

This faculty is spiritual intuition. By its means knowledge may be gained upon any subject whatever without the laborious process of developing and using clairvoyant powers. Though the two faculties may be usefully employed as complementary methods, the intuitive is far more important and valuable than the psychic. Unless, therefore, the student can fulfil the, qualifications and conditions stated above, he will be better advised to devote the whole of his energies to the development of his intuitive faculties.

He will then finally reach the stage that is before us all, when this new sense, the power of intuition, will be developed, and the supermental method of cognition will be unfolded. By its means man will gain knowledge on any subject whatsoever without needing the processes of deductive and inductive reasoning, and without the employment of any external senses, physical or psychic.[44]

This new faculty is showing itself even now. Its development and use proceed quite naturally at that stage of human evolution, which, in Christian language, is referred to as the birth of the Christ-child within the human soul. That Child is now being born within the soul of mankind. Its growth may be hastened by the dual means which have been explained. One day the Christ-child will grow into the “measure of the stature of the fullness or Christ”. Then all the powers of the soul and all the faculties of the consciousness will have been unfolded, and we shall be “perfect as our Father in Heaven is perfect”.

CHAPTER IX

THE EVOLUTION OF CONSCIOUSNESS

A better grasp of the subject of the unfolding of psychic faculties may be gained if we make a brief survey of the evolution of normal consciousness from the savage to the super-man. The accompanying diagrams are designed to help to that end, and this chapter will consist entirely of explanatory comments upon them.

Diagram (i) shows the range of human consciousness during physical incarnation, at different levels of evolution. The horizontal lines represent the planes of Nature according to occult philosophy. The figures represent personal consciousness by means of their shape, position and size. In the ravage, the physical and emotional predominate the figure widens towards its base, which rests in the subphysical world, to illustrate the contact with elemental forces which some primitive races possess. The figure narrows as it passes through the etheric and emotional worlds, is sharply limited in the concrete mind, while only its point touches the lower levels of abstract mind, showing that the contact with the ego is very slight. The centre of consciousness, denoted by the white oval, is situated between the emotional and the physical planes.

The personal consciousness of the civilized man is less dominated by his physical body than that of the savage, though the major portion of the figure is in the emotional and physical worlds. Considerable mental growth is indicated, as well as greater contact with the abstract mind, and therefore with the egoic consciousness which is situated in that plane. The centre of consciousness has risen to a position between the planes of the concrete mind and the emotions.

The increasing control of the emotional and physical bodies achieved by an advanced man is indicated by the fact that the third figure begins to become narrower towards its base on the physical plane. As it ascends it widens, until the plane of the abstract mind is reached. Considerable egoic consciousness has been attained, as well as a distinct contact made with the intuitional worlds.

The initiate[45] is gaining still greater control of his personal vehicles, and the widest portion of the figure is now on the mental plane. The intuitional world has been penetrated, and contact made with the spiritual will. The centre of consciousness is now situated between the planes of intuition and abstract thought.

The adept—as portrayed by the fifth figure—has still a physical body, but the major portion of his consciousness is in the egoic and monadic worlds,[46] while the centre is in the intuitive, with a possible range from the logoic to the sub-physical planes.

Diagram (ii) shows the relationship between monad, ego and personality at different stages of evolution. The horizontal lines show the planes of Nature, as in diagram (i). The white line in the realm of logoic consciousness indicates part of the sides and the base of a triangle which represents the Logos. The white triangles in the black field represent the monads, the intermediate triangles below them the egos, and the lower figures the personalities, as in diagram (i). The round white mark in the personal figure shows the position of the normal focus of consciousness, which, as we saw above, in the savage, is between the emotional and physical planes, and in the initiate is between the planes of intuition and abstract thought.

Beginning with the left-hand figure, the shape of the personal diagram of the savage shows that there is a preponderance of consciousness in the emotional and physical worlds, and a relatively small amount in the concrete mind. The point or apex of the figure just touches the abstract mind, showing the link with the newly-formed ego,[47] which, in its turn, is represented as shedding a small measure of its radiance into the concrete mind, but not producing any effect below that. The ego, in its turn, has its point only in the spiritual will, and is linked to the monad by but a slender thread.

Passing on to the civilized man, the change of shape in the personal figure shows that the consciousness is less dominated by the physical, but is still oscillating between that plane and the emotional, while the apex of the figure readies up into the abstract mind, the connection with the ego having been improved. The result of this improvement is a downflow of egoic life through the concrete mind and the emotions into the etheric brain,[48] and an increasing radiance in the abstract mind. The centre or focal point of consciousness has moved up, and is now situated between the concrete mind and the emotions. The ego has increased in size, and reaches up to the monadic plane, so that the connection with the monad is consequently more clearly defined.

In the advanced man, i.e., one approaching, or on, the probationary path, the shape of the personal figure shows that the physical plane is losing its hold upon the consciousness, which is now seated between the concrete and the abstract mind, with a powerful development of the former and the emotions. Contact with the intuitional plane has now been attained, and the radiance of the ego is playing upon and through the mental and emotional man, whilst a distinct flow of power through the ego to the dense physical is occurring. The ego is now in direct, contact with the monad, and has increased in size and capacity, so that the influence of the monad will begin to be felt in the personality. The initiate[49] has merged ego and personality, as is shown by the absence of a division between them in the diagram. The centre of consciousness is in the realm of abstract mind and intuition, and the whole personality is pervaded by egoic consciousness. Contact with the monad is very close, and the whole being shines with the radiance which now descends from the monadic realms. The adept has completed the process which he began at initiation, and has united monad, ego and personality, transcended all personal limitations of consciousness, and deprived the personality of all power of initiating action or thought from below. The range of consciousness is now without any limit which the human mind can conceive.

From this diagram we see that evolution is accomplished by a gradual raising of the central focus of consciousness, plane by plane, and a fusing, first of the personality with the ego, and later of the ego with the monad. It will be noted that the diagram representing the adept comes to a point at the physical level, showing that a body is still maintained for purposes of work. The savage, The initiate and the adept have also a point of contact with the subphysical world. In the savage this shows itself in primitive magic and witchcraft; in the initiate and adept in the conscious employment of forces which have their sources below the dense physical level.

Diagram (iii)[50] shows the relationship between the ego and the personality in different states of health and disease, and also indicates the nature of the superphysical factors which determine those states.

The two triangles in each of the four squares at the top of diagram (iii) represent the ego and the personality. It will be seen that in the savage, except for the fact that the one triangle is a reflection of the other—i.e., the same shape—there is no apparent connection between them. In the case of the developed man a connection is shown joining the two bases of the triangle representing the ego and the personality. In the case of the initiate the bases are themselves united, showing perfect co-ordination, while in the adept we see them interlaced. In each of these diagrams the relationship portrayed would be productive of perfect health, because it is the natural condition for the level of evolution at which the individuals stand.

In the lower portion of the diagram the horizontal divisions represent the three lower planes of Nature; the triangle at the top represents the ego; the vertical band represents the play of the egoic life through the various planes down into the physical body.

In No. I the width of the band shows that the ego is completely and perfectly expressed through all the planes, as might be the case after the first initiation as been taken. No. 2 shows a similar state of affairs at the level of the developed man, where, although the flow is equal throughout all the planes, its volume is necessarily less. Because of the perfection of the flow indicated by the equal width of the bands, a state of perfect health would result in both these cases.

No. 3 shows a protuberance at the mental level, and a narrowing of the band at the emotional, etheric and dense physical levels. This latter represents a lowered emotional and physical vitality, due to excessive mental activity as shown by the protuberance. This would be the case where a man devoted himself entirely to intellectual pursuits or scientific studies and neglected the development and expression of his emotions and of his physical powers.

No. 6 shows a similar condition caused by some inhibition at the mental level, where the descending band is seen to grow narrower. In this case a failure to develop and use the mind has resulted in a deficiency at the emotional and physical levels.

No. 4 shows a lack of perfect physical health caused by emotional excess, such as the deliberate indulgence of the lower emotions, or by allowing the expression of feeling to dominate the whole life.

No. 7 shows the opposite, and portrays emotional repression, such as starvation of the love nature, for example, with a corresponding lowering of the physical vitality.

No. 8 is included in order to complete the catalogue of possible super-physical causes of ill-health, and it will be seen that, although the flow from the ego is good down to the emotional level, it is inhibited at the etheric, and points to a deliberate interference with or abuse of the vital functions, such as over- asceticism, or, in the case of No. 5, by over-athleticism, or similar forms of physical excess.

This diagram shows clearly the importance of the golden mean in all things, and more particularly in health, and the necessity for a full and perfect expression of all the human faculties through the mental, emotional, etheric and physical bodies.

If this is achieved, man will attain to as perfect physical health as his karma will permit; he will pass through the successive stages of his evolution with a minimum of suffering and delay, and so be free to turn his attention towards the unfolding of his higher and more spiritual powers of consciousness.

CHAPTER X

THE PSYCHIC SENSE ORGANS

We are now ready to pass to a more detailed consideration than that given in Chapter III of the special organs in the three vehicles[51] of the personality which are essential to the development and use of psychic faculties.

These organs are called force centres or chakrams. For detailed study of them and the forces by which they are made to function the reader is referred to the illustrated monograph upon the subject by C. W. Leadbeater.

Chakram is a Sanskrit word which means a wheel, and is applied to the force centres in the human bodies, because, to clairvoyant sight, they have the appearance of spinning vortices. They are seven in number, have Eastern names, and are situated as follows:

1. Muladhara (sacral).

2. Svadhisthana (spleen).

3. Manipura (navel).

4. Anahita (cardiac).

5. Vishuddha (throat).

6. Ajna (pituitary body and pineal gland).

7. Brahmarandra (anterior fontanelle).

When studying the diagrams which accompany this chapter it must be clearly understood that they are diagrammatic rather than exact pictorial representations of the super-physical sense organs which they portray.

Diagram (iv) represents the head of a normal man as seen by etheric vision. Prana,[52] which can be seen clairvoyant as a golden-yellow stream, flows up the spinal cord into the head, where it spreads out like a golden rain, and vivifies the whole of the contents of the skull, the skull itself, the scalp, and the hair, as indicated by the small dots.

The etheric centres, which correspond to the pituitary and pineal glands, are shown as tiny flames, for such is their appearance to etheric sight. A flow of pram passes round these centres and out at the top of the head through an embryonic etheric Brahmarandra chakram. The Ajna chakram, as yet unvivified, is faintly visible as an etheric tube filled with a pith-like etheric matter. Prana flows around and through it, and is discharged through the undeveloped chakram. The same is also true of the throat centre.

Before these chakrams can consciously be employed as sense organs, the “Serpent Fire” or Kundalini must be aroused and, by flowing through the proper channels, accompanied by its appropriate “vital airs”, Ida and Pingala, must vivify the whole seven chakrams as it passes from die base of the spine, where it is normally stored, to the top of the head.

On reaching the pituitary and pineal centres it polarizes them into positive and negative conditions and vivifies them into a hyper-active state, in which they interact so closely that they become one centre which forms the heart or core of the Brahmarandra chakram, which is thus evolved as a result.

Diagram (v) illustrates the state of affairs after Kundalini has been aroused, Prana is still seen to be flowing as before, accompanied by the fiery power of Kundalini. The pituitary and pineal etheric centres are now blazing with light and power, and a continuous interaction or “sparking” is taking place between them. The main stream of Kundalini passes round and through them and out through the now-opened Brahmarandra diagram, or “Thousand- petalled Lotus”, as it is called in the East.

The Ajna diagram is now more plainly visible, together with the etheric tube, which is used for purposes of magnification and television. Kundalini also plays through the throat and Ajna chakrams, and is discharged, together with a quantity of prana, into the air.

In Diagram (vi) we have an attempt to portray the seven major chakrams as they appear after Kundalini has been aroused.

At the base of the spine the—Muladhara chakram is shown as projecting forwards towards the generative system, which it is part of its function to supply with prana. In the heart of this chakram lies the “Serpent Fire”, Kundalini, and there it sleeps throughout the ages until the time is ripe for it to be aroused. As it passes up the spine it vivifies in turn each chakram, thereby causing the etheric centres to be opened and channels to be made from the super-physical to the physical worlds, so providing conductors for super-physical vibrations. When it is thus aroused, all the psychic powers are fully unfolded and become available for use whilst the man is awake in the physical body.

The danger of arousing Kundalini prematurely is made obvious by this diagram, for unless the desire-nature has been purified and refined, and the neophyte has become “passion-proof”, the fiery power may act downwards and intensify both the desire- nature and the activity of the physical organs through which this nature finds expression.

The Solar Plexus is shown as it would appear to astral sight and reaching to the periphery of the astral body; it is the receiving station for all subconscious emotional vibrations, which are conveyed by it to the physical nerve ganglion of the same name. Premature arousing of the etheric and astral solar plexus is productive of both physical and emotional disorders. Physically the digestion is interfered with, and emotionally the sufferer is prone to be unduly affected by the feelings of others, to reproduce them within, himself without the power of self-protection, and to suffer from the incursion of astral entities and forces, which in their turn produce nightmares, sudden panics, and, amongst other disorders, the disease known as claustrophobia. At the present stage of evolution it is this chakram which is the most likely to produce ill-health through distortion of its shape or interference with its proper function. Students are warned against all systems of psychic development which advise meditation on or in this centre.

Slightly above the solar plexus we see the spleen centre, with its opening at the back and slightly to the left side of the body. Before vivification its sole function is the absorption, “digestion”, assimilation and distribution of prana. It is the vital receiving and transmitting station of the body. Lowered vitality and nervous debility can frequently be traced to a failure in the functioning or this chakram) When vivified, this centre gives the power of free and self-conscious astral travel.

The next above this is the heart chakram, which, in the spiritual neophyte—the advanced man of the diagrams in Chapter IX—is one of the main channels through which flows, the power of the intuitional worlds. This is the Mystic Rose of occult literature, the petals of which open only after the Christ-Child has been born in the heart—or only after powers of intuition, compassion and love have been developed to a certain degree and are finding an expression through physical life. Meditation on this centre is quite safe, and is indeed a valuable means of developing and expressing the above qualities.

The throat chakram, when vivified, bestows the faculty of clairaudience; it is in close magnetic relationship with the Muladhara diagram, and it is not unusual to find that disturbances of the creative organs and functions produce corresponding disorders of the throat, which is the higher creative centre.

In the centre of the head we find the etheric counterparts of the pituitary and pineal glands have been combined into one glowing centre. The force of Kundalini flows through and round this centre and passes out through the Brahmarandra chakram, which is in the region of the physical anterior fontanelle. Rising from the pituitary body, the Ajna chakram can be seen with its opening between and slightly above the eyes. The vivification of the Ajna chakram at the etheric and astral levels gives the power of clairvoyance. When the Brahmarandra is fully formed, the ego possesses the power to with- draw from and return to the physical body at will, without a break in consciousness occurring.

The man is probably now an initiate of the Great White Brotherhood of adepts, and rapidly travelling towards adeptship, at which stage he will have become “perfect as his Father in Heaven is perfect”. Thus he will have achieved the complete and perfect expression of all the powers and attributes of his divinity on all the planes of nature through which he has evolved.

Throughout the later period of his development he will have been guided and inspired by a superior in the occult life. The actual arousing of the tremendous force of Kundalini may only be “safely attempted under the expert guidance of a Master of occult science. Even if he were able, the author does not feel, therefore, that he can usefully publish information on that subject.

The earnest student need not fear, however, that any knowledge from which he can really benefit will be withheld from him. The pathway leading to the occult life is open to all who nave the perception to discover and the courage to tread it. In “The Voice of the Silence”—a standard work of instruction in occultism—we read: “The light from the one Master, the one unfading golden light of spirit, shoots its effulgent beams on the disciple from the very first.” Also, there is an occult axiom which says that when the pupil is ready, the Master appears.

The conditions under which the Master may be found have been clearly stated as follows: “Behold the Truth before you: A clean life, an open mind, a pure heart, an eager intellect, an unveiled, spiritual perception, a brotherliness for one’s co-disciple, a readiness to give and receive advice and instruction, a loyal sense of duty to the Teacher, a willing obedience to the behests of Truth, once we have placed our confidence in, and believe that Teacher to be in possession of it; a courageous endurance of personal injustice, a brave declaration of principles, a valiant defence of those who are unjustly attacked, and a constant eye to the ideal of human progression and perfection, which the secret science (Gupta Vidya) depicts; these are the golden stairs up the steps of which the learned may climb to the Temple of Divine Wisdom.”—H. P. Blavatsky.

L’ENVOI

THE MISTRESS OF VISION

Where is the land of Luthany,

Where is the tract of Elenore?

I am bound therefore.

“Pierce thy heart to find the key;

With thee take

Only what none else would keep;

Learn to dream when thou dost wake;

Learn to wake when thou dost sleep;

Learn to water joy with tears,

Learn from fears to vanquish fears,

To hope, for thou dar’st not despair,

Exult, for that thou dar’st not grieve;

Plough thou the rock until it bear;

Know, for thou else couldst not believe;

Lose, that the lost thou mayst receive;

Die, for none other way canst live.

When earth and Heaven lay down their veil,

And that apocalypse turns thee pale;

When thy seeing blindeth thee

To what thy fellow-mortals see;

Their living, death; their light, most lightless;

Search no more—

Pass the gates of Luthany, tread the region Elenore.”

Where is the land of Luthany,

And where she region Elenore?

I do faint thereforo.

L’ENVOI

“When to the new eyes of thee

All things by immortal power,

Near or far,

Hiddenly

To each other linked are,

That thou canst not stir a flower

Without troubling of a star;

When thy song is shield and mirror

To the fair snake-curled Pain,

Where thou dar’st affront her terror

That on her thou mayst attain

Persean conquest; seek no more,

O seek no more!

Pass the gates of Luthany, tread the region Elenore.”

—Francis Thompson.

Notes

[←1]

Vide Chapter VIII.

[←2]

The examples in this chapter are taken from three sources: “The Occult Study of the Electron”, by E. W. Preston, M.Sc., a pamphlet published by the Scientific Group of the Theosophical Society in England; “Recent Experiments of the Scientific Group”, by the author and E. w. Preston, M.Sc., an article published in the ‘‘Theosophical Review”; and ‘Observations on the Electric Current”, by the author and E. W. Preston, M.Sc., an article published in the “Theosophical Review”.

[←3]

The first etheric subplane.

[←4]

Reprinted from the “Theosophical Review”, “Recent Experiments of the T.S. Science Group”, by Geoffrey Hodson and E.W. Preston, M.Sc.

[←5]

Op. cit. by A. Besant and C. W. Leadbtater.

[←6]

Reprinted from the “Theosophical Review”, ‘‘Observations on the Electric Current, by Geoffrey Hodson and E. W. Freston, M.Sc.

[←7]

Vide “The Etheric Double”, by A. E. Powell.

[←8]

Vide “An Occult View of Health and Disease”, by the author.

[←9]

The Chakras, by C.W. Leadbeater.

[←10]

The point of attachment to the pod.

[←11]

A Sanskrit word denoting the operation of the law of cause and effect. The doctrine of reincarnation or evolution towards perfection by means of successive physical existences is accepted by the author and assumed to be true throughout this work.

[←12]

Vitality or the vital principle for which the etheric double is the conserving and conveying medium.

[←13]

The master of the super-physical world.

[←14]

See my book! “An Occult View of Health and Disease”, p. 23

[←15]

See “Atlantic and Lemuria”, by Scott elliott, and “Man Whence, How, Whither”, by A. Besant and C. W. Leadbeater.

[←16]

Reprinted from “The Herald of the Star”.

[←17]

According to some authorities, Akasha is a universally-diffused super-physical substance upon which the record of all event are indelibly impressed.

[←18]

“Illusion”. All phenomenal existence is regarded as an illusion by some systems of philosophy.

[←19]

Vide Chapter V.

[←20]

Loc. cit. Published by the Theosophical Publishing House.

[←21]

See second footnote to p.62.

[←22]

Reference to the diagrams in Chapter VIII will assist the reader to grasp this conception.

[←23]

Matt. VI, 20.

[←24]

Vide the author’s “The Brotherhood of Angels And Of Men” and “The Angelic Hosts”.

[←25]

“The Light of Asia”, by Sir F. Arnold.

[←26]

Vide “Man’s Life in the Three World”, by A. Besant.

[←27]

See The Devachanic Plane, “Theosophical Manual No. 6”, by C.W Leadbeater.

[←28]

The Adepts of the Occult Hierarchy which form the inner government of the world. See “The Master” by A. Besant.

[←29]

See the literature of the Order of the Star, of which body the communicator was a member.

[←30]

See “Invisible Helpers”, by C.W. Leadbeater.

[←31]

Vide “The Kingdom of Faerie” and “The Angelic Hosts”, by the author.

[←32]

Reprinted from “ The Theosophist”.

[←33]

Reprinted from “The Herald of the Star”.

[←34]

This vision seemed to support the conception of occupation of the disciple Jesus by the consciousness of the Christ, held by certain of the Gnostics and early Church Father.

[←35]

This energy is known as Kundalini or the Serpent Fire. Vide “The Chakrams”, by C. W. Leadbeater, and “The Serpent Fire”, by Arthur Avalon.

[←36]

Vide “An Introduction to Yoga” by A. Besant; “ Raja Yoga” by E. Woods; and “ Clairvoyance” by C.W Leadbeater.

[←37]

Called in the East “Raja Yoga.”

[←38]

St. Matt, xviii, 20.

[←39]

Vide “The Practice of the Presence of God” and “Spiritual Maxims”, by Brother Lawrence; and “A Short and Easy Method of Prayer”, by Madam Guyon.

[←40]

One of the Hindu Scriptures.

[←41]

The subject of meditation is more fully dealt with in the author’s books, “First Step on the Path” and “Thus Have I Heard”.

[←42]

See my book, “Health and the Spiritual Life”.

[←43]

The Rt. Rev. C. W. Leadbeater is the greatest living authority upon this subject, and all his writings should be studied by the aspirant to clairvoyant powers.

[←44]

Professor J. E. Marcault is an authority on this particular subject, and all his writings will prove helpful to the student of the deeper aspects of the science of psychology.

[←45]

For an explanation of this term see “Initiation, the Perfecting of Man”, by Dr. A. Besant, and “The Master the Path”, by C. W. Leadbeater.

[←46]

See “The Monad”, by C. W. Leadbeater.

[←47]

For an explanation of the process of the formation of the ego, see “A Study of Consciousness”, by Dr. A. Besant.

[←48]

See “The Etheric Double”, by A. E. Powell.

[←49]

See footnote on p. 202.

[←50]

This diagram is reproduced from my book, “An Occult View of Health and Disease”, by courtesy of the publishers.

[←51]

See “The Etheric Double”, “The Astral Body”, “The Mental Body”, by A. E. Powell

[←52]

Prana means vitality. See “The Etheric Double”, by A. E. Powell.

Table of Contents

CHAPTER I

SUPERNORMAL COGNITION

THE CHILD WITH ROENTGEN RAY EYES

AN INEXPLICABLE MYSTERY

CHAPTER II

CLAIRVOYANCE AS AN INSTRUMENT OF SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH

(a) Astronomical

(b) Bacteriological Research

(c) The Electron

(d) Radioactive Substances4

(e) The Electric Current 6

CHAPTER III

CLAIRVOYANT DIAGNOSIS OF DISEASE

Case A. Cerebral tumour. Female, aged 21.

Case B. Dementia pracox. Male, aged 18. Clairvoyant Diagnosis.

Case C. Subnormal Mentality. Male, aged 12.

Case D. Male, aged 13.

Case E. Dipsomania. Male, aged 40.

Case F. Cancer of the left check. Female, aged 67.

CHAPTER IV

PSYCHOMETRY16

CHAPTER V

EXPERIMENTAL EXPLORATIONS OF LEVELS OF CONSCIOUSNESS

Egoic Consciousness

CHAPTER VI

THE STUDY OF DISCARNATE LIFE AND SOME COMMUNICATIONS

Human Life after Death.

ANGELIC COMMUNICATIONS

THE WAY OF KNOWLEDGE

CHAPTER VII

CLAIRVOYANCE IN TIME

(1)The Story of Simon the Essene

(2) Early British Races At a Tumulus in the Cotswolds

(3) Encampment. Painswick Beacon, Gloucestershire.

CHAPTER VIII

PSYCHIC POWERS, THEIR DEVELOPMENT AND USE

CHAPTER IX

THE EVOLUTION OF CONSCIOUSNESS

CHAPTER X

THE PSYCHIC SENSE ORGANS

Notes