THE OCEAN
OF
THEOSOPHY
A Definitive Work on Theosophy
By
William Quan Judge
CHAPTER
17
Psychic
Phenomena
and
Spiritualism
In the history of psychical phenomena the records of
so-called "spiritualism" in Europe, America, and elsewhere hold an
important place. Advisedly I say that no term was ever more misapplied than
that of "spiritualism" to the cult in
The doctrines given in preceding chapters are those of
true spiritualism; the misnamed practises of modern mediums and so-called
spiritists constitute the Worship of the Dead, old-fashioned necromancy, in
fact, which was always prohibited by spiritual teachers. They are a gross
materializing of the spiritual idea, and deal with matter more than with its
opposite. This cult is supposed by some to have originated about forty years
ago in America at Rochester, N. Y., under the mediumship of the Fox sisters,
but it was known in Salem during the witchcraft excitement, and in Europe one
hundred years ago the same practises were pursued, similar phenomena seen,
mediums developed, and seances held.
For centuries it has been well known in
and communicated with. But the facts of the long
record of forty years in
give the true explanation, point out defects, reveal
dangers, and suggest remedies.
As it is plain that clairvoyance, clairaudience,
thought-transference, prophecy, dream and vision, levitation, apparitional
appearance, are all powers that have been known for ages, the questions most
pressing in respect to spiritualism are those relating to communication with
the souls of those who have left this earth and are now disembodied, and with
unclassified spirits who have not been embodied here but belong to other
spheres. Perhaps also the question of materialization of forms at seances
deserves some attention.
Communication includes trance-speaking, slate and
other writing, independent voices in the air, speaking through the physical
vocal organs of the medium, and precipitation
of written messages out of the air. Do the mediums
communicate with the spirits of the dead? Do our departed friends perceive the
state of life they have left, and do they sometimes return to speak to and with
us?
The answers are intimated in foregoing chapters. Our
departed do not see us here. They are relieved from the terrible pang such a
sight would inflict. Once in a while a pure-minded, unpaid medium may ascend in
trance to the state in which a deceased soul is, and may remember some bits of
what was there heard;
but this is rare. Now and then in the course of
decades some high human spirit may for a moment return and by unmistakable
means communicate with mortals.
At the moment of death the soul may speak to some
friend on earth before the door is finally shut. But the mass of communications
alleged as made day after day through mediums are from the astral unintelligent
remains of men, or in many
cases entirely the production of, invention,
compilation, discovery, and collocation by the loosely attached Astral body of
the living medium. Certain objections arise to the theory that the spirits of
the dead communicate.
Some are:
I. At no time have these spirits given the laws
governing any of the phenomena, except in a few instances, not accepted by the
cult, where the theosophical theory was advanced. As it would destroy such
structures as those erected by A. J. Davis, these particular spirits fell into
discredit.
II. The spirits disagree among themselves, one stating
the after-life to be very different from the description by another. These
disagreements vary with the medium and the supposed theories of the deceased
during life. One spirit admits reincarnation and others deny it.
III. The spirits have discovered nothing in respect to
history, anthropology, or other important matters, seeming to have less ability
in that line than living men; and although they often claim to be men who lived
in older civilizations, they show ignorance thereupon or merely repeat recently
published discoveries.
IV. In these forty years no rationale of phenomena nor
of development of mediumship has been obtained from the spirits. Great
philosophers are reported as speaking through mediums, but utter only drivel
and merest commonplaces.
V. The mediums come to physical and moral grief, are
accused of fraud, are shown guilty of trickery, but the spirit guides and
controls do not interfere to either prevent or save.
VI. It is admitted that the guides and controls
deceive and incite to fraud.
VII. It is plainly to be seen through all that is
reported of the spirits that their assertions and philosophy, if any, vary with
the medium and the most advanced thought of living spiritualists.
From all this and much more that could be adduced, the
man of materialistic science is fortified in his ridicule, but the theosophist
has to conclude that the entities, if there be any communicating, are not human
spirits, and that the
explanations are to be found in some other theories.
Materialization of a form out of the air, independent
of the medium's physical body, is a fact. But it is not a spirit. As was very
well said by one of the "spirits" not flavoured by spiritualism, one
way to produce this phenomenon is by the accretion of electrical and magnetic
particles into one mass upon which matter is aggregated and an image reflected
out of the Astral sphere.
This is the whole of it; as much a fraud as a
collection of muslin and masks. How this is accomplished is another matter. The
spirits are not able to tell, but an attempt has been made to indicate the
methods and instruments in former chapters. The second method is by the use of
the Astral body of the living
medium. In this case the Astral form exudes from the
side of the medium, gradually collects upon itself particles extracted from the
air and the bodies of the sitters present, until at last it becomes visible.
Sometimes it will resemble the medium; at others it
bears a different appearance. In almost every instance dimness of light is
requisite because a high light would disturb the Astral substance in a violent
manner and render the projection difficult. Some
so-called materializations are hollow mockeries, as
they are but flat plates of electrical and magnetic substance on which pictures
from the Astral Light are reflected. These seem to be the faces of the dead,
but they are simply pictured illusions.
If one is to understand the psychic phenomena found in
the history of "spiritualism" it is necessary to know and admit the
following:
I. The complete heredity of man astrally, spiritually,
and psychically, as a being who knows, reasons, feels, and acts through the
body, the Astral body, and the soul.
II. The nature of the mind, its operation, its powers;
the nature and power of imagination; the duration and effect of impressions.
Most important in this is the persistence of the slightest impression as well
as the deepest; that every impression produces a picture in the individual
aura; and that by means of this a connection is established between the auras
of friends and relatives old, new, near, distant, and remote in degree: this
would give a wide range of possible sight to a clairvoyant.
III. The nature, extent, function, and power of man's
inner Astral organs and faculties included in the terms Astral body and
IV. The fate of the real man after death, his state,
power, activity there, and his relation, if any, to those left behind him here.
V. That the intermediary between mind and body -- the
Astral body -- is thrown off at death and left in the Astral light to fade
away; and that the real man goes to Devachan.
VI. The existence, nature, power, and function of the
Astral light and its place as a register in Nature. That it contains, retains,
and reflects pictures of each and every thing that happened to anyone, and also
every thought; that it permeates the globe and the atmosphere around it; that
the transmission of vibration through it is practically instantaneous, since
the rate is much quicker than that of electricity as now known.
VII. The existence in the Astral light of beings not
using bodies like ours, but not human in their nature, having powers,
faculties, and a sort of consciousness of their own; these include the
elemental forces or nature sprites divided into many degrees, and which have to
do with every operation of Nature and every motion of the mind of man. That
these elementals act at seances automatically in their various departments, one
class presenting pictures, another producing sounds, and others depolarizing
objects for the purposes of apportation. Acting with them in this Astral sphere
are the soulless men who live in it. To these are to be ascribed the
phenomenon, among others, of the "independent voice," always sounding
like a voice in a barrel just because it is made in a vacuum which is
absolutely necessary for an entity so far removed from spirit. The peculiar
timbre of this sort of voice has not been noticed by the spiritualists as
important, but it is extremely significant in the view of occultism.
VIII. The existence and operation of occult laws and
forces in nature which may be used to produce phenomenal results on this plane;
that these laws and forces may be put into operation by the subconscious man
and by the elementals either consciously or unconsciously, and that many of
these occult operations are automatic in the same way as is the freezing of water
under intense cold or the melting of ice under heat.
IX. That the Astral body of the medium, partaking of
the nature of the Astral substance, may be extended from the physical body, may
act outside of the latter, and may also extrude at times any portion of itself
such as hand, arm, or leg and thereby move objects, indite letters, produce
touches on the body, and so on ad infinitum. And that the Astral body of any
person may be made to feel sensation, which, being transmitted to the brain,
causes the person to think he is touched on the outside or has heard a sound.
Mediumship is full of dangers because the Astral part
of the man is now only normal in action when joined to the body; in distant
years it will normally act without a body as it has in the far past. To become
a medium means that you have to become disorganized physiologically and in the
nervous system, because through the latter is the connection between the two
worlds.
The moment the door is opened all the unknown forces
rush in, and as the grosser part of nature is nearest to us it is that part
which affects us most; the lower nature is also first affected and inflamed
because the forces used are from that part of us.
We are then at the mercy of the vile thoughts of all
men, and subject to the influence of the shells in Kama Loka. If to this be
added the taking of money for the practice of mediumship, an additional danger
is at hand, for the things of the spirit and those relating to the Astral world
must not be sold. This is
the great disease of American spiritualism which has
debased and degraded its whole history; until it is eliminated no good will
come from the practice; those who wish to hear truth from the other world must
devote themselves to truth and leave all considerations of money out of sight.
To attempt to acquire the use of the psychic powers
for mere curiosity or for selfish ends is also dangerous for the same reasons
as in the case of mediumship. As the civilization of the present day is selfish
to the last degree and built on the personal element, the rules for the
development of these powers
in the right way have not been given out, but the
Masters of Wisdom have said that philosophy and ethics must first be learned
and practised before any development of the other department is to be indulged
in; and their condemnation of the wholesale development of mediums is supported
by the history of spiritualism, which is one long story of the ruin of mediums
in every direction.
Equally improper is the manner of the scientific
schools which without a thought for the true nature of man indulge in
experiments in hypnotism in which the subjects are injured for life, put into
disgraceful attitudes, and made to do things for the satisfaction of the investigators
which would never be done by
men and women in their normal state. The Lodge of the
Masters does not care for Science unless it aims to better man's state morally
as well as physically, and no aid will be given to Science until she looks at
man and life from the moral and spiritual side. For this reason those who know
all about the psychical world, its denizens and laws, are proceeding with a
reform in morals and
philosophy before any great attention will be accorded
to the strange and seductive phenomena possible for the inner powers of man.
And at the present time the cycle has almost run its
course for this century. Now, as a century ago, the forces are slackening; for
that reason the phenomena of spiritualism are lessening in number and volume;
the Lodge hopes by the time the next tide begins to rise that the West will
have gained some right knowledge of the true philosophy of Man and Nature, and
be then ready to bear the lifting of the veil a little more. To help on the
progress of the race in this direction is the object of this book, and with
that it is submitted to its readers in every part of the world.
______________________
THE
OF
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Concerns about
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Future of Tekels Park Badgers in Doubt
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An Outline of Theosophy
Charles Webster Leadbeater
Theosophy - What it is How is it Known?
The Method of Observation General Principles
The Three Great Truths Advantage Gained from this Knowledge
The Deity
The Divine Scheme The Constitution of Man
The True Man
Reincarnation
The Wider Outlook
Death Man’s Past and Future Cause and Effect
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Three Fundamental Propositions Key Concepts of Theosophy
Cosmogenesis
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The Seven Principles of Man Helena Petrovna Blavatsky
Colonel Henry Steel Olcott William Quan Judge
The Start of the Theosophical Society
History of the Theosophical Society
Theosophical Society Presidents
History of the Theosophical Society in Wales
The Three Objectives of the Theosophical Society
Explanation of the Theosophical Society Emblem
Glossaries of Theosophical Terms
An Outstanding
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By a student of
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Elementary Theosophy Who is the Man? Body and Soul
Body, Soul and Spirit Reincarnation Karma
A Study in Karma
Annie Besant
Karma Fundamental Principles
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The Law of Laws The Eternal Now Succession Causation
The Laws of Nature A Lesson of The Law
Karma Does Not Crush Apply This Law
Man in The Three Worlds
Understand The Truth
Man
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The Pair of Triplets Thought, The Builder
Practical Meditation Will and Desire
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Two Other Points
The Third Thread Perfect Justice
Our Environment Our Kith and Kin Our Nation
The Light for a Good Man Knowledge of Law
The Opposing Schools The More Modern View
Self-Examination Out of the Past Old Friendships
We Grow By Giving Collective Karma Family Karma
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