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OBSTACLES TO CLAIRVOYANCE

Various impediments stand in the way of inducing second sight, and certain others may be expected to arise in connection with the faculty when induced. Putting aside the greatest of all obstacles, that of constitutional unfitness, as having already been discussed in the preceding pages, the first obstacle to be encountered is that of ill health. It can hardly be expected that new areas can be opened up in the mind without considerable change and adjustment taking place by reflection in the physical economy. The reaction is likely to be attended by physical distress. But Nature is adaptable and soon accommodates herself to changed conditions, so that any results directly attributable to the development of the psychic centres of activity is not likely to be more than transient, providing that due regard has been given to the normal requirements of health.

The importance of a moderate and nourishing diet cannot be too strongly urged upon those who seek for psychic development. All overloading of the stomach with indigestible food and addiction to alcoholic drinks tend to cloud the higher faculties. The brain centres are thereby depleted, the heart suffers strain, and the equilibrium of the whole system is disturbed. Ill health follows, the mind is centred upon the suffering body, spiritual aspiration ceases, and the neglected soul folds its wings and falls into the sleep of oblivion.

But, on the other hand, one must not suppose that the adoption of a fruit and cereal diet will of itself induce to the development of the psychic powers. It will aid by removing the chief impediments of congestion and disease. Many good people who adopt this dietetic reform have a tendency to scratch one another's shoulder blades and expect to find their wings already sprouting. If it were as easy as this the complacent cow would be high up in the scale of spiritual aspirants.

The consciousness of man works from a centre which co-ordinates and includes the phenomena of thought, feeling, and volition. This centre is capable of rapid displacement, alternating between the most external of physical functions and the most internal of spiritual operations. It cannot be active in all parts of our complex constitutions at one and the same moment. When one part of our nature is active another is dormant, as is seen in the waking and sleeping stages, the dream-life being in the middle ground between the psychic and physical. It will therefore be obvious that a condition in which the consciousness is held in bondage by the infirmities of the body is not one likely to be conducive to psychic development. For this reason alone many aspirants have been turned back from initiation. The constitution need not be robust, but it should at all events be free from disorder and pain. Some of the most ethereal and spiritual natures are found in association with a delicate organism. So long as the balance is maintained the soul is free to develop its latent powers. A certain delicacy of organization, together with a tendency to hyperaesthesia, is most frequently noted in the passive or direct seer; but a more robust and forceful constitution may well be allied to the positive type of seership.

As a chronic state of physical congestion is altogether adverse to the development of the second sight or any other psychic faculty, so the temporary congestion following naturally upon a meal indicates that it is not advisable to sit for psychic exercise immediately after eating. Neither should a seance be begun when food is due, for the automatism of the body will naturally demand satisfaction at times when food is usually taken and the preliminary processes of digestion will be active. The best time is between meals and especially between tea and supper, or an hour after the last meal of the day, supposing it to be of a light nature. The body should be at rest, and duly fortified, and the mind should be contented and tranquil.

The attitude of the would-be seer should not be too expectant or over-anxious about results. All will come in good time, and the more speedily if the conditions are carefully observed. It is useless to force the young plant in its growth. Take time, as Nature does. It is a great work and much patience may be needed. Nature is never in a hurry, and therefore she brings everything to perfection. The acorn becomes the sturdy oak only because Nature is content with small results, because she has the virtue of endurance. She is patient and careful in her beginnings, she nurses the young life with infinite care, and her works are wonderfully great and complete in their issues. Moreover, they endure. Whoever breathes slowest lives the longest.

The sensing of time is perhaps the greatest difficulty encountered by the seer, and this factor is often the one that vitiates an otherwise perfect revelation. I have known cartomantes and diviners of all sorts to express their doubt as to the possibility of a correct measure of time. Yet it is a question that follows naturally upon a clear prediction--When?

It is sometimes impossible to determine whether a vision relates to the past, the present, or the future. In most cases, however, the seer has an intuitive sense of the time-relations of a vision which is borne in upon him with the vision itself. It will generally be observed that in ordinary mental operations the time sense is subject to localization, and a distinct throw of the mind will be experienced when speaking of the past and the future. Personally I find the past to be located on my left and the future on my right hand, but others inform me that the habit of mind, places the past behind and the future in front of them, while others again have the past beneath their feet and the future over their heads. It is obviously a habit of mind, and this usually inheres in the visionary state so that a sense of time is found to attach to all visions, though it cannot be relied upon to register on every occasion. But also it is frequently found that there is an automatic allocation of the visions, those that are near of fulfilment being in the foreground of the field, the approximate in the middle ground, and the distant in the background; position answering to time interval. In such case the vision has a certain definition or focus according to the degree of its proximity. These points are, however, best decided by empiricism, and rarely does it happen that the intuitive sense of the seer is at fault when allowed to have play.

SYMBOLISM

Symbols formed the primitive language of the human race, they spoke and wrote in symbols. The hieroglyphic writings of the aborigines of Central America, of the ancient Peruvians, of the Mongolians, and of the ancient Copts and Hebrews all point to the universal use of the ideograph for the purpose of recording and conveying ideas.

If we study the alphabets of the various peoples, we shall find in them clear indications of the physical and social conditions under which they evolved. Thus the Hebrew alphabet carries with it unmistakable evidence of the nomadic and simple life of those "dwellers in tents." The forms of the letters are derived from the shapes of the constellations, of which twelve are zodiacal, six northern and six southern. This implies a superficial intimacy with the heavens such as would result from a life spent in hot countries with little or no superstructure to shut out the view. The wise among them would sit beneath the stars in the cool night air and figure out the language of the heavens.

Considered in regard to their origin, symbols may be defined as thought-forms which embody, by the association of ideas, definite meanings in the mind that generates them. They wholly depend for their significance upon the laws of thought and the correspondence that exists between the spiritual and material worlds, between the subject and object of our consciousness, the noumenon and phenomenon.

All symbols therefore may be translated by reference to the known nature, quality, properties and uses of the objects they represent. A few interpretations of symbols actually seen in the mirror may serve to illustrate the method of interpretation.

A foot signifies a journey, and also understanding. A mouth denotes speech, revelation, a message. An ear signifies news, information; if ugly and distorted, scandal and abuse.

The sun, if shining brightly, denotes prosperity, honours, good health, favours.

The moon when crescent denotes success, public recognition, increase and improvement; when gibbous, sickness, decadence, loss and trouble.

The sun being rayless or seen through a haze denotes sickness to a man, some misfortune, danger of discredit. When eclipsed it denotes the ruin or death of a man. The moon similarly affected denotes equal danger to a woman. These are all natural interpretations and probably would be immediately appreciated.

A ship is a symbol of trading, of voyaging, and is frequently used in the symbolical vision. If in full sail it indicates that communication with the spiritual world is about to be facilitated, that news from distant lands will come to hand, that trade will increase, that a voyage will be taken. If writing should appear on the sails it will be an additional means of enlightenment. If flying the pirate flag it denotes translation to another land, death. The land indicated may be the spiritual world itself, in which case the death will be natural; but if it should be a foreign country, then death will take place there by some unlooked-for disaster. The ship's sails being slack denotes a falling off of afflatus or spiritual influx, loss of trade, misfortune, delays and bad news, or if news is expected it will not come to hand.

Black bread denotes a famine; spotted or mottled bread, a plague. This symbol was seen in June 1896, with other symbols which connected it with India, and there followed a great outbreak of bubonic plague in that country. This symbol, however, was not properly understood until the event came to throw light upon it. The following note is from a seance which took place in India in the spring of 1893: "A leaf of shamrock is seen. It denotes the United Kingdom or the Triple Alliance. It is seen to split down the centre with a black line. It symbolizes the breaking of a treaty. Also that Ireland, whose symbol is the shamrock, will be separated by an autonomous government from the existing United Kingdom and will be divided into two factions."

In this way all symbols seen in the crystal or mirror may be interpreted by reference to their known properties and uses, as well as by the associations existing between them and other things, persons and places, in the mind of the seer. Nor is it always required that the scryer should understand symbology, for as already said, the meanings of most of the symbols will be conveyed to the consciousness of the seer at the time of their appearance in the field. Experience will continually throw new light upon the screen of thought, and a symbol once known will assume a constant signification with each seer, so that in course of time a language will be instituted by means of which constant revelations will be made.

It will thus be obvious, I think, that symbolism is to a large extent subject to a personal colouring, so that the same symbol may, by different associations, convey a different meaning to various seers. This may arise in part from the diversities of individual experience, of temperament, and the order to which the soul belongs in the spiritual world. These dissimilarities between individuals may be noted from their highest intellectual convictions down to the lowest of their sensations, and it is difficult to account for it. We all have the same laws of thought and the same general constitution. Humanity comprehends us all within the bonds of a single nature. Yet despite these facts we are divided by differences of opinion, of emotion, of sympathy, of taste and faculty. It is probable that these differences obtain in spheres immeasurably higher than our own, the sole element of consent being the recognition of dependence upon a Higher Power. God is the co-ordinating centre in a universe of infinite diversity.

Therefore, despite the fact that symbolism is capable of a universal interpretation, it would appear that the images projected by the magical power of the soul must have different significations with each of us, the meanings being in some mysterious way in agreement with the nature of the person who sees them. Hence we may come to the conclusion that every person must be his own interpreter, there being no universal code for what are peculiarly individualized messages. For although every symbol has a general signification in agreement with its natural properties and uses, it yet obtains a particular signification with the individual.

It is within common experience with those who have regard to the import of dreams, wherein the faculty of seership is acting on its normal plane, that a dream constantly recurring is found to have a particular meaning, which however is not applicable to others who have a similar dream. Every person is a seer in dream life, but few pay that attention to dreams which their origin and nature warrant. The crystal or mirror is an artificial means of bringing this normal faculty of dreaming into activity in waking life. Those who are capable of making the dream life normal to the working consciousness, rise to a higher plane when they sleep.

But, as stated above, the differences of import or meaning, even in dream life, of any particular symbol is a common experience. One person will dream of wading in water whenever there is trouble ahead. Another will dream of a naked child, and yet another of coal, when similar trouble is in store. Butchers' meat will signify financial trouble to one person, to another the same will denote a fortunate speculation.

The controlling factor in this matter would appear to be founded in the mental and psychic constitution conferred by physical heredity and psychic tradition, converging at the conception of the individual and expressed in the birth. Probably an argument could thence be made in regard to the influence of the planets and the general cosmic disposition attending upon birth: I have frequently found that dreams may be interpreted by reference to the individual horoscope of birth, and if dreams, possibly also visions, which are but dreams brought into the field of conscious reality. But any such argument, however tempting, would be beyond the scope of this work.

ALLIED PSYCHIC PHASES

The faculty of second sight is not by any means the most common of the psychic powers. Psychometric impressions which proceed by the sense of touch into that of a superior order of feeling are far more general. We are affected much more than is generally recognized by the impressions gathered from the things we have contact with, and it is quite a common experience that very delicate and sensitive people take the "atmosphere" of places into which they go. I have in mind an instance of an extremely high-keyed person who invariably takes on the atmosphere of new localities, houses and even rooms. Going to view a house with the object of taking it on rental, she will as likely as not pronounce against the moment she enters on the ground that it is a "house of death" or a "quarrelsome house," full of sickness, intemperance or what not, and wherever enquiry has been possible it has invariably confirmed her impressions. On one occasion she had telegraphed to engage a room at an hotel in a seaside town, and on being shown to it by the maid found that it was locked. While the maid went to fetch the key the young lady tried the door and immediately received a psychometric impression. "Oh, M--," she said to her companion, "we cannot possibly have this room, there's a corpse in it!" This was confirmed, almost as soon as said, by the appearance of the proprietor, who explained that the maid had made a mistake in the number of the room, and then, feeling that there was a state of tension, confidentially informed his visitors that the locked room had really been booked to them but the old lady who was to have vacated it that morning had unfortunately died, and in order not to distress the other visitors the door had been locked pending the removal of the body, and even the servants had not been informed of it.

Clairaudience is far more general than second sight, but there is the same variability in the range of perception as is seen in clairvoyance and psychometry. Thus while one hears only the evil suggestions of "obsessing spirits" or discarnate souls being dinned into his ears, another will be lifted to the third heaven and hear "things unutterable." Brain-cell discharges will hardly account for the phenomena of clairaudience. A brain-cell discharge never goes beyond the repetition of one's own name in some familiar voice, or at most the revival of a phrase or the monotonous clang of a neighbouring church bell. These are not clairaudiences at all. Clairaudience consists in receiving auditory impressions of intelligible phrases not previously associated with the name of person or place involved in the statement. These impressions may be sporadic or may be continuous. In the case of a genuine development where the interior sense is fully opened up, the communication will be continuous and normal, as much so as ordinary conversation, and the translation of consciousness into terms of sense will be so rapid and unimpeded as to give the impression to an Englishman that he is listening to his native language and to a Frenchman that he is listening to French, though the communication may proceed from a source which renders this impossible. The universal language of humanity is neither Volapuk, nor Esperanto, nor Ido. It is Thought, and when thought proceeds from a point beyond the plane of differentiation it can be determined along the line which makes for English as readily as that which makes for French, or any other tongue. It is they of the soul-world who convey the thought, it is we of the sublunary world who translate that thought into our own language. The Hebrew prophets were almost uniformly instructed by means of clairaudience. But as I have already said there are degrees of clairaudience, as of any other psychic faculty. The danger is that a false value may be set upon the experiences, especially during the early stages of development when everything is very new and very wonderful.

Telepathy is another and yet more general phrase of psychic activity. It may consist in the transmission from one person to another of a feeling or impression merely, which results in a certain degree of awareness to the state of mind in which the transmitter may be at the time, as when a mother has a "feeling" that all is not well with her absent child. Or it may yet take a more definite and perspicuous form, even to the transmission of details such as the names of persons and places, of numbers, forms and incidents. Telepathy commonly exists between persons in close sympathy; and when two persons are working along separate lines toward the same result, it is quite usual that they unconsciously "telepath" with one another, their brains being for the time in synchronous vibration. Spiritual communication in any degree is nothing more or less than sympathy--those who feel together, think together. The modern development of the aerial post is a step towards the universal federation of thought, but it is not comparable with the astral post which carries a thousand miles an hour. In this sort of correspondence the communication is written like any ordinary letter designed for transmission, but instead of stamping and posting it, a lighted match is applied to the finished work. The material part is destroyed, but the intangible and only real and lasting part remains behind. This is attached, by the direction of the will, to a particular person and set in a certain direction. If all the conditions have been properly observed it will not fail to reach its destination. I have fortunately been able to demonstrate this fact in public on more than one occasion. The phenomenon is repeated in a less striking form in every case of what is called "crossing," as when one correspondent feels suddenly called upon to write urgently to another and receives a reply to his enquiries while his letter is still in course of delivery.

Nature is full of a subtle magic of this sort for which we have no organized science. It is said that if you put snails together and afterwards separate them, placing each upon a copper ground to which electric wires are attached, a shock given to one snail will be registered by the other at the same moment. I have not tried this theory, but the idea is fundamental to a mass of telepathic observations which have found practical expression in wireless telegraphy. Some thirty years ago, however, I made trial of the twin magnet theory and was entirely successful in getting wireless messages from one room to another. The performance was, however, clumsy and tedious, and I did not then know enough to see how it could be perfected. The idea is now in the very safe custody of the Patents Office.

Community of taste can be demonstrated under hypnosis. It is not otherwise usually active in sensitives, and Swedenborg was hence of opinion that the sense of taste could not be obsessed. This, however, is incorrect. I have illustrated community of all the senses under hypnosis in circumstances which entirely precluded the possibility of feint or imposition on the part of the subject.

Another phase of psychic activity is that illustrated in "dowsing" or water-finding by means of the hazel fork. It may be accounted a form of hyperaesthesia and no doubt has a nervous expression, but it is not the less psychic in its origin. I have already referred to the action of water upon psychic sensitives, and there seems little room for doubt that it is the psychometric sense which, by means of the self-extensive faculty inhering in consciousness, registers the presence of the great diamagnetic agent. Professor Barrett has written a most interesting monograph on this subject, and there are many books extant which make reference to and give examples of this curious phenomenon. The late British Consul at Trieste and famous explorer and linguist, Sir Richard Burton, could detect the presence of a cat at a considerable distance, and I have heard that Lord Roberts experiences the same paralyzing influence by the proximity of the harmless feline. If, therefore, one can register the presence of a cat, and another that of a dead body, I see no difficulty in others registering water or any other antipathetic. All we have to remember is that these things are psychic in their origin, and not ignorantly confound sensation with consciousness, or hyperaesthesia with the various psychopathic faculties we have been discussing. But it is necessary to return to our main subject and consider where our developed clairvoyant or second-sight faculty will lead us, and what sort of experience we may expect to gain by its use. These points may now be dealt with.

EXPERIENCE AND USE

First let us have the facts, we can then best see what use we can make of them. This I think is the correct position in regard to any abnormal claim that is made upon our attention. Everybody has heard of the prophecies of the Brahmin seer, most people have some acquaintance with the phenomena attending the clairvoyance of the seeress of Prevorst, while the experiences of Emanuel Swedenborg have been set forth in many biographies, but in none more lucidly and dispassionately than that by William White. Traditions have come to us concerning the clairvoyance of the Greek exponent of the Pythagorean teachings, Apollonius of Tyana, and the case of Cavotte, who predicted his own death and that of Robespierre and others by the guillotine, is on record. The illumination of Andrew Jackson Davis, the Poughkeepsie seer, and that of Thomas Lake Harris of Fountain Grove, are modern examples of abnormal faculty of a nature which places them outside the field of direct evidence. A prophecy made from the use of the super-sense which is followed by exact fulfilment appears to be the best criterion, though it is a very imperfect illustration of the scope of clairvoyance.

The following instances are within my personal experience, and being already on record and well attested, will serve equally to illustrate the fact of clairvoyance as would numerous others within my knowledge.

In June, 1896, a lady visited me in Manchester Square and, being anxious on several points, asked that I would scry for her. A blue beryl was used as agent. She was told that she would have news from a tropical country concerning the birth of a child, a boy, who would arrive in the following year in the month of February. That on a certain date while travelling she would meet with an accident to the right leg. Previous to this, in October she would have a welcome surprise connected with papers and a contest in which her son was engaged.

Now here was a network of disaster for any would-be prophet who relied upon what is called the "lucky shot." If we enumerate the items of prediction, on any of which a fatal error could have been made, we shall find a very formidable list:--

A tropical country. A birth. A boy then unborn. February, 1897. A journey on a particular date. The right leg. The son. October. Papers.

At least nine points on which the faculty could have been wholly at fault. The fulfilment, however, came in due course. The lady heard that her sister, then vicereine of India, was about to have a child, and in February, 1897, a son was born to Lord Elgin. In October the lady referred to was agreeably surprised to learn that her son had passed his examination for the military college with honours. Further, while boarding a train at Victoria station she had the misfortune to slip between the platform and the footboard, so that the shin of the right leg was badly damaged and severe muscular strain was also suffered, in consequence of which she was laid up for several days.

Mrs. H. was consulted by an authoress, her profession being unknown to the scryer. She was told that she would go up a dingy staircase with a roll of papers under her arm; that she would see a dark man, thickset and of quiet demeanour. He would take the roll of papers and it would be a source of good fortune to her. The prediction was literally fulfilled.

The first case cited is an example of the positive and symbolic type of vision; the second being of the passive and direct type.

Mrs. A. was consulted by a lady of the writer's acquaintance and was told that she would not marry the man to whom she was then engaged as there was a certain other person, described, coming across the seas to claim her. She would meet him three years later in the month of January.

The event transpired exactly as stated, though nothing at that time appeared less probable, and indeed the lady was not a little irate at the allusion to the breaking off of the engagement and of marrying a man whom she had never seen and for whom she could have no sort of regard. In fact, the whole revelation was very revolting to one so wholly absorbed as was she at the time. It cannot be argued that this was a case of suggestion working itself out, for one cannot auto-suggest the arrival of a person of a particular description from a distant land to one's own drawing-room at any time, and there is here a prediction as to the date which was duly fulfilled. This was a case of direct vision.

Mrs. G. consulted a seer on September 27, 1894. She was told she would have sickness affecting the loins and knees; that she would be the owner of a house in the month of December; that a removal would be made when the trees were leafless; that there would be a dispute about a sum of money.

This is positive or symbolical clairvoyance. The symbols seen were as follow: a figure with a black cloth about the loins, the figure stooping and resting the hands upon its knees. A house covered with snow, bare trees around it. A bird on a leafless branch; the bird flies away. Several hands seen grabbing at a pile of money.

All the predictions were fulfilled.

Interpretations of symbols when made during the vision are frequently far removed from what one would be led to expect. But we have to remember that the seer is then in a psychologized state, and there is reason to believe that interpretations made from the inner plane of consciousness are due to the fact that the symbols appear in a different light. Our ordinary dreams follow the same change. While asleep we are impressed by the importance and logical consistency of the dream incident, which assumes, possibly, the proportions of a revelation, but which dissolves into ridiculous triviality and nonsense as soon as we awake. The reason is that there is a complete hiatus between the visionary and the waking state of consciousness, and even the laws of thought appear to undergo a change as the centre of consciousness slides down from the inner to the outer world of thought and feeling.

I have known sickness predicted, both as to time and nature of the malady; the receipt of unexpected letters and telegrams with indications of their contents and resulting incident; changes, voyages, business transactions, deaths, and even changes in the religious views of individuals, all by means of the crystal vision.

It sometimes happens that the visionary state is induced by excessive emotion during which the prophetic faculty is considerably heightened. Some temperaments on the other hand will fall into the clairvoyant condition when engaged in deep thought. The thread of thought seems suddenly to be broken, and there appears a vision wholly unconnected with the subject but a moment ago absorbing the mind. It is as if the soul, while probing the depths of its inner consciousness, comes into contact with the thin partition which may be said to divide the outer world of reason and doubt from the inner world of intuition and direct perception, and breaking through, emerges into the light beyond. In trance there is generally a development of other super-senses, such as clairaudience and psychic touch, as well as clairvoyance. Examples might be multiplied and would but serve to show that the rapport existing between the human soul and the world soul, the individual consciousness and the collective consciousness, is capable of being actively induced by recourse to appropriate means and developed where it exists in latency by means of the crystal, the black concave mirror or other suitable agent. As yet, however, the majority are wholly ignorant of the existence of such psychic faculties, and even those who possess them are conscious of having but an imperfect control of them.

As in the case of genius where nature is opening up new centres of activity in the mind, the casual observer notes an eccentricity hardly distinguishable from some incipient forms of insanity; so the development of new psychic faculties is frequently attended by temporary loss of control over the normal brain functions. Loss of memory, hysteria, absent-mindedness, unconscious utterance of thought, illusions, irritability, indifference, misanthropy and similar perversions are not infrequent products of the preliminary stages of psychic development. These, however, will pass away as the new faculty pushes through into full existence. Nature is jealous of her offspring and concentrates the whole of her forces when in the act of generation, and that is the reason of her apparent neglect of powers and functions, normally under her control, while the evolution of a new faculty is in process. Let it be understood therefore that the faculty of clairvoyance or any other super-sense is not to be artificially developed without some cost to those who seek it. "The universe is thine; take what thou wilt, but pay the price," says Emerson. This is the divine mandate. It is not merely a question of the price of a crystal or a mirror, the sacrifice of time, the exercise of patience: it may mean something much more than this. It is a question of the price of a new faculty. What is it worth to you? That is the price you will be required to pay. And with this equation in mind the reader must consider the use to which, when obtained, he will apply his faculty; for the virtue of everything is in its use. It is reasonable to presume that one's daily life can supply the true answer. To what use are we employing the faculties we already have, all of them acquired with as much pain and suffering, it may be, as any new ones we are ever likely to evolve? If we are using these faculties for the benefit of the race we shall employ others that are higher to even greater effect. In other case it is not worth the effort of acquiring, nor is it likely that anybody of a radically selfish nature will take the trouble to acquire it. Natural selection is the fine sieve which the gods use in their prospecting. The gross material does not go through.

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