August
Psychic-Physiological Phenomena
People who speak about themselves in the third person
The following fact was reported in the periodical Le Siécle, on July 4th, 1861 according to the Havre newspaper:
“A male victim of an incredible mental anomaly has just passed away at the hospice. He was a soldier by the name of Pierre Valin who was wounded in the head during the battle of Solferino. His injury was completely healed but since the event he considered himself dead. When asked about his health he used to say: ‘You want to know how Pierre Valin is doing? Poor man! He died from a bullet injury in the head in Solferino. What you see here is not Valin, it is a machine that resembles him but a not very good copy. You should ask to have it done again and better.’ Every time he spoke of himself he would say him instead of me. He frequently fell prostrated, completely motionless and insensitive and that could last days. He was then treated with mustard filled gauze and blistering agents that never had any painful reaction. He often had his arms and legs pinched but he never manifested any pain. To make sure that he was not pretending the doctor used to poke him on the back while talking to him; he felt nothing. On several occasions he refused to eat saying that it was unnecessary, that he had no bowels, etc.”
However this is not the only case of that kind. Another soldier that was also injured in the head spoke in the third person and using the feminine form. He used to say: ‘Ah! She suffers a lot! She is very thirsty! etc.’ In the beginning he was led to see the mistakes which he acknowledged with surprise but later he would go back and repeat it so much so that towards the end of his life he only spoke in that manner.”
“In the same way and after a head injury a Zouave that was perfectly cured lost his memory of nouns. A Drill sergeant who knew very well the names of the soldiers in his battalion but since the event he used to call them as: The large brown haired, the little carrot, etc. He began using periphrases to command the troops just to designate the musket, the sword, etc. They had to send him home.”
“The final years of the renowned doctor Baudelocque also offered an example of similar lesion but less characteristic, though. He remembered well what he had done during his healthy life. He recognized those who came to visit him by their voices since he had become blind, but he had no awareness of his current situation. For example, when asked: ‘How is your head?’ he would respond: ‘I have no head.’ If asked to extend his arm to have his pulse checked he would respond that he did not know where his arm was. One day he wanted to feel his pulse himself hence he was helped and his right hand was placed on his left wrist. He then asked if that was really him who was feeling the pulse. Yet, he counted the beats correctly.”
Physiology reports phenomena that seem abnormal and that science remains quiet about them in every step of the way. Why so? We have already said that and it is never too much to repeat: they try to attribute everything to the material element, with no account to the spiritual element. As long as it remains in that restrictive path, science will remain powerless to resolve thousands of issues that show up all the time under its scalpel, as if saying: “As you see there is something else beyond matter since one cannot explain everything with matter alone.”
And here we are not speaking of some bizarre phenomena only, that could find science unprepared, but we are speaking about the most common effects. For example, what about dreams? We don’t speak about the real dreams, those that are real perceptions of distant things, present or future, but simply about the fantastic dreams, or memories. Can that science explain how those clear and accurate images that we sometimes see are produced? What is that magic mirror that somehow keeps the image of things? In natural somnambulism that nobody denies, how does it explain the strange ability of seeing without the help of the eyes? And that is not vaguely, but with minor details, to the point of a somnambulist being able to carry out a task that would require sharp vision in the waking state.
Thus, there is something in us that sees without the eyes. The sensitive person not only sees but acts, thinks, calculates, organizes, foresees and carries out intellectual tasks that the same person is incapable of doing in the normal vigil state and from which they keep no memory. Hence, there must be something that thinks and that is independent of matter. What is that? Science stops here. Such facts are not rare, though.
A scholar, however, will go to the other side of the world to see and calculate an eclipse but he will not visit his neighbor’s house to observe a phenomenon of the soul. The spontaneous and natural facts that demonstrate the independent action of an intelligent principle occur in large numbers but such action is even more evident in the magnetic and spiritist phenomena in which the isolation of that principle is produced at will, so to speak.
Let us return to our subject. We registered a similar fact in the June 1861 issue of The Review, regarding the evocation of the Marquis de SaintPaul. Towards his final days he used to say: “He is thirsty. He needs water. He is cold. He needs to be warmed up. He has pain here or there, etc.” And then when he was told: “But Sir, it is you who is thirsty”, he responded: “No. It is him.”
The reason for that is the fact that the thinking ‘self ’ is in the spirit and not in the body. Since the spirit is already somewhat separated from the body, it then considers the body as a third party, as if it were not him. Thus, it was necessary to give water to that other being, to the body, and not to him, the spirit. That is why he gave the following answer to this question in his evocation: “Why did you always speak in the third person” to which he responded: “Because, as I said, I saw and felt very well the differences between the physical and the spiritual. Those differences that are intertwined by the fluid of life become very distinctive to the eyes of the agonizing clairvoyant.”
A similar cause must have produced the effect noted on the soldier mentioned above. They may perhaps say that the wound caused a kind of madness. The Marquis de Saint-Paul, however, had not been wounded. He was perfectly healthy and we are positive about this because his sister who is a member of the Society confirmed it to us. What was spontaneously produced in him could perfectly well have been produced in others by the effect of an incident. As a matter of fact, every magnetizer knows that it is very common to have the somnambulists speaking in the third person, thus creating a distinction between the personality of the soul, or spirit, and that of the body. In the normal state, both individualities get mixed up and their perfect assimilation is necessary to the harmony of life, but the intelligent principle is like those gases that are not easily contained and escape in the first opportunity. There is always the tendency of separating from its heavy corporeal burden as long as the equilibrium is no longer in place by the force that keeps the two together, by any given cause. Only the harmonic activity of the organs may keep the complete and subtle union between the soul and the body. However, at the minor suspension of that activity, the soul is airborne again. That is what happens during sleep, or when the senses are benumbed, in catalepsy, lethargy, in the natural or magnetized somnambulism, during ecstasy, during what is called daydreaming or second sight, during the inspirations of the genius, in every significant stress of the mind, that sometimes renders the body insensitive. That is how, finally, those things may happen as a consequence of certain pathological states. A large number of spiritual phenomena have no other cause but the emancipation of the soul. Medical science does acknowledge the influence of moral causes but does not admit the spiritual element as the active principle. That is why medicine confuses these phenomena with organic madness and also why a purely physical treatment is applied, treatment that frequently leads to real madness something that only had the appearance of madness.
Among the facts mentioned above there is one that seems really bizarre. It is the officer who spoke in the feminine third person. The primitive cause of the phenomenon, as we said, is the distinction between the two personalities as a consequence of the separation of the spirit. There is, however, another cause revealed by Spiritism and that must be taken into account, since it may give a special character to the thoughts: it is the vague memory of previous existences that in the state of emancipation of the soul may awake and allow a retrospective vision about some points of the past. In those cases the separation of the soul is never complete. The thoughts are affected by the failing organs and for that very reason they are not very lucid, as they are not at the first moments after death either.
Suppose the man that we spoke about had been a woman in his preceding existence. In that case he could confuse the memory that he might have preserved with his current condition.
Couldn’t we find a similar explanation to the obsessed idea of certain alienated persons who believe to be kings? If they were kings in preceding existences they may be affected by some memory of that. This is only a hypothesis but which does not lack credibility to the acquainted with Spiritism. If this cause is possible some will then say that it cannot be applied to the cases in which mad people believe to be wolves or pigs since everyone knows that man has never been an animal. That is correct but a man may have been in a condition that forced him to live among dirty animals and savage people. That could well be the source of such illusion that to some may have been imposed as punishing to this present life. When we are presented with facts of such a nature instead of referring them to the purely physical diseases, if we carefully followed all their phases with the support of the data provided by the spiritist observations, we would effortlessly detect the double causes that we identified and we would promptly understand that we cannot treat them with showers, bleedings and cauterizations.
Mr. Baudelocque’s case also finds its explanation in analogous causes. The article says that he had no awareness of his own existence. That is a mistake since he did not consider himself dead; he was just unaware of his corporeal life. He was in a more or less similar situation as the spirits, who at their initial moments just after their deaths don’t believe to be dead and take their bodies as someone else’s since they cannot understand the situation, given their disorientation. The same that takes place with certain disincarnate spirits may also happen to some incarnate. That is how Mr. Baudelocque could make an abstraction of his body and say that he had no head, once his spirit had no corporeal head. The spiritist observations provide numerous examples of this kind, thus shedding new light onto an immense variety of phenomena that up until now could not be explained and were simply inexplicable without its foundations. There is still the case of the Zouave that lost the memory of nouns to be examined.
But this case can only be explained by considerations of a different order, which fall into the field of organic physiology. The developments led by that event commit us to devote a special article about it, to be published soon.
American Manifestations
The Banner of Light, a New York journal from May 18th, 1861 brings the following:
“Deeming the following extraordinary facts worthy of being placed upon record in an authenticated form, we forward them to the Banner for publication, with our signatures attached, as evidence that they occurred in our presence, and under the herein stated.
On Wednesday evening, May 1st, we met the medium H.M. Fay, by appointment, at the residence of Mr. W. B. Hallock, in New York. The medium seated himself near a table, upon which were placed a tin horn, a violin and three separate pieces of small-sized bed-cord. The company were seated in a semi-circle in front of the medium, and the table six or eight inches from them, and with their hands joined, which gave every member of the circle the assurance that his neighbors on his right and left, retained their position in every one of the experiments herein related. The lights were then put out and the company ordered to sing. In a few minutes, a light was called for. The medium was found still seating in his chair, with his hands crossed behind him at the wrists, which were firmly tied together, the knots being between the wrists, and the rope being wrapped around each wrist so tightly as to press into the flesh and obstruct the venous circulation, so that the hands became much swollen. The ends of the rope were then passed upon the inside of the back of the chair, and then brought round and tied, one to each of the front legs of the chair. Another rope was found wrapped firmly around his legs, just above his knees, and tied tightly, while a third rope secured his ankles in the same manner. In this condition, we were satisfied that the medium could neither have tied himself, nor could he untie himself, nor use his hands, nor walk, nor rise from his chair. A member of the circle then placed a sheet of white paper upon the floor, under the medium’s feet, with a pencil upon the paper. The light was put out, and, almost immediately, the horn was seized by a power of same kind, and struck upon the table and the floor repeatedly, rapidly, and very violently, so as to make deep indentations in the table. A mouth also seemed to be applied to the horn, and conversed through it, freely and rather jocularly, at times, with the members of the circle. The articulation of the words was as distinct as that of a person in the form when speaking through a horn. The sound was that of a full male voice, and the tone somewhat louder than the tone of common conversation. Another voice, fainter, somewhat guttural, and with a less distinct articulation, also, at times, conversed with the company. A light was called for, and the medium was found still in his chair, bound hand and foot, as already described, and his feet within the pencil lines that had been traced around them. The light was again put out, and soon the horn commenced its pounding and its talking as before. The circle was next told to sing, and the manifestations apparently ceased; but at the call for the light, the ropes were found removed from the medium’s ankles and knees; his hands, however, were still tied, as already described, and his feet within the pencil lines upon the with paper. Again the light was put out, and again the pounding and the talking through the horn were resumed. Then, followed an order for singing, which was continued for a few moments, when the light was called for, and the medium was found untied, sitting in his chair, with his feet within the pencil lines. This closed the first series of manifestations.
The light was again put out, and after a few moments singing by the circle, the light was struck, and the medium was found tied with one rope around his ankles, with another just below his knees, while with a third his wrists were tied in front of him, even more tightly than before, and then lashed to his right tight. A member of the circle then tied his limbs to the chair, and putting a sheet of white paper under his feet, traced with a pencil the outlines of his feet as before. A bell was also put upon the table and the light extinguished, as before, there was pounding upon the floor and table with the horn, and talking through the horn; then the bell was lifted from the table and rung very loudly, about midway between the medium and the circle, and seeming to sweep over an arc of five or six feet at each stroke of the clapper. During the ring of the bell the medium repeatedly in a loud voice, exclaimed: “I am here, I am here,” thus assuring us that he was still in his chair, while the bell was at a considerable distance from him. The light was ordered, and the medium was found still tied as described, with his feet within the pencil lines.
A large bright spot, an inch and a half in diameter, was now made upon the back of the violin by rubbing it with phosphorus. The light was put out, and very soon the violin rose six or seven feet above the floor and floated rapidly around in the air, making a large sweep at times, of seven or eight feet. In its movements it could easily be followed by the eye, as the phosphorescent spot made upon it was distinctly visible; it was also easily followed by the ear, as its strings were thumbed upon during its flight. As the violin floated around, the medium repeatedly exclaimed in a loud voice: “I am here, I am here,” giving us the assurance that he was still in his chair and not following the violin in its movements. The light was called for, and the medium was found tied, as already described, and his feet within the pencil lines.
A member of the circle next placed a tumbler half full of water upon the table and a slip of paper between the medium’s lips. The light was then extinguished. After a few moments singing by the circle the light was ordered, and the tumbler was found empty, with no trace of the water upon the table or the floor, the medium being still tied as last described, his feet within the pencil lines, and the paper between his lips dry. Again the light was put out, and again relighted in a few moments, when the medium was found untied. This closed the second series of experiments.
Mrs. Spence, now sat near the medium, and facing him. A gentleman then sat between the two, so as to place his right foot upon Mrs. Spence’s feet, his right hand upon the medium’s head, and his left hand upon Mrs. Spence’s head. The medium then grasped the gentleman’s right arm with both hands, each hand grasping at separate places, while Mrs. Spence grasped the gentleman’s left arm in the same way. The light was put out, and after a short interval, it was again struck up, when the parties were observed to be still in the relative position just described.
The gentleman then stated, that neither the medium’s nor Mrs. Spence’s hands had been removed from his arms; yet, while the light was out, he distinctly felt the fingers of a hand playing upon his face, pull his nose, slap him upon the cheek, making a noise that was heard by the rest of the circle; also that he was repeatedly tapped over the head with the violin, making a noise that was perceptible to all present.
Another gentleman then took the first gentleman’s place, and he also stated that he was handled and struck in the same way; and so each member of the circle, taking, in turn, the position just described, testified to having been touched, handled and struck about the face and head, by what seemed to be a hand, and sometimes also by the violin; all, however, while the light was extinguished, but while the medium’s hands and feet and also Mrs. Spence’s were secured as described. This closed the third series of experiments, in all of which, as well as in those first two series, we are satisfied that the manifestations were not produced either by Mr. Fay or by any member of the circle.
Yours truly,
Charles Patridge, R. T. Hallock, Mrs. Sarah P. Clark, Mrs. Mary S. Hallock, Mrs. Amanda, M. Spence, Miss Alla Britt, William Blondel, William P. Coles, W. B. Hallock, B. Franklin Clark, Peyton Spence.
New York, May 3, 1861.”
OBSERVATION: We don’t deny the possibility of all these things and we have no reason to doubt the honorability of the countersigners, despite the fact that we don’t know them. However, we stand behind our thoughts given in our last issue regarding the two articles about the mysterious drawings and the exploitation of Spiritism. Some say that such exploitation does not shock public opinion in America and that they find it very natural that mediums may seek compensation. That is understandable in a country where time is money. That will not preclude us from saying what we have already said in another article: that the absolute altruism is an even better guarantor than all physical precautions.
If our texts have contributed to cast discredit upon the self-serving mediumship in France and elsewhere we believe that this is not the least service done to serious Spiritism. These general thoughts are not absolutely directed to Mr. Fay whose position before the public we ignore.
Family Conversations from Beyond the Grave - Don Peyra, Prior of Amilly
Correspondence Letter from Mr. Mathieu about Deceitful Mediums
Spiritist Teachings and Dissertations
Moral Influence of the Mediums in the Communications (Parisian Society of Spiritist Studies, medium Mr. D’Ambel)Thus the lighthearted and less serious mediums attract spirits of the same kind. That is why their communications are marked by banal and frivolous things, ideas without proper coordination and sometimes very unorthodox from a spiritist point of view. At times, they may say good things, and they do, but it is exactly in this case that a very severe and scrupulous exam is required because certain hypocritical spirits can skillfully permeate controversy and lies as to mislead the good faith of the audience. One must then suppress every mistaken word or phrase and only retain from the dictation what is accepted by logic or something that has been already taught by the Doctrine. Communications of this nature should not be feared more by the isolated spiritists or recent and unenlightened groups than in sessions where the followers are more advanced and have gained more experience; regardless of how much the crow covers itself with the feathers of a peacock it will always be mercilessly unmasked.
I shall not speak about those who enjoy and ask for obscene communications. Let them be satisfied by the presence of cynical spirits. As a matter of fact, communications of such a nature seek solitude and isolation on their own. In any case they can only provoke disdain and embarrassment amidst serious philosophical groups. But the moral influence is really felt when the medium replaces the ideas that the spirits struggle to transmit; when the medium extracts fantastic theories from their own imagination, in good faith believing that the communications were transmitted via their intuitive skills. There is a thousand in one chance that in such case, it is a reflex of the medium’s own mind. There is even the curious fact that the medium’s hand sometimes moves almost mechanically, as if being driven by a secondary or inferior spirit. It is against this critical test that the young and excited imagination crashes, carried away by the enthusiasm of their own ideas, decorated by their own personal knowledge, thus ignoring the simple thoughts of an elevated spirit, exchanging the prey for its shadow and replacing the message by an exaggerated paraphrase.
It is also against this formidable obstacle that ambitious personalities crash, and thus in the absence of communications refused by the good spirits they present their own work as if produced by the spirits. That is why the leaders of the spiritist centers must have an accurate perception and a rare sagacity to differentiate between authentic communications and those which are not, and yet not hurting people who deceive themselves. When in doubt, leave it out (more is less), says one of your old proverbs; therefore, you must admit but only what is a certainty to you. Whenever there is a new point of view you must test it against the crucible of logic and reason. Anything that is rejected by reason and common sense must be firmly declined. It is better to reject ten truths than to accept a single lie, a single false theory. In reality a whole system could be built on top of a false theory and that would ruin before the first breath of truth, like a monument built on quick sand, whilst if some truths are rejected today because they don’t seem to have been demonstrated clearly and logically to you, soon an overwhelming fact or irrefutable demonstration will come to attest their truthfulness. Yet, spiritists, remember that there is nothing impossible to God and to the good spirits but injustice and iniquity.
Spiritism is now sufficiently spread among humanity and has moralized sufficiently the devout followers of its sacred doctrine so that the spirits are no longer forced to utilize bad tools, imperfect mediums. Nowadays if any given medium gives reason for suspicion by conduct or habits, out of pride or lack of love and charity, repudiate their communications for there is a snake hidden in the grass. That is my conclusion about the moral influence of the mediums.
Erastus
Apport and other Tangible Phenomena (Parisian Society of Spiritist Studies, medium Mr. D’Ambel)
Highly impressionable natures, where nerves vibrate before a minor feeling, before a slight sensation, and are sensitive to moral or physical influences, internal or external, these individuals are prone to become excellent mediums of physical effects of tangibility and transportation. In fact, their nervous system almost entirely devoid from a refractory envelope, which isolates this system in the vast majority, for them, provides for the development of this phenomenon. Hence, the phenomena of tangibility is more easily obtained through a person with such structure and whose other traits are not hostile to mediumization; these are knocks on walls and furniture, intelligent motions and even lifting of heavy and inert matter in the air. With even more certainty, these results would be obtained if instead of one medium, we have on hand several equally endowed mediums.
However, there is a significant difference between tangible phenomena and apports; the work carried out by the spirit in this case is not only more difficult and complex but also there is the need to operate with a single medium since several mediums cannot simultaneously contribute to the production of the same phenomenon. On the contrary, it may happen that the presence of certain individuals who are not sympathetic to the spirit may radically hinder the work. That is why, as you see, apports also requires greater concentration, and also the diffusion of certain fluids that can only be obtained with the help of the most gifted mediums who, in a word, have the best equipped electrical-mediumistic sensitivities. Generally speaking the cases involved with the apport phenomena are and will continue to be very rare. Needless to say, that these are and will always be less frequent than other phenomena of tangibility; of which you yourself, can infer why. Moreover, these phenomena are of such a specific nature, that not only are special mediums required but also not every spirit can produce them. There must be certain influence that exists between the affinity between the spirit and the medium, a certain analogy, certain similarity that allows the expansive part of the perispiritic fluid of the medium * to mix, unite and combine with that of the spirit who wishes to perform an apport. This fusion must be such that the resulting force becomes, that is to say, of the same unique clarity as in a furnace where the electrical current acts upon the coal.
You will then ask why this union, this fusion is necessary? For the production of this phenomenon it is necessary that the essential properties of the driving force of the spirit must be augmented by some of those mediumized; that is the vital fluid, indispensable for the production of all mediumistic phenomena, is an exclusive attribute of the incarnate and thus, the acting spirit is forced to absorb it. It is only then that the spirit can isolate, make invisible and move certain objects and even bodies, using certain properties of your environment which are unknown to you.
For now, I am not allowed to reveal those specific laws that govern the gases and fluids that surround you. In a few years though before one generation has passed, these laws and the explanations of these phenomena will be revealed to you and a new variety of mediums will appear, falling on a cataleptic state when in trance. Now you see the difficulties around the production of an apport. Hence, the logical conclusion is that these are extremely rare occurrences and all the more reason, that spirits are even less likely to be involved with them since there is the requirement on their part for an almost all materialistic effort and that is tedious and a nuisance to them. On another hand, it may also happen that despite their energy and good will, the state of a medium itself may impose them, creating an impassable barrier.
It then becomes obvious by your own reasoning, I have no doubt, that the cases of raps, movement and levitation are simple phenomena that occur by the concentration and expansion of certain fluids, and that they can be provoked and obtained at will and by the work of mediums who have those abilities, when assisted by good and benevolent spirits; whereas the phenomena of apport is complex, demanding special circumstances and cannot occur by the simultaneous action of several spirits, is carried out by one medium only and require, in addition to the needs of tangibility, a very particular combination of fluids in order to isolate and render the apported object(s) invisible.
All of you spiritists, you must understand my explanations and be aware of the need for that concentration of special fluids for the mobility and tangibility of inert matter. Believe in that as you believe in the phenomena of electricity and magnetism with which mediumship has a lot in common, and in a certain way its consecration and development. As for the disbelievers, I have better things to do instead of trying to convince them and I have no time for that. One day they will believe by the sheer force of things, since it is necessary that they acknowledge the unanimous testimony of spiritist facts, as they were forced to do before so many other previously rejected phenomena.
To summarize: if the cases of tangibility are frequent those of apport are comparatively very rare because the required conditions are difficult and not a single medium can say: ‘at such time, at any given moment, I will produce an apport’, because often even the spirit is prevented from doing it. I must add that such phenomena are twice as more difficult in public because we almost always encounter the presence of energetically refractory elements that paralyze the efforts of the spirit and even more so the action of the medium.
On the contrary, rest assured that in the majority of the cases these phenomena are spontaneously produced, by default without the medium’s awareness and without premeditation, almost always in private, and finally, very rarely when the mediums are aware. From all the above you must conclude that there is a legitimate reason for suspicion whenever a given medium boasts about being able to produce them at will, that is, being able to command the spirits as if they were anyone’s servants, which is simply absurd. You must also consider as a general rule that the spiritist phenomena are not events for exhibitions in spectacles and for the entertainment of curiosity. There could be some spirits that lend themselves to that type of activity, but then it is for the production of simple phenomena and not those like apports which require special conditions.
Remember, spiritists, that if it is absurd to systematically reject all phenomena from beyond the grave, it is not wise to blindly accept all of them either. When phenomenon of tangibility, apparition, visibility or apport manifests itself spontaneously and instantaneously, accept it; but I strongly repeat, do not accept anything blindly. Every fact must undergo a scrutiny, thorough and severe.. Believe me that Spiritism, so rich in sublime and grand phenomena, has nothing to gain with these insignificant manifestations that can be imitated by skillful conjurers. I know what you are going to say: the phenomena are useful to convince the disbelievers. However, know this, that if you were not given other means of persuading them, you would not have even a fraction of the spiritists that you can count today. Speak to their hearts. That is how you are going to attain serious conviction. If you find it useful to convince certain people by material phenomena, at least have them presented in such a way that they may not give rise to false interpretations, and especially, do not move away from the normal conditions of these facts because when they are presented inappropriately they offer arguments to the disbelievers instead of convincing them.
Erastus
______________________________________
* It is clear that when there is a lack of terms to express a new idea the spirits know perfectly well how to create neologisms. The words electro-dynamic and perispiritic are not ours. Those who criticized us for the creation of words like spiritist, Spiritism and perispirit may do the same to the spirits.
About Animal Mediums (Parisian Society of Spiritist Studies, medium Mr. D’Ambel)
He has said: “We know already, you can animate the inert matter, such as a table, a chair, a piano; more so, you should then be able to animalize matter that is already animated, especially in birds.” Well, according to the principles of Spiritism this does not exist.
To begin with let us be clear about the facts. What is a medium? It is an individual who serves as the intermediary to the spirits so that they can easily communicate with people; incarnated spirits. Therefore, without the medium there is no tangible, mental, written, physical or any other type of communication. There is a principle that I am sure is accepted by every spiritist: those who are similar act with their peers and as their peers act. Well then, who are the peers of the spirits if not the spirits themselves, incarnated or not? Do we need to repeat it again? I will tell you once more: Your perispirit and ours are both extracted from the same environment; they have an identical nature. In one word they are similar. Both have the property of assimilation and magnetization more or less developed which enable us, disincarnate and incarnate, to promptly communicate with one another. Finally, there is something that is truly part of the medium, a special affinity, the very essence of the medium, and that at the same time is a power of expansion that removes any deflection from occurring, establishing something similar to an electric current between the medium and us; like a fusion which facilitates our communications. In fact it is exactly this deviated property of matter that opposes the development of mediumship in most people who are not mediums. It is this same rejection of property that one must attribute the fact that certain individuals who are not mediums may develop mediumship by the mere contact with novice or somewhat passive mediums, that is to say, if they are lacking some mediumistic skills.
People are always willing to exaggerate everything. Some – I am not talking about the materialists – refuse to believe that animals even have a soul and others want to give animals a soul similar to ours. Why would they want to confuse the perfectible with the non-perfectible? No, no. Rest assured that the fire that animates animals, the breath that gives them life, that makes them move and communicate through their own language, has at present, no ability to blend, to unite, to merge with the divine breath, the ethereal soul, in a word, the spirit, that animates the essentially perfectible being, the human being, the king of creation. Now, isn’t this character of perfectibility exactly what marks the superiority of the human race above other Earthly species? Well Then! You must acknowledge that it is not possible to attribute to any other living species on Earth the inherent perfectibility of human beings.
Take the dog whose superior intelligence has made him a friend and companion of humans; is the dog perfect by itself through its own personal initiative? Nobody would accept that since dogs do not enable other dogs to advance and the best trained dog is always trained by its human trainer. The otter has always built its home on the water following the same proportions and an unchanged rule since the world began. The nightingales and the swallows have never built their nests differently from their parents. A nest of a sparrow from before the floods is the same as the one built in modern day, built in the same way and using the same system of intertwining straws and debris of vegetation collected during the spring, the season of love. The bees and ants in their little domestic republics have never changed their habits of catering and provisioning, both in their attitudes, customs and ways of production. Finally, the spider has always weaved its web in the same way.
On another hand, if you are searching for the tents and huts built with barks and leaves from human’s earlier times on Earth, you will find castles and palaces of modern civilization in their places. Fine fabrics of gold and silk replaced the outfits made of brute animal skin. You can find proof of the advancement of human society in every step of the way.
There is a constant, invincible, undeniable progress of the human race and an indefinite standstill of other animal species, therefore you will acknowledge that while there are common principles uniting every living creature on Earth, the breath of life and matter, it is not less true that only you, the incarnate spirits are subjected to that unavoidable law of progress that always and relentlessly pushes you forward. God placed the animals by your side to feed you, dress and accompany you. They were given a certain level of intelligence because they must understand you in order to help you, and their intelligence is limited to the type of service they are expected to do. God in His wisdom did not want them to follow the same law of progress. They shall remain as they are until the extinction of their species.
It has been said: the spirits act upon inert matter and make chairs, tables and pianos move. They make them move, that is correct, but the spirits don’t turn them into mediums! That is for the very reason again, that none of those effects could have been produced without mediums. What is so extraordinary is the fact that we give motion to the inert and passive matter, when it is that very passivity that is adequate for us to determine the impulses and motions that we wish to give it? We need mediums for that, it is true. But there is no need to have them present or conscious since we can act with the elements provided by the medium, by default and even in their absence, particularly in cases of tangibility and apports. Our fluidic envelope, more imponderable and subtle than the most imponderable and subtlest of your gases, mixing and combining with the heavier and more animalized envelope of the medium, whose properties of expansion and penetrability are not detected by your material senses, nearly inexplicable to you, enables us to move furniture and even break it in empty rooms.
The spirits can certainly become visible and tangible to animals, often taken by surprise by a fear that doesn’t make sense to you and that can be caused by the sight of one or several bad spirits who appear unfriendly towards the individuals present or the animal’s owner. Very often you will find horses that don’t want to move, stalling before an imaginary obstacle. Well then! You can be certain that the imaginary obstacle is frequently a spirit or a group of spirits who are having fun by deterring them from moving forward. Remember the donkey of Balaam that saw an angel with its flaming sword and refused to move. Before making himself visible to Balaam the angel was first seen by the animal. But I repeat, we do not act directly upon animals or inert matter. We always need the conscious or unconscious support of a human medium since we need the union of similar fluids, something that is not found in animals or in inert matter.
They say that Mr. Thiry magnetized his dog. What happened? He killed the dog; this unfortunate animal fell into a state of unresponsive lifelessness as a consequence of being magnetized. In effect, infusing the dog with a fluid of a superior essence to its nature, acted like a strike of lightning, although much slower. Thus we instantly kill an animal by trying to magnetize it for there is no feasible assimilation between our perispirit and theirs.
Having said that, I still fully recognize that animals have several abilities; that they may show certain feelings and passions similar to humans; that they are sensitive and grateful, vindictive and hateful depending on how they are treated. God, in doing nothing incomplete, has given domestic animals as companions and servants, the qualities of sociability that are missing entirely by the savage animals who live in the wilderness. To summarize: mediumistic acts cannot occur without the conscious or unconscious support of a medium, and it is only among humans that we can find those capable of serving us as mediums. As for training dogs, birds or other animals to perform this or that exercise, that is your business and not ours.
Erastus
OBSERVATION: Regarding the discussion that took place at the Society about animal mediumship Mr. Allan Kardec said that he had carefully observed experiments carried out lately with birds to which people were attributing mediumistic skills, adding that he was able to unequivocally identify conjurer’s tricks employed with great ability to delude the spectator who is easily satisfied by the appearances, without investigating the bottom line. The birds in fact do things that could lead to the belief that they have superior intelligence and that not even the most lucid somnambulist would be able to reproduce, from which one could conclude, contrary to the laws of nature, that these birds have intelligence superior to human beings.
What is really remarkable about these experiments is the art, the patience needed to train the animals, making them docile and attentive. In order to achieve these results one need a lot of flexibility, typically found in domesticated animals where there is much more habit than deception. The proof is that if they are no longer trained for some time they soon forget what was learned previously. The appeal of such experiments, as with any other trickery, is in the secrecy behind the processes. Once the process is known, the attraction is over. That is what happened when the conjurers wanted to imitate lucid somnambulism with their double vision. There could not be any illusion to anybody who was familiar with somnambulism. The same happens here with the mediumship of birds that any experienced observer can easily demystify.
People! Silence! (Sent by Mr. Sabò, from Bordeaux - Medium, Mrs. Cazemajoux)
Where do those children dressed in white robes run to? Their hearts illuminating with joy; a playful swarm, frolicking in green meadows where they will make an ample harvest of flowers and chase the bright insects that feed out of their cups. Carefree and happy they do not see beyond the blue horizon around them. If you do not hurry and incite the spiritist teachings in their hearts, their demise shall be terrible. The spirits of the Lord have crossed through the clouds and preach to you; listen to their friendly voices. Listen carefully; people, be silent!
II
They have grown and become strong. The beauty of some, the grace and abandonment of others are still alive in the hearts of their parents, the sweet memories of a distant time, but the smile that still thrives on their withered lips disappears to make room for serious concerns. It is they too, who have also drunk deeply from the enchanted cup of illusions of their youth and its subtle poison has weakened their blood, irritated their strength, aged their faces and receded their foreheads; they wanted to prevent their children from having a taste from the same poisoned cup. Brothers! Spiritism shall be the antidote that will prevent new generations from its mortal devastations. The spirits of the Lord have crossed through the clouds and preach to you; listen to their friendly voices. Listen carefully; people, be silent!
III
They have reached the age of adulthood; they are serious and thoughtful but not happy. Their hearts are jaded and have only one sensitive fiber: ambition. All their efforts, all their energy is employed in the acquisition of earthly goods. They see no happiness without distinctions and fortune. Fools! The angel of deliverance will one day knock at your door and you shall be forced to leave all those illusions behind. You are like exiles that God may call back to the homeland at any moment. You must not build palaces or monuments; a tent, clothes and bread, that is all you need. Be happy with that and give the excess to your brothers who lack shelter, clothing and food. Spiritism is here to tell you that the real treasures you must acquire are the love of God and neighbor; that will make you eternally wealthy. The spirits of the Lord have crossed through the clouds and preach to you; listen to their friendly voices. Listen carefully; people, be silent!
IV
Their foreheads now lean over the edge of the grave. They are afraid and want to raise their heads, but time has hunched their shoulders, stiffened their nerves and muscles and they are powerless to look up. Oh! What anguishes assail them! They review, in the privacy of their inner soul their useless and often criminal lives; remorse gnaws at them like a hungry vulture. So many times they have denied their God and they will appear at the edge of the grave, like an inexorable avenger. Have no fear, brothers, but pray. God may punish you in his justice but he will take your regret into account for Spiritism comes to tell you that there is no eternal punishment and that you are reborn to atone and purify. Also, you who are weary of your exile on Earth, you must make every effort to improve yourself so that you don’t have to return. The spirits of the Lord have crossed through the clouds and preach to you; listen to their friendly voices. Listen carefully; people, be silent!
Byron
Jean-Jacques Rousseau (Medium, Mrs. Costel)
“I am here Madam, although you have not called me. I come to tell you things that are much different from your concerns. I am the spirit of Jean-Jacques Rousseau. I have waited a long time for this opportunity of communicating with you. Listen now.”
“I believe that Spiritism is a pure philosophical study of the secret causes of the inner struggles of the soul, little or not at all defined so far. It shows new horizons, even more so than it reveals them. Reincarnation and the trials endured before the supreme objective is reached are no revelations but an important confirmation. I am impressed by the truth that is illuminated by such an instrument. I say instrument on purpose because the way I see it, Spiritism is a lever that removes the barriers of blindness. The preoccupation with moral issues has still to be created; politics are discussed that stir the general interest; the private interests are also discussed; some are passionate about attacking or defending personalities; the systems have supporters and adversaries, but the moral truths that are the bread of the soul, the bread of life, those are left underneath the dust accumulated over the centuries.”
“All improvements are useful to the eyes of the crowd except that of the soul. Your education, your elevations are illusions good at most to occupy the leisure of priests, poets, women or the status quo.
If Spiritism can resuscitate Spiritualism it will then return to society the momentum that gives inner dignity to some, resignation to others, and to everyone the need to rise to the Supreme Being, forgotten and neglected by His ungrateful creatures.”
Jean-Jacques Rousseau
Controversy (Sent by Mr. Sabò, from Bordeaux)
By sending His spirits to teach your true duties towards Him and your brothers God wishes above all that charity be the driving force in all of your actions, and your brothers who still wish to revive their days of regret remain on the path of pride. But these times are long gone for you, and always praise the Lord for allowing humanity to stop their religious disputes that have never produced anything positive and have been the cause of so much harm. Why would you want to discuss the texts of the Gospels, when you have already interpreted it in so many ways? Those comments were produced when Spiritism was not here to clarify it for you, and it tells you: The morality of the Gospels is the best that there is; follow it. However, if deep down in your conscience a voice cries out to you: For me there is still this or that obscure point that doesn’t allow me to think differently from my brothers! Elohim, my brother, leave aside what disturbs you; love God and charity and you shall be on the right path. What served as the fruit of my long vigils when I lived in your world? Nothing. Many did not even read my texts that were not written by the hand of charity and even attracted persecution onto my brothers.
Controversy is always fueled by a feeling of intolerance that can become offensive and the stubbornness with which everyone sustains their positions and postpones the time when the great human family will respect all beliefs, acknowledging past mistakes and no longer raising their weapons for the destruction of fraternal bonds. To give you an example of what I have just said, open up the Gospel and you will find these words: ‘I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me will live”.
Many of you condemn those who don’t follow the religion that has the teachings of the Incarnate Word. Many of them, however, sit by our Lord’s side for they were righteous and through that they worshiped and loved him; they respected their brothers’ beliefs; they sought the Lord when they saw the bloodthirsty fight of the people in their religious struggles; and yet they were unable to find the true meaning of Christ’s words as blind instruments of their priests and ministers.
My God, I who lived in those days when our hearts stormed against our brothers from a different faith, had I been more tolerant; had I not condemned their interpretation of the Gospels, today they would be less belligerent towards their Catholic brothers, and everyone would have moved in strides towards the universal fraternity. However, the Protestants, the Jews, all religions that are in more evidence have their shrewd priests and doctors of the law and then, when a more disseminated Spiritism is studied by those enlightened brothers in good faith they will do as the Catholics did, and will bring the light to their brothers and appease their religious scruples.
Allow God to continue his work of moral reformation that must elevate all of you up to Him, all on the same level, and do not rebel against the teachings of the spirits who were sent by Him.”
Bossuet
Poverty (Sent by Mr. Sabò, from Bordeaux)
Now that you understand that God’s doing is fair and perfect and that you know that poverty is a punishment or a trial, go and try to alleviate that misery but don’t show them utopias that may lead the unfortunate ones to believe in an impossible equality. It is certainly possible to mitigate a lot of suffering through a smart social organization, and that is what one must aim at, but pretending that poverty can be eliminated from the Earth is a hallucinatory idea.
Earth is a place of atonement hence, there will always be poor people making up for their previous abuse of their God given wealth, never realizing the kindness of doing good to their brothers and sisters; who hoarded piece by piece to accumulate unnecessary wealth that served nobody; who became rich off of the backs of widows and orphans. Oh! Those who are guilty along with their selfishness will have terrible return! Beware, however, to believe that all the poor suffer a punishment of being guilty. While poverty is a great atonement to some, it is also a trial to others, helping them to more rapidly achieve the sanctuary of the elected ones. Yes, there will always be the poor and the rich so that some may have the merit of resignation and others that of charity and devotion. Rich or poor you stand on a slippery slope that can push you off the cliff, like an incline where only your virtues can hold you back.
When I say that there will always be poor on the Earth, I mean that while there are vices that maintain Earth as a place of reparation to the perverse spirits that God will continue to send for their own punishment. It is through your virtues that you shall have the merit and God will only send good spirits and you will then create an earthly heaven out of an earthly hell.”
Adolph, bishop of Alger
Concord (Sent by Mr. Rodolphe, from Mulhouse)
Look to enlighten one another. Be worthy of your apostolic mission and give the world an example of good harmony. Be the living example of human fraternity, and show what can happen when people are sincerely devoted to the propagation of morality. With only one goal, you should have only one of the same thought and that is putting into practice what you teach. Your motto should be: Union and concord; peace and fraternity!”
Mardoqueu
The Dawn of a New Era (Parisian Society of Spiritist Studies, medium Mrs. Costel)
There has never been a time, and let us not forget the end of the last century, when the prejudices and abuses that have oppressed the human spirit; at no other time; has intellectual movement been bolder, more outspoken. I say this frankly because the European spirit walks alongside the truth.
Freedom is no longer a bloody phantom, but a beautiful and great goddess of public prosperity. Even in Germany, the country that I have described with so much love, the exciting breath of the times abates the last stronghold of prejudice.
Be happy, you who live in such a time; but even happier will be your descendants as the hour approaches; the hour announced by the Precursor; you will see the cleared horizon, but, as in the days of the Hebrews, you will remain on the threshold of the Promised Land but will not see the radiant Sun of new days.
Staël