The Spiritist review — Journal of psychological studies — 1858

Who has not yet wondered, on considering the moon and other celestial bodies, if those globes are inhabited? Doubt was possible before science had initiated us into the nature of those globes; with the current state of our knowledge, at least there is the likelihood, but some objections to this really seductive idea are drawn from science itself. It is said that the moon, as it seems, has no atmosphere, and possibly no water. In Mercury the average temperature should be that of the melting lead, in view of its proximity to the Sun, so that if there is any lead there it should run like the water in our rivers. In Saturn the opposite happens; we lack a term of comparison for the cold that must exist there; sunlight must be very weak, despite the reflection of its seven moons and its rings; as for that distance, the Sun may only appear as a star of first magnitude. Under such circumstances, the question is whether life is then possible.

It is incomprehensible that serious men can make such an objection. If the atmosphere of the Moon was not perceived, is it reasonable to infer that it does not exist? Couldn’t it be that it is comprised of unknown elements or of such a low density that do not produce appreciable refraction? We say the same about the water and liquid that may exist there.

As with respect to living beings, wouldn’t that be a denial of the Divine power to judge impossible an organization different from what we know, when before our eyes the Providence of nature extends with such an admirable solicitude up to the smallest insect and provides all beings with the appropriate organs for the ambient where they live, be it in water, air or land, or submerged in darkness or exposed to sunlight? Had we never seen a fish, we could not have conceived beings living in water; we would have no idea of their structure. Until recently, who would have believed that an animal could live indefinitely inside a stone? But, not mentioning these extremes, could the beings that live under the fire of our torrid zone exist in the polar caps? Yet, in the ice zones there are beings organized to live in such a condition that could not withstand the scorching heat of a vertical sun.

Why then can one not admit that certain beings can be built in order to live in other globes and in a medium completely different from ours? Certainly, without a deep knowledge of the physical constitution of the Moon, we know enough to ensure that we could not live there, given the way we are made, as we cannot live in the company of the fish, in the middle of the ocean. For the same reason, the inhabitants of the Moon, if they could one day come to Earth, once they have been organized to live without air or with a very singular air, perhaps completely different from ours, they would be asphyxiated in our thick atmosphere, like us in the water.

Again, if we have no visual and material proof of the presence of beings that live in other worlds, nothing demonstrates that life forms appropriate to any other medium or atmosphere may not exist. On the contrary, the simple common sense tells us that this is how it should be, since the belief that these immeasurable globes that circulate in space are simple unproductive and inert masses is just unacceptable to reason. The observation shows irregular surfaces, like on Earth, as there are mountains, valleys, and cliffs, extinct and active volcanoes. Why then there would not be organic beings? Be it, they will say; there may be plants and even animals; humans, however, civilized men like us, knowing God, cultivating the arts, sciences, is that possible?

It is certain that nothing mathematically proves that the beings that inhabit other worlds are men like us, or which are more or less advanced than us, from a moral point of view. But when the savages of America saw the arriving Spaniards, they had no doubt that there was another world overseas, cultivating arts unknown to them. Earth is spotted by a countless quantity of islands, large and small, and everything that is inhabitable is inhabited. Whenever a rock surfaces from the sea, there we have men, sticking their flags. What would we say if the inhabitants of one of the smallest of these islands, perfectly knowing the existence of other islands and continents, but never having had relationship with those who inhabit them, considered themselves the only living beings on the planet? We would tell them: How can you believe that God made the world only for you? By which strange singularity your little island, lost in the solitude of the ocean, would have the privilege of being the only inhabited one? The same can be said about the other spheres. Why Earth, small globe, imperceptible in the vastness of the universe, which is indistinguishable from other planets by its position, by its volume, by its structure, which is neither the largest nor the smallest, which is not in the center nor in the extreme, why, I was saying, among many others, Earth would be the only residence of rational and thinking beings? Which man of wisdom would think that these millions of stars that shine over our heads were made to entertain our eyes? What would then be the usefulness of those other millions of globes, invisible to the naked eye and which do not even serve to illuminate us? Would it not be pride and wickedness to think so? We say that it is not logical to those to whom impiety does not matter at all. We have then arrived to the conclusion of the plurality of the worlds, by a simple reasoning, the same employed by many others before us. Such reasoning is confirmed by the revelation of the spirits. Indeed they teach us that all these worlds are inhabited by corporeal beings, appropriate to the physical constitution of each globe; that among the inhabitants of those globes, some are more, others less advanced than us, from an intellectual, moral and even physical point of view. Even more: we now know that it is possible to enter into communication with them and obtain information regarding their current state; we also know that not only all the globes are inhabited by corporeal beings, but that the space is populated by intelligent beings, invisible to us because of the material veil cast over our soul, and that they reveal their existence by hidden or patent means.

So everything in the universe is populated. Life and intelligence are everywhere: in solid globes, in the air, in the depths of Earth, and even in the ethereal. Is there anything in such a doctrine that is repulsive to reason? Isn’t that, at the same time, great and sublime? It lifts us from our own inferiority, much to the contrary of this selfish and greedy thinking which places us as the only beings worthy of occupying God’s mind.

Before going into details about the revelations made to us by the spirits, with respect to the state of different worlds, let us see the logical consequence that we can reach by ourselves and simple reasoning. Let us refer to the spirits’ scale we gave in the previous issue.. Those willing to seriously dive into this new science, we recommend a careful in depth study of that scale, as it contain the key to many mysteries.

The spiritual world is composed of souls of all humans on this Earth and other spheres, released from the corporeal connections; by the same way, all humans are animated by incarnated spirits. There is therefore solidarity between these two worlds: men will have the same qualities and imperfections of the spirits to whom they are united; the spirits will be more or less good or bad, depending on the progress they have made during their corporeal existence. These few words summarize the whole Spirits Doctrine. As the acts of men are the product of their free will, they retain the stamp of perfection or imperfection of the spirit that animate them. It will be, therefore, easy for us to have an idea about the moral state of any given world, according to the nature of its inhabiting spirits; somehow we can describe its legislation, draw a picture of their customs, habits, and social relationships.

Let us then suppose a world solely inhabited by spirits of the ninth class, impure spirits, and let us travel there in our thoughts. We will see all passions unleashed and unrestrained; the moral state in its lowest degree of savageness; animal life in all its brutality; lack of social ties, as each person lives and acts only for themselves and to the satisfaction of their gross appetites; egotism reigns there as supreme and absolute, dragging in its wake hatred, envy, jealousy, envy and murder.

We turn now to another sphere where there are spirits of all classes of the third order: impure spirits, frivolous, pseudo-wise, neutral. We know that evil prevails in all classes of that order, but without having the idea of good, the idea of evil diminishes as they move away from the last class. Selfishness is always the leading cause of action, but customs are softer, intelligence more developed, evil presents itself somewhat disguised, dressed up, masked.

These same qualities engineer another defect ─ pride, as the higher classes are sufficiently educated to be aware of their superiority but not enough to understand what they lack. Hence their

tendency to enslave inferior or weaker races, maintained under their control. As they do not have the feeling of good, having only the instinct of the self, they put their intelligence at the service of satisfying their own passions. In such a society the impure element, if dominating, crushes the other; otherwise the least evil one will try to destroy their enemies; in any case there will be struggle, bloody fight of extermination, because these are two elements that have opposing interests. To protect property and people there will be the need for laws, but these will be dictated by personal interests and not by justice; they shall be made by the strong to the disadvantage of the weak.

Suppose now a world where, between the bad elements we have just seen, there is some of the second order. In this order, in the midst of evil, we shall see some emerging virtues. If the good ones are a minority, they will fall victims of the evil ones; however, as their dominance progressively prevails, legislation becomes more human, more equitable and Christian charity is no longer a dead letter for everyone. Out of this goodness another vice will rise. Despite the war that the bad ones incessantly declare to the good ones, they cannot help it but to intimately admire them. Observing the rise of virtue over vice and not having the strength or will to do so, they try to parody and hide it. Hence the large number of hypocrites in every society where civilization is still imperfect.

Let us continue our journey through the worlds to the one that will give us some rest from the sad spectacle we have just watched. It is only inhabited by spirits of the second order. What a difference! The degree of purification achieved among them excludes any evil thought and this is enough to give us an idea of its moral state. The legislation is very simple, as men do not need to defend themselves against each other; nobody wants to harm their neighbor; no one takes what does not belong to them; no one seeks to live at the expense of their fellow citizens. Everything breathes benevolence and love; men do not seek to mutually harm each other; there is absolutely no hatred; selfishness is unknown and hypocrisy would have no objective. Absolute equality does not reign there, as it would presume a perfect identity of intellectual and moral development. Well we see from the spirits’ scale that the second order comprises several degrees of development, thus there will be inequalities in this world, as some are more advanced than others, but as there is only good thoughts among them all, the most advanced will never conceive anything out of pride or the others out of envy. The inferior understands the ascendancy of the superior and submits to that since such an ascendency is purely moral and nobody uses that to oppress others.

The consequences we extracted from this picture, although presented in a hypothetical way, are not any less rational. Everyone can infer the social state of a world by the proportion of the moral elements that we suppose constitutes it.

We have seen, through the above abstraction made of the revelation of the spirits, the odds are in favor in the explanation of the plurality of worlds. Well, it is no less rational to think that not all of them are in the same degree of perfection and, therefore, our assumptions may well be the expression of reality.

In a positive way, we only know our own world. Which position does it occupy in this hierarchy? Behold! Just consider what takes place in this world to conclude that it is far from deserving the first class and we are convinced that by reading these lines you have already spotted its position.When the spirits say that, “if it is not the last; it is one of the last,” unfortunately, simple common sense says that they are not mistaken. We have much to do to elevate it to the category we last described, and we needed that Christ had come to show us the path.

With respect to the reference we can give as to our reasoning about the several globes of our planetary maelstrom, all we have is the teaching of the spirits. Now, for those who will only admit this existence from its tangible evidence, the fact is that, with that respect to their assertion, we do not have the stamp of direct experimentation. However, don’t we everyday accept with confidence other travelers’ descriptions of regions we have never seen? If we are only to believe in what we see, we will believe in a few things only. What in this case gives some value to what the spirits say is the agreement among them, at least on the capital points. For us who have witnessed such communications hundreds of times; who appreciated them in their minimum details; who probed their weak and strong points, who observed the similarities and contradictions, we find in them all the characters of the likelihood. However, we offer them as nothing more than information and teachings, to which everyone is free to attribute the importance that best suits their opinion.

According to the spirits, Mars would be even less advanced than Earth. Spirits incarnated there seem to belong almost exclusively to the ninth class, of the impure spirits, so that the first picture given above would be a description of that world. Several other smaller globes are, with some nuances, in the same category. Earth would come next. The majority of its inhabitants belong undeniably to all classes of the third order and an insignificant proportion to the last classes of the second order. The superior spirits, from the second and third classes, here sometimes execute missions of civilization and progress, but these are exceptions. Mercury and Saturn come after Earth. The numerical superiority of the good spirits gives them predominance over the inferior spirits, resulting in a more perfect social order, less selfish relationships and therefore happier living conditions. The Moon and Venus are more or less at the same level, and in all aspects, more advanced than Mercury and Saturn. Uranus and Neptune would be even above the latter ones. It is supposed that the moral elements of these two planets are formed by the first class of the third order and the great majority by spirits of the second order. Men are infinitely happier there than on Earth, since they do not have to sustain the same struggles nor suffer the same tribulations, as they are not exposed to the same physical and moral vicissitudes either.

Of all planets, the most advanced by all means is Jupiter. It is the exclusive realm of goodness and justice, since it only has good spirits. One can have an idea of the happy state of its inhabitants by the description we gave of a world inhabited by spirits of the second order.

The superiority of Jupiter is not only in the moral state of its inhabitants; it is also in its physical structure. Here is the description we were given about this privileged world, where the majority of the good men who have honored our Earth with their virtue and talent live.

The conformation of the body is more or less the same as those of Earth’s inhabitants, but it is less material, less dense and with a very low specific weight. While we painfully crawl on Earth, the inhabitants of Jupiter transport themselves from one place to another by sliding on the surface of the soil, almost tirelessly, like the bird in the air or the fish in the water. As the matter that forms the body is more refined, it dissipates after death, without being subjected to putrid decomposition. Most of the diseases that afflict us are unknown there, especially those originating from the excesses of all kinds and the debauchery of passions. Subsistance is in concert with that ethereal organization; it would not be sufficient enough for our coarse stomachs, and ours would be too heavy for them. It consists of fruits and plants which, in fact, they somehow harvest, for the most part, from the environment, whose nutritious emanations they inhale. Life span is proportionally much longer than that on earth. The average is equivalent to about five of our centuries. The development is also very fast and childhood lasts only a few of our months.

Under this light covering, the spirits easily unleash and communicate with each other only through their thoughts, which do not exclude the articulated language. Second sight is a permanent faculty to them. Their normal state can be compared to our lucid somnambulists. That is why they manifest to us more easily than those incarnated in grosser and more material worlds. The intuition they have of their future; the security given by a conscience exempt of remorse, are the reasons why death does not cause them any concern. They see its arrival without fear and as a simple transformation.

The animals are not excluded from this progressive state, although not similar to that of man, even relatively to the physical. Their body, more materialized, is attached to the ground, like ours on Earth. Their intelligence is more developed than that of our animals. The structure of their limbs adapts to all requirements of the work. They are responsible for the execution of manual jobs. They are the servants and foremen. Men’s occupations are purely intellectual. For them man is a god, but a protective deity, who never abuses his power to oppress them.

The spirits, who inhabit Jupiter, when they want to communicate with us, are usually delighted to describe their planet. When asked why, they reply that they do it in order to inspire the love of good in us, with the hope that we will get there one day. It was with that purpose that one of them, who lived on earth with the name of Bernard Palissy, the famous potter of the XVI century, spontaneously tried, without any request, a series of drawings, remarkable for its originality as for the talent of execution, intended to let us know, in their smallest details, this world so strange and so new to us. Some of them portray characters, animals, scenes of the private life; the most admirable, however, are those that represent houses, true masterpieces that nothing on Earth could give us an idea as they do not resemble anything we know.

It is an indescribable kind of architecture, so original and yet so harmonious, ornamentation so rich and so graceful, that it challenges the most fertile imagination. Victorien Sardou, a young scholar of our circle of friends, full of talent and future, but with no drawing skills, served him as an intermediary. Palissy promised us a series which somehow will be an illustrated essay about this wonderful world. We hope that this original and interesting collection which we will talk about in a special article devoted to drawing mediums, can one day be delivered to the public.

Planet Jupiter, despite the invitive picture given to us, is not, however, the most perfect of the worlds. There are others, unknown to us, which are far superior, both physically and morally, and whose inhabitants enjoy even more perfect happiness: they are the resting place of the superior spirits, whose ethereal covering has nothing else of the known properties of matter.

We have been asked, many times, if we think that man's condition here would be an absolute obstacle for him to pass, without an intermediary, from Earth to Jupiter. To all questions regarding the Spiritist Doctrine we have never answered with our own ideas, against which we are always on guard. We simply pass the teachings given to us, which we do not accept lightheartedly and with a thoughtless enthusiasm. We clearly answer the above question as this is the formal sense of our instructions and the result of our own observations: YES, on leaving Earth, man can immediately go to Jupiter, or an analogous world, because it is not unique in its category. There can be certainty about this? NO. However, he can go, as there are on Earth, though in a very small number, very good spirits and quite dematerialized not to feel awkward in a world where evil has no access. However, he cannot be sure about this, as he can be deceived regarding his personal merit and, moreover, may have another mission to accomplish elsewhere. Those who can expect this favor are certainly neither the selfish nor the ambitious, nor the greedy, nor the ungrateful, nor the envious, nor the proud, nor the futile, nor the hypocrites, nor the sensual, nor any of those dominated by their attachment to Earthly things.

To those, long and tough trials may still be necessary. That depends on their will.

When talking about the story of Joan of Arc, dictated by her, proposing to cite several passages, we said that Ms. Dufaux had also written the story of Louis XI. This work, one of the most precious of its kind, contains valuable documents from a historical point of view. In that work, Louis XI shows himself as the profound politician that we know. Besides, he gives us the key to several so far inexplicable facts. From the spiritist point of view, it is one of the most curious presentations of lengthy works produced by the spirits. Two things are remarkable with that regard: the speed of execution, as it took only fifteen days to dictate the subject of a thick volume, and the precise memory that a spirit may keep of his Earthly life. To those who doubted the origin of this work, and wanted to attribute it to the memory of Ms. Dufaux, we would say that it would be necessary that a fourteen year old child had a phenomenal memory, and a not less extraordinary precocity in order to be able to write, in a surge, the work of such a nature. However, admitting that it was so, we ask where such a child would have obtained the new explanations about the somber politics of Louis XI, and if it would not be more interesting that her parents had attributed the merit to her. From all stories written through her, Joan of Arc was the only one published. We hope the others will follow soon, and we anticipate a greater success, the more spread out the spiritist ideas are today.

We extracted, from the story of Louis XI, a passage about the death of Count Charolais.

Facing the historical fact that Louis XI had given the general government of Normandy to the Count of Charolais; historians confess that they cannot understand a King, who was such a great politician, making such a mistake.10

The explanations given by Louis XI are difficult to contest, since confirmed by three facts known to all: the conspiracy of Constain; Count Charolais’ trip following the execution of the culprit and, finally, the assignment of the general government of the Normandy to this prince, province which united the states of the Dukes of Burgundy and Brittany, enemies always allied against Louis XI.

Louis XI thus writes:

“The Count of Charolais was awarded with the general government of Normandy and a pension of thirty six thousand pounds. It was a great imprudence to increase the power of the Burgundy house in such a way. Although this explanation keeps us away from the link of England’s businesses, I think it is my duty to explain here the motives which lead me to so proceed.”

“Soon after his return from the Netherlands, the Duke of Burgundy had fallen seriously ill. The Count of Charolais did love his father, despite the displeasures imposed on him. It is certain that his impulsive and impetuous character and, above all, my perfidious insinuations, could excuse him. He treated him with perfect filial love, day and night, not moving away from his bed.”

“The old Duke crisis made me reflect seriously. I hated the Count and thought I had everything to fear from him. Nevertheless, he had only one daughter at a young age, circumstance which after the Duke’s death, who did not give indications that would live long, had originated a minority which the Flemish, always turbulent, had made extremely stormy. I could have then easily taken over, if not all the properties of the Burgundy house, at least part of it, by masking this usurpation with an alliance or by leaving everything that power would yield as hateful. There were more than necessary reasons to poison the Count of Charolais. Besides, the idea of a crime would no longer scare me.”

“I managed to seduce the prince’s sommelier, Jean Constain. Italy was a kind of poisoner’s laboratory: it was there that Constain sent Jean d’Ivy, who he had corrupted by a considerable amount of money to be paid on his return. D’Ivy wanted to know the target of the poison. The sommelier committed the imprudence of revealing that it was Count Charolais.”

“After accomplishing his task, d’Ivy showed up to receive the agreed amount but, instead of paying, Constain covered him with indignity. Furious with the reception, d’Ivy swore vengeance. He went to Count Charolais and told him everything he knew. Constain was arrested and taken to Rippemonde Castle. Afraid of torture, he confessed to everything but my complicity, hoping perhaps that I would intercede in his favor. He was already at the top of the tower, place destined to the execution, and everything was prepared to behead him when he manifested his desire to speak to the Count. He then told the Count about the role I played in the attempt murder.”

“Despite his amazement and rage he did not speak. As a result, those present could only make vague conjectures based on the surprising events created by the reports. Yet, despite the importance of such a revelation, Constain was decapitated and his properties confiscated but delivered to the Duke of Burgundy’s family. His informer had the same fate, partially due to an answer given to the prince of Burgundy. The latter asked if the promised amount had been paid if he would have denounced the plot. With an unconceivable recklessness he said no.”

“When the Count came to Tours he requested a private audience. He showed all his fury and covered me with condemnation. I calmed him down giving him the general government of Normandy and the pension of thirty six thousand pounds. The general government was a decorative title and from the pension he received only the first part.

One of our corresponding members wrote the following:

“Last September a fast boat, crossing from Dunkirk to Ostend, was caught by surprise by a nightly storm. The boat capsized having four of the eight crew members perished. The remaining four, in which group I was, were able to hold onto the keel. We spent the whole night in such a horrible position, without any other perspective but death, which seemed inevitable to us who could feel it in all its anguish. At dawn the wind blew us to the coast hence we were able to swim our way to the land.”

“Why, in such a dangerous situation, applicable to all, only four have succumbed? Notice that in my case it is the sixth or seventh time which I escape from such an imminent danger and more or less in the same conditions. I am really led to believe that an invisible hand protects me. What have I done to deserve it? I do not know much; I am a worthless and useless creature in this world and I do not brag about having more value than others; on the contrary: among the victims of the disaster there was a dignified cleric, model of evangelical virtue, and a venerable nun from the congregation of St. Vincent de Paul, who was about to accomplish a sanctified mission of Christian charity. It seems that fatality has a very important role in my destiny. Wouldn’t the spirits be there for something? Would that be possible to obtain an explanation from them with that respect inquiring, for example, if they are the ones who provoke or avoid the dangers which threaten us?”

According to the wishes of our correspondent, we addressed the following questions to the spirit of St. Louis who, out of good will, always communicates when there is a useful instruction to be provided:

1. When there is an imminent danger threatening someone, is it a spirit who guides the danger and, when avoided, is it another spirit who deviates them?

—On incarnating, the spirit chooses a trial; once chosen, a kind of destiny is created which cannot be conjured, once the spirit is submitted to that. I speak about the physical trials. The spirit, keeping his free will regarding good and evil, is always free to withstand or reject the trial. When seeing someone abating, a good spirit may come to help but cannot influence so as to dominate their will. An evil spirit, that is inferior, showing and exaggerating about the physical dangers, may shock and scare but yet the will of the incarnated spirit is not less free of any hurdle.

2. When a man is faced by an imminent accident it seems to me that the free will is worth nothing. I then ask if it is an evil spirit who provokes such an accident, to which he is some sort of cause and, in case the danger is avoided, if a good spirit came to help him.

—Good or evil spirits may not suggest anything other than good or bad thoughts, according to their nature. The accident is marked on man’s destiny. When your life is endangered it is a sign that you desired that, so that you can deviate from evil and become better. When you escape from danger, still under its influence, you think more or less strongly, pending on the more or less strong action of the good spirits, about becoming a better person. Under the influence of evil spirits (I say evil referring to the evil which still exists in them) you equally think that you will escape other dangers and again you will give in to the unstoppable passions.

3. Fatality, which seems to preside over the material destinies of our life, would then be an effect of our free will?

—You yourself have chosen your trial; the tougher it is and the better you support it, the more you elevate. Those who spend life in abundance and human happiness are the weak spirits, who remain stationary. Thus, the unfortunate by far outnumbers the happy ones in this world; hence the spirit generally chooses the trial which produces more fruits. They see very well the futility of your greatnesses and your pleasures. Besides, even the happiest life is always agitated, always perturbed even if it is not by pain.

4. We fully understand this doctrine, but this does not explain whether certain spirits have a direct action over the material cause of the accident. Suppose that at the time a man goes through a bridge, the bridge collapses. Who led the man to go through that bridge?

—When a man goes through a bridge that must fall it is not a spirit that impels. It is the instinct of his destiny that leads him to that.

5. Who makes the bridge collapse?

—The natural circumstances. The matter has in itself the causes of destruction. In this case, if the spirit has to resort to an element foreign to his nature to move the material forces, he will preferably appeal to the spiritual intuition. Thus, should that bridge collapse having the water disarranged the stones which compose it or the rust eroded the chains that support it, the spirit will, say, suggest that the man passes through this bridge instead of breaking one or another at the time he passes through it. In fact, you have physical evidence of what I say: whatever the accident, it always occurs naturally, that is the causes are linked to each other and callously produce them.

Let us take another case in which the destruction of matter is not the cause of the accident. A badly intentioned man shoots at me; the bullet hardly scratches me. Was it deviated by a good spirit?

—No.

7. Can the spirits directly warn us about a danger? Here is a fact that seems to confirm it: A lady leaves her house and goes down the avenue. An inner voice tells her: go home. She hesitates. The same voice is heard several times. She then goes back but, on recovering, she says: But... what am I doing at home? I will go out. This is just the effect of my imagination. Then she goes back her way. A few steps ahead a column, which was being removed from a house, hits her on the head and she falls, unconscious. Which voice was that? Was it not a premonition of what was about to happen to her?

—It was the instinct. No presentiment has these characteristics: they are always vague.

8. What do you understand by the voice of instinct?

—I understand that before incarnating, the spirit has knowledge of all phases of its existence. When these phases have an essential character, the spirit retains a sort of impression in their intimate self and such impression, awakening when the moment comes, turns into premonition.

NOTE: The explanations above refer to the fatality of material events. The moral fatality is comprehensively treated in the Spirits’ Book.

The communications obtained from highly elevated spirits or who animated the great characters of the antiquity is precious for its highly educational content. These spirits have acquired a degree of perfection that allows them to cover a more extensive sphere of ideas; to penetrate mysteries beyond the reach of common humanity and therefore, better than others, initiate us on certain things. It does not follow that communications from spirits of lower orders are useless. Far from it: the observer collects many teachings from them. To learn about the customs of a people we must study it in all degrees of the scale.

Those who only had seen one face would hardly know it. The story of a people is not the story of their kings and social luminaries. To judge the people it is necessary to see them in their private life, in their particular habits. However, the superior spirits are the celebrities of the spiritual world. Their own elevation puts them at such a height above us that we are amazed by the distance that separates us. Spirits more bourgeois – kindly allow us to use the expression—describe the condition in their new existence in a more tangible way. In them, the connection between bodily life and the spirit’s life is more intimate; we understand it better, because it touches us more closely. Learning from them about what they became, what they think, what people of all conditions and all characters experience, both good men and the vicious ones, great and small, the happy as the unhappy ones of the century, in a word, men who lived among us, who we have seen and known, whose real life is known to us, as their virtues and caprices, understanding their joys and their sufferings; we associate with them and harvest a moral teaching which is so more useful the more intimate are the relationships between them and us.

We put ourselves in place of the one who was like us more easily than in place of those who we only see through the mirage of a heavenly glory. Vulgar spirits show us the practical application of the great and sublime truths, whose theory the superior spirits teach us. Moreover, there is nothing useless in the study of a science. Newton found the law of the forces of the universe in an extremely simple phenomenon.

Such communications have another advantage: to verify the identity of the spirits in a more precise manner. When a spirit tells us that he was Socrates or Plato, we are compelled to believe his word because he has no identity card. We can see in his words if he confirms or not the origin he assigns to himself: we judge him an elevated spirit - that is all. If he was really Socrates or Plato, it does not matter. But when the spirit of our relatives, our friends or those who we know manifest to us, there are a thousand circumstances of intimate details that the identity could not be mistaken. Thus we obtain, in a certain way, the material evidence. We therefore think that it will be appreciated if we carry out, from time to time, some of these intimate evocations: it is the romance of the spiritual life without fiction.

Lemaire, the murderer.

Sentenced to maximum penalty by the Court of Aisne, and executed on December 31st, 1857.
Spirit evoked on January 29th, 1858.

The Queen of Oude.

Note: From now on we shall remove the formula of evocation from these conversations which is always the same, unless its answer presents any particularity.

1. Which sensations did you experience on leaving this Earthly life?

—I couldn’t tell. I still experience a perturbation.

Are you happy?

— No.

3. Why aren’t you happy?

—I miss life…I don’t know. I experience a pungent pain. Life would have released me from this…I wish my body would rise from the grave.

4. Do you regret not have been buried in your country, but among the Christians?

—Yes. Indian soil would weigh less over my body.

5. What do you think about the eulogies given to your mortal remains?

—They were too stingy: I was the Queen and not everyone bent their knees before me…Leave me…I am forced to speak…I do not want you to know what I became… Behold, I was Queen.

6. We respect your hierarchy and ask you to respond to instruct us. Do you think that one day your son will recover the paternal domains?

—My blood will certainly reign as it is worthy of that.

7. Do you give the same importance to the reintegration of your son to the throne of Oude as when you were alive?

—My blood cannot be confused with the crowd.

8. What is your opinion about the true cause of the Indian uprise?

—The Indian was made to be the master in their house.

9. What do you think about the future of that country?

—India will be great among the nations.

10. It was not possible to attest your place of birth in the death certificate. Can you say it now?

—I was born out of the noblest blood in India. I believe I was born in Delhi.

11. You who always lived in the splendors of luxury and surrounded by honors, what are your thoughts now?

—They were owned to me.

12. Does your Earthly position confer you a more elevated position in the world where you are today?

—I am always Queen…May they send me slaves to serve me! I don’t know, it seems that they are not concerned with me here…Nevertheless, I am always myself.

13. Were you an adept of the Muslim religion or an Indian religion?

—Muslim; but I was too great to worry about God.

14. Which difference you observe between your religion and the Christian religion, regarding man’s future happiness?

—Christian religion is absurd as it considers all men brothers.

15. What is your opinion about Mohamed?

—He was not the son of a King.

16. Did he have a divine mission?

—Why would I care?

17. What is your opinion about Christ?

—The son of the carpenter is not worthy of occupying my thoughts.

18. What do you think about the Muslim custom of subtracting women from men’s eyes?

—I believe women were made to dominate. I was a woman.

19. Have you ever been jealous of the freedom women enjoy in Europe?

—No. Why should I bother with their freedom? Are their servants on their knees?

20. What is your opinion about woman’s condition, in general, in the human species?

—Why bother with women? If you talked about Queens!

21. Do you remember any other existence on Earth, prior to the one you just left?

—I must have always been Queen.

22. Why did you respond so promptly to our appeal?

—I did not want to come; I was forced…Do you think I would bother to answer? Who do you think you are before me?

23. Who forced you to come?

—I don’t know…However, there may not be anybody greater than me here.

24. Where are you located?

—Near Ermance.

25. Under which form are you here?

—I am always Queen…Do you think I am no more? You are not much respectful…Know this that one should address Queens differently.

26. Why can’t we see you?

—I don’t want you to.

27. If we could see you would that be with your dresses, ornaments and jewelry?

—Certainly!

28. How can that be that having left all that behind, your spirit has kept the appearance, especially with your clothes and jewelry?

—They have not left me…I am always as beautiful as I was…I don’t know the idea you make of me! It is true that you never saw me.

29. Which impression you experience among us?

—If I could I would not be here. You treat me with such little respect! I don’t want to be treated like this…Call me Majesty; otherwise I will respond no more.

30. Your Majesty knew the French language?

—Why not? I knew everything.

31. Would your Majesty prefer to answer in English?

—No…Won’t you leave me alone?…I want to leave…Leave me. Do you think I am submitted to your caprices?…I am a Queen, not a slave.

32. We kindly ask you to answer two or three more questions.

St. Louis’ response, who was present:

Leave the poor astray lady! Have pity on her blindness. May she serve you as an example! You do not know how much her pride suffers.

A very talented doctor who we shall call Xavier, who died a few months ago, was heavily involved with magnetism, leaving a manuscript which he thought would change Science. Before he died he had read the Spirits’ Book, wishing he could have had a contact with its author. The illness which killed him would not allow it. His evocation followed a request from his family and the eminently instructive answers it contains led us to insert it in this collection, subtracting however everything which was of particular interest.

1. Do you remember the manuscript you left? - I give little importance to that.

2. What is your current opinion about it?
- Vain work of a being who ignored himself
3. Nevertheless you thought that work would revolutionize Science. - Now I see very clearly.

4. As a spirit could you correct and finalize the work?
- I started from a point which I hardly knew. I would have perhaps to redo everything.

5. Are you happy or unhappy? - I wait and suffer.

6. What do you wait for? - New trials.

7. What is the cause of your suffering? - The evil things I have done.

8. However, you have not done evil intentionally. - Do you know human heart well?

9. Are you errant12 or incarnate?
- Errant
10. When you were alive, what was your opinion about Divinity? - I did not believe it.

11. And now?
- I don’t believe enough.

12. You wanted to contact me, do you remember that? - Yes.

13. Do you see me and recognize the person with whom you wanted to establish a relationship?

- Yes.
14. Which impression the Spirits’ Book had on you?

- It unsettled me.
15. What do you think about it now? - It is a great piece of work.

16. What do you think about the future of the Spiritist Doctrine? - It is great but certain disciples cause it harm.

17. Who cause it harm? - Those who attack real things: the religions, the first and simplest beliefs of men.

18. As a doctor and considering your own studies, no doubt you can answer the following questions: Can the body preserve, for a few moments, its organic life after the separation of the soul?
- Yes.

19. For how long?
- There isn’t a time.

20. I ask you to please clarify.
- This only lasts a few moments.

21. How does the separation between soul and body happen?
- Like a fluid which escapes from any container.

22. Is there a real line separating life and death? - Both states touch and confuse each other. Thus, the spirit gradually loosens its ties, but does not break them.

23. This loosening of the soul, does it happen more promptly on some people than on others?
- Yes, on those who elevated above matter when alive, as their souls belong more to the spiritual world than to the Earthly one.

24. When the union between the soul and the body of a child takes place?
- When the child breathes, as if receiving the soul with the exterior air.

OBSERVATION: This opinion is a consequence of the Catholic dogma. In fact, church teaches that the soul will only be saved by baptism; well, as the intrauterine death is very frequent, what would then happen to that soul who, according to the church, was subtracted from the only mean of salvation, in case it existed in the body before birth?
To be consistent it would be necessary that baptism took place, if not in fact, at least intentionally, at the very moment of conception.


25. How do you then explain intrauterine life?
- Like the plant which vegetates. The child lives the animal life.
26. Is there a crime in subtracting life before birth, considering that in such occasions the child has no soul, thus it is not a human being?
- The mother or any other person who would take the life of a child before birth would commit a crime as it would impede the soul from withstanding the trials to which the body would be an instrument.
27. Nevertheless the expiation which the reincarnating soul would have to suffer would take place?
- Yes but God knew that the soul would not bond to that body. Thus, no soul should bond to that corporeal covering: it was the mother’s trial.
28. In case the mother’s life was at risk due to the child’s birth, would it be a crime to sacrifice the latter to save the former?
- No. It is preferable to sacrifice the non-existent being than the existing one.
29. Does the union between the soul and the body take place instantly or gradually, that is, there would be the need for an appreciable time for such a union to be complete?
- The spirit does not suddenly enter the body. To measure that time imagine that the first breath that the child receives is the soul entering the body: the time for the chest to move up and down.
30. Is the union between the soul and this or that body predestined or does the choice only take place at the moment of birth?
- God marked it. This question requires more developments. Choosing their trials, the spirit requests to incarnate. Thus, God who knows and sees everything, previously knew that a given soul would unit to a given body. When a spirit is born in the low social classes, he knows that his life will be of hardship and suffering. The child who will be born has an existence which results, up to a certain degree, from the position of her parents.
31. Why do good and virtuous parents have children of perverse nature? Put differently, why the good qualities of the parents do not always attract, by sympathy, a good spirit to animate their child?
- A bad spirit requests good parents hopping that their good advices guide them through a better path.


32. Can the parents, through their thoughts and prayers, attract to the body of the child a good spirit instead of an inferior one?

- No. They can, however, improve the spirit of the child to which they gave birth. It is their duty. Bad children are a trial to the parents.

33. The maternal love for the conservation of the child’s life is understood but, taking into account that such a love is natural, why there are mothers who hate their children, and many times since birth?

- Bad spirits who try to obstruct the spirit of the child, so that the child succumb the desired trials.

34. We thank you for the explanations you gave us. - I will do everything to instruct you.

NOTE: The theory given by this spirit about the union between soul and body is not that accurate. The union begins since conception, that is, since the moment when the spirit, not yet incarnated, attaches to the body by a fluidic tie which progressively reinforces, up until birth. The incarnation only completes when the child breathes. (See the Spirits’ Book, Q 344 and next).

As said before, Mr. Home is a medium of the kind that physical phenomena are more readily produced under his influence, not excluding, however, the more intelligent manifestations. Every effect which manifests the action of a free will is, as a consequence, intelligent, that is, it is no longer mechanical and could not be attributed to an exclusively material agent. From this to the more instructive communications of an elevated moral and philosophical reach, however, there is a great distance and it is not of our knowledge that Mr. Home obtains those of such a nature. As he is not a writing medium, the majority of the answers given through him are produced by vibrating raps, indicating the letter of the alphabet, always an imperfect and slow means which hardly serves the developments of certain extension. Nevertheless, he can also write by a process which we will discuss soon.

Let us say, from starters and general principle that the ostensive manifestations, those which shock our senses, can be spontaneous or provoked. The first ones are independent of the will, many times they even happen against the will of the one who is their object and to whom they are not always pleasant. Facts of such a nature are frequent and without resorting to the reports more or less authentic of the remote eras, contemporary history offers us numerous examples whose cause, ignored in principle, is perfectly known today: these are, for example, the remarkable noises, the disordered displacements of objects, the drawing of curtains, the removal of blankets, certain apparitions, etc.

Certain persons are gifted with a special faculty which gives them the power to provoke those phenomena, so to speak, at least partially, at will. That faculty is not so rare and in a hundred people at least fifty have it, on a higher or lower degree.

What distinguishes Mr. Home is that this faculty is developed in him, as in the mediums of his kind, say, in an exceptional way. Some people do not achieve more than light raps or an insignificant displacement of a table, whereas under the influence of Mr. Home one can hear the most striking noises and all pieces of furniture of a room can be scrambled and stacked on top of each other. However extraordinary these phenomena may be, the enthusiasm of some eager admirers still found a way of amplifying them through pure and imaginative invention. On another hand, the detractors did not remain inactive: they told all sorts of stories which only took place in their imagination.

The Marquis of..., one of the figures who mostly showed interest on Mr. Home, and in whose residence he was received in the intimacy, was with him one day at the Opera. Mr. P.... one of our members who personally knows both of them, was also in the audience. His neighbor establishes a conversation with him. The subject is Mr. Home.

From this one can assess the value of certain statements. For sure, if some facts which are promoted by slander were true, many doors would have been closed to him. However, as the most respectable houses were always open to him, one has to conclude that he has always and everywhere behaved like a gentleman. By the way, it was enough to have had a brief conversation with Mr. Home to realize that with his shyness and simplicity of character, he would be an awkward impostor. We insist on this point for the morality of the cause.

Since our objective is to make the truth known, in the interest of Science, all that we report was collected from such authentic sources that we can ensure the most scrupulous accuracy: we got them from very serious eyewitnesses, so much enlightened and highly placed that their honesty cannot be in doubt. If it was said that these people could have been, in good faith, victims of an illusion, we would reply that there are circumstances that dismiss any assumption of that nature. Incidentally, these people were very interested in knowing the truth, thus they would hardly not be prepared against any false appearance.

Mr. Home usually begins his sessions by the known events: raps on a table, or anywhere else in the apartment, by the ways we have already described. It is then followed by the movement of the table, which operates, in principle, by the laying of his hands only, or from several gathered people, then at a distance and without physical contact: it is a kind of warming up test. Very often he does not obtain more than that. It depends on his current disposition and, sometimes, of that of the assistants. There are people before whom he has never produced anything, even friendly people. We will not stay long on this subject which is so much known nowadays and that only changes in speed and energy. Many times, after several swings and oscillations, the table rises from the floor and gradually moves up, slowly, by small impulses, not even a few centimeters, but then it moves up to the ceiling and beyond the reach of hands. After having been suspended in space for a few seconds, it moves down as it had climbed, slowly, gradually.

The suspension of an inert body having a specific weight incomparably higher than that of the air is a known fact and therefore it is understood that the same can happen to an animated body. We are not aware of any occurrence in which Mr. Home had acted upon anybody else other than himself; yet the fact has not occurred only in Paris but in several places, both in Florence and in France, especially in Bordeaux, in the presence of the most respectable witnesses whose names we would cite if needed.

As with the table, his body was elevated to the ceiling and taken back down in the same way. What is bizarre in this phenomenon is the fact that it is not produced by an act of his will. He has said himself that he does not notice the fact and always thinks he is on the ground except when he looks downward. The witnesses are the ones who see him rising. According to him, at those moments he experiences the sensation produced by the rocking of the ship over the waves. Indeed, this fact is not absolutely peculiar to Mr. Home. History records many authentic examples which we will report later.

Of all the manifestations produced by Mr. Home, the most extraordinary is, no doubt, the apparitions, which is the reason why we insist on them in view of the serious resulting consequences and the light they shed on a number of other facts. The same applies to the sounds produced in the air; musical instruments that play by themselves, etc. We will examine these phenomena in detail in the next issue.

Back from a trip to Holland, where he has produced a profound effect in the court and in the high society, Mr. Home has just left for Italy. Having his health seriously altered, he needed a milder climate.

We acknowledge with pleasure the news given by some newspapers, of an inheritance of 6,000 francs that was given to him by an English lady that he has converted to the Spiritist Doctrine and in recognition for the satisfaction that she experienced. By all accounts, Mr. Home deserved such a proof of consideration. From the donor’s side, the act is a precedent that will have the applause of all those who share our convictions. Hopefully one day the Doctrine will have its Maecenas: posterity will inscribe his name among the benefactors of humanity.

Religion teaches us the existence of the soul and its immortality; Spiritism gives us their living and tangible proof, no longer by reasoning but by facts.

Materialism is one of the vices of today’s society because it favors selfishness. What is there, really, out of the self, to someone who only cares about matter and the present life?

The Spiritist Doctrine, intimately connected with religious ideas, explaining about our nature, shows us happiness in the practice of the evangelical virtues; it reminds man of his duties to God, to society and to himself. Assisting in its propagation is to strike a mortal blow to the scourge of skepticism that invades us like a contagious disease. Honor, therefore, to those who employ on Earth their God’s favored gifts to that duty!

When the first spiritist phenomena appeared, some people thought that this discovery, if one can use this word, would strike a mortal blow against magnetism, and that the same that happens with the inventions would happen to it: the most perfect determines the oblivion of its predecessor. It did not take long for such an error to dissipate and the close relationship between the two Sciences was readily recognized. As they are both indeed based on the existence and manifestation of the soul, far from fighting each other, they can and should provide mutual support, as they complement and mutually explain one another. However, their respective supporters disagree on some points: certain magnetizes * do not admit yet the existence or at least the manifestation of the spirits. They think they can explain everything only by the action of the magnetic fluid, an opinion that we just observe, reserving to discuss it later. We also shared that in principle but, as many others, we had to surrender to the evidence of the facts.

Contrary to that, the adepts of Spiritism are all in agreement with magnetism. All admit their actions and recognize a manifestation of the soul in the somnambulistic phenomena. That opposition, by the way, weakens daily, and is easy to predict that it is not far the day when there will be no distinction. Such divergence of views is not surprising. At the beginning of a Science it is still so new that it is very easy to anybody, looking at things from their own point of view, to form a different idea about it. Those more positive Sciences have always had, and still have, their schools, which fervently hold opposing theories. Scientists have raised school against school; flag against flag and, many times to their dignity, the controversy became irritating and harmful to the offended self-esteem and exceeded the limits of a wise discussion. Hopefully the sectarians of magnetism and Spiritism, better inspired, do not give the world the scandal of such low level discussions, always fatal to the propagation of the truth, whatever side they take.

We may have our opinion, sustain it and discuss it, but shredding each other is not a means of self- enlightenment, an unworthy process to the serious men, that becomes ignoble when personal interest is at stake.

Magnetism paved the way to Spiritism, and the rapid progress of the latter Doctrine is unquestionably due to the vulgarization of the ideas about the former. From the magnetic phenomena of somnambulism and ecstasy to the spiritist manifestations there is only one step. It is such a connection that, as a matter of fact, it is impossible to speak of one without speaking of the other. If we have to stay out of the Science of magnetism, then our picture will be incomplete and we may be compared to a Physics professor who abstains from talking about light. However, as the magnetism already has, among us, special institutes fairly accredited, it would be superfluous to insist on a subject treated with a superiority of talent and experience. We will thus only marginally refer to it but in such a way to sufficiently show the intimate relationship between the two Sciences which, in the end, are nothing but one.

We owed our readers this profession of faith which we finalize with a tribute to the men of conviction who, facing ridicule, sarcasm and unpleasantness, courageously dedicated themselves to the defense of such a humanitarian cause.

Whatever the opinion of the contemporaries regarding their personal interest, a view which is always more or less a reflection of lively passions, posterity will make them justice: it will place the names of Baron Du Potet, director of the “Journal du Magnetism”; Mr. Millet, director of the “Union Magnétique”, side by side to their illustrious pioneers, the Marquis de Puysegur and Deleuze, the wise man. Thanks to their adamant efforts, popularized magnetism plunged its foot in the official Science, where it is already talked about in whispers. The word “magnetism” has turned into common language: it no longer scares people away, and when someone declares to be a magnetizer, they are no longer ridiculed.

___________________

* Magnetizer is the one who practices magnetism. Magnetist is the one who adopts its principles. It is then possible to be a magnetist without being a magnetizer, but not otherwise.