The Spiritist review — Journal of psychological studies — 1858

A worth mentioning phenomenon is taking place with respect to the propagation of Spiritism. Just resurrected a few years ago from the old beliefs, it appeared among us not as before, under the shadow of mystery, but in the open light for everyone to see.

It was an object of brief curiosity to some, an enjoyment put aside like a toy. From many people it was received by nothing but indifference; from the largest number, incredulity, despite the opinion of the philosophers whose names are frequently invoked as authorities. That is not a surprise: Has Jesus himself convinced the Jewish people about his miracles? Have the benevolence and sublimity of his doctrine conquered him any mercy before his judges? Wasn’t he treated as an imposter? And, if they did not call him charlatan wasn’t that because such a word of our modern civilization was unknown by then? However, serious men have seen something beyond frivolity in the phenomena that take place in our days. They studied them, investigated them, with the eyes of a conscious observer and discovered the key to a number of mysteries hitherto incomprehensible. This became a stream of light to them and behold, a Doctrine was born from those facts, a philosophy and, we can even say, a science, initially divergent according to the point of view or personal opinion of the investigator but with a gradual trend towards a unity of principles. Despite the self-serving opposition of some and systematic rejection of others who think that the light can only come from their brains, this doctrine finds many adepts as it enlightens us with respect to the present and future true interests of humanity. It corresponds to their aspiration for a future which becomes somehow tangible; finally because it simultaneously satisfies their reason and hopes and dissipates the doubts that used to degenerate into absolute incredulity.

Well, with Spiritism all materialist and pantheist philosophies fall by themselves; doubts with respect to Divinity, existence of the soul, its individuality and immortality are no longer possible; the future is presented to us like daylight and we learn that such a future, that always leaves an open door to hope, depends on our will and our efforts through the good actions.

While they could not see in Spiritism more than the material phenomena, the only interest was the spectacle that impressed the eyes. However, once it has been elevated to the category of a moral science, it has been taken seriously as it has spoken to the heart and intelligence. In addition, everybody has found in Spiritism the solution to what they were vaguely trying to find in themselves; confidence based on evidence replaces a pungent uncertainty; from such an elevated point of view where it positions us, things of this inferior world seem so small and petty that the vicissitudes of this planet are nothing more than transient incidents that we withstand with patience and resignation; the corporeal life is nothing more than a brief station in the soul’s life. Using the expression of our wise and witty comrade Mr. Jobard, it is not more than an ordinary lodging-house where it is not worth to unpack. In the Spiritist Doctrine everything is defined, everything is clear, everything speaks to reason; in one word, everything is explained and those who deeply study it in its essence find such an intimate satisfaction to which they no longer renounce. That is why it has conquered so much sympathy in such a short time, sympathy not recruited in the narrow circle of a given place but around the whole world. Had the facts not been there to demonstrate, we could judge by our Review, which is only a few months old, but whose subscribers, although not counting the thousands yet, are spread all over the world. Besides those of Paris and provinces we have those in England, Scotland, Netherlands, Belgium, Prussia, St. Petersburg, Moscow, Naples, Florence, Milan, Genoa, Turin, Geneve, Madrid, Shanghai, Batavia, Caen, Mexico, Canada, USA, etc.

We don’t say this to boast but to mention a characteristic fact. In order that a recently founded and so much specialized journal be sought in so diverse and separated regions it is necessary that its major subject finds followers or they would not subscribe to it, thousands of leagues away, even if done by the best writer. It is then by its subject that it draws interest and not by its obscure editor. Its objective is therefore serious, to the eyes of the reader. Hence it is evidenced that Spiritism has roots all over the world and that, under such a point of view, twenty subscribers in twenty different countries prove more than one hundred, concentrated in one place only, hence one could not suppose this to be the works of a fraternity.

The mode by which Spiritism has propagated so far does not deserve a less accurate attention. If the press had made use of its voice in its favor by preaching it; if, in one word, the whole world had paid attention to that, one could say that it had propagated like everything else that takes place thanks to a factitious reputation and that one wishes to experiment with, even if just out of curiosity. But none of that has happened. Generally, the press had not given Spiritism any voluntary support. Press neglected it or if on rare occasions spoke about it was to ridicule it and to send its adepts to the asylums, a not very attractive thing to those who had the mere inclination of getting initiated.

Only Mr. Home deserved the honor of some more or less serious references, while the most vulgar events are conversely widely covered. As a matter of fact it is easy to see that, by their languages, the adversaries speak about Spiritism like the blind would speak about the colors: without real knowledge of the facts; without a serious and profound examination and only through a first impression, hence their arguments are limited to a pure and simple denial, thus we cannot elevate their facetious expressions to the category of arguments. However witty those jokes may be they do not represent reason.

However, not everybody from the press should be accused of ill faith. Spiritism counts individually on serious experts and we know several among the most prominent men from the media.

Why then do they keep silence? The reason is the fact that, besides the problem of belief, there is that of personality that is very powerful in our days. Their belief is concealed rather than expansive, as with many others. Besides, they are forced to respond for their newspapers. As such, the journalist is afraid of losing subscribers by openly raising a flag whose color could displease some of them.

Will that situation last? No. Spiritism will soon be like magnetism that was once discussed through whispers and that now nobody is afraid of confessing.

No new idea, however right and nice it may be, implants instantaneously in the spirits of the masses, and the one that did not find opposition would be a remarkable phenomenon. Why would Spiritism be an exception to the general rule? Time is needed to mature the ideas, as with the fruits, but human levity leads us to judge them before their maturation or without the effort to analyze their intimate qualities.

This brings to mind the witty fable “The baby monkey, the adult monkey and a nut”. As well known, the baby monkey picks a green nut still in the shell; bites it, making faces, amazed that others may like such a bitter thing. The adult monkey, less superficial and with a profound knowledge of its species, picks the nut, breaks it, cleans it, eats the nut and finds it delicious. A great moral teaching results from that, addressed to those who judge new things just from the outside.

Spiritism had thus to march without any strange support and behold in five or six years it spread out with an almost prodigious speed. Where has it acquired such strength if not on itself? Hence there must necessarily be something very powerful in its principle to be propagated like that, without the super exciting means of publicity. The fact is, as we mentioned above, that whoever takes the time to study it finds what was looking for, what reason would have allowed to foresee: a consoling truth and, after all, hope and true satisfaction.

Thus, the acquired convictions are serious and durable and not frivolous opinions, just born out of a breath and destroyed by another one.

Someone recently said: “I find in Spiritism such a kind hope; it gives me such a sweet and great consolation that every contrary thought would make me unhappy and I feel as if my best friend would become hateful had he tried to subtract that belief from me.” When an idea has no roots it may briefly shine, like those flowers that we force to blossom; soon, however, for a lack of support, die and remains forgotten. Nevertheless, those who have a sound foundation grow and persist and become so much identified with the habits that we amaze ourselves for having gone without it for so long.

If Spiritism was not supported by the European press the same did not happen in America. This is correct up to a point. There is in America, as everywhere else for that matter, a general and a special press. The former gave Spiritism much more coverage than in our case, although less than we suppose. In fact there are some hostile institutions among them. The special press accounts for eighteen Spiritist Newspapers only in the USA, from which ten are weekly and several of large format. From that one can see that we are very late with that respect. But there, as around here, the specialized newspapers address a specific public. It is evident that a medical gazette will not have the preference of the architects or the men of law; thus, a spiritist journal, with rare exceptions, will only be read by those with knowledge of Spiritism. The large number of American newspapers that cover this subject prove one thing: they have enough readers to sustain them. No doubt that they have accomplished a lot but their influence is, generally speaking, purely local. The vast majority is unknown to the European public and our newspapers only very occasionally provide some transcriptions of their matters.

By saying that Spiritism has propagated without the support of the press, we referred to the general press, the one that addresses everybody, the one whose voice is daily heard by millions; the one that penetrates the most obscure corners; that informs the anchorite in the depth of the desert as it does with the inhabitants of the city; finally, the one that plentifully spreads ideas. Which spiritist newspaper can pride itself of echoing the claims of the world? It speaks to the persons of conviction but does not attract the attention of the indifferent.

We tell the truth by proclaiming that Spiritism has been left to its own powers and, if it has walked in such long strides by itself, how is it going to be when supported by the powerful lever of the broad publicity? While waiting for such a moment, it moves continuously, setting its landmarks; its branches will find stanchions everywhere; it will find voices whose authority will impose silence to the detractors everywhere.

The quality of the adepts of Spiritism deserves special attention. Are they recruited among the illiterate, in the inferior layers of society? No. Those are little or almost not at all concerned with Spiritism: they may have hardly heard about it. The turning tables may have found some practitioners among them. Up until now its proselytes come from the first layers of society: among the enlightened persons, among men of thought and wisdom. Furthermore, and this is a remarkable fact, the doctors who for a long time struggled against magnetism, easily adhere to this Doctrine. We count them in large numbers, both in France and abroad, which also have a large quantity of superior men, in all aspects: scientific and literary celebrities, high dignitaries, public servants, general officers, business men, ecclesiastics, magistrates, etc... all extremely serious to subscribe to a paper like ours as a pastime, considering that we do not pretend to be funny and that we are even less willing to find only fantasies in our publications.

The Parisian Society of Spiritist Studies is not any less evident proof of that truth, by the choice of persons gathered around it. Its sessions are followed with great interest, with a religious attention and, we can even say, with avidity. However, it only handles grave and serious studies, sometimes very abstract, not experiences aiming at the excitement of curiosity. We speak about what happens before our eyes; however the same can be said about other centers that occupy with Spiritism, having the same principles, hence more or less everywhere – as announced by the spirits – the period of curiosity declines.

Those phenomena allow us to penetrate in such an elevated order of things, so sublime that compared to these grave questions, a piece of furniture that moves or that raps is like a kid’s toy: it is Science 101.

As a matter of fact, we now know what to give attention to with respect to the rapping spirits and, generally, to those who produce material effects. They have been called, and with justice, the jugglers of the spiritual world. That is why we associate less with them than with those that can enlighten us.

We can identify four phases or distinct periods in the propagation of Spiritism:

1° - Period of curiosity in which the rapping spirits play the main role, calling attention and preparing the way.

2° - Period of observation in which we are entering and that can also be called philosophical. Spiritism is studied in depth and depurates; tends towards a unity of Doctrine and constitute a Science.

These periods will follow:

3° - Period of admission in which Spiritism will occupy an official place among universally accepted beliefs;

4° - Period of influence over the social order. Humanity, then under the influence of these ideas, will conquer a new moral profile. That influence is, since now, individual. Later it will act upon the masses to the happiness of everyone.

Thus, on one side, we see a belief that spreads all over the world on its own, gradually and without the usual resources of the forced propaganda, and on another hand that very belief that sows roots, not in the lower layers of Society but in its more enlightened part. Shouldn’t this double aspect be something very characteristic and give food for thought to those who consider Spiritism an empty dream? As opposed to many other ideas that come from below, shapeless and misleading, and that only slowly penetrate the higher echelons, where they then depurate, Spiritism starts from the top and will only reach the masses when disentangled from the false ideas, inseparable from new things.

We have to understand, however, that among many experts there exists only a latent belief. With some there is the dread of ridicule, with others the fear of personal harm by the conflict with certain susceptibilities that impede them to proclaim their opinions, out and loud. This is puerile, no doubt, and we understand that well. One cannot ask certain people something that nature has not given them: the courage to face the “what will they say about it?” but when Spiritism is present in every mouth – and that time is not far off – such courage will reach the shyest.

A remarkable change, since some time now, is already noticeable with that respect. People talk more openly; they take the risk, and this helps to open the eyes of the adversaries themselves, that inquiry if it is prudent, from the interest of their own reputation, to attack a belief that, willing or not, infiltrates everywhere and finds support on the higher social ranks.

Thus, the epithet of “mad”, so much inflicted onto the adepts, starts to become ridicule. It is a common place that becomes trivial, as the mad ones will soon be in larger number than the sensible ones and more than one critic has already changed sides.

As a matter of fact, this is the fulfillment of what was announced by the spirits when they said: “The greatest adversaries of Spiritism will become its most ardent followers and promoters.”

In the interesting Celtic documents, published in the April issue of our Review, we saw that the doctrine of reincarnation was professed among the Druids, according to the principle of the ascending march of the human soul that progressed along the several degrees of our spirits’ scale.

Everybody knows that the idea of reincarnation goes back to the antiquity and that Pythagoras himself learned it from the Hindus and the Egyptians. Thus it is not surprising that Plato, Socrates and others shared an opinion admitted by the most distinguished philosophers of those times. What is perhaps even more remarkable to find, since those days, is the principle of the chosen trials, taught by the spirits today, and that presupposes the reincarnation, without which it would be meaningless.

Today we shall not discuss that theory that was far from our thoughts when the spirits revealed it to us, that surprised us in a strange way because – we humbly confess – what Plato wrote about this special subject was then completely unknown to us, another proof among thousands that the communications given to us did not absolutely reflect our personal opinion. As for Plato, we only attest the central idea, leaving to each one the easy task of imagining the format under which it is presented and judge the contact points that, in some details, it can have with our current theory.

In his allegoric “Spindle of Necessity”, he imagines a dialogue between Socrates and Claucon and attributes to the first one the following speech, about the revelations of Er, the Armenian, a very likely fictitious character, although some take him by Zoroaster. It can be easily seen that the description is nothing but an imaginary situation, with the aim of developing the main idea: the immortality of the soul; the succession of the existences; the choice of the existences through the free will; and last but not least the happy or unhappy consequences of the choices, sometimes reckless. All those propositions are found in the Spirits’ Book and confirm the numerous facts cited in this Review.

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“... the story I want to tell you, Socrates tells Glaucon, is of a heartedly man, Er the son of Arminius, a Pamphylian by birth. He was slain in battle, and ten days later, when the bodies of the dead were taken up already in a state of decomposition, his body was found untouched and in good condition.

“He was then taken home to be buried and on the twelfth day, lying on the funeral pile, he returned to life and told them what he had seen in the other world.”

“As soon as his soul left the body he went onto a journey with a number of souls, coming to a wonderful place where one could see two openings in the earth, close to each other, and two other openings in heaven above them. Between the regions there were judges seated. As soon as a sentenced was passed they commanded the just, after they had passed judgment on them and had bound their sentences in front of them, to ascend by the heavenly way on the right hand; accordingly the unjust were commanded by them to descend to the abyss; these also bore the symbols of their deeds stuck on their backs.”

“His time came, and the judges told him that he was to report the news of the other world to men, and they ordered him to hear and see all that was to be heard and seen in that place.”

“Then he noticed that the souls had gone: some gone to heaven others to Earth through the corresponding openings. And then he saw at the two other openings other souls, some rising from the earth, dusty and dirty, and some coming down from heaven pure and shiny.”

“They seemed to have come from a long trip, gladly stopping in the meadow, as in a gathering place; and those who knew one another greeted and talked, the souls which came from earth curiously inquiring about the things above, and the souls which came from heaven about the things underneath. And they told each other what had happened, those from below weeping and sorrowing at the memory of the things which they had endured and seen in their journey, while those from above were describing heavenly delights and visions of the Divine beauties.”

It would take too long to tell the story of the Armenian but in summary, this is what he said:

“Each soul was condemned to 10 times the suffering imposed by their wrong doings; or once in a hundred years - such being the natural length of man's life, and the penalty being thus paid ten times in a thousand years. If, for example, there were any who had been the cause of many deaths, or had betrayed or enslaved cities or armies, or been guilty of any other evil behavior, for each and all of their offences they received punishment ten times over, and the rewards of goodness and justice and holiness were in the same proportion.”

“What he said concerning young children dying almost as soon as they were born deserves little attention. But to the impiety to gods and parents, and of murderers, there were cruel retributions while to the religious man and worthy children great happiness.”

“He was present when one of the souls asked another, “where is Ardiaeus the Great?” Ardiaeus lived a thousand years before Er: he had been the tyrant of a city in Pamphylia, and had murdered his aged father and his older brother, and was said to have committed many other repulsive crimes. The answer of the other spirit was: “He does not come and will never come here”. This was one of the dreadful sights that we ourselves witnessed. Having completed all our experiences, and were about to leave, we saw Ardiaeus and several others, most of whom tyrants like him; and there were also many individuals who had been great criminals in private situations: they tried in vain to return into the upper world, but the mouth, instead of admitting them, answered with a roar, whenever any of these incurable offenders or someone who had not been sufficiently punished tried to ascend; and then wild men of blistering aspect, who were standing by and heard the sound, seized and carried them away; and Ardiaeus and others they tied head and foot and hand, and threw them onto the ground and bashed them, and dragged them along the road through the bloody thorn bushes, repeating to the passers-by what were their crimes, and that they were being taken away to be cast in the Tartarus.”

“Such a soul declared that there was nothing worse than the roar of the abyss and that it was an unspeakable happiness to leave in silence. Such were more or less the penalties of the souls, their punishments and rewards.”

“Now when the spirits, which were in the meadows had waited seven days, on the eighth they were obliged to proceed with their journey, and, on the fourth day after, he said that they came to a place where they could see from above a beam of light, straight as a column, extending right through the whole heaven and through the earth, like a rainbow, but brighter and purer; and it was only another day's journey to reach the place, and there, in the midst of the light, they saw the ends of the chains of heaven: because this light is the belt of heaven, and holds together the circle of the universe. From these ends the Spindle of Necessity extends, around which all the circumferences turn.”

“... and around the Spindle, at equal intervals, there is another band, three in total, each sitting upon her throne: these are the Fates, Daughters of Necessity, dressed in white robes, having chaplets upon their heads, Lachesis and Clotho and Atropos, who follow with their voices the harmony of the sirens - Lachesis singing the past, Clotho the present, Atropos the future; Clotho from time to time assisting with a touch of her right hand the revolution of the outer circle of the spindle, and Atropos with her left hand guiding the inner ones, and Lachesis taking turns with either hand assisting the inner circles.”

“Once the souls arrived, their duty was to go to Lachesis at once; but first of all a hierophant arranged them in order; then he took from the knees of Lachesis the numbers of each soul to be called as well as the multiple human conditions that were offered to their choice, and having mounted a high pulpit, spoke as follows: “Hear the word of Lachesis, the Daughter of Necessity.

Mortal souls, behold a new cycle of life and mortality. Your genius will not be assigned to you, but you choose your genius; and let him who draws the first lot have the first choice, and the life that he chooses shall be his destiny. Virtue belongs to none and as a man honors or dishonors her, he shall have more or less of her; the responsibility is with the chooser - God is innocent.”

“Following those words he scattered the numbers indifferently among them, each taking the lot which fell near him, all but Er himself who was not allowed. Then the interpreter placed on the ground before them the samples of lives; and there were many more kinds of lives than the souls present almost an infinite variety. There were lives of every animal and of man in all conditions. And there were tyrannies among them, some outliving the tyrant's life, others which broke in the middle and came to an end in poverty and exile and beggary; and there were lives of famous men, some who were famous for their form and beauty as well as for their strength and success in games, or, again, for their birth and the qualities of their ancestors; and some who were the reverse of famous for the opposite qualities. There was the same variety also to the women.”

“Evidently, my dear Glaucon, it is the supreme peril to humanity. May each one of us leave every other kind of knowledge and seek Science that brings happiness. Let us find a master to make us able to learn and discern between good and evil, and so to choose always and everywhere the better life as he has opportunity. He should know what is the effect of beauty when combined with poverty or wealth in a particular soul, and what are the good and evil consequences of noble and humble birth, of private and public station, of strength and weakness, of instruction and ignorance, and of all the soul, and the operation of them combined. Enlightened by consciousness, let us decide the fate of our souls. Yes, the worst destiny is the one that yields an unjust soul and the best is the one that incessantly shapes virtue. All the rest is nothing to the soul. We would forget that there isn’t healthier choice after death than during life. Ah! May this sacred dogma be forever identified with our souls so as not to be fascinated by richness nor the other evils of the same sort and that ardently embracing tyranny or similar be not exposed to a large number of irrevocable evils to suffer them even more. For this is the way of happiness.”

“According to the report of the messenger from the other world this was what the hierophant said at the time: “Even for the last comer, if he chooses wisely and will live diligently, there is a happy existence appointed. Let him who chooses first not be careless, and let the last not despair.” And then he who was first came forward and chose the greatest tyranny of all; his mind having been darkened by imprudence and avidity, he had not thought out the whole matter before he chose, and did not notice at first sight that he was destined, among many other crimes, to devour his own children. But when he had time to reflect, and saw what was in the fate, he began to lament over his choice, forgetting the teachings of the hierophant; instead of throwing the blame of his misfortune on himself, he accused destiny and the gods, and everything but himself.” *

“He was one of the souls who came from heaven, and in a previous life had dwelt in a well- ordered State, had done the good deeds but his virtue was a matter of habit rather than philosophy. Among the souls who fell over similar mistake many came from heaven and therefore had never been tested by suffering, whereas the pilgrims who came from Earth, having themselves suffered and seen others suffer, were not in such a hurry to choose. Thus, irrespective of the classification by chance, many of the souls exchanged a good destiny for an evil or an evil for a good. For if a man over every new life on Earth had always on his arrival dedicated himself to sound philosophy, and had been moderately fortunate in the draw, he might, as the messenger reported, be happy here, and also his journey here as well as on his return to the other world, instead of being rough and underground, would be smooth and heavenly.”

“Most curious, he said, was the spectacle of the soul’s choice, it was sad and laughable and strange, in most cases based on their experience of a previous life. Er saw the soul which had once been Orpheus choosing the life of a swan. He chose out of hostility towards women, hating to be born of a woman because they had been his murderers. He saw the soul of Thamyras choosing the life of a nightingale; birds, on the other hand, like the swan and other musicians, wanting to be men.”

“Another soul who held the twentieth ticket chose the life of a lion, and this was the soul of Ajax the son of Telamon. He hated humanity for the judgment passed upon him about the weapons of Aquiles. Agamemnon came next, who took the life of an eagle, because, like Ajax, he hated human nature for his sufferings. Towards the middle came the lot of Atalanta; she, seeing the great honor given to an athlete, was unable to resist the temptation of being one of them. Epeu, builder of the Horse of Troy, became an industrious woman. The soul of Thersites, the jester, took the form of a monkey.”

“There came also the soul of Ulysses having yet to make a choice, and his lot happened to be the last of them all. Now the recollection of former tolls had disenchanted him from ambition, and he went about for a considerable time in search of the life of a private man who had been forgotten; and when he saw it, he said that he would have chosen that even if his lot came first instead of last, and that he was delighted to have it. The animals, whatever they may be, equally change into one another and into human bodies. Those who were evil become ferocious animals and the good ones, domesticated. After all souls had chosen their lives, they approached Lachesis, in the order of their choices. Fate sent with them the genius whom they had severally chosen, to be the guardian of their lives and the fulfiller of their choices. That genius led the souls first to Clotho who drew them within the revolution of the spindle impelled by her hand, thus ratifying the destiny of each one. Then the genius carried them to Atropos, who spun the threads and made them irreversible. Next the soul and the genius passed beneath the Throne of Necessity. When they had all passed, they marched on in a blazing heat to the plain of Forgetfulness **, which was a sterile waste destitute of trees and plants. Evening came and they camped by the river Ameles (absence of serious thoughts) ; there they drank the water. The reckless drank too much hence lost their memory. Now after they had gone for their sleep, about mid night, there was a thunderstorm and an earthquake. Soon the souls were dispersed in all directions towards their birth places, like shooting stars. As for himself, said Er, he was hindered from drinking the water; however, he could not say where neither when his soul had been bonded to his body. Suddenly awaking in the morning he found himself lying on the pyre.”

“And thus, Glaucon, the tale has been saved and has not perished, and will save us if we are faithful to the spoken word; and we shall pass safely over the river of Forgetfulness and will keep our soul purified from every stain.”

* In the antiquity the word “tyrant” did not have the same meaning as given today. The name was attributed to those who had the sovereign power, whatever their actions, good or bad. History cites good tyrants. However, as it happened in the majority of the cases, in order to satisfy their ambitions or to stay in power, they acted criminally and then later the word became a synonym of cruelty, applied to every person who abuses authority. By choosing the greatest tyranny, the soul mentioned by Er was not looking for cruelty but for the greatest power as the condition of their new existence. When such a choice became irrevocable the soul understood that such a power would drag her through a life of crime and regretted the decision, blaming everybody else but her. It is the story of the majority of men who are the designers of their own disgrace, but who refuse to confess it.

** Reference to the forgetfulness that happens to the soul from one existence to the next.

The following fact was reported by the Patrie on August 15th, 1858:

“Last Tuesday I started to tell you, maybe too recklessly, a heartbreaking story. I should have thought that there is no touching story: there is only well told stories and that the same fact described by different persons may cause the audience either to fall asleep or give them the shivers of fear. As I entertained myself with a fellow traveler on a trip from Cherbourg to Paris, Mr. B... told me a marvelous tale that if I had annotated it would have allowed me the opportunity to give you a thrill of excitement.

However, I made the mistake of trusting my terrible memory that I profoundly regret. Nonetheless, here is the adventure that proves today, August 15th, that it is really a fact.

Mr. S..., a historical name that, even these days, is surrounded by consideration, was an officer during the Directory. On business or pleasure he used to travel to Italy.

In one of our central departments, he was caught by surprise by the sudden shadows of the night, feeling happy for having found shelter in a kind of suspicious cabin, where he was offered an ordinary supper and a makeshift bed in the barn.

He was used to adventures and the tough duties of war hence he ate until full and then went to bed, falling deeply asleep, without a murmur.

During the night, a terrible apparition perturbed his sleep. He saw a form rising from the shadows, heavily marching towards his bed, stopping by his head. It was a man in his fifties, whose uneasy gray hair was blemished by blood; his chest was naked and his twinkled throat was cut open, still showing the wounds. He paused for a moment, staring at the sleepy traveler with his deep black eyes; then the pale figure got animated; his pupils became shiny bright like two pieces of lit charcoal. He seemed to make a huge effort and with a trembling and muffled voice he pronounced these strange words:

- I know you! You are a soldier and like me a man of courage and incapable of faulting with his word. I come to ask you for a service that others have promised but did not deliver. I have been dead for three weeks. The owner of this house, helped by his wife, surprised me in my sleep and slit my throat. My corpse is hidden under a pile of compost, to the right, at the end of the chicken pen. Tomorrow go and seek the local authorities, bring two policemen to bury me. The owner of the house and his wife will betray each other and you will deliver them to justice. Good-bye. I count on your pity. Do not forget the request of an old brother in arms.

“Awakening, Mr. S... remembered his dream. He rested his head on his elbows while meditating. His emotion was obvious but disappeared at sunrise and like Athalie, he said:

- A dream! Should I be worried about a dream?

He betrayed his heart’s message, and listening only to the voice of reason, he packed and left.

Then came the afternoon when he completed another stretch of his journey, stopping over in a boarding house to spend the night. He had just closed his eyes when the shadow appeared a second time to him, sad and almost intimidating:

- I am impressed and afflicted, said the ghost, by seeing a man like you to perjure and fail with your duties. I expected more loyalty from you. My body lies unburied and my murderers live in peace. Friend, my vengeance is in your hands. In the name of honor, I demand that you return at once.

Mr. S... spent the rest of the night under great agitation. At dawn he felt ashamed for his fear but continued his journey.

In the afternoon came a third stop and a third apparition. This time the ghost was livid and terrifying. He held a bitter smile on his white lips. He spoke with a rude voice:

- It seems that I have misjudged you; that your heart, like the others, is insensitive to the claims of the unfortunate ones. For the last time I come to invoke your help and appeal to your generosity. Go back to X... and revenge me or otherwise may you be cursed.

Mr. S... did not hesitate this time. He turned back on his feet traveling to the suspicious hostel where he had spent the first of those lugubrious nights. He went to the judge’s house and requested the escort of two policemen. Just as they saw the police the guest’s murderers became pale and confessed to the crime, as if a superior force had forcibly driven them to the fatal confession. The legal process was prepared swiftly and the culprits were given the death penalty.

As for the poor policeman whose cadaver was found under a pile of manure, to the right, at the end of the chicken pen, he was buried in sacred grounds, having the priests prayed for the peace of his soul.

Mission accomplished, Mr. S... was quick to leave the region towards the Alps, never looking back. The first time he stopped to rest in a bed the ghost showed up once again, no longer showing ferocious and irritated eyes but sweet and benevolent, saying:

- Thank you my brother. I wish to thank you for your service to me. You will see me again only once. I will come to warn you two hours before your death. Good-bye.

Mr. S... was then about thirty years old. For another thirty years not a single vision came to disrupt his peaceful life. But on August 14th, 182... on the eve of Napoleon’s celebrations, and still faithful to Napoleon’s party, he had gathered about twenty old soldiers of the Empire over dinner. The gathering was very enjoyable and happy and the host, although old, was healthy and strong. They were having coffee in the living room. Mr. S... felt like smoking his pipe and remembered that he had left the tobacco in his bedroom. Since he was used to prepare it himself he left the guests momentarily and went up to the first floor where his bedroom was located. He had not taken any light with him.

Once he got to the large hall that led to the room he had to suddenly stop and reach for the wall. The ghost of the murdered man stood across the corridor from him, at the other end. The ghost did not say a word, not even a gesture, disappearing after a few moments.

It was the promised warning.

Mr. S... who was a man of strong character, after that brief and fainting moment, recovered his courage and cold blood to proceed to his room, grab the box of snuff and return to the living room. He mingled with the others, joining the conversations, showing his joviality and customary sense of humor.

At midnight the guests left. He then sat down and spent about three quarters of an hour meditating. Then, feeling good and having organized his business, he retired to his room to go to bed.

When he opened the door, a gunshot knocked him dead, exactly two hours after the apparition of the ghost. The bullet that shattered his skull was addressed to this servant.

HENRY D’ AUDIGIER

The author of the article wished to keep his promise to the newspaper about telling something touching, at any price, resorting to a story that he reports with great imagination or is the story true?

We cannot guarantee. As a matter of fact, this is not important. Real or fictitious the essential here is to know if the fact is at all possible.

Then, let us not hesitate and say: yes, the warnings from beyond the grave are possible. The numerous examples attesting them are out there, whose authenticity could not be mistrusted. If the anecdote of Mr. Henry d’Audigier is then apocrypha there are plenty of the same kind that are not and we can even say that this one has nothing of extraordinary.

The apparition would have happened in his dream, which is very common. However, it is notorious that they can also visually happen in the waking state. The warning at the instant of death is not uncommon but the facts of that kind are very rare as the Providence’s wisdom hides the fatal moment from us. Thus, it is only exceptionally that it is revealed to us and for unknown reasons.

The following is an example of a more recent, less dramatic analogous case, but whose accuracy we can ensure.

Mr. Watbled who was a business man and the president of the Boulogne Chamber of Commerce, died on July 12th last, under the following circumstances: His wife had died twelve years earlier and her death had brought him a permanent sorrow; she appeared to him over two consecutive nights in the beginning of July and told him: God had mercy on our souls and wants us to unite soon. She added that the encounter was scheduled for the next July 12th and, as a consequence, he should get ready. In fact, since then he went through a remarkable change: he progressively atrophied. He soon prostrated without any suffering, exhaling his final breath on the very scheduled day, in his friends’ arms.

The fact is not contestable in itself. The skeptical may only discuss the cause, which they will certainly attribute to the imagination.

It is well known that similar predictions, made by future tellers, have had, not infrequently, a fatal ending. In such a case it is understandable that the organs, having the imagination excited by that idea, experience a radical alteration. More than once the fear of death has caused death. But here the circumstances are different.

Those who deeply studied the spiritist phenomena will realize the fact; as for the skeptical, those have only one argument: “I do not believe, hence this is not possible.” Once questioned about this the spirits have said: “God chose that well-known man so that the event would be noticed and provided food for thought.” The incredulous incessantly asks for proofs. God gives them every time through the phenomena that sprout everywhere. Nevertheless, these are the words that apply to them: “have eyes but do not see, have ears but do not hear.”

In the Histoire de l’Ordre du Saint-Espirit, 1778 edition, De Saint-Foy cites the following passage from a collection of the Marquis Juvenal des Ursins, lieutenant general of Paris, written around the end of 1572 and published in 1601.

“On August 31st, 1572, eight days after St. Bartholomew’s massacre, I had dined at the Louvre, in Mrs. de Fiesque’s home. The whole day had been scorching hot. We sat under a small arbor by the creek, breathing fresh air. Suddenly we heard a horrible noise of tumultuous voices, mixed with groans and screams of rage and furor. We remained still, chilled by the amazement, glancing at each other from time to time, not having the courage to speak. I believe that the noise lasted for half an hour. It is certain that King Charles IX heard it too and was terrified, not being able to sleep for the rest of the night; however, he did not make any comment on the following day but his somber, thoughtful and crazy looks were noticeable. If any prodigy should not meet incredulity this is one, attested by Henry IV. In his book I, Chapter 6, page 561, d’Aubigné says: several times that prince told us, the most intimate family members and court goers – and I have living witnesses that he had never repeated it to us without showing great horror – that eight days after the Night of St. Bartholomew, he had seen a large amount of vultures landing and cawing over the Louvre’s pavilion; that in the same evening Charles IX, two hours after having gone to bed, got up, sending the chamber maids to search around since he had heard a loud noise of voices and groans, very similar to the ones that were heard at the night of the massacre; that all those screams were so shocking, so much marked and distinctly articulated that Charles IX thought that the enemies of Montmorency and his followers were attacking by surprise, hence he sent a platoon of his guard to impede a new massacre. The guards informed him that Paris was quiet and that all the noise was only in the air.”

OBSERVATION: The fact reported by Saint-Foy and by Juvenal des Ursins have lots of analogies with the story of the ghost that appeared to Mademoiselle Clairon, reported in our January issue, with the difference that in her case it was only one spirit to manifest during two and a half years, while after the Night of St. Bartholomew there seems to have been a large number of spirits who made the air vibrate just for a few moments. As a matter of fact, these two phenomena have obviously the same principle as the other contemporary facts of the same nature, already reported by us, not differing from them but by the detail of the form. Once questioned about the cause of such manifestation several spirits responded that it was a punishment from God, which is easy to understand.

According to the Courrier des États-Unis, several newspapers reported the following fact that seemed to provide interesting material for study.

The Courrier des États-Unis says:

“A German family from Baltimore, USA, has just been taken by great emotion due to a case of an apparent death. Mrs. Schwabenhaus who was ill for a long time had exhaled what seemed to have been her last breath overnight, from Monday to Tuesday. The persons who attended her observed every indication of death: the body went cold, the limbs rigid. The undertakers retired to their rooms after having given the corpse the final care and when everything in the mortuary chamber was ready for the funerals. Exhausted, Mr. Schwabenhaus soon followed them. Deep in his agitated sleep he was surprised by his wife’s voice around 6 am. In the beginning he thought it was a dream but once he heard his name several times he could not doubt it any longer. He dashed into his wife’s room and the person who was left for dead was sitting on the bed, apparently healthy and stronger than ever before.

Mrs. Schwabenhaus asked for water and later she wished to drink tea and wine. Then she asked her husband to take care of the child that was crying in the adjacent room but he was too excited for that, running to call the others from around the house. The sick lady received friends and servants with a smile; all approached her bed hesitantly. She did not seem surprised with all that mortuary apparatus that hurt her eyes. “I know you thought that I was dead”, she said; “however, I was only asleep. During that period my soul was transported to celestial regions. An angel came to pick me up and in a few moments we crossed the space. The guiding angel was my little daughter that we lost last year... Oh! Soon I will reunite with her... Now that I have enjoyed the happiness of heavens I no longer wish to stay here. I asked the angel to allow me to come once more to kiss my husband and my children but she will soon come to pick me up.”

OBSERVATION: From the answers of this mother, everything indicates that she is an elevated spirit. No surprise that an even more elevated spirit was united to hers out of sympathy. However, we should not take literally the expression “pure spirit” that the spirits sometimes attribute to each other. It is a fact that it refers to a more elevated order hence those that are completely dematerialized and depurated are no longer subjected to the reincarnation: these are angels that enjoy eternal life. Well, those who have not yet achieved a sufficient level do not understand that supreme state. They can then employ the expression “pure spirit” to designate a relative superiority. We have numerous examples of that. Mrs. Schwabenhaus seems to be in that category. The spirits of mockery sometimes also attribute the quality of “pure spirits” to themselves in order to inspire more confidence in those who they wish to trick and that do not have sufficient perspicacity to judge their language, through which they always betray their inferiority.

Mr. M... had bought a medal in an antique shop that seemed remarkable for its originality. It was the size of a crown of six pounds. Had a silver looks but a bit oxidized. It held several engraved markings on both sides, among them the planets, intertwined circles, a triangle, unintelligible words and some initials in common characters; then some others in bizarre characters, somehow similar to Arabic, all arranged in a cabalistic way, resembling the witchery books.

Mr. M... sought the help of a somnambulist medium, Ms. J..., who told him that it was made of seven metals; that belonged to Cazotte and that it had the power of attracting the spirits, facilitating evocations.

Mr. Caudemberg, who was the author of a series of communications that supposedly he had received from the Virgin Mary, told him that it was a malefic thing, proper to attract the demons. Ms. Guldenstube, medium, sister of Baron Guldenstube, author of a book about pneumatography or direct writing, told him that the medal had a magnetic virtue and that it could provoke somnambulism.

Unsatisfied with those contradictory answers, Mr. M... showed us that medal, requesting our opinion about it, while he also wanted us to evoke a superior spirit to inquiry about the real value of that object, regarding the influence it might have.

Here is our answer:

The spirits are attracted or repelled through thought and not through material objects that have no influence on them. The superior spirits have condemned, at all times, the use of signs and cabalistic forms and every spirit who attributes any power or that intend to give talismans that denote magic power reveal their own inferiority; acting in good faith or out of pure ignorance; driven by old Earthly prejudices that they still carry or when consciously play with peoples beliefs, as a jester spirit. The cabalistic signs, when not a mere fantasy, are symbols that remind superstitious beliefs in the virtue of certain things, like numbers, the planets and their association to the metals, beliefs born at times of ignorance and that are based on plain mistakes, to which Science has made justice, showing what is behind the seven metals, the seven planets, etc. The mystic and unintelligible format of such symbols has the objective of self-imposing onto the crowds, always inclined to consider marvelous everything that they cannot understand. Whoever has studied the nature of the spirits could not rationally admit that they would be influenced by conventional forms or substances mixed in certain proportions. It would be the same as to revisit the caldron of the witches, the black cats, black chickens and other secret plots. This is different from the effect of a magnetized object as it is a known fact that it has the power of provoking somnambulism or certain nervous phenomena on the organic structure. However, the power of such objects resides exclusively on the fluid that it is momentarily impregnated by and that thus indirectly passes on, and not in the form, color and particularly not on the signs that it may show.

A spirit may say: “Make a given signal and I will know that you call me and I will come.” But in such a case the drawn signal is the expression of the thought; it is an evocation translated into a material format. Well, whatever the nature of the spirits they do not need similar means of communication. The superior spirits never utilize them. The inferior spirits may use them aiming at seducing the believers who they wish to control.

General rule: Form is nothing to the superior spirits. Thought is everything. Every spirit that gives more importance to the form than to the meaning is inferior and unworthy, even when they may say good things once in a while, as the good things are sometimes a means of seduction.

This was, generally speaking, our thoughts with respect to the talismans, as a means of entering into communication with the spirits. Unnecessary to say that it also applies to other means superstitiously employed, like avoiding diseases and accidents. Nevertheless, to the benefit of the medal owner and in order to get better knowledge into the subject, we asked the spirit of St. Louis, in the session of the Parisian Society on July 17th, 1858, who kindly communicates with us whenever there is an opportunity for instruction, to give his opinion regarding the subject. Here is his answer about the value of such a medal:

“You do well not admitting that such material object may have any power over the manifestations, be it to provoke or to impede them. Very frequently we have said that the manifestations are spontaneous and even further, that we never refuse to respond to your appeal. Why do you think we would be obliged to obey something that was manufactured by man?”

Q – What was the objective of fabricating such a medal?

A – It was made with the objective of calling the attention of those who could believe in such a thing. But only magnetizers could have made it with the intention of magnetizing and inducing a sensitive to sleep. The symbols are mere fantasies.

Q – Some say it belonged to Cazotte. Could we evoke him to give us some information about it?

A – It is unnecessary. Occupy yourselves with more serious things.”

Seven or eight months ago Mr. Louis G..., the shoemaker, was dating the young Victorine R..., a boot stitcher with whom he was soon to marry, hence the marriage license was about to be issued. The couple considered themselves almost definitely united and to save money the shoemaker used to come to the bride’s house for his meals.

As usual, he came last Wednesday to have supper at the boot stitcher’s house, when a silly discussion took place over something of minor importance. Both sides were very adamant so that things heated up to a point that made Louis leave, swearing not to come back.

Nevertheless, on the very next day the very confused shoemaker came to apologize. They say that sleep is a good counselor, but the lady worker after the previous scene and maybe foreseeing what could happen when there would be no way back, refused reconciliation thus neither his protests nor his cries and desperation could win her back. Nevertheless, as several days had gone by since that regrettable incident, and expecting that his beloved one would be more manageable, in the evening before last Louis wished to try a final explanation: he knocked on the door so as to be recognized but she refused to answer. He renovated his protests and supplication through the door but his elected one remained unaltered.

“You are mean, then good bye!” said the poor man. “Good bye forever! Look for a husband that loves you as much as I do!”

Simultaneously the lady heard a muffled groan, then the noise of a falling body, as if just supported by the door, and then silence. She thought that Louis had just seated at her door step, waiting for her first coming out of the house but she promised herself that she would not step her foot outside while he was there.

A quarter of an hour had gone by when one of the residents, walking through the yard with a lamp, yelled for help. Soon other neighbors joined in and Ms. Victorine, opening the door, screamed in horror when she saw her fiancé on the ground, pale and motionless. Everybody tried to help and seek medical support but soon all noticed that it was useless since the man had gone. The unfortunate man had stabbed his own chest with a shoemaker’s knife..

OBSERVATION: By saying that the suicide is less unlawful to the eyes of God it evidently means that it is still criminal, to a lesser degree. The fault is in his weakness that he could not overcome and, no doubt, a failed trial. Well, the spirits teach us that the merit is in victoriously fighting over the trials of all kinds that are the essence of life on Earth.

One of our subscribers wrote the following lines regarding the drawing that we published in the last issue of our Review.

“The author of the article says: The treble clef is frequently repeated there and – something original – never the bass clef”. It seems that the medium’s eyes did not see all the details of the rich drawing executed by his hand, since a musician assured us that it is easy to recognize the bass clef direct and inverted in the decoration of the construction, whose central part shows the violin bow as in the extension of the decoration, to the left of the theorbo’s tip. In the opinion of the same musician the old form of the alto clef also appears near the slabs of the stairs, on the right hand side.”

OBSERVATION: We insert this observation with great satisfaction as it demonstrates how foreign the medium was to the execution of the drawing. By examining the details of the indicated parts one can effectively recognize the bass and alto clefs with which the author had inadvertently decorated his drawing. When we see him working we easily notice the absence of any premeditated conception and will. His hand, dragged by an occult power, gives the pencil or chisels the most irregular motion and, at the same time, the most contrary to the elementary precepts of art since it moves incessantly, with an incredible speed, from an end to the other of the board, unstoppable and returning to the same point a hundred times. At a first glance this results into an incoherent piece of work, only understandable when it is finished.

Such an original development is not peculiar to Mr. Sardou. We have seen all drawing mediums proceeding in the same way. We know a lady who is a skillful painter that teaches drawing skills and who is also a drawing medium. When she draws like a medium she works regardless of her own will, against all rules and by a process that would be impossible to follow when working under her own inspiration in a normal state. Her students, she said, would laugh if she taught them by the way of the spirits.

ALLAN KARDEC