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The Spiritist review — Journal of psychological studies — 1858 > October
October
The obsessed and subjugated
A lot has been said about the dangers of Spiritism. It is remarkable; however, that those who
screamed the most are exactly those who only know it from what they heard about it. We have
already refuted the main arguments brought up by them – thus we shall not return to that topic.
We shall only add that if we wanted to eliminate from society everything that could offer danger
and give rise to abuses we wouldn’t have much left, even those things of real necessity, starting
from the fire, a cause of so many tragedies; then the railroads and etc. If one admits that the
advantages compensate the inconvenient, the same must apply to everything else. At the same
time experience indicates the precautions that need to be taken to protect us against the
inevitable dangers of things.
Spiritism truly poses a real danger but it is not the danger that one supposes. It is necessary to be initiated in the principles of the Science to understand it well. We do not address those who are unaware of such principles but the individuals aware of these principals themselves, those who practice them, since these are the individuals who face danger. It is necessary that those principles be understood so as the adepts can be on guard. As they say, a known danger is a half avoided danger. We say more: to whoever is well informed about the Science such a danger does not exist; it does exist only to those who have the presumption of knowledge, that is to say, as with everything else, to those that do not have the necessary experience.
A very natural desire in everyone that starts to get involved with Spiritism is to become a medium, mainly psychographic. It is really the kind that exerts more attraction, given the facility of communications and for being the one that more easily is developed by exercise. It is understandable the satisfaction that someone must feel when, for the first time, sees their hand forming letters and later on phrases, answering to their thoughts. These automatically traced answers, without the person knowing what is going on, that frequently is outside of any personal idea, cannot leave any doubt regarding the intervention of an occult intelligence. Therefore, they show great happiness on dealing with the beings of beyond the grave, with these mysterious and invisible beings that populate the spaces: relatives and friends are no longer absent; the fact that one cannot see them does not mean that they are not present; one talks to them and is seen by them through thought; one can know if they are happy, know what they do, what they want and exchange kindness. It is clear that the separation between them is no longer eternal and that they have expectations for the moment when they can finally meet in a better world. That is not all. How much more cannot one know through the communicating spirits? Won’t they lift the veil of all things? No more mysteries now: just ask to know it all. One can see antiquity shaking before the dust of times; excavate ruins; interpret symbolic scriptures and revive past centuries before one’s eyes. This one is more prosaic; less worried about probing the infinite where his thought is lost, being only interested in exploiting the spirits to make fortune. The spirits, who should know and see everything, cannot deny the allowance of some hidden treasure or some marvelous secret.
Whoever takes the time to study the Spiritist Science will never fall for such beautiful dreams. They know what should be avoided with respect to the power of the spirits, of their nature and the objective of the relationships that man can establish with them. Let us recall, to begin with, in a few words, the main points that must never be kept off sight as they are the cornerstone that sustain the whole edifice.
1° - The spirits are not all equal nor in power, nor in knowledge or wisdom. As they are no more than human souls detached from their corporeal body, they present a variety even greater than that of men on Earth, because they come from all worlds and, among the globes, Earth is neither the most basic nor the most advanced. Thus, there are very superior spirits as there are very inferior ones; very good and evil; very wise and very ignorant; there are those of levity, malevolence, liars, astute, hypocrites, polished, sharp, jokers, etc.
2° - We are incessantly surrounded by a cloud of spirits that occupy the space around us, despite the fact that we cannot see them, watching our acts, reading our thoughts, some to do us good, others to do us harm, whether good or bad spirits, accordingly.
3° - From the physical and moral inferiority of our globe in the hierarchy of the worlds, the inferior spirits are more numerous here than the superior ones.
4° - Among those spirits that surround us there are those that attach to us; that act more particularly over our thoughts, giving us advice, and whose influence we follow unnoticeably. Good for us if we hear the voice of the good spirits only.
5° - The inferior spirits only bond to those that listen to them, that give them access and to whom they connect. If successful on dominating someone, they identify with their own spirit, fascinating them, obsessing them, subjugating them, and leading them as one does to a child.
6° - Obsession can never happen but by inferior spirits. The good spirits don’t produce any kind of coercion, combat the influence of the bad spirits and stay away when they are not listened to.
7° - The degree of coercion and the nature of the effects it produces determine the difference between obsession, subjugation and fascination.
Obsession is the almost permanent action of a strange spirit that leads the person to be solicited by an incessant need to act by this way or the other and to do this or that.
Subjugation is a moral bond that paralyzes the free will of the one that suffers it, pushing the person to the most reckless attitudes, frequently most contrary to their own interest.
Fascination is a kind of illusion produced by the direct action of a strange spirit or by his cunning thoughts. Such an illusion produces an alteration in the comprehension of moral things, leading to misjudgment and to mistaken evil for good.
8° - Man can always disengage from the oppression of the imperfect spirits by their will power, by the choice between good and evil. If the coercion achieved the point of paralyzing the will and if the fascination is such that it obliterates reason, then the will of a third person may replace it.
Spiritism truly poses a real danger but it is not the danger that one supposes. It is necessary to be initiated in the principles of the Science to understand it well. We do not address those who are unaware of such principles but the individuals aware of these principals themselves, those who practice them, since these are the individuals who face danger. It is necessary that those principles be understood so as the adepts can be on guard. As they say, a known danger is a half avoided danger. We say more: to whoever is well informed about the Science such a danger does not exist; it does exist only to those who have the presumption of knowledge, that is to say, as with everything else, to those that do not have the necessary experience.
A very natural desire in everyone that starts to get involved with Spiritism is to become a medium, mainly psychographic. It is really the kind that exerts more attraction, given the facility of communications and for being the one that more easily is developed by exercise. It is understandable the satisfaction that someone must feel when, for the first time, sees their hand forming letters and later on phrases, answering to their thoughts. These automatically traced answers, without the person knowing what is going on, that frequently is outside of any personal idea, cannot leave any doubt regarding the intervention of an occult intelligence. Therefore, they show great happiness on dealing with the beings of beyond the grave, with these mysterious and invisible beings that populate the spaces: relatives and friends are no longer absent; the fact that one cannot see them does not mean that they are not present; one talks to them and is seen by them through thought; one can know if they are happy, know what they do, what they want and exchange kindness. It is clear that the separation between them is no longer eternal and that they have expectations for the moment when they can finally meet in a better world. That is not all. How much more cannot one know through the communicating spirits? Won’t they lift the veil of all things? No more mysteries now: just ask to know it all. One can see antiquity shaking before the dust of times; excavate ruins; interpret symbolic scriptures and revive past centuries before one’s eyes. This one is more prosaic; less worried about probing the infinite where his thought is lost, being only interested in exploiting the spirits to make fortune. The spirits, who should know and see everything, cannot deny the allowance of some hidden treasure or some marvelous secret.
Whoever takes the time to study the Spiritist Science will never fall for such beautiful dreams. They know what should be avoided with respect to the power of the spirits, of their nature and the objective of the relationships that man can establish with them. Let us recall, to begin with, in a few words, the main points that must never be kept off sight as they are the cornerstone that sustain the whole edifice.
1° - The spirits are not all equal nor in power, nor in knowledge or wisdom. As they are no more than human souls detached from their corporeal body, they present a variety even greater than that of men on Earth, because they come from all worlds and, among the globes, Earth is neither the most basic nor the most advanced. Thus, there are very superior spirits as there are very inferior ones; very good and evil; very wise and very ignorant; there are those of levity, malevolence, liars, astute, hypocrites, polished, sharp, jokers, etc.
2° - We are incessantly surrounded by a cloud of spirits that occupy the space around us, despite the fact that we cannot see them, watching our acts, reading our thoughts, some to do us good, others to do us harm, whether good or bad spirits, accordingly.
3° - From the physical and moral inferiority of our globe in the hierarchy of the worlds, the inferior spirits are more numerous here than the superior ones.
4° - Among those spirits that surround us there are those that attach to us; that act more particularly over our thoughts, giving us advice, and whose influence we follow unnoticeably. Good for us if we hear the voice of the good spirits only.
5° - The inferior spirits only bond to those that listen to them, that give them access and to whom they connect. If successful on dominating someone, they identify with their own spirit, fascinating them, obsessing them, subjugating them, and leading them as one does to a child.
6° - Obsession can never happen but by inferior spirits. The good spirits don’t produce any kind of coercion, combat the influence of the bad spirits and stay away when they are not listened to.
7° - The degree of coercion and the nature of the effects it produces determine the difference between obsession, subjugation and fascination.
Obsession is the almost permanent action of a strange spirit that leads the person to be solicited by an incessant need to act by this way or the other and to do this or that.
Subjugation is a moral bond that paralyzes the free will of the one that suffers it, pushing the person to the most reckless attitudes, frequently most contrary to their own interest.
Fascination is a kind of illusion produced by the direct action of a strange spirit or by his cunning thoughts. Such an illusion produces an alteration in the comprehension of moral things, leading to misjudgment and to mistaken evil for good.
8° - Man can always disengage from the oppression of the imperfect spirits by their will power, by the choice between good and evil. If the coercion achieved the point of paralyzing the will and if the fascination is such that it obliterates reason, then the will of a third person may replace it.
The name possession was used in the past to describe the control exerted by the bad spirits,
when their influence would go to the aberration of the faculties. But ignorance and prejudice
have taken by possession what many times was just a pathological state. For us, possession
would be a synonym of subjugation. We do not adopt that term for two reasons: first because it
implies the belief in beings created and perpetually devoted to evil when in fact there is only
more or less imperfect beings who can improve; second that it implies that the strange spirit
takes over the body, in a kind of co-inhabitation, when in fact there is only a connection. The
word subjugation gives a perfect idea. Thus for us there is no possessed in the vulgar sense, but
only obsessed, subjugated and fascinated.
For the same reason we do not use the term “devil” to designate the imperfect spirits, although these are frequently not better than those called devils; it is only due to the specialty and perpetuity associated to that term. Thus, when we say that there are no devils we do not wish to say that there are only good spirits. Far from that and we know well that there are evil and much evil ones, who solicit us to evil, tricking us, not surprisingly considering that they were all men. We wish to say that they do not make a special class in the order of Creation and that God gives all creatures the opportunity to improve themselves.
Having said that let us go back to the mediums. For some the progress is slow, really slow; these have their patience tested sometimes. For others it is fast, and in a short time the medium begins to write with ease and eventually even more promptly than he would do under normal conditions. It is then that the medium can get carried away and it is there where the danger resides because enthusiasm leads to weakening and it is necessary to be strong with the spirits. It seems a paradox to say that enthusiasm provokes weakening but there is nothing more correct than this. Some will say that enthusiasm marches with a conviction and a confidence that overcome every obstacle, thus yielding more strength. No doubt but we become enthusiastic by the false as well as by the true. Accept the most absurd ideas of the enthusiast and you can do anything you want with him. The object of the enthusiasm is their weak spot by which they can always be dominated. The cold man, on the contrary, is impassive. He is not misled; correlates, weighs, maturely examines and does not allow seduction through subterfuge. That is his strength. The malevolent spirits who know this better than us, also know how to take advantage of the situation to subjugate those who they wish to control. The faculty of writing as medium serves them wonderfully well as it is a powerful means of captivating the medium’s trust and consequently take advantage, if we are not vigilant against them. Fortunately, as we will see later, the illness also carries the remedy.
Be it out of enthusiasm, out of fascination by the spirits or the medium’s self esteem, the psychographic medium in general is led to believe that the spirits that communicate with him are superior and that even more the more the spirits, by noticing the medium’s inclination, ornate themselves with pompous titles, according to the necessity. Thus, pending on the circumstances, they take the names of saints, scholars, angels, of the Virgin Mary herself, and play their roles like actors, ridiculously dressing the outfits of those they represent. Remove their masks and they become what they are: ridiculous. This is what one must do both with the spirits and with men.
From the blind and unthoughtful belief in the superiority of the spirits to the trust in their words there is only one step, as it also happens with men. If they are able to inspire such a confidence they then feed it through sophisms and cunning reasoning, before which people normally lower their heads. The rude spirits are less dangerous: we recognize them immediately and these do not inspire but disgust. The most terrible in their world, like in ours, are the hypocrite spirits: they always speak with kindness, flatter people’s inclinations; are sweet, shrewd, and plentiful of nice expressions, demonstrating dedication. It is necessary to be really strong to resist to similar seduction.
For the same reason we do not use the term “devil” to designate the imperfect spirits, although these are frequently not better than those called devils; it is only due to the specialty and perpetuity associated to that term. Thus, when we say that there are no devils we do not wish to say that there are only good spirits. Far from that and we know well that there are evil and much evil ones, who solicit us to evil, tricking us, not surprisingly considering that they were all men. We wish to say that they do not make a special class in the order of Creation and that God gives all creatures the opportunity to improve themselves.
Having said that let us go back to the mediums. For some the progress is slow, really slow; these have their patience tested sometimes. For others it is fast, and in a short time the medium begins to write with ease and eventually even more promptly than he would do under normal conditions. It is then that the medium can get carried away and it is there where the danger resides because enthusiasm leads to weakening and it is necessary to be strong with the spirits. It seems a paradox to say that enthusiasm provokes weakening but there is nothing more correct than this. Some will say that enthusiasm marches with a conviction and a confidence that overcome every obstacle, thus yielding more strength. No doubt but we become enthusiastic by the false as well as by the true. Accept the most absurd ideas of the enthusiast and you can do anything you want with him. The object of the enthusiasm is their weak spot by which they can always be dominated. The cold man, on the contrary, is impassive. He is not misled; correlates, weighs, maturely examines and does not allow seduction through subterfuge. That is his strength. The malevolent spirits who know this better than us, also know how to take advantage of the situation to subjugate those who they wish to control. The faculty of writing as medium serves them wonderfully well as it is a powerful means of captivating the medium’s trust and consequently take advantage, if we are not vigilant against them. Fortunately, as we will see later, the illness also carries the remedy.
Be it out of enthusiasm, out of fascination by the spirits or the medium’s self esteem, the psychographic medium in general is led to believe that the spirits that communicate with him are superior and that even more the more the spirits, by noticing the medium’s inclination, ornate themselves with pompous titles, according to the necessity. Thus, pending on the circumstances, they take the names of saints, scholars, angels, of the Virgin Mary herself, and play their roles like actors, ridiculously dressing the outfits of those they represent. Remove their masks and they become what they are: ridiculous. This is what one must do both with the spirits and with men.
From the blind and unthoughtful belief in the superiority of the spirits to the trust in their words there is only one step, as it also happens with men. If they are able to inspire such a confidence they then feed it through sophisms and cunning reasoning, before which people normally lower their heads. The rude spirits are less dangerous: we recognize them immediately and these do not inspire but disgust. The most terrible in their world, like in ours, are the hypocrite spirits: they always speak with kindness, flatter people’s inclinations; are sweet, shrewd, and plentiful of nice expressions, demonstrating dedication. It is necessary to be really strong to resist to similar seduction.
Some will ask: Where is the danger if the spirits are intangible? The danger is in the evil
advices that they give, and in the ridiculous, baleful and untimely attitudes they lead us to do.
We have already seen some that made certain people to walk from region to region searching
for fantastic things, at the risk of their health, fortune and own life. We have seen them dictating
the most banal things with a grave attitude, applying the strangest teachings.
Considering the adequacy of supplying the example side by side with the theory, we will report the case of an acquaintance of ours who had been under the dominion of a similar fascination.
Mr. F..., a highly educated young man, of kind and benevolent character, but a bit weak and indecisive, became a psychographic medium in a very short time. Obsessed by the spirit that controlled him and would not let him go, he wrote incessantly. If a pen or a pencil reached his hand he would convulsively take it, filling pages and pages out in a few minutes. In the absence of an instrument he would simulate writing with his finger, wherever he was: in the streets, on the walls, on the doors, etc. Among other things he used to write this: “Man is made up of three things: man, the bad spirit and the good spirit. All of you have your bad spirit that is connected to your body by material links. In order to expel the bad spirit it is necessary to break these links that requires the weakening of the body. When the body is sufficiently weak the link breaks and the bad spirit goes, leaving only the good spirit behind.”
As a consequence of that beautiful theory they made him fast for five days in a row and wake at night. When he was worn out they told him: “Now the thing is done and the link is broken. Your bad spirit is gone: it is now only us that you must believe without reservations.” And the man, persuaded that the bad spirit had fled, blindly believed in everything he was told. The subjugation had come to a point that if they asked him to jump in the waters or leave to the other side of the earth he would have done so. When asked to do something that disgusted him he felt dragged by an invisible power.
We give a small sample of their moral disposition and from there on it is possible to judge the rest:
“In order to obtain better communications it is necessary to pray first and fast for several days, some more, others less. Fasting weakens the existing links between the ego and a particular devil connected to each human being. That devil is connected to each person through the covering that unites body and soul. Such covering weakens by the lack of food, allowing the spirits to remove that devil. Then Jesus gets into the heart of the promised person, replacing the evil spirit. Such a state of having Jesus in each one is the only way one has to attain the whole truth and many other things. By successfully replacing the devil by Jesus the creature does not have the truth yet. It is necessary to believe. God does not give the truth to the doubtful: it would be like doing something useless and God does not do such things. As the majority of the new mediums doubt what they say and write, the good spirits, unwillingly, by a formal commandment of God, are obliged to lie and they have no other alternative but to lie until the medium is convinced; but as soon as they believe in one of those lies the elevated spirits rush into unveil the secrets of heavens to them: the whole truth shines up instantly over that cloud of mistakes with which they were obliged to cover their protégé. Once there, the medium has nothing else to fear. The good spirits will never leave them. However, he should not believe that he always holds the truth and only the truth. Be it to protect him or to punish him for his past faults, be it still to punish him for selfish or curious questions, the good spirits inflict him physical and moral corrections, coming to torment him in the name of God. Sometimes those elevated spirits regret the sad mission that they accomplish: a father harasses his son for weeks in a row, from a friend to his friend, all for the happiness of the medium. Then the noble spirits say silly things, blasphemies and even nasty ones. It is necessary that the medium resist and say: you are trying me; I know that I am in the hands of caring and kind spirits; that the evil ones can no longer approach me. Good souls that torment me, you shall not impede my belief in what you have taught me and that you shall still teach. The Catholic more easily expel the devil * because he left instantly at the day of baptism. The Catholics are judged by Jesus, the others by God. It is better to be judged by the Christ. The Protestants are not right in not admitting that: it is necessary that you become a Catholic as soon as possible. While you don’t do that, go and drink the holy water: this will be your baptism.”
Later, after being cured from the obsession that victimized him, by means that we will report, we asked him to write his own story, providing us with a description of the principles that were dictated to him. He added the following text to his explanations:
“I ask myself if I am not offending God by means of writing such silly things.”
We respond to that: No, you do not offend God; far from that since now you acknowledge the trap in which you fell. If I asked you for a copy of such perverse statements was to highlight them, as they deserve; unmask the hypocrites and alert whoever may receive similar thing.
One day they will make you write: “You shall die tonight”. And he will answer: I feel bored in this world; let us die, if that is meant to be; I ask for no more; may I no longer suffer; this is all I wish – Then firmly sleeps at night believing that he will no longer wake up. What a surprise and disappointment in the next morning when he sees himself in his usual bed. During the day he writes: “Now that you have gone through the trial of death, that you firmly believed that you would die, you are like one of us, dead: we can now tell you the whole truth; you will know everything. There is nothing hidden from us; nothing hidden from you. You are one reincarnation of Shakespeare. Isn’t Shakespeare your bible?
On the next day he writes:
Considering the adequacy of supplying the example side by side with the theory, we will report the case of an acquaintance of ours who had been under the dominion of a similar fascination.
Mr. F..., a highly educated young man, of kind and benevolent character, but a bit weak and indecisive, became a psychographic medium in a very short time. Obsessed by the spirit that controlled him and would not let him go, he wrote incessantly. If a pen or a pencil reached his hand he would convulsively take it, filling pages and pages out in a few minutes. In the absence of an instrument he would simulate writing with his finger, wherever he was: in the streets, on the walls, on the doors, etc. Among other things he used to write this: “Man is made up of three things: man, the bad spirit and the good spirit. All of you have your bad spirit that is connected to your body by material links. In order to expel the bad spirit it is necessary to break these links that requires the weakening of the body. When the body is sufficiently weak the link breaks and the bad spirit goes, leaving only the good spirit behind.”
As a consequence of that beautiful theory they made him fast for five days in a row and wake at night. When he was worn out they told him: “Now the thing is done and the link is broken. Your bad spirit is gone: it is now only us that you must believe without reservations.” And the man, persuaded that the bad spirit had fled, blindly believed in everything he was told. The subjugation had come to a point that if they asked him to jump in the waters or leave to the other side of the earth he would have done so. When asked to do something that disgusted him he felt dragged by an invisible power.
We give a small sample of their moral disposition and from there on it is possible to judge the rest:
“In order to obtain better communications it is necessary to pray first and fast for several days, some more, others less. Fasting weakens the existing links between the ego and a particular devil connected to each human being. That devil is connected to each person through the covering that unites body and soul. Such covering weakens by the lack of food, allowing the spirits to remove that devil. Then Jesus gets into the heart of the promised person, replacing the evil spirit. Such a state of having Jesus in each one is the only way one has to attain the whole truth and many other things. By successfully replacing the devil by Jesus the creature does not have the truth yet. It is necessary to believe. God does not give the truth to the doubtful: it would be like doing something useless and God does not do such things. As the majority of the new mediums doubt what they say and write, the good spirits, unwillingly, by a formal commandment of God, are obliged to lie and they have no other alternative but to lie until the medium is convinced; but as soon as they believe in one of those lies the elevated spirits rush into unveil the secrets of heavens to them: the whole truth shines up instantly over that cloud of mistakes with which they were obliged to cover their protégé. Once there, the medium has nothing else to fear. The good spirits will never leave them. However, he should not believe that he always holds the truth and only the truth. Be it to protect him or to punish him for his past faults, be it still to punish him for selfish or curious questions, the good spirits inflict him physical and moral corrections, coming to torment him in the name of God. Sometimes those elevated spirits regret the sad mission that they accomplish: a father harasses his son for weeks in a row, from a friend to his friend, all for the happiness of the medium. Then the noble spirits say silly things, blasphemies and even nasty ones. It is necessary that the medium resist and say: you are trying me; I know that I am in the hands of caring and kind spirits; that the evil ones can no longer approach me. Good souls that torment me, you shall not impede my belief in what you have taught me and that you shall still teach. The Catholic more easily expel the devil * because he left instantly at the day of baptism. The Catholics are judged by Jesus, the others by God. It is better to be judged by the Christ. The Protestants are not right in not admitting that: it is necessary that you become a Catholic as soon as possible. While you don’t do that, go and drink the holy water: this will be your baptism.”
Later, after being cured from the obsession that victimized him, by means that we will report, we asked him to write his own story, providing us with a description of the principles that were dictated to him. He added the following text to his explanations:
“I ask myself if I am not offending God by means of writing such silly things.”
We respond to that: No, you do not offend God; far from that since now you acknowledge the trap in which you fell. If I asked you for a copy of such perverse statements was to highlight them, as they deserve; unmask the hypocrites and alert whoever may receive similar thing.
One day they will make you write: “You shall die tonight”. And he will answer: I feel bored in this world; let us die, if that is meant to be; I ask for no more; may I no longer suffer; this is all I wish – Then firmly sleeps at night believing that he will no longer wake up. What a surprise and disappointment in the next morning when he sees himself in his usual bed. During the day he writes: “Now that you have gone through the trial of death, that you firmly believed that you would die, you are like one of us, dead: we can now tell you the whole truth; you will know everything. There is nothing hidden from us; nothing hidden from you. You are one reincarnation of Shakespeare. Isn’t Shakespeare your bible?
On the next day he writes:
-
- You are Satan.
-
- This a bit too much, says Mr. F...
-
- Haven’t you done... haven’t you devoured the Lost Paradise? You have read the Fille du
Diable de Beranger; you knew that Satan would convert. Haven’t you always believed;
haven’t you said that; haven’t you written that? In order to convert he has reincarnated.
-
- I agree that I may have been some rebel angel but the king of angels...!
-
- Yes, you were the angel of intrepidity. You are not evil. You have a proud heart; it is that
pride that you need to abate. You are the angel of pride, that men call Satan. Who cares
about the name! You were the evil genie of Earth. Behold you are now humiliated... Men
will progress... You will see wonders. You have deceived men; you deceived the woman
personified by Eve, the sinful woman. They say that Maria, the personification of the
spotless woman, will crush your head. Maria will come.
A few moments later writes slow and kindly:
Maria is coming to see you. She, the one who sought you at the bottom of your kingdom of shadow, shall not abandon you. God is ready to extend his arms to you. Read The Prodigal Son. Good Bye.
On another day he writes:
The serpent told Eve: Your eyes shall open and you shall be like the gods. The devil told Jesus: I will give you all the power. I tell you as you believe in our words: we love you; you will know everything... You will be king of Poland.
- Persevere in the good conditions we placed you. This lesson will give the Spiritist Science a big boost. You will see that the good spirits may say silly things and lies to make fun of the scholars. Allan Kardec has said that a way of recognizing the spirits is to make them confess Jesus in flesh. I say that only the good spirits confess Jesus in flesh, and I do it. Tell Kardec that.
♦♦♦ However the spirit had the modesty of not advising Mr. F... to publish such beautiful statements. Had he done so and he would have published it - that would have been a perverse attitude, considering that he would have distributed it as something serious.
We would have filled a book with all that silliness dictated to him and the circumstances that followed it. Among other things they made him draw an edifice whose dimensions required an amount of sheets of paper glued on each other, which reached a height of a two-storey building.
Notice that in none of that there is something gross or banal. It is a series of sophistic thoughts, connected to give the appearance of logic. The means employed to deceive the medium demonstrates that there is indeed an evil art and, given the opportunity to report all of the manifestations, one would see to which point such astuteness was taken and with which skills such mellifluous words were employed.
The spirit that represented the main role in that business used the name Francois Dillois, when not covered by a respectable name. Later we came to know what this Dillois had been in life and then his language no longer surprised us. But in the middle of all this confusion it was easy to recognize a good fighting spirit, who from time to time would bring a word of denial to the other spirit’s teachings. There was an evident struggle, but the fight was unfair. The young man was so much subjugated that the voice of reason was powerless in him. The spirit of his father notably made him writes the following: “Yes, my son, courage! You are through a tough trial that will be for your benefit in the future. Unfortunately, as of now, there is nothing I can do to free you and that is hard on me. Go and see Allan Kardec; listen to him and he shall save you.”
Mr. F... effectively came to see me and from start I recognized, without difficulty, the pernicious influence on him, be it by his words or by some material signs that experience helps us to identify and that cannot fool us. He came back several times. I employed all my will power to attract the good spirits through him; all my rhetoric to demonstrate that he was the victim of evil spirits; that what he was writing was meaningless, besides the fact that it was profoundly immoral. A colleague, Mr. T, seconded me... and gradually we were able to see him writing sensible things. He then created aversion to that bad influence, repelling him by his own will whenever he wanted to manifest, and then the good spirits slowly triumphed.In order to modify his ideas he followed the spirits’ advice and found himself a tough job that would not allow him time to listen to the bad suggestions. Dillois himself ended up acknowledging defeat and manifested interest of progressing in another life. Confessed the evil things he tried to do and gave proofs of regret. The fight was long lasting and tough, offering curious particularities to the observer. Nowadays Mr. F... feels free and happy. It felt as if he had unloaded a burden. He recovered his joyfulness and is thankful to us for the service we have done. Some people deplore the fact that there are evil spirits. Truly, it is not without certain disenchantment that we find perversity in that world, where we would like to see only perfect spirits. However, it is what it is and there is nothing we can do about it. It is our own inferiority that makes the imperfect spirits bounce around us. Things will change when we become better, as with the more advanced worlds. While we wait and find ourselves in the undergrounds of the moral universe, we are warned: it is up to us to be prepared and not accept everything that we are told without exam. Experience should make us circumspect while enlightening us. See and understand evil is a means of protecting ourselves against it. Wouldn’t that be a hundred times more dangerous to have illusions with respect to the nature of the invisible beings around us? The same happens among men, as we are daily exposed to malevolence and perfidious suggestions; those make for many more trials that our consciousness and reason offer the means to resist. The more difficult is the struggle, the greater the merit of success. “Victory without danger is triumph without glory”. This story, that unfortunately is not the only one to our knowledge, raises a very grave question. Wouldn’t that be troublesome to that young man to be a medium? Wasn’t the mediumship the cause of the obsession that victimized him? In one word, isn’t that a proof of the danger of the spiritist communications? Our answer is simple and our request is that it be carefully analyzed. The mediums have not created the spirits. They have always existed and exerted a healthy or pernicious influence on men. It is not necessary to be a medium for that to occur. The medianimic faculty is nothing more than a means for their manifestation; in the absence of such a faculty they act in a thousand other ways. If that young man were not a medium it does not mean that he would be free from the influence of that bad spirit who, no doubt, would have made him do extravagant things that would have been attributed to any other cause. Fortunately for him, as his faculty of mediumship allowed the spirit to communicate by words through him, it was by those words that the spirit betrayed himself. The words allowed the identification of the cause of an illness that could have had dismal consequences to him and that we have destroyed, as shown, by means of very simple and rational means, and without exorcisms. The medianimic faculty made it possible to see the enemy, if we can say so, face to face, and fight him with his own weapons. We can then say, with absolute certainty, that it was that very faculty that saved him. As for ourselves, we were only the doctors that having analyzed the cause of the illness applied the remedy. It would be a serious mistake to think that the spirits do not exert their influence other than through verbal and written communications. Such influence is constant and those who do not believe in spirits are as much under their influence as the others and even more than the others because they do not have, as a counterpoint, the knowledge.
How many actions, unfortunately, aren’t we led to and that could have been avoided had we had the means of enlightening ourselves! The most incredulous are unaware that they tell the truth when they say, with respect to someone that chooses the wrong path: “It is his bad genie that pushes him to his loss.”
General rule: Whoever obtains bad spiritist communications, verbal or written, is under bad influence. Such influence is exerted on them irrespectively if a medium. The writing provides a means of ensuring the nature of the spirits that act upon the person and to combat them, what can be done with such more success the better one knows about the reasons that make them act that way. If the medium is blind enough to not understand, others can open their eyes. As a matter of fact, is it necessary to be a medium to write an absurd? Who can tell that among these dangerous or ridiculous theories wouldn’t be some whose authors are motivated by malevolent spirits? Three quarters of our bad actions and our bad thoughts are the result of such occult suggestion.
Could we have stopped the obsession if Mr. F... were not a medium? We certainly could. Only the means would have been different, according to the circumstances. But then the spirits could not have referred him to us, as they did, and the cause would have been probably neglected, since there would have been no ostensive spiritist manifestation.
Every creature of good will and who is sympathetic to the good spirits can always, with their support, paralyze a harmful influence. We say that the person should be sympathetic to the good spirits because if the person attracts the inferior ones then it is evident that it is like hunting wolves with wolves.
Summarizing, the danger is not properly in the Spiritism since it can, on the contrary, serve as a control, protecting us from what we are unwillingly exposed. The danger is in the tendency of certain mediums to, very recklessly, believe that they are exclusive instruments of the superior spirits, under a kind of fascination that does not allow them to understand the fatuity to which they operate as interpreters. Even those that are not mediums can be dragged. We will finish this chapter with the following considerations:
♦♦♦ 1° - Every medium must prevent from the irresistible excitement that leads them to write incessantly, even at inadequate times; they must control themselves and only write when they want to;
2° - We cannot dominate the superior spirits, not even those who are not superior but who are kind and benevolent; however we can dominate and tame the inferior spirits.
3° - There is no other criteria to distinguish the value of the spirits but commonsense. Any formula given by the spirits with that purpose is absurd and cannot proceed from superior spirits;
4° - The spirits, like men, are judged by their language. Every expression, every thought, every concept, the whole moral or scientific theory that shocks commonsense or does not correspond to the idea that we have of a pure and elevated spirit, comes from a more or less inferior spirit;
5° - The superior spirits always use the same language with the same person and never contradict themselves;
6° - The superior spirits are always good and benevolent. We never find acrimony, arrogance, rudeness, pride, swagger, or silly presumption in their language. They speak with simplicity, give advice and leave when not heard;
7° - We should not judge the spirits by their material form or by the correction of their language, but probe their intimacy, scrutinize their words, cold-bloodedly analyze them, maturely and without prevention;
8° - The inferior spirits fear for their words to be analyzed, unmask their turpitude and are not attached to their sophisms. Eventually they try to resist but end up fleeing when notice that they are the weakest part;
9° - The one that always acts thinking about the good deeds elevates above human vanities, expels selfishness, pride, envy, jealousy and hatred from the heart and forgives their enemies, practicing this teaching from Jesus: “Do to others what you would have them do to you”; sympathizes with the good spirits, whereas the bad ones are fearful and stay away from them.
Following such principles we are guaranteed protection against bad communications and against the domination of impure spirits. By taking advantage of everything that the truly superior spirits teach us we will contribute, each in a particular way, to the moral progress of humanity.
- ______________________
- * The young medium was protestant
Official application of animal magnetism
A letter sent from Stockholm to the Journal des Débats, on September 10th, 1858:
“Unfortunately I do not have comforting news with respect to the illness that our sovereign leader has endured for about two years. All treatments and medications prescribed by the professionals during this time have not brought any relief to King Oscar’s sufferings. According to the board of medical doctors, Mr. Klugenstiern, who has some reputation as a magnetizer, has been recently called to Drottningholm Palace, where the royal family continues to live, in order to apply a periodical treatment of magnetism to the noble patient. Over here people believe that, out of a singular coincidence, the center of King Oscar’s disease is located precisely at the cerebellum, which seems also to be the case of King Frederic IV of Prussia.”
We wonder if only twenty-five years ago the doctors would dare to publicly prescribe such a procedure, even to a regular patient, let alone to a crowned head of state. Medical schools as well as newspapers were full of sarcasm to downplay magnetism and the people that practice it. Things have changed a lot in such a short time! Magnetism is not only not laughed at but also recognized as a therapeutic agent. What a lesson to those who laugh at new things! Will that lesson finally make them figure out the problems associated with raising issues against things that they do not understand? We have a lot of books written against magnetism by important men who did not support magnetism. Well, such books will remain as an indelible stain on their intelligences. Wouldn’t they have done better by going quiet and wait? Over that time, as it happens today, the most eminent, most enlightened and conscious men manifested their contrary opinion with respect to Spiritism. Nothing disturbs their skepticism. Magnetism was nothing but mockery to their eyes, unworthy of serious people. What action could be attributed to an occult agent, controlled by thought and will, and of which a chemical analysis could not be done? We must say that the Swedish doctors were not the only ones to reconsider that narrow idea. Now, in many places, in France as abroad, the opinion has completely changed. This is so true that today, when confronted with an unexplained phenomenon, they say that it is a magnetic effect. They thus attribute to magnetism for a number of reasons that before were considered as produced by imagination, always a good explanation to those people who do not know what to say.
Will magnetism cure King Oscar? This is another matter. No doubt it has produced prodigious and unexpected cures but it has its limitations, as everything else in nature. Furthermore, it is necessary to take the following circumstance into account: people generally resort to magnetism only in extremis, and out of desperation, frequently when the illness has already caused irreparable devastation or when aggravated by inadequate medication. It is necessary to be really powerful to triumph over such obstacles!
If the action of the magnetic fluid is a given these days, the same does not apply to the somnambulistic faculties that still have many incredulous in the official world, particularly with respect to medical issues. Nevertheless, we have to recognize that the prejudices have waned around this subject, even among men of Science. The proof comes from the large number of medical doctors who take part in all societies of magnetism, in France as well as abroad. The facts have become so overt that willing or not it was necessary to accept the evidence and follow the mainstream. The same will soon happen to the lucid intuition as well as to the magnetic fluid.
Intimate bonds, like solidary Sciences, connect spiritism and magnetism. However, who would believe that? Spiritism finds its most bloodthirsty adversaries among certain magnetizers that conversely do not count on the opposition of the spiritists. The spirits have always commended magnetism, be it as a means of cure, be it as the primary cause of a number of things; they defend its cause and come to support it against its enemies. The spiritist phenomena have opened the eyes of a large number of people while advocating magnetism to them. Isn’t that strange to have the magnetizers so quick to forget the prejudices against them; denying the existence of their defenders and throwing against those the same darts that once were thrown at them? This is neither noble nor worthy of men to whom nature, by revealing its most sublime mysteries more than to others, subtract the right of saying the famous “nec plus ultra” (state-of- the-art). All indications are that, given the quick development of Spiritism, it will also soon be granted the status of citizenship. While waiting, it applauds with all its heart the position that magnetism has just conquered, as an uncontested sign of the progress of ideas.
“Unfortunately I do not have comforting news with respect to the illness that our sovereign leader has endured for about two years. All treatments and medications prescribed by the professionals during this time have not brought any relief to King Oscar’s sufferings. According to the board of medical doctors, Mr. Klugenstiern, who has some reputation as a magnetizer, has been recently called to Drottningholm Palace, where the royal family continues to live, in order to apply a periodical treatment of magnetism to the noble patient. Over here people believe that, out of a singular coincidence, the center of King Oscar’s disease is located precisely at the cerebellum, which seems also to be the case of King Frederic IV of Prussia.”
We wonder if only twenty-five years ago the doctors would dare to publicly prescribe such a procedure, even to a regular patient, let alone to a crowned head of state. Medical schools as well as newspapers were full of sarcasm to downplay magnetism and the people that practice it. Things have changed a lot in such a short time! Magnetism is not only not laughed at but also recognized as a therapeutic agent. What a lesson to those who laugh at new things! Will that lesson finally make them figure out the problems associated with raising issues against things that they do not understand? We have a lot of books written against magnetism by important men who did not support magnetism. Well, such books will remain as an indelible stain on their intelligences. Wouldn’t they have done better by going quiet and wait? Over that time, as it happens today, the most eminent, most enlightened and conscious men manifested their contrary opinion with respect to Spiritism. Nothing disturbs their skepticism. Magnetism was nothing but mockery to their eyes, unworthy of serious people. What action could be attributed to an occult agent, controlled by thought and will, and of which a chemical analysis could not be done? We must say that the Swedish doctors were not the only ones to reconsider that narrow idea. Now, in many places, in France as abroad, the opinion has completely changed. This is so true that today, when confronted with an unexplained phenomenon, they say that it is a magnetic effect. They thus attribute to magnetism for a number of reasons that before were considered as produced by imagination, always a good explanation to those people who do not know what to say.
Will magnetism cure King Oscar? This is another matter. No doubt it has produced prodigious and unexpected cures but it has its limitations, as everything else in nature. Furthermore, it is necessary to take the following circumstance into account: people generally resort to magnetism only in extremis, and out of desperation, frequently when the illness has already caused irreparable devastation or when aggravated by inadequate medication. It is necessary to be really powerful to triumph over such obstacles!
If the action of the magnetic fluid is a given these days, the same does not apply to the somnambulistic faculties that still have many incredulous in the official world, particularly with respect to medical issues. Nevertheless, we have to recognize that the prejudices have waned around this subject, even among men of Science. The proof comes from the large number of medical doctors who take part in all societies of magnetism, in France as well as abroad. The facts have become so overt that willing or not it was necessary to accept the evidence and follow the mainstream. The same will soon happen to the lucid intuition as well as to the magnetic fluid.
Intimate bonds, like solidary Sciences, connect spiritism and magnetism. However, who would believe that? Spiritism finds its most bloodthirsty adversaries among certain magnetizers that conversely do not count on the opposition of the spiritists. The spirits have always commended magnetism, be it as a means of cure, be it as the primary cause of a number of things; they defend its cause and come to support it against its enemies. The spiritist phenomena have opened the eyes of a large number of people while advocating magnetism to them. Isn’t that strange to have the magnetizers so quick to forget the prejudices against them; denying the existence of their defenders and throwing against those the same darts that once were thrown at them? This is neither noble nor worthy of men to whom nature, by revealing its most sublime mysteries more than to others, subtract the right of saying the famous “nec plus ultra” (state-of- the-art). All indications are that, given the quick development of Spiritism, it will also soon be granted the status of citizenship. While waiting, it applauds with all its heart the position that magnetism has just conquered, as an uncontested sign of the progress of ideas.
Magnetism and somnambulism taught by the Church
We have just seen magnetism recognized by medicine. Here is another adhesion that, under a
different point of view, is not of any lesser importance, since it demonstrates the weakening of
the prejudices by the daily surge of more sound ideas that make them disappear: the adhesion of
the Church.
We have in our hands a little book entitled “Abrégé, en forme de catéchisme”, from the elemental course of Christian instruction, to be used in the catechism and in the Christian schools, written by the abbot Marotte, General Vicar of Bishop Verdun, 1853. Using the Q&A format, the work contains every principles of the Christian doctrine about the dogma, sacred history, God’s commandments, sacraments, etc. In one of the chapters about the first commandment, where the sins against religion are treated, and after having taught about superstition, magic and sortileges, it states the following:
“Q – What is magnetism?”
“A – It is a reciprocal influence that sometimes take place among individuals, according to a harmony of relationships, be it by the will or by imagination, or by physical sensitivity, whose main phenomena are somnolence, sleepiness, somnambulism and the convulsive state.”
“Q – What are the effects of magnetism?”
“A – Typically, as it seems, magnetism produces two main effects: 1°) A somnambulistic state, in which the magnetized person, entirely subtracted from the use of the senses, sees, speaks and answers all questions addressed to them; 2°) An intelligence and wisdom that only exist during the crisis: the person knows their state, the adequate remedies to their diseases, as well as what other people are doing, even distant ones.”
“Q – Is it licit, in one’s right mind, to magnetize or become magnetized?”
“A – 1°) If through the magnetic operation, diabolic means are employed or effects obtained that suppose a diabolic intervention, it will be a superstitious work and should never be allowed. 2°) The same applies to the magnetic communications that are contrary to modesty. 3°) Supposing that all care has been taken to keep the abuse away from the practice of magnetism, eliminating every danger to the faith or to the customs, every pact with the devil, it is doubtful that one may recourse to that as a natural and useful remedy.”
We have in our hands a little book entitled “Abrégé, en forme de catéchisme”, from the elemental course of Christian instruction, to be used in the catechism and in the Christian schools, written by the abbot Marotte, General Vicar of Bishop Verdun, 1853. Using the Q&A format, the work contains every principles of the Christian doctrine about the dogma, sacred history, God’s commandments, sacraments, etc. In one of the chapters about the first commandment, where the sins against religion are treated, and after having taught about superstition, magic and sortileges, it states the following:
“Q – What is magnetism?”
“A – It is a reciprocal influence that sometimes take place among individuals, according to a harmony of relationships, be it by the will or by imagination, or by physical sensitivity, whose main phenomena are somnolence, sleepiness, somnambulism and the convulsive state.”
“Q – What are the effects of magnetism?”
“A – Typically, as it seems, magnetism produces two main effects: 1°) A somnambulistic state, in which the magnetized person, entirely subtracted from the use of the senses, sees, speaks and answers all questions addressed to them; 2°) An intelligence and wisdom that only exist during the crisis: the person knows their state, the adequate remedies to their diseases, as well as what other people are doing, even distant ones.”
“Q – Is it licit, in one’s right mind, to magnetize or become magnetized?”
“A – 1°) If through the magnetic operation, diabolic means are employed or effects obtained that suppose a diabolic intervention, it will be a superstitious work and should never be allowed. 2°) The same applies to the magnetic communications that are contrary to modesty. 3°) Supposing that all care has been taken to keep the abuse away from the practice of magnetism, eliminating every danger to the faith or to the customs, every pact with the devil, it is doubtful that one may recourse to that as a natural and useful remedy.”
__
We regret that the author had made the final exception, in contradiction to what precedes. In
fact, why the use of something healthy would not be allowed, since the inconvenient that he had
pointed out was removed? It is true that he does not express a formal prohibition, but a simple
doubt with respect to the permission. In any event, this is not found in a scientific book,
dogmatic, for the exclusive use of the theologians, but in an elemental book, for the use of
catechism, that is, destined to the religious instruction of the masses. Consequently, it is not a
personal opinion, but an enshrined and acknowledged truth that magnetism exists; that it
produces somnambulism; that the somnambulist enjoys special faculties, like vision without the
eyes, even at a distance; hearing without the ears; providing knowledge that one does not have
in the normal state; indicating medication that improves health.
The qualification of the author has great importance in this case. This is not about an obscure
man speaking or a simple priest that issues his opinion: it is the teaching of a general vicar.
This is another backlash and another warning to those who judge with great hastiness.
Illness by fear
Problem of Physiology, addressed to the spirit of St. Louis, in the Parisian Society of Spiritist Studies, session of September 14th, 1858.
The “Moniteur” published on November 26th, 1857:
“The following fact that confirms the influence of fear was communicated to us:”
“Yesterday Dr F... returned home after having visited some of his patients. In one of those visits he was given a bottle of excellent rum, directly imported from Jamaica. The doctor forgot the precious bottle in the car. Once he notice the fact a little bit later he went back to look for the present, telling the parking lot manager that he had left a bottle with a powerful poison in one of the carriages so that he should advise the coachmen that they should take extreme care and not make use of that mortal liquid.”
“As Dr F... returned to his apartment they sent for him since three coachmen of the neighboring parking lot were under severe pain in their guts. It was with great difficulty that he was able to convince them that all they had drunk was excellent rum and that his unkindness could not bring any further punishment other than the one they already had.”
1. – St. Louis could you give us a physiologic explanation about such a transformation of the properties of an otherwise harmless substance? We know that such transformation can take place by the magnetic action but in this case there was no emission of magnetic fluid: it was only the action of imagination, not the will.
- Your thought is fair with respect to imagination. But the malevolent spirits that inspired those men to commit that unkind act, have induced in their blood, in the matter, the shivers of fear that you could call magnetic fear that stretches the nerves and produces a cold feel in certain parts of the body. You know well that cold in the abdominal region may produce the cramps. It is then a means of punishment that amuses the spirits who provoked the theft, making them laugh at those who they led to misbehave. In any case it would not cause death. It was nothing more than a simple punishment to the guilty ones and enjoyment to the frivolous spirits. They act like that whenever there is an opportunity or that they even seek for their own satisfaction. I can assure you that we can avoid it by elevating ourselves to God through thoughts less material than the ones that occupied the minds of those men. The malevolent spirits like to have fun. Be careful with them! The one who judges to say something pleasant to a group of people and that entertains a society with jokes and actions is sometimes wrong and even many times wrong by thinking that it all comes from him. The frivolous spirits that surround him identify with him so much that they gradually trick him with respect to his thoughts, tricking also those who listen to him. In such a case you may think that you are dealing with a witty man when in fact he is nothing but an ignorant. Give some thought to that and you shall understand what I tell you. The superior spirits, however, are not enemies of joy. They sometimes like to laugh to become pleasant to you. But there is a time for everything.
OBSERVATION: By saying that there was no emission of magnetic fluid in the reported case, we perhaps were not precise. We venture a hypothesis. As we said, it is known that the properties of matter may alter under the influence of the magnetic fluid, led by thought. Well, wouldn’t it be possible to admit that, by the thought of the doctor, who wanted to lead to believe in the existence of a toxic substance, to give the thieves the anguish of poisoning, there could have been a kind of magnetization of the liquid, at a distance, changing its properties, fact reinforced by the moral state of the individuals, who were impressed by fear? Such a theory would not destroy St. Louis’ theory about the intervention of the frivolous spirits in similar situations. We know that the spirits act physically, by physical means; they can thus be served by those that they provoke, so as to achieve certain objectives that we inadvertently provide them.
“The following fact that confirms the influence of fear was communicated to us:”
“Yesterday Dr F... returned home after having visited some of his patients. In one of those visits he was given a bottle of excellent rum, directly imported from Jamaica. The doctor forgot the precious bottle in the car. Once he notice the fact a little bit later he went back to look for the present, telling the parking lot manager that he had left a bottle with a powerful poison in one of the carriages so that he should advise the coachmen that they should take extreme care and not make use of that mortal liquid.”
“As Dr F... returned to his apartment they sent for him since three coachmen of the neighboring parking lot were under severe pain in their guts. It was with great difficulty that he was able to convince them that all they had drunk was excellent rum and that his unkindness could not bring any further punishment other than the one they already had.”
1. – St. Louis could you give us a physiologic explanation about such a transformation of the properties of an otherwise harmless substance? We know that such transformation can take place by the magnetic action but in this case there was no emission of magnetic fluid: it was only the action of imagination, not the will.
- Your thought is fair with respect to imagination. But the malevolent spirits that inspired those men to commit that unkind act, have induced in their blood, in the matter, the shivers of fear that you could call magnetic fear that stretches the nerves and produces a cold feel in certain parts of the body. You know well that cold in the abdominal region may produce the cramps. It is then a means of punishment that amuses the spirits who provoked the theft, making them laugh at those who they led to misbehave. In any case it would not cause death. It was nothing more than a simple punishment to the guilty ones and enjoyment to the frivolous spirits. They act like that whenever there is an opportunity or that they even seek for their own satisfaction. I can assure you that we can avoid it by elevating ourselves to God through thoughts less material than the ones that occupied the minds of those men. The malevolent spirits like to have fun. Be careful with them! The one who judges to say something pleasant to a group of people and that entertains a society with jokes and actions is sometimes wrong and even many times wrong by thinking that it all comes from him. The frivolous spirits that surround him identify with him so much that they gradually trick him with respect to his thoughts, tricking also those who listen to him. In such a case you may think that you are dealing with a witty man when in fact he is nothing but an ignorant. Give some thought to that and you shall understand what I tell you. The superior spirits, however, are not enemies of joy. They sometimes like to laugh to become pleasant to you. But there is a time for everything.
OBSERVATION: By saying that there was no emission of magnetic fluid in the reported case, we perhaps were not precise. We venture a hypothesis. As we said, it is known that the properties of matter may alter under the influence of the magnetic fluid, led by thought. Well, wouldn’t it be possible to admit that, by the thought of the doctor, who wanted to lead to believe in the existence of a toxic substance, to give the thieves the anguish of poisoning, there could have been a kind of magnetization of the liquid, at a distance, changing its properties, fact reinforced by the moral state of the individuals, who were impressed by fear? Such a theory would not destroy St. Louis’ theory about the intervention of the frivolous spirits in similar situations. We know that the spirits act physically, by physical means; they can thus be served by those that they provoke, so as to achieve certain objectives that we inadvertently provide them.
Theory of the causes of our actions
Mr. R..., corresponding member of the French Institute and one of the most eminent members
of the Parisian Society of Spiritist Studies, in the session of September 14th, developed the
following considerations, as a corollary of the theory just given with respect to fear, reported in
the previous article.
“From all communications of the spirits that are provided to us, it is clear that they exert a direct influence over our actions, some inviting us to the good deeds, others to the evil ones. St. Louis has just told us the following:
“The malevolent spirits like to have fun. Be careful with them! The one who judges to say something pleasant to a group of people and that entertains a society with jokes and actions is sometimes wrong and even many times wrong by thinking that it all comes from him. The frivolous spirits that surround him identify with him so much that they gradually trick him with respect to his thoughts, tricking also those who listen to him.”
From the above it is evident that not everything that we say comes from us; that many times, like the speaking mediums, we are nothing but interpreters of the thoughts of a strange spirit that has identified with ours. The facts confirm this theory and demonstrate that very frequently our acts are also consequence of thoughts that are suggested to us. Thus, the man who does an evil deed gives in to a suggestion, whenever weak enough not to resist, ignoring the voice of the conscience that can be either his own or of a good spirit that combats the influence of a malevolent one, through his warnings.”
“From all communications of the spirits that are provided to us, it is clear that they exert a direct influence over our actions, some inviting us to the good deeds, others to the evil ones. St. Louis has just told us the following:
“The malevolent spirits like to have fun. Be careful with them! The one who judges to say something pleasant to a group of people and that entertains a society with jokes and actions is sometimes wrong and even many times wrong by thinking that it all comes from him. The frivolous spirits that surround him identify with him so much that they gradually trick him with respect to his thoughts, tricking also those who listen to him.”
From the above it is evident that not everything that we say comes from us; that many times, like the speaking mediums, we are nothing but interpreters of the thoughts of a strange spirit that has identified with ours. The facts confirm this theory and demonstrate that very frequently our acts are also consequence of thoughts that are suggested to us. Thus, the man who does an evil deed gives in to a suggestion, whenever weak enough not to resist, ignoring the voice of the conscience that can be either his own or of a good spirit that combats the influence of a malevolent one, through his warnings.”
“According to the common sense, man finds all his instincts in his own physical organization for
which he is not responsible or in his own nature where he can search for a cause, not been
allegedly guilty for being created as such. The Spiritist Doctrine is evidently more moral. It
admits man’s free will in all its plenitude. By telling him that when he does an evil deed he
yields to an evil foreign suggestion, it attributes to man the full responsibility, since it
acknowledges his power to resist that is evidently easier than if he had to fight against his own
nature. Thus, according to the Spiritist Doctrine, there is no irresistible creeping: man can
always close his ears to the occult voice that solicits him to evil acts, in his most inner being, as
he can also ignore the material voice of someone that talks to him. He can do so by his own will,
asking God for the necessary strength, for which he shall beg for the assistance of the good
spirits. This is what Jesus teaches us in the sublime prayer of the Pater Noster, when he says:
“And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.”
When we take the short story that we just reported as an excuse to one of our questions we
would not think about the development that it would take. We feel twice as happy by the nice
words it deserved from St. Louis and of those from our eminent colleague. Had we not been
certain since long ago about the highest capacity of our colleague and with respect to his
profound knowledge about the Spiritist Doctrine, we would be tempted to believe that such a
theory came from him and that St. Louis used that to complete his teachings. We are led to add
our own considerations as follows:
The theory of the exciting cause of our actions evidently sticks out from the whole teaching of the spirits. It shows not only a sublime morality but also reveals man to his own eyes; it shows him free to upset the obsessing oppression as he is free to close the door to the annoying ones: he is no longer like a machine, acting by impulse, irrespective of his will; he is a thoughtful being that hears, judges and freely chooses between two advices. Furthermore, despite all that, man is not absolutely deprived from taking the initiative; he does that on his own, since he is an incarnated spirit that preserves under his corporeal covering the qualities and defects which he had as spirit. Our faults thus have a primary source in the imperfection of our own spirit that has not yet achieved the moral superiority,which he will one day have and nevertheless he still has the free will. He is given the corporeal life in order to purge his imperfections through the endured trials, and those very imperfections are the ones that make him weaker and more accessible to the suggestions of other imperfect spirits, who take the opportunity to make him succumb in the struggles that he is going through. If he succeeds in those trials, he elevates himself. If he fails, stays the same, not better, not worse. It is a trial to restart, and this can drag on for a long time. The more one depurates, the lesser the weak points and less subjected one will be to the solicitation of evil; the moral strength shall grow in proportion to the elevation hence the bad spirits will stay away. Then, who would be those bad spirits? Would they be the ones we call demons? They are not the demons in the vulgar meaning of the word, since by demons one implies a class of beings created for evil and perpetually devoted to evil. Well, the spirits tell us that sooner or later everybody improves, according to one’s free will, but while imperfect one can do bad deeds, as the dirty water can spread putrid and morbid miasmas. As long as the spirits do what is needed, they depurate while incarnated; as spirits they suffer the consequences of what they did or did not do for their improvement, consequences that they also suffer on Earth, as the vicissitudes of life are at the same time expiation and trial. All these more or less depurated spirits constitute the human species when incarnated. Since our Earth is one of the less advanced worlds, there are more bad spirits than good ones here, what explain so much perversity around us. Let us then apply every effort to not come back after this experience, so that we deserve to inhabit a better world, in one of these privileged spheres where the good reigns absolute and where we shall remember our passage through Earth as a bad dream.
The theory of the exciting cause of our actions evidently sticks out from the whole teaching of the spirits. It shows not only a sublime morality but also reveals man to his own eyes; it shows him free to upset the obsessing oppression as he is free to close the door to the annoying ones: he is no longer like a machine, acting by impulse, irrespective of his will; he is a thoughtful being that hears, judges and freely chooses between two advices. Furthermore, despite all that, man is not absolutely deprived from taking the initiative; he does that on his own, since he is an incarnated spirit that preserves under his corporeal covering the qualities and defects which he had as spirit. Our faults thus have a primary source in the imperfection of our own spirit that has not yet achieved the moral superiority,which he will one day have and nevertheless he still has the free will. He is given the corporeal life in order to purge his imperfections through the endured trials, and those very imperfections are the ones that make him weaker and more accessible to the suggestions of other imperfect spirits, who take the opportunity to make him succumb in the struggles that he is going through. If he succeeds in those trials, he elevates himself. If he fails, stays the same, not better, not worse. It is a trial to restart, and this can drag on for a long time. The more one depurates, the lesser the weak points and less subjected one will be to the solicitation of evil; the moral strength shall grow in proportion to the elevation hence the bad spirits will stay away. Then, who would be those bad spirits? Would they be the ones we call demons? They are not the demons in the vulgar meaning of the word, since by demons one implies a class of beings created for evil and perpetually devoted to evil. Well, the spirits tell us that sooner or later everybody improves, according to one’s free will, but while imperfect one can do bad deeds, as the dirty water can spread putrid and morbid miasmas. As long as the spirits do what is needed, they depurate while incarnated; as spirits they suffer the consequences of what they did or did not do for their improvement, consequences that they also suffer on Earth, as the vicissitudes of life are at the same time expiation and trial. All these more or less depurated spirits constitute the human species when incarnated. Since our Earth is one of the less advanced worlds, there are more bad spirits than good ones here, what explain so much perversity around us. Let us then apply every effort to not come back after this experience, so that we deserve to inhabit a better world, in one of these privileged spheres where the good reigns absolute and where we shall remember our passage through Earth as a bad dream.
The murder of five childrenA moral problem
We read in the Gazette de Silésie:
“On October 20th, 1857 we got a letter from Bolkenham about a terrible crime that had just been committed by a twelve year old boy. Last Sunday the 25th three children of Mr. Hubner, the blacksmith, and later on two of Mr. Fritche, the shoemaker, were playing in the yard of the latter one. The young H..., known for his bad character, joined them, convincing all kids to get into a strongbox, inside a barn, that the shoemaker used to take his merchandise to the market. The five children could hardly fit but got stacked up with laughs, one on top of the other. As soon as they got inside the box the monster locked the chest, sat on top of it and waited for about three quarters of an hour, first listening to their screams and then to their groaning.”
“When they finally went quiet so that the boy thought they were dead, he opened the box. The children were still breathing. He then closed the box again, locked it and went on to fly a kite. Once he left the garden, however, he was seen by a girl. We can only imagine the anxiety of the parents once they noticed the disappearance of the children, and their desperation when finding them inside the chest, after a long search. One of the children was still alive but did not resist and soon died as well. Denounced by the girl that saw him leaving the yard, the young H... confessed his cold-blooded crime, not manifesting the least remorse. The five victims, a boy and four girls, between four and nine years old, were buried today.”
OBSERVATION: The spirit that was questioned by us is the sister of the medium, who died twelve years ago, always showing superiority as a spirit.
1. Did you hear the text that we have just read, about the killing of the five children from Silésie, by another twelve year old child?
- Yes, my penalty still requires that I hear abominations from Earth.
“On October 20th, 1857 we got a letter from Bolkenham about a terrible crime that had just been committed by a twelve year old boy. Last Sunday the 25th three children of Mr. Hubner, the blacksmith, and later on two of Mr. Fritche, the shoemaker, were playing in the yard of the latter one. The young H..., known for his bad character, joined them, convincing all kids to get into a strongbox, inside a barn, that the shoemaker used to take his merchandise to the market. The five children could hardly fit but got stacked up with laughs, one on top of the other. As soon as they got inside the box the monster locked the chest, sat on top of it and waited for about three quarters of an hour, first listening to their screams and then to their groaning.”
“When they finally went quiet so that the boy thought they were dead, he opened the box. The children were still breathing. He then closed the box again, locked it and went on to fly a kite. Once he left the garden, however, he was seen by a girl. We can only imagine the anxiety of the parents once they noticed the disappearance of the children, and their desperation when finding them inside the chest, after a long search. One of the children was still alive but did not resist and soon died as well. Denounced by the girl that saw him leaving the yard, the young H... confessed his cold-blooded crime, not manifesting the least remorse. The five victims, a boy and four girls, between four and nine years old, were buried today.”
OBSERVATION: The spirit that was questioned by us is the sister of the medium, who died twelve years ago, always showing superiority as a spirit.
1. Did you hear the text that we have just read, about the killing of the five children from Silésie, by another twelve year old child?
- Yes, my penalty still requires that I hear abominations from Earth.
2. Which motives would make a boy at that age to commit such a barbarian crime and with
such a cold blood?
- Evilness has no age. It is natural in a child and it is thought trough in an adult.
3. The occurrence in a child, without reasoning, wouldn’t that indicate the incarnation of a very inferior spirit?
- It comes directly from the perversity of the heart: it is his own spirit that dominates him, leading him to the perversity.
4. What could have been the previous existence of such a spirit?
- Evilness has no age. It is natural in a child and it is thought trough in an adult.
3. The occurrence in a child, without reasoning, wouldn’t that indicate the incarnation of a very inferior spirit?
- It comes directly from the perversity of the heart: it is his own spirit that dominates him, leading him to the perversity.
4. What could have been the previous existence of such a spirit?
- Horrible.
5. In his previous existence, was he on Earth or has he come from an inferior world?
- I don’t know well but he should have come from a world well inferior to Earth. He
dared to come to Earth. He shall be doubly punished.
6. In such an age would the boy have enough consciousness about the crime he committed? The spirit shall be responsible?
- His age was that of the consciousness. That is enough.
6. In such an age would the boy have enough consciousness about the crime he committed? The spirit shall be responsible?
- His age was that of the consciousness. That is enough.
7. Since this spirit dared to come to Earth, too elevated for him, can he be forced to return to a world more related to his nature?
- His punishment is exactly to return; it is the very hell. Such was the punishment of
Lucifer, the spiritual man that degraded to the material level; it is the veil that from now
on hides God’s gifts and his Divine protection from him. You must all endeavor to re-
conquer those lost gifts and you shall re-conquer the paradise that Christ came to open
the doors to you. It is the presumption, the pride of man that wanted to conquer what
only God could have.
OBSERVATION: An observation about the verb “dare”, employed by the spirit. There are examples of spirits that were in worlds too elevated for them and were obliged to return to another one in more harmony with their nature. Someone noted that the spirits have also said that there is no decay in progress. We shall answer that indeed the spirits cannot retrograde, in the sense that it is not possible to lose what has been acquired in knowledge and morality; they can, however, decay in position. A man that usurps a superior position given his fortune and capacity may be forced to leave it and return to his natural position. Well, this cannot be called decaying as he just returns to his sphere, which he left out of pride and ambition. The same happens with respect to the spirits that want to more rapidly rise to worlds where they shall be misplaced. Superior spirits can also reincarnate in inferior worlds where they accomplish missions of progress. One cannot call this retro-gradation, as it is only devotement.
8. How is Earth superior to the world from where that spirit is originated?
OBSERVATION: An observation about the verb “dare”, employed by the spirit. There are examples of spirits that were in worlds too elevated for them and were obliged to return to another one in more harmony with their nature. Someone noted that the spirits have also said that there is no decay in progress. We shall answer that indeed the spirits cannot retrograde, in the sense that it is not possible to lose what has been acquired in knowledge and morality; they can, however, decay in position. A man that usurps a superior position given his fortune and capacity may be forced to leave it and return to his natural position. Well, this cannot be called decaying as he just returns to his sphere, which he left out of pride and ambition. The same happens with respect to the spirits that want to more rapidly rise to worlds where they shall be misplaced. Superior spirits can also reincarnate in inferior worlds where they accomplish missions of progress. One cannot call this retro-gradation, as it is only devotement.
8. How is Earth superior to the world from where that spirit is originated?
- There is a weak idea of justice. It is the beginning of progress.
9. It seems as a consequence that in worlds inferior to Earth there is no idea of justice?
- No. Men live only for themselves and have no cause of action other than the satisfaction of their passions and instincts.
10. What shall be the position of that spirit in a new existence?
- If his regret can partially or totally erase the enormity of his faults then he shall stay on Earth; if, on the contrary, he persists on what you call final impenitence then he shall go to a place where man is at the animal level.
11. Then he can find the means of expiating his faults on Earth, without been forced to return to an inferior world?
- Repentance is sacred to God’s eyes because it is like man judging himself, something rare in your planet.
9. It seems as a consequence that in worlds inferior to Earth there is no idea of justice?
- No. Men live only for themselves and have no cause of action other than the satisfaction of their passions and instincts.
10. What shall be the position of that spirit in a new existence?
- If his regret can partially or totally erase the enormity of his faults then he shall stay on Earth; if, on the contrary, he persists on what you call final impenitence then he shall go to a place where man is at the animal level.
11. Then he can find the means of expiating his faults on Earth, without been forced to return to an inferior world?
- Repentance is sacred to God’s eyes because it is like man judging himself, something rare in your planet.
Questions of legal Spiritism
The following information was taken from the Courrier du Palais, published by Mr. Frederic
Thomas, attorney at the Imperial Court, in the La Presse on August 2nd, 1858. We transcribed it
textually so as to maintain the witty style of the writer. Our readers will notice the pleasant
dsformat that he knows well how to attribute to the most respectable subjects. After reporting a
number of things he adds:
“We have a much more unusual case to offer our reader in a new perspective: we already see it showing up in the horizon, in the southern horizon. But where is it going to get at? Someone wrote that the sticks are burning but that is not enough for us. Here is the case:
“A Parisian read in the papers that an old castle was on sale in the Pyrenees; he then bought it and in the first beautiful days of the glorious season he moved in with his friends. They had a pleasant dinner, just going to bed after that. It was time to spend the night; a night in an old castle, lost on the mountains. On the very next day the guests got up scared, all showing frightened faces; they sought their host and addressed him with the following question, with a lugubrious and mysterious look: Haven’t you seen anything last night?
The owner did not respond – he was so frightened himself! He just nodded his head.”
“Then, impressions were exchanged about the previous night, all keeping their voices low: one had heard crying voices, another heard dragging chains; this one had seen displacement of the rugs and carpets, the other saw an arch waving at him; several felt gigantic bats landing on their chests. This is a castle of the White Lady. The servants stated that the ghosts had pulled their legs and that it also happened to the previous tenant. More than that! The beds moved around, the bells ringed on their own, as well as effulgent words would burst out of the old fire places.”
“The castle was definitely uninhabitable. Those who were most frightened left immediately. The most courageous stayed for a second night trial. Up until midnight all went well but as soon as the clock of the northern tower rang the twelve clangs of midnight the noises and apparitions restarted. Ghosts appeared from all sides, monsters with eyes on fire and crocodile teeth, waving hairy wings. All those things were screaming, jumping, squeaking their teeth, and making hell on Earth.”
“Now it was just impossible to resist to that second experience. This time everybody had left the castle and the owner is filing a law suit for losses and damage.”
“We have a much more unusual case to offer our reader in a new perspective: we already see it showing up in the horizon, in the southern horizon. But where is it going to get at? Someone wrote that the sticks are burning but that is not enough for us. Here is the case:
“A Parisian read in the papers that an old castle was on sale in the Pyrenees; he then bought it and in the first beautiful days of the glorious season he moved in with his friends. They had a pleasant dinner, just going to bed after that. It was time to spend the night; a night in an old castle, lost on the mountains. On the very next day the guests got up scared, all showing frightened faces; they sought their host and addressed him with the following question, with a lugubrious and mysterious look: Haven’t you seen anything last night?
The owner did not respond – he was so frightened himself! He just nodded his head.”
“Then, impressions were exchanged about the previous night, all keeping their voices low: one had heard crying voices, another heard dragging chains; this one had seen displacement of the rugs and carpets, the other saw an arch waving at him; several felt gigantic bats landing on their chests. This is a castle of the White Lady. The servants stated that the ghosts had pulled their legs and that it also happened to the previous tenant. More than that! The beds moved around, the bells ringed on their own, as well as effulgent words would burst out of the old fire places.”
“The castle was definitely uninhabitable. Those who were most frightened left immediately. The most courageous stayed for a second night trial. Up until midnight all went well but as soon as the clock of the northern tower rang the twelve clangs of midnight the noises and apparitions restarted. Ghosts appeared from all sides, monsters with eyes on fire and crocodile teeth, waving hairy wings. All those things were screaming, jumping, squeaking their teeth, and making hell on Earth.”
“Now it was just impossible to resist to that second experience. This time everybody had left the castle and the owner is filing a law suit for losses and damage.”
What a strange case wouldn’t that one be! And what a triumph to the great evoker of spirits, Mr.
Home! Can he be considered an expert in such a subject? Whatever happens, and since there is
nothing new under the light of justice, this process that will be considered a novelty, is nothing
new since there is an unsolved case that, despite being two hundred and sixty three years old, is
not less interesting.
The case happened in 1595, the year of Grace, before the seneschal of Guyenne, a tenant named Jean Latapy filed a lawsuit against the owner, Robert de Vigne. Jean Latapy allegedly had to leave the house rented out by Vigne, since the old house in Bordeaux was uninhabitable. Therefore he demanded the court to void the contract.
What was the argumentation? Latapy very ingenuously presented those in his conclusions:
“The house was found infested by spirits that appeared under the form of children as well as other strange and frightening forms. They annoyed and disturbed the persons; messed the furniture around; made noises and uproar all over the place and violently knocked people down from their beds.”
“Robert de Vigne, the owner, vigorously opposed the cancellation of the contract, responding to Latapy as follows: You describe my house unfairly; it is likely that you are getting what you deserve and instead of criticizing me you should, on the contrary, thank me as I help you to reach Paradise.”
Next, how the owner’s attorney made his case through a singular proposition:
“If the spirits come to torment Latapy and afflict him, with God’s permission, he should endure the fair penalty and say with St. Jerome: Quidquid patimur nostris peccatis meremur, and not attack the owner, who is absolutely innocent. Instead, he should be grateful to someone that provided him with the means of saving himself in this world from the punishments that, due to his demerit, wait for him in the other one.”
“In order to be consistent the lawyer should have asked Latapy to pay de Vigne for his services. Shouldn’t a place in paradise be worth his weight in gold? But the generous owner was happy with the refusal to call the contract off hence, before trying this, Latapy should have tried to combat and expel the spirits through means provided by God and by nature.”
“Why didn’t he use the laurel, argued the owner’s attorney? Why didn’t he use the rue or salt in the fire and the burning coal; feathers or a compounded mixture of herbs, the so called aerolus ventulus; with rhubarb; with white wine; with salt hanging at the entrance door; hyena’s forehead skin; dog’s gall that they say has a marvelous virtue of expelling demons? Why didn’t he use Molly’s herb, the same used by Mercury to expel Ulysses that used it as an antidote against Circe’s charms? ...”
It is evident that Latapy, the tenant, defaulted with all his duties, by not throwing salt into the burning coal, by not using dog’s gall and some feathers. However, as he would also have to find hyena’s forehead skin, the seneschal of Bordeaux found that such material was not ordinary enough so that Latapy would not be excused for leaving the hyenas alone hence he determined, in a beautiful and charming way, the cancellation of the lease.
One can see from all this that neither the owner nor the tenant or the judges have any doubt about the existence of the spirits and the uproar created by them. It would then seem that over two centuries ago men were more credulous than today but we do better as far as credulity goes which is not strange: it is even necessary that civilization and progress reveal somewhere.
The case happened in 1595, the year of Grace, before the seneschal of Guyenne, a tenant named Jean Latapy filed a lawsuit against the owner, Robert de Vigne. Jean Latapy allegedly had to leave the house rented out by Vigne, since the old house in Bordeaux was uninhabitable. Therefore he demanded the court to void the contract.
What was the argumentation? Latapy very ingenuously presented those in his conclusions:
“The house was found infested by spirits that appeared under the form of children as well as other strange and frightening forms. They annoyed and disturbed the persons; messed the furniture around; made noises and uproar all over the place and violently knocked people down from their beds.”
“Robert de Vigne, the owner, vigorously opposed the cancellation of the contract, responding to Latapy as follows: You describe my house unfairly; it is likely that you are getting what you deserve and instead of criticizing me you should, on the contrary, thank me as I help you to reach Paradise.”
Next, how the owner’s attorney made his case through a singular proposition:
“If the spirits come to torment Latapy and afflict him, with God’s permission, he should endure the fair penalty and say with St. Jerome: Quidquid patimur nostris peccatis meremur, and not attack the owner, who is absolutely innocent. Instead, he should be grateful to someone that provided him with the means of saving himself in this world from the punishments that, due to his demerit, wait for him in the other one.”
“In order to be consistent the lawyer should have asked Latapy to pay de Vigne for his services. Shouldn’t a place in paradise be worth his weight in gold? But the generous owner was happy with the refusal to call the contract off hence, before trying this, Latapy should have tried to combat and expel the spirits through means provided by God and by nature.”
“Why didn’t he use the laurel, argued the owner’s attorney? Why didn’t he use the rue or salt in the fire and the burning coal; feathers or a compounded mixture of herbs, the so called aerolus ventulus; with rhubarb; with white wine; with salt hanging at the entrance door; hyena’s forehead skin; dog’s gall that they say has a marvelous virtue of expelling demons? Why didn’t he use Molly’s herb, the same used by Mercury to expel Ulysses that used it as an antidote against Circe’s charms? ...”
It is evident that Latapy, the tenant, defaulted with all his duties, by not throwing salt into the burning coal, by not using dog’s gall and some feathers. However, as he would also have to find hyena’s forehead skin, the seneschal of Bordeaux found that such material was not ordinary enough so that Latapy would not be excused for leaving the hyenas alone hence he determined, in a beautiful and charming way, the cancellation of the lease.
One can see from all this that neither the owner nor the tenant or the judges have any doubt about the existence of the spirits and the uproar created by them. It would then seem that over two centuries ago men were more credulous than today but we do better as far as credulity goes which is not strange: it is even necessary that civilization and progress reveal somewhere.
---
Leaving aside the accessories that the storyteller used to decorate the issue, such a question still
has an embarrassing side, as the law has not foreseen the case in which the rapping spirits
would turn a house uninhabitable. Would it be a purposeful, malicious sale of this property? In
our opinion there are pros and cons, according to the circumstances. Initially it is necessary to
verify if the noise is real or simulated with any other intention, a prior question of good faith
that pre-judges the others. Admitting the facts as real it is necessary to establish if they perturb
peace. If, for example, things happen similarly to the events of Bergzabern *, it is then evident
that the position is not sustainable. The old Mr. Sänger withstood all that because it happened in
his own house and there was no escape, but there is no way that a stranger would settle in a
dwelling where a deafening sound is constantly heard; where the furniture is scrambled around;
where doors and windows open and close at random; where invisible hands throw things at
people’s heads, etc. It seems that under those circumstances there is space for complaint and
that, with justice, a given contract should not bear value, had those things been hidden. Thus,
generally speaking, the 1595 process seems to have been well judged, but there still remains an
important question that is up to the Spiritist Science to raise and solve.
We know that the spontaneous manifestations of the spirits may occur without a predetermined objective and also that they may not address this or that person; that there are places effectively haunted by rapping spirits that seem to select those places as their residence and against whom every conjuration is useless. Let us say, between brackets, that there are efficient ways for us to free from them but that such ways do not depend on the intervention of persons that knowingly produce similar phenomena since the spirits that operate through them are from a different order than those that need to be expelled. Far from keeping them away, their presence could even attract others. But we also know that in a number of cases such manifestations are addressed against certain individuals, like in the Bergzabern case. The facts demonstrated that the family, particularly the little Filipina, was their direct target, hence we are convinced that had the family left that house the new inhabitants would have nothing to fear. That family would carry their tribulations to the new address.
The question to be examined, from a legal point of view, is if the manifestations would have taken place before or only after the arrival of the new owner. In the latter case it would be evident that the owner had carried the perturbing spirits along and thus the responsibility would be totally his; if, on the contrary, the perturbations had taken place before and persisted, that is a proof that they were associated to the place and thus the responsibility would be of the owner. The owner’s attorney reasoned with the first hypothesis and his argumentation did not lack logic. It is still necessary to know if the tenant had brought along those unwelcome guests, a fact which was not established in the process.
We know that the spontaneous manifestations of the spirits may occur without a predetermined objective and also that they may not address this or that person; that there are places effectively haunted by rapping spirits that seem to select those places as their residence and against whom every conjuration is useless. Let us say, between brackets, that there are efficient ways for us to free from them but that such ways do not depend on the intervention of persons that knowingly produce similar phenomena since the spirits that operate through them are from a different order than those that need to be expelled. Far from keeping them away, their presence could even attract others. But we also know that in a number of cases such manifestations are addressed against certain individuals, like in the Bergzabern case. The facts demonstrated that the family, particularly the little Filipina, was their direct target, hence we are convinced that had the family left that house the new inhabitants would have nothing to fear. That family would carry their tribulations to the new address.
The question to be examined, from a legal point of view, is if the manifestations would have taken place before or only after the arrival of the new owner. In the latter case it would be evident that the owner had carried the perturbing spirits along and thus the responsibility would be totally his; if, on the contrary, the perturbations had taken place before and persisted, that is a proof that they were associated to the place and thus the responsibility would be of the owner. The owner’s attorney reasoned with the first hypothesis and his argumentation did not lack logic. It is still necessary to know if the tenant had brought along those unwelcome guests, a fact which was not established in the process.
As for the ongoing pending process, we believe that a means of doing good justice would be by
establishing what we have just described above. If the pre-existence of the manifestations is
proven and that the fact was hidden by the owner, we face the case of a misled tenant with
respect to the quality of the object of the transaction. Well, by keeping the deal under those
conditions it might be a means of causing harm to the purchaser by the depreciation of the
property. It is at least a cause of considerable loss, forcing him to keep something that he will
have no use for, like a blind horse that he had acquired instead of a healthy one. Nevertheless,
the cause in question should have grave consequences. Be it by invalidating the contract; be it
by keeping the contract due to a lack of proof, the fact of the manifestations will be recognized.
By rejecting the proposition under the allegation that it is based on ridiculous reasons, one is exposed to receiving, sooner or later, the contradiction of experience, as it has many times happened to the most eminent figures, by having rushed to the negation of what they did not understand. If our parents can be censored by excess of credulity, our descendants will no doubt reproach us for the mistake of the contrary excess.
While we wait, this is what is before our eyes and that we even attest. We refer to the chronicle published by the La Patrie, on September 4th, 1858:
“The Rue du Bac is in a shambles. One can still see devilish tricks there. The house number 65 is divided in two blocks. The one facing the street has two stairwells that face each other. For the last week, at several times of the day and night, in all floors of the building, the bells ring and agitate violently. When people come to attend the door there is nobody at the entrance. In the beginning they thought it was a joke so that everybody watched, trying to catch the instigator. One of the tenants carefully sanded one glass in his kitchen to vigilantly watch. While watching with great attention his bell was shaken. He looked through the hatch and saw nobody! He then ran to the stairs, nobody! He returned to the house and removed the cord of the bell. An hour later, still feeling triumphant, the bell started to ring gallantly. He saw it ringing and became mute, depressed. On other doors the cords became twisted, entangled, like wounded serpents. An explanation is still sought and the police was called in. But what is that mystery? They still ignore it.”
By rejecting the proposition under the allegation that it is based on ridiculous reasons, one is exposed to receiving, sooner or later, the contradiction of experience, as it has many times happened to the most eminent figures, by having rushed to the negation of what they did not understand. If our parents can be censored by excess of credulity, our descendants will no doubt reproach us for the mistake of the contrary excess.
While we wait, this is what is before our eyes and that we even attest. We refer to the chronicle published by the La Patrie, on September 4th, 1858:
“The Rue du Bac is in a shambles. One can still see devilish tricks there. The house number 65 is divided in two blocks. The one facing the street has two stairwells that face each other. For the last week, at several times of the day and night, in all floors of the building, the bells ring and agitate violently. When people come to attend the door there is nobody at the entrance. In the beginning they thought it was a joke so that everybody watched, trying to catch the instigator. One of the tenants carefully sanded one glass in his kitchen to vigilantly watch. While watching with great attention his bell was shaken. He looked through the hatch and saw nobody! He then ran to the stairs, nobody! He returned to the house and removed the cord of the bell. An hour later, still feeling triumphant, the bell started to ring gallantly. He saw it ringing and became mute, depressed. On other doors the cords became twisted, entangled, like wounded serpents. An explanation is still sought and the police was called in. But what is that mystery? They still ignore it.”
________________________________
* See the May, June and July issues of the Spiritist Magazine
Phenomena of apparitions
Sometime ago the Constitutionel and the Patrie transcribed the following fact from USA
newspapers:
“The little town of Leitchfield, Kentucky, counts on numerous experts of the doctrine of magnetic spiritualism. An incredible fact that has just happened there will certainly give a significant contribution to the growth of that new religion. The Park’s family, composed of father, mother and three children, already at the age of reason, was strongly embedded by the spiritualist’s beliefs. Yet, Ms. Harris, who was Mrs. Park’s sister, did not absolutely believe in the supernatural prodigies that they incessantly cogitated. This was a real cause of grief among all members of the family and more than once it broke the harmony between the two sisters. A few days ago Mrs. Park was suddenly taken ill by something that the doctors declared themselves incapable of handling from the beginning. The patient was a victim of hallucinations, permanently tormented by a terrible fever. Ms. Harris spent all nights awaken by her side. On the fourth day of the disease, Mrs. Park sat down on the bed, asked for water and started talking to her sister. Strange enough the fever had suddenly gone. Her pulse was regular and she spoke with ease. Ms Harris gladly thought that her sister was out of harm’s way. After having talked about her husband and children Mrs. Park got closer to her sister and said: Poor sister, I will leave you. I feel death is coming closer. But at least my departure from this world will serve to convert you. I shall die in an hour and shall be buried tomorrow. Carefully avoid following my body to the cemetery, as my spirit, covered by its mortal remains, will show up to you before the coffin is covered with earth. You shall then believe in spiritualism.”
“After having said those words the patient calmly lay down. However, an hour later Ms Harris painfully verified that her sister’s heart had stopped, as she had announced. Vividly moved by the incredible coincidence between what happened and the prophetic words of the deceased, she decided to follow her recommendations and on the following day she stayed home alone, while everybody else had gone to the cemetery. She locked the hatches of the mortuary chamber and sat on an armchair near the bed from where her sister’s body had just left.”
“Only five minutes had passed – Ms. Harris said later– I saw something like a white cloud coming out from the back of the room. The form gradually cleared up: it was a woman, kind of veiled; she moved slowly towards where I was; I heard her steps on the floor; finally I had my sister before my astounded eyes ...”
“Her face, far from showing the pale looks of death that so painfully impressed us, was radiant. Her hands, whose pressure I felt well, holding mine, maintained the warmth of life. I was like transported to a new sphere, through that marvelous apparition. Supposing that I was already in the world of the spirits, I touched my breast, my head, to ensure my own existence. But there was nothing painful in that ecstasy.”
“After staying for a few minutes, just like that, in front of me, smiling but in silence, my sister seemed to have made a great effort and told me with a sweet voice:”
“It is now time for me to go. My guiding angel waits. Good-bye! I have accomplished my promise. Believe and wait!”
The Patrie adds: “The newspaper from where we have extracted such wonderful news did not say whether Ms Harris had converted to the spiritualist doctrine. We admit that, however, since many people would be convinced by much less.”
We add, from our own account, that the report has nothing to cause surprise to those who have studied the effects and causes of the spiritist phenomena. The authentic facts of such a kind are considerably numerous and have their explanation in what we have said on several occasions. We will have the opportunity to describe others, coming from not so far away as this one.
ALLAN KARDEC
“The little town of Leitchfield, Kentucky, counts on numerous experts of the doctrine of magnetic spiritualism. An incredible fact that has just happened there will certainly give a significant contribution to the growth of that new religion. The Park’s family, composed of father, mother and three children, already at the age of reason, was strongly embedded by the spiritualist’s beliefs. Yet, Ms. Harris, who was Mrs. Park’s sister, did not absolutely believe in the supernatural prodigies that they incessantly cogitated. This was a real cause of grief among all members of the family and more than once it broke the harmony between the two sisters. A few days ago Mrs. Park was suddenly taken ill by something that the doctors declared themselves incapable of handling from the beginning. The patient was a victim of hallucinations, permanently tormented by a terrible fever. Ms. Harris spent all nights awaken by her side. On the fourth day of the disease, Mrs. Park sat down on the bed, asked for water and started talking to her sister. Strange enough the fever had suddenly gone. Her pulse was regular and she spoke with ease. Ms Harris gladly thought that her sister was out of harm’s way. After having talked about her husband and children Mrs. Park got closer to her sister and said: Poor sister, I will leave you. I feel death is coming closer. But at least my departure from this world will serve to convert you. I shall die in an hour and shall be buried tomorrow. Carefully avoid following my body to the cemetery, as my spirit, covered by its mortal remains, will show up to you before the coffin is covered with earth. You shall then believe in spiritualism.”
“After having said those words the patient calmly lay down. However, an hour later Ms Harris painfully verified that her sister’s heart had stopped, as she had announced. Vividly moved by the incredible coincidence between what happened and the prophetic words of the deceased, she decided to follow her recommendations and on the following day she stayed home alone, while everybody else had gone to the cemetery. She locked the hatches of the mortuary chamber and sat on an armchair near the bed from where her sister’s body had just left.”
“Only five minutes had passed – Ms. Harris said later– I saw something like a white cloud coming out from the back of the room. The form gradually cleared up: it was a woman, kind of veiled; she moved slowly towards where I was; I heard her steps on the floor; finally I had my sister before my astounded eyes ...”
“Her face, far from showing the pale looks of death that so painfully impressed us, was radiant. Her hands, whose pressure I felt well, holding mine, maintained the warmth of life. I was like transported to a new sphere, through that marvelous apparition. Supposing that I was already in the world of the spirits, I touched my breast, my head, to ensure my own existence. But there was nothing painful in that ecstasy.”
“After staying for a few minutes, just like that, in front of me, smiling but in silence, my sister seemed to have made a great effort and told me with a sweet voice:”
“It is now time for me to go. My guiding angel waits. Good-bye! I have accomplished my promise. Believe and wait!”
The Patrie adds: “The newspaper from where we have extracted such wonderful news did not say whether Ms Harris had converted to the spiritualist doctrine. We admit that, however, since many people would be convinced by much less.”
We add, from our own account, that the report has nothing to cause surprise to those who have studied the effects and causes of the spiritist phenomena. The authentic facts of such a kind are considerably numerous and have their explanation in what we have said on several occasions. We will have the opportunity to describe others, coming from not so far away as this one.
ALLAN KARDEC
PARISIAN SOCIETY OF SPIRITIST STUDIES
NEW REGULATION
As the Society has made some modifications to its regulation; we attach those to this issue of the
Review, in its current version. From now on the text attached to the May issue is cancelled and
those who have received it must consider it null.