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The Spiritist Review - Journal of Psychological Studies - 1864 > March > Varieties
Varieties
We personally know a lady that is a medium gifted with a remarkable faculty of tiptology. She easily obtains, and something that is rare almost constantly, accurate things like name of places and persons in several languages, dates and private circumstances before which disbelief has been confounded more than once.
The lady, entirely devoted to the cause of Spiritism, dedicates all of her spare time to the practice of her mediumship with the object of propaganda and that with absolute selflessness particularly considering that her position and fortune places her closer to mediocrity. Since Spiritism is something very serious to her she always starts her work with a prayer said with great reverence, soliciting the assistance of the good Spirits and asking God to keep the bad ones away. Here is how she ends: - “If I am tempted to abuse this God given faculty by any means I ask you to have it removed from me instead of allowing it to be veered off from its providential objective.”
One day a rich foreigner – from whom we heard this story – sought that lady asking her for a communication. He had no idea about Spiritism and even less about the belief. He then put his wallet on the table and said: “Madam, you have here ten thousand francs, they are yours if you tell me the name of the person that I am thinking now.” That is sufficient to demonstrate the level of knowledge that he had about the Doctrine. The lady then made him see what every true Spiritist would have done in similar circumstances. Well, soon after he left she received much more difficult and complicated communications to other persons than the one that he had asked.
Such occurrence should have been a demonstration of sincerity and good faith of the medium, as we told him, because charlatans always have resources at their disposal when making money is involved. But other teachings may come from that too and of a different importance. The Spirits wanted to demonstrate to him that it is not money that make them speak when they do not wish to; besides, they demonstrated that if they did not respond to the question it was not for incapacity on their side for they responded to more difficult questions to persons that offered nothing. The lesson was greater still to the medium; it demonstrated its absolute impotence without the help of the Spirits and teach her humility because if the Spirits had served her, if the person’s will were sufficient to make them speak it was then the case of making it happen now or never.
That is a positive demonstration of the support we mentioned in the February last issue of the Spiritist Review regarding Mr. Home and about the possibility that the mediums’ faculty may fail them at the very moment when it was necessary.
Someone that has a talent and explore that talent is always certain that it will be available because it is inherent to the person but mediumship is not a talent; it only exists thanks to the help of third parties. If those deny support there is no mediumship. The aptitude may remain but its exercise is nulled. A medium without the assistance of the Spirits is like a violin without the violinist. The gentleman above was surprised that since he had come to be convinced the Spirits did not yield to that. We respond that if he can be convinced then he will be convinced by other means that will cost him nothing. The Spirits did not want him to say that he had been convinced but to a high price because if money were necessary to be convinced what would be the fate of those that cannot pay? Mediumship is not a privilege so that it can be found in the humblest dwellings. It is everywhere so that everybody, rich and poor, may find the consolation of communicating with their relatives and friends from beyond the grave.
The Spirits did not want him to be convinced that way because his opinion and that of his friends would have been falsified by the shine of gold regarding the essentially moral and religious character of Spiritism.
They did not want it in the very interest of the medium and of the mediums in general whose greed would have been super excited by such a result because they would have told themselves that if such a success was achieved in those circumstances then the same could happen on other occasions.
This was not the first time that similar offers were made; that prizes are offered but always unsuccessfully, considering that the Spirits are not servers and do not attend the highest bidder.
If that lady were successful would she have accepted or refused? We don’t know because ten thousand francs are very inviting, particularly in certain situations. In any case the temptation was great. And who knows if the refusal wouldn’t have been followed by regret that would have attenuated the merit of the achievement?
Notice that in her prayer the lady asks God to remove her faculty instead of allowing it to be used to veer off from its providential objective. Well, then? Her prayer was heard; her mediumship was subtracted for that special case so as to spare her the danger of temptation and all the unfortunate consequences that would have followed, first to herself and also for the bad effect that it would have produced.
But it is not only against greed that the mediums must be forearmed. Since there are mediums in all echelons of Society their majority is above such temptation. There is, however, a much bigger danger that all are exposed to: it is pride that loses such a large number. It is against that obstacle that the most beautiful faculties are shattered. Material selflessness is of no benefit if not followed by moral altruism. Humility, devotion, selflessness and abnegation are the qualities of the medium beloved by the Spirits.
The lady, entirely devoted to the cause of Spiritism, dedicates all of her spare time to the practice of her mediumship with the object of propaganda and that with absolute selflessness particularly considering that her position and fortune places her closer to mediocrity. Since Spiritism is something very serious to her she always starts her work with a prayer said with great reverence, soliciting the assistance of the good Spirits and asking God to keep the bad ones away. Here is how she ends: - “If I am tempted to abuse this God given faculty by any means I ask you to have it removed from me instead of allowing it to be veered off from its providential objective.”
One day a rich foreigner – from whom we heard this story – sought that lady asking her for a communication. He had no idea about Spiritism and even less about the belief. He then put his wallet on the table and said: “Madam, you have here ten thousand francs, they are yours if you tell me the name of the person that I am thinking now.” That is sufficient to demonstrate the level of knowledge that he had about the Doctrine. The lady then made him see what every true Spiritist would have done in similar circumstances. Well, soon after he left she received much more difficult and complicated communications to other persons than the one that he had asked.
Such occurrence should have been a demonstration of sincerity and good faith of the medium, as we told him, because charlatans always have resources at their disposal when making money is involved. But other teachings may come from that too and of a different importance. The Spirits wanted to demonstrate to him that it is not money that make them speak when they do not wish to; besides, they demonstrated that if they did not respond to the question it was not for incapacity on their side for they responded to more difficult questions to persons that offered nothing. The lesson was greater still to the medium; it demonstrated its absolute impotence without the help of the Spirits and teach her humility because if the Spirits had served her, if the person’s will were sufficient to make them speak it was then the case of making it happen now or never.
That is a positive demonstration of the support we mentioned in the February last issue of the Spiritist Review regarding Mr. Home and about the possibility that the mediums’ faculty may fail them at the very moment when it was necessary.
Someone that has a talent and explore that talent is always certain that it will be available because it is inherent to the person but mediumship is not a talent; it only exists thanks to the help of third parties. If those deny support there is no mediumship. The aptitude may remain but its exercise is nulled. A medium without the assistance of the Spirits is like a violin without the violinist. The gentleman above was surprised that since he had come to be convinced the Spirits did not yield to that. We respond that if he can be convinced then he will be convinced by other means that will cost him nothing. The Spirits did not want him to say that he had been convinced but to a high price because if money were necessary to be convinced what would be the fate of those that cannot pay? Mediumship is not a privilege so that it can be found in the humblest dwellings. It is everywhere so that everybody, rich and poor, may find the consolation of communicating with their relatives and friends from beyond the grave.
The Spirits did not want him to be convinced that way because his opinion and that of his friends would have been falsified by the shine of gold regarding the essentially moral and religious character of Spiritism.
They did not want it in the very interest of the medium and of the mediums in general whose greed would have been super excited by such a result because they would have told themselves that if such a success was achieved in those circumstances then the same could happen on other occasions.
This was not the first time that similar offers were made; that prizes are offered but always unsuccessfully, considering that the Spirits are not servers and do not attend the highest bidder.
If that lady were successful would she have accepted or refused? We don’t know because ten thousand francs are very inviting, particularly in certain situations. In any case the temptation was great. And who knows if the refusal wouldn’t have been followed by regret that would have attenuated the merit of the achievement?
Notice that in her prayer the lady asks God to remove her faculty instead of allowing it to be used to veer off from its providential objective. Well, then? Her prayer was heard; her mediumship was subtracted for that special case so as to spare her the danger of temptation and all the unfortunate consequences that would have followed, first to herself and also for the bad effect that it would have produced.
But it is not only against greed that the mediums must be forearmed. Since there are mediums in all echelons of Society their majority is above such temptation. There is, however, a much bigger danger that all are exposed to: it is pride that loses such a large number. It is against that obstacle that the most beautiful faculties are shattered. Material selflessness is of no benefit if not followed by moral altruism. Humility, devotion, selflessness and abnegation are the qualities of the medium beloved by the Spirits.
The facts mentioned in the last issue of our Spiritist Review and about which we had postponed our opinion seem to have been definitely settled as Spiritist phenomena. A careful examination of the circumstances and details do not allow to have them confused with acts of malevolence or joke. It seems difficult that ill-intentioned persons could have escapade the eyes of law enforcement and in particular act at the very moment when they are been watched, before the eyes of those that are looking for them and that lack no will of having them caught.
Exorcisms were carried out but after a few days of interruption the noises restarted with different aspects. Here is what is found in the Journal de la Vienne, on February 17th and 18th:
“We remember that last January the rapping Spirits made their solemn apparition in Poitiers, establishing themselves at St. Paul St., in a home located near the old church designated by that name but their stayed for a short time with us and we were led to believe that it was all over when the day before yesterday the noises that had agitated so much the population were reproduced now with new intensity.
Thus, the black devils returned to the home of Ms. de O… The only difference is that now they are not only rapping Spirits but shooters that provoke extraordinary explosions. We will celebrate their party on St. Barbara’s day, patron of the artillery. There are always those to long for the restart of processions of curious persons and have the police questioning every echo to be guided by the fog of the other world.
One can only wait, however, that this time the perpetrators of those mystifications of bad taste are caught and that justice may well demonstrate to the explorers of human belief that the best Spirits are not the ones that make more noise but those that know to be quiet or only speak when necessary.”
Piogeard
“We always go back to St. Paul St. without being able to penetrate the infernal mystery. When we question someone that strolls around Ms. de O… house, showing some concern, the answer is invariably this: - I have heard nothing but someone said that the explosions were really loud. This is not but an embarrassment to the solution of the problem. However, it is certain that the Spirits have some pieces of artillery and of large caliber because they say the noise is similar to that produced by small bombs. But where do they come from? Impossible so far to determine their direction. They do not come from the underground since pistol shots in the basement are not heard on the first floor. It is then in the superior regions that they must be caught, however, all processes indicated by science and by experience to achieve that goal resulted useless.
It would then be necessary to conclude that the Spirits can shoot at the sparrows and disturb the rest of the population and not be caught. Such a solution would be too strict. In fact through certain means and by some accidental events effects can be produced that at first sight would be astonishing but that later on surprises people for not having realized their elemental mechanism. It is always the simplest things that escape people’s observations. We are forced to believe, therefore, that the shooters from the other world have the laughter by their side at this point but they are far from being unachievable.
The mystifying persons may rest assured that the mystified will have their turn.”
Piogeard
It seems that Mr. Piogeard struggles greatly against the evidence. One could say that a doubt goes unsuspected in this mind; that he is afraid of a solution that is contrary to his beliefs; in one word that he gives us the impression of those persons that when receiving some bad news say: “No, No. That is not possible. I don’t want to believe it.” They close their eyes to avoid seeing so that they can attest that saw nothing.
In one of the paragraphs above he seemed to raise doubts about the reality of the noises themselves because in his opinion all of those that are questioned say that they heard nothing. If nobody heard anything we don’t understand why such an uproar since there wouldn’t be neither ill-intentioned people nor Spirits. In a third article that goes without signature the newspaper says that it must be the last and finally gives the solution to the problem. If those that are interested don’t consider it convincing it will be their fault and not of the periodical.
“For some time now we have been receiving letters from our subscribers and persons that are strange to us requesting sound explanations about the scenes that took place at the home of Ms. O…We said everything we knew about it; we repeated everything that is said in Poitiers in our editions. Considering that our explanations did not seem complete here you have and for the last time our answer to the questions addressed to us: - It is certain that singular noises are heard every night from six o’clock to mid night at St. Paul St., home of Ms. O… Those noises are similar to the ones produced by successive discharges of a double rifle. They disturb the doors, windows and walls. One cannot see light or smoke and there is no smell. The events were attested by the most dignified persons of faith in that town, through police inquiries and the civilian guard by request of the family of Mr. Count de O… There is an association of Spiritists in Poitiers but despite Mr. D… opinion and that writes to us from Marselle, it hasn’t crossed the thought of any of our citizens, too witty for that, that the Spiritists were somehow involved in the occurrence of the phenomena. Mr. H. de Orange believes in physical causes, like gases that are expelled from a former cemetery on which the O…’s house was built. The house was built on a rock and there is no underground construction that leads to the house. As for ourselves we believe that the strange and still not explained phenomena that disturbed the peace of a respectable family for over a month will not remain as a mystery. We believe in a very ingenious gimmick and hope to see very soon the phantoms of St. Paul St. be sent to jail.”
Exorcisms were carried out but after a few days of interruption the noises restarted with different aspects. Here is what is found in the Journal de la Vienne, on February 17th and 18th:
“We remember that last January the rapping Spirits made their solemn apparition in Poitiers, establishing themselves at St. Paul St., in a home located near the old church designated by that name but their stayed for a short time with us and we were led to believe that it was all over when the day before yesterday the noises that had agitated so much the population were reproduced now with new intensity.
Thus, the black devils returned to the home of Ms. de O… The only difference is that now they are not only rapping Spirits but shooters that provoke extraordinary explosions. We will celebrate their party on St. Barbara’s day, patron of the artillery. There are always those to long for the restart of processions of curious persons and have the police questioning every echo to be guided by the fog of the other world.
One can only wait, however, that this time the perpetrators of those mystifications of bad taste are caught and that justice may well demonstrate to the explorers of human belief that the best Spirits are not the ones that make more noise but those that know to be quiet or only speak when necessary.”
Piogeard
“We always go back to St. Paul St. without being able to penetrate the infernal mystery. When we question someone that strolls around Ms. de O… house, showing some concern, the answer is invariably this: - I have heard nothing but someone said that the explosions were really loud. This is not but an embarrassment to the solution of the problem. However, it is certain that the Spirits have some pieces of artillery and of large caliber because they say the noise is similar to that produced by small bombs. But where do they come from? Impossible so far to determine their direction. They do not come from the underground since pistol shots in the basement are not heard on the first floor. It is then in the superior regions that they must be caught, however, all processes indicated by science and by experience to achieve that goal resulted useless.
It would then be necessary to conclude that the Spirits can shoot at the sparrows and disturb the rest of the population and not be caught. Such a solution would be too strict. In fact through certain means and by some accidental events effects can be produced that at first sight would be astonishing but that later on surprises people for not having realized their elemental mechanism. It is always the simplest things that escape people’s observations. We are forced to believe, therefore, that the shooters from the other world have the laughter by their side at this point but they are far from being unachievable.
The mystifying persons may rest assured that the mystified will have their turn.”
Piogeard
It seems that Mr. Piogeard struggles greatly against the evidence. One could say that a doubt goes unsuspected in this mind; that he is afraid of a solution that is contrary to his beliefs; in one word that he gives us the impression of those persons that when receiving some bad news say: “No, No. That is not possible. I don’t want to believe it.” They close their eyes to avoid seeing so that they can attest that saw nothing.
In one of the paragraphs above he seemed to raise doubts about the reality of the noises themselves because in his opinion all of those that are questioned say that they heard nothing. If nobody heard anything we don’t understand why such an uproar since there wouldn’t be neither ill-intentioned people nor Spirits. In a third article that goes without signature the newspaper says that it must be the last and finally gives the solution to the problem. If those that are interested don’t consider it convincing it will be their fault and not of the periodical.
“For some time now we have been receiving letters from our subscribers and persons that are strange to us requesting sound explanations about the scenes that took place at the home of Ms. O…We said everything we knew about it; we repeated everything that is said in Poitiers in our editions. Considering that our explanations did not seem complete here you have and for the last time our answer to the questions addressed to us: - It is certain that singular noises are heard every night from six o’clock to mid night at St. Paul St., home of Ms. O… Those noises are similar to the ones produced by successive discharges of a double rifle. They disturb the doors, windows and walls. One cannot see light or smoke and there is no smell. The events were attested by the most dignified persons of faith in that town, through police inquiries and the civilian guard by request of the family of Mr. Count de O… There is an association of Spiritists in Poitiers but despite Mr. D… opinion and that writes to us from Marselle, it hasn’t crossed the thought of any of our citizens, too witty for that, that the Spiritists were somehow involved in the occurrence of the phenomena. Mr. H. de Orange believes in physical causes, like gases that are expelled from a former cemetery on which the O…’s house was built. The house was built on a rock and there is no underground construction that leads to the house. As for ourselves we believe that the strange and still not explained phenomena that disturbed the peace of a respectable family for over a month will not remain as a mystery. We believe in a very ingenious gimmick and hope to see very soon the phantoms of St. Paul St. be sent to jail.”