COMMUNICATING
Very many methods have been discovered of communicating with discarnate
spirits; but it is not needful in the present volume to deal with
any system of incantation or “magical” rites. What is proposed is to
describe such practices as have in modern times been found to yield
good results and have become customary.
1. EXPECTANCY
This is suitable where an individual person desires to ascertain
whether he or she is endowed with any psychic powers. By sitting in
some place quite alone and free from interruption, and by adopting
a mental attitude of passive receptivity and expectancy, the soul
becomes ready to perceive and be affected by any spirits that may be
in its vicinity and that may attempt to open up communications. A
Quakers’ meeting--though not a case of solitary individuals--is a good
illustration of the method of expectancy in actual practice. No one is
supposed to speak without being “moved thereto by the Spirit”; and it
is by no means an uncommon event for the meeting to begin, continue
and end without a single word being said--the necessary vocal impulse
being wanting, although various members of the congregation may be
distinctly conscious, in a less definite way, of spiritual presence and
thought-suggestion.
The manifestations in the course of expectancy sittings may vary
from thought-suggestion to positive physical phenomena, such as the
sensation of being touched or gently blown upon, the movement of some
inanimate object, the hearing of a voice or even the visual appearance
of some supernormal object. All depends upon whether the sitter is
or is not susceptible to psychical influence, and also upon whether
the locality or the sitter personally is or is not haunted. This word
“haunted” must not be understood as implying that the sitter--any more
than the locality--is conscious of the proximity of spirits or is in
any way inconvenienced thereby. It merely means that, as explained
in a previous part of this book, discarnate spirits tend to remain
near the places and persons with whom they were familiar during
life--perhaps in the hope of being able to make their presence known.
2. AUTOMATIC WRITING
It is very rarely that the results of “expectancy” go beyond
thought-impression and subsidiary physical manifestations, neither of
which can be regarded as in the nature of practical communications. For
the giving of a message or the carrying-on of a conversation something
more is required. Accordingly, when an enquirer sits alone it is
customary to have at hand a pencil and paper or some apparatus--as,
for example, a planchette--by means of which writing is possible. It
is then frequently found that the sitter’s hand, without any conscious
guidance by the sitter, will manipulate the pencil or the apparatus so
as to produce a “script” on the paper. This is read and may be followed
up by _vivâ voce_ comments and questions, and thus a regular verbal
interview takes place.
Automatic writing does not depend upon solitude. It may take place in
the presence of any number of observers, and is frequently employed by
mediums as being an expeditious method of communication.
3. TRANCE WRITING AND SPEAKING
In cases where the sitter is markedly “psychic” and adopts the method
of Expectancy it frequently happens that normal control over the body
is lost. A condition of trance supervenes, and while this continues
the spirit--which may be either a “second personality” or a soul from
the outside--that has gained the upper hand makes use to a greater or
less extent of the brain and other organs subject to its mastery. The
hand may write: the mouth may speak: the whole body may be engaged in
some impersonation; and all this may take place beyond the scope of the
sitter’s normal consciousness. When the trance is over the sitter is
not able to recall anything that has been written or said or enacted.
The services of some recording observer are therefore necessary if any
practical result is to be obtained.
The trance condition is particularly likely to occur when the sitter,
or one of the sitters, is a genuine “medium,” or, in other words, a
person who either is naturally endowed with special susceptibility
to psychical influences or is the habitat of two souls, normal and
“subliminal” respectively. Accordingly in the majority of _séances_
with professional mediums the communications from discarnate spirits
are received during trance, and take the form of script executed
by the medium’s hand or words spoken by the medium. Frequently,
moreover, the medium is not completely entranced but retains partial
consciousness; the result being that what may be described as a dazed
condition ensues, and the utterances from “the other side” become
mixed with, and qualified by, various halting and imperfect statements
emanating from the medium’s own mind. This is why so many of the
published reports of spiritualistic _séances_ contain what appear to be
merely such erroneous and ignorant remarks as might be expected from
comparatively uneducated persons who have become acquainted with the
tricks of a trade. And as the simulation of a partially-entranced and
semi-conscious state is a very easy matter for persons who have any
dramatic turn, it is often difficult to know how far a communication is
genuine and how far it is inadvertently or designedly sophisticated.
But if the recipients of the communication do not allow themselves to
be swayed by emotion, and bring a little common sense to bear, they
will find in the great majority of cases that the matter can be made
clear enough for all practical purposes.
4. SIGNALLING
Communication need not be confined to writing and speech. It is found
that codes of signals can be arranged with discarnate spirits desirous
of opening up intelligent relations with living persons.
The methods of signalling depend upon the ingenuity and preferences
of the parties concerned. They are not restricted to any particular
proceedings; though it has become customary with the majority of
sitters to make use of “raps” and “table-tilting.” It is also usual
to agree with the spirits that a single rap or tilting movement shall
signify “No,” that three raps or tilts shall mean “Yes,” and that words
shall be conveyed letter by letter, the system adopted being for the
living person to pronounce the letters of the alphabet in their due
order and for the spirit to give a rap or tilt when the right letter is
reached.
It must not, however, be supposed that the employment of a table is
in any way necessary. The method has come into vogue merely because
people assembling together for intercourse with discarnate spirits
have found it convenient to sit round a table. Any idea that spirits
have a predilection for, or an attachment to, a table or any other
article of furniture is a popular delusion and is most assuredly
contrary to common sense. All available evidence goes to show that
spirits find much greater difficulty in operating on matter than on
mind. The setting of any physical mass in motion is a particularly
arduous task; and the work becomes lighter in proportion as the mass
to be moved is smaller and less weighty. To expect a spirit to set a
bulky article like a table in movement is unreasonable; and the fact
that tables are moved by spirits is not an argument to the contrary.
Spirits are sometimes asked how they contrive to do such physical work,
and a conventional reply has become current, namely, that the sitters
“supply magnetism which is gathered in the medium and goes into the
table.” From a scientific point of view this answer is nonsensical.
It is, in all probability, a “sophistication” repeated, wittingly or
unwittingly, by medium after medium. Another explanation which is put
forward occasionally seems to be nearer the mark, _i.e._ that where
heavy articles are moved the work is done by a number of spirits acting
together.
However all this may be, it is clear that those sitters who use
less cumbrous means than tables for signalling are more likely to
be satisfied. And it is also clear that the customary “once for No”
and “three times for Yes” are not imperative. Any other code may be
adopted. Communications are not subject to any arbitrary regulations.
They have all the freedom of ordinary personal intercourse.
5. DIRECT MESSAGES
These have already been mentioned under the heading of Expectancy;
but they are occasionally found to occur in conjunction with other
methods of communicating. A pencil is sometimes seen to be apparently
writing of its own accord on a sheet of paper; no human hand being
near it. Sometimes it is seen to be guided by the simulacrum of a
hand--a phenomenon that takes place more frequently when the sitting
is held in a dimly-lighted locality or even in the dark. In the latter
case the visibility is due to the object seen being self-luminous. The
script produced by such direct writing is, of course, the message to be
received.
In like manner a message is sometimes conveyed by a voice which is
unconnected with any person present at the sitting; and the utterance
may vary from a whisper addressed to some individual ear to a loud
discourse audible by the whole company.
6. MATERIALISATION
This is a development of direct communication. The spirit becomes
either visible or tangible, and sometimes is both. Its form and
appearance are akin to those of a clothed human being; though the
similarity is not in any way complete. The substance of which
such phantasms are composed is as yet unknown to science; but its
perceptibility by normal sight and touch suggests a material character,
without, however, necessitating the idea of solidity any more than
in the case of an evanescent cloud or mist. So, too, the form assumed
must not be regarded as being necessarily the real form of the spirit
in the apparition, the tenuous substance of which is obviously capable
of any desired configuration; while the comparative rarity of the
phenomenon implies that it is only here and there that a spirit is
found possessing the requisite knowledge and artistic capacity for the
work of putting together and shaping such a production.
Some of the materialised beings seem unable to speak or to display
much power of movement. Others can speak and move about with facility.
Others again can handle various objects, such as musical instruments,
books, flowers and the like, and can convey them from place to place.
The manifestations here touched upon are much more frequent in dark
_séances_ than in the light; and even when some degree of illumination
is allowed the usual practice is to provide “cabinets” or screens
under the cover of which the psychical effects are developed. This
naturally gives ample opportunity for trickery to persons who, whether
for money-making or for other motives, pose as mediums without
having any real qualifications for the work; and it is unquestionable
that many instances of sham materialisations have from time to time
taken place. On the other hand, the well-evidenced instances of real
materialisations and of many other analogous kinds of psycho-physical
phenomena are much more numerous. We must consider, moreover, that
a good reason exists for dim light and darkness in connection with
attempts to communicate with discarnate spirits. When the eyes are
active the mind receives continual impressions of numerous objects
and occurrences that engage its attention and render it much less
receptive of occult influences. Hence by minimising or shutting out
the distractions of sight the soul of a sitter becomes very much
more attuned to whatever telepathy may exist in connection with such
external spirits as are present.
With regard to communicating in general the old proverb, “Practice
makes perfect,” holds good. Mediums, it is true, are born, not made;
but, as is the case with all human beings, their powers are at first
immature, and have to be developed by long-continued exercise and more
or less skilled training before the best results become attainable.
Every person who wishes to speak with the dead is--as is also every
other person in the world--at least a potential medium so far as he or
she knows at the outset. If it be found on trial that psychic powers
exist to an appreciable extent it may be taken for granted that they
are capable of very great increase by persevering effort and systematic
employment; and the growth may be such as to lead through the lower
to the higher forms of communicating. If, however, after repeated
experiments it appears that a susceptibility to psychical influences
is lacking or very moderate in degree, or if, for any other reason,
a continuance of personal effort be not desirable, then it becomes
necessary to have recourse to the services of mediums. These latter
may be either amateur or professional; but, whichever they are, their
utility depends upon the stage of development they have reached.
The term “development” as here used means an increased sensitiveness
of the perceptive faculty by which the medium becomes aware of and
influenced by the proximity of discarnate spirits. It means also an
intensified passivity of the normal soul, thus facilitating control by
the secondary mind or by external spirits. And it signifies furthermore
the placing of a larger proportion of the medium’s substance and
physical powers at the disposal of the controlling beings, thereby
enabling these existences to produce manifestations which otherwise
would be impossible. The actual _modus operandi_ of the use by a
control of a medium’s body and vitality is not yet understood; but the
fact of such use has been a matter of observation and experiment in
all ages of which we have any record. Hence the communication with a
discarnate spirit will be fuller, freer and more extended in proportion
to the better adaptation of the intermediate psychical mechanism.