Produced by Ruth Hart
[Note: In the original text, the Concise Dictionary of
Astrological Terms displayed a small astrological glyph illustration
next to each term, but I have not indicated these in this online text.]
HOW TO READ THE CRYSTAL
OR, CRYSTAL AND SEER
WITH A CONCISE DICTIONARY OF ASTROLOGICAL TERMS
BY
SEPHARIAL
AUTHOR OF "BOOK OF CARDS," "THE LITTLE BOOK OF MAGIC," ETC.
LONDON FOULSHAM & CO., LTD.
10 & 11, RED LION COURT, FLEET STREET, E.C.
1922
_Printed in Great Britain_
CONTENTS
Chapter I. A Postulate 5
Chapter II. Qualifications 13
Chapter III. Preliminaries 17
Chapter IV. The Vision 21
Chapter V. Difficulties 25
Chapter VI. Symbols 29
Chapter VII. Some Experiences 35
Chapter VIII. Directions for Using the Ovoids and
Spheres for Crystal or Mirror Vision 51
Chapter IX. Consise Dictionary of Astrological Terms 53
CHAPTER I.
A POSTULATE
Any attempt at a scientific explanation of the phenomenon of
"crystal seering," to use an irregular but comprehensive term,
would perhaps fall short of completeness, and certainly would
depend largely upon the exercise of what Professor Huxley was
wont to call "the scientific imagination." The reasons for this are
obvious. We know comparatively little about atomic structure in
relation to nervous organism. We are informed to a certain degree
upon atomic ratios; we know that all bodies are regarded by the
physicist as a congeries of atoms, and that these atoms are
"centres of force." Primarily, the atomic theory would refer all
heterogeneous bodies to one homogeneous substance, from which
substance, by means of a process loosely referred to as
"differentiation," all the elements are derived. These elements are
the result of atomic arrangement, and the atoms of each are known
to have various vibrations, the extent of which is called the "mean
free path of vibration." The indestructibility of matter, the fact that
all nature is convertible, and the absolute association of matter and
force, lead to the conclusion that since every change in matter
implies a change of force, matter must be ever living and active,
and primarily of a spiritual nature. The great Swedenborg, no less
a scientist than a spiritual seer, laid down his doctrine of
"Correspondences" upon the primary concept of the spiritual
origin of all force and matter. Matter, he argued, was the ultimate
expression of Spirit, as Form was that of Force. Spirit was to Force
what Matter was to Form--our ideas of Matter and Form being
closely related. Hence, for every _Spiritual Force_ there is a
corresponding _Material Form_, and the material or natural world
corresponds at all points with the world of spirit, without being
identical. This, in brief, is the conclusion to which the "scientific
imagination" of the present day, extending as it does from the
known into the unknown, is slowly but surely leading up.
Taking as our postulate the scientific statement of the atomic
structure of bodies, atomic vibration and molecular arrangement,
we turn to consider the action exerted by such bodies upon the
nervous organism of man.
The function of the brain--which must be regarded as the bulbous
root of a nervous plant whose branches grow downwards--is
twofold; to affect, and to be affected. In its active or positive
condition it affects the whole of the vital and muscular processes
in the man, finding expression in vital action. In its passive or
negative state it is affected by impressions coming to it in different
ways through the sense-organs, resulting in nervous and mental
action. It is this latter phase of brain-function with which we are
immediately concerned.
The range of our sense-perception puts us momentarily and
continually in relation with the material world, or rather with a
_certain portion_ of it. We say a certain portion because we
know from scientific experience that the scale or gamut of
sense-perception is limited, both as to its extent and as to its
quality. Many insects, birds, and quadrupeds have keener perceptions
in some respects than man. The photographic plate can register
impressions which are beyond the perception of our highest sense
of sight. The Röntgen rays have put us into relations with a new
order of impression--records quite beyond the range of our normal
vision. The animalcule and microbic life, itself microscopic, has
yet its own order of sense-organs related to a world of vitality
beyond our ken. These, and a host of other observations, serve to
show that our normal perceptions are extremely limited, and,
further, that nature does not cease to exist where we cease to
perceive her.
The relation of our sense-organs to the several degrees of matter,
to solids, fluids, gases, atmospheric and etheric motions, vary in
different individuals to such a wide extent that the average
wool-sorter leaves many an artist behind in his perception of
colour-shades. The same odour is perceptible by one person and
unrecognisable by another. In the gradation of sound, too, the
same differences of perception will be commonly noticed. But
quite apart from the scale or range of perception, the _quality_ of a
sense-impression is found to vary with different persons. By this
we mean that the same body will affect different persons in
dissimilar manner. Hence arises the variety of "tastes" in regard to
forms, colours, flavours, scents, sounds, fabrics, etc., what is
agreeable to one being highly objectionable to another. The
experience is to common to need illustration; but the conclusion to
which we are led is that, in relation to the nervous system of man,
every material body has a variable effect. And this clears the
ground for a statement of our views in regard to the Crystal and its
effects upon the seer.
The Crystal itself is a clear pellucid piece of quartz or beryl,
sometimes oval in shape, but more generally spheroidal. It is
accredited by Reichenbach and other researchers with highly
magnetic qualities capable of producing in a suitable subject a
state analogous to the ordinary waking trance of the hypnotists. It
is believed that all bodies convey, or are the vehicles of, a certain
universal magnetic property, variously called Od, Odyle, etc.,
which is regarded as an inert and passive substance underlying the
more active forces familiar to us in kinetic, calorific, and
electrical phenomena. In this respect it bears a position analogous
to the Argon of the atmosphere. It is capable of taking up,
sympathetically, the vibrations of those bodies or elements to
which it is temporarily related. But of itself it has no activity,
although in its still, well-like, and calm depths it holds the
potentiality of all magnetic forces. This Odyle, then, is particularly
potent in the quartz or beryl, when brought into activity by the
intention of the seer. It produces and retains more readily in that
form the various images communicated to it from the soul of man.
And the soul, in this connection, must be regarded as the
repository of all that complex mass of emotions, thoughts,
impressions, perceptions, feelings, etc., included in the inner life
of man; for the soul of man is not the less a scientific fact because
there are those who bandy words concerning its origin and nature.
Reichenbach has shown by a series of experiments upon sensitive
and hypnotised subjects that metals and other substances produce
very marked effects in contact with the human body. Those
experiments showed, too, that the same substance affected
different patients in diverse manner. The hypnotic experiments of
Dr. Charcot, the well-known French biologist, also demonstrate
the _rapport_ existing between the sensitive patient and foreign
bodies when in proximity or contact; as for example, when a bottle
containing a poison was taken at random from among a number of
others of exactly similar appearance, and applied to the back of the
patient's neck, the hypnotised subject would once develop all the
symptoms of poisoning by arsenic, strychnine, prussic acid, etc., it
being afterwards ascertained that the bottle thus applied actually
contained the toxine whose effects had been portrayed by the
subject.
It need not, then, be a matter of surprise to learn that the Crystal
exerts a very definite and sensible effect upon the nervous system
of a certain order of subjects. It does not affect all alike, nor act
in exactly the same way on those whom it does so affect. Where its
action is more or less rapid and remarkable, the quartz or beryl
Crystal may be taken as the most effective medium for producing
the vision. In other cases the concave mirror, either of polished
copper or black japan, will be found serviceable for inducing the
clairvoyant state. In some other cases, again, a bowl of water is
sufficient. The ecstatic vision was first induced in the case of
Jacob Boehme by the sun's rays falling upon a bowl of water
which caught and dazzled his eyes while he was engaged in the
humble task of cobbling a pair of shoes. As a consequence of this
exaltation of the sense of sight we have those remarkable
works, "The Aurora," "The Four Complexions," "The Signatura
Rerum," and many others, together with a volume of letters and
commentaries which, in addition to being of a highly spiritual
nature, must also be regarded as scholarly when referred to their
authorship.
In cases like the above it may be said that the clairvoyant faculty is
constitutional and already fully developed, waiting only the
circumstances which shall serve to bring it into active play,
Emanuel Swedenborg, if we remember rightly, was 54 years of
age before he awoke to the consciousness of his spiritual vision.
The medium employed for inducing the clairvoyant state cannot
be definitely prescribed. It must remain a matter of experiment for
each investigator. This, however, may be said: _Every person
whose life is not wholly sunk in selfish and material pleasures, but
in whom the aspiration to a nobler and purer life is a hunger the
world cannot satisfy, has within himself the power to see and
know that which he seeks behind the veil of his earthly senses.
Nature has never produced a desire she could not satisfy. There is
no hope, however vague, that the soul cannot define, and no
aspiration, however high, that the wings of the spirit cannot reach.
Therefore be patient and strive_.
That there are some in whom the psychic faculties are more prone
to activity than in others is certain, as also some in whom these
powers are native, by spiritual or hereditary succession; all of
which may be determined from their genitures by the astrological
art. In others, the determination of the natural powers takes a more
practical and mundane tendency, making them more successful in
the affairs of daily life than in aught of a spiritual nature St. Paul
has spoken of a diversity of gifts. "One star differeth from another
in glory," he says, in very truth. This distribution of natural gifts
proceeds from the celestial world, and is so ordered that each
person born on this earth may fulfil his part in the economy of
life. And because the spiritual needs of mankind are of primary
importance, there are those born in whom the power of spiritual
interpretation is the dominant faculty, such persons being the
natural channels of intercourse between the superior and inferior
worlds. These are to mankind what a certain order of microbic life
is to the body of man--organic interpreters, translating the
elements of food into blood, nerve, fibre, tissue, etc., agreeably to
the laws of their being.
For those who would aspire to the gift of pure vision, and in whom
the faculty is striving for expression, the following pages are
written. To others we would say, Be content. All birds are not
eagles. The nightingale has a song, the humming-bird a plumage
which the eagle will never possess. The nightingale may sing to
the stars, humming-bird to the flowers, but the eagle, whose
tireless eyes gaze into the heart of day, is uncompanioned in its
lofty loneliness in the barren mountain-tops.