H. P. B. ONPSYCHICAL

PHENOMENA

Articles by H. P. Blavatsky

WAR IN OLYMPUS

THE DRIFT OF WESTERN SPIRITUALISM

LOGIC VERSUS PERIPATETIC

QUERIES AND ANSWERS

INTRO-VERSION OF MENTAL VISION

HYPNOTISM AND ITS RELATIONSTO OTHER MODES OF FASCINATION

A CASE OF OBESSION

H. P. BLAVATSKY SERIES . No. 9

THEOSOPHY COMPANY (MYSORE) PRIVATE LTD.BANGALORE 560 004

THEOSOPHICAL LITERATUREISIS UNVEILED: A Master-Key to the Mysteries of Ancient and Modern Science andTheology By H. P. BLAVATSKY

Vol. I-SCIENCE, xlv+628 pages. Vol. II-THEOLOGY, iv+640 pp.

This exhaustive study af religian and science was Mme Blavatsky’s first prp.sentatian afTheasophy to the modern world. It is reproduced in photographic facsimile of the originaledition (1877), two volumes bound in one (cloth); complete with general index andsupPlementary topical index. American Edition

THE SECRET DOCTRINE: The Synthesis of Science, Religion, and Philosophy

Vol. I-COSMOGENES/S, xlvii + 676 Vol. II–Anthropogenesis pages. xiv + 798 pages.

A systematic development of Theosophical teachings on Cosmogenesis. Anthropogenesis,Symbolism, Comparative Religion, with extensive comparisons of ancient wisdom withscientific conceptions. Facsimile of original (/888) edition, two volumes bound in one(cloth) complete with index (xxx pp). American Edition

INDEX TO THE SECRET DOCTRINE:

All volume and page reference ta the Original Edition (London 1888) and to the photographicfacsimile reproduction (listed above).

Reprint x + 172 pages. American Edition

THE KEY TO THEOSOPHY: An Exposition, in Question and Answer. of

the Ethics, Science, and Philosophy of Theosophy By H. P. BLAVATSKY

Reprint of original edition (/889), xv+ 367 pages. Indian Edition

THE VOICE OF TIlE SILENCE: By H. P. BLAVATSKY

A blank verse rendition of chosen fragments from “The book of the Golden Precepts,”belonging to the contemplative or Mahayana (Yogacharya) School.

Reprint of the original edition (1889) iv + 79 pages (cloth). Indian Edition

TRANSACTIONS OF THE BLAVATSKY LODGE: By H. P. BLAVATSKY

Reprint of the original (1923) xxiv + 149 pages (cloth). American Edition

A MODERN PANARION: By H. P. BLAVATSKY

A collection of fugitive fragments. American Edition

THE OCEAN OF THEOSOPHY By WILLIAM Q. JUDGE.

A comprehensive text on the Theosophical philosophy by a co-founder of the TheosophicalMovement-widely used as a text in study classes.

Reprint of original edition (1893), xv+ 182 pages. Indian Edition

THE BHAGA V AD-GITA rendered into English by William Q. Judge

An ancient dialogue of Philosophical religion from the Hindu ePic, the

Mahabharata (cloth) xviii + 133 pages. Indian Edition

NOTES ON THE BHAGAVAD-GITA By W. Q. JUDGE Indian Edition

LETTERS THAT HAVE HELPED ME By W. Q. JUDGE

American Edition. and shorter Indian Edition

THE FRIENDLY PHILOSOPHER compiled from letters and talks by

Robert Crosbie. 415 pages, cloth. American Edition

UNIVERSAL THEOSOPHY By ROBERT CROSBIE, Indian Edition

FIVE YEARS OF THEOSOPHY

Essays selected from the Theosophist. American Edition

Order fromTheosophy Company (Mysore) Private Ltd.,

4, Sir Krishna Rao Road, Bangalore 560004 INDIA

OBJECTS OF THE THEOSOPHICAL MOVEMENT

I To form the nucleus of a Universal Brotherehood of Humanity,without distinction of race, creed, sex, caste, or color;

II The study of ancient and modern religions, philosophies andsciences, and the demonstration of the importance of suchstudy; and

III The investigation of the unexplained laws of Nature and thepsychical powers latent in man.

The articles of H.P. Blavatsky and W. Q. Judgewhich originally appeared in teh Theosophist,Lucifer and the Path, were issued in pamphletform by the THE THEOSOPHY COMPANY, LosAngeles, U.S.A. For the benefit of students andinquires in India, these are now being reprintedin an Indian edition.Reprint Edition : 1982

By courtesy: The Theosophy Company, 245, West 33rd St., LosAngeles, Calif. 90007, U. S.A.

Printed by V. N. Iyer at Commercial Printing House, 41/1, 3rd MainRoad, Gandhinagar, Bangalore 560 009 and published by J. M.Tijoriwala for Theosophy Company (Mysore) Private Ltd., 4, Sir KrishnaRao Road, Basavanagudi, Bangalore 560 004.

FOREWORD

THE reader of this group of articles by H. P. Blavatsky hasopportunity to gain some realization of the impact on Western thoughtof the wave of psychical phenomena which occurred during the lasthalf of the nineteenth century, and to see how, at her hands, thesestrange happenings were made to serve the purposes of theTheosophical movement.

“War in Olympus,” which appeared in the first issue (November,1879) of the Theosophist, the magazine founded by H.P.B. in India,deals with the intense controversy precipitated in scientific circles inEurope, as the result of the admission by several leading scientistsof the reality of Spiritualistic phenomena. While not sharing the viewsof the Spiritualists concerning the forces or intelligences behind thephenomena, H.P.B. defeoded their champions against attacks basedupon blind denial of such possibilities; and she went on to show that,if recognized as happenings which

were inexplicable in merely physical terms, the demonstrations ofthe Spiritualists could be regarded as a needed antidote to the extremescepticism inherited from the eighteenth century.

“The Drift of Western Spiritualism,” which first appeared in theTheosophist for October, 1879, pointed to the wealth of enlighteningmaterial to be found in the psychological lore of ancient Orientalliterature. The meaning of the phenomena, H.P.B. proposed, could bediscovered with the help of the ancient teachings that were to bepublished in her Theosophical journal.

In “Logic versus Peripatetic,” published in the Theosophist forApril, 1881, H.P.B. takes a journalist to task for defending traditional

H. P. B. ON PSYCHICAL PHENOMENA2

Christian beliefs simply on the ground that they are cherished andfamiliar, while ridiculing certain Theosophists and some Spiritualistsfor their views.

A large part of a newspaper report of the feats of an Indianwonder-worker is reprinted by H.P.B. in her article, “Queries andAnswers,” which was published in Lucifer for September, 1890. Thisreview, provided in reply to a question by a Lucifer subscriber, givesthe reader a detailed account of the extraordinary performance of afakir. The newspaper article attempts to dispose of what was witnessedby the spectators as “mere hypnotism,” but H.P.B. indicates that farmore than this was involved and challenges Western hypnotists toduplicate the fakir’s achievements. She values the report for its factualrevelations, however, suggesting that they corroborate theTheosophical teachings.

“Intro-version of Mental Vision” (from the Theosophist, February,1884) is concerned with a little-known psychological law, the effectsof which have been noted by psychic researchers.

Shortly before she died, H.P.B. published in Lucifer for December,1890, her important analysis, “Hypnotism, and its Relations to OtherModes of Fascination.” The vital distinction between Mesmerism andHypnotism is made clear, and the writer supplies explanatory statementson the processes of this sort of psychic influence which are not foundelsewhere.

“A Case of Obsession” was printed in the Theosophist for May,1880. Here H.P.B. gives the rationale of one of the most puzzling anddangerous of psychic disorders, showing, once again, the importanceof knowledge of Eastern philosophy for reaching an explanation ofcontagions of this sort. What is said in this article lends force to thewarnings so often given in Theosophical literature concerning therisks of holding séances and visiting mediums.

Theosophist, November 1893

WAR IN OLYMPUSBy H. P. BLAVATSKY

DARK clouds are gathering over the hitherto cold and serenehorizon of exact science, which forebode a squall. Already two campsare forming among the votaries of scientific research. One wages waron the other, and hard words are occasionally exchanged. The appleof discord in this case is-Spiritualism. Fresh and illustrious victims areyearly decoyed away from the impregnable strongholds of materialisticnegation, and ensnared into examining and testing the alleged spiritualphenomena. And we all know that when a true scientist examinesthem without prejudice . . . well, he generally ends like Professor Hare,Mr. William Crookes, F. R.S., the great Alfred Russell Wallace, anotherF .R. S., and so many other eminent men of science-he passes overto the enemy.

We are really curious to know what will be the new theory advancedin the present crisis by the sceptics, and how they will account forsuch an apostasy of several of their luminaries, as has just occurred.The venerable accusations of non compos mentis, and “dotage” willnot bear another refurbishing: the eminent perverts are increasingnumerically so fast, that if mental incapacity is charged upon all ofthem who experimentally satisfy themselves that tables can talk sense,and mediums float through the air, it might augur ill for science; theremight soon be none but weakened brains in the learned societies.They may, possibly, for a time find some consolation in accountingfor the lodgment of the extraordinary “delusion” in very scholarlyheads, upon the theory of atavism-the mysterious law of latenttransmission, so much favoured by the modern schools of Darwinianevolutionism-especially in Germany, as represented by that thorough-going apostle of “modern struggle for culture,” Ernst-Haeckel,

H. P. B. ON PSYCHICAL PHENOMENA 5WAR IN OLYMPUS

professor at Jena. They may attribute the belief of their colleagues inthe phenomena, to certain molecular movements of the cell in theganglia of their once powerful brains, hereditarily transmitted to themby their ignorant medieval ancestors. Or, again, they may split theirranks, and establishing an imperium in imperio “divide and conquer”still. All this is possible; but time alone will show which of the partieswill come off best.

We have been led to these reflections by a row now going onbetween German and Russian professors-all eminent and illustrioussavants. The Teutons and Slavs, in the case under observation, arenot fighting according to their nationality but conformably to theirrespective beliefs and unbeliefs. Having concluded, for the occasion,an offensive as well as a defensive alliance, regardless of race-theyhave broken up in two camps, one representing the spiritualists, andthe other the sceptics. And now war to the knife is declared. Leadingone party, are Professors Zollner, Ulrizzi, and Fichte, Butler of andWagner, of the Leipzig, Halle and St Petersburg Universities; the otherfollows Professors Wundt, Mendeley of, and a host of other Germanand Russian celebrities. Hardly bas Zollner-a most renowned astronomerand physicist-printed his confessions of faith in Dr. Slade’s mediumisticphenomena and set his learned colleagues aghast when ProfessorUlrizzi of the Halle University arouses the wrath of the Olympus ofscience by publishing a pamphlet entitled “The so-called Spiritualisma Scientific Question,” intended as a complete refutation of thearguments of Professor Wundt, of the Leipzig University, against themodern belief, and contained in another pamphlet called by its author“spiritualism-the so-called scientific question.” And now steps in another active combatant, Mr. Butler of, Professor of Chemistry andNatural Sciences, of St. Petersburg, who narrates his experiments inLondon, with the medium Williams, and thus rouses up a mostferocious polemic. Thehumoristical illustrated paper Kladderadatchexecutes a war-dance, and shouts with joy, while the more seriousconservative papers are indignant. Pressed behind their lastentrenchments by the cool and uncontrovertible assertions of a mostdistinguished naturalist, the critics led forward by the St. Petersburgstar, Mr. Bourenine, seem desperate, and evidently short of ammunition,since they are reduced to the expedient of trying to rout the enemywith the most remarkable paradoxes. The pro and con of the disputeare too interesting, and our posterity might complain, were the incidentssuffered to be left beyond the reach of English and American readers

interested in Spiritualism, by remaining confined to the German andRussian newspapers. So, Homer-like, we will follow the combatantsand condense this modernlliad for the benefit of our friends.

After several years of diligent research and investigation of thephenomena, Messrs. Wagner and Butlerof, both distinguished savantsand professors in St. Petersburg University, became thoroughlyconvinced of the reality of the weird manifestations. As a result, bothwrote numerous and strong articles in the leading periodicals in defenceof the “mischievous epidemic”-as in his moments of “unconsciouscerebration “and” prepossession” in favour of his own hobby, Dr.Carpenter calls spiritualism. Both of the above eminent gentlemen, areendowed with those precious qualities, which are the more’ to berespected as they are so seldom met with among our men of science.These qualities, admitted by their critic himself, Mr. Bourenine, are: (1)a serious and profound conviction that what they defend is true; (2)an unwavering courage in stating at every hazard, before a prejudicedand inimical public that such is their conviction; (3) clearness andconsecutiveness in their statements; (4) the serene calmness andimpartiality with which they treat the opinions of their opponents; (5)a full and profound acquaintance with the subject underdiscussion.The combination of the qualities enumerated, adds their critic, “leadsus to regard the recent article by Professor Butlerof, Empiricismand Dogmatism in the Domain of Mediumship, as one of thoseessays whose commending significance cannot be denied and whichare sure to strongly impress the readers. Such articles are positivelyrare in our periodicals; rare because of the originality of the author’sconclusions; and because of the clear, precise, and serious presentationof facts”. . . .’

The article so eulogized may be summed up in a few words. Wewill not stop to enumerate the marvels of spiritual phenomena witnessedby Professor Zollner with Dr. Slade and defended by Prof. Butlerof,since they are no more marvellous than the latter gentlemen’s personalexperience in this direction with Mr. Williams, a medium of London,in ] 876. The seances took place in a London hotel in the roomoccupied by the Honorable Alexandre Aksakof, Russian ImperialCouncillor, in which, with the exception of this gentleman, there werebut two other persons,-Prof. Butlerof and the medium. Confederacywas thus utterly impossible. And now, what took place under theseconditions, which so impressed one of the first scientists of Russia?

4

H. P. B. ON PSYCHICAL PHENOMENA6 7WAR IN OLYMPUS

Simply this: Mr. Williams, the medium, was made to sit with his hands,feet, and even his person tightly bound with cords to his chair, whichwas placed in a dead-wall corner of the room, behind Mr. ButIerof’splaid hung across so as to form a screen. Williams soon fell into a kindof lethargic stupor, known among spiritualists as the trance condition,and “spirits” began to appear before the eyes of the investigators.Various voices were heard, and loud sentences, pronounced by the“invisibles,” from every part of the room; things-toilet appurtenancesand so forth, began flying in every direction through the air; andfinally “John King”-a sort of king of the spooks, who has beganfamous for years-made his appearance bodily. But we must allow Prof.Butlerof to tell his phenomenal story himself. “We first saw moving”-he writes- “several bright lights in the air, and immediately after thatappeared the full figure of ‘John King.’ His apparition is generallypreceded by a greenish phosphoric light which, gradually becomingbrighter, illuminates more and more, the whole bust of John King.Then it is that those present perceive that the light emanates fromsome kind of a luminous object held by the ‘spirit.’ The face of a manwith a thick black beard becomes clearly distinguishable; the head isenveloped in a white turban. The figure appears outside the cabinet(that is to say, the screened corner where the medium sat), and finallyapproaches us. We saw it each time for a few seconds; then rapidlywaning, the light was extinguished and the figure became invisible toreappear again in a moment or two; then from the surrounding darkness,‘John’s’ voice is heard proceeding from the spot on which he hadappeared mostly, though not always, when he had already disappeared.‘John’ asked us ‘what can I do for you?’ and Mr. Aksakof requestedhim to rise up to the ceiling and from there speak to us. In accordancewith the wish expressed, the figure suddenly appeared above the tableand towered majestically above our heads to the ceiling which becameall illuminated with the luminous object held in the spirit’s hand, when‘John’ was quite under the ceiling he shouted down to us: ‘Will thatdo?’”

During another seance M. Butlerof asked “John” to approach himquite near, which the “spirit” did, and so gave him the opportunity ofseeing clearly “the sparkling, clear eyes of John.” Another spirit,“Peter,” though he never put in a visible appearance during theseances, yet conversed with Messrs. Butlerof and Aksakof, wrote forthem on paper furnished by them, and so forth.

Though the learned professor minutely enumerates all theprecautions he had taken against possible fraud, the critic is not yetsatisfied, and asks, pertinently enough: “Why did not the respectablesavant catch ‘Jobn’ in his arms, when the spirit was but at a foot’sdistance from him? Again, why did not both Messrs. Aksakof andButlerof try to get hold of ‘John’s’ legs, when he was mounting to theceiling? Indeed they ought to have done all this, if they are really soanxious to learn the truth for their own sake, as for that of science,when they struggle to lead on toward the domains of the ‘otherworld.’ And, had they complied with such a simple and, at the sametime, very little scientific test, there would be no more need for them,perhaps, to . . . further explain the scientific importance of the spiritualmanifestations.”

That this importance is not exaggerated, and has as muchsignificance for the world of science, as for that of religious thought,is proved by so many philosophical minds speculating upon themodern “delusion.” This is what Fichte, the learned German savant,says of it. “Modern spiritualism chiefly proves the existence of thatwhich, in common parlance, is very vaguely and inaptly termed‘apparition of spirits.’ If we concede the reality of such apparitions,then they become an undeniable, practical proof of the continuationof our personal, conscious existence (beyond the portals of death).And such a tangible, fully demonstrated fact cannot be otberwise butbeneficent in this epoch, which, having fallen into a dreary denial ofimmortality, thinks, in the proud self-sufficiency of its vast intellect,that it has already happily left behind it every superstition of thekind.” If such a tangible evidence could be really found, anddemonstrated to us, beyond any doubt or cavil, reasons Ficbte furtheron,- “if the reality of the continuation of our lives after death werefurnished us upon positive proof, in strict accordance with the logicalelements of experimental nature sciences, then it would be, indeed, aresult with which, owing to its nature and peculiar signification forhumanity, no other result to be met with in all the history of civilizationcould be compared. The old problem about man’s destination uponearth would be thus solved, and consciousness in humanity would beelevated one step. That which, hitherto, could be revealed to man butin the domain of blind faith, presentiment, and passionate hope, wouldbecome to him-positive knowledge; he would have acquired thecertainty that he was a member of an eternal, a spiritual world, inwhich he would continue living, and that his temporary existence

H. P. B. ON PSYCHICAL PHENOMENA8 9WAR IN OLYMPUS

upon this earth forms but a fractional portion of a future eternal life,and that it is only there that he would be enabled to perceive, andfully comprehend his real destination. Having acquired this profoundconviction, mankind would be thoroughly impressed with a new andanimating comprehension of life, and its intellectual perceptionsopened to an idealism strong with incontrovertible facts. This wouldprove tantamount to a complete reconstruction of man in relation tohis existence as an entity and mission upon earth; it would be, so tosay, a ‘new birth.’ Whoever has lost all inner convictions as to hiseternal destination, his faitb in eternal life, whether the case be thatof an isolated individuality, a whole nation, or the representative ofa certain epoch, be or it may be regarded as having had uprooted, andto the very core, all sense of that invigorating force which alone lendsitself to selfdevotion and to progress. Such a man becomes what wasinevitable -an egotistical, selfish, sensual being, concerned wholly forhis selfpreservation. His culture, his enlightenment, and civilization.can serve him but as a help and ornamentation toward that life ofsensualism, or, at best, to guard him from all that can harm it.”

Such is the enormous importance attributed by Professor Fichteand Professor Butlerof of Germany and Russia to the spiritualphenomena; and we may say the feeling is more than sincerely echoedin England by Mr. A. R. Wallace, F.R.S. (See his “Miracles and ModernSpiritualism.”)

An influential American scientific journal uses an equally stronglanguage when speaking of the value that a scientific demonstrationof the survival of the human soul would have for the world. Ifspiritualism prove true, it says, “it will become the one grand eventof the world’s history; it will give an imperishable lustre of glory tothe Nineteenth Century. Its discoverer will have no rival in renown,and his name will be written high above any other. . . . If the pretensionsof Spiritualism have a rational foundation, no more important work hasbeen offered to men of science than their verification.” (ScientificAmerican, 1874, as quoted in Olcott’s “People from the Other World,”p. v, Pref.)

And now we will see what the stubborn Russian critic (who seemsto be but the mouthpiece of European materialistic science) has to sayin response to the unanswerable arguments and logic of Messrs.Fichte and Butlerof. If scepticism bas no stronger arguments to opposeto spiritualism but the following original paradox, then we will have

to declare it worsted in the dispute. Instead of the beneficial resultsforetold by Fichte in the case of the final triumph of spiritualism, thecritic forecasts quite a different state of things.

“As soon,” he says, “as such scientific methods shall havedemonstrated, beyond doubt or cavil, to the general satisfaction, thatour world is crammed with souls of men who have preceded us, andwhom we will all join in turn; as soon as it shall be proven that these‘souls of the deceased’ can communicate with mortals, all the earthlyphysical science of the eminent scholars will vanish like a soapbubble, and will have lost all its interest for us living men. Whyshould people care for their proportionately short life upon earth,once that they have the positive assurance and conviction of anotherlife to come after the bodily death; a death which does not in the leastpreclude conscious relations with the world of the living, or even theirpost-mortem participation in all its interests? Once, that with the helpof science, based on mediumistic experiments and the discoveries ofspiritualism, such relations shall have been firmly established, theywill naturally become with every day more and more intimate; anextraordinary friendship will ensue between this and the ‘other’ worlds;that other world will begin divulging to this one the most occultmysteries of life and death, and the hitherto most inaccessible lawsof the universe-those which now exact the greatest efforts of man’smental powers. Finally, nothing will remain for us in this temporaryworld to either do or desire, but to pass away as soon as possibleinto the world of eternity. No inventions, no observations. no scienceswill be any more needed!! Why should people exercise their brains,for instance, in perfecting the telegraphs, when nothing else will berequired but to be on good terms with spirits in order to avail of theirservices for the instantaneous transmission of thoughts and objects,not only from Europe to America, but even to the moon, if so desired?The following are a few of the results which a communion de factobetween this world and the ‘other’, that certain men of science arehoping to establish by the help of spiritualism, will inevitably lead usto: to the complete extinction of all science, and even of the humanrace, which will be ever rushing onward to a better life. The learnedand scholarly phantasists who are so anxious to promote the scienceof spiritualism, i.e., of a close communication between the two worlds,ought to bear the above in mind.”

To which, the “scholarly phantasists” would be quite warranted inanswering that one would have to bring his own mind to the exact

H. P. B. ON PSYCHICAL PHENOMENA10 11WAR IN OLYMPUS

measure of microscopic capacity required to elaborate such a theoryas this, before he could take it into consideration at all. Is the abovemeant to be offered as an objection for serious consideration? Strangelogic! We are asked to believe that, because these men of science,who now believe in naught but matter, and thus try to fit everyphenomenon-even of a mental, and spiritual character,

within the Procrustean bed of their own preconceived hobbies,would find them selves, by the mere strength of circumstances forced,in their turn, to fit these cherished hobbies to truth, howeverunwelcome, and to facts wherever found-that because of that, sciencewill lose all its charm for humanity. Nay-life itself will become aburden! There are millions upon millions of people who, withoutbelieving in spiritualism at all, yet have faith in another and a betterworld. And were that blind faith to become positive knowledge indeed,it could but better humanity.

Before closing his scathing criticism upon the “credulous men ofscience,” our reviewer sends one more bomb in their direction, whichunfortunately like many other explosive shells misses the culprits andwounds the whole group of their learned colleagues. We translate themissile verbatim, this time for the benefit of all the European andAmerican academicians.

“The eminent professor,” he adds, speaking of Butler of, and hisarticle, “among other things, makes the most of the strange fact thatspiritualism gains with every day more and more converts within thecorporation of our great scientists. He enumerates a long list ofEnglish and German names among illustrious men of science, whohave more or less confessed themselves in favour of the spiritualdoctrines. Among these names we find such as are quite authoritative,those of the greatest luminaries of science. Such a fact is, to say theleast, very striking, and in any case, lends a great weight to spiritualism.But we have only to ponder coolly over it, to come very easily to theconclusion that it is just among such great men of science thatspiritualism is most likely to spread and find ready converts. Withall their powerful intellects and gigantic knowledge, our great scholarsare firstly men of sedentary habits, and, secondly, they are, withscarcely an exception, men with diseased and shattered nerves,inclined toward an abnormal development of an overstrained brain.Such sedentary men are the easiest to hoodwink; a clever charlatanwill make an easier prey of, and bamboozle with far more facility a

scholar than an unlearned but practical man. Hallucination will farsooner get hold of persons inclined to nervous receptivity, especiallyif they once concentrate themselves upon some peculiar ideas, or afavourite hobby. This, I believe, will explain the fact that, we see somany men of science enrolling themselves in the army of spiritualists.”

We need not stop to enquire how Messrs. Tyndall, Huxley, Darwin,Herbert Spencer, Lewes, and other eminent scientific and philosophicalsceptics, will like such a prospect of rickety ganglionic centres,collective softening of the brain, and the resulting “hallucinations.“The argument is’not only an impertinent naivete, but a literarymonstrosity.

We are far from agreeing entirely with the views of ProfessorButlerof, or even Mr. Wallace, as to the agencies at work behind themodern phenomena; yet between the extremes of spiritual negationand affirmation, there ought to be a middle ground; only purephilosophy can establish truth upon firm principles; and no philosophycan be complete unless it embraces both physics and metaphysics.Mr. Tyndall, who declares (“Science and Man”) that “Metaphysicswill be welcomed when it abandons its pretensions to scientificdiscovery, and consents to be ranked as a kind of poetry,” openshimself to the criticism of posterity. Meanwhile, he must not regard itas an impertinence if his spiritualistic opponents retort with the answerthat “physics will always be welcomed, when it abandons itspretensions to psychological discovery.” The physicists will have toconsent to be regarded in a near future as no more than supervisorsand analysts of physical results, who have to leave the spiritualcauses to those who believe in them. Whatever the issue of thepresent quarrel, we fear, though, that spiritualism has made itsappearance a century too late. Our age is pre-eminently one of extremes.The earnest philosophical, yet reverent doubters are few, and thename for those who rush to the opposite extreme is-Legion. We arethe children of our century. Thanks to that same law of atavism, itseems to have inherited from its parent the eighteenth-century of bothVoltaire and Jonathan Edwards all its extreme scepticism, and, at thesame time, religious credulity and bigoted intolerance. Spiritualism isan abnormal and premature outgrowth, standing between the two; and,though it stands right on the high-way to truth, its ill-defined beliefs makeit wander on through by-paths which lead to anything but philosophy. Itsfuture depends wholly upon the timely help it can receive from honestscience-that science which scorns no truth. It was, perhaps, when thinking

H. P. B. ON PSYCHICAL PHENOMENA12

of the opponents of the latter, that Alfred de Musset wrote thefollowing magnificent apostrophe :

Sleepest thou content,Voltaire; And thy dread smile hovers it still aboveThy fle’Shless bones. . . . . . . . . . ?Thine age they call too young to understand theeThis one should suit thee better

Thy men are born!And the huge edifice that, day and night, thy great

hands undermined,.Is fallen upon us. . . . . . . . . . .

Theosophist, November 1879

THE DRIFT OF WESTERN SPIRITUALISM

LATE advices from various parts of the world seem to indicatethat, while there is an increasing interest in the phenomena ofspiritualism, especially among eminent men of science, there is alsoa growing desire to learn the views of the Theosophists. The firstimpulse of hostility has nearly spent itself, and the moment approacheswhen a patient hearing will be given to our arguments. This wasforeseen by us from the beginning. The founders of our Society weremainly veteran Spiritualists, who had outgrown their first amazementat the strange phenomena, and felt the necessity to investigate thelaws of mediumship to the very bottom. Their reading of mediaevaland ancient works upon the occult sciences had shown them that ourmodern phenomena were but repetitions of what had been seen,studied, and comprehended in former epochs. In the biographies ofascetics, mystics, theurgists, prophets, ecstatics; of astrologers,“diviners,” “magicians” “sorcerers,” and other students, subjects, orpractitioners of the Occult Power in its many branches, they foundample evidence that Western Spiritualism could only be comprehendedby the creation of a science of Comparative Psychology. By a likesynthetic method the philologists, under the lead of Eugene Burnouf,had unlocked the secrets of religious and philological heredity, andexploded Western theological theories and dogmas until then deemedimpregnable.

Proceeding in this spirit, the Theosophists thought they discoveredsome reasons to doubt the correctness of the spiritualistic theory thatall the phenomena of the circles must of necessity be attributed solelyto the action of spirits of our deceased friends. The ancients knewand classified other supracorporeal entities that are capable of movingobjects, floating the bodies of mediums through the air, giving apparenttests of the identity of dead persons, and controlling sensitives towrite and speak strange languages, paint pictures, and play onunfamiliar musical instruments. And not only knew them, but showedhow these invisible powers might be con trolled by man, and madeto work these wonders at his bidding. They found, moreover, thatthere were two sides of Occultism-a good and an evil side; and that

H. P. B. ON PSYCHICAL PHENOMENA14 THE DRAFT OF WESTERN SPIRITUALISM 15

it was a dangerous and fearful thing for the inexperienced to meddlewith the latter, -dangerous to our’ moral as to our physical nature. Theconviction forced itself upon their minds, then, that while the weirdwonders of Spiritualism were among the most important of all thatcould be studied, mediumship, without the most careful attention toevery condition, was fraught with peril.

Thus thinking, and impressed with the great importance of athorough knowledge of mesmerism and all other branches of Occultism,these founders established the Theosophical Society, to read, inquire,compare, study, experiment and expound, the mysteries of Psychology.This range of inquiry, of course, included an investigation of Vedic,Brahmanical and other ancient Oriental literature; for in that-especiallythe former, the grandest repository of wisdom ever accessible tohumanity-lay the entire mystery of nature and of man. To comprehendmodern mediumship it is, in short, indispensable to familiarize oneselfwith the Yoga Philosophy; and the aphorisms of Patanjali are evenmore essential than the “Divine Revelations” of Andrew JacksonDavis. We can never know how much of the mediumistic phenomenawe must attribute to the disembodied, until it is settled how much canbe done by the embodied, human soul, and the blind but activepowers at work within those regions which are yet unexplored byscience. Not even proof of an existence beyond the grave, if it mustcome to us in a phenomenal shape. This will be conceded withoutqualification, we think, provided that the records of history be admittedas corroborating the statements we have made.

The reader will observe that the primary issue between thetheosophical and spiritualistic theories of mediumistic phenomena isthat the Theosophists say the phenomena may be produced by moreagencies than one, and the latter that but one agency can be conceded,namely-the disembodied souls. There are other differences -as, forinstance, that there can be such a thing as the obliteration of thehuman individuality as the result of very evil environment; that goodspirits seldom, if ever, cause physical “manifestations”; etc. But thefirst point to settle is the one here first stated; and we have shownhow and in what directions the Theosophists maintain that theinvestigations should be pushed.

Our East Indian readers, unlike those of Western countries whomay see these lines, do not know how warmly and stoutly theseissues have been debated, these past three or four years. Suffice it

to say that, a point having been reached where arguments seemed nolonger profitable, the controversy ceased; and that the present visitof the New York Theosophists, and their establishment of the BombayHeadquarters, with the library, lectures, and this journal, are its tangibleresults. That this step must have a very great influence upon Westernpsychological science is apparent. Whether our Committee arethemselves fully competent to observe and properly expound EasternPsychology or not, no one will deny that Western Science mustinevitably be enriched by the contributions of the Indian, Sinhalese,and other mystics who will now find in THE THEOSOPHIST a channelby which to reach European and American students of Occultism,such as was never imagined, not to say seen, before. It is our earnesthope and belief that after the broad principles of our Society, itsearnestness, and exceptional facilities for gathering Oriental wisdomare well understood, it will be better thought of than now bySpiritualists, and attract into its fellowship many more of their brightestand best intellects.

Theosophy can be styled the enemy of Spiritualism with no morepropriety than of Mesmerism, or any other branch of Psychology. Inthis wondrous outburst of phenomena that the Western world hasbeen seeing since 1848, is presented such an opportunity to investigatethe hidden mysteries of being as the world has scarcely known before.Theosophists only urge that these phenomena shall be studied sothoroughly that our epoch shall not pass away with the mightyproblem unsolved. Whatever obstructs this-whether the narrownessof sciolism, the dogmatism of theology or the prejudice of any otherclass, should be swept aside as something hostile to the publicinterest. Theosophy, with its design to search back into historicrecords for proof, may be regarded as the natural outcome ofphenomenalistic Spiritualism, or as a touchstone to show the value ofits pure gold. One must know both to comprehend what is Man.

17LOGIC VERSUS PERIPATETICTheosophist, April 1881

LOGIC VERSUS PERIPATETIC

IT is hardly the province of our journal to notice the fugitivevagaries of occasional correspondents in daily papers, unless bychance some article happens to contain some useful or very interestingand quite impersonal information. We have held to the good rule tillnow, and hope to continue. On this principle we would have hardlygiven any attention to a certain paragraph in the Bombay Gazette(March 16, 1881) signed “your Peripatetic,” and headed “CurrentPhilosophy” were it not for the strong illustration it affords us of thatperverse spirit, called “respectable deference to public opinion,’ ‘butwhich “for short’ ‘we call hypocrisy. The writer in question throwsstones into our garden and, but for our having by this time grownsomewhat indifferent to that sort of thing, we might well find in hispersonalities alone abundant excuse for retorting upon him. But wehave a far more serious object in view, and this once the speculativelucubration’s of the “current” philosopher will do us better servicethan his party have perhaps, bargained for. For, for us, “Peripatetic”decidedly represents a party. He is the mouth-piece of that majorityin our modern-day society which has worked itself out an elaboratepolicy full of sophistry and paradox, behind which every memberclumsily hides his own personal views. The words of their Revelation,“I would thou wert cold or hot” apply to our modern society far betterthan to the church of the Laodiceans; and knowing their works andthat they are “neither cold nor hot, “but like a faithful thermometerfollow the changing moral temperature of the day, we will now analyzesome of the desultory rhapsodies of the writer on “CurrentPhilosophy.”

When we have done that, he is at liberty to go on chuckling overhis pen which traced his rather stale denunciation of the “simplicity”of Mr. and the Simla “Occultists!” “The simplicity” ofthe gentleman whom the “Peripatetic” names in the Gazette in full-anexample of bad breeding we shall surely not follow being an adjectiveapplied by him to a man of the most acute and remarkable intellect,

and one whose ability and talents are universally recognizedthroughout India and Europe, speaks iI1, by the bye, for his ownpowers of discrimination. When one presumes to sign himself a“Peripatetic,” he ought to honour his classical pseudonyme by at leastborrowing some logic for the occasion if he has none himsel~ tospare. Having thus cursorily noticed the poor fling at the Simla“simpletons,” we wil1 now lay before our readers a sample of the logicof that alleged pupil of Aristotle, which “Peripatetic” so paradoxicallyassumes to be.

Quoting Carlyle’s famous proposition (who may have had such“Peripatetics” in mind) that the population of Great Britain consists of“thirty millions mostly fools,” and having offered by way of self-incense on the altar of patriotism his own postulate that “the intellectof the average Briton is however, certainly higher than the averageintellect of general humanity, “the critic proceeds if we may be forgiventhe Americanism-to scalp believers in phenomena. The simplicity ofthe “Simla occultists.” however, he confesses, “is outdone by theinnocence of some ‘titled people’ who, according to the evidence ofa witness in the Fletcher trial, ‘will believe anything’-a statementwhich appears strictly accurate.”

Fletcher and Company, together with two-thirds of the tradingprofessional mediums, we may leave to his tender mercies. Havingdenounced these for the last six years, we even heartily agree in somerespects with the writer; as, for instance, when he deprecates thosewho “would believe anything.” No one of the over-credulous whorecognise so readily in dark seances, in every shadow on the wa1l orin the medium’s pocket-handkerchief, their “aunt, or uncle, orsomebody” has any right to complain if they are regarded as “fools,”though even in such cases, it is far more honourable to be found outto be an honest fool. than a cheating medium. Nor do we blame thewriter for laughing at those who so trustingly believe. . . . “that whenit pleased the medium to wind up the musical-box, one of thisintellectual audience asserted that he felt that virtue had gone out ofhim, and that this magnetism was winding up the box”: uncharitablethough it be, it is yet natural. And were “Peripatetic” to stop hisphilosophical disquisitions with the just remark. . . . “And yet probablythese ‘titled’ fools would be ready enough to talk of the darksuperstitions of the benighted Hindoo, or indeed, if they happened tobe fervent Protestants, of the superstitions of their Catholic neighbors,while doubtless believing that they them selves were making a scientific

H. P. B. ON PSYCHICAL PHENOMENA18 19LOGIC VERSUS PERIPATETIC

investigation,” this review of his “Current Philosophy” need neverhave seen print. We would not have even noticed the ridiculousblunder he falls into, with so many other critics, in confusingphenomena for which the agency of “disembodied spirits” is claimed,with natural phenomena for which every tithe of supernaturalism isrejected. We might have overlooked his ignorance, as he was, perhaps,never told that natural are the only phenomena Theosophists accept,and the only way they are trying to fathom the mystery; and that theirobject is precisely to put down every element of superstition or beliefin the miraculous or the supernatural, instead of countenancing it ashe believes. But what are we to think of a philosopher, an allegedPeripatetic, who after exercising his acute reason ing upon the’ ‘folly”of the superstitious beliefs of the spiritualists and the occultists,winds up his arguments with the most unexpected rhetoricalsommersault ever made. The proposition which he emits in the samebreath seems so preposterously illogical and monstrous, that we cancharacterize it but in the felicitous words of Southey, viz., as “one ofthe most untenable that ever was advanced by a perverse, paradoxicalintellect.” Listen to him and judge ye, logicians and true disciples ofAristotle: “No, no!” exclaims our philosopher ‘“ “Religious beliefswhich are imbibed with our mother’s milk, and which most around usaccept, cannot be regarded as superstitions. It is natural to the humanmind to regard doctrines presented to it with the authority of by gonegenerations as probable and natural. Earnest belief of this nature maynot always command our respect, but it must invariably attract oursympathy. The superstitious follies of ‘table-turners’ and ‘spiritists’ ofall sorts can only command our hearty contempt. How much exposurewill be necessary to teach persons of this sort that secrets of naturewhich have been hidden from investigators like Newton, Davy, Faraday,and Tyndall are not likely to be opened to them?” And we beg leaveto tell him, that he, who does not believe in Spiritualism cannotbelieve in Christianity, for the very foundation of that faith is thematerialisation of their Saviour. A Christian if he has any right at allto attack spiritual phenomena, can do so but on the ground of thedogmas of his religion. He can say-”such manifestations are of thedevil “he dare not say “they are impossible, and do not exist.” For,if spiritualism and occultism are a superstition and a falsebood thenis Christianity, the same Christianity with its Mosaic miracles andwitches of End or, its resurrections and materialisation of angels, andhundreds of other spiritual and occult phenomena.

Does “Peripatetic” forget, ,that while there are many real inquirersamong well-known men of science, like Messrs. Wallace, Crookes,Wagner, ButIerof, Zollner, Hare, Fichte, and Camille Flammarion, whohave thoroughly investigated and hence thoroughly believe in thephenomena called “spiritual” till a better name is found, and in somecases are even spiritualists themselves: no Tyndall, no Huxley, noFaraday, no investigator yet since the world was created, has everbeen able to prove, let alone one of the religious human dogmas, buteven the existence of a God or of the soul?

We are not “Spiritualists,” and, therefore, speak impartially. Ifreligious’ ‘earnest belief invariably attracts our sympathy even withoutcommanding our respect,” why should not as earnest a belief inspiritual phenomena-that most consoling, most sacred of all beliefs,hope in the survival of those whom we most loved while on earth-“attract our sympathy” as well? Is it because it is unscientific and thatexact science fails to always prove it? But religion is far moreunscientific yet. Is belief in the Holy Ghost, we ask, less blind thanbelief in the “ghosts” of our departed fathers and mothers? Is faithin an abstract and never-to-be-scientifically-proven principle any more“respectable” or worthy of sympathy than that other faith of believersas earnest as Christians are-that the spirits of those whom they lovedbest on earth, their mothers, children, friends, are ever near them,though their bodies may be gone? Surely we “imbibe with our mother’smilk” as much love for her as for a mythical “Mother of God.” Andif one is not to be regarded as a superstition then bow far less theother! We think that if Professor Tyndall or Mr. Huxley were forcedto choose between belief in the materialisation of the Virgin Mary atLourdes or Knock, and that of their own mothers in a seance-room,they would rather risk to pass for “fools” in the latter locality. Forphenomena, however rarely, have yet more than once been provedreal and so announced by men of undoubted authority in science.Phenomena are based upon scientific grounds; on facts pertaining toexact science-upon physiology, pathology ,magnetism, all correlatinginto psychological manifestations. Physical as well as psychologicalphenomena court experiment and the investigations of science;whereas, supernatural religion dreads and avoids such. The formerclaims no miracles, no supernaturalism to hang its faith upon, whilereligion imperatively demands them, and invariably collapses wheneversuch belief is withdrawn.

H. P. B. ON PSYCHICAL PHENOMENA20 21LOGIC VERSUS PERIPATETIC

Personally, as we said before, we do not believe in the agency of“disembodied spirits” in the physical mediumistic phenomena, but itgives us no right for all that, to dogmatise and try to force others toreject their belief. All that we can say now is, that the last word hasnot yet been told of these phenomena; and that as theosophists, i.e.searchers after truth who claim no infallibility, we say that theSpiritualists after all may be as right in their way as we think we areright in ours. That no spiritualist has ever believed in “miracles” orsupernatural interferences, their immense literature well proves. Can“Peripatetic” say as much of Christian belief? Hear the Bishop ofBombay proclaim publicly his professions of faith: “We,” he says tohis clergy, “who by professional honour are bound to maintain andto set forth the supremacy of the supernatural over the natural. . .have staked our very social existence on the reality and the claims ofthe supernatural. Our dress, our status, our work, the whole of ourdaily surroundings, are a standing protest to the world of theimportance of spiritual things; that they surpass, in our eyes at least,the more aggressive pretensions of what is temporal. We are boundthen for our own self-respect to justify what we daily proclaim.” Andso is every believer bound to do in whatsoever he may believe, if hebe but honest.

But the whole status of modern faith is reflected in these jesuiticalwords of “Peripatetic.” Belief in the’ ‘supernatural” may not commandhis respect, but he feels obliged to sympathize with it; for it is thatof those around him, and considered respectable; in short, it is thebread-and-cheese State religion, and perchance-that of his principlesand superiors. And yet for as honest and earnest a belief as spiritualism,he has “but contempt.” Why? Because it is unpopular; because hissociety people who were forced into such a belief by the evidence offacts hide it from the others, and Nicodemus-like they run to itsprofessors but under the cover of night. It is not fashionable. Religionand spiritualism are in society relatively like peg-drinking and cigarette-smoking. A lady who will not blush to empty in the view of all atumbler of stiff brandy and soda, will stare, in shocked amazement, atanother of her sex smoking an innocent cigarette! Therefore, is it toothat the writer in the Gazette who ought to have called himself a“Sophist,” signs himself a “Peripatetic.” He is certainly not a Christian,for were he one, he would never have ventured upon the lapsuscalami which makes him confess that Christianity “may not alwayscommand our respect”: but still he would pass for one. Such is the

tendency of our nineteenth century that a man of the educated,civilized world, will ratber utter the most illogical, absurd sophism thanhonestly confess his belief either one way or the other! “It is natural,”he finds, “to the human mind to regard doctrines presented to it withthe authority of by gone generations as probable and natural.” If thisbe so, we invite all the Peripatetics, past, present and future, to pointout to us a doctrine half as tenacious of life, or more universallybelieved in by countless “bygone generations,” in every corner of theworld, than the faith in “ghosts” and “spirits.” Really and indeed, weprefer a thousand times an honest, abusive, uncompromising bigot toa mild spoken, sneering hypocrite.

23QUERIES AND ANSWERSLucifer, September 1890

QUERIES AND ANSWERS

WE are asked by a “Subscriber” in America to “comment” upona curious report in the Chicago Tribune, which he sends us. We doso the more willingly as it contains a very ingenuous, newly-invented“dodge” to detect the real nature of the “mango-tree growing,” “boyand basket” performance and other like phenomena produced byIndian “jugglers,” and an alleged “scientific” explanation of the same.The latter. however, is as old as the hills, and known to every Occultist,and has never been made a secret of. The heading of the article “ITIS ONLY HYPNOTISM”(is it only that?)-pretends to let the cat outof the bag, and the “Chicagoan” interviewer seems very proud of thisachievement of his countryman. But, to facts; let us see

HOW INDIAN FAKIRS DECEIVE THOSE WHO WATCHTHEM.

FRED S. ELLMORE, A YOUNG CHICAGOAN, DEMONSTRATES THE

TRUTH OF HIS THEORY AT GAYA, INDIA—MANGO TREES, BABIES,

AND OTHER OBJECTS CREATED BY THE FAKIR SHOWN TO BE

CREATURES OF THE IMAGINATION-HOW A CLEVER SCHEME WAS

WORKED.

Nearly every traveller who comes back from India brings withhim more or less marvellous stories of the performances of Indianfakirs or jugglers. No one ever heard of one of these tales withoutbeing curious to know the explanation of the mystery. All sorts oftheories have been offered, all of which are more or less unsatisfactory.It has remained for a young Chicagoan to furnish an explanation thatexplains and to present what must be accepted as absolute proof ofthe correctness of his idea. His discovery may attract attention in allparts of the world and he may become as widely known as thediscoverer of electricity.

Web, he might, no doubt, but for two trifling facts: (a) if what hehas discovered had not been known in the East, for ages, by theOccultists as GUPTA MAYA or “Secret Illusion”; and (b) had not theTheosophical Society existed for over fifteen years to tell the “Ellmore”tale to every gobe-mouche inclined to believe in the miraculous andsupernatural character of Indian, so-called” jugglery.” It is over tenyears ago that all such phenomena-the more wondrous andphenomenal, for being simply scientific and explicable on naturalprinciples-were repeatedly characterized by the present writer, when atSimla, as “psychological tricks, “to the great disgust of her over-enthusiastic friends. What these psychological tricks are in realityand the difference between them and “conjuring” will be explainedfurther on. And now to the Tribune narrative. After stating everyparticular about Mr. Frederick S. Ellmore, describing his childhood,and college life, giving the color of his hair and the address andnumber of his family residence, the interviewer shows him, with afriend and class-mate, Mr. George Lessing-one “an enthusiasticphotographer,” the other a clever artist and draughtsman-in the landof the Sacred Cow and the wily fakir.

In talking to a Tribune man of his remarkable experience in India.Mr. Ellmore said: “We had done West India pretty thoroughly, andhad spent some time in Calcutta. From there we went North, stoppingfor a short time at Rajmahal and Dinapur. From the latter city wewent south to Gaya, which we reached in July last. Lessing and Ihad frequently talked over the Indian fakirs and their marvellousperformances, and had determined upon making a careful test of theirpowers. So we were constantly on the alert for some first-classjuggler. One afternoon Lessing rushed into the room where I wastaking a snooze and told me there was a fakir in front about readyto begin his performances. I was as pleased as he. Neither of us hadbeen able previous to this time to see one of these fellows, but wehad arranged a little plan which we were to put into operation whenopportunity offered. I had been impressed by a theory that theexplanation of all their alleged supernatural performances would befound in hypnotism. but I did not know just how to get at it, untilLessing proposed this plan to test my theory. While the fakir wasgoing through his performances Lessing was to make a rapid pencilsketch of what he saw while I at the same moment would take asnap-shot with my kodak.

Being prepared to put this plan into operation we went out fromour abode. and there found the fakir and a crowd of natives and oneor two Europeans. The fakir was a queer-looking chap. His hair was

H. P. B. ON PSYCHICAL PHENOMENA24 25QUERIES AND ANSWERS

long and matted and his beard hung low on his breast. His onlydecoration was a copper ring or bracelet worn about his right armbetween the wrist and the elbow. His eyes were remarkable both fortheir brilliancy and their intense depth, if I may so term it. Theyseemed to be almost jet black and were set unusually deep in hishead. When we stepped into the little circle about him those eyestook us in from sole to crown. He had spread upon the ground acoarse carpet of peculiar texture about four feet wide and six feetlong. At his right [stood] a small earthen bowl, and across his kneeslay a strange looking musical instrument.

Having received the signal that all was ready he took the bowlin his hands and turned the contents-a reddish, sand-like mixture-outupon the carpet. He mixed it about with his fingers, apparently toshow that it contained no concealed objects. Replacing the sand inthe bowl he stood it in the centre of the carpet, several feet in front

of his knees, and covered it with a small shawl, first placing in themixture several seeds of the mango fruit. Then he played a weird airon his pipe, swayed back and forth, and as he did so, slowly tookin each member of the crowd of the spectators with those marvellouseyes of his. The swaying and pipe-playing lasted two or threeminutes. Then he suddenly stopped and raised one corner of theshawl. We saw several green shoots two or three inches high. He

replaced the shawl, played a little more on his pipe, and I could havesworn I saw the shawl pushed three feet into the air. Again hestopped and removed the shawl. This time there was a perfect tree,two feet or more in height, with long slender flat leaves. Lessingnudged me and I took my picture while he made a skeleton sketch.While we were watching this creation of the queer old man it seemed

to vanish before our eyes. When it was gone he removed the bowland spread the shawl on the ground before him. Then there was moremusic and more swaying, more looking at the ground, and as wewatched the dirty square of cloth he had placed on the ground, wesaw outlined beneath it some moving object. As we watched hegrasped the shawl by each of two corners and snatched it from the

ground. Upon the spot where it had rested but a moment before,there sat the queerest dimpled Indian baby that I had seen in mytravels. Lessing kept his nerve better than I did. I would haveforgotten what I was doing if he had not reminded me. I took thepicture and he made his sketch. The baby remained but a moment,before Mr. Fakir recovered it with the shawl, and drawing a knife cut

and slashed at the spot where the infant sat. In another instant hethrew away the shawl and there was nothing there.

We had scarce time to recover from our astonishment when thefakir drew from under his knee a ball of grey twine. Taking the looseend between his teeth, he, with a quick upward motion, tossed the

ball into the air. Instead of coming back to him it kept on going upand up until out of sight, and there remained only the long swayingend, When we looked down after trying to. see where the ball hadgone, we were all astonished to see standing beside the fakir a boyabout six years old. He had not been there when the ball was tossedinto the air, but he was there now, and at a word from the fakir he

walked over to the twine and began climbing it, a good deal after thefashion of a monkey climbing a grape vine. As he was starting I gothis range and made a picture of him, Lessing at the same time makinga sketch. The boy disappeared when he had reached a point thirtyor forty feet from the ground, at least we could not see him. Amoment later the twine disappeared. Then the fakir arose, rolled up

his carpet, took the bowl away, and passed among the crowd solicitingcontributions.

I had no facilities for developing the kodak films, and it was theseLessing took with him, as well as a thousand or more other negatives,to be developed. The fakir pictures with a few others, I received thisafternoon. After the fakir’s departure Lessing filled in his”sketches

and these he left with me. You’ll see by comparing the ones Lessingmade with the photographs that in no instance did the camera recordthe marvellous features of the performance. For instance, Lessing’ssketch shows the tree grown from the bush, while the camera showsthere was no bush there. Lessing saw a baby, and so did I, and hehas got it in his sketch, but the camera demonstrates that there was

no baby. Lessing’s sketch of the boy climbing the twine is evidencethat he saw it, but the camera says there was no boy and no twine.From which I’m compelled to believe that my theory is absolutelycorrect-that Mr. Fakir had simply hypnotized the entire crowd, butcouldn’t hypnotize the camera. I’m going to write an history of theaffair and have copies made of the pictures and forward them to the

London Society for Psychical Research. I have no doubt it will makegood use of them.

H. P. B. ON PSYCHICAL PHENOMENA26 27QUERIES AND ANSWERS

First of all, we ask them wby they call the “juggler” a “fakir”? Ifbe is the one he cannot be the other; for a fakir is simply a MussulmanDevotee whose whole time is taken up by acts of holiness, such asstanding for days on one leg, or on the top of his head, and who paysno attention to any other phenomena. Nor could their “juggler” be aYogi, the latter title being incompatible with “taking up collections”after the exhibition of his psychic powers. The man they saw then atGaya was simply-as they very correctly state-a public juggler, or ashe is generally called in India, a jadoowalla (sorcerer) and a “producerof illusions ,” whether Hindu or Mohammedan. As a genuine juggler,ie., one who makes us professions of showing the supernaturalphenomena or Siddhis of a Yogi, he would be quite as entitled to theuse of conjuring tricks as a Hoffman or Maskelyne and Cook. Well,the latter gentlemen, and all the “Wizards of the North” as well, areinvited to repeat if they can, even such juggling phenomena as theabove. clad. or rather unclad, as such jugglers are, and under thecanopy of the heavens, instead of the roof and ceiling of a hall or atheatre. They will never be able to do so. And why? Because these“jugglers” are not sleight of hand conjurors. They are regular andgenuine psychologists, mesmerisers endowed with the mostphenomenal powers, hitherto unknown to, and quite unpractised inEurope, save in a few exceptional cases. And with regard to this point,basing our questions on the logic of analogy, if such phenomenalpowers of fascination as throwing glamour over audiences oftennumbering several hundreds and even thousands, are once provento exist in simple professional jugglers, who can deny the samepowers. only twenty times as strong, in trained adepts in Occultism?This is the future nut for the Society for Psychical Research to crack-if it ever accepts Mr. Ellmore’s testimony, which we doubt. But if it isaccepted, what right will its members or the public have to doubt theclaims made on behalf of great Yogis and learned adepts and“Mahatmas” to produce far more wonderful phenomena? The factalone forsooth, that a whole audience sees a twine thrown into theair,1

the end of which seems fastened in the clouds, a boy climbing upit, a baby under a basket, and a mango-tree growing, when there is,in truth, neither twine nor boy, neither baby nor mango-tree-may wellgive us the right to call it the greatest mental miracle possible; a

1 Vide “Isis Unveiled” I. 73. 495, et seq.

“psychological trick” -true enough, but one never to be rivalled, noreven approached by a physical phenomenon, however astounding.“It is only Hypnotism,” you say. Then those who say so, do not knowthe difference between hypnotism, which, at best, is only a purelyphysiological manifestation even in the hands of the most powerfuland learned experimenters, and real mesmerism, let alone mahamayaor even the gupta-mayo of ancient and modern India. We defy all, andevery one, from Charcot and Richet down to all the second ratehypnotizers, including the greatest physical mediums, to produce thatwith which Messrs. Ellmore and Lessing credit their “juggler.”

To those who are incapable of appreciating the all-importance ofthat psycho-spiritual power in man which the Tribune calls so ignorantlyand so foolishly “hypnotism,” all we may say would be useless. Wesimply refuse to answer them. As to those others who will understandus, we say yes; it is glamour, fascination, psychology, call it what youwill, but it is not “hypnotism.” The latter is an aberration producedon several persons in turn by another person, through contact, throughgazing at a bright spot or manipulation; but what is it in comparisonwith the collective and instantaneous fascination produced onhundreds by one passing gaze of the “juggler” (Vide supra), eventhough that gaze did “take in every man” “from sole to crown.” NoTheosophist who understands anything of Occultism, has everexplained such phenomena on any principle but that of magic-spelland fascination; and to claim for them anything else would amountto teaching supernaturalism and miracle; ie, an impossibility in nature.There is a host of Theosophists in England alone, who would testifyany day that they have been taught for now many years that physicalphenomena in India are due to glamour and the psychological powersof the performers. Yet no one in the Theosophical Society ever thoughtof claiming for himself the discovery and explanation of the mangotree mystery. as it is a teaching known for long ages, and now oncemore taught to all who want to know.

Nevertheless, as said at the beginning of this article, we all owea debt of gratitude to Mr. Ellmore and his friend, for their clever ideaof applying to these tricks, the photographic test; as, no glamour (or,as the reporter makes Ellmore say, “hypnotism”) could affect thecamera. Moreover, both the young traveller and the Tribune reporterseem to have worked only for the Theosophical Society. Indeed, it is

H. P. B. ON PSYCHICAL PHENOMENA28

safe to prophesy that no one, including the Society for PsychicalResearch, will pay much attention to Mr. Ellmore’s “discovery”-sincethe latter, the erroneous name of hypnotism notwithstanding, is onlya fact and a truth. Thus, it is the Theosophical Society alone whichwill benefit by having one more of its teachings corroborated byindependent and undeniable evidence.2

2 Additional corroboration of occult teaching is given in a pamphletentitled “Materialism, Agnosticism. and Theosophy” issued by the Pacific CoastCommittee for Theosophical Works: “In connection with this very point (i.e.,nebul”, some three years ago, Madame Blavatsky, that bete noire of bothreligion and science, declared that if scientists could perfect instrumentssufficiently powerful to penetrate these nebul”” they would per ceive the falsityof this assumption of the universal action of gravitation. It passed with outnotice. . . But quite recently a. California scientist has most unexpectedlyconfirmed this seemingly idle statement. One of the first results of the inspectionof the heavens through the great Lick telescope, was the cautious announcementby Professor Holden that the arrangement of matter in many of the nebulaewould seem to point directly to the conclusion that some other force thangravitation was the active agent.”

Theosophist, February 1884

INTRO-VERSION OF MENTAL VISION

SOME interesting experiments have recently been tried by Mr. F.W. H. Myers and his colleagues of the Psychic Research Society ofLondon, which, if properly examined, are capable of yielding highlyimportant results. The experiments referred to were on their publicationwidely commented upon by the newspaper Press. With the details ofthese we are not at present concerned: it will suffice for our purposeto state for the benefit of readers unacquainted with the experiments,that in a very large majority of cases, too numerous to be the resultof mere chance, it was found that the thought-reading sensitiveobtained but an inverted mental picture of the object given him toread. A piece of paper, containing the representation of an arrow, washeld before a carefully blind-folded thought-reader and its positionconstantly changed, the thought-reader being requested to mentallysee the arrow at each turn. In these circumstances it was found thatwhen the arrow-head pointed to the right, it was read off as pointingto the left, and so on. This led some sapient journalists to imaginethat there was a mirage in the inner as well as on the outer plane ofoptical sensation. But the real explanation of the phenomenon liesdeeper,

It is well known that an object as seen by us and its image on theretina of the eye, are not exactly the same in position, but quite thereverse. How the image of an object on the retina is inverted insensation, is a mystery which physical science is admittedly incapableof solving. Western metaphysics too, without regard to this point,hardly fares any better; there are as many theories as there aremetaphysicians. Reid, Hamilton and others of that school but flounderin a bog of speculation. The only philosopher who has obtained aglimpse of the truth is the idealist Berkeley, who, to the extreme regretof all students of the true philosophy, could not get beyond theologicalChristianity, in spite of all his brilliant intuitions. A child, says Berkeley,does really see a thing inverted from our stand-point; to touch itshead it stretches out its hands in the same direction of its body as

H. P. B. ON PSYCHICAL PHENOMENA 31INTRO-VERSION OF MENTAL VISION30

we do of ours to reach our feet. Repeated failures in this direction giveexperience and lead to the correction of the notions born of one senseby those derived through another; the sensations of distance andsolidity are produced in the same way.

The application of this knowledge to the above mentionedexperiments of the Psychic Research Society will lead to very strikingresults. If the trained adept is a person who has developed all hisinterior faculties, and is on the psychic plane in the full possessionof his senses, the individual, who accidentally, that is without occulttraining, gains the inner sight, is in the position of a helpless child-a sport of the freaks of one isolated inner sense. This will throw aflood of light on the untrustworthy character of the ordinary untrainedseer. Such was the case with the sensitives with whom Mr. Meyersand his colleagues experimented. There are instances, however, whenthe correction of one sense by another takes place involuntarily andaccurate results are brought out. When the sensitive reads thethoughts in a man’s mind, this correction is not required, for the willof the thinker shoots the thoughts, as it were, straight into the mindof the sensitive. The introversion under notice will, moreover, be.found to take place only in the instance of such images which cannotbe affected by the ordinary sense experience of the sensitive. To takethe image of a dog for instance; when the sensitive perceives it asexisting in the mind of a person or on a piece of paper, it may appeardistorted to the inner perception of the sensitive, but his physicalexperience would always correct it. But this introversion is sure totake place when the direction faced by the dog is the subject ofinvestigation. A difficulty may here suggest itself with regard to thenames of persons or the words, thought of for the sensitive’s reading.But allowance must in such cases be made for the operation of thethinker’s will, which forces the thought into the sensitive’s mind, andthereby renders the process of introversion unnecessary. It isabundantly clear from this that the best way of studying thesephenomena is when only one set of will-power, that of the sensitive,is in play. This takes place always when the object the sensitive is toread, is independent of the will of any other person, as in the caseof its being represented on paper or any other thing of the kind.Applying the same law to dreams, we can find the rationale of thepopular superstition that facts are generally inverted in dreams. Todream of something good is generally taken to be the precursor ofsomething evil. In the exceptional cases in which dreams have been

found to be prophetic, the dreamer was either affected by another’swill or under the operation of some disturbing forces, which cannotbe calculated except for each particular case.

In this connection another very important psychic phenomenonmay be noticed. Instances are too numerous and too well authenticatedto be amenable to dispute, in which an occurrence at a distance, forinstance the death of a person, has pictured itself to the mental visionof one interested in the occurrence. In such cases the double of thedying man appears even at a great distance and becomes visibleusually to his friend only, but instances are not rare when the doubleis seen by a number of persons. The former case comes within theclass of cases under consideration, as the concentrated thought ofthe dying man is clairvoyantly seen by the friend and the erect imageis produced by the operation of the dying man’s will-energy, while thelatter is the appearance of the genuine mayavirupa, and therefore notgoverned by the law under discussion.

33HYPNOTISMTheosophist, February 1884

HYPNOTISM, AND ITS RELATIONSTO OTHER MODES OF FASCINATION

WE are asked by “H.C” and other Fellows, to answer the severalqueries hereafter propounded. We do so, but with a reservation: ourreplies must be made from the stand point of Occultism alone, noconsideration being given to such hypotheses of modern (anothername for “materialistic”) Science, as may clash with esoteric teachings.

Q. What is Hypnotism: how does it differ from Animal Magnetism(or Mesmerism)?

ANS. Hypnotism is the new scientific name for the old ignorant“superstition” variously called “fascination” and “enchantment.” It isan antiquated lie transformed into a modern truth. The fact is there.but the scientific explanation of it is still wanting. By some it isbelieved that Hypnotism is the result of an irritation artificially producedon the periphery of the nerves; that this irritation reacting upon,passes into the cells of the brain-substance, causing by exhaustiona condition which is but another mode of sleep (hypnosis, or hupnos);by others that it is simply a self-induced stupor, produced chiefly byimagination, &c., &c. It differs from animal magnetism where thehypnotic condition is produced by the Braid method, which is apurely mechanical one, i.e., the fixing of the eyes on some bright spot,a metal or a crystal. It becomes “animal magnetism” (or mesmerism),when it is achieved by “mesmeric” passes on the patient, and forthese reasons. When the first method is used, no electro-psychic, oreven electro-physical currents are at work, but simply the mechanical,molecular vibrations of the metal or crystal gazed at by the subject.It is the eye-the most occult organ of all. on the superficies of ourbody-which, by serving as a medium between that bit of metal orcrystal and the brain, attunes the molecular vibrations of the nervouscenters of the latter into unison (i.e., equality in the number of theirrespective oscillations) with the vibrations of the bright object held.And, it is this unison which produces the hypnotic state. But in the

second case, the right name for hypnotism would certainly be “animalmagnetism” or that so much derided term “mesmerism.” For, in thehypnotization by preliminary passes, it is the human will-whetherconscious or otherwise-of the operator himself, that acts upon thenervous system of the patient. And it is again through the vibrations-only atomic, not molecular-produced by that act of energy calledWILL in the ether of space (therefore, on quite a different plane) thatthe super-hypnotic state (i. e., “suggestion,” &c.) is induced. Forthose which we call’ ‘will-vibrations’ ‘and their aura, are absolutelydistinct from the vibrations produced by the simply mechanicalmolecular motion, the two acting on two separate degrees of thecosmo terrestrial planes. Here, of course, a clear realization of thatwhich is meant by will in Occult Sciences, is necessary.

Q. In both (hypnotism and animal magnetism) there is an act ofwill in the operator, a transit of something from him to his patient,an effect upon the patient. What is the “something” transmitted inboth cases?

ANS. That which is transmitted has no name in European languages,and if we simply describe it as will. it loses all its meaning. The oldand very much tabooed words, “enchantment,” “fascination.”“glamour, “and” spell. “and especially the verb” to bewitch” expressedfar more suggestively the real action that took place during the processof such a transmission, than the modern and meaningless terms,“psychologize” and “biologize.” Occultism calls the force transmitted,the “auric fluid, “to distinguish it from the” auric light”; the “fluid”being a correlation of atoms on a higher plane. and a descent to thislower one, in the shape of impalpable and invisible plastic Substances,generated and directed by the potential Will; the “auric light,”or thatwhich Reichenbach calls Od, a light that surrounds every animate andinanimate object in nature, is, on the other hand, but the astral reflectionemanating from objects; its particular colour and colours, thecombinations and varieties of the latter ,denoting the state of thegunas, or qualities and characteristics of each special object andsubject-the human being’s aura being the strongest of all.

Q. What is the rationale of “Vampirism”?

ANS. If by this word is meant the involuntary transmission of aportion of one’s vitality. or life-essence. by a kind of occult osmosisfrom one person to another-the latter being endowed, or afflicted

H. P. B. ON PSYCHICAL PHENOMENA34 35

rather, with such vampirizing faculty, then, the act can becomecomprehensible only when we study well the nature and essence ofthe semi-substantial “auric fluid” spoken of just now. Like every otheroccult form [force?] in Nature, this end- and exosmosic process maybe made beneficent or maleficent, either unconsciously or at will.When a healthy operator mesmerizes a patient with a determineddesire to relieve and cure him, the exhaustion felt by the former isproportionate to the relief given: a process of endosmosehas takenplace, the healer having parted with a portion of his vital aura tobenefit the sick man. Vampirism, on the other hand, is a blind andmechanical process, generally produced without the knowledge ofeither the absorber, or the vampirized party. It is conscious orunconscious black magic, as the case may be. For in the case oftrained adepts and sorcerers, the process is produced consciouslyand with the guidance of the Wil1. In both cases the agent oftransmission is a magnetic and attractive faculty, terrestrial andphysiological in its results, yet generated and produced on the four-dimensional planethe realm of atoms.

Q. Under what circumstances is hypnotism” black magic”?

ANS. Under those just discussed, but to cover the subject fully,even by giving a few instances, demands more space than we canspare for these answers. Sufficient to say that whenever the motivewhich actuates the operator is selfish, or detrimental to any livingbeing or beings, all such acts are classed by us as black magic. Thehealthy vital fluid imparted by the physician who mesmerizes hispatient, can and does cure; but too much of it will kill.

[This statement receives its explanation in our answer to Question6, when showing that the vibratory experiment shatters a tumbler topieces.]

Q. Is there any difference between hypnosis produced bymechanical means, such as revolving mirrors, and that produced bythe direct gaze of the operator (fascination)?

ANS. This difference is, we believe, already pointed out in theanswer to Question 1. The gaze of the operator is more potent, hencemore dangerous, than the simple mechanical passes of the Hypnotizer,who, in nine cases out of ten, does not know how, and thereforecannot will. The students of Esoteric Science must be aware by the

very laws of the occult correspondences that the former action isperformed on the first plane of matter (the lowest), while the latter,which necessitates a well-concentrated will, has to be enacted, if theoperator is a profane novice, on the fourth, and if he is anything ofan occultist on the fifth plane.

Q. Why should a bit of crystal or a bright button, throw oneperson into the hypnotic state and affect in no way another person?An answer to this would, we think, solve more than one perplexity.

ANS. Science has offered several varied hypotheses upon thesubject, but has not, so far, accepted anyone of these as definite. Thisis because all such speculations revolve in the vicious circle ofmaterio-pbysical phenomena with their blind forces and mechanicaltheories. The “auric fluid” is not recognized by the men of Science,and therefore, they reject it. But have they not believed for years inthe efficacy of metallotherapeuty, the influence of these metals beingdue to the action of their electric fluids or currents on the nervoussystem? And this, simply because an analogy was found to existbetween the activity of this system and electricity. The theory failed,because it clashed with the most careful observation and experiments.First of all, it was contradicted by a fundamental. fact exhibited in thesaid metallotherapeuty, whose characteristic pecujiarity showed (a)that by no means every metal acted on every nervous disease, onepatient being sensitive to some one metal, while all others producedno effect upon him; and (b) that the patients affected by certainmetals were few and exceptional. This showed that “electric fluids”operating on and curing diseases existed only in the imagination ofthe theorists. Had they had any actual existence. then all metalswould affect in a greater or lesser degree, allpatients, and every metal,taken separately, would affect every case of nervous disease, theconditions for generating such fluids being, in the given cases, preciselythe same. Thus Dr. Charcot having vindicated Dr. Burke, the oncediscredited discoverer of metallotherapeuty, Shiff and others discreditedall those who believed in electric fluids, and these seem now to begiven up in favour of “molecular motion,” which now reigns supremein physiology-for the time being, of course. But now arises a question:“Are the real nature, behaviour and conditions of’ motion’ known anybetter than the nature, behaviour and conditions of the ‘fluids’?” Itis to be doubted. Anyhow Occultism is audacious enough to maintainthat electric or magnetic fluids (the two being really identical) are duein their essence and origin to that same molecular motion, now

HYPNOTISM

H. P. B. ON PSYCHICAL PHENOMENA 3736

transformed into atomic energy,1 to which every other phenomenonin nature is also due. Indeed, when the needle of a galvano-orelectrometer fails to show any oscillations denoting the presence ofelectricor magnetic fluids, this does not prove in the least that thereare none such to record; but simply that having passed on to anotherand higher plane of action, the eletrometer can no longer be affectedby the energy displayed on a plane with which it is entirelydisconnected.

The above had to be explained, in order to show that the natureof the Force transmitted from one man or object to another man orobject, whether in hypnotism, electricity, metallotherapeuty or“fascination,” is the same in essence, varying only in degree, andmodified according to the sub-plane of matter it is acting on; of whichsub-planes, as every Occultist knows, there are seven on our terrestrialplane as there are on every other.

Q. Is Science entirely wrong in its definition of the hypnoticphenomena?

ANS. It has no definition, so far. Now if there is one thing uponwhich Occultism agrees (to a certain degree) with the latest discoveriesof physical Science, it is that all the bodies endowed with the propertyof inducing and calling metallotherapeutic and other analogousphenomena, have, their great variety not withstanding, one feature incommon. They are all the fountain heads and the generators of rapidmolecular oscillations, which, whether through transmitting agents ordirect contact, communicate themselves to the nervous system,changing thereby the rhythm of nervous vibrations-on the solecondition, however, of being what is called, in unison. Now “unison”does not always imply the sameness of nature, or of essence, butsimply the sameness of degree, a similarity with regard to gravity andacuteness, and equal potentialities for intensity of sound or motion:a bell may be in unison with a violin, and a flute with an animal ora human organ. Moreover, the rate of the number of vibrations-especially in an organic animal cell or organ. changes in accordancewith the state of health, and general condition. Hence the cerebralnervous centres of a hypnotic subject, while in perfect unison, inpotential degree and essential original activity, with the object he

1 In Occultism the word atom has a special significance, different from theone given to it by Science. See editorial, Psychic and Noetic Action, in the twolast numbers.

gazes at, may yet. owing to some organic disturbance, be at the givenmoment at logger-heads with it, in respect to the number of theirrespective vibrations. In such case no hypnotic condition ensues; orno unison at all may exist between his nervous cells and the cells ofthe crystal or metal he is made to gaze at, in which case that particularobject can never have any effect upon him. This amounts to sayingthat to ensure success in a hypnotic experiment, two conditions arerequisite;(a) as every organic or “inorganic” body in nature isdistinguished by its fixed molecular oscillations, it is necessary to findout which are those bodies which will act in unison with one oranother human nervous system; and (b)to remember that the molecularoscillations of the former can influence the nervous action of thelatter, only when the rhythms of their respective vibrations coincide,i.e., when the number of their oscillations is made identical; which, inthe cases of hypnotism induced by mechanical means, is achievedthrough the medium of the eye.

Therefore, though the difference between hypnosis produced bymechanical means, and that induced by the direct gaze of the operator,plus his will, depends on the plane on which the same phenomenonis produced, still the “fascinating” or subduing agent is created bythe same force at work. In the physical world and its material planes,it is called MOTION; in the worlds of mentality and metaphysics it isknown as WILL-the many-faced magician throughout all nature.

As the rate of vibrations (molecular motion) in metals, woods,crystals, etc., alters under the effect of heat, cold, etc., so do thecerebral molecules change their rate, in the same way: i.e., their rateis raised or lowered. And this is what really takes place in thephenomenon of hypnotism. In the case of gazing, it is the eye-thechief agent of the will of the active operator, but a slave and traitorwhen this Will is dormant-that, unconsciously to the patient or subject,attunes the oscillations of his cerebral nervous centres to the rate ofthe vibrations of the object gazed at by catching the rhythm of thelatter and passing it on to the brain. But in the case of direct passes,it is the Will of the operator radiating through his eye that producesthe required unison between his will and the will of the personoperated upon. For, out of two objects attuned in unison-as twochords, for instance-one will always be weaker than the other, andthus have mastery over the other and even the potentiality ofdestroying its weaker “co-respondent.” So true is this, that we can

HYPNOTISM

H. P. B. ON PSYCHICAL PHENOMENA38 39

call upon physical Science to corroborate this fact. Take the “sensitiveflame” as a case in hand. Science tells us that if a note be struck inunison with the ratio of the vibrations of the heat molecules, theflames will respond immediately to the sound (or note struck), that itwill dance and sing in rhythm with the sounds. But Occult Scienceadds, that the flame may also be extinguished if the sound is intensified(vide Isis Unveiled, Vol. II, 606 and 607). Another proof. Take a wine-glass or tumbler of very - fine and clear glass; produce, by striking itgently with a silver spoon, a well-determined note; after whichreproduce the same note by rubbing its rim with a damp finger, add,if you are successful, the glass will immediately crack and be shattered.Indifferent to every other sound, the glass will not resist the greatintensity of its own fundamental note, for that particular vibration willcause such a commotion in its particles, that the whole fabric will fallin pieces.

Q. What becomes of diseases cured by hypnotism; are they reallycured or are they postponed, or do they appear in another form? Arediseases Karma; and, if so, is it right to attempt to cure them?

ANS. Hypnotic suggestion may cure for ever, and it may not. Alldepends on the degree of magnetic relations between the operatorand the patient. If Karmic, they will be only postponed, add return insome other form, not necessarily of disease, but as a punitive evil ofanother sort. It is always “right “to try and alleviate suffering wheneverwe can, and to do our best for it. Because a man suffers justlyimprisonment, and catches cold in his damp cell, is it a reason whythe prison-doctor should not try to cure him of it?

attempts as black magic and sorcery, whether conscious orotherwise.

Q. Do the motive and character of the operator affect the result,immediate or remote?

Q. Is it necessary that the hypnotic” suggestions” of the operatorshould be spoken? Is it not enough for him to think them, and maynot even HE be ignorant or unconscious of the bent he is impressingon his subject?

ANS. Certainly not, the rapport between the two is once for allfirmly established. Thought is more powerful than speech in cases ofa real subjugation of the will of the patient to that of his operator. But,on the other hand, unless the “suggestion” made is for the good only

of the subject, and entirely free from any selfish motive, a suggestionby thought is an act of black magic still more pregnant with evilconsequences than a spoken suggestion. It is always wrong andunlawful to deprive a man of his free. Will, unless for his own orSociety’s good; and even the former has to be done with greatdiscrimination. Occultism regards all such promiscuous ANS. In so faras the hypnotizing process becomes under his operation either whiteor black magic, as the last answer shows.

Q. Is it wise to hypnotize a patient not only out of disease, butoutof a habit, such as drinking or lying?

ANS. It is an act of charity and kindness, and this is next towisdom. For, although the dropping of his vicious habits will addnothing to his good Karma (which it would, had his efforts to reformbeen personal, of his own free will, and necessitating a great mentaland physical struggle), still a successful “suggestion” prevents himfrom generating more bad Karma, and adding constantly to the previousrecord of his transgressions.

Q. What is it that a faith-healer, when successful, practises uponhimself; what tricks is he playing with his principles and with hisKarma?

ANS. Imagination is a potent help in every event of our lives.Imagination acts on Faith, and both are the draughtsmen who preparethe sketches for Will to engrave, more or less deeply, on the rocks ofobstacles and opposition with which the path of life is strewn. SaysParacelsus: “Faith must confirm the imagination, for faith establishesthe will. . . Determined will is the beginning of all magical operations.. . . It is because men do not perfectly imagine and believe the result,that the arts (of magic) are uncertain, while they might be perfectlycertain.” This is all the secret. Half, if not two-thirds of our ailings anddiseases are the fruit of our imagination and fears. Destroy the latterand give another bent to the former, and nature will do the rest. Thereis nothing sinful or injurious in the methods per se. They turn to harmonly when belief in his power becomes too arrogant and marked in thefaith-healer, and when he thinks he can will away such diseases asneed, if they are not to be fatal, the immediate help of expert surgeonsand physicians.

–– H.P.B.

HYPNOTISM

A CASE OF OBSESSION

THE particulars of the case of “obsession,” alluded to in the Aprilnumber of this magazine, are given in the following letter from a respectableEnglish medical man who is in attendance upon the victim :

I take the liberty of addressing you in the cause of humanity,with the intention of exciting your sympathies and obtaining all theaid in your power to afford, in a case of “control.” You will understandthat the gentleman is being made a medium against his wish, throughhaving attended a few séances for the purpose of witnessing“materialization.”

Ever since, he has been more or less subject to a series ofpersecutions by the “controlling” spirit and, in spite of every effortof his to throw off the influence, he has been made to suffer mostshamefully and painfully in very many ways and under most tryingand aggravating circumstances. Especially by his thoughts being forcedinto forbidden channels without external causes being present-thebodily functions overruled. Even being caused to bite his tongue andcheeks severely whilst eating, &c., and subjected to every species ofpetty annoyances which will serve as a means for the “control”(unknown) to sustain and establish the connection. The details arein their most painful features not such as I can write to you; but ifthere be any means known to you whereby the influence can bediverted, and it is thought necessary to be more particular in mydescription of this case, I will send you all the information I possess.

So little is known in India of the latest and most startling phase ofWestern mediumistic phenomena- “materialization,” -that a few words ofexplanation are needed to make this case understood. Briefly, then, forseveral years, in the presence of certain mediums in America and Europe,there have been seen, often under good test conditions, apparitions of thedead, which in every respect seem like living human beings. They walkabout, write messages to present and absent friends, speak audibly in thelanguages familiar to them in life, even though the medium may be unacquaintedwith them, and are dressed in the garb they wore when alive. Many casesof fraudulent personation of the dead have been detected, pretended mediumshave sometimes gone on for years deceiving the credulous, and real ones,whose psychical powers have been apparently proved beyond doubt,

Theosophist, May 1880

have been caught playing tricks in some evil hour when they haveyielded to either the love of money or notoriety. Still, making everyallowance for all these, there is a residuum of veritable cases of thematerialization, or the making visible, tangible and audible of portraitfigures of dead people. These wonderful phenomena have beenvariously regarded by investigators. Most Spiritualists have lookedupon them as the most precious proofs of the soul-survival; whileTheosophists, acquainted with the views of the ancient Theurgists,and the still more ancient Aryan philosophers, have viewed them asat best misleading deceptions of the senses, fraught with danger tothe physical and moral natures of both medium and spectator-if thelatter chances to be susceptible to certain psychical influences. Thesestudents of Occultism have noticed that the mediums formaterializations have too often been ruined in health by the drainupon their systems, and wrecked in morals. They have over and againwarned the Spiritualistic public that mediumship was a most dangerousgift, one only to be tolerated under great precautions. And for thisthey have received much abuse and few thanks. Still one’s duty mustbe done at every cost, and the case now before us affords a valuabletext for one more bit of friendly counsel.

We need not stop to discuss the question whether the so-calledmaterialized forms above described are or are not those of the deceasedthey look like. That may be held in reserve until the bottom facts ofOriental psychical science are better understood. Nor need we argueas to whether there has ever been an authentic materialization. TheLondon experiences of Mr. William Crookes, F.R.S., and the Americanones of Colonel Olcott, both so widely known and of so convincinga character, give us a sufficient basis of fact to argue upon. Weassume the reality of materializations, and shall take the instance citedby the English physician as a subject for diagnosis.

The patient then is described as having been “controlled” sinceattending “circles” where there were materializations, and as havingbecome the bond-slave of some evil powers which force him to sayand do painful and even disgusting things, despite his resistance.Why is this? How can a man be compelled to so act against his will?What is Obsession? Three brief questions these are, but most difficultto explain to an uninitiated public. The laws of Obsession can onlybe well understood by him who has sounded the depths of Indianphilosophy. The only clue to the secret, which the West possesses,

A CASE OF OBSESSION

H. P. B. ON PSYCHICAL PHENOMENA 4342

is contained in that most beneficent science, Magnetism or Mesmerism.That does teach the existence of a vital fluid within and about thehuman being; the fact of different human polarities; and the possibilityof one person projecting this fluid or force at will, to and uponanother person differently polarized. Baron Reichenbach’s theory ofOdyle or Odic force shows us the existence of this same fluid in themineral and vegetable as well as the animal kingdoms. To complete thechain of evidence, Buchanan’s discovery of the psychometrical facultyin man enables us to prove, by the help of this faculty, that a subtleinfluence is exerted by people upon the houses and even the localitiesthey live in, the paper they write upon, the clothing they wear, theportion of the Universal Ether (the Aryan Akasa) they exist in-andthat (his is a permanent influence, perceptible even at the most distantepochs from the time when the individual lived and exerted thisinfluence. In one word, we may say that the discoveries of Westernscience corroborate most fully the hints thrown out by Greek sagesand the more defined theories of certain Indian philosophers.

Indians and Buddhists believe alike that thought and deed areboth material, that they survive, that the evil desires and the goodones of a man environ him in a world of his own making, that thesedesires and thoughts take on shapes that become real to him afterdeath, and that Moksha, in the one case, and Nirvana, in the other,cannot be attained until the disembodied soul has passed quite throughthis shadow-world of the haunting thoughts, and become divested ofthe last spot of its earthly taint. The progress of Western discoveryin this direction has been and must ever be very gradual. From thephenomena of gross to those of more sublimated matter, and thenceon towards the mysteries of spirit is the hard road made necessary bythe precepts of Aristotle. Western Science first ascertained that ouroutcoming breath is charged with carbonic acid and, in excess, becomesfatal to human life; then, that certain dangerous diseases are passedfrom person to person in the sporules thrown off into the air from thesick body; then, that man projects upon every body and every thinghe encounters a magnetic aura, peculiar to himself; and, finally, thephysical disturbance set up in the Ether in the process of thought-evolution is now postulated. An other step in advance will be torealize the magical creative power of the human mind, and the fact thatmoral taint is just as transmissible as physical. The “influence” of badcompanions will then be understood to imply a degrading personalmagnetism, more subtle than the impressions conveyed to the eye or

the ear by the sights and sounds of a vicious company. The latter maybe repelled by resolutely avoiding to see or hear what is bad; but theformer enwraps the sensitive and penetrates his very being if he butstop where the moral poison is floating in the air. Gregory’s” AnimalMagnetism, “Reichenbacb’s” Researches, “and Denton’s “Soul ofThings” will make much of this plain to the Western inquirer, thoughneither of those authors traces the connection of his favourite branchof science with the parent-stock-Indian Psychology.

Keeping the present case in view, we see a man highly susceptibleto magnetic impressions, ignorant of the nature of the “materializations”and, therefore, unable to protect himself against bad influences, broughtin contact with promiscuous circles where the impressionable mediumhas long been the unwitting nucleus of evil magnetisms, his systemsaturated with the emanations of the surviving thoughts and desiresof those who are living and those who are dead. The reader is referredto an interesting paper by Judge Gadgil of Baroda (see our Decembernumber), on “Hindu Ideas about Communion with the Dead,” for aplain exposition of this question of earth-tied souls, or Pisachas. “Itis considered, “says that writer, “that in this state, the soul, beingdeprived of the means of enjoyment of sensual pleasures through itsown physical body, is perpetually tormented by hunger, appetite andother bodily desires, and can have only vicarious enjoyment byentering into the living physical bodies of others, or by absorbing thesubtlest essences of libations and oblations offered for their ownsake.” What is there to surprise us in the fact that a negativelypolarized man, a man of a susceptible temperament, being suddenlybrought into a current of foul emanations from some vicious person,perhaps still living or perhaps dead, absorbes the insidious poison asrapidly as quicklime does moisture, until he is saturated with it? Thus,a susceptible body will absorb the virus of small-pox, or cholera, ortyphus, and we need only recall this to draw the analogy which OccultScience affirms to be warranted.

Near the Earth’s surface there hangs over us-to use a convenientsimile-a steamy moral fog, composed of the undispersed exhalationsof human vice and passion. This fog penetrates the sensitive to thevery soul’s core; his psychic self absorbs it as the sponge does water,or as fresh milk effluvia. It benumbs his moral sense, spurs his baserinstincts into activity, overpowers his good resolutions. As the fumesof a wine-vault make the brain reel, or as the chokedamp stifles one’s

A CASE OF OBSESSION

H. P. B. ON PSYCHICAL PHENOMENA44

breath in a mine, so this heavy cloud of immoral influences carriesaway the sensitive beyond the limits of self-control, and he becomes“obsessed,” like our English patient.

What remedy is there to suggest? Does not our very diagnosisindicate that? The sensitive must have his sensitiveness destroyed;the negative polarity must be changed to a positive; he must becomeactive instead of passive. He can be helped by a magnetiser whounderstands the nature of obsession, and who is morally pure andphysically healthy; it must be a powerful magnetiser, a man ofcommanding will-force. But the fight for freedom will, after all, haveto be fought by the patient himself. His will-power must be aroused.He .must expel the poison from his system. Inch by inch he must winback the lost ground. He must realize that it is a question of life ordeath, salvation or ruin, and strive for victory, like one who makes alast and heroic effort to save his life. His diet must be of the simplest,he must neither eat animal food, nor touch any stimulant, nor puthimself in any company where there is the smallest chance for uncleanthoughts to be provoked. He should be alone as little as possible, buthis companions should be carefully chosen. He should take exerciseand be much in the open air; use wood-fire, instead of coals. Everyindication that the bad influence was still working within him shouldbe taken as a challenge to control his thoughts and compel them todwell upon pure, elevating, spiritual things, at every hazard and witha determination to suffer anything rather than give way. If this mancan have such a spirit infused into, him, and his physician can securethe benevolent help of a strong, healthy magnetiser, of pure character,he may be saved. A case almost exactly like this one, except that thepatient was a lady, came under our notice in America; the same adviceas the above was given and followed, and the obsessing “devil” wasdriven out and has been kept out ever since.