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sensitive on this point, and never felt hurt at anyone taking precautious
against deception. He sometimes, in the early days of our acquaintance,
used to say to me before a seance, "Now, William, I want you to act as if I
was a recognized conjurer, and was going to cheat you and play all the
tricks I could. Take every precaution you can devise against me, and move
about and look under the table or where else you like. Don't consider my
feelings. I shall not be offended. I know that the more carefully I
A Guide to Mediumship 55
am tested the more convinced will everyone be that these abnormal
occurrences are not of my own doings." Latterly, I used jokingly to say to
him. "Let us sit round the fire and have a, quiet chat, and see if our friends
here and will do anything for us. We won't have any tests or precautions."
On these occasions, when only my own family were present with him,
some of the most convincing phenomena took place.'
D. D. HOME AN UPRIGHT MAN.
In justice to Mr. Home, perhaps the most wonderful medium of modern
times, we insert here, in addition to what has already been said, the
following tribute to his nobility and sincerity by Sir William Crookes: 'I
think it is a cruel thing that a man like D. D. Home, gifted with such
extraordinary powers, and always willing, nay, anxious, to place himself at
the disposal of men of science for investigation, should have lived so many
years in London, and, with one or two exceptions, no one of weight in the
scientific world should have thought it worth while to look into the truth
or falsity of things which were being talked about in society on all sides.
To those who knew him, Home was one of the most lovable of men, and
his perfect genuineness and uprightness were beyond suspicion, but by
those who did not know him he was called a charlatan, and those who
believed in him were considered little better than lunatics.'*
NOT TRIVIAL OR UNWORTHY.
We need not do more than refer, in passing, to the objections of those
who regard the tilting and rapping of tables, the ringing of bells, and other
phenomena of the kind as 'trivial,' and 'undignified,' and 'unworthy of
spirits from the other world.' We do not deem it trivial or undignified to
lift the knocker and rap the door, or ring the door bell, when we call upon
our friends and wish to make them aware of our presence. May it not be
our materialistic tendencies which compel the spirits to employ
* 'Light,' January 19th, 1895.
56 A Guide to Mediumship
physical means of reaching us because 'having eyes we see not, and having
ears we hear not,' and are unresponsive to all their appeals upon the more
spiritual plane? Further, this asserted 'unworthiness' assumes the very
point which the phenomena are intended to prove, viz., that there are
people in the other world to communicate with us. Sceptics have doubted
and denied the existence of the spirit world, and so the spirit people have
been compelled to choose these methods to break through the materialistic
incrustations with which we have surrounded ourselves. By and bye,
possibly, we shall obtain the open vision and the listening ear, and instead
of compelling the spirits to come down to our level we may ascend to their
plane of light and 'know as we are known.' But, until then, the outward
and visible signs and wonders will still be requisite, and physical
demonstrations of 'psychic force,' 'associated with and governed by
Intelligence, demonstrably other than that of the mediums and the sitters,'
will still be efficacious, as they were with Sir Wm. Crookes and Dr. A. R.
Wallace.
HELPFUL SITTERS.
There are many persons who, although they are not particularly
mediumistic, possess a peculiar psychical power which is very helpful to
young mediums. They are good sitters in a 'developing circle.' They may
not do anything, or say much, but their influence is congenial, and
sensitives like to sit beside them. These persons are fountains (or
reservoirs) of force which the spirits can draw upon, and the medium is
thus greatly assisted by their presence.
CONSCIOUS MEDIUMS.
Persons of the mediumistic temperament, although they do not have
objective evidences of spirit presence, or even the personal experience of
spirit influence to the extent of being controlled, may yet be conscious that
they, are acted upon by, and receive ideas, suggestions, and impressions [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]