The Golden Star

VISION 5

Spiritualism

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“The ability of the supercorporeal entities to float the bodies of mediums through the air—as in the case of D. D. Home, for instance—or the moving about of all sorts of objects, light or heavy, the controlling of mediums or sensitives so as to enable them to speak strange languages, paint pictures, or play upon unfamiliar instruments—all these things have been known for many millenniums of years—and even millions of years—but such phenomena were never ascribed to the powers or presence of disembodied humans by the wise ancient Hierophants. They too knew how to produce these phenomena—but they had the entities who performed them under control. They also knew that there were two sides to these occult wonders—good and evil—and they did all that was in their power to prevent the ignorant from meddling with these dangerous potencies. The time for a revival of such prohibitions is more than ripe; it would prevent much unhappiness; it would protect people from unscrupulous swindlers, who batten on the sorrows of those who have been bereaved of the bodily presence of their loved ones, by pretending to draw these released Minds back into the material (which in itself would be a cruel action if it were possible); it would protect the genuine and sincere medium from terrible dangers—which are not always immediately apparent on account of their insidious nature—and it would put a stop to the sensation-mongering mob of hysterical perverts, who flood the world with an endless stream of stupid lies and unwholesome imaginations.

“We need more illustrious investigators, like those with the eminent names I mentioned before, and we want those investigators to make public their findings and bring them to the notice of the authorities, so that more effective legislation could he put into operation, in order to deal with all those human vampires who now reap a rich reward from their unhealthy practices. It serves no purpose to fine a few old women here and there, who pretend to tell you your future for a few shillings or pence. We need strong laws, enforced by wise men, who can deal with all the occult miscreants and who understand the occult science as a Science, and do not regard it as a heathen superstition—as it is now regarded by many who do not know better. This will take years to accomplish, but the need is very great indeed.”

“Are the terms ‘elementary’ and ‘elementals’ modern ones, dear Messenger, or were these beings known as such in ancient times?” asked Ma-u.

“The term ‘elementary’ is very old indeed, my son,” replied Neteru-Hem.

“Heinrich Khunrath refers to the four classes of ‘elementary’ spirits in his Amphitheatrum sapientiae aeternae, and explains that these are disembodied vicious men, who have parted with their divine spirits and become as beasts.

“Éliphas Lévi uses the term ‘elementary’ when he speaks of the evocation of Apollonius of Tyana by himself. The greatest Kabalistic authorities who lived before Christianity say that if a man has a criminal mind, his astral body—which holds him prisoner—seeks again the objects of his earthly passions and desires, which he wants to resume as when he had an earthly body. He torments the dreams of youth and bathes in the vapours of spilt blood and wallows in places where bestial people foregather. He watches over the treasures he has buried or hidden, and tries by all means to create for himself material organs by materializations, so that he can ‘live’ again. Finally he loses all memory and the astral body also dies sometimes and he with it, and for ever. There is no rebirth for such beings. The term ‘elemental’ is of later date, although the principle of these nature-spirits has always been known to the ancient authorities. In the King James’ version of the Bible you can read of the destruction—or annihilation—of the wicked. This bears out the teachings of the ancient Kabalists and the generations of Sages who preceded Christianity.

“There has never appeared at any Spiritualistic séance, a being who could truly state that he had risen so high in the celestial realms that he had become what is known as a Son of Eternity, with a Soul so highly evolved that IT had reached the state of perfect bliss experienced in these realms and become coexistent with the formless and actionless ever-present time; where there is neither past nor future, but one infinite eternity of NOW.

“Has there ever appeared at such séances a being who could tell us even as much as our own Master Within can whisper to us in moments of divine initiation or inspiration? NO! When an honest ‘spirit’ is asked at such séances a question which can only be answered by one truly inspired by Divine Wisdom, he answers that he does not know.

“There is one class of Elementaries whom Lévi describes as ‘neither souls of the damned nor guilty; these elementary spirits are like children, curious and harmless, and they torment people in proportion as attention is paid to them.’ These beings he regards as the factors which produce all meaningless and useless physical phenomena at séances. They are also at the disposal of the vicious earthbound human elementaries, if such are attracted to a séance. These can use the former in combination with the emanations of the sitters and the medium, and in this way they can build up materialized ‘spirits.’ At times a cadaverous odour can be noticed when a materialization takes place. In such cases we are confronted with necromancy, where the phosphoric emanations of putrefied corpses are used by the medium, who, in this way evokes vampires.”

“Can anyone learn to become a medium?” asked Ma-uti.

“Mediums are generally so from birth, my child; they have a peculiar psychological constitution which allows the elementals to take control of them. But as there is in many persons a latent mediumistic faculty, this faculty can be developed by attending séances for that purpose. Some of the most famous mediums of modern times have been developed in this manner.

“The belief in continued existence after death prevails amongst all peoples. Father F. de Bobadilla asked the Indians of Nicaragua, soon after the Spanish Conquest, what they believed happened when a person died. They told him that: ‘when men die, there comes forth from their mouth something which resembles a person and is called Julio (in Aztec yuli—to live). This being is like a person, but does not die, and the corpse remains here.’ (This is, of course, the ‘Astral Body.’)

“The engraved frontispiece of Death and the After-Life, by A. J. Davis, shows what is entitled the 'Formation of the Spiritual Body.' It is the picture of the death-bed of an old woman, out of whose mouth issues a luminous appearance, which is her own rejuvenated form.

“The Hindus believe that the spirit of the departed sits for ten days on the eaves of the house where it died; and two plantain leaf-cups, one full of milk and the other full of water, are placed on the eaves, so that the spirit may drink and bathe. During those ten days the spirit-body is gradually built up. According to A. J. Davis, this building up of the spirit-body occurs at the moment of death; and the Clairvoyant sees the formation of that body in almost the same way as the Hindus believe it is formed, namely, head, face, neck, shoulders and the rest of the body down to the feet. The image is bright and shining and a little smaller than the physical body, but without any disfigurements. When this new body is complete, the fine thread that connects it with the human brain snaps—and it is free to accompany its guardian to the finer spheres. The Aztecs again say that ‘when the deceased has lived well, the Julio goes up on high with our Gods; but when he has lived ill, the Julio perishes with the body, and there is an end of it.’

“The Finns and Laplanders also say that when the physical body dies and decays the spirit receives a new one, which the Shaman alone can see.

“Herbert Spencer, in 'Idol-Worship and Fetich-Worship' (chapter 21 in volume 1 of his work The Principles of Sociology), says that the savage Mandans place the skulls of their dead in a circle. The widows know the skulls of their dead husbands and the mothers those of their dead children. Nearly every day they visit them and bring them of their best food; and they talk to those skulls in the most loving manner, and seemingly receive answers.

“These few examples must suffice.

“How the elementary and elemental spirits can mislead one, even the most experienced Spiritualist, is shown when we remember the story of the Russian lady, the personal experience of the Editor of The Theosophist; quoted in vol. III, No. 6.

“This lady was afflicted with mediumship in her early youth, and controlled for about six years by a ‘spirit,’ who came evening after evening and wrote automatically through the child’s arm; covering reams of information about that spirit’s life and family, and about a son who committed suicide. Later on it was discovered that neither the lady—impersonated by that ‘spirit’—nor her son had died. Yet, the handwriting was perfectly reproduced and the same as that of the lady herself; and the facts quoted in these writings were all correct, except the death of the principal lady and her son.

“There is sufficient evidence of a similar nature to fill a library of books; but the Spiritualists ignore these proofs, and prefer to be hoodwinked in the same way as has been done for many years past. Read the Collected Writings of H. P. Blavatsky for an endless succession of such true stories, analyzed by that remarkable woman.

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