The Golden Star
VISION 5
Spiritualism
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“Spiritual phenomena should not be expected from the action of departed human beings, as the Spiritualists believe; it were better and wiser to look first into the powers of the human spirit still embodied in the flesh. Once it is realized how this spirit acts, how far it reaches, and what underlies it; then part of the veil will be lifted and there will be Light. It will then be known how the luminiferous ether of the scientists; the psychode, or spirit—or ectenic—or psychic force; the astral or sidereal light; or whatever else we care to term these forces, act and re-act one upon another. The Akāsha, or life-principle, the all-pervading force known as such to the gymnosophists, magicians, and adepts of all countries for thousands of years, and used today by the Tibetan Lamas and the thaumaturgists of all nations, will yield to manipulations as it has always done, and become an instrument of power once again to those who have been found worthy of being trusted with such secrets.
“But the Light will never issue forth from dark cabinets or semi-dark séance rooms; and Spiritualists can never assure themselves of the genuineness of mediumistic manifestations such as materializations, levitations, the moving of objects, and so on, unless they occur in full light and under such test conditions that all possibility of fraud is ruled out. The feeble excuse that darkness, or at least semi-darkness is necessary for such demonstrations is an utter fallacy, as all true Occultists know. How the pure higher powers can use the spiritual and other forces present within the human frame is described by the anonymous adept, the author of Art Magic. In that work you may read how an innocent little child-medium sits on the ground, lays her head on a tripod covered with blank writing-paper, embracing its support with her arms, and goes to sleep for an hour. During her sleep the sheets are filled up with exquisitely formed characters in ancient Sanskrit. The result of the psychographic mediumship is a set of volumes of MSS., written without pencils, pen or ink. These volumes contain some of the highest teachings of Hermetic Philosophy and they bear the unmistakable stamp of truth. But compare the conditions under which these volumes were produced with the conditions generally rife at modern spiritualistic séances!!
“The Infinite cannot be known by experiment and reason, but by divine wisdom and inspiration alone. The Adept, the Initiate, and the pure person will be surrounded by an aura or nimbus in which is clearly shown the grade of spiritual unfoldment of such a being; it will be pure, crystalline, limpid and opalescent as the morning dew. Men with such an aura can be approached by holy and pure influences; whilst evil spirits flee before their atmosphere of divine beneficence.
“On the other hand a negative person, or an evil one, will be surrounded by a dense, noisome, mephitic, or nauseating cloudy substance which repels the pure spirits and attracts the foul ones, who delight in it as the eel does in turbid waters. Mediums who pride themselves on being the faithful slaves of their ‘guides,’ give proof of a weakness that yields to strange beings, whose low intelligences control their actions and their thinking to the detriment of both medium and sitters.
“Side by side with these passive mediums appears the trained Occultist, who is not a medium but a mediator between the spirits and the terrestrial world. Only he can receive divine messages and remain consciously in full control. Amongst them we find such Adepts as Apollonius, Iamblichus, Plotinus, Jesus, and Buddha. Moreover, a medium cannot have his ‘powers’ developed, for a passive medium has no power. He only has certain conditions, moral and physical, which induce emanations or an aura, in which his controlling elementals or elementaries can live, and by which they can manifest themselves. He is the vehicle for their power! His state of perfection as a medium is in direct ratio to his passivity, and the dangers he incurs are in equal degree. The less power, the better the medium, and the less possibility of safeguarding or defending himself.
“No spirit can control a positive person or a pure and moral one if they do not wish to be controlled. The dangers of passive mediumship are illustrated in the example of Socrates, who was refused admittance to the initiations or teachings of the Mysteries, for there was a law against the admission of such natural mediums. Being passive they were apt to be controlled, and when under control they might unconsciously betray the great Secrets of the Visions and Wonders of the Epoptai, of the Inner Temple.
“Mediumship is therefore the opposite of Adeptship, and to be discouraged whenever possible. A medium needs a foreign intelligence to overpower his physical and mental parts in order to get into a trance; an Adept requires only a few minutes of self-contemplation; his will-power is sufficient. He has complete control not only of the spiritual beings with whom he makes contact, but of all his own attributes also. He can so manipulate the astral body that it shrinks down to a pinpoint to which everything is pervious; or he can enlarge it to a gigantic body which can touch the stars, or sink into the deeps of the earth. He can produce a luminous nebula from which will gradually develop a spirit-hand which can pick up a pencil and write intelligent messages, and dissolve it again a few minutes later.
“Do not be misled into comparing such phenomena with the faked spirit-hands you can see at some séances. Some of the more powerful elementals can produce similar phenomena by using the astral body of the passive medium for that purpose. In such cases the messages consist mainly of drivel.”
“Is it possible that the Soul of a great teacher, like Jesus, remains in touch with humanity, dear Neteru-Hem?” asked Ma-uti.
“Certainly, my child. This is just what does happen, for as it is possible for the human Adept on the earth-plane to project to distant places, or to extend his consciousness beyond his bodily dwelling-place, so can the Adept project His Soul to the earth from the Astral World. Remember that Soul and Mind are One in the Higher Realms in the case of an Adept. Having acquired the technique of projection on earth—when he has learned to send his Mind to distant places whilst the Soul remains on guard over the sleeping body—so can He separate the Mind from the Soul in the Celestial Realms, although they are one in Consciousness and Individuality or Personality. In this way can inspirational messages be received on earth from heaven. But such messages are only sent from the pure to the pure, as in the case of the child I have just mentioned; and such cases are comparatively rare. In this way a Jesus, or a Buddha, can be said to animate the minds of several persons at once. There are many instances in which this has happened, such as the case of Shankara, who was overshadowed by the Buddha and not a re-incarnation of Buddha as has been averred about this great Brahman Adept.”
“Who were the Epoptai you mentioned a short time ago?” asked Ma-u.
“The Epoptai were the Initiates or Seers of the Greater Mysteries, those who see all things unveiled. The Mystai, or veiled ones, belonged to the lesser Mysteries; and they were allowed to perceive things only through a mist.”
“What is the principal colour of the Astral World?” Ma-uti wanted to know.
“The principal colour of the Astral World is Violet. When in meditation you will see other colours, such as green, indigo, and yellow. These are all good colours, but the principal colours to aim at are green-bronze, yellow-bronze, and indigo-bronze. When the yellow-bronze merges into the indigo you are on the right plane called the Manasic Plane; from this Plane Manas stretches upward to Mahat, as it is termed. Reject all other colours, for they are not good and represent conditions you must try to avoid, as it is not possible to reach a state of pure spiritual consciousness when these colours are present to you.”
And now the weird light that had been surrounding the Messenger, and Ma-u and Ma-uti, began to change and stretch out like a huge aura, surrounding the whole region. It was shot with opalescent and shifting colours such as are seen on a soap bubble; but here the colours were not only on the surface, but drifted everywhere in great clouds of splendour and magnificent brilliance. These clouds were peopled with hosts of phantasmagorical beings, and strange landscapes, where all natural tints were reversed, became visible. There were red skies, and yellow trees, and blue grass, and violet stars in the sky and a pink moon. Weird animals and fearsome monsters roamed everywhere, and the trees waved and weaved about and stretched out gruesome tentacles with which they sought to capture any creature that came within their reach; insane imaginations of those who are possessed by elemental demons. A little Javanese girl with streaming hair and terrified eyes came running towards the Messenger, whilst showers of stones which suddenly appeared within a few feet above fell all round her though never touching the child. Some of the stones were of huge size and fell with heavy thuds upon the soil. Neteru-Hem made a sign with his hand and both child and stone shower melted away, whilst reddish vapours in the form of impish-looking demons became visible for a moment and dissolved into nothingness.
“These are ‘poltergeists’ or Pishachas, or Bhûts, as the Hindus call them. They are responsible for all sorts of phenomena in the séance room, and use certain forces clustering about the mediums to play all sorts of tricks. They love to torment human beings, and persons who have these forces about them experience such manifestations as the throwing about of crockery or even furniture. Sometimes there are localities where such forces are available to the elementals, and whenever human beings visit such spots there is every likelihood of demonstrations of this sort taking place.”
In the distance magnificent cities became visible, with golden palaces and houses of shining crystal; the walls garnished with precious stones.
Troops of horsemen came galloping along on ghostly steeds, manes and tails stretched out in the rushing air, chasing phantom game on soundless hoofs.
Shades of the ancient Turanians, Huns, and Tukui worshipped the spirits of the earth and sky; and Chinese spirits in the form of celestial, terrestrial, and wandering phantoms of their great Emperors, Philosophers and Sages, made a glittering pageant that passed in a blaze of splendour.
Beautiful girls threw handfuls of flowers high up in the clouds, and, as they ascended, these fragrant missiles melted in mid-air.
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