Clairvoyance and Occult Powers, William Walker Atkinson [best book clubs TXT] 📗

preceding lessons. The ordinary thought-form is quite simple, as a rule, and does not bear any particular resemblance to the sender thereof. But in some cases a person may, consciously or unconsciously, strongly and clearly think of himself as present at some other place, and thus actually create a thought-form of himself at that place, which may be discerned by those having clairvoyant vision. Moreover, this thought-form of himself is connected psychically with himself and affords a channel of psychic information for him. As a rule these thought-forms are only projected by those who have trained their minds and will along occult lines; but occasionally under the stress of strong emotion or desire an ordinary person may focus his psychic power to such an extent that the phenomena is manifested.

Here I will quote from an English investigator of astral phenomena, who has had much experience on that plane. He says: "All students are aware that thought takes form, at any rate upon its own plane, and in the majority of cases upon the astral plane also; but it may not be so generally known that if a man thinks strongly of himself as present at any given place, the form assumed by that particular thought will be a likeness of the thinker himself, which will appear at the place in question. Essentially this form must be composed of the matter of the mental plane, but in very many cases it would draw round itself matter of the astral plane also, and so would approach much nearer to visibility. There are, in fact, many instances in which it has been seen by the person thought of—most probably by means of the unconscious influence emanating from the original thinker. None of the consciousness of the thinker would, however, be included within this thought-form. When once sent out from him, it would normally be a quite separate entity—not indeed absolutely unconnected with its maker, but practically so as far as the possibility of receiving any impression through it is concerned.

"This type of clairvoyance consists, then, in the power to retain so much connection with and so much hold over a newly-created thought-form as will render it possible to receive impressions by means of it. Such impressions as were made upon the form would in this case be transmitted to the thinker—not along an astral telegraph line, but by a sympathetic vibration. In a perfect case of this kind of clairvoyance it is almost as though the seer projected a part of his consciousness into the thought-form, and used it as a kind of outpost, from which observation was possible. He sees almost as well as he would if he himself stood in the place of his thought-form. The figures at which he is looking will appear to him as of life-size and close to hand, instead of tiny and at a distance as in the case of some other forms of clairvoyance; and he will find it possible to shift his point of view if he wishes to do so. Clairaudience is perhaps less frequently associated with this type of clairvoyance than with the others, but its place is to some extent taken by a kind of mental perception of the thoughts and intentions of those who are seen.

"Since the man's consciousness is still in the physical body, he will be able (even when exercising this faculty) to hear and to speak, in so far as he can do this without any distraction of his attention. The moment that the intentness of his thought fails, the whole vision is gone, and he will have to construct a fresh thought-form before he can resume it. Instances in which this kind of sight is possessed with any degree of perfection by untrained people are naturally rarer than in the other types of clairvoyance, because the capacity for mental control required, and the generally finer nature of the forces employed."

I may mention that this particular method is frequently employed by advanced occultists of all countries, being preferred for various reasons. Some of the reasons of this preference as follows: (a) The ability to shift the vision, and to turn around almost as well as in the case of actual astral-body projection—this gives quite an advantage to this method over the method of ordinary clairvoyance; (b) it does away with certain disadvantages of "going out into the astral" in the astral-body, which only trained occultists realize—it gives almost the same results as astral-body clairvoyance, without a number of disadvantages and inconveniences.

In India, especially, this form of clairvoyance is comparatively frequent. This by reason of the fact that the Hindus, as a race, are far more psychic than are those of the Western lands, all else considered; and, besides, there are a much greater number of highly developed occultists there than in the West. Moreover, there is a certain psychic atmosphere surrounding India, by reason of its thousands of years of deep interest in things psychic and spiritual, all of which renders the production of psychic phenomena far easier than in other lands.

In India, moreover, we find many instances of another form of psychic, or astral phenomena. I allude to the production of thought-form pictures which are plainly visible to one or more persons. This phase of psychic phenomena is the real basis for many of the wonder tales which Western travellers bring back with them from India. The wonderful cases of magical appearance of living creatures and plants, and other objects, out of the clear air are the result of this psychic phenomena. That is to say, the creatures and objects are not really produced—they are but astral appearances resulting from the projection of powerful thought-forms from the mind of the magician or other wonder-worker, of whom India has a plentiful supply. Even the ignorant fakirs (I use the word in its true sense, not in the sense given it by American slang)—even these itinerant showmen of psychic phenomena, are able to produce phenomena of this kind which seems miraculous to those witnessing them. As for the trained occultists of India, I may say that their feats (when they deign to produce them) seem to overturn every theory and principle of materialistic philosophy and science. But in nearly every case the explanation is the same—the projection of a strong and clear thought-form on a large scale.

Although I have purposely omitted reference to Hindu psychic phenomena in this book (for the reason given in my Introduction), I find it necessary to quote cases in India in this connection, for the simple reason that there are but few counterparts in the Western world. There are no itinerent wonder-workers of this kind in Western lands, and the trained occultists of the West of course would not consent to perform feats of this kind for the amusement of persons seeking merely sensations. The trained wills of the West are given rather to materializing objectively on the physical plane, creating great railroads, buildings, bridges, etc., from the mental pictures, rather than devoting the same time, energy and will to the production of astral though-forms and pictures. There is a great difference in temperament, as well as a difference in the general psychic atmosphere, between East and West, which serves to explain matters of this kind.

An American writer truly says: "The first principle underlying the whole business of Hindu wonder-working is that of a strong will; and the first necessary condition of producing a magical effect is an increase in the power of thought. The Hindus, owing to that intense love for solitary meditation, which has been one of the most pronounced characteristics from time immemorial, have acquired mental faculties of which we of the Western and younger civilization are totally ignorant. The Hindu has attained a past master's degree in speculative philosophy. He has for years retired for meditation to the silent places in his land, lived a hermit, subdued the body and developed the mind, thus winning control over other minds."

In India, I have seen scenes of far distant places appearing as a mirage in clear air, even the colors being present to the scenes. This, though some what uncommon, was simply a remarkable instance of thought-form projection from the mind of a man highly developed along occult lines. You must remember that in order to produce a picture in the astral, of this kind, the occultist must not only have the power of will and mind to cause such a picture to materialize, but he must also have a remarkable memory for detail in the picture—for nothing appears in the picture unless it has already been pictured in the mind of the mind of the man himself. Such a memory and perception of detail is very rare—in the Western world it is possessed by only exceptional artists; however, anyone may cultivate this perception and memory if he will give the time and care to it that the Hindu magicians do.

You have heard of the Hindu Mango Trick, in which the magician takes a mango seed, plants it in the ground, waves his hands over it, and then causes first a tiny shoot to appear from the surface of the ground, this followed by a tiny trunk, and leaves, which grow and grow, until at last appears a full sized mango tree, which first shows blossoms and then ripe fruit. In short, in a few moments the magician has produced that which Nature require years to do—that is he apparently does this. What he really does is to produce a wonderful thought-form in the astral, from seed stage to tree and fruit stage; the astral picture reproducing perfectly the picture in his own mind. It is as if he were creating a moving picture film-roll in his mind, and then projecting this upon the screen of the air. There is no mango tree there, and never was, outside of the mind of the magician and the minds of his audience.

In the same way, the magician will seem to throw the end of a rope up into the air. It travels far up until the end is lost sight of. Then he sends a boy climbing up after it, until he too disappears from sight. Then he causes the whole thing to disappear, and lo! the boy is seen standing among the audience. The boy is real, of course, but he never left the spot—the rest was all an appearance caused by the mind and will of the magician, pictured in the astral as a thought-form. In the same way the magician will seem to cut the boy into bits, and then cause the severed parts to spring together and reassemble themselves. These feats may be varied indefinitely but the principle is ever the same—thought-form projection.

Western visitors have sought to obtain photographs of these feats of the Hindu magicians, but their plates and films invariably show nothing whatever except the old fakir sitting quietly in the centre, with a peculiar expression in his eyes. This is as might be expected, for the picture exists only in the astral, and is perceived only by the awakened astral senses of those present, which have been stimulated into activity by the power of the magician—by sympathetic vibration, to be exact. Moreover, in certain instances it has been found that the vision is confined to a limited area; persons outside of the limit-ring see nothing, and those moving nearer to the magician lose sight of what they had previously seen. There are scientific reasons for this last fact, which need not be gone into at this place. The main point I am seeking to bring out is that these wonderful scenes are simply and wholly thought-form pictures in the astral, perceived by the awakened astral vision of those present. This to be sure is wonderful enough—but still no miracle has been worked!

I may mention here that these magicians begin their training from early youth. In addition to certain instruction concerning astral phenomena which is handed down