How to Read the Crystal, Walter Gorn Old [english reading book .TXT] 📗

man designated by the vision would be guilty of misrepresentation, and would be cut off by death three years from that time. The prediction was in every respect verified.

Not unfrequently the visionary state is induced by excessive emotion, during which the prophetic faculty is considerably heightened. Some temperaments of a peculiarly sensitive order will fall into the clairvoyant condition while engaged in thought. The thread of thought is broken, and there appears a vision wholly unconnected with the subject but a moment ago in the mind. It would appear that the soul of the sensitive, while probing the depths of its inner consciousness, suddenly comes into contact with the thin partition which may be said to divide the outer world of thought and doubt from the inner world of intuition and direct perception, and, breaking through, emerges into the light beyond. The same may be said of cases which manifest the faculty of clear visions while in the hypnotic state, whether spontaneous or induced. The trance condition frequently manifests this faculty in conjunction with others, such as clairvoyance or clear-hearing and the sense of psychic touch.

The following instance, which was reported in the Morning Leader of Friday, 14th August, 1896, is remarkable for its extreme pertinence to the subject under consideration:

"Last month a man named David Thomas, who had for a short time been employed by Lord Windsor as his estate carpenter, was found shot dead in a lonely spot on the roadside near Fairwater, a village not far from Cardiff. No trace of the murderer could be found, and no motive has been supplied for the fell deed.

"David Thomas was, from all accounts, a quiet, peaceable fellow, well liked by his intimates, and happy in his domestic relations. He was a native of the little fishing village Aberaeron, in Cardiganshire, but he had lived in Glamorganshire for some years, and had married a respectable woman, a native of the Vale of Glamorgan. A few months ago he received the appointment of carpenter on Lord Windsor's estate. He then removed with his family to live in the little village of St. Fagan's a few miles out of Cardiff. He had hardly settled down there when the tragedy took place. It happened on a Saturday night. He had given up work early, and had come home to cut the grass in the little green in front of his cottage, and to tidy up his new home. Early in the afternoon he seems to have grown tired of the work and went indoors. His wife asked him to take the children out for a stroll. He made no reply, and his wife, busy in another part of the house, did not pay much attention to his subsequent movements. She knows, however, that he washed and went upstairs to put himself tidy, and then went out—without the children.

"He seems to have met a friend on the road, and went for a walk with him. They called at a public-house, and had a glass or two of beer. Then, about ten o'clock, they parted. Thomas was quite cheerful, and started for home at a brisk pace. He came presently to a lonely part of the road. A wayfarer heard a pistol shot and a scream, and presently met a man who was hurrying away from the direction of the scream, and who wished him a gruff good-night. Two hundred yards farther on the traveller saw in the dim night the body of a man stretched out on the side of the road. He fetched assistance: the body was that of David Thomas. He had been shot about a hundred yards behind, but he had not been killed outright. He had run in terror up the road, spouting blood as he went, and leaving a ghastly trail behind him.

"But a weird story which is told in the Western Mail of Cardiff serves to lend that touch of horror to the tale which renders it more thrilling than any story which the most daring novelist would venture to create.

"A young girl, who is not yet 20, has been in the habit for some time past of attending séances held by the Cardiff Psychological Society. One night at a séance, while in a state of trance, she was seized with a strange convulsion. Through her lips came the words:

"'I—WILL—have—my—revenge.'

"'Who are you, friend?' asked the interlocutor.

"'David—Thomas. I—was—shot.'

"This entirely unexpected answer was followed by sensational statements concerning the murder and the identity of the murderer. Some days after she was taken out to Fairwater—which she had never before visited—and reenacted in a trance the scene of the murder.

"The story leaked out, and came to the ears of the Western Mail. Doubts were cast at once on the bôna fides of the girl and the whole story. An offer was made to repeat the experiment in the presence of two Mail representatives. The offer was accepted, and one night this week, at ten o'clock, the little party met outside the Railway Inn, where poor David Thomas had had his last drink.

"A start was made. The medium walked at an easy pace between a male and female friend, whose arms were linked. The faint outline of the road ahead led always on towards a wall of blackness.

"At last they came near Fairwater. Suddenly the medium spoke:

"'I see a pistol right in front of me—held towards me—it is a shiny one—there it is, held up—it has a large mouth.'

"Forty yards farther on the medium spoke again: 'Hark! I hear footsteps! I see a man!'

"'Where?'

"'Right in front of us. There he is, creeping along the hedge. He is keeping out of sight.'

"'What is he like? How is he dressed?'

"The medium described her vision very minutely. Her pace increased suddenly; she dragged her linked companions on with a lurch forward. The farmhouse where she first saw the phantom stranger was well passed. She was following him, eagerly now.

"A piercing scream came from the girl. A pressman sprang to her side and helped to prevent her body pitching headlong forward.

"This was at the spot where David Thomas fell at the first shot.

"'O—o—oh!' moaned the medium, twisting her left arm round to the back, to a spot immediately below the shoulder-blade, as if in intense agony. Then, supported on either side, she staggered forward.

"A light was struck to see her face. It was the hue of death. Her eyes were turned until the whites only were visible.

"'Let her go down!'

"Moaning, she was allowed to sink, and lay there prone. Her moans expressed intense agony, and were like those of a man dying, blood gurgling in the sound; it was scarce conceivable a woman actually lay there.

"'Speak, friend,' said her interlocutor, and presently came the slow answer, a whisper:

"'David—T-T-Thomas.'

"'What do you want of us, friend?'

"'I—was—shot!' The tones of the voice were those of a man.

"'Who shot you?'

"A name was given.

"'What do you want to do, my friend?'

"Slowly, distinctly, with relentless purpose came the answer:

"'I—will—have—my revenge. He shot me.'

"Then the medium told them where the pistol had been bought by the murderer a year ago under an assumed name, and where the pistol would be found. All this while the poor girl lay prone on the roadside under the thin sinister telegraphic pole.

"Gradually she revived. 'Look, look!' she cried, in a voice of horror, 'Look at the blood.'

"'Where?'

"'Here—look! Look here!' indicating spots visible to any one else. 'Take me away,' she shuddered, but before her frightened exclamation could be obeyed her body suddenly stiffened. 'He is there!' she said, with a pitiful horror in her tone, but with her face expressionless and her eyes still white.

"'What do you see?'

"'The ghost.'

"Then the party returned, shaken in mind and surfeited with horrors."

Examples of a similar nature might be multiplied indefinitely, and would but serve to show what has already been stated as a matter of personal experience among all those in whom the psychic faculties have attained any degree of development, viz., that the rapport existing between the human soul and the world of subjective consciousness is capable of being actively induced by recourse to appropriate means, or cultivated, where it exists to any degree, by means of the crystal and other accessories, such as the metal disc used in China, or the Shiva-lingam stones used in India.

The following example of the psychic sense of feeling will serve to show that all the senses, not that of vision alone, are capable of development under suitable conditions. A contributor to the Westminster Budget, in December, 1893, sends the following account of the use of the divining rod for the purpose of spring-finding:

"A few weeks ago took place some operations with the divining rod by Mr. Stears, of Hull, who was called to Mr. S. Campion's farm at East Heslerton, near Malton, to search for a water supply. At that time he marked two places near the farmhouse where, he said, the presence of water was indicated by the rod. Since then Mr. E. Halliday, plumber of Malton, has bored an artesian well at one of the places indicated, and found a very copious supply of water at a depth of 87 feet, after going through sand, clay, and a bed of what Mr. Halliday says is quartz and lead ore. Mr. Campion, who was previously without a supply of pure water, is delighted with the results of the visit of the 'diviner,' and has faith in his power with the rod. Mr. Stears has since been called in to experiment on several farms on the Birdsall estate of Lord Middleton, the operations being conducted in the presence of Julia, Lady Middleton, the Hon. Geoffrey and Mrs. Dawnay, Mr. Persons (Lord Middleton's agent), and others. Other farms were visited, and Mr. Stears, after employing the rod, indicated the presence of water at each. Mr. Halliday has also received instructions to make tests at these places, and operations are now in progress. Mr. Stears has successfully 'divined' for water on two of Mr. Lett's farms in the East Riding, and also at Amotherby, near Malton; and his success is drawing fresh attention to the 'divining rod' and its capabilities in the hands of a duly 'inspired' professor. Mr. Stears claims that he can also discover metals as well as water, and he alleges that not one person in 10,000 can use the rod successfully. His explanation of the power he possesses beyond the ordinary run of his fellow-men is that it is what he would call 'animal electricity,' because at times, after using the rod for a long period, he loses his power with it, and only recovers it after a short rest and refreshment. In the presence of Lady Middleton and the rest of the company he made several interesting experiments—for instance, standing on a china dish, to show that china is a non-conducting agent (the rod ceasing to oscillate even when over water); finding metals hid in the ground, etc."

Mrs. Louise Cotton, writing of the operation itself, says:

"When a sensitive person who has the power of feeling the existence of water or mineral under the surface of the earth, steps exactly over the course of a spring or running water, or metallic vein, etc., the piece of wood or other medium used turns in the hands—in most cases upwards for water and downwards for minerals. The motion varies according to individual temperaments: in some hands the turning is slow and but slightly felt, or scarcely perceptible by lookers-on; with others it rotates rapidly, and when held tightly by the thumb, the bark of the branch or twig often peels off; and, with very susceptible operators. I have seen the rod fly, out of the hands, or, if very tightly held, break."

As yet, however, the majority of people are wholly oblivious to the fact that such psychic faculties exist, and even those who possess them, i.e., who have them in something like working efficiency, are conscious of having but an imperfect control over them.

Probably it is as suggested by Mr. F. H.