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+The Project Gutenberg EBook of Clairvoyance, by Charles Webster Leadbeater
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: Clairvoyance
+
+Author: Charles Webster Leadbeater
+
+Release Date: July 13, 2009 [EBook #29399]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK CLAIRVOYANCE ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Sankar Viswanathan, Bryan Ness, and the Online
+Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This
+book was produced from scanned images of public domain
+material from the Google Print project.)
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+                             CLAIRVOYANCE
+
+
+                                  BY
+
+                           C. W. LEADBEATER
+
+
+
+                            SECOND EDITION
+
+
+
+
+                                LONDON
+
+                   THEOSOPHICAL PUBLISHING SOCIETY
+
+                                 1903
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+
+
+CONTENTS
+
+
+CHAPTER I.                                  PAGE
+WHAT CLAIRVOYANCE IS.                         5
+
+CHAPTER II.
+SIMPLE CLAIRVOYANCE: FULL                    29
+
+CHAPTER III.
+SIMPLE CLAIRVOYANCE: PARTIAL                 50
+
+CHAPTER IV.
+CLAIRVOYANCE IN SPACE: INTENTIONAL           58
+
+CHAPTER V.
+CLAIRVOYANCE IN SPACE: SEMI-INTENTIONAL      83
+
+CHAPTER VI.
+CLAIRVOYANCE IN SPACE: UNINTENTIONAL         87
+
+CHAPTER VII.
+CLAIRVOYANCE IN TIME: THE PAST               96
+
+CHAPTER VIII.
+CLAIRVOYANCE IN TIME: THE FUTURE            131
+
+CHAPTER IX.
+METHODS OF DEVELOPMENT                      163
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+
+
+CLAIRVOYANCE
+
+CHAPTER I.
+
+WHAT CLAIRVOYANCE IS.
+
+
+Clairvoyance means literally nothing more than "clear-seeing," and it
+is a word which has been sorely misused, and even degraded so far as
+to be employed to describe the trickery of a mountebank in a variety
+show. Even in its more restricted sense it covers a wide range of
+phenomena, differing so greatly in character that it is not easy to
+give a definition of the word which shall be at once succinct and
+accurate. It has been called "spiritual vision," but no rendering
+could well be more misleading than that, for in the vast majority of
+cases there is no faculty connected with it which has the slightest
+claim to be honoured by so lofty a name.
+
+For the purpose of this treatise we may, perhaps, define it as the
+power to see what is hidden from ordinary physical sight. It will be
+as well to premise that it is very frequently (though by no means
+always) accompanied by what is called clairaudience, or the power to
+hear what would be inaudible to the ordinary physical ear; and we will
+for the nonce take our title as covering this faculty also, in order
+to avoid the clumsiness of perpetually using two long words where one
+will suffice.
+
+Let me make two points clear before I begin. First, I am not writing
+for those who do not believe that there is such a thing as
+clairvoyance, nor am I seeking to convince those who are in doubt
+about the matter. In so small a work as this I have no space for that;
+such people must study the many books containing lists of cases, or
+make experiments for themselves along mesmeric lines. I am addressing
+myself to the better-instructed class who know that clairvoyance
+exists, and are sufficiently interested in the subject to be glad of
+information as to its methods and possibilities; and I would assure
+them that what I write is the result of much careful study and
+experiment, and that though some of the powers which I shall have to
+describe may seem new and wonderful to them, I mention no single one
+of which I have not myself seen examples.
+
+Secondly, though I shall endeavour to avoid technicalities as far as
+possible, yet as I am writing in the main for students of Theosophy, I
+shall feel myself at liberty sometimes to use, for brevity's sake and
+without detailed explanation, the ordinary Theosophical terms with
+which I may safely assume them to be familiar.
+
+Should this little book fall into the hands of any to whom the
+occasional use of such terms constitutes a difficulty, I can only
+apologize to them and refer them for these preliminary explanations to
+any elementary Theosophical work, such as Mrs. Besant's _Ancient
+Wisdom_ or _Man and His Bodies_. The truth is that the whole
+Theosophical system hangs together so closely, and its various parts
+are so interdependent, that to give a full explanation of every term
+used would necessitate an exhaustive treatise on Theosophy as a
+preface even to this short account of clairvoyance.
+
+Before a detailed explanation of clairvoyance can usefully be
+attempted, however, it will be necessary for us to devote a little
+time to some preliminary considerations, in order that we may have
+clearly in mind a few broad facts as to the different planes on which
+clairvoyant vision may be exercised, and the conditions which render
+its exercise possible.
+
+We are constantly assured in Theosophical literature that all these
+higher faculties are presently to be the heritage of mankind in
+general--that the capacity of clairvoyance, for example, lies latent
+in every one, and that those in whom it already manifests itself are
+simply in that one particular a little in advance of the rest of us.
+Now this statement is a true one, and yet it seems quite vague and
+unreal to the majority of people, simply because they regard such a
+faculty as something absolutely different from anything they have yet
+experienced, and feel fairly confident that they themselves, at any
+rate, are not within measurable distance of its development.
+
+It may help to dispel this sense of unreality if we try to understand
+that clairvoyance, like so many other things in nature, is mainly a
+question of vibrations, and is in fact nothing but an extension of
+powers which we are all using every day of our lives. We are living
+all the while surrounded by a vast sea of mingled air and ether, the
+latter inter-penetrating the former, as it does all physical matter;
+and it is chiefly by means of vibrations in that vast sea of matter
+that impressions reach us from the outside. This much we all know, but
+it may perhaps never have occurred to many of us that the number of
+these vibrations to which we are capable of responding is in reality
+quite infinitesimal.
+
+Up among the exceedingly rapid vibrations which affect the ether there
+is a certain small section--a _very_ small section--to which the
+retina of the human eye is capable of responding, and these particular
+vibrations produce in us the sensation which we call light. That is to
+say, we are capable of seeing only those objects from which light of
+that particular kind can either issue or be reflected.
+
+In exactly the same way the tympanum of the human ear is capable of
+responding to a certain very small range of comparatively slow
+vibrations--slow enough to affect the air which surrounds us; and so
+the only sounds which we can hear are those made by objects which are
+able to vibrate at some rate within that particular range.
+
+In both cases it is a matter perfectly well known to science that
+there are large numbers of vibrations both above and below these two
+sections, and that consequently there is much light that we cannot
+see, and there are many sounds to which our ears are deaf. In the case
+of light the action of these higher and lower vibrations is easily
+perceptible in the effects produced by the actinic rays at one end of
+the spectrum and the heat rays at the other.
+
+As a matter of fact there exist vibrations of every conceivable degree
+of rapidity, filling the whole vast space intervening between the slow
+sound waves and the swift light waves; nor is even that all, for there
+are undoubtedly vibrations slower than those of sound, and a whole
+infinity of them which are swifter than those known to us as light. So
+we begin to understand that the vibrations by which we see and hear
+are only like two tiny groups of a few strings selected from an
+enormous harp of practically infinite extent, and when we think how
+much we have been able to learn and infer from the use of those
+minute fragments, we see vaguely what possibilities might lie before
+us if we were enabled to utilize the vast and wonderful whole.
+
+Another fact which needs to be considered in this connection is that
+different human beings vary considerably, though within relatively
+narrow limits, in their capacity of response even to the very few
+vibrations which are within reach of our physical senses. I am not
+referring to the keenness of sight or of hearing that enables one man
+to see a fainter object or hear a slighter sound than another; it is
+not in the least a question of strength of vision, but of extent of
+susceptibility.
+
+For example, if anyone will take a good bisulphide of carbon prism,
+and by its means throw a clear spectrum on a sheet of white paper, and
+then get a number of people to mark upon the paper the extreme limits
+of the spectrum as it appears to them, he is fairly certain to find
+that their powers of vision differ appreciably. Some will see the
+violet extending much farther than the majority do; others will
+perhaps see rather less violet than most, while gaining a
+corresponding extension of vision at the red end. Some few there will
+perhaps be who can see farther than ordinary at both ends, and these
+will almost certainly be what we call sensitive people--susceptible in
+fact to a greater range of vibrations than are most men of the present
+day.
+
+In hearing, the same difference can be tested by taking some sound
+which is just not too high to be audible--on the very verge of
+audibility as it were--and discovering how many among a given number
+of people are able to hear it. The squeak of a bat is a familiar
+instance of such a sound, and experiment will show that on a summer
+evening, when the whole air is full of the shrill, needle-like cries
+of these little animals, quite a large number of men will be
+absolutely unconscious of them, and unable to hear anything at all.
+
+Now these examples clearly show that there is no hard-and-fast limit
+to man's power of response to either etheric or aerial vibrations, but
+that some among us already have that power to a wider extent than
+others; and it will even be found that the same man's capacity varies
+on different occasions. It is therefore not difficult for us to
+imagine that it might be possible for a man to develop this power, and
+thus in time to learn to see much that is invisible to his fellow-men,
+and hear much that is inaudible to them, since we know perfectly well
+that enormous numbers of these additional vibrations do exist, and are
+simply, as it were, awaiting recognition.
+
+The experiments with the Röntgen rays give us an example of the
+startling results which are produced when even a very few of these
+additional vibrations are brought within human ken, and the
+transparency to these rays of many substances hitherto considered
+opaque at once shows us one way at least in which we may explain such
+elementary clairvoyance as is involved in reading a letter inside a
+closed box, or describing those present in an adjoining apartment. To
+learn to see by means of the Röntgen rays in addition to those
+ordinarily employed would be quite sufficient to enable anyone to
+perform a feat of magic of this order.
+
+So far we have thought only of an extension of the purely physical
+senses of man; and when we remember that a man's etheric body is in
+reality merely the finer part of his physical frame, and that
+therefore all his sense organs contain a large amount of etheric
+matter of various degrees of density, the capacities of which are
+still practically latent in most of us, we shall see that even if we
+confine ourselves to this line of development alone there are enormous
+possibilities of all kinds already opening out before us.
+
+But besides and beyond all this we know that man possesses an astral
+and a mental body, each of which can in process of time be aroused
+into activity, and will respond in turn to the vibrations of the
+matter of its own plane, thus opening up before the Ego, as he learns
+to function through these vehicles, two entirely new and far wider
+worlds of knowledge and power. Now these new worlds, though they are
+all around us and freely inter-penetrate one another, are not to be
+thought of as distinct and entirely unconnected in substance, but
+rather as melting the one into the other, the lowest astral forming a
+direct series with the highest physical, just as the lowest mental in
+its turn forms a direct series with the highest astral. We are not
+called upon in thinking of them to imagine some new and strange kind
+of matter, but simply to think of the ordinary physical kind as
+subdivided so very much more finely and vibrating so very much more
+rapidly as to introduce us to what are practically entirely new
+conditions and qualities.
+
+It is not then difficult for us to grasp the possibility of a steady
+and progressive extension of our senses, so that both by sight and by
+hearing we may be able to appreciate vibrations far higher and far
+lower than those which are ordinarily recognised. A large section of
+these additional vibrations will still belong to the physical plane,
+and will merely enable us to obtain impressions from the etheric part
+of that plane, which is at present as a closed book to us. Such
+impressions will still be received through the retina of the eye; of
+course they will affect its etheric rather than its solid matter, but
+we may nevertheless regard them as still appealing only to an organ
+specialized to receive them, and not to the whole surface of the
+etheric body.
+
+There are some abnormal cases, however, in which other parts of the
+etheric body respond to these additional vibrations as readily as, or
+even more readily than, the eye. Such vagaries are explicable in
+various ways, but principally as effects of some partial astral
+development, for it will be found that the sensitive parts of the body
+almost invariably correspond with one or other of the _chakrams_, or
+centres of vitality in the astral body. And though, if astral
+consciousness be not yet developed, these centres may not be available
+on their own plane, they are still strong enough to stimulate into
+keener activity the etheric matter which they inter-penetrate.
+
+When we come to deal with the astral senses themselves the methods of
+working are very different. The astral body has no specialized
+sense-organs--a fact which perhaps needs some explanation, since many
+students who are trying to comprehend its physiology seem to find it
+difficult to reconcile with the statements that have been made as to
+the perfect inter-penetration of the physical body by astral matter,
+the exact correspondence between the two vehicles, and the fact that
+every physical object has necessarily its astral counterpart.
+
+Now all these statements are true, and yet it is quite possible for
+people who do not normally see astrally to misunderstand them. Every
+order of physical matter has its corresponding order of astral matter
+in constant association with it--not to be separated from it except by
+a very considerable exertion of occult force, and even then only to
+be held apart from it as long as force is being definitely exerted to
+that end. But for all that the relation of the astral particles one to
+another is far looser than is the case with their physical
+correspondences.
+
+In a bar of iron, for example, we have a mass of physical molecules in
+the solid condition--that is to say, capable of comparatively little
+change in their relative positions, though each vibrating with immense
+rapidity in its own sphere. The astral counterpart of this consists of
+what we often call solid astral matter--that is, matter of the lowest
+and densest sub-plane of the astral; but nevertheless its particles
+are constantly and rapidly changing their relative position, moving
+among one another as easily as those of a liquid on the physical plane
+might do. So that there is no permanent association between any one
+physical particle and that amount of astral matter which happens at
+any given moment to be acting as its counterpart.
+
+This is equally true with respect to the astral body of man, which for
+our purpose at the moment we may regard as consisting of two
+parts--the denser aggregation which occupies the exact position of the
+physical body, and the cloud of rarer astral matter which surrounds
+that aggregation. In both these parts, and between them both, there is
+going on at every moment of time the rapid inter-circulation of the
+particles which has been described, so that as one watches the
+movement of the molecules in the astral body one is reminded of the
+appearance of those in fiercely boiling water.
+
+This being so, it will be readily understood that though any given
+organ of the physical body must always have as its counterpart a
+certain amount of astral matter, it does not retain the same particles
+for more than a few seconds at a time, and consequently there is
+nothing corresponding to the specialization of physical nerve-matter
+into optic or auditory nerves, and so on. So that though the physical
+eye or ear has undoubtedly always its counterpart of astral matter,
+that particular fragment of astral matter is no more (and no less)
+capable of responding to the vibrations which produce astral sight or
+astral hearing than any other part of the vehicle.
+
+It must never be forgotten that though we constantly have to speak of
+"astral sight" or "astral hearing" in order to make ourselves
+intelligible, all that we mean by those expressions is the faculty of
+responding to such vibrations as convey to the man's consciousness,
+when he is functioning in his astral body, information of the same
+character as that conveyed to him by his eyes and ears while he is in
+the physical body. But in the entirely different astral conditions,
+specialized organs are not necessary for the attainment of this
+result; there is matter in every part of the astral body which is
+capable of such response, and consequently the man functioning in that
+vehicle sees equally well objects behind him, beneath him, above him,
+without needing to turn his head.
+
+There is, however, another point which it would hardly be fair to
+leave entirely out of account, and that is the question of the
+_chakrams_ referred to above. Theosophical students are familiar with
+the idea of the existence in both the astral and the etheric bodies of
+man of certain centres of force which have to be vivified in turn by
+the sacred serpent-fire as the man advances in evolution. Though these
+cannot be described as organs in the ordinary sense of the word, since
+it is not through them that the man sees or hears, as he does in
+physical life through eyes and ears, yet it is apparently very largely
+upon their vivification that the power of exercising these astral
+senses depends, each of them as it is developed giving to the whole
+astral body the power of response to a new set of vibrations.
+
+Neither have these centres, however, any permanent collection of
+astral matter connected with them. They are simply vortices in the
+matter of the body--vortices through which all the particles pass in
+turn--points, perhaps, at which the higher force from planes above
+impinges upon the astral body. Even this description gives but a very
+partial idea of their appearance, for they are in reality
+four-dimensional vortices, so that the force which comes through them
+and is the cause of their existence seems to well up from nowhere. But
+at any rate, since all particles in turn pass through each of them, it
+will be clear that it is thus possible for each in turn to evoke in
+all the particles of the body the power of receptivity to a certain
+set of vibrations, so that all the astral senses are equally active in
+all parts of the body.
+
+The vision of the mental plane is again totally different, for in this
+case we can no longer speak of separate senses such as sight and
+hearing, but rather have to postulate one general sense which responds
+so fully to the vibrations reaching it that when any object comes
+within its cognition it at once comprehends it fully, and as it were
+sees it, hears it, feels it, and knows all there is to know about it
+by the one instantaneous operation. Yet even this wonderful faculty
+differs in degree only and not in kind from those which are at our
+command at the present time; on the mental plane, just as on the
+physical, impressions are still conveyed by means of vibrations
+travelling from the object seen to the seer.
+
+On the buddhic plane we meet for the first time with a quite new
+faculty having nothing in common with those of which we have spoken,
+for there a man cognizes any object by an entirely different method,
+in which external vibrations play no part. The object becomes part of
+himself, and he studies it from the inside instead of from the
+outside. But with _this_ power ordinary clairvoyance has nothing to
+do.
+
+The development, either entire or partial, of any one of these
+faculties would come under our definition of clairvoyance--the power
+to see what is hidden from ordinary physical sight. But these
+faculties may be developed in various ways, and it will be well to say
+a few words as to these different lines.
+
+We may presume that if it were possible for a man to be isolated
+during his evolution from all but the gentlest outside influences, and
+to unfold from the beginning in perfectly regular and normal fashion,
+he would probably develop his senses in regular order also. He would
+find his physical senses gradually extending their scope until they
+responded to all the physical vibrations, of etheric as well as of
+denser matter; then in orderly sequence would come sensibility to the
+coarser part of the astral plane, and presently the finer part also
+would be included, until in due course the faculty of the mental plane
+dawned in its turn.
+
+In real life, however, development so regular as this is hardly ever
+known, and many a man has occasional flashes of astral consciousness
+without any awakening of etheric vision at all. And this irregularity
+of development is one of the principal causes of man's extraordinary
+liability to error in matters of clairvoyance--a liability from which
+there is no escape except by a long course of careful training under a
+qualified teacher.
+
+Students of Theosophical literature are well aware that there are such
+teachers to be found--that even in this materialistic nineteenth
+century the old saying is still true, that "when the pupil is ready,
+the Master is ready also," and that "in the hall of learning, when he
+is capable of entering there, the disciple will always find his
+Master." They are well aware also that only under such guidance can a
+man develop his latent powers in safety and with certainty, since they
+know how fatally easy it is for the untrained clairvoyant to deceive
+himself as to the meaning and value of what he sees, or even
+absolutely to distort his vision completely in bringing it down into
+his physical consciousness.
+
+It does not follow that even the pupil who is receiving regular
+instruction in the use of occult powers will find them unfolding
+themselves exactly in the regular order which was suggested above as
+probably ideal. His previous progress may not have been such as to
+make this for him the easiest or most desirable road; but at any rate
+he is in the hands of one who is perfectly competent to be his guide
+in spiritual development, and he rests in perfect contentment that the
+way along which he is taken will be that which is the best way for
+him.
+
+Another great advantage which he gains is that whatever faculties he
+may acquire are definitely under his command and can be used fully and
+constantly when he needs them for his Theosophical work; whereas in
+the case of the untrained man such powers often manifest themselves
+only very partially and spasmodically, and appear to come and go, as
+it were, at their own sweet will.
+
+It may reasonably be objected that if clairvoyant faculty is, as
+stated, a part of the occult development of man, and so a sign of a
+certain amount of progress along that line, it seems strange that it
+should often be possessed by primitive peoples, or by the ignorant and
+uncultured among our own race--persons who are obviously quite
+undeveloped, from whatever point of view one regards them. No doubt
+this does appear remarkable at first sight but the fact is that the
+sensitiveness of the savage or of the coarse and vulgar European
+ignoramus is not really at all the same thing as the faculty of his
+properly trained brother, nor is it arrived at in the same way.
+
+An exact and detailed explanation of the difference would lead us into
+rather recondite technicalities, but perhaps the general idea of the
+distinction between the two may be caught from an example taken from
+the very lowest plane of clairvoyance, in close contact with the
+denser physical. The etheric double in man is in exceedingly close
+relation to his nervous system, and any kind of action upon one of
+them speedily reacts on the other. Now in the sporadic appearance of
+etheric sight in the savage, whether of Central Africa or of Western
+Europe, it has been observed that the corresponding nervous
+disturbance is almost entirely in the sympathetic system, and that the
+whole affair is practically beyond the man's control--is in fact a
+sort of massive sensation vaguely belonging to the whole etheric body,
+rather than an exact and definite sense-perception communicated
+through a specialized organ.
+
+As in later races and amid higher development the strength of the man
+is more and more thrown into the evolution of the mental faculties,
+this vague sensitiveness usually disappears; but still later, when the
+spiritual man begins to unfold, he regains his clairvoyant power. This
+time, however, the faculty is a precise and exact one, under the
+control of the man's will, and exercised through a definite
+sense-organ; and it is noteworthy that any nervous action set up in
+sympathy with it is now almost exclusively in the cerebro-spinal
+system.
+
+On this subject Mrs. Besant writes:--"The lower forms of psychism are
+more frequent in animals and in very unintelligent human beings than
+in men and women in whom the intellectual powers are well developed.
+They appear to be connected with the sympathetic system, not with the
+cerebro-spinal. The large nucleated ganglionic cells in this system
+contain a very large proportion of etheric matter, and are hence more
+easily affected by the coarser astral vibrations than are the cells in
+which the proportion is less. As the cerebro-spinal system develops,
+and the brain becomes more highly evolved, the sympathetic system
+subsides into a subordinate position, and the sensitiveness to psychic
+vibrations is dominated by the stronger and more active vibrations of
+the higher nervous system. It is true that at a later stage of
+evolution psychic sensitiveness reappears, but it is then developed in
+connection with the cerebro-spinal centres, and is brought under the
+control of the will. But the hysterical and ill-regulated psychism of
+which we see so many lamentable examples is due to the small
+development of the brain and the dominance of the sympathetic system."
+
+Occasional flashes of clairvoyance do, however, sometimes come to the
+highly cultured and spiritual-minded man, even though he may never
+have heard of the possibility of training such a faculty. In his case
+such glimpses usually signify that he is approaching that stage in his
+evolution when these powers will naturally begin to manifest
+themselves, and their appearance should serve as an additional
+stimulus to him to strive to maintain that high standard of moral
+purity and mental balance without which clairvoyance is a curse and
+not a blessing to its possessor.
+
+Between those who are entirely unimpressible and those who are in full
+possession of clairvoyant power there are many intermediate stages.
+One to which it will be worth while to give a passing glance is the
+stage in which a man, though he has no clairvoyant faculty in ordinary
+life, yet exhibits it more or less fully under the influence of
+mesmerism. This is a case in which the psychic nature is already
+sensitive, but the consciousness is not yet capable of functioning in
+it amidst the manifold distractions of physical life. It needs to be
+set free by the temporary suspension of the outer senses in the
+mesmeric trance before it can use the diviner faculties which are but
+just beginning to dawn within it. But of course even in the mesmeric
+trance there are innumerable degrees of lucidity, from the ordinary
+patient who is blankly unintelligent to the man whose power of sight
+is fully under the control of the operator, and can be directed
+whithersoever he wills, or to the more advanced stage in which, when
+the consciousness is once set free, it escapes altogether from the
+grasp of the magnetizer, and soars into fields of exalted vision where
+it is entirely beyond his reach.
+
+Another step along the same path is that upon which such perfect
+suppression of the physical as that which occurs in the hypnotic
+trance is not necessary, but the power of supernormal sight, though
+still out of reach during waking life, becomes available when the
+body is held in the bonds of ordinary sleep. At this stage of
+development stood many of the prophets and seers of whom we read, who
+were "warned of God in a dream," or communed with beings far higher
+than themselves in the silent watches of the night.
+
+Most cultured people of the higher races of the world have this
+development to some extent: that is to say, the senses of their astral
+bodies are in full working order, and perfectly capable of receiving
+impressions from objects and entities of their own plane. But to make
+that fact of any use to them down here in the physical body, two
+changes are usually necessary; first, that the Ego shall be awakened
+to the realities of the astral plane, and induced to emerge from the
+chrysalis formed by his own waking thoughts, and look round him to
+observe and to learn; and secondly, that the consciousness shall be so
+far retained during the return of the Ego into his physical body as to
+enable him to impress upon his physical brain the recollection of what
+he has seen or learnt.
+
+If the first of these changes has taken place, the second is of little
+importance, since the Ego, the true man, will be able to profit by the
+information to be obtained upon that plane, even though he may not
+have the satisfaction of bringing through any remembrance of it into
+his waking life down here.
+
+Students often ask how this clairvoyant faculty will first be
+manifested in themselves--how they may know when they have reached
+the stage at which its first faint foreshadowings are beginning to be
+visible. Cases differ so widely that it is impossible to give to this
+question any answer that will be universally applicable.
+
+Some people begin by a plunge, as it were, and under some unusual
+stimulus become able just for once to see some striking vision; and
+very often in such a case, because the experience does not repeat
+itself, the seer comes in time to believe that on that occasion he
+must have been the victim of hallucination. Others begin by becoming
+intermittently conscious of the brilliant colours and vibrations of
+the human aura; yet others find themselves with increasing frequency
+seeing and hearing something to which those around them are blind and
+deaf; others, again, see faces, landscapes, or coloured clouds
+floating before their eyes in the dark before they sink to rest; while
+perhaps the commonest experience of all is that of those who begin to
+recollect with greater and greater clearness what they have seen and
+heard on the other planes during sleep.
+
+Having now to some extent cleared our ground, we may proceed to
+consider the various phenomena of clairvoyance.
+
+They differ so widely both in character and in degree that it is not
+very easy to decide how they can most satisfactorily be classified. We
+might, for example, arrange them according to the kind of sight
+employed--whether it were mental, astral, or merely etheric. We might
+divide them according to the capacity of the clairvoyant, taking into
+consideration whether he was trained or untrained; whether his vision
+was regular and under his command, or spasmodic and independent of his
+volition; whether he could exercise it only when under mesmeric
+influence, or whether that assistance was unnecessary for him; whether
+he was able to use his faculty when awake in the physical body, or
+whether it was available only when he was temporarily away from that
+body in sleep or trance.
+
+All these distinctions are of importance, and we shall have to take
+them all into consideration as we go on, but perhaps on the whole the
+most useful classification will be one something on the lines of that
+adopted by Mr. Sinnett in his _Rationale of Mesmerism_--a book, by the
+way, which all students of clairvoyance ought to read. In dealing with
+the phenomena, then, we will arrange them rather according to the
+capacity of the sight employed than to the plane upon which it is
+exercised, so that we may group instances of clairvoyance under some
+such headings as these:
+
+1. Simple clairvoyance--that is to say, a mere opening of sight,
+enabling its possessor to see whatever astral or etheric entities
+happen to be present around him, but not including the power of
+observing either distant places or scenes belonging to any other time
+than the present.
+
+2. Clairvoyance in space--the capacity to see scenes or events removed
+from the seer in space, and either too far distant for ordinary
+observation or concealed by intermediate objects.
+
+3. Clairvoyance in time--that is to say, the capacity to see objects
+or events which are removed from the seer in time, or, in other words,
+the power of looking into the past or the future.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II.
+
+SIMPLE CLAIRVOYANCE: FULL.
+
+
+We have defined this as a mere opening of etheric or astral sight,
+which enables the possessor to see whatever may be present around him
+on corresponding levels, but is not usually accompanied by the power
+of seeing anything at a great distance or of reading either the past
+or the future. It is hardly possible altogether to exclude these
+latter faculties, for astral sight necessarily has considerably
+greater extension than physical, and fragmentary pictures of both past
+and future are often casually visible even to clairvoyants who do not
+know how to seek specially for them; but there is nevertheless a very
+real distinction between such incidental glimpses and the definite
+power of projection of the sight either in space or time.
+
+We find among sensitive people all degrees of this kind of
+clairvoyance, from that of the man who gets a vague impression which
+hardly deserves the name of sight at all, up to the full possession of
+etheric and astral vision respectively. Perhaps the simplest method
+will be for us to begin by describing what would be visible in the
+case of this fuller development of the power, as the cases of its
+partial possession will then be seen to fall naturally into their
+places.
+
+Let us take the etheric vision first. This consists simply, as has
+already been said, in susceptibility to a far larger series of
+physical vibrations than ordinary, but nevertheless its possession
+brings into view a good deal to which the majority of the human race
+still remains blind. Let us consider what changes its acquisition
+produces in the aspect of familiar objects, animate and inanimate, and
+then see to what entirely new factors it introduces us. But it must be
+remembered that what I am about to describe is the result of the full
+and perfectly-controlled possession of the faculty only, and that most
+of the instances met with in real life will be likely to fall far
+short of it in one direction or another.
+
+The most striking change produced in the appearance of inanimate
+objects by the acquisition of this faculty is that most of them become
+almost transparent, owing to the difference in wave-length of some of
+the vibrations to which the man has now become susceptible. He finds
+himself capable of performing with the utmost ease the proverbial feat
+of "seeing through a brick wall," for to his newly-acquired vision the
+brick wall seems to have a consistency no greater than that of a
+light mist. He therefore sees what is going on in an adjoining room
+almost as though no intervening wall existed; he can describe with
+accuracy the contents of a locked box, or read a sealed letter; with a
+little practice he can find a given passage in a closed book. This
+last feat, though perfectly easy to astral vision, presents
+considerable difficulty to one using etheric sight, because of the
+fact that each page has to be looked at _through_ all those which
+happen to be superimposed upon it.
+
+It is often asked whether under these circumstances a man sees always
+with this abnormal sight, or only when he wishes to do so. The answer
+is that if the faculty is perfectly developed it will be entirely
+under his control, and he can use that or his more ordinary vision at
+will. He changes from one to the other as readily and naturally as we
+now change the focus of our eyes when we look up from our book to
+follow the motions of some object a mile away. It is, as it were, a
+focussing of consciousness on the one or the other aspect of what is
+seen; and though the man would have quite clearly in his view the
+aspect upon which his attention was for the moment fixed, he would
+always be vaguely conscious of the other aspect too, just as when we
+focus our sight upon any object held in our hands we yet vaguely see
+the opposite wall of the room as a background.
+
+Another curious change, which comes from the possession of this sight,
+is that the solid ground upon which the man walks becomes to a certain
+extent transparent to him, so that he is able to see down into it to a
+considerable depth, much as we can now see into fairly clear water.
+This enables him to watch a creature burrowing underground, to
+distinguish a vein of coal or of metal if not too far below the
+surface, and so on.
+
+The limit of etheric sight when looking through solid matter appears
+to be analogous to that imposed upon us when looking through water or
+mist. We cannot see beyond a certain distance, because the medium
+through which we are looking is not perfectly transparent.
+
+The appearance of animate objects is also considerably altered for the
+man who has increased his visual powers to this extent. The bodies of
+men and animals are for him in the main transparent, so that he can
+watch the action of the various internal organs, and to some extent
+diagnose some of their diseases.
+
+The extended sight also enables him to perceive, more or less clearly,
+various classes of creatures, elemental and otherwise, whose bodies
+are not capable of reflecting any of the rays within the limit of the
+spectrum as ordinarily seen. Among the entities so seen will be some
+of the lower orders of nature-spirits--those whose bodies are composed
+of the denser etheric matter. To this class belong nearly all the
+fairies, gnomes, and brownies, about whom there are still so many
+stories remaining among Scotch and Irish mountains and in remote
+country places all over the world.
+
+The vast kingdom of nature-spirits is in the main an astral kingdom,
+but still there is a large section of it which appertains to the
+etheric part of the physical plane, and this section, of course, is
+much more likely to come within the ken of ordinary people than the
+others. Indeed, in reading the common fairy stories one frequently
+comes across distinct indications that it is with this class that we
+are dealing. Any student of fairy lore will remember how often mention
+is made of some mysterious ointment or drug, which when applied to a
+man's eyes enables him to see the members of the fairy commonwealth
+whenever he happens to meet them.
+
+The story of such an application and its results occurs so constantly
+and comes from so many different parts of the world that there must
+certainly be some truth behind it, as there always is behind really
+universal popular tradition. Now no such anointing of the eyes alone
+could by any possibility open a man's astral vision, though certain
+ointments rubbed over the whole body will very greatly assist the
+astral body to leave the physical in full consciousness--a fact the
+knowledge of which seems to have survived even to mediæval times, as
+will be seen from the evidence given at some of the trials for
+witchcraft. But the application to the physical eye might very easily
+so stimulate its sensitiveness as to make it susceptible to some of
+the etheric vibrations.
+
+The story frequently goes on to relate how when the human being who
+has used this mystical ointment betrays his extended vision in some
+way to a fairy, the latter strikes or stabs him in the eye, thus
+depriving him not only of the etheric sight, but of that of the denser
+physical plane as well. (See _The Science of Fairy Tales_, by E. S.
+Hartland, in the "Contemporary Science" series--or indeed almost any
+extensive collection of fairy stories.) If the sight acquired had been
+astral, such a proceeding would have been entirely unavailing, for no
+injury to the physical apparatus would affect an astral faculty; but
+if the vision produced by the ointment were etheric, the destruction
+of the physical eye would in most cases at once extinguish it, since
+that is the mechanism by means of which it works.
+
+Anyone possessing this sight of which we are speaking would also be
+able to perceive the etheric double of man; but since this is so
+nearly identical in size with the physical, it would hardly be likely
+to attract his attention unless it were partially projected in trance
+or under the influence of anæsthetics. After death, when it withdraws
+entirely from the dense body, it would be clearly visible to him, and
+he would frequently see it hovering over newly made graves as he
+passed through a churchyard or cemetery. If he were to attend a
+spiritualistic séance he would see the etheric matter oozing out from
+the side of the medium, and could observe the various ways in which
+the communicating entities make use of it.
+
+Another fact which could hardly fail soon to thrust itself upon his
+notice would be the extension of his perception of colour. He would
+find himself able to see several entirely new colours, not in the
+least resembling any of those included in the spectrum as we at
+present know it, and therefore of course quite indescribable in any
+terms at our command. And not only would he see new objects that were
+wholly of these new colours, but he would also discover that
+modifications had been introduced into the colour of many objects with
+which he was quite familiar, according to whether they had or had not
+some tinge of these new hues intermingled with the old. So that two
+surfaces of colour which to ordinary eyes appeared to match perfectly
+would often present distinctly different shades to his keener sight.
+
+We have now touched upon some of the principal changes which would be
+introduced into a man's world when he gained etheric sight; and it
+must always be remembered that in most cases a corresponding change
+would at the same time be brought about in his other senses also, so
+that he would be capable of hearing, and perhaps even of feeling, more
+than most of those around him. Now supposing that in addition to this
+he obtained the sight of the astral plane, what further changes would
+be observable?
+
+Well, the changes would be many and great; in fact, a whole new world
+would open before his eyes. Let us consider its wonders briefly in the
+same order as before, and see first what difference there would be in
+the appearance of inanimate objects. On this point I may begin by
+quoting a recent quaint answer given in _The Vâhan_.
+
+"There is a distinct difference between etheric sight and astral
+sight, and it is the latter which seems to correspond to the fourth
+dimension.
+
+"The easiest way to understand the difference is to take an example.
+If you looked at a man with both the sights in turn, you would see the
+buttons at the back of his coat in both cases; only if you used
+etheric sight you would see them _through_ him, and would see the
+shank-side as nearest to you, but if you looked astrally, you would
+see it not only like that, but just as if you were standing behind the
+man as well.
+
+"Or if you were looking etherically at a wooden cube with writing on
+all its sides, it would be as though the cube were glass, so that you
+could see through it, and you would see the writing on the opposite
+side all backwards, while that on the right and left sides would not
+be clear to you at all unless you moved, because you would see it
+edgewise. But if you looked at it astrally you would see all the sides
+at once, and all the right way up, as though the whole cube had been
+flattened out before you, and you would see every particle of the
+inside as well--not _through_ the others, but all flattened out. You
+would be looking at it from another direction, at right angles to all
+the directions that we know.
+
+"If you look at the back of a watch etherically you see all the wheels
+through it, and the face _through them_, but backwards; if you look at
+it astrally, you see the face right way up and all the wheels lying
+separately, but nothing on the top of anything else."
+
+Here we have at once the keynote, the principal factor of the change;
+the man is looking at everything from an absolutely new point of view,
+entirely outside of anything that he has ever imagined before. He has
+no longer the slightest difficulty in reading any page in a closed
+book, because he is not now looking at it through all the other pages
+before it or behind it, but is looking straight down upon it as though
+it were the only page to be seen. The depth at which a vein of metal
+or of coal may lie is no longer a barrier to his sight of it, because
+he is not now looking through the intervening depth of earth at all.
+The thickness of a wall, or the number of walls intervening between
+the observer and the object, would make a great deal of difference to
+the clearness of the etheric sight; they would make no difference
+whatever to the astral sight, because on the astral plane they would
+_not_ intervene between the observer and the object. Of course that
+sounds paradoxical and impossible, and it _is_ quite inexplicable to a
+mind not specially trained to grasp the idea; yet it is none the less
+absolutely true.
+
+This carries us straight into the middle of the much-vexed question of
+the fourth dimension--a question of the deepest interest, though one
+that we cannot pretend to discuss in the space at our disposal. Those
+who wish to study it as it deserves are recommended to begin with Mr.
+C. H. Hinton's _Scientific Romances_ or Dr. A. T. Schofield's _Another
+World_, and then follow on with the former author's larger work, _A
+New Era of Thought_. Mr. Hinton not only claims to be able himself to
+grasp mentally some of the simpler fourth-dimensional figures, but
+also states that anyone who will take the trouble to follow out his
+directions may with perseverance acquire that mental grasp likewise. I
+am not certain that the power to do this is within the reach of
+everyone, as he thinks, for it appears to me to require considerable
+mathematical ability; but I can at any rate bear witness that the
+tesseract or fourth-dimensional cube which he describes is a reality,
+for it is quite a familiar figure upon the astral plane. He has now
+perfected a new method of representing the several dimensions by
+colours instead of by arbitrary written symbols. He states that this
+will very much simplify the study, as the reader will be able to
+distinguish instantly by sight any part or feature of the tesseract. A
+full description of this new method, with plates, is said to be ready
+for the press, and is expected to appear within a year, so that
+intending students of this fascinating subject might do well to await
+its publication.
+
+I know that Madame Blavatsky, in alluding to the theory of the fourth
+dimension, has expressed an opinion that it is only a clumsy way of
+stating the idea of the entire permeability of matter, and that Mr. W.
+T. Stead has followed along the same lines, presenting the conception
+to his readers under the name of _throughth_. Careful, oft-repeated
+and detailed investigation does, however, seem to show quite
+conclusively that this explanation does not cover all the facts. It is
+a perfect description of etheric vision, but the further and quite
+different idea of the fourth dimension as expounded by Mr. Hinton is
+the only one which gives any kind of explanation down here of the
+constantly-observed facts of astral vision. I would therefore venture
+deferentially to suggest that when Madame Blavatsky wrote as she did,
+she had in mind etheric vision and not astral, and that the extreme
+applicability of the phrase to this other and higher faculty, of which
+she was not at the moment thinking, did not occur to her.
+
+The possession of this extraordinary and scarcely expressible power,
+then, must always be borne in mind through all that follows. It lays
+every point in the interior of every solid body absolutely open to the
+gaze of the seer, just as every point in the interior of a circle lies
+open to the gaze of a man looking down upon it.
+
+But even this is by no means all that it gives to its possessor. He
+sees not only the inside as well as the outside of every object, but
+also its astral counterpart. Every atom and molecule of physical
+matter has its corresponding astral atoms and molecules, and the mass
+which is built up out of these is clearly visible to our clairvoyant.
+Usually the astral of any object projects somewhat beyond the physical
+part of it, and thus metals, stones and other things are seen
+surrounded by an astral aura.
+
+It will be seen at once that even in the study of inorganic matter a
+man gains immensely by the acquisition of this vision. Not only does
+he see the astral part of the object at which he looks, which before
+was wholly hidden from him; not only does he see much more of its
+physical constitution than he did before, but even what was visible
+to him before is now seen much more clearly and truly. A moment's
+consideration will show that his new vision approximates much more
+closely to true perception than does physical sight. For example, if
+he looks astrally at a glass cube, its sides will all appear equal, as
+we know they really are, whereas on the physical plane he sees the
+further side in perspective--that is, it appears smaller than the
+nearer side, which is, of course, a mere allusion due to his physical
+limitations.
+
+When we come to consider the additional facilities which it offers in
+the observation of animate objects we see still more clearly the
+advantages of the astral vision. It exhibits to the clairvoyant the
+aura of plants and animals, and thus in the case of the latter their
+desires and emotions, and whatever thoughts they may have, are all
+plainly shown before his eyes.
+
+But it is in dealing with human beings that he will most appreciate
+the value of this faculty, for he will often be able to help them far
+more effectually when he guides himself by the information which it
+gives him.
+
+He will be able to see the aura as far up as the astral body, and
+though that leaves all the higher part of a man still hidden from his
+gaze, he will nevertheless find it possible by careful observation to
+learn a good deal about the higher part from what is within his
+reach. His capacity of examining the etheric double will give him
+considerable advantage in locating and classifying any defects or
+diseases of the nervous system, while from the appearance of the
+astral body he will be at once aware of all the emotions, passions,
+desires and tendencies of the man before him, and even of very many of
+his thoughts also.
+
+As he looks at a person he will see him surrounded by the luminous
+mist of the astral aura, flashing with all sorts of brilliant colours,
+and constantly changing in hue and brilliancy with every variation of
+the person's thoughts and feelings. He will see this aura flooded with
+the beautiful rose-colour of pure affection, the rich blue of
+devotional feeling, the hard, dull brown of selfishness, the deep
+scarlet of anger, the horrible lurid red of sensuality, the livid grey
+of fear, the black clouds of hatred and malice, or any of the other
+hundredfold indications so easily to be read in it by a practised eye;
+and thus it will be impossible for any persons to conceal from him the
+real state of their feelings on any subject.
+
+These varied indications of the aura are of themselves a study of very
+deep interest, but I have no space to deal with them in detail here. A
+much fuller account of them, together with a large number of coloured
+illustrations, will be found in my work on the subject _Man Visible
+and Invisible_.
+
+Not only does the astral aura show him the temporary result of the
+emotion passing through it at the moment, but it also gives him, by
+the arrangement and proportion of its colours when in a condition of
+comparative rest, a clue to the general disposition and character of
+its owner. For the astral body is the expression of as much of the man
+as can be manifested on that plane, so that from what is seen in it
+much more which belongs to higher planes may be inferred with
+considerable certainty.
+
+In this judgment of character our clairvoyant will be much helped by
+so much of the person's thought as expresses itself on the astral
+plane, and consequently comes within his purview. The true home of
+thought is on the mental plane, and all thought first manifests itself
+there as a vibration of the mind-body. But if it be in any way a
+selfish thought, or if it be connected in any way with an emotion or a
+desire, it immediately descends into the astral plane, and takes to
+itself a visible form of astral matter.
+
+In the case of the majority of men almost all thought would fall under
+one or other of these heads, so that practically the whole of their
+personality would lie clearly before our friend's astral vision, since
+their astral bodies and the thought-forms constantly radiating from
+them would be to him as an open book in which their characteristics
+were writ so largely that he who ran might read. Anyone wishing to
+gain some idea as to _how_ the thought-forms present themselves to
+clairvoyant vision may satisfy themselves to some extent by examining
+the illustrations accompanying Mrs. Besant's valuable article on the
+subject in _Lucifer_ for September 1896.
+
+We have seen something of the alteration in the appearance of both
+animate and inanimate objects when viewed by one possessed of full
+clairvoyant sight as far as the astral plane is concerned; let us now
+consider what entirely new objects he will see. He will be conscious
+of a far greater fulness in nature in many directions, but chiefly his
+attention will be attracted by the living denizens of this new world.
+No detailed account of them can be attempted within the space at our
+disposal; for that the reader is referred to No. V. of the
+_Theosophical Manuals_. Here we can do no more than barely enumerate a
+few classes only of the vast hosts of astral inhabitants.
+
+He will be impressed by the protean forms of the ceaseless tide of
+elemental essence, ever swirling around him, menacing often, yet
+always retiring before a determined effort of the will; he will marvel
+at the enormous army of entities temporarily called out of this ocean
+into separate existence by the thoughts and wishes of man, whether
+good or evil. He will watch the manifold tribes of the nature-spirits
+at their work or at their play; he will sometimes be able to study
+with ever-increasing delight the magnificent evolution of some of the
+lower orders of the glorious kingdom of the devas, which corresponds
+approximately to the angelic host of Christian terminology.
+
+But perhaps of even keener interest to him than any of these will be
+the human denizens of the astral world, and he will find them
+divisible into two great classes--those whom we call the living, and
+those others, most of them infinitely more alive, whom we so foolishly
+misname the dead. Among the former he will find here and there one
+wide awake and fully conscious, perhaps sent to bring him some
+message, or examining him keenly to see what progress he is making;
+while the majority of his neighbours, when away from their physical
+bodies during sleep, will drift idly by, so wrapped up in their own
+cogitations as to be practically unconscious of what is going on
+around them.
+
+Among the great host of the recently dead he will find all degrees of
+consciousness and intelligence, and all shades of character--for
+death, which seems to our limited vision so absolute a change, in
+reality alters nothing of the man himself. On the day after his death
+he is precisely the same man as he was the day before it, with the
+same disposition, the same qualities, the same virtues and vices, save
+only that he has cast aside his physical body; but the loss of that no
+more makes him in any way a different man than would the removal of an
+overcoat. So among the dead our student will find men intelligent and
+stupid, kind-hearted and morose, serious and frivolous,
+spiritually-minded and sensually-minded, just as among the living.
+
+Since he can not only see the dead, but speak with them, he can often
+be of very great use to them, and give them information and guidance
+which is of the utmost value to them. Many of them are in a condition
+of great surprise and perplexity, and sometimes even of acute
+distress, because they find the facts of the next world so unlike the
+childish legends which are all that popular religion in the West has
+to offer with reference to this transcendently important subject; and
+therefore a man who understands this new world and can explain matters
+is distinctly a friend in need.
+
+In many other ways a man who fully possesses this faculty may be of
+use to the living as well as to the dead; but of this side of the
+subject I have already written in my little book on _Invisible
+Helpers_. In addition to astral entities he will see astral
+corpses--shades and shells in all stages of decay; but these need only
+be just mentioned here, as the reader desiring a further account of
+them will find it in our third and fifth manuals.
+
+Another wonderful result which the full enjoyment of astral
+clairvoyance brings to a man is that he has no longer any break in
+consciousness. When he lies down at night he leaves his physical body
+to the rest which it requires, while he goes about his business in
+the far more comfortable astral vehicle. In the morning he returns to
+and re-enters his physical body, but without any loss of consciousness
+or memory between the two states, and thus he is able to live, as it
+were, a double life which yet is one, and to be usefully employed
+during the whole of it, instead of losing one-third of his existence
+in blank unconsciousness.
+
+Another strange power of which he may find himself in possession
+(though its full control belongs rather to the still higher devachanic
+faculty), is that of magnifying at will the minutest physical or
+astral particle to any desired size, as though by a microscope--though
+no microscope ever made or ever likely to be made possesses even a
+thousandth part of this psychic magnifying power. By its means the
+hypothetical molecule and atom postulated by science become visible
+and living realities to the occult student, and on this closer
+examination he finds them to be much more complex in their structure
+than the scientific man has yet realised them to be. It also enables
+him to follow with the closest attention and the most lively interest
+all kinds of electrical, magnetic, and other etheric action; and when
+some of the specialists in these branches of science are able to
+develop the power to see those things whereof they write so facilely,
+some very wonderful and beautiful revelations may be expected.
+
+This is one of the _siddhis_ or powers described in Oriental books as
+accruing to the man who devotes himself to spiritual development,
+though the name under which it is there mentioned might not be
+immediately recognizable. It is referred to as "the power of making
+oneself large or small at will," and the reason of a description which
+appears so oddly to reverse the fact is that in reality the method by
+which this feat is performed is precisely that indicated in these
+ancient books. It is by the use of temporary visual machinery of
+inconceivable minuteness that the world of the infinitely little is so
+clearly seen; and in the same way (or rather in the opposite way) it
+is by temporarily enormously increasing the size of the machinery used
+that it becomes possible to increase the breadth of one's view--in the
+physical sense as well as, let us hope, in the moral--far beyond
+anything that science has ever dreamt of as possible for man. So that
+the alteration in size is really in the vehicle of the student's
+consciousness, and not in anything outside of himself; and the old
+Oriental book has, after all, put the case more accurately than we.
+
+Psychometry and second-sight _in excelsis_ would also be among the
+faculties which our friend would find at his command; but those will
+be more fitly dealt with under a later heading, since in almost all
+their manifestations they involve clairvoyance either in space or in
+time.
+
+I have now indicated, though only in the roughest outlines, what a
+trained student, possessed of full astral vision, would see in the
+immensely wider world to which that vision introduced him; but I have
+said nothing of the stupendous change in his mental attitude which
+comes from the experiential certainty as to the existence of the soul,
+its survival after death, the action of the law of karma, and other
+points of equally paramount importance. The difference between even
+the profoundest intellectual conviction and the precise knowledge
+gained by direct personal experience must be felt in order to be
+appreciated.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III.
+
+SIMPLE CLAIRVOYANCE: PARTIAL.
+
+
+The experiences of the untrained clairvoyant--and be it remembered
+that that class includes all European clairvoyants except a very
+few--will, however, usually fall very far short of what I have
+attempted to indicate; they will fall short in many different ways--in
+degree, in variety, or in permanence, and above all in precision.
+
+Sometimes, for example, a man's clairvoyance will be permanent, but
+very partial, extending only perhaps to one or two classes of the
+phenomena observable; he will find himself endowed with some isolated
+fragment of higher vision, without apparently possessing other powers
+of sight which ought normally to accompany that fragment, or even to
+precede it. For example, one of my dearest friends has all his life
+had the power to see the atomic ether and atomic astral matter, and to
+recognize their structure, alike in darkness or in light, as
+inter-penetrating everything else; yet he has only rarely seen
+entities whose bodies are composed of the much more obvious lower
+ethers or denser astral matter, and at any rate is certainly not
+permanently able to see them. He simply finds himself in possession of
+this special faculty, without any apparent reason to account for it,
+or any recognizable relation to anything else: and beyond proving to
+him the existence of these atomic planes and demonstrating their
+arrangement, it is difficult to see of what particular use it is to
+him at present. Still, there the thing is, and it is an earnest of
+greater things to come--of further powers still awaiting development.
+
+There are many similar cases--similar, I mean, not in the possession
+of that particular form of sight (which is unique in my experience),
+but in showing the development of some one small part of the full and
+clear vision of the astral and etheric planes. In nine cases out of
+ten, however, such partial clairvoyance will at the same time lack
+precision also--that is to say, there will be a good deal of vague
+impression and inference about it, instead of the clear-cut definition
+and certainty of the trained man. Examples of this type are constantly
+to be found, especially among those who advertise themselves as "test
+and business clairvoyants."
+
+Then, again, there are those who are only temporarily clairvoyant
+under certain special conditions. Among these there are various
+subdivisions, some being able to reproduce the state of clairvoyance
+at will by again setting up the same conditions, while with others it
+comes sporadically, without any observable reference to their
+surroundings, and with yet others the power shows itself only once or
+twice in the whole course of their lives.
+
+To the first of these subdivisions belong those who are clairvoyant
+only when in the mesmeric trance--who when not so entranced are
+incapable of seeing or hearing anything abnormal. These may sometimes
+reach great heights of knowledge and be exceedingly precise in their
+indications, but when that is so they are usually undergoing a course
+of regular training, though for some reason unable as yet to set
+themselves free from the leaden weight of earthly life without
+assistance.
+
+In the same class we may put those--chiefly Orientals--who gain some
+temporary sight only under the influence of certain drugs, or by means
+of the performance of certain ceremonies. The ceremonialist sometimes
+hypnotizes himself by his repetitions, and in that condition becomes
+to some extent clairvoyant; more often he simply reduces himself to a
+passive condition in which some other entity can obsess him and speak
+through him. Sometimes, again, his ceremonies are not intended to
+affect himself at all, but to invoke some astral entity who will give
+him the required information; but of course that is a case of magic,
+and not of clairvoyance. Both the drugs and the ceremonies are methods
+emphatically to be avoided by any one who wishes to approach
+clairvoyance from the higher side, and use it for his own progress and
+for the helping of others. The Central African medicine-man or
+witch-doctor and some of the Tartar Shamans are good examples of the
+type.
+
+Those to whom a certain amount of clairvoyant power has come
+occasionally only, and without any reference to their own wish, have
+often been hysterical or highly nervous persons, with whom the faculty
+was to a large extent one of the symptoms of a disease. Its appearance
+showed that the physical vehicle was weakened to such a degree that it
+no longer presented any obstacle in the way of a certain modicum of
+etheric or astral vision. An extreme example of this class is the man
+who drinks himself into delirium tremens, and in the condition of
+absolute physical ruin and impure psychic excitation brought about by
+the ravages of that fell disease, is able to see for the time some of
+the loathsome elemental and other entities which he has drawn round
+himself by his long course of degraded and bestial indulgence. There
+are, however, other cases where the power of sight has appeared and
+disappeared without apparent reference to the state of the physical
+health; but it seems probable that even in those, if they could have
+been observed closely enough, some alteration in the condition of the
+etheric double would have been noticed.
+
+Those who have only one instance of clairvoyance to report in the
+whole of their lives are a difficult band to classify at all
+exhaustively, because of the great variety of the contributory
+circumstances. There are many among them to whom the experience has
+come at some supreme moment of their lives, when it is comprehensible
+that there might have been a temporary exaltation of faculty which
+would be sufficient to account for it.
+
+In the case of another subdivision of them the solitary case has been
+the seeing of an apparition, most commonly of some friend or relative
+at the point of death. Two possibilities are then offered for our
+choice, and in each of them the strong wish of the dying man is the
+impelling force. That force may have enabled him to materialize
+himself for a moment, in which case of course no clairvoyance was
+needed or more probably it may have acted mesmerically upon the
+percipient, and momentarily dulled his physical and stimulated his
+higher sensitiveness. In either case the vision is the product of the
+emergency, and is not repeated simply because the necessary conditions
+are not repeated.
+
+There remains, however, an irresolvable residuum of cases in which a
+solitary instance occurs of the exercise of undoubted clairvoyance,
+while yet the occasion seems to us wholly trivial and unimportant.
+About these we can only frame hypotheses; the governing conditions are
+evidently not on the physical plane, and a separate investigation of
+each case would be necessary before we could speak with any certainty
+as to its causes. In some such it has appeared that an astral entity
+was endeavouring to make some communication, and was able to impress
+only some unimportant detail on its subject--all the useful or
+significant part of what it had to say failing to get through into the
+subject's consciousness.
+
+In the investigation of the phenomena of clairvoyance all these varied
+types and many others will be encountered, and a certain number of
+cases of mere hallucination will be almost sure to appear also, and
+will have to be carefully weeded out from the list of examples. The
+student of such a subject needs an inexhaustible fund of patience and
+steady perseverance, but if he goes on long enough he will begin dimly
+to discern order behind the chaos, and will gradually get some idea of
+the great laws under which the whole evolution is working.
+
+It will help him greatly in his efforts if he will adopt the order
+which we have just followed--that is, if he will first take the
+trouble to familiarize himself as thoroughly as may be with the actual
+facts concerning the planes with which ordinary clairvoyance deals.
+If he will learn what there really is to be seen with astral and
+etheric sight, and what their respective limitations are, he will then
+have, as it were, a standard by which to measure the cases which he
+observes. Since all instances of partial sight must of necessity fit
+into some niche in this whole, if he has the outline of the entire
+scheme in his head he will find it comparatively easy with a little
+practice to classify the instances with which he is called upon to
+deal.
+
+We have said nothing as yet as to the still more wonderful
+possibilities of clairvoyance upon the mental plane, nor indeed is it
+necessary that much should be said, as it is exceedingly improbable
+that the investigator will ever meet with any examples of it except
+among pupils properly trained in some of the very highest schools of
+occultism. For them it opens up yet another new world, vaster far than
+all those beneath it--a world in which all that we can imagine of
+utmost glory and splendour is the commonplace of existence. Some
+account of its marvellous faculty, its eneffable bliss, its
+magnificent opportunities for learning and for work, is given in the
+sixth of our Theosophical manuals, and to that the student may be
+referred.
+
+All that it has to give--all of it at least that he can assimilate--is
+within the reach of the trained pupil, but for the untrained
+clairvoyant to touch it is hardly more than a bare possibility. It
+has been done in mesmeric trance, but the occurrence is of exceeding
+rarity, for it needs almost superhuman qualifications in the way of
+lofty spiritual aspiration and absolute purity of thought and
+intention upon the part both of the subject and the operator.
+
+To a type of clairvoyance such as this, and still more fully to that
+which belongs to the plane next above it, the name of spiritual sight
+may reasonably be applied; and since the celestial world to which it
+opens our eyes lies all round us here and now, it is fit that our
+passing reference to it should be made under the heading of simple
+clairvoyance, though it may be necessary to allude to it again when
+dealing with clairvoyance in space, to which we will now pass on.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV.
+
+CLAIRVOYANCE IN SPACE: INTENTIONAL.
+
+
+We have defined this as the capacity to see events or scenes removed
+from the seer in space and too far distant for ordinary observation.
+The instances of this are so numerous and so various that we shall
+find it desirable to attempt a somewhat more detailed classification
+of them. It does not much matter what particular arrangement we adopt,
+so long as it is comprehensive enough to include all our cases;
+perhaps a convenient one will be to group them under the broad
+divisions of intentional and unintentional clairvoyance in space, with
+an intermediate class that might be described as semi-intentional--a
+curious title, but I will explain it later.
+
+As before, I will begin by stating what is possible along this line
+for the fully-trained seer, and endeavouring to explain how his
+faculty works and under what limitations it acts. After that we shall
+find ourselves in a better position to try to understand the manifold
+examples of partial and untrained sight. Let us then in the first
+place discuss intentional clairvoyance.
+
+It will be obvious from what has previously been said as to the power
+of astral vision that any one possessing it in its fulness will be
+able to see by its means practically anything in this world that he
+wishes to see. The most secret places are open to his gaze, and
+intervening obstacles have no existence for him, because of the change
+in his point of view; so that if we grant him the power of moving
+about in the astral body he can without difficulty go anywhere and see
+anything within the limits of the planet. Indeed this is to a large
+extent possible to him even without the necessity of moving the astral
+body at all, as we shall presently see.
+
+Let us consider a little more closely the methods by which this
+super-physical sight may be used to observe events taking place at a
+distance. When, for example, a man here in England sees in minutest
+detail something which is happening at the same moment in India or
+America, how is it done?
+
+A very ingenious hypothesis has been offered to account for the
+phenomenon. It has been suggested that every object is perpetually
+throwing off radiations in all directions, similar in some respects
+to, though infinitely finer than, rays of light, and that clairvoyance
+is nothing but the power to see by means of these finer radiations.
+Distance would in that case be no bar to the sight, all intervening
+objects would be penetrable by these rays, and they would be able to
+cross one another to infinity in all directions without entanglement,
+precisely as the vibrations of ordinary light do.
+
+Now though this is not exactly the way in which clairvoyance works,
+the theory is nevertheless quite true in most of its premises. Every
+object undoubtedly is throwing off radiations in all directions, and
+it is precisely in this way, though on a higher plane, that the
+âkâshic records seem to be formed. Of them it will be necessary to say
+something under our next heading, so we will do no more than mention
+them for the moment. The phenomena of psychometry are also dependent
+upon these radiations, as will presently be explained.
+
+There are, however, certain practical difficulties in the way of using
+these etheric vibrations (for that is, of course, what they are) as
+the medium by means of which one may see anything taking place at a
+distance. Intervening objects are not entirely transparent, and as the
+actors in the scene which the experimenter tried to observe would
+probably be at least equally transparent, it is obvious that serious
+confusion would be quite likely to result.
+
+The additional dimension which would come into play if astral
+radiations were sensed instead of etheric would obviate some of the
+difficulties, but would on the other hand introduce some fresh
+complications of its own; so that for practical purposes, in
+endeavouring to understand clairvoyance, we may dismiss this
+hypothesis of radiations from our minds, and turn to the methods of
+seeing at a distance which are actually at the disposal of the
+student. It will be found that there are five, four of them being
+really varieties of clairvoyance, while the fifth does not properly
+come under that head at all, but belongs to the domain of magic. Let
+us take this last one first, and get it out of our way.
+
+1. _By the assistance of a nature-spirit._--This method does not
+necessarily involve the possession of any psychic faculty at all on
+the part of the experimenter; he need only know how to induce some
+denizen of the astral world to undertake the investigation for him.
+This may be done either by invocation or by evocation; that is to say,
+the operator may either persuade his astral coadjutor by prayers and
+offerings to give him the help he desires, or he may compel his aid by
+the determined exercise of a highly-developed will.
+
+This method has been largely practised in the East (where the entity
+employed is usually a nature-spirit) and in old Atlantis, where "the
+lords of the dark face" used a highly-specialized and peculiarly
+venomous variety of artificial elemental for this purpose. Information
+is sometimes obtained in the same sort of way at the spiritualistic
+_séance_ of modern days, but in that case the messenger employed is
+more likely to be a recently-deceased human being functioning more or
+less freely on the astral plane--though even here also it is sometimes
+an obliging nature-spirit, who is amusing himself by posing as
+somebody's departed relative. In any case, as I have said, this method
+is not clairvoyant at all, but magical; and it is mentioned here only
+in order that the reader may not become confused in the endeavour to
+classify cases of its use under some of the following headings.
+
+2. _By means of an astral current._--This is a phrase frequently and
+rather loosely employed in some of our Theosophical literature to
+cover a considerable variety of phenomena, and among others that which
+I wish to explain. What is really done by the student who adopts this
+method is not so much the setting in motion of a current in astral
+matter, as the erection of a kind of temporary telephone through it.
+
+It is impossible here to give an exhaustive disquisition on astral
+physics, even had I the requisite knowledge to write it; all I need
+say is that it is possible to make in astral matter a definite
+connecting-line that shall act as a telegraph-wire to convey
+vibrations by means of which all that is going on at the other end of
+it may be seen. Such a line is established, be it understood, not by a
+direct projection through space of astral matter, but by such action
+upon a line (or rather many lines) of particles of that matter as
+will render them capable of forming a conductor for vibrations of the
+character required.
+
+This preliminary action can be set up in two ways--either by the
+transmission of energy from particle to particle, until the line is
+formed, or by the use of a force from a higher plane which is capable
+of acting upon the whole line simultaneously. Of course this latter
+method implies far greater development, since it involves the
+knowledge of (and the power to use) forces of a considerably higher
+level; so that the man who could make his line in this way would not,
+for his own use, need a line at all, since he could see far more
+easily and completely by means of an altogether higher faculty.
+
+Even the simpler and purely astral operation is a difficult one to
+describe, though quite an easy one to perform. It may be said to
+partake somewhat of the nature of the magnetization of a bar of steel;
+for it consists in what we might call the polarization, by an effort
+of the human will, of a number of parallel lines of astral atoms
+reaching from the operator to the scene which he wishes to observe.
+All the atoms thus affected are held for the time with their axes
+rigidly parallel to one another, so that they form a kind of temporary
+tube along which the clairvoyant may look. This method has the
+disadvantage that the telegraph line is liable to disarrangement or
+even destruction by any sufficiently strong astral current which
+happens to cross its path; but if the original effort of will were
+fairly definite, this would be a contingency of only infrequent
+occurrence.
+
+The view of a distant scene obtained by means of this "astral current"
+is in many ways not unlike that seen through a telescope. Human
+figures usually appear very small, like those on a distant stage, but
+in spite of their diminutive size they are as clear as though they
+were close by. Sometimes it is possible by this means to hear what is
+said as well as to see what is done; but as in the majority of cases
+this does not happen, we must consider it rather as the manifestation
+of an additional power than as a necessary corollary of the faculty of
+sight.
+
+It will be observed that in this case the seer does not usually leave
+his physical body at all; there is no sort of projection of his astral
+vehicle or of any part of himself towards that at which he is looking,
+but he simply manufactures for himself a temporary astral telescope.
+Consequently he has, to a certain extent, the use of his physical
+powers even while he is examining the distant scene; for example, his
+voice would usually still be under his control, so that he could
+describe what he saw even while he was in the act of making his
+observations. The consciousness of the man is, in fact, distinctly
+still at this end of the line.
+
+This fact, however, has its limitations as well as its advantages,
+and these again largely resemble the limitations of the man using a
+telescope on the physical plane. The experimenter, for example, has no
+power to shift this point of view; his telescope, so to speak, has a
+particular field of view which cannot be enlarged or altered; he is
+looking at his scene from a certain direction, and he cannot suddenly
+turn it all round and see how it looks from the other side. If he has
+sufficient psychic energy to spare, he may drop altogether the
+telescope that he is using and manufacture an entirely new one for
+himself which will approach his objective somewhat differently; but
+this is not a course at all likely to be adopted in practice.
+
+But, it may be said, the mere fact that he is using astral sight ought
+to enable him to see it from all sides at once. So it would if he were
+using that sight in the normal way upon an object which was fairly
+near him--within his astral reach, as it were; but at a distance of
+hundreds or thousands of miles the case is very different. Astral
+sight gives us the advantage of an additional dimension, but there is
+still such a thing as position in that dimension, and it is naturally
+a potent factor in limiting the use of the powers of its plane. Our
+ordinary three-dimensional sight enables us to see at once every point
+of the interior of a two-dimensional figure, such as a square, but in
+order to do that the square must be within a reasonable distance from
+our eyes; the mere additional dimension will avail a man in London
+but little in his endeavour to examine a square in Calcutta.
+
+Astral sight, when it is cramped by being directed along what is
+practically a tube, is limited very much as physical sight would be
+under similar circumstances; though if possessed in perfection it will
+still continue to show, even at that distance, the auras, and
+therefore all the emotions and most of the thoughts of the people
+under observation.
+
+There are many people for whom this type of clairvoyance is very much
+facilitated if they have at hand some physical object which can be
+used as a starting-point for their astral tube--a convenient focus for
+their will-power. A ball of crystal is the commonest and most
+effectual of such foci, since it has the additional advantage of
+possessing within itself qualities which stimulate psychic faculty;
+but other objects are also employed, to which we shall find it
+necessary to refer more particularly when we come to consider
+semi-intentional clairvoyance.
+
+In connection with this astral-current form of clairvoyance, as with
+others, we find that there are some psychics who are unable to use it
+except when under the influence of mesmerism. The peculiarity in this
+case is that among such psychics there are two varieties--one in which
+by being thus set free the man is enabled to make a telescope for
+himself, and another in which the magnetizer himself makes the
+telescope and the subject is simply enabled to see through it. In this
+latter case obviously the subject has not enough will to form a tube
+for himself, and the operator, though possessed of the necessary
+will-power, is not clairvoyant, or he could see through his own tube
+without needing help.
+
+Occasionally, though rarely, the tube which is formed possesses
+another of the attributes of a telescope--that of magnifying the
+objects at which it is directed until they seem of life-size. Of
+course the objects must always be magnified to some extent, or they
+would be absolutely invisible, but usually the extent is determined by
+the size of the astral tube, and the whole thing is simply a tiny
+moving picture. In the few cases where the figures are seen as of
+life-size by this method, it is probable that an altogether new power
+is beginning to dawn; but when this happens, careful observation is
+needed in order to distinguish them from examples of our next class.
+
+3. _By the projection of a thought-form._--The ability to use this
+method of clairvoyance implies a development somewhat more advanced
+than the last, since it necessitates a certain amount of control upon
+the mental plane. All students of Theosophy are aware that thought
+takes form, at any rate upon its own plane, and in the vast majority
+of cases upon the astral plane also; but it may not be quite 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 mesmeric
+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 third type of clairvoyance consists, then, in the power to retain
+so much connection with and so much hold over a newly-erected
+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, as before, but by 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 at hand, instead of tiny and at a distance, as in the
+previous case; 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 last, 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 while exercising the 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 case of the previous type, because of the capacity for mental
+control required, and the generally finer nature of the forces
+employed.
+
+4. _By travelling in the astral body._--We enter here upon an entirely
+new variety of clairvoyance, in which the consciousness of the seer no
+longer remains in or closely connected with his physical body, but is
+definitely transferred to the scene which he is examining. Though it
+has no doubt greater dangers for the untrained seer than either of the
+methods previously described, it is yet quite the most satisfactory
+form of clairvoyance open to him, for the immensely superior variety
+which we shall consider under our fifth head is not available except
+for specially trained students.
+
+In this case the man's body is either asleep or in trance, and its
+organs are consequently not available for use while the vision is
+going on, so that all description of what is seen, and all questioning
+as to further particulars, must be postponed until the wanderer
+returns to this plane. On the other hand the sight is much fuller and
+more perfect; the man hears as well as sees everything which passes
+before him, and can move about freely at will within the very wide
+limits of the astral plane. He can see and study at leisure all the
+other inhabitants of that plane, so that the great world of the
+nature-spirits (of which the traditional fairy-land is but a very
+small part) lies open before him, and even that of some of the lower
+devas.
+
+He has also the immense advantage of being able to take part, as it
+were, in the scenes which come before his eyes--of conversing at will
+with these various astral entities, from whom so much information that
+is curious and interesting may be obtained. If in addition he can
+learn how to materialize himself (a matter of no great difficulty for
+him when once the knack is acquired), he will be able to take part in
+physical events or conversations at a distance, and to show himself to
+an absent friend at will.
+
+Again, he has the additional power of being able to hunt about for
+what he wants. By means of the varieties of clairvoyance previously
+described, for all practical purposes he could find a person or a
+place only when he was already acquainted with it, or when he was put
+_en rapport_ with it by touching something physically connected with
+it, as in psychometry. It is true that by the third method a certain
+amount of motion is possible, but the process is a tedious one except
+for quite short distances.
+
+By the use of the astral body, however, a man can move about quite
+freely and rapidly in any direction, and can (for example) find
+without difficulty any place pointed out upon a map, without either
+any previous knowledge of the spot or any object to establish a
+connection with it. He can also readily rise high into the air so as
+to gain a bird's-eye view of the country which he is examining, so as
+to observe its extent, the contour of its coast-line, or its general
+character. Indeed, in every way his power and freedom are far greater
+when he uses this method than they have been in any of the previous
+cases.
+
+A good example of the full possession of this power is given, on the
+authority of the German writer Jung Stilling, by Mrs. Crowe in _The
+Night Side of Nature_ (p. 127). The story is related of a seer who is
+stated to have resided in the neighbourhood of Philadelphia, in
+America. His habits were retired, and he spoke little; he was grave,
+benevolent and pious, and nothing was known against his character
+except that he had the reputation of possessing some secrets that were
+considered not altogether _lawful_. Many extraordinary stories were
+told of him, and amongst the rest the following:--
+
+"The wife of a ship captain (whose husband was on a voyage to Europe
+and Africa, and from whom she had been long without tidings), being
+overwhelmed with anxiety for his safety, was induced to address
+herself to this person. Having listened to her story he begged her to
+excuse him for a while, when he would bring her the intelligence she
+required. He then passed into an inner room and she sat herself down
+to wait; but his absence continuing longer than she expected, she
+became impatient, thinking he had forgotten her, and softly
+approaching the door she peeped through some aperture, and to her
+surprise beheld him lying on a sofa as motionless as if he were dead.
+She of course did not think it advisable to disturb him, but waited
+his return, when he told her that her husband had not been able to
+write to her for such and such reasons, but that he was then in a
+coffee-house in London and would very shortly be home again.
+
+"Accordingly he arrived, and as the lady learnt from him that the
+causes of his unusual silence had been precisely those alleged by the
+man, she felt extremely desirous of ascertaining the truth of the rest
+of the information. In this she was gratified, for he no sooner set
+his eyes on the magician than he said that he had seen him before on a
+certain day in a coffee-house in London, and that he told him that his
+wife was extremely uneasy about him, and that he, the captain, had
+thereon mentioned how he had been prevented writing, adding that he
+was on the eve of embarking for America. He had then lost sight of the
+stranger amongst the throng, and knew nothing more about him."
+
+We have of course no means now of knowing what evidence Jung Stilling
+had of the truth of this story, though he declares himself to have
+been quite satisfied with the authority on which he relates it; but so
+many similar things have happened that there is no reason to doubt its
+accuracy. The seer, however, must either have developed his faculty
+for himself or learnt it in some school other than that from which
+most of our Theosophical information is derived; for in our case there
+is a well-understood regulation expressly forbidding the pupils from
+giving any manifestation of such power which can be definitely proved
+at both ends in that way, and so constitute what is called "a
+phenomenon." That this regulation is emphatically a wise one is
+proved to all who know anything of the history of our Society by the
+disastrous results which followed from a very slight temporary
+relaxation of it.
+
+I have given some quite modern cases almost exactly parallel to the
+above in my little book on _Invisible Helpers_. An instance of a lady
+well-known to myself, who frequently thus appears to friends at a
+distance, is given by Mr. Stead in _Real Ghost Stories_ (p. 27); and
+Mr. Andrew Lang gives, in his _Dreams and Ghosts_ (p. 89), an account
+of how Mr. Cleave, then at Portsmouth, appeared intentionally on two
+occasions to a young lady in London, and alarmed her considerably.
+There is any amount of evidence to be had on the subject by any one
+who cares to study it seriously.
+
+This paying of intentional astral visits seems very often to become
+possible when the principles are loosened at the approach of death for
+people who were unable to perform such a feat at any other time. There
+are even more examples of this class than of the other; I epitomize a
+good one given by Mr. Andrew Lang on p. 100 of the book last
+cited--one of which he himself says, "Not many stories have such good
+evidence in their favour."
+
+"Mary, the wife of John Goffe of Rochester, being afflicted with a
+long illness, removed to her father's house at West Malling, about
+nine miles from her own.
+
+"The day before her death she grew very impatiently desirous to see
+her two children, whom she had left at home to the care of a nurse.
+She was too ill to be moved, and between one and two o'clock in the
+morning she fell into a trance. One widow Turner, who watched with her
+that night, says that her eyes were open and fixed, and her jaw
+fallen. Mrs. Turner put her hand upon her mouth, but could perceive no
+breath. She thought her to be in a fit, and doubted whether she were
+dead or alive.
+
+"The next morning the dying woman told her mother that she had been at
+home with her children, saying, I was with them last night when I was
+asleep.'
+
+"The nurse at Rochester, widow Alexander by name, affirms that a
+little before two o'clock that morning she saw the likeness of the
+said Mary Goffe come out of the next chamber (where the elder child
+lay in a bed by itself), the door being left open, and stood by her
+bedside for about a quarter of an hour; the younger child was there
+lying by her. Her eyes moved and her mouth went, but she said nothing.
+The nurse, moreover, says that she was perfectly awake; it was then
+daylight, being one of the longest days in the year. She sat up in bed
+and looked steadfastly on the apparition. In that time she heard the
+bridge clock strike two, and a while after said: 'In the name of the
+Father, Son and Holy Ghost, what art thou?' Thereupon the apparition
+removed and went away; she slipped on her clothes and followed, but
+what became on't, she cannot tell."
+
+The nurse apparently was more frightened by its disappearance than its
+presence, for after this she was afraid to stay in the house, and so
+spent the rest of the time until six o'clock in walking up and down
+outside. When the neighbours were awake she told her tale to them, and
+they of course said she had dreamt it all; she naturally enough warmly
+repudiated that idea, but could obtain no credence until the news of
+the other side of the story arrived from West Malling, when people had
+to admit that there might have been something in it.
+
+A noteworthy circumstance in this story is that the mother found it
+necessary to pass from ordinary sleep into the profounder trance
+condition before she could consciously visit her children; it can,
+however, be paralleled here and there among the large number of
+similar accounts which may be found in the literature of the subject.
+
+Two other stories of precisely the same type--in which a dying mother,
+earnestly desiring to see her children, falls into a deep sleep,
+visits them and returns to say that she has done so--are given by Dr.
+F. G. Lee. In one of them the mother, when dying in Egypt, appears to
+her children at Torquay, and is clearly seen in broad daylight by all
+five of the children and also by the nursemaid. (_Glimpses of the
+Supernatural_, vol. ii., p. 64.) In the other a Quaker lady dying at
+Cockermouth is clearly seen and recognized in daylight by her three
+children at Settle, the remainder of the story being practically
+identical with the one given above. (_Glimpses in the Twilight_, p.
+94.) Though these cases appear to be less widely known than that of
+Mary Goffe, the evidence of their authenticity seems to be quite as
+good, as will be seen by the attestations obtained by the reverend
+author of the works from which they are quoted.
+
+The man who fully possesses this fourth type of clairvoyance has many
+and great advantages at his disposal, even in addition to those already
+mentioned. Not only can he visit without trouble or expense all the
+beautiful and famous places of the earth, but if he happens to be a
+scholar, think what it must mean to him that he has access to all the
+libraries of the world! What must it be for the scientifically-minded
+man to see taking place before his eyes so many of the processes of the
+secret chemistry of nature, or for the philosopher to have revealed to
+him so much more than ever before of the working of the great mysteries
+of life and death? To him those who are gone from this plane are dead no
+longer, but living and within reach for a long time to come; for him
+many of the conceptions of religion are no longer matters of faith, but
+of knowledge. Above all, he can join the army of invisible helpers, and
+really be of use on a large scale. Undoubtedly clairvoyance, even when
+confined to the astral plane, is a great boon to the student.
+
+Certainly it has its dangers also, especially for the untrained;
+danger from evil entities of various kinds, which may terrify or
+injure those who allow themselves to lose the courage to face them
+boldly; danger of deception of all sorts, of misconceiving and
+mis-interpreting what is seen; greatest of all, the danger of becoming
+conceited about the thing and of thinking it impossible to make a
+mistake. But a little common-sense and a little experience should
+easily guard a man against these.
+
+5. _By travelling in the mental body._--This is simply a higher and,
+as it were, glorified form of the last type. The vehicle employed is
+no longer the astral body, but the mind-body--a vehicle, therefore,
+belonging to the mental plane, and having within it all the
+potentialities of the wonderful sense of that plane, so transcendent
+in its action yet so impossible to describe. A man functioning in this
+leaves his astral body behind him along with the physical, and if he
+wishes to show himself upon the astral plane for any reason, he does
+not send for his own astral vehicle, but just by a single action of
+his will materializes one for his temporary need. Such an astral
+materialization is sometimes called the mâyâvirûpa, and to form it
+for the first time usually needs the assistance of a qualified Master.
+
+The enormous advantages given by the possession of this power are the
+capacity of entering upon all the glory and the beauty of the higher
+land of bliss, and the possession, even when working on the astral
+plane, of the far more comprehensive mental sense which opens up to
+the student such marvellous vistas of knowledge, and practically
+renders error all but impossible. This higher flight, however, is
+possible for the trained man only, since only under definite training
+can a man at this stage of evolution learn to employ his mental body
+as a vehicle.
+
+Before leaving the subject of full and intentional clairvoyance, it
+may be well to devote a few words to answering one or two questions as
+to its limitations, which constantly occur to students. Is it
+possible, we are often asked, for the seer to find any person with
+whom he wishes to communicate, anywhere in the world, whether he be
+living or dead?
+
+To this reply must be a conditional affirmative. Yes, it is possible
+to find any person if the experimenter can, in some way or other, put
+himself _en rapport_ with that person. It would be hopeless to plunge
+vaguely into space to find a total stranger among all the millions
+around us without any kind of clue; but, on the other hand, a very
+slight clue would usually be sufficient.
+
+If the clairvoyant knows anything of the man whom he seeks, he will
+have no difficulty in finding him, for every man has what may be
+called a kind of musical chord of his own--a chord which is the
+expression of him as a whole, produced perhaps by a sort of average of
+the rates of vibration of all his different vehicles on their
+respective planes. If the operator knows how to discern that chord and
+to strike it, it will by sympathetic vibration attract the attention
+of the man instantly wherever he may be, and will evoke an immediate
+response from him.
+
+Whether the man were living or recently dead would make no difference
+at all, and clairvoyance of the fifth class could at once find him
+even among the countless millions in the heaven-world, though in that
+case the man himself would be unconscious that he was under
+observation. Naturally a seer whose consciousness did not range higher
+than the astral plane--who employed therefore one of the earlier
+methods of seeing--would not be able to find a person upon the mental
+plane at all; yet even he would at least be able to tell that the man
+sought for was upon that plane, from the mere fact that the striking
+of the chord as far up as the astral level produced no response.
+
+If the man sought be a stranger to the seeker, the latter will need
+something connected with him to act as a clue--a photograph, a letter
+written by him, an article which has belonged to him, and is
+impregnated with his personal magnetism; any of these would do in the
+hands of a practised seer.
+
+Again I say, it must not therefore be supposed that pupils who have
+been taught how to use this art are at liberty to set up a kind of
+intelligence office through which communication can be had with
+missing or dead relatives. A message given from this side to such an
+one might or might not be handed on, according to circumstances, but
+even if it were, no reply might be brought, lest the transaction
+should partake of the nature of a phenomenon--something which could be
+proved on the physical plane to have been an act of magic.
+
+Another question often raised is as to whether, in the action of
+psychic vision, there is any limitation as to distance. The reply
+would seem to be that there should be no limit but that of the
+respective planes. It must be remembered that the astral and mental
+planes of our earth are as definitely its own as its atmosphere,
+though they extend considerably further from it even in our
+three-dimensional space than does the physical air. Consequently the
+passage to, or the detailed sight of, other planets would not be
+possible for any system of clairvoyance connected with these planes.
+It _is_ quite possible and easy for the man who can raise his
+consciousness to the buddhic plane to pass to any other globe
+belonging to our chain of worlds, but that is outside our present
+subject.
+
+Still a good deal of additional information about other planets can be
+obtained by the use of such clairvoyant faculties as we have been
+describing. It is possible to make sight enormously clearer by passing
+outside of the constant disturbances of the earth's atmosphere, and it
+is also not difficult to learn how to put on an exceedingly high
+magnifying power, so that even by ordinary clairvoyance a good deal of
+very interesting astronomical knowledge may be gained. But as far as
+this earth and its immediate surroundings are concerned, there is
+practically no limitation.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V.
+
+CLAIRVOYANCE IN SPACE: SEMI-INTENTIONAL.
+
+
+Under this rather curious title I am grouping together the cases of
+all those people who definitely set themselves to see something, but
+have no idea what the something will be, and no control over the sight
+after the visions have begun--psychic Micawbers, who put themselves
+into a receptive condition, and then simply wait for something to turn
+up. Many trance-mediums would come under this heading; they either in
+some way hypnotize themselves or are hypnotized by some
+"spirit-guide," and then they describe the scenes or persons that
+happen to float before their vision. Sometimes, however, when in this
+condition they see what is taking place at a distance, and so they
+come to have a place among our "clairvoyants in space."
+
+But the largest and most widely-spread band of these semi-intentional
+clairvoyants are the various kinds of crystal-gazers--those who, as
+Mr. Andrew Lang puts it, "stare into a crystal ball, a cup, a mirror,
+a blob of ink (Egypt and India), a drop of blood (among the Maories of
+New Zealand), a bowl of water (Red Indian), a pond (Roman and
+African), water in a glass bowl (in Fez), or almost any polished
+surface" (_Dreams and Ghosts_, p. 57).
+
+Two pages later Mr. Lang gives us a very good example of the kind of
+vision most frequently seen in this way. "I had given a glass ball,"
+he says, "to a young lady, Miss Baillie, who had scarcely any success
+with it. She lent it to Miss Leslie, who saw a large square,
+old-fashioned red sofa covered with muslin, which she found in the
+next country-house she visited. Miss Baillie's brother, a young
+athlete, laughed at these experiments, took the ball into the study,
+and came back looking 'gey gash.' He admitted that he had seen a
+vision--somebody he knew under a lamp. He would discover during the
+week whether he saw right or not. This was at 5.30 on a Sunday
+afternoon.
+
+"On Tuesday, Mr. Baillie was at a dance in a town some forty miles
+from his home, and met a Miss Preston. 'On Sunday,' he said, 'about
+half-past five you were sitting under a standard lamp in a dress I
+never saw you wear, a blue blouse with lace over the shoulders,
+pouring out tea for a man in blue serge, whose back was towards me, so
+that I only saw the tip of his moustache.'
+
+"'Why, the blinds must have been up,' said Miss Preston.
+
+"'I was at Dulby,' said Mr. Baillie, and he undeniably was."
+
+This is quite a typical case of crystal-gazing--the picture correct in
+every detail, you see, and yet absolutely unimportant and bearing no
+apparent signification of any sort to either party, except that it
+served to prove to Mr. Baillie that there was something in
+crystal-gazing. Perhaps more frequently the visions tend to be of a
+romantic character--men in foreign dress, or beautiful though
+generally unknown landscapes.
+
+Now what is the rationale of this kind of clairvoyance? As I have
+indicated above, it belongs usually to the "astral-current" type, and
+the crystal or other object simply acts as a focus for the will-power
+of the seer, and a convenient starting-point for his astral tube.
+There are some who can influence what they will see by their will,
+that is to say they have the power of pointing their telescope as they
+wish; but the great majority just form a fortuitous tube and see
+whatever happens to present itself at the end of it.
+
+Sometimes it may be a scene comparatively near at hand, as in the case
+just quoted; at other times it will be a far-away Oriental landscape;
+at others yet it may be a reflection of some fragment of an âkâshic
+record, and then the picture will contain figures in some antique
+dress, and the phenomenon belongs to our third large division of
+"clairvoyance in time." It is said that visions of the future are
+sometimes seen in crystals also--a further development to which we
+must refer later.
+
+I have seen a clairvoyant use instead of the ordinary shining surface
+a dead black one, produced by a handful of powdered charcoal in a
+saucer. Indeed it does not seem to matter much what is used as a
+focus, except that pure crystal has an undoubted advantage over other
+substances in that its peculiar arrangement of elemental essence
+renders it specially stimulating to the psychic faculties.
+
+It seems probable, however, that in cases where a tiny brilliant
+object is employed--such as a point of light, or the drop of blood
+used by the Maories--the instance is in reality merely one of
+self-hypnotization. Among non-European nations the experiment is very
+frequently preceded or accompanied by magical ceremonies and
+invocations, so that it is quite likely that such sight as is gained
+may sometimes be really that of some foreign entity, and so the
+phenomenon may in fact be merely a case of temporary possession, and
+not of clairvoyance at all.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VI.
+
+CLAIRVOYANCE IN SPACE: UNINTENTIONAL.
+
+
+Under this heading we may group together all those cases in which
+visions of some event which is taking place at a distance are seen
+quite unexpectedly and without any kind of preparation. There are
+people who are subject to such visions, while there are many others to
+whom such a thing will happen only once in a life-time. The visions
+are of all kinds and of all degrees of completeness, and apparently
+may be produced by various causes. Sometimes the reason of the vision
+is obvious, and the subject matter of the gravest importance; at other
+times no reason at all is discoverable, and the events shown seem of
+the most trivial nature.
+
+Sometimes these glimpses of the super-physical faculty come as waking
+visions, and sometimes they manifest during sleep as vivid or
+oft-repeated dreams. In this latter case the sight employed is perhaps
+usually of the kind assigned to our fourth subdivision of clairvoyance
+in space, for the sleeping man often travels in his astral body to
+some spot with which his affections or interests are closely
+connected, and simply watches what takes place there; in the former it
+seems probable that the second type of clairvoyance, by means of the
+astral current, is called into requisition. But in this case the
+current or tube is formed quite unconsciously, and is often the
+automatic result of a strong thought or emotion projected from one end
+or the other--either from the seer or the person who is seen.
+
+The simplest plan will be to give a few instances of the different
+kinds, and to intersperse among them such further explanations as may
+seem necessary. Mr. Stead has collected a large and varied assortment
+of recent and well-authenticated cases in his _Real Ghost Stories_,
+and I will select some of my examples from them, occasionally
+condensing slightly to save space.
+
+There are cases in which it is at once obvious to any Theosophical
+student that the exceptional instance of clairvoyance was specially
+brought about by one of the band whom we have called "Invisible
+Helpers" in order that aid might be rendered to some one in sore need.
+To this class, undoubtedly, belongs the story told by Captain Yonnt,
+of the Napa Valley in California, to Dr. Bushnell, who repeats it in
+his _Nature and the Supernatural_ (p. 14).
+
+"About six or seven years previous, in a mid-winter's night, he had a
+dream in which he saw what appeared to be a company of emigrants
+arrested by the snows of the mountains, and perishing rapidly by cold
+and hunger. He noted the very cast of the scenery, marked by a huge,
+perpendicular front of white rock cliff; he saw the men cutting off
+what appeared to be tree-tops rising out of deep gulfs of snow; he
+distinguished the very features of the persons and the look of their
+particular distress.
+
+"He awoke profoundly impressed by the distinctness and apparent
+reality of the dream. He at length fell asleep, and dreamed exactly
+the same dream over again. In the morning he could not expel it from
+his mind. Falling in shortly after with an old hunter comrade, he told
+his story, and was only the more deeply impressed by his recognizing
+without hesitation the scenery of the dream. This comrade came over
+the Sierra by the Carson Valley Pass, and declared that a spot in the
+Pass exactly answered his description.
+
+"By this the unsophistical patriarch was decided. He immediately
+collected a company of men, with mules and blankets and all necessary
+provisions. The neighbours were laughing meantime at his credulity.
+'No matter,' he said, 'I am able to do this, and I will, for I verily
+believe that the fact is according to my dream.' The men were sent
+into the mountains one hundred and fifty miles distant direct to the
+Carson Valley Pass. And there they found the company exactly in the
+condition of the dream, and brought in the remnant alive."
+
+Since it is not stated that Captain Yonnt was in the habit of seeing
+visions, it seems clear that some helper, observing the forlorn
+condition of the emigrant party, took the nearest impressionable and
+otherwise suitable person (who happened to be the Captain) to the spot
+in the astral body, and aroused him sufficiently to fix the scene
+firmly in his memory. The helper may possibly have arranged an "astral
+current" for the Captain instead, but the former suggestion is more
+probable. At any rate the motive, and broadly the method, of the work
+are obvious enough in this case.
+
+Sometimes the "astral current" may be set going by a strong emotional
+thought at the other end of the line, and this may happen even though
+the thinker has no such intention in his mind. In the rather striking
+story which I am about to quote, it is evident that the link was
+formed by the doctor's frequent thought about Mrs. Broughton, yet he
+had clearly no especial wish that she should see what he was doing at
+the time. That it was this kind of clairvoyance that was employed is
+shown by the fixity of her point of view--which, be it observed, is
+not the doctor's point of view sympathetically transferred (as it
+might have been) since she sees his back without recognizing him. The
+story is to be found in the _Proceedings of the Psychical Research
+Society_ (vol. ii., p. 160).
+
+"Mrs. Broughton awoke one night in 1844, and roused her husband,
+telling him that something dreadful had happened in France. He begged
+her to go to sleep again, and not trouble him. She assured him that
+she was not asleep when she saw what she insisted on telling him--what
+she saw in fact.
+
+"First a carriage accident--which she did not actually see, but what
+she saw was the result--a broken carriage, a crowd collected, a figure
+gently raised and carried into the nearest house, then a figure lying
+on a bed which she then recognized as the Duke of Orleans. Gradually
+friends collecting round the bed--among them several members of the
+French royal family--the queen, then the king, all silently,
+tearfully, watching the evidently dying duke. One man (she could see
+his back, but did not know who he was) was a doctor. He stood bending
+over the duke, feeling his pulse, with his watch in the other hand.
+And then all passed away, and she saw no more.
+
+"As soon as it was daylight she wrote down in her journal all that she
+had seen. It was before the days of electric telegraph, and two or
+more days passed before the _Times_ announced 'The Death of the Duke
+of Orleans.' Visiting Paris a short time afterwards she saw and
+recognized the place of the accident and received the explanation of
+her impression. The doctor who attended the dying duke was an old
+friend of hers, and as he watched by the bed his mind had been
+constantly occupied with her and her family."
+
+A commoner instance is that in which strong affection sets up the
+necessary current; probably a fairly steady stream of mutual thought
+is constantly flowing between the two parties in the case, and some
+sudden need or dire extremity on the part of one of them endues this
+stream temporarily with the polarizing power which is needful to
+create the astral telescope. An illustrative example is quoted from
+the same _Proceedings_ (vol. i., p. 30).
+
+"On September 9th, 1848, at the siege of Mooltan, Major-General R----,
+C.B., then adjutant of his regiment, was most severely and dangerously
+wounded; and, supposing himself to be dying, asked one of the officers
+with him to take the ring off his finger and send it to his wife, who
+at the time was fully one hundred and fifty miles distant at
+Ferozepore.
+
+"'On the night of September 9th, 1848,' writes his wife, 'I was lying
+on my bed, between sleeping and waking, when I distinctly saw my
+husband being carried off the field seriously wounded, and heard his
+voice saying, "Take this ring off my finger and send it to my wife."
+All the next day I could not get the sight or the voice out of my
+mind.
+
+"'In due time I heard of General R---- having been severely wounded in
+the assault of Mooltan. He survived, however, and is still living. It
+was not for some time after the siege that I heard from General
+L----, the officer who helped to carry my husband off the field, that
+the request as to the ring was actually made by him, just as I heard
+it at Ferozepore at that very time."
+
+Then there is the very large class of casual clairvoyant visions which
+have no traceable cause--which are apparently quite meaningless, and
+have no recognizable relation to any events known to the seer. To this
+class belong many of the landscapes seen by some people just before
+they fall asleep. I quote a capital and very realistic account of an
+experience of this sort from Mr. W. T. Stead's _Real Ghost Stories_
+(p. 65).
+
+"I got into bed but was not able to go to sleep. I shut my eyes and
+waited for sleep to come; instead of sleep, however, there came to me
+a succession of curiously vivid clairvoyant pictures. There was no
+light in the room, and it was perfectly dark; I had my eyes shut also.
+But notwithstanding the darkness I suddenly was conscious of looking
+at a scene of singular beauty. It was as if I saw a living miniature
+about the size of a magic-lantern slide. At this moment I can recall
+the scene as if I saw it again. It was a seaside piece. The moon was
+shining upon the water, which rippled slowly on to the beach. Right
+before me a long mole ran into the water.
+
+"On either side of the mole irregular rocks stood up above the
+sea-level. On the shore stood several houses, square and rude, which
+resembled nothing that I had ever seen in house architecture. No one
+was stirring, but the moon was there and the sea and the gleam of the
+moonlight on the rippling waters, just as if I had been looking on the
+actual scene.
+
+"It was so beautiful that I remember thinking that if it continued I
+should be so interested in looking at it that I should never go to
+sleep. I was wide awake, and at the same time that I saw the scene I
+distinctly heard the dripping of the rain outside the window. Then
+suddenly, without any apparent object or reason, the scene changed.
+
+"The moonlit sea vanished, and in its place I was looking right into
+the interior of a reading-room. It seemed as if it had been used as a
+schoolroom in the daytime, and was employed as a reading-room in the
+evening. I remember seeing one reader who had a curious resemblance to
+Tim Harrington, although it was not he, hold up a magazine or book in
+his hand and laugh. It was not a picture--it was there.
+
+"The scene was just as if you were looking through an opera-glass; you
+saw the play of the muscles, the gleaming of the eye, every movement
+of the unknown persons in the unnamed place into which you were
+gazing. I saw all that without opening my eyes, nor did my eyes have
+anything to do with it. You see such things as these as it were with
+another sense which is more inside your head than in your eyes.
+
+"This was a very poor and paltry experience, but it enabled me to
+understand better how it is that clairvoyants see than any amount of
+disquisition.
+
+"The pictures were _apropos_ of nothing; they had been suggested by
+nothing I had been reading or talking of; they simply came as if I had
+been able to look through a glass at what was occurring somewhere else
+in the world. I had my peep, and then it passed, nor have I had a
+recurrence of a similar experience."
+
+Mr. Stead regards that as a "poor and paltry experience," and it may
+perhaps be considered so when compared with the greater possibilities,
+yet I know many students who would be very thankful to have even so
+much of direct personal experience to tell. Small though it may be in
+itself, it at once gives the seer a clue to the whole thing, and
+clairvoyance would be a living actuality to a man who had seen even
+that much in a way that it could never have been without that little
+touch with the unseen world.
+
+These pictures were much too clear to have been mere reflections of
+the thought of others, and besides, the description unmistakably shows
+that they were views seen through an astral telescope; so either Mr.
+Stead must quite unconsciously have set a current going for himself,
+or (which is much more probable) some kindly astral entity set it in
+motion for him, and gave him, to while away a tedious delay, any
+pictures that happened to come handy at the end of the tube.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VII.
+
+CLAIRVOYANCE IN TIME: THE PAST.
+
+
+Clairvoyance in time--that is to say, the power of reading the past
+and the future--is, like all the other varieties, possessed by
+different people in very varying degrees, ranging from the man who has
+both faculties fully at his command, down to one who only occasionally
+gets involuntary and very imperfect glimpses or reflections of these
+scenes of other days. A person of the latter type might have, let us
+say, a vision of some event in the past; but it would be liable to the
+most serious distortion, and even if it happened to be fairly accurate
+it would almost certainly be a mere isolated picture, and he would
+probably be quite unable to relate it to what had occurred before or
+after it, or to account for anything unusual which might appear in it.
+The trained man, on the other hand, could follow the drama connected
+with his picture backwards or forwards to any extent that might seem
+desirable, and trace out with equal ease the causes which had led up
+to it or the results which it in turn would produce.
+
+We shall probably find it easier to grasp this somewhat difficult
+section of our subject if we consider it in the subdivisions which
+naturally suggest themselves, and deal first with the vision which
+looks backwards into the past, leaving for later examination that
+which pierces the veil of the future. In each case it will be well for
+us to try to understand what we can of the _modus operandi_, even
+though our success can at best be only a very modified one, owing
+first to the imperfect information on some parts of the subject at
+present possessed by our investigators, and secondly to the
+ever-recurring failure of physical words to express a hundredth part
+even of the little we do know about higher planes and faculties.
+
+In the case then of a detailed vision of the remote past, how is it
+obtained, and to what plane of nature does it really belong? The
+answer to both these questions is contained in the reply that it is
+read from the âkâshic records; but that statement in return will
+require a certain amount of explanation for many readers. The word is
+in truth somewhat of a misnomer, for though the records are
+undoubtedly read from the âkâsha, or matter of the mental plane, yet
+it is not to it that they really belong. Still worse is the
+alternative title, "records of the astral light," which has sometimes
+been employed, for these records lie far beyond the astral plane, and
+all that can be obtained on it are only broken glimpses of a kind of
+double reflection of them, as will presently be explained.
+
+Like so many others of our Theosophical terms, the word âkâsha has
+been very loosely used. In some of our earlier books it was considered
+as synonymous with astral light, and in others it was employed to
+signify any kind of invisible matter, from mûlaprakriti down to the
+physical ether. In later books its use has been restricted to the
+matter of the mental plane, and it is in that sense that the records
+may be spoken of as âkâshic, for although they are not originally made
+on that plane any more than on the astral, yet it is there that we
+first come definitely into contact with them and find it possible to
+do reliable work with them.
+
+This subject of the records is by no means an easy one to deal with,
+for it is one of that numerous class which requires for its perfect
+comprehension faculties of a far higher order than any which humanity
+has yet evolved. The real solution of its problems lies on planes far
+beyond any that we can possibly know at present, and any view that we
+take of it must necessarily be of the most imperfect character, since
+we cannot but look at it from below instead of from above. The idea
+which we form of it must therefore be only partial, yet it need not
+mislead us unless we allow ourselves to think of the tiny fragment
+which is all that we can see as though it were the perfect whole. If
+we are careful that such conceptions as we may form shall be accurate
+as far as they go, we shall have nothing to unlearn, though much to
+add, when in the course of our further progress we gradually acquire
+the higher wisdom. Be it understood then at the commencement that a
+thorough grasp of our subject is an impossibility at the present stage
+of our evolution, and that many points will arise as to which no exact
+explanation is yet obtainable, though it may often be possible to
+suggest analogies and to indicate the lines along which an explanation
+must lie.
+
+Let us then try to carry back our thoughts to the beginning of this
+solar system to which we belong. We are all familiar with the ordinary
+astronomical theory of its origin--that which is commonly called the
+nebular hypothesis--according to which it first came into existence as
+a gigantic glowing nebula, of a diameter far exceeding that of the
+orbit of even the outermost of the planets, and then, as in the course
+of countless ages that enormous sphere gradually cooled and
+contracted, the system as we know it was formed.
+
+Occult science accepts that theory, in its broad outline, as correctly
+representing the purely physical side of the evolution of our system,
+but it would add that if we confine our attention to this physical
+side only we shall have a very incomplete and incoherent idea of what
+really happened. It would postulate, to begin with, that the exalted
+Being who undertakes the formation of a system (whom we sometimes
+call the Logos of the system) first of all forms in His mind a
+complete conception of the whole of it with all its successive chains
+of worlds. By the very act of forming that conception He calls the
+whole into simultaneous objective existence on the plane of His
+thought--a plane of course far above all those of which we know
+anything--from which the various globes descend when required into
+whatever state of further objectivity may be respectively destined for
+them. Unless we constantly bear in mind this fact of the real
+existence of the whole system from the very beginning on a higher
+plane, we shall be perpetually misunderstanding the physical evolution
+which we see taking place down here.
+
+But occultism has more than this to teach us on the subject. It tells
+us not only that all this wonderful system to which we belong is
+called into existence by the Logos, both on lower and on higher
+planes, but also that its relation to Him is closer even than that,
+for it is absolutely a part of Him--a partial expression of Him upon
+the physical plane--and that the movement and energy of the whole
+system is _His_ energy, and is all carried on within the limits of His
+aura. Stupendous as this conception is, it will yet not be wholly
+unthinkable to those of us who have made any study of the subject of
+the aura.
+
+We are familiar with the idea that as a person progresses on the
+upward path his causal body, which is the determining limit of his
+aura, distinctly increases in size as well as in luminosity and purity
+of colour. Many of us know from experience that the aura of a pupil
+who has already made considerable advance on the Path is very much
+larger than that of one who is but just setting his foot upon its
+first step, while in the case of an Adept the proportional increase is
+far greater still. We read in quite exoteric Oriental scriptures of
+the immense extension of the aura of the Buddha; I think that three
+miles is mentioned on one occasion as its limit, but whatever the
+exact measurement may be, it is obvious that we have here another
+record of this fact of the extremely rapid growth of the causal body
+as man passes on his upward way. There can be little doubt that the
+rate of this growth would itself increase in geometrical progression,
+so that it need not surprise us to hear of an Adept on a still higher
+level whose aura is capable of including the entire world at once; and
+from this we may gradually lead our minds up to the conception that
+there is a Being so exalted as to comprehend within Himself the whole
+of our solar system. And we should remember that, enormous as this
+seems to us, it is but as the tiniest drop in the vast ocean of space.
+
+So of the Logos (who has in Him all the capacities and qualities with
+which we can possibly endow the highest God we can imagine) it is
+literally true, as was said of old, that "of Him and through Him, and
+to Him are all things," and "in Him we live and move and have our
+being."
+
+Now if this be so, it is clear that whatever happens within our system
+happens absolutely within the consciousness of its Logos, and so we at
+once see that the true record must be His memory; and furthermore, it
+is obvious that on whatever plane that wondrous memory exists, it
+cannot but be far above anything that we know, and consequently
+whatever records we may find ourselves able to read must be only a
+reflection of that great dominant fact, mirrored in the denser media
+of the lower planes.
+
+On the astral plane it is at once evident that this is so--that what
+we are dealing with is only a reflection of a reflection, and an
+exceedingly imperfect one, for such records as can be reached there
+are fragmentary in the extreme, and often seriously distorted. We know
+how universally water is used as a symbol of the astral light, and in
+this particular case it is a remarkably apt one. From the surface of
+still water we may get a clear reflection of the surrounding objects,
+just as from a mirror; but at the best it is only a reflection--a
+representation in two dimensions of three-dimensional objects, and
+therefore differing in all its qualities, except colour, from that
+which it represents; and in addition to this, it is always reversed.
+
+But let the surface of the water be ruffled by the wind and what do we
+find then? A reflection still, certainly, but so broken up and
+distorted as to be quite useless or even misleading as a guide to the
+shape and real appearance of the objects reflected. Here and there for
+a moment we might happen to get a clear reflection of some minute part
+of the scene--of a single leaf from a tree, for example; but it would
+need long labour and considerable knowledge of natural laws to build
+up anything like a true conception of the object reflected by putting
+together even a large number of such isolated fragments of an image of
+it.
+
+Now in the astral plane we can never have anything approaching to what
+we have imaged as a still surface, but on the contrary we have always
+to deal with one in rapid and bewildering motion; judge, therefore,
+how little we can depend upon getting a clear and definite reflection.
+Thus a clairvoyant who possesses only the faculty of astral sight can
+never rely upon any picture of the past that comes before him as being
+accurate and perfect; here and there some part of it _may_ be so, but
+he has no means of knowing which it is. If he is under the care of a
+competent teacher he may, by long and careful training, be shown how
+to distinguish between reliable and unreliable impressions, and to
+construct from the broken reflections some kind of image of the
+object reflected; but usually long before he has mastered those
+difficulties he will have developed the mental sight, which renders
+such labour unnecessary.
+
+On the next plane, which we call the mental, conditions are very
+different. There the record is full and accurate, and it would be
+impossible to make any mistake in the reading. That is to say, if
+three clairvoyants possessing the powers of the mental plane agreed to
+examine a certain record there, what would be presented to their
+vision would be absolutely the same reflection in each case, and each
+would acquire a correct impression from it in reading it. It does not
+however follow that when they all compared notes later on the physical
+plane their reports would agree exactly. It is well known that if
+three people who witness an occurrence down here in the physical world
+set to work to describe it afterwards, their accounts will differ
+considerably, for each will have noticed especially those items which
+most appeal to him, and will insensibly have made them the prominent
+features of the event, sometimes ignoring other points which were in
+reality much more important.
+
+Now in the case of an observation on the mental plane this personal
+equation would not appreciably affect the impressions received, for
+since each would thoroughly grasp the entire subject it would be
+impossible for him to see its parts out of due proportion; but,
+except in the case of carefully trained and experienced persons, this
+factor does come into play in transferring the impressions to the
+lower planes. It is in the nature of things impossible that any
+account given down here of a vision or experience on the mental plane
+can be complete, since nine-tenths of what is seen and felt there
+could not be expressed by physical words at all; and, since all
+expression must therefore be partial, there is obviously some
+possibility of selection as to the part expressed. It is for this
+reason that in all our Theosophical investigations of recent years so
+much stress has been laid upon the constant checking and verifying of
+clairvoyant testimony, nothing which rests upon the vision of one
+person only having been allowed to appear in our later books.
+
+But even when the possibility of error from this factor of personal
+equation has been reduced to a minimum by a careful system of
+counter-checking, there still remains the very serious difficulty which
+is inherent in the operation of bringing down impressions from a higher
+plane to a lower one. This is something analogous to the difficulty
+experienced by a painter in his endeavour to reproduce a
+three-dimensional landscape on a flat surface--that is, practically in
+two dimensions. Just as the artist needs long and careful training of
+eye and hand before he can produce a satisfactory representation of
+nature, so does the clairvoyant need long and careful training before he
+can describe accurately on a lower plane what he sees on a higher one;
+and the probability of getting an exact description from an untrained
+person is about equal to that of getting a perfectly-finished landscape
+from one who has never learnt how to draw.
+
+It must be remembered, too, that the most perfect picture is in
+reality infinitely far from being a reproduction of the scene which it
+represents, for hardly a single line or angle in it can ever be the
+same as those in the object copied. It is simply a very ingenious
+attempt to make upon one only of our five senses, by means of lines
+and colours on a flat surface, an impression similar to that which
+would have been made if we had actually had before us the scene
+depicted. Except by a suggestion dependent entirely on our own
+previous experience, it can convey to us nothing of the roar of the
+sea, of the scent of the flowers, of the taste of the fruit, or of the
+softness or hardness of the surface drawn.
+
+Of exactly similar nature, though far greater in degree, are the
+difficulties experienced by a clairvoyant in his attempt to describe
+upon the physical plane what he has seen upon the astral; and they are
+furthermore greatly enhanced by the fact that, instead of having
+merely to recall to the minds of his hearers conceptions with which
+they are already familiar, as the artist does when he paints men or
+animals, fields or trees, he has to endeavour by the very imperfect
+means at his disposal to suggest to them conceptions which in most
+cases are absolutely new to them.
+
+Small wonder then that, however vivid and striking his descriptions
+may seem to his audience, he himself should constantly be impressed
+with their total inadequacy, and should feel that his best efforts
+have entirely failed to convey any idea of what he really sees. And we
+must remember that in the case of the report given down here of a
+record read on the mental plane, this difficult operation of
+transference from the higher to the lower has taken place not once but
+twice, since the memory has been brought through the intervening
+astral plane. Even in a case where the investigator has the advantage
+of having developed his mental faculties so that he has the use of
+them while awake in the physical body, he is still hampered by the
+absolute incapacity of physical language to express what he sees.
+
+Try for a moment to realize fully what is called the fourth dimension,
+of which we said something in an earlier chapter. It is easy enough to
+think of our own three dimensions--to image in our minds the length,
+breadth and height of any object; and we see that each of these three
+dimensions is expressed by a line at right angles to both of the
+others. The idea of the fourth dimension is that it might be possible
+to draw a fourth line which shall be at right angles to all three of
+those already existing.
+
+Now the ordinary mind cannot grasp this idea in the least, though some
+few who have made a special study of the subject have gradually come
+to be able to realize one or two very simple four-dimensional figures.
+Still, no words that they can use on this plane can bring any image of
+these figures before the minds of others, and if any reader who has
+not specially trained himself along that line will make the effort to
+visualize such a shape he will find it quite impossible. Now to
+express such a form clearly in physical words would be, in effect, to
+describe accurately a single object on the astral plane; but in
+examining the records on the mental plane we should have to face the
+additional difficulties of a fifth dimension! So that the
+impossibility of fully explaining these records will be obvious to
+even the most superficial observation.
+
+We have spoken of the records as the memory of the Logos, yet they are
+very much more than a memory in an ordinary sense of the word.
+Hopeless as it may be to imagine how these images appear from His
+point of view, we yet know that as we rise higher and higher we must
+be drawing nearer to the true memory--must be seeing more nearly as He
+sees; so that great interest attaches to the experience of the
+clairvoyant with reference to these records when he stands upon the
+buddhic plane--the highest which his consciousness can reach even
+when away from the physical body until he attains the level of the
+Arhats.
+
+Here time and space no longer limit him; he no longer needs, as on the
+mental plane, to pass a series of events in review, for past, present
+and future are all alike simultaneously present to him, meaningless as
+that sounds down here. Indeed, infinitely below the consciousness of
+the Logos as even that exalted plane is, it is yet abundantly clear
+from what we see there that to Him the record must be far more than
+what we call a memory, for all that has happened in the past and all
+that will happen in the future is _happening now_ before His eyes just
+as are the events of what we call the present time. Utterly
+incredible, wildly incomprehensible, of course, to our limited
+understanding; yet absolutely true for all that.
+
+Naturally we could not expect to understand at our present stage of
+knowledge how so marvellous a result is produced, and to attempt an
+explanation would only be to involve ourselves in a mist of words from
+which we should gain no real information. Yet a line of thought recurs
+to my mind which perhaps suggests the direction in which it is
+possible that that explanation may lie: and whatever helps us to
+realize that so astounding a statement may after all not be wholly
+impossible will be of assistance in broadening our minds.
+
+Some thirty years ago I remember reading a very curious little book,
+called, I think, _The Stars and the Earth_, the object of which was to
+endeavour to show how it was scientifically possible that to the mind
+of God the past and the present might be absolutely simultaneous. Its
+arguments struck me at the time as decidedly ingenious, and I will
+proceed to summarize them, as I think they will be found somewhat
+suggestive in connection with the subject which we have been
+considering.
+
+When we see anything, whether it be the book which we hold in our
+hands or a star millions of miles away, we do so by means of a
+vibration in the ether, commonly called a ray of light, which passes
+from the object seen to our eyes. Now the speed with which this
+vibration passes is so great--about 186,000 miles in a second--that
+when we are considering any object in our own world we may regard it
+as practically instantaneous. When, however, we come to deal with
+interplanetary distances we have to take the speed of light into
+consideration, for an appreciable period is occupied in traversing
+these vast spaces. For example it takes eight minutes and a quarter
+for light to travel to us from the sun, so that when we look at the
+solar orb we see it by means of a ray of light which left it more than
+eight minutes ago.
+
+From this follows a very curious result. The ray of light by which we
+see the sun can obviously report to us only the state of affairs
+which existed in that luminary when it started on its journey, and
+would not be in the least affected by anything that happened there
+after it left; so that we really see the sun not as he _is_, but as he
+was eight minutes ago. That is to say that if anything important took
+place in the sun--the formation of a new sun-spot, for instance--an
+astronomer who was watching the orb through his telescope at the time
+would be quite unaware of the incident while it was happening, since
+the ray of light bearing the news would not reach him until more than
+eight minutes later.
+
+The difference is more striking when we consider the fixed stars,
+because in their case the distances are so enormously greater. The
+pole star, for example, is so far off that light, travelling at the
+inconceivable speed above mentioned, takes a little more than fifty
+years to reach our eyes; and from that follows the strange but
+inevitable inference that we see the pole star not as and where it is
+at this moment, but as and where it was fifty years ago. Nay, if
+to-morrow some cosmic catastrophe were to shatter the pole star into
+fragments, we should still see it peacefully shining in the sky all
+the rest of our lives; our children would grow up to middle age and
+gather their children about them in turn before the news of that
+tremendous accident reached any terrestrial eye. In the same way there
+are other stars so far distant that light takes thousands of years to
+travel from them to us, and with reference to their condition our
+information is therefore thousands of years behind time.
+
+Now carry the argument a step farther. Suppose that we were able to
+place a man at the distance of 186,000 miles from the earth, and yet
+to endow him with the wonderful faculty of being able from that
+distance to see what was happening here as clearly as though he were
+still close beside us. It is evident that a man so placed would see
+everything a second after the time when it really happened, and so at
+the present moment he would be seeing what happened a second ago.
+Double the distance, and he would be two seconds behind time, and so
+on; remove him to the distance of the sun (still allowing him to
+preserve the same mysterious power of sight) and he would look down
+and watch you doing not what you _are_ doing now, but what you _were_
+doing eight minutes and a quarter ago. Carry him away to the pole
+star, and he would see passing before his eyes the events of fifty
+years ago; he would be watching the childish gambols of those who at
+the very same moment were really middle-aged men. Marvellous as this
+may sound, it is literally and scientifically true, and cannot be
+denied.
+
+The little book went on to argue logically enough that God, being
+almighty, must possess the wonderful power of sight which we have
+been postulating for our observer; and further, that being
+omnipresent, He must be at each of the stations which we mentioned,
+and also at every intermediate point, not successively but
+simultaneously. Granting these premises, the inevitable deduction
+follows that everything which has ever happened from the very
+beginning of the world _must_ be at this very moment taking place
+before the eye of God--not a mere memory of it, but the actual
+occurrence itself being now under His observation.
+
+All this is materialistic enough, and on the plane of purely physical
+science, and we may therefore be assured that it is _not_ the way in
+which the memory of the Logos acts; yet it is neatly worked out and
+absolutely incontrovertible, and as I have said before, it is not
+without its use, since it gives us a glimpse of some possibilities
+which otherwise might not occur to us.
+
+But, it may be asked, how is it possible, amid the bewildering
+confusion of these records of the past, to find any particular picture
+when it is wanted? As a matter of fact, the untrained clairvoyant
+usually cannot do so without some special link to put him _en rapport_
+with the subject required. Psychometry is an instance in point, and it
+is quite probable that our ordinary memory is really only another
+presentment of the same idea. It seems as though there were a sort of
+magnetic attachment or affinity between any particle of matter and the
+record which contains its history--an affinity which enables it to act
+as a kind of conductor between that record and the faculties of anyone
+who can read it.
+
+For example, I once brought from Stonehenge a tiny fragment of stone,
+not larger than a pin's head, and on putting this into an envelope and
+handing it to a psychometer who had no idea what it was, she at once
+began to describe that wonderful ruin and the desolate country
+surrounding it, and then went on to picture vividly what were
+evidently scenes from its early history, showing that that
+infinitesimal fragment had been sufficient to put her into
+communication with the records connected with the spot from which it
+came. The scenes through which we pass in the course of our life seem
+to act in the same manner upon the cells of our brain as did the
+history of Stonehenge upon that particle of stone: they establish a
+connection with those cells by means of which our mind is put _en
+rapport_ with that particular portion of the records, and so we
+"remember" what we have seen.
+
+Even a trained clairvoyant needs some link to enable him to find the
+record of an event of which he has no previous knowledge. If, for
+example, he wished to observe the landing of Julius Cæsar on the
+shores of England, there are several ways in which he might approach
+the subject. If he happened to have visited the scene of the
+occurrence, the simplest way would probably be to call up the image of
+that spot, and then run back through its records until he reached the
+period desired. If he had not seen the place, he might run back in
+time to the date of the event, and then search the Channel for a fleet
+of Roman galleys; or he might examine the records of Roman life at
+about that period, where he would have no difficulty in identifying so
+prominent a figure as Cæsar, or in tracing him when found through all
+his Gallic wars until he set his foot upon British land.
+
+People often enquire as to the aspect of these records--whether they
+appear near or far away from the eye, whether the figures in them are
+large or small, whether the pictures follow one another as in a
+panorama or melt into one another like dissolving views, and so on.
+One can only reply that their appearance varies to a certain extent
+according to the conditions under which they are seen. Upon the astral
+plane the reflection is most often a simple picture, though
+occasionally the figures seen would be endowed with motion; in this
+latter case, instead of a mere snapshot a rather longer and more
+perfect reflection has taken place.
+
+On the mental plane they have two widely different aspects. When the
+visitor to that plane is not thinking specially of them in any way,
+the records simply form a background to whatever is going on, just as
+the reflections in a pier-glass at the end of a room might form a
+background to the life of the people in it. It must always be borne in
+mind that under these conditions they are really merely reflections
+from the ceaseless activity of a great Consciousness upon a far higher
+plane, and have very much the appearance of an endless succession of
+the recently invented _cinematographe_, or living photographs. They do
+not melt into one another like dissolving views, nor do a series of
+ordinary pictures follow one another; but the action of the reflected
+figures constantly goes on, as though one were watching the actors on
+a distant stage.
+
+But if the trained investigator turns his attention specially to any
+one scene, or wishes to call it up before him, an extraordinary change
+at once takes place, for this is the plane of thought, and to think of
+anything is to bring it instantaneously before you. For example, if a
+man wills to see the record of that event to which we before
+referred--the landing of Julius Cæsar--he finds himself in a moment
+not looking at any picture, but standing on the shore among the
+legionaries, with the whole scene being enacted around him, precisely
+in every respect as he would have seen it if he had stood there in the
+flesh on that autumn morning in the year 55 B.C. Since what he sees is
+but a reflection, the actors are of course entirely unconscious of
+him, nor can any effort of his change the course of their action in
+the smallest degree, except only that he can control the rate at which
+the drama shall pass before him--can have the events of a whole year
+rehearsed before his eyes in a single hour, or can at any moment stop
+the movement altogether, and hold any particular scene in view as a
+picture as long as he chooses.
+
+In truth he observes not only what he would have seen if he had been
+there at the time in the flesh, but much more. He hears and
+understands all that the people say, and he is conscious of all their
+thoughts and motives; and one of the most interesting of the many
+possibilities which open up before one who has learnt to read the
+records is the study of the thought of ages long past--the thought of
+the cave-men and the lake-dwellers as well as that which ruled the
+mighty civilisations of Atlantis, of Egypt or Chaldæa. What splendid
+possibilities open up before the man who is in full possession of this
+power may easily be imagined. He has before him a field of historical
+research of most entrancing interest. Not only can he review at his
+leisure all history with which we are acquainted, correcting as he
+examines it the many errors and misconceptions which have crept into
+the accounts handed down to us; he can also range at will over the
+whole story of the world from its very beginning, watching the slow
+development of intellect in man, the descent of the Lords of the
+Flame, and the growth of the mighty civilisations which they founded.
+
+Nor is his study confined to the progress of humanity alone; he has
+before him, as in a museum, all the strange animal and vegetable forms
+which occupied the stage in days when the world was young; he can
+follow all the wonderful geological changes which have taken place,
+and watch the course of the great cataclysms which have altered the
+whole face of the earth again and again.
+
+In one especial case an even closer sympathy with the past is possible
+to the reader of the records. If in the course of his enquiries he has
+to look upon some scene in which he himself has in a former birth
+taken part, he may deal with it in two ways; he can either regard it
+in the usual manner as a spectator (though always, be it remembered,
+as a spectator whose insight and sympathy are perfect) or he may once
+more identify himself with that long-dead personality of his--may
+throw himself back for the time into that life of long ago, and
+absolutely experience over again the thoughts and the emotions, the
+pleasures and the pains of a prehistoric past. No wilder and more
+vivid adventures can be conceived than some of those through which he
+thus may pass; yet through it all he must never lose hold of the
+consciousness of his own individuality--must retain the power to
+return at will to his present personality.
+
+It is often asked how it is possible for an investigator accurately to
+determine the date of any picture from the far-distant past which he
+disinters from the records. The fact is that it is sometimes rather
+tedious work to find an exact date, but the thing can usually be done
+if it is worth while to spend the time and trouble over it. If we are
+dealing with Greek or Roman times the simplest method is usually to
+look into the mind of the most intelligent person present in the
+picture, and see what date he supposes it to be; or the investigator
+might watch him writing a letter or other document and observe what
+date, if any, was included in what was written. When once the Roman or
+Greek date is thus obtained, to reduce it to our own system of
+chronology is merely a matter of calculation.
+
+Another way which is frequently adopted is to turn from the scene
+under examination to a contemporary picture in some great and
+well-known city such as Rome, and note what monarch is reigning there,
+or who are the consuls for the year; and when such data are discovered
+a glance at any good history will give the rest. Sometimes a date can
+be obtained by examining some public proclamation or some legal
+document; in fact in the times of which we are speaking the difficulty
+is easily surmounted.
+
+The matter is by no means so simple, however, when we come to deal
+with periods much earlier than this--with a scene from early Egypt,
+Chaldæa, or China, or to go further back still, from Atlantis itself
+or any of its numerous colonies. A date can still be obtained easily
+enough from the mind of any educated man, but there is no longer any
+means of relating it to our own system of dates, since the man will be
+reckoning by eras of which we know nothing, or by the reigns of kings
+whose history is lost in the night of time.
+
+Our methods, nevertheless, are not yet exhausted. It must be
+remembered that it is possible for the investigator to pass the
+records before him at any speed that he may desire--at the rate of a
+year in a second if he will, or even very much faster still. Now there
+are one or two events in ancient history whose dates have already been
+accurately fixed--as, for example, the sinking of Poseidonis in the
+year 9564 B.C. It is therefore obvious that if from the general
+appearance of the surroundings it seems probable that a picture seen
+is within measurable distance of one of these events, it can be
+related to that event by the simple process of running through the
+record rapidly, and counting the years between the two as they pass.
+
+Still, if those years ran into thousands, as they might sometimes do,
+this plan would be insufferably tedious. In that case we are driven
+back upon the astronomical method. In consequence of the movement
+which is commonly called the precession of the equinoxes, though it
+might more accurately be described as a kind of second rotation of
+the earth, the angle between the equator and the ecliptic steadily but
+very slowly varies. Thus, after long intervals of time we find the
+pole of the earth no longer pointing towards the same spot in the
+apparent sphere of the heavens, or in other words, our pole-star is
+not, as at present, [Greek: a] Ursæ Minoris, but some other celestial
+body; and from this position of the pole of the earth, which can
+easily be ascertained by careful observation of the night-sky of the
+picture under consideration, an approximate date can be calculated
+without difficulty.
+
+In estimating the date of occurrences which took place millions of
+years ago in earlier races, the period of a secondary rotation (or the
+precession of the equinoxes) is frequently used as a unit, but of
+course absolute accuracy is not usually required in such cases, round
+numbers being sufficient for all practical purposes in dealing with
+epochs so remote.
+
+The accurate reading of the records, whether of one's own past lives
+or those of others, must not, however, be thought of as an achievement
+possible to anyone without careful previous training. As has been
+already remarked, though occasional reflections may be had upon the
+astral plane, the power to use the mental sense is necessary before
+any reliable reading can be done. Indeed, to minimize the possibility
+of error, that sense ought to be fully at the command of the
+investigator while awake in the physical body; and to acquire that
+faculty needs years of ceaseless labour and rigid self-discipline.
+
+Many people seem to expect that as soon as they have signed their
+application and joined the Theosophical Society they will at once
+remember at least three or four of their past births; indeed, some of
+them promptly begin to imagine recollections and declare that in their
+last incarnation they were Mary Queen of Scots, Cleopatra, or Julius
+Cæsar! Of course such extravagant claims simply bring discredit upon
+those who are so foolish as to make them but unfortunately some of
+that discredit is liable to be reflected, however unjustly, upon the
+Society to which they belong, so that a man who feels seething within
+him the conviction that he was Homer or Shakespeare would do well to
+pause and apply common-sense tests on the physical plane before
+publishing the news to the world.
+
+It is quite true that some people have had glimpses of scenes from
+their past lives in dreams, but naturally these are usually
+fragmentary and unreliable. I had myself in earlier life an experience
+of this nature. Among my dreams I found that one was constantly
+recurring--a dream of a house with a portico over-looking a beautiful
+bay, not far from a hill on the top of which rose a graceful building.
+I knew that house perfectly, and was as familiar with the position of
+its rooms and the view from its door as I was with those of my home,
+in this present life. In those days I knew nothing about
+reincarnation, so that it seemed to me simply a curious coincidence
+that this dream should repeat itself so often; and it was not until
+some time after I had joined the Society that, when one who knew was
+showing me some pictures of my last incarnation, I discovered that
+this persistent dream had been in reality a partial recollection, and
+that the house which I knew so well was the one in which I was born
+more than two thousand years ago.
+
+But although there are several cases on record in which some
+well-remembered scene has thus come through from one life to another,
+a considerable development of occult faculty is necessary before an
+investigator can definitely trace a line of incarnations, whether they
+be his own or another man's. This will be obvious if we remember the
+conditions of the problem which has to be worked out. To follow a
+person from this life to the one preceding it, it is necessary first
+of all to trace his present life backwards to his birth and then to
+follow up in reverse order the stages by which the Ego descended into
+incarnation.
+
+This will obviously take us back eventually to the condition of the
+Ego upon the higher levels of the mental plane; so it will be seen
+that to perform this task effectually the investigator must be able to
+use the sense corresponding to that exalted level while awake in his
+physical body--in other words, his consciousness must be centred in
+the reincarnating Ego itself, and no longer in the lower personality.
+In that case, the memory of the Ego being aroused, his own past
+incarnations will be spread out before him like an open book, and he
+would be able, if he wished, to examine the conditions of another Ego
+upon that level and trace him backwards through the lower mental and
+astral lives which led up to it, until he came to the last physical
+death of that Ego, and through it to his previous life.
+
+There is no way but this in which the chain of lives can be followed
+through with absolute certainty: and consequently we may at once put
+aside as conscious or unconscious impostors those people who advertise
+that they are able to trace out anyone's past incarnations for so many
+shillings a head. Needless to say, the true occultist does not
+advertise, and never under any circumstances accepts money for any
+exhibition of his powers.
+
+Assuredly the student who wishes to acquire the power of following up
+a line of incarnations can do so only by learning from a qualified
+teacher how the work is to be done. There have been those who
+persistently asserted that it was only necessary for a man to feel
+good and devotional and "brotherly," and all the wisdom of the ages
+would immediately flow in upon him; but a little common-sense will at
+once expose the absurdity of such a position. However good a child
+may be, if he wants to know the multiplication table he must set to
+work and learn it; and the case is precisely similar with the capacity
+to use spiritual faculties. The faculties themselves will no doubt
+manifest as the man evolves, but he can learn how to use them reliably
+and to the best advantage only by steady hard work and persevering
+effort.
+
+Take the case of those who wish to help others while on the astral
+plane during sleep; it is obvious that the more knowledge they possess
+here, the more valuable will their services be on that higher plane.
+For example, the knowledge of languages would be useful to them, for
+though on the mental plane men can communicate directly by
+thought-transference, whatever their languages may be, on the astral
+plane this is not so, and a thought must be definitely formulated in
+words before it is comprehensible. If, therefore, you wish to help a
+man on that plane, you must have some language in common by means of
+which you can communicate with him, and consequently the more
+languages you know the more widely useful you will be. In fact there
+is perhaps no kind of knowledge for which a use cannot be found in the
+work of the occultist.
+
+It would be well for all students to bear in mind that occultism is
+the apotheosis of common-sense, and that every vision which comes to
+them is not necessarily a picture from the âkâshic records, nor every
+experience a revelation from on high. It is better far to err on the
+side of healthy scepticism than of over-credulity; and it is an
+admirable rule never to hunt about for an occult explanation of
+anything when a plain and obvious physical one is available. Our duty
+is to endeavour to keep our balance always, and never to lose our
+self-control, but to take a reasonable, common-sense view of whatever
+may happen to us; so shall we be better Theosophists, wiser
+occultists, and more useful helpers than we have ever been before.
+
+As usual, we find examples of all degrees of the power to see into
+this memory of nature, from the trained man who can consult the record
+for himself at will, down to the person who gets nothing but
+occasional vague glimpses, or has even perhaps had only one such
+glimpse. But even the man who possesses this faculty only partially
+and occasionally still finds it of the deepest interest. The
+psychometer, who needs an object physically connected with the past in
+order to bring it all into life again around him, and the
+crystal-gazer who can sometimes direct his less certain astral
+telescope to some historic scene of long ago, may both derive the
+greatest enjoyment from the exercise of their respective gifts, even
+though they may not always understand exactly how their results are
+produced, and may not have them fully under control under all
+circumstances.
+
+In many cases of the lower manifestations of these powers we find that
+they are exercised unconsciously; many a crystal-gazer watches scenes
+from the past without being able to distinguish them from visions of
+the present, and many a vaguely-psychic person finds pictures
+constantly arising before his eyes without ever realizing that he is
+in effect psychometrizing the various objects around him as he happens
+to touch them or stand near them.
+
+An interesting variant of this class of psychics is the man who is
+able to psychometrize persons only, and not inanimate objects as is
+more usual. In most cases this faculty shows itself erratically, so
+that such a psychic will, when introduced to a stranger, often see in
+a flash some prominent event in that stranger's earlier life, but on
+other similar occasions will receive no special impression. More
+rarely we meet with someone who gets detailed visions of the past life
+of everyone whom he encounters. Perhaps one of the best examples of
+this class was the German writer Zschokke, who describes in his
+autobiography this extraordinary power of which he found himself
+possessed. He says:--
+
+"It has happened to me occasionally at the first meeting with a total
+stranger, when I have been listening in silence to his conversation,
+that his past life up to the present moment, with many minute
+circumstances belonging to one or other particular scene in it, has
+come across me like a dream, but distinctly, entirely involuntarily
+and unsought, occupying in duration a few minutes.
+
+"For a long time I was disposed to consider these fleeting visions as
+a trick of the fancy--the more so as my dream-vision displayed to me
+the dress and movements of the actors, the appearance of the room, the
+furniture, and other accidents of the scene; till on one occasion, in
+a gamesome mood, I narrated to my family the secret history of a
+sempstress who had just before quitted the room. I had never seen the
+person before. Nevertheless the hearers were astonished, and laughed
+and would not be persuaded but that I had a previous acquaintance with
+the former life of the person, inasmuch as what I had stated was
+perfectly true.
+
+"I was not less astonished to find that my dream-vision agreed with
+reality. I then gave more attention to the subject, and as often as
+propriety allowed of it, I related to those whose lives had so passed
+before me the substance of my dream-vision, to obtain from them its
+contradiction or confirmation. On every occasion its confirmation
+followed, not without amazement on the part of those who gave it.
+
+"On a certain fair-day I went into the town of Waldshut accompanied by
+two young foresters, who are still alive. It was evening, and, tired
+with our walk, we went into an inn called the 'Vine.' We took our
+supper with a numerous company at the public table, when it happened
+that they made themselves merry over the peculiarities and simplicity
+of the Swiss in connection with the belief in mesmerism, Lavater's
+physiognomical system and the like. One of my companions, whose
+national pride was touched by their raillery, begged me to make some
+reply, particularly in answer to a young man of superior appearance
+who sat opposite, and had indulged in unrestrained ridicule.
+
+"It happened that the events of this person's life had just previously
+passed before my mind. I turned to him with the question whether he
+would reply to me with truth and candour if I narrated to him the most
+secret passages of his history, he being as little known to me as I to
+him? That would, I suggested, go something beyond Lavater's
+physiognomical skill. He promised if I told the truth to admit it
+openly. Then I narrated the events with which my dream-vision had
+furnished me, and the table learnt the history of the young
+tradesman's life, of his school years, his peccadilloes, and, finally,
+of a little act of roguery committed by him on the strong-box of his
+employer. I described the uninhabited room with its white walls, where
+to the right of the brown door there had stood upon the table the
+small black money-chest, etc. The man, much struck, admitted the
+correctness of each circumstance--even, which I could not expect, of
+the last."
+
+And after narrating this incident, the worthy Zschokke calmly goes on
+to wonder whether perhaps after all this remarkable power, which he
+had so often displayed, might not really have been always the result
+of mere chance coincidence!
+
+Comparatively few accounts of persons possessing this faculty of
+looking back into the past are to be found in the literature of the
+subject, and it might therefore be supposed to be much less common
+than prevision. I suspect, however, that the truth is rather that it
+is much less commonly recognized. As I said before, it may very easily
+happen that a person may see a picture of the past without recognizing
+it as such, unless there happens to be in it something which attracts
+special attention, such as a figure in armour or in antique costume. A
+prevision also might not always be recognized as such at the time; but
+the occurrence of the event foreseen recalls it vividly at the same
+time that it manifests its nature, so that it is unlikely to be
+overlooked. It is probable, therefore, that occasional glimpses of
+these astral reflections of the âkâshic records are commoner than the
+published accounts would lead us to believe.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII.
+
+CLAIRVOYANCE IN TIME: THE FUTURE.
+
+
+Even if, in a dim sort of way, we feel ourselves able to grasp the
+idea that the whole of the past may be simultaneously and actively
+present in a sufficiently exalted consciousness, we are confronted by
+a far greater difficulty when we endeavour to realize how all the
+future may also be comprehended in that consciousness. If we could
+believe in the Mohammedan doctrine of kismet, or the Calvinistic
+theory of predestination, the conception would be easy enough, but
+knowing as we do that both these are grotesque distortions of the
+truth, we must look round for a more acceptable hypothesis.
+
+There may still be some people who deny the possibility of prevision,
+but such denial simply shows their ignorance of the evidence on the
+subject. The large number of authenticated cases leaves no room for
+doubt as to the fact, but many of them are of such a nature as to
+render a reasonable explanation by no means easy to find. It is
+evident that the Ego possesses a certain amount of previsional
+faculty, and if the events foreseen were always of great importance,
+one might suppose that an extraordinary stimulus had enabled him for
+that occasion only to make a clear impression of what he saw upon his
+lower personality. No doubt that is the explanation of many of the
+cases in which death or grave disaster is foreseen, but there are a
+large number of instances on record to which it does not seem to
+apply, since the events foretold are frequently exceedingly trivial
+and unimportant.
+
+A well-known story of second-sight in Scotland will illustrate what I
+mean. A man who had no belief in the occult was forewarned by a
+Highland seer of the approaching death of a neighbour. The prophecy
+was given with considerable wealth of detail, including a full
+description of the funeral, with the names of the four pall-bearers
+and others who would be present. The auditor seems to have laughed at
+the whole story and promptly forgotten it, but the death of his
+neighbour at the time foretold recalled the warning to his mind, and
+he determined to falsify part of the prediction at any rate by being
+one of the pall-bearers himself. He succeeded in getting matters
+arranged as he wished, but just as the funeral was about to start he
+was called away from his post by some small matter which detained him
+only a minute or two. As he came hurrying back he saw with surprise
+that the procession had started without him, and that the prediction
+had been exactly fulfilled, for the four pall-bearers were those who
+had been indicated in the vision.
+
+Now here is a very trifling matter, which could have been of no
+possible importance to anybody, definitely foreseen months beforehand;
+and although a man makes a determined effort to alter the arrangement
+indicated he fails entirely to affect it in the least. Certainly this
+looks very much like predestination, even down to the smallest detail,
+and it is only when we examine this question from higher planes that
+we are able to see our way to escape that theory. Of course, as I said
+before about another branch of the subject, a full explanation eludes
+us as yet, and obviously must do so until our knowledge is infinitely
+greater than it is now; the most that we can hope to do for the
+present is to indicate the line along which an explanation may be
+found.
+
+There is no doubt whatever that, just as what is happening now is the
+result of causes set in motion in the past, so what will happen in the
+future will be the result of causes already in operation. Even down
+here we can calculate that if certain actions are performed certain
+results will follow, but our reckoning is constantly liable to be
+disturbed by the interference of factors which we have not been able
+to take into account. But if we raise our consciousness to the mental
+plane we can see very much farther into the results of our actions.
+
+We can trace, for example, the effect of a casual word, not only upon
+the person to whom it was addressed, but through him on many others as
+it is passed on in widening circles, until it seems to have affected
+the whole country; and one glimpse of such a vision is far more
+efficient than any number of moral precepts in impressing upon us the
+necessity of extreme circumspection in thought, word, and deed. Not
+only can we from that plane see thus fully the result of every action,
+but we can also see where and in what way the results of other actions
+apparently quite unconnected with it will interfere with and modify
+it. In fact, it may be said that the results of all causes at present
+in action are clearly visible--that the future, as it would be if no
+entirely new causes should arise, lies open before our gaze.
+
+New causes of course do arise, because man's will is free; but in the
+case of all ordinary people the use which they will make of their
+freedom can be calculated beforehand with considerable accuracy. The
+average man has so little real will that he is very much the creature
+of circumstances; his action in previous lives places him amid certain
+surroundings, and their influence upon him is so very much the most
+important factor in his life-story that his future course may be
+predicted with almost mathematical certainty. With the developed man
+the case is different; for him also the main events of life are
+arranged by his past actions, but the way in which he will allow them
+to affect him, the methods by which he will deal with them and perhaps
+triumph over them--these are all his own, and they cannot be foreseen
+even on the mental plane except as probabilities.
+
+Looking down on man's life in this way from above, it seems as though
+his free will could be exercised only at certain crises in his career.
+He arrives at a point in his life where there are obviously two or
+three alternative courses open before him; he is absolutely free to
+choose which of them he pleases, and although some one who knew his
+nature thoroughly well might feel almost certain what his choice would
+be, such knowledge on his friend's part is in no sense a compelling
+force.
+
+But when he _has_ chosen, he has to go through with it and take the
+consequences; having entered upon a particular path he may, in many
+cases, be forced to go on for a very long way before he has any
+opportunity to turn aside. His position is somewhat like that of the
+driver of a train; when he comes to a junction he may have the points
+set either this way or that, and so can pass on to whichever line he
+pleases, but when he _has_ passed on to one of them he is compelled to
+run on along the line which he has selected until he reaches another
+set of points, where again an opportunity of choice is offered to him.
+
+Now, in looking down from the mental plane, these points of new
+departure would be clearly visible, and all the results of each choice
+would lie open before us, certain to be worked out even to the
+smallest detail. The only point which would remain uncertain would be
+the all-important one as to which choice the man would make. We
+should, in fact, have not one but several futures mapped out before
+our eyes, without necessarily being able to determine which of them
+would materialize itself into accomplished fact. In most instances we
+should see so strong a probability that we should not hesitate to come
+to a decision, but the case which I have described is certainly
+theoretically possible. Still, even this much knowledge would enable
+us to do with safety a good deal of prediction; and it is not
+difficult for us to imagine that a far higher power than ours might
+always be able to foresee which way every choice would go, and
+consequently to prophesy with absolute certainty.
+
+On the buddhic plane, however, no such elaborate process of conscious
+calculation is necessary, for, as I said before, in some manner which
+down here is totally inexplicable, the past, the present, and the
+future, are there all existing simultaneously. One can only accept
+this fact, for its cause lies in the faculty of the plane, and the
+way in which this higher faculty works is naturally quite
+incomprehensible to the physical brain. Yet now and then one may meet
+with a hint that seems to bring us a trifle nearer to a dim
+possibility of comprehension. One such hint was given by Dr. Oliver
+Lodge in his address to the British Association at Cardiff. He said:
+
+"A luminous and helpful idea is that time is but a relative mode of
+regarding things; we progress through phenomena at a certain definite
+pace, and this subjective advance we interpret in an objective manner,
+as if events moved necessarily in this order and at this precise rate.
+But that may be only one mode of regarding them. The events may be in
+some sense in existence always, both past and future, and it may be we
+who are arriving at them, not they which are happening. The analogy of a
+traveller in a railway train is useful; if he could never leave the
+train nor alter its pace he would probably consider the landscapes as
+necessarily successive and be unable to conceive their co-existence....
+We perceive, therefore, a possible fourth dimensional aspect about time,
+the inexorableness of whose flow may be a natural part or our present
+limitations. And if we once grasp the idea that past and future may be
+actually existing, we can recognize that they may have a controlling
+influence on all present action, and the two together may constitute the
+'higher plane' or totality of things after which, as it seems to me, we
+are impelled to seek, in connection with the directing of form or
+determinism, and the action of living beings consciously directed to a
+definite and preconceived end."
+
+Time is not in reality the fourth dimension at all; yet to look at it
+for the moment from that point of view is some slight help towards
+grasping the ungraspable. Suppose that we hold a wooden cone at right
+angles to a sheet of paper, and slowly push it through it point first.
+A microbe living on the surface of that sheet of paper, and having no
+power of conceiving anything outside of that surface, could not only
+never see the cone as a whole, but he could form no sort of conception
+of such a body at all. All that he would see would be the sudden
+appearance of a tiny circle, which would gradually and mysteriously
+grow larger and larger until it vanished from his world as suddenly
+and incomprehensibly as it had come into it.
+
+Thus, what were in reality a series of sections of the cone would
+appear to him to be successive stages in the life of a circle, and it
+would be impossible for him to grasp the idea that these successive
+stages could be seen simultaneously. Yet it is, of course, easy enough
+for us, looking down upon the transaction from another dimension, to
+see that the microbe is simply under a delusion arising from its own
+limitations, and that the cone exists as a whole all the while. Our
+own delusion as to past, present, and future is possibly not
+dissimilar, and the view that is gained of any sequence of events from
+the buddhic plane corresponds to the view of the cone as a whole.
+Naturally, any attempt to work out this suggestion lands us in a
+series of startling paradoxes; but the fact remains a fact,
+nevertheless, and the time will come when it will be clear as noonday
+to our comprehension.
+
+When the pupil's consciousness is fully developed upon the buddhic
+plane, therefore, perfect prevision is possible to him, though he may
+not--nay, he certainly will not--be able to bring the whole result of
+his sight through fully and in order into this light. Still, a great
+deal of clear foresight is obviously within his power whenever he
+likes to exercise it; and even when he is not exercising it, frequent
+flashes of fore-knowledge come through into his ordinary life, so that
+he often has an instantaneous intuition as to how things will turn out
+even before their inception.
+
+Short of this perfect prevision we find, as in the previous cases,
+that all degrees of this type of clairvoyance exist, from the
+occasional vague premonitions which cannot in any true sense be called
+sight at all, up to frequent and fairly complete second-sight. The
+faculty to which this latter somewhat misleading name has been given
+is an extremely interesting one, and would well repay more careful
+and systematic study than has ever hitherto been given to it.
+
+It is best known to us as a not infrequent possession of the Scottish
+Highlanders, though it is by no means confined to them. Occasional
+instances of it have appeared in almost every nation, but it has
+always been commonest among mountaineers and men of lonely life. With
+us in England it is often spoken of as though it were the exclusive
+appanage of the Celtic race, but in reality it has appeared among
+similarly situated peoples the world over. It is stated, for example,
+to be very common among the Westphalian peasantry.
+
+Sometimes the second-sight consists of a picture clearly foreshowing
+some coming event; more frequently, perhaps, the glimpse of the future
+is given by some symbolical appearance. It is noteworthy that the
+events foreseen are invariably unpleasant ones--death being the
+commonest of all; I do not recollect a single instance in which the
+second-sight has shown anything which was not of the most gloomy
+nature. It has a ghastly symbolism which is all its own--a symbolism
+of shrouds and corpse-candles, and other funereal horrors. In some
+cases it appears to be to a certain extent dependent on locality, for
+it is stated that inhabitants of the Isle of Skye who possess the
+faculty often lose it when they leave the island, even though it be
+only to cross to the mainland. The gift of such sight is sometimes
+hereditary in a family for generations, but this is not an invariable
+rule, for it often appears sporadically in one member of a family
+otherwise free from its lugubrious influence.
+
+An example in which an accurate vision of a coming event was seen some
+months beforehand by second-sight has already been given. Here is
+another and perhaps a more striking one, which I give exactly as it
+was related to me by one of the actors in the scene.
+
+"We plunged into the jungle, and had walked on for about an hour
+without much success, when Cameron, who happened to be next to me,
+stopped suddenly, turned pale as death, and, pointing straight before
+him, cried in accents of horror:
+
+"'See! see! merciful heaven, look there!'
+
+"'Where? what? what is it?' we all shouted confusedly, as we rushed up
+to him and looked round in expectation of encountering a tiger--a
+cobra--we hardly knew what, but assuredly something terrible, since it
+had been sufficient to cause such evident emotion in our usually
+self-contained comrade. But neither tiger nor cobra was
+visible--nothing but Cameron pointing with ghastly, haggard face and
+starting eyeballs at something we could not see.
+
+"'Cameron! Cameron' cried I, seizing his arm, "'for heaven's sake,
+speak! What is the matter?'
+
+"Scarcely were the words out of my mouth when a low, but very peculiar
+sound struck on my ear, and Cameron, dropping his pointing hand, said
+in a hoarse, strained voice, 'There! you heard it? Thank God it's
+over' and fell to the ground insensible.
+
+"There was a momentary confusion while we unfastened his collar, and I
+dashed in his face some water which I fortunately had in my flask,
+while another tried to pour brandy between his clenched teeth; and
+under cover of it I whispered to the man next to me (one of our
+greatest sceptics, by the way), 'Beauchamp, did _you_ hear anything?'
+
+"'Why, yes,' he replied, a curious sound, very; a sort of crash or
+rattle far away in the distance, yet very distinct; if the thing were
+not utterly impossible, I could have sworn it was the rattle of
+musketry.'
+
+"'Just my impression,' murmured I; 'but hush! he is recovering.'
+
+"In a minute or two he was able to speak feebly, and began to thank us
+and apologize for giving trouble; and soon he sat up, leaning against
+a tree, and in a firm, though still low voice said:
+
+"'My dear friends, I feel I owe you an explanation of my extraordinary
+behaviour. It is an explanation that I would fain avoid giving; but it
+must come some time, and so may as well be given now. You may perhaps
+have noticed that when during our voyage you all joined in scoffing at
+dreams, portents and visions, I invariably avoided giving any opinion
+on the subject. I did so because, while I had no desire to court
+ridicule or provoke discussion, I was unable to agree with you,
+knowing only too well from my own dread experience that the world
+which men agree to call that of the supernatural is just as real
+as--nay, perhaps, even far more real than--this world we see about us.
+In other words, I, like many of my countrymen, am cursed with the gift
+of second-sight--that awful faculty which foretells in vision
+calamities that are shortly to occur.
+
+"'Such a vision I had just now, and its exceptional horror moved me as
+you have seen. I saw before me a corpse--not that of one who has died
+a peaceful natural death, but that of the victim of some terrible
+accident; a ghastly, shapeless mass, with a face swollen, crushed,
+unrecognizable. I saw this dreadful object placed in a coffin, and the
+funeral service performed over it. I saw the burial-ground, I saw the
+clergyman: and though I had never seen either before, I can picture
+both perfectly in my mind's eye now; I saw you, myself, Beauchamp, all
+of us and many more, standing round as mourners; I saw the soldiers
+raise their muskets after the service was over; I heard the volley
+they fired--and then I knew no more.'
+
+"As he spoke of that volley of musketry I glanced across with a
+shudder at Beauchamp, and the look of stony horror on that handsome
+sceptic's face was not to be forgotten."
+
+This is only one incident (and by no means the principal one) in a
+very remarkable story of psychic experience, but as for the moment we
+are concerned merely with the example of second-sight which it gives
+us, I need only say that later in the day the party of young soldiers
+discovered the body of their commanding officer in the terrible
+condition so graphically described by Mr. Cameron. The narrative
+continues:
+
+"When, on the following evening, we arrived at our destination, and
+our melancholy deposition had been taken down by the proper
+authorities, Cameron and I went out for a quiet walk, to endeavour
+with the assistance of the soothing influence of nature to shake off
+something of the gloom which paralyzed our spirits. Suddenly he
+clutched my arm, and, pointing through some rude railings, said in a
+trembling voice, 'Yes, there it is! that is the burial-ground I saw
+yesterday.' And when later on we were introduced to the chaplain of
+the post, I noticed, though my friends did not, the irrepressible
+shudder with which Cameron took his hand, and I knew that he had
+recognized the clergyman of his vision."
+
+As for the occult rationale of all this, I presume Mr. Cameron's
+vision was a pure case of second-sight, and if so the fact that the
+two men who were evidently nearest to him (certainly one--probably
+both--actually touching him) participated in it to the limited extent
+of hearing the concluding volley, while the others who were not so
+close did not, would show that the intensity with which the vision
+impressed itself upon the seer occasioned vibrations in his mind-body
+which were communicated to those of the persons in contact with him,
+as in ordinary thought-transference. Anyone who wishes to read the
+rest of the story will find it in the pages of _Lucifer_, vol. xx., p.
+457.
+
+Scores of examples of similar nature to these might easily be
+collected. With regard to the symbolical variety of this sight, it is
+commonly stated among those who possess it that if on meeting a living
+person they see a phantom shroud wrapped around him, it is a sure
+prognostication of his death. The date of the approaching decease is
+indicated either by the extent to which the shroud covers the body, or
+by the time of day at which the vision is seen; for if it be in the
+early morning they say that the man will die during the same day, but
+if it be in the evening, then it will be only some time within a year.
+
+Another variant (and a remarkable one) of the symbolic form of
+second-sight is that in which the headless apparition of the person
+whose death is foretold manifests itself to the seer. An example of
+that class is given in _Signs before Death_ as having happened in the
+family of Dr. Ferrier, though in that case, if I recollect rightly,
+the vision did not occur until the time of the death, or very near it.
+
+Turning from seers who are regularly in possession of a certain
+faculty, although its manifestations are only occasionally fully under
+their control, we are confronted by a large number of isolated
+instances of prevision in the case of people with whom it is not in
+any way a regular faculty. Perhaps the majority of these occur in
+dreams, although examples of the waking vision are by no means
+wanting. Sometimes the prevision refers to an event of distinct
+importance to the seer, and so justifies the action of the Ego in
+taking the trouble to impress it. In other cases, the event is one
+which is of no apparent importance, or is not in any way connected
+with the man to whom the vision comes. Sometimes it is clear that the
+intention of the Ego (or the communicating entity, whatever it may be)
+is to warn the lower self of the approach of some calamity, either in
+order that it may be prevented or, if that be not possible, that the
+shock may be minimized by preparation.
+
+The event most frequently thus foreshadowed is, perhaps not
+unnaturally, death--sometimes the death of the seer himself, sometimes
+that of one dear to him. This type of prevision is so common in the
+literature of the subject, and its object is so obvious, that we need
+hardly cite examples of it; but one or two instances in which the
+prophetic sight, though clearly useful, was yet of a less sombre
+character, will prove not uninteresting to the reader. The following
+is culled from that storehouse of the student of the uncanny, Mrs.
+Crowe's _Night Side of Nature_, p. 72.
+
+"A few years ago Dr. Watson, now residing at Glasgow, dreamt that he
+received a summons to attend a patient at a place some miles from
+where he was living; that he started on horseback, and that as he was
+crossing a moor he saw a bull making furiously at him, whose horns he
+only escaped by taking refuge on a spot inaccessible to the animal,
+where he waited a long time till some people, observing his situation,
+came to his assistance and released him.
+
+"Whilst at breakfast on the following morning the summons came, and
+smiling at the odd coincidence (as he thought it), he started on
+horseback. He was quite ignorant of the road he had to go, but by and
+by he arrived at the moor, which he recognised, and presently the bull
+appeared, coming full tilt towards him. But his dream had shown him
+the place of refuge, for which he instantly made, and there he spent
+three or four hours, besieged by the animal, till the country people
+set him free. Dr. Watson declares that but for the dream he should not
+have known in what direction to run for safety."
+
+Another case, in which a much longer interval separated the warning
+and its fulfilment, is given by Dr. F. G. Lee, in _Glimpses of the
+Supernatural_, vol. i., p. 240.
+
+"Mrs. Hannah Green, the housekeeper of a country family in
+Oxfordshire, dreamt one night that she had been left alone in the
+house upon a Sunday evening, and that hearing a knock at the door of
+the chief entrance she went to it and there found an ill-looking tramp
+armed with a bludgeon, who insisted on forcing himself into the house.
+She thought that she struggled for some time to prevent him so doing,
+but quite ineffectually, and that, being struck down by him and
+rendered insensible, he thereupon gained ingress to the mansion. On
+this she awoke.
+
+"As nothing happened for a considerable period the circumstance of the
+dream was soon forgotten, and, as she herself asserts, had altogether
+passed away from her mind. However, seven years afterwards this same
+housekeeper was left with two other servants to take charge of an
+isolated mansion at Kensington (subsequently the town residence of the
+family), when on a certain Sunday evening, her fellow-servants having
+gone out and left her alone, she was suddenly startled by a loud knock
+at the front door.
+
+"All of a sudden the remembrance of her former dream returned to her
+with singular vividness and remarkable force, and she felt her lonely
+isolation greatly. Accordingly, having at once lighted a lamp on the
+hall table--during which act the loud knock was repeated with
+vigour--she took the precaution to go up to a landing on the stair and
+throw up the window; and there to her intense terror she saw in the
+flesh the very man whom years previously she had seen in her dream,
+armed with the bludgeon and demanding an entrance.
+
+"With great presence of mind she went down to the chief entrance, made
+that and other doors and windows more secure, and then rang the
+various bells of the house violently, and placed lights in the upper
+rooms. It was concluded that by these acts the intruder was scared
+away."
+
+Evidently in this case also the dream was of practical use, as without
+it the worthy housekeeper would without doubt from sheer force of
+habit have opened the door in the ordinary way in answer to the knock.
+
+It is not, however, only in dream that the Ego impresses his lower
+self with what he thinks it well for it to know. Many instances
+showing this might be taken from the books, but instead of quoting
+from them I will give a case related only a few weeks ago by a lady of
+my acquaintance--a case which, although not surrounded with any
+romantic incident, has at least the merit of being new.
+
+My friend, then, has two quite young children, and a little while ago
+the elder of them caught (as was supposed) a bad cold, and suffered
+for some days from a complete stoppage in the upper part of the nose.
+The mother thought little of this, expecting it to pass off, until one
+day she suddenly saw before her in the air what she describes as a
+picture of a room, in the centre of which was a table on which her
+child was lying insensible or dead, with some people bending over her.
+The minutest details of the scene were clear to her, and she
+particularly noticed that the child wore a white night-dress, whereas
+she knew that all garments of that description possessed by her little
+daughter happened to be pink.
+
+This vision impressed her considerably, and suggested to her for the
+first time that the child might be suffering from something more
+serious than a cold, so she carried her off to a hospital for
+examination. The surgeon who attended to her discovered the presence
+of a dangerous growth in the nose, which he pronounced must be
+removed. A few days later the child was taken to the hospital for the
+operation, and was put to bed. When the mother arrived at the hospital
+she found she had forgotten to bring one of the child's night-dresses,
+and so the nurses had to supply one, which was _white_. In this white
+dress the operation was performed on the girl the next day, in the
+room that her mother saw in her vision, every circumstance being
+exactly reproduced.
+
+In all these cases the prevision achieved its result, but the books
+are full of stories of warnings neglected or scouted, and of the
+disaster that consequently followed. In some cases the information is
+given to someone who has practically no power to interfere in the
+matter, as in the historic instance when John Williams, a Cornish
+mine-manager, foresaw in the minutest detail, eight or nine days
+before it took place, the assassination of Mr. Spencer Perceval, the
+then Chancellor of the Exchequer, in the lobby of the House of
+Commons. Even in this case, however, it is just possible that
+something might have been done, for we read that Mr. Williams was so
+much impressed that he consulted his friends as to whether he ought
+not to go up to London to warn Mr. Perceval. Unfortunately they
+dissuaded him, and the assassination took place. It does not seem very
+probable that, even if he had gone up to town and related his story,
+much attention would have been paid to him, still there is just the
+possibility that some precautions might have been taken which would
+have prevented the murder.
+
+There is little to show us what particular action on higher planes led
+to this curious prophetic vision. The parties were entirely unknown to
+one another, so that it was not caused by any close sympathy between
+them. If it was an attempt made by some helper to avert the threatened
+doom, it seems strange that no one who was sufficiently impressible
+could be found nearer than Cornwall. Perhaps Mr. Williams, when on the
+astral plane during sleep, somehow came across this reflection of the
+future, and being naturally horrified thereby, passed it on to his
+lower mind in the hope that somehow something might be done to
+prevent it; but it is impossible to diagnose the case with certainty
+without examining the âkâshic records to see what actually took place.
+
+A typical instance of the absolutely purposeless foresight is that
+related by Mr. Stead, in his _Real Ghost Stories_ (p. 83), of his
+friend Miss Freer, commonly known as Miss X. When staying at a country
+house this lady, being wide awake and fully conscious, once saw a
+dogcart drawn by a white horse standing at the hall door, with two
+strangers in it, one of whom got out of the cart and stood playing
+with a terrier. She noticed that he was wearing an ulster, and also
+particularly observed the fresh wheel-marks made by the cart on the
+gravel. Nevertheless there was no cart there at the time; but half an
+hour later two strangers _did_ drive up in such an equipage, and every
+detail of the lady's vision was accurately fulfilled. Mr. Stead goes
+on to cite another instance of equally purposeless prevision where
+seven years separated the dream (for in this case it was a dream) and
+its fulfilment.
+
+All these instances (and they are merely random selections from many
+hundreds) show that a certain amount of prevision is undoubtedly
+possible to the Ego, and such cases would evidently be much more
+frequent if it were not for the exceeding density and lack of response
+in the lower vehicles of the majority of what we call civilized
+mankind--qualities chiefly attributable to the gross practical
+materialism of the present age. I am not thinking of any profession of
+materialistic belief as common, but of the fact that in all practical
+affairs of daily life nearly everyone is guided solely by
+considerations of worldly interest in some shape or other.
+
+In many cases the Ego himself may be an undeveloped one, and his
+prevision consequently very vague; in others he himself may see
+clearly, but may find his lower vehicles so unimpressible that all he
+can succeed in getting through into his physical brain may be an
+indefinite presage of coming disaster. Again, there are cases in which
+a premonition is not the work of the Ego at all, but of some outside
+entity, who for some reason takes a friendly interest in the person to
+whom the feeling comes. In the work which I quoted above, Mr. Stead
+tells us of the certainty which he felt many months beforehand that be
+would be left in charge of the _Pall Mall Gazette_ though from an
+ordinary point of view nothing seemed less probable. Whether that
+fore-knowledge was the result of an impression made by his own Ego or
+of a friendly hint from someone else it is impossible to say without
+definite investigation, but his confidence in it was fully justified.
+
+There is one more variety of clairvoyance in time which ought not to
+be left without mention. It is a comparatively rare one, but there
+are enough examples on record to claim our attention, though
+unfortunately the particulars given do not usually include those which
+we should require in order to be able to diagnose it with certainty. I
+refer to the cases in which spectral armies or phantom flocks of
+animals have been seen. In _The Night Side of Nature_ (p. 462 _et
+seq._) we have accounts of several such visions. We are there told how
+at Havarah Park, near Ripley, a body of soldiers in white uniform,
+amounting to several hundreds, was seen by reputable people to go
+through various evolutions and then vanish; and how some years earlier
+a similar visionary army was seen in the neighbourhood of Inverness by
+a respectable farmer and his son.
+
+In this case also the number of troops was very great, and the
+spectators had not the slightest doubt at first that they were
+substantial forms of flesh and blood. They counted at least sixteen
+pairs of columns, and had abundance of time to observe every
+particular. The front ranks marched seven abreast, and were
+accompanied by a good many women and children, who were carrying tin
+cans and other implements of cookery. The men were clothed in red, and
+their arms shone brightly in the sun. In the midst of them was an
+animal, a deer or a horse, they could not distinguish which, that they
+were driving furiously forward with their bayonets.
+
+The younger of the two men observed to the other that every now and
+then the rear ranks were obliged to run to overtake the van; and the
+elder one, who had been a soldier, remarked that that was always the
+case, and recommended him if he ever served to try to march in the
+front. There was only one mounted officer; he rode a grey dragoon
+horse, and wore a gold-laced hat and blue Hussar cloak, with wide open
+sleeves lined with red. The two spectators observed him so
+particularly that they said afterwards they should recognize him
+anywhere. They were, however, afraid of being ill-treated or forced to
+go along with the troops, whom they concluded to have come from
+Ireland, and landed at Kyntyre; and whilst they were climbing over a
+dyke to get out of their way, the whole thing vanished.
+
+A phenomenon of the same sort was observed in the earlier part of this
+century at Paderborn in Westphalia, and seen by at least thirty
+people; but as, some years later, a review of twenty thousand men was
+held on the very same spot, it was concluded that the vision must have
+been some sort of second-sight--a faculty not uncommon in the
+district.
+
+Such spectral hosts, however, are sometimes seen where an army of
+ordinary men could by no possibility have marched, either before or
+after. One of the most remarkable accounts of such apparitions is
+given by Miss Harriet Martineau, in her description of _The English
+Lakes_. She writes as follows:--
+
+"This Souter or Soutra Fell is the mountain on which ghosts appeared
+in myriads, at intervals during ten years of the last century,
+presenting the same appearances to twenty-six chosen witnesses, and to
+all the inhabitants of all the cottages within view of the mountain,
+and for a space of two hours and a half at one time--the spectral show
+being closed by darkness! The mountain, be it remembered, is full of
+precipices, which defy all marching of bodies of men; and the north
+and west sides present a sheer perpendicular of 900 feet.
+
+"On Midsummer Eve, 1735, a farm servant of Mr. Lancaster, half a mile
+from the mountain, saw the eastern side of its summit covered with
+troops, which pursued their onward march for an hour. They came, in
+distinct bodies, from an eminence on the north end, and disappeared in
+a niche in the summit. When the poor fellow told his tale, he was
+insulted on all hands, as original observers usually are when they see
+anything wonderful. Two years after, also on a Midsummer Eve, Mr.
+Lancaster saw some men there, apparently following their horses, as if
+they had returned from hunting. He thought nothing of this; but he
+happened to look up again ten minutes after, and saw the figures, now
+mounted, and followed by an interminable array of troops, five
+abreast, marching from the eminence and over the cleft as before. All
+the family saw this, and the manoeuvres of the force, as each
+company was kept in order by a mounted officer, who galloped this way
+and that. As the shades of twilight came on, the discipline appeared
+to relax, and the troops intermingled, and rode at unequal paces, till
+all was lost in darkness. Now of course all the Lancasters were
+insulted, as their servant had been; but their justification was not
+long delayed.
+
+"On the Midsummer Eve of the fearful 1745, twenty-six persons,
+expressly summoned by the family, saw all that had been seen before,
+and more. Carriages were now interspersed with the troops; and
+everybody knew that no carriages had been, or could be, on the summit
+of Souter Fell. The multitude was beyond imagination; for the troops
+filled a space of half a mile, and marched quickly till night hid
+them--still marching. There was nothing vaporous or indistinct about
+the appearance of these spectres. So real did they seem, that some of
+the people went up, the next morning, to look for the hoof-marks of
+the horses; and awful it was to them to find not one foot-print on
+heather or grass. The witnesses attested the whole story on oath
+before a magistrate; and fearful were the expectations held by the
+whole country-side about the coming events of the Scotch rebellion.
+
+"It now comes out that two other persons had seen something of the
+sort in the interval--_viz._, in 1743--but had concealed it, to escape
+the insults to which their neighbours were subjected. Mr. Wren, of
+Wilton Hall, and his farm servant, saw, one summer evening, a man and
+a dog on the mountain, pursuing some horses along a place so steep
+that a horse could hardly by any possibility keep a footing on it.
+Their speed was prodigious, and their disappearance at the south end
+of the fell so rapid, that Mr. Wren and the servant went up, the next
+morning, to find the body of the man who must have been killed. Of
+man, horse, or dog, they found not a trace and they came down and held
+their tongues. When they did speak, they fared not much better for
+having twenty-six sworn comrades in their disgrace.
+
+"As for the explanation, the editor of the _Lonsdale Magazine_
+declared (vol. ii., p. 313) that it was discovered that on the
+Midsummer Eve of 1745 the rebels were 'exercising on the western coast
+of Scotland, whose movements had been reflected by some transparent
+vapour, similar to the Fata Morgana.' This is not much in the way of
+explanation; but it is, as far as we know, all that can be had at
+present. These facts, however, brought out a good many more; as the
+spectral march of the same kind seen in Leicestershire in 1707, and
+the tradition of the tramp of armies over Helvellyn, on the eve of the
+battle of Marston Moor."
+
+Other cases are cited in which flocks of spectral sheep have been seen
+on certain roads, and there are of course various German stories of
+phantom cavalcades of hunters and robbers.
+
+Now in these cases, as so often happens in the investigation of occult
+phenomena, there are several possible causes, any one of which would
+be quite adequate to the production of the observed occurrences, but
+in the absence of fuller information it is hardly feasible to do more
+than guess as to which of these possible causes were in operation in
+any particular instance.
+
+The explanation usually suggested (whenever the whole story is not
+ridiculed as a falsehood) is that what is seen is a reflection by
+mirage of the movements of a real body of troops, taking place at a
+considerable distance. I have myself seen the ordinary mirage on
+several occasions, and know something therefore of its wonderful
+powers of deception; but it seems to me that we should need some
+entirely new variety of mirage, quite different from that at present
+known to science, to account for these tales of phantom armies, some
+of which pass the spectator within a few yards.
+
+First of all, they may be, as apparently in the Westphalian case above
+mentioned, simply instances of prevision on a gigantic scale--by whom
+arranged, and for what purpose, it is not easy to divine. Again, they
+may often belong to the past instead of the future, and be in fact the
+reflection of scenes from the âkâshic records--though here again the
+reason and method of such reflection is not obvious.
+
+There are plenty of tribes of nature-spirits perfectly capable, if for
+any reason they wished to do so, of producing such appearances by
+their wonderful power of glamour (see _Theosophical Manual, No. V._,
+p. 60), and such action would be quite in keeping with their delight
+in mystifying and impressing human beings. Or it may even sometimes be
+kindly intended by them as a warning to their friends of events that
+they know to be about to take place. It seems as though some
+explanation along these lines would be the most reasonable method of
+accounting for the extraordinary series of phenomena described by Miss
+Martineau--that is, if the stories told to her can be relied upon.
+
+Another possibility is that in some cases what have been taken for
+soldiers were simply the nature-spirits themselves going through some
+of the ordered evolutions in which they take so much delight, though
+it must be admitted that these are rarely of a character which could
+be mistaken for military manoeuvres except by the most ignorant.
+
+The flocks of animals are probably in most instances mere records, but
+there are cases where they, like the "wild huntsmen" of German story,
+belong to an entirely different class of phenomena, which is
+altogether outside of our present subject. Students of the occult
+will be familiar with the fact that the circumstances surrounding any
+scene of intense terror or passion, such as an exceptionally horrible
+murder, are liable to be occasionally reproduced in a form which it
+needs a very slight development of psychic faculty to be able to see
+and it has sometimes happened that various animals formed part of such
+surroundings, and consequently they also are periodically reproduced
+by the action of the guilty conscience of the murderer (see _Manual
+V._, p. 83).
+
+Probably whatever foundation of fact underlies the various stories of
+spectral horsemen and hunting-troops may generally be referred to this
+category. This is also the explanation, evidently, of some of the
+visions of ghostly armies, such as that remarkable re-enactment of the
+battle of Edgehill which seems to have taken place at intervals for
+some months after the date of the real struggle, as testified by a
+justice of the peace, a clergyman, and other eye-witnesses, in a
+curious contemporary pamphlet entitled _Prodigious Noises of War and
+Battle, at Edgehill, near Keinton, in Northamptonshire_. According to
+the pamphlet this case was investigated at the time by some officers
+of the army, who clearly recognized many of the phantom figures that
+they saw. This looks decidedly like an instance of the terrible power
+of man's unrestrained passions to reproduce themselves, and to cause
+in some strange way a kind of materialization of their record.
+
+In some cases it is clear that the flocks of animals seen have been
+simply hordes of unclean artificial elementals taking that form in
+order to feed upon the loathsome emanations of peculiarly horrible
+places, such as would be the site of a gallows. An instance of this
+kind is furnished by the celebrated "Gyb Ghosts," or ghosts of the
+gibbet, described in _More Glimpses of the World Unseen_, p. 109, as
+being repeatedly seen in the form of herds of mis-shapen swine-like
+creatures, rushing, rooting and fighting night after night on the site
+of that foul monument of crime. But these belong to the subject of
+apparitions rather than to that of clairvoyance.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IX.
+
+METHODS OF DEVELOPMENT.
+
+
+When a man becomes convinced of the reality of the valuable power of
+clairvoyance, his first question usually is, "How can I develop in my
+own case this faculty which is said to be latent in everyone?"
+
+Now the fact is that there are many methods by which it may be
+developed, but only one which can be at all safely recommended for
+general use--that of which we shall speak last of all. Among the less
+advanced nations of the world the clairvoyant state has been produced
+in various objectionable ways; among some of the non-Aryan tribes of
+India, by the use of intoxicating drugs or the inhaling of stupefying
+fumes; among the dervishes, by whirling in a mad dance of religious
+fervour until vertigo and insensibility supervene; among the followers
+of the abominable practices of the Voodoo cult, by frightful
+sacrifices and loathsome rites of black magic. Methods such as these
+are happily not in vogue in our own race, yet even among us large
+numbers of dabblers in this ancient art adopt some plan of
+self-hypnotization, such as the gazing at a bright spot or the
+repetition of some formula until a condition of semi-stupefaction is
+produced; while yet another school among them would endeavour to
+arrive at similar results by the use of some of the Indian systems of
+regulation of the breath.
+
+All these methods are unequivocally to be condemned as quite unsafe
+for the practice of the ordinary man who has no idea of what he is
+doing--who is simply making vague experiments in an unknown world.
+Even the method of obtaining clairvoyance by allowing oneself to be
+mesmerized by another person is one from which I should myself shrink
+with the most decided distaste; and assuredly it should never be
+attempted except under conditions of absolute trust and affection
+between the magnetizer and the magnetized, and a perfection of purity
+in heart and soul, in mind and intention, such as is rarely to be seen
+among any but the greatest of saints.
+
+Experiments in connection with the mesmeric trance are of the deepest
+interest, as offering (among other things) a possibility of proof of
+the fact of clairvoyance to the sceptic, yet except under such
+conditions as I have just mentioned--conditions, I quite admit, almost
+impossible to realize--I should never counsel anyone to submit himself
+as a subject for them.
+
+Curative mesmerism (in which, without putting the patient into the
+trance state at all, an effort is made to relieve his pain, to remove
+his disease, or to pour vitality into him by magnetic passes) stands
+on an entirely different footing; and if the mesmerizer, even though
+quite untrained, is himself in good health and animated by pure
+intentions, no harm is likely to be done to the subject. In so extreme
+a case as that of a surgical operation, a man might reasonably submit
+himself even to the mesmeric trance, but it is certainly not a
+condition with which one ought lightly to experiment. Indeed, I should
+most strongly advise any one who did me the honour to ask for my
+opinion on the subject, not to attempt any kind of experimental
+investigation into what are still to him the abnormal forces of
+nature, until he has first of all read carefully everything that has
+been written on the subject, or--which is by far the best of
+all--until he is under the guidance of a qualified teacher.
+
+But where, it will be said, is the qualified teacher to be found? Not,
+most assuredly, among any who advertise themselves as teachers, who
+offer to impart for so many guineas or dollars the sacred mysteries of
+the ages, or hold "developing circles" to which casual applicants are
+admitted at so much per head.
+
+Much has been said in this treatise of the necessity for careful
+training--of the immense advantages of the trained over the untrained
+clairvoyant; but that again brings us back to the same question--where
+is this definite training to be had?
+
+The answer is, that the training may be had precisely where it has
+always been to be found since the world's history began--at the hands
+of the Great White Brotherhood of Adepts, which stands now, as it has
+always stood, at the back of human evolution, guiding and helping it
+under the sway of the great cosmic laws which represent to us the Will
+of the Eternal.
+
+But how, it may be asked, is access to be gained to them? How is the
+aspirant thirsting for knowledge to signify to them his wish for
+instruction?
+
+Once more, by the time-honoured methods only. There is no new patent
+whereby a man can qualify himself without trouble to become a pupil in
+that School--no royal road to the learning which has to be acquired in
+it. At the present day, just as in the mists of antiquity, the man who
+wishes to attract their notice must enter upon the slow and toilsome
+path of self-development--must learn first of all to take himself in
+hand and make himself all that he ought to be. The steps of that path
+are no secret; I have given them in full detail in _Invisible
+Helpers_, so I need not repeat them here. But it is no easy road to
+follow, and yet sooner or later all must follow it, for the great law
+of evolution sweeps mankind slowly but resistlessly towards its goal.
+
+From those who are pressing into this path the great Masters select
+their pupils, and it is only by qualifying himself to be taught that a
+man can put himself in the way of getting the teaching. Without that
+qualification, membership in any Lodge or Society, whether secret or
+otherwise, will not advance his object in the slightest degree. It is
+true, as we all know, that it was at the instance of some of these
+Masters that our Theosophical Society was founded, and that from its
+ranks some have been chosen to pass into closer relations with them.
+But that choice depends upon the earnestness of the candidate, not
+upon his mere membership of the Society or of any body within it.
+
+That, then, is the only absolutely safe way of developing
+clairvoyance--to enter with all one's energy upon the path of moral
+and mental evolution, at one stage of which this and other of the
+higher faculties will spontaneously begin to show themselves. Yet
+there is one practice which is advised by all the religions
+alike--which if adopted carefully and reverently can do no harm to any
+human being, yet from which a very pure type of clairvoyance has
+sometimes been developed; and that is the practice of meditation.
+
+Let a man choose a certain time every day--a time when he can rely
+upon being quiet and undisturbed, though preferably in the daytime
+rather than at night--and set himself at that time to keep his mind
+for a few minutes entirely free from all earthly thoughts of any kind
+whatever and, when that is achieved, to direct the whole force of his
+being towards the highest spiritual ideal that he happens to know. He
+will find that to gain such perfect control of thought is enormously
+more difficult than he supposes, but when he attains it it cannot but
+be in every way most beneficial to him, and as he grows more and more
+able to elevate and concentrate his thought, he may gradually find
+that new worlds are opening before his sight.
+
+As a preliminary training towards the satisfactory achievement of such
+meditation, he will find it desirable to make a practice of
+concentration in the affairs of daily life--even in the smallest of
+them. If he writes a letter, let him think of nothing else but that
+letter until it is finished if he reads a book, let him see to it that
+his thought is never allowed to wander from his author's meaning. He
+must learn to hold his mind in check, and to be master of that also,
+as well as of his lower passions he must patiently labour to acquire
+absolute control of his thoughts, so that he will always know exactly
+what he is thinking about, and why--so that he can use his mind, and
+turn it or hold it still, as a practised swordsman turns his weapon
+where he will.
+
+Yet after all, if those who so earnestly desire clairvoyance could
+possess it temporarily for a day or even an hour, it is far from
+certain that they would choose to retain the gift. True, it opens
+before them new worlds of study, new powers of usefulness, and for
+this latter reason most of us feel it worth while; but it should be
+remembered that for one whose duty still calls him to live in the
+world it is by no means an unmixed blessing. Upon one in whom that
+vision is opened the sorrow and the misery, the evil and the greed of
+the world press as an ever-present burden, until in the earlier days
+of his knowledge he often feels inclined to echo the passionate
+adjuration contained in those rolling lines of Schiller's:
+
+    Dien Orakel zu verkünden, warum warfest du mich hin
+    In die Stadt der ewig Blinden, mit dem aufgeschloss'nen Sinn?
+    Frommt's, den Schleier aufzuheben, wo das nahe Schreckniss droht?
+    Nur der Irrthum ist das Leben; dieses Wissen ist der Tod.
+    Nimm, O nimm die traur'ge Klarheit mir vom Aug' den blut'gen Schein!
+    Schrecklich ist es deiner Wahrheit sterbliches Gefäss zu seyn!
+
+which may perhaps be translated "Why hast thou cast me thus into the
+town of the ever-blind, to proclaim thine oracle by the opened sense?
+What profits it to lift the veil where the near darkness threatens?
+Only ignorance is life; this knowledge is death. Take back this sad
+clear-sightedness; take from mine eyes this cruel light! It is
+horrible to be the mortal channel of thy truth." And again later he
+cries, "Give me back my blindness, the happy darkness of my senses;
+take back thy dreadful gift!"
+
+But this of course is a feeling which passes, for the higher sight
+soon shows the pupil something beyond the sorrow--soon bears in upon
+his soul the overwhelming certainty that, whatever appearances down
+here may seem to indicate, all things are without shadow of doubt
+working together for the eventual good of all. He reflects that the
+sin and the suffering are there, whether he is able to perceive them
+or not, and that when he can see them he is after all better able to
+give efficient help than he would be if he were working in the dark;
+and so by degrees he learns to bear his share of the heavy karma of
+the world.
+
+Some misguided mortals there are who, having the good fortune to
+possess some slight touch of this higher power, are nevertheless so
+absolutely destitute of all right feeling in connection with it as to
+use it for the most sordid ends--actually even to advertise themselves
+as "test and business clairvoyants!" Needless to say, such use of the
+faculty is a mere prostitution and degradation of it, showing that its
+unfortunate possessor has somehow got hold of it before the moral side
+of his nature has been sufficiently developed to stand the strain
+which it imposes. A perception of the amount of evil karma that may be
+generated by such action in a very short time changes one's disgust
+into pity for the unhappy perpetrator of that sacrilegious folly.
+
+It is sometimes objected that the possession of clairvoyance destroys
+all privacy, and confers a limit-less ability to explore the secrets
+of others. No doubt it does confer such an _ability_, but nevertheless
+the suggestion is an amusing one to anyone who knows anything
+practically about the matter. Such an objection may possibly be
+well-founded as regards the very limited powers of the "test and
+business clairvoyant," but the man who brings it forward against those
+who have had the faculty opened for them in the course of their
+instruction, and consequently possess it fully, is forgetting three
+fundamental facts: first, that it is quite inconceivable that anyone,
+having before him the splendid fields for investigation which true
+clairvoyance opens up, could ever have the slightest wish to pry into
+the trumpery little secrets of any individual man; secondly, that even
+if by some impossible chance our clairvoyant _had_ such indecent
+curiosity about matters of petty gossip, there is, after all, such a
+thing as the honour of a gentleman, which, on that plane as on this,
+would of course prevent him from contemplating for an instant the idea
+of gratifying it; and thirdly, in case, by any unheard-of possibility,
+one might encounter some variety of low-class pitri with whom the
+above considerations would have no weight, full instructions are
+always given to every pupil, as soon as he develops any sign of
+faculty, as to the limitations which are placed upon its use.
+
+Put briefly, these restrictions are that there shall be no prying, no
+selfish use of the power, and no displaying of phenomena. That is to
+say, that the same considerations which would govern the actions of a
+man of right feeling upon the physical plane are expected to apply
+upon the astral and mental planes also; that the pupil is never under
+any circumstances to use the power which his additional knowledge
+gives to him in order to promote his own worldly advantage, or indeed
+in connection with gain in any way; and that he is never to give what
+is called in spiritualistic circles "a test"--that is, to do anything
+which will incontestably prove to sceptics on the physical plane that
+he possesses what to them would appear to be an abnormal power.
+
+With regard to this latter proviso people often say, "But why should
+he not? it would be so easy to confute and convince your sceptic, and
+it would do him good!" Such critics lose sight of the fact that, in
+the first place, none of those who know anything _want_ to confute or
+convince sceptics, or trouble themselves in the slightest degree about
+the sceptic's attitude one way or the other; and in the second, they
+fail to understand how much better it is for that sceptic that he
+should gradually grow into an intellectual appreciation of the facts
+of nature, instead of being suddenly introduced to them by a
+knock-down blow, as it were. But the subject was fully considered
+many years ago in Mr. Sinnet's _Occult World_, and it is needless to
+repeat again the arguments there adduced.
+
+It is very hard for some of our friends to realize that the silly
+gossip and idle curiosity which so entirely fill the lives of the
+brainless majority on earth can have no place in the more real life of
+the disciple; and so they sometimes enquire whether, even without any
+special wish to see, a clairvoyant might not casually observe some
+secret which another person was trying to keep, in the same way as
+one's glance might casually fall upon a sentence in someone else's
+letter which happened to be lying open upon the table. Of course he
+might, but what if he did? The man of honour would at once avert his
+eyes, in one case as in the other, and it would be as though he had
+not seen. If objectors could but grasp the idea that no pupil _cares_
+about other people's business, except when it comes within his
+province to try to help them, and that he has always a world of work
+of his own to attend to, they would not be so hopelessly far from
+understanding the facts of the wider life of the trained clairvoyant.
+
+Even from the little that I have said with regard to the restrictions
+laid upon the pupil, it will be obvious that in very many cases he
+will know much more than he is at liberty to say. That is of course
+true in a far wider sense of the great Masters of Wisdom themselves,
+and that is why those who have the privilege of occasionally entering
+their presence pay so much respect to their lightest word even on
+subjects quite apart from the direct teaching. For the opinion of a
+Master, or even of one of his higher pupils, upon any subject is that
+of a man whose opportunity of judging accurately is out of all
+proportion to ours.
+
+His position and his extended faculties are in reality the heritage of
+all mankind, and, far though we may now be from those grand powers,
+they will none the less certainly be ours one day. Yet how different a
+place will this old world be when humanity as a whole possesses the
+higher clairvoyance! Think what the difference will be to history when
+all can read the records; to science, when all the processes about
+which now men theorize can be watched through all their course; to
+medicine, when doctor and patient alike can see clearly and exactly
+all that is being done; to philosophy, when there is no longer any
+possibility of discussion as to its basis, because all alike can see a
+wider aspect of the truth; to labour, when all work will be joy,
+because every man will be put only to that which he can do best; to
+education, when the minds and hearts of the children are open to the
+teacher who is trying to form their character; to religion, when there
+is no longer any possibility of dispute as to its broad dogmas, since
+the truth about the states after death, and the Great Law that
+governs the world, will be patent to all eyes.
+
+Above all, how far easier it will be then for the evolved men to help
+one another under those so much freer conditions! The possibilities
+that open before the mind are as glorious vistas stretching in all
+directions, so that our seventh round should indeed be a veritable
+golden age. Well for us that these grand faculties will not be
+possessed by all humanity until it has evolved to a far higher level
+in morality as well as in wisdom, else should we but repeat once more
+under still worse conditions the terrible downfall of the great
+Atlantean civilization, whose members failed to realize that increased
+power meant increased responsibility. Yet we ourselves were most of us
+among those very men let us hope that we have learnt wisdom by that
+failure, and that when the possibilities of the wider life open before
+us once more, this time we shall bear the trial better.
+
+
+
+
+INDEX
+
+
+                                 PAGE
+
+Advantages of astral vision, 41, 65, 71
+  mental vision, 79
+  training, 20, 56, 70, 103, 116, 121
+
+Âkâshic records, 85, 97 _et seq._, 160
+
+Apparitions, 54
+
+Armies, phantom, 154
+
+Assassination of Mr. Perceval, 151
+
+Aspect of the records, 115
+
+Astral body, 69
+  counterpart  16
+  current, 62 _et seq._, 88, 95
+  matter, polarization of, 63
+  senses, 17
+  sight, 37 _et seq._, 59 _et seq._, 66
+  telescope, 65, 85, 103
+  world, 81, 103
+
+Aura, the, 42 _et seq._, 101
+
+
+Balance, 126
+
+Bat's cry, experiment with, 11
+
+Battle of Edgehill, 161
+
+Body, the astral, 69
+  the causal, 101
+
+Brownies, 33
+
+Buddhic faculty, 18, 108, 136, 139
+
+Bull and the doctor, the story of, 147
+
+
+Causal body, 101
+
+Centres of vitality, 14, 17
+
+Cerebro-spinal system, 22
+
+Ceremonies used to gain clairvoyance, 52, 163
+
+Certainty of eventual good, 174
+
+Character, judgment of, 42
+
+Chakrams, 14-17
+
+Chord of a man, the, 80
+
+Clairaudience, 6, 69 _et seq._
+
+Clairvoyance by drugs or ceremonies, 52 _et seq._, 163
+  casual, 93
+  does it destroy privacy?, 171
+
+Clairvoyance during sleep, 26
+  how first manifested, 26
+  hysterical, 53
+  limitations of, 79, 81, 171
+  meaning of word, 5
+  occasional flashes of, 23
+  of the uncultured, 21
+  on mental plane, 56
+  on trivial subjects, 55, 95, 152
+  partial and temporary, 54
+  restrictions upon, 81, 171
+  sadness of, 169
+  under mesmerism, 24, 52, 164
+
+Clairvoyants, "test and business", 51, 170
+
+Classification of phenomena, 27
+
+Colours, new, 35
+
+Common-sense in occultism, necessity of, 125
+
+Consciousness, continuous, 46
+  the focus of, 31
+
+Considerations, preliminary, 7
+
+Contemplation, 167
+
+Continuous consciousness, 46
+
+Control of thought, 168
+
+Counterpart, astral, 16
+
+Crystal-gazing, 66, 84 _et seq._, 127
+
+Curative mesmerism, 165
+
+Curiosity not permitted, 173
+
+Current, astral, 62 _et seq._, 88, 95
+
+
+Dangers, 78
+
+Date, how to find a, 119 _et seq._
+
+Dead, the, 45, 62
+
+Death, visits at, 74 _et seq._
+
+Delirium tremens, 53
+
+Dervishes, the, 163
+
+Devas, the, 44
+
+Development, methods of, 163
+  the path of, 167
+  regular, 19
+
+Difference between etheric and astral sight, 36
+
+Difficulties, 103 _et seq._
+
+Dimension, the fourth, 38 _et seq._, 65, 107, 137
+
+Distance, sight at a, 59, 81
+
+Double, the etheric, 34
+
+Drugs used to gain clairvoyance, 52, 163
+
+Duke of Orleans, the story of the, 90
+
+
+_Earth, the Stars and the_, 110
+
+Edgehill, battle of, 161
+
+Elementals, 32, 44, 162
+
+Equation, the personal, 104 _et seq._
+
+Eternal now, the, 109, 137
+
+Etheric double, the, 34
+  vision, 30 _et seq._
+
+Experiments in crystal-gazing, 66, 84 _et seq._
+  with bat's cry, 11
+  with spectrum, 10
+
+Extension of senses, 12
+
+
+Faculties, latent, 7
+  buddhic, 18, 108, 136, 139
+
+Fairy ointment, 34
+
+Finding a stranger, 80
+
+First manifestations of clairvoyance, 25 _et seq._
+
+Flocks, phantom, 154, 160, 162
+
+Focus of consciousness, the, 31
+
+Fourth dimension, the, 38 _et seq._, 65, 107, 137
+
+Freewill limited, 132 _et seq._
+
+Future prospects, 175
+
+
+Ghosts of the gibbet, 162
+
+Glamour, 160
+
+Goffe, the story of Mary, 75
+
+
+Helpers, invisible, 46, 74, 88, 166
+
+Historical study, possibilities of, 114 _et seq._
+
+Hinton's works, 38
+
+Housekeeper's dream, the story of the, 147 _et seq._
+
+How a picture is found, 116 _et seq._
+  to find a date, 119 _et seq._
+  to investigate, 55
+
+Huntsman, the wild, 160
+
+Hypnotization, self, 86
+
+Hysterical clairvoyance, 53
+
+
+Incarnations, past, 118, 123 _et seq._
+
+Investigate, how to, 55
+
+Invisible helpers, 46, 74, 88, 166
+
+
+Judgment of character, 42
+
+Jung Stilling's story, 71 _et seq._
+
+
+Knowledge, the value of, 125
+
+
+Latent faculties, 7
+
+Limitations of clairvoyance, the, 79, 81, 171
+
+Limited freewill, 132 _et seq._
+
+Links needed, 114
+
+Lodge, address by Dr. Oliver, 137
+
+Logos of the system, the, 99 _et seq._
+
+
+Magic, 53
+
+Magnifying, the power of, 47-67
+
+Manifestations of clairvoyance, the first, 26
+
+Masters of Wisdom, the, 20, 167, 174
+
+Materialization, 70
+
+Mâyâvirûpa, the, 78
+
+Meaning of word clairvoyance, 5
+
+Meditation, 167
+
+Mediums, trance, 83
+
+Mental plane clairvoyance, 56
+  plane sense, 18
+  world, 80, 104, 115
+
+Mesmerism, clairvoyance under, 24, 62, 164
+  curative, 165
+
+Methods of development, 163
+
+Micawbers, psychic, 83
+
+Mooltan, story of the siege of, 92
+
+Murder, reproduction of, 161
+
+
+Nature spirits, 33, 44, 61, 160
+
+Necessity of common-sense in occultism, 125
+
+New colours, 35
+
+Now, the eternal, 109, 137
+
+
+Occasional clairvoyance, 23
+
+Ointment, fairy and witch, 34
+
+Orleans, the story of the Duke of, 90
+
+Other planets, 81
+
+
+Partial and temporary clairvoyance, 54
+
+Past incarnations, 118, 123 _et seq._
+
+Path of development, the, 167
+
+Perceval, assassination of Mr., 151
+
+Personal equation, the, 104 _et seq._
+
+Phantom flocks, 154, 160, 162
+
+Phenomena, classification of, 27
+  séance room, 35, 62
+
+Philadelphian seer, the story of a, 72 _et seq._
+
+Physical objects, the transparency of, 32
+
+Pictures before going to sleep, 93
+
+Planets, other, 81
+
+Polarization of astral matter, 63
+
+Poseidonis, the sinking of, 120
+
+Possibilities of historical study, 114 _et seq._
+
+Power of magnifying, the, 47, 67
+
+Power of response to vibrations, 9, 11
+
+Preliminary considerations, 7
+
+Premonition, Mr. Stead's, 153
+
+Prevision, 132, 139
+
+Prospects for the future, 175
+
+Psychic Micawbers, 83
+
+Psychometry, 114, 127
+
+
+Qualifications of the student, 166
+
+Qualified teachers, 165
+
+
+Radiations, 59
+
+Records, âkâshic, 85, 97 _et seq._, 160
+  aspect of the, 115
+
+Regular development, 19
+
+Reproduction of a murder, 161
+
+Restrictions upon clairvoyance, 81, 171
+
+Röntgen rays, the, 11
+
+
+Sadness of clairvoyance, the, 169
+
+Schiller's lines, 169
+
+Séance-room phenomena, 35, 62
+
+Second-sight, 140 _et seq._
+  the symbolism of, 145
+
+Seer, a Philadelphian, 72 _et seq._
+
+Self-hypnotization, 86
+
+Sense, extension of, 12
+
+Senses, astral, 17
+
+Sight, astral, 37 _et seq._, 59 _et seq._, 66
+  at a distance, 59, 81
+  spiritual, 57
+
+Sleep, clairvoyance during, 26
+
+Society, the Theosophical, 167
+
+Solar system, the, 99
+
+Spectral armies, 154
+
+Spectrum, experiment with the, 10
+
+Spiritualistic phenomena, 35, 62
+
+_Stars and the Earth, The_, 110
+
+Stories of crystal-gazing, 84 _et seq._
+  second sight, 132, 140 _et seq._
+
+Story by Jung Stilling, 72
+  Mr. Stead's, 93
+  of Captain Yonnt, 89
+  Mary Goffe, 75
+  Miss X.'s dogcart, 152
+  Mr. Stead's premonition, 153
+
+Story of Souter Fell, 156-7
+  the bull and the doctor, 147
+  the Duke of Orleans, 90
+  the housekeeper's dream, 147 _et seq._
+
+Story of the siege of Mooltan, 92
+  the white night-dress, 149
+  Zschokke, 127 _et seq._
+
+Stranger, finding a, 80
+
+Sympathetic system, the, 22 _et seq._
+
+System, the Logos of the, 99 _et seq._
+
+
+Teachers, qualified, 165
+
+Telescope, the astral, 65, 85, 103
+
+Temporary and partial clairvoyance, 54
+
+Tests not given, 172
+
+Theosophical Society, The, 167
+  terms, 7
+
+Thought-control, 168
+
+Thought-forms, 43, 67
+
+Throughth, 39
+
+Time only relative, 138
+
+Training, the advantages of, 165
+  where to be had, 167
+
+Trance mediums, 83
+
+Transparency of physical objects, 32
+
+Trivial subjects, clairvoyance on, 55, 95, 152
+
+
+Uncultured, clairvoyance in the, 21
+
+
+Value of knowledge, the, 125
+
+Variable capacity of response, 10 _et seq._
+
+Vibrations, 9
+  power of response to, 11
+
+Vision, astral, 37 _et seq._, 59 _et seq._, 66
+  etheric, 30 _et seq._
+
+Visions, casual, 141
+
+Visits at death, 74 _et seq._
+
+Voodoo or Obeah, 163
+
+
+White night-dress, the story of the, 149
+
+Wild huntsman, the, 160
+
+Wisdom, the Masters of, 20, 167, 174
+
+World, the astral, 81, 103
+  mental, 80, 104, 115
+
+
+X.'s story, Miss, 152
+
+X Rays, 11
+
+
+Yonnt's story, Captain, 89
+
+
+Zschokke's story, 127 _et seq._
+
+
+PRINTED BY NEILL AND CO., LTD., EDINBURGH.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+
+
+THEOSOPHICAL SOCIETY.
+
+SATYÂNNÂSTI PARO DHARMAH
+
+[Illustration]
+
+THERE IS NO RELIGION HIGHER THAN TRUTH.
+
+
+_OBJECTS._
+
+To form a nucleus of the universal Brotherhood of Humanity, without
+distinction of race, creed, sex, caste or colour.
+
+To encourage the study of comparative religion, philosophy and
+science.
+
+To investigate unexplained laws of nature and the powers latent in
+man.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Any person desiring information as to the Theosophical Society is
+invited to communicate with any one of the following General
+Secretaries:
+
+AMERICA: Alexander Fullerton; New York, 46 Fifth Avenue.
+
+BRITAIN: Bertram Keightley, M.A. (_pro tem._); London, 28 Albemarle
+Street, W.
+
+INDIA: Upendra Nath Basu, B.A., LL.B.; Benares, N.W.P.
+
+SCANDINAVIA: Arvid Knös; Sweden, Engelbrechtsgatan 7, Stockholm.
+
+AUSTRALIA: H. A. Wilson; Sydney, N.S.W., 42 Margaret Street.
+
+NEW ZEALAND: C. W. Sanders; Auckland, Mutual Life Buildings, Lower
+Queen Street.
+
+HOLLAND: W. B. Fricke, Amsterdam, 76 Amsteldijk.
+
+FRANCE: Dr. Th. Pascal Paris; 59 Avenue de la Bourdonnais.
+
+ITALY: Rome, Società Teosofica, 70 Via di Pietra.
+
+GERMANY: Dr. Rudolph Steiner (_pro tem._); 95 Kaiserallee, Friedenau,
+Berlin.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+THE THEOSOPHICAL SOCIETY is composed of students, belonging to any
+religion in the world or to none, who are united by their approval of
+the above objects, by their wish to remove religious antagonisms and
+to draw together men of good-will whatsoever their religious
+opinions, and by their desire to study religious truths and to share
+the results of their studies with others. Their bond of union is not
+the profession of a common belief, but a common search and aspiration
+for Truth. They hold that Truth should be sought by study, by
+reflection, by purity of life, by devotion to high ideals, and they
+regard Truth as a prize to be striven for, not as a dogma to be
+imposed by authority. They consider that belief should be the result
+of individual study or intuition, and not its antecedent, and should
+rest on knowledge, not on assertion. They extend tolerance to all,
+even to the intolerant, not as a privilege they bestow, but as a duty
+they perform, and they seek to remove ignorance, not to punish it.
+They see every religion as an expression of the DIVINE WISDOM, and
+prefer its study to its condemnation, and its practice to proselytism.
+Peace is their watch-word, as Truth is their aim.
+
+THEOSOPHY is the body of truths which forms the basis of all
+religions, and which cannot be claimed as the exclusive possession of
+any. It offers a philosophy which renders life intelligible, and which
+demonstrates the justice and the love which guide its evolution. It
+puts death in its rightful place, as a recurring incident in an
+endless life, opening the gateway of a fuller and more radiant
+existence. It restores to the world the science of the spirit,
+teaching man to know the spirit as himself, and the mind and body as
+his servants. It illuminates the scriptures and doctrines of religions
+by unveiling their hidden meanings, and thus justifying them at the
+bar of intelligence, as they are ever justified in the eyes of
+intuition.
+
+Members of the Theosophical Society study these truths, and
+Theosophists endeavour to live them. Every one willing to study, to be
+tolerant, to aim high, and to work perseveringly, is welcomed as a
+member, and it rests with the member to become a true Theosophist.
+
+BOOKS RECOMMENDED FOR STUDY.
+
+                                                            s.  d.
+An Outline of Theosophy.  C. W. Leadbeater                   1  0
+Ancient Wisdom. Annie Besant                                 5  0
+Theosophical Manuals.
+  Seven Principles of Man. Annie Besant                      1  0
+  Re-incarnation. Annie Besant                               1  0
+  Karma. Annie Besant                                        1  0
+  Death--and After? Annie Besant                             1  0
+  The Astral Plane.  C. W. Leadbeater                        1  0
+  The Devachanic Plane. C. W. Leadbeater                     1  0
+  Man and his Bodies. Annie Besant                           1  0
+The Key to Theosophy. H. P. Blavatsky                        6  0
+Esoteric Buddhism. A. P. Sinnett                             2  6
+The Growth of the Soul.  A. P. Sinnett                       5  0
+Man's Place in the Universe                                  2  0
+Man Visible and Invisible (illustrated).  C. W. Leadbeater  10  6
+
+A student who has thoroughly mastered these may study The Secret
+Doctrine. H. P. Blavatsky. Three volumes and separate index, £ 3. Man
+Visible and Invisible (illustrated). C. W. Leadbeater 10 6
+
+      WORLD-RELIGIONS.                                           s. d.
+Fragments of a Faith Forgotten. G. R. S. Mead                    10  6
+Esoteric Christianity. Annie Besant                               5  0
+Four Great Religions. Annie Besant                                2  0
+Orpheus. G. R. S. Mead                                            4  6
+The Kabalah.  A. E. Waite                                         7  6
+
+      ETHICAL.
+In the Outer Court. Annie Besant                                  2  0
+The Path of Discipleship. Annie Besant                            2  0
+The Voice of the Silence.  H. P. Blavatsky                        1  6
+Light on the Path. Mabel Collins                                  1  6
+Bhagavad-Gitâ. Trans. Annie Besant                                1  6
+Studies in the Bhagavad-Gitâ                                      1  6
+The Doctrine of the Heart                                         1  6
+The Upanishats. Trans. by G. R. S. Mead and J.C. Chattopadyaya.
+  Two Volumes, each                                               1  6
+Three Paths and Dharma.  Annie Besant                             2  0
+Theosophy of the Upanishats                                       3  0
+The Stanzas of Dayân. H.P. Blavatsky                              1  6
+
+VARIOUS.
+Nature's Mysteries. A. P. Sinnett                                 2  0
+Clairvoyance. C. W. Leadbeater                                    2  0
+Dreams. C. W. Leadbeater                                          1  6
+The Building of the Kosmos. Annie Besant                          2  0
+The Evolution of Life and Form. Annie Besant                      2  0
+Some Problems of Life. Annie Besant                               1  6
+Thought-Power, its Control and Culture. Annie Besant              1  6
+The Science of the Emotions.  Bhagavan Das                        3  6
+The Gospel and the Gospels.  G. R. S. Mead                        4  6
+Five Years of Theosophy                                          10  0
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+
+
+THE THEOSOPHICAL REVIEW.
+
+EDITED BY
+
+ANNIE BESANT AND G. R. S. MEAD.
+
+Amongst the Regular Contributors are:
+
+ANNIE BESANT.
+ALEX. FULLERTON.
+G. R. S. MEAD.
+BERTRAM KEIGHTLEY.
+A. P. SINNETT.
+C. W. LEADBEATER.
+DR. A. A. WELLS.
+MICHAEL WOOD.
+And other well-known Writers on Theosophy.
+
+SINGLE COPIES, 1s. 12s. PER ANNUM. Half-yearly Bound Volumes, Cloth,
+8s. 6d.
+
+ENTERED AT STATIONERS' HALL. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
+
+"THE THEOSOPHICAL REVIEW is a magazine of which any society might be
+proud. It is weighty, striking, suggestive, and up to date. The
+articles are all by recognised experts, and they all deal with some
+aspect of a really profound subject. It is a very remarkable
+shilling's worth."--_The Gentleman's Journal._
+
+_All the above-named books are published at unit prices by THE
+THEOSOPHICAL PUBLISHING SOCIETY, 3 LANGHAM PLACE, LONDON, W., from
+whom a full catalogue of works on Theosophy and kindred subjects can
+be obtained, post free, on application._
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+End of Project Gutenberg's Clairvoyance, by Charles Webster Leadbeater
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+The Project Gutenberg EBook of Clairvoyance, by Charles Webster Leadbeater
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+Title: Clairvoyance
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+Author: Charles Webster Leadbeater
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+
+
+<h1>CLAIRVOYANCE</h1>
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<h3>BY</h3>
+
+<h2>C. W. LEADBEATER</h2>
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<h4>SECOND EDITION</h4>
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<h3>LONDON</h3>
+<h3>THEOSOPHICAL PUBLISHING SOCIETY</h3>
+<h3>1903</h3>
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2>CONTENTS</h2>
+
+<table summary="Contents">
+<tr><td colspan="2" class="td1"><a href="#CHAPTER_I">CHAPTER I.</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td>&nbsp;</td>
+<td class="tocpg f1">PAGE</td>
+</tr>
+<tr><td><span class="smcap"><a href="#CHAPTER_I">What Clairvoyance is.</a></span></td>
+<td class="tocpg"><a href="#Page_5">5</a></td></tr>
+<tr>
+<td colspan="2">&nbsp;</td>
+</tr>
+<tr><td colspan="2" class="td1"><a href="#CHAPTER_II">CHAPTER II.</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td>&nbsp;</td>
+<td class="tocpg">&nbsp;</td>
+</tr>
+<tr><td><span class="smcap"><a href="#CHAPTER_II">Simple Clairvoyance: Full</a></span></td>
+<td class="tocpg"><a href="#Page_29">29</a></td></tr>
+<tr>
+<td colspan="2">&nbsp;</td>
+</tr>
+<tr><td colspan="2" class="td1"><a href="#CHAPTER_III">CHAPTER III.</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td>&nbsp;</td>
+<td class="tocpg">&nbsp;</td>
+</tr>
+<tr><td><span class="smcap"><a href="#CHAPTER_III">Simple Clairvoyance: Partial</a></span></td>
+<td class="tocpg"><a href="#Page_50">50</a></td></tr>
+<tr>
+<td colspan="2">&nbsp;</td>
+</tr>
+<tr><td colspan="2" class="td1"><a href="#CHAPTER_IV">CHAPTER IV.</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td>&nbsp;</td>
+<td class="tocpg">&nbsp;</td>
+</tr>
+<tr><td><span class="smcap"><a href="#CHAPTER_IV">Clairvoyance in Space: Intentional</a></span></td>
+<td class="tocpg"><a href="#Page_58">58</a></td></tr>
+<tr>
+<td colspan="2">&nbsp;</td>
+</tr>
+<tr><td colspan="2" class="td1"><a href="#CHAPTER_V">CHAPTER V.</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td>&nbsp;</td>
+<td class="tocpg">&nbsp;</td>
+</tr>
+<tr><td><span class="smcap"><a href="#CHAPTER_V">Clairvoyance in Space: Semi-Intentional</a></span></td>
+<td class="tocpg"><a href="#Page_83">83</a></td></tr>
+<tr>
+<td colspan="2">&nbsp;</td>
+</tr>
+<tr><td colspan="2" class="td1"><a href="#CHAPTER_VI">CHAPTER VI.</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td>&nbsp;</td>
+<td class="tocpg">&nbsp;</td>
+</tr>
+<tr><td><span class="smcap"><a href="#CHAPTER_VI">Clairvoyance in Space: Unintentional</a></span></td>
+<td class="tocpg"><a href="#Page_87">87</a></td></tr>
+<tr>
+<td colspan="2">&nbsp;</td>
+</tr>
+<tr><td colspan="2" class="td1"><a href="#CHAPTER_VII">CHAPTER VII.</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td>&nbsp;</td>
+<td class="tocpg">&nbsp;</td>
+</tr>
+<tr><td><span class="smcap"><a href="#CHAPTER_VII">Clairvoyance in Time: the Past</a></span></td>
+<td class="tocpg"><a href="#Page_96">96</a></td></tr>
+<tr>
+<td colspan="2">&nbsp;</td>
+</tr>
+<tr><td colspan="2" class="td1"><a href="#CHAPTER_VIII">CHAPTER VIII.</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td>&nbsp;</td>
+<td class="tocpg">&nbsp;</td>
+</tr>
+<tr><td><span class="smcap"><a href="#CHAPTER_VIII">Clairvoyance in Time: the Future</a></span></td>
+<td class="tocpg"><a href="#Page_131">131</a></td></tr>
+<tr>
+<td colspan="2">&nbsp;</td>
+</tr>
+<tr><td colspan="2" class="td1"><a href="#CHAPTER_IX">CHAPTER IX.</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td>&nbsp;</td>
+<td class="tocpg">&nbsp;</td>
+</tr>
+<tr><td><span class="smcap"><a href="#CHAPTER_IX">Methods of Development</a></span></td>
+<td class="tocpg"><a href="#Page_163">163</a></td></tr>
+</table>
+
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2>CLAIRVOYANCE</h2>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_5" id="Page_5">[5]</a></span></p>
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_I" id="CHAPTER_I"></a>CHAPTER I.</h2>
+
+<h2><span class="smcap">What Clairvoyance is.</span></h2>
+
+
+<p>Clairvoyance means literally nothing more than "clear-seeing," and it
+is a word which has been sorely misused, and even degraded so far as
+to be employed to describe the trickery of a mountebank in a variety
+show. Even in its more restricted sense it covers a wide range of
+phenomena, differing so greatly in character that it is not easy to
+give a definition of the word which shall be at once succinct and
+accurate. It has been called "spiritual vision," but no rendering
+could well be more misleading than that, for in the vast majority of
+cases there is no faculty connected with it which has the slightest
+claim to be honoured by so lofty a name.</p>
+
+<p>For the purpose of this treatise we may, perhaps, define it as the
+power to see what is hidden from ordinary physical sight. It will be
+as well to premise<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_6" id="Page_6">[6]</a></span> that it is very frequently (though by no means
+always) accompanied by what is called clairaudience, or the power to
+hear what would be inaudible to the ordinary physical ear; and we will
+for the nonce take our title as covering this faculty also, in order
+to avoid the clumsiness of perpetually using two long words where one
+will suffice.</p>
+
+<p>Let me make two points clear before I begin. First, I am not writing
+for those who do not believe that there is such a thing as
+clairvoyance, nor am I seeking to convince those who are in doubt
+about the matter. In so small a work as this I have no space for that;
+such people must study the many books containing lists of cases, or
+make experiments for themselves along mesmeric lines. I am addressing
+myself to the better-instructed class who know that clairvoyance
+exists, and are sufficiently interested in the subject to be glad of
+information as to its methods and possibilities; and I would assure
+them that what I write is the result of much careful study and
+experiment, and that though some of the powers which I shall have to
+describe may seem new and wonderful to them, I mention no single one
+of which I have not myself seen examples.</p>
+
+<p>Secondly, though I shall endeavour to avoid technicalities as far as
+possible, yet as I am writing in the main for students of Theosophy, I
+shall feel myself at liberty sometimes to use, for brevity's sake and
+with<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_7" id="Page_7">[7]</a></span>out detailed explanation, the ordinary Theosophical terms with
+which I may safely assume them to be familiar.</p>
+
+<p>Should this little book fall into the hands of any to whom the
+occasional use of such terms constitutes a difficulty, I can only
+apologize to them and refer them for these preliminary explanations to
+any elementary Theosophical work, such as Mrs. Besant's <i>Ancient
+Wisdom</i> or <i>Man and His Bodies</i>. The truth is that the whole
+Theosophical system hangs together so closely, and its various parts
+are so interdependent, that to give a full explanation of every term
+used would necessitate an exhaustive treatise on Theosophy as a
+preface even to this short account of clairvoyance.</p>
+
+<p>Before a detailed explanation of clairvoyance can usefully be
+attempted, however, it will be necessary for us to devote a little
+time to some preliminary considerations, in order that we may have
+clearly in mind a few broad facts as to the different planes on which
+clairvoyant vision may be exercised, and the conditions which render
+its exercise possible.</p>
+
+<p>We are constantly assured in Theosophical literature that all these
+higher faculties are presently to be the heritage of mankind in
+general&mdash;that the capacity of clairvoyance, for example, lies latent
+in every one, and that those in whom it already manifests itself are
+simply in that one particular a little in advance of the rest of us.
+Now this statement is a true one, and yet<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_8" id="Page_8">[8]</a></span> it seems quite vague and
+unreal to the majority of people, simply because they regard such a
+faculty as something absolutely different from anything they have yet
+experienced, and feel fairly confident that they themselves, at any
+rate, are not within measurable distance of its development.</p>
+
+<p>It may help to dispel this sense of unreality if we try to understand
+that clairvoyance, like so many other things in nature, is mainly a
+question of vibrations, and is in fact nothing but an extension of
+powers which we are all using every day of our lives. We are living
+all the while surrounded by a vast sea of mingled air and ether, the
+latter inter-penetrating the former, as it does all physical matter;
+and it is chiefly by means of vibrations in that vast sea of matter
+that impressions reach us from the outside. This much we all know, but
+it may perhaps never have occurred to many of us that the number of
+these vibrations to which we are capable of responding is in reality
+quite infinitesimal.</p>
+
+<p>Up among the exceedingly rapid vibrations which affect the ether there
+is a certain small section&mdash;a <i>very</i> small section&mdash;to which the
+retina of the human eye is capable of responding, and these particular
+vibrations produce in us the sensation which we call light. That is to
+say, we are capable of seeing only those objects from which light of
+that particular kind can either issue or be reflected.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_9" id="Page_9">[9]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>In exactly the same way the tympanum of the human ear is capable of
+responding to a certain very small range of comparatively slow
+vibrations&mdash;slow enough to affect the air which surrounds us; and so
+the only sounds which we can hear are those made by objects which are
+able to vibrate at some rate within that particular range.</p>
+
+<p>In both cases it is a matter perfectly well known to science that
+there are large numbers of vibrations both above and below these two
+sections, and that consequently there is much light that we cannot
+see, and there are many sounds to which our ears are deaf. In the case
+of light the action of these higher and lower vibrations is easily
+perceptible in the effects produced by the actinic rays at one end of
+the spectrum and the heat rays at the other.</p>
+
+<p>As a matter of fact there exist vibrations of every conceivable degree
+of rapidity, filling the whole vast space intervening between the slow
+sound waves and the swift light waves; nor is even that all, for there
+are undoubtedly vibrations slower than those of sound, and a whole
+infinity of them which are swifter than those known to us as light. So
+we begin to understand that the vibrations by which we see and hear
+are only like two tiny groups of a few strings selected from an
+enormous harp of practically infinite extent, and when we think how
+much we have been able to learn and infer from the use of those
+minute<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_10" id="Page_10">[10]</a></span> fragments, we see vaguely what possibilities might lie before
+us if we were enabled to utilize the vast and wonderful whole.</p>
+
+<p>Another fact which needs to be considered in this connection is that
+different human beings vary considerably, though within relatively
+narrow limits, in their capacity of response even to the very few
+vibrations which are within reach of our physical senses. I am not
+referring to the keenness of sight or of hearing that enables one man
+to see a fainter object or hear a slighter sound than another; it is
+not in the least a question of strength of vision, but of extent of
+susceptibility.</p>
+
+<p>For example, if anyone will take a good bisulphide of carbon prism,
+and by its means throw a clear spectrum on a sheet of white paper, and
+then get a number of people to mark upon the paper the extreme limits
+of the spectrum as it appears to them, he is fairly certain to find
+that their powers of vision differ appreciably. Some will see the
+violet extending much farther than the majority do; others will
+perhaps see rather less violet than most, while gaining a
+corresponding extension of vision at the red end. Some few there will
+perhaps be who can see farther than ordinary at both ends, and these
+will almost certainly be what we call sensitive people&mdash;susceptible in
+fact to a greater range of vibrations than are most men of the present
+day.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_11" id="Page_11">[11]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>In hearing, the same difference can be tested by taking some sound
+which is just not too high to be audible&mdash;on the very verge of
+audibility as it were&mdash;and discovering how many among a given number
+of people are able to hear it. The squeak of a bat is a familiar
+instance of such a sound, and experiment will show that on a summer
+evening, when the whole air is full of the shrill, needle-like cries
+of these little animals, quite a large number of men will be
+absolutely unconscious of them, and unable to hear anything at all.</p>
+
+<p>Now these examples clearly show that there is no hard-and-fast limit
+to man's power of response to either etheric or aerial vibrations, but
+that some among us already have that power to a wider extent than
+others; and it will even be found that the same man's capacity varies
+on different occasions. It is therefore not difficult for us to
+imagine that it might be possible for a man to develop this power, and
+thus in time to learn to see much that is invisible to his fellow-men,
+and hear much that is inaudible to them, since we know perfectly well
+that enormous numbers of these additional vibrations do exist, and are
+simply, as it were, awaiting recognition.</p>
+
+<p>The experiments with the R&ouml;ntgen rays give us an example of the
+startling results which are produced when even a very few of these
+additional vibrations are brought within human ken, and the
+transparency<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_12" id="Page_12">[12]</a></span> to these rays of many substances hitherto considered
+opaque at once shows us one way at least in which we may explain such
+elementary clairvoyance as is involved in reading a letter inside a
+closed box, or describing those present in an adjoining apartment. To
+learn to see by means of the R&ouml;ntgen rays in addition to those
+ordinarily employed would be quite sufficient to enable anyone to
+perform a feat of magic of this order.</p>
+
+<p>So far we have thought only of an extension of the purely physical
+senses of man; and when we remember that a man's etheric body is in
+reality merely the finer part of his physical frame, and that
+therefore all his sense organs contain a large amount of etheric
+matter of various degrees of density, the capacities of which are
+still practically latent in most of us, we shall see that even if we
+confine ourselves to this line of development alone there are enormous
+possibilities of all kinds already opening out before us.</p>
+
+<p>But besides and beyond all this we know that man possesses an astral
+and a mental body, each of which can in process of time be aroused
+into activity, and will respond in turn to the vibrations of the
+matter of its own plane, thus opening up before the Ego, as he learns
+to function through these vehicles, two entirely new and far wider
+worlds of knowledge and power. Now these new worlds, though they are
+all around us and freely inter-penetrate one another,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_13" id="Page_13">[13]</a></span> are not to be
+thought of as distinct and entirely unconnected in substance, but
+rather as melting the one into the other, the lowest astral forming a
+direct series with the highest physical, just as the lowest mental in
+its turn forms a direct series with the highest astral. We are not
+called upon in thinking of them to imagine some new and strange kind
+of matter, but simply to think of the ordinary physical kind as
+subdivided so very much more finely and vibrating so very much more
+rapidly as to introduce us to what are practically entirely new
+conditions and qualities.</p>
+
+<p>It is not then difficult for us to grasp the possibility of a steady
+and progressive extension of our senses, so that both by sight and by
+hearing we may be able to appreciate vibrations far higher and far
+lower than those which are ordinarily recognised. A large section of
+these additional vibrations will still belong to the physical plane,
+and will merely enable us to obtain impressions from the etheric part
+of that plane, which is at present as a closed book to us. Such
+impressions will still be received through the retina of the eye; of
+course they will affect its etheric rather than its solid matter, but
+we may nevertheless regard them as still appealing only to an organ
+specialized to receive them, and not to the whole surface of the
+etheric body.</p>
+
+<p>There are some abnormal cases, however, in which other parts of the
+etheric body respond to these addi<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_14" id="Page_14">[14]</a></span>tional vibrations as readily as, or
+even more readily than, the eye. Such vagaries are explicable in
+various ways, but principally as effects of some partial astral
+development, for it will be found that the sensitive parts of the body
+almost invariably correspond with one or other of the <i>chakrams</i>, or
+centres of vitality in the astral body. And though, if astral
+consciousness be not yet developed, these centres may not be available
+on their own plane, they are still strong enough to stimulate into
+keener activity the etheric matter which they inter-penetrate.</p>
+
+<p>When we come to deal with the astral senses themselves the methods of
+working are very different. The astral body has no specialized
+sense-organs&mdash;a fact which perhaps needs some explanation, since many
+students who are trying to comprehend its physiology seem to find it
+difficult to reconcile with the statements that have been made as to
+the perfect inter-penetration of the physical body by astral matter,
+the exact correspondence between the two vehicles, and the fact that
+every physical object has necessarily its astral counterpart.</p>
+
+<p>Now all these statements are true, and yet it is quite possible for
+people who do not normally see astrally to misunderstand them. Every
+order of physical matter has its corresponding order of astral matter
+in constant association with it&mdash;not to be separated from it except by
+a very considerable<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_15" id="Page_15">[15]</a></span> exertion of occult force, and even then only to
+be held apart from it as long as force is being definitely exerted to
+that end. But for all that the relation of the astral particles one to
+another is far looser than is the case with their physical
+correspondences.</p>
+
+<p>In a bar of iron, for example, we have a mass of physical molecules in
+the solid condition&mdash;that is to say, capable of comparatively little
+change in their relative positions, though each vibrating with immense
+rapidity in its own sphere. The astral counterpart of this consists of
+what we often call solid astral matter&mdash;that is, matter of the lowest
+and densest sub-plane of the astral; but nevertheless its particles
+are constantly and rapidly changing their relative position, moving
+among one another as easily as those of a liquid on the physical plane
+might do. So that there is no permanent association between any one
+physical particle and that amount of astral matter which happens at
+any given moment to be acting as its counterpart.</p>
+
+<p>This is equally true with respect to the astral body of man, which for
+our purpose at the moment we may regard as consisting of two
+parts&mdash;the denser aggregation which occupies the exact position of the
+physical body, and the cloud of rarer astral matter which surrounds
+that aggregation. In both these parts, and between them both, there is
+going on at every moment of time the rapid inter-circulation of the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_16" id="Page_16">[16]</a></span>
+particles which has been described, so that as one watches the
+movement of the molecules in the astral body one is reminded of the
+appearance of those in fiercely boiling water.</p>
+
+<p>This being so, it will be readily understood that though any given
+organ of the physical body must always have as its counterpart a
+certain amount of astral matter, it does not retain the same particles
+for more than a few seconds at a time, and consequently there is
+nothing corresponding to the specialization of physical nerve-matter
+into optic or auditory nerves, and so on. So that though the physical
+eye or ear has undoubtedly always its counterpart of astral matter,
+that particular fragment of astral matter is no more (and no less)
+capable of responding to the vibrations which produce astral sight or
+astral hearing than any other part of the vehicle.</p>
+
+<p>It must never be forgotten that though we constantly have to speak of
+"astral sight" or "astral hearing" in order to make ourselves
+intelligible, all that we mean by those expressions is the faculty of
+responding to such vibrations as convey to the man's consciousness,
+when he is functioning in his astral body, information of the same
+character as that conveyed to him by his eyes and ears while he is in
+the physical body. But in the entirely different astral conditions,
+specialized organs are not necessary for the attainment of this
+result; there is matter in<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_17" id="Page_17">[17]</a></span> every part of the astral body which is
+capable of such response, and consequently the man functioning in that
+vehicle sees equally well objects behind him, beneath him, above him,
+without needing to turn his head.</p>
+
+<p>There is, however, another point which it would hardly be fair to
+leave entirely out of account, and that is the question of the
+<i>chakrams</i> referred to above. Theosophical students are familiar with
+the idea of the existence in both the astral and the etheric bodies of
+man of certain centres of force which have to be vivified in turn by
+the sacred serpent-fire as the man advances in evolution. Though these
+cannot be described as organs in the ordinary sense of the word, since
+it is not through them that the man sees or hears, as he does in
+physical life through eyes and ears, yet it is apparently very largely
+upon their vivification that the power of exercising these astral
+senses depends, each of them as it is developed giving to the whole
+astral body the power of response to a new set of vibrations.</p>
+
+<p>Neither have these centres, however, any permanent collection of
+astral matter connected with them. They are simply vortices in the
+matter of the body&mdash;vortices through which all the particles pass in
+turn&mdash;points, perhaps, at which the higher force from planes above
+impinges upon the astral body. Even this description gives but a very
+partial idea of their<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_18" id="Page_18">[18]</a></span> appearance, for they are in reality
+four-dimensional vortices, so that the force which comes through them
+and is the cause of their existence seems to well up from nowhere. But
+at any rate, since all particles in turn pass through each of them, it
+will be clear that it is thus possible for each in turn to evoke in
+all the particles of the body the power of receptivity to a certain
+set of vibrations, so that all the astral senses are equally active in
+all parts of the body.</p>
+
+<p>The vision of the mental plane is again totally different, for in this
+case we can no longer speak of separate senses such as sight and
+hearing, but rather have to postulate one general sense which responds
+so fully to the vibrations reaching it that when any object comes
+within its cognition it at once comprehends it fully, and as it were
+sees it, hears it, feels it, and knows all there is to know about it
+by the one instantaneous operation. Yet even this wonderful faculty
+differs in degree only and not in kind from those which are at our
+command at the present time; on the mental plane, just as on the
+physical, impressions are still conveyed by means of vibrations
+travelling from the object seen to the seer.</p>
+
+<p>On the buddhic plane we meet for the first time with a quite new
+faculty having nothing in common with those of which we have spoken,
+for there a man cognizes any object by an entirely different method,
+in which external vibrations play no part. The<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_19" id="Page_19">[19]</a></span> object becomes part of
+himself, and he studies it from the inside instead of from the
+outside. But with <i>this</i> power ordinary clairvoyance has nothing to
+do.</p>
+
+<p>The development, either entire or partial, of any one of these
+faculties would come under our definition of clairvoyance&mdash;the power
+to see what is hidden from ordinary physical sight. But these
+faculties may be developed in various ways, and it will be well to say
+a few words as to these different lines.</p>
+
+<p>We may presume that if it were possible for a man to be isolated
+during his evolution from all but the gentlest outside influences, and
+to unfold from the beginning in perfectly regular and normal fashion,
+he would probably develop his senses in regular order also. He would
+find his physical senses gradually extending their scope until they
+responded to all the physical vibrations, of etheric as well as of
+denser matter; then in orderly sequence would come sensibility to the
+coarser part of the astral plane, and presently the finer part also
+would be included, until in due course the faculty of the mental plane
+dawned in its turn.</p>
+
+<p>In real life, however, development so regular as this is hardly ever
+known, and many a man has occasional flashes of astral consciousness
+without any awakening of etheric vision at all. And this irregularity
+of development is one of the principal causes of man's extraordinary
+liability to error in matters<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_20" id="Page_20">[20]</a></span> of clairvoyance&mdash;a liability from which
+there is no escape except by a long course of careful training under a
+qualified teacher.</p>
+
+<p>Students of Theosophical literature are well aware that there are such
+teachers to be found&mdash;that even in this materialistic nineteenth
+century the old saying is still true, that "when the pupil is ready,
+the Master is ready also," and that "in the hall of learning, when he
+is capable of entering there, the disciple will always find his
+Master." They are well aware also that only under such guidance can a
+man develop his latent powers in safety and with certainty, since they
+know how fatally easy it is for the untrained clairvoyant to deceive
+himself as to the meaning and value of what he sees, or even
+absolutely to distort his vision completely in bringing it down into
+his physical consciousness.</p>
+
+<p>It does not follow that even the pupil who is receiving regular
+instruction in the use of occult powers will find them unfolding
+themselves exactly in the regular order which was suggested above as
+probably ideal. His previous progress may not have been such as to
+make this for him the easiest or most desirable road; but at any rate
+he is in the hands of one who is perfectly competent to be his guide
+in spiritual development, and he rests in perfect contentment that the
+way along which he is taken will be that which is the best way for
+him.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_21" id="Page_21">[21]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>Another great advantage which he gains is that whatever faculties he
+may acquire are definitely under his command and can be used fully and
+constantly when he needs them for his Theosophical work; whereas in
+the case of the untrained man such powers often manifest themselves
+only very partially and spasmodically, and appear to come and go, as
+it were, at their own sweet will.</p>
+
+<p>It may reasonably be objected that if clairvoyant faculty is, as
+stated, a part of the occult development of man, and so a sign of a
+certain amount of progress along that line, it seems strange that it
+should often be possessed by primitive peoples, or by the ignorant and
+uncultured among our own race&mdash;persons who are obviously quite
+undeveloped, from whatever point of view one regards them. No doubt
+this does appear remarkable at first sight but the fact is that the
+sensitiveness of the savage or of the coarse and vulgar European
+ignoramus is not really at all the same thing as the faculty of his
+properly trained brother, nor is it arrived at in the same way.</p>
+
+<p>An exact and detailed explanation of the difference would lead us into
+rather recondite technicalities, but perhaps the general idea of the
+distinction between the two may be caught from an example taken from
+the very lowest plane of clairvoyance, in close contact with the
+denser physical. The etheric double in man is in exceedingly close
+relation to his nervous system,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_22" id="Page_22">[22]</a></span> and any kind of action upon one of
+them speedily reacts on the other. Now in the sporadic appearance of
+etheric sight in the savage, whether of Central Africa or of Western
+Europe, it has been observed that the corresponding nervous
+disturbance is almost entirely in the sympathetic system, and that the
+whole affair is practically beyond the man's control&mdash;is in fact a
+sort of massive sensation vaguely belonging to the whole etheric body,
+rather than an exact and definite sense-perception communicated
+through a specialized organ.</p>
+
+<p>As in later races and amid higher development the strength of the man
+is more and more thrown into the evolution of the mental faculties,
+this vague sensitiveness usually disappears; but still later, when the
+spiritual man begins to unfold, he regains his clairvoyant power. This
+time, however, the faculty is a precise and exact one, under the
+control of the man's will, and exercised through a definite
+sense-organ; and it is noteworthy that any nervous action set up in
+sympathy with it is now almost exclusively in the cerebro-spinal
+system.</p>
+
+<p>On this subject Mrs. Besant writes:&mdash;"The lower forms of psychism are
+more frequent in animals and in very unintelligent human beings than
+in men and women in whom the intellectual powers are well developed.
+They appear to be connected with the sympathetic system, not with the
+cerebro-spinal.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_23" id="Page_23">[23]</a></span> The large nucleated ganglionic cells in this system
+contain a very large proportion of etheric matter, and are hence more
+easily affected by the coarser astral vibrations than are the cells in
+which the proportion is less. As the cerebro-spinal system develops,
+and the brain becomes more highly evolved, the sympathetic system
+subsides into a subordinate position, and the sensitiveness to psychic
+vibrations is dominated by the stronger and more active vibrations of
+the higher nervous system. It is true that at a later stage of
+evolution psychic sensitiveness reappears, but it is then developed in
+connection with the cerebro-spinal centres, and is brought under the
+control of the will. But the hysterical and ill-regulated psychism of
+which we see so many lamentable examples is due to the small
+development of the brain and the dominance of the sympathetic system."</p>
+
+<p>Occasional flashes of clairvoyance do, however, sometimes come to the
+highly cultured and spiritual-minded man, even though he may never
+have heard of the possibility of training such a faculty. In his case
+such glimpses usually signify that he is approaching that stage in his
+evolution when these powers will naturally begin to manifest
+themselves, and their appearance should serve as an additional
+stimulus to him to strive to maintain that high standard of moral
+purity and mental balance without which clairvoyance is a curse and
+not a blessing to its possessor.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_24" id="Page_24">[24]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>Between those who are entirely unimpressible and those who are in full
+possession of clairvoyant power there are many intermediate stages.
+One to which it will be worth while to give a passing glance is the
+stage in which a man, though he has no clairvoyant faculty in ordinary
+life, yet exhibits it more or less fully under the influence of
+mesmerism. This is a case in which the psychic nature is already
+sensitive, but the consciousness is not yet capable of functioning in
+it amidst the manifold distractions of physical life. It needs to be
+set free by the temporary suspension of the outer senses in the
+mesmeric trance before it can use the diviner faculties which are but
+just beginning to dawn within it. But of course even in the mesmeric
+trance there are innumerable degrees of lucidity, from the ordinary
+patient who is blankly unintelligent to the man whose power of sight
+is fully under the control of the operator, and can be directed
+whithersoever he wills, or to the more advanced stage in which, when
+the consciousness is once set free, it escapes altogether from the
+grasp of the magnetizer, and soars into fields of exalted vision where
+it is entirely beyond his reach.</p>
+
+<p>Another step along the same path is that upon which such perfect
+suppression of the physical as that which occurs in the hypnotic
+trance is not necessary, but the power of supernormal sight, though
+still out of reach during waking life, becomes available when<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_25" id="Page_25">[25]</a></span> the
+body is held in the bonds of ordinary sleep. At this stage of
+development stood many of the prophets and seers of whom we read, who
+were "warned of God in a dream," or communed with beings far higher
+than themselves in the silent watches of the night.</p>
+
+<p>Most cultured people of the higher races of the world have this
+development to some extent: that is to say, the senses of their astral
+bodies are in full working order, and perfectly capable of receiving
+impressions from objects and entities of their own plane. But to make
+that fact of any use to them down here in the physical body, two
+changes are usually necessary; first, that the Ego shall be awakened
+to the realities of the astral plane, and induced to emerge from the
+chrysalis formed by his own waking thoughts, and look round him to
+observe and to learn; and secondly, that the consciousness shall be so
+far retained during the return of the Ego into his physical body as to
+enable him to impress upon his physical brain the recollection of what
+he has seen or learnt.</p>
+
+<p>If the first of these changes has taken place, the second is of little
+importance, since the Ego, the true man, will be able to profit by the
+information to be obtained upon that plane, even though he may not
+have the satisfaction of bringing through any remembrance of it into
+his waking life down here.</p>
+
+<p>Students often ask how this clairvoyant faculty will first be
+manifested in themselves&mdash;how they may<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_26" id="Page_26">[26]</a></span> know when they have reached
+the stage at which its first faint foreshadowings are beginning to be
+visible. Cases differ so widely that it is impossible to give to this
+question any answer that will be universally applicable.</p>
+
+<p>Some people begin by a plunge, as it were, and under some unusual
+stimulus become able just for once to see some striking vision; and
+very often in such a case, because the experience does not repeat
+itself, the seer comes in time to believe that on that occasion he
+must have been the victim of hallucination. Others begin by becoming
+intermittently conscious of the brilliant colours and vibrations of
+the human aura; yet others find themselves with increasing frequency
+seeing and hearing something to which those around them are blind and
+deaf; others, again, see faces, landscapes, or coloured clouds
+floating before their eyes in the dark before they sink to rest; while
+perhaps the commonest experience of all is that of those who begin to
+recollect with greater and greater clearness what they have seen and
+heard on the other planes during sleep.</p>
+
+<p>Having now to some extent cleared our ground, we may proceed to
+consider the various phenomena of clairvoyance.</p>
+
+<p>They differ so widely both in character and in degree that it is not
+very easy to decide how they can most satisfactorily be classified. We
+might, for<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_27" id="Page_27">[27]</a></span> example, arrange them according to the kind of sight
+employed&mdash;whether it were mental, astral, or merely etheric. We might
+divide them according to the capacity of the clairvoyant, taking into
+consideration whether he was trained or untrained; whether his vision
+was regular and under his command, or spasmodic and independent of his
+volition; whether he could exercise it only when under mesmeric
+influence, or whether that assistance was unnecessary for him; whether
+he was able to use his faculty when awake in the physical body, or
+whether it was available only when he was temporarily away from that
+body in sleep or trance.</p>
+
+<p>All these distinctions are of importance, and we shall have to take
+them all into consideration as we go on, but perhaps on the whole the
+most useful classification will be one something on the lines of that
+adopted by Mr. Sinnett in his <i>Rationale of Mesmerism</i>&mdash;a book, by the
+way, which all students of clairvoyance ought to read. In dealing with
+the phenomena, then, we will arrange them rather according to the
+capacity of the sight employed than to the plane upon which it is
+exercised, so that we may group instances of clairvoyance under some
+such headings as these:</p>
+
+<p>1. Simple clairvoyance&mdash;that is to say, a mere opening of sight,
+enabling its possessor to see whatever astral or etheric entities
+happen to be present<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_28" id="Page_28">[28]</a></span> around him, but not including the power of
+observing either distant places or scenes belonging to any other time
+than the present.</p>
+
+<p>2. Clairvoyance in space&mdash;the capacity to see scenes or events removed
+from the seer in space, and either too far distant for ordinary
+observation or concealed by intermediate objects.</p>
+
+<p>3. Clairvoyance in time&mdash;that is to say, the capacity to see objects
+or events which are removed from the seer in time, or, in other words,
+the power of looking into the past or the future.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_29" id="Page_29">[29]</a></span></p>
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_II" id="CHAPTER_II"></a>CHAPTER II.</h2>
+
+<h2><span class="smcap">Simple Clairvoyance: Full.</span></h2>
+
+
+<p>We have defined this as a mere opening of etheric or astral sight,
+which enables the possessor to see whatever may be present around him
+on corresponding levels, but is not usually accompanied by the power
+of seeing anything at a great distance or of reading either the past
+or the future. It is hardly possible altogether to exclude these
+latter faculties, for astral sight necessarily has considerably
+greater extension than physical, and fragmentary pictures of both past
+and future are often casually visible even to clairvoyants who do not
+know how to seek specially for them; but there is nevertheless a very
+real distinction between such incidental glimpses and the definite
+power of projection of the sight either in space or time.</p>
+
+<p>We find among sensitive people all degrees of this kind of
+clairvoyance, from that of the man who gets a vague impression which
+hardly deserves the name of sight at all, up to the full possession of
+etheric and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_30" id="Page_30">[30]</a></span> astral vision respectively. Perhaps the simplest method
+will be for us to begin by describing what would be visible in the
+case of this fuller development of the power, as the cases of its
+partial possession will then be seen to fall naturally into their
+places.</p>
+
+<p>Let us take the etheric vision first. This consists simply, as has
+already been said, in susceptibility to a far larger series of
+physical vibrations than ordinary, but nevertheless its possession
+brings into view a good deal to which the majority of the human race
+still remains blind. Let us consider what changes its acquisition
+produces in the aspect of familiar objects, animate and inanimate, and
+then see to what entirely new factors it introduces us. But it must be
+remembered that what I am about to describe is the result of the full
+and perfectly-controlled possession of the faculty only, and that most
+of the instances met with in real life will be likely to fall far
+short of it in one direction or another.</p>
+
+<p>The most striking change produced in the appearance of inanimate
+objects by the acquisition of this faculty is that most of them become
+almost transparent, owing to the difference in wave-length of some of
+the vibrations to which the man has now become susceptible. He finds
+himself capable of performing with the utmost ease the proverbial feat
+of "seeing through a brick wall," for to his newly-acquired vision the
+brick wall seems to have a con<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_31" id="Page_31">[31]</a></span>sistency no greater than that of a
+light mist. He therefore sees what is going on in an adjoining room
+almost as though no intervening wall existed; he can describe with
+accuracy the contents of a locked box, or read a sealed letter; with a
+little practice he can find a given passage in a closed book. This
+last feat, though perfectly easy to astral vision, presents
+considerable difficulty to one using etheric sight, because of the
+fact that each page has to be looked at <i>through</i> all those which
+happen to be superimposed upon it.</p>
+
+<p>It is often asked whether under these circumstances a man sees always
+with this abnormal sight, or only when he wishes to do so. The answer
+is that if the faculty is perfectly developed it will be entirely
+under his control, and he can use that or his more ordinary vision at
+will. He changes from one to the other as readily and naturally as we
+now change the focus of our eyes when we look up from our book to
+follow the motions of some object a mile away. It is, as it were, a
+focussing of consciousness on the one or the other aspect of what is
+seen; and though the man would have quite clearly in his view the
+aspect upon which his attention was for the moment fixed, he would
+always be vaguely conscious of the other aspect too, just as when we
+focus our sight upon any object held in our hands we yet vaguely see
+the opposite wall of the room as a background.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_32" id="Page_32">[32]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>Another curious change, which comes from the possession of this sight,
+is that the solid ground upon which the man walks becomes to a certain
+extent transparent to him, so that he is able to see down into it to a
+considerable depth, much as we can now see into fairly clear water.
+This enables him to watch a creature burrowing underground, to
+distinguish a vein of coal or of metal if not too far below the
+surface, and so on.</p>
+
+<p>The limit of etheric sight when looking through solid matter appears
+to be analogous to that imposed upon us when looking through water or
+mist. We cannot see beyond a certain distance, because the medium
+through which we are looking is not perfectly transparent.</p>
+
+<p>The appearance of animate objects is also considerably altered for the
+man who has increased his visual powers to this extent. The bodies of
+men and animals are for him in the main transparent, so that he can
+watch the action of the various internal organs, and to some extent
+diagnose some of their diseases.</p>
+
+<p>The extended sight also enables him to perceive, more or less clearly,
+various classes of creatures, elemental and otherwise, whose bodies
+are not capable of reflecting any of the rays within the limit of the
+spectrum as ordinarily seen. Among the entities so seen will be some
+of the lower orders of nature-spirits&mdash;those whose bodies are composed
+of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_33" id="Page_33">[33]</a></span> the denser etheric matter. To this class belong nearly all the
+fairies, gnomes, and brownies, about whom there are still so many
+stories remaining among Scotch and Irish mountains and in remote
+country places all over the world.</p>
+
+<p>The vast kingdom of nature-spirits is in the main an astral kingdom,
+but still there is a large section of it which appertains to the
+etheric part of the physical plane, and this section, of course, is
+much more likely to come within the ken of ordinary people than the
+others. Indeed, in reading the common fairy stories one frequently
+comes across distinct indications that it is with this class that we
+are dealing. Any student of fairy lore will remember how often mention
+is made of some mysterious ointment or drug, which when applied to a
+man's eyes enables him to see the members of the fairy commonwealth
+whenever he happens to meet them.</p>
+
+<p>The story of such an application and its results occurs so constantly
+and comes from so many different parts of the world that there must
+certainly be some truth behind it, as there always is behind really
+universal popular tradition. Now no such anointing of the eyes alone
+could by any possibility open a man's astral vision, though certain
+ointments rubbed over the whole body will very greatly assist the
+astral body to leave the physical in full consciousness&mdash;a fact the
+knowledge of which seems to have survived<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_34" id="Page_34">[34]</a></span> even to medi&aelig;val times, as
+will be seen from the evidence given at some of the trials for
+witchcraft. But the application to the physical eye might very easily
+so stimulate its sensitiveness as to make it susceptible to some of
+the etheric vibrations.</p>
+
+<p>The story frequently goes on to relate how when the human being who
+has used this mystical ointment betrays his extended vision in some
+way to a fairy, the latter strikes or stabs him in the eye, thus
+depriving him not only of the etheric sight, but of that of the denser
+physical plane as well. (See <i>The Science of Fairy Tales</i>, by E. S.
+Hartland, in the "Contemporary Science" series&mdash;or indeed almost any
+extensive collection of fairy stories.) If the sight acquired had been
+astral, such a proceeding would have been entirely unavailing, for no
+injury to the physical apparatus would affect an astral faculty; but
+if the vision produced by the ointment were etheric, the destruction
+of the physical eye would in most cases at once extinguish it, since
+that is the mechanism by means of which it works.</p>
+
+<p>Anyone possessing this sight of which we are speaking would also be
+able to perceive the etheric double of man; but since this is so
+nearly identical in size with the physical, it would hardly be likely
+to attract his attention unless it were partially projected in trance
+or under the influence of an&aelig;sthetics. After death, when it withdraws
+entirely from the dense<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_35" id="Page_35">[35]</a></span> body, it would be clearly visible to him, and
+he would frequently see it hovering over newly made graves as he
+passed through a churchyard or cemetery. If he were to attend a
+spiritualistic s&eacute;ance he would see the etheric matter oozing out from
+the side of the medium, and could observe the various ways in which
+the communicating entities make use of it.</p>
+
+<p>Another fact which could hardly fail soon to thrust itself upon his
+notice would be the extension of his perception of colour. He would
+find himself able to see several entirely new colours, not in the
+least resembling any of those included in the spectrum as we at
+present know it, and therefore of course quite indescribable in any
+terms at our command. And not only would he see new objects that were
+wholly of these new colours, but he would also discover that
+modifications had been introduced into the colour of many objects with
+which he was quite familiar, according to whether they had or had not
+some tinge of these new hues intermingled with the old. So that two
+surfaces of colour which to ordinary eyes appeared to match perfectly
+would often present distinctly different shades to his keener sight.</p>
+
+<p>We have now touched upon some of the principal changes which would be
+introduced into a man's world when he gained etheric sight; and it
+must always be remembered that in most cases a corre<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_36" id="Page_36">[36]</a></span>sponding change
+would at the same time be brought about in his other senses also, so
+that he would be capable of hearing, and perhaps even of feeling, more
+than most of those around him. Now supposing that in addition to this
+he obtained the sight of the astral plane, what further changes would
+be observable?</p>
+
+<p>Well, the changes would be many and great; in fact, a whole new world
+would open before his eyes. Let us consider its wonders briefly in the
+same order as before, and see first what difference there would be in
+the appearance of inanimate objects. On this point I may begin by
+quoting a recent quaint answer given in <i>The V&acirc;han</i>.</p>
+
+<p>"There is a distinct difference between etheric sight and astral
+sight, and it is the latter which seems to correspond to the fourth
+dimension.</p>
+
+<p>"The easiest way to understand the difference is to take an example.
+If you looked at a man with both the sights in turn, you would see the
+buttons at the back of his coat in both cases; only if you used
+etheric sight you would see them <i>through</i> him, and would see the
+shank-side as nearest to you, but if you looked astrally, you would
+see it not only like that, but just as if you were standing behind the
+man as well.</p>
+
+<p>"Or if you were looking etherically at a wooden cube with writing on
+all its sides, it would be as though the cube were glass, so that you
+could see<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_37" id="Page_37">[37]</a></span> through it, and you would see the writing on the opposite
+side all backwards, while that on the right and left sides would not
+be clear to you at all unless you moved, because you would see it
+edgewise. But if you looked at it astrally you would see all the sides
+at once, and all the right way up, as though the whole cube had been
+flattened out before you, and you would see every particle of the
+inside as well&mdash;not <i>through</i> the others, but all flattened out. You
+would be looking at it from another direction, at right angles to all
+the directions that we know.</p>
+
+<p>"If you look at the back of a watch etherically you see all the wheels
+through it, and the face <i>through them</i>, but backwards; if you look at
+it astrally, you see the face right way up and all the wheels lying
+separately, but nothing on the top of anything else."</p>
+
+<p>Here we have at once the keynote, the principal factor of the change;
+the man is looking at everything from an absolutely new point of view,
+entirely outside of anything that he has ever imagined before. He has
+no longer the slightest difficulty in reading any page in a closed
+book, because he is not now looking at it through all the other pages
+before it or behind it, but is looking straight down upon it as though
+it were the only page to be seen. The depth at which a vein of metal
+or of coal may lie is no longer a barrier to his sight of it, because
+he<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_38" id="Page_38">[38]</a></span> is not now looking through the intervening depth of earth at all.
+The thickness of a wall, or the number of walls intervening between
+the observer and the object, would make a great deal of difference to
+the clearness of the etheric sight; they would make no difference
+whatever to the astral sight, because on the astral plane they would
+<i>not</i> intervene between the observer and the object. Of course that
+sounds paradoxical and impossible, and it <i>is</i> quite inexplicable to a
+mind not specially trained to grasp the idea; yet it is none the less
+absolutely true.</p>
+
+<p>This carries us straight into the middle of the much-vexed question of
+the fourth dimension&mdash;a question of the deepest interest, though one
+that we cannot pretend to discuss in the space at our disposal. Those
+who wish to study it as it deserves are recommended to begin with Mr.
+C. H. Hinton's <i>Scientific Romances</i> or Dr. A. T. Schofield's <i>Another
+World</i>, and then follow on with the former author's larger work, <i>A
+New Era of Thought</i>. Mr. Hinton not only claims to be able himself to
+grasp mentally some of the simpler fourth-dimensional figures, but
+also states that anyone who will take the trouble to follow out his
+directions may with perseverance acquire that mental grasp likewise. I
+am not certain that the power to do this is within the reach of
+everyone, as he thinks, for it appears to me to require considerable
+mathematical ability; but I can at any<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_39" id="Page_39">[39]</a></span> rate bear witness that the
+tesseract or fourth-dimensional cube which he describes is a reality,
+for it is quite a familiar figure upon the astral plane. He has now
+perfected a new method of representing the several dimensions by
+colours instead of by arbitrary written symbols. He states that this
+will very much simplify the study, as the reader will be able to
+distinguish instantly by sight any part or feature of the tesseract. A
+full description of this new method, with plates, is said to be ready
+for the press, and is expected to appear within a year, so that
+intending students of this fascinating subject might do well to await
+its publication.</p>
+
+<p>I know that Madame Blavatsky, in alluding to the theory of the fourth
+dimension, has expressed an opinion that it is only a clumsy way of
+stating the idea of the entire permeability of matter, and that Mr. W.
+T. Stead has followed along the same lines, presenting the conception
+to his readers under the name of <i>throughth</i>. Careful, oft-repeated
+and detailed investigation does, however, seem to show quite
+conclusively that this explanation does not cover all the facts. It is
+a perfect description of etheric vision, but the further and quite
+different idea of the fourth dimension as expounded by Mr. Hinton is
+the only one which gives any kind of explanation down here of the
+constantly-observed facts of astral vision. I would therefore venture
+deferentially to suggest that<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_40" id="Page_40">[40]</a></span> when Madame Blavatsky wrote as she did,
+she had in mind etheric vision and not astral, and that the extreme
+applicability of the phrase to this other and higher faculty, of which
+she was not at the moment thinking, did not occur to her.</p>
+
+<p>The possession of this extraordinary and scarcely expressible power,
+then, must always be borne in mind through all that follows. It lays
+every point in the interior of every solid body absolutely open to the
+gaze of the seer, just as every point in the interior of a circle lies
+open to the gaze of a man looking down upon it.</p>
+
+<p>But even this is by no means all that it gives to its possessor. He
+sees not only the inside as well as the outside of every object, but
+also its astral counterpart. Every atom and molecule of physical
+matter has its corresponding astral atoms and molecules, and the mass
+which is built up out of these is clearly visible to our clairvoyant.
+Usually the astral of any object projects somewhat beyond the physical
+part of it, and thus metals, stones and other things are seen
+surrounded by an astral aura.</p>
+
+<p>It will be seen at once that even in the study of inorganic matter a
+man gains immensely by the acquisition of this vision. Not only does
+he see the astral part of the object at which he looks, which before
+was wholly hidden from him; not only does he see much more of its
+physical constitution than he<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_41" id="Page_41">[41]</a></span> did before, but even what was visible
+to him before is now seen much more clearly and truly. A moment's
+consideration will show that his new vision approximates much more
+closely to true perception than does physical sight. For example, if
+he looks astrally at a glass cube, its sides will all appear equal, as
+we know they really are, whereas on the physical plane he sees the
+further side in perspective&mdash;that is, it appears smaller than the
+nearer side, which is, of course, a mere allusion due to his physical
+limitations.</p>
+
+<p>When we come to consider the additional facilities which it offers in
+the observation of animate objects we see still more clearly the
+advantages of the astral vision. It exhibits to the clairvoyant the
+aura of plants and animals, and thus in the case of the latter their
+desires and emotions, and whatever thoughts they may have, are all
+plainly shown before his eyes.</p>
+
+<p>But it is in dealing with human beings that he will most appreciate
+the value of this faculty, for he will often be able to help them far
+more effectually when he guides himself by the information which it
+gives him.</p>
+
+<p>He will be able to see the aura as far up as the astral body, and
+though that leaves all the higher part of a man still hidden from his
+gaze, he will nevertheless find it possible by careful observation to
+learn a good deal about the higher part from what is within<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_42" id="Page_42">[42]</a></span> his
+reach. His capacity of examining the etheric double will give him
+considerable advantage in locating and classifying any defects or
+diseases of the nervous system, while from the appearance of the
+astral body he will be at once aware of all the emotions, passions,
+desires and tendencies of the man before him, and even of very many of
+his thoughts also.</p>
+
+<p>As he looks at a person he will see him surrounded by the luminous
+mist of the astral aura, flashing with all sorts of brilliant colours,
+and constantly changing in hue and brilliancy with every variation of
+the person's thoughts and feelings. He will see this aura flooded with
+the beautiful rose-colour of pure affection, the rich blue of
+devotional feeling, the hard, dull brown of selfishness, the deep
+scarlet of anger, the horrible lurid red of sensuality, the livid grey
+of fear, the black clouds of hatred and malice, or any of the other
+hundredfold indications so easily to be read in it by a practised eye;
+and thus it will be impossible for any persons to conceal from him the
+real state of their feelings on any subject.</p>
+
+<p>These varied indications of the aura are of themselves a study of very
+deep interest, but I have no space to deal with them in detail here. A
+much fuller account of them, together with a large number of coloured
+illustrations, will be found in my work on the subject <i>Man Visible
+and Invisible</i>.</p>
+
+<p>Not only does the astral aura show him the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_43" id="Page_43">[43]</a></span> temporary result of the
+emotion passing through it at the moment, but it also gives him, by
+the arrangement and proportion of its colours when in a condition of
+comparative rest, a clue to the general disposition and character of
+its owner. For the astral body is the expression of as much of the man
+as can be manifested on that plane, so that from what is seen in it
+much more which belongs to higher planes may be inferred with
+considerable certainty.</p>
+
+<p>In this judgment of character our clairvoyant will be much helped by
+so much of the person's thought as expresses itself on the astral
+plane, and consequently comes within his purview. The true home of
+thought is on the mental plane, and all thought first manifests itself
+there as a vibration of the mind-body. But if it be in any way a
+selfish thought, or if it be connected in any way with an emotion or a
+desire, it immediately descends into the astral plane, and takes to
+itself a visible form of astral matter.</p>
+
+<p>In the case of the majority of men almost all thought would fall under
+one or other of these heads, so that practically the whole of their
+personality would lie clearly before our friend's astral vision, since
+their astral bodies and the thought-forms constantly radiating from
+them would be to him as an open book in which their characteristics
+were writ so largely that he who ran might read. Anyone wishing to
+gain some idea as to <i>how</i> the thought-forms present them<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_44" id="Page_44">[44]</a></span>selves to
+clairvoyant vision may satisfy themselves to some extent by examining
+the illustrations accompanying Mrs. Besant's valuable article on the
+subject in <i>Lucifer</i> for September 1896.</p>
+
+<p>We have seen something of the alteration in the appearance of both
+animate and inanimate objects when viewed by one possessed of full
+clairvoyant sight as far as the astral plane is concerned; let us now
+consider what entirely new objects he will see. He will be conscious
+of a far greater fulness in nature in many directions, but chiefly his
+attention will be attracted by the living denizens of this new world.
+No detailed account of them can be attempted within the space at our
+disposal; for that the reader is referred to No. V. of the
+<i>Theosophical Manuals</i>. Here we can do no more than barely enumerate a
+few classes only of the vast hosts of astral inhabitants.</p>
+
+<p>He will be impressed by the protean forms of the ceaseless tide of
+elemental essence, ever swirling around him, menacing often, yet
+always retiring before a determined effort of the will; he will marvel
+at the enormous army of entities temporarily called out of this ocean
+into separate existence by the thoughts and wishes of man, whether
+good or evil. He will watch the manifold tribes of the nature-spirits
+at their work or at their play; he will sometimes be able to study
+with ever-increasing delight the magnificent evolution of some of the
+lower orders of the glorious<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_45" id="Page_45">[45]</a></span> kingdom of the devas, which corresponds
+approximately to the angelic host of Christian terminology.</p>
+
+<p>But perhaps of even keener interest to him than any of these will be
+the human denizens of the astral world, and he will find them
+divisible into two great classes&mdash;those whom we call the living, and
+those others, most of them infinitely more alive, whom we so foolishly
+misname the dead. Among the former he will find here and there one
+wide awake and fully conscious, perhaps sent to bring him some
+message, or examining him keenly to see what progress he is making;
+while the majority of his neighbours, when away from their physical
+bodies during sleep, will drift idly by, so wrapped up in their own
+cogitations as to be practically unconscious of what is going on
+around them.</p>
+
+<p>Among the great host of the recently dead he will find all degrees of
+consciousness and intelligence, and all shades of character&mdash;for
+death, which seems to our limited vision so absolute a change, in
+reality alters nothing of the man himself. On the day after his death
+he is precisely the same man as he was the day before it, with the
+same disposition, the same qualities, the same virtues and vices, save
+only that he has cast aside his physical body; but the loss of that no
+more makes him in any way a different man than would the removal of an
+overcoat. So among the dead our student will find men intelligent and
+stupid,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_46" id="Page_46">[46]</a></span> kind-hearted and morose, serious and frivolous,
+spiritually-minded and sensually-minded, just as among the living.</p>
+
+<p>Since he can not only see the dead, but speak with them, he can often
+be of very great use to them, and give them information and guidance
+which is of the utmost value to them. Many of them are in a condition
+of great surprise and perplexity, and sometimes even of acute
+distress, because they find the facts of the next world so unlike the
+childish legends which are all that popular religion in the West has
+to offer with reference to this transcendently important subject; and
+therefore a man who understands this new world and can explain matters
+is distinctly a friend in need.</p>
+
+<p>In many other ways a man who fully possesses this faculty may be of
+use to the living as well as to the dead; but of this side of the
+subject I have already written in my little book on <i>Invisible
+Helpers</i>. In addition to astral entities he will see astral
+corpses&mdash;shades and shells in all stages of decay; but these need only
+be just mentioned here, as the reader desiring a further account of
+them will find it in our third and fifth manuals.</p>
+
+<p>Another wonderful result which the full enjoyment of astral
+clairvoyance brings to a man is that he has no longer any break in
+consciousness. When he lies down at night he leaves his physical body
+to the rest<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_47" id="Page_47">[47]</a></span> which it requires, while he goes about his business in
+the far more comfortable astral vehicle. In the morning he returns to
+and re-enters his physical body, but without any loss of consciousness
+or memory between the two states, and thus he is able to live, as it
+were, a double life which yet is one, and to be usefully employed
+during the whole of it, instead of losing one-third of his existence
+in blank unconsciousness.</p>
+
+<p>Another strange power of which he may find himself in possession
+(though its full control belongs rather to the still higher devachanic
+faculty), is that of magnifying at will the minutest physical or
+astral particle to any desired size, as though by a microscope&mdash;though
+no microscope ever made or ever likely to be made possesses even a
+thousandth part of this psychic magnifying power. By its means the
+hypothetical molecule and atom postulated by science become visible
+and living realities to the occult student, and on this closer
+examination he finds them to be much more complex in their structure
+than the scientific man has yet realised them to be. It also enables
+him to follow with the closest attention and the most lively interest
+all kinds of electrical, magnetic, and other etheric action; and when
+some of the specialists in these branches of science are able to
+develop the power to see those things whereof they write so facilely,
+some very wonderful and beautiful revelations may be expected.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_48" id="Page_48">[48]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>This is one of the <i>siddhis</i> or powers described in Oriental books as
+accruing to the man who devotes himself to spiritual development,
+though the name under which it is there mentioned might not be
+immediately recognizable. It is referred to as "the power of making
+oneself large or small at will," and the reason of a description which
+appears so oddly to reverse the fact is that in reality the method by
+which this feat is performed is precisely that indicated in these
+ancient books. It is by the use of temporary visual machinery of
+inconceivable minuteness that the world of the infinitely little is so
+clearly seen; and in the same way (or rather in the opposite way) it
+is by temporarily enormously increasing the size of the machinery used
+that it becomes possible to increase the breadth of one's view&mdash;in the
+physical sense as well as, let us hope, in the moral&mdash;far beyond
+anything that science has ever dreamt of as possible for man. So that
+the alteration in size is really in the vehicle of the student's
+consciousness, and not in anything outside of himself; and the old
+Oriental book has, after all, put the case more accurately than we.</p>
+
+<p>Psychometry and second-sight <i>in excelsis</i> would also be among the
+faculties which our friend would find at his command; but those will
+be more fitly dealt with under a later heading, since in almost all
+their manifestations they involve clairvoyance either in space or in
+time.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_49" id="Page_49">[49]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>I have now indicated, though only in the roughest outlines, what a
+trained student, possessed of full astral vision, would see in the
+immensely wider world to which that vision introduced him; but I have
+said nothing of the stupendous change in his mental attitude which
+comes from the experiential certainty as to the existence of the soul,
+its survival after death, the action of the law of karma, and other
+points of equally paramount importance. The difference between even
+the profoundest intellectual conviction and the precise knowledge
+gained by direct personal experience must be felt in order to be
+appreciated.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_50" id="Page_50">[50]</a></span></p>
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_III" id="CHAPTER_III"></a>CHAPTER III.</h2>
+
+<h2><span class="smcap">Simple Clairvoyance: Partial.</span></h2>
+
+
+<p>The experiences of the untrained clairvoyant&mdash;and be it remembered
+that that class includes all European clairvoyants except a very
+few&mdash;will, however, usually fall very far short of what I have
+attempted to indicate; they will fall short in many different ways&mdash;in
+degree, in variety, or in permanence, and above all in precision.</p>
+
+<p>Sometimes, for example, a man's clairvoyance will be permanent, but
+very partial, extending only perhaps to one or two classes of the
+phenomena observable; he will find himself endowed with some isolated
+fragment of higher vision, without apparently possessing other powers
+of sight which ought normally to accompany that fragment, or even to
+precede it. For example, one of my dearest friends has all his life
+had the power to see the atomic ether and atomic astral matter, and to
+recognize their structure, alike in darkness or in light, as
+inter-penetrating everything else; yet he has only rarely seen
+entities whose bodies<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_51" id="Page_51">[51]</a></span> are composed of the much more obvious lower
+ethers or denser astral matter, and at any rate is certainly not
+permanently able to see them. He simply finds himself in possession of
+this special faculty, without any apparent reason to account for it,
+or any recognizable relation to anything else: and beyond proving to
+him the existence of these atomic planes and demonstrating their
+arrangement, it is difficult to see of what particular use it is to
+him at present. Still, there the thing is, and it is an earnest of
+greater things to come&mdash;of further powers still awaiting development.</p>
+
+<p>There are many similar cases&mdash;similar, I mean, not in the possession
+of that particular form of sight (which is unique in my experience),
+but in showing the development of some one small part of the full and
+clear vision of the astral and etheric planes. In nine cases out of
+ten, however, such partial clairvoyance will at the same time lack
+precision also&mdash;that is to say, there will be a good deal of vague
+impression and inference about it, instead of the clear-cut definition
+and certainty of the trained man. Examples of this type are constantly
+to be found, especially among those who advertise themselves as "test
+and business clairvoyants."</p>
+
+<p>Then, again, there are those who are only temporarily clairvoyant
+under certain special conditions. Among these there are various
+subdivisions, some<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_52" id="Page_52">[52]</a></span> being able to reproduce the state of clairvoyance
+at will by again setting up the same conditions, while with others it
+comes sporadically, without any observable reference to their
+surroundings, and with yet others the power shows itself only once or
+twice in the whole course of their lives.</p>
+
+<p>To the first of these subdivisions belong those who are clairvoyant
+only when in the mesmeric trance&mdash;who when not so entranced are
+incapable of seeing or hearing anything abnormal. These may sometimes
+reach great heights of knowledge and be exceedingly precise in their
+indications, but when that is so they are usually undergoing a course
+of regular training, though for some reason unable as yet to set
+themselves free from the leaden weight of earthly life without
+assistance.</p>
+
+<p>In the same class we may put those&mdash;chiefly Orientals&mdash;who gain some
+temporary sight only under the influence of certain drugs, or by means
+of the performance of certain ceremonies. The ceremonialist sometimes
+hypnotizes himself by his repetitions, and in that condition becomes
+to some extent clairvoyant; more often he simply reduces himself to a
+passive condition in which some other entity can obsess him and speak
+through him. Sometimes, again, his ceremonies are not intended to
+affect himself at all, but to invoke some astral entity who will give
+him the required information; but of course<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_53" id="Page_53">[53]</a></span> that is a case of magic,
+and not of clairvoyance. Both the drugs and the ceremonies are methods
+emphatically to be avoided by any one who wishes to approach
+clairvoyance from the higher side, and use it for his own progress and
+for the helping of others. The Central African medicine-man or
+witch-doctor and some of the Tartar Shamans are good examples of the
+type.</p>
+
+<p>Those to whom a certain amount of clairvoyant power has come
+occasionally only, and without any reference to their own wish, have
+often been hysterical or highly nervous persons, with whom the faculty
+was to a large extent one of the symptoms of a disease. Its appearance
+showed that the physical vehicle was weakened to such a degree that it
+no longer presented any obstacle in the way of a certain modicum of
+etheric or astral vision. An extreme example of this class is the man
+who drinks himself into delirium tremens, and in the condition of
+absolute physical ruin and impure psychic excitation brought about by
+the ravages of that fell disease, is able to see for the time some of
+the loathsome elemental and other entities which he has drawn round
+himself by his long course of degraded and bestial indulgence. There
+are, however, other cases where the power of sight has appeared and
+disappeared without apparent reference to the state of the physical
+health; but it seems probable that even<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_54" id="Page_54">[54]</a></span> in those, if they could have
+been observed closely enough, some alteration in the condition of the
+etheric double would have been noticed.</p>
+
+<p>Those who have only one instance of clairvoyance to report in the
+whole of their lives are a difficult band to classify at all
+exhaustively, because of the great variety of the contributory
+circumstances. There are many among them to whom the experience has
+come at some supreme moment of their lives, when it is comprehensible
+that there might have been a temporary exaltation of faculty which
+would be sufficient to account for it.</p>
+
+<p>In the case of another subdivision of them the solitary case has been
+the seeing of an apparition, most commonly of some friend or relative
+at the point of death. Two possibilities are then offered for our
+choice, and in each of them the strong wish of the dying man is the
+impelling force. That force may have enabled him to materialize
+himself for a moment, in which case of course no clairvoyance was
+needed or more probably it may have acted mesmerically upon the
+percipient, and momentarily dulled his physical and stimulated his
+higher sensitiveness. In either case the vision is the product of the
+emergency, and is not repeated simply because the necessary conditions
+are not repeated.</p>
+
+<p>There remains, however, an irresolvable residuum of cases in which a
+solitary instance occurs of the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_55" id="Page_55">[55]</a></span> exercise of undoubted clairvoyance,
+while yet the occasion seems to us wholly trivial and unimportant.
+About these we can only frame hypotheses; the governing conditions are
+evidently not on the physical plane, and a separate investigation of
+each case would be necessary before we could speak with any certainty
+as to its causes. In some such it has appeared that an astral entity
+was endeavouring to make some communication, and was able to impress
+only some unimportant detail on its subject&mdash;all the useful or
+significant part of what it had to say failing to get through into the
+subject's consciousness.</p>
+
+<p>In the investigation of the phenomena of clairvoyance all these varied
+types and many others will be encountered, and a certain number of
+cases of mere hallucination will be almost sure to appear also, and
+will have to be carefully weeded out from the list of examples. The
+student of such a subject needs an inexhaustible fund of patience and
+steady perseverance, but if he goes on long enough he will begin dimly
+to discern order behind the chaos, and will gradually get some idea of
+the great laws under which the whole evolution is working.</p>
+
+<p>It will help him greatly in his efforts if he will adopt the order
+which we have just followed&mdash;that is, if he will first take the
+trouble to familiarize himself as thoroughly as may be with the actual
+facts concerning the planes with which ordinary<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_56" id="Page_56">[56]</a></span> clairvoyance deals.
+If he will learn what there really is to be seen with astral and
+etheric sight, and what their respective limitations are, he will then
+have, as it were, a standard by which to measure the cases which he
+observes. Since all instances of partial sight must of necessity fit
+into some niche in this whole, if he has the outline of the entire
+scheme in his head he will find it comparatively easy with a little
+practice to classify the instances with which he is called upon to
+deal.</p>
+
+<p>We have said nothing as yet as to the still more wonderful
+possibilities of clairvoyance upon the mental plane, nor indeed is it
+necessary that much should be said, as it is exceedingly improbable
+that the investigator will ever meet with any examples of it except
+among pupils properly trained in some of the very highest schools of
+occultism. For them it opens up yet another new world, vaster far than
+all those beneath it&mdash;a world in which all that we can imagine of
+utmost glory and splendour is the commonplace of existence. Some
+account of its marvellous faculty, its eneffable bliss, its
+magnificent opportunities for learning and for work, is given in the
+sixth of our Theosophical manuals, and to that the student may be
+referred.</p>
+
+<p>All that it has to give&mdash;all of it at least that he can assimilate&mdash;is
+within the reach of the trained pupil, but for the untrained
+clairvoyant to touch it is<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_57" id="Page_57">[57]</a></span> hardly more than a bare possibility. It
+has been done in mesmeric trance, but the occurrence is of exceeding
+rarity, for it needs almost superhuman qualifications in the way of
+lofty spiritual aspiration and absolute purity of thought and
+intention upon the part both of the subject and the operator.</p>
+
+<p>To a type of clairvoyance such as this, and still more fully to that
+which belongs to the plane next above it, the name of spiritual sight
+may reasonably be applied; and since the celestial world to which it
+opens our eyes lies all round us here and now, it is fit that our
+passing reference to it should be made under the heading of simple
+clairvoyance, though it may be necessary to allude to it again when
+dealing with clairvoyance in space, to which we will now pass on.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_58" id="Page_58">[58]</a></span></p>
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_IV" id="CHAPTER_IV"></a>CHAPTER IV.</h2>
+
+<h2><span class="smcap">Clairvoyance in Space: Intentional.</span></h2>
+
+
+<p>We have defined this as the capacity to see events or scenes removed
+from the seer in space and too far distant for ordinary observation.
+The instances of this are so numerous and so various that we shall
+find it desirable to attempt a somewhat more detailed classification
+of them. It does not much matter what particular arrangement we adopt,
+so long as it is comprehensive enough to include all our cases;
+perhaps a convenient one will be to group them under the broad
+divisions of intentional and unintentional clairvoyance in space, with
+an intermediate class that might be described as semi-intentional&mdash;a
+curious title, but I will explain it later.</p>
+
+<p>As before, I will begin by stating what is possible along this line
+for the fully-trained seer, and endeavouring to explain how his
+faculty works and under what limitations it acts. After that we shall
+find ourselves in a better position to try to understand the manifold
+examples of partial and untrained sight.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_59" id="Page_59">[59]</a></span> Let us then in the first
+place discuss intentional clairvoyance.</p>
+
+<p>It will be obvious from what has previously been said as to the power
+of astral vision that any one possessing it in its fulness will be
+able to see by its means practically anything in this world that he
+wishes to see. The most secret places are open to his gaze, and
+intervening obstacles have no existence for him, because of the change
+in his point of view; so that if we grant him the power of moving
+about in the astral body he can without difficulty go anywhere and see
+anything within the limits of the planet. Indeed this is to a large
+extent possible to him even without the necessity of moving the astral
+body at all, as we shall presently see.</p>
+
+<p>Let us consider a little more closely the methods by which this
+super-physical sight may be used to observe events taking place at a
+distance. When, for example, a man here in England sees in minutest
+detail something which is happening at the same moment in India or
+America, how is it done?</p>
+
+<p>A very ingenious hypothesis has been offered to account for the
+phenomenon. It has been suggested that every object is perpetually
+throwing off radiations in all directions, similar in some respects
+to, though infinitely finer than, rays of light, and that clairvoyance
+is nothing but the power to see by means of these finer radiations.
+Distance would in that case<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_60" id="Page_60">[60]</a></span> be no bar to the sight, all intervening
+objects would be penetrable by these rays, and they would be able to
+cross one another to infinity in all directions without entanglement,
+precisely as the vibrations of ordinary light do.</p>
+
+<p>Now though this is not exactly the way in which clairvoyance works,
+the theory is nevertheless quite true in most of its premises. Every
+object undoubtedly is throwing off radiations in all directions, and
+it is precisely in this way, though on a higher plane, that the
+&acirc;k&acirc;shic records seem to be formed. Of them it will be necessary to say
+something under our next heading, so we will do no more than mention
+them for the moment. The phenomena of psychometry are also dependent
+upon these radiations, as will presently be explained.</p>
+
+<p>There are, however, certain practical difficulties in the way of using
+these etheric vibrations (for that is, of course, what they are) as
+the medium by means of which one may see anything taking place at a
+distance. Intervening objects are not entirely transparent, and as the
+actors in the scene which the experimenter tried to observe would
+probably be at least equally transparent, it is obvious that serious
+confusion would be quite likely to result.</p>
+
+<p>The additional dimension which would come into play if astral
+radiations were sensed instead of etheric would obviate some of the
+difficulties, but would on<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_61" id="Page_61">[61]</a></span> the other hand introduce some fresh
+complications of its own; so that for practical purposes, in
+endeavouring to understand clairvoyance, we may dismiss this
+hypothesis of radiations from our minds, and turn to the methods of
+seeing at a distance which are actually at the disposal of the
+student. It will be found that there are five, four of them being
+really varieties of clairvoyance, while the fifth does not properly
+come under that head at all, but belongs to the domain of magic. Let
+us take this last one first, and get it out of our way.</p>
+
+<p>1. <i>By the assistance of a nature-spirit.</i>&mdash;This method does not
+necessarily involve the possession of any psychic faculty at all on
+the part of the experimenter; he need only know how to induce some
+denizen of the astral world to undertake the investigation for him.
+This may be done either by invocation or by evocation; that is to say,
+the operator may either persuade his astral coadjutor by prayers and
+offerings to give him the help he desires, or he may compel his aid by
+the determined exercise of a highly-developed will.</p>
+
+<p>This method has been largely practised in the East (where the entity
+employed is usually a nature-spirit) and in old Atlantis, where "the
+lords of the dark face" used a highly-specialized and peculiarly
+venomous variety of artificial elemental for this purpose. Information
+is sometimes obtained in the same sort of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_62" id="Page_62">[62]</a></span> way at the spiritualistic
+<i>s&eacute;ance</i> of modern days, but in that case the messenger employed is
+more likely to be a recently-deceased human being functioning more or
+less freely on the astral plane&mdash;though even here also it is sometimes
+an obliging nature-spirit, who is amusing himself by posing as
+somebody's departed relative. In any case, as I have said, this method
+is not clairvoyant at all, but magical; and it is mentioned here only
+in order that the reader may not become confused in the endeavour to
+classify cases of its use under some of the following headings.</p>
+
+<p>2. <i>By means of an astral current.</i>&mdash;This is a phrase frequently and
+rather loosely employed in some of our Theosophical literature to
+cover a considerable variety of phenomena, and among others that which
+I wish to explain. What is really done by the student who adopts this
+method is not so much the setting in motion of a current in astral
+matter, as the erection of a kind of temporary telephone through it.</p>
+
+<p>It is impossible here to give an exhaustive disquisition on astral
+physics, even had I the requisite knowledge to write it; all I need
+say is that it is possible to make in astral matter a definite
+connecting-line that shall act as a telegraph-wire to convey
+vibrations by means of which all that is going on at the other end of
+it may be seen. Such a line is established, be it understood, not by a
+direct projection through space of astral matter, but by such action
+upon a line (or<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_63" id="Page_63">[63]</a></span> rather many lines) of particles of that matter as
+will render them capable of forming a conductor for vibrations of the
+character required.</p>
+
+<p>This preliminary action can be set up in two ways&mdash;either by the
+transmission of energy from particle to particle, until the line is
+formed, or by the use of a force from a higher plane which is capable
+of acting upon the whole line simultaneously. Of course this latter
+method implies far greater development, since it involves the
+knowledge of (and the power to use) forces of a considerably higher
+level; so that the man who could make his line in this way would not,
+for his own use, need a line at all, since he could see far more
+easily and completely by means of an altogether higher faculty.</p>
+
+<p>Even the simpler and purely astral operation is a difficult one to
+describe, though quite an easy one to perform. It may be said to
+partake somewhat of the nature of the magnetization of a bar of steel;
+for it consists in what we might call the polarization, by an effort
+of the human will, of a number of parallel lines of astral atoms
+reaching from the operator to the scene which he wishes to observe.
+All the atoms thus affected are held for the time with their axes
+rigidly parallel to one another, so that they form a kind of temporary
+tube along which the clairvoyant may look. This method has the
+disadvantage that the telegraph line is liable to disarrangement or
+even destruction by<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_64" id="Page_64">[64]</a></span> any sufficiently strong astral current which
+happens to cross its path; but if the original effort of will were
+fairly definite, this would be a contingency of only infrequent
+occurrence.</p>
+
+<p>The view of a distant scene obtained by means of this "astral current"
+is in many ways not unlike that seen through a telescope. Human
+figures usually appear very small, like those on a distant stage, but
+in spite of their diminutive size they are as clear as though they
+were close by. Sometimes it is possible by this means to hear what is
+said as well as to see what is done; but as in the majority of cases
+this does not happen, we must consider it rather as the manifestation
+of an additional power than as a necessary corollary of the faculty of
+sight.</p>
+
+<p>It will be observed that in this case the seer does not usually leave
+his physical body at all; there is no sort of projection of his astral
+vehicle or of any part of himself towards that at which he is looking,
+but he simply manufactures for himself a temporary astral telescope.
+Consequently he has, to a certain extent, the use of his physical
+powers even while he is examining the distant scene; for example, his
+voice would usually still be under his control, so that he could
+describe what he saw even while he was in the act of making his
+observations. The consciousness of the man is, in fact, distinctly
+still at this end of the line.</p>
+
+<p>This fact, however, has its limitations as well as its<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_65" id="Page_65">[65]</a></span> advantages,
+and these again largely resemble the limitations of the man using a
+telescope on the physical plane. The experimenter, for example, has no
+power to shift this point of view; his telescope, so to speak, has a
+particular field of view which cannot be enlarged or altered; he is
+looking at his scene from a certain direction, and he cannot suddenly
+turn it all round and see how it looks from the other side. If he has
+sufficient psychic energy to spare, he may drop altogether the
+telescope that he is using and manufacture an entirely new one for
+himself which will approach his objective somewhat differently; but
+this is not a course at all likely to be adopted in practice.</p>
+
+<p>But, it may be said, the mere fact that he is using astral sight ought
+to enable him to see it from all sides at once. So it would if he were
+using that sight in the normal way upon an object which was fairly
+near him&mdash;within his astral reach, as it were; but at a distance of
+hundreds or thousands of miles the case is very different. Astral
+sight gives us the advantage of an additional dimension, but there is
+still such a thing as position in that dimension, and it is naturally
+a potent factor in limiting the use of the powers of its plane. Our
+ordinary three-dimensional sight enables us to see at once every point
+of the interior of a two-dimensional figure, such as a square, but in
+order to do that the square must be within a reasonable distance from
+our eyes; the mere additional dimension<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_66" id="Page_66">[66]</a></span> will avail a man in London
+but little in his endeavour to examine a square in Calcutta.</p>
+
+<p>Astral sight, when it is cramped by being directed along what is
+practically a tube, is limited very much as physical sight would be
+under similar circumstances; though if possessed in perfection it will
+still continue to show, even at that distance, the auras, and
+therefore all the emotions and most of the thoughts of the people
+under observation.</p>
+
+<p>There are many people for whom this type of clairvoyance is very much
+facilitated if they have at hand some physical object which can be
+used as a starting-point for their astral tube&mdash;a convenient focus for
+their will-power. A ball of crystal is the commonest and most
+effectual of such foci, since it has the additional advantage of
+possessing within itself qualities which stimulate psychic faculty;
+but other objects are also employed, to which we shall find it
+necessary to refer more particularly when we come to consider
+semi-intentional clairvoyance.</p>
+
+<p>In connection with this astral-current form of clairvoyance, as with
+others, we find that there are some psychics who are unable to use it
+except when under the influence of mesmerism. The peculiarity in this
+case is that among such psychics there are two varieties&mdash;one in which
+by being thus set free the man is enabled to make a telescope for
+himself, and another in which the magnetizer himself makes the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_67" id="Page_67">[67]</a></span>
+telescope and the subject is simply enabled to see through it. In this
+latter case obviously the subject has not enough will to form a tube
+for himself, and the operator, though possessed of the necessary
+will-power, is not clairvoyant, or he could see through his own tube
+without needing help.</p>
+
+<p>Occasionally, though rarely, the tube which is formed possesses
+another of the attributes of a telescope&mdash;that of magnifying the
+objects at which it is directed until they seem of life-size. Of
+course the objects must always be magnified to some extent, or they
+would be absolutely invisible, but usually the extent is determined by
+the size of the astral tube, and the whole thing is simply a tiny
+moving picture. In the few cases where the figures are seen as of
+life-size by this method, it is probable that an altogether new power
+is beginning to dawn; but when this happens, careful observation is
+needed in order to distinguish them from examples of our next class.</p>
+
+<p>3. <i>By the projection of a thought-form.</i>&mdash;The ability to use this
+method of clairvoyance implies a development somewhat more advanced
+than the last, since it necessitates a certain amount of control upon
+the mental plane. All students of Theosophy are aware that thought
+takes form, at any rate upon its own plane, and in the vast majority
+of cases upon the astral plane also; but it may not be quite so
+generally known that if a man thinks strongly of himself as present
+at<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_68" id="Page_68">[68]</a></span> 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.</p>
+
+<p>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&mdash;most probably by means of the unconscious mesmeric
+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&mdash;not indeed absolutely unconnected with its
+maker, but practically so as far as the possibility of receiving any
+impression through it is concerned.</p>
+
+<p>This third type of clairvoyance consists, then, in the power to retain
+so much connection with and so much hold over a newly-erected
+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&mdash;not along an astral telegraph
+line, as before, but by 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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_69" id="Page_69">[69]</a></span> possible. He sees almost as
+well as he would if he himself stood in the place of his thought-form.</p>
+
+<p>The figures at which he is looking will appear to him as of life-size
+and close at hand, instead of tiny and at a distance, as in the
+previous case; 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 last, but its
+place is to some extent taken by a kind of mental perception of the
+thoughts and intentions of those who are seen.</p>
+
+<p>Since the man's consciousness is still in the physical body, he will
+be able (even while exercising the 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 case of the previous type, because of the capacity for mental
+control required, and the generally finer nature of the forces
+employed.</p>
+
+<p>4. <i>By travelling in the astral body.</i>&mdash;We enter here upon an entirely
+new variety of clairvoyance, in which the consciousness of the seer no
+longer remains in or closely connected with his physical body, but is
+definitely transferred to the scene which he is ex<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_70" id="Page_70">[70]</a></span>amining. Though it
+has no doubt greater dangers for the untrained seer than either of the
+methods previously described, it is yet quite the most satisfactory
+form of clairvoyance open to him, for the immensely superior variety
+which we shall consider under our fifth head is not available except
+for specially trained students.</p>
+
+<p>In this case the man's body is either asleep or in trance, and its
+organs are consequently not available for use while the vision is
+going on, so that all description of what is seen, and all questioning
+as to further particulars, must be postponed until the wanderer
+returns to this plane. On the other hand the sight is much fuller and
+more perfect; the man hears as well as sees everything which passes
+before him, and can move about freely at will within the very wide
+limits of the astral plane. He can see and study at leisure all the
+other inhabitants of that plane, so that the great world of the
+nature-spirits (of which the traditional fairy-land is but a very
+small part) lies open before him, and even that of some of the lower
+devas.</p>
+
+<p>He has also the immense advantage of being able to take part, as it
+were, in the scenes which come before his eyes&mdash;of conversing at will
+with these various astral entities, from whom so much information that
+is curious and interesting may be obtained. If in addition he can
+learn how to materialize himself (a matter of no great difficulty for
+him when once the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_71" id="Page_71">[71]</a></span> knack is acquired), he will be able to take part in
+physical events or conversations at a distance, and to show himself to
+an absent friend at will.</p>
+
+<p>Again, he has the additional power of being able to hunt about for
+what he wants. By means of the varieties of clairvoyance previously
+described, for all practical purposes he could find a person or a
+place only when he was already acquainted with it, or when he was put
+<i>en rapport</i> with it by touching something physically connected with
+it, as in psychometry. It is true that by the third method a certain
+amount of motion is possible, but the process is a tedious one except
+for quite short distances.</p>
+
+<p>By the use of the astral body, however, a man can move about quite
+freely and rapidly in any direction, and can (for example) find
+without difficulty any place pointed out upon a map, without either
+any previous knowledge of the spot or any object to establish a
+connection with it. He can also readily rise high into the air so as
+to gain a bird's-eye view of the country which he is examining, so as
+to observe its extent, the contour of its coast-line, or its general
+character. Indeed, in every way his power and freedom are far greater
+when he uses this method than they have been in any of the previous
+cases.</p>
+
+<p>A good example of the full possession of this power is given, on the
+authority of the German writer Jung Stilling, by Mrs. Crowe in <i>The
+Night Side of Nature</i><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_72" id="Page_72">[72]</a></span> (p. 127). The story is related of a seer who is
+stated to have resided in the neighbourhood of Philadelphia, in
+America. His habits were retired, and he spoke little; he was grave,
+benevolent and pious, and nothing was known against his character
+except that he had the reputation of possessing some secrets that were
+considered not altogether <i>lawful</i>. Many extraordinary stories were
+told of him, and amongst the rest the following:&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"The wife of a ship captain (whose husband was on a voyage to Europe
+and Africa, and from whom she had been long without tidings), being
+overwhelmed with anxiety for his safety, was induced to address
+herself to this person. Having listened to her story he begged her to
+excuse him for a while, when he would bring her the intelligence she
+required. He then passed into an inner room and she sat herself down
+to wait; but his absence continuing longer than she expected, she
+became impatient, thinking he had forgotten her, and softly
+approaching the door she peeped through some aperture, and to her
+surprise beheld him lying on a sofa as motionless as if he were dead.
+She of course did not think it advisable to disturb him, but waited
+his return, when he told her that her husband had not been able to
+write to her for such and such reasons, but that he was then in a
+coffee-house in London and would very shortly be home again.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_73" id="Page_73">[73]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"Accordingly he arrived, and as the lady learnt from him that the
+causes of his unusual silence had been precisely those alleged by the
+man, she felt extremely desirous of ascertaining the truth of the rest
+of the information. In this she was gratified, for he no sooner set
+his eyes on the magician than he said that he had seen him before on a
+certain day in a coffee-house in London, and that he told him that his
+wife was extremely uneasy about him, and that he, the captain, had
+thereon mentioned how he had been prevented writing, adding that he
+was on the eve of embarking for America. He had then lost sight of the
+stranger amongst the throng, and knew nothing more about him."</p>
+
+<p>We have of course no means now of knowing what evidence Jung Stilling
+had of the truth of this story, though he declares himself to have
+been quite satisfied with the authority on which he relates it; but so
+many similar things have happened that there is no reason to doubt its
+accuracy. The seer, however, must either have developed his faculty
+for himself or learnt it in some school other than that from which
+most of our Theosophical information is derived; for in our case there
+is a well-understood regulation expressly forbidding the pupils from
+giving any manifestation of such power which can be definitely proved
+at both ends in that way, and so constitute what is called "a
+phenomenon." That this regulation is<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_74" id="Page_74">[74]</a></span> emphatically a wise one is
+proved to all who know anything of the history of our Society by the
+disastrous results which followed from a very slight temporary
+relaxation of it.</p>
+
+<p>I have given some quite modern cases almost exactly parallel to the
+above in my little book on <i>Invisible Helpers</i>. An instance of a lady
+well-known to myself, who frequently thus appears to friends at a
+distance, is given by Mr. Stead in <i>Real Ghost Stories</i> (p. 27); and
+Mr. Andrew Lang gives, in his <i>Dreams and Ghosts</i> (p. 89), an account
+of how Mr. Cleave, then at Portsmouth, appeared intentionally on two
+occasions to a young lady in London, and alarmed her considerably.
+There is any amount of evidence to be had on the subject by any one
+who cares to study it seriously.</p>
+
+<p>This paying of intentional astral visits seems very often to become
+possible when the principles are loosened at the approach of death for
+people who were unable to perform such a feat at any other time. There
+are even more examples of this class than of the other; I epitomize a
+good one given by Mr. Andrew Lang on p. 100 of the book last
+cited&mdash;one of which he himself says, "Not many stories have such good
+evidence in their favour."</p>
+
+<p>"Mary, the wife of John Goffe of Rochester, being afflicted with a
+long illness, removed to her father's house at West Malling, about
+nine miles from her own.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_75" id="Page_75">[75]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"The day before her death she grew very impatiently desirous to see
+her two children, whom she had left at home to the care of a nurse.
+She was too ill to be moved, and between one and two o'clock in the
+morning she fell into a trance. One widow Turner, who watched with her
+that night, says that her eyes were open and fixed, and her jaw
+fallen. Mrs. Turner put her hand upon her mouth, but could perceive no
+breath. She thought her to be in a fit, and doubted whether she were
+dead or alive.</p>
+
+<p>"The next morning the dying woman told her mother that she had been at
+home with her children, saying, I was with them last night when I was
+asleep.'</p>
+
+<p>"The nurse at Rochester, widow Alexander by name, affirms that a
+little before two o'clock that morning she saw the likeness of the
+said Mary Goffe come out of the next chamber (where the elder child
+lay in a bed by itself), the door being left open, and stood by her
+bedside for about a quarter of an hour; the younger child was there
+lying by her. Her eyes moved and her mouth went, but she said nothing.
+The nurse, moreover, says that she was perfectly awake; it was then
+daylight, being one of the longest days in the year. She sat up in bed
+and looked steadfastly on the apparition. In that time she heard the
+bridge clock strike two, and a while after said: 'In the name of the
+Father, Son and Holy Ghost, what art thou?' Thereupon the apparition<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_76" id="Page_76">[76]</a></span>
+removed and went away; she slipped on her clothes and followed, but
+what became on't, she cannot tell."</p>
+
+<p>The nurse apparently was more frightened by its disappearance than its
+presence, for after this she was afraid to stay in the house, and so
+spent the rest of the time until six o'clock in walking up and down
+outside. When the neighbours were awake she told her tale to them, and
+they of course said she had dreamt it all; she naturally enough warmly
+repudiated that idea, but could obtain no credence until the news of
+the other side of the story arrived from West Malling, when people had
+to admit that there might have been something in it.</p>
+
+<p>A noteworthy circumstance in this story is that the mother found it
+necessary to pass from ordinary sleep into the profounder trance
+condition before she could consciously visit her children; it can,
+however, be paralleled here and there among the large number of
+similar accounts which may be found in the literature of the subject.</p>
+
+<p>Two other stories of precisely the same type&mdash;in which a dying mother,
+earnestly desiring to see her children, falls into a deep sleep,
+visits them and returns to say that she has done so&mdash;are given by Dr.
+F. G. Lee. In one of them the mother, when dying in Egypt, appears to
+her children at Torquay, and is clearly seen in broad daylight by all
+five of the children and also by the nursemaid. (<i>Glimpses of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_77" id="Page_77">[77]</a></span> the
+Supernatural</i>, vol. ii., p. 64.) In the other a Quaker lady dying at
+Cockermouth is clearly seen and recognized in daylight by her three
+children at Settle, the remainder of the story being practically
+identical with the one given above. (<i>Glimpses in the Twilight</i>, p.
+94.) Though these cases appear to be less widely known than that of
+Mary Goffe, the evidence of their authenticity seems to be quite as
+good, as will be seen by the attestations obtained by the reverend
+author of the works from which they are quoted.</p>
+
+<p>The man who fully possesses this fourth type of clairvoyance has many
+and great advantages at his disposal, even in addition to those already
+mentioned. Not only can he visit without trouble or expense all the
+beautiful and famous places of the earth, but if he happens to be a
+scholar, think what it must mean to him that he has access to all the
+libraries of the world! What must it be for the scientifically-minded
+man to see taking place before his eyes so many of the processes of the
+secret chemistry of nature, or for the philosopher to have revealed to
+him so much more than ever before of the working of the great mysteries
+of life and death? To him those who are gone from this plane are dead no
+longer, but living and within reach for a long time to come; for him
+many of the conceptions of religion are no longer matters of faith, but
+of knowledge. Above all, he<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_78" id="Page_78">[78]</a></span> can join the army of invisible helpers, and
+really be of use on a large scale. Undoubtedly clairvoyance, even when
+confined to the astral plane, is a great boon to the student.</p>
+
+<p>Certainly it has its dangers also, especially for the untrained;
+danger from evil entities of various kinds, which may terrify or
+injure those who allow themselves to lose the courage to face them
+boldly; danger of deception of all sorts, of misconceiving and
+mis-interpreting what is seen; greatest of all, the danger of becoming
+conceited about the thing and of thinking it impossible to make a
+mistake. But a little common-sense and a little experience should
+easily guard a man against these.</p>
+
+<p>5. <i>By travelling in the mental body.</i>&mdash;This is simply a higher and,
+as it were, glorified form of the last type. The vehicle employed is
+no longer the astral body, but the mind-body&mdash;a vehicle, therefore,
+belonging to the mental plane, and having within it all the
+potentialities of the wonderful sense of that plane, so transcendent
+in its action yet so impossible to describe. A man functioning in this
+leaves his astral body behind him along with the physical, and if he
+wishes to show himself upon the astral plane for any reason, he does
+not send for his own astral vehicle, but just by a single action of
+his will materializes one for his temporary need. Such an astral
+materialization is sometimes called the m&acirc;y&acirc;vir&ucirc;pa, and to form<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_79" id="Page_79">[79]</a></span> it
+for the first time usually needs the assistance of a qualified Master.</p>
+
+<p>The enormous advantages given by the possession of this power are the
+capacity of entering upon all the glory and the beauty of the higher
+land of bliss, and the possession, even when working on the astral
+plane, of the far more comprehensive mental sense which opens up to
+the student such marvellous vistas of knowledge, and practically
+renders error all but impossible. This higher flight, however, is
+possible for the trained man only, since only under definite training
+can a man at this stage of evolution learn to employ his mental body
+as a vehicle.</p>
+
+<p>Before leaving the subject of full and intentional clairvoyance, it
+may be well to devote a few words to answering one or two questions as
+to its limitations, which constantly occur to students. Is it
+possible, we are often asked, for the seer to find any person with
+whom he wishes to communicate, anywhere in the world, whether he be
+living or dead?</p>
+
+<p>To this reply must be a conditional affirmative. Yes, it is possible
+to find any person if the experimenter can, in some way or other, put
+himself <i>en rapport</i> with that person. It would be hopeless to plunge
+vaguely into space to find a total stranger among all the millions
+around us without any kind of clue; but, on the other hand, a very
+slight clue would usually be sufficient.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_80" id="Page_80">[80]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>If the clairvoyant knows anything of the man whom he seeks, he will
+have no difficulty in finding him, for every man has what may be
+called a kind of musical chord of his own&mdash;a chord which is the
+expression of him as a whole, produced perhaps by a sort of average of
+the rates of vibration of all his different vehicles on their
+respective planes. If the operator knows how to discern that chord and
+to strike it, it will by sympathetic vibration attract the attention
+of the man instantly wherever he may be, and will evoke an immediate
+response from him.</p>
+
+<p>Whether the man were living or recently dead would make no difference
+at all, and clairvoyance of the fifth class could at once find him
+even among the countless millions in the heaven-world, though in that
+case the man himself would be unconscious that he was under
+observation. Naturally a seer whose consciousness did not range higher
+than the astral plane&mdash;who employed therefore one of the earlier
+methods of seeing&mdash;would not be able to find a person upon the mental
+plane at all; yet even he would at least be able to tell that the man
+sought for was upon that plane, from the mere fact that the striking
+of the chord as far up as the astral level produced no response.</p>
+
+<p>If the man sought be a stranger to the seeker, the latter will need
+something connected with him to act as a clue&mdash;a photograph, a letter
+written by him, an<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_81" id="Page_81">[81]</a></span> article which has belonged to him, and is
+impregnated with his personal magnetism; any of these would do in the
+hands of a practised seer.</p>
+
+<p>Again I say, it must not therefore be supposed that pupils who have
+been taught how to use this art are at liberty to set up a kind of
+intelligence office through which communication can be had with
+missing or dead relatives. A message given from this side to such an
+one might or might not be handed on, according to circumstances, but
+even if it were, no reply might be brought, lest the transaction
+should partake of the nature of a phenomenon&mdash;something which could be
+proved on the physical plane to have been an act of magic.</p>
+
+<p>Another question often raised is as to whether, in the action of
+psychic vision, there is any limitation as to distance. The reply
+would seem to be that there should be no limit but that of the
+respective planes. It must be remembered that the astral and mental
+planes of our earth are as definitely its own as its atmosphere,
+though they extend considerably further from it even in our
+three-dimensional space than does the physical air. Consequently the
+passage to, or the detailed sight of, other planets would not be
+possible for any system of clairvoyance connected with these planes.
+It <i>is</i> quite possible and easy for the man who can raise his
+consciousness to the buddhic plane to pass to any other globe
+belonging<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_82" id="Page_82">[82]</a></span> to our chain of worlds, but that is outside our present
+subject.</p>
+
+<p>Still a good deal of additional information about other planets can be
+obtained by the use of such clairvoyant faculties as we have been
+describing. It is possible to make sight enormously clearer by passing
+outside of the constant disturbances of the earth's atmosphere, and it
+is also not difficult to learn how to put on an exceedingly high
+magnifying power, so that even by ordinary clairvoyance a good deal of
+very interesting astronomical knowledge may be gained. But as far as
+this earth and its immediate surroundings are concerned, there is
+practically no limitation.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_83" id="Page_83">[83]</a></span></p>
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_V" id="CHAPTER_V"></a>CHAPTER V.</h2>
+
+<h2><span class="smcap">Clairvoyance in Space: Semi-Intentional.</span></h2>
+
+
+<p>Under this rather curious title I am grouping together the cases of
+all those people who definitely set themselves to see something, but
+have no idea what the something will be, and no control over the sight
+after the visions have begun&mdash;psychic Micawbers, who put themselves
+into a receptive condition, and then simply wait for something to turn
+up. Many trance-mediums would come under this heading; they either in
+some way hypnotize themselves or are hypnotized by some
+"spirit-guide," and then they describe the scenes or persons that
+happen to float before their vision. Sometimes, however, when in this
+condition they see what is taking place at a distance, and so they
+come to have a place among our "clairvoyants in space."</p>
+
+<p>But the largest and most widely-spread band of these semi-intentional
+clairvoyants are the various kinds of crystal-gazers&mdash;those who, as
+Mr. Andrew Lang puts it, "stare into a crystal ball, a cup, a mirror,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_84" id="Page_84">[84]</a></span>
+a blob of ink (Egypt and India), a drop of blood (among the Maories of
+New Zealand), a bowl of water (Red Indian), a pond (Roman and
+African), water in a glass bowl (in Fez), or almost any polished
+surface" (<i>Dreams and Ghosts</i>, p. 57).</p>
+
+<p>Two pages later Mr. Lang gives us a very good example of the kind of
+vision most frequently seen in this way. "I had given a glass ball,"
+he says, "to a young lady, Miss Baillie, who had scarcely any success
+with it. She lent it to Miss Leslie, who saw a large square,
+old-fashioned red sofa covered with muslin, which she found in the
+next country-house she visited. Miss Baillie's brother, a young
+athlete, laughed at these experiments, took the ball into the study,
+and came back looking 'gey gash.' He admitted that he had seen a
+vision&mdash;somebody he knew under a lamp. He would discover during the
+week whether he saw right or not. This was at 5.30 on a Sunday
+afternoon.</p>
+
+<p>"On Tuesday, Mr. Baillie was at a dance in a town some forty miles
+from his home, and met a Miss Preston. 'On Sunday,' he said, 'about
+half-past five you were sitting under a standard lamp in a dress I
+never saw you wear, a blue blouse with lace over the shoulders,
+pouring out tea for a man in blue serge, whose back was towards me, so
+that I only saw the tip of his moustache.'</p>
+
+<p>"'Why, the blinds must have been up,' said Miss Preston.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_85" id="Page_85">[85]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"'I was at Dulby,' said Mr. Baillie, and he undeniably was."</p>
+
+<p>This is quite a typical case of crystal-gazing&mdash;the picture correct in
+every detail, you see, and yet absolutely unimportant and bearing no
+apparent signification of any sort to either party, except that it
+served to prove to Mr. Baillie that there was something in
+crystal-gazing. Perhaps more frequently the visions tend to be of a
+romantic character&mdash;men in foreign dress, or beautiful though
+generally unknown landscapes.</p>
+
+<p>Now what is the rationale of this kind of clairvoyance? As I have
+indicated above, it belongs usually to the "astral-current" type, and
+the crystal or other object simply acts as a focus for the will-power
+of the seer, and a convenient starting-point for his astral tube.
+There are some who can influence what they will see by their will,
+that is to say they have the power of pointing their telescope as they
+wish; but the great majority just form a fortuitous tube and see
+whatever happens to present itself at the end of it.</p>
+
+<p>Sometimes it may be a scene comparatively near at hand, as in the case
+just quoted; at other times it will be a far-away Oriental landscape;
+at others yet it may be a reflection of some fragment of an &acirc;k&acirc;shic
+record, and then the picture will contain figures in some antique
+dress, and the phenomenon belongs to our third large division of
+"clairvoyance in time." It is<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_86" id="Page_86">[86]</a></span> said that visions of the future are
+sometimes seen in crystals also&mdash;a further development to which we
+must refer later.</p>
+
+<p>I have seen a clairvoyant use instead of the ordinary shining surface
+a dead black one, produced by a handful of powdered charcoal in a
+saucer. Indeed it does not seem to matter much what is used as a
+focus, except that pure crystal has an undoubted advantage over other
+substances in that its peculiar arrangement of elemental essence
+renders it specially stimulating to the psychic faculties.</p>
+
+<p>It seems probable, however, that in cases where a tiny brilliant
+object is employed&mdash;such as a point of light, or the drop of blood
+used by the Maories&mdash;the instance is in reality merely one of
+self-hypnotization. Among non-European nations the experiment is very
+frequently preceded or accompanied by magical ceremonies and
+invocations, so that it is quite likely that such sight as is gained
+may sometimes be really that of some foreign entity, and so the
+phenomenon may in fact be merely a case of temporary possession, and
+not of clairvoyance at all.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_87" id="Page_87">[87]</a></span></p>
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_VI" id="CHAPTER_VI"></a>CHAPTER VI.</h2>
+
+<h2><span class="smcap">Clairvoyance in Space: Unintentional.</span></h2>
+
+
+<p>Under this heading we may group together all those cases in which
+visions of some event which is taking place at a distance are seen
+quite unexpectedly and without any kind of preparation. There are
+people who are subject to such visions, while there are many others to
+whom such a thing will happen only once in a life-time. The visions
+are of all kinds and of all degrees of completeness, and apparently
+may be produced by various causes. Sometimes the reason of the vision
+is obvious, and the subject matter of the gravest importance; at other
+times no reason at all is discoverable, and the events shown seem of
+the most trivial nature.</p>
+
+<p>Sometimes these glimpses of the super-physical faculty come as waking
+visions, and sometimes they manifest during sleep as vivid or
+oft-repeated dreams. In this latter case the sight employed is perhaps
+usually of the kind assigned to our fourth subdivision of clairvoyance
+in space, for the sleeping man often travels in<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_88" id="Page_88">[88]</a></span> his astral body to
+some spot with which his affections or interests are closely
+connected, and simply watches what takes place there; in the former it
+seems probable that the second type of clairvoyance, by means of the
+astral current, is called into requisition. But in this case the
+current or tube is formed quite unconsciously, and is often the
+automatic result of a strong thought or emotion projected from one end
+or the other&mdash;either from the seer or the person who is seen.</p>
+
+<p>The simplest plan will be to give a few instances of the different
+kinds, and to intersperse among them such further explanations as may
+seem necessary. Mr. Stead has collected a large and varied assortment
+of recent and well-authenticated cases in his <i>Real Ghost Stories</i>,
+and I will select some of my examples from them, occasionally
+condensing slightly to save space.</p>
+
+<p>There are cases in which it is at once obvious to any Theosophical
+student that the exceptional instance of clairvoyance was specially
+brought about by one of the band whom we have called "Invisible
+Helpers" in order that aid might be rendered to some one in sore need.
+To this class, undoubtedly, belongs the story told by Captain Yonnt,
+of the Napa Valley in California, to Dr. Bushnell, who repeats it in
+his <i>Nature and the Supernatural</i> (p. 14).</p>
+
+<p>"About six or seven years previous, in a mid-winter's night, he had a
+dream in which he saw what appeared to be a company of emigrants
+arrested by<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_89" id="Page_89">[89]</a></span> the snows of the mountains, and perishing rapidly by cold
+and hunger. He noted the very cast of the scenery, marked by a huge,
+perpendicular front of white rock cliff; he saw the men cutting off
+what appeared to be tree-tops rising out of deep gulfs of snow; he
+distinguished the very features of the persons and the look of their
+particular distress.</p>
+
+<p>"He awoke profoundly impressed by the distinctness and apparent
+reality of the dream. He at length fell asleep, and dreamed exactly
+the same dream over again. In the morning he could not expel it from
+his mind. Falling in shortly after with an old hunter comrade, he told
+his story, and was only the more deeply impressed by his recognizing
+without hesitation the scenery of the dream. This comrade came over
+the Sierra by the Carson Valley Pass, and declared that a spot in the
+Pass exactly answered his description.</p>
+
+<p>"By this the unsophistical patriarch was decided. He immediately
+collected a company of men, with mules and blankets and all necessary
+provisions. The neighbours were laughing meantime at his credulity.
+'No matter,' he said, 'I am able to do this, and I will, for I verily
+believe that the fact is according to my dream.' The men were sent
+into the mountains one hundred and fifty miles distant direct to the
+Carson Valley Pass. And there they found the company exactly in the
+condition of the dream, and brought in the remnant alive."<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_90" id="Page_90">[90]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>Since it is not stated that Captain Yonnt was in the habit of seeing
+visions, it seems clear that some helper, observing the forlorn
+condition of the emigrant party, took the nearest impressionable and
+otherwise suitable person (who happened to be the Captain) to the spot
+in the astral body, and aroused him sufficiently to fix the scene
+firmly in his memory. The helper may possibly have arranged an "astral
+current" for the Captain instead, but the former suggestion is more
+probable. At any rate the motive, and broadly the method, of the work
+are obvious enough in this case.</p>
+
+<p>Sometimes the "astral current" may be set going by a strong emotional
+thought at the other end of the line, and this may happen even though
+the thinker has no such intention in his mind. In the rather striking
+story which I am about to quote, it is evident that the link was
+formed by the doctor's frequent thought about Mrs. Broughton, yet he
+had clearly no especial wish that she should see what he was doing at
+the time. That it was this kind of clairvoyance that was employed is
+shown by the fixity of her point of view&mdash;which, be it observed, is
+not the doctor's point of view sympathetically transferred (as it
+might have been) since she sees his back without recognizing him. The
+story is to be found in the <i>Proceedings of the Psychical Research
+Society</i> (vol. ii., p. 160).<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_91" id="Page_91">[91]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"Mrs. Broughton awoke one night in 1844, and roused her husband,
+telling him that something dreadful had happened in France. He begged
+her to go to sleep again, and not trouble him. She assured him that
+she was not asleep when she saw what she insisted on telling him&mdash;what
+she saw in fact.</p>
+
+<p>"First a carriage accident&mdash;which she did not actually see, but what
+she saw was the result&mdash;a broken carriage, a crowd collected, a figure
+gently raised and carried into the nearest house, then a figure lying
+on a bed which she then recognized as the Duke of Orleans. Gradually
+friends collecting round the bed&mdash;among them several members of the
+French royal family&mdash;the queen, then the king, all silently,
+tearfully, watching the evidently dying duke. One man (she could see
+his back, but did not know who he was) was a doctor. He stood bending
+over the duke, feeling his pulse, with his watch in the other hand.
+And then all passed away, and she saw no more.</p>
+
+<p>"As soon as it was daylight she wrote down in her journal all that she
+had seen. It was before the days of electric telegraph, and two or
+more days passed before the <i>Times</i> announced 'The Death of the Duke
+of Orleans.' Visiting Paris a short time afterwards she saw and
+recognized the place of the accident and received the explanation of
+her impression. The doctor who attended the dying duke was an old
+friend of hers, and as he watched by<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_92" id="Page_92">[92]</a></span> the bed his mind had been
+constantly occupied with her and her family."</p>
+
+<p>A commoner instance is that in which strong affection sets up the
+necessary current; probably a fairly steady stream of mutual thought
+is constantly flowing between the two parties in the case, and some
+sudden need or dire extremity on the part of one of them endues this
+stream temporarily with the polarizing power which is needful to
+create the astral telescope. An illustrative example is quoted from
+the same <i>Proceedings</i> (vol. i., p. 30).</p>
+
+<p>"On September 9th, 1848, at the siege of Mooltan, Major-General R&mdash;&mdash;,
+C.B., then adjutant of his regiment, was most severely and dangerously
+wounded; and, supposing himself to be dying, asked one of the officers
+with him to take the ring off his finger and send it to his wife, who
+at the time was fully one hundred and fifty miles distant at
+Ferozepore.</p>
+
+<p>"'On the night of September 9th, 1848,' writes his wife, 'I was lying
+on my bed, between sleeping and waking, when I distinctly saw my
+husband being carried off the field seriously wounded, and heard his
+voice saying, "Take this ring off my finger and send it to my wife."
+All the next day I could not get the sight or the voice out of my
+mind.</p>
+
+<p>"'In due time I heard of General R&mdash;&mdash; having been severely wounded in
+the assault of Mooltan. He survived, however, and is still living. It
+was not<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_93" id="Page_93">[93]</a></span> for some time after the siege that I heard from General
+L&mdash;&mdash;, the officer who helped to carry my husband off the field, that
+the request as to the ring was actually made by him, just as I heard
+it at Ferozepore at that very time."</p>
+
+<p>Then there is the very large class of casual clairvoyant visions which
+have no traceable cause&mdash;which are apparently quite meaningless, and
+have no recognizable relation to any events known to the seer. To this
+class belong many of the landscapes seen by some people just before
+they fall asleep. I quote a capital and very realistic account of an
+experience of this sort from Mr. W. T. Stead's <i>Real Ghost Stories</i>
+(p. 65).</p>
+
+<p>"I got into bed but was not able to go to sleep. I shut my eyes and
+waited for sleep to come; instead of sleep, however, there came to me
+a succession of curiously vivid clairvoyant pictures. There was no
+light in the room, and it was perfectly dark; I had my eyes shut also.
+But notwithstanding the darkness I suddenly was conscious of looking
+at a scene of singular beauty. It was as if I saw a living miniature
+about the size of a magic-lantern slide. At this moment I can recall
+the scene as if I saw it again. It was a seaside piece. The moon was
+shining upon the water, which rippled slowly on to the beach. Right
+before me a long mole ran into the water.</p>
+
+<p>"On either side of the mole irregular rocks stood up above the
+sea-level. On the shore stood several<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_94" id="Page_94">[94]</a></span> houses, square and rude, which
+resembled nothing that I had ever seen in house architecture. No one
+was stirring, but the moon was there and the sea and the gleam of the
+moonlight on the rippling waters, just as if I had been looking on the
+actual scene.</p>
+
+<p>"It was so beautiful that I remember thinking that if it continued I
+should be so interested in looking at it that I should never go to
+sleep. I was wide awake, and at the same time that I saw the scene I
+distinctly heard the dripping of the rain outside the window. Then
+suddenly, without any apparent object or reason, the scene changed.</p>
+
+<p>"The moonlit sea vanished, and in its place I was looking right into
+the interior of a reading-room. It seemed as if it had been used as a
+schoolroom in the daytime, and was employed as a reading-room in the
+evening. I remember seeing one reader who had a curious resemblance to
+Tim Harrington, although it was not he, hold up a magazine or book in
+his hand and laugh. It was not a picture&mdash;it was there.</p>
+
+<p>"The scene was just as if you were looking through an opera-glass; you
+saw the play of the muscles, the gleaming of the eye, every movement
+of the unknown persons in the unnamed place into which you were
+gazing. I saw all that without opening my eyes, nor did my eyes have
+anything to do with it. You see such things as these as it were with
+another sense which is more inside your head than in your eyes.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_95" id="Page_95">[95]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"This was a very poor and paltry experience, but it enabled me to
+understand better how it is that clairvoyants see than any amount of
+disquisition.</p>
+
+<p>"The pictures were <i>apropos</i> of nothing; they had been suggested by
+nothing I had been reading or talking of; they simply came as if I had
+been able to look through a glass at what was occurring somewhere else
+in the world. I had my peep, and then it passed, nor have I had a
+recurrence of a similar experience."</p>
+
+<p>Mr. Stead regards that as a "poor and paltry experience," and it may
+perhaps be considered so when compared with the greater possibilities,
+yet I know many students who would be very thankful to have even so
+much of direct personal experience to tell. Small though it may be in
+itself, it at once gives the seer a clue to the whole thing, and
+clairvoyance would be a living actuality to a man who had seen even
+that much in a way that it could never have been without that little
+touch with the unseen world.</p>
+
+<p>These pictures were much too clear to have been mere reflections of
+the thought of others, and besides, the description unmistakably shows
+that they were views seen through an astral telescope; so either Mr.
+Stead must quite unconsciously have set a current going for himself,
+or (which is much more probable) some kindly astral entity set it in
+motion for him, and gave him, to while away a tedious delay, any
+pictures that happened to come handy at the end of the tube.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_96" id="Page_96">[96]</a></span></p>
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_VII" id="CHAPTER_VII"></a>CHAPTER VII.</h2>
+
+<h2><span class="smcap">Clairvoyance in Time: the Past.</span></h2>
+
+
+<p>Clairvoyance in time&mdash;that is to say, the power of reading the past
+and the future&mdash;is, like all the other varieties, possessed by
+different people in very varying degrees, ranging from the man who has
+both faculties fully at his command, down to one who only occasionally
+gets involuntary and very imperfect glimpses or reflections of these
+scenes of other days. A person of the latter type might have, let us
+say, a vision of some event in the past; but it would be liable to the
+most serious distortion, and even if it happened to be fairly accurate
+it would almost certainly be a mere isolated picture, and he would
+probably be quite unable to relate it to what had occurred before or
+after it, or to account for anything unusual which might appear in it.
+The trained man, on the other hand, could follow the drama connected
+with his picture backwards or forwards to any extent that might seem
+desirable, and trace out with equal ease the causes which had led up
+to it or the results which it in turn would produce.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_97" id="Page_97">[97]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>We shall probably find it easier to grasp this somewhat difficult
+section of our subject if we consider it in the subdivisions which
+naturally suggest themselves, and deal first with the vision which
+looks backwards into the past, leaving for later examination that
+which pierces the veil of the future. In each case it will be well for
+us to try to understand what we can of the <i>modus operandi</i>, even
+though our success can at best be only a very modified one, owing
+first to the imperfect information on some parts of the subject at
+present possessed by our investigators, and secondly to the
+ever-recurring failure of physical words to express a hundredth part
+even of the little we do know about higher planes and faculties.</p>
+
+<p>In the case then of a detailed vision of the remote past, how is it
+obtained, and to what plane of nature does it really belong? The
+answer to both these questions is contained in the reply that it is
+read from the &acirc;k&acirc;shic records; but that statement in return will
+require a certain amount of explanation for many readers. The word is
+in truth somewhat of a misnomer, for though the records are
+undoubtedly read from the &acirc;k&acirc;sha, or matter of the mental plane, yet
+it is not to it that they really belong. Still worse is the
+alternative title, "records of the astral light," which has sometimes
+been employed, for these records lie far beyond the astral plane, and
+all that can be obtained on it are only broken glimpses of a kind<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_98" id="Page_98">[98]</a></span> of
+double reflection of them, as will presently be explained.</p>
+
+<p>Like so many others of our Theosophical terms, the word &acirc;k&acirc;sha has
+been very loosely used. In some of our earlier books it was considered
+as synonymous with astral light, and in others it was employed to
+signify any kind of invisible matter, from m&ucirc;laprak&#7771;iti down to the
+physical ether. In later books its use has been restricted to the
+matter of the mental plane, and it is in that sense that the records
+may be spoken of as &acirc;k&acirc;shic, for although they are not originally made
+on that plane any more than on the astral, yet it is there that we
+first come definitely into contact with them and find it possible to
+do reliable work with them.</p>
+
+<p>This subject of the records is by no means an easy one to deal with,
+for it is one of that numerous class which requires for its perfect
+comprehension faculties of a far higher order than any which humanity
+has yet evolved. The real solution of its problems lies on planes far
+beyond any that we can possibly know at present, and any view that we
+take of it must necessarily be of the most imperfect character, since
+we cannot but look at it from below instead of from above. The idea
+which we form of it must therefore be only partial, yet it need not
+mislead us unless we allow ourselves to think of the tiny fragment
+which is all that we can see as though it were the perfect whole. If
+we are careful that such conceptions as we may<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_99" id="Page_99">[99]</a></span> form shall be accurate
+as far as they go, we shall have nothing to unlearn, though much to
+add, when in the course of our further progress we gradually acquire
+the higher wisdom. Be it understood then at the commencement that a
+thorough grasp of our subject is an impossibility at the present stage
+of our evolution, and that many points will arise as to which no exact
+explanation is yet obtainable, though it may often be possible to
+suggest analogies and to indicate the lines along which an explanation
+must lie.</p>
+
+<p>Let us then try to carry back our thoughts to the beginning of this
+solar system to which we belong. We are all familiar with the ordinary
+astronomical theory of its origin&mdash;that which is commonly called the
+nebular hypothesis&mdash;according to which it first came into existence as
+a gigantic glowing nebula, of a diameter far exceeding that of the
+orbit of even the outermost of the planets, and then, as in the course
+of countless ages that enormous sphere gradually cooled and
+contracted, the system as we know it was formed.</p>
+
+<p>Occult science accepts that theory, in its broad outline, as correctly
+representing the purely physical side of the evolution of our system,
+but it would add that if we confine our attention to this physical
+side only we shall have a very incomplete and incoherent idea of what
+really happened. It would postulate, to begin with, that the exalted
+Being who undertakes<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_100" id="Page_100">[100]</a></span> the formation of a system (whom we sometimes
+call the Logos of the system) first of all forms in His mind a
+complete conception of the whole of it with all its successive chains
+of worlds. By the very act of forming that conception He calls the
+whole into simultaneous objective existence on the plane of His
+thought&mdash;a plane of course far above all those of which we know
+anything&mdash;from which the various globes descend when required into
+whatever state of further objectivity may be respectively destined for
+them. Unless we constantly bear in mind this fact of the real
+existence of the whole system from the very beginning on a higher
+plane, we shall be perpetually misunderstanding the physical evolution
+which we see taking place down here.</p>
+
+<p>But occultism has more than this to teach us on the subject. It tells
+us not only that all this wonderful system to which we belong is
+called into existence by the Logos, both on lower and on higher
+planes, but also that its relation to Him is closer even than that,
+for it is absolutely a part of Him&mdash;a partial expression of Him upon
+the physical plane&mdash;and that the movement and energy of the whole
+system is <i>His</i> energy, and is all carried on within the limits of His
+aura. Stupendous as this conception is, it will yet not be wholly
+unthinkable to those of us who have made any study of the subject of
+the aura.</p>
+
+<p>We are familiar with the idea that as a person pro<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_101" id="Page_101">[101]</a></span>gresses on the
+upward path his causal body, which is the determining limit of his
+aura, distinctly increases in size as well as in luminosity and purity
+of colour. Many of us know from experience that the aura of a pupil
+who has already made considerable advance on the Path is very much
+larger than that of one who is but just setting his foot upon its
+first step, while in the case of an Adept the proportional increase is
+far greater still. We read in quite exoteric Oriental scriptures of
+the immense extension of the aura of the Buddha; I think that three
+miles is mentioned on one occasion as its limit, but whatever the
+exact measurement may be, it is obvious that we have here another
+record of this fact of the extremely rapid growth of the causal body
+as man passes on his upward way. There can be little doubt that the
+rate of this growth would itself increase in geometrical progression,
+so that it need not surprise us to hear of an Adept on a still higher
+level whose aura is capable of including the entire world at once; and
+from this we may gradually lead our minds up to the conception that
+there is a Being so exalted as to comprehend within Himself the whole
+of our solar system. And we should remember that, enormous as this
+seems to us, it is but as the tiniest drop in the vast ocean of space.</p>
+
+<p>So of the Logos (who has in Him all the capacities and qualities with
+which we can possibly endow the highest God we can imagine) it is
+literally true, as<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_102" id="Page_102">[102]</a></span> was said of old, that "of Him and through Him, and
+to Him are all things," and "in Him we live and move and have our
+being."</p>
+
+<p>Now if this be so, it is clear that whatever happens within our system
+happens absolutely within the consciousness of its Logos, and so we at
+once see that the true record must be His memory; and furthermore, it
+is obvious that on whatever plane that wondrous memory exists, it
+cannot but be far above anything that we know, and consequently
+whatever records we may find ourselves able to read must be only a
+reflection of that great dominant fact, mirrored in the denser media
+of the lower planes.</p>
+
+<p>On the astral plane it is at once evident that this is so&mdash;that what
+we are dealing with is only a reflection of a reflection, and an
+exceedingly imperfect one, for such records as can be reached there
+are fragmentary in the extreme, and often seriously distorted. We know
+how universally water is used as a symbol of the astral light, and in
+this particular case it is a remarkably apt one. From the surface of
+still water we may get a clear reflection of the surrounding objects,
+just as from a mirror; but at the best it is only a reflection&mdash;a
+representation in two dimensions of three-dimensional objects, and
+therefore differing in all its qualities, except colour, from that
+which it represents; and in addition to this, it is always reversed.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_103" id="Page_103">[103]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>But let the surface of the water be ruffled by the wind and what do we
+find then? A reflection still, certainly, but so broken up and
+distorted as to be quite useless or even misleading as a guide to the
+shape and real appearance of the objects reflected. Here and there for
+a moment we might happen to get a clear reflection of some minute part
+of the scene&mdash;of a single leaf from a tree, for example; but it would
+need long labour and considerable knowledge of natural laws to build
+up anything like a true conception of the object reflected by putting
+together even a large number of such isolated fragments of an image of
+it.</p>
+
+<p>Now in the astral plane we can never have anything approaching to what
+we have imaged as a still surface, but on the contrary we have always
+to deal with one in rapid and bewildering motion; judge, therefore,
+how little we can depend upon getting a clear and definite reflection.
+Thus a clairvoyant who possesses only the faculty of astral sight can
+never rely upon any picture of the past that comes before him as being
+accurate and perfect; here and there some part of it <i>may</i> be so, but
+he has no means of knowing which it is. If he is under the care of a
+competent teacher he may, by long and careful training, be shown how
+to distinguish between reliable and unreliable impressions, and to
+construct from the broken reflections some kind of image of the
+object<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_104" id="Page_104">[104]</a></span> reflected; but usually long before he has mastered those
+difficulties he will have developed the mental sight, which renders
+such labour unnecessary.</p>
+
+<p>On the next plane, which we call the mental, conditions are very
+different. There the record is full and accurate, and it would be
+impossible to make any mistake in the reading. That is to say, if
+three clairvoyants possessing the powers of the mental plane agreed to
+examine a certain record there, what would be presented to their
+vision would be absolutely the same reflection in each case, and each
+would acquire a correct impression from it in reading it. It does not
+however follow that when they all compared notes later on the physical
+plane their reports would agree exactly. It is well known that if
+three people who witness an occurrence down here in the physical world
+set to work to describe it afterwards, their accounts will differ
+considerably, for each will have noticed especially those items which
+most appeal to him, and will insensibly have made them the prominent
+features of the event, sometimes ignoring other points which were in
+reality much more important.</p>
+
+<p>Now in the case of an observation on the mental plane this personal
+equation would not appreciably affect the impressions received, for
+since each would thoroughly grasp the entire subject it would be
+impossible for him to see its parts out of due proportion;<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_105" id="Page_105">[105]</a></span> but,
+except in the case of carefully trained and experienced persons, this
+factor does come into play in transferring the impressions to the
+lower planes. It is in the nature of things impossible that any
+account given down here of a vision or experience on the mental plane
+can be complete, since nine-tenths of what is seen and felt there
+could not be expressed by physical words at all; and, since all
+expression must therefore be partial, there is obviously some
+possibility of selection as to the part expressed. It is for this
+reason that in all our Theosophical investigations of recent years so
+much stress has been laid upon the constant checking and verifying of
+clairvoyant testimony, nothing which rests upon the vision of one
+person only having been allowed to appear in our later books.</p>
+
+<p>But even when the possibility of error from this factor of personal
+equation has been reduced to a minimum by a careful system of
+counter-checking, there still remains the very serious difficulty which
+is inherent in the operation of bringing down impressions from a higher
+plane to a lower one. This is something analogous to the difficulty
+experienced by a painter in his endeavour to reproduce a
+three-dimensional landscape on a flat surface&mdash;that is, practically in
+two dimensions. Just as the artist needs long and careful training of
+eye and hand before he can produce a satisfactory representation<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_106" id="Page_106">[106]</a></span> of
+nature, so does the clairvoyant need long and careful training before he
+can describe accurately on a lower plane what he sees on a higher one;
+and the probability of getting an exact description from an untrained
+person is about equal to that of getting a perfectly-finished landscape
+from one who has never learnt how to draw.</p>
+
+<p>It must be remembered, too, that the most perfect picture is in
+reality infinitely far from being a reproduction of the scene which it
+represents, for hardly a single line or angle in it can ever be the
+same as those in the object copied. It is simply a very ingenious
+attempt to make upon one only of our five senses, by means of lines
+and colours on a flat surface, an impression similar to that which
+would have been made if we had actually had before us the scene
+depicted. Except by a suggestion dependent entirely on our own
+previous experience, it can convey to us nothing of the roar of the
+sea, of the scent of the flowers, of the taste of the fruit, or of the
+softness or hardness of the surface drawn.</p>
+
+<p>Of exactly similar nature, though far greater in degree, are the
+difficulties experienced by a clairvoyant in his attempt to describe
+upon the physical plane what he has seen upon the astral; and they are
+furthermore greatly enhanced by the fact that, instead of having
+merely to recall to the minds of his hearers conceptions with which
+they are already familiar, as<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_107" id="Page_107">[107]</a></span> the artist does when he paints men or
+animals, fields or trees, he has to endeavour by the very imperfect
+means at his disposal to suggest to them conceptions which in most
+cases are absolutely new to them.</p>
+
+<p>Small wonder then that, however vivid and striking his descriptions
+may seem to his audience, he himself should constantly be impressed
+with their total inadequacy, and should feel that his best efforts
+have entirely failed to convey any idea of what he really sees. And we
+must remember that in the case of the report given down here of a
+record read on the mental plane, this difficult operation of
+transference from the higher to the lower has taken place not once but
+twice, since the memory has been brought through the intervening
+astral plane. Even in a case where the investigator has the advantage
+of having developed his mental faculties so that he has the use of
+them while awake in the physical body, he is still hampered by the
+absolute incapacity of physical language to express what he sees.</p>
+
+<p>Try for a moment to realize fully what is called the fourth dimension,
+of which we said something in an earlier chapter. It is easy enough to
+think of our own three dimensions&mdash;to image in our minds the length,
+breadth and height of any object; and we see that each of these three
+dimensions is expressed by a line at right angles to both of the
+others. The idea of the fourth dimension is that it might be possible
+to draw<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_108" id="Page_108">[108]</a></span> a fourth line which shall be at right angles to all three of
+those already existing.</p>
+
+<p>Now the ordinary mind cannot grasp this idea in the least, though some
+few who have made a special study of the subject have gradually come
+to be able to realize one or two very simple four-dimensional figures.
+Still, no words that they can use on this plane can bring any image of
+these figures before the minds of others, and if any reader who has
+not specially trained himself along that line will make the effort to
+visualize such a shape he will find it quite impossible. Now to
+express such a form clearly in physical words would be, in effect, to
+describe accurately a single object on the astral plane; but in
+examining the records on the mental plane we should have to face the
+additional difficulties of a fifth dimension! So that the
+impossibility of fully explaining these records will be obvious to
+even the most superficial observation.</p>
+
+<p>We have spoken of the records as the memory of the Logos, yet they are
+very much more than a memory in an ordinary sense of the word.
+Hopeless as it may be to imagine how these images appear from His
+point of view, we yet know that as we rise higher and higher we must
+be drawing nearer to the true memory&mdash;must be seeing more nearly as He
+sees; so that great interest attaches to the experience of the
+clairvoyant with reference to these records when he stands upon the
+buddhic plane&mdash;the highest<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_109" id="Page_109">[109]</a></span> which his consciousness can reach even
+when away from the physical body until he attains the level of the
+Arhats.</p>
+
+<p>Here time and space no longer limit him; he no longer needs, as on the
+mental plane, to pass a series of events in review, for past, present
+and future are all alike simultaneously present to him, meaningless as
+that sounds down here. Indeed, infinitely below the consciousness of
+the Logos as even that exalted plane is, it is yet abundantly clear
+from what we see there that to Him the record must be far more than
+what we call a memory, for all that has happened in the past and all
+that will happen in the future is <i>happening now</i> before His eyes just
+as are the events of what we call the present time. Utterly
+incredible, wildly incomprehensible, of course, to our limited
+understanding; yet absolutely true for all that.</p>
+
+<p>Naturally we could not expect to understand at our present stage of
+knowledge how so marvellous a result is produced, and to attempt an
+explanation would only be to involve ourselves in a mist of words from
+which we should gain no real information. Yet a line of thought recurs
+to my mind which perhaps suggests the direction in which it is
+possible that that explanation may lie: and whatever helps us to
+realize that so astounding a statement may after all not be wholly
+impossible will be of assistance in broadening our minds.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_110" id="Page_110">[110]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>Some thirty years ago I remember reading a very curious little book,
+called, I think, <i>The Stars and the Earth</i>, the object of which was to
+endeavour to show how it was scientifically possible that to the mind
+of God the past and the present might be absolutely simultaneous. Its
+arguments struck me at the time as decidedly ingenious, and I will
+proceed to summarize them, as I think they will be found somewhat
+suggestive in connection with the subject which we have been
+considering.</p>
+
+<p>When we see anything, whether it be the book which we hold in our
+hands or a star millions of miles away, we do so by means of a
+vibration in the ether, commonly called a ray of light, which passes
+from the object seen to our eyes. Now the speed with which this
+vibration passes is so great&mdash;about 186,000 miles in a second&mdash;that
+when we are considering any object in our own world we may regard it
+as practically instantaneous. When, however, we come to deal with
+interplanetary distances we have to take the speed of light into
+consideration, for an appreciable period is occupied in traversing
+these vast spaces. For example it takes eight minutes and a quarter
+for light to travel to us from the sun, so that when we look at the
+solar orb we see it by means of a ray of light which left it more than
+eight minutes ago.</p>
+
+<p>From this follows a very curious result. The ray of light by which we
+see the sun can obviously report<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_111" id="Page_111">[111]</a></span> to us only the state of affairs
+which existed in that luminary when it started on its journey, and
+would not be in the least affected by anything that happened there
+after it left; so that we really see the sun not as he <i>is</i>, but as he
+was eight minutes ago. That is to say that if anything important took
+place in the sun&mdash;the formation of a new sun-spot, for instance&mdash;an
+astronomer who was watching the orb through his telescope at the time
+would be quite unaware of the incident while it was happening, since
+the ray of light bearing the news would not reach him until more than
+eight minutes later.</p>
+
+<p>The difference is more striking when we consider the fixed stars,
+because in their case the distances are so enormously greater. The
+pole star, for example, is so far off that light, travelling at the
+inconceivable speed above mentioned, takes a little more than fifty
+years to reach our eyes; and from that follows the strange but
+inevitable inference that we see the pole star not as and where it is
+at this moment, but as and where it was fifty years ago. Nay, if
+to-morrow some cosmic catastrophe were to shatter the pole star into
+fragments, we should still see it peacefully shining in the sky all
+the rest of our lives; our children would grow up to middle age and
+gather their children about them in turn before the news of that
+tremendous accident reached any terrestrial eye. In the same way there
+are other stars so far distant<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_112" id="Page_112">[112]</a></span> that light takes thousands of years to
+travel from them to us, and with reference to their condition our
+information is therefore thousands of years behind time.</p>
+
+<p>Now carry the argument a step farther. Suppose that we were able to
+place a man at the distance of 186,000 miles from the earth, and yet
+to endow him with the wonderful faculty of being able from that
+distance to see what was happening here as clearly as though he were
+still close beside us. It is evident that a man so placed would see
+everything a second after the time when it really happened, and so at
+the present moment he would be seeing what happened a second ago.
+Double the distance, and he would be two seconds behind time, and so
+on; remove him to the distance of the sun (still allowing him to
+preserve the same mysterious power of sight) and he would look down
+and watch you doing not what you <i>are</i> doing now, but what you <i>were</i>
+doing eight minutes and a quarter ago. Carry him away to the pole
+star, and he would see passing before his eyes the events of fifty
+years ago; he would be watching the childish gambols of those who at
+the very same moment were really middle-aged men. Marvellous as this
+may sound, it is literally and scientifically true, and cannot be
+denied.</p>
+
+<p>The little book went on to argue logically enough that God, being
+almighty, must possess the wonderful<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_113" id="Page_113">[113]</a></span> power of sight which we have
+been postulating for our observer; and further, that being
+omnipresent, He must be at each of the stations which we mentioned,
+and also at every intermediate point, not successively but
+simultaneously. Granting these premises, the inevitable deduction
+follows that everything which has ever happened from the very
+beginning of the world <i>must</i> be at this very moment taking place
+before the eye of God&mdash;not a mere memory of it, but the actual
+occurrence itself being now under His observation.</p>
+
+<p>All this is materialistic enough, and on the plane of purely physical
+science, and we may therefore be assured that it is <i>not</i> the way in
+which the memory of the Logos acts; yet it is neatly worked out and
+absolutely incontrovertible, and as I have said before, it is not
+without its use, since it gives us a glimpse of some possibilities
+which otherwise might not occur to us.</p>
+
+<p>But, it may be asked, how is it possible, amid the bewildering
+confusion of these records of the past, to find any particular picture
+when it is wanted? As a matter of fact, the untrained clairvoyant
+usually cannot do so without some special link to put him <i>en rapport</i>
+with the subject required. Psychometry is an instance in point, and it
+is quite probable that our ordinary memory is really only another
+presentment of the same idea. It seems as though there<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_114" id="Page_114">[114]</a></span> were a sort of
+magnetic attachment or affinity between any particle of matter and the
+record which contains its history&mdash;an affinity which enables it to act
+as a kind of conductor between that record and the faculties of anyone
+who can read it.</p>
+
+<p>For example, I once brought from Stonehenge a tiny fragment of stone,
+not larger than a pin's head, and on putting this into an envelope and
+handing it to a psychometer who had no idea what it was, she at once
+began to describe that wonderful ruin and the desolate country
+surrounding it, and then went on to picture vividly what were
+evidently scenes from its early history, showing that that
+infinitesimal fragment had been sufficient to put her into
+communication with the records connected with the spot from which it
+came. The scenes through which we pass in the course of our life seem
+to act in the same manner upon the cells of our brain as did the
+history of Stonehenge upon that particle of stone: they establish a
+connection with those cells by means of which our mind is put <i>en
+rapport</i> with that particular portion of the records, and so we
+"remember" what we have seen.</p>
+
+<p>Even a trained clairvoyant needs some link to enable him to find the
+record of an event of which he has no previous knowledge. If, for
+example, he wished to observe the landing of Julius C&aelig;sar on the
+shores of England, there are several ways in which<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_115" id="Page_115">[115]</a></span> he might approach
+the subject. If he happened to have visited the scene of the
+occurrence, the simplest way would probably be to call up the image of
+that spot, and then run back through its records until he reached the
+period desired. If he had not seen the place, he might run back in
+time to the date of the event, and then search the Channel for a fleet
+of Roman galleys; or he might examine the records of Roman life at
+about that period, where he would have no difficulty in identifying so
+prominent a figure as C&aelig;sar, or in tracing him when found through all
+his Gallic wars until he set his foot upon British land.</p>
+
+<p>People often enquire as to the aspect of these records&mdash;whether they
+appear near or far away from the eye, whether the figures in them are
+large or small, whether the pictures follow one another as in a
+panorama or melt into one another like dissolving views, and so on.
+One can only reply that their appearance varies to a certain extent
+according to the conditions under which they are seen. Upon the astral
+plane the reflection is most often a simple picture, though
+occasionally the figures seen would be endowed with motion; in this
+latter case, instead of a mere snapshot a rather longer and more
+perfect reflection has taken place.</p>
+
+<p>On the mental plane they have two widely different aspects. When the
+visitor to that plane is not thinking specially of them in any way,
+the records simply<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_116" id="Page_116">[116]</a></span> form a background to whatever is going on, just as
+the reflections in a pier-glass at the end of a room might form a
+background to the life of the people in it. It must always be borne in
+mind that under these conditions they are really merely reflections
+from the ceaseless activity of a great Consciousness upon a far higher
+plane, and have very much the appearance of an endless succession of
+the recently invented <i>cinematographe</i>, or living photographs. They do
+not melt into one another like dissolving views, nor do a series of
+ordinary pictures follow one another; but the action of the reflected
+figures constantly goes on, as though one were watching the actors on
+a distant stage.</p>
+
+<p>But if the trained investigator turns his attention specially to any
+one scene, or wishes to call it up before him, an extraordinary change
+at once takes place, for this is the plane of thought, and to think of
+anything is to bring it instantaneously before you. For example, if a
+man wills to see the record of that event to which we before
+referred&mdash;the landing of Julius C&aelig;sar&mdash;he finds himself in a moment
+not looking at any picture, but standing on the shore among the
+legionaries, with the whole scene being enacted around him, precisely
+in every respect as he would have seen it if he had stood there in the
+flesh on that autumn morning in the year 55 <span class="smcap">b.c.</span> Since what he sees is
+but a reflection, the actors are of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_117" id="Page_117">[117]</a></span> course entirely unconscious of
+him, nor can any effort of his change the course of their action in
+the smallest degree, except only that he can control the rate at which
+the drama shall pass before him&mdash;can have the events of a whole year
+rehearsed before his eyes in a single hour, or can at any moment stop
+the movement altogether, and hold any particular scene in view as a
+picture as long as he chooses.</p>
+
+<p>In truth he observes not only what he would have seen if he had been
+there at the time in the flesh, but much more. He hears and
+understands all that the people say, and he is conscious of all their
+thoughts and motives; and one of the most interesting of the many
+possibilities which open up before one who has learnt to read the
+records is the study of the thought of ages long past&mdash;the thought of
+the cave-men and the lake-dwellers as well as that which ruled the
+mighty civilisations of Atlantis, of Egypt or Chald&aelig;a. What splendid
+possibilities open up before the man who is in full possession of this
+power may easily be imagined. He has before him a field of historical
+research of most entrancing interest. Not only can he review at his
+leisure all history with which we are acquainted, correcting as he
+examines it the many errors and misconceptions which have crept into
+the accounts handed down to us; he can also range at will over the
+whole story of the world from its very beginning, watching the slow
+development of intellect<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_118" id="Page_118">[118]</a></span> in man, the descent of the Lords of the
+Flame, and the growth of the mighty civilisations which they founded.</p>
+
+<p>Nor is his study confined to the progress of humanity alone; he has
+before him, as in a museum, all the strange animal and vegetable forms
+which occupied the stage in days when the world was young; he can
+follow all the wonderful geological changes which have taken place,
+and watch the course of the great cataclysms which have altered the
+whole face of the earth again and again.</p>
+
+<p>In one especial case an even closer sympathy with the past is possible
+to the reader of the records. If in the course of his enquiries he has
+to look upon some scene in which he himself has in a former birth
+taken part, he may deal with it in two ways; he can either regard it
+in the usual manner as a spectator (though always, be it remembered,
+as a spectator whose insight and sympathy are perfect) or he may once
+more identify himself with that long-dead personality of his&mdash;may
+throw himself back for the time into that life of long ago, and
+absolutely experience over again the thoughts and the emotions, the
+pleasures and the pains of a prehistoric past. No wilder and more
+vivid adventures can be conceived than some of those through which he
+thus may pass; yet through it all he must never lose hold of the
+consciousness of his own individuality&mdash;must retain the power to
+return at will to his present personality.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_119" id="Page_119">[119]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>It is often asked how it is possible for an investigator accurately to
+determine the date of any picture from the far-distant past which he
+disinters from the records. The fact is that it is sometimes rather
+tedious work to find an exact date, but the thing can usually be done
+if it is worth while to spend the time and trouble over it. If we are
+dealing with Greek or Roman times the simplest method is usually to
+look into the mind of the most intelligent person present in the
+picture, and see what date he supposes it to be; or the investigator
+might watch him writing a letter or other document and observe what
+date, if any, was included in what was written. When once the Roman or
+Greek date is thus obtained, to reduce it to our own system of
+chronology is merely a matter of calculation.</p>
+
+<p>Another way which is frequently adopted is to turn from the scene
+under examination to a contemporary picture in some great and
+well-known city such as Rome, and note what monarch is reigning there,
+or who are the consuls for the year; and when such data are discovered
+a glance at any good history will give the rest. Sometimes a date can
+be obtained by examining some public proclamation or some legal
+document; in fact in the times of which we are speaking the difficulty
+is easily surmounted.</p>
+
+<p>The matter is by no means so simple, however, when we come to deal
+with periods much earlier than this<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_120" id="Page_120">[120]</a></span>&mdash;with a scene from early Egypt,
+Chald&aelig;a, or China, or to go further back still, from Atlantis itself
+or any of its numerous colonies. A date can still be obtained easily
+enough from the mind of any educated man, but there is no longer any
+means of relating it to our own system of dates, since the man will be
+reckoning by eras of which we know nothing, or by the reigns of kings
+whose history is lost in the night of time.</p>
+
+<p>Our methods, nevertheless, are not yet exhausted. It must be
+remembered that it is possible for the investigator to pass the
+records before him at any speed that he may desire&mdash;at the rate of a
+year in a second if he will, or even very much faster still. Now there
+are one or two events in ancient history whose dates have already been
+accurately fixed&mdash;as, for example, the sinking of Poseidonis in the
+year 9564 <span class="smcap">b.c.</span> It is therefore obvious that if from the general
+appearance of the surroundings it seems probable that a picture seen
+is within measurable distance of one of these events, it can be
+related to that event by the simple process of running through the
+record rapidly, and counting the years between the two as they pass.</p>
+
+<p>Still, if those years ran into thousands, as they might sometimes do,
+this plan would be insufferably tedious. In that case we are driven
+back upon the astronomical method. In consequence of the movement
+which is commonly called the precession of the equinoxes, though it
+might more accurately be described as a<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_121" id="Page_121">[121]</a></span> kind of second rotation of
+the earth, the angle between the equator and the ecliptic steadily but
+very slowly varies. Thus, after long intervals of time we find the
+pole of the earth no longer pointing towards the same spot in the
+apparent sphere of the heavens, or in other words, our pole-star is
+not, as at present, &#945; Urs&aelig; Minoris, but some other celestial
+body; and from this position of the pole of the earth, which can
+easily be ascertained by careful observation of the night-sky of the
+picture under consideration, an approximate date can be calculated
+without difficulty.</p>
+
+<p>In estimating the date of occurrences which took place millions of
+years ago in earlier races, the period of a secondary rotation (or the
+precession of the equinoxes) is frequently used as a unit, but of
+course absolute accuracy is not usually required in such cases, round
+numbers being sufficient for all practical purposes in dealing with
+epochs so remote.</p>
+
+<p>The accurate reading of the records, whether of one's own past lives
+or those of others, must not, however, be thought of as an achievement
+possible to anyone without careful previous training. As has been
+already remarked, though occasional reflections may be had upon the
+astral plane, the power to use the mental sense is necessary before
+any reliable reading can be done. Indeed, to minimize the possibility
+of error, that sense ought to be fully at the command of the
+investigator while awake in the physical body; and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_122" id="Page_122">[122]</a></span> to acquire that
+faculty needs years of ceaseless labour and rigid self-discipline.</p>
+
+<p>Many people seem to expect that as soon as they have signed their
+application and joined the Theosophical Society they will at once
+remember at least three or four of their past births; indeed, some of
+them promptly begin to imagine recollections and declare that in their
+last incarnation they were Mary Queen of Scots, Cleopatra, or Julius
+C&aelig;sar! Of course such extravagant claims simply bring discredit upon
+those who are so foolish as to make them but unfortunately some of
+that discredit is liable to be reflected, however unjustly, upon the
+Society to which they belong, so that a man who feels seething within
+him the conviction that he was Homer or Shakespeare would do well to
+pause and apply common-sense tests on the physical plane before
+publishing the news to the world.</p>
+
+<p>It is quite true that some people have had glimpses of scenes from
+their past lives in dreams, but naturally these are usually
+fragmentary and unreliable. I had myself in earlier life an experience
+of this nature. Among my dreams I found that one was constantly
+recurring&mdash;a dream of a house with a portico over-looking a beautiful
+bay, not far from a hill on the top of which rose a graceful building.
+I knew that house perfectly, and was as familiar with the position of
+its rooms and the view from its door as I was with those<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_123" id="Page_123">[123]</a></span> of my home,
+in this present life. In those days I knew nothing about
+reincarnation, so that it seemed to me simply a curious coincidence
+that this dream should repeat itself so often; and it was not until
+some time after I had joined the Society that, when one who knew was
+showing me some pictures of my last incarnation, I discovered that
+this persistent dream had been in reality a partial recollection, and
+that the house which I knew so well was the one in which I was born
+more than two thousand years ago.</p>
+
+<p>But although there are several cases on record in which some
+well-remembered scene has thus come through from one life to another,
+a considerable development of occult faculty is necessary before an
+investigator can definitely trace a line of incarnations, whether they
+be his own or another man's. This will be obvious if we remember the
+conditions of the problem which has to be worked out. To follow a
+person from this life to the one preceding it, it is necessary first
+of all to trace his present life backwards to his birth and then to
+follow up in reverse order the stages by which the Ego descended into
+incarnation.</p>
+
+<p>This will obviously take us back eventually to the condition of the
+Ego upon the higher levels of the mental plane; so it will be seen
+that to perform this task effectually the investigator must be able to
+use the sense corresponding to that exalted level while awake in his
+physical body&mdash;in<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_124" id="Page_124">[124]</a></span> other words, his consciousness must be centred in
+the reincarnating Ego itself, and no longer in the lower personality.
+In that case, the memory of the Ego being aroused, his own past
+incarnations will be spread out before him like an open book, and he
+would be able, if he wished, to examine the conditions of another Ego
+upon that level and trace him backwards through the lower mental and
+astral lives which led up to it, until he came to the last physical
+death of that Ego, and through it to his previous life.</p>
+
+<p>There is no way but this in which the chain of lives can be followed
+through with absolute certainty: and consequently we may at once put
+aside as conscious or unconscious impostors those people who advertise
+that they are able to trace out anyone's past incarnations for so many
+shillings a head. Needless to say, the true occultist does not
+advertise, and never under any circumstances accepts money for any
+exhibition of his powers.</p>
+
+<p>Assuredly the student who wishes to acquire the power of following up
+a line of incarnations can do so only by learning from a qualified
+teacher how the work is to be done. There have been those who
+persistently asserted that it was only necessary for a man to feel
+good and devotional and "brotherly," and all the wisdom of the ages
+would immediately flow in upon him; but a little common-sense will at
+once expose the absurdity of such a position. How<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_125" id="Page_125">[125]</a></span>ever good a child
+may be, if he wants to know the multiplication table he must set to
+work and learn it; and the case is precisely similar with the capacity
+to use spiritual faculties. The faculties themselves will no doubt
+manifest as the man evolves, but he can learn how to use them reliably
+and to the best advantage only by steady hard work and persevering
+effort.</p>
+
+<p>Take the case of those who wish to help others while on the astral
+plane during sleep; it is obvious that the more knowledge they possess
+here, the more valuable will their services be on that higher plane.
+For example, the knowledge of languages would be useful to them, for
+though on the mental plane men can communicate directly by
+thought-transference, whatever their languages may be, on the astral
+plane this is not so, and a thought must be definitely formulated in
+words before it is comprehensible. If, therefore, you wish to help a
+man on that plane, you must have some language in common by means of
+which you can communicate with him, and consequently the more
+languages you know the more widely useful you will be. In fact there
+is perhaps no kind of knowledge for which a use cannot be found in the
+work of the occultist.</p>
+
+<p>It would be well for all students to bear in mind that occultism is
+the apotheosis of common-sense, and that every vision which comes to
+them is not necessarily a picture from the &acirc;k&acirc;shic records, nor<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_126" id="Page_126">[126]</a></span> every
+experience a revelation from on high. It is better far to err on the
+side of healthy scepticism than of over-credulity; and it is an
+admirable rule never to hunt about for an occult explanation of
+anything when a plain and obvious physical one is available. Our duty
+is to endeavour to keep our balance always, and never to lose our
+self-control, but to take a reasonable, common-sense view of whatever
+may happen to us; so shall we be better Theosophists, wiser
+occultists, and more useful helpers than we have ever been before.</p>
+
+<p>As usual, we find examples of all degrees of the power to see into
+this memory of nature, from the trained man who can consult the record
+for himself at will, down to the person who gets nothing but
+occasional vague glimpses, or has even perhaps had only one such
+glimpse. But even the man who possesses this faculty only partially
+and occasionally still finds it of the deepest interest. The
+psychometer, who needs an object physically connected with the past in
+order to bring it all into life again around him, and the
+crystal-gazer who can sometimes direct his less certain astral
+telescope to some historic scene of long ago, may both derive the
+greatest enjoyment from the exercise of their respective gifts, even
+though they may not always understand exactly how their results are
+produced, and may not have them fully under control under all
+circumstances.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_127" id="Page_127">[127]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>In many cases of the lower manifestations of these powers we find that
+they are exercised unconsciously; many a crystal-gazer watches scenes
+from the past without being able to distinguish them from visions of
+the present, and many a vaguely-psychic person finds pictures
+constantly arising before his eyes without ever realizing that he is
+in effect psychometrizing the various objects around him as he happens
+to touch them or stand near them.</p>
+
+<p>An interesting variant of this class of psychics is the man who is
+able to psychometrize persons only, and not inanimate objects as is
+more usual. In most cases this faculty shows itself erratically, so
+that such a psychic will, when introduced to a stranger, often see in
+a flash some prominent event in that stranger's earlier life, but on
+other similar occasions will receive no special impression. More
+rarely we meet with someone who gets detailed visions of the past life
+of everyone whom he encounters. Perhaps one of the best examples of
+this class was the German writer Zschokke, who describes in his
+autobiography this extraordinary power of which he found himself
+possessed. He says:&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"It has happened to me occasionally at the first meeting with a total
+stranger, when I have been listening in silence to his conversation,
+that his past life up to the present moment, with many minute
+circumstances belonging to one or other particular<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_128" id="Page_128">[128]</a></span> scene in it, has
+come across me like a dream, but distinctly, entirely involuntarily
+and unsought, occupying in duration a few minutes.</p>
+
+<p>"For a long time I was disposed to consider these fleeting visions as
+a trick of the fancy&mdash;the more so as my dream-vision displayed to me
+the dress and movements of the actors, the appearance of the room, the
+furniture, and other accidents of the scene; till on one occasion, in
+a gamesome mood, I narrated to my family the secret history of a
+sempstress who had just before quitted the room. I had never seen the
+person before. Nevertheless the hearers were astonished, and laughed
+and would not be persuaded but that I had a previous acquaintance with
+the former life of the person, inasmuch as what I had stated was
+perfectly true.</p>
+
+<p>"I was not less astonished to find that my dream-vision agreed with
+reality. I then gave more attention to the subject, and as often as
+propriety allowed of it, I related to those whose lives had so passed
+before me the substance of my dream-vision, to obtain from them its
+contradiction or confirmation. On every occasion its confirmation
+followed, not without amazement on the part of those who gave it.</p>
+
+<p>"On a certain fair-day I went into the town of Waldshut accompanied by
+two young foresters, who are still alive. It was evening, and, tired
+with our<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_129" id="Page_129">[129]</a></span> walk, we went into an inn called the 'Vine.' We took our
+supper with a numerous company at the public table, when it happened
+that they made themselves merry over the peculiarities and simplicity
+of the Swiss in connection with the belief in mesmerism, Lavater's
+physiognomical system and the like. One of my companions, whose
+national pride was touched by their raillery, begged me to make some
+reply, particularly in answer to a young man of superior appearance
+who sat opposite, and had indulged in unrestrained ridicule.</p>
+
+<p>"It happened that the events of this person's life had just previously
+passed before my mind. I turned to him with the question whether he
+would reply to me with truth and candour if I narrated to him the most
+secret passages of his history, he being as little known to me as I to
+him? That would, I suggested, go something beyond Lavater's
+physiognomical skill. He promised if I told the truth to admit it
+openly. Then I narrated the events with which my dream-vision had
+furnished me, and the table learnt the history of the young
+tradesman's life, of his school years, his peccadilloes, and, finally,
+of a little act of roguery committed by him on the strong-box of his
+employer. I described the uninhabited room with its white walls, where
+to the right of the brown door there had stood upon the table the
+small black money-chest, etc. The man, much struck,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_130" id="Page_130">[130]</a></span> admitted the
+correctness of each circumstance&mdash;even, which I could not expect, of
+the last."</p>
+
+<p>And after narrating this incident, the worthy Zschokke calmly goes on
+to wonder whether perhaps after all this remarkable power, which he
+had so often displayed, might not really have been always the result
+of mere chance coincidence!</p>
+
+<p>Comparatively few accounts of persons possessing this faculty of
+looking back into the past are to be found in the literature of the
+subject, and it might therefore be supposed to be much less common
+than prevision. I suspect, however, that the truth is rather that it
+is much less commonly recognized. As I said before, it may very easily
+happen that a person may see a picture of the past without recognizing
+it as such, unless there happens to be in it something which attracts
+special attention, such as a figure in armour or in antique costume. A
+prevision also might not always be recognized as such at the time; but
+the occurrence of the event foreseen recalls it vividly at the same
+time that it manifests its nature, so that it is unlikely to be
+overlooked. It is probable, therefore, that occasional glimpses of
+these astral reflections of the &acirc;k&acirc;shic records are commoner than the
+published accounts would lead us to believe.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_131" id="Page_131">[131]</a></span></p>
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_VIII" id="CHAPTER_VIII"></a>CHAPTER VIII.</h2>
+
+<h2><span class="smcap">Clairvoyance in Time: the Future.</span></h2>
+
+
+<p>Even if, in a dim sort of way, we feel ourselves able to grasp the
+idea that the whole of the past may be simultaneously and actively
+present in a sufficiently exalted consciousness, we are confronted by
+a far greater difficulty when we endeavour to realize how all the
+future may also be comprehended in that consciousness. If we could
+believe in the Mohammedan doctrine of kismet, or the Calvinistic
+theory of predestination, the conception would be easy enough, but
+knowing as we do that both these are grotesque distortions of the
+truth, we must look round for a more acceptable hypothesis.</p>
+
+<p>There may still be some people who deny the possibility of prevision,
+but such denial simply shows their ignorance of the evidence on the
+subject. The large number of authenticated cases leaves no room for
+doubt as to the fact, but many of them are of such a nature as to
+render a reasonable explanation by no means easy to find. It is
+evident that the Ego<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_132" id="Page_132">[132]</a></span> possesses a certain amount of previsional
+faculty, and if the events foreseen were always of great importance,
+one might suppose that an extraordinary stimulus had enabled him for
+that occasion only to make a clear impression of what he saw upon his
+lower personality. No doubt that is the explanation of many of the
+cases in which death or grave disaster is foreseen, but there are a
+large number of instances on record to which it does not seem to
+apply, since the events foretold are frequently exceedingly trivial
+and unimportant.</p>
+
+<p>A well-known story of second-sight in Scotland will illustrate what I
+mean. A man who had no belief in the occult was forewarned by a
+Highland seer of the approaching death of a neighbour. The prophecy
+was given with considerable wealth of detail, including a full
+description of the funeral, with the names of the four pall-bearers
+and others who would be present. The auditor seems to have laughed at
+the whole story and promptly forgotten it, but the death of his
+neighbour at the time foretold recalled the warning to his mind, and
+he determined to falsify part of the prediction at any rate by being
+one of the pall-bearers himself. He succeeded in getting matters
+arranged as he wished, but just as the funeral was about to start he
+was called away from his post by some small matter which detained him
+only a minute or two. As he came hurrying back he saw with<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_133" id="Page_133">[133]</a></span> surprise
+that the procession had started without him, and that the prediction
+had been exactly fulfilled, for the four pall-bearers were those who
+had been indicated in the vision.</p>
+
+<p>Now here is a very trifling matter, which could have been of no
+possible importance to anybody, definitely foreseen months beforehand;
+and although a man makes a determined effort to alter the arrangement
+indicated he fails entirely to affect it in the least. Certainly this
+looks very much like predestination, even down to the smallest detail,
+and it is only when we examine this question from higher planes that
+we are able to see our way to escape that theory. Of course, as I said
+before about another branch of the subject, a full explanation eludes
+us as yet, and obviously must do so until our knowledge is infinitely
+greater than it is now; the most that we can hope to do for the
+present is to indicate the line along which an explanation may be
+found.</p>
+
+<p>There is no doubt whatever that, just as what is happening now is the
+result of causes set in motion in the past, so what will happen in the
+future will be the result of causes already in operation. Even down
+here we can calculate that if certain actions are performed certain
+results will follow, but our reckoning is constantly liable to be
+disturbed by the interference of factors which we have not been able
+to take into account. But if we raise our consciousness to the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_134" id="Page_134">[134]</a></span> mental
+plane we can see very much farther into the results of our actions.</p>
+
+<p>We can trace, for example, the effect of a casual word, not only upon
+the person to whom it was addressed, but through him on many others as
+it is passed on in widening circles, until it seems to have affected
+the whole country; and one glimpse of such a vision is far more
+efficient than any number of moral precepts in impressing upon us the
+necessity of extreme circumspection in thought, word, and deed. Not
+only can we from that plane see thus fully the result of every action,
+but we can also see where and in what way the results of other actions
+apparently quite unconnected with it will interfere with and modify
+it. In fact, it may be said that the results of all causes at present
+in action are clearly visible&mdash;that the future, as it would be if no
+entirely new causes should arise, lies open before our gaze.</p>
+
+<p>New causes of course do arise, because man's will is free; but in the
+case of all ordinary people the use which they will make of their
+freedom can be calculated beforehand with considerable accuracy. The
+average man has so little real will that he is very much the creature
+of circumstances; his action in previous lives places him amid certain
+surroundings, and their influence upon him is so very much the most
+important factor in his life-story that his future course may be
+predicted with almost mathematical<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_135" id="Page_135">[135]</a></span> certainty. With the developed man
+the case is different; for him also the main events of life are
+arranged by his past actions, but the way in which he will allow them
+to affect him, the methods by which he will deal with them and perhaps
+triumph over them&mdash;these are all his own, and they cannot be foreseen
+even on the mental plane except as probabilities.</p>
+
+<p>Looking down on man's life in this way from above, it seems as though
+his free will could be exercised only at certain crises in his career.
+He arrives at a point in his life where there are obviously two or
+three alternative courses open before him; he is absolutely free to
+choose which of them he pleases, and although some one who knew his
+nature thoroughly well might feel almost certain what his choice would
+be, such knowledge on his friend's part is in no sense a compelling
+force.</p>
+
+<p>But when he <i>has</i> chosen, he has to go through with it and take the
+consequences; having entered upon a particular path he may, in many
+cases, be forced to go on for a very long way before he has any
+opportunity to turn aside. His position is somewhat like that of the
+driver of a train; when he comes to a junction he may have the points
+set either this way or that, and so can pass on to whichever line he
+pleases, but when he <i>has</i> passed on to one of them he is compelled to
+run on along the line which he has<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_136" id="Page_136">[136]</a></span> selected until he reaches another
+set of points, where again an opportunity of choice is offered to him.</p>
+
+<p>Now, in looking down from the mental plane, these points of new
+departure would be clearly visible, and all the results of each choice
+would lie open before us, certain to be worked out even to the
+smallest detail. The only point which would remain uncertain would be
+the all-important one as to which choice the man would make. We
+should, in fact, have not one but several futures mapped out before
+our eyes, without necessarily being able to determine which of them
+would materialize itself into accomplished fact. In most instances we
+should see so strong a probability that we should not hesitate to come
+to a decision, but the case which I have described is certainly
+theoretically possible. Still, even this much knowledge would enable
+us to do with safety a good deal of prediction; and it is not
+difficult for us to imagine that a far higher power than ours might
+always be able to foresee which way every choice would go, and
+consequently to prophesy with absolute certainty.</p>
+
+<p>On the buddhic plane, however, no such elaborate process of conscious
+calculation is necessary, for, as I said before, in some manner which
+down here is totally inexplicable, the past, the present, and the
+future, are there all existing simultaneously. One can only accept
+this fact, for its cause lies in the faculty of the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_137" id="Page_137">[137]</a></span> plane, and the
+way in which this higher faculty works is naturally quite
+incomprehensible to the physical brain. Yet now and then one may meet
+with a hint that seems to bring us a trifle nearer to a dim
+possibility of comprehension. One such hint was given by Dr. Oliver
+Lodge in his address to the British Association at Cardiff. He said:</p>
+
+<p>"A luminous and helpful idea is that time is but a relative mode of
+regarding things; we progress through phenomena at a certain definite
+pace, and this subjective advance we interpret in an objective manner,
+as if events moved necessarily in this order and at this precise rate.
+But that may be only one mode of regarding them. The events may be in
+some sense in existence always, both past and future, and it may be we
+who are arriving at them, not they which are happening. The analogy of a
+traveller in a railway train is useful; if he could never leave the
+train nor alter its pace he would probably consider the landscapes as
+necessarily successive and be unable to conceive their co-existence....
+We perceive, therefore, a possible fourth dimensional aspect about time,
+the inexorableness of whose flow may be a natural part or our present
+limitations. And if we once grasp the idea that past and future may be
+actually existing, we can recognize that they may have a controlling
+influence on all present action, and the two together may constitute the
+'higher plane'<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_138" id="Page_138">[138]</a></span> or totality of things after which, as it seems to me, we
+are impelled to seek, in connection with the directing of form or
+determinism, and the action of living beings consciously directed to a
+definite and preconceived end."</p>
+
+<p>Time is not in reality the fourth dimension at all; yet to look at it
+for the moment from that point of view is some slight help towards
+grasping the ungraspable. Suppose that we hold a wooden cone at right
+angles to a sheet of paper, and slowly push it through it point first.
+A microbe living on the surface of that sheet of paper, and having no
+power of conceiving anything outside of that surface, could not only
+never see the cone as a whole, but he could form no sort of conception
+of such a body at all. All that he would see would be the sudden
+appearance of a tiny circle, which would gradually and mysteriously
+grow larger and larger until it vanished from his world as suddenly
+and incomprehensibly as it had come into it.</p>
+
+<p>Thus, what were in reality a series of sections of the cone would
+appear to him to be successive stages in the life of a circle, and it
+would be impossible for him to grasp the idea that these successive
+stages could be seen simultaneously. Yet it is, of course, easy enough
+for us, looking down upon the transaction from another dimension, to
+see that the microbe is simply under a delusion arising from its own
+limita<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_139" id="Page_139">[139]</a></span>tions, and that the cone exists as a whole all the while. Our
+own delusion as to past, present, and future is possibly not
+dissimilar, and the view that is gained of any sequence of events from
+the buddhic plane corresponds to the view of the cone as a whole.
+Naturally, any attempt to work out this suggestion lands us in a
+series of startling paradoxes; but the fact remains a fact,
+nevertheless, and the time will come when it will be clear as noonday
+to our comprehension.</p>
+
+<p>When the pupil's consciousness is fully developed upon the buddhic
+plane, therefore, perfect prevision is possible to him, though he may
+not&mdash;nay, he certainly will not&mdash;be able to bring the whole result of
+his sight through fully and in order into this light. Still, a great
+deal of clear foresight is obviously within his power whenever he
+likes to exercise it; and even when he is not exercising it, frequent
+flashes of fore-knowledge come through into his ordinary life, so that
+he often has an instantaneous intuition as to how things will turn out
+even before their inception.</p>
+
+<p>Short of this perfect prevision we find, as in the previous cases,
+that all degrees of this type of clairvoyance exist, from the
+occasional vague premonitions which cannot in any true sense be called
+sight at all, up to frequent and fairly complete second-sight. The
+faculty to which this latter somewhat misleading name has been given
+is an extremely<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_140" id="Page_140">[140]</a></span> interesting one, and would well repay more careful
+and systematic study than has ever hitherto been given to it.</p>
+
+<p>It is best known to us as a not infrequent possession of the Scottish
+Highlanders, though it is by no means confined to them. Occasional
+instances of it have appeared in almost every nation, but it has
+always been commonest among mountaineers and men of lonely life. With
+us in England it is often spoken of as though it were the exclusive
+appanage of the Celtic race, but in reality it has appeared among
+similarly situated peoples the world over. It is stated, for example,
+to be very common among the Westphalian peasantry.</p>
+
+<p>Sometimes the second-sight consists of a picture clearly foreshowing
+some coming event; more frequently, perhaps, the glimpse of the future
+is given by some symbolical appearance. It is noteworthy that the
+events foreseen are invariably unpleasant ones&mdash;death being the
+commonest of all; I do not recollect a single instance in which the
+second-sight has shown anything which was not of the most gloomy
+nature. It has a ghastly symbolism which is all its own&mdash;a symbolism
+of shrouds and corpse-candles, and other funereal horrors. In some
+cases it appears to be to a certain extent dependent on locality, for
+it is stated that inhabitants of the Isle of Skye who possess the
+faculty often lose it when they<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_141" id="Page_141">[141]</a></span> leave the island, even though it be
+only to cross to the mainland. The gift of such sight is sometimes
+hereditary in a family for generations, but this is not an invariable
+rule, for it often appears sporadically in one member of a family
+otherwise free from its lugubrious influence.</p>
+
+<p>An example in which an accurate vision of a coming event was seen some
+months beforehand by second-sight has already been given. Here is
+another and perhaps a more striking one, which I give exactly as it
+was related to me by one of the actors in the scene.</p>
+
+<p>"We plunged into the jungle, and had walked on for about an hour
+without much success, when Cameron, who happened to be next to me,
+stopped suddenly, turned pale as death, and, pointing straight before
+him, cried in accents of horror:</p>
+
+<p>"'See! see! merciful heaven, look there!'</p>
+
+<p>"'Where? what? what is it?' we all shouted confusedly, as we rushed up
+to him and looked round in expectation of encountering a tiger&mdash;a
+cobra&mdash;we hardly knew what, but assuredly something terrible, since it
+had been sufficient to cause such evident emotion in our usually
+self-contained comrade. But neither tiger nor cobra was
+visible&mdash;nothing but Cameron pointing with ghastly, haggard face and
+starting eyeballs at something we could not see.</p>
+
+<p>"'Cameron! Cameron' cried I, seizing his arm, "'for heaven's sake,
+speak! What is the matter?'<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_142" id="Page_142">[142]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"Scarcely were the words out of my mouth when a low, but very peculiar
+sound struck on my ear, and Cameron, dropping his pointing hand, said
+in a hoarse, strained voice, 'There! you heard it? Thank God it's
+over' and fell to the ground insensible.</p>
+
+<p>"There was a momentary confusion while we unfastened his collar, and I
+dashed in his face some water which I fortunately had in my flask,
+while another tried to pour brandy between his clenched teeth; and
+under cover of it I whispered to the man next to me (one of our
+greatest sceptics, by the way), 'Beauchamp, did <i>you</i> hear anything?'</p>
+
+<p>"'Why, yes,' he replied, a curious sound, very; a sort of crash or
+rattle far away in the distance, yet very distinct; if the thing were
+not utterly impossible, I could have sworn it was the rattle of
+musketry.'</p>
+
+<p>"'Just my impression,' murmured I; 'but hush! he is recovering.'</p>
+
+<p>"In a minute or two he was able to speak feebly, and began to thank us
+and apologize for giving trouble; and soon he sat up, leaning against
+a tree, and in a firm, though still low voice said:</p>
+
+<p>"'My dear friends, I feel I owe you an explanation of my extraordinary
+behaviour. It is an explanation that I would fain avoid giving; but it
+must come some time, and so may as well be given now. You may perhaps
+have noticed that when during our voyage you all joined in scoffing at
+dreams, portents<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_143" id="Page_143">[143]</a></span> and visions, I invariably avoided giving any opinion
+on the subject. I did so because, while I had no desire to court
+ridicule or provoke discussion, I was unable to agree with you,
+knowing only too well from my own dread experience that the world
+which men agree to call that of the supernatural is just as real
+as&mdash;nay, perhaps, even far more real than&mdash;this world we see about us.
+In other words, I, like many of my countrymen, am cursed with the gift
+of second-sight&mdash;that awful faculty which foretells in vision
+calamities that are shortly to occur.</p>
+
+<p>"'Such a vision I had just now, and its exceptional horror moved me as
+you have seen. I saw before me a corpse&mdash;not that of one who has died
+a peaceful natural death, but that of the victim of some terrible
+accident; a ghastly, shapeless mass, with a face swollen, crushed,
+unrecognizable. I saw this dreadful object placed in a coffin, and the
+funeral service performed over it. I saw the burial-ground, I saw the
+clergyman: and though I had never seen either before, I can picture
+both perfectly in my mind's eye now; I saw you, myself, Beauchamp, all
+of us and many more, standing round as mourners; I saw the soldiers
+raise their muskets after the service was over; I heard the volley
+they fired&mdash;and then I knew no more.'</p>
+
+<p>"As he spoke of that volley of musketry I glanced across with a
+shudder at Beauchamp, and the look of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_144" id="Page_144">[144]</a></span> stony horror on that handsome
+sceptic's face was not to be forgotten."</p>
+
+<p>This is only one incident (and by no means the principal one) in a
+very remarkable story of psychic experience, but as for the moment we
+are concerned merely with the example of second-sight which it gives
+us, I need only say that later in the day the party of young soldiers
+discovered the body of their commanding officer in the terrible
+condition so graphically described by Mr. Cameron. The narrative
+continues:</p>
+
+<p>"When, on the following evening, we arrived at our destination, and
+our melancholy deposition had been taken down by the proper
+authorities, Cameron and I went out for a quiet walk, to endeavour
+with the assistance of the soothing influence of nature to shake off
+something of the gloom which paralyzed our spirits. Suddenly he
+clutched my arm, and, pointing through some rude railings, said in a
+trembling voice, 'Yes, there it is! that is the burial-ground I saw
+yesterday.' And when later on we were introduced to the chaplain of
+the post, I noticed, though my friends did not, the irrepressible
+shudder with which Cameron took his hand, and I knew that he had
+recognized the clergyman of his vision."</p>
+
+<p>As for the occult rationale of all this, I presume Mr. Cameron's
+vision was a pure case of second-sight, and if so the fact that the
+two men who were evidently<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_145" id="Page_145">[145]</a></span> nearest to him (certainly one&mdash;probably
+both&mdash;actually touching him) participated in it to the limited extent
+of hearing the concluding volley, while the others who were not so
+close did not, would show that the intensity with which the vision
+impressed itself upon the seer occasioned vibrations in his mind-body
+which were communicated to those of the persons in contact with him,
+as in ordinary thought-transference. Anyone who wishes to read the
+rest of the story will find it in the pages of <i>Lucifer</i>, vol. xx., p.
+457.</p>
+
+<p>Scores of examples of similar nature to these might easily be
+collected. With regard to the symbolical variety of this sight, it is
+commonly stated among those who possess it that if on meeting a living
+person they see a phantom shroud wrapped around him, it is a sure
+prognostication of his death. The date of the approaching decease is
+indicated either by the extent to which the shroud covers the body, or
+by the time of day at which the vision is seen; for if it be in the
+early morning they say that the man will die during the same day, but
+if it be in the evening, then it will be only some time within a year.</p>
+
+<p>Another variant (and a remarkable one) of the symbolic form of
+second-sight is that in which the headless apparition of the person
+whose death is foretold manifests itself to the seer. An example of
+that class is given in <i>Signs before Death</i> as having happened in the
+family of Dr. Ferrier, though in that case, if I<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_146" id="Page_146">[146]</a></span> recollect rightly,
+the vision did not occur until the time of the death, or very near it.</p>
+
+<p>Turning from seers who are regularly in possession of a certain
+faculty, although its manifestations are only occasionally fully under
+their control, we are confronted by a large number of isolated
+instances of prevision in the case of people with whom it is not in
+any way a regular faculty. Perhaps the majority of these occur in
+dreams, although examples of the waking vision are by no means
+wanting. Sometimes the prevision refers to an event of distinct
+importance to the seer, and so justifies the action of the Ego in
+taking the trouble to impress it. In other cases, the event is one
+which is of no apparent importance, or is not in any way connected
+with the man to whom the vision comes. Sometimes it is clear that the
+intention of the Ego (or the communicating entity, whatever it may be)
+is to warn the lower self of the approach of some calamity, either in
+order that it may be prevented or, if that be not possible, that the
+shock may be minimized by preparation.</p>
+
+<p>The event most frequently thus foreshadowed is, perhaps not
+unnaturally, death&mdash;sometimes the death of the seer himself, sometimes
+that of one dear to him. This type of prevision is so common in the
+literature of the subject, and its object is so obvious, that we need
+hardly cite examples of it; but one or two instances in which the
+prophetic sight, though clearly<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_147" id="Page_147">[147]</a></span> useful, was yet of a less sombre
+character, will prove not uninteresting to the reader. The following
+is culled from that storehouse of the student of the uncanny, Mrs.
+Crowe's <i>Night Side of Nature</i>, p. 72.</p>
+
+<p>"A few years ago Dr. Watson, now residing at Glasgow, dreamt that he
+received a summons to attend a patient at a place some miles from
+where he was living; that he started on horseback, and that as he was
+crossing a moor he saw a bull making furiously at him, whose horns he
+only escaped by taking refuge on a spot inaccessible to the animal,
+where he waited a long time till some people, observing his situation,
+came to his assistance and released him.</p>
+
+<p>"Whilst at breakfast on the following morning the summons came, and
+smiling at the odd coincidence (as he thought it), he started on
+horseback. He was quite ignorant of the road he had to go, but by and
+by he arrived at the moor, which he recognised, and presently the bull
+appeared, coming full tilt towards him. But his dream had shown him
+the place of refuge, for which he instantly made, and there he spent
+three or four hours, besieged by the animal, till the country people
+set him free. Dr. Watson declares that but for the dream he should not
+have known in what direction to run for safety."</p>
+
+<p>Another case, in which a much longer interval separated the warning
+and its fulfilment, is given by Dr. F. G. Lee, in <i>Glimpses of the
+Supernatural</i>, vol. i., p. 240.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_148" id="Page_148">[148]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"Mrs. Hannah Green, the housekeeper of a country family in
+Oxfordshire, dreamt one night that she had been left alone in the
+house upon a Sunday evening, and that hearing a knock at the door of
+the chief entrance she went to it and there found an ill-looking tramp
+armed with a bludgeon, who insisted on forcing himself into the house.
+She thought that she struggled for some time to prevent him so doing,
+but quite ineffectually, and that, being struck down by him and
+rendered insensible, he thereupon gained ingress to the mansion. On
+this she awoke.</p>
+
+<p>"As nothing happened for a considerable period the circumstance of the
+dream was soon forgotten, and, as she herself asserts, had altogether
+passed away from her mind. However, seven years afterwards this same
+housekeeper was left with two other servants to take charge of an
+isolated mansion at Kensington (subsequently the town residence of the
+family), when on a certain Sunday evening, her fellow-servants having
+gone out and left her alone, she was suddenly startled by a loud knock
+at the front door.</p>
+
+<p>"All of a sudden the remembrance of her former dream returned to her
+with singular vividness and remarkable force, and she felt her lonely
+isolation greatly. Accordingly, having at once lighted a lamp on the
+hall table&mdash;during which act the loud knock was repeated with
+vigour&mdash;she took the precaution to go up to a landing on the stair and
+throw up the window;<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_149" id="Page_149">[149]</a></span> and there to her intense terror she saw in the
+flesh the very man whom years previously she had seen in her dream,
+armed with the bludgeon and demanding an entrance.</p>
+
+<p>"With great presence of mind she went down to the chief entrance, made
+that and other doors and windows more secure, and then rang the
+various bells of the house violently, and placed lights in the upper
+rooms. It was concluded that by these acts the intruder was scared
+away."</p>
+
+<p>Evidently in this case also the dream was of practical use, as without
+it the worthy housekeeper would without doubt from sheer force of
+habit have opened the door in the ordinary way in answer to the knock.</p>
+
+<p>It is not, however, only in dream that the Ego impresses his lower
+self with what he thinks it well for it to know. Many instances
+showing this might be taken from the books, but instead of quoting
+from them I will give a case related only a few weeks ago by a lady of
+my acquaintance&mdash;a case which, although not surrounded with any
+romantic incident, has at least the merit of being new.</p>
+
+<p>My friend, then, has two quite young children, and a little while ago
+the elder of them caught (as was supposed) a bad cold, and suffered
+for some days from a complete stoppage in the upper part of the nose.
+The mother thought little of this, expecting it to pass off, until one
+day she suddenly saw before her in the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_150" id="Page_150">[150]</a></span> air what she describes as a
+picture of a room, in the centre of which was a table on which her
+child was lying insensible or dead, with some people bending over her.
+The minutest details of the scene were clear to her, and she
+particularly noticed that the child wore a white night-dress, whereas
+she knew that all garments of that description possessed by her little
+daughter happened to be pink.</p>
+
+<p>This vision impressed her considerably, and suggested to her for the
+first time that the child might be suffering from something more
+serious than a cold, so she carried her off to a hospital for
+examination. The surgeon who attended to her discovered the presence
+of a dangerous growth in the nose, which he pronounced must be
+removed. A few days later the child was taken to the hospital for the
+operation, and was put to bed. When the mother arrived at the hospital
+she found she had forgotten to bring one of the child's night-dresses,
+and so the nurses had to supply one, which was <i>white</i>. In this white
+dress the operation was performed on the girl the next day, in the
+room that her mother saw in her vision, every circumstance being
+exactly reproduced.</p>
+
+<p>In all these cases the prevision achieved its result, but the books
+are full of stories of warnings neglected or scouted, and of the
+disaster that consequently followed. In some cases the information is
+given to someone who has practically no power to interfere in<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_151" id="Page_151">[151]</a></span> the
+matter, as in the historic instance when John Williams, a Cornish
+mine-manager, foresaw in the minutest detail, eight or nine days
+before it took place, the assassination of Mr. Spencer Perceval, the
+then Chancellor of the Exchequer, in the lobby of the House of
+Commons. Even in this case, however, it is just possible that
+something might have been done, for we read that Mr. Williams was so
+much impressed that he consulted his friends as to whether he ought
+not to go up to London to warn Mr. Perceval. Unfortunately they
+dissuaded him, and the assassination took place. It does not seem very
+probable that, even if he had gone up to town and related his story,
+much attention would have been paid to him, still there is just the
+possibility that some precautions might have been taken which would
+have prevented the murder.</p>
+
+<p>There is little to show us what particular action on higher planes led
+to this curious prophetic vision. The parties were entirely unknown to
+one another, so that it was not caused by any close sympathy between
+them. If it was an attempt made by some helper to avert the threatened
+doom, it seems strange that no one who was sufficiently impressible
+could be found nearer than Cornwall. Perhaps Mr. Williams, when on the
+astral plane during sleep, somehow came across this reflection of the
+future, and being naturally horrified thereby, passed it on to his
+lower mind in<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_152" id="Page_152">[152]</a></span> the hope that somehow something might be done to
+prevent it; but it is impossible to diagnose the case with certainty
+without examining the &acirc;k&acirc;shic records to see what actually took place.</p>
+
+<p>A typical instance of the absolutely purposeless foresight is that
+related by Mr. Stead, in his <i>Real Ghost Stories</i> (p. 83), of his
+friend Miss Freer, commonly known as Miss X. When staying at a country
+house this lady, being wide awake and fully conscious, once saw a
+dogcart drawn by a white horse standing at the hall door, with two
+strangers in it, one of whom got out of the cart and stood playing
+with a terrier. She noticed that he was wearing an ulster, and also
+particularly observed the fresh wheel-marks made by the cart on the
+gravel. Nevertheless there was no cart there at the time; but half an
+hour later two strangers <i>did</i> drive up in such an equipage, and every
+detail of the lady's vision was accurately fulfilled. Mr. Stead goes
+on to cite another instance of equally purposeless prevision where
+seven years separated the dream (for in this case it was a dream) and
+its fulfilment.</p>
+
+<p>All these instances (and they are merely random selections from many
+hundreds) show that a certain amount of prevision is undoubtedly
+possible to the Ego, and such cases would evidently be much more
+frequent if it were not for the exceeding density and lack of response
+in the lower vehicles of the majority<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_153" id="Page_153">[153]</a></span> of what we call civilized
+mankind&mdash;qualities chiefly attributable to the gross practical
+materialism of the present age. I am not thinking of any profession of
+materialistic belief as common, but of the fact that in all practical
+affairs of daily life nearly everyone is guided solely by
+considerations of worldly interest in some shape or other.</p>
+
+<p>In many cases the Ego himself may be an undeveloped one, and his
+prevision consequently very vague; in others he himself may see
+clearly, but may find his lower vehicles so unimpressible that all he
+can succeed in getting through into his physical brain may be an
+indefinite presage of coming disaster. Again, there are cases in which
+a premonition is not the work of the Ego at all, but of some outside
+entity, who for some reason takes a friendly interest in the person to
+whom the feeling comes. In the work which I quoted above, Mr. Stead
+tells us of the certainty which he felt many months beforehand that be
+would be left in charge of the <i>Pall Mall Gazette</i> though from an
+ordinary point of view nothing seemed less probable. Whether that
+fore-knowledge was the result of an impression made by his own Ego or
+of a friendly hint from someone else it is impossible to say without
+definite investigation, but his confidence in it was fully justified.</p>
+
+<p>There is one more variety of clairvoyance in time which ought not to
+be left without mention. It is<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_154" id="Page_154">[154]</a></span> a comparatively rare one, but there
+are enough examples on record to claim our attention, though
+unfortunately the particulars given do not usually include those which
+we should require in order to be able to diagnose it with certainty. I
+refer to the cases in which spectral armies or phantom flocks of
+animals have been seen. In <i>The Night Side of Nature</i> (p. 462 <i>et
+seq.</i>) we have accounts of several such visions. We are there told how
+at Havarah Park, near Ripley, a body of soldiers in white uniform,
+amounting to several hundreds, was seen by reputable people to go
+through various evolutions and then vanish; and how some years earlier
+a similar visionary army was seen in the neighbourhood of Inverness by
+a respectable farmer and his son.</p>
+
+<p>In this case also the number of troops was very great, and the
+spectators had not the slightest doubt at first that they were
+substantial forms of flesh and blood. They counted at least sixteen
+pairs of columns, and had abundance of time to observe every
+particular. The front ranks marched seven abreast, and were
+accompanied by a good many women and children, who were carrying tin
+cans and other implements of cookery. The men were clothed in red, and
+their arms shone brightly in the sun. In the midst of them was an
+animal, a deer or a horse, they could not distinguish which, that they
+were driving furiously forward with their bayonets.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_155" id="Page_155">[155]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>The younger of the two men observed to the other that every now and
+then the rear ranks were obliged to run to overtake the van; and the
+elder one, who had been a soldier, remarked that that was always the
+case, and recommended him if he ever served to try to march in the
+front. There was only one mounted officer; he rode a grey dragoon
+horse, and wore a gold-laced hat and blue Hussar cloak, with wide open
+sleeves lined with red. The two spectators observed him so
+particularly that they said afterwards they should recognize him
+anywhere. They were, however, afraid of being ill-treated or forced to
+go along with the troops, whom they concluded to have come from
+Ireland, and landed at Kyntyre; and whilst they were climbing over a
+dyke to get out of their way, the whole thing vanished.</p>
+
+<p>A phenomenon of the same sort was observed in the earlier part of this
+century at Paderborn in Westphalia, and seen by at least thirty
+people; but as, some years later, a review of twenty thousand men was
+held on the very same spot, it was concluded that the vision must have
+been some sort of second-sight&mdash;a faculty not uncommon in the
+district.</p>
+
+<p>Such spectral hosts, however, are sometimes seen where an army of
+ordinary men could by no possibility have marched, either before or
+after. One of the most remarkable accounts of such apparitions is
+given by Miss Harriet Martineau, in her<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_156" id="Page_156">[156]</a></span> description of <i>The English
+Lakes</i>. She writes as follows:&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"This Souter or Soutra Fell is the mountain on which ghosts appeared
+in myriads, at intervals during ten years of the last century,
+presenting the same appearances to twenty-six chosen witnesses, and to
+all the inhabitants of all the cottages within view of the mountain,
+and for a space of two hours and a half at one time&mdash;the spectral show
+being closed by darkness! The mountain, be it remembered, is full of
+precipices, which defy all marching of bodies of men; and the north
+and west sides present a sheer perpendicular of 900 feet.</p>
+
+<p>"On Midsummer Eve, 1735, a farm servant of Mr. Lancaster, half a mile
+from the mountain, saw the eastern side of its summit covered with
+troops, which pursued their onward march for an hour. They came, in
+distinct bodies, from an eminence on the north end, and disappeared in
+a niche in the summit. When the poor fellow told his tale, he was
+insulted on all hands, as original observers usually are when they see
+anything wonderful. Two years after, also on a Midsummer Eve, Mr.
+Lancaster saw some men there, apparently following their horses, as if
+they had returned from hunting. He thought nothing of this; but he
+happened to look up again ten minutes after, and saw the figures, now
+mounted, and followed by an interminable array of troops, five
+abreast,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_157" id="Page_157">[157]</a></span> marching from the eminence and over the cleft as before. All
+the family saw this, and the man&oelig;uvres of the force, as each
+company was kept in order by a mounted officer, who galloped this way
+and that. As the shades of twilight came on, the discipline appeared
+to relax, and the troops intermingled, and rode at unequal paces, till
+all was lost in darkness. Now of course all the Lancasters were
+insulted, as their servant had been; but their justification was not
+long delayed.</p>
+
+<p>"On the Midsummer Eve of the fearful 1745, twenty-six persons,
+expressly summoned by the family, saw all that had been seen before,
+and more. Carriages were now interspersed with the troops; and
+everybody knew that no carriages had been, or could be, on the summit
+of Souter Fell. The multitude was beyond imagination; for the troops
+filled a space of half a mile, and marched quickly till night hid
+them&mdash;still marching. There was nothing vaporous or indistinct about
+the appearance of these spectres. So real did they seem, that some of
+the people went up, the next morning, to look for the hoof-marks of
+the horses; and awful it was to them to find not one foot-print on
+heather or grass. The witnesses attested the whole story on oath
+before a magistrate; and fearful were the expectations held by the
+whole country-side about the coming events of the Scotch rebellion.</p>
+
+<p>"It now comes out that two other persons had<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_158" id="Page_158">[158]</a></span> seen something of the
+sort in the interval&mdash;<i>viz.</i>, in 1743&mdash;but had concealed it, to escape
+the insults to which their neighbours were subjected. Mr. Wren, of
+Wilton Hall, and his farm servant, saw, one summer evening, a man and
+a dog on the mountain, pursuing some horses along a place so steep
+that a horse could hardly by any possibility keep a footing on it.
+Their speed was prodigious, and their disappearance at the south end
+of the fell so rapid, that Mr. Wren and the servant went up, the next
+morning, to find the body of the man who must have been killed. Of
+man, horse, or dog, they found not a trace and they came down and held
+their tongues. When they did speak, they fared not much better for
+having twenty-six sworn comrades in their disgrace.</p>
+
+<p>"As for the explanation, the editor of the <i>Lonsdale Magazine</i>
+declared (vol. ii., p. 313) that it was discovered that on the
+Midsummer Eve of 1745 the rebels were 'exercising on the western coast
+of Scotland, whose movements had been reflected by some transparent
+vapour, similar to the Fata Morgana.' This is not much in the way of
+explanation; but it is, as far as we know, all that can be had at
+present. These facts, however, brought out a good many more; as the
+spectral march of the same kind seen in Leicestershire in 1707, and
+the tradition of the tramp of armies over Helvellyn, on the eve of the
+battle of Marston Moor."<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_159" id="Page_159">[159]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>Other cases are cited in which flocks of spectral sheep have been seen
+on certain roads, and there are of course various German stories of
+phantom cavalcades of hunters and robbers.</p>
+
+<p>Now in these cases, as so often happens in the investigation of occult
+phenomena, there are several possible causes, any one of which would
+be quite adequate to the production of the observed occurrences, but
+in the absence of fuller information it is hardly feasible to do more
+than guess as to which of these possible causes were in operation in
+any particular instance.</p>
+
+<p>The explanation usually suggested (whenever the whole story is not
+ridiculed as a falsehood) is that what is seen is a reflection by
+mirage of the movements of a real body of troops, taking place at a
+considerable distance. I have myself seen the ordinary mirage on
+several occasions, and know something therefore of its wonderful
+powers of deception; but it seems to me that we should need some
+entirely new variety of mirage, quite different from that at present
+known to science, to account for these tales of phantom armies, some
+of which pass the spectator within a few yards.</p>
+
+<p>First of all, they may be, as apparently in the Westphalian case above
+mentioned, simply instances of prevision on a gigantic scale&mdash;by whom
+arranged, and for what purpose, it is not easy to divine. Again, they<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_160" id="Page_160">[160]</a></span>
+may often belong to the past instead of the future, and be in fact the
+reflection of scenes from the &acirc;k&acirc;shic records&mdash;though here again the
+reason and method of such reflection is not obvious.</p>
+
+<p>There are plenty of tribes of nature-spirits perfectly capable, if for
+any reason they wished to do so, of producing such appearances by
+their wonderful power of glamour (see <i>Theosophical Manual, No. V.</i>,
+p. 60), and such action would be quite in keeping with their delight
+in mystifying and impressing human beings. Or it may even sometimes be
+kindly intended by them as a warning to their friends of events that
+they know to be about to take place. It seems as though some
+explanation along these lines would be the most reasonable method of
+accounting for the extraordinary series of phenomena described by Miss
+Martineau&mdash;that is, if the stories told to her can be relied upon.</p>
+
+<p>Another possibility is that in some cases what have been taken for
+soldiers were simply the nature-spirits themselves going through some
+of the ordered evolutions in which they take so much delight, though
+it must be admitted that these are rarely of a character which could
+be mistaken for military man&oelig;uvres except by the most ignorant.</p>
+
+<p>The flocks of animals are probably in most instances mere records, but
+there are cases where they, like the "wild huntsmen" of German story,
+belong to an entirely different class of phenomena, which is
+altogether<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_161" id="Page_161">[161]</a></span> outside of our present subject. Students of the occult
+will be familiar with the fact that the circumstances surrounding any
+scene of intense terror or passion, such as an exceptionally horrible
+murder, are liable to be occasionally reproduced in a form which it
+needs a very slight development of psychic faculty to be able to see
+and it has sometimes happened that various animals formed part of such
+surroundings, and consequently they also are periodically reproduced
+by the action of the guilty conscience of the murderer (see <i>Manual
+V.</i>, p. 83).</p>
+
+<p>Probably whatever foundation of fact underlies the various stories of
+spectral horsemen and hunting-troops may generally be referred to this
+category. This is also the explanation, evidently, of some of the
+visions of ghostly armies, such as that remarkable re-enactment of the
+battle of Edgehill which seems to have taken place at intervals for
+some months after the date of the real struggle, as testified by a
+justice of the peace, a clergyman, and other eye-witnesses, in a
+curious contemporary pamphlet entitled <i>Prodigious Noises of War and
+Battle, at Edgehill, near Keinton, in Northamptonshire</i>. According to
+the pamphlet this case was investigated at the time by some officers
+of the army, who clearly recognized many of the phantom figures that
+they saw. This looks decidedly like an instance of the terrible power
+of man's unrestrained passions to reproduce themselves, and to cause
+in<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_162" id="Page_162">[162]</a></span> some strange way a kind of materialization of their record.</p>
+
+<p>In some cases it is clear that the flocks of animals seen have been
+simply hordes of unclean artificial elementals taking that form in
+order to feed upon the loathsome emanations of peculiarly horrible
+places, such as would be the site of a gallows. An instance of this
+kind is furnished by the celebrated "Gyb Ghosts," or ghosts of the
+gibbet, described in <i>More Glimpses of the World Unseen</i>, p. 109, as
+being repeatedly seen in the form of herds of mis-shapen swine-like
+creatures, rushing, rooting and fighting night after night on the site
+of that foul monument of crime. But these belong to the subject of
+apparitions rather than to that of clairvoyance.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_163" id="Page_163">[163]</a></span></p>
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_IX" id="CHAPTER_IX"></a>CHAPTER IX.</h2>
+
+<h2><span class="smcap">Methods of Development.</span></h2>
+
+
+<p>When a man becomes convinced of the reality of the valuable power of
+clairvoyance, his first question usually is, "How can I develop in my
+own case this faculty which is said to be latent in everyone?"</p>
+
+<p>Now the fact is that there are many methods by which it may be
+developed, but only one which can be at all safely recommended for
+general use&mdash;that of which we shall speak last of all. Among the less
+advanced nations of the world the clairvoyant state has been produced
+in various objectionable ways; among some of the non-Aryan tribes of
+India, by the use of intoxicating drugs or the inhaling of stupefying
+fumes; among the dervishes, by whirling in a mad dance of religious
+fervour until vertigo and insensibility supervene; among the followers
+of the abominable practices of the Voodoo cult, by frightful
+sacrifices and loathsome rites of black magic. Methods such as these
+are happily not in vogue in our own race, yet even among us large
+numbers of dabblers in this<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_164" id="Page_164">[164]</a></span> ancient art adopt some plan of
+self-hypnotization, such as the gazing at a bright spot or the
+repetition of some formula until a condition of semi-stupefaction is
+produced; while yet another school among them would endeavour to
+arrive at similar results by the use of some of the Indian systems of
+regulation of the breath.</p>
+
+<p>All these methods are unequivocally to be condemned as quite unsafe
+for the practice of the ordinary man who has no idea of what he is
+doing&mdash;who is simply making vague experiments in an unknown world.
+Even the method of obtaining clairvoyance by allowing oneself to be
+mesmerized by another person is one from which I should myself shrink
+with the most decided distaste; and assuredly it should never be
+attempted except under conditions of absolute trust and affection
+between the magnetizer and the magnetized, and a perfection of purity
+in heart and soul, in mind and intention, such as is rarely to be seen
+among any but the greatest of saints.</p>
+
+<p>Experiments in connection with the mesmeric trance are of the deepest
+interest, as offering (among other things) a possibility of proof of
+the fact of clairvoyance to the sceptic, yet except under such
+conditions as I have just mentioned&mdash;conditions, I quite admit, almost
+impossible to realize&mdash;I should never counsel anyone to submit himself
+as a subject for them.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_165" id="Page_165">[165]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>Curative mesmerism (in which, without putting the patient into the
+trance state at all, an effort is made to relieve his pain, to remove
+his disease, or to pour vitality into him by magnetic passes) stands
+on an entirely different footing; and if the mesmerizer, even though
+quite untrained, is himself in good health and animated by pure
+intentions, no harm is likely to be done to the subject. In so extreme
+a case as that of a surgical operation, a man might reasonably submit
+himself even to the mesmeric trance, but it is certainly not a
+condition with which one ought lightly to experiment. Indeed, I should
+most strongly advise any one who did me the honour to ask for my
+opinion on the subject, not to attempt any kind of experimental
+investigation into what are still to him the abnormal forces of
+nature, until he has first of all read carefully everything that has
+been written on the subject, or&mdash;which is by far the best of
+all&mdash;until he is under the guidance of a qualified teacher.</p>
+
+<p>But where, it will be said, is the qualified teacher to be found? Not,
+most assuredly, among any who advertise themselves as teachers, who
+offer to impart for so many guineas or dollars the sacred mysteries of
+the ages, or hold "developing circles" to which casual applicants are
+admitted at so much per head.</p>
+
+<p>Much has been said in this treatise of the necessity for careful
+training&mdash;of the immense advantages of the trained over the untrained
+clairvoyant; but that<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_166" id="Page_166">[166]</a></span> again brings us back to the same question&mdash;where
+is this definite training to be had?</p>
+
+<p>The answer is, that the training may be had precisely where it has
+always been to be found since the world's history began&mdash;at the hands
+of the Great White Brotherhood of Adepts, which stands now, as it has
+always stood, at the back of human evolution, guiding and helping it
+under the sway of the great cosmic laws which represent to us the Will
+of the Eternal.</p>
+
+<p>But how, it may be asked, is access to be gained to them? How is the
+aspirant thirsting for knowledge to signify to them his wish for
+instruction?</p>
+
+<p>Once more, by the time-honoured methods only. There is no new patent
+whereby a man can qualify himself without trouble to become a pupil in
+that School&mdash;no royal road to the learning which has to be acquired in
+it. At the present day, just as in the mists of antiquity, the man who
+wishes to attract their notice must enter upon the slow and toilsome
+path of self-development&mdash;must learn first of all to take himself in
+hand and make himself all that he ought to be. The steps of that path
+are no secret; I have given them in full detail in <i>Invisible
+Helpers</i>, so I need not repeat them here. But it is no easy road to
+follow, and yet sooner or later all must follow it, for the great law
+of evolution sweeps mankind slowly but resistlessly towards its goal.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_167" id="Page_167">[167]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>From those who are pressing into this path the great Masters select
+their pupils, and it is only by qualifying himself to be taught that a
+man can put himself in the way of getting the teaching. Without that
+qualification, membership in any Lodge or Society, whether secret or
+otherwise, will not advance his object in the slightest degree. It is
+true, as we all know, that it was at the instance of some of these
+Masters that our Theosophical Society was founded, and that from its
+ranks some have been chosen to pass into closer relations with them.
+But that choice depends upon the earnestness of the candidate, not
+upon his mere membership of the Society or of any body within it.</p>
+
+<p>That, then, is the only absolutely safe way of developing
+clairvoyance&mdash;to enter with all one's energy upon the path of moral
+and mental evolution, at one stage of which this and other of the
+higher faculties will spontaneously begin to show themselves. Yet
+there is one practice which is advised by all the religions
+alike&mdash;which if adopted carefully and reverently can do no harm to any
+human being, yet from which a very pure type of clairvoyance has
+sometimes been developed; and that is the practice of meditation.</p>
+
+<p>Let a man choose a certain time every day&mdash;a time when he can rely
+upon being quiet and undisturbed, though preferably in the daytime
+rather than at night&mdash;and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_168" id="Page_168">[168]</a></span> set himself at that time to keep his mind
+for a few minutes entirely free from all earthly thoughts of any kind
+whatever and, when that is achieved, to direct the whole force of his
+being towards the highest spiritual ideal that he happens to know. He
+will find that to gain such perfect control of thought is enormously
+more difficult than he supposes, but when he attains it it cannot but
+be in every way most beneficial to him, and as he grows more and more
+able to elevate and concentrate his thought, he may gradually find
+that new worlds are opening before his sight.</p>
+
+<p>As a preliminary training towards the satisfactory achievement of such
+meditation, he will find it desirable to make a practice of
+concentration in the affairs of daily life&mdash;even in the smallest of
+them. If he writes a letter, let him think of nothing else but that
+letter until it is finished if he reads a book, let him see to it that
+his thought is never allowed to wander from his author's meaning. He
+must learn to hold his mind in check, and to be master of that also,
+as well as of his lower passions he must patiently labour to acquire
+absolute control of his thoughts, so that he will always know exactly
+what he is thinking about, and why&mdash;so that he can use his mind, and
+turn it or hold it still, as a practised swordsman turns his weapon
+where he will.</p>
+
+<p>Yet after all, if those who so earnestly desire clair<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_169" id="Page_169">[169]</a></span>voyance could
+possess it temporarily for a day or even an hour, it is far from
+certain that they would choose to retain the gift. True, it opens
+before them new worlds of study, new powers of usefulness, and for
+this latter reason most of us feel it worth while; but it should be
+remembered that for one whose duty still calls him to live in the
+world it is by no means an unmixed blessing. Upon one in whom that
+vision is opened the sorrow and the misery, the evil and the greed of
+the world press as an ever-present burden, until in the earlier days
+of his knowledge he often feels inclined to echo the passionate
+adjuration contained in those rolling lines of Schiller's:</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">Dien Orakel zu verk&uuml;nden, warum warfest du mich hin<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">In die Stadt der ewig Blinden, mit dem aufgeschloss'nen Sinn?<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Frommt's, den Schleier aufzuheben, wo das nahe Schreckniss droht?<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Nur der Irrthum ist das Leben; dieses Wissen ist der Tod.<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Nimm, O nimm die traur'ge Klarheit mir vom Aug' den blut'gen Schein!<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Schrecklich ist es deiner Wahrheit sterbliches Gef&auml;ss zu seyn!<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+<p>which may perhaps be translated "Why hast thou cast me thus into the
+town of the ever-blind, to proclaim thine oracle by the opened sense?
+What profits it to lift the veil where the near darkness threatens?
+Only ignorance is life; this knowledge is death. Take back this sad
+clear-sightedness; take from mine eyes this cruel light! It is
+horrible to be the mortal<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_170" id="Page_170">[170]</a></span> channel of thy truth." And again later he
+cries, "Give me back my blindness, the happy darkness of my senses;
+take back thy dreadful gift!"</p>
+
+<p>But this of course is a feeling which passes, for the higher sight
+soon shows the pupil something beyond the sorrow&mdash;soon bears in upon
+his soul the overwhelming certainty that, whatever appearances down
+here may seem to indicate, all things are without shadow of doubt
+working together for the eventual good of all. He reflects that the
+sin and the suffering are there, whether he is able to perceive them
+or not, and that when he can see them he is after all better able to
+give efficient help than he would be if he were working in the dark;
+and so by degrees he learns to bear his share of the heavy karma of
+the world.</p>
+
+<p>Some misguided mortals there are who, having the good fortune to
+possess some slight touch of this higher power, are nevertheless so
+absolutely destitute of all right feeling in connection with it as to
+use it for the most sordid ends&mdash;actually even to advertise themselves
+as "test and business clairvoyants!" Needless to say, such use of the
+faculty is a mere prostitution and degradation of it, showing that its
+unfortunate possessor has somehow got hold of it before the moral side
+of his nature has been sufficiently developed to stand the strain
+which it imposes. A perception of the amount of evil karma that may be
+generated by such action in a very short time changes one's dis<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_171" id="Page_171">[171]</a></span>gust
+into pity for the unhappy perpetrator of that sacrilegious folly.</p>
+
+<p>It is sometimes objected that the possession of clairvoyance destroys
+all privacy, and confers a limit-less ability to explore the secrets
+of others. No doubt it does confer such an <i>ability</i>, but nevertheless
+the suggestion is an amusing one to anyone who knows anything
+practically about the matter. Such an objection may possibly be
+well-founded as regards the very limited powers of the "test and
+business clairvoyant," but the man who brings it forward against those
+who have had the faculty opened for them in the course of their
+instruction, and consequently possess it fully, is forgetting three
+fundamental facts: first, that it is quite inconceivable that anyone,
+having before him the splendid fields for investigation which true
+clairvoyance opens up, could ever have the slightest wish to pry into
+the trumpery little secrets of any individual man; secondly, that even
+if by some impossible chance our clairvoyant <i>had</i> such indecent
+curiosity about matters of petty gossip, there is, after all, such a
+thing as the honour of a gentleman, which, on that plane as on this,
+would of course prevent him from contemplating for an instant the idea
+of gratifying it; and thirdly, in case, by any unheard-of possibility,
+one might encounter some variety of low-class pitri with whom the
+above considerations would have no weight, full instructions are
+always given to every pupil, as soon<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_172" id="Page_172">[172]</a></span> as he develops any sign of
+faculty, as to the limitations which are placed upon its use.</p>
+
+<p>Put briefly, these restrictions are that there shall be no prying, no
+selfish use of the power, and no displaying of phenomena. That is to
+say, that the same considerations which would govern the actions of a
+man of right feeling upon the physical plane are expected to apply
+upon the astral and mental planes also; that the pupil is never under
+any circumstances to use the power which his additional knowledge
+gives to him in order to promote his own worldly advantage, or indeed
+in connection with gain in any way; and that he is never to give what
+is called in spiritualistic circles "a test"&mdash;that is, to do anything
+which will incontestably prove to sceptics on the physical plane that
+he possesses what to them would appear to be an abnormal power.</p>
+
+<p>With regard to this latter proviso people often say, "But why should
+he not? it would be so easy to confute and convince your sceptic, and
+it would do him good!" Such critics lose sight of the fact that, in
+the first place, none of those who know anything <i>want</i> to confute or
+convince sceptics, or trouble themselves in the slightest degree about
+the sceptic's attitude one way or the other; and in the second, they
+fail to understand how much better it is for that sceptic that he
+should gradually grow into an intellectual appreciation of the facts
+of nature, instead of being suddenly introduced to them by a
+knock-down blow, as it<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_173" id="Page_173">[173]</a></span> were. But the subject was fully considered
+many years ago in Mr. Sinnet's <i>Occult World</i>, and it is needless to
+repeat again the arguments there adduced.</p>
+
+<p>It is very hard for some of our friends to realize that the silly
+gossip and idle curiosity which so entirely fill the lives of the
+brainless majority on earth can have no place in the more real life of
+the disciple; and so they sometimes enquire whether, even without any
+special wish to see, a clairvoyant might not casually observe some
+secret which another person was trying to keep, in the same way as
+one's glance might casually fall upon a sentence in someone else's
+letter which happened to be lying open upon the table. Of course he
+might, but what if he did? The man of honour would at once avert his
+eyes, in one case as in the other, and it would be as though he had
+not seen. If objectors could but grasp the idea that no pupil <i>cares</i>
+about other people's business, except when it comes within his
+province to try to help them, and that he has always a world of work
+of his own to attend to, they would not be so hopelessly far from
+understanding the facts of the wider life of the trained clairvoyant.</p>
+
+<p>Even from the little that I have said with regard to the restrictions
+laid upon the pupil, it will be obvious that in very many cases he
+will know much more than he is at liberty to say. That is of course
+true in a far<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_174" id="Page_174">[174]</a></span> wider sense of the great Masters of Wisdom themselves,
+and that is why those who have the privilege of occasionally entering
+their presence pay so much respect to their lightest word even on
+subjects quite apart from the direct teaching. For the opinion of a
+Master, or even of one of his higher pupils, upon any subject is that
+of a man whose opportunity of judging accurately is out of all
+proportion to ours.</p>
+
+<p>His position and his extended faculties are in reality the heritage of
+all mankind, and, far though we may now be from those grand powers,
+they will none the less certainly be ours one day. Yet how different a
+place will this old world be when humanity as a whole possesses the
+higher clairvoyance! Think what the difference will be to history when
+all can read the records; to science, when all the processes about
+which now men theorize can be watched through all their course; to
+medicine, when doctor and patient alike can see clearly and exactly
+all that is being done; to philosophy, when there is no longer any
+possibility of discussion as to its basis, because all alike can see a
+wider aspect of the truth; to labour, when all work will be joy,
+because every man will be put only to that which he can do best; to
+education, when the minds and hearts of the children are open to the
+teacher who is trying to form their character; to religion, when there
+is no longer any possibility of dispute as to its broad dogmas, since
+the truth about<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_175" id="Page_175">[175]</a></span> the states after death, and the Great Law that
+governs the world, will be patent to all eyes.</p>
+
+<p>Above all, how far easier it will be then for the evolved men to help
+one another under those so much freer conditions! The possibilities
+that open before the mind are as glorious vistas stretching in all
+directions, so that our seventh round should indeed be a veritable
+golden age. Well for us that these grand faculties will not be
+possessed by all humanity until it has evolved to a far higher level
+in morality as well as in wisdom, else should we but repeat once more
+under still worse conditions the terrible downfall of the great
+Atlantean civilization, whose members failed to realize that increased
+power meant increased responsibility. Yet we ourselves were most of us
+among those very men let us hope that we have learnt wisdom by that
+failure, and that when the possibilities of the wider life open before
+us once more, this time we shall bear the trial better.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_176" id="Page_176">[176]</a></span></p>
+<h2><a name="INDEX" id="INDEX"></a>INDEX</h2>
+
+<div class="index">
+<ul class="IX">
+<li class="li1">PAGE</li>
+<li>Advantages of astral vision, <a href="#Page_41">41</a>, <a href="#Page_65">65</a>, <a href="#Page_71">71</a>
+<ul class="IX">
+<li>  mental vision, <a href="#Page_79">79</a></li>
+<li>  training, <a href="#Page_20">20</a>, <a href="#Page_56">56</a>, <a href="#Page_70">70</a>, <a href="#Page_103">103</a>, <a href="#Page_116">116</a>, <a href="#Page_121">121</a></li></ul></li>
+
+<li>&Acirc;k&acirc;shic records, <a href="#Page_85">85</a>, <a href="#Page_97">97</a> <i>et seq.</i>, <a href="#Page_160">160</a></li>
+
+<li>Apparitions, <a href="#Page_54">54</a></li>
+
+<li>Armies, phantom, <a href="#Page_154">154</a></li>
+
+<li>Assassination of Mr. Perceval, <a href="#Page_151">151</a></li>
+
+<li>Aspect of the records, <a href="#Page_115">115</a></li>
+
+<li>Astral body, <a href="#Page_69">69</a>
+<ul class="IX">
+<li>  counterpart  <a href="#Page_16">16</a></li>
+<li>  current, <a href="#Page_62">62</a> <i>et seq.</i>, <a href="#Page_88">88</a>, <a href="#Page_95">95</a></li>
+<li>  matter, polarization of, <a href="#Page_63">63</a></li>
+<li>  senses, <a href="#Page_17">17</a></li>
+<li>  sight, <a href="#Page_37">37</a> <i>et seq.</i>, <a href="#Page_59">59</a> <i>et seq.</i>, <a href="#Page_66">66</a></li>
+<li>  telescope, <a href="#Page_65">65</a>, <a href="#Page_85">85</a>, <a href="#Page_103">103</a></li>
+<li>  world, <a href="#Page_81">81</a>, <a href="#Page_103">103</a></li></ul></li>
+
+<li>Aura, the, <a href="#Page_42">42</a> <i>et seq.</i>, <a href="#Page_101">101</a></li>
+</ul>
+
+
+<ul class="IX">
+<li>Balance, <a href="#Page_126">126</a></li>
+
+<li>Bat's cry, experiment with, <a href="#Page_11">11</a></li>
+
+<li>Battle of Edgehill, <a href="#Page_161">161</a></li>
+
+<li>Body, the astral, <a href="#Page_69">69</a>
+<ul class="IX">
+<li>  the causal, <a href="#Page_101">101</a></li></ul></li>
+
+<li>Brownies, <a href="#Page_33">33</a></li>
+
+<li>Buddhic faculty, <a href="#Page_18">18</a>, <a href="#Page_108">108</a>, <a href="#Page_136">136</a>, <a href="#Page_139">139</a></li>
+
+<li>Bull and the doctor, the story of, <a href="#Page_147">147</a></li>
+</ul>
+
+<ul class="IX">
+<li>Causal body, <a href="#Page_101">101</a></li>
+
+<li>Centres of vitality, <a href="#Page_14">14</a>, <a href="#Page_17">17</a></li>
+
+<li>Cerebro-spinal system, <a href="#Page_22">22</a></li>
+
+<li>Ceremonies used to gain clairvoyance, <a href="#Page_52">52</a>, <a href="#Page_163">163</a></li>
+
+<li>Certainty of eventual good, <a href="#Page_174">174</a></li>
+
+<li>Character, judgment of, <a href="#Page_42">42</a></li>
+
+<li>Chakrams, <a href="#Page_14">14-17</a></li>
+
+<li>Chord of a man, the, <a href="#Page_80">80</a></li>
+
+<li>Clairaudience, <a href="#Page_6">6</a>, <a href="#Page_69">69</a> <i>et seq.</i></li>
+
+<li>Clairvoyance by drugs or ceremonies, <a href="#Page_52">52</a> <i>et seq.</i>, <a href="#Page_163">163</a>
+<ul class="IX">
+<li>  casual, <a href="#Page_93">93</a></li>
+<li>  does it destroy privacy?, <a href="#Page_171">171</a></li></ul>
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_177" id="Page_177">[177]</a></span></li>
+
+<li>Clairvoyance during sleep, <a href="#Page_26">26</a>
+<ul class="IX">
+<li>  how first manifested, <a href="#Page_26">26</a></li>
+<li>  hysterical, <a href="#Page_53">53</a></li>
+<li>  limitations of, <a href="#Page_79">79</a>, <a href="#Page_81">81</a>, <a href="#Page_171">171</a></li>
+<li>  meaning of word, <a href="#Page_5">5</a></li>
+<li>  occasional flashes of, <a href="#Page_23">23</a></li>
+<li>  of the uncultured, <a href="#Page_21">21</a></li>
+<li>  on mental plane, <a href="#Page_56">56</a></li>
+<li>  on trivial subjects, <a href="#Page_55">55</a>, <a href="#Page_95">95</a>, <a href="#Page_152">152</a></li>
+<li>  partial and temporary, <a href="#Page_54">54</a></li>
+<li>  restrictions upon, <a href="#Page_81">81</a>, <a href="#Page_171">171</a></li>
+<li>  sadness of, <a href="#Page_169">169</a></li>
+<li>  under mesmerism, <a href="#Page_24">24</a>, <a href="#Page_52">52</a>, <a href="#Page_164">164</a></li></ul></li>
+
+<li>Clairvoyants, "test and business", <a href="#Page_51">51</a>, <a href="#Page_170">170</a></li>
+
+<li>Classification of phenomena, <a href="#Page_27">27</a></li>
+
+<li>Colours, new, <a href="#Page_35">35</a></li>
+
+<li>Common-sense in occultism, necessity of, <a href="#Page_125">125</a></li>
+
+<li>Consciousness, continuous, <a href="#Page_46">46</a>
+<ul class="IX">
+<li>  the focus of, <a href="#Page_31">31</a></li></ul></li>
+
+<li>Considerations, preliminary, <a href="#Page_7">7</a></li>
+
+<li>Contemplation, <a href="#Page_167">167</a></li>
+
+<li>Continuous consciousness, <a href="#Page_46">46</a></li>
+
+<li>Control of thought, <a href="#Page_168">168</a></li>
+
+<li>Counterpart, astral, <a href="#Page_16">16</a></li>
+
+<li>Crystal-gazing, <a href="#Page_66">66</a>, <a href="#Page_84">84</a> <i>et seq.</i>, <a href="#Page_127">127</a></li>
+
+<li>Curative mesmerism, <a href="#Page_165">165</a></li>
+
+<li>Curiosity not permitted, <a href="#Page_173">173</a></li>
+
+<li>Current, astral, <a href="#Page_62">62</a> <i>et seq.</i>, <a href="#Page_88">88</a>, <a href="#Page_95">95</a></li>
+</ul>
+
+<ul class="IX">
+<li>Dangers, <a href="#Page_78">78</a></li>
+
+<li>Date, how to find a, <a href="#Page_119">119</a> <i>et seq.</i></li>
+
+<li>Dead, the, <a href="#Page_45">45</a>, <a href="#Page_62">62</a></li>
+
+<li>Death, visits at, <a href="#Page_74">74</a> <i>et seq.</i></li>
+
+<li>Delirium tremens, <a href="#Page_53">53</a></li>
+
+<li>Dervishes, the, <a href="#Page_163">163</a></li>
+
+<li>Devas, the, <a href="#Page_44">44</a></li>
+
+<li>Development, methods of, <a href="#Page_163">163</a>
+<ul class="IX">
+<li>  the path of, <a href="#Page_167">167</a></li>
+<li>  regular, <a href="#Page_19">19</a></li></ul></li>
+
+<li>Difference between etheric and astral sight, <a href="#Page_36">36</a></li>
+
+<li>Difficulties, <a href="#Page_103">103</a> <i>et seq.</i></li>
+
+<li>Dimension, the fourth, <a href="#Page_38">38</a> <i>et seq.</i>, <a href="#Page_65">65</a>, <a href="#Page_107">107</a>, <a href="#Page_137">137</a></li>
+
+<li>Distance, sight at a, <a href="#Page_59">59</a>, <a href="#Page_81">81</a></li>
+
+<li>Double, the etheric, <a href="#Page_34">34</a></li>
+
+<li>Drugs used to gain clairvoyance, <a href="#Page_52">52</a>, <a href="#Page_163">163</a></li>
+
+<li>Duke of Orleans, the story of the, <a href="#Page_90">90</a></li>
+</ul>
+
+
+<ul class="IX">
+<li><i>Earth, the Stars and the</i>, <a href="#Page_110">110</a></li>
+
+<li>Edgehill, battle of, <a href="#Page_161">161</a>
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_178" id="Page_178">[178]</a></span></li>
+
+<li>Elementals, <a href="#Page_32">32</a>, <a href="#Page_44">44</a>, <a href="#Page_162">162</a></li>
+
+<li>Equation, the personal, <a href="#Page_104">104</a> <i>et seq.</i></li>
+
+<li>Eternal now, the, <a href="#Page_109">109</a>, <a href="#Page_137">137</a></li>
+
+<li>Etheric double, the, <a href="#Page_34">34</a>
+<ul class="IX">
+<li>  vision, <a href="#Page_30">30</a> <i>et seq.</i></li></ul></li>
+
+<li>Experiments in crystal-gazing, <a href="#Page_66">66</a>, <a href="#Page_84">84</a> <i>et seq.</i>
+<ul class="IX">
+<li>  with bat's cry, <a href="#Page_11">11</a></li>
+<li>  with spectrum, <a href="#Page_10">10</a></li></ul></li>
+
+<li>Extension of senses, <a href="#Page_12">12</a></li>
+</ul>
+
+
+
+<ul class="IX">
+<li>Faculties, latent, <a href="#Page_7">7</a>
+<ul class="IX">
+<li>  buddhic, <a href="#Page_18">18</a>, <a href="#Page_108">108</a>, <a href="#Page_136">136</a>, <a href="#Page_139">139</a></li></ul></li>
+
+<li>Fairy ointment, <a href="#Page_34">34</a></li>
+
+<li>Finding a stranger, <a href="#Page_80">80</a></li>
+
+<li>First manifestations of clairvoyance, <a href="#Page_25">25</a> <i>et seq.</i></li>
+
+<li>Flocks, phantom, <a href="#Page_154">154</a>, <a href="#Page_160">160</a>, <a href="#Page_162">162</a></li>
+
+<li>Focus of consciousness, the, <a href="#Page_31">31</a></li>
+
+<li>Fourth dimension, the, <a href="#Page_38">38</a> <i>et seq.</i>, <a href="#Page_65">65</a>, <a href="#Page_107">107</a>, <a href="#Page_137">137</a></li>
+
+<li>Freewill limited, <a href="#Page_132">132</a> <i>et seq.</i></li>
+
+<li>Future prospects, <a href="#Page_175">175</a></li>
+</ul>
+
+
+
+<ul class="IX">
+<li>Ghosts of the gibbet, <a href="#Page_162">162</a></li>
+
+<li>Glamour, <a href="#Page_160">160</a></li>
+
+<li>Goffe, the story of Mary, <a href="#Page_75">75</a></li>
+</ul>
+
+
+
+<ul class="IX">
+<li>Helpers, invisible, <a href="#Page_46">46</a>, <a href="#Page_74">74</a>, <a href="#Page_88">88</a>, <a href="#Page_166">166</a></li>
+
+<li>Historical study, possibilities of, <a href="#Page_114">114</a> <i>et seq.</i></li>
+
+<li>Hinton's works, <a href="#Page_38">38</a></li>
+
+<li>Housekeeper's dream, the story of the, <a href="#Page_147">147</a> <i>et seq.</i></li>
+
+<li>How a picture is found, <a href="#Page_116">116</a> <i>et seq.</i>
+<ul class="IX">
+<li>  to find a date, <a href="#Page_119">119</a> <i>et seq.</i></li>
+<li>  to investigate, <a href="#Page_55">55</a></li></ul></li>
+
+<li>Huntsman, the wild, <a href="#Page_160">160</a></li>
+
+<li>Hypnotization, self, <a href="#Page_86">86</a></li>
+
+<li>Hysterical clairvoyance, <a href="#Page_53">53</a></li>
+</ul>
+
+
+
+<ul class="IX">
+<li>Incarnations, past, <a href="#Page_118">118</a>, <a href="#Page_123">123</a> <i>et seq.</i></li>
+
+<li>Investigate, how to, <a href="#Page_55">55</a></li>
+
+<li>Invisible helpers, <a href="#Page_46">46</a>, <a href="#Page_74">74</a>, <a href="#Page_88">88</a>, <a href="#Page_166">166</a></li>
+</ul>
+
+
+<ul class="IX">
+<li>Judgment of character, <a href="#Page_42">42</a></li>
+
+<li>Jung Stilling's story, <a href="#Page_71">71</a> <i>et seq.</i></li>
+</ul>
+
+
+<ul class="IX">
+<li>Knowledge, the value of, <a href="#Page_125">125</a></li>
+</ul>
+
+
+
+<ul class="IX">
+<li>Latent faculties, <a href="#Page_7">7</a></li>
+
+<li>Limitations of clairvoyance, the, <a href="#Page_79">79</a>, <a href="#Page_81">81</a>, <a href="#Page_171">171</a></li>
+
+<li>Limited freewill, <a href="#Page_132">132</a> <i>et seq.</i></li>
+
+<li>Links needed, <a href="#Page_114">114</a>
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_179" id="Page_179">[179]</a></span></li>
+
+<li>Lodge, address by Dr. Oliver, <a href="#Page_137">137</a></li>
+
+<li>Logos of the system, the, <a href="#Page_99">99</a> <i>et seq.</i></li>
+</ul>
+
+
+<ul class="IX">
+<li>Magic, <a href="#Page_53">53</a></li>
+
+<li>Magnifying, the power of, <a href="#Page_47">47-67</a></li>
+
+<li>Manifestations of clairvoyance, the first, <a href="#Page_26">26</a></li>
+
+<li>Masters of Wisdom, the, <a href="#Page_20">20</a>, <a href="#Page_167">167</a>, <a href="#Page_174">174</a></li>
+
+<li>Materialization, <a href="#Page_70">70</a></li>
+
+<li>M&acirc;y&acirc;vir&ucirc;pa, the, <a href="#Page_78">78</a></li>
+
+<li>Meaning of word clairvoyance, <a href="#Page_5">5</a></li>
+
+<li>Meditation, <a href="#Page_167">167</a></li>
+
+<li>Mediums, trance, <a href="#Page_83">83</a></li>
+
+<li>Mental plane clairvoyance, <a href="#Page_56">56</a>
+<ul class="IX">
+<li>  plane sense, <a href="#Page_18">18</a></li>
+<li>  world, <a href="#Page_80">80</a>, <a href="#Page_104">104</a>, <a href="#Page_115">115</a></li></ul></li>
+
+<li>Mesmerism, clairvoyance under, <a href="#Page_24">24</a>, <a href="#Page_62">62</a>, <a href="#Page_164">164</a>
+<ul class="IX">
+<li>  curative, <a href="#Page_165">165</a></li></ul></li>
+
+<li>Methods of development, <a href="#Page_163">163</a></li>
+
+<li>Micawbers, psychic, <a href="#Page_83">83</a></li>
+
+<li>Mooltan, story of the siege of, <a href="#Page_92">92</a></li>
+
+<li>Murder, reproduction of, <a href="#Page_161">161</a></li>
+</ul>
+
+
+<ul class="IX">
+<li>Nature spirits, <a href="#Page_33">33</a>, <a href="#Page_44">44</a>, <a href="#Page_61">61</a>, <a href="#Page_160">160</a></li>
+
+<li>Necessity of common-sense in occultism, <a href="#Page_125">125</a></li>
+
+<li>New colours, <a href="#Page_35">35</a></li>
+
+<li>Now, the eternal, <a href="#Page_109">109</a>, <a href="#Page_137">137</a></li>
+</ul>
+
+
+<ul class="IX">
+<li>Occasional clairvoyance, <a href="#Page_23">23</a></li>
+
+<li>Ointment, fairy and witch, <a href="#Page_34">34</a></li>
+
+<li>Orleans, the story of the Duke of, <a href="#Page_90">90</a></li>
+
+<li>Other planets, <a href="#Page_81">81</a></li>
+</ul>
+
+
+<ul class="IX">
+<li>Partial and temporary clairvoyance, <a href="#Page_54">54</a></li>
+
+<li>Past incarnations, <a href="#Page_118">118</a>, <a href="#Page_123">123</a> <i>et seq.</i></li>
+
+<li>Path of development, the, <a href="#Page_167">167</a></li>
+
+<li>Perceval, assassination of Mr., <a href="#Page_151">151</a></li>
+
+<li>Personal equation, the, <a href="#Page_104">104</a> <i>et seq.</i></li>
+
+<li>Phantom flocks, <a href="#Page_154">154</a>, <a href="#Page_160">160</a>, <a href="#Page_162">162</a></li>
+
+<li>Phenomena, classification of, <a href="#Page_27">27</a>
+<ul class="IX">
+<li>  s&eacute;ance room, <a href="#Page_35">35</a>, <a href="#Page_62">62</a></li></ul></li>
+
+<li>Philadelphian seer, the story of a, <a href="#Page_72">72</a> <i>et seq.</i></li>
+
+<li>Physical objects, the transparency of, <a href="#Page_32">32</a></li>
+
+<li>Pictures before going to sleep, <a href="#Page_93">93</a></li>
+
+<li>Planets, other, <a href="#Page_81">81</a></li>
+
+<li>Polarization of astral matter, <a href="#Page_63">63</a></li>
+
+<li>Poseidonis, the sinking of, <a href="#Page_120">120</a></li>
+
+<li>Possibilities of historical study, <a href="#Page_114">114</a> <i>et seq.</i></li>
+
+<li>Power of magnifying, the, <a href="#Page_47">47</a>, <a href="#Page_67">67</a></li>
+
+<li>Power of response to vibrations, <a href="#Page_9">9</a>, <a href="#Page_11">11</a>
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_180" id="Page_180">[180]</a></span></li>
+
+<li>Preliminary considerations, <a href="#Page_7">7</a></li>
+
+<li>Premonition, Mr. Stead's, <a href="#Page_153">153</a></li>
+
+<li>Prevision, <a href="#Page_132">132</a>, <a href="#Page_139">139</a></li>
+
+<li>Prospects for the future, <a href="#Page_175">175</a></li>
+
+<li>Psychic Micawbers, <a href="#Page_83">83</a></li>
+
+<li>Psychometry, <a href="#Page_114">114</a>, <a href="#Page_127">127</a></li>
+</ul>
+
+
+<ul class="IX">
+<li>Qualifications of the student, <a href="#Page_166">166</a></li>
+
+<li>Qualified teachers, <a href="#Page_165">165</a></li>
+</ul>
+
+
+<ul class="IX">
+<li>Radiations, <a href="#Page_59">59</a></li>
+
+<li>Records, &acirc;k&acirc;shic, <a href="#Page_85">85</a>, <a href="#Page_97">97</a> <i>et seq.</i>, <a href="#Page_160">160</a>
+<ul class="IX">
+<li>  aspect of the, <a href="#Page_115">115</a></li></ul></li>
+
+<li>Regular development, <a href="#Page_19">19</a></li>
+
+<li>Reproduction of a murder, <a href="#Page_161">161</a></li>
+
+<li>Restrictions upon clairvoyance, <a href="#Page_81">81</a>, <a href="#Page_171">171</a></li>
+
+<li>R&ouml;ntgen rays, the, <a href="#Page_11">11</a></li>
+</ul>
+
+
+<ul class="IX">
+<li>Sadness of clairvoyance, the, <a href="#Page_169">169</a></li>
+
+<li>Schiller's lines, <a href="#Page_169">169</a></li>
+
+<li>S&eacute;ance-room phenomena, <a href="#Page_35">35</a>, <a href="#Page_62">62</a></li>
+
+<li>Second-sight, <a href="#Page_140">140</a> <i>et seq.</i>
+<ul class="IX">
+<li>  the symbolism of, <a href="#Page_145">145</a></li></ul></li>
+
+<li>Seer, a Philadelphian, <a href="#Page_72">72</a> <i>et seq.</i></li>
+
+<li>Self-hypnotization, <a href="#Page_86">86</a></li>
+
+<li>Sense, extension of, <a href="#Page_12">12</a></li>
+
+<li>Senses, astral, <a href="#Page_17">17</a></li>
+
+<li>Sight, astral, <a href="#Page_37">37</a> <i>et seq.</i>, <a href="#Page_59">59</a> <i>et seq.</i>, <a href="#Page_66">66</a>
+<ul class="IX">
+<li>  at a distance, <a href="#Page_59">59</a>, <a href="#Page_81">81</a></li>
+<li>  spiritual, <a href="#Page_57">57</a></li></ul></li>
+
+<li>Sleep, clairvoyance during, <a href="#Page_26">26</a></li>
+
+<li>Society, the Theosophical, <a href="#Page_167">167</a></li>
+
+<li>Solar system, the, <a href="#Page_99">99</a></li>
+
+<li>Spectral armies, <a href="#Page_154">154</a></li>
+
+<li>Spectrum, experiment with the, <a href="#Page_10">10</a></li>
+
+<li>Spiritualistic phenomena, <a href="#Page_35">35</a>, <a href="#Page_62">62</a></li>
+
+<li><i>Stars and the Earth, The</i>, <a href="#Page_110">110</a></li>
+
+<li>Stories of crystal-gazing, <a href="#Page_84">84</a> <i>et seq.</i>
+<ul class="IX">
+<li>  second sight, <a href="#Page_132">132</a>, <a href="#Page_140">140</a> <i>et seq.</i></li></ul></li>
+
+<li>Story by Jung Stilling, <a href="#Page_72">72</a>
+<ul class="IX">
+<li>  Mr. Stead's, <a href="#Page_93">93</a></li>
+<li>  of Captain Yonnt, <a href="#Page_89">89</a></li>
+<li>  Mary Goffe, <a href="#Page_75">75</a></li>
+<li>  Miss X.'s dogcart, <a href="#Page_152">152</a></li>
+<li>  Mr. Stead's premonition, <a href="#Page_153">153</a></li></ul></li>
+
+<li>Story of Souter Fell, <a href="#Page_156">156-157</a>
+<ul class="IX">
+<li>  the bull and the doctor, <a href="#Page_147">147</a></li>
+<li>  the Duke of Orleans, <a href="#Page_90">90</a></li>
+<li>  the housekeeper's dream, <a href="#Page_147">147</a> <i>et seq.</i></li></ul>
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_181" id="Page_181">[181]</a></span></li>
+
+<li>Story of the siege of Mooltan, <a href="#Page_92">92</a>
+<ul class="IX">
+<li>  the white night-dress, <a href="#Page_149">149</a></li>
+<li>  Zschokke, <a href="#Page_127">127</a> <i>et seq.</i></li></ul></li>
+
+<li>Stranger, finding a, <a href="#Page_80">80</a></li>
+
+<li>Sympathetic system, the, <a href="#Page_22">22</a> <i>et seq.</i></li>
+
+<li>System, the Logos of the, <a href="#Page_99">99</a> <i>et seq.</i></li>
+</ul>
+
+
+<ul class="IX">
+<li>Teachers, qualified, <a href="#Page_165">165</a></li>
+
+<li>Telescope, the astral, <a href="#Page_65">65</a>, <a href="#Page_85">85</a>, <a href="#Page_103">103</a></li>
+
+<li>Temporary and partial clairvoyance, <a href="#Page_54">54</a></li>
+
+<li>Tests not given, <a href="#Page_172">172</a></li>
+
+<li>Theosophical Society, The, <a href="#Page_167">167</a>
+<ul class="IX">
+<li>  terms, <a href="#Page_7">7</a></li></ul></li>
+
+<li>Thought-control, <a href="#Page_168">168</a></li>
+
+<li>Thought-forms, <a href="#Page_43">43</a>, <a href="#Page_67">67</a></li>
+
+<li>Throughth, <a href="#Page_39">39</a></li>
+
+<li>Time only relative, <a href="#Page_138">138</a></li>
+
+<li>Training, the advantages of, <a href="#Page_165">165</a>
+<ul class="IX">
+<li>  where to be had, <a href="#Page_167">167</a></li></ul></li>
+
+<li>Trance mediums, <a href="#Page_83">83</a></li>
+
+<li>Transparency of physical objects, <a href="#Page_32">32</a></li>
+
+<li>Trivial subjects, clairvoyance on, <a href="#Page_55">55</a>, <a href="#Page_95">95</a>, <a href="#Page_152">152</a></li>
+</ul>
+
+
+<ul class="IX">
+<li>Uncultured, clairvoyance in the, <a href="#Page_21">21</a></li>
+</ul>
+
+
+
+<ul class="IX">
+<li>Value of knowledge, the, <a href="#Page_125">125</a></li>
+
+<li>Variable capacity of response, <a href="#Page_10">10</a> <i>et seq.</i></li>
+
+<li>Vibrations, <a href="#Page_9">9</a>
+<ul class="IX">
+<li>  power of response to, <a href="#Page_11">11</a></li></ul></li>
+
+<li>Vision, astral, <a href="#Page_37">37</a> <i>et seq.</i>, <a href="#Page_59">59</a> <i>et seq.</i>, <a href="#Page_66">66</a>
+<ul class="IX">
+<li>  etheric, <a href="#Page_30">30</a> <i>et seq.</i></li></ul></li>
+
+<li>Visions, casual, <a href="#Page_141">141</a></li>
+
+<li>Visits at death, <a href="#Page_74">74</a> <i>et seq.</i></li>
+
+<li>Voodoo or Obeah, <a href="#Page_163">163</a></li>
+</ul>
+
+
+<ul class="IX">
+<li>White night-dress, the story of the, <a href="#Page_149">149</a></li>
+
+<li>Wild huntsman, the, <a href="#Page_160">160</a></li>
+
+<li>Wisdom, the Masters of, <a href="#Page_20">20</a>, <a href="#Page_167">167</a>, <a href="#Page_174">174</a></li>
+
+<li>World, the astral, <a href="#Page_81">81</a>, <a href="#Page_103">103</a>
+<ul class="IX">
+<li>  mental, <a href="#Page_80">80</a>, <a href="#Page_104">104</a>, <a href="#Page_115">115</a></li></ul></li>
+</ul>
+
+
+<ul class="IX">
+<li>X.'s story, Miss, <a href="#Page_152">152</a></li>
+
+<li>X Rays, <a href="#Page_11">11</a></li>
+</ul>
+
+
+<ul class="IX">
+<li>Yonnt's story, Captain, <a href="#Page_89">89</a></li>
+</ul>
+
+<ul class="IX">
+<li>Zschokke's story, <a href="#Page_127">127</a> <i>et seq.</i></li>
+</ul>
+</div>
+
+<h5>PRINTED BY NEILL AND CO., LTD., EDINBURGH.</h5>
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="THEOSOPHICAL_SOCIETY" id="THEOSOPHICAL_SOCIETY"></a>THEOSOPHICAL SOCIETY.</h2>
+
+<table summary="Theosophical Society">
+
+  <tr> <td class="td1"><strong>SATY&Acirc;NN&Acirc;STI<br /><br />
+ PARO DHARMAH</strong></td>
+   <td class="td1"><img src="images/seal.jpg" alt="Seal" width="110" height="118" /></td>
+   	<td class="td1"><strong>THERE IS NO<br /><br />
+ RELIGION<br /><br />
+ HIGHER THAN TRUTH.</strong></td></tr>
+</table>
+
+<h3><i>OBJECTS.</i></h3>
+<p>To form a nucleus of the universal Brotherhood of Humanity, without
+distinction of race, creed, sex, caste or colour.</p>
+
+<p>To encourage the study of comparative religion, philosophy and
+science.</p>
+
+<p>To investigate unexplained laws of nature and the powers latent in
+man.</p>
+
+<hr style="width: 45%;" />
+
+<p>Any person desiring information as to the Theosophical Society is
+invited to communicate with any one of the following General
+Secretaries:</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">America</span>: Alexander Fullerton; New York, 46 Fifth Avenue.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Britain</span>: Bertram Keightley, M.A. (<i>pro tem.</i>); London, 28 Albemarle
+Street, W.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">India</span>: Upendra Nath Basu, B.A., LL.B.; Benares, N.W.P.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Scandinavia</span>: Arvid Kn&ouml;s; Sweden, Engelbrechtsgatan 7, Stockholm.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Australia</span>: H. A. Wilson; Sydney, N.S.W., 42 Margaret Street.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">New Zealand</span>: C. W. Sanders; Auckland, Mutual Life Buildings, Lower
+Queen Street.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Holland</span>: W. B. Fricke, Amsterdam, 76 Amsteldijk.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">France</span>: Dr. Th. Pascal Paris; 59 Avenue de la Bourdonnais.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Italy</span>: Rome, Societ&agrave; Teosofica, 70 Via di Pietra.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Germany</span>: Dr. Rudolph Steiner (<i>pro tem.</i>); 95 Kaiserallee, Friedenau,
+Berlin.</p>
+
+<hr style="width: 45%;" />
+
+<p><span class="smcap">The Theosophical Society</span> is composed of students, belonging to any
+religion in the world or to none, who are united by their approval of
+the above objects, by their wish to remove religious antagonisms and
+to draw together men of good-will whatsoever their religious
+opinions, and by their desire to study religious truths and to share
+the results of their studies with others. Their bond of union is not
+the profession of a common belief, but a common search and aspiration
+for Truth. They hold that Truth should be sought by study, by
+reflection, by purity of life, by devotion to high ideals, and they
+regard Truth as a prize to be striven for, not as a dogma to be
+imposed by authority. They consider that belief should be the result
+of individual study or intuition, and not its antecedent, and should
+rest on knowledge, not on assertion. They extend tolerance to all,
+even to the intolerant, not as a privilege they bestow, but as a duty
+they perform, and they seek to remove ignorance, not to punish it.
+They see every religion as an expression of the <span class="smcap">Divine Wisdom</span>, and
+prefer its study to its condemnation, and its practice to proselytism.
+Peace is their watch-word, as Truth is their aim.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Theosophy</span> is the body of truths which forms the basis of all
+religions, and which cannot be claimed as the exclusive possession of
+any. It offers a philosophy which renders life intelligible, and which
+demonstrates the justice and the love which guide its evolution. It
+puts death in its rightful place, as a recurring incident in an
+endless life, opening the gateway of a fuller and more radiant
+existence. It restores to the world the science of the spirit,
+teaching man to know the spirit as himself, and the mind and body as
+his servants. It illuminates the scriptures and doctrines of religions
+by unveiling their hidden meanings, and thus justifying them at the
+bar of intelligence, as they are ever justified in the eyes of
+intuition.</p>
+
+<p>Members of the Theosophical Society study these truths, and
+Theosophists endeavour to live them. Every one willing to study, to be
+tolerant, to aim high, and to work perseveringly, is welcomed as a
+member, and it rests with the member to become a true Theosophist.</p>
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h3>BOOKS RECOMMENDED FOR STUDY.</h3>
+
+<table class="tb1" summary="Books Recommended for Study">
+<tr><td></td>
+<td>&nbsp;</td>
+<td class="tocpg">s.</td>
+<td class="tocpg">d.</td>
+</tr>
+<tr><td>An Outline of Theosophy.</td><td>C. W. Leadbeater</td><td class="tocpg">1</td>
+<td class="tocpg">0</td>
+</tr>
+<tr><td>Ancient Wisdom.</td>
+<td> Annie Besant</td>
+<td class="tocpg">5</td>
+<td class="tocpg">0</td>
+</tr>
+<tr><td>Theosophical Manuals.</td><td></td><td></td><td></td></tr>
+<tr><td>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Seven Principles of Man.</td><td> Annie Besant</td>
+<td class="tocpg">1</td>
+<td class="tocpg">0</td>
+</tr>
+<tr><td>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Re-incarnation. </td><td> Annie Besant</td>
+<td class="tocpg">1</td>
+<td class="tocpg">0</td>
+</tr>
+<tr><td>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Karma. </td><td> Annie Besant</td>
+<td class="tocpg">1</td>
+<td class="tocpg">0</td>
+</tr>
+<tr><td>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Death&mdash;and After? </td><td> Annie Besant</td>
+<td class="tocpg">1</td>
+<td class="tocpg">0</td>
+</tr>
+<tr><td>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;The Astral Plane.</td><td>C. W. Leadbeater</td>
+<td class="tocpg">1</td>
+<td class="tocpg">0</td>
+</tr>
+<tr><td>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;The Devachanic Plane. </td><td>C. W. Leadbeater</td>
+<td class="tocpg">1</td>
+<td class="tocpg">0</td>
+</tr>
+<tr><td>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Man and his Bodies.</td><td> Annie Besant</td>
+<td class="tocpg">1</td>
+<td class="tocpg">0</td>
+</tr>
+<tr><td>The Key to Theosophy. </td>
+<td>H. P. Blavatsky</td>
+<td class="tocpg">6</td>
+<td class="tocpg">0</td>
+</tr>
+<tr><td>Esoteric Buddhism. </td>
+<td>A. P. Sinnett</td>
+<td class="tocpg">2</td>
+<td class="tocpg">6</td>
+</tr>
+<tr><td>The Growth of the Soul.</td><td>A. P. Sinnett</td><td class="tocpg">5</td>
+<td class="tocpg">0</td>
+</tr>
+<tr><td>Man's Place in the Universe</td><td></td><td class="tocpg">2</td>
+<td class="tocpg">0</td>
+</tr>
+<tr><td>Man Visible and Invisible (illustrated).</td><td>C. W. Leadbeater</td><td class="tocpg">10</td>
+<td class="tocpg">6</td>
+</tr>
+</table>
+
+<p class="center">A student who has thoroughly mastered these may study<br />
+The Secret Doctrine. H. P. Blavatsky. Three volumes and separate index, &pound; 3. <br />
+Man Visible and Invisible (illustrated). C. W. Leadbeater 10 6</p>
+
+<table class="tb1" summary="List of Books">
+  <tr>
+    <td class="center" colspan="2"><span class="smcap"><b>World-Religions.</b></span></td>
+    <td class="tocpg">s.</td>
+    <td class="tocpg">d.</td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td class="center" colspan="2">&nbsp;</td>
+    <td class="tocpg">&nbsp;</td>
+    <td class="tocpg">&nbsp;</td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td>Fragments of a Faith Forgotten.</td>
+    <td>G. R. S. Mead</td>
+    <td class="tocpg">10</td>
+    <td class="tocpg">6</td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td>Esoteric Christianity.</td>
+    <td>Annie Besant</td>
+    <td class="tocpg">5</td>
+    <td class="tocpg">0</td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td>Four Great Religions.</td>
+    <td>Annie Besant</td>
+    <td class="tocpg">2</td>
+    <td class="tocpg">0</td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td>Orpheus.</td>
+    <td>G. R. S. Mead</td>
+    <td class="tocpg">4</td>
+    <td class="tocpg">6</td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td>The Kabalah.</td>
+    <td>A. E. Waite</td>
+    <td class="tocpg">7</td>
+    <td class="tocpg">6</td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td class="center" colspan="2">&nbsp;</td>
+    <td></td>
+    <td></td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td class="center" colspan="2"><span class="smcap"><b>Ethical.</b></span></td>
+    <td></td>
+    <td></td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td class="center" colspan="2">&nbsp;</td>
+    <td></td>
+    <td></td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td>In the Outer Court.</td>
+    <td>Annie Besant</td>
+    <td class="tocpg">2</td>
+    <td class="tocpg">0</td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td>The Path of Discipleship.</td>
+    <td>Annie Besant</td>
+    <td class="tocpg">2</td>
+    <td class="tocpg">0</td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td>The Voice of the Silence.</td>
+    <td>H. P. Blavatsky</td>
+    <td class="tocpg">1</td>
+    <td class="tocpg">6</td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td>Light on the Path.</td>
+    <td>Mabel Collins</td>
+    <td class="tocpg">1</td>
+    <td class="tocpg">6</td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td>Bhagavad-Git&acirc;. Trans.</td>
+    <td>Annie Besant</td>
+    <td class="tocpg">1</td>
+    <td class="tocpg">6</td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td>Studies in the Bhagavad-Git&acirc;</td>
+    <td></td>
+    <td class="tocpg">1</td>
+    <td class="tocpg">6</td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td>The Doctrine of the Heart</td>
+    <td></td>
+    <td class="tocpg">1</td>
+    <td class="tocpg">6</td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td>The Upanishats.</td>
+    <td>Trans. by G. R. S. Mead and J.C. Chattopadyaya.</td>
+    <td></td>
+    <td></td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td></td>
+    <td>Two Volumes, each</td>
+    <td class="tocpg">1</td>
+    <td class="tocpg">6</td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td>Three Paths and Dharma.</td>
+    <td>Annie Besant</td>
+    <td class="tocpg">2</td>
+    <td class="tocpg">0</td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td>Theosophy of the Upanishats</td>
+	<td></td>
+    <td class="tocpg">3</td>
+    <td class="tocpg">0</td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td>The Stanzas of Day&acirc;n.</td>
+    <td>H.P. Blavatsky</td>
+    <td class="tocpg">1</td>
+    <td class="tocpg">6</td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td class="center" colspan="2">&nbsp;</td>
+    <td></td>
+    <td></td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td class="center" colspan="2"><span class="smcap"><b>Various.</b></span></td>
+    <td></td>
+    <td></td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td class="center" colspan="2">&nbsp;</td>
+    <td></td>
+    <td></td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td>Nature's Mysteries.</td>
+    <td>A. P. Sinnett</td>
+    <td class="tocpg">2</td>
+    <td class="tocpg">0</td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td>Clairvoyance.</td>
+    <td>C. W. Leadbeater</td>
+    <td class="tocpg">2</td>
+    <td class="tocpg">0</td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td>Dreams.</td>
+    <td>C. W. Leadbeater</td>
+    <td class="tocpg">1</td>
+    <td class="tocpg">6</td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td>The Building of the Kosmos.</td>
+    <td>Annie Besant</td>
+    <td class="tocpg">2</td>
+    <td class="tocpg">0</td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td>The Evolution of Life and Form.</td>
+    <td>Annie Besant</td>
+    <td class="tocpg">2</td>
+    <td class="tocpg">0</td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td>Some Problems of Life.</td>
+    <td>Annie Besant</td>
+    <td class="tocpg">1</td>
+    <td class="tocpg">6</td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td>Thought-Power, its Control and Culture.</td>
+    <td>Annie Besant</td>
+    <td class="tocpg">1</td>
+    <td class="tocpg">6</td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td>The Science of the Emotions.</td>
+    <td>Bhagavan Das</td>
+    <td class="tocpg">3</td>
+    <td class="tocpg">6</td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td>The Gospel and the Gospels.</td>
+    <td>G. R. S. Mead</td>
+    <td class="tocpg">4</td>
+    <td class="tocpg">6</td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td>Five Years of Theosophy</td>
+    <td></td>
+    <td class="tocpg">10</td>
+	<td class="tocpg">0</td>
+  </tr>
+</table>
+<hr style="width: 45%;" />
+<h2>THE THEOSOPHICAL REVIEW.</h2>
+<h4>EDITED BY</h4>
+<h3>ANNIE BESANT AND G. R. S. MEAD.</h3>
+<h4>Amongst the Regular Contributors are:</h4>
+
+<table summary="List of Authors">
+  <tr>
+    <td>ANNIE BESANT.</td>
+    <td>A. P. SINNETT.</td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td>ALEX. FULLERTON.</td>
+    <td>C. W. LEADBEATER.</td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td>G. R. S. MEAD.</td>
+    <td>DR. A. A. WELLS.</td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td>BERTRAM KEIGHTLEY.</td>
+    <td>MICHAEL WOOD.</td>
+  </tr>
+</table>
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+The Project Gutenberg EBook of Clairvoyance, by Charles Webster Leadbeater
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: Clairvoyance
+
+Author: Charles Webster Leadbeater
+
+Release Date: July 13, 2009 [EBook #29399]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ASCII
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK CLAIRVOYANCE ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Sankar Viswanathan, Bryan Ness, and the Online
+Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This
+book was produced from scanned images of public domain
+material from the Google Print project.)
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+                             CLAIRVOYANCE
+
+
+                                  BY
+
+                           C. W. LEADBEATER
+
+
+
+                            SECOND EDITION
+
+
+
+
+                                LONDON
+
+                   THEOSOPHICAL PUBLISHING SOCIETY
+
+                                 1903
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+
+
+CONTENTS
+
+
+CHAPTER I.                                  PAGE
+WHAT CLAIRVOYANCE IS.                         5
+
+CHAPTER II.
+SIMPLE CLAIRVOYANCE: FULL                    29
+
+CHAPTER III.
+SIMPLE CLAIRVOYANCE: PARTIAL                 50
+
+CHAPTER IV.
+CLAIRVOYANCE IN SPACE: INTENTIONAL           58
+
+CHAPTER V.
+CLAIRVOYANCE IN SPACE: SEMI-INTENTIONAL      83
+
+CHAPTER VI.
+CLAIRVOYANCE IN SPACE: UNINTENTIONAL         87
+
+CHAPTER VII.
+CLAIRVOYANCE IN TIME: THE PAST               96
+
+CHAPTER VIII.
+CLAIRVOYANCE IN TIME: THE FUTURE            131
+
+CHAPTER IX.
+METHODS OF DEVELOPMENT                      163
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+
+
+CLAIRVOYANCE
+
+CHAPTER I.
+
+WHAT CLAIRVOYANCE IS.
+
+
+Clairvoyance means literally nothing more than "clear-seeing," and it
+is a word which has been sorely misused, and even degraded so far as
+to be employed to describe the trickery of a mountebank in a variety
+show. Even in its more restricted sense it covers a wide range of
+phenomena, differing so greatly in character that it is not easy to
+give a definition of the word which shall be at once succinct and
+accurate. It has been called "spiritual vision," but no rendering
+could well be more misleading than that, for in the vast majority of
+cases there is no faculty connected with it which has the slightest
+claim to be honoured by so lofty a name.
+
+For the purpose of this treatise we may, perhaps, define it as the
+power to see what is hidden from ordinary physical sight. It will be
+as well to premise that it is very frequently (though by no means
+always) accompanied by what is called clairaudience, or the power to
+hear what would be inaudible to the ordinary physical ear; and we will
+for the nonce take our title as covering this faculty also, in order
+to avoid the clumsiness of perpetually using two long words where one
+will suffice.
+
+Let me make two points clear before I begin. First, I am not writing
+for those who do not believe that there is such a thing as
+clairvoyance, nor am I seeking to convince those who are in doubt
+about the matter. In so small a work as this I have no space for that;
+such people must study the many books containing lists of cases, or
+make experiments for themselves along mesmeric lines. I am addressing
+myself to the better-instructed class who know that clairvoyance
+exists, and are sufficiently interested in the subject to be glad of
+information as to its methods and possibilities; and I would assure
+them that what I write is the result of much careful study and
+experiment, and that though some of the powers which I shall have to
+describe may seem new and wonderful to them, I mention no single one
+of which I have not myself seen examples.
+
+Secondly, though I shall endeavour to avoid technicalities as far as
+possible, yet as I am writing in the main for students of Theosophy, I
+shall feel myself at liberty sometimes to use, for brevity's sake and
+without detailed explanation, the ordinary Theosophical terms with
+which I may safely assume them to be familiar.
+
+Should this little book fall into the hands of any to whom the
+occasional use of such terms constitutes a difficulty, I can only
+apologize to them and refer them for these preliminary explanations to
+any elementary Theosophical work, such as Mrs. Besant's _Ancient
+Wisdom_ or _Man and His Bodies_. The truth is that the whole
+Theosophical system hangs together so closely, and its various parts
+are so interdependent, that to give a full explanation of every term
+used would necessitate an exhaustive treatise on Theosophy as a
+preface even to this short account of clairvoyance.
+
+Before a detailed explanation of clairvoyance can usefully be
+attempted, however, it will be necessary for us to devote a little
+time to some preliminary considerations, in order that we may have
+clearly in mind a few broad facts as to the different planes on which
+clairvoyant vision may be exercised, and the conditions which render
+its exercise possible.
+
+We are constantly assured in Theosophical literature that all these
+higher faculties are presently to be the heritage of mankind in
+general--that the capacity of clairvoyance, for example, lies latent
+in every one, and that those in whom it already manifests itself are
+simply in that one particular a little in advance of the rest of us.
+Now this statement is a true one, and yet it seems quite vague and
+unreal to the majority of people, simply because they regard such a
+faculty as something absolutely different from anything they have yet
+experienced, and feel fairly confident that they themselves, at any
+rate, are not within measurable distance of its development.
+
+It may help to dispel this sense of unreality if we try to understand
+that clairvoyance, like so many other things in nature, is mainly a
+question of vibrations, and is in fact nothing but an extension of
+powers which we are all using every day of our lives. We are living
+all the while surrounded by a vast sea of mingled air and ether, the
+latter inter-penetrating the former, as it does all physical matter;
+and it is chiefly by means of vibrations in that vast sea of matter
+that impressions reach us from the outside. This much we all know, but
+it may perhaps never have occurred to many of us that the number of
+these vibrations to which we are capable of responding is in reality
+quite infinitesimal.
+
+Up among the exceedingly rapid vibrations which affect the ether there
+is a certain small section--a _very_ small section--to which the
+retina of the human eye is capable of responding, and these particular
+vibrations produce in us the sensation which we call light. That is to
+say, we are capable of seeing only those objects from which light of
+that particular kind can either issue or be reflected.
+
+In exactly the same way the tympanum of the human ear is capable of
+responding to a certain very small range of comparatively slow
+vibrations--slow enough to affect the air which surrounds us; and so
+the only sounds which we can hear are those made by objects which are
+able to vibrate at some rate within that particular range.
+
+In both cases it is a matter perfectly well known to science that
+there are large numbers of vibrations both above and below these two
+sections, and that consequently there is much light that we cannot
+see, and there are many sounds to which our ears are deaf. In the case
+of light the action of these higher and lower vibrations is easily
+perceptible in the effects produced by the actinic rays at one end of
+the spectrum and the heat rays at the other.
+
+As a matter of fact there exist vibrations of every conceivable degree
+of rapidity, filling the whole vast space intervening between the slow
+sound waves and the swift light waves; nor is even that all, for there
+are undoubtedly vibrations slower than those of sound, and a whole
+infinity of them which are swifter than those known to us as light. So
+we begin to understand that the vibrations by which we see and hear
+are only like two tiny groups of a few strings selected from an
+enormous harp of practically infinite extent, and when we think how
+much we have been able to learn and infer from the use of those
+minute fragments, we see vaguely what possibilities might lie before
+us if we were enabled to utilize the vast and wonderful whole.
+
+Another fact which needs to be considered in this connection is that
+different human beings vary considerably, though within relatively
+narrow limits, in their capacity of response even to the very few
+vibrations which are within reach of our physical senses. I am not
+referring to the keenness of sight or of hearing that enables one man
+to see a fainter object or hear a slighter sound than another; it is
+not in the least a question of strength of vision, but of extent of
+susceptibility.
+
+For example, if anyone will take a good bisulphide of carbon prism,
+and by its means throw a clear spectrum on a sheet of white paper, and
+then get a number of people to mark upon the paper the extreme limits
+of the spectrum as it appears to them, he is fairly certain to find
+that their powers of vision differ appreciably. Some will see the
+violet extending much farther than the majority do; others will
+perhaps see rather less violet than most, while gaining a
+corresponding extension of vision at the red end. Some few there will
+perhaps be who can see farther than ordinary at both ends, and these
+will almost certainly be what we call sensitive people--susceptible in
+fact to a greater range of vibrations than are most men of the present
+day.
+
+In hearing, the same difference can be tested by taking some sound
+which is just not too high to be audible--on the very verge of
+audibility as it were--and discovering how many among a given number
+of people are able to hear it. The squeak of a bat is a familiar
+instance of such a sound, and experiment will show that on a summer
+evening, when the whole air is full of the shrill, needle-like cries
+of these little animals, quite a large number of men will be
+absolutely unconscious of them, and unable to hear anything at all.
+
+Now these examples clearly show that there is no hard-and-fast limit
+to man's power of response to either etheric or aerial vibrations, but
+that some among us already have that power to a wider extent than
+others; and it will even be found that the same man's capacity varies
+on different occasions. It is therefore not difficult for us to
+imagine that it might be possible for a man to develop this power, and
+thus in time to learn to see much that is invisible to his fellow-men,
+and hear much that is inaudible to them, since we know perfectly well
+that enormous numbers of these additional vibrations do exist, and are
+simply, as it were, awaiting recognition.
+
+The experiments with the Roentgen rays give us an example of the
+startling results which are produced when even a very few of these
+additional vibrations are brought within human ken, and the
+transparency to these rays of many substances hitherto considered
+opaque at once shows us one way at least in which we may explain such
+elementary clairvoyance as is involved in reading a letter inside a
+closed box, or describing those present in an adjoining apartment. To
+learn to see by means of the Roentgen rays in addition to those
+ordinarily employed would be quite sufficient to enable anyone to
+perform a feat of magic of this order.
+
+So far we have thought only of an extension of the purely physical
+senses of man; and when we remember that a man's etheric body is in
+reality merely the finer part of his physical frame, and that
+therefore all his sense organs contain a large amount of etheric
+matter of various degrees of density, the capacities of which are
+still practically latent in most of us, we shall see that even if we
+confine ourselves to this line of development alone there are enormous
+possibilities of all kinds already opening out before us.
+
+But besides and beyond all this we know that man possesses an astral
+and a mental body, each of which can in process of time be aroused
+into activity, and will respond in turn to the vibrations of the
+matter of its own plane, thus opening up before the Ego, as he learns
+to function through these vehicles, two entirely new and far wider
+worlds of knowledge and power. Now these new worlds, though they are
+all around us and freely inter-penetrate one another, are not to be
+thought of as distinct and entirely unconnected in substance, but
+rather as melting the one into the other, the lowest astral forming a
+direct series with the highest physical, just as the lowest mental in
+its turn forms a direct series with the highest astral. We are not
+called upon in thinking of them to imagine some new and strange kind
+of matter, but simply to think of the ordinary physical kind as
+subdivided so very much more finely and vibrating so very much more
+rapidly as to introduce us to what are practically entirely new
+conditions and qualities.
+
+It is not then difficult for us to grasp the possibility of a steady
+and progressive extension of our senses, so that both by sight and by
+hearing we may be able to appreciate vibrations far higher and far
+lower than those which are ordinarily recognised. A large section of
+these additional vibrations will still belong to the physical plane,
+and will merely enable us to obtain impressions from the etheric part
+of that plane, which is at present as a closed book to us. Such
+impressions will still be received through the retina of the eye; of
+course they will affect its etheric rather than its solid matter, but
+we may nevertheless regard them as still appealing only to an organ
+specialized to receive them, and not to the whole surface of the
+etheric body.
+
+There are some abnormal cases, however, in which other parts of the
+etheric body respond to these additional vibrations as readily as, or
+even more readily than, the eye. Such vagaries are explicable in
+various ways, but principally as effects of some partial astral
+development, for it will be found that the sensitive parts of the body
+almost invariably correspond with one or other of the _chakrams_, or
+centres of vitality in the astral body. And though, if astral
+consciousness be not yet developed, these centres may not be available
+on their own plane, they are still strong enough to stimulate into
+keener activity the etheric matter which they inter-penetrate.
+
+When we come to deal with the astral senses themselves the methods of
+working are very different. The astral body has no specialized
+sense-organs--a fact which perhaps needs some explanation, since many
+students who are trying to comprehend its physiology seem to find it
+difficult to reconcile with the statements that have been made as to
+the perfect inter-penetration of the physical body by astral matter,
+the exact correspondence between the two vehicles, and the fact that
+every physical object has necessarily its astral counterpart.
+
+Now all these statements are true, and yet it is quite possible for
+people who do not normally see astrally to misunderstand them. Every
+order of physical matter has its corresponding order of astral matter
+in constant association with it--not to be separated from it except by
+a very considerable exertion of occult force, and even then only to
+be held apart from it as long as force is being definitely exerted to
+that end. But for all that the relation of the astral particles one to
+another is far looser than is the case with their physical
+correspondences.
+
+In a bar of iron, for example, we have a mass of physical molecules in
+the solid condition--that is to say, capable of comparatively little
+change in their relative positions, though each vibrating with immense
+rapidity in its own sphere. The astral counterpart of this consists of
+what we often call solid astral matter--that is, matter of the lowest
+and densest sub-plane of the astral; but nevertheless its particles
+are constantly and rapidly changing their relative position, moving
+among one another as easily as those of a liquid on the physical plane
+might do. So that there is no permanent association between any one
+physical particle and that amount of astral matter which happens at
+any given moment to be acting as its counterpart.
+
+This is equally true with respect to the astral body of man, which for
+our purpose at the moment we may regard as consisting of two
+parts--the denser aggregation which occupies the exact position of the
+physical body, and the cloud of rarer astral matter which surrounds
+that aggregation. In both these parts, and between them both, there is
+going on at every moment of time the rapid inter-circulation of the
+particles which has been described, so that as one watches the
+movement of the molecules in the astral body one is reminded of the
+appearance of those in fiercely boiling water.
+
+This being so, it will be readily understood that though any given
+organ of the physical body must always have as its counterpart a
+certain amount of astral matter, it does not retain the same particles
+for more than a few seconds at a time, and consequently there is
+nothing corresponding to the specialization of physical nerve-matter
+into optic or auditory nerves, and so on. So that though the physical
+eye or ear has undoubtedly always its counterpart of astral matter,
+that particular fragment of astral matter is no more (and no less)
+capable of responding to the vibrations which produce astral sight or
+astral hearing than any other part of the vehicle.
+
+It must never be forgotten that though we constantly have to speak of
+"astral sight" or "astral hearing" in order to make ourselves
+intelligible, all that we mean by those expressions is the faculty of
+responding to such vibrations as convey to the man's consciousness,
+when he is functioning in his astral body, information of the same
+character as that conveyed to him by his eyes and ears while he is in
+the physical body. But in the entirely different astral conditions,
+specialized organs are not necessary for the attainment of this
+result; there is matter in every part of the astral body which is
+capable of such response, and consequently the man functioning in that
+vehicle sees equally well objects behind him, beneath him, above him,
+without needing to turn his head.
+
+There is, however, another point which it would hardly be fair to
+leave entirely out of account, and that is the question of the
+_chakrams_ referred to above. Theosophical students are familiar with
+the idea of the existence in both the astral and the etheric bodies of
+man of certain centres of force which have to be vivified in turn by
+the sacred serpent-fire as the man advances in evolution. Though these
+cannot be described as organs in the ordinary sense of the word, since
+it is not through them that the man sees or hears, as he does in
+physical life through eyes and ears, yet it is apparently very largely
+upon their vivification that the power of exercising these astral
+senses depends, each of them as it is developed giving to the whole
+astral body the power of response to a new set of vibrations.
+
+Neither have these centres, however, any permanent collection of
+astral matter connected with them. They are simply vortices in the
+matter of the body--vortices through which all the particles pass in
+turn--points, perhaps, at which the higher force from planes above
+impinges upon the astral body. Even this description gives but a very
+partial idea of their appearance, for they are in reality
+four-dimensional vortices, so that the force which comes through them
+and is the cause of their existence seems to well up from nowhere. But
+at any rate, since all particles in turn pass through each of them, it
+will be clear that it is thus possible for each in turn to evoke in
+all the particles of the body the power of receptivity to a certain
+set of vibrations, so that all the astral senses are equally active in
+all parts of the body.
+
+The vision of the mental plane is again totally different, for in this
+case we can no longer speak of separate senses such as sight and
+hearing, but rather have to postulate one general sense which responds
+so fully to the vibrations reaching it that when any object comes
+within its cognition it at once comprehends it fully, and as it were
+sees it, hears it, feels it, and knows all there is to know about it
+by the one instantaneous operation. Yet even this wonderful faculty
+differs in degree only and not in kind from those which are at our
+command at the present time; on the mental plane, just as on the
+physical, impressions are still conveyed by means of vibrations
+travelling from the object seen to the seer.
+
+On the buddhic plane we meet for the first time with a quite new
+faculty having nothing in common with those of which we have spoken,
+for there a man cognizes any object by an entirely different method,
+in which external vibrations play no part. The object becomes part of
+himself, and he studies it from the inside instead of from the
+outside. But with _this_ power ordinary clairvoyance has nothing to
+do.
+
+The development, either entire or partial, of any one of these
+faculties would come under our definition of clairvoyance--the power
+to see what is hidden from ordinary physical sight. But these
+faculties may be developed in various ways, and it will be well to say
+a few words as to these different lines.
+
+We may presume that if it were possible for a man to be isolated
+during his evolution from all but the gentlest outside influences, and
+to unfold from the beginning in perfectly regular and normal fashion,
+he would probably develop his senses in regular order also. He would
+find his physical senses gradually extending their scope until they
+responded to all the physical vibrations, of etheric as well as of
+denser matter; then in orderly sequence would come sensibility to the
+coarser part of the astral plane, and presently the finer part also
+would be included, until in due course the faculty of the mental plane
+dawned in its turn.
+
+In real life, however, development so regular as this is hardly ever
+known, and many a man has occasional flashes of astral consciousness
+without any awakening of etheric vision at all. And this irregularity
+of development is one of the principal causes of man's extraordinary
+liability to error in matters of clairvoyance--a liability from which
+there is no escape except by a long course of careful training under a
+qualified teacher.
+
+Students of Theosophical literature are well aware that there are such
+teachers to be found--that even in this materialistic nineteenth
+century the old saying is still true, that "when the pupil is ready,
+the Master is ready also," and that "in the hall of learning, when he
+is capable of entering there, the disciple will always find his
+Master." They are well aware also that only under such guidance can a
+man develop his latent powers in safety and with certainty, since they
+know how fatally easy it is for the untrained clairvoyant to deceive
+himself as to the meaning and value of what he sees, or even
+absolutely to distort his vision completely in bringing it down into
+his physical consciousness.
+
+It does not follow that even the pupil who is receiving regular
+instruction in the use of occult powers will find them unfolding
+themselves exactly in the regular order which was suggested above as
+probably ideal. His previous progress may not have been such as to
+make this for him the easiest or most desirable road; but at any rate
+he is in the hands of one who is perfectly competent to be his guide
+in spiritual development, and he rests in perfect contentment that the
+way along which he is taken will be that which is the best way for
+him.
+
+Another great advantage which he gains is that whatever faculties he
+may acquire are definitely under his command and can be used fully and
+constantly when he needs them for his Theosophical work; whereas in
+the case of the untrained man such powers often manifest themselves
+only very partially and spasmodically, and appear to come and go, as
+it were, at their own sweet will.
+
+It may reasonably be objected that if clairvoyant faculty is, as
+stated, a part of the occult development of man, and so a sign of a
+certain amount of progress along that line, it seems strange that it
+should often be possessed by primitive peoples, or by the ignorant and
+uncultured among our own race--persons who are obviously quite
+undeveloped, from whatever point of view one regards them. No doubt
+this does appear remarkable at first sight but the fact is that the
+sensitiveness of the savage or of the coarse and vulgar European
+ignoramus is not really at all the same thing as the faculty of his
+properly trained brother, nor is it arrived at in the same way.
+
+An exact and detailed explanation of the difference would lead us into
+rather recondite technicalities, but perhaps the general idea of the
+distinction between the two may be caught from an example taken from
+the very lowest plane of clairvoyance, in close contact with the
+denser physical. The etheric double in man is in exceedingly close
+relation to his nervous system, and any kind of action upon one of
+them speedily reacts on the other. Now in the sporadic appearance of
+etheric sight in the savage, whether of Central Africa or of Western
+Europe, it has been observed that the corresponding nervous
+disturbance is almost entirely in the sympathetic system, and that the
+whole affair is practically beyond the man's control--is in fact a
+sort of massive sensation vaguely belonging to the whole etheric body,
+rather than an exact and definite sense-perception communicated
+through a specialized organ.
+
+As in later races and amid higher development the strength of the man
+is more and more thrown into the evolution of the mental faculties,
+this vague sensitiveness usually disappears; but still later, when the
+spiritual man begins to unfold, he regains his clairvoyant power. This
+time, however, the faculty is a precise and exact one, under the
+control of the man's will, and exercised through a definite
+sense-organ; and it is noteworthy that any nervous action set up in
+sympathy with it is now almost exclusively in the cerebro-spinal
+system.
+
+On this subject Mrs. Besant writes:--"The lower forms of psychism are
+more frequent in animals and in very unintelligent human beings than
+in men and women in whom the intellectual powers are well developed.
+They appear to be connected with the sympathetic system, not with the
+cerebro-spinal. The large nucleated ganglionic cells in this system
+contain a very large proportion of etheric matter, and are hence more
+easily affected by the coarser astral vibrations than are the cells in
+which the proportion is less. As the cerebro-spinal system develops,
+and the brain becomes more highly evolved, the sympathetic system
+subsides into a subordinate position, and the sensitiveness to psychic
+vibrations is dominated by the stronger and more active vibrations of
+the higher nervous system. It is true that at a later stage of
+evolution psychic sensitiveness reappears, but it is then developed in
+connection with the cerebro-spinal centres, and is brought under the
+control of the will. But the hysterical and ill-regulated psychism of
+which we see so many lamentable examples is due to the small
+development of the brain and the dominance of the sympathetic system."
+
+Occasional flashes of clairvoyance do, however, sometimes come to the
+highly cultured and spiritual-minded man, even though he may never
+have heard of the possibility of training such a faculty. In his case
+such glimpses usually signify that he is approaching that stage in his
+evolution when these powers will naturally begin to manifest
+themselves, and their appearance should serve as an additional
+stimulus to him to strive to maintain that high standard of moral
+purity and mental balance without which clairvoyance is a curse and
+not a blessing to its possessor.
+
+Between those who are entirely unimpressible and those who are in full
+possession of clairvoyant power there are many intermediate stages.
+One to which it will be worth while to give a passing glance is the
+stage in which a man, though he has no clairvoyant faculty in ordinary
+life, yet exhibits it more or less fully under the influence of
+mesmerism. This is a case in which the psychic nature is already
+sensitive, but the consciousness is not yet capable of functioning in
+it amidst the manifold distractions of physical life. It needs to be
+set free by the temporary suspension of the outer senses in the
+mesmeric trance before it can use the diviner faculties which are but
+just beginning to dawn within it. But of course even in the mesmeric
+trance there are innumerable degrees of lucidity, from the ordinary
+patient who is blankly unintelligent to the man whose power of sight
+is fully under the control of the operator, and can be directed
+whithersoever he wills, or to the more advanced stage in which, when
+the consciousness is once set free, it escapes altogether from the
+grasp of the magnetizer, and soars into fields of exalted vision where
+it is entirely beyond his reach.
+
+Another step along the same path is that upon which such perfect
+suppression of the physical as that which occurs in the hypnotic
+trance is not necessary, but the power of supernormal sight, though
+still out of reach during waking life, becomes available when the
+body is held in the bonds of ordinary sleep. At this stage of
+development stood many of the prophets and seers of whom we read, who
+were "warned of God in a dream," or communed with beings far higher
+than themselves in the silent watches of the night.
+
+Most cultured people of the higher races of the world have this
+development to some extent: that is to say, the senses of their astral
+bodies are in full working order, and perfectly capable of receiving
+impressions from objects and entities of their own plane. But to make
+that fact of any use to them down here in the physical body, two
+changes are usually necessary; first, that the Ego shall be awakened
+to the realities of the astral plane, and induced to emerge from the
+chrysalis formed by his own waking thoughts, and look round him to
+observe and to learn; and secondly, that the consciousness shall be so
+far retained during the return of the Ego into his physical body as to
+enable him to impress upon his physical brain the recollection of what
+he has seen or learnt.
+
+If the first of these changes has taken place, the second is of little
+importance, since the Ego, the true man, will be able to profit by the
+information to be obtained upon that plane, even though he may not
+have the satisfaction of bringing through any remembrance of it into
+his waking life down here.
+
+Students often ask how this clairvoyant faculty will first be
+manifested in themselves--how they may know when they have reached
+the stage at which its first faint foreshadowings are beginning to be
+visible. Cases differ so widely that it is impossible to give to this
+question any answer that will be universally applicable.
+
+Some people begin by a plunge, as it were, and under some unusual
+stimulus become able just for once to see some striking vision; and
+very often in such a case, because the experience does not repeat
+itself, the seer comes in time to believe that on that occasion he
+must have been the victim of hallucination. Others begin by becoming
+intermittently conscious of the brilliant colours and vibrations of
+the human aura; yet others find themselves with increasing frequency
+seeing and hearing something to which those around them are blind and
+deaf; others, again, see faces, landscapes, or coloured clouds
+floating before their eyes in the dark before they sink to rest; while
+perhaps the commonest experience of all is that of those who begin to
+recollect with greater and greater clearness what they have seen and
+heard on the other planes during sleep.
+
+Having now to some extent cleared our ground, we may proceed to
+consider the various phenomena of clairvoyance.
+
+They differ so widely both in character and in degree that it is not
+very easy to decide how they can most satisfactorily be classified. We
+might, for example, arrange them according to the kind of sight
+employed--whether it were mental, astral, or merely etheric. We might
+divide them according to the capacity of the clairvoyant, taking into
+consideration whether he was trained or untrained; whether his vision
+was regular and under his command, or spasmodic and independent of his
+volition; whether he could exercise it only when under mesmeric
+influence, or whether that assistance was unnecessary for him; whether
+he was able to use his faculty when awake in the physical body, or
+whether it was available only when he was temporarily away from that
+body in sleep or trance.
+
+All these distinctions are of importance, and we shall have to take
+them all into consideration as we go on, but perhaps on the whole the
+most useful classification will be one something on the lines of that
+adopted by Mr. Sinnett in his _Rationale of Mesmerism_--a book, by the
+way, which all students of clairvoyance ought to read. In dealing with
+the phenomena, then, we will arrange them rather according to the
+capacity of the sight employed than to the plane upon which it is
+exercised, so that we may group instances of clairvoyance under some
+such headings as these:
+
+1. Simple clairvoyance--that is to say, a mere opening of sight,
+enabling its possessor to see whatever astral or etheric entities
+happen to be present around him, but not including the power of
+observing either distant places or scenes belonging to any other time
+than the present.
+
+2. Clairvoyance in space--the capacity to see scenes or events removed
+from the seer in space, and either too far distant for ordinary
+observation or concealed by intermediate objects.
+
+3. Clairvoyance in time--that is to say, the capacity to see objects
+or events which are removed from the seer in time, or, in other words,
+the power of looking into the past or the future.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II.
+
+SIMPLE CLAIRVOYANCE: FULL.
+
+
+We have defined this as a mere opening of etheric or astral sight,
+which enables the possessor to see whatever may be present around him
+on corresponding levels, but is not usually accompanied by the power
+of seeing anything at a great distance or of reading either the past
+or the future. It is hardly possible altogether to exclude these
+latter faculties, for astral sight necessarily has considerably
+greater extension than physical, and fragmentary pictures of both past
+and future are often casually visible even to clairvoyants who do not
+know how to seek specially for them; but there is nevertheless a very
+real distinction between such incidental glimpses and the definite
+power of projection of the sight either in space or time.
+
+We find among sensitive people all degrees of this kind of
+clairvoyance, from that of the man who gets a vague impression which
+hardly deserves the name of sight at all, up to the full possession of
+etheric and astral vision respectively. Perhaps the simplest method
+will be for us to begin by describing what would be visible in the
+case of this fuller development of the power, as the cases of its
+partial possession will then be seen to fall naturally into their
+places.
+
+Let us take the etheric vision first. This consists simply, as has
+already been said, in susceptibility to a far larger series of
+physical vibrations than ordinary, but nevertheless its possession
+brings into view a good deal to which the majority of the human race
+still remains blind. Let us consider what changes its acquisition
+produces in the aspect of familiar objects, animate and inanimate, and
+then see to what entirely new factors it introduces us. But it must be
+remembered that what I am about to describe is the result of the full
+and perfectly-controlled possession of the faculty only, and that most
+of the instances met with in real life will be likely to fall far
+short of it in one direction or another.
+
+The most striking change produced in the appearance of inanimate
+objects by the acquisition of this faculty is that most of them become
+almost transparent, owing to the difference in wave-length of some of
+the vibrations to which the man has now become susceptible. He finds
+himself capable of performing with the utmost ease the proverbial feat
+of "seeing through a brick wall," for to his newly-acquired vision the
+brick wall seems to have a consistency no greater than that of a
+light mist. He therefore sees what is going on in an adjoining room
+almost as though no intervening wall existed; he can describe with
+accuracy the contents of a locked box, or read a sealed letter; with a
+little practice he can find a given passage in a closed book. This
+last feat, though perfectly easy to astral vision, presents
+considerable difficulty to one using etheric sight, because of the
+fact that each page has to be looked at _through_ all those which
+happen to be superimposed upon it.
+
+It is often asked whether under these circumstances a man sees always
+with this abnormal sight, or only when he wishes to do so. The answer
+is that if the faculty is perfectly developed it will be entirely
+under his control, and he can use that or his more ordinary vision at
+will. He changes from one to the other as readily and naturally as we
+now change the focus of our eyes when we look up from our book to
+follow the motions of some object a mile away. It is, as it were, a
+focussing of consciousness on the one or the other aspect of what is
+seen; and though the man would have quite clearly in his view the
+aspect upon which his attention was for the moment fixed, he would
+always be vaguely conscious of the other aspect too, just as when we
+focus our sight upon any object held in our hands we yet vaguely see
+the opposite wall of the room as a background.
+
+Another curious change, which comes from the possession of this sight,
+is that the solid ground upon which the man walks becomes to a certain
+extent transparent to him, so that he is able to see down into it to a
+considerable depth, much as we can now see into fairly clear water.
+This enables him to watch a creature burrowing underground, to
+distinguish a vein of coal or of metal if not too far below the
+surface, and so on.
+
+The limit of etheric sight when looking through solid matter appears
+to be analogous to that imposed upon us when looking through water or
+mist. We cannot see beyond a certain distance, because the medium
+through which we are looking is not perfectly transparent.
+
+The appearance of animate objects is also considerably altered for the
+man who has increased his visual powers to this extent. The bodies of
+men and animals are for him in the main transparent, so that he can
+watch the action of the various internal organs, and to some extent
+diagnose some of their diseases.
+
+The extended sight also enables him to perceive, more or less clearly,
+various classes of creatures, elemental and otherwise, whose bodies
+are not capable of reflecting any of the rays within the limit of the
+spectrum as ordinarily seen. Among the entities so seen will be some
+of the lower orders of nature-spirits--those whose bodies are composed
+of the denser etheric matter. To this class belong nearly all the
+fairies, gnomes, and brownies, about whom there are still so many
+stories remaining among Scotch and Irish mountains and in remote
+country places all over the world.
+
+The vast kingdom of nature-spirits is in the main an astral kingdom,
+but still there is a large section of it which appertains to the
+etheric part of the physical plane, and this section, of course, is
+much more likely to come within the ken of ordinary people than the
+others. Indeed, in reading the common fairy stories one frequently
+comes across distinct indications that it is with this class that we
+are dealing. Any student of fairy lore will remember how often mention
+is made of some mysterious ointment or drug, which when applied to a
+man's eyes enables him to see the members of the fairy commonwealth
+whenever he happens to meet them.
+
+The story of such an application and its results occurs so constantly
+and comes from so many different parts of the world that there must
+certainly be some truth behind it, as there always is behind really
+universal popular tradition. Now no such anointing of the eyes alone
+could by any possibility open a man's astral vision, though certain
+ointments rubbed over the whole body will very greatly assist the
+astral body to leave the physical in full consciousness--a fact the
+knowledge of which seems to have survived even to mediaeval times, as
+will be seen from the evidence given at some of the trials for
+witchcraft. But the application to the physical eye might very easily
+so stimulate its sensitiveness as to make it susceptible to some of
+the etheric vibrations.
+
+The story frequently goes on to relate how when the human being who
+has used this mystical ointment betrays his extended vision in some
+way to a fairy, the latter strikes or stabs him in the eye, thus
+depriving him not only of the etheric sight, but of that of the denser
+physical plane as well. (See _The Science of Fairy Tales_, by E. S.
+Hartland, in the "Contemporary Science" series--or indeed almost any
+extensive collection of fairy stories.) If the sight acquired had been
+astral, such a proceeding would have been entirely unavailing, for no
+injury to the physical apparatus would affect an astral faculty; but
+if the vision produced by the ointment were etheric, the destruction
+of the physical eye would in most cases at once extinguish it, since
+that is the mechanism by means of which it works.
+
+Anyone possessing this sight of which we are speaking would also be
+able to perceive the etheric double of man; but since this is so
+nearly identical in size with the physical, it would hardly be likely
+to attract his attention unless it were partially projected in trance
+or under the influence of anaesthetics. After death, when it withdraws
+entirely from the dense body, it would be clearly visible to him, and
+he would frequently see it hovering over newly made graves as he
+passed through a churchyard or cemetery. If he were to attend a
+spiritualistic seance he would see the etheric matter oozing out from
+the side of the medium, and could observe the various ways in which
+the communicating entities make use of it.
+
+Another fact which could hardly fail soon to thrust itself upon his
+notice would be the extension of his perception of colour. He would
+find himself able to see several entirely new colours, not in the
+least resembling any of those included in the spectrum as we at
+present know it, and therefore of course quite indescribable in any
+terms at our command. And not only would he see new objects that were
+wholly of these new colours, but he would also discover that
+modifications had been introduced into the colour of many objects with
+which he was quite familiar, according to whether they had or had not
+some tinge of these new hues intermingled with the old. So that two
+surfaces of colour which to ordinary eyes appeared to match perfectly
+would often present distinctly different shades to his keener sight.
+
+We have now touched upon some of the principal changes which would be
+introduced into a man's world when he gained etheric sight; and it
+must always be remembered that in most cases a corresponding change
+would at the same time be brought about in his other senses also, so
+that he would be capable of hearing, and perhaps even of feeling, more
+than most of those around him. Now supposing that in addition to this
+he obtained the sight of the astral plane, what further changes would
+be observable?
+
+Well, the changes would be many and great; in fact, a whole new world
+would open before his eyes. Let us consider its wonders briefly in the
+same order as before, and see first what difference there would be in
+the appearance of inanimate objects. On this point I may begin by
+quoting a recent quaint answer given in _The Vahan_.
+
+"There is a distinct difference between etheric sight and astral
+sight, and it is the latter which seems to correspond to the fourth
+dimension.
+
+"The easiest way to understand the difference is to take an example.
+If you looked at a man with both the sights in turn, you would see the
+buttons at the back of his coat in both cases; only if you used
+etheric sight you would see them _through_ him, and would see the
+shank-side as nearest to you, but if you looked astrally, you would
+see it not only like that, but just as if you were standing behind the
+man as well.
+
+"Or if you were looking etherically at a wooden cube with writing on
+all its sides, it would be as though the cube were glass, so that you
+could see through it, and you would see the writing on the opposite
+side all backwards, while that on the right and left sides would not
+be clear to you at all unless you moved, because you would see it
+edgewise. But if you looked at it astrally you would see all the sides
+at once, and all the right way up, as though the whole cube had been
+flattened out before you, and you would see every particle of the
+inside as well--not _through_ the others, but all flattened out. You
+would be looking at it from another direction, at right angles to all
+the directions that we know.
+
+"If you look at the back of a watch etherically you see all the wheels
+through it, and the face _through them_, but backwards; if you look at
+it astrally, you see the face right way up and all the wheels lying
+separately, but nothing on the top of anything else."
+
+Here we have at once the keynote, the principal factor of the change;
+the man is looking at everything from an absolutely new point of view,
+entirely outside of anything that he has ever imagined before. He has
+no longer the slightest difficulty in reading any page in a closed
+book, because he is not now looking at it through all the other pages
+before it or behind it, but is looking straight down upon it as though
+it were the only page to be seen. The depth at which a vein of metal
+or of coal may lie is no longer a barrier to his sight of it, because
+he is not now looking through the intervening depth of earth at all.
+The thickness of a wall, or the number of walls intervening between
+the observer and the object, would make a great deal of difference to
+the clearness of the etheric sight; they would make no difference
+whatever to the astral sight, because on the astral plane they would
+_not_ intervene between the observer and the object. Of course that
+sounds paradoxical and impossible, and it _is_ quite inexplicable to a
+mind not specially trained to grasp the idea; yet it is none the less
+absolutely true.
+
+This carries us straight into the middle of the much-vexed question of
+the fourth dimension--a question of the deepest interest, though one
+that we cannot pretend to discuss in the space at our disposal. Those
+who wish to study it as it deserves are recommended to begin with Mr.
+C. H. Hinton's _Scientific Romances_ or Dr. A. T. Schofield's _Another
+World_, and then follow on with the former author's larger work, _A
+New Era of Thought_. Mr. Hinton not only claims to be able himself to
+grasp mentally some of the simpler fourth-dimensional figures, but
+also states that anyone who will take the trouble to follow out his
+directions may with perseverance acquire that mental grasp likewise. I
+am not certain that the power to do this is within the reach of
+everyone, as he thinks, for it appears to me to require considerable
+mathematical ability; but I can at any rate bear witness that the
+tesseract or fourth-dimensional cube which he describes is a reality,
+for it is quite a familiar figure upon the astral plane. He has now
+perfected a new method of representing the several dimensions by
+colours instead of by arbitrary written symbols. He states that this
+will very much simplify the study, as the reader will be able to
+distinguish instantly by sight any part or feature of the tesseract. A
+full description of this new method, with plates, is said to be ready
+for the press, and is expected to appear within a year, so that
+intending students of this fascinating subject might do well to await
+its publication.
+
+I know that Madame Blavatsky, in alluding to the theory of the fourth
+dimension, has expressed an opinion that it is only a clumsy way of
+stating the idea of the entire permeability of matter, and that Mr. W.
+T. Stead has followed along the same lines, presenting the conception
+to his readers under the name of _throughth_. Careful, oft-repeated
+and detailed investigation does, however, seem to show quite
+conclusively that this explanation does not cover all the facts. It is
+a perfect description of etheric vision, but the further and quite
+different idea of the fourth dimension as expounded by Mr. Hinton is
+the only one which gives any kind of explanation down here of the
+constantly-observed facts of astral vision. I would therefore venture
+deferentially to suggest that when Madame Blavatsky wrote as she did,
+she had in mind etheric vision and not astral, and that the extreme
+applicability of the phrase to this other and higher faculty, of which
+she was not at the moment thinking, did not occur to her.
+
+The possession of this extraordinary and scarcely expressible power,
+then, must always be borne in mind through all that follows. It lays
+every point in the interior of every solid body absolutely open to the
+gaze of the seer, just as every point in the interior of a circle lies
+open to the gaze of a man looking down upon it.
+
+But even this is by no means all that it gives to its possessor. He
+sees not only the inside as well as the outside of every object, but
+also its astral counterpart. Every atom and molecule of physical
+matter has its corresponding astral atoms and molecules, and the mass
+which is built up out of these is clearly visible to our clairvoyant.
+Usually the astral of any object projects somewhat beyond the physical
+part of it, and thus metals, stones and other things are seen
+surrounded by an astral aura.
+
+It will be seen at once that even in the study of inorganic matter a
+man gains immensely by the acquisition of this vision. Not only does
+he see the astral part of the object at which he looks, which before
+was wholly hidden from him; not only does he see much more of its
+physical constitution than he did before, but even what was visible
+to him before is now seen much more clearly and truly. A moment's
+consideration will show that his new vision approximates much more
+closely to true perception than does physical sight. For example, if
+he looks astrally at a glass cube, its sides will all appear equal, as
+we know they really are, whereas on the physical plane he sees the
+further side in perspective--that is, it appears smaller than the
+nearer side, which is, of course, a mere allusion due to his physical
+limitations.
+
+When we come to consider the additional facilities which it offers in
+the observation of animate objects we see still more clearly the
+advantages of the astral vision. It exhibits to the clairvoyant the
+aura of plants and animals, and thus in the case of the latter their
+desires and emotions, and whatever thoughts they may have, are all
+plainly shown before his eyes.
+
+But it is in dealing with human beings that he will most appreciate
+the value of this faculty, for he will often be able to help them far
+more effectually when he guides himself by the information which it
+gives him.
+
+He will be able to see the aura as far up as the astral body, and
+though that leaves all the higher part of a man still hidden from his
+gaze, he will nevertheless find it possible by careful observation to
+learn a good deal about the higher part from what is within his
+reach. His capacity of examining the etheric double will give him
+considerable advantage in locating and classifying any defects or
+diseases of the nervous system, while from the appearance of the
+astral body he will be at once aware of all the emotions, passions,
+desires and tendencies of the man before him, and even of very many of
+his thoughts also.
+
+As he looks at a person he will see him surrounded by the luminous
+mist of the astral aura, flashing with all sorts of brilliant colours,
+and constantly changing in hue and brilliancy with every variation of
+the person's thoughts and feelings. He will see this aura flooded with
+the beautiful rose-colour of pure affection, the rich blue of
+devotional feeling, the hard, dull brown of selfishness, the deep
+scarlet of anger, the horrible lurid red of sensuality, the livid grey
+of fear, the black clouds of hatred and malice, or any of the other
+hundredfold indications so easily to be read in it by a practised eye;
+and thus it will be impossible for any persons to conceal from him the
+real state of their feelings on any subject.
+
+These varied indications of the aura are of themselves a study of very
+deep interest, but I have no space to deal with them in detail here. A
+much fuller account of them, together with a large number of coloured
+illustrations, will be found in my work on the subject _Man Visible
+and Invisible_.
+
+Not only does the astral aura show him the temporary result of the
+emotion passing through it at the moment, but it also gives him, by
+the arrangement and proportion of its colours when in a condition of
+comparative rest, a clue to the general disposition and character of
+its owner. For the astral body is the expression of as much of the man
+as can be manifested on that plane, so that from what is seen in it
+much more which belongs to higher planes may be inferred with
+considerable certainty.
+
+In this judgment of character our clairvoyant will be much helped by
+so much of the person's thought as expresses itself on the astral
+plane, and consequently comes within his purview. The true home of
+thought is on the mental plane, and all thought first manifests itself
+there as a vibration of the mind-body. But if it be in any way a
+selfish thought, or if it be connected in any way with an emotion or a
+desire, it immediately descends into the astral plane, and takes to
+itself a visible form of astral matter.
+
+In the case of the majority of men almost all thought would fall under
+one or other of these heads, so that practically the whole of their
+personality would lie clearly before our friend's astral vision, since
+their astral bodies and the thought-forms constantly radiating from
+them would be to him as an open book in which their characteristics
+were writ so largely that he who ran might read. Anyone wishing to
+gain some idea as to _how_ the thought-forms present themselves to
+clairvoyant vision may satisfy themselves to some extent by examining
+the illustrations accompanying Mrs. Besant's valuable article on the
+subject in _Lucifer_ for September 1896.
+
+We have seen something of the alteration in the appearance of both
+animate and inanimate objects when viewed by one possessed of full
+clairvoyant sight as far as the astral plane is concerned; let us now
+consider what entirely new objects he will see. He will be conscious
+of a far greater fulness in nature in many directions, but chiefly his
+attention will be attracted by the living denizens of this new world.
+No detailed account of them can be attempted within the space at our
+disposal; for that the reader is referred to No. V. of the
+_Theosophical Manuals_. Here we can do no more than barely enumerate a
+few classes only of the vast hosts of astral inhabitants.
+
+He will be impressed by the protean forms of the ceaseless tide of
+elemental essence, ever swirling around him, menacing often, yet
+always retiring before a determined effort of the will; he will marvel
+at the enormous army of entities temporarily called out of this ocean
+into separate existence by the thoughts and wishes of man, whether
+good or evil. He will watch the manifold tribes of the nature-spirits
+at their work or at their play; he will sometimes be able to study
+with ever-increasing delight the magnificent evolution of some of the
+lower orders of the glorious kingdom of the devas, which corresponds
+approximately to the angelic host of Christian terminology.
+
+But perhaps of even keener interest to him than any of these will be
+the human denizens of the astral world, and he will find them
+divisible into two great classes--those whom we call the living, and
+those others, most of them infinitely more alive, whom we so foolishly
+misname the dead. Among the former he will find here and there one
+wide awake and fully conscious, perhaps sent to bring him some
+message, or examining him keenly to see what progress he is making;
+while the majority of his neighbours, when away from their physical
+bodies during sleep, will drift idly by, so wrapped up in their own
+cogitations as to be practically unconscious of what is going on
+around them.
+
+Among the great host of the recently dead he will find all degrees of
+consciousness and intelligence, and all shades of character--for
+death, which seems to our limited vision so absolute a change, in
+reality alters nothing of the man himself. On the day after his death
+he is precisely the same man as he was the day before it, with the
+same disposition, the same qualities, the same virtues and vices, save
+only that he has cast aside his physical body; but the loss of that no
+more makes him in any way a different man than would the removal of an
+overcoat. So among the dead our student will find men intelligent and
+stupid, kind-hearted and morose, serious and frivolous,
+spiritually-minded and sensually-minded, just as among the living.
+
+Since he can not only see the dead, but speak with them, he can often
+be of very great use to them, and give them information and guidance
+which is of the utmost value to them. Many of them are in a condition
+of great surprise and perplexity, and sometimes even of acute
+distress, because they find the facts of the next world so unlike the
+childish legends which are all that popular religion in the West has
+to offer with reference to this transcendently important subject; and
+therefore a man who understands this new world and can explain matters
+is distinctly a friend in need.
+
+In many other ways a man who fully possesses this faculty may be of
+use to the living as well as to the dead; but of this side of the
+subject I have already written in my little book on _Invisible
+Helpers_. In addition to astral entities he will see astral
+corpses--shades and shells in all stages of decay; but these need only
+be just mentioned here, as the reader desiring a further account of
+them will find it in our third and fifth manuals.
+
+Another wonderful result which the full enjoyment of astral
+clairvoyance brings to a man is that he has no longer any break in
+consciousness. When he lies down at night he leaves his physical body
+to the rest which it requires, while he goes about his business in
+the far more comfortable astral vehicle. In the morning he returns to
+and re-enters his physical body, but without any loss of consciousness
+or memory between the two states, and thus he is able to live, as it
+were, a double life which yet is one, and to be usefully employed
+during the whole of it, instead of losing one-third of his existence
+in blank unconsciousness.
+
+Another strange power of which he may find himself in possession
+(though its full control belongs rather to the still higher devachanic
+faculty), is that of magnifying at will the minutest physical or
+astral particle to any desired size, as though by a microscope--though
+no microscope ever made or ever likely to be made possesses even a
+thousandth part of this psychic magnifying power. By its means the
+hypothetical molecule and atom postulated by science become visible
+and living realities to the occult student, and on this closer
+examination he finds them to be much more complex in their structure
+than the scientific man has yet realised them to be. It also enables
+him to follow with the closest attention and the most lively interest
+all kinds of electrical, magnetic, and other etheric action; and when
+some of the specialists in these branches of science are able to
+develop the power to see those things whereof they write so facilely,
+some very wonderful and beautiful revelations may be expected.
+
+This is one of the _siddhis_ or powers described in Oriental books as
+accruing to the man who devotes himself to spiritual development,
+though the name under which it is there mentioned might not be
+immediately recognizable. It is referred to as "the power of making
+oneself large or small at will," and the reason of a description which
+appears so oddly to reverse the fact is that in reality the method by
+which this feat is performed is precisely that indicated in these
+ancient books. It is by the use of temporary visual machinery of
+inconceivable minuteness that the world of the infinitely little is so
+clearly seen; and in the same way (or rather in the opposite way) it
+is by temporarily enormously increasing the size of the machinery used
+that it becomes possible to increase the breadth of one's view--in the
+physical sense as well as, let us hope, in the moral--far beyond
+anything that science has ever dreamt of as possible for man. So that
+the alteration in size is really in the vehicle of the student's
+consciousness, and not in anything outside of himself; and the old
+Oriental book has, after all, put the case more accurately than we.
+
+Psychometry and second-sight _in excelsis_ would also be among the
+faculties which our friend would find at his command; but those will
+be more fitly dealt with under a later heading, since in almost all
+their manifestations they involve clairvoyance either in space or in
+time.
+
+I have now indicated, though only in the roughest outlines, what a
+trained student, possessed of full astral vision, would see in the
+immensely wider world to which that vision introduced him; but I have
+said nothing of the stupendous change in his mental attitude which
+comes from the experiential certainty as to the existence of the soul,
+its survival after death, the action of the law of karma, and other
+points of equally paramount importance. The difference between even
+the profoundest intellectual conviction and the precise knowledge
+gained by direct personal experience must be felt in order to be
+appreciated.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III.
+
+SIMPLE CLAIRVOYANCE: PARTIAL.
+
+
+The experiences of the untrained clairvoyant--and be it remembered
+that that class includes all European clairvoyants except a very
+few--will, however, usually fall very far short of what I have
+attempted to indicate; they will fall short in many different ways--in
+degree, in variety, or in permanence, and above all in precision.
+
+Sometimes, for example, a man's clairvoyance will be permanent, but
+very partial, extending only perhaps to one or two classes of the
+phenomena observable; he will find himself endowed with some isolated
+fragment of higher vision, without apparently possessing other powers
+of sight which ought normally to accompany that fragment, or even to
+precede it. For example, one of my dearest friends has all his life
+had the power to see the atomic ether and atomic astral matter, and to
+recognize their structure, alike in darkness or in light, as
+inter-penetrating everything else; yet he has only rarely seen
+entities whose bodies are composed of the much more obvious lower
+ethers or denser astral matter, and at any rate is certainly not
+permanently able to see them. He simply finds himself in possession of
+this special faculty, without any apparent reason to account for it,
+or any recognizable relation to anything else: and beyond proving to
+him the existence of these atomic planes and demonstrating their
+arrangement, it is difficult to see of what particular use it is to
+him at present. Still, there the thing is, and it is an earnest of
+greater things to come--of further powers still awaiting development.
+
+There are many similar cases--similar, I mean, not in the possession
+of that particular form of sight (which is unique in my experience),
+but in showing the development of some one small part of the full and
+clear vision of the astral and etheric planes. In nine cases out of
+ten, however, such partial clairvoyance will at the same time lack
+precision also--that is to say, there will be a good deal of vague
+impression and inference about it, instead of the clear-cut definition
+and certainty of the trained man. Examples of this type are constantly
+to be found, especially among those who advertise themselves as "test
+and business clairvoyants."
+
+Then, again, there are those who are only temporarily clairvoyant
+under certain special conditions. Among these there are various
+subdivisions, some being able to reproduce the state of clairvoyance
+at will by again setting up the same conditions, while with others it
+comes sporadically, without any observable reference to their
+surroundings, and with yet others the power shows itself only once or
+twice in the whole course of their lives.
+
+To the first of these subdivisions belong those who are clairvoyant
+only when in the mesmeric trance--who when not so entranced are
+incapable of seeing or hearing anything abnormal. These may sometimes
+reach great heights of knowledge and be exceedingly precise in their
+indications, but when that is so they are usually undergoing a course
+of regular training, though for some reason unable as yet to set
+themselves free from the leaden weight of earthly life without
+assistance.
+
+In the same class we may put those--chiefly Orientals--who gain some
+temporary sight only under the influence of certain drugs, or by means
+of the performance of certain ceremonies. The ceremonialist sometimes
+hypnotizes himself by his repetitions, and in that condition becomes
+to some extent clairvoyant; more often he simply reduces himself to a
+passive condition in which some other entity can obsess him and speak
+through him. Sometimes, again, his ceremonies are not intended to
+affect himself at all, but to invoke some astral entity who will give
+him the required information; but of course that is a case of magic,
+and not of clairvoyance. Both the drugs and the ceremonies are methods
+emphatically to be avoided by any one who wishes to approach
+clairvoyance from the higher side, and use it for his own progress and
+for the helping of others. The Central African medicine-man or
+witch-doctor and some of the Tartar Shamans are good examples of the
+type.
+
+Those to whom a certain amount of clairvoyant power has come
+occasionally only, and without any reference to their own wish, have
+often been hysterical or highly nervous persons, with whom the faculty
+was to a large extent one of the symptoms of a disease. Its appearance
+showed that the physical vehicle was weakened to such a degree that it
+no longer presented any obstacle in the way of a certain modicum of
+etheric or astral vision. An extreme example of this class is the man
+who drinks himself into delirium tremens, and in the condition of
+absolute physical ruin and impure psychic excitation brought about by
+the ravages of that fell disease, is able to see for the time some of
+the loathsome elemental and other entities which he has drawn round
+himself by his long course of degraded and bestial indulgence. There
+are, however, other cases where the power of sight has appeared and
+disappeared without apparent reference to the state of the physical
+health; but it seems probable that even in those, if they could have
+been observed closely enough, some alteration in the condition of the
+etheric double would have been noticed.
+
+Those who have only one instance of clairvoyance to report in the
+whole of their lives are a difficult band to classify at all
+exhaustively, because of the great variety of the contributory
+circumstances. There are many among them to whom the experience has
+come at some supreme moment of their lives, when it is comprehensible
+that there might have been a temporary exaltation of faculty which
+would be sufficient to account for it.
+
+In the case of another subdivision of them the solitary case has been
+the seeing of an apparition, most commonly of some friend or relative
+at the point of death. Two possibilities are then offered for our
+choice, and in each of them the strong wish of the dying man is the
+impelling force. That force may have enabled him to materialize
+himself for a moment, in which case of course no clairvoyance was
+needed or more probably it may have acted mesmerically upon the
+percipient, and momentarily dulled his physical and stimulated his
+higher sensitiveness. In either case the vision is the product of the
+emergency, and is not repeated simply because the necessary conditions
+are not repeated.
+
+There remains, however, an irresolvable residuum of cases in which a
+solitary instance occurs of the exercise of undoubted clairvoyance,
+while yet the occasion seems to us wholly trivial and unimportant.
+About these we can only frame hypotheses; the governing conditions are
+evidently not on the physical plane, and a separate investigation of
+each case would be necessary before we could speak with any certainty
+as to its causes. In some such it has appeared that an astral entity
+was endeavouring to make some communication, and was able to impress
+only some unimportant detail on its subject--all the useful or
+significant part of what it had to say failing to get through into the
+subject's consciousness.
+
+In the investigation of the phenomena of clairvoyance all these varied
+types and many others will be encountered, and a certain number of
+cases of mere hallucination will be almost sure to appear also, and
+will have to be carefully weeded out from the list of examples. The
+student of such a subject needs an inexhaustible fund of patience and
+steady perseverance, but if he goes on long enough he will begin dimly
+to discern order behind the chaos, and will gradually get some idea of
+the great laws under which the whole evolution is working.
+
+It will help him greatly in his efforts if he will adopt the order
+which we have just followed--that is, if he will first take the
+trouble to familiarize himself as thoroughly as may be with the actual
+facts concerning the planes with which ordinary clairvoyance deals.
+If he will learn what there really is to be seen with astral and
+etheric sight, and what their respective limitations are, he will then
+have, as it were, a standard by which to measure the cases which he
+observes. Since all instances of partial sight must of necessity fit
+into some niche in this whole, if he has the outline of the entire
+scheme in his head he will find it comparatively easy with a little
+practice to classify the instances with which he is called upon to
+deal.
+
+We have said nothing as yet as to the still more wonderful
+possibilities of clairvoyance upon the mental plane, nor indeed is it
+necessary that much should be said, as it is exceedingly improbable
+that the investigator will ever meet with any examples of it except
+among pupils properly trained in some of the very highest schools of
+occultism. For them it opens up yet another new world, vaster far than
+all those beneath it--a world in which all that we can imagine of
+utmost glory and splendour is the commonplace of existence. Some
+account of its marvellous faculty, its eneffable bliss, its
+magnificent opportunities for learning and for work, is given in the
+sixth of our Theosophical manuals, and to that the student may be
+referred.
+
+All that it has to give--all of it at least that he can assimilate--is
+within the reach of the trained pupil, but for the untrained
+clairvoyant to touch it is hardly more than a bare possibility. It
+has been done in mesmeric trance, but the occurrence is of exceeding
+rarity, for it needs almost superhuman qualifications in the way of
+lofty spiritual aspiration and absolute purity of thought and
+intention upon the part both of the subject and the operator.
+
+To a type of clairvoyance such as this, and still more fully to that
+which belongs to the plane next above it, the name of spiritual sight
+may reasonably be applied; and since the celestial world to which it
+opens our eyes lies all round us here and now, it is fit that our
+passing reference to it should be made under the heading of simple
+clairvoyance, though it may be necessary to allude to it again when
+dealing with clairvoyance in space, to which we will now pass on.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV.
+
+CLAIRVOYANCE IN SPACE: INTENTIONAL.
+
+
+We have defined this as the capacity to see events or scenes removed
+from the seer in space and too far distant for ordinary observation.
+The instances of this are so numerous and so various that we shall
+find it desirable to attempt a somewhat more detailed classification
+of them. It does not much matter what particular arrangement we adopt,
+so long as it is comprehensive enough to include all our cases;
+perhaps a convenient one will be to group them under the broad
+divisions of intentional and unintentional clairvoyance in space, with
+an intermediate class that might be described as semi-intentional--a
+curious title, but I will explain it later.
+
+As before, I will begin by stating what is possible along this line
+for the fully-trained seer, and endeavouring to explain how his
+faculty works and under what limitations it acts. After that we shall
+find ourselves in a better position to try to understand the manifold
+examples of partial and untrained sight. Let us then in the first
+place discuss intentional clairvoyance.
+
+It will be obvious from what has previously been said as to the power
+of astral vision that any one possessing it in its fulness will be
+able to see by its means practically anything in this world that he
+wishes to see. The most secret places are open to his gaze, and
+intervening obstacles have no existence for him, because of the change
+in his point of view; so that if we grant him the power of moving
+about in the astral body he can without difficulty go anywhere and see
+anything within the limits of the planet. Indeed this is to a large
+extent possible to him even without the necessity of moving the astral
+body at all, as we shall presently see.
+
+Let us consider a little more closely the methods by which this
+super-physical sight may be used to observe events taking place at a
+distance. When, for example, a man here in England sees in minutest
+detail something which is happening at the same moment in India or
+America, how is it done?
+
+A very ingenious hypothesis has been offered to account for the
+phenomenon. It has been suggested that every object is perpetually
+throwing off radiations in all directions, similar in some respects
+to, though infinitely finer than, rays of light, and that clairvoyance
+is nothing but the power to see by means of these finer radiations.
+Distance would in that case be no bar to the sight, all intervening
+objects would be penetrable by these rays, and they would be able to
+cross one another to infinity in all directions without entanglement,
+precisely as the vibrations of ordinary light do.
+
+Now though this is not exactly the way in which clairvoyance works,
+the theory is nevertheless quite true in most of its premises. Every
+object undoubtedly is throwing off radiations in all directions, and
+it is precisely in this way, though on a higher plane, that the
+akashic records seem to be formed. Of them it will be necessary to say
+something under our next heading, so we will do no more than mention
+them for the moment. The phenomena of psychometry are also dependent
+upon these radiations, as will presently be explained.
+
+There are, however, certain practical difficulties in the way of using
+these etheric vibrations (for that is, of course, what they are) as
+the medium by means of which one may see anything taking place at a
+distance. Intervening objects are not entirely transparent, and as the
+actors in the scene which the experimenter tried to observe would
+probably be at least equally transparent, it is obvious that serious
+confusion would be quite likely to result.
+
+The additional dimension which would come into play if astral
+radiations were sensed instead of etheric would obviate some of the
+difficulties, but would on the other hand introduce some fresh
+complications of its own; so that for practical purposes, in
+endeavouring to understand clairvoyance, we may dismiss this
+hypothesis of radiations from our minds, and turn to the methods of
+seeing at a distance which are actually at the disposal of the
+student. It will be found that there are five, four of them being
+really varieties of clairvoyance, while the fifth does not properly
+come under that head at all, but belongs to the domain of magic. Let
+us take this last one first, and get it out of our way.
+
+1. _By the assistance of a nature-spirit._--This method does not
+necessarily involve the possession of any psychic faculty at all on
+the part of the experimenter; he need only know how to induce some
+denizen of the astral world to undertake the investigation for him.
+This may be done either by invocation or by evocation; that is to say,
+the operator may either persuade his astral coadjutor by prayers and
+offerings to give him the help he desires, or he may compel his aid by
+the determined exercise of a highly-developed will.
+
+This method has been largely practised in the East (where the entity
+employed is usually a nature-spirit) and in old Atlantis, where "the
+lords of the dark face" used a highly-specialized and peculiarly
+venomous variety of artificial elemental for this purpose. Information
+is sometimes obtained in the same sort of way at the spiritualistic
+_seance_ of modern days, but in that case the messenger employed is
+more likely to be a recently-deceased human being functioning more or
+less freely on the astral plane--though even here also it is sometimes
+an obliging nature-spirit, who is amusing himself by posing as
+somebody's departed relative. In any case, as I have said, this method
+is not clairvoyant at all, but magical; and it is mentioned here only
+in order that the reader may not become confused in the endeavour to
+classify cases of its use under some of the following headings.
+
+2. _By means of an astral current._--This is a phrase frequently and
+rather loosely employed in some of our Theosophical literature to
+cover a considerable variety of phenomena, and among others that which
+I wish to explain. What is really done by the student who adopts this
+method is not so much the setting in motion of a current in astral
+matter, as the erection of a kind of temporary telephone through it.
+
+It is impossible here to give an exhaustive disquisition on astral
+physics, even had I the requisite knowledge to write it; all I need
+say is that it is possible to make in astral matter a definite
+connecting-line that shall act as a telegraph-wire to convey
+vibrations by means of which all that is going on at the other end of
+it may be seen. Such a line is established, be it understood, not by a
+direct projection through space of astral matter, but by such action
+upon a line (or rather many lines) of particles of that matter as
+will render them capable of forming a conductor for vibrations of the
+character required.
+
+This preliminary action can be set up in two ways--either by the
+transmission of energy from particle to particle, until the line is
+formed, or by the use of a force from a higher plane which is capable
+of acting upon the whole line simultaneously. Of course this latter
+method implies far greater development, since it involves the
+knowledge of (and the power to use) forces of a considerably higher
+level; so that the man who could make his line in this way would not,
+for his own use, need a line at all, since he could see far more
+easily and completely by means of an altogether higher faculty.
+
+Even the simpler and purely astral operation is a difficult one to
+describe, though quite an easy one to perform. It may be said to
+partake somewhat of the nature of the magnetization of a bar of steel;
+for it consists in what we might call the polarization, by an effort
+of the human will, of a number of parallel lines of astral atoms
+reaching from the operator to the scene which he wishes to observe.
+All the atoms thus affected are held for the time with their axes
+rigidly parallel to one another, so that they form a kind of temporary
+tube along which the clairvoyant may look. This method has the
+disadvantage that the telegraph line is liable to disarrangement or
+even destruction by any sufficiently strong astral current which
+happens to cross its path; but if the original effort of will were
+fairly definite, this would be a contingency of only infrequent
+occurrence.
+
+The view of a distant scene obtained by means of this "astral current"
+is in many ways not unlike that seen through a telescope. Human
+figures usually appear very small, like those on a distant stage, but
+in spite of their diminutive size they are as clear as though they
+were close by. Sometimes it is possible by this means to hear what is
+said as well as to see what is done; but as in the majority of cases
+this does not happen, we must consider it rather as the manifestation
+of an additional power than as a necessary corollary of the faculty of
+sight.
+
+It will be observed that in this case the seer does not usually leave
+his physical body at all; there is no sort of projection of his astral
+vehicle or of any part of himself towards that at which he is looking,
+but he simply manufactures for himself a temporary astral telescope.
+Consequently he has, to a certain extent, the use of his physical
+powers even while he is examining the distant scene; for example, his
+voice would usually still be under his control, so that he could
+describe what he saw even while he was in the act of making his
+observations. The consciousness of the man is, in fact, distinctly
+still at this end of the line.
+
+This fact, however, has its limitations as well as its advantages,
+and these again largely resemble the limitations of the man using a
+telescope on the physical plane. The experimenter, for example, has no
+power to shift this point of view; his telescope, so to speak, has a
+particular field of view which cannot be enlarged or altered; he is
+looking at his scene from a certain direction, and he cannot suddenly
+turn it all round and see how it looks from the other side. If he has
+sufficient psychic energy to spare, he may drop altogether the
+telescope that he is using and manufacture an entirely new one for
+himself which will approach his objective somewhat differently; but
+this is not a course at all likely to be adopted in practice.
+
+But, it may be said, the mere fact that he is using astral sight ought
+to enable him to see it from all sides at once. So it would if he were
+using that sight in the normal way upon an object which was fairly
+near him--within his astral reach, as it were; but at a distance of
+hundreds or thousands of miles the case is very different. Astral
+sight gives us the advantage of an additional dimension, but there is
+still such a thing as position in that dimension, and it is naturally
+a potent factor in limiting the use of the powers of its plane. Our
+ordinary three-dimensional sight enables us to see at once every point
+of the interior of a two-dimensional figure, such as a square, but in
+order to do that the square must be within a reasonable distance from
+our eyes; the mere additional dimension will avail a man in London
+but little in his endeavour to examine a square in Calcutta.
+
+Astral sight, when it is cramped by being directed along what is
+practically a tube, is limited very much as physical sight would be
+under similar circumstances; though if possessed in perfection it will
+still continue to show, even at that distance, the auras, and
+therefore all the emotions and most of the thoughts of the people
+under observation.
+
+There are many people for whom this type of clairvoyance is very much
+facilitated if they have at hand some physical object which can be
+used as a starting-point for their astral tube--a convenient focus for
+their will-power. A ball of crystal is the commonest and most
+effectual of such foci, since it has the additional advantage of
+possessing within itself qualities which stimulate psychic faculty;
+but other objects are also employed, to which we shall find it
+necessary to refer more particularly when we come to consider
+semi-intentional clairvoyance.
+
+In connection with this astral-current form of clairvoyance, as with
+others, we find that there are some psychics who are unable to use it
+except when under the influence of mesmerism. The peculiarity in this
+case is that among such psychics there are two varieties--one in which
+by being thus set free the man is enabled to make a telescope for
+himself, and another in which the magnetizer himself makes the
+telescope and the subject is simply enabled to see through it. In this
+latter case obviously the subject has not enough will to form a tube
+for himself, and the operator, though possessed of the necessary
+will-power, is not clairvoyant, or he could see through his own tube
+without needing help.
+
+Occasionally, though rarely, the tube which is formed possesses
+another of the attributes of a telescope--that of magnifying the
+objects at which it is directed until they seem of life-size. Of
+course the objects must always be magnified to some extent, or they
+would be absolutely invisible, but usually the extent is determined by
+the size of the astral tube, and the whole thing is simply a tiny
+moving picture. In the few cases where the figures are seen as of
+life-size by this method, it is probable that an altogether new power
+is beginning to dawn; but when this happens, careful observation is
+needed in order to distinguish them from examples of our next class.
+
+3. _By the projection of a thought-form._--The ability to use this
+method of clairvoyance implies a development somewhat more advanced
+than the last, since it necessitates a certain amount of control upon
+the mental plane. All students of Theosophy are aware that thought
+takes form, at any rate upon its own plane, and in the vast majority
+of cases upon the astral plane also; but it may not be quite 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 mesmeric
+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 third type of clairvoyance consists, then, in the power to retain
+so much connection with and so much hold over a newly-erected
+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, as before, but by 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 at hand, instead of tiny and at a distance, as in the
+previous case; 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 last, 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 while exercising the 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 case of the previous type, because of the capacity for mental
+control required, and the generally finer nature of the forces
+employed.
+
+4. _By travelling in the astral body._--We enter here upon an entirely
+new variety of clairvoyance, in which the consciousness of the seer no
+longer remains in or closely connected with his physical body, but is
+definitely transferred to the scene which he is examining. Though it
+has no doubt greater dangers for the untrained seer than either of the
+methods previously described, it is yet quite the most satisfactory
+form of clairvoyance open to him, for the immensely superior variety
+which we shall consider under our fifth head is not available except
+for specially trained students.
+
+In this case the man's body is either asleep or in trance, and its
+organs are consequently not available for use while the vision is
+going on, so that all description of what is seen, and all questioning
+as to further particulars, must be postponed until the wanderer
+returns to this plane. On the other hand the sight is much fuller and
+more perfect; the man hears as well as sees everything which passes
+before him, and can move about freely at will within the very wide
+limits of the astral plane. He can see and study at leisure all the
+other inhabitants of that plane, so that the great world of the
+nature-spirits (of which the traditional fairy-land is but a very
+small part) lies open before him, and even that of some of the lower
+devas.
+
+He has also the immense advantage of being able to take part, as it
+were, in the scenes which come before his eyes--of conversing at will
+with these various astral entities, from whom so much information that
+is curious and interesting may be obtained. If in addition he can
+learn how to materialize himself (a matter of no great difficulty for
+him when once the knack is acquired), he will be able to take part in
+physical events or conversations at a distance, and to show himself to
+an absent friend at will.
+
+Again, he has the additional power of being able to hunt about for
+what he wants. By means of the varieties of clairvoyance previously
+described, for all practical purposes he could find a person or a
+place only when he was already acquainted with it, or when he was put
+_en rapport_ with it by touching something physically connected with
+it, as in psychometry. It is true that by the third method a certain
+amount of motion is possible, but the process is a tedious one except
+for quite short distances.
+
+By the use of the astral body, however, a man can move about quite
+freely and rapidly in any direction, and can (for example) find
+without difficulty any place pointed out upon a map, without either
+any previous knowledge of the spot or any object to establish a
+connection with it. He can also readily rise high into the air so as
+to gain a bird's-eye view of the country which he is examining, so as
+to observe its extent, the contour of its coast-line, or its general
+character. Indeed, in every way his power and freedom are far greater
+when he uses this method than they have been in any of the previous
+cases.
+
+A good example of the full possession of this power is given, on the
+authority of the German writer Jung Stilling, by Mrs. Crowe in _The
+Night Side of Nature_ (p. 127). The story is related of a seer who is
+stated to have resided in the neighbourhood of Philadelphia, in
+America. His habits were retired, and he spoke little; he was grave,
+benevolent and pious, and nothing was known against his character
+except that he had the reputation of possessing some secrets that were
+considered not altogether _lawful_. Many extraordinary stories were
+told of him, and amongst the rest the following:--
+
+"The wife of a ship captain (whose husband was on a voyage to Europe
+and Africa, and from whom she had been long without tidings), being
+overwhelmed with anxiety for his safety, was induced to address
+herself to this person. Having listened to her story he begged her to
+excuse him for a while, when he would bring her the intelligence she
+required. He then passed into an inner room and she sat herself down
+to wait; but his absence continuing longer than she expected, she
+became impatient, thinking he had forgotten her, and softly
+approaching the door she peeped through some aperture, and to her
+surprise beheld him lying on a sofa as motionless as if he were dead.
+She of course did not think it advisable to disturb him, but waited
+his return, when he told her that her husband had not been able to
+write to her for such and such reasons, but that he was then in a
+coffee-house in London and would very shortly be home again.
+
+"Accordingly he arrived, and as the lady learnt from him that the
+causes of his unusual silence had been precisely those alleged by the
+man, she felt extremely desirous of ascertaining the truth of the rest
+of the information. In this she was gratified, for he no sooner set
+his eyes on the magician than he said that he had seen him before on a
+certain day in a coffee-house in London, and that he told him that his
+wife was extremely uneasy about him, and that he, the captain, had
+thereon mentioned how he had been prevented writing, adding that he
+was on the eve of embarking for America. He had then lost sight of the
+stranger amongst the throng, and knew nothing more about him."
+
+We have of course no means now of knowing what evidence Jung Stilling
+had of the truth of this story, though he declares himself to have
+been quite satisfied with the authority on which he relates it; but so
+many similar things have happened that there is no reason to doubt its
+accuracy. The seer, however, must either have developed his faculty
+for himself or learnt it in some school other than that from which
+most of our Theosophical information is derived; for in our case there
+is a well-understood regulation expressly forbidding the pupils from
+giving any manifestation of such power which can be definitely proved
+at both ends in that way, and so constitute what is called "a
+phenomenon." That this regulation is emphatically a wise one is
+proved to all who know anything of the history of our Society by the
+disastrous results which followed from a very slight temporary
+relaxation of it.
+
+I have given some quite modern cases almost exactly parallel to the
+above in my little book on _Invisible Helpers_. An instance of a lady
+well-known to myself, who frequently thus appears to friends at a
+distance, is given by Mr. Stead in _Real Ghost Stories_ (p. 27); and
+Mr. Andrew Lang gives, in his _Dreams and Ghosts_ (p. 89), an account
+of how Mr. Cleave, then at Portsmouth, appeared intentionally on two
+occasions to a young lady in London, and alarmed her considerably.
+There is any amount of evidence to be had on the subject by any one
+who cares to study it seriously.
+
+This paying of intentional astral visits seems very often to become
+possible when the principles are loosened at the approach of death for
+people who were unable to perform such a feat at any other time. There
+are even more examples of this class than of the other; I epitomize a
+good one given by Mr. Andrew Lang on p. 100 of the book last
+cited--one of which he himself says, "Not many stories have such good
+evidence in their favour."
+
+"Mary, the wife of John Goffe of Rochester, being afflicted with a
+long illness, removed to her father's house at West Malling, about
+nine miles from her own.
+
+"The day before her death she grew very impatiently desirous to see
+her two children, whom she had left at home to the care of a nurse.
+She was too ill to be moved, and between one and two o'clock in the
+morning she fell into a trance. One widow Turner, who watched with her
+that night, says that her eyes were open and fixed, and her jaw
+fallen. Mrs. Turner put her hand upon her mouth, but could perceive no
+breath. She thought her to be in a fit, and doubted whether she were
+dead or alive.
+
+"The next morning the dying woman told her mother that she had been at
+home with her children, saying, I was with them last night when I was
+asleep.'
+
+"The nurse at Rochester, widow Alexander by name, affirms that a
+little before two o'clock that morning she saw the likeness of the
+said Mary Goffe come out of the next chamber (where the elder child
+lay in a bed by itself), the door being left open, and stood by her
+bedside for about a quarter of an hour; the younger child was there
+lying by her. Her eyes moved and her mouth went, but she said nothing.
+The nurse, moreover, says that she was perfectly awake; it was then
+daylight, being one of the longest days in the year. She sat up in bed
+and looked steadfastly on the apparition. In that time she heard the
+bridge clock strike two, and a while after said: 'In the name of the
+Father, Son and Holy Ghost, what art thou?' Thereupon the apparition
+removed and went away; she slipped on her clothes and followed, but
+what became on't, she cannot tell."
+
+The nurse apparently was more frightened by its disappearance than its
+presence, for after this she was afraid to stay in the house, and so
+spent the rest of the time until six o'clock in walking up and down
+outside. When the neighbours were awake she told her tale to them, and
+they of course said she had dreamt it all; she naturally enough warmly
+repudiated that idea, but could obtain no credence until the news of
+the other side of the story arrived from West Malling, when people had
+to admit that there might have been something in it.
+
+A noteworthy circumstance in this story is that the mother found it
+necessary to pass from ordinary sleep into the profounder trance
+condition before she could consciously visit her children; it can,
+however, be paralleled here and there among the large number of
+similar accounts which may be found in the literature of the subject.
+
+Two other stories of precisely the same type--in which a dying mother,
+earnestly desiring to see her children, falls into a deep sleep,
+visits them and returns to say that she has done so--are given by Dr.
+F. G. Lee. In one of them the mother, when dying in Egypt, appears to
+her children at Torquay, and is clearly seen in broad daylight by all
+five of the children and also by the nursemaid. (_Glimpses of the
+Supernatural_, vol. ii., p. 64.) In the other a Quaker lady dying at
+Cockermouth is clearly seen and recognized in daylight by her three
+children at Settle, the remainder of the story being practically
+identical with the one given above. (_Glimpses in the Twilight_, p.
+94.) Though these cases appear to be less widely known than that of
+Mary Goffe, the evidence of their authenticity seems to be quite as
+good, as will be seen by the attestations obtained by the reverend
+author of the works from which they are quoted.
+
+The man who fully possesses this fourth type of clairvoyance has many
+and great advantages at his disposal, even in addition to those already
+mentioned. Not only can he visit without trouble or expense all the
+beautiful and famous places of the earth, but if he happens to be a
+scholar, think what it must mean to him that he has access to all the
+libraries of the world! What must it be for the scientifically-minded
+man to see taking place before his eyes so many of the processes of the
+secret chemistry of nature, or for the philosopher to have revealed to
+him so much more than ever before of the working of the great mysteries
+of life and death? To him those who are gone from this plane are dead no
+longer, but living and within reach for a long time to come; for him
+many of the conceptions of religion are no longer matters of faith, but
+of knowledge. Above all, he can join the army of invisible helpers, and
+really be of use on a large scale. Undoubtedly clairvoyance, even when
+confined to the astral plane, is a great boon to the student.
+
+Certainly it has its dangers also, especially for the untrained;
+danger from evil entities of various kinds, which may terrify or
+injure those who allow themselves to lose the courage to face them
+boldly; danger of deception of all sorts, of misconceiving and
+mis-interpreting what is seen; greatest of all, the danger of becoming
+conceited about the thing and of thinking it impossible to make a
+mistake. But a little common-sense and a little experience should
+easily guard a man against these.
+
+5. _By travelling in the mental body._--This is simply a higher and,
+as it were, glorified form of the last type. The vehicle employed is
+no longer the astral body, but the mind-body--a vehicle, therefore,
+belonging to the mental plane, and having within it all the
+potentialities of the wonderful sense of that plane, so transcendent
+in its action yet so impossible to describe. A man functioning in this
+leaves his astral body behind him along with the physical, and if he
+wishes to show himself upon the astral plane for any reason, he does
+not send for his own astral vehicle, but just by a single action of
+his will materializes one for his temporary need. Such an astral
+materialization is sometimes called the mayavirupa, and to form it
+for the first time usually needs the assistance of a qualified Master.
+
+The enormous advantages given by the possession of this power are the
+capacity of entering upon all the glory and the beauty of the higher
+land of bliss, and the possession, even when working on the astral
+plane, of the far more comprehensive mental sense which opens up to
+the student such marvellous vistas of knowledge, and practically
+renders error all but impossible. This higher flight, however, is
+possible for the trained man only, since only under definite training
+can a man at this stage of evolution learn to employ his mental body
+as a vehicle.
+
+Before leaving the subject of full and intentional clairvoyance, it
+may be well to devote a few words to answering one or two questions as
+to its limitations, which constantly occur to students. Is it
+possible, we are often asked, for the seer to find any person with
+whom he wishes to communicate, anywhere in the world, whether he be
+living or dead?
+
+To this reply must be a conditional affirmative. Yes, it is possible
+to find any person if the experimenter can, in some way or other, put
+himself _en rapport_ with that person. It would be hopeless to plunge
+vaguely into space to find a total stranger among all the millions
+around us without any kind of clue; but, on the other hand, a very
+slight clue would usually be sufficient.
+
+If the clairvoyant knows anything of the man whom he seeks, he will
+have no difficulty in finding him, for every man has what may be
+called a kind of musical chord of his own--a chord which is the
+expression of him as a whole, produced perhaps by a sort of average of
+the rates of vibration of all his different vehicles on their
+respective planes. If the operator knows how to discern that chord and
+to strike it, it will by sympathetic vibration attract the attention
+of the man instantly wherever he may be, and will evoke an immediate
+response from him.
+
+Whether the man were living or recently dead would make no difference
+at all, and clairvoyance of the fifth class could at once find him
+even among the countless millions in the heaven-world, though in that
+case the man himself would be unconscious that he was under
+observation. Naturally a seer whose consciousness did not range higher
+than the astral plane--who employed therefore one of the earlier
+methods of seeing--would not be able to find a person upon the mental
+plane at all; yet even he would at least be able to tell that the man
+sought for was upon that plane, from the mere fact that the striking
+of the chord as far up as the astral level produced no response.
+
+If the man sought be a stranger to the seeker, the latter will need
+something connected with him to act as a clue--a photograph, a letter
+written by him, an article which has belonged to him, and is
+impregnated with his personal magnetism; any of these would do in the
+hands of a practised seer.
+
+Again I say, it must not therefore be supposed that pupils who have
+been taught how to use this art are at liberty to set up a kind of
+intelligence office through which communication can be had with
+missing or dead relatives. A message given from this side to such an
+one might or might not be handed on, according to circumstances, but
+even if it were, no reply might be brought, lest the transaction
+should partake of the nature of a phenomenon--something which could be
+proved on the physical plane to have been an act of magic.
+
+Another question often raised is as to whether, in the action of
+psychic vision, there is any limitation as to distance. The reply
+would seem to be that there should be no limit but that of the
+respective planes. It must be remembered that the astral and mental
+planes of our earth are as definitely its own as its atmosphere,
+though they extend considerably further from it even in our
+three-dimensional space than does the physical air. Consequently the
+passage to, or the detailed sight of, other planets would not be
+possible for any system of clairvoyance connected with these planes.
+It _is_ quite possible and easy for the man who can raise his
+consciousness to the buddhic plane to pass to any other globe
+belonging to our chain of worlds, but that is outside our present
+subject.
+
+Still a good deal of additional information about other planets can be
+obtained by the use of such clairvoyant faculties as we have been
+describing. It is possible to make sight enormously clearer by passing
+outside of the constant disturbances of the earth's atmosphere, and it
+is also not difficult to learn how to put on an exceedingly high
+magnifying power, so that even by ordinary clairvoyance a good deal of
+very interesting astronomical knowledge may be gained. But as far as
+this earth and its immediate surroundings are concerned, there is
+practically no limitation.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V.
+
+CLAIRVOYANCE IN SPACE: SEMI-INTENTIONAL.
+
+
+Under this rather curious title I am grouping together the cases of
+all those people who definitely set themselves to see something, but
+have no idea what the something will be, and no control over the sight
+after the visions have begun--psychic Micawbers, who put themselves
+into a receptive condition, and then simply wait for something to turn
+up. Many trance-mediums would come under this heading; they either in
+some way hypnotize themselves or are hypnotized by some
+"spirit-guide," and then they describe the scenes or persons that
+happen to float before their vision. Sometimes, however, when in this
+condition they see what is taking place at a distance, and so they
+come to have a place among our "clairvoyants in space."
+
+But the largest and most widely-spread band of these semi-intentional
+clairvoyants are the various kinds of crystal-gazers--those who, as
+Mr. Andrew Lang puts it, "stare into a crystal ball, a cup, a mirror,
+a blob of ink (Egypt and India), a drop of blood (among the Maories of
+New Zealand), a bowl of water (Red Indian), a pond (Roman and
+African), water in a glass bowl (in Fez), or almost any polished
+surface" (_Dreams and Ghosts_, p. 57).
+
+Two pages later Mr. Lang gives us a very good example of the kind of
+vision most frequently seen in this way. "I had given a glass ball,"
+he says, "to a young lady, Miss Baillie, who had scarcely any success
+with it. She lent it to Miss Leslie, who saw a large square,
+old-fashioned red sofa covered with muslin, which she found in the
+next country-house she visited. Miss Baillie's brother, a young
+athlete, laughed at these experiments, took the ball into the study,
+and came back looking 'gey gash.' He admitted that he had seen a
+vision--somebody he knew under a lamp. He would discover during the
+week whether he saw right or not. This was at 5.30 on a Sunday
+afternoon.
+
+"On Tuesday, Mr. Baillie was at a dance in a town some forty miles
+from his home, and met a Miss Preston. 'On Sunday,' he said, 'about
+half-past five you were sitting under a standard lamp in a dress I
+never saw you wear, a blue blouse with lace over the shoulders,
+pouring out tea for a man in blue serge, whose back was towards me, so
+that I only saw the tip of his moustache.'
+
+"'Why, the blinds must have been up,' said Miss Preston.
+
+"'I was at Dulby,' said Mr. Baillie, and he undeniably was."
+
+This is quite a typical case of crystal-gazing--the picture correct in
+every detail, you see, and yet absolutely unimportant and bearing no
+apparent signification of any sort to either party, except that it
+served to prove to Mr. Baillie that there was something in
+crystal-gazing. Perhaps more frequently the visions tend to be of a
+romantic character--men in foreign dress, or beautiful though
+generally unknown landscapes.
+
+Now what is the rationale of this kind of clairvoyance? As I have
+indicated above, it belongs usually to the "astral-current" type, and
+the crystal or other object simply acts as a focus for the will-power
+of the seer, and a convenient starting-point for his astral tube.
+There are some who can influence what they will see by their will,
+that is to say they have the power of pointing their telescope as they
+wish; but the great majority just form a fortuitous tube and see
+whatever happens to present itself at the end of it.
+
+Sometimes it may be a scene comparatively near at hand, as in the case
+just quoted; at other times it will be a far-away Oriental landscape;
+at others yet it may be a reflection of some fragment of an akashic
+record, and then the picture will contain figures in some antique
+dress, and the phenomenon belongs to our third large division of
+"clairvoyance in time." It is said that visions of the future are
+sometimes seen in crystals also--a further development to which we
+must refer later.
+
+I have seen a clairvoyant use instead of the ordinary shining surface
+a dead black one, produced by a handful of powdered charcoal in a
+saucer. Indeed it does not seem to matter much what is used as a
+focus, except that pure crystal has an undoubted advantage over other
+substances in that its peculiar arrangement of elemental essence
+renders it specially stimulating to the psychic faculties.
+
+It seems probable, however, that in cases where a tiny brilliant
+object is employed--such as a point of light, or the drop of blood
+used by the Maories--the instance is in reality merely one of
+self-hypnotization. Among non-European nations the experiment is very
+frequently preceded or accompanied by magical ceremonies and
+invocations, so that it is quite likely that such sight as is gained
+may sometimes be really that of some foreign entity, and so the
+phenomenon may in fact be merely a case of temporary possession, and
+not of clairvoyance at all.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VI.
+
+CLAIRVOYANCE IN SPACE: UNINTENTIONAL.
+
+
+Under this heading we may group together all those cases in which
+visions of some event which is taking place at a distance are seen
+quite unexpectedly and without any kind of preparation. There are
+people who are subject to such visions, while there are many others to
+whom such a thing will happen only once in a life-time. The visions
+are of all kinds and of all degrees of completeness, and apparently
+may be produced by various causes. Sometimes the reason of the vision
+is obvious, and the subject matter of the gravest importance; at other
+times no reason at all is discoverable, and the events shown seem of
+the most trivial nature.
+
+Sometimes these glimpses of the super-physical faculty come as waking
+visions, and sometimes they manifest during sleep as vivid or
+oft-repeated dreams. In this latter case the sight employed is perhaps
+usually of the kind assigned to our fourth subdivision of clairvoyance
+in space, for the sleeping man often travels in his astral body to
+some spot with which his affections or interests are closely
+connected, and simply watches what takes place there; in the former it
+seems probable that the second type of clairvoyance, by means of the
+astral current, is called into requisition. But in this case the
+current or tube is formed quite unconsciously, and is often the
+automatic result of a strong thought or emotion projected from one end
+or the other--either from the seer or the person who is seen.
+
+The simplest plan will be to give a few instances of the different
+kinds, and to intersperse among them such further explanations as may
+seem necessary. Mr. Stead has collected a large and varied assortment
+of recent and well-authenticated cases in his _Real Ghost Stories_,
+and I will select some of my examples from them, occasionally
+condensing slightly to save space.
+
+There are cases in which it is at once obvious to any Theosophical
+student that the exceptional instance of clairvoyance was specially
+brought about by one of the band whom we have called "Invisible
+Helpers" in order that aid might be rendered to some one in sore need.
+To this class, undoubtedly, belongs the story told by Captain Yonnt,
+of the Napa Valley in California, to Dr. Bushnell, who repeats it in
+his _Nature and the Supernatural_ (p. 14).
+
+"About six or seven years previous, in a mid-winter's night, he had a
+dream in which he saw what appeared to be a company of emigrants
+arrested by the snows of the mountains, and perishing rapidly by cold
+and hunger. He noted the very cast of the scenery, marked by a huge,
+perpendicular front of white rock cliff; he saw the men cutting off
+what appeared to be tree-tops rising out of deep gulfs of snow; he
+distinguished the very features of the persons and the look of their
+particular distress.
+
+"He awoke profoundly impressed by the distinctness and apparent
+reality of the dream. He at length fell asleep, and dreamed exactly
+the same dream over again. In the morning he could not expel it from
+his mind. Falling in shortly after with an old hunter comrade, he told
+his story, and was only the more deeply impressed by his recognizing
+without hesitation the scenery of the dream. This comrade came over
+the Sierra by the Carson Valley Pass, and declared that a spot in the
+Pass exactly answered his description.
+
+"By this the unsophistical patriarch was decided. He immediately
+collected a company of men, with mules and blankets and all necessary
+provisions. The neighbours were laughing meantime at his credulity.
+'No matter,' he said, 'I am able to do this, and I will, for I verily
+believe that the fact is according to my dream.' The men were sent
+into the mountains one hundred and fifty miles distant direct to the
+Carson Valley Pass. And there they found the company exactly in the
+condition of the dream, and brought in the remnant alive."
+
+Since it is not stated that Captain Yonnt was in the habit of seeing
+visions, it seems clear that some helper, observing the forlorn
+condition of the emigrant party, took the nearest impressionable and
+otherwise suitable person (who happened to be the Captain) to the spot
+in the astral body, and aroused him sufficiently to fix the scene
+firmly in his memory. The helper may possibly have arranged an "astral
+current" for the Captain instead, but the former suggestion is more
+probable. At any rate the motive, and broadly the method, of the work
+are obvious enough in this case.
+
+Sometimes the "astral current" may be set going by a strong emotional
+thought at the other end of the line, and this may happen even though
+the thinker has no such intention in his mind. In the rather striking
+story which I am about to quote, it is evident that the link was
+formed by the doctor's frequent thought about Mrs. Broughton, yet he
+had clearly no especial wish that she should see what he was doing at
+the time. That it was this kind of clairvoyance that was employed is
+shown by the fixity of her point of view--which, be it observed, is
+not the doctor's point of view sympathetically transferred (as it
+might have been) since she sees his back without recognizing him. The
+story is to be found in the _Proceedings of the Psychical Research
+Society_ (vol. ii., p. 160).
+
+"Mrs. Broughton awoke one night in 1844, and roused her husband,
+telling him that something dreadful had happened in France. He begged
+her to go to sleep again, and not trouble him. She assured him that
+she was not asleep when she saw what she insisted on telling him--what
+she saw in fact.
+
+"First a carriage accident--which she did not actually see, but what
+she saw was the result--a broken carriage, a crowd collected, a figure
+gently raised and carried into the nearest house, then a figure lying
+on a bed which she then recognized as the Duke of Orleans. Gradually
+friends collecting round the bed--among them several members of the
+French royal family--the queen, then the king, all silently,
+tearfully, watching the evidently dying duke. One man (she could see
+his back, but did not know who he was) was a doctor. He stood bending
+over the duke, feeling his pulse, with his watch in the other hand.
+And then all passed away, and she saw no more.
+
+"As soon as it was daylight she wrote down in her journal all that she
+had seen. It was before the days of electric telegraph, and two or
+more days passed before the _Times_ announced 'The Death of the Duke
+of Orleans.' Visiting Paris a short time afterwards she saw and
+recognized the place of the accident and received the explanation of
+her impression. The doctor who attended the dying duke was an old
+friend of hers, and as he watched by the bed his mind had been
+constantly occupied with her and her family."
+
+A commoner instance is that in which strong affection sets up the
+necessary current; probably a fairly steady stream of mutual thought
+is constantly flowing between the two parties in the case, and some
+sudden need or dire extremity on the part of one of them endues this
+stream temporarily with the polarizing power which is needful to
+create the astral telescope. An illustrative example is quoted from
+the same _Proceedings_ (vol. i., p. 30).
+
+"On September 9th, 1848, at the siege of Mooltan, Major-General R----,
+C.B., then adjutant of his regiment, was most severely and dangerously
+wounded; and, supposing himself to be dying, asked one of the officers
+with him to take the ring off his finger and send it to his wife, who
+at the time was fully one hundred and fifty miles distant at
+Ferozepore.
+
+"'On the night of September 9th, 1848,' writes his wife, 'I was lying
+on my bed, between sleeping and waking, when I distinctly saw my
+husband being carried off the field seriously wounded, and heard his
+voice saying, "Take this ring off my finger and send it to my wife."
+All the next day I could not get the sight or the voice out of my
+mind.
+
+"'In due time I heard of General R---- having been severely wounded in
+the assault of Mooltan. He survived, however, and is still living. It
+was not for some time after the siege that I heard from General
+L----, the officer who helped to carry my husband off the field, that
+the request as to the ring was actually made by him, just as I heard
+it at Ferozepore at that very time."
+
+Then there is the very large class of casual clairvoyant visions which
+have no traceable cause--which are apparently quite meaningless, and
+have no recognizable relation to any events known to the seer. To this
+class belong many of the landscapes seen by some people just before
+they fall asleep. I quote a capital and very realistic account of an
+experience of this sort from Mr. W. T. Stead's _Real Ghost Stories_
+(p. 65).
+
+"I got into bed but was not able to go to sleep. I shut my eyes and
+waited for sleep to come; instead of sleep, however, there came to me
+a succession of curiously vivid clairvoyant pictures. There was no
+light in the room, and it was perfectly dark; I had my eyes shut also.
+But notwithstanding the darkness I suddenly was conscious of looking
+at a scene of singular beauty. It was as if I saw a living miniature
+about the size of a magic-lantern slide. At this moment I can recall
+the scene as if I saw it again. It was a seaside piece. The moon was
+shining upon the water, which rippled slowly on to the beach. Right
+before me a long mole ran into the water.
+
+"On either side of the mole irregular rocks stood up above the
+sea-level. On the shore stood several houses, square and rude, which
+resembled nothing that I had ever seen in house architecture. No one
+was stirring, but the moon was there and the sea and the gleam of the
+moonlight on the rippling waters, just as if I had been looking on the
+actual scene.
+
+"It was so beautiful that I remember thinking that if it continued I
+should be so interested in looking at it that I should never go to
+sleep. I was wide awake, and at the same time that I saw the scene I
+distinctly heard the dripping of the rain outside the window. Then
+suddenly, without any apparent object or reason, the scene changed.
+
+"The moonlit sea vanished, and in its place I was looking right into
+the interior of a reading-room. It seemed as if it had been used as a
+schoolroom in the daytime, and was employed as a reading-room in the
+evening. I remember seeing one reader who had a curious resemblance to
+Tim Harrington, although it was not he, hold up a magazine or book in
+his hand and laugh. It was not a picture--it was there.
+
+"The scene was just as if you were looking through an opera-glass; you
+saw the play of the muscles, the gleaming of the eye, every movement
+of the unknown persons in the unnamed place into which you were
+gazing. I saw all that without opening my eyes, nor did my eyes have
+anything to do with it. You see such things as these as it were with
+another sense which is more inside your head than in your eyes.
+
+"This was a very poor and paltry experience, but it enabled me to
+understand better how it is that clairvoyants see than any amount of
+disquisition.
+
+"The pictures were _apropos_ of nothing; they had been suggested by
+nothing I had been reading or talking of; they simply came as if I had
+been able to look through a glass at what was occurring somewhere else
+in the world. I had my peep, and then it passed, nor have I had a
+recurrence of a similar experience."
+
+Mr. Stead regards that as a "poor and paltry experience," and it may
+perhaps be considered so when compared with the greater possibilities,
+yet I know many students who would be very thankful to have even so
+much of direct personal experience to tell. Small though it may be in
+itself, it at once gives the seer a clue to the whole thing, and
+clairvoyance would be a living actuality to a man who had seen even
+that much in a way that it could never have been without that little
+touch with the unseen world.
+
+These pictures were much too clear to have been mere reflections of
+the thought of others, and besides, the description unmistakably shows
+that they were views seen through an astral telescope; so either Mr.
+Stead must quite unconsciously have set a current going for himself,
+or (which is much more probable) some kindly astral entity set it in
+motion for him, and gave him, to while away a tedious delay, any
+pictures that happened to come handy at the end of the tube.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VII.
+
+CLAIRVOYANCE IN TIME: THE PAST.
+
+
+Clairvoyance in time--that is to say, the power of reading the past
+and the future--is, like all the other varieties, possessed by
+different people in very varying degrees, ranging from the man who has
+both faculties fully at his command, down to one who only occasionally
+gets involuntary and very imperfect glimpses or reflections of these
+scenes of other days. A person of the latter type might have, let us
+say, a vision of some event in the past; but it would be liable to the
+most serious distortion, and even if it happened to be fairly accurate
+it would almost certainly be a mere isolated picture, and he would
+probably be quite unable to relate it to what had occurred before or
+after it, or to account for anything unusual which might appear in it.
+The trained man, on the other hand, could follow the drama connected
+with his picture backwards or forwards to any extent that might seem
+desirable, and trace out with equal ease the causes which had led up
+to it or the results which it in turn would produce.
+
+We shall probably find it easier to grasp this somewhat difficult
+section of our subject if we consider it in the subdivisions which
+naturally suggest themselves, and deal first with the vision which
+looks backwards into the past, leaving for later examination that
+which pierces the veil of the future. In each case it will be well for
+us to try to understand what we can of the _modus operandi_, even
+though our success can at best be only a very modified one, owing
+first to the imperfect information on some parts of the subject at
+present possessed by our investigators, and secondly to the
+ever-recurring failure of physical words to express a hundredth part
+even of the little we do know about higher planes and faculties.
+
+In the case then of a detailed vision of the remote past, how is it
+obtained, and to what plane of nature does it really belong? The
+answer to both these questions is contained in the reply that it is
+read from the akashic records; but that statement in return will
+require a certain amount of explanation for many readers. The word is
+in truth somewhat of a misnomer, for though the records are
+undoubtedly read from the akasha, or matter of the mental plane, yet
+it is not to it that they really belong. Still worse is the
+alternative title, "records of the astral light," which has sometimes
+been employed, for these records lie far beyond the astral plane, and
+all that can be obtained on it are only broken glimpses of a kind of
+double reflection of them, as will presently be explained.
+
+Like so many others of our Theosophical terms, the word akasha has
+been very loosely used. In some of our earlier books it was considered
+as synonymous with astral light, and in others it was employed to
+signify any kind of invisible matter, from mulaprakriti down to the
+physical ether. In later books its use has been restricted to the
+matter of the mental plane, and it is in that sense that the records
+may be spoken of as akashic, for although they are not originally made
+on that plane any more than on the astral, yet it is there that we
+first come definitely into contact with them and find it possible to
+do reliable work with them.
+
+This subject of the records is by no means an easy one to deal with,
+for it is one of that numerous class which requires for its perfect
+comprehension faculties of a far higher order than any which humanity
+has yet evolved. The real solution of its problems lies on planes far
+beyond any that we can possibly know at present, and any view that we
+take of it must necessarily be of the most imperfect character, since
+we cannot but look at it from below instead of from above. The idea
+which we form of it must therefore be only partial, yet it need not
+mislead us unless we allow ourselves to think of the tiny fragment
+which is all that we can see as though it were the perfect whole. If
+we are careful that such conceptions as we may form shall be accurate
+as far as they go, we shall have nothing to unlearn, though much to
+add, when in the course of our further progress we gradually acquire
+the higher wisdom. Be it understood then at the commencement that a
+thorough grasp of our subject is an impossibility at the present stage
+of our evolution, and that many points will arise as to which no exact
+explanation is yet obtainable, though it may often be possible to
+suggest analogies and to indicate the lines along which an explanation
+must lie.
+
+Let us then try to carry back our thoughts to the beginning of this
+solar system to which we belong. We are all familiar with the ordinary
+astronomical theory of its origin--that which is commonly called the
+nebular hypothesis--according to which it first came into existence as
+a gigantic glowing nebula, of a diameter far exceeding that of the
+orbit of even the outermost of the planets, and then, as in the course
+of countless ages that enormous sphere gradually cooled and
+contracted, the system as we know it was formed.
+
+Occult science accepts that theory, in its broad outline, as correctly
+representing the purely physical side of the evolution of our system,
+but it would add that if we confine our attention to this physical
+side only we shall have a very incomplete and incoherent idea of what
+really happened. It would postulate, to begin with, that the exalted
+Being who undertakes the formation of a system (whom we sometimes
+call the Logos of the system) first of all forms in His mind a
+complete conception of the whole of it with all its successive chains
+of worlds. By the very act of forming that conception He calls the
+whole into simultaneous objective existence on the plane of His
+thought--a plane of course far above all those of which we know
+anything--from which the various globes descend when required into
+whatever state of further objectivity may be respectively destined for
+them. Unless we constantly bear in mind this fact of the real
+existence of the whole system from the very beginning on a higher
+plane, we shall be perpetually misunderstanding the physical evolution
+which we see taking place down here.
+
+But occultism has more than this to teach us on the subject. It tells
+us not only that all this wonderful system to which we belong is
+called into existence by the Logos, both on lower and on higher
+planes, but also that its relation to Him is closer even than that,
+for it is absolutely a part of Him--a partial expression of Him upon
+the physical plane--and that the movement and energy of the whole
+system is _His_ energy, and is all carried on within the limits of His
+aura. Stupendous as this conception is, it will yet not be wholly
+unthinkable to those of us who have made any study of the subject of
+the aura.
+
+We are familiar with the idea that as a person progresses on the
+upward path his causal body, which is the determining limit of his
+aura, distinctly increases in size as well as in luminosity and purity
+of colour. Many of us know from experience that the aura of a pupil
+who has already made considerable advance on the Path is very much
+larger than that of one who is but just setting his foot upon its
+first step, while in the case of an Adept the proportional increase is
+far greater still. We read in quite exoteric Oriental scriptures of
+the immense extension of the aura of the Buddha; I think that three
+miles is mentioned on one occasion as its limit, but whatever the
+exact measurement may be, it is obvious that we have here another
+record of this fact of the extremely rapid growth of the causal body
+as man passes on his upward way. There can be little doubt that the
+rate of this growth would itself increase in geometrical progression,
+so that it need not surprise us to hear of an Adept on a still higher
+level whose aura is capable of including the entire world at once; and
+from this we may gradually lead our minds up to the conception that
+there is a Being so exalted as to comprehend within Himself the whole
+of our solar system. And we should remember that, enormous as this
+seems to us, it is but as the tiniest drop in the vast ocean of space.
+
+So of the Logos (who has in Him all the capacities and qualities with
+which we can possibly endow the highest God we can imagine) it is
+literally true, as was said of old, that "of Him and through Him, and
+to Him are all things," and "in Him we live and move and have our
+being."
+
+Now if this be so, it is clear that whatever happens within our system
+happens absolutely within the consciousness of its Logos, and so we at
+once see that the true record must be His memory; and furthermore, it
+is obvious that on whatever plane that wondrous memory exists, it
+cannot but be far above anything that we know, and consequently
+whatever records we may find ourselves able to read must be only a
+reflection of that great dominant fact, mirrored in the denser media
+of the lower planes.
+
+On the astral plane it is at once evident that this is so--that what
+we are dealing with is only a reflection of a reflection, and an
+exceedingly imperfect one, for such records as can be reached there
+are fragmentary in the extreme, and often seriously distorted. We know
+how universally water is used as a symbol of the astral light, and in
+this particular case it is a remarkably apt one. From the surface of
+still water we may get a clear reflection of the surrounding objects,
+just as from a mirror; but at the best it is only a reflection--a
+representation in two dimensions of three-dimensional objects, and
+therefore differing in all its qualities, except colour, from that
+which it represents; and in addition to this, it is always reversed.
+
+But let the surface of the water be ruffled by the wind and what do we
+find then? A reflection still, certainly, but so broken up and
+distorted as to be quite useless or even misleading as a guide to the
+shape and real appearance of the objects reflected. Here and there for
+a moment we might happen to get a clear reflection of some minute part
+of the scene--of a single leaf from a tree, for example; but it would
+need long labour and considerable knowledge of natural laws to build
+up anything like a true conception of the object reflected by putting
+together even a large number of such isolated fragments of an image of
+it.
+
+Now in the astral plane we can never have anything approaching to what
+we have imaged as a still surface, but on the contrary we have always
+to deal with one in rapid and bewildering motion; judge, therefore,
+how little we can depend upon getting a clear and definite reflection.
+Thus a clairvoyant who possesses only the faculty of astral sight can
+never rely upon any picture of the past that comes before him as being
+accurate and perfect; here and there some part of it _may_ be so, but
+he has no means of knowing which it is. If he is under the care of a
+competent teacher he may, by long and careful training, be shown how
+to distinguish between reliable and unreliable impressions, and to
+construct from the broken reflections some kind of image of the
+object reflected; but usually long before he has mastered those
+difficulties he will have developed the mental sight, which renders
+such labour unnecessary.
+
+On the next plane, which we call the mental, conditions are very
+different. There the record is full and accurate, and it would be
+impossible to make any mistake in the reading. That is to say, if
+three clairvoyants possessing the powers of the mental plane agreed to
+examine a certain record there, what would be presented to their
+vision would be absolutely the same reflection in each case, and each
+would acquire a correct impression from it in reading it. It does not
+however follow that when they all compared notes later on the physical
+plane their reports would agree exactly. It is well known that if
+three people who witness an occurrence down here in the physical world
+set to work to describe it afterwards, their accounts will differ
+considerably, for each will have noticed especially those items which
+most appeal to him, and will insensibly have made them the prominent
+features of the event, sometimes ignoring other points which were in
+reality much more important.
+
+Now in the case of an observation on the mental plane this personal
+equation would not appreciably affect the impressions received, for
+since each would thoroughly grasp the entire subject it would be
+impossible for him to see its parts out of due proportion; but,
+except in the case of carefully trained and experienced persons, this
+factor does come into play in transferring the impressions to the
+lower planes. It is in the nature of things impossible that any
+account given down here of a vision or experience on the mental plane
+can be complete, since nine-tenths of what is seen and felt there
+could not be expressed by physical words at all; and, since all
+expression must therefore be partial, there is obviously some
+possibility of selection as to the part expressed. It is for this
+reason that in all our Theosophical investigations of recent years so
+much stress has been laid upon the constant checking and verifying of
+clairvoyant testimony, nothing which rests upon the vision of one
+person only having been allowed to appear in our later books.
+
+But even when the possibility of error from this factor of personal
+equation has been reduced to a minimum by a careful system of
+counter-checking, there still remains the very serious difficulty which
+is inherent in the operation of bringing down impressions from a higher
+plane to a lower one. This is something analogous to the difficulty
+experienced by a painter in his endeavour to reproduce a
+three-dimensional landscape on a flat surface--that is, practically in
+two dimensions. Just as the artist needs long and careful training of
+eye and hand before he can produce a satisfactory representation of
+nature, so does the clairvoyant need long and careful training before he
+can describe accurately on a lower plane what he sees on a higher one;
+and the probability of getting an exact description from an untrained
+person is about equal to that of getting a perfectly-finished landscape
+from one who has never learnt how to draw.
+
+It must be remembered, too, that the most perfect picture is in
+reality infinitely far from being a reproduction of the scene which it
+represents, for hardly a single line or angle in it can ever be the
+same as those in the object copied. It is simply a very ingenious
+attempt to make upon one only of our five senses, by means of lines
+and colours on a flat surface, an impression similar to that which
+would have been made if we had actually had before us the scene
+depicted. Except by a suggestion dependent entirely on our own
+previous experience, it can convey to us nothing of the roar of the
+sea, of the scent of the flowers, of the taste of the fruit, or of the
+softness or hardness of the surface drawn.
+
+Of exactly similar nature, though far greater in degree, are the
+difficulties experienced by a clairvoyant in his attempt to describe
+upon the physical plane what he has seen upon the astral; and they are
+furthermore greatly enhanced by the fact that, instead of having
+merely to recall to the minds of his hearers conceptions with which
+they are already familiar, as the artist does when he paints men or
+animals, fields or trees, he has to endeavour by the very imperfect
+means at his disposal to suggest to them conceptions which in most
+cases are absolutely new to them.
+
+Small wonder then that, however vivid and striking his descriptions
+may seem to his audience, he himself should constantly be impressed
+with their total inadequacy, and should feel that his best efforts
+have entirely failed to convey any idea of what he really sees. And we
+must remember that in the case of the report given down here of a
+record read on the mental plane, this difficult operation of
+transference from the higher to the lower has taken place not once but
+twice, since the memory has been brought through the intervening
+astral plane. Even in a case where the investigator has the advantage
+of having developed his mental faculties so that he has the use of
+them while awake in the physical body, he is still hampered by the
+absolute incapacity of physical language to express what he sees.
+
+Try for a moment to realize fully what is called the fourth dimension,
+of which we said something in an earlier chapter. It is easy enough to
+think of our own three dimensions--to image in our minds the length,
+breadth and height of any object; and we see that each of these three
+dimensions is expressed by a line at right angles to both of the
+others. The idea of the fourth dimension is that it might be possible
+to draw a fourth line which shall be at right angles to all three of
+those already existing.
+
+Now the ordinary mind cannot grasp this idea in the least, though some
+few who have made a special study of the subject have gradually come
+to be able to realize one or two very simple four-dimensional figures.
+Still, no words that they can use on this plane can bring any image of
+these figures before the minds of others, and if any reader who has
+not specially trained himself along that line will make the effort to
+visualize such a shape he will find it quite impossible. Now to
+express such a form clearly in physical words would be, in effect, to
+describe accurately a single object on the astral plane; but in
+examining the records on the mental plane we should have to face the
+additional difficulties of a fifth dimension! So that the
+impossibility of fully explaining these records will be obvious to
+even the most superficial observation.
+
+We have spoken of the records as the memory of the Logos, yet they are
+very much more than a memory in an ordinary sense of the word.
+Hopeless as it may be to imagine how these images appear from His
+point of view, we yet know that as we rise higher and higher we must
+be drawing nearer to the true memory--must be seeing more nearly as He
+sees; so that great interest attaches to the experience of the
+clairvoyant with reference to these records when he stands upon the
+buddhic plane--the highest which his consciousness can reach even
+when away from the physical body until he attains the level of the
+Arhats.
+
+Here time and space no longer limit him; he no longer needs, as on the
+mental plane, to pass a series of events in review, for past, present
+and future are all alike simultaneously present to him, meaningless as
+that sounds down here. Indeed, infinitely below the consciousness of
+the Logos as even that exalted plane is, it is yet abundantly clear
+from what we see there that to Him the record must be far more than
+what we call a memory, for all that has happened in the past and all
+that will happen in the future is _happening now_ before His eyes just
+as are the events of what we call the present time. Utterly
+incredible, wildly incomprehensible, of course, to our limited
+understanding; yet absolutely true for all that.
+
+Naturally we could not expect to understand at our present stage of
+knowledge how so marvellous a result is produced, and to attempt an
+explanation would only be to involve ourselves in a mist of words from
+which we should gain no real information. Yet a line of thought recurs
+to my mind which perhaps suggests the direction in which it is
+possible that that explanation may lie: and whatever helps us to
+realize that so astounding a statement may after all not be wholly
+impossible will be of assistance in broadening our minds.
+
+Some thirty years ago I remember reading a very curious little book,
+called, I think, _The Stars and the Earth_, the object of which was to
+endeavour to show how it was scientifically possible that to the mind
+of God the past and the present might be absolutely simultaneous. Its
+arguments struck me at the time as decidedly ingenious, and I will
+proceed to summarize them, as I think they will be found somewhat
+suggestive in connection with the subject which we have been
+considering.
+
+When we see anything, whether it be the book which we hold in our
+hands or a star millions of miles away, we do so by means of a
+vibration in the ether, commonly called a ray of light, which passes
+from the object seen to our eyes. Now the speed with which this
+vibration passes is so great--about 186,000 miles in a second--that
+when we are considering any object in our own world we may regard it
+as practically instantaneous. When, however, we come to deal with
+interplanetary distances we have to take the speed of light into
+consideration, for an appreciable period is occupied in traversing
+these vast spaces. For example it takes eight minutes and a quarter
+for light to travel to us from the sun, so that when we look at the
+solar orb we see it by means of a ray of light which left it more than
+eight minutes ago.
+
+From this follows a very curious result. The ray of light by which we
+see the sun can obviously report to us only the state of affairs
+which existed in that luminary when it started on its journey, and
+would not be in the least affected by anything that happened there
+after it left; so that we really see the sun not as he _is_, but as he
+was eight minutes ago. That is to say that if anything important took
+place in the sun--the formation of a new sun-spot, for instance--an
+astronomer who was watching the orb through his telescope at the time
+would be quite unaware of the incident while it was happening, since
+the ray of light bearing the news would not reach him until more than
+eight minutes later.
+
+The difference is more striking when we consider the fixed stars,
+because in their case the distances are so enormously greater. The
+pole star, for example, is so far off that light, travelling at the
+inconceivable speed above mentioned, takes a little more than fifty
+years to reach our eyes; and from that follows the strange but
+inevitable inference that we see the pole star not as and where it is
+at this moment, but as and where it was fifty years ago. Nay, if
+to-morrow some cosmic catastrophe were to shatter the pole star into
+fragments, we should still see it peacefully shining in the sky all
+the rest of our lives; our children would grow up to middle age and
+gather their children about them in turn before the news of that
+tremendous accident reached any terrestrial eye. In the same way there
+are other stars so far distant that light takes thousands of years to
+travel from them to us, and with reference to their condition our
+information is therefore thousands of years behind time.
+
+Now carry the argument a step farther. Suppose that we were able to
+place a man at the distance of 186,000 miles from the earth, and yet
+to endow him with the wonderful faculty of being able from that
+distance to see what was happening here as clearly as though he were
+still close beside us. It is evident that a man so placed would see
+everything a second after the time when it really happened, and so at
+the present moment he would be seeing what happened a second ago.
+Double the distance, and he would be two seconds behind time, and so
+on; remove him to the distance of the sun (still allowing him to
+preserve the same mysterious power of sight) and he would look down
+and watch you doing not what you _are_ doing now, but what you _were_
+doing eight minutes and a quarter ago. Carry him away to the pole
+star, and he would see passing before his eyes the events of fifty
+years ago; he would be watching the childish gambols of those who at
+the very same moment were really middle-aged men. Marvellous as this
+may sound, it is literally and scientifically true, and cannot be
+denied.
+
+The little book went on to argue logically enough that God, being
+almighty, must possess the wonderful power of sight which we have
+been postulating for our observer; and further, that being
+omnipresent, He must be at each of the stations which we mentioned,
+and also at every intermediate point, not successively but
+simultaneously. Granting these premises, the inevitable deduction
+follows that everything which has ever happened from the very
+beginning of the world _must_ be at this very moment taking place
+before the eye of God--not a mere memory of it, but the actual
+occurrence itself being now under His observation.
+
+All this is materialistic enough, and on the plane of purely physical
+science, and we may therefore be assured that it is _not_ the way in
+which the memory of the Logos acts; yet it is neatly worked out and
+absolutely incontrovertible, and as I have said before, it is not
+without its use, since it gives us a glimpse of some possibilities
+which otherwise might not occur to us.
+
+But, it may be asked, how is it possible, amid the bewildering
+confusion of these records of the past, to find any particular picture
+when it is wanted? As a matter of fact, the untrained clairvoyant
+usually cannot do so without some special link to put him _en rapport_
+with the subject required. Psychometry is an instance in point, and it
+is quite probable that our ordinary memory is really only another
+presentment of the same idea. It seems as though there were a sort of
+magnetic attachment or affinity between any particle of matter and the
+record which contains its history--an affinity which enables it to act
+as a kind of conductor between that record and the faculties of anyone
+who can read it.
+
+For example, I once brought from Stonehenge a tiny fragment of stone,
+not larger than a pin's head, and on putting this into an envelope and
+handing it to a psychometer who had no idea what it was, she at once
+began to describe that wonderful ruin and the desolate country
+surrounding it, and then went on to picture vividly what were
+evidently scenes from its early history, showing that that
+infinitesimal fragment had been sufficient to put her into
+communication with the records connected with the spot from which it
+came. The scenes through which we pass in the course of our life seem
+to act in the same manner upon the cells of our brain as did the
+history of Stonehenge upon that particle of stone: they establish a
+connection with those cells by means of which our mind is put _en
+rapport_ with that particular portion of the records, and so we
+"remember" what we have seen.
+
+Even a trained clairvoyant needs some link to enable him to find the
+record of an event of which he has no previous knowledge. If, for
+example, he wished to observe the landing of Julius Caesar on the
+shores of England, there are several ways in which he might approach
+the subject. If he happened to have visited the scene of the
+occurrence, the simplest way would probably be to call up the image of
+that spot, and then run back through its records until he reached the
+period desired. If he had not seen the place, he might run back in
+time to the date of the event, and then search the Channel for a fleet
+of Roman galleys; or he might examine the records of Roman life at
+about that period, where he would have no difficulty in identifying so
+prominent a figure as Caesar, or in tracing him when found through all
+his Gallic wars until he set his foot upon British land.
+
+People often enquire as to the aspect of these records--whether they
+appear near or far away from the eye, whether the figures in them are
+large or small, whether the pictures follow one another as in a
+panorama or melt into one another like dissolving views, and so on.
+One can only reply that their appearance varies to a certain extent
+according to the conditions under which they are seen. Upon the astral
+plane the reflection is most often a simple picture, though
+occasionally the figures seen would be endowed with motion; in this
+latter case, instead of a mere snapshot a rather longer and more
+perfect reflection has taken place.
+
+On the mental plane they have two widely different aspects. When the
+visitor to that plane is not thinking specially of them in any way,
+the records simply form a background to whatever is going on, just as
+the reflections in a pier-glass at the end of a room might form a
+background to the life of the people in it. It must always be borne in
+mind that under these conditions they are really merely reflections
+from the ceaseless activity of a great Consciousness upon a far higher
+plane, and have very much the appearance of an endless succession of
+the recently invented _cinematographe_, or living photographs. They do
+not melt into one another like dissolving views, nor do a series of
+ordinary pictures follow one another; but the action of the reflected
+figures constantly goes on, as though one were watching the actors on
+a distant stage.
+
+But if the trained investigator turns his attention specially to any
+one scene, or wishes to call it up before him, an extraordinary change
+at once takes place, for this is the plane of thought, and to think of
+anything is to bring it instantaneously before you. For example, if a
+man wills to see the record of that event to which we before
+referred--the landing of Julius Caesar--he finds himself in a moment
+not looking at any picture, but standing on the shore among the
+legionaries, with the whole scene being enacted around him, precisely
+in every respect as he would have seen it if he had stood there in the
+flesh on that autumn morning in the year 55 B.C. Since what he sees is
+but a reflection, the actors are of course entirely unconscious of
+him, nor can any effort of his change the course of their action in
+the smallest degree, except only that he can control the rate at which
+the drama shall pass before him--can have the events of a whole year
+rehearsed before his eyes in a single hour, or can at any moment stop
+the movement altogether, and hold any particular scene in view as a
+picture as long as he chooses.
+
+In truth he observes not only what he would have seen if he had been
+there at the time in the flesh, but much more. He hears and
+understands all that the people say, and he is conscious of all their
+thoughts and motives; and one of the most interesting of the many
+possibilities which open up before one who has learnt to read the
+records is the study of the thought of ages long past--the thought of
+the cave-men and the lake-dwellers as well as that which ruled the
+mighty civilisations of Atlantis, of Egypt or Chaldaea. What splendid
+possibilities open up before the man who is in full possession of this
+power may easily be imagined. He has before him a field of historical
+research of most entrancing interest. Not only can he review at his
+leisure all history with which we are acquainted, correcting as he
+examines it the many errors and misconceptions which have crept into
+the accounts handed down to us; he can also range at will over the
+whole story of the world from its very beginning, watching the slow
+development of intellect in man, the descent of the Lords of the
+Flame, and the growth of the mighty civilisations which they founded.
+
+Nor is his study confined to the progress of humanity alone; he has
+before him, as in a museum, all the strange animal and vegetable forms
+which occupied the stage in days when the world was young; he can
+follow all the wonderful geological changes which have taken place,
+and watch the course of the great cataclysms which have altered the
+whole face of the earth again and again.
+
+In one especial case an even closer sympathy with the past is possible
+to the reader of the records. If in the course of his enquiries he has
+to look upon some scene in which he himself has in a former birth
+taken part, he may deal with it in two ways; he can either regard it
+in the usual manner as a spectator (though always, be it remembered,
+as a spectator whose insight and sympathy are perfect) or he may once
+more identify himself with that long-dead personality of his--may
+throw himself back for the time into that life of long ago, and
+absolutely experience over again the thoughts and the emotions, the
+pleasures and the pains of a prehistoric past. No wilder and more
+vivid adventures can be conceived than some of those through which he
+thus may pass; yet through it all he must never lose hold of the
+consciousness of his own individuality--must retain the power to
+return at will to his present personality.
+
+It is often asked how it is possible for an investigator accurately to
+determine the date of any picture from the far-distant past which he
+disinters from the records. The fact is that it is sometimes rather
+tedious work to find an exact date, but the thing can usually be done
+if it is worth while to spend the time and trouble over it. If we are
+dealing with Greek or Roman times the simplest method is usually to
+look into the mind of the most intelligent person present in the
+picture, and see what date he supposes it to be; or the investigator
+might watch him writing a letter or other document and observe what
+date, if any, was included in what was written. When once the Roman or
+Greek date is thus obtained, to reduce it to our own system of
+chronology is merely a matter of calculation.
+
+Another way which is frequently adopted is to turn from the scene
+under examination to a contemporary picture in some great and
+well-known city such as Rome, and note what monarch is reigning there,
+or who are the consuls for the year; and when such data are discovered
+a glance at any good history will give the rest. Sometimes a date can
+be obtained by examining some public proclamation or some legal
+document; in fact in the times of which we are speaking the difficulty
+is easily surmounted.
+
+The matter is by no means so simple, however, when we come to deal
+with periods much earlier than this--with a scene from early Egypt,
+Chaldaea, or China, or to go further back still, from Atlantis itself
+or any of its numerous colonies. A date can still be obtained easily
+enough from the mind of any educated man, but there is no longer any
+means of relating it to our own system of dates, since the man will be
+reckoning by eras of which we know nothing, or by the reigns of kings
+whose history is lost in the night of time.
+
+Our methods, nevertheless, are not yet exhausted. It must be
+remembered that it is possible for the investigator to pass the
+records before him at any speed that he may desire--at the rate of a
+year in a second if he will, or even very much faster still. Now there
+are one or two events in ancient history whose dates have already been
+accurately fixed--as, for example, the sinking of Poseidonis in the
+year 9564 B.C. It is therefore obvious that if from the general
+appearance of the surroundings it seems probable that a picture seen
+is within measurable distance of one of these events, it can be
+related to that event by the simple process of running through the
+record rapidly, and counting the years between the two as they pass.
+
+Still, if those years ran into thousands, as they might sometimes do,
+this plan would be insufferably tedious. In that case we are driven
+back upon the astronomical method. In consequence of the movement
+which is commonly called the precession of the equinoxes, though it
+might more accurately be described as a kind of second rotation of
+the earth, the angle between the equator and the ecliptic steadily but
+very slowly varies. Thus, after long intervals of time we find the
+pole of the earth no longer pointing towards the same spot in the
+apparent sphere of the heavens, or in other words, our pole-star is
+not, as at present, [Greek: a] Ursae Minoris, but some other celestial
+body; and from this position of the pole of the earth, which can
+easily be ascertained by careful observation of the night-sky of the
+picture under consideration, an approximate date can be calculated
+without difficulty.
+
+In estimating the date of occurrences which took place millions of
+years ago in earlier races, the period of a secondary rotation (or the
+precession of the equinoxes) is frequently used as a unit, but of
+course absolute accuracy is not usually required in such cases, round
+numbers being sufficient for all practical purposes in dealing with
+epochs so remote.
+
+The accurate reading of the records, whether of one's own past lives
+or those of others, must not, however, be thought of as an achievement
+possible to anyone without careful previous training. As has been
+already remarked, though occasional reflections may be had upon the
+astral plane, the power to use the mental sense is necessary before
+any reliable reading can be done. Indeed, to minimize the possibility
+of error, that sense ought to be fully at the command of the
+investigator while awake in the physical body; and to acquire that
+faculty needs years of ceaseless labour and rigid self-discipline.
+
+Many people seem to expect that as soon as they have signed their
+application and joined the Theosophical Society they will at once
+remember at least three or four of their past births; indeed, some of
+them promptly begin to imagine recollections and declare that in their
+last incarnation they were Mary Queen of Scots, Cleopatra, or Julius
+Caesar! Of course such extravagant claims simply bring discredit upon
+those who are so foolish as to make them but unfortunately some of
+that discredit is liable to be reflected, however unjustly, upon the
+Society to which they belong, so that a man who feels seething within
+him the conviction that he was Homer or Shakespeare would do well to
+pause and apply common-sense tests on the physical plane before
+publishing the news to the world.
+
+It is quite true that some people have had glimpses of scenes from
+their past lives in dreams, but naturally these are usually
+fragmentary and unreliable. I had myself in earlier life an experience
+of this nature. Among my dreams I found that one was constantly
+recurring--a dream of a house with a portico over-looking a beautiful
+bay, not far from a hill on the top of which rose a graceful building.
+I knew that house perfectly, and was as familiar with the position of
+its rooms and the view from its door as I was with those of my home,
+in this present life. In those days I knew nothing about
+reincarnation, so that it seemed to me simply a curious coincidence
+that this dream should repeat itself so often; and it was not until
+some time after I had joined the Society that, when one who knew was
+showing me some pictures of my last incarnation, I discovered that
+this persistent dream had been in reality a partial recollection, and
+that the house which I knew so well was the one in which I was born
+more than two thousand years ago.
+
+But although there are several cases on record in which some
+well-remembered scene has thus come through from one life to another,
+a considerable development of occult faculty is necessary before an
+investigator can definitely trace a line of incarnations, whether they
+be his own or another man's. This will be obvious if we remember the
+conditions of the problem which has to be worked out. To follow a
+person from this life to the one preceding it, it is necessary first
+of all to trace his present life backwards to his birth and then to
+follow up in reverse order the stages by which the Ego descended into
+incarnation.
+
+This will obviously take us back eventually to the condition of the
+Ego upon the higher levels of the mental plane; so it will be seen
+that to perform this task effectually the investigator must be able to
+use the sense corresponding to that exalted level while awake in his
+physical body--in other words, his consciousness must be centred in
+the reincarnating Ego itself, and no longer in the lower personality.
+In that case, the memory of the Ego being aroused, his own past
+incarnations will be spread out before him like an open book, and he
+would be able, if he wished, to examine the conditions of another Ego
+upon that level and trace him backwards through the lower mental and
+astral lives which led up to it, until he came to the last physical
+death of that Ego, and through it to his previous life.
+
+There is no way but this in which the chain of lives can be followed
+through with absolute certainty: and consequently we may at once put
+aside as conscious or unconscious impostors those people who advertise
+that they are able to trace out anyone's past incarnations for so many
+shillings a head. Needless to say, the true occultist does not
+advertise, and never under any circumstances accepts money for any
+exhibition of his powers.
+
+Assuredly the student who wishes to acquire the power of following up
+a line of incarnations can do so only by learning from a qualified
+teacher how the work is to be done. There have been those who
+persistently asserted that it was only necessary for a man to feel
+good and devotional and "brotherly," and all the wisdom of the ages
+would immediately flow in upon him; but a little common-sense will at
+once expose the absurdity of such a position. However good a child
+may be, if he wants to know the multiplication table he must set to
+work and learn it; and the case is precisely similar with the capacity
+to use spiritual faculties. The faculties themselves will no doubt
+manifest as the man evolves, but he can learn how to use them reliably
+and to the best advantage only by steady hard work and persevering
+effort.
+
+Take the case of those who wish to help others while on the astral
+plane during sleep; it is obvious that the more knowledge they possess
+here, the more valuable will their services be on that higher plane.
+For example, the knowledge of languages would be useful to them, for
+though on the mental plane men can communicate directly by
+thought-transference, whatever their languages may be, on the astral
+plane this is not so, and a thought must be definitely formulated in
+words before it is comprehensible. If, therefore, you wish to help a
+man on that plane, you must have some language in common by means of
+which you can communicate with him, and consequently the more
+languages you know the more widely useful you will be. In fact there
+is perhaps no kind of knowledge for which a use cannot be found in the
+work of the occultist.
+
+It would be well for all students to bear in mind that occultism is
+the apotheosis of common-sense, and that every vision which comes to
+them is not necessarily a picture from the akashic records, nor every
+experience a revelation from on high. It is better far to err on the
+side of healthy scepticism than of over-credulity; and it is an
+admirable rule never to hunt about for an occult explanation of
+anything when a plain and obvious physical one is available. Our duty
+is to endeavour to keep our balance always, and never to lose our
+self-control, but to take a reasonable, common-sense view of whatever
+may happen to us; so shall we be better Theosophists, wiser
+occultists, and more useful helpers than we have ever been before.
+
+As usual, we find examples of all degrees of the power to see into
+this memory of nature, from the trained man who can consult the record
+for himself at will, down to the person who gets nothing but
+occasional vague glimpses, or has even perhaps had only one such
+glimpse. But even the man who possesses this faculty only partially
+and occasionally still finds it of the deepest interest. The
+psychometer, who needs an object physically connected with the past in
+order to bring it all into life again around him, and the
+crystal-gazer who can sometimes direct his less certain astral
+telescope to some historic scene of long ago, may both derive the
+greatest enjoyment from the exercise of their respective gifts, even
+though they may not always understand exactly how their results are
+produced, and may not have them fully under control under all
+circumstances.
+
+In many cases of the lower manifestations of these powers we find that
+they are exercised unconsciously; many a crystal-gazer watches scenes
+from the past without being able to distinguish them from visions of
+the present, and many a vaguely-psychic person finds pictures
+constantly arising before his eyes without ever realizing that he is
+in effect psychometrizing the various objects around him as he happens
+to touch them or stand near them.
+
+An interesting variant of this class of psychics is the man who is
+able to psychometrize persons only, and not inanimate objects as is
+more usual. In most cases this faculty shows itself erratically, so
+that such a psychic will, when introduced to a stranger, often see in
+a flash some prominent event in that stranger's earlier life, but on
+other similar occasions will receive no special impression. More
+rarely we meet with someone who gets detailed visions of the past life
+of everyone whom he encounters. Perhaps one of the best examples of
+this class was the German writer Zschokke, who describes in his
+autobiography this extraordinary power of which he found himself
+possessed. He says:--
+
+"It has happened to me occasionally at the first meeting with a total
+stranger, when I have been listening in silence to his conversation,
+that his past life up to the present moment, with many minute
+circumstances belonging to one or other particular scene in it, has
+come across me like a dream, but distinctly, entirely involuntarily
+and unsought, occupying in duration a few minutes.
+
+"For a long time I was disposed to consider these fleeting visions as
+a trick of the fancy--the more so as my dream-vision displayed to me
+the dress and movements of the actors, the appearance of the room, the
+furniture, and other accidents of the scene; till on one occasion, in
+a gamesome mood, I narrated to my family the secret history of a
+sempstress who had just before quitted the room. I had never seen the
+person before. Nevertheless the hearers were astonished, and laughed
+and would not be persuaded but that I had a previous acquaintance with
+the former life of the person, inasmuch as what I had stated was
+perfectly true.
+
+"I was not less astonished to find that my dream-vision agreed with
+reality. I then gave more attention to the subject, and as often as
+propriety allowed of it, I related to those whose lives had so passed
+before me the substance of my dream-vision, to obtain from them its
+contradiction or confirmation. On every occasion its confirmation
+followed, not without amazement on the part of those who gave it.
+
+"On a certain fair-day I went into the town of Waldshut accompanied by
+two young foresters, who are still alive. It was evening, and, tired
+with our walk, we went into an inn called the 'Vine.' We took our
+supper with a numerous company at the public table, when it happened
+that they made themselves merry over the peculiarities and simplicity
+of the Swiss in connection with the belief in mesmerism, Lavater's
+physiognomical system and the like. One of my companions, whose
+national pride was touched by their raillery, begged me to make some
+reply, particularly in answer to a young man of superior appearance
+who sat opposite, and had indulged in unrestrained ridicule.
+
+"It happened that the events of this person's life had just previously
+passed before my mind. I turned to him with the question whether he
+would reply to me with truth and candour if I narrated to him the most
+secret passages of his history, he being as little known to me as I to
+him? That would, I suggested, go something beyond Lavater's
+physiognomical skill. He promised if I told the truth to admit it
+openly. Then I narrated the events with which my dream-vision had
+furnished me, and the table learnt the history of the young
+tradesman's life, of his school years, his peccadilloes, and, finally,
+of a little act of roguery committed by him on the strong-box of his
+employer. I described the uninhabited room with its white walls, where
+to the right of the brown door there had stood upon the table the
+small black money-chest, etc. The man, much struck, admitted the
+correctness of each circumstance--even, which I could not expect, of
+the last."
+
+And after narrating this incident, the worthy Zschokke calmly goes on
+to wonder whether perhaps after all this remarkable power, which he
+had so often displayed, might not really have been always the result
+of mere chance coincidence!
+
+Comparatively few accounts of persons possessing this faculty of
+looking back into the past are to be found in the literature of the
+subject, and it might therefore be supposed to be much less common
+than prevision. I suspect, however, that the truth is rather that it
+is much less commonly recognized. As I said before, it may very easily
+happen that a person may see a picture of the past without recognizing
+it as such, unless there happens to be in it something which attracts
+special attention, such as a figure in armour or in antique costume. A
+prevision also might not always be recognized as such at the time; but
+the occurrence of the event foreseen recalls it vividly at the same
+time that it manifests its nature, so that it is unlikely to be
+overlooked. It is probable, therefore, that occasional glimpses of
+these astral reflections of the akashic records are commoner than the
+published accounts would lead us to believe.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII.
+
+CLAIRVOYANCE IN TIME: THE FUTURE.
+
+
+Even if, in a dim sort of way, we feel ourselves able to grasp the
+idea that the whole of the past may be simultaneously and actively
+present in a sufficiently exalted consciousness, we are confronted by
+a far greater difficulty when we endeavour to realize how all the
+future may also be comprehended in that consciousness. If we could
+believe in the Mohammedan doctrine of kismet, or the Calvinistic
+theory of predestination, the conception would be easy enough, but
+knowing as we do that both these are grotesque distortions of the
+truth, we must look round for a more acceptable hypothesis.
+
+There may still be some people who deny the possibility of prevision,
+but such denial simply shows their ignorance of the evidence on the
+subject. The large number of authenticated cases leaves no room for
+doubt as to the fact, but many of them are of such a nature as to
+render a reasonable explanation by no means easy to find. It is
+evident that the Ego possesses a certain amount of previsional
+faculty, and if the events foreseen were always of great importance,
+one might suppose that an extraordinary stimulus had enabled him for
+that occasion only to make a clear impression of what he saw upon his
+lower personality. No doubt that is the explanation of many of the
+cases in which death or grave disaster is foreseen, but there are a
+large number of instances on record to which it does not seem to
+apply, since the events foretold are frequently exceedingly trivial
+and unimportant.
+
+A well-known story of second-sight in Scotland will illustrate what I
+mean. A man who had no belief in the occult was forewarned by a
+Highland seer of the approaching death of a neighbour. The prophecy
+was given with considerable wealth of detail, including a full
+description of the funeral, with the names of the four pall-bearers
+and others who would be present. The auditor seems to have laughed at
+the whole story and promptly forgotten it, but the death of his
+neighbour at the time foretold recalled the warning to his mind, and
+he determined to falsify part of the prediction at any rate by being
+one of the pall-bearers himself. He succeeded in getting matters
+arranged as he wished, but just as the funeral was about to start he
+was called away from his post by some small matter which detained him
+only a minute or two. As he came hurrying back he saw with surprise
+that the procession had started without him, and that the prediction
+had been exactly fulfilled, for the four pall-bearers were those who
+had been indicated in the vision.
+
+Now here is a very trifling matter, which could have been of no
+possible importance to anybody, definitely foreseen months beforehand;
+and although a man makes a determined effort to alter the arrangement
+indicated he fails entirely to affect it in the least. Certainly this
+looks very much like predestination, even down to the smallest detail,
+and it is only when we examine this question from higher planes that
+we are able to see our way to escape that theory. Of course, as I said
+before about another branch of the subject, a full explanation eludes
+us as yet, and obviously must do so until our knowledge is infinitely
+greater than it is now; the most that we can hope to do for the
+present is to indicate the line along which an explanation may be
+found.
+
+There is no doubt whatever that, just as what is happening now is the
+result of causes set in motion in the past, so what will happen in the
+future will be the result of causes already in operation. Even down
+here we can calculate that if certain actions are performed certain
+results will follow, but our reckoning is constantly liable to be
+disturbed by the interference of factors which we have not been able
+to take into account. But if we raise our consciousness to the mental
+plane we can see very much farther into the results of our actions.
+
+We can trace, for example, the effect of a casual word, not only upon
+the person to whom it was addressed, but through him on many others as
+it is passed on in widening circles, until it seems to have affected
+the whole country; and one glimpse of such a vision is far more
+efficient than any number of moral precepts in impressing upon us the
+necessity of extreme circumspection in thought, word, and deed. Not
+only can we from that plane see thus fully the result of every action,
+but we can also see where and in what way the results of other actions
+apparently quite unconnected with it will interfere with and modify
+it. In fact, it may be said that the results of all causes at present
+in action are clearly visible--that the future, as it would be if no
+entirely new causes should arise, lies open before our gaze.
+
+New causes of course do arise, because man's will is free; but in the
+case of all ordinary people the use which they will make of their
+freedom can be calculated beforehand with considerable accuracy. The
+average man has so little real will that he is very much the creature
+of circumstances; his action in previous lives places him amid certain
+surroundings, and their influence upon him is so very much the most
+important factor in his life-story that his future course may be
+predicted with almost mathematical certainty. With the developed man
+the case is different; for him also the main events of life are
+arranged by his past actions, but the way in which he will allow them
+to affect him, the methods by which he will deal with them and perhaps
+triumph over them--these are all his own, and they cannot be foreseen
+even on the mental plane except as probabilities.
+
+Looking down on man's life in this way from above, it seems as though
+his free will could be exercised only at certain crises in his career.
+He arrives at a point in his life where there are obviously two or
+three alternative courses open before him; he is absolutely free to
+choose which of them he pleases, and although some one who knew his
+nature thoroughly well might feel almost certain what his choice would
+be, such knowledge on his friend's part is in no sense a compelling
+force.
+
+But when he _has_ chosen, he has to go through with it and take the
+consequences; having entered upon a particular path he may, in many
+cases, be forced to go on for a very long way before he has any
+opportunity to turn aside. His position is somewhat like that of the
+driver of a train; when he comes to a junction he may have the points
+set either this way or that, and so can pass on to whichever line he
+pleases, but when he _has_ passed on to one of them he is compelled to
+run on along the line which he has selected until he reaches another
+set of points, where again an opportunity of choice is offered to him.
+
+Now, in looking down from the mental plane, these points of new
+departure would be clearly visible, and all the results of each choice
+would lie open before us, certain to be worked out even to the
+smallest detail. The only point which would remain uncertain would be
+the all-important one as to which choice the man would make. We
+should, in fact, have not one but several futures mapped out before
+our eyes, without necessarily being able to determine which of them
+would materialize itself into accomplished fact. In most instances we
+should see so strong a probability that we should not hesitate to come
+to a decision, but the case which I have described is certainly
+theoretically possible. Still, even this much knowledge would enable
+us to do with safety a good deal of prediction; and it is not
+difficult for us to imagine that a far higher power than ours might
+always be able to foresee which way every choice would go, and
+consequently to prophesy with absolute certainty.
+
+On the buddhic plane, however, no such elaborate process of conscious
+calculation is necessary, for, as I said before, in some manner which
+down here is totally inexplicable, the past, the present, and the
+future, are there all existing simultaneously. One can only accept
+this fact, for its cause lies in the faculty of the plane, and the
+way in which this higher faculty works is naturally quite
+incomprehensible to the physical brain. Yet now and then one may meet
+with a hint that seems to bring us a trifle nearer to a dim
+possibility of comprehension. One such hint was given by Dr. Oliver
+Lodge in his address to the British Association at Cardiff. He said:
+
+"A luminous and helpful idea is that time is but a relative mode of
+regarding things; we progress through phenomena at a certain definite
+pace, and this subjective advance we interpret in an objective manner,
+as if events moved necessarily in this order and at this precise rate.
+But that may be only one mode of regarding them. The events may be in
+some sense in existence always, both past and future, and it may be we
+who are arriving at them, not they which are happening. The analogy of a
+traveller in a railway train is useful; if he could never leave the
+train nor alter its pace he would probably consider the landscapes as
+necessarily successive and be unable to conceive their co-existence....
+We perceive, therefore, a possible fourth dimensional aspect about time,
+the inexorableness of whose flow may be a natural part or our present
+limitations. And if we once grasp the idea that past and future may be
+actually existing, we can recognize that they may have a controlling
+influence on all present action, and the two together may constitute the
+'higher plane' or totality of things after which, as it seems to me, we
+are impelled to seek, in connection with the directing of form or
+determinism, and the action of living beings consciously directed to a
+definite and preconceived end."
+
+Time is not in reality the fourth dimension at all; yet to look at it
+for the moment from that point of view is some slight help towards
+grasping the ungraspable. Suppose that we hold a wooden cone at right
+angles to a sheet of paper, and slowly push it through it point first.
+A microbe living on the surface of that sheet of paper, and having no
+power of conceiving anything outside of that surface, could not only
+never see the cone as a whole, but he could form no sort of conception
+of such a body at all. All that he would see would be the sudden
+appearance of a tiny circle, which would gradually and mysteriously
+grow larger and larger until it vanished from his world as suddenly
+and incomprehensibly as it had come into it.
+
+Thus, what were in reality a series of sections of the cone would
+appear to him to be successive stages in the life of a circle, and it
+would be impossible for him to grasp the idea that these successive
+stages could be seen simultaneously. Yet it is, of course, easy enough
+for us, looking down upon the transaction from another dimension, to
+see that the microbe is simply under a delusion arising from its own
+limitations, and that the cone exists as a whole all the while. Our
+own delusion as to past, present, and future is possibly not
+dissimilar, and the view that is gained of any sequence of events from
+the buddhic plane corresponds to the view of the cone as a whole.
+Naturally, any attempt to work out this suggestion lands us in a
+series of startling paradoxes; but the fact remains a fact,
+nevertheless, and the time will come when it will be clear as noonday
+to our comprehension.
+
+When the pupil's consciousness is fully developed upon the buddhic
+plane, therefore, perfect prevision is possible to him, though he may
+not--nay, he certainly will not--be able to bring the whole result of
+his sight through fully and in order into this light. Still, a great
+deal of clear foresight is obviously within his power whenever he
+likes to exercise it; and even when he is not exercising it, frequent
+flashes of fore-knowledge come through into his ordinary life, so that
+he often has an instantaneous intuition as to how things will turn out
+even before their inception.
+
+Short of this perfect prevision we find, as in the previous cases,
+that all degrees of this type of clairvoyance exist, from the
+occasional vague premonitions which cannot in any true sense be called
+sight at all, up to frequent and fairly complete second-sight. The
+faculty to which this latter somewhat misleading name has been given
+is an extremely interesting one, and would well repay more careful
+and systematic study than has ever hitherto been given to it.
+
+It is best known to us as a not infrequent possession of the Scottish
+Highlanders, though it is by no means confined to them. Occasional
+instances of it have appeared in almost every nation, but it has
+always been commonest among mountaineers and men of lonely life. With
+us in England it is often spoken of as though it were the exclusive
+appanage of the Celtic race, but in reality it has appeared among
+similarly situated peoples the world over. It is stated, for example,
+to be very common among the Westphalian peasantry.
+
+Sometimes the second-sight consists of a picture clearly foreshowing
+some coming event; more frequently, perhaps, the glimpse of the future
+is given by some symbolical appearance. It is noteworthy that the
+events foreseen are invariably unpleasant ones--death being the
+commonest of all; I do not recollect a single instance in which the
+second-sight has shown anything which was not of the most gloomy
+nature. It has a ghastly symbolism which is all its own--a symbolism
+of shrouds and corpse-candles, and other funereal horrors. In some
+cases it appears to be to a certain extent dependent on locality, for
+it is stated that inhabitants of the Isle of Skye who possess the
+faculty often lose it when they leave the island, even though it be
+only to cross to the mainland. The gift of such sight is sometimes
+hereditary in a family for generations, but this is not an invariable
+rule, for it often appears sporadically in one member of a family
+otherwise free from its lugubrious influence.
+
+An example in which an accurate vision of a coming event was seen some
+months beforehand by second-sight has already been given. Here is
+another and perhaps a more striking one, which I give exactly as it
+was related to me by one of the actors in the scene.
+
+"We plunged into the jungle, and had walked on for about an hour
+without much success, when Cameron, who happened to be next to me,
+stopped suddenly, turned pale as death, and, pointing straight before
+him, cried in accents of horror:
+
+"'See! see! merciful heaven, look there!'
+
+"'Where? what? what is it?' we all shouted confusedly, as we rushed up
+to him and looked round in expectation of encountering a tiger--a
+cobra--we hardly knew what, but assuredly something terrible, since it
+had been sufficient to cause such evident emotion in our usually
+self-contained comrade. But neither tiger nor cobra was
+visible--nothing but Cameron pointing with ghastly, haggard face and
+starting eyeballs at something we could not see.
+
+"'Cameron! Cameron' cried I, seizing his arm, "'for heaven's sake,
+speak! What is the matter?'
+
+"Scarcely were the words out of my mouth when a low, but very peculiar
+sound struck on my ear, and Cameron, dropping his pointing hand, said
+in a hoarse, strained voice, 'There! you heard it? Thank God it's
+over' and fell to the ground insensible.
+
+"There was a momentary confusion while we unfastened his collar, and I
+dashed in his face some water which I fortunately had in my flask,
+while another tried to pour brandy between his clenched teeth; and
+under cover of it I whispered to the man next to me (one of our
+greatest sceptics, by the way), 'Beauchamp, did _you_ hear anything?'
+
+"'Why, yes,' he replied, a curious sound, very; a sort of crash or
+rattle far away in the distance, yet very distinct; if the thing were
+not utterly impossible, I could have sworn it was the rattle of
+musketry.'
+
+"'Just my impression,' murmured I; 'but hush! he is recovering.'
+
+"In a minute or two he was able to speak feebly, and began to thank us
+and apologize for giving trouble; and soon he sat up, leaning against
+a tree, and in a firm, though still low voice said:
+
+"'My dear friends, I feel I owe you an explanation of my extraordinary
+behaviour. It is an explanation that I would fain avoid giving; but it
+must come some time, and so may as well be given now. You may perhaps
+have noticed that when during our voyage you all joined in scoffing at
+dreams, portents and visions, I invariably avoided giving any opinion
+on the subject. I did so because, while I had no desire to court
+ridicule or provoke discussion, I was unable to agree with you,
+knowing only too well from my own dread experience that the world
+which men agree to call that of the supernatural is just as real
+as--nay, perhaps, even far more real than--this world we see about us.
+In other words, I, like many of my countrymen, am cursed with the gift
+of second-sight--that awful faculty which foretells in vision
+calamities that are shortly to occur.
+
+"'Such a vision I had just now, and its exceptional horror moved me as
+you have seen. I saw before me a corpse--not that of one who has died
+a peaceful natural death, but that of the victim of some terrible
+accident; a ghastly, shapeless mass, with a face swollen, crushed,
+unrecognizable. I saw this dreadful object placed in a coffin, and the
+funeral service performed over it. I saw the burial-ground, I saw the
+clergyman: and though I had never seen either before, I can picture
+both perfectly in my mind's eye now; I saw you, myself, Beauchamp, all
+of us and many more, standing round as mourners; I saw the soldiers
+raise their muskets after the service was over; I heard the volley
+they fired--and then I knew no more.'
+
+"As he spoke of that volley of musketry I glanced across with a
+shudder at Beauchamp, and the look of stony horror on that handsome
+sceptic's face was not to be forgotten."
+
+This is only one incident (and by no means the principal one) in a
+very remarkable story of psychic experience, but as for the moment we
+are concerned merely with the example of second-sight which it gives
+us, I need only say that later in the day the party of young soldiers
+discovered the body of their commanding officer in the terrible
+condition so graphically described by Mr. Cameron. The narrative
+continues:
+
+"When, on the following evening, we arrived at our destination, and
+our melancholy deposition had been taken down by the proper
+authorities, Cameron and I went out for a quiet walk, to endeavour
+with the assistance of the soothing influence of nature to shake off
+something of the gloom which paralyzed our spirits. Suddenly he
+clutched my arm, and, pointing through some rude railings, said in a
+trembling voice, 'Yes, there it is! that is the burial-ground I saw
+yesterday.' And when later on we were introduced to the chaplain of
+the post, I noticed, though my friends did not, the irrepressible
+shudder with which Cameron took his hand, and I knew that he had
+recognized the clergyman of his vision."
+
+As for the occult rationale of all this, I presume Mr. Cameron's
+vision was a pure case of second-sight, and if so the fact that the
+two men who were evidently nearest to him (certainly one--probably
+both--actually touching him) participated in it to the limited extent
+of hearing the concluding volley, while the others who were not so
+close did not, would show that the intensity with which the vision
+impressed itself upon the seer occasioned vibrations in his mind-body
+which were communicated to those of the persons in contact with him,
+as in ordinary thought-transference. Anyone who wishes to read the
+rest of the story will find it in the pages of _Lucifer_, vol. xx., p.
+457.
+
+Scores of examples of similar nature to these might easily be
+collected. With regard to the symbolical variety of this sight, it is
+commonly stated among those who possess it that if on meeting a living
+person they see a phantom shroud wrapped around him, it is a sure
+prognostication of his death. The date of the approaching decease is
+indicated either by the extent to which the shroud covers the body, or
+by the time of day at which the vision is seen; for if it be in the
+early morning they say that the man will die during the same day, but
+if it be in the evening, then it will be only some time within a year.
+
+Another variant (and a remarkable one) of the symbolic form of
+second-sight is that in which the headless apparition of the person
+whose death is foretold manifests itself to the seer. An example of
+that class is given in _Signs before Death_ as having happened in the
+family of Dr. Ferrier, though in that case, if I recollect rightly,
+the vision did not occur until the time of the death, or very near it.
+
+Turning from seers who are regularly in possession of a certain
+faculty, although its manifestations are only occasionally fully under
+their control, we are confronted by a large number of isolated
+instances of prevision in the case of people with whom it is not in
+any way a regular faculty. Perhaps the majority of these occur in
+dreams, although examples of the waking vision are by no means
+wanting. Sometimes the prevision refers to an event of distinct
+importance to the seer, and so justifies the action of the Ego in
+taking the trouble to impress it. In other cases, the event is one
+which is of no apparent importance, or is not in any way connected
+with the man to whom the vision comes. Sometimes it is clear that the
+intention of the Ego (or the communicating entity, whatever it may be)
+is to warn the lower self of the approach of some calamity, either in
+order that it may be prevented or, if that be not possible, that the
+shock may be minimized by preparation.
+
+The event most frequently thus foreshadowed is, perhaps not
+unnaturally, death--sometimes the death of the seer himself, sometimes
+that of one dear to him. This type of prevision is so common in the
+literature of the subject, and its object is so obvious, that we need
+hardly cite examples of it; but one or two instances in which the
+prophetic sight, though clearly useful, was yet of a less sombre
+character, will prove not uninteresting to the reader. The following
+is culled from that storehouse of the student of the uncanny, Mrs.
+Crowe's _Night Side of Nature_, p. 72.
+
+"A few years ago Dr. Watson, now residing at Glasgow, dreamt that he
+received a summons to attend a patient at a place some miles from
+where he was living; that he started on horseback, and that as he was
+crossing a moor he saw a bull making furiously at him, whose horns he
+only escaped by taking refuge on a spot inaccessible to the animal,
+where he waited a long time till some people, observing his situation,
+came to his assistance and released him.
+
+"Whilst at breakfast on the following morning the summons came, and
+smiling at the odd coincidence (as he thought it), he started on
+horseback. He was quite ignorant of the road he had to go, but by and
+by he arrived at the moor, which he recognised, and presently the bull
+appeared, coming full tilt towards him. But his dream had shown him
+the place of refuge, for which he instantly made, and there he spent
+three or four hours, besieged by the animal, till the country people
+set him free. Dr. Watson declares that but for the dream he should not
+have known in what direction to run for safety."
+
+Another case, in which a much longer interval separated the warning
+and its fulfilment, is given by Dr. F. G. Lee, in _Glimpses of the
+Supernatural_, vol. i., p. 240.
+
+"Mrs. Hannah Green, the housekeeper of a country family in
+Oxfordshire, dreamt one night that she had been left alone in the
+house upon a Sunday evening, and that hearing a knock at the door of
+the chief entrance she went to it and there found an ill-looking tramp
+armed with a bludgeon, who insisted on forcing himself into the house.
+She thought that she struggled for some time to prevent him so doing,
+but quite ineffectually, and that, being struck down by him and
+rendered insensible, he thereupon gained ingress to the mansion. On
+this she awoke.
+
+"As nothing happened for a considerable period the circumstance of the
+dream was soon forgotten, and, as she herself asserts, had altogether
+passed away from her mind. However, seven years afterwards this same
+housekeeper was left with two other servants to take charge of an
+isolated mansion at Kensington (subsequently the town residence of the
+family), when on a certain Sunday evening, her fellow-servants having
+gone out and left her alone, she was suddenly startled by a loud knock
+at the front door.
+
+"All of a sudden the remembrance of her former dream returned to her
+with singular vividness and remarkable force, and she felt her lonely
+isolation greatly. Accordingly, having at once lighted a lamp on the
+hall table--during which act the loud knock was repeated with
+vigour--she took the precaution to go up to a landing on the stair and
+throw up the window; and there to her intense terror she saw in the
+flesh the very man whom years previously she had seen in her dream,
+armed with the bludgeon and demanding an entrance.
+
+"With great presence of mind she went down to the chief entrance, made
+that and other doors and windows more secure, and then rang the
+various bells of the house violently, and placed lights in the upper
+rooms. It was concluded that by these acts the intruder was scared
+away."
+
+Evidently in this case also the dream was of practical use, as without
+it the worthy housekeeper would without doubt from sheer force of
+habit have opened the door in the ordinary way in answer to the knock.
+
+It is not, however, only in dream that the Ego impresses his lower
+self with what he thinks it well for it to know. Many instances
+showing this might be taken from the books, but instead of quoting
+from them I will give a case related only a few weeks ago by a lady of
+my acquaintance--a case which, although not surrounded with any
+romantic incident, has at least the merit of being new.
+
+My friend, then, has two quite young children, and a little while ago
+the elder of them caught (as was supposed) a bad cold, and suffered
+for some days from a complete stoppage in the upper part of the nose.
+The mother thought little of this, expecting it to pass off, until one
+day she suddenly saw before her in the air what she describes as a
+picture of a room, in the centre of which was a table on which her
+child was lying insensible or dead, with some people bending over her.
+The minutest details of the scene were clear to her, and she
+particularly noticed that the child wore a white night-dress, whereas
+she knew that all garments of that description possessed by her little
+daughter happened to be pink.
+
+This vision impressed her considerably, and suggested to her for the
+first time that the child might be suffering from something more
+serious than a cold, so she carried her off to a hospital for
+examination. The surgeon who attended to her discovered the presence
+of a dangerous growth in the nose, which he pronounced must be
+removed. A few days later the child was taken to the hospital for the
+operation, and was put to bed. When the mother arrived at the hospital
+she found she had forgotten to bring one of the child's night-dresses,
+and so the nurses had to supply one, which was _white_. In this white
+dress the operation was performed on the girl the next day, in the
+room that her mother saw in her vision, every circumstance being
+exactly reproduced.
+
+In all these cases the prevision achieved its result, but the books
+are full of stories of warnings neglected or scouted, and of the
+disaster that consequently followed. In some cases the information is
+given to someone who has practically no power to interfere in the
+matter, as in the historic instance when John Williams, a Cornish
+mine-manager, foresaw in the minutest detail, eight or nine days
+before it took place, the assassination of Mr. Spencer Perceval, the
+then Chancellor of the Exchequer, in the lobby of the House of
+Commons. Even in this case, however, it is just possible that
+something might have been done, for we read that Mr. Williams was so
+much impressed that he consulted his friends as to whether he ought
+not to go up to London to warn Mr. Perceval. Unfortunately they
+dissuaded him, and the assassination took place. It does not seem very
+probable that, even if he had gone up to town and related his story,
+much attention would have been paid to him, still there is just the
+possibility that some precautions might have been taken which would
+have prevented the murder.
+
+There is little to show us what particular action on higher planes led
+to this curious prophetic vision. The parties were entirely unknown to
+one another, so that it was not caused by any close sympathy between
+them. If it was an attempt made by some helper to avert the threatened
+doom, it seems strange that no one who was sufficiently impressible
+could be found nearer than Cornwall. Perhaps Mr. Williams, when on the
+astral plane during sleep, somehow came across this reflection of the
+future, and being naturally horrified thereby, passed it on to his
+lower mind in the hope that somehow something might be done to
+prevent it; but it is impossible to diagnose the case with certainty
+without examining the akashic records to see what actually took place.
+
+A typical instance of the absolutely purposeless foresight is that
+related by Mr. Stead, in his _Real Ghost Stories_ (p. 83), of his
+friend Miss Freer, commonly known as Miss X. When staying at a country
+house this lady, being wide awake and fully conscious, once saw a
+dogcart drawn by a white horse standing at the hall door, with two
+strangers in it, one of whom got out of the cart and stood playing
+with a terrier. She noticed that he was wearing an ulster, and also
+particularly observed the fresh wheel-marks made by the cart on the
+gravel. Nevertheless there was no cart there at the time; but half an
+hour later two strangers _did_ drive up in such an equipage, and every
+detail of the lady's vision was accurately fulfilled. Mr. Stead goes
+on to cite another instance of equally purposeless prevision where
+seven years separated the dream (for in this case it was a dream) and
+its fulfilment.
+
+All these instances (and they are merely random selections from many
+hundreds) show that a certain amount of prevision is undoubtedly
+possible to the Ego, and such cases would evidently be much more
+frequent if it were not for the exceeding density and lack of response
+in the lower vehicles of the majority of what we call civilized
+mankind--qualities chiefly attributable to the gross practical
+materialism of the present age. I am not thinking of any profession of
+materialistic belief as common, but of the fact that in all practical
+affairs of daily life nearly everyone is guided solely by
+considerations of worldly interest in some shape or other.
+
+In many cases the Ego himself may be an undeveloped one, and his
+prevision consequently very vague; in others he himself may see
+clearly, but may find his lower vehicles so unimpressible that all he
+can succeed in getting through into his physical brain may be an
+indefinite presage of coming disaster. Again, there are cases in which
+a premonition is not the work of the Ego at all, but of some outside
+entity, who for some reason takes a friendly interest in the person to
+whom the feeling comes. In the work which I quoted above, Mr. Stead
+tells us of the certainty which he felt many months beforehand that be
+would be left in charge of the _Pall Mall Gazette_ though from an
+ordinary point of view nothing seemed less probable. Whether that
+fore-knowledge was the result of an impression made by his own Ego or
+of a friendly hint from someone else it is impossible to say without
+definite investigation, but his confidence in it was fully justified.
+
+There is one more variety of clairvoyance in time which ought not to
+be left without mention. It is a comparatively rare one, but there
+are enough examples on record to claim our attention, though
+unfortunately the particulars given do not usually include those which
+we should require in order to be able to diagnose it with certainty. I
+refer to the cases in which spectral armies or phantom flocks of
+animals have been seen. In _The Night Side of Nature_ (p. 462 _et
+seq._) we have accounts of several such visions. We are there told how
+at Havarah Park, near Ripley, a body of soldiers in white uniform,
+amounting to several hundreds, was seen by reputable people to go
+through various evolutions and then vanish; and how some years earlier
+a similar visionary army was seen in the neighbourhood of Inverness by
+a respectable farmer and his son.
+
+In this case also the number of troops was very great, and the
+spectators had not the slightest doubt at first that they were
+substantial forms of flesh and blood. They counted at least sixteen
+pairs of columns, and had abundance of time to observe every
+particular. The front ranks marched seven abreast, and were
+accompanied by a good many women and children, who were carrying tin
+cans and other implements of cookery. The men were clothed in red, and
+their arms shone brightly in the sun. In the midst of them was an
+animal, a deer or a horse, they could not distinguish which, that they
+were driving furiously forward with their bayonets.
+
+The younger of the two men observed to the other that every now and
+then the rear ranks were obliged to run to overtake the van; and the
+elder one, who had been a soldier, remarked that that was always the
+case, and recommended him if he ever served to try to march in the
+front. There was only one mounted officer; he rode a grey dragoon
+horse, and wore a gold-laced hat and blue Hussar cloak, with wide open
+sleeves lined with red. The two spectators observed him so
+particularly that they said afterwards they should recognize him
+anywhere. They were, however, afraid of being ill-treated or forced to
+go along with the troops, whom they concluded to have come from
+Ireland, and landed at Kyntyre; and whilst they were climbing over a
+dyke to get out of their way, the whole thing vanished.
+
+A phenomenon of the same sort was observed in the earlier part of this
+century at Paderborn in Westphalia, and seen by at least thirty
+people; but as, some years later, a review of twenty thousand men was
+held on the very same spot, it was concluded that the vision must have
+been some sort of second-sight--a faculty not uncommon in the
+district.
+
+Such spectral hosts, however, are sometimes seen where an army of
+ordinary men could by no possibility have marched, either before or
+after. One of the most remarkable accounts of such apparitions is
+given by Miss Harriet Martineau, in her description of _The English
+Lakes_. She writes as follows:--
+
+"This Souter or Soutra Fell is the mountain on which ghosts appeared
+in myriads, at intervals during ten years of the last century,
+presenting the same appearances to twenty-six chosen witnesses, and to
+all the inhabitants of all the cottages within view of the mountain,
+and for a space of two hours and a half at one time--the spectral show
+being closed by darkness! The mountain, be it remembered, is full of
+precipices, which defy all marching of bodies of men; and the north
+and west sides present a sheer perpendicular of 900 feet.
+
+"On Midsummer Eve, 1735, a farm servant of Mr. Lancaster, half a mile
+from the mountain, saw the eastern side of its summit covered with
+troops, which pursued their onward march for an hour. They came, in
+distinct bodies, from an eminence on the north end, and disappeared in
+a niche in the summit. When the poor fellow told his tale, he was
+insulted on all hands, as original observers usually are when they see
+anything wonderful. Two years after, also on a Midsummer Eve, Mr.
+Lancaster saw some men there, apparently following their horses, as if
+they had returned from hunting. He thought nothing of this; but he
+happened to look up again ten minutes after, and saw the figures, now
+mounted, and followed by an interminable array of troops, five
+abreast, marching from the eminence and over the cleft as before. All
+the family saw this, and the manoeuvres of the force, as each
+company was kept in order by a mounted officer, who galloped this way
+and that. As the shades of twilight came on, the discipline appeared
+to relax, and the troops intermingled, and rode at unequal paces, till
+all was lost in darkness. Now of course all the Lancasters were
+insulted, as their servant had been; but their justification was not
+long delayed.
+
+"On the Midsummer Eve of the fearful 1745, twenty-six persons,
+expressly summoned by the family, saw all that had been seen before,
+and more. Carriages were now interspersed with the troops; and
+everybody knew that no carriages had been, or could be, on the summit
+of Souter Fell. The multitude was beyond imagination; for the troops
+filled a space of half a mile, and marched quickly till night hid
+them--still marching. There was nothing vaporous or indistinct about
+the appearance of these spectres. So real did they seem, that some of
+the people went up, the next morning, to look for the hoof-marks of
+the horses; and awful it was to them to find not one foot-print on
+heather or grass. The witnesses attested the whole story on oath
+before a magistrate; and fearful were the expectations held by the
+whole country-side about the coming events of the Scotch rebellion.
+
+"It now comes out that two other persons had seen something of the
+sort in the interval--_viz._, in 1743--but had concealed it, to escape
+the insults to which their neighbours were subjected. Mr. Wren, of
+Wilton Hall, and his farm servant, saw, one summer evening, a man and
+a dog on the mountain, pursuing some horses along a place so steep
+that a horse could hardly by any possibility keep a footing on it.
+Their speed was prodigious, and their disappearance at the south end
+of the fell so rapid, that Mr. Wren and the servant went up, the next
+morning, to find the body of the man who must have been killed. Of
+man, horse, or dog, they found not a trace and they came down and held
+their tongues. When they did speak, they fared not much better for
+having twenty-six sworn comrades in their disgrace.
+
+"As for the explanation, the editor of the _Lonsdale Magazine_
+declared (vol. ii., p. 313) that it was discovered that on the
+Midsummer Eve of 1745 the rebels were 'exercising on the western coast
+of Scotland, whose movements had been reflected by some transparent
+vapour, similar to the Fata Morgana.' This is not much in the way of
+explanation; but it is, as far as we know, all that can be had at
+present. These facts, however, brought out a good many more; as the
+spectral march of the same kind seen in Leicestershire in 1707, and
+the tradition of the tramp of armies over Helvellyn, on the eve of the
+battle of Marston Moor."
+
+Other cases are cited in which flocks of spectral sheep have been seen
+on certain roads, and there are of course various German stories of
+phantom cavalcades of hunters and robbers.
+
+Now in these cases, as so often happens in the investigation of occult
+phenomena, there are several possible causes, any one of which would
+be quite adequate to the production of the observed occurrences, but
+in the absence of fuller information it is hardly feasible to do more
+than guess as to which of these possible causes were in operation in
+any particular instance.
+
+The explanation usually suggested (whenever the whole story is not
+ridiculed as a falsehood) is that what is seen is a reflection by
+mirage of the movements of a real body of troops, taking place at a
+considerable distance. I have myself seen the ordinary mirage on
+several occasions, and know something therefore of its wonderful
+powers of deception; but it seems to me that we should need some
+entirely new variety of mirage, quite different from that at present
+known to science, to account for these tales of phantom armies, some
+of which pass the spectator within a few yards.
+
+First of all, they may be, as apparently in the Westphalian case above
+mentioned, simply instances of prevision on a gigantic scale--by whom
+arranged, and for what purpose, it is not easy to divine. Again, they
+may often belong to the past instead of the future, and be in fact the
+reflection of scenes from the akashic records--though here again the
+reason and method of such reflection is not obvious.
+
+There are plenty of tribes of nature-spirits perfectly capable, if for
+any reason they wished to do so, of producing such appearances by
+their wonderful power of glamour (see _Theosophical Manual, No. V._,
+p. 60), and such action would be quite in keeping with their delight
+in mystifying and impressing human beings. Or it may even sometimes be
+kindly intended by them as a warning to their friends of events that
+they know to be about to take place. It seems as though some
+explanation along these lines would be the most reasonable method of
+accounting for the extraordinary series of phenomena described by Miss
+Martineau--that is, if the stories told to her can be relied upon.
+
+Another possibility is that in some cases what have been taken for
+soldiers were simply the nature-spirits themselves going through some
+of the ordered evolutions in which they take so much delight, though
+it must be admitted that these are rarely of a character which could
+be mistaken for military manoeuvres except by the most ignorant.
+
+The flocks of animals are probably in most instances mere records, but
+there are cases where they, like the "wild huntsmen" of German story,
+belong to an entirely different class of phenomena, which is
+altogether outside of our present subject. Students of the occult
+will be familiar with the fact that the circumstances surrounding any
+scene of intense terror or passion, such as an exceptionally horrible
+murder, are liable to be occasionally reproduced in a form which it
+needs a very slight development of psychic faculty to be able to see
+and it has sometimes happened that various animals formed part of such
+surroundings, and consequently they also are periodically reproduced
+by the action of the guilty conscience of the murderer (see _Manual
+V._, p. 83).
+
+Probably whatever foundation of fact underlies the various stories of
+spectral horsemen and hunting-troops may generally be referred to this
+category. This is also the explanation, evidently, of some of the
+visions of ghostly armies, such as that remarkable re-enactment of the
+battle of Edgehill which seems to have taken place at intervals for
+some months after the date of the real struggle, as testified by a
+justice of the peace, a clergyman, and other eye-witnesses, in a
+curious contemporary pamphlet entitled _Prodigious Noises of War and
+Battle, at Edgehill, near Keinton, in Northamptonshire_. According to
+the pamphlet this case was investigated at the time by some officers
+of the army, who clearly recognized many of the phantom figures that
+they saw. This looks decidedly like an instance of the terrible power
+of man's unrestrained passions to reproduce themselves, and to cause
+in some strange way a kind of materialization of their record.
+
+In some cases it is clear that the flocks of animals seen have been
+simply hordes of unclean artificial elementals taking that form in
+order to feed upon the loathsome emanations of peculiarly horrible
+places, such as would be the site of a gallows. An instance of this
+kind is furnished by the celebrated "Gyb Ghosts," or ghosts of the
+gibbet, described in _More Glimpses of the World Unseen_, p. 109, as
+being repeatedly seen in the form of herds of mis-shapen swine-like
+creatures, rushing, rooting and fighting night after night on the site
+of that foul monument of crime. But these belong to the subject of
+apparitions rather than to that of clairvoyance.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IX.
+
+METHODS OF DEVELOPMENT.
+
+
+When a man becomes convinced of the reality of the valuable power of
+clairvoyance, his first question usually is, "How can I develop in my
+own case this faculty which is said to be latent in everyone?"
+
+Now the fact is that there are many methods by which it may be
+developed, but only one which can be at all safely recommended for
+general use--that of which we shall speak last of all. Among the less
+advanced nations of the world the clairvoyant state has been produced
+in various objectionable ways; among some of the non-Aryan tribes of
+India, by the use of intoxicating drugs or the inhaling of stupefying
+fumes; among the dervishes, by whirling in a mad dance of religious
+fervour until vertigo and insensibility supervene; among the followers
+of the abominable practices of the Voodoo cult, by frightful
+sacrifices and loathsome rites of black magic. Methods such as these
+are happily not in vogue in our own race, yet even among us large
+numbers of dabblers in this ancient art adopt some plan of
+self-hypnotization, such as the gazing at a bright spot or the
+repetition of some formula until a condition of semi-stupefaction is
+produced; while yet another school among them would endeavour to
+arrive at similar results by the use of some of the Indian systems of
+regulation of the breath.
+
+All these methods are unequivocally to be condemned as quite unsafe
+for the practice of the ordinary man who has no idea of what he is
+doing--who is simply making vague experiments in an unknown world.
+Even the method of obtaining clairvoyance by allowing oneself to be
+mesmerized by another person is one from which I should myself shrink
+with the most decided distaste; and assuredly it should never be
+attempted except under conditions of absolute trust and affection
+between the magnetizer and the magnetized, and a perfection of purity
+in heart and soul, in mind and intention, such as is rarely to be seen
+among any but the greatest of saints.
+
+Experiments in connection with the mesmeric trance are of the deepest
+interest, as offering (among other things) a possibility of proof of
+the fact of clairvoyance to the sceptic, yet except under such
+conditions as I have just mentioned--conditions, I quite admit, almost
+impossible to realize--I should never counsel anyone to submit himself
+as a subject for them.
+
+Curative mesmerism (in which, without putting the patient into the
+trance state at all, an effort is made to relieve his pain, to remove
+his disease, or to pour vitality into him by magnetic passes) stands
+on an entirely different footing; and if the mesmerizer, even though
+quite untrained, is himself in good health and animated by pure
+intentions, no harm is likely to be done to the subject. In so extreme
+a case as that of a surgical operation, a man might reasonably submit
+himself even to the mesmeric trance, but it is certainly not a
+condition with which one ought lightly to experiment. Indeed, I should
+most strongly advise any one who did me the honour to ask for my
+opinion on the subject, not to attempt any kind of experimental
+investigation into what are still to him the abnormal forces of
+nature, until he has first of all read carefully everything that has
+been written on the subject, or--which is by far the best of
+all--until he is under the guidance of a qualified teacher.
+
+But where, it will be said, is the qualified teacher to be found? Not,
+most assuredly, among any who advertise themselves as teachers, who
+offer to impart for so many guineas or dollars the sacred mysteries of
+the ages, or hold "developing circles" to which casual applicants are
+admitted at so much per head.
+
+Much has been said in this treatise of the necessity for careful
+training--of the immense advantages of the trained over the untrained
+clairvoyant; but that again brings us back to the same question--where
+is this definite training to be had?
+
+The answer is, that the training may be had precisely where it has
+always been to be found since the world's history began--at the hands
+of the Great White Brotherhood of Adepts, which stands now, as it has
+always stood, at the back of human evolution, guiding and helping it
+under the sway of the great cosmic laws which represent to us the Will
+of the Eternal.
+
+But how, it may be asked, is access to be gained to them? How is the
+aspirant thirsting for knowledge to signify to them his wish for
+instruction?
+
+Once more, by the time-honoured methods only. There is no new patent
+whereby a man can qualify himself without trouble to become a pupil in
+that School--no royal road to the learning which has to be acquired in
+it. At the present day, just as in the mists of antiquity, the man who
+wishes to attract their notice must enter upon the slow and toilsome
+path of self-development--must learn first of all to take himself in
+hand and make himself all that he ought to be. The steps of that path
+are no secret; I have given them in full detail in _Invisible
+Helpers_, so I need not repeat them here. But it is no easy road to
+follow, and yet sooner or later all must follow it, for the great law
+of evolution sweeps mankind slowly but resistlessly towards its goal.
+
+From those who are pressing into this path the great Masters select
+their pupils, and it is only by qualifying himself to be taught that a
+man can put himself in the way of getting the teaching. Without that
+qualification, membership in any Lodge or Society, whether secret or
+otherwise, will not advance his object in the slightest degree. It is
+true, as we all know, that it was at the instance of some of these
+Masters that our Theosophical Society was founded, and that from its
+ranks some have been chosen to pass into closer relations with them.
+But that choice depends upon the earnestness of the candidate, not
+upon his mere membership of the Society or of any body within it.
+
+That, then, is the only absolutely safe way of developing
+clairvoyance--to enter with all one's energy upon the path of moral
+and mental evolution, at one stage of which this and other of the
+higher faculties will spontaneously begin to show themselves. Yet
+there is one practice which is advised by all the religions
+alike--which if adopted carefully and reverently can do no harm to any
+human being, yet from which a very pure type of clairvoyance has
+sometimes been developed; and that is the practice of meditation.
+
+Let a man choose a certain time every day--a time when he can rely
+upon being quiet and undisturbed, though preferably in the daytime
+rather than at night--and set himself at that time to keep his mind
+for a few minutes entirely free from all earthly thoughts of any kind
+whatever and, when that is achieved, to direct the whole force of his
+being towards the highest spiritual ideal that he happens to know. He
+will find that to gain such perfect control of thought is enormously
+more difficult than he supposes, but when he attains it it cannot but
+be in every way most beneficial to him, and as he grows more and more
+able to elevate and concentrate his thought, he may gradually find
+that new worlds are opening before his sight.
+
+As a preliminary training towards the satisfactory achievement of such
+meditation, he will find it desirable to make a practice of
+concentration in the affairs of daily life--even in the smallest of
+them. If he writes a letter, let him think of nothing else but that
+letter until it is finished if he reads a book, let him see to it that
+his thought is never allowed to wander from his author's meaning. He
+must learn to hold his mind in check, and to be master of that also,
+as well as of his lower passions he must patiently labour to acquire
+absolute control of his thoughts, so that he will always know exactly
+what he is thinking about, and why--so that he can use his mind, and
+turn it or hold it still, as a practised swordsman turns his weapon
+where he will.
+
+Yet after all, if those who so earnestly desire clairvoyance could
+possess it temporarily for a day or even an hour, it is far from
+certain that they would choose to retain the gift. True, it opens
+before them new worlds of study, new powers of usefulness, and for
+this latter reason most of us feel it worth while; but it should be
+remembered that for one whose duty still calls him to live in the
+world it is by no means an unmixed blessing. Upon one in whom that
+vision is opened the sorrow and the misery, the evil and the greed of
+the world press as an ever-present burden, until in the earlier days
+of his knowledge he often feels inclined to echo the passionate
+adjuration contained in those rolling lines of Schiller's:
+
+    Dien Orakel zu verkuenden, warum warfest du mich hin
+    In die Stadt der ewig Blinden, mit dem aufgeschloss'nen Sinn?
+    Frommt's, den Schleier aufzuheben, wo das nahe Schreckniss droht?
+    Nur der Irrthum ist das Leben; dieses Wissen ist der Tod.
+    Nimm, O nimm die traur'ge Klarheit mir vom Aug' den blut'gen Schein!
+    Schrecklich ist es deiner Wahrheit sterbliches Gefaess zu seyn!
+
+which may perhaps be translated "Why hast thou cast me thus into the
+town of the ever-blind, to proclaim thine oracle by the opened sense?
+What profits it to lift the veil where the near darkness threatens?
+Only ignorance is life; this knowledge is death. Take back this sad
+clear-sightedness; take from mine eyes this cruel light! It is
+horrible to be the mortal channel of thy truth." And again later he
+cries, "Give me back my blindness, the happy darkness of my senses;
+take back thy dreadful gift!"
+
+But this of course is a feeling which passes, for the higher sight
+soon shows the pupil something beyond the sorrow--soon bears in upon
+his soul the overwhelming certainty that, whatever appearances down
+here may seem to indicate, all things are without shadow of doubt
+working together for the eventual good of all. He reflects that the
+sin and the suffering are there, whether he is able to perceive them
+or not, and that when he can see them he is after all better able to
+give efficient help than he would be if he were working in the dark;
+and so by degrees he learns to bear his share of the heavy karma of
+the world.
+
+Some misguided mortals there are who, having the good fortune to
+possess some slight touch of this higher power, are nevertheless so
+absolutely destitute of all right feeling in connection with it as to
+use it for the most sordid ends--actually even to advertise themselves
+as "test and business clairvoyants!" Needless to say, such use of the
+faculty is a mere prostitution and degradation of it, showing that its
+unfortunate possessor has somehow got hold of it before the moral side
+of his nature has been sufficiently developed to stand the strain
+which it imposes. A perception of the amount of evil karma that may be
+generated by such action in a very short time changes one's disgust
+into pity for the unhappy perpetrator of that sacrilegious folly.
+
+It is sometimes objected that the possession of clairvoyance destroys
+all privacy, and confers a limit-less ability to explore the secrets
+of others. No doubt it does confer such an _ability_, but nevertheless
+the suggestion is an amusing one to anyone who knows anything
+practically about the matter. Such an objection may possibly be
+well-founded as regards the very limited powers of the "test and
+business clairvoyant," but the man who brings it forward against those
+who have had the faculty opened for them in the course of their
+instruction, and consequently possess it fully, is forgetting three
+fundamental facts: first, that it is quite inconceivable that anyone,
+having before him the splendid fields for investigation which true
+clairvoyance opens up, could ever have the slightest wish to pry into
+the trumpery little secrets of any individual man; secondly, that even
+if by some impossible chance our clairvoyant _had_ such indecent
+curiosity about matters of petty gossip, there is, after all, such a
+thing as the honour of a gentleman, which, on that plane as on this,
+would of course prevent him from contemplating for an instant the idea
+of gratifying it; and thirdly, in case, by any unheard-of possibility,
+one might encounter some variety of low-class pitri with whom the
+above considerations would have no weight, full instructions are
+always given to every pupil, as soon as he develops any sign of
+faculty, as to the limitations which are placed upon its use.
+
+Put briefly, these restrictions are that there shall be no prying, no
+selfish use of the power, and no displaying of phenomena. That is to
+say, that the same considerations which would govern the actions of a
+man of right feeling upon the physical plane are expected to apply
+upon the astral and mental planes also; that the pupil is never under
+any circumstances to use the power which his additional knowledge
+gives to him in order to promote his own worldly advantage, or indeed
+in connection with gain in any way; and that he is never to give what
+is called in spiritualistic circles "a test"--that is, to do anything
+which will incontestably prove to sceptics on the physical plane that
+he possesses what to them would appear to be an abnormal power.
+
+With regard to this latter proviso people often say, "But why should
+he not? it would be so easy to confute and convince your sceptic, and
+it would do him good!" Such critics lose sight of the fact that, in
+the first place, none of those who know anything _want_ to confute or
+convince sceptics, or trouble themselves in the slightest degree about
+the sceptic's attitude one way or the other; and in the second, they
+fail to understand how much better it is for that sceptic that he
+should gradually grow into an intellectual appreciation of the facts
+of nature, instead of being suddenly introduced to them by a
+knock-down blow, as it were. But the subject was fully considered
+many years ago in Mr. Sinnet's _Occult World_, and it is needless to
+repeat again the arguments there adduced.
+
+It is very hard for some of our friends to realize that the silly
+gossip and idle curiosity which so entirely fill the lives of the
+brainless majority on earth can have no place in the more real life of
+the disciple; and so they sometimes enquire whether, even without any
+special wish to see, a clairvoyant might not casually observe some
+secret which another person was trying to keep, in the same way as
+one's glance might casually fall upon a sentence in someone else's
+letter which happened to be lying open upon the table. Of course he
+might, but what if he did? The man of honour would at once avert his
+eyes, in one case as in the other, and it would be as though he had
+not seen. If objectors could but grasp the idea that no pupil _cares_
+about other people's business, except when it comes within his
+province to try to help them, and that he has always a world of work
+of his own to attend to, they would not be so hopelessly far from
+understanding the facts of the wider life of the trained clairvoyant.
+
+Even from the little that I have said with regard to the restrictions
+laid upon the pupil, it will be obvious that in very many cases he
+will know much more than he is at liberty to say. That is of course
+true in a far wider sense of the great Masters of Wisdom themselves,
+and that is why those who have the privilege of occasionally entering
+their presence pay so much respect to their lightest word even on
+subjects quite apart from the direct teaching. For the opinion of a
+Master, or even of one of his higher pupils, upon any subject is that
+of a man whose opportunity of judging accurately is out of all
+proportion to ours.
+
+His position and his extended faculties are in reality the heritage of
+all mankind, and, far though we may now be from those grand powers,
+they will none the less certainly be ours one day. Yet how different a
+place will this old world be when humanity as a whole possesses the
+higher clairvoyance! Think what the difference will be to history when
+all can read the records; to science, when all the processes about
+which now men theorize can be watched through all their course; to
+medicine, when doctor and patient alike can see clearly and exactly
+all that is being done; to philosophy, when there is no longer any
+possibility of discussion as to its basis, because all alike can see a
+wider aspect of the truth; to labour, when all work will be joy,
+because every man will be put only to that which he can do best; to
+education, when the minds and hearts of the children are open to the
+teacher who is trying to form their character; to religion, when there
+is no longer any possibility of dispute as to its broad dogmas, since
+the truth about the states after death, and the Great Law that
+governs the world, will be patent to all eyes.
+
+Above all, how far easier it will be then for the evolved men to help
+one another under those so much freer conditions! The possibilities
+that open before the mind are as glorious vistas stretching in all
+directions, so that our seventh round should indeed be a veritable
+golden age. Well for us that these grand faculties will not be
+possessed by all humanity until it has evolved to a far higher level
+in morality as well as in wisdom, else should we but repeat once more
+under still worse conditions the terrible downfall of the great
+Atlantean civilization, whose members failed to realize that increased
+power meant increased responsibility. Yet we ourselves were most of us
+among those very men let us hope that we have learnt wisdom by that
+failure, and that when the possibilities of the wider life open before
+us once more, this time we shall bear the trial better.
+
+
+
+
+INDEX
+
+
+                                 PAGE
+
+Advantages of astral vision, 41, 65, 71
+  mental vision, 79
+  training, 20, 56, 70, 103, 116, 121
+
+Akashic records, 85, 97 _et seq._, 160
+
+Apparitions, 54
+
+Armies, phantom, 154
+
+Assassination of Mr. Perceval, 151
+
+Aspect of the records, 115
+
+Astral body, 69
+  counterpart  16
+  current, 62 _et seq._, 88, 95
+  matter, polarization of, 63
+  senses, 17
+  sight, 37 _et seq._, 59 _et seq._, 66
+  telescope, 65, 85, 103
+  world, 81, 103
+
+Aura, the, 42 _et seq._, 101
+
+
+Balance, 126
+
+Bat's cry, experiment with, 11
+
+Battle of Edgehill, 161
+
+Body, the astral, 69
+  the causal, 101
+
+Brownies, 33
+
+Buddhic faculty, 18, 108, 136, 139
+
+Bull and the doctor, the story of, 147
+
+
+Causal body, 101
+
+Centres of vitality, 14, 17
+
+Cerebro-spinal system, 22
+
+Ceremonies used to gain clairvoyance, 52, 163
+
+Certainty of eventual good, 174
+
+Character, judgment of, 42
+
+Chakrams, 14-17
+
+Chord of a man, the, 80
+
+Clairaudience, 6, 69 _et seq._
+
+Clairvoyance by drugs or ceremonies, 52 _et seq._, 163
+  casual, 93
+  does it destroy privacy?, 171
+
+Clairvoyance during sleep, 26
+  how first manifested, 26
+  hysterical, 53
+  limitations of, 79, 81, 171
+  meaning of word, 5
+  occasional flashes of, 23
+  of the uncultured, 21
+  on mental plane, 56
+  on trivial subjects, 55, 95, 152
+  partial and temporary, 54
+  restrictions upon, 81, 171
+  sadness of, 169
+  under mesmerism, 24, 52, 164
+
+Clairvoyants, "test and business", 51, 170
+
+Classification of phenomena, 27
+
+Colours, new, 35
+
+Common-sense in occultism, necessity of, 125
+
+Consciousness, continuous, 46
+  the focus of, 31
+
+Considerations, preliminary, 7
+
+Contemplation, 167
+
+Continuous consciousness, 46
+
+Control of thought, 168
+
+Counterpart, astral, 16
+
+Crystal-gazing, 66, 84 _et seq._, 127
+
+Curative mesmerism, 165
+
+Curiosity not permitted, 173
+
+Current, astral, 62 _et seq._, 88, 95
+
+
+Dangers, 78
+
+Date, how to find a, 119 _et seq._
+
+Dead, the, 45, 62
+
+Death, visits at, 74 _et seq._
+
+Delirium tremens, 53
+
+Dervishes, the, 163
+
+Devas, the, 44
+
+Development, methods of, 163
+  the path of, 167
+  regular, 19
+
+Difference between etheric and astral sight, 36
+
+Difficulties, 103 _et seq._
+
+Dimension, the fourth, 38 _et seq._, 65, 107, 137
+
+Distance, sight at a, 59, 81
+
+Double, the etheric, 34
+
+Drugs used to gain clairvoyance, 52, 163
+
+Duke of Orleans, the story of the, 90
+
+
+_Earth, the Stars and the_, 110
+
+Edgehill, battle of, 161
+
+Elementals, 32, 44, 162
+
+Equation, the personal, 104 _et seq._
+
+Eternal now, the, 109, 137
+
+Etheric double, the, 34
+  vision, 30 _et seq._
+
+Experiments in crystal-gazing, 66, 84 _et seq._
+  with bat's cry, 11
+  with spectrum, 10
+
+Extension of senses, 12
+
+
+Faculties, latent, 7
+  buddhic, 18, 108, 136, 139
+
+Fairy ointment, 34
+
+Finding a stranger, 80
+
+First manifestations of clairvoyance, 25 _et seq._
+
+Flocks, phantom, 154, 160, 162
+
+Focus of consciousness, the, 31
+
+Fourth dimension, the, 38 _et seq._, 65, 107, 137
+
+Freewill limited, 132 _et seq._
+
+Future prospects, 175
+
+
+Ghosts of the gibbet, 162
+
+Glamour, 160
+
+Goffe, the story of Mary, 75
+
+
+Helpers, invisible, 46, 74, 88, 166
+
+Historical study, possibilities of, 114 _et seq._
+
+Hinton's works, 38
+
+Housekeeper's dream, the story of the, 147 _et seq._
+
+How a picture is found, 116 _et seq._
+  to find a date, 119 _et seq._
+  to investigate, 55
+
+Huntsman, the wild, 160
+
+Hypnotization, self, 86
+
+Hysterical clairvoyance, 53
+
+
+Incarnations, past, 118, 123 _et seq._
+
+Investigate, how to, 55
+
+Invisible helpers, 46, 74, 88, 166
+
+
+Judgment of character, 42
+
+Jung Stilling's story, 71 _et seq._
+
+
+Knowledge, the value of, 125
+
+
+Latent faculties, 7
+
+Limitations of clairvoyance, the, 79, 81, 171
+
+Limited freewill, 132 _et seq._
+
+Links needed, 114
+
+Lodge, address by Dr. Oliver, 137
+
+Logos of the system, the, 99 _et seq._
+
+
+Magic, 53
+
+Magnifying, the power of, 47-67
+
+Manifestations of clairvoyance, the first, 26
+
+Masters of Wisdom, the, 20, 167, 174
+
+Materialization, 70
+
+Mayavirupa, the, 78
+
+Meaning of word clairvoyance, 5
+
+Meditation, 167
+
+Mediums, trance, 83
+
+Mental plane clairvoyance, 56
+  plane sense, 18
+  world, 80, 104, 115
+
+Mesmerism, clairvoyance under, 24, 62, 164
+  curative, 165
+
+Methods of development, 163
+
+Micawbers, psychic, 83
+
+Mooltan, story of the siege of, 92
+
+Murder, reproduction of, 161
+
+
+Nature spirits, 33, 44, 61, 160
+
+Necessity of common-sense in occultism, 125
+
+New colours, 35
+
+Now, the eternal, 109, 137
+
+
+Occasional clairvoyance, 23
+
+Ointment, fairy and witch, 34
+
+Orleans, the story of the Duke of, 90
+
+Other planets, 81
+
+
+Partial and temporary clairvoyance, 54
+
+Past incarnations, 118, 123 _et seq._
+
+Path of development, the, 167
+
+Perceval, assassination of Mr., 151
+
+Personal equation, the, 104 _et seq._
+
+Phantom flocks, 154, 160, 162
+
+Phenomena, classification of, 27
+  seance room, 35, 62
+
+Philadelphian seer, the story of a, 72 _et seq._
+
+Physical objects, the transparency of, 32
+
+Pictures before going to sleep, 93
+
+Planets, other, 81
+
+Polarization of astral matter, 63
+
+Poseidonis, the sinking of, 120
+
+Possibilities of historical study, 114 _et seq._
+
+Power of magnifying, the, 47, 67
+
+Power of response to vibrations, 9, 11
+
+Preliminary considerations, 7
+
+Premonition, Mr. Stead's, 153
+
+Prevision, 132, 139
+
+Prospects for the future, 175
+
+Psychic Micawbers, 83
+
+Psychometry, 114, 127
+
+
+Qualifications of the student, 166
+
+Qualified teachers, 165
+
+
+Radiations, 59
+
+Records, akashic, 85, 97 _et seq._, 160
+  aspect of the, 115
+
+Regular development, 19
+
+Reproduction of a murder, 161
+
+Restrictions upon clairvoyance, 81, 171
+
+Roentgen rays, the, 11
+
+
+Sadness of clairvoyance, the, 169
+
+Schiller's lines, 169
+
+Seance-room phenomena, 35, 62
+
+Second-sight, 140 _et seq._
+  the symbolism of, 145
+
+Seer, a Philadelphian, 72 _et seq._
+
+Self-hypnotization, 86
+
+Sense, extension of, 12
+
+Senses, astral, 17
+
+Sight, astral, 37 _et seq._, 59 _et seq._, 66
+  at a distance, 59, 81
+  spiritual, 57
+
+Sleep, clairvoyance during, 26
+
+Society, the Theosophical, 167
+
+Solar system, the, 99
+
+Spectral armies, 154
+
+Spectrum, experiment with the, 10
+
+Spiritualistic phenomena, 35, 62
+
+_Stars and the Earth, The_, 110
+
+Stories of crystal-gazing, 84 _et seq._
+  second sight, 132, 140 _et seq._
+
+Story by Jung Stilling, 72
+  Mr. Stead's, 93
+  of Captain Yonnt, 89
+  Mary Goffe, 75
+  Miss X.'s dogcart, 152
+  Mr. Stead's premonition, 153
+
+Story of Souter Fell, 156-7
+  the bull and the doctor, 147
+  the Duke of Orleans, 90
+  the housekeeper's dream, 147 _et seq._
+
+Story of the siege of Mooltan, 92
+  the white night-dress, 149
+  Zschokke, 127 _et seq._
+
+Stranger, finding a, 80
+
+Sympathetic system, the, 22 _et seq._
+
+System, the Logos of the, 99 _et seq._
+
+
+Teachers, qualified, 165
+
+Telescope, the astral, 65, 85, 103
+
+Temporary and partial clairvoyance, 54
+
+Tests not given, 172
+
+Theosophical Society, The, 167
+  terms, 7
+
+Thought-control, 168
+
+Thought-forms, 43, 67
+
+Throughth, 39
+
+Time only relative, 138
+
+Training, the advantages of, 165
+  where to be had, 167
+
+Trance mediums, 83
+
+Transparency of physical objects, 32
+
+Trivial subjects, clairvoyance on, 55, 95, 152
+
+
+Uncultured, clairvoyance in the, 21
+
+
+Value of knowledge, the, 125
+
+Variable capacity of response, 10 _et seq._
+
+Vibrations, 9
+  power of response to, 11
+
+Vision, astral, 37 _et seq._, 59 _et seq._, 66
+  etheric, 30 _et seq._
+
+Visions, casual, 141
+
+Visits at death, 74 _et seq._
+
+Voodoo or Obeah, 163
+
+
+White night-dress, the story of the, 149
+
+Wild huntsman, the, 160
+
+Wisdom, the Masters of, 20, 167, 174
+
+World, the astral, 81, 103
+  mental, 80, 104, 115
+
+
+X.'s story, Miss, 152
+
+X Rays, 11
+
+
+Yonnt's story, Captain, 89
+
+
+Zschokke's story, 127 _et seq._
+
+
+PRINTED BY NEILL AND CO., LTD., EDINBURGH.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+
+
+THEOSOPHICAL SOCIETY.
+
+SATYANNASTI PARO DHARMAH
+
+[Illustration]
+
+THERE IS NO RELIGION HIGHER THAN TRUTH.
+
+
+_OBJECTS._
+
+To form a nucleus of the universal Brotherhood of Humanity, without
+distinction of race, creed, sex, caste or colour.
+
+To encourage the study of comparative religion, philosophy and
+science.
+
+To investigate unexplained laws of nature and the powers latent in
+man.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Any person desiring information as to the Theosophical Society is
+invited to communicate with any one of the following General
+Secretaries:
+
+AMERICA: Alexander Fullerton; New York, 46 Fifth Avenue.
+
+BRITAIN: Bertram Keightley, M.A. (_pro tem._); London, 28 Albemarle
+Street, W.
+
+INDIA: Upendra Nath Basu, B.A., LL.B.; Benares, N.W.P.
+
+SCANDINAVIA: Arvid Knoes; Sweden, Engelbrechtsgatan 7, Stockholm.
+
+AUSTRALIA: H. A. Wilson; Sydney, N.S.W., 42 Margaret Street.
+
+NEW ZEALAND: C. W. Sanders; Auckland, Mutual Life Buildings, Lower
+Queen Street.
+
+HOLLAND: W. B. Fricke, Amsterdam, 76 Amsteldijk.
+
+FRANCE: Dr. Th. Pascal Paris; 59 Avenue de la Bourdonnais.
+
+ITALY: Rome, Societa Teosofica, 70 Via di Pietra.
+
+GERMANY: Dr. Rudolph Steiner (_pro tem._); 95 Kaiserallee, Friedenau,
+Berlin.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+THE THEOSOPHICAL SOCIETY is composed of students, belonging to any
+religion in the world or to none, who are united by their approval of
+the above objects, by their wish to remove religious antagonisms and
+to draw together men of good-will whatsoever their religious
+opinions, and by their desire to study religious truths and to share
+the results of their studies with others. Their bond of union is not
+the profession of a common belief, but a common search and aspiration
+for Truth. They hold that Truth should be sought by study, by
+reflection, by purity of life, by devotion to high ideals, and they
+regard Truth as a prize to be striven for, not as a dogma to be
+imposed by authority. They consider that belief should be the result
+of individual study or intuition, and not its antecedent, and should
+rest on knowledge, not on assertion. They extend tolerance to all,
+even to the intolerant, not as a privilege they bestow, but as a duty
+they perform, and they seek to remove ignorance, not to punish it.
+They see every religion as an expression of the DIVINE WISDOM, and
+prefer its study to its condemnation, and its practice to proselytism.
+Peace is their watch-word, as Truth is their aim.
+
+THEOSOPHY is the body of truths which forms the basis of all
+religions, and which cannot be claimed as the exclusive possession of
+any. It offers a philosophy which renders life intelligible, and which
+demonstrates the justice and the love which guide its evolution. It
+puts death in its rightful place, as a recurring incident in an
+endless life, opening the gateway of a fuller and more radiant
+existence. It restores to the world the science of the spirit,
+teaching man to know the spirit as himself, and the mind and body as
+his servants. It illuminates the scriptures and doctrines of religions
+by unveiling their hidden meanings, and thus justifying them at the
+bar of intelligence, as they are ever justified in the eyes of
+intuition.
+
+Members of the Theosophical Society study these truths, and
+Theosophists endeavour to live them. Every one willing to study, to be
+tolerant, to aim high, and to work perseveringly, is welcomed as a
+member, and it rests with the member to become a true Theosophist.
+
+BOOKS RECOMMENDED FOR STUDY.
+
+                                                            s.  d.
+An Outline of Theosophy.  C. W. Leadbeater                   1  0
+Ancient Wisdom. Annie Besant                                 5  0
+Theosophical Manuals.
+  Seven Principles of Man. Annie Besant                      1  0
+  Re-incarnation. Annie Besant                               1  0
+  Karma. Annie Besant                                        1  0
+  Death--and After? Annie Besant                             1  0
+  The Astral Plane.  C. W. Leadbeater                        1  0
+  The Devachanic Plane. C. W. Leadbeater                     1  0
+  Man and his Bodies. Annie Besant                           1  0
+The Key to Theosophy. H. P. Blavatsky                        6  0
+Esoteric Buddhism. A. P. Sinnett                             2  6
+The Growth of the Soul.  A. P. Sinnett                       5  0
+Man's Place in the Universe                                  2  0
+Man Visible and Invisible (illustrated).  C. W. Leadbeater  10  6
+
+A student who has thoroughly mastered these may study The Secret
+Doctrine. H. P. Blavatsky. Three volumes and separate index, L 3. Man
+Visible and Invisible (illustrated). C. W. Leadbeater 10 6
+
+      WORLD-RELIGIONS.                                           s. d.
+Fragments of a Faith Forgotten. G. R. S. Mead                    10  6
+Esoteric Christianity. Annie Besant                               5  0
+Four Great Religions. Annie Besant                                2  0
+Orpheus. G. R. S. Mead                                            4  6
+The Kabalah.  A. E. Waite                                         7  6
+
+      ETHICAL.
+In the Outer Court. Annie Besant                                  2  0
+The Path of Discipleship. Annie Besant                            2  0
+The Voice of the Silence.  H. P. Blavatsky                        1  6
+Light on the Path. Mabel Collins                                  1  6
+Bhagavad-Gita. Trans. Annie Besant                                1  6
+Studies in the Bhagavad-Gita                                      1  6
+The Doctrine of the Heart                                         1  6
+The Upanishats. Trans. by G. R. S. Mead and J.C. Chattopadyaya.
+  Two Volumes, each                                               1  6
+Three Paths and Dharma.  Annie Besant                             2  0
+Theosophy of the Upanishats                                       3  0
+The Stanzas of Dayan. H.P. Blavatsky                              1  6
+
+VARIOUS.
+Nature's Mysteries. A. P. Sinnett                                 2  0
+Clairvoyance. C. W. Leadbeater                                    2  0
+Dreams. C. W. Leadbeater                                          1  6
+The Building of the Kosmos. Annie Besant                          2  0
+The Evolution of Life and Form. Annie Besant                      2  0
+Some Problems of Life. Annie Besant                               1  6
+Thought-Power, its Control and Culture. Annie Besant              1  6
+The Science of the Emotions.  Bhagavan Das                        3  6
+The Gospel and the Gospels.  G. R. S. Mead                        4  6
+Five Years of Theosophy                                          10  0
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+
+
+THE THEOSOPHICAL REVIEW.
+
+EDITED BY
+
+ANNIE BESANT AND G. R. S. MEAD.
+
+Amongst the Regular Contributors are:
+
+ANNIE BESANT.
+ALEX. FULLERTON.
+G. R. S. MEAD.
+BERTRAM KEIGHTLEY.
+A. P. SINNETT.
+C. W. LEADBEATER.
+DR. A. A. WELLS.
+MICHAEL WOOD.
+And other well-known Writers on Theosophy.
+
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+articles are all by recognised experts, and they all deal with some
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+shilling's worth."--_The Gentleman's Journal._
+
+_All the above-named books are published at unit prices by THE
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+       *       *       *       *       *
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+End of Project Gutenberg's Clairvoyance, by Charles Webster Leadbeater
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