Chapter VI
). The enquirer should sit quite alone in some room free from
interruption--an indoors sitting, by reason of its fewer distractions, being preferable to a sitting in any out-of-doors locality.
The thoughts need not take any religious turn, and prayer is quite unnecessary. It is desirable, in fact, to think as little as possible about anything, except in the event of the presence of some particular spirit being hoped for. When that is the case the mind may with advantage be occupied by reminiscences connected with the spirit in question--a situation being thus created which much facilitates telepathy and is analogous to the hoisting of a signal calling for response.
The evening is the most suitable time for an Expectancy sitting, which is to be held in the light or in semi-obscurity; the bustle and turmoil of the day having then given place more or less to quietude and tranquillity. But, if darkness does not inspire fear, a sitting in a bedroom (or other apartment) during the hours from midnight to, say, two o’clock in the morning is preferable. Silence is then more supreme than at any other time, and the majority of the human beings in the locality are asleep. This accounts for the traditional notion of “the witching hour,” which is not based, as is supposed erroneously, on some divine or diabolical limitation of certain hours as the free time for errant spirits. It refers to the fact that sleep is a kind of trance during which the hold of the body on the soul is slackened, thus facilitating the task of any outside spirit who may wish to communicate; the point in issue being well exemplified by the old Romans (and others of the ancients), who taught that dreams are the apparitions of supernormal beings.
Dealing first with the case of a midnight sitting, it should be noted that absolute darkness is not imperative. The room may be illuminated in any way that is convenient; but, for reasons already given, the less light the better. If the nerves of the sitter will bear the strain the sitting should take place quite in the dark. In that event some apparatus for signalling by sound should be provided, such as, for instance, a small key suspended by a thread inside a glass tumbler in such a manner that a very slight movement is accompanied by a tinkling.
After remaining quiet and expectant for a few minutes the sitter should speak aloud and ask, “Are there any spirits present?” This requires a little courage, both physical and moral; the former because of the darkness, the “witching hour” and the sound of one’s voice in the stillness; and the latter because one is tempted to regard both the situation and the question as absurd, and because one does not relish the idea of possibly making a fool of one’s self. But it is merely a question of breaking the ice. When once the sitter has spoken aloud the difficulty of speaking does not recur.
To ask in one’s mind whether there are any spirits present is not as effective as actual speech. There is a greater psychical concentration when a thought is focussed, as it were, by spoken words; besides which there is some reason to believe that spirits--the bodily substance and organs of whom are analogous to those of living persons--find it easier to receive impressions by physical sounds than by telepathy.
If no answer be given to the question, this should be repeated with a request that the spirit or spirits will reply by causing the suspended key to move in such a manner as to produce three distinct tinklings--or words to the same general effect in the case of some other signalling apparatus being employed. If there still be silence, it may be concluded either that no spirit is present in the room on that particular occasion, or that no spirit within hearing understands the English language, or that the prevailing temporary conditions do not allow of physical effects being produced on inanimate matter, or that the sitter, by lack of psychic power, is unable to attract the attention of discarnate spirits.
If a reply be given, it is not a matter of course for it to take the form requested. Instead of being a tinkling or other specified signal, it may be a rustling, a rap, a tapping, a scratching, a pattering, a sigh, a movement of the air or of some object in the room, a sensation of cold, a sound as of whispering, a faint luminosity, a touch, etc. Hence the necessity for the sitter to be keenly on the alert and completely attentive, while at the same time remaining perfectly tranquil and collected; for some indication of a spirit being present may be given by the latter spontaneously before any word is spoken.
When once any sign of communication is observed the sitter should announce the fact and should ask for it to be repeated, and if this be done a signalling code may thereupon be adopted by agreement and a conversation may take place accordingly. If, on the other hand, there be no sign at all during the period of, say, half an hour from the commencement of the sitting, this latter should terminate and the enquirer should renew the attempt on some future occasion. No disappointment need be felt at a negative result, whether at the outset of the experiments or at any particular sitting. Conditions are not always favourable, even with the same sitter and in the same room; and in spite of widely-prevalent ideas and the records of spiritualistic _séances_, it is quite idle to suppose that disembodied souls do, in fact, cater for the arbitrary wishes and personal convenience of human beings. Nothing of the kind can be taken for granted, except, indeed, that matter-void space has its inhabitants just as much as is the case with any matter-occupied locality, and that any room in any house is just as likely to be visited from time to time by discarnate spirits as by living persons.
Coming now to what may be termed ordinary Expectancy sittings, that is to say, evening sittings in a lighted or semi-lighted room, the conditions of visibility admit of more elaborate manifestations than are possible in darkness. Automatic writing in particular becomes practicable. Provision should be made for this by placing a pencil and one or more sheets of paper on a table or desk. And, of course, signalling apparatus should be furnished of either an audible or a visible kind. When these matters are attended to the proceedings at the sitting should follow the course described as suitable for the midnight _séance_; but, naturally, both eyes and ears should be active in the detection of signs indicating the presence of spirits. And every now and then the pencil should be taken in the hand and held close to the paper in a writing position, the result frequently being that a strong impulse to write is felt. This should not be resisted. The hand should be given free play; but, of course, there should not be any conscious guidance by the sitter. At first the script is, in the majority of instances, found to be a confused scribble or a meaningless sequence of words. Later on, if the sitter be patient and persevering, order begins to take the place of chaos and intelligible messages are obtained; always supposing that the enquirer is really gifted with an appreciable degree of psychic power.
Self-deception and the imaginations bred of wishes and emotions are to be guarded against. This is an additional reason for cultivating a tranquil habit of mind and a level-headed habit of judgment. It should be remembered that in solitary Expectancy fraud and trickery are completely absent, and that all manifestations are matters of the most simple personal observation, the accuracy of which can be confirmed--as in an ordinary scientific laboratory--by the test of repetition. For the friends and acquaintances of the sitter the only evidence available is the latter’s personal and uncorroborated statements, which from a scientific point of view are worthless; but for the sitter himself or herself the very same evidence is in the highest degree conclusive, and rightly so. The facts are _known_ to have occurred.
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3.--The next step after solitary Expectancy has been tried is to arrange with one’s friends for Expectancy Circles; that is to say, for groups of persons to meet together at appointed times and in appointed places for the purpose of joint sittings. There are marked advantages in proceeding thus.
First, the probabilities of success are multiplied. It is frequently the case that living individuals, and especially those who have recently lost some relative or friend by death, are “haunted,” although they themselves are seldom conscious of the fact. If, then, several persons are present at a sitting the chances of there being some spirits near at hand are much increased.
Secondly, there is a greater likelihood of some person being present who is naturally endowed with mediumistic powers, in which case it becomes easier for a spirit to enter into communication with the sitters.
Thirdly, whatever may be the true explanation of the manner in which manifestations are brought about, it is well known that the more numerous the sitters the more full and complete are the phenomena. The theory of the sitters contributing “electricity” and “personal magnetism” may be very safely rejected as nonsensical; for the very words employed are not used in their ordinary scientific meaning and no other signification has ever been propounded. But each person present does undoubtedly make some contribution to what may be called the common stock of psychical influence available in the room where the sitting takes place.
It should be a matter of common understanding and agreement that the sitters in an Expectancy Circle are all animated by a serious purpose and have not come together for mere amusement or for the “fun” of tricking each other. There is no objection to their being as “sceptical” as they please. A sitter may be of opinion that all occultism is “tomfoolery” and “piffle.” Opinions do not alter facts. If psychical phenomena do really occur all the scepticism in the world is of no moment; and no good evidence has ever been brought forward to show that spirits are in any way embarrassed by the presence of doubters and resisters; though it is true enough that passivity on the part of the sitters favours communication. A sceptic may happen to be a good medium without being aware of the fact; in which case his or her mental prejudice will not hinder a spirit from making use of the psychic power thus brought into the Circle. At the same time practical joking and the surreptitious imitation of phenomena are quite out of place. They cannot do any good: they are productive of confusion; and, seeing that discarnate spirits have not changed their minds at death, there does not exist any reason for supposing such beings to have become incapable of taking offence and going away in high dudgeon when sitters attempt to make fools of them--in which case, of course, the sitting is a failure.
With regard to the arrangement of the sitters, this is entirely a matter of convenience. Seats may be provided round a table or scattered about a room. And not the least attention need be paid to the sitters joining hands or being otherwise in contact with each other: the supposed necessity of this being a popular delusion based upon some vague and erroneous notion of “electricity.”
The use of a table is, however, to be recommended. It is desirable for each sitter to have a pencil and paper in readiness; for it cannot be known in advance which particular individuals are capable of automatic writing; and a table facilitates the manifestation as well as providing a convenient standing-place for signalling apparatus, etc.
The sitting may, if desired, take place at high noontide and in the very fullest daylight; though, for reasons already stated, it is better to sit in the evening and in semi-obscurity. The singing of hymns, praying and other “religious” features are to be deprecated. They do not affect the actual phenomena; but their tendency is to produce a morbid and emotional frame of mind which in its turn facilitates self-deception and the imaginary perception of happenings that do not really occur. Conversation also should not be indulged in to any extent that engrosses the attention of the sitters. By far the best plan is for the Circle to sit silently, each individual being on the alert to perceive and announce the slightest indication of anything external.
At the expiration of a few minutes--assuming no manifestation to have happened--some sitter should ask aloud the question, “Is any spirit present?” and if no answer be received the question should be repeated, turn by turn, by all the other sitters. In this way it is often possible to discover those of the Circle who are natural mediums; a fact that is also made evident by the ability to write automatically or by the susceptibility to “impressions,” such as touches, whispers, the sensation of a cool breeze, tremblings, twitches and, in rare cases, various forms of clairvoyance, trance and insensibility.
If the first round of questioning produce no result, the silent sitting should be resumed for another period of a few minutes and then the question should again be asked. These alternate silences and questionings should be continued for as long as may be convenient; and then the Circle may adjourn to some future date. It is not, however, very usual for a complete blank to be drawn, where several--say half a dozen or so--persons sit together. Some “sign” or another is pretty sure to be perceived.
When once a manifestation of any kind takes place it should be confirmed by asking for it to be repeated; and then a code of communication can be agreed upon and conversation can proceed. It will facilitate matters and prevent confusion if each communicating spirit be requested to declare its identity, and then for the particular sitter who may recognise the name and personality to conduct the interview.
The so-called “test” questions and other “evidential” conversations are, for the most part, a waste of time and the loss of an opportunity of obtaining useful information. Spirits are, after all, mere ordinary souls in an environment somewhat different from the human body and its mundane surroundings. They are as little likely as is any reasonable man or woman to trouble themselves with personating their fellow-souls at random. What are they to Hecuba, or Hecuba to them? When a spirit claims to be some specified disembodied soul the probabilities are greatly in favour of the claim being true; just as in common life people are found to be as a rule the persons they assert themselves to be. That some of the spirits in circumterrestrial space are, in a sense, vagabonds, without kith, kin or any specific identity connected with humanity, may well be the case, and is now and then a matter of observation; but this is not any reason why they should find any satisfaction in masquerading as Tom, Dick and Harry. There is probably some amusement to be extracted from personating a great figure of history, such as Julius Cæsar, Luther, Napoleon, Disraeli or Gladstone, and inducing both mediums and sitters to accept with reverence the pompous utterance of ridiculous banalities; and the history of Spiritualism shows that something of the kind does really happen now and then. But no evidence exists to show that the average sitter who seeks to speak with the average deceased relative or friend is ever duped by any impersonation of the latter. It may not always be possible to prove the genuineness of the communication to the satisfaction of an outside scoffer or critic. This, however, is not a need of the case. The sitter hears and knows for himself or herself at first-hand. What does it matter if outsiders who have not been present at the manifestations and merely hear of them at second-hand choose to evolve from their own inner consciousness the theory that the spirit interviewed was not the real “sainted Maria,” but was merely a mischievous “spook” or, more probably, the “fake” of some medium? The old proverb remains good, “The proof of the pudding is in the eating thereof.” Any person of ordinary good sense is quite capable of distinguishing between sham and reality even when speaking with the dead is in question.
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4.--When an Expectancy Circle has had several successful sittings and has established communications with spirits, those latter should be asked to collect together a group of beings “on the other side” who are willing to co-operate actively with the Circle by regular attendance and the production of manifestations on a continually-developing scale. In past times there has been by far too little of such co-operation. Each professional medium has had his or her alleged “controls,” who in an incidental way have occasionally introduced spirits, while the sitters have also--without any design of so doing--brought disembodied souls to the _séances_. And sittings--especially of the “table” kind--have taken place in private homes where the enquirers have usually been restricted to a few members of a single family, and where the spirits communicated with have been recently-deceased relatives and other inexperienced beings. Under such circumstances it is surprising that so much progress has been made.
It is found, however, that spirits are just as “keen” and interested in psychical phenomena and the extension of communication across the border-line as are the Crookeses, Lodges, Barretts, Crawfords and other investigators in the ranks of the living. It is not difficult for an Expectancy Circle of sitters to develop into a Progressive Circle of co-operating sitters and spirits. A request for co-operation is usually complied with, and it almost always happens that the spirits who are asked to act succeed very quickly in finding others to assist, some of whom have had much experience in manifesting and communicating and can instruct their human colleagues how best to operate. What is chiefly necessary on the part of the sitters in order to ensure results of the highest type is to work in a systematic and co-ordinated way; and the manner in which this may be most effectually done is by each human member of a Progressive Circle entering into relations with some specific spirit-members and undertaking some distinct line of conversation and enquiry by whatever method may be most convenient and practicable--_e.g._ by automatic or direct writing, by signalling, by clairvoyance, etc. These duologues, or--where more than one sitter and one spirit are concerned--these Committee Meetings may be held at any time and place found fitting, and should be carefully recorded for report to the regular sittings of the Progressive Circle, when the various reports are considered and compared together and are made the starting-point for additional conversations and enquiries.
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5.--The great majority of attempts at speaking with the dead are of a character much less ambitious and far-reaching than is that of the Expectancy and Progressive Circles method; and the results are correspondingly imperfect. The system most generally adopted is what in early and mid-Victorian days was known as “table-turning” or “raps,” and consisted in a number of persons sitting round a table on which their hands were placed, the right hand of each sitter resting on, or sometimes only touching his neighbour’s left hand. After a little while a tapping or rapping noise would be heard on the table, or the table would tilt up a little at intervals, or it would turn round and round, or it would move about the room. Any of these occurrences admitted of utilisation for signalling purposes, and in that way it was found possible to enter into intelligent communication with the spirit or spirits acting on the table--it being generally the case that the communicator was a deceased relative of one of the sitters.
In a Table-sitting--the term now commonly employed--it is desirable for the hands of the sitters to be placed on the table (though the reason for this is not yet clear), but it is not necessary for any sitter’s hands to be in actual contact with those of his neighbours--there not being any electric or other current in circulation. And it is not necessary for the sitters to engage in any form of incantation, whether sung, spoken or thought. They should, however, be serious and attentive, and should be careful not to spoil the sitting by any foolery or conscious attempts to tilt or move the table.
It is best for some one of the sitters to act as spokesman and for some outsider--_i.e._ a person not sitting at the table--to officiate as the recorder of all that is said and done. The simplest system of communication to adopt is that of the alphabet; the letters being called out by the spokesman in regular order and the table giving a rap or making a movement whenever the right letter is reached. It must not, however, be taken for granted that words will be spelt correctly or that the letters will be grouped in regular sequences of words. Many a message has been put aside as a mere haphazard unmeaning jumble of letters, and has subsequently been found perfectly intelligible and intelligent when the key to the arrangement of the letters has been hit upon. Why such puzzles should be set with seeming deliberation by the spirits is not understood; all we know is that the phenomenon sometimes occurs and its possibility must therefore be taken into account.
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6.--The sittings referred to in the foregoing five Instructions are such as may take place without the aid of professional mediums, and for that reason are commonly regarded as being particularly satisfactory and “evidential.” This, however, is a view born of prejudice. It assumes that professional mediums are all more or less untrustworthy. Persons who are broad-minded enough to rise superior to prejudice and who choose to weigh seriously the _pros_ and _cons_ of the whole matter are bound to recognise the advantage, in all kinds of enquiry, of seeking the assistance of individuals possessing natural qualifications who have become expert in their own province. Accordingly, in speaking with the dead a rational person will not deem it needful to keep aloof from professional mediums. Rather will he seek their aid whenever opportunity serves--provided always that no good reason exists for doubting the good faith of any individual medium so met with.
The proceedings at a sitting conducted by a medium are of much the same general character as in the case of the Expectancy Circles and Table-sittings already described, except that the sitters are altogether passive instead of taking any active part.
Precautions for ensuring “anonymity” and the like are needless. Mediums as a rule are quite careless respecting the identity of their sitters, save, perhaps, in the cases of highly-placed persons. Besides, the sitters go to the mediums for their own private requirements and not for the purpose of building up a structure of evidence that shall satisfy some other mind. The best plan, therefore, is not to trouble about what the medium does or does not know normally, and to depend on one’s own common sense in judging of, and dealing with, any communication received.
So, too, with regard to the alleged “controls.” It is idle to attempt anything in the nature of cross-examination or “tests.” Such attempts, if there be confusion, will only make it worse confounded. The proper course to pursue is to listen attentively to all that is said, and to ask only such questions as may be desirable for the purpose of elucidation or in order to elicit further information.
It is, however, obvious that where a medium writes automatically or speaks under control there must always exist a doubt as to how much is genuine and how much is “sophistication,” either intentional or of an unconscious character. The sitter, therefore, who thinks proper to consult a professional medium will do well to ask for a Table-sitting in preference to a Trance-sitting; as when a Table-sitting takes place the medium remains normal, and the communication is conveyed through the instrumentality of the inanimate table instead of making its way amid the disturbing influences of the medium’s brain and personality. If the medium cannot, or will not, give a Table-sitting it is not worth while for the sitter to express any dissatisfaction: the situation must be accepted with as good a grace as possible--tranquillity and harmony being the proper atmosphere where mental phenomena are in issue.
In the case of Trance-sittings, where the medium is likely to be strongly controlled and made to speak or act in the guise of some other individuality (it being sometimes the case that a decided modification of facial expression, features and voice becomes noticeable), a frequent practice is to arrange for a subdued light--as, for example, by pulling down the window-blinds and using a lamp with red glass. This is quite unnecessary; it is a mere conventional usage based upon a tradition to the effect that spirits are more powerful in darkness than in light; but the proceeding need not be objected to. It is as harmless as is the colour or the pattern of the wall-paper.
Some professional mediums adopt the method of Clairvoyance and Clairaudience; that is to say, the communications take the form of an oral description by the medium of what he or she sees and hears in the vicinity of the sitters--the underlying supposition being that the latter bring with them certain haunting spirits or that certain spirits make their way into the room from the outside in order to be near the sitters. This kind of a sitting is, perhaps, the least satisfactory of any from an intellectual point of view. The medium may be labouring under some delusion or may even be deliberately inventing the alleged appearances and utterances. No method has yet been discovered of clearly distinguishing between genuine and unreal clairvoyance (a word which also includes crystal-gazing and the like). Sitters must judge for themselves what to believe and what to reject.
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7.--Materialisation-sittings with the assistance of professional mediums form a distinct category of phenomena. They cannot be classed under the head of “communications,” and they are just as much physical as psychical. Their chief defect is that they are not “open and above-board,” as is the case with the analogous proceedings of ordinary “table-turning” in private circles, where very astounding movements, etc., take place in full light. For some reason or another--good, bad or indifferent--but never on account of any real necessity, materialising mediums in the majority of cases insist upon the sittings taking place in darkness, and upon the use of “cabinets” and screens in the shelter of which the spirits are understood to make their preparations for the show they are about to give. The sitters, of course, cannot interfere: a patient does not instruct the physician with respect to what prescription is needful. Each medium must be allowed to go about his business in his own way; and each sitter is equally free to make his own observations and form his own conclusions.
The stock phenomena in dark _séances_ are the sounding of musical instruments laid upon the table for the purpose and their being moved about through the air, the sitters occasionally feeling themselves touched by the articles in question. Then, too, fitful lights are seen here and there in the room, and voices are heard speaking or singing. Small objects, such as flowers, are tossed about, and larger ones, such as chairs, couches, etc., are moved--often with great violence. It is, moreover, not an uncommon occurrence for detached hands and faces, faintly luminised, to become visible; while, sometimes, what appear to be full-sized simulacra of human beings mix with the sitters.
The medium in charge of such sitting is usually tied to a chair or held by some of the sitters in such as way as to prevent any trickery. This course of action should not, however, be pursued. Sitters do not attend _séances_ for the sake of amusement or for the purpose of witnessing a clever conjuring exhibition. There ought not to be any question of a contest of wits between the sitters and the medium. The real object to be striven for is the completeness of the manifestations; and this can best be attained by giving the medium and the spirits the freest of free play.
Let it be granted, for argument’s sake, that trickery is possible. Let it be admitted, as a matter of fact, that many mediums have been detected and exposed in various instances of imposture. This shows merely that some alleged materialisations are not genuine; it does not prove that no materialisation ever takes place. Here, also, the sitter must judge for himself. Where it is possible to adopt both a normal and a supernormal explanation of any observed manifestation the rules of scientific enquiry impose upon us the obligation of postulating a “natural” cause in preference to assuming that some “supernatural” power is in operation; we are bound, for example, in cases admitting of trickery, to hold that the medium is a cheat rather than to infer the intervention of any spirit. But when a normal explanation is not possible, or so highly improbable as to be outside the confines of good sense, we act foolishly if we insist upon declining to recognise a patent fact merely because it does not fit in with our preconceived opinions. The same remark applies, _mutatis mutandis_, to many of the “normal explanations” in themselves. It is, for example, said sometimes that the voices heard in the course of dark sittings are produced ventriloquially by the medium. This leaves out of view the consideration that ventriloquy is in itself an illusion depending upon the sense of sight as well as upon that of hearing. No ventriloquist, however clever, can produce the impression of there being a sound emanating from some specific locality when the hearer is in the dark; a fact that is evident to any person who tries the experiment of shutting his eyes when at a ventriloquial entertainment. And if we reflect that in a materialisation _séance_ several distinct voices are often heard simultaneously, the explanation of the medium being a ventriloquist is seen to be ludicrously inadequate. The “normal” theory does not fare any better in suggesting that the medium manages to vacate his chair in the darkness and to pick up the trumpet or the tambourine, etc., from which he forthwith proceeds to extract some sounds. This might be feasible in the case of a single instrument in a single locality; but it often happens that several instruments of various kinds are being played simultaneously and are heard in different parts of the room at the same time. And when it is remembered that the sitting where such facts occur may, and does frequently, take place in a sitter’s own house, where the medium has not been able to make any preparations and where no confederate is available, the futility of the “natural” way of accounting for the manifestations becomes still further evident. So, after all, we come round once more to the recommendation that the sitter should not interfere, should merely observe, should keep an open mind and should be guided by facts quite irrespectively of whether the facts be normal or supernormal.
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