From Jewish and Pagan practices as a means of divination, clairvoyance and prophecy, the art of the crystal seer seems to have pa.s.sed to early Christian times without material change except in ceremonials. These seers are mentioned in the counsels of the Church as specularii, children often acting as the seers, and although in some quarters they were looked upon with suspicion as heretics, and were under the ban of the Church, yet they had an extensive following.
Thomas Aquinas, speaking of the peculiar power of seeing visions possessed by children, says it is not to be ascribed to any virtue or innocence of theirs, nor any power of nature, but that it is the work of the devil.
In Wagner"s beautiful opera of Parsifal, based upon the legend of the Holy Grail, reference to the same custom is more than once evident. The second act opens with a scene representing the enchanted castle of Klingsor; the magician himself is seen gazing into a bright metallic mirror, in which he sees Parsifal approaching and recognizes and fears him as the promised guiltless one--the true king and guardian of the Grail--an office to which he himself had once aspired. In fact the Grail itself, in its earliest mythical and traditional form, as well as in its later development as a distinctly Christian symbol, was an instrument of divination and prophecy.
The Druids had their basin, sometimes filled with aromatic herbs, sometimes with the blood of the sacrificed victim; but in either case it was potent for securing the proper psychic condition in the officiating priest or soothsayer; and while Arabic and Indian myths present the same idea, sometimes as a cup of divination, and sometimes as a brilliant stone, the British Islands were the main source of the traditions which eventually culminated in the legends of the Holy Grail, with its full store of beautiful and touching incidents, prophecies, and forms of worship. In each the special guardians and knights of the Grail appear, with Parsifal, the simple-minded, pure and pitiful knight as its restorer and king when lost or in unworthy hands.
In the German version of the twelfth century as given by Wolfram, in his Parzival, the Grail is a beautiful, sacred stone, enshrined in the magnificent temple at Montsalvat, guarded by the consecrated knights and the sick and erring, but repentant, King Amfortas. While the unhappy king was worshipping with gaze intent upon the Sacred Emblem, suddenly letters of fire surrounded it and he read the cheering prophecy:
"In the loving soul of a guiltless one Put thy faith--Him have I chosen."
Kufferath remarks, "The religious emblem soon became a symbolic object--it revealed to its worshippers the knowledge of the future, the mystery of the world, the treasures of human knowledge, and imparted a poetic inspiration." So it comes to pa.s.s that in the legend in its latest form--the splendid work of the Master of Bayreuth, the Holy Grail, as a chalice and Christian emblem, is still endowed with the same miraculous power, and is rescued from the unfortunate guardianship of Amfortas by the "loving soul of a guiltless one"--the simple, tried, and much-enduring Parsifal, miraculously promised long before by the Grail itself.
It will be seen, then, that crystal-gazing in its various forms has, from the earliest times, been practised with great ceremony for the purpose of acquiring knowledge concerning affairs and events unknown and often not discoverable by ordinary methods.
Stripped of its fict.i.tious accessories--its charms, incantations, incense and prayers--one single important fact remains common in the most ancient and the most modern usages, and that fact is the steady and continuous gazing at a bright object. It is identical with Braid"s method of inducing the hypnotic trance, with Luys" method, causing his patients to gaze at revolving mirrors, and with the method of hypnotizers generally who desire their patients to direct their gaze toward some specified, and preferably some bright or reflecting object.
In crystal gazing, as ordinarily practised, the full hypnotic condition is not usually induced; but in many cases a condition of reverie occurs, in which pictures or visions fill the mind or appear externalized in the crystal or mirror. With some persons this condition so favorable to visualizing, is produced by simply becoming pa.s.sive; with others the gazing at a bright or reflecting object a.s.sists in securing that end, while with many none of these means, nor yet the a.s.sistance of the most skilful hypnotizer, avails to secure the message-bearing action of the subliminal self.
The experiences of Miss X., in crystal-gazing are devoid of the interest imparted by exciting incident, and on that very account are the more valuable as ill.u.s.trating our subject. She has friends of whose experiments she has carefully observed the results, and she has some seventy cases or experiments of her own of which she has kept carefully prepared notes, always made directly or within an hour after each experiment. For a crystal she recommends "a good-sized magnifying gla.s.s placed on a dark background."
She cla.s.sifies her results as follows:--
(1) After-images or recrudescent memories coming up from the subconscious strata to which they had fallen.
(2) Objectivations, or the visualizing of ideas or images which already exist consciously or unconsciously in the mind.
(3) Visions possibly telepathic, or clairvoyant, implying acquirement of knowledge by supranormal means.
The following are some of Miss X."s experiments:--
She had been occupying herself with accounts and opened a drawer to take out her banking book; accidentally her hand came in contact with the crystal she was in the habit of using, and she welcomed the suggestion of a change of occupation. Figures, however, were still uppermost, and the crystal showed her nothing but the combination 7694. Dismissing this as probably the number of the cab she had driven in that morning, or a chance combination of figures with which she had been occupied, she laid aside the crystal and took up her banking book, which certainly she had not seen for several months. Greatly to her surprise she found that 7694 was the number of her book, plainly indicated on the cover.
She declares that she would have utterly failed to recall the figures, and could not even have guessed the number of digits nor the value of the first figure.
Again:--Having carelessly destroyed a letter without preserving the address of her correspondent she tried in vain to recall it. She knew the county, and, searching on a map, she recognized the name of the town, one quite unfamiliar to her, but she had no clue to the house or street, till at length it occurred to her to test the value of the crystal as a means of recalling forgotten knowledge. A short inspection showed her the words, "H. House," in gray letters on a white ground. Having nothing better to rely upon she risked posting the letter to the address so curiously supplied. A day or two brought an answer--on paper headed "H. House" in gray letters on a white ground.
One more ill.u.s.tration from Miss X., one of her earliest experiments, numbered 11, in her notebook. There came into the crystal a vision perplexing and wholly unexpected: a quaint old chair, an aged hand, a worn black coat-sleeve resting on the arm of the chair. It was slowly recognized as a recollection of a room in a country vicarage which she had not been in and had seldom thought of since she was a child of ten. But whence came the vision, and why to-day? The clue was found. That same day she had been reading Dante, a book which she had first learned to read and enjoy by the help of the aged vicar with the "worn black coat-sleeve"
resting on the same quaint, oak chair-arm in that same corner of the study in the country vicarage.
Here are two cases from the same writer belonging to the third division of her cla.s.sification, namely, where an explanation of the vision requires the introduction of a telepathic influence. On Monday, February 11th, she took up the crystal with the deliberate wish and intention of seeing a certain figure which occupied her thoughts at the time; but instead of the desired figure the field was preoccupied by a plain little nosegay of daffodils, such as might be formed by two or three fine flowers bunched together. This presented itself in several different positions notwithstanding her wish to be rid of it, so as to have the field clear for her desired picture. She concluded that the vision came in consequence of her having the day before seen the first daffodils of the season on a friend"s dinner-table. But the resemblance to these was not at all complete, as they were loosely arranged with ferns and ivy, whereas the crystal vision was a compact little bunch without foliage of any kind. On Thursday, February 14th, she very unexpectedly received as a "Valentine" a painting on a blue satin ground, of a bunch of daffodils corresponding exactly with her crystal vision. She also ascertained that on Monday the 11th, the artist had spent several hours in making studies of these flowers, arranged in different positions.
Again:--On Sat.u.r.day, March 9th, she had written a rather impatient note to a friend, accusing her of having, on her return from the Continent, spent several days in London without visiting her. On Sunday evening following, she found her friend before her in the crystal, but could not understand why she held up in a deprecating manner what seemed to be a music portfolio. However, she made a note of the vision and sketched the portfolio. On Monday she received an answer to her impatient letter, pleading guilty to the charge of neglect, but urging as an excuse that she was attending the Royal Academy of Music and was engaged there the greater part of every day. Such an excuse was to the last degree unexpected, as her friend was a married woman and had never given serious attention to music. It was true, however--and she afterwards learned that she carried a portfolio which was the counterpart of the one she had sketched from her crystal vision.
The following incident in which an East India army officer, Col. Wickham, his wife, Princess di Cristoforo, and Ruth, their educated native servant, were the chief actors, ill.u.s.trates another phase of crystal-gazing. All three of the actors partic.i.p.ating in the incident were well known personally to Mr. Myers, who reports the case. Briefly stated: In 1885, Colonel, then Major, Wickham, was stationed with the Royal Artillery at Colabra, about two miles from Bombay. Mrs. Wickham was accustomed to experiment with some of the Indian servants and especially Ruth, by having her look in a gla.s.s of magnetized water. One morning Lord Reay was expected to arrive at Bombay, and there was to be a grand full-dress parade of the English troops. While sitting at the breakfast table the major directed his orderly to see that his uniform was in readiness. The man obeyed, but soon returned with a dejected air, and stammered out--"Sahib, me no can find the dress pouch-belt." A general hunt for the lost article was inst.i.tuted, but to no purpose; the pouch-belt was absolutely missing. The enraged major stormed and accused the servants of stealing it, which only produced a tumult and a storm of denials from them all. "Now," cried the major, "is an excellent opportunity to test the seeing powers of Ruth. Bring her in at once and let her try if she can find my pouch-belt." Accordingly a tumbler was filled with water, and Mrs.
W. placing it on her left hand made pa.s.ses over it with her right. Water so treated could always be detected with absolute certainty by Ruth, simply by tasting it--a fact not uncommonly observed, and which was an additional proof that she possessed unusual perceptive power. Into this gla.s.s of water Ruth gazed intently, but she could discern nothing. She was commanded to find the thief, but no thief could be seen. Changing her tactics, Mrs. W. then commanded Ruth to see where the major was the last time he wore the belt. At once she described the scene of a grand parade which took place months before, and which they all recognized. "Do not take your eyes off from the major for a moment," said Mrs. W., and Ruth continued to gaze intently at the pageant in the gla.s.s. At length the parade ended and Ruth said, "Sahib has gone into a big house by the water; all his regimentals are put in the tin case, but the pouch-belt is left out; it is hanging on a peg in the dressing-room of the big house by the water." "The yacht club!" cried the major. "Patilla, send some one at once to see if the belt has been left there." The search was rewarded by finding the belt as described, and the servants returned bringing it with a grand tumult of triumph. On many other occasions was Ruth"s aid successfully invoked to find lost articles.
Instead of a gla.s.s of water, some springs and wells when gazed into have the same effect of producing visions, especially when a mirror is so held at the same time as to reflect light upon the surface of the water.
Springs of this sort have been reported at various periods in the past, some being frequented for health and some for purposes of divination. The latest instance of a well possessing the quality or power of producing visions is that upon the farm of Col. J. J. Deyer at Handsoms, Va. It was in May, 1892, that the curious influence pertaining to this well was first observed and soon it was thronged with visitors. Faces, both familiar and strange, of people living and of those long dead, and hundreds of other objects, animate and inanimate, were distinctly seen upon the surface of the water. The water of the well is _unusually clear_ and the bottom of _white sand_ is clearly visible. A mirror is held over the top of the well with face toward the water so as to throw reflected light upon the surface. At first Miss Deyer, the colonel"s daughter, always held the mirror, but afterwards it was found that any one who could hold the mirror _steadily_ performed the duty equally well. If the mirror was held unsteadily the pictures were indistinct or failed to appear at all; and the brighter the day the better the pictures. Many level headed men and some well qualified to observe curious psychical phenomena visited the well, and nearly all were convinced that, under favorable circ.u.mstances, remarkable pictures appeared; naturally, however, different causes were a.s.signed for these appearances. Prof. Dolbear and Mr. T. E.
Allen, from the American Psychical Society, saw nothing remarkable during their visit to the well, and referred the pictures seen by so many people to the reflection of objects about the well, aided by the mental excitement and expectation of so many spectators. This explanation, however, seems hardly sufficient to account for the hallucinations of so large a number of persons kept up for so long a time. At all events, an interesting psychic element of some sort was active.
Col. Deyer is an intelligent man, commanding the respect of his neighbors, and has held an appointment of considerable importance under the government at Washington. In a letter dated December 2d, 1893, he says:--"Thousands of people from various sections of the Union have visited the place--of course some laugh at it. I do myself sometimes, as I am not superst.i.tious and take little stock in spooks or anything connected therewith; but the well is here, and still shows up many wondrous things, but not so plentiful nor so plainly as it did a year ago."
We have presented in this well the most favorable conditions possible for crystal-gazing--a body of unusually clear sparkling water, lying upon a white sand bottom, and the rays of the sun reflected into it by means of a mirror;--no better "cup of divination" could be desired, nor any better circ.u.mstances for securing the psychical conditions favorable for the action of the subliminal self.
The various methods of practising crystal-gazing here noticed may be looked upon simply as so many different forms of _sensory automatism_, referable in these instances to the sense of sight; and whether produced by using the "cup of divination," the ink or treacle in the palm of the hand, the jewels of the Jewish high-priest, the ordinary crystal or stone of the early Christian centuries, and even down to the experiments of Miss X., and the Society for Psychical Research, or last of all, the wells or springs of clear water, either the early ones of Greece and Rome, or the latest one on the farm of Col. Deyer, they are all simply methods of securing such a condition by gazing fixedly at a bright object, as best to facilitate communication between the ordinary or primary self, and the secondary or subliminal self. It is the first, and perhaps the most important, in a series of sensory automatisms, or those having reference to the senses, in distinction from motor automatisms, or those produced by various automatic actions of the body.
These sensory automatisms are usually looked upon as hallucinations--but so far as the term hallucination conveys the idea of deception or falsity it is inappropriate, since the messages brought in this manner are just as real--just as veridical or truth-telling as automatic writing or speaking.
Hearing is another form of sensory automatism, which, while less common than that of seeing, has also been noticed in all ages.
The child Samuel, ministering to the High Priest Eli, three times in one night, heard himself called by name, and three times came to Eli saying, "Here am I;" adding at last, "for surely thou didst call me." The wise high-priest recognized the rare psychic qualities of the child and brought him up for the priesthood in place of his own wayward sons; and he became the great seer of Israel.
Socrates was accustomed to hear a voice which always admonished him when the course he was pursuing or contemplating was wrong or harmful; but it was silent when the contemplated course was right. This was the famous "Daemon of Socrates," and was described and discussed by Xenophon and Plato as well as other Greek writers and many modern ones. Socrates himself called it the "Divine Sign." And on that account he was accused of introducing new G.o.ds, and thus offering indignity to the accredited G.o.ds of Greece. On this, as one of the leading charges, Socrates was tried and condemned to death; but in all the proceedings connected with his trial and condemnation he persisted in his course which he knew would end in his death, rather than be false to his convictions of duty and right; and this he did because the voice--the "Divine Sign"--which always before had restrained him in any wrong course, was not heard restraining him in his present course.
Only once was it heard, and that was to restrain him from preparing any set argument in his defence before his judges. So he accepted his sentence and drank the hemlock, surrounded by his friends, to whom he calmly explained that death could not be an evil thing, not only from the arguments which he had adduced, but also because the Divine Sign, which never failed to admonish him when pursuing any harmful course, had not admonished nor restrained him in this course which had led directly to his death.
Joan of Arc heard voices, which in childhood only guided her in her ordinary duties, but which in her early womanhood made her one of the most conspicuous figures in the history of her time. They placed her, a young and unknown peasant girl, as a commander at the head of the defeated, disorganized, and discouraged armies of France, aroused them to enthusiasm, made them victorious, freed her country from the power of England, and placed the rightful prince upon the throne. She also heard and obeyed her guiding voices, even unto martyrdom.
Numerous instances might be cited occurring in ancient and also in modern times where the subliminal self has sent its message of instruction, guidance, warning, or restraint to the primary self by means of impressions made upon the organ of hearing. Socrates, Joan of Arc, Swedenborg, and many others considered these instructions infallible, supernatural, or divine; but in other cases the messages so given have been trivial, perhaps even false, thus removing the element of infallibility and absolute truthfulness from messages of this sort, and at the same time casting a doubt upon their supernatural character in any case. It seems wisest, therefore, at least to examine these and all cases of automatically received messages, whether by writing, trance-speaking, dreams, visions, or the hearing of voices, with a definite conception of a real and natural cause and origin for these messages in a subliminal self, forming a definite part of each individual: bearing in mind also that this subliminal self possesses powers and characteristics varying in each individual case, in many cases greatly transcending the powers and capabilities of the normal or primary self. But infallibility, though sometimes claimed, is by no means to be expected from this source, and the messages coming from each subliminal self must be judged and valued according to their own intrinsic character and merit, just as a message coming to us from any primary self, whether known or unknown to us, must be judged and valued according to its source, character, and merit.
CHAPTER X.
PHANTASMS.
Perhaps no department of Psychical Research is looked upon from such divers and even quite opposite standpoints as that which relates to Apparitions or Phantasms. Many intelligent people, in a general way, accept them as realities but a.s.sign for them a supernatural origin; while others discredit them altogether because they have apparently no basis except an a.s.sumed supernatural one.
It has been said that primitive, undeveloped, and ignorant people almost universally believe in ghosts; while with the advance of civilization, culture, and general intelligence, the frequency of alleged apparitions and the belief in ghosts diminishes or altogether disappears. If this statement were to stand unqualified, by so much would the reality and respectability of phantasms be discredited. Possibly, however, it may be found that the last word has not yet been said, and that there may exist a scientific aspect for even so unstable and diaphanous a subject as ghosts.
Instead of going over the literature of the subject from the earliest times--a literature, by the way, which in the hands of Tylor, Maury, Scott, Ralston, Mrs. Crowe and others certainly does not lack interest--it will better suit our present purpose to examine some facts relative to perception in general and vision in particular, and give some examples ill.u.s.trating different phases of the subject.
Perception may be defined as the cognizance which the mind takes of impressions presented to it through the organs of sense, and possibly also by other means.
One cla.s.s of perceptions is universally recognized and is in a measure understood, namely, perceptions arising from impressions made by recognized external objects or forces upon the organs of sense, sight, hearing, smell, taste, and also the general sense of touch. These perceptions in particular are designated as _real_ or _true_, because they correspond to recognized external realities.
But impressions are also made upon the organs of special sense by influences which are not recognized as having any objective reality, but which nevertheless affect the senses in a manner often identical with that in which they are affected by recognized external objects, and they cause the same perceptions to arise in the mind. Hence another broad cla.s.s of perceptions includes those which are taken cognizance of by the mind from impressions made upon the organs of sense in other ways and by other means than by external objects, and often where there is no evidence that any external object exists corresponding to the impression so made.
Perceptions arising in these various ways are called _hallucinations_.
On close examination, however, it is found that the sharp line of separation between what has and what has not an objective reality is not easily drawn, any more than in biology the sharp line between animal and vegetable life can be easily drawn, or at the lower end of the scale between the living and the not living.
So the origin of those perceptions which are cla.s.sed as hallucinations has always been a subject of controversy, even among philosophers of the greatest merit and eminence.
Without following out the discussions which have arisen on this point--discussions which are often confusing and generally inconclusive, a fairly distinct view of the subject may be obtained by considering the origin of these perceptions under three heads--namely:--
(1) Perceptions which are reckoned as hallucinations may be originated _centrally_; that is, they may arise wholly within the mind itself without any direct external stimulus. For instance the characters drawn by the novelist may become so real to him, and even to some of his readers, that they become _externalized_--actual objects of visual perception and are seen to act and even heard to speak. The instance is repeatedly quoted of the painter who, after carefully studying a sitter"s appearance, could voluntarily project it visibly into s.p.a.ce and paint the portrait, not from the original, but from the phantasm so produced; and of another who could externalize and project other mental pictures in the same manner, pictures which so interested him and were so subject to the ordinary laws of vision that he would request any one who took a position in front of them, to move away so as not to obstruct his view.