Encyclopedia of Ancient and Forbidden Secrets
Ectenic Force: A supposed physical force emanating from the
person of the medium, and directed by his will, by means of which
objects may be moved without contact in apparent defiance of
natural laws. The existence of such a force was first postulated by
Count Agenor de Gasparin, to explain the phenomena of table -
turning and rapping, and the name Ectenic Force was bestowed
upon the supposed agency by de Gasparin's colleague, M. Thury.
The experiments of Thury and de Gasparin are declared to offer
some of the most convincing evidence that spiritualism can
produce, and have influenced more than one eminent student of
psychic research. If it be true that tables were moved without
contact, then such a theory is indeed necessary, but the evidence
for this type of phenomena is not abundant
Egregore: Psychologically speaking, an egregore is that "ambiance"
or "personality" that develops among groups independent of any of
its members. It is the feeling or impression you get when walking
into a neighborhood that feels different from the surrounding area,
or when visiting a club or association that has been around for a
long time.
In an occult or magical context, an Egregore is such a thing that
has developed to the point of attaining an independent existence as an
entity itself, or it is an intentionally created entity (such as a
servitor) that has grown in power well past its original design. To a
non-religious practitioner of magic, an "egregore" and a "god/dess"
would be interchangeable terms--to a religious practitioner, an
egregore would be just "under" the goddesses.
Electric Girls: Girls in whose presence certain phenomena
occurred, similar in nature to the time - honoured phenomena of
the poltergeist (q.v.), but ascribed to the action of some new
physical force, probably electricity. The best known of these
electric girls was perhaps Angelique Cottin, a Normandy peasant
girl, whose phenomena were first observed about 1846. Finally she
was taken to Paris and placed under the observation of Dr.
Tanchon and others, who, testified to the actuality of the
phenomena. These included the movement of objects without
contact, or at a mere touch from Angelique's petticoats, the
agitation in her presence of the magnetic needle, and the blowing
of a cold wind. She was also able to distinguish between the poles
of a magnet at a touch. A commission appointed by the Academy of
Sciences, however, could observe nothing but the violent
movements of her chair, which were probably caused by muscular
force. Other electric girls practised about the same time, and even
after the beginning of the spiritualistic movement in America -
they were occasionally heard of. They are worthy of note as a link
between the poltergeist and the spiritualistic medium.
Elementary Spirits: The unseen intelligences who inhabit the four
elements, of the finest essence of which they are composed. The
creatures of the air are called sylphs; of the earth gnomes; of fire
salamanders; and of water, nymphs or undines. The best authority
on the subject is the Abbe de Villars, who published early in the
eighteenth century a short treatise entitled Comte de Gabalis, from
which a good deal of what follows is drawn. According to this work
the creatures of the elements were before the Fall subject to Adam
in all, things, and we are led to understand that by means of
certain performances this ancient communication may be restored,
and that man may once more have at his beck and call the
elementary spirits.
The Abbe gives a brief sketch of the nature of
these peoples. The air, he says, is filled with a great number of
beings of human form, somewhat fierce in appearance, but really of
a docile nature. They are much interested in the sciences, and are
subtle, officious towards the sages, hostile towards the foolish and
the ignorant. Their wives and daughters are of a masculine type of
beauty, such as is depicted in the Amazons.
The seas and rivers
are inhabited as well as the air, beings dwelling therein whom the
sages designated undines, or nymphs. The female population much
exceeds the male, the women being exceedingly beautiful, so that
among the daughters of men there is none to equal them.
The earth
is filled almost to the centre with gnomes, people of small stature,
the guardians of subterranean treasure, minerals and precious
stones. They are ingenious, friendly towards men, and easy to
command.
They provide the children of the sages with all the
money they require, asking no other reward for their services than
the glory of performing them. The gnomides, their wives, are small
of stature but very good looking, and they dress very curiously.
As
for the salamanders, the inhabitants of the region of fire, they serve
the philosophers, but are not over - anxious for their company,
while their daughters and wives are rarely seen.
Their women are
very beautiful, beyond all the other elementals, since they dwell in
a purer element. Their habits, mode of life, manners and laws are
admirable, and the attractions of their minds are greater even than
that of their persons.
The Supreme Being they know and religiously
adore, but have no hope of eternal enjoyment of Him, since their
souls are mortal. True it is that, being composed of the purest parts
of the elements wherein they dwell, and having no contrary
qualities, they can live for several centuries; yet are they much
troubled because of their mortal nature.
It was, however, revealed
to the philosophers that an elementary spirit could attain to
immortality by being united in marriage with a human being. The
children born of such unions are more noble and heroic than the
children of human men and women, and some of the greatest
figures of antiquity - Zoroaster, Alexander, Hercules, Merlin, to
mention a few - are declared to have been the children of
elementary spirits.
The salamanders, the Comte de Gabalis goes on to say, are
composed of the most subtle particles of the sphere of fire,
conglobated and organised by the action of the Universal Fire, so
called because it is the principle of all the motions of nature. The
sylphs are composed of the purest atoms of the air; the nymphs, of
the most delicate particles of water; and the gnomes, of the finest
essence of earth.
Adam was in complete accord with these
creatures because, being composed of that which was purest in the
four elements, he contained in himself the perfections of these four
peoples, and was their natural king. But since by reason of his sin
he had been cast into the excrements of the elements, there no
longer existed the harmony between him, so impure and gross, and
these fine and ethereal substances. The Abbe then gives a recipe
whereby the resultant state of things may be remedied and the
ancient correspondence restored.
To attain this end we must purify
and exalt the element of. fire which is within us. All that is
necessary is to concentrate the fire of the world by means of
concave mirrors, in a globe of glass. There will then be formed
within the globe a solary powder, which, having purified itself from
the admixture of other elements, becomes in a very short time a
sovereign means of exalting the fire which is in us, and makes us,
so to speak, of an igneous nature.
Thenceforward these creatures of
the fire become our inferiors, and, delighted at the restoration of
mutual harmony between themselves and the human race, they will show towards man all the good - will they have for their own kind.
Sylphs, gnomes, and nymphs are more familiar with man than are
the salamanders, on account of their shorter term of life, and it is
therefore easier to get into touch with them. To accomplish the
restoration of our empire over the sylphs, gnomes, or nymphs, we
must close a glass full of air, earth, or water, and expose it to the
sun for a month, at the end of which period its various elements
must be separated according to science. This process is most easy
in the case of water and earth. " Thus, " says the Comte, " without
characters, without ceremonies, without barbarous words, it is
possible to rule absolutely over these peoples."
Other authorities
prescribe other means of obtaining dominion over the spirits of the
elements. Eliphas Levi, , for instance, states that anyone desirous
of subjugating the elementals must first perform the four trials of
antique initiation; but as the original trials are no longer known
similar ones must be substituted.
Thus he who would control the
sylphs must walk fearlessly on the edge of a precipice, he who
would win the service of the salamanders must take his stand in a
burning building, and so on, the point of the ordeals being that the
man should show himself unafraid of the elements whose
inhabitants he desires to rule.
In mediaeval times the evocation
and exorcism of elementary spirits was much practised, the crystal
being a favourite means of evoking them. The exorcism of earth is
performed by means of breathing, sprinkling of water, and burning
of incense, and the repetition of a formula of prayer to the gnomes.
Air is exorcised by breathing towards the four cardinal points, and
by the recital of prayers to the air spirits (sylphs). The casting of
salt, incense, sulphur, camphor, and white resin into a fire is
declared efficacious in the exorcism of that element.
In the case of
water, breathing and laying on of hands, repetition of formulae,
mixing of salt and ashes of incense, and other ceremonials are to
be observed.
In every instance a special consecration of the four
elements is a primary and essential part of the proceedings confer
immortality on an elementary spirit by the ceremony of marriage.
But this does not always occur; sometimes the reverse is the case,
and the elementals share their mortality with their human mate. In
literature, at all events, countless stories relate how men have
risked and lost their immortality by marrying a sylph or an undine.
According to the Comte de Gabalis, however, it would seem to be a
matter of choice whether a man confers his immortality on his
ethereal partner, or whether he partakes of her mortal nature; for it
is therein suggested that those who have not been predestined to
eternal happiness would do well to marry with an elemental, and
spare themselves an eternity of woe.
Not every authority has painted so attractive a picture of the
creatures of the elements as has the Abb6 de Villars. By some it is
believed that there are numberless degrees among these beings,
the highest resembling the lowest angels, while the lowest may
often be mistaken for demons, which, of course, they are not.
Not
only do multitudinous variations of form and disposition
characterise the elementals of our own planet; the other planets
and the stars are the abode of countless hosts of elementary spirits,
differing from those of our world perhaps more than the latter differ
from one another.'
All the forms of beasts, insects, and reptiles may
be taken by the lower elementals, as well as strange combinations
of the shapes of different animals. The inhabitants of each element
have their peculiar virtues and vices which serve to distinguish
them, The sylphs are capricious and inconstant, but agile and
active; the undines, jealous and cold, but observant; the
salamanders, hot and hasty, but energetic and strong; and the
gnomes, greedy of gold and treasures, but nevertheless hard -
working, good - tempered and patient.
One who would seek
dominion over any of these must practise their virtues; but
carefully avoid their faults, thus conquering them, as it were, on
their own ground. Each species can only dwell in its own proper
element. Thus a sylph may not invade the sphere of a salamander,
or vice versa, while both would be decidedly out of their element
in the regions of the nymphs or the gnomes.
Four rulers have been
set over the four species - Gob, ruler of the gnomes; Paralda, of the
sylphs; Djin, of the salamanders; and Necksa, of the nymphs.
To
the dwellers in each element is assigned a point of the compass,
where lies their special kingdom. To the gnomes is given the north;
to the salamanders, the south; to the sylphs, the cast; and to the
undines, the west.
The gnomes influence those of a melancholic
disposition, because they dwell in the gloom of subterranean
caverns. The salamanders have an effect on those of sanguine
temperament, because their home is in the fire. The influence of
the undines is upon the phlegmatic, and of the sylphs upon those
of a bilious temperament.
Though as a rule they are invisible to
human eyes, they may on occasion become visible to those who
invoke them, to the sages and philosophers, or even to the
multitude.
In the reign of king Pepin, Zedekias suggested to the
sylphs that they should appear to men, whereupon the air was seen
to be full of them, sometimes ranged in battle, or in an aerial navy.
It was said by the people that they were sorcerers - an opinion to
which Charlemagne and Louis the Debormair subscribed, the latter
at last imposing heavy penalties on the supposed sorcerers. So that
they might behold their admirable institutions, certain men were
raised up in the air, and while descending were seen by their
fellowmen on earth. The latter regarded them as stragglers of the
aerial army of sorcerers, and thought that they had come to poison
the fruits and fountains. These unfortunate persons were thereupon
put to death, along with many others suspected of connection with
the sorcerers.
Elixir of Life: No doubt exists that the mediaeval alchemists and
mystics believed that they were perfectly justified in their search
for the Elixir of Life, the universal medicine, and the renewal of
youth. This, with the quest for gold, became the grand aim of
alchemy, and although this search may have had a psychical and
mystical side, it most certainly had a physical one. But there does
not seem to have been any standard method of accomplishing the
manufacture of the elixir. Thus in Petit Albert one is instructed to
take 81bs. of sugar of mercury as the foundation of such a mixture;
while Bernard Trevisan believes that the precipitation of the
philosopher's stone into mercurial water results in the manufacture
of the elixir. This he states, will when elaborated to the Red,
transmute copper and other metals into pure gold, and if
elaborated to the White, will produce unalloyed silver.
But the application of the elixir to the prolongation of life was
undoubtedly the chief reason for its continued search. The retired
alchemist in his later years, wearied with his quest for gold, craved
the boon of youth and desired renewed health and strength to assist
him to carry out his great purpose. As an illustration of the
alchemical
To return to the consideration of the nature of these spirits, we find
them collated in the Comte de Gabalis with the oracles of
antiquity, and even with the classic pantheons of Greece and
Rome. Pan, for example, was the first and oldest of the nymphs,
and the news of his death, communicated by the people of the air
to the inhabitants of the waters, was proclaimed by them in a voice
that was heard sounding over ail the rivers of Italy - " The great
Pan is dead ! " Mr. A. E. Waite considers that the " angels" evoked
in medieval magic, as well as the " devils " of the Sabbath, were
higher or lower elementals. Others may see in the brownies and domestic spirits of folk - lore some resemblance to the subjugated
elementary spirit.
Even the familiar poltergeist, where he does not
clearly establish his identity as the spirit of a deceased person,
may be regarded with propriety as an elemental. The Theosophists
use the word " elemental " in a different sense, to denote the "
astral remains " (See Shell) of one who has lived an evil life on
earth, and who is loath to leave the scene of his pleasures. With
some occultists again, " elemental " really signifies a sub - human
being, probably identical with an elementary spirit, but of a mental
and moral status considerably lower than that of a human being.
conception of the elixir of life, we quote the following from a work
dealing with the secret of rejuvenescence, originally supposed to
have been written by Arnold de Villanova, and published by
Longueville - Harcourt at Paris in 1716:
" To renew youth is to enter once more into that felicitous season
which imparts to the human frame the pleasures and strength of
the morning. Here it is to no purpose that we should speak of that
problem so much discussed by the Wise, whether the art can be
carried to such a pitch of excellence that old age should itself be
made young. We know that Paracelsus has vaunted the
metamorphic resources of his Mercury of Life which not merely
rejuvenates men but converts metals into gold; He who promised
unto others the years of the sybils, or at least the 300 winters of
Nestor, himself perished at the age of thirty seven.
Let us turn
rather to Nature, so admirable in her achievements, and deem her
not capable alone of destroying what she has produced at the
moment she has begotten them. Is it possible that she will refuse
unto man, for whom all was created, what she accords to the stags,
the eagles, and the serpents, who do annually cast aside the
mournful concomitants of senility, and do assume the most
brilliant, the most gracious amenities of the most joyous youth ?
Art, it is true, has not as yet arrived at that apex of perfection
wherefrom it can renew our youth; but that which was unachieved
in the past may be accomplished in the future, a prodigy may be
more confidently expected from the fact that in isolated cases it
has actually already taken place, as the facts of history make
evident. By observing and following the manner in which nature
performs such wonders, we may assuredly hope to execute this
desirable transformation, and the first condition is an amiable
temperament, such as that which was possessed by Moses, of
whom it is written that for one hundred and twenty years his sight
never failed him.
The stag, eagle, and sparrow - hawk renew their youth.
Aldrovandus has written on the rejuvenescence of the eagle.
Among the birds of the air, we are told by Pliny that the raven and
the phoenix live, each of them six hundred years. No one denies
that the stag is renewed by feeding on vipers and serpents, while
the apes of Caucasus, whose diet is pepper, prove a sovereign
remedy for the lion, who grows young by devouring their flesh.
Those who have written of the elephant maintain that his normal
life is extended through three centuries, while the horse, which
alone in creation participates in the natures of man, of the lion, of
the ox, the sheep, the mule, the stag, the wolf, the fox, the serpent,
and the hare, from each deriving three of its qualities, has
occasionally survived with undiminished vigour the lapse of a
hundred years. The serpent, who is instrumental in the
rejuvenescence of the stag, himself renews his youth at the
shedding of his scales, from all which considerations, it follows
that it is not beyond belief that a like prodigy may be found in the
superior order of the same productions whence man has been
himself derived, for man is assuredly not in a worse condition than
the beasts whom he rules."
Trithemius (q.v.) on his death - bed dictated a receipt which he
said would preserve mind, health and memory with perfect sight
and hearing, for those who made use of it. It consists of among
other things, calomel, gentian, cinnamon, aniseed, nard, coral,
tartar, mace, and five grammes of it were to be taken night and
morning in wine or brodium during the whole of the first month;
during the second month, in the morning only; during the third
month thrice in the week, and so continuing through life. This is a
more understandable receipt than that of Eugenius Philalethes,
who says: " Ten parts of colestiall slime; separate the male from
the female, and each afterwards from its own earth, physically,
mark you, and with no violence. Conjoin after separation in due,
harmonic vitall proportion; and straightway, the Soul descending
from the pyroclastic sphere, shall restore, by a mirific embrace, its
dead and deserted body. Proceed according to the Volcanico
magica theory, till they are exalted into, the Fifth Metaphysical
Rota. This is that world - renowned medicine, whereof so many have scribbled, which, notwithstanding, so few have known."
In his History of Magic Eliphas Levi gives Cagliostro's great secret
of rejuvenessence in the following terms:
" Let us now turn to the secret of physical regeneration to attain
which - - according to the occult prescription of the Grand Copth -
a retreat of forty days, after the manner of a jubilee, must be made
once in every fifty years, beginning during the full moon of May in
the company of one faithful person only. It must be also a fast of
forty days, drinking May - dew - collected from sprouting corn
with a cloth of pure white linen - and eating new and tender herbs.
The repast should begin with a large glass of dew and end with a
biscuit or crust of bread. . There should be slight bleeding on the
seventeenth day. Balm of Azoth should then be taken morning and
evening, beginning with a dose of six drops and increasing by two
drops daily till the end of the thirty - second day. At the dawn
which follows thereafter renew the slight bleeding; then take to
your bed and remain in it till the end of the fortieth day.
.. On the first awakening after the bleeding, take the first grain of
Universal Medicine. A swoon of three hours will be followed by
convulsions, sweats and much purging, necessitating a change
both of bed and linen. At this stage a broth of lean beef must be
taken, seasoned with rice, sage, valerian, vervain and balm. On the
day following take the second grain of Universal Medicine, which
is Astral Mercury combined with Sulphur of old.
On the next dav have a warm bath. On the thirty - sixth day drink a
glass of Egyptian wine, and on the thirty - seventh take the third
and last grain of Universal Medicine. A profound sleep will follow,
during which the hair, teeth, nails and skin will be renewed. The
prescription for the thirty - eighth day is another warm bath,
steeping aromatic herbs in the water, of the same kind as those
specified for the broth. On the thirty - ninth day drink ten drops of
Elixir of Acharat in two spoonfuls of red wine. The work will be
finished on the fortieth day, and the aged man will be renewed in
youth.
" By means of this jubilary regimen, Cagliostro claimed to have
lived for many centuries. It will be seen that it is a variation of the
famous Bath of Immortality in use among the Menandrian
Gnostics.
Aristeus is stated to have left to his disciples a secret which
rendered all metals diaphanous, aiid man immortal. The process
would appear to consist in a mystic treatment of the atmosphere,
which is to, be congealed and distilled until it develops the divine
sparkle, and subsequently becomes liquified. It is then subjected
to heat and undergoes several other processes, when the elixir
emerges.
There is surprisingly little literature upon the subject of the Elixir
of Life. But a more prolonged notice on the subject will be found
under the article " Philosopher's stone " (q.v, ).
Effide: The dragon - shaped ship of Frithjof, the hero of an
Icelandic legend. It was said to be golden - headed, with open
jaws, its under part scaled with blue and gold, its tail twisted and
of silver, its sails red - bordered and black. When its wins were
outspread, it could skim the calmest seas. This ship had been
given to one of Frithjof forefathers as a reward for kindness by
Aegir, the sea~god.
Emerald Table, The: A symbolic work on the hermetic art by
Hermes Trismegistus.
Enchirldion of Pope Leo, The: Is a collection of charms, cast in the
form of prayers, which have nothing in common with those of the
Church. It is concerned chiefly with worldly, rather than spiritual
advantages. It was perhaps printed at Rome in 1523, and again in
16o6. Its magical virtue rests on a supposed letter from
Charlemagne to Pope Leo, in which he states that since receiving
the Exchiridion he has never ceased to be fortunate. The charms it
contains are supposed to be effectual against all the dangers to
which human flesh is heir - poison, fire, wild beasts and tempests.
When a copy of the book has been secured, it must be placed in a
small bag of leather, carried on the person, and one page at least
read daily. The reading must be done upon the knees with the face
turned to the east, and works of piety must be performed in honour
of the celestial spirits, whose influence it is desired to attract. The
first chapter of the Gospel according to St. John is declared to be
the most potent in the book. As for the symbols, they are mostly of
oriental origin. It also includes the mysterious prayers of Pope Leo,
and certain conjurations of a semi - magical character, including
the seven mysterious orisons, which are merely clumsy imitations
of the Roman ritual.
Endless Cord, Tying Knots in: About the years 1877 - 88 Professor
Z611ner of Leipsic investigated the phenomena of the medium
Slade, and particularly anything which might prove a fourth
dimension of space, in which hypothesis Professor Zo11ner was at
that time greatly interested. The tying in an endless cord of such
knots as could ordinarily only be made if the ends of the cord were
free provided such a test. In December, 1877, Zo11ner visited
Slade with two pieces of hempen cord, the free ends of each being
sealed to a piece of cardboard. To ensure the cord always being in
sight Zo11ner hung it round his neck, and kept Slade's hands
continually in view. Under these circumstances four knots were
produced, apparently on the original sealed cord.
Enoch: Seventh master of the world after Adain, and author of the
Kabalo and Book of the Tarot. He is identical with the Thoth of the
Egyptians, the Cadmus of the Phoenicians, and the Palamedes of
the Greeks. According to tradition he did not die, but was carried
up to heaven, whence he will return at the end of time.
Enoch, Book of: An Apocryphal book of the Old Testament,
written in Hebrew about a century before Christ. The original
version was lost about the end of the fourth century, and only
fragments remained, but Bruce the traveller brought back a copy
from Abyssinia, in 1773 in Ethiopia, probably made from the
version known to the early Greek fathers. In this work the spiritual
world is minutely described, as is the region of Sheol (q.v.) the
place of the wicked. The book also deals with the history of the
fallen angels, their relations with the human species and the
foundations of magic. The book says: " that there were angels who
consented to fall from, heaven that they might have intercourse
with the daughters of earth. For in those days the sons of men
having multiplied, there were born to them daughters of great
beauty. And when the angels, or sons of heaven, beheld them, they
were filled with desire; wherefore they said to one another: Come
let us choose wives from among the race of man, and let us beget
children'. Their leader Samyasa, answered thereupon and said: '
Perchance you will be wanting in the courage needed to fulfil this
resolution, and then I alone shall be answerable for your fall.' But
they swore that they would in no wise repent and that they would
achieve their whole design. Now there were two hundred who
descended on Mount Armon, and it was from this time that the
mountain received its designation, which signifies Mount of the
Oath.
Hereinafter follow the names of those angelic leaders who
descended with this object: Samyasa, chief among all,
Urakabarameel, Azibeel, Tamiel, Ramuel, Danel, Azkeel,
Sprakuyal, Asael, Armers, Batraal, Ananc, Zavebe, Sameveel,
Ertrael, Turel, jomiael, Arizial. They took wives with whom they
had intercourse, to whom also they taught Magic, the art of
enchantment and the diverse properties of roots and trees.
Amazarac gave instruction in all secrets of sorcerers; Barkaial was
the mister of those who study the stars; Akibeel manifested signs;
and Azaradel taught the motions of the moon."
In this account we
see a description of the profanation of mysteries. The fallen angels
exposed their occult and heaven - born wisdom to earthly women,
whereby it was profaned, and brute force taking advantage of the
profanation of divine law, reigned supreme. Only a deluge could
wipe out the stain of the enormity, and pave the way for a
restitution of the balance between the human and the divine, which
had been disturbed by these unlawful revelations. A translation of
the Book of Enoch was published by Archbishop Lawrence in
1821, the Etheopic text in 1838, and there is a good edition by
Dillman (1851). Philippi and Ewald have also written special
works on the subject.
Enochian: a genuine language and a system of magic that was
discovered by Dr. John Dee (1527-1608) who was a magician,
philosopher, astrologer, and advisor to Queen Elizabeth, and his
assistant Edward Kelly. The Enochian system was received
through the crystal skryings of Kelly, under Dee's supervision. The
system was described as the "language of the angels" or the
"language of Enoch," and came to be called the Enochian or
Angelic language. Enochian magic is a complex system of
elemental and spiritual hierarchies, which was further developed
by MacGregor Mathers of the Golden Dawn. (See Dee, John)
Fagail: The - parting gift" of the fairies, of Gaelic origin. This may
be of a pleasant or unpleasant nature - it may be death, or the
conversion of a man who worked badly, was ugly, and of rude
speech, into the best workman, the best looking man, and the best
speaker in the place - Campbell's Superstitions of the Scottish
Highlands.
Fairies: A species of supernatural beings, and one of the most
beautiful and important of mythological conceptions. The belief in
fairies is very ancient and widespread, and the same ideas
concerning them are to be found among rude and uncultivated
races as in th - poesy of more civilised peoples. Of British fairies
there are several distinct kinds, and these differ considerably in
their characteristics. In Ireland, where the belief is strongest, the
fairies are called - good people, " and are of a benevolent but
capricious and mischievous disposition. The pixies of England are
very similar. The industrious domestic spirit known as Puck, or
Robin Goodfellow, is of the fairy kind; so also are the brownies of
Scotland. It is supposed that the hard work of the latter has given
them the swarthiness from which they take their name, the other
being called fairies from their fairness.
Fairfax, Elward: An English poet of the sixteenth century, author
of a work on Demonology, wherein he treats somewhat credulously
of sorcery.
Fendeurs: A supposed French Rosicrucian Society, concerning
which very little is known. It flourished in the middle of the
seventeenth century; and its members claimed that it was of
Scottish origin.
Fetch: According to Irish belief, the apparition of a living person;
the Irish form of the wraith (q.v.) It resembles in every particular
the individual whose death it is supposed to foretell, but it is
generally of a shadowy or ghostly appearance. The fetch may be
seen by more than one person at the same time and, like the wraith
of England and Scotland, may appear to the person it represents.
There is a belief, too, that if the fetch be seen in the morning, it
indicates long life for the original: but if it be seen at night, his
speedy demise may be expected. The Fetch enters largely into the
folk - tales of Ireland; and it is hardly surprising that so many tales
have been woven around it, for there is something gruesome in the
idea of being haunted by one's own " double " which has frequently
been turned to account by more sophisticated writers than the
inventors of folktales.
Fiction, English Occult: English literature, as it is known to - day,
really begins with the Elizabethan age; for the writers prior to that
time, excellent as many of them are, elicit comparatively little
interest nowadays save among experts. And, by the time of
Elizabeth's advent, the old miracle plays " had gone out of fashion;
yet tales about the miraculous doings of mythical heroes continued
to find favour, and many new things of this kind were written.
A few of the Restoration dramatists dealt in magic and the like, but
throughout the Georgian age people were mostly too prosaic, too
matter - of - fact, to care for things of that sort, and they were
eschewed by the majority of prominent writers of the day.
However, after the great artistic movement commonly styled the
Renaissance of Wonder, the old interest in the occult began to
revive apace, and, ere the nineteenth century was very far
advanced, a literature suitable to this budding taste was being
purveyed on a voluminous scale. Among the first to enter the lists,
soi disant, was William Godwin, with his novel of St. Truyne the
Rosicrucian; while Godwin's daughter Mary, chiefly remembered
nowadays as the second wife~ of Shelley, merits notice as - -
mystical writer by virtue of her story of Frankenstein. A little
before the advent of this authoress, numerous occult tales had been
written by Matthew Lewis, notably Tales of Terror and the drama of
Castle Spectre, staged successfully at Drury Lane in 1708; while
not long after Lewis a further novelist came to swell. the muster -
roll, Bulwer Lytton, whose taste for the mystic. is seen especially
in Zanoni, A Strange Story, and Haunters and the Haunted. His
essays of this kind, nevertheless, were never very satisfactory in
the real literary sense; and as Leslie Stephen once discovered,
they too often smacked of the theatrical. But Sir Walter Scott, on
the other hand, writing just before Lytton's time, not only showed a
keen fondness for occult matter, but frequently utilised it to
genuine artistic purpose. In The Monastery a mysterious sylph
rises from a fountain; astrology is introduced into Guy Mannering,
The Fortunes of Nigel, and Quentin Durward; while a splendid
ghost story is told in Redgauntlet, and ghosts figure also in
Woodstock. In The Bride of Lammermoor, besides, the author
deals incidentally with that firm belief in prophecy which was long
a prominent part of Scottish life; while in Waverley, again, he
depicts a Highland chief as awestruck and unmanned by the sight
of a peculiar omen. Highland superstitions, indeed, appealed with
particular potency to Sir Walter's romantic temper; while he was
not the only writer of his time who dealt ably with this branch of
the occult, another being Susan Ferrier in her novels of Destiny
and The Chief's Daughter. Nor should we fail ere leaving this
period, to mention Ann Radcliffe, for in almost all her novels the
supernatural figures prominently.
While the last - named trio were at work thus in Britain, some good
stories in which magic occurs were being written in America by
Washington Irving; and, not very long after his day, a second
American arose to treat brilliantly of weirdness and wizardry,
Edgar Allan Poe. Then, reverting to England, ghosts appear in a
few of Dickens' novels, and Charles Reade manifests here and
there a love of the occult; while coming to slightly later times, a
writer who manifested this predilection abundantly is Robert Louis
Stevenson. His Dr. Jekyll and My. Hyde is among the best of all
modern novels in which the supernatural plays a salient role, and
many of his short stories pertain also to the category of occult, for
example, the tale of the magic bottle in Island Nights
Entertainments; while, about the date these were being composed,
Oscar Wilde was writing what is one of the most beautiful things
dealing with invisible powers, The Picture of Dorian Gray. Much
inferior to this masterpiece, yet possessing considerable
excellence, are George du Maurier's Peter Ibbetson, Trilby and
The Martian, in each of which the supernatural is prominent; while
a further work which should certainly be cited is Lafcadio Hearn's
Dead Love, a tiny tale of magic which the author thought lightly of,
but which future generations are almost sure to prize on account of
its lovely wording, at some places worthy of Theophile Gautier
himself, who was Hearn's acknowledged master.
These recent authors do not by any means conclude the list, for a
wealth of occult fiction has been written since their day. Among its
most remarkable items is The Ghost Ship of Richard Middleton, a
singularly promising storyteller and poet who died by his own hand
lately at the early age of twenty - nine; while many contemporary
novelists have introduced magic into their books, for instance, Mr.
Rider Haggard in She, the late Mr. Bram Stoker in Dracula, and
Mr. F. A. Anstey in Vice Versa and The Brass Bottle. In fact, were
one to cite all the living wont to trade in the occult, an article of
formidable size would be the result, and accordingly the attempt
must be eschewed; but at least it is essential to mention Mr.
Theodore Watts - Dunton's Aylwin, this reflecting really fine
treatment of mystic matter, and being couched throughout in a
style of exceptional beauty. Mr. Arthur Symons is another great
writer of to - day who loves the borderland between dreams and -
realities, as witness many pages in his Spiritual Adventures while
the invisible world has always appealed powerfully~ to Mr. W. B.
Yeats, and is employed to good purpose here and there in his
stories of the Irish peasantry.
It is less the ghost than the fairy
which he delights in, true Celt that he is; and his predilection
herein sets one dreaming of fairy - tales in general, and summons a
curious medley of names. William Morris wrote a host of beautiful
fairy stories, some of them concerned with the promulgation of
socialistic ideas, but others innocent of anything of that sort; while
the voluminous works of Ruskin include what can only be defined
as a fairy tale, The King of the Golden River. Numerous
contemporary writers have likewise done good work in this field -
Lord Dunsany, Mr. J. M. Barrie, and more especially Mr. Laurence
Housman - while a remarkable fairy play has been written lately by
Mr. Graham Robertson, and has been staged with surprising
triumph. Then, reverting for a moment to defunct authors, fairies
occur in that charming volume by H. D. Lowry, Make Believe, and
in Richard Middleton's book, The Day Before Yesterday; while no
account of this particular domain of literature would be complete
without mention of the work of Lewis Carroll, and also of Jean Ingelow lovely story, Mopsa the Fairy. This last is possibly the
best of all fairy stories, and one which has been most widely and
wisely cherished; and it stands out very clearly in the memory of
nearly every man of imaginative temperament, reminding him of
his own childhood.
Finn Mae Cummal: In Irish romance, Captain of the Fianna and
the centre of the Ossianic tales. His father Cumhal, chief of the
clan Basena, was slain at Castle Knock by the rival clan Morna,
but his mother succeeded in saving him from the enemy. He was
brought up in hiding and given the name of Finn from the
clearness of his skin. He learned science and poetry from the druid
Finegas who dwelt on the river Boyne. The druid had been unable
to catch the salmon of knowledge until Finn became his pupil, and
when he did succeed in catching it, he told Finn to watch it while
it was cooking but not to partake of it. Finn, however, burned his
fingers as he turned the spit and put one of them in his mouth.
Seeing this, Finegas bade him eat the salmon and he became filled
with the wisdom of all ages. Afterwards he took service with King
Cormac to whom he revealed his name and lineage. Cormac
promised him the leadership of the Fianna if he succeeded in
killing the fire - blowing demon that came yearly to set Tara in
flames. Finn slew the demon and bore his head back to Tara. The
Fianna were therefore ordered to swear allegiance to Finn as their
captain, which, led by Goll mac Morna, their former captain, they
all did. Under Finn, the Fianna rose to great eminence, an
eminence which at length became tyrannical and from which they
were thrown at the battle of Bowra. Finn's end is shrouded in
mystery. According to popular tradition he and his great
companions lie sleeping in an enchanted cave whence they shall
arise in the hour of their country's need, like Arthur, Barbarossa
and Charlemagne.
'At the time Finn was born his father Cumhal, of the sons of
Baiscne, Head of the Fianna of Ireland, had been killed in battle
by the sons of Morna that were fighting with him for the leadership.
And his mother, that was beautiful long-haired Muirne, daughter of
Tadg, son of Nuada of the Tuatha de Danaan and of Ethlinn,
mother of Lugh of the Long Hand, did not dare to keep him with
her; and two women, Bodhmall, the woman Druid, and Liath
Luachra, came and brought him away to care for him.
It was to the woods of Slieve Bladhma they brought him, and they
nursed him secretly, because of his father’s enemies, the sons of
Morna, and they kept him there a long time.
And Muirne, his mother, took another husband that was king of
Carraighe; but at the end of six years she came to see Finn, going
through every lonely place till she came to the wood, and there she
found the little hunting cabin, and the boy asleep in it, and she
lifted him up in her arms and kissed him, and she sang a little
sleepy song to him; and then she said farewell to the women, and
she went away again.
And the two women went on caring him till he came to sensible
years; and one day when he went out he saw a wild duck on the
lake with her clutch, and he made a cast at her that cut the wings
off her that she could not fly, and he brought her back to the cabin,
and that was his first hunt.
And they gave him good training in running and leaping and
swimming. One of them would run round a tree, and she having a
thorn switch, and Finn after her with another switch, and each one
trying to hit at the other; and they would leave him in a field, and
hares along with him, and would bid him not to let the hares quit
the field, but to keep before them whichever way they would go;
and to teach him swimming they would throw him into the water
and let him make his way out.
But after a while he went away with a troop of poets, to hide from
the sons of Morna, and they hid him in the mountain of Crota Glitch; but there was a robber in Leinster at that time, Fiacail, son
of Chodna, and he came where the poets were in Fish Gaible and
killed them all. But he spared the child and brought him to his own
house, that was in a cold marsh. But the two women, Bodhmall and
Liath, came looking for him after a while, and Fiacuil gave him up
to them, and they brought him back to the same place he was
before.
He grew up there, straight and strong and fair-haired and
beautiful. And one day he was out in Slieve Bladhma, and the two
women along with him, and they saw before them a herd of the wild
deer of the mountain. "It is a pity," said the old women, "we not to
be able to get a deer of those deer." "I will get one for you," said
Finn; and with that he followed after them, and caught two stags of
them and brought them home to the hunting cabin. And after that
he used to be hunting for them every day. But at last they said to
him:
"It is best for you to leave us now, for the sons of Morna are
watching again to kill you."
So he went away then by himself, and never stopped till he came to
Magh Lifé, and there he saw young lads swimming in a lake, and
they called to him to swim against them. So he went into the lake,
and he beat them at swimming. "Fair he is and well shaped," they
said when they saw him swimming, and it was from that time he got
the name of Finn, that is, Fair. But they got to be jealous of his
strength, and he went away and left them.
He went on then till he came to Loch Lein, and he took service
there with the King of Finntraigh; and there was no hunter like
him, and the king said: "If Cumhal had left a son, you would be
that son."
He went from that king after, and he went into Carraighe, and there
he took service with the king, that had taken his mother Muirne for
his wife. And one day they were playing chess together, and he
won seven games one after another. "Who are you at all?" said the
king then. "I am a son of a countryman of the Luigne of Teamhair,"
said Finn. "That is not so," said the king, "but you are the son that
Muirne my wife bore to Cumhal. And do not stop here any longer,"
he said, "that you may not be killed under my protection."
From that he went into Connacht looking for his father’s brother,
Crimall, son of Trenmor; and as he was going on his way he heard
the crying of a lone woman. He went to her, and looked at her, and
tears of blood were on her face. "Your face is red with blood,
woman," he said. "I have reason for it," said she, "for my only son
is after being killed by a great fighting man that came on us." And
Finn followed after the big champion and fought with him and
killed him. And the man he killed was the same man that had
given Cumhal his first wound in the battle where he got his death,
and had brought away his treasure-bag with him.
Now as to that treasure-bag, it is of a crane skin it was made, that
was one time the skin of Aoife, the beautiful sweetheart of Ilbrec,
son of Manannan, that was put into the shape of a crane through
jealousy. And it was in Manannan’s house it used to be, and there
were treasures kept in it, Manannan’s shirt and his knife, and the
belt and the smith’s hook of Goibniu, and the shears of the King of
Alban, and the helmet of the King of Lochlann, and a belt of the
skin of a great fish, and the bones of Asal’s pig that had been
brought to Ireland by the sons of Tuireann. All those treasures
would be in the bag at full tide, but at the ebbing of the tide it
would be empty. And it went from Manannan to Lugh, son of
Ethlinn, and after that to Cumhal, that was husband to Muirne, Ethlinn daughter.
And Finn took the bag and brought it with him till he found
Crimall, that was now an old man, living in a lonely place, and
some of the old men of the Fianna were with him, and used to go
hunting for him. And Finn gave him the bag, and told him his
whole story.
And then he said farewell to Crimall, and went on to learn poetry
from Finegas, a poet that was living at the Boinn, for the poets
thought it was always on the brink of water poetry was revealed to
them. And he did not give him his own name, but he took the name
of Deimne. Seven years, now, Finegas had stopped at the Boinn,
watching the salmon, for it was in the prophecy that he would eat
the salmon of knowledge that would come there, and that he would
have all knowledge after. And when at the last the salmon of
knowledge came, he brought it to where Finn was, and bade him to
roast it, but he bade him not to eat any of it. And when Finn
brought him the salmon after a while he said: "Did you eat any of it
at all, boy?" "I did not," said Finn; "but I burned my thumb putting
down a blister that rose on the skin, and after that, I put my thumb
in my mouth." "What is your name, boy?" said Finegas. "Deimne,"
said he. "It is not, but it is Finn your name is, and it is to you and
not to myself the salmon was given in the prophecy." With that he
gave Finn the whole of the salmon, and from that time Finn had the
knowledge that came from the nuts of the nine hazels of wisdom
that grow beside the well that is below the sea.
And besides the wisdom he got then, there was a second wisdom
came to him another time, and this is the way it happened. There
was a well of the moon belonging to Beag, son of Buan, of the
Tuatha de Danaan, and whoever would drink out of it would get
wisdom, and after a second drink he would get the gift of
foretelling. And the three daughters of Beag, son of Buan, had
charge of the well, and they would not part with a vessel of it for
anything less than red gold. And one day Finn chanced to be
hunting in the rushes near the well, and the three women ran out to
hinder him from coming to it, and one of them that had a vessel of
water in her hand, threw it at him to stop him, and a share of the
water went into his mouth. And from that out he had all the
knowledge that the water of that well could give.
And he learned the three ways of poetry; and this is the poem he
made to show he had got his learning well:
—
"It is the month of May is the pleasant time; its face is beautiful;
the blackbird sings his full song, the living wood is his holding, the
cuckoos are singing and ever singing; there is a welcome before
the brightness of the summer.
"Summer is lessening the rivers, the swift horses are looking for the
pool; the heath spreads out its long hair, the weak white bog-down
grows. A wildness comes on the heart of the deer; the sad restless
sea is asleep.
"Bees with their little strength carry a load reaped from the
flowers; the cattle go up muddy to the mountains; the ant has a
good full feast.
"The harp of the woods is playing music; there is colour on the
hills, and a haze on the full lakes, and entire peace upon every
sail.
"The corncrake is speaking, a loud-voiced poet; the high lonely
waterfall is singing a welcome to the warm pool, the talking of the
rushes has begun.
"The light swallows are darting; the loudness of music is around
the hill; the fat soft mast is budding; there is grass on the
trembling bogs.
"The bog is as dark as the feathers of the raven; the cuckoo makes
a loud welcome; the speckled salmon is leaping; as strong is the
leaping of the swift fighting man.
"The man is gaining; the girl is in her comely growing power; every
wood is without fault from the top to the ground, and every wide
good plain.
"It is pleasant is the colour of the time; rough winter is gone; every
plentiful wood is white; summer is a joyful peace.
"A flock of birds pitches in the meadow; there are sounds in the
green fields, there is in them a clear rushing stream.
"There is a hot desire on you for the racing of horses; twisted holly
makes a leash for the hound; a bright spear has been shot into the
earth, and the flag-flower is golden under it.
"A weak lasting little bird is singing at the top of his voice; the lark
is singing clear tidings; May without fault, of beautiful colours.
"I have another story for you; the ox is lowing, the water is creeping
in, the summer is gone. High and cold the wind, low the sun, cries
are about us; the sea is quarrelling.
"The ferns are reddened and their shape is hidden; the cry of the
wild goose is heard; the cold has caught the wings of the birds; it is
the time of ice-frost, hard, unhappy."
And after that, Finn being but a young lad yet, made himself ready
and went up at Samhain time to the gathering of the High King at
Teamhair. And it was the law at that gathering, no one to raise a
quarrel or bring out any grudge against another through the whole
of the time it lasted. And the king and his chief men, and Goll, son
of Morna, that was now Head of the Fianna, and Caoilte, son of
Ronan, and Conan, son of Morna, of the sharp words, were sitting
at a feast in the great house of the Middle Court; and the young lad
came in and took his place among them, and none of them knew
who he was.
The High King looked at him then, and the horn of meetings was
brought to him, and he put it into the boy’s hand, and asked him
who was he.
"I am Finn, son of Cumhal," he said, "son of the man that used to
be head over the Fianna, and king of Ireland; and I am come now
to get your friendship, and to give you my service."
"You are son of a friend, boy," said the king, "and son of a man I
trusted."
Then Finn rose up and made his agreement of service and of
faithfulness to the king; and the king took him by the hand and put
him sitting beside his own son, and they gave themselves to
drinking and to pleasure for a while.
Every year, now, at Samhain time, for nine years, there had come a
man of the Tuatha de Danann out of Sidhe Finnachaidh in the
north, and had burned up Teamhair. Aillen, son of Midhna, his
name was, and it is the way he used to come, playing music of the
Sidhe, and all the people that heard it would fall asleep. And when
they were all in their sleep, he would let a flame of fire out of his
mouth, and would blow the flame till all Teamhair was burned.
The king rose up at the feast after a while, and his smooth horn in
his hand, and it is what he said: "If I could find among you, men of
Ireland, any man that would keep Teamhair till the break of day
to-morrow without being burned by Aillen, son of Midhna, I would
give him whatever inheritance is right for him to have, whether it
be much or little."
But the men of Ireland made no answer, for they knew well that at
the sound of the sweet pitiful music made by that comely man of
the Sidhe, even women in their pains and men that were wounded
would fall asleep.
It is then Finn rose up and spoke to the King of Ireland. "Who will
be your sureties that you will fulfil this?" he said. "The kings of the
provinces of Ireland," said the king, "and Siddharth with his
Druids." So they gave their pledges, and Finn took in hand to keep
Teamhair safe till the breaking of day on the morrow.
Now there was a fighting man among the followers of the King of
Ireland, Fiacha, son of Conga, that Cumhal, Finn’s father, used to
have a great liking for, and he said to Finn: "Well, boy," he said,
"what reward would you give me if I would bring you a deadly
spear, that no false cast was ever made with?" "What reward are
you asking of me?" said Finn. "Whatever your right hand wins at
any time, the third of it to be mine," said Fiacha, "and a third of
your trust and your friendship to be mine." "I will give you that,"
said Finn. Then Fiacha brought him the spear, unknown to the
sons of Morna or to any other person, and he said: "When you will
hear the music of the Sidhe, let you strip the covering off the head
of the spear and put it to your forehead, and the power of the spear
will not let sleep come upon you."
Then Finn rose up before all the men of Ireland, and he made a
round of the whole of Teamhair. And it was not long till he heard
the sorrowful music, and he stripped the covering from the head of
the spear, and he held the power of it to his forehead. And Aillen
went on playing his little harp, till he had put every one in their
sleep as he was used; and then he let a flame of fire out from his
mouth to burn Teamhair. And Finn held up his fringed crimson
cloak against the flame, and it fell down through the air and went
into the ground, bringing the four-folded cloak with it deep into the
earth.
And when Aillen saw his spells were destroyed, he went back to
Sidhe Finnachaidh on the top of Slieve Fuad; but Finn followed
after him there, and as Aillen was going in at the door he made a
cast of the spear that went through his heart. And he struck his
head off then, and brought it back to Teamhair, and fixed it on a
crooked pole and left it there till the rising of the sun over the
heights and invers of the country.
And Aillen’s mother came to where his body was lying, and there
was great grief on her, and she made this complaint: —
"Ochone! Aillen is fallen, chief of the Sidhe of Beinn Boirche; the
slow clouds of death are come on him. Och! he was pleasant, Och!
he was kind. Aillen, son of Midhna of Slieve Fuad.
"Nine times he burned Teamhair. It is a great name he was always
looking for, Ochone, Ochone, Aillen!"
And at the breaking of day, the king and all the men of Ireland
came out upon the lawn at Teamhair where Finn was. "King," said
Finn, "there is the head of the man that burned Teamhair, and the
pipe and the harp that made his music. And it is what I think," he
said, "that Teamhair and all that is in it is saved."
Then they all came together into the place of counsel, and it is
what they agreed, the headship of the Fianna of Ireland to be given
to Finn. And the king said to Goll, son of Morna: "Well, Goll," he
said, "is it your choice to quit Ireland or to put your hand in Finn’s
hand?" "By my word, I will give Finn my hand," said Goll.
And when the charms that used to bring good luck had done their
work, the chief men of the Fianna rose up and struck their hands
in Finn’s hand, and Goll, son of Morna, was the first to give him
his hand the way there would be less shame on the rest for doing it.
And Finn kept the headship of the Fianna until the end; and the
place he lived in was Almhuin of Leinster, where the white dun
was made by Nuada of the Tuatha de Danann, that was as white as
if all the lime in Ireland was put on it, and that got its name from the great herd of cattle that died fighting one time around the well,
and that left their horns there, speckled horns and white.
And as to Finn himself, he was a king and a seer and a poet; a
Druid and a knowledgeable man; and everything he said was
sweet-sounding to his people. And a better fighting man than Finn
never struck his hand into a king’s hand, and whatever any one
ever said of him, he was three times better. And of his justice it
used to be said, that if his enemy and his own son had come before
him to be judged, it is a fair judgment he would have given
between them. And as to his generosity it used to be said, he never
denied any man as long as he had a mouth to eat with, and legs to
bring away what he gave him; and he left no woman without her
bride-price, and no man without his pay; and he never promised at
night what he would not fulfil on the morrow, and he never
promised in the day what he would not fulfil at night, and he never
forsook his right-hand friend. And if he was quiet in peace he was
angry in battle, and Oisin his son and Osgar his son’s son followed
him in that. There was a young man of Ulster came and claimed
kinship with them one time, saying they were of the one blood. "If
that is so," said Oisin, "it is from the men of Ulster we took the
madness and the angry heart we have in battle." "That is so
indeed," said Finn. 54s
Flamel, Nicholas: was born at Pontoise, of a poor but respectable
family, about the beginning of the fourteenth century. He received
a good education, of which his natural abilities enabled him to
make the best use. Repairing to Paris, he obtained employment as
a public scrivener, - sitting at the corner of the Rue de Marivaux,
copying or inditing letters and other documents. The occupation
brought with it little profit, and Flamel tried in succession poetry
and painting with an equally unsatisfactory result. His quick wits
suggested that as he could make no money by teaching mankind, it
might be more profitable to cheat them, and he took up the pursuit
of Astrology, casting horoscopes and telling fortunes. He was right
in his conjectures, and soon thrive so vigorously that he was
enabled to take unto himself a wife named Petronella. But those
who begin to study the magic art for profit or amusement generally
finish by addicting themselves to it with a blindly passionate love.
Nicholas devoted himself both day and night to his fascinating but
deceptive pursuits; and soon acquired a thorough knowledge of all
that previous adepts had written upon the elixir vihv, the universal
Alkahest, and the Philosopher's Stone. In 1297 he lighted upon a
manual of the art which would have been invaluable if it had been
intelligible. He bought it for two florins. It contained three times
seven leaves written with a steel instrument upon the bark of trees.
The calligraphy was as admirable as the Latin was cryptical. Each
seventh leaf was free from writing, but emblazoned with a picture;
the first, representing a serpent swallowing rods;
the second, a
serpent crucified on a cross; and
the third, the and expanse of a
treeless desert, in whose depths a fountain bubbled, with serpents
trailing their slimy folds from side to side.
The author of this
mysterious book purported to be " Abraham, the patriarch, Jew,
prince, philosopher, Levite, priest, and astrologer, " (q.v.) who
added to his other claims upon the wonder of mankind a
knowledge of Latin. He had included within these precious pages a
complete exposition of the art of transmuting metals; describing
every process, explaining the different vessels, and pointing out
the proper seasons for making experiments. In fact, the book would
have been perfect, but for one deficiency; it was addressed not so
much to the tyro as to an adept, and took it for granted that its
student was already in possession of the Philosopher's Stone.
This
was a terrible obstacle to the inquiring Flamel. The more he
studied the book the less he understood it. He studied the letter
Dress, and he studied the illustrations; he invited the wise men of
France to come and study them, but no light was thrown upon
the darkness. For thrice seven years he poured over these
perplexing pages, until at length his wife suggested that a Jewish
Rabbi might be able to interpret them.
As the chiefs of the Jews
were principally located in Spain, to Spain went Flamel, and there
he remained for two years. From one of the Hebrew sages he
obtained some hints which afforded a key to the patriarchal
mysteries, and returning to Paris he recommenced his studies with
a new vigour. They were rewarded with success. On the 13th of
February, 1382, O.S., Flamel made a projection on Mercury, and
produced some virgin silver. On the 25th of the following April he
converted some Mercury into gold, and found himself the fortunate
possessor of an inexhaustible treasure. But his good fortune did not
end here. Flamel, continuing his researches discovered the elixir
of life, which enabled him to prolong his life~and accumulate gold
- to the venerable age of 136. He further administered the life -
giving potion to his wife, who reached nearly as great a longevity as
himself, dying in the year preceding his own death, A.D. 1414.
As
they had no children, they spent their wealth upon churches and
hospitals, and several of the religious and charitable institutions of
France still attest their well - directed benevolence. There is no
doubt that Flamel practised alchemy, and one of his works on the
fascinating science - a poem entitled The Philosophic Summary -
was printed as late as 1735. In Salmon's valuable and very curious
Bibliotheque des Philosophes Chimiques are preserved same
specimens of the drawings in Abraham's treatise on metallurgy and
of his own handwriting. But Flamel was neither an enthusiast nor a
dupe. His alchemical studies were but the disguises of his
usurious practices. To account for the immense wealth he acquired
by money - lending to the young French nobles, and by transacting
business between the Jews of France and those of Spain, he
invented the fiction of his discovery of the Philosopher's Stone. He
nevertheless obtained great repute as a magician, and his followers
believed that he was still alive though retired from the world and
would live for six centuries.
Fludd, or Flud, Robert: This Rosicrucian and alchemist was born
in 1574 at Milgate House, in the parish of Bearsted, Kent, his
father being one Sir Thomas Fludd, a knight who enjoyed the
patronage of Queen Elizabeth, and served her for several years as "
Treasurer of War in the Low Countries." At the age of seventeen
Robert entered S~14 John's College, Oxford, and five years later
he took his degree as Bachelor of Arts; while shortly afterwards, on
his deciding to take up medical science, he left England and went
to prosecute his studies on the Continent. Going first to Spain, he
travelled thence to Italy, and subsequently stayed for some time in
Germany, where he is said to have supported himself by acting as
pedagogue in various noble households; but soon he was home
again, and in 1605 his alma mater, of Oxford conferred on him the
degrees of Bachelor of Medicine and Doctor of Medicine, while
five years later he became a Fellow of the College of Physicians.
Having thus equipped himself thoroughly for the medical
profession, Fludd went to London and took a house in Fenchurch
Street, a quiet place in those days, though now a noisy centre of
commerce; and here he soon gained an extensive practice, his
success being due not merely to his genuine skill, but to his having
an attractive and even magnetic personality. But busy though he
was in this way, he found leisure to write at length on medicine;
while anon he became an important and influential member of the
Fraternity of the Rosy Cross, iind at the same time he commenced alchemistic experiments. He. preached the great efficacy of the
magnet, of sympathetic cures, of the weapon - salve; he declared
his belief in the Philosopher's Stone, the universal alkahest or
solvent, the elixir vitep; he maintained that all things were
animated by two principles - condensation, the Boreal, or northern
virtue; and rarefaction, the Austral, or southern virtue. He asserted
that the human body was controlled by a number of demons, that
each disease had its peculiar demon, each demon his particular
place in the frame of humanity,.
France: Magical practice in pre - Roman France was vested in the
druidic cast, and was practically identical with that of the same
body in Britain, from which, indeed, it drew its inspiration. It is not
likely that Roman magic gained any footing in Gaul, but we have
little evidence to show whether this was or was not the case. In the
early Frankish period of the Merovingian dynasty, we find the
baleful personality of Fredegonde, wife of Hilperic, king of
Soissons, " a woman whose glance was witchcraft." She destroyed
many people on the pretext of sorcery, but there is no doubt that
she herself experimented in black magic, and protected many
practitioners of the art. Thus she saved a sorceress who had been
arrested by Ageric, bishop of Verdun, by hiding her in the palace.
(See Fredegonde.) The practice of magic was not punished under the rule of the early French kings, except in those in high places,
with whom it was regarded as a political offense as in the case of
the military leader Mummol, who was tortured by command of
Hilperic for sorcery. One of the Salic laws attributed to Pharamond
by Sigebert states that; " If any one shall testify that another has
acted as Herebeurge or strioporte - titles applied to those who
carry the copper vessel to the spot where the vampires perform
their enchantments - and if he fail to convict him, he shall be
condemned hereby to a forfeit of 7,500 deniers, being 1800 sous. .
. . If a vampire shall devour a man and be found guilty, she shall
forfeit 8,000 deniers, being 2000 sous.
The Church legislated also against sorcerers and vampires, and the
Council of Agde, in Languedoc, held in A.D. 506, pronounced
excommunication against them. The first Council of Orleans,
convened in 541, condemned divination and augury, and that of
Narbonne, in 589, besides excommunicating all sorcerers,
ordained that they should be sold as slaves for the benefit of the
poor. Those who had dealings with the Devil were also condemned
to be whipped by the same Council. Some extraordinary
phenomena are alleged to have occurred in France during the
reign of Pepin le Bref. The air seemed to be alive with human
shapes, mirages filled the heavens, and sorcerers were seen among
the clouds, scattering unwholesome powders and poisons with open
hands; crops failed, cattle died, and many human beings perished.
It is perhaps possible that such visions were stimulated by the
teachings of the famous Kabalist, Zedekias, who presided over a
school of occult science, where he refrained indeed from unveiling
the hidden secrets of his art, and contented himself by ~spreading
the theory of elemental spirits, who, he stated, had before the fall
of man been subservient to him.
It was thought that the visions alluded to above simplified the
descent of sylphs and salamanders in search of their former
masters. Says Eliphas Levi:
" Voyages to the land of sylphs were talked of on all sides as we
talk at the present day of animated tables and fluidic
manifestations. The folly took possession even of strong minds, and
it was time for an intervention on the part of the Church, which
does not relish the supernatural being hawked in the public
streets, seeing that such disclosures, by imperilling the respect due
to authority and to the hierarchic chain of instruction, cannot be
attributed to the spirit of order and light. The cloud phantoms were
therefore arraigned and accused of being hell - born illusions,
while the people - anxious to get something into their hands -
began a crusade against sorcerers. The public folly turned into a
paroxysm of mania; strangers in country places were accused of
descending from heaven and were killed without mercy; imbeciles
confessed that they had been abducted by sylphs or demons;
others who had boasted like this previously either would not or
could not unsay it; they were burned or drowned, and, according to
Garinet, the number who perished throughout the kingdom almost
exceeds belief. It is the common catastrophe of dramas in which
the first parts are played by ignorance or fear.
" Such visionary epidemics recurred in the reigns following,
and all the power of Charlemagne was put in action to calm the
public agitation. An edict, afterwards renewed by Louis the Pious,
forbade sylphs to manifest under the heaviest penalties. It will be
understood that in the absence of the aerial beings the judgments
fell upon those who had made a boast of having seen them, and
hence they ceased to be seen. The ships in air sailed back to the
port of oblivion, and no one claimed any longer to have journeyed
through the blue distance. - Other popular frenzies replaced the
previous mania, while the romantic splendours of the great reign of
Charlemagne furnished the makers of legends with new prodigies
to believe and new marvels to relate."
Around the figure of Charlemagne (q.v.) clusters such an immense
amount of the matter of faery that it is reserved for treatment in a
special article, and it will suffice to state here that it almost
partakes of the nature of true myth. It is stated that the Enchiridion
(q.v.) (which may well be stigmatised as an early text - book of
occult absurdity having no claim to figure in the true genealogy of
occult literature) was presented to Charlemagne by Pope Leo III.
Eliphas Levi presents a picturesque condition of affairs in the
France of Charlemagne in the following passage:
" We know that superstitions die hard and that degenerated
Druidism had struck its roots deeply in the savage lands of the
North. The recurring insurrections of Saxons testified to a
fanaticism which was (a) always turbulent, and (b) incapable of
repression by moral force alone. All defeated forms of worship -
Roman paganism, Germanic idolatry, Jewish rancour conspired
against victorious Christianity. Nocturnal assemblies took place;
thereat the conspirators cemented their alliance with the blood of
human victims; and a pantheistic idol of monstrous form, with the
horns of a goat, presided over festivals which might be called
agapm of hatred. In a word, the Sabbath was still celebrated in
every forest and wild if yet unclaimed provinces. The adepts who
attended them were masked and otherwise unrecognisable; the
assemblies extinguished their lights and broke up before daybreak,
the guilty were to be found everywhere, and they could be brought
to book nowhere. It came about therefore that Charlemagne
determined to fight them with their own weapons.
" In those days, moreover, feudal tyrants were in league with
sectarians against lawful authority; female sorcerers were attached
to castles as courtesans; bandits who frequented the Sabbaths
divided with nobles the blood - stained loot of rapine; feudal courts
were at the command of the highest bidder; and the public burdens
weighed with all their force only on the weak and poor. The evil
was at its height in Westphalia, and faithful agents were despatched thither by Charlemagne entrusted with a secret
mission. Whatsoever energy remained among the oppressed,
whosoever still loved justice, whether among the people or among
the nobility, were drawn by these emissaries together, bound by
pledges and vigilance in common. To the initiates thus
incorporated they made known the full powers which they carried
from the emperor himself, and they proceeded to institute the
Tribunal of Free judges.
A great deal of this, of course, is only what might be expected from
the French magus. It is not likely that the Sabbath was yet
celebrated in such an extreme manner as in later times, nor was
the Vehingericht founded by Charlemagne, or indeed, founded at
all, for four and a half centuries after his day.
From the reign of Robert the Pious to that of St. Louis, there is not
much to relate that can strike the imagination of the student of
occult history. In the time of the latter monarch flourished the
famous Rabbi Jachiel, the celebrated Kabbalist. There is some
reason to believe that he had glimmerings ' of the uses of
electricity, for on the approach of night 'a radiant star appeared in
his lodging, the light being so brilliant that no eye could gaze
thereon without being dazzled, while it darted rainbow colours. It
appeared to be inexhaustible, and was never replenished with oil
or other combustible substance. When the Rabbi was annoyed by
intruders at his door he struck a nail fixed in his cabinet,
producing simultaneously a blue spark on the head of the nail and
the door - knocker, to which, if the intruder clung, he received a
severe shock. Albertus Magnus (q.v.) lived at the same period.
The next circumstance of interest which falls to be noted is the
prosecutions of the Templars (q.v.) who were brought to trial by
Philip the Fair. Other prosecutions for sorcery were those of Joan
of Arc, Gilles de Laval (q.v.), lord of Raiz, the prototype of
Bluebeard, a renowned sorcerer, who with two assistants, practised
diabolical rites at his castle of Machecoul, celebrating the black
mass in the most revolting manner. He had been in the habit of
slaughtering children to assist him in his search for the
philosopher's stone.
We now near the period of those astounding
prosecutions for sorcery which are fully noted under the article "
Witchcraft " and elsewhere. As early as the thirteenth century the
charge of sorcery had been made as one of the means of branding
with infamy the heretical Waldenses (q.v.), who were accused of
selling themselves to the Devil, and of holding sabbatical orgies
where they did homage to the enemy of mankind.
About the middle
of the fifteenth century France became the theatre of wholesale
oppression against suspected sorcerers, but one finds leading up to
this a series of events which prove that the outburst in question
was by no means a novelty in that country. In 1315 Enguerrand de
Marigny, who had conducted the execution of the Templars as minister of Philip the Fair, was hanged along with an adventurer
name~ Paviot, for attempting to compass the deaths of the Counts
of Valois and St. Paul.
In 1334 the Countess of Artois and her son
were thrown into prison on a suspicion of sorcery. In 1393, in the
reign of Charles VI., it was considered that his sister - in - law, the
Duchess of Orleans, who was a vicomte and the daughter of the
Duke of Milan, had rendered the King mad by sorcery. The
ministers of the court resolved to pit a magician against her, - and
one Arnaud Guillaume (q.v.) was brought from Guienne as a
suitable adversary to the noble lady. He possessed a book to which
he gave the strange title of Smagorad, the original of which, he
said, was given by God to Adam, to console him for the loss of his
son Abel, and he asserted that the possessor of this volume could
hold the stars in subjection, and command the four elements.
He
assured the King's advisers that Charles was suffering from the
malignity of a sorcerer, but in the meantime the young monarch
recovered, and the possessor of the patriarchal volume fell back
into his original obscurity. Five years later the King had another
attack, and two Augustine friars were sent from Guienne for the
purpose of effecting a cure. But their conduct was so outrageous
that they were executed.
A third attack in 1403 was combated by
two sorcerers of Dijon, Poinson and Briquet. For this purpose they
established themselves in a thick wood - not far from the gates of
Dijon, where they made a magic circle of iron of immense weight,
which was supported by iron columns of the height of a middle -
sized man, and to which twelve chains of iron were attached. So
great was the popular anxiety for the King's recovery, that the two
sorcerers succeeded in persuading twelve of the principal persons
of the town to enter the circle, and allow themselves to be fastened
by the chains. The sorcerers then proceeded with their
incantations, but they were altogether without result. The bailiff of
Dijon, who was one of the twelve, and had averred his incredulity
from the first, caused the sorcerers to be arrested, and they were
burnt for their pretences.
The Duke of Orleans appears to have fallen under the same
suspicion of sorcery as his Italian consort. After his murder by
order of the Duke of Burgundy - the commencement of those
troubles which led to the desolation of France - the latter drew up
various heads of accusation against his victim as justifications of
the crime, and one of these was, that the Duke of Orleans had -
attempted to compass his death by means of sorcery. According to
this statement, he had received a magician - another apostate friar
- into his castle of Mountjoy, where he was employed in these
sinister designs. He performed his magical ceremonies before
sunrise on a neighbouring mountain, where two demons, named
Herman and Astramon, appeared to him; and these became his
active instruments in the prosecution of his design.
About the year 1400 the belief in the nightly meetings of the
witches' Sabbath had become almost universal. It would indeed be
difficult to attempt to trace the origin of this practice, which does
not seem altogether referable to the survival of pagan belief. (See
Witchcraft.) The wholesale nature of the prosecutions against
sorcerers and witches prove that there must have been an
extraordinary number of them in the country. In Paris alone, in the
time of Charles IX, there were no less than thirty thousand
sorcerers, and it is computed that France contained more than
three times that number in the reign of Henry Ill., not a town or
village being exempt from their presence. hey belonged to al
classes, and ~generally met the same fate, regardless of rank -,
age or sex. Children of the tenderest years and nonagenarians were
alike committed to the flames, and the terror of being publicly
accused as a sorcerer hung like a black cloud over the life of every
successful man, as the charge was one which envy readily seized
upon for the destruction of its object. No elaborate or perfect creed
regarding witchcraft had at this epoch been evolved in England,
but in France and other continental countries it had been assuming
a form systematic and complete. There were probably two reasons
for this, the decrees of ecclesiastical councils and the numerous
treatises of scholars who professed to illustrate their
various theories regarding sorcery by alleged statements from the
mouths of its innumerable victims. Indeed the writings of these
men served to standardise the sorcery creed of all continental
countries. During the earlier part of the sixteenth century, trials for
witchcraft in France are of rare occurrence, and there are no cases of great importance recorded till after the year 1156.
In 1561 a
number of persons were brought to trial at Vernon, accused of
having held their Sabbath as witches in an old ruined castle in the
shape of cats; and witnesses deposed to having seen the assembly,
and to having suffered from the attacks of the pseudo - feline
conspirators. But the court threw out the charge, as worthy only of
ridicule.
In 1564, three men and a woman were executed at
Poitiers, after having been made to confess to various acts of
sorcery; among other things, they said that they had regularly
attended the witches' Sabbath, which was held three times a year,
and that the demon who presided at it ended by burning himself to
make powder for the use of his agents in mischief.
In 1571, a mere
conjurer, who played tricks upon cards, was thrown into prison in
Paris, forced to confess that he was an attendant on the Sabbath,
and then executed.
In 1573, a man was burnt at Drole, on the
charge of having changed himself into a wolf, and in that form
devoured several children. Several witches, who all confessed to
having been at the Sabbaths, were in the same year condemned to
be burnt in different parts of France.
In 1578, another man was
tried and condemned in Paris for changing himself into a wolf; and
a man was condemned at Orleans for the same supposed crime in
1583.
As France was often infested by these rapacious - animals, it
is not difficult to conceive how popular credulity was led to
connect their ravages with the crime of witchcraft. The belief in
what were in England called werewolves (men -wolves), and in
France loups - garous, was a very ancient superstition throughout
Europe.
It is asserted by a serious and intelligent writer of the time
that, in 1588, a gentleman, looking out of the window of his
château in a village two leagues from Apchon, in the mountains of
Auvergne, saw one of his acquaintances going a - hunting, and
begged he would bring him home some game. The hunter, while
occupied in the chase, was attacked by a fierce she -, volf, and
after having fired at it without effect, struck it with his hunting -
knife, ard cut off the paw of his right fore - leg, on which it
immediately took to flight. The hunter took up the paw, threw it
into his bag with the rest of his game, and soon afterwards returned
to his friend's château, and told him of his adventure, at the same
time putting his hand into the bag to bring forth the wolf's paw in
confirmation of his story.
What was his surprise at drawing out a
lady's hand, with a gold ring on one finger ! His friend's
astonishment was still greater when he recognised the ring as
one which he had given to his own wife; and, descending hastily into
the kitchen, he found the lady warming herself by the fire, with her
right arm wrapped in her apron. This he at once seized, and found
to his horror that the hard was cut off. The lady confessed that it
was she who, in the form of a wolf, bad attacked the hunter; she
was, in due course of time, brought to her trial and condemned,
and was immediately afterwards burnt at Riems.
In 1578, a, witch was burnt at Compiegne; she confessed that she
had given herself to the devil, who appeared to her as a great black
man, on horseback, booted and spurred. Another avowed witch was
burnt the same year, who also stated that the evil one came to her
in the shape of a black man. In 1582 and 1583, several witches
were burnt, P - 11 frequenters of the Sabbaths. Several local
councils at this date passed severe laws against witchcraft, and
from that time to the end of the century, the number of miserable
persons put to death in France under the accusation was very
great. In the course only of fifteen years, from 1580, to 1595, and
only in one province, that of Lorraine, the president Remigius
burnt nine hundred witches, and as many more fled out of the
country to save their lives; and about the close of the century, one
of the French judges tells us that the crime of witchcraft had
become so common that there were not jails enough to hold the
prisoners, or judges to hear their causes. A trial which he had witnessed in 1568, induced jean Bodin, a learned physician, to
compose his book De la Demonomanie des Sorciers, which was
ever afterwards the text - book on this subject.
Among the English witches, the evil one generally came in person
to seduce his victims, but in France and other countries, this
seems to have been unnecessary, as each person, when once
initiated, became seized with ail uncontrollable desire of making
converts, whom he or she carried to the Sabbath to be duly
enrolled. Bodin says, that one witch was enough to corrupt five
hundred honest persons. The infection quickly ran through a
family, and. was generally carried down from generation to
generation, which explained satisfactorily, according to the learned
commentator on demonology just mentioned, the extent to which
the evil had spread itself in his days. The novice, at his or her
reception, after having performed the preliminaries, and in general
received a new and burlesque rite of baptism, - was marked with
the sign of the demon in some part of the body least exposed to
observation, and performed the first criminal act of compliance
which was afterwards to be so frequently repeated, the evil one
presenting himself ~on these occasions in the form of either sex,
the reverse. to that of the victim.
Towards the end of the sixteenth century, the witchcraft
infatuation had risen to its greatest height in France, and not only
the lower classes, but persons of the highest rank in society were
liable to suspicions of dealing in sorcery. We need only mention
that such charges were publicly made against King Henry III. and
Queen Catherine de Medicis, and that, early in the following
century, they became the ground of state trials which had a fatal
conclusion.
In 1610, during the reign of Louis XIII., occurred the .cause
celebre of the marechale d'Ancre. Among the servants attached to
the train of Marie de Medici was a certain Eleanora Dori, who
married one, Concini, a prodigal spendthrift. Marie de Medici, as
guardian to her son, was virtually ruler of France, and considerable
power wa8 exercised by these favourites of hers. The result was
that the peers of France leagued themselves together against the
upstarts, but with little result at first, as Concini was created
Marechal of France, with the title of Marquis J'Ancre. His wife,
who was very superstitious, fell sick, and attributed her ill - health
to the effects of sorcery. The upshot was that d'Ancre was
assassinated by the nobles luring a hunting expedition. The mob
dragged the corpse of d'Ancre from its grave and hanged it on the
Pont Neuf. His wretched widow was accused of sorcery, and of
having bewitched the Queen Mother. The exorcists who had
assisted her to free herself from illness had advised the sacrifice of
a cock, and this was now represented as a sacrifice to the infernal
powers. Added to this, the astrological nativities of the royal family
were found in her possession, were, it is said, a quantity of
magical books, and a great number of magical characters. After
being tortured with out result she was beheaded and burnt, and
strangely enough the anger of the Parisian mob turned to general
commiseration. Many other interesting cases occurred n France in
the seventeenth century, among others that of the Ursulines at Aix
(q.v.), for the enchantment of whom, Louis Gaufridi was burnt, the
Nuns of Louviers, and the Nuns of Assonne.
The eighteenth century in France was fairly prolific in occult
history. At a time when Europe was credulous about nothing but
magic, France did not escape the prevailing craze. Perhaps the
most striking personality of this age in the occult connection was
Nye Encyclopedia of Ancient and Forbidden Secrets
- 58 -
the Comte de Saint Germain (q.v.), who was credited with
possessing the secrets of alchemy and magic. His family
connections were unknown, and his conversation suggested that he
had lived for many centuries. Another mysterious adept was an
alchemist calling himself Lascaris (q.v.) who literally sowed his
path through Europe with gold. Then followed Cagliostro (q.v.),
who attained a fame unrivalled in the history of French occultism.
He founded many masonic lodges throughout the country, and
assisted in many ways to bring about the French Revolution.
A
school of initiates was founded by Martines de Pasqually, which
appears in some measure to have incorporated the teachings of the
later European adepts. One of the most important figures at this
time is Louis Claude de Saint - 'Martin, known as " Le Philosophe
Inconnu " who came under the influence Of Pasqually (q.v.), and
later, under that of the writings of Boehme, whose works he
translated. Cazotte (q.v.) was the first of these names who were
associated with both magic and the Revolution, which, indeed,
owed much in its inception to those mysterious brotherhoods of
France and Germany, who during the eighteenth century sowed the
seeds of equality and Illuminism throughout Europe.
Another was Lois Aut (q.v.), who formed a mystical society, which met in great
secrecy, awaiting a vision of John the Baptist, who came to them to
foretell the Revolution. The spiritual director of this circle was a
monk named Dom Gerle (q.v.) one of the first mesmerists in Paris,
who is said to have foretold the dreadful fame of Robespierre by
means of Catherine Throt, his medium. He was expelled by the
members of the circle, acting on the advice of one of their number,
Sister Françoise Andre, who cherished a notion to preserve the
crown for the future reign of Louis XVI, and thus gave rise to that
multitude of stories connected with the so - called - Saviours " of
the youthful " Capet."
This sect, or a portion of it, became notorious
under the leadership of Vintras (q.v.), when its meetings
degenerated - into the most dreadful debauchery. The appearance
of Mlle. Lenormand as a prophetess at the end of the eighteenth
century may be said to close the occult history of that age. With
the beginning of the nineteenth century we find the craze for
magnetism rampant, In his works The - Reform of Philosophy and
Yes or No, Wronski pretended to have discovered the first
theorems of the Kabala, and later beguiled rich persons of weak
intellect into paying him large sums in return for knowledge of the
Absolute. The Saviours of Louis XVII. were formally condemned in
1853 by the Pope as practitioners of black magic, but they in turn
condemned the Pope, and their leader, Vintras, constituted himself
Sovereign Ponti~, but he was arrested on the charge of roguery
and after five years' imprisonment, found an asylum in England.
The Baron du Potet did much to advance the science of Mesmer
and by this time was being seriously followed by Cahagnet and
others (See Mesmerism). In the middle of the nineteenth century
all sorts of absurdities swayed occult Paris. The tale of Alphonse
Esquiros (q.v.) entitled The Magician founded a school of magic
phantasy, which was assiduously nursed by Henri Delaage (q.v.),
who was said to have the gift of ubiquity, and who made a
collection of processes from the old magicians for acquiring
physical beauty.
The Comte d'Ourches was the first to introduce into France
automatic writing and tablewriting.
Baron Guldenstubbe, in his Practical Experimental Pneumatology; or, the Reality of Spirits an~ the Mayziellous
Phenomena of their Direct Writing, gives an account of his
discovery as follows:
" It was in the course of the year 1850, or about three years prior to
the epidemic of tablerapping, that the author sought to introduce
into France the circles of American spiritualism, the mysterious
Rochester knockings and the purely automatic writings of
mediums. Unfortunately he met with many obstacles raised by
other mesmerists. Those who were committed to the hypothesis of a
magnetic fluid, and even those who styled themselves Spiritual
Mesmerists, but who were really inferior inducers of
somnambulism, treated the mysterious knockings of American
spiritualism as visionary follies. It was therefore only after more
than six months that the author was able to form his first circle on
the American plan, and then thanks to the zealous concurrence of
M. Rousaan, a former member of the Societe des Mage wiseguys Spiritualists, a simple man who was full of enthusiasm for the
holy cause of spiritualism. We were joined by a number of other
persons, amongst whom was the Abbe Chattel, founder of the
Eglise Francaise, who, despite his rationalistic tendencies, ended
by admitting the reality of objective and supernatural revelation, as
an indispensable condition of spiritualism and all practical
religions. Setting aside the moral conditions which are equally
requisite, it is known that American circles ale based on the
distinction of positive and electric or negative magnetic currents.
The circles consist of twelve persons, representing in equal
proportions the positive and negative or sensitive elements. This
distinction does not follow the sex of the members, though
generally women are negative and sensitive, while men are positive
and magnetic. The mental and physical constitution of each
individual must be studied before forming the circles, for some
delicate women have masculine qualities, while some strong men
are, morally speaking, women. A table is placed in a clear and
ventilated spot; the medium is seated at one end and entirely
isolated; by his calm and contemplative quietude he serves as a
conductor for the electricity, and it may be noted that a good
somnambulist is usually an excellent medium. The six electrical or
negative dispositions, which are generally recognised by their
emotional qualities and their sensibility, are placed at the right of
the medium, the most sensitive of all being next him. The same
rule is followed with the positive personalities, who are at the left
of the medium, with the most positive next to him. In order to form
a chain, the twelve persons each place their right hand on the
table. Observe that the medium or mediums, if there be more than
one, are entirely isolated from those who form the chain.
" After a number of seances, certain remarkable phenomena have
been obtained, such as simultaneous shocks, felt by all present at
the moment of mental evocation on the part of the most intelligent
persons. It is the same with mysterious knockings and other
strange sounds; many people, including those least sensitive, have
had simultaneous visions, though remaining in the ordinary waking
state. Sensitive persons have acquired that most wonderful gift of
mediumship, namely, automatic writing, as the result of an
invisible attraction which uses the non intelligent instrument of a
human arm to express its ideas. For the rest, non - sensitive
persons experience the mysterious influence of an external wind,
but the effect is not strong enough to put their limbs in motion. All
these phenomena, obtained according to the mode of American
spiritualism, have the defect of being more or less indirect,
because it is impossible in these experiments to dispense with the
mediation of a human being or medium. It is
the same With the table - turning which invaded Europe in the
middle of the year 1853.
" The author has had many table experiences with his honourable
friend, the Comte d'Ourches, one of the most instructed persons in
Magic and the Occult Sciences. We attained by degrees the point
when tables moved, apart from any contact whatever, while the
Comte d'Ourches has caused them to rise, also without contact.
The author, has made tables rush across a room with great rapidity,
and not only without contact but without the magnetic aid of a
circle of sitters. The vibrations of piano - chords under similar
circumstances took place on January 20, 1856, in the presence of
the Comte de Szapary and Comte d'Ourches. Now all such
phenomena are proof positive of certain occult forces, but they do
not demonstrate adequately the real and substantial existence of
unseen intelligences, independent of our will and imagination,
though the limits of these have been vastly extended in respect of
their possibilities. Hence the reproach made against American
spiritualists, because their communications with the world of
spirits are so insignificant in character, being confined to mysterious knockings and other sound vibrations. As a fact, there
is no direct phenomenon at oncer intelligent and material,
independent of our will and imagination, to compare with the
direct writing of spirits, who have neither been invoked or evoked,
and it is this .only which offers irrefutable proof as to the reality of
the supernatural world.
" The author, being always in search of such proof, at once
intelligent and palpable, concerning the substantial reality of the
supernatural world, in order to demonstrate by certain facts the
immortality of the soul, has never wearied of addressing fervent
prayers to the Eternal, that He might vouchsafe to indicate an
infallible means for strengthening that faith in immortality which is
the eternal basis of religion. The Eternal, Whose mercy is infinite, has abundantly answered this feeble prayer. On August, 1856, the idea came to the author of trying Whether spirits
could write directly, that is, apart from the presence of a medium.
Remembering the marvellous direct writing of the Decalogue,
communicated to Moses, and that other writing, equally direct and
mysterious, at the feast of Belshazzar, recorded by Daniel; having
further heard about those modern mysteries of Stratford in
America, where certain strange and illegible characters were found
upon strips of paper, apparently apart from mediumship, the author
sought to establish the actuality of such important phenomena, if
indeed within the limits of possibility.
" He therefore placed a sheet of blank letter paper and a sharply
pointed pencil in a box, which he then locked, and carried the key
about him, imparting his design to no one. Twelve days he waited
in vain, but what was his astonishment on August 13th, 1856,
when he found certain mysterious characters traced on the paper.
He repeated the experiment ten times on that day, placing a new
sheet of paper each time in the box, with ille same result
invariably. On the following day he made twenty experiments. but
left the box open, Without losing sight of it. He witnessed the
formation of characters and words in the Estonian language with
no motion of the pencil. The latter being obviously useless he
decided to dispense with it and placed blank paper sometimes on a
table of his own, sometimes on the pedestals of old statues, on
sarcophagi, on urns, etc., in the Louvre, at St. Denis, at the Church
of St. Etienne du Mont, etc., Similar experiments were made in
different cemeteries of Paris, but the author has no liking for cemeteries, while most saints prefer the localities Where they have
lived on earth to those in which their mortal remains are laid to
rest."
We are now launched upon the sea of modern spiritualism in
France, which occupied the entire activities of occultist in that
country for several decades, and which it will be better to trace
from the period of its importation into the country.
Very soon after public attention had been drawn to the subject of
magnetism in France by Mesmer and d'Eslon several men
distinguished for learning and scientific attainments, followed up
their experiments with great success Amongst these was the Baron Du Potet, whose deep interest in the subject of magnetism induced
him to publish a periodical which, under the title of ' Journal de
Magn&ismestill forms a complete treasury of well collated facts,
and curious experiments - in occult force. From this work we learn
that the Baron's investigations commenced in the year 1836, since
which period up to 1848, he chronicled the production of the
following remarkable phases of phenomena, the occurrence of
which - 'is testified to bv numerous scientific and eminent
witnesses. Through the Baron's magnetized subjects was evolved,
clairvoyance, trancespeaking, and healing; stigmata or raised letters and figures on the subject's body; elevation of
somnambulists into the air; insensibility to fire, injury or touch. In
the presence of the magnetized objects also, heavy bodies were
moved without human contact, and objects were brought from
distant places through walls and closed doors. Sometimes the "
Lucides " described scenes in the spirit world, found lost property,
prophesied and spoke in foreign languages.
In 1840, Baron Dupotet writes that he had " rediscovered in
magnetism the magic of antiquity." "Let the savants, " he says,
"reject the doctrine of spiritual appearances; the enquirer of today is compelled to believe it; from an examination of undeniable
facts." . . . " If the knowledge of ancient magic is lost, all the facts
remain on which to reconstruct it."
But of all the revealers to whom French Spiritualism is indebted
for indubitable proof of super - mundane intercourse, none stands
more prominent in truthfulness and worth, than M. Caliagnet, the
well - known author of "The Celestial Telegraph, " a work
translated into English in 1848.'
M. Cahagnet was an unlearned mechanic, a man of the people and
though a sensible and interesting writer, was neither well read, nor
highly educated. He affirms that he was - a " materialist " when
first his attention was attracted to the subject of animal magnetism,
but being of a thoughtful nature, he determined to devote all the
leisure he could spare to a thorough examination of its
possibilities. When he found that he possessed the power to induce
the magnetic sleep in others, he proceeded on the plan then
generally adopted by mesmerists, namely, to try how far he could
succeed in biologizing his subjects, that is to say, to substitute his
own senses, mind, and will, for those of the sleeper.
In the course of these experiments M. Cahagnet discovered that he
could effect remarkable cures of disease, and being naturally of a
benevolent disposition, he determined to bend all his energies in
this desirable direction. He soon found, however, that he was
destined to realize the aphorism, " he builded wiser than he knew."
A new and most perplexing obstacle arose to confound his
philosophy and scatter his theories to the winds; this was the fact,
that some of his subjects, instead of representing what simply he
willed, or manifesting in accordance with his views of biology -
merely the influence of his mind, began to transcend both will and
mind, and wander off in space, to regions they persisted in calling
Nye Encyclopedia of Ancient and Forbidden Secrets
- 60 -
the " land of spirits, " and to describe people, whom they
emphatically affirmed to be the souls of those whom the - world
called dead.
For a long time M. Cahagnet strove vehemently to combat what he
termed these "wild hallucinations, " but when he found them
constantly recurring, and vast numbers of those who had come to
witness the experiments in magnetism recognising in the
descriptions given by the somnambulists the spirits of those whom
they had known on earth, and mourned as dead, conviction became
inevitable, and the magnetizer, like his visitors, was compelled to
admit a new and wonderful phase of lucidity, and one which
carried the vision of the clairvoyant from earth to heaven, - and
pierced the veil which separated the mortal from the realms of
immortality. It was after a long series of carefully conducted
experiments of the above description, that M. Callagnet was finally
persuaded to give the results of his wonderful seances to the world,
under the name and style of The Celestial Telegraph, or, Secrets of
the Life to, Come.
The author of Art Magic says The narrow conservatism of the age,
and the pitiful jealousy of the Medical Faculty, rendered it difficult
and harassing to conduct magnetic experiments openly in Europe
within several years of Mesmer's decease. Still such experiments
were not wanting, and to show their results, we give a few excerpts
from the correspondence between the famous French Magnetism,
MM. Delcuze and Billot, from the years 1829 to 1840. By these
letters, published in 1836, it appears that M. Billot commenced his
experiments in magnetizing as early as 1789, and that during forty
years, he had an opportunity of witnessing facts in clairvoyance,
ecstasy, and somnambulism, which at the time of their publication
transcended the belief of the general mass of readers. On many
occasions in the presence of entranced subjects, spirits recognised
as having, once lived oil earth in mortal form - would come in
bodily presence before the eyes of an assembled multitude and at
request bring flowers, fruits, and objects, removed by distance
from the scene of the experiments.
" M. Deleuze frankly admits that his experience was more limited
to those phases of somnambulism in which his subjects submitted
to amputations and severe surgical operations without experiencing
tile slightest pain. . . .
In a letter dated I83E M. Billot writing to Deleuze says.
" I repeat, I have seen and known all that is permitted to man. I
have seen the stigmata arise on magnetized subjects; I have
dispelled obsessions of evil spirits with a single word. I have seen
spirits bring those material objects I told you of, and when
requested, make them so light that they would float, and, again, a
small boilean de bonbons was rendered so heavy that I failed to
move it an inch until the power was removed.
' To those who enjoyed the unspeakable privilege of listening to
the " somnambules " of Billot, Deleuze, and Cahagnet, another and
yet more starting feature of unanimous revelation was poured forth.
Spirits of those who had passed away from earth strong in the faith
of Roman Catholicism - often priests and dignitaries of that
conservative Church, addressing prejudiced believers in their
former docti ine, asserted that there was no creed in Heaven - no
sectarian worship, or ecclesiastical dogmatism there prevailing.
" ' They taught that God was a grand Spiritual Sunlife on earth a
probation - the spheres, different degrees, of comprehensive
happiness or states of retributive suffering - each appropriate to
the good or evil deeds done on earth. They described the
ascending changes open to every soul in proportion to his own
efforts to improve.
" ' They all insisted that man was his own judge, incurred a penalty
or reward for which there was no substitution. They taught nothing
of Christ, absolutely
denied the idea of vicarious atonement - and represented man as
his own Saviour or destroyer.
" ' They spoke of arts, sciences, and continued activities, as if the
life beyond was but an extension of the present on a greatly
improved scale. Descriptions of the radiant beauty, supernal
happiness, and ecstatic sublimity manifested by the blest spirits
who had risen to the spheres of Paradise, Heaven, and the glory of
angelic companionships melts the heart, and fills the soul with
irresistible yearning, to lay down life's weary burdens and be at
rest with them.' "
Having shown that Spiritualism arose in France as in Germany
from the awakening of psychic powers evolved by magnetism, and
traced the footprints of the great temple builders who have laid the
foundation stones.of the spiritual edifice in the human system and
steadily worked upwards from matter to force, and from thence to
spirit in every gradation of sphere, life and progress, we recall the
pithy words of the Baron de Potet, who, in addressing the would -
be leaders of public opinion in his essay on the
Philosophical Teaching of Magnetism, " says:
You savants of our country; you have not shown yourselves better
informed than the Siamese.
" For these sixty years it has been shouted in your ears.
The Magvelizers march to the discovery of a moral world; all the
Phenomena they produce indisputably proves its existence.
" You have declared that they were impostors, imbeciles, and the
most illustrious amongst you have only pronounced a verdict which
will attest to future ages your ignorance or your insincerity.
" Before the soul is disengaged from matter, it can, and does,
converse with pure spirits. Already it can gaze prophetically on its
own future destiny, by regarding the condition of those who have
gone before - but a step yet one which the eve of spirit alone can
measure, and if men are spirits already, who can stay the eagle
glance of the soul into the land of its own inheritance ? "
In following up the history of Spiritualism in France, although we
find it has gained an immense foothold, and exerted a wide -
spread influence upon the popular mind, it is nevertheless evident,
that one of the chief obstacles to its general acceptance has been
its lack - of internal unity, and the antagonistic sentiments which
have prevailed amongst its acknowledged leaders.
Two of those who have figured most prominently in the grand
drama of French Spiritualism, and in all probability exerted more
influence upon public opinion than any other members of its dyamatis personce, were - NIM. Allan Kardec and Pierart, the
respective editors of the two leading Spiritual journals, entitled La
Revue Spirite and La Revue Spiritualisme. These may also be
regarded as the representatives of the two opposing factions known
as Spiritualists and Spiritists, the former teaching that the soul of
man undergoes~ but one mortal birth, and continues its progress
through eternity in spiritual states, the latter affirming the doctrine
of reincarnation, and alleging that the one spirit in man can and
does undergo many incarnations in different mortal forms.
M. Kardec and his followers represented the " Spiritists or Reinearnationists - M. Pierart leading the ranks of the - opposing
faction most commonly called Spiritualists.
In respect to the question of testimony, it must be remembered that
M. Kardec derived his communications chiefly from those writing
and trance mediums who might have proved the most susceptible
to his influence, and is said to have persistently banished from his
circles, not only Mr. Home, M. Breaif. and other physical
mediums, but all those who did not endorse his favourite dogma
through their communications.
Says the author of Nineteenth Century Miracles: It
must not be supposed that the schism which divided the two
leaders of French Spiritualism was confined to the immediate
sphere of action in which they moved. Scattered sympathisers with
the writings of Allan Kardec, may be found all over the Continent
of Europe, and in small numbers in America also. Few people who
read works put forward with authoritative pretentions have the
faculty of thoroughly digesting what they read, hence, when M.
Kardec's books were translated into the English language, and it
became the publisher's interest to aid in their circulation, they
found more readers than thinkers, and their plausible style
attracted more admiration than sincere conviction. In France, no
doubt M. Kardec's personal influence, and strong psychological power, admirably fitted him f or a propagandist, and when we
remember how readily any doctrines eloquently advocated will
command adherents, especially among restless and excitable
natures, we need be at no loss to discover why M. Kardec's writings
have become so popular and his opinions so generally accepted by
his readers. Little or no spiritual literature was disseminated in the
French language when Allan Kardec's works were first published.
He possessed that indomitable energy and psychological influence
in which his much harassed rival Pierart was wanting. Thus in a
measure, the field of Continental spiritual propagandism was his
own, nor did he fail to make use of his great opportunities.
The successes achieved by Kardec's journal, La Revue Spirale,
communicated a wave of influence also, which propagated journals
of a similar character all over the country. Thus in 1864, there
were no less than ten spiritualistic periodicals published in
France, under the following titles: La Revue Spirite, La Revile
Spiritualiste, and L'Avenir, Paris; four Spiritist journals published
in Bordeaux, which, in 1865, became merged into L' Union Spirite Bordelaise; La Medium Evangelique, Toulouse; L'Echo d'outre
Tombe, Marseilles; and La Viriti, Lyons. The editors of these
journals are said to have been all followers of Allan Kardec, with
the exception of M. Pierart, editor of La Revue Spiritualiste."
It must be remarked that the doctrines of the Reincarnationist,
although defended with great ability by their propagandists, who
included many of' the most capable minds of France, were not
suffered to pass without severe castigation on the part of their
English neighbours; and it becomes necessary to note how the
French spiritual schism was received on the other side of the
Channel. In the London Spiritual Magazine of 1865, the editor, commenting on the ominous silence of the Spirit journals
concerning Dr. dagny's opera of Swedenborg says:
"It is worthy of note that the journals of the Kardec school, so far
as we have seen them, do not take the least notice of this opera.
The Avenir of Paris, which appears weekly, but greatly wants facts,
has not a word to say about it . . . . . It is greatly to be regretted that
the main object of the Kardecian journals seems to be, not the
demonstration of the constantly recurring facts of Spiritualism, but
the deification of Kardec's doctrine of Reincarnation.
" To this doctrine - which has nothing to do with Spiritualism, even
if it had a le., of reason or fact to stand on all the strength, and
almost all the space of these journals is devoted.
These are the thing which give the enemies of Spiritualism a real
handle against it, and bring it into contempt with sober minds. Re -
incarnation is a doctrine which cuts up by the roots all individual
identity in the future existence. It desolates utterly that dearest
yearning of the human heart for reunion with its loved ones in a
permanent world. If some are to go back into fresh physical bodies,
and bear new names, and new natures, if they are
to become respectively Tom Styles, Ned Snooks, and a score of
other people, who shall ever hope to meet again with his friends,
wife, children, brothers and sisters ? When he enters the spirit -
world and enquiries for them, lie will have to learn that they are
already gone back to earth, and are somebody else, the sons and
daughters of other people, and will have to become over and over
the kindred of a dozen other families in succession ! Surely, no
such most cheerless crochet could bewitch the intellects of any
people, except under the most especial bedevilment of the most
sarcastic and mischievous - as of devils."
In the January number for 1866, a still stronger article on this
subject appears from the pen of Wm. Howitt, who writes the
following fearless words of protest against the doctrine of Re -
incarnation:
" In the Avenir of November 2nd, M. Pezzani thinks he has
silenced M. Pierart, by asserting that without Reincarnation all is
chaos and injustice in God's creation: ' In this world there are rich
and poor, oppressed and oppressors, and without Re - incarnation,
God's justice could not be vindicated.' That is to say, in Al. Pezzani conception, God has not room in the infinite future to
punish and redress every wrong, without sending back souls again
and again into the flesh. M. Pezzani idea, and that of his bro her
Re-incarnationists is, that the best way to get from Paris to
London is to travel any number of times from Paris to Calais and
back again. We English, that the only way is to go on to London at
once. . . .
As to M. Pezzani notions of God's injustice without
Reincarnation, if souls were re - incarnated a score of times,
injustice between man and man, riches and poverty, oppression
and wrong, all the enigmas of social inequality would remain just
then as now.
" In noticing these movements in the Spiritist camp in France, we
should be doing a great injustice if we did not refer to the zealous,
eloquent, and unremitting exertions of M. Pierait in the Revue
Spiritualists, to expose and resist the errors of the Spirit to which
we have alluded. The doctrine of Re - incarnation, M. Pierart has persistently resisted and denounced as at once false, unfounded on
any evidence, and most pernicious to the character of
Spiritualism."
Allan Kardec died on March 31st, 1869.
Notwithstanding the fact that the experimental method of receiving
communications through physical mediumship was not in favour
with all. Allan Kardec and his followers, there is an abundant
amount of phenomena of all kinds recorded in M. Pierart's
excellent journal, La Revue Spiyitualiste, also in many other
European journals devoted to the subject. From this we are about
to select such facts of a representative character as will give a
general view of French Spiritualism in the nineteenth century.
The celebrated " Cur D'Ars, " the founder of the D'Ars Providence,
" and many other noble works of charity, jean Baptiste Vianney,
was born in the vicinity of Lyons, in 1786, in a humble sphere of
life. His natural capacity was by no means remarkable, and at
school he was only remembered as a somewhat dull scholar.
Circumstances having opened up the way for his becoming a
priest, although he had only Latin enough to say mass, and no
learning beyond the routine of his profession, yet his amiable
nature and unaffected piety won him friends wherever he went.
After some changes of fortune and the rejection of two good offers
of rich positions, which in his extreme humility he did not deem
himself fit for, he accepted the pastoral charge of file little
agricultural village of D'Ars, now in file arrondissement of Trevoux.
Very soon his reputation for beneficence drew round him a much
larger circle of poor dependents than he could provide for, and
then it was that he commenced his extra ordinary life of faith,
supplicating in fervent prayer for whatever means were necessary
to carry out his divine mission of blessing to his unfortunate fellow
creatures. In this way the sphere of his. benevolence, and the
wonderful results of the means he employed to maintain it, reached
proportions that could scarcely be credited.
But now a still more wonderful thing was tc happen in the
enchanted region of D'Ars. Persons afflicted with disease began to
experience sudden cures whilst praying before the altar, or making
confessions to the Cur6. The fame of this new miracle soon spread
abroad, until the Abbe Monnin declares that upwards Of 20, 000
persons annually came from Germany, Italy, Belgium, and all parts
of France, and even from England, and that in less than six years
this number increased to an average of 8o, ooo. Diseases of every
kind that had been pronounced incurable, were dissipated at once.
The indefatigable Cure gave himself up to the work, heart and soul.
His church stood open day and night, and the immense crowds that
surrounded it, were obliged to wait for hours and sometimes days,
to reach the good healer. No one was allowed to take precedence oi
the rest, except in cases of extreme poverty or extreme suffering.
Princes, nobles, and great ladies, often drove up as near'as they
could to the church in grand carriages, and manifested the utmost
astonishment when informed that notwithstanding their rank, they
could not be admitted except in turn. The Curo only permitted
himself to take four hours sleep, namely from eleven to three, and
when he came to the confessional again, the church and all the
approaches to it were crowded with those who had waited all night
to secure their places. Omnibuses were established to convey
patients from Lyons to D'Ars, and the Sa6ne was covered with
boats full of anxious pilgrims.
There can be no doubt that the first well marked impulse which
experimental spiritualism received through the invocatory
processes of the circle, in France, as in many other countries of
Europe, was due to the visits of Mr. D. D. Home, the celebrated
non - professional physical medium, and subsequently to the large
influx of professional mediums, who found in France an excellent
field for the demonstration of their peculiar gifts.
Of Mr. Home's seances it would be superfluous to write, he himself
having - related them in two volumes published at different periods
of his career, and his many admiring friends having sufficiently
described the marvels of which they were witnesses in numerous
magazines and newspaper articles.
Mr. Home's manifestations were given in France almost exclusively
to personages of rank, or those distinguished by literary fame. He
was a guest of royalty, the nobility, and persons of the highest
position. During his residence in Paris, under the Imperial Court,
he was a frequent and ever - welcome visitor at the court of the late
Emperor Louis Napoleon. A record of the manifestations produced
through his mediumship was kept by command of the Empress,
and frequently read to her favoured friends. Amongst these
memoranda is one which went the round of the papers at the time
of its occurrence, hence there can be no impropriety in alluding to
it now. It stated that on one occasion a seance was held at the
Tuileries, when none were present save the Emperor, the Empress,
the Duchess do Montebello, and Mr. D. D. Home.
Oil the table were placed pen, ink, and paper, and presently a
spirit hand was seen, which dipped the pen in the ink and
deliberately wrote the name of the first Napoleon, in a perfect
facsimile of that monarch's handwriting. Tile Emperor asked if he
might be permitted to kiss this wonderful hand, when it instantly
raise to his lips, subsequently passing to those of the Empress, and
Mr. Home.
The Emperor carefully preserved this precious autograph, and
inscribed with it a memorandum to the effect that the hand was
warm, soft, and resembled exactly that of his great predecessor and
uncle.
As an evidence of the wide popularity to which the subject of
Spiritualism had attained in 1869, M. Pierart quotes in one of his
numbers of that year, an article from the Si9cle, a leading paper,
but one which has hitherto contained many notices inimical to
Spiritualism. The writer, M. Eug6ne Bonnemere, says:
" Although somnambulism has been a hundred times annihilated
by the Academy of Medicine, it is more alive than ever in Paris; in
the midst of all the lights of the age, it continues, right or wrong, to
excite the multitude. Protean in its forms, infinite in its
manifestations, if you put it out of the door, it knocks at the
window; if that be not opened, it knocks on the ceiling, on the
walls; it raps on the table at which you innocently seat yourselves
to dine or for a game of whist. If you close your ears to its sounds,
it grows excited, strikes the table, whirls it about in a giddy maze,
lifts up its feet, and proceeds to talk through mediumship, as the
dumb talk with their fingers.
" You have all known the rage for table - turning. At one time we
ceased to ask after each other's health, but asked how your table
was. 'Thank you, mine turns beautifully; and how goes yours on ? '
Everything turned; hats and the heads in them. One was led almost to believe that a circle of passengers being formed round the
mainmast of a ship of great tonnage, and a magnetic chain thus
established, they might make the vessel spin round till it
disappeared in the depth of the ocean, as a gimlet disappears in a
deal board. The Church interfered; it caused its thunders to roar,
declaring that it was Satan himself who thus raised the devil in the
tables, and having formally forbade the world to turn, it now
forbade the faithful to turn tables, hats, brains, or ships of huge
size. But Satan held his own. The sovereign of the nether world
passed into a new one, and that is the reason that America sends
us mediums, beginning so gloriously with the famous Home, and
ending with the Brothers Davenport. One remembers with what a
frenzy everyone precipitated himself in pursuit of mediums.
Everyone wished to have one of his own; and when you introduced
a young man into society, you did not say, ' He is a good waltzer, '
but, ' He is a medium.' Official science has killed and buried this
Somnambulism a score of times; but it must have done it very
badly, for there it is as alive as ever, only christened afresh with a
new name."
Amongst the many distinguished adherents of Spiritualism in the
department of French literature, none have more bravely asserted
and defended their belief than Camille Flammarion, the celebrated
astronomer; Victor Hugo, Alexandre Dumas, and Victorien Sardou,
the renowned writer of French comedy. M. Sardou was himself a
medium of singularly happy endowments. He executed a number
of curious drawings, purporting to represent scenes in the spirit
world, amongst which was an exquisite and complex work of art
entitled, " The House of Mozart."
next
Fawcett, Colonel Percy Harrison:
PART 6
1 comment:
What days those were.. wish I could see that stuff now.
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