Sunday, January 10, 2021

Part 5 : Encyclopedia of Ancient and Forbidden Secrets...Elementary Spirits..Fairies..France

 

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:

Anonymous said...

What days those were.. wish I could see that stuff now.

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