Eleanor Cobham, Duchess of Gloucester: Wife of Humphrey of Gloucester, uncle of Henry VI., and Lord Protector of England during the King's minority. Though Humphrey was very popular in England, he was not without enemies, and one of the most bitter of these was Henry Beaufort, Cardinal of Winchester, great - uncle to the King. He it was who brought a charge of witchcraft against the Duchess of Gloucester, hoping thus to destroy her husband's power as the actual head of the realm and heir to the throne in the event of the King's death. It was supposed that the Duchess had first resorted to witchcraft in order to gain the affections of Humphrey, whose second wife she was. Then, when she had married him, and the death of the Duke of Bedford had removed the last barrier but one between her and a crown, she set about the secret removal of that barrier, which was, of course, the unfortunate King. To assist her in her evil designs, she sought the advice of Margery Jourdain (the Witch of Eye), Roger Bolingbroke, Thomas Southwell, and John Hume, or Hun, a priest. All five were accused of summoning evil spirits, and plotting to destroy the King. They were also suspected of making a waxen image, which was slowly melted before a fire, in the expectation that as the image was consumed, the life of the King would also waste away. For the supposed practice of this common device of witches, they were put upon trial. The priest, Hun, turned informer, and Bolingbroke, having abjured his evil works, was called upon to give evidence. Margery Jourdain was burned as a witch, and the Duchess of Gloucester was sentenced to walk through the streets of London on three separate occasions bearing a lighted taper in her hand, and attended by the Lord Mayor, sheriffs, and others. Afterwards, she was banished to the Isle of Man.
Gnosticism: Under the designation " Gnostics, " several widely - differing sects were included, the term, derived from the Greek, meaning, " to know " in opposition to mere theory, and sharing this significance with the words, wizard, " " witch, " which also indicate in their original meaning: "those who know."
Simultaneously with Christianity, these sects assumed a definite form, the eastern provinces of the Roman Empire being their sphere of operations at first. Their doctrines were an admixture of Indian, Egyptian, Babylonian, and Christian creeds, astrology and magic, with much of the Jewish Kabbalah also. From Alexandria, that centre of mystic learning, much of their distinctive beliefs and ritual were derived, while it seems certain that to a certain extent they became affiliated with Mithraism (q.v.), to whose sheltering kindness Occidental Christianity also owed much. Most of the sects had a priesthood of the mysteries, and. these initiated priests practised magic arts astrology, incantations, exorcisms, the fashioning of charms talismans and amulets, of which many are extant at the present day. It is said that the Grecian mysteries, the Eleusinian and Cabiric, for instance, were celebrated by the Gnostic sects down to a late date. They were looked upon as heretics and sorcerers by the Church, and were the victims of relentless persecution. In Persia also they were put to death, but some embraced Islamism, and transmitted their doctrines to the Dervish sects (q.v.). Manicheism, a later sect was founded by Manes, who belonged to the Order of the Magi, and was famous for his skill in astrology, medicines and magic. This sect was anathema to the Church, and its later variants, Paulicians, Cathari, Albigensis, Lollards, and later still the Carbonari, never failed to arouse the persecuting fervour of the Church.
Apollonius of Tyana (q.v.), a Pagan, was supposed to have some connection with the Gnostics. The first Gnostic of eminence was Simon Magus (q.v.) contemporary with the Christian apostles. The Simonians are said to have interpreted the Creation in Genesis as symbolic of the gestation of the foetus, the temptation of Eve and the Garden of Eden having a like character. The Carpocratians, one of the Gnostic sects, derived their mysteries and rites from Isis worship. They used Theurgic incantations, symbols and signs. The Ophites also adopted Egyptian rites, and, as their name indicates, these included much of serpent symbolism, an actual serpent being the central object of their mysteries. Marcos, disciple of Valentinus, and founder of the Marcian sect, celebrated Mass with two chalices, pouring wine from the larger into a smaller, and on pronouncing a magical formula, the vessel was filled with a liquor like blood, which swelled up seething. Other sects practised divination and prophecy by means of female somnambules. Some of the sects became degraded in doctrine and ritual, this often being of an orgiastic character.
The Gnostic talismans were mostly engraved on gems, the colour and traditional qualities of the jewel being part of its magical efficacy. They used spells and charms and mystic formulae, said to " loose fetters, to cause blindness in one's enemies, to procure dreams, to gain favour, to encompass any desire whatsoever." In a Greek Gnostic Papyrus is to be found the following spell of Agathocles, for producing dreams: " Take a cat, black all over, and which has been killed; prepare a writing tablet, and write the following with a solution of myrrh, and the dream which thou desirest to be sent, and put in the mouth of the cat. The text to be transcribed runs: ' Keimi, Keimi, I am the Great One, in whose mouth rests Mommom, Thoth, Nau Umbre, Karikha, Kenyro, Paarmiathon, the sacred Ian ic& ieu aeoi, who is above the heaven, Amekheumen, Neunana, Seunana, Ablanathanalba, ' (here follow further names, then, ) I Put thyself in connection with N.N. in this matter (as to the substance of the dream narned, ) but if it is necessary then bring for me INT.N. hither by thy power; lord of the whole world, fiery god, put thyself in connexion with N.N.' Again, there follows a list of meaningless names, the formula ending: ' Hear me, for I shall speak the great name, Thoth! whom each god honours, and each demon fears, by whose command every messenger performs his mission. Thy name answers to the seven (vowels) a, e, i, i, o, u, e, iauoegae ouegeia. I named thy glorious name, the name for all needs. Put thyself in connection with N.N., Hidden One, God, with respect to this name, which Apollo Pex also used." The repetition of apparently meaningless syllables was always held to be of great efficacy in magical rites, either as holding the secret name of the powers invoked, or of actual power in themselves. In Atanasi Magic Papyrus, Spell V11., directs you to lay the link of a chain upon a leaden plate, and having traced its outline, to write thereon, round the circumference, the common Gnostic legend in Greek characters (reading both ways) continuously. Within the circle was written the nature of the thing which it was desired to prevent. The operation was called " The Ring of Hermes." The link was then to be folded up on the leaden plate, and thrown into the grave of one dead before his time, or else into a disused well. After the formula above given, was to follow in Greek: " Prevent thou such and such a person from doing such and such a thing, a proof that the long string of epithets all referred to the same power. These instances might be multiplied, although much of the more valuable parts of the Gnostic doctrines were destroyed by every persecutor who arose, and this was easily done, for the sacred and mystic teachings, the prayers and spells were inscribed on perishable parchments. That much of the evil was imputed to them by the Church because of their more philosophic habit of thought in opposition to faith and dogma, is beyond doubt.
Golden Dawn, Hermetic Order of: What is generally referred to as the “Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn” was two organizations, formed in 1888 and 1892 respectively. The organization was the brainchild of Dr. William Wynn Westcott, an amiable London coroner. His partners in the affair were Dr. W.R. Woodman, and Samuel Liddell “MacGregor” Mathers. Westcott seems to have been the initial organizational mind behind the Golden Dawn. Woodman was the Supreme Magus of a reputable Rosicrucian organization, and was doubtless selected to lend credibility to the new organization. Mathers was chosen because of his quirky, but irrefutable genius with ritual and all things magical.
The Golden Dawn had a charter from a supposed German Rosicrucian Lodge, issued by an aged German adept named “Fraulein Anna Sprengel.” The basis for the Golden Dawn’s rituals was a “cipher manuscript” discovered by Westcott, and deciphered by Mathers. Westcott’s initial temple was styled “No. 3.” Supposedly temple No. 1 was the German Lodge which issued the charter, and Temple No. 2 is supposed to have been an initial abortive experiment at a smaller, “secret” temple in England about ten years earlier, which had initially held the cipher manuscript. Undoubtedly the Continental lodge existed, though perhaps not in so simple a form as Mathers would suggest.
The initial Golden Dawn was the “Outer Order” which did not teach practical magic, but existed for the most part as a philosophical and esoteric group. The Outer Order members did work grades and initiation rituals, but they did little in the way of practical operations. For the first four years the Golden Dawn existed only in the “Outer.” In late 1892, the “Inner Order” rituals – and the physical “Vault of the Adepts” which plays an important part in the rituals – were completed.
From this point on the history of the Golden Dawn is really the history of the small “Inner Order.” Those who were actively interested in the occult progressed quickly to the “Inner Order,” which had separate meeting places and facilities from the “Outer Order.” When we talk of the “Golden Dawn” after 1892, we are speaking of the “Inner Order” to all intents and purposes.
The Golden Dawn prospered, more or less, for ten years. It had a number of temples, most of them quite small. The primary temples were the original “Isis Urania” temple in London, the “Amen-Ra” Temple in Edinburgh, and the “Ahathoor” Temple in Paris. Mathers left London in 1892 to live in Paris, and his temple there became the nominal center of the organization, though it was notable chiefly for his presence.
Historically the Golden Dawn underwent its first collapse in 1900. Amid accusations that the organization’s charter was forged, and arguments over Mathers’ authority, the original structure crumbled, and over the next three years the Golden Dawn divided, and divided again.
Around 1910, Aleister Crowley published a significant portion of the organization's materials in a hardbound periodical, "The Equinox of the Gods" which ran several numbers, and was a sort of occult compendium cum magazine.
While none of the “splinter” organizations have the cachet of the original, many of them were significant in their own right, and certainly the membership of Golden-Dawn descended organizations was greater, not smaller, twenty years after the split. The Stella Matutina, the Alpha et Omega, and the Independent and Rectified Rite were all direct descendants of the Dawn’s first schism. Another set of disagreements in the early 1920s split some of the larger descendant groups again, and by the 1930s most of the original groups had vanished, though a few tiny groups survive into the present day.
The “Apostolic Succession” of teachers, and the literature of the Golden Dawn, was more important than the actual direct descendants. Before the First World War, Aleister Crowley published the essential rituals and teachings of the Golden Dawn in a serial issue called “The Equinox.” For the first time the “secrets” of the Golden Dawn were available to the public. “The Equinox” created a stir in the small and fading occult community, but it was not until after the War that interest in the occult exploded.
Figures such as “Dion Fortune” (Violet Firth) popularized the teachings of the Golden Dawn in novels, and serious, but simply written, books like “Psychical Self Defense.” Groups organized by pupils of Dion Fortune prosper to this day. Aleister Crowley published a wealth of somewhat more obtuse material which forms the core teachings of the modern Ordo Templi Orientis (OTO) in America. Israel Regardie, who was once Crowley’s secretary, published the workings of the Stella Matutina (essentially identical to the original GD teachings) in the twenties and earned himself expulsion, but his volumes remain in print to this day. Groups such as the original and the modern OTO, Paul Foster Case’s “Builders of the Adytum”, and dozens of less well known groups are indirect descendants of the Golden Dawn.
But the writing that preserved the ideas of the 19th century mystics owes drastically more to the Golden Dawn than to Helena Blavatsky. While her writings, and indeed her organization, still exist, they are obtuse and have never been widely read. It is the simplified synthesis that came out of the Golden Dawn descendants in the 1920s that was produced in mass market editions through the 20’s and 30’s that has become more or less widely known. The break between Blavatsky and the Hermeticists came with her rejection of all things western for all things eastern. The essential teaching of the Golden Dawn was the unification of all things esoteric – eastern and western.
Gormogons: A Jacobite Masonic Society, perhaps related to the Lodges of Harodim (q.v.) They employed pseudonyms like the latter, and had an ambassador at Rome. Their history is sketched in a pamphlet dated 1724, entitled " Two Letters to a Friend, " and in the work of Prichard (1730). The Duke of Wharton and the Chevalier Ramsay who were well - known Jacobites, were members of the Order. They had a cipher and secret reception of their own, and used a jargon in which the names of places and individuals were hidden and transposed. A plate of Hogarth's is extunt in which the Order is lampooned under the title of " The Mystery of Masonry brought to light by ye Goyinogors." 74s
Graal, The Lost Book of the: The origin of the Gyaal legend, which is of course speculative. Seven ancient books are cited as being the possible cradle of the story, but none of them quite meet the case. In the Huth Merlin, a " Book of the Sanctuary" is referred to, but this is a - book of records, not containing any special spiritual allusion.
If, and it is very doubtful if, such a book ever existed, it was most probably a Mass book, extant about its too. Its contents would relate to a Mass following the Last Supper, in which Christ gave Himself, the Priest serving. The mystery is threefold. (1) of Origin, which is part of the mystery of the Incarnation. (2) of Manifestation, which would have taken place had the world been worthy. (3) of Removal: this world being unworthy, the Graal was said to be removed, yet not hidden, for it is always discernible by anyone worthy, or qualified to see it. As has been said, it is not probable that such a Mass - book ever existed.
Grail, Holy: A portion of the Arthurian cycle of romance, of late origin embodying a number of tales dealing with the search for a certain vessel of great sanctity, called the grail " or " graal." Versions of the story are numerous the most celebrated of them being the Conte del Graal, the Grand St. Graal, Sir Percival, Quete del St. Graal, and Guyot; but there are many others. These overlap in many respects, but the standard form of the story may perhaps be found in the Grand St. Graal - one of the latest versions, which dates from the thirteenth century. It tells how Joseph of Arimathea employed a dish used at the last supper to catch the blood of the Redeemer which flowed from his body before his burial. The wanderings of Joseph are then described. He leads a band to Britain, where he is cast into prison, but is delivered by Evelach or Mordrains, who is instructed by Christ to assist him. This Mordrains builds a monastery where the Grail is housed. Brous, Joseph's brother - in - law, has a son Alain, who is appointed guardian of the Grail; and this Alain having caught a great fish, with which he feeds the entire household, is called the Rich Fisher, which title becomes that of the Grail keepers in perpetuity. Alain placed the Grail in the castle of Corbenic, and thence in due time come various knights of King Arthur's court in quest of the holy vessel, but only the purest of the pure can approach its vicinity; and in due time Percival attains to sight of the marvel.
It is probable that the Grail idea was originated by early mediaeval legends of the quest for talismans which conferred great boons upon the finder: as for example, the Shoes of Swiftness, the Cloak of Invisibility, the Ring of Gyges, and so forth; and that these stories were interpreted in the light and spirit of mediaeval Christianity and mysticism. They may be divided into two classes: those which are connected with the quest for certain talismans, of which the Grail is only one, and which deal with the personality of the hero who achieved the quest; and secondly those which deal with the nature and history of the talismans.
A great deal of controversy has raged around the probable Eastern origin of the Grail Legend, and much erudition has been employed to show that Guvot, a Provencal poet who flourished in the middle of the twelfth century, found at Toledo in Spain an Arabian book by an astrologer, Flegitanis, which contained the Grail story. But the name " Flegitanis " can by no means be an Arabian proper name; and it might perhaps be the Persian felek dawah, a Persian combined word which signifies " astrology, " and in this case it would be the title of an astrological work. Professor Bergmann and others believed that the Holy Legend originated in the mind of Guyot himself; but this conclusion was strongly combated by the late Alfred Nutt. There is, however, good reason to believe that the story may have been brought from the East by the Knights Templar.
The Grail Legend has often been held by certain writers to buttress the theory that the Church of England or the Catholic Church has existed since the foundation of the world. From early Christian times the genealogy of these churches is traced back through the patriarchs to numerous apocryphal persons; but we are not informed as to whether it possessed hierophants in neolithic and paleolithic times, or how it originated. This mischievous and absurd theory, which in reality would identify Christianity with the grossest forms of paganism, is luckily confined to a small band of pseudo - mystics, comprising for the most part persons of small erudition and less liberality of outlook. Tae Grail Legend was readily embraced by those persons, who saw in it a link between Palestine and England and a plea for the special and separate foundation of the Anglican Church by direct emissaries from the Holy Land. Glastonbury was fixed as the headquarters of the Grail immigrants, and the finding of a glass dish in the vicinity of the cathedral there not many years ago was held to be confirmation of the story by many of the faithful. The exact date of this vessel cannot successfully be gauged, but there is not the least reason to suppose that it is more than a few hundred years old. (See Tradition.)
Grail Sword: Associated with the Holy Grail in Arthurian Legend. Its history begins with King David who bequeathed it to Solomon who was bidden to re - cast the pommel. In Solomon's time it was placed in a ship built and luxuriously furnished by Solomon's wife. Subsequently discovered by the Knights of the Quest, it was assured and worn by Galahad.
Gram: A magic sword thrust into a tree by Odin and pulled out by Sigmund. It bestowed upon its possessor exceptional nowers and performed many miracles
Grand Grimoire, The: A work pretended to be edited by a suppositions person, Antonia del Rabina, who, it is alleged, prepared his edition from a copy transcribed from the genuine writings of King Solomon. The work is divided into two parts: the first containing the evocation of Lucifuge Rofocale (See Ceremonial Magic " in article "magic"); the second being concerned with the rite of making pacts with demons, The work is regarded as one of the most atrocious of its type; but there is little reason for such heavy condemnation, as its childish and absurd. character must be patent to everyone. Eliphas Levi says that it pretends to confer the Powder of Protection, that great mystery of the sages, but that in reality it confers the Powder of Consecution - whatever that may imply. The first portion of the Grand Grimoire in a process for the evocation of evil spirits to assist the operator to discover hidden treasure. The second part, that which deals with facts, suggests the surrender of the magician body and soul to the demon, and it is in this that the diabolical excellencies of the work consist. But the pact, as it stands, is grossly unfair to the devil, for the working of it is such, that the magician can very readily slip through his fingers.
Grimoire of Honorlus, The: A magical work published at Rome in 1629, and not, as is generally thought, connected in any way with Kabbalistic magic. The work is indeed permeated with Christian ideas. It is extremely unlikely that it is the work of the Roman Bishop known as Honorius. The work has been called " a malicious and somewhat clever imposture, " since it pretends to convey the sanction of the Papal Chair to the operators of necromancy. It deals with the evocation of the rebellious angels.
Grimorium Verum, The: This magical text - book was first published in 1517, and purported to be translated from the Hebrew. It is based to some extent upon the Key of Solomon (q.v.), and is quite honest in its statement that it proposes to invoke " devils, " which it refers to the four elements, so that these would appear to be of the type of elementary spirits (q.v.). A part of the account it gives regarding the hierarchy of spirits is taken from the Lemegeton (q.v.). The work is divided into three port~ons: the first describing the characters and seals of the demons, with the forms of their evocation and dismissal; the second gives a description of the supernatural secrets which can be learned by the power of the demons; and the third is, thj key of the work and its proper application. But these divisions only outline what it purports to place before the reader, as the whole work is a mass of confusion. The plates which supply the characters do not apply to the text. The book really consists of two parts - the Grimorium Verum itself, and a second portion, which consists of magical secrets. The first supplies directions for the preparation of the magician based on those of the Clavicle of Solomon. Instructions for the manufacture of magical instruments, and the composition of a parchment on which the characters and seals are to be inscribed, as well as the processes of evocation and dismissal. The second part contains the " admirable secrets " of the pretended Albertus Magnus, the " Petit Albert " and so forth. The work is only partially diabolical in character, and some of its processes might claim to be classed as White Magic.
Guppy, Mrs : Nee Miss Nichol, a celebrated English medium who began to exerc; es her powers about 1866. At that time she lived with Mrs. Sim, a sister of Dr. Alfred Russel Wallace, who was a frequent witness of her phenomena. Thereafter her mediumistic powers developed apace and the circle of her sitters grew as the manifestations became more ambitious. Raps were heard and apports of fruit and flowers conveyed to the seance-room. A. R. Wallace states that on one occasion " the room and the table shook violently," and Miss Nichol herself was several times levitated-(See Levitation). Soon after the formal commencement of her mediumship, she married Mr. Samuel Guppy. In January, 1872 she gave a materialisation seance, the first serious attempt of the kind in the UK. She and her husband were also instrumental in introducing spirit-photography (q.v.) into England. On the death of Mr. Guppy she was married a second time to Mr. W. Volckman.
Gurney, Edmund : A distinguished psychologist and student of psychic science. He was born at Horsham in 1847, and educated at Blackheath and Trinity College, Cambridge, where he obtained a fellowship. He devoted himself thereafter to the study of medicine and passed the second M.B. Cambridge examination in i880. Thus equipped, he turned to the investigation of psychical research, seeking, in common with most psychical researchers, to find evidence for the survival of consciousness and personality after death. He chose for exploration the region of unconscious or subconscious activity-what Mr. Myers, himself a worker in the same field, has designated the "subliminal consciousness." From 1874 to 1878 Gurney and Myers worked with professional mediums, getting but poor results, but on the founding of Cue Society for Psychical Research experiments of a more scientific nature were made. These resulted in two volumes, of Phantasms of the Living, by Messrs. Myers, Podmore, and Gurney, which went some way towards establishing telepathy on a sound basis. To the same end were directed Mr. Gurney's careful hypnotic experiments between ][885 and 1888, and his contributions to the Proceedings of the S.P.R. He was, indeed, an ideal student: of psychic research, acute, patient, exact, logical, and entirely disinterested. Besides his psychological works he wrote The Power of Sound (1880), an essay on music, and a collection of essays entitled Tertium Quid (1887). He died in June, 1888, from an overdose of narcotic medicine [well I hope he overcame his addiction in the here and now DC]
Habondia: one of the names for the Queen of the fairies, witches, harpies, furies and ghosts.
Hanon-Tramp : kind of nightmare (q.v.). This particular nightmare takes the form of a demon, which suffocates people during sleep. It is believed by the French peasantry that this is " the destruction that wasteth at noonday," as it is supposed that people are most exposed to its attacks at that time Its method of suffocation is to press on the breast and thus impede the action of the lungs.
Hermes Trismegistus ( ' the thrice greatest Hermes "): The name given by the Greeks to the Egyptian god Thoth or Tehuti, the god of wisdom, learning and literature. Thoth, is alluded to in later Egyptian writings as " twice very great" and even as "five times, very great" in some demotic or popular scripts. (ca. third century B.C.) and was attributed as " scribe of the gods " the authorship of all sacred books which were thus called "Hermetic" by the Greeks. These, according to Clemens Alexandrinus were forty - two in number and were subdivided into six portions, of which the first dealt with priestly education, the second with temple ritual and the third with geographical matter. The fourth division treated of astrology, the fifth of hymns in honour of the gods and a textbook for the guidance of Kings, while the sixth was medical. It is unlikely that these books were all the work of one individual, and it is more probable that they represent the accumulated wisdom of Egypt, attributed in the course of ages to the great god of wisdom.
As a scribe of the Gods " Thoth was also the author of all strictly sacred writing. Hence by a convenient fiction the name of Hermes is placed at the head of an extensive cycle of mystic literature,produced in post - Christian times. Most of this Hermetic or Trismegistus literature has perished, but all that remains of it has been gathered and translated into English. It includes the " Poimandres, " the " Perfect Sermon, " or the " Asclepius, " excerpts by Stobacus, and fragments from the Church Fathers and from the philosophers, Zosimus and Fulgentius. Hitherto these writings have been neglected by theologians, who have dismissed them as the offspring of third century NeoPlatonism. According to the generally accepted view, they were eclectic compilations, combining Neo - Platonic philosophy, Philonic Judaism and Kabbalistic theosophy in an attempt to supply a philosophic substitute for, Christianity. The many Christian elements to be found in these mystic scriptures were ascribed to plagiarism. By an examination of early mystery writings and traditions it has been proved with some degree of certainty that the main source of the Trismegistus Tractates is the wisdom of Egypt, and that they " go back in an unbroken tradition of type and form and context to the earliest Ptolemaic times."
The " Poimandres, " on which all later Trismegistus literature is based, must, at least in its original form, be placed not later than the first century. The charge of plagiarism from Christian writings, therefore, falls to the ground. If it can be proved that the " Poiniandres " belongs to the first century, we have in it a valuable document in determining the environment and development of Christian origins.
Mr. G. R. S. Mead, author of "Thrice Greatest Hermes says in a illuminating passage:
" The more one studies the best of these mystical sermons, casting aside all prejudices, and trying to feel and think with the writers, the more one is conscious of approaching the threshold of what may well be believed to have been the true adytum of the best in the mystery traditions of antiquity. Innumerable are the hints of the greatnesses and immensities lying beyond that threshold - among other precious things the vision of the key to Egypt's wisdom, the interpretation of apocalypsis by the light of the sun - clear epopteia of the intelligible cosmos."
Heydon, John: English Astrologer (fl. - 1667). In his useful if not invaluable Lives of the Alchemystical Philosophers, Waite speaks with great scorn of the English Astrologer, John Heydon, describing him as no better than a charlatan, and for that retson furnishing no facts whatsoever concerning his career.
The astrologer appears to have been born in 1629, his father being Francis Heydon, owner of a small estate called Sidmouth, in Devonshire. It was not in that romantic shire, however, that the astrologer first saw the light of day, but at a house in London boasting the pleasant name of Green Arbour, ; and after some years spent here Heydon went to Worcestershire, when his education was attended to by various clergymen. Being a clever boy, his parents naturally desired to send him to the University, but this was soon rendered virtually impossible by the outbreak of the great civil war, and thereupon Heydon took arms on behalf of the king, and fought in several battles. He is said to have been successful as a soldier, and to have won to the captaincy of a troop of horse under Prince Rupert, but on the ultimate triumph of the Roundhead party, the young man found it advisable to leave England, and for some years he sojourned in various countries on the Continent, notably Spain and Turkey. Indeed, if his contemporaneous biographers are to be trusted, he penetrated so far afield as Zante, the island in the Levant whose praise has been sung so beautifully by Edgar Allan Poe; but by 1652 Heydon was back in his native England, and in 1655 we find him studying law and established in the Temple, a place almost sacred by virtue of its many literary associations. Nor was law his only study, for soon he was deep in that craft of astrology where with his name was destined to become associated, and on one occasion, having prophesied that Cromwell would shortly die by hanging, he was straightway imprisoned accordingly. So, at least, says Thomas Carte in his life of the great Marquis of Ormonde, that storehouse of information concerning England in Stuart and Cromwellian days.
Those who take an interest in the history of medicine will doubtless recall Nicholas Culpeper, who, after fighting for the Parliament in the Civil war, devoted a wealth of energy to compiling elaborate treatises on astrology and pharmacopoeia, arts which went hand in hand in the seventeenth century. And it was the widow of this Culpeper whom Heydon took to wife, the year of their marriage being 1656, while it would seem that a daughter was born of their union, for among the astrologers' writings is a volume entitled Advice to a Daughter (1658). Whether Heydon continued living in the Temple after his marriage is not recorded, nor do we hear that he even attended greatly to legal business, and it is likely, on the contrary that astrology occupied all his time, while it appears that the imprisonment already mentioned was not the only one he suffered. He became intimate with many of the great scientists of the Restoration, but quarrelled with a number of them too; while, though he always maintained that he was not actually affiliated with the Rosicrucians, it is a fact that he explained their theories publicly. Little is known about his later years, while the date of his death is unknown, and, before turning, to the subject of his writings, it only behoves to state that his portrait was engraved by Thomas Cross.
Mr. Waite declares that Heydon's writings are sorry pastiches, and it cannot be questioned that the bulk of his work is derivative, Sir Thomas Browne being one whom he apes particularly. Nevertheless Heydon must be credited with considerable assiduity, and his Rosicrucian books alone are numerous, the best of them being probably The New Method of RosiCrucian Physich (1658), The Rosie - Crucian Infallible Axiomater (1660), The Wise Man's Crown, or The Glory of the Rosie - Cross (1664), and The Rosie - Cross Uncovered (1662). In addition to them he was author of Theomagia or The Temple of Wisdom (1664), and The Prophetic Trumpeter, sounding an Alarm to England (1655), the latter being dedicated to Henry Cromwell, while according to Wood's Athene oxonicsis, Heydon was likewise the compiler of A Rosicrucian Theological Dictionary. Yet another book from his pen was Idea of the Law, and at the end of this we find advertisements of several works of his, probably pamphlets, none of which is known to exist nowadays.
Home, Daniel Dunglas, (1833-1886) : One of the best known of spiritualistic mediums, was born near Edinburgh in 1833. At the age of nine he was taken by his aunt to America, where in 1850 he became a convert to the new doctrine of spiritualism. and himself developed mediumistic powers. The next five years saw him occupied in giving seances in New York and elsewhere. In 1855 some of his friends subscribed a sum of money to send him to Europe. In England his seances were attended by many notable people, and on the Continent also he was admitted into the highest society. Until 1859 he had subsisted on the bounty of his wealthy friends-for at no time did he take actual fees for his services-but in that year he married a Russian lady of noble birth, young, charming, and possessed of means. But on her death in 1862 his financial circumstances were altered again. Four years later he was adopted by a wealthy widow, Mrs. Lyon, who made him large money gifts. In a few months, however, she tired of her adopted son and sued him in the law courts for the recovery of her "gifts." The charge of fraud was not proved, and many distinguished persons filed affidavits testifying to the actuality of Home's mediumistic powers, but the court was not- satisfied that he had not influenced Mrs. Lyon, and judgment was given in her favour. During all this time he had largely exercised his faculties as a medium, and in 1870-72 he held a series of sittings with Sir William Crookes In 1871 he married again, and for the second time his wife was a Russian lady of means. From 1872 onwards he lived mostly on the Continent, where he died in 1886, after a long and painful illness. Home's mediumship presents many remarkable features. His seances were productive of both trance and physical phenomena, the latter including raps and table-tilting, levitation and elongation, materialisation, the fire-ordeal, and practically every form of manifestation. Unlike other mediums, he was never detected in fraud, though his mediumship was spread over so many years, and his phenomena are among the best-attested in the records of spiritualism. But a more important factor in Home's success was his wonderful personality. Though of lowly birth, he early acquired an ease and charm of manner which fitted him for the good society wherein he was destined to move. Artless and spontaneous and very affectionate, of pleasing manners and generous disposition, he won the hearts of all with whom he came in contact, and inspired in his sitters an emotional confidence which seems frequently to have over-ruled their judgment. Sir W. Crookes said of him that he was " one of the most lovable of men," whose " perfect genuineness and uprightness were beyond suspicion." Whether a medium should ever be " beyond suspicion " to a scientific investigator is, of course, open to question, but the instance shows abundantly that even scientists are not immune from the influence of personal magnetism.
House of Wisdom: The tarik or "path" of the House of Wisdom was founded by Muslim mystics at Cairo in the ninth century, and had seven initiatory degrees. The original founder appears to have been one Abdallah, a Persian, who, believing in the Gnostic doctrine of the Aeons or Sephiroths, applied the system to the successors of Mohammed, stating that Ismael was the founder of his tarik and one of his descendants as the seventh Iman. He established an active system of propaganda and sent missionaries far and wide. He was succeeded in his office as chief of the society by his son and grandson. After the institution had been in existence for some time it was transferred to Cairo, and assemblies were held twice a week, when all the members appeared clothed in white. They were gradually advanced through the seven degrees of which the tarih consisted, and over which a Dai - al - doat or " Missionary of missionaries " presided. A later chief, Hakem - bi - emir - Illah, increased the degrees to nine, and in 1104 erected a stately home for the society, which he elaborately furnished with mathematical instruments. As the institution did not meet with the approval of the authorities, it was destroyed in 1123 by the then Grand Vizier, but meetings continued elsewhere. The officers of the society were: - Sheik, Dai - el - keber, or Deputy, Dai, or Master, Refik, or Fellow, Fedavie, or Agent, Lassik, or Aspirant, Muemini, or Believer. The teaching was to the effect that there had been seven holy Imams, that God had sent seven Lawgivers, who had each seven helpers, who in turn had each twelve apostles.
Huet, Pierre-Daniel: A celebrated bishop of Avranches, who died in 1721- One finds in his Reminiscences many interesting passages relating to the vampires by the Greek Archipelago. " Many strange things," he says "are told of the bricolages, or vampires of the Archipelago. It is said in that country that if one leads a wicked life, and dies in sin, he will appear again after death as he was wont in his lifetime, and that such a person will cause great affright among the living." Huet believed that the bodies of such people were abandoned to the power of the devil, who retained the soul within them for the vexation of mankind. Father Richard, a Jesuit, employed on a mission in these islands, provided Huet with details of many cases of vampirism. In the Island of St. Erini, the Thera of the ancients occurred one of the greatest chapters in 'the history of vampirism. He says that these people were tormented by vampires, that they were constantly disinterring corpses for the purpose of burning them. Huet states that this evidence is worthy of credence as emanating from a witness of unimpeachable honesty, who has had ocular demonstrations of what he writes about. He further says that the inhabitants of these islands after the death of a person, cut off his feet, hands, nose, and ears, and they call this act acroteria zein. They hang all these round the elbow of the dead. It is noteworthy that the bishop appears to think that the modern Greeks may have inherited the practice of burning bodies from their fathers in classical times, and that they imagine that unless the corpse is given to the flames, all cannot be well with the soul of the deceased.
Huns: The ancient historians credited the Huns with a monstrous origin. They were often called children of the devil, because it was said that they were born of a union between demons and hideous witches, the latter cast out of their own county by Philimer, king of the Goths, and his army. The old writers state that the Huns were of horrible deformity, and could not be mistaken for anything but the children of demons. Besoldus, following Servin, claims that their name of Huns comes from a Celtic or barbaric word signifying great magicians. Many stories are told of their magic prowess, and of their raising spectres to assist them in battle.
Hydromaney: Divination by water, is said by Natalis Comes to have been the invention of Nereus, and according to Delrio, a most respectable authority in these matters, it is a method of divination than which nulla cundior imposturis iamblichus, he says, mentions one kind used by Macrobius. Pausanias has described a fountain near Epidaurus, dedicated to Ino, into which on her festival, certain loaves were wont to be thrown. It was a favourable omen to the applicant if these offerings were retained; on the other hand, most unlucky if they were washed up again. So, also, Tiberius cast golden dice into the fountain of Pomus, near Padua, where they long remained as a proof of the imperial monster's good fortune in making the highest throw. Several other instances of divining springs may be found collected by the diligence of Boissard; and to a belief in them Delrio thinks a custom of the ancient Germans is referable, who threw their newborn children into the Rhine, with a conviction that if thy were spurious they would sink, if legitimate they would swim. In a fifth method, certain mysterious words were pronounced over a cup full of water, and observations were made upon its spontaneous ebullition. In a sixth, a drop of oil was let fall on water in a glass vessel, and this furnished as it were a mirror upon which many wonderful objects became visible. This, says Delrio, is the Modus Fessanus. Clemens Alexandrinus is cited for a seventh kind, in which the women of Germany watched the sources, whirls, and courses of rivers, with a view to prophetic interpretation;. the same fact is mentioned by wives in his Commentary upon St. Atigustive. In modern Italy, continues the learned Jesuit, diviners are still to be found who write the names of any three persons suspected of theft upon a like number of little balls, which they throw into the water and some go to so profane an extent as to abuse even holy water for this most unsanctified purpose.
Hypnotism: A peculiar state of cerebral dissociation distinguished by certain marked symptoms, the most prominent and invariable of which is a highly - increased suggestibility in the subject. The hypnotic state may be induced in a very large percentage of normal individuals, or may occur spontaneously. It is recognised as having an affinity with normal sleep, and likewise with a variety of abnormal conditions, among which may be mentioned somnambulism, ecstasy, and the trances of Hindu fakirs and savage medicine - men. In fact, in one or other of their forms, hypnosis and its kindred have been known in practically all countries and all times.
Hypnotism is no longer classed with the occult sciences. It has gained, though only within comparatively recent years, a definite scientific status, and no mean place in legitimate medicine. Nevertheless its history is inextricably interwoven with occultism, and even to - day much hypnotic phenomena is classed as " spiritualistic "; so that the consideration of hypnotism in this place is very necessary to a proper understanding of much of the occult science of our own and former times.
The Early Magnetist's. - So far back as the 16th century hypnotic phenomena were observed and studied by men of science, who attributed them to magnetism, an effluence radiating from every object in the universe, in a greater or less degree, and through which all objects might exercise a mutual influence one on another. From this doctrine was constructed the " sympathetic " system of medicine, by means of which the magnetic effluence of the planets, of the actual magnet, or of the physician, was brought to bear upon the patient. Paracelsus is generally supposed to be the originator of the sympathetic system, as he was its most powerful exponent. Of the magnet he says:
" The magnet has long lain before all eyes, and no one has ever thought whether it was of any further use, or whether it possessed any other property, than that of attracting iron. The sordid doctors throw it in my face that I will not follow the ancients; but in what should I follow them ? All that they have said of the magnet amounts to nothing. Lay that which I have said of it in the balance, and judge. Had I blindly followed others, and had I not myself made experiments, I should in like manner know nothing more than what every peasant sees - that it attracts iron. But a wise man must enquire for himself, and it is thus that I have discovered that the magnet, besides this obvious and to every man visible power, that of attracting iron, possesses another and concealed power." - That of healing the sick.
And there is no doubt that cures were actually effected by Paracelsus with the aid of the magnet, especially in cases of epilepsy and nervous affections. Yet the word "magnet" is most frequently used by Paracelsus and his followers in a figurative sense, to denote the magnes microcosmi, man himself, who was supposed to be a reproduction in miniature of the earth, having, like it, his poles and magnetic properties From the stars and planets, he taught, came a very subtle effluence which affected man's mind or intellect, while earthly substances radiated a grosser emanation which affected his body. The human mummy especially was a " magnet - well suited for remedial purposes, since it draws to itself the diseases and poisonous properties of other substances. The most effective mummy was that of a criminal who had been hanged, and it was applied in the following manner. " if a person suffer from disease, " says Paracelsus, " either local or general, experiment with the following remedy. Take a magnet impregnated with mummy, and combined with rich earth. In this earth sow some seeds that have a likeness to, or homogeneity with, the disease; then let this, earth, well sifted and mixed with mummy, be laid in an earthen vessel, and let the seeds committed to it be watered daily with a lotion in which the diseased limb or body has. been washed. Thus will the disease be transplanted from the human body to the seeds which are in the earth. Having done this, transplant the seeds from the earthen vessel to the ground, and wait till they begin to flourish into herbs. As they increase, the disease will diminish, and when they have reached their mature growth, will altogether disappear." The quaint but not altogether, illogical idea of " weapon - salve " - anointing the weapon instead of the wound - was also used by Paracelsus, his theory being that part of the vital spirits clung to the weapon and exercised an ill effect on the vital spirits in the wound, which would not heal until the ointment had first been applied to the weapon; this also was an outcome of the magnetic theory.
Towards the end of the 16th century Paracelsus was worthily succeeded by J. B. van Helmont, a scientist of distinction and an energetic protagonist of magnetism. " Material nature, " he writes, " draws her forms through constant magnetism from above, and implores for them the favour of heaven; and as heaven, in like manner, draws something invisible from below, there is established a free and mutual intercourse, and the whole is contained in an individual." Van Helmont believed also in the power of the will to direct the subtle fluid. There was, he held, in all created things, a magic or celestial power through which they were allied to heaven. This power or strength is greatest in the soul of man, resides in a less degree in his body, and to some extent is present in the lower animals, plants, and inorganic matter. It is by reason of his superior endowment in this respect that man is enabled to rule the other creatures, and to make use of inanimate objects for his own purposes. The power is strongest when one is asleep, for then the body is quiescent, and the soul most active and dominant; and for this reason dreams and prophetic visions are more common in sleep. " The spirit, " he says, " is everywhere diffused, and the spirit is the medium of magnetism; not the spirits of heaven and of hell, but the spirit of man, which is concealed in him as the fire is concealed in the flint. The human will makes itself master of a portion of its spirit of life, which becomes a connecting property between the~ corporeal and the incorporeal, and diffuses itself like the light." To this ethereal spirit he ascribes the visions seen by " the inner man " in ecstasy, and also those of the " outer man " and the lower animals. In proof of the mutual influence of living creatures he asserts that men may kill animals merely by staring hard at them for a quarter of an hour. That Van Helmont was not ignorant of the power of imagination is evident from many of his writings.
A common needle, he declares, may by means of certain manipulations, and the will - power and imaginations of the operator, be made to possess magnetic properties' ' Herbs may become very powerful through the imagination of him who gathers them. And again:" I have hitherto avoided revealing the great secret, that the strength lies concealed in man, merely through the suggestion and power of the imagination to work outwardly, and to impress this strength on others, which then continues of itself, and operates on the remotest objects. Through this secret alone will all receive its true illumination all that has hitherto been brought together laboriously of the ideal being out of the spirit - all that has been said of the magnetism of all things - - of the strength of the human soul - of the magic of man, and of his dominion over the physical world." Van Helmont also gave special importance to the stomach as the chief seat of the soul, and recounts an experience of his own in which, on touching some aconite with his tongue, he finds all his senses transferred to his stomach. In after years this was to be a favourite accomplishment of somnambules and cataleptic subjects'
A distinguished English magnetist was Robert Fludd, who wrote in the first part of the 17th century. Fludd was an exponent of the microcosmic theory, and a believer in the magnetic effluence from man. Not only were these emanations able to cure bodily diseases, but they also affected the moral sentiments; for if radiations from two individuals were, on meeting, flung back or distorted, negative magnetism, or antipathy resulted, whereas if the radiations from each person passed freely into those from the other, the result was positive magnetism, or sympathy. Examples of positive and negative magnetism were also to be found among the lower animals and among plants. Another magnetist of distinction was the Scottish physician, Maxwell, who is said to have anticipated much of Mesmer's doctrine. He declares that those who are familiar with the operation of the universal spirit can, through its agency cure all diseases, at no matter what distance. He also suggests that the practice of magnetism, though very valuable in the hand of a well - disposed physician, is not without its dangers, and is liable to many abuses.
While the theoretical branch of magnetism was thus receiving attention at the hands of the alchemical philosophers, the practical side was by no means neglected. There were in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries a number of " divine healers, " whose magic cures were without doubt the result of hypnotic suggestion. Of these perhaps the best known and most successful were Valentine Greatrakes, an Irishman, and a Swabian priest named Gassner. Greatrakes was born in 1628, and on reaching manhood served for some time in the Irish army, thereafter settling down on his estate in Waterford. In 1662 he had a dream in which it was revealed to him that he possessed the gift of curing king's evil. The dream was repeated several times before he paid heed to it, but at length he made the experiment, his own wife being the first to be healed by him. Many who came to him from the surrounding country were cured when he laid his hands upon them. Later the impression came upon him strongly that he could cure other diseases besides king's evil.
News of his wonderful powers spread far and wide, and patients came in hundreds to seek his aid. Despite the fact that the Bishop of the Diocese forbade the exercise of these apparently magical powers, Greatrakes continued to heal the afflicted people who sought him. In 1666 he proceeded to London, and though not invariably successful, he seems to have performed there a surprising number of cures, which were testified to by Robert Boyle, Sir William Smith, Andrew Marvell, and many other eminent people. He himself describes them in a work entitled " Val. Greatrakes, Esq., of Waterford, in the kingdom of Ireland, famous for curing several diseases and distempers by the stroke of his hand only: London, 1660." His method of healing was to stroke the affected part with his hand, thus driving the disease into the limbs and so finally out of the body. Sometimes the treatment acted as though by magic, but if immediate relief was not obtained the rubbing was continued, and but few cases were dismissed as incurable. Even epidemic diseases he healed by a touch. It is said that during the treatment the patient's fingers and toes remained insensible to external stimuli, and frequently he himself showed every symptom of such a magnetic crisis as was afterwards to become a special feature of mesmeric treatment. Personally Greatrakes was a simple and pious gentleman, persuaded thai his marvellous powers were a divinely - bestowed gift, and most anxious to make the best use of them.
The other healer mentioned, Gassner, belongs to a somewhat later period - about the middle of the eighteenth century. Gassner was a priest of Bludenz in Vorarlberg, where his many cures gained for him a wide celebrity. All diseases, according to him, were caused by evil spirits possessing the patient, and his mode of healing thus consisted of exorcising the demons. He too was a man of kindly disposition and piety, and made a large use of the Scriptures in his healing operations. The ceremony of exorcism was a rather impressive one. Herr Gassner sat at a table, the patient and spectators in front of him, A blue red - flowered cloak hung from his shoulders; the rest of his clothing, we are told, was " clean, simple, and modest." On his left was a window, on his right, the crucifix. His fine personality, deep learning, and noble character inspired the faith of the patient and his friends and doubtless played no small part in his curative feats. Sometimes he made use of magnetic manipulations, stroking or rubbing the affected part, and driving the disease, after the manner of Greatrakes, into the limbs of the patient, The formula of exorcism he generally pronounced in Latin, with which language the demons showed a perfect familiarity. Not only could he control sickness by these means, but the passions also were amenable to his treatment. " Now anger is apparent, now patience, now joy, now sorrow, now hate, now love, now confusion, now reason, - each carried to the highest pitch. Now this one is blind, now he sees, and again is deprived of sight, etc." These curious results suggest the phreno - magnetism of later years, where equally sudden changes of mood were produced by touching with the fingertips those parts of the subject's head which phrenology associated with the various emotions to be called forth.
Hitherto it will be seen that the rational and supernatural explanations of magnetism had run parallel with one another, the former most in favour with the philosophers, the latter with the populace. It was reserved for Emanuel Swedenborg (q.v.) (1688 - 1772), the Swedish philosopher and spiritualist, to unite the doctrine of magnetism with that of spiritualism - i.e., the belief in the action in the external world of the discarnate spirits of deceased human beings. That Swedenborg accepted some of the theories of the older magnetists is evident from his mystical writings, from which the following passage has been extracted.
" In order to comprehend the origin and progress of this influence (i.e., God's influence over man), we must first know that that which proceeds from the Lord is the divine sphere which surrounds us, and fills the spiritual and natural world. All that proceeds from an object, and surrounds and clothes it, is called its sphere.
" As all that is spiritual knows neither time nor space, it therefore follows that the general sphere or the divine one has extended itself from the first moment of creation to the last. This divine emanation, which passed over from the spiritual to the natural, penetrates actively and rapidly through - the whole created world, to the last grade of it, where it is yet to be found, and produces and maintains all that is animal, vegetable, and mineral. Man is continually surrounded by a sphere of his favourite propensities; these unite themselves to the natural sphere of his body, so that together they form one. The natural sphere surrounds every body of nature, and all the objects of the three kingdoms.
Thus it allies itself to the spiritual world. This is the foundation of sympathy and antipathy, of union and follows. The brain is composed of innumerable groups of nerve cells, all more or less closely connected with each other by means of nervous links or paths of variable resistance. Excitement of any of these groups, whether by means of impressions received through the sense organs, or by the communicated activity of other groups, will, if sufficiently intense, occasion the rise into consciousness of an idea. In the normal waking state the resistance of the nervous association - paths is fairly low, so that the activity is easily communicated from one neural group to another.
Thus the main idea which reaches the upper stratum of ~consciousness is attended by a stream of other, subconscious ideas, which has the effect of checking the primary idea and preventing its complete dominance. Now the abnormal dominance of one particular system of ideas that suggested by the operator - together with the complete suppression of all rival systems, is the principal fact to be explained in hypnosis. To some extent the physiological process conditioning hypnosis suggests an analogy with normal sleep. When one composes himself to sleep there is a lowering of cerebral excitement and a proportionate increase in the resistance of the neural links; and this is precisely what happens during hypnosis, the essential passivity of the subject raising the resistance of the association - paths.
But in normal sleep, unless some exciting cause be present, all the neural dispositions are at rest, whereas in the latter case such a complete suspension of cerebral activities is not permitted, since the operator, by means of voice, gestures, and manipulations of the patient's limbs, keeps alive that set of impressions relating to himself.
One neural disposition is thus isolated, so that any idea suggested by the operator is free to work itself out in action, without being submitted to the checks of the sub-activity of other ideas.
The alienation is less or more complete according as the degree of hypnotism is light or heavy but a comparatively slight raising of resistance in the neural links suffices to secure the dominance of ideas suggested by the hypnotizer. Hyperaesthesia, than which perhaps no phenomenon is more frequently mentioned in connection with the hypnotic state, really belongs to the doubtful class, since it has not yet been decided whether or not an actual sharpening or refining of the senses takes place.
Alternatively it may be suggested that the accurate perception of very faint sense - impressions, which seems to furnish evidence for hyperesthesia, merely recalls the fact that the excitement conveyed through the sensory nerve - operates with extraordinary force, being freed from the restriction of sub - excitement in adjacent neural groups and systems.
In accepting this viewpoint we concede that in normal life very feeble sensory stimuli must act on nerve and brain just as they do in hypnosis, save that in the former case they are so stifled amid a multitude of similar impressions that they fail to reach consciousness. In any case the occasional abnormal sensitiveness of the subject to very slight sensory stimuli is a fact of hypnotism .as well authenticated as anaesthesia itself, and the term "hyperaesthesia, " if not entirely justified, may for want of a better be practically applied to the observed phenomenon.
The hypnotic state is not necessarily induced by a second person. "Spontaneous " hypnotism and " auto hypnotisation " are well known to science. Certain Indian fakirs and the shamans of uncivilised races can produce in themselves a state closely approximating to hypnosis, by a prolonged fixation of the eyes, and by other means. The mediumistic trance i, ; also, as will be shown hereafter, a case in point.
Hypnotism and Spiritualism. - Spiritualism is a legacy directly bequeathed by the magnetic philosophers of medieval times, and through them, from the still older astrologers and magi. It has been shown that at a very early date phenomena of a distinctly hypnotic character were ascribed to the workings of spiritual agencies, whether angelic or demoniac, by a certain percentage of the observers Thug Greatrakes and Gassner believed themselves to have been gifted with a divine power to heal diseases. Cases of ecstasy, catalepsy and other trance states were given a spiritual significance - i.e., demons, angels, elementals, and so on, were supposed to speak through the lips of the possessed. Witchcraft, in which the force of hypnotic suggestion seems to have operated in a very large degree, was thought to result from the witches' traffic with the Prince of Darkness and his legions.
Even in some cases the souls of, deceased men and women were identified with these intelligences, though not generally until the time of Swedenborg. Though the movement known as " modern spiritualism " is usually dated from 1848, the year of the " Rochester Rappings, " the real growth of spiritualism was much more gradual, and its roots were hidden in animal magnetism. Emanuel Swedenborg, whose affinities with the magnetists have already been referred to, exercised a remarkable influence on the spiritualistic thought of America and Europe, and was in a sense the founder of that faith. Automatic phenomena were even then a feature of the magnetic trance, and clairvoyance, community of sensation, and telepathy were believed in generally, and regarded by many as evidences of spiritual communication. In Germany Professor Jung - Stilling, Dr. C. Rbmer, Dr. Werner, and the poet and physician Justinus Kerner, were among those who held opinions on these lines, the latter pursuing his investigations with a somnambule who became famous as the " Seeress of Prevorst - - Frau Frederica Hauffe. Fran Hauffe could see and converse with the spirits of the deceased, and gave evidence of prophetic vision and clairvoyance. Physical phenomena were witnessed in her presence, knockings, rattling of chains, movement of objects without contact, and, in short, such manifestations as were characteristic of the poltergeist family. She was, moreover, the originator of a primeval " language, which she declared was that spoken by the patriarchs. Thus Fran Hauffe, though only a somnambule, or magnetic patient, possessed all the qualities of a successful spiritualistic medium. In England also there were many circumstances of a supernatural character associated with mesmerism. Dr. Elliotson, who, as has been indicated, was one of the best - known of English magnetists, became in time converted to a spiritualistic theory, as offering an explanation of the clairvoyance and similar phenomena which he thought to have observed in his patients. France, the headquarters of the rationalist school of magnetism, had, indeed, a good deal less to show of spiritualistic opinion. Nonetheless even in that country the latter doctrine made its appearance at intervals prior to 1848. J. P. F. Deleuze, a good scientist and an earnest protagonist of magnetism, who published his Histoire Critique du Magnilisme Animal, was said to have embraced the doctrines of spiritualism before he died. Dr. G. P. Billot was another believer in spirit communication, and one who succeeded in obtaining physical phenomena in the presence of his somnambules. It is, however, in the person of Alphonse Cahagnet, a man of humble origin who began to study induced somnambulism about the year 1845, and who thereafter experimented with somnambules, that we encounter the first French spiritualist of distinction. So good was the evidence for spirit communication furnished by Cahagnet and his subjects that it remains among the best which the annals of the movement can produce. In America, Laroy Sunderland, Andrew Jackson Davis, and others who became pillars of spiritualism in that country were first attracted to it through the study of magnetism. Everywhere we find hypnotism and spiritualism identified with each other until in 1848 a definite split occurs, and the two go their separate ways. Even yet, however, the separation is not quite complete. In the first place, the mediumistic trance is obviously a variant of spontaneous or self - induced hypnotism, while in the se, ~ond, many of the most striking phenomena of the seance - room have been matched time and again in the records of animal magnetism. For instance, the diagnosis of disease and prescription of remedies dictated by the control to the " healing medium " have their prototype in the cures of Valentine Greatrakes, or of Alesmer and his disciples. Automatic phenomena speaking in " tongues " and so forth - early formed a characteristic feature.of the induced trance and kindred states. While even the physical phenomena, movenient Without contact, apports, rappings, were witnessed in connection with magnetism long before the movement known as modern spiritualism was so much as thought of. In in - Any instances, though not in all, we can trace the operation of hypnotic suggestion in the automatic phenomena, just as we can perceive the result of fraud in much of the physical manifestations. The question whether, after the factors of hypnotism and fraud have been removed, a section of the phenomena remains inexplicable say by the hypothesis of communication with the spirit - world is one which has been in the past, and is to - day, answered in the affirmative by many men of the highest distinction in their various walks of life, and one which we would do well to treat with due circumspection. This, however, is reserved for consideration elsewhere, the scope of the present article being to show how largely spiritualism has borrowed from the fact of hypnotism. (See Suggest'On.)
Illuminati: The term used first of all in the 15th century by enthusiasts in the occult arts signifying those who claimed to possess " light " directly communicated from a higher source, or due to a larger measure of human wisdom. We first find the name in Spain about the end of the 15th century. Its origin is probably a late Gnostic one hailing from Italy, and we find all sorts of people, many of them charlatans, claiming to belong to the brotherhood. In Spain, such persons as laid claim to the title had to face the rigour of the Inquisition, and this is perhaps the reason that we find numbers of them in France in the early seventeenth century, as refugees.
Here and there small bodies of those called Illuminati, sometimes known as Rosicrucians rose into publicity for a short period. But it is with Weishaupt, Professor of Law at Ingolstadt, that the movement first became identified with republicanism. It soon secured a strong hold all through Germany, but its founder's object was merely to convert his followers into blind instruments of his supreme will. He modelled his organisation on that of the Jesuits, adopted their system of espionage, and their maxim that the end justifies the means. He induced mysticism into the workings of the brotherhood, so that an air of mystery might pervade all its doings, adopted many of the classes and grades of Freemasonry, and held cut hopes of the communication of deep occult secrets in the higher ranks.
Only a few of the members knew him personally, and thus although the society had many branches in all parts of Germany, to these people alone was he visible, and he began to be regarded by those who had not seen him almost as a god. He took care to enlist in his ranks as many young men of wealth and position as possible, and within four or five years the power of Illuminism became extraordinary in its proportions, its members even bad a hand In the affairs of the state, and not a few of the German princes found it to their interest to having dealings with the fraternity. Weishaupt's idea was to blend philanthropy and mysticism. He was only 28 when he founded the sect in 1776, but he did not make much progress until a certain baron Von Knigge joined him in 1780. A gifted person of strong imagination he had been admitted master of most of the secret societies of his day, among them Freemasonry. He was also an expert occultist and the supernatural had strong attractions for him. These two, rapidly spread the gospel of the Revolution throughout Germany. But they grew fearful that, if the authorities discovered the existence of such a society as theirs they would take steps to suppress it. With this in view they conceived the idea of grafting it on to Freemasonry, which they considered would protect it, and offer it means of spreading more widely and rapidly.
The Freemasons were not long in discovering the true nature of those who had just joined their organisation. A chief council was held with the view of thoroughly examining into the nature of the beliefs held by them and a conference of masons was held in 1782 at which Knigge and Weishaupt attended and endeavoured to capture the whole organisation of Freemasonry, but a misunderstanding grew up between the leaders of illuminism. Knigge withdrew from the society, - and two years later those who bad reached its highest grade and had discovered that mysticism was not its true object, denounced it to the Bavarian Government as a political society of a dangerous character. Weishaupt fled, but the damage had been done, for the fire kindled by Illuminism was soon to burst forth in the French Revolution.
It has been suggested, and must certainly be true that the fathers of the United States had a solid grounding in the same principles as Weishaupt, and that the declarations of 1776 were not entirely coincidental to his founding of the German movement. Certainly it can be reasonably suggested that the American Freemason lodges provided Weishaupt with an example, and there is fair reason to believe that Washington, Jefferson, and other Masonic luminaries of the United States Independence corresponded with the German society of the same aim.
The title Illuminati was later given to the French Martinists (q.v. )
India: Mystical Systems. - It would be beyond the scope of such a work as this to undertake to provide any account of the several religious systems of India, and we must confine ourselves to a description of the mysticism and demonology which cluster round these systems, and an outline of the magic and sorcery of the native peoples of the empire.
Hinduism. - It may be said that the mysticism of the Hindus was a reaction against the detailed and practical ceremonial of the Vedas. If its trend were summarised it might justly be said that it partakes strongly of disinterestedness; is a pantheistic identifying of subject and ~object, worshipper and worship; aims at ultimate absorption in the Infinite; inculcates absolute passivity, the most minute self - examination, the cessation of the physical powers; and believes in the spiritual guidance of the mystical adept. For the Indian theosophists there is only one Absolute Being, the One Reality. True, the pantheistic doctrine of Ekam evadvitiyam " the One without Second " posits a countless pantheon of gods, great and small, and a rich demonology; but it has to be ~understood that these are merely illusions of the soul and not realities. Upon the soul's coming to fuller knowledge, its illusions are totally dispelled, but to the ordinary man the impersonality of absolute being is useless. He requires a symbolic deity to bridge the gulf betwixt the impersonal Absolute and his very material self, hence the numerous gods of Hinduism which are regarded by the initiated merely as manifestations of the Supreme Spirit. Even the rudest forms of idolatry in this way possess higher meaning. As Sir Alfred Lyall says: " It (Brahminism) treats all the worships as outward visible signs of the same spiritual truth, and is ready to show how each particular image or rite is the symbol of some aspect of universal divinity. The Hindus, like the pagans of antiquity adore natural objects and forces, - a mountain, a river, or an animal. The Brahmin holds all nature to be the vesture or cloak of indwelling divine energy which inspires everything that reduces all or passes man's understanding."
The life ascetic has from the remotest times been regarded in India as the truest preparation for communion with the deity. Asceticism is extremely prevalent especially in connection with the cult of Siva, who is in great measure regarded as the prototype of this class. The Yogis or Jogis (disciples of the Yogi. philosophy), practise mental abstraction, and are popularly supposed to attain to superhuman powers. The usual results of their ascetic practices are madness or mental vacancy, and their so called supernatural powers are mostly prophetic, or in to many cases pure jugglery and conjuring. The Paramal Hamsas, that is " supreme swans " claim to be identical. with the world - soul, and have no occupation except meditation on Brahma. They are said to be equally indifferent to pleasure or pain, insensible to beat or cold, and incapable of satiety or want. The Sannyasis are those who renounce terrestrial affairs: they are of the character of monks, and are as a general rule extremely dirty. The Dandis or staff - bearers are worshippers of Siva in his form of Bhairava the Terrible. Mr. J. C. Owen in his Mystics, Ascetics and Sects of India says of these Sadhus or holy men:" Sadhuism whether perpetuating the peculiar idea of the efficacy of asceticism for the acquisition of far - reaching powers over natural phenomena or bearing its testimony to the belief of the indispensability of detachment from the world as a preparation for the ineffable joy of ecstatic communion with the Divine Being, has undoubtedly tended to keep before men's eyes as the highest ideal, a life of purity and restraint and contempt of the world of human affairs. It has also necessarily maintained amongst the laity a sense of the rights and claims of the poor upon the charity of the more opulent members of the community. Further, Sadhuism by the multiplicity of the independent sects which have arisen in India has engendered and favoured a spirit of tolerance which cannot escape the notice of the most superficial observer."
One of the most esoteric branches of Hinduism is the Sakta cult. The Saktas are worshippers of the Sakti or female principle as a creative and reproductive agency. Each of the principal gods possesses his own Sakti, through which his creative acts are performed, so that the Sakta worshippers are drawn from all sects. But it is principally in connection with the cult of Siva that Sakta worship is practised. 'Its principal seat is the north - eastern part of India - Bengal, Behar and Assam. It is divided into two distinct groups. The original self - existent gods were supposed to divide themselves into male and female energies, the male half occupying the right - hand and the female the left hand side. From this conception we have the two groups of " right - hand " observers and " left - hand " observers. In the Tantras or mystical writings, Siva unfolds in the nature of a colloquy in answer to questions asked by his spouse Parvati, the mysteries of Sakta occultism. The right - hand worshippers are by far the most numerous. Strict secrecy is enjoined in the performance of the rites, and only one minor caste, the Kanlas, carry on the mystic and degraded rites of the Tantras.
Brahmanism. - Brahmanism is a system originated by the Brahmans, the sacerdotal caste of the Hindus, at a, comparatively early date. It is the mystical religion of India par excellence, and represents the more archaic beliefs of its peoples. It states that the numberless individual existences of animate nature are but so many manifestations of the one eternal spirit towards which they tend as their final goal of supreme bliss. The object of man is to prevent himself sinking lower in the scale, and by 4 degrees to raise himself in it, or if possible to attain the ultimate goal immediately from such state of existence as he. happens to be in. The code of Manu concludes " He who in his own soul perceives the supreme soul in all beings and acquires equanimity towards them all attains the highest state of bliss." Mortification of animal instincts, absolute purity and perfection of spirit, were the moral ideals of the Brahman class. But it was necessary to pass through a succession of four orders or states of existence ere any hope of union with the deity could be held out. These were: that of brahmacharini, or student of religious matters; grihastha, or householder; vanavasin, or hermit; and sannyasin or bhikshu, fakir or religious mendicant. Practically every man of the higher castes practised at least the first two of these stages, while the priestly class took the entire course. Later, however, this was by no means the rule, as the scope of study was intensely exacting, often lasting as long as forty - eight years, and the neophyte had to support himself by begging from door to door. He was usually attached to the house of some religious teacher; and after several years of his tuition was usually married, as it was considered absolutely essential that he should leave a son behind him to offer food to his spirit and to those of his ancestors. He was then said to have become a " Householder " and was required to keep up perpetually the fire brought into his house upon his marriage day. Upon his growing older, the time for him arrived to enter the third stage of life, and he " cut himself off from all family ties except that (if she wished) his wife might accompany him, and went into retirement in a lonely place, carrying with him his sacred fire, and the instruments necessary to his daily sacrifices." Scantily clothed, and with hair and nails uncut, it is set down that the anchorite must live entirely on food growing wild in the forest - roots, herbs, wild grain, and so forth. The acceptance of gifts was not permitted him unless absolutely necessary, and his time was spent in reading the metaphysi, cal portions of the Veda, in making offerings, and in practising austerities with the object of producing entire indifference to worldly desires. In this way he fits himself for the final and most exalted order, that of religious mendicant or bhikshu. This consists solely of meditation. He takes up his abode at the foot of a tree in entire solitude, and only once a day at the end of their labours may he go near the dwellings of men to beg a little food. In this way he waits for death, neither desiring extinction nor existence, until at length it reaches him, and he is absorbed in the eternal Brahma.
The purest doctrines of Brahmanism are to be found in the Vedanta philosophic system, which recognises the Veda, or collection of ancient Sanskrit hymns, as the revealed source of religious belief through the visions of the ancient Rishis or seers. It has been already mentioned that the Hindu regarded the entire gamut of animated nature as being traversed by the one soul,which journeyed up and down the scale as its actions in its previous existence were good or evil. To the Hindu the vital element in all animate beings appears essentially similar, and this led directly to the Brahmanical theory of transmigration, which has taken such a powerful hold upon the Hindu mind.
Demonology. - A large and intricate demonology has clustered around Hindu mythology. The gods are at constant war with demons. Thus Durga slays Chanda and Asura, and also despatches Durga, a fiend of similar name to herself. Vishnu also slays more than one demon, but Durga appears to have been a great enemy of the demon race. The Asuras, probably a very ancient and aboriginal pantheon of deities, later became demons in the popular imagination, and the Rakshasas were cloud - demons. They are described as cannibals, could take any form, and were constantly menacing the gods. They haunt cemeteries, disturb sacrifices, animate the dead, harry and afflict mankind in all sorts of ways. In fact they are almost an absolute parallel with the vampires of Slavonic countries; and this greatly assists the conclusions of Asikoff that the Slavonic vampires were originally cloud - spirits. We find the gods constantly harassed by demons; and on the whole we may be justified in concluding that just as the Tuatha - de danann harassed the later deities of Ireland, so did these aboriginal gods lead an existence of constant warfare with the divine beings of the pantheon of the immigrant Aryans.
Popular Witchcraft and Sorcery. - The popular witchcraft and sorcery of India greatly resembles that of Europe. The Dravidian or aboriginal races of India have always been strong believers in witchcraft, and it is possible that here we have an example of the mythic influence of a conquered people. They are, however, extremely reticent regarding any knowledge they possess of it. It is practically confined to them, and this might lead to the hasty supposition that the Aryan races of India possess no witchcraft of their own. But this is strongly unlikely, and the truth probably lies quite in the other direction; however, the extraordinarily high demands made upon the popular religious sense by Brahmanism probably crushed the superstitions of the lower cultus of a very early period, and confined the practice of minor sorcery to the lower castes, who were of course of Dravidian or aboriginal blood. We find witchcraft most prevalent among the more isolated and least advanced races, like the Kols, Bhils, and Santals. The nomadic peoples are also strong believers in sorcery, one of the most dreaded forms of which is the Jigar Khoy, or liver - eater, of whom Abul Fazl says:" One of this class can steal away the liver of another by looks and incantations. Other accounts say that by looking at a person he deprives him of his senses, and then steals from him something resembling the seed of a pomegranate, which he hides in the calf of his leg; after being swelled by the fire, he distributes it among his fellows to be eaten, which ceremony concludes the life of the fascinated person. A Jigar Khoy is able to communicate his art to another by teaching him incantations, and by making him eat a bit of the liver cake. These Jigar Khoy are mostly women. It is said they can bring intelligence from a long distance in a short space of time, and if they are thrown into a river with a stone tied to them, they nevertheless will not sink. In order to deprive any one of this wicked power, they brand his temples and every joint of his body, cram his eyes with salt, suspend him for forty days in a subterranean chamber, and repeat over him certain incantations." The witch does not, however, devour the man's liver for two and a half davs, and even if she has eaten it, and is put under the hands of an exorciser, she can be forced to substitute a liver of some animal in the body of the man whom she victimised. We also hear tales of witches taking out the entrails of people, sucking them, and then replacing them. All this undoubtedly illustrates, as in ancient France and Germany, and probably also in the Slavonic countries, the original combination of witch and vampire; how, in fact, the two were one and the same. In India the arch - witch Ralaratri, or " black night " has the joined eyebrows of the Slavonic werewolf or vampire, large cheeks, widely - parted lips, projecting teeth, and is a veritable vampire. But she also possesses the powers of ordinary witchcraft, - second - sight, the making of philtres, the control of tempests, the evil eye, and so forth. Witches also take animal forms, especially those of tigers; and stories of trials are related at which natives gave evidence that they had tracked certain tigers to their lairs, which upon entering they had found tenanted by a a notorious witch or wizard. For such witch - tigers the usual remedy is to knock out their teeth to prevent their doing any more mischief. Strangely enough the Indian witch, like her European prototype, is very often accompanied by a cat. The cat, say the jungle people, is aunt to the tiger, and taught him everything but how to climb a tree. Zalim Sinh, the famous regent of Kota, believed that cats were associated with witches, and imagining himself enchanted ordered that every cat should be expelled from his province.
As in Europe, witches are known by certain marks. They are believed to learn the secrets of their craft by eating offal of all kinds. The popular belief concerning them is that they are often very handsome and neat, and invariably apply a clear line of red lead to the parting of their lair. They are popularly accused of exhuming dead children, and bringing them to life to serve occult purposes of their own. They cannot die so long as they are witches, and until, as in Italy, they can pass on their knowledge of witchcraft to someone else. They recite charms backwards, repeating two letters and a half from a verse in the Koran. If a certain charm is repeated " for wards, " the person employing it will become invisible to his neighbour, but if he repeats it backwards, he will assume whatever shape he chooses. A witch can acquire power over her victim by getting possession of a lock of hair, the paring of nails, or some other part of his body, such as a tooth. For this reason natives of India are extremely careful about the disposal of such, burying them in the earth in a place covered with grass, or in the neighbourhood of water, which witches universally dislike. Some people even fling the cuttings of their hair into running water. Like the witches of Europe too, they are in the practice of making images of persons out of wax, dough, or similar substances, and torturing them, with the idea that the pain will be felt by the person whom they desire to injure. In India the witches' familiar is known as Bir or the " hero, " who aids her to inflict injury upon human beings. The power of the witch is greatest on the 14th, 15th and 29th of each month, and in particular on the Feast of Lamps, and the Festival of Durga.
Witches are often severely punished amongst the isolated hill - folk and a diabolical ingenuity is shown in torturing them. To nullify their evil influence, they are beaten with rods of the castor - oil plant and usually die in the process. They are often forced to drink filthy water used by curriers in the process of their work, or their noses are cut off, or they are put to death. As has been said, their teeth are often knocked out, their heads shaved and offal is thrown at them. In the case of women their heads are shaved and their hair is attached to a tree in some public place. They are also branded; have a ploughshare tied to their legs; and made to drink the water of a tannery. During the Mutiny, when British authority was relaxed, the most atrocious horrors were inflicted upon witches and sorcerers by the Dravidian people. Pounded chili peppers were placed in their eyes to see if they would bring tears, and the wretched beings were suspended from a tree head downwards, being swung violently from side to side. They were then forced to drink the blood of a goat, and to exorcise the evil spirits that they had caused to enter the bodies of certain sick persons. The mutilations and cruelties practised on them are such as will not bear repetition, but one of the favourite ways of counteracting the spells of a witch is to draw blood from her, and the local priest will often prick the tongue of the witch with a needle, and place the resulting blood on some rice and compel her to eat it.
In Bombay, the aboriginal Tharus are supposed to possess special powers of witchcraft, so that the "Land of Tharus " is a synonym for witch - land. In Gorakhpur, witches are also very numerous, and the half - gypsy Banayas, or grain - carriers, are notorious believers in witchcraft. In his interesting Popular Religion and Folk - lore of Northern India, Mr. W. Crooke, who has had exceptional opportunities for the study of the native character, and who has done much to clear up the dark places of Indian popular mythology, says regarding the various types of Indian witches:
" At the present day the half - deified witch most dreaded in the Eastern Districts of the North - western Provinces is Lona, or Nona, a Chamaript or woman of the currier caste. Her legend is in this wise. The great physician Dhanwantari, who corresponds to Luqman Hakim of the Muhammadans, was once on his way to cure King Parikshitis and was deceived and bitten by the snake king Tal - shaka. He therefore desired his son3 to roast him and eat his flesh, and thus succeed to his magical powers. The snake king dissuaded them from eating the unholy meal, and they let the cauldron containing it float down the Ganges. A currier woman, named Lona, found it and ate the contents, and thus succeeded to the mystic powers of Dhanwantari. She became skilful in cures, particular of snake - bite. Finally she was discovered to be a witch by the extraordinary rapidity with which she could plant out rice seedlings. One day the people watched her, and saw that when she believed herself unobserved she stripped herself naked, and taking the bundle of the plants in her hands threw them into the air, reciting certain spells. When the seedlings forthwith arranged themselves in their proper places, the spectators called out in astonishment, and finding herself discovered, Nona rushed along over the country, and the channel which she made in her course is the Loni river to this day. So a saint in Broach formed a new course for a river by dragging his clothes behind him ......
" Another terrible witch, whose legend is told at Mathura, is Putana, the daughter of Bali, king of the lower world. She found the infant Krishna asleep, and began to suckle him with her devil's milk. The first drop would have poisoned a mortal child, but Krishna drew her breast with such strength that he drained her life - blood, and the fiend, terrifying the whole land of Braj with her cries of agony, fell lifeless on the ground. European witches suck the blood of children; here the divine Krishna turns the tables on the witch.
" The Palwar Rajputs of Oudh have a witch ancestress. Soon after the birth of her son she was engaged in baking cakes. Her infant began to cry, and she was obliged to perform a double duty. At this juncture her husband arrived just in time to see his demon wife assume gigantic and supernatural proportions, so as to allow both the baking and nursing to go on at the same time. But finding her secret discovered, the witch disappeared, leaving her son as a legacy to her astonished husband. Here, though the story is incomplete, we have almost certainly, as in the case of Nona Chamarin, one of the Melusina type of legend, where the supernatural wife leaves her husband and children, because he violated some taboo, by which he is forbidden to see her in a state of nudity, or the like.
" The history of witchcraft in India, as in Europe, is one of the saddest pages in the annals of the people. Nowadays, the power of British law has almost entirely suppressed the horrible outrages which, under the native administration were habitually practised. But particularly in the more remote and uncivilized parts of the country this superstition still exists in the minds of the people and occasional indications of it, which appear in our criminal records, are quite sufficient to show that any relaxation of the activity of our magistrates and police would undoubtedly lead to its revival in some of its more shocking forms."
The aborigines of India live in great fear of ghosts and invisible spirits, and a considerable portion of their time is given up to averting the evil influences of these. Protectives of every description litter their houses, and the approaches to them, and they wear numerous amulets for the purpose of averting evil influences. Regarding these, Mr. Crooks says:
Some of the Indian ghosts, like the Ifrit of the Arabian Nights, can grow to the length of ten yojaras or eighty miles. In one of the Bengal tales a ghost is identified because she can stretch out her hands several yards for a vessel. Some ghosts possess the very dangerous power of entering human corpses, like the Vetala, and swelling to an enormous size. The Kharwars of Mirzapur have a wild legend, which tells how long ago an unmarried girl of the tribe died, and was being cremated. While the relations were collecting wood for the pyre, a ghost entered the corpse, but, the friends managed to expel him. Since then great care is taken not to leave the bodies of women unwatched. So, in the Punjab, when a great person is cremated the bones and ashes are carefully watched till the fourth day, to prevent a magician interfering with them. If he has a chance, he can restore the deceased to life, and ever after retain him under his influence. This is the origin of the custom in Great Britain of waking the dead, a practice which, most probably originated from a silly superstition as to the danger of a corpse being carried off by some of the agents of the invisible world, or exposed to the ominous liberties of brute animals.' But in India it is considered the best course, if the corpse cannot be immediately disposed of, to measure it carefully, and then no malignant Bhut can occupy it.
" Most of the ghosts whom we have been as yet considering are malignant. There are, however, others which are friendly. Such are the German Elves, the Robin Goodfellow, Puck, Brownie and the Cauld Lad of Hilton of England, the Glashan of the Isle of Man, the Phouka or Leprechaun of Ireland. Such, in one of his many forms, is the Brahmadaitya, or ghost of a Brahman who has died unmarried. In Bengal he is believed to be more neat and less mischievous than other ghosts; the Bhuts carry him in a palanquin, he wears wooden sandals, and lives in a Banyan tree.
Initiation: The process of entry into a secret society or similar organisation. The idea of initiation was certainly inherited by the Egyptians and Assyrians from older neolithic peoples, who possessed secret organisations or mysteries " analogous to those of the Midewiwin of the North American Indians or those of the Australian Blackfellows. We read of initiation into the various grades of the Egyptian priesthood and the " mysteries " of Eleusis and Bacchus. (See Mysteries.) These processes probably consisted of tests of courage and fidelity (as do the savage initiations) and included such acts as sustaining a severe buffeting, the drinking of blood, real and imaginary, and so forth. In the Popol Vuh, the saga of the Kiche Indians of Guatemala we have a picture of the initiation tests of two hero - gods on entrance to the native Hades. Indeed, most of the mysteries typified the descent of man into Hell, and his return to earth, based on the corn - mother legend of the resurrection of the wheat plant.
Initiation into the higher branches of mysticism, magic and theosophy has been largely written upon The process in regard to these is of course entirely symbolical, and is to be taken as implying a preparation for the higher life and the regeneration of the soul.
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