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How to Read the Crystal by Sepharial

VII. SOME EXPERIENCES

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"'What do you see?'

"'The ghost.'

"Then the party returned, shaken in mind and surfeited with horrors."

Examples of a similar nature might be multiplied indefinitely, and would but serve to show what has already been stated as a matter of personal experience among all those in whom the psychic faculties have attained any degree of development, viz., that the _rapport_ existing between the human soul and the world of subjective consciousness is capable of being actively induced by recourse to appropriate means, or cultivated, where it exists to any degree, by means of the crystal and other accessories, such as the metal disc used in China, or the Shiva-lingam stones used in India.

The following example of the psychic sense of feeling will serve to show that all the senses, not that of vision alone, are capable of development under suitable conditions. A contributor to the _Westminster Budget_, in December, 1893, sends the following account of the use of the divining rod for the purpose of spring-finding:

"A few weeks ago took place some operations with the divining rod by Mr. Stears, of Hull, who was called to Mr. S. Campion's farm at East Heslerton, near Malton, to search for a water supply. At that time he marked two places near the farmhouse where, he said, the presence of water was indicated by the rod. Since then Mr. E. Halliday, plumber of Malton, has bored an artesian well at one of the places indicated, and found a very copious supply of water at a depth of 87 feet, after going through sand, clay, and a bed of what Mr. Halliday says is quartz and lead ore. Mr. Campion, who was previously without a supply of pure water, is delighted with the results of the visit of the 'diviner,' and has faith in his power with the rod. Mr. Stears has since been called in to experiment on several farms on the Birdsall estate of Lord Middleton, the operations being conducted in the presence of Julia, Lady Middleton, the Hon. Geoffrey and Mrs. Dawnay, Mr. Persons (Lord Middleton's agent), and others. Other farms were visited, and Mr. Stears, after employing the rod, indicated the presence of water at each. Mr. Halliday has also received instructions to make tests at these places, and operations are now in progress. Mr. Stears has successfully 'divined' for water on two of Mr. Lett's farms in the East Riding, and also at Amotherby, near Malton; and his success is drawing fresh attention to the 'divining rod' and its capabilities in the hands of a duly 'inspired' professor. Mr. Stears claims that he can also discover metals as well as water, and he alleges that not one person in 10,000 can use the rod successfully. His explanation of the power he possesses beyond the ordinary run of his fellow-men is that it is what he would call 'animal electricity,' because at times, after using the rod for a long period, he loses his power with it, and only recovers it after a short rest and refreshment. In the presence of Lady Middleton and the rest of the company he made several interesting experiments--for instance, standing on a china dish, to show that china is a non-conducting agent (the rod ceasing to oscillate even when over water); finding metals hid in the ground, etc."

Mrs. Louise Cotton, writing of the operation itself, says:

"When a sensitive person who has the power of feeling the existence of water or mineral under the surface of the earth, steps exactly over the course of a spring or running water, or metallic vein, etc., the piece of wood or other medium used turns in the hands--in most cases upwards for water and downwards for minerals. The motion varies according to individual temperaments: in some hands the turning is slow and but slightly felt, or scarcely perceptible by lookers-on; with others it rotates rapidly, and when held tightly by the thumb, the bark of the branch or twig often peels off; and, with very susceptible operators. I have seen the rod fly, out of the hands, or, if very tightly held, break."

As yet, however, the majority of people are wholly oblivious to the fact that such psychic faculties exist, and even those who possess them, _i.e._, who have them in something like working efficiency, are conscious of having but an imperfect control over them.

Probably it is as suggested by Mr. F. H. Myers, these things are, as yet, imperfectly understood. Genius, far from being a condition bordering on neurosis or other nervous ailments--as Lombroso and Nordau have erroneously taught--is an exaltation of faculty which brings its subject into relations with a plane of life possibly far in advance of one's normal experience; so that while new centres of activity are as yet under imperfect control, the normal functions of the brain and other centres of action are left in neglect. Hence, to the casual observer, the erratic nature of Genius is not distinguishable from some incipent forms of insanity.

In just the same way the opening up of new centres of activity in the psychic nature of man is frequently attended by temporary loss of control over the normal brain functions. Loss of memory, hysteria, absentmindedness, unconscious utterance of one's thoughts, illusions and hallucinations, irritability, indifference to one's surroundings, and similar perversions, are among the products of the newly-evolved psychic faculty.

These, however, will pass away when the faculty has been brought under control of the mind. Nature is jealous of its offspring, and concentrates the whole of its forces when in the act of generation. That is the reason of its apparent neglect of powers and function already under its control while the evolution of a new faculty is in process.

The would-be seer, therefore, must be prepared to pay the price of any success which may attend his efforts in the direction of inducing clairvoyance by means of the crystal.

"The universe is thine. Take what thou wilt, but pay the price," is the mandate of Nature. "What shall be the price of this new faculty?" the reader may ask. The answer is the same in regard to this or any other faculty of the soul: "What is it worth to yourself? That is the price you must pay."

With this equation in mind the reader is asked to consider seriously the phenomena indicated in the foregoing pages.

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