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Genuine Mediumship or The Invisible Powers by Swami Bhakta Vishita

XI HIGHER SPIRIT MANIFESTATIONS

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Use and Abuse of Automatic Writing.

J. A. White, a trance and clairvoyant medium himself, says of the phase of writing mediumship: "There is a great tendency, particularly in cases of automatic writing, to do too much of it. No sooner do some people find that the pencil will move, than they spend all their spare time in this fascinating pursuit, which, in their undeveloped state, I believe to be a dangerous and unwise practice. They are apt to exclaim, when any question arises during the day: 'Let us see what the spirits have to say.' This, carried to extremes, leads to one thing, and one thing only--obsession. I believe in fixing a time, and, unless in exceptional cases, refusing to sit at any other. Of course I am speaking of mediumship when it is in its budding stage. A developed medium can judge for himself, and knows from experience how far to go. It is a favorite trick of a certain class of spirits when they find they have a sensitive who can 'feel' them, to give them that pricking sensation in the arm which denotes their presence. 'So-and-so wants to write,' and away rushes the medium for the pencil, and sits down. This I do not believe in. I have seen far more harm than good come from it. The proper way to develop, in my opinion, is to sit at home in a small, carefully selected circle, two or three times a week, at stated hours, and with a competent conductor who knows what he is doing."

Advice to Writing Mediums.

A French medium says: "We urge beginners in their own interest not to take up the pencil for automatic writing, or to sit at a table for communications at any free moment, without rhyme or reason, for disorder in experiment is one of the first and most serious dangers to be avoided. An absolutely strict rule should be made not to attempt the effort more than once every other day." Another writer says: "The communications that are received by the various forms of passive, impressional, automatic, and inspirational writing must not be regarded as valuable merely because of the conditions under which they were obtained, nor because of their spirit origin, real or supposed. Under all circumstances receive with the utmost reserve and caution long-winded communications from notable characters who claim to be 'Napoleon Bonaparte,' 'Lord Bacon,' 'Socrates,' or other great personages; for in the majority of cases, the value of the communication is exactly the reverse of the importance of the name attached. This applies to automatic writings quite as much as to spoken messages. Judge the statement made by the ordinary standards, apart from their claimed exalted origin. If rational, beautiful, and spiritually helpful and enlightening, they are worth having on their own merits; but if they are unreasonable, wild or dogmatic, or pretentious and flattering, they should be discarded; and, unless you change their character after repeated experiments, your attention should be turned in some other direction."

Drawing Mediumship.

What is known as "drawing mediumship" is but a variation of writing mediumship, at least so far as is concerned the nature of the manifestation. In both cases the spirit control moves the hand of the medium, in one case forming letters and words, and in the other case forming figures, designs, etc. In some rare instances, the spirit control operating through the hand of the medium has produced crayon drawings, water color sketches, and even oil paintings, although the medium himself or herself, was unable to even draw a straight line, much less to execute a finished drawing or painting. The principle governing such mediumship, and the development, thereof, is precisely the same as that governing the phase of writing mediumship previously described.