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Clairvoyance and Occult Powers by Swami Panchadasi

LESSON XIV ASTRAL-BODY TRAVELING

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The records of the Society for Psychical Research contain many instances of this kind; and similar instances are to be found in other records of psychical research. I shall quote a few of these cases for you, that you may get a clear idea of the characteristics thereof. Andrew Lang, an eminent student and investigator along the lines of the psychic and occult, gives us the following case, of which he says, "Not many stories have such good evidence in their favor." The story as related by Mr. Lang in one of his books is as follows:

"Mary, the wife of John Goffe of Rochester, being afflicted with a long illness, removed to her father's house at West Mailing, about nine miles from her own. The day before her death she grew very impatiently desirous to see her two children, whom she had left at home to the care of a nurse. She was too ill to be moved, and between one and two o'clock in the morning she fell into a trance. One widow, Turner, who watched with her that night, says that her eyes were open and fixed, and her jaw fallen. Mrs. Turner put her hand to her mouth, but could perceive no breath. She thought her to be in a fit, and doubted whether she were dead or alive. The next morning the dying woman told her mother that she had been at home with her children, saying, 'I was with them last night when I was asleep.'

"The nurse at Rochester, widow Alexander by name, affirms that a little before two o'clock that morning she saw the likeness of the said Mary Goffe come out of the next chamber (where the elder child lay in a bed by itself), the door being left open, and stood by her bedside for about a quarter of an hour; the younger child was there lying by her. Her eyes moved and her mouth went, but she said nothing. The nurse, moreover says that she was perfectly awake; it was then daylight, being one of the longest days of the year. She sat up in bed and looked steadfastly on the apparition. In that time she heard the bridge clock strike two, and a while after said: 'In the name of the Father, Son and Holy Ghost, what art thou?' Thereupon the apparition removed and went away; she slipped out of her clothes and followed, but what became on't she cannot tell."

In the case just mentioned, Mr. Lang states that the nurse was so frightened that she was afraid to return to bed. As soon as the neighbors were up and about she told them of what she had seen; but they told her that she had been dreaming. It was only when, later on, news came of what had happened at the other end of the line--the bedside of the dying woman, that they realized just what had happened.

In a work by Rev. F.G. Lee, there are several other cases of this kind quoted, all of which are stated by Mr. Lee to be thoroughly well authenticated. In one of the cases a mother, when dying in Egypt, appears to her children in Torquay, and is clearly seen in broad daylight by all five children and also by the nursemaid. In another, a Quaker lady dying at Cockermouth is clearly seen and recognized in daylight by her three children at Seattle, the remainder of the story being almost identical with that of the Goffe case just quoted.

In the records of the Society for Psychical Research, the following case appears, the person reporting it being said to be of good character and reputation for truthfulness and reliability. The story is as follows: "One morning in December, 1836, A. had the following dream, or he would prefer to call it, revelation. He found himself suddenly at the gate of Major N.M.'s avenue, many miles from his home. Close to him was a group of persons, one of whom was a woman with a basket on her arm, the rest were men, four of whom were tenants of his own, while the others were unknown to him. Some of the strangers seemed to be assaulting H.W., one of his tenants, and he interfered. A. says, 'I struck violently at the man on my left, and then with greater violence at the man's face on my right. Finding, to my surprise, that I had not knocked down either, I struck again and again with all the violence of a man frenzied at the sight of my poor friend's murder. To my great amazement I saw my arms, although visible to my eye, were without substance, and the bodies of the men I struck at and my own came close together after each blow, through the shadowy arms I struck with. My blows were delivered with more extreme violence than I ever think I exerted, but I became painfully convinced of my incompetency. I have no consciousness of what happened after this feeling of unsubstantiality came upon me.'

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