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MAGNETISM AND MAGIC

This book is an abbreviated translation of "LaMagie Divoilde," of which the first edition wasissued in Paris in r852.

MAGNETISM ANDMAGIC

BY

BARON DU POTET DE SENNEVOY

EDITED AND TRANSLATED

BY

A. H. E. LEE

LONDON

GEORGE ALLEN & UNWIN LTD.MUSEUM STREET

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B,6-~' ~Ln n

.Accession no. ' 0 .... Eirst published in 2927A ccesson no .........

(All rights reserved)

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Printed in Great Britain byUnwin Brothers, Ltd., Woking

" Si quis habet AURES audiendi, audiat."

Sleep, sleep on I forget thy pain.My hand is on thy brow,

My spirit on thy brain,My pity on thy heart, poor friend;

And from my fingers flowThe powers of life, and, like a sign,Seal thee from thine hour of woe,

And brood on thee, but may not blendWith thine.

SHELLEY, 1822.

All I believed is true !I am able yetAll I want, to get

By a method as strange as new:Dare I trust the same to you ?

BROWNING, 1855.

CONTENTSrAGB

INTRODUCTORY ESSAY . . ...... II

BIOGRAPHICAL NOTICE . . . . . . . 45

I. EXPERIMENTS . . . ....... 59

II. HISTORICAL RESEARCHES . . . . . . 96

III. PRINCIPLES AND SECRETS . .. . . IO6

IV. COROLLARIES . . . . . .. . . . I3

BIBLIOGRAPHY . . . . . . . . I39

APPENDICES . ....... . 14I

INDEX . . . . . . . . . . 153

INTRODUCTORY ESSAY

THERE are certain controversial subjects which seemto die away in one generation only to be reborn,under new names, in the next, and not the leastinteresting of these is the question of what has cometo be known popularly as Mesmer's " invisible fluid "or Animal Magnetism. Official science attempted (inits own opinion successfully) to banish all such ideasfrom the realm of "ascertained " knowledge. Yetthe air to-day is filled with discussion of MentalHealing, Psycho-therapeutics, Christian Science,"New " Thought, and Spiritual Healing. The smokeof one fire no sooner disperses than fresh sparks springup elsewhere. Most of the latest discoveries-suchas those of Radium and Relativity--- are destroying,not the old dogmas of mysticism, but the hastilyformed dogmas of Victorian science. "The atom,"as G. K. Chesterton says, "has been smashed intoatoms. The agnostics have been driven back onagnosticism, and find themselves in a really unknownworld, which is more mystical, at least more myste-rious." The cosmic pattern is changing, almost underour eyes. And of all the old hard-shell materialismsperhaps the medical type is affected most directly.Christian Science is already avenging the wrongs ofMesmer and Elliotson: while the well-known caseof Sir Herbert Barker recalls the dry observation ofBergasse during the Paris controversy about Mesmer'scures: " It looks as if the Art of Medicine and theArt of Healing are two quite distinct things withno necessary connection between them."

12 MAGNETISM AND MAGIC

The purpose of this volume is to present to Englishreaders an abbreviated translation of a book by aremarkable Frenchman whose strange exploits werefor a period the talk of Paris. Du Potet, indeed,when he died in 188i, might well claim to be the" Grand Old Man " of French Magnetism. He is anisolated figure; he flamed like a comet and, in asense, survived his own celebrity. Apparently heleft no school of disciples behind, and has sufferedthe fate of most of the champions of Animal Magnetismin being officially regarded as an idle dreamer ofdreams. To-day, however, miracles and magic areno longer the monstrosities they appeared to be inthe Huxley-Tyndall period. We cannot rule out theold marvels as impossible in face of the new marvelswhich we have to admit as possible. Du Potet'srecorded phenomena, indeed, at first seem to leadnowhere, and he admits that he is only a pioneer.Yet for the reader who comes properly prepared, suchfacts may be shown to point towards regions of whichhe and his adversaries scarcely dreamed. As thecontroversy has largely centred round the questionof Magnetic cures, it will be simplest to use this avenuein approaching the true " Subject-Matter" of hiswritings.

Hippocrates observed long ago that Nature herselfoften cured disease : and in his opinion the best physi-cians were those who watched her in her more subtleworkings. There seems to be hardly any malady fromwhich the patient does not sometimes recover withoutthe aid of ordinary medical remedies, i.e. by thesimple unhindered operation of the Vital Principle.Doctors, confronted by this phenomenon, attributeit to the " Vis Medicatrix Naturze "--which they donot further explain: nor, indeed, can they, on those

INTRODUCTORY ESSAY 13

materialistic assumptions which are still associatedwith what is called a " scientific basis of knowledge."For no one can test this "Vis Medicatrix " in alaboratory, and therefore it does not officially exist,and is accordingly left to "the superstitious, themystics, and the occultists," who are despised andrejected by Harley Street.

What is the "Vis Medicatrix Naturme" ? It isuniversal, invisible, intangible, imponderable. It canperform feats which the doctor cannot rival, and itescapes round the corner before its presence has evenbeen guessed. It is like the luminiferous ether whichtantalizes our scientists, all-pervading, yet subtlyelusive of every attempt to capture it. Indeed, thereseems only one clue to its identity. It is an aspect,or a mode, or an effect-whichever the reader maychoose--of the " Universal Subject " or " First Matter"of ancient Alchemy: the substrate of life centrallysubsisting in all that circumferentially exists from it.A common name for it was the " Sophic Mercury "--i.e. Wise Men's Mercury, to distinguish it from commonquicksilver. Yet it has received so many names thatit is really unnameable, though not unknowable.

A certain thing is found in the worldWhich is also in every thing and in every place:It is not earth, nor fire, nor air, nor water,Albeit it wants neither of these things. . .It contains in itself all Life ;Of it is made the medicine that will preserve you from

all maladies."Lucerna Salis."

It is, indeed, one of the most ancient of all beliefs thatthere is a fluid or vitalizing principle permeating thewhole universe and latent in the air we breathe--a quality in the atmosphere which is a secret food


of life. This One Element, insisted on by thealchemists as their " Sola Res," has naturally beenderided by most modern scientists, yet its existencehas been granted by such chemists as Homberg,Boerhaave, Boyle and others, and by such master-minds as Newton. This diffused substance (or fluid)is sensible only in its mixed forms: yet it is the onlypure and active source of all things, binding thenatural elements, vitalizing bodies: the fontal Spiritof Nature, apart from manifestation, and as distinctfrom that elementary ignition with which our sensesare familiar.

This invisible" Fire," " Stone," or " Ether," becameknown to certain sages through its masculine andfeminine, or attractive and repelling, effects or aspects,and was noticed especially through the analogy of themagnet. From very early times it was observed thatthe. magnet appeared to possess a certain curativepower: and the idea dawned that the human bodypossessed magnetic properties. Paracelsus held thatall animated beings are endowed with an occult poweranalogous to mineral magnetism. This, he thought,was derived from the stars: he called it " Magnale,"and said that by its virtue the magnetism of healthypersons attracts the enfeebled magnetism of the sick.He is said to have personally used the magnet withhis patients. His chief medicinal "medium" hecalled " Mumia," the life-essence contained (invisibly)in some physical vehicle, such as part of a humananimal, or vegetable body : which even when separatedfrom its parental organism retains for a period itsvital power.' Robert Fludd, who attained some

• The usual method of securing it was to cut off a limb fromthe recently suspended corpse of some (preferably young) criminal,See Appendix A, p. 141.


distinction in the middle of the seventeenth centuryas a "Rosicrucian " writer, gives a fairly succinctview of the magnetic theory. " Man containeth inhimself his heavens, circles, poles, and stars even asthe great world outside. These particular (i.e. micro-cosmic) heavens ordinarily govern themselves accord-ing to the harmony of the superior motions (i.e. inthe outer heavens). Sick persons by the persuasionof their proper heaven have wandered from themotion of the universal heaven, and through thedisharmony they feel more keenly the changes ofseasons, etc. When man was made in the Divinelikeness he was able to effect all things by his merebeck or will, but this magical power now sleeps inhim because of the Fall."-(" Mosaicall Philosophy.")Maxwell, a Scottish physician of the same period,writes: " From the stars, the human body, and allsubstances in the universe there radiate forth beamswhich reciprocally affect all other bodies: but thestarry influence is original and predominant. Everyastral influence in creation doth by a natural inclina-tion, and that sympathetically, aspect the Star orcelestial Fountain whence it sprang. Likewise theStar in heaven by a paternal respect doth send downhis iifluence to feed and nourish his like filial forceand fire in creation here below. The stars bind thevital spirit to its proper body by light and heat andpour it into the same by the same means."-(" DeMedicina Magnetica.") Fludd and Maxwell mean thatthese rays or beams are of inconceivable tenuity,but are only the vehicle of the indwelling spiritwhich directs their operation and gives them theirvirtue. Fludd continues: "The Ethersical Spermor Astrallical influences are of a far subtler con-dition than the vehicle of visible light .... Yea,

z6 MAGNETISM AND MAGIC

they are so thin and mobile, penetrating and lively... that they continually penetrate even unto thecentre or universal bosom of the earth, where theygenerate metals of sundry kinds. It is not the starrylight which penetrateth or deeply or operateth oruniversally, but the Eternal Central Spirit." Allthings emit these beams: it is thus that medicinessend forth their healing influence. Man holds withinhimself a secret mystery, the centre or miracle of theworld. Fludd describes the spiritual " mumia," whichhas its seat in the blood, thus agreeing with thealchemical teaching that the universal principles ofattraction, repulsion, and circulation are in theirnatural generation unequally composed in the vitalspirit of the arterial blood: or that, the repulsiveforce predominating over the interior attraction, thetotal circulating life is expulsive and is drawn awayin a weakened consciousness from its First Cause.

Johann Baptist van Helmont (1597-1644), aneminent Belgian chemist who established the presentscientific sense of the word " gas," was anotherpractising disciple of Paracelsus. Material nature,he declared, draws her forms through constantmagnetism from above, and implores for them thefavour of heaven: and as heaven, likewise, drawssomething invisible from below, a free and mutualintercourse is established, and the whole is (micro-cosmically) contained in an individual person. Magnet-ism contains nothing new but its name. Man is amagnet and contains his own "poles " or points ofreciprocal attraction and repulsion, correspondingto the opposites of light and darkness, centripetaland centrifugal action, male and female, etc. Themedium by which his influence is conveyed is a subtleand vital essence, pervading all bodies, establishing

INTRODUCTORY ESSAY 17a correspondence between all the different parts ofthe world, and regulating their forces. This essenceVan Helmont called " Magnale magnum ": but hedid not connect it specially with the stars. "Thestars of our intelligence are far above the stars ofheaven." All magical power lies dormant in manand it requires to be excited. Will is the first of allpowers, for by volition motion is impressed on allobjects: the will existing in man is the principle of allhis actions, and the will can direct the subtle " Magnalemagnum." No patient is in a favourable conditionunless his internal imagination abandons itself entirelyto the impression the physician wishes to produceupon him: or if he possesses more energy than hewho operates. If the patient be well disposed, orweak, he readily yields to the magnetic influence ofthe operator through the medium of his imagination.Thus Van Helmont seems to have anticipated themodern schools led by Charcot and others with theirendless insistence upon suggestion and imaginationand the subjective factor in the patient. He claimedto have cured thousands of patients yearly " withoutany diminution of his medicine." So astounding werehis cures that he was actually accused of magic andthrown into prison, whence, fortunately, his friendsrescued him. He left two medical treatises onmagnetic healing.

Up to the end of the eighteenth century the Magneticsystem was, broadly speaking, based on a spiritualphilosophy: and in practice religion and healingwithout drugs were interdependent on each other.In the eyes of such men as Fludd, Maxwell, VanHelmont, and others it was the link between heavenand earth which operated vitally. Man could onlyobtain complete mastery and use of his latent (or

B


occult) powers by assimilating his will to the DivineWill. In some writers, such as Paracelsus and Maxwell,greater stress might be laid on the visible operationsof the subtle element (Magnale magnum), but theynever lost sight of the mystical aspect and basis ofthe whole matter. When religion and healing of thiskind parted company, the result was disastrous toboth: medical science began to grow materialistic,and Du Potet (not altogether unjustly) complains ofthe doctors of his day being little else than " mechanics,"who had lost sight of Nature's more subtle workings.While, on the other hand, Christian Science has goneto the opposite extreme, and denies the reality orpotency of any medical material at all. There canbe no real reconciliation until we recognize that thespirit and matter which God has joined together mustnot be put asunder by our theories.

The man who, unwittingly and innocently, beganthis disastrous process was Anton Mesmer (1733-1815),the Viennese physician who came to Paris andpublished his "discovery" of the subtle fluid in1775. In his system the spiritual aspect practiallydisappears. For him "Animal Magnetism "-as itbegan to be called--was purely a question of matterand motion. Probably he presented his theories inthis manner, as being better calculated to appeal toParis doctors in the "Age of Reason," for Francewas already trembling on the verge of revolution.In any case, Mesmer only revived an old doctrine orphilosophy, shorn of its deeper aspects, and gave ita new name : he secularized a mystery, and his explana-tions suggest it as the mechanical operation of anindifferent non-moral force. It is, however, onlyfair to remember that he came to Paris, not primarilyas a healer, but as the exponent of what he sincerely


believed to be a " new" physical fluid : to demonstratewhich, being a doctor, he practised healing. He waspersonally benevolent and treated his poor patientsgratis, giving them the same care that he bestowedon the wealthy. Whether he became a greedycharlatan, as his enemies asserted, is doubtful:certainly he spent the last years of his life stillpractising magnetic cures gratuitously for the poor.Mesmerism has never been proved to have caused anypatient's death,' or even injury, though its strongestadherents never claimed that it could save everypatient's life. One of his remarks deserves mentionas it will command assent from many who havescarcely heard of the Mesmeric system: " Nothingproves decisively that either doctors or medicineheal sickness."

Mesmer did not really add anything to the principlesof his spiritual predecessors, some examples of whichhave been quoted, and the twenty-seven articles ofhis creed may be found in any good book on thesubject. It will suffice, therefore, to quote a summaryof his ideas from an able English advocate of hissystem: " Animal Magnetism is that organic suscepti-bility which renders the nervous system of one individualcapable of being affected, in various ways, by particularacts and processes 2 performed by another, especiallywhen accompanied with faith, or some degree ofabandonment in the patient, and with an energeticvolition on the part of the operator. The samename is also employed to designate the processes

2 Mesmeric anesthesia has this great superiority, that no injuryhas ever resulted to the patient from its use: the recoveriesin Dr. Esdaile's hospital were far beyond the average success.--J. Braid, " Magic, Witchcraft, Animal Magnetism, etc.," I852, p. 80.

" For a description of Mesmer's " passes," see Appendix B,P. 144.


themselves which are used to produce a cure bymeans of this susceptibility." '

Bitterly opposed as he was by his professionalbrethren, Mesmer became the vogue; in one yearhe and Dr. Deslon, his lieutenant, are said to havetreated 8,ooo patients. The logic of M. Bailly andhis Commission (condemning Mesmer's theory) wasdoubtless incontrovertible to the official mind. A" force," intangible, invisible, imponderable, was tothem a sort of infernal trinity and could not possiblybe admitted to exist. Yet patients, having escapedordinary medical treatment, went on being curedby a "non-existent" force. To say, as Mesmer'sopponents were wont, that such cures were merelythe result of a change of treatment, was a ratherdangerous admission for doctors to make. If it be,indeed, the purpose of a physician to heal, the scepticalCommissioners might have discovered that even athing " which does not exist " (for the official mind)may yet be of some use. A second Commission,appointed by the Academy of Medicine after fiveyears' investigation, presented in 1831 a report inwhich, rather grudgingly and of necessity, the existenceof Animal Magnetism was allowed to exist. Though"in the majority of cases the results are negative orinsufficient, some results depend solely on magnetism,and cannot be produced without it. These arephysiological phenomena and well established thera-peutically."

Y J. C. Colquhoun, " Isis Revelata," I836, i. 59.Mesmer would probably have agreed with the American, Dr.

John Bovee Dods, that medicine produces a physical impressionon the system, but never directly cures, the curative power inthe patient himself doing this, when summoned by mental impres-sions to the right spot, so as to enable it to perform its work. Thewell-known efficacy of bread pills and coloured water as medicineshows that medicines often act as mechanical " suggestives."


MM. Binet and F6r6 say that the magnetizersmade so much of this Report that the Academydid not venture to print 1 it. Mr. J. C. Colquhounpublished an English translation in 1833. In 1823Alexandre Bertrand, a young Paris physician, antici-pated Braid in discovering the important part playedby suggestion in the phenomena of induced trance,maintaining that the cures and symptoms formerlyattributed to Animal Magnetism resulted from thesuggestions of the operator acting on the imaginationof the patient, whose suggestibility was greatlyincreased. Bertrand, however, admitted that his ownsomnambule testified to the reality of the subtlefluid.

As early as 1829 Mesmerism was introduced intoEngland. Its leading champion, Dr. John Elliotson,gave public demonstrations in the University CollegeHospital. But he, like Mesmer, seemed to his col-leagues to be a setter-forth of strange gods, and wasopposed so unscrupulously that his private practicewas seriously injured. The "Zoist," 2 founded andedited by him, ran for fourteen years (1842-56),and contains full details of numerous magnetic cures,notably the remarkable operations of Esdaile onHindu patients :3 while the hierarchs of medicine(with a few honourable exceptions like Simpson)boycotted all such evidence, and never allowed anyrecord of his painless operations to appear in anyofficial medical journal such as the " Lancet." Intothe long and bitter controversy it is not necessary toenter. At length James Braid, a Manchester surgeon,

" Animal Magnetism," 1887, p. 39." Zoo," a Greek word, indicating in the New Testament the more

subtle and spiritual, as " Bios," indicates the natural, life.3 Mesmeric anaesthesia had long been known to Hindu fakirs

as " jar-phoonka" (stroke-breathing).


found that by constraining his subjects to fatigue thelevator muscles of the eyelids by a prolonged upwardgaze, he could obtain a complete trance with theattendant phenomena, usually attributed to AnimalMagnetism : rigidity of limbs, exaltation of the senses,etc. Denying in toto the existence of Mesmer's"fluid," Braid not only admitted the genuinenessof the magnetic sleep, but used it freely for therapeuticpurposes: and maintained that he could teach anyintelligent medical man to do what he himself did.It has, of course, been the custom for many yearsto praise him for picking the one jewel of truth outof a heap of Mesmeric rubbish, and this in spiteof the glaring fact that the British Associationin 1842 refused Braid's proffered paper on hyp-notic phenomena; while after his death in 1861the whole subject was "suspect" until Libbault,Charcot, and others took it up. In our owncountry, with the exception of Dr. Kingsbury'sbook and some translations, little further noticewas taken of it until the publication of Dr. Bramwell'sbook in 1903.

The widely circulated theories of the Salpetrireschool, led by Charcot, depend upon a studious dis-regard of all facts, however well attested, that donot square with their own. MM. Binet and F6re,in their "Animal Magnetism" (p. 94), refer to"manoeuvres which formerly led to the belief thatit was possible to magnetize (a subject) from adistance." This belief is then disposed of by thegratuitous supposition that in every such case thesubject had been already told to expect such aneffect at such and such a time. All, therefore, canbe explained by Suggestion (a word as scientifically" blessed " as the old lady's " Mesopotamia ") in the


waking state.' Anyone who will look into the olderMesmeric literature will find plenty of cases illustratingmagnetic influence successfully exerted from a distanceon persons quite unprepared to expect it.z Anothercurious assumption of MM. Binet and Frd6 is that" as far as its mode of production is concerned hypnoticsleep does not essentially differ from natural sleep,of which it is, in fact, only a modification, and allthe causes which produce fatigue are capable of pro-ducing hypnosis in those who are subject to it. ...Sensorial excitements produce hypnosis in two ways-when they are strong and abrupt, or when they arefaint and continued for a prolonged period " (p. 88).Now if one thing is only a "modification " of another,there can hardly be any essential difference. Accordingto our authors, therefore, there is no essential dif-ference between ordinary sleep and the sleep of thepatient whose leg was amputated in 1842 by Mr.Ward, surgeon of St. Bartholomew's Hospital, thepatient being in a completely unconscious state,having been mesmerized by Mr. Topham, a barrister:or the sleep of the mesmerized patients on whomEsdaile performed capital operations painlessly I Ifthis be so, the obvious inference is that doctors shouldabandon anaesthetics and treat their patients as soon asthe latter have fallen asleep at night. Again, who cantell us of ordinary sleepers who converse freely (withpeople wide-awake) on recondite and difficult subjectsquite unknown to them in their normal wakingcondition? 3 What MM. Binet and F6r6 might have

: Although Dr. Bramwell distinctly denies that Suggestionper se can explain hypnosis and its phenomena (" Proceedings,"Society for Psychical Research, vol. xii, p. 224).

See " Zoist," vol. x, p. xI, article by W. Gregory, Professorof Chemistry in Edinburgh University.

3 For an example of a remarkable communication on the lucidstate see Appendix C, p. 146,


said (with proper modesty and caution) was: " Inthe narrow phase of magnetic or mesmeric conditionswith which we are here concerned-and until more isknown-there is some analogy between what we term'hypnosis' and ordinary sleep "-as there is, poetically,between " death and his brother sleep " I As F. W. H.Myers said, "Not one sleep in a million is reallyhypnosis: not one suggestion in a million reachesor influences the subliminal self. If the theories ofBernheim (of Nancy) in their extreme form weretrue, there would by this time have been no sufferersto heal." x Modern writers on the subject seem todiffer from one another, almost as much as they differfrom Mesmer and his disciples. Moreover, Charcot" queered the pitch" from the therapeutic point ofview, by teaching that the hypnotic condition wasa "morbid " one and allied to hysteria: a theorywhich, naturally enough, created a prejudice againstthe practice for therapeutic purposes. Pierre Janetwent further by saying that all suggestibility impliesa departure from perfect sanity! After which wecannot wonder that M. Richet, savant and sceptic, inhis latest volume, accuses the whole civilized worldof insanity. "A mad world, my masters!" saidShakespeare-but some of us will prefer the divine" mania " of Plato to the frenzied neuroses whichseems the only reality left to the mentality of ultra-sceptical scientists.

The real mesmeric or somnambulic sleep is not asleep in the sense of an alternative and opposite stateto the waking state. The old phrase " sleep-waking,"though now abandoned, is not entirely incorrect.For the condition described is one which partakes ofsome of the characteristics of both sleeping and waking.

t " Human Personality," 19o3, vol. i, p. 161.


The outer or normal senses are put to sleep: whilesubsequently or simultaneously certain inner senses(sight, hearing, touch, etc.) emerge into activity.The complete arousal of such senses causes perfectlucidity. In former days this activity, exercisedindependently of the outer senses, was called "thepower of the soul." But when scientific men beganto doubt whether they had souls, belief in any suchphenomena was considered superstitious. The soulhas been carefully separated from the body and-sofar as it exists-relegated to religion to do what itlikes with it. The physiologist concentrates on thebody. The result has not been happy, for bothreligion and science are confronted by problems towhich there seems no answer. The fact is that evenwhen religion and science have each carried off theirportion, a mysterious "tertium quid" in the humanbeing remains, which neither of them is anxious toclaim, because they have nowhere to " place" it,no means of explaining it, and consequently do notknow what to do with it. Yet ultimately neither cando without this residue. It is distinct both from thebody with which physiologists occupy themselves andthe spirit which has been the special concern of theolo-gians. Nor can there be a bridge between modernPhysics and Metaphysics without some compre-hension of the phenomena of sleep-waking or som-nambulism.

In view of the spread of Magnetic cures, the doctorsclamoured for a monopoly of the right to magnetizeor hypnotize: and in most European countries theysucceeded in getting it, unencumbered by any obliga-tion to either study or practise the method, or to provetheir competence. It is true that Mesmer and othermedical magnetizers declared that only doctors should


magnetize, and were supported by some lay magne-tizers such as Puysegur. But their demand was thata knowledge of Animal Magnetism should form partof the training and equipment of every physician:that only a person who understood both Magnetismand the ordinary knowledge of medicine, and could useeither, should be allowed to practise as a doctor.They certainly did not mean that members of aprofession ignorant of, and opposed to, Magnetism,should monopolize its employment. The effect of sucha monopoly, along with other facts to be mentionedpresently, was disastrous to Magnetism, which ob-viously needed further exploration and study. Medicalmen who employed it used it empirically, as they didtheir drugs, or explained its action by some superficialhypothesis: and deprecated its use for any otherpurpose than the cure of disease. Like Sir OliverLodge's "higher man of to-day," they were not" worrying over sins," and were more anxious thatpatients should " rise up and walk " than that theirminds should be clarified from those sick and feverishmental concepts which so frequently accompanysin. Even the daring and successful Dr. Esdailethought it wrong to induce the higher phenomenasolely for the purpose of scientific investigation. Sofar as he meant to discourage idle curiosity, he wasperfectly right ; but he failed to see that Mesmerism,if applied only towards bodily cure, is at best only ahalf-way house.

The result was that only in France and the UnitedStates, where such a monopoly was refused, werenew developments in Magnetism possible., Suchi In France by the " Schools" of Nancy and the Salpetribre,and the researches of de Rochas, Boirac, and Baraduc; in theU.S.A. by certain pioneers such as Fahnstock, Laroy Sunderland,the " Electro-biologists," and the Quimby-Eddy movement,


developments have been more and more on thepsychological side. By reason of their education andconservative reliance on drugs and medicine, doctorsare less qualified to deal with this aspect than laymenwho have been chiefly responsible for such advanceas has been made. Hypnotism, as understood andpractised by Braid, was principally physical in regardboth to causes and to effects. Braid's discovery wasthe one that operated chiefly against the Magnetizers,because it seemed to take the wind out of their sails.Hence Mesmerism in England to-day is much whereit was half a century ago. But Braid himself was anisolated figure, and after his death in 1861 not muchserious notice was taken in this country of his theoriesor practice until the publication of Dr. Milne Bramwell'sbook in 1903.

Yet, though the opponents of the Magnetic theorybarred its entrance into the realm of official science,they did not finally destroy, but only succeeded inside-tracking, it. Braid, unconsciously, was blazinga trail for Mrs. Eddy and Christian Science. TheMesmerism that he condemned as unproved supersti-tion she, by some strange mental kink, called"Malicious Animal Magnetism," and identified withthe Red Dragon of the Apocalypse. Quimby him-self, from whom she learnt her fundamental thesis,started as a Mesmeric lecturer and evolved into a" Mental Healer." And so the ancient half-perceivedtruths, which Mesmer had tried to revive in a secularform, became lost in a blind battle in the mist betweenrash magnetizers, sceptical doctors, and uncompro-mising Christian Scientists.

Added to this, the discovery of anaesthetic etherand chloroform gas (about the year 1847) steadilydiverted public attention away from the Mesmeric


method. 'It was easier and shorter--though perhapsnot so natural or safe--to bludgeon patients bynitrous oxide into unconsciousness than to spend aconsiderable time in making the mesmeric "passes."Still another disintegrating factor was at work in theMesmeric camp. Many of them drifted into the newSpirit-rapping movement, especially in America, wherethe tendency was to identify such phenomena withthose connected with the mesmeric fluid. Entrancedpatients began to describe beings whom they them-selves, and usually their audience, identified as angels ordeparted human spirits.I The " Hydesville knockings "and the influence of Andrew Jackson Davis, thefamous seer of Poughkeepsie, attracted inquirers intothe marvellous away from the older traditions intothat peculiar mentality which Mr. Waite calls a"Masque of Anarchy." The spirit of the age wasone of desolation in matters of faith. Except perhapsBrowning (who had not then gained many readers),no great mind condescended even to consider the phe-nomena of Mesmerism and mediumship : and popularinterest drifted steadily towards the deeps instead ofthe heights.

Between the years 1850-60, about the time whenDu Potet's book first came into circulation, theMesmerists found themselves at the crossroads. Twocourses lay before them: one was the broad andeasy path leading to the sentimental trivialities ofthe " Summerland" et hoc genus omne. This, beingthe line of least resistence, was the line generallytaken. What of the other? In 1839 the Rev.Chauncy Townshend, a practising Mesmerist, published

x Notably L. A. Cahagnet's somnambule, Bruno, who gave avivid description of the Archangel Gabriel (Podmore, " Mesmerismand Christian Science," 190gog9, p. 201).


"'Facts in Mesmerism," an ingenious and eloquentplea for a reconciliation between his fellow-believersand their enemies. He treats with contempt the"imagination " theory. "A thousand times I haveseen mesmeric patients placed under circumstanceswhere the action of imagination was plainly impossible."He points out that the French savants who rejectedMesmer's theory really conceded the main point atissue as far as cures were concerned: indeed, theywent even further than the Magnetizers in attributingpower to mind. Even apart from the debated " fluid "man can act on man by striking his imagination:and such action may be reduced to an art and con-ducted methodically when exercised on patients withfaith. Townshend suggested, as a working hypothesis,some " elastic ether " (as yet unidentified), modifiedby the nerves, its operation depending on theircondition: which ether can be thrown into vibration,mediately by the mind and immediately by thenervous system: which latter may produce mentaleffects through the unusual stimulation of brain andnerves. Through such 'a medium the thought andwill of other persons can be transferred to thesensorium and brain of the patient, whose sense-organs are in temporary abeyance. Townshend furthercalled attention to the frequency of unconsciousquasi-mesmeric action in everyday life; e.g. the sleepof the infant rocked by the beating of the mother'sheart, the attraction of an unknown face, falling inlove at first sight, being tickled, and the curiousfascination of the eye :-

He holds him with his glittering eye,The wedding-guest stands still.

Townshend seems to have been one of the first toobserve the " community of sensation," or " psychic


link," set up invisibly between operator and subject,Iand showed by his own experience and that of Dr.Chapelain of Paris that it is not the mere mentalstrength of the mesmerizer, but the proportion betweenthe respective strength of agent and patient, whichensures success: less or more on either side wouldprevent the result desired. To ascertain more of thisrelationship was a task which the Mesmeric movement,unfortunately, did not survive long enough even toundertake. As a clergyman, Townshend was deeplyinterested in the fact that the mesmeric sleep normallywill tend to elevate the patient's moral nature.Separated so peculiarly from the senses, the mindappears to gain juster notions: to experience a newsense of spiritual things and to be lifted nearer tothe fountain of all goodness and truth.2 Patientspassing into the mesmeric state often spoke of aninternal light: which (the present writer suggests)may be distantly connected with what the ancientHebrews called "Shekinah," and the mediaevalSchoolmen " Lumen Glorise." 3

Townshend's book went into a second edition, butno one seems to have worked upon his few hints,such as they were. In fact only one other personthen living in England was able to point out the truepath for the Mesmerists: this was Mary Anne South(afterwards Mrs. Atwood), who published in 1846 athin octavo volume entitled " Early Magnetism," and,four years later, "A Suggestive Enquiry into theHermetic Mystery," suppressed by its authoressimmediately after its actual appearance in printed

Some analogy to this may be found in the "transference"process familiar to modern psycho-analysts.: A phenomenon either entirely absent from, or ignored in, themodern hypnotic experiments in the Salpetrikre and Nancy schools.

3 See Appendix D, p. 147.


form, and republished under the able editorship ofW. L. Wilmshurst in i918.' It will be best to give,in the gifted authoress's own words, her suggestion ofthe " other path " which the champions of Mesmerismmight have chosen :-

" The ordinary effects of Animal Magnetism are nowfamiliarly known . . . thus it is. true we can lull thesenses, cure the sick, etc.: and it is a glorious stepin progress. But are we to halt here always, or howlong ? The phenomena of lucidity, prevision, com-munity of sense, will and thought, might have insti-gated to more important discovery: but the yearshave passed, and the Science has not grown, but re-trograded rather in interest and power, since Puys6gur,Colquhoun, Elliotson, Townshend, Du Potet, and therest, faithful spirits, first set their fellow-men on theroad of inquiry." But the best effects of Mesmerism, if we connect

it with the ancients' Sacred Art, appear as trifles incomparison: the Supreme Wisdom they investigated,the Self-Knowledge and perfection of life and immor-tality promised and said to be bestowed on thoseinitiated in the higher Mysteries ! What has Mesmerismto do with these things ? What is its philosophy,or has it yet made an attempt even to investigatethe subject-being,2 the cause of its own effects ? Incommon arts, the ingenuity is set to work how itmay advance and adapt them to the best advantage;new capabilities are discovered which, put in action,often prove the fruitful source of more; whereasMesmerism, dwelling altogether in the practice (thesame which, from the first, unfolded nature as far

t William Tait, Marlborough Park North, Belfast; J. M. Watkins,21, Cecil Court, Charing Cross Road, London.

Si.e. the " One Thing" of the Alchemists, which is invisiblyin all and is the substrate of all


as it was able), continues to run on with her in thesame commonplace round. Our sleep-wakers ' are littlebetter than dreamers, and resemble children born intoa new world, without a guide, unable of themselvesto educate their latent faculties, or discriminate truthfrom falsehood in their revelation. And, as respectsthe Universal Medium,' they even, who believe insuch a thing, take it as it presents itself naturally,having no knowledge of the capabilities or means ofimprovement, whether it is able to ascend or descend,or what is its right determination. The few experi-mental tests 3 that have been instituted hitherto provenothing but to identify the same 'Imponderable'through all: and if we make trial of the Spirit'sinstincts, asking for revelations of prophecy anddistant scenes or journeyings through the air-andthey follow us, those patients of our will-we thengo out from them to philosophize, or wonder, or tothink no more about it, as the case may be : repeatingthe same mechanical operations and witnessing theireffects until at length the enthusiasm which raisedexpectation has generally and naturally died away." Now this, according to our gatherings, was not

the sort of investigation that the ancients followedin their Mysteries: although working in the samematerials and with similar instruments, on the sameground, yet their practice was different: for it wasconducted upon established principles and with a trulyphilosophic as well as benevolent aim. Theurgists,indeed, condemn the Spirit of the natural life asdegraded and incapable of true intelligence, nor didthey therefore value the revelations of its first included

t I.e. somnambules, or mesmerized patients.2 The " One Thing."3 Such as Reichenbach's of the " Od " or " Odic " force.


sphere;' but proceeded at once, passing these, asit appears, in the Lesser Mysteries, to dissolve themedium more entirely; and, as they knew how, tosegregate the Vital Spirit away from those defilementsand imaginative impressures which, by the birth intonatural sense, had become implanted there, obscuringits intelligence and that divine eye which, as Platosays, is better worth than ten thousand corporealeyes; for by looking through this alone, when it ispurified and strengthened by appropriate aids, thetruth pertaining to all beings is perceived. . . . Andin what the disease. of the spirit consists, and fromwhat cause it falsifies and is dulled, and how it becomesclarified and defecated, and restored to its innatesimplicity, may be learned in part from their philo-sophy, for by the lustrations in the Mysteries, as theydescribe, the soul becomes liberated and passes intoa divine condition of being." 2

Now Mrs. Atwood shows very clearly that thenormal action of Mesmerism is an external pictureand outer " key " of that separation which Paracelsus

I Cp. the " revelations " of angels and the dead through commontrance-mediums.

a " Suggestive Inquiry," rgi8, pp. 186-88.Another contemporary writer says: "The Magnetists have

found an element--its laws, its results, some of its original sources;but they still lack the revelation. They have not yet open visionor the Key of the Oracle. Accidents have revealed spells whichthrill the wires. Touch has answered touch, but the system isundiscovered by man. The Magnetic Man is a Spirit. Whatthey call magnetism is the casualty which has jarred the wires ofthe Holy Catholic Church. Influence, Grace, is a fluid elementinvisibly pervading the Universe, full of ducts. The law is thatthe touch of hands shall lead and rule and fasten the fibres, threads,etc., of this element in men and things.

"An ecstatic said to a mesmerizer who spoke in Greek: 'Itwas your thought that I understood, not your language.' Nowthere the thought was in his mind first in the form of his owntongue---then she knew it before it went into a strange phrase "(Rev. R. S. Hawker, " Stones Broken from the Rocks," x922).

C


declared to be " the greatest miracle in philosophy,and effected by a most singular magic : very excellentfor quickness of penetration and swiftness of operation,the like whereof Nature knows not." This" HermeticSeparation " was made on "water," i.e. the fluid,volatile medium-life which ever subtly flows throughand from everyone, and can never be seized or analysedby any visible instrument. In this " Separation,"the Mind, co-operating with the Divine Mind, is thetrue separating instrument: nor must any foreignadmixture, i.e. false idea or illusion, be allowed toenter the work. That life-essence, which acts sensu-ously through the blood, must be assumed into theWill: it dies to live : a new "life-spin" is bornfrom the reversal or death of the old normal life.As Townshend and others had observed, if youmagnetize a person he is lifted for the time into apurer sphere: the sensuous medium once put asideor dissolved, the consciousness is aware of the DivineLife, in a much deeper way than is possible in thenormal sense-life. The mesmeric passes loosen theoutermost chain which links the spirit to its corporealdwelling-place: and at such a time a trained clair-voyant might clearly perceive the true atmosphere ofthe patient's spirit, the brightness or blackness whichare its " ethers." This atmosphere is called byEasterns the " Akashic record," containing all theimaged ambitions, desires, passions, etc., of the patient'slife. It was from the observation of this atmosphereor etheric aura that painters drew the halo or aureoleround the heads of saints.

Now the position of the Magnetists in the mid-Victorian age was this. Mesmer had, as it were,half-opened a forgotten door, grimy with ages ofneglect, yet ever capable of giving access, if the true


key be applied, to an inner sanctuary of infinitelygreater worth. But, owing partly to the secularismof his method, and still more to the materialisticsceptism of his age, those who availed themselves ofhis discovery were " unprepared " : and therefore weretoo soon deceived by the vague and flickering shadowswhich hang about that portal. Eneas ' needs the" golden bough " before passing into that " Avernus "(or subconscious) which lies open night and day.In other words, those who experiment and launchout into the great deeps of Nature must rememberthe old warnings against the illusions, images, andshells of the first or " Hades" state of consciousnessinduced by such a venture. The true secrets ofIsis are not revealed by her janitor or " inner guard."Her temple contains veil within veil. All the mastersof contemplation teach that its only perfect formis without exercise of imagery: Plato's cave ofshadows is the simplest and profoundest contrastof the relation between the natural and spirituallife: shadows cannot finally satisfy. Therefore the"visions," "revelations" of the " lucides," somnam-bules, and trance-mediums of the nineteenth centuryare mostly worthless: and the welter of psychicliterature has produced no single work that evenapproaches neo-Platonic wisdom, nor an utterancethat can be compared with those of the leading lightsof Christian (or Oriental) Mysticism. The reason issimple, though hardly popular: it lies in the lackof that " katharsis " 2 or purgation, the need of whichwas known both to Neo-platonists and to Christiansaints: but no such need was dreamed of by theWalpurgis-night revellers in the circles of Americanand other spiritualists. Only by the "Turned Eye"

a Virgil's " Eneid," Book vi. * See Plato's " Phaedo."


of Boehme can we discern Truth from her substitutes :but it is less trouble to turn tables.

From a different. angle modem 'psycho-analysisalso approaches the mystery half revealed by AnimalMagnetism: but many analysts of to-day apparentlyare not even theists, and have, we venture to say,no true metaphysical ground from which to moveand direct their own or their patients' "libido" (touse the hideous modern jargon) : the result is muchdabbling in the somewhat murky regions of primitivesex-desire, yet with no sure certainty of success inthe attempt at " sublimation." Nor can it be expectedwhile God is dismissed as a "father-complex," oruntil a wider investigation has been attempted ofthe " latent content" in dreams.'

Properly regarded, Magnetism is the necessarybond between spirit and matter--Hermes, the mes-senger, passing invisibly and connecting two worlds.In itself it is neither spirit nor body. As Du Potet(amongst others) shows, it operates in disentanglingsoul from the enlacements of the flesh: and accom-panies the immortal spirit on its journeys, acting asits cortege until that spirit is recalled to God. Evenafter death it seeks, as long as may be, to protectthe " deserted house" from corruption. Those whoknew its secret and how to operate therewith couldperform "miracles," and the wise among them haveever regarded this as a Sacred Science. Through theages it has been sometimes honoured, sometimesdegraded, usually ignored--according to the mentalityand morals of its users. Its history may be comparedto that of those strange Pacific islands which appear

, Perhaps the best effort so far in this direction is Silberer's" Problems of Mysticism and its Symbolism " (trans. S. E. Jelliffe ;Moffat, Yard & Co., New York, igx7).


and disappear at intervals. It has been discovered,lost, and rediscovered, only to be lost once more untilsome fresh Columbus is born: yet each new investi-gator of this " No-man's Land" only finds whatothers have known before: though he often imaginesthat, like the Ancient Mariner,

We were the first that ever burstInto that silent sea.

Thus it has swayed and oscillated between fools,rogues, and a few wise men. Qui capit, ille sapit.The subtler operations of Nature continually escapeour obtuser senses, though they need not escape ourunderstanding. Others, like Paracelsus, have foundand declared that he who believes in Nature r receivesfrom Nature everything in proportion to his faith.Things are affected by their similars: like comes tolike. " With the holy Thou shalt be holy, with thefroward Thou shalt be froward" is the spiritualanalogy of the law of " survival of the fittest." Thatwhich is gross affects the outer senses: that whichis mental, the inner, and so on to the final " projection"of the Reason towards Intelligibles, by which we aremagnetized back, or re-ligated, to the super-substantialsource of all. The power of the magnetizer's will inchanging his patient's fluid disposition is a true,though feeble, type of the renovating power-" VisMedicatrix Caelestis "-of that all-pervading VitalSpirit called Wisdom by the Ancients: and of whom,for Christians, the crowning revelation walked on earthin the great Magnetizer of the Gospels.

As He was despised and rejected of men, so also

2 And does not utter such pompous and unproven dogmas as" No one can ever know anything of the mysteries on the otherside of death."


through the centuries has been neglected and ignoredthe true Subject-matter, which once more fitfullyemerged into the purview of Mesmer, Reichenbach,Du Potet, and the rest, but was even by them seenonly through a glass darkly. For, as the old Adeptssaid, this Subject-matter is "a thing indifferent,abject, and exposed on all hands, moving here belowin shadowy manifestation, invisibly and unconsciouslyconverted to every will and use. It is what the worldcares not for, but disesteems it : it hath it in its sight,carries it in its hands, yet is ignorant thereof: forit passeth away with a sudden pace without beingknown ; yet he who knows the Art and the expressions,and hath the medium, will be richer than any other."Truly the light shineth in the darkness: and thedarkness apprehends it not.

The unexplored storehouse of Nature ever lies opento research by magnetist, medical man, and mysticalike. But she can teach only those who have faithin her dumbly eloquent logic. She cannot speakthrough lectures and learned periodicals: she canonly make signals and point. She cannot of herselfinitiate the work of dissolution leading on to purgationand so to final regeneration. As Vaughan pointedout, she has no hands. Only the being created inhis Maker's image possesses those instruments, sovitally necessary for spiritual and material activity.As Christ sits enthroned at the Father's " RightHand " above, being the Divine Regenerator of man,and of nature through man, invisibly drawing His

'" God is the great, positive Magnet of the Universe, and what-ever, in the Universe, aspires to approach Him must assume thenegative, the feminine or passive and receptive aspect." ThyMaker is thy Husband is one of the chief teachings of the OldTestament.-Coventry Patmore, " Rod, Root, and Flower," p. i 8.


members to Himself, so man is the divinely appointedexecutive agent below : and his task is to use his visibleand invisible hands in magnetizing Nature and himselfout of mere wild fecund generation into perfectionby Art. Hence, as the old Adepts said, the "manualwork" was the employment of the Hand withingenuity, i.e. with spiritual discernment, towardsa mechanic trituration, as it were, for obliterating thedefects of soul and body alike. "The Hand," saidVan Helmont, " is the instrument of instruments whichthe soul likewise useth and whereby it bears its imageinto operation." Mens (Mind), Manas (Soul), andManus (Hand) must co-operate in the true work ofmen's hands, referred to often in Scripture. Indeed,some of the old writers purposely used the phrase"obstetric hand," meaning that by such tractiveaction the hidden fire of Nature can be elicited anddrawn forth into visibility: so that the ordinary pro-cesses of childbirth are a rough pattern of the mysterycalled the New Birth, whereby "unto us a child isborn," i.e. we ourselves enter into a higher and truerlife-process and evolution. Nature, in her normalcondition, ever circulating monotonously out of andinto herself, is, as it were, "magically bound " andcannot bring forth her secret agent. Man, like Lazarusof Bethany, has also sunk into the magical and falsesleep of blind materialism. Yet he can be rousedby the voice of the true Magnetizer--" Lazarus, comeforth ": and when he emerges from the sepulchre"bound hand and foot" it is the common duty ofthe Church and Science to " loose him and let him go."

Neither of them during the last two centurieshas quite understood or obeyed this counsel. AsColquhoun wrote in 1836: " The medical faculty havealways been peculiarly unfortunate in their crusade

4o MAGNETISM AND MAGIC

against heretical remedies. In 1566 the Paris Facultyof Medicine issued a mandate prohibiting the use ofantimony and this mandate was confirmed by Parlia-ment. Paumier, of Caen, a celebrated Paris physicianand chemist, having disregarded this mandate, wasdegraded. The Quinquina, or Peruvian bark, wasimported into Europe in 1640, and Jesuits, nine yearsafterwards, distributed a great quantity of it in Rome,curing intermittent fevers with it, as if by enchantment.The physicians declared war against this efficaciousremedy." I So it was not surprising that they con-demned Mesmer in 1784. To-day the genuineness of" faith " or " spiritual " healing is occasionally, thoughsomewhat grudgingly, admitted: but the tendencyis still towards dissuading the public from admittingany "supernatural " explanation. Any definition ofthe exact boundary between " natural " and " super-natural " in these matters is still wanting.

Undeniable cures (such as those of Lourdes)are attributed to "suggestion," "mono-ideism,""sympathetic environment," and similar usefulphrases. The old prejudice against the theories ofMesmer and Reichenbach lives on under new forms.All through the nineteenth century the extraordinarypower of soul, mind, and imagination over body was,seemingly, ignored by medical orthodoxy : " ChristianScience " is a natural (though very extreme) swingof the pendulum in the direction most opposed tomaterialism. Now the minds of those who breatheonly the atmosphere of their own brain-begottentheories tend to fall asleep: they lose touch withthose principles which operate unmistakably (sometimesin the most amazing way), yet cannot be reduced tothe formulas of the latest medical fashion, which

1 " Isis Revelata," p. 228.

INTRODUCTORY ESSAY 4I

itself constantly changes. An unconscious soul exertsno more influence than an unconscious body: itignores Causal Truth and wanders in the dreary desertof such substitutes for God as the sex-complex.

On the other hand, the Church-timidly enough--is showing some signs of a revival of Spiritual Healing,but there are still many forgotten gems waiting tobe brought by wise householders out of her treasury.She still uses the Psalmist's prayer, " Prosper Thouour handiwork," and she preserves the " manual acts"of her ministry, but without much apparent intuitionof their significance. The laying-on-of-hands is acustom pervading the whole of Bible and Churchhistory from Jacob blessing his sons down to theregular consecration of bishops, priests, and deacons,confirmation, joining of hands in matrimony andunction of the sick. Yet still our Nonconformists,asking why episcopal imposition of hands is necessaryfor a "valid " ministry, only receive some suchanswer as " Because it was (virtually) ordained byChrist and has been the unbroken custom of the CatholicChurch," which answer, though possibly true in itself,does not somehow convince the other side. " ApostolicSuccession " appears little more than a superstitionof past ages, unless we boldly couple with it the ideaof a chain of Divinely magnetic influence continuingfrom age to age, and always invisibly linking "thatwhich is above " to " that which is below." Reunionof the Churches will never come by an attempt towater down their respective beliefs. Either theChurch is a Body supernaturally " magnetized " (andtherefore surviving all the follies and weaknesses of hermembers) or she is merely a human and temporalassociation of good people. While the Church assentedto the full her Charismatic Ministries such as healing


the sick and expelling demons, she was strong. Themoment she seemed awed and cowed before thedogmatic assertions of modern agnostic scientists menbegan to despise her. The path to Reunion betweenthe sundered branches of the Christian Body, like thereconciliation between Faith and Knowledge, lies in there-discovery of those secrets and mysteries which areonly hidden from stupidity and sloth. We mustimitate Columbus and bring in a "new world" toredress the balance of the old.

There are no formal Magnetic schools to-day: yetthe passeurs, masseurs, masseuses, osteopaths, etc.,are merely carrying on the old " manual woik,"without perceiving its inner significance. Massage isAnimal Magnetism in blinkers. Scores of little bookson Mental Cure issue yearly from the press, manycontaining some account of the electro-magneticforces and advice as to their direction in healing.Their phraseology is hardly as profound as that ofParacelsus, Van Helmont, and Mesmer, but theirmessage is substantially the same. Terms change-ideas continue-from one age to another. F. W. H.Myers admitted that his researches seemed to leadhim back to the psychology of the Stone Age. Magneticresearch will bring us towards the psychology of thewise adepts of old: and not the least of its serviceswill be a clarifying of the old Christian orthodoxy.Christ is the Hope of the World-but a present andnot merely a future Hope. His magistery and lord-ship depend not primarily on credal beliefs held byHis disciples (though these are perfectly true), but onHis power to make separation, upon our psychic,fluidic nature between the vital and deathly ethersof the personality. He comes-as the creed says--

, See Appendix F, p. i5o,


" to judge the quick and the dead "; and by suchmighty magnetism is " able to subdue all things toHimself." Here and now-not merely in some futurepost-mortem state-the mysterious Primal Seed, fluidicmedium, in us may be raised or sublimated fromcorruption to incorruption. Here and now, thismortal may put on immortality, which is not theprolongation of life in a " line " but the achievementof the circular life in eternity. The Christian Creedis only narrowed if-as so often happens-its historicaspect is emphasized at the expense of every other.The much-talked-of " reconciliation " of the Churchwith modern Science can only be achieved when bothadmit the promise and potency of the Hermetic Artwhich, older than either, contradicts neither and inmany ways fulfils both. So will their mutual energiesblend into that Great Work whereby human life isclarified and conjoined to its Primal Source: andhumanity reintegrated into Divinity.

BIOGRAPHICAL NOTICE

JULES-DENIs, Baron Du Potet de Sennevoy, was bornon April 12, 1796, at the little village of LaChapelle, in the Commune of Yonne, Departmentof Sennevoy. His family belonged to the oldnobility of Burgundy, and Dijon still commemoratestheir name in the Rue du Grand-Potet. Hisearly years were those of a child revelling in Nature:he spent his time in rambling by wood, meadow, andstream. When he was fourteen the reproaches of hisparents goaded him into study, but he frankly con-fesses that he preferred the songs of birds and watersto Latin and other tongues. He was not destinedto be a great light in the Academies : his own accountsshow that he could not fully grasp the relationshipbetween his own remarkable achievements in magicand the records.and writings of ancient sages. EliphasL6vi considered Du Potet's work as "the most re-markable of all products of pure intuition," whichintuition we may trace to his early and much-cherishedcommunion with Nature. From her he attracted andabsorbed those subtle magnetic potencies upon whichhe afterwards drew freely in his years of activity in Paris.

In i815 his attention was drawn to the MesmericSchool, and for five years he studied under Deleuze,Puys6gur, and the Abb6 Faria. In 182o he performedcertain experiments on the sick in the presence ofmany incredulous doctors at the Hotel Dieu, an accountof which is given on pp. 37-43 of his " Introductionto the Study of Animal Magnetism." After passingthrough many interior struggles caused by the " insolentincredulity" of the savants, and perhaps by the birth-


pangs of the strange power developing within himself,he now began to leave his early instructors far behind.He discovered that, without using Mesmer's elaboratepreparations and methods, he himself could obtainthe same positive results. In 1826 he opened a freeschool for instruction in Magnetism, and before longnearly a hundred people, a fair proportion of whomwere medical men, attended his demonstrations. Forthese, as for his later magical experiments, conductedon Sunday mornings, he never took payment. Hispamphlet "Experiments at the Hotel Dieu" wentthrough four editions. In x827 he started " ThePropagator of Magnetism "; six years later hepublished a " Course of Instruction in Seven Lessons,"a second edition appearing at Besan9on in 1840, towhich he added a lengthy Report by M. Husson, ofthe Academy of Medicine, expressing the favourableopinions of the Commission sitting between 1825 and183 I .

About the year 1838 Du Potet visited this countryfor a short time. Through the influence of Dr.Elliotson he was enabled to treat certain patients atthe North London Hospital, and some account of hisexperiments appears in his " Introduction to the Studyof Animal Magnetism." a Owing to the opposition ofthe Managing Committee he was prevented fromfurther work at the hospital, and afterwards treatedpatients at his own residence, 20o, Wigmore Street.His " Introduction " contains nothing of any specialimportance: he freely admits that animal magnetismdoes not suffice to cure certain acute diseases withoutmedicines, and desires a sound medical treatise on thesubject, proposing himself to supply such a work,which, however, does not seem to have appeared. The

' Saunders & Ottley, Conduit Street, London.

BIOGRAPHICAL NOTICE 47

experiences of one of his English patients will be foundin Appendix E.x

Returning to his native country he lectured atRheims, Bordeaux, Montpellier, and B6ziers : in 1844appeared his " Magnetism contrasted with Medicine,"and, four years later, " An Essay on the PhilosophicalSignificance of Magnetism," and, simultaneously, a" Manual for Students of the Magnetic Science," whichwent through three editions. He was also editing the" Journal of Magnetism" which had commenced in1841. By the time " La Magie Devoilee " was firstpublished (1852) the Baron had become notorious, andit will be worth while to notice the opinions of somecontemporary observers.

Alexandre Erdan dedicated his " La FranceMystique" (1855) to Voltaire, and describes amongother "superstitions " of the day the " rare and in-constant psychological curiosity" known as AnimalMagnetism. After admitting that, "though most ofits phenomena are due to imposture, yet there seemsto remain a residuum inexplicable by all known laws,"Erdan continues : " M. Du Potet is its real high priest-the fourth pontiff of the animal ' fluid.' He has some-thing of Mesmer's nature without his ability : in fact,Puysegur and Deleuze have left no real successors.However, Du Potet has made Magnetism an institution.He holds public seances at the Provenyal Brothers'Restaurant, close to the Palais Royal, and one hearsof strange marvels occurring there. He boasts of hismiracles in numerous publications-notably in 'LaMagie Devoilde,' a work issued only for buyers whowill consent to certain conditions imposed by theauthor, a singular method of dealing with the public !He is, of course, an evoker of spirits. I have not seen

= P. 148.


him perform any remarkable feat, though I did onceattend one of his demonstrations." Erdan devotestwo or three pages to some lesser phenomena, and,without impugning Du Potet's own sincerity andhonesty, insinuates that the " entranced subject"was really a well-trained actress.

We pass on to a more friendly critic, and one whosewritings are considered by Mr. A. E. Waite to be" the most arresting, entertaining, and brilliant of allstudies on this subject with which I am acquainted."Eliphas Levi x declares: " Baron Du Potet is of anexceptional and highly intuitive nature. Like all ourcontemporaries he knows nothing of the Kabalahand its mysteries, but magnetism has notwithstandingrevealed to him the science of Magic, and he hasconcealed that which he has found.... We shallreserve his secret out of respect for the convictions ofa hierophant. We do not regard his book as dangerousbecause the writer indicates forces without being preciseas to their use. He is aware that we can do good orevil, can destroy or save by means of magneticprocesses, but the nature of these is not clearly andpractically put forward, on which we offer him ourfelicitations .... He establishes triumphantly theexistence of that universal light wherein ' lucides'perceive all images and all reflections of thought. Heassists the vital projection of this light by means of anabsorbent apparatus which he calls the Magic Mirror-a circle or square covered with powdered charcoal,finely sifted. In this negative space the combinedlight projected by the magnetic subject and operatorsoon tinges and realizes the forms corresponding totheir nervous impressions. The somnambulist sees

, Nom de plume of Alphonse Louis Constant (? I8I-75) ;" History of Magic," trans. A. E. Waite , i9i3, P. 471.


manifested therein all the dreams of opium andhashish, and, if he were not distracted from thespectacle, convulsions would follow." The phenomena are analogous to those of hydro-

mancy as practised by Cagliostro; the process ofstaring at water dazzles and troubles the sight; thefatigue of the eye, in its turn, favours hallucinationsof the brain. Cagliostro sought to secure for hisexperiments virgin subjects in a state of perfectinnocence, so as to set aside interference due to nervousdivagations occasioned by erotic reminiscences. DuPotet's Magic Mirror is perhaps more fatiguing forthe nervous system as a whole, but the dazzlementsof hydromancy would have a more dangerous effectupon the brain. . . . M. Du Potet is one of thosemen with deep convictions who suffer bravely thedisdain of science, repeating beneath his breath theprofession of secret faith cherished by Galileo: E Pur

Si muove."Mr. A. E. Waite,' our chief living exponent of the

Western occult and mystical schools of initiation,has delivered his judgment of our author as follows:"As regards France, there was in the field one manwhose success was not less marvellous, not less wellattested, and much more varied than Esdaile's.' He,as an original genius in his own field of experience, isof a different order to Elliotson,z and he had no lesstenacity, no less courage, possibly because he hadless to lose and had lost it less. This was Baron DuPotet. It was scarcely possible to place him amongcharlatans, and it was scarcely possible to ignorehim. He filled all Paris with the noise and excite-

a Whose successful mesmeric operations on Hindu patients arerecorded in the " Zoist."

Founder and editor of the " Zoist," r843-56.D

So MAGNETISM AND MAGIC

ment of his experiences, his s6ances, his discoveries,his sensational claims. He was not a man of scientificattainments, but for all who had eyes to see he wasin possession of an instrument by which he workedwhat passed for prodigies, and though the Academyof Medicine and the Academy of Sciences were pledgedto possess no sight in the direction of such occurrences,it was much to be feared that the world would notlong consent to be permanently blind or hoodwinked.Some at least {of the elementary secrets previouslyreserved in the occult sanctuaries had been placed byhim within the hands of the ordinary observer, and hedirected the mind of research towards the hiddensciences of the past, as he held that all the phenomenaof transcendentalism were to be explained by hisparticular art." t "Du Potet was perhaps the mostsuccessful operator who had yet appeared in France.Indeed, from Mesmer to Puys6gur, from Puys6gur toDeleuze, and from Deleuze to Du Potet there are threeepochs, in so far as France is concerned, of that artwhich was said by the most devoted of its followersto have done more towards the explanation of manand the universe than any other discovery of thecentury to which it belongs." 2

It may be admitted frankly that Du Potet wasneither a profound nor original thinker : but the flam-boyance of his prose need not blind us to the fact ofhis remarkable psychic achievements or to such lighton nature's occult forces as we may gain from them.He himself is like some Moses, nearing the summit ofPisgah, yet still so beclouded by the materialism ofthe Egypt he has felt behind, that his eyes with diffi-culty discern the Promised Land below. Yet he seesit, even if, like Newton, he feels he is only picking

a " Studies in Mysticism," 9go6, p. 197. * Ibid., p. 90.


up pebbles on the shore of the vast unknown. He islike a brilliant and daring scout, pushing far ahead ofthe rest of the Magnetists, and yet timid of impartingthe strange knowledge he had acquired lest it shouldbe misused by knaves. He is one of " those who know,yet know not what they know ": and his pages havetherefore been illustrated by quotations from Mrs.Atwood's treatise: and if the magic marvels of ourself-assertive author induce readers to a study ofthe more sober and " per-scrutinating" " SuggestiveInquiry," the translation of his book will not havebeen made in vain.

Du Potet was an idealist and a bold experimenter ;the Danton of Magnetism. It has been remarked thatbut for him Magnetism would have been forgottenafter Mesmer as it was after Van Helmont. Puys6gurconsidered that magnetizers would never be able todo more than " turn the handle," i.e. use the unknown" machine " mechanically and more or less ignorantly.Du Potet believed that he could to some extentunderstand and regulate the " machine." He could,and did, perform all that other magnetizers hadaccomplished: but he also, as the following pagesshow, produced effects quite different from any thatthey obtained: effects, indeed, which no hypnotist ofthe modern schools would dream of attempting, orbelieve possible. He did not consider it possible inhis day to attempt strictly scientific explanations toAnimal Magnetism. "Science knows the agents itemploys; we do not know those we use. But ourcreations, the phenomena we produce, are facts."

He did not regard the " magnetic sleep " as necessaryfor cure, the magnetic medium itself containing curativevirtue. Although he could, and did, perform cures, hewas less interested in this side of the work than in his


experiments with the tremendous and as yet unknownpower. Many of the phenomena he produced wouldnow be labelled "hypnotic " : but the real interest ofhis book lies in the peculiar explanation he gave of them.

"The agent (Magnetism) employed has its inherentproperties: left to itself, i.e. when not impregnatedwith the properties added to it by the soul or spirit,it acts conformably to the laws of physics, and presentsanalogies with the magnet. We have to learn, first,what are its natural and fixed properties; secondly, tounderstand those that we can impart to it by our will."

The mechanical means (making " passes " or fixingthe eye, etc.) used by ordinary magnetizers producedresults according to the natural, fixed properties ofthe agent. But when the soul or spirit of the operatorwas infused into the Magnetism, Du Potet consideredthat almost any desired result might be obtained;not so much by the operation of the will as by anotherset of laws which govern the manifestation of themagnetic agent when it becomes magical.

His method of magnetizing seemed extremelysimple, for he considered the complicated manipu-lations used by most magnetizers quite unnecessary.He used "passes " freely, regarding them as themechanical equivalent to the will in directing thefluid. He noticed that the emission of the fluid wasnot even, and therefore rested now and again to allowhis forces to recuperate. Occasionally he found itdifficult to de-magnetize his subject, though the sleepproduced by him does not seem to have been deeperthan that produced by other magnetizers. Duringhis magical operations he experienced (though hedescribes it vaguely) a curious sensation, referred toseveral times in the following pages.

" By an act of my understanding I separate from


myself a force--real, though invisible. Deposited uponanything, it fixes itself there as an essence: soon itinfluences its surroundings: magic begins: that isto say, extraordinary phenomena occur." x

By this "magic telegraph" (as he called it) DuPotet could produce either physical or mental effects,and some description of these will be found in Part I.A common. experiment practised by Du Potet andother magnetizers was to make some "passes " overone of several similar chairs in the absence of thesubject: the latter, when called into the room, fellasleep when he came to the magnetized chair, the othersproducing no effect. Du Potet regarded this " puttingmagnetism into a chair" as a magical operation:a modern psychologist could scarcely explain it exceptby attributing it to mental suggestion. Du Potet,however, did not consider such phenomena as examplesof the subject merely believing that he was seeing orhearing one thing, when he was in reality seeing orhearing something else. Du Potet held that thesubject really experiences such sensations: but in apeculiar or " magical " way. The subject actually sawor heard by using the operator's sense-organs. Whensuch a subject was in complete rapport with himself, DuPotet claimed that he had " installed himself " in thesubject, and could transform such an one, at will,into any personality he pleased. Dr. Charles Richetwould probably call this " objectivation of types."

Du Potet further practised what is now called"verbal suggestion," but usually associated it withsome physical act or object, which, on his theory,became a vehicle for the transmission of magneticinfluence, the connecting link between soul and body,indeed the very agent by which soul acts on body.

' P. 78.


Those who do not believe in " soul " will be incredulous,but such a theory goes some way in explaining theenigma of " psycho-physical parallelism," I which DuBois Reymond and so many others find insoluble.Du Potet belived that a material sign can become avehicle conveying magical power. Thus the sign ofthe cross or holy water may convey a real blessing,but only if the soul or spirit of the priest giving thebenediction genuinely animates such objects. Whenpriests lose this magical or magnetic knowledge andpractice, their official acts become merely perfunctoryand conventional expressions of good will scarcelydistinguishable from secular salutations. Perhaps thepresent Bishop of Birmingham may unconsciously(and unwillingly) be the means of the revival of thisforgotten " magic."

On p. 90 Du Potet says : " I take a man wide-awake,full of health and strength, put a cane into his handand say, ' In a minute you will be drunk and behavelike a drunken man.' He smiles incredulously, buthardly a minute passes before he staggers, his eyesgrow bloodshot," etc.

To restore him, the believer in Suggestion would tellhim he was quite sober again. But Du Potet, havingin his own and his subject's mind associated thedrunkenness with the physical act of holding the cane, hadmerely to remove the cane from the man's hand, andthe latter became sober. So also, by some arbitrarilychosen talisman or " sign," he could turn his subjectsinto old people with every mark of decrepitude.

" ' The sum of our knowledge of the connection of mind and bodyis this-that the mental modifications are dependent on certaincorporeal conditions; but of the nature of these conditions weknow nothing.... Whether the senses be instruments, media,or whether they be only partial outlets to the mind incarceratedin the body--on all this we can only conjecture" (Hamilton," Metaphysics," vol. ii, p. 128).


"Suggestion," like "Telepathy," is an extremelyelastic word: neither of them is yet fully under-stood: and Du Potet's experiments, backed by thelater work of Colonel de Rochas and Dr. Baraduc,seem to show that he was often contacting some ex-traneous force, the nature and extent of which arestill unknown. This "living force," he maintained,could be wielded and used by the soul or mental powerof man. Such a "living force" will set in operationthe " dead " (or merely mechanical) forces such aselectricity and magnetism as known to orthodoxscience : but these are only two of an unknown numberof forces which the soul can (presumably) set going;and the effects of such operations remain to be experi-mentally studied. Such was the " Higher Magnetism "which Du Potet regarded as having been knownto the ancients and (later on) to men like Paracelsusand Mesmer. Again and again he claims that he has-at any rate, in part-rediscovered the mysteriousforce with which the ancient Magic worked andconcerning which the Alchemists wove their strangeparables. It would be very much against the grainof modern science to countenance such conceptions;they would be regarded as mere " animism " : for theyattribute life to everything and regard the soul of manas having the ability to imbue the "brute" forcesof Nature with a vitality sufficient for the carryingout of certain purposes. To study botany only in aherbarium is a different matter from approachingNature's secrets by the living and growing plant.Vitalism and Creative Evolution are, however, slowlydisplacing the older Darwinism and "circumstantialselection." The future of Science belongs to thosewho agree with Lorenz Oken that the Holy Ghostis the most wonderful of all the hard facts of life.


Mesmer considered that the magnetizer puts inmotion currents of the ether or universal medium,which he then directs and distributes according tohis ability. By repeated passes the fluid or flamespreads like a spark, setting fire to combustiblematerial.I With a single match a whole city mightbe burned : even so the will or soul" igniting " certainnatural forces may do either great good or greatmischief. When a natural force is thus set going,psychically instead of physically, the soul impartsto it a kind of intelligence. No further effort isrequired: but the operator must be always ready tocontrol or arrest it, or the result may be disaster.The " magic" of Du Potet lay entirely in the strong,unwavering, clearly conceived intention: a weapon as

yet unknown to official Science. The mechanicalmethods of Science generate these forces by persuasion :Du Potet's method might be called that of compulsion..We talk of taming and harnessing the forces of Nature,but it requires constant exertion, and we tend to regardthem as entirely non-moral and unresponsive to any-thing but mechanical pressure: the idea that thehuman soul, apart from intellect, could constrain them,is treated as a chimaera.

Modern Science is now concentrating on what mayprove to be Nature's greatest secret. Sir ErnestRutherford, regarding the atom as a kind of minutesolar system, is attempting to upset the balance betweenthe positive nucleus and the outer negative electrons,and by so doing to release the electrical energy lockedtherein. Sir Oliver Lodge, in "Atoms and Rays,"suggests that this energy is already being used to

= Thus Magnetism may be described as an effect rather than asa substance; and were Mesmer living now, he would probablydescribe his operation as causing magnetic "vibrations " in theuniversal ether.


maintain the heat of the sun and other stars, thoughit is not yet tractable by any human device. Atpresent an electrical or "alpha" particle dischargedinto an atom would be just as unlikely to hit itsnucleus as a huge projectile hurled into the solar systemwould be to hit a planet or the sun. Sir Oliver hopesthat we shall not discover too many secrets of thiskind before our knowledge and wisdom have increasedsufficiently to guard against the inherent danger.Perhaps the next great advance in this direction willonly come when some researcher can combine theuntiring industry of a Rutherford with the magicalintention of a Du Potet. No one by searching intohis own will alone can find out the Almighty to perfec-tion: yet by obedience to the Divine Will man mayrecover the Divine Science and Sacred Art so longburied in oblivion.

" La Magie Devoil6e, ou Principes de ScienceOcculte," was first published in 1852 by the Imprimeriede Pommeret et Moreau, 17, Quai des Augustins, atthe price of Ioo francs, with the following warning:" Cet ouvrage n'est ddlivrd que sur un engagementpris envers l'auteur." This condition would seem tohave been exacted until the author's death; afterwhich it seems to have been published in the ordinaryway, passing in 1893 into a third, in 1907 into itsfourth and present edition, its publishers being VigotFreres, 23, Place de l' cole de Medecine. An Englishtranslation was announced by Mr. J. S. Farmer in1886, but did not appear. In the present volume per-haps nearly one-half of the original has been omitted,to spare readers Du Potet's numerous reflections andreveries, which lead nowhere, and his denunciationsof sceptical scientists: for all these things distractattention from the true subject,


The "Journal du Magn6tisme" ran on till 1861,and is a treasury of well-collated facts and curiousoccult experiments. Through Du Potet's magnetizedsubjects were evolved clairvoyance, trance-speaking,stigmata, elevation of somnambules in the air, andinsensibility to fire, injury, or touch. Sometimes the" lucides " described scenes in the spirit-world, foundlost property, or spoke in foreign tongues. InDecember I86x Du Potet announces the cessation ofthe " Journal " and of his public demonstrations, butis about to publish " La Therapeutique Magn6tique"-- of which, if it appeared, the British Museum Librarydoes not contain a copy. Being now sixty-five yearsold he looked for a younger man to take up the work.In 1879 the " Theosophist " notes the birth of a newjournal, " La Chaine Magndtique," and remarks that,in spite of his eighty-four years, the Baron's intellectis as clear and his devotion to Magnetism as ardent aswhen he vindicated it in 1826 before the Academy ofMedicine. In the same year he had a fall on a stair-case, which must have caused some internal injury;in 188o he went to Nice, and, in spite of his own con-dition, performed some remarkable cures. Returningto Paris in April 1881, his condition grew worse, andon July Ist he passed peacefully away at his housein the Rue du Dragon. On July 3rd he was buried atMontmartre.

The editor of Larousse's "Grand DictionnaireUniversel du XIX Siecle" cannot see in Du Potetanything more than " one who abandoned himself toreveries and fancied he was reviving occult science."This is the kind of epitaph often written by the childrenof Time on those of Eternity; the reader must judgefor himself whether it be correct.

MAGNETISM AND MAGIC

I

EXPERIMENTS

[Du Potet begins with the usual warnings againstrashness and imprudence. No one is to be magnetizedagainst his will. The author is dealing with facts, notfancies. He leaves Deleuze and Puys6gur behind.Nature alone has been his teacher.]

WHAT is the Somnambulic Sleep ? An effect ofmagical power. What is Magnetism at a distance,i.e. as exercised by thought without (physical) contact,unless it be a secret power similar to that exercisedby lovers, magicians, and others ? Such effects canbe produced upon animals as well as on men. Whatis it which causes those attractions, sudden impulses,antipathies, and convulsive crises which can becomeso lasting and perilous, if it be not the same principleat work, the Agent known to men of past time ?What is now known as the nervous fluid, magnetism,somnambulism, or ecstasy was called by the ancientsthe occult power of the soul, subjection (of one soulby another), and magical charm. The Agent is thesame in all these phenomena, useful or hurtful, justas it is the same sun which destroys or gives life.But the sun's power is blind and unconscious, whereasours obeys our will and can be used to elevate ordegrade man.x

= Terrestrial Mercury, or Astral Light, is fatal to those whoexcite, without knowing how to direct. The experiments of the


Electricity under all its variations remains theme: so also does the action of the loadstone. But

Thought fixes itself according to our will; it is a jetof invisible flame, subtler than any aroma, traversingspace with unimpeded action, bearing our desire andeven the rudiments of our being. How assimilatethis magical element with other natural facultiesrevealed to man ? What has it in common with them ?At first we can only co-relate them in words, and ourlanguage is imperfect : but we shall presently giveAnimal Magnetism its due.

Ancient Mythology covered magical operationswith a dense veil. Harmonious but enigmatic poetrywas used to describe all the labours of " the Wise"and the assistance of the gods in ensuring their success.We, children of a later day, no longer understandthe ancient truths whereby men beheld the mysteriesof creation. Time has destroyed a vast edifice: onlypatience can enable our descendants to reconstructit . . let my readers therefore try and grasp theprinciple underlying the phenomena to be described:the rules are not yet fully known.

I proceed to transcribe certain experiments alreadypublished in the " Journal du Magn6tisme," 1846-48;they were performed on six persons in the presence of

Nancy 'and Paris Schools of hypnotic and mesmeric direction areunrighteous : because unless the operator knows the whole process-how to unseal, how to close, how the whole is arranged, how toarrange and place (each whole or body) in the same exact order--he is breaking the superfice as a burglar and not as a doctor whoknows how things were and how they should be. Hermetic Sealingis a special process and exact knowledge is requisite. Mesmerismcan be and is an Art of arts, divine and Christlike or deadly anddevilish. The deep trance is a sacred sleep, and the utmost careand knowledge should be used lest the sin of the " passive " shouldbe passed to the " active." (From private notes by M. A. Atwood,many of which it is inexpedient to publish owing to the possibilityof abuse by experimenters who fail to appreciate the sanctity andperils of the subject.)

EXPERIMENTS 61

numerous audiences, and are recorded in the chrono-logical order of discovery. Such facts could bemultiplied, but would add nothing to the value ofwhat is here recorded.

MAGIC LINES :First Experiment.

Two lines are traced in chalk on the floor withmagnetic intention 2 :-

These lines represent a crooked road, AB, separatedby a space, C, beyond which is the conventionalfigure of a precipice, D.

A young and robust male patient is placed, wide-awake, at point A, one foot on each line. Du Potethas ascertained him to be a " sensitive," but doesnot magnetize him. He is left free to obey or resistsuch impulses as he may feel. He resists. Soon thereis a convulsive trembling in his limbs: his eyes becomeglassy and fixed: his movements jerky. He showsimpatience, begins to walk along the lines, andcannot leave them. An indescribable expressionappears in his features. Some fascinating powerdraws him to the end of the fatal road, where themagnetizer has willed a precipice to exist. It is only

: " The signs published in Du Potet's ' La Magie D6voil6e ' are,in analogy, if not absolutely identical, with pretended diabolicalsignatures found in old editions of the Grand Grimoire" (E!iphasL6vi, " History of Magic," trans. by A. E. Waite, 9z13, P. I30).

3 I.e. by Du Potet's magical operation.


an idea, a desire magnetically formulated, yet it isso powerful that, as he approaches the " abyss," hecrouches at point B, with despair in his face. Hisbreathing becomes stertorous, he trembles as withvertigo. Many of the audience, while staring at him,seem to share his feelings. He utters agonized cries.Du Potet now puts an end to this drama of " imitativemagic" by lifting the patient up and releasing himfrom his terror, which he speedily forgets.

Second Experiment.Two lines are drawn with chalk similar to those in

the first experiment, but of a more sinuous nature,on the floor :-

A c

the apex of triangle E pointing to one end.Again the subject is young, robust, and awake.

His feet are placed between the two lines startingfrom the left. The space between is wide enoughfor him to walk between without touching them, yethe is drawn from one side to the other, as it were,against walls which he cannot pass. He reaches A,tries to continue, but is unable, and swerves acrossto B, is again arrested, swerves again to C, finallyreaches D, and in vain tries to pass to E. Despairand fear are shown by his involuntary movements:he is fixed to the ground.

Four other persons, placed in the same condition, obeyin the same manner, with a difference of intensity only.

EXPERIMENTS 63

The difference between these phenomena and thoseof ordinary magnetism lies in the fact that themagnetizer himself remains inactive; herein magicbegins. Something more than mere inertia must beovercome to release the subjects from their labyrinth.Several persons must assist to " unsolder" them: andthey still gravitate towards the lines until removedfrom their vicinity. On recovering their senses theyretain no exact knowledge of their ordeal. The feetare tired, and there is a sense of heat and attraction,as if all the leg muscles had been strained. It isimpossible to describe precisely the abnormal elementin these occurrences.

Third Experiment.Du Potet, with chalk in one hand and carbon in

the other, traces on the floor two parallel straightlines, one white, AB, the other black, CD, at a distanceof just over three feet in width. No one else is awareof his scheme, or plan.

A 8IB," h "

The triangle N, the serpent S, and the two five-pointedstars XO are drawn without magnetic intention, atan equal distance from the two lines. Du Potetproposes to investigate whether there are, asancient philosophers believed, two opposite principlesgoverning us-one inciting to good, the other to evil.


What will be the path of the human traveller placedbetween these symbols? On the black line Du Potethas impressed, by will-power, everything characteristicof evil: on the white, everything characteristic ofvirtue. Their respective influence is to be tried onpersons sensitive to magnetism, but not actuallymagnetized. Du Potet himself will remain passiveduring the experiment.

A young man of twenty-four, with robust anddecided nature, never hitherto magnetized, is placedon the star X. His will is free: no one sees any,change in his demeanour, he smiles and is scepticalabout the issue of this experiment. Du Potet standsat the opposite star, O. Everyone is asked to keepsilence. A violent movement agitates the patient,he becomes restless, fixes his eyes alternately oneither line and never looks away. After more shockshe advances a step towards the black line, returnsto his first position, turns again in the same directionas at first. He touches the black line with his toesat E, quits it, but again something draws him and hisbody moves laterally towards it. This continues tillhe reaches point G, near the end of the road. Herehe turns a little upon himself, his body so bent asalmost to form a semi-circle, his head inclined to thewhite line. In this curved position he advanceslaterally towards the extremity D, showing anxietyabout its end. His eyes seem to dart fire: everymovement is jerky: the muscles of his face illustratethe battle in his soul. His chest expands: he pants.All hesitation vanishes and he turns to the serpentsymbol and leans over the ominous sign, stretchingout his hands as if to grasp it. He is now firmlywithdrawn from this cruel position: unconscious andperspiring, he comes slowly to his senses. When

EXPERIMENTS 65

questioned about his sensations he can only recall hisfirst movements: his first three steps were accom-panied by some indefinable pleasure: then camedespair, and he heard an interior voice saying, " Whereare you going ? Retrace your steps." After that heremembers nothing of where he was led. He iscertain that at first he believed in no such influence,and was resolved to resist it with all his might.

On the spectators each movement of this patientproduced an effect as it were of an electric shock, asort of vibrant contagion: their breasts swelled, andas the patient bent towards the symbol of evil theirmouths opened as if to protest.

When all is quiet another patient is placed uponthe star X: also a vigorous man, wide-awake, andconfident of being able to resist the influence. Butbefore two minutes have passed convulsive move-ments appear: he hesitates, bends first to the right,then to the left, at length takes his first step towardsthe white line AB. Then he throws himself back tothe point E, where the previous patient had touched,advances forward to point H : tears come into hiseyes. Desperately he turns away and touches pointI (on the white line) with his foot: quits it, and in akind of rapture reaches the star 0, where Du Potetreceives him in his arms, bathed in tears.

Thus each patient seems to be dominated by thetwo forces--one pushing towards the abyss, the othertrying to check such action.

A third patient is placed on the star X. Soon anagitation appears in his limbs, his face changes, hestarts. Suddenly a door violently opens and chairsare overturned. A medical student, hitherto un-noticed, strides rapidly to the lines, upsetting every-thing in his way. He reaches them: his eyes are

It


haggard, arms extended and fingers clenched. Heseems to wish to take the place of the patient: theassembly rise in panic. Du Potet approaches, passeshis hand over the intruder's forehead, and the latterbecomes calm. When conducted to another room heexplains that some unseen power compelled him toact thus. Some of the audience also assert thatthey felt some abnormal influence while gazing at orapproaching the symbols.

Du Potet now requests the audience not to drawany hasty conclusions. In this case Matter, moreobedient than Spirit, has been overcome by the vitalessences of life. The soul, finding its organs paralysed,could not put forth all its powers. Such experimentsshould only be repeated with great reserve, and withclear understanding and confidence. "Be astonishedat nothing." Should the Magnetizer feel any strongemotion, or let himself be perturbed by such facts,the result will be disorder. " Only by a sequence ofthis type of experiment can we throw light on theMagnetic method and art. We must progress fromknown to unknown, never forgetting practical rulesor losing sight of the properties of the Magnetic agent."

Fourth Experiment.Du Potet traces on the floor three circles, each about

a foot in diameter :-

A B C

EXPERIMENTS 67

The intention here is not to try and influence themorals of the patient, but to investigate the physicaleffect of the Magnetic principle, when the latter islinked with these three circular lines: to see if thefluid could be felt and its action determined by aseries of nervous effects worth examination. A strong,thick-set man of twenty-four is placed in circle A,and told to resist any influence trying to displace him.He smiles at this: but we soon notice a shakiness inhis voice: in speaking to anyone he turns as if on apivot: presently, dominated by the influence, hebegins to spin round like a top. Suddenly his move-ment is arrested by an order to be still: but he stillremains pirouetting for some ten minutes, compelled-to obey by a power he despises but cannot control.Meanwhile another youth has been placed in circle B,after which the Magnetizer withdraws to a littledistance. The eyes of this second subject soon close:his head begins to turn round, more and more rapidly,his feet remaining fixed to the centre. The whole of hisbody is soon affected, and, as he is about to losehis centre of gravity, Du Potet asks someone to supporthim. Nevertheless, he falls, and when carried offremembers nothing of what has happened in the circle.These experiments having been performed on youngpeople only, Du Potet requests the aged Comte deBeaumont T to stand in the third circle, C. Afterabout a minute the Comte's lower limbs becomeagitated and begin to lurch. His whole body isaffected : ready to sink, he cries, " Oh ! Oh ! "--and is released from the circle. Far from complaining,he seems transported: a sweet warmth penetratedhim, and his arm, hitherto stiff from rheumatism, isnow free from all pain.

' An acquaintance of Mesmer and Marie Antoinette.


During all these experiments Du Potet has remainedentirely passive, lest the imagination of the patientshould be credited with the motive power which isdue to the Magnetic agent.

Fifth Experiment.Du Potet traces a circle with two parallel lines,

one, AB, drawn from, the other, CD, drawn to, thecircle X.

X

A

Both lines and circle are magnetic: Du Potet's willand desire are expressed powerfully on the tracings,with a force capable of influencing any person placedbetween the lines.

Three persons in succession are placed at the centreof the circle X. Wandering and turning from sideto side, they quickly touch the lines. The lower side,AB; strongly attracts them to the circle: the upper,CD, as strongly repels them from it. The bodyinclines towards the line. AB : their feet have not leftthe two lines. At length they reach again the centreof the circle, all apparently in some sort of suffocation.

Du Potet points out that, in tracing the lines, hedid not start from the same point--one line beingdrawn to the circle, from a point C, outside to point D ;the other from point A in the circle outwardly to B.Hence the contrary movements exhibited by the

EXPERIMENTS 69

patient. The Magnetic agent employed contains itsown properties, and acts freely. When not investedwith qualities impressed upon it by the soul or spirit,it conforms to its physical nature, and is analogous tothe loadstone. The Magnetic art consists in recog-nizing and adapting these unalterable qualities byimpressing the human will upon them. This particularexperiment will help us to understand phenomena tobe mentioned later.

Sixth Experiment.Du Potet requests two persons (patients in previous

experiments) to stand on a straight line

A B,

one remaining motionless just beyond B, the otherat A. The latter is to start from A, attracted by theMagnetic agent, though nothing at B is apparent tothe spectator. As soon, however, as the attractionbegins to operate and the subject begins to approach B,the person stationed near B shows a nervous trembling.When they touch one another, the power is so strongthat they cannot separate themselves: others mustdo it for them. From which we recognize the morelively action of one person on another, and the power-ful atmosphere apparent in those who are drawn topenetrate the nerve-system of those stationed in thesphere of (magnetic) activity.

THE MAGIC MIRROR

[Du Potet insists that a fact common to many beliefs,found in many places, and testified by many historians,cannot be dismissed by mere denial. . . . The pheno-mena displayed by the following experiments are theresult of a single cause.]


First Experiment.

With a piece of live coal we trace a circular disc onthe floor, taking care that it is entirely blackened.Our magnetic intention is fully and unhesitatinglyformulated, and we will that the animal spirits befixed and enclosed within this little space : while others,of a similar kind, are attracted thither, so that com-munication may be established between them, andan "alliance " result between the animal spirits inthe " Mirror " and those in the human subject gazing

into it. By this means he will beholdthings and events which concern him,as if he were in an ecstasy or in thesomnambulic sleep. He must be freeand untrammelled in mind and body.The operator keeps at a distance, pas-sive. The experiment needs silence

and attention on the part of the audience. Thefloor has not been specially prepared, nor anythinglaid on it. The coal used for tracing the disc is placedon the chimney-piece for inspection by anyone. Noperfume or words are necessary. The work of actualtracing takes about four minutes, during which theoperator concentrates the rays of his intelligence,helped by others, so as to form an invisible but realfocus. In doing so his whole being trembles strangelyand he loses some vital force.

We now pass to the actual experiment.A man of twenty-five, full of self-confidence, and

entirely sceptical about magic, approaches and ob-serves the disc. Noticing its lines, for it is unevenlydrawn, he looks up for a moment at the audience,then down to his feet. The process begins. Helowers his head further, becomes restless, looks all

EXPERIMENTS 7

round the black circle, never losing sight of it. Hebends still further, raises himself, retreats a fewsteps, advances again, puckers his eyelids, becomesmelancholy, and breathes loudly. He is beginningto see images in the "Mirror." His emotions, in-imitable movements, sighs, tears, despair, and furyall depict the agitation in his soul. Before him areunfolded a series of events represented figurativelyby the marks he notices. Sadness and joy follow oneanother in proportion as some part of the futurepasses before his eyes. Soon he becomes almostdelirious with transport ; he tries to seize the " Mirror,"fixing a terrified look upon it, then kicks it with hisfeet until the dust rises. The operator rises to putan end to the scene: the subject seizes him forciblyby the head, but a few affectionate words, withmagnetic passes, appease and pacify him: the dis-ordered vital forces return to their proper place. Ina neighbouring room he comes to his senses. Forsome time he feels a heaviness in the upper part ofthe head, which passes away in half an hour. He isstill vague, preoccupied, and can remember nothing.Numerous questions elicit no revelation.

Second Experiment.The black circle, having been partially effaced, is

restored. The operator looks round for an apt" sensitive " to the occult influence of the "Mirror."A young man of twenty who has been watching himsteps forward. Silent and pale he approaches--contemplates the " Mirror "--steps back--then leansforward again. What does he see? He laughssardonically, becomes serious, trembles all over, calmsdown. Not anger (as in the previous subject) butcuriosity seems to dominate him: his look is fixed


on the Mirror. His gestures become indescribable:the audience seem to share his emotions. He remainsthus for some ten minutes, murmuring to himself.Now the operator intervenes and with some difficultydraws him away. As in the former case he retainsno memory of what has occured.

So the priests of Isis were not mere impostors,they understood the magnetic principle and used it intheir initiations, but wisely attributed to the godsthat which proceeds from man himself, and so wereable to sway the multitudes by fear. The Academiesof Science have still to learn that hashish, opium, andether by themselves will not reveal what God hashidden in our own being.

MAGIC ATTRACTION

First Experiment.Operator and subject stand face to face, a few feet

apart. The former turns slowly round. The latter,instead of being drawn into the operator's sphere ofactivity and following him, makes a similar movement,but in the reverse direction: they resemble twocylinders, one turning the other. At first they movewith equal speed: but soon the subject ceases hisrotatory motion and begins to deviate, as if describinga curve.

Second Experiment.

The purpose is to confirm the first. Two Mag-netizers, being placed respectively at the points A

Du Potet quotes a letter (unsigned) from a scientific memberof the audience to the effect that these phenomena had convincedhim of a similar rotation in the planetary system. See " La MagieDvoil6e," p. 96,

EXPERIMENTS 73and B, endeavour to attract with equal intensity(as far as possible) the subject placed at point C.Lured by these two "perpendicular" influences, thesubject starting from C reels, totters, and finallyescapes, diagonally, to point D. Should either Mag-

B

%

A

netizer operate with greater power than the other,the subject will only reach point A or B by describinga curve.

MAGIC SYMPATHIES AND ANTIPATHIES

What is the secret of attraction and repulsion, asmanifested between human beings? Where neitherjudgment nor reason can answer these questionsMagnetism may afford some explanation.

[Du Potet here enlarges on the universality of " sym-pathy " and " antipathy " and their occult nature.]

The " philosophes sympathistes" I maintain that thisinfluence emanates incessantly from the corpusclesof the whole body: that these corpuscles contact ourorgans and cause brain-impressions, sympathetic orthe opposite, as the case may be.

Now from the principles we have already established' Du Potet does not mention any names.


we deduce that fluid-currents enter and leave everyperson, and that, by affinities whose nature is stillunknown, these very fluids, even when undirectedby thought, intention or will, yet pass out as if withintelligence, and alight on the organism (of some otherperson) of their choosing: and, having reached it,cause a series of good or evil happenings. Let us tryto grasp this law. Nature works according to rule."Chance" is a word invented by ignorance to assistfools.

First Experiment.If I trace two parallel lines, AB and A' B' starting

from the same point, the subjects who follow them

A B D C

A' Bz

exhibit no change of course, and neither elbow norclash with each other. No sympathy or antipathyoccurs. But if I trace a third line from the oppositedirection, C to D, and if two persons walk simul-taneously, one on the line AB, and the other on CD,so as to meet, a curious antagonism and antipathyoccurs. On reaching BD they look at each other,become excited, grow pale or red, then delirious:threats follow disdain, and, like athletes, they prepareto fight. It is then time to separate them: yet anhour before they regarded one another with indifference.I maintain, further, that given a natural and pre-existent sympathy (between the two subjects) theresult would be the same, as we have ascertained onseveral occasions in experimenting.

EXPERIMENTS 75

Second Experiment.An equally curious result follows from the arrange-

ment of these lines. Place someone at the extremityof one of them, say B, and let him stand still. Asecond person traversing the line from A will showevery sign of sympathy for the person on his path(at B)--his gestures will be full of tenderness. Pre-sently, however, seeing no response and finding theother cold, he withdraws brusquely and disdainfullyand shrugs his shoulders. No description can ade-quately render these phenomena. The pen cannottranslate movements of the soul. All these resultsare caused by a power operating by contrary currents.

MAGIC ARROW

If the direction in which the lines are tracedinfluences the result of the experiment; if the methodof drawing them has a bearing on what follows; thenindeed we have made some progress. New lines mustbe drawn, and, to avoid any doubt in the matter, letthem all start from a given point.

A figure is drawn in which every line from A,

C B

converging at B, is prolonged to C, where lines Dand E likewise meet. Here we shall find two distinctinfluences--one drawing subjects from A to C, theother hindering their passage from C to A.


First Experiment.

A subject is asked to stand at point B and to analysehis feelings as calmly as possible. Presently he showssigns of weakness. Something seems to draw hisstrength through his feet. "My head feels empty,"he says. Unable to retain a vertical position, he hasto be supported. His whole being seems crushed.He seems about to swoon : his breathing is short andscarcely perceptible. We lift and place him at pointC; vitality at once returns and his weakness vanishes.He distinctly feels the fluidic currents passing fromthe arrow-point into his being. His sensations havecompletely changed, he is delighted, and would liketo remain for some time in his present position.

Second Experiment.

To prevent anyone explaining this as being merelydue to imagination, Du Potet selects a young manwho has just arrived and knows nothing of what hashappened, or of the purpose of the experiment.Placed on point C, he breathes strongly and exhibitssigns of a feverish excitement: his eyes glitter andhe is full of life. Asked to advance, he takes onestep on the tracing and can go no further. Hismuscles swell, he grows angry, his efforts are inde-scribable. We urge him on, but some immovableforce repels him. In anger he lowers his head andtries to advance. It is useless: he cannot go halfthe length of the arrow-head. He is like a manstanding on smooth glass, tied to a post with skateson his feet, and trying to move on. He perspiresfreely, and, after bending down numbers of timeswithout falling, he asks to be released. He complains

EXPERIMENTS 77

of sensations like those of his predecessor. A fluidpassed through his body causing a vigorous arousingof his vitality, noticed by all, at first. He felt as ifthe intensity of his life were doubled, without knowingwhy. Yet a few minutes after the end of the experi-ment his arms and feet felt as weary as those of a manafter a long struggle.'

Third Experiment.This was less convincing, being a repetition with

less potency of the preceding experiments. Possiblythe power was less, on account of the third subjectnot being so sensitive, and because the lines werebecoming effaced. Perhaps they should be retraced,with magnetic intention, after each trial.

To sum up. These phenomena are related toMesmer's theory of the polarity of the human body.The effects produced through his instruments, the"Baquet" and the iron wands, were sometimespositive, sometimes negative. The convulsive criseswhich he induced in his patients were the results ofmisdirected magnetization. Convinced as we are ofthe magnetic origin of these marvels, it is unnecessaryto attribute them to either diabolic or divine inter-vention. . . . But Reason itself can accomplish littleso far as it is only supported by abstractions, and hasno power z to command belief. . .. Nature, if wequestion her, will answer our queries as to thismysterious principle that ever eludes the senses:but we do not understand her language.

' The influence converging from A narrows down at B, andchokes the vital force of the patient placed on B in the first experi-ment. Placed on C, he receives a fresh influx of the " A to C"current. The subject placed on C in the second experiment seemsto be facing towards A, and thus is opposed by the full blast ofthe " A to C " current.

* Magnetic.

MAGNETISM AND MAGIC:

SUPPLEMENTARY OPERATIONS

By an intellectual act I disengage and emit aninfluence from myself. I could make it felt by anexpression which will be intelligible to every reader.This influence (or force) is actual though not yetvisible. Lighting upon and entering some body, itsoon begins to show signs of its presence in the locality.Magic begins: that is to say, surprising and unex-pected results occur. In the Magnetic sleep i all thevital forces are drawn to the nerve-centres : no sensi-bility remains on the surface. The body is as it wereabandoned and breath comes by the labour of thesoul, thrown back on itself. Communication with theouter world cannot take place without rappor : andsuch rapport must be induced from outside. In thisthe magnetizer is the principal agent ; the patientcannot act by himself.

Nothing of all this occurs in our method of working.The vital forces are summoned to the periphery,there is no isolation, extreme sensibility, or brainexcitation. The eyes remaihr open and shining, theface does not assume the corpse-like appearance ofsleep: the heart beats vigorously. There can be nomistaking the one state for the other.

Under our method of working the subject showsa new aspect of human nature: a kind of luminousincandescence, as of tle ecstatics or prophets underinspiration. The oc rrences of these sdances aresingularly fascinating 1 though no one has yet beenable to find terms in ;hich to express them. Thereis no monotony, they differ one from another. Leavethe soul to itself and it will reveal its characteristicsand surprise you when you see what the ordinary con-

a Of Puysigur and his school.

EXPERIMENTS 79

ventions of life hide. Nature speaks through the organs.The animal spirits.are loosed ; the members of the body,so far from being weighed down, as in the case ofintoxication by wine, t aove easily and freely, even theweight of the body seems considerably lessened.

(Du Potet here expatiates on various mysteriousfofces known to exist, and speculates on ,the possibilityof one day rendering visible true picture's of bodies nolonger in existence.]

The' following is a quotation from the Journal duMagndtisme,. 1849-51 -

MAGIC MIRROR

I tracepza disc with charcoal on the floor, with,magneftic:intention, It must be covered over untilproceedings are ready to commence. Smells andother.-sensations must, be avoided. The operatorshould e pr6rmpt, alert, and ready for emergencies;he should :.lso avoid contact, with. strangers. Thesubject :should, be left. plenty of space. An opaquelid or cover should be at hand for placing over theSymbol (the disc in this case), if the emotions arousedare too violent. The seer will not always beholdpleasant visions, and the operator must be calm andself-contained.

First Experiment.All these precautions being taken, things 'now take

their course. The seer begins to lose consciousness.His eyes never leave the magic circle. A whirlwindseems to seize him: the light of the immortals pene-trates his soul. He feels rude shocks. These correspondto the allegorical combats of ancient fable. Hithertothere' have only been movements. A subterranean


fire is disturbing the rocks and crevasses of his nature.Now, like the Pythoness of old, he will begin to 'speakin oracles. He weeps--he has seen his mother: heis transported-he has felt her embrace, and heardher voice. The shadow smiles and seems to beckonhim by look and sign. But at this point I break thelink ,forming between the living and the dead, andall is gone.

Whether it were dream or vision matters not : itis my secret. The seer perspires freely, and all hisbody shakes and trembles. Removed some distancefrom the Symbol, he still gazes yearningly after itand exclaims, " How happy I felt " I He complainsthat we have withdrawn him and still longs for thevision of his mother. At length his impressions fade,and he wonders where he is and why he is here.

Second Experiment.During my absence two members of the audience

have been impressed by the Symbol. They rise atfirst with an effort, then more easily, and approach it.Face to face they look at each other curiously. Eachdesires to contemplate, alone, the images becomingvisible in the "mirror." My assistant approaches toprevent a quarrel. He is repelled several paces by amovement of the arms of one of them which seems toexhibit no violence, yet its force astonishes' us. Imyself intervene, and the seers are pacified. One ofthem kneels down and gazes at the Symbol, his headswaying from side to side. He laughs weirdly. Hesees tiny fairies dancing in a circle, arms enlaced andinviting him to join their dance. He gets up laughingand saying, " How small they are " I Soon he beginsto dance, slowly at first, then, warming up to it, hedances furiously, laughing all the time. - His mirth

EXPERIMENTS 8!

is infectious; the audience begin to laugh too, and Ihave never seen joy passing so quickly from one personto another.

Third Experiment.All this time the other seer has not been laughing,

but gazing seriously on the symbol. He moves con-vulsively, he sees the hideous head of a human monsterrising gradually: he is terrified, his teeth chatter, herecoils: but, still attracted, he approaches again:his fears were not purely imaginary.

I restore both seers to quiet. A vague memoryremains to them, and the audience settle down asbefore. I have only recorded the more startling facts;it is impossible to describe the soul-expression ontheir faces and the finesse of their movements inmere words.

Everything happens in full daylight and withoutthe help of opium or drugs. Nor were the subjectssickly or feverish, or addicted to occult ideas andpractices. Nor were their visions in my thoughtbeforehand : in fact, I was as astonished as myassistants at the results. We have constructed mirrorsto reflect the outer body: why cannot we also do' thesame for souls and spirits ? Has not everybody ofmature age had some presentiment or vision ?

Fourth Experiment.The magic symbol is uncovered. Immunediately a:

young girl, who has not before assisted at any of myseances, is seized with a twitching of the limbs, andis drawn to the magnetic centre. She makes tremen-

£ Though, of course, the fifth and sixth experiments (with dustfrom the Druidic tomb) might be explained by telepathy-if thatbe an explanation.

F


dous efforts to resist: in vain. Trembling, she bendsforward, shudders, cries, laughs, laments. Seeing thatshe is weary, I place a chair for her. Without turningshe sits on it, and then turns quickly, whilst stillseated: the chair, a kind of solid wooden cube, turnswith her: and this movement is not caused by ordi-nary strength or agility. ,When withdrawn, she burstsinto convulsive laughter, but refuses to say what shesaw. " I will.never tell you; it is too funny," and ateach recollection she repeats, " How funny I Oh, howfunny I"

Fifth Experiment.Wishing for further proofs, and covering the Magic

symbol from View, I reduced to fine powder some earthI had taken from a Druidic tomb some years before:the tomb held some human bones at least two thousandyears old. I had preserved the earth without anypreconceived idea, and at the time of the experimentI did not attach any importance to it. I used it asone might use any cinders or wood-ash. Some daysbefore the experiment I laid it on the mirror. No onewas privy to the fact, and I did not speak of it inconversation.

On this particular day, after' some experiments inordinary magnetism, I uncovered the magic sign withthe powder in question on it before my audience.The result was speedy and partly terrible. A, man ofthirty, employed at the National Printing Works, anentire stranger to magnetic research, was present forthe first time. He looked carefully at the yellow dust.Soon he became agitated, rose, approached trembling,and cried, "I see blood--corpses--with the entrailstorn out i" He tried to escape, but a secret forcerestrained him. At once we took him away: he

EXPERIMENTS 83

became unconscious for several minutes. Restored tohis senses, he remembered nothing.

Sixth Experiment.

A young woman is attracted. Terrified in the sameway at the sight of blood, she beheld the entrails as ina kind of tub; the corpses swayed before her. Shebecame ill and we bore her away unconscious. She,likewise, could remember nothing of what she hadseen. NOTE: The Druidic tomb, whence the earthwas taken, held five skeletons: one of the seers sawfive corpses. No one, except myself, knew this, nor,so far as I was concerned, had this dust any specialquality or power.

RtsuMt

The reader will note that I insist on none of thoseauxiliary methods in my experiments which wereconsidered necessary in ancient times: the silence ofsubterranean passages, the cave of Trophonius, x

forest gloom, the sound of wind and storm, thunder-claps, sepulchral lamps-nothing, in short, calculatedartificially to increase the sensitivity or activity ofthe soul. I use no grimoire, consecrated emblems,vervain, or magic wand. I do not make invocations,or prayer. My room contains no human relics, or"hand of glory," drug or perfume. Those who usesuch instruments, in my opinion, are learned in words,but not in realities, and can only influence peoplewith diseased imaginations. Nor am I served byfamiliar spirits-though one magnetizer has gratui-tously made the suggestion. I have never made any

a See Pausanias, "Description of Greece," ix. 39. x-z4. For amodern interpretation of such places, see Rudolf Otto, " Idea ofthe Holy/' "p. 131.


such claim; if there were any truth in such a state-ment I would confess it. I do, undoubtedly, feel acertain shock x throughout all my being'.: I experiencean unusual sensation. When these experiments aresucceeding I share somehow in the process: myorganism seems under some restraint. No doubt thisis essential and even indispensable for the operationsof magnetic magic. That is all. As for the rest, alldepends on the previous preparations. I banishfrom my mind everything not related to my subject,and have only the end in view--a matter needinggreat prudence and attention.

Thus I voluntarily become an instrument and seekonly its perfection as far as may be. Finding what ahuman machine can produce under certain conditions,I try to fulfil them. I know very little, but, had Ibeen better instructed at the start, I should have beenthe first of all magnetizers. Reader, pardon myself-esteem I As I am introducing a new art to you,I must make you understand me: I claim to be asorcerer, a magician. Have I a secret ? Certainly,but I am not bound to reveal it at the start. Besides,how could I give a name to that which is nameless.I can only suggest it by figures and comparisons.3 . . .

The hall where my experiments are made is notlarge enough to hold my audiences. The part reserved

" tbranlement." " Organisation."3 "Magic is the connection of natural Agents and Patients,

answerable each to other, wrought by a Wise man to the bringingforth of such effects as are wonderful to those who know not theircauses. Paracelsus called it a most secret and hidden science ofsupernatural things in the earth, that whatsoever is impossibleto be found out by man's Reason may be found out by this Art.It is in itself most pure and undefiled by ceremonies or conjuration,such as Necromancy. The philosopher strengthens the seeds ofNature and quickens them. so that they hasten the work ofgeneration "-(Elias Ashmole, " Theatrum Chemicum Britannicum,"P. 445).

EXPERIMENTS 85for my operations measures about ten square feet.The diameter of the magic sign, which varies accordingto circumstances, measures some five inches. Coveredover beforehand, it does not attract attention till thecover is withdrawn. When this is done, every eyeis drawn to it. Everyone asks wherein lies its potency:some doubt if it has any. But magical potency isindependent of belief. Meanwhile I withdraw, keepingon the alert. It is easy to see whom the charm affects.Faces alter: there is restlessness, distraction: eyesbrighten: heads and bodies bend and tremble. As arule after three or four minutes those under the in-fluence lean forward, rise, bend almost down to themirror. Sometimes even, by a quick motion, theythrow themselves on the ground and clasp the cir-cumference of the sign with their arms.

The fact of their vision is shown by their pantomimicexpressions. A kind of interior monologue goes on.Dumb at first, they soon begin to utter disjointedremarks. Thus during one experiment we caught thewords, "The stain" . . . "You are wrong" . . ."Not signed." I asked, " What do you mean ? " Ajournalist answered, "It is-it is in his desk: hereceives an anonymous letter: a shameful accusation,etc." Another seer beholds a man and a girl playingmusic. The song ends: he grows impatient. We areastonished at hearing him singing with a superb voicea song quite unknown to any of us, to which the singerbelieved he had just listened. Again he listens:nothing happens. He exclaims eagerly, " Sing again,sing again." But, as all is silent, he repeats his ownperformance and quite ravishes us, for he possesses avoice of great compass and perfect intonation: itseffect is almost superhuman. Another sees, andscrutinizes for some time in silence, a young woman.


He grows impatient, "I cannot see her foot." Heturns, leans forward, gazes this way and that, but thefoot of the fair apparition remains invisible, and hekicks the floor in his vexation.

[Du Potet speculates on the subjective or objectiveorigin of these visions, on the potential affinity betweenthese "spiritual essences " and the subtler parts of ourown souls; and confesses his inability to solve theseproblems.]

I behold extraordinary phenomena; they are theresult of a force or agent emerging from my ownpersonality. Does not the power of beings that havelife and force emerge from. the same source ? Lifegives life: what matters it which organ is used'? Isnature restricted to one method or channel ?

Here I am verging on the secrets of magic: andmy readers must " divine" where I cannot speakopenly. The vital principle which animates us--hasit no body of its own ? Though invisible, is not itsform very real ? Does not the oak exist unseen inthe acorn ? Must we only believe what we can seewith the eyes ? Are we not influenced every momentby imperceptible agents ? That which ever escapesour sight is exactly that which makes us what we are :life is extended throughout all Nature, but we are onlyconscious of its more material aspects.'

Do we understand the reason of sudden panic terrors ?I have watched animals disturbed without any apparent

a "The Matter of all things is One and proved simple in theexperience; throughout all her various manifestations-as agent,patient, hot, cold, dry, moist; by whatever colour, quality, orspecies designated-whether singular or plural in manifestation,Nature remains one and the same Unknown Identity throughall. . . . Nature eludes all tests except those of her own ethereallywise construction " (M. A. Atwood, " Suggestive Inquiry into theHermetic Mystery," 1918 ed., pp. 404, 4o5).

XPERIM NT 87

cause I have seen their fur rise, while they fly orcower between the legs of their owners, and this notbehind closed doors, but in the open air wherein theyseem to smell the approach of some enemy.

[Du Potet here enlarges on records of supernormalappearances, of the dead, of angels, of spirits, of genies,and argues that all these beliefs cannot be baseless.]

It is man's task to lift the veil of Nature and copyher operations. The elements of the material worldare under his control. But these are trifling comparedwith their correspondences in the spiritual order.Magnetism proves the error of sceptical savants: itlinks us with the infinite by its affinity with pureessences.

I do not love the marvellous for its own sake:Magnetism contains too much of it, but one cannotignore these amazing facts. No atheism can destroythat light which is immortal and hidden. Here isanother case. A strong-minded lady, present at someof our proceedings, remained incredulous. I felt thatshe looked upon me as a dupe. Placed near a window,she suddenly became agitated and began to push herway through the audience. Her brother-in-law, notunderstanding, tried to prevent her and received twosharp blows delivered with extraordinary smartness.Rushing forward and hurting three other people whowere already' gazing at the magic sign, she fixedburning eyes upon it, but did not describe what shesaw. With difficulty we brought her to a neighbouringroom, whence she still ardently wished to return tothe hall: once she did so, but her disordered nervesprevented our submitting her to further experiments.Thus was incredulity overcome. I had paid noattention to this lady, and did not even suspect her


sensitiveness. This is no exceptional occurrence:hence magnetizers should attend to, and try to com-prehend, the agents at work in their service. It iswaste of time to try and overcome the invinciblestupidity of " savants."

MAGIC HARMONIES

The following is a report drawn up by M. Chocarne,who has regularly attended my weekly s6ances :-

"In these experiments we are not concerned withthe inferior (magnetic) influence which acts on thematerial and organic part of the body and producesattraction, repulsion, insensibility, paralysis of thesenses, and other physical phenomena. We proposeto illustrate the psychic links existing between Operatorand subject, i.e. those resulting from the Operator'swill strongly directing the action of the magneticagent on the will of another person, ruling and guidingit and communicating thoughts and feelings thereto.

First Experiment."M. Du Potet proposed to awaken, or rather bring

to birth, in the heart of one subject antipathy andanger against another. Placing them about six feetapart from one another: Du Potet seated himself inthe middle of the Hall and gazed steadily on theprincipal subject, a young man of twenty, with asensitive personality. The latter gradually becameanimated and lively. Du Potet then transferred hisgaze to the other subject. At once the former subjectbegan to stare alternately at the Operator and thesecond subject. His nostrils dilated with contemptand he showed every sign of a furious outburst. DuPotet now invited the second subject to pretend to

EXPERIMENTS 89

threaten him ' with a cane. At once the other, in atransport of rage, started up to attack the adversary.Two men stationed beside him had to use all theirstrength to restrain him: his whole bearing was thatof a ferocious beast seizing his prey. With difficultythe Operator dissolved the spell and restored the youngman to his normal condition.

"It is to be noted that no 'passes' were made,and the principal subject was most active when theOperator was not looking at him, nor was he, at thecommencement, influenced by any such feelings asthose which developed later. It seems as if by thisstrange expansive power one man can intrude forciblyinto the soul of another, fix himself therein, andimpress, according to his wish, any of those humanpassions which are most opposed, such as benevolenceand anger. Further, he can change that personalityinto another and cause him to resemble Caesar,Napoleon, or a young modest girl.z

Second Experiment."This was of quite a different kind: it was merry

and unimpassioned. The Mesmeric magic only touchedthe organs of motion. Soul and senses showed no signsof perception. Nevertheless, the soul was dominatedby mesmeric power, but only for the purpose of somesimple movements. Other faculties remained dormant.

= I.e. Du Potet.S"' Suppose I have a will that wishes to loosen your will, or

rather the will that binds your individuality. I throw its purposeinto your mind, and so ferment the whole including spirit of yourlife that it, the former, opens, corrupts, dissolves, and so letsloose the light of which the latter was begot, i.e. the light whichcomes into every soul born into the world. When this light islet loose, it shines forth with a sudden coruscation feeding on thesurrounding ether which constitutes the atmosphere of the life,as is described in the 'midnight sun' seen by Apuleius when hewas initiated by the Goddess Isis (M. A. Atwood, op. cit., p. 587)."

go MAGNETISM AND MAGIC

"A young man, very sensitive to magnetic action,was placed upright before the Operator. Gazing fora few moments at the latter, he then imitated all thelatter's movements, such as kicking, lifting his arms,posing as a pugilist, waving one arm over the other.So quick was his action, that sometimes we could hardlytell which of the two moved first, or whether both werenot following a higher agent. After a little the Operatorextended his arms horizontally and began to walkround and round. His subject followed suit. Anotheryouth, attracted by the mesmeric irradiation, startedup, stepped between the other two, and exactlyimitated all their steps, gestures, and movements.Their identity of action formed a living equilateraltriangle : it might be compared to a kaleidoscopewhich, by means of two mirrors, duplicates and tripli-cates a simple picture, or to the electric telegraph. .. ." In man's natural state (we cannot say his normal

state, for that only belongs perhaps to the pure soul,stripped cif its material cover) the soul is aware ofall phases of sensitivity, all forms of understanding,all will-power.. Consciousness bears witness that herewe find the base of our internal life, made up of thought,feeling, and will. But in the peculiar phenomena nowunder consideration all these principles are shakenand new facts become the necessary elements of anew synthesis."

MAGIC INTOXICATION

I now proceed to a further series of my records.

First Example.I take a thoroughly healthy man, full of vigour,

fully awake, put a cane (not my own) into his hand,

EXPERIMENTS 91

and say to him: "In a moment you will becomeintoxicated and you will show every symptom ofyour condition." He smiles, doubting, not mysincerity, but my power. Yet after a minute hisface changes, his eyes are clouded, he begins to stagger :his limbs cannot sustain him, he looks ridiculous:he talks wildly, sometimes merrily, sometimes gravely.It is obvious that he is under a spell. He grows worse,becomes angry, waves the cane, and is in a pugnaciousmood. His metamorphosis is beyond all power ofirritation. I remove the cane: the spell ceases, thedrunkenness vanishes, reason returns to the brain soupset by-wine ?

Second Example.A blonde young man who had enjoyed this scene is

also infected in the same way. He cries, laughs, sings,walks hesitatingly, tries to. pull out his handkerchiefand cannot: starts a drinking-song, tries to pick upa notebook which he has dropped, talks disconnectedly,tumbles down and rises.

The first subject was sad and morose. The secondone is merry. His hiccup warns me that it is time tobring him to his senses. The audience is not preparedfor a further display of such power: nor can my pendescribe such scenes.

MAGICAL OLD AGE

The object is to produce the weakness of seniledecay in a vigorous subject.

First Example.Here is a lively and frisky youth. At the sound

of my voice his spine becomes bent, his voice weak,


his brow wrinkled and his eyes dim. He leans on thecane given to him. His talk is that of a sprightlygreybeard. His mouth gapes, his nose drips. Heseems ripe for the grave. But stay! He thinkshimself still young and darts killing glances--vainfellow !-at a young lady. I must revive his youth.What amuses the audience saddens me, and I darenot rob him of the spring-time of life. Have I indeeda fairy wand wherewith to perform the feats of Circeand other enchantresses ? Nature works slowly: Artaccelerates her operations.

Second Example.Will a child, scarcely twelve years old, submit to

the same metamorphosis? I place it in the midst ofthe hall, as in the first case, it becomes bent, itresembles the dwarf Stanislas in his thirties. In aminute it succumbs to the weight of years. Poorchild I! I remove the spell: it would be inhuman tpcontinue such an artifice. Man must not interferewith the Creator's work.. What will man do whenthis magnetic power is better known by him ?

Is life merely electricity mingled with that uncreatedforce which the ancients called "astral spirit "? Isthis a pure light or flame able to affect and give shapeto matter ? I cannot yet fathom these mysteries.'

Life enters us by a more or less active ray, bearingwith it the rudiments of the being whence it emerged.Thus separated, free and independent, it rules thedomain it has created. The vital force can be divorcedfrom its fleshly shell in several ways: in the way ofnature, i.e. by disease, poison, etc. But there is

= The fire of the natural life entering into and fermenting thenatural fire--the same life in another-opens the last, and developsand excites and sets free the celestial Life and Light (M. A. Atwood,op. cit., p. 567).

EXPERIMENTS 93

another mode which I will try to describe. By magic,in utter simplicity, by certain signs and a certain" traction,"' I can isolate and dislodge this vitalforce from its human abode. Everyone can see thispeculiar operation: but it will terrify those who donot know how things can be re-integrated into theirprimal condition. Ebb and flow ? Tides rise and fallby a twofold power. Attraction, repulsion, sympathy,and antipathy-explain it as you will. Nor am Ianxious to explain it for you.

I trace with coal on the floor the following magicsign :-2

On this figure 3 I place a young, healthy man, fullyawake and decidedly sceptical. The spectators arewarned not to interfere, whatever happens. In twominutes his face begins to change, he feels a throbbingin his forehead, his ears tingle, his eyes close, he growsgiddy. His limbs begin to give way, his head is bowed,for his muscles cannot hold it up. Another minuteand his body will be an inert mass. All present,himself included, foresee this. His movements show an

a " Quelques traits."* This and the following figure are taken from the first (1852)edition. The figures in later editions are different in certain

respects.3 Precisely on which part of the figure our author (intentionally ?)does not say, and the reader must be left to guess.


agony which points to syncope. A cold sweat breaksout over him. It is done: he is succumbing. Welift his body while it is still warm. Instinctively histerrified parent approaches: step by step he hasfollowed this weird experiment: but his couragesaves him from losing self-control. I am absolutemaster of his son's life: another moment and mypower of imitating Nature's dread operation will havedissipated the last spark of life.

Quickly changing the young man's position we lifthim on to a new figure different from the first :-

Slowly he revives : but I cannot describe the character-istics of this "resurrection." It is enough to say heis no longer sceptical. Let me assure my readers thatonly to a " double" of myself would I submit myselfto such an ordeal. I only run risks when I know thatI risk nothing.

And now, what is this peculiar power of whoseoperation I have given a specimen.? I breathe ona candle-I 'extinguish it : the fact is plain enough.But I breathe a thought, and it will extinguish what-ever (thoughts or forces) are contrary and opposedto it, in spite of the resistance of a being like myself.I rule his life: it is no longer his, but mine. Poorhuman race! I could laugh at your ignorance, yetit is you who scorn me and my power.'

= Eliphas L6vi attributes Du Potet's extraordinary feat to thefact that life can be destroyed by the sudden congestion or with.drawal of the " Astral Light " (" History of Magic," igr3, p. 71).

EXPERIMENTS 95

The following quotation will show why the genuine Alchemistswere, naturally enough, severely reticent and obscure in theirreferences to " Philosophic " Separation :-

" In the Philosophical Dissolution the body, soul, and spirit areseparate: the body lies without any breath: the other two areunited to it as by a thread, and this continues until the re-fixationtakes place. Through every stage of the process of regeneration,through every stage of progress, the same principles are maintainedin operation until the assimilation is perfected and the DivineWill is all (r Corinthians, xv. 54). There is no defection then:the selfhood has nothing to deface, nothing to deform " (M. A.Atwood, op. cit., p. 576). " Alchemy is the transmutation ofLife ; that which is the medium between soul and body is changed,and the soul freed from the chains of corporeity, while the bodyis left as a mere husk. These people put on their bodies as coats :the principle of body is preserved in what they call the ashes orCaput mortuum, and that one principle being saved, the wholelife is restored from it " (ibid., p. 564). Elsewhere Mrs. Atwoodsuggests that the Hermetic process is as if someone beginningat the top of an artificial edifice should decompose it, stone bystone, setting aside the dirt and rubbish, and at last coming tothe earth at the foundation--and then should rebuild the edificeanew.

II

HISTORICAL RESEARCHES

THE term "Magic " designates an attractive force orenergy bringing into operation the supernatural ornatural or sub-natural: a hidden power acting onspirits or bodies and consequently also on every " stra-turn " of air from the most energetic (and most subtle)to the least subtle and heaviest kind. " Mages" or" Magi " were known to Persia, Egypt, and the Orientin general. The Latin "i-mago" derives its originthus, suggesting the prophetic or oracular " images,"created by Magi.

Magic is of five kinds :--() The holy and divine" tractive " force of the Word of God, working throughFaith and purely spiritual: " I, if I be lifted up fromthe earth, will draw all men unto me " 2; (2) Naturaland physical magic : the reciprocal attraction ofbodies to one another in accordance with IsaacNewton's calculations 3; (3) Carnal magic, deriving

t " Couches." a St. John xii. 32.3 " Let me add a few words respecting a very subtle spirit

pervading and indwelling solid bodies: by its power and actionthe particles of bodies mutually attract each other at very slightdistances, and, becoming contiguous, cohere : and electrical bodiesact at longer distances, both repelling and attracting the neigh-bouring small bodies : it is emitted from these, is reflected, repelled,inflected, and it heats bodies : every kind of sensation is aroused :and the voluntary movement of animals' limbs is produced bythe vibrations of this subtle spirit propagated through the solidfibrils of the nerves from the external sense-organs to the brainand from the brain to the muscles. However, a few words cannotsuffice to explain this subject: nor are we as yet in possession ofsufficient data to determine and demonstrate precisely the lawsgoverning this subtle spirit " (Isaac Newton, " Principia," con-cluding sentences).

HISTORICAL RESEARCHES 97

from the lower appetites and passions of humanity;(4) Angelic magic, holy and spotless; (5) Diabolicmagic, the cause of countless human blood-sacrifices.

The result of the Fall, according to Christian phil-osophers, was that man, losing the Divine Spirit,blindly and hungrily descended into his inferior faculties(imagination, memory, the senses), and substitutedunion with them for his previous union with the Divine.The Divine light, being lost, was replaced by a lesspure and subtle fire called astral spirit or fire, inanalogy with starlight : a quintessence of fire corre-sponding to material fire, but very inferior to theDivine Flame. This astral spirit, however, is at alltimes superior to what is called the spirit of nature,and possesses all the powers, virtues, and correspond-ences of the latter. And herein lies the principle ofmagical workings.

[Du Potet proceeds to quote the opinions of Stoics,Pythagoreans, Orpheus, Cicero, St., Augustine, St. JohnEvangelist, Zoroaster, Simon Magus, Phcenician theolo-gists, Hermes Trismegistus, Manes, Iamblichus, to thegeneral effect of distinguishing Divine from commonlight or fire. He then emphasizes the secrecy enjoinedby these sages with regard to such mysteries; his ownfears lest they should be betrayed to the unworthy; andindulges in some general reflections.]

Thus there exists around us in space an agent differingfrom all known forces, whose properties and qualitieshave little in common with the " dead" forces dis-covered by our scientists. This agent provides thesubstance of our life, sustains it for a time and receivesit back again when disengaged from its material shell.We gain from it our inspiration, knowledge, and

G


understanding. It has a constant attraction for us,yet is an unknown ally, and we have ceased to useit. This, and no other, is the magic element usedby thaumaturgists. Hence came the genies whichhave been imagined as filling space. An illusionarising from heated imagination ? Yes, often. Menhave attributed to God and the genies what was causedby regular laws. The Wise have allowed the foolishto continue ignorant. He who first magnetized thepoint of a knife, and attracted steel needles with it,passed for a sorcerer. But magic ever remains thesame: and I defy any modern sorcerer to grasp thetrue meaning of those figures and emblems whichfill grimoires. The key may be lost: but from theextant facts the ancient science can be reconstructed."Seek and ye shall find: ask and it shall be given:knock and it shall be opened to you." Everywhereand at all times an unknown element tosses men about,as the wind sways the reed. This truth has beendemonstrated clearly to myself. I have felt the strokes tof this formidable agent. One day in a crowd ofpeople I made some experiments to obtain news ona matter of personal concern. The force evoked shookthe whole of my being: I seemed to be in a void,surrounded by a kind of light vapour. My sense-activity seemed doubled, my feet bent in a painfulmanner, my body seemed enclosed in a whirlwindand, in spite of myself, had to bow and submit. Othervigorous persons intruding on the sphere of my magicaloperation received violent shocks and fell down andstruggled as if for life. Thus the bond and pact wereconsummated: an occult power was conjoined tome, welding itself with my own strength, and I wasallowed to behold the light. This was, of course, only

t " Atteintes."

HISTORICAL RESEARCHES 99

my starting-point.' To make 'progress in magicdemands a strong soul and an unshakable determina-tion. One must wrestle with the unknown force,break every fetter, restrain one's passions and movein a supernormal world. This is the first degree ofinitiation, and here some time should be spent, beforegoing further.

Now science has some inkling of these mysteriousworkings, but only according to the physical order:and only arrives at her results by destroying the affinitybetween bodies and separating their elements: byseizing this one or that, she interferes with Nature'slaw in a few instants.z. Thus science is in danger ofbecoming " the blind leading the blind (forces)."It may be true that she understands her agents betterthan we understand ours. Yet our phenomena arereal and cannot be explained by " imagination." Iknow that I have gone beyond the limits of official

Felix qui potuit rerum cognoscere causas,Atque metus omnes et inexorabile fatumSubjecit pedibus, strepitumque Acherontis avari I

VIRGIL, Georgic ii.

Du Potet tells us little about this vital point in his magicaldevelopment, but it seems as if he succeeded, somewhat spas-modically, in accomplishing the work called by Alchemists "vola-tilizing the fixed (soul-coherence)." Mrs. Atwood calls it " dis-solution of the first medial life," and declares that nothing previouslycan be done radically to meliorate the Vital Spirit (op. cit., p. 294).The whirlwind (" tourbillon ") which appeared to enclose Du Potetat the moment is called" strepitus Acherontis " by Virgil; whileThomas Vaughan describes it in further detail in his "Letterfrom the Brothers of R.C." (" Lumen de Lumine," 1g9o ed., p. 26).The "light " Du Potet mentions is Ldvi's " Astral Light,"" Universal Agent," " Aour," " Great Arcanum," and has othernames. -

2 Meaning that by such violence scientists lose sight of thevery secret which Nature has suggested through the cohering ofthese elements. " Every attempt of the unassisted reason ter-minates negatively, as the Subject Identity slides ever more behindthe regardant mind: it is only able, therefore, to maintain acounter ground, whereby to prove the shifting evidence of itsown and other earthly phenomena " (M. A. Atwood, op. cit., p. x65).

Ioo00 MAGNETISM AND MAGIC

science and move in regions she never knew, unboundedsave by God and Infinity. Science inoculates everyonewith doubts, sophisms, contempt for truth and falsemorals, and so clears the path for the tyrant. Thisis also magic-of an evil kind, for it turns God's handi-work into something unrecognizable and base. Thetransformations we see going on before our eyes do notspring from matter and dead forces: spirits and in-telligences are the real agents: matter assumes passivelythe shape imposed upon it and is not the cause of ourtroubles and woes.

We cannot see the flame that emanates from oureyes and directs our own passions to other folk. Wecannot see our thoughts : or how, after silently formingthemselves, they are revealed to other minds. Naturehas her secrets and God leaves their unveiling to ourpenetration.

[Du Potet further criticizes science for seeking theliving among the dead ; mentions some of the darkerforms of magic; and invokes the true Magi who wereenabled to distinguish phantasy from reality.]

The Magi obeyed none of the baser instincts: theypurged their souls from the alloys deposited by. Nature:sifted the " gold" from " copper " and " a'senic":and thus pure light shone in the void left by the ex-pulsion of the lower agents. Their gifts, thus acquired,included power to foretell events, a sound knowledgeof humanity, a calm interior life, "detachment,"disdain of death, memory of the past; nor could anysecret be hid from them. Further privileges allowedto them included the power to influerice everyone, thereduction of material needs to a minimum quite im-possible for the rest of us: ability to walk on waterand break steel as if it had no cohesion : to heal the

HISTORICAL RESEARCHES ZOI

most terrible diseases; and lastly, co-operation withGod, and the privilege of becoming His living image.

[Further quotations are added from Zoroaster, Pytha-goras, Avicenna, Pomponatius, Tertullian, and a lengthyquotation from an unnamed source.]

The true magic agent is--the -soul I You can onlygrasp it because it is welded to matter: AND IT ISONLY SO THAT THE NATURAL LIFE ENERGIZES SUPER-

NATURALLY. AND BECOMES AN ANIMATED INVISIBLE.x

Learn to understand the operations proper to it, andyou will do well to remember that all this containsa sacred mystery which must not be revealed to thefirst casual inquirer.2

ANCIENT WISDOM

The soul of man consists of understanding, reason,and imagination. The first illumines the second, thesecond operates on the third. If the second is notillumined by the first, it is fallible : but understandingitself can only give, if it also receive, light from theFather of lights. When this happens, reason becomestruly rational, and light can enter into thought. Whenreason can so light up the image-making faculty of

" Imperceptibilit6 mouvante."2" It is, says the ancient book of Synesius, a clear Light, which

fills with true virtue every mind that has once perceived it; it isthe nucleus and bond of all the elements which are containedin it, and the spirit nourishing all things, and by means of whichNature operates universally; it is the virtue, true beginning, andend of the whole world; in plain terms, the quintessence is noother than our viscous celestial and glorious soul drawn from itsminera by our magistery. Nature alone engenders it; it is notpossible to make it by art: for to create is proper to God alone;but to make things that are not perceived, but which lie in theshadow, to appear, and to take from them their veil, is grantedto an intelligent philosopher by God, through Nature " (M. A.Atwood, op. cit., pp. 89, go).


soul it does not corporealize the latter: but when thelatter passes into the ethereal soul-vehicle it beginsat that point to become corporeal: but is not sensiblymanifested till it passes into the elementary body,whether the latter be merely aerial or composite.Thus the Chaldean philosophers have said much ofsoul-potency ; the soul fixating itself with all its strengthon Divinity, and, being filled with light therefrom,can extend such rays through each of the media downinto the shadowy and mortal body of natural man,surround him with brilliant star-like radiance, andeven transport him from one place to another as inthe case of Philip the Evangelist (Acts viii. 39) andothers. Such power is latent in all, but varies accordingto the divine natures of men. Whoever is aware ofthe secret can unite his imaginative power to thatuniversal force which Alchindus, Bacon, and Williamof Paris called "the sense of nature," Virgil "theethereal sense," and Plato " the sense of watchful-ness." Such knowledge will become the more powerfulin proportion as it penetrates that ethereal and supremeVirtue which can fortify and expand scientific per-ceptions and enable the user to enter into the soulsand aspirations of other men far away. Such giftsare not for all..,. The faces of Moses, Socrates,and Zoroaster shone as if transfigured. Enoch"walked with God ": Elijah ascended to heavenaccompanied by a chariot of fire: S. Paul was trans-ported to the third heaven. That our bodies mightso be ravished and shine like the sun or moon was thebelief of Avicebron, Avicenna, Hippocrates, and theChaldeans. Such power belongs not only to man,but also to the animal creation; for Providence hasplaced the (higher) understanding above Fate, so thatit is subject neither to the influence of heavenly bodies

HISTORICAL RESEARCHES zo3

nor to that of natural qualities. Religion only canmove it. But the soul's image-making faculty isunder the domination which Fate exercises over thatnature which links body and soul. Hence it is subjectto change.

The image-making faculty of the soul gives life to,and rules, bodies. From it derive the senses the souldisplays, those sense-forms, which it experiences bodilyas bodily objects, by which it moves the body, whichit rules and feeds, as one body within another. Twopowerful faculties predominate in the image-makingfaculty : the first is called " phantasy " or imaginativeenergy, mentioned in connection with soul-passions:the second is called " the sense of nature," mentionedin connection with soothsaying. Man, as far as hisnatural body is concerned, is ruled by Fate. Man'ssoul (through its image-making faculty) moves Naturein Fate: but by her (higher) understanding is aboveFate in the Providential order: hence is free and in-dependent. By reason she ascends to the (higher)understanding and is filled with divine light: some-times she descends to her image-making faculty and isinfluenced by the heavenly bodies and qualities ofnatural objects: sometimes she descends by reasonseeking certain things mentally or meditating on herself.Finally, reason has only her own realm, and this meansthat every time anything is presented, either to the(higher) understanding or to the image-making faculty,or to nature, or to the body, it cannot reach the soulwithout the cognizance of reason. Thus the soulcannot be in touch with the external senses of sight,hearing, etc., until reason first conceives and is aware,and reason, in order to conceive, must be unoccupiedwith aught else. Neither higher influences nor naturalaffections, nor passions, nor any sensiblefobject, can

zo4 MAGNETISM AND MAGIC

operate on the soul without passing reason's judgment-bar. Hence the spirit can only be reached and troubledby its own act, and not by mere outward violence (doneto the body). Thus when Anasarchus, the philosopherof Abdera, was thrown into the hollow of a rock byorder of the King of Cyprus and beaten with an ironhammer, he felt no pain and said, " Strike the poorvehicle of Anasarchus as much as you like, you cannotterrify the real man." When the tyrant commandedhis tongue to be cut out, the philosopher severed itwith his own teeth and spat it into his face.

Democritus, Orpheus, and other Pythagoreans de-clared that everything was full of "the gods." Tothem "the gods " were the divine "Virtues" scatteredthrough all things. Zoroaster called them "virtues,"" attracting powers," Synesius " allurements ": otherscalled them " lives," others " souls," or a "matterthrown by the over-soul on others." Thus a manwho extends his (higher) understanding over intellig-ibles and his imagination over things imaged can passin soul from one being to another, and help or hindertheir doings. The soul is the primary mobile thing:it can act and move of itself and by itself at will: itcan move the body whose matter is unfit and unableto move of itself. As if by bodily means the soul canjoin itself to the body, and so is formed the world-soulin that milieu called the " quintessence ": the latterdoes not spring from the four elements but is a kindof fifth element, beyond them, but subsisting in them.By its means heavenly souls can descend and communi-cate wonderful qualities to gross bodies. As Oursouls spiritually communicate energy to our bodilymembers, so does the world-soul extend over all thingsby this " quintessence," since nothing entirely lacksits rays or force. But it influences more powerfully

HISTORICAL RESEARCHES 1o5those bodies which have received more of and aremore harmonious with the " quintessence," especiallyby the beams emanating from stars. By this "quint-essence" magical qualities inhere in herbs, stones,metals, and animals, through the influence of sun,moon, and the nearer or further stars. The quintessencewill be useful to us in proportion to our knowledgeof how it may be separated from other elements: forit is all-powerful in producing and engendering itself.

[The section entitled " Ancient Wisdom" is selectedfrom a lengthy Appendix to "La Magie D6voil6e"(pp. 307-315), and has been placed here as it seemsmore appropriate to this part of Du Potet's work. Itis evidently a quotation, but no authority is named.]

III

PRINCIPLES AND SECRETS

I SHALL now explain principles upon which I haveso far kept silence: I shall reveal the mechanism ofall magical working.'

Every magnetic sign is also magical, for it containswithin itself a germ which can bring light to others.Every magnetic sleep is magical: but nowadaysthose who can cause it do not know its real meaning.Indeed, we ought to substitute the word " Magism " for" Magnetism." 2 The presence of magic can soon bedetected. During experiments we have only to noticethe results of the first rapports set up between twonervous systems; it is clear that thoughts have begunto travel and can bear commands invisibly throughclothes and flesh, and traverse walls and spaces. Allhealing without the usual medicines is due to a quick-ening force acting on matter: its mechanism hasalready been described. The discovery during sleep(or in the waking state, when magically aroused) ofhidden objects is a result of the same power possessedby the soul acting from an external impulse. Seeingthrough opaque bodies or at a long distance can onlybe achieved by momentarily , breaking the close re-lationship of spirit and matter: magical operation.Insensibility (to pain, etc.) is in the same category;

a The reader must accept this with the usual grain of salt.* There is the same difficulty to-day as when Du Potet wrote.

The word " Mesmerism" has been replaced by " Hypnotism,"which does not cover the true ground. " Magnetism " does notfully express the mystery. "Magism" is the best word, but is"G9aviare to the general,"

PRINCIPLES AND SECRETS 107

produced magnetically, it differs entirely fromanesthesia (caused by drugs or other :material).Thought transference, so far as it is known, belongsto Magic. Many magnetizers used Magic uncon-sciously. Freemasonry contains this knowledge, butis powerless, retaining nothing but the words, and sois ineffective.' There are other " magicians" who aremere ignoramuses, perhaps rogues as well: theirconfections of white of eggs, toads, etc., are useless.Our famous philosophers understand only the spokenword, whereas the first condition of magical operationis silence.2 Our priesthoods can perform no miracle,though they believe in God: they can pray, andthat is all. Doctors, similarly, cannot ensure theefficacy of drugs: they can produce no sleep save bydrugs. Those of ancient days were diviners and seersthose of to-day are mechanics. Nature cannot answerthose who do not know how to summon her.

[Similar judgment is passed on governors, magistrates,

professors, etc.]

And, for myself, I feel like a wandering traveller:I ask for, but no one except Nature can point out,the true path. But Nature has no mouth: her onlylanguage is to be found in the significance of her works.3

"The outward form of Masonry is too absurd to be perpetuated,were it not for a certain secret response of common sense to theoriginal mystery ; so with the acceptance of all religious systems:it is based on faith, and faith looks to the invisible. The Initiatedmoved one another on by words of power. The Masons havelost the Magic Key to open the door into the Hermetic " Garden " :the true words can only be found by seeking them in the subjective,fundamental life. The true tools may also be found on the wayin : they will be given as they are wanted, i.e. the double Triangle,triple Tau, etc." (M. A. Atwood, op. cit., pp. 578, 579).a While the word is held in the thought, it is like the Unity(the indivisible point, or Hebrew Yod): when it passes outside(into speech) it is like the Binary (second principle, or line).

3 " Nature is not moved but by sagacious Handicraft andhuman assistance" (Thomas Vaughan, " Ccelum Terrae ").

zo8 MAGNETISM AND MAGIC

She places her fire in a pebble and leaves it to rest thereuntil some unforeseen shock reveals its presence.She gives to another stone a kind of animation, ofsympathy and repulsion: we call it the loadstone.Every one of her products is endowed with a peculiarand significant quality. But we are here only con-cerned with human faculties.

The human eye not only receives light from without,but in its turn emits light, of another sort, whichsometimes penetrates by a glance the soul of the personon whom it is cast. Sometimes when two people lookat each other simultaneously the two rays clash, anda warning may be thus conveyed.

The human hand, extended and pointed to another'sface, covers it entirely with the light, as would amirror reflecting sunlight on some surface. Sunlightcan be seen with the eye. The presence of the otherlight can only be detected by the phenomena whichit causes, and has no connection with heat-rays.

Whenever two human beings draw near one anothertheir atmospheres I sensibly interpenetrate : each feelshis own strength relatively to that of the other. Thisis demonstrated most clearly in magnetism, for theneach can operate more freely and powerfully, and feelhimself unlimited by walls or distance. We areastonished when someone expresses a thought wewere just about to utter. " Presentiments" springfrom the same source: we feel somehow on enteringa street that we shall meet such-and-such a personbefore it happens. Why ? What is it that vibrates

" Nature cannot of herself enter into the dissolution because shehas no Hands " (" Filum Ariadne "). " The preparation of thePhilosophic Subject is performed by the operation of the Hands,that some real effect may be produced " (Basil Valentine, " TheTriumphant Chariot of Antimony ").

1 The present day expression is " Aura."

PRINCIPLES AND SECRETS zog

a certain cord of my being? How explain the oldsaying, " Speak of an angel and you will see his wings ? "

[Dlu Potet enlarges on the manner in which men caninoculate others with their own faith or emotion, e.g.the military commander, the duellist, the actor, etc.]

Thought is wrapped up in some (occult) powerwhich causes these phenomena. Body and spirit arealike affected: the latter commands the former:before reason takes any part. Sympathy and anti-pathy clearly indicate this. I knew a lucky tradesmanwho owed his fortune to this intuition latent in hiswife who unvaryingly was able to tell an honest manfrom a rascal : in other respects she was an ordinarywoman. Such cases are frequent, but unexplained.So far I have dealt with the material aspect of magic,that which works unconsciously and independentlyof the will. The soul is only moved by her own forces.We pass on to more important facts. We shall see asoul dominating a body not its own: a soul pene-trating and subduing or forming an alliance with anothersoul, whence will emerge a spiritual offspring, belongingto both, and gifted with a certain power. We allknow the ordinary marriage contracted before aregistrar and producing children as the result of union.But in the other case the result will be felt, not seen:and its nourishment will be, not matter, but lifeitself. Herein is high magic indeed: but shall I beable to make my readers understand ?

SOUL IDENTIFICATION

Let us deal first with, magic telegraphy. I amthinking in the presence of a sleeper: he understandsand repeats the words I utter internally. He expresses

: " Identification Animiques."

zIO MAGNETISM AND 'MAGIC

my idea, he has seen its formulating itself and theprocess is repeated in himself. I make a sign orgesture, he repeats it with precision often so rapidlythat we seem spontaneous. I drink, he drinks: Ising, he sings in the same tone and time. I coughand spit, he does likewise. I suffer some pain, hesuffers In the same way and complains in the samewords. I have seen a magnetized woman in contactwith another who was enceinte, experiencing the samesymptoms: the abdomen swelled enormously in afew minutes, and fastenings were broken: hardlybelieving my eyes, I touched, to make sure I wasnot deceived. This artificial swelling lasted as longas the two were in contact-about three-quarters bfan hour-and only gradually disappeared. Present-day magnetizers find no difficulty in depriving theirsubjects of hearing, touch, and sight by merely willingit, using no words. We can communicate to thedreamer the oddest visions, such as headless beingsor beings with bears' heads, etc., and he is convincedof their reality.

SPIRITUAL CREATIONS

I take a glass of water. I will it to be no longerwater, but wine, eau-de-vie, or even medicine, and itwill produce the same effects as any of these agentswould. Alas ! one can poison people thus. Let evil-minded magnetists be warned that we know all theycan do. Need the magnetized person sleep for theproduction of these results ? Not at all: he may bewide-awake, in possession of his reason, and yet unableto resist this creation which people call " imaginary."I light a fire, and make a cold object hot, or make mysubject hold a hot coal in his hands without any harm :

PRINCIPLES AND SECRETS III

or, if I wish, I cause a cold object to burn him, and allthe while he appears in full possession of his senses.He shivers if I think of ice: will be seasick if I takehim, mentally, on the sea. The effects of powerfulmagnetism will often last for several days in spite ofthe magnetizer's 'efforts to the contrary. Truly thisis a marvellous and dangerous matter. It is easy tobring evil passions to birth (magically): there is nonecessity for love-philtres. It cannot be done, perhaps,at the first attempt. But so many people are sensitiveand easily influenced to receive effluvia that we can-not be too careful.' No one is safe because he is a"strong" character, or possesses intelligence andculture. We only ascertain after trial who will yieldand who will resist: all depends on the soul. Thematter is worth study.

THOUGHT POTENCY 2

The, power which we are describing acts of itselflike Nature or God. It can plant the germs of itsinfluence in bodies and say to them: " You will onlydevelop under certain conditions, you will appear atsuch-and-such a day or time." A human thought,more subtle than flower-pollen, but implanted in thesame way, in a metal or pebble, will remain enclosedtherein until the proper time, and will then makeitself felt as the operating thinker has decided. Hencethe origin of amulets and blessed tokens. Talismans,ancient figures, Druidic stones, altars dedicated togods, everything of this kind, depend on this mysteriousfact, which has been forgotten: but were not impostureor priestcraft.

A reference to those " obsessions " familiar to many advancedpsychologists.

' " Virtualit6 de pensde."

n2 MAGNETISM AND MAGIC

I write the word " God " on a piece of paper.' Mythought pictures the Lord of the Universe, and thosewho read grasp the same idea. There is no miraclehere; a conventional sign translates my thought.But if mentally I trace some characters on the firstobject to hand, will it not be as potent in transmittingmy feeling ? You think this impossible I Well, myspirit conceives a certain thing, my thoughts dwellfor a moment on this still spiritual creation: immedi-ately, invested with a semi-material " envelope,"my thoughts are borne to the tips of my hand by theunknown fluid passing from the brain, and transportingthose thoughts as a messenger bears a letter. Theyarrive and are faithfully delivered according to order.You are astonished: yet all your muscular efforts,your locomotion are the result of the same occultpower. The same serving-agent carries the order, andthe whole machine obeys. A kind of electricity, ifyou like, follows its leader and carries the news. Thisforce is one and the same: it is living. It movesthe dial-plate of ideas and marks the sign whichthe soul must seize. We do not fully understand:but even an ignorant magnetist knows this much.He takes a glass plate or a coin, no matter what,and says mentally, while handling it: " I will thatsuch-and-such a person shall fall asleep at such-and-such an hour "-and so it happens, when the objectis presented to that person. One chair amongstothers is magnetized ; a sensitive will sit and fall asleeponly on that chair. So 'with a glass of water or acoin.

[Reflections follow on holy water, gifts or relics of thedeparted, and the grains of corn lying two thousandyears in a mummy-case in Egypt, which prove thattime cannot destroy the thought of nature.]


OPERATIVE METHODS

So far we have studied the Magnetic agent operatingwithout losing the spiritual and physical rudimentswhich were present at its birth. Like a babe stillattached by the umbilical cord to its mother it drewnourishment and strength from our own flesh: itwas our "double." Let us now see it completelyabandoned and left "in the air." What will it do,then ? Mentally we purify it, so that, like essencedivided from flower, it may become spiritual. Theancients considered purgation ' the natural path totranscendental knowledge, and that only by this meanscould Nature's highest secrets be found. Perhaps Igained such truth as I have found by being poor,simple, and unprejudiced: and I am still only atraveller on the path.

Now instead of leaving the magic agent free, wewill partially fix it. Saltpetre and charcoal, spreadover a sparkling surface, emit spaiks; so also, fireremains imprisoned until we set it free. When Itrace the following figure with chalk or coal, a fireor light appears at once fixed therein :-

This fire, emerging from myself, spreads quickly alongthe tracing and writes itself through my fingers withthe substance used. At first it is inactive, but soon

= Aristotle's " Katharsis."H

X14 MAGNETISM AND MAGIC

it attracts, fascinates, and sends to sleep anyone whocomes near. In vain will he try to break from thecircle, a magic power forces him to remain: his willand his limbs become passive: in a few moments hesuccumbs, sobbing. Yet I did not order him to doso: the cause is to be found in the cabalistic tracing.In vain will anyone try to tear him away : a mysteriouspower prevents his escape. Every new subject fur-nishes me with additional evidence, for he is notaware of previous experiments.' Everyone exhibitedterror, haggard eyes, downcast faces, tongues cleavingto palates, perspiration rolling off them. What theysaw, who knows ? Something of another world, orperhaps dreams.

Presently our subject seems to breathe an un-accustomed air and to be suffocated: his soul seemsabout to depart. I destroy the magic circle: but itseffects do not disappear at once: the subject retainstraces of his dread experiences. More rarely, thevisions are pleasant and tranquillizing, and sometimesare followed by fits of a peculiar laughter, as if newmuscles were called into operation. Nothing like itis to be seen in normal life: it differs from commonfrenzy as night from day. One can see how beliefin the devil originated.

I now trace a perfectly straight line:

and the same fire-element fixes itself therein. I placethe subject at the point whence I started to trace it,and his feet grow hot: he becomes nervous, pants,

.* Our author's enthusiasm occasionally outruns his judgment.These s6ances were public, and " expectant attention " wouldaccount for a proportion of these phenomena.

PRINCIPLES AND SECRETS IIsand advances towards the further end of the line.Now, if at that end I trace the following figure,--

he halts and can go no further, and sinks, exhausted.You must then scatter the chalk or coal and rub outevery trace of it, unless you wish to see a strangedrama. If you draw a crooked instead of a straightline the subject will follow every curve, without theslightest deviation. If, after drawing a.,:straight line,you compel the subject to remain at its stwrting-point,after a few moments his life seems to be flowing awayalong it and to be in its power. He is nearing death,his pulse scarcely beats: and he must be taken atonce to the other end of the line and stationed there.Life and animation then return. Sometimes a circleor line will attract several people spontaneously:and a curious complication follows: my own mindhas sometimes recoiled when I realized these pheno-mena. And if "imagination," as science wouldmaintain, causes them, why not investigate it, in viewof its stupendous powers ? But imagination does notcause them, any more than it helps the electric fluidrunning through a metal line to produce shocks inany opposing body.

PREPARATION OF THE MIRROR

Not in the glass, nor in its metallic cover, does thesoul perceive '" the invisibles " : nor in the clear water

:r16 MAGNETISM AND MAGIC

contained in a crystal vessel transparent as daylight.This peculiar vision in no way resembles commonseeing. Eyes are as useless here as in dreaming-and yet we see. Magnetized subjects and somnambulesdo not see as ordinary people see: they are consciousof reality of quite another kind: a fact which hasoften misled their magnetizers. Serious complaints '(" affections ") sometimes develop this interior vision,and the pit of the stomach, nape of the neck, and otherparts function as eyes: while objects are perceivedwith wonderful clarity.' It would seem as if all thesenses cand:serve as sentinels for the soul and conveymessages instantaneously ; but the soul is independentof them and can rectify their mistakes. At a greatcrisis all her palace-doors lie open and she emerges,radiant and majestic: and the senses no longerfunction.2 We use "enchantment" to gain thisvision, because our own will is powerless: it must beshaken and wounded by our magic agent, even as firereflected on our eyelids wakes us with a start. Some-thing is needed to draw the will from its stagnation.Though I knew where to look for the agent, I haveoften been unskilful in my search for it. Yet thosewho have failed to follow me so far will scarcely graspwhat cannot be put into words. Let them rememberthe cases already quoted of magnetized objectsthings in themselves helpless, and yet-in a moment-~t'vested with amazing properties. Why ? BecauseIthe soul has concurred with these acts. Increase thiswondrous " fire," extend its rays across a wider surface,

i' See 'u Prel, " Philosophy of Mysticism," I889, 1. v. " Dream' Physician."

: " The wonderful part of the process is that the spirit becomingfreed from the body carries on the perfection and purification ofher own vehicle-the soul : and works by her own law." " Azothand fire suffice thee " (M. A. Atwood, oP. cit., pp. 562, 588).

PRINCIPLES AND SECRETS Iz7

multiply its jets as you would those of electricity,or as if you were charging a Leyden jar. You willsee nothing, but persevere. Doubt not your success:you will accomplish nothing if your soul and handsare " cold." And, before all, something must happenin your mental intention.' A bell cannot sound unlessit is struck: a sponge does not drop water unless itbe squeezed. Scrutinize what happens when a man'sboiling passion is about to surge out, though no super-ficial signs appear. He burns, freezes or quivers,all is tumult within, the internal energy reaches hisskin,},while the heart beats like a drum. A volcanoerupts over the human landscape, as if it were emittinglava and sulphur. Did the Pythoness of Delphiremain unmoved on her prophetic tripod ? She wasin an ecstasy, and in that condition became a seer.

Trace a disc, three or four inches wide, with a pieceof soft coal. It need not be perfectly formed, butmust be well spread and blackened. Do not draw itmechanically or absent-mindedly: do not relax fora moment the (internal) " fire." Three minutes shouldsuffice. Think of stagnant water warmed by the sun :it will exhale poisonous miasma which may kill 'you.Think of ground disturbed by the spade, which maylet loose some subtle pestilence into the atmosphere.A labourer's senses will often tell you more thanmedical science can. Your " Mirror " prepared, youwill see nothing, but a genuine force soon germinatestherein. It could not lift a bit of straw: but it canupset and torture the human frame and shake it

z " That which in the hands of fools is nothing, in those of aphilosopher becomes to be all in all; all depends on the willingand intention : the end depends and hangs on the beginning.The difficulty is to find the intention: for the rational ferment,the pure aurific seed of Light, is hidden in our common life"(M. A. Atwood, op. cit., p. 566).


irresistibly like a banner in the wind. In a frenzythe subject will stamp on the disc before he faints. Isthis caused by a purely spiritual being? The oldAlchemists I thought so, and, without fully acceptingtheir ideas, I admit I have felt a "void " in myself,a weakness utterly unlike that which is due to ordinarycauses.

VISIONS

Our subjects are now round the Magic Mirror.Are their souls merely the victims of illusion ? Iwould I could think so. Shadow and light mingle,images false and true are presented to them : they canread the history of the past therein, and the futureinspires cold fear. What they see troubles them andtheir souls wish to flee, for they think they see theimmortals. While they can only learn these thingsby slow degrees, do not leave their souls too long inthis liberated condition : shake and seize them, wrenchthem (from their clairvoyance) while there is yet time :then destroy all trace of the " Mirror." Only madnesswould venture further: though such an experimentcould be continued: but everyone would regret suchrashness. Many would-be magicians failed, not under-standing that everything is caused by magical force :Nature does not choose the means, but follows anunchanging law. When Jesus said, " Who touchedme ? for I perceive that virtue has gone out of me ? "was it not implied that that " virtue" was a force ?By it those miracles were effected.z To seek elsewherethan in the way so prescribed for an agent equallypowerful would be to copy the Alchemists who thought

i Of whom our author does not display any special or intimateknowledge.

' St. Luke viii. 46. The Greek word translated as " virtue"is " dunamis " (= force, or energy).

PRINCIPLES AND SECRETS II9

they could change the laws of Nature :to suit theircaprices. Have we not discovered the secret of theancient initiations ? Candidates were submitted torigorous tests, for the strength of their souls had tobe ascertained ere it was safe to entrust the " fire ofPrometheus " to their hands.

I see clearly now that magnetism is the necessarylink between the soul and matter; the transmittingagent between one and the other. It moves the souland causes impulses in the body: yet it is neithersoul nor matter, and must scatter itself so as to returnwhat it has borrowed from electricity and to restoreto Nature in her entirety her fairest and best gifts.It can disentangle the soul from bodily limitationsby a double movement : it accompanies the immortalspirit on the latter's travels, and is a compulsory escortuntil the time when God recalls the heavenly flameto Himself. Even then it guards the material partfor a long time; is attached to the body and seeksto preserve it from the inevitable corruption. Inmagnetizing a corpse it seems possible to save someremnant of life, for some sensible movement can stillbe perceived, and sometimes even hope is aroused.Alas ! two can do nothing without the third: and thethird does not respond.' Yet in some cases a trueresurrection can be achieved and life can be restored,not miraculously but by natural law. Some day,in cases where death is not absolutely certain, mag-netism will be the touchstone used: it is perhaps theonly method of rebinding what has been loosed, andof recalling by a final effort soul to body.

[Reflections follow on the folly of excessive grief ata death; it is not mourners, but blind scientists, whoshould weep.]

' The "two " would seem to be the physical body and themagnetic fluid or force; the third, the immortal spirit.


Such a digression casts some shadow over thepicture I have shown you : it is a material and painfulreality by the side of a psychic and consoling truth.How brightly this truth shines on us when we picturethe soul lighting up bodies and giving them this trans-parence I Let us see what they include. By fire Icause a change in the condition of cold metal: itbecomes liquid, its component molecules are disunited,it is no longer like itself. The human body will under-go nearly the same transformation when submittedto the action of that " fire " which Nature gives me.The soul will be forced to reveal herself, for I shall havedisunited the fibres which hold her back,r and shallhave made all her tissues transparent. She will bevisible and she will behold herself through her disguise.If this be not magic, let someone tell me what is.

PREPARATION

Put aside all prejudice, be firm and resolute.. Choosea space wide enough for quick and sudden movements :a road or a lawn is better than a closed room. I haveexperimented in the open country with completesuccess.

THE VISIBLE CIRCLE AND MIRROR

The Ancients sometimes called their " Mirror" the"Mystic Sea," sometimes it was a circle, or a circleenclosing a triangle.

Draw a circle about four or five feet wide withoutany pause or hesitation, yet slowly and reflectively,so as to afford time for your nervous influence to flowforth into it: therein lies the first link of your work.Then trace another and smaller circle about the size

t The alchemical phrase was " dissolving the fixed."


of a plate in the centre of the first with the same pre-cautions. Take in your right hand some earth orcrushed charcoal (preferably of a deep colour). Holdit for some moments and give all your being a sortof vibration which I can only compare to what oneobserves, without understanding it, in an animal atthe moment when it is trying to get rid of superfluouselectricity. Then lay the dust or charcoal in thecentre of the smaller circle: pass your hand severaltimes lineally over this surface: finger the dust soas to extend and unify it. Withdraw: and let yoursubject pass over the outer circle without breaking it.Tell him to gaze fixedly at the inner circle, watch himyourself\ at the same time having an eye on that circle.When he shows the least sign of nervous disturbance,be ready to support him, yet leaving him freedom tomove, and only assisting him thus. Listen to what hesays, remember his words, interrogate him: but ifhe falls, as almost always happens, break both circleswith your feet and hands, unless you want to see himnearly die. Five or six minutes should suffice: theoperation begins and the precursory signs of the crisisappear: I can only describe what happens in thisway. If the first subject fails to show any sign,try another. If you have followed the directions given,nothing more is needed to provide you with a genuineand living image of true magic.

I cannot think that God has spoken to men in anyother tongue than that which Nature uses to teach us.Nature speaks to our senses, God to our intellect. Tosuppose that God has a mouth (like ours) would beabsurd. No ear has heard the sound of the divineVoice: our watching soul, lifted as it were by deepslumber, always formulates a language of her own.

During visions, when we have placed a person on

xs MAGNETISM AND MAGIC

the threshold of the unseen, his body becomes like alyre exposed to the breeze whose strings vibrate. Butit is not sound-waves, but surrounding spirits, whichplay noiselessly on the chords of the soul. She listens,understands, and perceives: but to translate her im-pressions she must use her organism. When we donot grasp this wonderful mechanism we blunder.In magic, things are quite different: the senses canretain their activity; sometimes it is even increased.Apparitions taking form become visible and tangible,not only to the subject of the experiment, but evenoccasionally to other spectators present. This is themost advanced form of magical working and thestrongest proof possible of its reality. Suppose, forexample, that chance sends me a man whose life isset down in the book of Fate and who is destined fora tragic end: suppose I place him for a moment ina condition enabling him to foresee coming events,his assassin or poisoner: he will recognize him unmis-takably if he has already come into touch with him.If not, he will be able to describe him accurately, forthe person beheld will perform an exact phantasy ofwhat is to happen. His clothes and his weapon willbe visible. If the victim js to die, the funeral andthe sorrow of his friends (genuine or pretended) willappear.

No, it is no dream. Unassisted Nature often causessuch magic for us, as if she wished to give us warning,and those heedless folk who disregard such favoursgo blindly to their doom. Everyone knows of " pre-sentiments," and what are they but the beginning ofsuch warnings, an interior sight ? Now by Art magicthese things are rendered perceptible because theirgerms hatch out and receive form and design, so thatthe soul grasps them at once. I mean that beings


appear, not in flesh and blood, nor yet in mere images,but in some indescribable manner. Conceive a sortof " double," a copy of beings no longer existing,impalpable, intangible, and yet very real, forms.Suppose a shadow detaches itself from ourselves andacts independently, coming and going, as if someliving breath animated it, as if it were the reflectionof our own soul. That is not far from the truth.We can grasp this nameless thing: mysteriouslysummoned, it will appear and depart by enchantment.In this case it is not the mingled influence 2 of whichwe have already spoken, potent even towards itscreator and parent: but something gentler and morepeaceful, a kind of spiritual reflection of the embodi-ment of beings.z

Such marvels cannot possibly be seen in the glareof daylight. The latter is necessary for magneticphysical phenomena, and even for such magic as isconnected with mirrors and lines: but the higherphenomena require the shaded tints and colours oftwilight, gentle and subdued, for these only will permitvision, and will not obliterate the shadow projectedby this kind of spectre which in turn mirrors itself,as if it had some corporaltsolidity. Yet it has none.Suppose that instead of actors successively steppingto their places and remaining motionless on the stageyou have active and mobile shadows changing positionand exhibiting all their feelings to the spectators-that is something like what actually happens.3 Inone you have an optical effect or the combination ofcolour and light, in the other you have tombs, open

: I.e. the spirits of Operator and Subject." Corpor6it6 des 6tres."

3 Perhaps a physical analogy may be found in the cinemato-graphic film.


sepulchres, and ghosts. And, as if this were not enoughto surprise and crush reason, you can take part in adrama by no means imaginary, but one which, throughthe terror it inspires, might make you ask if you your-self were not a shadow. Samuel's ghost proved thewitch's power, through her charms, over the dead. x

I know it will be difficult for anyone to follow mymeaning-and I myself am marching through thenight ; I can only make signals.

All sorts of nations have experienced and believedin such apparitions. Either magnetism is a lie, orthese things happen. What gives the subject in his"crisis" 2 the power of clairvoyantly seeing thingshappening far away? How is it that he can beholdin our thoughts something which only exists as a germtherein ? And I have seen still more wonderfulthings. What means that condition in the magneticsleep when we foresee the death of the flesh, andoften the momentary exile of the soul ? A somnambulesaid to the magnetizer, "I see so-and-so writing tome to tell me such-and-such a thing.--I see myselffalling down on such-and-such a day.--I see that Ishall go to Italy and visit Florence "-though thisperson in the normal waking state had no intention ofdoing any such thing. A capable army officer foretoldin his sleep that he would be pierced by a bullet, withdetails as to the exact place and the circumstances--several years after, this occurred as described, in theItalian War: and so forth. Everything points to amysterious agency ever near and within us, able tooperate and assume a shape, coming and going at

i 1 Samuel xxviii. 8-14.2" Crisiaque," a favourite, expression in the earlier years of

the movement, meaning the patient at the height of mesmericpower and ecstasy, artificially and purposely induced. Later onthis practice was more or less abandoned.

PRINCIPLES AND SECRETS Y25

will. May there not be living beings in a drop ofwater ?

" Death" is a meaningless word. Nothing isdestroyed. The matter of our physical form is nosooner demobilized, than it begins to re-integrate inother bodies: our understanding, our very soul(which the savants call "nothing") re-vives afteranother manner, but without disintegrating: wander-ing through space, more subtle than light, passingthrough various bodies and influencing them en route.I think the .so-called " dead " can see and hear dis-tinctly what goes on around them: it is a kind ofadvanced somnambulism, but without the possibilityof returning into flesh and blood. Hence the commonnotion that graveyards are haunted by ghosts, andthe instinctive dread of approaching the resting-placeof a corpse, the fear and awe inspired by such spots,and by battlefields where the cries of the dying seemstill audible.

Everyone has at one time or another stumbledacross some strange and incomprehensible fact.zYes, there is a life-spirit passing and re-passing fromone to another and forming an indissoluble link. Mymagnet attracts all the filings near it: cannot such aquality exist in the spirit and soul ? Why may notthe soul magnetize things of her own kind and causethem to become visible by reclothing them with thecovering which she herself still retains ? Do I notexperience my own soul magically invading another'sbody and compelling both his soul and body to domy will ?

" Which of those who say they disbelieve,Your clever people, but has dreamed his dream,Caught his coincidence, stumbled on his factHe can't explain? "-GERALD MASSEY.


THE SECRET CIRCLE AND MIRROR

In magical operations, never choose a time whenthe soul is preoccupied with other interests--or indolentfrom excess of eating and drinking and the consequentbenumbing of the body. Your whole being must bevitally energetic and alive and zealous, your thoughtfree and untrammelled and having your object clearlyin view: you must be fully awake in every sense.A fire, a kind of uprising, must be aroused in you,renabling you to send out a brain-utterance from yourpersonality. Your Hand must conduct this animatedessence, the living magnet moving over a chosensurface: and it must at once form a spiritual rapport,"tractive " according to its nature. No sexual organcan receive such an essence, nor is it gathered like theperfume of flowers by air and wind, but by subtler andmore potent elements than those perceived by thesenses. And this offspring of your magic working,invisible as yet, will recognize his potency, just as theinfant Hercules knew his. His heels will be winged,like those of Mercury: he will be elusive and moveas he will, he can flee away, except from a circlemagically arranged to confine him : h can use hisstrength against you, destroy your own powers, makeyou his plaything, and finally depart as the soul froma dying man, without leaving a trace of his route.

2 " The fire of life in us is capable of burning erect, it becomesa magnet I Wonderful I If, in us, the Divine line were strongerthan the transverse line, we should be no longer in sense. TheDivine or celestial life would be established over it in us, and we.should be conscious in it, and placed in a transcendental relation.As the sky appears to us concave and, when cloudless, blue incolour, or the Upper Ether, where the Ideas are, appears to theexalted spirit, i.e. in the medial life, as its azure sky. N.B.--Thebrain is to this outward life what the spiritual head is to the spirit"(M. A. Atwood, op. cit., p. 563).

PRINCIPLES AND SECRETS X27

Sometimes he can be imprisoned and held fast in acrystal. Thence he can bring about clairvoyant.vision: like a messenger, he can summon the deador the living at your command and compel them toappear.

Magnetizers have some inkling of these things:but they do not guess the secret mechanism Whichassists and fructifies their wishes : they cannot perceiveall that happens in the body of the somnambule as itwere externally to the latter and his magnetizer.'They think their magnetization a simple and naturalmatter, entirely physical. If the more subtle-mindedof them would study more carefully they would under-stand the true basis behind all the scaffolding. Theywould know that they possess a key capable of openingevery lock in Nature's workshop. I cannot make thematter any plainer, for I have no better words toexpress the mystery.2

THE CONTROL OF DESTINY

Every human being (by this means) can foreseehis future, in a moment: yet so rapidly does thetableau appear and fade that his mind can only grasp

See Appendix C.a This section (" La Magie D6voil6e," pp. 253, 254) is in many

ways the high-water mark of Du Potet's own vision. Amidstmuch useless verbiage he here reaches the heart of his " matter."What he calls the " offspring of magic working," and likens tothe infant Hercules and winged Mercury, is indeed the Vital Spiritor Subject Identity known to all the genuine Alchemists and the" sola Res " or " One Thing" of their Art. Du Potet resemblesa child who, having accidentally, as it were, stumbled on a pieceof shining gold, would use it as a plaything. Mrs. Atwood, whoalso, intellectually, and it would seem experimentally as well,knew this " gold," knew as well its real purpose. Where Du Potet,by his own confession, is a mere apprentice, she is something ofa Master. Hence the frequent quotations in this volume fromthe last and greatest modern English exposition of the HermeticArt, the " Suggestive Inquiry."


the principal features. The electric telegraph couldnot transcribe what the spirit perceives. Memorymay retain some fragments, but they are weak and passlike a dream. Yet the impressions at the time maybe forcible enough: the agitated body, the voice,the working of the facial muscles are clear indications.Alas I the most joyful impressions are the leastnumerous and most fleeting. Even so, the resultsof such vision are not absolutely lost ; we sometimesremember that this or that event was foreknown by us.We often seek to recall it, but in vain; the light isextinguished, the crack made in our living tomb hasclosed again, and only death reopens it.' Usuallypeople cannot believe such predictions at the time,because they seem incredible. The time itself is buta moment, yet it suffices to carve or engrave such ideas(as come in visions), on returning to the normalcondition, by a powerful impression of the Will onthe brain. But what we do in the case of fused metalwe cannot always do here, and life might becomeunbearable to some people by such knowledge. Man-kind seems to be weighed down by unconquerableFate. God only can teach its purpose. To understandit we must transcend the lower reason and cherishthat mysterious lamp 2 whose rays will at last growsufficiently bright to enable us to discern Him.

* " I think that the soul comes into this body with the dreamof its whole after-life presented to it. That is its destiny. Thiswould involve us in a fatalism, if it were not that we may riseabove this evestrum, as Paracelsus calls it. The will is alwaysabove it, but then it influences the will that does not see beyondit, by giving that will motive; we are moved very often by it,nay, seldom pass beyond it, unless moved by God's grace (theDivine evestrum, relatively to man), and so are enabled to over-come it. The real mystery is so very wonderful, great and close,that one cannot venture to speak of it in ordinary language"(M. A. Atwood, op. cit., p. 569).

2 The symbol of which was carried by the Kerux (herald) beforethe candidate in the ancient Mysteries. Cp. St. John i. 5-7.


VIRGINAL VISIONS

Alchemical Sages were wont to say: " One and onemake one: then one and one make three." A hardsaying, but entirely true.' For two beings, reciprocat-ing and absorbing one another, can so mutually"identify," that they end by being only one. Andsuch an union, without too narrow an identification,can result in the formation of a third. Magnetizerscan easily follow this reasoning, concealed by ancientinitiates in :-sacred oracles. For such truths, likevirginity, must not be profaned by an idle passer-byor sensualist: men who only seek truth to stain anddebauch her by their hate, and, if rejected, will threatenoutrage. It is easy to see why the ancients often chosefor their instruments children of tender years, whosevision was not spoilt by vice, and whose finer senseswere not blunted. Even to-day let him beware whowould lift the veil of mystery before the commoncrowd.z Moral truths cannot be sold for preciousmetals; they re given to the deserving. Traffic inthings di e should never be tolerated.

However surprising these visions in the magic mirrormay appear, they are not really more wonderful thanthose in dreams. Nature tries to enlighten us in a

a " The Proto-chemic artifice is completely comprehended inthree terms-Solution, Sublimation, Fixation; but these processesmust be reiterated many times" (M. A. Atwood, op. cit., p. 366).See also pp. 383-85.

* " So this science must ever secret be,The cause whereof is this, as ye rnar see,If one evil man had hereof all his willAll Christian peade he might easily spill,And with his hands he might pull downRightful kings and princes of renown,Whereof the sentence of peril and jeopardyUpon the teacher resteth dreadfully."

Norton's " Ordinall of Alchymie."

I30 MAGNETISM AND MAGIC

thousand divers ways, sometimes by strange presenti-ments, sometimes by objects' which awaken ourspeculative thought and supply a sort of pre-vision;in certain diseases this is not possible, but sound healthnever prevents it. The secret, messenger can reach usby unknown doors or channels. We are, indeed, thetoys of unseen intelligence. Our body is an inn wheremany a traveller stops or halts for a brief space: theinn is full of tumult, even night brings no peace; onerouses another and we confuse cause and effect: weare stricken, we die, or we kill. Magic ever operatesin and round us, and yet people deny its existence.Forward, then ! for we shall discover things that nosavant has ever known.

IV

COROLLARIES

RE-BIRTH

CERTAIN philosophers x of preceding centuries per-formed the following curious experiments. Taking aflower or plant in full bloom, they burned it entireand collected all the ashes. These they placed in atransparent vessel and, when they so willed, thephantasm of the flower or plant appeared in all itsformer glow of colour, and lasted for a certain time.I do not know their secret, but am convinced thatsuch a feat is possible. So also is the appearance of adead person, for here we have not an empty illusionor image, but something more real--a moving figurethat can be recognized, as in the case of Samuel whenevoked at Endor. This is why such a magical operationis dangerous : for the shadow so evoked can fastenitself upon us, haunt us, and otherwise influence us tillwe appease it. Hence the ancient custom of appeasingthe " Manes" (souls of the dead). ,

A drop of water, evaporated by the sun and carriedoff by the breeze, returns in due time. Nothingperishes. Everything reproduces itself according toits form: but material elements only operate onmatter: the soul of everything that has lived pre-serves its own mould. TIe earth of to-day probablycontains no more beings than it contiined ten thou-sand years ago. The ,sites which now bear flourishing

a Not named, but'probably Paracelsus and Cornelius Agrippa.' Usually byfsacrifice at the tomb.


cities were once the haunt of foul beasts. Perhapsthis will be the ultimate fate of our own beloved city.Some day historians may have forgotten our veryexistence. Everything dies, to be reborn.

To compel the dead to appear, to, disturb theircondition, is perhaps a crime.' He who undertakes itfeels instinctively its evil character, and a violationof Nature's law cannot pass without punishment. Itresembles that of cutting short anyone's life by ourown hands and will.

That which robs man of heavenly vision and soul-energy is his inward corruption.2 So blunted has hisinterior faculty become, that he sees only with' theeyes of an animal. Instead of looking upwards heconcentrates only on the body's nourishment, ignoringthat of the soul. Ranking himself amongst the beasts,he yet lacks their more primitive instincts. (as safe-guards) and supplies the deficiency by certain instru-ments (such as the microscope) : an artificial superi-ority of which he boasts. Yet the tiniest insect atliberty is, in its way, happier than man. . . . ,

Place saits in dissolution in a vase; and by a reactiveyou can obtain crystals. No human eye could detectthis .operation before seeing it. We human beingspossess a still more potent reactive which can act onthe spirits of the body and instantaneously separatethem from it. This invisible (reactive) can producea true image of the being, its form without its matter.We act on a mere shred of that which formerlyintegrated such a being in his living condition. Weknow already our resources : the mingled self-operating

a See F. Huntley's " The Great Psychological Crime" (Indo-American Book Co., Chicago, 1915).S" The defilements and imaginative impressures, which by the

birth into sense have become implanted in the Vital Spirit, obscuringits intelligence " (M. A. Atwood, op. cit., p. I88).

COROLLARIES 133

power which attracts the spirit of a body towardsitself. However time may alter human beings, theystill retain the rudimentary fire which animates them:A leaf long since separated from its branch still retainssome essence characteristic of the mother tree. Ifancy the Whole earth lives,' and that the air containsessences capable of spontaneous creations over thewhole globe-surface. Nature herself evokes andsummons every past species to return: she wouldeternalize what appears to us transitory. Her law isvisible in each being, whose growth, change and everymetamorphosis 2 she foresees. Art can discover someof her. secrets: can say to the dead man ".Arise,"just as we carl mentally command a living, walkingperson, " Turn round," and he will obey, feeling oursummons within himself. So also the remnant ofvitality in a corpse will attempt to break its bondsand become visible to us. Yet it is not enough inthis case to command and will, as we do in order tomake living people obey. The rays of the soul mustbe concentrated by a powerful energizing of the spirit 3and directed towards those of the being whose re-appearance is desired. The " evoker" must feelwithin. himself that his own vitality is passing out,and following where his thought leads it so as to form asecret rafport which will unite the two substances.4In return for the vitality he has -lent the " evoker"will experience a freezing coldness. It is only a passingsensation, necessary to make the operation successful.In one word, there must be union, for a moment ; it

= This theory was entertained by Kepler the astronomer; andis ably stated in G. T. Fechner's little treatise " On Life afterDeath " (Kegan Paul, x9o6).

1 I.e. of the Vital Principle.3 " Rassembl6es par une grande contention de l'esprit."4 Le. the soul-rays of " evoker " and " evoked."


may be termed a marriage or rather a rape of Nature:but without this causal connection nothing willhappen. The ceremonials, sacrifices, circles, etc., ofthe magicians and necromancers were only of secondaryimportance: their aim was so to prepare body andspirit as to rouse the soul, and gain therefrom theassistance that would ensure success. At the criticalmoment the magician himself altered in appearance,his features became agitated, he became deathly. Hehad yielded at least half of his vital strength to thedead person who, on his part, filled up the void. Evenafterwards the magician was for some time stupefiedand feeble.'

The knowledge on which all this is based is thescience of the ancients, and it is the final grade ofInitiation. But all men are by no means ready forit--it would mean madness for many of them. Nordid the sages consider such knowledge safe in certainhands. A kind of semi-initiation was given to thestrong-minded and ambitious, even to atheists : thoughknowledge, fully conferred, makes men believers andresigned to their lot. Moreover, it is so long in coming,that the more impetuous kind of man will not wait-and yet they consider themselves quite capable ofruling a nation. Whether it is better so, who can say ?Magic, at any rate, is not for all, and only a few willunderstand me.

SPIRITS

Belief in the reality of incorporeal beings, or spirits,is not only rational but is confirmed by JEsus CHRIST,who teaches us their divers character and their influence

2 Further information on this subject may be gathered fromA. E. Waite's translation of the works of Eliphas L6vi.

COROLLARIES 135

on man. We give a summary of Gospel referencesto the subject :-

[Du Potet quotes at length the following passages:St. Mark i. 23-26; St. Luke viii. 2, 3, 54, 55; St. Johniii. 7, 8; viii. 43, 44, 47, 58; cv. 27 ; xvii. 6.]

The more notable feats of Magnetism have, unfortun-ately, caused many weak-minded folk to imagine thatthey had secured the key to all mysteries, and couldbuild their paradise instanter. Some of its practi-tioners preached a sort of new Church. The base isreal enough, but such an edifice is quite fantastic.Control is impossible when facts come from heaven:one can only believe and wonder. And as there issomething divinely true (in Magnetism), a beginningof detachment from the world, people imagine thaterror is impossible. I ican neither approve nor sharein such blind faith. Our seers x undoubtedly beholda limitless horizon: but why do not their accountsagree, and why are they so changeable? 2

Now with magical creations this is not the case. .. .There exists in us a force as powerful as it is in-

telligent, and entirely independent of matter: it isthe veil thrown over the angel or demon. And aswe can compel certain animals to leave their hole orshell, so Art can compel this spirit to leave its coverand appear bare and stripped. It will not alter inconduct, will be vain, proud, etc.: but if you knowthe Art, yoiU will have the whip-hand. You havesealed fast its dwelling-place: it cannot enter withoutyour leave. You are armed by the flesh: it has nosuch protection. Before it is aware of itself or its

t And somnambules.a As pointed out in the Introduction, Spiritualism developed

from visions beheld by certain somnambules.

136 , MAGNETISM AND MAGIC

power over you, you have plenty of time to gaincertain services from it. But you must have no fear.

DEATH

It was believed by the ancients that the approachof a murderer to the body of his victim caused acurious result-: the wounds re-opened and bloodflowed forth.' Nothing of the sort happened if aninnocent person came near. " Manes" of the 'deadwere thought to linger near the tomb, sometimesbecoming visible, as if they had not completed theirearthly pilgrimage: like a sword without a scabbard,they were seeking to recover their body.

[Reflections follow on certain degrading effects ofmodern civilization and the lowering of man's soul-life.]

Alas ! we can no longer behold man as God createdhim, resplendent in glorious light, vitalizing his sur-roundings by his very gaze, shooting forth a mysteriousflame into other bodies, as a fire emits sparks-afurnace blazing continually with Nature's most com-plete handicraft: capable by his power and will ofgiving forth life like his Creator : his very look imposingrespect on all that is animal: crushing, by a sort ofelectricity, everything that hinders his progress. Heneeded no doctor to protect his health, or priest topoint the way to heaven. He himself possessed

'-Cp. Genesis iv. Io. When the blood of an animal has beenfreshly shed on the ground, any other member of the herd passingover the fatal spot will be arrested and entranced, seemingly bysome exhalation from the vital fluid. The animal stares, with arapt and distracted expression, moaning and pawing the ground,-as if in remonstrance, though apparently " more in sorrow thanin anger." Any noise or intrusion, that would ordinarily callattention, will break the spell.

COROLLARIES 137

all the knowledge necessary. With such remnantsof these primitive faculties as remain we shall try toconvince man that he is not a lonely unit in an in-comprehensible world, that his life is not utterly lostat death, that by spiritual intermediaries I he may getinto touch with higher powers and so reforge the linkthat bound him to God.z This, at least, is our hope.

[A quotation from an unnamed source follows, con-cerning the supersensual language of spirits and daemons,in particular that of the daemon of Socrates.]

SORCERY

Sorcery is a bond or charm passing from thesorcerer's spirit through the eyes of the victim to hissoul: the instrument used is a pure, shining, subtlevapour emanating from the blood engendered by theheart's warmth: itself reflecting perpetually similarrays through the eyes. These rays convey a vapour,and the vapour conveys the blood. In the case ofpeople with bleared or red eyes the ray carries thisvapour of corrupt blood and tends to infect otherswith, the complaint. To quote from Apuleius:" Your eyes entering by my own into my personalityarouse a mighty conflagration at the foundation ofmy physical body and into the very marrow of mybones." Hence passionate love can arise through asingle glance.3 The spirit and blood of the lover is

a Not, of course, the souls of the dead.A Re-ligion implies the binding back to its primal Source ofthat which has been broken off. The " ligamentum " (bandage)of natural generation binds man to thelsense-life commencing atbirth. Re-generation is the application of a new " ligamentum "to connect him with the original spirit-life. The processes ofphysical birth are analogies or types of the-" new birth."

3 Cp. the " Look" and " Isolde's Magic " themes in "Tristanund Isolde," Prelude to Act I.

:38 MAGNETISM AND MAGIC

wounded as in sorcery (though not in such asinister way).

[This last paragraph is a quotation from some unnamedsource.]

CONCLUSION

Of the reality of magic my own achievements,not those of others, have convinced me. I am still anapprentice: but not one of those who think they canperform the Great Work apart from Nature, apart fromthe principle of life. This is the essential-all else issecondary. You cannot be deceived if you followthis path. I fix no boundaries. I have written allthat it is necessary to know at starting. But I inustconfess I have not unveiled some of the mysterieswhich Nature hides: to do so would be beyond mypower. Every discovery of these days is incompletewithout that of Which I have spoken. What is thismaterial electricity, of which science is so proud,compared with the pure essence whose existence I havedemonstrated ? Electricity cannot pass beyond ouratmosphere: the more perfect agent of Magnetismopens infinity to the view: one obeys, the otherorders. The first is death, the second life. Yet as allcan be of use in man's service, electricity can carryits fiery rays from end to end of the world. Our" fire " will act on all intelligences, and increase theirpower, a power that can surpass the miracles of old.Man will then have all forces at his disposal : the scalesbalancing them will finally reach an equilibrium:and the point where the needle halts will be

GOD.

BIBLIOGRAPHYTHE following is a selection from the very extensiveliterature on the subject :-

ENGLISH

J. C. COLQUHOUN: " Isis Revelata," 1836.-EDwIN LEE : Report on the Phenomena of Clairvoyance

or Lucid Somnambulism, 1843." Zoist," 1843-1856.J. ESDAILE : " Mesmerism in India," 1842.C. H. TOWNSHEND, "'Facts in Mesmerism," I844-W. GREGORY : " Letters on Animal Magnetism," i85I.J. ASHBURNER : " Philosophy of Animal Magnetism," 1867.G. C. KINGSBURY : "Practice of Hypnotic Suggestion,"

1891.J. BRAID : "Neurypnology " (ed. A. E. Waite), 1899.A. P. SINNETT : " Rationale of Mesmerism," 1902.J. MILNE BRAMWELL : " Hypnotism," 1903.R. HARTE : " Hypnotism and the Doctors," 1903.

F. PODMORE : " Mesmerism and Christian Science," 190o9.M. A. ATWOOD: " Suggestive Inquiry into the Hermetic

Mystery " (ed. W. L. Wilmshurst), 1918.

FRENCH

F. A. MESMER: " Pricis historique des faits relative auMagn6tisme Animal," 1781.

DE PUYStGUR: " Mmoires h l'histoire du Magn6tismeAnimal," 1784.

" Recherches, etc., sur l'homme dans l'6tat de Som-nambulisme naturel," 18II.

J. P. F. DELEUZE: "Histoire Critique du MagnetismeAnimal," 1819.

A. BERTRAND : " Du Magnetisme Animal en France," 1828.A. GAUTIER : " Introduction au Magn6tisme," 1840.

"Histoire du Somnambulisme," 1842.


Du POTET: "An Introduction to the Study of AnimalMagnetism" (London), 1838.

" Cours de Magndtisme en sept legons," Paris, 1840." Le Magn6tisme oppos6 h la Mddecin," Paris, 1840."Essai sur l'enseignement philosophique du Magnd-

tisme," Paris, 1845." Manuel de l'dtudiant Magnitiseur," Paris, 185o." La Magie Ddvoil6e " (first edition), Paris, 1852."Trait6 complet de Magn6tisme Animal," Paris, 1856."Journal du Magndtisme," Paris, 1845-1860."Th6rapeutique magnetique," Paris, 1863.

J. J. A. RICARD: " Trait6 thdorique et physique duMagn6tisme Animal," 1841.

A. BINET and C. FIkR ,: "Animal Magnetism," London, 1887.DR. BARETZ: " Le Magndtisme Animal etudi6 sous le

nom de Force Neurique," Paris, 1887.DE ROCHAs : " L'Exteriorisation de le Sensibilit6," Paris,

1895.L. MOUTIN: " Le Magnetisme Humain," Paris, 1907.H. BARADUC: "The Human Soul," London, 1913.G. DURVILLE : " Le Sommeil Provoqu6 et les causes qui

le determinent," Paris, 1913.H. DURVILLE: "Histoire Raisonnde du Magn6tisme,"

Paris, 1914.EMILE BOIRAC: " Psychic Science," London, 1918."The Quest," January, 1927 : " How I experience the

Functioning of my Clairvoyance," by Raoul deFleuriere, translated from an address printed infull in " La Revue Metapsychique," July-August,1926.

GERMAN

C. VON REICHENBACH: " Physico-Physiological Researcheson the Dynamics of Magnetism, etc.," 1846.

"Letters on Od and Magnetism," 1853 (trans. F. D.Byrne, 1926).

C. DU PREL: " Philosophy of Mysticism," 1885 (trans.C. C. Massey, z vols., 1889).

APPENDIX A

THE "HAND OF GLORY "

" THE hand of glory is cut off from a dead man hangedfor murder and dried very nice in the smoke of juniperwood " (Scott, " The Antiquary ").

The quality of directly curing diseases and of protectionhas long been attributed to a cadaver. Tumours, erup-tions, and gout are thought to be dispelled if the afflictedmember be stroked with a dead hand. Toothache isremoved by contact with the finger of a dead child.Burns, carbuncles, and other skin complaints are cured bycontact with some part of a corpse. In Pomerania the" cold corpse hand" is a protection against fire, andRussian peasants believe that a dead hand protects fromsteel or bullet wounds.

It was once the custom to lead sufferers in mind as wellas body to the Old Bailey scaffold, when, after theexecution, the executioner (for a small fee) stroked theaffected part with the dead man's hands backwards andforwards for several minutes. Thomas Hardy uses thistheme in "The Withered Arm " (Wessex Tales). The" Folk-Lore Record" recently quoted the practice ofstroking by the hand of a suicide nine times from eastto west and then nine times from west to east.

TOUCHING TO HEAL

The power to heal attributed to the gods was afterwardsassociated with kings who ruled as viceroys of the Kingof Heaven. As Edward the Confessor lay dying, sufferersfrom scrofula or tuberculous glands were brought to himto be touched. The practice is mentioned by Peter of.Blois in the twelfth century, and it was perpetuated byHenry III and the three Edwards. Sir John Fortescue,


in his defence of the house of Lancaster against that ofYork, argues that the crown could not descend to a female,because the queen is not qualified by the form of anointingher, used at the coronation, to cure the disease called" the King's Evil." Aubrey refers to "the king's evill,from the king curing of it with his touch." This miraculousgift was almost reserved for the Stuarts to claim. Dr.Ralph Bathurst, one of the chaplains to King Charles I," no superstitious man," says Aubrey, protested to himthat "the curing of the king's evill by the touch of theking doth puzzle his philosophie; for when they wereof the House of Yorke or Lancaster, it did." The solemnwords, "I touch, but God healeth," were always pro-nounced by the sovereign when he " touched " or adminis-tered " the sovereign salve," as Bulwer calls it. Thenwe read of vervain root and baked toads being worn insilken bags around the neck, as charms for the evil. Thepractice of touching was at its height in the reign ofCharles II ; and in the first four years after his restorationhe "touched " nearly twenty-four thousand persons.Pepys, in his "Diary," June 23, 1666, records how hewaited at Whitehall "to see the king touch people forthe king's evil. He did not come, but kept the poorpersons waiting all the morning in the rain in the garden:afterward he touched them in the banqueting-house."The practice was continued by Charles's successors. TheHon. Daines Barrington tells of an old man who waswitness in a cause, and averred that when Queen Annewas at, Oxford, she touched him, then a child, for theevil: the old man added, that he did not believe himselfto have had the evil, but " his parents were poor, and hehad no objection to a bit of gold." Again, Dr. Johnson,when a boy, was taken by his father from Lichfield toLondon, to be touched for the evil by Queen Anne, in1712. Mrs. Bray speaks of a " Queen Anne's farthing"being a charm for curing the king's evil in Devonshire.

At a late period, the use of certain coins was in commonvogue, which, being touched by the king, were supposed

APPENDICES 143

to have the power, and were called Royal Touch-pieces,several of which are preserved in the British Museum.

The practice was supposed to have expired with theStuarts; but, the point being disputed, reference wasmade to the library of the Duke of Sussex, and fourseveral Oxford editions of the Book of Common Prayerwere found, all printed after the accession of the Houseof Hanover, and all containing as an integral part of theservice " the office for the healing."

APPENDIX B

METHOD OF MAKING MAGNETIC PASSES

I. MESMER.-The Agent places his hands on thePatient's shoulders, brings them down the arms to theextremities of the fingers, and holds the thumbs for amoment. The process is repeated two or three times.He also touches the seat of the pain with fingers or palmof hand, following as far as possible the direction of thenerves.

2. ESDAILE.--The Patient, in bed and in a darkenedroom, is directed to close his eyes and try to sleep. TheAgent makes passes without contact over the wholebody; and from time to time breathes gently on thehead and eyes. The process continues usually for anhour, after which many patients were able to undergopainless operations.

3. Du POTET.-The Patient sits at a little distance.The Agent places four fingers of both hands on hisshoulders, runs his thumbs along the inside of the shoulder-blades, letting his fingers follow loosely. The thumbsrest a moment or two under the edge of the scapula,about one inch from the end. When the Patient fallsback, the Agent reverses the passes. The Patient sitswith knees uncovered, right hand on knee and left handholding a disc at which he must gaze steadily.

4. For the method of Braid, Liebeault, and Bernheim,see, Milne Bramwell's " Hypnotism," 1903.

5. "Another method of producing sleepiness is the useof monotonous rhythmical passes with or without contact.We may smoothe the forehead at a definite slow rate,or, again, we may make passes down the subject's bodywithout any contact. This latter method was much used

APPENDICES 145

by Mesmer and seems to have a peculiar effect in certaincases. I have met with patients who resisted othermethods, but were readily hypnotized by this method"(William Brown, " Suggestion and Mental Analysis," 1923,p. 95).

Kc

APPENDIX C

J. J. A. RICARD'S "'sensitive," Addle Lefrey, whenmagnetized, paid to him in a singular tone: "You areasleep while I am awake." (Ricard protested that, onthe contrary, he himself was fully awake and was holdingher in command by magnetic influence.) "You do notunderstand, monsieur. I am as completely awake aswe shall all be some day in the future. All that you seeis gross, material; you distinguish apparent forms: thereal beauties escape you. Your spirit is cramped, obscuredby the exterior impressions that your material sensesgive you. It can only reach out feebly, while my cor-poreal sensations are actually annihilated, while my soulis almost disintegrated from its ordinary fetters. I seewhat is invisible to your eyes. I hear what your earscannot hear, I understand what for you is invisible, Forexample, you do not see what emanates from yourselfand comes to me when you magnetize me: I, on thecontrary, see it very clearly: at each pass you directtowards me, I see a little column of fiery dust whichcomes from the end of your fingers and seems to incor-porate itself in me. Then, when you isolate me, I seemsurrounded by an atmosphere of this fiery dust, which isoften the reason why objects of which I seek to distinguishthe forms take a ruddy tinge for me. I hear, when Idesire it, a sound made at a distance, sounds which mayarise a hundred leagues away. I am not obliged to waittill things come to me, I can go to them wherever theyare, and appreciate them more correctly than anyonecould who is not in a similar state to that in which Ifind myself i (" Trait6 theorique et pratique du Magn6tismeAnimal," 1841).

APPENDIX D

(From Iamblichus, " On the Mysteries," Pt. iii, Sect. ii.)

IT is usual for the divinations of which you speak tooccur in dreams of human origin, in those set in actionfrom the soul, or by some of our thoughts, or such asarise from phantasies, or certain daily cares. These,indeed, are sometimes true and sometimes false.

But the dreams which we call God-sent do not originatethus; but, either when sleep is leaving us and we arejust beginning to awake, it is permitted to hear a briefutterance indicating things about to, be done; or thevoices are heard during the period between waking andcomplete repose, or when we have become entirely awake.Sometimes also an unseen and unbodied spirit comesround the recumbent individuals in a circle, so as not tobe present to the sight, but to come into consciousnessby the other associate senses and results; making arustling noise when entering, and diffusing itself aboutin every direction without any feeling of contact, andaccomplishing wonderful results in the way of deliverancefrom the passions both of soul and body. Sometimes,.however, a light beaming forth, bright and gentle, thesight of the eyes is restrained and remains so, when beforethat they had been wide open. But the other sensescontinue watchful, and in some way are conscious of thelight in which the gods are becoming visible: and theindividuals hear, what they say and know by diligentattention what they are doing. More perfectly, however,is this witnessed when the sight beholds and the captivatedmind understands what is being done, and the beholdersact in full co-operation.

These are like no dreams usually occurring to humanbeings.

APPENDIX E

EXPERIENCES OF MR. WRIGHT

APART from paralysis of the face I am in good health.When the Baron Du Potet magnetized me for the firsttime, I felt physically affected by a stream of coldnessas soon as his "passes " commenced. Having seen theeffects produced on other patients, I was fully preparedto experience the same results, to which I attached notionsof pleasure rather than apprehension. The real effectwas completely different from What I expected. Thepasses do not induce any feeling of ennui. The firstmarked physical sensation is an irritation of the diseasedmuscles of the face, and, almost at the same time, aconvulsive closing of the eyes. Nearly the same resultsfollow when my feet are magnetized. During the operationan influence independent of all such " passes" seems tosensibly affect me. The coldness previously mentionedquickly operates to the expulsion of heat from the interior :after being magnetized .for some time, and everythingbeing quiet, this heat is accompanied by great perspirationat all the extremities, such as hands and feet. I amnearly as conscious of my surroundings as a man usuallyis with his. eyes closed. I cannot speak. Once or twicemy consciousness has been largely confined to myselfand the magnetizer, being abstracted from all otherobjects. I can for the most part see, though dimly, themagnetizer's hand, this sight being rather that of feeling.I am not sensible of any intellectual exaltation. I amquieted, and the longer the influence is continued thecalmer I become. When the Baron magnetizes me at adistance of six to twelve feet, or through a screen, theeffect produced is equal in intensity to that which Iexperience at close quarters with him. I cannot speak,nor when very powerfully influenced, can I move: this

APPENDICES 149

is due to the physical influence. Intellectually, I do notfeel the magnetizer more powerful than myself. Morallyor emotionally, I am conscious of a sympathetic peaceful-ness being controlled, but not forcefully. An involuntaryassent to the propriety of a suggestion, if transferredfrom the intellectual to the physical or to the moral,perhaps describes the kind of power exerted by themagnetizer. There is a physical and moral passivity toa physical and moral actor. Fascination aptly describesthe magnetizer's influence; with myself it is not intel-lectual but only physical and moral fascination. I have,on occasion, tried by a determined effort of will to resistthe operation. The result was very painful, a greatexhaustion and prostration of the energies. The breathingwas painfully affected; a clammy sweat, quite differentfrom normal perspiration, ejected from the extremities;I felt considerable agitation and loss of self-control. Ihave been magnetized about sixteen times. The influenceperceptibly increases, affecting me now more radically,while at first my face was really pained by external con-tortions. The muscles are now more moved, but lessapparently on the surface. I am not sensible of anydifference in my general health: my friends have remarkeda degree of nervous irritation, not altogether natural tome. Apparently the magnetic treatment has made butlittle difference in the paralytic affection of my face. Iseem to think there is a little more vitality in it. Afterthe operation I am usually affected with a most comfort-able perspiration. I am pleased to be magnetized ratherthan otherwise.

(Communicated by a doctor who submitted anumber of questions to Mr. Wright, and printed,without alteration, by Du Potet in his " Introductionto Animal Magnetism," pp. 52-57.)

APPENDIX F

SOME MODERN TESTIMONY

(a) "I Do not know if mental suggestion exists; for mypart I have never succeeded in provoking this phenomenon,except under the form of sending to sleep and awakingby a simple mental command; but if mental suggestionexists, it is not a phenomenon of suggestion, it is aphenomenon of magnetism.""We believe with Durand de Gros that Suggestion

and Mesmerism are two distinct agents, equally real, eachexisting independently of the other:- each can take theother's place and counterfeit it, as they can also combinefor the production of common effects. We may haveSuggestion without Mesmerism and Mesmerism withoutSuggestion: better still, we can have a pseudo-suggestionwhich is only Mesmerism and a pseudo-Mesmerism whichis only Suggestion; finally, we can have, simultaneouslyand indivisibly, Mesmerism and Suggestion, SuggestiveMesmerism, or, if we prefer the term, Mesmeric Sugges-tion" ("Psychic Science," by Emile Boirac, Rector ofDijon Academy, English trans., 1918, pp. 192, 218).

In Chapter VII of the same book Dr. Boirac gives acareful account of the personal experiment in 1893 whichconvinced him of the actual existence of " Magnetic orNervous Radiation," and maintains that anyone whoexperiments as he did, and exercises a little patience, canverify this for himself. The following sentences (p. i71)are worth quoting : " The misfortune of such facts, whichare almost impossible to reproduce experimentally, isthat we prefer to imagine anything rather than believein their reality and admit the consequences they imply.A few hours after seeing them we doubt the evidence of oursenses and memory."(b) " I have proved to my entire satisfaction that all of

APPENDICES X5Ius emanate rays beside the caloric ones: I had writtenand spoken of this long before Blondlot proved it scienti-fically. The vital question remains, Do these rays possesscurative powers ? It is boldly claimed by many intelligentpeople outside the (medical) profession that the 'layingon of hands ' is as potent now as ever it was. . . . Ihave found the practice of 'Magnetism' a useful adjunctin the so-called 'suggestion' treatment " (J. StensonHooker, M.D., " The Trend of Modern Medicine," 1905).

(c) Referring to Animal Magnetism, Prof. Pierre Janetsays: " Methods of treatment based on the utilization ofmysterious remedies have not quite lost their vogue. Itis extremely probable that part, at least, of the admittedefficacy of electrical treatment, treatment by radium, andeven serum treatment, may be the outcome of kindredpsychological phenomena.. Consider, for instance, whatis known as osteopathy, a therapeutic method widelycelebrated in the United States. The mechanism of themethod resembles that of treatment by animal mag-netism .... Whatever the cause of these cures orapparent cures, it is improbable that the massage of thespinal column has much to do with the matter. We maypresume that here, likewise, forces are at work of whichboth the patient and osteopath are unaware. The prestigeof anatomical science plays its part, just as the prestigeof astronomy functioned in Mesmer's practice, and just asthe prestige of the physical science of electricity functionedin magnetic treatment. Despite the claim of osteopathyto be scientific, we have to do with one of these methodsof treatment which belong to the realm of magic. Itssuccess shows that magic still plays a part in medicine."

(" Psychological Healing," 1925, i. pp. 41-43.)

INDEXAkashic record, 34Alchemy, 13, 74, 55Ancient Wisdom, 31, 6o,Arrow, Magic, 75 ff.Ashmole, 84 n,.Astrallical Influence, 15Attraction, Magic, 72Atwood, 30-33, 6o n.,

89 n., 92 zn., 95 n.,

o x ff.

.86 n.,99 n.,

IoI n., o07 n., I16 n., I17n.,126 n., I27 n., I28 n., I29 n.,

132 9n.Aura, 34, Io8

Bailly, 20Baraduc, 55Bertrand, 2 iBinet & F6r6, 21, 22, 23Blood, 136Braid, 19, 21, 22, 27Bramwell, 22, 23

Cagliostro, 49Cahagnet, 28Charcot, 17, 22, 24Charismatic Ministry, 41Christ, 37, 38, 41, I18, 134Christian Science, 27, 40

Circles, Magic, 66, i20, 726Colquhoun, 20, 21, 39Control of Destiny, 126Creation, Spiritual, I o

Death, 736Deleuze, 45, 47, 50De Rochas, 55Dods, 20

Eddy, 27Eliphas L6vi, 45, 48, 6 it., 95 .,,

134 n.

I

Elliotson, 2 , 46, 49Erdan, 47Esdaile, 2z, 23, 26, 49

Fludd, I4 ft.Freemasonry, o07 n.

Hand, 39, 47Hand of Glory, 141Harmonies, Magic, 88Hawker, 33 n.Healing, Spiritual, 4

Ignition, 56I-mago, g6, 0o3India, Mesmerism in, 27Intoxication, Magic, go

Janet, 24, I5I" Journal of Magnetism," 47,

57, 6o, 79

" Katharsis," 35, 113

L6vi, see Eliphas L6vi.Li6bault, 22Lines, Magic, 6x ff.Lodge, Sir Oliver, 26, 56

Machine, Mesmeric, 51Magism, 96, zo6" Magnale magnum," 14, 17Manual Work, 39Maxwell, 15Mesmer, I8--20, 25, 34, 38, 47,

50, 51, 55Mirror, Magic, 48 ff., 6c fr., 79 fr.,

115, 120, I26Mumia, 14Myers, 24, 42


Nancy School, 6o n.Neo-Platonists, 35Newton, 96 n.

Oken, 55Old Age, Magical, 91 ff.Operative methods, 113

Paracelsus, 14, 33, 37, 55Plato, 24, 33, oz0Preparations, 120Psycho-analysis, 36Psycho-physical parallelism, 54Puys6gur, 45, 50, 78 n.

Quimby, 27

Re-birth, 131 ff.Reichenbach, 38Resurrection, 43, 94Richet, 24, 53Rutherford, Sir Ernest, 56, 57

" Separation, Hermetic," 34, 95Sleep, somnambulic, 24, 59Sorcery, 137

Soul identification, og9 f.Spirit-Rapping, 28Spiritual Creatures, x ToSuggestion, 22, 53, 54Sympathies and Antipathies,

Magic, 73

Telegraph, Magic, 53Thought potency, II1Townshend, 28 ff.

Valentine, Basil, zo8 n.Van Helmont, i6, 17, 39, 51Vaughan, Thomas, 38, 99 n.,

107 n.

Virgil, 35, 99 n., 1o2Virginal Visions, I29"Vis Medicatrix Naturae," It,

13Visions, I18

Waite, A. E., 28, 48, 49Wilmshurst, W. L., 31

" Zoist," 21, 23

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