Essays In Occultism, Spiritism, And Demonology

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CORNELLUNIVERSITYLIBRARYBOUGHT WITH THE INCOMEOF THE SAGE ENDOWMENTFUND GIVEN IN 1891 BYHENRY WILLIAMS SAGE

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ESSAYSINOCCULTISM. SPIRITISM.DEMONOLOGYBYDEAN W.R.HARRISAuthor of "'Days and Nights in the Tropics,""By Path and Trail," "Pioneers of theCross in Canada," etc.B.1768,HERDER BOOKSouth Broadway,CO,St. Louis,ANDGreat Russell St., London,1919Mo.W.C.AND

2V/fl/LOBSTAT8ti. Ludovici, die 29, Sept. 1918.F. O. Holweck,Censor LibrorumIMPRIMATURSti. Ludovici, die SO, Sept. 1918. i Joannes J. Olewnon,ArchiepiscopusSti.Copyright, 1919,byJoseph OummersbachAll rights reservedPrinted in V. 8. A.Ludovici

TOVERY REV. ROBERT McBRADY,As aslightmark of gratitudekindness and of admiration forhis characterandabilityC.S.B.for hia

""These Hindoos of Malabar, when askedif,in their land,there were apparitions or phantoms, replied: 'Yes, butwelookupon them as evil spirits. We believe them to be the souls ofthose who committed suicide, or perished by a violent death.Night is their favorite time for appearing. They seduce theweak-minded and the curious and tempt others in a thousanddifferent ways. They aim to do all the injury they can tohumanbeings.'J. Gorres,"La Mystique,"Vol. HI, p. 63.

PEEFACEAsfar back as history goes, at all times, inall lands,and among all peoples materializationsof spirits have occurred.Thespirit manifesta-tions to-day are but a repetition of those whichtook place in pre-Christian times.The war and the publications of Sir ArthurConan Doyle, Sir Oliver Lodge, W. J. Crawford, and Emile Boirac have given to Spiritisma popular vogue and impetus.Bya singularcoincidence books on Spiritism, published inGermany, France, and Italy have appeared almost simultaneously with English and American publications on this weird subject.Manyof these have given a quasi-scientific endorsation to Spiritism,and have contributedofiScialsupport to the current belief in the reality ofSpiritisticphenomena.Catholic students of thesenever doubted theirreality.1phenomena haveWhile admitting

PREFACEJiand conceding the impositions, frauds, trickeryand deceptions of many professional mediums.Catholic psychologists and theologians, whofor nearly two thousand years have investigatedthe subject, hold that materializations have al-ways taken place and are occurring to-day, andthat no theory of fiaud or delusion can accountfor them.Planchetteand Ouija board answers andautomatic writing are facts of every-day experience, but that these responses, materializations,spiritcommunications and thelike,are mes-sages from the dead, Catholic psychology denies.Applying the methods of physics to psychicphenomena, Professor Crawford, in hiswork,"ThelatestReality of Psychic Phenomena,"believeshe has demonstrated not only theactualityand truth of these phenomena, but alsothe existence of a hithertounknown mannerofmanifestation of psychic or spirit energy.Conan Doyle,in his book,''The New Revela-tion," asserts that these spirit communicationsestablish anewreligion,a"NewRevelation,"

PREFACEJiJa re-birth of the Christian religion, while EmileBoirac informs us in his "Psychology of theFuture" that these phenomena laytions of anew psychology,the founda-dealing with the ob-scure forces latent in the nature of man.These three well-known writers are firm believers in Spiritismandin the possibility ofcommunicating with the souls of the dead.Professor Crawford in his brief preface saysthat he is "personally satisfied that the spiritsare the souls ofhumanbeingswho have passedinto the beyond."But Catholic psychologists, and d Spiritism, state that no evidence whichwould be acceptedinany court of law has beengiven to prove that the spirits responding tohuman summons are the souls of men andwomen who at one time lived upon the earth.They contendthat thephenomena are producedand controlled by fallen angels, spirits of evil,and that so far from being communications fromthe dead, they are actually malign manifestations of diabolic force.Theyalso contend that

PREFACEiythesephenomena are manifestationsmoniacwithspiritsforbids all thosewhomwhode-ofthe Catholic Churchlisten toher voice to holdintercourse.Mr,J.Godfrey Raupert, who has devotedmany yearsto the study of psychicasks in his book,''"The Supreme Problem":Can we reasonablyrelationsphenomena,believe that the heretoforeand friendswill availthemselves ofmeans so repulsive and so disastrous as arethe spiritistic methods in order to furnish evidence to the living that theyThe distinguished Britishstillsurvive?"scientist Sir "Wil-liam Barrett, writing on Spiritism, saysmy ownpart,':'Forseems not improbable that theitbulk, if not thewhole of the physical mani-festations witnessed in a spiritual seance, arethe product of human-like, but not reallyhuman,—good or bad, daimonia they may—be which congregate around the medium, as aintelligencedrawn from that particular plane ofmental and moral development in the unruleseen whichmoralcorresponds to the mental anddevelopmentover, if there isofany truththemedium.in theMore-view suggested

;PREFACEYabove of a possible source of the purely physicalmanifestations,itseems tomethat the ApostlePaul, in the Epistle to the Ephesians, points toa race of spiritual creatures, similar to thoseI have described, but of a malignant type,he speaks of beings not made offleshwhenand bloodinhabiting the air around us and able injuri-Goodously to affect mankind.as well as mis-chievous agencies doubtless exist in the unseenthis, of course, isare due to thoseequally truewhoifthephenomenaonce lived upon the earth.In any case, granting the existence of aual world,it isspirit-necessary to be on our guardagainst the invasion of our will by a lower orderof intelligence and morality."In harmony with thewilland the orders ofAlmighty God, the Catholic Church not onlydenounces Spiritism, but also commands herchildren to abstaincommunication withfromspirits,the dead or demoniacal.spiritallintercourse andwhether they be ofShe condemns alsocommunications because of the frightfulresults which inevitably follow all sustainedSpiritistic practices.sheisAndin her denunciationssupported by influential members of the

PREFACEYiChurch of England, clergymen and eminentMembersentists.of the Spiritistic cultsci-mayprotest against the severe condemnation pro-nounced on Spiritism by the Catholic Church;but, with Dr.Raupert we ask them to "Pleaseexamine the evidence.Putting theology aside,examine, with an unbiased mind the Spiritisticphenomena.You will quickly become convincedthat a transcendental intelligencemanifestingand youitselfiscertainlythrough these phenomena,will also find that this intelligence isapowerfully evil force."Centuries of experience have taught Catholicpsychologists and doctors that devotion to Spiritism hasworked ravages upon the minds ofweak-willed and impressionable people, and hasdrivenmanyto suicideand insane asylums.Whether these statements and the Catholicview of Spiritism are accepted or rejected, thefrightful consequences resultingfrom communi-cation with transcendental spiritsplainly understood,andallshould bethoughtful Chris-tians should unite in denouncing the cult ofSpiritism and spirit manifestations.The Authoe.

CONTENTSCHAFTEBI Peeliminaey Discouksen1The Sixth Sensein The19Sense of OrientationrV WondersVPAGE29op Bilocation47BlOORPOREITT69VI Dual Personality77VJ-LVinSpiritism,Ancient and ModernSpiritism—What Is It?IX ApparitionsXDemoniacal PossessionXI WhatXnop the Dead ?Spirits opAnother World.91103115135149169

"There are morethings, Horatio, inheaven and onearth than are dreamt of in your philosophy."—Hamlet.AmongSpiritism,the occult sciences I include the cult ofandIdo not deny that associated withitare fraud, deception and trickery, but can any onebelieve that scholars like de Mirvilleand Des Mous-seaux and scientists like Lodge, Flammarion, Barret,Eichet, Wallace, and James, who, after many years ofexperience with mediums, after patient examinationof the cult, and intelligent study of the subject, aban-—doned materialism for Spiritism were deceived.They have all confessed their absolute belief in theobjective reality of spirit phenomena.The only ground of dispute between these eminentmen and Catholic and Anglican investigators of thecult is the nature of the beings or intelligences whichproduce the phenomena.

—ESSAYS IN OCCULTISM,SPIRITISM, AND DEMONOLOGYPKELIMINARY DISCOURSE———Modem Miracles Miracles of the Bible Man Surrounded by Mysteries Science and the Grain of SandAttraction Luminous Ether Effects of Adam's FallTendency to Torget God Sphere of the Angels The"Great Apostasy" Angelie Beings Statement of Professor Groves Professor Tyndall and Sound MiraclesSaint Paul and Agrippa Defect of Our Spiritual Vision——————————The Incarnation.Before entering upon any disquisition orexplanation of miracles or phenomena of theoccult sciences,it iswell to bear inmind thatthe wonders and miracles recorded in the livesof the saints and in the annals of ecclesiasticalhistory are not in the same class with, nor sofaith-compelling as are the miracles of theNewTestament, which serve to confirm our faith in1

ESSAYS IN OCCULTISMthe divinity of Jesus Christ and in the holinessand perpetuity of the religion He established.Apart from the fact that these testamentarysigns and miracles are recorded in books written under the inspiration of the Holy Ghost, andconfirmed by the voice of the Church,it must beremembered that they are included in the deposit of faith and may only be denied underpenalty of incurring the guilt of heresy andcommitting an act of manifest impiety. Allother miracles, no matter how well authenticated, rest upon what is termed legal evidence,and the Church leaves us free to accept or re-ject them.isThisisnot saying that,ifa miraclesubstantiated and approved by rightly con-stituted ecclesiastical authorityto creditit,we are notincurring a note of rash-ness and mental arrogance.mindthis truth.Weand we refusemustButletus bear inbelieve with theApostles and the Fathers that the Holy Spiritisthe soul of theChurch andthat, while theThird Person of the Adorable Trinity dwellsinforand animates the Church, miraclesall time,will,occur as manifestations of the in-

;OPRELIMINARY DISCOURSEKingdomdwelling of the Holy Ghost in theon earth of Jesus Christ, and as testimonies ofGod's love for his children.howeversigns,Letmepredicatewithout faith in God, miracles,that,wonders and certain "psychic phen-nomena" areimpossible of solution, and that,without belief in the inspiration of the Bible,they areWeacles,difficult to explain.are surrounded by mysteries—mir- byby prodigies, by the incomprehensible.In the purely material world the smallest grainof sand defies the powers of theForit,sixhuman mind.thousand years science has examinedhas turneditunderto the light, placed itthe microscope, divided and subdividedsheit;with experiments, wearieditwith interminable questions to extract fromithas tormenteditsome answer touchingshe has askedsatisfied:ititsintimate compositionwith a curiosity that"Whence came you?there be stiU something yet to dividefinite,no more?"neverAfter I havedivided you, can I divide you again?shall beisAndwillwhen timeSo on the rim of thescience hesitates, stumbles,isin-bewildered,

4ESSAYS IN QCCULTISMis seizedamwith vertigo, and at last exclaims :as one groping in the dark."So with"Iat-traction, that mysterious and wonderful powerof a primal, elemental law or force thatno manhas ever seen, touched or heard, and which initssilentand mysteriousallotherknown powers.knowinfluence surpassesAnd whatdo weof that substance of infinite tenuity, yet ofimmense elasticity, which permeates all spaceand every other substance, which cannot be seenor felt or weighed, and whose composition is unknown? So far as we know, it offers no resistance to the motion of planetary bodies, yetexistenceismade manifest byitsitsproperty oftransmitting chemical rays, light, radiant heat,electricity,and probably some more reconditeforms of energy, at fabulous velocity from theremotest parts of the universe, and by means ofvibrations,thenature of which, with theirastounding frequency and pitch, has been de-termined by mathematicians.Theunscientificmind may be disposed to regard its existenceas a myth or at most as an abstract conceptionof thehuman mind, andyet that great scien-

PRELIMINAKY DISCOURSEOtist,Lord Kelvin, has declared that not onlydoesit exist,butit is"the only substance weare confident of in dynamics and that the onethingweare sureof, isthe reality and sub-stantiality of this luminous ether."Howthesedo these myriad bodies of the universe,silent,insensiblebodies,unconsciouslyand reactionmarvelous equilibrium, andsustain that reciprocity of actionwhich holds them inin accord with one another?Thevisible creation is a veilbehind whichthe invisible Creator "worketh hitherto";veilwhich concealsHim fromathe unbelieving,the impure, the self-sufficient and the proud,and through which the pure of heart alone mayand even they only as St. Paul saw, "in aglass darkly," though with a promise of asee,revelation"facetoface"breaks and the shadowsThe Church explainsintellectflywhen "the dayaway."thisdarkness of theand weakness of perception when sheAdam, our first parent,human race "the wound ofteUs us that the sin ofvisitedupon theignorance by which the intellect has been weak-

6ESSAYS IN OCCULTISMened, so thatithas adifficulty intruth, easily falls into error,to things curiousdiscerningiaclinesand temporal thanThe mindeternal."andtime of the Apostles,ofmanmoreto thingsto-day, as in the"tossed about by everywind of doctrine," so that we are witnesses tothe un

ESSAYS IN OCCULTISM.SPIRITISM.AND DEMONOLOGY BY DEANW.R.HARRIS Authorof"'DaysandNightsintheTropics," "ByPathandTrail,""Pioneersofthe CrossinCanada,"etc. B .