••-• > o^ •: '^o^ ^^c^%"-o .<-^i.\ co\c^>o ..^' Digitized by tine Internet Arciiive in 2011 with funding from Tine Library of Congress http://www.archive.org/details/mystictextbookofOOdela -^^^ '^n^ The Mystic Test Book of **The Hindu Occult Chambers" THE Magic and Occultism of India Hindu and Egyptian Crystal Gazing The Hindu Magic Mirror By DR. L. W. de LAURENCE Astral and Spirit Sight. The Wonders of the Magic Mirror. Clairvoyance. Inner Sight. Interior Focalization of the Mind. State of Introspection. Interior Concentra- tion. Astral Auras. Reading in the Astral Light. Telepathy. SPECIAL FEATURE Hindu and Egyptian Crystal Gazing de LAURENCE, SCOTT & COMPANY MASONIC TEMPLE, CHICAGO, ILL. Copyright, 1909, by DR. L. W. de LAURENCE. Composition and Electrotyping by Peterson Linotype Co., March, 1909. Published April, 1909. NOTICE. — This work is protectee? by Copyright, and simul- taneous initial publications 'n Lnited States of America, Great Britain, France, Germany, Russia, India, China and other countries. All rights reserved. U LIBRARY of CONGRESS Two Co Dies .deceived Copyritnt En; - VUK-7 ■ttftSS * LftSS 4 Q r^ Dr. L. W. de Laurence IS AUTHOR AND PUBLISHER OF THE FOLLOWING FAMOUS BOOKS, WHICH ARE RECOGNIZED AS THE ONLY STANDARD WORKS PUBLISHED ON THESE SUBJECTS "The Book of Death, Hindu Spiritism, Soul Tran- sition, and Soul Reincarnation" — "The Great Book of Magical Art, Hindu Magic and East Indian Oc- cultism" — "The Book of Secret Hindu Ceremonial and Talismanic Magic" — "The Holy Bible Defended" (An Occult Interpretation of the Books of Holy Scripture, Raising the Astral Body of Samuel, The Witch of Endor, etc.) — "Medical Hypnosis (Phy- sician's Edition) , Hindu Hypnotism" — "The Famous Secret Hindu Method of Hypnotising by Conjuring and Invoking Occult Forces and Astral Spirits" — "Practical Lessons in H3rpnotism and Magnetism, Mysteries of Occultism Unveiled" — "Mesmerism, Suggestive Therapeutics and Magnetic Healing" — "The Book of Tanjore," exclusively for men — "The Genesis of the Hindu Adepts, Yoghees and Master Lamas of Central and Northern India" — "India's Hood Unveiled or Spirit-Sight-At-Will"— ''Dealings with the Dead" — "The Brotherhood of Healers" — The Mystic Test Book of "The Hindu Occult Cham- bers" — "The Magic and Occultism of India." TEXT BOOKS FOR "THE CONGRESS" "The Immanence of God" — "Know Thyself"— "Text Book of the Congress of Ancient, Divine, Mental and Christian Masters" — ^*God, the Bible Truth, and Christian Theology." No Author that ever lived has sriven to the world such a famous line of books on these subjects. —The Publishers The Mystic Test Book of **TheHindu Occult Chambers' The Magic and Occultism of India The Mystic Test Book of "The Hindu Occult Chambers'' Hindu and Egyptian Crystal Gazing Together With The Wonders of the Magic Mirror This work teaches the original and true science of Hindu Seership and "Spirit-and-Astral-Sight-At-Will." The Hindu can, by the use of the Crystal or the aid of the Magic Mirror, tell one's life from the cradle to the grave; he can, and does, by the use and aid of these mediums indicate medicine for disease, and perform many marvelous and myste- rious things; the very same being both good and evil. Many there are who have personally tested the Hindu and found that he possesses wonderfiil Astral and Esoteric Powers, gained only by the constant use of his Crystal and the aid of his Magic Mirror, which is his constant companion and helpmate. The author, in writing this treatise, has used some extracts and passages contained in his work "The Great Book of Magical Art, Hindu Magic and East Indian Occultism" as, of course, he had a perfect right to do, although this refers only to a very few pages in the fore part of this book. (.The Publisher's Note. ) THE MYSTIC TEST BOOK OF "THE HINDU OCCULT CHAMBERS'' THE MAGIC AND OCCULTISM OF INDIA. PART ONE. CHAPTER L Hindu and Egyptian Crystal Gazing, Together With the Wondees of the Hindu Magic Mirror. — Clairvoyant Vision. — Spirit and Astral Sight. The most pitiful and yet the most grotesque sight that meets the eye of today is the presump- tuous fool, who does not stop to think that by his own actions, conduct, and very maimer of living 2 MYSTIC TEST BOOS, HINDU OCCULT CHAMBERS. and believing he is persistently closing his inner or spiritual sight to the real possibilities of Life. These are concealed from him, because he has never developed his Inner or Soul Sight sufficient to realize or know that the most valuable asset in life is to ^^Knoiv Thyself" and to see with the Inner or Spiritual Sight. This book gives real instruction and Indian teachings, as they are known in South India. He who really and truly desires knowledge, and is sincere, faithful and steadfast in his efforts to obtain it, will learn a great deal from this work. The half -brained, lazy, complaining fool, who is always suspicious of others robbing him, will learn nothing here nor from no other book. He who is eternally crying and complaining, is he who disbelieves; and he who disbelieves, that is, has no belief or confidence in himself to learn some- thing from a book, is like the fool who complained because he could not see, while at the same time he was standing in his own light. So be careful that you are not guilty of stand- ing in your own light. As you delve into Hindu, Egyptian ancient mysteries the Spirit world will open before you. The more you begin to understand the language a?HE MAGIC AND OCCULTISM OF INDIA. 3 of the Adepts the more grows your conception of that life and world called Spirit, not seen by the outward sight. The Occultism, anatomy, physiology, and psy- chology which they teach make of man something immeasurably greater than the puny and impo- tent being known to modern science as a com- pound of bones, muscles, and nerves. Modern science (materialism) attempts to prove that man is an animal; the teachings of the Adepts show that he may be a God. Modern science invests him with the power to lift his own weight ; ancient science (Occult Philosophy) invests him with the power to control the destiny of the world. Mod- ern science allows him to live for a very limited number of years; ancient science teaches that he always existed, and will never cease to exist if he desires to live. Modern science deals with the instrument that the real man uses as long and as often as he comes into relationship with the world of phenomena, and she mistakes that instrument for the man ; the Adepts show you the true nature of the essential man, to whom one earthly exist- ence is nothing more than one of the many inci- dents of his eternal Spiritual career. This power of spiritual perception, potentially contained in every man, but developed in few, is almost unknown to the guardians of science in 4: MYSTIC TEST BOOK, HINDU OCCULT CHAMBERS. our Western countries of modern civilization, because learning is often separated from wisdom and the inner or Spirit Sight, and the calculating intellect seeking for worms in the dark caverns of the earth cannot see the genius that floats toward the light and it cannot realize his exist- ence. And yet this ancient science (Occultism), which the modern ignore, is as old as the world. It was known to the ancient prophets, to the Arhats and Rishis of the East ; to initiated Brah- mins, Egyptians, and Greeks, and the Hindu Sages. Its fundamental doctrines are found in the Hindu Vedas and the Sacred Books of the East. Upon these secret doctrines rest the fun- daments of the religions and secret orders of the world. They formed the essence of the secrets that were revealed only to the initiated in the inner temple, where the ancient mysteries were taught, and whose disclosure to the vulgar was forbidden under the penalty of torture and death. They were secrets known to the ancient sages and to the Hindu Adepts and Rosicrucians of the Middle Ages, and upon a partial understanding of their truths rests the system of modern Freemasonry. They are not to be confounded with speculative philosophy, that reasons from the known to that which it cannot know, trying by the flickering light THE MAGIC AND OCCULTISM OF INDIA. 5 of logic and orthodoxy to grope its way into the darkness, and to feel the objects which it cannot see. These doctrines were taught by the seers of old who possessed spiritual power and the inner sight to see. Such men were the great religious reformers of all ages, from Confucius and Zoroas- ter down to Jacob Boehme and Eckartshausen, and their teachings have been verified by every one whose purity of mind and whose power of intellect have enabled him to see and to under- stand the things of the spirit (God). Some of their doctrines refer to morals and ethics, others are of a purely scientific character ; but both aspects of their teachings are intimately connected together, because beauty cannot be separated from truth. They both form the two pages of a leaf in the book of universal Nature, whose understanding confers upon the reader not merely opinions, but knowledge, and renders him not only learned, but illuminated with wisdom and Spirit-Sight- At-Will. Among those who have taught the moral aspect of the secret doctrine there are none greater than Buddha, Plato, and Jesus of Nazareth; of those who have taught its scientific aspect there have been none more profound than Hermes, Trisme- gistus, Pythagoras, and Paracelsus. They ob* tained their knowledge not merely from following 6 MYSTIC TEST BOOK, HINDU OCCULT CHAMBERS. the prescribed methods of learning, or by accept- ing the opinions of the "recognized authorities" of ''their times," bnt they studied nature by her own light, and learned the lesson ''I^ow Thy- self," and they became lights themselves, whose rays illuminate the world of mind. What they taught has been to a certain extent verified and amplified by the teachings of Eastern Adepts (Yoghis), and Hierophants of the Orient. The Light of Wisdom. There is an art, known only to a few, by which the purified and faithful soul of man may be instructed and illuminated so as to be raised at once from the darkness of ignorance (material- ism) to the light of wisdom and knowledge. If the soul is perfectly purified and sanctified it becomes free in its movements, it sees and recog- nizes the Divine light, and instructs itself, while it seems to be instructed by another. In this state the soul requires no other admonition except its own realization, which is the head and guide of the soul. It is then no more subject to terrestrial condi- tions of time, but lives in the eternal ; and for the human soul to desire a thing is to possess it already. THE MAGIC AND OCCULTISM OF INDIA. % Man's power to realize increases in proportion as this ethereal and celestial power of light pene- trates his mind, and, developing his inner sight or Spirit sight, it may enable him to see and per- ceive that which he interiorly thinks, just as if it were objective and external. Spirit being unity and independent of our ideas of space, and all men having therefore essentially the same spirit, the soul of men existing at places widely distant from each other may thus enter into communication (telepathy), and converse with each other exactly in the same manner as if they had met in their physical bodies. In this state man may perform a great many things in an exceedingly short period of time, so that it may seem to us as if he had required no time at all to perform it. Such a man is able to comprehend and understand everything by the light of the universal power (spirit) or guiding intelligence with which he is spontaneously united. Again, that there is a certain kind of spiritual force, occult influence or energy, based on the existence of the spiritual and Astral world, placed without, not within, the body, and into communica- tion with which the human soul of man can enter by and through the law and principal of realiza- tion, has long been demonstrated as a fact. That these invisible forces (evil spirits who are earth- 8 MYSTIC TEST BOOK, ffiNDU OCCULT CHAMBERS. bound and exist in the Astral body) can control a man and break him down as easily as the fearful hurricane sweeps all before it, striking him in a thousand places at the same time, without his being able to perceive the invisible foe or being able to protect himself, is also proven. But that these forces may be dominated and invoked, so that they will obey the thoughts, answer to the voice and understand the meaning of traced signs, is what many cannot realize and what their reason rejects ; yet this also is capable of being demonstrated and proven. The reader and student should always bear in mind that in trying to demonstrate these things for himself he is working with unseen and powerful agents, which, if he is not equally powerful, pure and high- minded, loving his fellow-men, and seeking to benefit mankind, rather than seeking or desiring Occult powers to further his own selfish interests, he had much better be dead than to try any of these things for the gratification of his personal nature; for in seeking to harm another, curses, like chickens, return home to roost, with a much greater force than the original impulse. Thus, again, we should look within rather than without, as the exercise of True Magic does not require any ceremonies or conjurations, or the making of circles and signs; it only requires a THE MAGIC AND OCCULTISM OF INDIA. 9 strong faith, gained through a knowledge of na- ture's laws, ivhich can accomplish anything, if it acts through a human mind which is in harmony with these laws, without which nothing useful can he done. True Magic also consists in true faith; but true faith rests in spiritual knowledge, and without that kind of knowledge there can be no faith; this is only obtained by developing one's oivn inner and most lofty nature. The conjura- tion of the evil spirits of the Astral plane (sorcery, black magic and witchcraft) means practically a full realization of ''Faust and the Demon." There are many strange things set forth in the following pages, almost too strange to believe, yet because one is ignorant of their existence it does not follow that they are not real, as the sad rec- ords of Sorcery and Witchcraft, of Voodooism and The Black Art abundantly testify. Man does not know himself, therefore he does not understand the things of the invisible world. Each man has the essence of the Divine (spiritual) within himself; he possesses one kind of knowl- edge as much as another, and he who does not find that which is in him he cannot truly say he does not possess it, only he is not as yet capable of successfully seeking it. Therefore, in seeking, always bear in mind — true growth rests in the capacity of the human 10 MYSTIC TEST BOOK, HINDU OCCULT CHAMBERS. soul and the human will to comprehend spiritual truths, and not hy basing its conclusions upon external appearances caused by the illusion of the senses or of selfish purposes. The writer's teachings are, that our soul is the vehicle of celestial attraction, transferring celes- tial and spiritual virtue into Seals, Images, Amu- lets, Rings, Papers, Glasses, etc. Also, he has endeavored to give the most clear and rational illustration of the wonderful Occult sympathy and antipathy, attraction and repulsion between all things in the universe. He has likewise proved how cures are performed by virtue of sympathetic powers and medicines, by seals, rings, and amulets, even at unlimited distances, which he has been a witness of, and are daily confirmed in the true and certain belief of. This same being taught in '"The Great Book of Magical, Hindu Magic and East Indian Occultism. ' ' The writer knows how to communicate with any person, and to give him intimation of pur- pose, at a hundred or a thousand miles distance ; but then a preparation is necessary, and the par- ties should have their appointed seasons and hours for that purpose; likewise, both should be of the same firm constancy of mind, and a disciple or brother in OCCULTISM or ADEPTSHIP. THE MAGIC AND OCCULTISM OF INDIA. H There is also given methods whereby a man may receive true and certain intimation of future things (by dreams) of whatsoever his mind has before meditated upon, himself being properly disposed. Likewise, there is recited the various methods used by the ancients for the invocation of spirits from the ASTRAL PLANE ; different forms of MAGICAL EXORCISM, incantations, orations, binding of spirits, conjurations; all of which is the knowledge taught by the Eastern ADEPTS and the most famous MAGICIANS, such as Zoroaster, Hermes, Apollonius, Simon of the Temple, Trithemius, Agrippa, Porta (the Neapol- itan), Dr. Dee, Paracelsus, Roger Bacon, and a great many others ; to which the author has sub- joined notes, endeavoring to point out the differ- ence of the arts, so as to free the name of Magic from any scandalous imputation, seeing it is a word originally significative not of any evil, but of every good and laudable science, such as a man might profit by, and become both WISE and happy; and the knowledge of OCCULTISM is so far from being offensive to science or man that the very root or ground of all Magic takes its rise from the Orient and British West Indies. The Hindus were the first Magicians, for by their high and excellent knowledge they knew that 13 MYSTIC TEST BOOK, HINDU OCCULT CHAMBERS. the Occult power which was promised was born in all men. Therefore, let no one be offended at the venerable and sacred title of Magician or Adept — a title which every WISE man merits while he pursues that path which "Jesus the Master" himself trod, viz., humility, charity, mercy, fasting, etc.; and, again, men should "Be wise as serpents, and harmless as doves." Such instructions as these are frequently named and given in many places of the ancient Mysteries. * ' The Great Book of Magical Art, Hindu Magic and East Indian Occultism, ' * referred to elsewhere in this work, also forms a complete treatise on the mysteries of OCCULTISM and CEREMONIAL MAGIC, by the study of which a man (who can separate himself from material objects, by the modification of the sensual appetite — abstinence from drunkenness, gluttony, and other bestial pas- sions, and who lives pure and temperate, free from actions which degenerate a man to a brute) may become a recipient of Divine Light and knowl- edge; by which he may foresee things to come, whether to private families or kingdoms, or states, empires, battles, victories, etc.; and likewise be capable of doing much good to his fellow-crea tures, such as the healing of all disorders, mental and physical, and assisting with the comforts of life the unfortunate and distressed. THE MAGIC AND OCCULTISM OF INDIA. 13 Further, the writer has spoken in that famous work, largely of prophetic dreams and visions throughout the different chapters, and has given valuable knowledge, fully set down for the infor- mation of the WISE, some few most secret things being reserved by the author for his pupils only, not to be taught by publication. If in these writings the Author seems oracular and dogmatic, it is because he writes from the standpoint of the true Adept and Seer rather than that of the scientist or materialistic philoso- pher, or the orthodox theologian, and depends for the recognition and acceptance of the absolute truth more upon its clear and positive enunciation through the soul than upon its exposition and defense by argument. To Read the Past and Future of Man. There is a true and Divine Occult Philosophy, as there is an Occult or Thaumaturgic Power. This Thaumaturgic Power was exercised by "Jesus The Master" and all followers of his school. This Power was the legitimate fruit of the regenerate or higher spiritual life to which they called the world, and in the Power and in- spiration of which they lived, spake and wrought. To understand the mysterious Occult influences 14 MYSTIC TEST BOOK, HINDU OCCULT CHAMBERS. of the Celestial realm upon the Intellectual and these upon the Terrestrial, amd to realize how to develop ourselves so as to he a Master who is capable of attracting to his own soul the supreme influences of these tvorlds, whereby he may he able to operate and do ivonderful things by these Occidt Powers — to read the past and future of man, to hnoiv the secret counsels of men, to attract ivealth, to overcome secret enemies and animals, to procure the love and favor of those around you, to deflect or expel disease, to prolong the days of your life on the earth plane, to foretell future events, to see clairvoyantly and realise things hap- pening many hundred miles away, and such likes as these. That this lies within the possibilities of the sold of man may seem incredible, yet read the ''Great Book of Magical Art, Hindu Magic and East Indian Occidtism," a volume of almost 600 pages, as well the ensuing treatise, and you will realize the above possibilities, confirmed and veri- fied by common sense and reason. For the cring- ing, sceptical. Material fool and doubter the writer cares nothing. Warning and Words of Advice to Crystal Gazers AND Those Who Use the Magic Mirror. The writer will hereby inform the student that whatever the desires are which have prompted you THE MAGIC AND OCCULTISM OF INDIA. . 15 in the pursuit of a knowledge of OCCULTISM AND THE INVISIBLE FORCES OF NATURE, so you will reap, for ''LIKE ALWAYS AT- TRACTS LIKE.'' If you desire the knowledge to secure revenge, it is but proper that I should warn you that thou wilt, in any of the experiments contained in these treatises, draw or attract to thyself a revengeful demon, or an accursed infer- nal furious evil spirit, serving in the principal and law of wrath; if for worldly riches and aggran- dizement, then shalt thou have an earthiel or fiery spirit, which will delude thee with the riches of the central world; if for fame, or the blaze of glory, then you will have the evil spirits of pride, and they will be allotted thee, who will gratify thy inordinate desire of vain glory; for all these offices are there evil spirits who have been allotted, and they are ever eager to merge their evil will and spirit with yours ; they will through the same law attract thee to their own nature, and serve all thy desires and purposes according to the extent as thy desires are, and from what prin- ciples they proceed, so shalt thou be answered; but if thou desirest the knowledge but for the honor and glory of thy soul (GOD) and to help thy fellow-men, and, in great humility, fill thy heart with the love of all mankind, thou shalt then attract a good spirit, which will grant thy desires. 16 MYSTIC TEST BOOK, HINDU OCCULT CHAMBERS. and also to assist yon to overcome enemies. Therefore bear this advice: Seek for and desire that which is good; avoid attracting ALL Evil, either in thought, desire, word, or action; and then shalt thou reap the rewards of the soul which desires to develop the inner or spirit sight. Re- member, there are tivo ivays magically set before thee; choose which thou wilt, thou shalt be sure of thy reward. Remember, believe in yourself and you will succeed. STATE OF INTROSPECTION. By and through the law of realization, inspira- tion is awakened and established. Again, by and through the exercise of the powers of Auto-sug- gestion, self -thought, the supreme realization of self, and the innermost desire of life are reached and manifested, withholding all doubt, which opens up to us and connects us with the inward or latent supreme possibilities of soul (God). To have appreciative knowledge of this exalted condition of inspiration before it is experienced, and of the separate and distinct planes of con- sciousness and the specific dormant forces they involve, it will be necessary to keep before the mind the conception that we can, by constant ap- plication of suitable Auto-suggestion, manifest THE MAGIC AND OCCULTISM OF INDIA. 17 that perfection of the permanent inner-soul body. Further, it is necessary to hold this thought or conception and dwell upon it until it becomes the dominant impression and actual realization of our daily life, exerting its uplifting and toning influ- ence upon our personality, upon all our actions and thoughts. This subtle magnetism (soul essence or force) and aormal spheres of personality emanates from souls properly controlled, not bodies, and exert all their marvelous subtlety of action most potently on the minds of others. This inner Occult or soul power (vital magnetism), when properly exerted, will overcome and remove all adverse and oppo- site impressions which have become a life habit of identifying our personal life and being with the Physical body, and its dependence upon external things and conditions. The person who is a crea- ture of habit, and one whom the sense conscious- ness has so long held dominance, that the tend- ency of its impressions to continually recur is so fixed, it will perpetually reassert itself, unless the habit be broken by implanting through special and persistent Auto-suggestion the opposite impres- sion to dominate in its place. Any deficiency of character or habit, mental or physical, can be thus overcome or be broken by earnest, persistent effort in the right direction. 18 MYSTIC TEST BOOK, HINDU OCCULT CHAMBERS. This inspiration, realization or psychic con- sciousness established, however, breaks forever dominance of embarrassment and hesitation caused by sense impressions of self ; hence the im- portance of the immediate awakening and en- thronement of this inspiration (realization), and the self-control of this higher consciousness, the perfection of which is reached and effected by gaining supreme self-control through the law or door of realization. THE IVLA-CHC AND OCCULTISM OF INDIA. 19 CHAPTER II. Adeptship^ Clairvoyan^cy, Hindu Magic, Occult Influence, Mediumship and Inner Sight. On the west coast of India, about one hundred and thirty miles north of Bombay, lies the city of Baroda. Here the writer has seen many miracu- lous occult feats on many different occasions, per- formed in precisely the same manner, and the mystery to the outsider seemed only to deepen with every repetition. The Spirit and Occult pow- ers of the Hindus have been the wonder of India from a time antedating, perhaps, the building of the first pyramid. The early Jesuit Fathers and other pious ortho- dox hair brained mortals, startled at the sight, and at a total loss to account for it, very promptly attributed it to the devil, and this ingenious ex- planation is still persisted in by the missionaries and those superstitious, ignorant followers of Theology of the present, who assert that it is a sin even to witness these performances, and who anathematize the, Yohis as agents of Satan. Many are the wonders of Hindu Magic. I might go on relating a hundred or more of wonder- 20 MYSTIC TEST BOOK, HINDU OCCULT CHAMBERS. ful significance, and in every respect strange, which have been witnessed in that gorgeous land of the East, which, even in this nineteenth century of merciless Western materialism, is more of a fairyland than xirabia ever was at the time of Haroun al Easchid. That earliest cradle of our race and civilization, Hindustan, still holds the key to many Occult mys- teries. In the shade of its palm groves, in the depths of its jungles, in the wild recesses of its mountains, and behind the walls of its temples and lamaseries there yet lurks many a secret, which will tax the ingenuity of your best Western rea- soners for ages to come. The Eastern adepts and Hierophants, through their long practice of thought and attention, and the art of contemplation and ancestral practice for centuries, as well as the invocation of the spirits of the Astral Plane, have developed an intellectual insight, subtlety of thought, power of metaphysical analysis and philosophical reasoning which dwarfs into insignificance the best product of our Western Schools. There is a strange fascination in solitude. Man, that singular admixture of the bestial and divine, who in the society of his own species delights in THE MAGIC AND OCCULTISM OF INDIA. 31 being paltry and trivial, in developing the more ignoble and clownish side of his nature, becomes a different being when by necessity or choice he is left to his own meditations. The silence of the forests, the stillness of the desert, the vast expanse of the ocean, or the unbroken quiet of some secluded nook, awaken in him thoughts and feel- ings which the bustle of every-day life can never engender. Then the man is apt to propound to himself the great old riddle, and to descend into the abysmal depths of his own consciousness. The Law For an Adept. To one, then, who would become an Adept, and enter in earnest upon the process of induction into the higher states and planes of consciousness, the importance of recognizing and observing the law and adopting the habits which belong to the higher life he is seeking, will be apparent. That law is temperance in eating and drinking, and modera- tion in all the functions and relations of sex, avoid- ing in both those indulgences which perverted activities and abnormal desires demand. The Three Specific Occult Steps. There are but three steps involved in the act of withdrawing from the sense-plane (material 22 MYSTIC TEST BOOK, HINDU OCCULT CHAMBERS. world) and entering into communication with the things of either the psychic world or the spiritual plane, and they are so simple that the humblest intellect can comprehend them. The first is to bring the activities of the personal ego into abso- lute stillness, by diverting or withdrawing the attention and thought from everything relating to things for the sense-life, and centering them upon the specific object chosen for interior con- templation. The second is to empty the mind also of everything relating to self-interest, and lay down all preimpressions, prejudgments and per- sonal predilections, that the mind may be a perfect blank, on which the truth, undisturbed or unob- structed by the bias of prejudice or personal desire, may write its own story. The third is to firmly hold the mind in this unbiased receptive attitude upon the object in the full expectation of thus receiving the desired truth. It should be remembered that on the inner psychic plane the soul activities of everything pro- duce vibrations upon the psychic or ethereal atmosphere, which is so subtile and elastic that these vibrations extend indefinitely. When the mind is emptied and still, or passive, and opens itself to the psychic plane and the spirit world, and the attention is centered upon any given object or person, the soul vibrations of that particular THE MAGIC AND OCCULTISM OF INDIA. 33 object become focused upon the psychic organism, and awaken in the consciousness of the listener the very truth of that which made the vibrations. If the soul be in a perfectly receptive attitude, and you have attained, it can take on the condition and thus enter into such sympathetic unity with the dominant states of the person or thing upon which the attention is fixed that it will sense and Imow them as perfectly as if they were its own, so the real character and condition of persons and things becomes as tangible and real to the soul of the psychometrist as if they were his own. Claievoyancy. If, then, any one would enter into the secret life, real character and true condition of persons and things, so as to know the absolute truth concern- ing them, he must get mentally still, hold his attention steadily upon them, and keep in perfectly receptive and . unbiased attitude toward them. When this attitude of mind and will is perfectly held, the vibrations on the psychic ether from the spontaneous activities of the object upon which the attention is centered, will be gathered up in the personal life, and made to reproduce to and in the personal consciousness, the original condition that produced them, and thus be made to tell their own 34 MYSTIC TEST BOOK, HINDU OCCULT CHAMBERS. story without dissimulation or abating one jot or tittle of the truth in the matter. The same holds true of any particular or special thing which it is desirable and legitimate to know concerning them. When the attention is held in this receptive atti- tude upon such specific matter to learn the exact truth concerning it, that particular truth will be made clear and certain to the listening conscious- ness. It will thus be seen that this necessary listening and receptive attitude is possible only when the soul desires the absolute truth independent of all prejudgment, or any bias of personal considera- tion. We do not listen to another's conversation while we are talking to him, neither can we receive the true story of another's life or character on the psychic plane with our mind upon him, full of active prejudgment, and the bias of personal con- siderations. This attitude of desiring and seeking the truth and nothing but the truth, independent of all per- sonal consideration and bias, involves also the attitude and determination to be absolutely just on the basis of this truth, independent of all personal consideration or bias of any kind whatsoever. This attitude will prevent any misuse of the knowledge of the truth thus gained, and also keep the desire to that only which is legitimate. The THE MAGIC AND OCCULTISM OF INDIA. 35 desire for that which is not legitimate destroys the condition of reliability. This twofold attitude is an absolute necessity for the successful development and exercise of the psychometric power and true spiritual seership, and the holding of this attitude will most certainly enable any one to do this. But for one to hold this impersonal and impartial attitude absolutely, he will need, as I have said, to come in touch and sympathetic unity with the Impersonal Life and Spirit of the Divine and Absolute, which should be the first or supreme desire of every one. This awakens and enthrones the divine and impersonal ego of his own being, which is always in unity and oneness with the astral world, and holds the per- sonal life in the consciousness of its spiritual supremacy. This is why the writer emphasizes the necessity of first opening the spiritual con- sciousness and developing the inner or spirit sight, and enthroning the spiritual nature in the personal life, in which the impersonal and impartial atti- tude becomes the spontaneous and permanent law of the life. The three successive steps, then, which open the soul to free and unobstructed activity and com- munication on both the psychic and spirtual planes, may be summed up and briefly stated thus : First, get the personal ego still, and empty the 2e MYSTIC TEST BOOK, HINDU OCCULT CHAMBEES. mind and feelings of every bias and standard of self and sense ; that is, put out of the mind every- thing relating to the sense-life and the desires of self, thus putting the soul in a perfectly receptive attitude for the unbiased and unobstructed revela- tion of truth. Second: When this passive state is fully induced, fix and hold the attention in the passive yet expectant attitude upon the specific object about which the truth is desired. Third: These two steps having been fully taken, stand firmly and persistently in the receptive and listen- ing attitude toward the object for the immediate revelation of the truth concerning it, and in the full expectation of getting it, and ''according to your faith" shall it he done unto you. This receptive state, and listening, expectant attitude, will certainly open the consciousness to the psychic vibrations which write unerringly their story on the receptive mind. If, in this third step, we entertain doubts and questionings, we are not holding the receptive and listening attitude. This was the constant attitude and normal condition of "Jesus The Master," and so without study or effort he always stood in the light of absolute truth concerning everything with which he came into personal relations. He said : "I can of mine oivn self do nothing; as I hear, I judge (always in the listening attitude for the THE MAGIC AND OCCULTISM OF INDIA. 27 inner voice or revelation) : and my judgment is just; because I seek not mine oivnwill, hut always listen to the inner voice from the astral plane." To gain the mastery of these three steps, so as to be able to assume this attitude at will, requires no more qualification, attention and persevering application than does the mastery of any of the ordinary accomplishments, as music, art, or the mechanical handicrafts of industry; but, as in all these, the Neophyte may be greatly helped by the personal sympathy and guidance of those who have had experience in overcoming, and have attained some degree of experimental Adeptship. Very few, if any, will succeed absolutely without this. Even Jesus needed and received the sym- pathy and ministry of John the Baptist. Where two of you are agreed, etc., it shall be done for them. There is one advantage in seeking the mastery of these three steps over that of the ordinary accomplishments of life, and that is the immediate help of divine inspiration if the seeker begin at the center of his being; since this brings him at once under the transforming chemistry of the spiritual life, and the awakening touch of the quickening power that comes directly from the Supreme Center of the Divine and Absolute. The benefit derived from the ministry of others is the 2S MYSTIC TEST BOOK, HINDU OCCULT CHAMBERS. help they may give in bringing one to the true attitude within himself. He who gains the mastery of these three steps, so as to be able to assume and hold this attitude at will — nay, to hold it as the permanent and normal attitude of his life, by having applied it to the opening and co-ordination of the three planes of activity in the personal consciousness — ^has gained the psychometric key to all legitimate knowledge, ivisdom, seership and occult mastery of being, and may take his place in the Mighty Brotherhood of the Illuminati, Magi, and Hiero- phants of the ages, the twice-born Sons of God, who is Immanent, and Brothers of ''Jesus the Master," who was the greatest clairvoyant that has ever lived. Conditions For Spirit Sight. Those who in the true sense deserve the appella- tion of ''ADEPTS" in India are ' not the specu- lative philosophers or elaborations of cosmogonies. The real adepts are often remarkably deficient in philosophical and even general information. The writer has found among them individuals who would be deemed exceedingly ignorant if judged by our Western standard of education; men, for instant, who had not the haziest knowl- THE MAGIC AND OCCULTISM OF INDIA. 29 edge of geography, and to whom even the history of their own country was in a great measure a sealed book. Yet these men were the custodians of Occult power and secrets for which many an intellectual giant would readily exchange twenty years of his life, secrets which so far have success- fully baffled the researches of the best Western thinkers and experimenters, and which not only enabled the possesor to suspend or defy the ordi- nary "laws of nature," but to trimnph over time and space with an ease and readiness which the Greeks hardly dared to attribute to their Olympian gods. There are among the adepts men of vast mental caliber, philosophers in the highest sense, men whose society is coveted by the foremost Hindu scholars and Western scientists, and who bear the stamp of genius in their countenance. But they are rare exceptions, like everything else that is great and noble in this sorrowful world. What I desire to dwell upon is the fact that adeptship in the real esoteric science of India does not presuppose great learning or intellectual superiority on the part of the initiate.* * The years of probation and the almost incredible hardships which are often inflicted upon the Neophyte before he is deemed worthy of reception into the "brotherhood," are more intended to test his physical endurance and observe his trustworthiness than to increase his store of information. 30 mystic test book, hindu occult chambers. Specific Methods of Concentration. The great principle which underlies the almost endless modification of Hindu Occultism may be embodied in the term ''ABSTEACTION"— namely, the attainment of as complete a state of introspective vision as possible, by the withdrawal of the senses of sight, hearing, touch, etc., from the external world. Perhaps it will be of advantage to the reader if I here describe a little more fully what is meant by introspection. Suppose a mathematician in order to master some intricate problem were to seek refuge within the solitude of his four walls and endeavor to concentrate his mind completely upon the task before him. Now, if his success depended upon his power to reach complete abstraction, he would speedily discover that he was far from reaching the desired goal; although he might secure solitude, he would not be able to exclude sound, for various noises are bound to reach and attract part of his attention, in spite of the most rigid a]3plication of his will. Assuming, however, that all sound were ex- cluded, there are impressions of sight which are an equal if not a greater obstacle in the path of him who would seek to attain the introspective state. THE MAGIC AND OCCULTISM OF INDIA. 31 He might resort to the simple method of shut- ting his eyes, hoping thereby to get rid of the external world and reach the introspective state. Futile effort! There still would remain the con- sciousness of that fact that objects of various kinds were surrounding him, which is a disturbing influence. Now, granting that the perceptions of sound, sight, and even touch, could for a time at least be completely extinguished, there still would remain of this or that sorrow of frustrated hopes, of busi- ness troubles, of all the petty vexations and annoy- ances of life. Unless these also be completely annihilated, there can be no such thing as abstraction in the sense of the esoteric philosophy of India. The various methods followed by the students of Occultism in the Far East, from the fakir to the greatest adept, have only one sole aim — namely, the attainment of a state of complete introspec- tion or interior concentration of the mind. When this condition is reached, as all Masters know, "The mind is a scroll upon which nature will write." In other words, the Adept in that state identifies himself with the Astral world or universal consciousness, and partakes in a meas- ure of the divine attribute of omniscience as well as omnipotence. 32 MYSTIC TEST BOOK, HINDU OCCULT CHAMBERS. Ceystal Gazing Among the Hindu Seeks. Among the Hindu Seers and initiates the prac- tice of crystal-gazing is largely followed as a means of enforcing the introspective condition. A piece of crystal, usually polished (Japanese balls of rock crystal about three inches in diam- eter are in common use all over India), is placed before the observer, who will seek some solitary spot and steadily gaze on the shining surface. The student who practices crystal-gazing will obtain results which will be a surprise and a revelation to him. The eye should be placed on a level with the crystal and about ten inches away from the latter ; a light must be adjusted sideways, so that its image is not in the line of vision, and a piece of black cloth should be suspended behind the crystal. Within less than two minutes the Adept has attained a degree of introspection, and will then behold in the Astral light which will envelop the crystal surface whatever he wishes to ascertain; for instance, what a certain person is doing at a certain moment. Even the past and future will become revealed and he can read your past and future as easily as you are reading this page. A little practice two or three times a day will enable almost any one to reach this degree of THE MAGIC AND OCCULTISM OF INDIA. 33 Occultism, and the clearness of the images thus obtained, coupled with the correctness of the in- formation, will be an everlasting surprise to the Neophyte. Of course, what he apparetly sees in the crystal is in reality transpiring in the Astral light. He has reached a degree of introspective vision, but is obliged to make use of some external tangible object, which for the time being becomes his medium. A plain or concave mirror, set in a wooden frame, and floated upon water, will answer the same purpose, and many Fakirs enforce the abstract condition by merely gazing into the water which they have poured into a small earthen bowl. The breathing exercises resorted to by the so- called Hatha Yogha school of Occultism have no other purpose than to identify the consciousness of the individual with that of the astral plane, and fifty pages might be filled with a description of the endless variety of methods which this school enjoins. The true adept, however, who has attained to the highest pinnacles of esoteric wisdom, scorns to make use of these external and to him childish modes of introspection ; he has come to recognize that "the truth lies tvithin the depth of his own consciousness/^ and he can place himself in the abstract state within a few seconds by mere will 34 MYSTIC TEST BOOK, HINDU OCCULT OHAMBEES. power, whereas, tlie beginner identifies the occult phenomena with the crystal, the mirror or the magic cup, which he correspondingly reverences and regards of great value in assisting him to get a start.* Mind-Eeading in India. The development of telepathy, or mind-reading, in India as a national characteristic, is amazing; it manifests itself in the every-day life of her peo- ple and reaches its climax in the attainment of the masters of occult wisdom on the high plateau of Thibet. The wonderful manner in which intelli- gence is communicated, or, rather, the speed with which news of an important character travels in the East, is a case in point. During the late Afghan war it invariably happened that the news of any success or disaster to the British was known * It will be observed that a specific definition and description of "spiritual gifts," "Power or Sight" embraces every phrase of a legitimate occult power, knowledge, insight and mastery ever claimed or sought by the Magi, Seer, Adept, Apostles and Hiero- phants of the world, and that the great Apostle clearly intimates that they are for and should be experienced by the humblest of the Master's followers. It will be further noticed that the source of the new and higher knowledge, wisdom and power here recognized and specifi- cally emphasized as free to all, is ascribed to the direct onduement of the Spirit (not spirits, or angels), but the Supreme and Univer- sal Spirit from which men as well as angels derive their life, their intelligence and their power, and to which, therefore, all alike, the humble as well as the most exalted have equal access. THE MAGIC AND OCCULTISM OF INDIA. 35 all over India long before the authorities at Cal- cutta were officially informed. Thus, for instance, the details of the battle of Maineaud were dis- cussed in the bazaars of Calcutta for days before the news was received at headquarters, to the utter amazement of the vice-royal government. This, in spite of the fact that the British had the advantage of sending dispatches by couriers down the valley of the Kabul River and through to Khyber Pass to Peshawur, and telegraphing cypher messages from there to Calcutta. It is absurd to try to account for this on the supposi- tion that the news will travel from mouth to mouth, as it were, and from village to village. There are intervening mountain ranges and great deserts, villages and hamlets many miles apart and exten- sive ranges, where scarcely any human habitation is to be met with. Besides the Hindus are not given to much travel, and there is little, if any, intercommunication by means of letters or mes- sages of any sort. AVliy, the news of the great disaster which befell Napoleon's army at Moscow took over six weeks to reach Paris, and this at a time when postal communication was already well organized all over Europe. In India it would have been known all over the land in less than two hours, and not merely in the sense of a vague presentiment that something had happened, but in 36 MYSTIC TEST BOOK, HINDU OCCULT CHAMBERS. the shape of a distinct vision, which, although not seen by everybody, is beheld by tens of thousands, who are not slow to communicate it to their fellow- men. Method. The method to accomplish this is a very simple one: LOOK INTO YOUR OWN SELF*, and if you do this rightly you will see everything, and will be under no obligations to ask further ques- tions. * If we compare the teachings of the Eastern sages with the cosmology taught by the writer, and substitute the Sanscrit of the Tibetan terms used by the former for those invented by the latter, the two systems will be found almost, if not wholly, identical. According to the Eastern sages, there is a ceaseless activity going on during the state of Pralaya (the night of Brahm), in that incomprehensible eternal First Cause that may be looked upon in one of its many aspects as being Matter, Motion, and Space, in an absolute sense, which is beyond the grasp of our relative conception. Its motion is the unconscious latent life inherent in it. This is the Yliaster of the writer, the *'root of Matter," or Mula prakriti of the Vendantins, out of which Prakriti (Matter) and Purusha (Space) become manifest as body and form. In this, The Absolute, Infinite, and Unconditioned, being the endless aggregation of everything conditioned and finite, the germ of potentialities of all things are contained. It is the Limbus Chaos and the germs contained in it that are developed by the action of the Universal Mind, Dyan-Chohans, and the power of wisdom, Fo-hat — to use the Tibetan words. Thjis the Universe may be said to be a product of Cosmic Ideation and Cosmic Energy, acting not at random or in an arbitrary manner, but according to a certain order produced by previous causes, and which constitute the Law. The existence of this inevitable and unchangeable law is frequently alluded to by the writer. As, for instance: "Does not holy writ say that God spoke: Am I not the God who made the dumb and the deaf, the blind and the see- ing? What else does this mean, but that he is creator of all THE MAGIC AND OCCULTISM OF INDIA. 37 The exercise of THAUMATUEGIO POWER by the Christ and his Apostles has mistakenly been regarded as a supernatural and miraculous gift, bestowed for an exceptional purpose, instead of the working of an OCCULT law to be practically studied, mastered and applied in universal experi- ence. There is not the slightest warrant for the miracle view in the teaching of either Jesus or his Apostles. On the contrary, this power was spe- cifically emphasized by them as the legitimate fruit of the regenerate or higher spiritual life to which they called the world and in the power and inspira- tion in which they lived, spake and wrought. ''Jesus the Master" insisted upon the exercise of this power as a necessity to the successful preaching and spread of his gospel, which taught the Immanence of God, through the world. things, of good and of evil?" The writings of the Buddhists teach the same doctrine, saying that there is only One Power, SvabhaTat. It cannot act otherwise than according to the law of cause and effect, and that makes a useful tree grow as well as useless stone in the bladder of man, according to the causes that have been produced by previous effects. Each act and each thought has a cause, and the cause of the cause is the Law. The identity of the doctrines. Philosophy and Theosophy, by the writer with that of the eastern sages and Adepts will prove that he was taught these things in the East. Nevertheless this is not essential; for to the opened spiritual understanding of man God is as near in the West as He is in the East. He who is capable, developed to open his spiritual eyes, may see the sun him- self and does not need to be informed about its existence by some- body having seen the sun in the Orient. 38 MYSTIC TEST BOOK, mNDU OCCULT CHAMBERS. In choosing and preparing his disciples for the preaching of his gospel, we read that he first taught them the use of this power as a necessary condition of successful preaching. "And when he had called unto him his twelve disciples, he gave them power against unclean spirits to cast them out, and to heal all manner of sickness, and all manner of disease." The object of the writer of this book is an analyt- ical epitome of the Theosophy and Occultism of ' ' Jesus the Master, ' ' and to brief!}'' show its foun- dation in the nature of things, and the constitution of man as a basis of an intelligent and compelling faith, a faith luhich "speaks and it is done, which commands and it stands fast." The Oriental Occultism and Theosophy, vener- able with age, having its origin in antiquity and the Far East, and which has been handed down from almost prehistoric times "through genera- tions and generations of adepts" is now, by the author's efforts, being introduced into the Western world. By a growing, well-organized and tolerably widespread propaganda, it is being popularized, epitomized, and vigorously promulgated in both Europe and America, for wherever "The Great Book of Magical Art, Hindu Magic and East Indian Occultism" has been studied the Hindu THE MAGIC AND OCCULTISM OF INDIA. 39 methods are adopted, they being superior to all others. Let the initiate take up the study of Hindu Magic and Occultism and give it the attention its importance demands as something to be under- stood and applied as a jpractical and demonstrable science. The writer would urge this study and effort because of the profound conviction : — That this is the legitimate work and the rightful province of man as a spiritual being and child of ''The Astral, ' ' whose duty as well as privilege is to stand in relation to his environments, in the image and likeness of those in spirit life holding dominion. It was to bring mankind to this realization that the CHRIST GOSPEL and ministry was open to the world. Now that the time seems specially auspicious, because of the present opening up of ORIENTAL OCCULTISM AND ESOTERIC PHILOSOPHY to Western thought, and the con- fronting of the Orthodox Christian church, which is a farce, by the Eastern world with its mystic orders and brotherhoods of "HOLY MEN," ^'YOGHIS," and HIEROPHANTS as possessing the miracle-working THAUMATURGIC POWER. The Christ life and teaching have hereto been so exclusively studied from the standpoint of theology and ethics by the leaders of Christian 40 MYSTIC TEST BOOK, HINDU OCCULT CHAMBERS. tliouglit and Dogmatic Theology that the attention of the whole CHRISTIAN world has been diverted from the rational and practical study of the OCCULT POWEE exercised by the Master and his Apostles, and which they emphasized in their teaching as an equally important and indeed a vitally practical factor in the new and higher life, which they call the world. Starting out with the baseless impression this "OCCULT POWER," being exceptional in human experience, was neces- sarily supernatural and miraculous, it has never occurred to the theologians and students of the "NEW TESTAMENT" arcanum to regard the so-called miracles as possible, legitimate of an occult law and power to be practically studied, mastered and applied in universal experience. Nevertheless, an unbiased and careful considera- tion of the direct and emphatic teaching of ' ' Jesus the Master" and his Apostles will convince the most hesitating and conservative mind that they certainly regarded the possession and exercise of this power, as well as Astral or inner sight, as the orderly and legitimate result of certain specific mental and spiritual attainments possible to all, and which was the special work to urge upon all. It will be observed that this specific definition and description of "spiritual gifts" embraces every phase of a legitimate power, knowledge, THE MAGIC AND OCCULTISM OF INDIA. 41 inner sight, and mastery ever claimed or sought for by the Magi and Hierophants of the World, and that ''Jesus the Master" clearly intimated that they are for and should be experienced by the Master's followers. It will be further noticed that the source of the new and higher knowledge, wisdom and power here recognized and specifically emphasized as free to all, is applied to the direct and enduement of the spirit (not spirits or angels), but the SU- PREME and UNIVERSAL SPIRIT, from which men, as well as angels, derive their life, their intel- ligence and their power, and to which, therefore, all alike, the humblest as well as the most exalted, have equal access. Those who can read between the lines may have observed that far from discrediting wholesale the reported stories and wonders of Eastern Magic, the most advanced scientific reasoners of the West in their more recent utterances appear quite inter- ested in the subject, having come to recognize that there may be such things as natural forces or sub- stances on this planet which have as yet eluded the grasp of the Western science forces, which their chemists and their physicians can neither gauge, weigh nor measure; and that there is a possibility that among a subtle race like the HINDUS, which is immeasurably older in civiliza- 43 MYSTIO TEST BOOK, HINDU OCCULT CHAMBEES. tion and experience than their own, some of these forces may have been discovered even thousands of years ago, and preserved among the wisest of its representatives (adepts), who in consequence of such knowledge can perform feats which to one of limited understanding are perfectly miraculous. Apart from the material progress or outward development which the Hindus had already at- tained, which they are apt to call prehistoric, as evinced by the splendor of their buildings and the luxuries and the refinement of their civilization in general, it would seem as if this greatest and most subtle of Aryan races had developed an inner life even more strange and wonderful. Let those who are imbued with the prevalent modern conceit that the Westerners have reached the highest pinnacle of intellectual culture, or that Orthodoxy is right, go to India. Let them go to the land of mystery, which was ancient when the great Alexander crossed the INDUS with his warriors, ancient when ABRAHAM THE JEW roamed the plains of CHALDEA with his cattle, ancient when the first pyramid was built ; and if, after a careful study of Hindu magic, life, religion, and philosophy, the inquirer is still of the opinion that the palm of intellectual advancement belongs to the western world, or that Orthodox Christianity is not founded on a fabulous Jewish Myth, let him THE MAGIC AND OCCULTISM OF INDIA. 43 lose no time in having his own cranium exam- ined*. The HINDUS, owing to their intense love for solitary meditation, which has been one of their pronounced characteristics from time im- memorial, have acquired mental faculties of which the materialists have no conception. There are in man latent powers which are sus- ceptible of the highest culture, and it is more than probable that a faculty once aroused and persist- ently exercised for a number of generations may develop into a permanent characteristic. It would seem as if among the HINDUS specu- lative philosophy had been the ruling fancy from a very remote antiquity, and, moreover, that kind of philosophy which does not depend upon an interchange of idea for its advancement, but is based almost entirely upon intuition; viz., upon the cultivation of certain mysterious innate facul- ties, which are presumed to lie dormant even in the breast of the savage. They have accomplished * I need not amuse the reader with the speculations of western Christians endeavoring to convert others to their belief in a tyrant of a God and a belief in the Scriptures. Indeed I might not amuse him, for it is a pitiful recital throughout. Indeed there is no sadder spectacle in the intellectual world, than that of men and women possessed, of really great mental possibilities, frittering away their time and their self- respect in trying to make a superstition appear reasonable by explaining its absurdities in an illogical manner, and, instead of walking erect in the dignity of a rational manhood, staggering along in a blind stupor, produced by the fumes of mysticism, superstition and Dogmatic Theology. 44 MYSTIC TEST BOOK, HINDU OCCULT CHAMBERS. and have certainly come nearer the truth than the Western materialist, with his endless empiricalism and experimental torture of matter. The HINDUS in their efforts to raise the veil which hides the mysteries of time and space, dis- covered that which is apt to cause extreme sur- prise in the Western NEOPHYTE, and which is destined to play a great part in the future of this country. Their triumph in this direction was the discovery and application of that strange PSYCHIC FOECE known to the Western people as HYPNOTISM. The American people have just begun to real- ize that there is such a force, and are on the threshold, as it were, of a dominion which is as boundless as it is marvelous. But the discoveries which are being made today were made ages ago by the early SASCRITIC INDIANS and IRA- NIANS, and while a knowledge of the subject in this country is chiefly derived from, or based upon, the experiments of a few materialistic scientists and investigators during very recent years, the HINDUS have the experience of at least centuries behind them. THE MAGIC AND OCCULTISM OF INDIA. 45 CHAPTEE III. The Hindu ^s and Dogmatic Theology. The ancient Hindu's idea of God differed much from the modern notion that He thrusts the wicked, and very often the innocent also, whom He has predestinated to sin, and who are undoubt- edly a portion of Himself, and made in His own image, into burning lakes and pitchy gulfs, where they are everlastingly tormented by revengeful and spiteful devils, with no view to their amend- ment, with no pretense to their operating as an example, with no possibility of their escape. And so fond is God their Father of subjecting His children to this fiery tartarus that He employs the chief of the devils to tempt them into sinful- ness (He Himself having no prescience or fore- knowledge as to how they will act when tempted), so that He may reward them for their resistance — which is generally unaccomplished — or torment them for their submission, which unhappily is their most usual fate. And this chief devil pos- sesses enormous power; is omnipresent; is the Prince of Air or Space ; is almost next to God in 46 MYSTIC TEST BOOK, HINDU OCCULT CHAMBERS. sovereign dominion, and in contriving intellect, and wages everlasting war with the Almighty and his pure spirits; nor can the Omnipotent Maker and Master of the Universe reduce him to submis- sion, or repress his wickedness, but is simply con- strained as well as he can to counteract his hor- rible devices. Great scholars argue for this ; great churchmen hold it ; the masses are taught that it is divine truth, but somehow or other man's in- stinct rebels against it, and there rests at the bottom of almost every human heart an innate notion that it is all a lie, imagined or invented in the days of Jewish or monkish barbarism to frighten the ignorant; but wholly without any warranty in fact. Eternal damnation orthodoxy holds to be the true end and punishment of all who in their lives deny a heaven. The fact, however, of the Hindu's* idea of God, and their knowledge of celestial laws, being so * The followers of Mohammed, however, put some rather puz- zling questions to our Petro-Paulites. "Why," said Murrane Sing (a Hindoo who can read English), "do you not convert the Jews, who live among you, know your virtues, and the excellence of your faith, and whose forefathers knew of the prophecies, and saw the wonders mentioned in your Vedas?" (meaning the English Bible). A Protestant replied they were a stubborn race, and the denunciations against their race had been fulfilled; and instanced the occasions and times. "That is the more in favor of my argument," replied Murrane, "for if, under the sufferings they have endured, and the accomplishment of the curse threat- ened them, they still remain obstinate and sinful, how are we to THE MAGIC AND OCCULTISM OF INDIA. 47 far greater than those which form the basis of mere European creeds, furnishes a reason why all endeavors at their conversion to western views have failed, except among the lowest, poorest, and most degraded outcasts. An attempt by Chris- tians to enlighten Orientals on the subject of God is about as wise as if an idiot sought to initiate a sage into the wonders of philosophy. In all true theological knowledge, in all profound, august or ennobling ideas of the Divine Polity, the West is hundreds of years behind the East ; nor can it ever attain the splendid heights of speculation to which these men have reached, until it seeks its inspira- tion at other sources than those from which it has so long drawn it, and enlarges its views of God's providence, until it can understand the broad, beautiful and comprehensive basis developed in the Divine works of God ; a basis that appears as universal in its nature as the very laws of light and air themselves. be convinced, much less converted, who know nothing of these signs and wonders of which you speak and have neither had promises or threats held out to us, except by mortals like our- selves who may or may not intend well? At least, they have nothing to show us to the contrary but windy words." He then referred to Paul, who, he observed, undoubtedly was a prophet, and whose mission, though it appeared very probable, had made no effect on King Agrippa, who was as civilized as the Hindoos; yet he was not to be persuaded, even though one of the principal propagators of it was present before him. ' ' Then how, ' ' he added, "am I to be persuaded by those who are neither saints nor prophets'? " 48 MYSTIC TEST BOOK, HINDU OCCULT CHAMBERS. With all this blaze of knowledge before us, clear and shining as the light of the Orient, the question arises, How comes it to pass that the whole West is still in darkness; and why are Europeans and Americans now more hopelessly ignorant of their past, their present, or their future, or of the sub- lime and pure nature of the Supreme Being, than our forefathers are shown to have been in remote ages; when Orthodox historians tell us that all was superstition ; when philosophers hold that we were monkeys or savages; and priests pretend that there was nothing but impiety? The answer seems to me to be this, that the Church, whether of Rome, or of Luther, which now sways the con- sciences of men, wages an incessant war upon the acquisition of true Knowledge, and perpetually interferes to dwarf the intellect and to destroy the groivth of education. That the Popes for the first fifteen hundred years of Christendom, and from thence also until this moment did, and have done, all they could, to h^ep the tvorld in a state of bar- barism, is now a truism so universally acknowl- edged, and so loudly proclaimed by Protestant ivriters, that no man would condescend to argue it; for to do so tvould imply that the matter might be disputed, or that our senses had deceived us as to the patent facts. That great scholars arose in those dark ages proves nothing; for those men THE MAGIC AND OCCULTISM OF INDIA. 49 were not the children of the papacy, but were the disciples and missionaries of knowledge, and they were as entirely independent of that odious super- stition as if it had no existence. The Papal church, supreme in Europe, ivas based on ignorance, and could only he maintained ivhile ignorance con- tinued. The whole efforts of the clergy, therefore, have been and are directed to this one end, to keep the world in their leading strings, by crushing out the mind of the ivorld. That they did so, and suc- ceeded, history proves; that they still labor in the awful and unholy calling is clear to all ivho take the trouble to investigate; and that to this one end the soldiers of that fearfid fabric must necessarily adhere or be destroyed is the inevitable conclusion to which those arrive who have found her to be Falsehood, and who know that Knoivledge is her deadly foe. The Lutheran churches pursue the same course. Holding to a creed devised by a narrow-minded and illiterate monk, whose early training had for- ever incapacitated him from broad, comprehensive or enlightened views; who, though a passionate thinker and a bold writer, and a man of daring courage, was absolutely ignorant of everything but mere monastic theology, than which it would be difficult to discover more exquisite fooling, and who in his later years of beer and bigotry was so 50 MYSTIC TEST BOOK, HINDU OCCULT CHAMBERS, immersed in vulgar squabbles about maniacal dogmas, that he had no time, even if he possessed the intellect, to enlarge his stock of ideas. The Protestant sects, dissipated into a thousand despicable conventicles, every one of which calls itself ' ' Christ 's people, ' ' have clung with desper- ate tenacity to the smallest and most degrading- notions of the power, majesty and wisdom of the Supreme Being; of the universality of His Laws, and the unchanging grandeur of His attributes — notions that would shock a Pagan, but which re- ceive a ready approval among the simple savages of the South Seas, or the dark-skinned lowly races of Africa. With these communities the Divine Fabricator of the Universe is a white-tied parson, with the wretched changing passions, and the still more wretched wants and necessities of a parson ; now enraged, now capricious, now deceit- ful, now encouraging deceit; breathing pestilence and death ujaon the very beings whose hearts he has hardened so as to make them merit these calamities; swearing many oaths (for the Bible says God will smite and curse the children of the earth), and immediately after violating those oaths ; the instigator to murder, the patron of in- cest, the pardoner of adultery, the seducer of a young virgin who was the affianced wife of an- other, so that true Christianity between Peter and THE MAGIC AND OCCULTISM OF INDIA. 51 Paul is like Jesus crucified between two thieves. But why pursue the dreadful theme! or why com- mit to print the fearful thoughts that naturally arise in the mind, as the Atheist God of Petro- Paulite, Europe and America looms up before us, covered with the blood of millions, whom a belief in his dark mystery has borne into ruin. Let those who desire to knoiv more on this sub- ject, and the Bible, which history shows is a forgery, read the author's tivo late books, ''The Immanence of God, Know Thyself," 432 pages, and ''God, The Bible, Truth, and Christian Theol- ogy," 570 pages, and he will have his eyes opened as they have never been before. THE MAGIC AND OCCULTISM OF INDIA. Special Features — Hindu and Egyptian Crystal Gazing — Astral and Spirit Sight — Indian Crystal Gazing^ Clairvoyance and The Hindu Magic Mirror. PAKT TWO. CHAPTEE IV. Spirit or Astral Sight. Most every living person possesses the natural gift of Clairvoyance or clear "Spirit Sight" to a very marked degree, and yet do not know what use to make of their gift. Many people possess this power in an undeveloped state, capable of develop- ment to any extent when they will use these gifts to their advantage and take proper means to unfold them. Clairvoyance, or Astral Sight (state of intro- spection), is not a sixth sense as some writers 52 THE MAGIC AND OCCULTISM: OF INDIA. 53 wrongly state, it is the true development of man's ordinary inner or Spiritual Sight, which has been stunted and injured by the materialism and igno- rance which rules the world today. Live a natural life, as did the old Seers, philos- ophers, in the by-gone ages, when the highest and best only reigned supreme, and men and women were taught to introduce the state of introspection Sit will, and you can develop all your spiritual gifts or inner sight. The first consideration is, of course, the rules for sitting, the necessary precautions for develop- ment, and the best time and conditions which are to be adopted by the would-be Seer in his attempts at unfoldment. You must also study all that has been said here about the interior focalization of the mind. That you will succeed if you follow any one of the methods I am teaching you is certain, and you will have phenomenal success if you will only persevere and cleanse your mind from all sordid material and unworthy thoughts. In a word, unless you will attempt to live the Life, you cannot attain more than the ordinary gift of Crj^stal Gazing, but if you will go on and seek higher, and believe you will succeed, you cannot have any limit to the extent of your spirit and Astral Sight in any place, at any time and under any conditions. 54 MYSTIC TEST BOOK, HINDU OCCULT CHAMBERS. You will be able to introduce Spirit Sight at will, and read in the Astral Light the mysteries of the past, present and future, both in your own life and in that of others ; all will be as an open book to you and the amount of this knowledge you choose to reveal to others will be entirely depend- ent on your own good judgment. The conditions of health to be sought are : — 1st. The better your health, the clearer your vision, although many people in indifferent health do see, yet they have not the greater powers. You should live as far as possible in the fresh air, take a reasonable amount of exercise, and try to hold the thought of health and purity ever before you. 2nd. Cleanliness is essential, this includes body and clothes, you should bathe all over once a week and change your linen at least once or twice a week or oftener, if possible. 3rd. Diet is also a necessity and I can assure you that you will not develop satisfactorily if you eat too much meat, as it causes heat and inharmony in the blood, disturbs the system, generating an irritating condition and causes the people who eat it to give off a coarse red aura, or asteal force, which I will explain later, entirely opposed to all conditions essential to spirit sight. At any rate, eat as little as possible, but the amount of progress you make almost entirely depends upon your THE MAGIC AND OCCULTISM OF INDIA. 55 absolute belief and faith that you will succeed, for without true faith you will accomplish nothing. All doubt and disbelief that you will be able to develop your inner sight must be discarded. The next question is that of breathing, this has a great deal to do with the development of your Astral Sight. Draw in a deep slow breath, and exhale very slowly, try this during the sitting for the first week and then change to the following : — Inhale with closed mouth while you count four, hold the breath ivhile you count sixteen and exhale slowly ivhile you count eight (mentally, of course). Have the room in which you sit clean and free from impurities, with plenty of fresh air. Some fresh-cut flowers to place near your crystal or whatever you use for a medium are very desirable but not absolutely necessary. The question arises what class of persons are most likely to develop and succeed in obtaining the state of introspec- tion? I can frankly inform you that all people can develop, provided they are faithful and believe, for *' according to your faith be it unto you." Positive, magnetic people make the best Seers as a rule, although the fair and languid type often develop into excellent Seers, but their visions are seldom quite as reliable as the positive type quoted. The necessary qualifications are self con- 56 MYSTIC TEST BOOK, HINDU OCCULT CHAMBERS. trol, the power of concentration and the desire to attain these gifts of the spirit, together with gen- uine faith. Now, having attained the necessary qnalifica- tions, decide to have confidence in yourself and make up your mind to mean business, then set the time of sitting, which should be kept religiously. I will now assume that you are ready to com- mence, hut before you start make up your mind that, what others have done you can and will do, and that if you fail the fault is your own. You must help yourself. Nobody can do for you what you must do for yourself. The Black Mieeoe oe Ceystal. Take a comfortable chair and sit facing the North, sit at least three feet from the Crystal; if using the Black Mirror hold it at arm's length before you (full instructions for the making of this Mirror will be given you in a later lesson), but whatever you do, do not permit another to handle or touch your ball or glass, and do not set it upon a stand during your setting. Set it upon a cushion of black velvet — let this rest on the table. When not using the Crystal learn to "Think without watching," that is to say, learn to with- draw your attention from things around you and THE MAGIC AND OCCULTISM OF INDIA. 57 center it inwardly. It then you will be thinking, but not watching things around you in the material world. Try to take your exercise the same hour daily and sit for at least fifteen minutes, increasing it to half an hour, as you feel able, but as soon as your eyes grow tired stop and rest them. Fix your eyes upon the glass, but without effort, just watch it naturally, and without taking them away at all fix your mind upon the glass. ** Watch quietly without thinking.'* Can you understand what I mean by that — ^I want you to make your mind quite blank, ready to receive the pictures and impressions that will come to you from the mirror, simply ivatch and breathe — breathe and ivatch — ^have belief and faith and get as quiet as possible. Now, after a time, I do not say at the first sit- ting, you will see scenes or faces form in the glass, sometimes a cloud forms all over it and soft milky clouds float around it, and after these clear off faces, symbols and scenes appear clearly in the glass. But more often you will see by your astral or spirit sight a face or some scene, now dim, now bright, then this will fade away and other faces appear, or perhaps symbols, figures or even let- ters. So as far as this goes, of course, the Seer can work by himself, but when it comes to further 68 MYSTIC TEST BOOK, HINDU OCCULT CHAMBERS. development and the interpretation of symbols, the question of seeing without any means of con- centration, such as the Crystal, then you have need of further instruction. Spirit Sight. The phase of Astral or Spirit Sight, just cited above, is easily produced and should be arrived at after a week or so of practice, if the conditions are fulfilled and you have had absolute confidence and faith in yourself. You must not forget the necessity of mental purity, for a soul which is impregnated with love for humanity, and free from jealousy, hatred and evil of any kind is necessary if you want good results in any business. It is well to make notes of the symbols, faces and scenes which appear in the Crystal and to keep them for further reference, for you must learn to interpretate them. BIr. C. W. Leadbeater, in his volume, ''The Other Side of Death,'' says: Clairvoyance in Spiritualism. "Many of the phenomena commonly displayed at a spiritualistic gathering are simply the mani- festation of the ordinary powers and faculties THE MAGIC AND OCCULTISM OF INDIA. 59 natural to the astral plane, such as are possessed by every dead man. " "I have already explained in my little work on Clairvoyance what these powers are, and any one who will take the trouble to read that will see how clearly the possession of such sense accounts for the faculty so often ex- hibited by the dead of reading a closed book or a sealed letter, or describing the contents of a locked box." '^I have had repeated evidence through many different mediums of the posses- sion of this power; sometimes the knowledge ob- tained by its means was given out through the medium's body in trance-speaking, and at other times it was expressed directly by the dead man, either in his own voice or by slate-writing. ' ' ^' These astral faculties sometimes include a cer- tain amount of provision, though this is possessed in very varying degrees ; and they also frequently give the power of psychometry and of looking back to some extent into events of the past." *'The way in which this is sometimes done is shown in the following story, given to us by Dr. Lee, in his Glimpses of the Supernatural, vol. ii, p. 146." The Missing Papers. "A commercial firm at Bolton, in Lancashire, had found that a considerable sum of money which 60 MYSTIC TEST BOOK, HINDU OCCULT CHAMBEES. had been sent to their bank by a confidential clerk had not been placed to their credit. " ^' The clerk remembered the fact of taking the money, though not the particulars, but at the bank nothing was known of it. The clerk, feeling that he was liable to suspicion in the matter, and anxious to eluci- date it, sought the help of a spirit-medium. The medium promised to do her best. Having heard the story, she presently passed into a kind of trance. Shortly after, she said: 'I see you go to the bank — I see you go to such and such a part of the bank — I see you hand some papers to a clerk — I see him put them in such and such a place under some other papers — and I see them there now.' " "The clerk went to the bank, directed the cashier where to look for the money, and it was found; the cashier afterwards remembering that in the hurry of business he had there deposited it. A relation of mine saw this story in a news- paper at the time, and wrote to the firm in ques- tion, the name of which was given, asking whether the facts were as stated. He was told in reply that they were. The gentleman who was applied to, having corrected one or two unimportant de- tails in the above narration, wrote on November 9, 1874: 'Your account is a correct one. I have the answer of the firm to my enquiry at home now.' " THE MAGIO AND OCCULTISM OF INDIA. 61 "The description given does not make it abso- lutely clear whether this was a case of clairvoy- ance on the part of the medium, or of the use of ordinary faculty by a dead man; but since the medium passed into a trance-condition the latter supposition seems the more probable. The dead man could easily gather from the clerk's mind the earlier part of his story, and thus put himself en rapport with the scene ; and then by following it to its close he was able to supply the informa- tion required. Here is the authenticated record of another good example of such a case, in which the power of thought-reading is much more promi- nently exhibited, since all the questions were men- tal. It is extracted from the Report on Spiritual- ism, published by Longman, London, in 1871, and is to be found in the Examination of the Master of Lindsay, p. 215. A Lost Will. *'A friend of mine was very anxious to find the will of his grandmother, who had been dead forty years, but could not even find the certificate of her death. I went with him to the Marshalls, and we had a seance ; we sat at a table, and soon the raps came; my friend then asked his questions mentally; he went over the alphabet himself, or 62 MYSTIC TEST BOOK, HINDU OCCULT CHAMBERS. sometimes I did so, not knowing the question. We were told (that) the will had been drawn by a man named William Walter, who lived at White- chapel ; the name of the street and the number of the house were given. We went to Whitechapel, found the man, and subsequently, through his aid, obtained a copy of the draft; he was quite un- known to us, and had not always lived in that locality, for he had once seen better days. The medium could not possibly have known anything about the matter, and even if she had, her knowl- edge would have been of no avail, as all the ques- tions were mental ones." Clairvoyant ^^ Readings.^' This power of clairvoyance is also frequently displayed in a minor way at the weekly meetings of which I have spoken. After the trance address is over, the medium usually expresses her readi- ness to give descriptions, or "readings," as they are often called, of the surroundings of various members of the audience. AVhere the circle is a small one, something will be said to each of its members in turn; if there be a large number gath- ered together, individuals will be selected and called up for special attention. I have heard striking fragments of private THE MAGIC AND OCCULTISM OF INDIA. 63 family history brought out in this way — cases which bore every mark of genuineness ; but in the majority of such meetings as I have attended the descriptions were exceedingly vague, and had a rather suspicious adaptability about them. The conversation would usually run somewhat along these lines : Medium (supposed to be entranced, but speak- ing with exactly her normal contempt for aspirates and grammatical rules). *' There's an old gent with white 'air a-standin' be'ind that lady in the corner. ' ' Enthusiastic and Credulous Sitter. *'Lor! that must be my father!" Medium. "Yes; he smiles, he nods his 'ed, he's so pleased that you know him. I can see his white beard regularly shaking, he's so glad." Sitter. ' ' Ain 't it wonderful ! But father didn 't have no beard before he passed over; p'raps he's grown one since, or p'raps it's my uncle Jim; he used to have a beard." Medium. "Ah! yes, that's who it is; he nods his 'ed again, and smiles ; he wants to tell you 'ow 'appy he is. ' ' Sitter. "Well, now ! just to think of poor uncle Jim coming like this ! Why, it 's more than thirty year ago he was drowned at sea, when I was quite 64 MYSTIC TEST BOOK, HINDU OCCULT CHAMBEES. a girl ; 'an 'some young chap he was, too ! not more than five-and-twenty, and to be drownded like that!" Medium. * * Um ! yes — yes — ah ! I see him more clearly now — yes, you're right. It's not a white beard — it's the white undershirt what sailors wears — that 's what it is ! " Chorus. "How lovely! how wonderful! Ain't it beautiful to think they can come back like this ! ' ' I have heard just about that sort of conversation a score of times ; and it is naturally not calculated to produce a very robust faith in that particular medium. Yet perhaps through the very same illiterate woman there would come on another oc- casion some message about a matter of which she could by no possibility have known anything — a message which she could never have evolved from her sordid consciousness by any amount of clumsy guess-work. A Peivate Test. I remember on one such occasion applying a little private test of my own to a medium in a poor London suburb. She was a coarse-looking woman, whom I had never seen before, but she seemed earnest enough, though far from cultured. She went on from one member of the circle to an- THE MAGIC AND OCCULTISM OF INDIA. 65 other, monotonously describing behind each of them spirits with flowing robes and smiling faces ; she varied the story a little in my own case by giving me "a dark-looking foreign gentleman, with something white ronnd his head, ' ' which may very possibly have been true enongh, or may have been merely a coincidence. It occurred to me to try whether she could see a thought-form, so as a change from all these rev- erend white-haired spirits with flowing robes, I set myself to project as strong a mental image as I could construct of two chubby boys in Etons, standing behind the chair of the member of the circle who was next in order for examination. Sure enough, when that person's turn came, the medium (or the man speaking through her, if there was one) described my imaginary boys with toler- able accuracy, and represented them as sons of the lady behind whom they stood. The latter de- nied this, explaining that her sons were grown men, and the medium then suggested grandchil- dren, which was also repudiated, so the mystery remained unsolved. But from the incident I de- duced two conclusions : First, that either the me- dium was genuinely clairvoyant or there really was a dead person speaking through her ; and sec- ondly, that whoever was concerned had not yet sufficient discernment to distinguish a thought- ee MYSTIO TEST BOOK, HINDU OCCULT CHAMBERS. form materialized on the astral plane from a living astral body." — The Other Side of Death, by C. W. Leadbeater. So far I have only been dealing with Spirit Sight for yourself, and for development only, but when the more important question arises of seeing for other people, much the same conditions are re- quired; let the person who seeks a seance or reading sit in front of you and take off his glove, touch his hand quite lightly with one of your fingers to establish communication between you, or what is called ^^ra'pport," then you must look earnestly and quietly into the glass and tell ex- actly what you see or what is given to you; re- member that on no account must you reason ; to do so is fatal ; simply make your mind blank and say what comes into your head; do not think that it may be improbable and so refrain from voicing it, the things which come to you in this way will be correct; you do not know why, you cannot know what reference they will have to the affairs of your client but will find them true. Unless the Crystal Vision is very true and clear you will find that many things half formed in the glass will come to your mind as quite vivid pic- tures, since it is not the virtue of the glass but your own Spirit Sight which can read the Aura or see in the Astral light of those who consult you. THE MAGIO AND OCCULTISM OF INDIA. 67 EocK Ckystal or Hindu Beryl. The real Eock Crystal or Beryl is very expen- sive, quite a small one costing $50, but you can get an excellent Crystal or imported sphere for $3 that will do equally as well, or the Magic or Black Mirror, the materials for making which will cost you about $3.50. Aura or Astral Light. To return to the Aura or Astral Light, this is a very important consideration, since as soon as you are able to perceive this about a person you can read meanings in the play of its color as it sur- rounds every man, woman and child. The Aura or Astral Light is a mist-like emana- tion which arises from every animate and inani- mate object. The Aura or Astral Light thrown off by people is composed of tiny atoms of so minute a character it is entirely imperceptible to the naked eye, but is clearly visible to those who have succeeded in so controlling themselves that they can obtain the state of introspection and see spiritually at will. This is referred to often in Europe and America as Clairvoyant Sight. The Aura is of the nature of a cloud which entirely surrounds the person sit- ting, and it is through reading this either know- 68 MYSTIC TEST BOOK, HINDU OCCULT CHAMBERS. ingly or unconsciously that the Clairvoyant is able to deduce the events in the lives of those around him. The ability to see this Aijra or read in the Astral Light, is only acquired after long practice and psychic training, which means that you have to sit regularly, to eat temperately, to have com- plete control over temper, your feelings, true faith and belief in yourself to get results; and also it means sexual purity and continence, yet without doubt the results more than repay one for the effort required to obtain them. It is best when the clairvoyant faculty or your Spirit Sight has been developed to the necessary degree, to sit looking quietly at the subject, with- out winking the eyes at all, make the mind blank and gaze very steadily for at least ten or fifteen minutes in silence ; at the end of that time you will perceive by your Spirit Sight the health Auba or Astral Light, which is a kind of bluish grey mist arising from the body; when you see this you are getting on and other developments may be expected to follow. Mr. C. W. Leadheater in speaking of Astral Thought-forms in his work, ''The Other Side of Death," says: *' Every thought of the man which is connected THE MAGIO AND OCCULTISM OF INDIA. 69 with self or tainted by any desire for his own gain instantly draws round itself matter of the astral plane as well as of the mental, and remains hover- ing round him. If any man yields frequently to thoughts of this type, he makes for himself exceed- ingly strong thought-forms, which are constantly fed and rendered more and more powerful by each recurrence of the feeling. During physical life these are invisible to him, although their influence is constantly reacting upon him and tending to reproduce in him the thought which created them ; but after death they become visible and haunting forms from which he cannot escape, because their attraction to him is of the very essence of their nature. In many cases it is in this way that men first come to realize how ugly and hateful some of their thoughts may be, and so they learn to exer- cise more rigid supervision over them. A man may sometimes find himself surrounded by thoughts which are not his own, for if any one else is directing towards him any strong feeling, whether it be of love or hate, of joy or sorrow, he will certainly find the thought-form which ex- presses it hovering about him, and will feel within himself the effect of its vibrations. It is in this way that the strong thoughts of love and the friendly wish which should accompany a remem- brance of the dead produce so beneficent a result 70 MYSTIC TEST BOOK, HINDU OCCULT CHAMBERS. Tipon them. We may, if we will, surround the friend whom we have '4ost" with a rosy cloud of affectionate thought, through which he will see everything couleur de rose, so that it may be a veritable shield for him from unpleasant in- fluences; and its own action upon him will also tend to stir up within him sympathetic feelings of affection, and to calm all disturbances. A ref- erence to Plate ix in Man Visible and Invisible will show how the thought-form of affection is shaped within the astral body of the thinker, and in the illustrations to Mrs. Besant's article upon "Thought Forms" in Lucifer, September, 1896, the thought-form will be seen rushing on its way towards its object. Other thought-forms are less pleasant than this ; and sometimes it is no small part of the retribu- tion which overtakes the man who during earth- life has treated others harshly to see after death the thought-forms of those whom he has injured, and to feel the vibrations which radiate from them. On the contrary, one who has been widely loved is very much helped and uplifted by the cur- rents of thought directed to him. A very notice- able example of this was seen in the case of Her Majesty the late Queen Victoria, whose rapid passage into the heaven-world was undoubtedly due to the millions of loving and grateful thought- THE MAGIC AND OCCULTISM OF INDIA. 71 forms which were sent to her, as well as to her own inherent goodness. Unfortunately there are sometimes men who deserve the distrust or anger of many, instead of their love. It has sometimes fared hardly after death with those whose financial operations have heartlessly ruined hundreds of people, for the forms which surround them in menacing^ crowds have often caused them the utmost horror and remorse. The thought-form has no intelligence of its own, and has only a temporary existence, the length of which is determined by the energy put into the thought in the first place. Never- theless it is impossible for the man towards whom it is directed to escape from it, since the very cause of its existence, the essence of its being, is its attraction towards him. He may, if he knows how to do so, surround himself with a shell which will prevent its vibrations from affecting him ; he may (again if he knows how to do it) break up and dissipate that thought-form by an effort of his will; but while it exists it will cling to him with the tenacity of a limpet. Usually thought- forms coming from different persons retain their individuality and have each of them a distinct, impress of the mind from which they came; but under certain circumstances it has been found that it is possible for the thought-forms gener- 72 MYSTIC TEST BOOK, HINDU OCCULT CHAMBERS. ated by many persons to coalese into one gigantic phantom, and if this be of an unpleasant nature, the result may be very terrible. — The Other Side of Death, hy Leadbeater. The meaning attached to Thought-forms and Human Aura will be given in a later lesson Clairvoyant or Astral Sight. Now so far as the different kinds of Clairvoy- ance or degrees of Astral or Spirit Sight are con- cerned, I shall place normal Spirit Sight first. The only natural and normal Spirit Sight or vision is obtained by so controlling yourself that you can by your own faith and ivill bring about the interior focalisation of the mind at will. Clairvoyance in a trance condition, when the subject is at the mercy of chance spirits, is not always reliable and seldom as clear as the normal vision, which is the result of self-induction. Clairvoyance under Hypnotism, which is prac- ticed to a great extent by the Hindus, though capable of great development, is open to the same charge as the Neophyte, who, not having full and clear Spirit Sight himself, does not ever know that spirits may assume command of his subject's mentality, what personalities they assume or what mischief they may bring about, so that if you THE MAGIC AND OCCULTISM OF INDIA. 73 really want the best be content with the methods given here, which you are receiving for only a few dollars, until such time as you may be able to receive private and personal instruction from a master. Remember that the human Aura or Astral Thought Forms imprint themselves and their his- tory on everything they come in contact with, and by these means you can develop the power of Psychometry, which is so closely allied to Clair- voyance that it is difficult to say which is which when a * ' sensitive ' ' begins to work. Given a letetr or an article belonging to any person you can in this manner learn the history by simply holding the same lightly in your hand or against the right side of your head, never to the forehead, as some surface writers advise. If you will follow the instruction I have given you will make a splendid Seer, and I say this to all, who will have true faith and absolute belief in themselves, since the gift of the Spirit Sight is free for all who fulfil the conditions and believe. Does not Jesus, the Greatest Master and Clair- voyant that ever lived, say: ^^ According to your belief he it unto you." To you, then, who believe, and listen for the inner voice of revelation, and the oncoming of the Spirit or Astral Sight, all nature and all the hidden doings and secrets of 74 MYSTIO TEST BOOK, HINDU OCCULT CHAMBERS. mankind will be as an open book ; nothing will be hidden from you when you choose to use your inner or Astral Sight. Peactice. Sit daily for half an hour in perfect silence, and at a time most suitable to yourself, and gaze into the Crystal, glass bowl or mirror ; record all that passes; you must not reject things on the plea that they may be fancy; very little is fancy that comes to you in this way, but is mostly real, even if it appears shadowy. Do not forget the breath- ing exercises, as these have a very great potent effect upon the inner sight and will help you greatly. Bo not forget, friend, tvhether you he a brother or sister in this luork, to remember every- thing I have said to you in the forepart of this book under the heading ^^impoetant woeds.^^ / suppose you understand that a hair-brained fool nor a lazy, brainless individual cannot get residts. If you tvant residts, get doivn to good hard work; keep at it all the time and don't tvaste your time trying to find fault or complaining about your not being able to do anything, for if you fail it is your own fault. Apparitions are referred to as follows by C. W. Leadbeater in his book, ''The Other Side of Death": THE MAGIO AND OCCULTISM OF INDIA. 75 * ' There was a time not many years ago when it was fashionable to ridicule anyone who had had the good fortune to meet face to face an inhabit- ant of the world usually unseen, and though such experiences were presumably no less common then than now, those who encountered them naturally kept them to themselves if they valued their repu- tation as sane members of a materialistic society." Within the last few years, however, a salutary change has come over public opinion in this re- spect. To sneer at psychic phenomena is now recognized as showing not intellectual vigour but ignorance and assumption. When there exists a Society for Psychical Research which numbers among its members well-known scientists like Sir William Crookes and Sir Oliver Lodge, and public men like Mr. Arthur Balfour, and when that so- ciety issues huge volumes of learned reports upon such phenomena and considers them worthy of careful and prolonged investigation, it is no longer safe for anyone who wishes to be in the fashion to raise the silly and antiquated parrot-cry of * superstition. ' ''Impartial enquiry into the subject of appari- tions shows us that from all countries of the world there come well-attested accounts of the occasional return of the dead. Such visitors have rarely given much information with regard to the world 76 MYSTIC TEST BOOK, HINDU OCCULT CHAMBERS. from which they came, though a good deal may be inferred from collation and comparison of the various stories. But at any rate the mere fact that man does survive the process called death is proved for any fair-minded investigator by these accounts alone." As Mr. W. T. Stead remarks in the introduction to his ''Real Ghost Stories": ''Of all the vulgar superstitions of the half- educated, none dies harder than the absurd delu- sion that there are no such things as ghosts. All the experts, whether spiritual, poetical, or scien- tific, and all the others, non-experts, who have bestowed any serious attention upon the subject, know that they do exist. There is endless variety of opinion as to what a ghost may be. But as to the fact of its existence, whatever it may be, there is no longer any serious dispute among honest investigators. If anyone questions this, let him investigate for himself. In six months, possibly in six weeks, or even in six days, he will fiind it impossible to deny the reality of the existence of the phenomena popularly entitled ghostly. He may have a hundred ingenious explanations of the origin and nature of the ghost, but as to the exist- ence of the entity itself there will no longer be any doubt. ' ' THE MAGIC AND OCCULTISM OF INDIA. 77 Spiritualism. "Another way in which many travelers have returned is through the use of the means provided by modern spiritualism. I am well aware that there has been much fraud and deception in this connection, but I also know from personal investi- gation that there is truth to be found along these lines by the patient and indefatigable seeker. Unless specially trained in the higher clairvoy- ance, however, the enquirer is very much at the mercy of various masquerading entities, and this line of research is surrounded by pitfalls into which the unwary may very readily stumble. I hope later to devote some pages to a careful analy- sis of some of the phenomena of spiritualism, but for the present my point is that here is another source from which information as to the life after death is to be obtained by those who are willing to take some trouble in looking for it." "It may be said that any value which spiritual- istic testimony may possess is largely discounted by the fact that it is not always consistent — that the accounts given by spirits at various times and places have differed considerably. This is quite true, and I am by no means suggesting that all spirit evidence is equally worthy of acceptance. But I do say that in very many cases the com- 78 MYSTIC TEST BOOK, HINDU OCCULT CHAMBERS. nmnicating entity is telling the truth as far as he knows it, and that the difference between the state- ments made by two such entities is often due to the fact that both of their views are partial, and not to any wilful deception practised by either of them. ' ' "For example, most of those who speak through mediums in England and America describe the after-death state as a progressive life in a 'sum- merland,' which is in fact only a glorified repro- duction of the earth, and so far as they give any religious teaching it is always a kind of Chris- tianity-and-water — certainly wider and less rigid than the orthodox idea, though usually very much vaguer, but still distinctly Christian in tone. One gets so used to this that I remember it was quite a surprise to me when I attended my first seance in Ceylon to find that all the communicating enti- ties were Buddhists, and that beyond the grave they also had found their religious preconceptions confirmed, exactly as had the members of various Christian sects over here. But differences such as these become easily comprehensible when we understand that after death, as before, like attracts like, and that people of the same race, religion or caste will keep together and remain apart from the rest of humanity in that world as in this." — The Other Side of Death, Leadheater. THE MAGIC AND OCCULTISM OF INDIA. 79 CHAPTER V. AsTBAL Clouds of Human Auea. The meaning of Astral Light and the color of the tints of the Aura which surround all humans as well as animals is a subject that has long en- gaged the attention of intelligent investigators, outside of India, the world over, but when my Chela (disciple) in this work observes through the use of his or her Spirit Sight the Aura around any person you must always first be quite sure that it is clear. The attempt to see the Astral cloud or Auea, which envelopes every person, is one that a great many proselytes find hard to grasp; there is a royal road to it, however, that will give results; it is the road of true FAITH. To Give a Reading. When about to give a reading take the hand of your client and hold it gently, place no pressure except upon the hall of the tliumh, then close the eyes and draw a long abdominal deep breath (in- flating the lungs to their utmost capacity), hold it 80 MYSTIC TEST BOOK, HINDU OCCULT CHAMBEBS. and wait; this repeat five or six times, keeping the eyes still closed, and great waves of color will pass before yon in sweeping, rolling lengths, which will pass from one side to the other. This method is followed by the Hindus, sitting or lying, when they want certain information about you. When the Astral Auras become clear and vivid you will place the full meaning given upon them; when cloudy then will the reading be averse. The same can be done with the Crystal, but the Aura will not always be so vivid, and for the ability to see the Auka I much prefer the method given here, as names and faces will float in the clouds of Astral Light. Astral Auras and Their Colors. The different Auras shown in the Astral Light are ten in number and they have a fixed meaning, but they are seldom seen pure as in the prism. The meanings which follow are of great use to the Seer, no matter whether the colors appear in the Crystal or with the high phases of Spirit Sight. Astral Colors and Their Meaning. Orange, material success, very good. Green, joy, pleasure, light hearted. Yellow, a surprise — if cloudy, unpleasant news. Blue, intellectual, a good brain. THE MAGIC AND OCCULTISM OF INDIA. 81 Violet, spirituality, Spirit Sight possible. White, is of good omen. Black, trouble, danger, a bad omen. Crimson, love, sympathy, and good will. Red, passion, very sensual. So much for the general readings ; now for the enlarged. If the Astral colors should happen to come within the mental vision with any planet, zodiacal sign, letters, numbers, etc.; attached it will alter the meaning, but at first be content to write down the nature of any vision carefully and interpret at leisure. Astral Axjeas in the Cbystal. Always get at this before you attempt further development of your Spirit or Astral Sight. Bear in mind also that many of these conditions change and alter from day to day even — unless the Astral Aura is very dense and dark, or all very light and pure, when the uniform condition will indicate a certain ''set condition" in the mental and spiritual conditions. You will always find that the fine and pure AuEAS rise; they will be highest in the Crystal, above the head in the x\uea. The denser colors always sink, the purer rise. You will see from this how to read the colors, 82 MYSTIC TEST BOOK, HINDU OCCULT CHAMBERS. but you should always balance one against the other ; never jump to a conclusion, and never tell people too much. They are not intended to lift the veil altogether. When the Astral Light or Auras appear in the Crystal you can give them the same meanings as when they appear around the head of an individ- ual, but remember that often faces, figures, sym- bols, etc., come into the Crystal surrounded by waves or clouds of Aura, when the colors will indicate the condition the person whose face appears is in, and you must give your reading accordingly. The Meaning of the Auras. Pale Violet signifies love, passion, suffering and great endurance. Green shows the person will attain victory and success, a bright and cheerful character, full of life, of good purpose, and ever ready to see the hopeful side of things. A dark sickly green signifies a deceitful, evasive nature, a double-tongued person whom you should place no confidence or import in; shun them whatever you do, for if you don't you will regret it. Brown signifies greed, avarice, disappointment and dishonor. THE MAGIC AND OCCULTISM OF INDIA. 83 These colors will appear clearly to you, if your inner sight is developed in the Auka or Astral Cloud which envelopes mankind and all living bodies ; they will also be observed in your Crystal or Magic Mirror. You will seldom see them alone ; they will nearly always appear with symbols, letters or some indi- cation of form which will give you the real Key to their meaning. These different colors of the Auras indicate clearly the mental and spiritual condition, as well as the traits and characteristics of the people who consult or whom you are diagnosing. You can tell at once what condition your client is in, as your Spirit Sight grows and you learn to interpret the Astral Colors. The gross, material and mentally unorganized people will be surrounded with darker shades of red, of black, of brown, of blue, of green; mean and treacherous people will have clouds of brown around them, those who are deceitful and jealous will have clouds of mustardy yellow or dirty green, whilst the hypocrite will be surrounded with a browny blue mixture. The bad tempered, irritable person will have much scarlet ; the sensual persons clouds of red. It is thus the hypocrite and the deceitful will be made known to you alone. Now in this way you strike the very key-note of 84 MYSTIC TEST BOOK, HINDU OCCULT CHAMBERS, the person you are dealing with and find at once the true reason for their actions, their troubles, and often the symbols and visions which relate to futurity appearing in the Aura or Crystal. White is a token or emblem of innocence, faith and purity. This is but seldom seen in the Aura of ordinary people, but comes to those of special spiritual training who have learned the great les- sons, ^^Control Thyself/' "Know Thyself." Eed, of a pale shade or tint signifies love, cre- ative power, a character full of warmth, inventive genius, vitality and true worth. ScAELET signifies lust, passion and a low, degen- erated, sensual nature. Blood Eed means war, hatred, punishment. ScAKLET AND Black combiucd in the Astral Aura indicates a diabolical outburst of passion, possibly bloodshed and poor control over the will or reason- ing powers. Black prominent in the Aura will show mate- riality, affliction, gross earthly thoughts and a mercenary nature. Grey means frequent mourning, trouble and continued sorrow and disappointment. Pale Blue shows an intellectual nature, one THE MAGIO AND OCCULTISM OF INDIA. 85 who is in an advanced state of development and understanding of self -hood. Deepee Shade of Blue shows religious fervour, but if there is a mixture of brown or grey with it there^ will be a good deal of selfishness and pious deceit with the religion, and a good deal of narrow bigotry in the nature of those who show this Astral Color. Yellow of a muddy, mustardy color will belong to a person envious, jealous, whose disposition is unsatisfactory in his dealings, inconstant, often deceitful and a liar. Clear Pure Yellow indicates the highest order of intellectuality, intuitional and generally spirit- ually disposed. Orange indicates a somewhat lower order of in- tellectuality and a good deal of success in com- mercial life. A Deep Violet Blue a very high state of spirit- uality — it is seldom seen, however, I regret to state. A Clear Bright Blue will indicate a condition of religious fervour, and where there is much of this it might quite possibly be unbearable to those surrounding the person, who will wait neither time 86 MYSTIC TEST BOOK, HINDU OCCULT CHAMBERS. nor opportunity to thrust his pious opinions upon them. Where considerable pale blue Astral Aura is in evidence you get the man who is coldly intellectual, often scientific, generally piety and free from lust of passion. These people have a refining influence on others and frequent places of art and culture, and refined music. Dakk Yellow Aueas are always best avoided, people with these are always very jealous, envious, unscrupulous and deceitful. Bad for business dealings, and bad associates. The Clear Shades or Yellow indicate a very high order of intellectuality, and these people will be out of the common run, not at all frequent amongst your clients. So with the Violet Blue Auea, the man or woman who carries this has intense aspiration for spiritual things, will never mix up with anything degrading, gross or mean. Will be trustworthy, truthful and genuine. Good people to associate and do business with. The Influence of the Asteal Colors on Othees. The influence upon others of the varying shades of the Red Asteal Auea thrown off by certain people is widely different. THE MAGIC AND OCCULTISM OF INDIA. 87 From the pure affection and tender love of the EosE (pale) Aura, a condition which creates hap- piness wherever it falls, to the gross sensual love of the Scarlet Aura is a wide difference and the effect upon others may be easily gauged. The person with much Scarlet will bring an element of discontent and dissension wherever he goes. His lot will fall amongst sensual, envious and material people, he will frequent places where similar conditions exist in Music Halls, Public Houses, Brothels, etc., according to his station in life; so will these places be of high or low aspect, but all bear the taint of vice and can be judged accordingly. Blood Eed Auras envelops and at- tends soldiers in active conflict, murderers, butch- ers, all those whose thoughts run red with war, but with certain symbols which I will explain to you in a later lesson, it means swift and terrible punishment. People with much grey, ash-grey or blue-grey Aura, will bring a depressing influence to bear upon their relatives, friends, neighbours and all their affairs. They are always afraid, morbid, and worrying over something, always in grief or sor- row. When the ash-grey Aura swiftly descends, or sweeps out all other colors, it indicates mourn- ing or bereavement. You have, for instance, a client whose Astral Aura gives you shades of Red, 88 MYSTIC TEST BOOK, HINDU OCCULT CHAMBERS. Blue and Paler Violet^ with perhaps some muddy- yellow or green combined in it — here yon have pas- sion, a certain degree of intellectuality, a desire for spiritual things, but an underlying strata of deceit, selfishness and jealousy which will keep the subject from any great advancement — a weak character clearly. Warn him of this if you feel it wise. Now there comes into your vision another face and surrounding it you get clouds of red and black, of brown even and flashes of scarlet. You will see at once that it is necessary to warn your client of this man, who can be no friend to him and only a bad influence. The Black Auea. The influence of the Black Aura is lowering and brings a depressing influence upon other people, and affects all those who may come in contact with it. Its influence upon the person who creates it is very bad, it brings his life into chaos, it keeps him on a low level, it creates gross imperfect conditions which are difficult to overcome. Such people are always in trouble, too, and seem to attract evil and disaster. THE MAGIC AND OCCULTISM OF INDIA. 89 CHAPTEE VI. Symbols and Planets. In your last lesson I stated that in addition to the actual vision of color perceived by your Spirit Sight, there are times when the planets would be seen in connection with these colors. It must be borne in mind that to be a successful Seer and Medium the world of symbols must be fully grasped, and that for one person who can see things as they actually occur in the Astral Light there are twenty who see the same thing in symbols. The exact vision is rare, and even when it is frequent, as in the instance I shall give you later, when the help of what are called elementals are called forth — a practice I do not for one in- stant advocate, and one which is seldom relied upon — there are times when the revelation is not of a nature to help or elevate. White and Black Magic. In the symbolic world, on the contrary, there is very little of this, but the earnest student must 90 MYSTIC TEST BOOK, HINDU OCCULT CHAMBERS. learn to distinguish between tvhite and hlach magic, and to remember that the subject of Spirit and Astral Sight and Occult Powers covers a very wide area, and can be put to all sorts of uses, good, bad and indifferent. As in all else the planets must play an impor- tant part in our being, and when the symbols appear in the vision, they carry with them a dis- tinct and very important meaning. Signs of the Zodiac. The signs of the Zodiac are divided into four groups, and these groups are known as triplicities, earth, air, fire and water. And the atmospheric spirits, those nameless beings which throng the very air we breathe, called ''elementals," are also divided into four groups governing the same elements. Clairvoyants, Mediums and sensatives are in particular oj^en to the inroads of these mischiev- ous influences, and must be warned against them. The Earthy Triplicity is Taurus, Virgo and Capricorn. The Airy Triplicity is Aries, Leo and Saggit- tarius. *W^ The Water Triplicity is Cancer, Scorpio and Pisces. When people come to you clad in certain colors, (Oi YIFT IJKM ^ © © S^C