I TRUST I may be pardoned if I make and attempt to rescue the subject of somnambulic vision from the charlatanry of the day. In these days clairvoyance, which is a natural power inherent in the race, is regarded as a sort of forbidden or rare wonder, mixed up with mesmerism, fraud, circles and so on, while it is also the garb under which more barefaced swindling is carried on than under any other one gift of God to civilized man.(1) I hold it to be emphatically true, that

No curtain hides from view the spheres Elysian,
Save these poor shells of half transparent dust'
While all that blinds the spiritual vision
Is pride and hate and lust.

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(1) It is questionable if there are three genuine public clairvoyants in the entire United States. If students will accept the results of our investigations, they will under no circumstances patronize paid clairvoyants, mediums or any others who profess to foresee the future.
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And I believe clairvoyance to be the birthright of every human being; that all will one day possess it; that children will be born so; that even now, coarse as we are, some of us – a great percentage of the people – can develop it to a most surprising extent. In the first place let it be distinctly understood that there are three sources of light – solar, planetary and astral – adapted to material eyes, and that, independent of that, every globe in space is cushioned upon the ether, and that this ether is one vast billowy sea of magnetic light, and is the media of an inner sense of sight, and the whole mystery is at once cleared up, and the clap-trap of the charlatans at once exploded and exposed. And thus this wonderful power is resolved into the mere sensitive ability to come en rapport with this vast ocean of inner light, which may quite easily be done, as well herein by briefly shown. All that is required is simply patience.

Clairvoyance is the art and power of knowing or cognizing facts, things and principles, by methods totally distinct from those usually pursued in their attainment. I claim to have reduced it to a system and to have evolved science from hetero-geneity; to have added new thought, new conception, opened new fields of investigation, and to have discovered the central magnetic law, underlying and subtending the evolutions of somnambulic phenomena - a brief resume of which I herewith present.

We are approaching the termination of the first stage of civilization, are bidding farewell to many of its modes, moods, opinions, sentiments, thoughts and procedures, and are entering upon a new epoch of human history and might, destined to develop powers in man,(2) now latent mainly but which will yet revolutionize the globe. On earth man is greatest, mind and greatest part of man and clairvoyance the greatest part of mind....Clairvoyance depends upon a peculiar condition of the nerves and brain. It is compatible with the most robust health, albeit oftenest resulting from disordered nerves. The discovery consists in the knowledge of the exact method , how, the precise spot where and the proper times when, to apply the specific mesmeric current to any given person, in order to produce the coma and lucidity. A careful following of the rules herein laid down is generally sufficient to enable the aspirant to attain his or her end.
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(2) The second age of man, generally termed the Christian, has passed the limbo of time, and the third age, the Manistic, or age of Man, has set in. During this age man's concept of his powers, duties, morality and spirituality will change completely. Man will gradually come to accept his own personal responsibility for all his activities, whether of thoughts or acts. With this will come about a change as regards his powers and potencies and he will indeed become as one of the gods. As he resumes the responsibilities to true, virle manhood so will flow to him the rewards accruing to the strong, the brave and the free. This will mean for him first, manhood, ending in godhood and the Immortalization of his being. In the past age this has been the exception; in the present age it will become general.
(3) Experiments conducted by us have shown that when the thyroid gland is below normal in its activity, it directly affects the brain and resultant mental activity. Furthermore, that spiritual elevation of any department of man's nature is extremely difficult under these conditions. This would also indicate that for man to be normal and non-criminal in his tendencies, it is essential that his endocrine system be functioning properly. Our conclusions would be that to reform the world of man, we must endeavor to have all his glands in a healthy state; then he will feel himself too much a man to do other than right and justly. Let reformers give heed to this thought and let us, first of all, establish institutions where professional reformers are examined and treated for glandular over-activity or inactivity.
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At the start let it be distinctly understood that fear, doubt, nervous agitation, coarse habits, or bad intent.(4) will retard success and may prevent it altogether.
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(4) An indication that if man seeks to attain the higher spiritual state he must, first of all redeem himself and free himself from the evils existing within his own house. Spiritualization cannot take place while the temple is filled with thieves and money changers, i.e.., evil and destructive thoughts and intentions.
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When a person cannot be mesmerized through the eye, head, or by reverse passes, success often will follow if cloths be wet with slightly vinegared water, just over the pit of the stomach and small of the back. If an operator acts, let his left hand cover the rear wet spot, has right the front one, while the gazing process continues as before. REASON: the brain is not the only seat of nervous power; and we can often reach and subdue it by and through the nerves, nervous matter and ganglia, situate along and within the backbone.(5) If tractors or magnets are used, their points should be placed just as would be the mesmerizer's hands, and the experiment be continued as before.
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(5) The two major nerve centers in the human body are found located in the pituitary gland in the head and at the base of the spinal column. It is extremely difficult to stimulate the pituitary gland, but modern physicians have learned to normalize and dilate the rectal center and thus reach the pituitary gland which helps to normalize mind and body and in a sense Spiritualize man. To attain clairvoyance the pituitary gland must be functioning normally.
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At first, clairvoyance, like any movement, nervous or muscular, requires a special effort, but it soon becomes automatic, involuntary, mechanical. KEEP YOUR DESIGN CONSTANTLY BEFORE YOU, AND YOUR SOUL AND INNER SENSES WILL MAKE GROVES FOR THEMSELVES, AND CONTINUE THE MOVE IN THEM AS CARS ON RAILS OR WHEELS IN RUTS. Let your groove be CLAIR-voyance!

Lucidity is no gift, but a universal possibility common to the human race. Idiots can and do have it. It is latent, or still mind-power, and can be brought to the surface in a majority of cases. Ominia vincit labor!

All mental action comes through nervous action, but in these cases the result must be reached outside our usual mental habitudes and paths. The person who attempts to reach clairvoyance and gets discouraged after a few trials, does not merit the power. If you begin, either by agents or mesmerists, keep right on. Every experiment lands you one step nearer success and that, too, whether you aim at psychometry, lucidity, or any one of the fifty phases or grades of occult power.

Remember that physical conditions influence, modify and determine mental states, whether these be normal or recondite and mysterious.

Nor forget that pure blood gives pure power. If your blood IS foul with scrofula, pork fat, rum, venereal, suspended menses - by nursing, cold, or perchance , pregnancy - don't attempt clairvoyance till you are free from it. Artist prepare their paints - you must prepare your body; else no good picture comes, no lucidity follows. Sound lungs, stomach, kidneys, liver, brain, blood, heart, urinal vessels, womb, and pelvic apparatus are not absolute essentials, but good preparatives. Above all, the blood must be purified, vacated or its poisons, rheums - alkalies, acids in excess – and be toned up to concert pitch, if you would enjoy the music of the spheres, and know beyond your outer knowing.

Food, digestion, drinks, sleep, must all be attended to. Mesmeric subjects at first become quite passional – the devil's bridge. Look out you do not fall through it, for true clairvoyance is coincident only with normal appetites normally sated. (6) Excess destroys it. Every passion, except the grosser, has a normal sphere.
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(6) It is to be constantly born in mind that the Initiate is not a nihilist.He has learned that all things that exist have some use and that generally the law is temperate use of all things, excess of none, irrespective of how good a thing may be in itself. That which itself is good, may become destructive when abused. Right use, not non-use is the Law.
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Clairvoyance is qualitative and quantitative, like all other mental forces. It is limited, fragmentary, incomplete, in all, because we are all imperfect; but no other being can occupy your or my ground, or be so great in our respective directions as we are. No one exactly is like us – we , precisely like nobody. We are like the world – green spots and deserts - arid here, frozen there – fertile in one spot, sterile in another; therefore we should cultivate our special loves! Clairvoyant vigor demands attention to the law: "The eternal equation of vital vigor is Rest equals exercise." Remember this and retain your power. Clairvoyance is an affair of the air, food, drink, love, passion, light, sleep, health, rest, sunshine, joy, music, labor, exercise, lungs, liver, blood, quite as much as of mesmerism and magnetic coma, for all mental operations are physically conditioned.(7)
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(7) We are all familiar with the Biblical inculcation "seek ye first the kingdom of heaven and all things shall be added unto you" In this age of the beginning of spiritual light, another precept should become equally familiar to all: Direct your efforts toward health - a balance mental-physical condition and all things shall become possible to you. Ill-health is un-balance, and there cannot be true spirituality where there is not a true balance. Remember this!
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Clairvoyance is an art, like any other. The elements exist, but to be useful must be systemized. It has hitherto been pursued, not rationally but empirically – as a blind habit, a sort of gymnastics, a means to swindle people, and scarce ever under intelligent guidance like the logical or mathematical or musical faculties of the Soul, albeit more valuable than either, and like them, too, subject to the laws of growth. It is far-reaching and once attained, though the road is difficult, amply repays the time and labor spent. It has been the study of my life and that knowledge, which enables me to demonstrate the laws governing it and by which it may be developed, also enables me to understand and impart those which attend its aberrant phenomena. This mystic ground has hitherto been the prolific hot-bed of a host of noxious, dangerous superstitions and quackeries; and I believe my own is the first attempt to reclaim it to rational investigation.

Clairvoyance is a generic term, employed to express various degrees and modes of perception, whereby one is enabled to cognize and know facts, things and principles; or to contact certain knowledges, without the use and independent of the ordinary avenues of sense. It is produced or attained in various degrees by different methods and is of widely diverse grades and kinds, as:

A. PYSCHOMETRY, or nervous sensitiveness, wherein the subject does not see at all, but comes in magnetic contact with, first, the peculiar material emanations or sphere given off from every person or object in existence, and is analogous to the power whereby a dog finds his master in a crowd, or a hound hunts down a fugitive and pursues him unerringly, from having smelt a garment once worn by that fugitive. By this sense of feeling, persons come en rapport with others present, distant, dead, or alive, and when the sensitiveness is great, are enabled to sympathetically feel, hence describe, that person's physical, social, moral, amative and intellectual condition and, in extraordinary cases, can discern and detect diseases, both of mind, affections and body, without, however, being qualified to treat or cure said aberrations. Every city in the land abounds with persons claiming to be "clairvoyants," who are not so in any sense whatever, but are, to a greater or less extent, mere sensitives at best; but, in by far the majority of cases, such are rank impostors, fortune-tellers and charlatans, who eke out a living by dint of a very little good guessing and a great deal of tall lying. The majority are females of lax principles, who keep a lounge and drawn curtains– pestilent vampyres, redolent of filth, moral, intellectual, and physical, who are loaded with the exuviae of death, and charge a man or woman with the very vapor of ruin itself.(8)
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(8)The sincere and faithful student will not consult with professional fortune tellers, clairvoyants, astrologers or others of that ilk, for to do so frequently means death to all his ideals and the possibility of attaining Soul Illumination.
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B. PSYCHOMETRY can be deepened into absolute perception by carefully noting the first and strongest impressions resulting from contact with a person, letter, or object, and afterward ascertaining the correctness of the verdict come to. A little careful experimentation will develop good results and demonstrate that clairvoyance is an attainable qualification, with proper patience and active effort.

C. INTUITION – the highest quality of the human mind is latent in most people, developable in nearly all; is trainable, and, when active, is the highest kind of clairvoyance. It is the effortless, instantaneous perception of facts, principles, events and things. The rule for its promotion is simply, When it tells a tale to test it at once. In a brief time the perceptions will grow clearer, stronger, more full, frequent and free.

D. The difference between clairvoyance, feeling, or psychometry and intuition, are these: the first sees, the second feels, the third knows instantly.

In our ordinary state, we see through a glass darkly; in clairvoyance, we see with more or less distinctness; in psychometry we feel with greater or less intensity, and in intuition, we leap to results at a single bound. There are hundreds who imagine they possess one or all of these faculties or qualifications, and arrogate much importance, merely because the ideas have made a strong impression on their minds; or perhaps they have seen one or two visions or spectral sparks or flashes. Such are what they claim to be, only in the wish. They need training. For clairvoyance is a thing of actual system, rule and law, and whoever would have it in its completeness or complexity, must conform to the science thereof, if they expect good results to ensue.

E. The actual PERCEPTION is of various kinds and degrees. It does not require brilliant talents for its development, for many seers are inferior morally, organically, spiritually and intellectually; yet the higher, more brilliant and finely constituted a person is, the higher and nobler is the clairvoyance they will develop. Some subjects never get beyond the power to hunt up stolen or lost property; others stop at the half-way house of telling fortunes; a number reach the scientific plane, while but a few attain that magnificent sweep of intellect and vision that leaps the world's barriers, force the gates of death and revels in the sublime mysteries of the universes. the purer the subject, the better the faculty, is the rule. Goodness, not mere knowledge, is power. Remember this!

F. No two persons' clairvoyance is precisely alike. Each one has a personal idiosyncrasy that invariably determines his or her specialty, and, whatever that specialty may chance to be, should be encouraged, for in that he or she will excel and in no other. The attempt to force nature will be so much lost time and wasted effort. I say this after an experience of twenty years. I had a specialty for the occult, and an early friend, whom I loved tenderly, became unhappy by reason of an accident that, for ten years, rendered him utterly wretched and miserable. He lost all taste for life because of his injury and its effects, and was often tempted to self-murder, and an estrangement sprung up between himself and wife, one of the most beautiful and accomplished ladies in America. A more deplorable wreck was never seen. The wife became morbid, and they used to visit mediums and clairvoyants in hopes of a cure. At that time,1853, I had a mesmeric subject, and examined for two French physicians in New York – Drs. TOUTAIN and BERGEVIN.(9) Here I first saw and prescribed for the man, who afterward became my personal friend. Himself and lady were kind to me and kindness won my undying love. I have had so little of it in this world, have so often been robbed, plundered and traduced, by so-called friends, that when a real one appeared, I hailed it as the Greeks hailed the sea. We sat one hundred and eighteen times for my friend and his wife, searching for a means of cure, made many costly experiments, and finally were rewarded by a grand discovery.
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(9) The two French physicians belonging to the Fraternity of the Rosy Cross of France at the time and to whom Randolph was given an introduction by the Order in France while on his first visit there. The connection thus formed ultimately resulted in his becoming Chief of the Rosicrucians.
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And so I say to all clairvoyant aspirants, Adopt a specialty,(10) and pursue it steadily during your life.
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(10) To be successful in the process of Spiritualization it is essential that the Acolyte should carefully examine himself, find out just what he wants to do or seeks to become, and then bend all his energies toward that end. The counsel of Emerson, "Hitch your wagon to a star," here applies. Set a star or goal ahead and then push forward toward the attainment of that gold.
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G. When a mesmeric "circle," self-magnetizing, or – what I do not advise - varied experiment for clairvoyance, bids fair to become a success, and the subject sees flashes, sparks, white clouds, rolling balls of light vapor, or is partially lucid, the tendency of the mind should be carefully noted and the future direction or the power or faculty be fully decided on, sought for, aimed at and strictly, persistently, faithfully followed, until a splendid and never-to-be-doubted triumph and success crown your efforts. If you intend to examine and prescribe for disease; "will-throwing," or to read people; to hunt up lost goods; detect thieves; make business examinations - in short, any special thing;(10) cultivate that thing and no other, else you will spoil your sight, dim your light and become a sort of Jack-at-all- trades , master of none. You cannot excel in finding lost property, reading the love-life of amorous people, and also describe and prescribe for sick folks. No; the rule is, One thing and that thing well. Let the rest alone.

Again: people are too impatient.(11) They push a somnambule too fast and too far. Be careful, if you look for success. Go short journeys, at a slow pace, if you expect to hold out. While laboring for the French physicians, and others, in New York, I frequently not only examined fifty cases of disease a day but made all sorts of explorations in as many different directions' the consequence of which was a chronic lassitude, dyspepsia, angularity and great irritability of temper, by reason of the unwise step and resultant nervousness.
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(11) Impatience is one of the most destructive qualities of the human mind. To become impatient will forever bar one from the spiritual or Soul realms. One should be dissatisfied with one's progress as this acts as an incentive to greater efforts but impatience is of a quality altogether harmful. The sincere student will make every effort to be patient, and refuse, under any and all circumstances, to become discouraged even though his mental skies may appear as black as the darkest night. He who refuses to surrender is certain to succeed.
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H. There are various kinds, as well as degrees, of clairvoyance: Natural, Intellectual, Medical, Ethereal, and Divine, Social, Practical and purely Mental. Or a clear-seeing of material forms; lucidity of mind, generally; lucidity of special cerebral organs; lucidity upon certain points – as Medicine, Prevoyance, Religion, Philosophy, Science, Logic, Art Love, etc. There are many pretenders to all these, nine in ten of whom are rank impostors.

There is a clairvoyance of Introspection, Inspection and Projection, and these have their appropriate fields in the past, present and the future; all of which are easily developed and perfected.

There is the common somnambulic or mesmerically induced lucidity(12) It also comes through the coma or trance, however produced; and yet it is by no means necessary that the patient be fully entranced in order to produce the distinct lucidity. I know capital seers who never were entranced; who never lost their consciousness for a moment. But such cases are far from being common or usual. This first kind of vision exhausts itself on material objects alone - a mere perception of things without penetrating power. The next stage it reaches is that of mind reading. In 1853-4-5, the writer hereof had this power to a remarkable degree; used to play cards, chess and read books, blindfold; and this power caused him to be invited to visit Paris where he exhibited it to the astonishment of the savants, and his own glorification. Practically the thing is useless.
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(12) This is the method that was pursued so successfully by the Master in the training of Marie Corelli, and under these conditions her first five books were written. It is needless to say that the morality of the operator must be above reproach.
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There is a perception, one grade higher than this last, which enables the subject to come en rapport with the surface and essence of things, as a tree, man, woman, herbs, etc; and it grows till the seer beholds and explains somewhat of the penetralia of things; and it culminates in the condition wherein the mind, leaping all the barriers of the outer senses and world, sees and knows things altogether beyond their ranges and approaches the awful realms of Positive Spirit. Special cerebral organs(13) become lucid, soon succeeded by an entire illumination of the brain. This is a grand, a sublime, a holy degree; for the subject sees, senses, feels, knows, by a royal power; is en rapport with a thousand knowledges. A step further, a step inward and the subject is in harmony with both the upper and lower universes. He or she thenceforth is a POWER IN THE WORLD. All clairvoyants may not claim genius but all true genius is clairvoyant. Mere talents are dry leaves, tossed up and down by gusts of passion, and scattered and swept away; but Genius lies on the bosom of Memory, and Gratitude at her feet.
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(13) Our experiments and tests have shown that the two organs involved, now known as glands, are first and most important, the Pituitary, and second and hardly less involved in the process, the Thyroid.
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I. Very few persons will fail who strictly conform to the general rules here laid down, and fewer still who follow the special plans determined upon. As a rule, I find it safe to declare, that in every one hundred cases seventy-five can become partly lucid; sixty three can become sensitive; forty-five can reach the second, thirty-two the third, fourteen the fourth, five the fifth, and two the highest degree of clairvoyance their peculiar organization is capable of attaining. Of one hundred men, fifty-six can become seers; of two hundred women, one hundred and eighty can become so.

MAGNETIC CLAIRVOYANCE is that induced by holding the head close to the open horns of a large and powerful horse-shoe magnet. It may be suspended from the ceiling and held to the head lying down, so when let go it will spring away, or come in contact with its armature – a nail will do so as to close the circuit. A quartz crystal is nearly as good for this purpose as a horse-shoe magnet; but I prefer a bar magnet to either.

MESMERIC CIRCLES differ from all others, in that, to be proper, all who are in one should be insulated; the chairs and tables and footstools should rest on glass knobs made on purpose. In these circles, the chances are ten to one that some will go off into the mesmeric coma on the first trial. The circle must wish, will, desire, and favorable results are almost sure to follow. Have patience, if they do not.

NOTE.-All clairvoyants should, to be useful, successful and enduring, cultivate the habit of deep breathing; for all brain power depends upon lung power, nor can continued ability exist if this be neglected.(14) All clairvoyants should feed on the best things attainable. Again, all clairvoyants must use great caution in matters of sex. Abstinence is good, for an error in that direction is fatal to clear vision or its perpetuity when possessed.
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(14) One of the reasons why the authentic Secret Schools give their first attention to the instruction of the Neophyte in the ancient Occult methods of breathing; a method which has never failed when conscientiously followed and faithfully, regularly and consistently practiced. Irregular, now-and-then practice avails nothing.
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I am told by a friend of mine, in Paris, the best male seer in France, that carelessness in this respect cost him the loss of his vision for a period of seven months. If the party desires to develop sensitiveness only, with a view to becoming a psychometrist, this caution does not apply with such force. If a person was to ask me, is it best to try to be a clairvoyant or a good psychometrist, I should unhesitatingly say the latter,(15) by all means, for it is more easily attained, and, to say the least, is quite as useful, if money-making and tests are the objects sought to be gained.
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(15) One having attained clairvoyance cannot always close his visions to things it is not desirable to see or which may bring about a morbid mental condition for a time. This is the one fault with clairvoyant power. The psychometrist does not have contend with this.
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In all mesmeric experiments, individual or collective, very few become, at first trial, true hypnotic subjects; and some can never be, owing to peculiarities of organization. The matter can be tested in a variety of ways, as, for instance, the usual "passes" may be reversed. Or the doubtful subject may look steadily at a speck on the wall for six minutes. If drowsy at the end of that time, and the eyeballs have a tendency to roll up the person is a subject, and all that is required is patience. Or breathe rapidly, forcibly for ninety seconds. If it makes you dizzy, you are a subject, and can enter the somnambulic state in any one of a dozen ways. This same operation, often repeated, is almost certain to produce coma; and if done while lying down, in connection with the horse-shoe magnet operation, will prove successful in enabling the person to see without eyes. In all cases the room should be quite dark.* If, at the end of a few minutes, sparks, flashes, streaks of quick and lingering light are seen, or phosphor clouds float before the face, then one of two things is immediately probable. First, that the party by continuance and repetition can be clairvoyant; or, second if not too scary,(16) these clouds and sparks may resolve themselves into beautified forms of friends long gone but unlost.
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*All magnetic, odyllic and mesmeric processes are twenty times oftener productive of grand results if conducted in a dark chamber, than in one lighted artificially, or by the sun. Next to a thoroughly dark room, moonlight is best, and starlight is better still.
(16) Whoever is possessed of fear should not attempt to take up this system of training. Fear is the terror of the threshold and successfully prevents the Neophyte from entering the Temple.
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Forty-eight out of fifty mesmeric experiments fail because the operator wastes, not saves, diffuses, instead of focalized, the mesmeric force that streams from the eyes and fingers. RULES. – Subject and operator must be of opposite sex, temperament, complexion, size, stature, hair, eyes, build and so on, throughout, in order to bring about the best results, without reference to all the talk about positive and negative, which is mostly nonsense; for I have known a sweet miss only six years old, to thoroughly and effectively mesmerize her great burly uncle - a man capable of knocking a bull down with one stroke of his ponderous fist, and who was one of the roughest sea-tyrants that ever trod a quarter deck, and yet the little lady rendered him not only helpless, but clairvoyant, by repeatedly manipulating his head while he held her on his lap in his daily calls. She had witnessed a few experiments, believed she could do the same, tried it on four times, and accomplished it in great glee on the fifth attempt. But the greatest miracle of all was, that the captain's nature become entirely changed, and today a better or a gentler man does not sail out of New York harbor! Concentrate your attention on a single point in the subject's head; keep it there. Do not let your thoughts wander. Gaze steadily at it and it alone, gently waving your head and hands over it from right to left, left to right. Repeat the process at the same time, daily for one hour, till the sleep is thoroughly induced. When it is, and you are perfectly satisfied of the fact, you will be strongly tempted to ask questions. Don't you do it! Resist it. Deepen the slumber in seven sittings after perfect insensibility ensues! The eighth time you ask a few questions and but a few. Lead the subject slowly, tenderly, holily, gently along, step by step, one subject at a time, and that subject throughly,(17) not forgetting what I have said about "specialties."
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(17) These methods taught by Dr. Randolph were the ones then in vogue in France. They were taught by the Brothers of Light of which Elpihas Levi was the Master, and which Order was at one time known as The Magnetists.
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J. Persons ambitious to become clairvoyant must not forget that a full habit, amorous pleasures, high living and mental excitement, all are disqualifications. The entire diet must be changed; the linen often; the skin, especially the head and hair, must be kept scrupulously clean; and, to insure speedy success, the food should be very light; fruit and milk may be freely used: but no chocolate, fat, oysters, pastry, and but very little sugar. Nor should the person fail continually to think, wish, and will the end aimed at. Soft and plaintive music is a capital adjunct.

K. The experiments should always be made at first with but few spectators, in a darkened room; and perfect trust should exist between operator and subject. Ane here let me state that no woman should allow herself to be mesmerized by a man whose principles she cannot fully trust, for any man can seduce any woman he sits by, in magnetic rapport(18)
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(18)This applies only to those who have known man and to virgins whose minds are not free from sensual thought or desire. When the mind is as virginal as the body, and when the mind is normal, then any suggestion contrary to the innate state of the heart will automatically awaken the subject. Admittedly, a weak mind is readily overcome; so is one which has known sensual desires.
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L. For some purposes I prefer the Oriental methods of clairvoyance to the full magnetism of European and American practice. These are: first the mesmerist places a few drops of ink in a proper vessel; gazes therein himself - magnetizing it - and bids the subject gaze also. Presently, the subject will behold a vision in it and will see pictures of whatever is desired.

I now give the special method of thorough magnetization. First let the room be partly darkened. Let there be a mirror in the north end; let the subject's back be toward that mirror, but take care that he or she sits so that the reflected ray of light - magnetism - from the operator's eye will strike the back of his or her head,(19) the subject receiving the reflected ray - or, operator, subject and mirror, forming a triangle, which any schoolboy can arrange in a moment. Now the subject sits in a chair fully insulated, the feet being on an insulated stool and no part of the dress or chair touching the floor. The operator also stands or sits on an insulated stool and, if he is weak in nervous force, should be fully charged with electricity, or from a battery. If spectators are present, seat them silently in the south, east and west but not a soul in the north. No silk, not even a cravat, must be allowed in the room. If a piano is there, let some soft and tender chord be played; but take care not to play more than that one on that evening. Previous to the experiment, two magnets have been suspended, one north pole up, the other down, so as to embrace the subject's head without much pressure; the poles must antagonize, and a current will be sent entirely through the head. Now be careful. You have already prepared a magnet. or magnetic bar, and when the subject is seated and the magnets arranged, the operator looks steadily at that point of the looking-glass, whence the reflected ray will glance off and strike the back of the subject's head, just between the fork of the northern magnet, and while doing so he points the bar magnet directly toward the open neck of the subject. In a few minutes there ought to be perfect magnetic slumber, and frequently the most surprising clairvoyance exhibited. It is still better if all the spectators grasp a cord on which a copper and iron wire has been bound, the ends being fastened to a chair, so that they point directly to the subject's body. If these direction be faithfully observed, success will follow nine times in every ten experiments.
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(19) The method employed by the Master, as notated in Dr Randolph's book, Ravalette.
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I may also observe that a slight alteration will render this circle unequalled for different purposes. In such cases let all sit round a table itself, the chairs and stools being wholly insulated.(20) If the room be darkened, you may and probably will have curious mental phenomena. But I advise the chord to be played all the time till results sought for are obtained. Again let a person sit facing the south, insulated, with the magnets in contact as before - the person being alone - and the results desired are almost certain to follow. But let me here say that no one in or out of a circle can reach good and speedy results unless perfectly and absolutely clean. The bath is the very best of preparations for these experiments, and cannot be neglected with impunity. I have known many successes and some failures in conducting all of the above experiments both in this country, England and France, and I give it as my deliberate opinion that no one need fail in them, and will not, unless their own folly and impatience ruin all.
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(20)Another method employed by the Master mentioned in Ravalette. All of these were the original French and German methods, and universally in use when Dr, Randolph visited Paris.
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All phantasma are based upon the eternal fact, that whatever exists is something; that thoughts are things; that spirit is real substance; that all things photograph themselves upon other surfaces; that sensitives can see and contact these shadows, lights, impressions, and images - as abundantly demonstrated by Baron Von Reichenbach in his researches into the arcana of chemism, light, force and magnetism; also by thousands of others in all lands, and especially wherein it is said disbodied people project an image of themselves upon paper, the artist sketching the outline with a pencil, thus producing pictures of the dead, recognizable by all who ever saw them when walking in flesh and blood. Now, the fact that dead people can and do project images of themselves upon the retinas of sensitives, upon the aura that surrounds certain people, upon similar emanations from houses - haunted - so plainly that hundreds can see them clear as noonday, is so firmly established that few are so hardy as to deny what is thus, upon the testimony of millions, in all ages, absolutely and unequivocally demonstrated.

It is equally well established, however fools may sneer, that, for ages, men of the loftiest mental power have used various agents as a means of vision, either to bring themselves in contact with the supernal realms of the ether, or to afford a sensitive surface upon which the attendant dead could, can and do, temporarily photograph whatever they choose to, or conditions permit.

During my travels through Africa, Egypt, Turkey, Arabia, Syria, and my intercourse with the Voudeaux of New Orleans and Long Island, I became thoroughly convinced of the existence of two kinds of magic: one, good and beneficent, ruled and governed by the Adonim; the other, foul, malevolent, revengeful, lustful and malignant. They antagonize each other. The one revels in the saturnalia of the passions; the other, the true Rosicrucian, moves in the light-producing SHADOW of the OVER SOUL. In the one, the adept is surrounded by an innumerable host of viewless powers, who lead him on to great end and power, but finally sap out his life and utterly ruin and destroy him. And this accounts for much of ill, seen and experienced by modern sensitives.

The other leads its votaries through the glimmer toward the light, and unfolds at length that FINAL and CROWNING CLAIRVOYANCE, which consists in a clear perception of relations, causes, connecting links, effects and uses, by far the noblest and highest attainable while embodied, and this it is that I aim to enable others to reach. BUT TAKE NOTICE: THE TRUE CLAIRVOYANT IN THIS SUBLIME DEGREE MOVES AND ACTS ABOVE AND BEYOND THE TEMPESTUOUS REALM OF THE PASSIONS - DEFIES THEIR UTMOST POWER. PASSION DIMS THE SOUL'S BEST VISION. To reach this lofty eminence, the subject's physical system must be purified and proper preparation be made. Food, raiment, habits, thoughts, impulses, all must be modified, for it is idle for any one to expect to reach the greatest apex of possible mental power, unless the right kind of effort be first made. It is God's highest gift to individual man and cannot be had without a struggle. Since the first edition of this little hand-book, originally printed for sixty subscribers, afterward for five hundred more, was printed, several imitations of it have been born into the world of letters, and every one that I have seen, written by persons who have never known what clairvoyance really is; for it is a demonstrable fact that but a very small percentage are really lucid of all the vast throng that claim this divine and superlatively holy power.

The old-time mesmeric processes - not the mere so-called "psychologizing" - Phœbus, what a word! - nor the "biological" manipulations, once in such high repute wherever their "professors" - heaven save the mark! - could procure a hall and a gulible flock of witnesses; but the good old-fashioned mesmeric induction, seems, in these latter singular times, to have come to an almost total stop and failure, for not one in every hundred experiments is a decided success according to the ancient standard of twenty years ago; and the universal complaint and testimony are that as soon as a subject is once fairly inducted into the hypnotic condition, he or she immediately passes from under the mesmerist's control, and either announces a determination to "go it alone," or becomes the "subject" of some unknown power, at once entering the domain of mediumship and thenceforth becoming wholly useless from a mesmeric point of view. Now, I think there is no real necessity for such state of things, nor do I believe it would happen were it not that the operator is deficient in the prime elements of resolution and Will - without both of which, the matter had better not be undertaken at all. Another reason for these frequent failures to produce magnetic states and the concurrent powers of lucidity, results from the fact that men who mesmerize females become too susceptible to the powers and influences of lust, and during the operation of magnetizing are too full of lascivious imaginings and hopes to pay strict regard to the matter in hand, and hence the subject spurns the control and act independently, or, the invisible forces that hover about, incontinently clap a stopper over all, and forthwith veto and annul the whole affair; for which kindly providence they merit and receive my most hearty thanks, and those of all other well-wishers of his kind, here or over there.

Not all invisible onlookers, however, are to be counted in along with seraphs and angels, nor do they always take a subject away from the mesmerist for that subject's good; but it may happen that obsessing forces of the "Voodoo" grades step in to serve their own peculiar ends. People may laugh as much as they please at the idea of wicked, mean, obsessing, tantalizing, tempting beings, or at the old notions of the alchemists and others of that ilk; my researches and experience tell a far different story. When it is asserted that there is no mysterious means whereby ends both good and ill can be wrought at any distance; that the so called "spells," "charms" and "projects" are mere notions, having no firmer foundation than superstition or empty air alone; - then I flatly deny all such assertions, and affirm that the conclusions arrived at are so reached by persons wholly ignorant of the invisible world about us, and of the inner powers of the human mind. Although I am not called upon here to explain the rational involved in this special department at full length, yet elsewhere I have clearly indicated the direction in which it is to be found. As well tell me that the sun does not rise, as that there are no means whereby two dissevered persons cannot be brought in contact, or that methods do not exist by means of which one person can assuredly so work upon another as to gain desired ends - of course said ends ought always to be good, but even if they be evil, the self-same principle and power exist, and can be easily brought into active play and power - no matter whether said ends be those of love, affection jealousy, revenge, or love of gain and lust of power. I have seen too much of that sort of thing in Asia, Africa, France, California, England, Long Island and New Orleans, to doubt the evidences of my senses, and the experience of years of attentive study of this branch of the great magnetic law, makes it impossible for me to doubt it. Indeed, so thoroughly convinced was I of the truth, that I spent years in travel and association with experts in order to become master of the processes and the rather unpleasant secrets of the lower - as well as of the higher - kind. In New Orleans nothing is more common than for both men and women to employ the VOUDEAUX to effect contact with loved or desired ones. I have never known a failure, albeit some experiments of acquaintances of mine were rather expensive. A man loves a woman and can not reach her, or vice versa; then comes in the voud. I have a personal story to tell on this head, with living witnesses in Boston, that would convince the most sceptical person living. More than that: in this matter of sympathetic art I know that a pair of twin rings, containing each other's hair, one worn by the loved, the other by the lover, will blend the two in magnetic rapport to an astonishing degree. The whole thing is magnetic - another word for magic; and so it is also of the "love-powder" business, for although most of the charlatans who pretend to deal in them are conscienceless swindlers, yet it is possible to prepare and charge certain materials so that they will retain the nerve aura of one person, and impart it to another, kindling up magnetic love between them, just as a little yeast will leaven a whole barrel of flour. Again, it will not do to tell me that one person cannot throw a spell upon another, and affect them favorably, or the reverse, at any distance! Hundreds are living witnesses today of my public exposure and defiance of the whole tribe of VOUDEAUX QUEENS - Alice H___n and Madame D___s__a victim, that I gained much of my knowledge in these occult points of black magic. I have known it to be practiced for purposes of lust, passion, love, revenge and pecuniary speculation, and always with a strange and marvelous success. Again, we are told that powers of evil guard hidden treasures, and successfully obfuscate and confuse the would-be finders. I believe it; and also believe that said obfuscation can easily be overcome by a timely resort to powers of a higher grade. People are wont to laugh at and deride all this, in spite of the fact that the loftiest minds earth ever held, from HERMES TRISMEGISTUS, and the ALCHEMISTS, down the ages, to the last elected members of the SORBONNE, have believed, do believe it, and I glory in being found in such August company, including ALEXANDER of RUSSIA,(21) and NAPOLEON III.
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(21) Alexander II, one of the greatest rulers the world has known. He was both liberal and tolerant and did everything in his power to better the lot of his people. He belonged to the Russian branch of the Fraternity and Dr. Randolph was in close touch with him, especially during the period of our war of secession. Due to Alexander's fraternal connection with the American Order and his decision to uphold the Union, England's intervention on the side of the South, was successfully prevented. See The Initiates and the People, Vol.3, Nos. 1-2.
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In corroboration of what I have written, I beg leave to introduce, without comment, the following article concerning "Voudooism - African Fetich Worship among the Memphis Negroes," from the Memphis Appeal: -

" The word Hoodoo, or Voudoo, is one of the names used in the different African dialects for the practice of the mysteries of the Obi (an African word signifying a species of sorcery and witchcraft common among the worshippers of the fetich). In the West Indies the word ‘Obi' is universally used to designate the priests or practices of this art, who are called ‘Obi' men and ‘Obi' women. In the southern portion of the United States - Louisiana, Alabama, Mississippi, South Carolina and Georgia - where the same rites are extensively practiced among the negroes, and where, under the humanizing and Christianzing influence of the blessed state of freedom and idleness in which they now exist and are encouraged by the Freedmen's Bureau, the religion is rapidly spreading. It goes under the name of Voudooism or Hoodooism.

"The practicers of the art, who are always native Africans, are called hoodoo men or women, and are held in great dread by the negroes, who apply to them for the cure of diseases, to obtain revenge for injuries, and to discover and punish their enemies. The mode of operations is to prepare a fetich, which being placed near or in the dwelling of the person to be worked upon (under the doorstep, or in any snug portion of the furniture) is supposed to produced the most dire and terrible effects upon the victim, both physically and mentally. Among the materials used for the fetich are feathers of various colors, blood, dog's and cat's teeth, clay from graves, egg-shells, beads, and broken bits of glass. The clay is made into a ball with hair and rags, bound with twine, with feathers, human, alligators' or dogs' teeth, so arranged as to make the whole bear a resemblance to an animal of some sort.

"The person to be hoodooed is generally made aware that the hoodoo is ‘set' for him, and the terror created in his mind by this knowledge is generally sufficient to cause him to fall sick, and it is a curious fact, almost always to die in a species of decline. The intimate knowledge of the hoodoos of the insidious vegetable poisons that abound in the swamps of the South, enables them to use these with great effect in most instances.

"With the above as introductory, our readers will better understand the following, which we vouch for as strictly true in every particular. Names and exact locality (although we will say that it occurred within a few miles of this city) are withheld at the request of the lady, whom we will call Mrs. A.:-

"Some months since the only child, a little daughter of Mrs. A., who had been left a widow by the war, was taken ill with what was then thought a slow malarious fever. The family physician was called in and prescribed for her, but in spite of his attentions she grew gradually worse, and seemed to be slowly but surely sinking and wasting away. Everything that medical skill could think of was done, but in vain.

"One evening, while Mrs. A. was watching by the bedside of the little sufferer, an old negro woman, who had been many years in the family, expressed her belief that the child had been ‘hoodooed.' Mrs. A. was a creole of Louisiana, and, having been from her earliest infancy among the megroes, was familiar with, and had imbibed not a few of their peculiar superstitions. In despair of deriving any benefit from the doctors, and completely baffled and worn out with the peculiar lingering nature of her child's illness, the suggestion of the woman made a great impression on her mind.

"In the neighborhood were two negroes who bore the reputation of being hoodoo men. They were both Congoes, and were a portion of the cargo of slaves that had run into Mobile Bay in 1860 or 1861. As usual with their more civilized professional brethren, these two hoodoos were deadly enemies, and worked against each other in every possible way. Each had his own particular crowd of adherents, who believed him to be able to make the more powerful grigats.

"One of these hoodoos lived on or near Mrs. A.'s place, and, although she was ashamed of the superstition which led her to do so, she sent for him immediately to come over to see her child. The messenger returned, and said that Finney (that was the sorcerer's name) would come, but that Mrs. A. must first send him a chicken cock, three conch shells, and a piece of money with a hole in it.

"She complied with his demands, and he shortly afterward appeared with the cock under his arm, fancifully decorated with strips of yellow, red, and blue flannel, and the three conches trigged up pretty much in the same manner. Placing the conches on the floor in the shape of a triangle, he laid the cock down in the centre of it on its side. He then drew his hand across it in the same direction three or four times. On leaving it the cock lay quiet and did not attempt to move, although it was loose and apparently could have done so had it wished.

"After these preliminaries, he examined the child from head to foot, and, after doing so, brokeout into a loud laugh, muttering words to himself in an African dialect. Turning to Mrs. A., who was all anxiety, he told her that the child was hoodooed, that he had found the marks of the hoodoo, and that it was being done by his rival (who lived some miles off, although considered in the same neighborhood), and that he (Finney) intended to show him that he could not come into his district hoodooing without his permission.

"He then called the servants and every one about the place up, and ordered them to appear one by one before him. So great was the respect and terror with which they regarded him, that, although many of them obviously did so with reluctance, not one failed to obey the summons. He regarded each one closely and minutely, and asked if he or she had seen either a strange rooster, dog, or cat around the house in the past few days; to which questions they made various answers. The chambermaid, who attended on the room in which the child lay, was one of those who were particularly reluctant to appear before him or to answer his questions. He remarked this, and grinning so as to show his sharply filed teeth nearly from ear to ear, he said, ‘Ha, gal, better me find you out than the buckra!'

"This was late at night, and, after making his ‘reconnoisance,' he picked up his conches and the cock, and prepared to go, telling Mrs. A. to move the little sufferer into another room and bed. Promising that he would be back early in the morning, he left the house. At an early hour next morning he returned with a large bundle of herbs, which, with peculiar incantations, he made into a bath, into which he placed the child, and from that hour it began to recover rapidly.

"He, however, did not stop here. He determined to find out the hoodoo, and how it had been used; so, after asking permission, he ripped open the pillows, and the bed in which the child had lain, and therein he found and brought forth a lot of fetiches made of feathers bound together in the most fantastic forms, which he gave to Mrs. A., telling her to burn them in the fire, and to watch the chambermaid carefully, saying that as they had burned and shrivelled up, so she would shrivel up. The girl, who had displayed from the first the most intense uneasiness, was listening at the keyhole of an adjoining room, and heard these injunction. With a scream she rushed into the room, and, dropping on her knees at Mrs. A.'s feet, implored her not to burn the fetiches, promising, if she would not, to make a clean confession of her guilt.

"Mrs. A., by this time deeply impressed with the strangeness and mystery of the affair, was prevailed upon by the entreaties of the girl, and kept the ‘fetiches' intact, and the chambermaid confessed that she had been prevailed upon by the other ‘hoodoo man' to place these fetiches in the bed of the child. She protested she did not know for what reason, and that afterward she wished to take them out, but did not dare to do so for fear of him.

"As soon as the family physician came in, Mrs. A., completely bewildered, told him the whole affair, showing him the fetiches, and making the girl repeat her story to him. He, being a practical man, and having withal considerable knowledge of chemistry, took the bunches of feathers home with him, and on making a chemical examination of them, found them imbued with a very deadly poison.

"Meanwhile, he told the affair to two or three neighbors, and getting out a warrant for the arrest of the malignant hoodoo man, they went to the hut to arrest him. The bird had flown, however, and could nowhere be found. Some of the negroes had, no doubt, carried word to him, and he had thought it best to clear out from that neighborhood. The little patient, relieved from inhaling the poison in her pillow and bed, soon got well, and Mrs. A. has now in her possession the fetiches which came so near making her a childless widow.

"It may not be generally known to the public, but it is nevertheless a fact, that these barbarous African superstitions and practices prevail, and are increasing among the ‘freedmen' not only of Memphis and Tennessee, but of all the southern States. It is the clearest proof of the inevitable tendency of the negro to relapse into barbarism when left to control himself."

So much for Voudooism. I believe this story to be true, for I have myself been a victim to the thing, but the doctor who analyzed the stuff, and found "poison," is both a cheat and a sham to hide his utter ignorance. There was no poison about it. The whole thing is purely magnetic, as I can demonstrate at will, for I know this thing from end to end.

But I have already exceeded the limits assigned to this part of my subject, and shall end it with a few words of advice to those who are mesmerized, who mesmerize others, and to that large class of persons who, unable to be put into the magnetic state themselves, or induce the sleep in others, yet have a constitutional tendency towards the occult - a peculiar idiosyncrasy which admirably adapts them to the investigation of the inner mysteries of existence - men and women, who have strange prophetic impulses, weird and arabesque dreams - people who feel strange mental depression without any apparent cause - persons who are strangely warned of impending death or danger, and before whose eyes fiery sparks glitter a moment and then vanish into the deep blank void again; - such persons make splendid seers through the magic crystals of Artefius and Dee, the Japanese crystal globes, and better still, the splendid magnetic mirrors of Trinue, and the finer ones imported in this country by the Armenian seer, CUILNA VILMARA,(22) many of which I have used myself, and selected for others. I think I never so deeply regretted the loss of any material object so much as I did the accidental breaking of a splendid first-class Trinue glass, which cost me twenty-five dollars, but which I would not have parted with for ten times that sum; for not only could I see strange scenes upon its charmed magnetic surface, but of the hundreds who have gazed into it, I only knew of but five who could not see strange scenes upon its charmed magnetic surface, but of the hundreds who have gazed into it, I only knew of but five who could not see curious clouds moving at will, and phantoramas strangely beautiful and interesting, clear as noonday and brilliant as polarized light! To all these classes of persons I say: Your power depends upon your health, cleanliness, freedom from doubt, irritability and, above all, impatience. You must, if you would succeed in penetrating the dark pall which hangs between this world and the under and over realms of light, yet mystery, cultivate firmness of purpose, steadiness of will, persistency in search of the desired end, volume of lung power and clearness of mind. Mystery never opens her dark doors to the impatient seeker, has been the result of all my experience, and that of every true Rosicrucian that ever lived, from Thoth-Mor, King of Egypt and high priest thousands of years before the birth of the present materialistic phase of civilization, down to the last explorer of the realms of Mystery. From THOTH in his palaces three miles square on the banks of ancient Nile, to the humble student on the shores of grander Mississippi, each and both, and the links between, all tell the same story and recount the same experience - that MYSTERY refuses knowledge to the impatient Soul - ALWAYS.
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(22) Cuilna Vilmara having passed to the Beyond, these mirrors are now extremely rare and command high prices. One should not buy a glass supposed to be genuine unless it is recommended by sone one who is familiar with them and has handled the genuine ones.
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The persons who seek for interior light and perceptive power cannot obtain it without a trial which tests the perseverance. They must endeavor to secure a equable nervous, physical and mental health; for the "clairvoyance," falsely so called, which results from sickness and morbid states of mind and body, is at best both unsafe and unreliable; but a psycho-vision, such as can without much difficulty be reached through processes herein laid down, and especially by means of a good glass such as VILMARA's, which, in my opinion, maugre, all table-rapping, planchetting, and all that other objectors may urge, is incomparably a better, more rapid, and infinitely more satisfactory means than any other known on earth today, and, if necessary, I could give the names of scores of adepts in their almost daily use. Some may ask the question: "Spiritualism is now an accredited fact; why not, then, depend upon the revelations obtainable from that source, for answers to all questions concerning the interior senses and the invisible worlds about us? What advantage can a person have by pursuing the search in his or her own person?" To which I answer:

First. Not ten percent of what passes for spiritual intercourse has a higher origin than the "medium's mind.

Second. What on sees, feels, hears, is positive proof to him or her. All spiritual communications come second-handed, but the clairvoyant sees directly and reaches knowledge by the first intention.

Third. If a person is lucid (clairvoyant), he or she has a secret personal positive power, and need not consult any other authority whatever.

Fourth. "Mediumship" is automacy; a medium is a machine played on and worked by others, when it really exists; but the clairvoyant sees, knows, understands, learns and grows in personal magnetic and mental power day by day; and, while embodied, makes the very best possible preparations for the certain and absolute life beyond the grave, which awaits us all when this "fever called living is over at last."

Fifth. Clairvoyance necessarily subtilizes and refines the mind, body, tastes, passions and tendencies of every one who possesses and practises it.

Virtue is not a myth; Death is; but by clairvoyance the bars of death are beaten down, and it opens the gates of Glory, to show all doubting souls the light and life beyond. And why die till one's work is done? Is yours? If not, this divine thing will enable you to more effectually accomplish it.

Possession ordereth use. True clairvoyants do not count themselves as altogether of this world, for they are in connection with and do the work below of the ethereal peoples of the starry skies. By means of this royal road, the true seer or seeress is enabled to read the varied scrolls of human life; frequently to explain the real significance of dreams and visions; examine and prescribe for those who are sick or ailing in body, Soul, mind, heart, affections, hope, ambition, love, aspiration, speculation, losses, gains, fears and troubles of every character, healing bodies, minds, Souls; scanning by real positive mental vision, not merely the secrets of a man's or woman's lives and loves, and keeping them as wisdom seeds, to grow into good fruitage presently - but also reaching the perfect comprehension of the sublime fact that organization determines destinies - which of course begets charity to the neighbor and love to all mankind; hence it is possible to foretell events that must inevitably come to pass, either in the general or special plane of an individual's life and experience. There are ever two roads and three choices before every intelligent human being, and clairvoyance alone is competent to decide which is best, for only this magnificent science and power can enable us to reach the penetralium. As a Rosicrucian, I know that men ever fail and die mainly through feebleness of WILL. Clairvoyance will teach the adept how to strengthen it. The WILL is one of the prime human powers, and it alone has enabled Man to achieve the splendid triumphs that mark all the ages. If it sleep, or be weak, fitful, or lethargic, the man amounts to a mere cipher. If it be strong and normal, there is no obstacle can successfully impede its sway. We know that the sick are healed by its strength; that homes are made happy by its power; that love itself comes to man through its divine agency; that woman can realize her hopes, in many directions, through its resistless force; that GOD is WILL, and whoso hath it fullest and finest, most resembleth him! Steady WILLING will bring lucidity of vision and of Soul! By it, also those who love or would love, may find. Especially is this true of that large class who seek the occult, and strongly desire to reach the cryptic light beneath the floors of the waking world - I mean the sons and daughters of Sorrow, Anguish and the Light; the loving, unloved ones of the earth; the lovely pilgrims over desert sands; the heart-reft mariners now sailing and surging over the stormy waters of the bitter seal of Circumstance - for these are the God-sent, and they travel ever the roughest paths. To all such, WILL and especially Clairvoyance, is a boon, a true friend, saying, "Come unto me, all ye that are weary and heavy-laden , and I will point the road to rest!" - clairvoyance I mean - not automacy in any shape.

What a man or woman eats, drinks, is clothed with, inhales, or is surrounded by, has a direct effect upon the entire being. What shall be partaken of or avoided, in order to purify the person, and create the best possible personal conditions? What chemist can answer that question? Who among them all can tell the precise magnetic, electric, or dynamic state of a man at any given moment of his life? Not one. But the clear seer can do all that and more! What shall be taken or avoided in order to strengthen the WILL? The love nature? The flagging appetites and natural passions? The entire nature? principle? courage? fortitude? faith? persistence? Mental lucidity alone can reply. Nothing is more certain than that in certain things you have undertaken, disastrous failure has been the result. And why? You cannot tell, but lucidity will enable you to find out and render you master or mistress of the situation. There are THREE THINGS only that we strive for in this life, as times go, and these are Love, Money and Position (Power), but we often fail in reaching all or either, only because we are ignorant of the true road to them, as determined by our respective organizations. What but seership can remedy all this?

Again: It may happen with the best of us that we have forfeited love or lost it. That we are stranded midway on the rocks of distrust, jealousy, incompatibility.

Does passion lie smouldering? Do you love and find that love unreturned? Are you forced to "eat your own heart," and languish all your days and nights in hopeless gloom, as I have in years gone by? Have meddlers destroyed your peace, broken up the dearest and tenderest ties, wrecked you on the hard rocks of life's roughest paths, deserted you and left you all alone in the terrible trial hour? Have you been wrecked on life's journey and seek dry and solid footing? Do you seek communion with the dead and to know the higher magic of Power? Here is Rhodes, and here leap! Hope! Persistence! Is it worth while to know what your faults or character are and how the defects may be remedied? To know the reasons why you fail in many of your undertakings and what will lead you on to success? If man or woman hath lost hope, and love and passion are smouldering wrecks, is it worth while to know how they may be resurrected from their premature graves: All this, true clairvoyance will instruct you how to accomplish.

"Sad, sad, are they who know not love,
But, far from Passion's tears and smiles,
Drift down a moonless sea, and pass
The silvery coasts of fair isles.

"But sadder they, whose longing lips
Kiss empty air, and never touch
The dear warm mouth of those they love,-
Waiting, wasting, suffering much.

"But clear as amber, sweet as musk,
Is life to those whose loves unite!
They bask in Allah's smiles by day,
And nestle in his heart by night."

Thus sang Fatima; thus singeth ever true Soul. Clairvoyance should be cultivated by everybody, and then there would be fewer marriage mistakes.

No curtain hides from view the spheres Elysian,
Save these poor shells of half-transparent dust;
And all that binds the spiritual vision
Is pride, and hate, and lust.

Clairvoyance points the road that all should travel. But to be valuable, it should be healthy. Sydney Smith said a good thing when he wrote:

"Never give way to melancholy; resist it steadily, for the habit will encroach. I once gave a lady two-and-twenty receipts against Melancholy. One was a bright fire; another to remember all the pleasant things said to and of her; another to keep a box of sugar-plums on the chimney-piece, and a kettle simmering on the hob.

"Never teach false morality. How exquisitely absurd to tell girls that beauty is of no value - dress of no use! Beauty is of value; her whole prosperity and happiness in life may often depend on a new gown or a becoming bonnet; and if she has five grains of common sense she will find this out. The great thing is to teach her their just value, and that there must be something better under a bonnet than a pretty face for real happiness. But never sacrifice truth.

"I am convinced that digestion is the great secret of life; and that character, talents, virtues, and qualities are powerfully affected by beef, mutton, pie-crust and rich soups. I have often thought that I could feed or starve men into many virtues and vices, and affect them more powerfully with the instruments of cookery than Timotheus could do formerly with his lyre."(23)
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(23) Nothing truer than this has ever been written though the lines were penned more than half a century ago when even the term "Dietetics" was uncoined. A piece of pie-crust may cause a fit of melancholy and cause suicide. Examples of failure and horror due to an attack of indigestion can be multiplied literally a million times. On the other hand, countless great deeds, possible and performed as a result of simple living and exalted ideas, can be cited. While it is true that our thoughts affect the body and its functions, it is equally true and, to a greater degree, that our physical state profoundly influences the Mind and therefore the Soul. Consequently our entire spiritual state, and the body, is what the digestion, therefore the food make it.
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The principle applies to clairvoyance (lucidity). Be so healthily or not at all. Self-mesmerization is a very safe and sure road if it is a slow process. As a matter of course, every tyro and experimentalist will not make a grand success, because in too great a hurry; nor is it to be expected; neither will every one skate or sing well who tries, until a fair amount of practice shall enable them to do so; that practice necessarily involving many failures before the final triumph. Mesmerism, self or foreign, has been in use as an educator for hundreds of long ages, as is proved by the sculptures and tablets of Ancient Egypt, Syria, Nineveh, and Babylon, fashioned by civilized man over forty thousand years ago, if there be any truth in the archæological conclusions of Botta, Mariette, Champollion, Lepsius, Rawlings, Leonard, Horner and Baron Bunsen; and in those ancient days, magnetism and clairvoyance, judging from art relics yet remaining, were, as now, used practically. Then probably, as now, a large class of learned men affirmed diseases mainly to spring from bad states of the blood and organs, totally ignoring what clairvoyance then, as now, asserted, that they were (and are) frequently the result of deeply hidden causes, albeit there is some doubt whether they even distantly glimpsed the recently discovered fact, that every disorder bears its own signature or means of cure, as plainly as its direct symptoms themselves are apparent; that many diseases that have successfully baffled medical science are due to magnetic disturbances in many instances - fairly eluding detection until forced to yield the secret to clairvoyance; that still other, and many, diseases can only be accounted for on the doctrine of spores - already herein explained; nor, furthermore, were the "learned" ones of that day, any more than their brethren or class in our own time, probably aware, that at least three-fifths of all the evil in the world - social, mental, national, religious, physical and moral, sickness, agony and premature death - sprung and spring from troubles, fevers, colds and acidities in the love departments of our common human nature,(24) as it also, and it alone, can indicate the universal remedy.

Most people are sick because there's trouble in the love nature, and that trouble demoralizes the man or woman, destroys the family compact and, disorganizing the foundations of society, engenders multitudinous hells on earth, and makes crime abound like locusts in a plague!(24)
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(24) See Eulis by Dr. P.B. Randolph and The Mystery of Sex: Race Regeneration by the writer of these notes.
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No power on earth but true clairvoyance, can either detect the causes at work productive of this domestic inharmony, or suggest the remedy.

But what is true clairvoyance? I reply, it is the ability, by self-effort or otherwise, to drop beneath the floors of the outer world, and come up as it were, upon the other side. We often see that we take to be sparks or flashes of light before us in the night; they are not really what they seem, but are instantaneous penetrations of the veil that, pall-like hangs between this outer world of Dark and Cold, and the inner realm of Light and Fire,(25) in the midst of which it is embosomed, or, as it were, enshrouded; and true clairvoyance is the lengthened uplifting of that heavy pall. It is not the insane raving of obsession, possession, of a puling sickly somnambule! It is not a lure, to win a man or woman from correct practices, or their ideas and standard of Virtue - the Latin word for strength; it is not a trap to bait one's senses; nor the mere ability to make a sort of twilight introspection of your own or some one else's corpus; not a thing calculated to undermine the religious principles of any human being, nor to sap one's moral nature in any way, or to exhaust the strength. But it is rich and very valuable power, whose growth depends upon the due observance of the normal laws which underlie it. The price of power is obedience to law. If we would be strong, clear-seeing, powerful, the rules thereof must be observed, and the adept and acolyte alike be ever conscious that no earthly fame gained, or place reached, or wealth accumulated, will, or probably can avail them or any human being, when, passed over the river of death, we take our places in the ranks of the vast armies of the dead, as they file by the Halls of Destiny, past the gates of God. What, then, is clairvoyance? I reply: It is the LIGHT which the seer reaches sometimes through years of agony; by wading through oceans, as it were, of tears and blood; it is an interior unfoldment of native powers, culminating in somnambulic vision through the mesmeric processes, and the comprehension and application of the principles that underlie and overflow human nature and the physical universe, together with a knowledge of the principia of the vast spirit-sea whereon the worlds of space are cushioned. Thus true clairvoyance generally is knowledge resulting from experiment, born of agony, and purified by the baptism of fire.
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(25) This Light or Fire is in essence within almost all human beings and, by the right methods, taught by the Secret Schools, can be gradually developed into a living, pulsating, scintillating fire which envelopes the entire being and which finally results in the Illumination and Immortalizing of the Soul. This is the Great Work so much spoken of by the various writers on the Mysteries. It is the Way, the Light, and the Life of Man.
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It may require a special examination in certain cases to determine whether the person is best fitted, naturally, for a sympathist, or psychometer, truly such in any one of a thousand phases, or for a clairvoyant in any particular degree. To go blindly to work is but to waste your time and effort to no purpose whatever. If your natural bent, organization and genius best fit you for one particular thing, it were folly to attempt to force yourself into another path.

Never begin a course of experiments unless you intend to carry them on to certain success. To begin a course of magnetic experiments, and become tired in a fortnight because you do not succeed, is absurd. Mesmeric circles are, all things considered, probably the quickest way to reach practical results in a short time.

In the attempt to reach clairvoyance, most people are altogether in too great a hurry to reach grand results, and in that haste neglect the very means required, permitting the mind to wander all over creation - from the consideration of a miserable love affair of no account whatever, to an exploration of the mysteries enshrouding the great nebulæ or Orion or Centauri. Now that won't do. If one wants to be able to peruse the life-scroll of others, the first thing learned must be the steady fixing of mind and purpose, aim and intent, upon a single point, wholly void of other thought or object. The second requirement is, Think the thing closely; and third, WILL steadily, firmly, to know the correct solution of the problem in hand, and then the probabilities are a hundred to ten that the vision thereof, or the PHANTORAMA of it, will pass before you like a vivid dream; or it will flash across your mind with resistless conviction of truth.

Mechanical or magnetic means may be used to facilitate results, but never by the opiates or narcotics. Lured by what Cahagnet wrote about the use of narcotic agents, and strengthened in the hope by what THEOPHILE GAUTIER, BAYARD TAYLOR, FITZ HUGH LUDLOW, and various other travelers, wrote regarding the use of one, early in the year 1855, I was led to make two experiments; but may God forgive me for so doing. Nothing on earth could induce me to repeat them, or to suffer others to do so, for I know no possible good, but much of inmitigated evil, can result therefrom.

In attempting to gain lucidity, I strongly advise purely magnetical means, either at the hands of a judicious manipulator, or by the means indicated herein. A magnetic bandage worn over the head, with the polar plates either in the front or back head, or covering either temple, may be worn to equalize the currents, and induce the slumber. And now I end my task with a bit of advice, hoping that the matter of this book, original and selected, may benefit all. To everybody the poet says, and I repeat:

"God gave us hands, -one left, one right;
The first to help ourselves; -the other
To stretch abroad in kindly might,
And help along a suffering brother.
Then if you see a sister fall,
And bow her head before the weather,
Assist at once; remove the thrall,
And suffer, or grow strong - together!"

It may chance that you, reader, have enemies; and if so, take my advice - for I have them too - sap-heads mainly. Go straight on and don't mind them; if they get in your way, walk round them, regardless of their spite. A man or woman who has no enemies is seldom good for anything - is made of that kind of material which is so easily worked that every one has a hand in it. A sterling character is one who thinks, and speaks what she or he thinks; such are sure to have enemies. They are as necessary as fresh air. They keep people alive and active. A celebrated character, who was surrounded by enemies, used to remark, "They are sparks which, if you do not blow, will go out of themselves." "Live down prejudice," was the Iron Duke's motto. Let this be your feeling while endeavoring to live down the scandal of those who are bitter against you; if you perform but your duty, and hundreds who were once alienated from you will flock to you and acknowledge their error. Keep right on the rough or even tenor of your own way.

Why look back to the past, when you should be gazing forward to the future? why hurry to the old haunts, when you see the whole world hastening the other was? A little generous prudence, a little forbearance of one another, and some grains of charity, might win all to join and unite into one general and brotherly search after truth; could we but forego this prelatic tradition of crowding free consciences and Christian liberties into canons and precepts of men, I doubt not, if some great and worthy stranger were to come among us, wise to discern the mould and temper of a people, and how to govern it, observing the high hopes and aims, the diligent alacrity of our extended thoughts and reasons, in pursuance of truth and freedom, but that he would cry out as Pyrrhus did, admiring the Roman docility and courage, "If such were my Epirots, I would not despair the greatest design that could be attempted to make a church or a kingdom happy." Have you faith in the great spirit of our mighty people? Can you discern the instinct of its Immortal longing? Do you hope to stem the tide of its irresistible advance, any more than to take the swallows from the sky and stop their flight toward summer? Is it possible you can believe that tradition will serve for anything but men's couch dreams, or that the shadows of antiquity will stand for the substance of Now? The President, Congress and Supreme Court of today are not, do not mean, the same powers of fifty years ago. We call our Constitution the same but laws vary in their effect with the tendencies of their administrators, as completely as if they were repealed or altered in their substance. Public opinion consigns some to the cobwebs of the obsolete; altered views change their very interpretation. Are you alone insensible to the change? If not, be up and stirring with the times, in all affairs, of church, State, politics, labor, love, marriage and the family; for we live in stirring times, when every one of us must prove ourselves either pieces or pawns in the chess game of life and, to avoid being checked, must play WELL!

In these days of turmoil, climatic changes, political change and revolution, imposture and true revelation, rampant quackery and blooming science, honesty and villany side by side people may falter and despair of the world and its fortunes; but to do so is to distrust God, and doubt his providence, for he has safely brought us through so far, and therefore let us truly trust him to the end.

Reader, whoever you may be, I beg you to not only read, but study well, the glorious meaning of the following sublime jewel from the pen of one of Islam's poets; for once armed with its philosophy you will be impregnable to all assaults, and stand firm amidst the wildest tempest.

"‘Allah! Allah!' cried the sick man, racked with pain the long night thro,
Till with prayer his heart grew tender, till his lips like honey grew.
But at morning came the tempter; said, ‘Call louder, child of Pain,
See if Allah ever hears, or answers, "Here am I," again.'
Like a stab the cruel cavil through his brain and pulses went;
To his heart an icy coldness, to his brain a darkness sent.
Then before him stands Elias: says, ‘My child, why thus dismayed?
Dost repent thy former fervor? Is thy soul of prayer afraid?'
‘Ah!' he cried, ‘I've called so often; never heard the :Here am I;
And I thought God will not pity; will not turn on me his eye.'
Then the grave Elias answered, ‘God said, "Rise, Elias, go
Speak to him, the sorely tempted; lift him from his gulf of woe.
Tell him that his very longing is itself an answering cry;
That his prayer, "COME GRACIOUS ALLAH!" is my answer HERE AM I"'
Every inmost aspiration is God's angel undefiled;
And in every ‘O my Father!' slumbers deep a ‘Here, my child!'"(26)
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(26) No grander lines were ever penned and all Neophytes should commit them to memory so they may quickly come to mind when discouragement, sorrow, or failure seem to stalk abroad. If your supplication is from the heart, then under the Law, there must be an answer to it and there shall be.
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Women, a last word to you. Perhaps you have a lover or husband, and, that being the case, I say,

If you prize him, let him know it;
If you love him, show it, show it.

The cure for wrong and evil is to be found in Clairvoyance, which will enable woman to avoid certain risks, at certain times; enable man to understand himself, his wife and his neighbor; and thus will seership banish crime and bring peace on earth and good-will among men. So may it be. Let us now turn to another branch of the great subject of seership.
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