Opal 308 Oracles
been applied to natural philosophy as well as the spiritual the divine " afflatus," and was thus rendered the vehicle of
creation of man.
Apollo's dictation.
Opal : Recreates the heart, preserves from contagion in the
air, and dispels sadness ; it is also good for weak eyes. As the oracle became mere celebrated, its prophetic
Pliny's description of this stone glows with enthusiasm,
and he gives the preference to those which are shadowed machinery was constructed of more costly materials. The
as it were with the colour of wine. The name poederos, tripod was then formed of gold, but the lid, which was
applied to the opal, is understood to indicate the beautiful placed in its hollow rim, in order to afford the Pythoness
complexion of youth. a more secure seat, continued to be made of brass. She
Ophites : This gnostic sect seems to have dated from the prepared herself by drinking out of a sacred fountain
second century. A full system of initiation was in vogue (Castalia), adjoining the crypt, the waters of which were
among the members, and they possessed symbols to reserved for her only, and in which she bathed her hair ; by
represent purity, life, spirit and fire. The whole appears chewing a laurel leaf, and by circling her brows with a
to have been of Egyptian origin. (See Gnostics.) laurel crown. The person who made inquiry from the
Oracles : Shrines where a god speaks to human beings oracle, first offered a victim, and then having written his
through the mouths of priests or priestesses. The con-
cept of the god become vocal in this manner was by no question in a note-book, handed it to the Pythoness, before
means confined to Greece or Egypt. Our object here is to
she ascended the tripod and he also as well as the priestess,
deal with the most celebrated oracles of all nations as well ;
as those of antiquity. Probably all the primitive gods
wore a laurel crown. In early times the oracle spoke only
—those, that is to say, of the fetish class, now under con-
in one month of the year, named " Byssus," in which it
sideration were consulted as oracles ; it is certain that
they derived this character in a state of animism and that originated and at first only on the seventh day of that
they transmitted it to gods of the most advanced type. ;
In early times the great question was whether man month, which was esteemed the birth-day of Apollo, and
would have food on the morrow or no perhaps the first was called " Polypthonus."
;
Virginity was at first an indispensable requisite in the
oracle was the spirit which directed the hungry savage in
his hunting and fishing expeditions. The Esquimaux still Pythoness on account, as Diodorus tells us, of the purity
consult spirits for this purpose, and their wizards are as ;
familiar with the art of giving ambiguous replies to their
of that state and its relation to Diana ; moreover, because
anxious clients as were the well-informed keepers of the
oracles of Greece. As advancement proceeded, the direction virgins were thought better adapted than others of their
of the gods was obtained in all the affairs of private and
sex to keep oracular mysteries secret and inviolate. But
—public life.
Greece. The Oracle of Delphi. When Jupiter was once an untoward accident having occurred to one of these
desirous to ascertain the central point of the earth, he consecrated damsels, the • guardians of the temple, in
despatched two eagles, or two crows, as they are named by order, as they imagined, to prevent its repetition for the
Strabo. The messengers took flight in opposite courses,
from sunrise and sunset ; and they met at Delphi, which future, permitted no one to fulfil the duties of the office
place was thenceforward dignified with the title " The
navel of the earth ; " an " umbilicus " being represented till she had attained the mature age of fifty ; they still
in white marble within its celebrated temple. Delphi thus indulged her, however, with the use of a maiden's habit.
became a place of great distinction, but it was not yet
oracular, till the fumes which issued from a neighbouring The response was always delivered in Greek.
cave were first discovered by a shepherd named Coretas. Oracle of Dodona. Another celebrated oracle, that of
His attention was forcibly attracted to a spot round which Jupiter, was at Dodona, in Epirus, from which Jupiter
whenever his goats were browsing they gambolled and
bleated more than was their wont. Whether these fumes derived the name of Dodonus. It was situated at the foo
arose in consequence of an earthquake, or whether they
were generated by demoniacal art is not to be ascertained ; of Mount Tomarus, in a wood of oaks ; and there the
but the latter hypothesis is thought by Clasen to be the answers were given by an old woman under the name of
more probable of the two. Coretas, on approaching the
spot, was seized with ecstacy, and uttered words which were Pelias. Pelias means dove in the Attic dialect, from which
deemed inspired. It was not long before the danger arising
in consequence of the excitement of curiosity among the the fable arose, that the doves prophesied in the groves
neighbours, the deadly stupefaction often produced among
those who inhaled the fumes without proper caution, and of Dodona. According to Herodotus, this legend con-
the inclination which it aroused in some to plunge them-
—tains the following incident, which gave rise to the
selves into the depths of the cavern below, occasioned the
oracle : Two priestesses of Egyptian Thebes were carried
fissure to be covered by a sort of table, having a hole in the
centre, and called a tripod, so that those who wished to away by Phoenician merchants ; one of them was conveyed
try the experiment could resort there in safety. Eventually to Libya, where she founded the oracle of Jupiter Ammon
a young girl, of unsophisticated manners, became the
the other to Greece. The latter one remained in the
chosen medium of the responses, now deemed oracular and
Dodonian wood, which was much frequented on account of
called Pythian, as proceeding from Apollo, the slayer of
the acorns. There she had a temple built at the foot of
Python, to whom Delphi was consecrated. A sylvan bower
an oak in honour of Jupiter, whose priestess she had been
of laurel branches was erected over the spot, and at length
the marble temple and the priesthood of Delphi arose where in Thebes ; and here afterwards a regular oracle was
the Pythoness, seated on her throne, could be charged with founded. He adds, that this priestess was called a dove,
because her language could not be understood. The
Dodonid and African oracles were certainly connected, and
Herodotus distinctly states, that the manner of prophecy
in Dodona was the same as that in Egyptian Thebes.
Diana was worshipped in Dodona in conjunction with Zeus,
and a female figure was associated with Amun in the
Libyan Ammonium. Besides this, the dove was the bird
of Aphrodite, the Diana of Zeus, or the Mosaic divine
love, which saved mankind from complete destruction.
According to other authors, there was a wondrous intoxi-
cating spring at Dodona ; and in later times more material
means were employed to produce the prophetic spirit.
Several copper bowls, namely, were placed upon a
column, and the statue of a boy beside them. When the
wind moved a rod or scourge having three bones attached
to chains, it struck upon the metallic bowls, the sound of
—which was heard by the applicants. These Dodonian
tones gave rise to a proverb : ess Dodonizum an unceasing
babbler.
The oracle at Dodona was dedicated to the Pelasgian
Oracles 309 Oracles
Zeus, who was worshipped here at the same time as the impression upon the minds of pilgrims. Those who
almighty ruler of the world, and as the friendly associate questioned the god were also obliged to take a purificatory
of mankind. In the course of the theogonic process, bath in the temple, similar to that by which the Delphian
—Diana was associated with him as his wife, the mother of Pythia prepared herself for prophecy.
Aphrodite. The servants, of Zeus were Selles, the priests Besides this artificial soothsaying from signs, natural
of Diana, the so-called Peliades. According to Homer,
the Selles inhabited the sanctum at Dodona, sleeping upon divination by the prophetic movements of the mind was
the earth, and with naked unwashed feet ; they served the practised. Where there are prophesying priestesses, there
Pelasgian Zeus. It is probable that they slept upon the
must also be ecstatic ones, similar to those in the magnetic
earth on the hides of newly-sacrificed animals, to receive
prophetic 'dreams, as was customary at other places, state. Sophocles calls the Dodonean priestesses divinely
Calchos and Oropus, with many others. inspired : Plato (Phaedrus) says, more decidedly, that the
As regards the mantic of Dodona, it was partly natural, prophetess at Delphi and the priestesses at Dodona had
done much good in sacred madness, in private and public
from the excitement of the mind, partly artificial. Of the
affairs, to their country, but in their senses little or nothing.
—latter we may mention three modes the ancient oak of
We may see from this that the Delphian Pythia, as well as
Zeus, with its prophetic doves, the miraculous spring, and
the celebrated Dodonian bowls of brass. the Dodonian priestesses, did not give their oracles in the
The far-spreading, speaking tree, the incredible wonder, — —state of common waking consciousness, but in real ecstasy,
as jEschylus calls it, was an oak, a lofty beautiful tree, to which the frequent incense and drink offerings would
with evergreen leaves and sweet edible acorns, which
according to the belief of the Greeks and Romans, were assist. Aristides states, still more clearly than the others,
the first sustenance of mankind. The Pelasgi regarded that the priestesses at Dodona neither knew, before being
this tree as the tree of life. In this tree the god was seized upon by the spirit, what would be said, nor remem-
supposed to reside, and the rustling of its leaves and the bered afterwards, when their natural consciousness re-
turned, what they had uttered ; so that all others, rather
voices of birds showed his presence. When the questioners
—than they, knew it.
entered, the oak rustled, and the Peliades said, " Thus Oracle oj Jupiter Trophonius. Trophonius, according to
speaks Zeus." Incense was burned beneath it, which may Pausanias, was the most skilful architect of his day. Con-
be compared to the altar of Abraham under the oak
cerning the origin of his oracle there are many opinions.
Ogyges, which had stood there since the world's creation. Some say he was swallowed up by an earthquake in the
According to the legend, sacred doves continually inhabited cave which afterwards became prophetic ; others, that
the tree, like the Marsoor oracle at Tiora Mattiene, where after having completed the Adytum of Apollo at Delphi (a
very marvellous specimen of his workmanship, which
a sacred hawk foretells futurity from the top of a wooden Dr. Clarke thought might at some time be discovered on
account of its singularity), he declined asking any specific
pillar. pay, but modestly requested the god to grant him what-
At the foot of the oak a cold spring gushes as it were from ever was the greatest benefit a man could receive ; and in
its roots, and from its murmur the inspired priestesses
three days afterwards he was found dead. This oracle was
prophesied.
discovered after two years of scarcity in its neighbourhood,
Of this miraculous fountain it is related, that lighted when the Pythoness ordered the starving population, who
torches being thrust into it were extinguished, and that applied to her, to consult Trophonius in Lebadaea. The
extinguished torches were re-lit ; it also rose and fell at deputation sent for that purpose could not discover any
various seasons. " That extinction and rekindling has," trace, of such an oracle, till Saon, the oldest among them,
says Lassaulx, " perhaps the mystical signification that
the usual sober life of the senses must be extinguished, that obtained the desired information by following the flight of
a swarm of bees. The responses were given by the genius
the prophetic spirit dormant in the soul may be aroused. of Trophonius to the inquirer, who was compelled to
The torch of human existence must expire, that a divine descend into a cave, of the nature of which Pausanias has
one may be lighted ; the human must die that the divine left a very lively representation. The votary resided for a
may be born ; the destruction of individuality is the
awakening of God in the soul, or, as the mystics say, the certain number of days in a sanctuary of good fortune, in
which he underwent customary lustrations, abstained from
setting of sense is the rising of truth." hot baths, but dipped in the river Hercyna, and was
plentifully supplied with meat from the victims which he
The extinguishing of a burning light shows that the
spring contained carbonic acid gas, which possesses stupi- sacrificed. Many, indeed, were the sacred personages
fying and deadly properties, like all exhalations arising whom he was bound to propitiate with blood ; among them
especially from minerals, ^he regular rising and sinking
of the water is a frequent phenomenon, and has been were Trophonius himself and his sons, Apollo, Saturn,
observed from the earliest ages. Jupiter, Vasileus, Juno Henioche, and Ceres Europa, who
is affirmed to have been the nurse of Trophonius. From
It appears that predictions were drawn from the tones an inspection of the entrails, a soothsayer pronounced
of the Dodonian brass bowls, as well as from the rustling whether Trophonius was in fit humour for consultation.
of the sacred oak and the murmuring of the sacred well. None of the " exta," however favourable they might have
been, were of the slightest avail, unless a ram, immolated
The Dodonian columns, with that which stood upon
to Agamedes at the mouth of the cave on the very night of
—them, appears to express the following : =The medium-
the descent, proved auspicious. When that propitious
sized brazen bowl was a hemisphere, and symbolised of
heaven ; the boy-like male statue a figure of the Demiurgos, signal had been given ,the priests led the inquirer to the
or constructor of the universe ; the bell-like notes a symbol river Hercyna, where he was anointed and washed by two
of the harmony of the universe and music of the spheres. Lebadaaan youths, thirteen years of age, named " Hermai."
That the Demiurgos is represented as a boy is quite in the
spirit of Egypto-Pelasgian theology as it reigned in Samo- He was then carried farther to the two spiing-heads of the
thrace. The miraculous bell told all who came to Dodona to
question the god that they were on holy ground, must stream, and there he drank first of Lethe, in order that he
inquire with pure hearts, and be silent when the god might forget all past events and present his mind to the
replied. It is easily imagined that these tones, independent oracle as a " tabula rasa " ; and secondly of Mnemosyne,
that he might firmly retain remembrance of every occurrence
and uninfluenced by human will, must have made a deep
which was about to happen within the cave. An image,
reputed to be the workmanship of Daedalus, was then
Oracles 310 Oracles
exhibited to him, and so great was its sanctity, that no and purifies the light of the soul, so that we are fit to receive
other eyes but those of a person about to undertake the the divine spirit. There the divine presence is of such a
adventure of the cave were ever permitted to behold it. nature that it punishes every one who is capable of receiving
the god. The soothsayer uses this spirit like a work-tool
Next he was clad in a linen robe, girt with ribbons, and over which he has no control. After the moment of pre-
diction he does not always remember that which has
shod with sandals peculiar to the country. The entrance passed ; often he can scarcely collect his faculties. Long
before the water-drinking, the soothsayer must abstain
to the oracle was a very narrow aperture in a grove on the day and night from food, and observe religious customs,
which are impossible to ordinary people, by which means
summit of a mountain, protected by a marble parapet he is made capable of receiving the god. It is only in this
manner that he is able to hold the mirror of his soul to the
about two cubits in height, and by brazen spikes above it.
—radiance of free inspiration."
The upper part of the cave was artificial, like an oven, but Oracle of Amphiaraus. Another very celebrated oracle
no steps were cut in the rock, and the descent was made by was that of Amphiaraus, who distinguished himself so
much in the Theban war. He was venerated at Oropus, in
a ladder brought to the spot on each occasion. On Bceotia, as a seer. This oracle was consulted more in sick-
ness than on any other occasion. The applicants had here,
approaching the mouth of the adytum itself the adven- also, to lie upon the skin of a sacrificed ram, and during
turer lay flat, and holding in each hand some honeyed sleep had the remedies of their diseases revealed to them.
Not only, however, were sacrifices and lustrations per-
cakes, first inserted his feet into the aperture, then drew
formed here, but the priests prescribed other preparations
his knees and the remainder of his body after them, till he by which the minds of the sleepers were to be enlightened.
They had to fast one day, and refrain from wine three.
was caught by some hidden force, and carried downward Amphilochus, as son of Amphiaraus, had a similar oracle
as if by a whirlpool. The responses were given sometimes at Mallos, in Cilicia, which Pausanias calls the most trust-
by a vision, sometimes by words ; and a forcible exit was worthy and credible of the age. Plutarch speaks of the
then made through the original entrance, and in like oracles of Amphilochus and Mopsus as being in a very
flourishing state ; and Lucian mentions that all those who
manner feet foremost. There was only a single instance
—wished to question the oracle had to lay down two oboles.
on record of any person who had descended failing to Egyptian Oracles. The oracles of Ancient Egypt were as
numerous as those of Greece. It must have been due to
return and that one deserved his fate ; for his obj ect was foreign influence that the oracle, that played so important
a part in the Greek world at this time, was also thoroughly
to discover treasure, not to consult the oracle. Immediately established on the banks of the Nile. Herodotus knew of
no fewer than seven gods in Egypt who spake by oracles.
on issuing from the cavern, the inquirer was placed on a Of these, the most reliable was considered to give an
intimation of their intentions by means of remarkable
seat called that of Mnemosyne, not far from the entrance, events. These are carefully observed by the Egyptians,
who write down what follows upon these prodigies. They
and there the priests demanded a relation of everything aiso consider that the fate of a person is fixed by the day of
his birth, for every day belongs to a special god. The
which he had seen and heard he was then carried once
; oracle of Jupiter Ammon at the oasis of that name and the
again to the sanctuary of good fortune, where he remained same deity at Thebes existed from the twentieth to the
twenty-second Dynasty. He was consulted not only con-
for some time overpowered by terror and lost in forget- cerning the fate of empires but upon such trifling matters
fulness. By degrees his former powers of intellect returned, as the identification of a thief. In all serious matters,
however, it was sought to ascertain his views. Those
and, in contradiction to the received opinion, he recovered
about to make their wills sought his oracle, and judgments
the power of smiling. were ratified by his word.
Dr. Clarke, in his visit to Lebadaea, found everything —" According to the inscriptions, intercourse between
belonging to the hieron of Trophonius' in its original state, king and god was arranged as follows : The King present
himself before the god and preferred a direct question, so
excepting that the narrow entrance to the adytum was framed as to admit of an answer by simple yes or no ; in
reply the god nodded an affirmative, or shook his head in
choked with rubbish. The Turkish governor was afraid
negation. This has suggested the idea that the oracles
of a popular commotion if he gave permission for cleansing
were worked by manipulating statues of divinities mechan-
this aperture. Mr. Cripps, however, introduced the whole ically set in motion by the priests. But as yet no such
statues have been found in the Valley of the Nile, and con-
length of his body into the cavity, and by thrusting a
—trivances of this kind could have had no other object than
long pole before him found it utterly stopped. The waters
to deceive the people, a supposition apparently excluded
l of Lethe and Mnemosyne at present supply the washer-
women of Lebadaea. in this case by the fact that it was customary fcr the king
to visit the god alone and in secret. Probably the king
—> Oracles of Delos and Bronchus. -The oracle of " Delos," presented himself on such occasions before the sacred
animal in which the god was incarnate, believing that the
notwithstanding its high reputation, had few peculiarities : divine will would be manifested by its movements."
its virtue was derived from the nativity of Apollo and
The Apis bull also possessed oracles. Bes, too, god of
Diana in that island. At Dindyma, or Didyma, near
—pleasure or of the senses, had an oracle at Abydos.
Miletus, Apollo presided over the oracle of the " Branchi- American Oracles. Among the American races the
dae," so called from either one of his sons or of his favourites oracle was frequently encountered. All the principal gods
Branchus of Thessaly, whom he instructed in soothsaying
while alive, and canonized after death. The responses
were given by a priestess who bathed and fasted for three
days before consultation, and then sat upon an axle or bar,
with a charming-rod in her hand, and inhaling the steam
from a hot spring. Offerings and ceremonies were necessary
to render the inspiration effectual, including baths, fasting,
and solitude, and Iamblichus censures those who despise
them.
—Oracle of the Clarion Apollo at Colophon. Of the oracle
of Apollo at Colophon, Iamblichus relates that it prophesied
by drinking of water. " It is known that a subterranean
spring exists there, from which the prophet drinks ; after
he has done so, and has performed many consecrations and
sacred customs on certain nights, he predicts the future
;
but he is invisible to all who are present. That this water
can induce prophecy is clear, but how it happens, no one
knows, says the proverb." It might appear that the
divine spirit pervades this water, but it is not so. God
is in all things, and is reflected in this spring, thereby
giving it the prophetic power. This inspiration of the water
is not of an entirely divine nature, for it only prepares us
Oracles 311 Ortcn
of aboriginal America universally act as oracles. With the fire. The occult qualities of electrum are of a tell-tale
ancient inhabitants of Peru, the huillcas partook of the nature.
nature of oracles. Many of these were serpents, trees, and Orchis, the Root of the : The Root of the Satyrios Orchis was
rivers, the noises made by which appeared to the primitive believed to be a sure remedy against enchantment.
—Peruvians as, indeed, they do to primitive folk all over Ordinate of Alchemy, The : (See Dalton, Thomas.)
— Athe world to be of the quality of articulate speech. Both Orenda :
magical force. [See American Indians.)
the Huillcamayu and the Apurimac rivers at Cuzco were Orleans, Duchess of : (See France.)
huillca oracles of this kind, as their names, " Huillca- Orleans, Duke of : (See France.)
river " and " Great Speaker," denote. These oracles Ornithomancy is the Greek work for augury, the method of
often set the mandate of the Inca himself at defiance, divination by the flight or the song of birds, which, with
occasionally supporting popular opinion against his the Romans, became a part of their national religion, and
policy. had a distinct priesthood. For this reason it is treated in a
The Peruvian Indians of the Andes range within recent separate article.
generations continued to adhere to the superstitions they Oromase, Society : (See Holland.)
Ahad inherited from their fathers. rare and interesting Orphic Magic : (See Greece.)
Orton : Alluded to by Froissart as the familiar of the Lord of
account of these says that they " admit an evil being, the
Corasse, near Orthes. A clerk whom his lordship had
inhabitant of the centre of the earth, whom they consider
as the author of their misfortunes, and at the mention of wronged set this spirit the task of tormenting his superior,
whose name they tremble. The most shrewd among but by fair words the Lord of Corasse won him over to
them take advantage of this belief to obtain respect, and
himself so that Orton became his familiar. Nightly Orton
represent themselves as his delegates. Under the denom- would shake his pillow and waken him to tell him the news
ination of mohanes, or agoreros, they are consulted even on of the world. Froissart says of their connection :
the most trivial occasions. They preside over the intrigues " So Orion continued to serve the Lord of Corasse1 for a
of love, the health of the community, and the taking of the long time. I do not know whether he had more than one
field. Whatever repeatedly occurs to defeat their prognos- master, but, every week, at night, twice or thrice, he
tics, falls on themselves and they are wont to pay for visited his master, and related to him the events which had
;
happened in the different countries he had traversed, and
their deceptions very dearly. They chew a species of the lord of Corasse wrote of them to the Count of Foix, who
vegetable called piripiri, and throw it into the air, accom- took a great pleasure in them, for he was the man in all the
panying this act by certain recitals and incantations, to
injure some, to benefit others, to procure rain and the inun- world who most willingly heard news of strange countries.
dation of rivers, or, on the other hand, to occasion settled " Now it happened that the Lord of Corasse, as on other
weather, and a plentiful store of agricultural productions. nights, was lying in his bed in his chamber by the side of his
Any such result, having been casually verified on a single wife, who had become accustomed to listen to Orion without
• occasion, suffices to confirm the Indians in their faith, any alarm. Orton came, and drew away the lord's pillow,
although they may have been cheated a thousand times. Whofor he was fast asleep, and his lord awoke, and cried, '
There is an instance on record of how the huillca could
is this ? ' He answered, ' It is I, Orion.' ' And_ whence
refuse on occasion to recognise even royalty itself. Manco, comest thou ? ' 'I come from Prague, in Bohemia.' ' And
the Inca who had been given the kingly power by Pizarro,
how far from hence is this Prague, in Bohemia ? ' ' Why,'
-offered a sacrifice to one of these oracular shrines. The said he, ' about sixty days' journey.' ' And thou hast
oracle refused to recognise him, through the medium of its come so quickly ? ' ' Faith, I go as q'uickly as the wind, or
guardian priest, stating that Manco was not the rightful even swifter.' ' And thou hast wings ? ' ' Faith, none.'
Inca. Manco therefore caused the oracle, which was in the ' How then canst thou fly so quickly ? ' Orion replied—
shape of a rock, to be thiown down, whereupon its guardian ' It does not concern thee to know.' ' Nay,' said he, ' I
spirit emerged in the form of a parrot and flew away. It is shall be very glad to know what fashion and form thou art
of,' Orton answered, ' It does not concern thee to know ; it
-probable that the bird thus liberated had been taught by
the priests to answer to the questions of those who came —is sufficient that I come hither, and bring thee sure and
to consult the shrine. But we learn that on Manco com-
manding that the parrot should be pursued it sought another certain news.' ' By G , Orion,' exclaimed the lord of
rock, which opened to receive it, and the spirit of the huillca
was transferred to this new abode. Corasse, ' I should love thee better if I had seen thee.'
' Since you have so keen a desire to see me,' said Orton ' the
Like the greater idols of Mexico, most of the principal hua-
—first thing thou shalt see and encounter to-morrow morning,
when you rise from your bed, shall be I.' ' That as
•cas of Peru seem to have been also oracles. The guardians enough,' said the Lord of Corasse. ' Go, therefore ; I give
•of the great speaking huacas appear to have exercised in thee leave for this night.'
virtue of their office an independent influence which was " When the morrow came, the Lord of Corasse began to
sometimes sufficiently powerful to resist the Apu-Ccapac- rise-, but the lady was so affrighted that-she fell sick and
Inca himself. It was perhaps natural that they should be could not get up that morning, and she said to her lord,
the exponents of the popular feeling which supported them, . who did not wish her to keep her bed, ' See if thou seest
myrather than of the policy of the sovereign chiefs, whose Orton. By faith, I neither wish, if it please God, to see
interest it was to suppress them : -there was even a tradition nor encounter him.' ' But I do,' said the Lord of Corasse
that the Huillac-umu, a venerable huillac whom the rest He leapt all nimbly from his bed, and seated himself upon
acknowledged as their head, had in old times possessed the edge, and waited there to see Orton, but saw nothing.
Then he went to the windows and threw them upon that he
jurisdiction over the supreme war-chiefs.
Many Indian tribes employ fetishes as oracles, and among might see more clearly about the room, but he saw nothing,
the ancient Mexicans practically all the great gods were so that he could say, ' This is Orton.' The day passed, the
night returned. When the Lord of Corasse was in his bed
oracular.
Orbas : The name given by the French to a species of metallic asleep, Orton came, and began speaking in his wonted
electrum. According to Pliny a vessel of this substance manner. ' Go, go,' said his master, ' thou art a fibber :
has a certain magical property ; when it is filled with thou didst promise to show me to-day who thou wert, and
liquor is discovers poison by showing semi-circles like
rainbows, while the fluid sparkles and hisses as if on the thou hast not done so.' ' Nay,' said he, ' but I did/
' Thou didst not.' ' And didst thou not see anything,
Orton 312 Palingenesy
—inquired Orton, ' when thou didst leap out of bed ? ' The Lord of Corasse, and the knight died in the following
Lord of Corasse thought a little while, and said ' Yes, year."
mywhile sitting on bed, and thinking of thee, I saw two Ostiaks : (See Siberia.)
long straws upon the pavement, which turned towards Oupnekhat, The : The Oupnekhat or Oupnekhata (Book of the
each other and played about.' ' And that was I,' cried Secret) written in Persian, gives the following instructions
Orton ; ' I had assumed that form.' Said the Lord of for the production of visions. " To produce the wise
Maschqgui (vision), we must sit on a four-cornered base,
Corasse : ' It does not content me : I pray thee change
thyself into some other form, so that I may see and know namely the heels, and then close the gates of the body.
thee.' Orton replied : ' You will act so that you will lose The ears by the thumbs the eyes by the forefingers ;
me.' ' Not so, 'said the Lord of Corasse : ' When I have ;
the nose by the middle ; the lips by the four other fingers.
once seen you, I shall not want to see you ever again.' The lamp within the body will then be preserved from
wind and movement, and the whole body will be full of
'Then,' said Orton, 'you shall see me to-morrow; and
remember that the first thing you shall see upon leaving light. Like the tortoise, man must withdraw every sense
your chamber, will be I.' ' Be it so,' replied the Lord of within himself ; the heart must be guarded, and then Brahma
Corasse. ' Begone with you, therefore, now. I give thee will enter into him, like fire and lightning. In the great
leave, for I wish to sleep.' fire ;n the cavity of the heart a small flame will be lit up,
" Orton departed. When the morrow came, and at the and in its centre is Atma (the soul) ; and he who destroys all.
third hour, the Lord of Corasse was up and attired in his worldly desires and wisdom will be like a hawk which has
usual fashion, he went forth from his chamber into a broken through the meshes of the net, and will have become
gallery that looked upon the castle-court. He cast therein one with the great being." Thus will he become Brahma-
his glances, and the first thing he saw was the largest sow Atma (divine spirit), and will perceive by a light that far
he had ever seen ; but she was so thin she seemed nothing exceeds that of the sum. " Who, therefore, enters this
but skin and bones, and she had great and long teats,
path be Brahma must deny the world and its pleasures ;
pendant and quite attenuated, and a long and inflamed snout. must only cover his nakedness, and staff in hand collect
The Sire de Corasse marvelled very much at this sow, and enough, but no more, alms to maintain life. The lesser
looked at her in anger, and exclaimed to his people, ' Go ones only do this ; the greater throw aside pitcher and
quickly, bring the dogs hither, and see that this Sow be staff, and do not even read the Oupnekhata."
well hunted.' The varlets ran nimbly, threw open the Owen, Robert : An early convert to spiritualism. He had
place where the dogs lay, and set them at the sow. The — —been for many years an advanced socialist, and though at
sow heaved a loud cry, and looked up at the Lord of
the time he embraced the spiritualistic doctrines 1853
Corasse, who supported himself upon a pillar buttress in he was already in his eighty-third year, he preached the
front of his chamber. She was seen no more afterwards, new faith with undiminished vigour and with characteristic
for she vanished, nor did any one note what became of her. scorn of caution. Having first published his views in his
The Sire de Corrasse returned into his chamber pensively, periodical, the Rational Quarterly Review, he brought out,
and bethought himself of Orton, and said, ' I think that I
in 1854, the New Existence of Man upon Earth, at this
have seen my familiar ; I repent me that I set my dogs
period the only English paper devoted to the interests of
upon him, for I doubt if I shall ever behold him again, spiritualism. Owen's view of the movement was that it
since he has several times told me that as soon as I should was the inauguration of a sort of millennium, a.
provoke him I should lose him, and he would return no social revolution, for which he had looked throughout his
more.' He spoke truly ; never again did Orton return to the life.
Paigoels, The : The devils of Hindustan. Some of the Hindus tion of plants, a grand secret known to Digby, Kircherf
Schot, Gafferel, Vallemont, and others. These philosophers
believe that the Paigoels were originally created devils
; —performed the operation of Palingenesy after the following
others that they were put out of heaven because of their manner : They took a plant, bruised it, burnt it, collected
its ashes, and, in the process of calcination, extracted from
great sin, and of all worlds that the earth is the only one it a salt. This salt they then put into a glass phial, and
with which they are allowed intercourse. Some of these mixed with it some peculiar substance, which these chemists-
—devils have individual names, and are the tempters of men have not disclosed. When the compound was formed, it
to special sins, others again enter into the bodies of men was pulverulent, and possessed a bluish colour. The
powder was next submitted to a gentle heat, when its-
and take possession of them. The Hindus also believe particles being instantly put into motion, there then,
that the souls of wicked men go to join the number of the gradually arose, as fiom the midst of the ashes, a stem,
leaves and flowers ; or, in other words, an apparition of the
paigoels. plant which had been submitted to combustion. But as
soon as the heat was taken away, the form of the plant,
Palingenesy : A term employed by the philosophers of the which had been thus sublimed, was precipitated to the
bottom of the vessel. Heat was then re-applied, and the
seventeenth century to denote the " resurrection of plants," vegetable phoenix was resusitated ; it was withdrawn, and
the form once more became latent among the ashes. This
and the method of achieving their astral appearance after notable experiment was said to have been performed before
the Royal Society of England, and it satisfactorily proved
destruction. In very early times, we find philosophers to this learned body, that the presence of heat gave a sort
of life to the vegetable apparition, and that the absence of
inclined to doubt if apparitions might not be accounted for
caloric caused its death.
on natural principles, without supposing that a belief in Cowley was quite delighted with the experiment of the
them was either referable to hallucinations, to human rose and its ashes, and in conceiving that he had detected
the same phenomenon in the letters written with the juice-
imagination, or to impositions that might have been
practised. At length Lucretius attacked the popular
notion entertained of ghosts, by maintaining that they
were not spirits returned from the mansions of the dead,
but nothing more than thin films, pellicles, or membranes,
cast off from the surface of all bodies like the exuviae or
sloughs of reptiles.
An opinion, by no means dissimilar to that of the Epicu-
reans, was revived in Europe about the middle of the 1 7th
century. It had its origin in Palingenesy, or the resurrec-
Palingenesy 313 Palingenesy
of lemons, which were revived on the application of heat, " A malefactor was executed, of whose body a grave-
—he celebrated the mystic power of caloric after the follow- physician got possession for the purpose of dissection.
ing manner : After disposing of the other parts of the body, he ordered
Strange power of heat, thou yet dost show, his assistant to pulverize part of the cranium, which was a
Like winter earth, naked, or cloth' d with snow,
But as the quick' ning sun approaching near, remedy at that time admitted in dispensatories. The
The plants arise up by degrees,
powder was left in a paper on the table of the museum,
A sudden paint adorns the trees,
where the assistant slept. About midnight he was awakened
And all kind nature's characters appear.
by a noise in the room, which obliged him to rise immediately.
So nothing yet in thee is seen,
But when a genial heat warms thee within, The noise continued about the table, without any visible
A new-born wood of various lines there grows ; agent; and at length he traced it to the powder, in the
Here buds an A, and there a B, midst of which he now beheld, to his unspeakable dismay,
Here sprouts a V, and there a T,
a small head with open eyes staring at him presently two
And all the nourishing letters stand in rows. ;
The rationale of this famous experiment made on the branches appeared, which formed into arms and hands ;
ashes of roses was attempted by Kircher. He supposed then the ribs became visible, which were soon clothed with
that the seminal virtue of every known substance, and
muscles and integuments next the lower extremities
even its substantial form, resided in its salt.- This salt ;
was concealed in the ashes of the rose. Heat put it in
motion. The particles of the salt were quickly sublimed, sprouted out, and when they appeared perfect, the puppet
and being moved about in the phial like a vortex, at length
arranged themselves in the same general form they had (for his size was small) reared himself on his feet ; instantly
possessed from nature. It was evident, then, from the
result, of this experiment, that there was a tendency in his clothes came upon him, and he appeared in the very
the particles of the salt to observe the same order of
position which they had in the living plant. Thus, for cloak he wore at his execution. The affrighted spectator,
instance, each saline corpuscle, which in its prior state
had held a place in the stem of the rose-slip, sympathetically who stood hitherto mumbling his prayers with great appli-
fixed itself in a corresponding position when sublimed in
the chemist's vial. Other particles were subject to a cation, now thought of nothing but making his escape from
similar law, and accordingly, by a disposing affinity,
resumed their proper position, either in the stalk, the the revived ruffian ; but this was impossible, for the
leaves, or the flowers, and thus, at length, the entire
apparition of a plant was generated. apparition planted himself in the way, and, after divers
The next object of these philosophers was to apply their fierce looks and threatening gestures, opened the door and
doctrine to the explanation of the popular belief in ghosts. went out. No doubt the powder was missing next
As it was incontestably proved that the substantial form of
each body resided in a sort of volatile salt, it was perfectly day."
evident in what manner superstitious notions must have
But older analogous results are on record, indicating
arisen about ghosts haunting churchyards. When a dead that the blood was the chief part of the human frame in
body had been committed to the earth, the salts of it, which those saline particles resided, the arrangements of
during the heating process of fermentation, were exhaled.
The saline particles then each resumed the same relative which gave rise to the popular notion of ghosts. Dr.
situation they had held in the living body, and thus a
complete human form was induced, calculated to excite Webster, in his book on witchcraft, relates an experiment,
superstitious fear in the minds of all but Palingenesists.
given on the authority of Dr. Flud, in which this very
It is thus evident that Palingenesy was nothing more
Lucretius had made, with regard to the filmy substances satisfactory conclusion was drawn.
than a chemical explanation of the discovery which
that he had observed to arise from all bodies. " A certain chymical operator, by name La Pierre, near
Yet, in order to prove that apparitions might be really that place in Paris called Le Temple, received blood from
explained on this principle, the experimentum crucis was the hands of a certain bishop to operate upon. Which he
still wanting. But this deficiency was soon supplied.
Three alchemists had obtained a quantity of earth-mould setting to work upon the Saturday, did continue it for a
from St. Innocent's Church, in Paris, supposing that this
matter might contain the true philosopher's stone. They week with divers degrees of fire. But about midnight,
subjected it to a distillatory process. On a sudden they the Friday following, this artificer, lying in a chamber next
perceived in their vials forms of men produced,, which
immediately caused them to desist from their labours. to his laboratory, betwixt sleeping and waking, heard a
This fact coming to the knowledge of the Institute of Paris, horrible noise, like unto the lowing of kine, or the roaring of
under the protection of Louis XIV., this learned body
took up the business with much seriousness, and the a lion ; and continuing quiet, after the ceasing of the sound
in the laboratory, the moon being at the full, and, by shining
result of their labours appears in the Miscellania Curiosa.
Dr. Ferrier, in a volume of the Manchester Philosophical enlightening the chamber suddenly, betwixt himself and
Transactions, went to the trouble of making an abstract of
the window he saw a thick little cloud, condensed into an,
one of these French documents, which we prefer giving on
oval form, which, after, by little and little, did seem com-
account of its conciseness, rather than having rceourse to
the original dissertation. pletely to put on the shape of a man, and making another
and a sharp clamour, did suddenly vanish. And not only
some noble persons in the next chambers, but also the
host with his wife, lying in a lower room of the house, and
also the neighbours dwelling in the opposite side of the
street, did distinctly hear as Well the bellowing as. the
voice ; and some of them were awaked with the vehemency
thereof. But the artificer said, that in this he found solace,
because the bishop, of whom he had it, did admonish him,
that if any of them from whom the blood was extracted
should die, in the time of its putrefaction, his spirit was
wont often to appear to the sight of the artificer, with per-
turbation. Also forthwith, upon Saturday following, he
took the retort from the furnace, and broke it with the
light stroke of a little key, and there, in the remaining
blood, found the perfect representation of an human head,
agreeable in face, eyes, nostrils, mouth, and hairs, that
—were somewhat thin, and of a golden colour."
Regarding this narrative Webster adds : " There were
many ocular witnesses, as the noble person, Lord of Bour-
dalone, the chief secretary to the Duke of Guise and he-
;
(Flud) had this relation from the Lord of Menanton, living
in that house at the same time, from a certain doctor of
physic, from the owner of the house, and many others."
Palladino 314 Palmistry
Palladino, Eusapia : The most famous physical medium of written in letters of gold, which he presented to Alexander
recent years, and one whose phenomena, investigated at
length by some of the most distinguished scientists of the Great, and which was afterwards translated into Latin
Britain, France, and Italy, have led many to conclude that
they are genuine manifestations from the spirit world, or by Hispanus. There is also extant a work on the subject
that they illustrate the workings of some unknown force. by Melampus of Alexandria, and Hippocrates, Galen, and
Eusapia was a Neapolitan peasant woman who from her
childhood had shown herself possessed of mediumistic several Arabian commentators have also dealt with it. In
—powers. In 1892 a group of scientists Professors Schia- the Middle Ages the science was represented by Hartlieb
—parelli, Brofferio, Geroso, the well-known spiritualist
(circa 1448), and Codes (circa 1054), and Fludd, Indigane,
M. Aksakoff, and others held a series of sittings at Milan,
with Eusapia as medium. Some of the seances were also Rothmann, and many others wrote on cheiromancy. D'Ar-
attended by Professors Richet and Lombroso. The
phenomena consisted of raps, materialisation of hands, pentigny, Desbarolles,_Carus, and others kept the science
levitation of the table and other furniture within a radius alive in the earlier half of the nineteenth century, since
of three or four feet, and fluctuation of the medium's
weight in the balance, to the extent of some 17IDS. It when a very large number of treatises upon it have been
written. Since i860, or thereabouts, palmistry has become
was . evident even then that Eusapia would not lose an very much more popular than ever before in these islands,
opportunity of using fraud. Nevertheless Professor Richet —and indeed is practised nearly all over the habitable globe.
Palmistry is sub-divided into three lesser arts cheirog-
was so impressed that in 1894 he organised a further series
of sittings with the same medium at his house on the He nomy, cheirosophy and cheiromancy. The first is the art
of recognising the type of intelligence from the form of the
—Rouband, and on this occasion were present Professor hands ; the second is the study of the comparative value of
now Sir Oliver Lodge, Mr. Myers, Dr. Ochorowicz, and manual formations ; and the third is the art of divination
at a later stage, Professor and Mrs. Sidgwick. The seances from the form of the hand and fingers, and the lines and
markings thereon. The palmist first of all studies the shape
were held in darkness or semi-darkness, but the medium's
hands and feet were controlled by the investigators. Mrs. —and general formation of the hand as a whole, afterwards
Sidgwick, indeed, declared that Eusapia herself might easily regarding its parts and details, the lines and markings
have produced the phenomena, if she had the use of her being considered later. From cheirognomy and cheirosophy
bands, but Professor Lodge and others were inclined to the general disposition and tendencies are ascertained, and
attribute them to some external agency. In the following future events are foretold from the reading of the lines and
year further seances were held at Mr. Myer's house at markings.
There are several types of hands : the elementary or
Cambridge, and when it became evident that Eusapia
large-palmed type the necessary with spatulated fingers ;
—frequently freed a foot or a hand Mr. Myer's own faith in the ;
phenomena was temporarily though only temporarily the artistic with conical-shaped fingers ; the useful, the
destroyed. Professor Richet and Sir Oliver Lodge, however, fingers of which are square-shaped ; the knotted or phil-
retained their convictions unshaken. Dr. Hodgson, who
had already suggested that Eusapia might use some such osophical ; the pointed, or psychic and the mixed, in
method, was also present at the Cambridge sittings. ;
Besides those already mentioned, many prominent Con- which the types are blended. The principal lines are :
tinental scientists investigated Eusapia's manifestations those which separate the hand from the forearm at the
wrist, and which are known as the rascettes, or the lines of
among them being M. Camille Flammarion, Professor
Morselli, and M. and Mme. Curie. The two last mentioned health, wealth and happiness. The line of life stretches
were members of a committee of thelnstitut General Psycholo- from the centre of the palm around the base of the thumb
gique of Paris, which held an important series of sittings almost to the wrist, and is joined for a considerable part
with the medium in 1905, 1906, and 1907. In 1908 and of its course by the line of the head. The line of the heart
runs across two-thirds of the palm, above the head line ;
1909 again, the Society for Psychical Research instituted a
and the line of fate between it and the line of the head.
fresh enquiry into Eusapia's methods. On the whole, nearly at right angles extending towards the wrist. The
scientific opinion is still much divided as to the genuineness line of fortune runs from the base of the third finger towards
or otherwise of the phenomena. Some authorities, taking
into consideration the many times the Italian medium has —the wrist parallel to the line of fate. If the lines are deep,
been caught cheating, and the absence of really conclusive firm and of narrow width the significance is good excepting
tests, incline to the belief that Eusapia is merely a clever that a strong line of health shows constitutional weakness.
conjurer. Such were Dr. Hodgson, Mr. Podmore, Professor
and Mrs. Sidgwick. Others, again, such as Professors At the base of the fingers, beginning with the first, lie
Richet and Lombroso, M. Camille Flammarion and Sir
Oliver Lodge, are of the opinion that the instances of fraud the mounts of Jupiter, Saturn, Apollo, and Mercury at
are mere incidents in the career of a true medium, whose ;
performances plainly demonstrate the operation in the
material world of strange, unknown forces. the base of the thumb the mount of Venus ; and opposite
Palladium : (See Devil-worship.) to it, that of Luna. If well-proportioned they show cer-
APalladium, Order of : masonic-diabolic order, also entitled tain virtues, but if exaggerated they indicate the vices
the Sovereign-Council of Wisdom, founded ' in Paris on which correspond to these. The first displays religion,
May 20th, 1737. It initiated women under the name of reasonable ambition, or pride and superstition ; the second
companions of Penelope. The fact that it existed is wisdom and prudence, or ignorance and failure ; the third
proved by the circumstance that Ragou, the Masonic when large makes for success and intelligence, when small
antiquary, published its ritual. for meanness or love of obscurity ; the fourth desire for
knowledge and industry, or disinterestedness and laziness".
Palmistry : The science of divination by means of lines and
marks on the human hand. It is said to have been practised The Lunar mount indicates sensitiveness, imagination,
in very early times by the Brahmins of India, and to be morality or otherwise ; and self-will : and the mount of
known to Aristotle, who discovered a treatise on the subject
Venus, charity and affection, or if exaggerated viciousness.
The phalanges of the fingers are also indicative of certain
faculties. For example, the first and second of the thumb,
according to their length, indicate the value of the logical
faculty and of the will ; those of the index finger in their
—order materialism, law, and order ; of the middle finger
—humanity, system, intelligence ; of the third finger truth
economy, energy and of the little finger goodness, pru-
;
dence, reflectiveness. There are nearly a hundred other
marks and signs, by which certain qualities, influences or
events can be recognised. The line of life by its length
Fapaloi 315 Paracelsus
indicates the length of existence of its owner. If it is and is said to have even reached India. At length his
short in both hands, the life will be a short one ; if broken protracted wanderings came to a close, and in 1524 he
settled in Basle, then a favourite resert of scholars and
in one hand and weak in the other, a serious illness is physicians, where he was appointed to fill the chair of
medicine at the University. Never had Basle witnessed a
denoted. If broken in both hands, it means death. If it is more brilliant, erratic professor. His inflated language,
much chained it means delicacy. If it has a second or his eccentric behaviour, the splendour of his conceptions
Asister line, it shows great vitality.
black spot on the flashing through a fog of obscurity, at once attracted and
repelled, and gained for him friends and enemies. His
Aline shows illness at the time marked. cross indicates antipathy to the Galenic school became ever more pro-
nounced, and the crisis came when he publicly burned the
some fatality. The line of life coming out far into the works of Galen and Avicenna in a brazen vase into which
palm is a sign of long life. The line of the head, if long he had cast nitre and sulphur. By such a proceeding he
and well-coloured, denotes intelligence and power. If incurred the hatred of his more conservative brethren, and
descending to the mount of the Moon it shows that the cut himself off for ever from the established school of
head is much influenced by the imagination. Islands on
the line denote mental troubles. The head line forked medicine. He continued his triumphant career, however,
at the end indicates subtlety and a facility for seeing all till a conflict with the magistrates brought it to an abrupt
Asides of the question. double line of the head is an close. He was forced to flee from Basle, and thereafter
indication of good fortune. The line of the heart should wandered from place to place, gaining a living as best
branch towards the mount of Jupiter. If it should pass he might. An element of mystery surrounds the manner
over the mount of Jupiter to the edge of the of his death, which took place in 1541, but the best
nand and travel round the index finger, it is called " Solo-
authenticated account states that he was poisoned at the
mon's ring " and indicates ideality and romance it is
; instigation of the medical faculty.
also a sign of occult power. Points or dots in this line But interesting as were the events of his life, it is to his
work that most attention is due. Not only was he the
may show illness if b!ackt and if white love affairs ; while founder of the modern science of medicine ; the magnetic
theory of Mesmer, the " astral " theory of modern spiritual-
islands on the heart line indicate disease. The line of fate,
ists, the philosophy of Descartes, were all foreshadowed in
or Saturn, if it rises from the Lunar mount and ascends
the fantastic, yet not always illogical, teaching of Paracel-
towards the line of the heart is a sign of a rich marriage. If
sus. He revived the " microcosmic " theory of ancient
it extends into the third phalange of Saturn's finger it Greece, and sought to prove the human body analogous
Ashows the sinister influence of that planet. double line of to the Solar System, by establishing a connection between
fate is ominous. the seven organs of the body and the seven planets. He
In such an article as this it would be out of place to preached the doctrines of the efficacy of will-power and the
imagination in such words as these : " It is possible that
mention the very numerous lesser lines and marks which
my spirit, without the help of my body, and through an
the hand contains, especially when so many excellent books
ardent will alone, and without a sword, can stab and
of reference on the subject have recently been published. wound others. It is also possible that I can bring the
It but remains to say that practitioners of the science-of spirit of my adversary into an image and then fold him up
or lame him at my pleasure." " Resolute imagination is
palmislrv are excceedingly numerous. Some of these work
the beginning of all magical operations." " Because men
on strictly scientific lines, while others pick it up in a merely
do not perfectly believe and imagine, the result is, that
empirical way, and their forecasts of events to come are arts are uncertain when they might be wholly certain."
The first principle of his doctrine is the extraction of the
only so much " patter."
quintessence, or philosophic mercury, from every material
Papaloi : An Obeah priest : (See West Indian Islands.)
body. He believed that if the quintessence were drawn
Papyri, Magical : (See Eygpt.)
from each animal, plant, and mineral, the combined result
Para Brahm : Deity without form. The two indestructible would equal the universal spirit, or " astral body " in
principles from which all creation springs. (See Kabala.) man, and that a draught of the extract would renew his
Paracelsus : In the history of alchemy there is not a more youth. He came at length to the conclusion that " astral
striking or picturesque figure than Aurcelus Philippus bodies " exercised a mutual influence on each other, and
Theophrastus Paracelsus Bombast von Hohenheim, the declared that he himself had communicated with the dead,
illustrious physician and exponent of the hermetic philoso- and with living persons at a considerable distancce. He
phy who has chosen to go down to fame under the name of was the first to connect this influence with that of the
magnet, and to use the word " magnetism " with its
Paracelsus. He was born at Einsideln, near Zurich, in
present application. It was on this foundation that
the year 1493. His father, the natural son of a prince,
himself practised the " art of medicine," and was desirous Mesmer built his theory of magnetic influence. While
that his only son. should follow the same profession. To Paracelsus busied himself with such problems, however, he
—the fulfilment of that desire was directed the early training did not neglect the study and practice of medicine. Indeed,
of Paracelsus a training which fostered his imaginative astrology and the magnet entered largely into his treatment.
rather than his practical tenaencies, and which first cast When he was sought by a patient, his first care was to
his mind into the alchemical mould. It did not take him consult the planets, where the disease had its origin, and
long to discover that the medical traditions of the time if the patient were a woman he took it for granted that the
were but empty husks from which all substance had long cause of her malady lay in the moon. His anticipation of
the philosophy of Descartes, consisted in his theory that by
since dried away. " I considered with myself," he says, bringing the various elements of the human body into
" that if there were no teacher of medicine in the world, how —harmony with the elements of nature fire, light, earth,
would I set about to learn the art ? No otherwise than in —etc. old age and death might be indefinitely postponed.
-the great open book of nature, written with the finger of His experiment in the extraction of its essential spirit from
the poppy resulted in the production of laudanum, which he
God." Having thus freed himself from the constraining
Donds of an outworn medical orthodoxy, whose chief
resources were bleeding, purging, and emetics, he set about
evolving a new system to replace the old, and in order that
he might study the book of nature to better advantage he
travelled extensively from 1513 to 1524, visiting almost
«very part of the known world, studying metallurgy,
chemistry, and medicine, and consorting with vagabonds of
every description. He was brought before the Cham of
Tartary, conversed with the magicians of Egypt and Arabia,
Paracelsus 316 Paracelsus
prescribed freely in the form of " three black pills." The same kind, although strongly resembling each other, does
not precisely resemble another mercury, and it is for this
recipes which he gives for the Philosopher's Stone, the reason that vegetables, minerals, and animals of the same
species are not exactly alike. . . . The true mercury of
Elixir of Life, and various universal remedies, are exceed- philosophers is the radical humidity of each body, and its
ingly obscure. He is deservedly celebrated as the first veritable semen, or essence."
physici. n to use opium and mercury, and to recognise the Paracelsus now sought for a plant worthy of holding in
value of sulphur. He applied himself also to the solution —the vegetable kingdom the same rank as gold in the metallic
a plant whose " predestined element " should unite in
—of a problem which still exercises the minds of scientific
itself the virtues of nearly all the vegetable essences.
men whether it is possible to produce life from inorganic
— —Although this was not easy to distinguish, he recognised at
matter. Paracelsus asserted that it was, and has, left on
record a quaint recipe for a homunculus, or artificial man. a glance we know not by what signs the supremacy of
excellence in the mellssa, and first decreed to it that phar-
By a peculiar treatment of certain " spagyric substances " maceutical crown which at a later period the Carmelites
— —which he has unfortunately omitted to specify he ought to have consecrated. How he obtained this new
specific may be seen in the Life of Paracelsus, by
declared that he could produce a perfect human child in,
Savarien :
miniature. Speculations such as these, medical, alchemical
" He took some balm-mint in flower, which he had taken
and philosophical, were scattered so profusely throughout care to collect before the rising of the sun. He pounded it
his teaching that we are compelled to admit that here was a
master-mind, a genius, who was a charlatan only incidently, in a mortar, reduced it to an impalpable dust, poured it
by reason of training and temperament. Let it be remem- into a long-necked vial which he sealed hermetically, and
bered that he lived in an age when practically all scholars
and physicians were wont to impose on popular ignorance, placed it to digest (or settle) for forty hours in a heap of
and we cannot but remark that Paracelsus displayed, under horse-dung. This time expired, he opened the vial, and
found there a matter which he reduced into a fluid by
all his arrogant exterior, a curious singleness of purpose,
pressing it, separating it from its impurities by exposure to
and a real desire to penetrate the mysteries of science. He the slow heat of a bain-marie. The grosser parts sunk to the
bottom, and he drew off the liqueur which floated on the
has left on record the principal points of the philosophy on top, filtering it through some cotton. This liqueur having
which he founded his researches in his " Archidoxa Medi- been poured into a bottle he added to it the fixed salt, which
he had drawn from the same plant when dried. There
cines." It contains the leading rules of the art of healing, remained nothing more but to extract from this liqueur the
first lief or being of the plant. For this purpose Paracelsus
as he practised and preached them. " I had resolved," mixed the liqueur with so much ' water of salt ' (understand
he says, " to give ten books to the ' Archidoxa,' but I have by this the mercurial element or radical humidity of the
salt) put it in a matrass, exposed it for six weeks to the sun,
reserved the tenth in my head. It is a treasure which men
,
are not worthy to possess, and shall only be given to the
world when they shall have abjured Aristotle, Avicenna, and finally, at the expiration of this term, discovered a last
residuum which was decidedly, according to him, the first
and Galen, and promised a perfect submission to Paracelsus."
The world did not recant, but Paracelsus relented, and at .
the entreaty of his disciples published this tenth book, the life or supreme essence of the plant. But at all events, it
key to the nine others, but a key which might pass for a is certain that what he found in his matrass was the genie or
lock, and for a lock which we cannot even pick. It is spirit he required ; and with the surplus, if there were any,
entitled the " Tenth Book of the Arch-Doctrines ; or, On we need not concern ourselves."
the Secret Mysteries of Nature." A brief summary of it is Those who may wish to know what this genie was like, are
as follows : informed that it as exactly resembled, as two drops of
water, the spirit of aromatic wine known to-day as absinthe
He begins by supposing and ends by establishing that
—Suisse. It was a liquid green as emerald, green, the bright
there is a universal spirit infused into the veins of man,
colour of hope and spring-time. Unfortunately, it failed as
forming within us a species of invisible body, of which our a specific in the conditions indispensable for an elixir of
immortality ; but it was a preparation more than half-
visible body, which it directs and governs at its will, is but
celestial, which almost rendered old age impossible.
—the wrapping the casket. This universal spirit is not
—simple not more simple, for instance, than the number By means and manipulations as subtle and ingenious
100, which is a collection of units. Where, then, are the as those which he employed upon the melissa, Paracelsus
did not draw, but learned to extract, the " predestined
spiritual units of which our complex spirit is composed ?
—element " of plants which ranked much higher in the
Scattered in plants and minerals, but principally in metals.
There exists in these inferior productions of the earth a vegetable aristocracy, the " first life " of the gilly-
host of sub-spirits which sum themselves up in us, as the
flower, the cinnamon, the myrrh, the scammony, the
universe does in God. So the science of the philosopher
celandine. All these supreme essences, which, according
—has simply to unite them to the body to disengage them to the 5th book of "Archidoxa," unite with a mass of
" magisteries " as precious as they are rude, are the base
from the grosser matter which clogs and confines them,
of so many specifics, equally reparative and regenerative.
to separate the pure from the impure. This depends upon the relationship which exists between
To separate the pure from the impure is, in other words,
the temperament of a privileged plant and the temperament
—to seize upon the soul of the heterogeneous bodies to of the individual who asks of it his rejuvenescence.
evolve their " predestined element," " the seminal essence However brilliant were the results of his discoveries, those
of beings," " the first being, or quintessence." he obtained or those he thought he might obtain, they
were for Paracelsus but the a b c of Magic. To the eyes of
To understand this latter word " quintessence," it is
needful for the reader to know that every body, whatever — —so consummate an alchemist vegetable life is nothing ; it
it may be, is composed of four elements, and that the is the mineral the metallic life which is all. So we may
essence compounded of these elements forms a fifth, which assure ourselves that it was in his power to seize the first
is the soul of the mixed bodies, or, in other words, its life-principle of the moon, the sun, Mars, or Saturn ; that
is, of silver, gold, iron, or lead. It was equally facile for
" mercury," " I have shown," says Paracelsus, " in my
book of ' Elements,' that the quintessence is the same thing
as mercury. There is in mercury whatever wise men
seek." That is, not the mercury of modern chemists, but
a philosophical mercury of which every body has its own.
" There are as many mercuries as there are things. The
mercury of a vegetable, a mineral, or an animal of the
Paracelsus 317 Paracelsus
him to grasp the life of the precious stones, the bitumens, the which originally produced it, and which is its own mother ;
that is to say, he must dissolve it in the arcanum of the
sulphurs, and even that of animals.
Paracelsus sets forth several methods of obtaining this salt I have described, and mingle it with the ' stomach of
Anthion,' which is the spirit of vinegar, and in this menstruum
—great arcanum. Here is the shortest and most simple as
melt and filter and consistent mercury of the antimony,
recorded by Incola Francus :
" Take some mercury, or at least the element of mercury, strain it in the said liquor, and finally reduce it into crystals
separating the pure from the impure, and afterwards of a yellowish green, of which we have spoken in our manual."
pounding it to perfect whiteness. Then you shall sublimate As regards the Philosopher's Stone, he gives the following
it with sal-ammoniac, and this so many times as may be formula :
" Take," said he, " the electric mineral not yet mature
necessary to resolve it into a fluid. Calcine it, coagulate
it, and again dissolve it, and let it strain in a pelican during (antimony), put it in its sphere, in the fire with the iron,
3. philosophic month, until it thickens and assumes the to remove its ordures and other superfluities, and purge it
form of a hard substance. Thereafter this form of stone as much as you can, following the rules of chymistry, so
that it may not suffer by the aforesaid impurities. Make,
is incombustible, and nothing can change or alter it
the metallic bodies which it penetrates become fixed and in a word, the regulus with the mark. This done, cause it
to dissolve in the ' stomach of the ostrich ' (vitriol) , which
incombustible, for this material is incombustible, and springs from the earth and is fortified in its virtue by the
changes the imperfect metals into metal perfect. Although
I have given the process in few words, the thing itself ' sharpness of the eagle ' (the metallic vinegar or essence of
demands a long toil, and many difficult circumstances, mercury). As soon as the essence is perfected, and when
which I have expressly omitted, not to weary the reader, after its dissolution it has taken the colour of the herb
who ought to be very diligent and intelligent if he wishes called calendule, do not forget to reduce it into a spiritual
to arrive at the accomplishment of this great work." luminous essence, which resembles amber. After this,
Paracelsus himself tells us in his " Archidoxa," when
add to it of the ' spread eagle ' one half the weight of the
explaining his own recipe for the completion of it, and
election before its preparation, and frequently distil the
profiting by the occasion to criticise his fellow-workers. ' stomach of the ostrich ' into the matter, and thus the
"I omit," he writes, " what I have said in different
election will become much more spiritualized. When the
places on the theory of the stone ; I Will say only that ' stomach of the ostrich ' is weakened by the labour of
this arcanum does not consist in the blast (rouille) or
digestion, we must strengthen it and frequently distil it.
flowers of antimony. It must be sought in the mercury Finally, when it has lost all its impurity, add as much
of antimony, which, when it is carried to perfection, is tartarized quintessence as will rest upon your fingers, until
nothing else than the heaven of metals for even as the it throws off its impurity and rises with it. Repeat this
;
heaven gives life to plants and minerals, so does the pure process until the preparation becomes white, and this will
quintessence of antimony vitrify everything. This is why suffice ; for you shall see yourself as -gradually it rises in
the form of the ' exalted eagle,' and with little trouble con-
the Deluge was not able to deprive any substance of its
virtue or properties, for the heaven being the life of all verts itself in its form (like sublimated mercury) and
;
beings, there is nothing superior to it which can modify or that is what we are seeking.
destroy it. " I tell you in truth that there is no greater remedy in
" Take the antimony, purge it of its arsenical impurities medicine than that which lies in this election, and that
in an iron vessel until the coagulated mercury of the there is nothing like it in the whole world. But not to
.antimony appears quite white, and is distinguishable by digress from my purpose, and not to leave this work
the star which appears in the superficies of the regulus, or imperfect, observe the manner in which you ought to
semi-metal. But although this regulus, which is the operate."
•element of mercury, has in itself a veritable hidden life, " The election then being destroyed, as I have said, to
arrive at the desired end (which is, to make of it a universal
nevertheless these things are in virtue, and not actually. medicine for human as well as metallic bodies), take your
" Therefore, if you wish to reduce the power to action, election, rendered light and volatile by the method above
you must disengage the life which is concealed in it by a
living fire like to itself, or with a metallic vinegar. To discover described.
this fire many philosophers have proceeded differently, but
" Take of it as much as you would wish to reduce it to
.agreeing to the foundations of the art, have arrived at the its perfection, and put it in a philosophical egg of glass, and
desired end. For some with great labour have drawn forth seal it very tightly, that nothing of it may respire put
;
the quintessence of the thickened mercury of the regulus of it into an athanor until of itself it resolves into a liquid, in
.antimony, and by this means have reduced to action the such a manner that in the middle of this sea there may
mercury of the antimony : others have considered that appear a small island, which daily diminishes, and finally,
there was a uniform quintessence in the other minerals, as all shall be changed to a colour black as ink. This colour
is the raven, or bird which flies at night without wings, and
for example in the fixed sulphur of the vitriol, or the stone
which, through the celestial dew, that rising continually
of the magnet, and having extracted the quintessence, have falls back by a constant circulation, changes into what is
afterwards matured and exalted their heaven with it, and
reduced it to action. Their process is good, and has had its called ' the head of the raven,' and afterwards resolves
into ' the tail of the peacock,' then it assumes the hue of
— —result. Meanwhile this fire this corporeal life which
the ' tail of a peacock,' and afterwards the colour of the
they seek with toil, is found much more easily and in much ' feathers of a swan ' ; finally acquiring an extreme redness,
which marks its fiery nature, and in virtue of which it
—greater perfection in the ordinary mercury, which appears
through its perpetual fluidity a proof that it possesses a
very powerful fire and a celestial life similar to that which expels all kinds of impurities, and strengthens feeble
lies hidden in the regulus of the antimony. Therefore, he members. This preparation, according to all philosophers,
is made in a single vessel, over a single furnace, with an
who would wish to exalt our metallic heaven, starred, to its equal and continual fire, and this medicine, which is more
greatest completeness, and to reduce into action its potential than celestial, cures all kinds of infirmities, as well in
virtues, he must first extract from ordinary mercury its human as metallic bodies ; wherefore no one can under-
stand or attain such an arcanum without the help of God :
-corporeal life, which is a celestial fire ; that is to say the
•quintessence of quicksilver, or, in other words, the metallic
vinegar, that- has resulted from its dissolution in the water for its virtue is ineffable and divine."
Paradise 318 Paradise
Paradise : From old Persian (Zeud) pairedaeza an enclosure, a Aworld, as to be, to a certain extent, unintelligible.
walled-in place ; Old Persian pairi, around, dig, to mould, writer who had diligently studied the Indian Puranas for
many years, opened a new source cf information, and placed
form, shape (hence to form a Wall of earth).
Eden on the Imaus Mountains of India. "' It appears from
Paradise has been sought for or located in many regions
Scripture," he says, '" that Adam and Eve lived in the
of the earth. In Tartarv, Armenia, India, and China : on
the banks of the Euphrates and of the Ganges ; in Meso- countries to the eastward of Eden for at the eastern
;
potamia, Syria, Persia, Arabia, Palestine, and Ethiopia,
entrance of it God placed the angel with the flaming swords
and near the mountains of Libanus and Anti-libanus. This is also confirmed by the Puranics, who place the
Perhaps the most noteworthy tradition is that which fixes
its situation in the Island of Ceylon, the Serendib of the progenitor of mankind on the mountainous regions between
ancient Persians, and the Taprobane of the Greek geogra- Cabul and the Ganges, on the banks of which, in the hills,
phers. '• It is from the summit of Hamalleel or Adam's
they show a place where he resorted occasionally for
Peak," says Percival in his history of Ceylon, " that Adam
religious purposes. It is frequented by pilgrims. At the
took his last view of Paradise before he quitted it never to
entrance of the passes leading to the place where I suppose
return. The spot on which his feet stood at the moment is
still supposed to be found in an impression on the summit was the Garden of Eden, and to the eastward of it, the
of the mountain, resembling the print of a man's foot, but Hindoos have placed a destroying angel, who appears,
more than double the ordinary size. After taking this and it is generally represented like a cherub ; I mean
farewell view, the father of mankind is said to have gone
Garudha, or the Eagle, upon whom Vishnu and Jupiter
are represented riding. Garudha is represented generally
like an eagle, but in his compound character somewhat
over to the continent of Judea, which was at that time like the cherub. He is represented like a young man, with
joined to the island, but no sooner had he passed Adam's
the countenance, wings, and talons of the eagle. In
Bridge than the sea closed behind him, and cut off all hopes
of return. This tradition, from whatever source it was Scripture the Deity is represented riding upon a cherub,
and flying upon the wings of the wind. Garudha is called
derived, seems to be interwoven with the earliest notions of Vahan (literally the Vehicle) of Vishnu or Jupiter, and he-
religion entertained by the Cingalese and it is difficult thus answers to the cherub of Scripture ; for many com-
;
to conceive that it could have been engrafted on them mentators derive this word from the obsolete root c'harab,
without forming an original part. I have frequently had in the Chaldean language, a word implicitly synonymous-
the curiosity to converse with black men of different castes with the Sanscrit Vahan." We ma5' here add, that the
concerning this tradition of Adam. All of them, with Puranics considered the north-west part of India, about
every appearance of belief, assured me that it was really Cashmere, as the site of Paradise, and the original abode of
true," and in support of it produced a variety of testimonies, the first human pair ; and that there, at the offering of a
old sayings, and prophecies, which have for ages been sacrifice Daksha was murdered by his jealous brother, who
current among them. The origin of these traditions I do
was in consequence doomed to become a fugitive on the earth.
not pretend to trace ; but their connection with Scripture In the fabled Meru of the Hindoo mythology, on the
history is very evident, and they afford a new instance other hand, we have also a descriptive representation of
how universally the opinions with respect to the origin of the Mosaical Garden of Eden. Meru is a conical mountain,,
Weman coincide." are further informed by this writer the exact locality of which is not fixed ; but as
that a large chair fixed in a rock near the summit of the the Hindoo geographers considered the earth as a flat
mountain is said to be the workmanship of Adam. " It
table, and the sacred mountain of Meru rising in the middle,
has the appearance of having been placed there at a very it became at length their decided conviction that Meru was
distant period, but who really placed it there, or for what the North Pole, from their notion that the North Pole was
purpose, it is impossible for any European to discover." the highest part of the world. So firmly we are told, was
Paradise is a word of Persian origin,' adopted by the
this tradition believed, that although some Hindoo writers
Greeks, and literally denotes an inclosure or park planted admitted that Mount Meru must be situated in the central
with fruit-trees, and abounding with various animals. part of Asia, yet rather than relinquish their notion of and
Eden is not termed Paradise in Genesis, but simply a garden predilection for the North Pole as the real locality of their
planted eastwards in the country or district so called ; and Paradise, they actually forced the sun out of the ecliptic,
it is this apparently indefinite locality which has caused and placed the Pole on the elevated plains of the Lesser
so many conjectures as to its exact site. Some place it in Bokhara. If we, however, examine the Hindoo description
Judea, where is now the sea of Galilee ; others in Armenia, of this Paradise, we shall at once be able to trace
near Mount Ararat ; and others in Syria, towards the its origin and its close analogy to"the Mosaic account.
sources of the Orontes, the Chrysorrhoas, and Barrady. —The summit of Meru is considered as a circular plain of
Some think that by Eden is meant the whole earth, which vast extent, surrounded by a belt of hills a celestial
was of surprising beauty and fertility before the Fall ; and earth, the abode of immortals, and is designated Ida-
it is curious that a notion prevailed to a great extent among
Vratta, or the Circle of Ida. It is of four different colours
the various nations, that the Old World was under a towards the cardinal points, and is believed to be supported
Wecurse, and that the earth became very barren. are by four enormous buttresses of gold, silver, copper and
also assured that the Hindoos and Chinese believe that iron. Yet doubts exist as to its real appearance, some
—all nature is contaminated, and that the earth labours alleging that its form is that of a square pyramid, others
undre some dreadful defilement a sentiment which could maintain that its shape is conical ; others that it resembles
only result from obscure traditions connected with the an inverted cone ; while others thought, that instead
first human pair. Josephus gravely says that the Sacred of a circular belt of mountains, Meru terminated in
Garden was watered by one river which ran round the three lofty peaks. The Sawas assert that a vast river
whole earth, and was divided into four parts ; but he rises from the head of their deity Siva, and the Vaishnawas
appears to think Paradise was merely a figurative or that it springs from beneath the feet of Vishnu, and, after
allegorical locality. Some of the natives of Hindostan passing through the circle of the moon, falls upon the
have traditions of a place resembling Paradise on the summit of Meru, and divides itself into four streams,
banks of the Ganges ; but their accounts are so completely flowing towards the four cardinal points. Others believe
blended with their superstitions, and with their legends that the four rivers of the sacred mountain spring from
respecting the Deluge and the second peopling of the the roots of Jambri, a tree of immense size which, they saj'.
Paradise 319 Paradise-
conveys the most extensive and profound knowledge, and the site of the lost Paradise, and certainly I should think
accomplishes the most desirable of human aspirations. The
that no place upon earth was better calculated to answer
reader will recollect the Mosaical account of the Tree of one's ideas of Eden. The vast and fruitful plain, with the
Knowledge, which stood in the middle of the Garden, and —seven branches of the blue stream which irrigate it the
-of the river which went out of Eden to water it, dividing —majestic framework of the mountains the glittering lakes
—which reflect the heaven upon the earth its geographical
itself into four branches or streams of other rivers. —situation between the two seas the perfection of the
—climate every thing indicates that Damascus has at least
The river thus rising in Meru, the Hindoos further say,
flows in four opposite directions to the four cardinal points
and is supposed to issue from four rocks, carved in the —been one of the first towns that were built by the children
shape of so many different animals, one of which is a cow ; of men one of the natural halts of fugitive humanity in
and this, they allege, is the origin of the Ganges. Some
—primeval times. It is, in fact, one of those sites pointed
among them,' however, think that this river first flows
out by the hand of God for a city a site predestined to
round the sacred cit)' of Brahma, and then discharges itself sustain a capital like Constantinople." According to the
into a lake called Mansarovara, from which it issues through Orientals, Damascus stands on the site of the Sacred
the rocky heads of four animals to the different divisions Garden, and without the city is the most beautiful meadow
of the globe. The cow's head, from which issues the divided by the river Barrady, of the red earth of which
Ganges, they place towards the south and towards the Adam is alleged to have been formed. This field is designs -
;
north is the tiger, or lion's head. The horse's head is on ted Ager Damascenus by the Latins, and nearly in the
the west, and on the east is that of the elephant. centre of it a pillar formerly stood, intended to mark the
The traditions of Cashmere represent that country as the precise spot where the Creator breathed into the first man
original site of Paradise, and the abode of the first human
the breath of lifr.
pair ; and the Buddhists of Thibet hold opinion respecting The numerous traditions which existed among ancient
the mountain Meru similar to those of the Hindoos. They
nations of the Garden of Eden doubtless originated those
locate the sacred Garden, however, at the foot of the moun- curious and magnificent gardens designed and planted by
tain, near the source of the Ganges ; but the four holy the Eastern princes, such as the Golden Garden of Aristo-
rivers are made to issue through the heads of the same
bulus, King of the Jews, which was consecrated by Pompey
animals, which are believed to be the guardians of the to Jupiter Capitolinus. Nor is mythology deficient in
divisions of the world. The tree of knowledge, or of life, Wesimilar legends. have the Gardens of Jupiter, of
they designate Zambri, which, they say, is a celestial tree, Alcinous, and of the Fortunate Islands, but especially of
bearing immortal fruit, and flourishes near four vast rocks, the Hesperides, in which not only the primeval Paradise,
from which issue the several rivers which water the world. but traditions of the Tree of Knowledge of good and evil,
The Mussulmans inhabiting the adjacent countries have and of the original promise made to the woman, are prom-
adopted the popular belief that Paradise was situated in —inently conspicuous. The Garden of the Hesperides pro-
Cashmere, adding that when the first man was driven duced golden fruit, guarded by a dangerous serpent that
from it, he and his wife wandered separately for some time. this fierce reptile encircled with its folds a mysterious tree
They met at a place called Bahlaka, or Balk, so called and that Hercules procured the fruit by encountering and
because they they mutually embraced each other after a killing the serpent. The story of the constellation, as
long absence. Two gigantic statues, which they say, are related by Eratosthenes, is applicable to the Garden of
Eden, and the primeval history of mankind. " This
yet to be seen between Bahlaka and Bamiyan, represent
serpent," says that ancient writer, alluding to the con-
Adam and Eve, and a third of smaller dimensions is that
stellation, " is the same as that which guarded the golden
of their son Seish or Seth, whose tomb, or its site, is pointed
out near Bahlaka. apples, and was slain by Hercules. For, when the gods
Some of the writers seriously maintained that Paradise offered presents to Juno on her nuptials with Jupiter, the
was under the North Pole, arguing upon an idea of the Earth also brought golden apples. Juno, admiring their
ancient Babylonians and Egyptians, that the ecliptic or beauty, commanded them to be planted in the garden of
solar way was originally at right angles to the Equator, and the gods ; but finding that they, were continually plucked
so passed directly over the North Pole. The opinion by the daughter of Atlas, she appointed a vast serpent to
generally entertained by the Mahomedans that it was in guard them. Hercules overcame and slew the monster.
one of the seven heavens, is not more ridiculous than the Hence, in this constellation the serpent is depicted, rearing
preceding supposition. Dr. Clarke sums up the extrava- its head aloft, while Hercules, placed above it with one
—gant theories respecting the locality of Paradise. " Some knee bent, tramples with his foot upon its head, and
place it as follows : In the third heaven, others in the brandishes a club in his right hand." The Greeks placed
fourth, some within the orbit of the moon, others in the the Garden of the Hesperides close to Mount Atlas, and
moon itself, some in the middle regions of the air, or beyond then removed it far into the regions of Western Africa
;
the earth's attraction, some on the earth, others under the yet all knowledge of its Asiatic site was not erased from the
earth, and others within the earth." classical mythologists, for Apollodorus tells us that certain
Before leaving the East, it may be observed that the writers situated it not in the Libyan Atlas, but in the
Orientals generally reckon four sites of Paradise in Asia : Atlas of the Hyperboreans ; and he adds, that the serpent
had the faculty of uttering articulate sounds.
the first Ceylon, already mentioned ; the second in Chaldea ;
the third in a district of Persia, watered by a river called Our Teutonic ancestors believed that the world was
the Nilab ; and the fourth about Damascus in Syria, and originally a Paradise, and its first inhabitants more than
near the springs of the Jordan. This last supposed site human, whose dwelling was a magnificent hall, glittering
is not peculiar to the Oriental writers, as we find it main- with fine gold, where love, and joy, and friendship presided.
The most insignificant of their utensils were made of gold,
tained by some Europeans, especially Heidegger, Le Clerc,
and Hardouin. The following are the traditions believed and hence the appellation of the Golden age. But this
happiness was soon overthrown by certain women from the
—by the inhabitants of the city of Damascus a city which
the Emperor Julian the Apostate styled the Eye of all the country of the giants, to whose seductions the first mortals
East, the most sacred and most magnificent Damascus. yielded, and their innocence and integrity were lost for
" I understand," says Lamartine," that Arabian tra- ever. The transgression of Eve is the obvious prototype
of the fatal curiosity of Pandora ; and the arrival of women
ditions represent this city and its neighbourhood to form
Paradise 320 Pasqually
from the country of the giants, and their intercourse with moan, " Oh, they are drowning me ! " The young man
a distinct and purer line of mortals, can scarcely fail of exultantly exclaimed, " So we've got you, devil, have we ?
bringing forcibly to our recollection the marriages of the Leave her at once or we will drown you ! " He continued
sons of Seth with the daughters of Cain, with were the pouring water into the victim's mouth, and after that
principal causes of the universal depravity of the Ante- unclarified oil. Her lips were held closed, so that she was
-diluvians. obliged to swallow it. The unfortunate woman was again
The legends of Hindostan also supply us with accounts of raised and her face pressed against the image. " Kiss it !
the happiness of Paradise in the Golden Age of the classic kiss it ! " she was commanded, and she obeyed. She was
mythology. " There can arise little doubt," says Maurice, asked who was the cause of her being " possessed."
" that by the Satya age, or Age of Perfection, the Brahmins
" Anna," was the whispered reply. Who was Anna ?
obviously allude to the state of perfection and happiness
What was her village ? In which cottage did she live ?
•enjoyed by man in Paradise. It is impossible to explain
A regular inquisition. The physical and mental sufferings
what the Indian writers assert concerning the universal of the first victim lasted about an hour, at the end of which
purity of manners, and the luxurious and unbounded she was handed over to her relatives, after a cross had been
plenty prevailing in that primitive era, without this -sup- given to her, as it was found that she did not own one.
position. Justice, truth, philanthrophy, were then prac- According to accounts published by the Retch, Molva, etc.,
tised among all the orders and classes of mankind. There many other women were treated in the same fashion, the
was then no extortion, .no circumvention, no fraud, used exercises lasting a whole day and night. The men " pil-
in the dealings one with another. Perpetual oblations grims " would seem to have been less severely handled.
smoked on the altars of the Deity ; every tongue uttered It is explained that the idea of unclothing the woman is
praises, and every heart glowed with gratitude to the that there .should be no knot, bow, or fastening where the
Supreme Creator. The gods, in token of their approbation devil and his coadjutors could find a lodgment. And one
of the conduct of mortals, condescended frequently to is left with the picture of scores of women crawling around
become incarnate, and to hold personal intercourse with the church on their knees, invoking the aid of the Almighty
the yet undepraved race, to instruct them in arts and for the future or His pardon for sins committed in the
sciences ; to unveil their own sublime functions and pure past."
nature and to make them acquainted With the economy The treatment of the " possessed " is analogous to that
; employed by many barbarous peoples for the casting out
of those celestial regions into which they were to be imme-
diately translated, when the period of their terrestial of devils, and notably among the Chams of Cambodia (q.v.)
probation expired." who force the possessed to eat. garbage in order to disgust
Parama-Hamsas : (See India.) the fiend they harbour. [See also Obsession.)
AParaskeva, Saint : saint of the Russian Calendar, whose Pasqually, Martinez de : (Kabalist and Mystic). [1715 P-I779].
feast day is August 3rd. On that day pilgrims from all The date of Martinez Pasqualis' birth is not known definitely
parts of Russia congregate in St. Petersburg for the purpose while even his nationality is a matter of uncertainty.
It is commonly supposed, however, that he was born
Aof casting out devils. newspaper report of the pro- about 1715, somewhere in the south of France'; while
ceedings as they occurred in 1913 is as follows :—
" Another St. Paraskeva's day has come and gone. The several writers have maintained that his parents were
usual fanatical scenes have been enacted in the suburbs of Portuguese Jews, but this theory has frequently been
St. Petersburg, and the ecclesiastical authorities have not contested. It is said that from the outset he evinced a
protested, nor have the police intervened. Special trains predilection for mysticism in its various forms, while it is
have again been run to enable thousands of the lower certain that, in 1754, he instituted a Kabalistic rite, which
classes to witness a spectacle, the toleration of which will Was "gleaned from Hebraic studies, and whose espousers
•only be appreciated by those acquainted with the writings were styled Cohens, this being simply the Hebrew for
of M. Pobiedonostzeff, the late Procurator of the Holy priests. He propagated this rite in divers masonic lodges
Synod. The Church of St. Paraskeva is situated in a of France, notably those of Marseilles, Toulouse, Bordeaux
factory district of the city. On the exterior side of one of and Paris ; while in 1768 we find him settled in the French
the walls is an image of the Saint, to whom is attributed capital, gathering round him many people addicted to
the power of driving out devils and curing epileptics, mysticism, and impregnating them with his theories. His
neurotics, and others by miraculous intervention. At sojourn here was cut short eventually, nevertheless, for
the same time, the day is made a popular holiday, with he heard that some property had been bequeathed to him
games and amusements of all sorts, booths and lotteries, in the island of 'St. Dominique, and he hastened thither
refreshment stalls and drinking bars. The newspapers with intent to assert his rights ; but he did not return to
publish detailed accounts of this year's proceedings without France, his death occurring in 1779 at Port-au-Prince, the
comment, and it is perhaps significant that the Novoe principal town in the island aforesaid.
Vremya, a pillar of orthodoxy, ignores them altogether. Pasqually is credited with having written a book, La
Nor is this surprising when one reads of women clad in a Reintegration, but this was never published. As regards
single undergarment with bare arms being hoisted up by the philosophy which he promulgated, he appears to have
stalwart peasants to the level of the image in order to kiss believed partly in the inspiration of the Scriptures, the
it, and then having impure water and unclarified oil forced downfall of the angels, the theory of original sin, together
down their throats. The treatment of the first sick woman with the doctrine of justification by faith ; but he seems
is typical of the rest. One young peasant lifted her in the to have held that man existed in an elemental state long
air, two others held her arms fully extended, while a fourth before the creation detailed in Genesis, and was gradually
seized her loosened hair, and, dragging her head from side evolved into his present form. In short, Pasqually was
to side and up and down, shouted " Kiss, kiss St. Paras- something of an anticipator of endless modern theorists ;
.heva ! " The woman's garment was soon in tatters. She nor did he fail to find a disciple who regarded him as a
began groaning. One of the men exclaimed : " Get out ! prophet and master, this being Louis Claude de St. Martin,
a theosophist frequently styled in France " le philosophe
Satan Say where thou art lodged ! " The woman's
!
head was pulled back by the hair, her mouth was forced inconnu," who founded the sect known as Martinistes.
open, and mud-coloured water (said to be holy water) was The reader will find some account of St. Martin in an article
poured into it. She spat the water out, and was heard to headed with his name.
Path, The 321 Philalethes
Path, The : Is a term which represents an important theo- voice. They also comfort the heart and render their
sophical teaching, and it is used in different senses to
possessor chaste.
denote not only the Path itself but also the Probationary Pedro de Valentia : (See Spain.)
Path along which a man must journey before he can enter Peliades : (See Greece.)
on the former. Impelled by profound longing for the Pentagram : (See Magical Diagram.)
highest, for service of God and his fellows, man first begins Perfect Sermon : A hermetic Book. (See Hermes Trisme-
the journey and he must devote himself wholeheartedly gistus.)
to this service. At his entrance on the Probationary Pernety, Antoine Joseph : Author of the Dictionnaire
Mytho-Hermelique and Les Fables Egyptiennes et Grecques.
Path, he becomes the chela or disciple of one of the Masters According to him the Golden Fleece, in the Jason Medea
legend, is symbolical. The labours of Jason represent
or Perfected men who have all finished the great journey, strivings towards perfection.
and he devotes himself to the acquiring of four qualifica-
tions which are (i) knowledge of what only is real (2)
;
rejection of what is unreal (3) the six mental attributes Persia : (See Magi.)
;
Peter of Apono : Born in 1250, at Apono, near Padua, a
of control over thought, control over outward action, philosopher, mathematician, and astrologer of no mean
skill. He practised physic in Paris with so great success
tolerance, endurance, faith and balance, these attributes
-though all necessary in some degree, not being necessary
in perfect degree ; and (4) the desire to be one with God. that he soon became very rich, but his wealth and attain-
During the period of his efforts to acquire these qualifica-
ments were annulled by the accusation of sorcery which was
tions, the chela advances in many ways, for his Master
brought against him. He was said to receive instruction
imparts to him wise counsel ; he is taught by meditation in the seven liberal arts from seven spirits which he kept
to attain divine heights unthought of by ordinary man ; he in crystal vessels. To him was ascribed also the curious
•constantly works for the betterment of his fellows, usually and useful facultjr of causing the money he spent to return
in the hours of sleep, and striving thus and in similar to his own purse. His downfall was brought about by an
directions, he fits himself for the first initiation at the act of revenge for which he was called to account by the
entrance to the Path proper, but it may be mentioned that Inquisition. A neighbour of his had been possessed of a
he has the opportunity either during his probation or spring of excellent water in his garden, from which he
afterwards to forego the heavenly life which is his due allowed Peter of Apono to drink at will. For some reason
and so to allow the world to benefit by the powers which or another the permission was withdrawn, and Peter, with
he .'has gained, and which in ordinary course, he would the assistance of the Devil, caused the water to leave the
utilise in the heavenly life. In this case, he remains in garden and flow uselessly in some distant street. Ere the
the astral world, from whence he makes frequent returns to trial was finished the unfortunate physician died, but so
the physical world. Of initiations there are four, each bitter were the inquisitors against him that they ordered
at the beginning of a new stage on the Path, manifesting his bones to be dug up and burned. This public indignity
the knowledge of that stage. On the first stage there are to his memory was averted by some of his friends, who,
three obstacles or, as they are commonly termed, fetters, hearing of the vindictive sentence, secretly removed his
which must be cast aside and these are the illusion of self remains from the burying-ground where they lay. The
which must be realised to be only an illusion ; doubt which inquisitors thereupon satisfied their animosity by burning
must be cleared away by knowledge ; and superstition him in effigy.
which must be cleared away by the discovery of what in Petetin : (See Hypnotism.)
truth is real. This stage traversed, the second initiation Petra Philosophorum : (See Fioravanti.)
follows, and after this comes the consciousness that earthly Phantasmagoria : An optical spectacle of the same class as
life will now be short, that only once again will physical
the magic lantern dissolving views. These were formerly
death be experienced, and the man begins more and more ;
regarded by the ignorant as sorcery.
—to function in his mental body. After the third initiation, Philadelphian Society : (See Visions.)
the man has two other fetters to unloose desire and Philalethes, Eirenseus : (circa, 1660) Alchemist. The life of
aversion ; and now his knowledge becomes keen and this alchemist is wrapped in mystery, albeit a considerable
piercing and he can gaze deep into the heart of things. mass of writing stands to his credit. The heading of this
After the fourth initiation, he enters on the last stage and article is, of course, mere pseudonym, and, though some
have tried hard to identify the writer who bore it with one
—finally frees himself of what fetters remain the desire for
life whether bodily or not, and the sense of individual Thomas Vaughan, a brother of Henry Vaughan, the
difference from his fellows. He has now reached the end " Silurist " poet, this theory is not supported by any very
of his journey, and is no longer trammelled with sin or with sound evidence. Others have striven to identify Philalethes
anything that can hinder him from entering the state of with George Starkey, the quack doctor and author of
supreme bliss where he is reunited with the divine con- Liquor Alchahest ; but then, Starkey died of the plague in
sciousness. (See Theosophy.)
London in 1665, whereas it is known that Eirenesus was
Paulicians : (See Gnostics.) living for some years after that date. He appears, also,
Pauline Art : (See Key of Solomon.) to have been on intimate terms with Robert Boyle, and,
Pawang : (See Malays.) Amongst the early Greeks and though this points to his having spent a considerable time
Pazzani : (See France.)
in England, it is certain on the other hand that he emigrated
Pearls : Occult properties of.
to America. Now Starkey, it will be remembered, was
Romans, the wearing of gems as an amulet or talisman, was born in the Bermudas, and practised his spurious medical
much in vogue. For this purpose pearls were often made crafts in the English settlements in America, where,
into crowns. Rich says : " Pope Adrian, anxious to according to his contemporary biographers, he met Eirenesus
secure all the virtues in his favour, wore an amulet com-
Philalethes. This meeting, then, may have given rise to
posed of a sunbaked toad, arsenic, tormentil, pearl, coral, the identification at issue ; while it is probably Starkey to
hyacinth, smarag, and tragacanth." whom Eirenesus refers when, in a preface to one of his
It is also said that to dream of pearls means many tears. books, he tells of certain of his writings falling " into the
Their occult virtues are brought forth by being boiled hands of one who, I conceive, will never return them," for .
in meat, when they heal the quartan ague : bruised and
in 1654 Starkey issued a volume with the title, The Marrow
taken with milk, they are good for ulcers, and clear the of Alchemy by Eirenesus Philoponus Philalethes.
W
Philalethes 322 Philosopher's Stone
It is to these prefaces by Philalethes that we must chiefly —that is to say, sal-ammoniac to dissolve this sal-ammoniac
look for any information about him, while in the thirteenth in the spirit of liquid mercury which when distilled becomes
chapter of his Introitus Apertus ad Occlusum Regis Palatium
the liquor known as the Vinegar of the Sages, to make it
(Amsterdam, 1667) he makes a few autobiographical pass from gold to antimony three times and afterwards to
avowals which illuminate his character and career. " For
we are like Cain, driven from the pleasant society we reduce it by heat, lastly to steep this Warm gold in very
formerly had," he writes, and this suggests that he was
harsh vinegar and allow it to putrefy. On the surface of
the vinegar it will raise itself in the form of fiery earth of
persecuted on account of his alchemistic predilections ; the colour of oriental pearls. This is the first operation in
while elsewhere he heaps scorn on most of the hermetic
the grand work. For the second operation take in the
;
philosophers of his day, and elsewhere, again, he vituperates name of God one part of gold and two parts of the spiritual
the popular worship of money-getting. " I disdain, loathe,
water, charged with the sal-ammoniac; mix this noble con-
and detest the idolizing of silver and gold," he declares, fection in a vase of crystal of the shape of an egg : warm
" by which the pomps and vanities of the world are cele- over a soft but continuous fire, and the fiery water will
brated. Ah ! filthy, evil, ah ! vain nothingness." That
dissolve little by little the gold this forms a liquor which
;
is vigorously written, and indeed nearly everything from —is called by the sages " chaos " containing the elementary
the pen of Philalethes, whether in Latin 01 in English, pro- qualities cold, dryness, heat and humidity. Allow this
claims him a writer of some care, skill and taste ; while composition to putrefy until it becomes black ; this black-
ness is known as the ' crow's head ' and the ' darkness of
his scholarship was considerable also, and it is interesting
to find that, in his preface to Ripley Revived (London, the sages,' and makes known to the artist that he is on the
1678), he gives some account of the authors to whom he right track. It was also known as the ' black earth.' It
felt himself chiefly indebted. " For my own part," he
must be boiled once more in a vase as white as snow ; this
says, " I have cause to honour Bernard Txevisan, who is
—stage of the work is called the ' swan,' and from it arises
very ingenious, especially in the letter to Thomas of
the white liquor, which is divided into two parts one
Boulogne, when I seriously confess I received the main white for the manufacture of silver, the other red for the
light in the hidden secret. I do not remember that ever I manufacture of gold. Now you have accomplished the
learnt anything from Raymond Lully. ... I know of none
work, and you possess the Philosopher' s Stone.
like Ripley, though Flamel be eminent." " In these diverse operations, one finds many by-
Langlet du Fresnoy, in his Histoire de la Philosophie products ; among these is' the ' green lion ' which is called
also ' azoph,' and which draws gold from the more ignoble
Hermetique, refers to numerous unpublished manuscripts
by Eirenceus Philalethes, but nothing is known about these elements ; the ' red lion ' which converts the metal into
to-day, and in conclusion it behoves only to cite the more gold ; the ' head of the crow,' called also the ' black veil
important of those things by the alchemist which were of the ship of Theseus,' which appearing forty days before
issued in book form : Medulla Alchymia (London, 1664), the end of the operation predicts its success ; the white
Experimenta de Praeperatione Mercurii Scphici (Amsterdam, powder which transmutes the white metals to fine silver
1668) and Enarratio Methodica trium Gebri Medicinarum with which gold made the white elixir
;
—thered
elixir is
(Amsterdam, 1668.) which also makes silver, and which procures long life it
is also called the ' white daughter of the philosophers.' "
Philosopher's Stone : A substance which enabled adepts in
alchemy to compass the transmutation of metals. (See In the lives of the various alchemists we find many
Alchemy.) It was imagined by the alchemists that some notices of the Powder of Projection in connection with
one definite substance was essential to the success of the those adepts who were supposed to have arrived at the
transmutation of metals. By the application or admixture solution of the grand arcanum. Thus in the Life of Alex-
ander Seton (q.v.), a Scotsman who came from Port Seton,
of this substance all metals might be transmuted into
gold or silver. It was often designated the Powder of near Edinburgh, we find that on his various travels on the
Projection. Zosimus, who lived at the commencement of continent he employed in his alchemical experiments a
the fifth century is one of the first who alludes to it. He
blackish powder, the application of which turned any
says that the stone is a powder or liquor formed of diverse metal given him into gold. Numerous instances are on
metals, infusioned under a favourable constellation. The record of Seton's projections, the majority of which are
Philosopher's Stone was supposed to contain the secret "not verified with great thoroughness. On one occasion whilst in
only of transmutation, but of health and life, for through its Holland, he went with some friends from the house at
agency could be distilled the Elixir of Life. It was the which he was residing to undertake an alchemical experi-
touchstone of existence. The author of a Treatise on ment at another house near by. On the way thither a
Philosophical and Hermetic Chemistry, published in Paris quantity of ordinary zinc was purchased, and this Seton
in 1725 says : " Modern philosophers have extracted from succeeded in projecting into pure gold by the application
the interior of mercury a fiery spirit, mineral, vegetable and of his powder. A like phenomenon was undertaken by
mutliplicative, in a humid concavity in which is found the him at Cologne, and elsewhere throughout Germany, and
primitive mercury or the universal quintessence. In the the extremest torture could not wring from him the secret
midst of this spirit resides the spiritual fluid This is of the quintessence he possessed. His pupil or assistant,
the mercury of the philosophers, which is not solid like a Sendivogius, made great efforts to obtain the secret from
metal, nor soft like quicksilver, but between the two. him before he died, but all to no purpose. However, out
They have retained for a long time this secret, which is the of gratitude Seton bequeathed him what remained of his
commencement, the middle, and the end of their work. It marvellous powder, which was employed by his Polish
is necessary then to proceed first to purge the mercury successor with the same results as had been achieved in his
with salt and with ordinary salad vinegar, to sublime it own case. The wretched Sendivogius fared badly, however,
with vitriol and saltpetre, to dissolve it in aqua-fortis, to when the powder at last came to an end. He had used it
sublime it again, to calcine it and fix it, to put away part chiefly in liquid form, and into this he had dipped silver
of it in salad oil, to distill this liquor for the purpose of 'coins which immediately had become the purest gold.
separating the spiritual water, air, and fire, to fix the Indeed it is on record that one coin, of which he had only
mercurial body in the spiritual water or to distill the spirit immersed the half, remained for many years as a signal
of liquid mercury found in it, to putrefy all, and then to instance of the claims of alchemy in a museum or collection
raise and exalt the spirit with non-odorous white sulphur somewhere in South Germany. The half of this doubloon
Philosopher's Stone 323 Phrygian Cap
was gold, while the undipped portion had remained silver ; that of Pallas-Athene, as exhibited in the figures of Minerva.
but the notice concerning it is scarcely of a satisfactory- The peak, pic, or point, of caps or hats (the term " cocked
hat " is a case in point) all refer to the same idea. This
nature. When the powder gave out, Sendivogius was driven
point had a sanctifying meaning afterwards attributed to it,
to the desperate expedient of gilding the coins, which, when it was called the christa, crista, or crest, which
report says, he had heretofore transmuted by legitimate signifies a triumphal top, or tuft. The " Grenadier Cap,"
means, and this very naturally brought upon him the
wrath of those who had trusted him. (See Seton.) and the loose black Hussar Cap, derive remotely from the
In the Tale of the Anonymous Adept we also find a powder same sacred, Mithraic, or emblematical bonnet, or high
in use, and indeed the powder seems to have been the
favoured form of the transmuting agency. The term pyramidal cap. It, in this instance, changes to black,
Philosopher's Stone probably arose from some Eastern because it is devoted to the illustration of the " fire-
, workers " (grenadiers) who, among modern military,
talismanic legend. Yet we find in Egyptian alchemy succeed the Vulcanists, Cyclopes, classic " smiths," or
— —the oldest the idea of the black powder the detritus or servants of Vulcan, or Mulciber, the artful worker among
oxide of all the metals mingled. {See Egypt.) the metals in the fire, or amidst the forces of nature. This
The Philosopher's Stone had a spiritual as well as a idea will be found by a reference to the high cap among
material conception attached to it, and indeed spiritual the Persians, or Fire-worshippers and to the black cap
alchemy is practically identified with it ; but we do not ;
among the Bohemians, and in the East. All travellers in
find the first alchemists, nor those of mediaeval times, Eastern lands will remember that the tops of the minarets
possessed of any spiritual ideas ; their hope was to
reminded them of the high-pointed black caps of the
manufacture real gold, and it is only in later times that we
Persians.
find the altruistic idea creeping in, to the detriment of the The Phrygian Cap is a most recondite antiquarian form ;
the symbol comes from the highest antiquity. It is dis-
physical one. Symbolic language was largely used by
both schools, however, and we must not imagine that played on the head of the figure sacrificing in the cele-
because an alchemical writer employs symbolical figures of brated sculpture, called the " Mithraic Sacrifice " (or the
speech that he is of the transcendental school, as his Mythical Sacrifice) in the British Museum. This loose
desire was merely to be understanded of his brother adepts, cap, with the point protruding, gives the original form
and to conserve his secret from the vulgar. (See Alchemy.) from which all helmets or defensive headpieces, whether
Philosophic Summary, The : (See Hamel.) Greek or Barbarian, deduce. As a Phrygian Cap, or
Phreno-Magnet : Journal of Magnetism. (See Spiritualism.) Symbolising Cap, it is always sanguine in its colour. It
. then stands as the " Cap of Liberty " a revolutionary form ;
Phreno-Mesmerism (or Phrenopathy) : An application of the
principles of Mesmerism to the science of phrenology. also, in another way, it is even a civic or incorporated
Mesmerism and phrenology had for some time been regarded badge. It is always masculine in its meaning. It marks
the " needle " of the obelisk, the crown or tip of the
by the English mesmerists as related sciences when it was
—phallus, whether " human " or representative. It has
discovered that a somnambule whose " bumps " were
its origin in the rite of circumcision unaccountable as are
touched by the fingers of the operator would respond to
the stimulus by exhibiting every symptom of the mental both the symbol and the rite.
trait corresponding to the organ touched. Thus signs of
The real meaning of the bonnet rouge, or cap of liberty,
joy, grief, destructiveness, combativeness, and friendship
might be exhibited in rapid succession by the entranced has been involved from time immemorial in deep obscurity,
patient. Among those who claimed to have discovered notwithstanding that it hag always been regarded as the
the new science were Dr. Collyer, a'pupil of Dr. Elliotson's ;
most important hieroglyph or figure. It signifies the
and the Rev. Laroy Sunderland, though the former after- supernatural simultaneous " sacrifice " and " triumph."
wards repudiated it. As time went on enterprising
It has descended from the time of Abraham, and it is
phreno-mesmerists discovered many new cerebral organs supposed to emblem the strange mythic rite of the " cir-
as many as a hundred and fifty being found beside those
already mapped out by Spurzheim and Gall. Among its cumcisio preputii," The loose Phrygian bonnet conique,
supporters phreno-mesmerism numbered the distinguished
hypnotist Braid, who expressed himself fully satisfied of its or " cap of liberty," may be accepted as figuring, or stand-
reality. He has recorded a number of cases in which the
ing for, that detached integument or husk, separated from
patient correctly indicated by his actions the organs
a certain point or knob, which has various na mes in different
—languages, and which supplies the central idea of this
sacrificial rite the spoil or refuse of which (absurd and
touched, though demonstrably ignorant of phrenological unpleasant as it may seem) is borne aloft at once as a
" trophy " and as the " cap of liberty." It is now a magic
laws, and inaccessible to outside information. Braid —sign, and becomes a talisman of supposedly inexpressible
himself offers but a very halting and inadequate physiologi- power from what particular dark reason it may be
cal explanation, and since he may be supposed to have difficult to say. The whole is a sign of " initiation," and
been fully alive to the factors of suggestion and hyper- of baptism of a peculiar kind. The Phrygian Cap, ever
aesthesia, it would seem advisable to admit the possibility of after this first inauguration, has stood as the sign of the
mental suggestion, or telepathy, by means of which the
" Enlightened." The heroic figures in most Gnostic Gems,
expectation of the operator, reproducing itself in the have caps of- this kind. The sacrificer in the sculptured
group of the " Mithraic Sacrifice," among the marbles in
mind of the patient, would give rise to the corresponding
reactions. the British Museum, has a Phrygian Cap on his head,
Phrygian Cap : Hargrave Jennings, in his Rosicrucians. whilst in the act of striking the bull with the poniard
Their Rites and Mysteries, says that the Phrygian Cap, the
meaning the office of the immolating priest. The bonnet
classic Mithraic Cap, sacrificial Cap, and mitre all derive
conique is the mitre of the Doge of Venice.
from one common ancestor. The Mithraic or Phrygian
Cap is the origin of the priestly mitre in all faiths. It was Cinteotl, a Mexican god of sacrifice, wears such a cap
worn by the priest in sacrifice. When worn by a male,
it had its crest, comb, or point, set jutting forward ; when made from the thigh-skin of an immolated virgin. This
worn by a female, it bore the same prominent part of the
head-dress is shaped like a cock's comb.
cap in reverse, or on the nape of the neck, as in the instance —Besides the bonnet rouge, the Pope's mitre—nay, all
of the Amazon's helmet, displayed in all old scupltures, or mitres or conical head-coverings have their name from
the terms " Mithradic," or " Mithraic," The origin of the
whole class of names is Mittra, or Mithra. The cap of the
Phyllorhodomaney 324 Planchette
grenadier, the shape of which is alike all over Europe, is From that time until 1896 the seances were- especially
productive, but in the latter year the medium underwent
related to the Tartar lambskin caps, which are dyed black ; an operation. Phinuit, who often acted as a go-between
for other controls and the sitter, now took his departure,
and it is black also from its associations with Vulcan and and a band of other spirits, led by the " Imperator " of
the " Fire-worshippers " (Smiths). The Scotch Glengarry
cap will prove on examination to be only a " cocked " Stainton Moses, took control of Mrs. Piper's organism.
Phrygian. All the black conical caps, and the meaning The trance writings and utterances became fewer, and the
spirits recommended that the number of sittings be cut
of this strange symbol, came from the East. The loose
down on account of the medium's health. Nevertheless
black fur cap derives from the Tartars. some excellent tests were subsequently got with the Piper-
The " Cap of Liberty " (Bonnet Rouge), the Crista or
Hodgson, Piper-Myers, and Piper-Gurney controls. Mrs.
Crest (Male), and the Female (Amazon) helmet, all mean Piper was also one of those who took part in the " cross-
coirespondences " sittings held in 1906 and onwards, the
the same idea ; in the instance of the female crest the knob other mediums being Mrs. Thompson, Mrs. Verrall, Miss
Verrall, Mrs. Holland, Mrs. Forbes, etc. (See " Spiritual-
is, however, depressed. ism, and Cross-Correspondences.) It seems clear that in
Mrs. Piper's trance phenomena there are evidences of some
Phyllorhodomaney : Divination by rose-leaves. The Greeks supernormal faculty, at the best, of telepathy, though to
clapped a rose-leaf on the hand, and judged from the
the writer even that hypothesis seems to be inadequate.
resulting sound the success or otherwise of their desires.
It would, for example, be a very complicated form of
—Physical World : Formerly known as the Sthula Plane is telepathy, that would enable some of these automatic
" cross- correspondence " scripts to be written, in which,
in the theosophic scheme of things the lowest of the seven say, two scripts contain allusions unintelligible to the
writers, and requiring a key provided by a third script to
worlds, the world in which ordinary man moves and is make them plain. Such a case inevitably suggests that
one and the same intelligence directs all three mediums.
conscious under normal conditions. It is the limit of the
Mrs. Piper's impersonation of George Pelham, again, calls
ego's descent into matter, and the matter which composes for some explanation, since it would seem that all the
the appropriate physical body, is the densest of any of these information could hardly have been culled from the sitter's
worlds. Physical matter has the seven divisions of solid, minds. (See Spiritualism.)
liquid, gas, ether, super-ether, sub-atom and atom, in Planchette : An instrument designed for the purpose of
common with the matter of the other worlds. Besides the communication with spirits. It consists of a thin-heart-
shaped piece of wood, mounted on two small wheel-castors
physical body, familiar to ordinary vision, there is a finer and carrying a pencil, point downwards, for the third
support. The hand is placed on the wood and the pencil
body, the etheric double, which plays a very important writes automatically, or presumably by spirit control
operating through the psychic force of the medium.
part in collecting vitality from the sun for the use of the
denser physical body, and reference is made to the articles In 1853, a well-known French spiritualist, M. Planchette,
invented this instrument to which he gave his name. For
on the Etheric Body, and Chaksams. At death, the quite fifteen years it was used exclusively by French
spiritualists. Then in the year 1868 a firm of toy-makers
physical body and the etheric double are cast aside and in America took up the idea and flooded the booksellers'
shops with great numbers of planchettes. It became a
slowly resolve into their components. (See Worlds, Planes
popular mania, and the instrument sold in thousands there
or Spheres, Theosophy.)
and in Great Britain. It was, and is, largely used simply as
Pierart, Z. T. : French Spiritualist and editor of La Revue
Spiritualists. M. Periart was born in humble circumstances a toy and any results obtained that may be arresting and
but managed to secure for himself an adequate education. seemingly inexplicable are explained by Animal Magnetism
or traced to the power of subconscious thought.
He became in time professor at the College of Maubeuge,
and afterwards secretary to Baron Du Potet. In 1858 he Amongst spiritualists it has been used for spirit com-
munication. Automatic writing has often been developed
founded La Revue Spirilualiste, and led the French spirit- by use of the planchette, some mediums publishing books
ualists, between whom and the spiritists under Allan which, they claimed, were written wholly by their spirit-
Kardec there existed a certain rivalry. Until his death in controls through the use of planchettes. Dr. Ashburnes, in
1878 he continued to devote his time and talents to the his Spiritualism Chemically Explained says that the human
movement with which he had identified himself.
—body is a condensation of gases, which constantly exude
Pierre, La : (See Palingenesy.)
from the skin in invisible vapour otherwise electricity
Pinto : Grand Master of Malta : (See Cagliostro.) that the fingers coming in contact with the planchette
transmit to it an " odic force," and thus set it in motion.
Piper, Mrs. : A famous trance medium, whose discourses and
He goes on to say that some people have phosphorous in
writings present the best evidence extant for the actuality of
excess in their system and the vapour " thus exuded forms
Aspirit communication. native of America, it was there
a positively living, thinking, acting body, capable of
that Mrs. Piper first became entranced, while consulting a directing a pencil." There are variations on the planchette
form such as the dial-planchette which consists of a founda-
professional clairvoyant in 1884. Numerous spirits pur- tion of thick cardboard nine inches square on the face of
which the alphabet is printed and also the numerals one to
—ported to control her in these early days Mrs. Siddons, ten. There are the words " Yes," " No," " Goodbye "
and " Don't know." These letters, words, and numerals
Longfellow, Bach, to mention only the most celebrated are printed on the outer edge of a circle, the diameter of
but in 1885, when she came under the observation of the which is about seven inches. In the centre of this circle,
and firmly affixed to the cardboard, is a block of wood three
Society for Psychical Research, her principal control was
Dr. Phinuit. From that time forward her trance utterances
—and writings for after 1890 the communications were
—generally in writing were carefully recorded and analysed
by members of the S.P.R., chiefly under the direction of
Dr. Hodgson. In 1889-90 Mrs. Piper visited this country
and gave many seances, most of which seemed to display
supernormal powers in the medium. It is impossible in a
limited space to detail her remarkable trance impersonations.
On his death in 1905 Dr. Hodgson became one of her
controls ; Mr. Myers and Mr. Gurney also controlled her.
But perhaps the most life-like and convincing impersonation
— —or spirit-manifestation whichever it may have been was
that of George Pelham, a young American author and a
friend of Dr. Hodgson, who had died suddenly in 1892.
(See Trance Personalities.) The information given by this
control, his recognition of friends, and so on, were so accurate
as to convince many that it was indeed " G.P." who spoke.
Planehette 325 Poltergeist
inches square. The upper surface of this block has", a to the Middle Ages, and one at least which dates so far back
circular channel in it and in this run balls. Over the balls
as 856 B.C. In both savage and civilised countries this
is placed a circular piece of hard wood, five inches in
diameter, and attached to the outer edge of this a pointer. peculiar form of haunting is well known, and it is a curious
The upper piece of wood is attached to the lower by an
fact that the phenomena are almost identical in every case.
ordinary screw, upon which the upper plate revolves when
used for communication. Another form is the Ouija board The disturbances are always observed to be particularly
on which in a convenient order the letters of the alphabet are
printed and over which a pointer easily moves under the active in the neighbourhood of one person, generally a
direction of the hand of the person or persons acting as
mediums. It is stated that a form of this " mystic toy " child or a young woman, and preferably an epileptic or
was in use in the days of Pythagoras, about 540 B.C. In hysterical subject. According to the theory advanced by
a French history of Pythagoras, the author describing his
spiritualists, this centre of the disturbances is a natural
celebrated school of philosophy, asserts that the brother-
hood held frequent seances 0* circles at which a mystic medium, through whom the spirits desire to communicate
table, moving on wheels, moved towards signs inscribed on with the world of living beings. In earlier times such a
the surface of a stone slab on which the moving-table
worked. The author states that probably Pythagoras, in person was regarded as a witch, or the victim of a witch,
his travels among the Eastern nations, observed some
such apparatus in use amongst them and adapted his idea whichever supposition was best fitted to the chcu instances.
from them. Another trace of some such " communicating
mechanism " is found in the legend told by the Scan- The poltergeist is represented as a development from witch-
dinavian Blomsturvalla how the people of Jomsvikingia in craft, and the direct forerunner of modern spiritualism, and
the twelfth century had a high priest, one Volsunga, whose
predictions were renowned for their accuracy throughout is, in fact, a link between the two.
the length and breadth of the land. He had in his posses-
sion a little ivory doll that drew with " a pointed instru- Turning our attention first to some of the earlier records,
ment " on parchment or " other substance," certain signs
to which the priest had the key. The communications we may consider briefly the case of the Drummer of Ted worth
were in every case prophetic utterances, and it is said in (1661), and the Epworth Case (1716). In both of these
every case came true. The writer who recounts the legend
thought it probable that the priest had procured the doll in instances the manifestations witnessed were of the usual
China. In the National Museum at Stockholm there is a
doll of this description which is worked by mechanism, and order. The spirits, if spirits they were, sought to attract
when wound up walks round and round in circles and attention by familiar childish tricks, and communicated
occasionally uses its right arm to make curious signs with by means of the same cumbrous process of knocking. The
a pointed instrument like a stylo which is held in the hand.
Its origin and use have been connected with the legend circumstances of the first-named instance are as follow
recounted above. In 1661 a vagrant drummer was, at the instance of Mr.
Mompesson of Tedworth, taken before a Justice of the
Planet : (See Planetary Chains.)
Planetary Logos, or Ruler of Seven Chains, is, in the theo- Peace, and deprived of his drum, which instrument finally
found a resting-place in the house of Mr. Mompesson,
sophic scheme, one of the grades in the hierarchy which during that gentleman's absence from home. Immediately
assists in the work of creation and guidance. It is the violent disturbances broke out in the house. Loud knock-
ings and thumpings were heard, and the beating of an
supreme Logos who initiates this work, but in it he is invisible drum. Articles flew recklessly about the rooms,
helped by the " seven." They receive from him the and the bedsteads (particularly those in which the younger
inspiration and straightway each in his own Planetary children lay) were violently shaken. After a time the
Chain carries on the work, directed by him no doubt, yet
in an individual fashion, through all the successive stages drummer was transported, when the manifestations abruptly
which go to compose a Scheme of Evolution. (See Logos,
ceased, but a recurrence of the outbreak synchronised
Chains.)
with his return. Contemporary opinion put the case down
Planetary Spirits : In the theosophical scheme the number to witchcraft on the part of the drummer, but Mr. Podmore
of these spirits is seven. They are emanations from the and other moderns incline to the belief that the " two
Absolute, and are the agents by which the Absolute effects little modest girls in the bed " had more than a little to
do with the mysterious knockings and scratchings of the
all his changes in the Universe. poltergeist. In the famous Epworth Case, where the
phenomena is well attested by the whole Wesley family, and
Planets : (See Astrology.) described in numerous contemporary letters, the dis-
Podovne Vile : (See Slavs.) turbances comprised all the ordinary manifestations of
Poe, Edgar Allen : (See Fiction, Occult English.) levitations, loud and terrifying noises, and rappings,
together with apparitions of rabbits, badgers, and so on.
Poinandres : A hermetic book. (See Hermes Trismegistus.)
Podmore is of the opinion that one of the daughters,
Polong : Malay familiar. (See Malays.) Hetty, was in some way implicated in the affair. She alone
Poltergeist : The name given to the supposed supernatural did not give an account of the manifestations, though she
causes of outbreaks of rappings, inexplicable noises, and —had promised to do so. The poltergeist showed a decided
similar disturbances, which from time to time have mystified
men of science as well as the general public. The term partiality for her company a circumstance which, though
not unobserved, does not seem to have held any special
poltergeist (i.e.. Poller Geist, rattling ghost) is sufficiently
significance for her family. A more recent case in which a
indicative of the character of these beings, whose manifesta-
tions are, at the best, puerile and purposeless tricks, and not charge of witchcraft is involved, is the Cideville case,
infrequently display an openly mischievous and destructive
tendency. The poltergeist is by no means indigenous to any described by Mr. Lang in his Cock Lane and Common Sense,
one country, nor has he confined his attentions to any
particular period. Lang mentions several cases belonging under the heading, " A Modern Trial for Witchcraft."
In 1849 the Cure of Cideville, Seine Inferieure, was sum-
moned to court by a shepherd named Thorel, who alleged
that the Cure had denounced him for sorcery. In his
defence the Cure stated that Thorel himself had confessed to
having produced by means of sorcery certain mysterious
manifestations which had disturbed the inmates of the
Abbey. During the trial it transpired that the Cure, when
visiting a sick parishioner, had driven from the bedside a
man of notorious character, with an evil reputation for
sorcery, who was about to treat the patient. The sorcerer
retired, vowing vengeance on the Cure, and was shortly
afterwards sent to prison. Later when two little boys,
pupils of the Cure, were at an auction, they were approached
Poltergeist 326 Polynesia
by Thorel, who was known as a disciple of the sorcerer. in almost every instance, there are children evidently and
He placed his hand on the head of one of the children, and intimately bound up with the manifestations. It is his
muttered some strange words. When the boys returned choice of a medium which has directed most suspicion to
to the Abbey the poltergeist performances commenced. the poltergeist, and it on this that Mr. Podmore bases his
. Violent blows on the walls seemed about to demolish them, assumption that all poltergeist visitations are traceable to
one of the children complained that he was followed by a the cunning tricks of " naughty little girls." He suggests
man's shadow, and other witnesses declared that they had that with the " medium " under careful control it is more
seen a grey hand and wreaths of smoke. Some of those than probable that the poltergeist will turn shy, and refuse
who visited the Abbey were able to hold a conversation with to perform his traditional functions ! There is much to be
the spirits by means of knocking. It was agreed that said for this theory. The medium- of the spiritualistic
sharp-pointed irons should be driven into the walls, and on seance is frequently credited with the loftiest utterances,
this being done, smoke and flames were seen to issue from and the production of literary, musical, and artistic com-
the incisions. At last Thorel sought the Cure and confessed positions. The poltergeist indulges in such futilities as the
that the disturbances were the work of his master, the breaking of crockery, the throwing about of furniture, and
sorcerer. The plaintiff was non-suited, and the judge, in the materialization of coal and carrots in the drawing-
summing up, said that the cause of the " extraordinary room. Why, if they are mature spirits, as they purport
facts " of this case " remained unknown." In February,
to be, should they practise such feats of mystification as
1851, the boys were removed from the Abbey, and the would seem to be impelled either by the foolish vanity of a
disturbances ceased. child, or the cunning impulses of a deranged mind ? Then
Of those instances where a spiritualistic explanation has there is often a curious hesitancy on the part of the medium,
been offered perhaps the most outstanding is the case of as in the case of Hetty Wesley, a trembling on the approach
the Cock Lane Ghost, almost too well-known to call for of the phenomena, and a tendency to such physical dis-
recapitulation. In 1 761-2 raps and scratches were heard in turbances as epileptic and other fits. And sometimes the
a house in Cock Lane, generally occurring near the bed of poltergeist confesses, as did the maid-servant Ann at Stock-
the little daughter of the house, Elizabeth Parsons. Very well, to having manipulated the disturbing occurrences
soon the manifestations became so pronounced that people with the aid of wires and horsehair. But in such a case as
that of the Joller family, the theory of " naughty little
from all parts of the city were crowding to witness them. girls " is childishly inadequate. It is all but impossible
A code of raps was agreed upon, through which it was to believe that children could produce the manifestations
in full view of hundreds of people. It is still more difficult
ascertained that the spirit was that of a lady named
" Fanny," who declared that she had been poisoned by to understand how children and ignorant persons, with
her deceased sister's husband, with whom she had lodged
in the Cock Lane house some two years previously, and presumably no knowledge of previous instances, could fix
expressed a wish that he might be hanged. It is, indeed, upon exactly the same phenomena which has been pro-
duced by the poltergeists of every age and clime. And in
—quite a common thing for the poltergeist to reveal a crime, the Joller case, there is the evidence of many spectators
real or imaginary and more often the latter, which is
entirely in keeping with the character of the spirit. In the that the most violent disturbances were witnessed when
the whole family were assembled outside the house and
Cock Lane affair the manifestations followed the girl when
she was removed to another house, and she trembled thus not in a position to assist the manifestations, which
strongly, even in her sleep, on the approach of the ghost. included the throwing open of all windows, doors, cup-
The case which presents the most formidably array of boards and drawers, the materialization of the " thin grey
evidence, however, is that of the Joller family in Switzer- cloud," noises and apparitions. In short, it must be"
land. In 1860-2 serious disturbances broke out in Stans, admitted that there is an element of mystery which calls
for elucidation, and which the most scientific and critical
in the home of M. Joller, a prominent lawyer, and a man of minds have hitherto failed to make clear.
excellent character. Knocks were first heard by a servant- Polynesia : Magic in Polynesia is the preserve of the priestly
maid, who also averred that she was haunted by strange and upper classes, although lesser sorcery is practised by
grey shapes, and the sound of sobbing. In the autumn of individuals not of these castes. There is a prevailing
belief in what is known as mana, or supernatural power,
1861, she was dismissed and another maid engaged. For a which is resident in certain individuals. The method of
time there was peace, but in the summer of 1862 they using this power is twofold. One of these is practised bv
commenced with redoubled vigour. The wife and seven a society known as the Iniat, where certain rites are carried
children of M. Joller heard and saw many terrifying sights
and sounds, but M. Joller himself remained sceptical. At
length, however, even he was convinced that neither out which are supposed to bring calamity upon the enemies
trickery nor imagination would suffice as an explanation of the tribe. The ability to exercise magic is known as
of the phenomena. Meanwhile the manifestations became agagara, and the magician or wizard is tena agagara. If the
more and more outrageous, and continued in full view of wizard desires to cast magic upon another man, he usually
the thousands of persons who were attracted by curiosity
tries to secure something that that person has touched with
to the house, including the Land-Captain Zelger, the his mouth, and to guard against this, the natives are careful
Director of Police Jaun, the President of the Court of to destroy all food-refuse that they do not consume, and
they carefully gather up even a single drop of blood when
Justice, and other prominent people, some of whom sug- they receive a cut or scratch, and burn it or throw it into
gested that a commission be appointed to examine the house the sea, so that the wizard may not obtain it. The wizard
thoroughly. Three of the heads of police were deputed to having obtained something belonging to the person whom
conduct the enquiry. They demanded the withdrawal of
M. Joller and his family, and remained in the house for six he wishes to injure, buries it in a deep hole, together with
days without witnessing anything abnormal, and drew
up a report to this effect. Directly the Joller family entered leaves of poisonous plants and sharp-pointed pieces of
bamboo, accompanying the action by suitable incantations.
the house the interruptions were renewed. M. Joller If he chances to be a member of the Iniat society, he will
became the butt of ridicule to all, even his political and place on the top of the whole one of their sacred stones, as
personal friends, and was finally compelled to quit his they believe that so long as the stone is pressing down the
ancestral home. This is undoubtedly one of the most
article which has been buried in the hole the man to whom
striking cases of poltergeist haunting on record. Here, as it belonged will remain sick. Immediately a man falls
Polynesia Polynesia
sick, he sets enquiries on foot as to who has bewitched him, report of the sumana to be made known to the man whom
and there is always someone to acknowledge the soft he wishes to kill, and the poor fellow is put into a great
impeachment. If he does not succeed in having the spell fright and dies."
removed he will almost certainly succumb, but if he succeeds The Rev. S. B. Fellows gives the following account of
in having it taken away, he begins to recover almost the beliefs of the people of Kiriwina (Trobiands group) :
immediately ; and the strange thing is that he evinces no " The sorcerers, who are very numerous, are credited
—-enmity towards the person or persons who " bewitched " with the power of creating the wind and rain, of making the
him, indeed it is taken as a matter of course, and he gardens to be either fruitful or barren, and of causing sick-
quietly waits the time when he will be able to return the
ness which leads to death. Their methods of operation are
compliment ! legion. The great chief, who is also the principal sorcerer,
These remarks apply for the most part to New Britain, claims the sole right to secure a bountiful harvest every
and its system of magic is practically the same as that year. This function is considered of transcendent im-
known in Fiji as vakadraunikau concerning which very portance by the people.
little is known. In his work Melanesians and Polynesians " Our big chief, Bulitara, was asking me one day if I
had these occult powers. When I told him that I made
the Rev. Dr. George Brown, the well-known pioneer no such claim, he said, ' Who makes the wind and the rain
missionary and explorer, gives an interesting account of
the magical systems of these people, in which he incor- and the harvest in your land ? ' I answered, ' God.'
1 Ah,' said he, ' that's it. God does tins work for your
porates several informative letters from brother mission-
aries, which are well worth quotation. For example, the people, and I do it for our people. God and I are equal.'
Rev. W. E. Bromilow says that at Dobu in south-eastern He delivered this dictum very quietly, and with the air
New Guinea :
of a man who had given a most satisfactory explanation.
" Werabana (evil spirits) are those which inhabit dark
" But the one great dread that darkens the life of every
places, and wander in the night, and give witches their native is the fear of the bogau, the sorcerer who has the
power to smite all round. Barau is the wizardry of men, power to cause sickness and death, who, in the darkness
who look with angry eyes out of dark places, and throw
of the night, steals to the house of his unsuspecting victim,
small stones, first spitting on them, at men, women, and and places near the doorstep a few leaves from a certain
Aeven children, thus causing death. tree falls, it is a tree, containing the mystic power which he, by his evil
witch who caused it to do so, though the tree may be quite arts, has imparted to them. The doomed man, on going
rotten, or a gust of wind may break it off. A man meets out of his house next morning, unwittingly steps over the
with an accident, it is the werabana. He is getting better fatal leaves, and is at once stricken down by a mortal
sickness. Internal disease of every kind is set down to this
through the influence of the medicine-man, but has a agency. Bulitara told me the mode of his witchcraft. He
relapse ; this is the barau at work, as we have ascertained
from the terrified shouts of our workmen, as some sleeper boils his decoctions, containing numerous ingredients, in a
has called out in a horrid dream. These medicine-men, special cooking-pot on a small fire, in the secret recesses of
too, have great power, and no wonder, when one of our
girls gets a little dust in her eye, and the doctor takes a big his own house, at the dead of night ; and while the pot is
boiling he speaks into it an incantation known only to a
stone out of it ; and when a chief has a pain in the chest, few persons. The bunch of leaves dipped in this is at once
and to obaoba takes therefrom a two-inch nail. ready for use. Passing through the villages the other day,
'* The people here will have it that all evil spirits are I came across a woman, apparently middle-aged, who was
female. Werabana is the great word, but the term is evidently suffering from a wasting disease, she was so thin
applied to witches as well, who are called the vesses of the
werabana, but more often the single word is used. I have and worn. I asked if she had any pain, and her friends
said ' No.' Then they explained that some bogau was
the names of spirits inhabiting the glens and forests, but Howsucking her blood. I said, ' does he do it ? ' ' Oh,'
they are all women or enter into women, giving them they said, ' that is known only to herself. He manages to
terrible powers. Whenever any one is sick, it is the wera- get her blood which makes him strong, while she gets
bana who has caused the illness, and any old woman who weaker every day, and if he goes on much longer she will
happened to be at enmity with the sick person is set down die.'
Aas the cause. child died the other day, and the friends " Deformities at birth, and being born dumb or blind,
were quite angry because the witches had not heeded the are attributed to the evil influence of disembodied spirits,
words of the lota, i.e., the Christian religion Taparoro, and who inhabit a lower region called Tuma. Once a year the
spirits of the ancestors visit their native village in a body
.given up smiting the little ones. ' Tnese are times of after the harvest is gathered. At this time the men
peace,' said they, ' why should the child die then ? ' We, perform special dances, the people openly display their
of course, took the opportunity and tried to teach them that
valuables, spread out on platforms, and great feasts are
sickness caused death without the influence of poor old
—made for the spirits. On a certain night, when the moon
women.
'" Sorcerers are barau, men whose powers are more named Namarama is at the full, all the people men, women
—terrible than those of all the witches. I was talking to a —and children join in raising a great shout, and so drive the
.to obaoba medicine-man—the other day, and I asked him spirits back to Tuma.
why his taking a stone out of a man's chest did not cure
" A peculiar custom prevails of wearing, as charms,
him. ' Oh,' said he, ' he must have been smitten by a
various parts of the body of a deceased relative. On her
Abarau.' very logical statement this. Cases the to
breast, suspended by a piece of string round her neck, a
obaoba cannot cure are under the fell stroke of the barau,
widow wears her late husband's lower jaw, the full set of
from which there is no escape, except by the sorcerer's own
teeth looking ghastly and grim. The small bones of the
incantations.
arms and legs are taken out soon after death, and formed
" The Fijian sorcery of drau-ni-kau appears here in into spoons, which are used to put lime into the mouth when
another form called sumana or rubbish. The sorcerer eating betel-nut. Only this week a chief died in a village
obtains possession of a small portion of his victim's hair, or three miles from us, and a leg and an arm, for the above
purpose, were brought to our village by some relatives as
skin, or food left after a meal, and carefully wraps it up in
their portion of their dead friend.
a parcel, which he sends off to as great a distance as is
" An evidence of the passionate nature of this people is
^possible. In the meantime he very cunningly causes a
Polynesia 328 Precipitation
seen in the comparatively frequent attempts at suicide. born in the diocese of Avranches. He was so precocious
Their method is to climb into the top branches of a high that at fourteen years of age he was made master of a
tree* and, after tying the ankles together, to throw them- school. It is said that he was in the habit of reading the
selves down. During the last twelve months two attempts most profound works of the Jewish rabbis, and the vivacity
near our home were successful, and several others were of his imagination threw him into constant troubles, from
prevented! In some cases the causes were trivial. One which he had the greatest difficulty in extricating himself.
'young man allowed his anger to master him because his He believed that he had been called by God to re-unite
wife had smoked a small piece of tobacco belonging to him ; all men under one law, either by reason or the sword. The
he fell from the tree across a piece of root, which was above
pope and the king of France were to be the civil and religious
ground and broke his neck. A woman, middle-aged and
heads of his new republic. He was' made Almoner to a
childless, who had become jealous, climbed into a tree near hospital at Venice, where he came under the influence of a
her house, and calling out " Good-bye ' to her brother in woman called Mere Jeanne, who had visions which had
the village, instantly threw herself down. Falling on her turned her head. Because of his heterodox preachings,.
head she died in a few hours ; the thick skin on the scalp Postel was denounced as a heretic, but latterly was regarded
was cut, but so far as I could see the skull was not broken." as merely mad. After having travelled somewhat exten-
Some of the minor magical customs of Polynesia are sively in the East, and having written several works ia
worthy of note. Natives of the Duke of York group which he dealt with the visions of his coadjutor, he retired
believe that by persistent calling upon a man whom they to the priory of St. Martin-des-Champs at Paris, where he
wish to get hold of he will by their call be drawn to them, died penitent in 1581.
even from a great distance. The natives will not eat Posthumous Letters : Many investigators of psychic science,
or drink when at sea. In New Guinea and Fiji the custom members of the Society for Psychic Research and others,
prevails of cutting off a finger joint in token of mourning have left sealed letters, whose contents are known only to
for a near relative, as do the bushmen of South Africa. the writer. On the death of the writer, and before the
(See Magic, Prehistoric.) They firmly believe in mer- letter shall have been opened, an attempt is made by a.
maids, tailed men and dwarfs ; and regarding these medium to reveal the contents. By this means it is hoped
they are most positive in their assertions. The natives of to prove the actuality or otherwise of spirit communication,
the Duke of York group in fact declared to a missionary for, since only the writer knows what the letter contains,,
that they had caught a mermaid, who had married a it is presumed that on his death this knowledge can only
certain native, and that the pair had several of a family be communicated through his discarnate spirit. This
; hypothesis certainly overlooks the fact that the information,
" but unfortunately," says the relater of this story, " I
could never get to see them." Like many other races, the might be telepathically acquired during the writer's life-
Polynesians work themselves into a great state of terror time by a still living person, and so conveyed to the medium.
whenever an eclipse takes place, and during the phenome- As yet, however, hypotheses are premature, for no attempt
non they beat drums, shout and invoke their gods. of the kind has met with striking success.
AIn Samoa magic is not practised to such an extent as in Powder of Projection : powder which assisted the alchemist
other Melanesian groups, although the sorcerer still exists. in the transmutation of base metal into pure gold. (See-
He is, however, much more sophisticated, and instead of Seton.)
asking merely for any trifling object connected with the Powder of Sympathy : A remedy which, by its application,
person whom he desires to bewitch, he demands property, to the weapon which had caused a wound, was supposed
such as valuable mats and other things which are of use to cure the hurt. This method was in vogue during the
to him. His modus operandi was to get into communication reigns of James I. and Charles I., and its chief exponent
with his god, who entered the sorcerer's body, which became was a gentleman named Sir Kenelm Digby. An abstract
violently contorted and convulsed. The assembled natives of his theory, contained in an address given before an.
would then hear a voice speaking from behind a screen,
assembly of nobles and learned men at Montpellier in.
probably a ventriloquial effort, which asserted the presence France, may be seen in Pettigrew's Superstitions connected
of the god invoked. Sickness was generally believed to be —with Medicine and Surgery. The following is the recipe-
caused by the anger of some god, who could thus be con-
cealed by the priest or wizard and duly placated. The for the powder : " Take Roman vitriol six or eight ounces,
" god " invariably required some present of substantial
beat it very small in a mortar, sift it through a fine sieve
value, such as a piece of land, a canoe, or other property,
when the sun enters Leo ; keep it in the heat of the sun by
and if the priest happens to know of a particularly valuable day, and dry by night." This art has been treated by some
object belonging to the person who supposed himself —authors with belief, and by others with unbelieving wit :.
Wrenfels says : " If the superstitious person be wounded
bewitched, he stipulates that it shall be given up to him. by any chance, he applies the salve, not to the wound, but,
This caste of priests is known as taula-aitu, and also act as what is more effectual to the weapon by which he received
medicine-men.
it."
Polytrix : This is almost the only example of an inauspicious Pozenne Vile : (See Slavs.)
stone. It caused the hair to fall off the head of anyone Pratyshara : One of the initial stages of yoga practice.
Precipitation of Matter : One of the phenomena of spiritual-
who had it about his person.
ism which least admits of a rational explanation is that
APontica : blue stone with red stars, or drops and lines like known as the " passing of solids through solids." The
blood. It compels the devil to answer questions, and puts statement of the hypothetical fourth dimension of space is
him to flight.
an attempt at a solution of the problem ; so also is the
Poppy Seeds : Divination by smoke was sometimes practised theory of " precipitation of matter." The latter suggests
by magicians. A few jasmine or poppy seeds were flung that before one solid body passes through another it is
upon burning coals, for this purpose
; if the smoke rose resolved into its component atoms, to be precipitated in its-
original form when the passage is accomplished. M.
lightly and ascended straight into the heavens, it augured
— —Camille Flammarion found a parallel to this process in the
well but if it hung about it was regarded as a bad omen.
; passage of a piece of ice a solid through a napkin. The
ice passes through the napkin in the form of water, and
Pordage : (See Visions.) may afterwards be re-frozen. This is matter passing.
Porka : (See Slavs.)
Port of Fortune : (See Astrology.)
APostel, Guillaume : visionary of the sixteenth century.
Prelati 329 Prophecy-
through matter, a solid passing through a solid, after it has attempt to peer into the future, they usually attain a
undergone a change of condition. And we are only carry- condition of ecstasy by taking some drug, the action of
ing out M. Flammarion's inference in suggesting that it is which is well known to them. But this was not always
something analogous to this process which occurs in all the case the shaman often summoned a spirit to his aid
;
cases of solids passing through solids. to discover what portents and truths lie in the future
;
Prelati : (See Gillis de Laval.) but this cannot be called prophecy. Neither is divination
Premonition : An impressional warning of a future event. prophecy in the true sense of the term, as artificial aids are-
Premonitions may range from vague feelings of disquiet,
employed, and it is merely by the appearance of certain
suggestive of impending disaster, to actual hallucinations, objects that the augur can pretend to predict future events.
whether visual or auditory. Dreams are frequent vehicles
We often find prophecy disassociated from the ecstatic
of premonitions, either direct or symbolical, and there are
condition, as for example among the prophets of Israel, who
countless instances of veridical dreams. In such cases it
occupied themselves in great measure with the calm
is hard to say whether the warning may have come from
statement of future political events, or those priests of the
an external source, as spiritualists aver, or 'whether the
Maya Indians of Central America known as Chilan Balam,
portended catastrophe may have resulted, in part, at who at stated intervals in the year made certain statements
least, from auto-suggestion. The latter is plainly the regarding the period which lay immediately before them.
—explanation of another form of premonition i.e., the Is prophecy then to be regarded as a direct utterance of the
predictions made by patients in the magnetic or medium- deity, taking man as his mouthpiece, or the statement of
istic trance with regard to their maladies. The magnetic one who seeks inspiration from the fountain of wisdom ?
subject who prophesied that his malady would reach a Technically, both are true of prophecy, for we find it
stated in scripture that when the deity desired to com-
crisis on a certain date several weeks ahead, probably municate with man he chose certain persons as his mouth-
pieces. Again individuals (often the same as those chosen
himself attended subconsciously to the fulfilling of his
prophecy. Might not the same thing happen in " veridical" by God) applied to the deity for inspiration in critical
moments. Prophecy then may be the utterances of God
dreams and hallucinations ? We know that a subject
by the medium of the practically unconscious shaman or
obeying a post-hypnotic suggestion will weave his action
seer, or the inspired utterance of that person after inspira-
quite naturally into the surrounding circumstances, though
tion has been sought from the deity.
the very moment of its performance may have been fixed
months before. That the dreamer and hallucinated sub-
ject also might suggest and fulfil their premonitions, either —In ancient Assyria the prophetic class were called
directly or by telepathic communication of the suggestion
nabu, meaning " to call " or " announce," a name prob-
to another agent, does not seem very far-fetched or im- ably adopted from that of the god, Na-bi-u, the speaker or
probable. Then there is, of course, coincidence. It is proclaimer of destiny, the tablets of which he inscribed.
impossible but that a certain pioportion of verified premoni- Among the ancient Hebrews the prophet was called nabhia,
tions should be the result of coincidence. Possibly, also, a borrowed title probably adopted from the Canaanites.
That is not to say, however, that the Hebrew nabhiim were
such impressions, whether they remain vague forebodings
indebted to the surrounding peoples for their prophetic
or are embodied in dreams or otherwise, must at times be
system, which appears to have been of a much loftier type
subconscious inferences drawn from an actual, if obscure,
perception of existing facts. As such, indeed, they are not than that of the Canaanite peoples. Prophets appear' to
to be lightly treated. Yet very frequently premonitions have swarmed in Palestine in biblical times, and we are
prove to be entirely groundless, even the most impressive told that four hundred prophets of Baal sat at Jezebel's
table. The fact that they were prophets of this deity
ones, where the warning is emphasized by a ghostly visitant.
Wewould almost go to prove that they were also priests.
APrenestine Lots, The : or Sortes Prenestince. method of
find that the most celebrated prophets of Israel belonged
divination by lots, in vogue in Italy. The letters of the to the northern portion of that country, which was more
alphabet were placed in an urn which was shaken, and the
letters then turned out on the floor ; the words thus formed —subject to the influence of the Canaanites. Later, distinct
were received as omens. In the East this method of
prophetic societies were formed, the chief reason for
divination is still common. whose existence appears to have been the preservation of
Pretu (a departed ghost) : The form which the Hindus
nationality ; and this class appears to have absorbed the
believe the soul takes after death. This ghost inhabits
older castes of seers and magicians, and to some extent to
a body of the size of a man's thumb, and remains in the
keeping of Yumu, the judge of the dead. Punishment is —have taken over their offices. Some of the later prophets,
inflicted on the Pretu, whose body is enlarged for this Micah, for example appear to have regarded some of these
lesser seers as mere diviners, who were in reality not unlike
purpose and is strengthened to endure sorrow. At the
—the prophets of Baal. With Amos may be said to have
end of a year the soul is delivered from this state by the
commenced a new school of prophecy the canonical
performance of the Shraddhu, and is translated to the prophets, who were also authors and historians, and who
heaven of the Pitrees, where it is rewarded for its good disclaimed all connection with mere professional prophets.
The general idea in Hebrew Palestine was that Yahveh,
deeds. Afterwards, in a different body, the soul enters its
or God, was in the closest possible touch with the prophets,
final abode. The performance of the Shraddhu is abos- and that he would do nothing without revealing it to them.
The greatest importance was given to their utterances,
lutely necessary to escape from the Pretu condition. which more than once determined the fate of the nation.
Prophecy : In an early state of society, the prophet and Indeed no people has lent so close an ear to the utterance
shaman were probably one and the same, as is still the
case among primitive peoples. It is difficult to say whether
the offices of the prophet are more truly religious or magical. of their prophetic class as did the Jews of old times.
He is usually a priest, but the ability to look into the future In ancient Greece, the prophetic class were generally
and read its portents can scarcely be called a religious found attached to the oracles, and in Rome were repre-
sented by the augurs. In Egypt the priests of Ra at
attribute. In many instances prophecy is merely utter-
Memphis acted as prophets, as, perhaps, did those of Hekt.
ances in the ecstatic condition. We know that the python- Among the ancient Celts and Teutons, prophecy was fre-
quent, the prophetic agent usually placing him or herself
esses attached to the oracles of ancient Greece uttered
in the ecstatic condition. The Druids were famous practi-
prophetic words under the influences of natural gases or
drugs ; and when the medicine-men of most savage tribes
Prophecy 330 Psychical Research
tioners of the prophetic art, and some of their utterances mediaeval records was to confirm the genuineness of the
may be still extant in the so-called Prophecies of Merlin. phenomena witnessed, but here and there, even in those
days, there were sceptics who refused to see in them any
In America, as has been stated, prophetic utterance took
practically the same forms as in Europe and Asia. Captain supernatural significance. Poltergeist disturbances, again,
Jonathan Carver, an early traveller in North America, came in for a large share of attention and investigation, to
which, indeed, they seemed to lend themselves. The case
•cites a peculiar instance where the seers of a certain tribe of the Drummer of Tedworth was examined by Joseph
stated that a famine would be ended by assistance being
sent from another tribe at a certain hour on the following Glanvil, and the results set forth in his Saddncisimus
Triumphatus published in 1668. The Epworth Case, which
day. At the very moment mentioned by them a canoe
,
Arounded a headland", bringing news of relief. strange
occurred in the house of John Wesley's father, called
story was told in the A tlantic Monthly some years ago by a
forth many comments, as did also the Cock Lane Ghost,
traveller among the Plains tribes, who stated that an the Stockwell Poltergeist and many others. The Animal
Indian medicine-man had prophesied the coming of him- Magnetists and their successors the Mesmerists' may, in a
self and his companions to his tribe two days before their manner, be considered psychical researchers, since these
arrival among them.
variants of hypnosis were the fruits of prolonged investiga-
Prophecy of Count Bombast : {See Alary.) tion into the phenomena which indubitably existed in
Prophetic Books : (See Blake.) connection with the trance state. If their speculations
Prout, Dr. : (See Alchemy.) were wild and their enquiries failed to elicit the truth of
APsychic : sensitive, one susceptible to psychic influences. the matter, it was but natural, at that stage of scientific
A psychic is not necessarily a medium, unless he is suffi- progress, that they should be so. And here and there even
ciently sensitive to be controlled by disembodied spirits. in the writings of Paracelsus and Mesmer we find that they
The term psychic includes the somnambule, the magnetic or had glimpses of scientific truths which were in advance of
mesmeric subject, anyone who is in any degree sensitive. their age, foreshadowings of scientific discoveries which
According to one view, all men are in some measure sus-
were to prove the triumph of future generations. The
ceptible to spiritual influences, andto that extent deserve former, for example, states in his writings : " By the
the name of psychic. magic power of the will, a person on this side of the ocean
APsychic Body : spiritualistic term variously applied to an may make a person on the other side hear what is said on
impalpable body which clothes the soul on the " great this side The ethereal body of a man may know what
dissolution," or to the soul itself. Sergeant Cox in his another man thinks at a distance of 100 miles and more."
—Mechanism of Man declares that the soul quite distinct This reads uncommonly like an anticipation of telepathy,
—' from mind, or intelligence, which is only a function of the
which has attained to such remarkable prominence in
brain is composed of attenuated matter, and has the same
recent years, though it is not now generally attributed to
form as the physical body, which it permeates in every " the ethereal body of a man." Such things as these would
part. From the soul radiates the psychic force, by means seem to entitle many of the mesmerists and the older mystics
•of which all the wonders of spiritualism are performed. to the designation of '^psychical researchers."
Through its agency man becomes endowed with telekinetic As knowledge increased and systematised methods came
into use these enquiries became ever more searching and
and clairvoyant powers, and with its aid he can affect more fruitful in definite results. The introduction of
modern spiritualism in 1848 undoubtedly gave a remarkable
such natural forces as gravitation. When free of the body impetus to psychical research. The movement was so
widespread, its effects so apparent, that it was inevitable
the soul can travel at a lightning speed, nor is it hindered
but that some man of science should be drawn into an
by such material objects as stone walls or closed doors. examination of the alleged phenomena. Thus we find
The psychic body is also regarded as an intermediary between
the physical body and the soul, a sort of envelope, more
material than the soul itself, which encloses it at death. It
is this envelope, the psychic body or nervengeist, which engaged in the investigation of spiritualism Carpenter,
becomes visible at a materialisation by attracting to itself Faraday and De Morgan, and on the Continent Count de
Gasparin, M. Thury and Zollner. One of the most im-
other and still more material particles. In time the psychic portant of individual investigators was undoubtedly
Sir William Crookes, who worked independently for some
body decays just as did the physical, and leaves the soul
free. During the trance the soul leaves the body, but the
vital functions are continued by the psychic body. time before the founding of the Society for Psychical
APsychical Research : term covering all scientific investiga- Research.
tion into the obscure phenomena connected with the However, although much good work was done by inde-
' so-called " supernatural," undertaken with a view to their pendent students of " psychic science," as it came to be
elucidation. Certain of these phenomena are known all called, and by such societies as the Dialectical Society (q.v.)
over the world, and have remained practically unaltered and the Psychological Society (q.v.), it was not until 1882
that a concerted and carefully-organised attempt was
almost since prehistoric times. Such are the phenomena made to elucidate those obscure problems which had so
of levitation, the fire-ordeal, crystal-gazing, thought-
reading and apparitions, -and whenever these were met with long puzzled the wits of learned and simple. In that year
was founded the Society for Psychical Research, with the
there was seldom lacking the critical enquiry of some
psychical researcher, not borne away on the tide of popular object of examining in a scientific and impartial spirit the
credulity, but reserving some of his judgment for the realm of the supernatural. The following passage from
the Society's original prospectus, quoted by Mr. Podmore
impartial investigation of the manifestations. Thus Gaule,
in his Select Cases of Conscience touching Witches and in his Naturalisation of the Supernatural, indicates with
Witchcraft (London, 1646), says : " But the more prodigious sufficient clearness its aim and proposed methods.
or stupendous (of the feats mentioned in the witches' con- " It has been widely felt that the present is an opportune
fessions) are effected meerly by the devill ; the witch all the time for making an organised and sytematic attempt to
while either in a rapt ecstasie, a charmed sleepe, or a investigate that large group of debatable phenomena
designated by such terms as mesmeric, psychical, and
melancholy dreame ; and the witches' imagination, phan-
spiritualistic.
tasie, common sense, only deluded with what is now done,
" From the recorded testimony of many competent
or pretended." And a few other writers of the same period
arrived at a similar conclusion. The result of many of these witnesses, past and present, including observations recently
Psychical Research 331 Psychical Research
made by scientific men of eminence in various countries, —odyle (q.v.) which issued like flame from the points of a
there appears to be, amid much delusion and deception, an
important body of remarkable phenomena, which are magnet or the human finger-tips, was at length abandoned,
prima facie inexplicable on any generally recognised
nothing having been found to verify his conclusions which,
hypothesis, and which, if incontestably established, would however, previous to this had been largely accepted. The
investigations in connection with apparitions and haunted
be of the highest possible value. houses, and with the spiritualistic phenomena, are still
" The task of examining such residual phenomena has proceeding, though on the whole no definite conclusion has
been arrived at. Though the members of the Society under-
often been undertaken by individual effort, but never
took to carry out their investigations in an entirely unbiased
hitherto by a scientific society organised on a sufficiently
spirit, and though those members who joined the Society
broad basis." originally as avowed spiritualists soon dropped out, yet
after prolonged and exhaustive research the opinion of the
The first president of the Society was Professor Henry various investigators often showed marked divergence. So
Sidgwick, and among later presidents were Professor far from being pledged to accept a spirit, or any other
Balfour Stewart, Professor William James, Sir William hypothesis, it was expressly stated in a note appended to
the prospectus that " Membership of this Society does not
Crookes, Mr. A. J. Balfour, Professor Richet and Sir Oliver imply the acceptance of any particular explanation of the
Lodge, while prominent among the original members were phenomena investigated, nor any belief as to the operation,
Frank Podmore, F. W. H. Myers, Edmund Gurney, Pro- in the physical world, of forces other than those recognised
by Physical Science." Nevertheless Mr. Myers and Sir
fessor Barrett, Rev. Stainton Moses and Mrs. Sidgwick.
Lord Rayleigh and Andrew Lang were also early members Oliver Lodge, to take two notable instances, found the
of the Society. Good work was done in America in con- evidence sufficient to convince them of the operation in the
nection with the Society by Dr. Hodgson and Professor physical world of disembodied intelligences, who manifest
themselves through the organism of the " medium " or
Hyslop. On the continent Lombroso, Maxwell, Camille " sensitive." Mr. Podmore, on the other hand, was the
—Flammarion, and Professor Richet all men of the highest exponent of a telepathic theory. Any phase of the " mani-
—standing in their respective branches of science con- festations " which was not explicable by means of such
known physiological facts as suggestion and hypercesthesia,
ducted exhaustive researches into the phenomena of
spiritualism, chiefly in connection with the Italian medium the so-called " subconscious whispering," exaltation of
Eusapia Palladino.
memory and automatism, or the unfamiliar but presumably
At first the members of the Society for Psychical Research
found it convenient to work in concert, but as they became natural telepathy, must, according to him, fall under the
more conversant with the bfoad outlines of the subject, it grave suspicion of fraud. His theory of poltergeists, for
was judged necessary for certain sections or individuals to example, by which he regards these uncanny disturbances
specialise in various branches. The original plan sketched as being the work of naughty children, does not admit the
roughly in 1882 grouped the phenomena under five different
heads, each of which was placed under the direction of a intervention of a mischievous disembodied spirit. In
—separate Committee. coincident hallucination, again, he considers telepathy a
1. An examination of the nature and extent of any suitable explanation, as well as in all cases of " personation "
influence which may be exerted by one mind upon another,
apart from any generally recognised mode of perception. —by the medium. His view one that was shared by Andrew
—Lang and others was that if telepathy were once estab-
—(Hon. Sec. of Committee, Professor W. F. Barrett.)
2. The study of hypnotism, and the forms of so-called lished the spirit hypothesis would not only be unnecessary,
mesmeric trance, with its alleged insensibility to pain;
clairvoyance, and other allied-phenomena. (Hon. Sec. of but impossible of proof.
The most important of telepathic experiments were those
—ACommittee, Dr. G. Wyld.)
3- critical revision of Reichenbach's researches with conducted by Professor and Mrs. Sidgwick in 1889-91. The
certain organisations called " sensitive," and an inquiry percipients were hypnotised by Mr. G. A. Smith, who also
whether such organisations possess any power of perception acted as agent, and the matter to be transmitted consisted
beyond a highly-exalted sensibility of the recognised at first of numbers and later of mental pictures. The
sensory organs. (Hon. Sec. of Committee, Walter H. agent and percipient were generally separated by a screen,
—ACoffin.) or were sometimes in different rooms, though the results in
4. careful investigation of any reports, resting on
strong testimony, regarding apparitions at the moment of the latter case were perceptibly less satisfactory. On the
death, or otherwise, or regarding disturbances in houses
reputed to be haunted. (Hon. Sec. of Committee, Hensleigh whole, however, the percentage of correct guesses was far
—Wedgwood.) above that which the doctrine of chance warranted, and the
5- An enquiry into the various physical phenomena
commonly called spiritualistic ; with an attempt to discover experiments did much to encourage a belief that some
hitherto unknown mode of communication existed. More
their causes and general Jaws. (Hon. Sec, Dr. C. Lockhart
Robertson.) recently the trance communication of Mrs. Piper would
seem to point to some such theory, though Mr. Myers,
Besides these there was a Committee appointed to con- Dr. Hodgson and Dr. Hyslop, who conducted a very pro-
sider the literature of the subject, having as its honorary
found investigation into those communications, were in-
secretaries Edmund Gurney and Frederic W. H. Myers,
who, with Mr. Podmore, collected a number of historic clined to believe that the spirits of the dead were the agencies
instances. Of the various heads, however, the first is now
in this case. Telepathy cannot yet be considered as proved.
generally considered the most important, and is certainly
that which has yielded the best results to investigators. In At the best it is merely a surmise, which, if it could be
the case of hypnotism it is largely through the exertions of established, would provide a natural explanation for much
of the so-called occult phenomena. Even its most ardent
psychical researchers that it has been admitted to the
sphere of legitimate physiology, whereas it was formerly protagonists admit that its action is extremely uncertain
classed among doubtful phenomena, even at the time the and experiment correspondingly difficult. Nevertheless,
Society was founded. The examination of Reichenbach's each year sees an increasing body of scientific and popular
claims to having discovered a new psychic fluid or force
opinion favourable to the theory, so that we may hope
that the surmised mode of communication may at last be
within a reasonable distance of becoming an acknowledged
fact. The machinery of telepathy is generally supposed to
be in the form of ethereal vibrations, or " brain waves,"
Psychical Research 332 Psychological
acting in accordance with natural laws, though Mr. Gerald Mrs. Piper, whose automatic productions in writing and
Balfour and others incline to an entirely metamorphosed speaking have supplied investigators with plentiful material
theory, urging, e.g., that the action does not conform to of recent years, and have done more, perhaps, than any-
the law of inverse squares. thing else to stimulate an interest in so-called spiritualistic
phenomena. In connection with the " physical " phenom-
The subject of hallucinations, coincidental or otherwise,
ena probably no less the result of automatism than the
has also been largely investigated in recent years, and has
— —" subjective," though in a different direction the Italian
been found to be closely connected with the question of
medium Eusapia Palladino has been carefully studied by
telepathy. Apparitions were in former times regarded as many eminent investigators both in Great Britain and on the
the ;1 doubles " or " ethereal bodies " of the persons they —Continent, with the result that Camille Flammarion, Pro-
represented, but they are not now considered to be other- fessor Richet, Sir Oliver Lodge to mention only a few
have satisfied themselves with regard to the genuineness
wise than subjective. Nevertheless the study of " coinci-
dental hallucinations " i.e., hallucinatory apparitions
which coincide with the death of the person represented, of some of her phenomena.
—or with some other crises in his life raises the question as On the whole, even if psychical research has not succeeded in
to whether the agent may not produce such an hallucination demonstrating such matters as the immortality of the soul
or the possibility of communication between the living and
in the mind of the percipient by the exercise of telepathic the dead, it has done good work in widening the field of
influence, which may be judged to be more powerful during psychology and therapeutics and in gaining admission for
an emotional crisis. Now hallucinations have been shown that doctrine of suggestion which since the time of Bertrand
to be fairly common among sane people, about one person and Braid had never been openly received and acknowledged
in ten having experienced one or more. But the chances by the medical profession. Many of the obscure phenom-
that such an hallucination should coincide with the death ena attending mesmerism, magnetism, witchcraft, polter-
of the person it represents are about, I in 19,000 ; that is, geists, and kindred subjects have been brought into fine
with modern scientific knowledge. Little more than
if no other factor than chance determines their ratio. With
a view to ascertaining whether coincidental hallucinations
did actually bear a higher proportion to the total number thirty vears has elapsed since the Society for Psychical
of hallucinations than chance would justify, the Society Research was founded, and probably in time to come it will
for Psychical Research took a census in 1889 and the three accomplish still more, both in conducting experiments and
or four years immediately following. Professor Sidgwick investigations in connection with psychic phenomena, and
and a committee of members of the Society conducted the in educating the public in the: use of scientific methods and
investigations and printed forms were distributed among habits of thought in their dealings with the " supernatural."
410 accredited agents of the Society, including, besides its Psyehograph : An instrument to facilitate automatic writing.
It is composed of a rotating disc, on which the medium's
own members, many medical men and others belonging to finger-tips are placed, thus carrying an index over the
the professional classes, all of whom gave their services
without fee in the interests of science. In all some 17,000 Aalphabet. similar contrivance was used by Professor
persons were questioned, and negative as well as affirmative Hare in his spiritualistic experiments.
Psyehography : Writing produced without human contact,
answers were sent in just as they were received, the agents
being specially instructed to make no discrimination between and supposed to be the work of the spirits.
Psychological Society, The : The Psychological Society came
the various replies. Out of 8372 men 655 had had an
— %hallucination, and 1029 out of 8628 women 9.9 into being in April, 1875, having as its founder and president
of the Sergeant Cox, and numbering among its members the Rev.
William Stainton Moses, Mr. Walter H. Coffin, and Mr.
total. When ample allowance had been made for defects
C. C. Massey. The avowed aim of the Society, as set forth
of memory with regard to early hallucinations by multi- in the president's inaugural address, was the elucidation
of those spiritualistic and other problems now grouped
plying the 322 recognised and definite cases by 4, it was under the term "psychical research," and to which the
found that 62 coincided with a death ; but, again making
allowances, this number was reduced to 30. Thus we find
1 coincidental hallucination in 43 where, there being no Society somewhat loosely attached the designation of
causal connection we should expect 1 in 19,000. Clearly, psychology. To this end they proposed to collect and
consider the available material bearing on psychic phenom-
then, if these figures be taken, there must be some causal ena, but in reality they accomplished little of any practical
connection between the death and the apparition, whether value, as may be seen from their published Proceedings
it be a spiritualistic or telepathic theory that may be used. (London, 1878). The president himself had not the
Though it be true that memory plays strange tricks, yet is
it difficult to understand how persons of education and
standing could write down and attest minutes and dated necessary scientific qualifications for an investigator of
such phenomena. In November, 1879, on the death of its
records of events that never happened. president, the Society came to an end. But though the
Psychological Society regarded the psychic phenomena from
Apart from telepathy, which because it postulates the
working of a hitherto unknown natural law, takes premier
place, perhaps the most interesting field of research is that a more or less popular standpoint, and conducted its
investigations in a somewhat superficial manner, neverthe-
of automatism. Trance writings and utterances have
been known since the earliest times, when they were less it contained that germ of scientific enquiry into the
domain of psychic science which, a few years later, in the
attributed to demoniac possession, or, sometimes, angelic Society for Psychical Research, was to raise the study to a
possession. By means of planchette, ouija, and such
contrivances many people are able to write automatically level where it became worthy of the attention of philosopher
and scientist. Hitherto those who were satisfied of the
and divulge information which they themselves were genuineness of the spiritualistic marvels had for the most
unaware of possessing. But here again the phenomena
are purely subjective, and are the result of cerebral dissocia- part been content to accept the .explanation of spirit
tion, such as may be induced in hypnosis. In this state intervention, but the Psychological Society was the crystal-
lisation of a small body of " rationalist " opinion which had
exaltation of the memory may occur, and thus account for
such phenomena as the speaking in foreign tongues with existed since the days of Mesmer. Sergeant Cox, in his
which the agent is but ill-acquainted. Or, conceivably, work, The Mechanism of Man states that " spirit " is
cerebral dissociation may produce a sensitiveness to refined matter, or molecular matter split into its constituent
atoms, which thus become imperceptible to our physical
telepathic influences, as would seem apparent in the case of
Psyehomaney 333 Purrah
organism ; a view which was possibly shared by the is said to them by the snake-charmers, so obedient are they.
Psychological Society. Purgatory of St. Patrick : (See Ireland.)
Psyehomaney : Divination by spirits or the art of evoking APurrah, The : secret society of the Tulka-Susus, an African
the dead. (See Necromancy.) tribe who dwell between the Sierra Leone river and Cape
mount. The Tulka consist of five small communities which
Psyehometry : A term used by spiritualists to denote the together form a description of republic. Each group has
its own chiefs and council, but all are under a controlling-
faculty, supposed to be common among mediums, oi read-
power which is called the Purrah. Each of the five com-
ing the characters, surroundings, etc. of persons by holding munities has also its own purrah, from which is formed the
in the hand small objects, such as a watch or ring, which great or general purrah, which holds supreme sway over the
they have had in their possession. The honour of having
discovered the psychometric faculty belongs to Dr. J. R. five bodies. Before a native can join a district purrah, he
must be thirty years of age, and ere he can be received into
Buchanan, who classed it among the sciences, and gave it membership of the great purrah, he must have reached the
age of fifty. Thus the oldest members of each district
the name it bears. His theory is based on the belief that
purrah are members of the head purrah. On desiring
everything that has ever existed, every object, scene, event,
that has occurred since the beginning of the world, has
left on the ether or astral light a trace of its being, indelible
while the world endures ; and not only on the ether, but admittance to the examination for the district purrah, the
likewise on more palpable objects, trees and stones and all relations of the candidate must swear to kill him if he does
manner of things. Sounds also, and perfumes leave —not stand the test, or if he reveals the mysteries and the
impressions on their surroundings. Just as a photograph secrets of the society. Froebenius says : " In each
district belonging to a purrah there is a sacred grove to
may be taken on a plate and remain invisible till it has which the candidate is conducted, and where he must stay
been developed, so may those psychometric " photographs " in a place assigned to him, living for several months quite
alone in a hut, whither masked persons bring him food.
remain impalpable till the developing process has been
He must neither speak nor leave his appointed place of
applied. And that which is to bring them to light is—
the mind of the medium. All mediums are said to possess residence.
the psychometric faculty in a greater or less degree. One
" Should he venture into the surrounding forest, he is
authority, Professor William Denton, has declared that he
found it in one man in every ten, and four women in ten. as good as dead.
" After several months the candidate is admitted to
Dr. Buchanan's earliest experiments, with his own students,
showed that some of them were able to distinguish the stand his trial, which is said to be terrible. Recourse is
different metals merely by holding them in their hands. had to all the elements in order to gain satisfaction as to
On medical substances being put into their hands they Wehis firmness and courage. are even assured that at
exhibited such symptoms as might have been occasioned if these mysteries use is made of fettered lions and leopards,
the substances were swallowed. Later he found that some that during the time of the tests and enrolment the sacred
among them could diagnose a patient's disease simply by
groves echo with fearful shrieks, that here great fires are
hording his hand. Many persons of his acquaintance, on seen at night, that formerly the fire flared up in these
pressing a letter against their forehead, could tell the mysterious woods in all directions, that every outsider who
through curiosity was tempted to stray into the woods was
character and surroundings of the writer, the circumstances mercilessly sacrificed, that foolish people who would have
under which the letter was written and other particulars. penetrated into them disappeared and were never heard of
Some very curious stories are told of fossilised bones and
teeth revealing to the sensitives the animals they represent again.
in the midst of their prehistoric surroundings. Professor " If the candidate stands all the tests, he is admitted
to the initiation. But he must first swear to keep all the
Denton gave to his wife and mother-in-law meteoric frag-
ments and other substances, wrapped in paper and thor- secrets and without hesitation carry out the decisions of the
oughly mixed to preclude the possibility of telepathy, purrah of his community and all the decrees of the great
head purrah. If a member of the society betrays it or
which caused them to see the appropriate pictures. revolts against it, he is condemned to death, and the sen-
Many mediums who have since practised psyehometry
tence is often carried out in the bosom of his family. When
have become famous in their line. As has been said, the
the criminal least expects it, a disguised, masked and armed
modus is to hold in the hand or place against, the forehead warrior appears and says to him :
some small object, such as a fragment of clothing, a letter, " ' The great purrah sends thee death ! '
" At these words everybody stands back, no one dares
or a watch, when the appropriate visions are seen. Psy-
to offer the least resistance, and the victim is murdered.
chometrists may be entranced, but are generally in a con- " The Court of each district purrah consists of twenty-five
dition scarcely varying from the normal. The psychometric
pictures, printed presumably on the article to be psychome-
trised, have been likened to pictures borne in the memory, members, and from each of these separate courts five
persons are chosen, who constitute the great purrah, or
seemingly faded, yet ready to start into vividness when the
the High Court of the general association. Hence this
Weright spring is touched. may likewise suppose that also consists of twenty-five persons, who elect the head
the rehearsal of bygone tragedies so frequently witnessed chief from their own body.
" The special purrah of each community investigates
in haunted houses, is really a psychometric picture which
the offences committed in its district, sits in judgment
at the original occurrence impressed itself on the room.
The same may be said of the sounds and perfumes which
haunt certain houses. on them, and sees that its sentences are carried out. It
makes peace between the powerful families, and stops
APsylli : class of persons in Ancient Italy who had the power
of charming serpents. This name is given by other writers their wranglings.
to the snake-charmers of Africa, and it is said that the " The great purrah meets only on special occasions,
and pronounces judgment on those who betray the mysteries
serpents twist round the bodies of these Psylli without and secrets of the order, or on those who show themselves
disobedient to its mandates. But usually it puts an end
doing them any injury, although the reptiles have not had
to the feuds that often break out between two communities
their fangs extracted or broken. In Kahira when a viper
belonging to the confederacy. When these begin to fight,
- enters a house, the charmer is sent for, and he entices it
after a few months of mutual hostilities, one or other of
out by the use of certain words. At other times music is
used, and it is believed that the serpents understand what
Purrah 334 Rakshasa
the parties, when they have inflicted sufiicient injury on " If one of the families in a commune subject to the
each other, usually wants peace. The commune repairs purrah becomes too powerful and too formidable, the great
secretly to the great purrah, and invites it to become the purrah meets, and nearly always condems it to unexpected
mediator and put an end to the strife. sack, which is carried out by night and, as usual, by masked
" Thereupon the great purrah meets in a neutral dis- and disguised men. Should the heads of such a dangerous
trict, and when all are assembled announces to the com- family offer any resistance, they are killed, or carried off,
munes at war that it cannot allow men who should live and conveyed to the depths of a sacred and lonely grove
together as brothers, friends and good neighbours, to where they are tried by the purrah for their insubordination
wage war, to waste each others' lands, to plunder and burn ; ;
that it is time to put an end to these disorders ; that the
they are seldom heard of again.
" Such, in part, is the constitution of this extraordinary
great purrah will inquire into the cause of the strife ; that institution. Its existence is. known' ; the display of its
it requires that this should cease and decrees that all power is felt ; it is dreaded yet the veil covering its
hostilities be forthwith arrested. ;
intentions, decisions and decrees is impenetrable, and not
" A main feature of this arrangement is that, as soon till he is about to be executed does the outlaw know that
as the great purrah assembles to put a stop to the feud, he has been condemned. The power and reputation of the
and until its decision is given, all the belligerents of the purrah is immense, not only in the homeland, but also in the
two districts at war are forbidden to shed a drop of blood ; surrounding districts. It is reported to be in league with
this always carries with it the penalty of death. Hence the spirits (instead of the devil).
everybody is careful not to infringe this decree, and abstains " According to the general belief the number of armed
from all hostilities. men who are members and at the disposal of the purrah
" The session of the High Court lasts one month, during exceeds 6,000. Moreover, the rules, the secrets and the
which it collects all necessary information to ascertain mysteries of this society are strictly obeyed and observed
which commune caused the provocation and the rupture. by its numerous associated members, who understand and
At the same time it summons as many of the society's recognise each other by words and signs."
fighting-men as may be required to carry out the decision. Puysegur : (See Hypnotism.)
When all the necessary particulars are brought in, and Pyromancy, or divining by fire, has been alluded to in Extis-
everything is duly weighed, it settles the question by piey. The presage was good when the flame was vigorous
condemning the guilty commune to a four days' sack. and quickly consumed the sacrifice ; when it was clear
" The warriors who have to give effect to this decision
of all smoke, transparent, neither red nor dark in colour
are all chosen from the neutral districts ; they set out by ;
night from the place where the great purrah is assembled. when it did not crackle, but burnt silently in a pyramidal
form. On the contrary, if it was difficult to kindle, if the
All are disguised, the face being covered with an ugly mask, wind disturbed it, if it was slow to consume the victim, the
and armed with lighted torches and daggers. They divide presage was evil. Besides the sacrificial fire, the ancients
into bands of forty, fifty, or sixty, and all meet unexpectedly divined by observing the flames of torches, and even by
before dawn in the district that they have to pillage, pro- throwing powdered pitch into a fire ; if it caught quickly,
claiming with fearful shouts the decision of the High Court. the omen was good. The flame of a torch was good if it
On their approach men, women, children and old people, formed one point, bad if it divided into two ; but three
was a better omen than one. Sickness for the healthy, and
all take to flight, that is, take refuge in their houses, and
should anyone be found in the fields, on the highway, or in death for the sick, was presaged by the bending of the
any other place, he is either killed or carried off and no flame, and some frightful disaster by its sudden extinction.
more is ever heard of him. The vestals in the Temple of Minerva at Athens were
" The booty obtained by such plundering is divided into charged to make particular observations on the light per-
two parts, one of which is given to the injured commune, petually burning there.
the other to the great purrah, which shares it with the Pythagoras : (See Greece.)
warriors that have executed its decree. This is the reward Pythia : (See Greece.)
for their zeal, their obedience and loyalty.
Q
Quimby, Dr. Phineas : (See New Thought.) astrology, and was the author of several astrological and
Quindecem Viri : (See Sibylline Books.) other works.
Quirinus, or Quirus, is described as " a juggling stone, found
AQuirardelli, Coineille :
Franciscan born at Boulogne in the nest of the hoopoo." If laid on the breast of one
towards the end of the sixteenth century. He studied sleeping, it forces him to discover his rogueries.
R
Races, Branch : (See Planetary Chains.) hair he was gnawing the flesh of a man's head and drink-
;
Races, Root : (See Planetary Chains.)
ing blood out of a skull. In another story these Brahma
Races, Sub : (See Planetary Chains.)
Rahat : (See Adept.) Rakshasas have formidable tusks, flaming hair, and insati-
Rahu : Whose name means " the tormenter," is one of the able hunger. They wander about the forests catching
Hindoo devils. He is worshipped as a means of averting
the attacks of evil spirits ; and appears to be of a truly animals and eating them. Mr. Campbell tells a Mahrata
devilish character. legend of a master who became a Brahmaparusha in order
Rakshasa : An Indian demon. In one of the Indian folk- to teach grammar to a pupil. He haunted a house at
tales he appears black as soot, with hair yellow as the Benares, and the pupil went to take lessons from him. He
lightning, looking like a thunder-cloud. He had made promised to teach him the whole science in a year on
himself a wreath of entrails ; he wore a sacrificial cord of condition that he never left the house. One day the boy
went out and learned that the house was haunted, and
that he was being taught by a ghost. The boy returned
Randolph, P. B. 335 Reincarnation
and was ordered by the preceptor to take his bones to Gaya, Rector : Control of Rev. W. S. Moses. (See Moses, William
and perform the necessary ceremonies for the emancipation Stainton.)
of his soul. This he did, and the uneasy spirit of the Red Cap : The witches of Ireland were wont to put on a
learned man was laid.
magical red cap before flying through the air to their meeting-
Randolph, P. B. : (See Spiritualism.) place.
Raphael, the Angel : In the prophecy of Enoch it is said Red Lion : (See Philosopher's Stone.)
that : " Raphael presides over the spirits of men." In Red Man : The demon of the tempests. He is supposed to
the Jewish rabbinical legend of the angelic hierarchies be furious when the rash voyager intrudes on his solitude,
Raphael is the medium through which the power of Tse- and to show his anger in the winds and storms.
baoth, or the Lord of hosts, passes into the sphere of the The French peasants believed that a mysterious little-
sun, giving motion, heat and brightness to it. red man appeared to Napoleon to announce coming reverses.
Rapping : Phenomena of knockings or rappings have Red Pigs : It was formerly believed that Irish witches could
always accompanied poltergeistic disturbances, even before
the commencement of the modern spiritualistic movement. turn wisps of straw or hay into red pigs, which they sold
Thus they were observed in the case of the " Drummer of at the market. But when the pigs were driven homeward
by the buyers, they resumed their original shape on cross-
Tedworth " (q.v.), the " Cock Lane Ghost," and other ing running water.
disturbances of the kind, and also in the presence of various RedclitT, Mrs. Ann : (See Fiction, Occult English.)
—somnambules, such as the Seeress of Prevorst (q.v.). With Regang : Malay system of Astrology. (See Malays.)
the " Rochester Rappings " the famous outbreak at Regius MS. : (See Freemasonry.)
—Hydesville in 1848, to which may be directly traced the Reichenbach : (See Hypnotism.)
beginning of modern Spiritualism the phenomenon took Reincarnation is an extremely important part of Theosophicat
theory, and, while it is commonly regarded as a succession
on a new importance, rapidly increased to an epidemic,
remained throughout the earlier stages of the movements of lives, the proper aspect in which to regard it is as one
single, indivisible life, the various manifestations in the
the chief mode of communication with the spirits. Though flesh being merely small portions of the whole. The Monad,
it was afterwards supplanted to some extent by more
elaborate and complicated phenomena, it continued, and —the Divine Spark, the Ego whose individuality remains the
still continues, to occupy a place of some importance among —same throughout the whole course of reincarnation is
the manifestations of the seance-room. It is apparent from
descriptions furnished by witnesses that the raps varied truly a denizen of the three higher worlds, the spiritual, the
considerably both in quality and intensity, being sometimes intuitional and the higher mental, but in order to further
its growth and the widening of its experience and know-
characterised as dull thuds, sometimes as clear sounds like ledge, it is necessary that it should descend into the worlds
an electric spark, and again as deep, vibrating tones. of denser matter, the lower mental, the actual and the
Doubtless the methods by which they are produced vary physical, and take back with it to the higher worlds what
it has learned in these. Since it is impossible to progress
quite as much. It has been shown, in fact, that raps may far during one manifestation, it must return again and
again to the lower worlds. The theory which underlies
be produced by the ankle-joints, knee-joints, shoulders, and
reincarnation is entirely different from that of eternal
— —other joints, one man the Rev. Eh Noyes claiming to reward and eternal punishment which underlies, say, the
teachings of Christianity. Every individual will eventually
have discovered seventeen different methods. There are attain perfection though some take longer to do so than
also instances on record where specially constructed others. The laws of his progress, the laws which govern
" medium " tables were responsible for the manifestations. reincarnation, are those of evolution and of karma. Evolu-
Besides the frankly spiritualistic explanation and the tion (q.v.) decrees that all shall attain perfection and that
frankly sceptical one of fraud, there have been other by developing to the utmost their latent powers and
qualities, and each manifestation in the lower worlds is but
scientific or pseudo-scientific theories advanced, such as one short journey nearer the goal. Those who realise this
law shorten. the journey by their own efforts while those
electricity, odyle, ectenic force, or magnetism. who do not realise it and so assist its working, of course
Rapport A: 1 mystical sympathetic or antipathetic connection lengthen the journey. Karma (q.v.) decrees that effects
good or bad, follow him who was their cause. Hence, what
between two persons. It was formerly believed that for a a man has done in one manifestation, he must be benefited
witch to harm her victims, the latter must first have become by or suffer for in another. It may be impossible that his
in rapport with her, either by contact with her person, or
actions should be immediately effective, tout each is stored
by contact with some garment she has worn. A certain
up and sooner or later will bear fruit. It may be asked
witch, Florence Newton, was accused of establishing rapport how one long life in the lower worlds should not suffice
between herself and those she 'sought to bewitch by kissing instead of a multitude of manifestations, but this is explic-
them, whereby she was able to compass their destruction. able by the fact that the dense matter which is the vehicle
In the practice of animal magnetism it was considered that
the only invariable and characteristic symptom of the
genuine trance was the rapport between patient and opera-
tor. The former was deaf, dumb, blind, to all save his
magnetizer, and those with whom his magnetizer placed him
in rapport. This condition, however, still observed in of these bodies, becomes after a time of progress, incapable
hypnotism, is referable to a perfectly natural cause. (See
of further alteration to suit the developing monad's needs
Hypnotism.) The term is preserved at the present day in and must accordingly be laid aside for a new body. After
Spiritualism, when it signifies a spiritual sympathy between
the " control " and the medium or any of the sitters. The physical death, man passes first to the astral world, then
— —medium or, more properly, the control may be placed to the heaven portion of the mental world, and in this
in rapport with anyone who is absent or dead, merely by latter world most of his time is spent except when he de-
scends into the denser worlds to garner fresh experience and
handling something which has belonged to them. It is for knowledge for his further development in preparation for
a similar reason that the crystal is held for a few moments passage into the still higher sphere. In the heaven world
prior to the inspection by the person on whose behalf the these experiences and this knowledge are woven together
crystal-gazer is about to examine it.
into the texture of his nature. In those who have- not pro-
Raymond : {See Spiritualism.) gressed far on the journey of evolution, the manifestations
Remie, Major J. .336 Rishi
in the lower worlds are comparatively frequent, but transmutation of metals, and wrote a glowing treatise on
with passage of time and development, these manifestations the subject which he presented to Emir Almansour, Prince
become rarer and more time is spent in the heaven world, of Khorassan. The Emir showed his gratitude in a practical
till, at last, the great process of reincarnation draws to an fashion by giving Rhasis a thousand pieces of gold, at the
end, and the pilgrims enter the Path which leads to per- same time desiring to be present during the working of some
fection. (See Theosophy, The Path, and the articles on of the experiments with which the volume was plentifully
the various Worlds.) illustrated. Rhasis consented, on condition that the prince
Remie, Major J. : (See Holland.) supplied the necessary apparatus. No expense was spared
Reschith Hajalalim : The name of the ministering spirit in
in furnishing a laboratory for the alchemistical experiments,
the Jewish rabbinical legend of the angelic hierarchies. To but unfortunately the boasted skill of the alchemist failed
this angel, the pure and simple essence of the divinity flows him and the performance ended miserably. Rhasis, who
through Hajoth Hakakos he guides the primum mobile, was now well advanced in years, was unmercifully beaten
; by the angry emir, who chose the unlucky treatise to
and bestows the gift of life on all.
Revue Spirite, La (Journal) : (See France.) belabour him with. This incident is said to have caused
Revue Spiritualiste, La (Journal) : (See France.) the blindness with which the alchemist was afterwards
Rhabdomancy : From the Greek words meaning " a rod "
afflicted.
—and " divination," is thus alluded to by Sir Thomas
He died about 932 in the deepest poverty.
Browxi : " As for the divination or decision from the In his studies in chemistry he has left some results of
staff, it is an augurial relic, and the practice thereof is real value, notwithstanding the time and trouble he spent
in the pursuit of the philosopher's stone. Another theory
accused by God himself : My people ask counsel of their
stocks, and their staff declareth unto them. Of this kind which he held in common with Geber and others was that
was that practised by Nabuchadonosor in that Caldean the planets influenced metallic formation under the earth's
miscellany delivered by Ezekiel." In Brand's Antiquities surface.
the following description is cited from a MS. Discourse on Richet, Professor : (Sec Spiritualism.)
—Witchcraft, written by Mr. John Bell, 1705, p. 41 ; it is Richter, Sigmund : (Sen Rosicrueians.)
derived from Theophylact : " They set up two staffs, and Riko, A. J. : (See Holland.)
Ahaving whispered some verses and incantations, the staffs Rinaldo des Trois Echelles : much-dreaded French sorcerer
fell by the operation of demons. Then they considered of the reign of Charles IX., who, at his execution, boasted
which way each of them fell, forward or backward, to the before the king that he had in France three hundred thou-
right or left hand, and agreeably gave responses, having
made use of the fall of their staffs for their signs." This —sand confederates, whom they could not thus commit to
the flames meaning, doubtless, the demons of the Sabbath.
is the Grecian method of Rhabdomancy, and St. Jerome Ripley, George : This alchemist was born about the middle
thinks it is the same that is alluded to in the above passage of the fifteenth century at Ripley, in Yorkshire, in which
•of Hosea, and in Ezekiel xxi. 21, 22, where it is rendered county his kinsfolk appear to have been alike powerful
" arrows." Belomancy and Rhabdomancy, in fact, have and numerous. Espousing holy orders, he became an
been confounded in these two passages, and it is a question Augustinian, while subsequently he was appointed Canon
whether in one of the methods arrows and rods or stones of Bridlington in his native Yorkshire, a priory which had
were not used indifferently. The practice is said to have been founded in the time of Henry I. by Walter de Ghent.
passed from the Chaldeans and Scythians to the German Ripley's sacerdotal office did not prevent him travelling,
tribes, who used pieces from the branch of a fruit tree, and he prosecuted empirical studies at various places on the
which they marked with certain characters, and threw at continent, while he even penetrated so far afield as the island
hazard upon a white cloth. Something like this, according of Rhodes, where he is said to have made a large quantity
to one of the rabbis, was the practice of the Hebrews, only of gold for the knights of St. John of Jerusalem. Going
instead of characters, they peeled their rods on one side, and
afterwards to Rome he was dignified by the Pope, the
drew the presage from their manner of falling. The result being that, when he got back to Bridlington, he
Scythians and the Alani used rods of the myrtle and sallow, found his brethren there intensely jealous of him. It is
and as the latter chose " fine straight wands " according reported, indeed, that he even resigned his position and
to Herodotus, it may be inferred that their method was retired to a priory at Boston, but this story is probably
that of the Hebrews, or some modification of it. unfounded, the likelihood being that Ripley the alchemist
Rhapsodomancy : Divination by means of opening the works has been confounded with George Ripley, a Carmelite
of a poet at hazard and reading the verse which first pre- friar who lived at Boston in the thirteenth century, and
sents itself oracularly. wrote a biography of St. Botolph.
Rhasis (or Rasi) : An Arabian alchemist whose real name was Ripley died in England in 1490, but his fame did not
Mohammed-Ebn-Secharjah Aboubekr Arrasi. He was die with him, and in fact his name continued to be familiar
born at Ray, in Trak, Khorassan, about 850. In his youth for many years after his decease. He had been among the
he devoted himself to music and the lighter pastimes, and first to popularise the chymical writings attributed to
it was not till he had passed his thirtieth year that he turned Raymond Lully, which first became, known in England
his attention to the healing art. But having done so, he —about 1445, at which time an interest in alchemy was
studied it to good purpose, and speedily became a most
increasing steadily among English scholars the more so
skilful physician. His natural goodness of heart induced because the law against multiplying gold had lately been
him to turn his knowledge and skill to account in order to repealed ; while Ripley wrote a number of learned treatises
benefit his poorer brethren. The study of philosophy also himself, notably Medulla Alchimice, The Treatise of Mercury
claimed his attention and he travelled to Syria, Egypt, and and The Compound of Alchemic, the last-named being
Spain in search of knowledge.
dedicated to King Edward IV. A collected edition of his
He was exceedingly fond of experimenting in medicine writings was issued at Cassel in Germany in 1649, while in
and chemistry, and was the first to mention borax, orpirnent, 1678 an anonymous English writer published a strange
realgar, and other chemical compounds. The authorship volume in London, Ripley Revived, or an Exposition upon
of two hundred and twenty-six treatises is ascribed to him, George Ripley's Hermetico-Poetical Works.
and some of these works influenced European medicine Ripley Revived : (See Philalethes.)
so late as the 17th century. He firmly believed in the Rishi : (Sec Adept and India.)
Rita 337 Rome
Rita : (See Materialisation and Spiritualism.) themselves. When the sounds had indicated that they
Robert the Devil was son of a Duke and Duchess of Normandy.
were directed by some sort of intelligence it was no difficult
He was endowed with marvellous physical strength, which matter to get into communication with the unseen. Ques-
he used only to minister to his evil passions. Explaining tions were asked by the " sitters " of this informal " seance"
to him the cause of his wicked impulses, his mother told and if the answer were in the affirmative, raps were heard,
him that he had been born in answer to prayers addressed if in the negative, the silence remained unbroken. By this
to the devil. He now sought religious advice, and was means the knocker indicated that he was a spirit, the spirit
directed by the Pope to a hermit who ordered him to of a pedlar who. had been murdered for his money by a
maintain complete silence, to take his food from the mouths former resident in the house. It also answered correctly
of dogs, to feign madness and to provoke abuse from other questions put to it, relating to the ages of those
common people without attempting to retaliate. He present and other particulars concerning persons who lived
became court fool to the Roman Emperor and three times in the neighbourhood. In the few days immediately
delivered the city from Saracen invasions, having, in each following hundreds of people made their way to Hydesville
case, been prompted to fight by a heavenly message. The to witness the marvel. Fox's married son, David, who
emperor's dumb daughter was given speech in order to lived about two miles from his father's house, has left a
identify the saviour of the city with the court fool, but he statement to the effect that the Fox family, following the
refused his due recompense, as well as her hand in marriage, directions of the raps, which indicated that the pedlar was
and went back to the hermit, his former confessor. The. buried in the cellar, had begun to dig therein early in April,
French Romance of Robert le Diable is one of the oldest but were stopped by water. Later, however, hair, bones,
forms of this legend. and teeth were found in the cellar. Vague rumours were
Roberts, Mrs. : (See Spiritualism.) afloat that a pedlar had visited the village one winter, had
Robes, Magical : (See Magic.) been seen in the kitchen of the house afterwards tenanted
by the Foxes, and had mysteriously disappeared, without
Robsart, Amy : (See Haunted Houses.)
Rocail : Said to have been the younger brother of Seth, the fulfilling his promise to the villagers to return next day.
son of Adam. The circumstances attending his history are But of real evidence there was not a scrap, whether for the
murder or for the existence of the pedlar, particulars of
picturesque and unique. A Dive, or giant of Mount
Caucasus, finding himself in difficulties, applied for aid to Whose life were furnished by the raps. Soon after these
the human race. Rocail offered his services to the giant, happenings Kate Fox went to Auburn, and Margaretta to
and so acceptable did these prove that the Dive made his Rochester, N.Y., where lived her married sister, Mrs. Fish
benefactor grand vizier. For a long period he governed the (formerly Mrs. Underhill), and at both places outbreaks of
giant's realm with entire success, and reached a position of rappings occurred. New mediums sprang up, circles were
dignity and honour. However, when he felt himself formed, and soon Spiritualism was fairly started on its
growing old he desired to leave behind him a more lasting career.
monument than public respect, so he built a magnificent Rods, Magical : (See Magic.)
palace and sepulchre. The palace he peopled with statues, Rogers, Mr. Dawson : (See British National Association of
which, by the power of magic, he made to walk and talk, Spiritualists.)
and act in all ways as though they were living men, as, Rohan, Prince de : (See Cagliostro.)
indeed, all who beheld them judged them to be. (See Rome : Magical practice was rife amongst the Romans.
D'Herbelot, Bibliotheque Oriental.) Magic was the motive power of their worship which was
Rochas dJAiglun, Eugene-Auguste Albert de : French Officer simply an organized system of magical rites for communal
and writer, born at Saint-Firmin in 1837. He is chiefly ends. It was the basis of their mode of thought and out-
remembered as an exponent of the fluidic theory of mag- look upon the world, it entered into every moment and
netism. His works include des Force non definies (1887) ; action of their daily life, it affected their laws and customs.
le Fluide des magnetiseurs (1891) ; les Flats profonds de This ingrained tendency instead of diminishing, developed
I'hypnose (1892) ; V Exterioration de la sensibilite (1895) ; to an enormous extent, into a great system of superstition,
V Exterioratio-n de la motricite (1896) ; Recueil de documents and in the later years led to a frenzy for strange gods,
relatifs a la levitation du corps humain (1897) ; les Etats borrowed from all countries. In times of misfortune and
superficiels de I'hypnose (1898) ; etc. disaster the Romans were always ready to borrow a god
if so be his favours promised more than those of their own
Rochester Rappings : The outbreak of rappings which
occurred in Hydesville, near Rochester, N.Y., in 1848, and deities. Though there was a strong conservative element
which is popularly known as the Rochester Rappings, is of though the " custom of the "
in the native character,
elders
peculiar importance, not because of its intrinsic superiority was strongly upheld by the priestly fraternity, yet this
to any other poltergeistic disturbance, but because it usually gave way before the will and temper of the people.
inaugurates the movement of Modern Spiritualism. Hydes- Thus, as a rock shows its geological history by its differing
ville is a small village in Arcadia, Wayne County, N.Y., strata, so the theogony of the Roman gods tells its tale of
and there, in 1848, there lived one John D. Fox, with his the race who conceived it. There are pre-historic nature
wife and two young daughters, Margaretta, aged fifteen, deities, borrowed from the indigenous tribes, gods of the
and Kate, aged twelve. Their house was a small wooden Sabines, from whom the young colony stole its wives ;
structure previously tenanted by one Michael Weekman, gods of the Etruscans, of the Egyptians, Greeks and
Who afterwards avowed that he had frequently been dis- -Persians. The temple of Jupiter on the Capitol con-
turbed by knockings and other strange sounds in the tained the altar of a primitive deity, a stone-god, Terminus,
Hydesville house. Towards the end of March, 1848, the the spirit of boundaries : in the temple of Diana of the
Fox family were much disturbed by mysterious rappings, Grove, a fountain nymph was worshipped. Instances of
and on the evening of the 31st they went to bed early, —this description are numerous.
hoping to get some undisturbed sleep. But the rappings Spirits. In addition to the gods, there were spirits to be
broke out even more vigorously than they had done on the
propitiated. Indeed the objects offered to the Roman for
previous occasions, and Mrs. Fox, much alarmed and adoration were numberless. Apuleius gives a description
excited when the raps manifested signs of intelligence, of this when he tells of a country road where one might meet
decided to call in her neighbours to witness the phenomenon. an altar wreathed with flowers, a cave hung with garlands,
The neighbours heard the raps as distinctly as did the Foxes an oak tree laden with horns of cattle, a hill marked by
Rome 33S Rome
fences as sacred, a log rough-hewn into shape, an altar of giving to the gods. Tables were spread with a sumptuous
repast in the public places and were first offered to the
turf smoking with libations or a stone anointed with oil. statues of the deities seated around. The festivals were
numerous, all of a magical and symbolic nature. In the
Every single action of man's daily life had a presiding
spirit ; commerce and husbandry likewise. There was spring there was the Parilia when fires of straw were
eating Ednea, drinking Potina ; there were spirits of lighted, through which persons passed to be purified the
departure, of journeying, of approaching and home- ;
coming. In commerce there was Mercurius, the spirit of Cerealia, celebrated with sacrifice and offerings to Ceres,
gain, of money, Pecunia ; in farming, the spirits of cutting, the corn-goddess, and followed by banquets. The Luper-
Agrinding, sowing and bee-keeping.
deity presided over calia, the festival of Faunus, was held in February and
streets and highways ; there was a goddess of the sewers, symbolised the wakening of Spring and growth. Goats
Cloacina ; a spirit of bad smells, Mephitis. Spirits of were slain as sacrifice and with their blood the Luperci,
evil must also be propitiated by pacificatory rites, such as youths clad in skins, smeared their faces. They took
Robigo, the spirit of mildew ; in Rome there was an altar thongs of the goat-skin and laughing wildly rushed through
to Fever and Bad Fortune. From the country came
Silvanus, god of farms and woods, and his Fauns and the city striking the crowd, Roman matrons believing that
nymphs with Picus, the wood-pecker god who had fed the the blows thus received rendered them prolific. Juno,
—twins Romulus and Remus with berries all these were the goddess of marriage and childbirth also had her festival,
the Maironalia, celebrated by the women of Rome. There
possessed of influences and were approached with peculiar were the festivals of the dead when the door leading to the
rites. The names of these spirits were inscribed on tablets, other world was opened, the stone removed from its
indigitamenta, which were in the charge of the pontiffs, entrance in the Comitium, and the shades coming forth
who thus knew which spirit to evoke according to the were appeased with offerings. On these days three times
need. Most of these spirits were animistic in origin. in the year, when the gods of gloom were abroad, complete
The Roman Worship consisted of magical rites destined cessation from all work was decreed, no battle could be
to propitiate the powers controlling mankind ; to bring fought nor ship set sail neither could a man marry. To
man into touch with them, to renew his life and that which the Sacred Games were taken the statues of the gods in
supported it, the land with its trees, corn and cattle, to gorgeous procession, chariots of silver, companies of
stop that process of degeneration constantly set in motion priests, youths singing and dancing. The gods viewed the
by evil influences. Everything connected with it typified
this restoration. The Priests who represented the life of games reclining on couches. The Chariot races also par-
the community, were therefore bound by strict observances
from endangering it in any way. Rules as to attire, eating took of the nature of rites. After the races in the Field
of Mars came one of the most important Roman rites, the
sacrifice of the October Horse. The right-hand horse of
and touch were numerous. Sacrifices were systematised the victorious team was sacrificed to Mars, and the tail
according to the end desired and the deity invoked. There of the animal, running with blood, carried to the Altar of
were rules as to whether the victim must be young or
the Regia. The blood was stored in the temple of Vesta
full-grown, male or female ; oxen were to be offered to' till the following spring and used in the sacrifice of the
Jupiter and Mars ; swine to Juno, to Ceres the corn- festival of Parilia. This sacrifice was essentially magical,
goddess and to Silvanus. At one shrine a cow in calf was
all citizens present being looked upon as purified by the
sacrificed and the ashes of the unborn young were of blood-sprinkling and lustral bonfire. The Roman outlook
special magical efficacy. Human sacrifice existed within upon life was wholly coloured by magic. Bodily foes had
historical times. After the battle of Canna? the Romans
their counterpart in the unseen world, wandering spirits
had sought to divert misfortune by burying two Greeks
of the dead, spirits of evil, the anger of innocently offended
alive in the cattle-market while in the time of Julius deities, the menace of the evil eye. Portents and prodigies
Ca?sar two men were put to death with sacrificial solemn- were everywhere. In the heavens strange things might
ities by the Pontiff and Flamen of Mars. Again, in the
be seen. The sun had been known to double, even treble
time of Cicero and Horace boys were killed for magical
purposes. Fire possessed great virtue and was held sacred itself ; its light turn to blood, or a magical halo to appear
round the orb. Thunder and lightning were always
in the worship of Vesta, in early belief Vesta being the fraught with presage ; Jove was angered when he opened
the heavens and hurled his bolts to earth. Phantoms, too,
fire itself ; it presided over the family hearth ; it restored
purity and conferred protection. Blood had the same hovered amid the clouds ; a great fleet of ships had been
seen sailing over the marshes. Upon the Campagna the
quality and smeared on the face of the god symbolised and
brought about the one-ness of the deity with the commun- gods-were observed in conflict, and afterwards tracks of the
ity. On great occasions the Statue of Jupiter was treated combatants were visible across the plain. Unearthly
thus : the priests of Bellona made incisions in their shoul-
ders and sprinkled the blood upon the image ; the face of a voices were heard amid the mountains and groves ; cries
triumphant general was painted with vermilion to represent of portent had sounded within the temples. Blood haunted
the Roman imagination. Sometimes it was said to have
blood. Kneeling and prostration brought one into direct covered the land as a mantle, the standing corn was dyed
contact with the earth of the sacred place. Music was with blood, the rivers and fountains flowed with it, while
also used as a species of incantation, probably deriving walls and statues were covered with a bloody sweat. The
its origin in sound made to drive away evil spirits. Danc- flight and song of birds might be foretelling the decrees of
Fate ; unappeased spirits of the dead were known to lurk
ing too was of magical efficacy. In Rome there were
near and steal away the souls of men and then they too
colleges of dancers for the purposes of religion, youths who
danced in solemn measure about the altars, who, in the were " dead." All these happenings were attributable to
sacred month of Mars took part in the festivals and went the gods and spirits, who, if the portent be one of menace,
throughout the city dancing and singing. One authority must be propitiated, if one of good fortune, thanked with
states four kinds of ". holy solemnity " sacrifice, sacred offerings. Down to the later times this deep belief in the
; occurrence of prodigies persisted. When Otho set out for
banquets, public festivals and games. Theatrical per-
formances also belonged to this category, in one instance Italy, Rome rang with reports of a gigantic phantom rush-
being used as a means of diverting a pestilence. The ing forth from the Temple of Juno ; of the Statue of
sacred banquets were often decreed by the Senate as thanks- Julius turning from east to west.
Rome 339 Rose
—A ugury. Divination was connected with the Roman streets and up and down the fields." Beans were used in
the funeral feasts. They were supposed to harbour the
worship. There was a spot on the Capitol from which the souls of the dead, and the bean-blossom to be inscribed
augur with veiled head read the auspices in the flight of with characters of mourning.
birds. Augurs also accompanied armies and fleets and Dreams were considered of great importance by the
read the omens before an engagement was entered upon.
Divination was also practised by reading the intestines of Romans many historical instances of prophetic dreams
animals, by dreams, by divine possession as in the case of ;
the Oracles when prophecies were uttered. These had
may be found. They were thought to be like birds, the
" bronze-coloured " hawks they were also thought to be
;
been gathered together in the Sibylline books (q.v.), and the souls of human beings visiting others in their sleep
were consulted as oracles by the State. With the worship ;
also the souls of the dead returning to earth. In Virgil
of Fortune were connected the Lots of Praneste. The much may be found on this subject ; Lucretius tried to
questions put to the goddess were answered by means of find a scientific reason for them ; Cicero, though writing in
oaken lots which a boy drew from a case made of sacred a slighting manner of the prevalent belief in these mani-
wood. The fortune-tellers also used a narrow-necked urn festations of sleep, yet records dreams of his own, which
which, filled with water, only allowed one lot at a time to events proved true.
rise. Astrologers from Chaldea were also much sought Sorcery in all its forms, love-magic and death-magic was
after and were attached to the kingly and noble houses. rife amongst all classes, besides necromantic practices.
Familiar things of everyday life were of magical import. There were charms and spells for everything under the
Words Numbers, odd ones specially for the Kalends, sun ; the rain-charm of the pontiffs consisting of the
,
Nones and Ides were so arranged as to fall upon odd days throwing of puppets into the Tiber ; the charm against
; thunder-bolts compounded of onions, hair and sprats ; the
charm against an epidemic when the matrons of Rome
touch was binding and so recognised in the law of Rome, as
the grasp of a thing sold, from a slave to a turf of distant
estate and knotting and twisting of thread was injurious swept the temple-floors with their hair and many more
; ;
so that women must never pass by cornfields twisting their down to the simple love-charm strung round the neck of
spindles, they must not even be uncovered. There was a the country maiden.
strange sympathy between the trees and mankind, and Witches were prevalent. The poets often chose these
great honour was paid to the sacred trees of Rome. On sinister figures for their subjects, as when Horace describes
the oak tree of Jupiter the triumphant general hung the the ghastly rites of two witches in the cemetery of the
Esquiline. Under the light of the new moon they crawl
shield and arms of his fallen foe while the hedges about
;
the Temple of Diana at Nemi were covered with votive about looking for poisonous herbs and bones ; they call the
spectres to a banquet consisting of a black lamb torn to
offerings. The trees also harboured the spirits of the dead
who came forth as dreams to the souls of men. Pliny the pieces with their teeth, and after, these phantoms must
answer the questions of the sorceresses. They make
elder says in this matter " Trees have a soul since nothing
on earth lives without one. They are the temples of images of their victims and pray to the infernal powers for
help ; hounds and snakes glide over the ground, the moon
spirits and the simple countryside dedicates still a noble
turns to blood, and as the images are melted so the lives of
tree to some god. The various kinds of trees are sacred to
their protecting spirits : the oak to Jupiter, the laurel to the victims ebb away. Virgil gives a picture of a sorceress
performing love-magic by means of a waxen image of the
Apollo, olive to Minerva, myrtle to Venus, white poplar to
youth whose love she desired. Lucan in his Pharsalia
Hercules." These trees therefore partook of the nature of
—treats of Thessaly, notorious in all ages for sorcery and
their presiding spirits and it was desirable to bring about
communion with their magical influence, as in the spring draws a terrific figure Erichtho, a sorceress of illimitable
when laurel boughs were hung at the doors of the flamens
and pontiffs and in the temple of Vesta where they re- powers, one whom even the gods obeyed, to whom the
mained hanging till the following year. Trees and their
forces of earth and heaven were bond-slaves ; and Fate
leaves were also possessed of healing and purifying value ;
waiting her least command. Both Nero and Agrippina
laurel was used for the latter quality as in the Roman his mother were reported to have had recourse to the
triumphs the fasces of the commander, the spears and infamous arts of sorcery ; while in the New Testament may
javelins of legionaries were wreathed with its branches to be found testimony as to these practices in Rome. The
attitude of the cultured class towards magic is illustrated
purify them from the blood of the enemy. Man himself
had a presiding spirit, his genius, each woman her " juno " by an illuminating passage to be found in the writings of
Pliny the eider. He says " The art of magic has prevailed
the Saturnalia was really a holiday for this " other self." in most ages and in most parts of the globe. Let no one
wonder that it has wielded very great authority inasmuch
The Roman kept his birthday in honour of his genius, offer- as it embraces three other sources of influence. No one
doubts that it took its rise in rrledicine and sought to cloak
ing frankincense, cakes and unmixed wine on an altar itself in the garb of a science more profound and holy than
garlanded with flowers and making solemn prayers for the the common run. It added to its tempting promises the
force of religion, after which the human race is groping,
coming year. City and village had their genii, also bodies
especially at this time. Further it has brought in the
of men from the senate to the scullions.
Death was believed to be the life and soul enticed away by
revengeful ghosts, hence death would never occur save arts of astrology and divination. For everyone desires
by such agencies. The dead therefore must be appeased to know what is to come to him and believes that certainty
can be gained by consulting the stars. Having in this way
with offerings or else they wander abroad working evil
among the living. This belief is present in Ovid's lines : taken captive the feelings of man by a triple chain it has
" Once upon a time the great feast of the dead was not
reached such a pitch that it rules over all the world and in
observed and the manes failed to receive the customary
gifts, the fruit, the salt, the corn steeped in unmixed wine, the East, governs the King of Kings." K. N.
the violets. The injured spirits revenged themselves
on the living and the city was encircled with the funeral Romer, Br. C. : (See Spiritualism.)
fires of their victims. The townsfolk heard their grand- Rose : From the earliest times the rose has been an emblem
sires complaining in the quiet hours of the night, and told of silence. Eros, in the Greek mythology, presents a rose
each other how the unsubstantial troop of monstrous to the god of silence, and to this day sub rosa, or " under
the rose," means the keeping of a secret. Roses were used
spectres rising from their tombs, shrieked along the city in very early times as a potent ingredient in love philters.
Rosen, Paul 340 Rosicrucians
In Greece it was customary to leave bequests for the main- History of the Rosicrucians in 1887. Prior to that a great
tenance of rose gardens, a custom which has come down to
deal had been written concerning the fraternity, and
recent times. Rose gardens were common during the shortly before Mr. Waite produced his well-known book
another had made its appearance under the title of The
middle ages. According to Indian mythology, one of the Rosicrucians, their Riles and Mysteries by the late Mr.
Hargrave Jennings. This book was merely a farrago
wives of Vishnu was found in a rose. In Rome it was the
of the wildest absurdities, rendered laughable by the
custom to bless the rose on a certain Sunday, called Rose ridiculous attitude of tne author, who pretended to the
Sunday. The custom of blessing the golden rose came
guardianship of abysmal occult secrets. It was typical
into vogue about the eleventh century. The golden rose
thus consecrated was given to princes as a mark of the of most writings regarding the fraternity of the Rosy
Roman Pontiffs' favour. In the east it is still believed Cross, and as the Westminster Review wittily remarked in its
that the first rose was generated by a tear of the prophet notice of the volume, it deals with practically everything
Mohammed, and it is further believed that on a certain
under the sun except the Rosicrucians. Mr. Waite's work,
day in the year the rose has a heart of gold. In the west
of Scotland if a white rose bloomed in autumn it was a the result of arduous personal research, has gathered
token of an early marriage. The red rose, it was said, together all that can possibly be known regarding the
would not bloom over a grave. If a young girl had several
lovers, and wished to know which of them would be her Rosicrucians, and his facts are drawn from manuscripts,
husband, she would take a rose leaf for each of her sweet- in some cases discovered by himself, and from skilful
hearts, and naming each leaf after the name of one of her
analogy. As it is the only authority on the subject worth
lovers, she would watch them till one after another they speaking about, we shall attempt to outline its conclusions.
sank, and the last to sink would be her future husband. We find then that the name '* Rosicrucian " was un-
Rose leaves thrown upon a fire gave good luck. If a rose known previously to the year 1598. The history of the
movement originates in Germany, where in the town of
bush were pruned on St. John's eve, it would bloom again Cassel in the year 1614 the professors of magic and mystic-
in the autumn. Superstitions respecting the rose are ism, the theoSophists and alchemists, were surprised by
more numerous in England than in Scotland. the publication of a pamphlet bearing the title The Fama
Rosen, Paul : A sovereign Grand Inspector-General of the of the Fraternity of the Meritorious Order of the Rosy Cross
Addressed to the Learned in General and the Governors of
33rd degree of the French rite of Masonry, who in 1888 Europe. It purported to be a message from certain anony-
decided that Masonry was diabolic in conception, and to mous adepts who were deeply concerned for the condition
of mankind, and who greatly desired its moral renewal
prove his strictures published a work called Satan et Cie. and perfection. It proposed that all men of learning
The Satanism credited to Masonry by Rosen is social throughout the world should join forces for the estab-
anarchy and the destruction of the Catholic religion. lishment of a synthesis of science, through which would be
discovered the perfect method of all the arts. The squab-
Rosenberg, Count : {See Dee.)
blings and quarrellings of the literati of the period were to be
Rosenkreuze, Christian : (See Rosicrucians.)
forgone, and the antiquated authorities of the elder world
Rosicrucian Society of England : (See Rosicrucians.)
Rosicrucians : The idea of a Rosicrucian Brotherhood has to be discredited. It pointed out that a reformation had
taken place in religion, that the church had been cleansed,
probably aroused more interest in the popular mind than and that a similar new career was open to science. All this
that of any other secret society of kindred nature : but —was to be brought about by the.assistance of the illuminated
that such a brotherhood ever existed is extremely doubt- Brotherhood, the children of light who had been initiated
ful. The very name of Rosicrucian seems to have exercised in the mysteries of the Grand Orient, and would lead the
a spell upon people of an imaginative nature for nearly age to perfection.
The fraternity kindly supplied an account of its history.
two hundred and fifty years, and a great deal of romantic
The head and front of the movement was one C.R.C. of
fiction has clustered around, the fraternity f such as for
Teutonic race, a magical hierophant of the highest rank,
example Lord Lytton's romance of Zanoni Shelley's
; who in the fifth year of his age had been placed in a con-
vent, where he learned the Humanities. At the age of
novel St. Irvyne the Rosicrucian, Harrison Ainsworth's
fifteen, he accompanied one, Brother P. A. L. on his travels
Auriol, and similar works. -
to the Holy Land ; but the brother died at Cyprus to the
The name Rosicrucian is utilised by mystics to some great grief of C.R.C, who, however resolved to undertake
the arduous journey himself. Arriving at Damascus, he
extent as the equivalent of magus, but in its more specific there obtained knowledge of a secret circle of theosophists
who dwelt in an unknown city of Arabia called Damcar,
application it was the title of a member of a suppositious who were expert in all magical arts. Turning aside from
his quest of the Holy Sepulchre, the lad made up his mind
society which arose in the late sixteenth century. There to trace these illuminati and sought out certain Arabians
who carried him to the city of Damcar. There he arrived
are several theories regarding the derivation of the name. at the age of sixteen years, and was graciously welcomed
by the magi, who intimated to him that they had long
The most commonly accepted appears to be that it was been expecting him, and relating to him several passages
in his past life. They proceeded to initiate him into the
derived from the appellation of the supposed founder, mysteries of occult science, and he speedily became
acquainted with Arabic, from which tongue he translated
Christian Rosenkreuze ; but as his history has been proved
to be wholly fabulous, this theory must fall to the ground. Mthe divine book into Latin. After three years of mystic
Mosheim, the historian, gave it as his opinion that the name instruction, he departed from the mysterious city for
was formed from the Latin words ros, dew, crux a cross Egypt, whence he sailed to Fez as the wise men of Damcar
; had instructed him to do. There he fell in with other
masters who taught him how to evoke the elemental
on the assumption that the alchemical dew of the philoso- spirits. After a further two years' sojourn at Fez, his
phers was the most powerful dissolvent of gold, while the
cross was equivalent to light. It is more probable that the
name Rosicrucian is derived from rosa a rose, and crux a
cross, and we find that the general symbol of the supposed
order was a rose crucified in the centre of a cross. In an
old Rosicrucian book of the last century, we further find
the symbol of a red cross-marked heart in the centre of an
open rose, which Mr. A. E. Waite believes to be a develop-
ment of the monogram of Martin Luther, which was a
—cross-crowned heart rising from the centre of an open rose.
History of the Supposed Brotherhood. Practically nothing
definite was known concerning the Rosicrucian Brother-
hood before the publication of Mr. Waite' s work The real
EVER-BURNING
' ROSICRUCIAN LAMPS
See article Magic Lamps on p. 246 —Cabaliitic (RoaicrucUn.} " Natural— Supernatural." " Light Dark."
These lamps were supposed never to require
"Dull—Light s" (The Myaieriea of •' Their Interchange")
replenishment
—J/.B. Tlse references to Nov and Chapter! are to thou correaponding m 1
ancient Roaierueian Tiacta or Charla— (addnced ben to prore luibeniicu'. I
The mystic interchange of Light and Darkne
according to Rosicrucian belief
MYSTERIUM
Rosicrucian System
Structure (Symbolic) of the "Argh»"or
—(Forma—exterior and interior of the * Dace of the "Eiear.jd" Sign* Cabaliatic (RoiicTodan) Production of the '• World*—- Visible."
"Generation" of the " Micrototmcs."
"Ark of Noili," from the description of
mN.B.—the reference* to No*, and Chapter* are to thoie corresponding »err
Mdk.
) ancient Rcaieroeian Tract* or Chart*— (adduced here to prove authenticity.)
The Rosicrucian ' Ark of Noah
ROSICRUCIANISM
[face p. 340
Rosicrucians 341 Rosicrucians
period of initiation was over, and he proceeded to Spain to to call a " dig at the Pope," whom it publicly execrated,
confer with the wisdom of that country, and convince its
professors of the errors of their ways. Unhappily, the expressing the pious hope that his " asinine braying "
scholarhood of Spain turned its back upon him with loud would finally be put a stop to by tearing him to pieces
laughter, and intimated to him that it had learned the with nails ! In the following year, 1616, The Chymical
and practice of the black art from a much higher Nuptials of Christian Rosencreutz was published, purporting
principles namely Satan himself, who had unveiled to them to be incidents in the life of the mysterious founder of the
authority, Brotherhood of the Rosy Cross. But the chymical marriage
the secrets of necromancy within the walls of the university
of Salamanca. With noble indignation he shooK the dust makes Christian Rosencreutz an old man when he achieved
of Spain from his feet, and turned his face to other countries
only, alas, to find the same treatment within their boun- initiation, and this hardly squares with the original account
daries. At last he sought his native land of Germany where
he pored over the great truths he had learned in solitude of his life as given in the Fama. By this time a number
and seclusion, and reduced his universal philosophy to
writing. Five years of a hermit's life, however, only of persons had applied for initiation, but had received no
served to strengthen him in his opinions, and he could not
but feel that one who had achieved the transmutation of answer to their application. As many of these believed
metals and had manufactured the elixir of life was designed
fabonerdcaacmaneroebftluhelerlynpuhucerlpbeouessgeaontfhttaohnceorlRulomesciitncaartrciououinnadninhfrisaomtleiartsnusiditesy.t.antSWslhowwehlnoy themselves to be alchemical and magical adepts, great
he had gathered four of these persons into the brotherhood irritation arose among the brotherhood, and it was generally
they invented amongst them a magical language, a cipher
writing of equal magical potency, and a large dictionary considered that the whole business was a hoax. By 1620,
replete with occult wisdom. They erected a House of the
Holy Ghost, healed the sick, and initiated further members, the Rosicrucians and their publication had lapsed into
and then betook themselves as missionaries to the various
countries of Europe to disseminate their wisdom. In absolute obscurity.
course of time their founder, C.R.C., breathed his last, and
Numerous theories have been put forward as to the
for a hundred and twenty years the secret of his burial probable authorship of these manifestoes, and it has been
place was concealed. The original members also died one generally considered that the theologian Andres produced
by one, and it was not until the third generation of adepts
had arisen that the tomb of their illustrious founder was them as a kind of laborious jest ; but this view is open to so
unearthed during the re-building of one of their secret many objections that it may be dismissed summarily.
dwellings. The vault in which this tomb was found was
illuminated by the sun of the magi, and inscribed with Their authorship has also been claimed for Taulerus,
Joachim Jiinge, and iEgidius Guttmann ; but the individ-
magical characters. The body of the illustrious founder ual in whose imagination originated the Brotherhood of the
was discovered in perfect preservation, and a number of Rosy Cross will probably for ever remain unkn own. It is
marvels were discovered buried beside him, which con- however, unlikely that the manifesto was of the nature of a
vinced the existing members of the fraternity that it was hoax, because it bears upon its surface the marks of intense
earnestness, and the desire for philosophical and spiritual
their duty to make these publicly known to the world. It reformation ; and it is not unlikely that it sprang from
was this discovery which immediately inspired the brother- some mystic of the Lutheran school who desired the co-
hood to make its existence public in the circular above operation of like-minded persons. Mr. Waite thinks there
alluded to, and they invited all worthy persons to apply to is fair presumptive evidence to show that some corporate
them for initiation. They refused, however, to supply
their names and addresses, and desired that those who body such as the Rosicrucian Brotherhood did exist : but
wished for initiation could signify their intention by the as he states that the documents which are the basis of this
publication of printed letters which they would be certain belief give evidence also that the association did not
originate as it pretended, and was devoid of the powers
to notice. In conclusion they assured the public- of the
circumstance that they were believers in the reformed which it claimed, this hypothesis seems in the highest
degree unlikely. Such a document would more probably
Church of Christ, and denounced in the most solemn emanate from one individual, and it is almost impossible
manner all pseudo-occultists and alchemists. to conceive that a body of men professing such aims and
This Fama created tremendous excitement among the objects as the manifesto lays claim to could possibly have
occultists of Europe, arid a large number of pamphlets were lent themselves to such a farrago of absurdity as the history
published criticising and defending the society and its of C.R.C. A great many writers have credited the brother-
manifesto, in which it was pointed out there were a number
of discrepancies. To begin with no such city as Damcar hood with immense antiquity ; but as the publisher of the
existed within the bounds of Arabia. Where, it was asked, manifesto places its origin so late as the fifteenth century,
was the House of the Holy Ghost, which the Rosicrucians there is little necessity to take these theories into, con-
stated had been seen by 100,000 persons and was yet con- sideration.
cealed from the world ? C.R.C., the founder, as a boy of So far as can be gleaned from their publications, the
Rosicrucians, or the person in whose imagination they
fifteen must have achieved great occult skill to have existed, were believers in the doctrines of Paracelsus. They
believed in alchemy, astrology and occult forces in nature
astonished the magi of Damcar. But despite these objec- and their credence in these is identical with the doctrines
of the great master of modern magic. They were thus
tions considerable credit was given to the Rosicrucian essentially modern in their theosophical beliefs, just as
they were modern in their religious ideas. Mr. Waite
publication. After a lapse of a year appeared the Con- thinks it possible that in Nuremburg in the year 1598 a
Rosicrucian Society was founded by a mystic and alchemist
fession of the Rosicrucian Fraternity, addressed to the named Simon Studion, under the title of Militia Crucifera
Evangelica, which held periodical meetings in that city.
learned in Europe. This offered initiation by gradual Its proceedings are reported in an unprinted work of
Studion's, and in opinions and objects it was identical with
stages to selected applicants, and discovered its ultra-
the supposed Rosicrucian Society. '" Evidently," he
Protestant character by what an old Scots divine was wont says, " the Rosicrucian Society of 1614 was a transfigura-
tion or development of the sect established by Simon
Studion." But there is no good evidence for this state-
ment. After a lapse of nearly a century, the Rosicrucians
reappeared in Germany. In 1 7 10, a certain Sincerus Racatus
or Signiund Richter, published A Perfect and True Prepara-
tion of the Philosophical Stone according to the Secret Methods
Rosicrueians 342 Rossetti
of the Brotherhood. of the Golden and Rosy Cross, and annexed A pseudo-Rosicrucian Society existed in England before
to this treatise were the rules of the Rosicrucian Society
the year 1836, and this was remodelled about the middle of
for the initiation of new members. Mr. Waite is of opinion last century under the title " The Rosicrucian Society of
that these rules are equivalent to a proof of the society's England." To join this it is necessary to be a Mason. The
existence at the period, and that they help to establish the officers of the society consist of three magi, a master-
important fact that it still held its meetings at Nuremburg, general for the first and second orders, a deputy master-
where it was originally established by Studion. In 1785, general, a treasurer, a secretary and seven ancients. The
the publication of Tlie Secret Symbols of the Rosicrueians assisting officers number a precentor, organist, torch-
of the Sixteenth and Seventeenth Centuries took place at bearer, herald, and so forth. The society is composed of
Altona, showing in Mr. Waite's opinion that the mysterious nine grades or classes. It published a little quarterly
brotherhood still existed ; but this was their last manifesto. magazine from 1868 to 1879, which in an early number
These things are certainly of the nature of proof, but they stated that the society was " calculated to meet the re-
are so scanty that any reasonable and workable hypothesis quirements of those worthy masons who wished to study
that such a society ever existed can scarcely be founded the science and antiquities of the craft, and trace it through
upon them. For all we know to the contrary they may its successive developments to the present time ; also to
be publications of enthusiastic and slightly unbalanced cull information from all the records extant from those
pseudo-mystics, and nothing definite can be gleaned from mysterious societies which had their existence in the dark
ages of the world, when might meant right." These
their existence.
In 161 8 Henrichus Neuhuseus published a Latin pamph- objects were, however, fulfilled in a very perfunctory
let, which stated that the Rosicrucian adepts had manner, if the magazine of the association is any criterion
migrated to India, and present-day Theosophists will have of its work. For this publication is filled with occult
it that they exist now in the table-lands of Tibet. It is serial stories, reports of masonic meetings and verse. Mr.
this sort of thing which altogether discredits occultism Waite states that the most notable circumstance con-
nected with this society is the complete ignorance which
in the eyes of the public. Without the slightest shadow of seems to have prevailed among its members generally
proof of any kind, such statements are wildly disseminated ; concerning everything connected with Rosicrucianism.
The prime movers of the association were Robert Went-
and it has even been alleged that the Rosicrueians have worth Little, Frederick Hockley, Kenneth Mackenzie and
Hargrave Jennings, and in the year 1872 they seem to have
developed into a Tibetan Brotherhood, and have exchanged become conscious that their society had not borne out its
Protestant Christianity for esoteric Buddhism ! Mr. original intention. By this time the Yorkshire College
Waite humorously states that he has not been able to —and East of Scotland College at Edinburgh, had been
trace the eastern progress of the Brotherhood further than founded one does not know with what results. " This
the Isle of Mauritius, where it is related in a curious manu- harmless association," says Mr. Waite, " deserves a mild
script a certain Comte De Chazal initiated a Dr. Sigismund sympathy at the hands of the student of occultism. Its
character," he continues, " could hardly have deceived the
Bacstrom into the mysteries of the Rose Cross Order in most credulous of its postulants. Some of its members
wrapped themselves in darkness and mystery, proclaimed
1794 ; but we know nothing about the Comte de Chazal or
his character, and it is just possible that Dr. Bacstrom — —themselves Rosicrueians with intent to deceive. These
might have been one of those deluded persons who in all persons found a few very few believers and admirers.
times and countries have been willing to purchase pro- Others assert that the society is a cloak to something else
blematical honours. From the Fama and Confessio, we the last resource of cornered credulity and exposed impos-
glean some definite ideas of the occult conceptions of the ture. There are similar associations in other parts of
Rosicrueians. In these documents we find the doctrine of Europe, and also in America : e.g., the Societas Rosicruciana
of Boston." But in the concluding pages of Mr. Waite's
the Microcosmus (q.v.), which considers man as containing
book we find the following passage : " On the faith of a
the potentialities of the whole universe. This is a distinctly
follower of Honnes, I can promise that nothing shall be
WeParacelsian belief. also find the belief of the doctrine held back from these true Sons of the Doctrine, the sincere
of Elemental Spirits (q.v.), which many people wrongly seekers after light, who are empowered to preach the
supreme Arcana of the psychic world with a clean heart and
think originated with the Rosicrueians but which an earnest aim. True Rosicrueians and true alchemical
; adepts, if there be any in existence at this day, will not
resent a new procedure when circumstances have been
was probably reintroduced by Paracelsus. We also radically changed." Mr. Waite appeals to these students
of occultism who are men of method as well of imagination
find that the manifestoes contain the doctrine of the to assist him in clearing away the dust and rubbish which
Signatura Rerum, which also is of Paracelsian origin. This have accumulated during centuries of oblivion in the silent
sanctuaries of the transcendental sciences, that the tra-
is the magical writing referred to in the Fama and the
; ditional secrets of nature may shine forth in the darkness
mystic characters of that book of nature, which, according of doubt and uncertainty to illuminate the straight and
narrow avenues which communicate between the seen and
to the Confessio, stand open for all eyes, but can be read or the unseen.
understood by only the very few. These characters are
the seal of God imprinted on the wonderful work of creation,
on the heavens and earth, and on all beasts. It would
appear too, that some form of practical magic was known
to the Brotherhood. They were also, according to them-
selves, alchemists, for they had achieved the transmutation
of metals and the manufacture of the elixir of life.
In England the Rosicrucian idea was taken up by Fludd,
who wrote a spirited defence of the Brotherhood
; by
Vaughan who translated the Fama and the Confessio ;
and by John Heydon, who furnished a peculiarly quaint
and interesting account of the Rosicrueians in The Wise Rossetti, Dante Gabriel : English Author and Painter (1828-
Man's Crown and further treatises regarding their alchemi- 1882). Gabriel Charles Dante Rossetti, poet, painter and
; translator, and commonly known as Dante Gabriel Rossetti,
was born in London in 1828, his father being an Italian
cal skill and medical ability in El Havarevna, or The who had settled in England. While yet a boy Rossetti
English Physitian's Tutor, and A New Method of Rosie
Crucian Physick, London 1658. In France Rosicrucianism
ran a like course. It has been stated by Buhle and others manifested aesthetic leanings, and accordingly he was sent
that there was much connection between the Rosicrueians to study drawing under no less distinguished a preceptor
and Freemasons. than Cotman, while shortly afterwards he entered the
Bound 343 Russia
Royal Academy Schools. Then in 1848, feeling the need of suggests that he was a man of gentle birth, while it is com-
monly supposed that he was a French monk of the order of
still further tuition, he commenced working at the studio
of Ford Madox Brown, a master who undoubtedly influenced St. Francis, and it is reported that in 1357, presumably on
him greatly ; and while under Brown's tuition he began to account of his alchemistic predilections, he was imprisoned
show himself a painter of distinct individuality, while by Pope Innocent VI. Rupecissa contributed four volumes
simultaneously he made his first essays in translating
to the literature of hermetic philosophy : Coelum Philoso-
Italian literature into English, and became known among
phorum, Paris 1543, De Quinta Essentia Rerum Omniam,
his friends as a poet of rare promise. Meanwhile, however, Basle 1561, De Secretis Alchemits, Cologne 1579, Livre de
Lumiere, Paris, n.d. ; and these were admired by a number
Rossetti was really more interested in the brush than in the
pen, and soon after finally quitting Brown's studio he of the author's successors, but their value is really literary
brought about a memorable event in the history of English rather than scientific.
painting, this being the founding of the pre-Raphaelite Rusalki : Rusalki, the lovely river nymph of Southern
brotherhood, a body consisting of seven members whose Russia seems to have been endowed with the beauty of
central aim was to render precisely and literally every person and the gentle characteristics of the Mermaids of
separate object figured in their pictures. Northern nations. Shy and benevolent, she lived on the
Leaving his father's house in 1849, Rossetti went to live small alluvial islands that stud the mighty rivers which
at Chatham Place, Blackfriars Bridge, and during the next drain this extensive and thinly-peopled country, or in the
detached coppices that fringe their banks, in bowers woven
ten years his activity as a painter was enormous ; while of flowering reeds and green-willow-boughs ; her pastime
the year i860 is a notable one in his career, marked as it is
by his marriage to Eleanor Siddal. The love between the and occupation being to aid in secret the poor fishermen in
pair was of an exceptionally passionate order and from it their laborious and precarious calling. Little is known of
sprang Rossetii's immortal sonnet-sequence called The these beautiful creatures—as if the mystery and secrecy
House of Life, published in 1881 ; but Mrs. Rossetti died which was inculcated and enforced in all affairs of g°Ye.*?~
in 1862, and thereupon the poet, terribly cast down by his ment in this country had been extended to its fairy faith.
bereavement, went to live at a house in Chelsea with Even Keightley, so learned in fairy lore, knows little ol
Rusalki, and dismisses her with the following brief notice
Swinburne and Meredith. Here he continued to write :—
fitfully, while in 1871 he completed one of his most famous " They are of a beautiful form, with long green hair ,
pictures, Dante's Dream yet the loss of his wife preyed they swim and balance themselves on the branches of trees,
;
upon him persistently, he was tortured by insomnia, and in bathe in the lakes and rivers, play on the surface of the
water, and wring their locks on the green meads at the
-consequence he began to take occasional doses of chloral. water's edge. It is chiefly at Whitsuntide that they
appear ; and the people then, singing and dancing, weave
Gradually this practice developed into a habit, sapping
alike the physical and mental strength of the poet ; and garlands for them, which they cast into the stream.
though he rallied for a while during a stay in Scotland, where
he lived at Penkill Castle in Ayrshire, it soon became Russia : (For early history of occult matters in Russia see
•evident that his death was imminent unless he eschewed Slavs.) Spiritualism was first introduced into Russia by-
his drug. But he had not the strength of will necessary P^mcpersons who had become interested in the subject whilst
for this abjuration, he died in 1882 at Birchington, and his abroad through witnessing manifestations of
remains were interred in the cemetery there. phenomena and acquaintance with the works of Allan
Spiritualism, trom tne
Rossetti had a marked bias for mysticism in various Kardec, the French exponent of followers chiefly among
first the new doctrine found its
forms. William Bell Scott, in his A utobiography, tells how members of the professions and the aristocracy, &naly
the poet became at one time much enamoured of table-
including the reigning monarch of that time, Alexander 11.
turning and the like ; while waiving his somewhat childish with many of his family and entourage as devoted adher-
taste herein, his temperament was undoubtedly a very ents. Because of the immense influence of such converts
religious one, and once towards the close of his life he the progress of Spiritualism in Russia was made smoother
•declared that he had " seen and heard those that died country where the
than it otherwise would have been in a if not despotic and
long ago." Was it, then, a belief in the possibility of laws of Church and State are nothing
disposed to look upon anything new in matters religious,
•communicating with the dead which induced him, on his
wife's death, to have some of his love poems enclosed in the
coffin of the deceased ? while, be the answer to this question intellectual or merely of general interest as partaking ol a
what it may, Rossetii's mysticism certainly bore good fruit revolutionary character. Even so, much of the spiritual-
in his art, his Rose Mary being among the most beautiful were
of English poems introducing the supernatural element. istic propaganda, manifestations and publications as tne
prosecuted under subterfuges such
Nevertheless, it is by his painting rather than by his poetry various ruses and
that Rossetti holds a place as a great mystic ; for, despite circulation of a paper entitled " The Rebus," professedly
devoted to innocent rebuses and charades and only inci-
his fondness for precise handling, all his pictures with the dentally mentioning Spiritualism the real object ol its
exception of Found are essentially of a mystical nature being. Chief amongst the distinguished devotees ol tne
;
they are not concerned with the tangible and visible world, subject was Prince Wittgenstein, aide-de-camp and t u tea
friend of Alexander II., who not only avowed his
but body forth the scenes and incidents beheld in dreams, bfel^i. els
and do this with a mastery reflected by no other kindred openly but arranged for various mediums to give seances
works save those of Blake. before the Emperor, one of these being the well-known
.Hound : {See Planetary Chains.) D. D. Home. So impressed was the Czar that, it is said,
Boustan : {See France.) from that time onwards he consulted mediums and their
Rudolph II. : {See Gustenhover.) prophetic powers as to the advisability or otherwise 01
JRuler ol Seven Chains : {See Planetary Logos.) any contemplated change or step in his life, doubtless
Runes : {See Teutons.) helped or driven to such dependence on mediums by tne
Rupa is the physical body, the most gross of the seven prin- uncertain conditions under which occupants of the Russian
ciples of which personality consists. {See Seven Principles, throne seem to exist.
Mayayi-rupa, Theosophy.)
Rupecissa, Johannes de : This alchemist was an ancestor of "Another Russian of high position socially and officially,
Montfaucon, the distinguished archaeologist, and his name M. Aksakof, interested himself in the matter in ways many
Ruysbroeck' 344 Saint Germain
and various, arranging seances to which he invited the became widely esteemed for his erudition, and for his-
scientific men of the University, editing a paper Psychische personal piety ; while his sermons and even his letters were
Studien, of necessity published abroad ; translating Sweden- passed from hand to hand, and perused with great admira-
borg's works into Russian beside various French, American tion by many of his fellow clerics. But he was never found
and English works on the same subject and thus becoming a guilty of courting fame or publicity of any kind, and at the
leader in the movement. Later, with his friends, M. M.
Boutlerof and Wagner, professors respectively of chemistry age of sixty he retired to Groenendale, not far from the-
and zoology at the University of St. Petersburg, he specially battlefield of Waterloo, where he founded a monastery.
commenced a series of seances for the investigation of the
phenomena in an experimental manner and a scientific There he lived until his death in 1381, devoting himself
committee was formed under the leadership of Professor chiefly to the study of mysticism, yet showing himself any-
Mendleyef who afterwards issued an adverse report on the
matter, accusing the mediums of trickery and their followers thing but averse to those charitable actions befitting a.
of easy credulity and the usual warfare proceeded between
the scientific investigators and spiritual enthusiasts." monk.
Ruysbroeck was known to his disciples as " the ecstatic
M. Aksakof's commission was reported upon unfavourably
by M. Mendeleyef, but the former protested against the teacher." As a thinker he was speculative and broad-
minded, and indeed he was one of those who prefigured the
report.' Reformation, the result being that, though he won the-
encomiums of many famous theologians in the age immedi-
At the other extreme of the Social scale among the ately succeeding his, an attempt to beatify him was sternly
peasantry and uneducated classes generally, the grossest
suppressed. He was a tolerably voluminous writer, and at
superstition exists, an ineradicable belief in supernatural Cologne, in 1552, one of his manuscripts found its way into-
agencies and cases are often reported in the columns of book form with the title, De Naptu svel de Ornatu Nuptiarum
Russian Papers of wonder-working, obsession and various Spiritualium ; while since then a number of his further
works have been published, notably De Vera Contemplation?
miraculous happenings, all ascribed, according to their
and De Septem Gradivus Amoris (Hanover, 1848). The-
character, to demoniac or angelic influence, or in the central tenet of his teaching is that " the soul finds God in
districts where the inhabitants are still pagan to local its own depths," but, in contradistinction to many other
deities and witchcraft. mystics, he did not teach the fusion of the self in God, but
held that at the summit of the ascent towards righteousness-
Ruysbroeck or Ruysbrock : Flemish Mystic (1293-1381). It
the soul still preserves its identity.
is probable that this mystic derived his name from the
village of Ruysbreck, near Brussels, for it was there that Ruysbroeck and his teaching begot many voluminous-
he was borri in the year 1293. Even as a child he showed
distinct religious leanings, and before he was- out of his teens commentaries throughout the middle ages, and he has
he had steeped himself in a wealth of mystical literature. attracted a number of great writers, the Abbe Bossuet, for
example, and at a later date Maurice Maeterlinck. In 1891
Naturally, then, he decided to espouse the clerical pro- the latter published L'Ornemant des Noces Spirituelles, de
fession, and in 13 17 he was duly ordained, while a little
later he became vicar of St.GuduIe, one of the parishes of Ruysbroeck V admirable, and an English translation of this-
Brussels. During his long term of acting in this capacity he by J. T. Stoddart was issued in 1904. The reader desirous
01 further information should consult Studies in Mystical
Religion, by Rufus M. Jones, 1909.
s
Saba : In Ossianic legend, wife of Finn and mother of Oisin. bombastic claims, or was ever regarded by anyone else as
In the form of a fawn, she was captured by Finn in the anything but a charlatan.
chase, but noticing that his man-hounds would do her no Sadhus : (See India.)
hurt, he gave her shelter in his Dun of Allen. The next Sahu : The Egyptian name for the spiritual or incorruptible-
morning he found her transformed into a beautiful woman. body. It is figured in the Book of the Dead as a lily spring-
She told him that an enchanter had compelled her to assume ing from the Khat or corruptible body.
the shape of a fawn, but that her original form would be Saint Germain, Comte de : Born probably about 1710, one
of the most celebrated mystic adventurers of modern
restored if she reached Dun Allen. Finn made her his times. Like Cagliostro and others of his kind almost
nothing is known concerning his origin, but there is reason
wife, and ceased for a while from battle and the chase.
to believe that he was a Portuguese Jew. There are,
Hearing one day, however, that the Northmen's warships however, hints that he was of royal birth, but these have
never been substantiated. One thing is fairly certain, and
were in the Bay of Dublin, he mustered his men and went to that is that he was an accomplished spy, for he resided at
fight them. He returned victorious, but to find Saba gone. many European Courts, spoke several languages fluently,
The enchanter, taking advantage of his absence, had and was even sent upon diplomatic missions by Louis XV.
appeared to her in the likeness of Finn with his hounds and He had always abundance of funds at his command, and is
so lured her from the dun, when she became a fawn again. alluded to by Grimm as the most capable and able man
Sabbathi : To this angel, in the Jewish rabbinical legend of he had ever known. He pretended to have lived for
centuries, to have known Solomon, the Queen of Sheba
the celestial hierarchies, is assigned the sphere of Saturn. and many other persons of antiquity ; but although
He receives the divine light of the Holy Spirit, and com- obviously a charlatan, the accomplishments upon which he
based his reputation were in many ways real and con-
municates it to the dwellers in his kingdom. siderable. Especially was this the case as regards chem-
istry, a science in which he was certainly an adept, and he
Sabellicus, Georgius : A magician who lived about the same pretended to have a secret for removing the flaws from
diamonds, and to be able to transmute metals, and of
time as Faust us of Wittenberg, about the end of the 15th
course he possessed the secret of the elixir of life. He is.
century. His chief claims to fame as a sorcerer rest on his mentioned by Horace Walpole as being in London about.
own wide and arrogant advertisement of his skill in necro-
mancy. He styles himself, " The most accomplished
Georgius Sabellicus, a second Faustus, the spring and centre
of necromantic art, an astrologer, a magician, consummate
in chiromancy, and in agromancy, pyromancy and hydro-
mancy inferior to none that ever lived." Unfortunately,
no proof is forthcoming that he ever substantiated these
Saint Germain 345 St. Martin
1743, and as being arrested as a Jacobite spy, who was later This water resists the fury of the fire, and cannot possibly
be vanquished. ' In hac Aqua ' (saith the learned Sever -
released. Walpole writes of him " He is called an ine), ' Rosa latet in Hieme.' These two principles are
: never separated ; for Nature proceeds not so far in her
Italian, a Spaniard, a Pole, a somebody who married a
great fortune iji Mexico and ran away with her jewels to
Constantinople, a priest, a fiddler, a vast nobleman." Dissolutions. When death hath done her worst, there is a
Five years after his London experience, he attached himself
to the court of Louis XV. where he exercised considerable Union between these two, and out of them shall God raise
us to the last day, and restore us to a spiritual constitution.
influence, over that monarch, and was employed by him
upon several secret missions. He was distinctly the fashion I do not conceive there shall be a Resurrection of every
about this time, for Europe was greatly inclined to the
Species, but rather their Terrestrial parts, together with
pursuit of the occult at this epoch ; and as he combined the element of water (for 'there shall be no more sea' : Revela-
mystical conversation with a pleasing character.and not a tions), shall be united in one mixture with the Earth, and
little flippancy, he was the rage. But he ruined his chances —fixed to a pure Diaphanous substance. This is St. John's
at the French court by interfering in a dispute between
Austria and France, and was forced to remove himself to Crystal Gold, a fundamental of the New Jerusalem so
England. He resided in London for one or two years, but
we trace him to St. Petersburg, 1762, where he is said to called, not in respect of Colour, but constitution. Their
Spirits, I suppose, shall be reduced to their first Limbus, a-
have assisted in the conspiracy which placed Catherine II. sphere of pure, ethereal fire, like rich Eternal Tapestry
spread under the throne of God."
on the Russian throne. After this he travelled in Germany St. John's Wort : St. John's Wort. In classical mythology
where he is said in the Memoirs of Cagliostro to have become
the summer solstice was a day dedicated to the sun, and
the founder of freemasonry, and to have initiated Cagliostro was believed to be a day on which witches held their
into that rite. (See Cagliostro.) If Cagliostro's account festivities. St. John's Wort was their symbolical plant,
can be credited, he set about the business with remarkable and people were wont to judge from it whether their
splendour, and not a little bombast, posing as a " deity,"
and behaving in a manner calculated to gladden pseudo- future would be lucky or unlucky as it grew they read in
;
mystics of the age. He was nothing if not theatrical, and
its progressive character their future lot. The Christians
it is probably for this reason that he attracted the Land-
grave Charles of Hesse, who set aside a residence for the dedicated this festive period to St. John's Wort or root, and
study of the occult sciences. He died at Schleswig some- it became a talisman against evil. In one of the old
where between the years 1780 and 1785, but the exact date romantic ballads a young lady falls in love with a demon,
of his death and its circumstances are unknown. It would
who tells her
be a matter of real difficulty to say whether he possessed
any genuine occult power whatsoever, and in all likelihood " Gin )'ou wish to be leman mine
he was merely one of those charlatans in whom his age Lay aside the St. John's Wort and the vervain."
When hung up on St. John's day together with a cross
abounded. Against this view might be set the circum-
over the doors of houses it kept out the devil and other
stance that a great many really clever and able people of
his own time thoroughly believed in him ; but we must evil spirits. To gather the root on St. John's day morning
at sunrise, and retain it in the house, gave luck to the-
family in their undertakings, especially in those begun on
that day.
remember the credulous nature of the age in which he St. Martin, Louis Claude de : French Mystic and Author,,
flourished. It has been said that XVIII. century Europe commonly known as " le philosophe inconnu." (1743-
1803). The name of Louis de St. Martin is a familiar one,
was sceptical regarding everything save occultism and its
professors, and it would appear to unbiassed minds that more familiar, perhaps, than that of almost any other
this circumstance could have no better illustration than French mystic ; and this is partly due to his having been a
voluminous author, and partly to his being virtually the-
the career of the Comte de Saint Germain.
A notable circumstance regarding him was that he founder of a sect, " the Martinistes " ; while again, St.
possessed a magnificent collection of precious stones, which Beuve wrote about him in his Causeries du Lundi, and this
some consider to be artificial, but which others better has naturally brought him under wide notice.
able to judge believe to have been genuine. Thus he Born in 1734 at Amboise, St. Martin came of a family of
presented Louis XV. with a diamond worth 10,000 livres. some wealth and of gentle birth. His mother died while
All sorts of stories were in circulation concerning him. he was a child, but this proved anything but unfortunate
One old lady professed to have encountered him at Venice for him ; for his step-mother besides lavishing a wealth of
fifty years before, where he posed as a man of 60, and even affection on him, early discerned his rare intellectual gifts,
and made every effort to nurture them. " C'est a elle,"
his valet was supposed to have discovered the secret of he wrote afterwards in manhood, " que je dois peut-etre
immortality. On one occasion a visitor rallied this man tout mon bonheur, puisque c'est elle que m'a donne les
upon his master being present at the marriage of Cana in
Galilee, asking him if it were the case. " You forget, sir," premiers elements de cette education douce, attentive et
was the reply, " I have only been in the Comte's service a pieuse, qui m'a fait aimer de Dieu et des hommes.". The
century." boy was educated at the College de Pontlevoy, where he
St. Irvyne, the Rosicrucian, by Wm. Godwin : (See Fiction, read with interest numerous books of a mystical order, one
Occult.) which impressed him particularly being Abbadie's Art de
Saint Jacques, Albert de : A monk of the seventeenth cen- se connaitre soi-mhne ; and at first he intended to make-
tury, who published a book entitled Light to the Living by law his profession, but he soon decided on a military career
the Experiences of the Dead, or divers apparitions of souls instead, and accordingly entered the army. A little before-
from purgatory in our century. The work was published taking this step he had affiliated himself with the freemasons
at Lyons in 1675. and, on his regiment being sent to garrison Bordeaux, he
St. John's Crystal Gold : " In regard of the Ashes of Veget- became intimate with certain new rites which the Portu-
ables," says Vaughan, " although their weaker exterior guese Jew, Martinez Pasqually (q.v.), had lately introduced
Elements expire by violence of the fire, yet their Earth into the masonic lodge there. For a while St. Martin was-
cannot be destroyed, but is Vitrified. The Fusion and deeply interested, not just in the aforesaid but in the
Transparency of this substance is occasioned by the philosophy of Pasqually yet anon he declared that the-
;
Radicall moysture or Seminal water of the Compound. latter's disciples were inclined to be too materialistic, and-
St. Martin 346 Sanyojanas
soon he was deep in the writings of Swedenborg, in whom so limited a space as that at disposal here, but turning to
he found a counsellor more to his taste. The inevitable the author's I'Homme du Desir (1790), and again to his
result of studies of this nature was that he began to feel a Tableau natural des Rapports qui existent entre Die, et
great distaste for regimental life, and so, in 1771, he resigned I'Homme et I'Univers (1782), we find this pair tolerably
representative of all his writing, and their key-note may
his commission, determining to devote the rest of his life
certainly be defined as consisting in aspiration. Man is
to philosophical speculations. He now began writing a
divine despite the fall recounted in the Scriptures, dormant
book, Des Erreurs et de la Verite, ou les Hornmes rappeles au
within him lies a lofty quality of which he is too often
Principe de la Science, which was published in 1775, at
scarcely conscious, and it is incumbent on him to develop
Edinburgh, at this time on the eve of becoming a centre of
this quality, striving thereafter without ceasing, and
literary activity of all sorts ; and it is worth recalling that
this pristine effort by St. Martin was brought under the —waiving the while everything pertaining to the category
notice of Voltaire, the old cynic observing shrewdly that of materialism such is the salient principle in St. Martin's
half a dozen folio volumes might well be devoted to the teaching, a principle which seems literally trite nowadays,
topic of erreurs, but that a page would suffice for the treat- for it has been propounded by a host of modern mystics,
ment of verite ! notably A.E. in The Hero in Man. In writing in this wise,
The young author's next important step was to pay a the French mystic undoubtedly owed a good deal to
visit to England, and thence in 1787 he went to Italy along Swendenborg, while obligations to Bcehme are of course
-with Prince Galitzin, with whom he had lately become manifest throughout his later works ; and, while his debt
to Martinez Pasqually has probably been exaggerated some-
friendly. They stayed together for some time at Rome,
what, there is no doubt that the Portuguese Jew influenced
and then St. Martin left for Strassburg, his intention being
him greatly for a while, the latter' s teaching coming to him
to study German there, for he had recently grown interested
at a time when he was still very young and susceptible, and
in the teaching of Jacob Bcehme, and he was anxious to
fresh from readings of Abbadie.
study the subject thoroughly. Very soon he had achieved
Saintes Maries de la Mer : He de la Camarque, Church of.
this end, and at a later date, indeed, he translated a number
(See Gypsies.)
of the German mystic's writings into French; but meanwhile
Sakta Cult : (See India.)
returning to France, he found his outlook suddenly changed,
Salagrama, The : An Indian stone, credited with possessing
the revolution breaking out in 1789, and a reign of terror
magical properties, and worn as an amulet. This stone is
setting in. No one was safe, and St. Martin was arrested
black in colour, about the size of a billiard ball, and pierced
at Paris, simply on account of his being a gentleman by
with holes. It is said that it can only be found in the
birth but his affiliation with the freemasons stood him in
; Gandaki, a river in Nepaul, which some believe rises at the
good stead in this hour of need, and he was liberated by a foot of Vishnu, and others in the head of Siva. It is kept
decree of the ninth Thermidor. Accordingly he resumed in a clean cloth, and often washed and perfumed by its
fortunate owner. The water in which it has been dipped is
activity with his pen, and in 1792 he issued a new book,
Nouvel Homme ; while two years later he was commissioned supposed thereby to gain sin-expelling potency, and is
to go to his native Amboise, inspect the archives and therefore drunk and greatly valued. It possesses other
libraries of the monasteries in that region, and draw up occult powers, and is a necessary ingredient of the pre-
parations of those about to die. The departing Hindu
occasional reports on the subject. Shortly afterwards he
was appointed an ileve professeur at the Ecole Normale in holds it in his hand, and believing in its powers has hope
Paris, in consequence of which he now made his home in for the future, and dies peacefully.
that town ; and among others with whom he became Salamander's Feather : Otherwise known as Asbestos. A
acquainted there was Chateaubriand, of whose writing, mineral of an incombustible nature, which resembles flax,
he was an enthusiastic devotee, but who, on his parts being of fine fibrous texture. It was used by the Pagans to
light their temples : when once it was lighted, they believed
appears to have received the mystic with his usual haughty
•coldness. St. Martin did not lack a large circle of admirers, it could not be put out, even by rain and storms. Leonar-
dus says : " Its fire is nourished by an inseparable unctuous
however, and he continued to work hard, publishing in Humid flowing from its substance ; therefore, being once
kindled it preserves a constant light without feeding it with
1795 one of his most important books, Leltres a un Ami,
ou Considerations poliliques, philosophiques et religieuses
sur la Revolution, which was succeeded in 1800 by two any moisture."
speculative treatises, Ecce Homo and L'Esprit des Chases. ASallow : tree or shrub of the willow kind. Rods of this
Then, in 1802, he issued yet another volume, Ministere de particular wood were much in use amongst the Scythians
1' Homme Esprit ; but in the following year his labours were and the Alani for purposes of augurial divination. Fine
brought to an abrupt close, for while staying at Annay, not straight wands were chosen, on which certain characters
far from Paris, with a friend called Lenoir-Laroche, he were written, and they were then thrown on a white cloth.
succumbed to an apopleptic seizure. After his death it
From the way in which they fell the magician gained the
was found that he had left a considerable mass of manu- desired information.
scripts behind him, and some of these were issued by his Salmael : (See Astrology.)
executors in 1807, while in 1862 a collection of his letters Salmesbury Hall : (See Haunted Houses.)
appeared. Salmonceus : (See Astrology.)
St. Martin was never married, but he appears to have Samodivi : (See Slavs.)
exercised a most extraordinary fascination over women Samothracian Mysteries : (See Greece.)
;
and in fact divers scandalous stories are told in this relation, Samovile : (See Slavs.)
some of them implicating various courtly dames of the Samoyeds : (See Siberia.)
French nobility of the Empire. As a philosopher St. Samuel, Mother : (See England.)
Martin found a host of disciples among his contemporaries, San Domingo : (See West Indian Islands.)
these gradually forming themselves almost into a distinct Sannyasis : (See India.)
sect, and, as observed before, acquiring the name of '• Mar- Sanyojanas are in the Theosphical scheme the obstacles
tinistes." What, then, was the teaching of their leader ? which the traveller along the Path (q.v.) must surmount.
.and what the nature of the tenets promulgated in his —The number of them is ten and they are :
-voluminous writings ? It is difficult to give an epitome in
1 . Belief in the Ego as unchangeable.
Saphy 347 Scandinavia
—2. Lack of faith in higher effort. became so great that a report Was at last made~;to the king,
—3. Reliance on ritual.
—4. Lust. who nominated commissioners, partly clergy'^and partly
laymen, to inquire into the extraordinary circumstances
5.— Ill-will. which had been brought under his notice, and these com-
—6. Love of the world. missioners arrived in Mohra and announced their intentions
—7. Egotistic longing for a future life.
—8. Pride. of opening their proceedings on the 13th of August, 1670.
—9. Self- righteousness.
—10. Nescience. On the 1 2th of August, the commissioners met at the
Saphy : Perhaps from the Arabic safi " pure, select, excellent." parsonage-house, and heard the complaints of the minister
and several people of the better class, who told them of the
miserable condition they were in, and prayed that by some
Certain charms or amulets worn by the negroes as pro- means or other they might be delivered from the calamity.
tection against thunderbolts and diseases, to procure them They gravely told the commissioners that by the help of
wives, and avert disasters of all kinds. They are com- witches some hundreds of their children had been drawn
posed of strips of paper on which sentences from the Koran to Satan, who had been seen to go in a visible shape through
are inscribed, sometimes intermixed with kabalistic signs. the country, and to appear daily to the people ; the
poorer sort of them, they said, he had seduced by feasting
These strips are enclosed in silver tubes or silk bags, which
are worn near the skin, and often fastened in the dress. them with meat and drink.
Africans of both sexes and all religions are great believers The commissioners entered upon their duties on the
in the occult properties of such talismans and Mungo next day with the utmost diligence, and the result of their
; misguided zeal formed one of the most remarkable examples
Park resorted to the making of Saphy, or Grigris (as they
are some times called), as a means of earning his living. of cruel and remorseless persecution that stains the annals of
Sapphire : It is understood to make the melancholy cheerful sorcery. No less than threescore and ten inhabitants of
the village and district of Mohra, three-and-twenty of whom
and maintain the power or manly vigour of the body. The made confessions, were condemned and executed. One
woman pleaded that she was with child, and the rest
high priest of Egypt wore a sapphire upon his shoulder,
denied their guilt, and these were sent to Fahluna, where
and Aelian says that it was called truth. The Buddhists
most of them were afterwards put to death. Fifteen
still ascribe a sacred magical power to it, and hold that it children were among those who suffered death, and thirty-
six more, of different ages between nine and sixteen, were
reconciles man to God. It is a good amulet against fear, forced to run the gauntlet, and be scourged on the hands at
the church-door every Sunday for one year ; while twenty
promotes the flow of the animal spirits, hindereth ague and more, who had been drawn into these practices more
unwillingly, and were very young, were condemned to be
gout, promotes chastity, and prevents the eyes from being
scourged with rods upon their hands for three successive
affected by small-pox.
Sundays at the church-door. The number of the children
Sara, St., of Egypt : (See Gypsies.)
Sardius : This gem resembles the cornelian, and is an antidote
to the onyx. It prevents unpleasant dreams, makes its
possessor wealthy, and sharpens the wit.
Sardou, Victorian : The famous French dramatist was a keen
student of occultism, and studied spiritualism with Allan accused was about three hundred.
Kardec (q.v.). He achieved great facility as a medium for It appears that the commissioners began by taking the
confessions of the children, and then they confronted them
spirit drawings, and many of the examples by his hand
are of great merit artistically as well as from an occult point with the witches whom the children accused as their
of view. Some of them are reproduced in M. Camille seducers. The latter, to use the words of the authorised
Flammarion's book Mysterious Psychic Forces. (See report, having " most of them children with them, which
France.) they had either seduced or attempted to seduce, some
^ now
Sat B'Hai : A Hindu society, the object of which was the seven years of age, nay, from four to sixteen
years,"
study and development of Indian philosophy. It was so
appeared before the commissioners. " Some of the children
called after the bird Malacocersis Grisis, which always flies
complained lamentably of the misery and mischief they
by sevens. It was introduced into England about the year
1872 by Major J. H. Lawrence Archer. It had seven were forced sometimes to suffer of the devil and the
descending degrees, each of seven disciples, and seven
witches." Being asked, whether they were sure, that they
ascending degrees of perfection, Ekata or Unity. It
were at any time carried away by the devil ? they all
ceased to be necessary on the establishment of the Theosoph-
replied in the affirmative. " Hereupon the witches them-
selves were asked, whether the confessions of those children
ical Society. were true, and admonished to confess the truth, that they
Satan : {See Devil.) might turn away from the devil unto the living God. At
Satanism : (See Devil-worship.)
,Saul, Barnabas : (See Dee.) first, most of them did very stiffly, and without shedding
Scandinavia : For the early history of occultism in Scandin-
the least tear, deny it, though much against their will and
inclination. After this the children were examined every
—avia (see article Teutons.) one by themselves, to see whether their confessions did
Witchcraft. In mediaeval times Scandinavian examples
of witchcraft are rare, but in 1669 and 1670 a great out- agree or no, and the commissioners found that all of them,
break of fanaticism against it commenced in Sweden in the
except some very little ones, which could not tell all the
district of Elfdale. circumstances, did punctually agree in their confessions of
particulars. In the meanwhile, the commissioners that
The villages of Mohra and Elfdale are situated in the dales were of the clergy examined the witches, but could not
of the mountainous districts of the central parts of Sweden.
In the first of the years above mentioned, a strange report bring them to any confession, all continuing steadfast in
went abroad that the children of the neighbourhood were their denials, till at last some of them burst into tears, and
carried away nightly to a place they called Blockula, where
they were received by Satan in person ; and the children their confession agreed with what the children said ; and
themselves, who were the authors of the report, pointed out
to them numerous women, who, they said were witches and these expressed their abhorrence of the fact, and begged
carried them thither. The alarm and terror in the district
pardon. Adding that the devil, whom they called Locyta,
had stopped the mouths of some of them, so loath was he
to part with his prey, and had stopped the ears of others.
And being now gone from them, they could no longer
Scandinavia 348 Scandinavia
conceal it ; for they had now perceived his treachery." than those of most other countries, for, whatever they
The witches asserted that, the journey to Blockula was acknowledged themselves, there seems to have been no
not always made with the same kind of conveyance ; they
commonly used men, beasts, even spits and posts, accord- evidence of mischief done by them. They confessed that
ing as they had opportunity. They preferred, however,
riding upon goats, and if they had more children with them they were obliged to promise Satan that they would do alt
kinds of mischief, and that the devil taught them to milk,
which was after this manner. They used to stick a knife
than the animal could conveniently carry, they elongated in the wall, and hang a kind of label on it, which they drew
its back by means of a spit anointed with their magical
and stroaked ; and as long as this lasted, the persons they
ointment. It was further stated, that if the children did had power over were miserably plagued, and the beasts were
at any time name the names of those, either man or woman, milked that way, till sometimes they died of it. A woman
that had been with them, and had carried them away, they confessed that the devil gave her a wooden knife, where-
were again carried by force, either to Blockula or the cross- with, going into houses, she had power to kill anything she
way, and there beaten, insomuch that some of them died of
it ; " and this some of the witches confessed, and added, touched with it yet there were few that could confess
that now they were exceedingly troubled and tortured in ;
their minds for it." One thing was wanting to confirm
-this circumstance of their confession. The marks of the that they had hurt any man or woman. Being asked
whether they had murdered any children, they confessed
that they had indeed tormented many, but did not know
whether any of them died of these plagues, although they
whip could not be found on the' persons of the victims, said that the devil had showed them several places where
except on one boy, who had some wounds and holes in his
back, that were given him with thorns ; but the witches he had power to do mischief. The minister of Elfdale
said they would quickly vanish. declared, that one night these witches were, to his thinking,
The account they gave of Blockula was, that it was on the crown of his head, and that from thence he had a
situated in a large meadow, like a plain sea, " wherein you
can see no end." The house they met at had a great gate long continued pain of the head. And upon this one of the
painted with many divers colours. Through this gate they
went into a little meadow distinct from the other, and here witches confessed that the devil had sent her to torment that
they turned their animals to graze. When they had made minister, and that she was ordered to use a nail, and strike
use of men for their beasts of burden, they set them up
it into his head, but his skull was so hard that the nail would
not pentrate it, and merely produced that headache. The
hard-headed minister said further, that one night he felt
a pain as if he were torn with an instrument used for
against the wall in a state of helpless slumber, and there combing flax, and when he awoke he heard somebody
they remained till wanted for the homeward flight. In a scratching and scraping. at the window, but could see
very large room of this house, stood a long table, at which nobody ; and one of the witches confessed, that she was the
person that had thus disturbed him. The minister of
the witches sat down and adjoining to this room was
;
another chamber, where there were " lovely and delicate Mohra declared also, that one night one of these witches
beds." came into his house,- and did so violently take him by the
As soon as they arrived at Blockula, the visitors were throat, that he thought he should have been choked, and
required to deny their baptism, and devote themselves awaking, he saw the person that did it, but could not know
body and soul to Satan, whom they promised to serve her ; and that for some weeks he was not able to speak, or
faithfully. Hereupon he cut their fingers, and they wrote perform divine service. An old woman of Elfdale confessed
their name with blood in his book. He then caused them
that the devil had helped her to make a nail, which she
to be baptized anew, by priests appointed for that purpose. stuck into a boy's knee, of which stroke the boy remained
Upon this the devil gave them a purse, wherein there were
lame a long time. And she added, that, before she was
filings of clocks, with a big stone tied to it, which they burned or executed by the hand of justice, the boy would
threw into the water, and said, " As these filings of the
recover.
clock do never return to the clock, from which they were
Another circumstance confessed by these witches was,
taken, so may my soul never return to heaven ! " Another
that the devil gave them a beast, about the shape and
difficulty arose in verifying this statement, that few of the
children had any marks on their fingers to show where they bigness of a cat, which they called a carrier ; and a bird
had been cut. But here again the story was helped by a
as big as a raven, but white and these they could send
girl who had her finger much hurt, and who declared, that ;
anywh,ere, and wherever^ they came they took away all
because she would not stretch out her finger, the devil in sorts of victuals, such as butter, cheese, milk, bacon, and all
anger had thus wounded it. sorts of seeds, and carried them to the witch. What the
When these ceremonies were completed, the witches sat
bird brought they kept for themselves, but what the carrier
down at the table, those whom the fiend esteemed most
brought they took to Blockula, where the arch-fiend gave
being placed nearest to him ; but the children were made
them as much of it as he thought good. The carriers, they
to stand at the door, where he himself gave them meat and
drink. Perhaps we may look for the origin of this part of said, filled themselves so full oftentimes, that they were
forced to disgorge it by the way, and what they thus rendered
fell to the ground, and is found in several gardens where
the story in the pages of Pierre de Lancre. The food with coleworts grow, and far from the houses of the witches. It
which the visitors to Blockula were regaled, consisted of was of a yellow colour like gold, and was called witches'
broth, with coleworts and bacon in it ; oatmeal bread butter.
spread with butter, milk and cheese. Sometimes they
Such are the details, as far as they can now be obtained,
said, it tasted very well, and sometimes very ill. After
of this extraordinary delusion, the only one of a similar
meals they went to dancing, and it was one peculiarity of
these northern witches' sabbaths, that the dance was kind that we know to have occurred in the northern part
of Europe during the " age of witchcraft." In other
usually followed by fighting. Those of Elfdale confessed countries we can generally trace some particular cause
that the devil used to play upon a harp before them. which gave rise to great persecutions of this kind, but
Another peculiarity of these northern witches was, that
here, as the story is told, we see none, for it is hardly likely
children resulted from their intercourse with Satan, and that such a strange series of accusations should have been
these children having married together became the parents the mere invjluntary creation of a party of little children.
Suspicion is excited by the peculiar p-.-.rt which the two
of toads and serpents. clergymen of Elfdale and Mohra acted in it, that they were
The witches of Sweden appear to have been less noxious
Scandinavia 349 Scotland
not altogether strangers to the fabrication. They seem to Knud).; directly when he touched a patient he knew if the
have been weak superstitious men, and perhaps they had same could be cured or not, and often, in severe cases, the
pains of the sick person went through his own body. He
been reading the witchcraft books of the south till they was also an auditive medium, startling the people many
imagined the country round them to be over-run with these times by telling them what was going to happen in the
future ; but the poor fellow suffered much from the ignor-
noxious beings. The proceedings at Mohra caused so much ance and fanaticism around him, and was several times put
alarm throughout Sweden, that prayers were ordered in all in prison.
the churches for delivery from the snares of Satan, who " I am doing all I can to make people acquainted with
was believed to have been let loose in that kingdom. On
a sudden a new edict of the king put a stop to the whole
process, and the matter was brought to a close rather our grand cause."
mysteriously. It is said that the witch prosecution was
A second and more hopeful letter of 1881, addressed to
increasing so much in intensity, that accusations began to —the editor of the Revue Spirite, is as follows :
be made against people of a higher class in society, and " My dear Brothers, Here our science advances without
then a complaint was made to the king, and they were noise. An excellent writing medium has been developed
stopped. among us, one who writes simultaneously with both hands ;
while we have music in a room where there are no musical
Perhaps the two clergymen themselves became alarmed, instruments ; and where there is a piano it plays itself.
but one thing seems certain, that the moment the com-
mission was revoked, and the persecution ceased, no more —At Bergen, where I have recently been, I found mediums,
—-witches were heard of. who in the dark, made sketches were dessinateurs
Spiritualism. In 1843 an epidemic of preaching occurred
using also both hands. I have seen, also, with pleasure
in Southern Sweden, which provides Ennemoser, with that several men of letters and of science have begun to
material for an interesting passage in his History of Magic. investigate our science spirite. The pastor Eckhoff, of
The manifestation of this was so similar in character to Bergen, has for the second time preached against Spiritual-
those described elsewhere, that it is unnecessary to allude ism, ' this instrument of the devil, this psychographie '
;
to it in detail. A writer in the London Medium and Day-
and to give more of eclat to his sermon he has had the
break of 1878 says : " It is about a year and a half since
goodness to have it printed ; so we see that the spirits are
I changed my abode from Stockholm to this place, and working. The suit against the medium, Mme. F., in
during that period it is wonderful how Spiritualism has London, is going the rounds of the papers of Christiania
;
gained ground in Sweden. The leading papers, that used in
these journals opening their columns, when occasion offers,
my time to refuse to publish any article on Spiritualism
Weto ridicule Spiritualism. are, however, friends of the
excepting such as ridiculed the doctrine, have of late truth, but there are scabby sheep among us of a different
thrown their columns wide open to the serious discussion of temperament. From Stockholm they write me that a
the matter. Many a Spiritualist in secret, has thus been library of spiritual works has been opened there, and that
encouraged to give publicity to his opinions without stand- they are to have a medium from Newcastle, with whom
ing any longer in awe of that demon, public ridicule, which seances are to be held."
intimidates so many of our brethren. Several of Allan In the London Spiritual Magazine of May, 1885, is a long
Kajdec's works have been translated into Swedish, among
and interesting paper on Swedish Spiritualism, by William
which I may mention his. Evangile selon le Spiritisme Howitt, in which he gives quite a notable collection of
as particularly well-rendered in Swedish by Walter Jochnick. narratives concerning Phenomenal Spiritual Manifestations
A spiritual Library was opened in Stockholm on the 1st of —in Sweden, most of which were furnished by an eminent and
April last, which will no doubt greatly contribute to the learned Swedish gentleman Count Piper. The public
spreading of the blessed doctrine. The visit of Mr. Eglin- have become so thoroughly sated with tales of hauntings,
ton to Stockholm was of the greatest benefit to the cause. apparitions, prevision, etc., that Count Piper's narrations
Let us hope that the stay of Mrs. Esperance in the south of would present few, if any features of interest, save in
Sweden may have an equally beneficial effect. Notwith- justification of one assertion, that Spiritualism is rife in
standing all this progress of the cause in the neighbouring human experience everywhere, even though it may not take
country, Spiritualism is looked upon here as something akin the same form as a public movement, that it has done in
to madness, but even here there are thin, very thin rays, and America and England.
very wide apart, struggling to pierce the darkness. In As early as 1864, a number of excellent leading articles
Norway, spiritualism as known to modern Europe, did not commending the belief in Spiritual ministry, and the study
of such phenomena as would promote communion between
seem to have become existent until about 1880. A writer the " two worlds," appeared in the columns of the Afton
"in a number of the Dawn of Light published in that year Blad, one of the most popular journals circulated in
says : Spiritualism is just commencing to give a sign of
its existence here in Norway. The newspapers have Sweden.
begun to attack it as a delusion and the ' expose ' of Mrs. Sehroepfer : (See Germany.)
•C, which recently took place at 38, Great Russell Street, Scotland : (For early matter see the article Celts.)
—London, has made the round through all the papers in
Witchcraft. Witchcraft and sorcery appear to have been
Scandinavia. After all, it must sooner or later take root as practised in the earliest historical and traditional times.
in all other parts of the world. Mr. Eglinton, the English It is related that during the reign of Natholocus in the
medium, has done a good work in Stockholm, showing some second century there dwelt in Iona a witch of great renown,
x>f the great savants a new world ; and a couple of years and so celebrated for her marvellous power that the king
ago Mr. Slade visited Copenhagen. The works of Mr. sent one of his captains to consult her regarding the issue
Zollner, the great astronomer of Leipzig, have been men- of a rebellion then troubling his kingdom. The witch
tioned in the papers and caused a good deal of sensation. declared that within a short period the king would be
" Of mediums there are several here, but all, as yet, afraid murdered, not by his open enemies but by one of his most
to speak out. One writes with both hands ; a gentleman favoured friends, in whom he had most especial trust.
is developing as a drawing medium. A peasant, who died The messenger enquired the assassin's name. " Even by
about five years ago, and lived not far from here, was an thine own hands as shall be well-known within these few
.excellent healing medium his name was Knud, and the dayes," replied the witch. So troubled was the captain on
; hearing these words that he railed bitterly against her.
-people had given him the nickname of Vise Knud (the wise
Scotland 350 Scotland
vowing that he would see her burnt before he would commit Witches were accused of a great variety of crimes. A
such a villainous crime. But after reviewing the matter common offence was to bewitch milch cattle by turnin<*
carefully in his mind, he arrived at the conclusion that if he their milk sour, or curtailing the supply, raising storms,
informed the king of the witch's prophecy, the king might stealing children from their graves, and promoting various
for the sake of his personal safety have him put to death,
illnesses. A popular device was to make a waxen image-.
so thereupon he decoyed Natholocus into his private
chamber and falling upon him with a dagger slew him of their victim, thrust pins into it and sear it with hot
outright. About the year 388 the devil was so enraged at
irons, all of which their victim felt and at length succumbed.
the piety of St. Patrick that he assailed the saint by the
Upon domestic animals they cast an evil eye, causing
whole band of witches in Scotland. St. Patrick fled to the
Clyde embarking in a small boat for Ireland. As witches emaciation and refusal to take food till at length death
cannot pursue their victims over running water, they flung ensued. To those who believed in them and acknowledged
a huge rock after the escaping saint, which however fell their power, witches were supposed to use their powers for
harmless to the ground, and which tradition says now
forms Dumbarton Rock. The persecution of witches con- good by curing disease and causing prosperity. Witches
stitutes one of the blackest chapters of history. All had a weekly meeting at which the devil presided, every
classes, Catholic and Protestant alike, pursued the crusade Saturday commonly called "' the witches' Sabbath,"
with equal vigour, undoubtedly inspired by the passage in their meetings generally being held in desolate places or in
Exodus xxii., 18. While it is most probable that the ruined churches, to which they rode through the air
majority of those who practised witchcraft and sorcery
were of weak mind and enfeebled intellect, yet a large mounted on broomsticks. If the devil was not present on
number adopted the supposed art for the purpose of intimi- their arrival, they evoked him by beating the earth with a
fir-stick, and saying " Rise up foul thief." The witches
dation and extortion from their neighbours. Witches
appeared to see him in different guises to some he appeared
were held to have sold themselves body and soul to the ;
devil. The ceremony is said to consist of kneeling before
as a boy clothed in green, others saw him dressed in white,
the evil one, placing one hand on her head and the other
while to others he appeared mounted on a black horse.
under her feet, and dedicating all between to the service of
After delivering a mock sermon, he held a court at which,
the devil, and also renouncing baptism. The witch was
thereafter deemed to be incapable of reformation. No the witches had to make a full statement of their doings
minister of any denomination whatever would intercede or
pray for her. On sealing the compact the devil proceeded during the week. Those who had not accomplished
to put his mark upon her. Writing on the " Witches'
Mark" Mr. Bell, minister of Gladsmuir in 1705 says: sufficient evil were belaboured with their own broomsticks,-
" The witches' mark is sometimes like a blew spot, or a
while those who had been more successful were rewarded
little tale, or reid spots, like fleabiting, sometimes the
flesh is sunk in and hollow and this is put in secret places, as with enchanted bones. The proceedings finished with a-
amongthehairof the head.or eyebrows, within the lips, under
the armpits, and even in the most secret parts of the body." dance, the music to which the fiend played on his bagpipes.
Mr. Robert Kirk of Aberfoill in his Secret Commonwealth Robert Burns in his Tale of Tarn 0' Shanter gives a
states : "A spot that I have seen, as a small mole, horny, graphic description of this orgy. There were great annual
and brown coloured, throw which mark when a large brass
pin was thrust (both in buttock, nose, and rooff of the gatherings at Candlemas, Beltane and Hallow-eve. These
mouth) till it bowed (bent) and became crooked, the were of an international character at which the witch
witches, both men and women, nather felt a pain nor did sisterhood of all nations assembled, those who had to cross
bleed, nor knew the precise time when this was doing to
them (their eyes only being covered)." the sea performing the journey in barges of egg-shell, while
In many cases the mark was invisible, and as it was their aerial journeys were on goblin horses with enchanted
considered that no pain accompanied the pricking of it, bridles.
there arose a body of persons who pretending great skill Witchcraft was first dealt with by law in Scotland when
therein constituted themselves as " witch prickers " and
whose office was to discover and find out witches. The by a statute passed in 1563 in the Parliament of Queen
method employed was barbarous in the extreme. Having Mary it was enacted : " That na maner of person nor
stripped and bound his victim the witch pricker proceeded persons of quhatsumever estaite, degree or condition they
to thrust his needles into every part of the body. When at be of, take upon hand in onie times hereafter to use onie
last the victim worn out with exhaustion and agony remained
silent, the witch pricker declared that he had discovered maner of witchcraft, sorcerie, or necromancie, under the
the mark. Another test for detection was trial by water.
The suspects were tied hands and great toes together, paine of death, alsweil to be execute against the user,
wrapped in a sheet and flung into a deep pool. In cases
where the body floated, the water of baptism was supposed abuser, as the seeker of the response of consultation."
to give up the accused, while those who sank to the bottom
were absolved, but no attempt was made at rescue. When The great Reformer, John Knox, was accused by the
confession was demanded the most horrible of tortures were
Catholics of Scotland of being a renowned wizard and
resorted to, burning with irons being generally the last
torture applied. In some cases a diabolic contrivance having by sorcery raised up saints in the churchyard of
called the " witches' bridle " was used. The " bridle " St. Andrews when Satan himself appeared and so terrified
encircled the victim's head while an iron bit was thrust Knox's secretary that he became insane and died. Knox
was also charged that by his magical arts in his old age he
into the mouth from which prongs protruded piercing the persuaded the beautiful young daughter of Lord Ochiltree
tongue, palate and cheeks. In cases of execution, the victim to marry him. Nicol Burne bitterly denounces Knox for
was usually strangled and thereafter burned at the stake. having secured the affections of " ane damosil of nobil
blude, and he ane auld decrepit creatur of maist bais
degree of onie that could be found in the country."
There were numerous trials for witchcraft in the Justici-
ary Court in Edinburgh and at the Circuit Courts, also
session records preserved from churches all over Scotland
show that numerous cases were dealt with by the local
authorities and church officials. A. J. B. G.
Rodgers, in his Social Life in Scotland, says : " From
the year 1479 when the first capital sentence was carried
out thirty thousand persons had on the charge of using
enchantment been in Great Britain cruelly immolated ;
of these one fourth belonged to Scotland. No inconsiderable
number of those who suffered on the charge of sorcery laid
claim to necromantic acts with intents felonious or un-
worthy.
When James VI. of Scotland, in the year 1603, was
Scotland 351 Scotland
called upon to ascend the throne of Great Britain and dismembered. Doubtless " Alloway's auld haunted Kirk,"
Ireland, his own native kingdom was in rather a curious
sacred to the memory of Burns, was among those ransacked
condition. James himself was a man of considerable
for corpses by the band yet if the crime was a gruesome
learning, intimate with Latin and Theology, yet his book ;
one it was harmless withal, and assuredly Lowrie's ultimate
on Demonology marks him as distinctly superstitious fate was distinctly a hard one ! On the other hand Isobel
;
and, while education and even scholarship were compara- Griersone, a Prestonpans woman, received no more than
tively common at this date in Scotland, more common in justice when burnt to death on the Castle Rock, Edinburgh,
fact than they were in contemporary England, the great in March 1607 ; for the record of her poisonings was a
mass of Scottish people shared abundantly their sovereign's formidable one, rivalling that of Wainewright or that of
dread of witches and the like. The efforts of Knox and Cellini himself, while it is even recorded that she contrived
his doughty confreres, it is true, had brought about momen-
to put an end to several people simply by cursing them.
tous changes in Scottish life, but if the Reformation Equally wonderful were the exploits of another sorceress,
ejected certain superstitions it undoubtedly tended to Belgis Todd of Longniddry, who is reported to have com-
introduce others. For that stern Calvinistfc faith, which
passed the death of a man she hated just by enchanting his
now began to take root in Scotland, nourished the idea that cat ; but this picturesque modus operandi was scorned by a
notorious Perthshire witch Janet Irwing, who about the
sickness and accident are a mark of divine anger, nor did
this theory cease to be common in the north till long after year 1610 poisoned sundry members of the family of.
King James's day. Erskine of Dun, in the county of Angus. The criminal was
It is a pity that the royal author, in the curious treatise detected anon, and suffered the usual fate ; while a few
mentioned above, volunteers but few precise facts anent
years later a long series of tortures, culminating in burning,
the practitioners of magic who throve in Scotland during were inflicted on Margaret Dein (nee Barclay), whose
his reign. But other sources of information indicate that accomplishments appear to have been of no commonplace
these people were very numerous, and whereas, in Elizabe- nature. The wife of a burgess of Irvine, John Dein, this
than England, it was customary to put a witch to death woman conceived a violent aversion for her brother-in-law,
by the merciful process of hanging, in Jacobean Scotland Archibald and on one occasion, when the latter was
;
it was usual to take stronger measures. In short, the setting out for France, Margaret hurled imprecations at
victim was burnt at the stake ; and it is interesting to his ship, vowing none of its crew or passengers would ever
note that on North Berwick Law, in the county of East
return to their native Scotland. Months went by, and no
Lothian, there is standing to this day a tall stone which, word of Archibald's arrival reached Irvine ; while one day
a pedlar named Stewart came to John Dein's house, and
according to local tradition, was erstwhile used for the
ghastly business in question. Yet it would be wrong to declared that the baneful prophecy had been duly fulfilled.
suppose that witches and sorcerers, though handled
The municipal authorities now heard of the affair, and
roughly now and then, were regarded with universal arresting Stewart, whom they had long suspected of
hatred ; for in seventeenth century Scotland medicine and
magic went hand in hand, and the man suffering from a practising magic, they commenced to cross-examine him.
physical malady, particularly one whose cause he could not At first he would tell nothing, but when torture had loosened
his tongue he confessed how, along with Margaret Dein, he
understand, very seldom entrusted himself to a professional had made a clay model of the ill-starred barque, and thrown
leech, and much preferred to consult one who claimed this into the sea on a particu'arly stormy night. His
healing capacities derived from intercourse with the unseen audience were horrified at the news, but they hastened to
world. Physicians of the latter kind, however, were
lay hands on the sorceress, whereupon they dealt with her
generally experts in the art of poisoning and, while a as noted above.
;
good many cures are credited to them, their triumphs in No doubt this tale, and many others like it, have
the opposite direction would seem to have been much more blossomed very considerably in the course of being handed
numerous. Thus we find that in July, 1702, a certain down from generation to generation, and no doubt the
James Reid of Musselburgh was brought to trial, being witches of Jacobean Scotland are credited with triumphs
charged not merely with achieving miraculous cures, but far greater than they really achieved. At the same time,
with contriving the murder of one David Libbertoun, a scanning the annals of sorcery, we find that a number of
its practitioners avowed stoutly, when confronted by a
baker in Edinburgh. This David and his family, it trans-
spires, were sworn enemies of a neighbouring household, terrible death, that they had been initiated in their craft
Christie by name, and betimes their feud grew as fierce as by the foul fiend himself, or haply by a band of fairies ;
and thus, whatever capacities these bygone magicians
that between the Montagues and Capulets ; so the
Christies swore they would bring things to a conclusion, really had, it is manifest that they possessed in abundance
and going to Reid they petitioned his nefarious aid. His that confidence which is among the secrets of power, and is
first act was to bewitch nine stones, these to be cast on the perhaps the very key to success in any line of action. Small
fields of the offending baker with a view to destroying his wonder, then, that they were dreaded by the simple,
crops ; while Reid then proceeded to enchant a piece of raw illiterate folk of their day ; and, musing on these facts, we
feel less amazed at the credulity displayed by an erudite
—flesh, and also to make a statuette of wax the nature of
—the design is not recorded, but presumably Libbertoun man like James VI., we are less surprised at his declaring
himself was represented and Mrs. Christie was enjoined to that all sorcerers ' ought to be put to death according to the
'
thrust the meat under her enemy's door, and then to go law of God, the civill and imperiale Law, and municipall
home and melt the waxwork before her own fire. These Law of all Christian nations."
instructions she duly obeyed, and a little later the victim The last execution of a witch in Scotland took place in
breathed his last ; but Reid did not go unscathed, and after Sutherland in 1722. An old woman residing at Loth was
his trial the usual fate of burning alive was meted out to charged amongst other crimes of having transformed her
him. daughter into a pony and shod by the devil which caused
A like sentence was passed in July 1605 on Patrick the girl to turn lame both in hands and feet, a calamity
Lowrie, a native of Halic in Ayrshire, and known there as which entailed upon her son. Sentence of death was
" Pat the Witch," who was found guilty of foregathering
pronounced by Captain David Ross, the Sheriff-substitute.
with endless sorceresses of the neighbourhood, and of Rodgers relates : " The poor creature when lead to the
assisting them in disinterring bodies which they afterwards stake was unconscious of the stir made on her account, and
Scotland Scotland
warming her wrinkled hands at the fire kindled to consume was a notorious trafficker with witches, with whom his
her, said she was thankful for so good a blaze. For his
rashness in pronouncing the sentence of death, the Sheriff barony of Broughton was overrun. Being desirous of
was emphatically reproved."
beholding his Satanic majesty in person, he secured the
The reign of ignorance and superstition was fast drawing
services of one Richard Graham. The results of the evoca-
tion were disastrous to the inquisitive judge, whose nerves
to a close. were so shattered at the apparition of the Lord of Hades
Witchcraft, if it can be so called nowadays, is dealt with
that he fell ill and shortly afterwards expired.
under the laws pertaining to rogues, vagabonds, fortune-
tellers, gamesters, and such like characters. {See Fortune- The case of Major Weir is one of the most inter-
—telling.) esting in the.annals of Scottish sorcery. " It is certain,"
Magic and Demonology. Magic of the lower cultus, perhaps says Scott, " that no story of witchcraft or necromancy,
the detritus of Druidism, appears to have been common in so many of which occurred near and in Edinburgh, made
WeScotland until a late period. such a lasting impression on the public mind as that of
find in the pages of Major Weir. The remains of the house in which he and
his sister lived are still shown at the head of the West
Adamnan that the Druids were regarded by St. Columba Bow, which has a gloomy aspect, well suited for a necro-
and his priest as magicians, and that he met their sorcery mancer. It was at different times a brazier's shop and
with a superior celestial magic of his own. Thus does the a magazine for lint, and in my younger days was employed
religion of one race become magic in the eyes of another.
Notices of sorcery in Scotland before the thirteenth century for the latter use ; but no family would inhabit the haunted
are scanty, if we except the tradition that Macbeth encoun- walls as a residence and bold was the urchin from the
;
Wetered three witches who prophesied his fate to him.
High School who dared approach the gloomy ruin at the
have no reason to believe that Thomas the Rhymer (who
risk of seeing the Major's enchanted staff parading through
has been endowed by later superstition with adventures
the old apartments, or hearing the hum of the necromantic
similar to those of Tannhauser) was other than a minstrel wheel, which procured for his sister such a character as a
and maker of epigrams, or that Sir Michael Scot was other spinner. ,
than a scholar and man of letters. Workers of sorcery " The case of this notorious wizard was remarkable
were numerous but obscure, and although often of noble chiefly from his being a man of some condition (the son
birth as Lady Glamis and Lady Fowlis, were probably very of a gentleman, and his mother a lady of family in Clydes-
Weignorant persons. - get a glimpse of Scottish demonology dale), which was seldom the case with those that fell
in the later middle ages in the rhymed fragment known as under similar accusations. It was also remarkable in
" The Cursing of Sir John Rowll," a priest of Corstorphine, his case that he had been a Covenanter, and peculiarly
attached to that cause. In the years of the Commonwealth
near Edinburgh, which dates perhaps from the last quarter
this man was trusted and employed by those who were then
of the fifteenth century. It is an invective against certain
at the head of affairs, and was in 1649 commander of the
persons who have rifled his poultry-yard, upon whom the City-Guard of Edinburgh, which procured him his title of
priest calls down the divine vengeance. The demons who Major. In this capacity he was understood, as was indeed
were to torment the evildoers are : Garog, Harog, Sym implied in the duties of that officer at the period, to be
Skynar, Devetinus " the devill that maid the dyce,"
Firemouth, Cokadame, Tutivillus, Browny, and Syr very strict in executing severity upon -such Royalists as
Garnega, who may be the same as that Girnigo, to whom fell under his military charge. It appears that the Major,
cross children are often likened by angry mothers of the with a maiden sister who had kept his house, was subject
Scottish working-classes, in such a phrase as " eh, ye're a to fits of melancholic lunacy, an infirmity easily recon-
wee girnigo," and the Scottish verb, to " girn," may find cilable with the formal pretences which he made to a high
its origin in the name of a mediaeval fiend, the last shadow show of religious zeal. He was peculiar in his gift of
of some Teutonic or Celtic deity of unlovable attributes. prayer, and, as was the custom of the period, was often
In Sym Skynar, we may have Skyrnir, a Norse giant in called to exercise his talent by the bedside of sick persons,
whose glove Thor found shelter from an earthquake, and until it came to be observed that, by some association,
who sadly fooled him and his companions. Skyrnir was, which it is more easy to conceive than to explain, he
of course, one of the Jotunn or Norse Titans, and probably could not pray with the same warmth and fluency of
one of the powers of winter ; and he may have received the expression unless when he had in his hand a stick of pecu-
popular surname of " Sym" in the same manner as we liar shape and appearance, which he generally walked
Aspeak of " Jack " Frost. great deal has still to be-done with. It was noticed, in short, that when this stick was
in unearthing the minor figures of Scottish mythology and taken from him,' his wit and talent appeared to forsake him.
demonology, and even the greater ones have not received This Major Weir was seized by the magistrates on a strange
the attention due to them. In Newhaven, a fishing district whisper that became current respecting vile practices,
near Edinburgh, for example, we find the belief current in a which he seems to have admitted without either shame or
fiend called Brounger, who is described as an old man who contrition. The disgusting profligacies which he con-
levies a toll of fish and oysters upon the local fisherman. If fessed were of such a character that it may be charitably
he is not-placated with these, he wreaks vengeance on the hoped most of them were the fruits of a depraved imagina-
persons who fail to supply him. He is also described as tion, though he appears- to have been in many respects a
" a Flint and the son of a Flint," which proves conclusively wicked and criminal hypocrite. When he had completed
that, like Thor and many other gods of Asia and America,
his confession, he avowed solemnly that he had not con-
he was a thunder or weather deity. In fact his name is
fessed the hundredth part of the crimes which he had com-
probably a mere corruption of an ancient Scandinavian mitted. From this time he would answer no interrogatory,
word meaning "to strike," which still survives in the Scottish
expression to " make a breenge " at one. To return to nor would he have recourse to prayer, arguing that, as he
instances of practical magic, a terrifying and picturesque had no hope whatever of escaping Satan, there was no
legend tells how Sir Lewis Bellenden, a lord of session, and
need of incensing him by vain efforts at repentance. His
superior of the Barony of Broughton, near Edinburgh,
witchcraft seems to have been taken for granted on his
succeeded by the aid of a sorcerer in raising the Devil in
the backyard of his own house in the Canongate, some- own confession, as his indictment was chiefly founded on
where about the end of the sixteenth century. Sir Lewis the same document, in which he alleged he had never seen
the devil, but any feeling he had of him was in the dark.
He received sentence of death, which he suffered 12th April,
Scotland 353 Scotland
1670, at the Gallow-hill, between Leith and"JEdinburgh. 1501-2, there can be no doubt that he held an appointment
He died so stupidly sullen and impenitent as to justify as a physician in the royal household. He soon succeeded
the opinion that he was oppressed with a kind of melancholy in ingratiating himself with the king, and it is probable
frenzy, the consequence perhaps of remorse, but such as that it was from him that James imbibed a strong passion
urged him not to repent, but to despair. It seems probable for alchemy, as he about this time erected at Stirling a
that he was burnt alive. His sister, with whom he was furnace for prosecuting such experiments, and continued
supposed to have had an incestuous connection, was during the rest of his reign to expend considerable sums of
condemned also to death, leaving a stronger and more money in attempts to discover the philosopher's stone.
explicit testimony of their mutual sins than could be ' Maister John,' says Bishop Lesley, caused the king
J
extracted from the Maj or. She gave, as usual, some account
believe, that he by multiplying and utheris his inventions
of her connection with the queen of the fairies, and acknow- sold make fine gold of uther metal, quhilk science he callit
ledged the assistance she received from that sovereign in the Quintassence, whereupon the king made great cost, but
spinning an unusual quantity of yarn. Of her brother she all in vain.' There are numerous entries in the Treasurer's
said that one day a friend called upon them at noonday Accounts of sums paid for saltpetre, bellows, two great
with a fiery chariot, and invited them to visit a friend at stillatours, brass mortars, coals, and numerous vessels of
Dalkeith, and that while there her brother received informa- various shapes, sizes, and denominations, for the use of
tion of the event of the battle of Worcester. No one saw this foreign adept in his mystical studies. ' These, however,
the style of their equipage except themselves. On the were not his sole occupations for after the mysterious
;
scaffold this woman, determining, as she said, to die " with —labours of the day were concluded, Master John was wont
the greatest shame possible " was with difficulty prevented to play at cards with the sovereign a mode by which he
from throwing off her clothing before the people, and with probably transferred the contents of the royal exchequer
scarce less trouble was she flung from the ladder by the into his own purse, as efficaciously as by his distillations.'
executioner. Her last words were in the tone of the sect We find that on the 4th of March, 1501, nine pounds five
to which her brother had so long affected to belong : shillings were paid ' to the king and the French leich to
" Many," she said, " weep and lament for a poor old Aplay at cartis.' few months later, on the occasion
wretch like me but alas, few are weeping for a broken of a temporary visit which the empiric found it necessary
;
to pay to France, James made him a present of his own
covenant."
horse and two hundred pounds. Early in the year 1504,
—Alchemy. James IV. was attached to the science of
the Abbot of Tungland, in Galloway, died, and the king,
alchemy. " Dunbar speaks of the patronage which
the king bestowed upon certain adventurers, who had with a reckless disregard of the dictates of duty, and even
studied the mysteries of alchemy, and were ingenious in of common decency, appointed this unprincipled adven-
turer to the vacant office. On the nth March, the
making ' quintiscence ' which should convert other metals
into pure gold ; and in the Treasurer's Accounts there are Treasurer paid ' to Gareoch Parsuivant fourteen shillings
numerous payments for the ' quinta essentia,' including to pass to Tungland for the Abbacy to French
Maister John.' On the 12th of the same month, ' by the
wages to the persons employed, utensils of various kinds,
coals and wood for the furnaces, and for a variety of other king's command,' he paid ' to Bardus Altovite Lumbard
materials, such as quicksilver, aqua vita?, litharge, auri, twenty-five pounds for Maister John, the French Mediciner,
fine tin, burnt silver, alum, salt and eggs, saltpetre, etc. new maid Abbot of Tungland, whilk he aucht (owed) to the
Considerable sums were also paid to several ' Potingairs ' said Bardus ; ' and a few days later on the 17th, there was
given ' to Maister John the new maid Abbot of Tungland,
for stuff of various kinds to the Quinta Essentia. Thus,
on the 3rd of March, 1501, ' the king sent to Strivelin seven pounds.' Three years after, in 1507, July 27, occurs
—(Stirling) four Harry nobles in gold,' a sum equal, as it the following entry : ' Item, lent, by the king's command
—is stated, to nine pounds Scots money ' for the leech to
to the Abbot of Tungland, and can nocht be gettin fra him
multiply.' On the 27th of May, 1502, the Treasurer paid £33 : 6 : 8.' An adventure which befel this dexterous im-
postor afforded great amusement to the Scottish court. On the
to Robert Bartoun, one of the king's mariners, ' for certain
droggis (drugs) brocht home by him to the French leich, occasion of an embassy setting out from Stirling to the court of
^31 : 4 : o.' On the nth of February, 1503-4, we find
twenty shillings given ' to the man suld mak aurum potabile, France, he had the assurance to declare that by means of a
pair of artificial wings which he had constructed, he would
be the king's commands.' And on the 13th of October, undertake to fly to Paris and arrive long before the am-
1507, the Treasurer paid six pounds for a puncheon of wine bassadors. ' This time,' says Bishop Lesley, ' there was
to the Abbot of Tungland, to ' mak Quinta Essentia." The an Italiane with the king, who was made Abbot of Tung-
credulity and indiscriminate generosity of the Scottish land. This abbot tuke in hand to flie with wings, and to be
monarch appear to have collected around him a multitude in France before the said ambassadors ; and to that effect
of quacks of all sorts, for, besides the Abbot, mention is he caused make ane pair of wings of feathers, quhilk bein
made of ' the leech with the curland hair ' ; of ' the lang
festinitt uponn him he flew off the castle-wall of Stirling ;
Dutch doctor,' of one Fullertone, who was believed to
but shortly he fell to the ground and broke his thie-bane ;
possess the secret of making precious stones ; of a Dr. but the wyte (blame) thereof he ascribed to their beand
Ogilvy who laboured hard at the transmutation of metals,
some hen feathers in the wings, quhilk yarnit, and coveted
and many other empirics, whom James not only supported
the myddin and not the skies.' This incident gave rise to
in their experiments, but himself assisted in their labora- Dunbar's satirical ballad entitled, ' Of the Fenyeit Friar
tory. The most noted of these adventurers was the person of Tungland,' in which the poet exposes in the most sar-
who is variously styled in the Treasurer's Accounts ' the
castic strain the pretensions of the luckless adventurer, and
French Leich,' ' Maister John the French Leich,' ' Maister relates with great humour the result of his attempt to soar
John the French Medicinar,' and ' French Maister John.' into the skies, when he was dragged to the earth by the
The real name of this empiric was John Damian ; and we
low-minded propensities of the ' hen feathers,' which he
learn from Dunbar that he was a native of Lombardy, and
had inadvertently admitted into the construction of his
had practised surgery and other arts in France before his wings. The unsuccessful attempt of the abbot, though,
arrival in Scotland. His first appearance at the court of according to Lesley, it subjected him to the ridicule of the
James was in the capacity of a French leech, and as he is whole kingdom, does not appear to have lost him the king's
mentioned among the persons who received ' leveray ' in favour, for the Treasurer's books, from October, 1507, to
Scotland 354 Scotland:
August, 1508, repeatedly mention him as having played at fronted a late traveller at a ford. She claimed him as her
own and if he disputed her claim, asked what weapons he
dice and cards with his majesty ; and on the 8th of Septem- had to use against her. The unwary one named each in
turn, and when he did so the power to harm her passed
ber, 1508, ' Damiane, Abbot of Tungland,' obtained the away. One story of this character runs : " The wife rose
up against the smith who rode his horse, and she said,
royal permission to pursue his studies abroad during the
" I have you : what have you against me ? " " My
space of five years. He must have returned to Scotland,
sword," the. man answered. " I have that," she said,
however, before the death of James ; and the last notice " what else ? " " My shield," the man said. " I have
given to this impostor is quite in character. On the 27th that and you are mine." " But," protested the man, " I
of March, 1513, the sum of twenty pounds was paid to him
have something else." "What is that ? " the water wife-
for his journey to the mine in Crawford Moor, where the
demanded. To this question the cautious smith answered,
king had at that time artisans at work searching for gold."
" I have the long, grey, sharp thing at my thigh." This
From this reign to that of Mary no magician or alchemical
was his dirk, and not having named it, he was able to make
practitioner of note appears to have existed in Scotland,
use of it. As he spoke he flung his plaid round the water
and in the reign of James VI. too great severity was
wife and lifted her up on his horse behind him. Enclosed
exhibited against such to permit of them avowing them- in the magic circle she was powerless to harm Kim, and he
-rode home with her, deaf to her entreaties and promises.
selves publicly. In James's reign, however, lived the
He took her to his smithy and tied her to the anvil. That
celebrated Alexander Seton (q.v.), of Port Seton near Edin- night her brood came to release her. They raised a tem-
burgh, known abroad as ' The Cosmopolite ' who is said pest and tore the roof off the smithy, but the smith defied
to have succeeded in achieving the transmutation of them. When day dawned they had to retreat. Then he
—metals. L S. bargained with the water wife, and she consented if he
would release her that neither he nor any of his descendants
Highlands. Pagan Scotland appears to have been
should ever be drowned in any three rivers he might name.
entirely devoid of benevolent deities. Those representa-
tives of the spirit world who were on friendly terms with He named three and received her promise, but as she
made her escape she reminded him of a fourth river. " It
mankind were either held captive by magic spells, or had
is mine still," she added. In that particular river the
some sinister object in view which caused them to act smith himself ultimately perished." To this day fishermen
will not name either the fish they desire to procure or those
with the most plausible duplicity. The chief demon or that prey on their catches. Haddocks are " white bellies,"
salmon " red ones," and the dog-fish " the big black
— —deity one hesitates which to call her was a one-eyed
—fellow." It is also regarded unlucky to name a minister, or
Hag who had tusks like a wild bear. She is referred to in
refer to Sunday, in a fishing boat a fact which suggests
folk tales as " the old wife " (Cailleach), " Grey Eyebrows "
" the Yellow Muitearteach," etc., and reputed to be a that in early Christian times fishermen might be pious
great worker of spells. Apparently she figured in a lost churchmen on land but continued to practise paganism
when they went to sea, like the Icelandic Norsemen who
creation myth, for fragmentary accounts survive of how believed that Christ ruled their island, and Thor the ocean.
Fairies must not be named on Fridays or at Hallowe'en,
she fashioned the hills, brought lochs into existence and Beltain (May Day) when charm fires were lit.
and caused whirlpools by vengeful operations in the sea. Earth worship, or rather the propitiation of earth
She is a lover of darkness, desolations and winter. With her spirits, was a prominent feature of Scottish paganism.
hammer she alternately splinters mountains, prevents the There again magic played a leading role. Compacts were
growth of grass or raises storms. Numerous wild animals confirmed by swearing over a piece of turf, certain moors
or mounds were set apart for ceremonial practices, and
follow her, including deer, goats, wild boars. When one of
these were visited for the performance of child-procuring
her sons is thwarted in his love affairs by her, he transforms
her into a mountain boulder " looking over the sea," a and other ceremonies which were performed at a standing
form she retains during the summer. She is liberated stone. In cases of sickness a divination cake was baked
again on the approach of winter. During the Spring and left at a sacred place ; if it disappeared during the
months the Hag drowns fishermen and preys on the food night, the patient was supposed to recover ; if it remained
untouched until the following morning it was believed that
supply : she also steals children and roasts them in her
the patient would die. This practice is not'yet obsolete.
cave. Her progeny includes a brood of monstrous giants Offerings were constantly made to the earth spirits. In
a witch trial recorded in Humbie Kirk Session Register
each with several heads and arms. These are continually
(23rd September, 1649) one Agnes Gourlay is accused of
operating against mankind, throwing down houses, abduct- having made offerings of milk, saying, " God betuch ws
ing women and destroying growing crops. Heroes who to ; they are wnder the yird that have as much need of it
as they that are above the yird " ; i.e., " God preserve us
fight against them require the assistance of the witch who too ; they are under the earth that have as much need of
is called " Wise Woman," from whom they obtain magic it as they that are above the earth." The milk poured out
wands. The witch of Scottish folk tales is the " friend of upon the earth at magical ceremonies was supposed to go to
the fairies. Gruagach stones have not yet entirely van-
man," and her profession was evidently regarded in ancient
ished in the Highlands. These are flat stones with deep
times as a highly honourable one. Wizards also enjoyed " cup "' marks. After a cow is milked, the milker pours
into a hole the portion of milk required by the Gruagach,
high repute ; they were the witch-doctors, priests and
a long-haired spirit who is usually " dressed like a gentle-
magicians of the Scottish Pagans, and it was not until the man." If no offering is given to him, the cream will not
sixteenth century that legal steps were taken, to suppress rise on the milk, and, if it does the churning will be a
them in the Highland districts. There was no sun-worship failure. There are interesting records in the Presbytery
or moon-worship in Scotland ; neither sun nor moon were records of Dingwall, Ross-shire, regarding the prevalence of
individualised in the Gaelic language ; these bodies, however
were reputed to exercise a magical influence. The moon
especially was a " Magic Tank " from which supplies of
power were drawn by those capable of performing requsite
ceremonies. But although there were no lunar or solar
spirits, there were numerous earth and water spirits. The
" water wife," like the English " mere wife," was a greatly
dreaded being who greedily devoured victims. She must
not be confused with the Banshee, that Fate whose chief
business it was to foretell disasters, either by washing
blood-stained garments or knocking, knocking on a certain
boulder beside a river, or in the locality where some great
tragedy was impending. The water wife usually con-
Scotland 355 Scott
milk pouring and other ceremonies during the seventeenth occasions within the following week he questioned the
gentleman's daughter regarding her father's health and
century. Among the " abominations " referred to are
those for which Gairloch parish continued to be notorious was informed that he was " as usual." The daughter was
" frequent approaches to some ruinous chappels and circu-
surprised at the inquiries. Two days after this meeting
lateing them ; and that future events in reference especiallie the gentleman in question expired suddenly while sitting
to lyfe and death, in takeing of Journeyes, was exspect to be in his chair. Again the individual, on hearing of the death,
manifested by a holl (hole) of a round stone quherein had a brief but distressing illness, with symptoms usually
(wherein) they tryed the entering of their heade, which (if associated with shock. The mother of this man has a
they) could doe, to witt, be able to put in their heade, they similar faculty. On several occasions she has seen lights.
exspect thair returning to that place, and failing they One day during the Boer War an officer passing her door
considered it ominous." Objection was also taken by the bade her good-bye as he had been ordered to South Africa.
horrified Presbytery to " their adoring of wells and super- She said, " He will either be slain or come back deformed,"
stitious monuments and stones," and to the " sacrifice of
and turned ill immediately. A few months afterwards
bulls at a certaine tyme uppon the 25 of August " and the officer was wounded in the lower jaw with a bullet and
to ' pouring milk upon hills as oblationes." returned home with his face much deformed.
The seer was usually wrapped in the skin of a sacrificed The " Second-sight " faculty manifests itself in various
bull and left lying all night beside a river. He was visited ways, as these instances show, and evidence that it is
by supernatural beings in the darkness and obtained possessed by individuals may occur only once or twice in a
answers regarding future events. Another way to perform lifetime. There are cases, however, in which it is con-
this divination ceremony was to roast a live cat. The stantly active. Those who are reputed to have the faculty
cat was turned on a spit until the " Big Cat " (the devil) are most reticent regarding it, and appear to dread it. At
appeared and either granted the wish of the performer of the close of the nineteenth century tow-charms to cure
the ceremony, or foretold what was to take place in answer sprains and bruises were sold in a well-known Highland
to a query. At the present day there are many surviving town by a woman who muttered a metrical spell over each
beliefs regarding witchcraft, fairies, the evil eye, second magic knot she tied as the afflicted part was treated by her.
sight and magical charms to cure or injure. She had numerous patients among all classes. Bone-
Individuals, domesticated animals and dwellings are setters still enjoy high repute in localities : not many
charmed against witchcraft by iron and certain herbs or years ago a public presentation was made to a Ross-shire
berries. The evil eye influence is dispelled by drinking bone-setter in recognition of his life-long services to
" water of silver " from a wooden bowl or ladle. The the community. His faculty was inherited from his for-
water is taken from a river or well of high repute ; silver is bears.
placed in it ; then a charm is repeated, and when it has
Numerous instances may be gleaned in the Highlands
been passed over a fire, the victim is given to drink and of the appearance of the spirits of the living and the
what remains is sprinkled round the hearth-stone with dead. The appearance of the spirit of a living person is
ceremony which varies in districts. Curative charms are said to be a sure indication of the approaching death of that
handed down in families from a male to a female and a individual. It is never seen by a member of the family, but
female to a male. Blood-stopping charms are still re- appears to intimate friends. Sometimes it speaks and
garded with great sanctity and the most persistent col- gives indication of the fate of some other mutual acquain-
lectors have been unable to obtain them from those who tance. Donald Mackenzie.
are reported to be able to use these with effect. Accounts Scott, David and William Eell : These brothers, of whom
are still given of " blood-stopping " from a distance. David is by far the more important, certainly deserve a
Although the possessor of the power has usually a traditional place in this volume, Born at Edinburgh in 1777, David
charm, he or she rarely uses it without praying also. Some lived a comparatively uneventful life, his lofty gifts being
Highland doctors bear testimony in private to the wonder- quite unrecognised by his contemporaries, and his death in
Aful effects of " blood-stopping " operations. few years 1849 being hastened in some degree by this persistent
ago a medical officer of Inverness-shire stated in his official neglect. Nowadays, however, connoisseurs in Scotland
report to the County Council that he was watching with are beginning to appreciate him, perceiving in his output
interest the operations of " King's Evil Curers " who still technical merits far transcending those of Raeburn himself
enjoy great repute in the Western Isles. These are usually ;
while people who care for art dealing with the supernatural
" seventh sons." " Second-sight," like the power to cure are coming to see, slowly but surely, that Scott's Paracelsus
and stop blood, runs in families. There is not a parish in and Vasco de Gama are in the forefront of work of this kind ;
the Scottish Highlands without its family in which one and that his beautiful drawings for The Ancient Mariner
or more individuals are reputed to have occult powers. render the very spirit of Coleridge, the arch-mystic, render
Some have visions either while awake or asleep. Others it with a skill unsurpassed in any previous or subsequent
hear ominous sounds on occasions and are able to under- illustrations to the poem.
stand what they signify. Certain individuals confess, William Bell Scott was also a native of Edinburgh, being
but with no appreciation of the faculty, that they are born there in 181 1, and his career was very different from
sometimes, not always, able to foretell that a person is David's, for he won worldly success from the first, and ere
his death in 1890 he had received many laurels. Etching
likely to die ere long. Two instances of this kind may
some of his brother's works, and painting a host of pictures,
be given. A younger brother caught a chill. When an
elder brother visited him he knew at once the young man he was also a voluminous writer ; and his Autobiography
would die soon, and communicated a statement to that contains some really valuable comments on the mystic
effect to a mutual friend. According to medical opinion the symbolism permeating the painting of the middle-ages,
patient who was not confined to bed, was in no danger, but and embodies also a shrewd and interesting account of
three months afterwards he developed serious symptoms Rossetti's essays in table-turning and kindred practices.
and died suddenly. When intelligence of the death was Moreover, William Bell's poems are almost all of a meta-
communicated to the elder brother he had a temporary physical order ; and though it is extravagant to call him
illness. The same individual met a gentleman in a friend's " the Scottish Blake," as many people have done, his
house and had a similar experience : he " felt " he could mystical verse undoubtedly reflects a certain " meditative
not explain how, that this man was near death. On two beauty," as Fiona Macleod once wrote on the subject.
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An encyclopaedia of occultism _ a compendium of information on the occult sciences, occult personalities, psychic science, magic, demonology, spiritism and mysticism
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An encyclopaedia of occultism _ a compendium of information on the occult sciences, occult personalities, psychic science, magic, demonology, spiritism and mysticism
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