FOREWORD

September in the north land! Nature has not been prodigal with her colors this Autumn; the frosts came early, so the forests change slowly; but yesterday, as if by magic, there was gold among the green, and today there is purple and red; hilltops blaze with their crowns of maple, slopes show grey in the sunlight, vines straggle here and there in lines of bronze, and the great timber reaches stand out in their somber shades.

Again I have crossed the Canadian border and come into the heart of the wilderness, into the silence where one can think deeply. Here in a cabin, where I have spent many summers, there is a quiet not to be found in the great cities. The crisp air, clean and pure, stimulates like old wine, and the moving waters along the wooded shores soothe tired nerves.

It is good at times to be alone--alone in the heart of a great forest. Listening, one hears new sounds, new voices, voices of the woodland, voices of the furtive folk, voices of the swaying trees and moving waters, voices everywhere--for wherever there is life there is language, language of which we in our wisdom get only an indefinite impression. I have heard other voices--voices of those the world calls dead--on more than seven hundred nights, covering a period of twenty-two years, aided by a wonderful psychic, I talked with those in the after life, they using their own vocal organs just as I did.

This astounding statement, owing to lack of knowledge and to erroneous conceptions, staggers the ordinary imagination. These facts will not be grasped, without explaining how it is done and describing the conditions which make speech with spirit people possible. I am going to tell, if I can, in language that may be understood, what the great change actually is and to what it leads. In order to do this, the first fact that must be brought home is that here and now our real body is our inner body; that what is visible and tangible is the flesh garment, which we wear while an inhabitant of this plane; that dissolution is only a separation--a severance of the inner body from the flesh garment; that both are material and that thereafter the spirit body is identically the same as before--the same, but lacking the outer covering.

Also, the place inhabited by all these so called dead is as material and tangible as this earth, and, given the right conditions, those who have gone from us can talk voice to voice with us as when in earthly life.

How stupendous the undertaking! Notwithstanding the great privilege that has been mine, greater perhaps than that enjoyed by most people, I feel unequal to the task, and were it not for the consciousness that an invisible group would in some way guide and help, I question my courage.

All this cannot be done by mere statement of conclusions. Such is human mentality, that each condition must be illustrated and explained, the principle involved must be expounded and made to appeal to one's reason; otherwise, it goes for naught. I have, in many cases, left the explanation of these great problems in the actual words of those who now live over the border; I have quoted their statements, describing dissolution, the place where they live and what they do to sustain and enrich themselves in their life from day to day. I will also let them tell something of the effect in that plane of acts and thoughts on this one.

In order to think clearly, I find I must be far from the confusion of business, in harmony with nature, in tune with natural vibrations. For that reason, and to fulfill a promise made to a group of spirit people, I have sought the seclusion of this forest home, as I have done before, to tell again to a hungry world something of what I have learned of the conditions following so-called death.

The twilight gathers; the day and night are blending; purple shadows in the west; the great logs crack; the fire warms; the winds sigh in the branches; and over the wooded island across the bay the full moon glints and rises majestically in the concave sky, flooding the world with light and making a pathway to my cabin door.

The problem of life and death is the most vital of all that confront mankind, and the least understood. Here in the quiet of this place all the so-called dead come close. Though I possess no psychic sight or hearing, such has been my speech and acquaintance with them, that they come at the thought call and hold mental speech with me. I catch their silent suggestion.

Death is unknown in nature. Change comes to the human race and man is changing day by day, but final dissolution is only another step in his progression. Those that have gone since the earth was first peopled, live on, and we who tread the earth today will live on. They now hold speech with those who still inhabit the earth plane, as we may do when we join them, if conditions are right. And as communication is better perfected, there will be a better understanding, and finer development, as we come to know this law.

The past comes to me like a dream. Again I hear the voices of those who have gone before, speaking words of encouragement and words of wisdom. I feel again the touch of their hands vibrating beyond measure, yet warm and natural for the moment. And their faces, clothed for an instant with material as when they lived here, I see now in memory as when I saw in fact.

Dissolution will mean little to me, for I know something of the reality of the after life and I have, in my years of work, made many friends there. I will not go as a stranger to a strange land, but as one who has, by effort, gained some knowledge of conditions to be met, and many of those who reside there, whom I never knew in the physical body, I shall have the privilege of calling my friends.

How astounding the fact that human life is lived with no thought of the morrow, with little or no regard of what waits beyond! Nature has a purpose in all things. What is man's purpose? We come out of the invisible, stay for a little time, and go back to the invisible; but which is the real? How many ever give this subject the slightest consideration? What is man's conception of it, and how must he live and what must he do, to meet with self-respect the life beyond?

The morning breaks. I go out on the broad veranda and face the east, as the September sun shows above the hills. It has shown millions of times before and will shine when all that now live in this physical plane are forgotten, and when new generations have taken their place and property. I see about me in volcanic rock, in fossil fragments stolen from decay, in valleys worn between the hills, in ridges lifted from the underworld, in various forms of life, the record of earth's countless ages. In retrospection, I see the bursting bud and leaf and flower in the spring, the fullness and glory of the summer, and the golden autumn, emblematic of man's birth, growth and passing.

Just a short season and the twilight will fall upon the past, our physical eyes will dim, the mind fail to record the memory of events, our ears will become dull, the pulse pause, brain lose the power to think, then, as quietly as the dawn meets morning, the separation comes. Out of the housing of the flesh, the inner material body emerges, though we see it not, and it is welcomed by those who have gone before. This is the second birth, so like the first, except that all the knowledge, individuality and spirituality gained in our earth life is retained, and we as a people live on in the fullness of our mentality and strength as before.

Dissolution neither adds to nor subtracts from the sum total of our knowledge. The inner material body in which we have functioned, we shall still function in for all eternity.

This is what I am endeavoring to explain as it has been told to me. Such is the incentive to write this book.

EDWARD C. RANDALL
Buffalo, NY 1922

CHAPTER I.
 THE GREAT QUESTION

SINCE mankind came up out of savagery, the great problem has been: What is the ultimate end? What, if anything, awaits on the other side of death's mysterious door? What happens when the hour strikes that closes man's earth career, when, leaving all the gathered wealth of lands and goods, he goes out into the dark alone? Is death the end--annihilation and repose? Or, does he wake in some other sphere or condition, retaining personality?

Each must solve this great question for himself. Dissolution and change have come to every form of life, and will come to all that live. With opportunity knocking at the door, mankind has but little more appreciation of it now than it had when Phallic-worship swayed the destinies of empires. It may be that, as a people, our development has been such that we could heretofore grasp and comprehend only length, breadth, and thickness, the three accepted physical dimensions of matter; that in our progression we have but now become able to appreciate and understand life beyond the physical plane.

Time was when all knowledge was handed down from one generation to another by story, song and tradition. When the Persian civilization was growing old and ambition towered above the lofty walls of Babylon; when Egypt was building her temples on the banks of the Nile; when Greece was the center of art and culture, and Rome with its wealth and luxuries held sway over the civilized world, they were not ready for, and could not appreciate, that progress which has come.

The world cannot stand still. The great law of the universe is progress. Two or three generations since, the idea that a cable would one day be laid under the sea and the messages would be transmitted under the waters from continent to continent, was laughed at as a chimera. Only a little while ago, the world could not comprehend that words and sentences could be flashed across the trackless ocean from ship to ship, and from land to land, without wires.

And who shall now say that it is not possible to send thoughts, words, sentences, voices even, and messages, out into the ether of the spirit world, there to be heard, recorded and answered? Has man reached the end of his possibilities; will all progression stop with Marconi's achievements?

This is the age of man; we have passed the age of the gods. If our development is such that we can comprehend the life and the conditions following dissolution, it must be within our grasp as surely as progress has been possible at all times and among all people since the world began.

Assuming, then, that we have come to that period, when we can look upon all subjects and propositions impartially and intelligently, no longer bound by fear, past or present, we can now appreciate that it is of the greatest importance to know what follows this life.

We are swinging away from the old moorings; new views come with changing times and conditions. Knowledge is the torch that fires our enthusiasm and makes advancement possible. It is not the past, but the future, that commands our attention.. We may learn much of nature as she speaks, in all dialects, her various tongues. All truth is safe, nothing else will suffice, and he who holds back the truth, through expediency or fear, fails in his duty to mankind.

Our age is one of sudden and rapid changes; the people are in a state of transition. Most minds are sensitive, alert and versatile. It is a period fraught with unrest and thirst for knowledge. What was true yesterday, assumes a different, one could almost say a diametrically opposite, aspect today. This is a period fruitful in scientific discoveries, and in the adaptation of the universal law of vibratory action. Much that is said now could not have been explained twenty years ago. Mankind has progressed to that point where it can comprehend life as it exists in the great beyond, and, as surely as day follows the night, he will come to understand it. That force which directs the destiny of all living things, seems to have planned it for this time, and many, like myself, are but instruments directed by that great force that we call Good and others call God.

Many have come to know what awaits over the great divide, have solved the great problem of dissolution, and, with the confidence born of knowledge, based on facts proved and demonstrated, speak with authority.

The thought that there need be no more groping in the dark makes the pulse quicken. The realization that fear can now be eliminated from the human brain fills every heart with joy. The fact that we may come into touch with those in spheres beyond and know that they live, and how and where they live, will lift the burden of sorrow from every heart that mourns its dead.

We of older growth are but children in the wilderness of these new and subtle laws. Before we can grasp and comprehend this philosophy we must eliminate false conceptions and erroneous ideas, and come to the subject with open mind. That this is a difficult task I well know, for minds filled with traditions and false or no conceptions of the after life, simply cannot at once comprehend the truth when it is given to them. There can be no individual progression until one becomes free, mentally poised, open to reason and willing to hear facts and to weigh them honestly. The blind are entitled to our sympathy; we look, with sorrow, upon those who cannot accept a truth, because it is not as they have been taught; but we grasp the open hand of the free, walk with them along nature's highway, and reason together.

Man, in his ignorance, is like the bewildered stream blindly groping its way down the steep hillside, turned in its course by every resistance it meets; rushing, retreating and halting, moved by the weak force of an inferior instinct. Some invisible power carries it onward. It little knows the nature of that power. It seems to be carried by an  impulse from within. After a time the stream grows wider and deeper, its current less swift. Then it enlarges to the calm, peaceful river which flows steadily and unerringly through the wide valleys on its appointed way to the sea. Likewise, man is led onward by the mysterious force of a superior destiny. At first he rushes about impetuously, and murmurs because of the restrictions imposed by the law. But his consciousness grows broader and deeper with the march of the years, and in the clear waters of mind he sees a reflection of some of the great truths of the universe. His visions of the beauty of that inner world of ideas inspire him to a life of noble endeavor.

Humanity, as a whole, is like the streams and rivers of earth. All men are moving irresistibly onward, carried by some mysterious power they feel, but cannot fathom. Humanity at last will reach the boundless sea, where there will be no discord, no unrealized yearnings, no limitation. Deep down in the still waters all hearts will find peace.

Humanity is awakening. The mind has, at last, become active, and now demands to know what fate awaits us beyond the grave. Man has learned something about himself and the universe, and this knowledge is making him free. This is an age of intellectual emancipation. Those who walk with open eyes will find the truth, for it lights the way across the continent of every human life.

CHAPTER II
 THE INNER SPIRIT BODY

"THERE is a natural body, and there is a spiritual body." Those words have fallen from the lips of priests, over the bodies of the so-called dead, for thousands of years, yet not a single minister who uttered them, nor one among the millions of mourners, who for centuries past heard them, ever formed any rational conception of what they meant and for ages the world has been filled with sorrow.

Had they understood nature's purpose, and known the advantages which the so-called dead gained through the process of dissolution, they would have been comforted. In the presence of such truth, all creeds wither and decay, and old teachings fail to satisfy. That this is a fact, every one who mourns must testify. There must be something wrong with a system of philosophy or a teaching that always fails when put to the test. When the earth clods fall upon the physical body of one held dear, hope sees a star; but hope is not knowledge, and tears fall on furrowed cheeks. If those who still remain but knew that death, as it is called, was only change--a progression--and that the departed still live, and if they knew about their present abiding place, the world of gloom would turn to one of joy.

There is a natural, by that I mean a physical, body, and there is a spiritual body; but those bare propositions, standing alone, convey nothing to the human mind. They must be followed by facts explaining, if it be a fact, how there can possibly be two bodies in one when only one is visible to sight and sensible to touch. Without knowing the law of nature involved, without proof that one survives, although the other goes back to mingle with the elements from whence it came, it is utterly impossible to comprehend what was intended by the words first quoted.

I have seen spirit bodies materialize, have touched them and found them as the natural. I have heard them speak and tell over and over again that they had bodies, the same bodies as when they lived the earth life. Still I was not satisfied, and sought to know the character of the two, how they blended, how they worked as one, what natural law was involved, what happened in the dissolution process, why two were necessary, to the end that I might comprehend the fact, for until such knowledge was acquired I had only a very hazy idea, if any, of the situation.

As fast as I was able to comprehend the facts, they were given me, and lo and behold, like all natural laws, I found all simple.

This planet is but one in the federation of the infinite. All the universe is filled with life, and on this earth, as on others, this force impregnates, finds lodgment, and is clothed in physical garments, to the end that it may increase, multiply, develop, and in time go back to the infinite from whence it came. In that manner and through that process, it increases the sum total of what we call God or universal good, but it is only by change that that process designed by the Infinite can be carried forward, and death, so-called, is but one of the steps in life's progression.

When matter is receptive, an atom from the life mass is clothed, and from the moment of conception commences its journey back to its source. How fast it develops, what progress it makes, depends much on environment. Its form depends upon the substance which clothes it. Whether physical expression appears as man or animal, in earth, rocks, growing things or the water of the sea, depends on how, and under what conditions, it obtains its start here. All is life, expressed in visible form, and where there is life there is thought, and neither life nor thought can be destroyed.

There is also physical evidence tending to prove the same proposition. One has his leg amputated, and still feels that he can move his foot; another loses his arm, but still can use his hand and move his fingers. Such is their impression and feeling. Many with whom I have talked are very serious in this matter, and they are right,--amputation can only remove the covering of an arm or leg; no part of the etheric body form can be cut off. This remains intact, whatever occurs to the outer covering, for in dissolution it appears intact. A body in that advanced plane may be undeveloped, shrunken and deformed, but it will be all there, and it will appear just as one has made it.

Life is expressed in form; without form it could not function. We cannot see the mighty oak in the heart of the acorn, but it is there in all its splendid promise. We cannot see man, the wonder of creation, in the fluid that first clothes it in its conception, but man is there with form and feature, strength and character, which will ever have continuity. With mankind the spirit body is clothed, in the beginning, with a flesh garment, a material vibrating more slowly than the ether of which it is composed, and the process of growth commences. The next change is the physical birth; then comes earth life and the development, physical and spiritual; next is the separation of the spiritual from the outer covering in the change called death--no more wonderful and not half so mysterious as birth; then on, to climb the heights in everlasting life. Such are the teachings that have come to me, voice to voice, from spirit people--some whom I personally have known, and others whom I have come to know and respect in this work.

Volumes could be written on this subject from what is now known. Every man, woman and child living on this earth plane, did possess in the beginning, and possesses now, an inner or spirit body, composed and made up of that material we call ether, a substance and material so fine and of such rapid vibration that the physical eye can not see it. This inner or etheric body alone has sensation. It takes form and feature, stature and expression, while earth life lasts, and retains these in the next life as well.

This inner spirit body, during this stage of its development, is simply clothed, covered or housed in a visible, slowly vibrating garment that we call flesh, which has no sensation. This is evident from the fact that when the one is separated from the other, the outer body has no sensation or motion, so that it decays and loses form.

That experience called death is nature's process by which the two are separated. The habitation, for some cause, becomes unfit for further occupancy. The spirit, or the inner body, is released for further progression from the tenement which is no longer habitable. The earth body goes back into its elements, to be used again to clothe other forms of life. The inner or spirit body, holding its same form, invisible then as before, but functioning as before, labors and finds further opportunity for growth and spirituality. This it finds in the zones or belts that surround this globe, and, when proper conditions are made, it answers to our call, and tells us of life in its new plane, invisible to mortal eye.

I asked this question of Dr. David Hossack, who has been in spirit life nearly a century:

"Is my understanding correct, that here and now we have, and possess, an inner etheric body, which, divested of its flesh garment, passes intact to the spirit world?"

In reply he said:

'There is an inner, etheric body, composed of minute particles, of such substance that it can, and does, pass into spirit life. Your outer bodies are too gross and material to effect the change. The inner body is but the mind, the thought, the soul of the person. It is in the semblance of the material body, but whether beautiful or ugly, strong or weak, depends upon the inner life of the person to whom belongs that particular spark of the great radiance called life, or God.

"Some there be who build a fair body, and some there be who come into this life with a body so mis-shapen and sickly it takes much effort to effect an upright, clean one. They all come with bodies naturally, as all things have minds, after one fashion or another; but the conditions of these bodies are very different. Naturally, the mind, being the reality of man, is that which lives on, beautiful or disfigured by good or evil thoughts, as the case may be. The only comfort is that every one has opportunity here to work out the change in himself, and sometimes those changes are very rapid."

Another said:

"In earth life I gave all for wearing apparel; and when I reached the spirit world, I did not have rags enough to cover me, and the beauty of my form had vanished. I was mis-shapen and distorted. At first I could not understand that it was my spiritual body that was so deformed, for I had not given the spiritual part of me a thought while on earth. In fact, the earth was all in all for me, and I did not trouble myself to think of another life, deeming the time better spent in enjoying the things I knew I possessed.

"A spirit came and offered to clothe me, but no sooner did the garments touch my body than they were discolored. My progress has been slow, but after many years of suffering I have developed my spirit and restored its beauty, but it is different from what it was in the life below:"

But evidence of all things spiritual must, of necessity, come from those who live there. Their condition is different, their laws are different, for they live in a world invisible to our eyes, and we can not insist, if we would understand their life, on applying physical laws and methods. It is from spirit people that I have sought knowledge, and from them, and through years of investigation and research, I have come to know as a fact that "there is a natural body and there is a spiritual body."

CHAPTER III
 THE DEATH CHANGE

WHAT happens at Death? What are one's sensations, and what meets the vision on awakening? This has been described thousands of times, and I quote from my records something of what I have been told on the important subject:

"It is a privilege to tell you of my transition. The last physical sensation that I recall was one of falling, but I had no fear--it seemed so natural. At the same time I heard voices speaking words of encouragement, voices that I recognized as those of loved ones that I thought dead. For a time I had no recollection. Then I awoke in this spirit sphere, and never will I forget the joy that was mine. I found myself, saw my body, which appeared as usual, except lighter and more ethereal. I was resting on a couch in a beautiful room filled with flowers. I looked through a window and saw the landscape, bathed in rose-colored light. There was a quiet that was impressive, then music, the harmonious vibration of which seemed to rise and fall softly. Then one appeared, and, though she spoke no words, I seemed to understand and answered.

"In this thought language she told me that she had been my guardian while in the old body, and now that I had been released she would take me over the home that I had in my life been building.

She said: 'This room so beautiful is the result of your self-denial and the happiness you brought to others, but there are others not so pleasing; and we passed into another that was dark and filled with rubbish; the air was heavy. This my guide said was builded through my selfishness. Then to another, a little better lighted. I was told that every effort to do better created something brighter. Then into the garden where, among beautiful flowers, grew obnoxious weeds, the result of spiritual idleness.

"The house must all be made beautiful," she said, the weeds of idleness uprooted; and this can only be done by yourself, through work in the lower planes, by helping others."

My father's experience he described to me as follows:

"You will recall the day of my dissolution. I had been in poor health for some months. That morning the air was so soft and warm, and the sun so bright, I wanted to be out in it, so I took my horse and buggy and started for a village about seven miles distant. As I drove along, a weakness seemed to come upon me and I partially reclined on the seat. Even then, though seventy-six years of age, I had no thought that my passing was near. As I arrived at the house where I was going, the sensation of weakness increased, but I was able to walk in unaided and sat in a chair. The faintness increased, and, raising my eyes, I saw your mother standing in the room, smiling. Startled, I arose to my feet, and my last earthly sensation was falling --and, as I now know, I did pitch forward on my face. I do not recall striking the floor, or pain in my death change. When the separation came, I was like one in sleep.

"The next I recall was awaking in the same room, with the leader of your spirit group holding my hand, helping me up. I had heard his wonderful voice many times when I was privileged to come into your work, but it took me some little time to realize what happened to me. I saw my body on the floor. This startled me, for the body I then had was to my sight and touch identical with the one lying so quiet. I saw people hurrying, and heard the anxious talk, not yet comprehending my separation from the physical body.

"I turned to your old friend, and mine, and asked him what had happened. He answered:

"Have you not been told when you talked with us in your son's home, that death was the separation of the inner from the outward body?' "

"I recall that statement," I replied, 'but I never comprehended it.'

"You have just made that change," he said; you are now an inhabitant of the spirit world and one of us."

"I was deeply impressed with what he said, but dazed. I could not realize that the something called death was behind me, and that in me there had been no change, for I was the same in appearance and thought as before. Then memory quickened, and I commenced to think of what it meant. I could not think clearly, and my guide said, 'Come with me for a little time and rest, and 'all will be well with you.' I went with him, and those I saw and what I was I will tell you another time."

This is another's description:

"I remember seeing about me those that had been dead for a long time. This impressed me greatly, but I did not realize it fully. Then I felt a peculiar sensation all through my body. Then I seemed to rise up out of my body and come down quietly on the floor.

"I was in the same room, but there seemed to be two of me, one on the bed and one beside the bed. All about were my family in deep grief, why I could not tell, for my great pain was gone and I felt much better. Some of those whom I recognized as persons who had died, asked me to go, and with that thought I was outside and apparently could walk on the air. My next thought was that it was a dream and that I would awake and feel again the terrible pain. I was gently told what had happened, and I felt that God had been unjust to take me when I had so much to do, and when I was so needed by my family. I was not satisfied with the place I was in. About me there was a fog, and I started to walk out of it, but the farther I walked, the more dense it got, and I became discouraged and sat down by the wayside in deep grief. I had ever tried to provide the very best for those dependent on me. Where was my reward? Then some one approached, came as it were out of the fog, and I told him of my life work and complained of the condition I was in, and questioned the justice of it. He replied, 'Yours was a selfish love; you worked for self. You should have made others happy as well as your own.' He promised to help me in my great trouble, if I would help myself. Together we have worked, and now all is well; it is light and glorious. But that first awakening was not all that could be desired. My greatest disappointment after my awakening was when I returned to my old home, for I discovered that none could see or feel me and all grieved for me as one dead, and their sorrow held me. I wept with them, and could not get away, until time healed their sorrow:'

How terrible it is that the world that has made so much progress in many things knows little of this greatest change, and the little it does know has almost been forced upon it by a few that know this truth and have the courage to stand for it.

These descriptions, as I review what I have written, do not give a fair idea of an average death change, and looking through my records I find another more normal:

"I left the physical world rich. I had little money, but day by day, during a fairly long life, by some act I made others happier, and so spiritualized and uplifted my spirit. Such was my only religion.

"When the separation approached, though I had no actual knowledge of what was to come, I had no fear. I had been very sick, felt greatly exhausted, and longed for rest. I realized the presence of my family and their grief. There came to my senses harmonious vibrations that sounded afar off, like string and reed instruments played by master hands. It seemed to approach and then recede, and was lost. It soothed and comforted me. Then I realized that others were in the room. I could not see their faces distinctly, and wondered at strangers coming in at such a time. Some one spoke, and, rousing up, I saw more clearly and recognized many of my friends whom I had thought dead.

"I was not startled or frightened--it was all so natural. They greeted me cordially and asked me to go with them. Without effort, other than desire, I arose and joined them and went with them, for the moment forgetting the grief of my family. I seemed to travel without effort. Then I met a great company of men and women with radiant faces, clothed in white and blending colors. Their greeting was one of joyous welcome, and happiness was in everything. It was like meeting old friends that had been gone for a long time; it was simply glorious and so intense that for a time I gave no thought to the tremendous import of it all. Then I looked about. There was harmony in everything. I was in a new country. About me I saw great variety of landscape, most picturesque mountain ranges, valleys, rivers, lakes, forests, and the corresponding vegetable life of all that I had known.

It was suggested that I go to a rest house, where my strength would be restored. I did and seemed to fall into a deep sleep almost immediately. After a time I awoke, when some one whom I knew and loved said, 'Come with me now and view your inheritance.' I went, and the glory of it was, and is, beyond my power of description.

"I should like the privilege some time to tell the world of the beauty in which I live, and the pleasure I find in the work allotted to me. This plane, and all planes, I am told, is governed by law--nature's law, the same as yours--and it is the privilege and duty of every one to develop the spirit by study and helping others. There is much that I should like to say of my return to my family, but, as I am asked only to describe my spirit passage, I will leave that and tell you more concerning the joy of the spirit at some more opportune time."

There are those in the next life who have qualified for, and are assigned to, the reception department, whose duty it is to solace and comfort such as are grief-stricken because of the sudden severing of social ties, as it seems to those taken suddenly out of the mortal. This is a description:

"I am here to describe as well as I can the actual scenes over here, as the new born spirits, divested of their physical bodies, come over. They come to us, not one or two or three, but in crowds, by thousands and more, some not awakened to consciousness, some just waking, some fully conscious. Few realize for some time that they have passed the portal you call death, but as realization comes and they understand, their thoughts are of their strongest ties. What a commotion of feeling one hears! The same intense feelings exist when out of the old body as when in the physical, and those feelings are just as discernible to spirit sensation as before, only the mode of expression and reception is changed.

"As I was feeling my soul leaving the physical sheath, I heard mysterious chords of rhythmic melody rising and falling like distant waves of the sea. A voice said in thrilling gentleness: 'My child, pass from vision into luminous light, from night to day, from death to life.' Then a light beating slowly passed away from about me and to my utter amazement I found myself resting at a place quite free and transcendent with divine light. A deep and gentle sound vibrating through the ethereal firmament filled me with joy and happiness, and nothing was perceptible to me except this vibration of the sound. I felt that I must wait till a divine messenger came to guide me into the regions yet unseen. The atmosphere of awe and reverence that swept over, me for the moment gradually paled away and, rising as I thought, I walked through the darkness which then encompassed me. As I did this, my other hand was suddenly caught by some one in a warm and eager clasp and I was guided along with an infinitely gentle but commanding touch, which I had no hesitation in obeying. Step by step I walked with a strange sense of happy reliance on my companion and guide. Darkness and distance had no misgivings for me. And as I went onward with my hand yet held in that masterful but tender grasp, my thoughts became, as it were, suddenly cleared into a light of full understanding of the celestial world and its joy. And so I went on and on, caring little how long the journey might be and even eagerly wishing that it might continue, when presently a faint light began to peer through darkness, first blue and grey, then white, and then rose. The light, so sublimely luminous, gradually condensed into matter, and in a moment a celestial being of beauty, richly wrapped up in pure white and silken robes, stood before me. After the thrilling sensation, caused by this sudden manifestation, had given a little way for courage and hope, I beheld the same figure transforming into an almost manly and commanding attitude, with radiant face and brilliant eyes now turned towards me. It asked, in a, gentle but firm tone, whether I would like to remain there in the ethereal world and enjoy the pleasures stored up for me as a requital for my past life on the earth plane. Overwhelmed with awe and respect, I could give no answer. Seeing me thus puzzled, my guide placed his right hand upon my forehead and a gentle massage filled me with strength and fresh energy.

"I became bold and courageous, looked my visitor in the eyes, and knelt before him. He lifted me up gently and said I could for a time remain in those ethereal regions where all was pleasure and happiness. He said that the place I was then in was the destination of those who are recruited from amongst people who spend their lives and energy on earth for the sake of their fellow creatures, people who do great deeds for the uplift of the oppressed and harassed,--the abode of people who showed equal compassion to both men and beasts. This was my welcome, such my second birth. This was my greeting when I crossed the frontiers of the After Life."

CHAPTER IV
AFTER DISSOLUTION

WHEN the end comes at the close of life's short day, we with loving hands dress the vacant tenement and tenderly and reverently consign it to the earth, from whence it came, again to mingle with the elements. But what of the invisible inner body, the living, thinking individual that has left the physical housing? What is its vision, sensation, thought, experience?

This is best described by one who passed through that change--one who had lived a good life and had necessarily entered into a fine environment. This description was not given me direct, but I can vouch for its truthfulness, for I have verified it. This spirit, describing where she went and what she saw immediately following dissolution, said:

"You wish to know where I went on leaving the earth. Well, there seemed to be a period of unconsciousness; then I awoke and found myself in an entirely different place from any I had known on earth. I was somewhat confused at first; most people are, and find it difficult to realize where they are and what has happened to them. I was not afraid, however, because I had believed I would be taken care of, and would go on living somewhere. My ideas about the after life, however, were very vague, as are those of the majority of people. Psychic work will change all that, however, and people will know better what to expect; instead of fearing and dreading the dissolution of the body, as so many millions do now, it will appear to them as it really is, just a sleep and an awakening!

"You are wondering, and have often wondered, why I was taken when I seemed to be, and was, so much needed on earth. You have blamed God, and thought it cruel and hard and not by any means an act of love. This is the result of your limited vision.

"I will give you a description of the place in which I found myself when I awoke after what you call 'death.' It took me some time to realize the beauty of my surroundings, as my eyes were blinded by the sorrow which my going had caused on earth. The grief of my people kept me so sad at first that I was not able to see or think of anything but earthly sorrow. That is why grief for departed friends and relatives is so wrong, and is so harmful, both to those on earth and to those who come over. The longer that grief continues and the more hopeless it is, the more those mourned for are kept to earth. Instead of being able to go straight on when they come over, seeing and realizing the beauty and wonders of their surroundings, and helping others to see them also, they are kept in a state of helpless grief, which renders them incapable of helping either themselves or others. Fortunately, the grief of my people on earth was not of this desperately hopeless variety, and I was enabled in time to rise above it and get on with my work of helping others.

"This is a life of service. Self must be eliminated. That is why folk who have lived unselfish lives on earth get on so well here. They do not need the preliminary training which more selfish spirits need. It is a very long time before some spirits who come over are of any use at all in helping others. This is caused partly by their own selfishness and partly by the selfish grief of their friends and relatives on earth. That is why so many of the messages sent through are a plea to those relatives for a more hopeful outlook.

"All that I have said is necessary that you may better understand what I am about to tell you. When I had been enabled to throw off somewhat the effects of the grief which others felt for my passing, I began to see how beautiful the place I had been brought to was. It is where most spirits go on leaving the earth. They are taken there by other spirits and every effort is made to help them to forget the earth and its cares and worries. This lovely place is called the Palace of 'Light,' because that is what is most needed by the spirits of human beings when they come over--more light, to enable them to see and understand many things which have not been clear to them while on earth. Human vision--the earthly kind--is very narrow in most cases. People fail to grasp the wonder and beauty even of the earth, so it is no wonder that they need more light and a considerable amount of training before they can see and realize all the beauty and grandeur to be found over here.

"Everything is so surprisingly beautiful that, once their eyes are opened and the full majesty and splendor of it all begins to dawn on them, they are transformed and become beautiful likewise. Once this transformation is accomplished, their training is at an end and they can go on their way rejoicing in all the beauty of their surroundings, helping others to see and realize it too.

"It is almost impossible for us to help some spirits, as they have no desire to be different or better than they have always been. Prayer by those still on the earth is the only thing which can help them. It will give them a desire for better things. Until there is that desire in their hearts, they will remain much as they were when they were in the flesh. Their spirits still inhabit the earth and they are the evil, or sometimes just the mischievous, spirits I have told you about before. Prayer is not only a protection against them, but is also their only hope of salvation. Indifference is the greatest sin there is. As long as folk desire to be better, there is some foundation to build on, but if that desire is lacking it is very difficult to do anything with them.

"I really cannot give you an adequate description of the beautiful Palace of Light. It is so marvelous and so stupendous that it would not be possible for any one still on the earth to grasp its significance. It is not just a building, as the word 'Palace' might suggest to your mind. It is a wondrous land of light, where the beauties of nature, as seen on the earth, are brought to perfection. There we have sea, sky, hills, mountains, valleys and grassy plains, in all their beauty of form and coloring, but without blemish. There are no barren or desolate places and there is none of man's handiwork to mar all this loveliness.

"There are forests of noble trees, great rivers, waterfalls, lakes, streams of all sizes, all crystal clear, and lovely meadows carpeted with the most beautiful flowers, over which hover myriads of gorgeous butterflies. There are countless numbers of the most beautiful birds everywhere. Animals of all kinds abound too.. Some of them are dainty and graceful, and others are very stately and dignified. It is one vast panorama of loveliness, for those who have eyes to see.

"The great pity is that it is so long before some spirits even begin to see it as it really is. Some of these spirits, who have not progressed far enough to see and realize the beauty about them, when communicating with their friends on earth, give them quite wrong and dissimilar impressions of conditions over here.

"You were wondering just what we mean by the term 'progression.' It is a spiritual condition entirely, and has nothing to do with the place the spirits happen to be in. It is the developing and unfolding of the spiritual nature which is necessary before the spirits concerned can fully appreciate and enjoy the wonderful home prepared for them. Spirits are not obliged to stay in some particular place until they have completed their development. They are all free to go about and see these wonders of which I have been telling you, except that they are not allowed to go and worry the children in their care-free land. Until they develop spiritually, they can not appreciate all the wonders about them.

"I have not told you anything about the music we get here, except that which the birds make, have I? There is always plenty of beautiful music to listen to. All kinds of instruments are played, and those who desire to do so can play in this great orchestra. Then there is the singing. It is wonderful. Everyone is free to join in this great paean of praise. Those who have not been able to sing as they liked on earth, and have always desired to do better, are able to realize their longing here. It is good to witness their joy over this, when they have progressed sufficiently to hear the singing, and when they are able to join in it their happiness is complete."

Let it not be inferred that all who have experienced this change have such a delightful experience. The plane one reaches and the character of one's surroundings depend on the refinement or spirituality of the individual. Each will find the conditions he has fitted himself for, and they are such as money can not buy.

Another has this to say:

"I appreciate your kindness in receiving me so kindly. I speak to you tonight about my experiences in the 'spirit world,' as you call it --I call it the 'higher existence.'

"In describing my passing to the higher, progressive life, I am pleased to say to you that I am giving my own observation, and I do not expect you to accept it as being the testimony of other friends who may have passed over. With what they met, I have nothing to do; I have only to state what I have experienced.

"I may state, concerning my experiences on the earth, that I lived for a long period of time, a little over ninety years, and I led, shall I say, a fairly good life. I should like to say concerning the latter days that, though old in years, I was not at all feeble in body or mind; but as I advanced I felt my powers were failing, and that soon I should be called to leave the scenes of earth for something greater and grander. And so it happened.

"I remember well, on one summer's day, arising in the morning and feeling weak in my body but without pain. It was a weakness, the result of natural decay of the system. And I remember on this occasion that, as the day advanced, I felt more weary. I laid me down upon a couch and fell into a kind of sleep--not a perfect sleep, because I was partially conscious of persons around about me.

"I awoke somewhere about four o'clock in the afternoon, looked around, and spoke to one or two near me. One was my attendant, who came and asked if I should like something to drink. I said I should. I lay back and waited, and as I did so I felt a strange but not unpleasant feeling coming over me. I can only describe it as a sensuous drowsiness, which seemed too be gaining upon my faculties. The scenes round about me were fading, almost imperceptibly at first, but passing away from me. I was conscious only of that which was just round about me, and then that also seemed to fade away, and my sleep or weakness was merged into sleep which became profound.

"How long that could have continued I do not know, but after a time I again returned to consciousness --these are the only terms I can use to convey to your minds my experiences.. Then I realized that I, the Ego, was there just as really as before. I realized that I, the personality, was there, though some change had taken place. I felt as one feels who had dropped something which had burdened him; as a man who had carried a load for a considerable distance, a load that had not been extremely heavy or painful, but still a burden, and I had left it behind somewhere.

"And then, dawning on my spiritual senses, I was conscious that I was in some other state of existence, wherein I was not subject to physical forces as I had experienced them on the earth plane. For instance, the wind did not blow upon me, the sun did not shine, nor did the cold affect me. This I found and experienced with great joy. In place of it I found what you would call, on your mundane sphere, an even temperature, a calm and placid state. I felt that if peace and contentment could be reached, I had reached it. And then I was conscious that round about me there was an innumerable company of people,--they were fellow countrymen.

"As I gained a little more experience, or perhaps, as you would say, as my consciousness deepened, I knew that I was attended by spiritual messengers or attendants. Looking to the one upon my right, I said--if not openly, I said it within myself, because the Ego speaks within itself, because it is Mind--'This being is perfection: Divining my thoughts, the guide said to me, 'No, you are being perfected. There is only perfection in the Infinite. Him thou shalt know; with Him thou shalt come in contact' This helped me considerably. If my guide, my messenger, who was to conduct me through this higher existence, was so perfect in mind, so perfect in every way, what then would be the Author of his perfection? I was satisfied."

CHAPTER V
WHERE IS THE AFTER LIFE?

WHERE is this after life? Just where do they live? Where are its boundaries? These are questions that I have some difficulty in understanding, and much more in explaining, and I am frank to admit that I have not had all the information sought on this subject. However, I have some knowledge, gained both from my friends in the spirit world and from my ability to deduce from common facts.

Let it be remembered that those in the after life have frequently said that every physical thing of this earth was but a poor imitation of what they have there--that all things exist first in the invisible before they can be reproduced in the visible, and that all that we have is a reproduction in form of some of the things that exist there.

Here is what one said on this subject:

"We have often told you, and tell you now, that your earth and all things of your earth have their exact counterparts in the spirit world, just as real, just as tangible, just as substantial, to the inhabitants of this world, as material things and forms are to the inhabitants in mortal form upon your earth."

If this be true, if we have earth and rocks, so do they; if we have shrubs and trees and growing grains and flowers, so do they; if we have houses, schools, great buildings, so do they; if we have oceans, lakes, rivers, and flowing streams, so do they; if this earth is peopled, why not theirs? I am told they have also many things that we have not, as they cannot be clothed in earth garments nor function on our planet.

The density of that plane differs from ours, as the density of our atmosphere differs from that of the water, in which marine life functions. We move more rapidly and with greater freedom than the life that exists in the deep; so those in the higher etheric plane move more rapidly and with greater freedom than we do--all because the material conditions become higher in vibration as we ascend the scale of motion, and there is more resistance the lower we descend.

Striving for more detailed description, I asked a spirit in our work one evening:

"Where is the spirit world? What of its substance, and where are its boundaries?"

The spirit answered:

"It is difficult to explain to you who know little of matter, the location and boundaries of the various planes where we live. First let me impress upon you the fact that energy, that is, life, can not express itself except in substance. The idea that spirit people function without substance and that they and the plane in which they live are unsubstantial, is preposterous and illogical. The gases that compose water, taken separately, are as substantial as when united. Why should it be thought impossible, since matter was created, for Nature to create other material than physical, to create spirit material? There are millions of worlds inhabited by human beings in that space you call the sky. Don't for a moment think that yours is the only world, and that God made the universe for you alone.

"This spirit world is in reality just as much a part of your planet as the earth and rocks you tread upon. Around and about your globe, and forming a part of it, are separate, material, concentric belts or zones, varying in width and vibratory action, and therefore in density, into which all mankind and all planetary life passes, on the happening of that event you call death.

"I only know the boundaries of these planes in which I live and labor. I do not know any more about the boundaries of the planes beyond me than you know of the planes beyond you."

Others have reported of these localities as follows:

"Your earth has belts, but they exist in a cruder condition than those of Jupiter and Saturn. The belts or zones that lie around your earth are designed for the habitation of spirits out of the body; and as they outgrow the passions of earth and become more refined, they pass to another or higher zone.

"I have discovered, while living here, that there are several magnetic belts encircling your earth, similar in general appearance to the belts that surround the planet Jupiter, and beyond those zones there exists, outside earth's spirit sphere, a vast spirit world traversing the innermost heart of space."

Another said:

"I, too, am permitted to gaze back in this way at earthly scenes; and, for a time, to dwell on earthly memories while bringing to you for your world some experiences and observations of my own, both in mortal existence and in the spheres.

"I have observed that there are innumerable states and conditions and diversified experiences in spirit as on earth. We may illustrate by different highways, thus:

"Let one condition be represented by a certain highway, and another condition by another and differing highway, leading through a different country.

"As no two highways of your world lead over the same country and present the same scenery to the traveler, so of the children of earth no two travel over the same highway or have the same experiences; to each are presented different scenes from those presented to any other.

"One person traveling one road is landed into the spirit world at one point, and one on another road enters spirit life at another point; and a third, on yet another road, enters at a different point from either of the others. And so on the endless procession moves, landing its infinitude of differentiated individualities; and each one has a different idea to relate. Therefore no two relate the same story of the earthly journey.

"But the varied highways of earth continue into eternity, and the traveler on each goes eternally on his own road from the earth life. And thus all travel on in the spirit world, having different experiences here, as with you; and, on returning to you, we have different experiences and different descriptions of the spirit world to relate to you, according as each has realized for himself."

This is another spirit's report:

"There are seven concentric rings called spheres. The region nearest the earth is known as the first or rudimental sphere. It really blends with your earth sphere. It is just one step higher in vibration. Growing more intense and increasing in action are six more, distinguished as the spiritual spheres. Theses are all zones or circles of exceeding fine matter encompassing the earth like belts or girdles,--each separate from the other and regulated by fixed laws. They are not shapeless fancies or mental projections, but absolute entities, just as tangible as the planets of the solar system, or the earth on which you reside. They have latitude and longitude and atmosphere of peculiarly vitalized vapor. The undulating currents, soft and balmy, are invigorating and pleasurable.

"Although the spheres revolve with the earth on a common axis, forming the same angle with the plane of the ecliptic, and move with it about your sun, they are not dependent upon that sun for either light or heat; they receive not a perceptible ray from that ponderable source.

"We receive our light emanations," he said, "wholly from a great central source, from which comes uninterrupted splendor, baffling description."

I can readily appreciate that spirit people along the Frontier and among the rudimentary spheres cannot tell how many there are beyond, and may not all agree, but here is what another says on the subject:

"There are innumerable spheres in the spirit world. If it were not so, progression would be a myth. Some tell you that there are only seven. That is because they have no knowledge beyond that sphere. I do not mean a place fixed by boundaries, for the spheres or degrees in spirit life are only conditions and are not confined to a limited space; as a soul develops, it naturally arises above its surroundings and consequently experiences a change in its spheres or conditions."

Impressed with the suggestion concerning Jupiter and Saturn, I examined the works of the fore most astronomers, and this is, in substance, what they say:

Jupiter is marked with bands, more or less wide, more or less intense, which show perfectly near its equatorial region. Saturn has a number of what appear to be broad, flat rings surrounding it, but separated from it on all sides, which lie all in the same plane of inclination to the ecliptic. The inner and broader of the two belts or zones is the brightest near the outer part, and shades off toward the planet,--gradually at first, more rapidly afterward. Its inner portion is so dark that at one time it was regarded separate and called "Crape" or "dusty" ring. Modern telescopes show the inner part of this ring transparent.

The physical constitution of the rings is unlike that of any other known objects in our solar system. They are not formed of a continuous mass of solid or liquid matter, but of discrete particles of unknown minuteness, probably widely separated in proportion to their individual volume, yet so close as to appear continuous.

To know the location of the next plane helps one to appreciate conditions that exist there. Our finite minds can comprehend little that we have not actually experienced, and so we mentally grope in our efforts to comprehend what is told us of those more advanced spheres, and must in a measure rely on deductive reasoning. I also have found that spirit people do not agree in many respects, any more than we do. Each reports according to his knowledge and understanding; therefore, each must form his own conclusions, based on reason.

In order to get another expression, I read what I have written to Dr. David Hossack, one of the leaders of the spirit group with whom I worked so many years, and for whose statements I have great respect, and in reply he said:

What appears as space about your earth is composed of ether. There are three distinct circles, the outer filled with more radiant vibrations than those within. Beyond these, the spheres or circles blend with those of other planets. Each circle is very, very many miles in depth, according to your standard of measurement."

I am much impressed with such statements, as they seem natural and appeal to reason. So far as I know, no one has heretofore attempted actually to locate and fix the boundaries of the afterlife.

Two thousand years of Christian teaching have not enabled a reasoning mind to form any definite conclusions as to where that place called heaven is, or concerning the conditions prevailing where the so-called dead reside, and it seems quite time that we have a scientific explanation, or at least a start along the road.

When Columbus discovered the continent of North America, the whole world at once accepted the fact, changed their ideas about the earth's shape, and still celebrate his achievement. The psychic investigators within the last seventy-five years have discovered not a continent but millions of inhabited worlds, and now actually locate the planes, begin to understand the substances that compose them, and know something of the light that fills those zones, achievements that transcend all discoveries of modern times. Our descriptions, so concise and brief, but serve as texts, however, and from them we must make deductions and bring understanding to ourselves.

It will be noted that there is a similarity between the circles or rings about our earth, and those of Jupiter and Saturn. Our astronomers contend that these circles or rings are not formed of a continuous mass of solid or liquid substance, but of discrete particles of unknown minuteness, unlike any other visible objects in our solar system. These statements demonstrate that matter has phases or conditions not generally understood by earth dwellers.

Those who have spoken--Faraday, Denton and Hossack, and others above quoted--are in a position to know something of the substance that fills that plane, and they all say it is ether. And what is ether? Our encyclopedias explain it as the upper, purer air; the abode of the gods. Our astronomers say that it is a hypothetical medium of extreme tenuity and elasticity, supposed to be diffused throughout all space. Spirit people say that ether is matter similar to earth substance, but in a very high state of vibration. According to them, the universe is all material, substance or matter in different and varying states of vibration, and those rings, circles or envelopes that surround this earth of ours are just as substantial, visible, real and tangible as anything we have. Those zones vibrate in substantially direct proportion to our thoughts, and may well be called the mental plane.

No thoughtful person can read these statements from distinguished and scientific spirits without being impressed, and without drawing from them rational deductions. Beyond the visible is the true field of discovery. Here secrets are veiled from physical sight, and the mental powers, based on the statements of spirit people, are the only means available to push discovery to its ultimate.

I know that these gentlemen made the statements quoted. The world counted them not only honest but great scientists, when they resided here. Their statements appear in accordance with nature's tendency. They are rational and I accept them, and, basing my opinion thereon and on other knowledge obtained from persons in the after life, I state without qualification that about this earth there are material concentric belts or zones, composed of ether, which become more radiant and higher in vibration as they extend outward. In these zones all the so-called dead reside and have their homes, where the family relation is ultimately restored. For the first time the local habitations of spirit people have been discovered and the spheres or zones can now be named.

CHAPTER VI
 VOICES OF THE DEAD

IN 1890, on the trial of an action before one of our Judges, he called me to the bench during an intermission, and exhibited some slates that purported to contain messages from dead people. I examined them, and laughed at the suggestion. This was immediately followed by a statement that the night before he had talked, voice to voice, with them. I was incensed that he should state such an absurd proposition; I felt that if communication with the dead was possible, it would have been known from the beginning. Filled with indignation, I turned and went on with the trial. This man stood high in the community, had the appearance of being sane, and I could not account, at the time, for what seemed to me an irrational mental condition. I am wondering whether or not some who read this presentation will not, at first, view my statements as I viewed those of this able judge.

It is a fact to be noted, that every man's vision, everyone's conception, is to him normal, and, when a fact is stated that is not within his experience or in accord with his understanding, the tendency is to contradict and ridicule, rather than to investigate, weigh, and consider with an open mind, fairly and without prejudice.

I did not then know that a seed had been planted in fertile soil, and, though I then condemned it and later, with all my mental powers alert, endeavored to destroy it, that the time would come when from actual experience I should comprehend the truth of such contention and should understand how it was done. My early experience prevents me from criticizing others who do not and cannot now accept as true what is here stated as a fact. Comprehension and acceptance of these discoveries, so beyond the average experience, must be of slow growth, and come from individual research and deductive reasoning; but it may now be said that there is much more known, and more literature on this subject, than when I commenced my research work. Therefore knowledge can be more quickly obtained.

In my early efforts to disprove what was, to my mind, a growing evil, I examined every known method by which it was claimed that those in the after life could communicate with those in this life. I will treat the more important methods in what follows.

TABLE TIPPING

Whenever spirit people get a message through, they must utilize what Crookes terms "psychic force." All persons do not possess it, but ordinarily about one in five does. If that number sit about a table, with hands upon it, frequently spirits can intelligently answer questions by tapping or by actual movement of the table. This is the most primitive and, at the same time, the most undesirable of all methods, because of the difficulty of obtaining proof of identity. Spirit people deliberately, and sometimes mischievously, impersonate a person asked for, and, when this is discovered, doubt is cast on the genuineness of the manifestation. Scientific investigators do not advise such practice.

PLANCHETTE AND OUIJA BOARD

These can be operated only by one who likewise possesses psychic or mediumistic abilities. Spirit people, using that force in conjunction with their own, operate these instruments, but they are open to the same objections as the process above mentioned and should be operated only by those who understand the process fully. In their use, much that is unreliable is obtained. This does not condemn the phenomena, but lessens the value of the results obtained.

SLATE WRITING

There is no question about the genuineness of this phenomenon, but few possess that peculiar force which is needed for this purpose. When a psychic is found like Pierre Keeler, now of Washington, spirits can write between slates by his aid with great freedom. One of my first experiments was with this man, at which time I received a message in handwriting that I recognized. I could not then accept what I received as in fact a message from the beyond. It was beyond my experience then, but I know now that this method, with an honest medium, is reliable.

CLAIRVOYANCE-CLAIRAUDIENCE

The first is the ability of one still in the physical body to see, and the latter is the ability psychically to hear, spirit people, and to tell how they look, who they are, and to repeat what they say. Usually a psychic or medium possesses both faculties. With an honest medium, spiritually and properly developed, this method is reliable, otherwise it is not.

TRANCE

There are two phases of this condition. The complete trance occurs when a spirit causes the body of the medium temporarily to vacate the physical tenement, of which for the moment it takes possession, using the medium's physical organs of speech. Then there is the semi-trance, where the medium tells what he sees, and what spirit people say. Communication, in this manner, is possible, but it is not always satisfactory because of the opportunity for deceit. It is under this guise that fortune-tellers prey on the public, to the detriment of this philosophy and to the loss of the dupes who patronize them. I am told by my spirit friends that spirit people know no more of events which will occur in the future than we do; therefore, the laws that prohibit fortune-telling by ignorant and dishonest persons are just and necessary. That unfortunate practice has brought this whole work into disrepute in the minds of many people, and every earnest investigator deeply regrets it.

AUTOMATIC WRITING

In the hands of a fine man or woman, spiritually developed and honest, this method is very useful. Phases of mediumship differ, so that we seldom find a psychic that has more than one phase. It seems to require different psychic force for the different methods. There are two phases of this method : the first, where a person goes into a complete trance, in which case spirit people manipulate the hand and actually write; the second, where the psychic is fully conscious; in this case the messages and answers to questions are suggested to, and heard through, his subconscious brain, dictated, as I dictate to my stenographer.

MATERIALIZATION

Physical demonstrations are possible. Spirit people under certain conditions can, and do, temporarily clothe their bodies with a physical substance, so that they are, for the moment, visible, and, to the touch, natural. This also requires the presence of a medium from whom a force or substance is taken, as it is taken from others present.

THE DIRECT OR INDEPENDENT VOICE

This is by far the most satisfactory method of all, for the voice is recognized, and it is easy to prove identity in this manner. This requires darkness, but so sensitive is the condition required the vibrations must be slower than in daylight, and, they are in a darkened room.. In this method, the organs of speech of a spirit are temporarily clothed with physical substance taken in part from those present and from the psychic. The spirit group contribute also, and the combined substance blended together is precipitated on the vocal organs of the spirit person. Then the voice of a spirit actually reaches our ears. But for this condition, though spirits might speak they would not be heard by one who, like myself, does not possess mediumistic powers.

There are many mediums who have something of this ability. There are, however, only a few so highly developed that the voices are heard clear, strong and full, as in earth life. I worked many years improving the mediumship of Mrs. French, so that the voices of spirit people came full-toned. We succeeded in accomplishing this, and for many years, until the dissolution of this wonderful psychic, I talked not with a hundred but with thousands of spirits, a majority of whom, perhaps, I had intimately known in their earth life. It would require many volumes to print the record obtained in all the years of my research work. I am not attempting to do so; I simply state as a fact that I have done these things, and explain how it is done, in hope that the facts will appeal to reason, through which all knowledge comes. I hope that what I write will be of such character and dignity, and will so appeal to the common sense of the public, that they will think rather than condemn.

So mighty is the force of human thought, and so delicate are the conditions of a spirit's body when it has taken on material in preparation for speech, that, by word of command, or even by thought. projection, I can break down conditions and prevent speech. This is why those who oppose this philosophy so often get negative results when they seek demonstration, for by their mental attitude or thought-conditions they make impossible the very thing they seek; they so intensify their thought substance that spirit-people are not able to break into the conditions they make for the occasion.

Each voice has individuality. When new spirits come for the first time and take on the condition of vocalization, there is often a similarity in tone quality, but this soon passes away, as they grow accustomed to using their voices in this way. The voices of those accustomed to speak never change, and are easily recognized. There is no similarity of thought or words. These differ with different people in that world as in this.

The strength of the voices varies greatly. One of our group always speaks with sufficient volume to fill easily a great auditorium, and his lectures ring through the whole house. Another, whom I have in mind, always comes with great courtesy, is careful in speech and considerate; but his voice, while very distinct, has no great volume. The voice of another, who was very near to me in earthlife, is as clear, strong and natural as in the days when we discussed this philosophy, or walked in the forest about the cabin, trying to come in touch with the principle of life; and since his going we have talked as much, and with as great freedom, as in the latter years before his going. There has been no subject of knowledge common to us both, that he ever hesitated to discuss in all its minutest details. This friendship of many years is continued without a break, and I have enjoyed his presence and our talks as I never did before.

One evening a stranger spoke, who said he was a physician of Philadelphia., He was brought in that help might be given to complete the separation from his physical body. When he finally became fully conscious, he told his name, the number of his residence, and much about himself.. The papers the next morning had a full account of his death early the evening before.

In the beginning, much time was wasted in proving the identity of strange spirits who were allowed to talk, and in verifying what they said concerning themselves. I know that spirit-people, as a rule, are as prone to deceive as mortals. At one time, few men of my acquaintance passed on who did not come and speak with me; but later the time was devoted to obtaining more information concerning this new philosophy, that the greatest good might come to the greatest number.

Hundreds, at my invitation, have participated in the work and with me have heard different voices with different tones, different thoughts, different personalities, and at times in different foreign languages.

No spirit was at liberty to come into our room without the invitation of the spirit-group or of myself, any more than a stranger would come into my house uninvited for social purposes. The same laws of privilege and hospitality which operate in the earth-life prevail in the spiritworld.

There was opposition to this work in spirit spheres in the beginning, just as it is opposed now in this world. Some churches exist as institutions in the afterlife, and are just as jealous of their domination there as here. In our earliest work these opponents often tried to prevent speech by interrupting and disorganizing the circle, fearing that the truth might cause loss of temporal as well as spiritual power both here and there. Great efforts were made by the spirit-group and ourselves to maintain conditions and keep them out. I recall one evening, when my stenographer was taking a lecture in shorthand, that a Catholic priest in the spirit world gained admittance. Such was his strength that he suddenly wrenched the stenographic book from the hands of the stenographer, and. threw it with great violence against the wall of the room. Our group finally forced him out and, as he was leaving, I heard him say,

"What can one man do among so many millions?"

What a privilege was mine. Night after night, through long years, with the aid of Emily S. French, I talked with thousands of the living dead, in my own home, and from them I learned all that I am telling here -- learned more than I can ever write.

Remember that spirit-people have the same inner body as when it was physically housed in this earth-life, and, given the required help, can, and will, speak as before. If this may be said to be a new discovery, it is of greater importance than any since the dawn of civilization.