THE
HOME CIRCLE
The Horne Circle places the means of
investigation in the hands of
every one. By gathering a few
sympathetic friends a circle may be formed
and after a few trials some one of
the number will surely become influenced in some phase.
The home circle is the prayer-meeting
of Spiritualism. A much desired
opportunity is made thereby for
spirit-friends to communicate. They are as anxious to make their
presence known, as the members of the circle, but
they cannot unless they find the
right conditions, such as exist in a harmonious circle of earnest
members, whose mental state should be
prayerful. (No other word so well
expresses this desired state of mind.)
Of all methods of study and
investigation the Horne Circle is preferable.
The members know and have confidence in each other, and the disturbing
elements of distrust, hate or fear do not enter. If there is one place
in all the world where the
spirit is pleased to come, it is to the sacred hearth, and
the table around which they gathered.
One of the numerous letters which
have been received by those who
accepted this advice is introduced as not
only an illustration, but lesson. The
name is withheld but it is that of a distinguished lawyer in a western
city:
"We acted on the advice to form a
family circle, and in a short time we received all the evidence I want
of spirit return. My wife has developed into a writing medium, and also
speaks in unconscious trance. We
received communications at our first
seance, and many spirit friends wrote messages through her hand; now
they seem to take full control of her."
Investigation should not be confined
to one source or method, and the above should not be construed into
disparagement of the public mediums who in their various spheres are
assisting to solve the mysteries of spirit.
Many are earnest, honest and self-sacrificing. The influences, however,
on these public workers are
essentially vicious. This will be apparent when the subject is fully
analyzed. This field, hitherto almost unknown, has been approached by
two classes, actuated by opposite motives: One prejudiced against
everything claiming to be spiritual, with the case prejudged, and
arrogantly blind to the facts that appear; the other too easily
satisfied, with the partiality of credulity for the bizarre and
incomprehensible. There is a middle class who discriminate, rejecting
the false and accepting the true, and by so doing are distrusted by both
extremes; the first regarding them as untrustworthy; the latter as
suspicious allies, liable to desert the cause at any moment. As
Confucius taught, the truth resides in the "golden mean,"
calm judgment and impartial reason having eliminated the sources of
error.
The demands of a materialistic age
for objective manifestations has had a disastrous influence. It has gone
on increasing its requirements until the most remarkable—if not
impossible—have been asked for and given, for
never credulity so great that fraud could not administer to its wants.
Those who decry materializations as
gross and unworthy, reduced Spiritualism itself to the crudest
materialism, and were satisfied with nothing short of weighing the
so-called spirit friends on platform scales,
and pocketing locks of their hair, and yards of tarlatan woven by their
deft fingers.
Spiritual phenomena must be
essentially spiritual and only touch the physical horizon. It was
disastrous to the cause, when the purely spiritual phases were set aside
for grosser forms. The career of these "phenomenal mediums" is almost
invariably the same. They commence with honest purpose. The
manifestations are slight, occur at irregular times and when least
called for. If content to cultivate this sensitiveness and receive what
is given, all is well. It may grow more and more and have seasons of
wonderful activity; but the possessor usually becomes a public vender of
his or her gift. The eager
public call at certain hours and pay a fixed price.
Every inducement is made to increase
the manifestations and make them
more remarkable. These cannot be
predicated, and the chances are always
against their recurrence. The intense
desire of those awaiting responses, acts hypnotically on the medium. If
he is sensitive to the thoughts of
spirits, he is equally so to the
thoughts and wishes of mortals. Impelled by
the latter influence and the desire
to win money the manifestations are simulated, and this with more and
more daring until at last the deception is too transparent to deceive
the most credulous, and has brought its own cure.
SUGGESTIONS.
When communications are first
received, do not at once ask personal or test questions. The
difficulties in the way
of correctly answering are great, and
if mistakes occur there is at once antagonism which leads to the loss of
all that mail have been gained by
the seances. Even when correctly
answered, it is no test of identity.
