How to Read the Crystal
How to Read the Crystal CHAPTER I.CHAPTER II.CHAPTER III.CHAPTER IV.CHAPTER V.CHAPTER VI.CHAPTER VII.CHAPTER VIII.Copyright
How to Read the Crystal
Sepharial
CHAPTER I.
A POSTULATE
Any attempt at a scientific explanation of the phenomenon of
"crystal seering," to use an irregular but comprehensive term,
would perhaps fall short of completeness, and certainly would
depend largely upon the exercise of what Professor Huxley was wont
to call "the scientific imagination." The reasons for this are
obvious. We know comparatively little about atomic structure in
relation to nervous organism. We are informed to a certain degree
upon atomic ratios; we know that all bodies are regarded by the
physicist as a congeries of atoms, and that these atoms are
"centres of force." Primarily, the atomic theory would refer all
heterogeneous bodies to one homogeneous substance, from which
substance, by means of a process loosely referred to as
"differentiation," all the elements are derived. These elements are
the result of atomic arrangement, and the atoms of each are known
to have various vibrations, the extent of which is called the "mean
free path of vibration." The indestructibility of matter, the fact
that all nature is convertible, and the absolute association of
matter and force, lead to the conclusion that since every change in
matter implies a change of force, matter must be ever living and
active, and primarily of a spiritual nature. The great Swedenborg,
no less a scientist than a spiritual seer, laid down his doctrine
of "Correspondences" upon the primary concept of the spiritual
origin of all force and matter. Matter, he argued, was the ultimate
expression of Spirit, as Form was that of Force. Spirit was to
Force what Matter was to Form—our ideas of Matter and Form being
closely related. Hence, for everySpiritual
Forcethere is a correspondingMaterial Form, and the material or
natural world corresponds at all points with the world of spirit,
without being identical. This, in brief, is the conclusion to which
the "scientific imagination" of the present day, extending as it
does from the known into the unknown, is slowly but surely leading
up.Taking as our postulate the scientific statement of the
atomic structure of bodies, atomic vibration and molecular
arrangement, we turn to consider the action exerted by such bodies
upon the nervous organism of man.The function of the brain—which must be regarded as the
bulbous root of a nervous plant whose branches grow downwards—is
twofold; to affect, and to be affected. In its active or positive
condition it affects the whole of the vital and muscular processes
in the man, finding expression in vital action. In its passive or
negative state it is affected by impressions coming to it in
different ways through the sense-organs, resulting in nervous and
mental action. It is this latter phase of brain-function with which
we are immediately concerned.The range of our sense-perception puts us momentarily and
continually in relation with the material world, or rather with
acertain portionof it. We say
a certain portion because we know from scientific experience that
the scale or gamut of sense-perception is limited, both as to its
extent and as to its quality. Many insects, birds, and quadrupeds
have keener perceptions in some respects than man. The photographic
plate can register impressions which are beyond the perception of
our highest sense of sight. The Röntgen rays have put us into
relations with a new order of impression—records quite beyond the
range of our normal vision. The animalcule and microbic life,
itself microscopic, has yet its own order of sense-organs related
to a world of vitality beyond our ken. These, and a host of other
observations, serve to show that our normal perceptions are
extremely limited, and, further, that nature does not cease to
exist where we cease to perceive her.The relation of our sense-organs to the several degrees of
matter, to solids, fluids, gases, atmospheric and etheric motions,
vary in different individuals to such a wide extent that the
average wool-sorter leaves many an artist behind in his perception
of colour-shades. The same odour is perceptible by one person and
unrecognisable by another. In the gradation of sound, too, the same
differences of perception will be commonly noticed. But quite apart
from the scale or range of perception, thequalityof a sense-impression is found
to vary with different persons. By this we mean that the same body
will affect different persons in dissimilar manner. Hence arises
the variety of "tastes" in regard to forms, colours, flavours,
scents, sounds, fabrics, etc., what is agreeable to one being
highly objectionable to another. The experience is to common to
need illustration; but the conclusion to which we are led is that,
in relation to the nervous system of man, every material body has a
variable effect. And this clears the ground for a statement of our
views in regard to the Crystal and its effects upon the
seer.The Crystal itself is a clear pellucid piece of quartz or
beryl, sometimes oval in shape, but more generally spheroidal. It
is accredited by Reichenbach and other researchers with highly
magnetic qualities capable of producing in a suitable subject a
state analogous to the ordinary waking trance of the hypnotists. It
is believed that all bodies convey, or are the vehicles of, a
certain universal magnetic property, variously called Od, Odyle,
etc., which is regarded as an inert and passive substance
underlying the more active forces familiar to us in kinetic,
calorific, and electrical phenomena. In this respect it bears a
position analogous to the Argon of the atmosphere. It is capable of
taking up, sympathetically, the vibrations of those bodies or
elements to which it is temporarily related. But of itself it has
no activity, although in its still, well-like, and calm depths it
holds the potentiality of all magnetic forces. This Odyle, then, is
particularly potent in the quartz or beryl, when brought into
activity by the intention of the seer. It produces and retains more
readily in that form the various images communicated to it from the
soul of man. And the soul, in this connection, must be regarded as
the repository of all that complex mass of emotions, thoughts,
impressions, perceptions, feelings, etc., included in the inner
life of man; for the soul of man is not the less a scientific fact
because there are those who bandy words concerning its origin and
nature. Reichenbach has shown by a series of experiments upon
sensitive and hypnotised subjects that metals and other substances
produce very marked effects in contact with the human body. Those
experiments showed, too, that the same substance affected different
patients in diverse manner. The hypnotic experiments of Dr.
Charcot, the well-known French biologist, also demonstrate
therapportexisting between the
sensitive patient and foreign bodies when in proximity or contact;
as for example, when a bottle containing a poison was taken at
random from among a number of others of exactly similar appearance,
and applied to the back of the patient's neck, the hypnotised
subject would once develop all the symptoms of poisoning by
arsenic, strychnine, prussic acid, etc., it being afterwards
ascertained that the bottle thus applied actually contained the
toxine whose effects had been portrayed by the
subject.
