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Astral Projection is frequently developed by faithful practice of, and demonstration of, the simpler forms of Psychomancy. It is all a matter of successive steps of development.

LESSON VIII.
SPACE PSYCHOMANCY

As we stated in previous lessons, "Space Psychomancy" is the exercise of the faculty in the direction of perceiving far-distant scenes, persons, objects, etc.

Of course, there is really an exercise of Space Psychomancy in some instances of Simple Psychomancy. But we make the distinction because in the case of objects seen by Simple Psychomancy at some little distance from the observer, the impression is received by means of the rays, or vibrations from the objects themselves, by means of the developed Astral Senses, acting in a simple manner; while in the case of Space Psychomancy (in the technical sense of the term) the impression is received by means of either the erection of the Astral Tube, or else by the actual projection of the consciousness in the Astral Body – the latter being an actual visiting of the scene.

A little illustration may perhaps make clearer the above distinction. Let us suppose a man on the physical Plane with ordinary eyesight – such a man could not see an object beyond the average distance of vision, and he would be like a person devoid of Psychomantic powers. Then let us suppose a man of extraordinary visual powers, such as many hunters or seafaring men – such a one could see things invisible to the first man, and would thus resemble the person manifesting Simple Psychomancy. Then let us suppose a third man, using a telescope – this man could see things that neither of the other two could perceive, and he would thus resemble the person manifesting along the lines of Space Psychomancy by means of the Astral Tube. And, finally, let us suppose a fourth man, who possessed magical wings which would instantly transport him to the distant scene, whence he could view the objects, personally, and at close range – well this man would be like the person who was able to project his Astral Body, and thus view the distant scenes at will, and at short range, without the difficulties attendant upon the use of the telescope-like Astral Tube – to see the object on any and all sides, and from all points of view —to get inside of it, as well as outside.

The following interesting cases are quoted to illustrate the principle:

Captain Yount, of the Napa Valley, California, had a peculiar experience while asleep. He had a remarkably clear vision in which appeared a band of emigrants perishing from cold and hunger amidst a mountain range. He noted particularly, and in detail, the scenery and appearance of the canyon. He saw a huge, perpendicular cliff of white rock; and the emigrants cutting off what appeared to be the tops of trees arising from great drifts of snow; he even saw plainly the features of some of the party. He awoke, sorely distressed by the vividness and the nature of his "dream," for so he considered it to be. But, by-and-by, he fell asleep again, and saw the scene repeated, with equal distinctness. In the morning he found that he could not get the "dream" out of his mind, and he told it to some of his friends. One of the hearers of the story was an old hunter, who at once recognized the place seen in the dream as a place across the Sierras, known as a point in the Carson Valley Pass. So earnest was the old hunter, that Captain Yount, and his friends, organized a rescue party and set out with provisions, mules, and blankets to seek the perishing emigrants. Notwithstanding the ridicule of the public, the rescuers persisted in their search, and finally about one hundred and fifty miles distant, in the Carson Valley Pass, they found the scene as described by Captain Yount, and in the identical spot seen in the dream were found the party of emigrants, the surviving members of whom were rescued and brought over the mountain.

Another interesting account is given in the reports of the Society for Psychical Research, of England. It relates that an English lady, Mrs. Broughton, awoke one night in 1844, and aroused her husband, telling him that she had had a strange vision of a scene in France. She stated that she had seen a broken-down carriage, evidently wrecked in an accident, and a crowd gathered around the figure of a man, whose body was then raised and carried into a nearby house. She said that the body was then placed in a bed, when she recognized his features as those of the Duke of Orleans. Then friends gathered around the bed, and later came the king and queen of France, all weeping. She saw the doctor, who stood over the Duke, feeling his pulse, with his watch in his other hand, but she could only see the doctor's back. Then the scene had faded from her vision. When daylight finally came, she recorded the vision in her journal. It was before the days of the telegraph, and it was more than two days before the newspapers announced the death of the Duke of Orleans. The lady visited Paris afterwards, and recognized the place of the accident. It then appeared that the attending physician whose face she could not see in her vision, was an old friend of hers, who then told her that as he watched the bed his mind had involuntarily dwelt upon her and her family.

The well-known case of Swedenborg gives us another illustration of this class of Psychomancy. It is related that in the latter part of September, 1759, at four o'clock one Saturday afternoon, Swedenborg arrived home from England, and disembarked at Gothenburg. Mr. W. Castel met him and invited him to dinner, at which meal there were fifteen persons gathered around the table. At six o'clock that evening Swedenborg went out a few minutes, returning to the table excited and pale. When questioned, he said that there was a fire at Stockholm, 200 miles distant, which was steadily spreading. He grew very restless, and frequently left the room. He said that the house of one of his friends, whose name he mentioned, was already in ashes, and that his own was in danger. At eight o'clock after he had been out again, he returned crying out cheerfully, "Thank heaven! the fire is out, the third door from my house."

The news of the occurrence excited the whole town, and the officials made inquiry regarding it, and Swedenborg was summoned before the governor, and requested to relate what he had seen, in detail. Answering the governor, he told when and where the fire had started; how it had begun; how, when and where it had stopped; and the time it lasted, the number of houses destroyed, people injured, etc. On the following Monday morning a courier arrived from Stockholm, bringing news of the fire, having left the town while it was still burning. On the next day after, Tuesday morning, another courier arrived at the governor's palace with a full report of the fire, which corresponded precisely with the vision of Swedenborg – the fire had stopped precisely at eight o'clock, the minute that Swedenborg had so announced it to the company.

Stead relates the following instance of this class of Psychomancy, which was told him by the wife of a Dean of the Episcopal Church. The lady said: "I was staying in Virginia, some hundred miles away from home, when one morning about eleven o'clock, I felt an overpowering sleepiness, which drowsiness was quite unusual, and which caused me to lie down. In my sleep I saw quite distinctly my home in Richmond in flames. The fire had broken out in one wing of the house, which I saw with dismay was where I kept all my best dresses. The people were all trying to check the flames, but it was no use. My husband was there, walking about before the burning house, carrying a portrait in his hand. Everything was quite clear and distinct, exactly as if I had actually been present and seen everything. After a time I woke up, and going downstairs told my friends the strange dream I had had. They laughed at me, and made such game of my vision that I did my best to think no more about it. I was traveling about, a day or two passed, and when Sunday came I found myself in a church where some relatives were worshipping. When I entered the pew they looked rather strange, and as soon as the service was over I asked them what was the matter. 'Don't be alarmed,' they said 'there is nothing serious.' Then they handed me a postcard from my husband which simply said, 'House burned out; covered by insurance.' The day was the date upon which my dream occurred. I hastened home, and then I learned that everything had happened exactly as I had seen it. The fire had broken out in the wing I had seen blazing. My clothes were all burnt, and the oddest thing about it was that my husband, having rescued a favorite picture from the burning building, had carried it about among the crowd for some time before he could find a place in which to put it safely."

A well-authenticated case is that of the wreck of the ship "Strathmore." Stead relates the story as follows: "The father of a son who had sailed in the 'Strathmore,' an emigrant ship outbound from Clyde, saw one night the ship foundering amid the waves, and saw that his son, with some others had escaped safely to a desert island near which the wreck had taken place. He was so much impressed by this vision that he wrote to the owner of the 'Strathmore,' telling him what he had seen. His information was scouted; but after a while the 'Strathmore' became overdue, and the owner became uneasy. Day followed day, and still no tidings of the missing ship. Then, like Pharaoh's butler, the owner remembered his sins one day, and hunted up the letter describing the vision. It supplied at least a theory to account for the vessel's disappearance. All outward-bound ships were requested to look out for any survivors on the island indicated in the vision. These orders being obeyed, the survivors of the 'Strathmore' were found exactly where the father had seen them."

Another interesting case is reported by the Society previously mentioned. It reports that Dr. Golinski, a physician of Kremeutchug, Russia, was taking an after-dinner nap in the afternoon, about half-past three o'clock. He had a vision in which he saw himself called out on a professional visit, which took him to a little room with dark hangings. To the right of the door he saw a chest of drawers, upon which rested a little paraffin lamp of special pattern, different from anything he had ever seen before. On the left of the door, he saw a woman suffering from a severe hemorrhage. He then saw himself giving her professional treatment. Then he awoke, suddenly, and saw that it was just half-past four o'clock. Then comes the strange sequel. Within ten minutes after he awoke, he was called out on a professional visit, and on entering the bedroom he saw all the details that had appeared to him in his vision. There was the chest of drawers – there was the peculiar lamp – there was the woman on the bed suffering from the hemorrhage. Upon inquiry he found that she had grown worse between three and four o'clock, and had anxiously desired that he come to her about that time, finally dispatching a messenger for him at half-past four, the moment at which he awoke.

We could fill page after page with these interesting and well-authenticated instances, but our lack of space prevents. We have stated enough to illustrate the principle, and then, besides, many of our readers will know of many similar instances in the actual experience of themselves, relatives or friends. Volumes would not contain all the true stories of phenomena of this kind – and still people smile in a superior way at the mere suggestion of the phenomena.

LESSON IX.
PAST TIME PSYCHOMANCY

As we have previously stated, "Time Psychomancy" is a term used to designate that phase of the phenomena in which one senses objects, events, persons, etc., in the records of the past; and also in which he senses the indications of the future – "the shadows of coming events."

For convenience, we shall separate our consideration of the subject into two parts, viz.: (1) Past Time Psychomancy; and (2) Future Time Psychomancy.

Past Time Psychomancy is that phase of the phenomena which enables one to use his Astral Vision to explore the records of the past, and we shall now proceed to examine.

The first question that naturally arises in the minds of careful students, in connection with this phase of the phenomena, is, "How is the person able to sense the scenes, occurrences, and objects of the past? There are no vibrations emanating from past scenes, and as they no longer exist, how can anyone see them, by Astral Vision, or by any other means?" This question is a most proper one, for even those who readily grasp the explanation of Space Psychomancy find themselves at a loss to understand the Past Time Phenomena without a knowledge of the Occult Teachings on the subjects.

THE AKASHIC RECORDS

The secret of Past Time Psychomancy is found in the Occult Teachings of the "Akashic Records" by which is meant that on the higher planes of Universal Substance, there are to be found records of all that has happened and occurred during the entire World Cycle of which the present time forms a part. These records are preserved until the termination of the World Cycle, when they pass away with the World of which they are a record. This does not mean that there is any Great Book in which the doings, good and bad, of people are written down by the Recording Angel, as popular fanciful legends have it. But it does mean that there is a scientific occult basis for the popular legend, in spite of the sneers of the skeptics. We must turn to modern science for a corroboration. It is now taught by scientists that there is no such thing as a destruction of Energy, but that Energy always exists in some form. The Occult Teachings verify this, and go further, when they state that every action, thought, happening, event, occurrence, etc., no matter how small or insignificant, leaves an indelible record on the Akasha (or Universal Ether) with which Space is filled. In other words, every action, or scene, that has ever occurred or existed in the past, has left an impression in the Universal Ether, or Akasha, where it may be read by developed Psychomancy.

There is nothing especially wonderful about this, when you compare it with other facts in nature. Astronomy teaches us that light travels at the rate of 186,000 miles a second – and that there are fixed stars in space so far removed from the Earth that their light leaving them hundreds, yes, thousands, of years ago, is only now reaching our sight. In other words, when we look at some of the fixed stars, we do not see them as they now are, or where they now are, but merely see them where and how they were hundreds of years ago when the rays of light left them. Astronomers tell us that if one of these stars happened to be blotted out of existence hundreds of years ago, we would be still seeing the light that left them before the event – in other words would be seeing them hundreds of years after they had ceased to be. And our children, and children's children, for several generations would still see them, and would not learn of the terrible catastrophe for hundreds of years after it actually happened. The vibrations of light once set into motion would persist for centuries, and even for thousands of years after their source had disappeared. This is no wild occult fancy, but a well-proven and thoroughly-established scientific fact, as any one may see for himself by reference to any work on astronomy. And the same is true of waves of electricity, or electronic emanations, or waves of any kind of energy. Really, even in the physical view of things, nothing can exist without leaving a record in the Universal Ether. And so the Occult Teachings now find their corroboration in Modern Science.

Another illustration is found in the phenomena of the Memory of Man. Stored away in our brain cells are records of things, events, scenes, occurrences, people, and objects, registered there in past years. You often find yourself thinking about people, things and events of years long since passed away – and by a mere effort of the will you bring the records of these people, things, or events before your mental vision and see them reproduced in detail. Dissect a brain-cell and you will find no trace of the thing there – but nevertheless every exercise of memory proves that the record is there. And there is nothing more wonderful, or miraculous, in the Akashic Records of Past Events, than there is in the Memory Record of Past Events! The Universal Ether, or Akasha, has within itself a true and full record of anything, and everything, that has ever existed within its space. And if one develops the power to read these records at will, he has a full and complete key to the past, from the speaking of the Creative Word which began this great World Cycle.

But, in order to avoid a misapprehension, we must say to our students that none but the most advanced and highly-developed Occultists and Masters have clear access to the planes upon which these records are to be found. The majority of Psychomancers merely see on the "Lower Astral Plane" a reflection of the Akashic Records, which reflection may be compared to the reflection of the trees and landscape in a pond of water, which of course, is often more or less imperfect – distorted and disturbed by the ripples and waves occasioned by the passing breezes, and sometimes being made muddy and clouded. The records of the Past, open to the average Psychomancer, are merely "reflections of records," which are apt to be more or less distorted, or cloudy, by reason of the disturbances of the surface of the reflecting medium. This is a brief and simple statement of an important Occult scientific truth, which would require volumes to explain technically. The illustration of the reflecting surface of the water, however, is so true to the real facts that the student may confidently adopt the same as his mental image of the phenomena of Past Time Psychomancy.

In actual practice we find the phenomena of Past Time Psychomancy manifested principally along the line of Psychometry and Crystal Gazing, the consideration of which phases of phenomena has been made in previous lessons in this book. There are to be found, however, many instances of at least a partial manifestation of this phase of power among individuals in every-day life, who when meeting a person frequently get impressions (more or less correct) of his or her past life, past scenes, etc.

The German writer, Zschokke, in his autobiography, writes as follows regarding this power of Past Time Psychomancy possessed by him, and which was often set into operation when he came into the presence of strangers for the first time. He states: "It has happened to me sometimes, on my first meeting with strangers, as I silently listened to their discourse, that their former life, with many trifling circumstances therewith connected, or frequently some particular scene in that life, has passed quite involuntarily, and, as it were, dream-like, yet perfectly distinct, before me. During this time I usually feel so entirely absorbed in the contemplation of the stranger's life, that at last I no longer see clearly the face of the unknown wherein I undesignedly read, nor distinctly hear the voices of the speakers, which before served in some measure as a commentary on the text of their features. For a long time I held such visions as delusions of the fancy, and the more so as they showed me even the dress and emotions of the actors, rooms, furniture, and other accessories, but I soon discovered otherwise.

"On one occasion, in a gay mood, I narrated to my family the secret history of a seamstress who had just before quitted the room. I had never seen the young woman before. Nevertheless, the hearers were astonished and laughed, and would not be persuaded but that I had a previous acquaintance with her and the facts of her former life, inasmuch as what I had stated was perfectly true. I was not the less astonished than they to find that my vision agreed with reality."

"I then gave more attention to the subject, and as often as propriety allowed of it, I related to those whose lives had passed before me, the substance of my visions, in order to obtain from them a contradiction or verification thereof. On every occasion the confirmation followed, not without amazement on the part of those who gave it."