WITH THE PERIODICALS
Scientific people are monistic, the monism is one of "physical" nature, so when the parapsychologist digs up happenings that that do not fit into the scheme of physical causation he is accused of dualism. This point is made by Dr. J. B. Rhine in his editorial in The Journal of Parapsychology for December. Dr Rhine refuses the various philosophic "escapes", as being "untested speculation", then finds a semi-philosophic possible escape of his own. Body and mind represent two actually existing systems, and we know that they interact; well then, there simply must be a unifying system "somewhere in the background". There is, there must be "a common system of energetic determinants not yet known to science" - and "we need not think of it as undiscoverable." This concept may be called Relativism, and we can also have relative monism and relative dualism, which are exactly the same thing . . . We make bold to agree with Dr. Rhine in this neat bit of foot-work - and also to point out how impossible it is for the psychologist to eschew philosophy or the physicist his metaphysics.
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Table of contents for Mind Digest, January, lists some 36 articles, plus editorials and reviews. Those which in our opinion might especially interest RR readers are Conditions in Telepathy, by Dr. Bruno Furst; Spiritualism, by Dr. R. W. McLain; Reading the Brain's Secrets, from the American Weekly; and Cancer, its Probable Cause and Cure, by L. Squire-Tucker, M.Es. Psy. Perhaps we should add the first half of Power in the Word, by Gardner Hunting. The articles on Spiritualism and on cancer are remarkable not so much for the factual material they contain, as for the enlightened and open-minded attitude of the authors and their courage in taking a stand likely to infuriate both religious and medical orthodoxy. It is refreshing, for instance, to hear the medical profession told bluntly that the M.D.'s would do well to cooperate with mental and psychic healers - especially in cases where their own efforts are useless . . . The doctors have recognized the mental factor in disease since the days of the first sugar pill, and have now grown most explicit and emphatic about it; the point is, they are (nearly all of them) incapable of handling the psycho-approach themselves, yet angrily resent the efforts of even the most competent mental healer . . . As for the patient, his object is to find relief and cure, and the indignation of the M.D. is not likely to divert him from any source of real help, no matter how non-scientific and unorthodox it may be.
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"The great field for new discoveries is the unclassified residuum . . . the dust cloud of exceptional observations and irregular occurrences around the accredited and orderly facts of every science. (It is) only the born geniuses (who) let themselves be worried and fascinated by these outstanding exceptions, and get no peace until they are brought within the fold. Your Galileos, Galvanis, Fresnels, Purkinjes, and Darwins are always getting confounded and troubled by insignificant things. Anyone will renovate his science who will steadily look after the irregular phenomena!"
William James (The Will to Believe)
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Prediction for January contains Experiments in Telepathy (Prof. S.G. Soal, M.A., D.Sc.) -- Houses of Obsession (Elliott O'Donnell) -- Frank Lind's Occult Case Book -- Psychic Evidence of Life after Death (Arthur Lansley) -- Our Thought Barrage (Arthur Prince) -- the usual sections on palmistry, astrology, dream interpretation. There's just enough first class stuff in this magazine so that one can't afford not to take it - like the first two articles mentioned above. And that reminds us, we want information about Tree Obsession, and/or relationship of trees to recurrent obsession cases in particular houses, or to a succession of tragedies occurring in a given house, or place. We particularly want to know about beech trees - their reputation is most evil, and the "octopus" variety worst of all. We have access to books on the tree-lore of primitive peoples, but very little genuine occult investigation. There is a possible connection with poltergeist phenomena . . . Geoffrey Hodgson told us once, the great redwoods are beginning to develop a dim type of consciousness . . . To clairvoyant vision, a tree is a fountain of living light, its aura a garment of fire celestial . . . It is not all fantastic to suppose that these great forms and centers of energy, evolving toward consciousness, may some-times have their share in strange psychic happening. (Prediction, Link House, 24, Store St., London, W.C.1. 9/6 or $2.00 yr. or, Bobbitt Agency).
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Journal of the American Society for Psychical Research for Jan. has Paranormal Phenomena and Culture (Victor Barnouw) -- Excerpts from Unpublished Sittings of Dr. John F. Thomas Pointing to his Coming Death (Edmond P. Gibson) -- Progress Report on Further Sheep-Goat Series (Gertrude R. Schmeidler) -- A case history -- correspondence -- two book reviews. These last named are for What is Hypnosis by Salter; and Poltergeist Over England, by Harry Price. And an obituary note for Frederick Bligh Bond (The Gate of Remembrance), whose death is a notable loss to psychical research and to archaeological studies.
Anyone who thinks the Poltergeist in not a prominent citizen, well and unfavorably known, should read the book referred to above. We have long maintained, and have pointed out in the Round Robin, that poltergeist activities should be carefully studied, not so much with hope of finding a cause, as from the standpoint of theoretical physics. Naive reflection would assume that when phenomena occur which contravene every established law of physics, all physicists, discerning a chance to learn something, will pounce on them with cries of joy. What actually happens, of course, is quite the opposite. Barely indeed will any physicist admit that these scandalous happenings take place at all - or, if they do, any real scientist could unmask the trick - or, if he couldn't, they are simply "wild" phenomena, freak happenings, no laws to govern them, no pigeon-hole or stick-file for them. Apportation, teleportation, matter passing thru matter, things materializing and vanishing, mysterious fires, air-borne bricks, showers of roses and camel dung, talking mongoose (mongooses? mongeese? sorry we got into that subject!) - all that stuff isn't physics, brother! Folklore, nightmare, tricks, lies, delusions maybe, but not physics! Well, we recommend Harry Prices's 400 pages of these abortions of Nature, plus his six page bibliography of further and similar monstrosities, for the pious consideration of all true believers in the spurious sanity of this insane world.
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"It is not sufficient to base your faith in immortality upon the existence of the spirit world alone. All that the existence of spirits proves, is that there is another plane of consciousness. The existence of spirits is comforting, but they are part of a reflective plane as bewildering as a dimly lighted hall of mirrors - reflections, and reflections of reflections. Many of these phantoms, real enough in themselves, are but shells - ghosts of ghosts."
So writes Marshal South, in January CHIMES - to which we add that the most rigid proof of survival would not touch the idea of immortality at all - and that "eternal life" is undemonstrable (since no one has lived forever, or ever will) - and that all such expressions are time concepts anyway, and time is an unfathomable mystery - and that no philosophical-religious thinking can make any sense out of "immortality" as the word is popularly used. Marshal South's "Hall of mirrors" is called the Treasure House of Images by the Qabalists - a finely descriptive term.
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New York Spiritualist Leader is a "weekly news digest of psychic science facts", usually six pages, about 8 x 11", contains many news items and examples of curious phenomena; we commend it particularly because it carries on a campaign for reasonable test conditions at all seances and is a fearless hunter-out of frauds. Spiritualists should subscribe, and so should PR investigators - simply because one never knows what will turn up next. (Box 852, Grand Central Annex, N.Y. $2.00 yr., .25 mo.).
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Sunflower for January has Abraham Lincoln; Practical Mystic - True Psychical Experiences - The Psychic Faculty and its Unfoldment in the Home Circle - an article on William Blake - editorial on the present anti-spiritualist newspaper campaign - book list, and "books wanted" - other worth-while features. (12 pages. 15 No. Maryland Ave., Atlantic City, N.J. Bi-monthly, 2 yrs $1.00)
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"Heretofore the major business of mankind has been to 'make a living'; in the days before us it will be that of 'making a life'. Not physical necessities but the soul's requirements will be man's prime concern in the new era." Thus, Theodore Heline, editor of New Age Interpreter. The policy of this magazine seems to be, to assume the intelligence of the reader - that is to say, its I.Q. is distinctly above the average. And the book reviews are worth while. "Similarity of vision and likeness of direction determine our comradeship." (Box 6133 Metropolitan Station, Los Angeles 55, Calif. Yr. $1.50)
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Power and Importance of Memory, by A.H. Glover, is title of an article in December Rosicrucian (Oceanside, Calif.) "People who die as children do not have to complete the entire cycle of the heaven worlds, but return to earth with the same minds and desire bodies - in such cases they often remember the past incarnation" is one of many interest-points of doctrine set forth by the writer. Mrs Max Heindel is the Editor. (Monthly, $2.00 yr.)
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- A ROUND ROBIN FEATURE -
We have spoken elsewhere of certain recordings of "trumpet voices" in which we had confidence. Some of these we have transcribed (painfully, in our well-rusted shorthand), and propose to print one of them in each issue. It's too bad that we can't get the tone, the manner, the individual style of speech into print also - it is a truly instructive experience especially for those who, never having studied this kind of manifestation, are convinced that it is wholly fraudulent (super-ooper ventriloquism of magical efficacy), or else some weird performance of "split personality", or even impersonation by evil spirits . . . We know there is a good deal of fraud and delusion, but "so what?" There are counterfeit dollar bills, too, but we go right on taking in a few good ones, laus Deo! There are reasonable test conditions, and these are also "common-sense" even in seance phenomena. We sometimes define illuminism as "enlightened common sense", and think it should be mixed in even with critical and technical judgments. Example: we refuse to accept, off-hand, that the plumber is a reincarnation of Captain Kidd, or the milk-man obsessed by Lucretia Borgia and bent on baby poisoning . . . though both of them, like you and me and dust specks and stars, are cosmic mysteries and quite unexplainable in their true essence. Well, to return da cappo, we propose to print a few of these post-mortem remarks of distinguished persons, making them short enough to be easily skipped by the bores . . . As a final thought, the owner of these records is going to have the best of them reproduced (on other records), and will then offer them at a modest price. This means nothing to our own thin bank book, but we tell you about it, because we know the persons and circumstances, and accept the records as well worth while, and because a printed transcription is no real substitute for the living voice. But from what we do print you can get an idea of the content.
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Mrs Graham (New Mexico) sends us a clip from the Chicago Daily News of October 20, 1944; it's a column by John Craig about the Shaver Mystery, rather old stuff by this time, but giving the basic facts. In September 1943, Raymond Palmer, editor of Amazing Stories (scientifiction) began receiving a barrage of letters from one Richard Sharpe Shaver, steel worker in Barto, Pa. In a year, more than 200,000 words. Shaver maintained (still does) that he spent 1931-1939 living with a lost race beneath the surface of the earth, says they are descendants of the Lemurians. Palmer, scenting fish, made inquiries, soon found that Shaver's wife had spent seven years hunting for him, finally got a divorce. Shaver, producing "literature" like a whole battery of Balzac's, insists a Lemurian got hold of him right in his home town of Barto, took him to underground cities - some only ten miles under, others clear to the earth's center - claims he has learned of three such cities (epicenters, Virginia, Michigan, Tibet), brought back the alphabet used and various revolutionary scientific ideas.
That's the gist of the News article; since it was written the whole affair has gained momentum - it would take a whole issue of the Round Robin to give a synopsis of it. We understand that it is being exploited, not only by A.S. magazine but by other persons also. Some of the publicity is legitimate, but from our present knowledge it is probably undesirable and even dangerous. We say this with all possible seriousness and emphasis. Let the Deros alone. Above all, do not try to reproduce any type of apparatus or "machine."
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WITH OUR CORRESPONDENTS
Mrs H. M. Plemon (Long Beach) has a tale to tell. Her sister was ironing, and Mrs Plemon was sitting in a chair talking to her, and touching the table used for the ironing. And the chair legs sank down into the linoleum floor covering. Nothing was noticed at the time, but next morning there were the four holes, just fitting the chair legs, and about 3/16" deep. This was about twice the thickness of the linoleum, so the floor was penetrated also. Linoleum not broken, but locked as if pressed down. Then, between the chair and the window, two other sets of four holes each, exactly similar in size and arrangement to set number one. Linoleum new, inlaid, hard and not dented when the electric iron was dropped on it. The same effect was repeated, as to the penetration by the chair legs, when the conditions were repeated exactly.
Further items: The chair legs had metal gliders on them. There were no results if Mrs P. did not touch the table. Sitting elsewhere in the room produced no results. The electric iron had to be in operation. There was no sign of burning. Dr Franklin Llewis, Los Angeles physiologist, came, saw, warned that the phenomenon was rare and dangerous to experiment with; doubtless correct but we could have guessed that for ourselves . . . We're intrigued by the other sets of holes where the CHAIR was not. Don't tell us they were there "all the time" because new linoleum is to women as chick to mother hen - and even the first scratch is noticed, to say nothing of eight sizable holes. But if you have the answers, tell Mrs Plemon about it; she's at 59 Atlantic Ave. When it's all settled, tell the RR editor.
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"Those electrical ghosts! Why aren't they front page news?" That's from Mrs Graham (Ruidoso, New Mexico) about Vincent Gaddis's article in last RR. She also has, or used to have what she calls a "ghost worth knowing" - a voice which gave her tips on investments, just when she was wakening; she called him Mr Cohen (most appropriately). We mustn't forget to add, she thinks last issue of RR was a honey.
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Mrs Mary Hyde (Alexandria, Va.) sends us notes and extracts from This Egyptian Miracle, by Frederic H. Wood. Psychic communications and reconstruction of Egyptian life, and pronunciation of the old language. This book should be very much worth while. Trying to see the spiritons leads Mrs Hyde to speak of three kinds of lights - she sees points, blue lights, silver lights. The blue lights in particular "always bring attention to something". That's an idea supported by Dr Haley, too - that lights are very often signals, warnings, signs of the presence of Guides or other spirits trying to communicate. And there's enough data to build up an impressive argument. We believe, too, that lights often herald the beginning of clairvoyance.
Mr W.H.H. sends us a memo about Vitic experiments - carbon and magnet. They do not make him wakeful, produce pulsations in hands, have some other physiological effects worth further observation.
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Dr Hereward Carrington, Author Vincent Gaddis, E.C. Krieger (research), Hugh Lynn Cayce (A.R.E. Director), Jack Tate (research), David Dagmar (editor), Mrs Lotreck, Mrs Graham, Mrs Hyde, and a score of others have written us approvingly; many have promised articles or material.
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- THE WELL -
To use my time I once more examined everything very carefully. I had not yet explored the wall and leaned over it. It was built around a vertical shaft. I looked down. It seemed to be enormously deep. I strained my eyes. Down it went, and seemed to disappear in the bowels of the earth. If I threw down a good sized stone about ten pounds in weight I could ascertain its depth, I thought. The City was so tidy that not a single stone covered the ground. I had to walk at least five minutes to fetch a few good sized stones.
I threw one of them down the shaft and listened. Ten seconds passed and there was no sound. Twenty, thirty, forty, fifty seconds passed and yet no sound came. I threw down a second heavy stone and leaned over the wall. There was no sound at all!
I walked toward the mountain-side a second time and fetched a big stone weighing at least twenty pounds. I pulled out my rubber boat and with the help of strings turned it into a large ear-phone, fastening to the wall of the shaft, the wide opening turned downward.
I then threw down the heavy stone and listened through the ear-phone with the greatest attention. Ten seconds passed, then twenty, then thirty! No sound yet! I was in the greatest suspense. After about thirty-five seconds I heard the sound of the heavy stone as it tore savagely along the walls of the shaft. The brushing against the wall continued for several seconds, but by the fortieth second it had not yet struck bottom. I listened for another minute but did not hear the faintest sound.
Surely this was an interesting object of study, and I walked once more to the mountain-side and returned with a piece of rock weighing little over thirty pounds. At that moment a Tibetan ran up to me from one of the staircases, saying:
"My lord, our guest, you are respectfully requested not to throw stones into the shaft."
He looked at me icily with his glassy eyes and walked away.
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
It was dark night when we passed the circular wall surrounding the shaft in the center of the Holy City.
"This shaft must be very deep," I observed.
"How do you know it is a shaft?" asked Narbu.
"I have explored it a little," I answered.
He seemed greatly surprised.
"It is immeasurably deep," he observed, "but no one except the Prince of Light and a few of the highest Initiates knows where it leads to. Anyone who would find out where it leads to and what it is used for would have to die . . . There are such secrets."
"Who would kill him?"
"No one. He would die automatically the following night."
(Darkness Over Tibet, T. Illion. pp. 101-102; 140-141)
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Book Publications in Psychical Research
and Spiritualism in Wartime
(Reprint from The Journal of Abnormal and Social Psychology, Vol. 37, No. 3, July 1942. Approved by the Stanford Committee on Psychical Research, and presenting work done by Douglas G. Ellson while holding the Stanford Fellowship in Psychical Research).
TABLE I.
Titles listed for the United States in five year periods from 1891 to 1940.
PR indicates Psychical Research; S for Spiritualism; PSY for Psychology.
Percentages are based on the total number of titles on all topics.
| Years | PR | Pct. | S | Pct. | Psy | Pct. | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1891 - 95 | 1 | .004 | 10 | .041 | 41 | .167 | 24,618 |
| 1896 - 00 | 6 | .022 | 7 | .026 | 36 | .132 | 27,194 |
| 1901 - 05 | 3 | .007 | 26 | .065 | 46 | .114 | 40,242 |
| 1906 - 10 | 25 | .050 | 33 | .065 | 106 | .210 | 50,384 |
| 1911 - 15 | 27 | .048 | 52 | .093 | 231 | .413 | 56,000 |
| 1916 - 20 | 58 | .124 | 136 | .291 | 186 | .398 | 46,758 |
| 1921 - 25 | 35 | .079 | 107 | .241 | 264 | .594 | 44,416 |
| 1926 - 30 | 23 | .048 | 56 | .120 | 405 | .840 | 48,214 |
| 1931 - 35 | 28 | .063 | 40 | .090 | 471 | 1.061 | 44,398 |
| 1936 - 40 | 44 | .081 | 48 | .088 | 420 | .772 | 54,383 |
TABLE II.
Number of Titles Listed for Great Britain
| Years | PR | Pct. | S | Pct. | Psy | Pct. | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1891 - 95 | 3 | ___ | 0 | ___ | 23 | ___ | no record |
| 1896 - 00 | 7 | ___ | 1 | ___ | 32 | ___ | no record |
| 1901 - 05 | 7 | ___ | 5 | ___ | 29 | ___ | no record |
| 1906 - 10 | 12 | ___ | 11 | ___ | 38 | ___ | no record |
| 1911 - 15 | 16 | .028 | 7 | .012 | 64 | .111 | 57,562 |
| 1916 - 20 | 54 | .121 | 70 | .157 | 80 | .179 | 44,622 |
| 1921 - 25 | 42 | .070 | 14 | .023 | 151 | .251 | 60,050 |
| 1926 - 30 | 53 | .075 | 18 | .026 | 162 | .230 | 70,487 |
| 1931 - 35 | 56 | .073 | 14 | .018 | 167 | .219 | 76,282 |
| 1936 - 39 | 20 | .041 | 6 | .012 | 118 | .241 | 48,862 |
| 1936 - 40 | 25 | __ | 8 | ___ | 148 | ___ | 61,078 |
The figures give a comparative picture of the titles published in the three subjects. No special inferences can be drawn, but it is interesting to note "the large but temporary increase in the number listed, in both tables, for 1916-20," which includes the last three years of the first World War.
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Psychical Research Organization Expands Program
(The following communication, under the above title, was received from Mr Hugh Lynn Cayce, who has now resumed his position as Manager of the Association for Research and Enlightenment, at Virginia Beach, Vir.)
With the death of Edgar Cayce in 1945, the Association for Research and Enlightenment set about a complete revamping of its program. During the years of its study and compilation of the daily psychic readings given by Mr Cayce, the emphasis of the work was upon serving individuals through the readings and completing the records and reports on each case.
The organization is now faced with the responsibility and privilege of presenting the information on a wide variety of subjects contained in over twenty thousand individual records and reports in its files, secured over a period of fifty years. While this information is primarily concerned with accurate physical analysis of human ills and the reports of treatments followed by physicians in all schools of healing, there are thousands of readings on such subjects as reincarnation, vocational guidance, laws of psychic phenomena, unusual historical records, etc.
A membership, publication, lecture study group and radio program is now being planned which will enable the Association to place before the public everything which has been found to be helpful in the experiences of thousands who have been benefited through the readings.
The revised edition of There is a River, by Thomas Sugrue, published by Holt & Co. is attracting attention, and other items such as A Search for God (book); Auras; Meditation; Am I My Brothers Keeper? (pamphlets) are providing follow-up material for those who have read There is a River or have had readings.
Regular publications, the Bulletin, Weekly Extracts from the Readings, and the Secretary's Diary Letter keep members and friends advised of developments.
Involved in the expanding program which will be announced in brochure form early in 1946, is an Advisory Research Board of Physicians, and the Edgar Cayce Foundation, which will concern itself with indexing the records, and extracting material under subject headings.
The Association for Research and Enlightenment, Inc. , is a non-profit organization, chartered in the State of Virginia. It serves its members and through its members all those interested in the broader aspects of modern mysticism and psychical research.
H.L.C.
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The Editor in Chief of all the Association publications is the well-known author Thomas Sugrue; the editorial staff consists of Gina Cerninara, Ph.D., Hugh Lynn Cayce, Dorothy Gladys Davis, Harmon H. Bro. - for the Bulletin. Monthly, $2.50 a year, copy .25. Address Edgar Cayce Publishing Co., Inc. Virginia Beach, Virginia.