TABELLARIUS
Rings Twice
Professor Ryan
Comments
Professor Charles J., Ryan (Theosophical University, Covina) writes approvingly of RR and FR, and touches on matters of interest to our readers. With regard to the "mystery houses" at Santa Cruz and Grant's Pass, information now in Professor Ryan's hands indicates there may be genuine phenomena. (A report to RR by Physicist Hayes, on the Santa Cruz house, was wholly negative.) Further data may be available in a short time.
Our article on Fate of the Suicide did not tell the whole story (as we indeed knew at the time). The suicide is said to have to wait "in a rather embarrassing state" until the time when natural death would have occurred, after which the soul moves on, possibly thru Devachan, ("Summerland"). But during the "Limbo" period there is danger of being attracted back to earth interests and the earth level (Read Aldous Huxley's "Time Must Have a Stop").
Professor Ryan also notes an instance of suicide in San Diego, about ten years ago; the victim jumped from Cabrillo Bridge. Recently, at a seance, the medium gave an accurate description of the deceased person to a former friend, The spirit, said to be present, gave details of his association with this friend, and told how he had helped him at various important periods after his own death by suicide. This friend admitted that he had often wondered how it was that his affairs went unexpectedly well at certain critical periods. "There seems no reasonable way out of this case, except the presence of the personality, and this is quite right according to Theosophy, for the suicide is not really dead."
"There is a suspicious note in the VAU communications, reminiscent of the Ballards - such as 'Ascended Lemurians' and 'Golden City of the Tetons'." Professor Ryan is quite right on this point; our own note is, that one of the women of this VAU group was formerly associated with the I AM cultus, and the Communicators were probably playing up to this fact - or, if one prefers, trying to talk in terms familiar and acceptable to the sitters - a very frequent occurrence.
"The Canadian Theosophist, a very liberal magazine, has been printing Mrs K. Maltwood's remarkable discoveries about the great prehistoric Zodiac at Glastonbury in England ... Archaeologists have ignored the matter, as they usually do wherever the outre is involved ... Stonehenge is now placed about 1900 or 2000 B.C. ... Mrs M. traces Glastonbury Zodiac in Somerset to the Sumerians in Mesopotamia... H.P.B. discusses an enormous Zodiac in the Gobi desert, far older than 2000 B.C., and there is another gigantic one in Peru, of unknown age. Glastonbury one is ten miles across."
Dr. Ryan also inquires whether we have anything definite, on the alleged appearance of a Christ on a Cross at Ipswich in East England, said to have been seen in the sky by some 2000 people -- also, concerning alleged poltergeist moving large stone and other objects, in Essex, England... The Christ-appearance seems to be well documented but the RR Editor has not himself seen any of the alleged circumstantial reports. Information from readers is greatly appreciated... We also want information about Petrie's attitude toward Egyptian magic (v. FR, Beta)
Comments and
Questions
Mrs L.T.B. of Rock Island, Ill., says the Flying Roll is interesting, thinks Round Robin 7 the best issue so far, and was interested in The Hidden Twin. Seems that Mrs B. is aware of her own "Twin", has had useful warnings and advice from It-him-her; she also finds the article on Dr. Fodor "interesting in a morbid way," thinks the Carcinoma report was a fine idea - and the Huna articles, too.
To all inquiries about first steps in Huna practise: For the present these are being submitted to Mr Long. It is our hope that he will soon find time, either to put out a pamphlet on this matter, or write a series of articles for Round Robin. Let us make it clear that his interest, and ours, is chiefly in Huna as a healing system "for both body and purse." It is practical magic, that is to say, psychologically sound and easily grasped.
Mrs. L.T.B. also thinks the method employed by Mr. Oberfield (in "Self-Induced Telepathy," July RR) is very dangerous, unless there is some preliminary exercise, as of prayer and fasting. The RR Editor himself makes some use of Mr. Oberfield's method, and knows several other persons who do so, with varying results but nothing harmful. But some simple form of invocation or exorcism is proper and useful, before any kind of occult experiment - and there is no disagreement about this among competent occultists, no matter with what derision the idea is received elsewhere.
TCH! TCH!
"We enjoy the monthly visits of that pert Round Robin, and wish to renew ... Please send a copy of the Huna pamphlet also." (Mrs A.N.D., Berkeley). Thank-you-thank-you! All birds have bills, including RR.
"Loose and
let go:"
RR friend Ann Howard, commenting on "Our Abandoned Dead" (RR article, July issue), gives example of an opposite yet similar sin of our stupidity - earth-binding by excessive grief. This foolish wife, who wept by day and night for her husband, reproaching heaven and earth that she had not been taken with him, held the distressed spirit to her side with unbreakable bonds. It is hard for us to realize, but love and hate and desire operate like physical forces, on the unseen planes; one can actually feel the pull and thrust of them... The spiritualist minister who was able to explain to this woman the great harm she was doing (which his own clairvoyance revealed to him), indeed performed a worthy service... It is one of the prime stupidities of Protestantism, that tho its ministers to comfort the bereaved for their own sake, they know nothing at all concerning the need and desire of the newly dead. Nor is it bell, book, and candle that our departing loved ones require, but only "God speed you - till we meet again." Only "we grieve that we behold you no longer, but for you we rejoice exceedingly."
What's a
Coincidence?
AP dispatch from Huntington, West Virginia. Mr. C.T. Johnson found unconscious on street by police; died; cause of death unknown. His wife, Mrs Johnson, in Portsmouth, Ohio, 12 hours earlier, found unconscious on street by police; died; cause unknown. (Clip from Herald of Grand Rapids, Mich. July 9. Contributed by E.P. Gibson (research), Grand Rapids, Mich.)
S.E. CLUB
We are just in receipt of the Inner Council of the S.E. Club Forum, a mimeographed 33 page brochure, No.7 of Vol. 1. The S-E Club is a small but growing association, devoted to cooperative efforts along mental and spiritual lines, and to the exchange of ideas and information. Some 19 or 20 of the best friends of Round Robin - maybe more - are members of the S-E. This issue contains eight articles and includes some very worth while stuff (everything is 'stuff' in writers' talk). The group does not campaign for membership and has nothing to sell (members may contribute to the expense of the publication) - but inquiry may be made of Claud C. Gillham, Box 5, Hendrickson, Mo.
Flying Roll
Comments
Since nearly all F.R. subscribers also receive Round Robin, and since FR is Quarterly and has no space, at present, for letters received, we devote a few lines of this bulletin to it... Mrs H.L. (Mass.) says that the article by Max Freedom Long, on "The Thrice-Coiled Serpent" is amazing - and also approves warmly of "Magic of the Grass Huts" ... Mr. J.W.K. (Redlands, Calif.) writes that he was especially interested in "The Thrice-Coiled Serpent" with its painstaking experiments, and also in the Huna (pronounced Whoo-na, by the way) ... Mr. H.G.Y. (Alameda) notes that 'Mr. Long's article caused me to chuckle no end, as I remember when I went thru some of those disciplines ... F.R. is continuing its great beginning' ... F.G.H. of Santa Monica comments that Mr. Long was dealing with Hatha Yoga, and that the dream world he entered was the lower astral. The Round Robin and Flying Roll Editors are grateful for these and many other expressions of interest and approval - as also for all helpful and constructive criticism, favorable or otherwise.
Concerning
Walter Russell
The booklet called "The Man Who Tapped the Secrets of the Universe" may be had from the Macalester Park Publishing Company, St. Paul, Minn., for .25. (Also from the Wisdom Library, Los Angeles. Will somebody please send us the new address?). Russell is now lecturing in Washington, D.C.; has two books, "This Light-Wave Universe" and "New Age Philosophy" coming out this year. Subject matter said to have been received in trance, in 1921 but ordered withheld until now, awaiting certain scientific developments. Our information comes from Mrs E. Graham (Ruidoso, N.M.); she adds the praiseworthy suggestion that Walter Graham review these forthcoming books in his new STAR, a scientific quarterly of liberal tendencies (Box 7046, Los Angeles 37).
Hopes and
Expectations
Mr. E.C. Krieger, firm friend of Round Robin, has three-quarters promised an article for F.R. dealing with the use of hypnosis in developing powers of a psychic or mediumistic order. Readers of this Bulletin will recall the article, running thru two issues, on the AURA, prepared by Mr. Krieger and recognized as a valuable compilation. Do you all know what happens to people who let their RR subscriptions lapse? They miss some thing. Yes, sir, they surely do! Like Mr Krieger's article-to-come, maybe... We must add to the above, that Mr. Krieger recommends "The Prodigal Genius" by O'Neal - being a study of the life and work of Nicola Tesla, who was somewhat of a psychic himself. "Every student of radio and allied energy uses would profit by the book," says Mr. Krieger.
Esoteric
Instruction
Ann B. Karmichiel, 1400 So. Stiles St., Linden, N.J. writes us that she is willing to give help and instruction gratis, in astrology, philosophy, Bible, and astro-diagnosis. She has had 16 years of study with the Rosicrucian Fellowship of Mt. Ecclesia, Oceanside, Calif. She has three students at present and feels that she can be of service to a larger number. No charge or obligation of any kind. Miss Karmichiel finds Round Robin to be "just what I am looking for," and says she is delighted with it.
Illuminist
Book of the
Month Club
Mr Paul Doerr (Great Lakes, Ill.) writes: "A group of people interested in our type of reading should get together and organize a Book of the Month club (psychic science, weird fiction and related subjects). It would be a great help in keeping up on late books and magazines." Mr. Doerr praises the Beta issue of Flying Roll, says it was "as good if not better than the first." His address is Bldg. 1102; U.S.M.P.S.C. After August, at 203 E. State St. Sharon, Pa.
More work,
less talk!
Mr Edmond P. Gibson, sending in his subscription for Flying Roll, adds: "My opinion, for what it is worth, is that the field you are covering needs more experimentation and less speculation, and I would like to see experimental articles published. They are woefully lacking in most of the publications I come across." RR Editor thoroughly agrees with Mr. Gibson, and is anxious to print accounts of experimental work along psychic lines, whenever they seem to be profitable, and competently conducted.
This gives us opportunity to remark, that RR will print personal experiences, but not because they are strange and impressive to the experiencer. If they contain unusual data, which are worth while, then they may be valuable to students. William Oberfield's short article "Self-Induced Telepathy", in July RR was welcome because it suggests a safe and practicable means of experiment. Max Freedom Long's five-page discussion of the Serpent Power (Kundalini) in Flying Roll Beta was wholly in the nature of personal experience, but it was also an unusual and carefully conducted experiment, with important subject matter. We are not concerned so much with the marvellous, as with the valuable, the useful, the informative... The Editor's own limitations enter into this, of course, and lead to many errors. But please note, O sagacious reader, that these simple restrictions will rule out about nine-tenths of all the marvellous-and-true tales, from seance rooms and individual experience. The phenomena of the occult are multiform, incredible, and factual - only, one can do nothing with them, because we are too ignorant. They are three-headed calves, Fortean falls of beefsteaks and battle-axes from noon-day sky - lusus maturae, or something out of the back of the book-of-Nature, while we're trying to spell A-B AB on the first page... Before most of the tales that come to us we can only make obeisance, with certain mutterings and clucking as of TCH!TCH!TCH! But having heard, admired, and become stupefied, we are then at rope's end and cannot go anywhere. So while we marvel much, we print little, and whether we acquire merit or not is written on the dark side of the moon.
Periodicals
Journal of the
American Society
for Psychical
Research
In Round Robin for July we printed an article by William Oberfield, entitled Self-Induced Telepathy, in which the author described a method of obtaining images, possibly telepathic, by closing the eyes in the dark, focusing inward, and then concentrating on the light-and-dark patterns that appear. In the department of "Unusual Experiences" the July ASPR Journal prints a letter from Edmond P. Gibson giving somewhat similar experiments which resulted in a precognitive vision of an automobile accident. This is treated, however, as hypnagogic imagery (such as occurs spontaneously at the border of sleep). The phenomena described in the two articles are indeed very similar, and we wish to point out, that if hypnagogic imagery, or its equivalent, can be induced by relaxation and a simple exercise, without the experimenter falling asleep - and if such images can convey veridical telepathic and clairvoyant messages, a highly profitable line of experimentation may open up, which is practicable and probably entirely safe for the amateur. With practise it might be possible to exercise a degree of direction and control over these 'hypnagogic' images, which might then develop into a controlled clairvoyance or telepathic reception.
This issue of the ASPR Jour. contains a 30 page article by Laura Abbott Dale, Editor, entitled The Psychokinetic Effect: The First ASPR Experiment. The extent of research into PK effects is indicated by the fact that "since the first published Report in 1943, some 30 papers in original PK research have been published in the Duke Journal, and several others in the Proceedings of the London SPR." Nearly all these papers have reported in favor of the PK hypothesis. The British investigator Donald West concludes that "the case for PK does not seem to be challengeable; it is probably even more conclusive that the case for ESP itself."
Nearly all these experiments have been made with dice, and the object, of course, is simply to see whether the purpose or desire of the dice thrower has any effect on the results. This effect is now considered proven, whether the dice are thrown by hand or by machine.
Incidentally, we are at a loss to understand the "surprise" expressed by some periodicals over a 'hook-up' between the ASPR and the Duke University experiments under the direction of Dr. Rhine. Their mutual interest in this work is long-standing and inevitable. Psychic Research handles much data which Parapsychology does not, but the latter is actually an integral part of PR work, and basic to it.
Journal of
Parapsychology
June 1946
A Minor Article; Hypnotic Suggestion in PK Tests, by J.B. Rhine, was of special interest to this reviewer. The 96 dice were thrown at one time, by mechanical means, the intention of the experimenter being to cause the six-face to fall uppermost. The PK effect was present, and was affected by hypnotic suggestion tho not in the manner anticipated. The effect of hypnosis varied with the individual, but in four out of six cases the scoring was reduced below the theoretical mean; in two cases it was increased above the expected PK effect. The effect of the will of the experimenter, on the fall of the dice, is definitely modified by previous hypnotic suggestion, tho the psychokinetic effect itself is not under conscious control.
A Quiet
Conversation
This is Edgar Cayce's own description of the "talks " which have been put together in an 80 page booklet, "What I Believe". It is autobiographical, but also "reflects faithfully the attitude Mr. Cayce had toward the work he did" and the people whom he helped. After some 30 pages on "My Life and Work", there is "What is a Reading" - "Mind as Related to Healing" - "The First Ten Minutes After Death" - "What is Soul Power" - "Telepathy" - and finally "Fate".
"If we cry out for a thing and call on God for it, we get it - provided our lives are in accord with what we want, for prayers are answered from within." So says Edgar Cayce. For our own part, we believe this. It does not seem to be the whole story, for there are many threads woven into the nets of Destiny. But there is so much truth to it that we must be careful and careful what we 'really' set our hearts upon, what things we wish for, because it is the desire which is the true self - and within certain bounds all real desires are attained - soon, or after many days.
"What I Believe" is issued by the Edgar Cayce Publishing Co., Inc. at Virginia Beach, Virginia, at $1.00 a copy.
Professor Nicholas
Constantinovich
Roerich
Unexpectedly, we find in American Vegetarian (weekly, Pismo Beach, Calif.) a full length biographical and character study of Nicholas Roerich, certainly one of the most remarkable men of our time, an enormously productive artist and writer, scholar, philosopher, Orientalist, world traveller, and mystic. "Soon the Lord of the New Era, Maitreya, shall come forth from Shambhala. First shall be the dreadful war of all nations; then Maitreya shall come forth." Such is the prophetic voice of Asia - and Nicholas Roerich has proclaimed it with power and beauty... Sadie G. Stave, Associate Editor, is author of the article.
Round Robin carries no banner, has no panacea for all the world's woes. But there is little doubt, in this writer's mind, that the avoidance of meat, of stimulants, of narcotics, is sign and consequence of a cultural level. True, man has gobbled flesh for a million years, maybe - but then, look at him! No fire advertisement of that diet, certainly! And the vast, cruel and gory business of the slaughter pens has nothing in common with human decency. It is simply not in the book of common sense, that Art, philosophy, religion, aspiration, all the upward thrust of the human spirit, can have anything to do with such grossness. It is in the name of common sense that we say this: the choice is your personal business, and mine.
What was it that Aleister Crowley (admired, hated, maligned) once painted in huge letters of whitewash along the cliffs of the Hudson, to the monumental scandal of the pious? Thou shalt do as thou wilt! This is the first, last, and middle Commandment of the occultist, and it requires much understanding. "Do as you wish!" - that is man's supreme prerogative! But then, pay the piper (if you would dance) and make no bones about it! Do as you like, 'reap ripe Karma, and learn better, grow wiser at your own hard cost. Pay your own debts and ask no God-sacrifice. We are not "vile worms" but eternal spirits. We are not grown men, but child-pilgrims of eternity.
References
- Huxley, Aldous. Time Must Have a Stop. New York: Harper & Bros, 1944. Print. <http://amzn.to/1wa8jHj>
- Clark, Glenn. The Man Who Tapped the Secrets of the Universe. St. Paul, Minn: Macalester Park Pub. Co, 1946. Print. <http://amzn.to/18j1X3j>
- Russell, Walter. The Secret of Light. Swannanoa, Va: University of Science and Philosophy, 1947. Print. <http://amzn.to/1Fqx4nA> [Re-titled from "This Light-Wave Universe" prior to publication.]
- Russell, Walter. The Message of the Divine Iliad. Swannonoa, Va: Water Russell Foundation, 1949. Print. <http://amzn.to/1waaDhI> [Re-titled from "New Age Philosophy" prior to publication.]
- O'Neill, John J. Prodigal Genius: The Life of Nikola Tesla. New York, N.Y: I. Washburn, 1944. Print. <http://amzn.to/1CODxGm>
- Cayce, Edgar. What I Believe. Virginia Beach, Va: Edgar Cayce Pub. Co, 1946. Print. <http://amzn.to/1AIlymJ>