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Reincarnation: A Study of the Human Soul

By J.A. Anderson

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Hypnotism And The Human Soul

The relation of the soul to the body can, in certain as- pects, be made clearer by a study of the phenomena of Hypnotism than, perhaps, by any other method. Most, if not all, of these can only be explained by admitting the presence and superior powers of a center of consciousness, or soul, which is actually limited in its conscious manifestations by the sense organs instead of being helped by them. As bases from whence to survey the field of hypnotic phenomena, we must return to the scientific and self- evident postulates of a Unit of Consciousness, and the Compound Nature of Man. By a unit is meant a center of consciousness, which, like the mathematical point, excludes from its conception all measures of time or space. 

Such centers are infinite in number as potentialities; while as potencies, actively ascending the spiral of evolution, they embrace all degrees from the center of consciousness present and potent in an "atom" to that of the highest Dhyani-Buddhi, or "god." By an atom is not meant the materialistic defini- tion of this. There is no attempt at dividing matter until it is presumably incapable of further division, and then setting up this hypothetical infinitesimal " element" as a measure of both the material and the spiritual worlds, as science would fain do. 

Holding that " the Universe is worked and guided from within outwards,"* and that as we pass from the outer, material phenomena to the inner, spiritual noumena, matter becomes not less and less in the size or extension of its particles, but more and moreethereal and homogeneous in its essence, Theosophy defines an atom as the seventh or guiding principle of the first differentiation of the homogeneity of the plane above ours toward the heterogeneity of this material plane. But this center of consciousness, although regarded as unity, still presents that Trinity in Unity which accompanies all conceptions of the One Absolute. As this, though one and indivisible, is yet matter, or substance; force, or motion ; and consciousness, or ideation so the unit of consciousness we term human which is only that of an atom extended by countless accretions of material expressions and experiences presents the triple aspects of Thought, Will, and Feeling. It is with the second of these, or Will, that a study of hypnotism must largely deal. 

But what is the Will ? Locke* declares that: "That power which the mind has to order the consideration of an idea, or the forbearing to consider it, or to prefer the motion of any part of- the body or its rest, and vice versa, in any particular instance, is that which we call the will. It signifies nothing but the poyer to prefer or choose, and thought determines it. Desire and will are two distinct acts, and desire determines the will." Lewesf says, by implication, that the Will is only the play of molecular forces, under the unconscious law of cause and effect. Upham]; regards the Will as the Understanding or Ideation in action the active aspect of Consciousness. Bain holds that the Will is that power in Consciousness which controls spontaneous ideation, or ideation which naturally arises in the course of evolution through the reaction between the subject and its environment. But see the prince of modern Agnosticism, Herbert Spencer,* seize the fiery Fohat of the Occultist and drag him, a helpless captive, at the wheel of his materialistic chariot. 

He writes : "When automatic actions become so involved, so varied in kind, and severally so infrequent as no longer to be performed with unhesitating precision when after the reception of one of the more complex impressions, the appropriate motor changes become nascent, but are prevented from passing into immediate action by the antagonism of certain other nascent motor changes, appropriate to some nearly allied impression^ there is constituted a .state of consciousness which, when it finally issues into action, displays what we term volition. We have a conflict between two sets of ideal motor changes which severally tend to become real, and this passing of an ideal motor change into a real one we distinguish as Will. Thus the cessa- tion of automatic action and the dawn of volition are one and the same thing." In other words, the mighty, creative volitions of a Shakespeare, a Goethe, a Dante, a Bacon, an Edison, a Newton, a Harvey, a Galileo, a Kant, a Hegel, or even Spencer's own speculations, are merely the fortuitous emergence of one set of "nascent," unconscious motor changes slightly in advance of other equally unconscious ones, which blind chance has thus caused to be lost to the world forever ! 

What a relief to feel and, indeed, know, by "scientific authority," that the horrible visions of Dante were not deliberately evoked, but were enabled to "issue into action" in advance of a milder set, perchance by the unconscious assistance of a very badly digested din- ner ! An Occultist would declare that the very ability to choose even the subject of our thoughts indicates an inhe- rent power in consciousness which no fortuitous combination of material molecules could ever evoke, though all eternity were granted it in which to exert its "blind force." The stream cannot rise higher than its source; the effect can not exceed its cause; and Will, manifesting as an as- pect and power of Consciousness on this material, phenomenal plane, must have its origin and cause in that larger, Cosmic, noumenal plane the Force-Aspect of the Absolute. Will, then, from a Theosophic standpoint, is Desire in action guided by Ideation, which latter again is the active aspect of. Consciousness, or Consciousness in action. In man, Will is one aspect of ^the center of consciousness, or Ray, which takes its source directly in the Absolute or Unknowable, and around which has evolved the feeling of "I am I" through accretions of material experiences and expressions in the manner pointed out in the chapter upon the Individualization of the Soul. This center, though a unity in essence, is a trinity in aspect, and be- cause of this unity of base, all three aspects merge into one another, or, rather, into that unity of which they are the phenomenal expression. Will selects the subject of Thought; yet 

Thought, again, will so modify the Will that we find ourselves desiring or willing that which before wecompelled ourselves to think it desirable was repugnant to us. Feeling, also, particularly in its lowest aspect of emotion, will modify both Thought and Will, and be in turn itself modified and transmuted by them. This brings us to the standpoint from which we have to examine hypnotism, and all psychic or mental phe- nomena. Will, as one aspect, function, or power of Consciousness, is struggling to evolve its potencies, now benumbed' and paralyzed by its primal "fall" into matter. Thought and Feeling are likewise in the thralldom of the flesh, and are also in the course of an evolutionary effort to find their ultimate state of full and free expression. 

To perfect man, all three aspects of Consciousness must be rounded out or developed symmetrically. In the natural course of evolution, emotion emerges first, and we see in the limitations of the animal kingdom the effect of asymmetry in the evolution of only one aspect of Consciousness. As we have seen in the study of the Evolution of the Soul, it is the incarnation in human-animal forms of Egos which have evolved other aspects of consciousness in other worlds which causes the great and otherwise inexplicable hiatus in the evolutionary process the missing link which so puzzles and confounds the Darwinians. Because of this asymmetry in evolution, men have will power and mental energy developed in various degrees of feebleness, and in dissimilar directions. This accounts for the ability of one will to control another, through superior development along some particular line. This line may be in the direction of evil quite as often as in that of good ; and in the case of professional hypnotizers it is almost always by the strong development of some selfish trait of the character that they are enabled to over- power those who are purer or even more intellectual than they. 

It is becoming strong in evil which is the origin of the power of the Black Magician. Now, to the Theosophist, the development of the Will does not mean the empty abstraction which it conveys to the scientist. It is the becoming potent of a conscious force, having its own ratio of vibration, and using a material vehicle in a manner exactly corresponding to force on the material plane. Hence, when a hypnotizer eompels another to obey his will, he has subjected him to an actual force conveyed by a vehicle of matter quite as certainly as has the prize-fighter when he " knocKS out" his helpless antagonist. There are no empty abstractions or immaterial agents for a student of Theosophy, however much his scientific brother may be compelled to resort to them. 

The hypnotizer has directed a part of his own "nerve fluid" upon and into the nervous system of his victim, where it remains an actual force, establishing new and modifying centers of vibration, which act in obedience to the ideation which accompanied it. There has been an actual transfer of substance, force, and consciousness a setting up of new conscious centers in a manner exactly analogous to the new centers of physical or molecular vi- brations which are the result of the taking into the system of physical remedies or " medicines." No scientist nor physician has ever offered a rational explanation of the methods by which physical remedies act. But to the Theosophist who recognizes vibratory motion as the universally present Force-Aspect of the Causeless Cause, the reason is plain. Such physical molecules establish innumerable centers of vibratory motion, which modify the vibrations of the molcules in the physiological or pathological cells of the body, according as their ratios of vi- bration are multiples or "chords" of these. 

The "select- ive affinity" of the physiological empiricist in explaining the action of drugs is but a formula for expressing a law of harmonic vibrations of whose real action he is quite ignorant. In like manner the will of the hypnotizer establishes innumerable force centers which prevent the consciousness of the Ego from controlling its own sense or- gans. It is the same kind of process as that which takes place when the vibratory centers set up by chloroform or morphine interpose actual physical obstacles between the soul and its sense organs through the " affinity" between their vibratory ratios and those of the brain molecules. Of course, scientists will deny this. The very name " hypnotism" had its origin in this denial. The Paris Academy had solemnly " sat" upon the phenomena exhibited by Mesmer, and had pronounced them pure delusions. But the ghost refused to remain laid at their bidding, and so Braid, in the 'thirties of this century, undertook to exorcise it anew. Being honest and earnest, he was soon compelled to admit the reality of the phenomena of Mesmerism, but denied in toto that the will of another had anything to do with their production. 

According to his theory, the phenomena were entirely self-induced, and the will of the operator no further shares than to merely " suggest" them to the subject, who thereupon hypnotized or mesmerized himself. Braid's assumption was eminently consistent with materialistic teachings; for if the will were merely a function of matter in a state of molecular vibration, and had no power of action outside the molecular environment which created it, then nothing could pass from the hypnotizer to the hypnotized, who must, therefore, be the sole factor in the phenomena. Proceeding upon this assumption, he re-named these "hypnotism," or the science of the sleep-like states; from hypnos, sleep. This name has been retained by science, notwithstanding that the theory of Braid, upon which it was based, has been entirely dis- proven by later scientific invest gat'ons notably those conducted by members of the same Academy which had a few years preceding pronounced Mesmerism an halluci- nation, or worse. 

As there are psychic and subjective states which can be self-induced without-the interference of any exterior will, it would seem proper to limit the name, " hypnotism," to these self-induced states ; reserving Mesmerism for those which Mesmer, in modern times at least, first demonstrated. However, that is as science may elect. Theosophy retains both terms; calling those phenomena hypnotic which emanate from or are originated in the plane of selfishness or Kama, and those mesmeric which proceed from the higher or Manasic plane. One is Black, the other White, magic. These differ in their manner of production, in the material vehicles which they employ, and in other ways, which will be pointed out later. It will thus be seen how important a bearing the recognition of a Unit, or center of human consciousness, manifesting through the several vehicles composing the Septenary nature of man, has upon the proper understanding of the phenomena of hypnotism and Mesmerism, as well as various allied states, such as somnambulism, trance, thought-reading, clairvoyance, etc. A nonrecognition of the one Unit, functioning differently in dif- fering vehicles or bases, has caused the most curious speculations among the observers of these phenomena. 

For with every grade of depth in the hypnotic process such new and unsuspected mental powers made their appear- / ance that it seemed the startling fact that there were several " selves" buried in the personality, distinct and dis- tinguishable from the one we recognize, was distinctly pointed out. In fact, as the number of these apparently separate persons exhumed out of one body by hypnosis seemed practically unlimited, the deduction fa irJy followed that as consciousness could be thus split into a series of illusionary personalities there was no real conscious entity, or human soul, but only states of consciousness depending upon the particular form of " molecular activity." Still, there were awkward facts for the " molecular activity" theory to account for. 

Although the enlightened and philosophic consciousness buried in a stupid peasant's body refused to believe itself identical with the peasant, still it remembered and knew all about the peasant's life and mental capacities, thus showing a unifying something at the basis of consciousness. And this followed through all the separate persons which were, apparently, exhumed out of the one Personality. Each knew and remembered all about those below it, while remaining profoundly ignorant of any above. At this perplexing stage, Theosophy points out the solution of the mystery. The one Unit and Center of Consciousness on the physical plane unifies and connotes the various mental states pertaining to matter into our ordinary consciousness; the waking, willing, thinking, feeling "I am I." But this same center of consciousness can and does under proper conditions experience the feeling of "I am I" on other planes, and in other states of matter. 

Passing to the lower astral plane during the waking-sleeping state, it recognizes itself as quite a distinct person from the waking one; capable of flying, leaping, and many things then impossible. If it could be now told that it was the waking self, it would naturally deny this, although all the time there would be the consciousness that there was such a person in existence. 

Similarly, on planes as much higher than the waking as this is lower, it would no doubt be disinclined to believe itself the same limited, stupid person it is when its spiritual powers are so dulled and obscured by matter. Thus we find that all the varied phenomena of mesmeric, hypnotic, clairvoyant, magnetic in short, all nor- mal or abnormal mental states are simply the one consciousness, functioning now through this vehicle, now through that. In Mesmerism and hypnotism, as com- monly understood, it is the will of another which compels the " I am I" center of consciousness to abandon its ordi- nary physical vehicles and retire to others. In self- hypnosis, such as is done by all so-called " mediums" when they really get into the trance state, exactly the same thing occurs under the force of their own 'will. And these self-induced states may also be divided into the mesmeric and hypnotic, according as the plane upon which the hypnotizer habitually lives is selfish or unselfish, kamic or manasic. 

But merely to say that the Will of another causes these hypnotic conditions only leaves the matter where we found it; especially if we regard the Will as the immaterial non-entity of materialism. For this reason, this study was preceded by an inquiry as to the nature and functions of the Will. We have seen that in willing there is an actual transfer of substance as the vehicle of force, and both these under the guidance of Consciousness in its active aspect of Ideation. The Cosmic Will is known in Occultism as Fohat, and the human will is but one of its countless correlations. All willing, from the fohatic to the human, is a controlling or attempting to control or direct that primary Force or Motion, the Force-Aspect of the Causeless Cause. 

Therefore, hypnotism is an at- tempt, by means of the will of the hypnotizer, to modify or control that molecular motion which enables conscious- ness to manifest in the organism of another being. The very first step in hypnotism or Mesmerism, then, is to modify the rate of vibration in the subject sought to be influenced until it becomes identical with, or a ratio of, our own. As all life and consciousness manifest through motion, it will be seen how necessary that the. vibration in any two subjects sought to be related in the intimacy of the hypnotic states should be in proportion, or harmonious. They may not be identical, but they must stand in the relation of harmonic chords to each other unless the one completely replaces the other. This is the solution of the mystery of the production of the hypnotic state by gazing at bright objects, by musical or sudden sounds, etc. In gazing fixedly at a bright object, with the will directed to that end, the point in the human brain which correlates spiritual motion or intelligence with the material plane assumes a rate or ratio of vibration identical with the object so gazed at, and the hypnotized body falls into a similar if not identical state of consciousness. 

The center of consciousness, being thus compelled to abandon its point d'appui with its material frame, either remains in a dormant condition or functions through one of its more subtle vehicles, or " bodies." In case of self- hypnosis, as in mediums or trance seers, the " I am I" usually establishes ordi- 196 A STUDY OF THE SOUL. nary dreaming state. In hypnosis by another, with or without the subject's acquiescence, the center of conscious- ness is forced to abandon its hold upon the body first of all, which assumes the " lethargic" condition of Charcot and his school. The hypnotizer's will then takes complete possession, and the subject obeys the slightest suggestion, either spoken or mental, relating to the material plane, such as leaping, t dancing, assuming grotesque or absurd positions, tasting the same object as sweet on one side of the tongue and bitter on the other, seeing re- flections in pasteboard mirrors, or pictures upon blank cards. Rigidity, or tetanus of the muscles, also occurs, and a thousand-and-one other acts, over which scientists have been so puzzled, not having the key. 

This key is, that every one of these acts, from tetanus to double tasting or picture-seeing where none exist, are pure " suggestions," many of which are unconsciously made by the hypnotizer. He has possession of the physical brain of his subject to an extent of which he is little aware, and it responds to his most subtle, unworded thought. " Suggestion" is only the obedience by the subject's body and brain to the same will currents and finer forces by means of which he governs his own body and mind; and could not take place, even in ordinary, unhypnotic suggestions, if the center of consciousness had not relaxed, to a certain degree at least, its hold upon its own body. In lethargic hypnosis this hold is loosened until it amounts to a practical abandonment of its tenement. But this center of consciousness can not be annihilated. 

Driven from its physical habitation, it will, under a more determined effort of the hypnotizer, or under the impetus of the self-hypnotizer's will, reappear, functioning in moreitself upon the plane of matter just above the physical, known in Theosophy as the astral, and is there subject to all the hallucinations and illusions which attend upon this condition, and of which we can form a very good idea by its close identity with the and more ethereal bases, or " Principles," until it finally retreats, or is driven to a point where the will of the hypnotizer, no matter how powerful, can no longer control it. This may be called the Noetic or Manasic point, as distinguished from the lower, or psychic states. There are many sub-stages before this point of freedom is reached, in which this Center, using bases more and more spiritualized, displays apparently more and more " supernatural" powers, which are only those appropriate to these planes of materiality. In all of them the subject is influ- enced and controlled to a greater or lesser degree by the will of the hypnotizer, and all opinions, ideas and knowledge modified and measured by his. 

This, again, is the key to that large class of "phenomena just a step above those of which we have spoken, and which may be termed psychic, as those below them were termed physical, and those above Noetic or Manasic. It is in this psychic realm that almost all of the so- called " spiritual" manifestations find their habitat, when these display any intelligence at all. This is the home of "seers" and "clairvoyants," of fakirs and fortune-tellers. For he who can by self-hypnosis, or by the aid of another, establish his consciousness upon this psychic plane, will find himself possessed of powers which are just as natural here as ordinary sight and hearing are on the physical. One of the most important of these is the ability to sense thought without its having been materialized in words. This is known as "mind reading," and all those who reach this plane can do this to a greater or lesser degree. Direct perception, without the intervention at least of the physical senses, appears upon the higher of these psychic or somnambulic planes, as is shown in cases where hyp notized subjects have correctly diagnosed and located physical ailments, unsuspected before their pointing them out, and verified by subsequent post-mortem examinations. These diagnoses, however, are strictly limited upon this psychic plane to self-diagnosis, or at least have little or no value if they are attempted to be made upon another person. Wonderful as many of the feats done by psychics are, they still fall under the classification of mindreading, for any information which they give must, to be accurate, already exist in the mind of some one present. 

Thus one of the most noted, the celebrated Alexis, failed completely to read an unopened letter, the contents of which were unknown to his interlocutor, although he cor- rectly described the personal appearance and surroundings of the sender, which were known. Had the contents been subjected to even a single reading, Alexis would no doubt have read the letter correctly, although his interloc- utor could not have repeated it from memory, which shows how complete a picture of all the acts and thoughts of our life is recorded upon the physical tablets of the brain an open book to whomever has the power to read. It also indicates how marvelously mental powers are quickened when the mind no longer functions through its lowest or molecular vehicle. But far above all these psychic states lies the domain of true Mesmerism, with a class of phenomena peculiarly its own, and which are but very seldom brought to view by the ordinary peripatetic, or even the " scientific," hypnotizer. Indeed, it is this plane which the hypnotizer seeks to avoid, because, as he complains, his subject "gets beyond his control." 

Yet it is this very point which divides White from Black Magic; and all who stop short of it through ignorance or fear may know the class to which they belong. The very vibrations of the hypnotic state pertain to a lower plane of matter. They are Molecular, and can be produced by attuning the consciousness to molecular vibration, such as gazing at bright objects, etc., as pointed out above. The Mesmeric, Noetic, or Manasic vibrations are Atomic, and proceed from a much higher plane, and in an exactly opposite direction. The vibrations in hypnotism pass from without within ; those of Mesmerism from within without, in harmony with the law of evolution. The one is on the plane of Kama, or selfish desire, and is destructive in its nature; the other on that of Manas, unselfishness, and is creative, life-giving, Cosmic Magnetism. As pointed out by Wm. Q. Judge,* "the process going on in hypnotism is the contraction of the cells of the body and the brain from the periphery to the center. This is actually a phenemenon of death, and is , the opposite of the mesmeric effect. Magnetism by human influence starts from within and proceeds to the outer surface, thus exhibiting a phenomenon of life the very opposite of hypnotism." If we remember that the occult definition of an atom is the seventh or conscious principle of a molecule, we can see that the play of the one is on the plane of blind, the other of intelligent, force, respectively. This is why the action of Mesmerism is curative and helpful in its nature. 

It is acting in harmony with nature's processes; it is the evolution from within without, under which law the whole Universe exists. The phenomena of Mesmerism, or, more properly, Magnetism, are of a nature we might anticipate from the close union of the soul with the source of all its powers, the Higher Ego. They are prophetic, intuitional, universal. As on the higher planes of the psychic states, the soul seems to contact and sense material things without the intervention of the physical senses, so upon this it arrives directly at intellectual truths, without the aids of reasoning or ratiocinative processes. Prophecies of the death of their body, as well as future events on the mate-' rial plane, are common to somnambulists who have reached this condition, although these are of the very lowest of mesmeric powers. Prophetic dreams fall under this head, as they are simply the Higher Ego functioning upon its own proper plane, and a glimpse of whose knowledge has been impressed upon the brain cells of the personality. 

Indeed, one great and deep distinction between the hypnotic and mesmeric states is that the former requires that the Ego should be made unconscious on the material plane before its phenomena can fully and freely issue, while mesmeric effects can be produced quite independently of the unconsciousness and destruction of the Will by any of the hypnotic adjuncts. The mesmeric phenomena proceed from the higher, inner planes, and can and do cause an influx of life, strength, and vigor into the physical system of the mesmerized subject while he is in the full possession of all his ordinary mental powers, and quite unconscious that any such process is taking place. Indeed, this unconsciousness is often mutual; neither the giver nor receiver being aware of what is tak- ing place, or, in the case of Mental and Christian Science, not knowing how or why they cure disease when this fol- lows upon their " treatments." It is simply the transfer of their own vital, electric, atomic magnetism, taking place under the passive aspect of the will, or Desire. 

Its principal agent is the eye, usually assisted by " passes," in contradistinction to the crystal gazing, or other physical methods, of hypnotism. The actual modus operandi of the two processes necessary in the production of Mesmerism and hypnotism have been nicely distinguished by Madame Blavatsky. She writes:* "When the first method (Braid's) is used, no electro-psychic, or even electro-physical currents are at work, but simply the mechanical, molecular vibrations of the metal or crystal gazed at by the subject. It is the eye the most occult organ of all on the superficies of our body which, by serving as a medium between that bit of metal or crystal and the brain, attunes the molecular vibrations of the nervous centers of the latter into unison (i. e., equality in the number of their respective oscillations) with the vibrations of the bright object held. And it is this unison which produces the hypnotic state. But, in the second case, the right name for hypnotism would certainly be 'animal magnetism,' or that so much derided term, Mesmerism. 

For, in the hypnotization by preliminary passes, it is the human will whether conscious or otherwise of the operator himself that acts upon the nervous system of the patient. And it is again through the vibrations only atomic, not molecular produced by that act of en- ergy called WILIy in the ether of space (therefore on quite a different plane) that the super-hypnotic (i. e., 'suggestion,' etc.,) is induced. For those which we call will-vibrations and their aura are absolutely distinct from the vibrations produced by the simple mechanical molecular motion, the two acting on separate degrees of the cosmo-terrestrial planes." 

These statements, again, will be derided by so-called " science." With them " suggestion" by which is meant, according to Dr. Bjornstrom,f " every operation which in a living being causes some involuntary effect, the impulse to which passes through the intellect" covers the whole of this terra incognita. How the idea that she is hypnotized and unable to move is " impulsed" through the in- tellect of a hen, from the point of whose bill a chalk line is drawn upon the ground in front of her, we leave for some learned "Psychical Research Society" to investigate; the subject may be upon its intellectual level. In fact, " suggestion," as accounting for hypnotism upon the theory of ideas set up in the subject, entirely breaks down before the facts of the hypnosis of animals. Let a man stand in front of a hungry lion and " suggest" to him that he is not hungry, and he will presently find himself within the stomach of the beast; while, if he can catch the eye, and has the courage and knowledge to attune its vibrations to his own, he need not fear the most ferocious denizen of the forest. This is the secret of the Rareys and lion-tamers, which they unconsciously exercise; and, indeed, it is the secret of that " dominion over every beast of the earth" which has enabled man to make them his unwilling subjects from the day that he first appreciated the strength of his human will. 

From all of the preceding, it will be gathered that Theosophists look with no friendly eye upon the practice of hypnotism, except under the most strict legal and moral supervision. The dangers are many, and self? evident. If the very walls and stones preserve a record of shadows cast across them, which even science admits, how much more lasting the impression produced upon the sensitive brain structure by the deliberate and forcible impress of the will of another. It is a matter of grave 'doubt whether the hypnotized, after a thorough hypnosis, ever regain perfectly free will and entirely normal consciousness. Certain well-verified phenomena would indi- cate the reverse. For example : It is related of a well known hypnotizer then classed as a " miracle" worker, or magnetic healer that he once removed a neuralgia, of long standing, from the arm of a certain sufferer, who thereupon returned to his own country. After some years of perfect freedom, the pain suddenly returned one day, with all its former intensity. Inquiry revealed the start- ling fact that at the very hour in which it did so the magnetizer had died. 

Quite as suggestive is the case, vouched for by several hypnotizers, where the sleeping subject was ordered to do a certain act at some designated interval after he was awakened. The hypnosis was then removed, and the subject to all appearances widely awake; quite free to think and act as he pleased. Yet, when the time arrived at which he was commanded to do it, he obeyed as implicitly as though he were yet completely hypnotized. But, though acting with apparently full consciousness and knowledge of what he did, he denied immediately after- ward that he had performed any such action at all, and could not be convinced to the contrary. This experiment, verified by many similar ones, showed plainly that, though apparantly awake, as far as human observation could detect, the subject was not so fully and completely, and that a portion of his normal consciousness was entirely suppressed and under the subjugation of the will of another. From a criminal standpoint, also, these suggestions obeyed after long intervals of apparently complete self- control have a most important bearing. 

Suggestions have been carried out down to the most minute, trifling detail after even a year had elapsed since the hypnosis. It is easy to see how a hypnotizer could cause any crime which avarice or revenge might dictate to be accomplished without its being possible to connect him legally with that for which he is morally responsible. Again, a suggestion often, if not always, acts like a physical stimulus in a dream, as when a drop of water on the face has caused the dramatization of a whole sequence of thunder-storm, shipwreck, etc., by the dreamer. Similarly, a seemingly simple suggestion may set up a train of desires, utterly out of proportion to the primary impulse, as a city may be destroyed by the accidental lighting of a match. Thus, in one instance* it was suggested to the subject that she desired some cherries. Instead of passing off when awakened this desire increased in intensity, and was only satisfied by the purchase of some the next day. It is now, also, after a stormy denial on the part of science, universally admitted that hypnotism can be pro- duced from a distance, without the subject knowing it, against his will, and even during sleep. In all these in- stances so far recorded there has been a magnetic rapport established by a submission to hypnosis before these dis- puted phenomena could be accomplished, which only adds strength to the view that the hypnotized is never free from the will of the hypnotizer again, the rapport simply meaning in these cases a state of partial hypnosis. 

It also emphasizes the fact that one ought to submit to any torture rather than be hypnotized, and that he had far better "experiment" with the most deadly physical poisons than with this equally deadly moral one. There is no apparent reason why all of these terrible powers for evil could not be exercised upon any one by a Black Magician, sufficiently versed in his art. And there is no question that a pursuit of the study together with a practice of hypnotism will ultimately end in Black magic for all its lay practitioners. The distinction between Black and White Magic is in MOTIVE only; the forces used are the same. There must be a perfect and complete altruism, an utter abandonment of self, before we can rise to the planes of Mesmerism and White magic. The sweetest, purest, most ethereal " Christian Scientist" who accepts a fee for her " denial" that her patient is ill or her affirmation that he is well, has taken the first step on the declivity which will sooner or later lead to the awful precipices of the Black Magician, from which there is no escape ; for there is the element of self, no matter how seemingly justifiable, which will prove the germ that will ultimately poison her whole being. The operations of most " healers" have this in common with White Magic and Mesmerism, that their " suggestions" are made with the subject in full possession of all his mental faculties and consciousness, and are not accompanied with that soul-tainting, will-destroying, obsessing vampirism of the hypnotic "sleep." It is true that the latter may be apparently justified in order to overcome a peculiarly stubborn will or vicious habit, but where it is resorted to, the motive ought to be as pure as the snow upon the hights of the Himalayas*. 

This brings us to the consideration of the question as to the extent to which hypnotism may be justifiably practiced. Its field would seem to be limited to attempts to cure disease, and to overcome bad habits, and, in selecting cases, the nicest discrimination, guided by considerations pointed out, must be used. Madame Blavatsky,* whose knowledge of occult subjects far exceeded that of any liv- ing writer, defines its legitimate uses and points out some of its abuses thus : . "Hypnotic suggestion may cure forever, and it may not. If Karmic, diseases will only be postponed, and return in some other form, not necessarily of disease, but as a punitive evil of another sort. It is always right to try and alleviate suffering whenever we can, and to do our best for it. Thought is more powerful than speech in cases of a real subjugation of the will of the patient to that of his operator. But, on the other hand, unless the suggestion made is for the good only of the subject, and entirely free from any selfish motive, a sug- gestion by thought is an action of Black Magic still more pregnant with evil consequences than a spoken suggestion. It is always wrong and unlawful to deprive a man of his free will, unless for his own or society's good, and even the former has to be done with great dis- crimination. 

Occultism regards all such promiscuous attempts as Black Magic and sorcery, whether conscious or otherwise. As to whether it is wise to hypnotize a patient out of a vicious habit, such as drinking or lying, it is an act of charity and kindness, and this is next to wisdom. For, although the dropping of his vicious habits will add nothing to his good Karma (which it would had his efforts to reform been personal, of his own free will, and necesitating a great mental and physical struggle), still a successful 'suggestion' prevents him from generating more bad Karma, and adding constantly to the previous record of his transgressing. ' ' In regard to the modus operandi of " faith" healing, she further says: "Imagination is a potent help in every event of our lives. Imagination acts on faith, and both are the draughtsmen who prepare the sketches for will to engrave, more or less deeply, on the rocks of obstacles and opposition with which the path of life is strewn. Says Paracelsus, ' Faith must confirm the imagination, for faith establishes the will. 

Determined will is the beginning of all magical operations. It is because men do not perfectly imagine and believe the result that the arts (of magic) are uncertain while they might be pefectly certain.' This is all the secret. Half, if not two-thirds, of all our ailings and diseases are the fruit of our imagination and fears. Destroy the latter and give another bent to the former, and nature will do the rest. There is nothing injurious or sinful in the methods, per se. They turn to harm only when belief in his power becomes too arrogant and marked in the faith healer, and when he thinks he can will away such diseases as need, if they are to be removed at all, the immediate help of expert surgeons and physicians." But, perhaps, the chief reason for abstaining from the practice of hypnotism, except in extreme cases, and under the restrictions pointed out, is our blind ignorance of the finer forces of nature which we are evoking. Thus, it happened to the writer to find that a subject, whom he had hypnotized merely as a pleasant evening's entertainment, appeared to become afterward a kind of reflector of his (the writer's) mental states and ideas. Let the writer be thinking of a subject, and his patient would al- lude to it; let him mentally hum a song, and he would be startled by hearing his unconscious serf immediately vocalizing it, etc., and all this with no desire or thought on the writer's part that this should follow. 

A paragraph which went the rounds of .the press some time since is very instructive in this connection. It is to the effect that a certain Spaniard, named Perez, arriving at Mier, Mexico, was immediately made the recipient of gifts of a varied character from people to whom he was a perfect stranger. Some of these were silly, as when the waiter removed all the bottles of wine from the other guests, and transferred them to the tables of Perez. Be-* ing threatened with violence, and called upon to explain, Perez admitted that he was a trained and marvelously proficient hypnotizer, which had become such a passion that he could not resist practicing his gift upon those about him. But it is evident from the account given that Perez often hypnotized people without himself being aware of it. And here we have a key to the states of consciousness portrayed in " Mr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde," as also to that delineated by one who, we have many rea- sons for believing, founded his occult stories upon the basis of real occult knowledge, the result of a partial ini- tiation into the mysteries of the East. 

This is the character of Margrave in " A Strange Story," by Bulwer Lytton. It appears that the author makes Margrave himself not aware of the evils which his " double" plotted and carried into execution. At any rate, we have the warning that, before one seeks to transfer his consciousness to higher and inner planes of being, he should first become "pure in heart," as it is only such that truly "see their god." For the farther one retreats within the unfathomable depths of his being, the stronger and more powerful for good or evil do the forces which he employs become; and this from, a selfish, personal point of view alone, saying nothing of the irremediable woe he may work through employing ignorantly such a potent factor as the human will becomes in hypnotism. From all the foregoing it will be apparent how completely the facts of hypnotism sustain the hypothesis that the human soul is an unit center of consciousness, using many vehicles. Of these the physical sense organs are only required to enable it to come into conscious relations with molecular planes of being. It also brings out, with startling distinctness, the fact that these sense organs limit the soul's conscious area, instead of widening it, thus completely negativing the materialistic hypothesis of the conscious functions of the soul being the result of molecular or chemical activities in the body. Equally important is the light it throws upon the composite nature of man, and the relation sustained to his center of consciousness by the various " souls' " vehicles or Principles through which that center may manifest. But, of course, the crowning usefulness of a study of hypnotic consciousness is that in demonstrating the independence of the human soul of its physical organs, it establishes as a necessary corollary the fact of its Reincarnation.