Spiritualism or channelling is about communicating with the dead. Those that can do it are called mediums or clairvoyants. There are differences between these two groups of people. The medium can materialise “psychic” phenomena by discharging “ectoplasm” from their etheric envelope. The medium can even allow a discarnate entity to temporarily occupy its physical organism. A channeller is just a relay mechanism to gather and disseminate information.
Communication with an entity in devachan, i.e., in heaven or the Mental World, needs further explanation. Where a sensitive, or medium, is highly developed, their freed monad may rise to the mental plane (47:4-7) and contact the entity in what the Hindus call the devachan. Their monad needs to be focused in their 47:4 permanent molecule. The impression is often given that the entity from the devachan has come to the medium. Still, the truth is the reverse: the monad of the medium has risen to the level of the entity in the devachan. This is due to the peculiar conditions of the consciousness of entities in the Devachan. Why and how this is done will be the subject of the next series of presentations on the Mental Envelope. Messages obtained in this manner cannot be relied upon: at best, the medium or sensitive can know, see and feel only what the particular entity in devachan knows, sees and feels. Hence, if generalisations are indulged in, there is an excellent possibility of error since each entity in the devachan lives in its own particular department of the Mental World. In addition to this source of error, whilst the thoughts, knowledge and sentiments of the devachanic entity form the substance, the medium’s personality and pre-existing ideas will likely govern the form of the communication.
Moving on, a shade may frequently appear and communicate at séances; bearing the exact appearance of the departed entity, possessing its memory, idiosyncrasies, etc., it is often mistaken for the entity itself, though it is unaware of any impersonation. It is, in reality, a “soulless bundle of the lowest qualities” of the entity. It differs from the shell in that some of its mental matter is still trapped on the emotional plane.
A shell also exactly resembles the departed entity, though it is nothing more than the emotional corpse of the entity, every particle of mind having left it. By coming within reach of a medium’s aura, it may be galvanised for a few moments into a fake presentation of the actual entity. Such “spooks” are conscienceless, devoid of good impulses, tending towards disintegration and consequently can work for evil only. Whether we regard them as prolonging their vitality by behaving like vampires at séances or polluting the medium and sitters with emotional connections of an undesirable kind, it is better not to have them around.
A vitalised shell may also communicate through a medium. As we have seen, it consists of an emotional corpse animated by an artificial elemental and is always malevolent. It constitutes a source of great danger at spiritualistic séances.
Suicides, shades and vitalised shells being minor vampires, drain away vitality from human beings whom they can influence. Hence, both medium and sitters are often weak and exhausted after a physical séance. A student of occultism is taught how to guard themself from their attempts, but without that knowledge, it is difficult for those who put themself in their way to avoid being abused. The use of shades and shells at séances brands so many spiritualistic communications with intellectual sterility. Their apparent intellectuality will give out only reproductions: the mark of non-originality will be present, with no sign of new and independent thought.
In the case of Nature Spirits, the part that these creatures so often play at séances has already been described. Many of the phenomena of the séance-room are more rationally accounted for as the tricky vagaries of sub-human forces than as the act of “spirits” who, while in the body, were incapable of such nonsensical behaviour.
The medium’s persona is something to consider when evaluating the efficacy of what is being communicated. If the medium is pure, earnest, and striving after the light, such upward striving is met by a down-reaching of the higher nature, light from the higher streaming down and illuminating the lower consciousness. Then the lower mind is, for the time, united with its parent, the higher mind, and transmits as much of the knowledge of the higher mind as it can retain. Thus, some communications through a medium may come from the medium’s solar deva.
The class of entity drawn to séances depends very much on the type of medium and their own “spiritual” development. Mediums of a low vibration inevitably attract undesirable visitors, whose fading vitality is reinforced in the séance-room. Nor is this all: if at such séances there is a man or woman of correspondingly low development, the spook can be attracted to that person and may attach itself to him or her, thus setting up currents between the emotional body of the living person and the dying emotional body of the dead person and generating results of a deplorable kind, as laurency would put it.
An Adept or Master often communicates with His disciples without using ordinary methods. If a medium were a pupil of a Master, a message from the Master might “come through” and be mistaken for a message from a more ordinary “spirit.” We can but dream that we are the victims of such a miscommunication.
A Nirmanakaya is a perfected human who has cast aside their physical body but retains their other lower principles, remaining in touch with the Earth for the sake of helping the evolution of Humanity. These great entities can and do, on rare occasions, communicate through a medium, but only through one of a very pure and lofty nature.
Unless a person has had extensive experience with mediumship, they will find it difficult to believe how many ordinary people on the emotional plane are burning with the desire to pose as great world teachers. Usually, they are honest in their intentions and think they have teaching to give, which will save the world. Having realised the worthlessness of merely worldly objects, they feel, quite rightly, that if they could impress upon Humanity their own ideas, the whole world would immediately become a very different place. These contribute to the rash of publications from this or that spiritual entity, revealing the “truth” to Humanity.
Having flattered the medium into believing that they are the sole channel for some exclusive and transcendent teaching and having modestly disclaimed any special greatness for themself, one of these communicating entities is often imagined by the sitters to be at least an archangel or even some more direct manifestation of the Deity. Unfortunately, however, it is usually forgotten by such an entity that when they were alive in the physical world, other people were making similar communications through various mediums and paid no attention to them at the time. They need to realise that others, who are also still immersed in the world’s affairs, will pay no more attention to them and will decline to be moved by their communications. I remember reading such books in my younger days and wondering, “Who is this prat?” and why does he think we should take any notice of what he is saying? The communications were riddled with prejudices, which allowed the discerning reader to choose the time frame and cultural environment from which the “source of all wisdom” had hailed.
Sometimes, such entities will assume distinguished names, such as George Washington, Julius Caesar, or the Archangel Michael, from the questionably pardonable motive that their teachings will more likely be accepted than if they emanate from plain John Smith or Thomas Brown. Sometimes also, such entities, seeing the minds of others full of reverence for the Masters, will impersonate these very Masters to command more ready acceptance for the ideas they wish to promulgate. Here’s looking at you, Lucile Cedercrans.
Also, some attempt to injure the work of the Master by assuming His form and influencing His pupil. Although they might be able to produce an almost perfect physical appearance, they can’t imitate a Master’s causal body. Consequently, one with causal sight is not deceived by such an impersonation. In a few instances, the lodge members of occultists who originated the spiritualistic movement have given themselves valuable teachings on fascinating subjects through a medium. But this has invariably been at strictly private family séances, never at public performances for which money has been paid.
The Voice of the Silence wisely enjoins: “Seek not thy Guru in these mayavic regions.” No information from a self-appointed teacher on the emotional plane should be blindly accepted. Communication and advice should be received precisely as one would receive similar advice on the physical plane. After examination by conscience and intellect, the teaching should be taken for what it is worth. A person is no more infallible because they happen to be dead than when they were physically alive. A person may spend many years on the emotional plane and know no more than when they leave the physical world. Accordingly, we should attach no more importance to communications from the Emotional World or any higher plane than to a suggestion made on the physical plane.
A manifesting “spirit” is often precisely what it professes to be, but it can be nothing of the kind. For the ordinary sitter, there is no means of distinguishing the true from the false since the resources of the emotional plane can be used to delude people on the physical plane to such an extent that no reliance can be placed on what seems the most convincing proof. It is not for a moment denied that genuine entities have made important communications at séances. Still, it is claimed that it is practically impossible for an ordinary sitter to be reasonably confident that they are not being deceived in half a dozen different ways.
From what has been said so far, it will be seen how varied the sources from which communications from the Emotional World may be received are. As noted by Blavatsky: “The variety of the causes of phenomena is great, and you need to be an Adept and actually look into and examine what transpires, to be able to explain in each case what really underlies it”. Remember, an adept is a 45-Self. How many of those happen to be knocking around?
To complete this topic, it may be said that what the average person can do on the emotional plane after death, they can do it in physical life. Communication can be as easily obtained by writing, in a trance, or by utilising the developed and trained powers of the emotional body. This can be from embodied or from disembodied people. It is more prudent to create the powers of one’s soul within oneself instead of ignorantly plunging into dangerous experiments. In this manner, knowledge may be safely accumulated, and evolution accelerated. Humanity must learn that death has no real power over them: the key to the prison-house of the body is in their own hands, and they can learn how to use it if they will it so.
From a careful weighing of all the evidence available, both for and against spiritualism, it seems that, if employed with care and discretion, it may be justifiable to break down materialism. Once this purpose is achieved, its use appears to be beset with dangers, both to the living and the dead, to make it advisable, as a general rule. However, it may be practised safely and beneficially in exceptional cases.