Mozart.

— One of our subscribers communicated to us the two following interviews, which took place with the Spirit Mozart. n We do not know where or when they were held; we are unacquainted with the interrogator and the medium; we are therefore completely unconnected with all this. One will note, however, the perfect agreement existing between the answers obtained and those given by other Spirits on various capital points of the Doctrine, under wholly different circumstances, whether to ourselves or to other persons, and which we have related in our earlier issues and in The Spirits' Book. We draw the attention of our readers to such an analogy, from which they will draw the conclusion they deem most correct. Those, then, who might still think that the answers to our questions are a reflection of our personal opinions, will see by this whether on that occasion we could have exercised any influence whatsoever. We congratulate the persons by means of whom these interviews were obtained, as well as the manner in which the questions were elaborated. Despite certain flaws that reveal the inexperience of the interlocutors, in general they are formulated with order, clarity, and precision, and in no way depart from the line of seriousness, an essential condition for obtaining good communications. Elevated Spirits address themselves to serious persons who in good faith wish to be enlightened; frivolous Spirits amuse themselves with frivolous persons.

FIRST CONVERSATION.

In the name of God, Spirit Mozart, are you here?

Answer. – Yes.

Why are you Mozart, and not another Spirit?

Answer. – It was I whom you evoked: so I came.

What is a medium?

Answer. – The agent that unites my Spirit to yours.

What modifications, both physiological and animic, does the medium undergo, against his will, on entering into intermediary action? Answer. – His body feels nothing, but his Spirit, partially released from matter, is in communication with mine, uniting me to you.

What takes place within him at that moment?

Answer. – Nothing for the body; but a part of his Spirit is drawn toward me; I make his hand act through the power that my Spirit exercises over him.

Thus, the medium enters into communication with a spiritual individuality different from his own?

Answer. – Certainly; you too, without being a medium, are in contact with me.

What elements concur in the production of this phenomenon?

Answer. – The attraction of Spirits to instruct men; laws of physical electricity.

What are the indispensable conditions?

Answer. – It is a faculty granted by God.

What is the determining principle?

Answer. – I cannot say it.

Could you reveal to us its laws?

Answer. – No, no; not now. Later you will know everything.

In what positive terms could the synthetic formula of this marvelous phenomenon be announced?

Answer. – Unknown laws that, for now, you could not comprehend.

Could the medium place himself in relation with the soul of a living person, and under what conditions?

Answer. – Easily, if the person is sleeping.

Note: If a living person is evoked in a waking state, they may fall asleep at the moment of the evocation or, at least, undergo a numbness and a suspension of the sensitive faculties; frequently, however, the evocation produces no effect at all, especially if it is not made with serious intention and with benevolence.

What do you understand by the word soul?

Answer. – The divine spark.

And by Spirit?

Answer. – Spirit and soul are the same thing.

As an immortal Spirit, does the soul have consciousness of the act of death, consciousness of itself or of the self immediately after death? Answer. – The soul knows nothing of the past, nor does it know the future except after the death of the body; it then sees its past life and the last trials it will suffer; thus, one should not lament what one suffers on Earth, but bear it all with courage.

After death, does the soul find itself released from every element, from every terrestrial bond?

Answer. – From every element, no; it still has a fluid proper to it, which it draws from the atmosphere of its planet and which represents the appearance of its last incarnation; the earthly ties are no longer anything to it.

Does it know whence it comes and whither it goes?

Answer. – The fifteenth answer resolves this question.

Does it take nothing with it from here on Earth?

Answer. – Only the memory of its good deeds, the regret for its faults, and the desire to go to a better world.

Does it embrace in a retrospective glance the whole of its past life?

Answer. – Yes, to serve its future life.

Does it glimpse the purpose of terrestrial life, the meaning and significance of this life, as well as the importance of the destiny here fulfilled, in relation to the future life? Answer. – Yes; it understands the necessity of purification in order to reach the infinite; it wishes to purify itself in order to attain the blessed worlds. I am happy; yet I do not yet find myself in the worlds where one enjoys the vision of God!

Is there in the future life a hierarchy of Spirits? What is its law?

Answer. – Yes; it is the degree of purification that marks it: goodness and the virtues are the titles of glory.

As a progressive power, is it intelligence that determines in it the ascending march?

Answer. – Above all the virtues: love of one's neighbor, especially.

A hierarchy of Spirits would presuppose another of residence. Does this latter exist? In what form?

Answer. – A gift of God, intelligence is always the reward of the virtues: charity, love of one's neighbor. The Spirits inhabit different planets, according to their degree of perfection; there they enjoy greater or lesser happiness.

What is to be understood by superior Spirits?

Answer. – The purified Spirits.

Is our terrestrial globe the first of these steps, the point of departure, or do we proceed from a region still more inferior? Answer. – There are two globes before yours, which is one of the least perfect.

What world do you inhabit? Are you happy there?

Answer. – Jupiter. There I enjoy great calm; I love all those who surround me; we have no hatred.

If you keep a memory of terrestrial life, you must remember the A… couple, of Vienna; have you seen them since your death? In what world and under what conditions? Answer. – I do not know where they are; I cannot tell you. One is happier than the other. Why do you speak to me of them?

By a single word, indicative of a capital fact of your life, and which you cannot have forgotten, would it be possible for you to furnish a sure proof of that memory? I enjoin you to say that word. Answer. – Love; gratitude.

SECOND CONVERSATION.

The interlocutor is no longer the same. From the nature of the conversation, it is possible that this is a musician, happy to converse with a master. After several questions, which it seemed to us useless to relate, Mozart says:

Let us be done with G…'s questions: I will converse with you; I will tell you what in our world we understand by melody. Why did you not evoke me sooner? I would have answered you.

What is melody?

Answer. – For you it is often a memory of the past life; your Spirit recalls that which it glimpsed in a better world. On the planet I inhabit – Jupiter – there is melody everywhere: in the murmur of the water, in the rustling of the leaves, in the song of the wind; the flowers whisper and sing; everything makes the sounds melodious. Be good; conquer that planet by your virtues; you have chosen well, singing to God: religious music aids the elevation of the soul. How I would like to be able to inspire in you the desire to see that world where we are so happy! We are all charitable; everything there is beautiful and Nature is so admirable! Everything inspires in us the desire to be with God. Courage! Courage! Believe in my spiritist communication: it is I myself who am here; I enjoy the power of telling you what we experience; may I inspire in you enough love of the good, that you may become worthy of this reward, which is nothing beside others to which I aspire!

Is our music the same on other planets?

Answer. – No; no music could give you an idea of the music we have here: it is divine! Oh! Happiness! Strive to merit the enjoyment of such harmonies: struggle! courage! We possess no instruments: the choristers are the plants and the birds; thought composes and the listeners enjoy without material hearing, without the aid of speech, and that at an immeasurable distance. In the superior worlds it is even more sublime.

What is the duration of the life of a Spirit incarnated on a planet other than ours?

Answer. – Short on the inferior planets; longer in worlds such as this one in which I have the happiness to be; on Jupiter it is, on average, three hundred to five hundred years.

Will there be any advantage in returning to inhabit the Earth?

Answer. – No; unless it be on a mission, because then we advance.

Would one not be happier remaining in the condition of a Spirit?

Answer. – No, no! One would become stationary, and what one wants is to walk toward God.

Is it the first time that I find myself on Earth?

Answer. – No; but I cannot speak of the past of your Spirit.

Could I see you in a dream?

Answer. – If God permits it, I will make you see my dwelling in a dream, and you will keep a memory of it.

Where are you here?

Answer. – Between you and your daughter; I see them both; I am in the form I had when I was alive.

Could I see you?

Answer. – Yes; believe and you will see; if you had more faith, we would be permitted to say why; your own profession is a bond between us.

How did you enter here?

Answer. – The Spirit passes through everything.

Are you still very far from God?

Answer. – Oh! Yes!

Better than we, do you understand what eternity is?

Answer. – Yes, yes, but you cannot understand it in the body.

What do you understand by Universe? Was there a beginning and will there be an end?

Answer. – According to you the Universe is the Earth! Senseless ones! The Universe had no beginning nor will it have an end; consider that it is the work of God; the Universe is the infinite.

What must I do to calm myself?

Answer. – Do not worry so much about your body. You have disturbed the Spirit. Resist that tendency.

What is that disturbance?

Answer. – You fear death.

What must I do so as not to fear it?

Answer. – Believe in God; above all believe that God does not separate a useful father from his family.

How to attain that calm?

Answer. – Through the will.

Where to draw that will?

Answer. – Turn your thought away from this through work.

What must I do to perfect my talent?

Answer. – You may evoke me; I have obtained permission to inspire you.

When I am working?

Answer. – Certainly! When you wish to work, I will be near you at times.

Will you hear my work? (a musical work of the interrogator).

Answer. – You are the first musician who evokes me; I come to you with pleasure and I hear your works.

How to explain that you have not been evoked?

Answer. – I have been evoked; not, however, by musicians.

By whom?

Answer. – By several ladies and curious persons, in Marseilles.

Why does the Ave Maria move me to tears?

Answer. – Your Spirit releases itself and joins mine and that of Pergolesi, who inspired in me that work, but I have forgotten that passage.

How could you forget the music composed by yourself?

Answer. – The music I have here is so beautiful! How to remember that which was only matter?

Do you see my mother?

Answer. – She is reincarnated on Earth.

In what body?

Answer. – I can say nothing in that regard.

And my father?

Answer. – He is wandering in order to assist in the good; he will make your mother progress; they will reincarnate together and will be happy.

Does he come to see me?

Answer. – Many times; to him you owe your charitable impulses.

Was it my mother who asked to reincarnate?

Answer. – Yes; she had a great desire to elevate herself through a new trial and to enter a world superior to the Earth; she has already taken an immense step in that direction.

What do you mean by that?

Answer. – She resisted all temptations; her life on Earth was sublime, compared with her past, which was that of an inferior Spirit. Thus, she has already climbed a few steps.

Had she chosen, then, a trial beyond her strength?

Answer. – Yes, that was it.

When I dream that I see her, is it she herself who appears?

Answer. – Yes, yes.

If Bichat had been evoked on the day of the inauguration of his statue, would he have answered? Would he have been there? Answer. – He was there, and so was I.

Why were you also there?

Answer. – For the same reason as several other Spirits, who enjoy the good and feel happy to see that you glorify those who occupy themselves with suffering humanity.

Thank you, Mozart; farewell.

Answer. – Believe, believe, I am here… I am happy… Believe that there are worlds above yours… Believe in God… Evoke me more frequently, and in the company of musicians; I shall be happy to instruct you and to contribute to your improvement, and to help you rise toward God. [1]

[v. Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart.]