Study on the mediums.

— As interpreters of the Spiritist communications, the role of the mediums is extremely important, and we could never give too much attention to the study of all the causes that may influence them, not only in their own interest, but also in the interest of those who, not being mediums, make use of them as intermediaries, in order to be able to judge the degree of confidence the communications they receive deserve.

We have already said that all persons, in greater or lesser degree, are mediums. Nevertheless, it has been agreed to give this name to those whose manifestations are patent and, so to speak, optional. Now, among these latter the aptitudes are very diverse: it may be said that each one has his specialty. On a first examination, two categories take shape very distinctly: the mediums of physical effects and the mediums of intellectual effects. The latter present numerous varieties, of which the principal ones are: the writing mediums or psychographers, the drawing mediums, the speaking mediums, n the hearing mediums and the seeing mediums. The poet, musician and polyglot mediums are varieties of the writing and speaking mediums. We shall not return to the definitions we have already provided concerning these various kinds; we wish only to recall the whole, succinctly, for greater clarity.

— Of all the kinds of mediums the most common is the psychographer; n it is the modality most easily acquired through exercise. This is why, and rightly so, the desires and efforts of aspirants are generally directed toward it. It presents two variants, equally found in various categories: the mechanical writers and the intuitive writers. In the former the impulse of the hand is independent of the will: it moves of itself, without the medium being conscious of what he writes, and he may even be thinking of something else. In the intuitive medium the Spirit acts upon the brain; his thought, so to speak, passes through the thought of the medium, without there being any confusion. Consequently, he is conscious of what he writes, sometimes even an anticipated consciousness, since intuition sometimes precedes the movement of the hand; nevertheless, the thought expressed is not the medium's. A very simple comparison will make us understand this phenomenon. When we wish to speak with someone whose language we do not know, we make use of an interpreter; this interpreter is conscious of the thought of the interlocutors; he must understand it in order to be able to express it, and yet that thought is not his own. Well then! The role of the intuitive medium is that of an interpreter between us and the Spirit. Experience has taught us that mechanical and intuitive mediums are equally good, equally apt to receive and transmit good communications. As a means of conviction, no doubt, the former are worth more; but once conviction is acquired, there is no useful preference. The attention must turn entirely toward the nature of the communications, that is, toward the aptitude of the medium to receive the communications of good and bad Spirits; from this aspect, we can say whether he is well or ill assisted. The whole question comes down to this, and this question is capital, since it alone can determine the degree of confidence he deserves; it is the result of study and observations, for which we recommend our previous article on the pitfalls of mediums. With the intuitive medium the difficulty consists in distinguishing the thoughts that are his own from those that are suggested to him. This difficulty also exists for him; the suggested thought seems so natural to him that he often takes it for his own, doubting his faculty. The means of convincing him and of convincing others is to exercise this faculty frequently. Then, in the number of evocations to which he will lend his concurrence, countless circumstances will present themselves, a quantity of intimate communications, of particulars of which he could have had no prior knowledge and which will demonstrate, in an irrefutable manner, the complete independence of his Spirit.

— The different varieties of mediums rest upon special aptitudes, whose principle we do not yet perfectly know. At first sight and for persons who have not made a systematic study of this science, it seems no more difficult for a medium to write verse than to write prose; it will be said, especially if he is a mechanical medium, that the Spirit can just as well make him write in a foreign language as draw or dictate music. Nevertheless, this is not how it happens. Although at every moment we are seeing drawings, verses and music made by mediums who, in their normal state are neither draughtsmen, nor poets, nor musicians, not all are apt for the production of these things. Despite their ignorance, they possess an intuitive faculty and a flexibility that transform them into the most docile instruments. This is what Bernard Palissy expressed very well when he was asked why he had chosen Mr.

Victorien Sardou, who does not know how to draw, to make his admirable drawings; it is because—he answered—I find him more flexible.

[v.

Concerning the Drawings of Jupiter.] The same happens with other aptitudes and, a bizarre thing, we have seen Spirits refuse to dictate verses to mediums who knew poetry, while they dictated charming poems to others who were unacquainted with its rules. This comes to prove once more that the Spirits have free will and that it is useless to try to subject them to our caprices.

It results from the preceding observations that the medium must follow the impulse given to him, according to his aptitude; that he must seek to perfect that aptitude through exercise, knowing that it is useless to try to acquire the one he lacks, since it is prejudicial to the one he possesses. In no way must we force our talent, for we would do nothing with perfection, said La Fontaine; and we may add: we would do nothing good. When a medium possesses a precious faculty with which he can become truly useful, let him content himself with it and not seek a vain satisfaction of self-love in a variant that would weaken the primordial faculty. If this is to be transformed, which often happens, or if a new one is to be acquired, this will come spontaneously and not through the effect of his will.

— The faculty of producing physical effects constitutes a very distinct category which rarely allies itself with intelligent communications, above all with those of elevated import. It is known that physical effects are peculiar to Spirits of an inferior class, just as among us demonstrations of strength are characteristic of acrobats. Now, the rapping Spirits belong to this inferior class; they act most often on their own account, to amuse themselves or to vex others, but sometimes, too, by order of the elevated Spirits, who make use of them, as we do of manual laborers. It would be absurd to believe that superior Spirits would come to amuse themselves by rapping on tables or making them turn. They make use of these means, we say, through intermediaries, whether to convince us, or to communicate with us when we have no other means at our disposal; but they abandon them as soon as they can act in a quicker, more convenient and more direct manner, just as we abandoned the aerial telegraph once we came to have the electric telegraph. By no means should physical effects be scorned, because, for many persons, they are a means of conviction; moreover, they offer precious material for the study of the occult forces; but it is notable that the Spirits generally refuse them to those who do not need them or, at least, advise them not to occupy themselves with them in a particular way. Here is what the Spirit of Saint Louis dictated on this subject, at the Parisian Society of Spiritist Studies: "They mocked the turning tables, but they will never mock the philosophy, the wisdom and the charity that shine forth in serious communications. Those tables were the vestibule of science, where, on entering, we must leave our prejudices, just as one leaves one's cloak. I can only encourage you to make of your reunions a serious assembly: let physical demonstrations be made, let there be seeing, let there be hearing, but let there be among you understanding and love. What do you imagine you appear to be in the eyes of the superior Spirits when you make a table turn? Ignorant ones. Will the wise man spend his time going over again the A-B-C of Science? On the contrary, on seeing you seek out intelligent and instructive communications, you will be regarded as serious men, in search of the truth." It is impossible to summarize in a more logical and more precise manner the character of the two kinds of manifestations. He who receives elevated communications owes them to the assistance of the good Spirits: it is a proof of their sympathy for him; to renounce them in order to seek material effects is to leave a select society for a more lowly one. To wish to ally the two things is to attract all the antipathetic beings and, in this conflict, it is probable that the good ones will leave and the bad ones will remain. Far be it from us to scorn the mediums of physical effects; they have their reason for being, their providential purpose; they render incontestable services to the Spiritist science; but when a medium possesses a faculty that puts him in contact with superior beings, we do not understand his abdicating it, or his desiring others, except through ignorance. Often the ambition of wishing to be everything causes one to end up being nothing. [1] Translator's note: Psychophonic mediums.

[2] Translator's note: Today the mediumship of psychophony seems to be the most common.