Mrs. Reynaud.

A somnambulist, deceased in Annonay about a year ago. Although illiterate in her natural state, her lucidity was remarkable, especially in medical matters. One of our correspondents who had known her, thinking that she might provide useful teachings, sent us some questions to be put to her, should we deem it fitting to interrogate her, which we did at the session of the Society on January 28, 1859. To our correspondent's questions we added those that seemed interesting to us.

Evocation.

Answer. – Here I am. What do you wish of me?

Do you have an exact recollection of your corporeal existence?

Answer. – Yes, a very precise one.

Can you describe your present situation to us?

Answer. – It is the same as that of the other Spirits who inhabit the Earth: they generally possess the intuition of good and yet cannot attain complete happiness, which is reserved only for those most elevated in perfection.

When alive, you were a lucid somnambulist. Could you tell us whether your lucidity at that time was analogous to that which you now have, as a Spirit? Answer. – No; it was different, for it did not have the readiness nor the accuracy that my Spirit now possesses.

Is somnambulistic lucidity an anticipation of the spirit life, that is, an isolation of the Spirit in relation to matter?

Answer. – It is one of the phases of earthly life; but earthly life is the same as celestial life.

What do you mean by affirming that earthly life is the same as celestial life?

Answer. – That the chain of existences is formed of successive and continuous links: no interruption halts its course. One may therefore say that earthly life is the continuation of the preceding life and the prelude to the future celestial life, and so on, for all the incarnations that the Spirit may come to have. From this it results that between these two existences there is not so absolute a separation as you think. Observation. – During earthly life the Spirit or soul can act independently of matter, and at certain moments man enjoys the spirit life, whether during sleep or even in the waking state. The faculties of the Spirit are exercised despite the presence of the body, there being, between earthly life and that beyond the grave, a constant correlation, which led Mrs. Reynaud to say that it was the same; the subsequent answer clearly defined her thought.

Why, then, are not all people somnambulists?

Answer. – It is because you still do not know that all of you are, even during sleep and while awake, although in different degrees.

We understand that all of us are so more or less during sleep, since the dream state is a kind of imperfect somnambulism. But what do you mean by saying that we are so even in the waking state? Answer. – Do you not have intuitions that you do not perceive, and that are nothing other than a faculty of the Spirit? The poet is a medium, a somnambulist.

Did your somnambulistic faculty contribute to the development of your Spirit after death?

Answer. – Little.

At the moment of death were you disturbed for a long time?

Answer. – No; I recognized myself immediately: I was surrounded by friends.

Do you attribute to somnambulistic lucidity your prompt detachment?

Answer. – Yes, a little. I already knew beforehand the lot of those in their death agony. Nevertheless, that would have availed me nothing had I not possessed a soul capable of finding a better life by other means than merely having good faculties.

Is it possible to be a good somnambulist without possessing a Spirit of an elevated order?

Answer. – Yes. The faculties are always in relation; you are only mistaken when you think that they require good dispositions. No; what you judge to be a good is often an evil. Since you do not understand, I will develop this subject: There are somnambulists who know the future, who recount past facts of which they have no knowledge in their normal state; others can describe perfectly the characters of those who question them; they can tell ages exactly, as well as the amount of money one carries, etc. This requires no real superiority; it is simply the exercise of the faculty that the Spirit possesses and that manifests in sleeping somnambulists. What requires a real superiority is the use they can make of it for good; it is the consciousness of good and evil; it is to know God better than men do; it is to be able to give counsels apt to make them progress on the path of good and happiness.

Does the use that the somnambulist makes of his faculty influence his state of spirit after death?

Answer. – Yes, and greatly, just as does the good or bad use of all the faculties that God has granted us.

Can you explain to us how you had medical knowledge, without having carried out any study?

Answer. – It is always a spiritual faculty: other Spirits advised me; I was a medium: it is the state of all somnambulists.

Are the medicines prescribed by a somnambulist always indicated by other Spirits, or are they also given instinctively, as occurs among animals, which go in search of the herb that is salutary to them? Answer. – They are indicated to him, should the somnambulist ask for counsel or when his experience is not sufficient for him. He knows them by their qualities.

Is the magnetic fluid the agent of the somnambulists' lucidity, as light is for us?

Answer. – No; it is the agent of sleep.

Is the magnetic fluid the agent of vision, in the state of Spirit?

Answer. – No.

Do you see us here as clearly as you would see us if you were alive with your body?

Answer. – Better now; what I see in addition is the inner man.

Would you see us equally if we were in darkness?

Answer. – In the same way.

Do you see us as well as, better than, or worse than you would see us when alive, but in the somnambulistic state?

Answer. – Better still.

What is the agent or intermediary that makes you see?

Answer. – My Spirit. I have neither eyes nor pupils, nor retina, nor eyelashes, and yet I see better than you see your neighbors; you see through the eyes, but in truth the one who sees is your Spirit.

Do you have consciousness of darkness?

Answer. – I know that it exists for you; not for me.

Observation. – This confirms what has always been told to us: the faculty of seeing is a property inherent in the very nature of the Spirit, residing in its whole being, whereas in the body it is localized.

Can second sight be compared to the somnambulistic state?

Answer. – Yes; it is a faculty that does not proceed from the body.

Does the magnetic fluid emanate from the nervous system or is it spread throughout the atmosphere?

Answer. – From the nervous system; but the nervous system extracts it from the atmosphere, its principal source. The atmosphere does not possess it in itself; it comes from the beings that populate the Universe: nothingness does not produce it. It is, on the contrary, an accumulation of life and of electricity, released by that multitude of existences.

Is the nervous fluid a fluid of its own, or would it result from the combination of all the other imponderable fluids that penetrate bodies, such as caloric, light, electricity? Answer. – Yes and no. You do not know these phenomena well enough to speak in such a manner; your terms do not express what you wish to say.

From where does the torpor caused by magnetic action come?

Answer. – An agitation produced by the overload of fluid that the magnetized person concentrates.

Does the magnetizer's magnetic power depend on his physical constitution?

Answer. – Yes, but much more on his character; in a word: on himself.

What are the moral qualities that in the somnambulist can help him to develop his faculty?

Answer. – The good ones. You asked which ones can help.

What are the defects that most harm him?

Answer. – Bad faith.

What are the most essential qualities for the magnetizer?

Answer. – Those of the heart; good intentions ever firm; disinterestedness.

What are the defects that most harm him?

Answer. – Bad inclinations, or rather, the desire to do harm.

When alive and in the somnambulistic state did you see the Spirits?

Answer. – Yes.

Why do not all somnambulists see them?

Answer. – All see them at moments and in various degrees of clarity.

From where comes to certain persons who are not somnambulists the faculty of seeing the Spirits in the waking state?

Answer. – This is a gift of God, as for others are intelligence and goodness.

Does this faculty proceed from a special physical organization?

Answer. – No.

Can this faculty be lost?

Answer. – Yes, as it can be acquired.

What are the causes that can bring about its loss?

Answer. – We have already said it: bad intentions. As a first condition, it is necessary that one resolve to make good use of it; that being so, one must judge whether such a favor is deserved, since it is not given uselessly. What harms those who possess it is that it is almost always mingled with that unhappy human passion you know so well — pride — even when they desire to lead to better results. They boast of that which is nothing but the work of God and, often, they wish to draw profit from it. Farewell.

On leaving us now, to what place will you go?

Answer. – To my occupations.

Could you tell us what those occupations are?

Answer. – Like you, I have some. First I seek to instruct myself and, for that, I frequent the society of those who are better than I; as entertainment I do good, and my life passes in the hope of attaining a greater happiness. We have no material need to satisfy and, consequently, all our activity is turned toward our moral progress.