A case of possession.

— We said that there were no possessed in the common sense of the term, but rather subjugated ones. [The Mediums' Book no. 241.] We wish to reconsider this assertion, stated in a somewhat absolute manner, since it is now demonstrated to us that there can be true possession, that is, the substitution, though partial, of an incarnated Spirit by a wandering spirit. [See: Genesis.]

— Here is a first fact that proves it, presenting the phenomenon in all its simplicity.

Several persons were one day at the home of a lady, a somnambulist medium. Suddenly she assumed frankly masculine attitudes, changed her voice and, addressing one of those present, exclaimed: “Ah! my dear friend, how glad I am to see you!” Surprised, they asked what this meant. The lady continued: “What! my dear fellow, do you not recognize me? Ah! it is true; I am covered in mud! I am Charles Z…” At this name those present remembered a gentleman who had died some months earlier, struck down by an apoplectic fit at the edge of a road; he had fallen into a ditch, from which his body was pulled out covered in mud. He declared that, wishing to converse with his old friend, he had taken advantage of the moment when the Spirit of Mrs. A…, the somnambulist, was away from her body, to take her place. Indeed, the scene having repeated itself several days in succession, each time Mrs. A… took on the usual poses and manners of Mr. Charles, leaning on the back of the armchair, crossing her legs, twisting her mustache, running her fingers through her hair, so that, except for the feminine clothing, one might believe oneself to be before Mr. Charles. However, there was no transfiguration, as we have seen in other circumstances. [See: Phenomenon of Transfiguration.] Here are some of his answers: Q. — Since you have taken possession of Mrs. A…'s body, could you remain in it?

Answer. – No, but the will is not lacking in me.

Q. — Why can you not?

Answer. – Because her Spirit is always bound to her body. Ah! if I could break that bond, I would play a trick on her.

Q. — What is the Spirit of Mrs. A… doing during this time?

Answer. – She is here beside us, looking at me and laughing to see me in her clothes.

These conversations were very amusing. Mr. Charles had been a bon vivant and did not belie his character. Given over to material life, he was little advanced as a Spirit, but good by nature and benevolent. In taking hold of Mrs. A…'s body, he had no evil intention whatsoever, so that the lady suffered nothing from the situation, to which she willingly lent herself. It is well to say that she had not known Mr. Charles and could not have been aware of his manners. It is also to be noted that those present were not thinking of him; the scene was not provoked, and he came spontaneously. Here the possession is evident [mental possession, for the incarnated Spirit, being entirely dominated by the thought, uses its body according to the will of the subjugating Spirit] and stands out still better from the details, the enumeration of which would be too long; but it is an innocent possession, without drawbacks. The same does not occur when it is a matter of a malevolent and ill-intentioned Spirit. It can have consequences all the more serious as these Spirits are more tenacious, which often makes it difficult to free the patient of whom they make their victim.

— Here is a recent example, which we ourselves had the opportunity to observe and which became a serious object of study for the Society of Paris:

Miss Julia, a domestic servant, born in Savoy, twenty-three years old, of a very affable character, without any education, had for some time been susceptible to fits of natural somnambulism that lasted whole weeks. In this state she devoted herself to her usual work, without strangers suspecting her condition; her work was even more careful; her lucidity, remarkable; she described places and events at a distance with perfect exactness.

About six months ago she was seized with crises of a very strange character, which always occurred in the somnambulistic state, which had become, in a way, her normal state. She would writhe and roll on the floor, as if struggling under the oppression of someone wishing to strangle her, and in fact she presented all the symptoms of strangulation. She would end up overcoming this fantastic being, seize it by the hair, overwhelm it with blows, insults and imprecations, ceaselessly apostrophizing it with the name of Fredegund, infamous regent, shameless queen, vile creature stained by every crime, etc. She trampled as if stamping on it in rage, tearing off its clothes and ornaments. A bizarre thing: taking herself to be Fredegund, she struck herself repeatedly on the arms, the chest and the face, saying: “Take that! take that! is that enough, infamous Fredegund? You want to suffocate me, but you will not succeed; you want to get into my box, but I will drive you out of it.” My box was the term she used to designate her body. Nothing could better depict the frenzied accent with which, gnashing her teeth, she pronounced the name of Fredegund, nor the tortures she suffered in those moments. One day, to rid herself of her adversary, she took up a knife and tried to wound herself; she was stopped in time, an accident being avoided. A no less remarkable thing is that she never took any of those present for Fredegund; the duality was always within herself, and it was against herself that she directed her fury when the Spirit was in her, and against an invisible being when she had rid herself of it. To others she was gentle and benevolent, even in the moments of greatest exasperation.

These crises, truly terrifying, often lasted hours and repeated themselves several times a day. When she finally overcame Fredegund, the latter would fall into a state of prostration and dejection from which she emerged only little by little, but which left her with great weakness and difficulty in speaking. Her health was profoundly impaired; she could eat nothing, and at times went eight days without taking food. To her the finest dishes tasted horrible, leading her to reject them. She said it was the work of Fredegund, who wanted to prevent her from eating.

We said above that the girl had received no education. While awake she had never heard of Fredegund, nor of her character, nor of the role she played. On the contrary, in the somnambulistic state, she knows it perfectly and says she lived in her time. She was not Brunhilda, as was at first supposed, but another person, attached to her court. [See questions 20 to 22 in the evocation of Fredegund.]

Another observation, no less important, is that, when the crises began, Miss Julia had never occupied herself with Spiritism, whose very name was unknown to her. Even today, while awake, it is foreign to her and she does not believe in it. She knows of it only in the somnambulistic state, and only after she began to be cared for. Thus, all that she said was spontaneous.

Faced with so strange a situation, some attribute the state of this girl to a nervous affection; others to a madness of a special character, an opinion which, at first sight, had an appearance of reality. A physician declared that, in the present state of Science, nothing could explain such phenomena, and that he saw no remedy. However, persons experienced in Spiritism recognize without difficulty that she was under the dominion of one of the most serious subjugations, and that it could be fatal to her. No doubt, anyone who had seen her only in the moments of crisis and had considered only the strangeness of her acts and words would have said she was mad and would have inflicted upon her the treatment of the insane, which, beyond any doubt, would have provoked a true madness; but this opinion should yield before the facts. In the waking state her conversation is that of a person of her condition and in conformity with her lack of education; her intelligence is even commonplace. In the somnambulistic state, however, the picture changes completely: in the moments of calm she reasons with much good sense, accuracy and true depth. Now, this would be a singular madness that increased the dose of intelligence and judgment. Only Spiritism can explain this apparent anomaly. In the waking state, her soul or Spirit is compressed by organs that allow it only an incomplete development; in the somnambulistic state, the soul, emancipated, is in part freed from its bonds and enjoys the fullness of its faculties. In the moments of crisis, her words and acts are eccentric only to those who do not believe in the action of the beings of the invisible world. Seeing only the effect, and not going back to the cause, this is why all the obsessed, subjugated and possessed pass for madmen. In the asylums there have always been, in all ages, supposed madmen of this nature who would easily be cured if we did not persist in seeing in them only an organic disease.

— As Miss Julia, however, had no resources, a family of true and sincere Spiritists agreed to take her into their service, but, in her situation, she must have been much more a hindrance than a help, and a real devotion was needed to care for her. But these persons were well rewarded, first by the pleasure of performing a good deed, then by the satisfaction of having powerfully contributed to her cure, today complete. A twofold cure, because not only was Miss Julia freed, but her enemy was converted to better sentiments.

Here is what we witnessed in one of those terrible struggles, which lasted no less than two hours, when we were able to observe the phenomenon in its smallest details and in which we at once recognized a complete analogy with those of the possessed of Morzine. n The only difference is that at Morzine the possessed gave themselves over to acts against the individuals who crossed them, and spoke of the devil they had within them, for they had been convinced that it was the devil. At Morzine Miss Julia would have called Fredegund the Devil.

In a forthcoming article we will set forth in detail the various phases of this cure and the means employed for that end; moreover, we will report the remarkable instructions the Spirits gave in this regard, as well as the important observations they occasioned, concerning magnetism.

— (2nd article. — See the issue of December 1863.)

[Review of January 1864.]

In our preceding article, we described the sad situation of this girl and the circumstances in her that proved a true possession. We are happy to confirm what we said of her cure, today complete. After being freed from her obsessing Spirit, the violent shocks she had suffered for more than six months had caused a grave disturbance in her health. Now she is completely recovered, but she has not come out of the somnambulistic state, which does not prevent her from devoting herself to her usual work. We are going to set forth the circumstances of this cure.

Several persons had tried to magnetize her, but without much success, save a slight and passing improvement in her pathological state. As for the Spirit, it was more and more tenacious, and the crises had reached a degree of violence of the most disquieting. A magnetizer would have been needed under the conditions we indicated in the preceding article for the healing mediums, that is, penetrating the patient with a fluid pure enough to eliminate the fluid of the evil Spirit. If there is a kind of mediumship that demands moral superiority, it is surely the case of obsessions, for one must have the right to impose one's authority upon the Spirit. The cases of possession, according to what is announced, must multiply with great energy some time hence, so that the impotence of the means employed up to now to combat them may be well demonstrated. Even a circumstance, of which we cannot yet speak, but which has a certain analogy with what happened in the time of Christ, will contribute to developing this kind of demoniacal epidemic. There is no doubt that special mediums will arise with the power to drive out the evil Spirits, as the apostles had that of driving out demons, whether because God always places the remedy beside the ill, or to give to the incredulous a new proof of the existence of the Spirits. For Miss Julia, simple magnetism, as in all analogous cases, however energetic it might be, was insufficient. One would have to act simultaneously upon the obsessing Spirit, to dominate it, and upon the morale of the patient, disturbed by all these shocks; the physical ill was only consecutive; it was effect, and not cause. One had therefore to treat the cause before the effect. The moral ill destroyed, the physical ill would disappear of itself. But for this one must identify oneself with the cause; study with the greatest care and in all its nuances the course of the ideas, in order to impress upon it this or that more favorable direction, because the symptoms vary according to the degree of intelligence of the patient, the character of the Spirit and the motives of the obsession, motives whose origin almost always goes back to previous existences.

— The failure of magnetism with Miss Julia led several persons to try; among this number was a young man endowed with great fluidic force, but who, unfortunately, had no experience and, above all, lacked the knowledge necessary in such cases. He attributed to himself an absolute power over the inferior Spirits which, in his opinion, could not resist his will. Such a pretension, carried to excess and based on his personal strength and not on the assistance of the good Spirits, was bound to cause him yet another disappointment. This alone should have been enough to show the girl's friends that the first of the qualities required for the aid to be effective was lacking. But what, above all, should have enlightened them is that he professed, concerning the Spirits in general, a completely false opinion. According to him, the superior Spirits are of too ethereal a nature to be able to come to Earth to communicate with men and to assist them; this is possible only for the inferior Spirits, by reason of their coarser nature. This opinion, which is nothing but the doctrine of the exclusive communication of demons, he committed the grave error of sustaining before the sick girl, even in the moments of crisis. With this way of seeing, he could count only on himself, and could not invoke the only assistance capable of helping him, assistance which, it is true, he believed he could dispense with. The most deplorable consequence was for the patient, whom he discouraged, taking from her the hope of the assistance of the good Spirits. In the state of debility in which her brain found itself, such a belief, which gave all power to the obsessing Spirit, could become fatal to her reason, and even kill her. Thus, she repeated without ceasing, in the moments of crisis: “Mad… mad…, he is making me mad… completely mad… I am not so yet, but I will be.” Speaking of her magnetizer, she perfectly described his action, saying: “He gives me the strength of the body, but not the strength of the spirit.” Such an expression was profoundly significant and yet no one gave it importance. When we saw Miss Julia, the ill was at its height and the crisis we witnessed was one of the most violent. It was at the very moment when we were applying ourselves to raising her morale and instilling in her the thought that she could dominate this evil Spirit, with the assistance of the good ones and of her guardian angel, whose support she should invoke. It was at that moment, we said, that the young magnetizer, who was present, by a circumstance no doubt providential, came, without any provocation, to affirm and develop his theory, destroying on one side what we were doing on the other. We had to set forth to him with energy that he was performing an evil deed and assuming the terrible responsibility for the reason and the life of that unfortunate girl.

— A most singular fact, which everyone had observed, but whose consequences no one had deduced, was produced in the magnetization. When it took place during the struggle with the evil Spirit, this latter alone absorbed all the fluid, which gave it more strength, while the patient grew weak and succumbed to its harmful action. We must remember that she was always in the somnambulistic state; consequently, she saw what was happening, and it was she herself who gave the explanation. They saw in the fact only a malice of the Spirit and contented themselves with abstaining from magnetizing in such moments and remaining as spectators of the struggle. With the knowledge of the nature of the fluids, it is possible to account easily for this phenomenon. First of all, it is evident that, in absorbing the fluid to increase its strength to the detriment of the patient, the Spirit wished to convince the magnetizer of the uselessness of his pretension. If there was malice on its part, it was against the magnetizer, for it used the very weapon with which the latter claimed to vanquish it. One may say that it took the cudgel out of his hands. No less evident was its facility in appropriating the magnetizer's fluid, denoting an affinity between that fluid and its own, whereas fluids of a contrary nature would have repelled each other, like water and oil. This fact alone would suffice to demonstrate that there were other conditions to be fulfilled. It is, then, one of the gravest errors and, we may say, one of the most disastrous, to see in the magnetic action only a simple fluidic emission, without taking into account the intimate quality of the fluids. In most cases, success rests entirely on these qualities, just as success depends, in therapeutics, on the quality of the medicine. It would not be amiss to draw attention to this capital point, demonstrated at once by logic and by experience.

— To combat the influence of the magnetizer's doctrine, which had already influenced the ideas of the patient, we said to her: “My child, have confidence in God; look around you. Do you not see good Spirits? — It is true, she said; I see luminous ones, whom Fredegund dares not face. — Well then! they are the ones who protect you and will not allow the evil Spirit to triumph; implore their assistance; pray with fervor; pray above all for Fredegund. — Oh! For her I shall never be able to. — Take care! see how the good Spirits draw away at these words. If you want their protection, you must deserve it by your good sentiments, striving above all to be better than your enemy. How do you expect them to defend you, if you are worth no more than she is? Consider that in other existences you will have reproaches to make against yourself; what happens to you is an expiation; if you wish to make it cease, you must improve and prove your good intentions, beginning by showing yourself good and charitable toward your enemies. Fredegund herself will be touched and perhaps you will make repentance enter her heart. Reflect. — I will do it. — Do it at once and say with me: ‘My God, I forgive Fredegund the harm she has done me; I accept it as a trial and an expiation that I have deserved. Forgive my own faults, as I forgive hers. And you, good Spirits who surround me, open her heart to better sentiments and give me the strength I lack.’ Do you promise to pray for her every day? — I promise. — Very well. For my part, I will look after you and her; have confidence. — Oh! Thank you! something tells me that this will soon end.” Having given an account of this scene to the Society, the following instructions were transmitted in this regard:

— “The matter with which you are occupying yourselves has moved even the good Spirits, who in their turn wish to come to the aid of this girl with their counsel. Indeed, she presents a very serious case of obsession; among those you have seen and will yet see, this one may be placed in the number of the most serious and, above all, of the most interesting, by the instructive particulars already presented and that it will offer you anew.

“As I have already told you, these cases of obsession repeat themselves frequently and will furnish two distinct subjects of usefulness, first for you, then for those who suffer them.

“First for you, because, just as several ecclesiastics powerfully contributed to spreading Spiritism among those who were completely strangers to it, so too these obsessed ones, whose number will become too important for them to be dealt with in a superficial manner, but broadly and deeply, will open the doors of Science wide enough for Spiritist philosophy to enter therein with them and to occupy, among men of science and physicians of every system, the place to which it is entitled.

“Then for them, because, in the state of Spirit, before incarnating among you, they accepted this struggle, which brings upon them the possession they suffer, with a view to their advancement; and this struggle, believe it, makes their own Spirit suffer cruelly, for when their body, in a manner of speaking, is no longer theirs, it has perfect consciousness of what is happening. According as they have borne this trial, whose duration you can powerfully shorten by your prayers, they will have progressed more or less. For, rest assured, in spite of this possession, always momentary, they retain sufficient consciousness of themselves to discern the cause and the nature of their obsession. “For this one who occupies you, a piece of advice is necessary. The magnetizations that the incarnated Spirit of whom you spoke makes her endure are disastrous to her in every respect. That Spirit is systematic. And what a system! Whoever does not refer all his actions to the greater glory of God and grows vain over the faculties that have been granted him will always be confounded; the presumptuous will be brought low, often in this world and, infallibly, in the other. Take care, then, my dear Kardec, that these magnetizations cease completely, or the gravest drawbacks will result from their continuation, not only for the girl, but also for the imprudent one, who thinks he has at his orders all the Spirits of darkness and imposes himself upon them as their chief. “I say that you will see these cases of possession and obsession develop for a certain time, because they are useful to the progress of Science and of Spiritism. This is why physicians and scholars will at last open their eyes and learn that there are diseases whose causes are not in matter, and which therefore should not be treated by matter. These cases of possession will likewise open entirely new horizons to magnetism and make it take a great step forward through the study, until now so imperfect, of the fluids. Aided by these new pieces of knowledge and by its intimate alliance with Spiritism, it will obtain great things. Unfortunately, in magnetism as in Medicine, for a long time yet there will be men who think they have nothing to learn. These frequent obsessions will also have a very good side, because, when one is penetrated by prayer and moral force, it is possible to make them cease and to acquire the right to drive out the evil Spirits; and by the improvement of his conduct, each one will seek to acquire the right that the Spirit of Truth, who directs this globe, will confer when it is deserved. Have faith and confidence in God, who does not allow one to suffer uselessly and without reason.” Hahnemann. n (Medium: Mr. Albert.)

— “I shall be brief. It will be very easy to cure this unfortunate possessed girl. The means were implicitly contained in the reflections just emitted by Allan Kardec. Not only is a material and moral action necessary, but also a purely spiritual action. For the incarnated Spirit who, like Julia, finds itself in a state of possession, an experienced magnetizer is needed, perfectly convinced of the Spiritist truth. Moreover, it is necessary that he be of an irreproachable morality and without presumption. But, to act upon the obsessing Spirit, the no less energetic action of a good disincarnate Spirit is required. Thus, then, a twofold action: terrestrial action, extraterrestrial action; the incarnate upon the incarnate, the disincarnate upon the disincarnate; such is the law. If until now this action has not been carried out, it was precisely to lead you to the study and experimentation of this interesting question. This is why Julia was not freed sooner: she was to serve for your studies. “This demonstrates to you what, henceforth, you will have to do in cases of manifest possession. It is indispensable to call to your aid the concurrence of an elevated Spirit, enjoying at the same time a moral and a fluidic force, like the excellent Curé of Ars; and you know that you can count on the assistance of that worthy and holy Vianney. As for the rest, our concurrence is given to all who call us to their aid, with purity of heart and true faith.

“To sum up: When you magnetize Julia, you must proceed, first, by the fervent evocation of the Curé of Ars and of other good Spirits who habitually communicate among you, asking them to act against the evil Spirits who persecute this young woman, and who will flee before their luminous phalanxes. Also do not forget that collective prayer has a very great force, when made by a certain number of persons acting in accord, with a living faith and an ardent desire to relieve.”

Erastus. n (Medium: Mr. d'Ambel.)

— These instructions were followed. Several members of the Society came to an understanding to act through prayer under the required conditions. An essential point was to lead the obsessing Spirit to mend its ways, which necessarily was bound to facilitate the cure. This is what was done, evoking it and giving it counsel; it promised to torment Miss Julia no more and kept its word. One of our colleagues was especially charged by his spiritual guide with its moral education, with which he was satisfied. Today this Spirit works seriously for its improvement and asks for a new incarnation to expiate and repair its faults. The importance of the teaching that follows from this fact and from the observations to which it gave rise will escape no one, and each may draw from it useful instruction concerning the occurrence. An essential observation that the fact made it possible to verify, and which is understood without difficulty, is the influence of the environment. It is quite evident that if the environment seconds by a communion of views, of intention and of action, the patient finds himself in a kind of homogeneous atmosphere of beneficent fluids, which must necessarily facilitate and hasten success. But if there is disagreement, opposition; if each one wishes to act in his own way, there will result divergences, contrary currents that will inevitably paralyze and, at times, nullify the efforts attempted for the cure. The fluidic effluvia, which constitute the moral atmosphere, if they are bad, will be as disastrous to certain individuals as the emanations of marshy regions.

CONVERSATIONS FROM BEYOND THE TOMB.

FREDEGUND.

We give below the two evocations of the Spirit Fredegund, made at the Society, a month apart, and which form the complement of the two preceding articles on the possession of Miss Julia. Although it did not manifest itself with signs of violence, the Spirit wrote with great difficulty and extremely fatigued the medium, who came to feel indisposed and whose faculties seemed, in a way, paralyzed. Foreseeing this result, we had taken care not to entrust this evocation to a very delicate medium.

In another circumstance, questioned concerning the Spirit Fredegund, another Spirit had said that for a long time she had been seeking to reincarnate, but that this had not been permitted her, because her aim was not yet to improve herself but, on the contrary, to have greater facility for doing evil, with the help of a material body. Such dispositions were bound to make her conversion very difficult. Nevertheless, this was not so difficult as one might have feared, thanks, no doubt, to the benevolent concurrence of all the persons who took part in it, and perhaps also because the moment had come when this Spirit was to enter the path of repentance. [See the observation of Allan Kardec to question 13 of the following evocation.] (October 16, 1863. — Medium: Mr. Leymarie.)

Evocation.

Answer. – I am not Fredegund. What do you want of me?

Then who are you?

Answer. – A Spirit who suffers.

Since you suffer, you must wish to suffer no more. We will assist you, for we lament all who suffer in this world and in the other; but it is necessary that you second us and, for this, it is necessary that you pray.

Answer. – I thank you, but I cannot pray.

We are going to pray; this will help you. Have confidence in the goodness of God, who always forgives the one who repents.

Answer. – I believe in you. Pray, pray; perhaps I may be able to convert myself.

But it is not enough that we pray; it is necessary that you also pray.

Answer. – I wished to pray and could not; I will try now with your help.

Say with us: My God, forgive me, since I have sinned. I repent of the evil I have done.

Answer. – I will say it later.

That is not sufficient; it is necessary to write it.

Answer. – My… (Here the Spirit is incapable of writing the word God. Only after much encouragement does it manage to finish the sentence, in an irregular and barely legible manner.)

It is not enough to say this pro forma. It is necessary to think and to take the resolution to do evil no more; as you will see, you will soon be relieved.

Answer. – I am going to pray.

If you have prayed sincerely, do you not feel better?

Answer. – Oh! yes!

Now, give us some details about your life and the causes of your obstinacy against Julia.

Answer. – Later… I will tell… but today I cannot.

Do you promise to leave Julia in peace? The harm you do her falls back upon you and increases your suffering.

Answer. – Yes, but I am impelled by other Spirits worse than I.

That is a poor excuse, which you give to exculpate yourself. In any case, you must have a will, and with the will one can always resist evil suggestions.

Answer. – If I had had a will, I would not suffer. I am punished because I did not know how to resist.

Nevertheless, you showed will enough to torment Julia. As you have just taken good resolutions, we exhort you to persist in them and we ask the good Spirits to second you.

Observation. – During this evocation another medium received from his spiritual guide a communication containing, among other things, the following: “Do not be troubled by the refusals you note in the answers of this Spirit [saying it is not Fredegund]: its fixed idea of reincarnating makes it repel all solidarity with the past, although it does not much endure the effects thereof. It is indeed the one who was indicated, but it does not wish to agree with itself.”

(November 13, 1863.)

Evocation.

Answer. – I am ready to answer.

Did you persist in the good resolution you were in last time?

Answer. – Yes.

How do you find yourself?

Answer. – Very well, for I have prayed, I am calmer and much happier.

Indeed, we know that Julia has not been tormented anymore. Since you can communicate more easily, will you tell us why you persisted so obstinately against her?

Answer. – For centuries I was not remembered, and I desired that the curse covering my name might cease a little, so that a prayer, a single one, might come to console me. I pray, I believe in God; now I can pronounce his name and, surely, it is more than I could have hoped for from the benefit you grant me.

Observation. – In the interval between the first and second evocation, the Spirit was called every day by that one of our colleagues charged with instructing it. A positive fact is that, from that moment on, Miss Julia ceased to be tormented.

It is quite doubtful that the mere desire to obtain a prayer was the motive that led you to torment that girl; no doubt you are still seeking a palliative for your errors. In any case, it was not a good means of attracting the compassion of men.

Answer. – Yet, if I had not tormented Julia, you would not have thought of me, and I would not have come out of the wretched state in which I languished. From this there resulted an instruction for you and a great good for me, for you opened my eyes.

(To the medium's guide). Was it really Fredegund who gave this answer?

Answer. – Yes, it was she, a little aided, it is true, because she humbled herself. But this Spirit is much more advanced in intelligence than you think; what it lacks is moral progress, the first steps of which you are helping it to take. Did it not tell you that Julia will derive great profit from what has happened for her personal advancement.

(To Fredegund). Did Miss Julia live in your time? could you say who she was?

Answer. – Yes. She was one of my ladies-in-waiting, named Hildegard; a suffering and resigned soul, who did my will. She suffered the punishment for her very humble and very obliging services toward me.

Do you desire a new incarnation?

Answer. – Yes, I desire it. O my God! I have suffered a thousand tortures and, if I have deserved a most just penalty, ah! it is time that I may, with the help of your prayers, begin anew a better existence, in order to wash myself of my old filth. God is just. Pray for me. Until today I had been unaware of the whole extent of my penalty; my gaze was veiled and I felt as though in a vertigo. But now I see, I understand, I desire the pardon of the Lord and that of my victims. My God, how sweet is forgiveness!

Tell us something of Brunhilda.

Answer. – Brunhilda!… This name makes me dizzy… She was the great error of my life, and I felt my old hatred awaken on hearing her name!… But God will forgive me and henceforth I shall be able to write that name without trembling. Happier than I, she is reincarnated for the second time, performing a role that I desire: that of a sister of charity.

We are happy at your change; we will encourage and sustain you with our prayers.

Answer. – Thank you! thank you! Good Spirits, God will reward you for this.

Observation. – A characteristic fact of the evil Spirits is the impossibility in which they often find themselves of pronouncing or writing the name of God. This denotes an evil nature, no doubt, but, at the same time, a mixture of fear and of respect, which the hypocritical Spirits, apparently less evil, do not feel. These latter, far from recoiling before the name of God, make use of it brazenly to capture confidence. They are infinitely more perverse and more dangerous than the frankly evil Spirits. It is in this class that the majority of the fascinating Spirits are found, of whom it is much more difficult to rid oneself than of the others, because it is the Spirit itself of which they take possession, aided by a false semblance of knowledge, of virtue or of religion, whereas the others take possession only of the body. A Spirit which, like that of Fredegund, recoils before the name of God, is much closer to its conversion than those who cover themselves with the mask of good. It is the same among men, where you find these two categories of incarnated Spirits. [See also Genesis on possession.] [1] See Instruction on the possessed of Morzine, Spiritist Review of December 1862, January, February, April and May 1863.

[2] [see Samuel Hahnemann.]

[3] [see Erastus.]