Identity of an incarnate Spirit.

Our colleague, Mr. Delanne, transmitted to us the following account, with regard to the evocation of his wife, who was alive and had remained in Paris, during a journey that he made:

…On the 11th of last December, being in Lille, I evoked the Spirit of my wife at half past eleven at night. She told me that one of her relatives had happened to sleep with her. This fact left me in doubt, and I did not believe in its possibility; nevertheless, two days later I received a letter from my wife confirming the reality. I submit my interview which, though it contains nothing particular, offers a proof of identity.

Question. Are you there, dear friend?

Answer. – Yes, my big one (It was her favorite term).

Do you see the objects that surround me?

Answer. – I see them well. I feel happy to be near you. I hope you are well wrapped up. (It was half past eleven; I was arriving from Arras; there was no heating in the room; I was dressed in my travelling coat and had not even taken off my scarf).

Are you pleased to have come without your body?

Answer. – Yes, my friend. I thank you for this. I have the fluidic body, the perispirit.

Is it you who make me write? Where are you?

Answer. – Near you; surely your hand has difficulty in moving.

Are you well asleep?

Answer. – No, not yet very well.

Does your body hold you back?

Answer. – Yes, I feel that it holds me back. My body is a little unwell, but the Spirit does not suffer.

During the day did you have the intuition that I would evoke you tonight?

Answer. – No; yet I cannot define what told me that I would see you. (At this instant I had a fit of coughing). You always cough, friend; take a little care of yourself.

Can you see my perispirit?

Answer. – No; I can only distinguish your material body.

Do you feel more free and better than with the body?

Answer. – Yes, because I no longer suffer. (In a later letter I learned that she had been indisposed).

Do you see Spirits around me?

Answer. – No; and yet I should like to see them.

Are you afraid to be alone at home?

Answer. – Adélia is with me. (This person, one of our relatives, never sleeps in our house; we see her only rarely).

How is it that Adélia is with you? Did she sleep with you?

Answer. – Yes, by chance.

Is it really you yourself who speak, dear wife?

Answer. – Yes, friend; it is I myself.

Do you see well clearly here?

Answer. – Yes; everything radiates better than your faint light. (I had only a candle, in a large room).

Do you communicate by intuition or mechanically?

Answer. – I act more particularly upon your brain, which is apt to receive more easily; in spite of that, I direct, at the same time, your hand.

How can you see that my brain is apt to receive the Spiritist communications?

Answer. – It is by the development that your organs acquired a short time ago, which proves that it was necessary… (At this instant midnight strikes and the Spirit stops).

Do you hear the sound of the pendulum?

Answer. – Yes. I was struck by that abnormal sound; it is similar to the celestial music that I heard in the dream I told you about. (Indeed, a short time before my departure, she had had a marvelous dream, in which she had heard a singular harmony. Without doubt at that moment I was not thinking of the dream, which I had completely forgotten; therefore, it could not be a reflection of my thought, since no one else had any knowledge of it. Being alone on that occasion, I saw in that spontaneous revelation a new proof of the identity of the Spirit of my wife. The Spirit finishes the sentence begun above). …much strength in so little time.

Do you want me to evoke my guardian angel to verify your identity? Would this bother you?

Answer. – You may do so.

(To my guardian angel.) – Is it really the Spirit of my wife who has just spoken to me?

Answer. – It is your wife who speaks to you and is glad to see you.

(To my wife) – Did you see my guardian angel?

Answer. – Yes; he is resplendent with light. He only appeared and disappeared.

Did he see you?

Answer. – Yes, he looked at me with eyes of celestial clemency; and I, confused, prostrated myself.

Farewell, my big one, I am forced to leave you.

Observation. – If this verification had limited itself to the reply of the guardian angel, it would have been insufficient, for it would imply, in its turn, verifying the identity of the guardian angel, considering that a deceiving Spirit could have usurped the name. There is nothing in that simple affirmation that reveals its quality. In similar cases it is always preferable to make the verification through a medium who is a stranger and who is not under the same influence; to evoke oneself a Spirit in order to verify another does not always offer sufficient guarantee, especially if one asks permission of the suspect. In the case in question, we find the proof in the description that the Spirit gives of the guardian angel; a deceiving Spirit could not have taken on that celestial aspect. Moreover, one recognizes in all her replies a stamp of truth that fraud would be incapable of simulating. (Session of the following night.)

Are you there?

Answer. – Yes. I am going to tell you what worries you: Adélia. Well then! She really did sleep with me, I swear it to you.

Is your body better?

Answer. – Yes. It was nothing.

Today do you see Spirits near you?

Answer. – I still see nothing, but I sense someone, for I am very uneasy at being alone.

Come now, good friend, and perhaps you will improve.

Answer. – Yes; that is what I am going to do. Say with me: “My God, great and just, bless us, absolve us of our iniquities; show grace to the children who love you; deign to inspire in them your virtues and grant them the signal grace of one day being counted among the elect. May earthly suffering seem nothing to them in comparison with the happiness you reserve for those who love you sincerely. Absolve us, Lord, and continue to lavish your benefits upon us through the divine intercession of the most pure and angelic Saint Mary, mother of sinners and mercy incarnate.” Observation. – Improvised by the Spirit, this prayer is of touching simplicity. Mr. Delanne knew the fact relating to Adélia only from what the Spirit of his wife had said, and it was that fact which inspired doubts. Having written to her about it, he received the following reply: “…In fact Adélia came yesterday afternoon, by chance. I invited her to stay, not out of fear, at which I laugh, but to have her with me. You see well that she stayed and slept with me. I was somewhat disturbed these two nights; I felt a certain malaise, of which I did not give myself a clear account; it was as if an invincible force compelled me to sleep; I was as though annihilated. But I am so happy to have gone to you!…”