William Walker Atkinson - Practical Psychomancy and Crystal Gazing

The term "Psychomancy" , is derived fromtwo Greek words, the first "psycho," meaning "the soul; the mind; theunderstanding" (and generally used to indicate "psychic" or unusualpowers of the soul or mind); the second word, "mancy" meaning "todivine; to foresee, or foreknow; to detect secret things,"and inoccult parlance, "to sense," or "to receive impressions by theAstral Senses." So the word, as we use it, may be said to mean "PsychicSensing," and in this work will be so used. The word "Psychomancer"means "one practicing Psychomancy;" and the word "Psychomantic" means"relating to Psychomancy."

The word "Clairvoyance" is frequently used by people to designate someof the phases of Psychomancy, but strictly speaking this term isincorrect when used in this sense, the true occult meaning of the word"Clairvoyance," being "transcendental vision, or the perception ofbeings on another plane of existencethe seeing of disembodied souls,elementals, etc." And so, in this work, we shall consider the truephenomena of Clairvoyance, as distinct from that of Psychomancy.

In this work, we shall regard as the true phenomena of Psychomancy, allthe various phenomena known as Psychometry; Crystal Gazing; PerceivingDistant Scenes; a perception of Past Events, and Indication of FutureEvents; either in the full waking state; the state of reverie; or thestate of dreams.

And, so this work will examine, consider, and explain, the variousphases of phenomena above indicatedin short, the phenomena of"sensing" objects by means of Astral Senses, omitting the phenomenaof Clairvoyance, or seeing disembodied souls, etc., which we regard asbelonging to a different phase of the general subject, and whichrequire special consideration and examination.

The majority of works upon these lines begin by an elaborate attempt to"prove" the reality of the phenomena in question. But we shall not fallinto this error, for such we regard it. The time for the necessity ofsuch proof is past. The records of the Societies for Psychical Researchare full of proofs, and evidence, which are as full, complete andstrong as ever required by any court to hang or clear a man. And thebook shelves of the libraries are full of other books, giving likeproof. And, for that matter, this work is not written to convincepeople of the truth of this phenomenait is intended for those whohave already convinced themselves of its reality, but who wish forspecific information regarding its nature, manner of manifestation,etc. Where we quote instances of the manifestation of some form ofPsychomantic phenomena, in this work, we do so simply to illustrate thecharacteristics of some particular form of the phenomena, and not ascorroborative proof. With this explanation, we propose plunging rightinto the main subject itself.

There have been many attempted explanations of, and theories regardingthe phenomena of Psychomancy, some of which are more or less plausible,while others are quite visionary, "wild," and fantastic. In this work,we shall pay no attention to those more or less ingenious "guesses" ofthe theorists, but shall, instead, give you plainly, clearly, andsimply, the time-honored teachings of the advanced Occultists whichteachings we believe to be the Truth, tested and tried by centuries ofinvestigation, and experiment.

The Occult Teachings inform us that in addition to the Five PhysicalSenses possessed by man, viz: Seeing; Feeling; Hearing; Tasting; andSmelling; each of which has its appropriate sense organ, everyindividual is also possessed of Five Astral Senses, which form a partof what is known to Occultists as the Astral Body. These Astral Senses,which are the astral counterparts of the five physical senses, operateupon what Occultists call the Astral Plane, which is next above thePhysical Plane, in the Sevenfold Scale of Planes. Just as do thePhysical Senses operate upon the Physical Plane, so do the AstralSenses operate upon the Astral Plane.

By means of these Astral Senses, one may sense outside objects withoutthe use of the physical senses usually employed. And it is through thissensing by these Astral Senses, that the phenomena of Psychomancybecomes possible.

By the employment of the Astral Sense of Seeing, the Psychomancer isable to perceive occurrences, scenes, etc., at a distance sometimesalmost incredibly far; to see through solid objects; to see records ofpast occurrences in the Astral Ether; and to see Future Scenes thrownahead in Time, like the shadows cast by material objects"comingevents cast their shadows before," you have heard. By the use of theAstral Sense of Hearing, he is able to sense sounds over immensedistances and often after the passage of great periods of time, for theAstral vibrations continue for many years.

The Astral senses of Taste and Smell are seldom used, although thereare abundant proofs of their existence. The Astral Sense of Feelingenables the Psychomancer to become aware of certain occurrences on theAstral Plane, and to perceive impressions, mental and otherwise, thatare being manifested at a distance. The Astral Sense of Feeling may beexplained as being rather a sense of "Awareness," than a mere"Feeling," inasmuch as the Psychomancer, through its channel, becomes"aware" of certain occurrences, other than by Astral Sight or Hearing,and yet which is not "Feeling" as the word is used on the PhysicalPlane. It may be well called "Sensing" for want of a better name, andmanifests in a vague consciousness or "awareness." But still we mustnot overlook the fact that there are many instances of true "feeling"on the Astral Plane, for instances, cases where the Psychomanceractually "feels" the pain of another, which phenomena is commonly knownas "sympathetic pains," "taking on the condition," etc., etc., andwhich are well known to all investigators as belonging to the phenomenaof the Astral Senses.

But, to understand the Astral Senses, one must be made acquainted withthe existence of that which Occultists know as "The Astral Body." Thereis no point in the Occult Teachings better established; longer held; ormore thoroughly proven than that of the existence of the Astral Body.This teaching of the Ancient Occultists is being corroborated by theexperiments, and investigations of the Psychic Researchers of thepresent day.

The Astral Body, belonging to every person, is an exact counterpart ofthe perfect physical body of the person. It is composed of fineethereal matter, and is usually encased in the physical body. Inordinary cases, the detaching of the Astral Body from its physicalcounterpart is accomplished only with great difficulty, but in the caseof dreams; great mental stress; and under certain conditions of occultdevelopment, the Astral Body may become detached and sent on longjourneys, traveling at a rate of speed greater than that of lightwaves. On these journeys it is always connected with the physical bodyby a long filmy connecting link. If this link were to become broken,the person would die instantly, but this is an almost unheard ofoccurrence in the ordinary planes of action. The Astral Body exists along time after the death of the physical body, but it disintegrates intime. It sometimes hovers around the resting place of the physicalcorpse, and is mistaken for the "spirit" of the deceased person,although really it is merely a shell or finer outer coating of thesoul. The Astral Body of a dying person is often projected to thepresence of friends and loved ones a few moments before the physicaldeath, the phenomenon arising from the strong desire of the dyingperson to see and be seen.