How to Read the Crystal; or, Crystal and Seer

by Sepharial

It is important that all persons sitting in the same room as the seer should be at arm's length away from him—farther if possible. Silence should be uniformly observed by those present. A recorder should be at hand to set down everything the seer may give voice to. If any questions are addressed to the seer while the sitting is in progress, they should be spoken in an undertone and as nearly a monotone as may be so that the seer is not suddenly surprised into consciousness of his surroundings, and the psychic thread thereby broken.

At first the sittings should not be of longer duration than fifteen minutes, but it is important they should take place regularly, every day if possible, and always at the same hour and in the same place. By this method of procedure it will be found that a cumulative effect is produced and success more speedily ensured. The reason is obvious. All actions tend to repeat themselves, to become automatic, to pass from the purposive into the habitual, and hence the psychic faculties will, if actuated at any set time and place, tend to bestir themselves towards the same end as that to which they were first moved by the conscious will and intention of the seer.

Until definite and satisfactory results are obtained, not more than two persons should be present at the sittings, and these should be in sympathy with the seer and each other. When the sitting is over, it will be found agreeable and useful to discuss the results obtained; or if none are elicited, the seer can give an account of his or her impressions and feelings during the sitting. It will be interesting to note these experiences and to compare them from time to time.

The seer or seeress must not be disheartened if at the first few sittings nothing of any moment takes place, but must persevere, with patience and self-control. Indeed, when one comes to consider the fact that for hundreds of generations the psychic faculties inherent in mankind have lain in absolute neglect, that perhaps the faculty of "clear vision" has never yet been brought into activity by any save the most remote of our ancestors, it will not be thought remarkable that it should be at first difficult get any definite results. Rather should it be a matter of surprise that the power is still with us, that it is not wholly irresponsive to the voice of the soul. While, in the course of physical evolution, many important functions have undergone remarkable changes, and organs, once active and useful, have become stunted, impotent, and in some cases extinct; yet it is said that seeds have lain dormant in arid soil for hundreds of years, to spring into leaf and flower as soon as the rains have fallen and the climate changed. The faculty of pure vision is like the latent seed-life. It waits only the conditions which favour its growth and development; and though for hundreds of years it may have lain dormant, yet in a few days, weeks, or months it may attain the proportions of a beautiful flower, a thing of wonder and delight, gracing the garden of the soul.

CHAPTER IV.

THE VISION

Visions seen in the crystal are of two kinds, both of which may be conveyed to the perception of the seer in two ways. The two kinds of visions are: 1, Direct visions; 2, Symbolic visions. The first of these is a representation of scene or incident exactly as it will transpire, or has already happened, either in relation to the seer, those sitting with him, or yet in relation to public affairs. The second order of vision is a representation, by means of symbol, ideograph, or other indirect means, of events similar to those conveyed by direct vision.

In most cases it will be found that answers, to questions take the form of symbols. But this is not always so, as will appear from the following remarks concerning the manner in which these impressions or visions are conveyed to the perception of the seer.

The vision is conveyed in one of two ways—first, as a vivid picture affecting the focus and retina of the eye, perfect in its outline and colouring, and giving the impression of being either distant or near or at moderate range, Secondly, it may be conveyed as a vivid impression accompanied by a hazy and undefined formation in the crystal field. In this form it becomes an apperception rather than a perception, the consciousness receiving the impression of the vision to be conveyed before it has had time to form and define itself in the crystal.