Genuine Mediumship; or, The Invisible Powers

by William Walker Atkinson

The Akashic Plane.

But this, however, is but an illustration of the correspondence on the ordinary physical plane of certain things on a higher plane of Nature. Past Time Clairvoyance is not dependent upon light-waves, or any other of the lesser phases of vibratory activity. Instead, it depends entirely upon the phenomena and facts of a higher plane of Nature—a plane which occultists have called the Akashic Plane. Some occultists prefer the general term, "the Astral Plane," but the former term is a closer and more definite one. The Akashic Plane, as known to occultists, contains the impressions or "records" of all events that have happened on the earth plane during the present cycle of earth manifestation. The very subtle and tenuous substance of the Akashic Plane—the term "etheric" may best describe the nature of this substance—contains traces and impressions of all the happenings of the past of this earth; and such impressions may be read and seen by the clairvoyant who has developed sufficiently high powers of vision. These Akashic Records have well been called "the substantial memory of the earth." Upon the subtle etheric substance of the Akashic Plane are registered the records of every event, thing, object, happening, or activity of the earth which has existed or been manifested from the very beginning of the present cycle of the earth's existence. These records will, it is claimed, persist until the final ending of the present earth cycle.

The Akashic Records.

The clairvoyant whose powers of Past Time Clairvoyance have been developed sufficiently, and who has mastered the art of concentration of his psychic attention, manages to come into more or less perfect en rapport condition contact with these Akashic Records, and is thus enabled to read from them what he sees there. To him it actually seems as if he were seeing the actions of things in present existence, and many excellent clairvoyants are ignorant of the existence of the Akashic Records, though they habitually read the contents thereof; these clairvoyants know simply that they "see" these past happenings—they have not the faintest conception of how they are able to see them. This is no more strange than would be the case of a man who witnessed a moving picture for the first time, and who was ignorant of the mechanism involved in the showing of the picture, the existence of the film, etc.,—such a man would simply know that he "saw" the things, and he might even believe that he was gazing upon an actual scene in real life.

Degrees of Clairvoyant Vision.

There is, of course, many degrees of power and development among clairvoyants of this class; and as a result we have many varying degrees of correctness in their readings. Some have merely a glimpse, as through dim glasses; and some obtain merely distorted reflections similar to those of a scene reflected into the troubled waters of a lake. Others see far more clearly; but it is reserved for the trained occultist to read the records as he would read the scene before him on the physical plane. The clairvoyant does not become infallible simply by reason of the perhaps only faint awakening of his clairvoyant vision—he is not suddenly gifted with omniscience, as some seem to suppose. There are almost always elements of error or imperfect visioning, except among the advanced adepts of the occult world.

"The Memory of Nature."

A celebrated occultist says concerning the point just raised: "Comparatively few accounts of persons possessing this faculty of looking into the past are to be found in the literature of the subject, and it might therefore be supposed to be much less common than prevision, or future-time clairvoyance. I suspect, however, that the truth is rather that it is much less commonly recognized. It may easily happen that a person may see a picture of the past without recognizing it as such, unless there happens to be in it something which attracts special attention, such as a figure in armor, or in antique costume. It is probable that occasional glimpses of these reflections of the Akashic Records are commoner than the published accounts would lead us to believe. As usual, we find examples of all degrees of the power to see into this 'memory of Nature,' from the trained man who can consult the record for himself at will, down to the person who gets nothing but occasional vague glimpses, or has even perhaps had only one such glimpse. But even the man who possesses this faculty only partially and occasionally may still find it of the deepest interest.

Involuntary Clairvoyance.

"The psychometrist, who needs an object physically connected with the past in order to bring it all into life again around him; and the crystal-gazer who can sometimes direct his less certain astral telescope to some historic scene of long ago, may both derive the greatest enjoyment from the exercise of their respective gifts, even though they may not always understand exactly how their results are produced, and may not have them fully under control under all circumstances. In many cases of the lower manifestation of these powers we find that they are exercised unconsciously; many a crystal-gazer watches scenes from the past without ever realizing that he is in effect psychometrizing the various objects around him as he happens to touch them or stand near them. It would be well for all students to bear in mind that occultism is the apotheosis of common sense, and that every vision that comes to them is not necessarily a picture from the Akashic Records, nor every experience a revelation from on high. It is far better to err on the side of healthy scepticism than that of over-credulity; and it is an admirable rule never to hunt for an occult explanation of anything when a plain and obvious physical one is available. Our duty is to keep our balance always, and never to lose our self-control, but to take a reasonable, common-sense view of whatever may happen to us."