B F (p'j^MMA^t^y (i f^ THE SEERESS OF PREVORST REVELATIONS CONCERNING THE INNER-LIFE OF MAN, INTER-DIFFUSION OF A WORLD OF SPIRITS IN THE ONE WE INHABIT. / COMMUNICATED BY JUSTINUS KERNER;, CHIEF PHYSICIAN AT WEINSBERG. FROM THE GERMA.N, BY MRS. CROWE, AUTHOR OF THE ADVENTURES OF SUSAN HOPLEY, MEN AND WOMEN, ARISTODEMUS, ETC. ETC. LONDON: J. C. MOORE, 12, WELLINGTON STREET NORTH, STRAND. MDCCCXLV. ^0^ EDINBURGH : T. CONSTABLE, PRINTER TO HER MAJESTY. ti> THE REVELATIONS CONCERNING THE INNER-LIFE OF MAN ARE DEDICATED BY THE AUTHOR TO HIS MOST WORTHY AND HONOURABLE FRIENDS, GOTTHILF HEINRICH v. SCHUBERT AND JOHANN FRIEDRICH v. MEYER. CONTENTS. Page I^^TRODUCTION, ...... 5 Native place and early youth. 31 Retiring into the inner-life, 37 Outcoming of the magnetic condition, 39 Appearance in Weinsberg, 5*2 Description of the Seeress, 56 External nervous system, &c. 61 Effects of water and suspension of gravity 65 Effects of imponderable substances, 71 The human eye. 73 Seeing with the pit of the stomach. 75 The protecting spirit, 78 Prophetic dreams. 82 Second-sight, 85 Going forth of the spirit. 88 Prescribing for disease. 97 Cure of the Countess von Maldeghem, 100 The different degrees of magnetism. 107 The sun-sphere and life-sphere, . 111 The spheres. ]14 The inner-language. 124 Relation of spirit, soul, and body. 125 Physical worth. 126 Moral worth, 127 The spheres themselves, . 128 The life-sphere proper. 133 Explanation of the sun-sphere. 135 Relation of life and sun-sphere, 139 Seventh sun-sphere, 142 CONTENTS. PART SECOND X xLxvx kjxy vvyxi x/ Page Introduction, 149 The magnetic man, 151 Remarks on ghost-seeing, 155 Observations by Eschenmayer, 165 Further explanations, 171 Belief in spirits grounded in nature, 183 On the middle-state, 185 Concerning the annexed facts. 191 Two facts at Weinsberg, . 195 Fact second 199 Facts at Weinsberg, 205 Second, 219 Third, 225 Fourth, 234 Fifth, 261 Seventh, 291 Eighth, 293 Ninth, 294 Tenth, 296 Eleventh, 297 Twelfth and Thirteenth, . 299 Fourteenth and Fifteenth, 300 Sixteenth, Seventeenth, and Eighteenth, . 302 Journal of Seeress, . - . 321 Conclusion to Facts, 325 Death of Seeress, ft 330 ERRATA. P. 109, l. 12, naturally, omit. P. 249, for B. and R., read B. and iV. TRANSLATOR'S PREFACE. As, in presenting this curious work to the public, it was my object to make a book that should be gene- rally accessible, a literal translation became out of the question. Besides considerable prolixity, there is a great deal of repetition, in the original ; some parts would have been found too dry, and others too mystical, for the general reader. I have, therefore, thought it advisable to make a free translation, giv- ing the sum and substance of the book as succinctly as I could ; only varying from this plan, where I thought a close adherence to the words of the author was indispensable. M- I apprehend that many of the extraordinary phe- nomena recorded by Kerner will not find very gene- ral credence in England ; but to the believers in clairvoyance, the book will have a deep interest — whilst, to the larger class, who are not jQi prepared to yield faith to its wonders, I should imagine that X TRANSLATORS PREFACE. the facts would still be considered well worthy of attention, both in a physiological and a psycholo- gical point of view. I s^j facts; because I cannot conceive the possibility of any candid mind doubting the greatest number of them, after reading the book ; or of such an one entertaining a suspicion of impos- ture, on the part either of physician or patient. Indeed, Kerner s well-known character, ought to exempt him from such an imputation from any quar- ter ; and, for my own part, I reject with horror the idea, that in a suffering creature, who lived ever on the verge of the grave, so much apparent innocence and piety should have been but the cloak to so use- less and cruel a deception. Nothing is more easy than to set up a cry of im- posture. It is a convenient mode of eluding the trouble of inquiry, and of stifling facts obnoxious to preconceived theories ; but it is a vulgar resource, as well as a cowardly one ; though, I am sorry to say, in no country does the practice prevail so much as in this. Ridicule is another weapon easily handled ; but what many learned, sensible, and good men of a neighbouring nation believe they have ascertained to be true, is certainly a very improper subject for its exercise. If we cannot also believe, we are at least bound to listen with attention to what they have to TRANSLATOR S PREFACE. XI tell US ; and the candid and inquiring will receive the information with respect, if they cannot with conviction. The sincerity and good faith of Dr. Kerner in this affair, has never^ we believe^ been impugned, even by the most determined sceptic. He is well known in Germany as an exceedingly sensible, amiable, and religious man ; and is a lyric poet of consider- able eminence. The point of attack, for those who seek one, must be his sagacity ; but except the as- sailant were one who had had the same opportunities for observation and investigation that he had, the gratuitous imputation of credulity should be^ at least, cautiously received. At the same time, although I confess I should be very sorry myself to be one of the many who, T am aware, will receive these alleged facts with contempt and derision, I do not deny that the question, whether the apparitions were subjective or objective — projections of the nervous system, or actually external appearances — is one which can only, if ever, be definitively answered by the exhibition of repeated phenomena of the same description. Even Kerner himself, however ulti- mately convinced, seems long to have doubted ; whilst he freely admits the impossibility of absolute conviction on the part of those who have never had Xll TRANSLATOR S PREFACE. any occular testimony that such appearances are permitted. But, in any case, there are few readers, I should think, who will not find the book interesting ; whilst the amiable, earnest, and pious spirit in which it is written, should, at least, constitute the author's de- fence against ridicule or malignity, and be accepted as the translator's justification for presenting the work to the English public in an accessible form. PAET FIRST, REVELATIONS CONCERNING THE INNER LIFE OF MAN. " I thank thee, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent, and revealed them unto babes." — Luke, x., 21. THE SEEEESS OF PREVORST. EXTRACTS FROM AUTHOR'S PREFACE. Upon the truth of her Revelations the Seeress hua set the seal of death. Her story is not to be eon- founded with those of persons v/ho have only been subject to the early and imperfect magnetic condi- tions, and still less with those of impostors, of whom several have lately been detected, although the adver- saries of the Seherin do not scruple to use these detections to her disadvantage. The existence of one genuine pearl cannot be disproved by the pro- duction of a thousand false ones. It has been frequently asserted that the extraor- dinary magnetic condition of the Seherin is to be ascribed to the influence of others. How can we answer such an absurd objection ? To those who followed and observed throughout the course of these phenomena, the assertion is not only false but ridicu- lous. Neither are her Revelations to be judged as if they were portions of a system of philosophy con- 4 AUTHORS PREFACE. structed by an enlightened mind ; they are revelations drawn from the intimate contemplation of nature her- self, and will therefore frequently be found not only in strict conformity with popular belief, but also with the opinions of Plato, both of which sprung from the same source. It is certainly hard, and we cannot wonder at the annoyance it occasions, that a weak silly woman should thus disturb the established systems of the learned, and revive persuasions that it has long been the aim of the wise amongst men to eradicate. In this strait, I am acquainted with but one consolation — it is that which Paul gives in the first Epistle to the Corinthians, chapter i., verses 27, 28 : — '' 27. But God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise ; and God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty: 28. And base things of the world, and things which are despised, hath God chosen, yea, and things which are not, to bring to nought things that are." THE SEERESS OF PREVORST. INTRODUCTION DISCLOSURES CONCEJElNINa THE INNER LIFE OF MAN. As must every man who, isolating himself from the hurry and bustle of external life, to contemplate his inner self, you will feel, dear reader, that our inner and outer life are not only diflferent, but often in flat contradiction of each other. What the outer life finds decorous, the inner frequently condemns ; and in the midst of the world we are often disquieted by a still small yoice that whispers us from within. If you examine further, you will feel that this external life is the dominion of the brain — the intellect which belongs to the world — whilst the inner life dwells in the region of the heart, within the sphere of sensi- tive life, in the sympathetic and ganglionic system. You will further feel, that by virtue of this inner life, mankind is bound up in an eternal connexion with nature, from which his imperfect external ex- istence can only apparently release him. It is true, indeed, that this inner life is overshadowed and ob- scured to the world-possessed brain ; but still irre- pressible and immutable, it lives on, a concealed but H THE SEERESS OF PREVORST. vigilant guard on the conduct and economy of the outer. Every act and thought, however trifling it may now appear^ is by it noted and numbered ; and will one day or other appear in bright relief before our spiritual eyes, w^hen our bodily ones are for ever extinguished. You will also feel, that it is this secret unseen con- nexion with nature which unites man with the other world, and conducts him on his way towards it. The more, in the tumult of the world and the bustle of existence, this inner life makes itself felt — the more the gentle voices within us drown the loud music of the world — the greater is our debt to the spirit that guides us.* But if thou art carried away by the current of worldly life, seeking only what belongs to it, believe, dear reader^ that an hour will one day come, and God grant it be not thy last ! — an hour of sorrow and of tears — an hour when thou shalt stand by the death-bed of thy beloved, or from the summit of earthly happiness be cast into the depths of repentance and of shame, deserted and alone — when thy inner life shall rise up before thee, embracing thee again within its sphere ; that life which, since thy childhood, has been hidden from thee, of which thou hast only been visited by glimpses in thy dreams — dreams which thou knewest not to interpret. Beloved, to so many has this befallen ! To so * Kerner here alludes to the protecting spirit, to be afterwards alluded to. INTRODUCTION. 7 many will it yet, who, dow joyous and with un- clouded brows, are wholly engrossed with the inter. ests of this world, and devoting all their best facul- ties to their advancement ! By the bedside of such an one I once stood^ and^, with the death-rattle in his throat, he said to me^ " I feel" that my life has passed from my brain to the epigastric region ; of my brain I have no more consciousness — I no longer feel my arms nor my feet ; but I see inexpressible things — things which I never believed ; there is another world ! " — and so saying, he expired. " When by the graves of the just, the flowers we have planted as memorials, invite us to a far distant world, or when we first see the gulf of death yawn- ing for ourselves, then — but, alas ! too late — we are seized with a trembling awe at the thoughts of eter- nity. Strange presentiments creep round the fail- ing heart, and anxious sighs burst from the oppressed bosom. But these thoughts are far from us by the cradle of infancy, and in the flower of our age, — far from us at the marriage feast, in the glittering halls of the wealthy, and the joyous circles of Bacchus."* And thus once wrote to us a spiritually -minded medical friend, after the death of one much honoured and beloved : — " It was not terror at the sight of death that so shook me and incapacitated me for the oflice of a physician, nor was it altogether grief for my loss. The concussion awakened the inner life within me, * From Ennemoser's History of Magnetism. 8 THE SEERESS OF PREVORST. and in despair I was ready to sink into its depths. I contemplated with horror the monstrous blindness of the soul, the vanity and nothingness of our self- knowledge and self-will_, the fearfulness of the inevit- able and untractable concatenation of things^ our deeds and their consequences — indelible, ineffaceable, — fast in the gripe of eternity. Ah ! I should de- spair, did I not look for help from God. Beloved, it has become clear and evident to me, that there is but one mode of deliverance from this bond, this chain by which we, blind and bewildered, are dragged forward, knowing nothing, neither what we do nor the consequences of our actions; that there is a kingdom of grace and of love ; and that when we stand before the judgment-seat, face to face with God, he only can be set free, and reach eternal rest and happiness, who is to it reconciled and into it received. In God we must live, work, and act, if we would not, according to the eternal laws of na- ture, have our souls ensnared and plunged into a darkness through which no beam of light and joy can penetrate. So, beloved, let us love life, yea covet life, yet live not for ourselves ; but make our peace with God, and through the living God within us, do our work. Ah ! it is awful to think that every step a man takes is on the brink of a thousand pre- cipices/' And thus writes to us the well-known philosopher Schelling, in the year 1811, on the death of a friend's wife, after he had himself experienced a like misfor- tune : — INTRODUCTION. \) " When we form a proper estimate of our present life, when we reflect that our situation here is much more awful than we are accustomed to consider it, since the hand of God conceals from us its real sig- nification^ we must look upon those as happy who are released from it. Justly considered, they have won the victory, whilst we stand yet on the field of battle, and are waiting to be set free. The value of this life is well denoted by the common proverb, that no man should be pronounced happy till he is dead. Reflection and inquiry have brought me to the conviction, that death, so far from weakening our personality, exalts it, since it frees it from so many contingencies. Remembrance is but a feeble expression to convey the intimate connexion which exists betwixt those who are departed and those who remain. In our innermost being, we are in strict union with the dead ; for in our better part we are no other than what they are — spirits. The future re-union of accordant souls, who through life have had one love, one faith, and one hope, is a thing to be confidently relied on, being one of the pro- mises of Christianity to be faithfully fulfilled to all, however difficult the conception is, even to those minds most accustomed to abstract contemplations. I am daily more satisfied that, as we might expect, there is a mutual dependence betwixt things essen- tially personal and things immortal. If more were needed to confirm this persuasion in those who think and feel rightly, the death of one bound to us by the fondest ties of love, is sufficient to set on it the seal IQ THE SEERESS OF PREVORST. of conviction. It is when we know that life is fad- ing from us, and that for us there is no more pleasure in the world, we first begin to live for God. Then, when the external world sinks from us^ the inner life ascends. It needs no sleep- waking to perceive this inner life ; to every man who is not too much en- tangled in the world — to him who lilies in it, but is not of it — is given an eye to discern it. " Look for it in others, and you will need no sleep- waking to find it. In how many godly and spirit- ually minded men it exists ! How often does it dwell in the poor hovel with the Bible and Prayer- Book, where guiltless souls suffer sorrow, and the morsel of black bread is moistened with tears !" — '^ A free untrammelled mind," says Athanasius Kirchner, '^ not shackled by its earthly covering, in union with God, and remembering its original con- dition, enjoys the clearest view of all things, seeing them in their essence." Thus, you will find, beloved, in the history of pious men, how, when in moments of pain and afflic- tion, the external world disappeared, they plunged into the profoundest depths and innermost sphere of their inner life, and revealed to themselves such won- ders as have since been made known to us by som- nambules. Let a few examples suffice us. It was in the year 1461, when the Hussites were undergoing a cruel persecution, that a pious man, at Prague, called Georginus, who was brought to the rack, and stretched upon the instrument of torture, INTRODUCTION. 1 1 became, in an extraordinary manner, insensible to pain, and to all external sensations, appearing so en- tirely lifeless that the executioners took him down, and flung him on the earth for dead. After the lapse of some hours, however, he came again to himself, wondering why his side, feet, and hands, caused him so much uneasiness. But when he beheld the wounds and scars, the burnt and bloody places on his body, and the tools of the executioner, they brought to his mind what had happened ; and he re- lated a dream that he had had during the torture. " I thought," said he, " that I was in a green and beautiful meadow, and in the middle of it stood a tree, on which grew a great deal of fine fruit ; and on the tree were perched many birds, who ate of the fruit, whilst they sang melodiously. And amongst the birds I beheld a youth, who, with a small rod, appeared to •regulate their movements, that none should presume too far or get out of his place ; and I saw three men, who kept watch over the tree.'* He described the appearance and persons of these men; and it is a remarkable fact, that six years afterwards, the same number of men that he had seen in his dream, and answering to the same descrip- tion, were appointed to rule over the Church. In the year 1 639, a poor widow, called Liicken, who was accused of being a witch, and sentenced to the rack, at Helmstadt, having been cruelly tortured by the screw, was seized with dreadful convulsions, spoke high German, and a strange language, and then fell asleep on the rack, and appeared to be 12 THE SEERESS OF PREVORST. dead. The circumstance being related to the Juris- consult at Helmstadt, she was ordered to be again submitted to the torture. Then, protesting she was a good Christian, whilst the executioner stretched her on the rack, whipt her with rods, and sprinkled her with burning brimstone, she fell again fast asleep, and could not by any means be awakened. In the first of these anecdotes you will perceive how the soul, afflicted by the external world, abandons it, leaving the body alone for its prey, whilst it flies to unite itself to the spirit in the innermost sphere of its inner life, where^ as in sleep-waking, the future is revealed to it, and it enjoys the wondrous gift of prophecy. By the second history you will observe how the soul, whilst it resigned its body to the tortures of the external world, itself took refuge in its home, and thence, perhaps, (as happened to our own somnam- bule,) spoke the language of that home. " It may happen," says a deep-seherin, or clear- seer, ^' to a man who is intimately acquainted with his inner life, that in proportion as he is disturbed by the elements without, his inner-life becomes more joyful, and the sensations of the body thus re- pressed, are altogether annihilated." The history of the martyrs shows how^ in mo- ments of the severest anguish from without, they at- tained an inward security, by which they endured with patience the most cruel tortures, laughed at their oppressors, and went to the rack and the pile as to a bridal-bed. Thus did John Huss and Jeremy INTRODUCTION. 13 of Prague, whilst their bodies were being consumed in the flames, with their latest breath, sing songs of praise and thanksgiving. So, as to a feast, went Dorothy to the stake. Joyous, and like conquerors, the martyrs stood, as if their bodies were no longer made of flesh. Where, then, was their soul? It was in the light and security within. Similar phe- nomena are shown us in the magnetic life, and in several histories of the Old and New Testament, as well as in the lives of many godly persons — the Maid of Orleans, for example. Thus we read in Delavergy, an account, extracted from a MS. in the Royal Library, of the words spoken by the Maid of Orleans on her trial. ^' When I was thirteen years old, I heard a voice in my father's garden at Donremy. It proceeded from the side where the church stood, and was suc- ceeded by a bright light. At first I was frightened, but presently I became aware that it was the voice of an angel, who has been ever since my guide and instructor. It was Saint Michael. I also saw Saint Catherine and Saint Margaret, who admonished me, and directed all my proceedings. I could easily dis- tinguish by the voice whether it was an angel or a saint that spoke to me. They were generally accom- panied by a bright light. Their voices are soft and sweet. The angels appeared to me with natural heads. I have seen them, and do see them with my eyes." Five years after, as she was keeping the cows, a voice said to her that God had pity upon the French 14 THE SEERESS OF PREVORST. people, and that she must go and save them. As thereupon she began to weep, the voice bade her go to Vaucouleurs, where she would find a captain, who, without impediment, would conduct her to the king. " Since then,*' said she, " I have done nothing but in conformity with these directing revelations and apparitions ; and now, during my whole trial, I speak only as they prompt me." At the siege of Orleans she foretold the capture of the city, and that her own blood would be shed ; and in reality, on the following day, she was wounded by an arrow, which penetrated six inches into her shoulder. A similar natural somnambule was St. Theresa, who was born in the beginning of the 1 6th century, and had visions like those of the Maid of Orleans.* If we read the history of the saints, we shall find innumerable facts bearing testimony to the power of the inner life. These legends have been, and still are, looked upon as a collection of folly and fanati- cism, which is the consequence of the tyrannical pre- dominance of the brain over the heart, which, sla- vishly imprisoned in the dark dungeon of the breast, no longer listens to the child-like voices of antiquity, when faith removed mountains, and the thorny path was lighted by the light of love. It is extremely possible that many of the lives of the saints, and their wonders, are exaggerated, and many may not be au- thentic. However, that which pious and god-sancti- * See Life of St. Theresa, by J. B. A. Borecher. Paris. 1810. INTRODUCTION. J 5 fied men were, and are still in a condition to do, stands fast — so fast that the lightning of heaven can- not overthrow it. It is a history so deeply graven, that neither the raging of the storm, nor the crash of a world falling together^ can annihilate it. It is true they acted simply, according to our present notions ; but even so they found what they sought — peace of mind, and all they desired, in God. But these wonders of tbe inner life are also known to others^ who, from their youth up, have led a tem- perate, simple, God-given life, without despising their daily duties, but strongly and worthily fulfilling them. We are instructed also by certain significant dreams, presentiments, and communications from the world of spirits ; and also from what is only to be learnt by the revelations of the magnetic life. We find in the experience of the grandfather of the person whose history these pages contain, evi- dences of a deep inner life ; though, being endowed with a healthy body and lively brain, he attained an advanced age ; ascending from the condition of a herdsman to that of a wealthy merchant ; but always leading a simple, active, God-sanctified life. " I was ill," says the old merchant, Johann Schmidgall, of Lowenstein, " and believing myself about to die, I felt full of joy at the happy lot that had fallen to me. I woke as out of a slumber, and found myself on a meadow, whose limits I could not discern, whereon were many shadowy forms who all moved towards the east ; and I felt so light and happy, and was so full of expectation and excite- 16 THE SEERESS OF PREVORST. ment, that I hastened in the same direction. As I drew nearer, I distinguished a woman holding a ves- sel of crystal, which contained a red liquid. Around her pressed a multitude of departed souls, and I per- ceived, that taking some of this tincture in a silver spoon, she distributed it to certain of the shades, who then immediately hastened towards the east. Many were not accepted, but were waved away by the left hand of the woman ; and these forthwith disappeared in the distance. At length, it was my turn, and joyfully I approached her ; but oh^ horror ! I was rejected. " How I felt, I will not attempt to describe. It was a blessing that I immediately awoke, and I thanked God that I was yet upon the earth. ''' This extraordinary dream was sent me by the Lord, that I might be induced to look more deeply into my heart, and be cured of the folly of thinking myself better than other people ; and also that I might learn to rely more entirely on the efficacy of the merits of Christy who has redeemed us with his precious blood." This Johann Schmidgall had for some time ma- naged the affairs of a widow, whose circumstances, after the death of her husband, did not appear in a very prosperous condition ; and having, by his disin- terested advice and services, placed . her in a com- fortable situation, he began to think it time to look after his own advancement. He had procured a good situation at Esslingen, having provided his mistress with another servant ; so, packing up his trunk, he INTRODUCTION. 17 took leave, and with his stick in his hand departed from the door. Slowly he ascended the mountain ; he felt afraid^ and was oppressed by an anxiety that he could not account for. With every step he ad- vanced, this anxiety increased, though in spite of it he went on, every now and then, however, feeling himself forced to pause and stand still ; till at length this uneasiness increased to such a degree, that he turned back towards Lbwenstein. Instantly all anxiety vanished. " But," thought he, " it would be a most extraordinary thing to turn back, when I know of no cause for doing so ;" so he determined not to mind, but to go to Esslingen, let things be as they might. He turned round, and again the anxiety recurred. Nevertheless, he went forward till he reached a forest called the Gaisholz. Here his un- easiness was augmented to the highest degree ; and instead of the well known forest and road^, he beheld before him a strange country, and an immense, large, empty field, in the midst of which stood a man, making signs to him to turn back. There was now no help for it ; he felt that he must go back ; and as soon as his face was turned towards Lowenstein, the anxiety and the strange country disappeared together. Thoughtfully he returned to the lady's house, and setting his stick behind the door, and pretexting an excuse for his re-appearance, he gave up all thoughts of leaving her. The lady, though astonished, said nothing ; neither did the other persons of the house- hold, and every thing went on as if he had never left it. He quietly took possession of his former B 18 THE SEERESS OF PREVORST. situation, wrote to the new servant that he need not come, and things resumed their previous train. And this was the origin of Schmidgall's fortune. He brought this lady's business into a very flourishing condition, married her daughter ; and by his example, counsel, and conduct^ as well as by his traffic, which grew to be very extensive, he became a real blessing to the place, and continued so to a great age. In these traits of Schmidgall's inner life, you get a glimpse of the Protector, so constantly disclosed in the sleep-waking condition : in the first instance, as a warning and significant dream ; and in the se- cond, as a man who, appearing to him in a strange country, beckons him to return, at the very moment, when probably the path that nature prompted him to follow would have led to his unhappiness ; and these circumstances occurred to Schmidgall, who was never in his life in an excited state, nor ever sufiered from any derangement of the nervous system. He lived a temperate, even, though active life ; and thus his internal perceptions were not obscured by his ex- ternal condition. In his eightieth year, when he had lived to see forty grand-children, he had still an untroubled, cheerful countenance, rosy cheeks and shining silver hair, and without a stick, and with his little grand-daughter by his side, (she who is the subject of this history^) he was wont to wander over the highest mountains of the region he inhabited. Schmidgall was no contemner of his daily duties ; he neither brooded over spiritual things, nor sought after them. All he knew was, to maintain the simplicity INTRODUCTION. 1 9 and purity of his original nature, against the pressure of the world without ; and he thus preserved in his inner life the ever faithful guide. One morning, as he arose from his bed more cheer- ful than usual, he narrated to his children, that in the foregoing night, his blessed wife had appeared to him in a dream, more distinctly than anything of the sort he ever remembered. She had said something to him, but what it was he could not recall. When this happened he was in perfect health — but seven days afterwards — dead. In the same night that Schmidgall had this dream, his grand-daughter, who was far away from him, lay in sickness and sujQTering for twelve hours, buried in the profoundest depths of her inner life — in that con- dition of inner wakefulness, which is called magnetic sleep waking; then a spirit (whose history will be hereafter related,) spoke to her and said, " I know not wherefore thy protecting spirit, (this was her grandmother, the wife of Schmidgall,) has for seven days abandoned thee, and is engaged with something of more importance that is occurring in thy family — and without her support thou couldst not bear with me." You will perceive by this anecdote that what hap- pens in one instance where the body is diseased, takes place in another where it is perfectly healthy ; and you may, therefore, beloved, come to this con- clusion : that such apparitions are not only seen by the sick, are not merely visions of a heat-oppressed brain, but are very often actual appearances. In- 20 THE SEERESS OF PREVORST. deed^ we are too much inclined to attribute these visions to disease. Too often^ through the world and its bustle, is the spirit of man driven from its home, finding in its inner dwelling no spot to repose in. With so many people, the world draws the body, the body the soul, and the soul the spirit, out of its sphere, and fastens it to the earth ; and with so many is the external life alone familiar : that those in whom the spirit holds its natural place are no longer considered within the sphere of ordinary beings, but are looked upon as something unnatural, strange, or accurst. " Social life,*' says a deep-seer, " is a tumult in which mankind is entangled. If one, however, will find a fixed point, and not allow himself to be car- ried away, he may observe the course of things as they pass by him, judge them, and weigh them. Such an one lives in freedom, and learns that which no instruction can teach him. What passes without, is explained and interpreted by the spirit within. But as long as a man has only eyes and ears for things external, the inner faculties take no cog- nizance of them. All should proceed from within. As the Scripture says, " What comes from within is good." We must be like Mary. She understood not the words of Christ, but she laid them to her heart. Had she sought to comprehend them by the assistance of external things, she would inevitably have interpreted them falsely ; the voice from with- in only could teach her their true meaning. There lie many deeply-hidden mysteries in nature, and in INTRODUCTION. 2 1 man, of which we know nothing ; because our eyes and ears are wholly engrossed with external things, and because the sounds from without drown the voice from within. Oh! wondrous, beloved, is the life of the inner world ! by which we live, and have our being ; and whence flows our consolation, and our alL But^, alas ! it awakens no wonder in us. We should be happy, if we would listen to the soft whispers of the spirit, and were not deafened to its murmurs by the mill-wheel of the world. '* When God created the human soul," says Van Helmont, '^ he communicated to it essential and original knowledge. This soul is the mirror of the universe, and is in connexion with all beings* She is lighted by a light from within ; but the storms of passion, and the multitude of sensuous impressions, and the distractions of the world, darken this light, whose beams are only shed when it burns alone, and all within us is in peace and harmony. If we would abstract ourselves from all external influences, and follow this light alone, we should find within our- selves true and unerring counsel. In this state of concentration the soul discriminates between all ob- jects to which its observation is directed. It can unite itself with them — penetrate their properties — and, reaching up to God, through him attain the most important truths." If we go back into the primitive ages, when men dwelt under the dominion of nature, before the inner life was stifled by what is called cultivation — in the 22 THE SEERESS OF PREVORST. history of the Old Testament, for example, or even now in the East, which was the cradle of mankind — we shall find remnants of this inner life exhibited by entire races of people — such as, when they are observed in individuals here, we are accustomed to look upon as symptoms of disease. I must here refer^ also, to that inner language, which will be presently treated of in these pages. It was revealed by this lady in her sleep-waking state, and she asserted that the like was in every man. Both in writing and speaking, it bore a close resemblance to the Eastern tongues ; for the reason, that in the language spoken by the children of the human family, lies the natural inner, language of man ; and from the same source arises the custom of reckoning by numbers and characters, which resem- ble theirs. Even that disclosing of the spirit, in the presence of stones and metals, and the susceptibility to mag- netic influences^ are found chiefly in men living ac- cording to nature — Highlanders and shepherds. Where, however, through sorrow and sickness, or from a natural hereditary condition of constitution (which seems most applicable to our case), the body becomes, as it were, dead — then the nerve and its spirit, as being that which mediates between the mind, soul, and body, steps forth unshackled — and then are all the wonders of the inner life fully dis- closed to us. But oh ! beloved, what an inexpressible consola- tion do we here find ! You see that, when the ex~ INTRODUCTION. 23 ternal world, with its sorrow and anguish, consumes the body or preys on its vitals — when no star of hope, no spark of joy, beams on thee from without, then first from within there shines forth an inexpres- sibly bright life over which the external world has no power — a life which no rack can destroy — whose flame the darkness of no dungeon can extinguish — which breaks on thee from the profoundest depths of nature — which ijinites thee with the world of spirits — and in which thou eujoyest a foretaste of the bliss in which thine immortal soul will revel when once purified from the body. This is the rest — this the beatitude — that the guiltless sufferer, to whom the world can afibrd no more comfort, enjoys from within. It may be winter without, but there is spring within his breast; and although his body may be stretched upon the rack, he the while is reposing on a smiling meadow. And may the following pages, dear reader, which contain many strange revelations respecting the inner life, and the diffusion of a world of spirits amongst us, make clear to you that this inner life exists in us all, and at all times, and not only in the state of sleep- waking. But we do not welcome it, nor look within to seek it, nor listen to its whispers, nor trouble ourselves to discover their interpretation ; because the voices from without cry ever in our ears till that moment comes — and oh ! how quickly comes it to all — when the external world fades from us ; and then, but too late, our spirit reverts to its inner 24. THE SEERESS OF PREVORST. sphere, and beholds, for the first time, the unsus- pected terrors that await it. And now, dear reader, I will, in this place, say a few words on the existence of that inner life which is called the magnetic sleep — a subject which the contents of this book will more fully explain. We must not call this condition sleep — it is rather a state of the most perfect vigilance ; for it is the rising of an inward and much brighter sun than that which our external eyes behold, and it is lighted by a clearer light than our waking life can furnish by means of our ideas, conclusions, definitions, and systems. It is a condition which resembles the primitive state of mankind, when man lived in inti- mate connexion with nature, understood her laws, and read her in her original type. " Before the fall of man," says Van Helmont, '^ the soul had an intuitive knowledge, and a prophetic gift of im- mense power. These faculties the soul yet possesses ; and that they are not perceptible is owing to the number of obstacles which are in their way. In sleep, especially, we are often visited by this super- natural light, because then this inward inspiration is not repressed, as in our waking state, by external stimulants. Once more arouse this magic power — which is especially the case in the magnetic condi- tion — and it immediately attains knowledge, and the faculty of exerting it externally.'* — " This much is certain," says Herder, ^^ that in all our faculties there is an infinitude that can here never be developed, because it is repressed by other INTRODUCTION. 25 faculties, by our senses and animal instinctSj and is bound in the trammels of this earthly life. A few examples of foresight and presentiment have dis- closed wonders of the treasures which lie hidden in the soul of man. That, for the most part, these phenomena appear as the result of disease, and of a disturbed equipoise of the faculties, does not change the nature of the thing, for this disproportion was required to give freedom to the force, and exhibit its amount." In the clearest and highest magnetic condition, there is neither seeing, hearing, nor feeling; they are superseded by something more than all three together — an unerring perception, and the truest penetration into our own life and nature. And the more simple and the nearer nature the man is in his waking state, who falls into this condition, the more entirely does his spirit liberate itself from soul and body, and the deeper and truer is his self-seeing. But this state has also its various degrees and differences, as will be hereafter shewn; and it is in the highest condition of the inner life that no de- ception is possible — especially in that moment when the spirit, finding itself released from the soul, the very innermost centre is illuminated as by a flash of lightning. '^ From that moment/' says a clear-seer, " everything resolves itself into an unbounded sea of light, in which from infinite bliss I seem to be dissolved myself. Every form presents itself to me in this lidit — which far exceeds that of the sun— in 26 THE SEERESS OF PREVORST. the most defined and accurate point of view. I comprehend everything much more easily and clearly, the depths of nature are opened to me, and my view of the past and the future, both as regards tim6 and space, is like viewing the present ; and is more per- fect and defined in proportion to the degree of de- velopment the condition has reached. Jacob Bohmen calls this crisis that in which '' the dawn of morning rises to the centre." However, such moments happen rarely, are not alike to all, and, to some, are never granted; and, when they are, words are often unequal to describe what is disclosed. " The sleep-seer," says another somnambule, " takes his knowledge with him, and finds it aug- mented, without, however, becoming omniscient. His ignorance accompanies him in his clear-seeing, especially at first ; and it depends on God how soon, and in what degree, it is got rid of.'* Moreover, this state of sleep-waking is not so en- tirely liberated from its earthly shell as to be wholly free from influences ; and these bright glimpses, as already observed, are often only momentary, and are quickly obscured by clouds. Nevertheless, the veil that separates us from what is heyond^ is always in some measure blown away ; and we penetrate, if only with earthly and troubled eyes, and by mo- mentary gleams, through the chinks of the coffin that encloses us, into an ocean of infinite light. But assuredly, beloved, this condition of clear- INTRODUCTION. 2? seeing does not furnish a means by which we can approach the state which we must attain before we can see God. Eschenmayer says truly, " Persons in this condi- tion have no merit. Whatever moral or religious ideas they may utter, they are no substantial posses- sion ; they are only the natural results of a soul freed from the load of intellectual life. And thence these persons, on awaking, resume their former situation as representatives of individual existence, altogether unconscious of secrets that have been disclosed to them. And here lie» the difference betwixt the sense of the beauty of virtue and the merit of its exercise. The mere contemplation of the idea of virtue is far from the accomplishment of what is good. Yea, my beloved, let us beware of information extorted from a clear-seer. S. Martin pronounces it dangerous, because it frequently unveils the mystery of our being before we are prepared for it. '' The hidden germ of our being/* says he, " shall be developed through the power, the will, and the working of the origin of all power ; and, if not, this is exposed to great risk, as is frequently seen in the history of som- nambules.'* And this, beloved, may also be applic- able to the before-mentioned circumstances, where you have either a high magnetic condition evidently pre- pared by nature, or where, by inordinate and ill-timed magnetic operations of various sorts, (as by sympa- thy, magic, or the manipulation of different persons) you see a human being brought into a condition be- twixt a mortal and a spirit ; whereby, if I may so 28 THE SEERESS OF PREVORST. express it, he is kept struggling for years betwixt this world and the other, belonging properly to neither. How many hours of boundless anxiety this condition has, under such circumstances, occasioned to happy and credulous hearts, by blowing aside the veil from the future — and how I could therefore write many lines of its history (as God knows) with my best heart's blood — I will not here set down. How- ever, let us address to all parents and physicians this warning : namely, that in cases of disease magnetic operations should only be resorted to in the most desperate cases, and as a last resource (especially where the condition does not come naturally) ; and that even then it is to be used with great caution ; and also that the patient, who is subjected to this mysterious influence, should be withdrawn from the eyes of the curious and calumnious. Moreover, let no man stretch forth his hand whose heart is not filled with religion and a deep earnestness ; and who is not free and unshackled by the world. The magnetiser s art is like that of Van Helmont. " The God-elected physician," says Yan Helmont r " will be accompanied by many signs and wonders for the schools ; and whilst he uses his gifts for the alle- viation of his neighbours' sufferings, he will refer the glory of his cures to God. Pity is his guide. His heart will be truth, and his knowledge understand- ing. Love will be his sister, and the truth of the Lord will enlighten his path. He will call upon the grace of God, and the desire of gain shall not pos- sess him. For the Lord is rich and a free giver ; INTRODUCTION. 29 and pays back an hundredfold with a heaped -up measure. He will make fruitful his work^ and his hand shall be clothed in blessings. From his mouth shall flow comfort ; and his voice shall be as a trum- pet, at the sound of which disease shall vanish. His feet shall bring gladness^ and sickness shall dissolve before him like the snow in summer. Health shall follow his footsteps. These are the promises of the Lord to the holy one whom he has chosen : these are the blessings reserved for him whose path is the path of mercy. Moreover, the Holy Ghost shall enlighten him." There was a period in ancient times when the magnetic condition was known, and where the dili- gent application of its operations was used as a re- medy, as well as for religious and political purposes, especially by means of the laurel and of vapours ;* and it was then confined to the temples of the gods as a mystery ; not flung to the multitude, nor permitted to be handled by unbelievers, deriders, nor dissem- blers. The sleeper was dealt with in a chamber of the temple, in solemn stillness, and generally in the night. When he awoke, the priests told him of the means he had revealed, and the result. But, beloved, in the circumstances of our present external life — this vulgar life ! — a man in this condi- tion is like a pupa, whose unhappy lot it has been to * It is to be noted, that a magnet-stone, a sort of red ochre, was generally employed for these purposes. 30 THE SEERESS OF PREVORST. unfold itself into a butterfly amongst a troop of boys. Look, how one blows at him, another strikes him, and another transfixes him with a needle, till, dis- turbed in his development, he slowly expires, but half emerged from his shell. And this, my beloved, is the picture of an unhappy magnetic life, the most remarkable phenomena of which are to be treated of in this book. THE SEERESS OF PREVORST. NATIVE PLACE AND EARLY YOUTH. In Wirtemberg, near the town of Lowenstein, on those mountains whose highest point, the Stocksberg, is raised 1879 feet above the level of the sea, sur- rounded on all sides by hill and valley, and in a ro- mantic seclusion, lies the little village of Prevorst. It reckons something more than 400 inhabitants, the greatest number of whom maintain themselves by wood-cutting, coal-burning, and collecting the pro- ductions of the forest. As is usually the case with Highlanders, they are a strong race of people, and most of them reach a considerable age unacquainted with disease. Mala- dies common to Lowlanders, as the ague, are here un- known ; but nervous derangements frequently appear in early youth, — a thing scarcely to have been expect- ed amongst so robust a people. Thus it is observed, in a place called Neuhiitte, situated, like Prevorst, upon the mountains, that a sort of St. Yitus's dance becomes epidemic, chiefly amongst young people, so that all the children of the place are seized with it at the same time. Like persons in a magnetic state, they are aware of the precise moment that a fit will seize them ; and i? they are in the fields when the par- 6Z THE SEERESS OF PREVORST. oxysm is approaching, they hasten home^ and imme- diately fall into a convulsion, in which condition they will move, for an hour or more, with the most sur- prising regularity, keeping measure like an accom- plished dancer ; after which they frequently awake as out of a magnetic sleep, without any recollection of what has happened. It is also certain, that these ijiountaineers are peculiarly sensible to magnetic in- fluences, amongst the evidences of which are their susceptibility to sympathetic remedies, and their power of discovering springs by means of the divin- ing rod. In the year 1801, on these mountain heights, in- deed in the village of Prevorst, was born a woman, who, in her early childhood, gave evidence of an ex- traordinary inner life, the phenomena of which are to form the subject of these pages. Frederica HaufFe, commonly called the Seherin von Prevorst, whose father held the situation of game- keeper or district forester, was, as the natural conse- quence of the secluded situation of the place, brought up in a state of the greatest simplicity and artless- ness. In the keen mountain air, inured to the long winters that often prevail, unenfeebled by luxurious clothing or warm beds, she grew up a blooming joy- ous child ; and whilst her sisters, whose rearing was of the same description, were afflicted in their child- hood with gout, nothing of the sort was observed in her. But, to counterbalance this immunity, there was disclosed, at a very early age, a too evident faculty of preternatural anticipation or presentiment, EARLY YOUTH. 33 which was chiefly exhibited in prophetic dreams. If she suffered reproof, or felt annoyance^ in any way that irritated her mind or affected her feelings, she was always, during her nocturnal re- pose, conducted into those depths, in which she was visited by instructive, premonitory, or prophetic visions. Thus, on one occasion, when her father had lost, some object of value, and threw the blame on her, who was innocent, her feelings being thereby aroused, in the night the place where the things were appeared to her in a dream ; and, in her hands, at a very early age, the hazel wand pointed out metals and water. At a later period, as few opportunities of mental ^ cultivation were accessible in this retired spot, her parents gladly resigned her to the care of her grand- father, Johann Schmidgall, who resided at Lowen- stein, a place not far distant. However beneficial the simplicity, purity, and temperance of her pious grandfather and grand- mother were to this easily governed child, yet, with- ^ out any fault of theirs, but to their extreme regret, she became too early acquainted with spiritual and supernatural matters ; for there was something in the nature of the girl that could no more be kept back, than could the growth of her body. Old Schmidgall soon observed, that when the child accompanied him in his walks through solitary places, though she was skipping ever so gaily by his side, at certain spots a kind of seriousness and shuddering seemed to seize upon her, which, for a c 34 THE SEERESS OF PREVORST. long time, he could not comprehend. He also ob- served that she experienced the same sensations in churchyards, and in churches where there were graves ; and that, in such churches, she could never remain below, but was obliged to go to the galleries. But to the grandfather a still more suspicious cir- cumstance than this sensibility to the neighbourhood of dead bodies, metals, &c. &c. was the fact, that it was accompanied by a consciousness of the presence of spirits. Thus, there was an apartment in the Castle of Lowenstein — an old kitchen — which she could never look into or enter without being much disturbed. In the very same place, some years afterwards, the spectre of a woman was, to her great horror, seen by a lady, who had never been informed of the sen- sations experienced by the child. To the great regret of her family, this sensibility to spiritual influences, imperceptible to others, soon became too evident ; and the first appearance of a spectre to the young girl was in her grandfather s house. There, in a passage, at midnight, she beheld a tall, dark form, which, passing her with a sigh, stood still at the end of the vestibule, turning to- wards her features that, in her riper years, she well remembered. This first apparition, as was generally the case with those she saw in after life, occasioned her no apprehension. She calmly looked at it, and then, going to her grandfather, told him that ''' there was a very strange man in the passage, and that he should go and see him;" but the old man, alarmed EARLY YOUTH. 35 at the circumstance — for he also had seen a similar apparition in the same place, though he had never mentioned it — did all he could to persuade her that she was mistaken, and, from that time, never allowed her to leave the room at night. These serious, but lamentable endowments, how- ever, made no difference in the childlike life of the young girl : she was the most joyous amongst her companions ; although a remarkable sensibility in the nerves of the eye, (without the least inflamma- tion,) which continued for a whole year, and which was, perhaps, the preparation for seeing things in- visible to ordinary eyes — a development of the spiritual eye within the fleshly — confined her to her chamber for a considerable time. At a later period, the tedious sickness of her parents recalled her to the secluded village of Pre- vorst, where, through sorrow and night-watchings by the sick-bed, her feelings were kept for a whole year in a state of excitement ; and, consequently, pro- phetic dreams, and that consciousness of things hid- den from persons in a normal state, still continued. As she grew older, we find her again in the house of her parents at Oberstenfeld, which was for a period the official residence of her father ; and from her seventeenth to her nineteenth year — during which interval she was subjected chieffy to pleasant and animating influences — she appeared, in some degree, to lock up her inward impressions, and was distinguished only by a more than commonly spiri- tual character, which spoke from her eyes— and also 36 THE SEERESS OF PREVORST. by greater liveliness — without, however, swerving from the usual manners and demeanour of the young women of her circle ; and, in spite of all the false- hoods that have been propagated on the subject, it is positively certain, that even at that age which is' most susceptible of such emotions, she never formed any attachment, nor ever suffered from disappointed affection. In compliance with the wishes of her parents and connexions, in her nineteenth year an engagement was formed betwixt her and Mr. H , who be- longed to her uncle's family, which, from the recti- tude of the man, and the prospect of certain protec- tion, must have been very agreeable to her. But whether it was from a presentiment of the years of suffering and sickness that awaited her, or whether from any other cause which she concealed — that it did not arise from disappointed affection is certain — she sank at this time into a state of depression, for which her friends could in no way account — wept all day long under the roof of her parents' house, where she concealed herself — did not sleep for five weeks — and, in fact, was again absorbed in the overpowering life-feeling of her childhood. It happened that the funeral of the very worthy minister of Oberstenfeld took place on the day of her marriage, a man upwards of sixty years of age, whose preaching, learning, and personal inter- course — ^for he was a model of rectitude — had had considerable influence on her life. On the day of the burial, she followed the beloved remains to the THE INNER-LIFE. 37 churchyard. However heavy her heart was before, at the grave she became light and cheerful. A wonderful inner-life was at once awakened in her ; she became quite calm, and could scarcely be in- duced to quit the grave. At length all tears ceased — she was serene^ but^ from this moment^ indifferent^ to everything that happened in the world ; and, after some indisposition, here began her proper inner-life. At a later period in her somnambulic state, she alluded to this occurrence at a time when the de- ceased used often to appear to her as a form of light, cheering and protecting her from the influence of an evil spirit. RETIRING INTO THE INNER-LIFE. On the borders of Wirtemberg, towards Baden, and belonging partly to that duchy^ and partly to that of Hesse, lies a place called KUrnbach, in a low and gloomy situation, surrounded by mountains, and^ in its atmospherical and geognostic relations, exactly the reverse of Prevorst and Oberstenfield, Persons very susceptible to electrical influences are often cured of their maladies by a change of residence ; whilst others of the same description, frequently from a like cause, fall into sicknesses which the physician cannot account for. Papponi, a man spoken of by Amoretti, who was very sus- ceptible to electrical influences, and who suffered 38 THE SEERESS OF PREVORST. from convulsions, was cured merely by a change of residence. Pennet, a man of the same susceptibility, could not go to rest^ in a certain inn in Calabria, till he had wrapt himself in an isolating cloak of waxed cloth. What sinister influences may have been exerted on this susceptible being, by her removal to a place so extremely different from her former residence — for, after her marriage, she lived at Kiirnbach — can- not be ascertained. At a later period it was re- marked^ that the lower the situation she was in the more she was afflicted by spasms ; whilst, on the contrary, on the mountains her magnetic condition was augmented. However, physical influences, at this time, might possibly be acting upon her perniciously. Already Iiaving ceased to exist for the external world, her duties, as the wife of a man engaged in business, continually called her back to it, and was thus in constant contradiction to her inner-life — her home — which she was thus forced to conceal — a dissimula- tion which became daily more difficult. For as- suredly, from the day she stood upon the grave of her old friend, she was more and more absorbed in her inner -life, and sunk deeper and deeper into that condition at which we must all arrive when, as we pass through the gates of death, the external world disappears from us — a condition in which dissimula- tion becomes altogether impossible. " That the external condition is not proper to man and to his spirit," says a seer, " appears from A HE MAGNETIC CONDITION. 09 this^ that^ when he is in the world, he converses according to the established manners of society; whilst, at the same time, the inner -thinking governs the external demeanour, whereby it does not over- step the limits of propriety and decorum. And the same thing is evident from the fact, that, when a man reflects, he debates with himself in what manner he shall speak and act, so as to ensure re- spect, friendship, and favour; and his consequent proceedings are very different to what they would be if he merely followed the instigations of his will. Whence it is clear that the inner state in which the spirit is placed, is its proper state ; and also the pro - per state of man whilst he lives in the world.'* For seven months, however, Mrs. H con- tinued to conform to the customs and ways of ordinary existence ; but even then, whenever cir- cumstances permitted, she would fly to solitude in order to retire into herself; but longer than this she found it impossible to conceal her internal life, and substitute for it the semblance of an external one, which, in reality, did not exist ; her body sank beneath the effort, and her spirit escaped into its inner sphere. THE OUTCOMING OF THE MAGNETIC CONDITION, AND SKETCH OF A FURTHER PERIOD OF SUFFERING. It was on the 13th of February 1822 that Mrs. H , being at the time in her own house, had an 40 THE SEERESS OF PREVORST. extraordinary dream. She thought that she was about to lie down in her bed, when she perceived the body of that dear friend by whose grave her inner- life had been kindled, stretched upon it in a shroud. Without, in another room, she heard the voice of her father and that of two physicians, one of whom only was known to her, who were holding a consultation on some severe illness which had attacked her. She cried out — '^ Leave me alone by this dead man ! — he will cure me ! — no physician can !" Then it ap- peared to her that they sought to force her from the body ; but the chill of the dead seemed healthful to her, and, from that alone, she received benefit. She spoke aloud in her dream : " How well I am near this corpse ; now, I shall quite recover." At that time, however, she was not sick. Her husband, hearing her talk in this manner in her sleep, awoke her. On the following morning she was attacked by a fever, that continued for fourteen days with the greatest violence, and which was followed by seven years of magnetic life, interrupted only by short, and merely apparent, intervals. As my per- sonal observation only embraced the sixth and seventh of these years, of the preceding ones I can only give such a superficial sketch as I received from the lips of Mrs. H herself, her husband, and other connexions. After that fever, she was attacked, on the night of the 27th of February, at one o'clock, by severe spasms in the breast. She was rubbed and brushed till her back bled ; and, as she lay without conscious- THE MAGNETIC CONDITION* 41 ness, the surgeons of the place opened a vein. The spasms continuing three days, the bleeding was repeated. On the second day, a peasant's wife, uncalled for, came from the village, and, seating herself beside her, said — " She needs no physician — they cannot help her;'* and laid her hand on her forehead* Immediately she was seized with the most direful spasms, and her forehead was as cold as if she were dead. During the whole night she cried deliriously that that woman had exercised a demoniacal influ- ence upon her ; and, whenever the woman returned, she was always attacked by spasms. On the third day they sent to Bretten for a physician ; and being then in a magnetic condition, she cried to him when he entered, although she had never seen him — " If you are a physician, you must help me !" He, well understanding her malady, laid his hands on her head ; and it was then remarked that, as long as he remained in the room, she saw and heard him alone, and was insensible to the presence of all other persons. After he had laid his hands on her she became calm, and slept for some hours. Some internal remedies and a bath were prescribed for her, but the spasms returned in the night, and, for eighteen weeks, she was attacked by them from twice to five or six times a-day. At the same time that she was attacked by these spasms, her grandmother, of Lowenstein, appeared to her at night, standing by her bedside, and silently 42 THE SEERESS OF PREVORST. looking at her. Three days after she was informed of the death of that lady, who had expired on that very night. From that time, she frequently in her sleep alluded to the presence of her grandmother, and she afterwards recognized her as her protecting spirit. It was at this period, also, that, in a dream, she described some machine, and the mode of its construction, which was to be the instrument of her restoration ; she drew the figure of it upon paper, but no attention was paid to this intimation. All the remedies that were tried proving ineffica- cious, the physician had recourse to magnetic passes, which for a time relieved the spasms. Whereupon slanderous reports were circulated by people who took a prejudiced view of her case, and who had heard that in her agony she frequently called aloud for this man, and that he alone could give her relief. She was informed of this circumstance ; but, strong in her innocence, she listened to it with unconcern, as she did afterwards to the ill-natured gossip of her own sex, and all the scandal of which the world made her the victim. On one occasion, when she was suffering from se- vere spasms, the maid-servant relieved her by breath- ing for an hour on the pit of her stomach. As she was now in a decidedly magnetic state, it is probable that a regular course of magnetic treat- ment might have been beneficial to her ; and indeed her physician advised it ; but he resided too far from her to carry this counsel into execution himself ; and her husband could not bring himself to consent to THE MAGNETIC CONDITION. 43 her leaving home. Homoeopathic treatment was then for some time resorted to with success; and soon afterwards she found herself for the first time in the family way — a circumstance from which great hopes of benefit to her health were entertained. During the period that she was enceinte^ the dream that she had had some time before was fulfilled. Whilst she lay ill with spasms, she heard her father in the adjoining chamber speaking to two physicians, the voice of one of whom only she recognized. About this time, she paid a visit to her parents, and took a great many baths at Lowenstein, which appeared to strengthen her ; and, in the month of February 1823, after much sufiering, she was delivered of a child. Her confinement was followed by long and severe illness ; and the woman who, on a former occasion, had produced so injurious an efiect upon her, having brought the infant some milk, and insisted on admin- istering it herself, the child was seized with spasms, and from that time was afi*ected by periodical con- vulsions of the limbs until its death, which took place in August ; after which the mother again visited the baths of Lowenstein, but returned home little bene- fited, and in very low spirits. In February 1 824, she received a visit from some friends, and there was much dancing and merriment in the house ; she, however, continued sad, and when all was quiet, she was found at prayers by one of the company, who laughed at her piety. Whereupon, she was so much afi'ected, that she became as cold and stifi* as a corpse. For a long time no respiration 44 THE SEERESS OF PREVORST. was perceptible ; at length there was a rattling in her throat. Baths and other remedies were applied, and she revived, but only to continued suffering. She always lay as in a dream. At one time, she spoke for three days only in verse; and at another, she saw for the same period nothing but a ball of fire, that ran through her whole body as if on thin bright threads. Then for three days she felt as if water was falling on her head, drop by drop ; and it was at this time that she first saw her own image. She saw it clad in white, seated on a stool, whilst she was lying in bed. She contemplated the vision for some time, and would have cried out, but could not. At length she made herself heard, and on the entrance of her husband it disappeared. Her susceptibility was now so great, that she heard and felt what happened at a distance ; and was so sensible to magnetic influences, that the nails in the walls annoyed her, and they were obliged to remove them. Neither could she endure any light. As nothing seemed to be of service to her, her friends were induced to try a remedy recommended by a boy in a magnetic trance ; the effect was that she became more magnetic, but calmer. Still she could not endure the light of day, and on being re- moved to Oberstenfeld in a close carriage, and arriv- ing there three hours before night fall, she was obliged to wait till it was dark before she could enter the house. She was now placed under the care of Dr. B., suffering dreadful spasms and anxieties ; she existed THE MAGNETIC CONDITION. 45 only through the nervous emanations of others, and it became necessary that some one should always hold her hand ; and if the person was weak, it increased her debility. The physician prescribed magnetic passes and medicines ; but she fell into the magnetic sleep, and prescribed for herself. Her greatest suf- fering arose from the sensation of having a stone in her head ; it seemed as if her brain was compressed, and at every breath she drew, the motion pained her. This sensation disturbed her sleep, which lasted only as long as a hand was laid on her forehead. At this time an experiment was made by applying a magnet to her forehead ; immediately her head and face were turned rounds and her mouth was distorted^ as by a stroke of palsy. These symptoms continued two days, after which they disappeared of themselves. About this time, for seven days, at seven o'clock in the evening, she felt she was magnetized by a spirit, which was visible only to herself. In this spirit she recognized her grandmother, who magne- tized her with three fingers outspread like rays, the passes being directed to the epigastric region. It is an incomprehensible circumstance, though believed by many trustworthy persons, that during this period, articles whose near neighbourhood to her was inju- rious, were removed by an unseen hand ; such objects, — a silver spoon, for example, — would be perceptibly conveyed from her hand to a more convenient dis- tance, and laid on a plate ; not thrown, for the things passed slowly through the air, as lifted by invisible agency. 46* THE SEERESS OF PREVORST. When in deep sleep, she now declared that magne- tism alone could save her. It was about this period that, for the first time, she began to see another person behind the one she was looking at. Thus, behind her youngest sister she saw her deceased brother, Henry ; and behind a female friend, she saw the ghostly form of an old woman, whom she had known in her childhood at Lbwenstein. After this, a course of magnetic treatment was prescribed by her uncle, and followed up by Dr. B , at first without success. She seemed, indeed, unable to endure the presence of her magnetiser, who was frequently obliged to quit the room. At length this dislike subsided— her strength improved — she took long walks, and occupied herself with ordinary feminine occupations ; though she was still in a mag- netic state, and slept every seven days — at a later period, every seven weeks. For long intervals she was only in a half- waking state ; though she would walk out in the snow and rain, and preferred being in the cold. She was extremely susceptible to all sorts of spiritual influences : prophetic dreams, divi- nations, and prophetic visions in glass and mirrors, gave evidence of her inner-life. Thus, in a glass of water that stood upon the table, she saw some per- sons, who, half an hour afterwards, entered the room. She also saw, in the same manner, a carriage tra- velling on the road to B , which was not visible from where she was. She described the vehicle, the persons that were in it, the horses, &c. ; and in half INCREASED SUFFERINGS, ETC. 47 an hour afterwards this equipage arrived at the house. At this time she seemed also endued with the second sight. One morning, on leaving the room during the visit of her physician, she saw a cofl&n standing in the hall, which impeded her way ; in it lay the body of her paternal grandfather. She returned, and bade her parents and physician come out and see it ; but they could see nothing, nor, at that time, she either. On the following morning the coffin, with the body in it, was standing by her bed- side. Six weeks after- wards the grandfather died, having been in perfect health until a few days of his death. The gift of ghost-seeing, which Mrs. H* had from her childhood, was, in the meantime, constantly developing itself. The two most remarkable histo- ries, relating to the period in question, will be found in the second part of this volume. INCREASED SUFFERINGS, AND DEEPENING OF THE MAG- NETIC CONDITIONS. A second confinement, which took place on the 28th of December, was followed by a fever, during which Mrs. H was delirious, and fancied herself lying in an immense church ; spasms, and an aggra- vated magnetic condition ensued. Ordinary reme- dies proving inefficacious, magnetic passes were again tried, and her brother was usually the operator ; but, in his absence, several other persons were induced, at the request of her distressed parents, to undertake 48 THE SEERESS OF PREVORST. the office : a thing not only, unfortunately, injurious to her reputation, but, from the different nervous temperaments of these people, to her health also ; for it brought her into a deeper magnetic condition, and, at the same time, rendered her from habit more dependent on the nervous energy of others. A more judicious treatment might have rescued this unhappy lady from much suffering and misrepresentation. It is remarkable that her infant, especially during the first week of his life, always slept in the attitude she assumed in her magnetic sleep — namely, with his arms and feet crossed. It will be seen after- wards that he also was endowed with the unhappy gift of ghost-seeing. A friend, who was often about her at this period, writes me, — '^ Whenever I place my finger on her forehead, between the eyebrows, she always says something that has relation to me and the state of my soul, as the following :- — " When thou enterest into the tumult of the world, hold the Lord fast in thy heart :' " If any one would lead thee to err against thy conscience, flee unto the Lord : " " Let not the light that is in thee be extinguished," &c. &c. Her spasms, somnambulism, &c., still continuing, the people about her, unable to comprehend her situation, became weary and disgusted; she grew worse and worse — she was attacked by night-sweats and diarrhoea; and they reproached her that, in spite of all this, she still lived. They exerted force INCREASED SUFFERINGS, ETC. 49 to make her sit up, but in vain ; and they obliged her to get out of bed, but she fell to the ground without consciousness. Then they began to suspect that her illness was the effect of demoniacal influ- ence, and they had recourse to a man who had a reputation for performing cures by sympathetic means. Upon this, people accused the family of Mrs. H of being gloomy and unbelieving, be- cause they had recourse to such aid. But do not the most cultivated and learned men the same? Have not many diseases been cured by sympathetic means ? and did not celebrated physicians frequently send patients they found incurable to Mrs. H ? This man gave her a green powder, which she ob- jected to take ; but they forced her to do so. On her taking it a second time, she became immediately able to stand ; but she ran about quite rigidly ; and, after a few steps, ran round in a circle, as if in a fit of St. Yitus*s dance. She was now never thoroughly awake ; her voice was shrill ; she spoke high German, and a strange language, which she also wrote, and which she called her inner tongue, of which we shall speak further by and by. When she spoke this language she was in a half-waking state ; and when she wished to speak in the ordinary manner, she made some magnetic passes on herself. With the powder, the man sent an amulet of black lead, which hung to a triple thread. Every Friday a message was sent to the man, according to his desire, although it took seven hours to reach him. She said in her sleep — ^* He p 50 THE SEERESS OF PREVORST. wants me to request him to come himself ; and^ if it be not done, he will stick needles into certain plants in his cellar, whereby I shall become more subject to him, and suffer more anxiety and uneasiness. I must write to him myself ! " This she did in her sleep ; the letter was sent, and the man came. He had a dark, rough, repelling aspect, with bright bull- like eyes. When he arrived, she was lying in a magnetic sleep ; and she explained, that he must not enter the room until he had said — ^' I believe that Jesus Christ was the true Son of God, begot by the Father in eternity." He did so, and then he was allowed to enter; but she did not speak to him. She begged that, when she awoke, they would take care that he did not take her hand, which he would desire to do ; but begged them not to speak to him on the subject, as he would be offended. They did their utmost to prevent it, but without success : he took her hand, and, on the instant, it became bent and contracted in the most frightful manner; and they could not restore it to its natural state, either by blowing or magnetizing. She then became som- nambulic, and said that they must dip the hand in running water, and afterwards wash it in warm wine. They did so, and the contraction disappeared. Though the powder made her more magnetic, she continued to take it in very small doses, lest, as she said, the man should bring mischief on her. Strange to say, at this time, the amulet that he gave her would occasionally, of its own accord, untouched by any one, run about her head, breast, and bed-cover- INCREASED SUFFERINGS, ETC. 51 ing, like a living thing, so that they had to pick it up from the floor and restore it to her. This in- credible circumstance happened in the presence of many trustworthy witnesses, who testify to the fact. She wore this amulet on her back for a quarter of a year. When she was committed to my care, I ex- amined it, and found it to contain asafoetida, sabina, cyanus, two stramonium seeds, a small magnet, and a piece of paper, on which was written these words — " The Son of God came to destroy the works of the devil!" Hearing of her long sickness, her parents wrote to request her husband to fetch her to Kiirnbach. She was averse to the journey, but consented in order to relieve her parents' fatigue ; but the con- sequences were severe illness, and they were at length obliged to bring her back ; on this occasion, small doses of opium were found useful. She was now attacked by an excessive irritability of the nerves of the stomach ; and unless food were administered every minute, she fell into an alarming state of weakness. Medicine afforded her but little, relief; and, on account of the distance of the phy- sician's residence, they were obliged to bring her to her uncle at Lowenstein. Here she slept every evening, and prescribed for herself; but no more confidence being placed in her prescriptions, they were not followed. It was at this time I was called in to her. I had never seen her, but I had heard many false and perverted accounts of her ; and I must confess that I shared the world's opinions^ and 52 THE SEERESS OF PREVORST. gave credit to its lies. I therefore desired that no notice whatever should be taken of her magnetic state, nor of her directions to treat her magnetically, and place her in relation with people of strong nervous temperament; — in short, I desired that every thing should be done to draw her out of the magnetic condition — that she should be treated care- fully, but by ordinary medical means. My friend, Dr Off, of Lbwenstein, agreed with me in opinion, and we commenced a regular course of treatment ; but we were disappointed. Dysentery, spasms, night-sweats, still continued ; her gums be- came scorbutic, bled constantly, and she lost all her teeth. By giving her tonics, a feeling was induced as if she was lifted into the air; she was afraid of everybody, and at night was often attacked by a death-like debility. Her friends hoped to exorcise the demoniacal in- fluence by prayer. From that time every thing be- came indifferent to her — she was as if hardened. Her death would have been a blessing ; she suffered martyrdom, but died not. Her friends were in the greatest grief and perplexity; and, fortunately, though much against my will, they brought her to Weinsberg to see if anything could be done for her there. HER APPEARANCE IN WEINSBERG. Mrs, H — — arrived at Weinsberg, on the 25th November 1826, a picture of death — wasted to a APPEARANCE IN WEINSBERG. 53 skeleton, and unable to rise or to lie down without assistance. Every three or four minutes it was necessary to give her a spoonful of broth, which she often could not swallow, but spat out again ; yet^ without it she fainted, or had spasms. She had many frightful symptoms^ and fell into a magnetic trance every evening at seven o'clock. This used to begin with crossing her arms, and prayer. Then she would stretch them out ; and, when she after- wards laid them on the bed, began to talk, her eyes being shut^ and her face lighted up. On the even- ing of her arrival, when asleep, she asked for me ; but I sent her word that I could only see her when she was awake. When she awoke I went to her, and declared, shortly and seriously, that I was de- termined to take no notice of what she said in her sleep, nor would I be even informed of it ; and that this somnambulic state, which had caused her friends so much unhappiness, must come to an end. I ac- companied this declaration with some very strong expressions, for it was my firm resolution to treat her case by purely medicinal means. I desired that no notice whatever should be taken of her when she lay in a sleep- waking state, and commenced a regu- lar course of homoeopathic remedies. But the very smallest doses of medicine always produced in her effects the reverse of what I expected; she was attacked by many alarming symptoms, and it ap- peared probable that her end was approaching; and for this result her friends were fully prepared. In short, it was too late for the plan I proposed to be of any 54 THE SEERESS OF PREVORST. service to her. Owing to the operation of so many different kinds of magnetic influence, her nervous system was brought into so unusual and abnormal a condition, that she could no longer exist by her own nervous energy, but only by that borrowed from other people; as, in a short time, it became evi- dent that she did. It was affecting to see with what earnestness, when she was asleep, she sought the means of her own cure; and the physician might blush to see how much more efficacious means she prescribed for herself, than he and his pharmacopoeia could furnish. Thus, when I had for some weeks pursued my proposed medicinal treatment, I asked her, when asleep, whether a constant and regular course of magnetism would be of use to her ? She said, that she could not answer till the next evening, at seven o'clock^ after she had had seven magnetic passes. As I was determined to avoid having anything to do with her magnetic relations, I employed a friend to make the passes ; and the result was, that sh^ said a gentle course of magnetism, continued for seven days^ would help to restore her. The consequence of the seven passes was, that, to her own astonishment — for she knew nothing of what had been done — she could sit up in bed on the fol- lowing morning, and felt stronger than she had done during the whole of my medical attendance. For twenty-seven days, therefore, a regular course of magnetism was followed up, and her own sleep- i^aking directions strictly attended to, all others be- APPEARANCE IN WEINSBERG. 55 ing laid aside ; and although restoration to health was no longer possible, and many distressing symp- toms were often present, yet, by these means, this unfortunate lady was as much relieved as the nature of her case rendered practicable ; but the shock she received, from the death of her father, entirely coun- teracted this beneficial influence, and, for the future, all that remained to her was the life of a sylph. The events of this incorporeal life — many intima* tions respecting the inner-life of man, and of the existence of a world of spirits amongst us — together with what we can recall of the time when our Psyche, freed from the earth that was about her, unfolded her wings, to fly unchecked through time and space — are to form the contents of this book. I give mere facts, and leave the explanation of them to others. There have been theories enough advanced to ac- count for these phenomena. They are all known to me ; but I must be allowed to accept none of them. I shall only seek to shew, by various examples of similar apparitions, that the revelations of this sleep-waking patient discovered nothing but what is founded in nature, and had frequently been observed before. But such visions rarely pierce the thick en- velope of ordinary life, and are but lightning glimpses of a higher region. 56 THE SEERESS OF PREVORST. A DESCRIPTION OF THIS LADY. Long before the commencement of my magnetic treatment, Mrs. H was so entirely somnambulic that, as we were afterwards convinced, her waking state was only apparent. Doubtless^ she was then much more really awake than other people ; for this condition, although it is not called so, is that of the most perfect vigilance. In this state she had no organic strength, but de- pended wholly on that of other people, which she received chiefly through the eyes and the ends of the fingers. She said that she drew her life wholly from the air, and the nervous emanations of others, by which they lost nothing ; but it is not superfluous to mention, that many persons said that they did lose strength by being long in proximity to her, and that they felt a contraction in the limbs, a tremor, &c. &c. Many persons also, when near her, were sensible of a weakness in the eyes and at the pit of the stomach, even to fainting; and she admitted that she gained most strength from the eyes of powerful men. From her own relations she extracted more vigour than from others ; and, as she grew weaker, from them only she derived benefit. By the proximity of weak and sickly people, she grew weaker, just as flowers lose their beauty, and perish, under the same circumstances. She also drew nourishment from the DESCRIPTION OF THE SEERESS. 57 air^ and^ even in the coldest weather, could not live without an open window. She was sensible of the spiritual essences of all things, of which we have no perception ; especially of metals, plants, men, and animals. All impon- derable matters, even the different colours of the prism, produced on her sensible effects. She was susceptible of electric influences, of which we are not conscious ; and, what is almost incredible, she had a preternatural feeling, or consciousness, of hu- man writing. From her eyes there shone a really spiritual light, of which every one who saw her became immediately sensible ; and, whilst in this state, she was more a spirit than a being of mortal mould. Should we compare her to a human being, we should rather say that she was in the state of one who, hovering be- tween life and death, belonged rather to the world he was about to visit, than the one he was going to leave. This is not merely a poetical expression, but lite- rally true. We know that men, in the moment of death, have often glimpses of the other world, and evince their knowledge of it. We see that a spirit partially leaves the body, before it has wholly shaken off its earthly husk. Could we thus maintain any one for years in the condition of a dying person, we should have the exact representation of Mrs. H *s condition. And this is not the language of fiction, but of simple truth. She was frequently in that state in which persons, 58 THE SEERESS OF PREVORST. who, like her, have had the faculty of ghost-seeing, perceive their own spirit out of their body, which only enfolds it as a thin gauze. She often saw her- self out of her body, and sometimes double. She said, " It often appears to me that I am out of my body, and then I hover over it, and think of it ; but this is not a pleasant feeling, because I recognize my body. But if my soul were bound more closely to my nerve- spirit, then would this be in closer union with my nerves ; but the bonds of my nerve-spirit are be- coming daily weaker." It appeared, indeed^ as if her nerve-spirit was so loosely connected with her nerves, that, on the slight- est movement, it set itself free ; whence she saw herself out of her body, or double ; and her body had also lost all feeling of weight. Mrs. H had neither accomplishment or arti- ficial cultivation. She had been taught no language ; and knew nothing of history, geography, natural history, nor had any of those acquirements so com- mon to her sex. During her long years of sufiering, the Bible and Psalm-book were her only studies. Her moral character was blameless. She was pious without hypocrisy ; and even her long sufifering, and the strange nature of it, she looked upon as from the grace of God, and frequently expressed these feelings in verse. Because I sometimes made verses, people chose to say that I had communicated this talent to her by my magnetic influence ; but she spoke in verse before I attended her; and it was not without a deep sig- DESCRIPTION OF THE SEERESS. 59 nificance that Apollo was called the god of the phy- sician, the poet, and the prophet. Sleep-waking giv^es the power to prophecy, to heal, and to compose rerses. How well did the ancients understand the magnetic state ! How clearly do we discover it in their mysteries ! The great physician, Galen, was indebted to his nightly dreams for much of his medi- cal science. I am acquainted with a peasant girl who does not know how to write, and who yet, in her magnetic state, always speaks in rhythm. The falsehoods the world propagated on the sub- ject of Mrs. H are inconceivable; and never did I meet with so convincing a proof of its love of calumny as in this instance. She was wont to say, '^ They have power over my body, but not over my mind ;** but the number of persons who were attracted to her bed-side, out of mere curiosity, oc- casioned me great annoyance. For her part, she received every body with kindness, although the exertion frequently gave her pain ; and she often defended those who had most slandered her. Good and bad alike, came to her. She was conscious of the evil where it existed, but she judged no one ; and many unbelieving sinners, who visited her, were amended, and awakened to a conviction of a future life. Many years before Mrs. H was brought to me, the earth, with its atmosphere, and every thing connected with it — mankind not excepted — had ceased to be anything for her. She had long needed more than mortal aid could yield her : she needed" 60 THE SEERESS OF PREVORST. other skies — other nourishment — other airs, than this planet could afford her. She was more than half a spirit, and belonged to a world of spirits — she be- longed to a world after death, and was herself more than half dead. That in the early years of her ill- ness Mrs. H might, by judicious treatment have been restored to a condition more fit for this world, is exceedingly probable ; but^ at a later period, this was impossible. However, by much care, we did so far improve her condition, that, in spite of many efforts made to poison her peace, she looked upon the years she spent at Weinsberg as the least painful of her magnetic life. As we have said^ her fragile body enveloped her spirit, but as a gauzy veil. She was small — her fea- tures were oriental — her eyes piercing and prophetic ; and their expression was heightened by her long, dark eye-lashes. She was a delicate flower, and lived upon sunbeams. Eschenmayer says of her in his " Mysteries," '' Her natural disposition was gentle, kind, and seri- ous ; ever disposed to contemplation and prayer ; her eyes had something spiritual in their expression, and always remained clear and bright in spite of her great suffering. They were penetrating, and in con- versation very varying ; they were sometimes sud- denly fixed, and seemed to emit sparks, a certain sign that she beheld some strange apparitions. When this happened, she would presently burst forth into words. Her corporeal life, when I first saw her, pro- mised no long duration ; and she was past all hope of EXTERNAL NERVOUS SYSTEM. 61 restoration to a condition fitting her for this world. Without any very evident functional derangement, her life appeared but a glimmering torch. She was, as Kerner expressed it, a being in the gripe of death, but chained to the body by magnetic power. Soul and spirit seemed to me often divided, and whilst the first was still entangled with the body, the latter spread its wings and fluttered into other regions." HER EXTERNAL NERVOUS SYSTEM, AND CONNEXION WITH THE PHYSICAL WORLD. In stones and metals, as well as in plants and ani- mal bodies, there dwell many elements and powers of which we only become sensible when we step out of that isolation in which our daily life retains us. This is not only perceptible in the magnetic state, but more or less in all nervous temperaments. Thus the phenomena of rhabdomancy to a vast number of persons are indisputable facts ; developing themselves more or less apparently, as the nerve- spirit is more or less capable of setting itself free. Del Rio relates, that in Spain there is a race of people called Zahuris, who can see things hidden under the earth, as water, veins of metal, and dead bodies. Gamasche, a Portuguese, who lived in the beginning of the 1 8th century, had the faculty of discerning water and metals at a considerable depth under ground. Zschokke mentions a young girl 62 THE SEERESS OF PREVORST. Who exhibited the phenomena of rhabdomancy in a remarkable degree; Ritters experiments with the peasant Campetti are well known; and numerous instances of the susceptibility of sleep-wakers to the hidden properties of stones and metals are on record. The ancients, also, especially Orpheus, attribute ex- traordinary secret powers to stones, metals, and roots. The High Priest of the Jews wore a breast-plate, studded with jewels, on the pit of the stomach, which were used in order to the enunciation of the Divine prophecies. Aristotle, Dioscorides, Galen, Pliny, and many others, allude to the magic power of stones, which were used as talismans and charms. Theo- phrastus says, that by carrying certain stones about him, he has escaped fevers ; and that the Magi pre- pared stones which cured or averted various diseases. But, he adds, that these stones have no longer the same properties, the aspect of the heavens not being the same. But even were the heavens the same, which thev aj-e not, mankind is changed ; and for that reason they look upon these notions of the ancients as mere fiction. When man was nearer nature, and less en - tangled with the clay that envelopes him than he has since become by civilization, he was sensible of spiritual influences, and even of the hidden proper- ties of stones. But now^ with his threefold garment of earth about him, he is only susceptible of chemical and mechanical influences ; and it needs poisons ex- tracted from the three kingdoms of nature (as our pre- EXTERNAL NERVOUS SYSTEM. 63 sent medical practice testifies) to penetrate this isolat- ed mass. But the magnetic life shows^us many phe- nomena that prove the reality of much that we have been accustomed to look upon as dreams of the poet. In the East, there is still the same belief in the power of stones ; and jewels are worn, not only as ornaments, but as talismans. Schubert, in his Natural History, observes, that it appears from many observations, that the mineral kingdom has a deep and magical connexion with the nature of man and his spiritual relations ; and mag- netic clairvoyance has exhibited eflfects, not only from contact, but from the mere neighbourhood of metals, that are certainly neither chemical nor me- chanical.* These results appear rather the effects of a peculiar indwelling spirit, (Geist) whether magnetic or elec- trical, of which we are ordinarily not sensible. It is remarkable that coloured stones produced much more effect upon Mrs. H , than those that were colour- * We here omit the details of the various experiments with metals, stones, plants, &c. which would probably be found tedious, and would swell this little work to too large a size. Suffice it to say, that almost every substance produced specific and very evident effects upon the nervous system of the Seherin, by being merely held in her hand. The experiments seem to have been made with great caution ; and it was always observed that her left side was the most susceptible. This general susceptibility was to have been expected. In some slight degree the same thing takes place with the healthy organism. The practised sense of an experienced chemist will detect many substances by touch. It is related of Werner, that he could tell the specific 64 THE SEERESS OF PREVORST. less. Ennemoser mentions a very susceptible woman who was always excited by the sight of the ruby, but calmed by looking at crystal. Mrs. H , however, never looked at the minerals. The experiments were made by placing them in her hand, without telling her what they were. She was very sensible of the effects of glass and crystal ; they awakened her from her somnambulic state ; and if allowed to lie long on the pit of her stomach, produced catalepsy. She was affected in the same manner by sand, or even standing for some time near a glass window. The odour of sand and glass was very perceptible and very agreeable to her ; but if she chanced to seat her- self on a sandstone bench, she was apt to become cataleptic ; and once, having been for some time missed, she was at length found at the top of the house, seated on a heap of sand, so rigid, that she had been unable to move away from it. Our experiments with respect to the effects of minerals on Mrs. H were confirmed in other gravity of a mineral with great accuracy by means of his long- trained muscular sense. Some blind people have been able to discriminate colours with the tips of the fingers. Doubtless, every substance has its specific relation to the nervous system of man ; its peculiar smoothness or roughness, its peculiar power of conducting heat, its peculiar electromotive power, and so on. Accordingly, all that these experiments seem to establish is the obvious fact, that in Mrs. H there was developed an enor^ mous intensification of ordinary sensibility ; and this suggests the very important inquiry, which of the phenomena manifested by mesmeric patients are not reducible to this head ? An analysis of this sort would leave the residuary facts all the more distinct and accessible to investigation. — Translator. SUSPENSION OF GRAVITY. 65 forms — namely^ by placing a divining rod, or pen- dulum of hazel, in her left hand, which she held over the different substances; and we then found that those which produced no effects on her had no attraction for the wand, and vice versa. These experiments might have been carried much farther — as by placing the various substances on the pit of her stomach, for example — had I not apprehended the effects on her excitable constitution. EFFECTS OF WATER, AND SUSPENSION OF GRAVITY. If Mrs. H held water in her hand, she be- came immediately weak. By day, she could take no fluid without feeling giddy ; but after sunset, this inconvenience no longer existed. During the day, however intense the heat, she was never thirsty. In her sleep-waking state, she could distinguish the magnetic passes that I had made over a glass of water, they appearing darker than the water itself; and when she was very clairvoyante, she could by this means tell me how many passes I had made, and did so always correctly. When she was placed in a bath in this state, extraordinary phenomena were exhibited — namely, that her limbs, breast, and the lower part of her person, possessed by a strange elasticity, involun- tarily emerged from the water. Her attendants 66 THE SEERESS OF PREVORST. used every effort to submerge her body, but she could not be kept down ; and had she at these times been thrown into a river, she would no more have sunk than a cork. This circumstance reminds us of the test applied to witches, who were often, doubtless, persons under magnetic conditions ; and thus, contrary to the ordinary law, floated on water. Andrew MoUers mentions a woman, who lived in 1620, who, being in a magnetic state, rose suddenly from the bed into the air, in the presence of many persons, and hovered several yards above it, as if she would have flown out of the window. The assistants called upon God, and forced her down again. Privy Counsellor Horst speaks of a man in the same condition, who, in the presence of many respectable witnesses, as- cended into the air, and hovered over the heads of the people present, so that they ran underneath him, in order to defend him from injury should he fall. Something of the same sort is observed in natural sleepwalkers, who can maintain themselves in the most perilous situations, and, if they fall, are seldom hurt. The Indian jugglers, also, and persons in St Yitus's dance, do many things in defiance of the ordinary laws of gravity. When Mrs. H , however, awoke from her magnetic trance, she was very sensible of the weight of bodies ; and an ap- parently light person would often appear to her heavier than one of much larger dimensions. She was conscious of weight, independently of matter — she said there was such a thing as moral weight. SUSPENSION OF GRAVITY. 6? If I placed my fingers against hers, they were at- tracted as by a magnet ; and I could thus lift her from the ground. Many similar phenomena have been observed, especially those at the tomb of the Abbe Paris in 1724, to which sick persons resorted in crowds, and permitted themselves to be beaten by strong men with all sorts of weapons, and even to be laid under a plank, on which as many as twenty or more per- sons stood ; and this not only without pain or injury, but with advantage. We observe the same pheno- mena in the witch-trials of the middle ages, where great weights were used as instruments of torture, but were, in many instances, unfelt by the victim : and this suspension of gravity has been also found in persons who have led very ascetic lives, and with- drawn themselves into the depths of the inner-life. According to the testimony of St. Theresa, Peter of Alcantara, for fourteen years, allowed himself but half an hour s sleep, and that he took sitting, with his head leaning on a post ; he lived on bread and water, which he took at intervals of three, and some- times of eight, days, till, by this mortification of his body, it became transparent, and he saw through it as through a veil. His spirit fteing in constant communion with God, he was frequently enveloped in a lustrous light, and lifted into the air. St. Theresa, also, felt her soul, and then her head, and, finally, her whole body, lifted from the earth ; and, in the sight of all the sisterhood, she floated over the grate of the door. Many such instances are re- G8 THE SEERESS OF PREVORST. corded in the lives of the saints — phenomena which we cannot comprehend, and therefore pronounce to be fables. The laurel had also a remarkable effect on Mrs, H 5 and this accounts for the use of it in the temples of Delphi, Esculapius, &c. &c. She also found the hazel-nut tree, which has been long used amongst the people for purposes of divination, a powerful magnetic conductor. I myself lately saw the hands and arms of a healthy woman rendered stiff by holding the hazel wand. It is probably from an altered condition, and the use of strong stimulants of various kinds, that we are no longer susceptible of these more delicate influences. The hoof of an elephant produced on Mrs. H a sort of epileptic fit ; and it is remarkable that, amongst the ancients, an elephant's hoof was con- sidered beneficial in this disease; and that this animal is believed by naturalists to be itself very subject to epilepsy. This ancient opinion accords with the modern system of homoeopathy. The horn of the chamois was also considered good for the cramp ; and the Tyrolese to this day frequently wear finger-rings of this horn, which they call cramp- rings. ^ The nipples of a horse, the tooth of a mammoth, bezoar, a spider's web, the glow-worm, &;c. &c.j all produced specific effects on being placed in her hand ; and a few drops of acid, produced by animal putrefaction, exhibited the symptoms that follow the eating a decayed sausage. " These singular effects," SUSPENSION OF GRAVITY. 69 says Schubert, " throw much light on the relations in which we stand to external nature. When the soul, itself vigorous, rules over the body, these in- fluences are scarcely perceptible to us ; but, when it drops the rein, and (as in the case of the Seeress of Prevorst) retires into the depths within, the forsaken and susceptible body is awakened to these hidden properties. It is remarkable that the cramps and rigidities produced by minerals, which were often very painful to behold, were not unfrequently ulti- mately beneficial." A few small diamonds placed in the hand of Mrs, H caused an extraordinary dilatation of the eyes, and an immobility of the pupil, together with a stiffness of the left hand and right foot. The effects of all substances was much greater when placed on her hand, than when swallowed^ either as food or medicine. Doubtless, our insensibility to external influences is much increased by the habit of taking food and liquids of an exciting nature. When the ancients desired to subject a patient to these hidden powers, they prepared him for the operation by a course of extreme temperance. The modern practice of me- dicine, denominated homoeopathic^ acts in tw> ways — first, by the removal of all excitements, and, secondly, by the repetition of medicines, whose extreme sub- division reminds us of the experiments of Robert Brown, who, having reduced the particles of the body to the smallest atoms, perceived in them what seemed to be a spontaneous and independent animal 70 THE SEERESS OF PREVORST. motion. It would appear that these substances, when mixed with water, have an electrical action upon the cuticle, as was the case with the Seherin, instead of acting, as do ordinary medicines, by as- similation, through the intestinal canal. As long as the atoms are combined in a mass, they merely obey the law of cohesion ; their extreme sub-division, by exposing them to electrical influences, gave them this motion, which the delicate microscope dis- covered. Is not the reflection, that our bodies, like a fine- stringed instrument, are moved by the lightest airs that blow upon them, calculated to make us sad? Our joys and sorrows, and often even our will, are under the influence of powers to us altogether im- perceptible, and whose subtle effects we cannot elude. But it appears that, properly considered, the relation in which the power of the soul stands to the body, is very different to that of the external elements. As the bird in the cage is excited to a more vigorous exertion of its voice, by the noises and discords that surround it, so is the nature of man nourished and strengthened by the variety of opposing influences that assail him on every side. The stormy wind refreshes his respiratory organs — his food and drink give him vigour; but it is the ruling power of the soul that decrees how, and to what extent, they shall operate. When the young prisoner in the king's palace be- sought the chamberlain to give him roots and water, instead of the luxurious food and wine from the king's IMPONDERABLE SUBSTANCES. 71 table ; the chamberlain, fearing the anger of his lord, limited the indulgence to a few days, lest the face of the boy, by this poor diet, should look more miserable than those of his companions. But, lo ! the days having elapsed, the boy looked handsomer and bet- ter than all the others ; so Melzar took away their rich food and drinks, and gave them roots and water also. Thus, the spring of all nourishment and abundance, whether of the inner or outer man, is not to be found where we seek it : it lies deep in the spirituality of our nature — there, where no external evils can reach, to trouble it or dry it up. EFFECTS OF IMPONDERABLE SUBSTANCES. The light of the sun produced various physical effects on Mrs. H . Amongst others, it gave her the headach; and, in her sleep, she desired that a glass should be laid on the pit of her stomach, when she was exposed to his light ; and this, by aug - menting her isolation, enabled her to bear it. The different colours in a ray of light had, also, each its peculiar effect. The light of the moon did not affect her, unless she looked at it ; then it produced melan- choly, and a cold shiver. She was very much affected by lightning — perceived flashes that were invisible to us, and felt others before we saw them. On touching her with a finger, during an electrical state of the 72 THE SEERESS OF PREVORST. atmosphere, she saw small flashes, which ascended to the ceiling — from men these were colourless, from women blue ; and she perceived emanations of the same sort, and with the same variation of colour, from people's eyes. Rain-water^ fallen during a storm, she could not drink, on account of the heat it occasioned ; but, at other times^ it was agreeable to her. As may be imagined, she was much affected by electricity, in all its forms. Mrs. H could not exist without an open window : she said that she extracted a vivifying principle from the air. She was also of opinion, that the opening a window, at the moment of a soul's departure, is not a mere superstition, but that it actually facilitates its escape ; and that there is some substance in the air, which spirits make use of to render themselves audible and visible to mortals. This substance she believed to be prejudicial to all ; but its effects were not perceived, except by herself. Jamblich is of opinion, that the parting soul is en- veloped in a robe of air, which takes on the contour of the person. Paracelsus affirms, that man is not only fed through his stomach, but through all his limbs, which draw in nourishment from the four ele- ments out of which he is formed. Mrs. H was extremely sensible of all conta- gious and epidemic influences. The higher she was in space, the more abnormal and magnetic was her condition : this was observable, even in the different floors of a house. In a valley, she felt oppressed and weighed down, and was attacked by convulsions. THE HUMAN EYE. 73 She was affected by wind, especially when it was gusty; and, though shut up in a room, could tell from what point it blew. Music frequently threw Mrs. H into a som- nambulic state ; she became clearer, and spoke in rhythm. She would make me magnetise the water she drank by sounds from the Jew's-harp ; and when I had done this unknown to her, on drinking water so prepared, she involuntarily began to sing. The prophet Elisha gives an example of how the inner- life is quickened by music : ^^ When he was brought before the King of Israel, he bade them bring in a musician ; and when the musician touched the strings, the hand of the Lord was upon Elisha, and he pro- phesied." ON THE HUMAN EYE. When Mrs. H looked into the right eye of a person, she saw, behind the reflected image of herself, another, which appeared neither to be her own, nor that of the person in whose eye she was looking. She believed it to be the picture of that person's inner-self. In many persons, this internal image appeared more earnest than the external, or the re- verse : it bespoke the character of the person ; but, with many, it was more beautiful and pure than the other. If she looked into the left eye, she saw im- mediately whatever internal disease existed — whether 74 THE SEERESS OF PREVORST. in the stomach, lungs, or elsewhere — and prescribed for it. In my left eye she saw prescriptions for her- self ; and in that of a man, who had only a left eye, she saw both his inward malady, and the image of his inner man. In the right eye of an animal, as a dog or a fowl, she saw a blue flame — doubtless its immortal part, or soul. Of which Schubert observes, " that we often see, in the eyes of an animal, glimpses of a hidden, secret world, as through a door, uniting the other world with this ; and there frequently ap- pears in the eyes of dying animals, uselessly slain or tortured by the hand of man, a gleam of deep self- consciousness, which is prepared to bear witness against us in the other world." She said, that it was not with her fleshly, but with her spiritual eye, which lay beneath it, that she saw this second image in the eyes of others, and also dis- cerned spirits. It was by this inner-eye that Jacob Bbhm beheld the whole creation, and saw into the essences, use, and properties of plants, &c. &c. The eyes of some persons immediately threw Mrs. H into the sleep-waking state. Soap-bubbles, glass, and mirrors, excited her spiritual eye. A child hap- pening to blow soap-bubbles : She exclaimed, '^ Ah ! my God ! I behold in the bubbles every thing I think of, although it be distant — not in little, but as large as life — ^but it frightens me." I then made a soap- bubble, and bade her look for her child that was far away. She said she saw him in bed, and it gave her much pleasure. At another time she saw my wife, who was in another house, and described precisely THE PIT OF THE STOMACH. 75 the situation she was in at the moment — a point I took care immediately to ascertain. She was^ how- ever, with difficulty induced to look into these soap- bubbles : she seemed to shudder, and she was afraid she might see something that would alarm her. In one of these she once saw a small coffin, standing before a neighbouring house. At that time there was no child sick, but, shortly afterwards, the lady who lived there was confined. The child lived but a few months, and Mrs. H saw it carried from the house in a coffin. If we wished her to recall dreams which she had forgotten, it was only necessary to make her look at a soap-bubble^ and her memory of them immediately returned. She often saw persons, that were about to arrive at the house, in a glass of water ; but when she was invited to this sort of divi- nation, and did it unwillingly, she was sometimes mistaken. SEEING WITH THE PIT OP THE STOMACH. The following phenomena are similar to those known of somnambulic persons, who could read what was laid on the pit of the stomach ; or else^ by the sense of feeling, obtained a knowledge of it. I gave Mrs. H two pieces of paper, carefully folded : on one of which I had secretly written, ^^ There is a God;" on the other, " There is no God." I put them into her left hand, when she was apparently awake, and asked her if she felt any difference be ■ 76 THE SEERESS OF PREVORST. tween them. After a pause, she returned me the first, and said, " This gives me a sensation, the other feels like a void." I repeated the experiment four times, and always with the same result. I then wrote on a piece of paper, " There are spectres ;" and on another, '^ There are no spectres." She laid the first on the pit of her stomach, and held the other in her hand, and read them both. I then wrote, '' You have seen B ." When she laid the paper on the pit of her stomach, she said it made her sad ; and although, when she afterwards read the contents, she could see no reason for it, yet the experiment, repeated, produced the same efiect. Some years after- wards, when I laid a folded letter from this person in her hand, though she had no idea what it was, the result was the same ; and similar effects were pro- duced by his presence. Many curious experiments, of the same sort, all tended to the conviction, that writings or drawings, placed on the pit of her sto- mach, produced sensible effects, according to their nature. Good news of her child made her laugh — ill news made her sad ; the name of a person who was her enemy awakened anger ; and the name of Napoleon excited martial ideas, and she sang a march. Strange as these results are, repeated ex- periments confirmed them ; and, however difficult to believe, they are absolute facts. As is usually the case with sleep-wakers, Mrs. H could clearly distinguish the internal organs of the body, especially when diseased. She saw distinctly the course of the nerves, and could describe them anatomically. THE PIT OF THE STOMACH. 77 A magnetic wand, with an iron point, held to her right eye, and directed to any distant object, magni- fied it exceedingly : The smallest star appeared as large as the moon, and the moon so large, that she could distinguish the different bright spots. But she could only discern the right side of it ; the left was invisible to her. She said that the dwellers on the left side of the moon were much engaged with build- ing, and not so happy as those on the right. I told her I thought this was mere dreaming ; but she de- nied it, and said that her sleep-waking was a state of perfect vigilance. It is ^luch to be regretted, that these observations were made, at a time that the Seherin was unable to leave her bed, and a long con- templation of the heavenly bodies was out of her power. When she saw people who had lost a limb, she still saw the limb attached to the body ; that is, she saw the nerve-projected -form of the limb, in the same way that she saw the nerve-projected-forms of dead persons. From this interesting phenomenon, we may, perhaps, explain the sensations of persons, who still have feeling in a limb that has been ampu- tated : the invisible nerve-projected-form of the limb is still in connexion with the visible body ; and this is a satisfactory proof, that after the destruction of the visible husk, the form is preserved by the nerve- spirit. The old Theosophist, Oetinger, says, " The earthly husk remains in the retort, whilst the vola- tile essence ascends, like a spirit, perfect in form, but void of substance." 78 THE SEERESS OF PREVORST. THE PROTECTING SPIRIT. In common with all somnambules, and many others who have cultivated their inner-life, Mrs. H had a visible spiritual guide. Socrates, and several others, have believed themselves under the guidance of a demon. This genius, or demon, not only warned him of approaching dangers, but others through him : it also revealed the future to him, and advised him how to act. The late wife of a respectable citizen at Heilbronn, named Arnold, had continually a spirit near her, who not only warned her of several impending dangers, but also informed her of the approaching visits of her friends, as well as of deaths about to take place in her family; and, finally, of her own. He was only once visible to her, and that was in the form of an old man ; but his presence was not only felt by her, but by others ; and when she conversed with him, they felt the air stirred, as by breath. Many yet living and very credible witnesses, are in pos- session of the most remarkable facts relating to this case. A young girl, called Ludwiger, in early childhood had wholly lost her speech and the use of her limbs. The mother, on her death-bed, committed the care of this helpless girl to her other daughters, and they punctually discharged the duty till the wedding-day of one of them, when their charge was forgotten ; THE PROTECTING SPIRIT. 79 but, in the midst of the marriage feast, the three young women suddenly remembered their neglect, and, hastening to the room of the invalid, they found her^ to their surprise, sitting up, and learned from her lips that her mother had been there and handed her her food. This was the only time she ever spoke during her illness, and she shortly after died. " Sometimes/' says Jamblichus, " an unseen spirit hovers round the sleeper, to avert from us pain of soul or body ; and sometimes, betwixt sleep- ing and waking, or in heaven-sent dreams, we hear a faint voice which directs us what to do." I knew a countryman who, for many years, per- formed cures by strokes, or passes. According to his own account, it began thus : In his thirty-ninth year he was attacked by an excruciating pain over his right eye, which totally disabled him from work, and for which all remedies had failed. On one occasion, when it had lasted three days, he earnestly besought God to help him ; whereupon a form ap- peared to him, and made seven passes with the thumb from the eye to the pit of the stomach, by which he was much relieved; and, by repeating the passes himself, he was soon wholly cured. In Horst's collection of trials for witchcraft, we read of a girl who had long suffered from lameness, occasioned by a distorted bone. Nothing was found efficacious, till one night the bone became straight of itself. The child waked her mother and brother, and asked if they had seen and heard the angel that had been with her ? It appeared to her that some- 80 THE SEERESS OF PREVORST. thing had stroked her bone, whereon it became straight ; and, from that time, her lameness ceased. Of the appearance of her protecting spirit, (her grandmother, Schmidgall,) who was her constant and visible guide, Mrs. H could never speak without being much affected — indeed, even of all apparitions and communications from the world of spirits, she was very unwilling to converse, and never did it except when requested. Unless when dropped by accident, or when pressed to make reve- lations, we heard nothing of tliese things, however remarkable. The apparitions were injurious both to her health and spirits ; but her perfect candour, and entire conviction, are known to many worthy per- sons who learnt to understand her. At such times as the faculty of ghost-seeing was active in her, she believed herself to be awake ; but she was then in that peculiar state we have deno- minated as the inner-life. Her grandmother always appeared to her in the form she bore when alive, but in different attire : she seemed to wear a robe, with a girdle ; and on her head was something like a veil, which covered the hair and fell over the ears. All female spirits, without exception, had this head- covering. We have above mentioned how it once appeared to her that she was magnetized by her protecting spirit, and how objects, whose near neighbourhood was injurious to I er, were removed. This happened again here (in Weinsberg) at three o'clock in the morning. After magnetizing her, the spirit bade her THE PROPHETIC SPIRIT. 81 rise and write — which she did — and told her that the writing would remind her to teach her physician to magnetize her in that manner. Mrs. H begged the spirit to magnetize her always ; but it answered — '' Had I the power of doing so, you would soon take up your bed and walk !" As was the case at an earlier period, she still often saw a spectral form behind the person she was look- ing at. Sometimes this appeared to be his protect- ing spirit, and at others the image of his inner self. Thus, behind a woman whom she had never seen before, she once perceived a shadowy form, with slender limbs and palpitating movements. This woman proved to be a person of a most restless dis- position. Another time, as she was looking from the win- dow, an unknown person passed and saluted her, but she sprang suddenly back ; and when I in- quired the reason, she told me that she had seen, behind a woman who had just passed, a masculine disagreeable looking form, in dark clothes. I looked out, and recognized a woman of a very quarrelsome, ill character, who, however, had come from a dis- tance, and was quite a stranger to Mrs. H . Behind a servant girl, who lived with me, she often saw the form of a boy about twelve years old. I asked the girl if she had any relation of that age, but she said she had not. But she. told me after- wards that, on thinking of wy inquiry, she re- membered that her brother, who had died when he was three years old, would have been just twelve. F 82 THE SEERESS OF PREVORST. This apparent increase in the age of the spirit will be touched on by and by. ^' It will hereafter be proved/' says Kant, in the dream of a ghost-seer, '^ that the human soul, even in this life, is in con- stant communication with the spiritual world, and that these are susceptible of mutual impressions; but, as long as all goes well, these impressions are unperceived ! " PROPHETIC DREAMS. On one occasion, Mrs. H , who was then ex- tremely unwell, said to a very sensible woman, who was about to take leave of her — " If you dream to-night what will make me better, I will take it." The lady dreamt that, passing from her chamber into another larger, she had seen several pitchers of chalybeate water, and that Mrs. H had made a sign to her to britig her one on which was inscribed "^ Fachinger water ;* and, what is most extraordin- ary, Mrs. H on the same night dreamt a cor- responding dream. She obeyed the behest, and the result was what was desired. One night she dreamt that she saw her uncle's eldest daughter go out of the house with a small coffin on her head : seven days afterwards died her own child, aged one year, of whose illness, at that time, we had not the least idea. She had related the dream to me and others on awaking. Another PROPHETIC DREAMS. 83 night she dreamt that she was crossing some water, holding in her hand a piece of decaying flesh, and that, meeting Mrs. N , the latter had anxiously inquired what she was going to do with it (she related this dream to us, which we were unable to interpret) : seven days afterwards Mrs. N was delivered of a dead child, whose body was already in a state of corruption. On another night she dreamt that Mrs. L , whom she had never seen nor known, came to her weeping, with a dead child in her arms, and entreating her aid : six weeks after- wards, this lady was confined, after much suffering and danger, and lost her child. One night that she slept in my house, in a lower story, she dreamt that, in the water -tub above stairs, where she had never been, there was some- thing that should not be there. She told me this dream, and, on the following evening, I had the vessel emptied, and found in it an old rusty knitting needle. Mrs. H had drank water from this barrel just before she went to sleep ; and it was probably her susceptibility to the effect of metals that occasioned this dream. On the night of the 28th January 1828, Mrs. H dreamt that, being on a desert island, she saw her dead child enveloped with a heavenly light, with a wreath of flowers on its head, and a wand, with buds on it, in its hand. This disappeared; and she next saw me assisting a man who was bleed- ing ; and this was succeeded by a third vision of herself, suffering severe spasms, whilst a voice told 84 THE SEERESS OF PREVORST. her that I was sent for. This dream she related to me on the morning of the 29th. On the 30th, I was sent for to a man who had been stabbed in the breast ; and, on the same night, the third vision was explained by my being sent for to her. The in- terpretation of the child's appearance we did not learn. I shall now relate an instance of her fore- knowledge, when she did not dream^ but was in her sleep- waking state : It was on the 6th July 1827, that, after being some time torpid, she said — ^' I see N in the moon, nevertheless he yet lives upon the earth ; but I see him there as it were before- hand. In a quarter of a year he will die, and my father will be the first to learn his death." This person, who was then in perfect health, actually did die at the period named, and her father was the first to hear of it. The following is a remarkable prophetic dream of W. Reiniger, of Stuttgart, who was drowned in the Neckar, and who, as appears from his journal, lived a deep inner-life. Pie writes in this journal, which fell into the hands of his parents after his death, that he remembered, with horror, a dream his father had related to him. The father dreamt that, having crossed a river, holding his son by the hand, he suddenly saw the boy sink out of the reach of assistance ; and the young man adds — " If I am not mistaken, I had a similar dream, and the scene and circumstances are yet present to my imagination. My father will have forgotten it." Shortly before SECOND-SIGHT. 85 his death, he appears, by his journal, to have suffered, for several nights, from a strange and unaccountable anxiety, and to have had, also, another alarming dream, the particulars of which he, unfortunately, does not relate. It probably referred to his ap- proaching fate. He was drowned whilst bathing in the Neckar, whither he had gone much against his inclination. SECOND-SIGHT. It is well known that the gift of second-sight is endemic in certain places — as in some parts of Scot- land and Denmark, for example. People who have this second-sight are remarked to have a piercing look — a look which I also observed in Mrs. H when she saw spirits or herself. At the moments that this faculty is in exercise, the body of the seer is rigid ; his eyelids are up-raised, and he is blind and deaf to all besides, as was Mrs. H . If the seer, in the moment of second-sight, touches another person, or animal, that person, or animal, is endued with the same faculty also. A horse will break into a sweat, and refuse to advance, when his rider sees a vision ; and horses frequently see these things when the rider does not. Horses will also often betray great uneasiness in passing over places where a body has been buried. In the year 1823, a new stall being built in the Castle of Schmiedelfeli 86 THE SEERESS OF PREVORST. the horse that was placed in it betrayed the greatest uneasiness ; afterwards a skeleton was found beneath the spot. In Scotland, this gift is supposed by some to be hereditary, but it is not always so. A remarkable instance of second-sight was ob- served in a minister's wife, at Nienberg, she having inherited this unfortunate faculty from her father. On the 13th January 1827, Mrs. H being seized with spasms at a very unusual hour, I en- deavoured to learn from her the cause of the acci- dent ; and, when she was in a sleep- waking state, she told me that she had seen a bier, and on it a person very dear to her — it was her brother, over whom a great danger impended ; he would be shot at on the 18th of the month ; and she pointed out how he should escape the danger, and described the assassin. It happened as she had foretold ; but the shot missed him. Some time after she had another warning respecting her brother : several times in her magnetic sleep she saw a fox, and she became aware that, in chasing this animal, he would be in imminent danger from the charge of his gun. Her brother, being warned, examined his weapon, and found that some unfriendly hand had overcharged it ; and he thus escaped the danger. She was sup- posed to be much en rapport with this brother, he having frequently magnetized her. On the morning of the 8th of May, at seven o'clock, she bade her sister not come too near her bed, for she felt that something invisible was ap- proaching. She had had this feeling for an hour, SECOND-SIGHT. 87 and was eating her breakfast, when she saw her dead child standing by the bed, and near it her living one^ which was far away. The dead one looked on her steadfastly, and pointed with the finger to the living one. The latter had a pin in its hand, which it held in its mouth. The children ap- peared so real and actual, that she stretched out her hand to take away the pin. She cried out — ^' In the name of God, what is this ?" and then the vision disappeared. The child, which had died when it was nine months old^ looked now as if it were three — which is the age it would have reached had it lived — but it was light and transparent. The aspect of both was strange — something she found it impossible to describe. This sight affected her much, and she wept. She afterwards said that, in seven days hence, her child would swallow a pin, and die of it ; and that her parents, with whom the child was, must be warned of the danger. This was done ; and they wrote that, on examining the child, they had found a pin in its sleeve, which they had re- moved. Three successive days before the death of her father, at a time that the news of his illness had not reached her, she saw, when she was awake, a coffin standing by her bed, which was covered by a mort- cloth, on which lay a white cross. She was very much alarmed, and said she feared her father was dead, or sick. I comforted her by suggesting that some other person might be signified. She did not know how to interpret this covered coffin, as hither- 88 THE SEERESS OF PREVORST. to she had either seen coffins with the likeness of the person about to die lying in them, or the like- ness of the person about to be sick looking into them. On the morning of the 2d of May came the news of her father's illness ; on the same evening he died ; whilst she in her sleep was much distressed, and intimated that she saw something grievous, which she would not tell us, in order that she might not know it when she was awake ; on the next came the news of his death. Three times when awake she saw her mother-in-law looking into a coffin : seven days afterwards this lady fell ill, but she recovered. When Mrs. H saw the image of a person lying dead in a coffin, it predicted their approaching deaths, — if alive, a severe illness. THE GOING FORTH OF THE SPIRIT. On the above mentioned 2d of May, about nine o'clock at night, Mrs. H exclaimed in her sleep — ^^ Ah ! God ! " She awoke, as if aroused by the exclamation, and said that she had heard two voices proceeding from herself. At the same hour that this happened. Dr. Fohr, of Bottwar, the phy- sician who had attended the deceased, being with an uncle of Mrs. H , in a chamber next to that where the body lay — in which last there was only the corpse — heard the words — ^' Ah ! God ! '* so distinctly, that he went to see who was there, but found only the body. Dr. Fohr writes me on the GOING FORTH OF THE SPIRIT. 89 subject : — '^ After my arrival at Oberstenfeld, where I found Mr. W dead, I distinctly heard, from the adjoining room where the body lay, the words — 'Ah! God!* I thought it proceeded from the coffin, and that Mr. W 's death had only been apparent. I watched him for an hour, till I was satisfied he was really gone.'* The uncle heard nothing. It appears that there was nobody in that part of the house from whom the voice could have proceeded. She accounted for this by saying, that her intense anxiety to know how her father was, had enabled her soul to accompany her nerve-spirit to the place where he lay ; and that her mind and thoughts, being ear- nestly fixed on the physician and his skill, was the reason that he heard the exclamation her soul made over the coffin, which it repeated on its return, when I heard it. As I had been told by her parents, a year before her father s death, that, at the period of her early magnetic state, she was able to make herself heard by her friends, as they lay in bed at night, in the same village, but in other houses, by a knocking — as is said of the dead — I asked her, in her sleep, whe- ther she was able to do so now, and at what distance ? She answered, that she would sometime do it — that to the spirit space was nothing. Sometime after this, as we were going to bed — my children and ser- vants beiug already asleep — ^We heard a knocking, as if in the air, over our heads. There were six knocks, at intervals of half a minute. It was a hollow, yet 00 THE SEERESS OF PREVORST. clear sound — soft, but distinct. We were certain there was no one near us, nor over us^ from whom it could proceed ; and our house stands by itself. On the following evening, when she was asleep — when we had mentioned the knocking to nobody whatever — she asked me, whether she should soon knock to us again ? which, as she said it was hurtful to her, I declined. She told me afterwards, that this knock- ing was made by the spirit and the air, not by the soul ; but that the voice heard by her father s coffin, was when the soul, through grief and earnest long- ing, had quitted the body with the spirit. We need not be surprised at these phenomena, when we remember that dying persons — when the soul is yet in the body, but the spirit is free — have it in their power to appear, in their own image, to dis- tant friends. Thus did a relation of my friend. Dr. Seyffer's, appear to him, at the moment of death ; as did also his academical friend, Prince Hohenlohe, to Dr. Oesterlen. The following remarkable history, also, I have from the most respectable authority. Mr. HUbschmann, of Stuttgart, had a father in Bothland, and a brother in Strasburg. It happened, that one morning, at break of day, Mr. H 's children awoke him, by crying out, " Grandfather ! grandfather ! grandfather is come ! *' Mr. H looked about, but saw nothing. On interrogating his children, they solemnly declared that their grand- father had been there, but whither he had gone they knew not. After some days had elapsed, Mr. H- received a letter from his brother at Strasburg, in- GOING FORTH OF THE SPIRIT. 91 quiring anxiously if he had any intelligence of their father, as a circumstance that had happened had oc- casioned him much alarm ; namely, that, on a certain day and hour, (and they were the same on which the children had made the above-mentioned exclamation,) he had been met by his father, as he entered his work- shop in the morning. Eight days afterwards came the news of the old man's death ; he had expired at the precise moment when he appeared to his family, at Strasburg and Stuttgart. Dr. Bardili, a young man of talent, who quitted his country for America, and devoted himself much to the study of languages and mathematics — and who, according to the testimony of his friends, had not much faith in spiritual matters — says, in the last let- ter he ever wrote to them — which letter is still in their possession — " The most extraordinary thing has lately happened to me : my friend Elwert, who died nine years ago at Wirtemberg, appeared to me, and said, ' Thou shalt soon die ! ' and what is more strange is, that th^ day he appeared to me was the anniver- sary of his own death." Shortly after writing this letter. Dr. B died, very unexpectedly. Mrs. H related to me, that sometime ago, she had seen herself sitting on a stool, and clothed in white, whilst she was lying in bed. She looked at the object, and tried to cry out, but could not ; at length, when she did so, it vanished. She said, on this occasion, that her soul left her body, and clothed itself in an airy form, whilst her spirit remained with it. On the 28th May 1827, at midnight, when I 92 THE SEERESS OF PREVORST. was with her, she again saw herself, as she after- wards related, sitting on a stool, clothed in a white dress which she had, but was not then wearing. She tried to cry out, but could neither speak nor move ; nor could see any object, but that one on which her eyes were fixed. Whilst she looked at it, her mind was pervaded with but one idea — one which she had not before entertained — which expressed itself thus : One day in heaven's worth A thousand here, on earth. The image rose, and ran towards her ; and just as it reached her, a sort of electric shock passed over her, which I saw ; she then uttered a scream, and related to me what she had seen. She saw herself on other occasions ; and once, when I remarked it, and stept between her and the image, she told me afterwards, that my doing so had caused her a very. uncomfortable sensation, as she seemed to be cut off from her soul. I shall here say nothing of this self-seeing, nor of those instances where the image has been visible to others. These phenomena all resolve themselves into examples of second-sight. Mrs. H considered the number 7, as her ap- pointed number, and out of this proceeded all her reckonings for her remedies, &c. &c. ; and the seventh hour of the day was always, with her, the most cri- tical. " This number," she said, " lies within me, like a language, (of this, more hereafter.) Had I the number 3, I should be well much sooner." GOING FORTH OF THE SPIRIT. 93 Like Paracelsus, she attributed great efficacy to the St. John's -wort — Hypericum perforatum — a plant which he used, not only internally, but as an amulet. A young man, much afflicted with melan- choly, to whom Mrs. H prescribed this plant as an amulet, was entirely cured, after a severe erup- tion that broke out on him, in consequence of its application. Mrs. H drew her remedies, as do all sleep- wakers, not only from the chemist's shop, but from all nature : witness her prescription of an ointment, made from the nipples of a horse, for strengthening the spine. Her prescriptions were often in accordance with the homoeopathic system : ordering those things, in small quantities, which, in larger, would have produced the disease to be cured. Sometimes her prescriptions were purely magical. Thus, at one time she desired me, every morning and evening, at seven, to say the Lord's Prayer, pro- vided I could do it with entire faith ; and that, on repeating the words, " Deliver us from evil," I should lay my hand on her forehead, &c. &c. With respect to amulets, she used them less for herself than for others. They were composed some- times of vegetable substances, but more frequently of writing, chiefly from her inner-tongue. " Speech," says Poiret, " is not only given to man as a means of communication, but as a means of governing the whole visible world by its secret powers — a word and a thing are yet one and the same. When the holy men of ancient times did such great things — when Adam named all the animals, in accordance with 94 THE SEERESS OF PREVORST. their nature— when Noah called them to him in the ark — and when Moses bade the Red Sea to divide — it was only a revival of the original nature of man." And why should there not be a language like that the Seherin describes, which expresses, by its words and characters, the powers and gradations of physi- cal nature ; so that, by hearing or reading the words, the existing properties of the thing are immediately presented to the mind ? A representative, or picto- rial language, must necessarily express an entire system, in a few words ; and there may thus be magical words, which comprise both the spirit and the power of holiness ; and an amulet may be only a holy cipher, or property in nature, emitting the name and virtue of the true faith. The virtue does not lie in the word, as a word, any more than it does in the substance of the herbs and metals. You may make your phylacteries as long as the Pharisees' ; but you will do nothing without faith, nor whilst the name of Jesus is but an idle breath upon your lips. These magical formulas of Mrs. H , seemed to consist of words and numbers still more profound than her ordinary inner-language, and appeared to belong rather to those mysterious ciphers, whereby she calculated the day of her death. Such signs and numbers were used by the ancients, and, doubtless, proceeded from the inner-seeing. In choosing amulets, she prescribed differently, accord- ing as they were to be laid on the back, or the pit of the stomach. When the disease proceeded chiefly from the brain, she applied them to the back ; when GOING FORTH OF THE SPIRIT. 95 the ganglionic system was most concerned, to the pit of the stomach. It is consistent with this to con- ceive, that we are anteriorly more magnetic than we are behind. Amulets had their origin in the East, the cradle of mankind. With us, these remedies are still used by the people ; whilst the hand that prepares them — the planet under which the plants are gathered — and the childlike faith of the patient, are looked upon as essential to the cure desired. Mrs. H said, that to exercise magical powers, the most entire faith in the invisible world was requisite. " It is a faculty of the soul, which is sustained by the spirit. There is another sort of magicT— of which I shall not speak — which is not sustained by the spirit." On this subject Eschenmayer, in his '^ Mysteries," speaks as follows : — '^ Amulet ! an awful word in this century, when reason is fast gaining a victory over the superstitions of the middle ages. This re- vival of amulets, and the like absurdities, is quite enough to prove the folly of this story, or, at least, the insanity of the Seherin. How can sensible and learned men go so far astray?" So says the re- viewer."^ There are three remedial powers : the power of nature — organic and spiritual powers combined — and a purely spiritual power. When the body is * Eschenmayer, an eminent psychologist, here speaks ironi- cally ; since he appears to have had entire faith in the pheno- mena exhibited by the Seherin, which he had himself carefully investigated. — Translator. 96 THE SEERESS OF PREVORST. sick, the physician has recourse to the first, with his earths, plants, metals, salts, &c. &c. The second is this troublesome intrusive magnetism, which makes its appearance in so many histories, that it can no longer be suppressed, and which, beyond a doubt, can often cure, where all other means have failed. For this no experienced physician is required, but a good and earnest man ; for it is not only the organic power of the human hand that heals, but the physi- cal influence of the whole man. But there is a still higher remedial power, and that is the purely magi- cal. The Word, with the name of Jesus Christ, is the remedy which, in the Acts of the Apostles, chap. iii. 2-18, Peter distinctly teaches us : — ye will not acknowledge it, and therefore is all power gone from you, and is given to the poor in spirit, to exercise henceforth in the fulness of their faith. The magic Mrs. H alludes to, as not sus- tained by the spirit, is of an evil nature, and is practised by those who have subjected themselves to evil spirits. To this, the Gospel frequently makes allusions ; but reason laughs at such superstitions. At all events, the results were in favour of the effi- cacy of the amulets. Let those who doubt, go t j the spot and inquire ; the witnesses are named, and still to be found. If you will not believe their tes- timony, neither would you believe, though one came from the dead to enforce the truth of the facts we record. In the early part of Mrs. It 's illness, her protecting spirit had exhibited to her^ in a dream, MAGNETIC MANIPULATION. 97 the form of a machine, which, properly used, would restore her to health. Mrs. H drew it on paper, but the intimation was neglected. After a long interval, it was, however, repeated ; and she was told, that had the injunction been obeyed in time, she would now have been quite well. It was con- structed shortly before her death, and the effect of it appears to have been galvanic. She said, " It charged her nerves ;" and she called it her nerve- tuner. MAGNETIC MANIPULATION, AND PRESCRIBING FOR DISEASE. It is remarkable, that my wife had the same mag- netic influence on Mrs. H as myself ; and, by joining their fingers, she could raise her from her bed as I could, when, of herself, she was quite unable to sit up. She frequently had no feeling, or conscious- ness of existence, except in the pit of her stomach ; she seemed to herself, as if she had neither head, hands, nor feet. At these times, she perceived every thing with, closed eyes ; but she could not tell whe- ther she saw the objects, or felt them. If I, by passes, made her lift her eye-lids, she saw nothing but me ; her pupils were immovable, but she could not tell whether she saw or felt me. It was found very injurious to tell her, when she awoke, what she had said in her sleep, and she entreated us never to do it. On approaching diseased persons, even though she did not touch them — and still more, if she did — Mrs. G 98 THE SEERESS OF PREVORST. H became conscious of their disease, and felt their sensations before they described them — and often much to their amazement ; and she was not only sensible of their physical state, but also of the temporary condition of their minds : the former she felt with her body, the latter with her soul. '' These facts," says Eschenmayer, in his Mysteries, " can all be proved by witnesses. Indeed, I bear it my own testimony ; for she accurately divined my whole bodily condition, as well as that of a friend — and this, by only the contact of the hand. These phenomena, however frequently they may be met with among somnambulists, still remain for ever re- markable. In proportion as we cannot deny, that in the hand, or any part of the body, may be con- centrated the entire susceptibility of an organism (explaining the otherwise disproportionate sensibility of a single organ) ; so will it become more and more probable, that there exists a latent sense, which can penetrate to the very organic centre of the nervous system. There is developed, by the mutual approxi- mation, a kind of polarity between the two nervous systems."^ In this polar relation of nervous system to nervous system, the particular organs of the one seek out, as it were, and become specially connected in polarity with the corresponding organs of the other ; so that the unhealthy organ of the (negative) * As a shilling and a sovereign, previously indiflFerent, become positively and negatively electric, the instant they touch one an- other, so as vastly to intensify the physical sensibility of the silver piece. — Translator. PRESCRIBING FOR DISEASE. • 99 patient^ mirrors itself in the corresponding organ of the (positive) clear-seer ; whence the condition of the person is always divined. Sensation, in this case sympathetic, is the indifferent conductor between the communicating homonymous poles." A singular proof of this was offered, by the case of a lady, quite unknown to us, who requested me to allow Mrs. H to touch her, when she was awake, for a severe pain in her liver. Mrs. H described her feelings exactly ; but, suddenly becoming very red, she added, that she could scarcely see with her right eye. The stranger, much surprised, said, that she herself had been almost blind, in her right eye, for several years ; but, knowing the malady to be incurable, she had not mentioned it to me. Mrs. H only recovered her sight by degrees, the pupil remaining incontractable, as in cases of amau- rosis ; she was relieved by persons with sound eyes earnestly directing them to her dark eye for several minutes. On the evening of the 5th of September 1827^ I placed in the hand of Mrs. H a ribbon, on which was written the name of a sick lady, whose illness, as well as herself, were quite unknown to me — this ribbon she had doubtless worn, or touched. Mrs. H had only held it a few minutes in her hand, when she was seized with giddiness, choking, and violent vomiting, together with pains — especially in the ankle of the left foot — anxieties, and irritation of the uvula. The hand was washed, and various means tried of removing these symptoms j but she 100 THE SEERESS OF PREVORST. became worse, and fell into a cataleptic state, that resembled deaths her body being quite cold. A blis- ter I applied did not rise ; and she only recovered after some days, and very slowly. On the sixth of the month, I read the death of this lady in the news- paper ; and it thus appeared^ that she was already dead and buried when I gave the ribbon to Mrs. H , which accounts for the effects it produced. Doubtless, had she been in her sleep-waking state, she would have seen the body in the grave. Van Helmont speaks of a paralytic woman, who was always seized with fits of palsy when she sat on a stool, on which her brother, who had died five years before, had been wont to sit. " If mankind only knew the numbers and the periods," said a som- nambule once to me, *' they might heal the worst diseases, by the simplest means." CITRE OF THE COTJKTEBS VON MALDEGHEM, BY MEANS Ot THE SEERESS. As in this book facts only are given, we shall strictly adhere to them in the following story. On the 28th March 1 828, the Count von M waited on me, with a letter from his physician. Dr. Endres, of Ulm. The letter informed me who the bearer was, and said that the Count, having heard of the Seeress, wished to consult her about his wife ; and he described the case of the invalid as follows : CURE OF COUNTESS VON MALDEGHEM. 101 It appeared that, shortly before her birth, her father had been cut down, in front of his own castle, by a detachment of Austrian soldiers. It was ex- pected that her mother would miscarry, in conse- quence of this misfortune ; but, on the contrary, she was, in due time, safely delivered ; but the child (the invalid now in question) bore the exact features of her father, and, for a long time, had the complexion of a corpse. This, however, in time, disappeared; and the only ill-effect that remained from the acci- dent, was an exceedingly excitable, nervous tempera- ment. The young lady was educated in a convent, and in her twenty-third year married the present Count von M . She is a person of very culti- vated mind, and of a very amiable and religious character. Her illness dates from her second con- finement, and consists of a sort of waking dream, in which she lives, and in which she is possessed of three fixed ideas ; and these form a circle, in which her imagination moves : namely, Ist^ A doubt as to the identity of her husband and children ; 2dl2/, An expectation, or rather earnest longing, for the change of her being ; Sdly^ Expectation of some superna- tural phenomenon, through whose agency this change is to be effected. These are the fundamental notions, which, however, undergo many changes and modifi- cations. In her sixth year, it happened that the Countess, overlboked by her attendants, slept for half a day in a poppy-field. When she was at length awakened, it was found that her memory was so affected, that sbjd 102 THE SEERESS OF PREVORST. only imperfectly recognized her sisters and attendants; and for a long time doubted the reality of persons and things, before well known to her. She in a great degree recovered this attack, but her subsequent residence in a cloister, doubtless, had a tendency to revive it ; and it was observed, that she could not well distinguish betwixt her dreams and the realities of her waking life. After her betrothment to the Count, she often felt uncertain as to his identity, though before the world she sought to conceal these abnormal feelings; till, on the 31st October 1827, after her confinement, she fell into a sort of dreamy life, which the physicians at first . thought proceeded from inflammation of the brain, but afterwards pro- nounced to be insanity. Her chief idea, in this state, was, that she was dead, and irrevocably con- demned to waiider through dark fissures, and sub- terraneous caves, sufi'ering all manner of torments. The persons most dear to her, appeared to her in the form of animals — as bears, &c. ; and it was impos- sible to make her believe that her place of residence, which she much loved, was real — she thought it only a picture, or image. She also believed herself — in reality so much beloved — to be an object of abhor- rence to all men; and, on that account, fled their presence. After many remedies had been tried in vain, the Count brought his unhappy wife to Germany, where, however, she still converted every object into a source of torture. It is remarkable, that, from the com- mencement of her illness, the Countess, in her lucid CURE OF COUNTESS VON MALDEGHEM. 103 moments, always said that her restoration would proceed from no physician, but only from her hus- band. Under these circumstances, he came to me. I explained to him, without reserve, that, for ordin- ary maladies, I had little confidence in the prescrip- tions of sleep- wakers; but that, in the case of the Coun- tess — which seemed to me to be not altogether mania, but to have some resemblance to a state of magnetic dreaming — the experiment would be worth making. On being consulted, Mrs. H took a warm interest in the case ; and said she felt that the Coun- tess's number was 3, and that the cure must be con- ducted accordingly. Three times a-day, for nine days, she must put on an amulet, consisting of three laurel leaves ; but she must not be told of what the amulet consisted. The Count was also to magnetise her three times a-day, according to directions given ; and, during this time, she was to live very simply, taking no exciting food or medicine. Three times a-day she was to take a spoonful of the juice of the St. John's-wort, mixed with water. Mrs. H added, that she must be set to sleep at nine o'clock every morning ; and that, if she herself slept at that hour, no one must speak to her, as she should be praying for the Countess. On the 31st the Count returned to Ulm, and commenced the cure of his wife, according to these directions, on the morning of the 3d of April ; and, on that morning and hour, Mrs. H , quite contrary to custom, fell asleep, and lay in silence, with her hands crossed, as if in prayer. From that time she felt herself en rapport 104 THE SEERESS OF iPREVORST. with the Countess ; and this feeling increased daily, till Wednesday the 9th, when, at six o'clock in the evening, she cried out, " Cast all thy cares upon the Lord, for he careth for thee !" and she then said, that she had had a vision, whereby she knew that a change had taken place in the Countess. On the 1 4th, I received the following letter from the Count : "Ulm, nth April 1828. " Pray, write to me as soon as possible, and say whether, on Wednesday the 9th, at six o'clock in the evening, you remarked anything particular about Mrs. H , and what has occurred with her in relation to my wife. I do not ask this without a motive; and, together with Dr. E — — , anxiously await your answer. " C. VON M " I could only answer the Count, by relating to him what I had already noted in my journal, as I have above related it ; to the truths of which there were two other witnesses^ besides myself. On the morning of the 18th, Mrs. H told us, that she had the feeling that the Countess would arrive on that day; and this actually happened, the Count and she arriving in the evening ; and he related, that for six days he had followed the directions given by Mrs. H , without observing any parti- cular effect from them ; but that at six o'clock on the evening of the 9 th — which was Wednesday — the Countess had called him from the company with CURE OF COUNTESS VON MALDEGHEM. 105 which he was engaged, and had told him, that on the striking of the hour six, she had found herself strongly en rapport with Mrs. H , and felt an invincible necessity to communicate something to her husband, which she had never told any human being whatever. After this revelation, the illusions that had troubled her wholly disappeared ; she re- cognized her husband and children, and also her estate ; but felt a great desire to see Mrs. H , on which account he had brought her. The Count's physician wrote to me, " that the disease appeared to be overcome, as if by magic ; and that all that re- mained of it was the religious anxiety, that led her to believe she had not sujficient faith in the holy mysteries of her religion." The Countess now spoke of her former life as a labyrinth, in which she had been involved, alluded frequently to the perplexing dreams which had troubled her, and said that she felt herself now in a more waking state ; but she would sometimes add — " I am not yet quite certain whether this as my Charles, and only feel sure of it when I touch his arm, and the scar that is upon it." The Count had a scar on his arm from a sabre cut. She also often fancied that she heard voices mocking her ; and, pious as she was, she could neither pray nor enter a church. Mrs. H , whom the Countess fre- quently visited in her sleep- waking state, directed all her efforts to calm her sufferings, by confirming her faith ; and she said to her — ^' When I pray with you, will you pray with me ? Be assured I will 106 THE SEERESS OF PREVORST. say nothing contrary to your faith." Mrs. H was of the Lutheran persuasion, and the Countess a Catholic. The Countess asked her how she should banish her uneasy thoughts ? Mrs. H— — answered — " You cannot banish them, but you will see them in a diflferent point of view." For seven days, at seven o'clock in the evening, Mrs. H^ prayed with the Countess, and the mind of the latter be- came more composed ; till at length, suddenly on the morning of the 28 th, she awoke her family, and declared herself quite well. The abruptness of this declaration alarmed me, and I could not help doubt- ing the reality of the case. But she assured me I had nothing to fear ; and so the event proved, for ten years have now elapsed without any return of her malady. * Acknowledge, here, reader, the power of spiritual community, prayer, and a child-like faith. ^' Rarely in the annals of magnetism," says Eschenmayer, " do we find a case in which the phenomena are so clearly exhibited, and so extra- ordinary a physical-magnetic, or, we may say, religious-magical, power is laid open to us. I heard the account from the lips of the Countess herself, and witnessed her entire conviction that she had been cured by the Seeress. This history gives us a glimpse into the region of spiritual sympathies, which disperses, like soap-bubbles, all our miserable * We are informed by a gentleman, who has lately been in Germany, that the Countess von M is still alive. — Trans- lator. DIFFERENT DEGREES OF MAGNETISM. 107 objections drawn from the laws of nature. My friend Kerner calls on mankind to acknowledge the power of faith and prayer. But, alas ! they know it not. They think to lay open the universe by the force of their vaunted reason, and they find it but an empty shell. " But whereunto shall I liken this generation ? It is like unto children sitting in the markets, and calling unto their fellows, and saying — ' We have piped unto you, and ye have not danced ; we have mourned unto you, and ye have not lamented."* ON THE DIFFERENT DEGREES OF MAGNETISM, AND THE FEELINGS OF THE SEHERIN IN EACH OF THEM. The magnetic condition of Mrs. H may be divided into four degrees. 1st, That in which she ordinarily was, wherein she appeared to be awake, although she was not, but, on the contrary, was in the first stage of her inner-life. She said that many persons were in this state, of whom it was not suspected, and who were not aware of it themselves. 2dl2/, The magnetic dream. She believed many persons to be in this condition who were considered insane. Sdl^/y In the half-waking state, which exhibited itself more especially by her writing and speaking the inner language, to which we shall refer by and 108 THE SEERESS OF PREVORST. by. She said that she spoke this language when her spirit was in intimate conjunction with her soul. 4}thy The sleep-waking state, when she was clair- voyante, and prescribed. But between the third and fourth there appeared to me an intermediate one — the cataleptic, wherein she lay torpid and cold. She said that, in her half- waking state, she thought only with the cerebellum ; of the cerebrum she felt nothing — it was asleep. In this state she thought more with her soul ; her thoughts were clearer, and her spirit had more power over her than in her waking state. In the perfect sleep-waking state, the spirit had the su- premacy ; and, when she was perfectly clairvoyante, she said her thoughts proceeded wholly from the spirit, and the epigastric region. " In our natural state of vigilance, we feel little or nothing of the spirit. But man, as he is situated in this world, must be governed by the soul. If the spirit had free play, what would this world be ? It can pene- trate into things above ; and, in his present life, man must not know the future." She said this in her sleep- waking state. Once she said — " I feel the soul in the nerves, which I now see quite clearly. But I must know, with certainty, whether the soul only hovers over the nerves, and what happens to the nerves after death." After looking more deeply into herself, she said — " The soul continues to live with the spirit, and creates around it an ethereal form." She said that the magnetic dream had some DIFFERENT DEGREES OF MAGNETISM. 109 resemblance to the sleep-waking state, and was, therefore, not without its significance ; but it pro- ceeded more from the brain. When awaking from this state, she remembered what she had dreamt — which was not the case in the half- waking, or clear- seeing state. She often spoke out, and related her dream, whilst it was passing through her brain, sometimes in yerse, and sometimes dramatically.* She distinguished these dreams from those of natural sleep, by their being more regular and distinct. She could not be awakened from them ; but, if they were - nagfcugifliliy interrupted, the dream was resumed the next night, exactly at the point at which it had been broken off. Mrs. H said *^ that the sleep-waking state is the life and act of the inner- man, and contains. in itself a proof of a future existence, and of re-union after death. It is the internal activity of man which is unawakened in persons in their normal condition, and which is wholly asleep in those whose life is centered altogether in the brain, who, being uncon- scious of their sympathetic life, never listen to its voice ; though, if man considered rightly, he would find this his true guide. The sleep-waking pro- duced by magnetic passes is a sure remedy — for, in clairvoyance, the inner-man steps forward and in- spects the outer, which is not the case either in sleep * Mrs. H made a great many verses ; but, as they are not poetical in the original, and would be still less so translated, we omit them. — Translator. Mo THE SEERESS OF PREVORST. or dreaming. Clairvoyance is a state of the most perfect vigilance, because then the inner spiritual man is disentangled and set free from the body. I would rather, therefore, denominate sleep-waking the coming forward of the inner-man, or the spiritual growth of man. At these moments the spirit is quite free and able to separate itself from the soul and body, and go where it will, like a flash of lightning. The sleep-waker is then incapable of any ungodly act ; though his soul be impure, he can neither lie nor deceive. I should call this the third stage of clear-seeing. In the second stage, which is inferior, the soul and spirit come forth together — not the spirit alone, as in the former. There is a still in- ferior state, in which the soul unites itself with the spirit ; and, as no soul is quite pure, the seeing is here imperfect. The lowest stage of all may be considered as an excited condition of the nervous system, and is a state which appears more or less in ordinary life. It resembles that prophetic power that some men, doubtless, are endowed with ; but, in the case of a sleep-waker, the faculty is stronger, and more regular. " In the normal condition, the soul dwells chiefly in the brain, and the spirit in the epigastric region. In the magnetic state, the soul approaches, more or less, the seat of the spirit. In those who only live their external life, the soul has the supremacy ; and the highest state of spiritual perfection is when the spirit can free itself wholly from the soul," SUN^SPHERE AND LIFE-SPHERE. Ill It will be seen hereafter, that there is a great difference betwixt this separation of the spirit in sleep-waking and in death. THE SUN-SPHERE AND LIFE-SPHERE. THE CONDITION OP THE SEERESS WHEN THESE SPHERES WERE DEVELOPED WITHIN HER. On the 18th October 1827, while in a sleep- waking state^ produced by twenty-one laurel berries, Mrs. H told us that the following evening at seven o'clock, would be the last time we should see her in a perfect state of clairvoyance ; that hence- forth she should be more awake to external life, and that we should be all as strangers to her ; that the appearance of her eyes would become more natural ; and that the past would . be to her as a dream. I asked her if the spectres would no longer appear to her ? She answered that that did not depend on her sleep-waking state. They would appear as before, but would seem strange to her ; and their appearance would frighten her. In the night she was extremely ill, and said that there seemed to be a struggle within her, as of two fighting — one of whom told her she was in Weinsberg, and the other that she was in Lowenstein. In the one case, the 112 THE SEERESS OF PREVORST. objects around her were familiar ; and, in the other, they became strange. On the morning of the 19th, she found it very difficult to speak her ordinary language, feeling an impulse to speak high German, and to address every one as thouJ^ She said that she felt as if she was about to lose her soul, or that something was dying within her. On the 19th, at seven o'clock in the evening, being in the sleep- waking state, she said, after silent prayer — '^ I feel that I awake this day from a long dream, which has lasted from the time I came here, when you chided me ; and I thought there was no longer anything human about me. I had hitherto relied on human aid, but now felt myself deserted, and retired entirely into myself. From this time I have not lived a single hour on the earth, however much I appeared awake. How fearful will it be to me when I awake. I shall immediately exclaim that I have been dreaming of many persons. When the ghosts I have been accustomed to see come to me, I shall not recognize them, but shall ask them all the questions I have asked them before ; and seeing them when I am awake will alarm me ; — but I am aware, by the state of my optic nerves, that I shall still see them. The nerves of healthy people often enable them to perceive them also ; but I see more than I speak of — I penetrate quite into the world of spirits. No one must say anything to me of my long sleep ; but they must prepare me for the * It is to be observed that sleep-wakers cast off all conven- tional customs. SUN-SPHERE AND LIFE-SPHERE. 113 spectres, or I shall be too much frightened when I see them. I feel as if it were now the night of my arrival here ; and, when I wake, I shall ask for my sister Amelia, who was then with me." After praying, she allowed us to awake her, which we did by touching her with the mountain crystal. Her first inquiry was for her sister, to whom she wished to relate her long dream. However much we had been about her, we seemed all strangers to her now ; she only recognized those whom she had known be- fore the 26th October 1826. She was extremely surprised at the improvement in her own health, and especially to find that she had no longer the miliary fever. We told her that the physician had given her a powder which had occasioned her to sleep through the winter and summer. She wept at this — expressed sorrow at having passed so much time in a dream, and was extremely uneasy at the strange- ness of her chamber, and the novelty of every thing about her. She related that she had had a great alarm in the night : about one o'clock, a figure had entered her room, and placed himself by her bedside, saying — '•' Tell me something consoling." She was much frightened, and asked him what he required of her ; and he answered that he had visited her frequently; and then she related what will be found in a further part of this volume. On the following day she was still very uneasy, and at times almost in despair, from being unable to re- concile herself to her new condition. It was a great error that officious persons had been permitted to 114 THE SEERESS OF PREVORST. tell her too many particulars of her magnetic life ; she was, consequently, very much dissatisfied here, and extremely desirous of returning home. She seemed to recollect some persons by looking hard in their eyes ; but all traces of what she had heard, felt, smelt, or tasted, during the latter months, was wholly obliterated. She said that seeing appeared to her a more spiritual faculty than hearing ; and that, though the latter had made no impression on her, the former had. The only flower of which she retained an idea was the auricula, and the odour of that she seemed to have imbibed through her eyes ; and of all the poems she had read in the course of her life, she remembered only one of Goethe's. In appearance, she was much the same as she had been ; but her voice was weaker, and she was less able to leave her bed than before. Minerals and plants continued to produce the same effects on her ; but my magnetic power over her was considerably diminished. However, it did not appear to us that she was yet wholly out of the magnetic sphere ; and it seemed probable that there would yet be another awakening. THE SPHERES. Mrs. H said, that the time that had elapsed when she was asleep appeared to her a circle ; and THE SPHERES. 115 tliBre seemed to be several of these circles through which she had passed. On the first of these were seven stars, which were the dwellings of the blessed of inferior grades ; the second was the moon, which was very cold and disagreeable. The right side of it is the dwelling of those who are to be blest, many of whom come out of the mid region. She described many other circles, in one of which she saw her pro- tecting spirit, and, in another, the souls of animals. Each circle seemed to embrace a year. She also said that, in the sleep-waking state, when the spirit separated itself from the body, it left be- hind it the soul with all its sins upon it ; but the spirits of the dead are not equally pure, for they carry the soul and its sins with them. If this were the case with the sleep-waker, he would never awake. And although the spirit, in its perfect purity, is incapable of deceit, yet, if it be not quite free of the soul, it may, by too much questioning, be brought to lie. Under these circles, which the Seherin called the orbit of the sun, or sun-sphere, she saw others which she called the orbit of life, or life-sphere, and sometimes her soul. These seemed, amongst other things, to denote the different degrees of goodness ; and there were signs and numbers upon them. The numbers, with which she had special relation, were ten and seventeen. The first, ten, is the in- variable number of all mankind, and, at the same- time, the terrestrial number. The second number is not constant, but differs with each individual — it is 116 THE SEERESS OF PREVORST. the inner number, and the heavenly one. Both these fundamental numbers are fundamental words : in ten lies the fundamental word for man as a human being, and for his relation to this world ; in the other number seventeen lies the word for that individual inner-life which he will take with him after death. " Let not this^ however," she added, " induce the persuasion that one who does evil was destined to do so through this number. The choice of good and evil is free to all men ; but he who gives himself up to evil loses his number, and is de- livered over to his wickedness and its consequences." The less the soul is under the influence of the body^ and the more it is governed by the spirit, the better we are. The second number, which each man has, is con- nected with the duration of his life. If so many evil accidents come from without as to overpower it, he dies ; when it is not disturbed, old age is attained. In her sleep-waking state, Mrs. H frequently spoke in a language unknown to us, which seemed to bear some resemblance to the Eastern tongues. She said that this language was the one which Jacob spoke, and that it was natural to her and to all men. It was very sonorous ; and, as she was per- fectly consistent in her use of it, those who were much about her gradually grew to understand it. She said, by it only could she fully express her innermost feelings ; and that, when she had to ex- press these in German^ she was obliged first to THE SPHERES. 1 1 7 translate them from this language. It was not from her head^ but from the epigastric region, that it pro- ceeded. She knew nothing of it when she was awake. The names of things in this language, she told us, expressed their properties and quality. Philologists discovered in it a resemblance to the Coptic, Arabic, and Hebrew : for example, the word Elschadda% which she often used for God, signifies, in Hebrew, the self-sufficient, or all-powerful. The word dalmachan appears to be Arabic ; and bianachli signifies, in Hebrew, / am sighing^ or in sighs. Here follow a few of the words of this inner- language^ and their interpretations : — Handacadi., physician ; alentana^ lady ; chlann^ glass ; schmado^ ^ moon ; nohin^ no ; nochiane^ nightingale ; hianna jftna,, many coloured flowers ; moy^ how ; toi^ what ; optini poga^ thou must sleep ; mo li arato^ I rest, &c. &c. The written character of this language was always connected with numbers. She said that words with numbers had a much deeper and more' comprehen- sive signification than without. She often said, in her sleep- waking state^ that the ghosts spoke this language; for although spirits could read the thoughts, the soul, to which this language belonged, took it with it when it went above ; because the soul formed an ethereal body for the spirit. Besides the range pf numbers, which we have alluded to, as connected with the inner -life, there appeared to be another of a deeper and higher signi- fication, the explanation of which she could not give. 118 THE SEERESS OF PREVORST. All I know relating to it is, that she was one day trying to translate her own name into a figure, when she burst into tears; and when I asked her the reason, she said that she had suddenly come upon a much deeper secret connected with numbers, in which she had involuntarily discovered, in her name, the number and hour of her death, but that happily she had, as suddenly lost it again. I told her I thought it impossible that any one's death could be calculated by their name ; but she answered me earnestly — " When you die, you will learn that it is possible." She expressed great satisfaction to Eschenmayer, that he felt and understood the religious signification of the spheres. Mrs. H- said that, as in the sun's orbit, or sphere, was comprised this world, so, in the orbit of life lay the presentiment of a higher, which existed in every man. In clear-seeing, the spirit quits the orbit of life, and enters the centre of the sun's orbit ; and then all things become visible, freed from the veil, or screen, which otherwise conceals them. A som- nambule can only describe what belongs to our sun s orbit, as the sun, moon, earth, and other planets, and the mid-region, which is the ethereal space around us. No somnambule has described what be- longs to the deeper sphere of the life-orbit. The Seeress said, that the separation of the spirit from soul and body in sleep-waking, bore a great resemblance to death, but was not the same. When THE SPHERES. 119 the spirit quits the body, in the last moments, it becomes weak and helpless — it cannot draw the soul after it, and can only wait. The dying person is then unconscious of all that happens — the future is hidden from him, and he can no longer express him- self. When, previously to this moment, a dying person declares that he is now certain of the exist- ence of a future state, &c., it is because the soul, being no longer under the direction of the brain, recovers its natural power of clear-seeing, and hope of the future^ which had been before obscured. When the spirit has quitted the body, the soul knows it can no longer stay^ but struggles also to be free. This is the moment of the death-agony; and, at this moment, instead of the now powerless spirit, the spirits of the blest stand by to aid the soul ; and the struggle is longer or shorter, in cases of natural death, in proportion to the ease or diffi- culty with which the soul can separate itself from earthly things. With respect to the nerve-spirit, or nervous prin- ciple of vitality, she said, that through it the soul was united to the body, and the body with the world. The facility with which this spirit freed itself in her case, was the cause of her abnormal condition. The nerve-spirit is immortal, and ac- companies the soul after death, unless where the soul is perfectly pure, and enters at once amongst the blessed. By its means the soul constructs an airy form around the spirit. It is capable of increase, or growth, after death ; and by its means the spirits, 120 THE SEERESS OF PREVORST. who are yet in the mid-region, are brought into connexion with a material in the atmosphere, which enables them to make themselves felt and heard by man^ and also to suspend the property of gravity, and move heavy articles. When a person dies in a perfectly pure state — which is rarely the case — he does not take this nerve-spirit with him ; though indestructible, it remains with the body, and, at the general resurrection, is united to the soul, and con- structs it an aerial form. Blessed spirits, to whom this nerve-spirit is no longer attached, cannot make themselves heard or felt — they appear no more. The purer the spirit is, the higher grade it holds in the mid-region, or intermediate state, and the more entirely it is separated from the nerve-spirit. From the above disclosures of the Seeress, in her sleep-waking state, it would appear that, when the spirit of a clairvoyant goes forth into the centre, all things within our solar system are unveiled to it. This clear-seeing has become dark to man, in pro- portion as his orbit has deviated from the centre. He now no longer understands the language of na- ture ; numbers and names of things are lost to him, and, with infinite labour, he can only acquire a glimpse of their properties. Schubert and the Seeress seem to agree in this — that what is now learning^ was formerly intuitive knowledge. The mystery and holiness attached to numbers, in the early ages of the world, as seen in the prophets, and the ancient Indian astronomical tables, appear to be connected with this lost science. Doubtless, the early systems THE SPHERES. 121 of philosophy, especially that of Plato, was the off- spring of this intuitive knowledge ; and the sinii- larity between the system of Pythagoras, regarding numbers — as far as we know of it — and that of the Seeress, is remarkable. Plato also says, " The soul is immortal, and has an arithmetical origin, as the body has a geometrical one. . It is the picture or representation of a universal spirit ; has motion, and penetrates into space, from the centre of the body. It is, however, divided betwixt two accordant-inter" mediate regions^ and forms two united spheres," That which Plato denominates " the motion of the soul,'* the Seherin calls the '' life-sphere -" and what he calls " the motion of the whole, and of the pla- nets,'* is with her the " sun-sphere." " By this means," says Plato, " the soul is placed in connexion with what is external — apprehends what exists — and sub- sits harmoniously ; because it has within itself the elements of perfect harmony." In numbers originates the harmony of the world, and the generation of all things. He who loses his number, loses all community with the good, and dis- order and confusion arie his portion. Is not this what our Seeress says ? and yet she never heard of Plato. Compare her also to Pytha- goras, who says that numbers are the elements of all things, and of all knowledge ; and who, by them, solved enigmas unknown in modern arithmetic. S. Martin, Novalis, and Swedenborg — of whom Mrs. H knew nothing whatever — say the same thing. So does the last of these admit the existence of a 122 THE SEERESS OF PREVORST. higher sun (her sun of grace) than that we see ; from which shines a spiritual light, as from the other a natural light. Eschenmayer says, in regard to this revelation of the Seeress^ '^ There are two kinds of suns : one which we see, and which gives us light ; and which is confined to our planet-system — a mere drop in the ocean. But there is another — a central sun — which we do not see, but from which all the stars receive their light/** Ennemoser says, ^^ If we imagine the natural world, and all that is in it, to be a sphere — as it really is — we shall find it has neither beginning nor end ; it is boundless, and the past and the future are comprised in it. (So says the Seeress, " In this sphere I could go backwards and forwards, and see the past and the future.") The whole world is pene- trated with light, and man is the mirror of the divine radiance (Abglanz.) This, according to our Seeress, is the soul, which is the mirror of every thing that exists. In this mirror all objects would be reflected, were they not hidden by the thick mist of earthly vapours. The inner-sense in man, is the burning light — (der Geist) — the spirit ; which, however, can- not always shine through the thick husk of the body, but, like the internal fires of the earth, can only break through at certain points ; that is, only in *■ This suggests the hypothesis which has been advanced by certain popular writers on astronomy, that as the earth is the centre of the terrestrial, Jupiter of the jovial, and the sun of the solar system ; so there may exist a great centre of the stellar system itself, as one vast whole. — Translator. THE SPHERES. 1 23 certain men — not in the whole race. The day will come, when the whole earth will be lighted by its internal fires ; so will man cast ofi" his thick husk, and be dissolved in the universal light. It is remarkable, that the Seeress placed the souls of animals in the dream-ring — and it is true that theirs appears to be a dreamy life — whilst, at the same time, she seems to make this ring the repre- sentment of the ganglionic system, with its magnetic instincts — sympathy — antipathy — foresight, which are so prominent in the animal kingdoms, especially amongst birds and insects. There is also reason to believe, that animals — as horses, dogs, &c. — are less isolated from the spiritual world than human beings are ; and that they are more sensible of the proxi- mity of spirits. Old age and childhood seem like- wise to belong to this circle ; as do saints, poets, and l)rophets, and the infancy of the human race. The dreams of the aged recur mostly to their early years; which may, perhaps, indicate that they are returning to that sphere which they had abandoned. That compartment of the mid-region which is nearer to, and lower than the earth, where human souls are below the souls of animals, our Seeress places beyond the dream-ring. There is another compartment within the dream-ring, under which lies that appro- priated to animals ; and this may accord with the fact, that spirits from this lower region sometimes appeared, not only brutified, but actually in the guise of animals. » Our Seeress places hell below the external mid- 124 THE SEERESS OF PREVORST. region ; and the universal belief in a heaven, a hades, and a hell, may be explained by the fact, that each human soul is a mirror, in which every man^ who looks within, will see all that exists, reflected with more or less distinctness. THE INNER-LANGUAGE. With respect to the inner- language, the Seherin said, that one word of it frequently expressed more than whole lines of ordinary language ; and that, ' after death, in one single symbol or character of it, man would read his whole life. It is constantly observed, that persons in a sleep-waking state, and those who are deep in the inner-life, find it impos- sible to express what they feel in ordinary language. Another somnambule used often to say to me, when she could not express herself, ^' Can no one speak to me in the language of nature ?" The Seherin observed by Mayers said, that to man, in the magnetic state, all nature was disclosed, spiritual and material ; but that there were certain things which could not be well expressed in words, and thus arose apparent inconsistencies and errors. In the archives of animal magnetism, an example is given of this peculiar speech ; the resemblance of which to the eastern languages, doubtless, arises from its being a remnant of the early language of man- kind. Thus, sleep-wakers cannot easily recall the RELATION OF THE SPIRIT. 125 names of persons and things, and they cast away all conventionalities of speech. Mayer s Seherin says, that as the eyes and ears of man are deteriorated by the fall, so he has lost, in a great degree, the lan- guage of his sensations ; but it still exists in us, and would be found, more or less, if sought for. Every sensation or perception has its proper figure or sign, and this we can no longer express. In order to describe these perceptions, Mrs. H constructed figures, which she called '' her sun- sphere," '^ her life-sphere," and so forth. Many instances, proved how perfect her memory for this inner-language was. On bringing her the lithograph of what she had written a year before, she objected that there was a dot too much over one of the signs ; and, on referring to the copy which I had by me, I found she was right. She had no copy herself. RELATION OF THE SPIRIT, SOUL, AND BODY. As long as the spirit maintains the sovereignty, the true, the beautiful, and the good reside within it in complete harmony. The soul preserves its perfect equipoise ; and all its functions of thinking, feeling, and willing, partake of the harmony of the spirit. The superior region of the soul rules the inferior ; and the intercourse of this with the body, and of the body with the world, is so ordered, that the welfare 126 THE SEERESS OF PREVORST. of the whole is undisturbed. In order to maintain this equipoise, the soul, during its temporal exist- ence, is endowed with freedom by God ; and it rests with man to make what use of it he will. When itself too much enslaved by the world, the soul draws the spirit after it. As the soul grows mundane, the spirit becomes troubled ; and, when it is drawn out of its first sphere, good is mixed with evil, and the moral laws are neglected. But when it has passed out of the second, the beautiful is alloyed by the odious, and the feelings become impure and corrupt. The third ring passed, then step in error and folly, and take the place of truth. The spirit has become subject to the soul, and the soul to the body ; and the fruits are deceit, sensuality, lies, wickedness, and self-seeking. When the equipoise is thus lost, it is very difficult to recover it, and by religion alone can the balance be restored. Mrs. H said, that the insane were those whose spirit was taken captive by the soul and body ; and that the cretins are those in whom the spirit lies half-bound. PHYSICAL WORTH. Every man receives, at his generation and birth, a faculty, which comprises the law of his develop- ment, and the duration of his life. This is expressed by a number ; and, if no prejudicial influences, either MORAL WORTH. 127 from the soul or the external world, operate against him, he reaches his appointed term ; but if the re- verse is the case, the number is earlier exhausted, and his life is curtailed. There is a daily waste of vita- lity, which is also daily compensated; but, after middle age, the bodily organism loses its energy and nutritive powers, and gradually declines. Higher than the appointed number life cannot reach ; but it may be shortened — and is, in most instances. All violent emotions, passions, and sensualities, occasion loss to the animal economy ; and a mortal fever ex- hausts at once the number, that had else lasted out many years. MORAL WORTH. As physical occurrences, in reference to the body, are inscribed in the sun-sphere, so are moral occur- rences, in reference to the soul, daily, monthly, and yearly noted. Man thinks, feels, acts, wishes, en- joys unceasingly ; he has daily a hundred opportu- nities of doing right : if he make good use of them, it is his merit — if he neglect them, his fault. But worse than the neglecting of good, is the doing of evil ; and all being entered and set down, there is a constant moral loss or gain ; which, as it is to endure for eternity, is of much more importance than the other account, which is but temporary. For the duration of our physical life there is a number, 128 THE SEERESS OF PREVORST. but for our moral merit or demerit there is none determinate ; ^ because these extend beyond death, atid because that perfectibility which springs from freedom is exalted above all finite number. Imme- diately after death, that natural language, which lies in every man, is revealed to him^ and he reads at once his whole life, with its acts and omissions, in its characters. The account is engraven on his heart in figures of fire ; and woe to him whose demerits weigh down the balance — who has died unrepentant in his sins — untrusting in God, and unbelieving in his Redeemer. [We here insert a compendious account of the spheres, with which we have been favoured by a scientific friend. — Translator.] THE SPHERES THEMSELVES. [On the third day, the Seeress designed two com- plicated spheres, in an incredibly short time, without instruments, with great precision, and full of related lines. A pair of compasses, which Kerner gave her, thinking to facilitate her work, only embarrassed her, a,nd caused her to deviate. She spun these intricate webs, like a spider, with unerring instinct. These drawings she interpreted to Kerner with simplicity and minuteness. The first of them she called her sun-sphere, or the solar orbit of her life ; THE SPHERES THEMSELVES. 129 and she often repeated, that every one carries such a sphere of relative life around that which she re- presented as his proper life -sphere. This sun«sphere is rather a series of spheres, drawn around one centre. The successive spheres alternate in their properties, in the same manner as the alternate spheres of re- pulsion and attraction that surround the sun, and are commonly represented to the popular reader as the centrifugal and centripetal forces of that luminary. It is evidently this analogy, that compelled Mrs. H to symbolize her enunciations on this sub- ject in language belonging to the sun, and other celestial bodies. The circumference of the best marked of all these orbits, seemed to come out from the pit of the sto- mach — to lead over the breast — and pass round close by the left side. This is nearly a sphere of ten inches diameter, described round the ideal centre of the sympathetic system of nerves. It is an ideal globe, placed in the left- front-side ; and including within it the heart — the roots of the lungs — part of the stomach — and, in fine, the principal ganglionic plexuses of nerves. Outside this is a boundless sphere, like the outer- most sphere of repulsion of a sun. This boundless one is really the first ; but that which has been just described is always called the first, or great orh'it, by the Seeress. Within the latter are six other orbits, successively — 2d, 3d, 4th, 5th, 6th. The first (or, as she once calls it, the sixth, in- verting the order she afterwards follows) was accom- 130 THE SEERESS OF PREVORST. panied, at its circumference^ with a sensation, that suggested the conception of something higher than nerve, which she calls nerve-spirit."^ The area of this first orbit was divided into twelve parts or seg- ments, and marked by a great many points in its periphery. In the outer half — L e, that which lay outside the pit of the stomach and breast — seemed to lie the work-day world of man. She there felt the spirit (Geist) of all with whom she had acquaint- ance^ but without their bodies or their names. Kerner, least of all, was sensible to her as a body ; she saw him, like a blue flame, at a particular point of the orbit, moving perpetually in the sphere, accompanied by his wife a little farther off.t This first orbit was to her like a wall, beyond which she could not move ; shut up within it, she was home-sick. Her consolation was, that she could speak to man the better from that withdrawment. She felt fixed to a particular point in the sphere, without power to ad- vance ; but regularly, at mid-day and midnight, she was pushed half a point forward, making one point in the twenty-four hours. The day seemed to impel or shove her. In the outer orbit, over which seven stars seemed to shine, she was at ease and happy ; she spoke into * This appears to us to be nothing more than the abstract idea of nervous influence impersonated, as waking speculators are prone to do. — Translator. *|- It must be remembered, that Mrs. H was in intimate rapport with Kerner's wife, w^ho had considerable magnetic power over hfer.— Translator. THE SPHERES THEMSELVES. 131 the world from it^ and thought Kerner alone heard her. In the second orbit she found it cold and re- pulsive. She spoke not — only swam hither and thither over it — and twice saw into it, but only what was too horrid to remember ; yet this orbit had the light of the moon in it. She averred that these seven stars signify nothing else but the stars, and the cold orbit the veritable moon. " These stars are the abodes of blessed ones of a lower grade." The second cold orbit is the abode of such as grow (i. e. are in the process of growing) holy ; but that only on its right side. The third orbit is sun-clear, and its middle point far clearer. In it she seemed to peer, with other spirits, down into an impenetrable deep of clearness^ which she expressed as the sun of grace. Here she spoke out into the world, as in the first ; and, still more than in the first, nobody seemed to hear her but Kerner — she was still more isolated from all but him. In its clearness she saw her conductress, (or protect- ing spirit,) except in its too bright mid-point, and from this orbit the prescriptions appeared to proceed^ she knew not how ! This is the dream- ring. In it she saw an intermediate region, and a region for the spirits of beasts — the latter undermost — all clearer than our day, with an uniform clear- ness, without light and shadow. When she wished to penetrate to the central orbits, she had to bethink herself of the month, day, hour, minute, and second in which she was ; and then, whilst reading them ofi*, she seemed to ride into these 132 THE SEERESS OP PREVORST. three innermost orbits as on a straight sunbeam. In all these she could see both past and future, history and prophecy. She asserted, that no sooner has a sleep-waker seen thus into the middle-point of the sun-sphere, through the successive orbits, than in an instant he is incapable of falsehood — he is a pure spirit. The spirit goes out from him all alone ; whilst the soul remains behind, with his sins, in the body. The spirit of one dead is not a pure spirit, because it is accompanied by the soul and its sins ; whereas, with a sleep-waker, (as such,) it is as if the fall of man had never taken place, else would he never awake. A sleep-waker, however, only in the first sphere — at the seven stars, where the soul still ac- companies the spirit — may be seduced into deception, especially by harassing questions. Of the seventh and boundless sphere, which she expressed as a coming year, (each orbit being a figurative year or revolution,) Mrs H only felt it was not like the rest. Pursuing her allegorical way of speaking, she said, that every seven years these solar orbits fell off her, and their entire contents could be expressed in a cipher, or a point, in which all the hours, minutes, and seconds of the seven years should be contained. So can one, at death, review his whole life in one figure. Respecting these six spheres, and the seventh unbounded one, she said a great many singularly coherent things besides. The Pythagorean numbers 7 and 3, with the multiples of the latter, are con- THE LIFE-SPHERE PROPER. 133 istantly repeated in the sketches. She told Kerner how to magnetize her for the current month, finding the directions in the orbits. But the student, de- sirous and capable of entering into this subject, must have recourse to a sedulous perusal of the original for further details. The mathematical form, and the numerical precision of this revelation, are surpassed in interest only by the fact, that the diagrams sha- dow forth some of the profoundest truths in the highest departments of physical science. THE LIFE-SPHERE PROPER. Under, or within these successive orbits of the sun-sphere of life, appeared to lie another — the life- sphere proper — with thirteen three-quarter segments, instead of the twelve possessed by the orbits of the former. She often called this orbit of life her soul. The sense of its existence was not so oppressive to her as that of the former. As this work-day world lay in the sun-sphere, so in this lies something more exalted than itself— something which descends on every man from a higher world. As she spoke out her sensations when in the atmosphere, so here she saw them represented in figures and diagrams. In ar : word, this life-ring is the seat of the soul, (Seele,) and the place of its confluence with the spirit, (Geist.) (By the word soul, is signified the abstract idea of the sum of all the intellectual and moral faculties ; \ 134 THE SEERESS OF PREVORST. and by the word spirit^ is indicated the pure reason — the conscience — the intuitive sense of the good, true, and beautiful — the over-soul — in one word, the Holy Ghost; all which are synonymous.) Here, in this ring, she learns a number of well-known maxims of religion, and states them in spherical figures of speech. Two numbers rule the sphere, 10 and 17 : The 1 is a constant number for all mankind, and is, at the same time, the earthly one, by means of which the spirit can go out into the external world ; and the 1? is the celestial and inner number, and may vary with every man. This varying number is a sort of balance, keeping his account with heaven for good and evil ; and, if the evil so far outweighs the good, he may lose his number altogether. It is impossible to give the reader a more detailed account of this sj)here, and its revelations, without a full translation : suffice it to say, that it is just the enunciation of the principles of a more spiritual Christianity than is usual in any country, and that given in the form of a spherical diagram, with middle- point, radii, circumferences, compartments, and nu- merical signs. She even invents symbols to express her numbers. She indites poetical addresses to God, and descriptions of the sacred sphere itself, when residing there, withdrawn from all that lives beyond herself. She is a Pythagorean to the core. " It seems to me," she says, " that every man has such numbers and words appointed him from his birth, but no two the same words and numbers ; I mean, that such orbits go through the whole of nature — EXPLANATION OF THE SUN-SPHERE. 135 including all that live and weave — pervading all creation, from beginning to end." Here, in fine, she felt her true inner-life to be led, with figures, signs, and words for itself — here she spoke in an unknown tongue, creating sonorous, as well as visible symbols, for the expression of her spiritual experiences. In truth, here she resembled those enthusiasts who have appeared, from time to time, in connexion with almost every form of reli- gion ; yet there is a singular difference : they rave, but she is calm — they are often ridiculous, but she is admirable throughout — they are, not unfrequently, terrible to behold, but she is sublimely accessible — above all, they are incoherent ; but she represents her experiences and opinions in the shape of a physico - mathematical diagram, recording her inward obser- vations from day to day.]] EXPLANATION OP THE SUN-SPHERE DESCRIBED BY THE SEERESS* This sphere was unfolded during the last magnetic year, from Christmas 1826 to Christmas 1827, when, according to the Seeress, it melted away, and gave place to a new one ; whilst all that had been per- manently good in its experiences was woven into the life-sphere. The difference between common and magnetic vigilance, is the same as between the intellectual and 136 THE SEERESS OF PREVORST. the spiritually intuitive life. In the former, a man has laid claim to an outward existence, and prose- cutes all sorts of intercourse with nature and man- kind ; in the latter, having abdicated this objectivity, he strains down into the deeps of spiritual life alone. In the one, the spiritual faculty is dispersed (like the radiance of the sun) over the external world ; in the other, it is concentrated into a focus, which illumines all the sphere of existence. In the first, the varied products of the mind can be summoned before the consciousness, at will ; in the second, the produc- tiveness of the mind is in abeyance, and we are allowed a glance into that mystery of numbers, with which the spirit eliminates its products. Somnambulists say, " I feel — I behold ; " never, " I understand — I trace — I discover." Their com- munications are not like knowledge acquired, a pos- teriore, by the understanding ; but like direct intui- tions. Every time a clear -seer pronounces a number, she beholds it (painted) within : the number passes out of the native system of numbers, into the pre- sence of the consciousness, (and that by a peculiar internal impulse,) where it then stands suffused with light. When she would speak out of the unknown natural language, she looks upon the characters — feels their meaning — and then translates the words into her ordinary language;, whatever that may be. When she prescribes for herself, the properties of all things are clear to her ; but only one — or say a few — accord with the internal requirements, and these she at once selects. When she foretells the time, EXPLANATION OF THE SUN-SPHERE. 187 frequency, and violence of her own crises, she looks upon her organical type. In all these states, the will is powerless, as well as the more educated intellect : passions and propen- sities lose their usual supremacy — all is absorbed into harmony with the spiritual instinct. Goodness and truth are imaged in the intuition of beauty, while the lusts and appetites withdraw (from before the mirror.) In a word, common waking seems to consist in outward freedom and internal bondage ; magnetic waking, in external bondage but inward freedom. Let us now inspect the sun-sphere more closely. 1. The outward ring signifies the beginning of the instinctive life — the withdrawing of the spirit from the exterior of life, and its involution towards the centre. 2. The partial blue ring, between the two outer- most peripheral ones, signifies the magnetic aura, felt like a band, produced by the ordinary applica- tion of magnetism. Mrs. H called it a mag- netic wall, isolating her from the outer world. It does not go the whole way round. 3. The second complete ring is divided into 365 days and 1 2 months ; and from this issues the radi- ance towards the centre. From this, developed by the magnetic rapport^ proceeds somnambulism, and takes its aim against the interior of the life of spiritual instinct. In the different compartments into which the radii divide this ring, were stored all the occurrences and disturbances of the magnetic 138 THE SEERESS OF PREVORST. life, which befell her in the successive months of this magnetic year. At the end of each month a num- ber is elaborated, which represents the sum of these disturbances ; and from month to month it becomes larger, till it attain a maximum which has its root in the number native or peculiar to her as an indi- vidual. 4. The spaces between these two and the next included rings Mrs. H delineates as her spirit- world. The spiritual appearances with which almost daily^ and certainly without being magnetized, she stands connected, form an episode in this magnetic history so peculiar, that no similar narrative is extant. Her daily intercourse with so many beings, invisible to us, thronging around her, and continu- ally ascending before her out of the mid-region, as she calls it, and all in order that, through prayer, they might regain their true relation to Christ and salvation through him, forms a singular chapter in this history, 5. The next included ring — that is, the third one — is bordered by bright little spheres, which are carried into the compartments of the month, there being one for each. In the middle lies the number ten, with which every one reckons outwards, as well as the number seven — being that with which Mrs. H counts inwards, which is variable in each individual. It is here that the deeps of intuitive life are first opened up in magnetic rapport^ in clear-seeing, in sympathies and antipathies, in prescriptions for her- RELATION OF LIFE-SPHERE TO SUN-SPHERE. 139 self and others^ in divination, in the transference of the senses to distant parts, and especially in all those revelations which are peculiar to the higher states of somnambulism. 6. The three spheres lying immediately round the mid-point are set all round with little stars. When asked if this might not indicate the locality of the spiritual heaven, she replied — '^ These stars signify nothing but stars." 7. Out of the mid-point of the sun-sphere, into which the spirit transfuses itself, it looks backwards to the centre of the life-sphere, where Mrs. H places the sun of grace. Behind that sun there basks, in ineffable beauty, the abode of the blessed, which Christ has assigned as his own domain ; but no mortal eye can gaze into it. We can know no more than is revealed by the glance which flashes for a moment in the spiritual eye — and even that must be instantly turned away, or be stricken blind. RELATION OF THE LIPE-SPHEEE TO THE SUN-SPHERE. Mrs. H said that the sun-circle, or sphere, is the world, and that every man carries the residue of it into the life-circle of his soul. As this world lies in the sun-sphere, so there lies a much higher in the life-sphere, whence every man has a presentiment of another world. The clear-seer steps out of the life-circle into the sun-circle, and beholds all that is 140 THE SEERESS OF PREVORST. within the comprehension of man. But this faculty has become more obscure since man has lost his in- tegrity. From the centre of the sun-sphere, the spirit beholds the world as it really exists — without veil or screen. If the spirit looks longer in this centre, it glances momentarily back to the centre of the life-sphere — which is a much deeper seeing; and what he has here seen only remains with him as a presentiment. The centre of the sun-sphere must be sometliing different from the spirit, because the spirit looks into it when it goes forth. The beholding of the mid-region is different, for this lies wholly in the sun-sphere, which is alike in all men. The reason that so few men perceive this (objective) spiritual kingdom is, that their spirits are not able to place themselves in the centre of the sphere. It is mostly magnetic persons that can do this ; and, therefore^ it is they who see spirits. By the fall, the spirit has lost its integrity, and is prismatically broken ; it is coloured and troubled like a ray of light that has passed through a prism. The cloud of the life of appearance intercepts its view — the ideas of the true, and the beautiful, and the good, no longer exhibit themselves to it ob- jectively, as they exist in the universal scheme. As Plato says, it has lost its wings, and, with the soul, is absorbed in the body and the world ; and all that remains to it is a striving to regain those wings. When the spirit is drawn from its sphere, ac- quired knowledge takes the place of the intuitive ; RELATION OF LIFE-SPHERE TO SUN-SPHERE. 141 but the former is imperfect, and cannot supply the deficiency of the latter ; but the spirit still strives after what it has lost. The expression of this striving is the true philosophy ; and it remains true so long as it does not seek to identify itself with the fulness of revelation. The Scriptures say that man came pure from the hands of God, though he has since fallen from his purity; but that he may recover it through mediation and redemption. The cause of the fall was sin, which has not only drawn the spirit from its centre, but out of its sphere ; so that the worship of the one true God is split into a thousand fragments of the physical word, and a thousand idols of the human world. Truth and sin are two ever-receding poles ; and we can only ap- proach the one as we retreat from the other. There are many kinds of philosophy, but there is only one that is true ; and therefore, for two thousand years the fate of all its systems have been an invariable cycle — a mere labour of Sisyphus ; for no sooner have they reached their culminating points, then down they fall again. The functions of the soul are — thinking, feeling, and willing — but the lowest of these is thinking ; and those systems of philosophy which exalt it above the others are of the lowest grade. Enlightenment, enjoyment, light and love, are not the ojffsprings of thought ; they have a higher source. The functions of thinking, feeling3 and willing, originally belonged to the spirit ; but, since the fall, they have detached themselves, and each seeks its own independence— 142 THE SEERESS OF PREVORST. the result of which is, that the understanding is no longer in union with the other two. If the philosophy of religion were founded on a real basis — such as is here intimated — and were further deyeloped, the conviction would soon follow, that truth can only be elicited by exchanging the false centre of the absolute for the sun of grace, and worldly wisdom for the gospel. THE SEVENTH SUN-SPHERE. On the 1st of May 1828, Mrs. H said that she felt something remarkable would occur to her ; she knew not what it was, but hoped it would be for the best. After the news of her father s death — which she received on the 2d May, and which, as we have mentioned, she foresaw — her convulsions ceased ; but, in spite of this, her magnetic condition aug- mented, and she was in the sleep-waking state several times every day. She told us that she could no longer move backwards and forwards in her sun- sphere as before ; and that the stroke, or line, in her life-ring, which should not have reached the centre till December, had suddenly sprung forward ; and that, as she had not strength to push or shove it back again, so much time was lost to her, and she feared it would occasion her death. The whole of the 7th was passed in a state alternating between dreaming and catalepsy. At one time her protecting spirit THE SEVENTH SUN-SPHERE. 143 appeared to her, pointing to a half-open coffin, which she interpreted as signifying that some peril impend- ed over her life. On the 8th, at seven in the even- ing, according to her own sleep-waking instructions — she being at the time in a state of catalepsy re- sembling death — I called to her, addressing my words to the pit of her stomach — '^ Do not forget this last year up to the present evening." Without this she told me that she should lose all recollection of the years that had elapsed since the commence- ment of her illness — a thing she could not endure the thought of. At my voice she started from her death-like state with a cry of terror, and an aspect of despair, but fell back immediately into her pre- vious insensibility. Presently she awoke, seeming unable to comprehend her situation, or recognize the circumstances that surrounded her. She said that the whole of her seventh sun-sphere had fallen off; but whether she should enter on a new one, she could not tell — she could see nothing beyond the present day, and must keep herself as composed as she could, in order to preserve her recollection. Her speedy closing in or environment (Eingesperrtseyns) seemed to be the next thing she foresaw. On the 15th, she somewhat recovered her recol- lection of that period which had become obscured to her ; and she lost the feeling of her spheres alto- gether — even the time at which she had made them appearing already dark and distant, whilst that which had preceded it now seemed the latest. The recollection of this last was at first dim, but gradually ] 44 THE SEERESS OF PREVORST. brightened, until she recalled every circumstance that had occurred with the greatest vividness. This kind of phenomenon is often observed in old people. On the 27th of January 1829, Mrs. H being in her sleep-waking state, said that she felt her seven sun-spheres had fallen off ; and that had not the last been cut through, as it had been, that with this crisis she should have recovered her health. The months of the sun-sphere, in which she then was, would last only to the 2d of May, instead of till the 27th December^ as they should have done. By this loss she was thrust out of these months ; and she believed that she was about to die, since these four months were all that were yet pending. On the 2d of May she fell into a magnetic dream, in which she as usual spoke aloud, somewhat to the following effect : — " I am on a mountain — Oh ! might I go down to the right, over those golden clouds, where I see that flowery vale ! To the left I see nothing but graves and corruption — behind me I see mankind struggling and fighting, like lions and tigers — to the right the flowers are smiling on me, but I will to death and the grave. Must I fall under this stroke ? Lead me where thou wilt — Oh ! fearful dream ! — Oh ! guide me ! Must I sink into the abyss ? Thou art powerful and strong — Do I under- stand thee aright ? — Must I remain on this moun- tain ? Yes, I must stay till the hour is come ; but thou art with me by day and night — if thou forsakest me, I fall. Oh ! let me awake from this fearful dream!" &c. &c. THE SEVENTH SUN-SPHERE. 145 She was now in a new sphere^ and a new magnetic life, in which she described her inner faculty of see- ing as deeper than ever, although she should not speak out what she saw^ as before. She said, her body was dead whilst yet alive, but that her soul was more free and calm than ever. ^^ Let my body be no more regarded — be no care taken of it ; 'tis a torn garment, that I no longer value — into thy hand, Lord ! I commit my spirit." This was the presentiment of her approaching death ; and, from this time, she herself maintained the indifference she recommended. Although highly magnetic, and in a state of ex- treme debility, her sufferings had certainly been much alleviated during her residence at Weinsberg. She had more internal lucidity and calmness, and she had been cheered and consoled by intercourse and com- munion with many worthy men ; but it was not in the power of her friends to defend her from the un- favourable circumstances that, just at this period, acted so prejudicially on her health — we allude more particularly to the death of her father, and the sick- ness of her child. On the 5th May 1829, she returned to Lowen- stein, there to fulfil her destiny. And now, dear reader, was not the lot of this poor being a most pitiable one ? But all things that come from God are for the best, though we understand them not ; and the soul's health of this poor sufferer, and of those who take part in her pains, may per- K 146 THE SEERESS OF PREVORST. haps be the blessed fruits of her agony. Go ye into the world, my reader; and if the former part of this book be not to your mind^ trouble yourself with it no more — go ye into the world, which will tell you that all this is deception^ or the effects of a diseased imagination ; but wait till the still, midnight hour finds you at the bed-side of the dying, or till the parting hymn is sung by the grave of your well- beloved. The tumult of the world drowns the voice of our sweet mother, nature ; but the time comes at last, when the wheels stop — the clamour ceases — and that loving voice strikes in full accord upon our hearts ; and then we stand amazed, that all our life long such a chorus of heavenly harmonies had been calling to us, and we heard them not. PART SECOND. REVELATIONS CONCERNING THE INTER-DIFFUSION OF A WORLD OF SPIRITS IN THE ONE WE INHABIT. THE SEERESS OF PREVOKST. INTRODUOTIOK Beloved^ when you read these pages, although you be yet in the flower of youth, remember that life flies like a dream ; and when it is gone, what will avail all the knowledge you have acquired as a means to honour and fame ? You believe in a future state, but think little of the way that leads to it. You turn away your eyes from the picture of old age that awaits you,, and seek to drown the warning voice within, by the distractions of the world with- out. But you cannot silence it, for it is the voice of God ; and do what you will, it will yet cry to you, in the midst of pleasures, " Thou must die!" And when death threatens, you cling to the weak science of man, and rest dearer hopes on an apothe- cary's draught, than on all the treasures of the world. And how little even do those who, by satiety of life are led to desire death, think of what awaits them ! They hope they are not wicked enough for eternal punishment, and trust that God is too merci- ful to condemn them to it ; and they believe that, in quitting this world of care, they are going to an in- 150 THE SEERESS OF PREVORST. heritance of heavenly bliss. May these pages, which will not please the multitude — for the truths they disclose are too contrary to their hopes and wishes — may they, oh, beloved reader ! in spite of the ridi- cule and incredulity of the world, awaken thee to serious consideration. Well I know, that all the ordinary views of this life — of soul and spirit — and of the present world and the next, must be altered, before mankind can bring themselves to believe what is here written ; and that, rather than make this sacrifice, he will reject the whole, though the ex- change had been a happy one. Under these circum- stances, nothing remains for the investigator but his good intentions, and the beneficial purpose to which he has endeavoured to direct these events ; — for the rest, he must wrap himself in his mantle, and defy the storm. THE SEEEESS OF PREVORST. OF THE MAGNETIC MAN, IN HIS APPROXIMATION TO THE WORLD OF SPIRITS. However superficially we observe the course of na- ture, we cannot help remarking that she always advances by minute steps — that her progress is a chain, of which no link is wanting — and that she makes no abrupt transitions. Thus, in the stone we see the plant — in the plant, the animal — in the ani- mal, man — and in man, the immortal spirit. And as the wings of the butterfly are folded in the cater- pillar, so in man — especially in certain conditions — the wings of a higher Psyche are revealed, ready, after his short earthly life, to be unfolded ; and, by the magnetic man, before whom time and space are unveiled, we learn that there is a super-terrestrial world. The magnetic man is an imperfect spirit. In the polypus, which is the link between plants and the brute creation, we see both an imperfect animal and an imperfect plant ; whilst fixed to the earth like a plant, it stretches its arms into the animal world, and thus bears witness to it. And, in like 152 THE SEERESS OF PREVORST. manner, we see the magnetic man, whilst yet in the body, and enchained to the earth, putting forth feelers into the world of spirits, and bearing witness to that also. Such a striving after, and upward flight into, the world of spirits, we observe in all magnetic sub- jects ; but never yet in so great a degree as in the case now before us. We have seen, in the former part of this volume, how this nerve-spirit — arrested, as it were, in the act of dying — became sensible of the spiritual properties of all things — properties, to our more closely imprisoned nerve-spirits, altogether imperceptible. We have seen how this being — almost a spirit — releasing itself from its earthly husk, ranged through time and space ; and is it much more strange, that through the same faculties which en- abled it to perceive properties in earthly things, of which we are altogether unconscious, it should also be sensible of supernatural appearances, which are to us imperceptible ? Man is apparently a link between blest and unblest spirits — or, in other words, between angels and demons — and, though an inde- pendent and self-existing being, is yet subject to the influences of both. Doubtless, the laws of nature, as far as we yet know them, are more especially fitted to this middle-sphere, in which we think, feel, and will ; and are in less relation with those higher and lower powers, whose existence is denied by those independent spirits, who feel no innate presentiment of it. We are not here going to ofl'er a theory of appa- THE MAGNETIC MAN. 153 ritions — whether our readers may look upon them as mere illusions of the brain^ or be willing to accept the facts we shall offer as competent proof — but only to examine whether, in the disclosures of the Seeress, any reasonable foundation for belief can be found. According to her, the nerve-spirit is the remnant of the body, and, after death, surrounds the soul with an aerial form. Being the highest organic power, it cannot by any other, physical or chemical, be destroyed; and, when the body is cast off, it follows the soul ; and as, during life, it forms the only bond that unites the soul with the body and the world, so is it also the means whereby the soul, whilst in the mid -region, can make itself manifest to man — of which power the atmosphere is the in- strument. In our ordinary condition, our senses are incapable of discerning these phenomena, just as we are incapable of perceiving the principle which pro- duces seeing and hearing ; because the subject can- not, at the same time, be the object. But in the abnormal magnetic state, such condi- tions are possible. The nerve-spirit — which, in our waking life, acts through the senses on the objective world — in the magnetic life is more concentrated and self-reflecting, whereby the sensorium attains an unwonted energy. It creates internal senses for itself out of the nervous plexuses, whilst the exter- nal senses are more and more shut up. And thus, the sensitive life of the soul is augmented and strengthened, by the reinforcement of the knowing and willing powers, which unite with it. 154 THE SEERESS OF PREVORST. In the same manner, the soul takes its direction towards its original centre, and knowledge is ele- vated into clear-seeing; and, under these circum- stances, not only may the spirit be able to place itself in the centre of its orbit, but also those things which are hidden to ordinary eyes — as the inhabit- ants of the mid-region — may be visible to the excited senses of a magnetic subject. Unless we look upon these supernatural appear- ances as mere chimeras, we must grant, that the preternatural lustre that shone from the eyes of the Seeress, when she beheld them, affords at least some confirmation of what she related to us regarding their frequent visits, and of how the dark forms gradually became brighter whilst she prayed. Her eyes shone like a flame, in which the dark spirits sought to sun themselves ; and where, it is probable, they found a gleam of that sun of grace, from them wholly hidden. It is remarkable, that the Seeress placed the dwelling of the blest, and the sun of grace, in the centre of the sun's orbit, and the ap- pearance of the unhappy spirits in its middle-region. The first belongs to the supernatural — the last, to the sub tern atural. Betwixt these lies the nature of man, which, in the high magnetic state attained by our Seherin, is placed in contact with both. REMARKS ON GHOST-SEEING. 155 SOME REMARKS OF THE SEHERIN ON THE SUBJECT OF GHOST-SEEING. Persons whose life is in the brain — but especially those in whom it is more in the epigastric region — are occasionally capable of ghost-seeing; but the apparition is always seen by the spiritual eye through the fleshly. Through the soul may come presenti- ments, and the sensibility to spiritual things ; but clear-seeing never. When, however, the spirit is excited by the soul, ^Jhl-/