Arcana of spiritualism; a manual of spiritual science and philosophy

349 Pages·2009·20.39 MB·English

by  Tuttle, Hudson, 1836-1910

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OF
SPIRITlJftliSM
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A MANUAL OF
Spiritual Science and Philosophy,
BY HUDSON TUTILE.
J, R. P!UNCIS, Chicago, Ill. HUDSON TUTTLE, Berlin Heights, 0.
W, H. TERRY, Melbourne, Australia.
190o4,

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:13\? tbe Same Butbor.
ARCANA OF NATURE.
PHILOSOPHY OF SPIRIT.
ORIGIN AND ANTIQUITY OF MAN.
CAREER OF THE GOD-IDEA IN HIS'TORY.
CAREER OF THE CHRIST-IDEA IN HISTORY.
RELIGION OF MAN, AND ETHICS OF SPIRITUALISM.
STUDIES IN THE OUTLYING FIELDS OF PSYCHIC
SCIENCE.
SECRETS OF THE CONVENT.
HERESY.
LIFE IN TWO SPHERES.
MEDIUMSHIP AND ITS LAWS.

PREFACE.
FRAOMENT.S OF MY PSYCHIC EXPERIENCE.
It has been suggested that this volume would be
better understood if I gave my spiritual experience
and method of writing. In complying, I exclude
everything outside my.psychic sensitiveness.
That I was born in what was then a wilderness en
the southern shores of Lake Erie (Ohio, U.S. A.), and
for the early years of my life to the time I began to
write for the superior intelligences had exceedingly
limited social and educational advantages, may be of
interest to the readers as showing how the communi
cations transcended my own capabilities, and the ed
ucation which came with its inspiration.
No one can write of the vicissitudes, emations, or
thoughts of a medium as well as the medium himself.
By the essential conditions of mediumship, he is sensi
tive and easily disturbed by antagonism. What to
others would be a jest, to him becomes agonizing, and
he is often disturbed by causes unknown by their sub
tlety. The voice of censure is unbearably harsh; a
word of praise lifts his soul with unspeakable delight;
he is a bundle of nerves, tense, sensitive to a breath,
responding to a touch. These conditions are not of
his seeking, but are thrust upon him, and he cannot
east them off. Like all human capabilities, sensitive
ness is susceptible of culture, of intensification, and
of being lost by neglect or abuse; of yielding un
speakable delight or pain.
Hence, for the ·medium who has traversed this path
way to clearly present the conflicting impressions he
experiences is difficult, but important data for the
3tudy of the phenorn~na may be thereby furni!!hed,
10 PREFACE.
At an age when the mind is usually abso11bed in
sports my thoughts turned to the great questions of
theology and religion. This I refer to the .fact that
my parents were Unitarians in a community of Trihi
taria}ls. 'l'heir house was the headquarters for the
itinerant preachers, both orthodox and heterodox,
who, on circuits, carried their doctrines into the wil
derness, and the atmosphere was burdened with dog
matic disputations, based on the literal text of the '
Bible, for the "higher criticism" was then unknown
and doctrinal sermons, hot with the fires of hell, and
terrible ihreatenings of God's wrath met the popular
demand. The result was that at an early age I be
came sceptical of the entire Church sCheme. The
gloom of doubt was cast over my young life. An
nihilation was appalling, yet I saw no escape. They
who professed to know the secrets, not only of life
but of death, were in direct conflict on vital issues,
and their light darkened understanding. Outside of
their domain there was no, assurance.
Man physically dies like the animal. Death in both
is accompanied by the same phenomena, and after
deatn the chemistry of change resolves the substance
of each to the same elements. Why should we sup
pose the one to be immortal and the other not 7 If im
mortality be doubted, all dependent dogmas share its
fate. I was more infidel than Paine, for I doubted
.everything.
The beginning of my doubts may be ·dated to an
accident which befell me, and my application of the
prayer test. I had been brought up to pray every
night before retiring, as a duty which must not be
neglected. When I was ncar teri years old I was set
to spreading hay after the mowers, and was given a
steel fork, because I was not strong enough to use a
wooden one. In those days such a fork was a treas
ure, and I was strictly charged to be careful of it.
All went well, and I kept near the gleaming scythes.
Then I fell behind, further and further. Suddenly a
snake darted over the swarthe. Filled with that her
editary hatred which has been instilled for countless
generations against the serpent, I struck at it with
the fork. I gave it no harm, but one tine of the fork
snapped shon. I wa~ overwhelmed with fear. My
PREFACE. 11
father was stern and not inclined to ''spare the rod,''
and I was hopeless. 'l'hen I thought of prayer.
Father had repeatedly told me that prayer would
bring the Almighty to our aid, and I had believed im
plicitly. I put the broken tine in place so nicely that
I could not see where it was broken. Holding it there,
that it might m~ke the least possible trouble for God,
I knelt down on the grass, and with the fervour of a
fear-stricken wretch told God that I had been con
stantly praying to Him and being good, and no")\'
wanted His help in mending the broken fork. I had
not the least doubt that the prayer would be an
swered. My dismay may be known when I removed
my hand and the broken tine fell off! I n!')ver knelt
in prayer or offered supplication or invocation again.
The fabric of my faith crumbled into dust. It was
the first and last time I ever applied for divine aid.
It was the turning point of a .life, when it ceased to
be theological and became scientific in its methods
of thought.
With my present knowledge, I can recognize at that
early day the beginning of spirit influence. I often
felt the exaltation of perception with corresponding
depressi~)n, which I did not then understand. but now
is clear to me.
Memory will ever retain the impressions of the first
time I was conscious that my hand had written with
out control or consciousness of my mind. Wholly in
explicable, confusing and bewildering, I doubted my
sanity, and was troubled with fear of the cOnse
quences. I was invited to attend a seance at the home
of a retired Congregational minister. He had heard
of the Rochester rappings, and called in' a few friends
to experiment. One bleak and blustering night in
early March, I walked across the fields two miles or
more to this seance, impelled by an irresistible im
pulse, yet ashamed of my interest in the subject. I
was then in my sixteenth year.
At the circle were several acquaintances and some
strangers, and I was ill at ease. After sitting for per
haps an hour I began to feel a calm restfulness, which
I mistook for sleep, and strove against; :rny arm and
.hand began to move unwilled, greatly to my annoy
ance1 as it attracted attention. A pencil was placeq
12 PREFACE.
in my hand, and paper on the table. ·After the awak
ening, this disturbance caused, had passed, I fell again
into the semi-conscious state, and my hand began
writing illegible scrawls at first, then here and there
a word was readable, and ,'loon whole sentences. Sev
eral names of spirits were written in full, and ques
tions, testing identity, were correctly answered. At
a late hour the seance adjourned, and I returned home
in a half-conscious state, not sensing the manifesta
tions through my hand.
'fhe next day I realized that I had been in a state
of which I had hitherto had no experience. A close
analysis convinced me that I had been at least par
tially conscious of what my hand was writing. I was
fearful that I had deceived, as well as been deceived.
'fhc members of the circle were convinced that the
power was beyond myself, while I attempted to ac
count for the manifestations by intensification of my
mind, by which the thoughts of the circle were re
flected. I was exceedingly miserable, and said I never
would place myself again in a position to be imposed
on; or of imposing -on others.
It could not be spirits, for I did not believe in ex~
istence after death, yet I thrilled at the thought of
the possibility of the continuity of life beyond the
grave.
That evening, several of those present at the pre
ceding seance, and many more who had heard the
won,drous tale, called to satisfy their· curiosity. At
first I wa!! firm in my decision not to sit again, but
after long persuasion I yielded, and I may add that
this yielding .to the wishes of those desiring seances
was a ·marked peculiarity, which I vainly struggled
against. However firm my resolve, when strangers
came and importuned, a higher and stronger influ
ence was brought to bear on my will.
Simultaneously with my development in writing
came that of rapping and tipping of the table~ We
always sat around it heavy walnut dining table, and
it gave responses, answered questions, and spelled
names of departed friends.
During the physical manifestations I was in semi
trance, intensely sensitive and impressible. The least
word a Jarrin~ question even wh~ll. th~ iut~ntioll, was
1 1