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IN THE
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BY
FRANOHEZZO.
TRANSCRIBED BY A. FARNESE.
Oh, Star of Hope, that shines to bless
The Wanderer hrough Lite's Wilderness!
Angels of Love— say are ye come
To lead the Weary Wanderer home?
CHICAGO :
THE PROGRESSIVE THINKER PUBLISHING HOUSE,
1901.
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preface b£ tbe {Transcriber,
The following narrative was written more than a year
ago, and in giving it to the public I do not claim to be its
author, since I have only acted the part of an amanuensis
and endeavored to write down as truthfully and as care-
fully as I could, the words given to me by the Spirit
Author himself, who is one of several spirits who have de-
sired me to write down for them their experiences in the
spirit world.
I have had to write the words as fast as my pen could
travel over the paper, and many of the experiences de-
scribed and opinions advanced are quite contrary to what
I myself believed to be in accordance with the conditions
of life in the world of spirits.
The Spirit Author Franchezzo I have frequently seen
materialized, and he has been recognized on these occa-
sions by friends who knew him in earth life.
Having given the narrative to the public as I received
it from the Spirit Author, I must leave with him all re-
sponsibility' for the opinions expressed and the scenes de-
scribed. A. FAKNESE.
London, 1896.
103
Dedication t>£ tbe Hutbor.
To those who toil still in the mists and darkness of
uncertainty which veil the future of their earthly lives, I
dedicate this record of the Wanderings of one who has
passed from earth life into the hidden mysteries of the
Life Beyond, in the hope that through my experiences
now given to the world, some may he induced to pause in
their downward career and think ere they pass from the
mortal life, as I did, with all their unrepented sins thick
upon them.
It is to those of my brethren who are treading fast
upon the downward path, that I would fain hope to speak,
with the power which Truth ever has over those who do
not blindly seek to shut it out; for if the after conse-
quences of a life spent in dissipation and selfishness are
often terrible even during the earth-life, they are doubly
so in the Spirit AVorld, where all disguise is stripped from
the soul, and it stands forth in all the naked hideousness
of its sins, with the scars of the spiritual disease contracted
in its earthly life stamped upon its spirit form — never to
be effaced but by the healing power of sincere repentance
and the cleansing waters of its own sorrowful tears.
I now ask these dwellers upon earth to believe that if
these weary wanderers of the other life can return to warn
their brothers yet on earth, they are eager to do so. I
would have them to understand that spirits who material-
ize have a higher mission to perform than even the solac-
ing of those who mourn in deep affliction for the beloved
they have lost. I would have them to look and see that
now even at the eleventh hour of man's pride and sin,
DEDICATION.
these spirit wanderers are permitted by the Great Supreme
to go back and tell them the fate of all who outrage the
laws of God and man. I would have even the idle and
frivolous to pause and think whether Spiritualism be not
something higher, holier, nobler, than the passing of an
idle hour in speculations as to whether there are occult
forces which can move a table or rap out the Alphabet,
and whether it is not possible that these feeble raps and
apparently unmeaning tips and tilts of a table arc but the
opening doors through which a flood of light is being let
in upon the dark places of earth and of the Nether World
— faint signs that those who have gone before do now re-
turn to earth to warn their brethren.
As a warrior who has fought and conquered I look
back upon the scenes of those battles and the toils through
-which I have passed, and I feel that all has been cheaply
won — all has been gained for which I hoped and strove,
and I seek now but to point out the Better "Way to others
who are yet in the storm and stress of battle, that they may
use the invaluable time given to them upon earth to enter
upon and follow with unfaltering step the Shining Path
which shall lead them home to Eest and Peace at last.
FRANCHEZZO.
Zbe ffmblieber's preface.
"A Wanderer in the Spirit Lands" is a remarkable book,
full of interest throughout. It was written in England
by Spirit Franchezzo, through the mediumship of A.
Farnese. We obtained Mr. Farnese's premission to re-
publish it in this country, and we take great pleasure in
adding it to our list of valuable premiums. This work de-
tails minutely the efforts of one who had led a sinful, self-
ish life on earth, to redeem himself in the Spirit realms.
Every Spiritualist should read it. It portrays in vivid
language a great moral lesson, and shows the baneful ef-
fects of wrong-doing, and the suffering and tribulation
that follow. In presenting this book to Spiritualists we
feel that we are enabling them to become familiar with
those spirits who have led on earth a selfish or licentious
life, and whose suffering must be great before they are
able to see the light that betokens a happier existence.
The controlling spirit, Franchezzo, has found it exceed-
ingly difficult to describe the spiritual scenes and expe-
riences through which he passed, in the language common
to earth; but the reader must bear in mind that the spirit
realms are as real to the spirit as anything on earth is to
the mortal, hence descriptions in many cases when re-
ferring to anything in spirit life, must necessarily be some-
what from a material standpoint. We are sure that this
book will be read with deep interest and lasting benefit.
It is certainly a very valuable acquisition to our list of
premiums. J. R. FRANCIS.
CONTENTS.
page
Preface by Transcriber.
Dedication by Author.
Part I. Days of Darkness.
CHAPTER L— My Death 1
CHAPTER II.— Despair 6
CHAPTER III.— Hope— Wanderings on the Earth
Plane — A Door of Spiritual Sight 11
CHAPTER IV.— The Brotherhood of Hope 25
CHAPTER V.— Spirits of the Earth Plane 33
CHAPTER VI.— Twilight Lands— Love's Gifts--The
Valley of Selfishness — The Country of
Unrest — The Miser's Land — The Gam-
bler's Land 39
CHAPTER VIL— The Story of Raoul 47
CHAPTER VIII.— Temptation 52
CHAPTER IX.— The Frozen Land— The Caverns of
Slumber 5G
CHAPTER X.— My Home in the Twilight Lands-
Communion Between the Living and the
Dead G3
CHAPTER XL— Ahrinziman 71
CHAPTER XII.— My Second Death 75
Part II. The Dawn of Light.
CHAPTER XIII.— Welcome in the Land of Dawn—
My New Home There 79
CHAPTER XIV.— A Father's Love 86
CHAPTER XV.— A New Expedition Proposed. ... 88
CONTENTS.
CHAPTEE XYL— Clairvoyance — The Journey
Begun 92
CHAPTEE XVII.— The Astral Plane and Its Inhab-
itants — Spooks, Elves, Vampires, etc. . . . 97
CHAPTER XVIII.— The Approach to Hell 116
Part III. The Kingdoms of Hell.
CHAPTEE XIX.— Through the Wall of Fire 121
CHAPTEE XX.— The Imperial City 129
CHAPTER XXL— The Fires of Hell— A Vengeful
Spirit — Pirates — The Sea of Foul Mud —
The Mountains of Selfish Oppression —
The Forest of Desolation — Messages of
Love 137
CHAPTEE XXIL— Amusements in a Great City of
Hell — Words of Caution 163
CHAPTEE XXIIL— The Palace of My Ancestors-
False Brothers Baffled ITT
CHAPTEE XXIV.— The Story of Benedetto— Plot-
ters Again Baffled 187
CHAPTEE XXV*:— A Pitched Battle in Hell 198
CHAPTEE XXVL— Farewell to the Dark Land. . . .204
Part IV. Through the Gates of Gold.
CHAPTEE XXVIL— Welcome on Our Eeturn— A
Magic Mirror — Work in the Cities of
Earth— The Land of Eemorse— The Val-
ley of Phantom Mists — A Home of Eest. .211
CHAPTEE XXVIII.— My Home and Work in the
Morning Land 230
CHAPTER XXIX.— The Formation of Planets. . . .234
CHAPTER XXX.— Materialization of Spirits 213
CHAPTEE XXXI.— Why the Spheres Are Invisible
— Spirit Photographs 252
CHAPTEE XXXII.— Through the Gates of Gold—
My Mother — My Home in the Land of
Bright Day — I Am Joined by Benedetto. .257
CHAPTEE XXXIII.— Mv Vision of the Spheres.. 269
CHAPTEE XXXIV.— Conclusion 278
PART I.
2>a\>s of ^Darkness*
UNi
PART I.
Ba\>$ of Bareness.
CHAPTER I.
I have been a Wanderer through a far country, in
those lands that have no name — no place — for you of
earth, and I would set down as briefly as I can my wander-
ings, that those whose feet are pointed to that bourn may
know what may in their turn await them.
On earth and in my life of earth I lived as those do
who seek only how the highest point of self gratification
can be reached. If I was not unkind to some — if I was
indulgent to those I loved — yet it was ever with the feel-
ing that they in return must minister to my gratification
— that from them I might purchase by my gifts and my
affection the love and homage which was as my life to me.
I was talented, highly gifted both in mind and per-
son, and from my earliest years the praise of others was
ever given to me, and was ever my sweetest incense. No
thought ever came to me of that all self-sacrificing love
which can sink itself so completely in the love for others
that there is no thought, no hope of happiness, but in se-
curing the happiness of the beloved ones. In all my
life, and amongst all those women whom I loved (as men
of earth too often miscall that which is but a passion too
low and base to be dignified by the name of love), amongst
all those women who from time to time captivated my
fancy, there was not one who ever appealed to my higher
nature sufficiently to make me feel this was true love, this
2 A WANDERER IX THE SPIRIT LANDS.
the ideal for which in secret I sighed. In everyone I
•'oiukI something to disappoint me. They loved me as I
loved them — no more, no less. The passion I gave won
but its counterpart from them, and thus I passed on un-
satisfied, longing for I knew not what.
Mistakes I made — ah! how many. Sins I committed
— not a few; yet the world was often at my feet to praise
me and call me good, and noble, and gifted. I was feted
— caressed — the spoilt darling of the dames of fashion. I
had but to woo to win, and when I won all turned to bit-
ter ashes in my teeth. And then there came a time upon
which I shall not dwell, when I made the most fatal mis-
take of all and spoilt two lives where I had wrecked but
one before. It was not a golden flowery wreath of roses
that I wore, but a bitter chain — fetters as of iron that
K galled and bruised me till at last I snapped them asunder
and walked forth free. Free? — ah, me! Never again
should I be free, for never for one moment can our past
errors and mistakes cease to dog our footsteps and clog
our wings while we live — aye, and after the life of the
body is ended— till one by one we have atoned for them,
and thus blotted them from our past.
And then it was — when I deemed myself secure from
all love — when I thought I had learned all that love could
teach — knew all that woman had to give — that I met one
woman. Ah! what shall I call her? She was more than
mortal woman in my eyes, and I called her "The Good
Angel of My Life," and from the first moment that I knew
her I bowed clown at her feet and gave her all the love
of my sovd — of my higher self — a love that was poor and
selfish when compared to what it should have been, but it
w r as all I had to give, and I gave it all. For the first time
in my life I thought of another more than of myself, and
though I could not rise to the pure thoughts, the bright
fancies that filled her soul, I thank God I never yielded to
the temptation to drag her down to me.
And so time went on — I sunned myself in her sweet
presence — I grew in holy thoughts that I deemed had left
me for ever — I dreamed sweet dreams in which I was
A WANDERER IN THE SPIRIT LANDS. 3
freed from those chains to my past that held me so cru-
elly, so hardly, now when I sought for better things. And
from my dreams I ever woke to the fear that another
might win her from me — and to the knowledge that I,
alas! had not the right to say one word to hold her back.
Ah, me! The bitterness and the suffering of those days!
I knew it was myself alone who had built that wall be-
tween us. I felt that I was not fit to touch her, soiled as
I was in the world's ways. How could I dare to take that
innocent, pure life and link it to my own? At times hope
would whisper it might be so, but reason said ever, "No!"
And though she was so kind, so tender to me that I read
the innocent secret of her love, I knew — I felt — that on
earth she never would be mine. Her purity and her
truth raised between us a barrier I could never pass. I
tried to leave her. In vain! As a magnet is drawn to
the pole, so was I ever drawn back to her, till at last I
struggled no more. I strove only to enjoy the happiness
that her presence gave — happy that at least the pleasure
and the sunshine of her presence was not denied me.
And then! Ah! then there came for me an awful, an
unexpected day, when with no warning, no sign to awaken
me to my positional was suddenly snatched from life and
plunged into that gulf, that death of the body which
awaits us all.
And I knew not that I had died. I passed from
some hours of suffering and agony into sleep — deep,
dreamless sleep — and when I awoke it was to find myself
alone and in total darkness. I could rise; I could move;
surely I was better. But where was I? Why this dark-
ness? Why was no light left with me? I arose and
groped as one does in a dark room, but I could find no
light, hear no sound. There was nothing but the still-
ness, the darkness of death around me.
Then I thought I would walk forward and find the
door. I could move, though slowly and feebly, and I
groped on — for how long I know not. It seemed hours,
for in my growing horror and dismay I felt I must find
some one — some way out of this place; and to my despair
4 A WANDERER IN THE SPIRIT LANDS.
I seemed never lo tind any door, any wall, anything. All
seemed space and darkness round me.
Overcome at last, I called out aloud! I shrieked, and
no voice answered me. Then again and again I called,
and still the silence; still no echo, even from my own
voice, came back to cheer me. I bethought me of her I
loved, but something made me shrink from uttering her
name there. Then I thought of all the friends I had
known, and I called on them, but none answered me.
Was I in prison? No. A prison has walls and this place
had none. Was I mad? Delirious? What? I could
feel myself, my body. It was the same. Surely the
same? No. There was some change in me. I could not
tell what, but I felt as though I was shrunken and de-
formed? My features, when I passed my hand over
them, seemed larger, coarser, distorted surely? Oh, for a
light! Oh, for anything to tell me even the worst that
could be told! Would no one come? Was I quite alone?
And she, my angel of light, oh! where was she? Before
my sleep she had been with me — where was she now?
Something seemed to snap in my brain and in my throat
and I called wildly to her by name, to come to me, if but
for once more. I felt a terrible sense as if I had lost her,
and I called and called to her wildly; and for the first time
my voice had a sound and rang back to me through that
awful darkness.
Before me, far, far away, came a tiny speck of light
like a star that grew and grew and came nearer and nearer
till at last it appeared before me as a large ball of light, in
shape like a star, and in the star I saw my beloved. Her
eyes were closed as of one in sleep, but her arms were held
out to me and her gentle voice said in those tones I knew
so well, "Oh! my love, my love, where are you now; I can-
not see you, I only hear your voice; I only hear you call to
me, and my soul answers to yours."
I tried to rush to her, but I could not. Some invisible
force held me back, and around her seemed a ring I could
not pass through. In an agony I sank to the ground,
calling upon her to leave me no more. Then she seemed
A WANDERER IN THE SPIRIT LANDS. 5
to grow unconscious; her head sank upon her breast, and
I saw her float away from me as though some strong arms
had borne her. 1 sought to rise and follow her, but
could not. It was as if a great chain held me fast, and
after some fruitless struggles I sank upon the ground in
unconsciousness.
When I awoke again I was overjoyed to see that my
beloved one had returned to me. She was standing near,
looking this time as I had seen her on earth, but pale and
sad and all dressed in black. The star was gone, and all
around was darkness; yet not utter darkness, since around
her was a pale, faint glow of light by which I could see
she carried flowers — white flowers — in her hands. She
stooped over a long low mound of fresh earth. I drew
nearer and nearer and saw that she was silently weeping
as she laid down the flowers on that low mound. Her
voice murmured softly, "Oh, my love! Oh. my love, will
you never come back to me? Can you be indeed dead,
and gone where my love cannot follow you? Where you
can hear my voice no more? My love! Oh, my dear
love!"
She was kneeling down now. and I drew near, very
near, though I could not touch her, and as I knelt down
I, too, looked at that long low mound. A shock of horror
passed over me, for I knew now, at last, that I was dead,
and this was my own grave.
A WANDEKEK IN THE SPIKIT LAXDS.
CHAPTER II.
"Dead! Dead!"' I wildly cried. "Oh, no, surely no!
For the dead feel nothing more; they turn to dust; they
moulder to decay, and all is gone, ail is lost to them; they
have no more consciousness of anything, unless, indeed,
my boasted philosophy of life has been ail wrong, all false,
and the soul of the dead still lives even though the body
decays."
The priests of my own church had taught me so, but
I had scorned them as fools, blind and knavish, who for
their own ends taught that men lived again and could
only get to heaven through a gate, of which they held the
keys, keys that turned only for gold and at the bidding of
those who were paid to say masses for the departed soul —
priests who made dupes of silly frightened women and
weak-minded men who, yielding to the terror inspired by
their awful tales of hell and purgatory, gave themselves,
bodies and souls, to purchase the illusive privilege they
promised. I would have none of them. My knowledge
of these priests and the inner hidden lives of many of
them had been too great for me to listen to their idle tales,
their empty promises of a pardon they could not give, and
I had said I would face death when it came, with the
courage of those who know only that for them it must
mean total extinction; for if these priests were wrong,
who was right? Who could tell us anything of the
future, or if there were any God at all? Not the living,
for they but theorize and guess, and not the dead, for
none came back from them to tell; and now I stood beside
this grave — my own grave — and heard my beloved call
me dead and strew flowers upon it.
A WANDERER IN THE SPIRIT LANDS. 7
As I looked the solid mound grew transparent before
my eyes, and I saw down to the coffin with my own name
and the date of my death upon it; and through the coffin
I saw the white still form I knew as myself lying within.
I sawto my horror that this body had already begun to
decay and become a loathsome thing to look upon. Its
beauty was gone, its features soon none would recognize;
and I stood there, conscious, looking down upon it and
then at myself. I felt each limb, traced out with my
hands each familiar feature of my face, and knew I was
dead, and yet I lived. If this were death, then those
priests must have been right after all. The dead lived —
but where? In what state? Was this darkness hell?
For me they would have found no other place. I was so
lost, so beyond the pale of their church that for me they
would not have found a place even in purgatory.
I had cast off all ties to their church. I had so
scorned it, deeming that a church which knew of, and yet
tolerated, the shameful and ambitious lives of many of its
most honored dignitaries had no claim to call itself a
spiritual guide for anyone. There were good men in the
church; true, but there was also this mass of shameless
evil ones whose lives were common talk, common matter
of ridicule; yet the church that claimed to be the example
to all men and to hold all truth, did not cast out these
men of disgraceful lives. No, she advanced them to yet
higher posts of honor. None who have lived in my native
land and seen the terrible abuses of power in her church
will wonder that a nation should rise and seek to cast off
such a yoke. Those who can recall the social and political
condition of Italy in the earlier half of this century, and
the part the church of Rome played in helping the
oppressor to rivet the fetters with which she was bound,
and who know how her domestic life was honeycombed
with spies — priests as well as laymen — till a man feared to
whisper his true sentiments to his nearest and dearest lest
she should betray him to the priest and he again to the
government — how the dungeons were crowded with un-
happy men, yea, even with mere lads guilty of no crime
8 A WA \ DEREK IN Til E SPIRIT LANDS.
save love of their native land and hatred of its oppres-
sors — those, I say, who know all this will not wonder at
the fierce indignation and burning passion which smoul-
dered in the breast of Italia's sons, and burst at last into
a conflagration which consumed man's faith in Go.d and
in his so-called Vicar upon earth, and like a mountain
torrent that has buret its bounds, swept away men's hopes
of immortality, if only through submission to the decrees
of the church it was to be obtained. Such, then, had
been my attitude of revolt and scorn towards the church
in which I had been baptized, and that church could have
no place within her pale for me. If her anathemas could
send a soul to hell surely I must be there.
And yet as I thought thus I looked again upon my
beloved, and I thought she could never have come to hell
even to look for me. She seemed mortal enough, and if
she knelt by my grave surely I must be still upon earth.
Did the dead then never leave the earth at all, but hover
near the scenes of their earthly lives? With such and
many similar thoughts crowding through my brain I
strove to get nearer to her I so loved, but found I could
not. An invisible barrier seemed to surround her and
keep me back. I could move on either side of her as I
pleased — nearer or farther — but her I could not touch.
Vain were all my efforts. Then I spoke; I called to her
by name. I told her that I was there; that I was still
conscious, still the same, though I was dead; and she
never seemed to hear — she never saw me. She still wept
sadly and silently; still tenderly touched the flowers,
murmuring to herself that I had so loved flowers, surely
I would know that she had put them there for me. Again
and again I spoke to her as loudly as I could, but she
heard me not. She was deaf to my voice. She only
moved uneasily and passed her hand over her head as one
in a dream, and then slowly and sadly she went away.
I strove with all my might to follow her. In vain.
I could go but a few yards from the grave and my earthly
body, and then I saw why. A chain as of dark silk
thread — it seemed no thicker than a spider's web — held
A WANDERER IN THE SPIRIT LANDS. 9
me to my body; no power of mine could break it; as I
moved it stretched like elastic, but always drew me back
again. Worst of all I began now to be conscious of feeling
the corruption of that decaying body affecting my spirit,
as a limb that has become poisoned affects with suffering
the whole body on earth, and a fresh horror filled my soul.
Then a voice as of some majestic being spoke to me
in the darkness, and said: "You loved that body more
than your soul. Watch it now as it turns to dust and
know what it was that you so worshiped, and ministered
and clung to. Know how perishable it was, how r vile it
has become, and look upon your spirit body and see how
you have starved and cramped and neglected it for the
sake of the enjoyments of the earthly body. Behold how
poor and repulsive and deformed your earthly life has
made your soul, which is immortal and divine and to
endure forever."
And I looked and beheld myself. As in a mirror
held up before me, I saw myself. Oh, horror! It was
beyond doubt myself, but, oh! so awfully changed, so vile,
so full of baseness did I appear; so repulsive in every fea-
ture — even my figure was deformed — I shrank back in
horror at my appearance, and prayed that the earth might
open before my feet and hide me from all eyes for ever-
more. Ah! never again would I call upon my love, never
more desire that she should see me. Better, far better,
that she should think of me as dead and gone from her
forever; better that she should have only the memory of
me as I had been in earthly life than ever know how awful
was the change, how horrible a thing was my real self.
Alas! Alas! My despair, my anguish was extreme,
and I called out wildly and struck myself and tore my hair
in wild and passionate horror of myself, and then my
passion exhausted me and I sank senseless and uncon-
scious of all once more.
Again I waked, and again it was the presence of my
love that awaked me. She had brought more flowers, and
she murmured more soft tender thoughts of me as. she
10 A WANDEEEB liN THE SPIRIT LANDS.
laid them on my grave. But I did not seek now to make
her see me. Mo, 1 shrank back and sought to hide myself,
and my heart grew hard even to her, and I said: "Bather
let her weep for the one who has gone than know that he
still lives," so 1 let her go. And as soon as she was gone,
1 called frantically to her to come back, to come back in
any way, to any knowledge of my awi'ul position, rather
than leave me in that place to see her no more. She did
not hear, but she felt my call, and afar off 1 saw her stop
and ball' turn round as though to return, then she passed
on again and left me. Twice, three times she came again,
and each time when she came I felt the same shrinking
from approaching her, and each time when she left 1 felt
the same wild longing to bring her back and keep her near
me. But I called to her no more for 1 knew the dead call
in vain, the living hear them not. And to all the world
I was dead, and only to myself and to my awful fate was
I alive. Ah! now I knew death was no endless sleep, no
calm oblivion. Better, far better had it been so, and in
my despair I prayed that this total oblivion might be
granted to me, and as I prayed I knew it never could, for
man is an immortal soul, and for good or evil, weal or woe,
lives on eternally. His earthly form decays and turns to
dust, but the spirit, which is the true man, knows no
decay, no oblivion.
Each day — for I felt that days were passing over
me — my mind awoke more and more, and I saw clearer
and clearer the events of my life pass in a long procession
before me — dim at first, then by degrees growing stronger
and clearer, and I bowed my head in anguish, helpless,
hopeless anguish, for I felt it must be too late now to
undo one single act.
A WANDERER IX THE SPIRIT LANDS. 11
CHAPTER III.
I know not how long this lasted; it seemed a long,
long time to me. I was sitting wrapped still in my
despair when I heard a voice gentle and soft calling to
me— the voice of my beloved — and I felt compelled to rise
and follow that voice till it should lead me to her; and as
I rose to go the thread which had so bound me seemed to
stretch and stretch till I scarce felt its pressure, and I was
drawn on and on till at last I found myself in a room
which, I could dimly see, even in the darkness that always
surrounded me, was familiar to my eyes. It was the home
of my beloved one, and in that room I had passed, ah!
how many peaceful happy hours in that time which
seemed now separated from me by so wide and awful a
gulf. She sat at a little table with a sheet of paper before
her and a pencil in her hand. She kept repeating my
name and saying: "Dearest of friends, if the dead ever
return, come back to me, and try if you can make me write
a few words from you, even 'yes' or 'no' in answer to my
questions."
For the first time since I had died I saw her with a
faint smile upon her lips and a look of hope and expecta-
tion in those clear eyes that were so heavy with weeping
for me. The dear face looked so pale and sad with her
grief and I felt — ah! how I felt — the sweetness of the love
she had given me, and which now less than ever dare I
hope to claim.
Then I saw three other forms beside her, but thev I
knew were spirits, yet how unlike myself. These spirits
were bright, radiant, so that I could not bear to look at
12 A WANDEREB IX THE SPIRIT LANDS.
them; the sight seemed to scorch my eyes as with a fire,
One was a man, tall, calm, dignified-looking, who bent
over her to protect her as her guardian angel might.
Beside him stood two fair young men whom I knew at
once to be those brothers whom she had so often spoken
of to me. They had died when youth with all its pleas-
ures was before them, and their memories were shrined in
her heart as those who were now angels. I shrank back,
for I felt they saw me, and I sought to cover my disfigured
face and form with the dark mantle which I wore. Then
my pride awoke, and I said: "Has not she herself called
me? I have come, and shall not she be the arbiter of my
destiny? Is it so irrevocable that nothing I can do, no
sorrow, no repentance however deep, no deeds however
great, no work however hard, can reverse it? Is there
indeed no hope beyond the grave?"
And a voice, the voice I had heard before at my own
grave, answered me: "Son of grief, is there no hope on
earth for those who sin? Does not even man forgive the
sinner who has wronged him if the sin be repented of and
pardon sought? And shall God be less merciful, less
just? Hast thou repentance even now? Search thine
own heart and see whether it is for thyself or for those
thou hast wronged that thou art sorry?"
And I knew as he spoke that I did not truly repent.
I only suffered. I only loved and longed. Then again
my beloved spoke and asked me: "If I were there and
could hear her, to try and write one word through her
hand that she might know I still lived, still thought
of her."
My heart seemed to rise into my throat and choke me,
and I drew near to try if I could move her hand, could
touch it even. But the tall spirit came between us. and I
was forced to draw back. Then he spoke and said: "Give
your words to me and I will cause her hand to write them
down for you. I will do this for her sake, and because of
the love she has for you."
A great wave of joy swept over me at his words, and
I would have taken his hand and kissed it but could not.
A WANDERER IN THE SPIRIT LANDS. 13
My hand seemed scorched by his brightness ere I could
touch him, and I bowed myself before him for I thought
he must be one of the angels.
My beloved spoke once more and said, "Are you here,
dearest friend?"
I answered, "Yes," and then I saw the spirit put his
hand on her, and when he did so her hand wrote the word
"yes* Slowly and unsteadily it moved, like a child's
learning to write. Ah! how she smiled, and again she
asked me a question, and as before her own hand traced
out my answer. She asked me if there were anything she
could do for me, any wish of mine that she could help me
to carry out? I said: "No! not now. I would go away
now and torment her no more with my presence. I would
let her forget me now."
My heart was so sore as I spoke, so bitter; and, ah!
how sweet to me was her reply, how it touched my soul to
hear her say: "Do not say that to me, for I would ever be
your truest, dearest friend, as I was in the past, and since
you died my one thought has been to find you and to
speak with you again."
And I answered, I called out to her, "It has been my
only wish also."
She then asked if I would come again, and I said,
"Yes!" For where would I not have gone for her? What
would I not have done? Then the bright spirit said she
must write no more that night. He made her hand write
that also and said she should go to rest.
I felt myself now drawn away once more back to my
grave and to my earthly body in that dark churchyard;
but not to the same hopeless sense of misery. In spite of
everything a spark of hope had risen in my heart and I
knew I should see and speak with her again.
But now I found I was not alone there. Those two
spirits who were her brothers had followed me, and now
spoke. I shall not state all they said. Suffice it to say
they pointed out to me how wide was now the gulf be-
tween their sister and myself, and asked me if I desired to
shadow all her young life with my dark presence. If I
U A WAXDEKKK IN THE SPIRIT LANDS.
left her now, she would, in time, forget me, except as one
who had been a dear friend to her. She could always
think tenderly of my memory, and surely if I loved her
truly 1 would not wish to make all her young life lonely
and desolate lor my sake.
1 replied that I loved her, and could never bear to
leave her, never bear to think of any other, loving her as
1 had done.
Then they spoke of myself and my past, and asked if
I dared to think of linking myself with her pure life, even
in the misty fashion in which I still hoped to do? How
could I hope that when she died I should meet her? She
belonged to a bright sphere to which I could not hope for
a long time to rise, and would it not be better for her, and
nobler, more truly loving of me, to leave her to forget me
and to find what happiness in life could yet be given to
her, rather than seek to keep alive a love that could only
bring her sorrow?
I said faintly I thought she loved me. They said:
"Yes, she loves you as she herself has idealized your image
in her mind, and as she in her innocence has painted your
picture. Do you think if she knew all your story she
would love you? Would she not shrink back in horror
from you? Tell her the truth, give her the choice of
freedom from your presence, and you will have acted a
nobler part and shown a truer love than in deceiving her
and seeking to tie her to a being like yourself. If you
truly love her, think of her and her happiness, and what
will bring it — not of yourself alone."
Then the hope within me died out, and I bowed my
head to the dust in shame and agony, for I knew that I
was vile and in no way fit for her, and I saw as in a glass
what her life might still be freed from mine. She might
know happiness yet with another more worthy than I had
been, while with my love I would only drag her down into
sadness with me. For the first time in my life I put the
happiness of another before my own, and because I so
loved her and would have had her happy, I said to them :
''Let it be so, then. Tell her the truth, and let her say
A WANDEREB IX THE SPIRIT LANDS. 15
but one kind word to me in farewell, and I will go from
her and darken her life with the shadow of mine no
more."
So we went back to her, and I saw her as she slept
exhausted with her sorrow for me. I pleaded that they
would let me give her one kiss, the first and last that I
would ever give. But they said no, that was impossible,
for my touch would snap forever the thread that held her
still to life.
Then they awoke her and made her write down their
words, while I stood by and heard each word fall as a nail
in the coffin where they were burying my last hope for-
ever. She, as one in a dream, wrote on, till at last the
whole shameful story of my life was told, and I had but
to tell her myself that all was forever at an end between
us. and she was free from my sinful presence and my
selfish love. I said adieu to her. As drops of blood
wrung from my heart were those words, and as ice they
fell upon her heart and crushed it. Then I turned and
left her — how, I know not — but as I went I felt the cord
that had tied me to my grave and my earthly body snap,
and I was free — free to wander where I would — alone in
my desolation!
And then? Ah, me! While I write the words the
tears of thankfulness are in my eyes again, and I almost
break down in trying to write them; then she whom we
had deemed so weak and gentle that we had but to decide
for her, she called me back with all the force of a love
none dare oppose — called me back to her. She said she
could never give me up so long as I had love for her.
''Let your past be what it might: let you be sunk now even
to the lowest depths of hell itself, I will still love you, still
seek to follow you and claim my right — the right of my
love — to help and comfort and cherish you till God in his
mercy shall have pardoned your past and you shall be
raised up again." And then it was that I broke down and
wept as only a strong proud man can weep, whose heart
has been wrung and bruised and hardened, and then
16 A WANDERER IN THE SPIRIT LANDS.
touched by the soft tender touch of a loving hand till the
tears must come to his relief.
I went back to my love and knelt down beside her,
and though they would not let me touch her, that calm
beautiful spirit who was her guardian whispered to her
that her prayer was answered, and that she should indeed
lead me back to the light. And so I left my darling, and
as I passed away I saw a white angel's form hover over her
to give her strength and comfort, who was herself my
angel of light. I left her thus with those spirits, and
went forth to wander till her voice should call me to her
side again.
After the short troubled sleep into which those
bright spirits had put her, my darling awoke the next
day, and went to visit a kind good man whom she had
discovered in her efforts to find some way by which she
might reach me even beyond the grave.
If it might be that what she had been told about
those people who were called Spiritualists was really true,
she hoped through their aid to speak again with me, and
prompted by those who were watching over her, she had
searched out this man who was known as a healing me-
dium, and by him she had been told that if she herself
tried, she could write messages from the so-called dead.
This I did not learn till later. At the time I only
felt myself summoned by the voice of her whose power
over me was so great, and in obedience to it I found
myself standing in what I could dimly distinguish to be
a small room. I say dimly, because all was still dark to
me save only where the light around my darling shone as
a star and showed faintly what was near.
It was to this good man of whom I speak that she
had gone, and it was her voice speaking to him that had
drawn me. She was telling him what had passed the
night before, and how much she loved me, and how she
would gladly give all her life if by so doing she could
comfort and help me. And that man spoke such kind
words to her — from my heart I thanked and still thank
him for them. He gave me so much hope. He pointed
A WANDERER IX THE SPIRIT LAXDS. 17
out to my dear love that the ties of the earth body are
broken at its death, and I was free to love her and she was
free to return that love — that she herself better than any
other could in truth help to raise me, for her love would
give me comfort and hope as nothing else would do, and
would cheer my path of repentant effort. And she had
now the best of rights to give it, my love for her had been
so pure and true a passion, while hers for me was stronger
than death itself, since it had overcome the barrier of
death. He was so kind, this man — he helped me to speak
to her, and to explain many things as I could not have
done the night before when my heart was so sore and full
of pride. He helped me to tell what of excuse there had
been for me in the past, though I owned that nothing can
truly excuse our sins. He let me tell her that in spite of
all the wrong of my past she had been to me as one
sacred — loved with a love I had given to none but herself.
He soothed and strengthened her with a kindness for
which I blessed him even more than for his help to myself,
and when she left him at last I, too, went with her to her
home, the light of hope in both our hearts.
And when we got there I found that a fresh barrier
was raised up by those two spirit brothers and others to
whom she was dear; an invisible wall surrounded her
through which I could not pass, and though I might
follow her about I could not get very near. Then I said
to myself that I would go back to the kind man and see
if he would help me.
My wish seemed to carry me back, for I soon found
myself there again. He was at once conscious of my pres-
ence, and strange as it may seem, I found he could under-
stand much, although not all, that I said to him. He
gathered the sense of what I wanted to say, and told me
many things I shall not set down here since they con-
cerned only myself. He assured me that if I were only
patient all would be well in time, and though the relations
might build their spiritual wall around my love, her will
would at all times draw me through it to her, and nothing
could shut out her love from me; no walls could keep that
18 A WANDERER IN THE SPIRIT LANDS.
hack. If I would seek now to learn the things of the
spirit and work to advance myself, the gulf between us
would disappear. Comforted I left him and wandered
away again, I knew not where.
I was now beginning to be dimly conscious that there
were other beings like myself flitting about near me in the
darkness, though I could scarce see them. I was so lost
and lonely that I thought of going back to my grave
again, as it was the spot most familiar to me, and my
thought seemed to take me back, for soon I was there
once more.
The flowers that my love had brought were faded
now. She had not been there for two days; since speaking
to me she seemed to forget the body that was laid away in
the earth, and this to me was well, and I would have had
it so. It was well for her to forget the dead body and
think only of the living spirit.
Even those withered flowers spoke of her love, and I
tried to pick up one, a white rose, to carry away with me.
I found I could not lift it, could not move it in the least.
My hand passed through it as though it was but the reflec-
tion of a rose.
I moved round to where there was a white marble
cross at the head of the grave, and I saw there the names
of my beloved one's two brothers. Then I knew what sh«
had done in her love for me; she had laid my body to rest
beside those she had loved best of all. My heart was so
touched that again I wept, and my tears fell like dew
upon my heart and melted aw r ay its bitterness.
I was so lonely that at last I rose and wandered away
again amongst other dark wandering shapes, few of whom
even turned to look at me; perhaps like myself they
scarcely saw. Presently, however, three dark forms
which seemed like two women and a man passed near me,
and then turned and followed. The man touched my
arm and said: "Where are you bound for? Surely you
are newly come over to this side, or you would not hurry
on so; none hurry here because we all know we have
A WANDEfiBE IN THE SPIRIT LAXDS. 19
eternity to wander in." Then he laughed a laugh so cold
and harsh in tone it made me shudder. One of the
women took my arm on one side and one on the other,
saving: "Come away with us and we will show you how
you may enjoy life even though you are dead! If we have
not got bodies to enjoy ourselves through we will borrow
them from some mortals for a little. Come with us and
we will show you that all pleasure is not ended yet."
In my loneliness I was glad to have some being to
speak to, that although they were all three most repulsive
looking — the women to my mind even more so than the
man — I felt inclined to let them lead me away and see
what would happen, and I had even turned to accompany
them when afar off in the dim distance, like a picture
traced in light on a black sky, I saw the spirit form of my
pure sweet love. Her eyes were closed as I had seen her
in my first vision, but as before her hands were stretched
out to me and her voice fell like a voice from heaven on
my ears, saying: "Oh! take care! take care! go not with
them; they are not good, and their road leads only to
destruction." Then the vision was gone, and as one
waking from a dream I shook those three persons from
me and hurried away again in the darkness. How long
and how far I wandered I know not. I kept hurrying on
to get away from the memories that haunted me, and I
seemed to have all space to wander in.
At last I sat down on the ground to rest — for there
seemed to be ground solid enough to rest upon — and while
I sat there I saw glimmering through the darkness a light.
As I drew near it I saw a great haze of light radiating
from a room which I could see, but it was so bright it hurt
my eyes to look upon it as would looking at the noon-day
sun on earth have done. I could not bear it and would
have turned away, when a voice said: "Stay, weary wan-
derer! Here are only kind hearts and helping hands for
you. And if you would see your love, come in, for she
is here and you may speak with her." Then I felt a
hand — for I could see no one — draw my mantle over my
20 A WANDERER IN THE SPIRIT LANDS.
head to shut out the brightness of the light, and then lead
me into the room and seat me in a large chair. I was so
weary, so weary, and so glad to rest. And in this room
there was such peace, it seemed to me that I had found
my way to heaven.
After a little I looked up and saw two gentle, kindly
women who were like angels to my eyes, and I said to
myself, "I have come near to heaven surely?" Again I
looked, and by this time my eyes seemed strengthened, for
beyond those two fair good women — and at first I could
scarce believe it, so great was my joy — I saw my beloved
herself smiling sadly but tenderly at where I sat. She
smiled, but I knew she did not really see me; one of the
ladies did though, and she was describing me to my
darling in a low quiet voice. My darling seemed so
pleased, for it confirmed to her what the man had told
her. She had been telling these ladies what a remarkable
experience she had had, arid how it seemed to her like a
strange dream. I could have cried out to her then that I
was truly there, that I still lived, still loved her, and was
trusting in her love for me, but I could not move, some
spell was over me. some power I could dimly feel was
holding me back.
And then those two kind ladies spoke and I knew
they were not angels yet, for they were still in their
earthly bodies and she could see and speak to them.
They said much of what the kind good man had done, as
to the hope there was for sinners like me.
The same voice which had bidden me to enter, now
asked would I like one of the ladies to write a message for
me. I said, "Yes! a thousand times yes!"
Then I spoke my words and the spirit caused the
lady to write them down. I said to my beloved that I still
lived, still loved her. I bid her never to forget me, never
to cease to think of me, for I required all her love and
help to sustain me — I was ever the same to her though
now I was weak and helpless and could not make her see
me. And she. ah! she gave me such sweet words in return
A WANDERER IN THE SPIRIT LANDS. 21
I cannot write them down; they are too sacred to me, and
will rest in my heart for evermore.
*********
The period that followed this interview was one of
deep sleep for me. I was so exhausted that when I left
that room I wandered on a little way and then sank down
upon the ground in deep dreamless unconsciousness.
What did it matter where I rested when all was as night
around me?
How long my sleep lasted I know not. At that
period I had no means of counting time save by the
amount of suffering and misery through which I passed.
From my slumbers I awoke refreshed in a measure, and
with all my senses stronger in me than before. I could
move r: re rapidly; my limbs felt stronger and freer, and
I was now conscious of a desire to eat I had not felt before.
My iongv j grew so great that I went in search of food,
and fo: a long time could find none anywhere. At last I
found what looked like hard dry bread — a few crusts only,
but I was glad to eat them, whereupon I felt more
satisfied. Here I may say that spirits do eat the spiritual
counterpart of your food, do feel both hunger and thirst,
as keen to them as your appetites are to you on earth,
although neither our food nor our drink would be any
more visible to your material sight than our spiritual
bodies are, and yet for us they possess objective reality.
Had I been a drunkard or a lover of the pleasures of the
table in my earthly body I should much sooner have felt
the cravings of appetite. As it was, nature with me had
ever been easily satisfied, and though at first I turned
from those dry crusts in disgust a little reflection told me
that I had now no way of procuring anything, I was like
a beggar and had better content myself with a beggar's
fare.
My thoughts had now turned to my beloved again,
and the thoughts carried my spirit with them, so that I
found myself entering once more the room where I had
last seen her and the two ladies. This time I seemed to
pass in at once, and was received by two spirit men whom
22 A WA X DEREB IN THE SPIRIT LANDS.
I could but very faintly see. A veil seemed to hang
between us, through which I saw those two spirit men,
the ladies and my beloved. I was told that I might again
give a message to her through the lady who had written
my words before. I was so anxious to try if I could not
make my darling write down my words herself as I had
seen her guardian spirit do, that I was allowed to try. To
my disappointment I found I could not do it; she was deaf
to all I said, and I had to give up that idea and let the lady
write for me as before. After I had given my message I
rested for a short time and watched my beloved one's
sweet face, as I had been wont to do in other happier days.
My musings were interrupted by one of those spirit men —
a grave, handsome young man he seemed to be so far as I
could see him. He spoke to me in a quiet kindly voice,
and said that if I truly desired to write my own words
through my darling herself, it would be well for me to
join a brotherhood of penitents who like myself desired
to follow out the better way, and with them I should learn
many things of which I was yet ignorant, and which
would help me to fit myself to control her mind as well as
give me the privilege I sought of being with her at times
while she dwelt on earth. This way of repentance was
hard, he said — very hard — the steps many, the toil and
suffering great, but it led to a fair and happy land at last
where I should rest in happiness such as I could not dream
of now. He assured me (even as the kind earthly man
had done) that my deformed body, which I was still so
anxious to hide from my beloved one's eyes, would change
as my spirit changed, till I should be once more fair to
look upon, such as she would no longer grieve to see.
Were I to remain upon the earth plane as I now was, I
should most likely be drawn back into my former haunts
of so-called pleasure, and in that atmosphere of spiritual
degradation I should soon lose the power to be near my
darling at all. For her own sake those who guarded her
would be obliged to exclude me. On the other hand, were
I to join this brotherhood (which was one of hope and
endeavor), I should be so helped, so strengthened, and so
A WANDERER IN THE SPIRIT LANDS. 23
taught, that when in due course my time came to return
to the earth plane, I should have acquired a strength and
an armor that could resist its temptations.
I listened to the words of this grave, courteous spirit
with wonder and a growing desire to know more of this
brotherhood of whom he spoke, and begged he would take
me to them. This he assured me he would do, and he
also explained that I should be there of my own free will
and choice only. Did I desire at any time to leave I could
at once do so. "All are free in the Spirit-world," he said.
"All must follow only where their own wishes and desires
lead them. If you study to cultivate the higher desires,
means will be given you to attain them, and you will be
strengthened with such help and strength as you may
need. You are one who has never learned the power of
prayer. You will learn it now, for all things come by
earnest prayer, whether you are conscious that you pray
or not. For good or for evil your desires are as prayers
and call around you good or evil powers to answer them
for you."
As I was again growing weary and exhausted, he
suggested that I should bid adieu to my darling for a time.
He explained that I should gain more strength as well as
permit her to do so if I left her for the time I was to
remain in this place of which he spoke. It would also be
well that she should not try to write for three months, as
her mediumistic powers had been greatly tried, and if she
did not rest them she would be much impaired, while I
would require all that time to learn even the simple les-
sons needful before I could control her.
Ah! me, how hard it seemed to us both to make this
promise, but she set me the example, and I could but
follow it. If she would try to be strong and patient so
should I, and I registered a vow that if the God I had so
long forgotten would remember and pardon me now, I
would give all my life and all my powers to undo the
wrongs that I had clone: and so it was that I left for a
time the troubled earth plane of the spirit world of which
I had as yet seen so little, but in which I was yet to see
24 A \\ A X I ) EBEE IN THE SPIEIT LAX US.
and suffer so much. As I left the room to go with my
new guide I turned to my love and waved my hand in
farewell, and asked that the good angels and the God I
dare not pray to for myself might bless and keep her safe
for evermore, and the last thing I saw was her tender eyes
following me with that look of love and hope which was
to sustain me through many a weary, painful hour.
A WANDERER IN THE SPIRIT LANDS. 25
CHAPTER IV.
In the spirit world there are many strange places,
many wondrous sights, and many organizations for help-
ing repentant souls, but I have never seen anything more
strange in its way than this Home of Help, conducted by
the Brotherhood of Hope, to which I was now conducted.
In the then feeble condition of all my spiritual faculties I
was not able to see what the place was like. I was almost
like one who is deaf, dumb and blind. When I was with
others I could scarcely see or hear them, or make them
hear me, and although I could see a little, it was more as
though I was in a perfectly dark room with only one small
feeble glimmer of light to show me where I went. On the
earth plane I had not felt this so much, for though all was
darkness I could both see and hear enough to be con-
scious of those near me. It was in ascending even to the
little distance at which this place was above the earth that
I felt the absence of all but the most material develop-
ments of my spirit.
That time of darkness was so awful to me that even
now I scarce like to recall it, I had so loved the sunshine
and the light. I came from a land where all is sunshine
and brightness, where the colors are so rich, the sky so
clear, the flowers and the scenery so beautiful, and I so
loved light and warmth and melody; and here as elsewhere
since my death I had found only darkness and coldness
and gloom; an appalling, enshrouding gloom, that
wrapped me round like a mantle of night from which I
could in no way free myself; and this awful gloom crushed
my spirit as nothing else could have done. I had been
2G A WANDEREB IN THE SPIRIT LANDS.
proud and haughty on earth. I came of a race that knew
not what it was to bow before anyone. In my veins ran
the blood of its haughty nobles. Through my mother I
was allied to the great ones of earth whose ambitions had
moved kingdoms to their will; and now the lowest,
humblest, poorest beggar of my native streets was greater,
happier than I, for he at least had the sunshine and the
fiee air, and I was as the lowest, most degraded prisoner
in the dungeon cell.
Had it not been for my one star of hope, my angel of
light, and the hopes she had given me through her
love, I must have sunk into the apathy of despair. But
when I thought of her waiting, as she had vowed she
would do all her life for me, when I recalled her sweet and
tender smile and the loving words she had spoken to me,
my heart and my courage revived again, and I strove to
endure, to be patient, to be strong. And I had need of all
to help me, for from now began a period of suffering and
conflict I shall in' vain seek to make anyone fully realize.
This place where I was now I could barely see in all
its details. It was like a huge prison — dim and misty in
its outlines. Later on I saw it was a great building of
dark grey stone (as solid to my eyes as earthly stone) with
many long passages, some long large halls or rooms, hut
mostly composed of innumerable little cells with scarcely
any light and only the barest of furniture. Each spirit
had only Avhat he had earned by his earthly life, and some
had nothing but the little couch whereon they lay and
suffered. For all suffered there. It was the House of
Sorrow, yet it was also a House of Hope, for all there were
striving upwards to the light, and for each had begun the
time of hope. Each had his foot planted upon the lowest
rung of the ladder of hope by which he should in time
mount even to heaven itself.
In my own little cell there was but my bed, a table
and a chair — nothing more. I spent my time in resting
or meditating in my cell, and going with those who, like
myself, soon grew strong enough to hear the lectures
which were delivered to us in the great hall. Very im-
A WANDERER IN THE SPIRIT LANDS. 27
pressiye those lectures were; told in the form of a story,
but always so as to bring home to the mind of each of us
those things wherein we had done wrong. Great pains
were taken to make us understand, from the point of view
of an impartial spectator, the full consequences to our-
selves and others of each of our actions, and where we had
for our own selfish gratifications wronged or dragged
down another soul. So many things which we had done
because all men did them, or because we thought that we
as men had a right to do them, were now shown to us
from the other side of the picture, from those who had in
a measure been our victims, or where we personally were
not directly responsible for their fall, the victims of a
social system invented and upheld to gratify us and our
selfish passions. I cannot more fully describe these lec-
tures, but those amongst you who know what are the cor-
ruptions of the great cities of earth will easily supply for
yourselves the subjects. From such lectures, such pic-
tures of ourselves as we were, stripped of all the social dis-
guises of earth life, we could but return in shame and
sorrow of heart to our cells to reflect over our past and to
strive to atone for it in our future.
And in this there was great help given to us, for with
the error and its consequences we were always shown the
way to correct and overcome the evil desire in ourselves,
and how we might atone for our own sins by timely efforts
to save another from the evil into which we had fallen, all
these lessons being intended to fit us for the next stage of
our progression, in which we would be sent back to earth
to help, unseen and unknown, mortals who were
struggling with earth's temptations.
When we were not attending the lectures we were
free to go where we might wish: that is, such of us as were
strong enough to move about freely. Some who had left
dear friends on earth would go to visit them, that, unseen
themselves, they might yet see those they loved. We were
always warned, however, not to linger in the temptations
of the earth plane, since many of us would find it difficult
to resist them.
28 A WANBEBEK IN THE SPIRIT LANDS.
Those who were strongest amongst us and who pos-
sessed the needful qualities and the desire to use them,
were employed in magnetising those who were weakest,
and who, by reason of the excessive dissipations of their
earthly lives, were in such a terrihle condition of ex-
haustion and suffering that the only thing which could be
done with them was to allow them to lie helpless in their
cells while others gave them a little relief by magnetising
them; and here 1 must describe to you a very wonderful
system of healing these poor spirits which was practiced
in this House of Hope. Some advanced spirits, whose
natural desires and tastes made them doctors and healers,
with the help of other spirits of different degrees of ad-
vancement under them, would attend upon these poorest
and most suffering ones — where indeed all were suffer-
ers — and by means of magnetism and the use of others'
powers which they could control, they would put these
poor spirits into temporary forgetfulness of their pain;
and though they awoke again to a renewal of their suffer-
ings, yet in these intervals their spirits gained strength
and insensibly grew more able to endure, till at last their
sufferings were mitigated with time and the growing de-
velopment of the spirit body, and they in turn would,
when fit to do so, be employed to magnetise others who
were still suffering.
It is impossible for me to give you a very clear picture
of this place and those in it, for although the resemblance
to an earthly hospital was very great, there were many
little points in which it resembled nothing which you have
yet on earth, though as knowledge on earth advances the
resemblance will become closer. All was so dark in this
place, because the unfortunate spirits who dwelt there had
none of the brightness of happy spirits to give into the
atmosphere, and it is the state of the spirit itself in the
spiritual world that makes the lightness or darkness of its
surroundings. The sense of darkness was also due to the
almost total blindness of these poor spirits, whose spiritual
senses never having been developed on earth made them
alike insensible to all around them, just as those born on
A WANDERER IX THE SPIRIT LANDS. 29
earth in a state of blindness, deafness and dumbness
would be unconscious of the things which were apparent
to those fully endowed with senses. In visiting the
atmosphere of the earth plane, which was a degree more
suited to their state of development, these poor spirits
would still be in darkness, though it would not be so com-
plete, and they would possess the power of seeing those
beings like themselves with whom they could come into
direct contact, and also such mortals as were in a
sufficiently low spiritual degree of development. The
higher and more spiritualized mortals, and still more the
disembodied spirits in advance of them would be only
very dimly discernible, or even totally invisible.
The "working" Brothers of Hope, as they were
called, were each provided with a tiny little light like a
star, whose rays illuminated the darkness of the cells they
visited and carried the light of hope wherever the brothers
went. I myself at first was so great a sufferer that I used
simply to lie in my cell in a state of almost apathetic
misery, watching for this spark to come glimmering down
the long corridor to my door, and wondering how long it
would be in earth time ere it would come again. But it
was not long that I lay thus utterly prostrate. Unlike
many of the poor spirits who had added a love of drink
to their other vices, my mind was too clear and my desire
to improve too strong to leave me long inactive, and as
soon as I found myself able to move again I petitioned to
be allowed to do something, however humble, whicR
might be of use. I was therefore, as being myself pos-
sessed of strong magnetic powers, set to help an unfortu-
nate young man who was utterly unable to move, and who
used to lie moaning and sighing all the time. Poor fel-
low, he was only thirty years old when he left the earth
body, but in his short life he had contrived to plunge into
such dissipations that he had prematurely killed himself,
and was now suffering such agonies from the reaction
upon the spirit of those powers he had abused, that it was
often more than I could bear to witness them. My task
was to make soothing passes over him, by which means he
30 A WANDEHER IN THE SPIRIT LANDS.
would obtain a little relief, till at stated times a more
advanced spirit than myself would come and put him into
a state of unconsciousness. And all this time I was myself
suffering keenly both in mind and in my spirit body, lor
in the lower spheres the spirit is conscious of bodily suffer-
ings. As it grows more advanced the suffering becomes
more purely mental — the less material envelope of the
higher spirits making them at last insensible to anything
like material pain.
As my strength grew so did my desires revive and
cause me so much torment that I was often tempted to do
what many poor spirits did — go back to earth in search of
the means to satisfy them through the material bodies of
those yet on earth. My bodily sufferings grew very great,
for the strength I had been so proud of and had used to
so bad a purpose made me suffer more than one who had
been weak. As the muscles of an athlete who has used
them to excess begin after a time to contract and cause
him excruciating pain, so those powers and that strength
which I had abused in my earthly life now began, through
its inevitable reaction on my spirit body, to cause me the
most intense suffering. And then as I grew stronger and
stronger and able to enjoy what had seemed enjoyment in
my earth life, the desire for those pleasures grew and grew
till I could scarce refrain from returning to the earth
plane there to enjoy, through the organism of those yet in
the flesh, whose sordid lives and low desires placed them
on a level with the spirits of the earth plane, those
pleasures of the senses which had still so great a tempta-
tion for us. Many and many of those who were in the
House of Hope with me would yield to the temptation
and go back for a time to haunt the earth, whence they
would return after a longer or shorter period, exhausted
and degraded even below their former state. All were
free to go or to stay as they desired. All could return
Avhen they wished, for the doors of Hope's castle were
never shut upon anyone, however unthankful or un-
worthy they might be, and I have often wondered at the
infinite patience and tenderness which were ever shown
A WANDERER IN THE SPIRIT LANDS. 31
for our weaknesses and our sins. It was indeed only
possible to pity these poor unfortunates, who had made
such utter slaves of themselves to their base desires that
they could not resist them and were drawn back time after
time till at last, satiated and exhausted, they could move
no more and were like the unfortunate young man whom
I tended.
For myself, I might also have yielded to the tempta-
tion had it not been for the thoughts of my pure love, and
the hopes she had given me, the purer desires she had
inspired, and I at least could not condemn these poor
erring souls who had no such blessings granted them. I
went to earth very often, but it was to where my beloved
one dwelt, and her love drew me ever to her side, away
from all temptations, into the pure atmosphere of her
home, and though I could never approach near enough
to touch her, by reason of this icy invisible wall which I
have described, I used to stand outside of it, looking at
her as she sat and worked or read or slept. When I was
there she would always be in a dim way conscious of my
presence, and would whisper my name or turn to where I
was with one of her sad sweet smiles that I would carry
away the recollection of and comfort myself with in my
lonely hours. She looked so sad, so very sad, my poor
love, and so pale and delicate, it made my heart ache even
while it comforted me to see her. I could tell that in
spite of all her efforts to be brave and patient, and to hope,
the strain was almost too great for her, and each day she
grew more delicate looking. She had many other things
to try her at this time; there were family troubles and the
doubts and fears suggested by the strangeness of her inter-
course with the world of spirits. At times she would
wonder if it were not all a wild delusion, a dream from
which she would awake to find there was after all no com-
munication between the dead and the living, no means by
which she could reach me again, and then a dull despair
would seize upon her and upon me also as I stood beside
her and read her feeling, helpless and powerless to make
her realize my actual presence beside her, and I would
32 A WAXDEKKR IN THE SPIRIT LANDS.
pray to be allowed in some way to make her know that I
was there.
One night when I had watched her sink into sleep
after a weary time of weeping, I, who could have wept,
too, in my grief for us both, was suddenly touched upon
the shoulder, and looking up beheld her guardian spirit
who had first helped me to speak with her. He asked me
if I would be very quiet and self-restrained if he allowed
me to kiss her as she slept, and I, wild with this new joy,
most eagerly promised. Taking my hand in his we passed
together through the transparent icy wall that was to me
so impervious. Bending over her the guide made some
strange motions with his hand, and then taking one of my
hands in his for a few moments he bade me touch her
very gently. She was lying quietly asleep, with the tears
still on her eyelashes and her sweet lips slightly parted as
* though she was speaking in her dreams. One hand rested
against her cheek and I took it in mine, so gently, so
tenderly — not to awaken her. Her hand closed half con-
sciously upon mine and a look of such joy came into her
face that I feared she would awake. But no! The bright
spirit smiled at us both and said, "Kiss her now." And
I — ah! I stooped over her and touched her at last and
gave her the first kiss I had ever given. I kissed her not
once but half a dozen times, so passionately that she
awoke and the bright spirit drew me away in haste. She
looked round and asked softly: "Do I dream, or was that
indeed my beloved one?" I answered, "Yes," and she
seemed to hear, for she smiled so sweet a smile — ah! so
sweet! and again and again she repeated my name softly
to herself.
Not for long after that would they allow me to touch
her again, but I was often near, and the joy of that one
meeting dwelt in our hearts for many an hour. I could
see how real had been my kiss to her, and for me it was as
an anchor of hope encouraging me to believe that in time
I should indeed be able to make her feel my touch and
hold communication with her.
A \YAXDEKER IX THE SPIEIT LAXDS. 33
CHAPTER V.
The time came at last for me to leave the House of
Hope and go forth, strong in the lessons I had learned
there, to work out my atonement on the earth plane and
in those lower spheres to which my earthly life had
sunk me.
Eight or nine months had elapsed since I had died,
and I had grown strong and vigorous once more. I could
move freely over the great sphere of the earth plane. My
sight and my other senses were so far developed that I
could see and hear and speak clearly. The light around
me now was that of a faint twilight or when the night
first begins to dawn into the day. To my eyes so long
accustomed to the darkness, this dull light was very
welcome, though after a time I grew so to long for the
true day to dawn that this dull twilight was most
monotonous and oppressive. Those countries which are
situated in this, the third circle of the earth plane or first
sphere, are called "The Twilight Lands," and it is thither
that those spirits pass whose lives have been too selfish
and material to allow their souls to reach any higher state
of development. Even these Twilight Lands, however,
are a degree above those "Haunting" spirits of the earth
plane who are literally earthbound to their former
habitations.
My work was to be begun upon the earth itself, and
in those haunts which men of the world call the haunts
of pleasure, though no pleasure is so fleeting, no degrada-
tion so sure, as that which they produce even during the
earthly life. And now I found the value of the teachings
31 A WANBEREB IN THE SPIRIT LANDS.
and the experience I had gained during my stay in the
House of Hope. Temptations that might once have
seemed such to me were such no longer. I knew the
satisfaction such pleasures give, and the cost at which
alone they can be bought, and thus in controlling a
mortal, as I often had to do, I was proof against the
temptation such control offered of using his body for my
own gratification.
Few people yet in their earthly envelopes understand
that spirits can, and very often do, take such complete
possession of the bodies of mortal men and women that,
for the time, it is as though that earth body belonged to
the disembodied and not the embodied spirit. Many
cases of so-called temporary madness are due to the con-
trolling power of very low spirits of evil desires or
frivolous minds, who are, through the weakness of will or
other causes, put into complete rapport with the embodied
spirit whose body they seek to use. Amongst many
ancient races this fact was acknowledged and studied as
well as many branches of the occult sciences which we of
the nineteenth century have grown too wise, forsooth, to
look into, even to discover, if we can, those germs of truth
with which all ages have been blessed and which are worth
disinterring from the mass of rubbish in which succeed-
ing generations of men have buried them.
The work upon which I was now engaged will seem
no less strange to you than it did at first to me. The
great Brotherhood of Hope was only one of a countless
variety of societies which exist in the spirit world for the
purpose of giving help to all who are in need. Their
operations are carried on everywhere and in all spheres,
and their members are to be found from the very lowest
and darkest spheres to the very highest which surround
the earth, and even extend into the spheres of the solar
systems. They are like immense chains of spirits, the
lowest and humblest being always helped and protected
by those above.
A message would be. sent to the Brotherhood that
help was required to assist some struggling mortal or
A WANDERER IX THE SPIRIT LANDS. 35
unhappy spirit, and such one of the brothers as was
thought to be most fit would be sent to help. Such a
one of us would be sent as had in his own earth life yielded
to a similar temptation, and had suffered all the bitter
consequences and remorse for his sin. Often the man or
woman to be helped had unconsciously sent out an aspira-
tion for help and strength to resist temptation, and that
of itself was a prayer, which would be heard in the spirit
world as a cry from earth's children that appealed to all
in the spirit world who had been themselves earth's sons
and daughters; or it might be that some spirit to whom
the struggling one was very dear would seek for help on
their behalf and would thus appeal to us to come to their
aid. Our task would be to follow and control the one we
desired to help till the temptation had been overcome.
We would identify ourselves so closely with the mortal
that for a time we actually shared his life, his thoughts,
everything, and during this dual state of existence we
ourselves often suffered most keenly both from our
anxiety for the man whose thoughts became almost as our
own, and from the fact that his anxieties were as ours,
while in thus going over again a chapter in our past lives
we endured all the sorrow, remorse and bitterness of the
past time. He on his side felt, though not in so keen a
degree, the sorrowful state of our mind, and where the
control was very complete and the mortal highly sensitive,
he would often fancy that things which we had done must
have been done by himself, either in some former for-
gotten stage of existence, or else seen in some vivid dream
they could scarcely recall.
This controlling or overshadowing of a mortal by an
immortal is used in many ways, and those who foolishly
make themselves liable to it either by a careless evil life,
or by seeking in a frivolous spirit of mere curiositv to
search out mysteries too deep for their shallow minds to
fathom, often find to their cost that the low spirits who
haunt the earth plane, and even those from much lower
spheres, can often obtain so great a hold over a mortal
that at last he becomes a mere puppet in their hands.
36 A WANDEREIt IN THE SPJEIT LANDS.
whose body they can use at will. Many a weak-willed
man and woman who in pure surroundings would lead
<mlv good and pure lives, are drawn by evil surroundings
into sins for whieh they are but partly responsible — sins
for which indeed those controlling spirits who have thus
made use of these weak mortals, will be held responsible
as well as the mortal sinner himself. For thus tempting
and using another's organism those evil spirits will have
to render a terrible account, since they have been doubly
guilty. In sinning, themselves, and in dragging down
another soul with them, they sink themselves to a depth
from which many years, and in some instances many cen-
turies, of suffering cannot free them.
In my work I have had to act the part of controlling
spirit many times, but I was sent to do so only in order
that I might impress the mortal with a sense of the
terrible consequences of yielding to sin, and also that I
might, when not actually controlling the mortal myself,
act as guard and watchman to protect him from the
control of the wandering tempting spirits of the earth
plane. My work was to raise the barrier of my strong
will-force against theirs, and keep them back so that they
could not come sufficiently en rapport with my charge to
control him.
If, however, he had allowed himself to be already
controlled by these lower spirits, they would still be able
to project their thoughts and suggestions to him, though
they did so with difficulty.
Although I did not know it at the time, and believed
that upon myself would rest the responsibility of keeping
safe those I was sent to guard, I was only the last link in
a long chain of spirits who were all helping at the same
time. Each spirit was a step in advance of the one below
him, and each had to strengthen and help the one below
him should he faint or fail in his task. My part was also
intended to be a lesson to myself in self-denial and the
sacrifice of my own comfort that I might help another.
My condition as a spirit on the earth plane made me of
use, seeing that I could oppose a material force of will
A WANDERER IN THE SPIRIT LANDS. 37
against those tempting spirits in an atmosphere where a
more refined spirit would have been unable to penetrate,
and I as one of the earth-bound myself could come en
rapport with the mortal mure closely than a more ad-
vanced spirit would have been able to do. I had, by
means of dreams when he slept and constant haunting
thoughts while he waked, to impress upon the mind of the
man I controlled what my experience had been, to make
him feel all the terrible Bufferings of remorse and fear, all
the loathing of himself through which I had passed, and
through which I passed again in bitter agony of soul while
thus recalling them. All my feelings were transferred to
his mind till he might truly have said he was haunted by
all the terrible possibilities of his meditated sins.
Over this particular phase of my experiences I shall
not dwell longer now, since it is one familiar to many on
this side of life. I will but say that I returned from my
mission with a consciousness that I had saved many others
from the pitfalls into which I had fallen, and thereby had
atoned in part for my own sins. Several times was I sent
upon such missions and each time returned successful;
and here I must pause to say that if my progress in the
spirit world has been so rapid as to surprise most who
knew of my first condition on entering it, and if I again
and again resisted all the temptations that befell me, the
credit is not so much due to myself as to the wonderful
help and comfort that was given to me by the constant
and unvarying love of her who was indeed my good angel,
and whose image ever came between me and all harm.
When all others might have pleaded to me in vain, I ever
hearkened to her voice and turned aside.
When I was not helping someone yet in the earth
body, I was sent to work amongst the unhappy spirits of
the earth plane who were still wandering in its darkness
even as I had at first done. And to them I went as one
of the great Brotherhood of Hope, bearing in my hand
the tiny starlike light which is the symbol of that order.
Its rays would dispel the darkness around me, and I would
see poor unhappy spirits crouching on the ground two or
38 A WANBEBEB IN THE SPIRIT LAXDS.
three together, or sunk in helpless misery in some corner
by themselves, too hopeless, too unhappy to heed
anything.
To them it was my work to point out how they could
either be taken to such a House of Hope as the one in
which I had been, or in other cases how they might, by
trying to help others around them, help themselves and
earn the gratitude of those who were even more hopeless
than themselves. To each poor suffering soul a different
balm of healing would be given, for each had known a
different experience and each had had a different cause
for his sins.
A WANDERER IN THE SPIRIT LANDS. 39
CHAPTER VI.
When my period of work in any place was finished, I
used to return to the Twilight Land to rest in another
large building which belonged to our brotherhood. It
was somewhat like the other place in appearance only not
quite so dark, nor so dismal, nor so bare, and in the little
room which belonged to each there were such things as we
had earned as the rewards of .our labors. For instance, in
my room, which was still somewhat bare-looking, I had
one great treasure. This was a picture of my love. It
seemed more like a reflection of her in a mirror than a
mere painted image, for when I looked intently at her she
would smile back at me in answer, as though her spirit
was conscious of my gaze, and when I wished very much
to know what she was doing, my picture would change
and show me. This was regarded by all my companions
as a great and wonderful privilege, and I was told it was as
much the result of her love and constant thought for me
as of my own efforts to improve. Since then I have been
shown how this living image was thrown upon the light
of the astral plane and then projected into its frame in my
room, but I cannot explain it more fully in this book.
Another gift from my darling was a white rose-bud, which
I had in a small vase and which never seemed to fade or
wither, but remained fresh and fragrant and ever an
emblem of her love, so that I called her my white rose.
I had so longed for a flower. I had so loved flowers
on earth and I had seen none since I saw those my darling
put upon my grave. In this land there were no flowers,
not even a leaf or blade of grass, not a tree or a shrub
40 A WANDERER IN THE SPIRIT LANDS.
however stunted — for the dry arid soil of our selfishness
had no blossom or green thing to give to any one of us;
and it was when I told her this during one of the brief
visits I used to pay her, and when through her own hand
1 was able to write short messages — it was, I say, when I
told her that there was not one fair thing for me to look
upon save only the picture of herself, that she asked that
I might be given a flower from her, and this white rose-
bud was brought to my room by a spirit friend and left for
me to find when I returned from earth and her. Ah! you
who have so many flowers that you do not value them
enough and leave them to wither unseen, you can scarce
realize what joy this blossom brought to me nor how I
have so treasured it and her picture and some loving
words she once wrote to me, that I have carried them with
.me from sphere to sphere as I have risen, and shall, I
hope, treasure them evermore.
From this Twilight Land I took many journeys and
saw many strange and different countries, but all bore the
same stamp of coldness and desolation.
One place was a great valley of grey stones, with dim,
cold, grey hills shutting it in on every side, and this
twilight sky overhead. Here again not a blade of grass,
not one* poor stunted shrub was to be seen, not one touch
of color or brightness anywhere, only this dull desolation
of grey stones. Those who dwelt in this valley had
centered their lives and their affections in themselves and
had shut up their hearts against all the warmth and
beauty of unselfish love. They had lived only for them-
selves, their own gratification, their own ambitions, and
now they saw nothing but themselves and the grey desola-
tion of their hard selfish lives around them. There were
a great many beings flitting uneasily about in this valley,
but strange to say they had been so centered in themselves
that they had lost the power to see anyone else.
These unhappy beings were invisible to each other
until such time as the thought of another and the desire
to do something for some one besides themselves should
A WANDERER IX THE SPIRIT LAXDS. 41
awaken, when they would hecome conscious of those near
to them, and through their elt'orts to lighten another's lot
they would improve their own, till at last their stunted
affections would expand and the hazy valley of selfishness
would hold them in its chains no more.
Beyond this valley I came upon a great, dry, sandy-
looking tract of country where there was a scanty
straggling vegetation, and where the inhabitants had
begun in some places to make small attempts at gardens
near their habitations. In some places these habitations
were clustered so thickly together that they formed small
towns and cities. But all bore that desolate ugly look
which came from the spiritual poverty of the inhabitants.
This also was a land of selfishness and greed, although not
of such complete indifference to others' feelings as in the
grey valley, and therefore they sought for a certain
amount of companionship even with those around them.
Many had come from the grey valley, but most were direct
from the earth life and were now, poor souls, struggling
to rise a little higher, and wherever this was the case and
an effort was made to overcome their own selfishness, then
the dry soil around their homes would begin to put forth
tiny blades of grass and little stunted shoots of shrubs.
Such miserable hovels as were in this land! such
ragged, repulsive, wretched-looking people, like tramps
or beggars, yet many had been amongst earth's wealthiest
and most eminent in fashionable life, and had enjoyed all
that luxury could give! But because they had used their
wealth only for themselves and their own enjoyments,
giving to others but the paltry crumbs that they could
spare from their own wealth and hardly notice that they
had given them — because of this, I say, they were now
here in this Twilight Land, poor as beggars in the true
spiritual wealth of the soul which may be earned in the
earthly life alike by the richest king or the poorest beggar,
and without which those who come over to the spirit
land — be they of earth's greatest or humblest — must come
here to dwell where all are alike poor in spiritual things.
42 A WANDERER IN THE SPIRIT LANDS.
J I ere some of the people would wrangle and quarrel
and complain that they had not been fairly treated in
being in such a place, seeing what had been their positions
in earth life. They would blame others as being more
culpable than themselves in the matter, and wake a thou-
sand excuses, a thousand pretences, tu anyone who would
listen to them and the story of what they would call their
wrongs. Others would still be trying to follow out the
schemes of their earthly lives and would try to make their
hearers believe that they had found means (at the expense
of someone else) of ending all this weary life of discom-
fort, and would plot and plan and try to carry out their
own schemes, and spoil those of others as being likely to
interfere with theirs, and so on would go the weary round
of life in this Land of Unrest.
To all whom I found willing to listen to me I gave
some word of hope, some thought of encouragement or
help to find the true way out of this country, and so passed
on through it and journeyed into the Land of Misers — a
land given over to them alone, for few have sympathy
with true misers save those who also share their all-
absorbing desire to hoard simply for the pleasure of
hoarding.
In this country were dark crooked-looking beings
with long claw-like fingers, who were scratching in the
black soil like birds of prey in search of stray grains of
gold that here and there rewarded their toil; and wdien
they had found any they would wrap them up in little
wallets they carried and thrust them into their bosoms
that they might lie next their hearts, as the thing of all
things most dear to them. As a rule they were lonely,
solitary beings, wdro avoided each other by instinct lest
they should be robbed of their cherished treasure.
Here I found nothing that I could do. Only one
solitary man listened for a brief moment to what I had to
say ere he returned to his hunt in the earth for treasure,
furtively watching me till I was gone lest I should learn
what he had already got. The others were all so absorbed
in their search for treasure they could not even be made
A WAXDERER IX THE SPIRIT LAXDS. 43
conscious of my presence, and I soon passed on from that
bleak land.
Erom the Misers' Country I passed downwards into
a dark sphere, which was really below the earth in the
sense of being even lower in its spiritual inhabitants than
parts of the earth plane.
Here it was very much like the Land of Unrest, onl}-
that the spirits who dwelt here were worse and more
degraded looking. There was no attempt made at cultiva-
tion, and the sky overhead was almost dark like night, the
light being only such as enabled them to see each other
and the objects near them. Whereas in the Land of
Unrest there were but wranglings and discontent and
jealousy, here there were fierce fights and bitter quarrels.
Here were gamblers and drunkards. Betting men, card
sharpers, commercial swindlers, profligates, and thieves
of every kind, from the thief of the slums to his well-
educated counterpart in the higher circles of earth life.
All whose instincts were roguish or dissipated, all who
were selfish and degraded in their tastes were here, as well
as many who would have been in a higher condition of
spiritual life had not constant association on earth with
this class of men deteriorated and degraded them to the
level of their companions, so that at death they had gravi-
tated to this dark sphere, drawn down by ties of associa-
tion. It was to this last class that I was sent, for amongst
them there was hope that all sense of goodness and right
was not quenched, and that the voice of one crying to
them in the wilderness of their despair might be heard
and lead them back to a better land.
The wretched houses or dwellings of this dark Land
of Misery were many of them large spacious places, but all
stamped with the same appalling look of uncleanness,
foulness and decay. They resembled large houses to be
seen in some of our slums, once handsome mansions and
fine palaces, the abodes of luxury, which have become the
haunts of the lowest denizens of vice and crime. Here
and there would be great lonely tracts of country with a
44 A WANDERER IX THE SPIRIT LANDS.
few scattered sketched houses, mere hovels, and in other
places the buildings and the people were huddled together
in great gloomy, degraded-looking copies of your large
eiiies of earth. Everywhere squalor and dirt and
wretchedness reigned; nowhere was there one single
bright or beautiful or gracious thing for the eye to rest
upon in all this scene of desolation, made thus by the
spiritual emanations from the dark beings who dwelt
there.
Amongst these wretched inhabitants I wandered with
my little star of pure light, so small that it was but a
bright spark flickering about in the darkness as 1 moved,
yet around me it shed a soft pale light as from a star of
hope that shone for those not too blinded by their own
selfish evil passions to behold it. Here and there I would
.come upon some crouched in a doorway or against a wall,
or in some miserable room, who would arouse themselves
sufficiently to look at me with my light and listen to the
words I spoke to them, and would begin to seek for the
better way, the returning path to those upper spheres
from which they had fallen by their sins. Some I would
be able to induce to join me in my work of helping others,
but as a rule they could only think of their own miseries,
and long for something higher than their present sur-
roundings, and even this, small as it seems, was one step,
and the next one of thinking how to help others forward
as well would soon follow.
One day in my wanderings through this country I
came to the outskirts of a large city in the middle of a
wide desolate plain. The soil was black and arid, more
like those great cinder heaps that are seen near your iron
works than anything I can liken it to. I was amongst a
few dilapidated, tumble-down little cottages that formed
a sort of fringe between the unhappy city and the desolate
plain, when my ears caught the sound of quarreling and
shouting coming from one of them, and curiosity made
me draw near to see what the dispute might be about and
if even here there might not be someone whom I
could help.
A WANDERER IN THE SPIRIT LANDS. 45
It was more like a barn than a house. A great rough
table ran the length of the room, and round it upon
coarse little wooden stools were seated about a dozen or
so of men. Such men! It is almost an insult to manhood
to give them the name. They were more like orang-
outangs, with the varieties of pigs and wolves and birds of
prey expressed in their coarse bloated distorted features.
Such faces, such misshapen bodies, such distorted limbs,
I can in no way describe them! They were clothed in
various grotesque and ragged semblances of their former
earthly finery, some in the fashion of centuries ago, others
in more modern garb, yet all alike ragged, dirty, and
unkempt, the hair disheveled, the eyes wild and staring
and glowing now with the fierce light of passion, now with
the sullen fire of despair and vindictive malice. To me,
then, it seemed that I had reached the lowest pit of hell,
but since then I have seen a region lower still — far
blacker, far more horrible, inhabited by beings so much
fiercer, so much lower, that beside them these were tame
and human. Later on I shall describe more fully these
lowest beings, when I come to that part of my wanderings
which took me into their kingdoms in the lowest hell, but
the spirits whom I now saw fighting in this cottage were
quarreling over a bag of coins which lay on the table. It
had been found by one of them and then given to be
gambled for by the whole party. The dispute seemed to
be because each wanted to take possession of it himself
without regard to the rights of anyone else at all. It was
simply a question of the strongest, and already they were
menacing each other in a violent fashion. The finder of
the money, or rather the spiritual counterpart of our
earthly money, was a young man, under thirty I should
say, who still possessed the remains of good looks, and but
for the marks that dissipation had planted on his face
would have seemed unfit for his present surroundings and
degraded associates. He was arguing that the money was
his, and though he had given it to be played for fairly he
objected to be robbed of it by anyone. I felt I had no
business there, and amidst a wild chorus of indignant cries
46 A WAtfDEfcEB IX THE SPIRIT LANDS.
and protestations thai they "supposed they were as well
able to say what was honest as he was.*' 1 turned and left
them. I had proceeded hut a short way, and was almost
opposite another deserted little hovel when the whole wild
crew came struggling and fighting out of the cottage,
wrestling with each other to get near the young man with
the bag of money whom the foremost of them were beat-
ing and kicking and trying to deprive of it. This one of
them succeeded in doing, whereupon they all set upon
him, while the young man broke away from them and
began running towards me. In a moment there was a
wild yell set up to catch him and beat him for an im-
postor and a cheat, since the bag was empty of gold and
had only stones in it, the money, like the fairy gold in
the stories, having turned, not into withered leaves, but
into hard stones.
Almost before I realized it the wretched young man
was clutching hold of me and crying out to me to save
him from those devils; and the whole lot were coming-
down upon us in hot pursuit of their victim. Quick as
thought I sprang into the empty hovel which gave us the
only hope of asylum, dragging the unfortunate young
man with me. and slamming the door I planted my back
against it to keep our pursuers out. My Goodness! how
they did yell and stamp and storm and try to batter in
that door; and how I did brace nryself up and exert all
the force of mind and body to keep them out! I did not
know it then, but I know now that unseen powers
helped me and held fast that door till, baffled and angry
that they could not move it. they went off at last to seek
for some fresh quarrel or excitement elsewhere.
A WANDERER IX THE SPIRIT LANDS. 47
CHAPTER VII.
When they had gone I turned to my companion who
sat huddled in a heap, and almost stunned, in one corner
of the hut, and, helping him to rise, I suggested that if he
could make shift to walk a little, it would he well for us
hoth to leave the place in case those men should think fit
to return. With much pain and trouble I got him up and
helped him slowly to a place of safety on the dark plain
where, if we were without shelter, we were at least free
from the danger of being surrounded. Then I did my
best to relieve his sufferings by methods I had learned
during my stay in the House of Hope, and after a time the
poor fellow was able to speak and tell about himself and
how he came to be in that dark country. He was, it
seemed, but recently from earth life, having been shot by
a man who was jealous of his attentions to his wife, and
not without reason. The one redeeming feature about
this-poor spirit's story was that he, poor soul, did not feel
any anger or desire for revenge upon the man who had
hurried him out of life, but only sorrow and shame for it
all. What had hurt him most and had opened his eyes to
his degradation, was the discovery that the woman for
whose love it had all been done, was so callous, so selfish,
so devoid of all true sense of love for either of them, that
she was only occupied in thinking how it would affect
herself and her social position in the world of fashion, and
not one thought, save of anger and annoyance, had she
given to either her unhappy husband or the victim of his
jealous anger.
"When/' said the young man, whom I shall call
48 A AYAXDEEKR IX THE SPIRIT LANDS.
Kaoul, "when I knew that 1 was truly dead and yet
possessed the power to return to earth again, my first
thought was to fly to her and console her if possible, or at
least make her feel that the dead yet lived, and that even
in death I thought of her. And how do you think I
found her? "Weeping for me? Sorrowing for him? No!
not one atom. Only thinking of herself and wishing she
had never seen us, or that she could blot us both out from
her life by one coup-dc-main, and begin life again with
someone else higher in the social scale than either of us
had been. The scales fell from my eyes, and I knew she
had never loved me one particle. But I was rich, I was
of the noblesse, and through my help she had hoped to
climb another rung of the social ladder, and had willingly
sunk herself into an adulteress, not for love of me, but to
gain the petty triumph of queening it over some rival
woman. I was nothing but a poor blind fool, and my life
had paid the penalty of my folly. To her I was but an
unpleasant memory of the bitter shame and scandal that
had fallen upon her. Then I fled from earth in my
bitterness, anywhere, I cared not where it was. I said
I would believe no more in goodness or truth of any kind,
and my wild thoughts and desires drew me down to this
dark spot and these degraded revellers, amongst whom I
found kindred spirits to those who had been my parasites
and flatterers on earth, and amongst whom I had wasted
my substance and lost my soul."
"And now, oh! unhappy friend," I said, "would you
not even now seek the path of repentance that would lead
you back to brighter lands and help you to regain the lost
inheritance of your manhood and your higher self?"
"Now, alas! it is too late," said Raoul. "In hell, and
surely this is hell, there is no longer hope for any."
"No hope for any?" I answered. "Say not so, my
friend; those words are heard all too often from the lips
of unhappy souls, for I can testify that even in the
darkest despair there is ever given hope. I, too, have
known a sorrow and a bitterness as deep as yours; yet 1
had ever hope, for she whom I loved was as the pure
A WANDERER IX THE SPIRIT LANDS. 49
angels, and her hands were ever stretched out to give me
love and hope, and for her sake I work to give to others
the hope given to myself. Come, let me lead you and I
will guide you to that better land."
"And who art thou, oh! friend, with the kind words
and still kinder deeds to whom in truth I might say I
owed my life; but had I not learned that in this place,
alas! one cannot die — one can suffer to the point of death
and even all its pains, yet death comes not to any, for we
have passed beyond it, and it would seem must live
through an eternity of suffering? Tell me who you are
and how you come to be here, speaking words of hope with
such confidence. I might fancy you an angel sent down
to help me, but that you resemble myself too much
for that."
Then I told him my history, and how I was working
myself upwards even as he might do, and also spoke of the
great hope I had always before me, that in time I should
be fit to join my sweet love in a land where we should be
no more parted.
"And she?" he said, "is content, you think, to wait
for you? She will spend all her life lonely on earth that
she may join you in heaven when you shall get there?
Bah! mon ami, you deceive yourself. It is a mirage that
you pursue. Unless she is either old or very plain, no
woman will dream of living forever alone for your sake.
She will for a time, I grant you, if she is romantic, or if
no one come to woo her, but unless she is an angel she
will console herself by and by, believe me. If your hopes
are no more well founded than that I shall feel only
sorry for you."
I confess his words angered me somewhat; they
echoed the doubts- that always haunted me, and were like
a cold shower bath upon all the warmth of romance with
which I had buoyed myself up. It was partly to satisfy
my own doubts as well as his that I said, with some heat:
"If I take you to earth and we find her mourning
only for me, thinking only of me, will you believe then
that I know what I speak about and am under no de-
50 A WANDERER ] X THE SPIRIT LANDS.
lusion? Will you admit that your experience of life and
of women may not apply to all, ami that there is some-
thing that even you can learn on this as on other
matters?"
"My good friend, believe me that I ask your pardon
with all my soul if my unbelief has pained you. I admire
3 r our faith and would I could have but a little of it myself.
]>y all means let us go and see her."
I took his hand, and then "willing" intently that we
should go to my beloved, we began to rise and rush
. through space with the speed of thought almost, till wo
found ourselves upon earth and standing in a room. I
saw her guardian spirit watching over my beloved, and
the dim outline of the room and its furniture, but my
friend Raoul saw nothing but the form of my darling
seated in her chair, and looking like some of the saints
■ from the brightness of her spirit and the pale soft aureole
of light that surrounded her, a spiritual light invisible to
you of earth but seen by those on the spiritual side of life
around those whose lives are good and pure, just as a
dark mist surrounds those who are not good.
"Mon Dieu!" cried Raoul, sinking upon his knees at
her feet. "It is an angel, a saint you have brought me to
see, not a woman. She is not of earth at all."
Then I spoke to her by name, and she heard my
voice and her face brightened and the sadness vanished
from it, and she said softly: "My dearest, are you indeed
there? I was longing for you to come again. I can
think and dream of nothing but you. Can you touch me
yet?" She put out her hand and for one brief moment
mine rested in it, but even that moment made her shiver
as though an icy wind had struck her.
"See, my darling one, I have brought an unhappy
friend to ask your prayers. And I would have him to
know that there are some faithful women on earth— some
true love to bless us with were we but fit to enjoy it."
She had not heard clearly all that I said, but her
mind caught its sense, and she smiled, so radiant a smile,
and said: "Oh! yes, I am ever faithful to you, my beloved,
A WANDERER IX THE SPIRIT LANDS. 51
as you are to me, and some day we shall be so very, very
happy."
Then Raoul who was still kneeling before her, held
out his hands and tried to touch hers, but the invisible
wall kept him away as it had done me, and he drew back,
crying out to her: "If your heart is so full of love and
pity, spare some to me who am indeed unhappy and need
your prayers. Pray that I, too, may be helped, and I shall
know your prayers are heard where mine were not
worthy to be, and I shall hope that even for me pardon
may yet be possible."
My darling heard the words of this unhappy man,
and kneeling down beside her chair offered up a little
simple prayer for help and comfort to us all. And Raoul
was so touched, so softened, that he broke down com-
pletely, and I had to take him by the hand and lead him
Back to the spirit land, though not now to a region devoid
of hope.
From that time Raoul and I worked together for a
little in the dark land he had now ceased to dwell in, and
from day to day he grew more hopeful. By nature he
was most vivacious and buoyant, a true Frenchman, full
of airy graceful lightness of heart which even the awful
surroundings of that gloomy spot could not wholly
extinguish. "We became great friends, and our work was
pleasanter from being shared. Our companionship was,
however, not destined to last long then, but we have since
met and worked together many times, like comrades in
different regiments whom the chances of war may bring
together or separate at any time.
52 A WANDERER IN THE SPIRIT LANDS.
CHAPTER VIII.
I was again called upon to go to earth upon a mission
of help, and to leave for a time my wanderings in the
spirit spheres; and now it was that the greatest and most
terrible temptation of my life came to me. In the course
of my work I was brought across one still in the earth
body, whose influence over my earthly life had done more
than aught else to wreck and spoil it, and though I also
had not. been blameless — far indeed from it — yet I could
not but feel an intense bitterness and thirst for revenge
whenever I thought of this person and all the wrongs that
1 had suffered — wrongs brooded over till at times I felt
as if my feelings must have vent in some wild burst of
passionate resentment.
In my wanderings upon the earth plane I had learned
many ways in which a spirit can still work mischief to
those he hates who are yet in the flesh. Far more power
is ours than you would dream of, but I feel it is wiser to
let the veil rest still upon the possibilities the world holds
even after death for the revengeful spirit. I could detail
many terrible cases I know of as having actually taken
place — mysterious murders and strange crimes committed,
none knew why or how, by those on earth whose brains
were so disordered that they were not themselves
responsible for their actions, and were but the tools of a
possessing spirit. These and many kindred things are
known to us in the spirit spheres where circumstances
often wear a very different aspect from the one shown to
you. The old beliefs in demoniacal possession were not
so visionary after all, only these demons or devils had
themselves been once the denizens of earth.
A WANDERER IX THE SPIRIT LANDS. 53
It so happened to me then, that when I came once
more, after long years of absence, across this person whom
I so hated, all my old feelings of suffering and anger
revived, but with tenfold more force than is possible in
earth life, for a spirit has far, far greater capabilities of
suffering or enjoyments, of pleasure or pain, love or hate,
than one whose senses are still veiled and deadened by the
earthly envelope, and thus all the senses of a disembodied
spirit are tenfold more acute.
Thus when I once more found myself beside this
person, the desire for my long-suspended revenge woke
again, and with the desire a most devilish plan for its
accomplishment suggested itself to me. For my desire of
vengeance drew up to me from their haunts in the lowest
hell, spirits of so black a hue, so awful a type, that never
before had I seen such beings or dreamed that out of
some nightmare fable they could exist. These beings
cannot live upon the earth plane nor even in the lower
spheres surrounding it, unless there be congenial mortals
or some strong magnetic attraction to hold them there
for a time, and though they often rise in response to an
intensely evil desire upon the part of either a mortal or
spirit on the earth plane, yet they cannot remain long,
and the moment the attracting force becomes weakened,
like a rope that breaks, they lose their hold and sink down
again to their own dark abodes. At times of great
popular indignation and anger, as in some great revolt of
an oppressed people in whom all sense but that of suffer-
ing and anger has been crushed out, the bitter wrath and
thirst for revenge felt by the oppressed will draw around
them such a cloud of these dark beings, that horrors
similar to those witnessed in the great French Revolution
and kindred revolts of down-trodden people, will take
place, and the maddened populace are for a time com-
pletely under the control of those spirits who are truly
as devils.
In my case these horrible beings crowded round me
with delight, whispered in my ears and pointed out a way
of revenge so simple, so easy, and yet so horrible, so
5 1 \ wa n i >i:i; i:k in the spirit lands.
appalling in its wickedness, that I shall not venture to
write it down lest the idea of it might be given to some
other desperate one, and like seed Calling into a fruitful
soil bring forth its baleful blossoms.
At any other time I should have shrunk hack in
horror from these beings and their foul suggestions.
Now in my mad passion I welcomed them and was about
to invoke their aid to help me to accomplish my ven-
geance, when like the tones of a silver bell there fell upon
my ears the voice of my beloved, to whose pleadings I was
never deaf and whose tones could move me as none else
could. The voice summoned me to come to her by all
that we both held sacred, by all the vows we had made
and all the hopes we had cherished, and though I could
not so instantly abandon my revenge, yet I was drawn as
by a rope to the one I loved from the one I hated.
And the whole wild crew of black devils came with
me, clinging to me and trying to hold me back, yet with
an ever feebler hold as the voice of love and purity and
truth penetrated more and more deeply to my heart.
And then I saw my beloved standing in her room,
her arms stretched out to draw me to her, and two strong
bright spirit guardians by her side, while around her was
drawn a circle of flaming silver light as though a wall of
lightning encircled her; yet at her call I passed through it,
and stood at her side.
The dark crowd sought to follow, but were kept back
by the flaming ring. One of the boldest made a rush at
me as I passed through, and tried to catch hold, but his
hand and arm were caught by the flame of light and
shriveled up as though thrust into a furnace. With a
yell of pain and rage he drew back amidst a wild howl of
derisive laughter from the rest.
With all the power of her love my darling pleaded
with me that I should give up this terrible idea, and
promise her nevermore to yield to so base a thought. She
asked me if I loved my revenge so much better than I
loved her, that to gratify it I would raise up between us
A WANDERER IN THE SPIRIT LANDS. 55
the insurmountable barrier of my meditated crime? Was
her love indeed so little to me after all?
At first I would not, could not yield, but at last she
began to weep, and then my heart melted as though her
tears had been warm drops of her heart's blood falling on
it to thaw its ice, and in bitter anguish of soul that I
should have caused her to shed tears I knelt at her feet
and prayed to be forgiven my wicked thought — prayed
that I might still be left with her love to cheer me, still
with her for my one thought, one hope, my all. And as
I prayed the circle of dark spirits, who had been fighting
to get in and beckoning to me and trying to draw me out,
broke like a cloud of black mist when the wind scatters it,
and they sank away down to their own abode again, while
I sank exhausted at my darling's feet.
At times after this I saw the dark spirits draw near
to me, though never again could they come close, for I
had an armor in my darling's love and my promise to her
which was proof against all their attacks.
5G A VYAXDERER IX THE SPIRIT LANDS.
CHAPTER IX.
I was next sent to visit what will indeed seem a
strange country to exist in the spirit world. The Land
of lee and Snow — the Frozen Land — in which lived all
those who had been cold and selfishly calculating in their
earthly lives. Those who had crushed out and chilled
and frozen from their own lives and the lives of others, all
those warm sweet impulses and affections which make the
life of heart and soul. Love had been so crushed and
killed by them that its sun could not shine where they
were, and only the frost of life remained.
Great statesmen were amongst those whom I saw
dwelling in this land, but they were those who had not
loved their country nor sought its good. Only their own
ambitions, their own aggrandizement had been their aim,
and to me they now appeared to dwell in great palaces of
ice and on the lofty frozen pinnacles of their own am-
bitions. Others more humble and in different paths in
life I saw, but all alike were chilled and frozen by the
awful coldness and barrenness of a life from which all
warmth, all passion, was shut out. I had learned the
evils of an excess of emotion and of passion, now I saw
the evils of their entire absence. Thank God this land
had far fewer inhabitants than the other, for terrible as
are the effects of mis-used love, they are not so hard to
overcome as the absence of all the tender feelings of the
human heart.
There were men here who had been prominent mem-
bers of every religious faith and every nationality on your
earth. Roman Catholic cardinals and priests of austere
A WANDERER IN THE SPIRIT LANDS. 57
and pious but cold and selfish lives, Puritan preachers,
Methodist ministers, Presbyterian divines. Church of
England bishops and clergymen, missionaries, Brahmin
priests, Parsees, Egyptians, Mohammedans — in sbort all
sorts and all nationalities were to be found in the Frozen
Laud, yet in scarcely one was there enough warmth of
feeling to thaw the ice around themselves even in a small
degree. When there was even a little tiny drop of
warmth, such as one tear of sorrow, then the ice began to
melt and there was hope for that poor soul.
There was one man whom I saw who appeared to be
enclosed in a cage of ice; tbe liars were of ice, yet they
were as bars of polished steel for strength. This man had
been one of the Grand Inquisitors of the Inquisition in
Venice, and had been one of those whose very names sent
terror to the heart of any unfortunate who fell into their
clutches; a most celebrated name in history, yet in all the
records of his life and acts there was not one instance
where one shade of pity for his victims had touched his
heart and caused him to turn aside, even for one brief-
moment, from his awful determination in torturing and
killing those whom the Inquisition got into its toils. A
man known for his own hard austere life, which had no
more indulgence for himself than for others. Cold and
pitiless, he knew not what it was to feel one answering
throb awake in his heart for another's sufferings. His
face was a type of cold unemotional cruelty: the long thin
high nose, the pointed sharp chin, the high and rather
wide cheek bones, the thin straight cruel lips like a thin
line across the face, the head somewhat flat and wdde over
the ears, wdiile the deep-set penetrating eyes glittered
from their penthouse brows with the cold steely glitter
of a wild beast's.
Like a procession of spectres I saw the wraiths of
some of this man's many victims glide past him, maimed
and crushed, torn and bleeding from their tortures —
pallid ghosts, wandering astral shades, from which the
souls had departed forever, but which yet clung around
this man, unable to decay into the elements whilst his
58 A W A N I » I-. 1 1 E 1 1 I X T HE SPIRIT LA X DS.
magnetism attached them, like a chain, to him. The
souls and all the higher elements had forever left those —
which were true astral shells — yet they possessed a certain
amount of vitality — only it was all drawn from this man,
not from the released spirits which had once inhabited
them. They were such things as those ghosts are made
of winch arc seen haunting the spot where some one too
good and innocent to be so chained to earth, has been
murdered. They seem to their murderers and others to
live and haunt them, yet the life of such astrals (or ghosts)
is but a reflected one, and ceases as soon as remorse and
repentance have sufficed to sever the tie that links them
to their murderers.
Other spirits I saw haunting this man, and taunting
him with his own helplessness and their past sufferings,
but these were very different looking; they were more
"solid in appearance and possessed a power and strength
and intelligence wanting in those other misty-looking
shades. These were spirits w T hose astral forms still held
the immortal souls imprisoned in them, though they had
been so crushed and tortured that only the fierce desire of
revenge remained. These spirits were incessant in their
endeavor to get at their former oppressor and tear him to
pieces, and the icy cage seemed to be regarded bj r him as
being as much a protection from them as a prison for
himself. One more clever than the rest had constructed
a long, sharp-pointed pole which he thrust through the
bars to prod at the man within, and wonderful w r as the
activity he displayed in trying to avoid its sharp point.
Others had sharp short javelins which they hurled
through the bars at him. Others again squirted foul,
slimy water, and at times the wdiole crowd would combine
in trying to hurl themselves en masse upon the sheltering
bars to break through, but in vain. The wretched man
within, whom long experience had taught the impreg-
nability of his cage, would taunt them in return with a
cold crafty enjoyment of their fruitless efforts.
To my mental query as to whether this man was ever
released, an answer was given to me by that majestic spirit
A WANDERER IN THE SPIRIT LANDS. 59
whose voice I had heard at rare times speaking to me,
from the time when I heard it first at my own grave. On
various occasions when I had asked for help or knowledge,
this spirit had spoken to me, as now, from a distance, his
voice sounding to me as the voice spoken of by the
prophets of old when they thought the Lord spoke to
them in the thunder. This voice rang in my ears with its
full deep tones, yet neither the imprisoned spirit nor
those haunting him heard it; their ears were deaf so that
they could not hear, and their eyes blind so that they
could not see.
And to me the voice said: "Son, behold the thoughts
of this man for one brief moment — see how he would use
liberty were it his."
And I saw, as one sees images reflected in a mirror,
the mind of this man. First the thought that he could
get free, and when once free he could force himself back
to earth and the earth plane, and once there he could find
some still in the flesh whose aspirations and ambitions
were like his own, and through their help he would forge
a still stronger yoke as of iron to rivet upon men's necks,
and found a still crueller tyranny — a still more pitiless
Inquisition, if that were possible, which should crush out
the last remnant of liberty left to its oppressed victims.
He knew he would sway a power far greater than his
earthly power, since he "would work with hands and brain
freed from all earthly fetters, and would be able to call
up around him kindred spirits, fellow workers with souls
as cruel and cold as his awn. He seemed to revel in the
thought of the fresh oppressions he could plan, and took
pride to himself in the recollection that he had ever
listened unmoved to the shrieks and groans and prayers
of the victims he had tortured to death. From the love
of oppression and for his own relentless ambition had he
worked, making the aggrandizement of his order but the
pretext for his actions, and in no single atom of his hard
soul was there awakened one spark of pity or remorse.
Such a man set free to return to earth would be a source
of danger far more deadly than the most fierce wild beast,
GO A WANDERER IX THE SPIRIT LANDS.
since his powers would be far less limited. lie did not
know that his vaunted Inquisition, which he still sought
io strengthen in all its deadly powers, had become a thing
of the past, swept away from the face of God's earth by a
power far mightier than any he could wield; and that, like
the dark and terrible age in which it had sprung up like
a noisome growth, it had gone nevermore to return —
thank God! — never again to disgrace humanity by the
crimes committed in the name of him who came only to
preach peace and love on earth — gone, with its traces and
its scars left yet upon the human mind in its shaken and
broken trust in a God and an immortality. The recoil of
that movement which at last swept away the Inquisition
is yet felt on earth, and long years must pass before all
which was good and pure and true and had survived
throughout even those dark ages shall reassert its power
"and lead men back to their faith in a God of Love, not a
God of Horrors, as those oppressors painted him.
From this Frozen Land I turned away chilled and
saddened. I did not care to linger there or explore its
secrets, though it may be that again at some future time
I may visit it. I felt that there was nothing I could do
in that land, none I could understand, and they but froze
and revolted me without my doing them any good.
On my way back from the Frozen Land to the Land
of Twilight, I passed a number of vast caverns called the
"Caverns of Slumber," wherein lay a great multitude of
spirits in a state of complete stupor, unconscious of all
around them. These, I learned, were the spirits of
mortals, who had killed themselves with opium eating and
smoking, and whose spirits had thus been deprived of all
chance of development, and so had retrograded instead of
advancing and growing — just as a limb tied up and
deprived of motion withers away — and now they were
feebler than an unborn infant, and as little able to
possess conscious life.
In many cases their sleep would last for centuries; in
others, where the indulgence in the drug had been less, it
A WANDERER IX THE SPIRIT LAXDS. 61
might only last for twenty, fifty, or a hundred years.
These spirits lived, and that was all, their senses being
little more developed than those of some fungus growth
which exists without one spark of intelligence; yet in
them the soul germ still lingered, imprisoned like a tiny
seed in the wrapping of some Egyptian mummy, which,
long as it may lie thus, is yet alive, and will in a kindly
soil sprout forth at last. These caverns, in which kind
spirit hands had laid them, were full of life-giving
magnetism, and a number of attendant spirits who had
themselves passed through a similar state from opium
poisoning in their own earth lives, were engaged in giving
what life they could pour into these comatose spirit bodies
which lay like rows of dead people all over the floor.
By slow degrees, according as the spirit had been
more or less injured by the drug taken in the earthly life,
these wretched beings would awake to consciousness and
all the sufferings experienced by the opium eater when
deprived of his deadly drug. By long and slow degrees
the poor spirits would awaken, sense by sense, till at last
like feeble suffering children they would become fit for
instruction, when they would be sent to institutions like
your idiot asylums, where the dawning intellect would be
trained and helped to develop, and those faculties re-
covered which had been all but destroyed in the earth life.
These poor souls would only learn very slowly,
because they had to try to learn now, without the aids of
the earthly life, those lessons which it had been designed
to teach. Like drunkards (only more completely) they
had paralyzed brain and senses and had avoided, not
learned, the lessons of the earthly life and its development
of the spirit.
To me these Caves of Slumber were inexpressibly
sad to behold — not less so that those wretched slum-
berers were unconscious for so long of the valuable time
they lost in their dreamless, hopeless sleep of stagnation.
Like the hare in the fable, while they slept others
less swift won the race, and these poor souls might try in
62 A WANDERER IX THE SPIRIT LANDS.
vain through countless ages to recover the time which
they had lost.
Y\ hen these slumherers shall at last awake, to what
a fate do they not waken, through what an awful path
must they not climb to reach again that point in the earth
life from which they have fallen! Does it not fill our
souls with horror to think that there are those on earth
who live, and pile up wealth through the profits made
from that dreadful trade in opium, which not alone de-
stroys the body, but would seem to destroy even more
fatally the soul, till one would despondently ask if there
be indeed hope for these its victims?
These awful caves — these terrible stupefied spirits —
can any words point a fate more fearful than theirs? To
awaken at last with the intellects of idiots, to grow,
through hundreds of years, back at last to the possession
of the mental powers of children — not of grown men and
women. Slow, slow, must be their development even
then, for unlike ordinary children they have almost lost
the power to grow, and take many generations of time to
learn what one generation on earth could have taught
them. I have heard it said that many of the unhappy
beings when they have attained at last to the development
of infants, are sent back to earth to be reincarnated in an
earthly body, that they may enjoy again the advantages
they have misused before. But of this I only know by
hearsay, and cannot give any opinion of my own upon its
truth. I only know that I should be glad to think of any
such possibility for them which could shorten the process
of development or help them to regain all that they
had lost.
A WANDERER IN THE SPIRIT LANDS. 63
CHAPTER X.
In my home in the Twilight Land I rested now for
a time, stud} r ing to learn more of myself and the powers
I had within me, and seeking to apply the lessons I had
learned in my wanderings. My chief instructor at this
time was a man like myself in many respects, who had
lived a similar life on earth and had passed through the
lower spheres, as I was now doing, and who had become
a dweller in a bright land of sunshine from which he
came constantly to teach and help those of the Brother-
hood who, like myself, were his pupils.
There was likewise another teacher or guide whom I
sometimes saw, whose influence over me was even
greater, and from whom I learned many strange things,
but as he was in a much more advanced sphere than the
other, it was but seldom that I could see him as a distinct
personality. His teachings came to me more as mental
suggestions or inspirational discourses in answer to some
questioning thought on my part. This spirit I shall not
now describe to you, as at this time of my sojourn in the
Twilight Land I saw him but very dimly, and only clearly
when my progression had carried me into a brighter state.
Though this man was not fully visible to me I was
often conscious of his presence and his aid, and when later
on I learned that he had been my principal guardian spirit
during my earthly life, I could easily trace many thoughts
and suggestions, many of my higher aspirations, to his
influence; and it was his voice that had so often spoken to
me in warning or in comfort when I struggled on almost
overwhelmed with my terrible position on first entering
64 A WANDEREB IN THE SPIRIT LAXDS.
the spirit world. In the days of darkness I had been
faintly conscious of his form flitting in and out of my
little cell, and soothing my terrible sufferings with his
magnetism and his wonderful knowledge and power.
On returning to the Twilight Land from the darker
spheres I had visited, I felt almost like returning to a
home, for, bare and shabby as my room looked, and small
and narrow as it was, it yet held all my greatest treasures :
my picture mirror in which I could see my beloved, and
the rose, and the letter she had sent to me. Moreover I
had friends there, companions in misfortune like myself,
and though we were as a rule much alone, meditating
upon our past mistakes and their lessons, yet at times it
was very pleasant to have one friend or another come in
to see you, and since we were all alike men who had dis-
graced ourselves by our earthly lives and were now seeking
to follow the better way, there was even in that a bond of
sympathy. Our life, could I make you fully realize it,
would indeed seem strange to you. It was like and yet
unlike an earthly life. For instance, we ate at times a
simple sort of food provided for us, it would seem, by
magic whenever we felt hungry, but often for a week at a
time we would not think of food, unless indeed it was one
of us who had been fond of good eating on earth, and in
that case the desire would be much more frequent and
troublesome to satisfy. For myself my tastes had been
somewhat simple, and neither eating nor drinking had in
themselves possessed special attractions for me.
There was always around us this twilight, which was
never varied with dark night or bright day, and which
was most especially trying to me in its monotony. I so
love light and sunshine. To me it was ever as a life-
giving bath. I had been born in a land of earth where all
is sunshine and flowers.
Then although we usually walked about this building
and the surrounding country much as you do, we could
float a little at will, though not so well as more advanced
spirits do, and if we were in a great hurry to go anywhere
A WAXDERER Itf THE SPIRIT LANDS. 65
our drills seemed to carry us there with the speed almost
of thought.
As for sleep, we could spend long intervals without
feeling its need, or, again, we could lie and sleep for
weeks at a time, sometimes semi-conscious of all that
passed, at others in the most complete of slumbers.
Another strange thing was our dress — which never
teemed to wear out and renewed itself in some mysterious
fashion. All through this period of my wanderings and
while I was in this abode it was of a dark — a very dark —
blue color, with a yellow girdle round the waist, and an
anchor worked in yellow on the left slesve, with the
words, "Hope is Eternal," below it. There were close-
fitting undergarments of the same dark color. The robe
was long and such as you see penitent brotherhoods or
monks wear on earth, with a hood hung from the sho al-
ders, which could be used to cover the head and face of
any who desired to screen their features from view; and
indeed there were often times when we wished to do so,
for suffering and remorse had made such changes in us
that we were often glad to hide our faces from the gaze
of those we loved. The hollow eyes, sunken cheeks,
wasted and bent forms, and deep lines suffering had
traced upon each face told their own story but too well,
and such of us as had dear friends on earth or in the spirit
land still grieving for our loss, sought often at times to
iiide from their eyes our disfigured forms and faces.
Our lives had somewhat of monotony about them in
the regular order in which our studies and our lectures
followed each other like clockwork. At certain stages — ■
for they did not count time by days or weeks, but only as
advance was made in the development of each spirit —
when a lesson had been learned, in a longer or a shorter
time according to the spiritual and intellectual develop-
ment, the spirit was advanced to a higher branch of the
subject studied.
Some remain a very long time before they can grasp
the meaning of the lesson shown to them; if so, the spirit
is in no way hurried or pressed on as is done in earth
6G A WANDEEER IN THE SIM HIT LANDS.
education, where life seems all ion short for learning. As
a spirit a man has all eternity before him and can stand
still or go on as he pleases, or he may remain where he is
till he has thought out and grasped clearly what lias been
shown, and then he is ready for the next step, and so on.
There is no hurrying anyone faster than he chooses to go;
no interference with his liberty to live on in the same
state of undevelopment if he wishes, so long as he inter-
feres with the liberty of no one else and conforms to the
simple rule which governs that great Brotherhood, the
rule of freedom and sympathy for all. None were urged
to learn, and none were kept back from doing so; it was
all voluntary, and did any one seek (as many did) to leave
this place, he was free to go where he would, and to
return again if he wished; the doors were closed to none,
either in going or returning, and none ever sought to
reproach another with his faults or shortcomings, for each
felt the full depth of his own.
Some had been years there, I learned, for to them
the lessons were hard and slow to be learned. Others,
again, had broken away and gone back to the life of the
earth plane so many times that they had descended to the
lowest sphere at last, and gone through a course of
purification in that other House of Hope where I had first
been. They had appeared to go back instead of forward,
yet even this had not been in truth a retrogression,
but only a needful lesson, since they w T ere thus cured of
the desire to try the pleasures of the earth plane again.
A f ew, like myself, who had a strong and powerful motive
to rise, made rapid progress, and soon passed on from
step to step, but there were, alas! too many who required
all the hope and all the help that could be given to sustain
and comfort them through all their trials; and it was my
lot to be able, out of the storehouse of my own hopeful-
ness, to give a share to others less fortunate who were not
blessed, as I was, with a stream of love and sympathy
flowing ever to me from my beloved on earth, cheering me
on to fresh efforts with its promise of joy and peace at last.
A WAXDEEEE IN THE SPIRIT LAXDS. 67
And now was given me a fresh source of happiness
in being able to spend a certain time on earth with my
darling, when she was able to be made fully conscious that
I was there. Many times had I been to see her unknown
to herself. In all my wanderings I had found time to
snatch brief happy moments to go to earth and look at
her; and now, although I was still almost invisible to her
eyes, yet she could tell that I was present and could feel
my touch when I laid my hand on hers. She would place
a chair for me beside her own that we might sit side by
side again, as in the dear old days that were gone. She
would speak to me and could hear faintly what I said in
answer, and could even distinguish dimly my form. Ah !
the strangeness, the sadness, and yet the sweetness of
those meetings between the living and the dead!
I would come to her with my heart full of the bit-
terest anguish and remorse for the past. The sense of
shame and humiliation at what I had become would be
such that it seemed hopeless for one such as I was to rise
to higher things, and the sight of her sweet face and the
knowledge that she believed in me and loved me in spite
of all, would soothe my heart and give me fresh hope,
fresh courage to struggle on. From the desolation of our
lives there grew up in those strangely sweet meetings a
trust and hope in the future that no words can describe.
I learned that she had been developing her powers,
and studying how she could use the truly wonderful gifts
which she possessed and which had lain dormant for so
long, and she was greatly pleased to find how well she was
succeeding and how rapidly the curtain which shut me
out from her was being drawn aside. Then there came
to us another pleasure. My beloved had found a medium
through whose peculiar organization it was made possible
for a spirit to clothe himself again in the semblance of an
earthly body, similar in appearance to his own and
recognizable by the friends he had left on earth. I was
now enabled to materialize (as it is termed) a solid hand
with which to touch her. Great was the happiness this
gave to us both, though I was as yet denied the further
G8 A WANDERER EN THE SPIRIT LANDS.
pleasure of showing myself to her. I was told I could not
do so without bearing on the materialized face the nans
of my Sufferings, and it would only have pained her to see
that. Later on, when 1 was more advanced, I should
show myself clearly.
Ah! how many, many poor spirits would come in
crowds to those meetings, hoping for the chance that they,
too, might be able to show themselves and win some
recognition — see again someone who was glad to know
that they still lived and could return; and how many were
always certain to go away sad and disappointed because
there were so many and only a certain amount of power,
and those who were nearest and dearest were naturally
granted a preference. The spirit world is full of lonely
souls, all eager to return and show that they still live, still
think of those whom they have left, still feel an interest
in their struggles, and are as ready and often more able
to advise and help than when they were on earth, were
they not shut out by the barriers of the flesh. I have seen
so many, so very many spirits hanging about the earth
plane when they might have gone to some bright sphere,
but would not, because of their affection for some beloved
ones left to struggle with the trials of earth, and grieving
in deepest sorrow for their death; and so the spirits would
hang about them, hoping for some chance which would
make the mortal conscious of their presence and their
constant love. Could these but communicate as do
friends on earth when one has to go to a distant country
and leave the other behind, there would not be such hope-
lessness of sorrow as I have often seen; and although
years and the ministrations of comforting angels will
soften the grief of most mortals, yet would it not be a
happier state for both mortals and spirits could they but
still hold sweet communion together as of yore? I have
known a mother whose son has taken to evil ways, and
who believed that mother to be an angel in heaven far
away — I have, I say, known her to follow her son for
years, striving in vain to impress him with the sense of her
presence, that she might warn and save him from his path
A WANDERER IN THE SPIRIT LANDS. 69
of sin. I have seen one of a pair of lovers whom some
misunderstanding: had parted, and between whom death
had placed a last insuperable harrier, haunt the beloved
one left behind, and seek by all means in his power to
convey to her the true state of things, and that their
hearts had been ever true whatever might have appeared
to the contrary. I have seen spirits in such sorrow, such
despair, trying in vain to win one conscious look, one
single thought, to show that their presence was felt and
understood. I have seen them in their despair cast them-
selves down before the mortal one and seek to hold her
hand, her dress, anything; and the spirit hand was power-
less to grasp the mortal one, and the mortal ears were ever
deaf to the spirit voice. Only, perhaps, a sense of sorrow
would be given, and an intense longing to behold again
the dead, without power to know that the so-called dead
was there beside them. There is no despair of earth,
great as it often is, equal to the despair a spirit feels when
first he realizes in all its force, the meaning of the barrier
which death has placed between him and the world of
mortal man. Is it, then, wonderful that on the spirit side
of life all means are being taken by those who seek to help
and comfort the sorrowing ones, both on the earth and in
the spirit land, to roll back these barriers and to open
wide the doors that men and angels may walk and talk
together upon earth, as in the days of old when the world
was but young? If there is much that is trivial, much
that seems silly and foolish, and even vulgar or grotesque
and terrible, in the manifestations witnessed through
many mediums and in many circles; if there are fraud-
ulent mediums and credulous fools or vain and conceited
egotists in the movement, is it not so with all great but
unrecognized truths struggling for acknowledgment, and
should not all these things be excused in view of the fact
that they are all attempts, clumsy and foolish it may be,
yet still attempts, to open the doors and let the light from
the spirit world in upon a sorrowful earth? Find fault
with these false or misdirected efforts if you will, but also
seek for knowledge to direct them better, and you will
70 A WANDERER IX THE SPIRIT LANDS.
help on those who are trying to climb to higher things,
and do not try simply to sneer them down and crush and
Btifle them; rather recognize them for what they are — the
efforts of the unseen world to lift the veil that hides your
beloved dead from your eyes.
A WANDERER IX THE SPIRIT LANDS. 71
CHAPTER XL
To these meetings for materialization I was always
accompanied by that majestic spirit of whom I have
already spoken, and whom I now knew by his name,
Ahrinziman, '"the Eastern Guide." As I was now be-
ginning to see him more clearly I will describe him to you.
He was a tall, majestic-looking man with long flow-
ing white garments bordered with yellow, and a yellow
girdle around his waist. His complexion was that of an
Eastern, of a pale dusky tint. The features were straight
and beautifully molded, as one sees them in the statues of
Apollo, though their peculiar Eastern cast caused them
to vary a little from the perfect Grecian type. His eyes
were large, dark, soft and tender as a woman's, yet with a
latent fire and force of passion in their depths which,
though subdued and controlled by his strong will, yet
gave a warmth and intensity to his looks and manner,
from which I could easily believe that in his earth life he
had known all the sweetness and all the passion of violent
love and hate. Now his passions were purified from all
earthly dross, and served but as links of sympathy between
him and those who, like myself, were still struggling to
subdue their lower natures, and conquer their passions.
A short silky black beard covered his cheeks and chin,
and his soft wavy black hair hung somewhat long upon his
shoulders. His figure, though tall and powerful, had all
the litheness and supple grace of his Eastern race, for so
marked are the types of each race that even the spirit
bears still the impress of its earthly nationality, and
although centuries had passed since Ahrinziman had left
: 8 A \VA N DEEEB IN TDK SPIEIT LANDS.
the earthly body he retained all the peculiarities which
distinguished the Eastern from the Western people. The
spirit was strangely like an earthly mortal man, and yet
so unlike in that peculiar dazzling brightness of form and
feature which no words can ever paint, nor pen describe,
that strange and wonderful ethereality, and yet distinct
tangibility, which only those who have seen a spirit of the
higher spheres can truly understand. In his earth life he
had heen a deep student of the occult sciences, and since
his entry into the spirit world he had expanded and in-
creased his knowledge till to me it seemed there was no
limit to his powers. Like myself, of a w r arm and passion-
ate nature, he had learned during long years of spirit life
to overcome and subdue all his passions, till now he stood
upon a pinnacle of power whence he stooped down ever to
draw up strugglers like myself, whom his sympathy and
^ready understanding of our weaknesses made ready to
"receive his help, while one who had never himself fallen
would have spoken to us in vain. With all his gentleness
and ready sympathy, however, he had also a power of will
against which, when he chose to exert it, one sought in
vain to fight, and I have beheld on more than one occasion
some of the wild passionate beings amongst whom he
worked, brought to a stop in something they were about
to do which would have harmed themselves or others.
They would be spellbound and unable to move a limb, yet
he had never touched them. It was but by his own
powerful will, which was so much stronger than theirs
that for the time they were paralyzed. Then he would
argue the matter with them, kindly and frankly, and show
to them in some of his wonderful ways the full con-
sequences to themselves and others of what they were
about to do, and when he had done so he would lift from
them the spell of his will and leave them free to act as they
desired, free to commit the meditated sin now that they
knew its consequences; and seldom have I known any
who, after so solemn a warning, would still persist in fol-
lowing their own path. I myself have always been con-
sidered one whose will was strong, and who could not
A WANDERER IN" THE SPIRIT LANDS. 73
readily give it up to any others, but beside this spirit I
have felt myself a child, and have bowed more than once
to the force of his decisions. And here let me say that in
all things in the spirit world man is free — free as air — to
follow his own inclinations and desires if he wishes, and
does not choose to take the advice offered to him. The
limitations to a man's own indulgence and the extent to
which he can infringe upon the rights of others, are regu-
lated by the amount of law and order existing in the
sphere to which he belongs.
For example, in the lowest sphere of all, where no
law prevails but the law of the strongest oppressor, you
may do what you please; you may injure or oppress
another to the very last limits of his endurance, and those
who are stronger than you will do the same to you. The
most oppressed slaves on earth are less unhappy than those
whom I have seen in the lowest sphere of all, where no law
prevails and where only those spirits are to be found who
have defied all laws of God or man and have been a law to
themselves, exercising the most boundless oppression and
wrong towards their neighbors. In those spheres which
I shall shortly describe, it seems that strong, cruel and
oppressive as a spirit may be, there is always found some-
one still stronger to oppress him, some one still crueller,
still wickeder, still more oppressive, till at last you arrive
at those who may truly be said to reign in hell — Kings
and Emperors of Evil! And it goes on till at last the very
excess of evil will work its own cure. The worst and most
tyrannical will long for some other state of things, some
laws to restrain, some power to control; and that feeling
will be the first step, the first desire for a better life, which
will give the Brothers of Hope sent to work in those dark
spheres, the little loophole through which to give the idea
of improvement, and the hope that it is still possible for
them. As the spirit progresses upwards there will be
found in each circle of the ladder of progress an increased
degree of law and order prevailing, to which he will be
ready to conform himself, as he expects others to conform
where the laws affect him. The perfect observance of the
74 A WANDERER IN THE SPIRIT LANDS.
highest moral laws is found only in the highest spheres,
hut there are many degrees of observance, and he who
respects the rights of others will find his rights respected.
while he who tramples upon his neighbor will in turn he
trampled upon by the stronger ones.
In all respects man in the spirit world is free to work
or to he idle, to do good or to do evil, to win a hlessing or
a curse. Such as he is, such will he his surroundings, and
the sphere for which he is fitted must ever be the highest
to which he can attain till his own efforts fit him to be-
come a dweller in one higher. Thus the good need no
protection against the evil in the spirit world. Their own
different states place an insurmountable harrier between
them. Those above can always descend at will to visit or
help those below them, but, between them and the lower
spirits there is a great gulf which the lower ones cannot
•pass. Only upon your earth and on other planets where
material life exists, can there be the mixture of good and
evil influences with almost equal power. I say almost
equal, since even on earth the good have 'the greater
power, unless man shuts himself out from their aid by the
indulgence of his lower passions.
In days of old when men's hearts were simple as little
children's, the spirit world lay close at their doors and
they knew it not, but now men have drifted far from it,
and are like mariners upon a raft, who are seeking now
again through fog and mist to find it. Kind pilots of the
spirit world are striving to guide and help them to reach
that radiant land that they may bring back a bright store
of hope and light for the weary strugglers upon earth.
A WANDERER IX THE SPIRIT LAXDS. 75
CHAPTER XII.
The meetings for materialization were held once a
fortnight, and from the number of them I judged that
about three months had passed, when I was told by Ahrin-
ziman to prepare myself for a great change which was
about to take place in myself and my surroundings, and
which would mean my passing into a higher sphere. I
have heard the spheres divided differently by different
spirit teachers, and it is not very important that they
should be all divided by the same standard, since these
divisions are very similar to mapping out a country where
the boundaries melt so imperceptibly into one another
that it is not very essential to have the limits defined with
perfect exactitude, since the changes in the countries and
the people will of themselves mark their different states as
you progress on your journey. Thus, then, some will tell
you there are seven spheres and that the seventh means
the heaven spoken of in the Bible; others say there are
twelve spheres; others again extend the number. Each
sphere is, however, divided into circles, usually twelve to
a sphere, though here again some spirits will reckon them
differently, just as your standards of measurement on
earth differ in different countries, yet the thing they
measure remains the same. For myself, I have been used
to count that there are seven spheres above the earth and
seven below it — using the terms above and below as sig-
nifying the nearness to, or distance from, the great central
sun of our solar system, the nearest point of attraction
towards that sun being considered to be our highest point
of attainment (while in the limits of the earth spheres),
rG A WANDERER IX THE SPIRIT LANDS.
and the farthest away being regarded as our lowest or most
degraded sphere. Each sphere, then, being subdivided
into twelve circles, which are blended so closely into each
other that you appear to pass almost insensibly from one
to the other. I had hitherto been in what is called the
earth plane, which like a great broad belt circles around
the earth and permeates its atmosphere. This earth
plane may be said to comprehend within its bounds the
first of the seven spheres above and the first of those below
the earth, and is used commonly in describing the habita-
tions of those spirits who are said to be earth-bound in a
greater or less degree because they are not able to sink
below the earth attractions nor to free themselves from its
influences.
I was now told that I had so far freed myself from
the earth's attractions and overcome my desires for earthly
things, that I was able to pass into the second sphere.
The passing from the body of a lower sphere into that of
a higher one is often, though not invariably, accomplished
during a deej) sleep which closely resembles the death-
sleep of the spirit in leaving the earthly body. ' As a spirit
grows more elevated, more etherealized, this change is
accompanied by a greater degree of consciousness, till at
last the passing from one high sphere to another is simply
like changing one garb for another a little finer, discard-
ing one spiritual envelope for a more ethereal one. Thus
the soul passes onward, growing less and less earthly (or
material) in its envelopment, till it passes beyond the
limits of our earth spheres into those of the solar systems.
It happened, then, that upon my return from one of
my visits to the earth, I felt overpowered by a strange
unusual sense of drowsiness, which was more like paralysis
of the brain than sleep.
I retired to my little room in the Twilight Land, and
throwing myself upon my couch, sank at once into a pro-
found dreamless slumber like unto the unconscious sleep
of death.
In this state of unconsciousness I lay for about two
weeks of earthly time, and during it my soul passed from
A WANDERER IN THE SPIRIT LANDS. 77
the disfigured astral body and came forth like a newborn
child, clothed in a brighter, purer spiritual envelope,
which my efforts at overcoming the evil in myself had
created for it. Only I was not born as an infant but as a
full grown man, even as my experience and knowledge
had been those of a mature spirit. There are some mor-
tals whose knowledge of life is so limited, whose minds
have been so little cultivated, and whose natures are so
simple and childlike, that they are born into the spirit
world as mere children, however many years of earth life
they may have known, but it was not so with me, and in
assuming my new condition I also possessed the develop-
ment in age which my earth life had given me.
In a state of perfect unconsciousness my newborn
soul was borne by the attendant spirit friends into the
second sphere, where I lay sleeping my dreamless sleep
till the time came for my awakening.
The discarded astral envelope I had left was by the
power of attendant spirits dissolved into the elements of
the earth plane, even as my earthly body left at my first
death would decay into the earthly material from which it
had been taken,— dust returning unto dust again, while
the immortal soul passed on to a higher state.
Thus did I pass through my second death and awake
to the resurrection of my higher self.
PART II.
Zbc Dawn of light.
A WANDERER IN THE SPIRIT LANDS. 79
PART II.
Zbe Dawn of XfQbt.
CHAPTER XIII.
On my awakening for the second time from a Sleep
of death to consciousness in the spirit world, I found that
I was in much pleasanter surroundings. There was day-
light at last, though it was as that of a dull day without
sun, yet what a blessed change from the dismal twilight
and the dark night!
I was in a neat little room quite like an earthly one,
lying upon a little bed of soft white down. Before me
was a long window looking out upon a wide stretch of
hills and undulating country. There were no trees or
shrubs to be seen, and hardly any flowers, save here and
there some little simple ones like flowering weeds, yet
even these were refreshing to the eyes, and there were
ferns and grass clothing the ground with a carpet of
verdure instead of the hard bare soil of the Twilight Land.
This region was called the "Land of Dawn," and
truly the light was as the day appears before the sun has
arisen to warm it. The sky was of a pale blue grey, and
white cloudlets seemed to chase each other across it and
float in quiet masses on the horizon. You who think
that there are no clouds and no sunshine in the spirit
lands hardly know how beautiful a thing you would shut
80 A WAX DEREB IN" THE SPIRIT LANDS.
out, unless you have spent, as I did, a long monotonous
time without seeing cither of them.
The room I was in, though by no means luxurious,
was yet fairly comfortable in appearance, and reminded
me of some cottage interior upon earth. It held all that
was needful to comfort, if nothing that was specially beau-
til'ul, and it had not that bare prison-like look of my
former dwellings. There were a few pictures of scenes of
my earth life which had been pleasant, and the recollec-
tions they called up gave me a fresh pleasure; there were
also some pictures of spirit life, and oh! joy, there was my
picture mirror, and my rose, and the letter — all my treas-
ures! I stopped my explorations to look into that mirror
and see what my beloved was doing. She was asleep, and
on her face was a happy smile as if even in her dreams she
knew some good had befallen me. 'Then I went to the
window and looked out over the country and those long
rolling hills, treeless and somewhat bare, save for their
covering of grass and ferns. I looked long upon this
scene, it was so like and yet so unlike earth, so strangely
bare and yet so peaceful. My eyes, long wearied with
those lower spheres, rested in joy and peace upon this new
scene, and the thought that I had thus risen to a new life
filled me with a thankfulness of heart unspeakable.
At last I turned from the window, and seeing what
was like a small mirror near me, I looked to see what
change there might be in myself. I started back with an
exclamation of joy and surprise. Was it possible? Could
this be as I appeared now? I gazed and gazed again.
This myself? Why, I was young again! I looked a man
of about thirty or thirty-five, not more certainly, and I
beheld myself as I had been in my prime on earth ! I had
looked so old, so haggard, so miserable in that Twilight
Land that I had avoided to look at myself. I had looked
twenty times worse than I could ever have looked on
earth, had I lived to be a hundred years old. And now,
why, I was young! I held out my hand, it was firm and
fresh-looking like my face. A closer inspection of myself
pleased me still more. I was in all respects a young man
A WANDERER IN THE SPIRIT LANDS. 81
again in my prime of vigor, yet not quite as I had been;
no! there was a sadness in my look, a certain something
more in the eyes than anywhere else that showed the
suffering through which I had passed. I knew that never
again could I feel the heedless buoyant ecstasy of youth,
for never again could I go back and be quite as I had been.
The bitter past of my life rose up before me and checked
my buoyant thoughts. The remorse for my past sins was
with me yet, and cast still its shadow over even the joy of
this awakening. Never, ah! never can we undo all the
past life of earth, so that no trace of it will cling to the
risen spirit, and I have heard that even those who have
progressed far beyond what I have even yet done, bear
still the scars of their past sins and sorrows, scars that will
slowly, very slowly, wear away at last in the great ages of
eternity. For me there had come joy, great joy, wonder-
ful fulfillment of my hope, yet there clung to me the
shadow of the past, and its dark mantle clouded even the
happiness of this hour.
While I yet mused upon the. change which had passed
over me, the door opened and a spirit glided in, dressed
(as I now was) in a long robe of a dark blue color with
yellow, borderings, and the symbol of our order on the
sleeve. He had come to invite me to a banquet which was
to be given to myself and others who were newly arrived
from the lower sphere. "All is simple here," said he,
"even our festivals, yet there will be the salt of friendship
to season it and the wine of love to refresh you all. To-
day you are our honored guests, and we all wait to
welcome you as those who have fought a good fight and
gained a worthy victory."
Then he took me by the hand and led me into a long
hall, with many windows looking out upon more hills and
a great peaceful quiet lake. Here there were long tables
spread for the banquet, and seats placed round for us all.
There were about five or six hundred brothers newly
arrived, like myself, and about a thousand more who had
been there for some time and who were going about from
one to another introducing themselves and welcoming the
82 A YV.WDKWKR IX THE SPIRIT LAXDS.
new-comers cordially. Here and there someone would
recognize an old friend or comrade, or one who had either
assisted them or been assisted by them in the lower
spheres. They were all awaiting the arrival of the pre-
siding spirit of the order in this sphere, who was called
"The Grand Master."
Presently the large doors at one end of the hall were
seen to glide apart of themselves, and a procession entered.
First came a most majestic, handsome spirit in robes of
that rich bine color one sees in the pictures of the Virgin
Mary. These robes were lined with white and bordered
with yellow, while a hood of yellow lined with white hung
from the shoulders, and on the sleeve was embroidered the
symbol of the Order of Hope. Behind this man were
about a hundred or so of youths, all in white and bine
robes, who bore in their hands wreaths of laurel. At the
upper end of the hall there was a handsome chair of state,
"with a white, bine and yellow canopy over it, and after
saluting us all the Grand Master seated himself in it.
while the youths ranged themselves in a semicircle behind
him. After a short prayer of thanksgiving to Almighty
God for us all he addressed us in these terms:
"My Brethren, you who are assembled to welcome
these wanderers who are to find for a time rest and peace,
sympathy and love, in this our House of Hope, and you
our wandering brothers, whom we are all assembled to
welcome and to honor as conquerors in the great battle
against selfishness and sin, to you we give our heartiest
greeting, and bid you accept, as members of our great
brotherhood, these tributes of our respect and honor,
which we offer and which you have fairly won. And from
the increased happiness of your own lives we bid you
stretch forth your hands in brotherly love to all the sor-
rowing ones whom you have left still toiling in the dark-
ness of the earth life and in the spheres of the earth plane,
and as you shall yourselves know yet more perfect
triumphs, yet nobler conquests, so seek ye to give to others
yet more and more of the perfect love of our great
brotherhood, whose highest and most glorious masters are
A WANDEKEB IX THE SPIRIT LAXDS. 83
in the heavens, and whose humblest members are yet
struggling sinners in the dark earth plane. In one long
and unbroken chain our great order shall stretch from the
heavens to the earth while this planet shall support
material life, and each and every one of you must ever
remember that you are links of that great chain, fellow
workers with the angels, brother workers with the most
oppressed. I summon you now, each in your turn, to
receive and to cherish as a symbol of the honor you have
won, these wreaths of fadeless laurel which shall crown
the victors' brows. In the name of the Great Supreme
Euler of the Universe, in the name of all Angels and of
our Brotherhood, I crown each one and dedicate you to
the cause of Light and Hope and Truth."
Then at a signal we, the new arrivals, many of us
almost overcome by these kindly words and this mark of
honor, drew near, and, kneeling clown before the Grand
Master, had placed upon our heads these laurel crowns
which the youths handed to the Master, and with which
he crowned us with his own hands.
"When the last one had received his crown, such a
shout of joy went up from the assembled Brothers, such
cheers, and then they sang a most beautiful song of praise,
with so lovely a melody and such poetical words that I
would I could reproduce it all for you. "When this was
over we were each led to a seat by an attendant brother
and the banquet began.
You will wonder how such a banquet could be in the
spirit world, but do you think that even on earth your all
of enjoyment at such a scene is in the food you eat, the
wine you drink, and do you imagine that a spirit has no
need for food of any kind? If so, you are in error. We
need, and we eat, food, though not of so material a sub-
stance as is yours. There is no animal food of any sort,
nor anything like it, save only in the lowest spheres of
earth-bound spirits, where they enjoy through others yet
in the flesh the satisfaction of the animal appetites.
But there are in this second sphere the most delicious
fruits, almost transparent to look at, which melt in your
8 1 A WANDERER IN THE SPIRIT LANDS.
mouth as you eaj them. There is wine like sparkling
nectar, which does not intoxicate or create a thirst for
more. There are none of those things which would
gratify coarse appetites, hut there are delicate cakes and a
BOrj of light bread. Of such fare and such wine did this
banquet consist, and I for one confess 1 never enjoyed
anything more than the lovely fruits, which were the first
1 had seen in the spirit world, and which I was told were
truly the fruits of our own labors grown in the spirit land
by our efforts to help others.
After the banquet was over there was another speech,
and a grand chorus of thanks, in which we all joined.
Then we dispersed, some of us to see our friends upon
earth and try to make them feel that some happy event
had befallen us. Many of us, alas! were being mourned
as among the lost souls who had died in sin, and it was a
.great grief to us that these earthly friends could not be
made conscious how great were now our hopes. Others
of the Brothers turned to converse with newly-found
spirit friends, while for my part I went straight to earth
to tell the good news to my beloved. I found her about
to attend one of those meetings for materialization, and,
trembling with joy and eagerness, I followed her there,
for now I knew there was no longer any reason why I
should not show my face to her who had been so faithful
and so patient in waiting for me — no longer would the
sight of me give pain or shock her.
Ah, what a happy night that was! I stood beside her
all the time. I touched her again and again. I stood
there, no more the dark shrouded figure hiding his face
from all eyes. No! I was there in my new dress with my
new hopes, my risen body, and the ashes of my dead past
were there no more to give me such shame and sorrow of
heart as I had known. And then — oh! crowning joy to
that most joyful day — I showed myself to her wondering
eyes, and they gazed into my own. But she did not know
me at once; she was looking for me as she had seen me last
on earth, with face of care and wrinkled brow, and the
young man's face looked strange to her. Yet not quite
A WANDERER IX THE SPIRIT LANDS. 85
strange, she smiled and looked with a puzzled wondering
look which, could I but have held the material particles
of my form together for but a few more moments, must
have changed to recognition. But, alas! all too soon I
felt my material form melting from me like soft wax, and
I had to turn and go as it faded away. But as I went I
heard her say: "It was so like, so very like what my dear
friend must have been in youth. It was so like and yet
so unlike him, I hardly know what to think."
Then I went behind her and whispered in her ear
that it was I myself, and no other. And she heard my
whisper and laughed and smiled, and said she had felt
sure it must be so. Then indeed the cup of my joy was
full, then indeed was the crown of my day complete.
86 A WANDEREB IN THE SPIRIT LANDS.
CHAPTER XIV.
After this there came for me a time of happiness, a
season of rest and refreshment upon which I shall not
dwell; its memories are all too sacred to me, for those days
were spent near to her I loved, and I had the happiness of
knowing that she was conscious of much, though not all,
I said to her, and I spent so much of my time on earth
that I had none to explore the wonders of that Land of
Dawn of which I had become an inhabitant.
And now a fresh surprise awaited me. In all my
wanderings since my death I had never once seen any of
my relatives nor the friends who had passed before me
into the spirit land. But one day when I came as usual to
see my beloved, I found her full of some mysterious mes-
sage she had received, and which she was to give me her-
self. After a little she told me that it was from a spirit
who had come to visit her, and who said he was my father
and that he wished her to give his message to me. I was
so overcome when she said this that I could scarcely
speak — scarcely ask what his message was. I had so loved
my father upon earth, for my mother had died when I was
so young that she was but a faint tender memory to me.
But my father! he had been everything to me. He had
had such pride and joy in all my successes, such hopes for
my future; and, then, when I had made shipwreck of my
life, I knew that I had broken his heart. He did not long
survive the crushing of all his hopes, and since his death
I had only thought of him with pain and shame of heart.
And now when I heard that from beyond the gates of
Death he had come to my beloved and spoken to her of
A WANDERER IN THE SPIRIT LAXDS. 87
me, I feared lest his words might be but a lament over his
buried hopes, his degraded son, and I cried out that I
could not dare to meet him, yet I longed to hear what he
had said, and to know if there was in it a word of forgive-
ness for me, his son, who had so deeply sinned.
How shall I tell what his words had been? How say
what I felt to hear them? They fell upon my heart as
dew upon a thirsty land, those words of his, and are far,
far too precious to be given to the world, but surely the
father in the parable must have welcomed back his prodi-
gal son in some such words as these! Ah! how I cried out
to my beloved when I heard those words, and how I
longed to see that father again and be taken once more to
hi.- heart as when I was a boy! And as I turned away I
beheld his spirit standing by us, just as I had seen him
last in life, only with a glory of the spirit world upon
him such as no mortal eyes have ever seen. My father —
so long parted from me, and to meet again thus! We had
no words to greet each other with but "My father' and
"My son," but we clasped each other to the heart in a
joy that required no words.
When our feelings had calmed down again we began
to speak of many things, and not least of her whose love
had led me so far upon my upward path, and then I
learned that this beloved father had helped, watched over,
and protected us both; that he had followed me during all
my wanderings both on earth and in the spirit land, and
had protected and comforted me in my struggles. Unseen
himself he had yet been near, and unceasing in his efforts
and his love. All this time when I had so shrunk from
the thought of meeting him he had been there, only wait-
ing an opportunity to make himself known, and he had
come at last through her who had so much of my love, in
order that he might thereby link us all three more closely
together in the joy of this reunion.
88 A WANDERER IN THE SPIRIT LANDS.
CHAPTER XV.
When I returned to the spirit land, my father wont
with me and we spent a long time together. In the
course of our conversation he told me that an expedition
was about to he sent from this sphere to work as
"Rescuers" in the lowest sphere of all, a sphere helow any
I had yet seen and which was in truth the hell believed in
by the church. How long the expedition would be absent
was not known, but a certain work had to be accom-
plished, and like an invading army we would remain till
•we had attained our object.
My Eastern guide advised me to join this band of
workers, and as my father had in earth life sent his sons
forth to fight for their beloved country, so 'did he now
wish me to go forth with this army of soldiers in the
cause of Truth and Light and Hope. To fight success-
fully against these powers of evil, it was necessary to be
beyond the temptations of the earth plane and lower
spheres, and to help the unhappy ones by a visible help
which they could see and take hold of, one must not
belong to the higher spheres, for spirits more advanced
than the Brothers of Hope in this, the first circle of the
second sphere, would be quite invisible to the unhappy
ones who could neither see nor hear them. Also in enter-
ing these lowest spheres we would, in order to be visible,
have to clothe ourselves in a certain portion of their
material elements, and this a more advanced spirit could
not do. So that although unseen helpers from the higher
spheres would accompany the expedition to protect and
assist us, they would be invisible alike to ourselves and
those we had come to help.
A WANDERER IN THE SPIEIT LAXDS. 89
Those who were to go upon this expedition with me
were similar to myself in disposition, and it was felt that
we would all learn much from seeing to what our passion-
ate feelings would have sunk us, had we indulged in them.
At the same time we would be able to rescue from those
dark spheres many poor repentant souls. Those whom
we rescued would be taken to where I had been on my
first; passing over from earth life, where there were
numerous institutions specially set apart for such poor
spirits., presided over and attended by spirits who had
themselves been rescued from the Kingdoms of Hell and
who were therefore best fitted to aid these poor wanderers.
Besides the Brothers of Hope from the Land of
Dawn, there were other similar bands from other brother-
hoods always being sent down to the dark spheres, such
expeditions being, in fact, part of the great system of help
for sinners ever being carried on in the name of the
Eternal Father of all, who dooms none of his children to
an eternity of misery.
A number of friends would accompany us a part of
our journey, and our expedition would be commanded by
a leader who had himself been rescued from the dark
spheres and who knew their especial dangers.
As we would pass through the earth plane and lower
spheres we would see them in a way we had not done be-
fore, and my Eastern guide said he would send one of his
pupils to accompany me as far as the lowest sphere, in
order that he might explain to me and make visible some
of the mysteries of the astral plane which we would see as
we passed. Hassein (as the student was named) was
studying those mysteries of nature which have been
classed under the name of magic and as such deemed
evil, whereas it is their abuse only which is evil. A more
extended intelligent knowledge of them would tend to
prevent many existing evils and counteract some of those
evil powers brought to bear upon man, often very in-
juriously, in his present helpless ignorance. This student
spirit had been a Persian and a follower of Zoroaster in
his earth life, as Ahrinziman himself had been, and they
00 A WANDEREB IN" THE SPIRIT LANDS.
belonged still to that school of thought of which Zoroaster
was the great exponent.
"In the spirit world." said Ahrinziman, "there arc a
great number of different schools of thought, all contain-
ing the great fundamental eternal truths of nature, but
each differing in many minor details, and also as to how
these great truths should he applied for the advancement
of the soul; they likewise differ as to how their respective
theories will work out. and the conclusions to he drawn
from the Undoubted knowledge they possess, when it is
applied to subjects upon which they have no certain
knowledge and which are still with them as with those
on earth, the subject of speculation, theory, and discus-
sion. It is a mistake to suppose that in the spirit world
of our planet there is any absolute knowledge which can
explain all the great mysteries of Creation, the why and
wherefore of our being, the existence of so much evil
mixed with the good, or the nature of the soul and how it
comes from God.
"The waves of truth are continually flowing from
the great thought centers of the Universe, and are trans-
mitted to earth through chains of spirit intelligences, but
each spirit can only transmit such portions of truth as his
development has enabled him to understand, and each
mortal can only receive as much knowledge as his intellec-
tual faculties are able to assimilate and comprehend.
"Neither spirits nor mortals can know everything,
and spirits can only give you what are the teachings
which their own particular schools of thought and ad-
vanced teachers give as their explanations. Beyond this
they cannot go, for beyond this they do not themselves
know; there is no more absolute certainty in the spirit
world than on earth, and those who assert that they have
the true and only explanation of these great mysteries are
giving you merely what they have been taught by more
advanced spirits, who, with all due deference to them, are
no more entitled to speak absolutely than the most ad-
vanced teachers of some other school. I assert with
knowledge not my own, but from another who is indeed
A WANDERER IN THE SPIRIT LANDS. 91
regarded in the spirit world as a leader of most advanced
thought, that it is in no way possible to give a final answer
to or explanation of subjects which are beyond the powers
of any spirit of our entire solar system to solve, and still
more beyond those of the spirits of our earth spheres. In
these subjects and their explanation are involved and re-
quired a knowledge of the limits of the universe itself
which has no limits, and the nature of that Supreme
Being of whom no man or spirit can know the nature, save
in so far as we can grasp the great truth that he is Infinite
Spirit, limitless in all senses. Unknowable and Unknown.
"Let men and spirits, then, argue or explain, they
can only teach you to the limits of their own knowledge
and beyond that again are limits none can reach. How
can any pretend to show you the ultimate end of that
which has no end, or sound the great depths of an infinite
thought which has no bottom? Thought is as eternal as
life and as fathomless. Spirit is infinite and all-pervading.
God is in all and over and above all, yet none know his
nature nor what manner of essence he is of, save that he
is in everything and everywhere. The mind of man must
pause on the very threshold of his inquiries, appalled by
the sense of his own littleness, and the most he can do is
s to learn humbly and study cautiously, that each step be
assured before he essays again to climb. The most lofty,
the most daring minds cannot grasp all at once, and can
man on earth hope that all can be explained to him with
his limited range of vision, when the most advanced
minds in the spirit world are ever being checked in their
explorations after truth by the sense of their limited
powers?"
92 A WANDERER IN THE SPIRIT LANDS.
CHAPTER XVI.
The friend whom Ahrinziman sent to accompany and
instruct me, appeared to my eyes as a youth of about five-
and-twenty to thirty years of age, judging by earth's
standard in such matters, but he told me he had lived to
upwards of sixty years on earth. His present appearance
was that of his spiritual development, which alone con-
stitutes the age of a spirit. As a spirit grows more highly
developed in his intellectual powers, the appearance be-
comes more matured, till at last he assumes that of a sage,
without, however, the wrinkles and defects of age in earth
life, only its dignity, its power, and its experience. Thus,
when a spirit has attained to the highest possible develop-
ment of the earth (or any other planet's) spheres he would
possess the appearance of one of its patriarchs, and would
then pass into the higher and more extended spheres of
the solar system of that planet, beginning there as a youth
again since his development compared to that of the
advanced spirits of those higher spheres would be but that
of a youth.
Hassein told me that he was at present studying the
various powers and forms of nature in those stages which
were below soul life, and would be able to make visible
and explain to me many curious things we should see
upon our journey.
"Many spirits," he said, "pass through the sphere of
the astral plane without being conscious of its spectral in-
habitants, by reason of the fact that their senses are not
developed in such a way as to enable them to become con-
scious of their surroundings in all their entirety, just as
in earth life there are many persons quite unable to see
A WANDERER IN THE SPIRIT LANDS. 93
the spirits around them, although to others again they are
perfectly visible. There are upon earth persons who can
see not alone the spirits of human beings but also these
astral and elementary beings who are not truly 'spirits,'
since that word should be used to denote only those which
possess within them the soul germ. Now many of these
beings which we shall see never possessed any soul, and
others again are only the empty shells from which the
soul germ has departed. To distinguish between the soul
spirit and the soulless astral one must possess a double
power of soul-sight or clairvoyance as it is termed, and
many who possess only an imperfect degree of this double
power ' will be able to see elementals and astrals, but
without being able to distinguish them clearly from the
soul enveloping spirit forms. Hence much confusion and
many mistakes have arisen amongst these imperfect clair-
voyants as to the nature and attributes of these classes of
beings. There are seven degrees of the soul-sight found
in persons yet in the earth life; and in the next stage of
life the spiritual part or soul being freed from the gross
elements of material life, there will be found seven more
expansions of this gift, and so on in progressive succession
as the soul casts off one by one the envelopes of matter —
first the most gross or earthly matter, then succeeding
degrees of refined or sublimated matter, for we hold
that there can be no such thing as entire severance be-
tween soul and matter — that is so long as it is conscious
of existence in any of our solar systems. Beyond these
limits we have no knowledge to guide us, and it is a matter
of pure speculation. It is only a question of the degree
and quality of the matter which is more or less refined
and etherealized as the soul is in a higher or lower state of
development. It is of the first stage of earthly conscious
soul life that I shall now speak in speaking of the clair-
voyant sight, leaving till another time the theories and
beliefs involved in the study of what has passed before
man's present conscious stage of existence and what may
happen when he passes beyond the limits of our present
knowledge.
94 A WANDERER IN THE SPIRIT LANDS.
"We find, then, in the earthly stage of life person? —
most often women or very young boys — who are endowed
with some or all of these seven degrees of soul-sight. The
first three degrees are very often found, the fourth and
fifth more rarely, while the sixth and seventh are hardly
ever met with except in persons endowed with certain
peculiarities of organization, due to those astrological in-
fluences under which they are born — particularly to those
prevailing at the exact moment the child sees the light of
earth life. So rare are these perfect sixth and seventh
degrees that very few possess them, though sonic are
found with an imperfect sixth and none of the seventh,
in which case they can never attain to the perfection of
soul-sight, and as with imperfect glasses, the defect in
their sight will cause them to have an imperfect vision of
celestial things, and although they will see into the sixth
sphere in a sense, yet their defective power will greatly
impair the value of what they see.
"Those, however, who have the perfect sixth and
seventh degrees can be taken in spirit into' the seventh
sphere itself, which is the highest, or heaven of the earth
spheres, and like St. John of old they shall see unspeak-
able things. To do this the soul requires to be freed
from all ties to the material body, save only the slender
thread without which connecting link body and soul
would part forever. Thus they may be said to be out of
the body at such times, and so difficult and dangerous is
it to thus take the soul into the seventh sphere, that only
with exceptional persons and under very exceptional cir-
cumstances can it be done even where the power exists.
Of the clairvoyants of the lower degrees of power the
same may be said, except that the less celestial their
powers, the more safely and easily may they be used, each
clairvoyant being able to see into that sphere which cor-
responds to the degree of power which they possess. It
is, however, a curious fact that many clairvoyants possess
one or more perfect degrees of soul-sight with at the same
time an imperfect form of a degree still higher, and when
this is so it will be found that the medium mixes the
A WANDERER IN THE SPIRIT LANDS. 95
visions seen and is not reliable, since the defective degree
(if used) will act like a defective eye and cause that which
is beheld by both eyes at the same time to partake of its
imperfections. It is, therefore, far better to have the
entire absence of a degree than to possess an imperfect
form of it, since the imperfect one only causes confusion
in using the perfect ones, unless indeed you do with these
powers as you might do with the defective eye, and close
it altogether in order that the vision, though limited,
may be correct. Thus the ancients when they found the
highest amount of perfect vision of one or more degrees
in their pupils, arrested their further development at that
degree before the imperfect sight of a higher one could in
any way impair the value of those they possessed. In this
way they were able to train as reliable clairvoyants of
moderate powers many who by a further effort at de-
velopment would have lost far more than they could gain.
In olden days seers were divided into classes even as they
still are amongst certain schools of prophets in the East,
though now the art is not studied to the perfection it once
was when the Eastern nations were a power upon earth.
"Each class underwent a special training adapted to
their special degrees of power and class of gifts, and there
was not the present curious mixture of great gifts and
entire ignorance of how to use them wisely, which in
many instances results in so many inaccuracies and so
much harm both to mediums and to those who go to them
for spiritual knowledge. As well might a trainer of
young gymnasts think that he could overtax and strain
the growing muscles without lasting harm to them, as
those who make an ignorant, unlimited, and indiscrimi-
nate use and development of the mediumistic powers. A
young fledgling cast from the nest too soon flutters and
falls to the ground, while if left till the wings are strong
enough to bear its flight it will soar to heaven itself.
"With more extended knowledge upon earth there will be
given to certain sensitives endowed with the needful
mediumistic powers the knowledge by which under the
guidance of those higher intelligences who are directing
96 A WANDERER IX THE SPIRIT LANDS.
the great spiritual movement, they can judge between the
Bpirits of low and degraded states and those of a higher
degree of advancement, and thus much of the confusion
and danger which still hampers the movement will be
gradually eliminated from it.
"On the spirit side of life are many teachers who for
centuries have made a study of these subjects — of all
forms of life — and of the mediumistic powers of those
who are incarnated upon earth, and they are even now
seeking on all sides for open doors through which to im-
part such knowledge as may be of use to man. Much
which they know could not yet be imparted, but there are
things which could, and with this subject as with all
others the minds upon earth will expand and develop as
knowledge is given.*'
I thanked my new friend for his information and
promised help, and as the expedition was soon to start I
went to earth to bid adieu for a time to my beloved. Upon
our parting I shall not dwell, nor say how much we both
felt we should miss our constant little intercourse; for
even restricted as it was by the barrier between us, it had
been a great joy to both.
I found on my return that the preparations for our
journey were now complete, and I was summoned to bid
my father and others adieu, and to join my companions
in the great hall where they were now assembled to
receive the farewell benediction of our Grand Master.
After this our band started amidst the cheers and
good wishes of all the assembled Brotherhood.
A WANDERER IN THE SPIRIT LANDS. 97
CHAPTER XVII.
I can hardly give you a better idea of the course of
our journey than by asking you to imagine a vast spiral
or corkscrew winding upwards and downwards in circling
rings. A tiny speck no bigger than a pin's head in the
middle of a large cart-wheel might represent the earth in
the centre of these circling rings, an equal number of
which are above and below the earth, all winding in a
connected series from the lowest to the highest around
this speck, and the head of the spiral pointing towards
our central sun — this being regarded as the highest point
of the most advanced sphere.
This will give you a faint idea of the earth and its
attendant spirit spheres, and help you to understand how
in our journey we passed from the second into the lowest
sphere, and in doing so passed through the earth plane.
As we entered it I perceived many spirits of mortals
hurrying to and fro just as I had been wont to see them,
but now for the first time I also saw that mingling with
them were many floating spectral shapes similar to those
wraiths I had seen haunting the spirit in the icy cage in
the Frozen Land. These wraiths seemed to be floating to
and fro like driftweed upon a seashore, borne here and
there by the different astral currents which revolve and
circle round the earth.
Some were very distinct and life-like till a closer
inspection revealed to me that the light of intelligence
was wanting in their eyes and expressions, and there was
a helpless collapsed look about them like wax dolls from
which the stuffing has run out. For the life of me I can
98 A WANDERER IN THE SPIRIT LANDS.
Hi ink of nothing that will so well express their appear-
ance.
In my former wanderings through the earth plane I
had not been conscious of any of these beings, and on
asking Hussein the reason of this he answered: "First,
because you were so much absorbed in your work, and
secondly, your powers of sight were not sufficiently de-
veloped. Now look," he added, pointing to a strange
little group of heings like elves which were approaching
us hand in hand, gamboling like children. "Look at
those; they are the mental and bodily emanations cast off
from the minds and bodies of children which consolidate
into these queer, harmless little elementals when brought
into contact with any of the great life currents that circle
around the earth, and which bear upon their waves the
living emanations cast off from men, women and children.
These curious little beings have no real separate intelli-
•gent life such as a soul would give, and they are so
evanescent and ethereal that they take their shapes and
change them, as you will observe, like the clouds on a
summer sky. See how they are all dissolving and form-
ing again afresh."
As I looked I saw the whole little cloud of figures
shift into a new form of grotesque likeness, and whereas
they had looked like tiny fairies in caps and gowns made
from flowers, they now took wings, becoming like a species
of half butterflies, half imps, with human bodies, animal's
heads, and butterflies' wings. Then as a fresh strong
wave of magnetism swept over them, lo! they were all
broken up and carried away to form fresh groups else-
where with other particles.
I was so astonished at this, the real living appear-
ance and the unreal disappearance, that I suppose Hassein
read my puzzled state of mind, for he said, "What you
have now beheld is only an ethereal form of elemental life,
which is not material enough for a long continued exist-
ence on the earth plane, and is like the foam of the sea
thrown up by the wave motions of pure earthly lives and
A WANDERER IN THE SPIRIT LAXDS. 99
thoughts. See now how much stronger on the astral
plane can be the consistency of that which is not pure."
I beheld approaching us a great mass of aerial forms,
dark, misshapen, human, yet inhuman, in appearance.
"These," said he, "are the beings which haunt the de-
lirium of the drunkard, which gather round him, drawn
by his corrupted magnetism and unable to be repelled by
one who has lost the will-force needful to protect him
from such creatures which cling like barnacles to him, and
like leeches suck his animal vitality with a strange ghoul-
ish intelligence akin to that of some noisome plant which
has fastened itself upon a tree. For such a one as the
unfortunate drunkard the best help which can be given is
by obtaining some one upon the earth side of life who
possesses a strong will and mesmeric powers, and let him
place the drunkard under the protection of his will and
the strong influence of his magnetism, till the last of these
phantoms drops off from inability to hold on longer under
the stream of healthy magnetism poured upon them and
the^fcnlucky man upon whom they have fastened. The
healthy magnetism acts like a poison upon these crea-
tures, and kills them so that they drop off, and their
bodies, unable to hold together, decay into immaterial
dust. Should these beings, however, not encounter such
a strong dose of healthy magnetism they will go on for
years floating about and drawing away the animal vitality
of one human being after another, till at last they become
endowed with a certain amount of independent animal life
of their own. At this stage they can be used by higher,
more intelligent beings to carry out such work as their
peculiar organizations fit them for, and it is these soulless
creatures, though created and earth-nourished, whom a
certain class of practitioners of the so-called black magic
made use of in some of their experiments, as well as for
carrying out their evil designs against any one who had
offended them. But like deadly weeds at the bottom of
a dark pool, these astrals draw down and destroy in their
soulless clutches those who venture to meddle with them
unprotected by the higher powers."
100 A WANDERER IN THE SPIRIT LANDS.
"And now tell me, friend Hussein/' said I, "if these
astralSj when they fasten upon a drunkard, can or do
influence him to drink more, as is the case when the earth-
bound spirit of a departed drunkard controls one still in
the flesh."
"No! These beings do not derive any pleasure from
the drink a man swallows, except in so far as by corrupt-
ing his magnetism it makes him such that they can more
readily feed upon him. It is his animal or earthly life-
force they desire. It means existence for them and is
much the same as water to a plant, and beyond the fact
that by draining the victim of his vitality they cause a
sense of exhaustion which makes him fly to stimulants
for relief, they do not affect the question of his continuing
to drink. They are mere parasites, and possess no intelli-
gence of their own except of so rudimentary a character
that we can scarcely give it that name.
"To originate a thought or to impress your thoughts
upon another requires the possession of an intelligent
soul germ or spark of the divine essence, and oncegthis
has been given the being becomes possessed of an in-
dependent individuality it can never again lose. It may
cast off envelope after envelope, or it may sink into grosser
and still grosser forms of matter, but once endowed with
soul-life it can never cease to exist, and in existing must
retain the individuality of its nature and the responsibility
of its actions. This is alike true of the human soul and
the intelligent soul-principle as manifested in the animals
or lower types of soul existence. Whenever you see the
power to reason and to act upon such reasoning man-
ifested either in man, the highest type, or in animals, the
lower type, you may know that a soul exists, and it is only
a question of degree of purity of soul essence. We see
in man and in the brute creation alike a power of reason-
ing intelligence differing only in degree, and from this
fact the school of thought to which I belong draws the
inference that both alike have a conscious individual im-
mortality, differing, however, in the type and degree of
tuul essence, animals as well as men having an immortal
A WANDERER IN THE SPIRIT LANDS. 101
future for development before them. What are the limits
of the action of this law we cannot pretend to say, but we
draw our conclusions from the existence in the spirit
world of animals as well as men who have alike lived on
earth, and both of whom are found in a more advanced
state of development than they were in their earth ex-
istences.
"It is impossible for the soulless parasite to influence
the mind of any mortal; and it is therefore undoubtedly
the souls which have been incarnated in earthly bodies
and have so indulged their lower passions in that state
that they are not able to free themselves from the fetters
of their astral envelopes, that haunt the earth and incite
those yet in the flesh to indulgence in drink and similar
vices. They, as you know, can control man in many ways.
either partially or completely, and the most common way
is for the spirit to partly envelop the man he controls
with his spirit body until a link has been formed between
them, somewhat after the nature of that uniting some
twin children who possess distinct bodies, but are so
joined to each other and interblended that all which one
feels is felt by the other. In this fashion what is
swallowed by the mortal is enjoyed by the spirit who
controls the unfortunate man, and who urges him to drink
as much as possible, and when he can no longer do so the
spirit will then try to free- himself and go elsewhere in
search of some other weak-willed man or woman of de-
praved tastes. Not always, however, can either the spirit
or the mortal free themselves from the strange link woven
between them by the indulgence of their joint desires.
After a long-continued connection of this sort it becomes
very difficult for them to separate, and the spirit and the
man may go on for years sick of each other yet unable to
break the tie without help from the higher powers, who
are always ready to assist those who call upon their aid.
Should a spirit continue to control men for the purpose
of self-gratification as I have described, he sinks lower
and lower, and drags his victims down with him into the
depths of hell itself, from which they will both have a
102 A WANDERER IN THE SPIRIT LANDS.
bitter and weary task to climb when at last the desire for
better things shall awaken. To a soul alone belongs the
power to think and to will, and those other soulless crea-
tures but obey the laws of attraction and repulsion, which
are felt likewise by all the material atoms of which the
universe is composed, and even when these astral parasites
have, by long feeding upon the vital force of men or
women, attained to a certain amount of independent life,
they have no intelligence to direct their own or others'
movements; they float about like fever germs generated
in a foul atmosphere, attracted to one person more readily
than to another, and like such germs may be said to
possess a very low form of life.
"Another class of elemental astrals are those of the
earth, air, fire, and water, whose bodies are formed from
the material life germs in each element. Some are in
appearance like the gnomes and elves who are said to
"inhabit mines and mountain caverns which have never
been exposed to the light of day. Such, too, are the
fairies whom men have seen in lonely and secluded places
amongst primitive races of men. Such, with the varia-
tions caused by the different natures of the elements from
which they are formed, are the water sprites and the mer-
maids of ancient fable, and the spirits of the fire and the
spirits of the air.
"All these beings possess life, but as yet no souls, for
their lives are drawn from and sustained by the lives of
earthh r men and women, and the}' are but reflections of
the men amongst whom they dwell. Some of these beings
are of a very low order of life, almost like the higher
orders of plants, except that they possess an independent
power of motion. Others are very lively and full of gro-
tesque unmeaning tricks, with the power of very rapid
flight from place to place. Some are perfectly harmless,
while others again are more malignant in their instincts
as the human beings from whom their life is drawn are of
a more savage race. These curious earth elementals can-
not exist long amongst nations where the more in-
tellectual stage of development has been reached, because
A WAXDEBEB IX THE SPIRIT LAXDS. 103
then the life germs thrown off by man contain too little
of the lower or animal life to sustain them, and they die
and their hodies decay into the atmosphere. Thus as
nations advance and grow more spiritual, these lower
forms of life die out from the astral plane of that earth's
sphere, and succeeding generations begin at first to doubt
and then to deny that they ever had an existence. Only
amongst those ancient religions of the East who have kept
still unbroken the threads of record, are there to be found
accounts of these intermediate dependent races of beings
and the causes of their existence.
"These soulless elementals of earth, air, fire and
water, are a class distinct from those others which I have
drawn you as emanating from the debased intelligence of
man's mind and the evil actions of his body. Behold
now, oh! man of a Western nation, the knowledge which
your philosophers and learned men have shut out and
locked away as being harmful fables, till man, shut into
the narrow bounds of what he can with his physical senses
alone see, hear, and feel, has begun to doubt if he has any
soul at all, any higher, purer, nobler self than is sustained
by the sordid life of earth. See now the multitudinous
beings that surround man on every side, and ask yourself
if it would not be well that he should have the knowledge
which could help to keep him safe from the many pitfalls
over which he walks in blind ignorance and unconscious-
ness of his danger. In the primitive ages of the earth
man was content to look like a child for help and succor
to his Heavenly Eather, and God sent his angels and
ministering spirits to protect his earthly children. In
these latter ages man, like a full-grown troublesome
youth, seeks in his self-conceit no higher help than his
own, and rushes into danger with his eyes bandaged by
his pride and ignorance. He scoffs at those things which
he is too limited in his powers to understand, and turns
aside from those who would instruct him. Because he
cannot see his soul, cannot weigh it and analyze it, he says,
forsooth, that man has no soul and had better enjoy this
earthly life as one who shall some day die and turn to dust
104 A WANDERER IN THE SPIRIT LANDS.
again, consciousness, individuality, all forever blotted out.
"Or, again, in abject i'ear of the unknown fate before
him, man takes refuge in the vague superstitions, the
shadowy creeds of those who profess to act as guides upon
the pathway to the Unknown Land, with little more
certain knowledge than man has himself.
"Thus, then, it is in pity to his wandering, struggling
children that God has in these later days opened once
more — and wider than ever before — the doors of com-
munion between the two worlds. He is sending out again
messengers to warn man, ambassadors, to tell him of the
better way, the truer path to the happiness of a higher
life, and to show him that knowledge and that power
which shall yet be of right his inheritance. As the
prophets of old spake, so speak these messengers now, and
if they speak with clearer voice, with less veiled metaphor,
it is because man is no longer in his infancy and needs
now that he should be shown the reason and the science
upon which his beliefs and hopes must be founded.
"Listen, then, unto this voice that, calls, oh! ye toilers
of the earth!" cried Hassein, turning and stretching out
his hands towards a small dark ball that seemed to float
far away on the horizon of our sight — a small dark globe
that we knew to be the sorrowful planet called Earth.
"Listen to the voices that call to you and turn not a deaf
ear, and realize ere it be too late that God is not a God of
the dead but of the living, for all things are alive for ever-
more. Life is everywhere and in everything; even the
dull earth and the hard rocks are composed of living
germs, each living according to its own degree. The very
air we breathe and the boundless ether of universal space
are full of life, and there is not one thought we think but
lives for good or ill, not one act whose image shall not live
to torture or to solace the soul in the days of its release
from its incarnation in an earthly form. Life is in all
things, and God is the central Life of All."
Hassein paused, then in a calmer voice he said to me:
"Look yonder! What would you say those things were?"
He pointed to what seemed to me at first a mass of
A WANDERER IX THE SPIRIT LANDS. 105
spirit forms which came sweeping towards us as though
blown by a strong wind. As they came near I saw they
were evidently soulless astral envelopes, but unlike those
floating wraiths I had seen haunting the man in the icy-
cage, these were solid, and to my spiritual sight life-like
and full of animal vigor; yet they were like automatons
and did not seem to possess any intelligence. They were
drifting and bobbing about like buoys at sea to which
boats are anchored. As they drifted close to us my friend
put forth his will-force and captured one, which then
remained floating in mid air.
"Now look," said he, "you will observe this is some-
what, like a great living doll. It is the result of countless
little living germs which man is continually throwing off
from his earthly body, emanations solely of his animal or
lower life, material enough when brought into contact
with the magnetic forces of the astral plane, to form into
these imitations of earthly men and women, and im-
material enough to be invisible to man's purely material
sight, although a very small degree of clairvoyant power
would enable him to see them. A stronger and higher
degree of clairvoyant power would enable him to see, as
you do, that this is not a true spirit envelope, since the
soul principle is wanting; and a yet higher degree of clair-
voyant power would show that a soul has never been in
this form, and that it has never had a conscious existence
as a soul's astral envelope.
"Amongst ordinary clairvoyants the subject of astral
spirits is not studied sufficiently to develop these degrees
of soul-sight, therefore few clairvoyants in your earthly
country could tell you whether this was a true soul-
enveloping astral form or one from which the soul had
departed, or yet again one in which the soul had never
been present at all. Presently I shall show you an experi-
ment with this astral form, but first observe that being
such as it is, it is fresh and full of the animal life of the
earth plane, and has not the collapsed appearance of those
you saw before, which had once contained a soul and
which were there in a state of rapid decay yet. And mark
10G A WANDERER IN THE SPIRIT LANDS.
this carefully: this fresh looking astral will decay far
faster than the others, for it has none of the higher prin-
ciple of life clinging to it, which, in the case of an astral
that has once contained a soul, often remains for a long
time animating and keeping it from perfect decay. Astral
forms must draw their life from a higher source (from
soul germs in fact), or they soon cease to exist and
crumble away."
"But," I asked, "how do they assume the shapes of
men and women?*'
"By the action of the spiritualized magnetic currents
which flow through all the ether space continually, as the
currents flow in the ocean. These magnetic life currents
are of a more etherealized degree than those known to
scientific mortals, being in fact their spiritual counter-
part, and as such they act upon these cloud masses of
human atoms in the same way that electricitj r acts upon
the freezing moisture upon a window pane, forming them
into the semhlance of men and women as the electricity
forms the freezing moisture into a likeness of trees,
plants, etc.
"It is an acknowledged fact that electricity is an
active agent in the formation of the shapes of leaves and
trees, etc., in vegetable life, hut few know that this refined
form of magnetism has a similar share in the formation of
human forms and animal life. I say animal life as
applied to those types which are lower than man."
"Are there, then, also the astral forms of animals?"
"Certainly, and very queer, grotesque combinations
some of them are. I cannot show them to you now, be-
cause your powers of sight are not yet fully developed, and
also because we are traveling too rapidly to enable me to
develop them for you, but some day I shall show you
these, as well as many other curious things relating to the
astral plane. I may tell you that atoms may be classed
under different heads, and that each class will have a
special attraction for others of its own kind; thus vege-
table atoms will be attracted together to form astral trees
A WANDERER IN THE SPIRIT LANDS. 107
and plants, while animal atoms will form into the sem-
blance of beasts, birds, etc., and human atoms into men
and women's forms. In some eases, where the human
beings from whom the atoms come are very low in the
scale of humanity and nearly akin to animals, their atoms
will blend with those of the lower forms of life and create
grotesque horrible creatures which resemble at once
animals and men, and having been seen by clairvoyants in
a semi-trance condition are described as nightmare vis-
ions. In the earth spheres an immense amount of these
living atoms are thrown off continually from man's lower
or animal life, and these sustain and renew the astral
forms, but were we to transport one of these shells to a
planet whose spheres had been spiritualized beyond the
stage of material life, or in other words freed from all
these lower germs, the astrals could not exist, they would
become like a noxious A'apor and be blown away. These
astrals being, as I have said, created from the cloud masses
of human atoms, and never having been the envelope of
any soul, are very little more permanent in their nature
than the frost flowers on a window pane, unless the power
of some higher intelligence acts upon them to intensify
their vitality and prolong their existence. They are, as
you will see. expressionless and like wax dolls in appear-
ance, and readily lend themselves to receive any individu-
ality stamped upon them, hence their use in ancient times
by magicians and others. Astral atoms, whether of trees,
plants, animals, or human beings, must not be confounded
with the true spirit or soul-clothing atoms which con-
stitute the real spirit world and its inhabitants. Astrals
of every kind are the intermediate degree of materiality
between the gross matter of earth and the more ethereal-
ized matter of the spirit world, and we talk of a soul
clothed in its astral envelope to express that earth-bound
condition in which it is too refined or immaterial for earth
existence, and too grossly clad to ascend into the spirit
world of the higher spheres, or to descend to those of the
lower."
"Then you mean that a spirit even in the lowest
108 A WANDERER IN THE SPIRIT LANDS.
sphere is more spiritualized as regards its body than an
earth-bound spirit?"
"Certainly I do. The astral plane extends like a belt
around each planet and is, as I said, formed of the matter
which is too fine for reabsorption by the planet, and too
coarse to escape from the attraction of the planet's mass
and pass into the spheres of the spirit world to form either
matter in the course of disintegration or change from
one form to another, and it is only the vitalizing power of
such soul magnetism as it retains which enables it to cling
together in any shape at all.
"In the case of human astral forms which have pos-
sessed individualized life as a soul's envelope, the astral
atoms have absorbed a greater or less degree of the soul's
magnetism, or true life essence, according as the earthly
existence of the soul has been good or evil, elevated or
degraded, and this soul magnetism animates it for a
longer or shorter period, and forms a link between it and
the soul which has animated it. In the case of a soul
whose desires are all for higher things, the link is soon
severed and the astral envelope soon decays, while with a
soul of evil desires the tie may last for centuries and chain
the soul to earth, making it in fact earth-bound. In some
cases the astral of a soul of very evil life will have absorbed
the lower or higher spheres. Astral matter is practically
so much of the soul's vitality that after the soul itself has
sunk into the lowest sphere of all, the empty shell will still
float about the earth like a fading image of its departed
owner. Such are sometimes seen by clairvoyants hanging
about the places where they once lived, and are truly
'spooks.' They have no intelligence of their own, since
the soul has fled, and they can neither influence mediums
nor move tables, nor do any other thing except as mechan-
ical agents of some higher intelligence, whether that
intelligence be good or evil.
"The astral before us now has no soul magnetism in
it; it never possessed any, therefore it will soon decay and
its atoms be absorbed by others. But see to what use it
A WANDERER IN THE SPIRIT LANDS. 109
can be turned when acted upon by my will power and
animated for the time being by my individuality."
I looked as he spoke and saw the astral doll become
suddenly animated and intelligent, and then glide to one
of the Brotherhood whom Hassein had selected and touch
him upon the shoulder, seeming to say, "Friend, Hassein
Bey salutes you ." Then, bowing to the amused and
wondering brother, it glided back to us as though Hassein
had held it by a string like a performing monkey.
"Now you see," he said, "how if I chose I might use
this astral as a messenger to execute some work I wished
done at a distance from myself, and you will understand
one of the means made use of by the old magicians to
carry out some work at a great distance from themselves
and without their appearing to take any share in it. These
astrals, however, are only capable of being made use of
upon the astral plane. They could not move any material
object, although they would be visible to material sight
at the will of the mortal using them. There are other
astrals more material in substance who could be used to
penetrate into the earth itself and to bring forth its hidden
treasures, the precious metals and the gems deeply buried
from the eyes of men. It would not, however, be lawful
or right for me to explain to you the power by which this
could be done, and those magicians who have discovered
and made use of such powers have sooner or later fallen
victims to those powers they could summon to their aid
but rarely continue to control."
"Then were this astral to become animated by an evil
intelligence it would be an actual danger to man?" I said.
"Yes, without doubt it might; and you will also ob-
serve that although I should not care to descend to clothe
myself in this astral form, yet a spirit more ignorant than
myself could easily do so in order to make himself felt and
seen upon the earth in a more palpable form than possible
to any spirit who has left the earth plane; but in doing so
he would run a danger of creating a link between himself
and the astral envelope not easily broken, and which
might thus tie him to the astral planet for a considerable
110 A WANDERER IN THE SPIRIT LANDS.
time. You will, therefore, see how the idea has arisen
thai men on earth, in seeking to see their departed
friends, draw the spirits back into earthly conditions and
do them harm. Many an ignorant spirit who is good and
pure himself, has committed the mistake of reclothing
himself in one of these fresh astral shells when he would
have turned away from those which he knew to have been
left by another spirit, and has found to his cost that he
has thereby made of himself a prisoner upon the earth
plane, till a higher intelligence comes to his aid and
releases him.
"In a like manner spirits of a low type can clothe
themselves in these empty astral garments, but in their
case the very grossness of the spirit (or soul) prevents
them from retaining possession long, the dense magnetism
of the low spirit's own body acting as a strong noxious
vapor or gas would do upon a covering made, say, of a
spider's web of fine gossamer, and rending it into a thou-
sand pieces. To a spirit above the astral plane an astral
envelope appears almost as solid as iron, but to one below
it these fragile shells are like a cloud or vapor. The lower
the soul the stronger is its envelope and the more firmly
does it hold the soul, limiting its powers and preventing
it from rising into a more advanced sphere."
"You mean, then, that spirits sometimes use these
astral shells as they do earthly mediums, and either con-
trol them independently or actually enter into the form?''
"Yes, certainly. A spirit above the earth plane,
anxious to show himself to a clairvoyant of the lowest or
first degree of power, will sometimes enter one of these
shells which he at once stamps with his identity, and in
that way the clairvoyant will truly see and describe him.
The danger lies in the fact that when the good spirit of
limited knowledge seeks to leave again the astral shell, he
finds he cannot do so; he has animated it and its strong
life holds him prisoner, and it is often difficult to release
him. In a similar manner the too complete, too long con-
tinued control of an earthly medium by a spirit, has been
A WAXDERER IX THE SPIRIT LAXDS. Ill
found to create a link between them which becomes at
last a chain. To a spirit of the lowest spheres an astral
envelope is but a convenient, all too evanescent cloak with
which to hide his own degraded spirit body, and thus
impose upon clairvoyants unable to see the vile spirit
underneath: but to a good and pure spirit the astral en-
velope is as a suit of iron capable of imprisoning him."
"Then in the case of what are called personations by
one spirit of another at seances upon earth, are these
astrals made use of?".
'•Very often they are, where the mischief-making
spirit is of too low a type himself to come into direct con-
tact with the medium. You must know by this time how
wonderfully the thoughts of mortal men and women are
mirrored upon the atmosphere of the astral plane, and as
pictures they can be read and answered by spirits possess-
ing the knowledge of how to read them. All spirits have
not the power, just as all men and women on earth are not
able to read a newspaper or a letter. It requires intellect
and education with us as with those on earth. The
spirits, then, of which men should most beware are not so
much the poor ignorant half developed spirits of the earth
plane and lower spheres, whose degraded lives have made
them what they are and who are often glad of a helping
hand to raise them, but it is of the intellectually evil,
those who have great powers alike of mind and body and
who have only used them for wrong purposes. These are
the real dangers to guard against, and it is only by the
increase of knowledge amongst the mediums incarnated
in the earthly body that it will be successfully done, for
then mortals and spirit workers will, labor in unison, and
mutually protect the spiritual movement from fraud and
from the mistakes of the well meaning but half-ignorant
spirits and mortals who are doing good work in directing
the attention of mankind to the matter, but who often do
harm both to themselves and others. They are like
ignorant chemists and liable to bring destruction and
harm upon others as well as on themselves in their experi-
ments in search of knowledge."
112 A WANDERER IN THE SPIRIT LANDS.
"You do not think, then, that the purity of their
motives will suffice to protect them?"
"Would purity of motive save a child from being
burnt if it thrust its hands into a blazing furnace? No!
then the only way is to keep the child as far from the fire
as possible. This good and wise spirit guardians do in a
great measure, but if the children are continually hover-
ing near the danger, and try at all sorts of odd times and
fashions to get just another peep at the dangerous thing,
it is impossible but that some of them will get scorched."
"Then you would not advise the indiscriminate cul-
tivation of mediumistic powers by all mortals?"
"Certainly not. I would have all men use the powers
of those who have been carefully developed under wise
guardians, and I would have all assisted to cultivate them
who are truly anxious to develop their powers as a means
of doing good to others. But when you consider how
manifold and how selfish may be the motives of those
mediumistically endowed, you will see how exceedingly
difficult it would be to protect them. Perhaps my ideas
are colored by the circumstances of race and my earthly
education, but I confess I should wish to limit the practice
of mediumship to those who have proved their readiness
to give up more material advantages for its sake. I
would, in fact, rather see them set apart as a body who
have no share in the ambitions of mankind. But enough
of our discussion. I am now about to let this astral shell
go and draw your attention to another type of the same
class."
As he spoke he made a swift upward motion with his
hands over it and uttered some words in an unknown
language, whereupon the astral — which had hitherto
floated on beside us — stopped and seemed to waver about
for a few seconds until an advancing current of magnetism
caught it, and it was swept away from us like a piece of
driftwood upon the waves. As I turned from watching it
I saw a small cluster of dark, weird, horrible looking
forms approaching us. These were astral shells which
had never known soul life, but, unlike the pleasant waxy
A WAXDERER IN THE SPIRIT LANDS. 113
looking astral from which we had just parted, these were
in all respects repulsive.
"These," said Hassein, "are the emanations thrown
off by men and women of a low intellectual type and evil,
sensual lives. They are from the slums of the earth life —
not alone the social slums, but also from a higher grade of
society where there are moral slums quite as degraded.
Such beings as these, when animated by an evil intelli-
gence can be used for the very worst purposes. Being so
very material, they can even be used to affect material
matter upon earth, and have been so used in the practice
of what is known as Black Magic and witchcraft, and they
are also (but very rarely) used by higher intelligences to
effect physical phenomena at seances. Where wise and
good intelligences control them no harm will be done, but
under the direction of the evil or ignorant they become a
danger beyond my power fully to express. To these
astrals, and to those of a similar class in which the soul
germ yet lingers as in a prison, are due those rough and
dangerous manifestations sometimes seen in spirit circles
(seances), where men of bad lives, and others too ignorant
to protect themselves, are assembled from motives of
curiosity or mere amusement."
"And amongst what class of spirits do you place those
ghouls and vampires, so firmly believed in, in many parts
of the world?"
"Vampire spirits are those who have themselves
known earth life, but have so misused it that their souls
are still imprisoned in the astral envelope. Their object
in sucking away the animal life principle of men and
women is in order to retain thereby their hold upon the
life of the earth plane, and so save themselves from sink-
ing to far lower spheres. They are anxious to cling to
their astral envelope and to prolong its life, just as men
of very evil lives upon earth cling to the life of the earthly
body because they fear that when they are separated from
it they will sink into some unknown depths of darkness
and horror. The constant renewal of the animal and
114 A WANDERER IX THE SPIRIT LANDS.
astral life often enables these vampire spirits to hang
about the earth Eoi cenitfries."
"Is it possible Eor a vampire spirit to possess itself of
a sufficient amount of materiality to appear in mortal
form and mingle with men as described in many of the
tales told of such creatures?"
"If you mean to ask if the vampire can make to
itself a material body, I say no, but it can and does some-
times take complete possession of one belonging to a
mortal, just as other spirits do, and can cause its acquired
body to act in accordance with its will. Thus it is quite
possible for a vampire spirit clothed in the mortal body
of another to so change its expression as to make it bear
some resemblance to the vampire's own former earthly
appearance, and through the power obtained by the pos-
session of a material body he (or she, for the vampires are
of both sexes) might really lead the curious double life
ascribed to them in those weird tales current and believed
in in many countries. By far the larger number of vam-
pire spirits, however, are not in possession of an earthly
body, and they hover about the earth in their own astral
envelope, sucking away the earthly life of mediumistic
persons whose peculiar organization makes them liable to
become the prey of such influences, while they are them-
selves quite ignorant that such beings as these astrals
exist. The poor mortals suffer from a constant sense of
exhaustion and languor without" suspecting to what it is
to be attributed."
"But cannot spirit guardians protect mortals from
these beings?"
"Not always. In a great measure they do protect
them, but only as one may protect a person from infec-
tious fevers, by showing them the danger and warning
them to avoid spots where, owing to the associations with
their earthly lives, the vampire spirits are specially
attracted. This the guardian spirit docs by instilling into
the mind of the mortal an instinctive dread of the places
where crimes have been committed, or persons of evil
lives have lived. But since man is and must be in all
A WANDERER IN THE SPIRIT LANDS. 115
respects a free agent, it is not possible to do more. He
cannot be directed in all things like a puppet, and must
in a great measure gather his own experience for himself,
however bitter may prove its fruits. Knowledge, guidance
and help will always be given, but only in such a manner
as will not interfere with man's free will, and only such
knowledge as he himself desires; nothing will ever be
forced upon him by the spirit world."
116 A WANDERER IN THE SPIRIT LANDS.
CHAPTER XVIII.
I would have liked to ask Hassein a great many more
questions about the astral plane and its many curious
forms of life, but we were now fast leaving it behind, and
passing downwards through those lower spheres which I
had partly explored before. We were traveling through
space at a wonderful velocity, not quite with the rapidity
of thought but at a speed difficult for the mind of mortal
to conceive. Onward and still onward we swept, sinking
ever lower and lower away from the bright 'spheres, and
as we sank a certain sense of awe and expectancy crept
over our souls and hushed our talk. We seemed to feel in
advance the horrors of that awful land and the sorrows
of its inhabitants.
And now I beheld afar off great masses of inky black
smoke which seemed to hang like a pall of gloom over the
land to which we were approaching. As we still floated
on and down, these great black clouds became tinged with
lurid sulphurous-looking flames as from myriads of
gigantic volcanoes. The air was so oppressive we could
scarcely breathe, while a sense of exhaustion, such as I
had never experienced before, seemed to paralyze my
every limb. At last our leader gave the order for us to
halt, and we descended on the top of a great black moun-
tain which seemed to jut out into a lake of ink, and from
which we saw on the horizon that awful lurid country.
Here we were to rest for a time, and here, too, we
were to part from our friends who had so far escorted us
upon our journey. After a simple repast consisting of
various sustaining spiritual fruits and food which we had
A WANDERER IX THE SPIRIT LANDS. 117
brought with us, our leader ou behalf of the whole com-
pany offered up a short prayer for protection and strength,
and then we all lay down upon that bleak mountain top
to rest.
I was aroused from a delicious state of unconscious-
ness to find that the others were all awake also, and were
being separated into parties of two or three, in order that
we might with less suspicion enter the enemy's country.
We were to be scattered as missionary workers over the
dark countr} - , to save and help such as we found willing to
accept our aid. To my surprise I found that during my
rest a change had passed over me, which in a great
measure acclimatized me to the atmosphere and surround-
ings in which I now found myself. I seemed to have put
on, or, as it were, clothed myself in a certain amount of
the specially coarse materiality of that sphere. My body
was more dense, and when I attempted to rise and float
as I had done before, I found it was only with great
difficulty I could do so. The atmosphere no longer gave
me so keen a sense of oppression, and the sense of its
weighing down my limbs, which had so troubled me be-
fore, was gone. A certain portion of sustaining essences,
sufficient to last during our sojourn in this lowest sphere,
was given to each of us, and then a few final directions
and warnings were addressed to us by our leader.
Hassein now came to bid me good-bye and to give
me the last words of advice Ahrinziman had sent me. "I
am to come from time to time," he said, "to give you news
of your beloved, and of your other friends, and you can
send a message to them at such times, by me. Always
remember that you will be surrounded by every species of
deceit and falsehood, and believe no one who comes to you
as a messenger from us unless he can give you the counter-
sign of your order. Your thoughts they may guess, but
they will not be able to read them clearly, since you are
above them in spiritual development, and although your
having to put on to a certain degree their own condition
on entering their sphere will enable them to sense a por-
118 A WANDKI.'KIJ 1 \ THE SPIRIT LANDS.
turn of "your thoughts, it will be but imperfectly, and <>nh
in those matters where your owd lower passions .-till form
a certain link between you and them: With the highest
powers of their intellect to help them they will plot and
Bcheme with great cleverness to tempt and entrap yon. In
these regions there are men who wen 1 amongst the greatest
intellectual powers of their age, hut whose awful careers
of wickedness have simk them to these spheres where they
reign over all around them — even worse and more des-
potic tyrants now than they were upon earth" Beware,
then, and heed all the warnings we have given you.
From time to time you will receive help and encourage-
ment from your sincere friends until your mission shall
have heen accomplished and yon return, let us hope, as a
victor in a good cause. Adieu, dear friend, and may the
hlessings of the Great Father of all he with you."'
I parted from Hassein with much regret and set forth
with our hand upon our journey. The last things we saw
as we descended were the wdiite robed figures of our
friends outlined against the dark sky, waving to us their
farewell.
PART III.
Zhe Ikingbom of Ibell.
A WAXDEEEH IX THE SPIRIT LAXDS. 121
PAET III.
Gbe IRingfcom of 1bell.
CHAPTEE XIX.
The companion who was assigned to me in this ex-
pedition was a spirit who had been in this sphefe before,
and who was, therefore, well fitted to act as my guide on
entering this Land of Horrors. After a short time we
were to separate, he told me, and each to follow his own
path — but at any time either of us could, if needful,
summon the other to his aid in case of extremity.
As we drew near the great bank of smoke and flame
I remarked to my companion upon the strangely material
appearance they presented. I was accustomed in the spirit
world to the realism and solidity of all our surroundings
which mortals are apt to imagine must be of some ethereal
and intangible nature, since they are not visible to ordi-
nary eyesight, — still these thick clouds of smoke, these
leaping tongues of flame, were contrary to what I had
pictured Hell as being like. I had seen dark and dreary
countries and unhappy spirits in my wanderings, but I
had seen no flames, no fire of any sort, and I had totally
disbelieved in material flames in a palpable form, and had
deemed the fires of Hell to be merely a figure of speech to
express a mental state. Many have taught that it is so,
and that the torments of Hell are mental and subjective,
not objective at all. I said something of this to my
companion, and he replied:
122 A WANDEREB IN THE SPIRIT LANDS.
"Both ideas are in a sense right. These lames and
tliis smoke are created by the spiritual emanations of the
unhappy beings who dwell within that fiery wall, and
material as they seem to yum- eyes, opened to the sight of
spiritual things, they would be invisible to a mortal's
sight, could one still in the body of flesh by any miracle
visit this spot. They have, in fact, no earthly material in
them, yet, they are none the less material in the sense that
all things earthly or spiritual are clothed in matter of
some kind. The number and variety of degrees of solidity
in matter are infinite, as without a certain covering of
etherealized matter even spiritual buildings and spiritual
bodies would he invisible to you. and these flames being
the coarse emanations of these degraded spirits, possess.
for your eyes an appearance even more dense and solid
than for the inhabitants themselves."
My companion's spirit name was "Faithful Friend.''
•n name given him in memory of his devotion to a friend
who abused his friendship and finally betrayed him. and
whom he had even then forgiven and helped in the hour
when shame and humiliation overtook the betrayer, and
when reproach and contempt or even revenge might have
seemed amply justifiable to many minds. This truly
noble spirit had been a man of by no means perfectly
moral character in his earthly life, and had therefore
passed at death into the lower spheres near the earth
plane, but he had risen rapidly, and at the time I met him
he was one of the Brotherhood in the second sphere, to
which I had so recently been admitted, and had been once
before through the Kingdoms of Hell.
We now drew near what appeared like the crater of
a vast volcano — ten thousand Vesuviuses in one! Above
us the sky was black as night, and but for the lurid glare
of the flames we should have been in total darkness. Now
that we have reached the mass of fire I saw that it was like
a fiery wall surrounding the country, through which all
who sought to enter or leave it must pass.
"See now, Franchezzo," said Faithful Friend, "we
are about to pass through this wall of fire, but do not let
A WANDERER IX THE SPIRIT LANDS. 123
that alarm you, for so long as your courage and your will
do not fail, and you exert all your will-power to repel
these fiery particles, they cannot come in actual contact
with your body. Like the waters of the Red Sea they will
fall apart on either side and we shall pass through
unscathed.
"Were any one of weak will and timid soul to attempt
tins they would fail, and he driven back by the force of
these flames which are propelled outwards by a current of
strong will-force set in motion by the fierce and powerful
beings who reign here, and who thus, as they imagine,
protect themselves from intrusions from the higher
spheres. To us, however, with our more spiritualized
bodies, these flames and the walls and rocks you will find
in this land, are no more impenetrable than is the solid
material of earthly doors and walls, and as we can pass at
will through them, so can we pass through these, which
are none the less sufficiently solid to imprison the spirits
who dwell in this country. The more ethereal a spirit is
the less can it be bound by matter, and at the same time
the less direct power can it have in the moving of matter,
without the aid of the physical material supplied by the
aura of certain mediums. Here, as on earth, we would,
in order to move material substances, require to use the
aura of some of the mediumistic spirits of this sphere.
At the same time we shall find that our higher spiritual
powers have become muffled, so to say; because in order to
enter this sphere and make ourselves visible to its in-
habitants, we have had to clothe ourselves in its con-
ditions, and thus we are more liable to be affected by its
temptations. Our lower natures will be appealed to in
every form, and we shall have to direct our efforts to pre-
vent them from again dominating us."
My friend now took my hand firmly in his and we
"willed" ourselves to pass through the wall of fire. I con-
fess that a momentary sense of fear passed over me as we
began to enter it. but I felt we were "in for it," so exert-
ing all my powers and concentrating my thoughts I soon \
found that we were floating through — the flames forming
124 A WANDERER IN THE SPIRIT LANDS.
a fiery arch below and above us through which as through
a tunnel we passed. Thinking of it now I should say it
must have been about a quarter to half a mile thick,
judging as one would by earthly measurements, but at the
time 1 did not take sufficient note to be very exact, all my
energies being directed to the repelling of the fiery par-
ticles from myself.
As we emerged we found ourselves in a land of night.
It might have seemed like the bottomless pit of desolation
had we not stood upon solid enough ground, while above
us was this canopy of black smoke. How far this country
extended it was impossible to form any idea, since the
heavy atmosphere like a black fog shut in our vision on
every side. I was told that it extended through the whole
of this vast and dreadful sphere. In some parts there
were great tumbled jagged mountains 'of black rocks, in
jothers long and dreary wastes of desert plains, while yet
others were mighty swamps of black oozing mud, full of
the most noisome crawling creatures, slimy monsters, and
huge bats. Again there were dense black forests of
gigantic, repulsive-looking trees, almost human in their
power and tenacity, encircling and imprisoning those who
ventured amongst them. Ere I left this awful land I had
seen these and other dreadful regions, but truly neither I
nor anyone else could ever really describe them in all their
loathsomeness and foulness.
As we stood looking at this country my sight, grad-
ually becoming used to the darkness, enabled me to per-
ceive the surrounding objects dimly, and I saw that before
us there was a highway marked by the passage of many
spirit feet across the black plain on which we stood. A
plain covered with dust and ashes, as though all the
blighted hopes, the dead ashes of misused earthly lives
had been scattered there.
"We followed this highway, and in a short time
arrived at a great archway of black stone hewn into large
blocks and rudely piled one upon the other. An immense
curtain of what I thought at first was black gauze hung
A WANDERER IX THE SPIRIT LANDS. 125
before the gateway. On going nearer I saw to my horror
that it was made from spirits' hair, with the eyes strung
like beads upon it, and, most horrible of all, the eyes were
alive and seemed to look at ns imploringly and follow our
every movement as though striving to read our intentions
in coming there.
'•Are these eyes endowed with life?" I asked.
"With soul life? no, but with the astral life, yes — and
they will continue so to live while the souls to which they
belonged continue in the spirit bodies or envelopes from
which these eyes have been torn. This is one of the gates
of Hell, and the custodian has a fancy to decorate it in
this way with the eyes of his victims. In this place there
are none who have not themselves been guilty during
their earthly lives of the most awful cruelties, the most
absolute defiance of the laws of mercy and justice. In
coming here they are only intent upon finding fresh
means to gratify their lust for cruelty, and thus they ex-
pose themselves to becoming in their turn the victims of
beings no more ferocious than themselves, but stronger in
will-power and cleverer in intellect. This is the City of
Cruelty, and those who reign here do so by virtue of their
very excess of that vice. The wretched spirits to whom
these eyes belong, with their degraded, stunted soul germs
still imprisoned in their mutilated bodies, are at this
moment wandering through the desolation of this land,
or laboring as helpless slaves for their spirit tyrants, de-
prived even of the limited power of sight possessed by
others in this dreary land; while between the eyes and
their owners there vet exists a connecting link of mag-
netism which will keep them living and animated by a
reflected life till the soul germ shall cast off its present
envelope and rise to a higher state of life."
While we were studying this horrible gateway the
curtain of living eyes was drawn aside, and two strange
dark beings, half human and half animal, came out, and
we took the chance to pass in unnoticed by the guardian
of the gate, a gigantic and horrible creature, misshapen
and distorted in every limb so that the worst ogre of fable
126 A WANDERER IN THE SPIRIT LANDS.
could scarcely convey to mortal mind a picture of him.
He sprang out with a frightful laugh and horrible lan-
guage upon the two poor trembling spirits who fled from
him in most abject terror, but neither he nor they seemed
able to perceive us.
"Are these beings soulless?*' I asked, pointing to the
poor frightened spirits. "Were they ever on earth?"
"Yes, most certainly, but of a very low type of sav-
ages, scarcely above the wild beasts, and quite as cruel,
hence the reason they are here. In all probability their
means of progression will come from being reincarnated
in a slightly higher form of earth life, and their experience
here, which will be short, will give them the sense that
there is retributive justice somewhere, although they will
be apt to form their ideas of a God from their dim
recollections of the powerful beings who reign in this
place."
"Do you, then, hold the doctrine of reincarnation?"
"Not as an absolute law under which all spirits must
pass, but I do believe that in the experiences of many
spirits reincarnation is a law of their progression. Each
spirit or soul born into planetary life has spiritual guar-
dians who from the celestial spheres superintend its
welfare and educate the soul by such means as seem best
to them in their wisdom. These spiritual guardians, or,
as some term them, angels, differ in their methods and
their schools of thought, for there is no sameness any-
where, I am taught, and no absolute path upon which all
must walk alike. Each school of thought which has its
counterpart, its dim imperfect reflection on earth, has the
perfected system of the school and its highest teachers in
the celestial spheres, and from these higher spheres their
doctrines are handed down to earth through spirits in the
intermediate spheres. The end all have in view is the
same, but each maps out a different path by which the
pilgrim souls shall reach it. The guardian angels watch
over the soul germ during all of what may be termed its
childhood and youth, which lasts from the moment it first
sees the light of individual consciousness till through
A WAXDERER IX THE SPIRIT LANDS. 127
repeated experience? and developments it attains to such
a degree of intellectual and moral consciousness that it
stands upon the same level as its spiritual guardians, and
then it in turn becomes the spiritual guardian of some
new-born soul. I have also been taught that the soul
germ in its first stage is only like a seed, like, in fact, any-
other seed in the minuteness of its size and powers. It is,
in fact, a spark of the Divine Essence containing in itself
all that will constitute the perfected human soul. Of its
very essence it is immortal and indestructible, because it is
seed from that which is Immortal and Indestructible. But
as a seed has to be sown into the darkness and degradation
of the material earth in order that it may germinate, so
has the soul seed tcf be sown into the corruptions of mat-
ter, first in its lower and then in its higher forms. Each
animal is in itself the type of a soul-seed, the human type
being the highest of all, and each seed will in turn develop
to the highest degree possible for it through successive
spheres and experiences. Some schools of thought hold
that the soul will progress more rapidly if it is again and
again returned to material life to be born anew, in a fresh
form ach tinu, and to live over again the experiences it
has rife— I, or to expiate in the mortal form the wrongs
done in a former incarnation. The spiritual children of
this school of thought will indeed be thus returned to
earth again, and for them each new lesson will have to be
worked out in an earthly life.
"But it does not follow that this experience will be
the lot of all spirits. There are other schools who main-
tain that the spirit spheres conteH means for the educa-
tion of the soul quite as useful and expeditious; and with
the spiritual children committed to their charge the
totally different course of sending them to gather experi-
ence in the lower spheres rather than to earth, will be pur-
sued. They will be made to live over in memory their
past earth life and to expiate in the spirit the wrongs done
in their earthly existences. As each soul differs in its
character or individuality, so each must be trained by a
different method, else would all resemble each other so
128 A WAN DEEEB IN THE SPIRIT LANDS.
exactly thai a monotonous sameness would result and
there would be none of that variety and contrast which
giv§ a charm to earthly life, and I believe will still con-
tinue to do so in the celestial spheres.
"I have ever been taught, therefore, to avoid trying
to found a general rule applicable to all spirits upon the
experiences of any one community of spirits with which
I may come in contact. Even in the visit we shall pay
to this sphere we shall only be able to see a part, a frac-
tional part, of this immense sphere of evil spirits, yet we
shall traverse an extent of space far greater than if you
had traveled over the whole of the little planet Earth from
which we both have come. In the spirit world like draws
to like by a universal law, and those of entirely opposite
natures repel each other so entirely that they can never
mingle or even touch the circle in which each dwells.
Thus in our wanderings we shall only visit those with
"whom either from nationality or temperament we have
some germ of feeling, however slight, in common."
A WANDERER IX THE SPIRIT LANDS. 129
CHAPTER XX.
We were now traversing a wide causeway of black
marble, on either side of which were deep, dark chasms
of which it was impossible to see the bottom from the
great clouds of heavy vapor that hung over them. Pass-
ing and repassing us upon this highway were a great many
dark spirits, some bearing great heavy loads upon their
backs, others almost crawling along on all fours like
1 leasts. Great gangs of slaves passed us, wearing heavy
iron collars on their necks and linked together by a heavy
chain. They were coming from the second or inner gate
of what was evidently a large fortified city whose dark
buildings loomed through the dense masses of dark fog
in front of us. The causeway, the style of buildings, and
the appearance of many of the spirits made me feel as
though we were entering some ancient fortified city of the
old Roman Empire, only here everything gave one the
sense of being foul and horrible, in spite of the fine archi-
tecture and the magnificent buildings whose outlines we
could dimly trace. The second gateway was finer in
appearance than the first, and the gates being open we
passed in with the stream of spirits hurrying through it,
and as before we seemed to pass unseen.
"You will perceive,'* said Faithful Friend, "that here
there is a life in no way different from the earthly life of
such a city at the time when the one of which this is the
spiritual reflection, was in the full zenith of its power, and
when the particles of which this is formed were thrown off
from its material life and drawn down by the force of
attraction to form this city and these buildings, fit dwell-
130 a a\ axdi-im'.r in the spirit lands.
ings for its spiritual inhabitants; and you will see in the
more modern appearance of many of the buildings and
inhabitants how it has been added to from time to time by
the same process which is going on continuously. You
will notice that most of the spirits here fancy themselves
still in the earthly counterparj and wonder why all looks
so dark and foul and dingy. In like manner this same
city has its spiritual prototype in the higher spheres to
which all that was fair and good and noble in its life has
been attracted, and where those spirits who were good
and true have gone to dwell; for in the lives of cities as of
men the spiritual emanations are attracted upwards or
downwards according as there is good or evil in the deeds
done in them. And as the deeds done in this city have in
evil far exceeded those which were good, so this city is far
larger, far more thickly peopled in this sphere than in
those above. In the ages to come when the spirits who
are here now shall have progressed, that heavenly counter-
part will be fully finished and fully peopled, and then will
this place we gaze at now have crumbled into dust — faded
from this sphere."
We were now in a narrow street, such as it must have
been in the earthly city, and a short distance farther
brought us into a large square surrounded with magnifi-
cent palaces, while before us towered one more splendid
in design than all the others. A great wide flight of
marble steps led up to its massive portico, and looming
through the dark cloudy atmosphere we could trace its
many wings and buildings. All was truly on a magnifi-
cent scale, yet all to my eyes appeared dark, stained with
great splashes of blood, and covered with slimy fungus
growth which disfigured the magnificence and hung in
great repulsive-looking festoons, like twisted snakes, from
all the pillars and cope-stones of the buildings. Black
slimy mud oozed up through the crevices of the marble
pavement, as though the city floated upon a foul swamp,
and noisome vapors curled up from the ground and floated
above and around us in fantastic and horrible smoke
wreaths like the huge phantoms of past crimes. Every-
A WAXDEKER IX THE SPIRIT LAXDS. 131
where were dark spirits crawling across the great square
and in and out of the palace doors, driven onward by
other stronger dark spirits with lash or spear. Such cries
of execration as broke forth from time to time, such fear-
ful oaths, such curses and imprecations, it was truly the
pandemonium of the lost souls in the Infernal regions!
And over all hung those black night clouds of sorrow and
suffering and wrong.
Far away to the earth my thoughts traveled, back to
the days of the Roman Empire, and I saw reflected as in
a glass this city in all the splendor of her power, in all the
iniquities of her tyranny and her crimes, weaving down
below, from the loom of fate, this other place of retribu-
tion for all those men and women who disgraced her beau-
ties by their sins: 1 saw this great city of Hell building
atom by atom till it should become a great prison for all
the evil spirits of that wicked time.
We went up the wide flight of steps through the lofty
doorway and found ourselves in the outer court of the
Emperor's Palace. Xo one spoke to us or seemed aware
of our presence, and we passed on through several smaller
halls till we reached the door of the Presence Chamber.
Here my companion stopped and said:
"I cannot enter with you, friend, because I have
already visited the dark spirit who reigns here, and there-
fore my presence would at once excite his suspicions and
defeat the object of your visit, which is that you may
rescue an unhappy spirit whose repentant prayers have
reached the higher spheres, and will be answered by the
help you are sent to give him. You will find the person
you seek without any difficulty. His desire for help has
already drawn us thus near to him and will draw you still
closer. I must now for a time part from you because I
have my own path of work to follow, but we shall meet
again ere long, and if you but keep a stout heart and a
strong will and do not forget the warnings given you, no
harm can befall you. Adieu, my friend, and know that I
also shall need all my powers."
Thus, then, I parted from Faithful Friend and passed
132 A AY AND I '. 1 1 E R IN T 1 1 E SPIRIT LANDS.
on alone into the Council Chamber, which I found
thronged with spirits, both men and women, and fur-
nished with all the barbaric splendor of the days of the
Emperors; yet to my sighi there was over everything the
same stamp of foul Loathsomeness which had struck me in
the exterior of the palace. The men and women,
hanghty patricians in their lives, no doubt, appeared to
be eaten up with a loathsome disease like lepers, only they
were even more horrible to look upon. 'The walls and
floors seemed stained with dark pools of blood and hung
with evil thoughts for drapery. Worm-eaten and cor-
rupting were the stately robes these haughty spirits wore,
and saturated with the disease germs from their corrupted
bodies.
On a great throne sat the Emperor himself, the most
fold and awful example of degraded intellect and man-
hood in all that vast crowd of degraded spirits, while
stamped upon his features was such a look of cruelty and
vice that beside him the others sank into insignificance by
comparison. I could not but admire, even while it re-
volted me, the majestic power of this man's intellect and
will. The kingly sense of power over even such a motley
crew as these, the feeling that even in Hell he reigned as
by a right, seemed to minister to his pride and love of
dominion even in the midst of his awful surroundings.
Looking at him I beheld him for one brief moment,
not as I saw him and as he saw these disgusting creatures
round him, but as he still appeared in his own eyes, which
even after all these centuries were not opened to his true
state, his real self. I. saw him as a haughty handsome
man, with cruel clear-cut features, hard expression, and
eyes like a wild vulture, yet withal possessing a certain
beauty of form, a certain power to charm. All that was
repulsive and vile was hidden by the earthly envelope, not
revealed as now in all the nakedness of the spirit.
I saw his court and his companions change back to
the likeness of their earthly lives, and I knew that to each
and all they appeared just the same in their own eyes, all
were alike unconscious of the horrible change in them-
A WANDERER IN THE SPIRIT LANDS. 133
selves, yet perfectly conscious of the change in each of
their companions.
Were all unconscious ? Xo! not quite all. There
was one man crouching in a corner, his mantle drawn
over his disfigured face, whom I perceived to be fully
conscious of his own vileness as well as the vileness of all
who surrounded him.
And in this man's heart there had sprung up a desire,
hopeless, as it seemed to himself, for better things, for a
path to open before him which, however hard and thorny,
might lead him from this night of Hell and give him even
at this eleventh hour the hope of a life removed from the
horrors of this place and these associates; and as I looked
I knew it was to this man that I was sent, though how I
was to help him I knew not, I could not guess. I only
felt that the power which had led me so far would open
up my path and show me the way.
While I had stood thus gazing around me the dark
spirits and their Ruler became conscious of my presence,
and a look of anger and ferocity passed over his face,
while in a voice thick and hoarse with passion he de-
manded who I was and how I dared to enter his presence.
I answered: "I am a stranger only lately come to this
dark sphere and I am still lost in wonder at finding such
a place in the spirit world."
A wild ferocious laugh broke from the spirit, and he
cried out that they would soon enlighten me as to many
things in the spirit world. "But since you are a stranger,"
he continued, "and because we always receive strangers
right royally here, I pray you to be seated and partake
with us of our feast."
He pointed to a vacant seat at the long table in front
of him at which many of the spirits were seated, and
which was spread with what bore the semblance of a
great feast, such as might have been given in the days of
his earthly grandeur. Everything looked real enough,
but I had been warned that it was all more or less illusion-
ary, that the food never satisfied the awful cravings of
hunger which these former gluttons felt, and that the
l : ; I A WAND E 1 1 E 1 1 1 X T 1 1 E S PIHIT LAXDS.
wine was a fiery liquid which scorched the throat and
rendered a thousand times vrorse the thirst which con-
sumed these drunkards. I had heen told to neither eat
nor drink anything offered me in these regions, nor to
accept any invitation to resl myself given by these beings;
for to do so would mean the subjugation of my higher
powers to the senses once more, and would at once put me
more on a level with those dark heings and into their
power. I answered: "While I fully appreciate the mo-
tives which prompt you to offer me the hospitality of your
place, I must still decline it, as I have no desire to either
eat or drink anything."
At this rebuff his eyes shot gleams of living fire at
me and a deeper shade of anger crossed his hrow, hut he
still maintained a pretense of graciousness and signed to
me to approach yet nearer to him. Meanwhile the man
whom I had come to help, aroused from his hitter medita-
-tions by my arrival and the Emperor's speech with me,
had drawn near in wonder at my holdness and alarmed
for my safety, for he knew no more of me than that I
seemed some unlucky new arrival who had not yet learned
the dangers of this horrible place. His anxiety for me
and a certain sense of pity created a link between us,
which, unknown to either, was to be the means whereby
I would be able to draw him away with me.
When I advanced a few steps towards the Emperor's
throne this repentant spirit followed me, and, coming
close, whispered:
"Do not be beguiled by him. Turn and fly from this
place while there is yet time, and I will draw their atten-
tion from you for the moment."
I thanked the spirit but said: "I shall not fly from
any man, be he whom he may, and will take care not to
fall into any trap."
Our hurried speech had not been unnoticed by the
Emperor, for he became most impatient, and striking his
sword upon the ground he cried out to me:
"Approach, stranger! Have you no manners that
you keep an Emperor waiting? Behold my chair of state,
A WANDEBER IX THE SPIRIT LANDS. 135
my throne, seat yourself in it and try for a moment how
it i'eels to be in an Emperor's place."
I looked at the throne as he pointed, and saw it was
like a great chair with a canopy over it. Two immense
winged figures in bronze stood at the back of the seat,
each with six long arms extended to form the back and
sides, while upon the heads of these figures the canopy
rested as upon pillars. I had no thought to sit in such a
place; its late occupant was too repulsive to me for me to
desire to go any nearer to him, but had even curiosity
made me wish to examine the chair the sight I saw would
have effectually prevented me. The chair seemed sud-
denly to become endowed with life, and before my eyes I
beheld a vision of an unhappy spirit struggling in the
embraces of those awful arms which encircled it and
crushed its body into a mangled writhing mass. And I
knew that such was the fate of all those whom the
Emperor induced to try the comforts of his chair. Only
for one brief instant the vision lasted and then I turned
to the Emperor and, bowing, said to him:
"I have no desire to place myself upon your level,
and must again decline the honor you would do me."
Then he broke into a tempest of rage, and cried out
to his guards to seize me and thrust me into that chair and
pour the food and the wine down my throat till they
choked me.
Immediately there was a rush made towards me, the
man I had come to save throwing himself before me to
protect me, and in a moment we were surrounded by a
seething, fighting mass of spirits, and for that moment, I
confess my heart sank within me and my courage began
to fail. They looked so horrible, so fiendish, so like a
pack of wild beasts let loose and all setting upon me at
once. Only for a moment, however, for the conflict
aroused all my combative qualities of which I have been
thought to posses- my fair share. And I threw out all my
will to repel them, calling upon all good powers to aid
me while 1 grasped firm hold of the poor spirit who had
sought to help me. Thus I retreated to the door, step
13G A WANDERER IN THE SPIRIT LANDS.
by step, the whole crowd of dark spirits following us with
wild cries and menacing gestures, yet unable to touch us
while I kept firm my determination to keep them off. At
last we reached the door and passed through it, where-
upon it seemed to close fast and keep in our pursuers.
Then strong arms seemed to lift us both up and bear us
away into a place of safety on the dark plain.
My rescued companion was by this time in a state of
unconsciousness, and as I stood by him I saw four
majestic spirits from the higher spheres making magnetic
passes over his prostrate form; and then I beheld the most
wonderful sight I had ever seen. From the dark dis-
figured body which lay as in a sleep of death there arose
a mist-like vapor which grew more and more dense till it
took shape in the form of the spirit himself; the purified
soul of that poor spirit released from its dark envelope;
and I saw those four angelic spirits lift the still uncon-
scious risen soul in their arms as one would bear a child,
and then they all floated away from me up, up, till they
vanished from my sight. At my side stood another bright
angel who said to me: "Be of good cheer, oh! Son of the
Land of Hope, for many shalt thou help in this dark land,
and great is the joy of the angels in Heaven over these
sinners that have repented."
As he finished speaking he vanished, and I was alone
once more on the bleak plains of Hell.
A WANDERER IN THE SPIRIT LANDS. 137
CHAPTER XXL
Away before me stretched a narrow path, and curious
to see where it would lead I followed it, sure that it would
somehow lead me to those whom I could help. After
following it for a short time I came to the foot of a range
of black mountains, and before me was the entrance to a
huge cavern. Horrible reptiles were hanging on to the
walls and crawling at my feet. Great funguses and mon-
strous air plants of an oozy slimy kind hung in festoons
like ragged shrouds from the roof, and a dark pool of
stagnant water almost covered the floor. I thought of
turning away from this spot, but a voice seemed to bid me
go on, so I entered, and skirting round the edge of the
dark pool found myself at the entrance to a small dark
passage in the rocks. Down this I went, and turning a
corner saw before me a red light as from a fire, while dark
forms like goblins passed and repassed between it and
myself. Another moment and I stood at the end of the
passage. Before me was a gigantic dungeon-like vault,
its uneven rocky roof half revealed and half hidden by the
masses of lurid smoke and flames which arose from an
enormous fire blazing in the middle of the cavern, while,
round it were dancing such a troop of demons as might
well typify the Devils of Hell. With shrieks and yells of
laughter they were prodding at the fire with long black
spears and dancing and flinging themselves about in the
wildest fashion, while in a corner were huddled together
a dozen or so of miserable dark spirits towards whom
they made frantic rushes from time to time as if about to
seize and hurl them into the fire, always retreating again
with yells and howls of rage.
138 A w \\i)i:i;i:i; I\ THE SPIRIT LANDS.
I soon perceived thai I was invisible to these heings,
so taking courage from that fact, I drew nearer. To my
horror I discovered that the fire was composed of the
hodies of living men and women who writhed and twisted
in the flames, and were tossed about by the spears of those
awful (lemons. I was so appalled by this discovery that
I cried out to know if this was a real scene or only some
horrible illusion of this dreadful place, and the same deep
mysterious voice that had often spoken to me in my
Wanderings answered me now:
"Son! they are living souls who in their earthly lives
doomed hundreds of their fellow men to die this dreadful
death, and knew no pity, no remorse, in doing so. Their
own cruelties have kindled these fierce flames of passion
and hate in the breasts of their many victims, and in the
spirit world these fiery germs have grown till they are now
a fierce flame to consume the oppressors. These fires are
fed solely by the fierce cruelties of those they now con-
sume; there is not here one pang of anguish which has
not been suffered a hundred fold more in the persons of
these spirits' many helpless victims. From this fire these
spirits will come forth touched by a pity, born of their
own sufferings, for those they wronged in the past, and
then will be extended to them the hand of help and the
means of progression through deeds of mercy as many and
as great as have been their merciless deeds in the past.
Do not shudder nor marvel that such retribution as this
is allowed to be. The souls of these spirits were so hard,
'so cruel, that only sufferings felt by themselves could
make them pity others. Even since they left the earth
life they have only been intent upon making others more
helpless suffer, till the bitter hatred they have aroused has
become at last a torrent which has engulfed themselves.
Furthermore, know that these flames are not truly
material, although to your eyes and to theirs they appear
so, for in the spirit world that which is mental is likewise
objective, and fierce hatred or binning passion does in-
deed seem a living fire. You shall now follow one of
these spirits and see for yourself that what seems to you
A WANDEKEB IX THE SPIRIT LANDS. 139
cruel justice is yet mercy in disguise. Behold these
passions .ire burning themselves out and the souls are
about to pass into the darkness of the plain beyond."
As the voice ceased the flames died down and all was
darkness save for a faint bluish light like phosphorus that
filled the cavern, and by it I saw the forms of the spirits
rise from the ashes of the fire and pass out of the cavern.
As I followed them one became separated from the others
and passing on before me went into the streets of a city
that was near. It seemed to me like one of the old Span-
ish cities of the West Indies or South America. There
were Indians passing along its streets and mingling with
Spaniards and men of several other nations.
Following the spirit through several streets we came
to a large building which seemed to be a monastery of the
order of Jesuits — who had helped to colonize the country
and force upon the unhappy natives the Roman Catholic
religion, in the days when religious persecution was
thought by most creeds to be a proof of religious zeal; and
then, while I stood watching this spirit. I saw pass before
me a panorama of his life.
I saw him first chief of his order, sitting as a judge
before whom were brought many poor Indians and
heretics, and I saw him condemning them by hundreds to
torture and flames because they would not become con-
verts to his teaching-. I saw him oppressing all who were
not powerful enough to resist him. and extorting jewels
and gold in enormous quantities as tribute to him and to
lu's order; and if any sought to resist him and his demands
he had them arrested and almost without even the pre-
tense of a trial thrown into dungeons and tortured and
burned. I read in his heart a perfect thirst for wealth
and power and an actual love for beholding the sufferings
of his victims, and I knew (reading as I seemed to do his
innermost soul) that his religion was but a cloak, a con-
venient name, under which to extort the gold he loved
and gratify his love of power.
Again I saw the great square or market place of this
city with hundreds of great fires blazing all round it till
IKi A WANDERER IX TITE SPIRIT LAXDS.
it was like a furnace, and a whole helpless crowd of timid
gentle natives were bound hand and loot and thrown into
the flames, and their cries of agony went up to 1 leave* as
this cruel man and his vile accomplices chanted their false
prayers and held aloft the sacred cross winch was dese-
crated by th'eir unholy hands, their horrible lives of cru-
elty and vice, and their greed for gold. I saw that this
horror was perpetrated in the name of the Church of
Christ — of him whose teachings were of love and charity.
who came to teach that God was perfect Love. And I
saw this man who called himself Christ's minister, and
yet had no thought of pity for one of these unhappy vic-
tims; he thought alone of how the spectacle would strike
terror to the hearts of other Indian tribes, and make them
bring him more gold to satisfy bis greedy lust. Then I
beheld this man returned to his own land of Spain and
revelling in his ill-gotten wealth, a powerful wealthy
prince of the church, venerated by the poor ignorant pop-
ulace as a holy man who bad gone forth into that Western
"World beyond the seas to plant the banner of his church
and preach the blessed gospel of love and peace, while,
instead, his path had been marked in fire and blood, and
then my sympathy for him was gone. Then I saw this
man upon his deathbed, and I saw monks and priests
chanting mass for his soul that it might go to Heaven, and
instead I saw it drawn down and down to Hell by the
chains woven in bis wicked life. I saw the great hordes
of bis former victims awaiting him there, drawn down in
their turn by their thirst for revenge, their hunger for
] tower to avenge their sufferings and the sufferings of
those most dear to them.
I saw this man in Hell surrounded by those he had
wronged, and haunted by the empty wraiths of such as
were too good and pure to come to this place of horror or
to wish for vengeance on their murderer, just as I had
seen in the Frozen Land with the man in the icy cage; and
in Hell the only thought of that spirit was rage because
his power of earth was no more — his only idea how he
might join with others in Hell as cruel as himself and
A WANDERER IN THE SPIRIT LANDS. 141
thus still oppress and torture. If he could have doomed
his victims to death a second time he would have done it.
In his heart there was neither pity nor remorse, only
anger that he was so powerless. Had he possessed one
feeling of sorrow or one thought of kindness for another,
it would have helped him and created a wall between him-
self and these vengeful spirits, and his sufferings, though
they might be great, would not have at last assumed the
physical aspect in which I had beheld them. As it was
his passion of cruelty was so great it fed and fanned into
fresh life the spiritual flames which theirs created, till at
last when I saw him first they were dying out exhausted
by their own violence. Those demons I had beheld were
the last and most fierce of his victims in whom the desire
for revenge was even then not fully satisfied, while those
I had beheld crouching in the corner were some who, no
longer desirous of tormenting him themselves, had yet
been unable to withdraw themselves from beholding his
sufferings and those of his accomplices.
And now I beheld that spirit with the newly
awakened thought of repentance, returning to the city to
warn others of his Jesuit fraternity, and to try to turn
them from the path of his own errors. He did not yet
realize the length of time that had elapsed since he had
left the earth life, nor that this city was the spiritual
counterpart of the one he had lived in on earth. In time,
I was told, he would be sent back to earth to work as a
spirit in helping to teach mortals the pity and mercy he
had not shown in his own life, but first he would have to
work here in this dark place, striving to release the souls
of those whom his crimes had dragged down with him.
Thus I left this man at the door of that building which
was the counterpart of his earthly house, and passed on
by myself through the city.
Like the Roman city this one was disfigured and its
beauties blotted out by the crimes of which it had been
the silent witness; and to me the air seemed full of dark
phantom forms wailing and weeping and dragging after
them their heavy chains. The whole place seemed built
142 a waxdi:im:i; in TfiE spirit lands.
upon living graves and shrouded in a dark red mist of
blood and tears. It was like one vast prison house whose
Avails were built of deeds of violence and robbery and
oppression.
And as I wandered on I had a waking dream, and
saw the city as it had been on earth ere the white man
had set his foot upon its soil. 1 saw a peaceful primitive
people living upon fruits and grains and leading their
simple lives in an innocence akin to that of childhood,
worshiping the Great Supreme under a name of their
own, yet none the less worshiping him in spirit and in
truth — their simple faith and their patient virtues the
outcome of the inspiration given them from that Great
Spirit who is universal and belongs to no creeds, no
churches. Then I saw white men come thirsting for gold
and greedy to grasp the goods of others, and these simple
people welcomed them like brothers, and in their inno-
cence showed them the treasures they had gathered from
the earth — gold and silver and jewels. Then I saw the
treachery which marked the path of the white man; how
they plundered and killed the simple natives; how they
tortured and made slaves of them, forcing them to labor
in the mines till they died by thousands; how all faith, all
promises, were broken by the white man till the peaceful
happy country was filled with tears and blood.
Then I beheld afar, away in Spain, a few good, true,
kindly men whose souls were pure and who believed that
they alone had the true faith by which only man can be
saved and live eternally, who thought that God had given
this light to but one small spot of his earth, and had left
all the rest in darkness and error — had left countless
thousands to perish because this light had been denied to
them but given exclusively to that one small spot of earth,
that small section of his people.
I thought that these good and pure men were so
sorry for those who, they thought, were in the darkness
and error of a false religion, that they set forth and
crossed that unknown ocean to that strange far-away land
to carry with them their system of religion, and to give it
A AYAXDERER IX THE SPIRIT LAXDS. 143
to those poor simple people whose lives had been so good
and gentle and spiritual under their own faith, their own
beliefs.
I saw these good but ignorant priests land on this
strange shore and beheld them working everywhere
amongst the natives, spreading their own belief and
crushing out and destroying all traces of a primitive faith
as worthy of respect as their own. These priests were
kind good men who sought to alleviate the physical lot of
the poor oppressed natives even while they labored for
their spiritual welfare also, and on every side there sprang
up missions, churches and schools.
Then I beheld great numbers of men, priests as well
as many others, come over from Spain, eager, not for the
good of the church nor to spread the truths of their re-
ligion, but only greedy for the gold of this new land, and
for all that could minister to their own gratification; men
whose lives had disgraced them in their own country till
they were obliged to fly to this strange one to escape the
consequences of their misdeeds. I saw these men arrive
in hordes and mingle with those whose motives were pure
and good, till they had outnumbered them, and then
thrust the good aside everywhere, and made of themselves
tyrannical masters over the unhappy natives, in the name
of the Holy Church of Christ.
And then I saw the Inquisition brought to the un-
happy land and established as the last link in the chain
of slavery and oppression thus riveted round this unhappy
people, till it swept almost all of them from the face of
the earth; and everywhere I beheld the wild thirst, the
greed for gold that consumed as with a fire of hell all who
sought that land. Blind were most of them to all its
beauties but its gold, deaf to all thought but how they
might enrich themselves with it; and. in the madness of
that time and that awful craving for wealth was this city
of Hell, this spiritual counterpart of the earthly city built,
stone upon stone, particle by particle, forming between
itself and the city of earth chains of attraction which
should draw down one by one each of its wicked inhabi-
144 A WANDERER IN THE SPIRIT LANDS.
t ai its, for truly the earthly lives are building for each man
and woman their spiritual habitations. Thus all these
monks and priests, all these fine ladies, all these soldiers
and merchants, yea. and even these unhappy natives had
been drawn down to Hell by the deeds of their earthly
lives, by the passions and hatreds, the greed of gold, the
bitter sense of wrongs unrequited and the thirst for re-
venge which those deeds had created.
* * * * * * * * *
At the door of a large square building, whose small
grated windows looked like a prison, I stopped, arrested
by the cries and shouts which came from it; then guided
by the mysterious voice of my unseen guide I entered, and
following the sounds soon came to a dungeon cell. Here
I found a great number of spirits surrounding a man who
was chained to the w r all by an iron girdle round his w r aist.
His wild glaring eyes, disheveled hair and tattered cloth-
ing suggested that he had been there for many years,
while the hollow sunken cheeks and the bones sticking
through his skin told that he was to all appearance dying
of starvation; yet I knew that here there was no death, no
such relief from suffering. Near him stood another man
with folded arms and bowed head, whose wasted features
and skeleton form scarred w r ith many wounds made him
an even more pitiable object than the other, though he
was free while the other was chained to the wall. Around
them both danced and yelled other spirits, all wild and
savage and degraded. Some of them were Indians, a few
Spanish, and one or two looked, I thought, like English-
men. All were at the same work — throwing sharp knives
at the chained man that never seemed to hit him, shaking
their fists in his face, cursing and reviling him, yet,
strange to say, never able to actually touch him, and all
the time there he stood chained to the wall, unable to
move or get away from them. And there stood the other
man silently watching him.
As I stood looking at this scene I became conscious
of the past history of those two men. I saw the one who
was chained to the wall in a handsome house like a palace,
A WANDERER IX THE SPIRIT LANDS. 145
and knew ho had been one of the judges sent out from
Spain to preside over the so-called courts of justice, which
had but proved additional means for extorting money
from the natives and oppressing all who sought to inter-
fere with the rich and powerful. I saw the other man
who had been a merchant, living in a pretty villa with a
beautiful, a very beautiful, wife and one little child. This
woman had attracted the notice of the judge, who con-
ceived an unholy passion for her, and on her persistently
repulsing all his advances he made an excuse to have the
husband arrested on suspicion by the Inquisition and
thrown into prison. Then he carried off the poor wife
and so insulted her that she died, and the poor little child
was strangled by order of the cruel judge.
Meantime the unfortunate husband lay in prison,
ignorant of the fate of his wife and child and of the
charge under which he had been arrested, growing more
and more exhausted from the scanty food and the horrors
of his dungeon, and more and more desperate from the
suspense. At last he was brought before the council of
the Inquisition, charged with heretical practices and con-
spiracy against the crown, and on denial of these charges
was tortured to make him confess and give up the names
of certain of his friends who were accused of being his
accomplices. As the poor man, bewildered and indignant,
still protested his innocence he was sent back to his dun-
geon and there slowly starved to death, the cruel judge
not daring to set him at liberty, well knowing that he
would make the city ring with the story of his wrongs and
his wife's fate when he should learn it.
And so this poor man had died, but he did not join
his wife, who, poor injured soul, had passed at once with
her little innocent child into the higher spheres. She was
so good and pure and gentle that she had even forgiven
her murderer — for such he was, though he had not in-
tended to kill her — and between her and the husband she
so dearly loved there was a wall created by his bitter re-
vengeful feelings against the man who had destroyed
them both.
in; A WAtfDEKEB IN THE SPIRIT LANDS.
When this poor vrrohged husband died, his soul
could not leave llif earth. It was tied there by his hatred
of his enemy and his thirsl for revenge. His own wrongs
he might have forgiven, hut the fate of his wife and child
had been too dreadful lie .eoiild not forgive that. Be-
fore even his love for his wife came this hate, and day and
night his spirit clung fast to the judge, seeking for the
chance of vengeance; and at last it came. Devils from
Hell — sueli as had once tempted me — clustered round the
wronged spirit and taught it how through the hand of a
mortal it could strike the assassin's dagger to the judge's
heart, and then when death severed the body and the
spirit he could drag that down with him to Hell. So ter-
rible had been this craving for revenge, nursed through
the waiting years of solitude in prison and in the spirit
land, that the poor wife had tried and tried in vain to
draw near her husband and soften his heart with better
.thoughts. Her gentle soul was shut out by the wall of
evil drawn round the unhappy man, and he also had no
hope of ever seeing her again. He deemed that she had
gone to Heaven and was lost to him for evermore. A
Roman Catholic of the narrow views held nearly two hun-
dred years ago when this man had lived, he helievcd that
being under the ban of its priests and denied the ministra-
tions of the church when he died, was the reason he was
one of the eternally lost, while his wife and child must be
with the angels of Heaven. Is it wonderful, then, that
all this poor spirit's thoughts should center in the desire
for vengeance, and that he should plan only how to make
his enemy suffer as he had heen made to suffer? Thus,
then, it was he who inspired a man on earth to kill the
judge; his hand guided the mortal's with so unerring an
aim that the judge fell pierced to his false, cruel heart.
The earthly body died but the immortal soul lived, and
awakened to find itself in Hell, chained to a dungeon wall
as he had chained his victim, and face to face with
him at last.
There were others whom the judge had wronged and
sent to a death of suffering to gratify his anger or to
A WANDERER IX THE SPIEIT LANDS. 1 IT
enrich himself at their expense, and these all gathered
round him and made his awakening a Hell indeed. Yet
such was the indomitable strength of will of this man that
none of the blows aimed at him could touch him, none of
the missiles strike, and thus through all the years had
those two deadly enemies faced each other, pouring out
their hatred and defiance while those other spirits, like the
chorus of a Greek tragedy, came and went and amused
themselves devising fresh means to torment the chained
man whose strong will kept them at bay.
And away in the bright spheres mourned the poor
wife, striving and hoping till the time should come when
her influence would be felt even in this awful place, when
her love and her unceasing prayers should reach the soul
of her husband and soften it, that he might relent m his
bitter purpose and turn from his revenge. It was her
prayers which had drawn me to this dungeon, and it was
her soul which spoke to mine, telling me all the sad cruel
story, and pleading with me to carry to her unhappy hus-
band the knowledge that she lived only in thoughts of
him, only in the hope that he would be drawn by her love
to the upper spheres to join her in peace and happiness at
last. With this vision strong upon me, I drew near the
sullen man who was growing tired of his revenge, and
whose heart was full of longing for the wife he loved so
passionately.
I touched him upon the shoulder and said: "Friend,
I know why you are here, and all the cruel story of your
wrongs, and I am sent from her you love to tell you that
in the bright land above she awaits you. wearying that you
do not come and marveling that you can find revenge
more sweet than her caresses. She bids me tell you that
you chain yourself here when you might be free."
The spirit started as I spoke, then turning to me
grasped my arm and gazed long and earnestly into my
face as though to read there whether 1 spoke truly or
falsely. Then he sighed as lie drew back, saying: "Who
are you and why do you come here? You are like none
of those who belong to this awful place, and your words
148 A WANDERER IN THE SPIRIT LANDS.
arc words of hope, vet how can there be hope for the
soul in Hell?"
"There is hope even here; for hope is eternal and I rod
in his mercy shuts none out from it, whatever man in his
earth-distorted image of the divine teachings may do. I
am sent to give hope to you and to others who are, like
you. in sorrow for the past, and if you will but come with
me. I can show you how to reach the Better Land."'
I saw that he hesitated, and a bitter straggle went
on in his heart, for he knew that it was his presence which
kept his enemy a prisoner, that were he to go the other
would be free to wander through this Dark Land, and
even yet he could hardly let him go. Then I spoke again
of his wife; his child; would he not rather go to them?
The strong passionate man broke down as he thought of
those loved ones, and burying his face in his hands wept
bitter tears. I put my arm through his and led him,
unresisting, out of the prison and out of the city. Here
we found kind spirit friends were awaiting the poor man,
and with them I left him that they might bear him to a
bright land where he would see his wife from time to
time, till he worked himself up to the level of her sphere,
where they would be united forever in a happiness more
perfect than coitld ever have been their lot on earth.
I did not return to the city, for I felt my work there
was done, and so wandered on in search of fresh fields of
usefulness. In the middle of a dark lonely plain I came
upon a solitary hut, in which I found a man lying on some
wisps of dirty straw, unable to move and to all appearance
dying.
He told me that in his earth life he had thus aban-
doned and left to die a sick comrade, whom he had robbed
of the gold for which they had both risked their lives, and
that now he also was dead he found himself lying in the
same helpless deserted way.
I asked him if he would not wish to get up and go
and do something to help others and thus atone for the
A WANDEREB IX THE SPIRIT LAXDS. 149
murder of his friend, because if so I thought I could
help him.
He thought he would like to get up certainly. He
was sick of this hole, but he did not see why he should
work at anything or bother about other people. He
would rather look for the money he had buried, and spend
that. Here his cunning eyes glanced furtively at me to
see what I thought of his money and if I was likely to
try to find it.
I suggested to him that he ought rather to think of
trying to find the friend he had murdered and make
reparation to him. But he wouldn't hear of that, and got
quite angry, said he was not sorry he had killed his friend,
and only sorry he was here. He thought I would have
helped him to get away. I tried to talk to this man and
make him see how he really might better his position and
undo the wrong he had done, but it was no use, his only
idea was that once given the use of his limbs again he
could go and rob or kill some one else. So at last I left
him where he lay, and as I went out his feeble hand
picked up a stone and flung it after me.
"What/' I asked mentallv, "will become of this
man?"
I was answered: "He has just come from earth after
dying a violent death, and his spirit is weak, but ere long
he will grow strong, and then he will go forth and join
other marauders like himself who go about in bands, and
add another horror to this place. After the lapse of many
years — it may even be centuries — the desire for better
things will awake, and he will begin to progress, but very
slowly, for the soul which has been in chains so long and
is so poorly developed, so degraded as in this man, often
takes cycles of time to develop its dormant powers."
After I had wandered for some time over this dreary
desolate plain I felt so tired, weary of heart, that I sat
down, and began musing upon what I had seen in this
awful sphere. The sight of so much evil and suffering
had depressed me, the awful darkness and heavy murky
clouds oppressed my soul that ever had loved the sunshine
150 A WANDEREB IN THE SPIRIT LAXDS.
and the ligtl as ! fancy only we of the Southern nations
love it. And then I wearied. Ah! how I wearied and
longed for nelws from her whom T had left on earth. No
word had reached me as yet from my friends — no news of
my beloved. I knew not how long I had been in this
place where there was no day to mark the time, nothing
luii eternal night that brooded and reigned in silence over
everything. My thoughts were full of my beloved, and 1^
prayed earnestly, that she might be kept safe on earth to
gladden my eyes when the time of probation in this place
should be over. While T prayed I became conscious of a
.-nil pale light suffused around me, as from a glowing star,
that grew and grew till it expanded and opened out into
a most glorious picture framed in rays of light, and in the
centre I saw my darling, her eyes looking into mine and
smiling at me, her sweet lips parted as though speaking
my name; then she seemed to raise her hand and touching
her lips with her finger tips, threw me a kiss. So shyly,
so prettily, was it done that I was in raptures, and rose to
return her that kiss, to look more closely at her, and lo!
the vision had vanished and I w T as alone on the dark plain
once more. But no longer so sad, that bright vision had
cheered me, and given me hope and courage to go on once
more and hring to others such hope as cheered myself.
I arose and went on again, and in a short time was
overtaken by a number of dark and most repulsive-look-
ing spirits; they wore ragged black cloaks and seemed to
have their faces concealed by black masks like spectral
highwaymen. They did not see me, and I had found that
as a rule the dwellers of this sphere were too low in in-
telligence and spiritual sight to be able to see anyone from
the spheres above unless brought into direct contact with
them. Curious to see what they were about, I drew back
and followed them at a little distance. Presently another
party of dark spirits approached, carrying what looked
like hags with some sort of treasure. Immediately they
were attacked by the first-comers. They had no weapons
in their hands, but they fought like wild beasts with teeth
and claws, their linger nails being like the claws of a wild
A WANDERER IX THE SPIRIT LANDS. 151
animal or a vulture. They fastened upon each other's
throats and tore them. They scratched and bit like tigers
or wolves, till one-half at least were left lying helpless
upon the ground, while the rest rushed off with the
treasure (which to me seemed only lumps of hard stone).
When all who were able to move had gone, I drew
near the poor splits lying moaning on the ground to see
if I could help any of them. But it seemed to be no use
doing so; they only tried to turn upon me and tear me in
pieces. They were more like savage beasts than men,
even their bodies were bent like a beast's, the arms long
like an ape's, the hands hard, and the fingers and nails
like claws, and they half walked and half crawled on all-
fours. The faces could scarcely be called human; the
very features had become bestial, while they lay snarling
and showing their teeth like wolves. I thought of the
strange wild tales I had read of men changing into
animals, and I felt I could almost have believed these were
such creatures. In their horrible glaring eyes there was
an expression of calculation and cunning which was cer-
tainly human, and the motions of their hands were not
like those of an animal; moreover they had speech and
were mingling their howls and groans with oaths and
curses and foul language unknown to animals.
"Are there souls even here?" I asked.
Again came the answer: "Yes, even here. Lost,
degraded, dragged down and smothered, till almost all
trace is lost, yet even here there are the germs of souls.
These men were pirates of the Spanish main, highway-
men, freebooters, slave dealers, and kidnappers of men.
They have so brutalized themselves that almost all trace
of the human is merged in the wild animal. Their in-
stincts were those of savage beasts; now they live like
beasts and fight like them."
"And for them is there still hope, and can anyone
help them?" I asked.
"Even for these there is hope, though many will not
avail themselves of it for ages yet to come. Yet here and
there are others who even now can be helped."
l.~>? A WAN Did IKK IN THE SPIRIT LANDS.
I turned, and at my feet lay a man who had dragged
himself to me with great difficulty and was now too ex-
hausted for further effort. He was less horrible to look
Ujion than the others, and in his distorted lace there were
yet traces of better things. 1 hent over him and heard
his lips murmur: "Water! Water for any sake! Give
me water for I am consumed with a living fire."
I had no water to give him and knew not where to
get any in this land, hut I gave him a few drops of the
essence I had brought from the Land of Dawn for myself.
The effect upon him was like magic. It was an elixir.
He sat up and stared at me and said:
"You must he a magician. That has cooled me and
put out the fire that has hurned within me for years. I
have been filled with a living fire of thirst ever since I
came to this Hell."
I had now drawn him away from the others, and
began to make passes over his body, and as I did so his
'sufferings ceased and he grew quiet and restful. I was
standing by him wandering wdiat to do next, whether to
speak or to go away and leave him to himself, when he
caught my hand and kissed it passionately.
"Oh! friend, how am I to thank you? What shall I
call you who have come to give me relief after all these
years of suffering?"
"If you are thus grateful to me, would you not wish
to earn the gratitude of others by helping them ? Shall I
show you how you could?"
"Yes ! Oh ! yes, most gladly, if only you will take me
with you, good friend."
"Well, then, let me help you up, and if you are able
we had better leave this spot as soon as we can," said I,
and together we set forth to see what we could do.
My companion told me he had been a pirate and in
the slave trade. He had been mate of a ship and was
killed in a fight, and had awakened to find himself and
others of the crew in this dark place. How long he had
been there he had no idea, but it seemed like eternity.
A WANDEREB IX THE SPIRIT LANDS. 153
He and other spirits like him went about in bands and
were always fighting. When they did not meet another
party to tight they fought amongst themselves; the thirst
for righting was the only excitement they could get in this
horrible place where there was never any drink to he got
which could quench the awful burning thirst which con-
sumed them all; what they drank only seemed to make
them a thousand times worse, and was like pouring living
fire down their throats. Then lie said: "You never could
die, no matter what you suffered; that was the awful curse
of the thing, you had got beyond death, and it was no use
trying to kill yourself or get others to kill you, there was
no such escape from suffering.
"We are like a lot of hungry wolves," he said, '"for
want of anyone to attack us we used to fall upon each
other and fight till we were exhausted, and then we would
lie moaning and suffering till we recovered enough to go
forth again and attack someone else. I have heen long-
ing for any means of escape. I have almost got to praying
for it at last. I felt I would do anything if God would
only forgive me and let me have another chance; and
when I saw you standing near me I thought perhaps you
were an angel sent down to me after all. Only you've got
no wings nor anything of that sort, as they paint 'em in
pictures. But then pictures don't give you much idea of
this place, and if they are wrong about one place why not
about the other?"
I laughed at him: yes, even in that place of sorrow I
laughed, my heart felt so much lightened to find myself
of so much use. And then I told him who I was and how
I came to be there, and he said if I wanted to help people
there were some dismal swamps near where a great many
unhappy spirits were imprisoned, and he could take me to
them and help a bit himself he thought. He seemed
afraid to let me go out of his sight lest I should disappear
and leave him alone again. I felt quite attracted to this
man because he seemed so very grateful and I was also
glad of companionship of any sort (except that of those
most repulsive beings who seemed the majority of the
i:.l A WANbEREB IX THE SPIRIT LANDS.
dwellers here) for I felt lonely and somewhat desolate in
this far-oflE dismal country.
The intense darkness, the horrihle atmosphere of
thick fog, made it almost Impossible to see far in any
direction, so that we reached the land of swamps heforc I
was aware of it excepl for feeling a cold, damp, offensive
air which blew in our faces. Then I saw looming heforc
me a great sea of liquid mud, black, fetid and stagnant, a
thick slime of oily blackness floating on the top. Here
and there monstrous reptiles, with huge inflated bodies
and projecting eyes were wallowing. Great hats, with
almost human faces like vampires, hovered over it, while
black and grey smoke wreaths of noisome vapor rose from
its decaying surface, and hung over it in weird fantastic
phantom shapes that shifted and changed ever and anon
into fresh forms of ugliness — now waving aloft wild arms
and shaking nodding, gihhering heads, which seemed
^almost endowed with sense and speech — then melting into
mist again to form into some new creature of repulsive
horror.
On the shores of this great foul sea were innumerable
crawling slimy creatures of hideous shape and gigantic
size that lay sprawling on their hacks or plunged into that
horrid sea. I shuddered as I looked upon it and was
about to ask if there could indeed be lost souls struggling
in that filthy slime, when my ears heard a chorus of wail-
ing cries and calls for help coming from the darkness
before me, that touched my heart with their mournful
hopelessness, and my eyes, growing more accustomed to
the mist, distinguished here and there struggling human
forms wading up to their armpits in the mud. I called to
them and told them to try and walk towards me, for I was
on the shore, hut they either could not see or could not
hear me for they took no notice, and my companion said
he believed they were both deaf and blind to everything
but their immediate surroundings. lie had been in the
sea of foul mud himself for a time, hut had managed to
struggle out, though he had understood that most were
unable to do so without help from another, and that some
A WAXDERER IX THE SPIRIT LAXDS. 155
went on stumbling about in it for years. Again we heard
those pitiful cries, and one sounded so near us that I
thought of plunging in myself and trying to drag the
wretched spirit out, but faugh! it was too horrible, too
disgusting. I recoiled in horror at the thought. And
then again that despairing cry smote upon my ears and
made me feel I must venture it. So in I went, trying my
best to stifle my sense of disgust, and, guided by the cries,
soon reached the man, the great phantoms of the mist
wavering and swooping and rushing overhead as I did so.
He was up to his neck in the mud and seemed sinking
lower when I found him, and it seemed impossible for me
alone to draw him out, so I called to the pirate spirit to
come and help me, but he was nowhere to be seen. Think-
ing be had only led me into a trap and deserted me. I was
about to turn and struggle out again, when the unfortu-
nate spirit besought me so pitifully not to abandon him
that I made another great effort and succeeded in drag-
ping him a few yards and drawing his feet out of a trap of
weeds at the bottom in which they appeared to be caught.
Then, somehow, I half dragged, half supported him till
we reached the shore where the unfortunate spirit sank
down in unconsciousness. I was a good deal exhausted
also and sat down beside him to rest. I looked round for
my pirate friend, and beheld him wallowing about in the
sea at some distance and evidently bringing out someone
along with him. Even in the midst of my awful sur-
roundings I could not help feeling a certain sense of
amusement in looking at him, be made such frantic and
exaggerated efforts to haul along the unlucky spirit, and
was so shouting and going on that it was calculated to
alarm anyone who was timid, and I did not wonder to
hear the poor spirit almost imploring him not to be so
energetic, to take it a little slower, and to give him time
to follow. I went over to them, and the poor rescued one
being now near the shore I helped to get him out and to
let him rest beside the other one.
The pirate spirit seemed greatly delighted with his
successful efforts and very proud of himself, and was quite
156 A WANDERER IN THE SPIRIT LANDS.
ready to s< i oft again, so I sent him after Bomeone else
whom we heard calling, and was attending to the other two
when I again heard most pitiful wailingsnot far from me,
though I could sec no one at first, then a faint, tiny speck
of light like a will-o'-the-wisp glimmered in the darkness
of that disgusting swamp, and by its light I saw someone
moving about and calling for aid, so, not very willingly, I
confess, I went into the mud again. When I reached the
man I found he had a woman with him whom he was sup-
porting and trying to encourage, and. with considerable
trouble I got them both out and found the pirate spirit
had also arrived with his rescued one.
Truly a strange group we must have made on the
shores of that slimy sea. which I learned afterwards was
the spiritual creation of all the disgusting thoughts, all
the impure desires of the lives of men on earth, attracted
and collected into this great swamp of foulness. Those
-spirits who were thus wallowing in it had reveled in such
low abominations in their earth lives and had continued
to enjoy such pleasures after death through the medium-
ship of mortal men and women, till at last even the earth
plane had become too high for them by reason of their
own exceeding vileness, and they had been drawn down
by the force of attraction into this horrible sink of corrup-
tion to wander in it till the very disgust of themselves
should work a cure.
One man I had rescued had been one of the cele-
brated wits of Charles the Second's court, and after his
death had long haunted the earth plane, sinking, however,
lower and lower till he had sunk into this sea at last, the
weeds of his pride and arrogance forming chains in which
his feet were so entangled that he could not move till I
released him. Another man had been a celebrated
dramatist of the reign of the early Georges. While the
man and woman had belonged to the court of Louis the
Fifteenth and had been drawn together to this place.
Those rescued by the pirate were somewhat similar in
their histories.
I had been somewhat troubled at first as to how I was
A WANDERER IX THE SPIRIT LANDS. 157
going to free myself from the mud of that horrible sea,
but I now suddenly saw a small clear fountain of pure
water spring up near to us as if by magic, and in its fresh
stream we soon washed all traces of the mud away.
I now advised those whom we had rescued to try
what they could do to help others in this land of darkness
as a return for the help given to themselves, and having
given them what advice and help I could I started once
more upon my pilgrimage. The pirate, however, seemed
so very unwilling to part from me that we two set forth
together once more.
I shall not attempt to describe all whom we sought to
help in our wanderings. Were I to do so this narrative
would fill volumes and probably only weary my readers,
so I shall pass over what seemed to me like weeks of
earthly time, as nearly as I am able to reckon it, and will
describe our arrival at a vast range of mountains whose
bleak summits towered into the night sky overhead. We
were both somewhat discouraged with the results of our
efforts to help people. Here and there we had found a
few who were willing to listen and to be helped, but as a
rule our attempts had been met with scorn and derision,
while not a few had even attacked us for interfering with
them, and we had some trouble to save ourselves from
injury.
Our last attempt had been with a man and woman of
most repulsive appearance who were fighting at the door
of a wretched hovel. The man was beating her so terribly
I could not but interfere to stop him. Whereupon they
both set on me at once, the woman spirit doing her best
to scratch my eyes out, and I was glad to have the pirate
come to my assistance, for, truth to tell, the combined
attack had made me lose my temper, and by doing so I
put myself for the moment on their level, and so was de-
prived of the protection afforded me by my superior
spiritual development.
These two had been guilty of a most cruel and brutal
158 A WANDEKEB IX THE SIMIHT LANDS.
murder of an old man (the husband of the woman) for the
sake of his money: and they iiad been hanged for the
eiime, their mutual guilt forming a bond between them so
strong that they had heen drawn down together and were
unable to separate in spite of the bitter hatred they now
felt for each other. Each felt the other to he the cause of
their being in this place, and each felt the other more
guilty than themselves, and it had been their eagerness
each to betray the other which had helped to hang both.
Now they seemed simply to exist in order to fight to-
gether, and I can fancy no punishment more awful than
theirs must have been, thus linked together in hate.
In their present state of mind it was not possible to
help them in any way.
Shortly after leaving this interesting couple we
found ourselves at the foot of the great dark mountains,
and by the aid of a curious pale phosphorescent glow
•which hung in patches over them we were able to explore
them a little. There were no regular pathways, and the
rocks were very steep, so we stumbled up as best we might
— for I should explain that by taking on a certain propor-
tion of the conditions of this low sphere I had lost the
power to rise at will and float, which was' a privilege of
those who had reached the Land of Dawn. After a toil-
some ascent of one of the lower ranges of the mountains
we began to tramp along the crest of one, faintly lighted
by the strange gleaming patches of phosphorescent light,
and beheld on either side of us vast deep chasms in the
rocks, gloomy precipices, and awful looking black pits.
From some of these came wailing cries and moans and oc-
casionally prayers for help. I was much shocked to think
there were spirits down in such depths of misery, and felt
quite at a loss how to help them, when my companion,
who had shown a most remarkable eagerness to second all
my efforts to rescue people, suggested that we should
make a rope from some of the great rank, withered-look-
ing weeds and grass that grew in small crevices of these
otherwise barren rocks, and with such a rope I could lower
him down, as he was more used to climbing in that fash-
A WANDERER IN THE SPIRIT LANDS. 159
ion than I, and thus we might be able to draw up some of
these spirits out of their dreadful position.
This was a good idea, so we set to work and soon had
a rope strong enough to bear the weight of my friend, for
you should know that in spiritual, as well as in material
things, weight is a matter of comparison, and the materi-
ality of those low spheres will give them a much greater
solidity and weight than belongs to a spirit sphere more
advanced, and though to your material eyes of earth life
my pirate friend would have shown neither distinct mate-
rial form nor weight, yet a very small development of your
spiritual faculties would have enabled yon to both see and
% feel his presence, though a spirit the next degree higher
would still remain invisible to you. Thus I am not in
error, not do I even say what is improbable, when I thus
speak of my friend's weight, which for a rope made of
spiritual grass and weeds was as great a strain as would
have been the case with an earthly man and earth mate-
rials. Having made one end of the rope fast to a rock,
the spirit descended with the speed and sureness acquired
by long practice as a sailor. Once there he soon made it
fast round the body of the poor helpless one whom he
found lying moaning at the bottom. Then I drew up the
rope and the spirit, and when he had been made safe I
lowered it to my friend and drew him up, and having
done what we could for the rescued one we went on and
helped a few more in like fashion.
"When we had pulled out as many as we could find,
a most strange thing happened. The phosphorescent
light died out and left us in utter darkness, while a mys-
terious voice floating, as it seemed, in the air, said, "Go
on now, your work here is done. Those whom you have
rescued were caught in their own traps, and the pitfalls
that they made for others had received themselves, till
that time when repentance and a desire to atone should
draw rescuers to help them and free them from the pris-
ons they had themselves made. In these mountains are
many spirits imprisoned who may not yet be helped out
by any, for they would only be a danger to others were
160 A WANDERER IN THE SPIRIT LANDS.
they tree, and the ruin ami evil they would shed around
make their longer imprisonment a necessity. Yet are
their prisons of their own creating, for these great moun-
tains of misery are the outcome and product of men's
earthly lives, and these precipices are hut the spiritual
counterparts of those precipices of despair over which
tiny have in earthly life driven their unhappy victims.
Not till their hearts soften, not till they have learned to
long for liherty that they may do good instead of evil, will
their prisons he opened and they be drawn forth from the
living death in which their own frightful cruelties to
others have entombed them."
The voice ceased, and alone and in darkness we
groped our way down the mountain side till we reached
the level ground once more. Those awful mysterious
dark valleys of eternal night — those towering mountains
of selfishness and oppression — had struck such a chill to
jny heart that I was glad indeed to know there was no call
of duty for me to linger longer there.
Our wandering now brought us to an immense forest,
whose weird fantastic trees were like what one sees in
some awful nightmare. The leafless branches seemed like
living arms held out to grasp and hold the hapless wan-
derer. The long snake-like roots stretched out like twist-
ing ropes to trip him up. The trunks were bare and
blackened as though scorched by the blasting breath of
fire. From the bark a thick foul slime oozed and like
powerful wax held fast any hand that touched it. Great
waving shrouds of some strange dark air plant clothed the
branches like a pall, and helped to enfold and bewilder
any who tried to penetrate through this ghostly forest.
Faint muffled cries as of those who are exhausted and half
smothered came from this awful wood, and here and there
we could see the imprisoned souls held captive in the
embrace of these extraordinary prisons, struggling to get
free, yet unable to move one single step.
"How/' I wondered, "shall we help these?" some
were caught bv the foot — a twisted root holding them as
A WANDERER IN THE SPIRIT LANDS. 161
in a vice. Another's hand was glued to the trunk of a
tree. Another was enveloped in a shroud of the black
moss, while yet another's head and shoulders were held
fast by a couple of branches which had closed upon them.
Wild ferocious looking beasts prowled round them, and
huge vultures flapped their wings overhead, yet seemed
unable to touch any of the prisoners, though they came
so near.
"Who were those men and women?" I asked.
"They are those," was the reply, "who viewed with
delight the sufferings of others, those who gave their
fellow men to be torn in pieces by wild beasts that they
might enjoy the excitement of their sufferings. They are
all those who for no reason but the lust of cruelty have,
in many different ways and in many different ages, tor-
tured and entrapped and killed those who were more help-
less than themselves, and for all now here release will only
come when they have learned the lesson of mercy and
pity for others and the desire to save some one else from
suffering, even at the expense of suffering to themselves.
Then will these bands and fetters which hold them be
loosed, then they will be free to go forth and work out
their atonement. Till then no one else can help them —
none can release them. Their release must be effected by
themselves through their own more merciful desires and
aspirations. If you will but recall the history of your
earth and think how men in all ages have enslaved, op-
pressed and tortured their fellow men in every country
of that globe, you will not wonder that this vast forest
should be well peopled. It was deemed right that for
your own instruction you should see this fearful place, but
as none of those you see and pity have so far changed their
hearts that you can give them aid, you will now pass on
to another region where you can do more good."
After leaving the Forest of Desolation we hag! not
gone far upon our road when to my joy I saw my friend
Hassein approaching. Mindful, however, of Ahrinziman's
warning I gave him the sign agreed upon and received the
L62 A WANBERER IX THE SPIRIT LANDS.
countersign in return. lie had come, he said, with a
message from my father and from my heloved who had
sen! me what were indeed sweet words of love and en-
couragement. Hassein told me that my mission would
now lie amongst those great masses of spirits whose evil
propensities were equalled only by their intellectual pow-
ers, and their ingenuity in works of evil. 'They are
those," said he, "who were rulers of men and kings of
intellect in all branches, hut who have perverted and
abused the powers with which they were endowed till they
have made of them a curse and not a blessing; With
most of them you will have to guard yourself at all points
against the allurements they will hold out to tempt you,
and the treachery of every kind they will practice on your-
self. Yet amongst them there are a few whom you are
sent to succor and whom your own instinct and events
will point out as those to whom your words will he
welcome and your aid valuable. I shall not in all proba-
bility bring you messages again, but some other may be
sent to do so, and you must, above all things and before
all things, remember to distrust any who come to you and
cannot 'give the sign and symbol I have given. You are
now in reality about to invade the enemies' camp, and
you will find that your errand is known to them and re-
sented, whatever it may suit them to pretend. Beware,
then, of all their false promises, and when they seem
most friendly distrust them most."
I promised to remember and heed his warning, and
be added that it was necessary I should part for a time
from my faithful companion, the pirate, as he could not
safely accompany me in those scenes to which my path
would now lead, but he promised he would place him
under the care of one who could and would help him to
leave that dark country soon.
After giving him loving and hopeful messages to my
beloved and my father, which he promised to deliver to
them, we parted, and I set forth in the direction pointed
out, greatly cheered and comforted by the good news and
loving messages I had received.
A WANDERER IN THE SPIRIT LANDS. 163
CHAPTER XXII.
I had proceeded but a short distance when I saw
Faithful Friend sitting by the wayside, evidently waiting
for me. I was truly glad to see him again and to have
further guidance from him. We greeted one another
with much cordiality. He was now, he said, appointed to
accompany me during a part of my present journey, and
he told me of many strange circumstances which had
befallen him and which I am sure would prove very inter-
esting, but as they do not properly belong to my own
Wanderings I will not give any account of them here.
Faithful Friend took me to a tall tower, from the top
of which we could see all over the city we were about to
visit — this view of it beforehand being, he said, likely to
prove both useful and interesting to me. We were, as I
have said, surrounded always by this dark midnight sky
and heavy smoky atmosphere somewhat like a black fog
yet different anct not quite so dense, since it was possible
to see through it. Here and there this darkness was
lighted up in some places by the strange phosphorescent
light I have described, and elsewhere by the lurid flames
kindled from the fierce passions of the spiritual inhabi-
tants.
When we had climbed to the top of the tall tower,
which appeared to be built of black rocks, we saw lying
below us a wide stretch of dark country. Heavy night
clouds hung upon the horizon, and near to us lay the
great city, a strange mixture of magnificence and ruin,
such as characterized all the cities I saw in this dark land.
16 1 A W A \ DEB EB I N r I'I I B SPIRIT LANDS.
A treeless blackened waste surrounded it and great masses
of dark blood-tinged vapor bung brooding over this great
city of sorrow and crime. Mighty castles, lofty palaces,
handsome buildings, all stamped with ruin and decay — all
bleared and blotched with the stains of the sinful lives
lived within them. Crumbling into decay, yet held
together by the magnetism of their spiritual inhabitants —
buildings that would last while the links woven by their
spiritual occupants' earthly lives held them in this place,
and would crumble into the dust of decay whenever the
soul's repentance should sever those links and suffer it to
wander free; crumble into decay, however, only to be re-
constructed by another sinful soul in the shape into which
his earthly life of pleasure should form it. Here there
was a palace — there beside it a hovel. Even as the lives
and ambitions of the indwelling spirits had been inter-
woven and blended on earth so were their dwellings con-
structed here side by side.
Have you ever thought, ye who dwell yet on earth,
how the associates of your earthly lives may become those
nf your spiritual? How the ties of magnetism which are
formed on earth may link your spirits and your fates
together in the spirit land so that you can only with great
difficulty and much suffering sever them? Thus I saw
in these buildings before me the proud patrician's palace,
built of his ambitions and disfigured by his crimes, joined
to the humble abodes of his slaves and his parasites and
panderers of earth which had been as surely formed by
their desires and disfigured by their crimes, and between
which and his palace there were the same links of spiritual
magnetism as between himself and those who had been
the sharers and instruments of his evil ambitions. He
was no more able to free himself from them and their
importunities than they were able to free themselves from
his tyranny, till a higher and purer desire should awaken
in the souls of one set or the other of them and thus raise
them above their present level. So it was that they still
repeated over again their lives of earth in hideous mockery
of the past, impelled thereto by that past itself, their
A WAN0EBEE IN THE SPIRIT LANDS. 165
memories presenting to them over and over again as in a
moving panorama their past acts and the actors, so that hy
no plunge into wild excess in that dark land could they
escape the grinding of memory's millstones, till at length
the last lust of sin and wickedness should be ground out
of their souls.
Over this great spiritual city of past earth lives hung,
as I have said, patches of light of a dim misty appearance
like faintly luminous smoke, steel grey in color. This, I
was told, was the light thrown off from the powerful
intellects of the inhabitants whose souls were degraded
but not undeveloped, and whose intellects were of a high
order but devoted to base things, so that the true soul
light was wanting and this strange reflection of its intel-
lectual powers alone remained. In other parts of the
city the atmosphere itself seemed on fire. Flames hung
in the air and flickered from place to place, like ghostly
fires whose fuel has turned to ashes ere the flames have
burned out, and as the floating phantom flames were swept
to and fro by the currents of the air I saw groups of dark
spirits passing up and down the streets heedless, or per-
haps unconscious, of these spectral flames that were
thrown into the atmosphere by themselves, and were cre-
ated by their own fierce passions which hung around them
as spiritual flames.
As I looked and gazed upon this strange city of dead
and ruined souls, a strange wave of feeling swept over me,
for in its crumbling walls, its disused buildings, I could
trace a resemblance to the one city on earth with which I
was most familiar and which was dear to my heart since
I had been one of her sons, and I called aloud to my com-
panion to ask what this meant — what was this vision I
beheld before me. Was it the past or the future or the
present of my beloved city?
He answered, "It is all three. There before you now
are the buildings and the spirits of its past — such, that is.
as have been evil — and there among them are buildings
half finished, which those who are dwelling there now are
forming for themselves; and as these dwellings of the past
166 A WANDERER IN THE SPIRIT LANDS.
are, bo shall these half finished buildings be in the days to
come when each who builds now shall have completed his
or her lifework of sin and oppression. Behold and look
upon it well, and then go back to earth a messenger of
warning to sound in the ears of your countrymen the
doom that awaits so many. If thy voice shall echo in
even one heart and arrest the building of but one of these
unfinished houses, you shall have done well and your visit
here would be worth all that it may cost you. Yet that is
not the only reason for your coming. For you and me,
oh! my friend, there is work even in this city; there are
souls whom we can save from their darkened lives, who
will go hack to earth and with trumpet tongues proclaim
in the ears of men the horrors of the retribution they have
known, and from which they would save others.
"Bethink you how many ages have passed since the
world was young and how much improvement there has
been in the lives and thoughts of the men who dwell upon
it, and shall we not suppose that even ordinary reason
might admit it must naturally he due to the influence of.
those who have returned to earth to warn others from the
precipice over which themselves had fallen in all the
pride and glory and lust of sin. Is it not a far nobler
Ideal to place before men — the idea that God sends these
his children (sinful and disobedient once if you will, but
repentant now), back to earth as ministering spirits to
war and help and strengthen others who struggle yet in
the unregenerated sinfulness of their lower natures rather
than believe that he would doom any to the hopeless, help-
less misery of eternal punishment? You and I have both
been sinners — beyond pardon, some of the good of earth
might have said — yet we have found mercy in our God
even after the eleventh hour, and shall not even these also
know hope? If they have sunk lower than we, shall we
therefore in our little minds set limits to the heights to
which they may yet climb? No! perish the thought that
such horrors as we have looked upon in these Hells could
be eternal. God is good and his mercy is beyond any
man's power to limit."
A WANDEEEE IN THE SPIRIT LAXDS. 167
We descended now from the tower and entered the
city. In one of the large squares — with whose earthly
counterpart 1 was very familiar — we found quite a large
crowd of dark spirits assembled, listening to some sort of
proclamation. Evidently it was one which excited their
derision and anger for there were yells, and hoots, and
cries resounding on all sides, and as I drew yet more near
1 perceived it was one which had been read recently in the
earthly counterpart, and had for its object the further
liberation and advancement of the people — an object
which, down here in this stronghold of oppression and
tyranny, only provoked a desire for its suppression and
these dark beings around me were vowing themselves to
thwart the good purpose as far as lay in their power. The
more men were oppressed and the more that they quar-
reled and fought against the oppression with violence, the
stronger were these beings here below to interfere in their
affairs and to stir up strife and fightings among them.
The more men became free and enlightened and im-
proved, the less chance was there that these dark spirits
would be drawn to earth by the kindling of kindred pas-
sions there and thus be enabled to mingle with and con-
trol men for their own evil purposes. These dark beings
delight in war, misery and bloodshed, and are ever eager
to return to earth to kindle men's fierce cruel passions
afresh. In times of great national oppression and revolt
when the heated passions of men are inflamed to fever
heat, these dwellers of the depths are drawn up to earth's
surface by the force of kindred desires, and excite and
urge on revolutions, which, begun at first from motives
that are high and pure and noble, will under the stress of
passion and the instigation of these dark beings from the
lower sphere become at last mere excuses for wild butch-
eries and excesses of every kind. By these very excesses
a reaction is created, and these dark demons and those
whom they control are in their turn swept away by the
higher powers, leaving a wide track of ruin and suffering
tn mark where they have been. Thus in these lowest
Hells a rich harvest is reaped of unhappy souls who have
1G8 A WANDERER IN THE SPIRIT LANDS.
been drawn down along with the evil spirits that tempted
them.
As I stood watching the crowd Faithful Friend drew
my attention to a group of spirits who were pointing over
at us and evidently meditated addressing us.
"I shall go," said he, "for a few moments and leave
you to speak with them alone. It will be better to do so,
for they may recognize me as having been here before,
and I would wish you to see them by yourself. I shall
not, however, be far away, and will meet you again later
when I see that I can help you by doing so. At this
moment something tells me to leave you for a little."
As he spoke he moved away, and the dark spirits
drew near to me with every gesture of friendliness. I
thought it as well to respond with politeness, though in
my heart I felt the most violent repugnance to their com-
pany, they were so repulsive looking, so horrible in their
wicked, leering ugliness.
One touched me on the shoulder, and as I turned to
him with a dim sense of having seen him before he
laughed — a wild horrid laugh — and cried out: "I hail
thee, friend — who I see dost not so well remember me as
I do thee, though it was upon the earth plane we met
before. I, as well as others, then sought hard to be of
service to thee, only thou wouldst have none of our help,
and played us, methinks, but a scurvy trick instead.
None the less for this, we, who are as lambs, didst thou
but know us, have forgiven thee."
Another also drew near, leering in my face with a
smile perfectly diabolical, and said: "So ho! You are
here after all, friend, in this nice land with us. Then
surely you must have done something to merit the distinc-
tion? Say whom you have killed or caused to be killed,
for none are here who cannot claim at least one slain by
them, while many of us can boast of a procession as long
as the ghosts that appeared to Macbeth, and others
again — our more distinguished citizens — count their slain
by hundreds. Did you kill that one after all? — ha! ha!
ha!" and he broke into such a wild horrible peal of
A WAXDERER IX THE SPIRIT LAXDS.. 169
laughter that I turned to fly from them — for like a flash
had come across my mind the memory of that time when
I, too, could have been almost a murderer, and I recog-
nized in these horrible beings those who had surrounded
me and counseled me how to fulfil my desire — how to
wreak my vengeance even though no earthly form was
still mine. I recoiled from them but they had no thought
to let me go. I was here — drawn down, as they hoped, at
last — and they sought to keep me with them that I might
afford them some sport and they might avenge themselves
upon me for their former defeat.
I read in their minds this thought, though outwardly
they were crowding around me with every protestation of
hearty friendliness. For a moment I was at a loss what to
do. Then I resolved to go with them and see what they
intended, watching at the same time for the first oppor-
tunity to free myself from them. I therefore suffered
them to take me by an arm each, and we proceeded
towards a large house on one side of the square which they
said was theirs, and where they would have the pleasure of
introducing me to their friends. Faithful Friend passed
close to us and looking at me impressed the warning,
'"Consent to go, but beware of entering into any of
their enjoyments or allowing your mind to be dragged
down to the level of theirs."
"We entered and passed up a wide staircase of greyish
stone, which like all things here bore the marks and stains
of shame and crime. The broad steps were broken and
imperfect, with holes here and there large enough, some
of them, to let a man through into the black dungeon-like
depths beneath. As we passed up I felt one of them give
me a sly push just as we were stepping over one of these,
and had I not been watching for some such trick I might
have been tripped up and pushed in. As it was I simply
drew aside and my too officious companion narrowly es-
caped tumbling in himself, whereat the rest all laughed
and he scowled savagely at me. I recognized him just
then as the one whose hand had been shriveled in the
silver ring of fire drawn around my darling on the occa-
170 <A WANDEREB IX THE SPIRIT LANDS.
siou when her love had drawn me to her and saved me
from yielding to these dark fiends. This spirit held his
hand carefully hidden under his black cloak, yet I could
see through it, and I beheld the shriveled hand and arm,
and knew then that I might indeed beware of its owner.
At the top of the staircase we passed into a large
magnificent room, lighted up by a glare of fire and hung
around with dark draperies which were in perfect rags
and tatters and all splashed with crimson stains of wet
hlood, as though this had been the scene of, not one but
many, murders. Around the rooms were placed ghostly
phantoms of ancient furniture — ragged, dirty, and de-
faced, yet retaining in them a semblance to an earthly
apartment of great pretensions to splendor. This room
was filled with the spirits of men and women. Such men!
and alas! such women! They had lost all that could ever
have given them any claim to the charms and privileges
of their sex. They were worse to look upon than the
most degraded bedraggled specimens to be seen in any
earthly slum at night. Only in Hell could women sink to
such an awful degradation as these. The men were to the
full as bad or even if possible worse, and w r ords utterly fail
me to describe them, were it indeed advisable to do so.
They were eating, drinking, shouting, dancing, playing
cards and quarreling over them — in short, going on in
such a way as the worst and lowest scenes of earthly dis-
sipation can but faintly picture.
I could see a faint reflection of the earthly lives of
each, and knew that each and all of them, men and women
alike, had been guilty, not only of shameless lives, but
also of murder from one motive or another. On my left
was one who had been a Duchess in the days of the six-
teenth century, and I beheld that in her history she had
from jealousy and cupidity poisoned no less than six per-
sons. Reside her was a man who had belonged to the
same era, and had caused several persons obnoxious to him
to be assassinated by his bravoes, and had moreover slain
another with his own hand in a most treacherous manner
during a quarrel.
A WANDERER IN THE SPIRIT LANDS. 171
Another woman had killed her illegitimate child be-
cause it stood between her and wealth and position. She
had not been many years in this place and seemed more
overcome by shame and remorse than any of the others, so
I resolved if possible to get near to and speak to her.
My entrance was greeted with great shouts of
laughter and wild applause, while half a dozen or so of
eager hands took hold of me and dragged me to the table,
whereupon there were cries : "Let us drink to the damna-
tion of this our new Brother! Let us baptize him with a
draught -of this fine cooling wine?" And before I well
realized their intentions, they were all waving their glasses
aloft amidst yells and shouts and horrible laughter, whilst
one, seizing a full glass of the fiery liquid, tried to throw it
over me. I had just presence of mind enough to step
lightly aside, so that the liquor was nearly all spilt upon
the floor and only a small portion fell upon my robe which
it scorched and burned like vitrol, while the wine itself
turned into a bluish flame — such as one sees with lighted
whisky — and disappeared at last with an explosion as of
gunpowder. Then they put before me a tray full of
dishes which at first sight resembled earthly delicacies,
but on closer inspection I saw they were full of the most
horrible corrupting and loathsome maggots. As I turned
away from them one hag of a woman (for she was much
more old and ugly and horrible to look upon than the
most degraded specimen you can imagine) whose bleared
eyes and fiendish expression made me recoil from her,
seized me round the neck and tried, with many grimaces
which she intended for coquettish smiles (she had been,
oh ye powers! a great beauty on earth) to induce me to
join her and her party in a little game of cards. She said:
'"The stakes for which we would play consist of the
liberty of the loser. We have invented this pleasing mode
of passing our time here since it revives for us the
divertissements of the past; and because there is no money
here which one can win, or use if you win, seeing it all
turns to dross in your hands, we have adopted this mode
of paying our debts, and we agree to be the slave of any-
172 A WANDERER IX THE SPIRIT LANDS.
one who beats us at our games of chance and skill till we
can turn the tables on them by ourselves winning and
making them in turn our slaves. 'Tis a charming arrange-
ment, as you would find did you join our party for a little.
These others here/' she added, with a strange mixture of
insolent arrogance and animosity in her tone — "these
others here are but the canaille, the scum of the place, and
you do well to turn from them and their amusements.
But for me, I am a Royal Duchess, and these my friends
are all noble also — and we would adopt you, who are also,
I perceive, one of the elite, among ourselves."
With the air of a queen she signed me to be seated
beside herself, and had she been a few degrees less horrible
I might have been tempted to .do so if only from my
curiosity to see what their game would be like. But dis-
gust was too strong in me and I shook myself free of her
as well as I could, saying, which was true, that cards had
never possessed any attraction for me. I was bent on
getting near the woman I wished to speak to, and very
soon an opening in the crowd allowed me to do so.
As soon as I got beside her I addressed her in a low
voice and asked if she was sorry for the murder of her
child, and would she wish to leave this place even though
it would be a long and sad and suffering road that would
take her from it? How her face brightened as I spoke!
How eagerly she faltered out: "What do you mean?"
"Be assured," I said, "I mean well to you, and if you
will watch and follow me, I shall doubtless find some
means for us both to leave this dreadful place." She
pressed my hand in assent, for she did not venture to
speak for the other spirits were again crowding around us
in a way that was rapidly growing more and more threat-
ening, although the guise of friendliness was still kept up.
The Duchess and her party had returned to their
cards with a frightful avidity; they were quarreling over
them and accusing each other of cheating, which I have
no doubt was the case, and it seemed as though a fight was
about to begin in that corner of the room to vary the
monotony of their existence. I noticed also that the
A WANDERER IN THE SPIRIT LANDS. 173
others were collecting in groups round the doors so as to
keep me from leaving in case I desired to do so, and I saw
my enemy with the withered hand whispering with some
others of very low degraded type, such as might have been
slaves in their past lives. Half a dozen men and women
came up and urged me to join in a dance they were in-
dulging in, which was like some of those abominations we
read of in descriptions of the Witches' Sabbaths of the old
days of witchcraft, and which I shall certainly not attempt
further to describe. Can it be, I thought to myself as I
looked at them, that there was truth in these old tales
after all? and can the explanation be that these unfortu-
nate beings, who were accused as witches, did really allow
themselves to be so dominated by evil spirits that their
souls were for a time drawn down to one of these spheres,
and took part in some of its frightful orgies? I know
not, but there seems truly a marvelous resemblance be-
tween these things I was now witnessing and what was
related by the so-called witches, most of them poor half-
witted mortals more to be pitied than condemned.
As these creatures, whose gestures it were an insult
to call dancing, approached, I saw they were trying to get
behind us in a ring and surround us, and some instinct
seemed to tell me not to allow them. I drew back close
to the wall, holding the woman's hand in mine and
whispering to her not to leave go of me on any account.
The whole crowd of spirits were now gathering towards
my end of the room, the dull ferocity of their faces and
wild savage glitter of their eyes in terrible contrast to
their affectation of light-hearted gaiety. Closer and
closer they gathered — a moving mass of evil personified.
For once their quarrels and jealousies merged in
their common desire to do me harm, to get me down and
trample me and rend me to pieces. As the muttering of
a storm came here and there broken disjointed words of
hate and menace, while those dancing demons kept up
their wild antics in front of us. All at once a great cry —
a yell — of fury broke from them. "A spy! a traitor! An
enemy has got amongst us! It is one of the accursed
in A WANDERS IX Tin-: SPIRIT LANDS.
brothers from above come here to spy upon us and carry
away our victims. Down upon him! Stamp upon him!
Crush him to death! Tear him to pieces,! Hurl him into
tin 1 vaults below! Away with him! Away! Away!"
Like as an avalanche sweeps down the mountain side
they rushed upon us — those raging fiends — and I for one
thought we were done for and could not but regret that I
had been drawn into entering the place at all. I thought
I was lost, when lo! just as the nearest of them were
actually upon us the wall behind opened and Faithful
Friend and another spirit drew us through, the wall
closing again so suddenly that the yelling crowd scarce
realized how we had disappeared.
Once outside we were borne away to a short distance,
whence looking hack, we could see through the walls
(which had become transparent to our eyes) the whole
mass of spirits quarreling and fighting with each other
like so many devils, each blaming the others that we had
been allowed to escape.
"Look now," said Faithful Friend, "had you allowed
yourself to join — even for a moment — in any of their pur-
suits, we should not have been able to help you, for you
would have become clothed for a time with their material
magnetism, and these walls would have held you, like
them, prisoner, since you would have become too gross to
pass through them. Those spirits have not done with
you yet, and you must look to seeing them again, for even
the brief time upon the earth-plane during which you
yielded to their influence and thought of following their
suggestions has created a link between you and them.
which it will be difficult to sever till you } T ourself stand on
a height of spiritual development which will set a gulf
between you. As yet, I am told, you have not fully over-
come your own passions — you have learned to subdue and
control them, but all desire for revenge upon those who
wronged you in the past is not dead, and till that is so you
will not be able to shake yourself entirely free from these
beings, especially while you are in their own particular
A WAXDEEEE IN THE SPIRIT LANDS. 175
sphere where they indeed are strong. For my part I have
fought a battle not unlike that which you wage now, and
I know — none better — how hard it is to forgive where we
have been deeply wronged. Yet I know also that you will
do it thoroughly and freely some day and then will these
dark spirits have lost power to cross your path.
"My directions are now to guide you to the Palace of
one you will be surprised to see, for he is one whose name
is familiar to you though he lived on earth long before
your time. You have felt surprise at finding how little
these beings here are able to disguise from you their real
spiritual state. Know, then, that you owe this power of
clearer and purer vision to her whose pure love flows ever
to you as a constant stream of crystal water, giving you
the power to perceive higher things and a perception of
these lower spirits in all their foulness.
"Between yourself and your beloved one there is now
so strong a link that you unconsciously partake of the
powers of her higher nature even as she shall partake of
the strength of yours, and thus though to yourself, in
your own present state of spiritual development, much of
the corruption of this place might be glossed over by the
art of these dark beings, yet in the clearer purer percep-
tion you draw from her you possess a power to perceive
things as they truly are and must appear to a pure spirit
beholding them. Thus the glamour of deception is
thrown over your senses in vain. Great, then, is her love
in its protecting power for you, and truly was I told that
her love would be as a shield to you, my friend, in all
your trials.
"Before we leave this sphere I am to show you
another picture that will, I fear, sadden even while it
instructs you, and that is the picture of one, such as you
would have been without her love, left to battle alone
with the hopeless burden of your sins and passions, able
to see only as far as your own unaided powers of vision
could show you, and deprived of all that well-spring of
purity and love that ever flows to you from her. When
your journey in this place is over you are to follow me to
176 A WANDEREB IN THE SPIRIT LANDS.
a spot where you will see this other picture, and we know
the Bight will make you doubly tender and considerate to
those unhappy men whom you can help better than any
since you will know that but for her saving love you must
have sunk like them, and in the fulness of your gratitude
we know you will seek to do for others what has been done
for yourself."
As he ceased to speak we turned away from the spot
silently together, my heart too'full for me to answer him
in any words. We had left the poor woman in the care of
a bright angel of the upper spheres and were assured she
would have every help given her to progress.
A WANDERER IN THE SPIRIT LANDS. 177
CHAPTER XXIII.
On the outskirts of the town we came to a magnifi-
cent palace, also most strangely familiar and yet un-
familiar to my eyes. In wandering through this city I
was so reminded of its earthly double that I felt as one
who sees some familiar beloved spot in a nightmare vision
which has distorted and rendered hideous all that he
deemed so fair. I had oftentimes in my youth gazed up
at this beautiful palace and taken pride to myself that I
came of the race who had once owned it and all its broad
lands, and now, here, to behold it thus, with all its beau-
ties tarnished, its marble stained and mildewed, its ter-
races and statues broken and defaced, its fair front marred
with the black cobwebs of past crimes and wrongs done
within its walls, and its lovely gardens a dreary blackened
waste as though the breath of a pestilence had swept over
it — sent through me a thrill of sorrow and dismay, and it
was with a saddened heart I followed my friend into the
interior.
Up its great broad stairways we passed, and through
the handsome doors which opened of themselves to admit
us. Around us were many dark spirits flitting to and fro.
Each and all seemed to expect and welcome us as guests
whose coming was awaited. At the last door Faithful
Friend once again left me, saying he would rejoin me in
another place.
A great blaze of ruddy light greeted my eyes as this
last door opened, and seemed as though someone had
opened the door of a furnace, so hot and stifling was the
178 A WANDEltEfc IX TIIK SPIRIT LANDS.
atmosphere. At first I almost deemed the place ou fire,
then by degrees the blaze of lighl died down to a dull red
glow and a wave of steel grey mist swept through the hall
instead, while a wind as of ice froze' the blood at my
In-art and seemed to impart to me its icy chill. These
strange waves of heat and cold were caused by the intense
fire of passion and the cold selfish chill of the dual nature
of the man who reigned here as Prince. To the most
fierce insatiable passions he united an intense selfishness
and an intellect of the highest order. As these swayed
him in turn in his earthly life, causing strange alterna-
tions of fiery passion and cool calculation in his conduct,
so did these as waves thrown off by his spirit cause in this
his spiritual mansion these extraordinary variations of
intense heat and extreme cold that knew no medium of
temperature between. As he had dominated all men on
earth who came within the range of his power, so did he
dominate the spiritual beings around him now, and rule as
absolutely over them as he had ruled over his earthly
subjects.
At the top of this great hall I beheld him seated in
his chair of state which had around it all but imperial
insignia. His walls were hung with the semblance of
ancient tapestry, but, ah! how more than merely faded
and ragged it looked. It was as though the thoughts and
the life and the magnetism of the man had become woven
into those ghostly hangings and had corrupted them with
his own corruption. Instead of pictures of the chase, of
floating nymphs, and crowned sea-gods there was a con-
stantly shifting panorama of this man's past life in all its
hideousness and nakedness, thrown like pictures from a
magic lantern upon the stately mouldering ragged Arras
drapery behind and around him. The great windows,
through which the light of day never shone, were hung
with the semblance of what had on earth been handsome
velvet curtains, but which now appeared as some funeral
pall shrouding the skeleton shapes that lurked like aveng-
ing spectres within them — spectral forms of those victims
whom this man had sacrificed to his lust and ambition.
A WANDERER IN THE SPIRIT LANDS. 179
Great drinking cups of silver, that seemed of a white heat
when yon touched them, and huge costly vases adorned
the tables, and here as elsewhere there was the same hid-
eous phantom of a feast — the same bitter mockery of
earthly pleasure.
At my entrance the Lord of this horrid place rose
from liis throne to greet me with welcoming words, and I
recognized with a thrill of horror that he was the spiritual
counterpart of that ancestor of my family from whom we
had all been so proud to think we were descended, and
whose portraits I had often been told I much resembled.
The same man, the same haughty handsome features,
without doubt, but, ah! how subtle, how awful was the
change upon them, the brand of shame and dishonor
stamped on every line, the corruption showing through
the mask with which he still strove to cover it. Here in
Hell all men are seen as they are, and no power can avail
to hide one atom of their vileness — and this man was vile
indeed. Even in an age of sensuality he had been dis-
tinguished for his sins, and in an age when men thought
but little of cruelty he had shown as one without pity or
remorse. I saw it all now mirrored in those pictures
around him, and I felt overwhelmed to think that there
could have been points of resemblance of any sort between
us. I shuddered at the false empty pride of those who had
gloried in saying they were allied to such a man, simply
because he had in his day wielded almost regal power.
And this man spoke to me now as one in whom he had an
interest, since I was of his race.
He told me he welcomed me here and would that I
should dwell with him. By the mysterious link that
earthly relationship gave he had attached himself to my
earth-life and had from time to time been able to influence
it. When I had felt most of ambition and a proud desire
to rise and be again one with the great ones of earth as
had been my ancestors in the past, then had he been
drawn up to me and had fed and fostered my pride and
my haughty spirit, that was in a sense akin to his own.
And he it was, he told me, who had prompted those acts
180 A WANDERER IN THE SPIRIT LANDS.
of my life of which I felt now ihc most ashamed — acts
that J would have given all my life to undo, after I had
done them. And it was he, he said, who had from lime to
time sought to raise me in the world till I should be able
to grasp power of some kind and reign a king in the field
of intellect it' I could not reign king of a country as he
had done. Through me, he had hoped himself again to
wield power over men, winch should be some compensa-
tion for his banishment to this place of. darkness and
decay.
"Faugh!" he cried. "This is as a charnel-house of
mouldering bones and dead skeletons, but now you are
come to join me we shall see if we cannot, combined, do
something to make ourselves feared, if not obeyed, by the
dwellers of the earth. I have had many a disappointment
in you, oh! son of our noble race, and I feared you would
escape me at last. I have tried for years to draw you
. down, but was ever baffled by some unseen power. Once
and again when I deemed I had beyond doubt made all
things sure, you would shake me off and break away from
all control, till I had well nigh abandoned the struggle.
But I do not yield readily to anyone, and when I could
not be with you myself I sent some of my henchmen to do
you service— ho! ho! service — yes, service — and so here
you are at last, and by my faith you shall not again leave
me. Behold how fair are the pleasures I have prepared
for you."
He took my hand — his seemed as though burning
with more than the fire of fever — and led me to a seat
beside himself. I hesitated, then resolved to sit down and
see this adventure out, but prayed in my heart to be kept
safe from temptation. I noticed he did not offer me wine
or food — (his instinct and knowledge told him I should
only despise them) — but he caused a most lovely strain of
music to sound in my ears that had so long been deprived
of the solace of that heavenly art which ever appealed
most strongly to my senses. A wild weird sensuous strain,
such as a siren might have sung when she sought to lure
her victims, swelled, died away, and rose again. No
A WANDERER IN THE SPIRIT LANDS. 181
music of the earth could have been at once so beautiful
and so horrible — could at the same time intoxicate and
inflame the brain and heart, and yet fill my soul with so
intense a feeling of fear and repugnance.
And then before us rose a great black mirror in
which I saw reflected the earth and its life, and myself
swaying the minds and the thoughts of thousands through
the fevered fascinations of such music which I could make
mine, and through its spell waken the lowest yet the most
refined of passions, till those who heard should lose them-
selves and their souls under its potent witchery.
Then he showed me armies and nations dominated
to ambitious ends by himself and his influence, so that he
should reign again as a despot through the organism of an
earthly tyrant. Here, too, he said, I should share his
power.
Again, I saw the power in intellect and in literature
which I could control and influence through the imagina-
tive descriptive faculties of mortals who, under my
prompting, would write such books as appealed to the
reason, the intellect, and the sensual passions of man-
kind, until the false glamour thrown over them should
cause men to view with indulgence and even approval the
most revolting ideas and the most abominable teachings.
He showed me picture after picture, illustrating how
man on earth could be used by spirits, who possessed
sufficient will power and knowledge, as mere tools through
which to satisfy their lust for power and sensual enjoy-
ments of every sort. Much of this I had known before
but had never fully realized the vast extent of the mischief
possible to such a being as the one before me, were it not
for the checks imposed upon him by those higher powers
whose wills are as strong as his. Them he only knows as
an unseen force opposed to him, which baffles his efforts
at every turn, unless he can find in man a medium of so
congenial a nature that they can truly work together as
one. Then indeed do sorrow and devastation follow in
their train and then do we see such monsters, of triumph-
ant wickedness as have disgraced the annals of all times.
L82 A WANDEREB IN THE SPIRIT LANDS.
Now, thank Heaven, these arc growing fewer and farther
between, as the human race and the spirit spheres become
purified through the teachings of the angels of the
celestial spheri s.
Last of all there appeared before us a woman's form,
of such surpassing loveliness, such seductive charm, that
for one instant I arose to look more closely at her and see
if she could be real, and at that moment there came be-
tween me and the black magic mirror the mist-like form
of an angel with the face of my beloved. And beside her
this woman seemed so coarse and material and revolting
to me that the momentary illusion of the senses was gone
and I knew her for what she was. what all her kind are in
truth — sirens that betray and ruin and drag men's souls
to Hell while they themselves are all but soulless.
This revulsion of feeling in myself caused the waves
of magnetic ether on which the music and these images
were borne to us, to waver and break and vanish, leaving
me alone with my tempter once more, with his voice
sounding in my ears, pointing out to me how all these
delights might still be enjoyed by me if I would but join
him and be his pupil. But his words fell upon deaf ears,
his promises allured me not. In my heart was only, a
horror of all these things, only a wild longing to free
myself from his presence.
I rose and turned from him, and sought to go forth,
but found I could not move one step. An invisible chain
held me fast, and with a derisive laugh of rage and
triumph, he called out to me ironically: "Go, since thou
wilt have none of my favors or my promises. Go forth
now and see what awaits you." I could not move one
step, and began to feel a strange alarm creeping over me/
and a strange numbness of limbs and brain. A mist'
seemed to gather round and enfold me in its chill embrace,
while phantom forms of awful shape and giant size drew
near and yet more near. Oh, horror! they were my own
past misdeeds, my own evil thoughts and desires, which
had been prompted by this very man beside me and which
A WANDERER IN THE SPIRIT LANDS. 183
nestling in my heart had formed those links between us
that held me to him now.
A wild, fierce, cruel laugh broke from him at my
discomfiture. He pointed to these weird shapes, and bid
me see what I was who thought myself too good for his
company. Darker and darker grew the hall, and wave
on wave the grim phantoms crowded round us, growing
each more black and fearful as they gathered, hemming
me in on every side, while below our feet opened a great
vault or pit in which I saw, or seemed to see, a seething
mass of struggling human forms. My fearful ancestor
shook in wild paroxysms of rage and fiendish laughter,
and, pointing to the gathering phantoms bid them hurl
me into the black pit. But suddenly above me in the
darkness gleamed a star and from it fell a ray of light like
a rope, which I grasped with both my hands and as the
folds of light diffused themselves around me I was drawn
up, out of that dark place, away from that fearful palace.
^ * ^ .>- :|: :•: H= H= ^=
When I recovered from my astonishment (and relief)
at my release, I found myself in the open country with
Faithful Friend and no less a spirit than my Eastern guide
himself making passes over me, for I was much shaken
and exhausted with the struggle. My guide in the most
kind and tender manner addressed me, and told me he had
permitted this trial in order that my knowledge of the
true nature of the man I had just left should be my best
protection in future against his wiles and schemes for my
enslavement.
"So long," said he, "as you thought of this man with
pride or respect as an ancestor and one who had any ties
to you, so long would his power to influence you continue,
but now your own sense of horror and repugnance will act
as a repelling power to keep his influence away from you.
Your will is quite as strong as his, and you, did you but
know it, need no other protection. In the interview just
past, you allowed your senses to be beguiled and your will
paralyzed by this dark being before you were aware, and
thus, had I not rescued you, he might, though for a time
V
■THE A
UNIVERSITY )
is) A W.W'DKKKR IN THE SPIRIT LANDS.
diily. have made yon subject to him and, while you were
s< i. have done you serious injury. Take heed, now while
yon yet remain in his sphere, that you do not again lose
the sovereignty over yourself, which is your own and
which no man can usurp unless your wavering will allows
him to do so. I leave you again, my son, to follow still
your pilgrimage, which will soon, however, draw to its
close, and I bid yon he of good cheer since your reward
shall come from her whom yon love and who loves you
and sends ever her most tender thoughts to you."
lie was gone as mysteriously as he had come, and
Faithful Friend and I set out once more to see what
experiences we would meet with farther on. I was specu-
lating what our next adventure would he when a couple
of spirits hurried up to us with a great importance of
manner and asked if we were not members of the Brother-
hood of Hope, since, if so, they had a message for one of
us from a dearly loved friend on earth and were sent by
one of our guides to deliver it. At first I was much
pleased. I thought at once of my darling and that they
were sent from her, since they had not the appearance of
most of the dark spirits around. Their robes shone with
a peculiar blue grey light that was almost like a mist
clothing them, and I had some trouble to make out their
faces. When I did so I could not help starting and a feel-
ing of distrust crept over me, for the flickering veil of grey
blue gauze that interposed between us became at times so
thin that I could see a couple of most repulsive dark
spirits under it. Faithful Friend quietly pressed nry arm
as a warning, so I addressed them with caution and asked
what was their message.
"In the name of the Prophet," began one, "we were
to tell you that your love is very, very ill, and prays that
you return to earth to see her without delay, lest her spirit
shall have passed, ere you arrive, to realms where you
cannot follow her. We are to show you the way to reach
her quickly."
Their words gave me at first a great sense of fear.
A WANDEREK IX THE SPIRIT LANDS. 185
"How long," I asked eagerlv, "is it since you
left her?"
"Xot two days," was the reply, "and we are to bring
yon at once. Your Eastern guide is with her and has sent
us specially."
Then I knew they lied, for the Eastern guide had but
just left and he had said no word of my beloved being ill.
But I temporized with them and said:
"Give me the secret sign of our Brotherhood, since,
unless you do bo, I am, of course, not able to go with you."
The veil of gauzy mist was fast fading from them and
I could see their dark forms growing more and more dis-
tinct beneath. I did not, however, show them that I saw
this, and as they did not answer at once, but were whisper-
ing to each other, I continued:
"If you are sent by our guide you will surely give me
the countersign of our order?"
"Surely yes. Certainly I can. Here it is — Hope is
Eternal" — and he smiled with an air of great frankness.
"Good," said I, "go on, finish it."
"Finish it! Is there more you want?" and he stood
puzzled. The other nudged him and whispered some-
thing, whereupon he added, "Hope is Eternal and Truth
is — and Truth is — ha — hum — what, amico?"
"Inevitable," said the other.
I smiled most blandly upon them both. "You are so
clever, friends, no doubt you can now give me the
symbol?"
"Symbol? Diavolo! there was no symbol we were
to give."
"Was there not?" said I. "Then I must be the one
to give it to you."
They both raised their arms to make a grab at me.
I saw one had a withered hand and knew at once to whom
I was indebted for this little plot. As they rushed upon
me I stepped back and made the sign of the sacred symbol
of Truth in all ages and all worlds.
At the sight of this they cowered down upon the
earth as though I had struck them and rendered them
180 A WANDERER IN THE SPIRIT LANDS.
unconscious. There we left them to ruminate at their
leisure.
I asked Faithful Friend as we moved away what he
thought they would do now.
"In a short time," said he, "they will recover. You
have given them a shock, and for the moment stunned
then), but they will he up after us again ere long with
some fresh devilment they will have hatched. If you had
gone with them they would have led you into the morass
yonder and left you to wander ahout half choked, if they
did you no more serious harm. You must ever remember
that they have great power in their own sphere if once
you give yourself up to their guidance in any sense."
A WANDERER IN THE SPIRIT LANDS. 187
CHAPTER XXIV.
Faithful Friend now proposed to me that we should
visit one more city in this strange land, in order that I
might see the man whose fate might have been my own
but for the constancy and love which has so helped and
sustained me. Our earthly histories were in some respects
different, but there were some points of resemblance both
in that and in our dispositions which would make the
sight of this man and the knowledge of his history useful
to me, while at a future time I might be able to help him.
"It is now more than ten years," he said, "since this
man passed from earth, and it is only lately that he has
begun to wish to progress. I found him here on my for-
mer visit to this place and was able to assist him a little
and finally to enroll him as one of our Brotherhood, and
I am now told that he is shortly to leave this sphere for
a higher one."
I assented to the proposed journey, and after a short
but very rapid flight we found ourselves hovering over a
wide lagoon upon whose dark bosom there floated a great
city, its towers and palaces rising from the waters, and
reflected in them as in a mirror of black marble veined
with dark red lines that somehow made me feel they were
streams of blood flowing through it. Overhead there
hung the same dark pall of cloud lighted by the patches
of steel grey and fiery red floating vapor which I had
noticed in the other city. The appearance of this place
suggested to me that we must be a^ut to enter the Venice
of these lower spheres, and on my saying so to Faithful
168 A WANDERER IN" THE SPIRIT LANDS.
Friend he answered: "Ye?, and you will here find many
celebrated men whose names were written on the history
of their times in letters of fire and blood."
We now found ourselves in the town, and proceeded
to pass through its principal canals and squares in order
that I might see them.
Yes, there they were, these degraded counterparts of
all those beautiful places made familiar by the brush of
the artist and the fame of* those who have carved for them-
selves a niche in the Temple of History. There flowed
the canals, seeming like dark crimson streams of blood
flowing from some vast shambles, washing and rippling up
the marble steps of the palaces t<3 leave there a thick foul
stain. The very stones of the buildings and pavements
seemed to me to ooze and drip blood. The air was thick
with its red shade. Deep down below the crimson waters
I saw the skeleton forms of the countless thousands who
had met their deaths by assassination or more legalized
forms of murder, and whose bodies had found sepulture
beneath the dark waves. Below in the dungeons which
honeycombed the city I beheld many spirits crowded
together and like caged wild beasts — the ferocity of the
cruel tiger in their gleaming eyes and the vindictive
malice of the chained human tyrant in every attitude of
their crouching figures. Spirits whom, it was needful to
thus confine since they were more ferocious than savage
animals. Processions of city magistrates and their attend-
ants, haughty nobles with their motley following of sol-
diers and seamen and slaves, merchants and priests, hum-
ble citizens and fishermen, men and women of all ranks
and all times, passed to and fro, and nearly all were alike
degraded and repulsive-looking. And as they came and
went it seemed to me as if skeleton hands, phantom arms,
rose through the stones of the pavements from the dun-
geons beneath, striving to draw these others down to share
their own misery. There was a haunted, hunted look on
many of their faces, and black care seemed to sit behind
them continually.
Far out in the waters of the lagoon spectral galleys
A WANDERER IN THE SPIRIT LANDS. 189
floated, filled with slaves chained to their oars, but
amoEgst them there were no longer the helpless victims
of political intrigue or private revenge. These beings
were the spirits of those who had been the hard task-
masters, the skillful plotters who had consigned many to
this living death. Yet farther out at sea, I could behold
the great ships, and nearer at hand in the ruined harbor
there were more spiritual counterparts of those piratical
craft of the Adriatic, filled with the spirits of their pirati-
cal crews who had made plunder and rapine and war their
delight, and who now spent their time battling with one
another and making forays upon others like themselves.
Spectral-looking gondolas floated upon the water-ways of
the city, filled with spirits bent upon following still the
occupations and pleasures of their former lives. In short,
in this Venice, as in the other cities I had seen, there
existed a life akin to that of earth save that from this
place all the good and pure and true, all the real patriots
and unselfish citizens were gone, and only the evil left to
prey upon each other and act as avenging spirits to their
companions in crime.
Seated upon the parapet of one of the smaller bridges
we found a man, wearing the dress of the Brothers of
Hope — a dark grey robe such as I had myself worn in the
earlier stages of my wanderings. His arms were folded
upon his breast and his face was so far concealed by the
hood that we could not see his features, but I knew at.
once that this was the man we had come to see, and I like-
wise recognized his identity as that of a celebrated Vene-
tian painter whom I had known in my youth, though not
very intimately. "We had not met again and I was ignor-
ant that he had passed from earth, till I saw him sitting
thus upon the bridge in this city of Hell. I confess the
recognition gave me somewhat of a shock, recalling as it
did those days of my youth when I also was a student of
art with all the fairest prospects in life, as it would seem,
before us, and now to see him and to think what his life
must have been to bring him to this pass. He did not see
us, so Faithful Friend proposed that we should turn aside
190 A WAN DEREK IN THE SPIRIT LANDS.
for a little, while he told me this spirit's history, and then
we could approach together and speak to him. It seemed
that this man (whom I shall call by his spirit name of
Benedetto, since his earthly one is better to be forgotten)
had risen rapidly into fame after I knew him, and had
been fairly successful in selling his pictures. But Italy is
not now a rich country, and Benedetto's most wealthy
patrons were the English and Americans who came to
visit Venice, and at the house of one of them Benedetto
met the woman who was to overshadow his whole life with
her baneful influence. He was young, handsome, talented,
highly educated, and of an ancient though poor family,
and therefore naturally received by all the best society in
Venice. It w r as to a lady who belonged to the higher
ranks of this social sphere that Benedetto lost his heart,
and dreamed in his youthful and romantic foolishness that
she would be content to become the wife of a struggling
• artist with nothing but his brains and a growing reputa-
tion. The lady was scarce twenty when they first met,
very beautiful, perfect alike in face and form, and en-
dowed with all the charms which can enslave the heart of
man — and she encouraged Benedetto in every way, so
that, poor youth, he believed her love to be as sincere as
his. But with all the passionate thirst of her nature for
admiration and love she was cold, calculating, ambitious,
and worldly; incapable of either understanding or return-
ing such a love as she inspired in a nature like Bene-
detto's, which knows love or hate only in extremes. She
was flattered by his attentions, charmed by his passionate
devotion, and proud of having made conquest of one so
handsome and so gifted, but she had no idea of sacrificing
anything for his sake, and even when she was most tender,
most alluring to him, she was striving with all her arts to
become the wife of a middle-aged Venetian nobleman,
whose wealth and position she coveted even while she
despised the man himself.
The end of Benedetto's dream came all too soon. He
ventured to lay his heart and all his prospects at the feet
A WANDERER IN THE SPIRIT LANDS. 191
of his inamorata, pouring into her ears all the love and
devotion of his soul.
"And she?"
"Well, she received it all very coolly, told him not to
be a fool, explained to him how impossible it was that she
could do without money and position, and, in fine, dis-
missed him with a calm indifference to his sufferings
which nearly drove him mad. He fled from Venice, went
to Paris, and there plunged into all the dissipations of
that gay capital, striving to bury the recollection of his
unfortunate passion. They did not meet for some years,
and then Benedetto's fate took him back to Venice once
more, cured, as he hoped, and prepared to despise himseli
for his folly. He had now become famous as a painter,
and could almost command his own price for his pictures.
He found that the lady had duly married the Marchese
and was reigning as a society beauty and a queen of
fashion, surrounded by a crowd of admirers whom she did
not always feel it necessary to introduce to her husband.
Benedetto had resolved to treat the lady with cool indiffer-
ence should they meet, but this was not her intention.
Once her slave, always so — no lover should dare to break
her chain till she chose to dismiss him. She devoted her-
self once more to the subjugation of Benedetto's heart,
and, alas! that heart was only too ready to surrender when
she told him, with every accent of feeling in her voice,
how she regretted now the path she had chosen. Thus
Benedetto became her unacknowledged lover, and for a
time he lived in a state of intoxication of happiness. But
only for a time. The lady tired of everyone after a little,
she liked fresh conquests, new slaves to do her homage.
She liked excitement, and Benedetto with his jealousy,
his eternal devotion, grew tiresome, his presence weari-
some. Moreover there was another admirer, young, rich,
handsome also, and the Marchesa preferred him, and told
Benedetto so, gave him, in fact, his conge for the second
time. His passionate reproaches, his violent protesta-
tions, his vehement anger all annoyed the lady greatly; as
she grew colder, more insolent towards him, he grew more
192 A WANDERER IN THE SPIRIT LANDS.
excited. He threatened, lie implored, be vowed he would
shoot himself if she proved false to him, and finally after
a violent scene they parted and Benedetto went home.
When he called next day he was told by the servant that
the Marchcsa declined to see him again. The insolence
of a message thus given him, the heartlessness of the Mar-
chesa, the hitter shame of being a second time trifled with
and flung aside like an old glove, were too much for his
passionate fiery nature, and he went back to his studio and
blew out his brains.
'"When his spirit awoke to consciousness it was to all
the horrors of finding himself a prisoner in his coffin in
the grave. He had destroyed his material body but he
could not free his spirit from it, till the decaying of that
body should liberate the soul. Those loathsome particles
of that corrupting body still clothed the spirit, the link
between them was not severed.
"Oh, the horror of such a fate! can anyone hear of it
and not shudder to think what the bitter weariness and
discontent of life, and a reckless desire to be free of it at
any cost, may plunge the soul into. If those on earth
would be truly merciful to the suicide they would cremate
his body, not bury it, that the soul may, by the speedy
dispersal of the particles, be the sooner freed from such a
prison. The soul of a suicide is not ready to leave the
bod) r , it is like an unripe fruit and does not fall readily
from the material tree which is nourishing it. A great
shock has cast it forth, but it still remains attached, till
the sustaining link shall wither away.
"From time to time Benedetto would lapse into un-
consciousness and lose for a little the sense of his terrible
position, and from these states of merciful oblivion he
would awaken to find that little by little the earthly body
was losing its hold upon the spirit and crumbling into
dust, but while it did so he had to suffer in all his nerves
the pangs of this gradual dissolution. The sudden de-
struction of the earthly body, while it would have given
his spirit a more violent, more painful shock, would at
least have spared him the slow torture of this lingering
A WANDERER IN THE SPIRIT LANDS. 193
decay. At last the material body ceased to hold the spirit,
and he rose from the grave but still hung over it, tied,
though no longer imprisoned; then the last link snapped
and he was free to wander forth into the earth plane. And
first his powers of hearing and seeing and feeling were
most feebly developed, then gradually they unfolded and
he became conscious of his surroundings. With these
powers came again the passions and desires of his earthly
life and also the knowledge of how he could yet gratify
them. And again as in his earthly life he sought oblivion
for his sorrow and bitterness in the pleasures of the senses.
But he sought in vain. Memory was ever present with
him torturing him with the past. In his soul there was a
wild hunger, a fierce thirst for revenge, for power to make
her suffer as he had done, and the very intensity of his
thoughts at last carried him to where she was. He found
her as of old, surrounded by her little court of gay ad-
mirers. A little older but still the same, still as heartless,
still untroubled by his fate and indifferent to it. And it
maddened him to think of the sufferings he had brought
upon himself for the love of this woman. At last all
thoughts became merged in the one thought of how he
could find means to drag her down from her position, how
strip her of all those things which she prized more than
love or honor or even the lives of those who might be
called her victims.
"And he succeeded, for spirits have more powers than
mortals dream of. Step by step he saw her come down
from her proud position, losing first wealth, then honor,
stripped of every disguise she had worn, and known for
what she was, a vile temptress who played with men's
souls as one plays with dice, careless how many hearts she
broke, how many lives she ruined, careless alike of her
husband's honor and her own fair fame, so long as she
could hide her intrigues from the eyes of the world and
rise a step higher in wealth and power upon the body of
each new victim.
"And even in his darkness and misery Benedetto
hugged himself and was comforted to think it was his
hands that were dragging her down and tearing the mask
1 94 A WAX DERER IN THE SPIRIT LANDS.
from her beauty and her worldliness. She wondered how
it was that so many events all tended to one end — her
ruin. How it was that her most carefully laid schemes
were thwarted, her most jealously guarded secrets found
out and held up to the light of day. She began at last to
tremble at what each day might bring forth. It was as
though some unseen agency, whose toils she could not
escape, was at work to crush her, and then she thought of
Benedetto and his last threats that if she drove him to
despair he would send himself to Hell and drag her with
him. She had thought then he meant to murder her per-
haps, and when she heard he had shot himself and was
dead, she felt relieved and soon forgot him, save when
some event would recall him to her mind for a moment.
And now she was always thinking of him, she could not
get away from the obtrusive thought, and she began to
shudder with fear lest he should rise from his grave and
haunt her.
"And all the time there stood Benedetto's spirit be-
side her, w'hispering in her ears and telling her that this
was his revenge come to him at last. He whispered to her
of the past and of that love that had seemed so sweet and
that had turned to bitterest burning hate, consuming him
as with the fire of Hell whose flames should scorch her
soul also and drive her to a despair as great as his.
"And her mind felt this haunting presence even
while her bodily eyes could see nothing. In vain she fled
to society, to all places where there were crowds of men
and women, in order to escape; the haunting presence was
with her everywhere: Day by day it grew more distinct,
more real, a something from which there was no escape.
"At last one evening in the dim grey of twilight she
saw him, with his wild menacing eyes, his fierce, passion-
ate hate, expressing itself in every line of his face, in every
gesture of his form. The shock was too much for her
overwrought nerves and she fell dead upon the floor. And
then Benedetto knew that he had succeeded and had
killed her, and that from henceforth the brand of Cain
was stamped upon his brow.
A WANDERER IN THE SPIRIT LANDS. 195
"Then a horror of himself seized upon him, he
loathed the deed he had done. He had intended to kill
her and then when the spirit left the body to drag it down
with him and to haunt and torment it forever, so that on
neither side of the grave should she know rest. But now
his only thought was to escape from himself and the
horror of his success, for all good was not dead in this
man, and the shock which had killed the Marchesa had
awakened him to the true nature of his revengeful feel-
ings. Then he fled from the earth, down and down even
to this city of Hell, the fit dwelling-place for such as he.
"It was in this place that I found him," said Faithful
Friend, "and was able to help the now repentant man and
to show him how he might best undo the wrong he had
done. He awaits now the coming of this woman he so
loved and hated, in order that he may ask her to forgive
him and that he may forgive her himself. She has also
been drawn to this sphere, for her own life was very
guilty, and it is in this counterpart of that city which saw
the history of their earthly love that they will meet again,
and that is why he awaits her upon this bridge where in
the past she has so often met him."
"And will she meet him soon?"
"Yes! very soon, and then will the sojourn of this
man in this sphere be over, and he will be free to pass to
a higher one, where his troubled spirit shall at last know
a season of rest ere it mounts by slow and painful steps the
stony pathway of progression."
"Will she, too, leave here with him?"
"No, oh no! she will be also helped to progress, but
their paths will lie widely asunder. There was no true
affinity between them, only passion, and pride, and
wounded self-love. They will part here to meet no more."
We now drew near Benedetto, and as I touched him
on the shoulder he started and turned round but at first
did not recognize me. Then I made myself known and
said how I should rejoice to renew our early friendship in
those higher spheres in which I hoped we would both soon
meet again. I told him briefly that I, too, had sinned and
19G A WANDEEE5 IX THESPIRIT LANDS.
suffered, and was working my way upwards now. He
Beemed glad to sec me and wrung my hand with much
emotion when we said good-bye, and tnen Faithful Friend
and 1 went away, leaving him still seated upon the bridge
waiting for his last interview with her who had been once
so dear to him and who was now but a painful memory.
As we were on our road from Venice to those plains
which I now understood to be the spiritual replica of the
plains of Lombardy, my attention was suddenly attracted
by a voice calling to me in a pitiful tone for help. Turn-
ing back a little way to my right hand I saw a couple of
spirits lying apparently helpless upon the ground, and
one was making gestures to cause me to come to him. So
thinking it was some one in need of my help I let my
companion go on and went to see what he wanted. The
spirit holding out his hand to me and murmuring some-
thing about helping him to rise, I bent down to lift him
up, when to my surprise he made a clutch at my legs with
his hands and contrived to fasten his teeth in my arm.
While the other one, suddenly jumping up, tried to fasten
upon my throat like a wolf.
With some trouble, and a good deal of anger on my
part, I confess, I shook myself free of them and was
stepping back, when I half stumbled, and turning my
head saw that a great pit had suddenly opened behind me
into which with another step backwards I must have
fallen.
Then I remembered the warnings given me not to
allow my lower passions to be aroused and thus place
myself upon a level with these beings, and I regretted my
momentary burst of anger and resolved to keep calm and
cool. I turned towards the two dark spirits again and
saw that the one who I fancied had been hurt was crawl-
ing along the ground to reach me, while the other was
gathering himself together like a wild beast about to
spring. I fixed my eyes steadily upon the pair, whom I
now recognized as the man with the withered hand and
his friend, who had tried to deceive me with the false mes-
A WANDERER IN THE SPIRIT LANDS. 197
sage a short time before.. Steadily I looked at them,
throwing all the power of my will into the determination
that they should not advance nearer to me. As I did so
they faltered and stopped, and finally rolled over on the
ground snarling and showing their teeth like a couple of
wolves, but unable to approach a step nearer. Leaving
them thus I hurried after Faithful Friend — whom I soon
overtook — and narrated to him what had occurred.
lie laughed and said, "I could have told you who
those were, Franchezzo, but I felt it would be no harm to
let you find out for yourself, and likewise learn how
valuable a protection your own force of character and
determination could be. You are naturally strong willed,
and so long as you do not vise it to domineer over the just
rights of others it is a most useful and valuable quality,
and in your work in the spirit world you will have found
that it is the great lever by which you can act, not alone
upon those round you but even upon apparently inani-
mate matter, and I thought as those two are very likely
to come across you from time to time you might as well
settle now which should be master, which should be the
dominant personality. They will be shy of directly med-
dling with you again, but so long as you work about the
earth plane you will find them ready at any chance to
thwart your plans if the opportunity comes.'"
198 A WAKDEBEB IN THE SPIRIT LANDS.
CHAPTER XXV.
"We now saw before us a vast slightly undulating
plain upon which great masses of dark spirits were
moving. At Faithful Friend's suggestion we ascended a
small hillock that we might observe their movements.
"We are now," said Faithful Friend, "about to wit-
ness one of the great battles that take place here between
the opposing forces of dark spirits whose delight was in
war and its rapine and bloodshed, and who, here in the
dark state which is the result of their earthly cruelty and
ambition, carry on yet their warlike operations against
each other and contend for the supremacy of these king-
doms of Hell. Behold how they are massing their forces
for an attack upon those others on our right, and observe
the skill they will display in their maneuvres. The
powerful minds of men who swayed armies on earth sway
such unhappy beings here as are not strong enough to
resist their spell, and thus they force these less powerful
spirits to fight under their banners whether they will or
not, just as they did with mortals on earth. You will see
these powerful leaders engage in a struggle worse ihan
deadly since no death can come to end the contest, which
they renew over and over again, as it would almost seem
eternally — or until, as is to be hoped, the satiety of mind
of one or other of these powerful leaders will at last make
him long for some nobler form of contest, some higher
triumph of the soul than is won over these miserable be-
ings in battles where victory gives only a fresh right to
torture and oppress the vanquished. The same instincts
A WANDEEEB IX THE SPIRIT LANDS. 199
and natural gifts which are now perverted to personal
ambition and the lust for cruelty and dominion as their
only aim, will, when purified, make these spirits mighty
helpers, where now they are destroyers, and the same
powers of AVill will help forward the progress they now
retard. When this progress shall take place depends, for
each, upon the latent nobility of the soul itself — the
awakening of the dormant love of goodness and justice
and truth to be found in all. Though like seeds in the
earth these germs of better things may lie long hidden
beneath the mass of evil that overloads them, there must
and does come a time for each when the better soul
awakens and these germs of good send out shoots that lead
to repentance and bring forth an abounding harvest of
virtue and good works."
"We looked over the vast plain and now beheld the
two mighty hosts of spirits drawn up to confront one
another in the array of battle. Here and there I beheld
powerful spirits, leading each his band or regiment as in
an earthly army. In the van of the opposing forces were
two majestic beings who might have been models for
Milton's Lucifer, so strong was the sense of power and
high intellect with which they impressed me. In each
there was a certain beauty and grandeur of form and fea-
ture — a regal majesty even in the degradation of Hell —
but alas! the beauty was that of a wild fierce tiger or lion
that watches how he may rend his enemy in pieces and
drag his prey into his den. Dark and forbidding were
their countenances, cruel and ferocious their gleaming
eyes, the false smile showing their sharp teeth like those
animals of prey. The cunning of the serpent-was in their
looks, and the pitiless hunger of the vulture in their smile.
Each rode in his. chariot of war drawn, not by horses, but
by the spirits of degraded men, whom they lashed forward
as beasts of burden and drove furiously on to be trampled
down in the melee as cattle. Wild strains of music that
sounded like the shrieks of the souls of the damned and
the thunders of a mighty storm broke from the assembled
armies, and with one fell swoop they rushed forward and
200 A WANDERER IN THE SPIRIT LANDS.
bore down upon each other — flying and hurrying through
the air, or dragging themselves along the ground. Push-
ing, hustling, jostling, and trampling like a herd of wild
animals — on they came, and as they met, their fierce cries
and shouts and imprecations rent the air and made even
Hell more hideous. They charged and re-charged, they
maneuvered, marched, and counter-marched, these phan-
tom spirit armies of the dead, even as they had done in
the hattles of earth life. They fought and wrestled like
demons, not men, for they had no weapons save those of
wild beasts — their teeth and claws. If a battle with
mortal weapons is horrible, this was doubly so, where they
fought as wolves and tigers might — the two powerful
leaders directing the mass, urging them on and guiding
the fight as the tide of battle swept back one side or
the other.
Over all had towered these two dark regal spirits, and
' now no longer content to let their soldiers fight, but bent
each upon the destruction of the other, they rose from the
fighting mass, and, soaring high above them, turned their
looks upon each other with deadliest hate — then flying
through the air with their dark robes extended behind
and above them like wings, they grappled and wrestled
together in a fierce struggle for supremacy. It was as
though two eagles fought in mid-air while a mass of car-
rion crows grubbed and fought for worms beneath them.
I turned from the crows to watch the eagles and to mark
how, with no weapons but their hands and their powerful
wills they fought as wild beasts do in a forest.
They uttered no sound, no cry, but gripped each
other with a death-grip that neither would relax, and
swayed to and fro in the air before us. Now one upward,
now the other, their fierce eyes stabbing each other with
fiery darts — their hot breath scorching each other's
faces — their fingers clutching at each other's throats, and
both seeking for a chance to fasten on their enemy with
their teeth. Backwards and forwards, up and down they
swayed and writhed in what seemed to me a death struggle
for both. At last one seemed to fail. He sank below the
A WANDERER IX THE SPIRIT LANDS. 201
other, who was hearing him to the ground to dash him,
as I saw, over a deep precipice into a chasm in the rocks
that skirted the field of battle— a deep and dark and awful
pit into which he meant to hurl the vanquished one, and
keep him prisoner. Fierce and long was the struggle, for
the one below would not give in and clung to the other to
drag him down with him if possible. But in vain. His
powers were failing fast and as they reached the black
chasm and hung poised over it, I saw the uppermost one
wrench himself free by a mighty effort and fling the other
from him, down into those awful depths.
With a shudder I turned away and saw that the battle
had been raging as fiercely on the plain. Those spectral
hosts had fought and the' army of the victorious general
had beaten back the forces of his vanquished foe till they
were broken and dispersed in all directions, leaving their
disabled comrades on the field lying as wounded men do
in an earthly battle, while the victors were dragging away
with them their captives, to what fate I could only too
well guess.
Sickened and disgusted with their brutishness I
would fain have left this place, but Faithful Friend,
touching my shoulder, said: "ISTow has come the time for
our work, my friend. Let us descend yonder and see if
there are none whom we can help. Amongst the fallen
and vanquished we may find those who are as sick of war
and its horrors as you, and who will be but too glad of our
help." So we went down to the plain.
It was as might have been a battle-field when night
has fallen upon it and there are but the wounded and the
slain left behind. All the other spirits had gone like a
flock of evil birds to seek fresh carrion. I stood among
a writhing, moaning mass of beings and knew not where
to begin my help — there were so many. It was worse —
a thousand times worse — than any mortal battle-field. I
have seen the dead and dying lying in the streets of my
native town thick as fallen leaves, and my heart has ached
and bled for them and burned with shame and anger that
such things could be; but even there was at least the peace
202 A WANDEBEB IN THE SPIRIT LANDS.
and sleep of death to soften the anguish, and there was the
hope of helping those who yet lived. But here — in this
awful Hell — there seemed no hope and no death that
could relieve these suffering ones, no morning that should
dawn upon the night of their miseries. If they revived
would it not be to live again this awful life, to find them-
selves surrounded ever by this awful night, and these
fierce wild beasts of men?
I stooped down and tried to raise the head of one
poor wretch who lay moaning at my feet — crushed till his
spirit-body seemed but a shapeless mass — and as I did so
the mysterious Voice spoke in my ears and said:
"Even in Hell there is Hope or why else are you
come? The darkest hour is ever before the dawn, and for
these — the vanquished and the fallen — has come the hour
of their change. The very cause that has made them to
be thus borne down and trampled under is that which
shall now raise them. The desire for higher and better
things, the shrinking from the evil around them has ren-
dered them weak in the wickedness which is the strength
of Hell and its inhabitants, and has made them waver and
hesitate to thrust at and harm another with the ruthless
force of these other wild and worthless beings, and thus
they have been borne down and vanquished, but their fall
from power here will open to them the doors of a higher
state and thus shall there dawn for them the grey glimmer
of a Higher Hope. Mourn not for them but seek to ease
their sufferings that they may sink into a sleep of Death
to this sphere and waken to a new life in the sphere next
above."
"^.nd what," I asked, "of that powerful spirit whom
I saw thrown into the dark chasm?"
"He too will be helped in time, but his soul is not
yet ripe for help, and it is of no use to try till then."
The Voice ceased and Faithful Friend, who was be-
side me, made signs to show me how to soothe these weary
ones to sleep, and pointed out to me numerous stars of
light which had gathered on that field of pain, and said
they were carried by those of our Brotherhood who were,
A WANDERER IN THE SPIRIT LANDS. 203
like ourselves, drawn here on their mission of Love and
Mercy.
Ere long the writhing, moaning forms had sunk into
unconsciousness and a short time after I saw a sight that
was strange and wonderful indeed. Over each silent form
there rose a faint misty floating vapor, such as I had seen
once before in the case of a spirit we had rescued, as I
have already told. Gradually these vapors took shape
and solidity and assumed the form of the released spirit
or soul, then each was borne away by bands of bright
ethereal spirits — who had gathered above our heads — till
the last was gone and our work and theirs was done.
204 A WANDERER IN THE SPIRIT LANDS.
CHAPTER XXVI.
I now perceived that those Brothers of Hope, who
like myself had been assisting the poor wounded spirits,
all belonged to the same- company as myself, and they
were all collecting together, the little starry lights we each
carried looking indeed like emblems of hope in darkness.
Faithful Friend and I joined the others and were soon
interchanging greetings and congratulations, like a
brigade of soldiers about to return home after a success-
ful campaign.
Before we again passed through the fiery ring that
encompassed this region, the leader of our band con-
ducted us to the top of a high pinnacle of rock from which
we beheld the cities and plains and mountains of that
Land of Darkness, through which each of us had passed
in our pilgrimage. And standing on that mountain peak
we could survey the mighty panorama of Hell stretched
out at our feet. He then addressed us in grave, solemn
tones:
"This scene upon which we look is but a small, a very
small, fractional portion of the great sphere which men
have been wont to speak of as 'Hell/ There are dark
spheres above this which may seem to many to deserve
the name until they have seen this place and learned in it
how low a soul can sink and how much more terrible in
this sphere can be both the crimes and the sufferings.
The great belt of dark matter of which is composed this,
the lowest of the earth spheres, extends for many million
miles around us, and has received within its borders all
A WANDEREK IN THE SPIRIT LANDS. 205
those multitudes of sinful souls whose material lives have
been passed on earth, and whose existences date back to
the remote far-off ages in which the planet Earth first
began to bear its harvest of conscious immortals, destined
to sin and suffer and work out each their own salvation
till they should be purified from all earthly stain — all
taint of their lower nature. The multitudes of such lives
have been, and shall yet be, as the stars of the sky and the
sands of the sea in number, and as each builds for himself
his own habitation in the higher or in the lower spheres,
so are the vast spheres peopled and their many dwelling
places and cities formed.
"Far beyond the power of any mortal to carry even
his thoughts, lie the myriad dwelling places of the
spheres, each spot or locality bearing upon it the in-
dividual stamp of the spirit whose life has created it, and
as there are no two faces, no two minds, exactly similar in
all the countless beings that have peopled the earth — so
there are no two places in the spirit world exactly alike.
Each place — yea, even each sphere — is the separate crea-
tion of the particular class of minds that have created it,
and those whose minds are in affinity being drawn to
each other in the spirit world every place will bear more
or less the peculiar stamp of its inhabitants.
"Thus in giving a description of this or any other
sphere you will naturally be able to tell only what you
have seen, and to describe those places to which you were
attracted, while another spirit who has beheld a different
portion of the same sphere may describe it so very differ-
ently that men on earth, who limit all things too much,
and measure them by their own standards of probability,
will say that since you differ in describing the same
sphere you must both be wrong. They forget that Eome
is not Genoa, Milan, or Venice, yet these are all in Italy.
Lyons is not Paris, yet both are in France — and both will
bear certain characteristic features, certain national traits
of resemblance. Or to extend the simile still farther, New
York and Constantinople are both cities upon the planet
Earth, yet there is between them and their population so
20G A WANDERER IN THE SPIRIT LANDS.
great a difference, so wide a gulf, that it requires that we
should look no longer for national characteristics hut only
for the broad fact that both are inhabited by the human
race, differing, however widely, in manners and ap-
pearance.
"And now I would have you each ohserve that in all
your wanderings — in all the sad sights you have seen — all
the unhappy beings you have known groveling in this
sink of their own iniquities, there were yet the germs of
human souls inextinguishable and undestroyable, and you
have each learned, I trust, that long as may be the proba-
tion of the soul — greatly as it may retard the hour of its
release by the perversion of its powers — yet to all is given
the inalienable birthright of hope, and to each will come
at last the hour of awakening, and those who have sunk
to the lowest depths will arise even as a pendulum swung
to its farthest limit will arise and swing back again as
high as it has sunk low.
"Bitter and awful is the reckoning the sinful soul
must pay for its wild indulgence in evil, but once paid
there is not again that reckoning to be met, there is no
inexorable creditor whose ears are deaf to the voice of
prayer or Avho will say to the repentant prodigal, "Begone,
for your doom is sealed and the hour of your redemption
past. Oh, Brethren of Hope! Can man in his littleness
measure the power of the Almighty whose ways are past
his finding out? Can man put a limit to his mercy and
say it shall be denied to any sorrowful sinner however
deep has been his sin? God alone can condemn, and he
alone can pardon and his voice cries out to us in every-
thing, in every blade of grass that grows, in every ray of
light that shines: 'how great is the goodness and mercy of
our God — how long-suffering and how slow to anger.'
And his voice calls with trumpet tongue, through his
many angels and ministering spirits, to all who repent and
seek for mercy that mercy is ever given — pardon, full and
free, is granted unto all who earnestly seek it and would
truly labor that they may win it. Even beyond the grave,
even within the gates of Hell itself, there is yet mercy and
A WANDERER IX THE SPIRIT LAXDS. 207
pardon, yet hope and love held out to all. Xot one atom
of the immortal soul essence which has been breathed into
man and become a living conscious individuality is ever
again truly lost, wholly doomed either to annihilation or
eternal misery. They err, I had almost said they sin, who
teach man otherwise, for by so doing they shut a door
upon his hopes and render the erring soul yet more des-
perate because more hopeless, when, as he deems, Death
lias put the final seal of damnation upon his fate. I
would when each of you returns to the earth plane that
you proclaim to all this truth which you have learned in
these your wanderings, and strive ever that each and all
may feel the sense of hope and the need there, is to take
heed to their ways while there is yet time. Far easier
were it for man in his earth life to undo his misdeeds than
if he wait till Death has placed his barrier between him
and those to whom he would atone.
"In those Hells which you have seen all has been
the outcome of men's own evil lives — the works of their
own past — either upon earth or in its spheres. There is
nothing but what has been the creation of the soul itself,
however horrible to you may appear its surroundings.
However shocked you may have felt at the spiritual
appearance of these beings, yet must you ever remember
that such as they are, have they made themselves. God
has not added one grain's weight to the burden of any,
and equally must it be the work of each to undo what he
has done, to build up again what he has destroyed, to
purify what he has debased. And then will these
wretched dwellings, these degraded forms — these fearful
surroundings — be exchanged for brighter and happier
scenes — purer bodies — more peaceful homes, and when at
last in the fullness of time the good on earth and in its
spheres shall overcome the bad, the evil sights and evil
places will be swept away as the froth upon the sea is
swept on by the advancing tide, and the pure Water of
Iafe shall flow over these spots and purify them till these
solid black mountains, this dense heavy atmosphere, and
these foul dwelling-places shall melt in the strong purify-
208 A WANDERER IN THE SPIRIT LANDS.
ing fire of repentance, even as the hard granite rock is
melted in the crucible of the chemist till it is dissipated
into the atmosphere and floated away to form other rocks
elsewhere. Nothing is ever lost, nothing ever destroyed.
All things are imperishable. Those atoms which your
body has attracted to it to-day are thrown off again to-
morrow, and pass on to form other bodies eternally, as
these emanations of men's spiritual natures are formed
into the earth spheres, and when there is no longer mag-
netism sufficiently gross to hold together these gross par-
ticles which form the lower spheres, these atoms will be-
come detached from following the earth and its sphere in
their rushing journey through the limitless ether of space,
and will float in suspension in the ether till drawn to
another planet whose spheres are congenial and whose
spiritual inhabitants are on an equally gross plane. Thus
these same rocks and this country have all formed in the
past the lower spheres of other planets which have now
grown too highly developed to attract them and they will,
when this, our earth, has ceased to attract them, be drawn
off and form the spheres of some other planet.
"So too are our higher spheres formed of matter
more etherealized, yet still matter, which has been cast off
from planet spheres much in advance of ours, and in like
manner these atoms will be left by us and reabsorbed in
turn by our successor. Nothing is lost, nothing wasted,
nothing is really new. The things called new are but new
combinations of that which exists already, and is in its
nature eternal. To what ultimate height of development
we shall reach, I know not — none can know since there
can be no limit to our knowledge or our progress. But I
believe that could we foresee the ultimate destiny of our
own small planet, as we can in part judge of it from seeing
the more advanced ones around us, we should learn to
look upon even the longest earthly life and the longest,
saddest probation of these dark spheres as but stepping
stones on which man shall mount to the thrones of angels
at last.
"What we can see — what we do know and may
A WANDERER IX THE SPIRIT LANDS. 209
grasp — is the great and ever present truth that hope is
truly eternal and progression is ever possible even to the
lowest and most degraded and sin-stained soul. It is this
great truth we would have each of you to preach both to
mortal and immortal man, when you return to the earth
planes and to your work there, and as you have been
helped and strengthened and taught, so do you feel bound
by the obligations of gratitude and the ties of Universal
Brotherhood to help others.
"Let us now bid farewell to this Dark Land, not in
sorrow over its sadness and its sins, but in hope and with
earnest prayer for the future of all who are yet in the
bonds of suffering and sin."
As our great leader concluded his speech we took our
last look at the Dark Country, and, descending the moun-
tain, we passed once more through the Ring of Fire,
which, as before, was by our will power driven back on
either side of us that we might pass through in safety.
Thus ended my wanderings in the Kingdoms of Hell.
PART IV.
Zhe Gates of (Solo.
A WAXDEBER IN THE SPIRIT LANDS. 211
PART IV.
"Gbrougb tbe (Bates of <Sott>."
CHAPTER XXVII.
On our return to the Land of Dawn we met with a
right royal welcome from our Brotherhood, and a festival
was given in our honor.
On entering our own little rooms each of us found
a new robe awaiting him. It was of a very light grey,
almost white color, and the border, girdle, and device of
our order — an anchor and a star upon the left sleeve —
were in deep golden yellow.
I greatly prized this new dress because in the spirit
world the dress symbolizes the state of advancement of
the spirit, and is esteemed as showing what each one has
attained. "What I prized even more than this new dress,
however, was a most beautiful wreath of pure white spirit
roses which I found had clustered around and framed the
magic picture of my beloved — a frame that never
withered, never faded, and whose fragrance- was wafted
to me as I reposed on the snow white couch and gazed
out upon those peaceful hills behind which there shone
the dawning day.
I was aroused from my reverie by a friend who came
to summon me to the festival, and on entering the great
hall I found my father and some friends of my wander-
212 A WANDERER IN THE SPIRIT LANDS.
ings awaiting me. We greeted one another with much
emotion, and after we had enjoyed a banquet similar to
the one I have described on my first entrance to this
sphere, we all assembled at the lower end of the hall
before a large curtain of grey and gold which completely
covered the walls.
While we waited in expectation of what we were to
see, a soft strain of music floated towards us as though
borne upon some passing breeze. This grew stronger,
fuller, more distinct, till a solemn majestic measure like
the march of an army fell upon our ears. Not a march of
triumph or rejoicing but one such as might be played by
an army of giants mourning over a dead comrade, so
grand, so full of pathos was this strain.
Then the curtains glided apart and showed us a huge
mirror of black polished marble. And then the music
changed to another measure, still solemn, still grand, but
•with somewhat of discordance in its tones. It wavered
too and became uneven in the measure of its time, as
though halting with uncertain step, stumbling and
hesitating.
Then the air around us darkened till we could scarce
see each other's faces; slowly the light faded, and at last
all we could see was the black polished surface of the
gigantic mirror, and in it I saw reflected the figures of two
of the members of our expedition. They moved and
spoke and the scenery around them grew distinct and such
as I had seen in the Inferno we had left. The weird
music stirred my soul to its inmost core, and looking upon
the drama being enacted before my eyes I forgot where
I was — I forgot everything — and seemed to be wandering
once more in the dark depths of Hell.
Picture melted into picture, till we had been shown
the varied experiences of each of our band, from the
lowest member to our leader himself — the last scene show-
ing the whole company assembled upon the hill listening
to the farewell discourse of our commander; and like the
chorus in a Greek Tragedy, the wild music seemed to
accompany and explain it all, varying with every variation
A WANDERER IN THE SPIRIT LANDS. 213
in the dramas, now sad and sorrowful, now full of repose
or triumph, and again wailing, sobbing, shrieking or
changing into a murmuring lullaby as some poor rescued
soul sank to rest at last — then again rising into wild notes
of clamor, fierce cries of battle, hoarse curses and im-
precations; now surging in wild waves of tumultuous
melody, then dying away amidst discordant broken notes.
At last as the final scene was enacted it sank into a soft
plaintive air of most exquisite sweetness, and died away
note by note. As it ceased the darkness vanished, the
curtains glided over the black mirror and we all turned
with a sigh of relief and thankfulness to congratulate each
other that our wanderings in that dark land were past.
I asked my father how this effect had been produced,
was it an illusion or what?
"My son," he answered, "what you have seen is an
application of scientific knowledge, nothing more. This
mirror has been so prepared that it receives and reflects
the images thrown upon it from a series of sheets of thin
metal, or rather what is the spiritual counterpart of
earthly metal. These sheets of metal have been so highly
sensitized that they are able to receive and retain these
pictures somewhat in the fashion of a phonograph (such
as you saw in earth life) receives and retains the sound
waves.
'"When you were wandering in those dark spheres,
you were put in magnetic communication with this instru-
ment and the adventures of each were transferred to one
of these sensitive sheets, while the emotions of every one
of you caused the sound waves in the spheres of music and
literature to vibrate in corresponding tones of sympathy.
"You belong to the spheres of Art, Music and Litera-
ture, and therefore you are able to see and feel and under-
stand the vibrations of those spheres. In the spirit world
all emotions, speeches, or events reproduce themselves in
objective forms and become for those in harmony with
them either pictures, melodies, or spoken narratives.
The spirit world is created by the thoughts and actions of
the soul, and therefore every act or thought forms its
214 A WA X DEBEE IN THE SPIRIT LANDS.
spiritually material counterpart. In this sphere you will
find many things not yet known to men on earth, many
curious inventions which will in time be transmitted to
earth and clothed there in material form. But see! you
are about to receive the Palm branch which is given to
each of you as a reward of your victory."
At this moment the large doors of the hall were once
more thrown open and our grand master entered, followed
by the same train of handsome youths I had seen before,
only this time each carried a branch of palm instead of a
wreath of laurel. When the grand master had seated
himself under his canopy of state we were each summoned
to his presence to receive our branch of palm, and when
we had all done so and returned to our places again a most
joyous hymn of victory w r as sung by everyone, our palm
branches waving in time to the music and our glad voices
filling the air with triumphant harmony.
*********
I now enjoyed a long quiet season of rest which much
resembled that half-waking, half-sleeping state, when the
mind is too much in repose to think and yet retains full
consciousness of all its surroundings. From this state,
which lasted some weeks, I arose completely recovered
from the effects of my wanderings in the dark spheres.
And my first thought was to visit my beloved, and
see if she could see me and be conscious of my improved
appearance. I shall not, however, dwell upon our inter-
view; its joy was for ourselves alone — I only seek to show
that death does not of necessity either end our affection
for those we have left or shut us out from sharing with
them our joys or sorrows.
I found that I was now much more able to com-
municate with her through her own mediumistic powers,
so that we did not need any third person to intervene and
help us, and thus were my labors lightened and cheered
by her sweet affection and her conscious recognition of
my presence and of my continued existence.
My work at this time was once more upon the earth
plane and in those cities whose counterparts I had seen in
A WANDERER IN THE SPIRIT LANDS. 215
Hell. I had to labor among those mortals and spirits who
thronged them, and impress their minds with a sense of
what I had seen in that dark sphere far below. I knew I
could only make them dimly conscious of it, only arouse
a little their dormant sense of fear of future retribution
for their present misdeeds, but even that was something
and would help to deter some from a too complete
abandonment of themselves to selfish pleasure. More-
over, amongst the spirits who were earth-bound to those
cities I found many whom I could assist, with the knowl-
edge and strength which I had gained in my journey.
There ever is and ever must be ample work for those
who work upon the earth plane, for multitudinous as are
the workers there, more are always being wanted, since
men are passing over from earth life every hour and every
minute, who need all the help that can be given them.
Thus passed some months for me, and then I began
once more to feel the old restless longing to rise higher
myself, to attain more than I had yet done, to approach
nearer to that sphere to which my beloved one would pass
when her earthly life was ended, and by attaining which
I could alone hope to be united to her in the spirit world.
I used at this time to be tormented with a constant fear
lest my darling should pass from earth before I had risen
to her spiritual level, and thus I should be again parted
from her.
This fear it was which had ever urged me on to fresh
efforts, fresh concpiiests over myself, and now made me
dissatisfied even with the progress I had made. I knew
that I had overcome much, I had struggled hard to im-
prove, and I had risen wonderfully fast, yet in spite of all
I was still tormented by the jealous and suspicious feel-
ings which my disposition and my earthly experience had
gathered about me.
There were even times when I would begin to doubt
the constancy of my beloved herself. In spite of all the
many proofs of her love which she had given me, I would
fear lest while I was away from her someone yet in the
flesh should after all win her love from me.
21G A \VA NDEREK IN THE SPIRIT LANDS.
And thus I was in danger of becoming earth-bound
by reason of my unworthy desire to watch her continually.
Ah! you who think a spirit has changed all his thoughts
and desires at the moment of dissolution, how little you
understand of the conditions of that other life beyond the
grave, and how slowly, how very slowly we change the
habits of thought we have cultivated in our earthly lives
or how long they cling to us in the spiritual state.
I was then in character much what I had been on
earth, only a little better, only learning by degrees
wherein my ideas had been wrong and full of prejudice,
a lesson we may go on learning through many spheres,
higher than any I had attained to.
Even while I doubted and feared, I was ashamed of
my doubts and knew how unjust they were, yet could I
not free myself from them; the experiences of my earth
life had taught me suspicion and distrust, and the ghosts
■ of that earth life were not so easily laid.
It was while I was in this state of self-torment that
Ahrinziman came to me and told me how I might free
myself from these haunting shadows of the past.
"There is," said he, "a land not far from here called
the Land of Remorse; were you to visit it, the journey
would be of much service to you, for once its hills and
valleys were passed and its difficulties overcome, the true
nature of your earthly life and its mistakes would be
clearly realized and prove a great means of progression for
your soul, such a journey will indeed be full of much
bitterness and sorrow, for you will see displayed in all
their nakedness, the actions of your past, actions which
you have already in part atoned for but do not yet see as
the eyes of the higher spiritual intelligences see them.
"Few who come over from earth life really realize the
true motives which prompted their actions; many indeed
go on for years, some even for centuries, before this
knowledge comes to them. They excuse and justify to
their own consciences their misdeeds, and such a land as
this I speak of is very useful for enlightening them. The
A WANDERER IN THE SPIRIT LANDS. 217
journey must, however, be undertaken voluntarily, and it
will then shorten by years the pathway of progression.
"In that land men's lives are stored up as pictures
which, mirrored in the wondrous spiritual atmosphere,
reflect for them the reasons of many failures; and show
the subtle causes at work in their own hearts which have
shaped the lives of each*. It would be" a severe and keen
self-examination through which you would pass — a bitter
experience of your own nature, your own self, but though
a bitter it is a salutary medicine, and would go far to heal
your soul of those maladies of the earth life which like a
miasma hang about it still."
"Show me," I answered, "where this land is, and I
will go to it."
Ahrinziman took me to the top of one of those dim
and distant hills which I could see from the window of my
little room, and leading me to where we looked down
across a wide plain bounded by another range of hills far
away, said:
"On the other side of those farther hills lies this
wondrous land of which I speak, a land through which
most spirits pass whose lives have been such as to call for
great sorrow and remorse. Those whose errors have been
merely trivial, daily weaknesses such as are common to all
mankind, do not pass through it; there are other means
whereby they may be enlightened as to the source of their
mistakes. This land is more particularly useful to such
as yourself, of strong powers and strong will, who will
recognize readily and admit freely wherein you have done
wrong, and in doing so arise to better things. Like a
strong tonic this circle of the sphere would be too much
for some weak erring spirits who would only be crushed
and overwhelmed and disheartened by the too rapid and
vivid realization of all their sins; such spirits must be
taught slowly, step by step, a little at a time, while you
who are strong of heart and full of courage will but rise
the more rapidly the sooner you see and recognize the
nature of those fetters which have bound your soul."
218 A WANDERER IN THE SPIRIT LANDS.
"And will it take me long to accomplish this
journey?"
"No, it will last but a short time — two or three weeks
of earth time — for behold as I shadow it forth to you I
see following it fast the image of your returning spirit,
showing that the two events are not separated by a wide
interval. In the spirit world where time is not reckoned
by days or weeks or counted by hours, we judge of how
long an event will take to accomplish or when an occur-
rence will happen by seeing how near or how far away
they appear, and also by observing whether the shadow
cast by the coming event touches the earth or is yet dis-
tant from it — we then try to judge as nearly as possible
of what will be its corresponding time as measured by
earthly standards. Even the wisest of us may not always
be able to do this with perfect correctness; thus it is as
well for those who communicate with friends on earth not
to give an exact date for foreseen events, since many
things may intervene to delay it and thus make the date
incorrect. An event may be shown very near, yet instead
of continuing to travel to the mortal at the same speed it
may be delayed or held in suspense, and sometimes even
turned aside altogether by a stronger power than the one
which has set it in motion."
I thanked my guide for his advice and we parted. I
was so very eager to progress that a very short time after
this conversation saw me setting forth upon my new
journey.
I found my progress not so rapid as had been the
case in my previous travels through the spirit -land, for
now I had taken upon me the full burden of my past sins,
and like the load carried by the pilgrim Christian it
almost weighed me down to the earth, making my move-
ments very slow and laborious. Like a pilgrim, I was
habited in a coarse grey robe, my feet were bare and my
head uncovered, for in the spirit world the condition of
your mind forms your clothing and surroundings, and my
feelings then were as though I wore sackcloth and had put
dust and ashes upon my head.
A WAXDERER IX THE SPIRIT LAXDS. 219
When I had at last crossed those dim far-off hills
there lay before me a wide sandy plain — a great desert — in
which I saw the barren sands of my earthly life lie scat-
tered. Xo tree, no shrub, no green thing was there any-
where for the eye to rest upon, no water of refreshment
to sparkle before us like hopes of happiness. There was
no shade for our weary limbs should we seek for repose.
The lives of those who crossed this plain in search of the
rest beyond, had been barren of true, pure, unselfish affec-
tion and that self-denial which alone can make the desert
to blossom like the rose and sweet waters of refreshment
to spring up around their paths.
I descended to this dreary waste of sand, and took
a narrow path which seemed to lead to the hills on the
other side. The load I carried had now become almost
intolerable to me and I longed to lay it down — but in
vain; I could not for one moment detach it. The hot
sand seemed to blister my feet as I walked, and each step
was so labored as to be most painful. As I passed slowly
on there rose before me pictures of my past and of all
those whom I had known. These pictures seemed to be
just in front of me and to float in the atmosphere like
those mirages seen by earthly travelers through the desert.
Like dissolving views they appeared to melt into one
another and give place to fresh scenes. Through them
all there moved the friends or strangers whom I had met
and known, and the long forgotten unkind thoughts and
words which I had spoken to them rose up in an accusing
array before me — the tears I had made others shed — the
cruel words (sharper and harder to bear than any blow)
with which I had wounded the feelings of those around
me. A thousand hard unworthy thoughts and selfish
actions of my past — long thrust aside and forgotten or
excused — all rose up once more before me, picture after
picture — till at last I was so overwhelmed to see what an
array of them there was, that I broke down, and casting
my pride to the winds I bowed myself in the dust and
wept bitter tears of shame and sorrow. And where my
tears fell on the hot dry sand there sprang up around me
220 A WANDERER IN TIIE SPIRIT LANDS.
little flowers like white stars, eaeh little waxy blossom
bearing in its heart a drop of clew, so that the place I had
sunk down upon in such sorrow had become a little oasis
of beauty in that weary desert.
I plucked a few of those tiny blossoms and placed
them in my bosom as a memorial of that spot, and then
rose to go on again. To my surprise the pictures were
no longer visible, but in front of me I beheld a woman
carrying a little child whose weight seemed too much for
her strength, and it was wailing with weariness and fear.
I hurried up to them and offered to carry the poor
little one, for I was touched by the sight of its poor little
frightened face and weary drooping head. The woman
stared at me for a moment and then put the little one in
my arms, and as I covered him over with a part of my
robe the poor tired little creature sank into a quiet sleep.
The woman told me the child was hers, but she had not
felt much affection for it during its earth life. "In fact,"
said she, "I did not want a child at all. I do not care for
children, and when this one came I was annoyed and
neglected it. Then, as it grew older, and was (as I
thought then) naughty and troublesome, I used to beat
it and shut it up in dark rooms, and was otherwise hard
and unkind. At last when it was five years old it died,
and then I died not long afterwards of the same fever.
Since I came to the spirit world that child has seemed to
haunt me, and at last I was advised to take this journey,
carrying him with me since I cannot rid myself of his
presence."
"And do you even yet feel no love for the poor
little thing?"
"'Well, no! I can't say I have come to love it, per-
haps I never shall really love it as some mothers do, in-
deed I am one of those women who should not be mothers
at all — the maternal instinct is, as yet at all events, quite
wanting in me. I do not love the child, but I am sorry
now that I was not kinder to him, and I can see that what
I thought was a sense of duty urging me to bring him up
properly and correct his faults, was only an excuse for
A WANDERER IN THE SPIRIT LANDS. 221
my own temper and the irritation the care of him caused.
I can see I have done wrong and why I did so, but I can-
not say I have much love for this child."
"And are you to take him with you through all your
journey?" I asked, feeling so sorry for the poor little
unloved thing that I bent over him and kissed him, my
own eyes growing dim as I did so, for I thought of my
beloved on earth and what a treasure she would have
deemed such a child, and how tender she would have been
to it. And as I kissed him he put his little arms around
my neck and smiled up at me in a half-asleep way that
should have gone straight to the woman's heart. Even
as it was her face relaxed a little, and she said more
graciously than she had yet spoken:
"I am only to carry him a little farther I believe, and
then he will be taken to a sphere where there are many
children like him whose parents do not care about them
and who are taken care of by spirits who are fond of
children."
"I am glad to think that," I said, and then we
trudged on together for a bit farther, till we reached a
small group of rocks where there was a little pool of water,
beside which we sat down to rest. Presently I fell asleep,
and when I awoke the woman and the child had gone.
I arose and resumed my way, and shortly after
arrived at the foot of the mountains, which pride and
ambition had reared. Hard, rocky, and precipitous was
the pathway across them, with scarce foothold to help one
on, and ofttimes it seemed as though these rocks reared
by selfish pride would prove too difficult to surmount.
And as I climbed I recognized what share I had had in
building them, what atoms my pride had sent to swell
these difficulties I now encountered.
Yow of us know the secrets of our own hearts. We so
often deem that it is a far nobler ambition than mere self-
aggrandisement which inspires our efforts to place our-
selves on a higher level than our fellow men who are not
so well equipped for the battle of life.
I looked back upon my past with shame as I recog-
•-'•-'•» A WAN I >E 111". 1 1 IN THE Sl'IIMT LANDS.
nized one great rock after another to be the spiritual em-
blems of the stumbling blocks which I had placed in the
path of my feebler brothers^ whose poor crude efforts had
once seemed to me only worthy of prompt extinction in
the interests of all true art, and 1 longed to have -my life
to live over again that I might do better with it and
encourage where I had once condemned, help where I
had crushed. •
I had been so hard to myself, so eager ever to attain
to the highest possible excellence, that I had never been
satisfied with any of my own efforts — even when the
applause of my fellows was ringing in my ears, even when
I had carried off the highest prizes from all competitors —
and sc I had thought myself entitled to exact as high a
standard from all who sought to study my beautiful art.
I could see no merit in the efforts of the poor stragglers
^who were as infants beside the great master minds.
"Talent, genius, I could cordially admire, frankly appre-
ciate, but with complacent mediocrity I had no sympathy;
such I had had no desire to help. I was ignorant then
that those feeble powers were like tiny seeds which
though they would never develop into anything of value
on earth, would yet blossom into the perfect flower in the
great Hereafter. In my early days, when success first was
mine, and before I had made shipwreck of my life, I had
been full of the wildest, most ambitious dreams, and
though in later years when sorrow and disappointments
had taught me somewhat of pity for the struggles of
others, yet I could not learn to feel true cordial sympathy
with mediocrity and its struggles, and now I recognized
that it was the want of such sympathy which had piled up
high these rocks so typical of my arrogance.
In my sorrow and remorse at this discovery I looked
around to see if there might be anyone near me weaker
than myself, whom it may not be too late to assist upon
his path, and as I looked I saw above me on this hard
road a young man almost spent and much exhausted with
his effort to climb these rocks, which family pride and an
ambition to rank with the noble and wealthy had piled
A WANDEBER IN THE SPIRIT LANDS. 223
up for him — a pride to which he had sacrificed all those
who should have been most dear. He was clinging to a
jut ting-out portion of rock, and was so spent and ex-
hausted he seemed almost ready to let go and fall.
I shouted to him to hold on, and soon climbed up to
where he was, and there with some difficulty succeeded in
dragging him up to the summit of these rocks. My
strength being evidently double his, I was only too ready
to help him as some relief to the remorse I now felt at
thinking how many feeble minds I had crushed in
the past.
When we reached the top and sat down to rest, I
found myself to be much bruised and torn by the sharp
stones over which we had stumbled. But I also found
that in my struggles to ascend, my burden of selfish pride
had fallen from me and was gone, and as I looked back
over the path by which I had climbed I clothed myself
anew in the sackcloth and ashes of humility, and resolved
I would go back to earth and seek to help some of those
feebler ones to a fuller understanding of my art. I would
seek as far as I could to give them the help of my higher
knowledge. "Where I had crushed the timid aspiring soul
I would now encourage, where my sharp tongue and keen
wit had wounded I would strive to heal. I knew now that
none should dare to despise his weaker brother or crush
out his hopes, because to a more advanced mind they seem
small and trivial.
I sat long upon that mountain thinking of these
things — the young man whom I had helped going on
without me. At last I rose and wended my way slowly
through a deep ravine spanned by a broken bridge and
approached by a high gate, at which many spirits were
waiting, and trying by various means to open it in order
that they might pass through. Some tried force, others
tried to climb over, others again sought to find some secret
spring, and when one after another tried and failed some
of the others again would seek to console the disappointed
ones. As I drew near six or seven spirits who still hov-
ered about the gate drew back, curious to see what I would
224 A WANDERER IN THE SPIRIT LANDS.
do. It was a ureal gate of what looked to me like sheets
of iron, though its real nature I do not even now know.
1 1 was so high and so smooth, no one could climb it, so
solid it was vain to dream of forcing it, so fast shut there
appeared no chance of opening it. I stood in front of it
in despair, wondering what I should do now, when I saw
a poor woman near me weeping most bitterly with dis-
appointment; she had been there some time and had tried
in vain to open the gate. I did my best to comfort her
and give her all the hope I could, and while I was doing
so the solid gate before us melted away and we passed
through. Then as suddenly 1 saw it rise again behind
me, while the woman had vanished, and beside the bridge
stood a feeble old man bent nearly double. As I was still
wondering about the gate a voice said to me, "That is the
gate of kind deeds and kind thoughts. Those who are on
the other side must wait till their kind thoughts and acts
for others are heavy enough to weigh the gate down, when
it will open for them as it did for you who have tried so
hard to help your fellows."
I now advanced to the bridge where the old man was
standing, poking about with his stick as if feeling his way,
and groaning over his helplessness. I was so afraid he
would fall through the broken part without seeing it, that
I rushed impulsively forward and offered to help him over.
But he shook his head, "No! no! young man, the bridge is
so rotten it will never bear your weight and mine. Go on
yourself, and leave me here to do the best I can."
"Not so, you are feeble, and old enough to be my
grandfather, and if I leave you you will most likely drop
through the broken place. Now, I am active and strong,
and it will go hard with us if I do not contrive somehow
to get us both across."
Without waiting for his reply I took hold of him
and hoisted him on to my back, and telling him to hold
tight by my shoulders I started to cross the bridge.
Sapristi! what a weight that old man seemed! Sin-
bad's old man of the sea was a joke to him. That bridge,
too, how it creaked, groaned and bent under our weight.
A WANDEEEB IX THE SPIRIT LANDS! 225
I thought we must hoth he tumbled into the chasm below,
and all the time the old man kept imploring me not to
drop him. On I struggled, holding with my hands as
well as I could, and crawling on all-fours when we reached
the worst part. When we got to the middle there was a
great ragged hole and only the broken ends of the two
great beams to catch hold of. Here I did feel it a diffi-
culty. I could have swung myself across I felt certain,
but it was a different thing with that heavy old man
clinging to me and half choking me, and a thought did
cross my mind that I might have done better to leave him
alone, but that seemed so cruel to the poor old soul that
I made up my mind to risk it. The poor old man gave a
great sigh when he saw how matters stood, and said:
''You had better abandon me after all. I am too
helpless to get across and you will only spoil your own
chance by trying it. Leave me here and go on alone."
His tone was so dejected, so miserable, I could never
have so left him, and I thought to make a desperate effort
for us both, so telling him to hold on tight I grasped the
broken beam with one hand and, making a great spring. I
swung myself over the chasm with such a will we seemed
to fly across, and alighted upon the other side unharmed.
As I looked back to see what we had escaped, I cried
out in astonishment, for there was no break in the bridge
at all, but it was as sound a bridge as ever I saw, and by
my side there stood not a feeble old man but Ahrinziman
himself, laughing at my astonishment. He put his hand
upon my shoulder and said:
"Franchezzo, my son, that was but a little trial to test
if you would be unselfish enough to burden yourself with
a heavy old man when your own chance seemed so small.
I leave you now to encounter the last of your trials and
to judge for yourself the nature of those doubts and sus-
picions you have cherished. Adieu, and may success
attend you."
He turned away from me and immediately vanished,
•*•'<; A WAXhKKKi; IN THE SPIRIT LANDS.
leaving me to go on alone through another deep valley
which was lief ore me.
It lay between two precipitous hills, and was called
"The valley of the phantom mists." Great wreaths of
grey vapor floated to and fro and crept up the hill sides,
shaping themselves into mysterious phantom forms and
hovering around me as I walked.
The farther I advanced through the ravine the
thicker grow these shapes, growing more distinct and like
living things. I knew them to he no more than the
thought creations of my earthly life, yet seen in this life-
like palpable form they were like haunting ghosts of my
past, rising up in accusing array against me. The sus-
picions I had nursed, the doubts I had fostered, the un-
kind, unholy thoughts I had cherished, all seemed to
•gather round me, menacing and terrible, mocking me and
taunting me with the past, whispering in my ears and
closing over my head like great waves of darkness. As
my life had grown more full of such thoughts, so did my
path become blocked with them till they hemmed me in
on every side. Such fearful, distorted, hateful-looking
things! And these had been my own thoughts, these
mirrored the state of my own mind towards others.
These brooding spirits of the mist — dark, suspicious, and
bewildering— confronted me now and showed me what
my heart had been. I had had so little faith in goodness —
so little trust in my fellow man. Because I had been
cruelly deceived I had said in my haste all men, and
women too, are liars, and I had sneered at the weakness
and the folly around me, and thought it was always the
same thing everywhere, all bitterness and disappointment.
So these thought-creations had grown up, mass upon
mass, till now that I sought to battle with them they
seemed to overwhelm and stifle me, wrapping me up in
the great vaporous folds of their phantom forms. In vain
I sought to beat them off. to shake myself free of them.
They gathered round and closed me in even as my doubts
A WANDERER IN THE SPIRIT LANDS. 227
and suspicions had done. I was seized with horror, and
fought as if they had heen living things that were sweep-
ing me to destruction. And then I saw a deep dark
crevasse open in the ground before me, to which these
phantoms were driving me, a gulf into which it seemed
I must sink unless I could free myself from these awful
ghosts. Like a madman I strove and wrestled with them,
fighting as for dear life, and still they closed me in and
forced me back and back towards that gloomy chasm.
Then in my anguish of soul I called aloud for help to be
free from them, and throwing my arms out before me with
all my force I seemed to grasp the foremost phantom and
hurl it from me. Then did the mighty cloud of doubts
waver and break as though a wind had scattered them,
and I sank overcome and exhausted upon the ground;
and as I sank into unconsciousness I had a dream, a brief
but lovely dream, in which I thought my beloved had
come to me and scattered those foul thoughts, and that
she knelt down beside me and drew my head to rest upon
her bosom as a mother with her child. I thought I felt
her arms encircle me and hold me safe, and then the
dream was over and I fell asleep.
When I recovered consciousness I was resting still in
that valley, but the mists had rolled away and my time of
bitter doubt and suspicion was past. 1 lay upon a bank
of soft green turf at the end of the ravine, and before me
there was a meadow watered by a smooth peaceful river of
clear crystal water. I arose and followed the windings of
the stream for a short distance, and arrived at a beautiful
grove of trees. Through the trunks I could see a clear
pool on whose surface floated water-lilies. There was a
fairy-like fountain in the middle, from which the spray
fell like a shower of diamonds into the transparent water.
The trees arched their branches overhead and through
them I could see the blue sky. I drew near to rest and
refresh myself at the fountain, and as I did so a fair
nymph in a robe of green gossamer and with a crown of
water-lilies on her head drew near to help me. She was
228 A WANDEBEB IX THE SPIRIT LANDS.
the guardiaE spirit of the fountain, and her work was to
help and refresh all weary wanderers like myself. "In
earth life."" said she, "I lived in a forest, and here in the
spirit land 1 find a home surrounded by the woods I love
so well."
She gave me food and drink, and after I had rested
a. while showed me a broad pathway through the trees,
which led to a Home of Rest where 1 might repose for a
time. With a grateful heart I thanked this bright spirit,
and following the path soon found myself before a large
building covered with honeysuckle and ivy. It had many
windows and wide open doors as though to invite all to
enter. It was approached by a great gateway of what
looked like wrought iron, only that the birds and flowers
on it were so life-like they seemed to have clustered there
to rest. While I stood looking at the gate it opened as by
magic, and I passed on to the house. Here several spirits
in white robes came to welcome me, and I was conducted
to a pretty room whose windows looked out upon a grassy
lawn and soft fairy-like trees, and here I was bidden to
repose myself.
On awakening I found my pilgrim dress was gone,
and in its stead there lay my light grey robe, only now it
had a triple border of pure white. I was greatly pleased,
and arrayed myself with pleasure, for I felt the white to be
a sign of my progression — white in the spirit world
symbolizing purity and happiness, while black is the
reverse.
Presently I was conducted to a large pleasant room
in which were a number of spirits dressed like myself,
among whom I was pleased to recognize the woman with
the child whom I had helped across the Plains of Eepent-
ance and Tears. She smiled much more kindly on the
child, and greeted me with pleasure, thanking me for my
help, while the little one climbed upon my knees and
established himself there as an earthly child might have
done.
An ample repast of fruits and cakes and the pure
wine of the spirit land was set before us, and when we
A WANDERER IN THE SPIRIT LANDS. 229
wore all refreshed and had returned our thanks to God
for all his mercies, the Brother who presided wished us
all God's speed, and then with grateful hearts we bade
each other adieu and set forth to return to our own homes.
230 A WANDEREB IX THE SPIRIT LANDS.
CHAPTER XXVIII.
I was not, however, destined to remain in the Land
of Dawn. My home was now to be in the circle of the
Morning Land, and I was therefore escorted thither by
my friends.
It lay beyond the peaceful lake and those hills behind
which I used to watch the light of that dawning day
which never seemed to grow brighter or advance in the
Land of Dawn, but whose beauties belonged to this
Morning Land. This land lay in an opposite direction
from that range of hills beyond which lay the Plain of
Remorse.
Here in the Morning Land I found that I was to
have a little home of my own, a something earned by
myself. I have always loved a place of my own, and this
little cottage, simple as it was, was very dear to me. It
was indeed a peaceful place. The green hills shut it in on
every side save in front, where they opened out and the
ground stretched away in undulating slopes of green and
golden meadow land. There were no trees, no shrubs,
around my new home, no flowers to gladden my oyes,
because my efforts had not yet blossomed into flower.
But there was one sweet trailing honeysuckle that
clustered around the little porch and shed the fragrance
of its love into my rooms. This was the gift of my
beloved to me, the spiritual growth of her sweet pure
loving thoughts which twined around my dwelling to
whisper to me ever of her constant love and truth.
There were only two little rooms, the one for me to
A WANDERER IX THE SPIRIT LANDS. 231
receive my friends and to study in, and the other my
chain her of repose, where I could rest when weary with my
work on the earth plane. And in this room there was my
picture framed in roses, and all my little treasures. The
hlne sky outside shed down on me so pure a light, my
eyes, long wearied to see it, gazed on it again and yet
again. The soft green grass and the fragrant honey-
suckle were all so sweet, so delicious to me, wearied as I
was with my long dark wanderings, that I was overcome
with the emotions of my gratitude. I was aroused by a
kindly hand, a loving voice, and looking up, beheld my
father. Ah! what a joy, what a happiness I felt, and still
more when he bade me come to earth with him and show
this home in a vision to her who was its guiding star!
What happy hours I can recall when I look back to
that, my first home in the spirit land. I was so proud
to think I had won it. My present home is far finer, my
present sphere far more beautiful in every way, but I have
never felt a greater happiness than I felt when that first
home of my own was given to me.
I should but weary my readers were I to attempt to
describe all the work on the earth plane I did at this time,
all the sad ones I helped to cheer and direct upon the
better way. There is a sameness in such work that makes
one example serve for many.
Time passes on for spirits as well as mortals and
brings ever new changes — fresh progression. And thus
while I was working to help others I was gradually myself
learning the lesson which had proved most hard for me to
learn. The lesson of that entire forgiveness of our enemies
which will enable us to feel that we not only desire them
no harm but that we even wish to do them good — to
return good for evil cordially. It had been a hard struggle
to overcome my desire for revenge, or wish that at all
events some punishment should overtake the one who had
so deeply wronged me, and it was as hard, or harder even,
to desire now to benefit that person. Time and again
while I was working on the earth plane I went and stood
beside that one, unseen and unfelt save for the thoughts
233 A WANDERER IN THE SPIRIT LANDS.
of me that would be awakened, and each time I perceived
that my enemy's thoughts were to the full as bitter as my
own. There was no love lost between us. Standing there
I beheld time after time the events of our lives blended
together in one picture, the dark shadows of our passion-
ate hate dimming and blurring these pictures as storm
clouds sweep over a summer sky. And in the clearer
light of my spiritual knowledge I beheld where my faults
had lain, as strongly or more so than I beheld those of my
enemy. And from such visits I would return to my little
cottage in the spirit land overwhelmed with the bitterest
regrets, the keenest anguish, yet always unable to feel
aught but bitterness and anger towards the one whose life
seemed only to have been linked by sorrow and wrong to
my own.
At last one day while standing beside this mortal I
became conscious of a new ieeling, almost of pity, for this
person was also oppressed in soul — also conscious of regret
in thinking of our past. A wish had arisen that a different
course towards me had been followed. Thus was there
created between us a kinder thought, which though faint
and feeble was yet the first fruits of my efforts to over-
come my own anger — the first softening and melting of
the hard wall of hatred between us. Then was there given
to me a chance to assist and benefit this person even as the
chance had before come to me of doing harm, and now I
was able to overcome my bitterness and to take advantage
of this opportunity, so that it was my hand — the hand
which had been raised to curse and blight — which was
now the one to help instead.
My enemy was not conscious of my presence nor of
my interference for good, but felt in a dim fashion that
somehow the hatred between us was dead, and that, as I
was dead, it were perhaps better to let our quarrels die also.
Thus came at last a mutual pardon which severed the
links which had so long bound our earthly lives together.
I know that during the earthly life of that one we shall
never cross each other's path again, but even as I had
seen in the case of my friend Benedetto, when death shall
A WANDERER IN THE SPIRIT LANDS! 233
sever the thread of that earthly life, our spirits will meet
once again, in order that each may ask pardon from the
other. Not until then will all links he finally severed
between us and each pass on to our appointed sphere.
Great and lasting are the effects upon the soul of our loves
and our hates; long, long after the life of earth is past do
they cling to us, and many are the spirits whom I have
seen tied to each other, not by mutual love but mutual
hate.
231 A YVAXDERER IN THE SPIRIT LANDS..
CHAPTER XXIX.
When I had at last learned the lesson of self con-
quest my mind seemed to be free from a great oppressive
weight, and I turned to the study of the spirit land and
its conditions with renewed interest. At this period of
my wanderings I used to see my friend Hassein very often,
and he helped me to an understanding of many things
which had perplexed me in my earthly life.
On one occasion when we were seated in my little
home enjoying one of our many conversations, I asked
him to tell me more of the spheres and their relation to
'the earth.
"The term spheres," said he, "is, as you have seen,
applied to those great belts of spiritual matter which
encircle the earth and other planets. It is likewise applied
to those still vaster, more extended, thought waves which
circle throughout all the universe. Thus we may say
there are two classes of spheres — those which are in a
measure material and encircle each their own planet or
their own solar system and form the dwelling places of the
spiritual inhabitants of each planet. These spheres are
divided into circles indicating, like steps upon the ladder
of progress, the moral advancement of the spirits.
"The other class of. spheres are mental, not material,
in their constituents and do not belong to any planetary or
solar system, but are as limitless as the universe, circling
in ever widening currents of thought emanations from the
central point, around which all the universe is held to be
revolving, and which point is said to be the immediate
A WANDERER IN THE SPIRIT LAXDS. 235
environment of the Supreme Being, from whom these
thought wave? are held to proceed. It may perhaps make
my meaning still clearer to say there is one great sphere
of the intellectual faculties or attributes belonging essen-
tially to the soul, and then to divide this sphere into
circles such as the circles of Philosophy, of Art, of Music,
of Literature, etc.
It is a common mode of expression to call them
spheres, but to my mind it is more correct to describe
them as circles. These Intellectual Circles, like great
wheels, inclose all those lesser wheels, those spiral rings,
which surround each their own solar system, or parent
planet, wheels within wheels, revolving around the one
great centre continually. In the spirit world only those
who are in sympathy ever remain together, and though
the ties of relationship or the links of kind remembrance
may at times draw together those who have no common
bonds of union, these will be but flying visits, and each
will return to their own circle and sphere, drawn back by
the strong magnetic attraction which holds each sphere
and each circle of a sphere in unison. A spirit belonging
to the sphere of Music or Philosophy, will be drawn to
others of a like disposition who are in the same stage of
moral advancement as himself, but his development of a
higher degree of music or philosophy will not enable him
to ascend into a higher circle of the Moral Spheres, or
planetary spheres, than his moral development entitles
him to occupy. The central suns of each of the vast
intellectual circles of the mental sphere shine as burnished
magnets. They are as great prisms glowing with the
celestial fires of purity and truth, and darting on all sides
their glorious rays of knowledge, and in these rays cluster
the multitudes of spirits who are seeking to light their
lamps at these glowing shrines. In those rays which
reach the earth pure and unbroken, are found those gems
of truth which have illuminated the minds of men in all
ages of the world's history, and shattered into a thousand
fragments the great rocks of error and darkness, even as
the lightning's flash shivers a granite rock, letting into
23G A WANDERER IN THE SPIRIT LANDS.
the depths below the clear light of God's sun, and those
spirits who arc most highly advanced are those who are
nearest to the central force, to the dazzling light of these
starlike centres. These great spheres of the intellectual
and moral faculties may, then, he termed the "universal*'
spheres; those around each planet, "planetary" spheres;
and those surrounding the sun centres, "solar" spheres:
the first heing understood to consist of thought or sold
essence, the others of various degrees of spiritualized
matter."
"And how, then, would you describe the creation of
a planet and its spheres?"
"The creation of a planet may be said to begin from
the time when it is cast off from the parent sun in the
form of a nebulous mass of fiery vapor. In this stage it
is a most powerful magnet, attracting to itself the minute
particles of matter which float through all the ether of
space. This ether has been supposed to be void of all
material atoms such as float in the atmosphere of planets,
but that is an incorrect supposition, the fact being that
fhe atoms of matter are simply subdivided into even more
minute particles compared to which a grain of sand is as
the bulk of the sun to the earth. These atoms being thus
subdivided and dispersed through space (instead of being
clustered by the forces of magnetic attraction in the
planet into atoms the size of those which float as motes in
the earth's atmosphere), have become not only invisible
to man's material sight but are also incapable of being
detected by the ordinary chemical means at his disposal.
They are, in fact, etherealized, and have become of the
first degree of spirit matter in consequence of the amount
of soul essence which has become amalgamated with their
grosser elements. In becoming attracted to the glowing
mass of an embryo planet, these atoms become so thickly
clustered together that the more ethereal elements are
pressed out and escape back into space, leaving the solid
gross portion to form into rock, etc., through the constant
attracting of fresh atoms and the necessarily vast increase
of pressure thus caused. These atoms exist eternally, and
A WANDERER IN THE SPIRIT LANDS. 237
are as indestructible as all the other elements which con-
stitute the universe, and they are absorbed and cast, off
again by planet after planet as each passes through the
various stages of its existence and development.
"The atoms of matter may be broadly classed under
three heads, and again each of the three heads may be sub-
divided into an infinite number of degrees of density, in
order to express the various stages of sublimation to
which they have attained. The three principal classes
may be termed, material or planetary matter — spiritual or
soul enveloping matter, which is no longer visible to
material sight — and soul essence, this last being so sub-
limated that it is not possible for me yet to describe its
nature to you. Of the material matter the lowest, most
gross form, is that of which mineral substances, such as
rocks, earth, etc., are formed; these are thrown off into
the atmosphere as dust and reabsorbed continually to be
changed, by the process continually going on in nature
everywhere, into plants, etc. The intermediate degree
between the rocks and the plants is the fluidic, in which
the more solid particles are held in solution by the various
gases or vaporized form of the chemical elements which
constitute them. The second degree of material matter
is that of plant or vegetable life which is nourished by the
blending of the most gross matter with the fluidic. Thus
through infinite gradations of earthly matter we reach the
highest, namely, flesh and bones and muscles which,
whether it clothes the soul of man or one of the lower
animals, is still the highest degree of material matter, con-
taining in this highest degree of earthly material develop-
ment all those elements of which the lower degrees are
composed.
"The second or spiritual form of matter is, as I have
said, merely the etherealized development of the first or
earthly form of matter, while the soul essence is the
animating principle of both, the Divine germ, without
which the two first forms of matter could not exist. It is
a part of the law of the two first classes of matter that they
should clothe the higher soul principle, or they lose their
238 A WAffDEEEB IN TIN- SPIRIT LAXDS.
power of cohesion and are diffused into their elemental
parts again. Soul matter is the only one which possesses
any permanent identity. It is the true Ego, since by no
power can it be disintegrated or lose its individuality. It
is the true life of whatever lower forms of matter it may
animate, and as sueli changes and shapes that lower
matter into its own identity. Soul essence is in and of
every type of life, from the mineral and vegetable to man,
the highest type of animal, and each of these types is
capable of development into the highest or celestial form,
in which state it is found in the Heavenly Sphere of each
planet and each solar system.
"Since, then, we maintain that everything has its
soul of a higher or lower type, it need not create surprise
in the mind of any mortal to he told that there are plants
and flowers, rocks and deserts, beasts and birds, in the
spirit world. They exist there in their spiritualized or
developed state, and are more etherealized as they advance
higher, in accordance with the same law which governs
alike the development of man, the highest type, and that
of the lowest form of soul matter. When a plant dies or
the solid rock is dispersed into dust or fused into gas, its
soul essence passes with the spiritual matter pertaining to
it, into the spirit world, and to that sphere to which its
development is most akin — the most material portion
being absorbed by the earth, the more sublimated particles
of matter feeling less of the earth attraction and therefore
floating farther from it. Thus in the early stages of a
planet's life, when it possesses but a small portion of the
soul essence and a large amount of gross matter, its
spheres are thrown out first in the direction farthest from
its sun and are very material, and the development of its
spiritual inhabitants is very low.
"At this early stage the vegetable as well as the
animal and human types of soul life are coarse and gross,
wanting in the refinement and beauty which may be
observed as the evolution of the planet advances. Grad-
ually the vegetation changes, the animals change, the
races of men who appear become each higher, more per-
A AYAXDEKER IX THE SPIRIT LAXDS. 239
feet, and as a consequence the spiritual emanations
thrown off become correspondingly higher. In the first
stages of a planet's life the spheres scarcely exist. They
may be likened to a cone in shape, the small end being
represented by the planet itself, the earth plane being the
highest sphere which has developed, and the lower
spheres — by reason of the degraded tastes and low in-
tellectual development of the planet's inhabitants — being
like the wide end of the cone. As the planet develops the
spheres increase in size and number, and the higher ones
begin to form, the point of the cone receding from the
planet towards the sun as each of the higher spheres
begins its existence.
"Thus are the spheres formed below and above the
planet by the constant influx of the atoms thrown off from
the parent planet. At a certain stage of their formation,
when the intellectual and selfish propensities of man are
more highly developed than his moral and unselfish fac-
ulties, these lower spheres in extent greatly exceed the
higher ones, and these may be termed the Dark Ages of
the World's History, when oppression and cruelty and
greed spread their dark wings over mankind.
"After a time the eternal law of the higher evolution
of all things causes the higher and lower spheres to be-
come equal in extent and number. Then may we see the
forces of good and evil equally balanced, and this period
may be termed the meridian of the planet's life. Xext
follows the period when by the gradual improvement of
mankind the figure of the cone becomes gradually re-
versed, the earth plane becoming again the narrow end
by reason of the shrinking and disappearance of the lower
spheres, while the higher ones expand towards the highest
of all, till at last only this highest sphere exists at all and
the planet itself shrinks gradually away till all the
material gross particles have been thrown off from it, and
it vanishes from existence, all its gross atoms floating away
imperceptibly, to be reabsorbed by other planets yet in
process of formation.
"Then will the sphere of that planet together with
2 10 A WAN m:i;i:k IX the spirit lands.
its inhabitants become absorbed into the great spheres of
its solar system, and its inhabitants will exist there as do
already many communities 01 fepirits whose planets have
passed out of existence. Each planetary community,
however, will retain the characteristics and individuality
of their planet — just as different nationalities on earth
do — till they become gradually merged in the larger
nationality of their solar system. So gradual, so im-
perceptible, are these processes of development, so vast
the periods of time they take to accomplish, that the mind
of mortal man may be forgiven for failing to grasp the
immensity of the changes which take place. The lives of
all planets are not similar in their duration, because size
and position in the solar system, as well as other causes,
contribute to modify and slightly alter their development,
but the broad features will in all cases be found the same,
just as the matter of which each planet is composed shows
no chemical substance which does not exist in a greater
or less degree in every other. Thus we are able to judge
from the condition of the planets around us what has been
the history of our earth in the past and what will be its
ultimate destiny."
"If, as you say, our spheres are to become absorbed
into those of our sun centre, will our individuality as
spirits become merged in that of the solar s)'stem?"
"Xo! most certainly not. The individuality of each
soul germ is indestructible; it is but a minute unit in the
vast ocean of soul life, but still it is a distinct unit, the
personality of each being in fact its Ego. It is this very
individuality, this very impossibility of dispersing or de-
stroying the soul which constitutes its immortality, which
distinguishes it from all other matter, and makes its
nature so difficult of explanation or analysis. You have
become a member of our Brotherhood of Hope, yet you
retain your individuality, and so it is with the soul
eternally, no matter through what conditions of existence
it may pass. Try to imagine a body so light that the most
etherealized vapor is heavy beside it, yet a body possessing
such power of cohesion that it is utterly impossible to
A WANDERER IN THE SPIRIT LANDS. 241
disintegrate its particles, the power of resistance against
all material or spiritual forms of matter which it possesses
being equal to that which a bar of steel offers to a cloud
of vapor. Imagine this and you will realize how it is that
as a spirit you can pass through solid doors and walls of
earthly matter, and how a spirit higher than yourself can
pass with equal ease through these walls of spiritual
matter which surround us here. The more perfectly the
soul is freed from gross matter, the less can it he bound
by any element, and the greater become its powers, since
it is not the soul essence but its dense envelope which can
be imprisoned on earth or in the spheres. To you now
the walls of earthly houses offer no impediment to free
ingress or egress. You pass through them as easily as your
earthly body used to pass through the fog. The density
of the fog might be disagreeable to you, but it could not
arrest your progress. Moreover, when you passed through
a fog there was no vacuum left to show where your passage
through it had been. This was because the elements of
which the fog was composed were attracted together again
too quickly for you to perceive where they had been dis-
persed, and that is exactly what happens when we spirits
pass through a material door or wall, the material atoms
of which it is composed closing after our progress even
more quickly than the fog."
"I understand you, and now if, as you say, each type
of soul essence has a distinct individuality of its own you
will not agree with those who believe in the transmigra-
tion of the soul of an animal of the lower type into a man,
and vice versa."
"Certainly not. The soul of each type we hold to be
capable of the highest degree of development in its own
type; but the soul of man being the highest type of all is,
therefore, capable of the highest degree of development,
namely, into those advanced spirits we call angels. Angels
are souls who have passed from the lowest degree of
human planetary life through all the planetary spheres till
they have attained to the celestial spheres of the solar
system, our Heaven of Heavens, which is as far in advance
Z-l-2 A WANDEBEft IX TITE SPIRIT LANDS.
of our Heaven of the planetary spheres as that is in ad-
vance of the planet itself. We believe that the soul will
go on mounting continually as by ever widening spiral
rings, till it has reached what we now term the centre of
the universe, but whether when we do attain that summit
of our present aspirations we shall not find it to be but a
finite point revolving round a still greater centre I cannot
say. My own feeling is that we shall attain to centre after
centre, ever resting, it may be millions of years, in each,
till our aspirations shall again urge us to heights as far
again above us. The more one contemplates the subject
the more vast and limitless it becomes. How, then, can
we hope to see an end to our journeyings through that
which has no end, and has had no beginning, and how can
we even hope to form any clear idea of the nature and
attributes of that Supreme Being whom we hold to be the
Omnipotent Ruler of the universe, seeing that we cannot
even fully and clearly grasp the magnitude of his creation?
A WANDERER IN THE SPIRIT LANDS. 243
CHAPTER XXX.
Another time when we were conversing I asked
Hassein for his explanation of the phenomena of the
spiritualistic movement which has recently been inaugu-
rated upon earth, and in which I am naturally deeply
interested, particularly as relating to materialization, and
of which I wished to learn all I could.
Hassein replied: "In order that the mind may grasp
the full significance of the Atomic theory, which has of
late been advanced by men on earth, and which affords
one of the most simple as well as logical explanations of
the passage of matter through matter, it may not be out
of place to say, for the benefit of those who.have not given
much thought to the subject and like these questions put
before them in the simplest form, that the subdivisions of
matter are, as we have said, so minute that even the speck
of dust which floats invisible to the eye, unless a sunbeam
be let in upon it to illuminate it, is composed of an infinite
number of smaller particles, which are attracted and held
together by the same laws that govern the attraction and
repulsion of larger bodies. The knowledge of these laws
gives to spirits the power of adapting these atoms to
their own use, while making the manifestations called
'Materializations' now familiar to students of Spiritual-
ism. The atoms suitable for their purpose are collected
by the spirits wishing to materialize, from the atmos-
phere, which is full of them and also from the emanations
proceeding from the men and women who form the spirit
circle. These atoms are shaped by the spirits' will into
2 H A WANDEKEB IN THE SPIRIT LANDS.
the form of their earthly bodies, ami held in combination
by a chemical substance found, in a greater or less degree,
in the bodies of all living things. Were the chemists of
earth life sufficiently advanced in knowledge, they could
extract this chemical from every living thing in nature
and store it up to he used at will.
"This substance or essence is in fact the mysterious
Elixir of Life, the secret of extracting and retaining which
in tangible form has been sought by the sages of all times
and countries. So subtle, so ethereal, however, is it that
as yet there is no process known to earthly chemists which
can bring this essence into a state to be analyzed by them,
although it has been recognized and classed by some under
the head of 'Magnetic Aura/ Of this, however, it is but
one — and that the most ethereal — element. The life-
giving rays of the sun contain it, but who is there as yet
among chemists who can separate and bottle up in differ-
ent portions the sunbeams? And of all portions this
especially, which is the most delicate, the most subtle.
Yet this knowledge is possessed by advanced spirits, and
some day when the world has progressed far enough in
the science of chemistry, the knowledge of this process
will be given to men just as the discoveries in electricity
and kindred sciences have been given — discoveries which
in an earlier age would have been styled miraculous.
' "Here let me remark as to 'Auras/ that the con-
stituent elements of the auras of the different sitters at a
seance have quite as much effect upon the materialization
as has that of the medium. Sometimes the chemical
elements in the aura of one sitter do not amalgamate or
blend thoroughly with those of some other sitter present,
and this want of harmony prevents any materialization
taking place at all. In extreme cases these antagonistic
elements act so strongly in opposition to each other and
are so repellent in their effects upon the atoms collected,
that they act as a spiritual explosive which scatters the
atoms as dynamite shatters a solid wall.
"This antagonism has nothing whatever to do with
the moral or mental conditions of such persons. They
A WAXDERER IX THE SPIRIT LAXDS. 245
may both be in all respects most estimable, earnest people,
but they should never sit in the same circle and never be
brought into magnetic contact, since their auras could
never blend, and only general disappointment can result
from any attempt to harmonize them. Although, apart,
they might each attain satisfactory enough results, they
never could do so in any attempt in combination.
"In those known as simply physical mediums, that is
mediums with whose assistance purely physical phenom-
ena alone are produced, such as the moving of tables or
carrying in the air of musicaFboxes, and similar feats, this
peculiar essence exists, but in a form too coarse to be suit-
able for materialization, which requires a certain degree
of refinement in the essence. In them it is like a coarse
raw alcoholic spirit, but in the true materializing me-
dium it is like the same spirit redistilled, refined, and
purified, and the purer this essence the more perfect will
be the materialization.
"In many mediums there is a combination of the
physical and materializing powers, but in exact proportion
as the coarse physical manifestations are cultivated so
will the higher and finer forms of materialization be lost.
"It is erroneous to imagine that in true materializa-
tion you are getting merely the double of the medium
transformed for the moment into a likeness of your de-
parted friends, or that the emanations from the sitters
must always affect the appearance of the resulting spirit
forms. They can only do so when from some cause there
is a deficiency of the special essence, or an inability on the
spirit's part to use it. In that case the atoms retain the
personality of those from whom they are taken, because
the spirit is unable to stamp his identity upon them, as a
wax image, and until it be melted into a new mold, it will
retain the impress of the old. The possession of a suffi-
cient amount of the special essence, on the one hand, en-
ables the spirit to clothe himself in the atoms he has col-
lected and to hold them long enough to melt them, as it
were, into a state in which they will take on his identity
or the stamp of his individuality. The absence of the es-
846 A WANDEREB IX THE SPIRIT LANDS.
sencc, on the other hand, causes him to lose his hold be-
fore the process has become perfect, and thus be has either
hastily to show himself with the imperfect resemblance lie
has obtained, or else not show himself at all.
"A familiar simile may explain my meaning. When
in the'earth bod}*, yon took flesh, vegetable, and fluid sub-
Btances ready formed, containing in a prepared stale the
elements your earthly body required for its renewal, and
by the process of digestion yon changed these substances
into a part of yonr soul's earthly envelope. Well, in the
same way a spirit takes the ready prepared atoms given off
by the medium and members of a materializing seance,
and by a process as rapid as lightning artificially digests*
or arranges them into a material covering or envelope for
himself, bearing his own identity more or less completely
impressed on it according to his power.
"Every atom of the body of a mortal is drawn, di-
rectly or indirectly, from the atmosphere around him. and
absorbed in one form or another, and after it has served as
clothing for his spirit, it is cast off to be again absorbed in
another form by some other living thing. Everyone
knows that the material of the human body is continually
changing, and yet many think to establish a prescriptive
right to those atoms thrown off during a seance, and say
that when a spirit makes use of them and adapts them to
himself, therefore he must have taken their own mental
characteristics along with the material atoms, and thus
they try to persuade themselves that the spirit appearing
clothed with these material atoms is no more than the
thought emanation of their own bodies and brains, ignor-
ing, or more probably not knowing, that the grossest ma-
terial, not the mental atoms, were all the spirit wanted to
clothe himself with and make him visible to material
sight.
"The best proof of the fallacy of this supposition is
the constant appearance at seances of spirits whom no one
present was flunking of at the time, and in some cases
even of people whose death was not known to any of the
sitters.
A WANDERER IX THE SPIRIT LANDS. 2±7
'•The essence or fluid ether of which I have spoken is
that which principally holds the material body together in
life. At death, or, more correctly, the withdrawal of the
soul and the severance of the connecting link between it
and the material atoms of the body, it escapes- into the
surrounding atmosphere, permitting the particles of that
body to decay. Cold retards the dispersal of this fluid
other; heat accelerates it. thus explaining why the body of
any animal or plant disintegrates or turns to decay sooner
in hot than in cold climates, and thus becomes nourish-
ment fit for those minute parasites which are stimulated
and fed by a lower degree of life magnetism which is
retained in the discarded envelope. This essence or
fluidic ether is akin to the electric fluid known to scien-
tists, but as electricity is the product of mineral and vege-
table substances, it is lower in degree and much coarser in
quality than this human electricity, and would require the
combination of other elements to make it assimilate with
the human.
"This higher essence is an important element in wdiat
has been termed the Higher Animal Life Principle as dis-
tinguished from the Soul-Life Principle and from the
Astral Life Principle. Each of which we make distinct
elemental principles.
"In trance, either artificially induced or occurring as
part of the spiritual development of certain sensitives or
mediums, this life essence remains with the body, but, as
life is required for its need in trance, a large portion may
be taken away and used by the controlling spirit to clothe
himself, care being taken to return it to the medium
again. With some mediums this life essence is given off
so freely that unless care is taken to replace it continually,
the death of the physical body will soon follow. In oth-
ers it can only be extracted with great difficulty, and in
some there is so small a quantity that it would be neither
wise nor useful to take any away from them at all.
'"The aura of those mediums possessing a large amount
of a high and pure quality, will diffuse a most lovely clear
silver light, which can be seen by clairvoyants, and it
218 A WANDERER IN THE SPIRIT LANDS.
helps even immaterialized spirits to make themselves vis-
ible. This silver light can be seen radiating like the rays
of a star from the medium, and where it is present in a
very high degree no other light is required for the mate-
rialized spirits to show themselves, the spirits appearing
as though surrounded by a silver halo, and with this beau-
tiful light illuminating their garments, they appear much
as you see pictures of saints and angels, whom no doubt
the ancient seers beheld through the medium of this
species of aura.
"Although the aid of a materializing medium and
a good circle of persons still in the material body may sim-
plify the process of building up a body in which a spirit
may be able to clothe himself, yet it is quite possible for
some spirits of the highest spheres to make for themselves
a material body without the aid of any medium or any
other person in an earth-body. Their knowledge of the
laws of chemistry is sufficient and their will power is ade-
quate to the strain imposed on it in the process, and in
the atmosphere of the earth as well as in the plants, min-
erals, and animals, is to be found every substance of which
the body is composed and from which the life essence is
extracted. The human body is a combination of all the
materials and gases found on and in the earth and its at-
mosphere, and it only requires a knowledge of the laws
governing the combination and adhesion of the various
substances to enable a spirit to make a body in all re-
spects similar to that of terrestrial man, and to clothe
himself therewith, holding it in combination for a longer
or shorter period at will.
"Such knowledge is of necessity unknown as yet ex-
cept in the higher spheres, because it requires a high de-
gree of development in the mental condition of the spirit
before he can duly weigh and understand all the minute
points and numerous laws of nature involved in the sub-
ject. The ancients were right in saying they could make
a man. They could do so, and even animate their manu-
facture to a certain degree with the astral or lower life-
principle, but they could not continue to sustain that life
A WAXDERER IX THE SPIRIT LAXDS. 249
by reason of the extreme difficulty in collecting this lower
life-principle, and when they had so animated the artifi-
cially made body it would be devoid of intelligence and
reason, these attributes belonging exclusively to the soul,
and neither man nor spirit can endow such a body with a
soiil — that which alone can give it intellect and immor-
tality. At the same time an artificially made body could
serve as a covering to a spirit (or soul) and enable him to
converse with men for a longer or shorter time, according
to the power of the spirit to retain this material envelope
in the complete state. Thus no doubt those of the
ancients who had acquired a knowledge of these things
could also renew at will the material covering of their
bodies, and make themselves practically live upon the
earth forever, or they might disperse these material
atoms and walk forth in the spirit freed from the tram-
mels of the flesh, reconstructing the earthly body again
when it suited them. Such spirit men are the Mahatmas,
who by the knowledge of these and kindred secrets do
possess many of the marvellous powers attributed to them.
"But where we differ from them is in the application
of the knowledge they have thus gained and the doctrines
they deduce from it, and also as to the unaclvisability of
imparting it freely to men in the flesh, and the duty of
withholding it from them as a dangerous thing. "We hold
there is no knowledge given to any spirit or mortal, which
may not be safely possessed by every other, provided they
have the mental development to understand and apply
this knowledge. Our great teacher of these subjects, the
guide Ahrinziman. was a native of the East and has been
a student of occult subjects, both in his earth life and in
the two thousand and more years that have passed since
he left the earth.and this is his decided opinion, and he
has seen both the origin and the practice of many of these
ideas that are as yet new to the "Western mind.
'"While thus possessing the power to create a material
body from the elemental atoms alone, spirits of advanced
knowledge seldom use this power, because for ordinary
materializing purposes there is no need to exercise it, the
850 A WANDEREB IN THE SPIRIT LANDS.
emanations from the members of the materializing circle
and the aura of the medium, which are already saturated
with the necessary essence Eor the formation of a body,
saving them both time and trouble, and simplifying the
process. It is just as the buying a ready made piece of
cloth simplifies the making of a garment, instead of the
tailor having to proceed first to grow the wool, then to
spiu it, and finally to weave it into cloth for himself before
he can begin to make the garment.
"In some cases so much of the material is taken from
the medium's body so as to perceptibly alter its weight.
In others nearly the whole of the material covering is
used, so that to material sight the medium has vanished,
although a clairvoyant may perceive the astral or spirit
form still seated in the chair. In such cases it is simply
the gross material atoms which have been made use of,
while the mental atoms have not been touched. As a
rule the spirits who take part in a materializing seance,
both those who materialize themselves and those who
assist the chief controlling spirit, are ignorant of the
means by which the results are obtained, just as many
persons who avail themselves of the discoveries of chem-
istry and the articles manufactured by chemists are
ignorant of how those substances are obtained. There is
in all materializations an invisible head or director from
a. sphere greatly in advance of the earth, who may be
called the chief chemist, and he passes his directions to a
spirit strong in the power of controlling the forces of the
astral plane and to others under him, who come in contact
with the medium and direct the order of the materializa-
tions of personal friends of the sitters, besides sometimes
materializing and showing themselves to the circle.
"There is a powerful movement going on now in the
spirit world with the object of extending the knowledge
of all these subjects, both among spirits and men in the
flesh, and the ecclesiasticism, whether of the East or of
the "West, which would still shut up such knowledge
within the precincts of the temple, may fight against this
movement, but it will fight in vain. The power is too
A WANDERER IN THE SPIRIT LANDS. 251
strong for them. Men are pressing into the avenues of
knowledge on all sides and thronging round the doors
winch, sooner or later, must be opened to them.
"You cannot suppress knowledge. It is the in-
alienable birthright of every soul. Neither can it be
made the property of any class. So soon as the mind
begins to think, it will search for knowledge, and feed
upon such crumbs as come in its way, and surely it were
better to impart the knowledge sought carefully and
judiciously so it can be assimilated, than try to suppress
the desire for it, or leave the hungry soul to gather it for
itself in the garbage heaps of error.
"The human race is advancing eternally, and the
tutelage of the child is no longer adapted to the growing
youth. He demands freedom, and will break from the
leading strings altogether unless their tension is relaxed,
and he is Buffered to wander in the pathways of knowledge
to the utmost of his powers. Is it not well, then, that
those who are as the sages of the race should respond to
this thirst for light and knowledge by giving, through
every channel and avenue which can be opened, the
wisdom of the ages in such form as may make it the most
easily comprehended? This planet is but a speck in the
universe. What it knows is only such a speck of the
universal knowledge as is adapted to its state, and each
hour requires that the expansion of the human mind shall
be met by the expansion of its creeds and its resources, by
the pouring in of fresh streams of light, not the suppress-
ing of the old lest it should be too strong for the sight."
252 A WANDERER IN THE SPIRIT LANDS.
CHAPTER XXXI.
"And now, Hassein, there is another point I wish to
ask yon about. I have frequently heard men on earth say
they want to know, if the spheres exist around the earth
and between them and the sun, why it is that all men
cannot see them, and why they cannot even see those
spirits who are said to be actually in the room with them.
Naturally, men are not all satisfied to be told simply that
it is because they are not clairvoyants, and have not the
soul-sight. They want a still clearer explanation. I am
a spirit myself and I know that I exist, and so does my
dwelling-place, but I am unable to give an answer to the
question. Can you do so ?"
Hassein laughed. "I could give a dozen elaborate
explanations, but neither you nor these mortals who are
unable to see the spirits would be much wiser after I had
clone so. I must, therefore, endeavor to make my answer
as free from technicalities as I can. First, though, let
me ask if you have seen the photographs of unmaterialized
spirits which have been obtained by certain mediums in
the flesh. You will have noticed that to mortal sight
they present .a semi-transparent appearance. The material
doors and windows, furniture, etc., show through the
figures of the spirits.
"Now that gives you a very good idea of the amount
of materiality possessed by an astral body (the first degree
of spiritualized matter). The material particles are
spread so thinly that they are like a fine net-work united
by invisible atoms of a more etherealized nature — so sub-
A WANDERER IX THE SPIRIT LANDS. 253
limated in fact that they cannot be impressed upon the
most sensitive plates now used by photographers. Spirits
after they leave the earth plane cannot be photographed
by the plates now in use — they do not possess gross
enough atoms in the composition of their bodies, and have
therefore to either materialize a body like an earthly one,
or they may use another method which has been found
successful and which is the one commonly used in the case
of spirit photographs, where the spirits are visible to clair-
voyant sight though invisible to material eyes. This is
simply described by saying these spirits make use of some
of those astral envelopes or bodies that I have already de-
scribed to you as forming from cloud masses of semi-
material human atoms — astral shells which never served
as the covering of any soul, and which are so plastic in
their nature that spirits can mold them into their own
likeness as a sculptor molds the clay. These replicas can
be and are photographed, bearing a greater or less resem-
blance to the spirit, according as his will power and his
knowledge enable him to stamp his likeness upon them,
and though they are not strictly speaking the photos of
the spirits themselves, yet they are none the less evidence
of spirit power and of the existence of the spirit who has
made use of them, because each spirit must himself stamp
his own identity upon the plastic astral form, while more
advanced scientific spirits prepare that form to receive
the impression.
"In the case of materialized spirits' photographs, the
spirits really make a body from the more material atoms
and clothe themselves in it.
"A clairvoyant seeing one of these astral forms about
to be photographed would probably not be able to dis-
tinguish between it and a true spirit man or woman, be-
cause the power of distinguishing between them is not yet
developed in mediums, neither, as a rule, do they know
why a spirit that looks solid enough to them comes out on
a photographic plate with a semi-transparent appearance.
They see the more spiritualized matter as well as the
grosser astral atoms, therefore it appears to them as a
254 A WANDERER IX THE SPIRIT LANDS.
solid body with well rounded, well proportioned limbs,
not as a transparent shadow of a spirit whose appearance
may well give rise to the idea that returning spirits arc
mere shades, almost, in fact, empty shells — the real
reason of the empty appearance being that, as I have said,
the photographic appliances at preseni in use are not
capable of transferring the whole spirit's form but only
these grosser particles. In the case of a fully materialized
spirit being photographed, this transparent appearance
does not exist. The form is so perfect, so life-like and
solid, that men turn round and say it, therefore, cannot
be a spirit photograph at all — it must be nothing hut the
medium. Blind seekers, who in trying to grasp a subject
so vast, so full of the most subtle difficulties, bring to
bear upon it only the knowledge suitable for mundane
things, and then conclude that they are able to decide
finally so momentous, so scientific a question!
'"But to return to your fjuestion. Having shown
you how a photograph may give a spirit whose appearance
is like that of the traditional ghost, I will now show you
how mortals may also sec them as such, but to illustrate
my meaning I will first ask you to imagine yourself back
in your earthly body with no more powers of spirit sight
than you possessed then. Let us liken the material and
spiritual sight to two eyes. The one we will call the left,
the other the right eye, and let the left stand for the
material sight, the right the spiritual. Suppose you stand
with your back to the light and hold your forefinger in
front of the right eye where it can be seen by that eye
only, the left seeing only the wall before you — shut the
right eye and the finger is invisible, yet it is there, only
not in the line of vision for the left, or material, sight.
Now open both eyes at once and look at your finger and
you will now r see it certainly, but owing to a curious
optical illusion it will appear transparent, a mere shadow
of a finger, the wall being seen through it, and it may be
likened to a ghost of a finger although you know it to be
a solid reality.
'"'Thus you can imagine how a person whose material
A WANDEREE IX THE SPIEIT LANDS. 255
sight is alone open cannot see that which requires spirit-
ual sight to discern, and how, when both the material
and spiritual sight are open at the same moment a spirit
may be visible but with the same transparent appearance
as your finger had just now. Hence has arisen the pop-
ular idea of a ghost. A clairvoyant, looking at any spirit-
ual object with the spiritual sight, does so with the
material sight closed through the power of the controlling
intelligence who directs that person's mediumship.
Therefore to him or to her the spiritual object does pre-
sent the appearance of a solid reality such as a material
finger appears when seen by the material sight alone.
"Few men know and still fewer consider that even
their material sight is dependent upon the material atoms
which fill the earth's atmosphere, and without which
atoms there would be no light to see anything by.
•'At night mortals can see the stars — even those
which are not themselves suns — distant as they are, be-
cause they are material objects from which the light of
the sun is reflected. During the day the stars are still
there, but the immense mass of material particles in the
earth's atmosphere being illuminated by the reflecting of
the sun's rays from them, causes so dense an atmosphere
of light that the stars are veiled and no longer visible to
material eyes. Ascend, however, above this material
atmosphere of illuminated atoms, and, behold, the stars
are again visible even at mid-day and the surrounding
ether of space, being free from such material particles, is
quite dark. There is nothing to reflect the sun's rays.
"Thus, although the mortal would be nearer to the
sun, yet its light is no longer visible to his material eyes,
which can only see when there is some material object,
however small, to reflect the light of the sun for him.
How, then, does man know that the light of the sun is
traveling through the ether space to earth? Only by
reason and analogy, not by sight, for beyond the earth's
atmosphere the sun's light is invisible to him. Men know
tlif light of the moon to be only the light of the sun
reflected from the moon's surface. Experience and ex-
256 A WANDERER IN THE SPIRIT LANDS.
pcriment have proved this, and it is now universally
admitted. In like manner each little atom of material
matter floating in the earth's atmosphere is an infinitesi-
mal moon to reflect the sun's light for man and brighten
earth with the splendor of these reflections. So again
those minute particles that are continually being thrown
off into the atmosphere by the earth itself, are but the
larger and grosser atoms enclosing or rather revolving
round, minute spiritual germs that form a spiritual atmos-
phere around the earth and reflect for clairvoyants the
spiritual elements of the light of the sun. This spiritual
atmosphere forms what is known as the astral plane, and
bears the same proportion of density to astral bodies that
the material atmosphere does to mortal bodies, and the
light from the spiritual elements of the sun striking upon
these spiritual particles is the light of the astral plane by
which spirits see; the material atmosphere of earth being
invisible to them even as this spiritual atmosphere is in-
visible to the material sight of mortals. Is it not, then,
easy to imagine that the spirit spheres may exist around
the earth, and between man and the material envelope of
the sun without his being able to see them, by reason of
the fact that his spiritual sight is closed and he can only
see what is material? The spiritual spheres and their
inhabitants are certainly more transparent and intangible
to mortal sight than his finger appeared just now. Yet
they exist and are as solid a reality as his finger, and are
only invisible by reason of his imperfect sight, which is
limited to material things of comparatively great density."
A WANDERER IN THE SPIRIT LANDS. 257
CHAPTER XXXII.
I was always fond of watching the clouds float over
the sky and shape themselves into pictures suggested by
my thoughts. Since I reached the second sphere of the
spirit land my skies have always had clouds floating over
them, lovely light fleecy clouds which shape themselves
into a thousand forms and take on the most lovely shades
of color, sometimes becoming rainbow hued and at others
of the most dazzling white, and then again vanishing away
altogether. I have been told by some spirits that in their
skies they never see a cloud, all is serene clear beauty; and
no doubt it is so in their lands, for in the spirit world our
thoughts and wishes form our surroundings. Thus, be-
cause I love to see clouds they are to be seen in my sky, at
times veiling and softening its beauties and making cloud-
castles for me to enjoy.
Now, some time after I obtained my little home in
"the Morning Land I began to see between myself and my
cloud-pictures a vision which, like the mirage seen in the
desert, hovered on the horizon, distinct and lifelike, only
to melt away as I gazed. This was a most lovely ethereal
gate of wrought gold, such as might be the entrance to
some fairy land. A clear stream of water flowed between
myself and this gate, while trees so fresh, so green, so
aerial, they seemed like fairy trees, arched their branches
over it and clustered at the sides. Again and again did I
see this vision, and one day while I was gazing at it my
father came unnoticed by me and stood by my side. He
touched my shoulder and said:
B58 A WAX DEREB IN THE SPIRIT LANDS.
'TFranchezzo, that gate is inviting you to go nearer
and see it for yourself. It is the entrance to the highest
circle Of this second sphere, and it is within those gates
thai your new home is waiting for you. You might have
gone some time ago into those circles which lie between,
yen and it, had not your affection for this little cottage
made you content to remain in it. Now, however, it
would he as well for you to go forth and see if the wonders
of that new land will not still more delight you. I am,
as you know, in the third sphere, which will, therefore,
he still above you. hut the nearer you approach to me the
more easily can I visit you, and in your new home we shall
he much oftener together."
I was so surprised I could not answer for a little
time. It seemed incredible that I should be able so soon
to pass those gates. Then, taking my father's advice, I
bade a regretful adieu to my little home (for I grow much
attached to places which I live long in) and set forth to
journey to this new country, the gate shining before me
all the time, not fading away as it had done before.
In the spirit land where the surface is not that of a
round globe as with the planets, you do not see the objects
on the horizon vanishing in the same way, and earth and
sky meeting at last as one. Instead you see the sky as a
vast canopy overhead, and the circles which are above you
seem like plateaux resting upon mountain tops on your
horizon, and when you reach those mountains and see the
new country spread out before you, there are always on
its horizon again more mountains and fresh lands lying
higher than those you have reached. Thus also you can
look down on those you have passed as upon a' succession
of terraces, each leading to a lower, less beautiful one, till
at last you see the earth plane surrounding the earth itself,
and then beyond that again (for those spirits whose sight
is well developed) lie another succession of terrace-like
lands leading down to Hell. Thus circle melts into circle
and sphere into sphere, only that between each sphere
there exists a barrier of magnetic waves which repels those
A WANDERER IX THE SPIRIT LANDS.' 259
from a lower sphere who seek to pass it until their con-
dition has become in harmony with the higher sphere.
In my journey to the golden gates I passed through
several circles of this second sphere, whose cities and
dwelling-places would have tempted me to linger and
admire them had I not been so eager to view the fair land
which was now the goal of my hopes. I knew, moreover,
that I could at any time on my way to earth stop and
explore those intermediate lands, because a spirit can
always retrace his steps if he desires and visit those
below him.
At last I reached the top of the last range of moun-
tains between me and the golden gates, and saw stretched
out before my eyes a most lovely country. Trees waved
their branches as in welcome to me and flowers blossomed
everywhere, while at my feet was the shining river and
across it the golden gates. With a great sense of joy in
my heart I plunged into that beautiful river to swim
across, its refreshing waters closing over my head as I
dived and swam. I had taken no heed to my clothing
and as I landed on the farther side I looked to see myself
dripping with water, but in a moment I found my cloth-
ing as dry as could he, and what was still stranger, my
grey robe with its triple bordering of white had changed
into one of the most dazzling snowy lustre with a golden
girdle and golden borderings. At the neck and wrists it
was clasped with little plain gold clasps, and seemed to
be like finest muslin in texture. I could scarce believe
my senses. I looked and looked again, and then, with a
trembling, beating heart I approached those lovely gates.
As my hand touched them they glided apart and I passed
into a wide road bordered by trees and flowering shrubs
and plants of most lovely hues — like flowers of earth, in-
deed, but ah! how much more lovely, how much more
fragrant no words of mine can convey to you.
The waving branches of the trees bent over me in
loving welcome as I passed, the flowers seemed to turn to
me as greeting one who loved them well, at my feet there
was the soft green sward, and overhead a sky so clear, so
2G0 A WANDERER IX THE SPIRIT LANDS.
pure, so beautiful, the light shimmering through the trees
as never did the light of earthly sun. Before me were
lovely blue and purple hills and the gleam of a fair lake,
upon whose bosom tiny islets nestled crowned with the
green foliage of groups of trees. Here and there a little
boat skimmed over the surface of the lake filled with
happy spirits clad in shining roBes of many different
colors — so like to earth, so like my beloved Southern
Land, and yet so changed, so glorified, so free from all
taint of wrong and sin!
As I passed up the broad flower-girt road a hand of
spirits came to meet and welcome me, amongst whom I
recognized my father, my mother, my brother and a sis-
ter, besides many beloved friends of my youth. They
carried gossamer scarfs of red, white and green colors,
which they were waving to me, while they strewed my
path with masses of the fairest flowers as I approached,
and all the time they sang the beautiful songs of our own
land in welcome, their voices floating on the soft breeze
in the perfection of unison and harmony. I felt almost
overcome with emotion; it seemed far too much happiness
for one like me.
And then my thoughts even in that bright scene
turned to earth, to her who was of all the most dear to
me, where all were so dear, and I thought, "Alas that she
is not here to share with me the triumphs of this hour;
she to whose love more than to any other thing I owe it."
As the thought came to me I suddenly beheld her spirit
beside me, half asleep, half conscious, freed for a brief mo-
ment from the earthly body and borne in the arms of her
chief guardian spirit. Her dress was of the spirit world,
white as a bride's and shimmering with sparkling gems
like dew drops. I turned and clasped her to my heart,
and at my touch her soul awoke and she looked smilingly
at me. Then I presented her to my friends as my be-
trothed bride, and while she was still smiling at us all,
her guide again drew near and threw over her a large
white mantle. He lifted her in his arms once more, and
A WANDEBEB IX THE SPIRIT LANDS. 261
like a tired child she seemed to sink into slumber as he
bore her away to her earthly body, which she had left for
a time to share and crown this supreme moment of my
joy. All. me! even in my joy I felt it hard to let her go,
to think I could not keep her with me; but the thread of
her earthly life was nut yet fully spun, and I knew that
she like others must travel the path of her earthly pil-
grimage to its end.
"When my beloved was gone, my friends all clus-
tered round me with tender embraces, my mother whom
I had never seen since I was a little child — caressing my
hair and covering my face with kisses as though I had
been still the little son whom she had left on earth so
many, many years ago that his memory of her had been
but dim. and that the father had supplied the image of
both parents in his thoughts.
Then they led me to a lovely villa almost buried in
the roses and jasmine which clustered over its walls and
twined around the slender white pillars of the piazza,
forming a curtain of flowers upon one side. What a
beautiful home it seemed! How much beyond what I
deserved! Its rooms were spacious, and there were seven
of them, each typical of a phase in my own character or
some taste I had cultivated.
My villa was upon the top of a hill overlooking the
lake which lay many hundreds of feet below, its calm
waters rippled by magnetic currents and the surround-
ing hills mirrored in its quiet bosom, and beyond the lake
there was a wide valley. As one looks down from a
mountain top to the low hills and the dark valley and
level plains below, so did I now look down from my new
dwelling upon a panorama of the lower spheres and cir-
cles through which I had passed, to the earth plane and
again to the earth itself, which lay like a star far below
me. I thought as I looked at it that there dwelt still my
beloved, and there yet lay the field of my labors. I have
sat many times since gazing out on that lone star, the pic-
tures of my past life floating in a long wave of memory
369 A WANDERER I \ THE SPIRIT LANDS.
across my day-dream, and with all my thoughts was inter-,
woven the image of her who is my guiding star.
* * * * * * * * *
The room from which I could see this view of the
distant earth was my music-room, and in it were musical
instruments of various kinds. Flowers festooned the
walls and soft draperies the windows, which required no
glass in their frames to keep out the soft zephyrs of that
fair land. A honeysuckle, that was surely the same sweet
plant which had so rejoiced my heart in my little cottage
in the Morning Land, trailed its fragrant tendrils around
the window, and on one of the walls hung my picture of
my darling, framed with its pure white roses which always
seemed to me an emblem of herself. Here, too, I again
found all my little treasures which I had collected in my
dark days when hope seemed so far and the shadow of
night was ever over me. The room was full of soft
masses of lovely spirit flowers, and the furniture was like
that of earth only more light in appearance, more grace-
ful and beautiful in every way. There was a couch which
I much admired. It was supported by four half-kneeling
figures of wood-nymphs, carved as it would seem from a
marble of the purest white and even more transparent
than alabaster. Their extended arms and clasped hands
formed the back and the upper and lower ends; their
heads were crowned with leaves and their floating dra-
peries fell around their forms in so graceful, so natural a
manner, it was difficult to believe they were not living
spirit-maidens. The covering of this couch was of a tex-
ture like swan's down, only it was pale gold in color; so
soft was it, it seemed to invite one to repose, and often
have I lain upon it and looked out at the lovely scene and
away to the dim star of earth with its weary pilgrims — its
toiling souls.
The next apartment was filled with beautiful pic-
tures, lovely statues, and tropical flowers. It was almost
more like a conservatory than a room, the pictures being
collected at one end of it and the statues and flowers form-
ing a foreground of beauty that was like 'another and
A WANDEREB IX THE SPIETT LANDS. 263
larger picture. There was a little grotto with a fountain
playing, the water sparkling like diamonds and rippling
over the sides of the smaller basin into one larger still,
with a murmuring sound which suggested a melody to me.
Xear this grotto was one picture which attracted me at
once, for I recognized it as a scene from my earthly life.
it was a picture of one calm and peaceful evening in early
summer when my beloved and I had floated on the quiet
waters of an earthly river. The setting sun glowing in
the west was sinking behind a hank of trees, while the
grey twilight crept over the hollows through the shade of
the trees; and in our hearts there was a sense of peace and
rest which raised our souls to Heaven. I looked around
and recognized many familiar scenes, which had likewise
been full of happiness for me and in whose memories
there was no sting.
There were also many pictures of my friends, and of
scenes in the spirit world. From the windows I could
behold another view than from my music-room. This
view showed those lands which were yet far above me, and*
whose towers and minarets and mountains shone through
a dim haze of bright mist, now rainbow hued, now golden,
or blue, or white. I loved to change from the one view
to the other, from the past which was so clear, to the fu-
ture that was still dim, still veiled for me.
In this picture salon there was all which could de-
light the eye or rest the body, for our bodies require re-
pose as well as do yours on earth, and we can enjoy to rest
upon a couch of down earned by our labors as much as
you can enjoy the possession of fine furniture bought
with gold earned by your work on earth.
Another saloon was set apart for the entertainment
of my friends, and here again, as in the lower sphere,
there were tables set out with a feast of simple but de-
licious fruits, cakes, and other agreeable foods like
earthly foods, only less material, and there was also the
delicious sparkling wine of the spirit world which I have
before mentioned. Another room again was full of books
recording my life and the liv£S of those whom I admired
26 i A WANDERER L\ THE SPIRIT LANDS.
or loved. There were also books upon many subjects,
the peculiarity in them being that instead of being
printed they seemed full of pictures, which when one
studied them appeared to reflect the thoughts of those
who had written the books more eloquently than any
words. Here, too, one could sit and receive the inspired
thoughts of the great poets and literary men who inhabit
the sphere above, and here have I sat, and inscribed upon
the blank pages of some book laid open before me, poems
to her who filled the larger half of all my thoughts.
From this room we passed out to the garden, my
father saying he would show me my chamber of repose,
after our friends were gone. Here, as in the house,
flowers were everywhere, for I always loved flowers, they
spoke to me of so many things and seemed to whisper
such bright fancies, such pure thoughts. There was a
terrace around the house, and the garden seemed almost
to overhang the lake, expecially at one secluded corner
which was fenced in with a bank of ferns and flowering
Ihrubs and backed by a screen of trees. This nook was a
little to the side of the house and soon became my favorite
resort; the ground was carpeted with soft green moss
as you have not on earth — and flowers grew all around.
Here there was a seat whereon I loved to sit and look
away to the earth, and fancy where my beloved one's home
would be. Across all those millions of miles of space my
thoughts could reach her as hers could now reach me,
for the magnetic cord of our love stretched between us
and no power could ever shut us out from each other
again.
"When I had seen and admired all, my friends led
me back to the house and we all sat down to enjoy the
feast of welcome which their love had prepared for me.
Ah! what a happy feast that was. How we proposed the
progression and happiness of each one, and then drank
our toast in wine which left no intoxication behind, no
after reckoning of shame to mar its refreshing qualities!
How delicious seemed this fruit, these numerous little
delicacies which were all the creations of someone's love
A WANDEREE IN THE SPIEIT LANDS. 265
for me. It seemed too much happiness, I felt as in a de-
lightful dream from which I must surely wake. At last
all my friends left except my father and mother, and by
them I was conducted to the upper chambers of the
house. They were three in number. Two were for
such friends as might come to stay with me, and both were
most prettily furnished, most peaceful looking; the third
room was for myself, my own room, where I would retire
when I desired to rest and to have no companion but my
own thoughts. As we entered the thing which attracted
me most and filled me with more astonishment than any-
thing I had yet seen, was the couch. It was of snowy
white gossamer, bordered with pale lilac and gold, while
at the foot were two angels, carved, like the wood-nymphs,
out of the dazzling white alabaster I have vainly tried to
describe. They were much larger than myself or any
spirits whom I had seen, and their heads and extended
wings seemed almost to touch the roof of my room, and
the pose of these two most lovely figures was perfect in its
grace. Their feet scarce touched the floor and with their
bending forms and half-outstretched wings they appeared
to hover over the bed as though they had but just ar-
rived from their celestial sphere.
They were male and female forms, the man wearing
on his head a helmet and bearing in his hand a sword,
while the other hand held aloft a crown. His figure was
the perfection of manly beauty and grace, and his face
with its perfect features so firmly moulded, expressing at
once strength and gentleness, had to my eyes a look of
calm regal majesty that was divine.
The female figure at his side was smaller — more deli-
icate in every way. Her face was full of gentle, tender,
womanly purity and beauty. The eyes large and soft
even though carved in marble, the long tresses of her
hair half-veiling her head and shoulders. One hand
held a harp with seven strings, the other rested upon the
shoulder of the male angel as though she supported her-
self with his strength, while the lovely head was half bent
26G A WANDKIJKH IX THE SPIRIT LANDS.
forward and rested upon her arm, and on her head she
wore a crown of pure white lilies.
The look upon her face was one of such exquisite
sweetness, such maternal tenderness, it might well have
served for that of the Virgin Mother herself. The at-
titudes, the expressions of both were the most perfect re-
alization of angelic beauty I have seen, and for some mo-
ments I could but gaze at them expecting them to melt
away before my eyes.
At last I turned to my father and asked how such
lovely figures came to be in my room, and why they were
represented with wings, since I had been told that angels
had not really wings growing from their bodies at -all.
"My son," he answered, "these lovely figures are the
gift of your mother and myself to you, and we would fain
think of you as reposing under the shadow of their wings,
which represent in a material form the protection we
would ever give you. They are shown with wings because
that is the symbol of the angelic spheres, but if you will
look closely at them you will find that these wings are
like a part of the drapery of the forms, and are not at-
tached to the bodies at all as though they grew from the
shoulder in the fashion earthly artists represent them.
The wings, moreover, express the power of angelic be-
ings to soar upon these outstretched pinions into Heaven
itself. The shining helmet and the sword represent war,
the helmet the war of the Intellect against Error,
Darkness and Oppression. The sword, the war man
must ever wage against the passions of his lower nature.
The crown symbolizes the glory of virtue and self-con-
quest.
"The harp in the woman's hand shows that she is an
angel of the musical sphere, and the crown of lilies ex-
presses purity and love. Her hand resting on the man's
shoulder is to show that she derives her strength and
power from him and from his stronger nature, while her
attitude and looks as she bends over your couch express
the tender love and protection of woman's maternal na-
ture. She is "smaller than the man, because in you the
A WANDERER IN THE SPIRIT LANDS. 267
masculine elements are stronger than the feminine. In
some representations of the angels of men's souls they are
made of equal size and stature, because in those charac-
ters the masculine and feminine elements are both equal,
both evenly balanced, but with you it is not so, therefore
are they represented with the woman dependent upon the
stronger one.
"The male angel typifies power and protection. The
female angel purity and love. Together they show the
eternal dual nature of the soul and that one-half is not
complete without the other. They also are the symbol-
ical representation of the twin guardian angels of your
soul whose wings may be said in a spiritual sense to be
ever outstretched in protection over you."
Shall I confess that even in that beautiful home
there were times when I felt lonely? I had this home,
earned by myself, but as yet I had no one to share it with
me, and I have always felt a pleasure to be doubly sweet
when there was some one whom I- could feel enjoyed it
also. The one companion of all others for whom I
sighed was still on earth, and alas! I knew that not for
many years could she join me. Then Faithful Friend
was in a circle of the sphere above me in a home of his
own. and as for Hassein, he was far above us both, so that
though I saw them at times as well as my dear father and
mother, there was no one to share my life with me en boti
camarade, no one to watch for my home-coming, and no
one for whom in my turn I could watch. I was often on
earth — often with my darling — but I found that with my
advanced position in the Spirit world I could not remain
for so long at a time as I had been wont to do. It had
upon my spirit much the effect of trying to live in a foggy
atmosphere or down a coal mine, and I had to return more
frequently to the spirit land to recover myself.
I used to sit in my lovely rooms and sigh to myself,
"Ah! if I had but some one to speak with, some congenial
soul to whom I might express all the thoughts which
crowd my mind.'' It was therefore with the greatest
268 A WANDERER IN THE SPIRIT LANDS.
pleasure that I received a visit from Faithful Friend, and
heard the suggestion he had to make to me.
"I have come," said he, "on behalf of a friend who
has just come to this circle of the sphere, but who has not
yet earned for himself a home of his own and therefore
desires to find one with some friend more richly endowed
than himself. He has no relatives here and I thought
that you might be glad of his companionship."
"Most truly I would be delighted to share my home
with your friend."
Faithful Friend laughed. "He may be called your
friend also, for you know him. It is Benedetto."
"Benedetto!" I cried in astonishment and delight.
"Ah! then he will indeed be doubly welcome. Bring
him here as soon as possible."
"He is here now — he awaits at your door; he would
not come with me till he was sure you would really be
glad to welcome him."
"No one could be more so," I said. "Let us go at
once and bring him in."
So we went to the door and there he stood, looking
very different from when I had last seen him in that awful
city of the lower sphere — then so sad, weighed down, so
oppressed — now so bright, his robes, like mine, of purest
white, and though his face was still sad in expression yet
there was peace, and there was hope in the eyes he raised
to mine as I clasped his hand and embraced him as we of
my Southern Land embrace those we love and honor. It
was with much pleasure that we met — we who had both
so sinned and so suffered — and we were henceforth to be
as brothers.
Thus it was that my home became no more solitary,
for, when one of us returns from our labors, the other is
there to greet him, to share the joy and the care, and to
talk over the success or the failure.
A WANDERER IN THE SPIRIT LANDS. 269
CHAPTER XXXIII.
How can I tell of the many friends who came to visit
me in this bright home, of the cities I saw in that fair
land, the lovely scenes I visited? I cannot. It would
take volumes, and already my narrative has reached its
limits. I shall only tell of one more vision that I had, be-
cause in it I was shown a new path wherein I was to labor,
one in which I could apply to the aid of others the lessons
I had learned in my wanderings.
I was lying on the couch in my room and had awak-
ened from a long slumber. I was watching, as I often
did, those two most beautiful figures of my guardian an-
gels, and seeing fresh beauties, fresh meanings in their
faces and their attitudes every time I looked at them,
when I became conscious that my Eastern guide, Ahrinzi-
man, in his far-off sphere was seeking to communicate
with me. I therefore allowed myself to become perfectly
passive and soon felt a great cloud of light of a dazzling
white misty substance surrounding me. It seemed to
shut out the walls of my room and everything from me.
Then my soul seemed to arise from my spirit body and
float away, leaving my spirit envelope lying upon the
couch.
I appeared to pass upwards and still upwards, as
though the will of my powerful guide was summoning me
to him, and I floated on and on with a sense of lightness
which even as a spirit I had never felt before.
At last I alighted upon the summit of a high mount-
ain, from which I could behold tbe earth and its lower
270 A W.WM-KKK IN THESPIRIT LANDS.
and higher spheres revolving below me. I also saw that
sphere which was my home, but it appeared lo lie far be-
low the height upon which I stood.
Beside me was Ahrinziman, and as in a dream I
heard his voice speaking to me and saying:
"Behold, son of my adoption, the new path in which
I would have you labor.- Behold earth and her attendant
spheres, and see how important to her welfare is this work
in which I would have you to take part. See now the
value of the power you have gained in your journey to
the Kingdoms of Hell, since it will enable you to become
one of the great army who daily and hourly protect mor-
tal men from the assaults of Hell's inhabitants. Behold
this panorama of the spheres and learn how you con assist
in a work as mighty as the. spheres themselves."
I looked to where he pointed, and I beheld the cir-
cling belt of the great earth plane, its magnetic currents
like the ebb and flow of an ocean tide, bearing on their
waves countless millions upon millions of spirits. I saw
all those strange elemental astral .forms, some grotesque,
some hideous, some beautiful. I saw also the earth-
bound spirits of men and women tied still by their gross
pleasures or their sinful lives, many of them using the or-
ganisms of mortals to gratify their degraded cravings. I
beheld these and kindred mysteries of the earth plane,
and I likewise beheld sweeping up from the dark spheres
below waves of dark and awful beings, ten times more
deadly unto man in their influence over him than those
dark spirits of the earth plane. I saw these darker be-
ings crowd around man and cluster thickly near him, and
where they gathered they shut out the brightness of the
spiritual sun whose rays shine down upon the earth con-
tinually. They shut out this light, with the dark mass of
their own cruel evil thoughts, and where this cloud
rested there came murder and robbery; and cruelty and
lust, and every kind of oppression were in their train, and
death and sorrow followed them. "Wherever man had
cast aside from him the restraints of his conscience and
had given way to greed and selfishness, and pride and am-
A WANDEREK IN THE SPIRIT LANDS. 271
bition, there did these dark beings gather, shutting out
the light of truth with their dark bodies.
And again I saw many mortals who mourned for the
dear ones they had loved and lost, weeping most bitter
tears because they could see them no more. And all the
time I saw those for whom they mourned standing beside
them, seeking with all their power to show that they still
lived, still hovered near, and that death had not robbed of
one loving thought, one tender wish, those whom death
had left behind to mourn. All in vain seemed their
efforts. The living could not hear or see them, and the
poor sorrowing spirits could not go away to their bright
spheres because while those they had left so mourned for
them they were tied to the earth plane by the chains of
their love, and the light of their spirit lamps grew dim
and faded as they thus hung about the atmosphere of
earth in helpless sorrow.
And Ahrinziman said to me: "Is there no need here
for the means of communication between these two, the
living and the so-called dead, that the sorrowful ones on
both sides may be comforted? And, again, is there no
need for communication that those other sinful selfish
men may be told of the dark beings hovering around them
who seek to drag their souls to hell?"
Then I beheld a glorious dazzing light as of a sun
in splendor, shining as no mortal eye ever saw the sun
shine on earth. And its rays dispelled the clouds of
darkness and sorrow, and I heard a glorious strain of
music from the celestial spheres, and I thought surely
now man will hear this music and see this light and be
comforted. But they could not — their ears were closed
by the false ideas they had gathered, and the dust and
dross of earth clogged their spirits and made their eyes
blind to the glorious light which shone for them in vain.
Then I beheld other mortals whose spiritual sight
was partly unveiled and whose ears were not quite deaf,
and they spoke of the spirit world and its wondrous beau-
ties. They felt great thoughts and put them into the
language of earth. Thev heard the wondrous music and
272 A WANDERER IN THE SPIRITJANDS.
tried to give it expression. They saw lovely visions and
tried to paint them, as like to those of the spirit as the
limits of their earthly environments would allow. And
these mortals were termed geniuses, and their words and
their music and their pictures all helped to raise men's
souls nearer to the God who gave that soul — for all that
is highest and purest and best comes from the inspiration
of the spirit world.
Yet with all this beauty of art and music and litera-
ture — with all these aspirations — with all the fervor of
religious feeling, there was still no way opened by which
men on earth could hold communion with the loved ones
who had gone before them into that land which dwellers
upon earth have called the Land of Shades, and from
whose bourn, they thought, no traveler could return — a
land that was all vague and misty to their thought. And
there was likewise no means by which those spirit ones
.who sought to help man to a higher, purer knowledge of
Truth could communicate with him directly. The ideas
and the fallacies of ancient theories formulated in the
days of the world's infancy continually mixed with the
newer, more perfect sight which the spirit world sought
to give, and clouded its clearness and refracted its rays so
that they reached the minds of mortals broken and
imperfect.
Then I beheld that the walls of the material life were
pierced with many doors, and at each door stood an angel
to guard it, and from each door on earth even to the high-
est spheres I saw a great chain of spirits, each link being
one stage higher than the one below it, and to mortals
upon earth were given the keys of these doors that they
might keep them open and that between mortals and the
spirit world there might be communication.
But, alas! as time passed on I saw that many of those
who held these keys were not faithful. They were allured
by the joys and the gifts of earth, and turned aside and
suffered their doors to close. Others again kept their
doors but partly open and where only light and truth
should have shown they suffered errors and darkness to
A WANDERER IN THE SPIRIT LANDS. 273
creep in, and again the light from the spirit world was
sullied and broken as it passed through these darkened
doorways. Still more sad, as time passed on, the light
ceased to shine at all and gave place to the thick impure
rays from dark deceitful spirits from the lower sphere,
and at last the angel would close that door to be opened
no more on earth.
Then I turned from this sad sight and beheld many
new doors opened where mortals stood, whose hearts were
pure and unselfish and unsullied by the desires of earth;
and through these doors poured such a flood of light upon
the earth that my eyes were dazzled, and I had to turn
aside. When I looked again I saw these doorways
thronged by spirits, beautiful, bright spirits, and others
whose raiment was dark and their hearts sad because their
lives had been sinful, but in whose souls there was a
desire for good, and there were spirits who were fair and
bright, but sorrowful, because they could speak no more
with those whom they had left on earth; and I beheld
the sorrowful and the sinful spirits alike comforted and
helped by means of the communication with the earth,
and in the hearts of many mortals there was joy, for
death's dark curtain was drawn aside and there was news
from those beyond the grave.
Then I saw pass before me great armies of spirits
from all the higher spheres, their raiment of purest white
and their helmets of silver and gold glittering in the
glorious spiritual light. And some among them seemed
to be the leaders who directed the others in their work.
And I asked, "Who are these? Were they ever mortal
men?"
And Ahrinziman answered me: "These were not
only mortal men but they were many of them men of
evil lives, who by reason thereof descended to those
Kingdoms of Hell which you have seen, but who because
of their great repentance and the many and great works
of atonement which they have done, and the perfect con-
quest over their own lower natures which they have
gained, are now the leaders in the armies of light, the
2n A WAN DEREE IN THE SPIRIT LANDS.
strong warriors who protect men from the evils of those
lower spheres."
From time to time I saw dark masses of spirits, like
waves washing on a shore and flowing over portions of the
earth, drawn thither by man's own evil desires and greedy
selfishness, and then I would see them driven back by the
armies of light spirits, for between these two there "was a
constant conflict, and the prize for which they contended
was man's soul; and yet these two contending forces had
no weapons but their wills. They fought not save with
the repelling powers of their magnetism which was so
antagonistic that neither could long remain in close con-
tact with the other.
Ahrinziman pointed out to me one door at which
stood a mortal woman, and said: "Behold the chain there
is incomplete; it wants still one link between her and the
spirit chain. Go down and form that link, and then will
your strength protect her and make her strong; then will
you guard her from those dark spirits who hover near,
and help her to keep open her door. Your wanderings
in those lower spheres have given you the power of re-
pelling their inhabitants, and where stronger power is
required it will be sent to protect her — and those who
seek to communicate through her will do so only when
yon see fit, and when you desire to rest in the spirit world
another guide will take your place. And now look again
at the earth and the conflict that surrounds it."
I looked as he spoke, and saw black thunder clouds
hovering over the earth and gathering dark as night, and
a sound as of a rushing storm swept upwards from the
dark spheres of hell, and like the waves of a storm-tossed
ocean these dark clouds of spirits rolled up against the
sea of bright spirits, sweeping them back and rolling over
the earth as though to blot out from it the light of truth,
and they assailed each door of light and sought to over-
whelm it. Then did this war in the spirit world become
a war amongst men — nation fighting against nation for
supremacy. It seemed as though in the great thirst for
wealth and greed for conquest, all nations and all peoples
A YVAXDEEEK IX THE SPIEIT LAXDS. 275
must be engulfed, so universal was this war. 'And I
looked to see were there none to aid. none who would
come forth from the realms of light and wrest from the
dark spirits their power over the earth. The seething
mass of dark spirits were attacking those doors of light
and striving to sweep away those poor faithful mortals
who stood within them, that man might be driven back
to the days of his ignorance again.
Then it was that like a Star in the East I saw a
light, glittering and dazzling, all by its brightness, and it
came down and dawn, and grew and grew till I saw it was
a vast host of radiant angels from the heavenly spheres,
and with their coming those other bright spirits whom I
had seen driven back by the forces of evil gathered
together again and joined those glorious warriors, and
this great ocean of light, this mighty host of bright spirits
swept down to earth and surrounded it with a great belt
of glorious light. Everywhere I saw the rays of light,
like spears, darting down and rending the dark mass in
a thousand places. Like swords of fire flashed these
dazzling rays and cut through the dark wall of spirits on
all sides, scattering them to the four winds of heaven.
Vainly did their leaders seek to gather their forces
together again, vainly seek to drive them on. A stronger
power was opposed to them, and they were hurled back
by the brightness of these hosts of heaven till, like a dark
and evil mist, they sank down, rolling back to those dark
spheres from which they had come.
"And who were these bright angels?'' I asked again,
"these warriors who never drew back yet never slew, who
held in check these mighty forces of evil, not with the
sword of destruction but by the force of their mighty
wills, by the eternal power of good over evil?"
And the answer was: ''They are those who are also
the redeemed ones of the darkest spheres, who long, long
ages ago have washed their sin-stained garments in the
pools of repentance, and have, by their own labors, risen
from the ashes of their dead selves to higher things, not
through a belief in the sacrifice of an innocent life for
27G A WANDEBEB ENF THE SPIRIT LANDS.
their sins, but by ninny years of earnest labors — many acts
of atonement — by sorrow and by bitter tears — by many
weary hours of striving to conquer first the evil in them-
selves that they who have overcome may help others who
sin to, do so likewise. These are the angels of the
heavenly spheres of earth, once men themselves and able
to sympathize with all the struggles of sinful men. A
mighty host they are, ever strong to protect, powerful
to save."
j\Iy vision of the earth and its surroundings faded
away, and in its stead I beheld one lone star shining above
me with a pure silver light. And its ray fell like a thin
thread of silver upon the earth and upon the spot where
my beloved dwelt. Ahrinziman said to me:
"Behold the star of her earthly destiny, how clear
and pure it shines, and know, oh! beloved pupil, that for
each soul born upon earth there shines in the spiritual
heavens such a star whose path is marked out when the
soul is born; a path it must follow to the end, unless by
an act of suicide it sever the thread of the earthly life and
by thus transgressing a law of nature plunge itself into
great sorrow and suffering."
"Do you mean that the fate of every soul is fixed, and
that we are but straws floating on the stream of our
destiny?"
"Xot quite. The great events of the earth life are
fixed, they will inevitably be encountered at certain
periods of the earthly existence, and they are such events
ac those wise guardians of the angelic spheres deem to be
calculated to develop and educate that soul; how these
events will affect the life of each soul — whether they shall
be the turning point for good or ill, for happiness or for
sorrow — rests with the soul itself, and this is the preroga-
tive of our free will, without which we would be but
puppets, irresponsible for our acts and worthy of neither
reward nor punishment for them. But to return to that
star — note that while the mortal follows the destined path
with earnest endeavor to do right in all things, while the
soul is pure and the thoughts unselfish p then does that
A WAXDERER IX THE SPIRIT LAXDS. 277
star shine out with clear unsullied ray, and light the path-
way of the soul. The light of this star comes from the
soul and is the reflection of its purity. If, then, the soul
cease to be pure, if it develop its lower instead of its
higher attributes, the star of that soul's destiny will grow
p&le and faint, the light flickering like some will-o'-the-
wisp hovering over a dark morass; no longer will it shine
as a clear beacon of the soul; and at last, if the soul
become very evil, the light of the star will die out and
expire, to shine no more upon its earthly path.
"It is by watching these spiritual stars and tracing
the path marked out for them in the spiritual heavens,
thai spirit seers are able to foretell the fate of each soul,
and from the light given by the star to say whether the
life of the soul is good or evil. Adieu, and may the new
field of your labors yield you the fairest fruits."
He ceased speaking and my soul seemed to sink down
and down till I reached the spirit body I had left lying on
my couch, and for a brief moment as I re-entered it I lost
consciousness; then I awoke to find myself in my own
room, with those beautiful white angels hovering over me,
symbols, as my father had said, of eternal protection
and love.
278 A WANDERER IX Till-: SPIRIT LANDS.
CHAPTER XXXIV.
Mj task is done, my story told, and it but remains for
me to say to all who read it, that I trust they will believe
it is as it professes to be, the true narrative of a repentant
bouJ who has passed from darkness into light, and 1 would
have them ask themselves if it might not be well to profit
by the experiences of others and to weigh well the evi-
dence for and against the possibility of the spirit's return.
And you who would think the gospel of mercy after death
too easy a one, too lenient to the sinners, do you know
what it is to suffer all the pangs of an awakened con-
science? Have you seen that path of bitter tears, of
weary effort, which the soul must climb if it would return
to God? Do you realize what it means to undo, step by
step, through years of darkness and suffering and bitter
anguish of soul, the sinful acts and words and thoughts
of an earthly lifetime ? — for even to the uttermost farth-
ing must the debt be paid; each must drink to the last
dregs the cup that he has filled. Can you imagine what it
is to hover around the earth in helpless, hopeless impo-
tence, beholding the bitter eurse of your sins working
their baneful effects upon the descendants you have left,
with the taint of your past lurking in their blood and
poisoning it? To know that each of these tainted lives —
all these beings cursed with evil propensities ere they
were born — have become a charge upon your conscience
in so far as you have contributed to make them what they
are, clogs which will continue to drag back your soul
when it attempts to rise, until you shall have made due
A WAXDERER IX THE SPIRIT LAXDS. 2?9
atonement to them, and helped to raise them from that
slough into which your unbridled passions have con-
tributed to sink them? Do you understand now how and
why there may be spirits working still about the earth
who died hundreds of years ago? Can you imagine how
a spirit must feel who seeks from the grave to call aloud
to others, and especially to those he has betrayed to their
ruin as well as his own, and finds that all ears are deaf to
his words, all hearts are closed to his cries of anguish and
remorse? He cannot now undo one foolish or revengeful
act. He cannot avert one single consequence of suffering
which he has brought upon others or himself; an awful
wall has risen, a great gulf opened between him and the
world of living men on earth, and unless some kind hand
will bridge it over for him and help him to return and
speak with those whom he has wronged, even the con-
fession of his sorrow — even such tardy reparation as he
may still make is denied to him. And is there, then, no
need that those who have passed beyond the tomb should
return and warn their brethren, even as Dives sought to
return and could not? Are men on earth so good that
they require no voice to echo to them from beyond the
gates of death a foreshadowing of the fate awaiting them?
Far easier were it for man to repent now while still on
earth than to wait till he goes to that land where he can
deal with the things of earth no more, save through the
organisms of others.
I met a spirit once who in the reign of Queen Anne
had defrauded another of a property by means of forged
title deeds, and who when I saw him was still earth-bound
to that house and land, utterly unable to break his chains
until the help was given him of a medium through whom
he confessed where he had hidden the true title deeds, and
gave the names of those to whom of right the property
should belong. This poor spirit was freed by his con-
fession from his chain to that house, hut not from his
imprisonment to the earth plane. He had to work there
till his efforts had raised up and helped onward those
whom he had driven into the wavs of sin and death by his
880 A WANDERER IN THE SPIRIT LANDS.
crime. Not till he has done bo can this spirit hope to
leave the earth plane, and there he still works, striving to
undo the effects of his past sin. Will anyone say his
punishment was too light? Shall anyone judge his
brother man and say at what point God's mercy shall stop
and that sinner be doomed eternally? Ah, no! Few
dare to face the true meaning of their creeds or to follow
out even in thought the bitter and awful consequences of
a belief in eternal punishment for any of the erring
children of C4od.
I have in these pages sought to show what has been
the true experience of one whom the churches might
deem a lost soul, since I died without a belief in any
church, any religion, and but a shadowy belief in a God.
My own conscience ever whispered to me that there must
be a Supreme, a Divine Being, but I stifled the I hough I
and thrust it from me. cheating myself into a sensfe of
security and indifference akin to that of the foolish
ostrich which buries its head in the sand and fancies none
can see it; and in all my wanderings, although I have
indeed learned that there is a Divine Omnipotent Ruler
of the Universe — its upholder and sustainer — I have not
learned that he can be reduced to a personality, a definite
shape in the likeness of man, a something whose attributes
we finite creatures can argue about and settle. Neither
have I seen anything which would incline me to believe
in one form of religious belief rather than in another.
"What I have learned is to free the mind, if possible, from
the boundaries of any and every creed.
The infancy of the race of planetary man, when his
mental condition resembles that of a child, may be called
the Age of Faith. The Mother Church supplies for him
the comfort and hope of immortality and takes from his
mind the burden of thinking out for himself a theory of
First Cause, which will account to him for his own exist-
ence and that of his surroundings. Faith steps in as a
maternal satisfier of the longings of his imperfectly de-
veloped soul and the man of a primitive race believes
without Questioning why he does so. Among the early
A WANDERER IN THE SPIRIT LANDS. 881
tribes of savages the more spiritualized men become the
mystery men, and then the priests, and as age succeeds to
age the idea of an established church is formulated.
Next comes the Age of Reason, when the develop-
ment of man's intellectual faculties causes him to be no
longer satisfied with blind faith in the unknown, the
mother's milk of the Churches no longer assuages his
mental hunger, he requires stronger food, and if it be
withheld, lie breaks away from the fostering care of
Mother Church which once sustained but which now only
cramps and cripples the growing and expanding soul.
Man's reason demands greater freedom and its due share
of nourishment, and must find it somewhere, and in the
struggle between the rebellious growing child and the
Mother Church, who seeks to retain still the power she
wielded over the infant, the Faith that once sufficed as
food comes to be regarded as something nauseous and to
be rejected at all cost, hence the Age of Reason hecomes a
time of uprootal of all the cherished beliefs of the past.
Then comes another stage, in which the child, now
grown to he a youth who has seen and tasted for himself
the joys and sorrows, the penalties, and pleasures and
benefits of reason, and has thereby learned to put a juster
value on the powers and limitations of his own reasoning
faculties, looks back at the faith he once despised, and
recognizes that it also has its beauties and its value. He
sees that though faith alone cannot suffice for the
nourishment of the soul beyond its infant stage, yet
reason alone, devoid of faith, is but a cold hard fare upon
which to sustain the soul now becoming conscious of the
immeasurable and boundless universe by which it is sur-
rounded, and of the many mysteries it contains — mys-
teries reason alone is not able to explain. Man turns hack
to faith once more and seeks to unite it with reason, that
henceforth they may assist each other.
\ow Faith and Reason are the central thought prin-
ciples of two different spheres of thought in the spirit
world. Faith is the vitalizing principle of religion or
eiclesiasticism. as Reason is of philosophy. These two
m a \\.\M)i:i{i;u i\ the spirit lands.
schools of thought which appear at first sight opposed to
each other, are oone the less capable of being blended in
the mental development of the same personality, the
properly balanced mind being that in which they air
equally proportioned. Where one predominates over the
other to a great degree, the individual — he he mortal or
disembodied spirit — will be narrow-minded in one diree-
tion or the other and incapable of taking a just view of
any mental problem. His mind will resemble a two
wheeled gig which has a big and a little wheel attached to
the same axle, and in consequence neither wheel ean make
due progress, the mental gig coming to a stop till the
defect be remedied.
A man may be thoroughly conscientious in his desire
for truth, but if his intellectual as well as his moral fac-
ulties have not been equally developed, his mind will be
like a highway blocked by huge masses of error, so that
the ethereal rays from the star of truth cannot penetrate
it; they are broken and refracted by the obstructions, so
that either they do not reach the man's soul at all or they
are such distorted images of the truth that they are
simply a source of prejudice and error. The intellect
may be called the eye of the soul, and if the sight of that
eye be imperfect the soul remains in mental darkness,
however earnest may be its desire for light. The mental
sight must be developed and used ere it can become clear
and strong.
Blind ignorant faith is no safeguard against error.
The history of religious persecutions in all ages is surely
proof of that. The great minds of earth to whom great
intellectual discoveries are due have been those in which
the moral and intellectual powers are equally balanced,
and the perfect man or angel will be the man in whom all
the qualities of the soul have been developed to their
highest point.
Every attribute of the soul, mental and moral, has its
corresponding ray of color, and the blending of these
forms the beautiful and varied tints of the rainbow, and
A WANDEKEB IN THE SPIRIT LANDS. 283
like it they melt into one another to form the perfect
whole.
In some souls the development of certain faculties
will take place more rapidly than that of others; in some
certain seed germs of intellect ami morality will lie fal-
low and give no sign that they exist, hut they are none the
less there, and either on earth or in the great Hereafter
they will begin to grow and to blossom into perfection.
Evil is caused by the lack of development of the
moral attributes in certain souls and the over development
of other qualifies. The souls which are now inhabiting
the lower spheres are simply passing through the process
of education needful to awaken into active life and growth
the dormant moral faculties, and terrible as are the evils
and sufferings wrought in the process they are yet neces-
sary and beneficent in their ultimate results.
In the sphere where I now dwell there is a magnifi-
cent and beautiful palace belonging to the Brotherhood
of Hope. This palace is the meeting place for all mem-
bers of our ] brotherhood, and in it there is a fine hall built
of what is the spiritual counterpart of white marble.
This hall is called the "Hall of Lecture," and in it we
assemble to listen to discourses delivered to us by ad-
vanced spirits from the higher sphere. At the upper end
there is a magnificent picture called "The Perfect Man."
That is to say it represents a man, or rather angel, who is
relatively perfect. I say relatively perfect, because even
the utmost perfection which can be imagined or attained,
can only be relative to the still greater heights which must
be eternally possible for the soul. Unlike Alexander who
mourned that he had left no more worlds to conquer, the
soul has no limits put to the possibilities of its intellectual
and moral conquests. The universe of mind is as bound-
less as that of matter, and as eternal. Hence none can
use the word perfect as implying a point beyond which
progress is impossible.
In the picture this relatively perfect angel is repre-
-cnted as standing on the highest pinnacle of the celestial
spheres. The earth and her attendant spheres lie Ear
284 A WANDERER IN THE SPIRIT LANDS.
below him. His gaze is turned with an expression of
wonder, delight, and awe to those far distant regions
which lie beyond the power of mortal mind to grasp,
regions which lie beyond our solar universe. They are
become fur the angel his new Land of Promise;
On his head the angel wears a golden helmet, sym-
bolizing spiritual strength and conquest. On one arm he
bears a silver shield typical of the Protection of Faith.
His garments are of dazzling white showing the purity of
his soul, and the wide outstretched wings symbolize the
power of intellect to soar into the highest thought-regions
of the universe. Behind the angel there is a white cloud
spanned by a rainbow whose every tint and shade blended
into perfect harmony shows that the angel has developed
to the highest degree every intellectual and moral
attribute of his soul.
The rich coloring of this picture, the purity of its
dazzling white, the brilliancy of its glowing tints, no pen
can describe, no earthly brush could ever paint, and yet
I am told it falls far short of the beauty of the original
picture, which is in the highest sphere of all, and which
represents a former grand master of our order who has
passed on to spheres beyond the limits of our solar system.
Replicas of this picture are to be seen in the highest circle
of each earth sphere in the buildings belonging to the
Brotherhood of Hope, and they show the connecting links
between our Brotherhood and the celestial spheres of the
solar system, and also to what heights all may aspire in
the ages of eternity before us. Yes, each one of us, the
most degraded brother who labors in the lowest sphere of
earth, and even the most degraded soul that struggles
I here in darkness and sin unspeakable, is not shut out, for
all souls are equal before God and there is nothing which
has been attained by one that may not be attained by all
if they but strive earnestly for it.
Such, then, is the knowledge I have gained, such the
beliefs I have arrived at since I passed from earth life, but
I cannot say I have seen that any particular belief helps
A WANDERER IX THE SPIRIT LANDS. B85
or retards the souPs progress, except in so far as this, that
some creeds have a tendency to cramp the mind and ob-
scure the clearness of its vision and distort its idea- of
right and wrong, thereby preventing those who hold those
beliefs from possessing the perfect freedom of thought
and absence of prejudice which can alone fit the soul to
rise to the highest spheres.
I have written this story of my wanderings in the
hope that amongst those who read it may he found some
who will think it worth while to inquire whether, after
all. it may not he. as it professes to he. a true story.
There may also be others who have lost those who were
very dear to them, hut whose lives were not such as gave
hope that they could he numbered with those whom the
churches call '"The Blessed Dead who die in the Lord"' —
dear friends who have not died in the paths of goodness
and truth — I would ask those mourners to take hope and
to believe that their beloved hut erring friends may not
lie wholly lost — norutterly beyond hope. yes. even though
some may have perished by their own hands and under
circumstances which would seem to preclude all hope. 1
would ask those on earth to think over all that I have
said and to ask themselves whether even yet their prayers
and their sympathy may not he able to help and comfort
those who need all the help and comfort that can he given
to them.
From my home in the Bright Land — so like the land
of my birth — I go still to work upon the earth plane ami
among those who are unhappy. I also help to cany for-
ward the great work of spirit communion between the
living of earth and those whom they call dead.
I spend a portion of each day with my beloved, and
I am able to help and protect her in many ways. I am
also cheered in my home in the spirit land by the visits of
many friends and companions of my wanderings, and in
that bright land surrounded by so many memorials of love
and friendship, I await with a grateful heart that happy
time when my beloved one's earthly pilgrimage shall be
28G A WAXnKKKK IX THE SPIRIT LANDS.
finished, when her lamp of life shall have burned out and
her star of earth lias set, and she shall conic to join me in
an even brighter home, where for us both shall shine
eternally the twin Mars of Hope and Love.
(The End.)
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