Glimpses Of The Next State.Pdf - Spiritualists' National Union

116names are wrong. Mary and Thomas are brother and sister. This sitting was a failure; but, atthe invitation of the psychic, I returned at 8.15 p.m. to join a party who were booked for that time.(82) The circle consisted of a Mr. and Mrs. Smith, a relative of theirs—a Mr. Andrews—the psychic, and myself. The trumpet was placed in the middle of the circle. We sang a little, and avoice from the trumpet joined in; this was the chief control, Dr. Sharp. A spirit then came to Mr.Andrews, speaking in low tones through the trumpet; she was related also to Mr. and Mrs. Smith,and was fully identified. Then came to me an old brother officer, Captain W. W. P., who identifiedhimself satisfactorily, and spoke of the last materialisation seance at which I had seen him; this wasat Pinner, near Harrow. The curious thing about this communication was that the spirit said it wasin Buckinghamshire we had met, whereas it was in a village two or three miles outside the limit ofthat county. I reminded him of a certain action of his that had enabled me to satisfy myself of hisidentity on that occasion. He said: “Yes, that was my adieu.” (Correct; he disappeared directlyafterwards.)After this the former spirit held a long conversation with her friends. I heard them plyingher with various questions; among others, what they had been doing that afternoon. They assuredme later that all their questions had been answered correctly. The next spirit to manifest was Iola,who gave her Christian names, and also the name of a relative to us both, who had passed overfifty-five years before, as a~ child. She also gave my name, and referred to a seance of a few daysbefore at the Jonsons at Toledo, saying: “Did you see mother?”Q.: “You could not speak ?”A.: “No. But I held out my hands.” (Correct.) “Josephine spoke.” (Correct.)Forms were seen clairvoyantly trying to build up, but none succeeded.It was a convincing seance, though in the dark, and I was satisfied that Mrs. Wriedt was a mediumof remarkable power. The atmospheric conditions were of the best—freezing, dry, and clear. Iunderstood that Mr. and Mrs. Smith had sat with this psychic before, but not for some time; Mr.Andrews had not met her before.(83) January 8, 1909. 11.10 to 12.10. With Mrs. Wriedt alone, in the dark. Conditionsexcellent; freezing, dry, and clear. About fifteen minutes after the light was extinguished I saw afaintly-lighted cloud hovering about between the psychic and myself; this gradually developed intothe full face of a man. I did not recognise it, but discovered later from “Dr. Sharp,” the control, thatthe name was “George.” The appearance of the etherealisation was similar to that we areaccustomed to see in Sir Herbert Tree’s play when the ghost of Caesar appears to Brutus. The nexttwo phantoms were those of relatives, one of whom passed over eighteen years ago, the other sixyears; the fourth was the mysterious “Josephine,” who bad come to me at a Jonson seance atToledo. I asked her why she attached herself to me, and she answered through the trumpet, whilestill in sight: “To help you, in loving kindness.”This was the only time I had seen a form speaking with trumpet, and it reminded me of oldmedieval pictures. The spirit said Iola was with her. I thanked her for assisting Iola, when she said:“It is she who assists me.” I learnt later that she was a spirit “healer.”The etherealisations came to an end, and for the rest of the seance the spirits spoke through thetrumpet in the dark. After the disappearance of Josephine, Iola spoke for some time, first givingher two Christian names correctly.She answered several questions, and described minutely and accurately what she had seenme doing at a certain time on the previous day. One reply struck me as most curious. I had askedher where she lived in her childhood, and she replied “Torrington”(faintly).Q.: “What was the name of the square ?”A.: “Torrington.”(Now, the fact is she lived in the next square to Torrington Square, in London. This is likethe W. W. P. case. He did not materialise in Buckinghamshire, but a few miles off, in Middlesex.This often happens in spirit communication, but the reason of it is difficult to fathom. Surely itwould be more natural for Iola to remember the name of her own square than that of theneighbouring one. I need hardly remind the reader that Mrs. Wriedt knew nothing whatever,normally, of me or my family or friends; she had never been to England, and the idea of her being