Materialisation – Part 3

A pencil drawing by spirit (completed in darkness in a couple of minutes) of Walter, another of Madame D'Esperance's guides.

The following is translated from an article by Max Rahn in the German journal ‘Ubersinnliche Welt,’ on his observations during a séance for materialisation held in Berlin some time ago.

After speaking of streams of faint light playing about the knees of the persons sitting in the circle, and which seemed to be attracted to the cabinet, into which they disappeared, and how he had peeped behind the curtains and had seen something like flickering lights in movement, he goes on to say:-
“The third and undoubtedly the most important of my observations was that of the modus operandi of the building of the material of the spirit form, which is the more interesting as it was also witnessed by my friend Weinholz.

"I saw from the central opening in the cabinet behind the medium, and far above her head, a milk-white luminous cloud appear, which slowly sank to the floor before her, and then rose in a pillar-like form to a height of five or six feet. Suddenly, from the immediate neighbourhood of the medium, seemingly from her side, a shadowy something rose. It entered the cloudy mass, which swept itself about the shadowy figure, which then, as a spirit in luminous garments, began to move about the circle.

I raised myself in astonishment and leaned towards where, in spite of what I had seen, the medium sat quietly in her chair and replied to my remarks.
‘The medium and the spirit were clearly two separate individuals.’

I maintain therefore, that I was so fortunate as to be a witness of the most important process in the phenomenon of materialisation, and am therefore able to throw a little light on this most mysterious subject.”

A similar phenomenon is reported in a French work by Mr Aksakof and Colonel de Rochas. It happened one Mid-summer’s eve in Paris, when a few friends were having an after dinner chat in our sitting room. Mr Aksakof writes (I translate his remarks from the French):-

“My nephew, Herr Boutlerof, sat on a chair beside the medium’s sofa, chatting with her. I sat before her within an arm’s length. The conversation was general. The semi-darkness of the room was agreeable after the glare and heat outside. The windows were open.

The lamps were not lighted. My attention was called by my nephew to a curious white mist, or cloud, which seemed to be gathering between Madame D’ Esperance and himself – “issuing from her side,” he said. Madame D’ Esperance was talking to Colonel de Rochas and a lady, and seemed unconscious of what we saw. M. Boutlerof had his hands covered with the white mass, as it lay on his knees. He closed his fingers over it, and the mass shrank together as if sensitive, and almost disappeared. I signalled to him silently to avoid disturbing the phenomenon. The mass continued to grow till the attention of others was drawn to it. Madame Cauvin grew excited and afraid. I tried to quiet her, but her nervousness increased. The white, cloudy mass assumed the height and something of the shape, of a six year old child, in active movement under a too large garment, but went no further, and almost immediately grew less and less, till nothing remained. It was, M. Boutlerof positively declared, re-absorbed by the medium, who watched the process as interestingly as he did. Although the evening was closing in, the light was sufficient to enable one to observe all that went on in the room. It was very interesting because quite unexpected. I regretted Madame Cauvin’s nervousness extremely.”

The conclusions which I have drawn from the numerous, varied and oft-repeated experiments are: That while the material used in the production of visible spirit forms is borrowed entirely from the sitters and particularly from mediumistic persons in a circle, the intelligence that animates that form is entirely extraneous and independent of the intelligence or consciousness of mediums or sitters.

Some readers may be mystified by the references to the medium being conscious during the process of materialisation referred to above, because in the vast majority of cases materialisation mediums are not conscious when being used by their controls. Madame D’ Esperance was a very singular lady. Quite early on in her development she made a pact with her controls that she would only agree to be used for materialisations if she could remain conscious throughout the entire process. In her autobiography “Shadow Land” she reports that it was something of a pyrrhic victory for her because if she as much as moved a muscle during the phenomenon, it would cease immediately.

Lionel