How to Read the Crystal by Walter Gorn Old (pdf to ebook reader .txt) 📖

the symbol of death be written there, it shows speedy translation to a far-off country in which the subject will die. That far-off country may be the spiritual world itself in which case the death would be a natural one. But if the ship's sails are drooping, then it denotes a falling away of spiritual influx of intelligence, and of trade. Expected news will not come.

Black bread denotes a famine, and if it be spotted with yellow blotches it shows a plague. This symbol was seen, with a goat butting at it, in June, 1896. There followed a famine and plague in India, which country is said to be ruled by the zodiacal sign Capricorn! The symbol was not deciphered till the event came to throw light upon it. In the same way a leaf of shamrock, denoting the Triple Alliance, has been seen split down the centre with a black line, denoting the fracture of the treaty. It would also seem to indicate that Ireland, whose symbol is the shamrock, will be separated by an autonomous government from the existing United Kingdom.

In similar manner all symbols arising in the crystal may be interpreted by reference to their known qualities and uses, as well as the associations existing between them and other things, persons, and places, in the mind of the seer. As we have already said, however, the meanings of most of the symbols will be conveyed to the consciousness of the trained seer at the time of their appearance in the crystal. Experience will correct many errors, and a symbol, once known, will assume a constant meaning with each seer, so that after repeated occurrence it will hold a definite signification.

It should be mentioned, however, that the same symbol will have different meanings with different seers. It is difficult to say why this is the case. But it probably arises from the difference of individual temperament, and the Order to which the soul belongs in the spiritual world. These dissimilarities exist between individuals down to the lowest of our sensations. We have the same laws of thought and the same general constitution. Humanity holds us all within the bonds of a single nature. Yet, despite this fact, we have differences of opinion, of emotion, of sympathy and antipathy, of taste, and so forth, Therefore it would appear that the soul images projected by the magical power of the mind must have different significations with each of us, their interpretation being in some peculiar way in agreement with the nature of the person who sees them. Necessarily no definite rule can be laid down as to interpretation, but it is advisable that the seer or seeress should be his or her own interpreter.

Thus, although every symbol has some general signification in agreement with its natural qualities and uses, yet it obtains a particular signification in regard to each person. It is within common experience that this is the case in regard to dreams, wherein the faculty of seership is acting in its normal plane. Every person is a seer in dream-life, but few persons pay that attention to dreams that their origin and nature warrant. The crystal is but a means of bringing this normal faculty of dreaming into activity in the waking life. Yet, as stated above, the differences of import or meaning, even in the dream-world, of any particular symbol is a common experience. Thus one person will dream to be wading in water whenever there is trouble ahead. Another will dream of a naked child when similar troubles are about to occur, Butcher's meat will signify financial troubles to one person, to another a fortunate speculation. The controlling factor in this matter is probably to be found in the constitution of the mental and psychic qualities conferred by the hereditary and psychic influences converging at the conception of an individual, and expressed in the birth. Probably, too, an argument could be established in regard to the influence of the planets ruling at the nativity, and also from the dominion of the signs of the zodiac in the horoscope of birth. But this would be beyond the scope and intention of this short treatise.

CHAPTER VII.

SOME EXPERIENCES

The following facts, in connection with predictions made from the Crystal, have come within the knowledge of the writer, either as personal experiences or in association with others in which the faculty of clear vision is active.

A lady of title visited the seer in the month of June, 1896, and was told that she would hear news from abroad in some hot country concerning the birth of a child, a boy, who would arrive in the following year in the month of February. The lady did hear such news, and in February, 1897, a boy was born to the lady's sister in India. The same lady was told that on a certain date, while travelling, she would meet with an accident to the right leg. She fell between the platform and the footboard while getting into a train, and suffered severe abrasion of the right leg, together with a serious muscular strain which laid her up for several days. Previous to that the lady was to be surprised by some good fortune happening to her son in connection with papers and a contest. This happened at the time specified. Her son passed his examination for the military college with honours.

Mrs. H. was consulted by a lady of some ability in a special line of literature. This fact was not, however, within the knowledge of the seeress. She was told that she would go up a certain staircase into a dingy room with a roll of something under her arm. She would see a dark man who was thick-set and of quiet demeanour. The man would take the roll, and it would be a source of good fortune to her at a later date.

The lady-consultant did so take a certain manuscript rolled up beneath her arm. She went up the dingy staircase described by the seeress, and saw the man whose description had been given.

The manuscript was transferred from her hand to that of the publisher, for such was the man's occupation. The manuscript was accepted, and later on was published. So the prediction was literally fulfilled.

In the first case cited the vision was symbolical, and the interpretation was made by the seer himself. In the second case the vision was literal, and needed no interpretation. These two cases will serve for an illustration of the two types of vision.

Mrs. A. was consulted by a lady of the writer's acquaintance in 1893. She was told that she would not marry the person to whom she was then engaged, but would have to wait till a certain person, who was described, should come from a foreign country and take her away. This would happen, it was said, in the month of January, three years later. This event transpired in due course exactly as predicted, though nothing was further from the probable course of events; in fact, the lady was not a little irate at the allusion to the breaking off of her then existing relations, while the idea of marrying a person whom she had never seen, and for whom she could have no sort of regard, was naturally revolting to one so wholly absorbed as she was at the time.

Mrs. G. consulted the seer on September 27th, 1894. She was told she would have sickness incidental to the loins and shooting pains in the knees. [A figure was seen with a black cloth around the loins, the figure stooping and resting its hands upon its knees.] She would be the owner of a house in the month of December. [A house was seen covered with snow; the trees were bare.] A removal would be made when the trees were without leaf. [A bird was seen on a branch without leaf; the bird flies off.] The consultant would be engaged in a dispute concerning money. [Several hands seen grabbing at a pile of money.]

These events came to pass at the time predicted. It is advisable to note that in the first instance the symbolical vision is seen; in the second, a literal vision supervenes; and in the third and fourth cases the vision reverts to the symbolical. Here we have an instance of the overlapping of the two conditions of the temperament, the active and the passive state alternating.

As an illustration of the extreme difficulty of interpretation in the normal state of consciousness a symbol may be cited which was seen in the crystal for Miss X. "A shield, and a lion rampant thereon, in red." Now this might mean anything. It suggests the armorial bearings of a princely family. The lion rampant might mean the anger of a person in authority, as the lion is the avowed king of beasts. Its colour, red, and its attitude are naturally expressive of anger. The shield might be a protection, though little needed by a lion, especially if the assailant were the fragile Miss X. to whom the vision had reference.

Now observe the interpretation of the seer. "You will hear news from a man of medium height and fair complexion concerning a foreign country. A letter will come in reference to something written by you which will be the very best thing that could happen. You will score a great success." This interpretation, which is quite in line with the fact and which afterwards transpired, is probably as far removed from all that one might have expected as anything could well be. But we have to remember that the condition in which the seer voices the interpretation of symbols seen by him is a psychological one, and no doubt in that state natural symbols take on quite a different signification to that which they would hold in the normal state of waking consciousness. How often do dreams have a marked influence upon the dreamer while still asleep; how often do they assume proportions of magnitude and become pregnant with meaning to the dreamer, only to dissolve into ridiculous triviality and nonsense as soon as the person awakes! It would indeed appear that a complete hiatus exists between the visionary and the waking states of consciousness, so that even the laws of thought undergo a change when the centre of consciousness is removed from the outer to the inner world of thought and feeling.

The writer has known cases of sickness predicted with remarkable accuracy, the time and the nature of the sickness being foretold with more or less accuracy. The reception of unexpected letters and telegrams; their import and consequences; the various changes, voyages, business negotiations and speculations occurring in the consultants' lives have been foretold by means of the crystal. Deaths have been foreseen, and even changes in the religious views of the consultant or his associates.

In one case the writer saw a vision of a public square in which was the effigy of a lamb mounted upon a pedestal. The lamb was made of solid silver and was mounted on marble. A Catholic priest came along and pointed at the lamb. Immediately a flash of lightning came from the sky and struck the effigy, melting off one of its ears.

This was stated to signify that the community to which the consultant belonged would immediately lose a member by conversion to the Roman Church. By the next mail the consultant learned that such was the case—an important member of the community having gone over to the Roman Catholics exactly as predicted.

In another case a man was seen dressed in black and wearing the habit of a judge. He held some papers in his hands which he was endeavouring to conceal. He appeared unsuccessful in his efforts. A snake was seen at his feet. It rose up against him. A change took place in the field of the vision and the same man was seen lying on his death-bed. From this it was predicted that the