You have doubtless heard the sensing of sealed letters spoken of as clairvoyance.  But this is merely one form of psychometry.  The letter is a very good connecting medium in psychometric experiments.  I advise you to begin your experiments with old letters.  You will be surprised to discover how readily you will begin to receive psychic impressions from the letters, either from the person who wrote them, or from the place in which they were written, or from some one connected with the subsequent history.  One of the most interesting experiments I ever witnessed in psychometry, was a case in which a letter that had been forwarded from place to place, until it had gone completely around the globe, was psychometrized by a young Hindu maiden.  Although ignorant of the outside world, she was able to picture the people and scenery of every part of the globe in which the letter had traveled.  Her report was really an interesting “travelogue” of a trip around the world, given in tabloid form.  You may obtain some interesting results in psychometrizing old letters—­but always be conscientious about it, and refrain from divulging the secrets that will become yours in the course of these experiments.  Be honorable on the astral plane, as well as on the physical—­more so, rather than less.

LESSON VII.

Clairvoyant crystal gazing.

As I have informed you in the preceding lesson, Crystal Gazing is the second method of getting en rapport with the astral plane.  Under the general term “Crystal Gazing” I include the entire body of phenomena connected with the use of the crystal, magic mirror, etc., the underlying principle being the same in all of such cases.

The crystal, etc., serves to focus the psychic energy of the person, in such a way that the astral senses are induced to function more readily than ordinarily.  The student is cautioned against regarding the crystal, or magic mirror, as possessing any particular magic power in itself.  On the contrary, the crystal, or magic mirror serves merely as a physical instrument for the astral vision, just as the telescope or microscope performs a similar office for the physical vision.  Some persons are superstitious regarding the crystal, and accord to it some weird supernatural power, but the true occultist, understanding the laws of the phenomena arising from its use, does not fall into this error.

But, notwithstanding what I have just said, I would be neglecting my full duty in the matter if I failed to call your attention to the fact that the continued use of a particular crystal often has the effect of polarizing its molecules so as to render it a far more efficient instrument as time passes by.  The longer the crystal is used by one person, the better does it seem to serve the uses of that person.  I agree with many users of the crystal in their belief that each person should keep his crystal for his own personal use, and not allow it to be used indiscriminately by strangers or persons not in sympathy with occult thought.  The crystal tends to become polarized according to the requirements of the person habitually using it, and it is foolish to allow this to be interfered with.