Materialization Mediumship

Helen Duncan (1895-1956)

Today the term 'channeler' conveys a similar meaning as 'trance medium,' an expression associated with the lexicon of Spiritualism.  Trance mediums include Mrs. J. H. Conant, Eileen Garrett, Gladys Osborne Leonard, Leonora Piper and Helen Duncan, the latter also known as being a materialization medium.  A 'materialization' or 'physical medium' is a rare individual whose seances or sittings result with materialized people or 'simulacrums' of people.  Some previous blog articles have reported about aspects of materialization mediumship (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, etc.) with photos of materialized people (1, 2).  In this article, passages are presented from two books in relation to materialization mediumship.  The first is Maurice Barbanell's commentary about Helen Duncan from This Is Spiritualism (1959).  The second is a description of a materialization seance from the autobiography My Life in Two Worlds (1931) by Gladys Osborne Leonard.

An incident involving Duncan was mentioned by Chief Constable A C. West of Portsmouth at the infamous trial that resulted with imprisonment of the medium who thereafter was known as "Spiritualism's martyr": "In 1942, Mrs. Duncan was reported for having transgressed the security laws when she foretold the loss of one of His Majesty's ships before the fact was made public."  

A journalist/author who wrote about Helen Duncan, Maurice Barbanell (1902-1981) was himself a trance medium.  Books are available with transcripts of the communication from Barbanell's 'control' 'Silver Birch.'  The following commentary about Helen Duncan is from Chapter Fifteen of This Is Spiritualism.

I shall always contend that my friend, Helen Duncan, the materialisation medium, was the victim of a gross miscarriage of justice.  When, during the war, she was charged at the Old Bailey under the archaic Witchcraft Act of 1735, some newspapers called it "The trial of the century."  Obviously an Act which became law more than a century before Spiritualism began was not intended to apply to modern mediums.

Her conviction, and subsequent imprisonment, led Spiritualists to campaign, successfully, for the repeal of this Act, which, by being resurrected, implied that all séances were illegal, and thus jeopardized our religious freedom.  In his war memoirs, Sir Winston Churchill has recorded that he sent a note to the Home Secretary complaining of the fact that in a time of urgency and peril so much time and money should be wasted on a "witchcraft" trial.

Counsel's defence that Mrs. Duncan was a genuine medium, and his offer to demonstrate her powers of materialisation within the precincts of the court, were not regarded as legally admissible.  The "offence" under the Witchcraft Act was pretending that she could conjure up spirits.  Whether she was genuine or not was beside the point so far as this Act was concerned.  Counsel for the defence was satisfied of her ability to demonstrate her materialisation powers at the trial, for she gave us evidence just before it opened that she was capable of doing so.  Despite the strain of her ordeal, she willingly offered us an experimental séance which was remarkable in its results.  Yards and yards of ectoplasm streamed from her, and billowed and flowed in swirling masses until even experienced Spiritualists like myself gazed with astonishment at the spectacle.

With Helen Duncan I have been privileged to see the growth of a materialisation inside the cabinet.  Outside, I have observed the ectoplasmic forms as they gradually dwindled in size until they resembled small globes of light, and then finally disappeared as if sinking through the floor.

Inside the cabinet, I have watched ectoplasm exude from the medium's nostrils, mouth and ears in waving billows of luminosity that gradually solidified into the six-foot figure of her guide.  Harry Price, a researcher who thrived on publicity, propounded the extraordinary theory that, instead of being a genuine materialisation medium, Helen Duncan swallowed yards of cheesecloth which she later regurgitated.  To show how nonsensical this theory was, Mrs. Duncan gladly submitted herself to X-ray examination.  Price's "explanation" was that she had a secondary stomach, like a cow.  The X-ray examination proved that both her stomach and her esophagus were normal.  Counsel for the defence at the Old Bailey tried to introduce the X-ray photographs as evidence, but these two were legally inadmissible.

More than once at Helen Duncan's séances, I was invited to handle some of the ectoplasm immediately after it had been produced.  It was always bone dry, and had a curious stiff "feel," proving that it could not have been regurgitated.

 

Trance medium Gladys Osborne Leonard (1882-1968) is the author of the 1931 autobiography My Life in Two Worlds (the topic of two previous blog articles: 1, 2).  She prefaced her description of a 'materializing seance' with some background details —

Until early in 1915, although my husband had heard of my experiences with Florence, Nellie and Agnes, and other friends, and was aware of all that Feda was doing through me, he had had no first-hand experience of his own at all.  He read literature on Spiritualism occasionally, but always used to say that he couldn't get up an great enthusiasm for reading very deeply on the subject until he had some personal contact with the Other Side.  So when I came into touch with a really powerful materializing medium, I thought "what a splendid opportunity for my husband to see and hear something for himself."  Of course I ought to have initiated him gradually, by sitting at the table regularly, but in those days I had not the power, vitality or time left for many personal sittings after I had finished my professional work each day . . .

The account of the materializing seance is presented in the chapter entitled "We See More Than We Bargained For.”  Although the materialization medium was left unnamed by Gladys, he evidently is Frederick Foster Craddock.

About a dozen of us assembled with the medium in an absolutely bare room, bare except for a plain bentwood chair for each sitter and one for the medium; a small octagonal table measuring about 2½ feet across, and a pair of serge curtains hung across one corner of the room, and a couple of oblong pieces of thin wood, about 12 inches by 6 inches, painted on one side with strong luminous paint which, it was explained to us, were to be used by the materializing spirits to hold near their faces, so as to illuminate their features more clearly.  The medium referred to these painted boards as “slates.”  The floor was entirely covered with linoleum.

All the sitters were known to each other, but were strangers to the medium.  In these sittings the sitters were placed in horseshoe formation, men and women alternately, the open ends of the horseshoe ending close to the curtained corner, in which the medium sat for part of the séance.  The medium left the gas-jet fairly full on in the early part of the sitting. One could read quite small print by the light.

The door was locked. 

The medium now stood in front of the curtains, within the horseshoe formed by the sitters, with the little table—the presence of which puzzled me—by his side.  He asked us to join hands, the two sitters ending the horseshoe closing their free hand over the hand that clasped the next person's hand.  This, we were told, was to shut in the power until it had become strong enough to use.  The magnetic power set up by this procedure soon made itself felt; it was like a weak electric current.

After a couple of minutes, the medium went behind the curtains, and we heard him rubbing his hands vigorously and breathing hard.  Another few minutes, perhaps eight or ten, and he suddenly flung back the curtains and came out into the circle.  We scarcely knew him. I looked closely at him to make sure it was the same person.  He appeared to be at least two or three inches taller, with a most commanding, one might say imperious, almost dictatorial manner.  He broke out into fluent French, and one of the sitters replied to him.  He explained that he was a French-Canadian—a doctor—who was the regular Control of this medium, and he said that as he gained more control over the medium's brain he would be able to use more of the medium's language; this, indeed, happened, and he spoke in broken English, easily intelligible to us all, but still maintaining a very different personality from that of the medium in the normal state.

He instructed the sitter who sat at the extreme end of the left side of the horseshoe, to release her left hand and throw it out towards him.  She did so, and we could all see a stream of pale grey matter, like fog or steam from a kettle, oozing from her fingers.  It was shaped like rods, about a foot long and an inch thick.  The medium reached out his hands carefully towards the ends of the rods, and seemed to try and coax the grey material to come farther away from the sitter, towards himself.  The rods “thinned” slightly, as he induced them to extend, and after a couple of minutes the French Control said, speaking through the medium again, “No, not strong enough. Link hands up, and close in the power again."

The sitters obeyed  for a few minutes, during which the electric current became so strong that some of the sitters' hands were jerked up and down; they could not keep them still.  The end sitter was instructed to throw out her hand towards the medium, as before, and this time the rod of steamy material was much thicker and longer.  The Control expressed satisfaction, and began the drawing motion again.  As he drew the grey substance towards himself, he appeared to rub it vigorously into his chest, and then he threw it in coils round his neck.  We could see these coils lying round his neck and shoulders for a few seconds; then they seemed to be absorbed into his body.  This operation took several minutes.  He then placed the fingers of one hand lightly on the top of the small table, instructing the end sitter to put her left hand on it, too.  She did so, and the table rose several feet into the air, lightly and gracefully.  It was so high that the sitter had to stand up and hold her arm as high as possible in order to keep her fingers upon it.  It was very curious to see, in a bright light, a table in the air without any kind of support under it.  A simple phenomenon, but very striking and convincing.

The Control then told the sitters that he would give them an illustration of what would happen if they were to unloose hands, and break the current of power during the séance.  He asked one sitter in the centre of the horseshoe to unlink, and immediately the table crashed to the ground.  The sitters linked up again for a few minutes, and the end sitter was instructed to turn out the gas, which was close to her, after the medium had retired behind the curtains and seated himself on the bentwood chair.

We were now almost in darkness except for a faint red light which burned high up in one corner of the room.

We had been instructed to sing softly, so as to make the vibrations which appear to be necessary in all circles for Materialization or Direct Voice phenomena.  We promised not to “let things down” by being heavy and silent, and set to work thinking of all the songs we could, so as not to have long pauses in between.  I think we all had a feeling that we might have to wait some time before anything happened, and I know my husband had an idea that if he really saw anything under such conditions it would be in a very vague form, probably such a distance away from him that he would not be able to examine it at all closely. Imagine, then, our surprise, when' the curtains were quickly thrust aside and somebody stepped out, picked up one of the illuminated boards—or slates—and turned the bright side towards himself.  By this means we could all clearly see a very tall form of an Indian, about 6 feet 6 inches in height, dressed in a gorgeous robe, with a high turban, and a sword by his side.  His robes seemed to be composed of many yards of material: part of it was white and hung in heavy folds from his shoulder.  He moved straight across the circle to where my husband sat, and standing straight in front of him, he stooped and put his face close to my husband's, holding the luminous board so that my husband could examine every  pore of the skin.

I remember that, true to our instructions, we were softly but enthusiastically singing “Annie Laurie.”  My husband's attempt to keep on singing, with the Indian standing in front of him, was comical. His teeth chattered so loudly that we could hear them above the singing.  He told us afterwards that he had never before understood the meaning of “his hair stood on end,” but now he said he felt his hair rise stiffly on his head.  It was unlike anything he had expected.  After a minute or so, interest overcame his fright.  He looked intently at the Indian's face, and could see, as I afterwards could, the tiny bloodshot veins in his large almond-shaped eyes which he obligingly rolled around, so that my husband could examine them.

Then the Indian, whose name we heard later was Abdullah, came over to me, and allowed me to examine him closely, and it was difficult indeed to realize that this handsome and dignified Oriental, whose outfit would have graced a West End production of, let us say, Chu-Chin-Chow, or Kismet, was there in our midst, for the moment apparently as solid as we were ourselves, and yet we knew that he would vanish again in a little while.  Even as I watched him, he began to melt.  That is the only word I can think of to describe the process by which he gradually disappeared in front of our eyes.  It was exactly like holding wax in front of a fire, but there was nothing whatever left afterwards.

Several other forms came out from the cabinet, one at a time, sometimes so quickly that one wondered how they had managed to take the power and “mould” it on to their etheric bodies as to render them temporarily visible to our earthly eyes, because that is what happens at a materializing séance.  Of course, in saying this I am trying to describe a complicated operation to you in a few words, when volumes might be, and are, used to do so.

In all, about a dozen forms showed themselves—elderly men and women, young men, young women, children, and also a small dog that had belonged to one of the sitters, and who was as pleased to manifest to his mistress, and far more excited about it, judging from his snuffles and pantings and jerky little barks, than even the “human” spirits were.  The latter all expressed their happiness in being able to show themselves in tangible form to their friends on earth, but one knew that they were more anxious about the success of their efforts than was the little dog.  The owner of the dog sat next to my husband, and when the dog ran to her he placed his two front paws on her knee, and his two hind feet were resting on my husband's foot, who said afterwards that the dog weighed just about the same as a dog of that breed (it was a pekinese) would weigh in its physical body.  We happened to have a pekinese at the time that often stood on one's feet in order to clamber up to one's knee.

A few minutes afterwards another spirit materialized for another sitter some distance away on my left.  As we were sitting in a half-circle I could only see the profile of the spirit, but I recognized him as the husband of the lady from a photograph I had seen of him.  I noticed that he wore rather old-fashioned clothes; a black coat and a very broad white starched front with turned-down collar and black tie.

A woman sitting next to me on my right hand nudged me, and whispered: ”Look, it isn't a spirit at all; it's the medium dressed up.  I recognize his coat at the back, and his collar too.  The beard, shirt-front, and black coat are only hung on in front of him.”

She persisted in this, and it upset and worried me.  I sent out a silent prayer that some light should be thrown on the matter, as I myself thought the back of the coat looked different from the front.  An answer came quickly and unexpectedly.

The materialized spirit vanished, and in his place came Abdullah again.  He stood right in front of me, looking at me in a searching manner.

I felt there was something he wanted to tell me or show me, so my eyes never left him as he walked slowly across the room to the opposite corner where the medium lay back in a chair, in deep trance.

Holding up the illuminated “slates” the spirit showed us the medium and himself-side by side!

How glad and relieved I was.

Unfortunately, the sitting came to an end soon after.  I  think that the difficult mental atmosphere that had arisen through my, and the other sitter's doubts, was responsible for breaking up the séance (sooner than was usual, as I found out during the long series of sittings that I had later), though so much had happened in it that was a revelation to many of us.

The medium was terribly exhausted afterwards, and that is always the case when an adverse condition has sprung up during the sitting.

When the conditions were perfect—clear dry weather, which is so important to physical manifestations—and experienced and sympathetic sitters were present, the medium seemed to experience little or no fatigue.  I once sat with the same medium, with only three friends present, making five of us in the circle, and a thunderstorm came on while we were sitting. 

The thunderstorm outside was nothing to the thunderstorm in the room, I can assure you. It was terrifying.  The room and sitters were illuminated by great blinding sheets of light, and the electric shocks were so severe that I felt that if they became any stronger we should be electrocuted.

The medium's chief Guide suddenly spoke during a temporary pause in the “fireworks,” and said in an urgent and rather angry manner, “Unloose hands, and stop the sitting at once.  Can't you see that you are forming a battery?  It is most dangerous.  Stop at once.”

We did so.  The condition of the medium was pitiable.  He could scarcely stumble out of the room.  It had evidently been a great strain on him.

William Usborne Moore wrote in Glimpses of the Next State (1911) about the 'controls' of Frederick Foster Craddock:

Craddock is a man about forty-five years of age.  He has several familiar spirits—Graem, a Canadian doctor who is alleged to have lived late in the eighteenth century; Red Crow, a North American Indian; Sister Amy, a Canadian nun of about the same period as Graem; Alder, and an Irish gentleman; Cerise, a Frenchwoman who cannot speak English; Abduallah, a Ghazi; and Joseph Grimaldi, alleged to be the famous clown of the early part of last century.  I have not any doubt as to the reality of Graem, Amy, Alder, Cerise and Grimaldi as spirit entities, though, for obvious reasons I cannot vouch for their identities.  Abdullah and Amy were the only two who habitually materialized.

Supernormal Phenomena: Distinguishing Serious Research from Commercial Exploitation

This photograph of Eileen Garrett later in her life is from the 1983 book Strange Talents.

After the publication of several autobiographical books, Eileen Garrett (1893-1970) wrote The Sense and Nonsense of Prophecy (1950).  She explained that the new book resulted after her peace of mind was disturbed by a "fan letter" from a young lady who realized herself to be psychic after reading the book and was then inspired to purchase a 'dream book.'
 
". . . because my book had thrilled her, why shouldn't any unfounded occult volume—and nothing is more nonsensical than a dream book—do the same thing? . . . I suspect that her every last penny is now being spent to discover that if she dreams of olives she's going to meet a fair-haired stranger . . . She has confused me—and all serious researchers in extra-sensory perception—with the tea-leaf readers, the astrologists, the bearded prophets, the 'reverends' who prey upon a foolish and extremely gullible public—rich and poor alike—to the tune of many millions of dollars a year."
 
Nonetheless, Eileen acknowledged in the new book: "I believe that everyone is slightly psychic, although just how psychic depends on the degree of sensitivity of the person."

An early instruction in the book concerns "serious workers and what they represent" —

The study of the operation of the psyche is the basic concern of psychical research, just as it is of psychology or psychiatry; but e. s. p. goes farther in that it embraces the super- or paranormal manifestations of the psyche.  Lest there be any doubt about what I mean by supernormal, I use it simply as a short equivalent for "Not as yet recognized by general scientific opinions," and it is free of all implications that such phenomena are supernatural.

She reflected about her experiences as a medium and psychical researcher.

I became a guinea pig for research, and while suspicious psychologists prodded my brain, scientists evaluated the results obtained from endless and exhausting tests for clairvoyance, and often shook their heads in negation.  There were no crystal balls, no beaded curtains, no incense; my seance chamber was a cold laboratory, my "clients" were hard-bitten, doubting scientists who set traps and fired questions at me for three years, and my fee for services rendered was a series of severe headaches.  But when the investigation was completed, I accepted the fact that I was a genuine sensitive and that any discoveries I might be fortunate enough to make in the realm of the supernormal would be authentic, however minor.


I just wanted to know if it were possible to discover the sum total of Eileen J. Garrett's mind.  Where was the mind?  Was it within or was it external?

The book offers a concise review of what Eileen identified as the array of paraphernalia utilized by modern fortune tellers to take advantage of troubled people motivated by some pressing need or fear: the crystal ball, astrology, numerology, tea-leaf reading, phrenology, tarot cards, palmistry, graphology, gurus and even yoga.

She mentioned one crystal gazer who had found renown: "One of the best in Europe was the late Nell St. John Montague, who was killed in an air raid in London in World War II.  Her skill with the crystal gave her great prestige in European circles."  John Dee (1527-1609) was not mentioned; however, previous blog articles offer some information about his case chronicled in diaries (1, 2, 3, 4).  I am reminded how researchers such as Eileen each have their own unique access and selection of resource materials, which will influence their perspectives and insights into the subjects investigated.

Concerning mediumship, Eileen was worried about unblushing frauds duping unhappy people out of as much money as they possibly could with bogus spirit messages.  She also informed: ". . . I do know that there is genuine physical mediumship."

I have seen Rudi Schneider submit to every known form of control in Harry Price's laboratory in London and still produce amazing results.  The same was true of Stella, who went to sleep under the care of a matron from one of the large hospitals in London.  Both ladies were secured; but the experiment was highly successful.

Here are some of Eileen's comments on "witchcraft and sorcery as it is today" —

In the "most advanced" country in the world, one can still leaf through pulp magazines and discover advertisements for lucky charms, lodestones, amulets, love philtres!


If anyone were to ask my advice on witchcraft, spells and sorcery—and far too many have—I could sum up my whole sermon in two words: "Ignore it!"

One chapter provides a succession of names of philosophers who made an impression on Eileen.  Another chapter offers her perspective of actual "cults and cultists" or "people in search of salvation."  She even quoted from "crank letters" she has received over the years.

Eileen mentioned becoming acquainted with philosopher "showman" Aleister Crowley.  She may or may not have been aware that Crowley with The Book of the Law became a transcriber of transcendental communication.  Another acquaintance was G. R. S. Mead, editor of a Theosophical Society magazine.  Eileen reminisced about Mead:

During my research days in London he always examined the results of my experiments in psychic research.  Never a spiritualist, he was intensely interested in the wider aspects of the subject and its abundant evidence.  He had no time for the theory, but he was intensely interested in the control personalities and their method of functioning.  During my experiments with him, he carefully noted any alleged appearances of H. P. B. . . .

Evangelists also come under general scrutinizing, including Aimee Semple McPherson, leading to some superficial and assumptive commentary about the "I Am" movement without any consideration of the complexity of the transcendental communication chronicled in the books of Mr. and Mrs. G. W. Ballard.  One aspect of the case is mentioned: "Ballard himself was a reincarnation of George Washington, Mrs. Ballard of Jeanne d'Arc, and young Donald of Lafayette . . ."

photo from The History of the "I Am" Activity and Saint Germain Foundation (2003): "The Ballards visit the Mount Vernon Exhibition, 1938"

The Ballards in their books described how voices of 'ascended masters' had spoken to them with the couple publishing numerous transcripts.  The expression "beloved" was often found in these transcripts, just as Eileen's 'controls' had referred to her as being "beloved" of them. 

Eileen commented about reincarnation —

I have no quarrel with the subject because I'm not interested in it.  I don't think I've ever had another existence—that I am an "old soul," as reincarnationists like to call it—and even if I have had, I don't honestly believe that it would do me any great good to know about the  former me.  I am I.  Many intelligent people, however, are staunch believers in reincarnation and I respect their opinions.  Only the worst eccentrics are tiresome about the subject . . .

In contrast, the topic of reincarnation and evidence concerning it is included among the articles at this blog (including 1, 2, 3, 4, 5). 

Perhaps the most illuminating chapters of The Sense and Nonsense of Prophecy are those concerning "what psychic research really is" (laboratory work in e. s. p.) and "what can be done" (how serious workers can help) in relation to Eileen's own experiences and research in relation to psychic and trance mediumship.

He who resorts to out-of-the-way theories to explain paranormal results may well be no more than denying his own being, as I know to my cost, having been the victim of my own doubts for many years.  My doubts, I hasten to add, did not concern the basic truths from which I came into contact—they were concerned rather with control personalities, their meaning and environment, the reason for their appearance and their action upon my own personality.


The clairvoyant can have an auditory experience at the same time that vision is being projected through his senses, so he strains to catch both experiences, but he not only hears and sees, he experiences the sensations of pain and joy or sorrow as he hastens to act out the drama.


. . . the intellectually curious who persist in following the trail of the mysterious will eventually find that the facts of metaphysics are no more strange than the facts of any other field of science.  My own experiments within the field of metaphysics lead me to believe that the faculty of cognition is a very real one, and is as veridical as historical science, which also rests on human testimony.


At the British College of Psychic Science in London, where I worked on experiments for ten years, I followed an exacting schedule.  I had three or four appointments per day, and I was expected to be punctual.  In fact, it was suggested that I show up fifteen minutes before an appointment in order to get in the right frame of mind by concentration.  I quickly found out that such a period of time would be spent in irrelevant thought.  On my way to an appointment at the college, I was often troubled by doubts as to my ability to produce any results.  I would be faced with someone who might be making his first attempt at exploration into spiritualistic philosophy, and who would usually enter the room with a fixed and awful stare.  That didn't improve my state of mind.  Nevertheless I was expected to get myself into a sleep state as quickly as possible, without even the preliminaries of an introduction.

Under these circumstances, it was difficult to enter into the somnambulistic state, but once I did my faculties would begin to function in the fields of clairvoyance, intuition, and prevision.  The experiment might last from an hour or two or even three, at the end of which I would return to my normal self, refreshed, to meet the fixed glance of the notetaker . . .


I don't believe that there is a family in the world that does not have a legend about a grandmother with "second sight" who "saw" a child drown, a son killed, a baby born.  Of course, these family stories lose nothing in the telling, but even discounting fifty per cent of them, they do indicate that paranormal intelligence exists everywhere and in everyone.

To explain to the reader how her psychic abilities function, Eileen included an excerpt from Adventures in the Supernormal that included the following:

A woman comes to see me.  Her life is being torn to shreds by a long-sustained tension between her hopes, her fears, her growing despair.  "My son George was reported missing months ago," she tells me.  "I have had no further word of him.  He was my only son.  Can you tell me whether he is alive or dead?"  In the present case, in which I am seeking a particular man named "George," I know in my mind that such a person exists somewhere in the universe, dead or alive, for a woman who claims to be his mother has declared his reality.  In my clairvoyant picture, a man stands out prominently, as though my attention were volitionally centered on him.  This is George, the man I am seeking.  I see every detail of his person, from his bare feet to his unshaved face and his unkempt head.  I am able to assure her who sits beside me that her son is alive.  If she asks me how I know, I say I have "seen" him.  And if she is too distraught to understand that I have truly seen her son, I describe him, with emphasis on some personal peculiarity which she, his mother, can recognize.


My perception of George and his environment was instantaneous and complete.  It occurred in a stream of being which is not conditioned by our conceptions of time and space.  Upon the mother's entrance into my office, I caught an equally vivid impression of her disturbed state, long before the usual greetings could be exchanged at conventional and rational levels.  There is another difference here.  While I may forget the mother with whom I had contact, I will never forget the clairvoyant circumstances surrounding the son.  The full perfection of its original clarity will always be preserved.

An example is presented in relation to how a psychic or medium can accomplish something prophetic.

Quite recently I was autographing a book which somebody had requested.  Halfway through the signature, my conscious mind was arrested for a moment.  I finished the signature, however, and then perceived that I had inscribed it for February, although it was still January.  I let it stand, and thought no more about it.  The recipient of the book was intrigued, however, and telephoned to know if there was any particular reason for drawing his attention to February.  Then I had a peculiar clairvoyant impression that certain factors were beginning to work in February which might change the course of his life.  Had I examined the lapse of consciousness at the time that it happened, I would undoubtedly have seen just what those factors would be.

Eileen concluded about "serious psychic workers":

It is true that we're far less scintillating that the street corner swami who will "reveal all" at a modest price; it is true that we will most usually refer the disturbed and ailing to psychiatrists and physicians.  But when we help, we help with care and sincerity, out of kindness rather than avarice.


. . . remember that we are heading toward a new world of knowledge—the like of which has never been known—a new age.  Today, in our humdrum laboratories, we stand on the very brink of a discovery so vital, so important, so exciting as to make the "tall dark stranger" seem the joke he really is.

Some previous articles about 'trance mediumship' and 'channeling' include "Some Recordings of Channeling", "Trance Communication and D. D. Home" and "The Ray Brown/'Paul' Trance Healer Case". 

Eileen Garrett and Ira Progoff's Trance Medium Research Collaboration

Ira Progoff's The Image of an Oracle: A Report on Research into the Mediumship of Eileen J. Garrett (1964) is an investigation of four "control figures" ('Ouvani,' 'Abdul Latif,' 'Tahoteh' and 'Ramah') who spoke through trance medium Eileen Garrett (what today is called 'channeling').  The book provides 12 transcripts of trance session recordings.  The concept of a shared subconscious and Superconscious Mind among all of humanity—an aspect of spiritual ‘Oneness’—is not fully articulated by Eileen Garrett or Ira Progoff; however, some of their written reflections suggest intimations of this insight.

In the concluding pages of her last autobiography Many Voices: The Autobiography of a Medium (1968), Eileen reflected about her psychic abilities after the four years of working with Progoff.  She accepted the concept of a "collective unconscious" and expressed that she "came to grips with myself not only on a deep subconscious level but in the universal cosmic revelation."  Garrett also stated in the book:
 

Consciously, and without prompting, the unconscious mind reveals its tapestry.  It is only sad at times that the majority of people fail to understand this task of nature as the unconscious threads that orient us to each other.

 
. . . around us is a field of force which includes all that the planet is.  Akin to a sea, it is timeless in its momentum.

Progoff concluded in the final chapter of The Image of an Oracle:

The meaning of the relationship involved in these conversations was certainly different for Mrs. Garrett than for me; and yet there was a ground of meeting where a dialogue in the depths of being of both of us took place.  The quality and content of this dialogue can only be known directly, alluded to, or sensed, but it cannot be encased in words.  It carries a reality that transcends all outward events and material conditions.

It is elusive in its content and in its implications, but certain of its aspects indicate that it conveys the essence of the human contact with ultimate meaning in life.  During the past decade, from the pioneer work of C. G. Jung to the more recent writings of existential psychology, it has increasingly been noted that an experience of ultimate meaning is necessary if work in the field of psychotherapy is to succeed.  Seeking to answer this need, the various existential psychologists have tended to move into philosophical discussions, but there is ample evidence already that intellectual philosophies do not reach sources deep enough to meet this need.

In some of her books, Eileen considered attributes of her mind that she equated with the 'subconscious' and 'superconscious.'  As she wrote in Telepathy (1941), her experiences of 'telepathy' included psychometry and automatic writing while 'telekinesis,' 'physical mediumship' and the 'trance' were identified as "greater and rarer evidences of mind-energy at work."

Telepathy includes the recollection of participating in 'Zener cards' ESP testing with mundane results.

The whole process interested me afterwards, but at the time that I was making a sincere effort to work telepathically, I was acutely unhappy because of an inner knowing which manifested itself in several ding dong voices which reiterated, "This is wrong—you cannot do it!"

She equated this occurrence with "the intrusion of my subconscious" while accepting other psychic phenomena as confirmation of a state of "superconsciousness."  Eileen concluded a discussion of the function of symbolism in telepathy by summarizing the three important points she endeavored to bring out concerning her techniques to ready herself for psychic experiences:

(1) Symbology is utilized by me entirely as a key to that state of alertness in which I can best work telepathically; (2) when that alertness is present, I attain a superconsciousness which makes possible valid and clear telepathic communication; and (3) neither the subconscious nor the normal mind are instrumental in telepathy.  The symbol of the yew tree, which I use to bring about the prerequisite alertness, is, then, the key to the garden of the "oversoul," or impersonal consciousness, in which the melody of harmonious knowing forever greets my ear—a state of superconsciousness.

As I understand the process by which I am telepathic, I feel that I am participating in an experiment which is happening outside of myself, and that through a process of selectivity I am able to know this process for myself as it is being received into the common collective thinking of the universe.  It is like a storehouse to which I gain the entry the moment that I accept the fact of this universal consciousness.  I perceive because of both a belief that I can know and that I desire to know.  Telepathy, therefore, presents no difficult "innerforce" or mental process for me.

postage stamp showing Taxus baccata 'Fastigiata' Irish Yew

In her first autobiography My Life as a Search for the Meaning of Mediumship (1939), Eileen also offered perceptions about a universal force involved with humanity and encompassing different levels of consciousness —

Mind, in the universal sense, I know to be without and not within the human body.  I am able to see the impressions emanating from the outer universe register in the magnetic field of all living organisms.  As such ideas, sensations and emotions reach man from without, they are, I recognize, received by certain centres located within his own magnetic field; these impressions are then passed on to register within the physical body.  From my own experience, I am prepared to state that the brain of man registers and directs the activity of only a limited part of the impressions of his own mind.  For the mind of man consists not only of the conscious and the subconscious, but of the superconscious as well . . .

 
Mind is the true force that creates all things in the Universe.  Just as the architect must image in his own mind the building he will some day erect, so must mind in the Universe, conceive all things before they can be born.  First comes the image or vision to the artist or creator and then follows the realization of the dream in a completed work of art, or a world.

Excerpts from the trance medium session transcripts in The Image of an Oracle may be read in the preceding blog article.

Trance Medium Transcripts: Excerpts from The Image of an Oracle

In the Introduction to The Image of an Oracle: A Report on Research Into the Mediumship of Eileen J. Garrett (1964), Ira Progoff recalled being introduced to psychic and trance medium Eileen Garrett in 1957.  She asked him a question that he found clear and direct: "Could I, on the basis of my studies in the field of depth psychology, tell her what was the nature and meaning of the voices that spoke through her?  Were they in truth discarnate entities in which spiritualists were entitled to believe?  Or did they have some other significance?"  He acknowledged: "My answer to that question, together with the researches it made necessary, is the content of this report."

Progoff decided that basic research would consist of conversations with the 'control figures' who spoke through Eileen Garrett when in trance.

. . . I would undertake to discover what the meaning of those voices was for the personality of Mrs. Garrett as a whole.

To prepare for these trance sessions, it was necessary that I first familiarize myself with the history and background of Mrs. Garrett's life.  Ample material was available here in printed form to prepare me for our talks both in the waking and the trance state.  Of her several books, one was of particular assistance in this connection, her autobiographical study, Adventures in the Supernormal.  There were in addition numerous reports and transcripts of studies and seances conducted in connection with Mrs. Garrett's work under the auspices of the Parapsychology Foundation and other organizations.  There was no dearth of material to study.  What there did seem to be was a shortage of fresh insight into an old and intriguing subject.


My primary plan of approach to the problem was to establish as full a contact as I could with the dimension of the psyche of Eileen Garrett through which these control figures, as they were called using the terminology of spiritualistic mediumship, appeared.  I would ask her to enter into the trance state in her accustomed manner and then I would speak with whichever figures appeared, and whichever ones wished to appear.  Above all, I would treat the figures as persons, whether they were really to be understood as spiritual entities or not.  I would see, in my conversations with them, to reach into their personalities, to draw forth their desires, and enter into communication with them concerning the goals and possibilities of their existence, just as I would with any individual in depth psychological work who came to talk to me.


In an attempt to communicate these unfolding relationships and the relationship developing through the sessions as a unity, I am presenting this report in the form of a record of the trance experiences as they took place.  There were four control figures with whom I spoke, Ouvani, Abdul Latif, Tahoteh, and Ramah.  The sessions were irregular, sometimes separated by several months.  I did not hold all my sessions with Ouvani and then move on to Abdul Latif and then to Tahoteh, and so on.  The sessions rather were interspersed.


. . . I had ample opportunity to recognize the difference in voice and style between Ouvani and Abdul Latif.  Ouvani's voice was subdued with a Spanish or Arab-type accent and a quiet manner.  Abdul Latif, on the other hand, had a hearty, extroverted manner that instantly identified him and contrasted him to Ouvani.  My ear is not sharp enough to differentiate the accents of the various voices.  Eventually I could distinguish the four who spoke to me on the basis of their style of speech.  Abdul Latif remained the only one with an extroverted style.  Both Tahoteh and Ramah seemed to me to be similar to Ouvani in a general way.  Tahoteh spoke more seriously than Ouvani and in a slightly heavier tone.  He was, however, exceedingly fluent and relaxed in his conversations with me, regardless of how abstract and difficult some of our subjects of discussion became.  When Ramah spoke the accent seemed very similar to my untutored ear, but he was identifiable by the ponderousness of his manner and a heavy style in his speech that gave the impression that each word was being delivered from a great distance.

 
A biographical paragraph about Ira Progoff (1921-1998) is included on the book cover back flap —

Dr. Progoff was born in 1921 in New York City, where he now lives.  As a Bollingen Fellow from 1952 through 1958, he studied in Europe, working with C. G. Jung among others.  He is on the faculty of the Graduate School of Drew University.  His books include The Symbolic and the Real, Depth Psychology and Modern Man, and The Cloud of Unknowing.

Eileen Garrett (1893-1970) wrote about her life and experiences as a medium in such books as My Life as a Search for the Meaning of Mediumship (1939), Telepathy (1941), Awareness (1943), Adventures in the Supernormal (1949), The Sense and Nonsense of Prophecy (1950), Life Is The Healer (1957) and Many Voices: The Autobiography of a Medium (1968).

During the first research session when Eileen entered the trance state and the transcendental communicator spoke, "the tape recorder was faulty and the session could not be transcribed."  Therefore the first conversation in the book is actually the second conversation that Progoff held with 'Ouvani' [spelled 'Uvani' by Eileen in her books].  The following are excerpts from this conversation transcript.

Conversations with Ouvani
The Keeper of the Door
(Excerpts)

EG:     Are we not in a sense the dramatic experiment through which and by whom changes are made in the methods of man's thoughtfulness.


IP:     Well, may I ask a question in between this?  You used the word "we" and I couldn't help wondering how you could describe what that "we" refers to.

EG:     Oh, I think I can describe it very easily for you.  You see, Ouvani is the doorkeeper appointed in the beginning who deals with the various questions of the peoples, all that is of very little importance.  What he means, that is as you see it, but let me show it to you as he sees it.  Finally we have here what we will call something that for the sake of better visual impression I could describe to you as the light through which the life is thrown out to sea.  Now if anyone can come in and move this life in all directions, there will be much confusion, not only out at sea, but close at hand.  So when Ouvani refers to himself as the doorkeeper, he is not thinking of you, and you, and you, he is thinking of all this that is necessary to keep the equilibrium.  For if there is a lighthouse, many people would like to send their message.  Very well, imagine what a confusion there would be, if there were not anyone able to stand between confusion of imagery and that part of the impression of the instrument herself.  So you see there has to be order and perhaps I am, therefore, best able to be recognized as he who sustains the order.


IP:     Is there some other servant, some other gatekeeper, like you, who comes, you and Abdul Latif, is there some other?

EG:     Yes, and then we have one to whom we very often go on matters connected with deep philosophies.  We go to him who is the keeper of the word.  I think I tell you, he is known in many of your languages as Ta-ho-tay.

IP:     Tah . . .

EG:     Ta-ho-tay, the giver of the key of knowledge.  And then there is one who cares very much who is the great master of Abdul Latif and he is known by the name of Ramah.  Now we go in our turn to these, just as you would go tomorrow to one of your masters when you have need of help.  And do believe me when I tell you that there are these areas of thought, for thought does not come you know, by happenstance.  It is woven into dreams and passed from one area or level of experience to the other, as man is able to receive it.

In the second 'Ouvani' conversation, one of the metaphysical terms used may be found in other transcripts of transcendental communication: 'Cristus' (spelled phonetically by the author) as 'Ouvani' is quoted: "How many men was the Cristus?  How many Cristuses are there? . . . it was the events of the time that made him a symbol."

During "Conversation No. 2 with Ouvani," Progoff's question about "whether you and Tahoteh are the same in your natures" resulted with a statement about human individuality —

EG:     . . . there is the uniqueness for each one [of humanity] that makes very certain that the great rug of Abdullah that rests in his temple may be worked upon by the hands of many technicians, each technician contributing his own share, each technician taking excellent care not to interfere nor yet disguise the plans of his neighbor.  If he did, the basic concept of life would be thrown out of focus as has happened today.  It is the uniqueness of each one and what he brings to his task that makes for the order of the universe, of the many universes.  So while you may say that the biped that is man may look alike when you regard him away from you, yet you yourself must know that in man each one is the uniqueness that is spirit.  That is the miracle, the mystery, the consolation, finally to return to wholeness.  Is it not so?

The following are excerpts from the first 'Abdul Latif' conversation transcript.

 Conversations with Abdul Latif
The Psychic Healer
(Excerpts)

EG:      . . . And I think it is very necessary and very important to let it be understood, though, if perhaps in this universe it may not be agreeable to many people to think that the soul as it goes through has many names and many lives, it is obvious of course to you that we have not just come here to you like this today to go away tomorrow and that is all.  What of memory?  What would be the use of all this if we appeared as what-you-say, a phenomenon of nature, and went out the door as another phenomenon of nature and that were all.  It would not be in the meaning of life.  The meaning of life is that we commence from the very beginning of timelessness, that we begin eternally, and that we continue to move through all the areas that man calls evolution.  But all the areas of time and timelessness, always in eternity, but definitely as we are going through—not am I thinking now as man or woman—taking experience according to how the glands of the creature who brought us to bear have behooved us to shape ourselves.  And our own wish, will, and desire, to experience, which is limited.  Now it is not possible to believe that we just forget all this.

IP:     No, it remains.

EG:     It remains.  So what is Abdul Latif?  The It, is it not so?

IP:     The It, yes.

EG:    Is it not so?  It has come through all these experiences and is part of the——

IP:     Is it possible for you to say a bit more about what the "It" is; that is, Abdul Latif you say is that "it" who has come through all these experiences in time, through time.

EG:     And he's part of this instrument.

IP:     Yes, is part—is part, yes.

EG:     Of the memory, of the whole.  Abdul Latif is Abdul Latif, but Abdul Latif is not Abdul Latif.


EG:     But you see, it is very difficult . . . to make people understand Abdul Latif as a separateness and as their ownness.


EG:     . . . We are it now.  We are the world now.  We are the world to come.  And all our work and all that we are and all that we do is grinding out this experience, turning the unconscious into the conscious, in order to give experience.  We are the dynamos, are we not?  It is very difficult to make it clear.  We are here, we will be here, we will be there, but we are it, the word.

Concerning the six 'Tahoteh' transcripts presented in the book, Progoff commented: "I do more work with Tahoteh than with any of the others because Tahoteh was most fluent and responsive with me."  The following are excerpts from the 'Tahoteh' conversation transcripts.

Conversations with Tahoteh

The Giver of the Word

(Excerpts) 

EG:     (Moans, sighs, goes into trance state.)  It is I, Ouvani.  I give you greetings, friend.  Peace be with you and with your life and on your work and within your household.  I ask a moment of you for I have not come to stay but only to make certain of the tranquility of my instrument and to open the way for questions that you desire to put to one of our revered friends.  Abdul Latif must ask, therefore, that we leave the way open for you and in a moment another one will speak with you, though I will be near to close the door.  Therefore, Tahoteh will explain his presence to you of himself and I will offer you my salutations and leave you with the door ajar.  (Moaning preliminaries.)

(Additional groans, sighs and deep breathing as Ouvani departs and another figure with a different voice and accent enters.)

EG:     Now, my friend, you would have words with me?

IP:     Yes.  You are Tahoteh?

EG:     I am known as he who is called Tahoteh.

IP:     Yes.  Can you tell me something about your nature?

EG:     Yes, I think it will be very easy for me to explain to you.  My nature is universal.  It is the breath of life.  It is the breath of the elements.  It is the breath of the tempest and the breath of the stars.  It is the breath of the times, the breath of the sea, the breath of the running streams.  It is, indeed, the breath of life that is as much therefore as you will claim for you, or I will claim for me.  For it is this element that makes it possible for us to meet for amiable discussion.  But I have been regarded as a symbol of good by some men and as a symbol of freedom by other men, as a symbol of what is within the makeup of man by others, as a symbol of that creative side of man.  May I not then call myself truly in relation to you, the creative principle of life; and if I am then the creative principal of life and have been known as such in life, it is obvious that if I have been, I am.  If I am, I must continue and therefore must have for myself a dual meaning for myself and for all men.  Now, bear with me a moment.  In the orthodoxy of your age, I have no place?

IP:     No.  No, we know not of you.

EG:     I have not a place, but that does not say I am not very, very important; I have had my place.

IP:     Yes.  Can you tell me of this place or of these places?

EG:     I have been, and what is always more important for you to remember, is that I am always in the heart of man in suffering.  I am that symbol of man himself, many countered, many edged, many sided.  I have been taken according to man's way, shall we call it man's pleasure, and called by many names; according to the process of his understanding have I been named.  I have been known as the winged messenger, I have been known as he who travels by sea, by wind, by air.  Phoenicians have made their statues to put upon their ships and men have made statues to put within the contours of their gods.  I have been given many of the faces of man.  But in your time I do not think that I have a face, eh?

IP:     No, this is so.

EG:     So, he who has not a face is therefore not suspected.

IP:     Now when you come, when you come to people in our time, do you come to many?  Do you come in the same way as you come to this instrument?

EG:     Ah, not exactly the same way, and yet, in many ways, to some, very closely; to some of your leaders in a kind of prayer form.  Oh I have many many many many symbolisms in which to tell man, to induce man to take a little comfort from me.  Oh, yes, I have many symbols.  I think I could point out to you many men, that there are many men within the whole structure of your being who are being willfully blinded, who really do not know what they are doing, because the whole process of man's mind—I am talking now of the whole, I'm not talking of any country—the whole process of man's mind is turned toward another image.  Is it not so?  Another image of his universe altogether.


EG:     Now, man in his very beginning must also have had the concept of being held tightly in the allness and the wholeness.  But the urge to be identified with the uniqueness of himself demands that in order to understand what he is, he must stand away from the all-enveloping shadow; for if he did not stand away from the all-enveloping shadow, he would not be born.  He would be of it.  He would still be related and as long as he was so related, there would not have been the use in being parted.  So he must step out of the shadow into that place where he can observe, touch, feel, know the oneness and then begins the spinning wheel of life's identity with him.  But he is certain from the first moment—whether that moment is the grain of sand that blows before the wind, there is still that certainty within that grain of sand of its eventual destiny, which is a return to the oneness from which, however, it must divorce itself in order to experience nonbeing and then go through the long journey identifying with all things before it can return to what it knows, that its true identity is with the infinite.  Therefore, you see, man and God in his invincibility and in man's creativity are dependent one upon the other.  The very continuum of this work is the method by which the continuum of the wholeness is completed.


EG:     . . . it is terribly important that you never forget that you are part of the wholeness; and you can't, because man is always longing to return to that wholeness.  He cannot forget it.  This is the guiding lesson in this life.  No matter what experience he may seek, and in the final journey it does not matter; it matters if he has experience.  It matters also that during the experience he has given back to the cosmic life that which he has produced from the dynamo of himself; and it matters also that in doing this he is rubbing shoulders with his kind—not only with his kind, but with all life kind.  Consequently when he thinks that he is on his journey experiencing for him, he is also experiencing for the cosmos, giving it the life, stamping it as he goes on; but he is also making experience for the other cosmic energies around and about him, moving, do you see?

IP:     Yes; adding to life.

EG:     This is the cosmic.  The continuum of the wholeness, of infinity, is important.

IP:     Its nature is to grow.  That is, the continuum grows.  If it stops growing, it will die.

EG:     There would be nothing.  So do you begin to see what a tremendous force this is?  How terribly important it is; and yet, if we begin to think of the importance of the self in relation to it, we almost stop the work from progressing.

IP:     Ah, yes—the consciousness of it would stop it.

EG:     Yes.  And it would in a sense destroy what is called the mask, the cocoon, within which lies the whole dynamic structure of what you might call this Schweitzer [When asked to name a 'historical character,' Progoff said "Albert Schweitzer'].  This ego, therefore, you see, is very profoundly important; and this is important for you because you see that in dealing with it you must regard it as something natural, as the child looks at something with such admiration, at its color, its expanse.

The following are excerpts from the 'Ramah' conversation transcripts.  Progoff noted that during the first of the two conversations "the tape had run off" so the concluding portion of the transcript consists of "statements paraphrased from notes."  None of the following excerpts are from the 'paraphrased' part of the transcript.

Conversations with Ramah
The Giver of Life
(Excerpts)

EG:     I am known by many names.  Many cultures have thrown their cloaks to obliterate, or perhaps even not to permit the light to penetrate but dimly.  May I present myself as Re or Ra or Rahm.

IP:     My greetings, Rahm, and my thanks that you have come to speak with me.

EG:     I speak with some difficulty but this difficulty will soon disappear.

IP:     Can you tell me what this difficulty comes from?

EG:     Ohh.  Yes, I can tell unto you, it is a tiredness in the organism, probably of the instrument I do not many occasions use.  I veil my identity in many ways.  I do not think it is necessary to toss golden coins before children who do not comprehend the meaning of the finer alloy.  I am not as communicative at all times, but in a moment the resistance will cease and we will converse.  (pause)  You will talk with me.  I will do but answer for you.


EG:     I am the giver of life.  I am the representative in man's mind of the giver of life.


IP:     But, before there was man, was there you?

EG:     Yes, of course.  Man is a very new unit in this universe, you know, comparatively new.  Now what was there do you think that caused this creature to stand up and look and regard and seek and ask?  What was the great explosion that must have taken place within this creature to give him this great urgency, this vitality to understand that his cries of emotion, his cries of hunger, his cries of hate and battle and love could also have other meanings?  Must there not have been a great principle involved in making this sudden—shall we call it—primitive step?

IP:     Uh-huh.  And this principle?

EG:     And this principle—what is it?

IP:     Is it life, is it you?

EG:     It is force.  It is thought.—Now what is thought?  What is thought?

IP:     Perhaps you would say that thought is a form of life?

EG:     Is it not the energy that is flowing through you in all your moments, even when you are within the womb?  Is it not this that is bombarding you?  Is it not this, this that is contained around you, which is continually pressuring you, pressuring you, pressuring you, until you cry out to find ways and means to take the pressure of this away from you.  And finally something happens in the area of what man calls his being—let us not speak of his brain—but in the area of his being to make him finally cry out in joy or sorrow, in hurt or triumph, in anger or in joy, and finally when this has happened to him he begins to shape the energy that has bombarded him.  He begins to find a direction for the energy, he begins to ask himself what is this; and then he begins to entrap it, to encircle it and finally to use it.  True?  Without this, the word is of little importance.  So perhaps what Tahoteh was telling you was that, if you want to seek vitality, if you want to seek depth in yourself, if you want to reach a response, then you have got to speak to this principle because without this principle all else cannot be magnified.


IP:     . . . I am you, and you are I.

EG:     You are looking for the moment in the mirror of your own creative intelligence.  You have lifted the blind and you have asked, "Who is living in the house?"  And I tell you what is living in the house is that that has made the nations.  You will never make nations with men, you will never make great rules with men, you will never make great doctrines with men, but you will have one who will see, who will touch, who finally will know and he will say, "This is it."  This is what you have been looking for all your days.

IP:     So it is, so it is true.

EG:     That is Rahm.  That is the personification of the creativity of life that has broken man away, that has made him seek, breathe, demand, desire, and finally, having desired, found ways and means to make signs and sounds that finally have come together to make the poetry of understanding possible for his problems.  This is what you are asking for and this is why we have spoken to you in this way and not to any other, nor is it perhaps likely that we shall speak in this way again.  Just to you.  But I do not think that in the instrument's lifetime these words will be spoken.  I would that they were.  They are spoken to you because you are looking for them and the time comes that you must be ready to take them and give them fidelity, that force, that vigor, that instantaneous growth of all life to the word.


EG:     It would never have been given to you if your soul in its adolescence did not demand this light.  It would never have been given to you if we had for one moment the feeling that you would abuse it.  Now you will be called many things by many men, and we are quite aware of this.  But you will always laugh and with the laughter of the gods you will rub shoulders with men and you will remain true to the principle of the creative, vital force that is in it.  And as you begin to understand this, you will understand the Pantheon of Gods in the primeval world and in the modern.  You will begin to see the necessities and you will begin to see that they were just and necessary and wise and thoughtful.  And all these things will be revealed to you little by little . . .

 
IP:     I thank you, O Rahm, for what you have given me . .

EG:     I have given you the mirror in which to see yourself.

 
EG:     And be not one who will smudge that picture.  For the picture is yours.  Keep it clear and just.  I do not say clean; I know not the meaning of the word.  Clear as the freshet that streams out of the earth; and just, as the law of your universe is just.  To these words may your heart beat within you eternally.  So let it be.
 
(Deep breathing, moans, etc., as Mrs. Garrett emerges from the trance state.)