Mesmer, an Austrian doctor who claimed that he was healing people with a force he called ‘animal magnetism.’ (Later to be called ‘Mesmerism.’)
Mesmer’s consulting rooms were illuminated most mysteriously, hung with mirrors, heavily perfumed. Soft music played while Mesmer wandered around among his patients, dressed in a violet robe and carrying an iron wand.
The main feature of the room was an apparatus called a
baquet
, a circular wooden tub filled with water, iron filings and what Mesmer chose to call ‘magnetized’ water.
Patients sat around the tub, linked together with wet ropes. Iron rods—Mesmer called them ‘conductors’—extended from the tub and were placed in contact with the affected parts of each patient.
Up to thirty rods were utilized simultaneously, creating a mild electric current since the tub was like a Leyden jar, a forerunner of the battery.
Mesmer and his assistants would stroke the patients and make strange, ritual-like hand movements over them and Mesmer would touch them with his iron wand.
This, added to the electrical stimulation, would cause the patients to get excited and, usually, end up having convulsions.
Naturally, having that many patients together at one time contributed to a kind of contagious hysteria.
It was no wonder, then, that so many of these people were convinced that they were healed.
Mesmerism also resulted in sleep-like states during which patients demonstrated an ability at paranormal self-diagnosis and, on more than one occasion, telepathy, clairvoyance and prediction.
In the eighteen forties, a surgeon named James Braid experimented with Mesmerism and coined the word ‘neuro-hypnosis’ which was later shortened to ‘hypnosis.’
While not exactly an account of mediumship, it is interesting to note that many of the founders of the United States government were Masons. It has even been suggested that they received aid from some secret organization in Europe which helped to establish the United States for some specific purpose known only to an initiate few.
At any rate, the Great Seal of the United States is the signature of this organization and the unfinished pyramid with the All-Seeing Eye hovering over it, on the other side of the bill, is a symbol of the task to which the United States government was dedicated.
Analysis of the Great Seal reveals a mass of occult and Masonic symbols. The eagle was, as a matter of fact, a
phoenix
on the original design, with the Great Pyramid of Gizeh on the reverse side. On a colored sketch submitted by William Barton in 1783, an actual phoenix appears sitting on a nest of flames, a symbol of the new rising from the old.
Later, both of these illustrations were altered to what they are today. Benjamin Franklin thought the eagle was unworthy to be chosen as the emblem of a great, progressive nation, saying that it “was not even a bird of good moral character.” He suggested the turkey.
The significance of the mystical number thirteen is not limited to the number of the original colonies either. It appears frequently on the Great Seal as well. For instance, the sacred emblem which appears above the head of the eagle contains thirteen stars. The motto
E. Pluribus Unum
contains thirteen letters. So, too, does the description
Annuit Coeptis
on the reverse side of the bill. The eagle clutches, in its right talon, a branch bearing thirteen leaves and thirteen berries. And, in its left talon, it carries a sheaf of thirteen arrows. An interesting side-note to this is the fact that the head of the eagle faces
away
from the arrow of war, toward the branch of peace.
Then too, the face of the now unfinished pyramid, exclusive of the bottom panel with the date on it, consists of seventy-two stones arranged in thirteen rows.
Returning to mediumsbip.
It is generally accepted that the birth of Spiritualism (which was, in time, the origin of modern Parapsychology) took place in the home of Mr. and Mrs. John D. Fox in the
Mesmer’s consulting rooms were illuminated most mysteriously, hung with mirrors, heavily perfumed. Soft music played while Mesmer wandered around among his patients, dressed in a violet robe and carrying an iron wand.
The main feature of the room was an apparatus called a
baquet
, a circular wooden tub filled with water, iron filings and what Mesmer chose to call ‘magnetized’ water.
Patients sat around the tub, linked together with wet ropes. Iron rods—Mesmer called them ‘conductors’—extended from the tub and were placed in contact with the affected parts of each patient.
Up to thirty rods were utilized simultaneously, creating a mild electric current since the tub was like a Leyden jar, a forerunner of the battery.
Mesmer and his assistants would stroke the patients and make strange, ritual-like hand movements over them and Mesmer would touch them with his iron wand.
This, added to the electrical stimulation, would cause the patients to get excited and, usually, end up having convulsions.
Naturally, having that many patients together at one time contributed to a kind of contagious hysteria.
It was no wonder, then, that so many of these people were convinced that they were healed.
Mesmerism also resulted in sleep-like states during which patients demonstrated an ability at paranormal self-diagnosis and, on more than one occasion, telepathy, clairvoyance and prediction.
In the eighteen forties, a surgeon named James Braid experimented with Mesmerism and coined the word ‘neuro-hypnosis’ which was later shortened to ‘hypnosis.’
While not exactly an account of mediumship, it is interesting to note that many of the founders of the United States government were Masons. It has even been suggested that they received aid from some secret organization in Europe which helped to establish the United States for some specific purpose known only to an initiate few.
At any rate, the Great Seal of the United States is the signature of this organization and the unfinished pyramid with the All-Seeing Eye hovering over it, on the other side of the bill, is a symbol of the task to which the United States government was dedicated.
Analysis of the Great Seal reveals a mass of occult and Masonic symbols. The eagle was, as a matter of fact, a
phoenix
on the original design, with the Great Pyramid of Gizeh on the reverse side. On a colored sketch submitted by William Barton in 1783, an actual phoenix appears sitting on a nest of flames, a symbol of the new rising from the old.
Later, both of these illustrations were altered to what they are today. Benjamin Franklin thought the eagle was unworthy to be chosen as the emblem of a great, progressive nation, saying that it “was not even a bird of good moral character.” He suggested the turkey.
The significance of the mystical number thirteen is not limited to the number of the original colonies either. It appears frequently on the Great Seal as well. For instance, the sacred emblem which appears above the head of the eagle contains thirteen stars. The motto
E. Pluribus Unum
contains thirteen letters. So, too, does the description
Annuit Coeptis
on the reverse side of the bill. The eagle clutches, in its right talon, a branch bearing thirteen leaves and thirteen berries. And, in its left talon, it carries a sheaf of thirteen arrows. An interesting side-note to this is the fact that the head of the eagle faces
away
from the arrow of war, toward the branch of peace.
Then too, the face of the now unfinished pyramid, exclusive of the bottom panel with the date on it, consists of seventy-two stones arranged in thirteen rows.
Returning to mediumsbip.
It is generally accepted that the birth of Spiritualism (which was, in time, the origin of modern Parapsychology) took place in the home of Mr. and Mrs. John D. Fox in the
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