Englishman William Stainton Moses was one
of the most important and intriguing members in early TS history. Like many of
the early members, his relationship with the founders had its up and downs, but
efforts were made to remain on good terms until the last. A good account of his
mystical experience with the TS can be found on the following: http://www.theosophy.wiki/en/William_Stainton_Moses
In 1888, a rather obscure pamphlet by Moses
was published after appearing in the spiritualist weekly, Light. It details some of his most unusual spiritualist experiences
ever and was reviewed by both Blavatsky (Lucifer,
Vol. II, No. 8, April, 1888, pp. 164-165) and Olcott (The Theosophist, May
1888). We present here the text in three parts, according to the original
division recounting a three-day experience. Below are some more links of recent
William Stainton Moses research, including links to his two most important
works, Spirit Teachings and More
Spirit Teachings.
V I S I O N S . By “ M.A. (Oxon.) ”
"In the year 1882 was published a book, entitled A Little
Pilgrim in the Unseen (Macmillans), which was anonymous, and was prefaced
by the following remarks :— “ The reader will easily understand that the
following pages were never meant to be connected with any
author’s name. They spring out of those thoughts that arise in the
heart when the power of the Unseen has been suddenly opened close upon us,
and are little more than a wistful attempt to follow a gentle soul which
never knew doubt in the new world, and to catch a glimpse of something or
its glory through her simple and childlike eyes.” I t is an open
secret now that a well-known novelist is the author of those pages. The
book was succeeded by a development of the original idea—The Little
Pilgrim Goes up Higher, and the papers which had been originally
published in Blackwood were succeeded in January of the present
year by a remarkable narrative published in the same magazine, and
called “ The Land of Darkness—A necessary part of the Little Pilgrim’s
Experience in the World of Spirit.” As I read these narratives my mind was
carried back to some very parallel experiences of my own ten years
previously, namely, in September, 1877.
It is necessary to make some preliminary
explanations before laying these before the readers of “ Light.”
For what I am about to touch upon is very different from the ordinary
course of teaching with which readers of my Spirit Teachings are familiar.
This method of instruction is allegorical, and is not to be interpreted
with that rigid literalness of interpretation to which the usual
messages given to me were susceptible of being submitted. We have
in what follows a parable, a glimpse of teaching from another order
of intelligence; a revelation or lifting of the veil that hides from our
clogged senses the realities of the world in one state or condition of
which we are now living : all unconscious, most of us, of what our bodily
senses are not adapted to comprehend. Thrice only have I been brought
in contact with spiritual beings who profess never to have been incarnate
in this world. One of those was known to me as “ The Angel Harmony.”
Her method of teaching was, as I have said, by symbolic vision.
I became clairvoyant, and saw these visions, having first of all
prepared myself by gazing fixedly into a crystal. I do not discuss the
question as to whether these visions weie subjective or objective. My
readers will form their own opinion, and the value of the teaching will
not thereby be affected. It is sufficient that they form a compact block
of teaching which was conveyed to me in a manner different from any
that I had previously been acquainted with.
Hitherto I had received definite and positive
information given in answer to a very distinct craving in me for
satisfaction on the point that then perplexed me. I wanted
direct evidence of the existence of intelligence external to a human
brain, and I got what I wanted. Information, demonstrably external to my
own mind, was repeatedly given, and my questions respecting such information
had been categorically answered, but there had been no attempt at the
symbolic method of teaching, with which I now first became
familiar. Having seen my vision, or having travelled in spirit with
my instructor to the scenes that I describe (if that explanation be
preferred), I used to get an interpretation of what I had seen by the
usual process of automatic writing. This interpretation was given to me
usually by a spirit who was very familiar to me, and was able, by
long practice, to use my hand for the purpose of automatic writing
with more facility than others who were less acquainted with the process.
He seems to have written, as an amanuensis, what was conveyed to him by
the angel. The dramatis personce in these narratives included
some personal friends who had quite recently passed away from earth.
These names I have, of course, changed, explaining so much only as will
make the narrative intelligible. I cannot, of course, hope to convey to
any who did not know those persons any conception of the extreme vividness
with which their characters were delineated and represented. I had
had visions before this. I do not know, but I suspect, that they were mere
visions, and not, as I used to think, an actual visiting of scenes visited
by me in spirit. Be this as it may, the scenes, at any rate, were as clear
as any I have ever seen with the natural eye. In what I am about to
say I have selected a compact mass of experience extending over the three
days, September 4th, 5th, and 6th, 1877. I ought to say, further, that the
accounts were written on the spot as soon as I returned to my normal
consciousness, and pretend to be no more than a plain record of my own
impressions. They are not at all dressed nor prepared for effect, so as to
aim at any literary merit such as charms us in “ The Land of
Darkness.”
September 4th, 1877, is the first of the days with
which I have to deal. [Sitting in the morning at work, I became
clairvoyant, and saw a scene in Spirit-land. It was a peaceful
landscape ; a billowy prairie or moor in the foreground, with a river
creeping through it. In the middle distance were isolated houses, built of
some translucent substance like crystal, and surrounded by very
beautiful gardens. There were fountains and glass-houses with fruit, and
the appurtenances of a well furnished garden. In the further distance was
a range of hills, purpled by the setting sun. In the centre of the
picture hovered the angel Harmony, and in one of the gardens I saw “Sunshine,”
* who was talking to a friend of hers whom I knew by appearance ; and
in another two more friends, one of whom had lately left this
earth. There were other spirits whom I did not recognise, and my ears
were filled with a sound of very exquisite soft music.] [By automatic
writing, given after I had resumed my normal state, and in answer to a
mental question.] The angel Harmony it was whom you saw, and with her
several of her charges, some not known to you. She returns because your
present state attracts her Also she brings with her news of your
friends.
* The spirit-name of a close friend not long departed
: very appropriate and significant, as such names often are.
The twin spirits who have left your sphere last are
now united in their spirit-home. The angel will tell you of it if you
will sit to-night alone. Also Sunshine sends word to her friends through
you. She is happy and progressive. I will not try to say what she
will better tell. Only let me say that the angel’s language is symbolic.
She cannot remain long. Do not question her.* We will transmit
her ideas in words, and will explain hereafter. Rector. [I
complied with the directions, and very soon I saw the same scene as that
just described. I now saw that the house on the extreme left was dusky compared
with the other in which I saw “ Sunshine,” and I recognised in one in
the background a very close friend of my own, with whom I had been on
terms of great intimacy, extending over many years, and who
had departed some time ago. The scene seemed permanent, and I passed
into an interior state. After I had recovered from this state, and
while I was still (as I suppose) under influence, I was told to
put down what I have recorded above. Doctor (the spirit who was then
my instructor) then appeared and conversed with me, and I resume
the writing a t the time of his appearance.] Can you put down what
you have to say, so that it may be permanent ? I have nothing to say,
except that I greet you once again, in the absence of the Chief, as his
deputy. I have not been absent, but silent. I t is likely that you
will recognise my presence more now : and I am concerned with you
more now in your writing. You will need much more preparatory work than
you expected, and you cannot hurry. Be patient. All is well. The Chief is
absent only for a while. His presence is not now needed. He is
not absent in the sense you mean, but withdrawn for a while. Can you
interpret f o r the angel? Rector (the usual amanuensis) will do that.
He writes with more ease. I will converse with you hereafter,' when
you are at peace. Doctor.
There seems to be some symbolic imagery about
the angel. She is clad in “ shining raiment ” with golden circlet in
her hair, and with a cincture o f blue. Purity , love, and wisdom, I
suppose ? What is the star on her brow? Yes, purity and love. The star
typifies hope, and she has by her the Dove of Innocence. I will
translate her thoughts into your language. Rector. The scene your
spiritual eye beholds is a symbolic one. It is real, but not objective.
The prairie is typical of probation life. See, it is set with thorns and
briars. I t is full of pitfalls, overgrown with rank herbage which
conceals their danger. I t undulates upwards to the river of death.
It contains no sign of habitation, because in it there is no home : no
abiding place. That which the spirit had regarded as its home vanishes
with the body, and there remains only a bare and untenanted moor over
which flit in aimless wanderings a few flocks of birds. These are
earthbound spirits, and they are going to and fro, seeking rest, and
marvelling that their homes are gone from them. The river winds in and
out, now meandering slowly and noiselessly between sedgy banks; now
bounding over boulders, and precipitating itself down cascades ; and
again rushing tumultuously between its rocky banks. This, again, is
typical of the various degrees of difficulty with which spirits cross it.
To some the passage
* “ Her ” I had myself used of the angel. I
hardly know why. She looked altogether virginal and exquisitely tender and
fragile. The feminine is preserved in the communications.
is full of difficulty ; they must breast the opposing
flood, and climb the steep ascent on the further side. Some
glide over the favouring stream and land with ease on the
shore beyond, where friends await them and extend a
helping hand. The grouping of the friends on the other side
is made for your convenience. We know no time nor space, and I am
enabled to place this scene before your spiritual eye. Withdraw your eye
now and gaze fixedly on the crystal. I t will enable you to free yourself
from the body and to accompany her. After I will speak to you
again. The words of Harmony. Rector. [Accordingly I got my
crystal, and using it in the way I had been directed, I soon seemed to be
free to move as I was impressed. I joined (or seemed to join) the angel,
and we entered the dusky house on the left of my former’ scene. I was
conscious of being in an abnormal state, and did not speak. The house
contained three persons, one unknown to me. The spirit whom I have known
for a long time as Greed* had completely cast away his
former appearance, and presented a curious spectacle to my eye. The
face was half covered (from the chin to just under the eye) with what
seemed old skin, which was peeling off, and above it all was fair, clear,
and new, as though it had been renewed after illness. The eye was clear
and full of hope. The robes were all a rich living green, indicative
of Progress, the spirit’s new name. He was concerned in endeavouring
to obliterate a stain from his right hand. He was alone. In another room,
the walls of which were fully transparent, except in patches, rested on a
sofa, rose-coloured in robe and surroundings, the spirit who
has lately left us. She was concerned apparently in meditation, or,
perhaps, in rest only. The face was rejuvenescent: all the traces of
bodily age and infirmity had gone, but the likeness remained. In the same
room, assiduously spinning, was another spirit whom I did not know, but
who was, I believe, a relation of the spirit last described. I
could not see her face. There was an all-pervading atmosphere of
roses, and a distant sound of trickling water as from a fountain. The room
in which the two spirits sat was decked with flowers. The other was
littered with unfinished work.
We passed through the flower-covered archway
that gave access to the house, and as I came out a swallow that had
disturbed spread its wings and soared away. We turned into the pathway,
and I noticed that it was hedged with flowers, and that water ran on
either side. Insects and birds of various plumage I saw, but no animals
or reptiles. By-and-bye we came to another house, crystal-walled
like the other, but clearer and with fewer spots. The eastward side
appeared to have no wall at all, and to be defined only by the flowers
that hung in clusters from the roof. It was more an arbour than a room. In
it was the spirit Sunshine,” not much changed in appearance, but full
of vivacity and mirth. She was robed in that “ shining raiment ” that
spirits sometimes bring to earth, but it was finer and more translucent.
In her hair she wore some jewels, which looked like luminous moonstones,
and which seemed to shine by their own light. She was exactly as
I have seen her on earth, only glorified. She was talking to a tall,
dignified spirit, who had evidently not long left the earth, and whom I
readily recognised as one whom I had known slightly, and who had been well
known to her. She seemed out of place, and, as it were, “ on a visit.” She
was explaining things to him, as I gathered, drawing illustrations as
she proceeded. I could see that on the side opposite to me her robe was
full of holes, but she concealed ' The spirit-name of an old man whose
life and thoughts the word exactly typifies Viz., a very repulsive and
loathsome one. Then now and again by a rapid movement of her
hand, laughing as she did so.* Her guardian was at hand, and seemed
to keep watch lest the influence of earth should gain sway. The room was
pretty, but I felt an air of disorder in it. The male spirit was robed in
dusky blue, not a pleasing colour ; but the head was massive and full
of repose. I was moving further, but the angel recalled me
to earth, and the scene faded from my view.]
[By automatic writing, after I resumed my
normal state] :— Is my account exact ? Yes. It is true, and the
symbols are plain. Not all. Why was Sunshine's robe in holes on the
side away from her ? I t is not perfect yet. But she would put a fair
face on it. She did so always. A h ! yes. So she shook it out, and
would make the best o f it ? Yes. I t was her way. She could not
speak ? It was not permitted. She would be drawn to earth. The angel
wished you to see her state. She is happy, and is making progress. Can
she send any message ? I t was desired, but the angel did not consider
the attempt desirable, for reasons which were named. Was the scene
real, or only a subjective vision ? A t first the vision was presented to
your eye, grouped by spirit power; but afterwards you visited the
scene. The face of the spirit on which the old skin half remained:
was it typical of unaccomplished progress ? Yes ; and the attempt to
remove the stain was symbolic of effects which have not yet been got rid
of. Cease. You are exhausted. A t the foot of the message, as was
usual, certain symbols used by spirits—each distinctive and
never varying—were placed. A new one attracted my notice—1|. What is
that new sign ? The sign of the angel, Harmony. Two parallel
lines which never cross each other. She is anxious to add that she
will show you other symbolic visions unless she is prevented. To-night
I No; to-morrow in the early morning. Before I close the book, I want
to ask whether those scenes are reed—real, I mean, in the same sense as
scenes in our world ? ■ In precisely the same sense. The scenes of
the world of spirit, and the surroundings of the spirit in any sphere
of its existence, are just as real as are the scenes and
surroundings of your earth’s. Each is impressed upon your own spirit:
each is the result of your own state. They would not be real to you in
your present state : they Are real to you in spirit as you visited them :
just as these scenes are not real to us. Rector. [Looking back
now, I can understand what was then to me a mystery. I got the teaching
for which I was fitted in the way tha t my instructor could best give
it. “ M.A. (Oxon.)”] ( To be continued.)
* This action was eminently characteristic of
her. We always used to say that she was the best possible hand at putting
the best possible face
*The answer told at her departure that it would be
very dangerous for her to be brought again within earth-influence. Hence
she never returned, though we very earnestly desired it.
Part 2
Part 2
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