[4] The library and papers of Alphonse Louis Constant are, I believe, still in existence but inaccessible. [5] Baron de Guldenstubbé. _La Réalité des Esprits et le Phénomène Merveilleux de leur Ecriture Directe._ 1857. [6] _Les Sept Nuances de l’Œuvre Philosophique Hermétique._ Leçons Théoriques et Pratique du Livre de Thot. 1786. [7] This would seem to point to the present research in psychology and psychotherapeutics and its applications to cases of “shell shock” and kindred mental disturbances. CHAPTER III ASTRAL LIGHT AND THE PSYCHO-LASTROMETER One of the commonest phenomena associated with Spiritualism is the production of light. Many mediums possess this power of attracting or emitting light and even small circles where there is in truth little enough Light in the true psychic sense, yet produce this, the most elementary of the phenomena. It is possibly because it is so easy to induce light phenomena of various kinds that the production of any form of spirit luminosity has been, so to speak, taken at face value as a criterion of _goodness_. In actual point of fact at least two-thirds of the light manifestations seen at Séances may be classed as dubious and a portion of them are more than dubious, they are malevolent manifestations. To this blind belief in the “goodness” of spirit light in itself we may trace certain disastrous mental calamities that have overtaken too trustful searchers. The myth springs possibly from an acceptance of early Bible teachings and a desire to identify these manifestations with the Pentecostal tongues of fire and similar analogies. But among the mass of humble practitioners of Spiritualism who follow the path of the Light are many that are mistaking astral evils for psychic good. To the average Spiritualist the success of a small circle in the production of spirit lights is a heartening message from the spirit world. It is a testimony that life-after-death endures, and as such the phenomena are welcomed as spirit visitors, sometimes identified as actual spirit forms, and no doubt is raised in the minds of those present concerning the innate and essential “goodness” of the visitation. In order to avoid confusion I shall use the term astral light to describe the usual spirit light. The light phenomena are customarily associated with the dark or semi-dark séance because in the full light of day or under normal conditions of artificial light it is almost impossible to see the astral light at all, unless one is clairvoyant or unless the concentration of spirit force is so marked that there is no possibility of mistaking it. The normal appearance of astral light is that of indefinite globular or pear-shaped masses of faint phosphorescence. These appear near sitters or on objects in the room and frequently move about, wax and wane, or gather into clouds before a materialism or in support of a particular effort.[8]