Witchcraft of New England Explained by Modern SpiritualismPutnam, Allen
Religion
Witchcraft of New England Explained by Modern Spiritualism
Putnam, Allen
Spiritualism; Witchcraft -- New England
man, till will-force generated an aura whose outgoing waves he could not
breast, and by which the girl's inner perceptives were firmly bandaged and
made dormant. Were the fits and visions which the isolated child continued
to have for a time after she was sent from home nothing other than her own
voluntary pranks and feignings? She was not author of them. The black man,
or Indian, then acted through and upon her till it was no longer in his
power to perform mighty works there because of unbelief, which had grown
up and hardened into an impervious wall of seclusion.
Knowledge, gained by our personal observation in 1857, enables us to state
distinctly that the late Professor Agassiz, a man strong in body, mind,
and will, (while arrangements were being made for himself and several
associate professors for an investigation of spirit manifestations at the
Albion in Boston,) demanded for himself at the very outset, and was
granted, exemption from obligation to sit in a circle. Through all the
sessions which followed he kept most of the time on his feet, walking
vigorously back and forth, and manifesting symptoms of great uneasiness.
We then had heard that he formerly had been mesmerized, and therefore
suspected that he feared that if he sat quietly down in the presence of
mediums, he "should have fits too." His own account of his experiences
under the hands of Rev. Chauncy Hare Townshend we have given at length in
a recent work, published by Colby & Rich, Boston, entitled "Agassiz and
Spiritualism." We now gladly use what seems fitting occasion to state our
own belief, that his demand for personal exemption from compliance with a
rule which it was customary, fair, and important to enforce upon every
person present at a seance, and that his restlessness and disturbing
movements all sprung from a motive much more in harmony with the high
character and principles of that illustrious man, than are disparaging
ones which have often been ascribed to him. In our judgment,
_self-protection_ was his motive, and not design to disturb harmony, and
thus frustrate manifestations. His former experience had taught him that
even over his firm mental resistance another's mind had entered his body
and taken it out from under his own control; therefore he well might
apprehend that, if not very cautious, he again "might have fits," or might
become "a Saul among prophets."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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