1933
Apr 28 - May 21
April 28, 1933
" ... Peace be upon you. May God in His mercy find a blessing for you. May He in your lives find work in His cause, in His honor towards the blessing of others, towards your own salvation.
"Oh God, we whose little minds ask of You that our vision be enlarged, that our capacity for work in Thy name for Thy people may be extended; grant that we may find our hands turned to that which should be done; may we leave not a thing undone which should not be left undone.
"Grant, O God, that we who have poetry in our lives may translate it into the lives of other people so that their living may be a paeonic poem to Thee.
"Grant that we who speak to many people may first speak to them of Thee, may listen for Thy voice and Thy inspiration. May we give ourselves up to Thy gentle will and may we teach others submission. Keep our minds bright and clean, our spirits rich, seeking and soaring, our hands busy and our feet firm.
"Deliver us, O God, from self-conceit, from that hypocrisy by which we hide ourselves from ourselves, by which we trick ourselves into unjustified self-esteem. Grant us, O God, open minds and full hearts, and a deep desire to empty ourselves as a vessel in Thy cause. Grant us above all friends, so that we, by contact with them, may make them more like Thee. Grant us to know Thy Son as our friend, and knowing Him, to know Thee and to love Thee.
"Through Jesus Christ we ask Thy blessing. May we keep the faith ..."
March 31, 1933
Present: Jack MacDonald (medium), Lillian Hamilton; T. G. Hamilton; Margaret Hamilton (recorder).
7:40 p.m. sitting commences.
Sterge comes at once, speaks to all, then gives way to a new control who has difficulty at first in speaking clearly. Medium takes my left hand, grasps it firmly, saying that his friend says I am his interpreter. He goes on: "I am speaking from the other side. I have not spoken much before. Speak to me! Flammarion is the name. I stick ... I stick ... I find I stay, where I am ... I can't move forward yet ... I hold a place but I can't advance with him." (the instrument)."
Speaks to T. G. H.: "I was very fascinated in your star pictures. Yes! I saw them. I saw. I saw! Yes, I saw your star pictures!"
T. G. H.: "Were you at the lecture then the other night? How did you find it? (Referring to the lecture on April 24 given at Westminster Church.)
Flammarion: "Good! But you did not make it as cohesive as you should have. That was my one criticism, that you did not give a sufficiently cohesive length. You bit off more than you could chew in length of time ... If you could see the distinguished body of men that were listening to you! They wished you had been more significant. Then one of your number thought you should have talked more as a teacher than as a lecturer. Teach your audience step-by-step rather than by starting five or six steps ahead of their comprehension. He said you should help them up more, rather than let them crawl up to where you stand. There was quite a body of men listening, far more than your three-dimensional audience, and if I may say it, far more scientific and distinguished and interested, as your world judges."
T. G. H.: "How did you hear and see? Was the medium present?"
Flammarion: "Through the forces around you that night. You see, there were mediums there that you were not aware of. Your questioner was a medium, somewhat developed. I might say that I wish you had gone into his questions more fully."
"You did not mind me telling you this, I hope. I want to prove at the same time that I knew what was going on. Your questioner was a definite mental medium. He can also sense things, like the instrument here."
(To L. H.) "My friend, madame, I am pleased to talk to you of my work. I was not overlooking you. We men of the stars are pleased to note that we have such heavenly bodies on earth. We hope that the distinguished doctor is not the only satellite in your vicinity. An individual like you would have many admirers and your personality would cause them to revolve in your vicinity. Your being is translated into terms of time and space. The figure could also be continued in terms of light and gravitation.
Ask me a question now if you wish. I will endeavor to give a coherent answer."
L. H.: "You said once before in the other group that space was not empty. Could you explain that to us some time?"
Flammarion: "I could give you a whole thesis on space itself first. Of course you know it would have to link up with the fourth dimension and parapsychology."
"Thank you, thank you, my friends and coworkers. I must go now. Au revoir ..."
Arthur comes, talks for a moment or two, then medium falls forward in his chair, his head touching his knees.
Walter speaks: "That's it! (Stamping feet). That's it! (Pounding his fist into his hand.) That's it! (Stamps foot four times.) One! Two! Three! Four! (Stamping) Just another flop! But who the hell cares?" ( Refer to big group).
L. H.: "It wasn't a flop Walter! It was a wonderful achievement!"
Walter: "Oh, no, it wasn't! It's not as good as I wanted it to be, but I'll get it better or bust! It's a dandy picture if we can only get it straight. Don't mind my shouting. It's a form of control.
Damnation! That's a good word. It's one of the oldest words in the language, one of the oldest and most respectable words, so I can use it. (Voice is lower and control quieter). Now, that's better! Now we'll get talking. Shall we talk about here or there? Let's talk about here first."
That picture's not good. The flash was not quite timely enough. You saw the cleverness with which it was put over with the three mediums. That is more significant than a bushel of pictures. That's important as evidence. One medium is good, two mediums are better, three are damn good! A picture up on the cabinet wall is not as significant as three mediums giving the signal. But in the interval the picture smudged and cracked. It sets the same as plaster of Paris, like cement that dries quickly. It's the same with this - it's exceedingly malleable but damn temporary. It's just like a flash, like a lamp - puff! It's there, poof it's gone. Still, it's good evidence when it busts. If it's busting to pieces it shows you couldn't have done it. In one way I'm mad, in another I'm glad. You know, old Ham, if you were given a message from Confucius, Buddha, Tettrazini, Alfred the great, and signed by Cortez, it wouldn't mean as much to you as a picture."
T. G. H.: "Walter, do you think you could get pictures of some of our local men who have passed over?"
Walter: "I'll try if they're forceful enough."
T. G. H.: "What about the fingerprint business?"
Walter: "I don't know myself, Ham. They don't know and they want to do some more work before they find out. They want my assistance. I can't tell you anything yet. What would you say if I made some fingerprints here? Keep some wax and some hot water in the room. Don't talk about it, make it a matter of routine, and see that it is entered in the notes. We've got to be truthful and scientific."
Medium becomes silent. His head drops until it is resting on his knees with T. G.'s hand on medium's forehead. Medium apparently entranced, begins to spell words out, at first so softly that we do not quite hear what he is saying ... y o u r c i r c l e s o o n ... then speaks, "I come to your circle soon ... me ... me ... my stomach aching ... stomach aching ..." We ask if it is the Baron doctor and the medium clasps the sitters' hands convulsively and shakes them as though to signify assent."
Control changes.
H. H.: "Good evening. I see the commander of your circle is with you tonight. I told you last week my plan to give complete satisfaction to those whom I feel I did harm to. I will try to come to the 'Margery' circle in Boston, my object being to give the message deposited by myself for the purpose of proving or disproving survival. If I give this message to the Crandon Circle I establish myself, prove survival - my own personal survival at least - and put Dr. Crandon into the position where, securing my message, he is automatically freed from my charges. I wanted to reiterate this before your circle commander."
"It is a source of great happiness for me to come to you. I hate to harp on the sympathy that you give me but it is real and very helpful. I tell it to you again because I am not ungrateful. It is uppermost in my thought and I want to show you how I am thinking ... You may try to check up the statement I made about Rose, my secretary. I will come to your big circle soon but I must not come while work is going on. I have talked with Doyle. We are friends. We were great friends here. I respect him. He is one of the most healthy beings I know, healthy in mind, body, spirit and soul in every way."
T. G. H.: "Yes, I would imagine him to stand higher than a great many of your so-called scientists."
H. H.: "Yes, yes. I too would have liked to enter the field of science. My training scholastically was too limited to permit me to enter the field of science. In a field of mechanics, few men, if I may say it, know more than I. I knew a little of the laws and much of the practice and application of electricity, and considerable of photography."
Life here is a tangible illumination, a realization ... I can't quite express it yet. It's not abstract, it's no dream, it's something like ... like, a vitalization of one's spirit ... but that's not it either. I can't tell you what it is yet ..."
T. G. H.: "Do you find many Jewish people there?"
H. H.: "Yes, they are here, many of them. I would like to see all superstitions wiped away. To me it is one of the most horrid marks of the earth. It is a fetter around religious people and skeptics, a fog that obscures the mind. If we could only wipe out age old superstitions, then we would get to real religion, the religion of the Spirit. Science is a great factor, but it is not the ultimate. There is the experience of the Spirit, something that begins where science leaves off. Superstition makes modern religion like a man in armor, all weighed down with useless equipment against a modern devil in modern equipment. We scrap everything in life that is obsolete - houses, factories, machinery, except our beliefs. I think I'll wage a war on superstition ... it's worse than any hokum ..."
General conversation for about three minutes on superstition. Then Harry Houdini goes and Robert speaks to us.
Robert: (in dialect). "And then there was that lad, Caliph Haroun al Raschid. He was the lad that had the horse with the peg in its neck. He ran off with all the beautiful princesses until the princesses in his palace were thicker than cockroaches. And the only one who was noticeable was a beggar maid."
"Then there was Scheherezade, the one who told a thousand and one tales. She was a grand wee lassie. She was Ananaias' wife. (This conversation seems to be for the purpose of establishing control).
Well, I'll go now. Good night!"
Sterge returns for a moment to close the sitting.
9:10 p.m. sitting closed.
May 2, 1933
[Letter from Dr. Hamilton to Mr. P. M. Abel, - Winnipeg:]
"... and it gives me great pleasure to answer your questions briefly in the hope of clearing up to a degree what are evidently misunderstandings.
"We are both experimenters and observers. Our early work was that of observing unusual phenomena after which we repeatedly set up experiments under varying conditions to note the varying results.
"The medium does not dictate the conditions either in trance or out of trance. In accord with our experience and success in relation to conditions and our theories as to underlying laws we set up these experiments recognizing the limitation under which phenomena can occur.
"An experiment without control would be practically worthless and so too would an experiment under circumstances or condition of environment contrary to or outside of the tolerance of these phenomena. Frequently diversions or variations of phenomena are witnessed and these not infrequently suggest new possibilities for experimentation.
"The medium's hands are not always held by the same person at every sitting. By frequent changes of position of the sitters we have eliminated all conditions which might make possible any assistance or interference of a "next friend". Teleplasm has been produced when every individual in our group with the exception of the medium herself, on whom it appears, has been absent at one time or another.
"The medium would be willing certainly to have her hands held by an avowed skeptic, and there is no reason why in the long run it should not be a successful condition. Skepticism does not matter, provided it is honest skepticism. There are certain people whose presence is beneficial as a collateral assistance in what appears to be the supply of energy for the production of teleplasm, and on the other hand there are people whose presence is detrimental on account of a lack of this contributory faculty. These are the factors that determine the order in which sitters are placed. These factors are known to us as the result of repeated experiments, but for experimental purposes we rely largely upon the advice of the control in this matter since the control seems to know the contributory faculties present in each sitter much better than we do. The order of the circle is frequently changed for different types of production.
"Our medium does not object to the presence of people other than those belonging to our group. Sometimes these objections are made by the controls who may be operating through one or more of several mediums. These restrictions are also backed up by the group members who, through experience, have come to realize that to do otherwise is to greatly damage the prospects of success. On very important occasions, however, the main control has requested the presence of an outside scrutineer and of additional very exacting features of control, in order to establish as far as possible emphatic proofs of supernormality.
"Every one of the group has been absent from the group at some time with the exception of the medium when teleplasm has been produced and photographed. Frequently, members of the group are absent for reasons over which they have no control but this has no bearing whatever on the production of teleplasm or the success of the work except in apparent lessening of the energy available for furtherance of the experiment. Many seances are held at a time unknown to absent members but this has no bearing whatever upon the results or upon the type of phenomena except as I have indicated upon the supply of energy and to a degree on the types of control personalities who may manifest.
"The matter of telepathic transference within the room may be entirely ignored except for a very small percentage of phenomena in which it might account for results. I am satisfied that on the whole telepathy has no bearing and this is a result based upon fifteen years observations. Telepathy as a popular theory has many adherents but as a practical cause it evidently can be applied only to a very small percentage of psychical phenomena.
"Teleplasm casts a shadow as disclosed in the photographs This must be the case when it obstructs the light sufficiently to throw back to the camera an amount of light which registers on the plate. What I mean is that the light could not come through the teleplasm and not show as a shadow and at the same time be reflected back to be registered by the camera or seen by the naked eye. When you consider that these flash lights last but 1/100th of a second for the bulbs and about 1/35th of a second for the rapid powder, the duration for disintegration by light is comparatively reduced. Nevertheless, certain photographs show features which strongly indicate that the substance disintegrates and gives off actinic effects much greater than is warranted by the reflection of the flash light alone. It is impossible to discuss this in the limited space imposed at this time.
"Many features of the substance may be interpreted from its appearance, position, surface, morphology and purposive functioning at the time that it is registered by the photograph. The substance cannot be tested in a manner similar to ordinary materials because of its high disintegration factor, and probably also because of its dissociation on these occasions from the medium. You will find reports of tests made in Schrenck-Notzing's book "The Phenomena of Materialization". Of course, you know that no satisfactory test has been made of living tissue by any biologist for the reason that the tissue is killed in the process. The same restrictions apply to teleplasm, only more so.
"We have no system of bell cords. The bell cords you refer to are probably those, evidently of teleplasm, which the control puts up from the head of the medium, entranced, to over-reach the bell box. These cords are visible in all photographs taken at the time of the bell ringing, the box being at a distance of two and a half feet to three feet from the medium and with no normal material substance, except the air of the room, bridging the gap between the box and the medium, the medium being entranced and having both hands held continuously. These cords have nothing to do with any electrical current or device in the room. They can be placed or removed at the will of the control and by him utilized intelligently in response to requests for signals, or in accord with an arrangement agreed upon for the firing of the flash. On several occasions the bell, operating under the direction of the control, has signaled for firing the flash. Always on such occasions the flash photographs have disclosed the cords.
"We have ordinary light current in the room and a small transformer which, for low voltages, supplies a small ruby lamp. The flashes are fired by the ordinary house current through a push button held in my hand awaiting the signal. There is also a flash lamp with ruby covering which I use to enable members of the group to reach their places and ..."
May 5, 1933.
Jack MacDonald (medium); T. G. Hamilton; Lillian Hamilton; James Hamilton; Margaret Hamilton (recorder).
Medium becomes entranced as soon as we take our places. Arthur speaks long enough to greet us all, then Sterge appear to say they are going to put something over for the "big shot". (T. G. H.)
Control changes.
Walter speaks: "Hello! I'm here! For the love of Mike! Say, you could have knocked me over with a feather. You brought in the wax! It's a miracle! I congratulate you; you're a miracle worker. I didn't get a chance to use it, but I will, keep on bringing it. I think I'll give orders here and then I'll get things done there. (T. G. H. asks question regarding the Boston work.) Oh, I'll be fighting a bit but we'll get it yet. You know what Sister Lucy said? Well she didn't say that. It was the medium. It was just a bad dream to her."
There is a little more general conversation between Walter and the group members. Walter's voice is very strong and powerful, he shouts most of the time.
Control changes again. Medium's voice becomes very gentle, high-pitched and rather timid.
New control: "Medium ... medium ... medium take me? Feda speak."
L. H.: "Hello, Feda! You are a famous little lady.
Feda: "No, Feda not famous."
T. G. H.: "Have you any news for us, Feda?"
Feda: "Medium not take me yet ... look for book, second shelf ... page 62 ... Michael Collins ... Big trouble ... Funny I do that ... just before he knew. I fooled him. Maybe I get it yet more fully. Maybe soon. Maybe soon. Home again now. Good night."
Control changes.
Arthur: "Hello, family. I'm back now, just to clear up. I'm always at spring housecleaning."
Control changes.
Walter: "Now we'll get down to some more work. That was just froth on the beer. Now we'll get at the beer. I'll pour the beer, and you'll drink it. Now we'll do some more work, just to show I'm here."
"You know, we could try to cross-correspondence between this and the big circle, except that this instrument would probably know what's going on in the big circle. So I'll have to find another way that's scientific. Next time, if we can, I want either one of you to make a piece of paper with a simple diagram. I want to see if I can duplicate it in the dark. I want to do it because I don't consider the other scientific enough. While we can give cross-correspondence from this to the other, we can't from this to the big one. I don't want you to count on any cross-correspondence because he may know. Do you get that? Now, just a minute ..."
Medium's head is bowed until it almost touches his knees. He whispers to himself something that sounds like "Peace, peace, peace," over and over; then he says: "Oh, that's a big, big ... oh, the big ... they come big, big ... good, good! ... big, big."
Medium stands. "Go, go, go!" (Spoken aloud). Medium's feet move, at first slowly, like marking time, then more quickly, like someone running. He starts to whistle Yankee Doodle quickly. He says "Oh, that's better! I'll make him stay down!" (Evidently referring to difficulty of keeping the instrument under control). Medium sits down and again speaks softly. "Oh, that big ... pig ... pig!" (Coughs). "Oh! I was speaking to you as scientist to scientist. I was speaking from the spiritual plane to you. I doubted that it existed, but now I know. Steinmetz speaking, was speaking to you before. Coming again."
T. G. H.: "You worked with Crookes?"
New control: "Yes."
Sterge now speaks: "I was trying to help him through for a particular reason which I will tell you later. I will bring him again. He holds up something for me to look at. It has the letters G, E, and is made of bronze or brass, and then he writes 'Chief Engineer'. My, he is small!"
T. G. H.: "Yes, he's wizened up."
Sterge: "He seems to have something wrong with his back. It must have hurt. It's not straight."
T. G. H.: "Yes. But there's nothing wrong with his head."
Sterge: "Yes, that's right."
Control changes.
Robert: "(Using Scotch dialect): "Well, I'm here the now. I'm no' going to wait the night. According to the law of averages, I should get a look in at the beginning. But like the law of gravitation, the law of averages does not work here. They've no' been passed. I want to discuss a wee bit about the work. What is it that's the most valuable? Do you want me to do original work, or do ye want me to give direct references that I did not give before?"
L. H.: "Well, Robert, the original work we think is very fine."
Robert: "I thought so. Ye ken there's so many others giving evidence that it would be better to give original work. I'd like to give ye more original work; but to keep straight, I'd like occasionally to put through a bit of reference so that we can base each séance on its own merits. That will keep me mindful of the past, and will give you a glimpse of it."
"I had in mind a play. I thought of it being a one-act play about over here, because I don't think it's been done yet. It would be a play for reading only, not for acting; and seeing you like it, we'll do it very soon."
"There's something else - almost a real law - ye can get about as much out of a sitting as ye put into it, and you stimulate me and you can help and stimulate me by talking to me, and you might ask me to write about something. That stimulates. I want to show that I'm not a creation of memory but that I'm a mind also. What I want to show is that I'm a mind, not a memory, and that a memory could not create spontaneously. That's my idea and when you've got this idea in mind you'll ken a wee bit more about the methods of mental mediumship."
"I may ask the doctor to sit outside the circle sometimes, because his mind is of the scientific type and acts at times as a barrier to the fanciful. Is that all right?"
T. G. H.: "Why, yes, of course!"
Robert: "If the other wee sparrows want to come they're welcome. Now that's Stevenson the scientific for the night. Well, I'll be going now but I'll be back if all's well."
Control changes.
H. H.: "I'm back again to speak. It is part of my expiation."
L. H.: "Is it Harry?"
H. H.: "Oh, thank you! I seem to talk all the time of myself. Any questions you would like to ask?"
T. G. H.: "What about the ruler?"
H. H.: "I put the ruler inside. I didn't mean to pin it on her. I thought I was going to catch her. I thought I was not alone in this. I didn't trust her. I didn't trust anyone, not even the members of the committee. Do you think I didn't know what Bird was like? Oh, I'm sorry! I'm sorry! I shouldn't have spoken. It was bad for me!"
"I had no respect for those committee members and they none for me, and I knew it. I felt it was all fakery. I didn't trust them. I felt it was up to me to prove it. And it was part my money. I had ordered a prize too, you know.
"If I could have gotten in the beginning what I overlooked in the end I would have been a different man. But I didn't. It's no use now. Now I can see some more faults I have committed in two or three cases. I intend to work out my plans for helping these people shortly. I have now reached the point where you may send my entire speeches to the doctor in Lime Street. I don't know if I should or not. It may open old sores. Perhaps it would be better to hold it until an opportune time, but you have my permission and I hope the opportune time soon comes. One thing I will say, I'll subscribe to your work any time, and that's the first time Harry Houdini ever said that. It is only right and justice that I should. When I see and know, I say so. I hope to say more for you when many people listen."
"You are helping me a great deal. The lady is very kind. I've got my feet now, I only hope I can keep my head. If I use it right it's a good head."
T. G. H.: "Have you spoken with Doyle?"
H. H.: "Yes, I've talked with Doyle. We've reached a compromise. We were always good friends; well, we're friends again, only with a few less barriers of creed and a better insight into one another. I knew Doyle's greatness of old. I did not expect to find it as great as it is. He is a wonderful character. I would defend him against anyone. Even his ill chosen defenses marked him as a great man. Even if a person is manfully wrong in any cause, there is a lot to be said for him. Doyle, even when he was in error, was manfully so."
"Some night I will give more words that will be good to you. Goodnight."
T. G. H. and J. H. leave the room.
Control changes again. A wonderful prayer is given, and although no name is given with it, we suspect Robert:
"For His sake, He Who died for us, that we might have everlasting life, we dedicate this work. The right wing of God surround you! The peace that passeth into understanding be wrapped with you, bless you, keep you. As you grow, so in magnificence grows the work."
"Help us to present our facts, and our speech, and our creation, with facility and reverence. Amen."
Sterge returns, asks me to sit in the circle. As this makes note taking an impossibility, the events that transpired had to be recorded from memory.
First, Flammarion purported to speak, giving the name of his book, "L'Inconnu", saying that the new book he was writing was to be called "Le Connu." A new control manifested, reciting the first stanza of the "Blessed Damozel," gave the name Christiana, his sister, Charles his brother, said that they held sittings, to which Elizabeth Barrett came. He gave his name as Dante Gabriel Rossetti, said that he was part of the circle on the other side that helped the Scottish literary gentleman. He further said he would try to give something original.
POEMS
"My silent songs, let us go; she will not hear
Us softly scale the moonlit path we came
Let light lips be mute of all things dear
Even such words that with love breathe her name
She could not hear!
"My silent songs, let us go; she will not love
Your wraithed words and mannered movement slow.
From her shadowed seat she thinks it is enough
To watch her whistling gardener come and go.
She would not love."
"My silent songs, let us go; she will not look
Around on our sad-eyed and silvered shapes.
Oh, God, she is so fettered by a book
Her soul her own searching eye escapes.
She would not look."
"Hush - Song!
We pass by my lady's chamber
Where light-limbed and jewelled-lipped
She lies langorous
Half in love with Sleep."
(By Jack MacDonald when normal)
"The fairies have all come out tonight
Down by the ruined mill.
With neither a glance to left or right
They dance along the rill.
"The leaves a-floating on the foam,
Are fairly boats I know
In which the little people roam,
(A fairy told me so)
"The glittering castles on the sand
The little rafts pass by
We'll just have time to wave our hand
Since fairy folk are shy."
"Put sails on your dream boat, the mists be your sea
As the breath of the soul, your old dreams flee.
So come to me wooing in the magic of mist
Joy on your forehead and lips to be kissed,
Wild-eyed and laughing, dancing and gay,
But come as a poet, my heart's in your sway."
A NIGHT WHISPER
"Tread softly near my sweet
For Peace doth poppies spread
Around her pillowed head
And loose petals at her feet.
"She drifts where pale mists blow
- like hands in silk playing,
As rustling silk swaying,
She breathes light and low."
1933 was to be a memorable year indeed. Through the kind offices of Dr. Dave Stewart, then head of the Tuberculosis Sanatorium at Ninette, Manitoba, Mr. MacKenzie King, then Leader of the Opposition, wrote to us asking for leave to call at our home in August, when he would be in Winnipeg on a speaking tour. Letters were exchanged, the date was arranged; and on a Sunday, Mr. King came for lunch, and stayed for tea and well on into the evening, discussing the experiments, studying the photographs. We found him to be a warm-hearted, generous person, and an earnest seeker after the truth. A considerable correspondence was carried on between Mr. King and the Hamiltons, and the original letters are now housed in our new Archives.
In due course these were published, complete with photographs (of various phenomena) , in early 1933.
[Editorial Notes]
May 7, 1933.
Mr. Reed; Mrs. Poole; Mercedes; Ewan; Dawn; Ada Turner; L. H.; J. A. Hamilton; T. G. H.;
[Note: Katie begins a new work. Mercedes in cataleptic trance. Dawn and Ewan on floor in deep trance. Dawn has a vision of a "Marble" City, and the "Fountains of Light." Lucy says she is leaving the medium Mercedes for Katie; says orders are to be given by Walter only. Spurgeon speaks through Dawn, and the High Priest through Ewan.]
Usual E.M. trance. Stevenson and Livingstone appear.
Lucy/Mercedes says they have started new work. Walter alone will issue instructions.
Ewan: "Good evening. In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was made flesh." How many of you have the meaning of that? What was the Word but the translation of the thought behind? And what was the flesh but the thought behind? These are God's thoughts made manifest. If you have faith, give it all to this. Give us support in your thoughts and words and prayers. I am only trying to tell you that these demonstrations are of the power of thought. There is sacrifice on all parts, that we may come back, and especially does gay Walter keep himself back by those material things with which you can convince mankind. We do not begrudge this; we give it in the spirit in which you come here ... I am numbered among those who also watch ..."
Spurgeon/Dawn: "I will lift up mine eyes onto the hills from whence cometh my help." The Lord is thy defense on thy right-hand. Press forward! This is not the end; only the beginning! You must go forward in Faith, and carry the torch, so that when you make a change you will have done your part in the great work! Seek the Invisible, and you will find what you are seeking! It is here in your midst! Be not afraid of what may be said in regard to your work, or of you! Seek and ye shall find! Good night! Spurgeon."
All the mediums now pass into very deep trance. Dawn awakens and tells us of her vision: a vision of the Marble City.
"I saw a white cord upon my body. As I moved this cord was with me from my body. A tall man came to me, dressed in white; and he beckoned me, and I followed. In front of him I saw a lot of spirit forms. As I passed through the air, I could see forms passing as we moved.
"Then I entered this place. There was no gate to it, but huge pillars. I heard this man call me his daughter, and he the interpreter. I saw beautiful houses of marble. I saw no sky. I went in: there was a beautiful room filled with books, but I could not touch them ; they said that they were not for me. There were many musical instruments, and I saw a little girl playing. There seemed to be music coming from everywhere. I went into other rooms. All were different, and seemed to have special significance. Then I came to a quarry. Here many men were working, lifting huge slabs of marble with perfect ease. They seemed to be taking them out to erect beautiful buildings. Then the man said "Come to the Fountain of Light!"
"It was sparkling and glistening like a diamond! I then went to an arch and I came to a place where I saw a man talking to a crowd of people. There were paths between many fountains; and many people were around. I saw both men and women with very human-like faces, but with gauze-like draperies covering their bodies. They were bathing in the water of the fountains. There were many animals and birds and flowers. It was very beautiful!"
May 10, 1933.
Dawn; Mrs. Poole; Ada Turner; Ewan; Mr. Reed; J. A. Hamilton; Mercedes; L. H.; Eileen MacTavish, Secretary.
Mediums deeply entranced. Dawn groans and passes into a state of rigidity.
May 11, 1933.
(Jack MacDonald)
Patience worth.
"Behold, the New Day hath come. He has come
anew unto thee. Let not thy heart be dismayed at the night's darkness, for the taper is thine, the Word of His promise. He hath left it unto thee."
"Let then each day be filled with His love and a
night lighted by his flame, and thy day shall be filled of fulfillment, and not a promise."
"The light of His countenance SHALL be thine.
Ask thy heart if thou know this."
Sitting:
Jack MacDonald (medium); Lillian Hamilton; Margaret Hamilton (recorder).
5:30 p.m. sitting commences.(Approximately)
Medium entranced about one minute after entering séance room. Sterge and Arthur both speak briefly, then Robert comes.
Robert: "Good evening, my lass and lassie. What will we talk about the night?"
L. H.: "Oh, tell us what you're doing."
Robert: "I've no' told you much about when I first came over. It was a strange coming. There was one that met me that guided my footsteps on earth through childhood, and is now guiding me past rebirth. To see her there meant so much to me. I think I slept a little while. I must have, for when it was dawn and I awoke I found such a sense of freshness and lightness. I was lying beside a person seated watching me. I did so stare around."
Medium sits down. Head drops forward. He mutters "Virginibus Pueresque."
"There was such a familiar look about her face, such a memory-tingling touch about her hands, and yet there was a beautiful unfamiliarity about her face. She sensed my awakening and turned, - such a penetrating sweetness in her glance! She took my other hand and airy lightness seemed to creep through my body. I saw her smile, my lips gave back in smiling wonderment. That was all I did and then I sank back to sleep ..."
Medium became silent, and falls back in his chair. In a moment he begins to mutter:
"Flowers are there whose petals paint
The wonders of the Parent Plane;
Flowers be there, yea, flowers that nod,
Whispering each to each the symphony of God.
Flowers be there, yea, in children's hands
Such beauty comes.
Such strength comes from those who bear
The flowers, that grow, leaf and bloom
And live on empty air.
Yea, more than that, they grow and live
And perfume all around -
God's fingerprints on every leaf
Yea, His word on each is found."
Medium leans forward, grasps the pencil and notebook and writes a name.
Sterge: "That is a little surprise, a little gift for the little Mademoiselle." (M. L. H.)
M. L. H.: "Did Robert give the poem, Sterge?"
Sterge: "No, the poem giver was not Stevie. We shall see. Stevie is gone back to get some of his props. He just withdrew. He said the poem fitted in with what he wanted to give."
Medium now becomes restless, stands, coughs, breathes heavily and quickly, as though undergoing great exertion. Puts right foot up on the seat of the chair.
Robert: "We are now on the mountain. We've been climbing. You're up here with me, but you can't see because there is a mist. Mind ye don't step over there. It's two thousand feet down. There's death if you fall. Hang onto me and we will go straight across it. There, we're across and we did not fall! We'll no' open the rucksack just yet. Now, I've got the alpenstock here. I'm no' a good climber, and so ye'll no' mind if we slip a hundred feet or so. Now you know, the Pyrenees are a lot flatter than these mountains. It's no' much fun - you can rull up them and then they are cold besides. Ye have to walk fifteen miles to find a bonfire. If we only had some of Ben's cheeses we'd be all right."
L. H.: "What did you make the poor man suffer so for?"
Robert: "Well, ye ken, there are only two ways to make an island isolated to an Englishman - no beer and no cheese. I knew he could forget the beer, but never the cheese."
Medium sits down. Head drops forward. He mutters "Virginibus Pueresque."
Robert speaks again: "Now I'll write a letter."
"Dear Philip:
" It seems rather strange that you, situated as you are in a country where there is almost an oversupply of competent writers, should addressed a missive out into the literary deserts. It strikes me as especially humorous that you should ask me concerning journalism and its rewards (I'm glad you said rewards instead of profits), its scope, and tools peculiar to its trade. I think perhaps, if we are going to deal with this subject even at short length, it will be necessary to turn your questions around, to right-about-face, and deal with the really fundamental question first: that is, the tools of journalism, what they are, how to use them when you get them. Speaking from my own experience, I think the writer has to have two God-given faculties to begin with: the power to see, and the power to work. It sounds simple, doesn't it? Both are tremendously difficult to develop, and if the good Lord has not been kind to you, it will require a tremendous amount of effort to bring yourself to the point where a kindly God could have placed you."
"The power to see embraces a great many things - the power to see others, the power to see yourself, and the power to see yourself seeing others. To spy on others is a booby's task, to see other people, one of the hardest jobs in the world. To really look at yourself without getting a bad taste in your mouth is a man's job; unless, on the other hand, we see ourselves grandly big, like Alice did, and smack our lips with a grand conceit."
"Perhaps sometimes we strain our eyes, to see things in others that could not possibly be in them, and create a variety of literary astigmatisms which should not come if we can see ourselves seeing others in the right perspective ..."
[We pause at Robert's request for a brief rest. He asks that the work be taken up next sitting at the point where the letter was stopped. Walter speaks for about three minutes, talking of his other work. L. H. asks him if he comes to her when she is asleep.]
Walter: "Yes, that's when you get your ideas, too. I get your body asleep and your mind awake. And then you come and talk to me and get into real close association with me. Now I'm going, but I wanted to tell you I'm here working. Tell him he's done so much lately that I'll have a fit if he does any more. So long!"
Sterge: "I'm back. We will close now. Au revoir, and I hope you find worth in the writing. Take that down. Au revoir."
Approximately 6:55 p.m.
[Note: - When I was transcribing the notes three days later, I could not at first make out the name which had been written after the poem had been given. The insistence on the word 'worth' proved to be the clue, and we finally deciphered the writing as 'Patience'. Certainly the style, thoughts, and vocabulary of the little poem bear marked resemblance to Patience Worth's poems]
[Margaret L. Hamilton.]
[This little book - always at T. G. H.'s bedside. The Patience
Worth poems his great comfort.]
"Oh river of mercy, through ages flowing!
Oh, river of mercy, whose fount-head was Calvary!
Oh, river of mercy, sweeping through the barren ways,
Through the rock-ribs of ages,
Melting the mountains unto riched fields!"
"Oh, ye river ever of mercy,
Sup for the hosts who trod,
So weary, earth's weighted hours!
Oh, river of mercy, crimson river. Flow! Flow!
Flood the earth with thy pouring waters!
Write upon it, in crimson, thy tide,
That day coming ages may read, upon the fields,
Upon the mountain sides, and valley's ways,
Mercy! Mercy! Mercy! Which is the law of love."
The Dream Boat
Put sails on your dreamboat,
the mists be your sea;
As the breath of the soul,
your old dreams flee.
So come to me wooing
in the magic of mist
Joy on your forehead
and lips to be kissed,
Wild-eyed and laughing,
dancing and gay,
But come as a poet,
my heart's in your sway.
Article III
Script of May 17, 1933.
"The Summing Up."
"Brief as this final script is, it reveals ideas clothed in phraseology lying well beyond the grasp of the entranced automatist in her normal state.
"I have no hesitancy in saying there is no dissolution, no disintegration of the spiritual body in passing from the earthly life to the spiritual existence of immortality.
"In the heavenly realms everything is divinely beautiful and ethereal. There are gondolas, carriages of all kinds in my sphere of existence, and you can go many miles in the lightning flash.
"Our churches are the homes of aspiration and gratitude to our Father God, the Giver of all good gifts. We also have mediums or sensitives who occupy the centers of our churches upon great occasions. Often the saintly souls of ancient time come into our churches to worship with us, and also to help us in our progress. These are heavenly teachers leading and lifting our minds into the calm of Holy Love.
"Days, weeks, months, years, are nothing to spirits, who are concerned with sensations and events.
"My purpose in writing is to give you an idea of the scenes beyond the veil. The question is often asked: "What are the conditions of human beings who are ushered into eternity?" I may say the answers are as varied as the conditions, vibrations, impulses and moods of those who thus pass from the mortal form."
Unsigned.
Before bringing to a close this first series of three articles on the "Dawn" deep-trance scripts of 1931 - 1933, a brief explanation of the circumstances relating to the drawing here reproduced will help to give the reader some understanding of this amazing phenomenon.
It will be recalled that a prediction was made by the "Walter" control through Mary M. ("Dawn") on March 13, 1931:
"The person writing will be with you at your next meeting. You will get drawings and more materializations."
This promise (along with others made at the same time) was duly fulfilled with the production of a very clever cartoon-like drawing done in complete darkness in the presence of the group. But it was not until nearly two years later that the scripts quoted in Article III, and the second drawing (reproduced here ) were given. At the conclusion of the sitting of April 9, 1933, this second drawing was found to have been done on the back of one of the sheets of paper on which the script had been written. These sheets of paper had been initialed and then placed before the entranced medium by Dr. Bruce Chown, who on this occasion acted as recorder and scrutineer. He immediately showed this particular sheet of paper to Mr. Hugh A, Reed, who joined with Dr. Chown in certifying as to its genuinely supernormal origin.
A short time later the pencil sketch was shown to a Mrs. A. Newton for critical appraisal. Mrs. Newton, a former President of the Manitoba Art Society, and a member of the Federation of Artists of Canada, whose pictures have been widely exhibited, had this to say:
"No one knows better than the artist, that even after years of training, it would be impossible to draw anything approaching the perfection of this drawing in complete darkness.
The composition is well-balanced, the figures perfectly proportioned and their lines graceful. Yet this is not all: the picture expresses emotion. Jesus looks with compassion at the penitent figure pleading forgiveness.
"This picture is phenomenal."
Dr. Bruce Chown, B. A., M.D., M.C., is one of the two scientists who signed the drawing in confirmation of the fact that it was obtained in complete darkness under the conditions described. He is a Lecturer in Medicine at the University of Manitoba, Physician to the Children's Hospital, Pathologist to the Children's Hospital, and is widely know amongst his colleagues for his research work.
After joining the Hamilton research group he was present as observer and note-taker during a number of major materializations.
May 14, 1933.
Mercedes; Ada Turner; Mrs. Poole; Dawn; J. A. Hamilton; Ewan; Mr. Reed.
The controls speak of the almost insurmountable difficulties encountered in giving us the materialized representations of their realities. Dawn writes in deep trance.
Comment by L. H.:
["The months of April and May, 1933, saw a number of unique and profoundly impressive events occur in the Hamilton experimental room: on April 2 came the "Mary Lodge" script. On April 9, the supernormal drawing "Lead Kindly Light". On April 23 we received a major materialization which took the form of a non-living formation surrounded by supernormal veiling; a form, said to be the mechanism by means of which the other-world scientists made visible to us, representations of their living women. On May 17 came the last of the scripts of the 1931 - 1933 series. In this script we find echoes of the Spurgeon script of April 26, 1931; echoes from other scripts given at that time, and some new teachings, hitherto undisclosed by our invisible communicators.]
[Letter from Belgrade - requesting photographs for exhibition at the only society for psychical research in Yugoslavia - in touch with British Society for Psychical Research.]
May 19, 1933.
Jack MacDonald; Lillian Hamilton; James Hamilton; M. Hamilton (recorder).
Sterge, the chief control, speaks almost at once. Then Arthur greets everyone, remarking that it takes a few minutes to "get" the medium ..." We've got him so molded that he steps into our pattern so much more easily. We find it difficult to reach through his worldly hardness; it takes a few minutes to dematerialize his earthly mind ..."
Robert comes next: "I ken (to L. H.) who wrote the verse."
L. H.: "The one about the fairies?"
Robert: "It came through fine. There are one or two corrections to be made. The meter is four and three; the first is alternate rhyme, there are four lines to a verse, in all 12 lines."
Control changes.
New control: "Good evening."
L. H.: "I think I know you. Is this the control called Harry?"
H. H.: "Yes. I am coming along fine, thanks to your help. I did not want to come last week; I was in a bad mood which would have disturbed your fine conditions. We all have such dark moments, and I'm a sort of one track mind, not a philosopher. But I'm learning. I still think that Howard Thurston could do a lot for this work if he would. There are several others of the craft who are good. Don't touch Ralph Richards! I don't like him! He's not good for people like you, he's a stuntster! Thurston has brains, Richards is slightly cracked."
"I saw Doyle today. He's great. We haven't quite agreed yet, although we are good friends. We don't quite jibe, but we agree to disagree."
L. H. remarks that she sees a number of lights about the medium.
H. H.: "Yes, I've a friend to help me - my late opponent. I have something I wanted to say, but it might upset conditions."
L. H.: "You're the best judge of that."
H. H.: "I'd better not. It's no use upsetting your fine conditions. Consider me your humble servant."
L. H.: "Doctor will be here next week, I hope."
H. H.: "He does not help me as much as you do. Still, I must make myself a force for good. I thank you so much for your help. No one is a man who takes the easiest path. I must come before the cold scientist, too, and I must learn to make myself felt as a force for good. Good night."
Arthur speaks for a moment, then the medium's head drops forward onto his knees. Robert returns.
Robert: "Let's talk about something. Let's be intellectual, and talk about the most important things in the world - ourselves."
The dappled cow all red and white
I love wi' all my heart;
She gives me cream wi' all her might
To eat wi' apple tart.
The city milk in shining glass
Comes from the milkman's pail;
Into it many waters pass,
Until the milk's quite thin and pale.
"I think that's a worthy effort of the great poet. That's a paeon to a pail. Now, if you look up the wee verse I gave the first time you'll find it. It's no' made up verse like the second one.
"Now to more serious business after we've got the scientific evidence presented. Ye ken there is nothing more scientific than going among the milk. Now where was it I left off last time?"
We tell Robert what it was he gave the sitting before, so that he is able to pick up the thread of his discourse in his letter. He continues:
"To each young writer, having found the tools of his craft, I would say this first advice - write, write, write and you will write right. There is one way the ambitious writer can make storytelling a part of his subconscious life, and that is, no matter what his business, profession or industry may be, to set aside time every day and to write every day. It does this to you: you are an embryo author with embryo ideas. Perhaps you are a would-be author with no ideas. You sit down with a cold, critical, blank sheet of paper in front of you and you've got to set down thoughts that will live on that paper. It lies there so white and pure, looking up at you in all his virginity, and you, the would-be writer, sit back and stare at it as though this wee virgin plane were a source of inspiration. You've got to sit down and develop the roving mind. It's possible, whatever your business in life may be, should you want to write, if you will take time off every day, for some minutes, to woo the muse, you can develop the roving mind. These little mental excursions which are hard to take are among the best possible gymnastics for the writer; subconsciously they create the mind that is always plotting, and always swashbuckling, searching, cramming, carefree, meticulous mind. Following out this course of writing daily you will find that though your mind may work the remainder of the day on other things, the subconscious mind is continually creating.
"This form of art, writing is one of the few creative arts. Few arts really deserve the name of creative art. Perhaps the writer, the musician and God are the creators. The writer weaves together the fact and fancy, takes the scarlet threads of life, weaves them with royal blues and rich purples and all the colors of the emotions, into maps of life. It is a writer's business, primarily, I believe, to try as much as possible to find fine people for other people; to help the individual to know the world and the world to know the individual. It is his job to be master of his reader, and yet make his reader be master of him. He shall be the father of the best that is in him, the missionary of the best that is in him, the ambassador if you like. I don't mean that all writing should necessarily be of a serious nature; a writer, writing naturally of life, can do more than the writer who preaches to you between pronouns; people can be more subtly guided by their imagination than by their intellect. Imagination is unlimited; the intellect is a finite thing."
"My, I'm preaching a lot to you. Am I never Spurgeon! Let's stop a bit and rest. There's a gentleman here, a literary gentleman who wrote about Father William. Yes, Lewis Carroll. Do you remember "The wild man went his lonely way to a strange and lonely pump?" And the mad Hatter?"
L. H. remarks that she visited the real Alice's home in Wales and saw the rabbits in the park. Robert replies that that was what brought him. He goes on to say:
"What I want to do next week is to try and start off without asking you about it. I want to offer as much proof as I can that I am a conscious creative mind, along with my wee bit of Tom Thumb, evidence of my memory!"
Sterge returns for a moment only. The control changes again.
Control: "Oh, oh, oh. (as if in great pain). Oh! Don't! Oh, my God! Oh, don't! Woods! Woods! Oh, make me better!"
We ask what the trouble is.
Control: "Oh, darkness, crash, blast, from smash, I don't know! A bang, and that's all!"
We ask his name and he gives it as "Woods". The control asks where we are, and we tell him that we are in a sitting. He becomes a little quieter, and asks if we are the Glen Hamiltons. We speak to him, tell him to pray, and to realize that he has passed on and that his friends will help him. He replies, much quieter now, that the darkness is clearing a little, and that he sees a man standing near him with a wonderfully kind and smiling face. When he ceases controlling, he seems to be much calmer and says he feels happier.
Arthur returns, speaks to us, and promises that he will look after this poor soul. Sterge comes back to say au revoir and close the sitting.
May 19, 1933
[Letter from Dr. Hamilton to Dr. G. C. Brink - Toronto:]
" ... Having spent considerable time in England last year I am only resting on my oars this year.
"... Enclosing a small photographic copy of a picture sketched on a sheet of foolscap in absolute darkness by our medium Dawn in deep trance. The subject is quite self-explanatory and I think quite unique not only in its miraculous origin but in the teaching. I don't know who the artist control is supposed to be. We have been promised that quite a number of these will be forthcoming but as yet only a few samples of writing and another sketch have come. It seems that they cannot engage in more than one line of activity at once."
May 19, 1933
[Letter from Dr. Hamilton to Dr. Crandon - Boston:]
"... Some few weeks ago we had a rather unusual type of phenomenon in a pencil drawing executed in the dark by a
medium in deep trance ... The original is on foolscap paper. This medium, Dawn, also has produced many automatic scripts of outstanding merit and in many of the scripts the writing, done in absolute darkness and in deep trance, follows accurately along the faint blue ruling of the paper.
"... I have recently had word from Dr. G. C. Brink of Toronto to the effect that he is going to Boston shortly to present a paper before the Psychiatric Association. He is anxious to meet you as he is interested with a group who are working in Toronto and I have accordingly given him a letter of introduction. You will find Dr. Brink a thoroughly trustworthy and earnest type of mind.
[Letter from Dr. Hamilton to Rev. W. R. Wood - Austin - Manitoba:]
"... I have your note ... we will be very pleased to do all we possibly can to meet your request. Our work is unfortunately closing down, as far as some of the mediums go, on account of the holiday season; but there will undoubtedly be something doing that will give you a contact. I noted with appreciation your reply to Van Russell's letter in the Free Press. I did not feel, myself, like bothering with it as he is a local magician and most of the comments and criticisms from those quarters are to be interpreted as an effort at securing cheap advertising. Let me thank you most heartily, however, for the supporting letter.
"... I will enclose herewith a copy of a pencil drawing made by a medium in complete darkness in deep trance, the sketch being on a sheet of foolscap paper. The medium is in no sense an artist. The printing of the title in the background is a part of the whole proposition. The upper right hand corner printing and writing is merely a certification of some of those present. The interpretation of course needs no comment. I enclose also another picture of Katie King taken about three weeks ago. This is not an actual picture of Katie but of the "shell" of Katie. From what they tell us they prepared this shell of a fairly stable type of ectoplasm and the entity at the time appointed enters the shell when it is opened up to disclose the face as you have seen in so many other photographs. I take it therefore that the face in this case is not the actual face of the control but rather the overcovering behind which the actual face is and which would have to be removed for such presentation. At any rate the picture is extremely interesting as disclosing another viewpoint."
May 21, 1933.
Dawn; Ada Turner; J. A. Hamilton; Mr. Reed; Mrs. Poole; James D. Hamilton; Mercedes; T. G. H.; Ewan; L. H.; Eileen MacTavish, Secretary.
Ewan under much stress. Controls working.
Summer holidays. No work for some months.
Sittings resume in the fall of 1933. Harold Turner and Mrs. Daisy Muir (later named Florence) join the group. With Victor and E.M. gone, we notice that the power is lessening, and that we are approaching the end of the materialization phenomena. L. H.
[It appears that over the summer holidays of 1933, Mrs. Elizabeth Poole, the most consistent and devoted member of the mediums' group has decided - for health reasons - to stop attending the seances. W. D. F.]
[It is around this time, also, that Dr. Hamilton cuts back on his various public activities. He resigns from all his posts in various organizations. This move is necessitated by his increasing weariness. Many years of hard work have taken their toll. W. D. F.]
