HUMAN CONSCIOUSNESS:LEONARDO DA VINCI AND THE CAVES OF TUSCANY

WHERE DOES CREATIVITY SPRING FROM?

Lovers and madmen have such seething brains,

Such shaping fantasies, that apprehend

More than cool reason ever comprehends.

The lunatic, the lover, and the poet

Are of imagination all compact.

One sees more devils than vast hell can hold.

That is the madman. The lover, all as frantic,

Sees Helen's beauty in a brow of Egypt.

The poet's eye, in fine frenzy rolling,

Doth glance from heaven to earth, from earth to heaven.

And as imagination bodies forth

The forms of things unknown, the poet's pen

Turns them to shapes, and gives to airy nothing 

A local habitation and a name.

Such tricks hath strong imagination

That if it would but apprehend some joy,

It comprehends some bringer of that joy

Or in the night, imagining some fear,

How easy is a bush supposed a bear?

Shakespeare’s Midsummer Night’s Dream  Act 5.

Why have I opened up with this quotation?

In order to discuss the Human Mind and its  seeming independent , involuntary activity in generating images or thoughts from surrounding or internal stimuli.

Look how Shakespeare breaks it down.

1. The brain gets to work creating fantasy independent of the reasoning mind

2. There are three groups with fertile imaginations: the lunatic; the lover; the poet

3.the lunatic imagines horrors everywhere; the lover sees beauty where it might be absent; the poet takes abstract ideas and gives them concrete form.

One point that leads me to my next ideas is his mention of OPTICAL ILLUSION, the ‘bush’ imagined as a ‘bear.’

So, to get hold of things let us pose a few questions:

Where does Inspiration come from?

What is inspiration?

 How does the human mind get to grips with the world?

First off let us look at one or two OPTICAL ILLUSIONS:

 

TWO SHAPES OF THE SAME SIZE LOOK DIFFERENT

Our next one

THE PLANE AND THE BALLOON

 Another example

MOONEY FACE

Another One 

THE WINE GLASS EFFECT

What do all these things have in common? They are all optical illusions.

Without any effort on our part the mind produces an INTERPRETATION of the details of the pictures. In short, the mind gets to work on it unaided and out comes the result.

In the first two instances the interpretation is most likely to be wrong: the shapes are the same size; in fact, the plane is nearer to the observer than the balloon.

.

The next two illustrate my topic more easily. In both instances they are basic shapes, but ‘arranged’ in such a way that the mind, sometimes after a period, produces the image, in the first case a woman, in the second two men or a wineglass. The mind will keep flipping between the two possibilities.

There is a school of Psychology called Gestalt .  It emerged at the end of the 19^th century in Germany and Austria and  is concerned with the study of Perception: how we see things.

In short, the mind takes the objects it perceives as a whole. This means  it has a tendency to force order out of chaos. So, look at a cloud long enough and the mind will produce faces, figures, even landscapes.

But of course, the main question is: is the mind drawing the material from within the person, or as some believe, is it being fed in from outside. From where,  for example did Handel get the material which later became  the massive 'Handel's Messiah'?  Did he draw on patterns, notes, ideas, from deep down in his psyche or was it somehow fed in from outside. Of course, many Bible Students hold that the Holy Spirit fed material into the minds of the writers of the Scriptures. And then like secretaries they wrote it down. But that is not our topic here.

SELF PORTRAIT

This leads me to my discussion about Leonardo da Vinci.

What is at once apparent concerning Leonardo da Vinci is that he was a Polymath, a master in more fields than any other person since or before him. Even Albert Einstein, or William Shakespeare were masters in just a single field. In the case of Leonardo da Vinci this was not the case. Nothing, either in the field of science or art was beyond reach.




His master pieces of Art or his Scientific Inventions reveal his being a total genius.


This picture of THE MONA LISA is well known. The enigma of whether the Lady is smiling or not has intrigued scholars for centuries.


Let us look at a picture of a landscape and of a Scientific Invention.














The landscape is rather vague in this reproduction because it is merely a sketch.






Notice the Landscape at the back of the figure in this next picture.












Next Consider the Scientific Drawing below. Remember there are many of these drawings, each of which reveals the breadth of Leonardo da Vinci's mind. 

DRAWING OF A HELICOPTER






 Art and science in its many forms were inseparable which many of his inventions  show. 


Da Vinci explored and thoroughly mastered subjects like surgical anatomy, map making, and all sorts of engineering projects. His drawings of the human anatomy are outstanding.

He seemed to be able to cram so much into a day. Whilst he was engaged in the pursuits I have mentioned, at the same time he had to earn a living. This he did by painting masterpieces such as the Last Supper for rich patrons, including the Church.

I could go on. But the main point I wish to draw out. Is where do you think he got his inspiration from.

It is worth thinking about this fact. That Leonardo would often wander into the CAVES OF TUSCANY and stand for a long time gazing at the FUNGAL PATTERNS on the walls. Eventually, a complete PICTURE would FORM IN HIS MND, which he then incorporated into his art work.

So, I leave you with the question was the MIND drawing on its own internal resources which FORCED THE PERCEPTION of order out of meaningless patterns?

I hope you enjoyed the Blog.

Any Comments?

All Pictures from Wikimedia Commons.

VICTORIAN CONSCIOUSNESS: 'YES, I AM HERE!'

Let us take up where we left off regarding Eusapia Palladino. 

In Italy, France, Germany, Poland and Russia, she had apparently displayed extraordinary occult powers. In darkened séance rooms reports were publicized that she had apparently levitated  and elongated herself. She had been credited with   "apporting" flowers (I will come back to this).

I recount the following concerning this Medium because her fame spread in England and she traveled to this country in the last years of the 19^th century.

At this time throughout Europe Palladino was regarded as a genuine Spiritualist medium. Her supporters asserted that she was different from the multitude of fraudulent Mediums. The famous Sir Arthur Conan Doyle was  an avid follower and eight years afer she died he was still praising her psychic phenomena and Spirit Materialisations, in his book, History of Spiritualism.(1926)

EUSAPIA PALLADINO IN 1893

 In 1892, Palladino held 17 séances  in Milan. So impressed with what he witnessed Cesare Lombroso  described these sessions in his book, After Death — What? Researches in Hypnotic and Spiritualistic Phenomena. One of the things which most impressed him was the Levitation of the Medium. He witnessed this on two occasions.  

On the first occasion, 28  September, and again on 3 October he reported that The Palladino, who was seated near one end of the table, was lifted up in her chair bodily. Throughout the levitation she emitted groans and a sort of wailing. She was finally, still seated on the chair, placed on top of the table. She was eventually restored to her former position. Whilst in the trance state her voice was changed and to accomplish the levitation the same voice uttered the words, “Now lift my Medium up on the table.” This was done apparently without the assistance of any of the observers. Palladino described the levitation as if hands were grasping her under the arms and then lifting.

Both Pierre Curie and Charles Richet both Nobel prize winners were immensely impressed with Palladino’s demonstrations. At one séance Pierre Curie reported that in a dim light, whilst her hands were being held down, another hand and a ring made contact with his own hand.

I will leave Palladino at this point. Regardless of whether or not in later life she was exposed as faking, I am simply making the point that Spiritualism had penetrated the Victorian Consciousness to colossal degree.

Before I move finally to Katie King and the investigations of Sir William Crookes, I want to say something about APPORTS.

This is the name given by Spiritualits to a range of objects such as flowers, jewelry, and even live animals, that apparently materialize out of thin air during a séance. In fact, during the heyday of Spiritualism the production of apports was one of the most characteristic features of the séance. Sometimes apports flew through the air. Often they struck the faces of the sitters and landed in their laps. On occasions these apports would appear on the table.

In line with the popularity of Magnetism, Mesmerism and so on, it was easy for the Spiritualist Community to argue that these apports had been drawn to the Magnetically to the séance. There have been some odd objects which have appeared such as branches of trees, armfuls of fruit and flowers, money, jewels, and even, believe it or not, live lobsters. The mind boggles to imagine a live lobster wriggling on the table.

In conclusion let us have a look at THE MATERIALISATIONS OF KATIE KING BY THE MEDIUM FLORENCE COOK and the subsequent investigations by Sir William Crookes FRS.

During the high watermark of Spiritualism, Florence Cook was one of the movement’s most famous mediums. She could apparently produce full-form spirit materializations, especially those of her spirit guide, Katie King. When Katie King apparently spoke using Florence Cook her voice  was high pitched and resembled that of an uncultivated person.

FLORENCE COOK


By 1872, full form materializations were nothing new. In that year Florence Cook held a séance. She as usual was seated inside a cabinet with the curtains drawn. The sitters were arranged around a table outside the cabinet. After a short time a white face appeared in the darkness outside the curtains of Florrie's cabinet. It announced itself as Katie King. Here though, was something new. Katie was not the mysterious and ethereal figure of other séances. She was a spirit made flesh and a young woman who could walk and talk among the sitters. Her new body was almost indistinguishable from that of a living girl. Unfortunately, in the eyes of some sitters she bore a very close in resemblance to Florence Cook. 

During her séances Florence entered her cabinet. After as long as 30 minutes the curtains parted and a figure, dressed all in white and looking quite pale, emerged as Florence apparently continued to lie unconscious in the cabinet.

KATIE KING MATERIALISES

Occasionally, while Katie was present, Florence could be heard sobbing and moaning inside the cabinet, as if the manifestation was draining the energy from her. During Katie’s initial appearances, she would simply smile and nod at the audience. During later ‘materialisations’ she began to walk amongst the sitters offering her  hand and even speaking to them. After Katie returned to the cabinet, Cook would be found, still tied up and drained of energy.

It was asserted that spirit materialisations, like Katie, were composed of a mysterious substance known as ectoplasm. This was apparently which emitted from the medium's body and took on unexplained shapes. SItters were prohibited from interfering with the ectoplasm in any way as this might damage the health of the Medium.

ECTOPLASM MANIFESTING ITSELF

At about this same time, the Medium Daniel Douglas Home was being tested by  Sir William Crookes. Florence Cook quickly got in touch with the famous scientist. She offered herself as a subject of investigation.

So, in 1874, Crookes began to test Florence Cook in earnest.  During this time he produced a number of photographs, 55 in number. Only a few remain at this time. Such photographs tended to cast doubt on Crookes scientific objectivity. In the minds of the sceptics it seemed to produce evidence that the whole thing was a fake. Some even wondered whether there was some collusion between Crookes and Florence Cook based on a sexual liaison.

CROOKES AND THE ‘MATERIALISED’ KATIE KING ARM IN ARM

In the photograph even a casual observer could see the obvious facial resemblance between Katie and Florence. In a previous photograph, we see Katie standing in the background while Florence is slumped (apparently in a trance) over a chair in the foreground. Quite conveniently  Katie's face is hidden by an the so called ectoplasmic shroud.

Crookes was attacked by his critics, and in fact nearly lost his Fellowship in the Royal Society. Nevertheless, Crookes defended the séances and the photographs as genuine. He declared that Florence Cook had gladly submitted herself to any test which he devised. He doubted that she ever set out to deceive him.

In spite of Crookes’ protests, criticism of the entire procedure remains to this day.

I think that is enough on the shaping of the Victorian Consciousness by the Spiritualist Phenomena.

For a bit of light relief I intend to consider an entirely different topic before I return to the Victorian Consciousness.

I hope you have enjoyed this blog.

Any comments

KS (UK)

Photo sources wicki media commons

THE VICTORIAN CONSCIOUSNESS: IS ANYBODY THERE?

TABLE TURNING AND SPIRITUALISM PART 2

The Victorian Consciousness, as I have shown in the previous post was becoming saturated with the notion THAT LIFE OR HUMAN CONSCIOUSNESS SURVIVES AFTER THE DEATH OF THE BODY.

I have also shown that such departed ‘Spirit Beings’ were alleged to be able to communicate through a human agent or Medium.

Thirdly I have indicated that this and other Victorian experiences were helping to shape the Victorian Consciousness.

Overall, what I am attempting to imply is that THE VICTORIAN NOVELISTS WERE NOT MERELY WRITING STORIES. THEY WERE IN FACT LIVING IN THEM. However, That discussion is some way off yet.

As I have commented one way to communicate with the ‘Spirits’ of the dead was through rappings. But as time went on more sophisticated techniques were devised, one of which was Table Turning. Other techniques involved ‘Spirit Materialisations’ of various sorts and even Levitation..

For the moment let us have a look at Table Turning.

A TABLE TURNING SESSION

The phenomena of Table Turning and Spirit-rapping" took England by storm. Although there usually was more than one person sitting around the table, nevertheless it was customary to have a Medium present who could allegedly encourage the ‘Spirit’ to make contact and receive the messages.

This practice of Table Turning soon developed into a social pastime, particularly by the upper classes. According to those critical of their social superiors, the elite ‘having  pretty well exhausted the pleasures of this world’ were now busy looking for ‘any new amusement they can get out of’ the world beyond. So, this often developed into a fairly frivolous tea party seance  - with the curtains drawn of course. In fact both Table Turning and Trance Mediumship seemed to have even reached Buckingham Palace.

Of course, although it seemed a major pastime of the upper classes, nevertheless, those lower down in the social scale also gathered in their parlors for Seances, which often involved Table Turning, Tarot Card Readings, or sessions with a Ouija board. This sort of activity seemed to provide consolation for those who were grieving over sons, brothers, or fathers lost in war.

Let us get to Table Turning and see what was involved.

The noted English Chemist and Physicist, Michael Faraday (1791-1876) also had an interest in Table Turning and it is from his personal file on this topic that we can glean some details.

 

MICHAEL FARADAY IN 1842

Faraday’s file on Table Turning contains ten items, mostly letters and reports, relating to his investigations into Spiritualism. He reveals that one of the most common means of obtaining answers from beyond the grave, was through a practice known as ‘table-turning’ or ‘table-tipping’. To engage in this séance-like activity the participants would sit around a table, usually in a dim light, place their hands on the table and slowly call out the letters of the alphabet. In response, the ‘Spirits’  would then either knock or the table would tilt or turn at an appropriate letter, thus spelling out words and sentences.

The opinions concerning this phenomena were divided. Some observers believed it to be proof of supernatural forces at work. Often these were considered to be trustworthy and reliable people. Others viewed it as trickery. Thus, the question was did the table move due to some action on the part of the participants, or because of the action of occult forces?

It was with these questions in mind that Faraday began a carefully controlled study of Table-Turning. For this investigation he selected a group of cooperative and reputable candidates in 1853.

 

TABLE LEVITATION

I am not sure whether Faraday had an open mind or not, or whether he assumed it to be due to the agency, somehow, of the participants. I have a feeling that before he began he, doubted that ‘Spirits’ were involved and set out to disprove such a notion.  Again, this is a personal view intuited from reading his data.

Anyway, I set it out so that you can make up your own mind.

Throughout his experiments, Faraday made extensive notes. In these notes he described that the table moved in the expected direction, even when just one person was participating. He also recorded that sandpaper, millboard, glue, glass, moist clay, tin-foil, cardboard, vulcanised rubber and wood did not interfere with the table’s movements.

He was still not satisfied that occult forces were at work. For, after his initial tests he recorded that he believed the movements of the table were due to unintentional pressure in one or other direction horizontally. From his point of view, there were no electrical, magnetic, or any unknown forces involved.

As far as his reputable participants were involved, he did not suspect trickery. Rather, as stated, he deduced that the table moved by unconscious pressure exerted by the participants. To establish this he laid various discs of cardboard, and other pieces of equipment on top of the table. From the alteration of the position of the discs he concluded that it was pressure of the participant’s fingertips that caused the table to turn, regardless of whether they realised it or not.

To sum up, Faraday’s eventual conclusion was that unconscious and involuntary muscular force was involved and that no supernatural forces, nor even trickery was entailed.

Keep in mind, that the mere fact of Faraday’s investigations into Table Turning, whether fraudulent or not, reveals the EXTENT to which SPIRITUALISTIC MANIFESTATIONS of one sort or another had INFLUENCED THE VICTORIAN CONS CIOUSNESS. That is my main focus.

Despite the investigations of Faraday, Table Turning remained a major pre-occupation. Some reports came in that when a number of persons sat round a table, with their hands resting on it, and waited for the table to move, if the experiment was successful, not only would the table exhibit knocks or tilt but would even the rotate with considerable rapidity, and would occasionally rise in the air, or perform other movements.

  

 TABLE ELEVATES AND TIPS OVER

In fact the eminent physician Dr John Elliotson, (1791-1868) was a firm believer in Mesmerism and Magnetic force. Despite Faraday’s investigations, Elliotson firmly believed the Table Turning and Table Tipping phenomena were definitely the effects of Mesmerism. He said so in 1853.  So Table Turning continued to saturate the country. It really had permeated the Victorian Consciousness.

Table Turning was locked into the Spiritualist assumptions about Life After Death. So, with the passage of time other forms of contact were established. We shall look at three of these, namely, Trance Mediumship, Levitation, and Spirit Materialisations. Keep in mind, it does not matter how genuine these effects were; my argument is that the extent to which such permeated and shaped the Victorian Consciousness is more important.

Infatuated with the tidal wave of interest in Survival After Death that was flooding the nation, Spiritualists devised new methods of communicating with the Departed.

Instead of simply sitting round a table and waiting for knocks and movements, they decided to ‘persuade’ the Spirit to manifest itself ‘objectively’. As a result Mediums claimed that the voice of a departed Spirit was speaking through them. Some Mediums went even further and using ectoplasm (a supernatural viscous substance that is supposed to exude from the body of a medium during a spiritualistic trance), to form a ‘Spirit Body’ in front of the sitters at the séance. Of course all this took place in either dark or semi-dark rooms.

 

SPIRIT FORMED FROM ECTOPLASM

During the séance a small group of people sat around the table in the presence of the Medium. As I have said this took place in dark or semi dark rooms. When the appointed time arrived for the manifestation to occur, the medium would go into a trance. It was asserted that in this state the spirit could more easily use the medium’s body.

I have not the space to describe the accoutrements that Mediums used from time to time such as trumpets, slates, and cabinets. Instead, I shall concentrate on several of the famous Mediums and the alleged Manifestations they produced.

Let us start with one of the best known Mediums of the 19^th century, Cora Lodencia Veronica Scott (1840-1923) Most of her activities were spent as a Trance Lecturer. In addition, she wrote several books and attributed their composition to the dictation of the ‘Spirits’.

It was in Waterloo, Wisconsin  in early 1852, that Cora first exhibited her ability to fall into a trance and write messages. Whilst in the trance state she tended to speak in a manner foreign to her normal speech patterns.

Like the Fox sisters, the word spread and soon her parents exhibited her to the surrounding country. She thus became part of the network of trance lecturers that characterized the Spiritualist movement.

In 1854 when she was merely fifteen years old Cora moved to Buffalo, New York after the death of her father. In rapid time she became well-known among the most important Spiritualists in the country.

At his time Cora seemed able to perform surgery whilst in a trance. She claimed that this was possible because  a German doctor’s spirit had taken her over. The results were so astonishing  that some local doctors feared they would become redundant. Then, for some reason, her ability to heal stopped when she was about fifteen. From that time onwards  her trance lecturing really took off.

At this early age she made numerous public appearances  and whilst in a trance, spoke in an eloquent manner on almost any topic offered by the audience. For example, whilst in the trance state, she seemed to be contacted by ‘Oina’ whom she called her ‘Spirit Guide’. On one occasion, in front of a packed auditorium,  under the influence of ‘Ouina’, she began to lecture on the topic of ‘Primary Rocks’.

So impressive was her delivery and the mastery of a subject she allegedly knew nothing about, that a specialist in research on Primary Rocks, Professor Mapes of New York City was staggered. Mapes, in a dazed state went to the platform and declared that despite having spent his entire life investigating scientific matters and mingling with fellow scientists, he was struck ‘dumb before this young girl.’

What was more remarkable was that Cora had no formal education after the age of eleven and yet could enter into debates whilst in trance and answer any questions posed to her.  The conclusion was that she could not possibly have access to the knowledge she was displaying. We will leave her here and turn to another country.

As I have indicated previously Spiritualism swept through the United States and England. It is to the Mediums in England I now turn.

One prominent Spiritualist in England was William Stainton Moses (1839-92). He was a clergyman  in the Church of England. This is not surprising of course. As I have said earlier, Churchianity, Christianity, and the Bible were coming under assault. Therefore, Stainton Moses was possibly one who felt that there was an objective (scientific?) way to prove that the immortality of the soul is a valid Christian teaching.

Consequently, in a trance state, in the period from 1872 to 1883, Moses filled 24 notebooks with so called automatic writing and engaged in seances. The contents of the notebooks were said to describe conditions in the spirit world.

A SÉANCE IN OPERATION

During his séances he claimed to come under the influence of a ‘Spirit Guide’, who called himself, Imperator. Apparently this Spirit claimed to be the leader of forty-nine other Spirits. Imperator is alleged to have passed on to Moses, during the trance state, of course, details about the spirit world, its workings, and how information is conveyed along to people. Moses’ automatic writing is of interest . When producing this, Moses did not always need to enter a trance state. He could often hold the pen in his hand and read a book at the same time. The   communications he received were neither related to the book he was reading, nor was the quality of the production affected by Moses' distractions.

His activities were widely broadcast. And it was reported that during his séances, he levitated a number of times. In addition, he levitated a large table just by touching it.

One Medium who was widely acclaimed on the Continent before coming to England in 1895 was Eusapia Palladino  1854 – 1918)

But I have said enough on this blog up to now.

I shall carry on with this during the course of a day or so and finish off this Victorian Search For Life After Death.

If you wish to get in the mood for the future discussions on how all this relates to the Victorian novelists. May I suggest that you start to plough through, Bulwer Lytton’s ‘A Strange Story’ It can easily be downloaded FREE from the Guttenburg Project.

I hope you have enjoyed reading the blog.

Any Comments?

KS (UK)

Picture Credits

All from Commons wikimedia.org

THE VICTORIAN CONSCIOUSNESS: IS ANYBODY THERE?

TABLE TURNING AND SPIRITUALISM PART ONE

In exploring the Victorian Consciousness we need to ask:

WHY WAS SPIRITUALISM SO POPULAR during the Victorian period?

What connection had Spiritualism with Materialistic Science?

What did the Spiritualists intend to achieve in relation to the new scientific Philosophies.?

I have previously stated that during the Victorian era, Churchianity was coming under attack, so was the Christian Belief in the Bible and all that goes with it. If Science seemed to be challenging the various beliefs in such things as the immortality of the soul this left some individuals without any hope whatsoever.

Nevertheless, some people would not let go of traditional, ingrained beliefs concerning Survival After Death. Many began to ask whether, following the methods of science with its emphasis on evidence anything could be produced that validated the idea that somewhere the dead were still alive?

So the Victorian question was, What happens to Consciousness after death?

And then, out of the blue it seemed, evidence was forthcoming in the person of the Fox Sisters in the United States.

Let us see in what way their activities deluged the Victorian Consciousness and seemed to give a satisfying, scientific answer to the question of the Survival of Consciousness After Death.

There were three  Fox sisters  from New York who undeniably played a large part  in the creation of Spiritualism and in its widespread popularity The three sisters were Leah Fox (( 1814-1890) Margaret Fox, Maggie, (1833-1893) and Kate Fox (1837 – 1892

Let us explore how they kick-started the movement.

To get hold of this we need to travel to the United States before the Civil War.

In 1848 the two younger sisters – Kate (age 12) and Margaret (age 15) – were living with their parents in  Hydesville, New York. At this time Hydesville was a hamlet in Wayne County. Before their occupancy the house had a reputation for being haunted. Then, in March 1848  the family began to hear  unexplained sounds. These sounds seemed like strange knocking, and at other times like the moving of furniture.

In 1888 Margaret described the origins of the mysterious rapping sounds which occurred.at the time they were living in the house. Apparently the sisters once they were in bed  ‘used to tie an apple to a string and move the string up and down, causing the apple to bump on the floor, or we would drop the apple on the floor, making a strange noise every time it would rebound’

This was the start of the sister’s tests and subsequent publicity. One night, rather than simply dropping the apple,  Kate challenged the invisible noise-maker, presumed to be a "spirit", to repeat the snaps of her fingers. Apparently it obliged. They then asked ‘the spirit’ to rap out the ages of the girls. Once more it did so. The neighbours soon heard of this behaviour and flocked in droves to the house.

The next step, in front of the aghast audience, a code was developed whereby raps could signify ‘Yes’ or ‘No’ in response to a question, or be used to indicate a letter of the alphabet.

To make matters more personal the girls  began to address the alleged Spirit as "Mr. Splitfoot" which at the time was a nickname for the Devil. Unfortunately, things began to have unexpected effects. The  alleged Spirit Rapper through the use of sounds claimed to be the spirit of a peddler named Charles B. Rosma. This peddlar, the ‘entity’ indicated had been murdered five years earlier and lay buried in the cellar. At once the neighbors apparently dug up the cellar and found only a few pieces of bone. However, in 1904  a skeleton was found, buried in the cellar wall.  But no missing person named Charles B. Rosma was ever identified.

Then the turn for the worst occurred. The neighbours combed the surrounding countryside to discover the names of anyone who had ever occupied the house.

Finally, they located a man by the name of Bell, and alleged that this innocent man had committed the murder in the house and that the noises had come from the spirit of the murdered person. As a result this innocent man was shunned and looked upon by the whole community as a murderer.

Whilst all this was going on,  Kate and Margaret were sent away to nearby Rochester. Kate went to the house of her sister Leah, and Margaret to the home of her brother David. Even so, the rappings followed them. The word of their rappings soon spread amongst the Rochester community. Eventually, a group of Quakers, who were particularly taken with this phenomena, became the early core of Spiritualists. 

The idea that the Fox sisters were some sort of Mediums was soon formulated. That is, they were persons who could contact the spirits of the dead and could pass on messages to the living. This notion became the core of Spiritualism.

Then the phenomena reached England and the wave of interest reached gargantuan proportions.

Most students of the subject usually link the origin of Spiritualism and Spiritualist Mediums to the  Fox sisters. So, by1853 Spiritualism had reached London. Then,  prominent Spiritualists came on the scene. One such person was  Mercy Cadwallader. She became a sort evangelist for the movement. Around the same time another lady,   Emma Hardinge Britten  wrote the first Spiritualist newspaper in Britain. 

The amazing life of this woman, Emma Hardinge Britten, is well worth following up. But it is too massive for this blog.

In 1855 ‘The Yorkshire Spiritual Telegraph’, was published, in Keighley, Yorkshire.  and by then the interest had grown to such an extent that by 1870s there were a multitude of Spiritualist Societies and churches throughout the US and Britain. 

Truly, the search for Life After Death was permeating the Victorian Consciousnes to an indescribable extent. As we shall see, even the Scientific Community reached out to it one way or another.

Back now to the Fox sisters. I have shown their influence on the Victorian Consciousness in Britain. But we can’t leave them hanging in the air. It is to Margaret and Kate we return. Leah’s having departed the scene as far as this blog is concerned.

Couple calling up a female Spirit 

After a brief departure from her Mediumistic activities and her conversion to Roman Catholicism, Margaret eventually resumed her activities as a Medium and In 1876 she joined her sister Kate, who was living in England. As I have said, Spiritualism was in full swing by then.

Kate seizes our attention most. She was reputed to be, alongside D.D.Hume, one of the most powerful Mediums of the day. She was capable of producing not only raps, but dancing spirit lights, direct writing, and the appearance of hands materializing in front of the sitters. She was also, like Hume, apparently able to move objects at a distance.

Between 1871 to 1874, she, along with D.D.Hume was investigated by Sir William Crookes  - as pictured - the famous scientist. Incidentally, this reveals the extent to which Spiritualism had penetrated even the Consciousness of the Scientific Establishment.

There is no doubt about it, Kate Fox impressed the notable scientist. He recorded  her ability to produce raps. Although, by now, other Mediums could also manifest this phenomena using wooden tables. But she, he said, could place her hand on any substance and  loud thuds would be distinctly heard. In fact these were a triple pulsation, sometimes loud enough to be heard several rooms away.

Crookes claimed to have heard her produce the sounds by placing her hands on a living tree, on a sheet of glass, on a stretched iron wire as well as on the roof of a cab and on the floor of a theatre.

In many cases, he said she did not need to make physical contact. He had heard sounds produced  from the floor, walls, and other places. To ensure that no trickery was involved her hands and feet were held. He heard the sounds when Kate Fox was standing on a chair, when she was suspended in a swing from the ceiling, when she was enclosed in a wire cage, and surprisingly, when she had fallen fainting on a sofa. He had heard them on a musical instrument made of glass vessels, known as a harmonicon. Crooks had even felt raps on his own shoulder, and I had felt them  under his  own hands.

Remember, Crookes spent years investigating Kate Fox and his catalogue of impressions is certainly prodigious. He reports that he had heard the sounds  on a sheet of paper, held between the fingers by a piece of thread passed through one corner. The scientist reported that he had tested them in every way that he could devise.

What was his final conclusion? That ‘they were true objective occurrences not produced by trickery or mechanical means.’

But what has our theme, ‘Table Turning’ to do with this’ ?

I shall return to this in my blog in a day or so. I do not want you to go to sleep reading any more.

I hope you have enjoyed this part of the blog

Any comments?

KS (UK)

Picture Credits

1. Undream en wikipedia

2. commons. wikimedia. org

3.      ibid

4.      ibid