Life After Death

Madam Blavatsky returns.

November 1, 1922

Spirit: MADAM BLAVATSKY.

Psychic: MRS. WICKLAND

San Francisco, USA

 

I wanted to come to you this evening. I believe in the work this little circle is doing, and I am very pleased with the work you are carrying on. I wish there were more to help us, to meet us on a half way basis to understand there is no death.

I do wish I had taught this truth more, and also that I had tried to look further into it. I knew about it. I also had many manifestations.

I do not know why, but when truth comes to us we shut it out. Truth is always hidden. We have to search to find it. Theories and dogmas seem to have more chance in the world than truth. Every one has some manifestations but hides them instead of acknowledging them.

I wanted to be a leader in some way or another. Now I want to bring the truth to the world. I knew of spirit manifestations and I had them myself. I did a great deal in my early days along this line but I commenced to investigate Theosophy. Philosophy and Theosophy should go hand in hand.

To me came Reincarnation. It appealed to me for a time. I could not see the truth clearly. I felt that it was very unjust some should be rich and have such good times and that others should be poor and have so much trouble. Others did not get enough earth experience-at least so I felt.

I studied Reincarnation, and I thought there was truth and justice in the theory that we come back and learn and have more experiences. I taught it and wanted to bring it out to the world and its peoples.

I felt that I remembered far back in my past. I felt I knew all about my past, but I was mistaken.

Memories of “past lives” are caused by spirits that bring such thoughts and represent the lives they lived. A spirit impresses you with the experiences of its life and these are implanted in your mind as your own. You then think you remember your past.

When you study, especially when you study Theosophy, you develop your mind and live in an atmosphere of mind. You remove yourself as much as possible from the physical. Naturally you become sensitive, and naturally you feel the spirits around you.

They speak to you by impressions and their past will be like a panorama. You feel it, and you live over the past of spirits and you make the mistake of taking this for the memory of former incarnations.

I did not know this when I lived. I took it for granted that these memories were true, but when I came to the spirit side of life I learned differently.

I studied a great deal. Theosophy is the best and highest philosophy of life intrinsically, but let us study the truth, let us live up to the truth of it and forget theories.

Let us develop the truth within us-find ourselves. Do not let us look far away; do not let us look in the past, do not let us look into the future, but let us find ourselves in our present condition and let us be true to ourselves. Let us forget all theories and dogmas. Let us know and feel the nearness of God.

Reincarnation is not true.

I did not want to believe that. They told me here in the spirit world that I could not reincarnate. I have tried and tried to come back to be somebody else, but I could not. We cannot reincarnate. We progress, we do not come back.

Why should you come back to live another life when you have gained experience and an understanding while you were here, and, furthermore, since this is only a preliminary school on earth?

Let us learn to find ourselves. While I am sorry to say many have not found themselves, let all of us here acquire knowledge so that when we go to the spirit side of life we shall go on to a higher life.

In earth life you have your material body to hinder you. If you want to write a book you have to look up data here and there and go to the library to find some book that contains what you wish to know. You may have to go from one place to another and yet not find it. It all takes time, and time is limited; You are hindered.

In the spirit world, if we want data on a certain thing we think of it and it is all before us. There is no time, no matter, to hinder.

In the spirit world, if we want earthly experience, do you think we have to reincarnate to get that experience? No, we do not.

For illustration, say one wants to know more about medicine. He then goes to a school as a student, hears everything, sees everything, and comes in contact with everything, learning it much quicker than he could grasp it on earth, and he has it much clearer in his mind.

In earth life you have to study for years, and then you do not get it as clearly as we do.

Suppose you want experience in the spirit world with machinery or anything else-you can get it easily. We have everything in the spirit world, because everything that is invented on earth has first been invented in the spirit world.

Suppose an inventor passes on before completion of his invention. He will not give it up. He studies it on the spirit side of life because it is easier to study there, as he has more time. When he has everything ready he finds some sensitive and impresses the invention on his mind. Then that one commences on it, perfects it, and gives it to the world.

If I impress a sensitive with an idea, in one sense I reincarnate-not in his body, but by impressing him with what I want done.

In this way we come and go, if we are attracted to earth life and want to be here.

When you have once reached the spirit world, where all are congenial, where all is life, where all is bliss, where there is no jealousy, no envy, where all is one grand harmony, do you think for one moment that you would want to leave that beautiful condition to come back to earth and be a little baby, restricted in mind and knowing nothing-nothing whatever?

Furthermore, you might get into a sickly, crippled body and be worse than you were before.

No, reincarnation is not true. I believed it, I taught it, and I was sure that I should come back and be somebody else. But I will not. I can do far more good now.

If I want to do some missionary work, or some good, I go down to the earth sphere, the earthbound sphere, where the spirits are in all kinds of misery. I preach to them and teach them; I try to rescue them. So I find my work.

Why should we go down from the harmony in the spirit world to what I might call hell?

Here we have one group, singing and praying and praising God from early morning until night, and they are so selfhypnotized that we cannot talk to them.

We go to another group and there we find the misers. They are so busy counting money, money, which is their God, that we cannot reach them.

We go to others who have been ruined in life; they are bitter and jealous, they have nothing but revenge in their minds. They have no love or kindness. They are like sponges which have been dipped in muddy water; you would not even know they were sponges. Their love has turned to hate and they cannot be taught love and kindness.

They will spit at you, they will laugh at you, for they feel that there is no God, no kindness, no love, but all is jealousy and selfishness.

But we are not disappointed; our mission is to turn these souls to better things. We may have a hard time. We cannot go there and pray for them-no, no! They would shut the door and say they did not want us, and so we cannot go there and talk and lecture.

You may ask how it is possible to reach them. First we try to concentrate on them. Then we have music. Sometimes we have to play very softly so they can hardly hear it, then we play a little louder. No matter how evil, how mean, how low souls have been, they will listen to music. When they have given their attention to the music, we concentrate on them to waken and look up to higher things.

Artists then paint pictures of the higher life for them, object lessons, little stories. Their life history can be seen by us and we put this in pictures, one by one, and let them see the mistakes they have made. Presently they ask questions and then we come a little closer to them. After that we take them to the higher life.

In another group are those who are self-hypnotized. They have gone to sleep. They were taught that death is a sleep and that they will sleep until the Last Day when God will sit on His throne and judge them. They are difficult to reach, especially if they have put themselves into an actual death sleep.

Sometimes we have to bring them to control a medium and waken them in that way. When we cannot reach the earthbound spirits at all we have to bring them to earth life to a circle like this where they get understanding through matter.

In one sense you can call this reincarnation, because we have to bring them to matter to find themselves.

I wish we could have more circles like this to waken these spirits and make them understand about the life beyond.

Some may say this is not Madam Blavatsky, but do not doubt-it is. They may say, She would not say so and so, she would not talk so and so, but it is Madam Blavatsky.

If you have any questions you would like to ask I will try to answer them.

Ques. Will you tell us about the “Masters”? What do you think of them by now?

Sp. We talk of “Masters”-yes! We are all masters when we try to study higher things, but a “Master,” as we understand it in Theosophy, is some big and great mind.

A master is one who can master matter, can overcome matter, one who can live a pure and good life, and master the conditions of life.

Learn the lessons of Nature; learn how to progress.

I am sorry to say that most of those who want to be “Masters” on earth fall. It is not they themselves who fall, but they become so sensitive, so psychic, that, although they do not know they are on the borderland, earthbound spirits step in, control them and they fall.

We should master matter first before we try to master new ideas.

Take myself - what did I really do that was good for humanity?

Ans. You led many out of orthodoxy.

Sp. Yes, but I only gave them more theory. I could have done, oh, so much more if I had stayed with my mediumship and worked to bring this world and the other together. I was a medium and I could have done a great work, but I became obsessed.

I am sorry to say that Theosophists are breaking up. You live now in a time when things are breaking up; there is a general restlessness. All theories will go down and philosophy will rise.

Dr. There should be more simplicity in life.

Sp. That is a very good word to apply. You have found the truth . You have good workers on the other side connected with this medium.

You have no theories, no mysterious things, as Theosophists have. They think the more mysterious they are, the greater “Masters” they are. Where are they? Where are they?

I am sorry to say that they are so self-hypnotized that their imagination runs away with them.

One may look back and say: “I was Julius Caesar.”

He has probably read some book about Julius Caesar and become so wrapped up in it that he feels he has lived in that time. Then he receives spirit impressions and is sure that this was his former life.

You can make people believe almost anything. They do not build their houses on the rock of reason, for a storm will blow them down.

All denominations have some truth. You have heard the story of the elephant? Of the blind men who examined an elephant, and each declared that an elephant was like that part which he had touched-like the trunk, the leg or the tail. Every one had the truth, but none the whole truth.

We do not seek for the whole truth, so one hangs on to the tail, another to the trunk, and so on.

Let us all join together, then we will find the whole elephant, and we will all be together in one great truth.

Ques. Will there be psychics to carry on further investigations?

Sp. When the time comes and the people are ready, the psychics will be every church.

Ques. Why are there not more inspirational speakers to teach the truth?

Sp. The public lecture work will be inspirational. Lecturers and politicians often think they are going to say what they have written down, but before they know it they speak of something altogether different. They are speaking inspirationally, for there are always those on the spirit side of life who are interested in this life and are ready to inspire a speaker.

Ques. Will a psychic be protected?

Sp. One should always be positive in ordinary life, cure disappointment, never let anything disturb one. No anger or sorrow may creep in, because anger comes from the other side the lower sphere.

Everyone must be positive. When we open the door to the spirit side of life there are crowds of earthbound spirits who want to see the light which they can see through a mortal body. Having lost their physical sight they are blind, for there is no material light in the earth sphere, and without an understanding they have no spiritual light.

Ques. Should not a psychic be well informed on all subjects?

Sp. Suppose a great musician had to play on a poor piano. He could not bring out the shading of the music in any way. He must have a fine instrument. So it is with a psychic. A psychic should be informed on all topics regarding the world. An uncultured psychic cannot be used to speak properly on scientific subjects.

Ques. What becomes of the spirit of a psychic while another spirit is controlling?

Sp. You understand that in spirit we can be large or small as we think. The spirit of Mrs. Wickland, at the present time, is in her magnetic aura. There can be a number of spirits in one aura. Some come and some go, but only one can control at a time.

Mrs. Wickland just now is in a coma state. She does not function on the mental plane. She is the live wire; she is the battery. She is the motor, and we have many lines from that motor. If she left we would not have the electrical force to control. In this case the psychic is the battery through which we work.

Ques. Theosophy teaches that during sleep one develops mentally and spiritually; that the body will stay at rest, but the soul will leave the body, connected only by a slender thread, And gain experience on the mental or astral plane. Is that true?

Sp. Yes, it is. When you sleep you often dream. Some dreams are meaningless; others are real experiences.

When you study Yoga you learn to leave the body. Hindus study Yoga and leave the body at will. Most persons do not know that they leave the body and travel in the spirit world.

Ques. Would it be desirable to have continuous consciousness ?

Sp. If humanity had continuous consciousness it would be a big factor in the welfare of this world.

God is All in All, even to the little microscopic things. He is all Life. If all were taught this simple truth earth life would become ideal.

There is no death, only progression. All should be taught that. Selfishness, ignorance and jealousy would be gone then; doubt would be buried. Love and charity would rule.

Suppose you go out of your body. You pass through the first strata - what do you find? Selfishness. You have to pass through this first strata before you can reach the higher. Ignorance, selfishness and jealousy must be passed through before you can reach the better life. It is a case of development.

The Hindus have peace and harmony. They live for higher things, although I do not mean every one in India does this. But when the more advanced leave their bodies no one can get in and disturb them.

What I want to say tonight is that we should study life as it it. Let the dreamers and thinkers of the past take care of themselves. I see now that I had many earthbound spirits around me.

I never saw so many religions in one city as in Los Angeles. People go from one church to another and they do not know where they are at. Cranks and others sing and pray, and everybody loves Jesus.

“Jesus” is the Truth. Read Anna Kingsford’s works and you will find many interesting things there. She was not a crank. We read many books together. She was a wonderful woman.

Dr. Wasn’t she opposed to mediumship?

Sp. She was a medium herself. Her writings were not her own. Writers have a hard time. When they think they are getting along very nicely their thoughts suddenly change. They are influenced by some spirit writer. All Anna Kingsford’s writings were inspirational.

Ques. What about Olcott?

Sp. Olcott has found the truth. Let us be sensible and learn not to be foolish. Let us find the simple truth.

I have greatly enjoyed this talk with all of you and I will certainly come again. Do all you can to further this noble work.

This room is full of spirits who have listened to what was said tonight. Many have been helped and will go with us to the spirit side of life.

May strength and power be with you all. Let God’s light shine in your soul and go on with this good work.

Good Night.

 

In these transmissions, the medium actually allows these spirits to completely control her body. She is apparently protected by a band of spirits who ensure the appropriate spirit is brought in the first place, and removed afterwards. This is an extract from “30 years among the dead” by Dr Carl Wickland. It is now out of print. I explore reincarnation in more depth here.