PART IV.

THE "SiN BODY" — POSSESSION BY SELF-MADE DE- MONS E LEMENTALS
EARTHBOUND spirits, such as previously men- tioned, gravitate to the lower regions of the desire world which interpenetrate the ether, and are in constant and close touch with those people on earth most favorably situated for aiding them in their evil designs. They usually stay in this earthbound con- dition for fifty, sixty, or seventy-five years, but ex- treme cases have been found in which such people so remain for centuries. So far as the writer has been able to discover up to the present time, there seems to be no limit to what they may do or how soon they will let go. But all the while they are piling up for themselves an awful load of sin, nor can they escape suffering therefor; for the vital body reflects and etches deeply into the desire body a record of their misdeeds, and when at last they do let go and enter the purgatorial existence, they meet the retri- bution which they well deserve. This suffering is naturally lengthy in proportion to the time they have
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continued their nefarious practices after the death of the dense body — another proof that " Though the mills of God grind slowly, they grind exceeding small. "
When the spirit has left the SIN BODY, as we will call this vehicle, in contrast to the soul body, to as- cend to the second heaven, it does not disintegrate as quickly as the ordinary shell left behind by nor- mal people, for the consciousness in it is enhanced by its dual composition ; that is to say, being composed of both a vital and desire body, it has an individual or a personal consciousness that is very remarkable. It cannot reason, but there is a low cunning present which makes it seem as though it were actually en- dowed with a spiritual presence, an ego, and this enables it to live a separate life for many centuries. The departed spirit meanwhile enters the second heaven, but having done no work on earth to desire or merit a prolonged stay there or in the third heaven, it only stays there sufficiently long to create a new environment for itself and it is then reborn much earlier than usual — to satisfy the cravings for ma- terial things which draw it so strongly.
When the spirit returns to earth, this Sin Body is naturally attracted towards it, and usually stays with it all its life as a demon. Investigations have proved that this class of soulless creatures were very
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prevalent during Biblical times, and it was to them that our Savior referred as devils, they being the cause of various obsessions and bodily ills such as are recorded in the Bible. The Greek word "daimon" describes them accurately. Even today a large pro- portion of southern Europe and the Orient is thus harassed, the affliction being specially aggravated in Sicily, Corsica, and Sardinia. Whole tribes in Africa, where the Voodoo magic prevails, have with them these gruesome spectres; the Indians of America and negroes in the South are also subject to them.
But unfortunately the evil is not confined to these so-called lower or backward races. Eight here in what we call civilized countries, in northern Europe and in North and South America, we find that de- moniac possession is far from infrequent, although, of course, its form is not so abject as in the first men- tioned places where it is often accompanied by the most filthy and abominable practices.
The writer was at one time quite apprehensive of the effect which war might have in respect to locking the desire and vital bodies together and bringing to birth legions of monsters to afflict future generations. But it is with great thankfulness that he records his conviction that we need have no fear on that score. Only when people are premeditatively malicious and vindictive, and persistently harbor a desire and a pur-
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pose to get even with some one, only when such feelings are hugged, nursed, and entertained do they harden the vital body and cause the interlocking grip of these vehicles. We know from the records of the great war that the rank and file have no such senti- ments against one another, but that enemies meet as friends whenever chance brings them into such rela- tionship that they may converse one with another. So, though war is responsible for the awful mortality now and will cause deplorable infant mortality in a future age, it will be blameless with regard to the dreadful diseases engendered by obsession and the crimes suggested by these demoniacal sin bodies.
The discarded sin bodies mentioned in the preced- ing parts of this chapter, inhabit normally and by preference the lowest regions of the ether and con- dense themselves to the very line of sight. Some- times they even make use of some of the constituents of the air and seem usually to be perfectly visible to those people whom they harass, although their vic- tims are usually very careful not to allow anyone to suspect that they have such a demon about them, that is at least in the western world; there seems to be no such delicacy in the southern part of Europe.
Following the above investigations, the writer at- tempted a number of experiments with spirits who were in the higher realms of the ether, having just
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passed out, and with people who had been in the desire world for a longer or shorter time, some of them being almost ready for the first heaven. A number of spirits who had departed this life kindly co-operated as subjects. The aim of the experiments was to determine how far it would be possible for them to clothe themselves in the materials of the? lower etheric and even the gaseous regions. It was noticed that those who had just passed out could quite readily endure the lower ether vibrations, although being of good character they were not well satisfied to remain there longer than necessary, for they were uncomfortable. But as we tried people from succes- sively higher regions of the desire world up to the first heaven, it became more and more difficult to wrap themselves in ether or descend into it. The concensus of opinion was that it was like going down into a deep well, there to smother. It was also found that it was absolutely impossible for any one in the physical to see them. We tried by every method of suggestion to arouse the people in rooms which we visited, to a sense of our presence, but we found no response, though in a number of cases the forms which we condensed were so opaque that it seemed to the writer as if they were nearly as dark as those phys- ical people whom we desired to attract. We placed our experimental subjects between the physical peo-
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pie and the light; nevertheless we had no success in any case, either with those who were from the higher realms or with those who had passed out recently and were able to stay in the given position and density for a considerable time.
In addition to the entities already mentioned who dwell in a sin body made by themselves, and who thus suffer entirely from their own deeds in the period of expiation, two classes were found which were similar in certain respects although entirely dif- ferent in others. In addition to the divine Hier- archies and the four life waves of spirits now evolv- ing in the physical world through the mineral, plant, animal, and human kingdoms, there are also other life waves which express themselves in the various invisible worlds. Among them there are certain classes of sub-human spirits which are called elementals. It sometimes happens that one of these elementals takes possession of the sin body of some one of a savage tribe, and thus adds extra intelligence to that being. At the rebirth of the spirit that gen- erated this sin body, the usual attraction brings them together, but on account of the elemental ensouling the sin body, the spirit becomes different from the other members of the tribe, and we find them then acting as medicine men or in a similar capacity. These elemental spirits ensouling the sin bodies of Indians
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also act upon mediums as spirit controls, and having obtained power over the medium during life, when he dies, these elemental spirit controls oust him from the vehicles which contain his life experience, and thus the medium may be retarded in evolution for ages, for there is no power that can compel these spir- its to let go, once they have gained control of such a body. Therefore, though mediumship may produce no seeming evil effect in a lifetime, there is a very, very, grave danger after death to the person who allows his body to be taken possession of. Spiritual ism has done a necessary work in the world. It was probably the chief means of checking the absolute ma- terialism of science, and it has brought solace to thou- sands of suffering souls who grieved for the loss of departed ones; it has turned unbelievers to believe in a higher existence. We have no desire, whatever, to speak in a derogatory manner of its workers, but we cannot refrain from voicing a warning, as we feel it a duty to point out the enormous danger, to those who allow themselves to be habitually controlled by spirits whom they cannot see, and about whom they cannot possibly know anything.
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