The foregoing short treatise will gain some practical value by a statement of the conditions most suitable for scrying.

A diffused natural light, preferably from the north, is always better than an artificial light.

The subject should sit with his back to the source of light, at a distance from the mirror determined by its focus; or if the agent be a crystal it should be held in the hands, one supporting the other.

Steady gazing in complete silence should be maintained for a quarter of an hour, which may be afterwards gradually extended to half or even a full hour. Success depends largely upon idiosyncrasy and temperamental aptitude. Seers are often to be found among men and women of imperfect education owing to fitness of temperament; seers of this order are born with the faculty. Others, seemingly non-sensitive at first, may develop the faculty after a few short sittings.

The eyes should not be strained, but the gaze should be allowed to rest casually yet steadily on the agent as if one were reading a book.

It will be found that the sight is presently drawn inwards to a focus beyond the surface of the agent. This opening up of the field of vision is the symptom of success. The next step is indicated by a change in the atmosphere of the field. Instead of reflecting or remaining translucent, the agent will appear to cloud over. This will appear to become milky, then to be diffused with colour which changes to black or murky brown, and finally the screen appears to be drawn away, revealing a picture, a scene, figures in action, symbolical forms, sentences, etc.

The physiological symptoms are: first, a slight chill along the spine like cold water trickling from the neck downwards; secondly, a returning flush of heat from the base of the spine upwards to the crown of the head; thirdly, a gaping or spasmodic action of the brain; and lastly, a deep inward drawing of the breath, as if sobbing. When these symptoms follow closely upon one another, vision will be assured. It generally happens, however, that the various symptoms are separately developed by repeated sittings, only appearing in proper sequence when the experiment is finally successful.

One of the most interesting phases of this development of second sight is the opening up of lost impressions, the revival of lapsed memories; “looking for one thing, you find another” is an experience in daily life which has a psychological application. The things which pass into the limbo of forgetfulness are never lost to us. They remain stored up in latency and are ready to spring into activity as soon as the depths of the mind are probed. Necessarily this experience is more generally interesting than pleasant, but it serves to give one a sense of the connectedness of life’s incident and to show a certain sequential necessity in the course of events. The “whyness” of our various experiences is revealed when they are displayed in their true relations and given their true value in the scheme of individual evolution. As detached experiences they appear without reason or purpose, apparently futile, often painful and even cruel; but as a consecutive scheme, completed by the revival of all the connecting links, the wisdom, justice, kindness and beneficence of the Great Arbiter of our destinies are fully and conspicuously revealed. My own first suspicions of a former embodied existence were derived from psychic experiences, and later on were confirmed by the course of events. I saw myself reaping that which I had sown, and I observed that what was sown in ignorance might be reaped in the light of a fuller knowledge; only we must henceforth be wise in the sowing. I would say in conclusion that it is the duty of man to himself and humanity not only to hold himself in readiness, but also to fit himself for the reception of new light. Since evolution is the law of life and the glory of going on man’s highest guerdon, and since we are all candidates for responsibility, asking as reward for work well done to-day a task of greater magnitude on the morrow, it appears that the development of the psychic faculties may well form an orderly step in the process of human perfectibility, and help to bring us nearer to the source of all good. If it serves only to keep open the door between the two worlds it will have filled a good purpose, and if in the writing of this little exposition, I may have contributed to the confidence and security of any who may adventure these obscure paths, I shall be well content.