Vol. 48 No. 14 - Mark L. Prophet and Elizabeth Clare Prophet - April 3, 2005
Psychic Thralldom
Part 1
Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God.
I John
It is under the direction of the ascended masters themselves that we present the following objective analysis of mankind’s involvement in all planes of the astral, which we have termed “psychic thralldom.” It is our wish to give the ascended master viewpoint, for the acceptance or the rejection of the sincere.
One thing we wish to make clear: The statements made herein are in no way intended to constitute an attack upon any segment of the religious community, for each one has the right to follow the leadings of his own conscience in such pursuits. On the other hand, the truth must be told as we see it; and this we shall do.
Let us also state that we do not practice necromancy. We do not communicate with the spiritually or physically dead. Our communications are with those who have immortal life, with the spiritually quickened. These can never die, for they have the abundant promise of the living Christ as their bond insuring them immortality.
Communion with the Dead
In 1916 Sir Oliver Lodge, a professor of physics and pioneer in the field of radio communication, created a sensation in occult circles through the publication of a document that set forth records of communications with his son, Lieutenant Raymond Lodge, who was killed near Ypres, France, in 1915.1 The “sittings” were held in the presence of mediums and at the table with family and friends. He claimed that evidence of the personal survival of his son was established, that the messages were reflective of his son’s personality, and that to those who knew him the general tenor of his communications pointed unmistakably to the fact that only the lieutenant himself could have been the initiator of the messages. For his work in this field, founded upon his faith in human immortality, Sir Oliver Lodge has been regarded, with Sir William Barrett (who wrote On the Threshold of the Unseen), as one of the great pioneers in psychic science.
From the days of Sir Oliver Lodge and throughout the history of spiritualism, the possibility of communion with the dead has enthralled not only the bereaved but also many sincere psychic investigators. Just as many are shocked by what they term the gullibility of seekers after psychic experiences, so, many who are involved in such phenomena are concerned by mankind’s rejection of what they consider to be, in a relative sense, the ultimate source of illumination and comfort to their souls.
Therefore, there is a need for an objective voice that can examine from the basis of personal experience, as well as from the standpoint of the ascended masters’ teachings, this phase of psychic phenomena.
Just what does take place during a séance? What is mediumship? Is the investment of mankind’s energies and attention in the realm of psychic manifestation warranted?
The History of Modern Spiritualism
Spiritualism has been defined as the belief that departed or disembodied spirits hold intercourse with mortals by means of physical phenomenon (as by rapping) or during “abnormal” mental states as in trances commonly manifest through a medium. Lewis Spence defines it as “the belief in the continuance of life after death, and the possibility of communication between the dead and the living, through the agency of a medium or psychic, a person qualified in some unknown manner to be the mouthpiece of supernatural beings...variously regarded as a religion or philosophy.”2
While attempts to contact spirits of the dead have been seen throughout recorded history, the ascended masters El Morya and Kuthumi were responsible for a sudden and swift blossoming of spiritualism during the latter part of the nineteenth century.
In 1848 the Fox sisters testified to “rappings” in their home in Hydesville, New York. In 1862 Hypolyte Leon Denyad Rivail, known to his followers as “Allan Kardec,” founded Spiritism in France, including in its tenets the doctrine of reincarnation. (This constituted a departure from spiritualism as it was expounded in Britain and America.) In 1882 the Society for Psychical Research was founded in London. The cumulative psychic stir in society had not been equalled since the eighteenth century when, midst the skepticism of the Renaissance, a flair for the occult had been aroused by that mysterious figure, the celebrated mystic le Comte de Saint Germain.3
In their sponsoring of spiritualism, it was the desire of the masters to give hope to a tired and weary world of a life beyond, of comfort from the departed, even of the possibility of their own immortality. Spiritualism also paved the way for the successive revelations to be made by the Brotherhood through metaphysics, first systematically set forth by Mary Baker Eddy in Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures (1866); through Madame Helena P. Blavatsky in Theosophy (1875); through the writings of Max Heindel (1911); through the Agni Yoga Society under Nicholas and Helena Roerich; and through other ascended master activities of the early twentieth century such as the I AM Activity headed by Guy and Edna Ballard under the guidance of the master Saint Germain.
Historians trace the ancestry of spiritualism to witchcraft, demoniac possession, poltergeistic disturbances and animal magnetism. But there is a clear-cut line of demarcation between these activities of the lower astral order and the inspired work of the masters, which was to presage the dawn of a new era of the Brotherhood’s contact with humanity on a world scale.
Speaking of the masters’ introduction of spiritualism, Kuthumi says: “When beloved El Morya and I introduced spiritualism to the advanced students of the West in the [nineteenth] century, it was with the fond hope of increasing men’s understanding of survival after death. We longed to see the receding of fear in men’s consciousness and the reflection of a more expanded vision of the eternal nature of life. Therefore, contacts carried on from a very high plane were permitted that the blessing to men might be very great. However, frequently the reverse was true.
“Fraud and deceit entered into the practice of spiritualism. Charlatans who took pleasure in entrancing the people with their own personalities for the love of money and self-glory perverted the original design of this potential avenue for truth. Contacts debased themselves through association with the lower psychic or astral realm, paying heed to those discarnate entities whom they would never have deigned worthy of their attention while in embodiment. Thus, another door was closed that we might have used to bring humanity nearer to the Godhead.
“It must ever be recognized that the real and the counterfeit have been with humanity for a long time. Whenever God has blessed men with truth, the counterfeit, or Antichrist, has also asserted itself. Each attempt for Good is usually inverted and the opposite end of the axis is brought to the fore in the attempt to alienate the allegiance of men from their highest Selfhood.”4
Release of Occult Knowledge outside the Retreats
In recent centuries the Brotherhood, by special dispensation from the Solar Hierarchies and the Karmic Board, has been able to release occult knowledge outside of the sacred retreats, thereby making some of the inner teachings accessible to the world at large. This information was formerly vouchsafed only to disciples who had proven themselves worthy to enter the retreats of the masters. And even then, only after passing the severest tests of will and sincerity were they entrusted with the knowledge of the initiatic mysteries—the control of matter and the use of the Christ mind to precipitate and levitate substance.
With this new dispensation, the world would be the stage for personal initiations, and mankind’s own karma would be his guru. The opportunity for direct training under the masters would come only to those who had successfully passed (many times unbeknown to them) the tests of the unseen masters, while those who had failed these tests (also many times unbeknown to them) would never know how close they had come to sitting at the feet of the masters.
Because of the law of cycles,5 it was not possible for the masters to deliver lock, stock and barrel to mankind the fullness of the higher teachings or the knowledge of what lay in store in the coming age. Each ten-year cycle, each hundred-year cycle and each thousand-year cycle has a predetermined allotment of energy granted by the hierarchy to the evolutions of a planet.
The spiral of man’s victory is an ever-unfolding one, and none dare preempt the Law of its release—although some have sought to take heaven by force.6 Therefore, each decade and each century sees the manifestation of new forms and solar glyphs, and each revelation must be integrated into the total world thought ere the succeeding one can be forthcoming.
The astral plane, or “astral belt,” as it is sometimes called, is the immediate layer of consciousness above the physical world; above the astral is the mental plane; next comes the etheric plane; and finally the ascended master octave of perfection. The integration of these planes of consciousness, including the wealth of understanding contained in the higher spheres of perfection, could not be released to mankind all at once, for the chalice of his consciousness must be prepared gradually and his growth be commensurate with the wisdom released. The expansion of the light of God within the soul and the knowledge of the tie to the God Source must precede the fullness of the revelation of the coming golden age.
Thus the ascended masters sponsored an activity (spiritualism), destined to serve a twofold purpose: as a catalyst in world thought and as a foundation stone for future revelation. However, it is never the purpose of religion to bind man to a system, to dogma or to a set of doctrines, but to bind him to God. When a particular form of religion ceases to serve this specific reason for being—when through progressive revelation new dispensations of enlightenment are released by the hierarchy—the old form must be remodeled to conform to the accelerated momentums of light that are made available to a planet and its evolutions. Or, when this is not forthcoming, the old form must be discarded—however painful this process may be, however much good may still remain within it.
Just as old buildings are condemned and torn down to make way for developments that better serve the current needs of a community, so the followers of God should not fear to reject a system that seeks to bind them to itself rather than to free them to reach for the heights of divine reunion.
Let us now examine some examples of psychic manifestation for the purpose of outlining our subject.
Psychic Phenomena
The phenomenon of the poltergeist7 is familiar to most people. Many years ago a strange happening occurred that could be classified under this heading.
A family became very disturbed by the fact that their children’s shoes were disappearing from their home. As they had many children and lived on a farm during the Great Depression, this resulted in a considerable drain upon their pocketbook as well as upon their patience.
Other inexplicable occurrences were noted even by those who were not members of the family. Unoccupied rocking chairs rocked. Doorknobs turned and doors flew open with a bang. Cut flowers in vases wilted suddenly. The children themselves were the major suspects in the eyes of the parents. However, on one occasion one of the adult members of the family witnessed a pair of shoes without an occupant walking down the stairs. The sheriff of the county was sent for, and investigations were begun.
In a nearby community there lived a man who, although a believer in God, was not what one would term an orthodox member of the church. He was a mystic. Now retired, he had been a respected businessman, the father of a physician who was also well thought of in the area. Because of his reputation as an outstanding citizen and his familiarity with occult practices, he was called upon to exorcise the mysterious force that was causing so much conflict to this family. Thus he proceeded to the building with a group of curious investigators. Immediately after he completed his ritual of exorcism, the father of the family exclaimed, “Why, it’s just like the sun is shining in the room!” The feeling of dampness that had permeated the building was no longer there.
Thus ended the episode of the walking shoes and other mysterious happenings that had troubled the family for several months. Here was an incidence of a psychic phenomenon, recorded in the newspapers and witnessed by many dispassionate observers.
In many parts of the world, such manifestations have not been infrequent, although they are often attributed to natural phenomena. One famous recorded incident of a poltergeist occurred in Stans in the Canton of Lucerne, Switzerland, between 1860 and 1862 in the home of M. Joller, a distinguished lawyer and member of the Swiss National Council. It began with loud rappings in the night, then the apparition of a white, indistinct form. Subsequently, gray figures followed the maid about the kitchen and to her room, where they sobbed through the night. The entire family was witness to the phenomenon of locked doors and fastened windows being flung open. Voices, weird music and the humming of spinning wheels were heard.
Reports of the strange happenings attracted thousands of curious onlookers, who witnessed one or more of these phenomena. Investigations by the police and scientific inquiry made by well-qualified and prominent men of the community failed to resolve the mystery. Responsible citizens, including members of the National Council and the Court of Justice, attested to the events. The family was finally forced to move from their home, whereupon the manifestations ceased.8
Another manifestation associated with psychic activities is commonly known as apport (“things brought”). There are endless accounts of this phenomenon, in which strange objects mysteriously drop from thin air into the hands of those who sit in a circle at a séance. While investigators have proved that trickery is involved in many of these manifestations, there remain a number of such occurrences that are unexplained and bear all of the earmarks of authenticity.
In chapter 23 of the Climb the Highest Mountain series (which is included in Book 7, the next volume), there is a complete explanation of the entities (disembodied spirits) that cause such manifestations. We shall not digress further on the subject here, except to say that the pranks of discarnates are part of the spectrum of psychic thralldom.
Seeking advice from departed spirits has been going on since the witch of Endor conjured up Samuel the prophet for King Saul9—and a long time before. Many means have been employed to accomplish this, from voodoo rituals to Ouija boards to séances and the use of mediums—and more recently the phenomenon known as “channeling.” There are countless individuals all over the world who have faith in mediumship and who depend for their spiritual guidance upon messages received either from departed relatives or friends or from supposedly friendly spirits (spirit guides and teachers), who dispense advice and help to the seeker.
Thus, the story of spiritualism is long and involved—intriguing to the mind, perhaps, but nevertheless a dangerous byway that can only detour the seeker from the main highway that leads to the acquisition of true spirituality. We have classified spiritualism under the heading of “psychic thralldom” because individuals become so entranced by the wonders of the séance circle that they seldom can accept the truth concerning such happenings.
The Science of Ectoplasm
In all groups where genuine contact is being made with departed entities, the circle itself is nothing more than a battery, the counterpart of a galvanic system that uses the energies and vital essences of the members of the group to supply the muscle and mind power for the spirits. This essence is siphoned off from the individuals in attendance by the discarnates in order to produce psychic phenomena; without it, they can neither communicate nor perform. A gradual drain of vital spiritual energies and a deterioration of the physical body and the brain occur in those who practice necromancy or hold consort with the spirits of the departed over a considerable period of time.
Most dangerous of all are those discarnates who profess to be masters of the psychic realm but who, in reality, merely masquerade as “angels of light”10 or as “masters” to defame and discredit the true masters of wisdom of the ascended realm and their teachings. These discarnates not only drain the vital energies of their auditors but also release confusing information, half-truths and such an unwholesome conglomeration of predictions, personal flattery and wild prophecies as to completely discourage anyone who has the least discernment or true spirituality from any further pursuit ofhigher truth. Many of these earthbound departed ones enjoy little pranks that they can pull upon embodied mankind from the invisible realm, much the same as children would raid an apple tree or cavort in Halloween pranks or masquerade as hobgoblins.
The energy that is used to produce the phenomena associated with spiritualism has been called “ectoplasm” or “ectoplasy” by researchers in this field. Sir William F. Barrett in his book On the Threshold of the Unseen defined ectoplasy as “the power of forming outside the body of the medium a concentration of vital energy or vitalized matter which operates temporarily in the same way as the body from which it is drawn, so that visible, audible or tangible humanlike phenomena are produced.”11
Continued in Part 2, published in Pearls of Wisdom, vol. 48 no. 15.
“The Summit Lighthouse Sheds Its Radiance o’er All the World to Manifest as Pearls of Wisdom.”
“Psychic Thralldom” is chapter 2 of Paths of Light and Darkness, Book 6 of Climb the Highest Mountain series by Mark L. Prophet and Elizabeth Clare Prophet. Parts 1-9 of “Psychic Thralldom” are published in 2005 Pearls of Wisdom Nos. 14-22. The publications listed in these notes are Summit University Press publications unless otherwise noted. For ordering information, go to The Summit Lighthouse online store.
Opening quotation: I John 4:1.
1. Sir Oliver Lodge, Raymond, or Life and Death: With Examples of the Evidence for Survival of Memory and Affection after Death (London: Methuen & Co., 1916).
2. Lewis Spence, Encyclopedia of Occultism, (New Hyde Park, N.Y.: University Books, 1960), s.v. “spiritualism.”
3. For the story of the miraculous life of le Comte de Saint Germain (an embodiment of the ascended master Saint Germain), see Mark L. Prophet and Elizabeth Clare Prophet, Studies in Alchemy: The Science of Self-Transformation; Isabel Cooper-Oakley, The Count of Saint Germain (Blauvelt, New York: Rudolph Steiner Publications, 1970).
4. Kuthumi, Pearls of Wisdom, vol. 6, no. 39, September 27, 1963.
5. See chapter 1 of Predict Your Future: Understand the Cycles of the Cosmic Clock.
6. Matt. 11:12.
7. A poltergeist is a mischievous, noisy and disruptive ghost, usually found in homes where there are adolescent children.
8. One account of these events is recorded in an Austrian spiritualist publication Licht des Jenseits oder Blumenlese aus dem Garden des Spiritismus, vol. 2 (1867), pp. 175-89, 205-20, 240-53. A German documentary by Volker Anding titled Das Spukhaus (2003) dealt with attempts to find scientific explanations for the phenomena.
9. I Sam. 28:7-25.
10. II Cor. 11:14.
11. William F. Barrett, On the Threshold of the Unseen: An Examination of the Phenomena of Spiritualism and of the Evidence for Survival after Death (New York: E. P. Dutton & Co., 1917).
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