Medium Cool: Home on the Range (Wicked Wednesday)

Terromoto 2018

The most famous medium of the late 19th century—the golden age of mediums and spiritualistic phenomena— was a Scottish-American named Daniel Dunglas Home (1833-86), whose distinctions included never having been discovered in any kind of fraud.

(For an account of Home’s frequently performed levitations, see pages 293-95.)

The following report of a seance given at Norwood, England, in 1868 was written by Lord Adare, later the earl of Dunraven. He describes how Home entered a trance and seemed to become fascinated by the fire, which he frequently approached and stirred with a poker. Here turned to the fire again,

and with his hand stirred the embers into a flame; then kneeling down, he placed his face right among the burning coals, moving it about as though bathing it in water. Then, getting up, he held his finger for some time in the flame of the candle. Presently, he took the same lump of coal he had previously handled and came over to us, blowing upon it to make it brighter. He then walked slowly round the table, and said, “I want to see which of you will be the best subject. Ah! Adare will be the easiest, because he has been most with Dan.” [Home is here referring to himself as Dan.] Mr. Jencken held out his hand, saying, “Put it in mine,” Home said,

''No no, touch it and see,'' he touched it with the tip of his finger and burnt himself. Home then held it within four or five inches of Mr. Saals and Mr. Hurts hands, and they could not endure the heat.

He came to me and said, “Now, if you are not afraid, hold out your hand”; I did so, and having made two rapid passes over my hand, he placed the coal in it. I must have held it for half a minute, long enough to have burned my hand fearfully; the coal felt scarcely warm. Home then took it away, laughed, and seemed much pleased. As he was going back to the fire-place, he suddenly turned round and said,“Why, just fancy, some of them think that only one side of the ember was hot.” He told me to make a hollow of both my hands; I did so, and he placed the coal in them, and then put both his on the top of the coal, so that it was completely covered by our four hands, and we held it there for some time. Upon this occasion scarcely any heat at all could be perceived.

In fact, demonstrations of this kind were not extraordinary for Home, as Lord Lindsay, later the earl of Crawford and Balcarres, testified to the Committee of the Dialectical Society in 1869, during their investigation of spiritualistic phenomena:

I have frequently seen Home [he said], when in a trance, go to the fire and take out large red-hot coals, and carry them about in his hands, put them inside his shirt, etc. Eight times I have myself held a red-hot coal in my hands without injury, when it scorched my face on raising my hand. Once, I wished to see if they really would burn, and I said so, and touched a coal with the middle finger of my right hand, and I got a blister as large as a sixpence [i.e.,the size of a dime]; I instantly asked him to give me the coal, and I held the part that burnt me, in the middle of my hand, for three or four minutes, without the least inconvenience. A few weeks ago, I was at a seance with eight others. Of these, seven held a red-hot coal without pain, and the two others could not bear the approach of it; of the seven, four were ladies.

Mediums in the Midwest: the 1800s American Spiritualism Movement By Mary Giorgio

As these (and many other) accounts make clear, Home was able to extend his own immunity to fire to others on numerous occasions. The most dramatic involved his old friend Samuel Carter Hall, who for years had been editor of The Art Journal. Hall, as his wife relates, was an old man when Home enlisted him in an outrageous and, from one point of view, preposterous demonstration. There were several people present at the seance, in addition to the Halls, when Home, in a trance, seized a lump of burning coal from the fireplace—it was so large that he needed both hands to hold it—and placed it on Samuel Halls head. “Is it not hot?'' someone asked. “Warm, but not hot!” Hall replied. Home, meanwhile, was gathering up his friends white hair and bunching it around and above the coal, which was still glowing red. Hall still did not find it too hot. Home then placed the coal in Mrs. Halls left hand, and she too reported that it felt warm but not painfully hot—though several others who tried touching it burned their fingers.

Home’s power to confer his own immunity to fire on others was variable, depending on his own state of mind and the mental attitude of the other person. To prepare himself for these exploits he apparently conferred with spirits, by whom he believed his immunity was granted. A description of one of these spirit conferences has been preserved in notes made by W. Stainton Moses, himself a notable medium:

[Mr. Home] then went to the fireplace, removed the guard, and sat down on the hearthrug. There he seemed to hold a conversation by signs with a spirit. He repeatedly bowed, and finally set to work to mesmerise his head again. He ruffled his bushy hair until it stood out like a mop, and then deliberately lay down and put his head in the bright wood fire.

The hair was in the blaze, and must, under ordinary circumstances, have been singed off. His head was in the grate, and his neck on a level with the top bar. This was repeated several times. He also put his hand into the fire, smoothed away the wood and coal, and picked out a live coal, which he held in his hand for a few seconds, but replaced soon, saying the power was not sufficient. He tried to give a hot coal to Mr. Crookes, but was unable to do it.

The Mr. Crookes mentioned here, later Sir William Crookes, was one of the leading chemists and physicists of his time. His own account of the incident, which occurred in London on April 28, 1873, is as follows:

….. Mr. Home told me to leave my seat and come with him to the fire. He asked me if I should be afraid to take a live coal (ember) from his hand. I said, No, I would take it if he would give it to me. He then put his hand among the hot coals (embers), and deliberately picked out the brightest bit and held it in his hand for a few seconds. He appeared to deliberate for a time, and then returned it to the grate, saying the power was too weak, and he was afraid I might be hurt. During this time I was kneeling on the hearthrug, and am unable to explain how it was he was not severely burnt..... After Home had recovered from the trance I examined his hand with care to see if there were any signs of burning or of previous preparation. I could detect no trace of injury to the skin, which was soft and delicate like a woman's.

SOURCES

(Proceedings of the Society for Psychical Research 9: 306-08, 1894; 35:132-36, 281-82, 1926; Herbert Thurston, The Physical Phenomena of Mysticism} pp.181-86)

#medium #spiritualist #spiritual #sorcery

Editorial News: Editor's Cauldron by Mabel Pamplona (Supernatural Things, Witchcraft, Dark Magic)

Editorial News: Editor's Cauldron by Mabel Pamplona (Supernatural Things, Witchcraft, Dark Magic)

For most web editors & content writers caught in the trap of deadlines, conformity, and making similar content, simple survival for themselves and their website is an end in itself. To innovate is to invite risk and possible disaster. To actually drop out of the milieu of our huckster-dominated media, and into the real world of this 21st Sick Century, could induce sheer trauma. In the U.S.A. and Turkey's Dominant Media is very aggressive to their political opponents in a cruel way. These two countries have mutual crisis just because each of them has a dangerous leader. We can say clearly, tyrannical governments frequently put their political opponents in prison. So that's not a surprise for Turkey and its citizens.ens.

Yet one need not be a crusader to suggest that somewhere along the line those who control the media must do just that. Recognition must be given to the realities of this new world, else the media, in all its forms, will not only have faulted the finest generation of young people this country has produced but will have simultaneously denied them an arena for meaningful dialogue.

The question may be asked: just what in the hell does this pontifical tub-thumping have to do with a quality-contents of the witchcraft, horror, world mysteries, dark poems, gothic tradition such as Daily Strange?

Arturo Fuente Cigars Since 1912

We would suggest, in fact, that the problem of a direct confrontation with reality especially applies to our magazine, since we deal with particularly with the occult, the supernatural, and phenomena usually opposed by established religion. We would point out too that this same established religion sector of the metaphysical world is the sector most fearful of any kind of reality.

If we were to follow the sterile practices of their conformity, our witches and sorcerers would then all be evil; vampires would cringe solely before crosses despite the myriad religions other than Christianity; voodoo drums invoking Dambala would be presented with obvious racist overtones, werewolves would all resemble Lon Chaney, Jr., our doctors and scientists would all be mad-and our total efforts would be directed toward not offending the power of the status quo. Instead, we would defend it. We would not dare contribute to the destruction of popular myths for fear of the cretins among us. We choose not to conform to patterns of nonsense. In terms of the 'realities' which the others fear, let us make a few points.

Any honest approach to an examination of witchcraft and related religions in this time of advanced sciences, for example, poses no contradictions. Indeed, it is only under this new and comparatively free conditions-devoid of persecution by state religions and their hierarchies that the black arts et al. can be objectively examined. The contradiction here-for it does exist-is that those who would mock the black arts as nonsense, themselves attend a denominational church service on Sundays, and involve themselves in the parallel trumpery of the very arts and religions they decry.

DAILY STRANGE's position is a simple one. We would, in the interest of honest research, examine all religions and mythos equally and objectively; neither denying nor subscribing to their pretensions or claims. We would, however, à la Voltaire, fight for their right to parallel existence with each other-no burning stakes, gentlemen; no Ramadan holy wars; no Inquisitions, and no 'Chosen People.' All are equal in the DAILY STRANGE.

As a matter of fact, to extend this thinking into the area of shock for some of you, let me say this. If your editor were hauled into court tomorrow on some charge or other, he would ask that he be allowed to swear on the Necronomicon of the so called 'mad Arab,' Abdul Alhazrid, as a pledge of his veracity. You see, we hold this and other books, such as the Torah, the Kama Sutra, the Book of Thoth, or whatever, as equally as potent and sacred as our highly-touted King James Version of the Bible. . . We suggest that a truly free society could do likewise-even to the point of allowing a detainee to swear on nothing at all.

Are we reaching you?

In terms of this real-world we're talking about, may we further suggest that it is, no historical accident that today-with the mass emergence of witchcraft and a hundred related sub-culture religions throughout the Western Hemisphere, that these same arts and religions identify with progress. They opt, as it were, for the free society for the simple reason that they can function in that free society, whereas until quite recently, in the controlled society of the Judeo-Christian world, they were not free but persecuted.

We all wish that the Corona-Monster will be collapsed but don't kid yourselves for a second. Our cute little hippy witches were damned serious. And they remain serious. And you editor, for one, takes them quite seriously-along with the equally serious attitude of the majority of the clergy who also protest Iraq and the Syria war. And that, too, is a part of our reality.

For DAILY STRANGE all religions exist as phenomena of the world of the unknown-if there be such-of the parallel world, as it were, of the real world. These religions exist, they are in motion. And they reflect quite strongly, from their particular points of view, the reality of the times in which we live. Conversely, and to a considerable degree, they also directly influence that reality.

DAILY STRANGE is vitally concerned with being knowledgeable of these phenomena, for they are, essentially, what we write about. An axiom for us is that the closer we are to both the phenomena and the world as it is-and not as the plastic people tell us it is-the more sophisticated, the more literary, and the more meaningful the work or the story. We absolutely subscribe to the theory that there is no content in stereotyped nonsense.

DAILY STRANGE will present no ridiculous, freaked out monster mummy to gurgle tuna leaves, and to drag itself along at 1/8 of a mile per hour, through the fuzz patrolled, well-lighted suburbs of an American city: and no fruity Corona-Monster will grace our website to threaten the peace and quiet of our populace and thereby distract them from their real problems. We would suggest that the only King Kong's among us today are those not evidenced by their size but rather by their neanderthal thinking.

In effect, we say this: we do not suggest to any author that a werewolf, a sorcerer, a ghoul, a poltergeist, or what have you, be anything other than what the author wishes it to be. But! And here's the 'rub.' What we do say, is that the phenomenon must be viewed, to the best of the writer's ability, against the real background of the world in which we live. In effect, you can create a ghoul. But to create a non-sense world to support the existence of your ghoul-uh-unh. . . Our mail addresses, by the way, indicates this possibility.

info@dailystrange.com

email@dailystrange.com

We will wind this up with the salute of: yours for fat Trolls under bridges-and how they got there; and for poltergeists in the attic-and just what makes them so damned cantankerous. . . . Yours on the DAILY STRANGE

MABEL PAMPLONA

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#editorial #witch #witchcraft #magic #darkmagic #dailystrange