The sacred book of death, Hindu spiritism, soul transition and soul reincarnation

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CHAPTER XXV. Sacred Magic ....... 393

Hindu Sanscrit

J ANSKRIT or SANSCRIT (carefully constructed, symmetrically formed, from sans— together, and the pa. par krita— made. It is thus opposed to the Prakrit, — common, natural, the name given to the vernacular dialect of India). IJ The ancient language of the Hindus, and the oldest and most primitive of the Indo-European tongues. It has long since ceased to be a living language but in it most of the literature of the Hindus is written from the oldest portion of the Vedas onwards. (Veda). To the scores of tribes and nations of discordant speech in India, Sanscrit has long been the sacred and literary dialect, and all the cultivated tongues of modern India are as full of Sanscrit words as the European tongues are of Latin. It is a highly inflected language and to philologists is the most valuable of tongues owing to its freedom from the corruptions and disguises of phoentic changes and from obliteration of the original meaning of its vocables. €J The classical Sanscrit is a dialect which, at a later period, after the full possession of Hindustan and the development of Brahmanism out of the simpler and more primitive religion and polity of Vedic times, became established as the literary language of the whole country, and has ever since maintained that character, being still learned for writing and speaking in the Lamasaries and Temples as well as in native schools of the Brahmanic priesthood. From the fact that inscriptions in a later form of Indian language are found dating from the third century B. C, it is inferred that the Sanscrit must at least as early as that have ceased to be a vernacular tongue.

MANDAMUS

OBEY THIS WARNING!

CHIS Famous "Book of Death, Hindu Spiritism, Soul Transition and Soul Reincarnation" by

Dr. de Laurence, "The Moses of the Hindus," is the personal property of fllJof the City of _

State of_

^ The same being a rare and valuable Volume of Ancient Hindu Wisdom and Celestial Fire, written and arranged in the Hindu manner of Self-Instruction and, in consequence of this, every person is vuarned and most earnestly cautioned never to steal the same nor distort nor tamper with the Teachings or Formulas given therein, for if you steal this Volume or, by intention cause Perversion of the Formulas, Sacred Hindu Names or Seals contained therein you will attract an Evil Spirit and other Powerful influences ivhich 'will most surely do you injury and cause you to regret your damnable actions to the day of your death.

*I Should you be so foolish or rash as to steal this Sacred Volume, which is the private property of thy neighbor, before you have read and received this Mandamus, return it unto him at once and no harm will befall you, but if thee dares to disobey this warning ' ' <woe be unto thee, " for the Great System and Order of " Hindu Adepts and Master Lamas of India and China" have their Astral and Occult Guards who can witness your every action, see and know every thought that goes through your brain, and they will not hesitate, for they knoTV too well, how to avenge thefts or tampering with their Occult teachings, so beware and obey this Mandamus, otherwise you will never know peace, fortune or contentment afterwards.

THE BOOK OF DEATH.

The "Book of Death" explains

The Miracle and Mystery of life;

Of trance, and death, where Mystery is rife.

— Dr. de Laurence.

Preface

Death and Magic have always been contemporary and always shall be in every age of the world. Death and Soul Transition, Spirit Communication and Magic were contemporaneous with the birth of man in this world, which to all were like unto a vale of tears. Death and immortality to the soul of the western individual is a sad recital throughout, because the human heart has in all ages hungered for true knowledge of the existence and presence of the dear departed. However, they are oftentimes ridiculous owing to the Christian Doctrine and theory of atonement which is founded upon a total misconception and crude interpretation of the true teaching of Spiritism, and are so glaring that little wonder it be that the human soul of man recoils from the horrible picture painted by many, of the future life of man. Oriental teachings and traditions teach man the mysteries of his present and future life. Eastern magic teaches man the art of performing things which surpass the powers of his physical and material nature. These teachings are thought by some to be more than ordinarily bad, in consequence of a compact, expressed or implied, with evil spirits.

This is nonsensical, for by True Magic, which same not being Sorcery or Black Magic, man can find profit and be taught that which is of vital importance to himself and family.

Man will discover Magic at every epoch in history. True, man has made use of Magic to domineer over man. The chroniclers of every age teem to overflowing with narrations of Magical Operations as does the far reaching memories of every human soul which follows these facts. The Sorcerer and his Disciple who pay homage to evil spirits always have had their tables heaped with viands and wine, as the Witch or Sorcerer may become very powerful indeed in suspending the faculties of man and even animals, and alter certain things, also of binding to sickness, love or hatred, but in time, surely self-torment shall consume his soul, neither shall he know any happiness. This is sacred truth, incontrovertible, for remember that that which thee seeks thee will attract to thy soul, and what thee asks for with thy Occult Powers, for these are the terrible instruments of the Sorcerer, thee will surely receive a thousand fold, for he who is in league with familiar spirits will regret it.

Introduction

The teachings of East Indian Occultism are the True Wisdom, and he who hath it not can in no way penetrate the True Secrets of Spirit Magic, and he but buildeth upon a foundation of sand, and his building can in no way last. Many conjurers of Black and Devilish Arts have attempted to persuade me to be wise, while they themselves, with words which I myself well understood, but which is little known, and with extravagant Symbols made bells to sound, and while with execrable conjurations made appear in glasses him who had committed a theft, and they made a liquor causing an old man to appear young (and that only for the space of two hours and no longer). All these things which they indeed taught me, but the whole was but vanity, low curiosity, and a pure deception of the Evil Spirits leading to no useful end imaginable, and tending to the loss of the Soul. I having the true veritable knowledge of the Sacred Hindu Magic, and banished them from mine heart and desires. These impious conjurers, with the aid and assistance of Evil Spirits, performed astounding feats. They used to render themselves invisible, so as to be able to enter locked-up rooms. They knew our greatest secrets, and once they told me things which only I alone could know. But this art cost them too dearly for the Evil Spirits had made them swear in the Pact that they would use all their secrets to the dishonor of their friends, and to the prejudice of their neighbors. Ultimately their soul and body was dragged through deep misery. This was all the profits they drew from their Diabolical Science and Damnable Magic. In some parts of the Orient I found an infinitude of Black Magicians who only occupied themselves in killing and maiming men, in putting discord among married people, in causing divorces, in tying witch-knots in osier or willow branches to stop the flow of milk in the breasts of nursing women, and similar infamies. But these miserable wretches had also made a Pact with Evil Spirits, and had become their slaves, having sworn unto them that they would work without cessation to destroy the happiness of all living creatures. Some of these had two years (for their Pact) to run, some three, and after that time they underwent the same fate as all who form a Pact with Evil Spirits. At Benares, India, I was introduced to a young Indian woman, who one evening invited me to go with her, assuring me that without any risk she would conduct me to a place where I greatly desired to find myself. I allowed myself (in order to find her out) to be persuaded by her promises. She then gave unto me an ungent with which I rubbed the principal pulses of my feet and hands; the which she did also; and at first it appeared to me that I was flying in the air in the place which I wished, and which I had in no way mentioned to her.

I pass over in silence out of respect for my Disciples, that which I saw. After I appeared to have remained there a long while, I felt as if I were just awakening from a profound sleep, and I had a decided pain in my head. I turned round and saw that she was seated at my side. She began to ask me what I had seen, and that which I had seen was something I never wish to behold again. I was, however, much astonished, because it appeared to me as if I had been really and corporeally in the place, and there in reality to have seen that which had happened. One day I asked her to go alone to that same place, and to bring me back news of a Hindu friend whom I knew for certain was distant 200 leagues. She promised to do so in the space of an hour. She rubbed herself with the same ungent, and I was very expectant to see her fly away, but she fell to the ground and remained there about three hours as if she were dead, so that I began to think that she really was dead. At last she began to stir like a person who is waking, then she rose

22 DEATH AND HINDU SPIBITISM.

to an upright position, and with much pleasure began to give me the account of her expedition, saying that she had been in the place where my friend was, and told me all that he was doing; which was entirely in keeping with his profession, of which I had told her nothing. Whence I concluded that what she had just told me was not a simple dream, and that this ungent was not a causer of Astral sleep; whereon she confessed to me that this ungent had been given to her by the Evil Spirits. All the Arts of the Witches and Conjurers are. Enchantments and Fascinations, through which wonderful things can be done. But the Evil Spirits hold them enchained in these accursed Arts so that the Foundation of the True Magic may be unknown to them which would render them more powerful than they; and I was the more confirmed in this opinion because their operations were of no practical use whatever, and caused injury unto him who put them into practice, as in fact many of them avowed plainly to me that they were envious because I was an Adept who had the True and Sacred Magic of the Hindus. There are also many operations which they say are handed down from the Ancient Zuroos. There is an Art called White and Black Xoozj; another Angelical, Teatim; in which I avow that I have seen Orations so learned and beautiful, that had I not known the venom therein hidden, I would have given them herein. I say all this because it is very easy for him who is not constantly upon his guard to err in studying Spirit Magic.

SYMBOLS

One old scribbler of symbols taught me many enchantments which only tended to work evil. He performed other operations by means of Evil Spirits and certain secret fumigations, which were all oddv and of a triple proportion, in no way similar to the other, and for proof of this, he caused by such means in my presence a very fine tree which was near our Temple to fall to the ground, and all the leaves and fruits were consumed in a very short time. And he told me that in numbers there was hidden a very great Mystery, which I already had knowledge of, because that by means of numbers one can perform all the operations for friendships, riches, honors, love and all sorts of things, good and evil; and he assured me that he had tried them, and that some that he knew were very true for they had succeeded with him. With regard to this particular, I found out the reason through an ancient Hindu Priest, who told me that this came and depended from a Divine Mystery, that is to say, from the Qubalah, and that without that, one could not succeed. All these things have I beheld, and many others, and those who possessed these secrets gave them to me out of friendship. I have never taught these recipes afterwards, they being absolutely things very far removed from the Will of God, and contrary to the charity which we owe unto our neighbor. Every learned and prudent man may fall if he be not defended and guided by the good spirits who advised and aided me, and prevented me from falling into such a state of wretchedness, and who led me undeserving from the mire of darkness unto the Light of the True Magic. I have known and felt the effects of the goodness of a certain Wise Hindu Priest, who, of his own free will, and before I had asked him so to do, accepted me for his Disciple. And before that I had declared my wish unto him he would accomplish and fulfil my desire; and all that I wished to obtain from him he knew before I could open my mouth. Also he recounted to me all that I had seen, done, and suffered from the time of my birth down to that moment; and this in words obscure as it were prophetic, which I did not then fully comprehend, but which I understood later. He told me many things touching my good fortune and that my teachings would become famous in America, as they have, but which was the principal thing, he discovered to me the Source of the Veritable Magic, which according to their custom, I have in turn communicated unto my Disciples, in "The Great Book of Magical Art, Hindu Magic and East

Indian Occultism/' after they have fulfilled the requisite conditions without the accomplishment of which the power and this Sacred Hindu Magic cannot be exercised, and which I have recounted in this volume. After he did manifest unto me the Regimen of the Mystery of that Sacred Hindu Magic which was exercised and put into practice by his forefathers and progenitors, Razizun, Uzujb, Iquzi and Tneby, among whom the last misused it, and he received the punishment thereof during his life.

In the Great Book of Magical Art I have described the whole faithfully and clearly, in order that if the Lord God should wish to dispose of me before these teachings shall have attained great use in this age, thou shalt find this great volume an inestimable treasure and a faithful master and teacher, because there are very many Powerful Secrets in the Symbols of this Book which I have made experiment of with mine own self and they are perfectly true, and which afterwards many of my Disciples which are in every country in the world have performed. I found no one who worked these things truly without this "Great Book of Magical Art," and although many have walked in the same path, nevertheless the Hindu Priest as a just Judge, did not in any way wish to grant unto them the Sacred Magic in its entirety, because they desired "The Great Book of Magical Art, Hindu Magic and East Indian Occultism" to be published by myself. It matters not whatever religion you believe in you can arrive at the perfection of this work and become a Master, but he who hath abandoned Spiritual Law, and embraced Materialism, which is opposed to Spirit Magic, can never arrive at a state of happiness and condition of mind to be able to climb to the summit of this Sacred Art.

Dr. L. W. de Laurence, Adept in Art Magic and Famous Magician by Alchemy and Fire.

Chapter I. Spiritism

From the Sanscrit writing of the Hindu new ideas and new words which are needed, in order to secure clearness of language by avoiding the confusion inseparable from the employment of the same term for expressing different meanings, are to be secured. The words spiritual, spiritualist, spiritualism, have a definite acceptation; to give them a new one, in order to apply them to the doctrines set forth by spirits, would be to multiply the causes of amphibology, already so numerous. Strictly speaking, Spiritualism is the opposite of Materialism; every one is a Spiritualist who believes that there is in him something more than matter, but it does not follow that he believes in the existence of spirits, or in their communication with the visible world. Instead, therefore, of the words spiritual, spiritualism, employed in these writings to designate this latter belief, the words spiritist, spiritism, which, by their form, indicate their origin and radical meaning, and have thus the advantage of being perfectly intelligible; and we

(Ancient Hindu Priests) reserve the words spiritualism, spiritualist, for the expression of the meaning attached to them by common acceptation. We say, then, that the fundamental principle of the spiritist theory, or spiritism, is the relation of the material world with spirits, or the beings of the invisible world; and we designate the adherents of the theory as spiritists.

In a special sense, "The Book of Death, Wisdom and Celestial Fire" contains the doctrine and truth of spiritism; in a general sense, it appertains to the spiritualist cult, of which it presents one of the phases. It is for this reason that I have inscribed the words Death and Soul Transition on its titlepage.

There is another word of which it is equally necessary to define the meaning, because it is the keystone of every system of Occultism, and also because, owing to the lack of a precise definition, it has been made the subject of innumerable controversies; I refer to the word soul. The divergence of opinion concerning the nature of the soul is a result of the variety of meanings attached to this word. A perfect language, in which every idea had its own special term, would save a vast deal of discussion; for, in that case, misunderstanding would be impossible.

Some Western writers define the soul as being

SOUL EEINCAKNATIOtf. 29

the principle of organic life, having no existence of its own, and ceasing with the life of the body. According to this purely Materialistic belief, the soul is an effect, and not a cause.

Others consider the soul as being the principle of intelligence, the universal agent, of which each being absorbs a portion. According to them, there is, in the entire universe, only one soul, which distributes sparks of itself among all intelligent beings during their life ; each spark, after the death of the being it has animated, returning to the common source, and blending again with the general whole, as brooks and rivers return to the ocean from which they were produced. This opinion differs from the preceding one, inasmuch as, according to the latter hypothesis, there is in us something more than matter, something that remains in existence after our DEATH; but, practically, it is much as though nothing remained of us, since, no longer possessing individuality, we should retain no consciousness of our identity. According to this hypothesis, the universal soul is God, and each being is a portion of the Divinity. It is a species of Pantheism.

According to others, again, the soul is a moral being, distinct, independent of matter, and preserving its individuality after death. This acceptation of the word soul is certainly the one most generally received; because, under one name or another, the idea of a being that survives the body is found as an instinctive belief, and independently of all teaching, among all nations, whatever their degree of civilization. This doctrine, according to which the soul is a cause, and not an effect, is that of the Hindus of Sacred Caste.

Without discussing the value of these opinions, and considering the subject merely under its philological aspect, we say that these three applications of the word soul constitute three distinct ideas, each of which demands a different term. "Soul" has, therefore, a triple meaning, and is employed by each school according to the special meaning it attributes to that word. In order to avoid the confusion naturally resulting from the use of the same word to express three different ideas, it would be necessary to confine the word to one of these three ideas; it would not matter to which, provided the choice were clearly understood. I think it more natural to take it in its most common acceptation; and for this reason I have employed the word soul to indicate the immaterial and individual being which resides in us, and survives the body. Even if this being did not really exist, and were only a product of the imagination, a specific term would still be needed to designate it.

For want of such a term for each of the other ideas now loosely understood by the word soul, the

Hindus employ the term vital principle to designate the material and organic life which, whatever may be its source, is common to all living creatures, from the plant to man. As life can exist without the thinking faculty, the vital principle is something distinct from and independent of it. The word vitality would not express the same idea. According to some, the vital principle is a property of matter; an effect produced wherever matter is found under certain given conditions ; while, in the opinion of the greater number of thinkers, it resides in a special fluid, universally diffused, and of which eacli being absorbs and assimilates a portion during life, as inert bodies absorb light; the vital principle being identical with the vital fluid, which is generally regarded as being the same as the animalized electric fluid, designated also as the magnetic fluid, the astral fluid, etc.

However this may be, one fact is certain, for it is proved by observation, viz., that organic beings possess in themselves a force which, so long as it exists, produces the phenomena of life; that physical life is common to all organic beings, and is independent of intelligence and thought; that intelligence and thought are faculties peculiar to certain organic species ; and, lastly, that, among the organic species endowed with intelligence and thought, there is one which is endowed with a special moral sense that gives it an incontestable superiority over the others, viz., the human species.

It is evident that, being employed according to various acceptations, the term soul does not exclude either Materialism or Pantheism. Spiritualists themselves understand the term soul according to one or other of the first two definitions, without denying the distinct immaterial being, to which, in that case, it would give some other name. This word, therefore, is not the representative of an opinion; it is a Protean term, defined by each after his own fashion, and thus giving rise to interminable disputes.

I might also avoid confusion, even while employing the word soul in the three senses defined above, by adding to it some qualifying term that should specify the point of view from which we consider it, or the mode in which we apply it. It would be, in that case, a generic word, representing at once the principles of material life, of intelligence, and of the moral faculty, each of which would be distinguished by an attribute, as is done, for example, with the word gas, by adding the words hydrogen, oxygen, etc. Thus we might say — and it would, perhaps, be the best plan to adopt — vital soul for the principle of material life, intellectual soul for the principle of intelligence, and spiritual soul for the principle of our individuality after death; in which case the vital soul would be common to all organic beings, plants, animals, and men; the intellectual soul would be the peculiar property of animals and men ; and the spiritual soul would belong to men only.

I have thought it all the more important to be explicit in regard to this point, because the spiritist theory is naturally based on the existence in us of a being independent of matter, and that survives the body. As the word soul will frequently recur in the course of these writings, it was necessary to define the meaning we attach to it, in order to avoid all misunderstanding.

We now come to the principal object of this preliminary explanation.

SPIRIT DOCTRINE

Spirit doctrine, like all new theories, has its supporters and its opponents. I shall endeavor to reply to some of the objections of the latter, by examining the worth of the reasons on which they are based, without, however, pretending to be able to convince everybody, but addressing ourselves to those who, without prejudices or preconceived ideas, are sincerely and honestly desirous of arriving at the truth; and we will prove to them that those objections are the result of a too hasty conclusion in regard to facts imperfectly observed.

Of the facts referred to, the one first observed was the receiving of correct communications from Astral Spirits, popularly called "spiritualism." This phenomenon, which many supposed to be first observed in their particular country (was only renewed, for history proves it to have been produced in the most remote ages of antiquity), was attended with various strange accompaniments, such as unusual noises, raps produced without any ostensible cause, etc. From India this phenomenon spread rapidly over Europe and the rest of the world. It was met at first with incredulity; but the spirit messages were received by so many experimenters that it soon became impossible to doubt their reality.

If the phenomenon in question had been limited to the movement of inert objects, it might have been possible to explain it by some purely physical cause. The Western men are far from knowing all the secret agencies of nature, or all the properties of those which are known to us. Astral forces, moreover, are not only multiplying, day by day, the resources they offer to mankind, but appear to be about to irradiate science with a new light. It seemed, therefore, by no means impossible that Astral Forces, modified by certain circumstances, or some other unknown agent, might be the cause of these spirit messages and other phenomena. The

SOUL EE1NCAKNATION. 35

fact that the presence of several persons increased the intensity of the action appeared to strengthen this supposition; for the union of these might not inaptly be regarded as constituting a battery, of which the power was in proportion to the number of its elements.

That the movement of tables should be circular was in no way surprising, for the circular movement is of frequent occurrence in nature. All the stars move in circles; and it, therefore, seemed to be possible that in the movement of the tables we had a reflex on a small scale of the movement of the universe; or that some cause, hitherto unknown, might produce, accidentally, and, in regard to small objects, a current analogous to that which impels the worlds of the universe in their orbits.

But the movement in question was not always circular. It was often irregular, disorderly; the object moved was sometimes violently shaken, overthrown, carried about in various directions, and, in contravention of all known laws of statics, lifted from the ground and held up in the air. Still, in all this, there was nothing that might not be explained by the force of some invisible physical agent. Do we not see electricity overthrow buildings, uproot trees, and hurl to considerable distances the heaviest bodies, attracting or repelling, as the case may be?

The rappings and other unusual noises, supposing them to be due to something else than the dilatation of the wood, or other accidental cause, might very well be produced by an accumulation of the mysterious fluid; for does not electricity produce the loudest sounds?

Up to this point everything might be considered as belonging to the domain of physics and physiology. Without going beyond this circle of ideas, the learned might have found in the phenomenon referred to matter well worthy of serious study. Why was this not done? It is painful to be obliged to make the confession, but the neglect of the scientific world was due to causes that add one more proof to the many already given of the frivolity of the Western mind. In the first place, the commonness of the Hindus who mainly served as the basis of the earliest experimentations had something to do with this disdain. What an influence, in regard to even the most serious matters, is often exerted by a mere word! Without reflecting that the messages referred to might be communicated to any person, the idea of the Hindus became associated with it in the general mind, doubtless because the Hindu, being the best developed mentally, and also because these people can place themselves in a receptive state more conveniently than any other race of people, who interest themselves in the experiments referred to. But men who pride themselves on their mental superiority are sometimes so puerile as to warrant the suspicion that a good many keen and cultivated minds may have considered it beneath them to take any notice of what was commonly known as "Hindu Occultism." If the phenomenon observed by Ijuna had been made known by some Hindu adept, and dubbed with some absurd nickname, it would probably have -been consigned to the lumber-room, along with the diviningrod; for where is the scientist who would not in that case have regarded it as derogatory to occupy himself with spiritism?