THE
WORD
♈︎
Vol. 18 | MARCH 1914 | No. 6 |
Copyright 1914 by H. W. PERCIVAL |
GHOSTS
(Continued)
Physical Ghosts of Dead Men
THE ghosts of dead men are of three kinds: the physical ghost, the desire ghost, the thought ghost. Then there are combinations of these three.
These physical and desire and thought ghosts were parts of living men, and were, upon the death of the physical bodies, born into their respective worlds where they remain awhile, then break up, dissipate, fade out, and then enter into and animate other forms, only to be in the end re-collected and used in the building of other human personalities into which the minds will reincarnate on their return to earth.
The physical ghost, as the astral body, the linga sharira, the form body of the physical, has been described in the article dealing with the physical ghosts of living men, in The Word, August, 1913. The physical body is the ground in which the astral or form body is rooted. This astral or form body of the physical body becomes the physical ghost after death.
While in the physical body or issuing from it, the form or physical ghost is in appearance somewhat like smoke or carbonic acid gas. As to color, it is of a greyish, reddish, yellowish, bluish, or silvery violet hue. The physical body has much weight and little density, whereas the physical ghost has little weight. The physical ghost exceeds the physical body in density, in the degree that the physical body exceeds the physical ghost in weight. A physical ghost has a weight of one to four ounces.
The process of dying begins by the loosening of the moorings of the physical ghost from the cells, organic centers and nerve centers of the physical body. This usually begins at the feet and works upward. The parts from which the ghost has separated become cold and clammy, and numbness follows. Like a fog or smoke, the astral or form body of the physical curls and rolls itself upward until it reaches the heart. There it gathers itself together into a globular mass. Then there is a pull at the heart, a gulp at the throat, and it puffs itself out in a breath through the mouth. This is the usual course of dying, and the usual exit from the body. But there are other ways and other exits.
Though the astral or form body of the physical is now out of the body, death may not yet have taken place. The globular mass may remain as it is, for sometime over the physical body, or it may take on at once the form of the physical. It may still be connected by the magnetic cord of life with the physical. If its magnetic cord of life is not broken, death has not taken place and the body is not dead.
The magnetic cord of life is made of four coiling strands within three sheaths. If it is seen it appears as a silvery strand or slender coil of smoke between the physical body and the form above it. While this cord is unbroken, the body may be resuscitated. As soon as the cord is severed, death has taken place. It is then impossible for the astral form or physical ghost to reanimate the physical body.
The desire ghost and the thought ghost may separate from the physical ghost and from each other immediately after death, or they may remain with the physical ghost for a considerable time, or the desire ghost may remain with the physical ghost and the thought ghost be separate from both. Whichever remains with or separates from the others, and how much time is required for the separation, depends on what the living man has thought and done during the life of the physical body. Nothing occurs after death which determines these matters.
The after death states and conditions of the physical ghost, and especially of the desire and thought ghosts, have been determined by the activity or sluggishness of the mind and desire, by the application of, or the neglect to apply, the knowledge possessed, and by motives which prompted the thoughts and the actions of the person during physical life.
The mind and desire of the person, if lazy and sluggish and without aim or purpose during physical life, may remain after death in a state of torpor or coma for a considerable period, before separation. If the desire has been forceful and the mind active during life, then, after death, the desire and the thought ghosts will usually not remain long with the physical ghost. The desire and thought ghosts may take the physical ghost with them to some distant place, but that is not usually done. The physical ghost remains with or in the neighborhood of the physical body.
The physical ghost has a period of existence, but, like the physical body, it has an end and must be dissolved and dissipated. It can hold its form only as long as the physical body lasts. Its decay is as fast or as slow as the decay of the physical body. If the physical body is caused to be dissolved by acids or eaten by quicklime, then the physical ghost will disappear, because there is a direct action and reaction between the two, and what affects the physical body will also affect its twin, the physical ghost. The fires of cremation consume the physical ghost when its physical counterpart is burned up. If the physical body is cremated there will be no physical ghost to manifest. Cremation, aside from its sanitary advantages, prevents the physical ghost from being used by its desire ghost—when the mind has fled—to annoy or draw force from living persons.
When the globular mass has arisen from the physical body after death, it may take on one or many forms, but finally it will assume the form of what was its physical counterpart. Wherever the physical body is taken the physical ghost will follow.
When the desire and thought ghosts are separated from it, the physical ghost will not depart from its physical body unless it is magnetically attracted by a person passing near it, or unless magnetically summoned to a particular place by the presence of a person with whom it was concerned during life. The physical ghost may also be called away from its physical body by certain persons called necromancers, and made to appear by necromancy under conditions provided for the occasion.
Another instance of the ghost wandering from its physical body may occur when the body is buried in or near a house which the person had long frequented during life. Then the ghost may wander to certain parts of that house where certain acts were done by the living man, or where habitual acts were performed by him. Then the ghost may be seen visiting those places and going through the acts it had performed in its physical body during life. Such a case may be that of a miser who hoarded his savings, hid them in the garret, in a wall, between floors, or in the cellar, and visited the hoard frequently and there fondled the coins and listened to the tinkle as they fell through his fingers on to the pile. In such performance, the physical ghost in combination with its desire ghost would appear quite different from what it appears like when it appears only as the physical ghost. As such, it is seen merely visiting the place and going through the motions mechanically, automatically, and without the eager glint in the eye or the satisfaction in its looks which it had during such actions in life, when its desire was present and gave animation and the mind lent an appearance of intelligence for the occasion.
It is not difficult to distinguish between the physical ghost of a dead and that of a living man. The physical ghost of a dead man is without animation, and ordinarily moves or drifts about without aim or purpose. With the decay of the physical body, the physical ghost loses cohesion of form. As the physical form continues to decay, the physical ghost clings about it or flits around it like phosphorescence in the moisture of a rotting log which is seen in the dark, and the physical ghost disappears with the body as does the phosphorescence when the log crumbles into dust.
In itself the physical ghost is harmless, because it is only a shadow, an automaton of the body, and is without purpose. But if it is used as an instrument by directing forces it may do much harm. The physical ghost may flow through its physical body and pass through walls and doors like water through a sponge; because, like water, its particles of matter are finer and lie closer together than do the coarse particles of walls or doors or a physical body.
Physical ghosts in various stages—from the newly formed physical ghost of a body recently buried to the faint phosphorescence of remains in decay—may be observed in burial grounds which have been long in use. The physical ghosts which cling to or hover around their bodies, deep in the ground or in large chambers or tombs, cannot be seen by a person who has not clairvoyant vision.
When not underground, or in stone chambers, and under favorable conditions, physical ghosts in burial grounds may be seen by a person with normal vision and who has no clairvoyant sight. Over a grave a ghost may be seen stretched out or in a reclining posture, and gently rising and falling as if borne up on the undulations of a quiet sea. Another ghost, like a shadow statue, may be seen quietly standing beside a tomb, as it was his habit to stand in life while in a dreaming mood; or it will be seated in a listless way, or, with elbow on knee and head on hand, it will appear to gaze as in life it did when in a pensive mood. Or a ghost, with arms folded on the chest or hands clasped behind the back and head inclined, will be seen walking up and down within a certain distance—as was its wont during study or when pondering over a problem. These are some of the many positions in which physical ghosts may be seen when they are above ground and when their physical bodies are not fully decayed. When the physical body is in late stages of decay, and sometimes when well preserved, the physical ghost may be seen close to the ground, or suspended in air as a thin smoke or a heavy fog cloud.
Whether a physical ghost cannot or can be seen, is determined by three factors; namely, the physical body of the ghost, the prevailing magnetic influences, and the psycho-physical organism of the person who sees the ghost.
When the physical body of the ghost is in a suitable condition, and the proper magnetic influences prevail, one who has a normal psycho-physical organism will see the physical ghost of a physical dead body.
Remains of the skin, flesh, blood, fat, and marrow suffice to make a suitable physical condition, even though the physical body may be in advanced decay. The proper magnetic condition is provided when the moon exerts a stronger influence on the physical body than does the earth. Anyone who has normally focussed vision and who is sensitive to terrestrial and lunar influences, is in condition to see physical ghosts. One who can see near and distinct objects distinctly has normally focussed vision. He who is attracted to some places and repelled by others, irrespective of their scenic effects and commercial considerations, and on whom the moon and moonlight makes impressions, favorable or otherwise, is sensitive to terrestrial and lunar influences and can see physical ghosts, if the two other conditions are present.