My Library

analogous avenue. "I close my eyes and concentrate on the person," she wrote; "I seem to project my consciousness forward and in a few minutes I see the friend. It is as if I were looking through the reverse end of a telescope, something similar to Miss Okeden's 'tunnel'. At other times I seem to be actually in the room with the friend, and I can see all details of furniture, etc." She observed that, when uncertain of the direction in which she had to look for any friend, she stood in the middle of the room and stretched out her arms, turning slowly round. After a few minutes her hands appeared to become fixed in one particular direction which she thus knew was the direction in which to look for her friend. A procedure which recalls the attitude of a water-diviner needing directional assistance. Mr. Vincent Turvey, whose work will be considered later, says: "In plain long-distance clairvoyance I appear to see through a tunnel which is cut through all intervening physical objects, such as towns, forests and mountains." Two other of Mr. Shirley's correspondents find projection an equally easy business. "Nearly fifteen years ago," writes one of them, "I discovered that it was possible to visit people at a distance while sitting quietly in an arm-chair, or lying perfectly conscious on a sofa. My journey is accomplished with the greatest of ease—I am simply there when I shut my eyes. The visit is always preceded by an uncontrollable desire to be near and touch the object of my visit." Another claimed to have done this astral travelling many times, generally in the daytime, and added: "I never concentrate. I allow silence to enwrap me and then 'sense' the house, room and person that I am asked to see. Often a mist seems to close round all but the individual I am looking for."