by Elsa Barker

The following was transmitted through the spiritual mediumship of Elsa Barker.  Via automatic writing, Judge David Patterson Hatch, born November 22, 1846, in Dresden, Maine, death on February 21, 1912, recounts his tales of the other side through a series of letters. Judge Hatch was a respected lawyer and judge, well versed in the philosophies of life who had written several books including Scientific Occultism.

Letter 39

Many times during the months in which I have been here have I seen men and women lying in a state of unconsciousness more profound than the deepest sleep, their faces expressionless and uninteresting. At first, before I understood the nature of their sleep, I tried as an experiment to awaken one or two of them, and was not successful. In certain cases where my curiosity was aroused, I have returned later, day after day, and found them still lying in the same lethargy. (more…)

by Harriette & F. Homer Curtiss

The first Realm above the Physical World, in rate of vibration, we term the Realm of Reflection. Here we find reflected every object which exists in the Physical World, or to be more accurate, the physical object – man, animal, vegetable as well as all so-called inanimate things is the reflection or materialization of its astral duplicate. Here we find the astral pattern of all living things. But everything is seen reversed as in a mirror. For instance a number such as 123 would be seen as 321, etc. This fact caused the editors of Mme. Blavatsky’s manuscript for The Secret Doctrine much labor at first when they tried to verify the quotations made by her from books presented by her Teachers to her astral vision, for she frequently forgot to reverse the number of the page. When the editors learned this, if the quotation was not found on the page indicated, it would invariably be found on the page bearing the reversed number. This feature of the astral alone accounts for many of the mistakes of untrained psychics who are not familiar with this. Day and night are also the reverse of the corresponding periods on earth. Hence it is generally easier for a sensitive to contact the astral at night, although to one who is properly trained it makes little difference.

While the scenery of this Realm is the counterpart of the scenery of earth it is much more, for here there is a luminosity and translucence difficult to describe, which makes familiar objects far more brilliant and beautiful and reveals their true nature far more than does their physical counterpart on earth. While plants, trees, animals and people are all seen here they can also be seen through, just as on earth we can see into and through a glass of water for instance. In the Astral World we can also see all sides at once and not in perspective, and with the glow and colors imparted to everything by the currents of life-force which sweep through them. For the Astral World is a world of four dimensions instead of three. For this reason all attempts to locate the various Realms of this world in space or to limit its phenomena to our three dimensional conceptions, leads to misconception. That which is to manifest on earth descends from the higher Worlds into the Astral World and is embodied on earth. (more…)