Occult test FINAL

Franz Anton Mesmer's work & the influence of Enlightenment Science

electricity has positive and negative poles

mesmerism was an attempt to exploit scientific achieve and derivation of occult science

links movement of human fluids with moon's position in the heavens

brings in work of Isaac Newton

in what ways does Mesmer's work carry on previous traditions in the occult sciences?

Animal Magnetism - presence of subtle fluid

Mesmer's Doctoral Dissertation - invokes music to explain the influence of the stars and planets on the human body

Sympathetic Resonance - harmony between astral & human plane, Macrocosm/Microcosm - harmony between the body & the universe: a harmony necessary for health

how did Mesmer explain the operation of the "magnetic fluid" on a patient?

where liquid would solidify is where the illness was, magnets would redirect fluid out of the body to restore health

magnetic fluid was a subtle physical fluid that connects man to the stars & planets, disequilibrium of the fluid resulted in disease

magnetic fluid had the characteristics of electricity

how and why did Mesmer employ actual magnets in the therapy?

patients ingested liquid iron then he put magnets on their body in order to produce an artificial tide in their body that would redirect this fluid

the "crisis" in Mesmeric medicine

the peak of the disease, after this, one begins to get better

Mesmeric bacquet & how it's supposed to operate

bent iron rods (bent at 90 degrees) and ropes attached to a jar, 1 big leyden jar (capacitor that collects electricity), it would circulate the uneven fluid in the body, like electricity, patients would touch the rods on their problematic areas and produce an electrical circuit, Mesmer would move fluid with his hands to induce crisis, which would reduce the amount of fluid, He thought the subtle fluid that kept people healthy & connected them to everything was like electricity, when one got sick, there was an imbalance & the patient needed to get rid of the extra fluid in order to return to the equillibrium

the Secret Society for Universal Harmony & the founder

Nicolas Bergasse & Guillaume Kornmaum, society where physicians & important figures taught about mesmerism

what aspect of the Secret Society of Universal Harmony contributed to the discrediting of Mesmerism in France?

French royalty viewed the society as a political threat & created a committee of prominent scientists to discredit it, society concluded that magnetic fluid was not real, the King commissioned a regime to investigate it, Mesmer was forced to flee Paris

How did the Marquis de Puysegur modify Mesmerism & what were results of these modifications?

used a tree instead of a baque, deemphasized violent crisis, emphasized clairvoyance, emphasized artificial somnambulism, deemphasized magnetic fluid, emphasized the will of the operator & belief in their success of patient over magnetic passes

Artificial Somnambulism (Puysegur)

artificial sleepwalking, when a patient is magnetized/hypnotized by a Mesmerist, Victor Race was a peasant that could speak fluent French when in AS

Clairvoyance (clear-sightedness) - Puysegur

psychic ability, able to see future, stomach-seeing, enacted when the person is in artificial somnambulism

what agencies in the human mind did Puysegar attribute the effects of artificial somnambulism?

emphasizes power of will of operator and power of belief that operator can do what they are supposed to do, Solar Plexus

did Puysegar reject animal magnetism?

no, he deemphasized it towards modern hypnosis

"stomach-hearing" of the artificial somnambulism

6th sense (hypochondria) - person puts hands on stomach of patient and talks into other hand, can see the illness, people in a state of AS can see even when covered eyes (through projections)

Romantic Movement & its contributions to the "occult" side of Mesmerism

nature if alive and sentience, FWJ Schelling (Philosophy of Nature) - nature is the alive and aware, bring back the idea that the natural world was 1 harmonious whole, Puysegur influenced romantic literature, rejection of Enlightenment rationalism

Seeress of Prevorst & Justinus Kerner

Seeress of Prevorst - Friedrick Haufle, a woman who developed a chronic fever and was able to speak fluent German, make prophecies, stomach sight, telekensis treated by Justinus Kerner

how did Seeress of Prevorst & Justin Kerner foreshadow Spiritualism?

began to predict future & believed had contact to the dead

Fox Sisters & "spirit rapping"

Kate & Margaret Fox began hearing noises in their home, Spirit Rapping - believed spirits answered their questions by tapping

rapping sound made by spirits (knocks in response to questions)

Isaac Post's explanation for the phenomenon of spirit rapping

human and spirit magnetism, many spirits looking out for their living descendants

why did the notion of spirit-rapping hold so much interest for mid-19th century Americans?

provided evidence of life after death, provided access to 'divine knowledge'

Seances

when a medium attempts to contact a spirit (dark rooms)

Mediums

a person who was able to contact the spirits

Table-Tilting

supposed physical effects of the spirits during seance, how spirits communicated

Full Form Materializations

physical appearance of the spirit, another way spirits would communicate

Ectoplasm

milky fluid that would omit from medium during seance, what ghosts were made out of

Alphonse Louis Constant & his background before his involvement in the occult

Eliphas Levi, Before involved in occult he attended a Catholic school to become a priest, fell in love with Flora Tristan & dropped out of the priesthood, becomes a radical socialist under her influence, wrote "The Dogma and Ritual of High Magic"

Daniel Dunglas Home & how he was different from ordinary mediums

famous medium, master of self-promotion, different because he performed in light, could hold hot coals, levitate, mysterious notes could be heard in various parts of the room when he was present

British Society for Psychical Research - when/why was it founded

1882, researching into the phenomena of spiritualism, wanted to prove life after death (Henry Sidgwick)

Baron Rayleigh & JJ Thomson

Rayleigh - discovered Argon, Thomson - discovered electron & won Nobel Prize, neither wholehearted followers of spiritualism

Sir William Crookes & his scientific activities

famous for the "crookes tube", famous for his work involved with electrical discharges in low pressure atmosphere (like a fluorescent light bulb), famous for a series of psychic interrogations with Florence Cook

Florence Cook & Katie King & affiliation with Crookes

Florence Cook - a specialist in full-form normalization ("spirit control") -medium who worked with Crookes & claimed to produced a full materialized version of Katie King -Supposedly able to capture photos of the spirit, Katie King - the spirit's name, Crookes worked with her to see if she was legit - he used photos & movement detectors (galvanometer), Crookes found Katie to be legit, but years later she was found to be a fraud, Crookes was infatuated with Cook, she tricked the galvanometer

examples of Crooke's "foolproof" techniques for discovering fraudulent mediums & how it could have been circumvented

Crookes hooked Cook up to electrical circuits that would detect if she had gotten up from her chair, Crookes' assistant may have helped Cook escape and dress up as Katie King, Cook used a resistor/galvanometer to change the flow of the electrical current, mediums circumvented them by working with assistants who would put a resistor in the circuit

scientific discoveries of the late 19th century that may have contributed to an educated belief in mediumistic phenomena

electron (JJ Thomson) - used electron to legitimize the existence of animal magnetism, cathode-ray tubes (Wilhelm Roentgen) - transmits a ray that causes metallic compounds to fluoresce and cast a shadow, x-ray (crookes tube) - medium transmitted through like air is medium of words, radioactivity (Henri Becquerel) - challenged the view of physics that separate a material and the physical world, connecting these scientific discoveries to spiritualism made the spiritual realm seem more plausible

how did Crookes account for the supposed reality of telepathy after the discoveres of Roentgen

caused by x-rays & received by a receiving ganglion, telepathy might work by using x-rays to transport ideas just as sound waves are moved through air (same mediums)

was spiritualism a celebration of traditional ideas draw from religion and the occult sciences, or an attempt to replace these traditions with a new scientifically proven creed

replace traditions with new scientifically-proven creed

Sir Bulwer-Lytton & his importance to Eliphas Levi

romantic author that wrote Zanomi which described magical rituals, Eliphas Levi believed Lytton's instructions to do magical prayer worked, believed he had hypnotized himself and saw visions

2 major contributions that Eliphas Levi made to the occult sciences

Tarot Cards - claiming that they represent wisdom of ancient Hebrews, "Magnum Opus" - the quest for the philosopher's stone, he was 1st to magnetize himself, awakening his lucidity/lucid dreaming which is "the perfection of magical art"

Levi's "plastic mediator" or "Diaphane" and its relation to Mesmerism

Mesmer's magnetic fluid, Magnetic fluid is responsible for the transmission of platonic forms & modifying physical matter, at the same time some relfection of them remains in his plastic mediator and you can channel these forms, Diaphane - imaginative faculty in the imaginative mind that awakens when you are asleep & is the receptor of the plastic mediator

how does Levi explain the alchemical aphorism Solve et Coagula?

concentration & distribution of magnetic fluid within the body to be successful, solve = dissolve & coagula = coagulate, the figure shows stages in the production of the philosopher's stone with alchemical symbols, used to represent stages of emanations from God to the physical world

William Wynn Westcott & MacGregor Mathers & Fraulein Sprengel

Westcott - founded the Golden Dawn, was part of the theosophical society & the free masons, Sprengel - the person who sent Westcott letters telling him to create the Golden Dawn, Mathers - interested in magical research, practiced Magus

meaning of Demon est Deus Inversus & whose motto was it

demon is the inverse of God, dual sides to God - good and bad, WB Yeats' motto

primary motive of WB Yeats for involving himself in magical ceremony

influenced by the Irish Renaissance, association between magic & the power of the world to entrance, a link between visionary trance & creative trance, thought poetry & magic were the same

Irish Renaissance & how it related to Yeats' interest in magic

a rebirth of Irish literature, connected the poetry of stories to magic, Yeats claimed to be able to communicate with evil spirits