242. Obsession, as we have said, is one of the worst stumbling-blocks of medianimity, as it is also one of the most frequent; we should therefore do our utmost to combat it, for, besides the personal annoyances to which it may lead, it is an absolute bar to the reception of truthful communications. Obsession being always the result of restraint, and restraint being never exercised by a good spirit, it follows that every communication transmitted by an obsessed medium is vitiated in its origin, and is therefore undeserving of confidence.

243. We may recognise the existence of obsession by the following signs: -

1. The persistence of a spirit in communicating, whether he is wanted or not, by writing, by sounds, by typtology, &c, and his persistence in preventing other spirits from manifesting themselves: -

2. The illusion which, notwithstanding the intelligence of the medium, prevents his seeing the falsity or absurdity of the communications which he receives: -

3. Belief in the absolute identity and infallibility of spirits, who, under respected and venerated names, say false and foolish things: -

4. The medium's confidence in the praises heaped on him by the spirits who communicate through him:

5. A disposition to shun the presence of those who might give him useful advice.

6. Offence taken at criticism of communications received by him:

7. An incessant desire to write, etc., without regard to time and place:

8. Physical constraint over-ruling the medium's will, and forcing him to speak and to act in spite of himself:

9. Persistent noises and other disturbances around the medium, of which he is at once the cause and the object.

244. On considering the dangers of obsession, some persons may be inclined to ask, "Is it not a misfortune to be a medium; for is it not this faculty which renders obsession possible? In a word, is not the possibility of obsession a proof that Spiritism and medianimity are to be regarded rather as dangers to be shunned than as aids to be desired?" Our answer to this query is as follows; and we beg our readers to weigh carefully what we are about to say.

It is neither by mediums nor by Spiritism that spirits have been created; it is spirits who have made both Spiritism and mediums. Spirits being only the souls of men, they have necessarily existed as long as men have existed, and they have, consequently, at all periods, exercised a salutary or pernicious influence on the human race. The medianimic faculty of certain human beings is, for spirits, only a means of manifesting themselves; in the absence of this faculty, they exercise their influence all the same, but on other ways, more or less occult. It would therefore be an error to suppose that spirits only influence us through verbal, written, or other manifestations; their influence upon us is perpetual, and those who do not occupy them-selves with spirits, or who do not even believe in their existence, are exposed to their influence as all others are, and even more than others, because they possess no counterpoise to their action. Medianimity is, for a spirit, a means of making himself known to men, and as, if he is evil, he is sure to betray himself; however hypocritical he may be, we may safely assert that medianimity, so far from bringing us under the power of our enemy, enables us to meet him face to face, if we may so express ourselves, and to fight him with his own weapons. In the absence of medianimity, our enemy acts against us, in the dark; and, under cover of his invisibility, he can do us, and often does, much evil. To how many evil deeds are not men urged, to their sorrow, by evil spirits; deeds which they might have avoided, had they possessed the means of enlightenment as to the nature of the impulsions to which they were yielding! The incredulous know not how truly they speak when they say, of a man who goes obstinately astray: "That man's evil genius is urging him to his ruin." A knowledge of spiritism, then, so far from giving power to bad spirits, must eventually destroy their influence over men, by giving to everyone the means of guarding himself against their suggestions; so that he who falls under their yoke will do so with his eyes open, and will have only himself to blame for his folly.

We may set it down as a general rule that whoever has evil spirit-communications or manifestations, of any kind, is under an evil influence; and this influence would affect him whether he were a medium or not, and whether he believed in Spiritism or whether he did not. Medianimity gives a man the means of assuring himself in regard to the nature of the spirits who act upon him, and of opposing them if they are evil; and he does this the more successfully, in proportion as he understands the motives from which spirits act.

To sum up: the danger is not in Spiritism, since Spiritism enables us, on the contrary, to guard ourselves against a danger to which, without it, we are incessantly exposed, while unaware of its existence. The real danger consists in the propensity of many mediums to believe themselves to be the sole instruments of superior spirits, and in the fascination which blinds them to the absurdity of the statements made through them. But those who are not mediums may incur the same danger, as is shown in the following illustration:  A man has, without knowing it, a secret enemy, who spreads abroad the vilest calumnies against him. He finds his affairs going wrong, his friends forsaking him, and his domestic happiness destroyed; for, being unable to discover the hand which stabs him, he cannot defend himself; and succumbs to his unseen foe. But the latter at length writes him a letter in which, despite his cunning, he betrays his identity and his machinations; and, as he is now discovered, his victim is enabled to confound him, and regains his former position. - Such is the part played by evil spirits, and such is the aid which is given to us by Spiritism in discovering and defeating their attacks.

245. The motives of obsession vary according to the character of the obsessing spirit. It is sometimes a vengeance exercised on someone by whom he may have been wronged during his last earthly life, or in some previous existence; but it is frequently prompted by the mere desire of doing harm. Some spirits, having suffered, like to make others suffer, and take pleasure in tormenting them; others, again, are amused by the impatience they excite, but usually become tired of plaguing those who bear their teasings patiently. There are spirits who persecute men through sheer hatred and jealousy of what is good; for which reason they often select the best people for their attacks. One of these attached himself like a limpet to an excellent family of our acquaintance, whom he had not, however, the satisfaction of deceiving; when questioned as to his motives for attacking worthy people rather than bad ones, like himself; he answered: "Bad people do not make me envious." Other bad spirits are moved by a cowardly desire to take advantage of the moral weakness of persons whom they know to be incapable of resisting them. A spirit of this class, who had subjugated a young man of very limited intelligence, when questioned by us as to his motive for making choice of such a victim, replied: 'I have an itching to torment someone; a reasonable person would drive me away; I stick to this idiot because he has not the active virtue that would enable him to withstand me."

246. There are obsessing spirits who are not malicious, but they are usually puffed up with the pride of superficial knowledge. They have their own ideas, their scientific and social theories, their moral and religious philosophies; and, being desirous to inculcate their opinions, they seek out mediums who are sufficiently credulous to accept them blindfold, and whom they fascinate in order to prevent their discriminating between error and truth. These are the most dangerous of all obsessors, because sophistry is easily employed, and, with its aid, the most ridiculous fancies are made to appear worthy of credit; while such sophists, aware of the influence exerted by great names, make no scruple of assuming or borrowing the very highest that may suit their purpose. They seek to impose on those who listen to them by the employment of pompous and pretentious language, bristling with technical terms, or set off with "charity," "morality," &c; they are careful to give no evil counsels, because to do so would be to betray themselves, and to defeat their object; instead of which they take care that those over whom they hold sway may always be able to uphold them by saying : "You see that they never inculcate anything evil." Nevertheless, morality with such spirits is only a passport; in reality they care nothing about it, their sole aim being to dominate and to impose their ideas, however extravagant, on all whom they can induce to listen to them.

247. Theorising spirits are generally wordy and prolix, and strive to make up for deficient quality by superabundant quantity. Nothing pleases them more than to make their mediums write voluminous books, as crude and hollow as pretentious, but which, happily, do but little mischief; being usually unreadable. Writings such as those now alluded to are, however, to be regretted, for the extravagances and eccentricities with which they usually abound not only shock common sense, but are calculated to do harm both by giving to inquirers a false idea of spiritism, and also by furnishing opponents with a handle for turning it into ridicule.

248. As previously remarked, it often happens that a medium can only communicate with one spirit, who attaches himself to him, and answers for the other spirits evoked by those who make use of him as such. This is not always an obsession; for it may arise from a defect in the flexibility of the medium, or a special affinity between him and the spirit who thus attaches himself to him. There is no obsession, strictly speaking, excepting when a spirit imposes himself on a medium and drives other spirits away by an act of his will, which a good spirit never does. (No 192)