PNEUMATOLOGY I15 



time, and the consciousness of the inner man be rendered 

 more active, and which will therefore enable us to see 

 the things on the astral plane. But such poisons are 

 destructive of reason and very injurious to the health. 

 In fevers, deliriums, &c., such things may also be seen. 

 Some of them are the creations of the mind of the 

 patient; others may have been created by the morbid 

 imagination of another person, as described above.^ 



But if such entities are invisible under normal con- 

 ditions to a human being, they will be well enough 

 perceived by a human Elementary consciously existing 

 on their plane, and, what is still more, depraved human 

 characters after death take themselves the forms of 

 animals and monsters, whom they were brought to 

 resemble by their own evil thoughts. Form is nothing 

 but an appearance representing a character, and the 

 character shapes the form. If the character of a person 

 is thoroughly evil, it will cause the astral form to assume 

 a hideous form. Therefore the souls of the depraved 

 appear in animal shapes.^ 



Pure spirit has no form : it is formless, like the 

 sunshine. But as the sunshine causes the elements 

 of matter to grow into plants, soul - substances are 



1 Experiments that have been made in London, with the inhalation of 

 various ethers, chloroform, nitrous oxide gas, and hydrocarbonates, have 

 had the effect of producing such "hallucinations." Before these gases 

 were known, fumigations of poisonous substances were used for such 

 purposes. The receipts for the materials used for such fumigations were 

 kept very secret, on account of the abuse that might have been made 

 of such a knowledge, and in consequence of which a person may be 

 even made insane. One of the most effective fumigations for the purpose 

 of causing apparitions were, according to Eckartshausen, made of the 

 following substances : — Hemlock, Henbane, Saffron, Aloe, Opium, Man- 

 drake, Solanum, Poppy-seed, Asafoetida, and Parsley. The fumigations 

 to drive away evil spirits were made of Sulphur, Asafoetida, Castoreum, 

 and more especially of Hypericum and Vinegar. Carbolic Acid was not 

 known at that time. 



"^ This is confirmed by Swedenborg in bis description of *' Hell," and 

 also by Jacob Boehme. The animal soul of the departed takes the 

 form and shape of that animal whose character predominated in his 

 constitution. 



