Read Ebook: Louis Spohr's Autobiography Translated from the German by Spohr Louis

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Begin your practice by establishing a Psychic Harmony, or Rapport, between yourself and your Transmitter by means of Rhythmic Breathing. Although this feature of the work has been overlooked by many investigators of the subject, still it is a very important feature of the work, and one that is conducive to the production of the very best results along these lines of psychic demonstrations.

The term "Rapport" is one frequently met with in occult and psychic books. The word is defined by Webster as "Relation; conformity; correspondence; sympathetic accord." It is used by occultists in the sense of: "having harmonious vibrations with another," the occult teachings being that every person has his or her own rate of mental vibration which, when in harmonious accord with the vibrations of another, induces the most favorable conditions for the production of mental or psychic phenomena, or mental relations; sympathetic understanding, etc. This "harmonious vibration" does not necessarily mean that the two persons must be attuned to precisely the same key, but that their keynotes must harmonize, instead of producing discord. The comparison of the notes of the musical scale will illustrate the principle thoroughly. When two persons are in "rapport" with each other, there is a mental and psychic harmony between them, which is productive of the best possible mental co-operative work. Hence the necessity of good rapport conditions in Mind Reading.

Begin all your practicing with this Rapport Breathing, and start each demonstration with it, also. You will find that it will have a very soothing, calming, quieting effect upon both persons, and will produce in each a mental earnestness and concentration that will help along the demonstration of Mind Reading.

We shall not mention this Rhythmic Breathing or Rapport Condition when we proceed to give you the detailed direction, for the demonstration, but you must remember that it should be observed in each case. Of course, you will be able to get results without it--but not so easily, or so thoroughly and satisfying.

It is well to conclude your practice by taking a few deep breaths by yourself, and not in unison with the Transmitter. This destroys the Rapport Condition.

GENERAL DIRECTIONS.

Keep your eyes closed, even though you be blindfolded, for by so doing you induce a Passive state of mind, and even the stray glimpses that you may catch through the handkerchief will serve only to distract you. You must shut out sights, and even thought of sights.

You will soon begin to notice that there is quite a difference in the power of Concentration on the part of different people acting as the Transmitter. Some will be able to Concentrate so forcibly that they will send you the message clear and sharp, while others will send only a feeble and wavering message. The more Concentration the Transmitter has the stronger will be the message. It will be very advisable for you to experiment with a number of persons acting as the Transmitter, so that you may become familiar with the different degrees of Concentration, personal characteristics of people in Transmitting, etc. This will aid you when you begin your parlor performances.

Practice this exercise and experiment, in different rooms, and with different Transmitters, until you can go readily to the selected corner. Do not be discouraged, but remember that "practice makes perfect," and that like any other thing the art must be learned by patient practice and repetition. It is like learning to play the violin--skating--dancing, or anything else. If after a number of trials you begin to feel tired, stop practicing and adjourn the experiments until the next day. Do not unduly strain yourself, or tire out your mind. When the next day comes you will be surprised at the added proficiency you have gained.

You may vary the above method by holding the Transmitter's hand out at arm's length, instead of holding it up to your head. Some find one plan more effective, and others prefer the second. The principle is the same in both cases, so adopt either plan, or any variation thereof, providing it proves effective.

After you have grown proficient in locating the corners of rooms, you may have the Transmitter select other parts of the room, such as doors, mantels, windows, alcoves, projections, etc. Try a number of these selected locations in turn, gaining a variety of experiences which will prove valuable later on. In all of these experiments the Transmitter must guard you from running into obstacles, furniture, etc., by telling you to avoid them, guiding you past them, and in other proper ways prevent you from bruising yourself or breaking or upsetting things. You must impress this upon his mind, and then you should give yourself into his care with the utmost confidence, giving yourself no further concern about these things, and keeping your mind as passive as possible. Don't allow your mind to be distracted by outside things--attend to the matter of the experiment in which you are engaged.

The next step should be the selecting and finding of large objects in the room, such as chairs, tables, etc. Proceed as in the previous exercises. Do not neglect this exercise in your desire to do more wonderful things, for you need just this training. You will realize the importance of these exercises after you begin to appear before friends and evening companies, etc., when you will be called upon to find hidden objects, selected articles secreted under tables, on persons, on furniture, etc. If you can find selected chairs you will be able to more readily find persons seated on chairs. Continue this exercise until you can readily find any and every piece of furniture in a room, and the other large objects in a room as well, when they are thought of by the Transmitter.

After mastering the above exercise have the Transmitter select some small articles, such as a book, vase, ornament, etc., on a table, mantel-piece, etc. Proceed as before, varying the objects and places, endeavoring to get as wide a range of experiences as possible along the line of Mind Reading of this kind.

After you have mastered the last mentioned exercise, have the Transmitter select a small object, such as a watch-key, match-safe, etc., and secrete it in some part of the room, you remaining out of the room until the article is selected and hidden. Proceed as before, until you find the secreted object. Your Transmitter should endeavor to give you a great variety in this exercise, in order to properly train you for the public demonstrations before companies, etc. Have him place a key in a book, under a rug, back of a picture, and in similar difficult places. Let him exercise his ingenuity in finding strange places in which to hide the object. In the experiments in finding the hidden objects he must train himself to give you the mental messages "up"; "down"; "to the right"; "to the left," etc., just as he did his old message or impulse "this way." And you must train yourself to receive them. This training will be of the greatest possible benefit to you when you are called upon later to find objects hidden in people's pockets, etc.

GENERAL REMARKS ON PRACTICE.

The above exercises will train the student to receive and act upon the mental commands or messages of the Transmitter, under a great variety of circumstances and conditions. Many of the most successful public "Mind Readers" started out in public work with far less careful and thorough training. But there are now still greater degrees of proficiency possible. The student will find in succeeding chapters a number of interesting and startling feats and experiments which are intended for parlor audiences, etc., but which may be most profitably practiced previously with the aid of a good friendly Transmitter, in order that the Performer may familiarize himself with the details of the experiment, and thus be more at his ease when he demonstrates it in public. Then other new experiments and feats will suggest themselves from time to time, to the intelligent student which, likewise, should be practiced previous to a public demonstration.

In finding a hidden object, the first thing to do is to get an idea of the direction. Then the general location of the hiding place; and so on, from general impressions to detailed ones, until at last the fingers close upon the object itself. The Transmitter will be greatly relieved when the object is finally found, and the relaxing of his mental tension may be distinctly felt, and then you will know that your search is at an end.

PREPARING FOR PUBLIC WORK.

Before taking you on with the work before an audience, we must urge upon you to prepare yourself thoroughly by means of the above mentioned exercises. The great tendency among students is to hurry through to the public work, and skipping the exercises as much as possible. This is all wrong. You will never be a thoroughly good demonstrator of anything in life, until you master the rudiments, and by practice familiarize yourself thoroughly with the details of the work. And Mind Reading is no exception. It is true that after a few exercises you may be able to give a fair demonstration before an audience, but you will never get further than "fair" without careful practice. And therefore we urge you to have patience and perseverance, and to stick to the exercise until you become a Master of Mind Reading, when you need fear no audience whatsoever, and will be able to give a demonstration that will be a great credit to both yourself and to us, your instructors.

And, now for your work before an audience, remembering, always that the feats and experiments that we shall mention, should be practiced by you privately, with the aid of a friendly Transmitter, before you reproduce them in public. In the case of feats, in which the audience is a party to the experiment, such as the finding of a scarf-pin on a member of the audience, you may practice with a dummy audience, that is with an imaginary audience consisting of chairs, etc., until you familiarize yourself with the details of the feat.

SIMPLE DEMONSTRATIONS.

In beginning a public demonstration, it will be well for you to give a short preliminary talk to the audience, somewhat along the following lines:

OPENING TALK.

CHOOSING THE TRANSMITTER.

Then have the audience select a committee to blindfold you and remain outside of the room with you, while the remainder of the audience select the object that you are to find, etc. When you return to the room, select someone to act as Transmitter. If possible get someone with whom you have previously practiced, and established rapport conditions. This will aid you very materially, of course. If this is not possible, select someone of the audience that is in harmony with you, and who will have a strong enough will to give you the vibrations. Sometimes women are very good at this work, as they get very much in earnest when interested, and therefore Will intently. If your first Transmitter is not satisfactory, test another, and so on until you get a good one. You may change Transmitters during the evening, if you prefer; in fact this is a good plan, if you are an adept, for it shows the audience that there is no collusion.

INSTRUCTING THE TRANSMITTER.

BEGINNING THE TEST.

And now for the demonstrations themselves. You should begin with the simplest feats, and then work up gradually to the more complicated and difficult ones. This plan will build up your own powers, and will develop the Transmitter's. We herewith give a number of interesting feats and demonstrations, explaining the details of each. Of course, the general directions we have given regarding the receiving of impressions, etc., will apply to all of these feats, for the principle underlying them all is the same, precisely.

FINDING A LOCATION.

FINDING A PERSON.

FINDING A SMALL OBJECT.

FINDING A BOOK.

THE FLORAL TRIBUTE.

THE REUNITED COUPLE.

THE HIDDEN JEWELRY.

THE DISCOVERED COURSE.

REPLACING THE PIN.

THE THEFT DETECTED.

THE RECONSTRUCTED TABLEAU.

THE MURDER AND THE DETECTIVE.

You will notice that the feat is merely an elaborate combination of the simpler feats of "Finding the Person," "Finding the Object," etc.

THE RETURNED HATS.

DEMONSTRATION

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