Clairvoyance In Space: Intentional

We have defined this as the capacity to see events or scenes removed

from the seer in space and too far distant for ordinary observation.

The instances of this are so numerous and so various that we shall

find it desirable to attempt a somewhat more detailed classification

of them. It does not much matter what particular arrangement we adopt,

so long as it is comprehensive enough to include all our cases;

perhaps a con enient one will be to group them under the broad

divisions of intentional and unintentional clairvoyance in space, with

an intermediate class that might be described as semi-intentional--a

curious title, but I will explain it later.



As before, I will begin by stating what is possible along this line

for the fully-trained seer, and endeavouring to explain how his

faculty works and under what limitations it acts. After that we shall

find ourselves in a better position to try to understand the manifold

examples of partial and untrained sight. Let us then in the first

place discuss intentional clairvoyance.



It will be obvious from what has previously been said as to the power

of astral vision that any one possessing it in its fulness will be

able to see by its means practically anything in this world that he

wishes to see. The most secret places are open to his gaze, and

intervening obstacles have no existence for him, because of the change

in his point of view; so that if we grant him the power of moving

about in the astral body he can without difficulty go anywhere and see

anything within the limits of the planet. Indeed this is to a large

extent possible to him even without the necessity of moving the astral

body at all, as we shall presently see.



Let us consider a little more closely the methods by which this

super-physical sight may be used to observe events taking place at a

distance. When, for example, a man here in England sees in minutest

detail something which is happening at the same moment in India or

America, how is it done?



A very ingenious hypothesis has been offered to account for the

phenomenon. It has been suggested that every object is perpetually

throwing off radiations in all directions, similar in some respects

to, though infinitely finer than, rays of light, and that clairvoyance

is nothing but the power to see by means of these finer radiations.

Distance would in that case be no bar to the sight, all intervening

objects would be penetrable by these rays, and they would be able to

cross one another to infinity in all directions without entanglement,

precisely as the vibrations of ordinary light do.



Now though this is not exactly the way in which clairvoyance works,

the theory is nevertheless quite true in most of its premises. Every

object undoubtedly is throwing off radiations in all directions, and

it is precisely in this way, though on a higher plane, that the

akashic records seem to be formed. Of them it will be necessary to say

something under our next heading, so we will do no more than mention

them for the moment. The phenomena of psychometry are also dependent

upon these radiations, as will presently be explained.



There are, however, certain practical difficulties in the way of using

these etheric vibrations (for that is, of course, what they are) as

the medium by means of which one may see anything taking place at a

distance. Intervening objects are not entirely transparent, and as the

actors in the scene which the experimenter tried to observe would

probably be at least equally transparent, it is obvious that serious

confusion would be quite likely to result.



The additional dimension which would come into play if astral

radiations were sensed instead of etheric would obviate some of the

difficulties, but would on the other hand introduce some fresh

complications of its own; so that for practical purposes, in

endeavouring to understand clairvoyance, we may dismiss this

hypothesis of radiations from our minds, and turn to the methods of

seeing at a distance which are actually at the disposal of the

student. It will be found that there are five, four of them being

really varieties of clairvoyance, while the fifth does not properly

come under that head at all, but belongs to the domain of magic. Let

us take this last one first, and get it out of our way.



1. By the assistance of a nature-spirit.--This method does not

necessarily involve the possession of any psychic faculty at all on

the part of the experimenter; he need only know how to induce some

denizen of the astral world to undertake the investigation for him.

This may be done either by invocation or by evocation; that is to say,

the operator may either persuade his astral coadjutor by prayers and

offerings to give him the help he desires, or he may compel his aid by

the determined exercise of a highly-developed will.



This method has been largely practised in the East (where the entity

employed is usually a nature-spirit) and in old Atlantis, where "the

lords of the dark face" used a highly-specialized and peculiarly

venomous variety of artificial elemental for this purpose. Information

is sometimes obtained in the same sort of way at the spiritualistic

seance of modern days, but in that case the messenger employed is

more likely to be a recently-deceased human being functioning more or

less freely on the astral plane--though even here also it is sometimes

an obliging nature-spirit, who is amusing himself by posing as

somebody's departed relative. In any case, as I have said, this method

is not clairvoyant at all, but magical; and it is mentioned here only

in order that the reader may not become confused in the endeavour to

classify cases of its use under some of the following headings.



2. By means of an astral current.--This is a phrase frequently and

rather loosely employed in some of our Theosophical literature to

cover a considerable variety of phenomena, and among others that which

I wish to explain. What is really done by the student who adopts this

method is not so much the setting in motion of a current in astral

matter, as the erection of a kind of temporary telephone through it.



It is impossible here to give an exhaustive disquisition on astral

physics, even had I the requisite knowledge to write it; all I need

say is that it is possible to make in astral matter a definite

connecting-line that shall act as a telegraph-wire to convey

vibrations by means of which all that is going on at the other end of

it may be seen. Such a line is established, be it understood, not by a

direct projection through space of astral matter, but by such action

upon a line (or rather many lines) of particles of that matter as

will render them capable of forming a conductor for vibrations of the

character required.



This preliminary action can be set up in two ways--either by the

transmission of energy from particle to particle, until the line is

formed, or by the use of a force from a higher plane which is capable

of acting upon the whole line simultaneously. Of course this latter

method implies far greater development, since it involves the

knowledge of (and the power to use) forces of a considerably higher

level; so that the man who could make his line in this way would not,

for his own use, need a line at all, since he could see far more

easily and completely by means of an altogether higher faculty.



Even the simpler and purely astral operation is a difficult one to

describe, though quite an easy one to perform. It may be said to

partake somewhat of the nature of the magnetization of a bar of steel;

for it consists in what we might call the polarization, by an effort

of the human will, of a number of parallel lines of astral atoms

reaching from the operator to the scene which he wishes to observe.

All the atoms thus affected are held for the time with their axes

rigidly parallel to one another, so that they form a kind of temporary

tube along which the clairvoyant may look. This method has the

disadvantage that the telegraph line is liable to disarrangement or

even destruction by any sufficiently strong astral current which

happens to cross its path; but if the original effort of will were

fairly definite, this would be a contingency of only infrequent

occurrence.



The view of a distant scene obtained by means of this "astral current"

is in many ways not unlike that seen through a telescope. Human

figures usually appear very small, like those on a distant stage, but

in spite of their diminutive size they are as clear as though they

were close by. Sometimes it is possible by this means to hear what is

said as well as to see what is done; but as in the majority of cases

this does not happen, we must consider it rather as the manifestation

of an additional power than as a necessary corollary of the faculty of

sight.



It will be observed that in this case the seer does not usually leave

his physical body at all; there is no sort of projection of his astral

vehicle or of any part of himself towards that at which he is looking,

but he simply manufactures for himself a temporary astral telescope.

Consequently he has, to a certain extent, the use of his physical

powers even while he is examining the distant scene; for example, his

voice would usually still be under his control, so that he could

describe what he saw even while he was in the act of making his

observations. The consciousness of the man is, in fact, distinctly

still at this end of the line.



This fact, however, has its limitations as well as its advantages,

and these again largely resemble the limitations of the man using a

telescope on the physical plane. The experimenter, for example, has no

power to shift this point of view; his telescope, so to speak, has a

particular field of view which cannot be enlarged or altered; he is

looking at his scene from a certain direction, and he cannot suddenly

turn it all round and see how it looks from the other side. If he has

sufficient psychic energy to spare, he may drop altogether the

telescope that he is using and manufacture an entirely new one for

himself which will approach his objective somewhat differently; but

this is not a course at all likely to be adopted in practice.



But, it may be said, the mere fact that he is using astral sight ought

to enable him to see it from all sides at once. So it would if he were

using that sight in the normal way upon an object which was fairly

near him--within his astral reach, as it were; but at a distance of

hundreds or thousands of miles the case is very different. Astral

sight gives us the advantage of an additional dimension, but there is

still such a thing as position in that dimension, and it is naturally

a potent factor in limiting the use of the powers of its plane. Our

ordinary three-dimensional sight enables us to see at once every point

of the interior of a two-dimensional figure, such as a square, but in

order to do that the square must be within a reasonable distance from

our eyes; the mere additional dimension will avail a man in London

but little in his endeavour to examine a square in Calcutta.



Astral sight, when it is cramped by being directed along what is

practically a tube, is limited very much as physical sight would be

under similar circumstances; though if possessed in perfection it will

still continue to show, even at that distance, the auras, and

therefore all the emotions and most of the thoughts of the people

under observation.



There are many people for whom this type of clairvoyance is very much

facilitated if they have at hand some physical object which can be

used as a starting-point for their astral tube--a convenient focus for

their will-power. A ball of crystal is the commonest and most

effectual of such foci, since it has the additional advantage of

possessing within itself qualities which stimulate psychic faculty;

but other objects are also employed, to which we shall find it

necessary to refer more particularly when we come to consider

semi-intentional clairvoyance.



In connection with this astral-current form of clairvoyance, as with

others, we find that there are some psychics who are unable to use it

except when under the influence of mesmerism. The peculiarity in this

case is that among such psychics there are two varieties--one in which

by being thus set free the man is enabled to make a telescope for

himself, and another in which the magnetizer himself makes the

telescope and the subject is simply enabled to see through it. In this

latter case obviously the subject has not enough will to form a tube

for himself, and the operator, though possessed of the necessary

will-power, is not clairvoyant, or he could see through his own tube

without needing help.



Occasionally, though rarely, the tube which is formed possesses

another of the attributes of a telescope--that of magnifying the

objects at which it is directed until they seem of life-size. Of

course the objects must always be magnified to some extent, or they

would be absolutely invisible, but usually the extent is determined by

the size of the astral tube, and the whole thing is simply a tiny

moving picture. In the few cases where the figures are seen as of

life-size by this method, it is probable that an altogether new power

is beginning to dawn; but when this happens, careful observation is

needed in order to distinguish them from examples of our next class.



3. By the projection of a thought-form.--The ability to use this

method of clairvoyance implies a development somewhat more advanced

than the last, since it necessitates a certain amount of control upon

the mental plane. All students of Theosophy are aware that thought

takes form, at any rate upon its own plane, and in the vast majority

of cases upon the astral plane also; but it may not be quite so

generally known that if a man thinks strongly of himself as present

at any given place, the form assumed by that particular thought will

be a likeness of the thinker himself, which will appear at the place

in question.



Essentially this form must be composed of the matter of the mental

plane, but in very many cases it would draw round itself matter of the

astral plane also, and so would approach much nearer to visibility.

There are, in fact, many instances in which it has been seen by the

person thought of--most probably by means of the unconscious mesmeric

influence emanating from the original thinker. None of the

consciousness of the thinker would, however, be included within this

thought-form. When once sent out from him, it would normally be a

quite separate entity--not indeed absolutely unconnected with its

maker, but practically so as far as the possibility of receiving any

impression through it is concerned.



This third type of clairvoyance consists, then, in the power to retain

so much connection with and so much hold over a newly-erected

thought-form as will render it possible to receive impressions by

means of it. Such impressions as were made upon the form would in this

case be transmitted to the thinker--not along an astral telegraph

line, as before, but by sympathetic vibration. In a perfect case of

this kind of clairvoyance it is almost as though the seer projected a

part of his consciousness into the thought-form, and used it as a kind

of outpost, from which observation was possible. He sees almost as

well as he would if he himself stood in the place of his thought-form.



The figures at which he is looking will appear to him as of life-size

and close at hand, instead of tiny and at a distance, as in the

previous case; and he will find it possible to shift his point of view

if he wishes to do so. Clairaudience is perhaps less frequently

associated with this type of clairvoyance than with the last, but its

place is to some extent taken by a kind of mental perception of the

thoughts and intentions of those who are seen.



Since the man's consciousness is still in the physical body, he will

be able (even while exercising the faculty) to hear and to speak, in

so far as he can do this without any distraction of his attention. The

moment that the intentness of his thought fails the whole vision is

gone, and he will have to construct a fresh thought-form before he can

resume it. Instances in which this kind of sight is possessed with any

degree of perfection by untrained people are naturally rarer than in

the case of the previous type, because of the capacity for mental

control required, and the generally finer nature of the forces

employed.



4. By travelling in the astral body.--We enter here upon an entirely

new variety of clairvoyance, in which the consciousness of the seer no

longer remains in or closely connected with his physical body, but is

definitely transferred to the scene which he is examining. Though it

has no doubt greater dangers for the untrained seer than either of the

methods previously described, it is yet quite the most satisfactory

form of clairvoyance open to him, for the immensely superior variety

which we shall consider under our fifth head is not available except

for specially trained students.



In this case the man's body is either asleep or in trance, and its

organs are consequently not available for use while the vision is

going on, so that all description of what is seen, and all questioning

as to further particulars, must be postponed until the wanderer

returns to this plane. On the other hand the sight is much fuller and

more perfect; the man hears as well as sees everything which passes

before him, and can move about freely at will within the very wide

limits of the astral plane. He can see and study at leisure all the

other inhabitants of that plane, so that the great world of the

nature-spirits (of which the traditional fairy-land is but a very

small part) lies open before him, and even that of some of the lower

devas.



He has also the immense advantage of being able to take part, as it

were, in the scenes which come before his eyes--of conversing at will

with these various astral entities, from whom so much information that

is curious and interesting may be obtained. If in addition he can

learn how to materialize himself (a matter of no great difficulty for

him when once the knack is acquired), he will be able to take part in

physical events or conversations at a distance, and to show himself to

an absent friend at will.



Again, he has the additional power of being able to hunt about for

what he wants. By means of the varieties of clairvoyance previously

described, for all practical purposes he could find a person or a

place only when he was already acquainted with it, or when he was put

en rapport with it by touching something physically connected with

it, as in psychometry. It is true that by the third method a certain

amount of motion is possible, but the process is a tedious one except

for quite short distances.



By the use of the astral body, however, a man can move about quite

freely and rapidly in any direction, and can (for example) find

without difficulty any place pointed out upon a map, without either

any previous knowledge of the spot or any object to establish a

connection with it. He can also readily rise high into the air so as

to gain a bird's-eye view of the country which he is examining, so as

to observe its extent, the contour of its coast-line, or its general

character. Indeed, in every way his power and freedom are far greater

when he uses this method than they have been in any of the previous

cases.



A good example of the full possession of this power is given, on the

authority of the German writer Jung Stilling, by Mrs. Crowe in The

Night Side of Nature (p. 127). The story is related of a seer who is

stated to have resided in the neighbourhood of Philadelphia, in

America. His habits were retired, and he spoke little; he was grave,

benevolent and pious, and nothing was known against his character

except that he had the reputation of possessing some secrets that were

considered not altogether lawful. Many extraordinary stories were

told of him, and amongst the rest the following:--



"The wife of a ship captain (whose husband was on a voyage to Europe

and Africa, and from whom she had been long without tidings), being

overwhelmed with anxiety for his safety, was induced to address

herself to this person. Having listened to her story he begged her to

excuse him for a while, when he would bring her the intelligence she

required. He then passed into an inner room and she sat herself down

to wait; but his absence continuing longer than she expected, she

became impatient, thinking he had forgotten her, and softly

approaching the door she peeped through some aperture, and to her

surprise beheld him lying on a sofa as motionless as if he were dead.

She of course did not think it advisable to disturb him, but waited

his return, when he told her that her husband had not been able to

write to her for such and such reasons, but that he was then in a

coffee-house in London and would very shortly be home again.



"Accordingly he arrived, and as the lady learnt from him that the

causes of his unusual silence had been precisely those alleged by the

man, she felt extremely desirous of ascertaining the truth of the rest

of the information. In this she was gratified, for he no sooner set

his eyes on the magician than he said that he had seen him before on a

certain day in a coffee-house in London, and that he told him that his

wife was extremely uneasy about him, and that he, the captain, had

thereon mentioned how he had been prevented writing, adding that he

was on the eve of embarking for America. He had then lost sight of the

stranger amongst the throng, and knew nothing more about him."



We have of course no means now of knowing what evidence Jung Stilling

had of the truth of this story, though he declares himself to have

been quite satisfied with the authority on which he relates it; but so

many similar things have happened that there is no reason to doubt its

accuracy. The seer, however, must either have developed his faculty

for himself or learnt it in some school other than that from which

most of our Theosophical information is derived; for in our case there

is a well-understood regulation expressly forbidding the pupils from

giving any manifestation of such power which can be definitely proved

at both ends in that way, and so constitute what is called "a

phenomenon." That this regulation is emphatically a wise one is

proved to all who know anything of the history of our Society by the

disastrous results which followed from a very slight temporary

relaxation of it.



I have given some quite modern cases almost exactly parallel to the

above in my little book on Invisible Helpers. An instance of a lady

well-known to myself, who frequently thus appears to friends at a

distance, is given by Mr. Stead in Real Ghost Stories (p. 27); and

Mr. Andrew Lang gives, in his Dreams and Ghosts (p. 89), an account

of how Mr. Cleave, then at Portsmouth, appeared intentionally on two

occasions to a young lady in London, and alarmed her considerably.

There is any amount of evidence to be had on the subject by any one

who cares to study it seriously.



This paying of intentional astral visits seems very often to become

possible when the principles are loosened at the approach of death for

people who were unable to perform such a feat at any other time. There

are even more examples of this class than of the other; I epitomize a

good one given by Mr. Andrew Lang on p. 100 of the book last

cited--one of which he himself says, "Not many stories have such good

evidence in their favour."



"Mary, the wife of John Goffe of Rochester, being afflicted with a

long illness, removed to her father's house at West Malling, about

nine miles from her own.



"The day before her death she grew very impatiently desirous to see

her two children, whom she had left at home to the care of a nurse.

She was too ill to be moved, and between one and two o'clock in the

morning she fell into a trance. One widow Turner, who watched with her

that night, says that her eyes were open and fixed, and her jaw

fallen. Mrs. Turner put her hand upon her mouth, but could perceive no

breath. She thought her to be in a fit, and doubted whether she were

dead or alive.



"The next morning the dying woman told her mother that she had been at

home with her children, saying, I was with them last night when I was

asleep.'



"The nurse at Rochester, widow Alexander by name, affirms that a

little before two o'clock that morning she saw the likeness of the

said Mary Goffe come out of the next chamber (where the elder child

lay in a bed by itself), the door being left open, and stood by her

bedside for about a quarter of an hour; the younger child was there

lying by her. Her eyes moved and her mouth went, but she said nothing.

The nurse, moreover, says that she was perfectly awake; it was then

daylight, being one of the longest days in the year. She sat up in bed

and looked steadfastly on the apparition. In that time she heard the

bridge clock strike two, and a while after said: 'In the name of the

Father, Son and Holy Ghost, what art thou?' Thereupon the apparition

removed and went away; she slipped on her clothes and followed, but

what became on't, she cannot tell."



The nurse apparently was more frightened by its disappearance than its

presence, for after this she was afraid to stay in the house, and so

spent the rest of the time until six o'clock in walking up and down

outside. When the neighbours were awake she told her tale to them, and

they of course said she had dreamt it all; she naturally enough warmly

repudiated that idea, but could obtain no credence until the news of

the other side of the story arrived from West Malling, when people had

to admit that there might have been something in it.



A noteworthy circumstance in this story is that the mother found it

necessary to pass from ordinary sleep into the profounder trance

condition before she could consciously visit her children; it can,

however, be paralleled here and there among the large number of

similar accounts which may be found in the literature of the subject.



Two other stories of precisely the same type--in which a dying mother,

earnestly desiring to see her children, falls into a deep sleep,

visits them and returns to say that she has done so--are given by Dr.

F. G. Lee. In one of them the mother, when dying in Egypt, appears to

her children at Torquay, and is clearly seen in broad daylight by all

five of the children and also by the nursemaid. (Glimpses of the

Supernatural, vol. ii., p. 64.) In the other a Quaker lady dying at

Cockermouth is clearly seen and recognized in daylight by her three

children at Settle, the remainder of the story being practically

identical with the one given above. (Glimpses in the Twilight, p.

94.) Though these cases appear to be less widely known than that of

Mary Goffe, the evidence of their authenticity seems to be quite as

good, as will be seen by the attestations obtained by the reverend

author of the works from which they are quoted.



The man who fully possesses this fourth type of clairvoyance has many

and great advantages at his disposal, even in addition to those already

mentioned. Not only can he visit without trouble or expense all the

beautiful and famous places of the earth, but if he happens to be a

scholar, think what it must mean to him that he has access to all the

libraries of the world! What must it be for the scientifically-minded

man to see taking place before his eyes so many of the processes of the

secret chemistry of nature, or for the philosopher to have revealed to

him so much more than ever before of the working of the great mysteries

of life and death? To him those who are gone from this plane are dead no

longer, but living and within reach for a long time to come; for him

many of the conceptions of religion are no longer matters of faith, but

of knowledge. Above all, he can join the army of invisible helpers, and

really be of use on a large scale. Undoubtedly clairvoyance, even when

confined to the astral plane, is a great boon to the student.



Certainly it has its dangers also, especially for the untrained;

danger from evil entities of various kinds, which may terrify or

injure those who allow themselves to lose the courage to face them

boldly; danger of deception of all sorts, of misconceiving and

mis-interpreting what is seen; greatest of all, the danger of becoming

conceited about the thing and of thinking it impossible to make a

mistake. But a little common-sense and a little experience should

easily guard a man against these.



5. By travelling in the mental body.--This is simply a higher and,

as it were, glorified form of the last type. The vehicle employed is

no longer the astral body, but the mind-body--a vehicle, therefore,

belonging to the mental plane, and having within it all the

potentialities of the wonderful sense of that plane, so transcendent

in its action yet so impossible to describe. A man functioning in this

leaves his astral body behind him along with the physical, and if he

wishes to show himself upon the astral plane for any reason, he does

not send for his own astral vehicle, but just by a single action of

his will materializes one for his temporary need. Such an astral

materialization is sometimes called the mayavirupa, and to form it

for the first time usually needs the assistance of a qualified Master.



The enormous advantages given by the possession of this power are the

capacity of entering upon all the glory and the beauty of the higher

land of bliss, and the possession, even when working on the astral

plane, of the far more comprehensive mental sense which opens up to

the student such marvellous vistas of knowledge, and practically

renders error all but impossible. This higher flight, however, is

possible for the trained man only, since only under definite training

can a man at this stage of evolution learn to employ his mental body

as a vehicle.



Before leaving the subject of full and intentional clairvoyance, it

may be well to devote a few words to answering one or two questions as

to its limitations, which constantly occur to students. Is it

possible, we are often asked, for the seer to find any person with

whom he wishes to communicate, anywhere in the world, whether he be

living or dead?



To this reply must be a conditional affirmative. Yes, it is possible

to find any person if the experimenter can, in some way or other, put

himself en rapport with that person. It would be hopeless to plunge

vaguely into space to find a total stranger among all the millions

around us without any kind of clue; but, on the other hand, a very

slight clue would usually be sufficient.



If the clairvoyant knows anything of the man whom he seeks, he will

have no difficulty in finding him, for every man has what may be

called a kind of musical chord of his own--a chord which is the

expression of him as a whole, produced perhaps by a sort of average of

the rates of vibration of all his different vehicles on their

respective planes. If the operator knows how to discern that chord and

to strike it, it will by sympathetic vibration attract the attention

of the man instantly wherever he may be, and will evoke an immediate

response from him.



Whether the man were living or recently dead would make no difference

at all, and clairvoyance of the fifth class could at once find him

even among the countless millions in the heaven-world, though in that

case the man himself would be unconscious that he was under

observation. Naturally a seer whose consciousness did not range higher

than the astral plane--who employed therefore one of the earlier

methods of seeing--would not be able to find a person upon the mental

plane at all; yet even he would at least be able to tell that the man

sought for was upon that plane, from the mere fact that the striking

of the chord as far up as the astral level produced no response.



If the man sought be a stranger to the seeker, the latter will need

something connected with him to act as a clue--a photograph, a letter

written by him, an article which has belonged to him, and is

impregnated with his personal magnetism; any of these would do in the

hands of a practised seer.



Again I say, it must not therefore be supposed that pupils who have

been taught how to use this art are at liberty to set up a kind of

intelligence office through which communication can be had with

missing or dead relatives. A message given from this side to such an

one might or might not be handed on, according to circumstances, but

even if it were, no reply might be brought, lest the transaction

should partake of the nature of a phenomenon--something which could be

proved on the physical plane to have been an act of magic.



Another question often raised is as to whether, in the action of

psychic vision, there is any limitation as to distance. The reply

would seem to be that there should be no limit but that of the

respective planes. It must be remembered that the astral and mental

planes of our earth are as definitely its own as its atmosphere,

though they extend considerably further from it even in our

three-dimensional space than does the physical air. Consequently the

passage to, or the detailed sight of, other planets would not be

possible for any system of clairvoyance connected with these planes.

It is quite possible and easy for the man who can raise his

consciousness to the buddhic plane to pass to any other globe

belonging to our chain of worlds, but that is outside our present

subject.



Still a good deal of additional information about other planets can be

obtained by the use of such clairvoyant faculties as we have been

describing. It is possible to make sight enormously clearer by passing

outside of the constant disturbances of the earth's atmosphere, and it

is also not difficult to learn how to put on an exceedingly high

magnifying power, so that even by ordinary clairvoyance a good deal of

very interesting astronomical knowledge may be gained. But as far as

this earth and its immediate surroundings are concerned, there is

practically no limitation.