. . .e are in no convulsive ecstasy such as diviners use.  Many persons prophesy ‘in enthusiastic and divinely seized moments, awake, in a sense, yet not in their habitual state of consciousness’.  Music of certain kinds, the water of certain holy wells, the vapours of Branchidæ, produce such ecstatic effects.  Some ‘take darkness for an ally’ (dark séances), some see visions in water, others on a wall, others in sun or moon.  As an example of ancient visions in water, we may take one from the life of Isidorus, by Damascius.  Isidorus, and his biographer, were acquainted with women who beheld in pure water in a glass vessel the phantasms of future events. {70a}  This form of divination is still practised, though crystal balls are more commonly used than decanters of water.  Ancient and modern superstition as in the familiar case of Dr. Dee, attributes the phantasms to spiritual agency

Is a divine being compelled,. . . Read More