The emigrant aid journal of Minnesota. [volume] (Nininger City, Minn. Terr. [i.e. Minn.]) 1856-1858, 1858-03-03

No Spiritualist of America is a frmer believer in tn.
agency Of disemboaied spirits, or in oar power of co"
municat;ng with them, than are the Chinese. They
have mediums. circles, table. turnings, AMI spirit writ.
:ngs, and 90 through all these processes with as much
gravity, sincerity, and pecuniary profit, as do any
modern American nccromancers The common mode
If practising the art, we learn from the Rev. Mr.. Cul
bertson, of the Presbyterian mission at Shanghai. in his
book entitled, Darkness in the Fl"wery Land is that
n which the spirit takes possession If the body of the
necromancer. and utters through his or her organs the
desired response. In this case the performer is wrought
upon by incantations, until thrown into a kind of frenzy,
or into something like the mesmeric sleep, and while
ihus in a state of insensibility, his utterances are re-
garded as infallible. The inquiry may relate to the
issue of a disease, or the means by which it may be
healed. Perhaps the inquirer wishes to know where
certain lost or stolen property is to be found or It may
be, seeks some general Information as to his future pros,
poets, or as to the best means Of speedily making his
fortune. In other cases it is desired to obtain some IN
formation as to the condition, or wishes, of q deceased
relative.
The operation Of spiritual writing is performed in this
way A table is ~spriukled with some kind of powder,
or -four, or bran, or dust; then a small basket, without
4 handle, is armed with a pencil or %chopstick, which Is
tied to its edge, or thrust through its interstices. The
basket is then turned upside down, its edges resting
upon the tips of one or two fingers Of two persons
Standing on opposite sides Of the table, and in such .
manner that the pancil tonchhee the powdAGredl surface
Ia u short time the pencil moves, leadiug alter II the
basket, and the fingers on which 1t rests, and tracing
upon the dusty table lines and figures in which q good
Iinguist easily recognizes the characters # tue Chinese
language. In this way information is 6 'mmunicatea on
-ubjects Of which the operators have no knowledge
sometimes, Indeed, . ghost thu invoked, may be unable
Chinese, or may be unwilling to exercise ito
powers and then nothing can be discovered but un-
meaning lines and angles. But ip general the eom.
position is good, and tie Information valuable,
Had these facts been first made kR,wn twenty wears
ago, they would have been charged to the influence Of
heathenism, which, in the lack Of the true object aud
mode Of worship, lays men op n to the iuroads If every
kind Of absurd and degrading superstition. But alas
recent and painful experience teaches that even ip tue
noon OF the niuetee nth century, sQd under the blaze OF
gospel light. persons Of Intelligence and education eau
So 81 Ok to the puerile aud ahject f'Iles Of necromaucy.
Misled by a prureut curiosity, or ty a love for the
mysterious, or by . passio" for singularity, or by the
hope Of becoming wiser than it is gwen man to beaome.
they begin by attempting that whSeh, it it were posi-
Die, is strictly forbidden by the Divine law; and eud in
righteous retritu'ion -[Chri~sian lnteiigencer.