The Stark County Democrat. [volume] (Canton, Ohio) 1833-1912, 1877-05-03
eMisrtllanenus.
NINE. BLAVATSKY.
The Marvellous Fakirs-Why Russian
Countess Firmly Believes In Magic.
New York World.l


serpent charmers, who have the same
powers as the psillis Of Egypt They
have as keene a scent as a dog for snake
and will 90 straight to his hole and dig
it out with his fingers. Many of these
jugglers will do the same things as the
fakirs do, and by similar process of in
cantation. remember l was once in
bungalow of rich Indian where fakir,
and juggler both performed their feats.
In the room were tame tiger, chained
monkey and a parrot While the fakir
was performing they all showed symp-
toms of great delight, but when the sor-
Cerer began the tiger leaped around in
evident terror, roaring in frightful man
ner, and at last became so violent that he
broke his chain, leaped through the win
dow, ran away and was never seen again,
The monkey aed to his perch, grasped it
with his tail and hung in fainting fit,
while the parrot fell to the floor nearly
dead.
"Do you think that all this indicates
aspiritual nature to these magical pow
ers ?"
"It does to me-" was the reply. "They
work with the aid of pitris, or the souls
of their ancestors. All the 0rientalists
yenerate these pitris, and the magicians
become powerful enough to create an at
mosphere about them in which these
spirits become visible. And on the 9TH
er hand, they often become invisible
themselves. remember the first time
this was done in my presence. A fakir
was in the room with me, crouched down
in prayer, and suddenly the fakir disap-
peared. was great skeptic then, and
/ pinched myself to be sure was not in
q dream. The door was locked. and I
searched the room carefully. At length
/ Istumbled over something which could
not see, and suddenly my fakir appeared.
I thought even then that l had been de-
luded in some way, but saw the same
thing many times afterwards"
"How do they acquire this power2" was
the next question.
"By the subsection of the body. You
will find that the most of the good spirit
ual mediums are unhealthy in some way
and the Eastern magiCians reduce their
physical nature until their astral body
becomes the more powerful. Then they
can work like disembodied spirits, which
they really are. But many spirits dur.
ing and after it are evil. Not devils-I
don't believer devils-but evil disposed.
But the seemingly unnatural growth of
seeds and voluntary levitation and all
such feats are undoubtedly produced by
these men. The black sorcerers for some
reason always choose mango seed for
their marvels, but a fakir will make any
seed grow into plant and bear blossoms
and fruit in an hour or two. And they
will sit in the air yard from the ground
for twenty minutes or longer without be-
ing in contact with anything. / have
seen all such things done hundreds of
times, and so haYe hundreds of other
Europeans"
"How were you converted to the
Buddhist faith ?" asked the reporter, Gu
riously.
"By what was to me absolute proof.
was at q vihara in the northern part of
India, and the Chief of the Gurus of the
little village showed me things which 1
demonstrated to be truth. For instance,
he made me look at a bright tin plate
and fix my thoughts on something wish
ed to see. l though of my home, and
instantly saw aroom in my fathers house
in Russia. Two of my aunts were sitting
there, one of them reading a book
the title ofwhich 1 could read. And q
strange looking, hump-backed woman
entered the room as | looked. I wrote
home about it and learned months after
ward that at that time my aunts were
sitting in that room and one of them was
reading the book mentioned. And the
hump-backed woman was Polish gov
erness they had engaged after l left home
and without my knowledge.
"Then the guru threw me into trance,
first asked me to think of some place to
which wished to 60. Now, some of the
mosS powerful mesmerizers of Europe
have tried to throw me into mesmeric
sleep, and have been utterly unsuccessful.
Prince Dogourouski tried it, but even he
failed. But after this guru had made a
few passes over my face, and had given
me something to smell, and had made
me swallow certain portion, the ingre-
dents of which l know now but will not
tell, instantly fell into the trance. had
desired to go to the house of my dearest
friend in Berlin, from whom l had not
heard for a long time. was there at
once and rung the door bell. An old
woman came to the door and / asked for
my friend. Alas, said the old woman,
she was buried three months ago." l
asked her where she was buried, and
she named the cemetery. Then had a
desire to see the grave, and l was instan-
tly beside it, looking through the earth
at the corruption below. Suddenly felt
two arms thrown about my neck, and q
kiss pressed on m cheek. 1 looked up
and my friend stoo before me, glorifed
image of what she had been in this life
but transparent. Some months later
heard by letter of her death, and years
afterward visited her grave and rec
ognized it as the place had seen in my
trance.
"After this guru, who was from Pun
jaub, had thus proved his powers to me
I was unable to doubt him when he
showed me in similar ways the secrets of
of nature, the mysteries of the future life,
and the truths thatappertain to metaphy-
sizes. studied them for years, and at
. last | did not believe, but knelO the truth
of these things, for saw them, felt them,
tried them, lived them"
"But you cannot expect others, who
have not had your experience, to fol
low you in your belief" said the repor =
ter. =
"I do not. What is proof to me is no
proof to the public, and if they will not
believe IL 100000 Of Spiritualists because
many of the mediums are humbugs and
tricksters, they will not take my word, of
course, and don't expect them to. But
what know l know. And these mar
vels that seem incredible to those who
have not seen them-th ese miracles, as
they are called by the Christian Church,
and tricks as they are called by self-styl-
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