Bennington semi-weekly banner. (Bennington, Vt.) 1894-1902, 1895-04-26
PIERCING THE VEIL.
MEANS USED BY THE SUPERSTITIOUS
FOR READING THE FUTURE.

With Cards the Ancjents Solved the Secrets
of Fortune, and They Have Their Fol-
lowers Today-SpirituaIism Ancient and
Modern-Devotees of Divination.
Tho origin of cards, according to the
celebrated Ettoilla, one of the most indie
fatigable researchers into the mysteries of
the ancients, attributes to the primitive
Egyptians the invention of tarots, or of
the Book of Thot. They were composed
of rs thin plates Of gold, the purest and
finest known to antiq&ity, upon which
were traced hieroglyphs, or mysterious
chaT@' ,urs, the explanation of which was
daily .u,lo to each family by it's head as
embodying revelations of destiny. That
book was the only relic Of Egyptian lore
which escaped the wrath Of the Caliph
Omar when that Mohammedan zealot
caused the burning of the celebrated libra
ry at Alexandria The Alexandrian Jews
regarded the book only as secondary to
their mysterious Caballa. The Greeks next
obtained it, and tho Arabs regarded the
original form of the golden plates with
holy reverence When the Moors founded
the kingdom Of Granada in Spain, they
brought with them the vestiges of the
mystic work which had persisted in the
east and had been debarred entrance into
Europe during the continuance of that
gloomy reign of persecution designated as
the dark ages.
From tho Moors Europe received the
Book of Thot, and that date is the true one
to assign the revival and expansion of car
tomanCy. At the close Of the fourteenth
century cards were popular amusement.
With tho Germans they formed an impor-
tant commerce. and France soon followed,
establishing factories for the production OF
cards at Lyons, Colmar and Belfort. But
they suppressed the sense of the originals
by replacing the signs with Others of their
own invention. The Book of Thot was
composed of rs tarots, or emblematical
leaves, while our modern pack of cards
has been reduced to 81, but the same ideas
are expressed in slightly altered symbol,
ism. The changes were made evidently
the better to conform to the then existing
condition of society, to which the general
moral rules of Thot could be as well ap-
piled as to the primitive government Of
Egypt, and it is in this revised state that
we now have them. So for ages the art of
divination by means of tarots has been
handed down with more or less degree Of
superstition, and today there ypre people
who consider them as did the Arabs Of old.
To unvCil the secrets of the future is a
desire that every mortal possesses, and
from the earliest ages of mankind has la
bored in vain to crafty it. At the present
time many people consult some species of
oracle to ascertain that which is to happen
them. Yet those who affect to TdiculG this
general habit when speaking of it in pub
lie, are in secret tho most rigidly devoted
to divination. Many persons never Mt.
tempted an important matter without re-
sort to some form in prophetic Consulta-
tion. SeeressGs, trumpet and slate me-
diums, seventh children of seventh children
and other claims to supernatural or UNI
common origin or power are sought after
eagerly, and, as they offer to read the fu-
turc of any one for dollar or so, they al
ways have plenty of business to attend to.
Many patroni2e them from sincere belief
in their claims; others from mere curios-
ity. The curiosity to learn of the future
will attract mankind to anything or any
body that promises to crafty it, Fortune
telling by cards is one method which is
tried by young and old, and we. hear peo-
pie say that the cards can fOrlN II certain
affairs or happenings. Another method is
spiritualism. 1t is not a modern subject
1t was known to the ancients, and for
countless ages it has been sought after
DR.. McLaury has set forth that the fOrma-
ton of religious CrGeds and dogmas of all
nations has had for its origin and founda-
ton the belief in unsubstantial vagaries.
Evidences of faith in the Christian re-
ligion largely rest upon Mary's vision and
Joscphs dream The Buddhist faith is
visionary. Phenomena identical with the
manifestations Of modern spiritualism ap
pear in the Delphio oracles, in the lives of
seers and Clairvoyants in the CamissaTd
marvels of France (6S6-17OO, in the oo-
ourrenCes in the Wesley family U716),
in Swedonborg's alleged communication
with the spirit world and conversation
with angels more than century ago, in
the records of mesmerism and somnam-
bulism, in family traditions and in in
Vulnerable accounts of remarkable dreams,
predictions and physical phenomena.
Spiritualism has advanced rapidly in
America, tho estimated number Of spirit
ualists being from 5000, 600 to 10, 600, 600.
Inc peTlOulCdlS uGNOGeu To ''NuDJcCU NUM-
Der about 125. Many spiritl...ists advertise
in the local papers. They claim that the
spiritual world controls their powers, and
that thby can receive from departed spirits
messages to their earthly relatives and
friends. By slate writing trumpet seances
and other mysterious ways they say these
messages can come Persons have received
beautiful flowers said to be from the gar
dens of paradise. We are all human.
Some are gifted with greater physical or
mental power than others, some capable
of attaining to positions of prominence
among men by acts of valor or skill in de-
veloping some wonderful discovery of
mechanism or great revelations of a scien-
tifio nature, but can human beings solve
the mysteries Of the hereafter? That
there is life beyond this no one can doubt,
as all must admit that nothing can per-
ish absolutely, not even matter. The sub
stance of the body is not annihilated.
How MUCH less then, mind or soull-
Cincinnati Enquirer.