There is almost always an influence which belongs peculiarly to each public medium—an influence which seems to…
- Date of account
- Published 1910 from earlier writings
- Source
- The Astral World—Higher Occult Powers Clairvoyance, Spiritism, Mediumship, and Spirit-Healing Fully Explained
- Reference
- The Astral World—Higher Occult Powers Clairvoyance, Spiritism, Mediumship, and Spirit-Healing Fully Explained · selected passage 29
- Rights
- public_domain
- Language
- English
- Record updated
- 2026-08-24
Record summary
There is almost always an influence which belongs peculiarly to each public medium—an influence which seems to be a presiding Spirit, which that medium will usually recognize, answering to the name of “Jim” or “John.” It is generally the case that this Spirit will be found on hand first, and is the one to do whatever i…
Published source text
Read the available text below. Archive transcriptions may contain OCR errors; later context is labelled separately. A recorded claim is not a finding that it happened.
Source passage
Source text · mention onlyThere is almost always an influence which belongs peculiarly to each public medium—an influence which seems to be a presiding Spirit, which that medium will usually recognize, answering to the name of “Jim” or “John.” It is generally the case that this Spirit will be found on hand first, and is the one to do whatever is to be done; and he becomes the father, mother, brother, sister, or friend of everybody. I speak from experience on this subject. If this Spirit wants to be very accurate in telling you a name, he gets you to write down a list of names, and as your finger runs down the list, he raps when you come to the right one. If he knows the name, why does he not spell it out? This is a very reasonable question. Permit me to explain how these questions are often answered. In mesmerism there is at times a certain relation of the operator to the subject called _rapport_, in which condition the operator can transmit his mental motions to the subject. In case a Spirit comes into _rapport_ with yourself, he answers all the questions you ask, even mental questions, and you come to the conclusion that you are really conversing with the one who purports to answer.
Historical context
Contextual commentary · mention onlyThis is a historical account assembled under the reporting and publishing conventions of its period. It may preserve testimony, hearsay, retelling and editorial interpretation together.
Modern context
Contextual commentary · mention onlyA modern comparison can identify recurring descriptions and possible explanations, but the account is not treated as independently verified evidence merely because it appeared in print.
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