- 23 - anything conducive to the spiritual welfare of his soul. When the time allotted to the ‘chain’ has elapsed, the leader of the assembly disconnects it. • Each person now takes up the pencil before him and lays his hand lightly on the sheet of paper at his place. When doing this he must desire not to write of his own volition, yet keep his hand so relaxed that it will yield to any motion that may be imparted to it by the spirit world. At the first few séances the available odic force is usually still very weak. The spirits present can therefore not yet produce any effects. The séance participants still have great inhibitions. Everything is still too new to them. They find it difficult to keep their inner composure and are too tensely expectant of what may happen. It is precisely this tension that is the greatest obstacle to the releasing of their od, as I shall explain presently. The participants are like an unused magnet, which reaches full strength only through repeated use. • However, it often happens that the mediumistic development of a participant is much further advanced than he himself realizes. In such instances it may be that the workings of the spirit world are manifested at the very first séance, and one may feel a pulling at or a stiffening of the hand holding the pencil, which then begins to move. One must not give the slightest resistance to this impulse, but must allow the hand to move. At the first few séances the spirit world may execute nothing more with the pencil than some lines, arcs, circles or other writing exercises, before a letter, a word, or a sentence is formed. This is because the odic force released by those present is not yet powerful enough, and particularly because the odic force of the developing medium is still in its initial stage. • Practice in writing will progressively strengthen this power. If the workings of the spirit world are manifested in this or in some other way, the great obstacle originating in the tension of those present will make itself felt. They usually watch with curiosity and the greatest attentiveness what is happening to the other person. • Tense expectancy, however, always holds back the odic radiation of a person, just as someone who is listening intently involuntarily holds his breath. This diminishes the odic current and makes the work of the spirits more difficult. For even the best engineer cannot make his engine run if the current is turned off or significantly diminished. Fear, fright, distrust, doubt and all other forms of inward opposition exert upon the odic current an effect as unfavourable as that produced by mental tension. • Whoever harbors such feelings and takes part in a spiritistic meeting not only fails to release any odic force himself, but hampers and interrupts the odic current of the others. Hence mediums can tell at once when there is someone present who has the effect of a foreign body that cuts off the current, and they are justified in demanding the exclusion of such a person until he has adopted a different mental attitude.
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