ide by side with it denotes the sympathy which he feels for those
whom he intends to save. A very striking and instructive group of
thought-forms.

_On the First Night._--Fig. 31 is also an interesting specimen--perhaps
unique--for it represents the thought-form of an actor while waiting to
go upon the stage for a "first-night" performance. The broad band of
orange in the centre is very clearly defined, and is the expression of a
well-founded self-confidence--the realisation of many previous
successes, and the reasonable expectation that on this occasion another
will be added to the list. Yet in spite of this there is a good deal of
unavoidable uncertainty as to how this new play may strike the fickle
public, and on the whole the doubt and fear overbalance the certainty
and pride, for there is more of the pale grey than of the orange, and
the whole thought-form vibrates like a flag flapping in a gale of wind.
It will be noted that while the outline of the orange is exceedingly
clear and definite, that of the grey is much vaguer.

[Illustration: FIG. 31. ON THE FIRST NIGHT]

_The Gamblers._--The forms shown in Fig. 32 were observed simultaneously
at the great gambling-house at Monte Carlo. Both represent some of the
worst of human passions, and there is little to choose between them;
although they represent the feelings of the successful and the
unsuccessful gambler respectively. The lower form has a strong
resemblance to a lurid and gleaming eye, though this must be simply a
coincidence, for when we analyse it we find that its constituent parts
and colours can be accounted for without difficulty. The background of
the whole thought is an irregular cloud of deep depression, heavily
marked by the dull brown-grey of selfishness and the livid hue of fear.
In the centre we find a clearly-marked scarlet ring showing deep anger
and resentment at the hostility of fate, and within that is a sharply
outlined circle of black expressing the hatred of the ruined man for
those who have won his money. The man who can send forth such a
thought-form as this is surely in imminent danger, for he has evidently
descended into the very depths of despair; being a gambler he can have
no principle to sustain him, so that he would be by no means unlikely to
resort to the imaginary refuge of suicide, only to find on awakening
into astral life that he had changed his condition for the worse instead
of for the better, as the suicide always does,