membrance of the earth-life so lately left.
This awakening is often accompanied by acute suffering, and even if
this be avoided the natural process of the Triad freeing itself is
rudely disturbed, and the completion of its freedom is delayed."
(_Death and After_, p. 32.) It would be well if those whose loved ones
have passed on before them would learn from these undoubted facts the
duty of restraining for the sake of those dear ones a grief which,
however natural it may be, is yet in its essence selfish. Not that
occult teaching counsels forgetfulness of the dead--far from it; but
it does suggest that a man's affectionate remembrance of his departed
friend is a force which, if properly directed into the channel of
earnest good wishes for his progress towards Devachan and his quiet
passage through Kamaloka might be of real value to him, whereas when
wasted in mourning for him and longing to have him back again it is
not only useless but harmful. It is with a true instinct that the
Hindu religion prescribes its Shraddha ceremonies and the Catholic
Church its prayers for the dead.

It sometimes happens, however, that the desire for communication is
from the other side, and that an entity of the class we are
considering has something which it specially desires to say to those
whom it has left behind. Occasionally this message is an important
one, such as, for example, an indication of the place where a missing
will is concealed; but more often it seems to us quite trivial.
Still, whatever it may be, if it is firmly impressed upon the mind of
the dead person, it is undoubtedly desirable that he should be enabled
to deliver it, as otherwise the anxiety to do so would perpetually
draw his consciousness back into the earth-life, and prevent him from
passing to higher spheres. In such a case a psychic who can understand
him, or a medium through whom he can write or speak, is of real
service to him. It should be observed that the reason why he cannot
usually write or speak without a medium is that one state of matter
can ordinarily act only upon the state next below it, and, as he has
now no denser matter in his organism than that of which the Kamarupa
is composed, he finds it impossible to set up vibrations in the
physical substance of the air or to move the physical pencil without
borrowing living matter of the intermediate order contained in the
etheric double, by means of which an impulse can readily be
transferred from the