r of Communion.

"By the earnest study of the conditions requisite for the development of
body, mind, and psychic sense, the intelligent medium will endeavor to
meet the friends who inspire him at least half way on the Jacob's ladder
of communion, and to enter into reciprocal and conscious fellowship with
them on the thought plane, so that their inspirations may freely flow
through his instrumentality to others, unobstructed by his personality.
Classes for the development of mediumship along these lines are very
much needed; classes in which the members are expected to take an
active part, not merely to sit and sit, and let the spirits do all the
work, but by systematic preparation and spiritual aspiration and
cultivated receptivity prepare themselves to become lucid and capable
instruments for the transmission of information and helpful influences
from the other side.

The Attainment of Excellence.

"There is but one course of procedure for the successful attainment of
excellence in any field of labor or thought, and that is by study and
training, by observation, by persevering application and determined
effort, by readiness to learn, and responsiveness to every influence
which will help to smooth the pathway to the desired success. The
intelligent medium who follows this course will not go blindly on
groping in the obscurity of the psychic realm, and becoming the tool for
unseen and unknown agents, but he will unfold his powers, and by
co-operating with them will learn to know and trust his preceptors,
until he may possibly become as a spirit among spirits, the conscious
possessor of such knowledge regarding his own spiritual nature and
powers that he will be a ready instrument in the hands of enlightened
spirit people, with whom he can knowingly work for human good."

What a Development Circle Is.

Now then, with the above advice and admonitions in mind, the persons who
desire to develop and unfold their mediumistic powers will do well to
take the necessary steps to form a development circle. The "circle" it
must be remembered, is not merely a crowd of persons gathered together
for the purpose of witnessing spiritualistic manifestations or
phenomena. Instead, it is a gathering of persons who desire to
co-operate in establishing relations with the world of spirits, and to
receive communications therefrom. In the case of the development circle,
the purpose is to demonstrate that well established spiritualistic