st
in bliss while mankind groans under the burden of misery
produced by ignorance, renounces Nirvana and determines to
remain invisible _in spirit_ on this earth. They have no
material body, as they have left it behind; but otherwise
they remain with all their principles even _in astral life_
in our sphere. And such can and do communicate with a few
elect ones, only surely not with _ordinary_ mediums.[52]

(e) _From Adepts now living on earth._ These often communicate with
Their disciples, without using the ordinary methods of communication,
and when any tie exists, perchance from some past incarnation, between
an Adept and a medium, constituting that medium a disciple, a message
from the Adept might readily be mistaken for a message from a
"Spirit". The receipt of such messages by precipitated writing or
spoken words is within the knowledge of some.

(f) _From the medium's Higher Ego._ Where a pure and earnest man or
woman is striving after the light, this upward striving is met by a
downward reaching of the higher nature, and light from the higher
streams downward, illuminating the lower consciousness. Then the lower
mind is, for the time, united with its parent, and transmits as much
of its knowledge as it is able to retain.

From this brief sketch it will be seen how varied may be the sources
from which communications apparently from "the other side of Death"
may be received. As said by H.P. Blavatsky:

The variety of the causes of phenomena is great, and one need
be an Adept, and actually look into and examine what
transpires, in order to be able to explain in each case what
really underlies it.[53]

To complete the statement it may be added that what the average Soul
can do when it has passed through the gateway of Death, it can do on
this side, and communications may be as readily obtained by writing,
in trance, and by the other means of receiving messages, from embodied
as from disembodied Souls. If each developed within himself the
powers of his own Soul, instead of drifting about aimlessly, or
ignorantly plunging into dangerous experiments, knowledge might be
safely accumulated and the evolution of the Soul might be accelerated.
This one thing is sure: Man is to-day a living Soul, over whom Death
has no power, and the key of the prison-house of the body is in his
own hands, so that he may learn its use if he will. It is because his
true Self, while blinded by