pe on the physical plane. The experimenter, for example, has a
particular field of view which cannot be enlarged or altered; he is
looking at his scene from a certain direction, and he cannot suddenly turn
it all around and see how it looks from the other side. If he has
sufficient psychic energy to spare, he may drop altogether the telescope
he is using, and manufacture an entirely new one for himself which will
approach his objective somewhat differently; but this is not a course at
all likely to be adopted in practice."

The student will find that, as we progress, many of these points which now
seem complicated and obscure will gradually take on the aspect of
simplicity and clearness. We must crawl before we can walk, in psychic
research as well as in everything else.

LESSON VIII.

CLAIRVOYANT REVERIE.

In the preceding two chapters, I have asked you to consider the first two
methods of inducing the clairvoyant phenomena, namely, Psychometry, and
Crystal-Gazing, respectively. In these cases you have seen how the
clairvoyant gets en rapport with the astral plane by means of physical
objects, in the case of psychometric clairvoyance; or by means of a
shining object, in the case of crystal gazing. Let us now consider the
third method of inducing the clairvoyant condition or state, i.e., by
means of what may be called Clairvoyant Reverie, in which the clairvoyant
gets en rapport with the astral plane by means of psychic states in which
the sights, sounds and thoughts of the material and physical plane are
shut out of consciousness.

The student of the general subject of clairvoyance will soon be impressed
with two facts concerning the production of clairvoyant phenomena, namely,
(1) that in the majority of the recorded cases of the investigators the
clairvoyant phenomena were obtained when the clairvoyant was in the state
of sleep, or at least semi-sleep or drowsiness, the visioning appearing
more or less like a vivid dream; and (2) that in the case of the
clairvoyant voluntarily entering en rapport with the astral plane, he or
she would enter into what seemed to be a kind of trance condition, in some
cases an absolute unconsciousness of the outside world being manifested.
The student, noting these facts, is apt to arrive at the conclusion that
all clairvoyance is accompanied by the condition of sleep, or trance, and
that no clairvoyant phenomena are possible unless this psychic condition
is first obtained.