erpretation. The former is
common to both orders of vision, the direct and the symbolic.
The difficulty of interpretation is, of course, peculiar to the latter
order of vision.

The sensing of time is perhaps the greatest difficulty encountered
by the seer, and this factor is often the one that vitiates an
otherwise perfect revelation. I have known cartomantes and
diviners of all sorts to express their doubt as to the possibility of a
correct measure of time. Yet it is a question that follows naturally
upon a clear prediction--When?

It is sometimes impossible to determine whether a vision relates
to the past, the present, or the future. In most cases, however, the
seer has an intuitive sense of the time-relations of a vision which
is borne in upon him with the vision itself. It will generally be
observed that in ordinary mental operations the time sense is
subject to localization, and a distinct throw of the mind will be
experienced when speaking of the past and the future. Personally
I find the past to be located on my left and the future on my right
hand, but others inform me that the habit of mind, places the past
behind and the future in front of them, while others again have
the past beneath their feet and the future over their heads. It is
obviously a habit of mind, and this usually inheres in the
visionary state so that a sense of time is found to attach to all
visions, though it cannot be relied upon to register on every
occasion. But also it is frequently found that there is an automatic
allocation of the visions, those that are near of fulfilment being in
the foreground of the field, the approximate in the middle ground,
and the distant in the background; position answering to time
interval. In such case the vision has a certain definition or focus
according to the degree of its proximity. These points are,
however, best decided by empiricism, and rarely does it happen
that the intuitive sense of the seer is at fault when allowed to have
play.

The other difficulty to which I have referred, that of interpretation
of symbols when forming the substance of the vision, may
be dealt with somewhat more fully. Symbolism is a universal
language and revelation most frequently is conveyed by means
of it. As a preliminary to the study of symbolism the student
should read Swedenborg's _Hieroglyphical Key to Natural and
Spiritual Mysteries_, one of the earliest of his works and
in a great measure the foundation of h