pets, tambourines, and
concertinas, disdained by the immaterial, must be manipulated by the
material! And this rule with regard to table-turning, the manipulation
of musical instruments, etc., equally applies to materialisation. I have
no doubt that genuine phantasms of the earth-bound or elementals do
occasionally show themselves, but I am quite sure in nine cases out of
ten the manifestations are manifestations of living flesh and blood.

_Charms and Checks against Ghosts_

"When I feel the approach of the superphysical, I always cross myself,"
an old lady once remarked to me; and this is what many people do;
indeed, the sign of the cross is the most common mode of warding off
evil. Whether it is really efficacious is doubtful. I, for my part, make
use of the sign, involuntarily rather than otherwise, because the custom
is innate in me, and is, perhaps, with various other customs, the
heritage of all my race from ages past; but I cannot say it always or
even often answers, for ghosts frequently manifest themselves to me in
spite of it. Then there is the magic circle which is described
differently by divers writers. According to Mr Dyer, in his _Ghost
World_, pp. 167-168, the circle was prepared thus: "A piece of ground
was usually chosen, nine feet square, at the full extent of which
parallel lines were drawn, one within the other, having sundry crosses
and triangles described between them, close to which was formed the
first or outer circle; then about half a foot within the same, a second
circle was described, and within that another square corresponding to
the first, the centre of which was the spot where the master and
associate were to be placed. The vacancies formed by the various lines
and angles of the figure were filled up by the holy names of God, having
crosses and triangles described between them.... The reason assigned for
the use of the circles was, that so much ground being blessed and
consecrated by such holy words and ceremonies as they made use of in
forming it, had a secret force to expel all evil spirits from the bounds
thereof, and, being sprinkled with pure sanctified water, the ground was
purified from all uncleanliness; besides, the holy names of God being
written over every part of it, its forces became so powerful that no
evil spirits had ability to break through it, or to get at the magician
and his companion, by reason of the antipathy in nature they bore to
these sacred names. And the r