Additional information
Weight | 1 oz |
---|
$29.00
Limoncello-soaked blueberries nestled between layers of golden crepe, topped with a splort of lavender whipped cream and sprinkled with tiny curls of lemon zest.
Weight | 1 oz |
---|
You must be logged in to post a review.
This Spiritualism is the nepenthe which the ancient philosophers sought, to prolong life for ever; you cast off your bodies like an old garment. The pathway of this new science is as clear to the spirit as the names of the constellations are to the astronomer. In the great realm of the spirit there is no room for death to abide ; he has gone out with the ignorance, and blindness, and prejudice of the past, and life, only life, remains as your inheritance.
Mrs. Tappan then paused. After a moment’s silence she delivered the following inspirational poem:—
O beautiful white mother Death,
Thou silent and shadowy soul,
Thou mystical, magical soul,
How soothing and cooling thy breath!
Ere the morning stars sang in their spheres,
Thou didst dwell in the spirit of things,
Brooding there with thy wonderful wings,
Incubating the germs of the years.
Coeval with Time and with Space,
Thy sisters are Silence and Sleep ;
Three sisters—Death, Silence, and Sleep,
How strange and how still is thy face!
In the marriage of matter to soul,”
Thou wert wedded to young fiery Time,
The now weary and hoary-haired Time,
With him thou hast shared earth’s control.
O beautiful spirit of Death,
Thy brothers are Winter and Night;
Stern Winter and shadowy Night,
They bear thy still image and breath.
Summer buds fall asleep in thy arms,
’Neath the fleecy and soft-footed snow,
The silent, pure, beautiful snow;
And the earth their new life-being warms.
All the world is endowed with thy breath,
Summer splendours and purple of wine
Flow out of this magic of thine,
O beautiful angel of Death
What wonders in silence we see
The lily grows pale in thy sight;
The rose thro’ the long summer night
Sighs its life out in fragrance to thee.
O beautiful angel of Death,
The beloved are thine, all are thine !
They have drunk the nepenthe divine,
They have felt the full flow of thy breath.
Out into thy realm they are gone,
Like the incense that greeteth the morn,
On the wings of thy might they’re up-borne,
As bright birds to thy Paradise flown.
They are folded and safe in thy sight,
Thro’ thy portals they pass from earth’s prison;
From the cold clod of clay they have risen,
To dwell in thy temple of light.
O beautiful Angel of Life,
Germs feel thee and burst into bloom,
Souls see thee and rise from the tomb,
With beauty and loveliness rife.
On earth thou art named cold Death,
Dim, dark, dismal, dire, dreadful Death,
In heaven thou art “Angel of Life.”
We are one with thy spirit, O Death ;
We spring to thy arms unafraid,
One with thee are our glad spirits made.
We are born when we drink thy cold breath,—
Oh, Angel of Life, lovely Death.
The concluding hymn was then sung, after which Mrs. Tappan uttered the following benediction—“ May the peace of the loving spirit of the Heavenly Father and His angels abide with you, and the life that knows no death bear you on to the immortal world.”
The Spiritualist, Oct. 15, 1873
Poem by Cora L.V. Richmond
The lily grows pale in thy sight; the rose, through the long summer night, sighs its life out in fragrance to thee.
Practical Occultism consists, first, of a perfect mastery of the individual’s own spirit. No advance whatever can be made in acquiring power over other spirits, such as controlling the lower or supplicating the higher, until the spirit within has acquired such perfect mastery of itself, that it can never be moved to anger or emotion—realizes no pleasure, cares for no pain; experiences no mortification at insult, loss, or disappointment—in a word, subdues every emotion that stirs common men’s minds.
To arrive at this state, severe and painful as well as long continued discipline is necessary. Having acquired this perfect equilibrium, the next step is power. The individual must be able to wake when he pleases and sleep when he pleases; go in spirit during bodily sleep where he will, and visit—as well as remember when awake—distant scenes.
He must be enabled by practice, to telegraph, mentally, with his fellow associates, and present himself, spiritually, in their midst.
He must, by practice, acquire psychological control over the minds of any persons—not his associates—beneath his own calibre of mind. He must be able to still a crying infant, subdue fierce animals or angry men, and by will, transfer his thought without speech or outward sign to any person of a mental calibre below himself; he must be enabled to summon to his presence elementary spirits, and if he desires to do so (knowing the penalties attached), to make them serve him in the special departments of Nature to which they belong.
He must, by virtue of complete subjugation of his earthly nature, be able to invoke Planetary and even Solar Spirits, and commune with them to a certain degree.
To attain these degrees of power the processes are so difficult that a thorough practical occultist can scarcely become one and yet continue his relations with his fellow-men.
He must continue, from the first to the last degree, a long series of exercises, each one of which must be perfected before another is undertaken.
A practical occultist may be of either sex, but must observe as the first law inviolable chastity—and that with a view of conserving all the virile powers of the organism. No aged person, especially one who has not lived the life of strict chastity, can acquire the full sum of the powers above named. It is better to commence practice in early youth, for after the meridian of life, when the processes of waste prevail over repair, few of the powers above described can be attained; the full sum never.
Strict abstinence from animal food and all stimulants is necessary. Frequent ablutions and long periods of silent contemplation are essential. Codes of exercises for the attainment of these powers can be prescribed, but few, if any, of the self-indulgent livers of modern times can perform their routine.
The arts necessary for study to the practical occultist are, in addition to those prescribed in speculative occultism, a knowledge of the qualities of drugs, vapors, minerals, electricity, perfumes, fumigations, and all kinds of anæsthetics.
And now, having given in brief as much as is consistent with my position—as the former associate of a secret society—I have simply to add, that, whilst there are, as in Masonry, certain preliminary degrees to pass through, there are numerous others to which a thoroughly well organized and faithful association might advance. In each degree there are some valuable elements of practical occultism demanded, whilst the teachings conveyed are essential preliminaries. In a word, speculative occultism must precede practical occultism; the former is love and wisdom, the latter, simply power.
A Victorian occultist’s incense, invoking the Four Archangels: precious wildcrafted Indian frankincense with myrrh, cassia, sandarac, palmarosa, white sage, red sandalwood, elemi, and drops of star anise bound with grains of kyphi.
A hard candy for hard times: bright, sticky berry with an extra crystalline sparkle and just a pinch of grit.
A dessert akin to a crustless cheesecake with a hint of vanilla and lemon zest.
Reviews
There are no reviews yet.