it. If the spirits cause you to do foolish or ridiculous things,
gently but firmly refuse to again submit. Do not be induced to yield by
promise of future greatness and success. Not a few people have had their
vanity tickled and their ambitions aroused by the flattery of crafty and
domineering spirits, and in consequence they have been misled into doing
and saying very absurd and foolish things."

PART X

EXPERIENCES IN THE CIRCLE

When a circle of sensitive people has been formed, and the necessary
preliminaries of the first sitting have been completed, it is not at all
infrequent that even at the first sitting there should be more or less
manifestation of spirit power. In many cases the sensitives among the
sitters begin to experience a peculiar sensation in their arms and
hands, the latter being placed on the table in front of them.

Signs of Spirit Presence.

There will be manifested in most cases a peculiar sense of heaviness or
weight in the hands on the table, and an impression that the hands are
being held to the table as if by glue or other adhesive material. In the
arms are manifested peculiar tingling, pricking sensations, or a
"needles and pins" feeling, something akin to a gentle current of
electricity passing along them. Sometimes there is experienced the
sensation of a gentle cool breeze passing over the sitters--particularly
over the backs of their hands. In other cases there may be a sense of
numbness or partial loss of sensation, something akin to that
experienced when a hand or arm "goes to sleep," as the popular phrase
expresses it. In other cases there is manifested a peculiar jerking,
twitching, or vibration of the hands and arms, sometimes extending to
the whole body of some of the sitters. Sometimes the hand of the medium
will begin to make motions as if he were trying to write, and a pencil
placed in his hands may trace crude figures or attempts at letters. At
this stage it will be found that the singing of hymns or similar music
will tend to have a quieting, soothing, harmonizing effect.

Spirit Rappings.

At the first sitting, or one shortly following after the first, it is
likely that raps will be produced, and communication established in this
way. In such case the leader of the circle (not the medium) should be
sure to inform the spirits just what communicating code is to be used in
the circle, so that there may be no misunderstanding concerning the
same. In such case h