But this is only a half-truth as we shall see in a
moment.

In the first place, the student arriving at this conclusion seems to have
ignored the fact that the phenomena of psychometry and crystal gazing,
respectively, are as true instances of clairvoyance as are those which are
manifested in the sleep or trance condition. It is true that some
psychometrists produce phenomena when they are in a state of psychic
quiescence, but, on the other hand, many clairvoyant psychometrists merely
concentrate the attention on the object before them, and remain perfectly
wide-awake and conscious on the physical plane. Likewise, the average
crystal gazer remains perfectly wide-awake and conscious on the physical
plane. When the student takes these facts into consideration, he begins to
see that the trance condition, and similar psychic states, are simply
particular methods of inducing the en rapport condition for the
clairvoyant, and are not inseparably bound up with the phenomena of
clairvoyance.

As the student progresses, moreover, he will see that even in the case of
Clairvoyant Reverie, the third method of inducing the astral en rapport
condition, the clairvoyant does not always lose consciousness. In the case
of many advanced and exceptionally well-developed clairvoyants, no trance
or sleep condition is induced. In such cases the clairvoyant merely "shuts
out" the outside world of sights, sounds and thoughts, by an effort of
trained will, and then concentrates steadily on the phenomena of the
astral plane. For that matter, the skilled and advanced occultist is able
to function on the astral plane by simply shifting his consciousness from
one plane to another, as the typist shifts from the small letters of the
keyboard to the capital letters, by a mere pressure on the shift-key of
the typewriter.

The only reason that many clairvoyants manifesting along the lines of the
third method, known as "clairvoyant reverie," fall into the trance or
sleep condition, is that they have not as yet acquired the rare art of
controlling their conscious attention at will--this is something that
requires great practice. They find it easier to drop into the condition of
semi-trance, or semi-sleep, than it is to deliberately shut out the outer
world by an act of pure will. Moreover, you will find that in the majority
of the recorded cases of the investigators, the clairvoyance was more or
less spontaneous on the part of the clairvoyant person, and