that she had come to the conclusion that
her message came not from departed "spirits" but rather from some unknown
realm of being, brought hither by the exercise of some faculty inherent in
her and developed to a high power in her for some reason, which power seem
to manifest more effectively when she shut off her ordinary physical
faculties and functioned on a plane higher than them. I think that the
student of the present lessons will be able to point out the nature of the
phenomena manifested by this medium, and also the source of her power. If
not, I shall feel disappointed at my work of instruction.

LESSON XVI.

PSYCHIC INFLUENCE; ITS LAWS AND PRINCIPLES

One of the phases of psychic phenomena that actively engage the attention
of the student from the very beginning is that which may be called Psychic
Influence. By this term is meant the influencing of one mind by
another--the effect of one mind over another. There has been much written
and said on this phase of the general subject in recent years, but few
writers, however, have gone deeply into the matter.

In the first place, most of the writers on the subject seek to explain the
whole thing by means of ordinary telepathy. But this is merely a one-sided
view of the truth of the matter. For, while ordinary telepathy plays an
important part in the phenomena, still the higher form of telepathy, i.e.,
astral thought-transference, is frequently involved. The student who has
followed me in the preceding lessons will understand readily what I mean
when I say this, so there is no necessity for repetition on this point at
this place.

At this point, however, I must ask the student to consider the idea of
psychic vibrations and their inductive power. It is a great principle of
occultism, as well as of modern science, that everything is in a state of
vibration--everything has its own rate of vibration, and is constantly
manifesting it. Every mental state is accompanied by vibration of its own
plane: every emotional state or feeling has its own particular rate of
vibration. These rates of vibrations manifest just as do the vibrations of
musical sound which produce the several notes on the scale, one rising
above the other in rate of vibration. But the scale of mental and
emotional states is far more complex, and far more extended than is the
musical scale; there are thousands of different notes, and half-notes, on
the mental scale. There are harmonies and disco