From the Next State: Galileo and Sir Isaac Newton

Among the descriptions of transcendental communication in William Usborne Moore's "record of investigation into spiritistic phenomena" Glimpses of the Next State (1911) are seances when communicators from the ascended realm announced themselves as Galileo (1564-1642) and Sir Isaac Newton (1642-1727). 

In the early 20th Century, disembodied voices were heard at seances or 'sittings' conducted by Spiritualist mediums known as 'trumpet mediums' (or 'independent voice'/'direct voice' mediums) as the voices manifesting in their presence were heard to emanate from horn-like devices called a 'trumpet.'  Two mediums residing in Detroit, Michigan were Mr. A. W. Kaiser, thirty-three-years-old, and Mrs. Henrietta 'Etta' Wriedt, whom Moore described as "forty nine years of age, a slightly built, delicate woman, much subject to bronchitis and neuritis" yet "in her prime as a psychic."  Moore reported instances when the Direct Voice phenomena occurred without trumpets during sittings, as in the case of Leslie Flint later in the century.

Hearing historically famous names speak at a seance became a matter of contemplation for Moore, who first heard 'Sir Isaac Newton' at a seance conducted by Kaiser.  Another sitter during the occasion was an acquaintance of Moore named Henry Clay Hodges, whom Moore described as "the veteran spiritualist" and "editor of The Stellar Ray, also Two Thousand Years of Celestial Life (by "Clytina") and Science and Key of Life (by Alvidas)."  The following is from Moore's description of a seance on February 4, 1909 (12 noon to 1 p.m.).  The transcripts are obviously imperfect as tape recorders were not yet commonly used by the public.

The important features in the sitting were the visits of spirits purporting to be Sir Isaac Newton and Dr. Richard Hodgson.  The former assumed an old, feeble voice.  He said to me: "Sir Isaac Newton; I am pleased to be able to come.  Since I passed over I have been studying the laws of gravitation, light, and colours; and I desire to impart this knowledge to the world I have left.  It could be done if the proper circle could be arranged and conditions were good, in the same way as was done when the spirit who has just been here [Clytina] communicated her messages to your friend.  The forces are becoming used up, and I cannot stop long now.  Good-bye."

Q.: "One moment, Sir Isaac.  Can you tell me, in a few words, what is gravitation?"

A.: "Gravitation is a force generated by the rotation of the globes through ether."

Q.: "May I take it that it would be covered by the term 'electro-motive force,' and that the ether is, so to speak, the armature?"

A.: "That would cover the matter very nearly.  Good-bye."

Moore commented about this incident:

(I cannot, of course, assert that my visitor was Sir Isaac Newton; in fact, it appears, on the face of it, extremely improbable; but I can that the psychic was incapable of inventing this novel theory of gravitation.  I had heard of it from one man in England, who is now working upon this hypothesis.  As far as I know, no American has initiated any theory of the kind, and only one man in this country.  This man is sanguine of success, but, as yet, has not yet published a single line regarding the matter; with the exception of his immediate family, I question if there are ten people who are aware of the nature of his studies.  Personally, I do not see how he can be correct, for scientists have informed us over and over again that the ether of space is frictionless.  If it were not so, it would appear certain that the globes would soon cease to rotate.)

It was, no doubt, to the presence of Mr. Hodges that the visit of the spirit purporting to be Sir Isaac Newton was due.  He has been engaged for years attempting to wrest the secrets of nature from the Greeks of past ages, through the mediumship of Mr. Cole.

After Sir Isaac left, a voice came through the trumpet, "Doctor Richard Hodgson."  I said: "I am delighted to see you; I have often wished to do so."  A.: "Yes, I have tried to impress you on three occasions."

During Moore's third trip to the United States with the purpose of investigating phenomena associated with Spiritualism (or 'spiritism'), he stayed with Mrs. Wriedt and her husband as a guest for twenty days, occupying a room near the seance room.  On Sunday, January 15, 1911 from 2 to 4:15 pm Moore and Dr. John, a physician from Ontario, engaged in what Moore called "a good séance" with Mrs. Wriedt.  Galileo was the eighth speaker to be heard.  Here is Moore's description of the conversation.

Galileo now announced himself plainly, and spoke loudly through the trumpet in English.  He said: "I invented the telescope, and was persecuted for my beliefs."  He spoke bitterly of his persecution, and declared: "They burnt me at the stake."  I said: "Oh, come, not quite so bad as that."  He replied: "Well, they wanted to."  He mentioned Marconi, and said: "He is not making perfect one thing at one time, but is branching off into experiments."  (I have no idea to what he was alluding.)

Q.: "The fact that the world is round was well known, was it not, to Plato, Pythagoras, and Hypatia?"

A.: "Plato knew it, but was afraid to speak out.  We do not know Hypatia by that name; we call her . . . . . ."(Name blurred; I could not catch it.)

Q.: "I mean Theon's daughter."

A.: "Yes, I know; Theon's daughter."

Q.: (by Dr. John): "How did you get the idea that the earth moved round the sun?" 

(Galileo then went into a long description of a vision he had in his room, the language he heard during the vision, and a scroll that was exhibited for him to read.  In doing this he used both Greek and Latin.  I was unable to follow, and I do not think Dr. John was more fortunate, for he spoke quickly and not very concisely.)

Q.: "Is Mars inhabited?"

A.: "Mars is inhabited, and will some day come into contact with the earth by means of electricity."

Q.: "Do the etheric waves in wireless telegraphy pass over or through the earth, mountains, and seas?"

A.: "Over.  They are met above by a layer of etheric resistance, and deflected down again."  (This is the best interpretation I can give of what he said.)

Q.: "Is there a planet beyond Neptune?"

A.: "No."

Galileo was followed by Iola's father, with whom I had a talk about family matters, very convincing as to identity, but of no interest to the public.

On January 24, 1911 with medium Mr. A. W. Kaiser there was interaction with 'Sir Isaac Newton.'  Moore wrote:

I repeated our conversation of February 4, 1909, which he confirmed.  I said: "We are always in a difficulty about personations."  He replied: "There are such things as personations, but they never come to earnest minded investigators."

Q.: Do you know if the 'Cleopatra' and 'Hypatia' who come to me are personators or not?"

A.: I cannot tell unless I investigate; but, as they come to you, I cannot believe they are."

Q.: Is there a planet beyond Neptune?"

A.: "There is; and astronomers on your side are, I believe, now looking for it."

Q.: "Galileo came to me the other day, and said there was not.  Do the etheric waves in wireless telegraphy pass through or over the earth and mountains?"

A.: "As ether is everywhere, they pass through everything; the vibrations of etheric waves for wireless telegraphy are analogous to X-rays, which, as you know, can pass through solid obstacles.  There are differences of opinion on our side, as on yours.  Many men of science are working away here, and making experiments on the earth plane.  They impress mortals."

Q.: "There is a friend of mine in England, living in Wiltshire, who has worked long on the gravitation theory you gave me last time we met."

A.: "Yes, I know; I impressed him."

Q.: I mean Admiral F."

A.: "Yes.  I have been working long here on gravitation and anti-gravitation."

Q.: "I doubt if my friend realizes he is being impressed."

A.: "Perhaps not; but that does not matter to us as long as the impression is effectual."

Then other communicators were heard, including Kaiser's 'control' Dr. Jenkins, who is quoted: "We are trying to make conditions perfect for the Jonson [medium] materialisations . . ."  At a seance the following day, Moore asked Dr, Jenkins about personating spirits —

He said: "They do not come to earnest-minded investigators.  Your development here will lift you speedily in our life."  He hoped to bring Sir Isaac Newton tomorrow.

On January 26, Moore was the only sitter with Kaiser when Sir Isaac Newton was again heard.

Then [was heard] Sir Isaac Newton.  I asked him to be so good as to tell me what he had meant on a former visit about anti-gravitation.  He replied: "We are investigating the forces which can be generated to oppose gravity.  There are such forces.  For instance, supposing you get a musical note of equal vibrations to those of gravity, you have a force sufficient to oppose gravity.  If you get a musical note the vibrations of which exceed those of gravity, you have a force anti-gravitational."  At my request he repeated the words "musical note" twice.

He continued: "Construct a bell and strike it.  The 'sound' vibrations from the bell meet the normal sound vibrations and overcome them.  I am impressing your friend on this subject."

(I wrote my notes in the next room immediately the sitting was over, and I conclude that both Kaiser and I were to some extent impressed still by the spirit we had heard talking so clearly a few minutes before.  I am sure that I took in accurately the words of the message.  Kaiser agreed.  We thought he might mean: "There are musical vibrations which, when set in motion, enable objects near to overcome the force of gravity."  But I cannot offer any explanation.  I affirm that the words I have repeated were used, and there I must leave it.)

The final quoted comment—answering Moore's question "Am I right in supposing that psychic demonstrations are performed more easily in this neighborhood, around the great lakes of America, than elsewhere?"—is "Yes; this is on account of the electrical conditions."  A following statement from Dr. Jenkins may help clarify the meaning:

"We shall do little this morning, as we are collecting spiritual forces to help you in your investigation in the near future.  I will visit you in England; the whole spiritual world will assist you in your work, I know, and will help the beautiful spirit who attends you.  Good-bye."

On the next day (January 27), during a seance when Moore was alone with Mrs. Wriedt, the conversations with Galileo and Newton were mentioned.  The interlude began with Mrs. Wriedt stating, "I see the name of Stone."  Then a voice was heard: "My name is Stone."  The comments were made, "I only know of one 'Stone.  He was Astronomer Royal at the Cape of Good Hope."  The voice then is quoted:

"I am he, and I am very glad to be here this morning.  I thought I would come on the strength of our old acquaintance.  Mr. Gladstone [another communicator] told me of you; he is much interested in these phenomena."

Q.: "Is G. right in supposing there are stars [of the first magnitude] which have no parallax?"

A.: "He is."

Q.: "I have lately spoken with Sir Isaac Newton, and he said that gravitation could be opposed by the vibrations of a musical note . . . . . .

A.: "Ha!  Ha!  Newton would find that pretty hard to explain himself."

Q.: "Is there a planet beyond Neptune?"

A.: "Yes, but it is uninhabited."

(I mentioned Galileo, and Stone said: "Ah, he is a well-known spirit here.")

Q.: "Do you know anything of Mars?"

A.: "Mars will some day be connected with the earth by electricity.  The inhabitants are small, short and dark; they have organisms to withstand the rarefied atmosphere and intense heat.  I am still working on astronomical problems.  Good-bye."

On February 14, Moore was again sitting alone with Mrs. Wriedt and asked her guide 'Dr. Sharp': "Why should a distinguished historical character such as Galileo come to me?"  Dr. Sharp addressed one of Moore's recurring concerns about seance room communicators possibly impersonating famous figures and is quoted: "No personations could come to you.  If Galileo felt he could help those that come after him in the same work, he would do so."

In The Voices (1913), the book that is the sequel to Glimpses of the Next State, seance descriptions are presented by Moore and other book contributors about Direct Voice séances with Mrs. Wriedt.  Moore's friend Colonel E. R. Johnson mentioned that during a 1913 seance he asked many questions of communicating friends and relatives.  The reported facts from them included commentary about planets: "The sphere called 'Mercury' is a very hot place, and we do not speak of it . . . Mars (the planet) is inhabited by a short, dark people, resembling the people here.  They have no houses, only huts."

After reading these various passages about Mars from Moore's books, I conducted an Internet search for some of the pertinent key words.  Some of the details in NASA images that I found do, in fact, lead the observer to consider the possibility of life on Mars (rather than life existing in another dimension or 'sphere').  The following photographic images provide examples.  (Perhaps I should mention my general lack of confidence in NASA data being unaltered and unredacted.  After all, the organization is a government agency/hierarchy.  This makes simple honesty among staff members a matter dependent upon protocol with people in leadership positions who are susceptible to assuming cover-ups and disinformation to be aspects of 'status quo' regulation.  Such tactics would encompass photograph alterations.)



This is a brightness-enhanced version of a NASA photo.  Source: abovetopsecret.com
NASA original photo: "Spirit :: Panoramic Camera :: Sol 728" 



Source: UFO Sightings Hotspot Blog (anonymous blogger)
(left) NASA original photo:
http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/jpeg/PIA10214.jpg (detail is found in lower left of source photo)
(right) NASA original photo: http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/msl-raw-images/msss/00569/mcam/0569ML2307004000E1_DXXX.jpg

 

 

Galileo is among the renowned names found in transcripts of discourses obtained by table-tapping seances where Victor Hugo was a participant. between 1853 and 1855.   The two Galileo discourses are among the numerous English translations presented in Victor Hugo's Conversations with the Spirit World: A Literary Genius's Hidden Life (2008) by John Chambers.  The first discourse was communicated on Sunday, December 10, 1854, beginning at 9 p.m.  The source is Oeuvres Complètes of Victor Hugo, volume 9, 1450-51.  Chambers reminded: "Galileo Galilei was the Italian scientist (then called a 'natural philosopher') who formulated the basic laws of falling bodies, which he verified by careful measurements.  Galileo constructed a telescope to study lunar craters and discovered four moons revolving around Jupiter.  Espousing the Copernican cause, he spent the last nine years of his life under house arrest for refusing to tell the Inquisition that the earth did not move."  After the name of Galileo was presented to those seated around the table, the statement given was:

I've come to respond to Victor Hugo's objection about the scientific inexactitude of the cosmology of the tables.  Let him formulate that objection.

Hugo is quoted as having asked about the names of the actual constellations, not as seen from Earth but what were the real constellations from a celestial language?  Here are some excerpts from the discourse answering Hugo's question.

My answer is in two parts.  Firstly: if the table had to speak celestial language, not human language, you wouldn't understand a word.  In celestial language, man is not called man, nor beast beast, nor plant plant, nor pebble pebble, nor earth earth, nor air air, nor water water, nor fire fire.  Heaven is not called heaven, star is not called star, constellation is not called constellation and God is not called God.

God speaking is God language, God language is God mouth, God mouth is God body, God body is God man, God man is God beast, God beast is God plant, God plant is God pebble.  Can you imagine it?  God pebble!  He who is not even God star!

Angels are not Professors of Divine Language, substitute lecturers in the Faculty of Infinity . . .

No; everything is nameless, everything is sunlight and unknowing, everything is sunbeam and mask, everything is sun and roving. 

The dictionary of infinity is filled with the punctuation of stars, and what would you say, puny man, if, to speak to you in the language that you want, this little table, instead of syllables, words and sentences, suddenly hurled millions of stars in your ear, launched Jupiter, Aldebaran, and Saturn in your face, and spread out on your page the immense ink blot of the starry night while scribbling down corrections with furious comets?

Chambers reported that the Galileo communicator promised to return on Sunday, one week later.  On that night (December 17), the sitting began at 9:45 p.m.  "Galileo announced his presence.  Hugo asked him if he would complete his answer of last time by explaining the nature of the real constellations as distinct from the unreal constellations fabricated by mankind."  The reply is translated to English as —

That is your other mistake.  Listen: I've talked about how the tables are forced to use your language to make themselves understood by you.  Now, your language is merely a set of conventions; your language is a smoke screen issuing from your mouth and covering the stars over with clouds.

Does that mean you humans are wrong about everything?  No!  In feeling out the heavens, your hands sometimes touch the radiant knobs of the doorways of the divine.

Here are further excerpts from the discourse.

You say to me: I want the real heaven and not an imaginary heaven; I want the real firmament, real constellations, real suns; I want the total immensity of God, without a break, without a gap; I want the abyss without emptiness; bring me infinity; bring me mystery; I demand a map to Jesus's tomb, the itinerary of the resurrection; may they show me the incommensurable, sound the unsoundable out for me, open the seals of heaven for me.  I want to go through the promises of the stars with a search warrant.  Human constellations, let's see your papers.  Big Dipper, identify yourself.  Capricorn, you're lying.  Aquarius, you're lying; you're a suspicious character.  Firmament, you're under suspicion, I want to search your pockets, no more subterfuges.  Lock all the doors; let no star escape!  Handcuff God; I've got to question Him!  And now, dark night, come before the court.  And now, radiant day, answer.  And now, accused suns, rise in your seats.  I am president of the nighttime court of the assizes; I have a jury of ghosts; I declare the court to be in session.  Silence in the gallery of the stars!

Let the witness Galileo enter!

I, Galileo, declare that I don't know the contents of infinity; I don't know where it begins and where it ends; I don't know what comes before, after, in the middle, to the right, to the left, east, west, south or north of infinity; I don't know its inside or outside; I see heavenly bodies, heavenly bodies, heavenly bodies; I see stars, stars, stars; I see constellations, constellations, constellations; I see sunbeams mixed with cloud-bedecked splendors and great blazings-forth of flame, bedazzlement lost in contemplation, contemplation plunged into bedazzlement; I'm caught up in the prodigious turning of the golden-hubbed wheel of heaven.  Where is it going?  I have no idea.

Victor Hugo was not satisfied with the response.  The following day, Hugo, his wife, and their son Charles requested the communicators to be more specific.  Then, as Chambers wrote: "Not Galileo, but the Shadow of the Sepulcher, made his presence known."  A new discourse commenced —

I've come to bring you, not one of the keys to heaven, which must remain closed to human science, but one of the keys to God the whole power of whom is to fling open the gates of the loftiest progress to which the human spirit is capable . . . .