A Short History of Psychic Time
by A look at the development of Spiritualism.
Genesis 1:1 ¶In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. 2 And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters.
The word, “Spirit” occurs 323 times in the Old Testament, 51 times in the Apocrypha, that odd collection of books between the Old and New Testaments, and 259 times in the New Testament. That’s a total of 633 times in all.
It has been suggested that early man was blessed with widespread psychic powers, but materialism in the world since has resulted in a lessening of belief in anything we cannot see. Many people are so engrossed in amassing material wealth that they cannot hear the call of Spirit.
Some 2300 years ago, a man called Athenodorus heard of a house that local people said was infested with some sort of demon, and no-one could live in the house for more than a few weeks. Being the adventurous type, Athenodorus bought the house and waited to see what would happen. Sure enough, one night he was alarmed to be confronted by a Spirit of horrible appearance that jumped up and down in front of Athenodorus, all the while making blood curdling noises! With a remarkable display of courage, Athenodorus followed the apparition and saw it disappear at a particular spot in the garden. Digging up the spot in the garden where the ghost had disappeared, Athenodorus found some human remains, and after giving these remains all the burial rites proper for the time and place, the ghost was never seen again. Thus we have perhaps the oldest incidence of psychical research ever recorded.
But this is only one example of what may be termed Spiritualism in the ancient world. In the Odyssey, Homer tells of Ulysses consulting the ghost of Tiresias, asking him to prophesy about Ulysses’ return to Ithaca. Remember the Oracle at Delphi? There the questioner would make sacrifice to Apollo, and ask the Oracle for advice. The lady who was the current Oracle would then go into trance and consult the Spirit World for the answer. But one should always be careful. When Croesus asked if he should make war upon the Persians, the Oracle told Croesus he would destroy a mighty empire. He did, of course – his own, because he lost the battle!
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