Levitation

An Encyclopaedia of Occultism (1920)

A term in use among spiritualists to denote the raising in the air of the human body or other objects without visible means, and presumably through the agency of disembodied spirits. Thus the levitation of tables and other more or less weighty objects is a common feat among physical" mediums, whether or not a supernatural explanation be required. The witches of olden times, too, were popularly supposed to make use of some occult mode Lewis of locomotion in their nocturnal travels, being transported through the air by the arts of their master, the Devil . And the poltergeist was also thought to suspend in the air, without visible means of support, the agent through whom he manifested himself. As a spiritualistic phenomenon levitation of the human body became known at an early stage of the movement, being recorded in connection with the medium Gordon so early as 1851. But the most important of levitated mediums was D. D. Horne, and many accounts of his feats in this direction are given by witnesses who were themselves convinced of their genuineness. It may be noted, however, that levitations usually occurred in a darkened séance-room, when the only indication of any untoward happening was furnished by the medium's own exclamations, by the fact that his voice seemed to come from high in the air, and sometimes by his boots scraping the back of a chair or the hand of one of the sitters. The Rev. Stainton Moses, who also was levitated on several occasions, seems to have held his séances in darkness also, or at most by the light of the fire. Mrs. Guppy (née Nicholls) was before her marriage several times levitated, notwithstanding the fact that she was extremely stout, and a curious story concerning a later levitation is told in a letter in the Echo of June 8th, 1871, for whose (anonymous) author's trustworthiness the editor vouches. About that time the writer attended a circle with Messrs. Herne and Williams as mediums, the spirits present being the famous John and Katie King. One of the sitters jokingly expressed a wish that Mrs. Guppy (then in her home some three miles distant) might be brought to the séance-room, and to this Katie King was heard to assent. While the company were laughing at the absurdity of the idea, there was a loud bump, followed by shrieks and exclamations. A match was struck, and there in the centre of the table stood Mrs. Guppy, an account-book in one hand, a pen in the other, and apparently in a state of trance. Less than three minutes elapsed between the expression of the wish and the appearance of Mrs. Guppy. The writer adds : "The possibility of her being concealed in the room is as absurd as the idea of her acting in collusion with the media." Pseudo-historical instances of levitation may be found in abundance, especially among the early saints. St. Dun-. stan, archbishop of Canterbury, was observed to rise from the ground shortly before his death in 988. St. Bernard Ptolomei, St. Philip Benitas, St. Albert of Sicily, and St. Dominic, founder of the Dominican order, were all seen to be levitated while engaged in their devotions. An ecstatic nun rose from the ground with so much impetuosity, that five or six of the sisters could hardly hold her down." It is related by his biographers that Savonarola, shortly before he perished at the stake, remained suspended at a considerable height above the floor of his dungeon, absorbed in prayer. And such instances might easily be multiplied. 66