Hellsehen (Clairvoyance)

Chapter 2.

Simple Clairvoyance: All-encompassing.

This was defined as a simple opening of the etheric or astral vision that enables its owner to recognize what is present around him on the corresponding planes. However, this ability is generally not accompanied by the power to see anything at great distances, or to look at the facts of the past or future. It is hardly possible to exclude these latter abilities entirely. Astral vision necessarily has a greater range than physical vision. Fragmentary images of both the past and the future often accidentally enter the field of vision of those clairvoyants who do not even know how to specifically look for them. But there is nevertheless a very great difference between such accidental glimpses and the conscious power to direct the gaze into either space or time.

Among sensitive people, one finds all gradations of this type of clairvoyance. These range from the ability of a person who receives a vague impression, which can hardly be called clairvoyance, to the full possession of etheric and astral vision. Perhaps the simplest method for us will be to start by describing what would be visible to the clairvoyant once he has fully developed this sight. Then the cases of only partial possession of it would naturally find their place in the classification.

First, ätherisches Hellsehen etheric clairvoyance should be considered. This consists simply, as has already been said, in the receptivity to react to a much larger series of physical vibrations than usual. Nevertheless, its

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possession brings many things into sight for which the largest part of the human race is still blind. Let us see how the sight of known, animate or inanimate objects changes, and then what entirely new factors it leads us to. But it should be remembered that what is to be described here is only the result of the full and perfectly controlled ability. Most occurrences found in real life will probably fall far behind this in one direction or another.

The most striking change that occurs in the appearance of inanimate objects through the acquisition of this ability is that most of them become almost transparent. This is due to the difference in the wavelength of some of the vibrations to which the person has now become receptive. He feels capable of performing the proverbial feat of "seeing through a wall" with the greatest ease. For to his newly acquired sight, the wall seems hardly denser than a light mist. He therefore sees what is happening in an adjacent room almost as if there were no wall between them at all. He can accurately describe the contents of a locked box or a sealed letter. With some practice, he can find a given passage in a closed book. Although this latter experiment is very easy to perform for astral vision, it presents great difficulties to one who exercises etheric clairvoyance. This is because every page must be seen through all those that lie above it.

It has often been asked whether a person always sees with his abnormal sight under these circumstances, or only when he wants to. The answer is that when his ability is fully developed, he also controls it completely. He can use either the power of clairvoyance or ordinary sight according to his wish. He transitions from one to the other as quickly and naturally as we change the focus of our eyes when we look up from our book or observe the movements of an object a mile away. It is, so to speak,