Discussion of Good & Bad Spirits

December 1, 1952

GOOD SPIRITS AND BAD need to be understood for what they are and what they do. “Birds of a feather flock together,” applies in the matter of evil spirits bent on feeding on the mana of the living and influencing them to evil, also to the good spirits who, while also helping themselves to the mana, exert what they consider to be a good and helpful influence. It is evident that we change little when we die because we take with us our full set of memories, complexes and attitudes, to say nothing of our hates, loves, hopes and fears. If, when we die and continue life in the aka bodies, we still hanker for the things of earth, we will stay on the earth level and fasten ourselves to the living who may be in a position to experience the earthly emotions and sensations which we still crave. We become what kahunas called “eating companions.” On the other hand, if we have come to see that the better things in life are of the Auhane (or Aumakua), we will no longer try to share the animal actions and satisfactions and sufferings of the living Aunihipilis, but will strive to help the living – either that or let the living take care of themselves while we enter into the new kind of life on the other side of things.

THE EVIL SPIRIT INFLUENCE OF VOODOOISM is reported by a good friend of the HRA, J.G., who has just been released from military service after a period spent as a worker in the neuro-psychiatry wards where the schizophrenic patients were treated as combat casualties, and where marine “boots” were studied for mental troubles before being dropped as of no use.

“The most interesting of these,” reads the report, “were the Puerto Ricans, most of whom suffered from inner conflicts which had a psycho-religious tinge. The main factor was the Voodoo influence, mixed with the primitive Catholicism of the island. Many of these complained of hearing voices and seeing visions. One of these boys was of pure Spanish blood. His father was a lay church worker in a small village. This man used to cure the afectos in which the symptoms of the influence of the Esperitualistas, or Voodoo adherents, were causing trouble. These victims were considered by the local people to have a demon dwelling in them. The symptoms were similar to those of epilepsy in some ways. Prayers were said for these unfortunates by the church laymen. Many men suffering from these symptoms were rejects from the Marines.

“As to what forces were present, I cannot say, but I am certain that they were of an evil nature. My observations were based on the conversations with these men. I often interpreted for them as I know Spanish. In most cases there is mixed blood, usually with that of the Negroes prevailing, for these were more often in touch with Voodoo. I asked the boys for information as to the methods used by the Esperitualisticas, and learned of rituals in which candles were burned and the divination of the future practiced with the use of water – all a mixture of Shamanism, evil Spiritism and Voodoo. All carried on apart from the Catholic Church.

“The psychiatrists under whom I worked were Freudian in their training and concepts. They did nothing to try to heal these individuals, simply observing them to be able to be sure they must be classed as ‘misfits.'”

“TRY THE SPIRITS, WHETHER THEY ARE OF GOD: because many false prophets are gone out into the world,” wrote the disciple, John, (I John 4:1). The word for “try” in Hawaiian is hoao, meaning “test.” The roots tell us that the test is one aimed at seeing whether or not the spirit is of the “Light” and not of evil or darkness. The strange reference to the spirits perhaps being “false prophets” would make little sense without Huna. A second word for “test” is given in the dictionary, kau`la`i, and this also means “A PROPHET.” That gives us the connection, and the word for “prophet” means “a strong cord,” this symbolizing the aka cord which a prophet must use to contact his Aumakua in order to see into the future. All this simply indicates that the test of the good spirit was whether or not he was in full working contact with his own Aumakua or not. If so, he was bound to be GOOD, and worthy of friendship. If we are to accept the evidence of this passage attributed to John, we see that communication with the spirits on the other side was not forbidden by the followers of Jesus, but that the evil spirits and the obsessional “demons” were known to be a major menace – known to be pretenders and liars of the first water. In modern Spiritualism and psychical research, the test advised by John would not be of much use for the reason that very few kahuna spirits would be met with at sèances, and the other kind would not have the slightest idea what was meant by the aka cord or the Aumakua. The only test possible, in most cases, would be one which would show (1) the good intentions of the spirit, (2) the ability of the spirit to bring about healing as a proof of helpful and good intentions, and (3) the possible ability of the spirit to contact the Aumakua and get accurate knowledge of at least some close-at-hand future events.

REV. JESSIE CURL and her spirit friend, Hoo Ola, are excellent examples of those who themselves desire to help and to heal, and who have attracted to themselves spirits with like desires and with the ability to contact Aumakuas and get them to assist in the healing work. I take it that instant healing, which demands a change in physical tissues, can only be done through the help of Aumakuas, and only then if enough mana is placed at their disposal. An instance of such instant healing was reported recently in a letter to Rev. Curl. I quote a part of it:

“The septum in my nose had bulged on each side closing each nostril until there was only an opening the size of the head of a pin in each nostril. This had been the condition for thirty years. My husband, [a doctor],  said only plastic surgery could correct it. As an operation in the nose is prone to be followed by an infection, I had decided to be a mouth breather the balance of my life. Your healing was instantaneous. I was able to breathe through my nose for the first time in thirty years and could insert my little finger high into each nostril and can still do so. May God bless you for your work.”

Comment: It is to be hoped that when we have rounded out our Huna knowledge and can first remove the complexes and spirit influences of the evil kind, instant healing can follow more frequently.

“HEAVENLY WAYS OF EARTH’S GRADUATES”

This is a book recently sent in for inspection and review by HRA Rev. Arthur S. Morton. The authorship is given as “by Several of them.” This is a typical example of the interchange constantly going on between the living and the spirits of the dead. While no information is offered as to who acted as the medium (or, in fact, whether the entire book is simply a work of fiction), so it has to be “tested” and judged entirely on its contents. This leaves the reader no possible chance to determine whether these supposed spirit writers are correct in what they tell of their lives and activities after death, or whether they are pulling a long bow for reasons of their own. The story told concerns the adventures of men killed in the fighting with the Germans in 1918. The authors died, became aware of their new surroundings, and began to adjust themselves to the new form of life. They helped to rescue others as they came across and needed help. They met teachers and guides and made much progress, some being given robes of light. At times the livings were visited, and on page 33 one reads:

“One of our buddies did get a few messages through to his mother, who made a book of them which helped. It was the oracle of God to begin the work of establishing communication between heavenly planes of life and the earth-plane at that time, and several writers were doing good work. Many sorrowing ones were given the truth about their sons who had been called out of the physical manifestation. Many others rejected the writing as being a fake and not according to scriptures. Human frailty has always hampered God’s Perfect Plan, because God leaves the way open for human beings to work out their own evolution into the perfect sons of God which He intends them to become. God is giving new ways of life to His people. Once more civilization has reached a high level of development, and God still gives man his power to choose to destroy it all or to advance into the New Age God has waiting in answer to prayers from millions of human hearts. Writing this book is the latest effort of our (the spirits’) amalgamated service on earth.”

On the last page, No. 64, one reads, “At this time God is sending this written message to you. It is a personal letter from God to each of you whose hearts have burned within you as you read. It is His urgent appeal to you to come into His Army and advance with Him into the Golden Age Future.”

Comment: Price $1.25. Publisher: Pacific Coast Publishers, Redwood City, Calif. What else can one say of works of this nature, other than that one must read and “test” for themselves, if they can, to decide the veracity of the spirit writers and whether their intentions are good or not. It is interesting to compare what this set of spirits has to say with what the Mark Probert spirit communicators put forth via Mark and released often in the mailings of BSRA and in ROUND ROBIN by HRA Meade Layne. Unfortunately we cannot tell when one spirit is correct in what he says and another is incorrect, but, fortunately, the test of healing is more to the point. If the spirits can heal a fair part of those treated through the medium with whom they work, that is proof in itself.

A STRANGE CASE that may or may not involve spirits, mediumship or mana, has been reported and a letter sent to see if more can be learned of the matter. A certain California man has “so much power that it frightens him.” He drills wells, and not long ago had a rock fall into the hole he was drilling and prevent the pulling out of the drilling tools. Giving up the attempt to get the matter adjusted by mechanical means, he directed his strange “power” at the rock to remove it. Going back to the hole, he again tried raising the string of tools and they came up without the slightest trouble. The drilling was resumed. The rock seemed to have vanished like an apport at a sèance, into thin air. The evident strength of this “power” has made this gentleman fear that he might inadvertently direct it at someone with whom he might become even slightly angry. I have, of course, suggested that the “power” might be used in healing – perhaps healing of a spectacular nature. I will report developments later, if there are any.

THE PROBLEM OF OBSESSION

[This problem] is one that has long occupied the minds of many investigators. I believe it will be well here to pause to quote from Dr. Fodor’s ENCYCLOPEDIA OF PSYCHIC SCIENCE, as it is out of print and hard to find by now. I quote from the article under this heading on page 265 of my battered copy.

“OBSESSION, in psychiatry, means that the mind of the patient is dominated by fixed ideas to which an abnormal mental condition corresponds. In psychical research, obsession is an invasion of the living by a disincarnate spirit, tending to a complete displacement of normal personality for purposes of selfish gratification which is more or less permanent. The difference between mediumship and obsession is not in principle but in purpose, in duration and in effect. Mediumship, or to be more precise, trance possession, does not interfere with the ordinary course of life, [and] does not bring about a demoralizing dissociation or disintegration; it shows consideration for the medium and its length is limited. After a certain time it ceases automatically and the medium’s normal self, held in voluntary abeyance for the time being, resumes its sway.

“Obsession is always abnormal; it is an accompaniment of a shock, organic lesion, or, in case of psychics, of low morale and weakening will power, induced by an unstable character and debility of health. Once the existence of spirits is admitted, the possibility of obsession cannot be disregarded. Perhaps a lesser assumption is just as sufficient to point out the possibility. ‘If we believe in telepathy,’ writes Dr. Hyslop in Contact with the Other World, ‘we believe in a process which makes possible the invasion of a personality by someone at a distance. It is not at all likely,’ he says at another place, ‘that sane and intelligent spirits are the only ones to exert influence from a transcendental world. If they can act on the living there is no reason why others cannot do so as well. The process, in either case, would be the same; we would have to possess adequate proof that nature puts more restrictions on ignorance and evil in the next life than in this in order to establish the certainty that mischievous personalities do not or cannot perform nefarious deeds. The objection that such a doctrine makes the world seem evil applies equally to the situation of the present life.’

“How are we to distinguish obsession from multiple personality? It was explained to Hyslop by the Imperator group of controls that even for the spirits it is sometimes difficult to state how far the subconscious self of the patient is acting under influence and suggestion from spirits or from a secondary personality. Nevertheless Hyslop found a highly satisfactory method to ferret out the truth in cross reference. He writes: ‘I take the patient to a psychic under conditions that exclude from the psychic all normal knowledge of the situation and see what happens. If the same phenomena that occur in the patient are repeated through the medium, I am able to establish the identity of the personalities affecting the patient; or if I can obtain indubitably supernormal information connecting the patient with the statements made through the psychic, I have reason to regard the mental phenomena observed in the patient as of external origin. In a number of cases, persons whose condition would ordinarily be described as due to hysteria, dual, or multiple personality, dementia precox, paranoia, or some other form of mental disturbance, showed unmistakable indications of invasion by foreign and disincarnate agencies.’

“Prof. William James, shortly before his death, surrendered to the same belief. (That obsession was due to spirits.) He wrote: ‘The refusal of modern enlightenment to treat obsession as a hypothesis to be spoken of as even possible, in spite of the massive human tradition based on concrete experience in its favor, has always seemed to me a curious example of the power of fashion in things scientific. That the demon theory – not necessarily the devil theory – will have its innings again is, to my mind, absolutely certain.’

“The short history of a famous case is this: Mr. F. L. Thompson, a Brooklyn goldsmith, was seized in 1905 with an irresistible impulse to sketch and paint. The style was plainly Robert Swain Gifford’s style. This well-known American artist died six months previously, but this fact was unknown to Thompson who hardly knew him and, except for a slight taste for sketching in his early years, never showed artistic talents. He had visions of the scenes of the neighborhood of Gifford’s country house and often the hallucination that he was Gifford himself. He saw a notice of an exhibition of Gifford’s paintings. He went in and heard a voice whisper, ‘You see what I have done. Can you take up and finish my work?’ The desire to paint became stronger. Soon it was so overpowering that he was unable to follow his former occupation. He grew afraid that he was losing his sanity. Two physicians diagnosed his case as paranoia. One of them, without expressing a hope of curing the malady, expressed a desire to watch the progress of the disorder. Thompson came to Prof. Hyslop for advice. He took him to three different mediums. They all sensed the influence of Gifford, described his character and life and confirmed the vague possibility, which Dr. Hyslop wished to investigate, that the case was not the result of mental disorder. As soon as the case was proved as spirit obsession, treatment was comparatively simple. Gifford was reasoned with and persuaded to desist.

“Sometimes the obsession serves beneficial ends, as in the case of  Lurancy Vennum. Her malicious obsessors were forced out by the spirit of Mary Roff, who departed from earth life eighteen years previously in the same city. Mary Roff lived in Lurancy Vennum’s body, but in the house of her own parents for sixteen weeks and satisfied everybody of her identity. Her long inhabitation somehow made the body safe from malicious invasion and when she finally yielded its control to the returning ego of Lurancy Vennum, the girl’s health was mentally and physically re-established.

“(Dr. Titus Bull is quoted as follows:) ‘An obsessing personality is not composed of… one disembodied being, but is, in reality, made up of many beings. The pivot obsessor, or the one who first impinges upon the sensorial of the mortal, is generally one with little resistance to the suggestions of others. He or she, therefore, becomes an easy prey to those who desire to approach a mortal in this way. Some departed ancestors attempt to mould the lives of those incarnated who are akin. The more clannish the family group, the more likely this is to be true….’

“According to Dr. Bull, obsessors ‘have three major points of impingement, namely, the base of the brain, the region of the solar plexus and at the center governing the reproductive organs. As there are three major points of impingement, it may be assumed that there can be three composite groups, each starting with a pivot entity. What satisfaction is to be gained this way includes the whole gamut of human emotions. Many (of these entities) were (themselves) victims of obsession before their passing (and so bring with them their companions).’

“Another important point is the ‘possibility of obsessions passing on to the body of mortal pangs which were part of their own physical life.’ They retained in their memory the possibility of producing pain and as often they are unable to inhibit the production of it in the obsessed body, it must be beyond their control.’

“It is a fair assumption to say that often the migratory pains of the living are caused by the memory pangs of the dead.”

(In the article, it is explained that if spirits are driven away from their victims without being convinced by arguments that obsession of the living is wrong and that they should leave the living and get on with their progression, the entities driven out by “shock” methods simply hunt up another victim. It may be added that the victims they select are usually those who tend to have the same natural leanings as they themselves had in life – good or bad, usually bad.)

“WHEN AN UNCLEAN SPIRIT HAS GONE OUT OF A MAN” (Matthew 12:43-45 reporting a saying of Jesus when speaking of the healing of an unrelenting sinner, apparently) “he walked through dry places, seeking rest and found none.” (Note: A “dry place” is the Huna symbol of a lack of mana, and the spirit finds no “rest” or ma`ha, which from the root is “continuing breathing” – symbol of a steady mana supply made by the living.)

“He saith, I will return unto my house from where I came out; and when he is come, he found it empty, swept and garnished.

“Then goeth he and taketh with himself seven other Spirits more wicked than himself, and they enter in and dwell there; and the last state of that man is worse than the first. Even so shall it be also unto this wicked generation.”

One wonders if Dr. Bull was influenced in any way by the above quotation, at least in deciding that obsessing spirits were usually to be found in groups of like leanings. The Huna angle seems to be that if a spirit is driven out of a wicked man who has not given up his wickedness, he will invite fresh obsession by being “empty” of the good leanings that should have attracted to him guardians.

The house which he returns to find “empty, swept and garnished,” and which attracts the spirit and causes him to return, is, in Huna symbols, very interesting. To “sweep” is kahili. The root kahi means “to cut,” and the thing cut off is indicated by the far word, which means (hili), to “plait or twist,” symbolizing the aka cord. In other words, if the spirit who has left a man returns to find that the aka cord that was cut off by “sins” so that he is out of contact with his Aumakua, is not put back into normal condition for full interchange, there is nothing to prevent a return to a well “garnished” house – one well furnished with mana. “Garnished is lakolakoia, which means to supply with all needed foods and decorations.

THE BRUNLER-BOVIS BIOMETER

HRA Dr. Grace Brunler was kind enough to telephone to give information concerning the Brunler-Bovis Biometer, mentioned in a recent Bulletin. Only four of these instruments exist at the present time and no more are being made. Courses will continue to be given by Dr. Grace, just as her husband, Dr. Oscar Brunler gave them when alive. These courses run for six months and the tuition is $195. Those who take the course and who later can qualify as able to use the instrument well and as having professional need for an instrument in such work as counseling, etc., may borrow an instrument. Dr. Grace is an expert with the Biometer and is fully able to keep up the work begun by Dr. Oscar Brunler. She plans soon to move to quarters which are easier to reach than the “Castle” up on the side of the Hollywood Hills. Biometric readings continue to be taken as before, as a part of counseling and guidance work – the readings being those of the “soul” as Dr. Brunler was always at pains to explain when with us. The fee for this form of assistance is $25, I understand. Readings are taken only for those able to come in person. Pay lectures open to the public are often given. Those in or near Hollywood who wish to attend may phone Dr. Grace for information as to the lectures as well as concerning classes and other matters.

HELL, THE PLACE OF EVIL SPIRITS

[This] should be discussed in the light of Huna as we presently understand it. The question arises, quite naturally, as to why the evil entities do not go to hell, as they are supposed to do after death, and not remain on the earth level of life to tempt, mislead and obsess the living. The great threat which kept Christians in line in the old days was that if they sinned and died un-cleansed, they would go to hell and burn forever. This threat had considerable value as a deterring influence which kept men from wickedness. However, it threatened men for an ever-growing list of dogmatic taboos, and gradually lost its policing force.

In most religions and in the traditions which were not more than the tales of primitive peoples, hell was, basically, the grave. Only in lands in which survival was accepted as a fact did the dead live on, and only as this idea was expanded did the good and the bad come to have reward or punishment. The good went to some form of heaven and the bad to hell. In some sets of beliefs there was a chance for the wicked to reform and eventually gain heaven.

The Old Testament sheol (or hell) was a rather indefinite state as well as place. In the New Testament, Matthew (5:22) tells us that Jesus said that anyone who called another a fool was in danger of hell fire. Luke (10:15) quotes Jesus as saying, “And thou, Capernaum, which art exalted to heaven, shall be thrust down to hell.” Also, (16:23) “In hell he lifted up his eyes (The selfish rich man), being in torments, and seethe Abraham afar off and Lazarus (The beggar whom he had treated badly) in his bosom.”

All this amounts to little more than the use of the accepted Jewish ideas of the time in giving his outer or non-Huna teachings to the public. Fortunately, we now have Huna as the basis of what was taught in private to the disciples, and can use it to check back for the original and more fully developed concepts.

Huna had no place of fire in which the wicked dead were subjected to torture. When the Bible was translated into the Hawaiian, a coined name had to be used for “hell,” luahi, or “Fire pit.” Kahunas, as I gather from a study of the materials to be found in the legends and words and roots, symbolized the Aunihipili as a dweller in darkness, and the Aumakua as a dweller in light. Earth, which is a place in which darkness and light divide the day between them, was the symbol of the normal state in which the conscious and subconscious selves live in normal and happily progressive union, making evolutionary growth in goodness so that the condition represented by light may eventually be attained.

Some of the old legends of Polynesia have preserved rather well the kahuna concepts. They tell how the dead person goes to the spirit land under the earth or sea, Po, or “Darkness,” after passing a guardian of the path to that place, then crossing a river, and being called by name on the opposite side and offered food. This tale may be the original one from which came the legend of the River Styx, beyond which lay Hades. In any event, if the spirit was filled with greed and could not restrain himself from eating the food (mana), he was retained in the underworld for an indefinite time. On the other hand, if he was not greedy, and if he stoutly refused the food, he was allowed to return to the place of light above the earth after a short pause on earth to call on friends (in some accounts). This gives us a good picture of what happens after death. Those who have not learned to control their  Aunihipili and who die greedy and hurtful are still under the control of their  Aunihipili and not of their  Auhane. Moreover, they have no direct partnership with their  Aumakua. After death, they remain held and controlled by their  Aunihipili to a greater or lesser degree. If they refuse to join other spirits in the dark level and to become “eating companion” spirits stealing mana from the living and influencing them, they can, in due time, work their way back up to the level of  Auhane and the lesser light. The level of the unseen Light is that still higher and is the condition of Aumakuas in symbol.

In the Polynesian legends one finds most interesting versions of several stories of ancient heroes who braved the underworld and managed in one way or another to escape from it or to rescue loved ones who had gone there and were held. The work of praying souls out of purgatory, as practiced in the Church of Rome for centuries, reminds one strongly of the rescues accomplished in the legends of the people of kahunas. In fact, there is very little in the rites of the Catholic Church that cannot be better understood by turning back to the “Secret” as taught by Bible kahunas, especially by Jesus. We of the HRA progress rapidly these days in our knowledge of the original Huna. The “Veil” thins for us.
MFL