Clairvoyance and Occult Powers

Occult training takes the form of a sequence of lessons in this 1916 handbook by William Walker Atkinson. The course begins by questioning the reliability of ordinary perception and proposing an additional set of astral senses. It then separates telepathy from clairvoyance and describes exercises in mind reading, psychometry and crystal gazing. References to experiments and the Society for Psychical Research sit alongside explanations based on thought vibrations and an astral plane.

The discussion of distant visions connects dreams, meditation and concentrated attention with the author's account of psychic perception. Later lessons consider visions of the past and future, including the idea that events leave records accessible to clairvoyants. Readers interested in the history of occult teaching will find a practical lesson format combined with confident arguments for these beliefs, and comparisons drawn from familiar experiences such as absorption in music or a book.