From India to the Planet Mars (e-book) (used book) | bookbook.eu

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"11/2/1896—Hélène went in a deep sleep...she's en route towards Mars; that once arrived up there she understands the Martian spoken around her, altho she's never learned it; that it isn't he, Léopold, who will translate the Martian for us—not because he doesn't wish to do so, but because he can't; that this translation is the performance of Esenale, who's actually disincarnate in space, but who's recently lived upon Mars & also upon the earth, which permits him to act as interpreter." This passage is from notes by psychologist Théodore Flournoy from a seance held in his study at 9 rue de Florissant in Geneva & later described in his From India to the Planet Mars: A Study of a Case of Somnambulism w/Glossolalia. Hélène Smith, aka Catherine-Elise Muller, is a medium who gave seances from 1894-01 for an academic group. Léopold is a reincarnation of Dr Joseph Balsamo, Marie Antoinette's lover & Smith's guide. Esenale is a reincarnation of Alexis Mirbel, deceased son of a sitter & interpreter of Martian.
The passage above typifies what Flournoy termed "the Martian cycle". 1st there was vertigo & heart affection, symptoms of trance induction. Then he touched her forehead in order to call forth Léopold, her trance worlds' gatekeeper. At this point, Léopold signaled by her left hand that the proper time wasn't yet upon them. Speaking now, he directed the sitters to move Smith from her usual wooden to an easy chair.
For 30 minutes, the sitters waited as Smith's "calm sleep gave way to agitation...with sighs, rhythmic movements of the head & hands, then grotesque Martian gestures." She murmured in French to Léopold, describing scenes before her. Then Léopold gestured with her arm, indicating to Flournoy the time had arrived to put his hand again on her forehead. Flournoy uttered Esenale's name, to which Smith responded in a "soft, feeble, somewhat melancholy voice. 'Esenale's gone away...he's left me alone...but he'll return,...He's taken me by the hand & made me enter the house...I don't know where Esenale's leading me, but he's said to me, "Dode ne haudan te meche metiche Astane ke de me veche."'
Soon, movements signaled Esenale's return. This time, he went more slowly, translating each word, saying, "dode, this; ne, is; ce, the; haudan, house; te, of the; meche, great; metiche, man; Astane, Astane; ke, whom; de, thou; me, hast; veche, seen."
With Smith's left middle finger, Léopold directed Flournoy to remove his hand from her forehead. After muscular contractions & several lapses in & out of trance, she became conscious, but confused, unaware of events.
The ritual worked out by Flournoy & Léopold, the cataleptic trance behavior of Smith & the Martian narrative & its various characters together frame the most remarkable fact of all, her ability to speak & write Martian. Not everyone who heard her believed she was speaking an extraterrestrial language. He was skeptical. Nonetheless, she seemed sane, well adjusted, genuine. The transformation of her personality astonished. Her trance tongues sounded like language. She was sought out by psychologists & linguists. She didn't come to him with a problem to be solved. Tho he disagreed with her about the meaning & source of her otherworldly tongues, he made little attempt to change her mind about her experiences, nor did he prescribe therapy. He tried understanding her trance behaviors in a broader psycho-historical light. He regarded her Martian as glossolalic. In this category, he also included the Hindu, Ultra-Martian & other extraterrestrial tongues she'd speak.
Glossolalia or speaking in tongues is a term for speech spiritually inspired but unrecognizable. The fin de siècle saw the 1st systematic studies, of which Flournoy's was most influential. It was widely discussed in professional & popular arenas. It produced such a stir that it was translated into English & Italian. C.G. Jung wrote for permission to translate the work into German, but learned that translation was underway.
In 1894, Auguste Lemaître, psychology professor at the College de Genève, introduced Flournoy, professor of psychology at the Université de Genève, to Smith's circle. She'd been giving seances for two years, since her 1st introduction to spiritism & the discovery of her precognitive talent & spiritual sensitivity. Over those years, her main contact was the spirit of Victor Hugo who often composed verse for the group.
Shortly before Lemaître & Flournoy joined the circle, Hugo lost his dominance in Smith's trance communications to the spirit Léopold, who struggled with other trance personalities, chasing some away. One September evening in a poor humor, Léopold went so far as to unilaterally terminate a seance by pulling the chair out from under Smith. But by the time of Flournoy's arrival, Léopold had grown comfortable with the group & his role. His relationships with her other trance contacts mellowed. He'd begun to reveal more about himself. Léopold, it turned out, was a...