At first the crystal or mirror will appear to be overclouded by a dull, smoky vapour which presently condenses into milky clouds among which are seen innumerable little gold specks of light, dancing in all directions, like gold-dust in a sunlit air. The focus of the eye at this stage is inconstant, the pupil rapidly expanding and contracting, while the crystal or mirror alternately disappears in a haze and reappears again. Then suddenly the haze disappears and the crystal looms up into full view, accompanied by a complete lapse of the seer into full consciousness of his surroundings.
This may be the only experience during the first few sittings. It may be that of many. But if it occurs it is an entirely satisfactory and hopeful symptom. For sooner or later, according to the degree of susceptibility or responsiveness in the subject, there will come a moment when the milky-looking clouds and dancing starlights will suddenly vanish and a bright azure expanse like an open summer sky will fill the field of vision. The brain will now be felt to palpitate spasmodically, as if opening and closing again in the coronal region; there will be a tightening of the scalp about the base of brain, as if the floor of the cerebrum were contracting; the seer will catch his breath with a spasmodic sigh and the first vision will stand out clear and life-like against the azure screen of space.
Now the danger at this supreme moment is that the seer will be surprised into full waking consciousness. During the process of abstraction which precedes every vision or series of visions, the consciousness of the seer is gradually but imperceptibly withdrawn from physical surroundings. He forgets that he is seated in a particular place or room, that he is in the company of another or others. He forgets that he is gazing into a crystal or mirror. He knows nothing, sees nothing, hears nothing, save that which is being enacted before the senses of his soul. He loses sight for the time even of his own identity and becomes as it were merged in the vision itself.
When, therefore, his attention is suddenly arrested by an apparition, startling in its reality and instantaneous production, the reaction is likely to be both rapid and violent, so that the seer is frequently carried back into full waking consciousness. When, however, the mind is previously instructed and warned of this stage of the process, a steady and self-possessed attitude is ensured and a subconscious feeling of expectancy manifests at the critical moment. I have known so many cases of people being surprised out of clairvoyance and so to have lost what has often been an isolated experience, that this treatise will be wholly justified if by the inclusion of this warning the novice comes successfully through his first experience of second sight.