TELLERS OF FORTUNE

Evening Star, Issue 14535, 10 December 1910, Page 12

TELLERS OF FORTUNE

A PROFITABLE PROFESSION'. St. Paid, who was temporarily blind* d by the majesty of Hod in order that he night receive, the vision of the wise, says in one of his stately letters that there are diversities of gifts: the word of wisdom; the word of knowledge ; faith ; the gift of healing; the working of miracles; prophecy ; discerning of spirits ; divers lands of tongues: interpretation of tongues. Though, drifting far across the gulf of Time, the prophet's words have not lost any of their Ileave:;-givcii weight. To-day, here even in prosaic Dunedin, some people do u-cil in exercise of what they believe to bo one or other of tho many gifts of the Spirit. The gifts of prophecy and the discerning of spirits are exercised to a. greater extent than many people are prepared to believe. It is reported, indeed, that a clairvoyant who camo to this Jerusalem of tho South took away over £SOO in fees for prophesying and discerning spirits. Animated pictures do not attract ad the money of a prosperous people. Tho exercise of such gifts is fascinating. It is not tho function of the- writer to criticise the real value of the results. Let the men in high plates attend to that.. First of all, lie who goc* to consult an oiaelo must have a little faith and half a crown in addition. So equipped, the is assured. 'Tiie clairvoyant receives the seeker after hidden knowledge in humble manner, and proceeds to scan the horizon afar. Of that "cloud of unseen witnesses" which hovers over us all the Oracle names the departed spiri'.s who aro destined to lead the children of our '• Bitter Clan," the human elan, to the shining hill of success, if you are adapted for engineering, great engineers of bygone days are said ,to be ever with you, ready to make clear that width is clouded, able to render easy that which is difficult. Representatives of every calling have with them constantly spirit prototypes. These of great faith would even say that the Juuid of a greater v. liter helped the lesser luiud that p-enned this. So bo it if the matter reads well!

Oracles of dimmer vision sue only tho more trivial surroundings of their clients, and perhaps a little of the paltry happenings lying ahead of them. They may sets walking up an orange-blossomed aisle a, man and a maid, and hear in some lofty chancel the strains of an organ sounding a march of triumphant happiness. What better picture coidd he discerned for sentimental girls, and for hoys who have just become proficient in tho making of cigarettes. And yet there are hundreds who gladly pay to be told such bluff. And there are oracles who claim to be en rapport (that is the phrase) with tho denizens of the Fourth Circle. I'erhajß you do not kuow that devotees contend that there arc Seven Circles, beginning with this mundane splu-re and ending with Heaven. Paul speaks of the Seventh Heaven, although he confesses that ho only heard of people being transported to it. One of the Seven Circles is called the Summer land. But we go too far into the heights of the science. Lnough has been said to show that "there aic more things in heaven and emfh, jlo>"itio, than arc dreamt of in your philosophy.' 1 'Tis a thing to ponder over.